please don't start a flame war, we don't need one, with how intense this topic is going. It's something that PWE and Cryptic both need to know that majority of the player base is not pleased with the game in it's current state and possible future state.
"I rather believe that time is a companion who goes with us on the journey, and reminds us to cherish every moment... because they'll never come again. What we leave behind is not as important as how we lived" Picard to Riker
Please do NOT give in to any whining and rage attacks in this thread. Your plans concerning Fleet marks and Dilithium MAKE SENSE!!!
So, the removal a large source or Fleet Marks without the promise of possibly thinking about putting in more sources in the future makes sense? Saying that characters are in need of dilithium while at the same removing dilithium rewards and keeping a stifling dilithium cap in place makes sense? Forcing people to grind the same stale content makes sense? Removing any incentive for using the Foundry makes sense?
Did I wake up in the Mirror Universe?
How the Devs see Star Trek, apparently:
Star Trek: The Original Grind
Star Trek: The Next Grind
Star Trek: Deep Space Grind
Star Trek: Voyage to the Grind
Please do NOT give in to any whining and rage attacks in this thread. Your plans concerning Fleet marks and Dilithium MAKE SENSE!!!
Now you also have to make fleet bases viable social zones, i.e. NOT closing down their instances after you leave, causing a player to spawn at his/her last location BEFORE entering the fleet system after relogging. This causes the awesome fleet bases to be constantly deserted, even in the largest fleets!
No, there are a lot of constructive posts outlining ways to make the game more enjoyable without leaving it open to exploitation and there is clearly an issue as even Mr. Stahl's own data shows this to be the case. They knowingly created the shortage of Fleet Marks. This is indefensible. It makes 0 sense whatsoever as I pointed out(and have many others) quite a few pages ago the decisions made/pointed out in Dan's post make no benefit to anyone at all, period - not even from a profit standpoint. Make a valid argument to the contrary, if you can.
I do agree Fleet bases need some sort of 'reason' to be in existence at all....maybe have 'sieges' that can take place on your Fleet's star base system, say during Wednesday, Friday or Saturday at a specific hour in the evening or something. Everyone knows it's coming so you could plan a group for it and then when it goes live you are engaging in defense of your own Fleet's base in the star base system itself. Fleet Marks can be given out along with regular drops, DIL, and maybe there could be the 'big boss' of the siege can have a chance to drop a Fleet level piece of gear at the end. The FM reward could scale based on placing, i.e. 1st is 100 FM's, 2nd is 75 FM's, 3rd 50 FM's and every other place below gets at least 25 FM's plus the DIL reward, etc...combine this with upping the rewards for the already in place Fleet events and on a weekly basis could still do really well for Fleet Marks and be playing 'in a group' for them at least until we get some better/newer instances rewarding them.
Keep the customers happy; happy customers keep paying.
Make the customers unhappy; unhappy customers go somewhere else.
Here is what will keep us happy:
Forget the metrics that warn you that your year old additions to the game might be achieved this year by many gamers who worked diligently to obtain them; and instead concentrate on creating new missions and new content for us.
Eliminate the different marks - take the Omega/Romulan/FM and make just one mark.
Reduce the grind! Increase the fun! Every mission, including the episodes should earn marks and dilithium. You've already created some awesome missions - which can be played by a fleet (that's what my fleet does) - if you truly want us to have more and less grind - give us marks/dilithium for completing them.
In short - give us more across the game grid.
We are your customers. We are the ones spending our money for the product you produce. We are not metrics.
Improve the product and improve your income.
I agree with this.. this is what I feel STO has lost. It is just to much grind, .. I don't mind the idea of the reputation system.. but the cost are really HIGH. I struggle a lot with this. I am not to happy with grinding,.. this is not why I joined STO. I joined STO to be a Starfleet Officer and do experience a story (episodes). STF and other can be a nice side activity but should not be what STF is all about.. which it is at the moment.
As much as I love star trek and the memories the universe brought to me as a child and teen, this game has in many ways butchered that memory.
If it wasn't my love for the universe I might not even be playing it as I have left like many other mmos over the years that have done similar things in management(note not hte first time I have walked away from STO before).
All of them I might add ended up closing out to poor management and corporate greed in the end very much like this game is doing.
I won't get into the details but I have seen much added since beta but outside of the once in a blue moon featured episodes added every 6 months or so most of the additions t the game have been nerfs or new grinds.
The continue desire to make this heavier in grind is just another reason I think I am going to move on for the time being, but if history is any lesson this games life span won't outlive the errors that the management and PWE of this game are taking it.
Like any other star trek fans I hate to see this game go but at the same time I am tired of the nerfs, and with the constant effort to even try to get end game gear.
To think less then two weeks ago I finally got two of my mains to join a tier 3 starbase just to have the rug pull from out of me with another nerf is about the last straw I will have for the time being .
Seeing as the game lack of content was already a issue to go and make foundry missions even far more undesirable instead of more desirable with this move is just another example of greed and forced vision overriding common sense from a happy customer standpoint.
I wish STO the best of luck but for the time being I am going to watch from the side lines to see if the developers get a hint as me logging in does nothing to make it clear me and many others like me are very unhappy.
No, there are a lot of constructive posts outlining ways to make the game more enjoyable without leaving it open to exploitation and there is clearly an issue as even Mr. Stahl's own data shows this to be the case. They knowingly created the shortage of Fleet Marks. This is indefensible. It makes 0 sense whatsoever as I pointed out(and have many others) quite a few pages ago the decisions made/pointed out in Dan's post make no benefit to anyone at all, period - not even from a profit standpoint. Make a valid argument to the contrary, if you can.
I do agree Fleet bases need some sort of 'reason' to be in existence at all....maybe have 'sieges' that can take place on your Fleet's star base system, say during Wednesday, Friday or Saturday at a specific hour in the evening or something. Everyone knows it's coming so you could plan a group for it and then when it goes live you are engaging in defense of your own Fleet's base in the star base system itself. Fleet Marks can be given out along with regular drops, DIL, and maybe there could be the 'big boss' of the siege can have a chance to drop a Fleet level piece of gear at the end. The FM reward could scale based on placing, i.e. 1st is 100 FM's, 2nd is 75 FM's, 3rd 50 FM's and every other place below gets at least 25 FM's plus the DIL reward, etc...combine this with upping the rewards for the already in place Fleet events and on a weekly basis could still do really well for Fleet Marks and be playing 'in a group' for them at least until we get some better/newer instances rewarding them.
What a great idea! This would help in several ways...
A) Provide an enviroment for the Fleets to have some really good PvP and get the members looking forward to some good old FUN again!
Provide a reason to be at the Starbases that the Fleets have spent some much time and money on.
C) Get more players interested in doing things as a Fleet that are FUN!
D) Generate interest in getting the top qear, weapons, and ships to defend your Fleet's Honor!
All of the about should give the exec's at PWE and Cryptic some insight into what their customers (aka the Players) are looking for as well as provide a new avenue to generate more profit without making it into "grinding on a farm"!
I dont think they know how to change the game not much changed since the begin. Only real change is they made it so you had to grind your self to death to get anything . They might as well turn it back into the first year so at least you want have to kill yourself to do something.
I dont think they know how to change the game not much changed since the begin. Only real change is they made it so you had to grind your self to death to get anything . They might as well turn it back into the first year so at least you want have to kill yourself to do something.
I liked the beginning the way it used to be. Most MMO's take much longer to get to end game. I liked it better when it took a few months to level up a character to 50 and you had to play ALL the content to progress your character. I remember having to do patrols and story and some deep space encounters to make sure my character was leveled properly as I trekked through the various sector blocks. All we do now is play through to about romulan space and now your level 50 with no need to play any further except to grind your life away on a handful of missions to further your character through obtaining commodities that the rest of storyline doesn't provide. There has to be some middle ground to put all the old content to better use.
Gold Sub since March 2010
Lifetime Sub since June 2010
I propose that the Reputation System use one currency: Reputation Marks. All Tracks will use the same Reputation Marks, eliminating the need to keep track of a potentially endless number of different Marks for each Reputation Track added. Omega and Romulan Marks will need to be converted to Reputation Marks if this were to take place. Another reason this should done: What good will Omega and Romulan Marks be once players have maxed out those Reputation Tracks and unlocked everything in the respective stores? Surely, you don?t want players to completely abandon STFs and New Romulus once they?ve maxed out those Reputation Tracks. So what would they do with extraneous Omega and Romulan Marks?
?But what?s to stop players from exploiting that by just running Romulan missions and using the Reputation Marks earned there to level up and unlock items on the Omega Track??
Well, nothing I suppose. But to be honest, how is it an exploit? You EARNED the Reputation Marks, and the Reputation System is about developing your character. So shouldn?t you have a say in how you spend those Marks? And I?d much rather have that, than to keep track of a dozen different categories of Marks. The Reputation System has endless potential, and as I?ve already said, a potentially endless number of different Marks for each Reputation Track added, which would make the Reputation ?economy? cumbersome over the long haul. Streamlining it now would avoid a headache in the future.
I disagree with turning reputation marks into one universal mark. They maybe called mark but they aren't really a "currency" they are more of an "experience measurement." So in order to gain special romulan skill traits this shows you've completed x number of romulan mission to obtain the requisite marks which only make sense. If you were to never run an STF why would this person obtain experience in borg skills?
As for what to do with your left over marks... they can be traded for dilithium and I propose they be traded for fleet marks as well since many of the missions you obtain the reputation related marks are from group activities.
I do like many of your other ideas but didn't copy them over because of the post length. All missions should reward an optional choice of needed commodities.
Gold Sub since March 2010
Lifetime Sub since June 2010
For all those who are convinced the game is fine I have a question for you.
Its fine that people can't slot Bridge officers, without using multiple workarounds?
its fine to have one of the Que'd matches, have spawn issues, IE lack of spawns, Lack of respawns, Lingering mobs that normally warp out
a Cloaking bug that has been in existence for over 2 years
Oh and I saw a tweet from Branflakes that said to avoid using Engineering team.
I liked the beginning the way it used to be. Most MMO's take much longer to get to end game. I liked it better when it took a few months to level up a character to 50 and you had to play ALL the content to progress your character. I remember having to do patrols and story and some deep space encounters to make sure my character was leveled properly as I trekked through the various sector blocks. All we do now is play through to about romulan space and now your level 50 with no need to play any further except to grind your life away on a handful of missions to further your character through obtaining commodities that the rest of storyline doesn't provide. There has to be some middle ground to put all the old content to better use.
Truth be told, IMHO putting in that 700 Day Veteran skill boost was a mistake. Unless of course the intent was to get as many toons to level 50 as possible so they can by dilithium to hurry there grinding.
At least make that skill boost optional.
How the Devs see Star Trek, apparently:
Star Trek: The Original Grind
Star Trek: The Next Grind
Star Trek: Deep Space Grind
Star Trek: Voyage to the Grind
It's not the "grinding on the farm" vision that is wrong...
It's how we, the players, are positoning ourselves at our PCs that's causing the real problem.
We just need to morph into the correct type of players needed...
pm me for the link so I don't get moderated, but you will laugh your rear end off!
P.S. This is hosted on my web server in my domain so the content is approved.
Note this is meant to be humor and humor only to lighten this thread up at little since it has been a very long and sometimes fustrating period now.
Sirsitsalot has made a really good point about this. Why do MMOs always have to be a grindfest? I want to just fly around with my buddies and play a Star Trek Experience. If Cryptic maybe added FM and Dil rewards to other missions like Featured Episodes, then people wouldnt be so bored and mad at grinding.
And dont stop with just FMs, maybe add more Borg and Romulus Missions as well. And dont make them long and impossible, but make them interesting and fun to replay over and over.
The possibilities are endless, but really the only thing holding Cryptic back is a budget set by PWE sadly.
Sirsitsalot has made a really good point about this. Why do MMOs always have to be a grindfest? I want to just fly around with my buddies and play a Star Trek Experience. If Cryptic maybe added FM and Dil rewards to other missions like Featured Episodes, then people wouldnt be so bored and mad at grinding.
And dont stop with just FMs, maybe add more Borg and Romulus Missions as well. And dont make them long and impossible, but make them interesting and fun to replay over and over.
The possibilities are endless, but really the only thing holding Cryptic back is a budget set by PWE sadly.
::: nods ... What people like about FMs with the Foundry mission is that its an added reward away from the grind that is given for playing FRESH and UNIQUE content within this game. Plus we as players have choices in which type of Foundry missions we wish to run.
As well as many foundry missions work well for team play as well as solo.
is this a fracking Joke i just did a foundry mission which used to give 940 dilithium and 50 fleet marks now it is only giving 652 dilithium. you people need to get your heads on straight how is this better?? answer this is getting ridiculas
is this a fracking Joke i just did a foundry mission which used to give 940 dilithium and 50 fleet marks now it is only giving 652 dilithium. you people need to get your heads on straight how is this better?? answer this is getting ridiculas
who is gong to join me in going to planetside 2?
It is a joke because they think it is better thats the problem!
Well bravo. I'm in an admittedly small fleet, but we'd managed to get slowly through to T3, and were actually starting to speed up after the infusion of some new members. One was even willing to go so far as to buy Zen just to boost our dilithium stream, but with this asinine decision without so much as any sort of plan for something to take the place of IOR, our progression has once again slowed to a crawl. Guess what? No reason to buy Zen/dilithium now if our FM acquisition can't even keep up. Shot, meet foot?
[...]
This debate itself has demonstrated that even among those of us who are upset with the latest patch there are many who has embraced the grindfest philosophy. Which ones? Anyone who asks "Why did you take FMs out of the Foundry?" rather than asking "Why do we have to grind for FMs anyway?" The former are enslaved to the notion that they must grind and are only really concerned about how to best go about doing it now that the IORs are gone and theire previous "best source of FMs" no longer offers it. The latter are those who have spoken of the game's potential that is not even being reached for.
I put myself in the middle of these. I understand the grinders' perspective, and I also understand the anti-grinders perspective. I am in line with the latter but recognize that the themepark-only nature of the mainline MMO industry has trained the majority of MMO players to be good little grinders. Many don't even realize that they have been conditioned. They skip past dialogue in missions, cut to the action, collect a reward and move on to the next. The "go here, kill this, collect treasuer, rinse and repeat" model has most of them going, "just bottom line it for me and let me get at it."
[...]
etc see page 155 for full post.
As I agree to what you mostly said into the full post; and as what you are saying anyway is something we ALL know bout, I think you are missing the point that is not about the FM anymore.
We , as ST fans, are bored with the never stopping grind that is.
FM gate is just about the one last thing that made people rage, the cherry on the top.
Now you have told us bout Cryptic and PWE economic plans . Well we know about this and franklyI don't care for a bit what their economic plans are;
Let's be honest, this is about far more then just the IOR. Tensions have been high since about halfway S6 when it became clear that bugs weren't getting fixed, requirements wouldn't be lowered etc. What we see here is what happens when you have a community that's on edge. The smallest additional affront just make thing's boil over. Or maybe a flash over would be a better analogy. This is just like when they took out the STF rewards. By this change they didn't just take away an easy source of fleetmarks, they effectively force us to get them elsewhere. In other words, we are being forced to do things we don't want to do and they take longer then the IOR did too. Our fun just got diminished, and because it takes longer we have less time for things we *do* enjoy. Look at the STF rewards, things stayed unruly untill the item drops where restored. Simply because getting an item, or having the chance to get one, is fun . I never understood why the reputation system had to replace the old system. Those unlucky few who didn't get their tech drops would have had the guarantee of being able to get them, and the rest of us could enjoy looking forward to the lootbag at the end. The dev's keep thinking all we care about is dilithium and fleetmarks, etc. but we don't. If they ever introduce new drop-only gear that can be collected by doing missions with an STF structure, I would play them all day long regardless of them rewarding marks of any kind or dilithium. There no longer are real achievements in this game, it's all about endurance and perseverence now. It isn't rewarding to play this game anymore. All the stuff is either buyable for zen/dilithium, or EC(which effectively is also buyable by zen or dilithium). Sure, you need some marks, running some elites will get you those quick enough. Or I guess grinding down eppohs if you need RM's.
This game as it stands now, has become a grindfest. Now, that in itself isn't that big of a deal. The problem is that a lot of us are not mmo fans or whatever, we are here because of Star Trek. That means that this game has incredible potential, with loyal fans. However, it also means they can't treat us like mmo fans who like to grind all day. Most of us love the IP to much to just walk away, so we will put up with it for a while....But sooner or later, we will reach a breaking point, where even the most loyal Star Trek fan refuses to put up with this any longer. That would mean the end of this game, because aside from the IP this game has nothing to offer. There are several mmo's out there, that from a gameplay perspective are far better developed, there are several that are more fun, etc.
Basicly they have the goose laying golden egg's here, only they keep pushing the goose for more egg's. Hell, they are close to taking a chokehold on the goose and shake it for more golden egg's. At the short term that might work, and the goose will lay some additional golden egg's, but then it will die. Keeping the goose happy and entertained might produce a few daily egg's less, but the goose will lay those egg's for years and years to come.
Stop trying to force the community to spend money, if you present us with enjoyable content, gameplay, bugfixes, fun items, etc. we will gladly give it to you!!!
Here's another idea to bring back fun into the game again and to generate profit for you PWE/Cryptic...
Let us craft the all of the consoles and gear offered in the game, but with this twist...
We can craft to Blue quality Mk XI level but give us a way to upgrade them to the best in the game by the following methods;
A) Upgrade drops for doing the missions (foundry spotlights or episodes, etc. - make them very rare drops like the STF's and very random)
Lobi store upgrades for the existing consoles/gear you already have (we choose what to apply the upgrade to.
C) Zen store based upgrades for all sorts of items (extra items that make your ship into a higher grade/class of ship, upgrade ships into the Fleet versions - at a much higher price than getting them from Fleet stores, console/gear upgrades - we choose what to apply the upgrade to, etc.)
D) Change the artifact modules to upgrade modules like the above (Unpowered would have to be DOFM'd into powered first, then maybe another set of DOFM's to the upgrade versions)
E) Make these part of the Lockbox items and have them drop at the special ship rate.
This is just one way to generate interest in a forgotten aspect of the game and generate more profit for you while making the game more fun again.
PWE/Cryptic Stop the grinding, bring back the fun!
"dStahl created the thread, so if he has more updates, he'll post. Until then, we're reading it and considering feedback"
So, is it fair to assume from dStahl's deafening silence in response to one of the quickest growing, biggest threads ever, is that he has nothing to say?
I see two things. One is that Dan has a family and this is probably a three day weekend. The other is that for him to reply, he has to know WHAT his response is (and probably needs to have a meeting with leads before he can say for sure what the response will be).
I mean, he could come on here and say, "Free 10,000 ZEN for everyone who posted in this thread and a trip to the Bahamas." But that doesn't address the problem and he wouldn't have the authority to do that on his own if it did.
It's going to be Tuesday before there's a reply, most likely.
I have a nagging feeling sometimes, however, that community outrage gets used as a blunt weapon to solve internal disputes. Both in terms of patch deployments and dev posts.
Internally, there's probably a fair amount of getting along. They joke. They have cake and wear funny hats when big patches deploy. And while things get passionate, there are direct confrontations that don't happen.
But my perception of Cryptic over the last seven years, right or wrong, is that when devs lose arguments with eachother, the guy who lost either leaks upcoming plans to the forums or posts a bunch of "working as intended" threads to provoke us into forming an angry mob on his side.
Take a look at Dan's posts on fleet progress versus Al's interview. People who listened to Al's interview walked away thinking Al had points. People who read Dan's comments got outraged. Many people have noticed that they used different terminology and even benchmarks for what counted as average.
My feeling is that this is one of Al's design babies. Dan disagrees and can't override Al on it without reason so Dan hits the forums with a bunch of "my hands are tied"/"this is working as intended"/"small fleets aren't supposed to progress" posts to generate two hundred pages of angry forum posts to use as ammunition for a compromise when the devs have a design meeting on Tuesday.
That's my cynical take anyway.
I think devs use and build our outrage to settle disagreements with other devs without having to be directly confrontational with eachother.
So, the removal a large source or Fleet Marks without the promise of possibly thinking about putting in more sources in the future makes sense?
Well, um... you haven't been paying much attention, have you?
Stahl did say he has plans to add ways to get Marks... in a few months.
The problem isn't necessarily that marks were removed from the Foundry daily. While that certainly sucks, the issue is he didn't have a replacement ready to roll out in the near future after that removal, essentially leaving us high and dry until May-ish.
I see two things. One is that Dan has a family and this is probably a three day weekend. The other is that for him to reply, he has to know WHAT his response is (and probably needs to have a meeting with leads before he can say for sure what the response will be).
I mean, he could come on here and say, "Free 10,000 ZEN for everyone who posted in this thread and a trip to the Bahamas." But that doesn't address the problem and he wouldn't have the authority to do that on his own if it did.
It's going to be Tuesday before there's a reply, most likely.
I have a nagging feeling sometimes, however, that community outrage gets used as a blunt weapon to solve internal disputes. Both in terms of patch deployments and dev posts.
Internally, there's probably a fair amount of getting along. They joke. They have cake and wear funny hats when big patches deploy. And while things get passionate, there are direct confrontations that don't happen.
But my perception of Cryptic over the last seven years, right or wrong, is that when devs lose arguments with eachother, the guy who lost either leaks upcoming plans to the forums or posts a bunch of "working as intended" threads to provoke us into forming an angry mob on his side.
Take a look at Dan's posts on fleet progress versus Al's interview. People who listened to Al's interview walked away thinking Al had points. People who read Dan's comments got outraged. Many people have noticed that they used different terminology and even benchmarks for what counted as average.
My feeling is that this is one of Al's design babies. Dan disagrees and can't override Al on it without reason so Dan hits the forums with a bunch of "my hands are tied"/"this is working as intended"/"small fleets aren't supposed to progress" posts to generate two hundred pages of angry forum posts to use as ammunition for a compromise when the devs have a design meeting on Tuesday.
That's my cynical take anyway.
I think devs use and build our outrage to settle disagreements with other devs without having to be directly confrontational with eachother.
Personally the only person that I would like to see take on a hour long comment/response interaction is the man who makes the decisions most of the time : Al Rivera!
Now that would be a very cool and interesting forum pvp as Al says what he believes - says what he wants and says - "your not only gonna take my changes but you will like them because I told you to!!" He is so Blunt and not a politician like Mr Stahl, it would be a very interesting thread then!
For all those who are convinced the game is fine I have a question for you.
Its fine that people can't slot Bridge officers, without using multiple workarounds?
its fine to have one of the Que'd matches, have spawn issues, IE lack of spawns, Lack of respawns, Lingering mobs that normally warp out
a Cloaking bug that has been in existence for over 2 years
Oh and I saw a tweet from Branflakes that said to avoid using Engineering team.
These are fine?
Unfortunately there's always going to be bugs in software. I write software for a living. I hate bugs lol I do my best to avoid them and if they occur, fix them. I'm sure the sto devs are the same because most programmers take pride in their creations.
Sometimes bugs are too costly to fix, or too difficult. Or perhaps the bug is in an 3rd party game engine/component. Who knows, but I think they'd be fixed if there was an opportunity to. I think they do a good job tbh.
Comments
"I rather believe that time is a companion who goes with us on the journey, and reminds us to cherish every moment... because they'll never come again. What we leave behind is not as important as how we lived" Picard to Riker
So, the removal a large source or Fleet Marks without the promise of possibly thinking about putting in more sources in the future makes sense? Saying that characters are in need of dilithium while at the same removing dilithium rewards and keeping a stifling dilithium cap in place makes sense? Forcing people to grind the same stale content makes sense? Removing any incentive for using the Foundry makes sense?
Did I wake up in the Mirror Universe?
Star Trek: The Original Grind
Star Trek: The Next Grind
Star Trek: Deep Space Grind
Star Trek: Voyage to the Grind
No, there are a lot of constructive posts outlining ways to make the game more enjoyable without leaving it open to exploitation and there is clearly an issue as even Mr. Stahl's own data shows this to be the case. They knowingly created the shortage of Fleet Marks. This is indefensible. It makes 0 sense whatsoever as I pointed out(and have many others) quite a few pages ago the decisions made/pointed out in Dan's post make no benefit to anyone at all, period - not even from a profit standpoint. Make a valid argument to the contrary, if you can.
I do agree Fleet bases need some sort of 'reason' to be in existence at all....maybe have 'sieges' that can take place on your Fleet's star base system, say during Wednesday, Friday or Saturday at a specific hour in the evening or something. Everyone knows it's coming so you could plan a group for it and then when it goes live you are engaging in defense of your own Fleet's base in the star base system itself. Fleet Marks can be given out along with regular drops, DIL, and maybe there could be the 'big boss' of the siege can have a chance to drop a Fleet level piece of gear at the end. The FM reward could scale based on placing, i.e. 1st is 100 FM's, 2nd is 75 FM's, 3rd 50 FM's and every other place below gets at least 25 FM's plus the DIL reward, etc...combine this with upping the rewards for the already in place Fleet events and on a weekly basis could still do really well for Fleet Marks and be playing 'in a group' for them at least until we get some better/newer instances rewarding them.
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
The o3 - Killed you good
I agree with this.. this is what I feel STO has lost. It is just to much grind, .. I don't mind the idea of the reputation system.. but the cost are really HIGH. I struggle a lot with this. I am not to happy with grinding,.. this is not why I joined STO. I joined STO to be a Starfleet Officer and do experience a story (episodes). STF and other can be a nice side activity but should not be what STF is all about.. which it is at the moment.
If it wasn't my love for the universe I might not even be playing it as I have left like many other mmos over the years that have done similar things in management(note not hte first time I have walked away from STO before).
All of them I might add ended up closing out to poor management and corporate greed in the end very much like this game is doing.
I won't get into the details but I have seen much added since beta but outside of the once in a blue moon featured episodes added every 6 months or so most of the additions t the game have been nerfs or new grinds.
The continue desire to make this heavier in grind is just another reason I think I am going to move on for the time being, but if history is any lesson this games life span won't outlive the errors that the management and PWE of this game are taking it.
Like any other star trek fans I hate to see this game go but at the same time I am tired of the nerfs, and with the constant effort to even try to get end game gear.
To think less then two weeks ago I finally got two of my mains to join a tier 3 starbase just to have the rug pull from out of me with another nerf is about the last straw I will have for the time being .
Seeing as the game lack of content was already a issue to go and make foundry missions even far more undesirable instead of more desirable with this move is just another example of greed and forced vision overriding common sense from a happy customer standpoint.
I wish STO the best of luck but for the time being I am going to watch from the side lines to see if the developers get a hint as me logging in does nothing to make it clear me and many others like me are very unhappy.
What a great idea! This would help in several ways...
A) Provide an enviroment for the Fleets to have some really good PvP and get the members looking forward to some good old FUN again!
C) Get more players interested in doing things as a Fleet that are FUN!
D) Generate interest in getting the top qear, weapons, and ships to defend your Fleet's Honor!
All of the about should give the exec's at PWE and Cryptic some insight into what their customers (aka the Players) are looking for as well as provide a new avenue to generate more profit without making it into "grinding on a farm"!
PWE/Cryptic Stop the grind, bring back the fun!
Zeus
I liked the beginning the way it used to be. Most MMO's take much longer to get to end game. I liked it better when it took a few months to level up a character to 50 and you had to play ALL the content to progress your character. I remember having to do patrols and story and some deep space encounters to make sure my character was leveled properly as I trekked through the various sector blocks. All we do now is play through to about romulan space and now your level 50 with no need to play any further except to grind your life away on a handful of missions to further your character through obtaining commodities that the rest of storyline doesn't provide. There has to be some middle ground to put all the old content to better use.
Lifetime Sub since June 2010
I disagree with turning reputation marks into one universal mark. They maybe called mark but they aren't really a "currency" they are more of an "experience measurement." So in order to gain special romulan skill traits this shows you've completed x number of romulan mission to obtain the requisite marks which only make sense. If you were to never run an STF why would this person obtain experience in borg skills?
As for what to do with your left over marks... they can be traded for dilithium and I propose they be traded for fleet marks as well since many of the missions you obtain the reputation related marks are from group activities.
I do like many of your other ideas but didn't copy them over because of the post length. All missions should reward an optional choice of needed commodities.
Lifetime Sub since June 2010
Its fine that people can't slot Bridge officers, without using multiple workarounds?
its fine to have one of the Que'd matches, have spawn issues, IE lack of spawns, Lack of respawns, Lingering mobs that normally warp out
a Cloaking bug that has been in existence for over 2 years
Oh and I saw a tweet from Branflakes that said to avoid using Engineering team.
These are fine?
Truth be told, IMHO putting in that 700 Day Veteran skill boost was a mistake. Unless of course the intent was to get as many toons to level 50 as possible so they can by dilithium to hurry there grinding.
At least make that skill boost optional.
Star Trek: The Original Grind
Star Trek: The Next Grind
Star Trek: Deep Space Grind
Star Trek: Voyage to the Grind
I think I know what is wrong here...
It's not the "grinding on the farm" vision that is wrong...
It's how we, the players, are positoning ourselves at our PCs that's causing the real problem.
We just need to morph into the correct type of players needed...
pm me for the link so I don't get moderated, but you will laugh your rear end off!
P.S. This is hosted on my web server in my domain so the content is approved.
Note this is meant to be humor and humor only to lighten this thread up at little since it has been a very long and sometimes fustrating period now.
Zeus
And dont stop with just FMs, maybe add more Borg and Romulus Missions as well. And dont make them long and impossible, but make them interesting and fun to replay over and over.
The possibilities are endless, but really the only thing holding Cryptic back is a budget set by PWE sadly.
::: nods ... What people like about FMs with the Foundry mission is that its an added reward away from the grind that is given for playing FRESH and UNIQUE content within this game. Plus we as players have choices in which type of Foundry missions we wish to run.
As well as many foundry missions work well for team play as well as solo.
U.S.S. Maelstrom, NCC-71417 (Constitution III-class/flagship) --- Fleet Admiral Hauk' --|-- Dahar Master Hauk --- I.K.S. qu'In 'an bortaS (D7-class / flagship)
who is gong to join me in going to planetside 2?
It is a joke because they think it is better thats the problem!
But of course, he also said we'd have a full KDF, and so many other things....
etc see page 155 for full post.
As I agree to what you mostly said into the full post; and as what you are saying anyway is something we ALL know bout, I think you are missing the point that is not about the FM anymore.
We , as ST fans, are bored with the never stopping grind that is.
FM gate is just about the one last thing that made people rage, the cherry on the top.
Now you have told us bout Cryptic and PWE economic plans . Well we know about this and franklyI don't care for a bit what their economic plans are;
I care for a FUN game .
Gravitar said it all there : ( page 139)
Let us craft the all of the consoles and gear offered in the game, but with this twist...
We can craft to Blue quality Mk XI level but give us a way to upgrade them to the best in the game by the following methods;
A) Upgrade drops for doing the missions (foundry spotlights or episodes, etc. - make them very rare drops like the STF's and very random)
C) Zen store based upgrades for all sorts of items (extra items that make your ship into a higher grade/class of ship, upgrade ships into the Fleet versions - at a much higher price than getting them from Fleet stores, console/gear upgrades - we choose what to apply the upgrade to, etc.)
D) Change the artifact modules to upgrade modules like the above (Unpowered would have to be DOFM'd into powered first, then maybe another set of DOFM's to the upgrade versions)
E) Make these part of the Lockbox items and have them drop at the special ship rate.
This is just one way to generate interest in a forgotten aspect of the game and generate more profit for you while making the game more fun again.
PWE/Cryptic Stop the grinding, bring back the fun!
Zeus
STO Resources: <Ship Comparison - All Tiers + Small Craft + Hangar Pets> <Damage Resistance>
<R&D + Upgrade Costs> <Duty Officer Finder> <Suliban Doff Reqs> <Fleet Costs> <Rep Costs>
<Keybind Tour the Galaxy> <Fleet / Armada Management> <Currency Exchange> <Other STO Links>
I see two things. One is that Dan has a family and this is probably a three day weekend. The other is that for him to reply, he has to know WHAT his response is (and probably needs to have a meeting with leads before he can say for sure what the response will be).
I mean, he could come on here and say, "Free 10,000 ZEN for everyone who posted in this thread and a trip to the Bahamas." But that doesn't address the problem and he wouldn't have the authority to do that on his own if it did.
It's going to be Tuesday before there's a reply, most likely.
I have a nagging feeling sometimes, however, that community outrage gets used as a blunt weapon to solve internal disputes. Both in terms of patch deployments and dev posts.
Internally, there's probably a fair amount of getting along. They joke. They have cake and wear funny hats when big patches deploy. And while things get passionate, there are direct confrontations that don't happen.
But my perception of Cryptic over the last seven years, right or wrong, is that when devs lose arguments with eachother, the guy who lost either leaks upcoming plans to the forums or posts a bunch of "working as intended" threads to provoke us into forming an angry mob on his side.
Take a look at Dan's posts on fleet progress versus Al's interview. People who listened to Al's interview walked away thinking Al had points. People who read Dan's comments got outraged. Many people have noticed that they used different terminology and even benchmarks for what counted as average.
My feeling is that this is one of Al's design babies. Dan disagrees and can't override Al on it without reason so Dan hits the forums with a bunch of "my hands are tied"/"this is working as intended"/"small fleets aren't supposed to progress" posts to generate two hundred pages of angry forum posts to use as ammunition for a compromise when the devs have a design meeting on Tuesday.
That's my cynical take anyway.
I think devs use and build our outrage to settle disagreements with other devs without having to be directly confrontational with eachother.
Just a trip to the Bahamas will do, Breezes Resort near Nassau is really nice and not that expensive, I'll start packing my bags.
Apparently some forum posters have diplomatic immunity nowadays, where can I get mine? [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
Well, um... you haven't been paying much attention, have you?
Stahl did say he has plans to add ways to get Marks... in a few months.
The problem isn't necessarily that marks were removed from the Foundry daily. While that certainly sucks, the issue is he didn't have a replacement ready to roll out in the near future after that removal, essentially leaving us high and dry until May-ish.
I Support Disco | Disco is Love | Disco is Life
Personally the only person that I would like to see take on a hour long comment/response interaction is the man who makes the decisions most of the time : Al Rivera!
Now that would be a very cool and interesting forum pvp as Al says what he believes - says what he wants and says - "your not only gonna take my changes but you will like them because I told you to!!" He is so Blunt and not a politician like Mr Stahl, it would be a very interesting thread then!
Unfortunately there's always going to be bugs in software. I write software for a living. I hate bugs lol I do my best to avoid them and if they occur, fix them. I'm sure the sto devs are the same because most programmers take pride in their creations.
Sometimes bugs are too costly to fix, or too difficult. Or perhaps the bug is in an 3rd party game engine/component. Who knows, but I think they'd be fixed if there was an opportunity to. I think they do a good job tbh.