It's like TB said, they have a "eh, good enough" mentality about a lot of the things they do.
It wouldn't strike me as out of the ordinary for them to have done the same with Androids. Cryptic is also notorious or releasing something broken and/or unfinished and then just ignoring it in favour of making new shinies, despite the number of bug reports or calls from forum users for the issue(s) to be addressed.
To be fair, though, they do sometimes address issues with the broken things they release. Eventually.
To paraphrase another post I saw yesterday, in three games' time, Cryptic has demonstrably shown that they are incapable of executing on quality control or creating an enjoyable endgame experience.
Well, I sure hope they get it fixed soon. I'm hitting 700 in 28 days!
I sure hope they get it fixed soon, too. I'm hitting 800 in ~30 Days (and still haven't claimed an Android (I don't need another Engineer on any of my toons, thanks primarily to my Amazon Borg)).
We're supposed to be able to select the gender and class for the 700 Day Vet Reward Android. You could have a Male Science Android for your reward, I could have a Female Tac, or whatever. That's what supposed to be so special about it. We each could still only have one Android "unlocked" at any given time, but similar to the original (now "Legacy") Amazon/C-Store Borg Engineer BOff and Friend Referral Photonic (EMH) Science BOff, you should be able to dismiss and reclaim your Android (and in the process re-select their gender/class again).
Unfortunately when the Android was released there were... ahem... issues, and they only actually released a Male Engineer Android. Those issues have still (over 100 days later) gone unresolved, and so we wait.
Here's a repost of all Dev Responses in this thread:
Visually, you will be able to chose gender, and you will get the full range of options that Aliens currently have, so you can have them look like whatever sort of Android you want. (Plus, we are working on a couple more bits to add on)
There are certain tech hurdles to giving out reclaimable unique BOFFs like the android or the liberated Borg, which is why we have to offer it in one gender and career right now. (The veteran isn't reclaimable, you only ever get one, so it wasn't an issue there.) I'm hoping that we can get the code team to address this at some point so that I could make all the different versions available.
Because it's a vet reward, you are allowed to reclaim the BOFF if you discard it. This means that it's unlocked in the store simply by virtue of being a 700-day veteran. No token is used, because it's not a one-time-only deal.
No, go ahead and grab one now. If we gain the ability to give different versions in the future, then you should be able to discard your current one and get a different one instead.
* Get 700 day vet reward
* Claim male engineering android
* Then go claim female science android, since that is a different critter
* Then go claim male tactical android, since that is a different critter.
. . . and so on.
I'm working to get tech implemented that will let us put them all in a "unique group" that will allow you to have only one of them at a time, but put all twelve (male/female, eng/sci/tac, Fed/KE) into the game.
Incidentally, all the variants are made, we just need to work out the tech limitation.
In brief:
1. When we say "we need tech" that means that we need a programmer to implement some code. I can't speak to the difficulty of doing so because I don't work with the low-level code. I know that restricting items is tricky (because it involves server interlocks). I am hoping to get one of our programmers working on this Soon (TM) but probably not Very Soon (TM).
2. The Creative trait affects any power that comes from a kit and does healing or damage. Any power that you can get as a kit power on your captain counts for this purpose when it is on a BOFF. Thus, Vascular Regenerator (to pick a simple example) gets a heal bonus from the Creative trait, and thus if your captain uses it from a kit, the bonus applies; if a science BOFF uses it as a BOFF power, the bonus applies.
I need an update from the costume art team, but they will need some time scheduled for that. (Right now, all androids would wind up in engineering uniforms, which is not what we want, obviously.)
I did go through and implement the new exclusion flags in the androids, but I also found a tech issue that will need sorting. Hopefully I can get a programmer to take a look. Wouldn't want to push them out in a broken state, after all.
(Yes, I'm at the office on a Sunday doing this for you guys.)
Bugs happen. Better that we find them and fix them during development, rather than pushing an update that would put all of the androids into the BOFF store but then make them unable to join anyone's crew!
No, but there's a bug that makes them un-commissionable when the new tech is added. Obviously we don't want that to happen, so I'm going to make sure that the bug is squashed before updating. (Yes, the bug would even affect the existing android BOFFs - rather unfortunate.)
Production has to find room in the schedule for the costume team to make them. The android costume hook-ups are a bit tricky because of the aliengen parts. Beyond that, outside my area of expertise.
The plan is that you will be able to dismiss your existing android and choose a different one, but you will only be able to have one android BOFF at a time.
I think this list is worth repeating. I also think it's worth repeating that we were told on December 15th 2011 that all 12 variants were completed. Now, in April of 2012 we're not even worthy of an estimate. Somebody, ANYBODY there, please talk to the people that CAN give dates and find some information out for us. I really don't think that's too much to ask.
In many jobs I've been in a position where I was an underling with no say over dates and times. That didn't mean that when I was talking to a customer I said "don't know, so sorry.", I talked to the people I needed to and got an answer. That's all I'm asking for here.
November 29, 2011:
Originally Posted by mhighison
Visually, you will be able to chose gender, and you will get the full range of options that Aliens currently have, so you can have them look like whatever sort of Android you want. (Plus, we are working on a couple more bits to add on)
December 15, 2011:
Originally Posted by jheinig
There are certain tech hurdles to giving out reclaimable unique BOFFs like the android or the liberated Borg, which is why we have to offer it in one gender and career right now. (The veteran isn't reclaimable, you only ever get one, so it wasn't an issue there.) I'm hoping that we can get the code team to address this at some point so that I could make all the different versions available.
Originally Posted by jheinig
Because it's a vet reward, you are allowed to reclaim the BOFF if you discard it. This means that it's unlocked in the store simply by virtue of being a 700-day veteran. No token is used, because it's not a one-time-only deal.
Originally Posted by jheinig
No, go ahead and grab one now. If we gain the ability to give different versions in the future, then you should be able to discard your current one and get a different one instead.
Originally Posted by jheinig
Here is the problem:
* Get 700 day vet reward
* Claim male engineering android
* Then go claim female science android, since that is a different critter
* Then go claim male tactical android, since that is a different critter.
. . . and so on.
I'm working to get tech implemented that will let us put them all in a "unique group" that will allow you to have only one of them at a time, but put all twelve (male/female, eng/sci/tac, Fed/KE) into the game.
Incidentally, all the variants are made, we just need to work out the tech limitation.
Originally Posted by jheinig
In brief:
1. When we say "we need tech" that means that we need a programmer to implement some code. I can't speak to the difficulty of doing so because I don't work with the low-level code. I know that restricting items is tricky (because it involves server interlocks). I am hoping to get one of our programmers working on this Soon (TM) but probably not Very Soon (TM).
2. The Creative trait affects any power that comes from a kit and does healing or damage. Any power that you can get as a kit power on your captain counts for this purpose when it is on a BOFF. Thus, Vascular Regenerator (to pick a simple example) gets a heal bonus from the Creative trait, and thus if your captain uses it from a kit, the bonus applies; if a science BOFF uses it as a BOFF power, the bonus applies.
December 22, 2011:
Originally Posted by jheinig
I have received the necessary tech update and I hope to deploy new versions of the androids after I return from the holidays!
January 29, 2012
Originally Posted by jheinig
I need an update from the costume art team, but they will need some time scheduled for that. (Right now, all androids would wind up in engineering uniforms, which is not what we want, obviously.)
I did go through and implement the new exclusion flags in the androids, but I also found a tech issue that will need sorting. Hopefully I can get a programmer to take a look. Wouldn't want to push them out in a broken state, after all.
(Yes, I'm at the office on a Sunday doing this for you guys.)
Originally Posted by jheinig
Bugs happen. Better that we find them and fix them during development, rather than pushing an update that would put all of the androids into the BOFF store but then make them unable to join anyone's crew!
January 30, 2012:
Originally Posted by jheinig
No, but there's a bug that makes them un-commissionable when the new tech is added. Obviously we don't want that to happen, so I'm going to make sure that the bug is squashed before updating. (Yes, the bug would even affect the existing android BOFFs - rather unfortunate.)
March 19, 2012
Originally Posted by jheinig
I have the necessary tech, and I'll hook it up as soon as the costumes are ready.
Originally Posted by jheinig
Production has to find room in the schedule for the costume team to make them. The android costume hook-ups are a bit tricky because of the aliengen parts. Beyond that, outside my area of expertise.
Originally Posted by jheinig
The plan is that you will be able to dismiss your existing android and choose a different one, but you will only be able to have one android BOFF at a time.
March 20, 2012
Originally Posted by jheinig
Having the data made (the bridge officer definitions) is not the same as having all of the costumes made. I can only speak to the data side.
March 23, 2012:
Originally Posted by jheinig
No, it wil go to Qa for testing when the costumes are completed.
Originally Posted by jheinig
Dammit, Jim, I'm a designer, not a producer.
(In other words, I don't make schedules, and I don't get to dictate to the costume artists.)
all I know is at least once we were told it was ALL ready. And it apparently wasn't.
Its either here or its not, and since its currently not. I'm still calling it vapor ware. Once It shows up and we can get what we've been told we can, I will no longer call it that. but for now.
I wouldn't call it vaporware since it does already exist in-game in one flavor, but I'm beginning to seriously wonder about the other 11 variants that were "already done".
I wouldn't call it vaporware since it does already exist in-game in one flavor, but I'm beginning to seriously wonder about the other 11 variants that were "already done".
They're already done. I know that a personal attack on the order of flatly calling me a liar would probably be a forum no-no, but really, there's not much more that I can do 'til I get the costumes.
They're already done. I know that a personal attack on the order of flatly calling me a liar would probably be a forum no-no, but really, there's not much more that I can do 'til I get the costumes.
While I'm disappointed I can't have my Gender-chosen Tactical Androids yet (it's been ~74 days since my700-Day-'versary), I feel bad for jheinig that unhappy and impatient players are confounded by priority-lacking costume updates (How long does it even take to copy an existing yellow shirt and make blue and red copies, anyway? Oi!) and continue to take their frustrations out on the wrong person.
The situation is unfortunate all 'round.
jheinig, I know you're not a producer (Dammit Jim, you're a designer! :cool:), but surely there is something constructive we can do to help this along? I don't mean to say you're stuck getting the shaft until you rat out another dev, but since it clearly shouldn't be you, then who do we turn to? Whom do we bribe, cajole, ask nicely, or otherwise persuade to give the Costumers the go-ahead they need to get this done?
jheinig, I know you're not a producer (Dammit Jim, you're a designer! :cool:), but surely there is something constructive we can do to help this along? I don't mean to say you're stuck getting the shaft until you rat out another dev, but since it clearly shouldn't be you, then who do we turn to? Whom do we bribe, cajole, ask nicely, or otherwise persuade to give the Costumers the go-ahead they need to get this done?
Hot pitch and feathers could be something construction. Well sort of...kind of... It would certainly be persuasive.
<.<
>.>
:mad: OK, fiine.
* douses pitch machine and puts feathers back into storage.
there's not much more that I can do 'til I get the costumes.
Ahhhhhhhhhh! I just wish they'd throw generic 2409 costumes on them since at least 50% of us are going to completely redo their looks/uniforms and the rest of those who claim them won't care how they look at all...
As far as the androids we are waiting for, I'm sure the designs are done, but until the costumes are done, they're not. It is Very unfortunate that, we are left with the feeling someone somewhere doesn't seem to want to reward those who reached this milestone. For me, this is yet another occurance of intent, and not following through, while at least one Dev has, those in power, have not, and that, is not a way to instill customer confidence.
Jheinig, for what its worth, I'm confident your part is done, but at this point whomever is in charge, should probably be told that numerous veterans are still awaiting this, and its very late.
I don't want to blame anyone, I just really, really want someone to give us an estimate on when we'll see the variants in-game. Someone there has to know the priority level this is getting and what that will mean (in broad terms at least) as far as when it will get done.
I thank you, most sincerely for working on getting a female android of whatever profession I wish in game for me. I desperately want to create her. I understand that guesstimates tend to get taken as promises and used against you, but isn't there some idea as to when we'll see them?
Well, we got some new Ferengi costumes today, so maybe that was what was tying up "costume guy" for so long and whoever was doing that can go back to fixing the Android costumes now.
Getting mine next week - so they're not fully customisable? Talk about a cheat.
Oh, they are, don't get us wrong. But we were informed that we'd be getting male and female versions, as well as variants that spanned the three professions. So far, none of it has materialized and we've been stuck with the basic male engineer model.
Well, we got some new Ferengi costumes today, so maybe that was what was tying up "costume guy" for so long and whoever was doing that can go back to fixing the Android costumes now.
Good luck with that. I'm trying to remember the times that they've gone back to fix broken things when they had so many new shinies to try and crank out so we won't get bored and wander awa-
Getting mine next week - so they're not fully customisable? Talk about a cheat.
They are fully customizable for a make, Alien Engineer Bridge Officer plus some unique Android only head costume pieces. (They look like sections of Data's head opened up. And you have the full range of the Alien species customization. .
They "say" a lot of things, but as any lifer or long time player or klingon or gold member or cryptic employee or poscaster or foundry author or pvp'er or 3 year old ferengi child can tell you, What' Cryptic says is rarely what it does in reguards to STO. Especially if people consider it a good thing. it seems only the bad stuff is where they keep to their word.
I've had my android officer for a long time now. I just hit 800 day the other day. Android officer has several parts on the face that can be customized with color, shape, etc. they are open spaces just as stated before by other players. Looks like data when his head was opened up to fix something. I found most of it tacky looking as I could not see an android having large open spaces on it's face exposed to elements. So I gave mine a pale yellow type skin color like data and yellow eyes with the smallest "android" face mod available to show it is indeed an android. He was defaulted as an engineer officer. I could not choose. probably for the best anyway as they are very useful and you can give your android the "quick fix" to heal itself and it's machines. Made him my top priority away team member.
Android bridge officer comes with the following:
Unique Traits:
Reboot : auto self rez, 50% hp, 10 min cd
Android: +10% phys damage, +20 all damage resist, +200 radiation resist, +200 toxic resist, +200 psionic resist, 20% heal resist (being a machine he cannot get full standard heal benefits), +200 confuse resist, placate immunity, can be buffed and repaired by quick fix.
Ground Traits:
Superior Creative: enhances kit powers, +7.5% all damage, +7.5% hit points
Superior Acute Senses: enhances stealth detect and exploit damage, +15 perception, +15% exploit damage
I hope this helps anyone who reads this. Sorry if it was a redundant post as I was not willing to filter through 11+ pages of this thread to see if anyone listed the stats.
Comments
To paraphrase another post I saw yesterday, in three games' time, Cryptic has demonstrably shown that they are incapable of executing on quality control or creating an enjoyable endgame experience.
We're supposed to be able to select the gender and class for the 700 Day Vet Reward Android. You could have a Male Science Android for your reward, I could have a Female Tac, or whatever. That's what supposed to be so special about it. We each could still only have one Android "unlocked" at any given time, but similar to the original (now "Legacy") Amazon/C-Store Borg Engineer BOff and Friend Referral Photonic (EMH) Science BOff, you should be able to dismiss and reclaim your Android (and in the process re-select their gender/class again).
Unfortunately when the Android was released there were... ahem... issues, and they only actually released a Male Engineer Android. Those issues have still (over 100 days later) gone unresolved, and so we wait.
November 29, 2011:
December 15, 2011:
December 22, 2011:
January 29, 2012
January 30, 2012:
March 19, 2012
March 20, 2012
March 23, 2012:
I think this list is worth repeating. I also think it's worth repeating that we were told on December 15th 2011 that all 12 variants were completed. Now, in April of 2012 we're not even worthy of an estimate. Somebody, ANYBODY there, please talk to the people that CAN give dates and find some information out for us. I really don't think that's too much to ask.
In many jobs I've been in a position where I was an underling with no say over dates and times. That didn't mean that when I was talking to a customer I said "don't know, so sorry.", I talked to the people I needed to and got an answer. That's all I'm asking for here.
November 29, 2011:
December 15, 2011:
December 22, 2011:
January 29, 2012
January 30, 2012:
March 19, 2012
March 20, 2012
March 23, 2012:
......ie more broken promises and vaporware....
Nahhh...
Either the Art Folks are up to their (his/her??) elbows in work from the various other dev's and this is a low priority...
or
They (The Decision Makers) just haven't decided yet ,when exactly to release it.
Probably gonna attach it to some special weekend or something...
or perhaps a bit of both??
JH has been very up-front about the whole thing...
There's no reason for him to be BS'ing us on this kinda scale.
Just like everything else..., we'll get it when we get it.
Just FYI it is already attached to a very special day. The day someone has subscribed for 700 days.:rolleyes:
yeppers... a day I'm long past as well.
Its either here or its not, and since its currently not. I'm still calling it vapor ware. Once It shows up and we can get what we've been told we can, I will no longer call it that. but for now.
Vapor ware. Nothing but text on a screen.
I wouldn't call it vaporware since it does already exist in-game in one flavor, but I'm beginning to seriously wonder about the other 11 variants that were "already done".
They're already done. I know that a personal attack on the order of flatly calling me a liar would probably be a forum no-no, but really, there's not much more that I can do 'til I get the costumes.
The situation is unfortunate all 'round.
jheinig, I know you're not a producer (Dammit Jim, you're a designer! :cool:), but surely there is something constructive we can do to help this along? I don't mean to say you're stuck getting the shaft until you rat out another dev, but since it clearly shouldn't be you, then who do we turn to? Whom do we bribe, cajole, ask nicely, or otherwise persuade to give the Costumers the go-ahead they need to get this done?
Hot pitch and feathers could be something construction. Well sort of...kind of... It would certainly be persuasive.
<.<
>.>
:mad: OK, fiine.
* douses pitch machine and puts feathers back into storage.
Ahhhhhhhhhh! I just wish they'd throw generic 2409 costumes on them since at least 50% of us are going to completely redo their looks/uniforms and the rest of those who claim them won't care how they look at all...
Also only applied to us being Captains.
As far as the androids we are waiting for, I'm sure the designs are done, but until the costumes are done, they're not. It is Very unfortunate that, we are left with the feeling someone somewhere doesn't seem to want to reward those who reached this milestone. For me, this is yet another occurance of intent, and not following through, while at least one Dev has, those in power, have not, and that, is not a way to instill customer confidence.
Jheinig, for what its worth, I'm confident your part is done, but at this point whomever is in charge, should probably be told that numerous veterans are still awaiting this, and its very late.
At least he's handy.
I don't want to blame anyone, I just really, really want someone to give us an estimate on when we'll see the variants in-game. Someone there has to know the priority level this is getting and what that will mean (in broad terms at least) as far as when it will get done.
I thank you, most sincerely for working on getting a female android of whatever profession I wish in game for me. I desperately want to create her. I understand that guesstimates tend to get taken as promises and used against you, but isn't there some idea as to when we'll see them?
Oh, they are, don't get us wrong. But we were informed that we'd be getting male and female versions, as well as variants that spanned the three professions. So far, none of it has materialized and we've been stuck with the basic male engineer model.
Good luck with that. I'm trying to remember the times that they've gone back to fix broken things when they had so many new shinies to try and crank out so we won't get bored and wander awa-
SQUIRREL!
*chases*
They vetoed Androids as a playable "species". According to Captain Geko(?), CBS wanted Data to retain his uniqueness.
They are fully customizable for a make, Alien Engineer Bridge Officer plus some unique Android only head costume pieces. (They look like sections of Data's head opened up. And you have the full range of the Alien species customization. .
Add to this all the statements about how they do not vet rewards devalued.....
So again, when???
They even said those of us with one can "swap" it out for a new one with a new gender/career.
Android bridge officer comes with the following:
Unique Traits:
Reboot : auto self rez, 50% hp, 10 min cd
Android: +10% phys damage, +20 all damage resist, +200 radiation resist, +200 toxic resist, +200 psionic resist, 20% heal resist (being a machine he cannot get full standard heal benefits), +200 confuse resist, placate immunity, can be buffed and repaired by quick fix.
Ground Traits:
Superior Creative: enhances kit powers, +7.5% all damage, +7.5% hit points
Superior Acute Senses: enhances stealth detect and exploit damage, +15 perception, +15% exploit damage
I hope this helps anyone who reads this. Sorry if it was a redundant post as I was not willing to filter through 11+ pages of this thread to see if anyone listed the stats.
Those are Soong type androids... plenty of other androids iN the Star Trek universe. (Just don't get any near Captain Kirk)