If you want concrete answers I recommend a youtube video called:
Death of a Game Star Trek Online
Ironic you recommend a video using ancient information that's already been proven inaccurate.
As stated I did not agree with it, but it does give clarity to the reason why the new business model is keeping STO afloat and the lack of huge content per se. Not spelling doom and gloom here - merely pointing out the obvious. As far as inaccuracy, that depends on your view of what a good MMO is about. Again I never stated I totally agree with said video merely pointing out there are some truths in there.
Right, and people who are lagging/rubberbanding can suffer from it also.
There's a difference between lagging and AFKing. Lagging would be more evident as if they haven't loaded in when the match starts they don't have a shield indicator. Also rubberbanding doesn't stop someone from moving. Just makes it more difficult. Meanwhile a legit AFKer just sits there, just fine, fully loaded in... doing NOTHING. AT ALL.
It might take time to identify a legit AFKer in a furball like Mirror Invasion, but you actually can identify them. Especially if they don't bother to move or do anything for an extended period of time. Even if you're lagging but intend to play, you're TRYING to at least. Hell... some people who are lagging actually say so in team chat. Some AFKers actually declare their intentions to AFK, while others just remain silent.
Actually, 2018 was STO's 2nd best year, and according to what Al Rivera said during an interview with Priority One Podcast, ever since they started doing the Discovery content they have had more new players, coming in a larger number, then they have had for quite some time.
Perhaps, however; I take everything that Al Rivera and the POD people say with a grain of salt - Crypitc has been known to lie to its fanbase on multiple occasion. If there was an influx on new players, that would be great - but it is maintaining them on a regular bases that is an overall issue. They tend to leave STO fairly quickly - I still say that the existing fanbase, and players that previously played STO and quit, but made a quick jump in to see if anything changed make up a huge number of that influx. But when they see it is more of the same, they drop back off fairly quickly.
Perhaps, however; I take everything that Al Rivera and the POD people say with a grain of salt - Crypitc has been known to lie to its fanbase on multiple occasion.
Perhaps, however; I take everything that Al Rivera and the POD people say with a grain of salt - Crypitc has been known to lie to its fanbase on multiple occasion.
But you will take the word of a YouTube video.
Is irony truly dead?
Not exactly, but much what was said isn't entirely untrue - As I have been around since Beta and I myself have seen the changes first hand. The potential for STO in being a great MMO even with existing business model is still there, it is just not being utilized to its fullest, which is very unfortunate.
I love Star Trek, and I for one must admit, Cryptic has done many things that were well done, but they also gone and messed up alot more. When a studio remove content for the sake of removing content and then call it streamlining, it shows there is something seriously wrong. I also believe that the move to F2P was the right one, and I even dare say that the lock boxes was a semi good move to generate the funds, despite some negativity that may have resulted from going that route.
In all fairness I am a bit bias against Star Trek Discovery, as I deem it a cancer to Trek in general, but that is one opinion, a conversation for another time. I understand Cryptic wanting to go that direction to keep the game in line with the television series, but I feel it is a step in the wrong direction, again my personal opinion and bias. I rather see content based on the unknown and promoting the future of Trek, again another topic for another time.
But we all must admit, the latest episodes feel disjointed and not fluid.
Also somtaawkhar, I agree that most MMO's player base do fluctuate, some more than others - I think EVE Online must have done something right to still maintain a Pay to play model. To be honest the MMO realm has been stagnant, almost have you thinking that the MMO concept is a dying breed, but then again just my opinion.
To understand the OP concern, in Cryptic case, it needs more boxes and shinnies in order to survive - It just sad that in needs more ships in order for it to sustain itself. I rather have huge packs of expansion and pay for those, that is with in depth Star Trekkish episodes etc... but that would go against their current business model.
Perhaps, however; I take everything that Al Rivera and the POD people say with a grain of salt - Crypitc has been known to lie to its fanbase on multiple occasion. If there was an influx on new players, that would be great - but it is maintaining them on a regular bases that is an overall issue. They tend to leave STO fairly quickly - I still say that the existing fanbase, and players that previously played STO and quit, but made a quick jump in to see if anything changed make up a huge number of that influx. But when they see it is more of the same, they drop back off fairly quickly.
Most MMOs don't really maintain players. They have people come in when new stuff drops, then leave until the next content drop hits, with a core of people who play frequently to grind out the higher level stuff.
I'm one who plays for some lengths of time and then quits for awhile. Many times I wait until an Event is supposed to drop and then sometimes I just play around between Events.
It's something I never announce, as some are wont to do in these forums, despite the rule against it. I prefer to quietly go find another game and then to come back just as quietly when it's time for the next big thing to drop.
Now a LTS and loving it.
Just because you spend money on this game, it does not entitle you to be a jerk if things don't go your way.
I have come to the conclusion that I have a memory like Etch-A-Sketch. I shake my head and forget everything.
Perhaps, however; I take everything that Al Rivera and the POD people say with a grain of salt - Crypitc has been known to lie to its fanbase on multiple occasion.
But you will take the word of a YouTube video.
Is irony truly dead?
Not exactly, but much what was said isn't entirely untrue - As I have been around since Beta and I myself have seen the changes first hand. The potential for STO in being a great MMO even with existing business model is still there, it is just not being utilized to its fullest, which is very unfortunate.
I love Star Trek, and I for one must admit, Cryptic has done many things that were well done, but they also gone and messed up alot more. When a studio remove content for the sake of removing content and then call it streamlining, it shows there is something seriously wrong. I also believe that the move to F2P was the right one, and I even dare say that the lock boxes was a semi good move to generate the funds, despite some negativity that may have resulted from going that route.
In all fairness I am a bit bias against Star Trek Discovery, as I deem it a cancer to Trek in general, but that is one opinion, a conversation for another time. I understand Cryptic wanting to go that direction to keep the game in line with the television series, but I feel it is a step in the wrong direction, again my personal opinion and bias. I rather see content based on the unknown and promoting the future of Trek, again another topic for another time.
But we all must admit, the latest episodes feel disjointed and not fluid.
Also somtaawkhar, I agree that most MMO's player base do fluctuate, some more than others - I think EVE Online must have done something right to still maintain a Pay to play model. To be honest the MMO realm has been stagnant, almost have you thinking that the MMO concept is a dying breed, but then again just my opinion.
To understand the OP concern, in Cryptic case, it needs more boxes and shinnies in order to survive - It just sad that in needs more ships in order for it to sustain itself. I rather have huge packs of expansion and pay for those, that is with in depth Star Trekkish episodes etc... but that would go against their current business model.
To add on to what Somtaakhar stated, they do not simply cut content for no reason.
- Whenever they have streamlined story arcs such as the Federation Romulan arc, the Cardassian arc and the Borg/Undine combination arcs, it was to cut out story that did not match the story they wanted to tell. As a reminder, here's what those arcs were comprised of:
Romulan Arc: It was comprised of you mainly fighting against the Romulan Star Empire (and specifically, the Tal Shiar controlled Romulans) and did not mention anything about the Romulan Republic.
Cardassian Arc: God, this arc was pretty disjointed. You had DS9 being targeted by the True Way, the Undine and the Terrans, plus some filler episodes.
[*] Borg & Undine arcs: While these were mostly kept largely the same, the original undine arc was meant to put an end to the Undine's assault on the Federation/Klingons while at the same time, expose them to who were making them puppets.
[*] The missing Klingon episodes which feature Miral Paris might be being revamped to include J'Ula in there.
- Stuff that they cut out were because the content no longer met the quality that they wanted STO to convey to everyone. The Exploration Genesis system was rather buggy for a lot of encounters and became pretty nonsensical at times due to the randomized selections of enemy groups, maps and activity that it could select from.
When they axed it, they stated that it would be some time before they would come up with a replacement, since there's no easy way of providing a means of exploration without providing a means of giving people new things to explore while keeping it from getting repetitive.
Likewise, when the Foundry was cut, it was done because they honestly just could not maintain the the system any longer and prevent it from breaking when a new update came out. Would it have been nice to have it still, yes, but what's done is done and I'm not trying to beat a dead horse here.
Now, I wanna finish off by talking about this notion you feel that the latest episodes feel disjointed and not fluid.
The first 2 Discovery episodes were meant to introduce us to J'Ula and her plan to use the spore drive information she took to make a full working weapon that blasted the Discovery character to the future. They intend to continue her arc at some point.
The second set of Discovery episodes were to introduce us to Mirror Tilly and make her another recurring villain to use in the future, mainly to prolong the overall progression of the game as long as possible.
now the most recent story arcs serve to fill in some background of two Discovery characters which the series did not get time to do, Gabriel Lorca and Ellen Landry. I believe it'll also cover how Lorca was switched with his mirror self.
The reason they feel disjointed is that they are trying to prevent arc fatigue by starting arcs and coming back to them later, so they do not get burned out.
When a studio remove content for the sake of removing content and then call it streamlining, it shows there is something seriously wrong.
Except no content in STO has ever been removed for the sake of simply removing content
You mean aside form like the one mission where you were to destroy a Jem'Hadar production facility?
A mission CBS told Cryptic to remove, because they don't want that side of the Fedeation to be portrayed.
That's still not removing for the sake of removing things, besides I think most of that mission is still there it's just merged with another one and that particular part is removed, since IIRC it was the mission where you meet the new link.
I don't really know what we can gather from the video for this discussion.
The video clearly states that despite the title of the series, STO is neither dead nor even close to dying, and examines why it hasn't had the same success as other games for major franchises, with the examples being LotR and mostly Star Wars. The main conclusions are: troubled development in the past led to a shaky start (true, but cannot be changed anymore), the ST franchise itself being less popular than SW (arguably true, but probably not being changed by a single video game), parts of the game, namely ground combat, being clunky (valid opinion, somewhat shared by me and others, though many people also think differently as evidenced by recent forum discussions, but in the end has nothing to do with the question of "new content"), and the permanent battles feeling not Trekkish enough.
Okay, the last part is somewhat relevant, as it is very close to the "exploration as content" question often raised here as well. Which would be valid, too, but I wonder whether this would make great gameplay in the context of an MMO. There's two ways to do it:
(1) created worlds by the devs
(2) randomized worlds, we really don't know what we'd get
The first would be content admittedly, and maybe better content in the eyes of some, but not necessarily more. After all, such missions would have to be written and set like any mission of the style we have. Also, replay value would diminish if in the end it would be the same mission without any action part at all you'd just be running around interacting with things. The second would in theory offer almost infinitely many missions, but it wouldn't be easy to do it so they don't still feel the same all the time while still working (and not getting silly like the old nebula missions) and not being too buggy.
But as bmr correctly pointed out, we need a definition of what constitutes "new content". An opinion voiced here that all mission battles feel equal because you go in, shoot things, get reward is clearly valid, but others pointed out that they feel a surefire difference between fighting Tzenkethi in space and Borg on ground. In the end it really is a matter of opinion where to put the border between what is new and refreshing and what old and stale. And this question can be asked about any game or game series. Is a racing game offering variety because you can drive open wheelers, GT cars, trucks on road, ice, mud - or is it just always the same because "get into car, drive faster than others, win"? Is Anno 1800 really so different from older games of the series? In the end, it can't be too different, because people buying something from a franchise, or continuing playing a long lived game like an MMO, are there because they like the general gameplay aspects. And series changing premises too much between installments (think many mobile games of great franchises) are often receiving heavy flak.
So sure, there are some ideas for "new content" under this definition
- maybe a baseball game, play in the league or exhibition games
- card/board game tie in, let's call it "Fizzbin" or similar
- an adventure/puzzle mission with more complicated tasks than the current mini games
- and more
But to pull it off, first these games have to be fun in and of themselves, which isn't easy, since it will be like developing a (small) completely new game, probably with not much expertise in the genre on the dev staff in this other genre, with this engine probably not being built for this kind of stuff. Of course, if done well, it could not only create a spin-off game, but also draw new players, but at the same time, people here don't necessarily want to play baseball - they would be playing a baseball game if they wanted it. So it's a lot of development power needed which does nothing for a large part of the playerbase. We have gotten some minor stuff with existing mechanics, like the races at summer and winter event, which I absolutely love, but many players don't. (Read chat during the events to find out more. Though better: don't read chat during the events, the amount of asinine soapboxing by various people convinced they have the ultimate solution for every political problem would make your brain melt - but that was a detour and not connected to the issue at hand here) And when Tenebris Torquent introduced elements like a mini jump and run race or floating in three dimensions, not everybody was happy. Admittedly, many people were, but these were only very minor changes, I think it wouldn't be better with something major.
My mother was an epohh and my father smelled of tulaberries
You mean aside form like the one mission where you were to destroy a Jem'Hadar production facility?
A mission CBS told Cryptic to remove, because they don't want that side of the Fedeation to be portrayed.
A. What mission was this again?
B. Where is this information that CBS told them to remove it?
C. If CBS told them to remove it because they didn't want the Federation to be portrayed that way then it wasn't just removed simply for the sake of removing content, but because the rights holder felt it violated the IP.
Probably referring to the one where the Jem'Hadar hatchery was destroyed.
Star Trek Online Volunteer Community Moderator and Resident She-Wolf
Community Moderators are Unpaid Volunteers and NOT Employees of Gearbox/Cryptic
Views and Opinions May Not Reflect the Views and Opinions of Gearbox/Cryptic
I'm all for adding some more puzzles, but the problem seems to be that the majority of players only want one puzzle. How to kill the enemy.
One element I liked from the Competative STFs, despite the fact I really don't like the forced PvP at the end of Core Assault, is that they added puzzles so it wasn't just a race to see who kills the fastest. But then we come to the problem of people deciding that the infinitely spawning enemies are more important than solving the puzzles to progress. I once had a pretty terrible run of the ground one where my team didn't even get past the first puzzle, the ever popular staple of RPGs The Invisible Floor, because they were too busy shooting the infinitely spawning enemies on the other side! I literally got stuck on an invisible path with no way of knowing which way to go... because my team preferred to shoot the distractions. And no amount of me yelling in Team chat to push the frickin' button got their attention. Something as simple as pushing a button... was less important than the infinitely spawning enemies.
Needless to say... I was rather frustrated by that.
So puzzles in a team setting might not be as good of an idea. But I still want puzzles to solve because it adds to the fun. At least to me. Not everything could be solved with a phaser after all.
You mean aside form like the one mission where you were to destroy a Jem'Hadar production facility?
A mission CBS told Cryptic to remove, because they don't want that side of the Fedeation to be portrayed.
A. What mission was this again?
B. Where is this information that CBS told them to remove it?
C. If CBS told them to remove it because they didn't want the Federation to be portrayed that way then it wasn't just removed simply for the sake of removing content, but because the rights holder felt it violated the IP.
Probably referring to the one where the Jem'Hadar hatchery was destroyed.
That's what I think too. They made a new The New Link to replace the old The New Link.
Now a LTS and loving it.
Just because you spend money on this game, it does not entitle you to be a jerk if things don't go your way.
I have come to the conclusion that I have a memory like Etch-A-Sketch. I shake my head and forget everything.
There are two things I really enjoy in Star Trek Online: Space Combat, and story.
I don't want "completely new content". I like the stuff we have, I just like more variation of the same content we already have. I wouldn't mind deeper stories, with more complex characters, more complex motivations for NPCs. I wouldn't mind more different enemies, complexer combat scenarios, new missions.
I don't need Baseball or Mini-Games or whatever.
I don't think I need exploration. At least not in some No-Man's-Sky way. I don't believe that is really what Star Trek was ever about. No Man's Sky or Subnautica are fun exploration games, bu a lot of those games is about exploring the game world to find raw materials to craft and build stuff. That isn't Star Trek. Star Trek is exploring space and havin a story. And stories have to be written by authors, they aren't procedurally generated.
Two of the best Star Trek games I played where Star Trek: 25th Anniversary, and Star Trek: A Final Unity. Both were adventures. Everything you encountered was scripted, exactly how STO's story was scripted. It all worked with the same basic building blocks - use object X on object Y, give object A to creature B, Take Object C. Stuff like that. Kinda like STO has its "Interact with Object" mechanic. But these building blocks coupled with dialogue created rich and entertaining stories. STO does the same. It's fine. You don't actually need more than that.
But crafting stories and the environments they play in takes time. More time than it takes to consume it. So we spend the mean time with busy stuff. That's okay, too.
(And if you ever wonder how much time it takes... Well, have you heard of Game of Thrones? Well, the TV show is coming to an end. It takes weeks of production to make about 8 hours of television. And you know, it's based on the Song of Fire and Ice novels. The first novel was published in 1996. I bet people read through years of writing in about 2 days.
Now, maybe George R.R. Martin is a particularly slow writer, and maybe he did a few things on the side, but damn, Star Trek Online just races us through content by comparison.(Of course, it's also not anywhere as deep and complex. It could use a bit more of that. Maybe not quite as much as SoFaI, it's "just a game" after all, but... still a bit more.)
Star Trek Online Advancement: You start with lowbie gear, you end with Lobi gear.
^ good point about other media. I can read a long novel in 2 evenings, and then if it's a series by a good author it's usually a 1 year wait for the next volume. Movies take 2+ years. TV gives us 8 - 20 episodes per year. No one provides decent scripted content at anywhere near the pace that we can consume it.
That's why it's a good idea to play other games instead of convincing yourself that STO must serve all of your gaming needs 365 days a year. It can't.
^ good point about other media. I can read a long novel in 2 evenings, and then if it's a series by a good author it's usually a 1 year wait for the next volume. Movies take 2+ years. TV gives us 8 - 20 episodes per year. No one provides decent scripted content at anywhere near the pace that we can consume it.
That's why it's a good idea to play other games instead of convincing yourself that STO must serve all of your gaming needs 365 days a year. It can't.
BUT I WANT IT NAO!
Joking aside... this is the gist of it. We just play through things faster than they can make it. And people complain about the grind? HELLO! Grind is in EVERY MMO ever! Hell... STO is actually less grindy because we're not reliant on the Random Number Gods to give us a rare gear drop!
I log on to do the daily endeavors, which is usually no more then 45 mintues tops, + events when they are running.
That's mostly what I do, then sometimes I'll play through a story mission on an alt since my main on my LTS account has done them all.
My main on my FTP acct hasn't gone through all story content so sometimes when she's done with an endeavor I'll run her through her next story arc. Or sometimes combine story arc with endeavor when they can be merged.
Now a LTS and loving it.
Just because you spend money on this game, it does not entitle you to be a jerk if things don't go your way.
I have come to the conclusion that I have a memory like Etch-A-Sketch. I shake my head and forget everything.
STO has no grind. Doing something that's not even possible to fail, for 5-10 minutes once a day, to get a guaranteed reward, with a whole week of spare time in case you miss days, isn't a grind.
A grind is where you play an event at 3-4 hour intervals all day every day and if you miss days you make up for it by playing it at 3-4 hour intervals all night, too (or pay to skip).
A grind is where you need 100+ tokens for a reward and have a random chance to get one from a piece of hard content you're only allowed to play on sundays.
A grind is where you've got 5+ events running concurrently all the time and you need multiple copies of the unique, random drop rewards for all of them because they're all actually useful if not necessary for something, and you still need time to run the non-event content at some point, too.
A grind is where you played an event every day for every bit of "stamina points" you're allowed and win max score every time, but still only make it halfway through the reward tiers because it turns out the game actually wanted you to also pay for "stamina" refills for more playtime and/or win rare lootbox items to boost your score for the top tier. A top tier reward that also gives you boost for the next event so sucks to be you if you don't get it every time.
Whether that's too much reason to play is a matter of opinion, but I do play the games that do these things a lot more than I do STO.
Comments
As stated I did not agree with it, but it does give clarity to the reason why the new business model is keeping STO afloat and the lack of huge content per se. Not spelling doom and gloom here - merely pointing out the obvious. As far as inaccuracy, that depends on your view of what a good MMO is about. Again I never stated I totally agree with said video merely pointing out there are some truths in there.
There's a difference between lagging and AFKing. Lagging would be more evident as if they haven't loaded in when the match starts they don't have a shield indicator. Also rubberbanding doesn't stop someone from moving. Just makes it more difficult. Meanwhile a legit AFKer just sits there, just fine, fully loaded in... doing NOTHING. AT ALL.
It might take time to identify a legit AFKer in a furball like Mirror Invasion, but you actually can identify them. Especially if they don't bother to move or do anything for an extended period of time. Even if you're lagging but intend to play, you're TRYING to at least. Hell... some people who are lagging actually say so in team chat. Some AFKers actually declare their intentions to AFK, while others just remain silent.
Perhaps, however; I take everything that Al Rivera and the POD people say with a grain of salt - Crypitc has been known to lie to its fanbase on multiple occasion. If there was an influx on new players, that would be great - but it is maintaining them on a regular bases that is an overall issue. They tend to leave STO fairly quickly - I still say that the existing fanbase, and players that previously played STO and quit, but made a quick jump in to see if anything changed make up a huge number of that influx. But when they see it is more of the same, they drop back off fairly quickly.
Is irony truly dead?
Not exactly, but much what was said isn't entirely untrue - As I have been around since Beta and I myself have seen the changes first hand. The potential for STO in being a great MMO even with existing business model is still there, it is just not being utilized to its fullest, which is very unfortunate.
I love Star Trek, and I for one must admit, Cryptic has done many things that were well done, but they also gone and messed up alot more. When a studio remove content for the sake of removing content and then call it streamlining, it shows there is something seriously wrong. I also believe that the move to F2P was the right one, and I even dare say that the lock boxes was a semi good move to generate the funds, despite some negativity that may have resulted from going that route.
In all fairness I am a bit bias against Star Trek Discovery, as I deem it a cancer to Trek in general, but that is one opinion, a conversation for another time. I understand Cryptic wanting to go that direction to keep the game in line with the television series, but I feel it is a step in the wrong direction, again my personal opinion and bias. I rather see content based on the unknown and promoting the future of Trek, again another topic for another time.
But we all must admit, the latest episodes feel disjointed and not fluid.
Also somtaawkhar, I agree that most MMO's player base do fluctuate, some more than others - I think EVE Online must have done something right to still maintain a Pay to play model. To be honest the MMO realm has been stagnant, almost have you thinking that the MMO concept is a dying breed, but then again just my opinion.
To understand the OP concern, in Cryptic case, it needs more boxes and shinnies in order to survive - It just sad that in needs more ships in order for it to sustain itself. I rather have huge packs of expansion and pay for those, that is with in depth Star Trekkish episodes etc... but that would go against their current business model.
I'm one who plays for some lengths of time and then quits for awhile. Many times I wait until an Event is supposed to drop and then sometimes I just play around between Events.
It's something I never announce, as some are wont to do in these forums, despite the rule against it. I prefer to quietly go find another game and then to come back just as quietly when it's time for the next big thing to drop.
To add on to what Somtaakhar stated, they do not simply cut content for no reason.
- Whenever they have streamlined story arcs such as the Federation Romulan arc, the Cardassian arc and the Borg/Undine combination arcs, it was to cut out story that did not match the story they wanted to tell. As a reminder, here's what those arcs were comprised of:
- Romulan Arc: It was comprised of you mainly fighting against the Romulan Star Empire (and specifically, the Tal Shiar controlled Romulans) and did not mention anything about the Romulan Republic.
- Cardassian Arc: God, this arc was pretty disjointed. You had DS9 being targeted by the True Way, the Undine and the Terrans, plus some filler episodes.
[*] Borg & Undine arcs: While these were mostly kept largely the same, the original undine arc was meant to put an end to the Undine's assault on the Federation/Klingons while at the same time, expose them to who were making them puppets.[*] The missing Klingon episodes which feature Miral Paris might be being revamped to include J'Ula in there.
- Stuff that they cut out were because the content no longer met the quality that they wanted STO to convey to everyone. The Exploration Genesis system was rather buggy for a lot of encounters and became pretty nonsensical at times due to the randomized selections of enemy groups, maps and activity that it could select from.
When they axed it, they stated that it would be some time before they would come up with a replacement, since there's no easy way of providing a means of exploration without providing a means of giving people new things to explore while keeping it from getting repetitive.
Likewise, when the Foundry was cut, it was done because they honestly just could not maintain the the system any longer and prevent it from breaking when a new update came out. Would it have been nice to have it still, yes, but what's done is done and I'm not trying to beat a dead horse here.
Now, I wanna finish off by talking about this notion you feel that the latest episodes feel disjointed and not fluid.
The first 2 Discovery episodes were meant to introduce us to J'Ula and her plan to use the spore drive information she took to make a full working weapon that blasted the Discovery character to the future. They intend to continue her arc at some point.
The second set of Discovery episodes were to introduce us to Mirror Tilly and make her another recurring villain to use in the future, mainly to prolong the overall progression of the game as long as possible.
now the most recent story arcs serve to fill in some background of two Discovery characters which the series did not get time to do, Gabriel Lorca and Ellen Landry. I believe it'll also cover how Lorca was switched with his mirror self.
The reason they feel disjointed is that they are trying to prevent arc fatigue by starting arcs and coming back to them later, so they do not get burned out.
You mean aside form like the one mission where you were to destroy a Jem'Hadar production facility?
A mission CBS told Cryptic to remove, because they don't want that side of the Fedeation to be portrayed.
The video clearly states that despite the title of the series, STO is neither dead nor even close to dying, and examines why it hasn't had the same success as other games for major franchises, with the examples being LotR and mostly Star Wars. The main conclusions are: troubled development in the past led to a shaky start (true, but cannot be changed anymore), the ST franchise itself being less popular than SW (arguably true, but probably not being changed by a single video game), parts of the game, namely ground combat, being clunky (valid opinion, somewhat shared by me and others, though many people also think differently as evidenced by recent forum discussions, but in the end has nothing to do with the question of "new content"), and the permanent battles feeling not Trekkish enough.
Okay, the last part is somewhat relevant, as it is very close to the "exploration as content" question often raised here as well. Which would be valid, too, but I wonder whether this would make great gameplay in the context of an MMO. There's two ways to do it:
(1) created worlds by the devs
(2) randomized worlds, we really don't know what we'd get
The first would be content admittedly, and maybe better content in the eyes of some, but not necessarily more. After all, such missions would have to be written and set like any mission of the style we have. Also, replay value would diminish if in the end it would be the same mission without any action part at all you'd just be running around interacting with things. The second would in theory offer almost infinitely many missions, but it wouldn't be easy to do it so they don't still feel the same all the time while still working (and not getting silly like the old nebula missions) and not being too buggy.
But as bmr correctly pointed out, we need a definition of what constitutes "new content". An opinion voiced here that all mission battles feel equal because you go in, shoot things, get reward is clearly valid, but others pointed out that they feel a surefire difference between fighting Tzenkethi in space and Borg on ground. In the end it really is a matter of opinion where to put the border between what is new and refreshing and what old and stale. And this question can be asked about any game or game series. Is a racing game offering variety because you can drive open wheelers, GT cars, trucks on road, ice, mud - or is it just always the same because "get into car, drive faster than others, win"? Is Anno 1800 really so different from older games of the series? In the end, it can't be too different, because people buying something from a franchise, or continuing playing a long lived game like an MMO, are there because they like the general gameplay aspects. And series changing premises too much between installments (think many mobile games of great franchises) are often receiving heavy flak.
So sure, there are some ideas for "new content" under this definition
- maybe a baseball game, play in the league or exhibition games
- card/board game tie in, let's call it "Fizzbin" or similar
- an adventure/puzzle mission with more complicated tasks than the current mini games
- and more
But to pull it off, first these games have to be fun in and of themselves, which isn't easy, since it will be like developing a (small) completely new game, probably with not much expertise in the genre on the dev staff in this other genre, with this engine probably not being built for this kind of stuff. Of course, if done well, it could not only create a spin-off game, but also draw new players, but at the same time, people here don't necessarily want to play baseball - they would be playing a baseball game if they wanted it. So it's a lot of development power needed which does nothing for a large part of the playerbase. We have gotten some minor stuff with existing mechanics, like the races at summer and winter event, which I absolutely love, but many players don't. (Read chat during the events to find out more. Though better: don't read chat during the events, the amount of asinine soapboxing by various people convinced they have the ultimate solution for every political problem would make your brain melt - but that was a detour and not connected to the issue at hand here) And when Tenebris Torquent introduced elements like a mini jump and run race or floating in three dimensions, not everybody was happy. Admittedly, many people were, but these were only very minor changes, I think it wouldn't be better with something major.
Probably referring to the one where the Jem'Hadar hatchery was destroyed.
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One element I liked from the Competative STFs, despite the fact I really don't like the forced PvP at the end of Core Assault, is that they added puzzles so it wasn't just a race to see who kills the fastest. But then we come to the problem of people deciding that the infinitely spawning enemies are more important than solving the puzzles to progress. I once had a pretty terrible run of the ground one where my team didn't even get past the first puzzle, the ever popular staple of RPGs The Invisible Floor, because they were too busy shooting the infinitely spawning enemies on the other side! I literally got stuck on an invisible path with no way of knowing which way to go... because my team preferred to shoot the distractions. And no amount of me yelling in Team chat to push the frickin' button got their attention. Something as simple as pushing a button... was less important than the infinitely spawning enemies.
Needless to say... I was rather frustrated by that.
So puzzles in a team setting might not be as good of an idea. But I still want puzzles to solve because it adds to the fun. At least to me. Not everything could be solved with a phaser after all.
That's what I think too. They made a new The New Link to replace the old The New Link.
I don't want "completely new content". I like the stuff we have, I just like more variation of the same content we already have. I wouldn't mind deeper stories, with more complex characters, more complex motivations for NPCs. I wouldn't mind more different enemies, complexer combat scenarios, new missions.
I don't need Baseball or Mini-Games or whatever.
I don't think I need exploration. At least not in some No-Man's-Sky way. I don't believe that is really what Star Trek was ever about. No Man's Sky or Subnautica are fun exploration games, bu a lot of those games is about exploring the game world to find raw materials to craft and build stuff. That isn't Star Trek. Star Trek is exploring space and havin a story. And stories have to be written by authors, they aren't procedurally generated.
Two of the best Star Trek games I played where Star Trek: 25th Anniversary, and Star Trek: A Final Unity. Both were adventures. Everything you encountered was scripted, exactly how STO's story was scripted. It all worked with the same basic building blocks - use object X on object Y, give object A to creature B, Take Object C. Stuff like that. Kinda like STO has its "Interact with Object" mechanic. But these building blocks coupled with dialogue created rich and entertaining stories. STO does the same. It's fine. You don't actually need more than that.
But crafting stories and the environments they play in takes time. More time than it takes to consume it. So we spend the mean time with busy stuff. That's okay, too.
(And if you ever wonder how much time it takes... Well, have you heard of Game of Thrones? Well, the TV show is coming to an end. It takes weeks of production to make about 8 hours of television. And you know, it's based on the Song of Fire and Ice novels. The first novel was published in 1996. I bet people read through years of writing in about 2 days.
Now, maybe George R.R. Martin is a particularly slow writer, and maybe he did a few things on the side, but damn, Star Trek Online just races us through content by comparison.(Of course, it's also not anywhere as deep and complex. It could use a bit more of that. Maybe not quite as much as SoFaI, it's "just a game" after all, but... still a bit more.)
That's why it's a good idea to play other games instead of convincing yourself that STO must serve all of your gaming needs 365 days a year. It can't.
BUT I WANT IT NAO!
Joking aside... this is the gist of it. We just play through things faster than they can make it. And people complain about the grind? HELLO! Grind is in EVERY MMO ever! Hell... STO is actually less grindy because we're not reliant on the Random Number Gods to give us a rare gear drop!
That's mostly what I do, then sometimes I'll play through a story mission on an alt since my main on my LTS account has done them all.
My main on my FTP acct hasn't gone through all story content so sometimes when she's done with an endeavor I'll run her through her next story arc. Or sometimes combine story arc with endeavor when they can be merged.
A grind is where you play an event at 3-4 hour intervals all day every day and if you miss days you make up for it by playing it at 3-4 hour intervals all night, too (or pay to skip).
A grind is where you need 100+ tokens for a reward and have a random chance to get one from a piece of hard content you're only allowed to play on sundays.
A grind is where you've got 5+ events running concurrently all the time and you need multiple copies of the unique, random drop rewards for all of them because they're all actually useful if not necessary for something, and you still need time to run the non-event content at some point, too.
A grind is where you played an event every day for every bit of "stamina points" you're allowed and win max score every time, but still only make it halfway through the reward tiers because it turns out the game actually wanted you to also pay for "stamina" refills for more playtime and/or win rare lootbox items to boost your score for the top tier. A top tier reward that also gives you boost for the next event so sucks to be you if you don't get it every time.
Whether that's too much reason to play is a matter of opinion, but I do play the games that do these things a lot more than I do STO.