...Some would argue that a healthy 2 faction pvp game should be the goal, while others may argue having a full level 1-51 experience for KDF would be another goal.
...
So Cryptic has approached the healthy game target with different options and right now that option is focus on End Game because nearly everyone is Level 51 so any effort there benefits everyone and the long term health of the game the most.
So... PvP? Because that's the only part of end game that is dynamic and ever changing - any PvE is static, even if you actually feel like doing it 100 times over.
oh that is an easy one. thank you for asking.
All IP MMO developers will make sure all factions have the same amount of content or there is no point on doing the game. Warcraft is about the Humans and alliance. There is extremely little info about the horde by comparison when wow was released. When the game was released, they have equal content, but everyone went and created there human paladins. There was little horde players. The populations evened out in a few years because the mmo developer didn't say "We have X amount of money and since more people play the alliance, we should put it towards the alliance".
Same thing with DAOC or Warhammer.
Every developer knows that they can't shortchange the other factions except Cryptic.
"All IP MMO developers"... All.
You might consider looking at LOTRO and their "creep" faction.
DStahl, the spin doctor of course. The data mining reports, the population percentages (but never population numbers) and so on and so forth.
The information is not trustworthy. It never stands up to scrutiny. And in 3 to 6 months of time passing you find out that it wasn't accurate anyways.
This thread's a great example. The game developers focused on designing new systems and starter areas last year because data mining proved that the players were all low and mid level.
Now we're being told the game, after it launched F2P and got an huge infusion of new, low level players, has them all sitting at end-game.
The numbers are simply used to suit whatever the whim at the time is. As you can see with the track record of this game's developmental history.
DStahl was not there. Only the three Cryptic staff I listed. So who of those three makes the information they provided "not trustworthy"?
right now that option is focus on End Game because nearly everyone is Level 51 so any effort there benefits everyone and the long term health of the game the most.
OK...
letting that sink in for a moment.
Endgame...
"nearly everyone is Level 51"
i have 2 thoughts for that
#1 Endgame... i think the community asked for better things to do at Endgame... about 2 Weeks after release when the mass free 30 day DVD Keys ran out.
so i will do NOT argue against the idea of more / better Endgame.
The questions is what you people define as Endgame (surely not some silly Mining Event?)
... i'd say STF's, PvP and Foundry
all 3 of them are extremely under developed as of now.
So maybe your idea of "Endgame" isn't exactly the same as mine?
Please tell me dStahl, what content released since F2P does in your eyes qualify as "Endgame" ?
#2 "nearly everyone is Level 51" ..i also remember a statement of dStahl that only about 20% of the Playerbase even has Characters at Endgame.
Did the super fast leveling rate push everyone to Level 50 so fast?
anyway TANK YOU for finally thinking more about Endgame.
Personally i don't mind the Klingons starting at level 20 or what...
that only means that i can get my alts up to level 50 faster and fly the Ships that i actually want to fly with, instead of lingering in low level Ships forever.
The other side of the medal is that now the low level C-Store ships are way to expensive for the VERY little time i get to spend with them.
I blew through 2000 C-Points of Orion Ships in 2 afternoons... never to be used again.
-> give us an option for ALL ships to be played at Endgame, in particular the ones we have paid money for.
Or drop the C-Store pricetags to 250 C-Points per ship BELOW Tier 5 (100 for the ship 150 for the console that you get to keep).
oh that is an easy one. thank you for asking.
All IP MMO developers will make sure all factions have the same amount of content or there is no point on doing the game. Warcraft is about the Humans and alliance. There is extremely little info about the horde by comparison when wow was released. When the game was released, they have equal content, but everyone went and created there human paladins. There was little horde players. The populations evened out in a few years because the mmo developer didn't say "We have X amount of money and since more people play the alliance, we should put it towards the alliance".
Same thing with DAOC or Warhammer.
Every developer knows that they can't shortchange the other factions except Cryptic.
Warcraft is a lot more successful than STO though, with an accompanying budget. DAOC was too, when it started out.
DStahl, the spin doctor of course. The data mining reports, the population percentages (but never population numbers) and so on and so forth.
The information is not trustworthy. It never stands up to scrutiny. And in 3 to 6 months of time passing you find out that it wasn't accurate anyways.
This thread's a great example. The game developers focused on designing new systems and starter areas last year because data mining proved that the players were all low and mid level.
Now we're being told the game, after it launched F2P and got an huge infusion of new, low level players, has them all sitting at end-game.
The numbers are simply used to suit whatever the whim at the time is. As you can see with the track record of this game's developmental history.
It's a shame that developers go on the forums to discuss what they'd like to do in the near future, and many players take their posts as gospel. Then, when priorities (or even player interests) shift in 6 months, the developers have to switch gears. And those players who took the word as gospel cry blasphemy.
The cold, hard truth about any MMO is that priorities can change on a dime. Certainly, the shift to F2P had a lot to do with recent shifts in development priorities, combined with a change in management (Rivera, Stahl, and PWE). Truth is, there are a lot of fingers in the STO pie, and no one person is to blame for any shift in policy, although the lead developer usually takes the brunt of hte player ire, because after all, he's the lead developer.
Player priorities certainly change when things go F2P. All those low-level toons in fair-weather accounts suddenly leveled up since players could play as much as they wanted, within the limits of their time or checkbooks. So yes, we probably have a lot more high-level toons now, all waiting for more stuff to do, and with more money to burn. That's what the dev team needs to focus on then, because that's what's going to earn the most revenue.
This is a business, after all. If you lose some players because they're unsatisfied with KDF content, but gain a ton of players and revenue by updating end-game content... well, if you were in that situation, wouldn't you want to earn more income and not worry about paying your bills?
Just because people enjoy meat, doesn't mean they enjoy eating Moose at a restaurant. Just because there are people out there with Klingon Dictionaries, cosplay, books or what have you, it is in no way an indication of that group of people are also at the same time enjoying playing Klingon's in computer games, let alone MMORPGs.
Less Strawman attempts please.
And yet they have been created and sold to the public, so somebody is enjoying them and spending the money to do so. Just becuase it doesn't have a little feddie logo on it doesn't make it irrelevant to the fact those same people may enjoy playing thier fan attraction in a computer game (which have also been made and sold for the Klingons) and a MMO designed around Star Trek that has them as a vibrant feature. Which STO does not not completely offer.
Less strawman attempts please.
Strange, PvP makes me rather leave than come back to anything. I sincerely doubt that everyone that left did so because of a lack of PvP support.
They left because of the lack of things to do, that being endgame - PvE and/or PvP, certainly not because there aren't any more missions for klingons to grind up to 50 with.
And yet they have been created and sold to the public, so somebody is enjoying them and spending the money to do so. Just becuase it doesn't have a little feddie logo on it doesn't make it irrelevant to the fact those same people may enjoy playing thier fan attraction in a computer game (which have also been made and sold for the Klingons) and a MMO designed around Star Trek that has them as a vibrant feature. Which STO does not not completely offer.
Less strawman attempts please.
I don't believe the disagreement is about the existence of the market, but rather the size of the market. There's a market for coon-skin caps but that doesn't mean they sell millions of them a year.
It's a shame that developers go on the forums to discuss what they'd like to do in the near future, and many players take their posts as gospel. Then, when priorities (or even player interests) shift in 6 months, the developers have to switch gears. And those players who took the word as gospel cry blasphemy.
Some people who post on these forums have indicated in the past that they believe just stating that one intends to do something is a "promise" which must be kept and changing ones mind is the same as breaking a "promise".
In the grand scheme of things this whole issue really comes down to this:
Is it better for the game to have more things for everyone to do at end-game or have more low-level KDF Missions?
I seriously doubt that everyone with a level 50 character isn't sick of grinding the same STFs and Dailies over an over after they've done it for a couple of months. Ultimately what benefits all benefits one. I mean we're arguing about this on the day the KDF has a new Mission and a new redone FA.
It's a shame that developers go on the forums to discuss what they'd like to do in the near future, and many players take their posts as gospel. Then, when priorities (or even player interests) shift in 6 months, the developers have to switch gears. And those players who took the word as gospel cry blasphemy.
Gospel? Blasphemy? Not at all. Dstahl is now telling us that "what had happened was" different people from PW wanted different things. Which is FINE. However that does not answer the question of why we were told over and over and over and over and over ONLY what PW-Joe wanted(full KDF faction), with no mention of what PW-Jill wanted(end game and PvP only) until now.
Gospel? Blasphemy? Not at all. Dstahl is now telling us that "what had happened was" different people from PW wanted different things. Which is FINE. However that does not answer the question of why we were told over and over and over and over and over ONLY what PW-Joe wanted(full KDF faction), with no mention of what PW-Jill wanted(end game and PvP only) until now.
Oh oh pick me... I guess it is because that is what they thought they were going to do at that time (or during that period of time).. But now they have changed their mind.
Gospel? Blasphemy? Not at all. Dstahl is now telling us that "what had happened was" different people from PW wanted different things. Which is FINE. However that does not answer the question of why we were told over and over and over and over and over ONLY what PW-Joe wanted(full KDF faction), with no mention of what PW-Jill wanted(end game and PvP only) until now.
Probably because they feel that the playerbase as a whole doesn't need to be involved with the minutia of how things are being run in the background. As a former die-hard fan of another MMO, I can honestly say that obsessing about such things serves little purpose and only ends up frustrating a person when development does not go in a direction in which the player expects. It's how people get disenfranchised. I know it happened to me.
Oh oh pick me... I guess it is because that is what they thought they were going to do at that time (or during that period of time).. But now they have changed their mind.
Except that isnt what Dan said. He didnt say they changed their mind, he said that different people at PW wanted different things. So my question is simply why we were only told about what one person wanted over and over and over again with no mention of what the other person wanted until now. I'm responding to what he actually *said*, not what he didnt say(like you are).
Because priorities change. IMPO, as a vet MMO player, the answer is self-evident and typically does not come with any apologies from the dev staff. You develop the features that will benefit the most players or earn the most revenue, and if there's still time left on the schedule before the next ramp-up, you work on wish list items.
In the world of MMOs there's no such thing as a promise. Anyone who thinks differently is, for lack of a better word, delusional.
I agree with this as much as it pains me.
And just FYI, I was one of those many players at the non-Captain rank but that all changed over the Winter event, and I have two level 50 characters and will soon have 2 more. I am seeing less and less players below the Captain rank in game, so I think their comment regarding current most players at 51 rings true.
A quick look at the Dev tracker says otherwise. They tell us about all kind of background minutia all the time.
You're confusing the minutia of being a developer with the minutia of running a company. Devs will talk about the DOff system and new skins for ships. But I don't expect DStahl to tell us about ever conversation he has with everyone from PWE, Marketing, etc. Nor would I expect him to. It's not the sort of information that belongs on the community forums.
Heck, the fact the devs post on the community forums at all is a boon, given that it's primary function is for communication within the community.
But I don't expect DStahl to tell us about ever conversation he has with everyone from PWE, Marketing, etc. Nor would I expect him to. It's not the sort of information that belongs on the community forums.
Regardless of what you expect or think belongs where, he *did* tell us. He and Stormshade repeatedly told us over and over and over and over that PW wanted a full KDF faction. Now all of a sudden he's saying they just want to focus on end game and PvP. His explanation for the contradiction is that different people at PW want different things. And my follow up question is why were we only told one half of the story over and over and over and over again, leading people to believe thats all PW wanted? Why create that false impression at all? But again, we were already told about the PW discussions, so saying that doesnt belong here is a moot point now.
I don't believe the disagreement is about the existence of the market, but rather the size of the market. There's a market for coon-skin caps but that doesn't mean they sell millions of them a year.
Granted, but then again our small subfandom of the STO community is not asking for equal content but a complete faction. The two are not the same. You can have a complete level of gameplay (level 1 to endgame) without making the faction equal in all parts to the size of teh federation.
Between the prima donna attitude of " but but Star Trek is all about US" from some feds and the constant examples that the Klingons have less public appearance in the IP, many have forgotten what we desire.
A complete level of factional gameplay that makes sense to us as fans of the Klingons and the KDF, all that such a definition entails in STO.
We do not have that.
Yet we do have many feds is this thread alone saying such drivel as "the Klingon where hardly in any of the TV shows and movies" Really? Thats such tripe.
"Klingons had no representation in the Books", there are whole books just about the Klingons.
The underlying hate for the Klingon as a fan and a faction in STO is so ingrained into the fed-centris attitude of some they can't even acknowledge we have existed as a part of the IP since the late 70's much less pull thier heads out to see there is slightly more to Star trek than just the UFP.
But I go on a tangent, the main desire of every KDF fan is to see our faction have a level of completeness that explains our place in STO beyond the level of Monster Play we feel it is.
But instead I get to argue with some fans that are no more capable understanding than a spoiled child is that not everything revolves around them.
Not you of course Cosmic One, You have always been a well minded and patience fan in my opinion.
This whole arguement (much less this thread) is old as the Devs have already stated and proven where thier interest must lie for the future of STO and all us fans alike are just burning up bandwidth in the arguing the why, what fors and who right and who's not.
Granted, but then again our small subfandom of the STO community is not asking for equal content but a complete faction. The two are not the same. You can have a complete level of gameplay (level 1 to endgame) without making the faction equal in all parts to the size of teh federation.
and like I contend, if they were to do this, they would possibly see an increase in the percentage of players, which in turn benefits their newly stated goal of the week of more end game and PVP
It's a shame that developers go on the forums to discuss what they'd like to do in the near future, and many players take their posts as gospel. Then, when priorities (or even player interests) shift in 6 months, the developers have to switch gears. And those players who took the word as gospel cry blasphemy.
Some game developers lay out a plan on what they intend to do, and then actually do it within a 6 month window. Avoiding the problem altogether.
Regardless of what you expect or think belongs where, he *did* tell us. He and Stormshade repeatedly told us over and over and over and over that PW wanted a full KDF faction. Now all of a sudden he's saying they just want to focus on end game and PvP. His explanation for the contradiction is that different people at PW want different things. And my follow up question is why were we only told one half of the story over and over and over and over again, leading people to believe thats all PW wanted? Why create that false impression at all? But again, we were already told about the PW discussions, so saying that doesnt belong here is a moot point now.
That's because dstahl (if he is entirely to blame), beyond my comprehension, took the extra time, beyond his normal duties, to try and give you an informed answer. If you remember, he just recently stepped back into the position which was formerly and not to distantly occupied by Stephen DAngelo. You're really asking dstahl why he didn't make a statement when in fact he wasn't around to make the statement anyhow, working at another company and then being in a different position within Cryptic before resuming his previous role.
I'm honestly not sure what more you could ask him to to. He's already made amends, best as he could, for lack of communication which wasn't entirely his fault to begin with. All outside of the scope of his normal role within the company, and even on the forums.
Except that isnt what Dan said. He didnt say they changed their mind, he said that different people at PW wanted different things. So my question is simply why we were only told about what one person wanted over and over and over again with no mention of what the other person wanted until now. I'm responding to what he actually *said*, not what he didnt say(like you are).
....
Maybe because they did not know the other person's position at the time?
Maybe the other person had the same position but changed it later?
Maybe the other person stated their intent but told Dan to not tell anyone?
I can guess reasons all day...
Dan has posted 6 times in this thread so far, including directly answering your questions in his first post. Do you feel you deserve some additional special personal explanations beyond what you have already received in this thread?
The only thing I want to hear is a clear answer to my question: What does PW want for the KDF? And possibly(depending on the 1st answer): Why did they change what they wanted?
What I personally may want for the KDF is totally irrelevant to the question(s) I'm asking.
PWE wants a healthy game, but different individuals have different opinions. Some would argue that a healthy 2 faction pvp game should be the goal, while others may argue having a full level 1-51 experience for KDF would be another goal. At the end of the day, Cryptic has to decide how we spend our manpower and address the long term health of the game (which is what everyone at Cryptic/PW is ultimately watching over).
So Cryptic has approached the healthy game target with different options and right now that option is focus on End Game because nearly everyone is Level 51 so any effort there benefits everyone and the long term health of the game the most. If we can do more, we will.
Blame all the confusion on me. A lot of what is being talked about in here is my anectodal reference to conversations that I've had with different people over the course of several months. There isn't a collective policy document that says "This is what we want" or "this is how to spend your money". So what would probably clear things up is if I were to go back to all my references and say "Joe at PW thinks this is what we should do with STO" vs the more recent "Jill thinks we should go this direction with STO." - instead of just saying I talked to PW and this is what they want. "PW" was always a 3rd party reference to my conversation with someone at PW. At the end of the day those were individual opinions from our new ownership, but Cryptic still remains independent and needs to decide how we continue to develop the game.
Ultimately, there needs to be a concensus about how we approach the KDF faction issue and I think I was pretty clear in the Gates of G podcast as to where that was at...
Do I personally want a KDF faction level 1 to 51? Yes. Will I get approval to spend manpower on doing that? Don't know, but I have to make the case for spending the money on it versus something else. At the end of the day everyone wants STO to continue to grow and succeed. Right now I'm focusing all efforts and manpower on the clear win - Level 51 content and Fleet Progression.
While I appreciate the budget advice, I'd argue that it is an over-simplification of running a game studio and assumes a problem that doesn't really work the way you are arguing in this case. Each game at Cryptic has its own budget and is accounted for differently where headcount is tied to self-sufficiency.
....and we were told numerous times that both Cryptic and PW wanted to get more staff going to help the game along. What happened to this? Is the game that unhealthy that you can't spend money to get more staff?....End game? What end game, we have the same end game we got when your first released it. ... At this point, I honestly don't think they care. I really don't. Given the recent incidents around the Ambassador and other things, I do not for one second believe they care.
Have you seen our Hiring Page? We are absolutely staffing up and continue to grow. It takes time to train people on proprietary engine and toolset.
End game and Fleet Progression is the entire focus of the upcoming Season 6.
As far as not caring - nothing has been taken off the table. Schedules and priorities do change and I've been very forthcoming since I returned as EP that I would be far more cautious about talking about features that are still in design concept stage. You may still see everything that has ever appeared in an Engineering Report, but I'm only focusing on discussing what is in the immediate future - which in this case is April and May updates followed by Season 6.
If that comes across as not caring - then I apologize. The intent is not to be cagey but to be more accurate with what is going on. We are working on April/May content/event/store updates along with Season 6 which is Starbases/Level 51 content with some Foundry and PvP updates as well.
Dan, I fully defer to Cryptic's ability to regulate itself budget wise (as its not my responsibility XD) but with PW having around 2 thousand Research and Dev people worldwide out of like four thousand employees... isn't it time to send a memo to the Cryptic Admiralty asking for just 20 more people for the STO team to work on filling out the features that are already in place? I mean you guys and girls have done an amazing job with the handful you have but with even a few more content folks you could really tackle the main 'padding out' issues which are constantly with us. *Figures from March 15th PW earnings conference call reply to shareholder
If you think I haven't asked for an additional studio worth of personnel on STO - you'd be wrong. Those sorts of decisions take time and can be contingent on how STO is doing in the F2P model and whether or not it can break out into other markets. In the short term we continue to hire and add more people to the team and everyone is working on new content.
then once again I ask sir. Is the game that unhealthy that you can not, in spite of what we were told, hire more staff to help the game? Honest question because from my side of this monitor, thats what that sounds like, the game, is in monetary trouble. anecdotal evidence would suggest that something is amiss, the amount of "cash grab items" has gone up tremendously while the amount of new content, has been, relatively minor. the FE and a KDF mission, in how long now?
On the head count and self sufficiency, from what you're saying, STO may not be, self sufficient?
You may be forgetting the fact that the game is now F2P - meaning that anyone who previously was paying a subscription may switch to a Free player at any time and continue to the play the game without paying a dime. The entire principal of F2P is that some players (historically in the industry around 10%) will buy items in a F2P game and the rest will play for free. So do we need to put items in the c-store to support the growth of the team - yes! because the business model works on only a small percentage of the player base purchasing those items - but I'm sure you could go investigate F2P business models and get much better data than that...
Does that mean that STO has a 9 million dollar a month operating cost to break even like SWTOR does? Nope. Our budget is less but we are absolutely self-sufficient and continuing to grow.
Yeah, all positive PR talk. Plenty more linked to my sig as I'm sure you're aware. Tired of it. Rather have what Dan told us today - it's a no go because they aren't willing to invest the resources it would require.
Now they need to do the same with the Romulan Faction and tell them it's a no go too. Let's not lead your customers on any longer about things that may never happen. I'm glad to see Dan has stopped all discussions about future game developments except the things that WILL be out soon.
The first part of your statement above is going beyond what I said. I have not ruled out anything when it comes to the KDF and I continue to investigate all opportunities, with discussions ongoing. What I am doing is focusing on the immediate future content which is going live over the next three months.
Some game developers lay out a plan on what they intend to do, and then actually do it within a 6 month window. Avoiding the problem altogether.
I suppose if these supposed developers are not transitioning to an entirely different business model within that 6 month time period, or have a millions of active subscribers or customers, that's an option. :rolleyes:
That's because dstahl (if he is entirely to blame), beyond my comprehension, took the extra time, beyond his normal duties, to try and give you an informed answer. If you remember, he just recently stepped back into the position which was formerly and not to distantly occupied by Al Rivera.
In correct, That was Mr Stephen De Angelo, the current CTO that was in the EP role.
I suppose if these supposed developers are not transitioning to an entirely different business model within that 6 month time period, or have a millions of active subscribers or customers, that's an option. :rolleyes:
Some of these developers develop a game that USED to be owned by Cryptic.
Granted, but then again our small subfandom of the STO community is not asking for equal content but a complete faction. The two are not the same. You can have a complete level of gameplay (level 1 to endgame) without making the faction equal in all parts to the size of teh federation.
But what you're asking for is a "maybe" advancement. If the Devs stopped doing everything else for 6 months and focused on making 30 new 1-50 KDF Mission then "maybe" more KDF would come and spend money. Whereas they know if they spend the next 6 months working on end-game for both Factions then that will benefit everyone playing.
30ish Devs can't do both; and there's no benefit to ignoring 80% of your players for 6 months just to please 20%. I mean, how much fun was the 9 months when Cryptic ignored us to do the FTP conversion? Would anyone want to go through that again? Plus now that the game's FTP Cryptic doesn't have the luxury of ignoring Silver players for long periods of time like they did the Subscribers.
You're not asking for anything unreasonable, but what you're asking for a 30-Dev team can't produce.
You're really asking dstahl why he didn't make a statement when in fact he wasn't around to make the statement anyhow, working at another company and then being in a different position within Cryptic before resuming his previous role.
The comments in question were before he left, so him leaving has nothing to do with this. That said, in one of his previous posts in this thread he said he personally(not someone else) talked with more than one person at PW and that different people wanted different things. Understood. So my question is why were we only told what one person wanted, and told that same thing over and over and over and over again as it that was the only option?
Maybe because they did not know the other person's position at the time?
Maybe the other person had the same position but changed it later?
Maybe the other person stated their intent but told Dan to not tell anyone?
I can guess reasons all day...
Maybe so. Maybe not. I dont know and neither do you, which is why I'm *asking*. If he cares to actually answer the question I'm asking, then we will finally know.
Comments
So... PvP? Because that's the only part of end game that is dynamic and ever changing - any PvE is static, even if you actually feel like doing it 100 times over.
"All IP MMO developers"... All.
You might consider looking at LOTRO and their "creep" faction.
DStahl was not there. Only the three Cryptic staff I listed. So who of those three makes the information they provided "not trustworthy"?
OK...
letting that sink in for a moment.
Endgame...
"nearly everyone is Level 51"
i have 2 thoughts for that
#1 Endgame... i think the community asked for better things to do at Endgame... about 2 Weeks after release when the mass free 30 day DVD Keys ran out.
so i will do NOT argue against the idea of more / better Endgame.
The questions is what you people define as Endgame (surely not some silly Mining Event?)
... i'd say STF's, PvP and Foundry
all 3 of them are extremely under developed as of now.
So maybe your idea of "Endgame" isn't exactly the same as mine?
Please tell me dStahl, what content released since F2P does in your eyes qualify as "Endgame" ?
#2 "nearly everyone is Level 51" ..i also remember a statement of dStahl that only about 20% of the Playerbase even has Characters at Endgame.
Did the super fast leveling rate push everyone to Level 50 so fast?
anyway TANK YOU for finally thinking more about Endgame.
Personally i don't mind the Klingons starting at level 20 or what...
that only means that i can get my alts up to level 50 faster and fly the Ships that i actually want to fly with, instead of lingering in low level Ships forever.
The other side of the medal is that now the low level C-Store ships are way to expensive for the VERY little time i get to spend with them.
I blew through 2000 C-Points of Orion Ships in 2 afternoons... never to be used again.
-> give us an option for ALL ships to be played at Endgame, in particular the ones we have paid money for.
Or drop the C-Store pricetags to 250 C-Points per ship BELOW Tier 5 (100 for the ship 150 for the console that you get to keep).
Warcraft is a lot more successful than STO though, with an accompanying budget. DAOC was too, when it started out.
The cold, hard truth about any MMO is that priorities can change on a dime. Certainly, the shift to F2P had a lot to do with recent shifts in development priorities, combined with a change in management (Rivera, Stahl, and PWE). Truth is, there are a lot of fingers in the STO pie, and no one person is to blame for any shift in policy, although the lead developer usually takes the brunt of hte player ire, because after all, he's the lead developer.
Player priorities certainly change when things go F2P. All those low-level toons in fair-weather accounts suddenly leveled up since players could play as much as they wanted, within the limits of their time or checkbooks. So yes, we probably have a lot more high-level toons now, all waiting for more stuff to do, and with more money to burn. That's what the dev team needs to focus on then, because that's what's going to earn the most revenue.
This is a business, after all. If you lose some players because they're unsatisfied with KDF content, but gain a ton of players and revenue by updating end-game content... well, if you were in that situation, wouldn't you want to earn more income and not worry about paying your bills?
They left because of the lack of things to do, that being endgame - PvE and/or PvP, certainly not because there aren't any more missions for klingons to grind up to 50 with.
You don't say...
Some people who post on these forums have indicated in the past that they believe just stating that one intends to do something is a "promise" which must be kept and changing ones mind is the same as breaking a "promise".
:rolleyes:
Is it better for the game to have more things for everyone to do at end-game or have more low-level KDF Missions?
I seriously doubt that everyone with a level 50 character isn't sick of grinding the same STFs and Dailies over an over after they've done it for a couple of months. Ultimately what benefits all benefits one. I mean we're arguing about this on the day the KDF has a new Mission and a new redone FA.
Gospel? Blasphemy? Not at all. Dstahl is now telling us that "what had happened was" different people from PW wanted different things. Which is FINE. However that does not answer the question of why we were told over and over and over and over and over ONLY what PW-Joe wanted(full KDF faction), with no mention of what PW-Jill wanted(end game and PvP only) until now.
Oh oh pick me... I guess it is because that is what they thought they were going to do at that time (or during that period of time).. But now they have changed their mind.
Except that isnt what Dan said. He didnt say they changed their mind, he said that different people at PW wanted different things. So my question is simply why we were only told about what one person wanted over and over and over again with no mention of what the other person wanted until now. I'm responding to what he actually *said*, not what he didnt say(like you are).
A quick look at the Dev tracker says otherwise. They tell us about all kind of background minutia all the time.
I agree with this as much as it pains me.
And just FYI, I was one of those many players at the non-Captain rank but that all changed over the Winter event, and I have two level 50 characters and will soon have 2 more. I am seeing less and less players below the Captain rank in game, so I think their comment regarding current most players at 51 rings true.
Heck, the fact the devs post on the community forums at all is a boon, given that it's primary function is for communication within the community.
Regardless of what you expect or think belongs where, he *did* tell us. He and Stormshade repeatedly told us over and over and over and over that PW wanted a full KDF faction. Now all of a sudden he's saying they just want to focus on end game and PvP. His explanation for the contradiction is that different people at PW want different things. And my follow up question is why were we only told one half of the story over and over and over and over again, leading people to believe thats all PW wanted? Why create that false impression at all? But again, we were already told about the PW discussions, so saying that doesnt belong here is a moot point now.
Granted, but then again our small subfandom of the STO community is not asking for equal content but a complete faction. The two are not the same. You can have a complete level of gameplay (level 1 to endgame) without making the faction equal in all parts to the size of teh federation.
Between the prima donna attitude of " but but Star Trek is all about US" from some feds and the constant examples that the Klingons have less public appearance in the IP, many have forgotten what we desire.
A complete level of factional gameplay that makes sense to us as fans of the Klingons and the KDF, all that such a definition entails in STO.
We do not have that.
Yet we do have many feds is this thread alone saying such drivel as "the Klingon where hardly in any of the TV shows and movies" Really? Thats such tripe.
"Klingons had no representation in the Books", there are whole books just about the Klingons.
The underlying hate for the Klingon as a fan and a faction in STO is so ingrained into the fed-centris attitude of some they can't even acknowledge we have existed as a part of the IP since the late 70's much less pull thier heads out to see there is slightly more to Star trek than just the UFP.
But I go on a tangent, the main desire of every KDF fan is to see our faction have a level of completeness that explains our place in STO beyond the level of Monster Play we feel it is.
But instead I get to argue with some fans that are no more capable understanding than a spoiled child is that not everything revolves around them.
Not you of course Cosmic One, You have always been a well minded and patience fan in my opinion.
This whole arguement (much less this thread) is old as the Devs have already stated and proven where thier interest must lie for the future of STO and all us fans alike are just burning up bandwidth in the arguing the why, what fors and who right and who's not.
and like I contend, if they were to do this, they would possibly see an increase in the percentage of players, which in turn benefits their newly stated goal of the week of more end game and PVP
Some game developers lay out a plan on what they intend to do, and then actually do it within a 6 month window. Avoiding the problem altogether.
I'm honestly not sure what more you could ask him to to. He's already made amends, best as he could, for lack of communication which wasn't entirely his fault to begin with. All outside of the scope of his normal role within the company, and even on the forums.
Maybe because they did not know the other person's position at the time?
Maybe the other person had the same position but changed it later?
Maybe the other person stated their intent but told Dan to not tell anyone?
I can guess reasons all day...
Dan has posted 6 times in this thread so far, including directly answering your questions in his first post. Do you feel you deserve some additional special personal explanations beyond what you have already received in this thread?
That's not true at all.
In correct, That was Mr Stephen De Angelo, the current CTO that was in the EP role.
Some of these developers develop a game that USED to be owned by Cryptic.
Fancy that!
30ish Devs can't do both; and there's no benefit to ignoring 80% of your players for 6 months just to please 20%. I mean, how much fun was the 9 months when Cryptic ignored us to do the FTP conversion? Would anyone want to go through that again? Plus now that the game's FTP Cryptic doesn't have the luxury of ignoring Silver players for long periods of time like they did the Subscribers.
You're not asking for anything unreasonable, but what you're asking for a 30-Dev team can't produce.
Oh my.. I meant Stephen DAngelo. My mistake. But that doesn't really invalidate my point, does it?
The comments in question were before he left, so him leaving has nothing to do with this. That said, in one of his previous posts in this thread he said he personally(not someone else) talked with more than one person at PW and that different people wanted different things. Understood. So my question is why were we only told what one person wanted, and told that same thing over and over and over and over again as it that was the only option?
Maybe so. Maybe not. I dont know and neither do you, which is why I'm *asking*. If he cares to actually answer the question I'm asking, then we will finally know.