Supergroup Superbases

talamar · March 2017

I know we can buy hideouts for our own little heroes, but just because Superman had his fortress of solitude, it didn't stop him using the watchtower of the justice league. In Star Trek Online fleets get starbases, mines, embassies and a ton of things. it really adds to the lore and rp elements. I enjoy the weekly meetings in my dress uniform with the fleet admirals to discuss issues that have come up in the sectors we patrol. Now imagine if we could have places like that for our Supergroups. places that we could feel was our own to work towards upgrading together. In CoH you used to be able to build your own base for your team and pay rent on it to keep the lights on. While i don't expect something as intricate as that level of customisation. Is it so much to ask for superbases in Champions if they are so popular and useful in STO?

championshewolf · March 2017

Well, if you got excess money or you can convince people to start buying things in Champions, we might get the resources for extra splurging on a item that a minority of gamers would actually take part of or utilize. That's the thing, our budget has to go for things that would benefit the larger core of the gaming audience no matter what people think. Small items like personal bases and such that would only reach a minority of people in the grand scheme of things just won't be on the priority list while CO gets minimal income.

kyastral · March 2017

talamar said:
I know we can buy hideouts for our own little heroes, but just because Superman had his fortress of solitude, it didn't stop him using the watchtower of the justice league. In Star Trek Online fleets get starbases, mines, embassies and a ton of things. it really adds to the lore and rp elements. I enjoy the weekly meetings in my dress uniform with the fleet admirals to discuss issues that have come up in the sectors we patrol. Now imagine if we could have places like that for our Supergroups. places that we could feel was our own to work towards upgrading together. In CoH you used to be able to build your own base for your team and pay rent on it to keep the lights on. While i don't expect something as intricate as that level of customisation. Is it so much to ask for superbases in Champions if they are so popular and useful in STO?

I think having Super Bases is a great idea; however, there is neither enough content in CO to support them nor enough money generated in CO to pay for them. Players already have places/chat channels they can find other RP'ers and do their thing. STO is a bigger game that has much more content and events than CO does; there are things to do in that game even when it seems there is nothing to do. Also, STO generates income via DLC's and in-game puchases players want to buy. So, large private bases for players to gather and plan work for STO. When it was live, COH had more content than CO currently does, so the Supergroup bases worked for that game as well (I had two of them; one hero and one villian). The base customization in COH allowed players to make bases as large as they needed them and used a separate menu that included almost every item that you could find in missions and lairs. Yes, players had to pay rent for those bases but that was paid via in-game income (prestige) that players earned by doing mission, not real money. When COH went F2P, you still had to pay for new content (Going Rogue).

So, to answer your question, I would say yes, it is too much to ask for Superbases in CO since the game does not have the content (or the money) to support them.

championshewolf said:
Well, if you got excess money or you can convince people to start buying things in Champions, we might get the resources for extra splurging on a item that a minority of gamers would actually take part of or utilize. That's the thing, our budget has to go for things that would benefit the larger core of the gaming audience no matter what people think. Small items like personal bases and such that would only reach a minority of people in the grand scheme of things just won't be on the priority list while CO gets minimal income.

I agree with this to a point. In order to support super bases not only do you need content but you need to find a way to generate income for them. This is an issue with open content games; they have to find other ways to generate income since they do not put game access behind a paywall. Where I disagree is the budget going to the player majority. When the Cosmic Monsters were revamped, many players complained about it being only for a *small* group of players; this is no longer true. While the majority of the player base seem to want new content, the devs have been mainly revamping existing content (The new Snake Gulch Event and Q-Warzone being the exceptions).

championshewolf · March 2017

kyastral said:
While the majority of the player base seem to want new content, the devs have been mainly revamping existing content (The new Snake Gulch Event and Q-Warzone being the exceptions).

The devs are doing what they can with what they have. Making brand new zones and such is costly, regardless of what people believe on the matter. So at best, you will see small updates to old things making them more engaging than they use to be at the very least. And you can't deny a lot of power sets have gotten majorly fleshed out. I know there is a certain crowd that thinks only one power set gets the focus right now, because they don't have eyeballs evidently, but people only focus on the negatives it seems. It's essentially why we never get nice things in Champions.

canadascott · March 2017

championshewolf said:

kyastral said:
While the majority of the player base seem to want new content, the devs have been mainly revamping existing content (The new Snake Gulch Event and Q-Warzone being the exceptions).
The devs are doing what they can with what they have. Making brand new zones and such is costly, regardless of what people believe on the matter. So at best, you will see small updates to old things making them more engaging than they use to be at the very least.

Yep. It sure is. I'm astounded at how much the devs do with so little.

nornsavant · March 2017

Ehh, I may be the Grinch for thinking it, but if CO doesn't have any money it is because someone has their feet up on their desk instead of getting things done.

The devs may be heroes in their own right for working with what meager assets they have at their disposal but it is someone's job to convince you to spend your money on this game. I don't mean like “pay for this or your game gets it” but more like “hey, this is pretty awesome! I would definitely pay for this. Yeah!”

I see people saying silly things like “its a business, they have to make money” but that is patently ridiculous. They do not mint money, or conjure it from the depths of the Stygian abyss. And you do not owe any company a thing for merely existing or putting its offering online within easy reach. Don't get Stockholmed.

Businesses do not have to make money. They have to convince YOU to give them YOUR money. And to the degree that they fail at doing that is the degree to which they fail.

Has CO convinced you that they are worth your money? If so then subbing and buying market goods should be no problem. If they have not done so then that is something they should know about and understand. It is someone's job to get that understood and find a way to turn it around. Or its not, and that's a gap on their part.

Having said all that, it can't be easy with mostly obscure IP from a cult classic rpg to submarket. STO has that iconic wave to ride but they also have a darn good flow to their game, no sense of crawl, multiple levels of gameplay from mini-game to macro, and their free game is pretty great too.

Someone on the inside needs to get busier if they want to capture your hearts, minds and wallets.

Unknown · March 2017

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nepht · March 2017

CO will only get so much spent on it.

kyastral · March 2017

gradii said:

nornsavant said:

Someone on the inside needs to get busier if they want to capture your hearts, minds and wallets.
The problem is the parent company doesn't see which game clearly has the most potential, and as such wont spend money to actually improve it.

Good point: While it is appreciated that the devs are working with what they have to keep the game going, the game still needs to generate income to allow those improvements to continue and expand.

Well, if you take a look at the *Games* page you will see STO, Neverwinter, Livelock and Gigantic as the forefront games. There are web ads promoting these games. No game company is going to put all of their eggs into that *most potential* game basket: that lesson was (mostly) learned a long time ago. Even Swordsman, which is not a part of that top four, gets some web advertising. It is still a mystery to me why CO does not get any web advertisement to help generate interest and attract new players.

chaelk · April 2017

STO has 40+ devs working on it.
Cryptic doesn't own the IP and has to keep showing good use.
CO has a lot less and cryptic owns the IP
people are playing STO & NW because its star trek and D &D.
See how much people are willing to fork out for a ship or a ship interior and then see the complaints here about costume prices.

kyastral · April 2017

chaelk said:
STO has 40+ devs working on it.

Cryptic doesn't own the IP and has to keep showing good use.

CO has a lot less and cryptic owns the IP

people are playing STO & NW because its star trek and D &D.

See how much people are willing to fork out for a ship or a ship interior and then see the complaints here about costume prices.

A closer comparison would be DCUO:
99% of the costumes/hairstyles are NOT account bound; you have to grind/purchase costumes for EACH character and many of them are NOT for trading/selling. This includes the costume pieces available in the character creator (which is highly limited and has NO body sliders); you have to grind/buy those and your character is stuck with the costume/hairstyle you initially create your character in until you do so. Even if you subscribe, you STILL have to grind/purchase costumes/hairstyles the same way free/premium players do.

Daybreak does not own the IP to DCUO; Warner Brothers does. Daybreak has to comply to how Sony/Microsoft set up and receive updates to the game and their individual marketplaces, just like PWE does with STO and NW. There are more players on the console servers then there are on the PC servers for DCUO.

DCUO is notorious for its paywall system, yet the game is still around and players are still willing to pay for game items/DLC's/game rental.

I think some people complain about the costume prices because of the quality/quantity of the costumes. In my opinion, the devs should run another costume contest to inspire the next costume sets; it worked so well the last time and I think it helped to bring the player community closer together.

Unknown · April 2017

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Supergroup Superbases

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