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What are your hopes for 2013?
ccarmichael07
Member Posts: 755 Arc User
In coming weeks, dStahl will be filling us in on the "future" of STO, based on his recent State of the Game blog.
What are your hopes for the future of STO?
Mine are as follows:
1. More C-Store, Less Lockbox - It's a lofty goal, and one we aren't likely to see, but it would nice too see more additions to the C-Store itself, and less reliance on the Lockbox gambling for funding of STO. I can understand it's lure from Cryptic's standpoint, with buckets of cash coming in from the sale of Keys to those who would gamble, and from those who sell them to the gamblers. But I'll say this, I find myself far less likely to invest in the game, to spend my money, when I can't simply purchase something, and instead am forced to spend in the mere chance to get it. I hope that Cryptic will rededicate itself to providing things that people want such as Uniforms, Interiors, etc. and less effort spent on putting things like enemy vessels in Lockboxes to cash in on the few people that want the most powerful ship.
2. Quality Passes on Existing Assets - Cryptic has spent 3 years putting items into the C-Store, and have allowed people to spend money on them. In those 3 years, many items have been identified as having graphical or functional issues. I hope that Cryptic will reinvest some of the profits it has accumulated from the sale of these items, to ensure they are of the highest quality and function possible. Uniforms with clipping issues, misplaced rank insignias, etc. Bridges with officers seated in the deck, or floating above and on the edge of chairs. Ship models with glaring graphical issues. Ships whose technical specs have been superceded by vessels which make no sense to have superceded them. (Galaxy, Galaxy-X, etc.) Cryptic could build a tremendous amount of goodwill with it's playerbase by addressing a vast majority of these items which are long overdue.
3. Additional Leveling Arcs - One of the main "endgame" activites of STO, is the leveling of alts. I would like to see some additional content added to the game in the Klingon, Romulan, and Cardassian Fronts, which would offer some new experiences, or even completely new leveling paths for those bringing up alts. Without them, the journey to Level 50 becomes quite stale and repetitive. Having some new avenues to explore would likely entice people to spend more time with STO.
These are just a few areas I hope to see Cryptic improve in. Of course, others will have their own ideas, and I welcome them here in the hopes that Cryptic might find some ideas which they wish to tackle, further improving this game into the future.
What are your hopes for the future of STO?
Mine are as follows:
1. More C-Store, Less Lockbox - It's a lofty goal, and one we aren't likely to see, but it would nice too see more additions to the C-Store itself, and less reliance on the Lockbox gambling for funding of STO. I can understand it's lure from Cryptic's standpoint, with buckets of cash coming in from the sale of Keys to those who would gamble, and from those who sell them to the gamblers. But I'll say this, I find myself far less likely to invest in the game, to spend my money, when I can't simply purchase something, and instead am forced to spend in the mere chance to get it. I hope that Cryptic will rededicate itself to providing things that people want such as Uniforms, Interiors, etc. and less effort spent on putting things like enemy vessels in Lockboxes to cash in on the few people that want the most powerful ship.
2. Quality Passes on Existing Assets - Cryptic has spent 3 years putting items into the C-Store, and have allowed people to spend money on them. In those 3 years, many items have been identified as having graphical or functional issues. I hope that Cryptic will reinvest some of the profits it has accumulated from the sale of these items, to ensure they are of the highest quality and function possible. Uniforms with clipping issues, misplaced rank insignias, etc. Bridges with officers seated in the deck, or floating above and on the edge of chairs. Ship models with glaring graphical issues. Ships whose technical specs have been superceded by vessels which make no sense to have superceded them. (Galaxy, Galaxy-X, etc.) Cryptic could build a tremendous amount of goodwill with it's playerbase by addressing a vast majority of these items which are long overdue.
3. Additional Leveling Arcs - One of the main "endgame" activites of STO, is the leveling of alts. I would like to see some additional content added to the game in the Klingon, Romulan, and Cardassian Fronts, which would offer some new experiences, or even completely new leveling paths for those bringing up alts. Without them, the journey to Level 50 becomes quite stale and repetitive. Having some new avenues to explore would likely entice people to spend more time with STO.
These are just a few areas I hope to see Cryptic improve in. Of course, others will have their own ideas, and I welcome them here in the hopes that Cryptic might find some ideas which they wish to tackle, further improving this game into the future.
"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
Post edited by ccarmichael07 on
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Comments
1. Would love that to happen but the money's not there, I've read somewhere on the forums that over 70% of income now comes from lock box keys.
2. Please Ohh please my Gal-x sits in mothballs at the moment.
3. I have recently gone back to early mission to restart an arc, as I expect like most shot through the early episodes. Some are great but more end game content would be great.
My wishes
1. How about a ship refit token, say 500 zen useable once bound to character that gives a vessel + 10% hull and shields and ups a single bridge level by one, user decides which.
Once useable twice per ship.
2. Purchase able ship part/ extra skins,... We all want our ships look different.
3. Respeices token.
4. Fleet merge, fleets can join under one name, one of the fleets gets half the resources back put in that then goes to the new merged fleet. Thoughts?
Oh and the lotto numbers
I've tried to keep this realistic as STO is a business that has to make money to survive.
Join The Space Invaders,..... Federation and KDF fleets.
I'm well aware that the income from Lockboxes likely exceeds all previous C-Store sales. And being a proponent of the free market system, I don't object to them making money in this way. However, every business, from McDonalds to Intel has to diversify, in order to remain competitive. If all focus remains on a single item in the financial portfolio, then you aren't capturing the widest angle of potential income.
Cryptic should keep up with the lockboxes, where it makes sense. But at the same time, should recommit to some of the other areas of the C-Store as well, in order to offer the widest range of product to it's players, thereby increasing its revenue streams and preventing consumer burnout.
I've been enjoying my Ambassador Class, and it makes me yearn for a Galaxy Class update which would make the ship feel a bit more dynamic and powerful, and less like a flying toothless brick.
Additionally, there are times where I would have liked to use the Galaxy-X (or it's Venture counterpart) on a character, but knowing how weak and ineffective it is compared to other ships of the same tier, has kept me from spending the money on it. If given a revamp, I would consider reviewing my position on spending on the ship.
"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
More customization to ships like they offer ship bridges, a no brainer way for some extra money generation for them.
Add a increase in dilithium refinement cap for let's say 1k-2.5kzen per 1kdilithium increase, obtainable only 2 times per account would be awesome for starters.
Purchaseable common small craft for cruisers and sci ships with same useage restrictions as the romulan fighters from the episodes.
More end game content or 20player stf mission(s) would be awesome.
These are just a few
Praetor of the -RTS- Romulan Tal Shiar fleet!
I agree with this and hope Cryptic will do this.
2) More Featured Episodes
3) Ship Upgrade system (There's Way to many Ship variants in game.)
4) More TMP and TOS era ships
5) More VO work from ST Cast members
6) A refinement Cap increase
7) Breen and tholion Sectors
8) Sona (Enough said)
9) More Locations from the ST Series
10) More races from the ST Series. (Organians, Byrans, Xindi, Angosions, Sherlik, Tarkains)
11) Design your own ship
More consumbles in the replicator like large shield regen etc.
USS WARRIOR NCC 1720 Commanding Officer
Star Trek Gamers
pvp update - im starting to lose hope of ever seeing this. but its something i want this year.
major improvements to the foundry interface- better search features, ways to link missions into chains, better ways to advertise mission to your subscribers.
romulan faction - dont care how big or small, i just want to fly romulan ships.
Feature Episodes - loved temporal ambassador and i want at least 2 FE series or just a bunch of individual episodes. they dont have to be linked into arcs.
At least one existing social zone brought up to new romulus standards.
Some unique klingon missions to try to fill out 1-20, or even a klingon only adventure zone like nakura or new romulus.
Maybe ONE new FE Series in 2013 (no Mini-Cutscenes in repetitive Reputation Systems pls), everything else is unbelievable anyway ...
And please no more repetitive TRIBBLE ... there is already enough of it now ...
So basically complete focus on Story Content ... we already have enough Ships, Races, Events ...
Well I'm just wondering what they're gonna put in Lockboxes, one year from now ... we kind of got almost every major non-FED/KDF Ship by now ... so what's gonna be in Lockboxes in 2014 or even 2013 ... Talaxian Lockbox ?? Gomtuu Lockbox ?? Temporal TRIBBLE Plasma Messerschmitt Lockbox ?? ... someday (soonish) it's gonna be beyond ridiculous
T5 Constitution. They're gonna break everyone's bank on that one. The TOS Classic lockbox. And the rarity of the T5 Connie will make people go nuts spending just to get it.
Other than that I would like more story content. Cryptic has made hints that Season 8 will be something special, and the only thing I could think of that would really make me joyful is a completely new story arc with like 10 or 15 new story missions. But I won't keep my hopes up. It will just make me sad when Season 8 comes out with a half-finished Romulan faction with 3 species and 8 ships to pick from.
I think you have a very valid point here. And it coincides well with my point about consumer burnout.
Both problems will eventually appear. Once all the "unique" has been made available, about the only option for them is to begin re-running lockboxes. At that point, your dealing with entropy in terms of financial viability, as many have already unlocked said box to death, and own pretty much what they want out of it.
Meanwhile, with so little going into the C-Store, and so much being locked up behind lotto screens, players will tire of the gimmick eventually, and stop paying for it. I'm already feeling it myself. I used to collect stuff from the C-Store as soon as it came out. Spend quite a bit in there. But when it all went to Lockbox and Lobi, I stopped spending so much, and eventually I probably won't spend at all. It costs way way way too much, you get nothing worthwhile unless you hit the jackpot, and the Lobi can't be transfered, meaning you have to be very careful who you open boxes with.
When I can buy bridges, interiors, uniforms, era specific weapons, etc, I am much more likely to spend, and spend alot. But if I have a slim chance of getting what I want because it comes in a slot machine box, I will spend a whole lot less, or not at all.
"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
- more FE series
- Romulan Star Empire/Tal Shiar playable faction
- Allegiance class starship (for Feds)
- D5 class battle cruiser (for KDF)
- Ferasan ships for KDF
- an ENT-themed storyline (maybe Romulan War?)
"Critics who say that the optimistic utopia Star Trek depicted is now outmoded forget the cultural context that gave birth to it: Star Trek was not a manifestation of optimism when optimism was easy. Star Trek declared a hope for a future that nobody stuck in the present could believe in. For all our struggles today, we haven’t outgrown the need for stories like Star Trek. We need tales of optimism, of heroes, of courage and goodness now as much as we’ve ever needed them."
-Thomas Marrone
A better Foundry UI and loot table voiding for timid creatures. These will solve the current Foundry Wars for everyone not insane.
Raptor's Wing is an FE so good I can convince my friends to play the game with me and not another under-cooked faction they can point to as a reason they won't
Speaking of under-cooked factions: At least another ten KDF missions and the current rewards normalized so you won't be BG well before you get to them. Or at least some great rewards for doing them at level cap.
Another ten Fed/ KDF misssions that give us the ending to all of the existing plot threads instead of finding out they ended in an article in a magazine none of us has read by characters not our Captains so we can clear the field for the Iconians.
A way to trade Fleet Marks for EC or dilithium.
Pokemon-like pet battles.
So far this thread has been a very interesting read. X people have given their opinion and there are about X number of differing directions on what should be done this year. Admittedly this is one of the developer's hardest jobs, having to determine which player demands to answer first. Problem is our demands often do not match what is the big money generators (e.g. fixing bugs, releasing FEs, finished KDF faction).
The one major thing I would like to see happen this year is for players to have more voice in what happens on the game. After all we are ultimately the people who give Dan and Co. their jobs. Sometimes though it feels like they are doing their own thing and not listening to us at all. I remember when S7 came out and how STFs were completely off balance with rewards, it took a week to fix, then Dan had the nerve to blame us because Tribble only had 100 playtesters. (Seesh, make it more worthwhile to playtest. Don't blame us for not wanting to be Tribble slaves.)
There are some ways to go about giving players a voice. Right now we have the forums, but for the most part, it feels as if no one reads what we write.
One option would be to implement a player's congress. 3 or 4 volunteer congress-players are elected by the game to go forth to Cryptic HQ and initiate a conversation on what direction we would like things to go. I wouldn't mind footing the travel expenses for myself if Cryptic assured me they would actually listen to what I had to say for myself and for those who elected me.
Another more likely option would be "Dan's Kickstarters". For those unaware, Dan Stahl had joked about how there would be a civilian/ferengi fraction if enough people put up the resources to make it happen. I would to see server wide projects (e.g server-based fleet projects) where people could input XP/DOffs/Dilithium/Lobi towards a list of available projects that once "paid for upfront" would then be developed and implemented into the game.
I know how there is the dead Targ line about how the KDF isn't worth the resources. However if a few hundred loyal players want to pay for the entire projet through their inputs then by all means Dan, throw your statistics out the window and give power to the people to make things happen that they really want to happen.
If there are not enough people putting resources into the projects then don't develop them. But it would be nice to be able to have some say over what happens next rather than just have to cross our fingers and hope for the best.
As for the whole lock box business, the only one I can ever imagine myself buying would be an Assimliiated (Borg) Lock Box.
Why can't we vote on the next box?
My character Tsin'xing
That people stop reading DOOOM! into every dev tweet, Ask Cryptic or server hiccup.
Seriously, crying DOOM! because there's a server queue, normally a sign of a healthy game, is a little OTT guys.
There's some semblance of economy. It tends to revolve around selling high end Mark XI and XII items, and items that come out of Lockboxes or the Lobi Store. Not a "wrong" model, but it's not one that really promotes the player to player economy so much as it promotes buying Lockboxes to sell the items inside on the exchange for Energy Credits to use towards purchasing high end equipment (if applicable for the player). Alternately, the Energy Credits accumulated are then put into the sinks of the Starbase, DOff, and Reputation Systems.
An overhaul of the crafting system so that it works to supply the above mentioned systems would improve the player to player economy situation by creating consumables that are relevant to the gameplay experience, and thus desirable.
Massively Multiplayer
A great deal of this game can be played Solo. In fact, I think you can progress your character through every facet without having to step foot into any group oriented content (save for acquiring Elite STF Gear as they require BNP's). This isn't a bad thing, but it makes me wonder why I have to connect to the servers at all if my experience can be a solo one.
It's true that there are other folks inhabiting the same space as me when I log on, whether it's ESD, New Romulus, or a sector block. But, their presence there doesn't have any effect on what I'm doing, for good or ill. As it stands, STO has a graphical Lobby System, not a living, breathing world that players run and play in.
What do we do to fix this? Part of the fix would be the mentioned economy overhaul mentioned above, but another element for STO I think is to add in some persistent conflict that the players fight against (this is expanded upon in the Territorial Control section).
Expanded Exploration
Star Trek needs it's exploration. The Foundry is really where the Exploration system needs to pull it's content from and make it sensitive to the geography of the game. The formula should really be this simple:
I fly around Sector Space and enter a system on a whim in the name of boldly going where I may not have gone before (or maybe I have), and a Foundry mission tied to that location starts up (at random if there are multiple ones tied to that door). Really, that simple.
Territorial Control
I'm a huge advocate for this, but I'd put forward a different take on it than the typical PvP one that I (and others) have put forward before.
Some may have heard me suggest a PvE Territorial Control system on Podcast UGC. Given how STO has developed itself over the past 3 years, I think it's the best addition for it. While there's a PvP community here, many of the additions to the game make anything beyond the current arena play model an impractical idea.
A Territorial Control system modeled around the idea of fending off and holding territory from NPC factions I think would be more palatable to the current player base, while adding in fresh and dynamic play.
New bridges.
More and better hairstyles for Caitians/Ferasans.
Caitian Heavy Escort Carrier
Ferasan Heavy Escort Carrier with unique Atrox-like hull texture (red instead of blue).
Change RCS Thruster console to a flat turn upgrade and make them one per ship.
...
More hair for Caitians/Ferasans!
DeltaFox
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
- Unified uniform themes for all areas.
I know that's a big ask, but I hate having people with random uniforms in the same place. I'd much prefer each map/ship/starbase have it's own uniform. Eg - DS9 has it's own uniform and all Starfleet NPCs wear it. The Enterprise is my biggest pet peeve in that sense, with people's uniforms all over the place.
- Ability to promote first officer to Captain.
I just want to give my first officer her own ship. She's been doing a great job for 3 years, time for a promotion!
- More character pieces for the Enterprise crew.
I want to get to know these guys. We're seeing Shon a fair bit, but I want to know the crew!
- More character pieces for STO characters.
I want to learn more about our main characters (Sulu, Quinn, etc)
- More (all) uniforms added to the Foundry.
The foundry is missing a bunch of uniforms, I want to be creative!
- Hand Phaser and Phaser rifle (TNG/DS9) available in game.
- Screen shown Klingon weapons available to players.
- TV show themed packs in the C store
DS9 Pack was great. More please !
I think that's about it
I don't want to be lied to. Cryptic: drop the marketing speak, drop the vague promises, cut out the "we're awesome, but we're not going to tell you any details about anything". Just be clear about what is and is not going to happen, and then do what you say you're going to do.
I can deal with grind content, I can deal with lockbox stupidity, and I can deal with an ever-growing emphasis on sucking every wallet within a hundred light years dry for a minimum amount of added content. What absolutely infuriates me is a development team that knowingly, and willingly, deceives it's playerbase.
-More content in the Z-store.
-Featured Episodes.
-Some non-Borg STFs in the PvE UI, starting with remastered Terradome.
-Adapted Omega Set Mk XII.
-Federation uniform options for exchange BOFFs, Breen, Reman, etc...
You can only do one series at a time, but you get to choose the order you do them. I'm tired of the Klingon missions, but the Cardassian missions are kind of fresh for a lot of players, as many people hit 50 before completing this series (or even starting it).