We're actually seeing what starfleet missions should be in the missions for the Romulans.
Two missions come to mind.
The one where we explore the new Romulus before colonization.
The one where we (as an engineer) try to save the conference location from sabotage by fixing things and disarming traps.
If they have more missions like that on the Fed side it would make more sense but we don't most of the missions and indeed the explorations don't have "duck blinds" or "exploration of the planet's surface" or "helping a colony fix their Xwhatever" the last one is what we saw ALOT in TNG Geordi was always on some planet fixing something.
Heck even as a Doctor I never have missions where I can beam to a planet in exploration zones and heal the sick. There's like 2 missions like this 1 back in time and 1 healing the deferi. That's it.
So one has to wonder why did they make this game so blood thirsty?
Remember, there's like 4 years or so between then and now.
If they were to make a new Fed only arc now, it would likely be in line with the Romulan stuff.
As for overhauling the current Fed missions, I wouldn't expect too much from it, yes, they need it even if only because the quality of those missions simply don't compare to what we have now with the Romulan missions, but, what does Cryptic stand to gain financially from doing this..?
They gave LoR and Romulan missions their all because financially they had motivation to do so, the more pleasing everything new was, the more likely players old and new would buy the packs or the ships from the store.
I can't see that incentive for overhauling the Fed mission arcs.
To me, all it really needs is to have that first dialog window add a little more text and an option.
When you zone into a system that is currently a fight, hail the other ship, have them say something hostile and your officer says "they closed the channel and are powering weapons".
That's all it would take.
Badlands in the Cardassian arc does this. Works fine for me. Though as a klingon it kinda bugs me that I can't just cloak and blast them without the hail making me visible.
As far as I am concerned, this is the core issue, nothing else.
So many ''trekkies'' are attracted by this game, people with barely any experience in games, let alone MMO's, then proceeding to state everything is wrong and needs to be made the way it was in ''the shows''.
I can understand the point of view of those people, but it simply isn't viable to completely reduce combat to a ''sometimes happens'', an MMO like this thrives on it's combat systems, why else do you think this game has a story point of the KDF and Federation being at total war with each other, not to mention that the Federation is at the very least in a state of cold war with just about every other major faction in Trek.
This is an action based MMO, not an exploration or investigative game, though Cryptic has been improving these latter aspects in newer missions a lot.
I do support more of these missions, but to claim combat needs to be nearly removed from the game or always non-lethal, simply isn't going to happen.
No one said that combat needs to be completely removed. If there wasn't any "raise shields", "phasers on stun", "I don't want to fight you, Jim, but I'm having Pon Far, so I need to hit someone" now, etc, it wouldn't be Star Trek at all. That being said, I see we both agree that a bigger variety in types of missions is better.
It's O.K. with me that the underlying political situation is that there is a war going on. Because, if done correctly, it brings up some interesting challenges for the player who chooses to be a fed. How to be an effective soldier in this war and act according to what is expected of the character you chose, (a big deal Starfleet officer)? How do you act as a human in this situation (assuming you are human)? All of that last 3 seasons of DS9 type stuff.
That, along with Explorations, and First Contacts, and Humanitarian missions, and Strange mysterious space entities, are the sort of stuff people have expected to see when the see the words "Star Trek" in a title for more than 40 years, otherwise you could just as well call the game Space War 2400.
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Remember, there's like 4 years or so between then and now.
If they were to make a new Fed only arc now, it would likely be in line with the Romulan stuff.
As for overhauling the current Fed missions, I wouldn't expect too much from it, yes, they need it even if only because the quality of those missions simply don't compare to what we have now with the Romulan missions, but, what does Cryptic stand to gain financially from doing this..?
They gave LoR and Romulan missions their all because financially they had motivation to do so, the more pleasing everything new was, the more likely players old and new would buy the packs or the ships from the store.
I can't see that incentive for overhauling the Fed mission arcs.
When you zone into a system that is currently a fight, hail the other ship, have them say something hostile and your officer says "they closed the channel and are powering weapons".
That's all it would take.
Badlands in the Cardassian arc does this. Works fine for me. Though as a klingon it kinda bugs me that I can't just cloak and blast them without the hail making me visible.
No one said that combat needs to be completely removed. If there wasn't any "raise shields", "phasers on stun", "I don't want to fight you, Jim, but I'm having Pon Far, so I need to hit someone" now, etc, it wouldn't be Star Trek at all. That being said, I see we both agree that a bigger variety in types of missions is better.
It's O.K. with me that the underlying political situation is that there is a war going on. Because, if done correctly, it brings up some interesting challenges for the player who chooses to be a fed. How to be an effective soldier in this war and act according to what is expected of the character you chose, (a big deal Starfleet officer)? How do you act as a human in this situation (assuming you are human)? All of that last 3 seasons of DS9 type stuff.
That, along with Explorations, and First Contacts, and Humanitarian missions, and Strange mysterious space entities, are the sort of stuff people have expected to see when the see the words "Star Trek" in a title for more than 40 years, otherwise you could just as well call the game Space War 2400.