With the forthcoming launch of the Odyssey and the Bortas as well as the 2nd anniversary events, we thought it would be a good to have a tour guide. Al Rivera, STO Lead Designer, will be joining us Thursday evening to answer some questions about this weekends events, the new ships, what we have to look forward too, and your questions!
Please post your questions for Al here, then tune in Friday morning to see if your questions were answered.
Comments
because you are pushing the odyssey to be a sci cruiser, will you be allowing sci only power consoles to be used on the odyssey as well as cruiser power consoles? And respectively sci consoles on the Bortas as well (gotta make it fair for the KDF).
when will the +1 version of these ships be released?
Why did you change the one thing on the ships no one was complaining about?
You guy's are getting some fantastic interviews in at the moment!
Why ask for feedback regarding the Odyssey/Bortas then turn around and do the complete opposite? Specifically, the forum mostly praised the two universal BO slots and mostly hated the turn rates of these two ships. We we got was a removal of one of the universal slots and dropping the turn rate even more so. Yes, the latter was reverted back but I would really appreciate it if he would explain their line of reasoning on why Cryptic or he thought that that initial pass would ever sit well in the first place.
tl;dr: Why ask for testing and feedback then subsequently ignore it until the inevitable ****storm happens?
The KDF have an animal race - They are the Lizards
To my questions:
1) Is it possible in the near future will there be ships that have at least one or two universal console slots?
2) What will the CStore Enterprise F bridge layout will be like? Is it in the works?
3) With the new FE coming on Feb 2nd, will there be a possibilty of an encore run in the immediate future to celebrate this event?
What is the one thing that you want to get into the game by the end of the year? Odds of it happening?
Last year we saw a wide array of new and revamped content. The next FE has been heavily teased, there has been references to new Klingon missions, and a desire has been expressed to do more remastered episodes. Where are you setting priorities? New episodes? Remastered episodes? New STFs? PvP maps? Giant robot death machines sent forth to lay waste to the landscape?
10 things, in the works yes or no and current status (Early spit-balling, Working out details, Building systems etc...)
1. Territory Control PvP
2. Player Starbases
3. New STF
4. Unified Sector Space
5. Revamped Ship Interiors
6. New Equipment Sets
7. Revamped Star Cluster Exploration
8. New alien costume parts and/or Hair styles
9. Promoting BoFF to Captain
10. Endless waffles
And finally: Where is my Andorian Battlecruiser?
Just as things start to settle down and players get used to the status quo, suddenly the powers that be change it and disturb the waters again in ways that make little sense.
Are there any plans on changing the crafting system to allow players to add the attributes they want instead of what is provided in the crafting window?(Know I asked that ages ago on a previous episode of yours guys, figured I'd give it another try)
Will there be any new sets added to crafting like the Aegis set for those of us that just don't want to do STFs and will it be level-less like the Aegis? No offense to those that made the STFs, I just don't want to do them, I prefer crafting.
Last question, Will Warp Cores ever be added to the game?
A: "So you buy the cstore ones."
Serious question "Will you please rework the turnrate consoles to be a flat +degree value instead of the useless % based junk?"
My question. When are we likely to see this Klingon episode that was talked about.
Awwww. Yours was one of the top 5 questions in the thread so far.
Why do you ask the community to keep on testing stuff for you, if you completely ignore said feedback and go your own way?
Q2. When will sto open up to be more than just "playing a captain" because i would rather be free to play who i like in sto not be tied to fed or klingon main roles but to be a miner, trader, diplomat, traveller etc. Mini career paths with no story missions but lots of mini quests would be nice especially on the ground of planets. As being a ferengi trader with my ferengi ship would be nice playing stockmarkets might be fun or a miner where i mine dilithium on planets and maybe space through asteroid mining, and other goodies to sell for a career and fly around in a hauler. These things would be nice and due to not needing to do long story missions you should be able to flesh out a basic new career option mini class quickly compared to a new faction like romulans or whatever.
Q3. When will a long term plan come to light and it must be followed so no "prioritys change" etc rubbish so we can look forward to what sto is aiming to become within then next 5 years. Like a road map. What per year, and stick to it.
Q4. Why has the game become this bad development wise from a design point. And what are your short/mid/long term goals to correct or improve this?
Q5. Why nerf the flagship to be worse than other ships. For case in point universal consoles and turn rates. This is the flagship it is suppose to be better or very comparable to a sov as the design isnt that different its a bit bigger thats about it but shouldnt be any more slow than a sov i would have thought maybe a tiny fraction but not alot. You stated it was not meant to compete with other ships but it should thats kinda the whole point this isnt a novely ship it is a main ship your suppose to be getting people to play not just release it let ppl say ooh nice skin and then they play and say hmm not that good compared to a sov really or anything and they move back.. Try not to let this happen.
Q6. Can there be a elite mode or stf mode for story missions for levels 1-50 so end game players have something more to do other than stfs or pvp. Like as said, elite mode story missions where its harder and requires a mate with you and gives a small dilithium reward for replaying it in hard mode due to spending time on it which thats the reason for dilithium yeah? Of course elite or stf mode story missions for levels 1-50 wont have the usual rewards it would be just the 1 which would be dilihtium as it would be intended as a reward for replaying in elite/stf mode.
What is the procedure by which feedback is applied to things in testing? What weight is external (playerbase) testing given compared to statistical and internal testing?
^^^^ This.
What non combat design is coming this year, because i hate killing stuff when im a fed as thats not what star trek is about or the federation is about. Theres a few diplo missions which i dont think are repeatable and would like to see at least half the game being non combat and instead more puzzle based i mean look for star trek 25th anniversary game and a final unity and other point and click adventure games, this i would love to see more of in star trek online.
Oh ok one more question.
When will this war with the klingons ever progress or come to a conclusion because if your not going to futher it why not just end the thing and then combine the fed and klingon side when they become friends again which they will.
Oh ok last one.
Leveling is far too fast, i mean why buy a conny if you end up moving off it as its too weak to keep going really after you reach next rank. Will you consider loweing the leveling by at least twice as much and also fill out the low end of the game so people can enjoy slowly leveling up and actually enjoy being a ensign and doing ensign things like attend the academy, enjoy being lt, captain etc. I know you want to force ppl to end game quickly to buy cstore stuff but come on, at least try to have the game not a cash grab and make it a fun game for all ranks not just a mad dash race to the end.
It's well established that cruisers have a slower turn rate to escort and science vessels, but why does cruiser progression, unlike other ship categories, inflict ever decreasing turn rate values? Ships like the LtC Constitution Refit and the Cmd Cheyenne flew perfectly fine, but that drastically decreases for endgame cruisers like the Galaxy-class which makes them far less fun to fly.
So, why do you make high-level cruisers less fun to handle? Shouldn't you be focusing in keeping them fun to fly, and keeping them within expectations set by the 30 first levels of flying cruisers? What's your take on this aspect of fun, versus your apparent idea of balance, and how does it justify itself? As many players seems to think of that more like a game design flaw than a credible balance issue (cruisers could average 10-8, science vessels 13-11, escorts 17-15 and category handling would be retained)
Considering this is a perceived issue since the game's Open Beta (at least), do you plan on finally giving this another look and reconsidering your stance on ship turn rate?
* * *
We had hints that CBS gave approval for the Vesta-class making an appearance in STO. Any conceptual ideas you can share on how it might appear as in-game? Will it be playable? Did the Dev team have plans/timetable/ETA on when it's showing up in-game?