Once you get to max level, there is nothing to do. Sure, I could do stf missions... over... and over... and over.... and what would I get? A piece of equipment that makes my ship marginally better. Then what do I do with my new and improved ship? I.... farm stfs some more. Or.... I could try pvp (which I was initially devoted to). However, pvp is boring. Since launch Cryptic has given almost no thought to pvp and it's no longer fun. There are no new maps, the game modes are frankly pathetic, and the combat itself is terrible. (It used to be great at and before Commander level. But then it became zombie cruiser online.)
- Other than that... I can try foundry missions. Which I have, and many I have enjoyed. But user-created content is not enough to keep me playing a game, because there is no feeling of accomplishment when I complete these missions.
- Cryptic, you screwed up when you made it so easy to get to max rank. I would have played this game for ages if I had to work and think and struggle to get each level. Instead, I was handed my VA insignia on a gold-pressed-latinum platter. And that's no fun.
- You also need to do a hell of a lot more for endgame content. Stfs aren't fun the 50th time around. I'd personally be fine with having to grind stfs for weeks for better equipment.... If I could use that equipment somewhere useful, and where it made a difference. While it might make a difference in pvp.... I don't want to spend weeks grinding for stuff so I can participate in zombie-cruisers online.
- (Sorry this post is getting longer than I planned, but I have a lot of stuff I'm very ****ed off about)
- A third problem was fleets. There is nothing you can do as fleet that you cannot do alone. Fleets need something they can work as a group toward: either acquiring and improving a starbase, or improving their ranking (like on a pvp board, or, well, something) or even improving their own members (this doesn't work when you can get to va in a weekend like I did).*
- * Maybe mix fleet and endgame content; make a fleet-only mission (with more than 5 people, maybe?) that is doable say twice a week per player, that gives the fleet a reward currency. When the fleet gets enough currency they can buy a starbase or something that benefits them all. Just a suggestion.
- Another problem is your economy. It is incredibly easy to acquire energy credits... and then I have nothing to spend them on. The only use for energy credits is the exchange, where they never really get spent, only traded around. There is a massive inflation problem because Energy credits have no purpose. Honestly, what are you going to spend 50 million credits on? Hypos? Shield charges? There needs to be a reason for people to acquire energy credits... and it needs to be much, MUCH more difficult. Or slower, at least.
Overall, I no longer get any accomplishment from playing this game over and over and over again. It is repetitive and boring. I apologize (to whoever is still reading) about the length of my post, I honestly was only going to write a couple sentences... but here we are.
BTW, this post is me expressing my current displeasure with the state of the game, pointing out major problems (from my perspective) and offering what solutions I can think of. If this violates forum guidelines then the problem is in the guidelines, not in me trying to help this game improve.
Comments
With level 12 due to time constraints (and because I take a large interest in the Foundry) I stopped playing regular missions and started only doing dailies (roughly 3 exploration or short Foundry missions each day) and (mostly long-term) assignements. Now my main is allready level 28 without me actually playing the game :rolleyes:
Seriously - Doff Assignments are a game within the game and should neither give skill nor Boff skill points.
as overlourd already said, Fleets need a purpose, there is none atm. There could be special missions for fleets or pvp make systems that can be controlled by fleets, be able to build starbases. Open pvp systems or sectors where fleets can take control of systems with resources for building materials.
The crafting system really needs some rework too. gathering the materials to produce goods is a pain in the a**.
Make systems with asteroid belts where pplcan mine, scan or w. e. for the materials or on a planet surface with mining tools. These tools could be built by players and the schematics to build them could be given out by mission npcs.
There is soo much that could be done, instead of putting out a new episode with 5 or 6 new missions which are done in 1 or 2 days and then what?? Back to zombie grinding? Please dear Devs, aim for bigger things than that.
http://forums.startrekonline.com/showthread.php?t=252498
This is because nobody and I do mean NOBODY wants to deal with loss.
Nobody wants bridge officers to die. Only the the most pathetic of duty officers (mere pictures on a screen, with garden variety stats, no less) are they ONLY ones to die.
Damaging subsystems, forcing one to return to base for repairs? Destroying weapons, shields, engines or those amazing kits you spent forever crafting? Oh heck no!
Nope, we'll let you keep everything. After all, since dying isn't any fun anyways, we'll make it as painless as possible. No real damage, no need to constantly fabricate replacement parts and certainly no loss of invested captial. You just fly into battle, get blown up and we'll reward you for trying. No consequences.
Let's say you fabricate a very rare truely awesome phaser array (Captain rank). You don't need it, but you'll put it on the exchange. The only time someone will buy it is once they level up or decide to try a new weapon config. Once they're done with it... they'll try to sell it. It never goes away, unless of course you're too lazy to put it on the exchange, in which case you feed it to your replicator or an NPC vendor for a TRIBBLE price. I suppose that eats a few energy credits but not nearly enough.
Nope, what we're seeing here is the result of 2 years worth of accumulation of indestructible objects. Even if everyone in the game were to feed ALL of their items into their replicators right now, we'd get an even bigger surplus of energy credits.
My point is: If things actually sustained damage :eek:(yes, people that's what usually results when your ship blows up) and it required captial to repair that damage or to replace the subsytem entirely, or to heal bridge officers or even replace them if they died... it acts as a natural sink for all these energy credits. It also makes those high end commodities all the more valuable because not everyone will be able to keep them forever as they can now.
But we all know, a true system of sustaining damage (i.e. the dreaded death penalty) will never happen.:rolleyes: And before anyone says it, the current "death penalty" while it does exist, is not only a joke but bugged besides.
Death is meaningless in this game as a direct result: its only a matter of time before you'll be able to pick up a full Aegis set on the exchange for peanuts because every blasted kid on the block will have one or fabricate one thinking they'll make money on the market.
Simple supply and demand.
(Whew, end of rant.)
Sadly, I agree completely. Sto's inflation is going through the roof
Though I'm not so sure if durability loss AND a death debuff on the higher difficulties would be a good idea...
Doing just one thing no matter how much you like it will eventually sour you on that one thing.
Oh my ... you're making sense ... stop the ... pain ... its like tiny little worms burrowing into my brain! Arrgh! Please stop!
But seriously, yes and yes and yes.
Usually I agree with the "move on" psalm if its just another Arena Shooter or Korean Fantasy Grinder.
But a game with the STAR TREK franchise is something different, just like SWOTOR or LOTRO. Personally I am not a Trekkie and would probably move one. But I was very attached to LOTRO for example (Having read the books 17 times and being in the game from the closed Beta on) and therefore I understand that some players are very attached to the franchise and just WANT TO STAY. They don't want to move on. They have ideas of their own how the game should be. They want be able to completly love the game and play it for a long time.
And denying them any right to criticism is completely out of place. Trekkies discussed the TV series and Movies as well (as did the L0TR, Star Wars and Marvel comic fans to only mention a few). No one told them "if you don't like the last episode/movie don't watch the next" - especially not the producers.
So with all due respect - let the dedicated fans who see STO as kind of "their" game utter any concerns or criticism without telling them to shut up and quit (no matter how politely worded, all those posts come down to this single bottom line).
STO is a game; a Free To Play game which you can come and go from at will. Every MMO I have ever played, and that includes HUNDREDS, have grown boring after continuous no-stop playing. Sometimes you need a break from a game; sometimes you need a lot of breaks. When you get frustrated with STO simply take those breaks. Comeback for a month or so and then go do something else. There are many, many, many MMOs to chose from. No one needs to only play 1 to be happy. Variety is the spice of life.
STO is just a game. It's not really worth getting yourself all worked up over. No game can please us all. If it could we'd all only be playing WoW.
But seriously, some of you guys seem to either miss or ignore the point of the OP. No one is concerned or frustrated that the game got "eventually" boring.
It gets boring after 2-4 weeks of play for various reasons and that is NOt the average in MMOs - its a new LOW. Personally I will stick for a LONG time - but only for the Foundry.
And believe me folks, the Foundry is what makes the difference and the ONE single thing that will secure STO a prominent place in MMO history. :rolleyes:
This is one of those 'Serenity to accept the things I cannot change' moments. At this point in time STO cannot be more then what it is. There is only so much 25-30 people can do.
does that pretty much sum it up?
I have no great need for better Equipment because I don't PvP; though I can see its value for those who do. Ultimately, though, almost every MMO comes down to the same end-game concepts: PvP or grind Raids for purple gear - though most games have more Raids to choose from.
Edit: I would also add that playing with others also makes the game more enjoyable then simply playing alone. Playing with others gives you an opportunity to laugh and joke around with people, which takes some attention off of simply playing the game. Good Fleets also have events and things for people to do together. For example, the Fleet I'm in does regular events, such as the Shuttle Craft Exploration teams: we all use Small Craft and go against whatever the Exploration zones throw at us. It's not a big deal but it's still fun and breaks up the monotony of simply playing.
It is my firm belive that leveling is too fast - both for the average players fun AND for the profit of the producers.
Do I want the leveling - especially that btw leveling during dailies and Doff assignments - to significantly slow down?
Yes
Would I benefit from it?
Probably not.
Do I STIIL want it?
Sure. Imo it will make STO a more enjoyable and more profitable game. And I like my games to be enjoyable & profitable, even if I am not very attached to it or about to drop out.
Utopian, I know :rolleyes:
I'd love for STO to have 100 /played hours to end-game rather then 40 hours, but not if it comes at the expense of needing to grind endlessly for 50 of those 100 hours. The best thing which could happen would be to double the Mission content and decrease the XP by half, but for that they need resources and time.
The UFP toon I am still having some fun with, but this is what I see would really make the game a true adventure from now on:
Allow us to create our own fleets with the ships we have in our inventories. Assign our present BOFF's as Captains of the ships and partake in our own AI fleet actions. We could even link up with other Player's run AI-controlled Fleets in PVE or PVP. Would take a lot of work i realise, but that for me would really be something:).
I'll point out some things for you, I didn't deny him a right to anything. I said I don't get the asking other people to tell him if he should keep playing. I watched ToS live as a kid in the 60's, own all the dvds/blu rays I've got trek stuff all over the room I'm in. I just recently got myself put into these really nice mosaic posters of Kirk Spock and the Enterprise http://fanmosaics.com/kirk/search . My ringtone is a medley of Trek sound effects. My Kindle is filled with Trek books.
I'm a pretty dedicated Trekkie but when I get tired of the game, I give it a break for a while and play other stuff without needing to get folks to tell me if I should stay or go. If you read what I said, I said take a break do something else and get refreshed. Take a break implies go and come back. Not get lost.
Look at Bethesda. Their OLD games still rock because their equivalent of the foundry lets players make new and exciting content nonstop.
Even a child can see how much benefit a free access mission creator would be for STO. Why doesn't cryptic management?
But then again....mods for Bethesda games are not maintained by Bethesda and the games that are being modded are single-player off-line games.
Because there should be *no* incentive to be a Gold member.. I see the logic in *that*...
not so much. Aegis sets have been around better part of a year, and now with the cost of crafting in dilithium not as many people are crafting. I could have made a metric but-ton of aegis sets, but i had to either farm the traces (a pain) or buy them on the exchange ( not cost effective) ergo you do NOT see a tone of aegis sets on the exchange. and if you play on the elite setting you have to pay to repair your stuff, juust like any other MMO. in fact the only mmo i know of where you lose your stuff is EVE, and EVE sucks the big dog ****
I heartily agree with taking a break. I did from March until December last year when I re-subbed (the inner Trekkie was drawn back once more). I'll stay for a while, but again if I feel I am not at least visiting the game daily, and this stretches to more than a week I'll unsub for a while again. At least this time I know I can return at any time for free, but to get the most (and expect the most) I know I'll have to pay. That's fair.
As the game is now there are many directions for it to go in, and I don't believe stagnation and decay is one of them. The game really is just too good, in my opinion and with "Star Trek 2" (XII) due this year the player base is going to skyrocket, as will the Dev's new content with luck.
Small improvements between every level.
1. get doff
2. get boff
3. get TF3 hat
etc...
I would do max out those levels in a month and even use C-Store to
get faster levels:D
As for endgame - I do agree with this point, and Cryptic is trying to develop two more STF-s now (Terradome revamp and Borg Hive), and they plan on trying some STF-s with the Iconians next year. The thing is - Cryptic's team is pretty small, and Atari were really the worst owner for MMO purposes. With PWE (the biggest F2P MMO company in the world imo), they can start building a real MMO-oriented team.
That being said, I'm at max cap with one toon for quite some time (playing STO for a year or so), I'm in an active fleet, and I log on every day for a few hours - I always have something to do and I usually have to pull myself away from the game to go to bed; when I log off I always feel like there are a few more things I wanted to do but didn't have enough time for them. So, while I would definitely like to see more stuff added, I think the game already has plenty to offer at this point.
The thing about advanced and elite is you only repair if you die, you don't maintain or repair from battles, no damage, no wear and tear. I've wanted a mode where the death penalty debuffs could happen on critical hits. If you read the ship injuries, they are interesting and if they could happen in play, reducing a targets effectiveness as combat went on it would add so much variety to the game. Use an extension of the doff system to have damage control teams reduce timers and clear the debuffs.
Another extension could be a staffed sickbay reducing the timers for ground injuries as welll as doff sickbay time based on staff quality.
So, let's not play childs game and grow up and finish this game, it should have been finished few years back!
MMO that ends in week is not MMO, it's HUGE disappointment.
I challenge whole Cryptic to go beyond they payroll and challenge PW to hire 1000 more manhour to this game, i don't care how you do it, rent coders & designers & audio dudes & people, what ever you have to do.
Other games just SUCK!, STO is only game that has a bit more potential than those SUCKY games!:D
Kind Regards,
Guy who is now playing until STO has X 10 more stuff in it compared to ATM.
btw: I will come back and pat your shoulder like every LTS has already done, but enough with these forums!!!
Well, more to the point, the B'Tran daily combined with the Cryptic made NPC alien enemies.
I've got this whole little role play story imagined in my head involving them (specifically the Phaonians, the Crimto, and Vito'D and the Starlians, who I cast as the villains in my story) and the B'Tran cluster. My two top federation characters are part of that story (one is even an alien that I made to look like a Phaonian, along with half his crew being the same Phaonian).
So this obviously won't work for everyone. But that's how I dealt with the "nothing to do at end-game" scenario. I made up a story and within that story the endless "grind" of B'Tran dailies fits perfectly.
Now some of the sector sepcific DOFF missions also fit into that, and that's kind of cool. It's like the DOFF thing actually slightly progressed my imagined story.
None of this takes away from the OP's issues or complaints. So don't think I'm saying "well just do this" ... because I don't think it would work for anyone else except me. But maybe others can share what they do to stave off the boredom.
Keep in mind I've also taken long breaks from the game.