Ive gone back and listened, never heard anyone make fun, only give fake interview, because RL DStahl would never give an interview , if thats making fun, then hmm, I must have a different sense of humor.
I never said they were. I was replying to your own words:
Folks who complain about poking fun at Mirror Dan, are the same folks that don't get poking fun at celebrities and politicians on Saturday Night Live, heh. Used to be that "Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery" But now days with people getting their fellings hurt so easily......
Like I said before, I'm not disagreeing with the overall point your making, but "poking fun" is not the same thing as "imitation", therefore that old saying you quoted has nothing to do with your point.
Instances in and of themselves really are not the problem. The problem is that the emphasis for MMOs has shifted away from being about the world and things we may find in it, and towards being about a central storyline that makes every player the savior of the game world. It wouldn't be so bad if they found a way to make it where no two players experienced the same exact story, and what we did actually affected elements of the gameworld which could potentially cause a ripple effect that changes other people's stories.
Old-school MMOs expected players to be self-starters. Games like Ultima Online and Star Wars Galaxies (pre-CU) put you in the world, expected you to explore it, and create your own personal set of goals to achieve when and how you wanted to. Todays MMOs lead the player by the hand from level 1 to max.
... snip...
Sorry for the length of this... Thanks for reading if you did...
So much to reply to i dont even know where to start...
I will say this much i cannot comment on the decision/reasons of Chris from Jupiter Broadcasting to cancel STOked. I was not happy with the decision nor do i endorse some of the comments he made in his closing episodes. I will remark the last 4 episodes of STOked were some of our most popular under the Jupiter Broadcasting Banner. Regardless , he still decided to shut it down.
As for STOked Radio which is solely under my ownership along with the cooperation of my fleetmates and the community that still watches/listens & supports the show, we are still growing in technology and skill. I do not possess the setup that JB has and prolly never will.
However the show and any other STO related podcast is a labor of love from their respected creators, and i respect and understand RSA in their decision and desire to grow and branch out to more lucrative projects as i was and still am facing that decision myself.
My roots in broadcasting/podcasting are in STO and i will always remember my roots and give back to the community that has supported me what i can, when i can.
As such i will go through this thread and reply in kind prolly live this weekend on STOked Radio. Ill keep you all updated.
I think you hit the nail on the head, Klyte. For far too long, RSA made it a point to ruthlessly mock, complain about, and bash every dev and every decision associated with this game. For a time, their hosts even went so far as to brag about all the other games they were playing instead of STO. They openly made fun of Dan Stahl with a character they called 'Mirror Dan Stahl' and would drone on endlessly about how horrible they thought everything about the game was. Eventually, they wound up not being able to get any devs to come on their show, or even acknowledge their existence, and their listener base began to be turned off by what the show represented.
And yet RSA seems to be blind to that, instead blaming what they perceive as Cryptic's incompetence and a dwindling community for their failure. The claim that there isn't enough happening in STO to do a full show about every week is nonsense; Priority One manages to do so very effectively.
Mirror Dan Stahl is a tongue-in-cheek joke that our listeners find amusing. If people hated it we wouldn't do it. I'm sorry you feel pointing out truths about the game and / or it's business decisions is what you could consider mocking or bashing. I could see how you might consider it "complaining" but when you've invested time, and a lot of money, into a game and see certain business decisions take place that aren't healthy then you tend to speak out against it.
As for Priority One, they put on a good show but it's fairly easy to do when you have some form of developer interview pretty much every other week. And they also talk about non-STO related content such as This Day / Week in Trek which is Star Trek related yes but not really STO related. If you removed all of that and just put in pure discussion about STO news on a weekly basis, there isn't a lot there. Maybe a Tribble patch, or a new screen shot etc But not enough to really base an entire 2 hour time block around. Occasionally it gets easier if there is an Ask Cryptic to dissect or a State of the Game but those are only once a month.
But as said we won't be dropping STO and we do not think STO is "dying" just a decline in playerbase which pretty much every mmo goes through, even the mighty WoW. We speak our minds, and speak the truth whether it's praise or harsh critique. We hope people tune in or download the show, if not we understand and respect the decision.
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
redshirtarmy.com - RedShirtArmy Podcast
STO / Cryptic member since 2009 (mavgeek)
Some may, some may not. Either way you cant speak for all of them collectively.
Some may respect that not everyone is the same, some may not. Who are you to know whether he speaks for them all or not? How do you know what they or even you are really thinking in the dark subconscious of your mind?
See what I did there?
If we have to add such disclaimers in front of anything we say we'll never get anything of value said.
Who are you to know whether he speaks for them all or not?
I am actually one of the listeners of his show, and I know he doesnt have my permission to speak for me, therefore I know he doesnt speak for all of his listeners
I think you hit the nail on the head, Klyte. For far too long, RSA made it a point to ruthlessly mock, complain about, and bash every dev and every decision associated with this game. For a time, their hosts even went so far as to brag about all the other games they were playing instead of STO. They openly made fun of Dan Stahl with a character they called 'Mirror Dan Stahl' and would drone on endlessly about how horrible they thought everything about the game was. Eventually, they wound up not being able to get any devs to come on their show, or even acknowledge their existence, and their listener base began to be turned off by what the show represented.
As the Devils Advocate, If they did a completely upbeat and vibrant show that supported STO and its staff in all things and decisions then RSA would've been labeled AssKissers of STO like other podcasts have been in the past.
Unless there is some written bylaws on what a Podcast must be and how it must be portrayed then RSA is free to be as glum and unhappy as they wish and they are just as entitled to voice that opinion, right or wrong, as they see fit.
If they do not have any entertainment value then they will lose thier listeners regardless of how thier viewpoints sit and they are free to blaim whatever for that happening.
If all entertainment had to be good to be popular we would not have Reality TV. Same thing can be said for Podcasts.
Originally Posted by sirsitsalot
Instances in and of themselves really are not the problem. The problem is that the emphasis for MMOs has shifted away from being about the world and things we may find in it, and towards being about a central storyline that makes every player the savior of the game world. It wouldn't be so bad if they found a way to make it where no two players experienced the same exact story, and what we did actually affected elements of the gameworld which could potentially cause a ripple effect that changes other people's stories.
Old-school MMOs expected players to be self-starters. Games like Ultima Online and Star Wars Galaxies (pre-CU) put you in the world, expected you to explore it, and create your own personal set of goals to achieve when and how you wanted to. Todays MMOs lead the player by the hand from level 1 to max.
Exactly. Unfortunately it seems that the modern MMO player expects and demands to hand-held through thier games.
Exactly. Unfortunately it seems that the modern MMO player expects and demands to hand-held through thier games.
Which is bizarre, because even if you only have passing experience with the Star Trek Franchise you should be aware that there should be very little hand-holding.
Star Trek Online: "Boldly go where everyone has gone before". :rolleyes:
For far too long, RSA made it a point to ruthlessly mock, complain about, and bash every dev and every decision associated with this game. Eventually, they wound up not being able to get any devs to come on their show, or even acknowledge their existence
I think the opposite has happened .
If they would have had a Dev on every other week (or every other month) like some of the other podcasts did , RSA might have turned out to be a different animal than it is today .
What we have today is (IMHO) precisely the result of being ignored by Cryptic for 2+ years -- in fact (in the eyes of the RSA crew) they were being singled out to be ignored .
A lot of other ppl would have packed up their podcasting bags and moved on .
The RSA crew chose to stick with it ... (something I can respect them for) -- but I also think that there was a little bit of embitterment on their side from the "if we ignore them they will just go away" treatment they seemingly got from the Cryptic Devs .
They openly made fun of Dan Stahl with a character they called 'Mirror Dan Stahl'
After being ignored for 2 years , they brought on a puppet .
I would have done it sooner .
And it's a damn funny_yet_respectful puppet too !(most of the time)
I miss MorBlade (and 'Mirror Dan Stahl') !
Hope they get's better soon .
where Foundry Fan Fiction Missions have to pick up the slack for Cryptic's inability to deliver their own Soft-Canon story content.
For the record i am the first to say that the Foundry needs more updates, better UI integration and NEEDS to be tied into that Reputation System for Season 7 to get some real player attention.
all the foundry *Spotlights* are nice and so on, but it isn't even an in-game spotlight, just a Website thing, and only a minority visits the Website as they always love to tell us when they choose to ignore our feedback.
I want a lot more from the Foundry system BUT i don't play Foundry missions.
Cryptic has trained me to do my daily dilithium / Zen / Fleetmark grind to get my hands on the C-Store items that i WANT.
Same with STFs and STF gear (got my 3 Armors, i think i'm done with STFs, at least for now...)
That's kind of a problem with the Star Trek fanbase - and STO playerbase - in general.
I've heard people who basically want to turn this game into a space shooter. And I've heard people who think that this game isn't Star Trek at all until we've turned it into a diplomatic menu click-fest and/or colony Sim City clone. Similarly some people think anything that isn't Deep Space 9's last three seasons is a yawn fest, and others believe that anything with the Trek brand involving much violence at all, or at least without a ton of social commentary, is a barbaric mockery of Trek. Both claim that theirs is the One True Way (TM) for Star Trek. Which is right? Probably both a bit, but mostly neither - Star Trek is all of these things and more. Just because Gene Roddenberry said one thing does not mean that Star Trek was the One True Way for anything in particular. Roddenberry gets the credit, but Star Trek was the work of hundreds, and all of those hundreds left their own opinions and own mark in one way or another, be it ever so tiny, and inevitably, when the material is joined with the viewer's mind, it becomes a unique creation all its own, with its own myriad of avenues.
The Foundry lets these avenues be explored. Unfortunately most people either blow it off because the one thing that truly distinguishes canon from non-canon - a paycheck - isn't involved, or because they aren't willing to invest 3 minutes to learn how to use the search feature on anything that isn't Google. Or there is also reason #3 - the lack of objective reward.
Unfortunately, somewhere along the line, MMOs became all about "carrots." Problem is that the "carrot" system and the Foundry system are extremely difficult to reconcile - if you want carrots for the Foundry in general then someone is going to find an exploit and get around it, then people will gripe and say 'but I can do XYZ mission in five minutes and get the Phased Polaron Disruptive Antiproton Array Mk XII [OneShotKill][Explode][IWinButton][Tetryon],' which totally defeats the purpose. Aside from someone at Cryptic going through the missions, hand-picking some to give rewards, and giving the rewards (or a system like that, I can think of a few that are probably full of holes), then the exploits are going to remove the entire "carrots" aspect of the Foundry.
Bottom line is, the Foundry is probably more for true Trek/STO fans than anything else in this game - because it focuses on the enjoyment, not piling up EDCs and Borg Salvage, which is ultimately used to buy gear to pile up more EDCs and Borg Salvage. It is also the only practical way that the wide spectrum of Trek can ever be explored by a single MMO, or perhaps by Star Trek video games in general. That people are unwilling to explore it is extremely unfortunate.
Remember when STO was in beta and we kept hearing how the "Genesis System" would allow us to explore and discover new areas, meet new species? Since the game is instanced per "zone" there is virtually no limit (aside from server storage space) to the size of the game map. There's vast areas of each quadrant we could explore. I wasn't much of a Voyager fan but there's all kinds of stuff in the Delta Quadrant, for example, we could go explore. Tie it into the personal progression system Dan was talking about in the State of the Game and it's like peanut butter & jelly, goes together well.
The "Genesis System," I'm pretty sure, is/was a bit of a pipe dream as it is envisioned.
Simple fact of the matter is that I seriously doubt that it's economical - assuming it's even practical given current technology - to have the computer design tons and tons of missions. As-is it's a cookie cutter. A very, very hit-and-miss cookie cutter. Unfortunately what a lot of people are likely expecting is essentially an AI writing entire episodes. That's not going to happen for a long, long time.
Could it use improvement? God, yes. Can we ever expect the computer to pour "new worlds and new civilizations" out by the bucketful? Not unless you like cookie-cutters; we just aren't there yet. The only real possibility of this MIGHT be the Foundry, but people already ignore the Foundry enough already.
i have not been around long enough to say if the community has died out, but in the time i have seen, the majority of the community tend to congregate around Qo'nos, Drozana, K7, ESD and DS9, but then i always see comments about race filled hate, religious attacks and gender orientation, i mean anything negative goes. it seems like the majority of players state nothing which lends to the idea of a community that is dying.
Unfortunately, ESD, DS9 and so forth seem to bring both the best and the worst of the playerbase out - much as the Internet does. While unfortunate, this shouldn't be overly surprising, considering that sort of thing happens all over the Internet, and I doubt any F2P with in-game communication allowed for the free folks is going to be much different.
Also, DS9 in particular is a massive sink of negativity. I remember a discussion not too long ago that involved people telling how bad it had gotten since F2P - I asked what had been removed that changed it, and nobody really mentioned anything. While they may have a point with the lock box focus that's now about, they seemed to think the old days were the golden age. This is strange because I remember when I first joined in early January, the general consensus was that the game had been in poor shape for most of its run; even now I hear occasional references to the first few months wherein a lot of people demanded their money back for lifetime subs.
While it is difficult to avoid, I do not believe that the negativity espoused here is something that one can really let themselves take to heart. I do it too much myself; in fact I was speaking with someone else who was getting disheartened just by the negativity volume, not anything in the game, and it wasn't a lot of fun to hear that.
On a side note that is closer to the original topic, the numbers on ESD and DS9 seem to be (with my hideous attempts at math and a very unreliable methodology) fluctuating fairly regularly between 300 and 700 each depending on the time of day. This does not however count the tons of people that are in orbit of these places (and tons of people are there), anyone who is in another social zone, those who are in sector space, and those that are actually out, you know, /playing the game/ (an odd concept!). This seems to be fairly decent, IMO, as it suggests that there are several thousand people logged in at minimum.
Unfortunately, somewhere along the line, MMOs became all about "carrots." Problem is that the "carrot" system and the Foundry system are extremely difficult to reconcile - if you want carrots for the Foundry in general then someone is going to find an exploit and get around it, then people will gripe and say 'but I can do XYZ mission in five minutes and get the Phased Polaron Disruptive Antiproton Array Mk XII [OneShotKill][Explode][IWinButton][Tetryon],' which totally defeats the purpose.
And this is why we can't have nice things. Here's a question: What if foundry missions rewarded stuff that was purely bling, but had no functional purpose or advantage? Like those uniform packs or trophies or whatnot. No number of those a player can acquire will ever unbalance anything, because they have no function. But people still want 'em, especially if they're shiny. Alternatively, what if Foundry only awarded stuff that already actually existed? Since this stuff already exists and people already have it, an alternative method of getting it won't change anything.
And this is why we can't have nice things. Here's a question: What if foundry missions rewarded stuff that was purely bling, but had no functional purpose or advantage? Like those uniform packs or trophies or whatnot. No number of those a player can acquire will ever unbalance anything, because they have no function. But people still want 'em, especially if they're shiny. Alternatively, what if Foundry only awarded stuff that already actually existed? Since this stuff already exists and people already have it, an alternative method of getting it won't change anything.
While I like the idea of using "stuff that already exists," there are some problems with it:
* Few at level 50 cares about it - very few people bother with things like Mk XII shields, since there are STF sets vastly superior to them.
* Stuff that's more unique that already exists, e.g. Combat Hyper-Impulse Engines - dilute the original mission rewards.
* Economy problems (e.g. suddenly the price for a Mk XI Very Rare Phaser Array gets a lot less pricey if you can get it from random shoot-and-win Foundry missions).
"Bling," on the other hand, seems like it's a pretty good idea. In fact, I think it's a VERY good idea.
I also like the idea of possibly other tokens (I can hear the groans from here, but I'd say it's worth it to promote the Foundry), or maybe even a few Lobi if you complete a certain number of Foundry missions a week (not too realistic, I know, but maybe if it were hidden...).
There's also the possibility of some kind of player-run review team that could "hand up" the best to the devs/another PWE employee, that proceeds to bestow upon the best Foundry missions better rewards, but I have no idea if that would work out well, although it seems to be working for the forum mods.
* Economy problems (e.g. suddenly the price for a Mk XI Very Rare Phaser Array gets a lot less pricey if you can get it from random shoot-and-win Foundry missions).
That stuff is garbage and barely sells above vendortrash. Additionally, you already DO get that sort of thing from random drops anyway, so foundry or not, doesn't matter. Knowing this, you can ALREADY make a mission that is based on farming this stuff, like, say "Mile Wide Mass Of Zergs", where there are bajillions of enemies in a densely packed horde for you to mow down en-masse.
I also like the idea of possibly other tokens (I can hear the groans from here, but I'd say it's worth it to promote the Foundry), or maybe even a few Lobi if you complete a certain number of Foundry missions a week (not too realistic, I know, but maybe if it were hidden...).
Random Lobi drops in a foundry mission would make them worth doing, yes. I would take time off from grinding everything else for that. As it stands my dail officer report is just filled with SFA/KA Quickie.
Because, honestly, the thought of wading through someone else's horribly written fanporn horrifies me.
Also, DS9 in particular is a massive sink of negativity. I remember a discussion not too long ago that involved people telling how bad it had gotten since F2P - I asked what had been removed that changed it, and nobody really mentioned anything. While they may have a point with the lock box focus that's now about, they seemed to think the old days were the golden age. This is strange because I remember when I first joined in early January, the general consensus was that the game had been in poor shape for most of its run; even now I hear occasional references to the first few months wherein a lot of people demanded their money back for lifetime subs.
I know a player from day 1 and he often tells me how the game was terrible at the begining. You couldn't even respec. They had to wait for 40 days or so to get it, in a 2010 MMO...
Pre-F2P STFs often lasted hours, it was almost impossible to pug them, and you could cross the galaxy without seeing anyone. It's never been a golden age, this game was a piece of TRIBBLE before F2P.
It still has many flaws but at least it has players and some stuff to keep them busy now.
That stuff is garbage and barely sells above vendortrash. Additionally, you already DO get that sort of thing from random drops anyway, so foundry or not, doesn't matter. Knowing this, you can ALREADY make a mission that is based on farming this stuff, like, say "Mile Wide Mass Of Zergs", where there are bajillions of enemies in a densely packed horde for you to mow down en-masse.
Actually you can already get better rewards in foundry missions, since battleship groups often drop something decent and often two loots bags, but fighting endless waves of battleships doesn't make an episode and is just boring as hell.
Besides instead of activity accounts I would want to see how much money sto is bringing in. I would say that might be more of a basis if it will die or not. As long as there is decent activity and it is bringing in a fair share of money I don't see why they wouldn't keep it going.
Incoming money isn't everything. I'm sure they are currently making buckloads of money on people having to feed the hungry starbase beast, or on lockboxes. People aren't entirely stupid, though: when they begin to sense you're no longer really offering anything substantial, and are basically just spamming that 'Rotate money-making scheme frequency III' button too often, people will suddenly call it quits altogether.
You can already see the effects of that with the lockboxes. Like not putting the new time ships in C-Store, but again going for the (far more lucrative?) lockbox lottery scheme. It's turning people off, and away. It's a careful balance: if you TRIBBLE people off too much, treating them too much like sucker milk cows, things may backfire on you rapidly.
Of course, marketing department peeps are always laughing their asses off when they hear arguments like this. After all, they're raking it in, no? That's usually prior to when a game dies. EVE Online went nearly belly-up last year too; and for the same reason: too much focus on ways to make more money off of people, and not offering any real content. CCP had the good sense to mend their ways. Will Cryptic?
Even as I write this, I realize it will all fall on greedy, deaf ears. The Ferengi would be proud. Me? I'm slightly concerned.
Just because YOU don't want it doesn't mean no one does. If it's not THAT valuable, it's not going to upset your balance, either.
Actually I WOULD like it. I'm listing reasons why they might not do it. My personal opinion is that the majority of level 50s are far more interested in STF gear, and as such would rather grind for EDCs as opposed to this sort of thing. I also said nothing of balance.
Well, you do the mission, you're guaranteed to get it in about half an hour, tops. You explore, you MIGHT find it. MAYBE.
What, you mean hidden in the mission? What precisely are you proposing here, that you get it for time in-mission, get it for amount of the map covered, find it hidden in some random corner?
That stuff is garbage and barely sells above vendortrash. Additionally, you already DO get that sort of thing from random drops anyway, so foundry or not, doesn't matter. Knowing this, you can ALREADY make a mission that is based on farming this stuff, like, say "Mile Wide Mass Of Zergs", where there are bajillions of enemies in a densely packed horde for you to mow down en-masse.
While that is an interesting (and exploit-happy) idea, I regularly see Mk XII Very Rare beam arrays going for 1 million or more EC depending on the type. I don't consider that to be "barely" above vendortrash, especially since, so far as I know, your other options are to craft it (costs dil and mats), buy it from the d-store (costs more dil), loot it (farm it or luck), or gather up EDCs for the Borg version.
Random Lobi drops in a foundry mission would make them worth doing, yes. I would take time off from grinding everything else for that. As it stands my dail officer report is just filled with SFA/KA Quickie.
Because, honestly, the thought of wading through someone else's horribly written fanporn horrifies me.
So don't. Go for 5 or 4 star missions if you really have to. Most of the stuff that manages to make it to the top of the list is pretty good. A lot of it that manages to make it to the BOTTOM of the list is ALSO pretty good, but often enough someone with their nose out of joint hits it with a few too many bad reviews and cripples its popularity.
Do you actually use the Foundry for any source of missions? If you don't I'd strongly suggest that you consider it, because there IS good stuff in there. Not Our War - just to start with - is a good intro into what a Foundry mission can be, and there's a lot more where that came from.
I know a player from day 1 and he often tells me how the game was terrible at the begining. You couldn't even respec. They had to wait for 40 days or so to get it, in a 2010 MMO...
Pre-F2P STFs often lasted hours, it was almost impossible to pug them, and you could cross the galaxy without seeing anyone. It's never been a golden age, this game was a piece of TRIBBLE before F2P.
It still has many flaws but at least it has players and some stuff to keep them busy now.
I've been here since open beta, not sure why your friend had to wait 40 days, but I sure didn't. And there's never been a time when I could fly across the galaxy without seeing all kinds of people. I don't remember about respec, but i remember getting free respec tokens fairly soon after launch.
About the STFs though that's absolutely correct, they used to take for frickin' ever, unless you had a great group that could just faceroll everything, which I often didn't. Loved the old Infected though.
I would say people shouldn't worry about a "golden age" and just play the game that's in front of them or not.
Comments
I never said they were. I was replying to your own words:
Like I said before, I'm not disagreeing with the overall point your making, but "poking fun" is not the same thing as "imitation", therefore that old saying you quoted has nothing to do with your point.
R.I.P
I think I love you.
I will say this much i cannot comment on the decision/reasons of Chris from Jupiter Broadcasting to cancel STOked. I was not happy with the decision nor do i endorse some of the comments he made in his closing episodes. I will remark the last 4 episodes of STOked were some of our most popular under the Jupiter Broadcasting Banner. Regardless , he still decided to shut it down.
As for STOked Radio which is solely under my ownership along with the cooperation of my fleetmates and the community that still watches/listens & supports the show, we are still growing in technology and skill. I do not possess the setup that JB has and prolly never will.
However the show and any other STO related podcast is a labor of love from their respected creators, and i respect and understand RSA in their decision and desire to grow and branch out to more lucrative projects as i was and still am facing that decision myself.
My roots in broadcasting/podcasting are in STO and i will always remember my roots and give back to the community that has supported me what i can, when i can.
As such i will go through this thread and reply in kind prolly live this weekend on STOked Radio. Ill keep you all updated.
Twitter | @STOkedshow
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
Mirror Dan Stahl is a tongue-in-cheek joke that our listeners find amusing. If people hated it we wouldn't do it. I'm sorry you feel pointing out truths about the game and / or it's business decisions is what you could consider mocking or bashing. I could see how you might consider it "complaining" but when you've invested time, and a lot of money, into a game and see certain business decisions take place that aren't healthy then you tend to speak out against it.
As for Priority One, they put on a good show but it's fairly easy to do when you have some form of developer interview pretty much every other week. And they also talk about non-STO related content such as This Day / Week in Trek which is Star Trek related yes but not really STO related. If you removed all of that and just put in pure discussion about STO news on a weekly basis, there isn't a lot there. Maybe a Tribble patch, or a new screen shot etc But not enough to really base an entire 2 hour time block around. Occasionally it gets easier if there is an Ask Cryptic to dissect or a State of the Game but those are only once a month.
But as said we won't be dropping STO and we do not think STO is "dying" just a decline in playerbase which pretty much every mmo goes through, even the mighty WoW. We speak our minds, and speak the truth whether it's praise or harsh critique. We hope people tune in or download the show, if not we understand and respect the decision.
redshirtarmy.com - RedShirtArmy Podcast
STO / Cryptic member since 2009 (mavgeek)
Some may, some may not. Either way you cant speak for all of them collectively.
Some may respect that not everyone is the same, some may not. Who are you to know whether he speaks for them all or not? How do you know what they or even you are really thinking in the dark subconscious of your mind?
See what I did there?
If we have to add such disclaimers in front of anything we say we'll never get anything of value said.
I am actually one of the listeners of his show, and I know he doesnt have my permission to speak for me, therefore I know he doesnt speak for all of his listeners
R.I.P
I think the opposite has happened .
If they would have had a Dev on every other week (or every other month) like some of the other podcasts did , RSA might have turned out to be a different animal than it is today .
What we have today is (IMHO) precisely the result of being ignored by Cryptic for 2+ years -- in fact (in the eyes of the RSA crew) they were being singled out to be ignored .
A lot of other ppl would have packed up their podcasting bags and moved on .
The RSA crew chose to stick with it ... (something I can respect them for) -- but I also think that there was a little bit of embitterment on their side from the "if we ignore them they will just go away" treatment they seemingly got from the Cryptic Devs .
After being ignored for 2 years , they brought on a puppet .
I would have done it sooner .
And it's a damn funny_yet_respectful puppet too !(most of the time)
I miss MorBlade (and 'Mirror Dan Stahl') !
Hope they get's better soon .
So come on guys , where's my new RSA ?
That's kind of a problem with the Star Trek fanbase - and STO playerbase - in general.
I've heard people who basically want to turn this game into a space shooter. And I've heard people who think that this game isn't Star Trek at all until we've turned it into a diplomatic menu click-fest and/or colony Sim City clone. Similarly some people think anything that isn't Deep Space 9's last three seasons is a yawn fest, and others believe that anything with the Trek brand involving much violence at all, or at least without a ton of social commentary, is a barbaric mockery of Trek. Both claim that theirs is the One True Way (TM) for Star Trek. Which is right? Probably both a bit, but mostly neither - Star Trek is all of these things and more. Just because Gene Roddenberry said one thing does not mean that Star Trek was the One True Way for anything in particular. Roddenberry gets the credit, but Star Trek was the work of hundreds, and all of those hundreds left their own opinions and own mark in one way or another, be it ever so tiny, and inevitably, when the material is joined with the viewer's mind, it becomes a unique creation all its own, with its own myriad of avenues.
The Foundry lets these avenues be explored. Unfortunately most people either blow it off because the one thing that truly distinguishes canon from non-canon - a paycheck - isn't involved, or because they aren't willing to invest 3 minutes to learn how to use the search feature on anything that isn't Google. Or there is also reason #3 - the lack of objective reward.
Unfortunately, somewhere along the line, MMOs became all about "carrots." Problem is that the "carrot" system and the Foundry system are extremely difficult to reconcile - if you want carrots for the Foundry in general then someone is going to find an exploit and get around it, then people will gripe and say 'but I can do XYZ mission in five minutes and get the Phased Polaron Disruptive Antiproton Array Mk XII [OneShotKill][Explode][IWinButton][Tetryon],' which totally defeats the purpose. Aside from someone at Cryptic going through the missions, hand-picking some to give rewards, and giving the rewards (or a system like that, I can think of a few that are probably full of holes), then the exploits are going to remove the entire "carrots" aspect of the Foundry.
Bottom line is, the Foundry is probably more for true Trek/STO fans than anything else in this game - because it focuses on the enjoyment, not piling up EDCs and Borg Salvage, which is ultimately used to buy gear to pile up more EDCs and Borg Salvage. It is also the only practical way that the wide spectrum of Trek can ever be explored by a single MMO, or perhaps by Star Trek video games in general. That people are unwilling to explore it is extremely unfortunate.
The "Genesis System," I'm pretty sure, is/was a bit of a pipe dream as it is envisioned.
Simple fact of the matter is that I seriously doubt that it's economical - assuming it's even practical given current technology - to have the computer design tons and tons of missions. As-is it's a cookie cutter. A very, very hit-and-miss cookie cutter. Unfortunately what a lot of people are likely expecting is essentially an AI writing entire episodes. That's not going to happen for a long, long time.
Could it use improvement? God, yes. Can we ever expect the computer to pour "new worlds and new civilizations" out by the bucketful? Not unless you like cookie-cutters; we just aren't there yet. The only real possibility of this MIGHT be the Foundry, but people already ignore the Foundry enough already.
Unfortunately, ESD, DS9 and so forth seem to bring both the best and the worst of the playerbase out - much as the Internet does. While unfortunate, this shouldn't be overly surprising, considering that sort of thing happens all over the Internet, and I doubt any F2P with in-game communication allowed for the free folks is going to be much different.
Also, DS9 in particular is a massive sink of negativity. I remember a discussion not too long ago that involved people telling how bad it had gotten since F2P - I asked what had been removed that changed it, and nobody really mentioned anything. While they may have a point with the lock box focus that's now about, they seemed to think the old days were the golden age. This is strange because I remember when I first joined in early January, the general consensus was that the game had been in poor shape for most of its run; even now I hear occasional references to the first few months wherein a lot of people demanded their money back for lifetime subs.
While it is difficult to avoid, I do not believe that the negativity espoused here is something that one can really let themselves take to heart. I do it too much myself; in fact I was speaking with someone else who was getting disheartened just by the negativity volume, not anything in the game, and it wasn't a lot of fun to hear that.
On a side note that is closer to the original topic, the numbers on ESD and DS9 seem to be (with my hideous attempts at math and a very unreliable methodology) fluctuating fairly regularly between 300 and 700 each depending on the time of day. This does not however count the tons of people that are in orbit of these places (and tons of people are there), anyone who is in another social zone, those who are in sector space, and those that are actually out, you know, /playing the game/ (an odd concept!). This seems to be fairly decent, IMO, as it suggests that there are several thousand people logged in at minimum.
While I like the idea of using "stuff that already exists," there are some problems with it:
* Few at level 50 cares about it - very few people bother with things like Mk XII shields, since there are STF sets vastly superior to them.
* Stuff that's more unique that already exists, e.g. Combat Hyper-Impulse Engines - dilute the original mission rewards.
* Economy problems (e.g. suddenly the price for a Mk XI Very Rare Phaser Array gets a lot less pricey if you can get it from random shoot-and-win Foundry missions).
"Bling," on the other hand, seems like it's a pretty good idea. In fact, I think it's a VERY good idea.
I also like the idea of possibly other tokens (I can hear the groans from here, but I'd say it's worth it to promote the Foundry), or maybe even a few Lobi if you complete a certain number of Foundry missions a week (not too realistic, I know, but maybe if it were hidden...).
There's also the possibility of some kind of player-run review team that could "hand up" the best to the devs/another PWE employee, that proceeds to bestow upon the best Foundry missions better rewards, but I have no idea if that would work out well, although it seems to be working for the forum mods.
Well, you do the mission, you're guaranteed to get it in about half an hour, tops. You explore, you MIGHT find it. MAYBE.
That stuff is garbage and barely sells above vendortrash. Additionally, you already DO get that sort of thing from random drops anyway, so foundry or not, doesn't matter. Knowing this, you can ALREADY make a mission that is based on farming this stuff, like, say "Mile Wide Mass Of Zergs", where there are bajillions of enemies in a densely packed horde for you to mow down en-masse.
Random Lobi drops in a foundry mission would make them worth doing, yes. I would take time off from grinding everything else for that. As it stands my dail officer report is just filled with SFA/KA Quickie.
Because, honestly, the thought of wading through someone else's horribly written fanporn horrifies me.
I know a player from day 1 and he often tells me how the game was terrible at the begining. You couldn't even respec. They had to wait for 40 days or so to get it, in a 2010 MMO...
Pre-F2P STFs often lasted hours, it was almost impossible to pug them, and you could cross the galaxy without seeing anyone. It's never been a golden age, this game was a piece of TRIBBLE before F2P.
It still has many flaws but at least it has players and some stuff to keep them busy now.
God, lvl 60 CW. 17k.
Actually you can already get better rewards in foundry missions, since battleship groups often drop something decent and often two loots bags, but fighting endless waves of battleships doesn't make an episode and is just boring as hell.
God, lvl 60 CW. 17k.
Incoming money isn't everything. I'm sure they are currently making buckloads of money on people having to feed the hungry starbase beast, or on lockboxes. People aren't entirely stupid, though: when they begin to sense you're no longer really offering anything substantial, and are basically just spamming that 'Rotate money-making scheme frequency III' button too often, people will suddenly call it quits altogether.
You can already see the effects of that with the lockboxes. Like not putting the new time ships in C-Store, but again going for the (far more lucrative?) lockbox lottery scheme. It's turning people off, and away. It's a careful balance: if you TRIBBLE people off too much, treating them too much like sucker milk cows, things may backfire on you rapidly.
Of course, marketing department peeps are always laughing their asses off when they hear arguments like this. After all, they're raking it in, no? That's usually prior to when a game dies. EVE Online went nearly belly-up last year too; and for the same reason: too much focus on ways to make more money off of people, and not offering any real content. CCP had the good sense to mend their ways. Will Cryptic?
Even as I write this, I realize it will all fall on greedy, deaf ears. The Ferengi would be proud. Me? I'm slightly concerned.
Actually I WOULD like it. I'm listing reasons why they might not do it. My personal opinion is that the majority of level 50s are far more interested in STF gear, and as such would rather grind for EDCs as opposed to this sort of thing. I also said nothing of balance.
What, you mean hidden in the mission? What precisely are you proposing here, that you get it for time in-mission, get it for amount of the map covered, find it hidden in some random corner?
While that is an interesting (and exploit-happy) idea, I regularly see Mk XII Very Rare beam arrays going for 1 million or more EC depending on the type. I don't consider that to be "barely" above vendortrash, especially since, so far as I know, your other options are to craft it (costs dil and mats), buy it from the d-store (costs more dil), loot it (farm it or luck), or gather up EDCs for the Borg version.
So don't. Go for 5 or 4 star missions if you really have to. Most of the stuff that manages to make it to the top of the list is pretty good. A lot of it that manages to make it to the BOTTOM of the list is ALSO pretty good, but often enough someone with their nose out of joint hits it with a few too many bad reviews and cripples its popularity.
Do you actually use the Foundry for any source of missions? If you don't I'd strongly suggest that you consider it, because there IS good stuff in there. Not Our War - just to start with - is a good intro into what a Foundry mission can be, and there's a lot more where that came from.
I've been here since open beta, not sure why your friend had to wait 40 days, but I sure didn't. And there's never been a time when I could fly across the galaxy without seeing all kinds of people. I don't remember about respec, but i remember getting free respec tokens fairly soon after launch.
About the STFs though that's absolutely correct, they used to take for frickin' ever, unless you had a great group that could just faceroll everything, which I often didn't. Loved the old Infected though.
I would say people shouldn't worry about a "golden age" and just play the game that's in front of them or not.
In any case, if people are looking for Foundry missions that transcend "fanporn" we have a handy-dandy list right here: http://sto-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?t=286621