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Does Anyone Play Story Missions (Anymore?)
robertcrayven
Member Posts: 355 Arc User
First of all, let me just provide this disclaimer - this is not an attempt at social commentary, a bash against Cryptic, or a sneaky attempt at a backhanded statement about the perceived quality (or lack thereof) of the content of story missions. It's simply an attempt to investigate the veracity of a perception I've begun to have regarding the current makeup of the STO playerbase.
I have had the good fortune to find myself employed at a business that permits me to play STO while I am at work, which actually allows me a far more substantial amount of time ingame than I otherwise would have. Because my job is in the evenings (primarily) I am able to interact with people across the globe in multiple timezones, particularly a great number of U.S. players.
One common theme I've noticed, almost across the board, is a huge lack of knowledge among a great portion of the current playerbase concerning the Cryptic-made storyline missions, how they tie into the game, and why they're important. I've run into more Vice Admirals than I care to even think about who have made it to endgame without ever touching a story mission, propelled there by DOFF assignments and the various PvE / PvP events. Interestingly, when I have mentioned the existence of these missions, as well as the community authored content and the dailies, I've been met with general disinterest or an inquiry as to how to get through them as fast as possible.
So I'm putting the question out there to you guys - are we now in an era of STO where the majority of the playerbase does not care about story? Is our leading demographic now primarily composed of button-mashing pew-pew'ers who'd rather blow stuff up than seek immersion in the Star Trek universe? Is it possible that Dan Stahl's concerns that continued investment in story might not be worthwhile anymore actually have a foundation in reality?
And if so, has this been PWE's plan all along?
I welcome everyone's thoughts.
I have had the good fortune to find myself employed at a business that permits me to play STO while I am at work, which actually allows me a far more substantial amount of time ingame than I otherwise would have. Because my job is in the evenings (primarily) I am able to interact with people across the globe in multiple timezones, particularly a great number of U.S. players.
One common theme I've noticed, almost across the board, is a huge lack of knowledge among a great portion of the current playerbase concerning the Cryptic-made storyline missions, how they tie into the game, and why they're important. I've run into more Vice Admirals than I care to even think about who have made it to endgame without ever touching a story mission, propelled there by DOFF assignments and the various PvE / PvP events. Interestingly, when I have mentioned the existence of these missions, as well as the community authored content and the dailies, I've been met with general disinterest or an inquiry as to how to get through them as fast as possible.
So I'm putting the question out there to you guys - are we now in an era of STO where the majority of the playerbase does not care about story? Is our leading demographic now primarily composed of button-mashing pew-pew'ers who'd rather blow stuff up than seek immersion in the Star Trek universe? Is it possible that Dan Stahl's concerns that continued investment in story might not be worthwhile anymore actually have a foundation in reality?
And if so, has this been PWE's plan all along?
I welcome everyone's thoughts.
Post edited by robertcrayven on
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They are the only reason to log in every day. Personally i find doing the same missions, like STFs or the PvP daylies extremely boring and frustrating, but thats just me. Some people may seem to find a job in a factory exiting and thrilling.
Live long and prosper.
Based on my recent experience with a new toon...
It doesn't help that they've taken a lot of the story out of the game or relegated it to lore missions at SFA. I leveled a toon and spent the first 10 Miranda levels of the game just asking a simple question: "What is this war with the Klingons all about?" The game barely explains anything, beyond a bad guy named B'Vat. There is almost no character development, very little story, or few basic explanations for why we are killing so many people and fighting a 17-front war.
With the exception of the FEs and a few good ones here and there, there is very little in terms of a coherent story in this game. There are coherent mini-stories that usually end with a cliff hanger, just like many of the threads in the path end with a cliff hanger, while other stuff in the path (like holographic rights) are entirely missing from the game itself, especially the first 10 hours.
The best of the stories are now post VA, but they used to be captain level stories. They've pretty much taken away any incentive to play the best Cryptic stories of the game, since they now get assigned after a toon hits VA.
I suspect that much of what you know about the story comes from the Path to 2409, which now has its home on a third-party website, or you're basing what you know from info in the lore missions or the STO novel. Or, you're going from memory of the game prior to the F2P changes.
I stopped leveling the toon when I hit VA after finishing the Klingon Front and playing the Devidian missions. I was doffing, so Nimoy was congratulating me once or twice an hour.
I don't think we can really blame players when they have to rely on tribal knowledge, third-party websites, and a convoluted novel just to get an idea of the plot of this game, beside 'It's WAAAARRR!" To get to the good parts of the story, they need to be a bored VA who doesn't care much for a starbase or XP.
That type of player finds many great stories with UGC missions.
The better fleet actions such as starbase24, DS9 ground are gone, they should of all been like starbase 24 beam down with full away teams and team or work map objectives together all the FA Ground pale in comparison.
It does get old no having any new trek to play, it does get old getting new toys and not having a play ground to use them in.
Never once did I step into a story mission without exclusively going for the reward.
Would I rather spend 30 minutes shooting something and get nothing, OR, spend 30 minutes and get something...
To me "story" is a number of letters on my screen that has zero impact on the gameplay - and that I have zero impact on in return.
And so I don't care someone took the time to write an intertextuality joke referring to a character from the original series and think he is clever
Until such a time the story matters or I matter to the story it's just pixels on a screen
If I wanted to watch a story I'd read a book or watch a movie, the one thing that makes games superior is the ability to interact.
Since the story will stand still, move slightly forward or take a turn with or without me what does it matter
That being said I didn't expect anything from the storyline and luckily I enjoy the fighting in itself so it's not like I am upset of feel let down or anything
I even keep playing them once I hit max level, so long as I still have some to do in my quest log.
And when I run out of those, I'll play Foundry missions.
What else would I do? PvP? pfffft. :P
"You shoot him, I shoot you, I leave both your bodies here and go out for a late night snack.
I'm thinking maybe pancakes." ~ John Casey
I would like to see more story based content, things are getting a bit dry as far as I am concerned.
If you really are looking to start an adventure though, I highly recommend authoring your own Foundry missions. The one thing I always can count on to make me smile a bit while playing the game is coming up with my own story and bringing it to life.
Otherwise we all just have to wait for Cryptic to come out with new content, and it's not historically been all that quick, so the Foundry is a great way to get your story fix.
There are story missions? In STO? Whaaaa?
Who knew?
Leveling thru DOFFs means never again having to pretend that I am functionally TRIBBLE when I pick up a certain Deltan Admiral and never again will I have to herd my BO's thru the firecaves like some crazy australian shepard dog with a phaser.
Space:
1. not enough enemies (fights sometimes take not more than a minute)
2. huge distances you have to fly (sometimes) just to get to a group of 5 BoP?s for example (see 1.)
3. its not really spectacular. In the series of star trek, when there was a borg cube, the first thing they normally do is try to hide/run away but in sto,.. well.. a cube pops up, you kill it, you continue. Its not that i am scared of facing any enemy. (missing atmosphere)
4. There is no alternative in killing/disabling an enemy.
5. Space is too small and makes not much fun.
6. Storyline sometimes makes no sense. I am a hardcore star trek fan and i dont like if its deviating too much from what i know.
7. too much species i dont know or have ever seen in any star trek episode
Games that made this part better: Freelancer, Star trek bridge commander, star trek Dominion Wars
there would be more points here but those are the one?s i remember.
Ground:
1. The maps usually all look the same (not in that last FE). I think its a limitation of the engine or something but they are mostly boring, ships looks like churches from the inside (too big).
2. No alternative to complete objects (in almost all missions, i think in the last FE, they gave some options but dont remember).
3. see space point 2.
4. too much species i dont know or have ever seen in any star trek episode
Games that made this part better: Star trek elite force 1/2,Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - The Fallen
I have three main toons, and three alt toons. The alts are for, right now, fleet support.
My mains though are running through the story mission.
My first toon (all toons are FED by the way), a tac, started in April of 2010. i played the old format story missions with him, and really enjoyed them. i got him all the way through to VA 50.
I left the game for a few months, and came back after Season 5 launch. I kind of fell in love with the game again, and started another toon, this time a Sci. I decided to play the story line missions again to see how things have changed. which some were good, some were meh.
I got her to VA 50 without even finishing the Romulan story. But not by design. I was doing dilith dailies (for crafting) and DOff assignments. Right now, she is getting ready to run the Reman Featured Episodes, before moving on to the Cardassian missions.
The third regular is an ENG, who is doing the Devidian set, and is already almost a RA. Again, dailies and DOff assignments.
In general, i felt that the storyline missions are very nice. Could you a little more in terms of actual story. But, if you stop and read the text from mission givers, it does provide clues to what is going on.
The Path to 2409, has information that leads up to the game, including the "cause" of the Klingon/Fed war... but I have my own suspicions... :P
As a life long Star Trek fan, I found some of the story missions quite entertaining, especially Saturday's Child.
I think in the time of have been gaming in STO, I have done two STFs (the Big Dig and Starbase 24, before the queues existed), and have never gone into PvP arenas.
Hope this helps.
For example- You get Diplomatic Orders and Hide and Seek, then you get stuck with the first of the aid the planet missions and Scientific Mandate. Couldn't that have been covered when we were running around ESD before Stranded in Space?
The other problem I've run into is level requirements. Twice now I've had to stop playing story missions and grind an explore mission so I can level up to a required level to carry the story forward.
Overall, I enjoy them. I've enjoyed the feature episodes and I hope they move forward with them.
My only complaint is the lack of KDF missions. They are the worst I ever saw for stories. Only 5 per Romulan, and Dominion ones. That is horrible. So I have no choice but to do the duty officer assignments and farm the star cluster missions.
I'm all for story on games. I the one who spends time reading everything that goes on on that story.
USS Casinghead NCC 92047 launched 2350
Fleet Admiral Stowe - Dominion War Vet.
However, no, I tend not to do many of the storyline missions, especially not after the first time, mostly because the rewards are TRIBBLE, and when you have a half dozen or more toons to manage, you really can't be bothered with doing a mission that rewards you with vendortrash you could scoop off the exchange for close to what you'd get for vendortrashing it in the first place.
I like a few of them, though, mostly because they actually give me something I can't just buy for a pittance, like the retro phasers and the hybrid weapons. A pity they don't keep up with the MkXII stuff, but their coolty alone makes them worthwhile as a stopgap until then. There are a few big winners in the rewards that are actually viable for real use, though. In my book, endgame is the only thing that matters. There are people who tell you that it's the journey and not the destination that matters, but those people are slackers making up sorry excuses for the fact that they'll never amount to anything in life. There's an old Klingon proverb, "pIpyuS pach DaSop DaneHchugh pIpyuS puS DaghornIS": If you want to eat Pipius claw, you're going to have to break a few pipiuses.
Yes I play Story missions, but not very often. PvE rewards are better.
I'm busy earning dilithium or fleet marks.
Its always puzzled me why Cryptic hasn't introduced better rewards, dilithium or fleet marks for repeating story mission content.
Some of the story missions (featured eps and others) are Cryptic at its best and its a terrible pity that the current game design does not promote these more.
I'll be probably playing them all again on other characters I might make, again for the prizes, but these make the game have more flavor at least, IMO.
I haven't had a lot of opportunities to play games in general [think, High Expectation Asian Father meme, and apply it to the mother as well], so maybe I have an over-appreciative view of things. I'd like to keep it that way.
Ambassador of The Order Of Gallifrey // Representative of the 1701 Renegades
"Be the person your dog thinks you are."
Maybe MMOs are all about "gimme this" and "gimme that." I don't know. This is the only MMO I have ever played and the only one I'm likely to play. For me, playing this game is all about entertainment, not about a new shiny collection of pixels.
I pretty much exclusively play story content, whether Cryptic-made of from the Foundry. What else is Star Trek about? Getting to play our an interesting story is reward enough for me. But I'm just here because I enjoy Star Trek. That might not be true of everyone.
I find PvP and STFs boring and repetitive. Frankly, there aren't rewards enough to get me to play them much, if at all.
There is absolutely no reason story content and rewards should be mutually exclusive. You should be able to play a mission with a story you really enjoy AND be rewarded comparably to playing other missions, for the length of time invested.
I absolutely agree that they don't need to be mutually exclusive, and in a perfect world, story content would also come with great rewards.
I am puzzled over the extent to which so many people seem (and this may or may not be an accurate impression) to value the rewards over the story. It feels very backwards to me.
There is a gimme element but I think it goes deeper. I think on an intrinsic level, folks may claim they want stories that transform the world or that give them phat loot but what they want are experiences that transform their character. Gear is simply an inoffensive way of doing that, as are costume options.
There's no story if all the characters are static. Acquiring gear tells a story. PvP, even, tells a story. Going to Starbuck's in your car tells a story.
I'd say the issue is that with all but the best story content, people aren't feeling CHANGED at the end of it. And that's what stories, ideally, do. It's an important need they serve for us as human beings. The change can be modest. It can be simple or unremarkable. But it snags some small piece of your soul and twists it until it changes.
And gear can help do that or simulate that for some people because they have a way that they feel different as a result of the experience. And it persists as long as they use that gear. Every shot fired with that polaron hybrid canon can take you back to the story where you acquired it or that Omega Force armor can subconsciously take you back to your story as a player acquiring it, all the STFs and the bad pugs and the time spent playing with friends.
Oh, and I tire very rapidly of being forced to hold the idiot ball in a lot of these missions. As soon as I met that phony Vulcan ambassador, his bad acting told me straight-up that this was no Vulcan. The only questions were, who's hiding under that disguise? and why has the ambassador's aide not clued in on this? Pondering stuff like this while being railroaded into almost handing him his objective on a silver platter does nothing to make me like the writers.