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long time coming DOff System Feedback from Z3R0B4NG
zerobang
Member Posts: 0 Arc User
You better sit down for this one and get a coffee, this will take a while to read.
tl;dr I am disappointed how the Duty Officer System has been handled since Heretic has left.
The only thing that is working perfectly fine and like clockwork is the Monetization of the System via LockBoxes and C-Store Packs.
The DOff System itself is stagnating and even a Faction wasn't enough reason to give it some love.
---
To understand why i am disappointed you first have to understand what i love about the DOff System.
It is just a fun game on its own!
There was a clear path of progression to upgrade DOffs, to get better DOffs.
And as a little Bonus trinket you got something out of it that is helpful with the STO pewpew gaming = "Active Roster Powers".
They are the REWARD for being a good or at least a persistent User of the DOff System.
You do Chains, they take time and effort to complete, some were truly challenging to find which was GOOD!
I like a challenge, and a "scavenger hunt" just isn't fun without the searching part.
For example, the Colonial Support Chain was a huge hit with the Playerbase (Heretic said so and i see it the same way), it was often hard to find and complete, but it was REWARDING in multiple ways.
What was unexoected was that the challenge of completing it forged a community that helped each other in the DOFFJOBS channel.
A System that is VERY single player oriented (there is NO interaction with other players required in this "minigame" whatsoever otherwise) forged a social multiplayer community simply because it was challenging and doing it all alone and figuring the details out on your own isn't easy, by now it is not about beating the challenge anymore but simply for efficiencies sake.
A few months later the challenge of the Support Chain was reduced, the first 3 Steps are now available 99% of the time, which is still OK but it simplifies the Scavenger Hunt game.
On my latest char i am almost done with the support chain and i started only like a week ago, the first time it took me WEEKS...
i have to say it is much less fun to me this way, but i can accept it that not everybody is as hardcore about it as i am and many casuals need a hook first to get addicted to the System and Heretic saw it as a way to get new players addicted, while i personally don't like it myself i understand the motivation in making the Colinial Chain a bit less Hardcore. I can live with it... after all i've only beaten it like 10 times already and this is nr. 11.
But when the latest chain was released it really opened my eyes,
Caitian Diaspora / Unforgiven of Ferasa was so GOD DAMN EASY it wasn't even fun anymore.
There was no Scavenger Hunt required anymore at all, pretty much all the steps of the chain are instantly available no matter where you go look for it.
Within 2 weeks everybody in the Channel was DONE with that chain.
It was a bit of a content drought before that last chain was introduced already and we burned through that new chain instantly. That was just BORING. Way too easy.
The FUN in the System is the Scavenger Hunt itself, for me even more so than the reward.
Heck i did not even bother with any Active Roster powers, i just wanted that full 400 Purple DOff Roster... on all Characters (by now 11 Characters = 4400 DOff Slots).
The next goal was to get Cardassian only DOffs on my Galor Class, Ferengi on my D'Kora and Jem'Hadar on my Bug Ship. (Jem'Hadar turned out to be impossible... and my Ferengi are all Green with no real way to upgrade to Purple Ferengi but that is another topic.)
There is no benefit to that kind of gameplay at all, but my DOffs are my CREW and at least in my personal Gameplay Style the Captain has to fit the Ship [same reason i did not buy into Tholian LockBox Ships, they just aren't fun if i can not have a Tholian Captain] and the Crew has to fit to the Captain as much as possible (although with the amount of chars i have that is a constant work in progress micromanagement mini-side-game by now).
....
then a long list of disappointments started.
Nr. 1 STARBASES
The introduction of the Starbase System was a 180? turn for the DOff System,
That goal of 400 Purple DOffs wasn't that important anymore, suddenly i was a Space Taxi driver, picking up passengers at Starfleet Academy (white DOffs) and moving them directly to the Starbase (without even physically going there).
That was the point in time when DOffs were no longer MY CREW, but turned into just another Commodity. That was a slowly forward creeping process.
That was the first big FAIL of the System, one of the goals of the Duty Officer System was to manage your CREW, get familiar with your Crew, CARE about YOUR CREW... and upgrade it.
not just transport some bunch of passengers between A and B like Self Sealing Stembolts!
...the good thing about it was that the Starbase also supplied a way to get more DOffs, in fact that is the only thing the Starbase will supply you with long term (once you unlocked all the shops and bought all the items you wanted, there is nothing to do with Fleetcredits but to buy DOffs again).
Push White DOffs and CXP to FM into the Starbase = get Fleetmarks, spend Fleetmarks to get Fleet DOffs back.
That was still an OK System.
The Fail was that it made me feel like a Space Taxi Driver because of the crazy amount of DOffs required.
But i will give this one a pass because it was finally a reason to join a Fleet and i would not want to miss Jupiter Force anymore.
So again, increased socialization through the DOff + Fleet System back and forth, all in all a good thing.
---
Nr 2: Season 7 - Tau Dewa Sector Block
It was a while since anything substation did happen to the DOff System, so a new Sector Block was new Hope, hooray a new chance to add DOff Assignments maybe a chain or two, but certainly a few new Romulan flavored Assignments.
Well... *shrug* nothing happened for another full Season.
---
Nr 3: Romulan Faction update.
OMG we get a new Faction! Everybody was excited and looking forward to what the new Faction would mean for the DOff System and for DOFFJOBS.
...more disappointment.
The Ally System was the excuse Cryptic used to NOT do anything for the DOff System really.
Which was understandable because this System was just not the Focus of this Faction Update and there were a lot more Systems in STO that were skipped thx to the Ally System
soooo... at least we weren't the only ones getting completely shafted? right?
PvP got nothing, no Romulan Fleetbase etc. etc. just be happy about what was added with this update, they will get around to DOffs when they get around to DOffs...
Disappointed but understandable.
it just takes Dev Time to add a bunch of new Handcrafted DOffs, be that as reward for existing Chains or as the CXP progression rewards...
but for my Romulan Character that also takes away a lot of the motivation to play the DOff System again... why would i want to go through those chains AGAIN if i can't get Romulan Specific stuff from them?
I mean FED+KDF mostly get different rewards, so why not Romulans?
There might be a technical limitation? But i doubt that.
---
Nr. 4: No clear DOff Progression for Romulans
On top of that it is real hard to get any good Romulan DOffs (good = purple).
Yes i am aware that there is a pickup assignment for Romulan DOffs on that Romulan Central Command Map. And there is also an Upgrinder for DOffs.
But that Upgrinder was initially an afterthought, in the first few months it did not even exist in the DOff System from start.
Heretic added that one to give the CASUAL player a more clear path of progression, one that costs a bit Dilithium (and since the rewards are random and require a lot of lower level DOffs it felt just right, 5 random doffs + a LITTLE dil = on RANDOM DOff of a higher level).
That path of progression was taken away again by slapping a huge Dilithium Cost on the Upgrinder. To this day no comment on the Topic other than "it was too cheap" from the Devs. Well suffice to say as with every NERF they overcompensated and this one has Monetization written all over it. Fat chance of them changing it back. (same TRIBBLE happened with the Crafting System, avoided by most since the Dil Tax)
Suffice to say if you ask in DOFFJOBS today if anybody is doing this you will get a wall of NOPE. It is just not worth it.
But for Romulans it is now the ONLY way to improve the roster with actual Romulans at all.
There are Romulan Refugees but there are no Asylums.
There are no Romulans in any of the old FED/KDF pickup missions (Extrcate Intelligence Asset, Special Deals or Asylums come to mind).
I just see no FREE way of progression at for Romulans, not if they want to keep that Romulan flavor.
But ok... i can WAIT for it to happen, even if i get impatient by now.
---
Nr. 5: PR lies ...?
dStahl told us that we could have a full Romulan / Reman Crew.
(I still don't see how.)
lets just ignore the FREE upgrade path for a moment.
On multiple occasions dStahl said, before the Romulan Faction update, that Cryptic would add random Romulan Faction DOffs to every DOff Pack in the game (because of the Alliance System FED + KDF would get them too, so at least on the Exchange there should be plenty of supply of Romulan DOffs that way, after a few Months the prices would probably normalize too).
Well, i got 40 of the *mini* DOff Packs from the Tal'Shiar LockBox, that was released AFTER the Romulan Faction update, and guess what, i got a bunch of white and green KDF DOffs out of it.
Not a single Romulan or Reman... so again: hot air supplied by dStahl. *sigh*
---
Nr. 6: Monetization functions like Clockwork...
...just nothing else is happening.
So... you want to tell me that you had NO TIME to make a few new alternate Handcrafted DOffs as rewards for Romulan Characters for completing the CXP Tier Progression or any of the Chains.
YET there are 96 Handcrafted DOffs ( http://sto.gamepedia.com/Duty_officer/Special#Tal_Shiar_Duty_Officers ) with new Active Roster Powers in the latest LockBox,
and the just released Romulan DOff Pack has 17 (!) new Active Roster powers.
There is a CHAIN in the LockBox, nice to see you did not forget how to do them by now! Not so nice to see it being abused for Monetization, to me that feels like putting a Featured Episode Series behind a paywall.
Sorry i got nothing nice to say about this anymore at this point, been watching this happening since Heretic left and not even a new Faction is enough for you guys to give the DOff System some much required love, instead you keep on pushing for more and more LockBox DOffs.
Just as comparison the first LockBox has 19 special DOffs, the latest one has 96 (32 per faction! And yes in this case Romulans do indeed get something else than FED+KDF...).
Nr. 7: Active Roster Powers in LockBoxes and DOffPacks.
As i said before the Active Roster Powers are supposed to be the REWARD for PLAYING the System. I'm a DOffer, i'm not a huge PvP fan and STFs are easy enough as they are... so this is really just a gimmick to me. A "nice to have". But others are not primary DOffers and they use these powers for PvP builds.
The Monetization Scheme for the DOff System is not selling "convenience" anymore, you directly get the *Rewards* for $, you BYPASS the Game itself.
In fact there is often no free way, no way to EARN these new Powers in-game at all.
I've seen some hints that these powers might get added to the game simply LATER.
The Fleet DOffs had plenty of formerly C-Store only Active Roster Powers and even the Warfare Specialists made it in there (no Handcrafted LockBox Tholians, but the powers made it in there).
But that was a long time ago and we had multiple LockBoxes and C-Store packs since back then.
There is also still no Assignment that profits from slotting a "Warfare Specialist", that profession was added only to have these new powers in the game but there is no requirement for any DOff Assignment whatsoever to have one of those.
I don't mind monetization, i WANT Cryptic to earn their fair share of money.
But as a player i do not see MY "Return Of Investment".
So many DOffpacks being moved game wide and what has it given back to the DOff System?
Only MORE DOffpacks and LockBoxes to buy... so they get MORE MONEY ?
Sorry i do not feel compelled to buy anything if i do not see continued development on the System, and that goes for any System and any Game.
All i see here is Maintenance Mode and Monetization...
---
Nr 8: Heretic leaving...
Sorry if this sounds a bit harsh now, i don't want to hurt anyones feelings.
After Heretic left i, as everyone else, feared the worst, that the System would die a slow death.
Borticus and this "Arcon" dude (that i never seem to notice on the Forums, even though i stalk the DevTracker on a daily basis) were supposed to take over the DOff System.
What is funny is that Borticus already took over the PvP weekly forum updates as good as he could after Gozer left.
But nobody REALLY took over as "Champion" for PvP.
What has really happened to PvP since then? Nothing!
Borticus did what he could, his Job, screwed around with those Systems Powers Skills Buffing Nerfing in short keeping tha "balance" intact...
but honestly that is exactly what has happened to PvP for 3 years now and it is called "Maintenance Mode" ...as in: you keep it in working condition, but you don't expand on the System itself.
Bort is a Systems guy, he does math, he does Powers very well, the only thing i see him talking about on the DOff Forums are Active Roster Powers.
Over here in the DOff corner it is not Maintenance, here it is Monetization!
And that seems to be pretty much the only thing happening here anymore.
i don't want to let this end in negative nancy mode... so lets talk a bit more about where i come from.
You may know me as the guy who made bit.ly/DOFFS or "the Sheet" or "DOffTrekker".
That gives me a unique perspective on things.
Players come to me if they want something new tracked, Players come to me when they have information about a new Assignment or Cooldown so i can add it to the Sheet.
The Community is the one awesome thing this DOff Game has left going for it.
I would hate to disappoint them so i keep the Sheet infrastructure that i've build alive even if i personally am disappointed with how the DOff System ended up.
This was supposed to be the one thing that got regular updates, if Cryptic won't deliver regular Featured Episode Series (because that is actually a lot of work) the DOff System could at least be the cheap way to induce regular "flavor" into STO.
It's all just text, numbers and icons, you can't tell me that it takes a lot of effort or manpower to add some assignments and Chains on a regular basis.
You just have no one sitting in the office who WANTS to do it.
I'm not even talking about new *Systems* like Department Heads, just plain simple *more of the same*-content to keep the Fanbase entertained and growing.
I also have my own set of Metrics from my site.
I won't go into details right now (that'd be a bit too complicated because i have like 10 different links to track now and it doesn't even count people who bookmarked it)
but suffice to say some players come, some players leave but it has kept pretty much the same level of activity over the last Year now.
It isn't growing anymore, it isn't dying but it is going nowhere, it has a secure core fanbase and the occasional casual player who peaks in.
That tells me the DOff System is only really working as long as there is an Active Dev developing the Game further.
If you just sit on what you got, it is not going anywhere, you may not loose the Fans that you already made, but you won't gain any new ones either.
I'm not complaining about MY numbers, i am very happy with the Fanbase that my little googledoc has produced.
I got >75 active registered Editors and the thing is just simply WORKING on its own by now, in fact the Community has helped so much in making this thing happen and work and helped improving it, i could not have gone as far with it on my own.
People literally came to me and provided code and functions that i just could not do on my own, not to mention figuring out all the required data.
I don't consider myself as the *one head behind this thing*, i am just the dude *managing* all of the input i get, sure it is my Baby, i'm proud of it and i take care of it as good as i can,
but it really is a community project and that is what makes it awesome, and that is why i will keep it in working condition until the community stops using it.
I have helped Jupiter Force, before i was a member of the Fleet, in creating showdocs for the DOff Guide Trilogy that Chris made for STOked.
If there is a bigger Supporter of the DOff System than me, than i have not met him yet.
So if i am not happy with the results that i see, on a monthly basis for over a year now, then you guys at Cryptic really have a few Problems in your System to work out.
That is the most honest feedback i can give and i think it needed to be said, i love you guys but you need to get your game-plan straightened out and stop your various Game-Systems from stagnating.
tl;dr I am disappointed how the Duty Officer System has been handled since Heretic has left.
The only thing that is working perfectly fine and like clockwork is the Monetization of the System via LockBoxes and C-Store Packs.
The DOff System itself is stagnating and even a Faction wasn't enough reason to give it some love.
---
To understand why i am disappointed you first have to understand what i love about the DOff System.
It is just a fun game on its own!
There was a clear path of progression to upgrade DOffs, to get better DOffs.
And as a little Bonus trinket you got something out of it that is helpful with the STO pewpew gaming = "Active Roster Powers".
They are the REWARD for being a good or at least a persistent User of the DOff System.
You do Chains, they take time and effort to complete, some were truly challenging to find which was GOOD!
I like a challenge, and a "scavenger hunt" just isn't fun without the searching part.
For example, the Colonial Support Chain was a huge hit with the Playerbase (Heretic said so and i see it the same way), it was often hard to find and complete, but it was REWARDING in multiple ways.
What was unexoected was that the challenge of completing it forged a community that helped each other in the DOFFJOBS channel.
A System that is VERY single player oriented (there is NO interaction with other players required in this "minigame" whatsoever otherwise) forged a social multiplayer community simply because it was challenging and doing it all alone and figuring the details out on your own isn't easy, by now it is not about beating the challenge anymore but simply for efficiencies sake.
A few months later the challenge of the Support Chain was reduced, the first 3 Steps are now available 99% of the time, which is still OK but it simplifies the Scavenger Hunt game.
On my latest char i am almost done with the support chain and i started only like a week ago, the first time it took me WEEKS...
i have to say it is much less fun to me this way, but i can accept it that not everybody is as hardcore about it as i am and many casuals need a hook first to get addicted to the System and Heretic saw it as a way to get new players addicted, while i personally don't like it myself i understand the motivation in making the Colinial Chain a bit less Hardcore. I can live with it... after all i've only beaten it like 10 times already and this is nr. 11.
But when the latest chain was released it really opened my eyes,
Caitian Diaspora / Unforgiven of Ferasa was so GOD DAMN EASY it wasn't even fun anymore.
There was no Scavenger Hunt required anymore at all, pretty much all the steps of the chain are instantly available no matter where you go look for it.
Within 2 weeks everybody in the Channel was DONE with that chain.
It was a bit of a content drought before that last chain was introduced already and we burned through that new chain instantly. That was just BORING. Way too easy.
The FUN in the System is the Scavenger Hunt itself, for me even more so than the reward.
Heck i did not even bother with any Active Roster powers, i just wanted that full 400 Purple DOff Roster... on all Characters (by now 11 Characters = 4400 DOff Slots).
The next goal was to get Cardassian only DOffs on my Galor Class, Ferengi on my D'Kora and Jem'Hadar on my Bug Ship. (Jem'Hadar turned out to be impossible... and my Ferengi are all Green with no real way to upgrade to Purple Ferengi but that is another topic.)
There is no benefit to that kind of gameplay at all, but my DOffs are my CREW and at least in my personal Gameplay Style the Captain has to fit the Ship [same reason i did not buy into Tholian LockBox Ships, they just aren't fun if i can not have a Tholian Captain] and the Crew has to fit to the Captain as much as possible (although with the amount of chars i have that is a constant work in progress micromanagement mini-side-game by now).
....
then a long list of disappointments started.
Nr. 1 STARBASES
The introduction of the Starbase System was a 180? turn for the DOff System,
That goal of 400 Purple DOffs wasn't that important anymore, suddenly i was a Space Taxi driver, picking up passengers at Starfleet Academy (white DOffs) and moving them directly to the Starbase (without even physically going there).
That was the point in time when DOffs were no longer MY CREW, but turned into just another Commodity. That was a slowly forward creeping process.
That was the first big FAIL of the System, one of the goals of the Duty Officer System was to manage your CREW, get familiar with your Crew, CARE about YOUR CREW... and upgrade it.
not just transport some bunch of passengers between A and B like Self Sealing Stembolts!
...the good thing about it was that the Starbase also supplied a way to get more DOffs, in fact that is the only thing the Starbase will supply you with long term (once you unlocked all the shops and bought all the items you wanted, there is nothing to do with Fleetcredits but to buy DOffs again).
Push White DOffs and CXP to FM into the Starbase = get Fleetmarks, spend Fleetmarks to get Fleet DOffs back.
That was still an OK System.
The Fail was that it made me feel like a Space Taxi Driver because of the crazy amount of DOffs required.
But i will give this one a pass because it was finally a reason to join a Fleet and i would not want to miss Jupiter Force anymore.
So again, increased socialization through the DOff + Fleet System back and forth, all in all a good thing.
---
Nr 2: Season 7 - Tau Dewa Sector Block
It was a while since anything substation did happen to the DOff System, so a new Sector Block was new Hope, hooray a new chance to add DOff Assignments maybe a chain or two, but certainly a few new Romulan flavored Assignments.
Well... *shrug* nothing happened for another full Season.
---
Nr 3: Romulan Faction update.
OMG we get a new Faction! Everybody was excited and looking forward to what the new Faction would mean for the DOff System and for DOFFJOBS.
...more disappointment.
The Ally System was the excuse Cryptic used to NOT do anything for the DOff System really.
Which was understandable because this System was just not the Focus of this Faction Update and there were a lot more Systems in STO that were skipped thx to the Ally System
soooo... at least we weren't the only ones getting completely shafted? right?
PvP got nothing, no Romulan Fleetbase etc. etc. just be happy about what was added with this update, they will get around to DOffs when they get around to DOffs...
Disappointed but understandable.
it just takes Dev Time to add a bunch of new Handcrafted DOffs, be that as reward for existing Chains or as the CXP progression rewards...
but for my Romulan Character that also takes away a lot of the motivation to play the DOff System again... why would i want to go through those chains AGAIN if i can't get Romulan Specific stuff from them?
I mean FED+KDF mostly get different rewards, so why not Romulans?
There might be a technical limitation? But i doubt that.
---
Nr. 4: No clear DOff Progression for Romulans
On top of that it is real hard to get any good Romulan DOffs (good = purple).
Yes i am aware that there is a pickup assignment for Romulan DOffs on that Romulan Central Command Map. And there is also an Upgrinder for DOffs.
But that Upgrinder was initially an afterthought, in the first few months it did not even exist in the DOff System from start.
Heretic added that one to give the CASUAL player a more clear path of progression, one that costs a bit Dilithium (and since the rewards are random and require a lot of lower level DOffs it felt just right, 5 random doffs + a LITTLE dil = on RANDOM DOff of a higher level).
That path of progression was taken away again by slapping a huge Dilithium Cost on the Upgrinder. To this day no comment on the Topic other than "it was too cheap" from the Devs. Well suffice to say as with every NERF they overcompensated and this one has Monetization written all over it. Fat chance of them changing it back. (same TRIBBLE happened with the Crafting System, avoided by most since the Dil Tax)
Suffice to say if you ask in DOFFJOBS today if anybody is doing this you will get a wall of NOPE. It is just not worth it.
But for Romulans it is now the ONLY way to improve the roster with actual Romulans at all.
There are Romulan Refugees but there are no Asylums.
There are no Romulans in any of the old FED/KDF pickup missions (Extrcate Intelligence Asset, Special Deals or Asylums come to mind).
I just see no FREE way of progression at for Romulans, not if they want to keep that Romulan flavor.
But ok... i can WAIT for it to happen, even if i get impatient by now.
---
Nr. 5: PR lies ...?
dStahl told us that we could have a full Romulan / Reman Crew.
(I still don't see how.)
lets just ignore the FREE upgrade path for a moment.
On multiple occasions dStahl said, before the Romulan Faction update, that Cryptic would add random Romulan Faction DOffs to every DOff Pack in the game (because of the Alliance System FED + KDF would get them too, so at least on the Exchange there should be plenty of supply of Romulan DOffs that way, after a few Months the prices would probably normalize too).
Well, i got 40 of the *mini* DOff Packs from the Tal'Shiar LockBox, that was released AFTER the Romulan Faction update, and guess what, i got a bunch of white and green KDF DOffs out of it.
Not a single Romulan or Reman... so again: hot air supplied by dStahl. *sigh*
---
Nr. 6: Monetization functions like Clockwork...
...just nothing else is happening.
So... you want to tell me that you had NO TIME to make a few new alternate Handcrafted DOffs as rewards for Romulan Characters for completing the CXP Tier Progression or any of the Chains.
YET there are 96 Handcrafted DOffs ( http://sto.gamepedia.com/Duty_officer/Special#Tal_Shiar_Duty_Officers ) with new Active Roster Powers in the latest LockBox,
and the just released Romulan DOff Pack has 17 (!) new Active Roster powers.
There is a CHAIN in the LockBox, nice to see you did not forget how to do them by now! Not so nice to see it being abused for Monetization, to me that feels like putting a Featured Episode Series behind a paywall.
Sorry i got nothing nice to say about this anymore at this point, been watching this happening since Heretic left and not even a new Faction is enough for you guys to give the DOff System some much required love, instead you keep on pushing for more and more LockBox DOffs.
Just as comparison the first LockBox has 19 special DOffs, the latest one has 96 (32 per faction! And yes in this case Romulans do indeed get something else than FED+KDF...).
Nr. 7: Active Roster Powers in LockBoxes and DOffPacks.
As i said before the Active Roster Powers are supposed to be the REWARD for PLAYING the System. I'm a DOffer, i'm not a huge PvP fan and STFs are easy enough as they are... so this is really just a gimmick to me. A "nice to have". But others are not primary DOffers and they use these powers for PvP builds.
The Monetization Scheme for the DOff System is not selling "convenience" anymore, you directly get the *Rewards* for $, you BYPASS the Game itself.
In fact there is often no free way, no way to EARN these new Powers in-game at all.
I've seen some hints that these powers might get added to the game simply LATER.
The Fleet DOffs had plenty of formerly C-Store only Active Roster Powers and even the Warfare Specialists made it in there (no Handcrafted LockBox Tholians, but the powers made it in there).
But that was a long time ago and we had multiple LockBoxes and C-Store packs since back then.
There is also still no Assignment that profits from slotting a "Warfare Specialist", that profession was added only to have these new powers in the game but there is no requirement for any DOff Assignment whatsoever to have one of those.
I don't mind monetization, i WANT Cryptic to earn their fair share of money.
But as a player i do not see MY "Return Of Investment".
So many DOffpacks being moved game wide and what has it given back to the DOff System?
Only MORE DOffpacks and LockBoxes to buy... so they get MORE MONEY ?
Sorry i do not feel compelled to buy anything if i do not see continued development on the System, and that goes for any System and any Game.
All i see here is Maintenance Mode and Monetization...
---
Nr 8: Heretic leaving...
Sorry if this sounds a bit harsh now, i don't want to hurt anyones feelings.
After Heretic left i, as everyone else, feared the worst, that the System would die a slow death.
Borticus and this "Arcon" dude (that i never seem to notice on the Forums, even though i stalk the DevTracker on a daily basis) were supposed to take over the DOff System.
What is funny is that Borticus already took over the PvP weekly forum updates as good as he could after Gozer left.
But nobody REALLY took over as "Champion" for PvP.
What has really happened to PvP since then? Nothing!
Borticus did what he could, his Job, screwed around with those Systems Powers Skills Buffing Nerfing in short keeping tha "balance" intact...
but honestly that is exactly what has happened to PvP for 3 years now and it is called "Maintenance Mode" ...as in: you keep it in working condition, but you don't expand on the System itself.
Bort is a Systems guy, he does math, he does Powers very well, the only thing i see him talking about on the DOff Forums are Active Roster Powers.
Over here in the DOff corner it is not Maintenance, here it is Monetization!
And that seems to be pretty much the only thing happening here anymore.
i don't want to let this end in negative nancy mode... so lets talk a bit more about where i come from.
You may know me as the guy who made bit.ly/DOFFS or "the Sheet" or "DOffTrekker".
That gives me a unique perspective on things.
Players come to me if they want something new tracked, Players come to me when they have information about a new Assignment or Cooldown so i can add it to the Sheet.
The Community is the one awesome thing this DOff Game has left going for it.
I would hate to disappoint them so i keep the Sheet infrastructure that i've build alive even if i personally am disappointed with how the DOff System ended up.
This was supposed to be the one thing that got regular updates, if Cryptic won't deliver regular Featured Episode Series (because that is actually a lot of work) the DOff System could at least be the cheap way to induce regular "flavor" into STO.
It's all just text, numbers and icons, you can't tell me that it takes a lot of effort or manpower to add some assignments and Chains on a regular basis.
You just have no one sitting in the office who WANTS to do it.
I'm not even talking about new *Systems* like Department Heads, just plain simple *more of the same*-content to keep the Fanbase entertained and growing.
I also have my own set of Metrics from my site.
I won't go into details right now (that'd be a bit too complicated because i have like 10 different links to track now and it doesn't even count people who bookmarked it)
but suffice to say some players come, some players leave but it has kept pretty much the same level of activity over the last Year now.
It isn't growing anymore, it isn't dying but it is going nowhere, it has a secure core fanbase and the occasional casual player who peaks in.
That tells me the DOff System is only really working as long as there is an Active Dev developing the Game further.
If you just sit on what you got, it is not going anywhere, you may not loose the Fans that you already made, but you won't gain any new ones either.
I'm not complaining about MY numbers, i am very happy with the Fanbase that my little googledoc has produced.
I got >75 active registered Editors and the thing is just simply WORKING on its own by now, in fact the Community has helped so much in making this thing happen and work and helped improving it, i could not have gone as far with it on my own.
People literally came to me and provided code and functions that i just could not do on my own, not to mention figuring out all the required data.
I don't consider myself as the *one head behind this thing*, i am just the dude *managing* all of the input i get, sure it is my Baby, i'm proud of it and i take care of it as good as i can,
but it really is a community project and that is what makes it awesome, and that is why i will keep it in working condition until the community stops using it.
I have helped Jupiter Force, before i was a member of the Fleet, in creating showdocs for the DOff Guide Trilogy that Chris made for STOked.
If there is a bigger Supporter of the DOff System than me, than i have not met him yet.
So if i am not happy with the results that i see, on a monthly basis for over a year now, then you guys at Cryptic really have a few Problems in your System to work out.
That is the most honest feedback i can give and i think it needed to be said, i love you guys but you need to get your game-plan straightened out and stop your various Game-Systems from stagnating.
Post edited by zerobang on
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Comments
As far as the doff system goes, they have become commodities in this game. People just spawn white doffs left and right for SB leveling purposes and farm blues and purples to make ECs. I have seen few examples of people that actually collect doffs (Full Andorian crew for example).
Nagging suspicion in the back of my head mate,
They play to the masses. PWE doesn't truly give a damn about anyone who actually gives a damn about this game.
You're just another number.
If u pay, u pay, if you don't, you don't, they don't care. Someone else will. Pay, that is.
Cryptics running a skeleton crew phoning it in 'n implementing premade content on a predetermined timetable. Pwe collects the profits and signs their checks.
Explains an awful lot when you think about it. Ignored testing feedback from tribble, stagnant development in the doff system past what you referred to as maintenance and monetization.
Dil mine consoles, yea they're awesome. and expensive.
Not everyone can run 10+ characters 'n turn in catfood for tons of dil.
They're 'pay to win'
As would be the science consoles, as will be any tactical consoles we see.
Or these new duty officers in upcoming pack, going to be expensive. to acquire with ec or even real money.
Also going to be ridiculously powerful in the hands of someone who knows how to use them. More pay to win.
This games getting more expensive than World of tanks or Eve. Has long been much more expensive than Lotro. Any one of those games gets more attention given to the pvp crowd. as far as content and events.
yea, new rom is cool, for sure, 'n the new story is cool, for sure.
but,
nvmnd.
BTW, I know a guy that slipped up 'n had to take a loan to make this months mortage payment. I'd 'lol' but its really not funny.
Gambling is a serious addiction.
This is where I would start getting really ugly and begin throwing out curse words aimed at PWE for their lockbox TRIBBLE.
'n yea I know, master of your own destiny and all that.
There's no Gamblers Anon for sto. nor should there have to be.
You should be ashamed. Really.
Signing off before I get nasty.
Edit: ok, I realize, and I must note, that there is the possibility that u just will not be able to get everything in game.
It's definitely not the focus of my play when I log on.
However, I always have a healthy respect for when players show dedication to something they love in a game and go out of their way to put something forward that helps the entire community.
That most certainly exists in DOFFing and originally the DOFFJOBS channel.
So this one system, created a huge community around it. It created a social space.
These are the things that keep gamers glued to MMO games, more than anything else (social aspects).
More than new powers or new classes or new ships.
What was a channel originally focused on DOFFing is now mostly a giant global chat channel, humans are social and they will chat but the truth is there is not a sufficient amount of new DOFF content being released for these players to discuss.
This is another aspect of dropping the ball on in-game communities, just like PvP and STFs.
The other "endgame" content that had communities spring up around them.
You have dedicated players literally begging you for new content to play and enjoy. Begging you for reasons to continue playing your game.
Monetizing these communities is all well and good (necessary and expected), but you also need to nurture and support them and help them maintain a healthy climate to be sustainable and continue to grow or at least replace losses.
There are sustainable models and models that are not sustainable.
Nuture and support cannot happen solely through monetization.
When players as dedicated to your game as zero make posts like this, this is when someone really needs to take notice.
I did - 2 cups of coffee later, there is nothing to add but my support. Agree with everything said, and am as disappointed as you are in the state of the DOff system and its stagnation.
Aliella Hawklight, Divine Oracle Devoted Cleric
"Whenever a time arises where clarity is desired, it is always wise to reflect on the sage within."
― Sereda Aleta Dailey
DaiMon Moogie, U.S.S. Acquisition
Rule of Acquisition #57: Good customers are as rare as latinum. Treasure them.
STO LTS since launch; NW player since 2014; ARC user - only when I have to put in codes for free stuff
Also, they're really buggy with regard to where they appear. Supposed to be in the "current sector" tab, but one only appears in engineering, one only in tactical, and once you finish the repeatable unlock appears to randomly move between current map and operations. I did once get delta volanis support to show up in my captain's personal tab. Those who know to check all over find them and complete the chain. Those learning the system think it's not available or the chain is bugged and never finish it.
I have to disagree here. There is a big difference between the people in the doff community and in the general game public. Do a search in the academy and the main forum channels. You'll see lots of posts asking if this chain is broken because the people can't finish it and asking for help from people in their fleet and in zone never helped everyone told them they hadn't finished either.
It's a little like PvP... to those who know (you) it's too easy. To most of the players it's still a challenge.
Of my 9 who all actively work on this chain, I only have 3 that have finished it.
I reliably see people asking if it's "still" bugged or if it is possible to finish at all. This despite the fact that to my knowledge it's never been bugged.
Not to mention in the last month I've shown 7 players including 2 that were lifetimers since beta that the ghosts of the jem haddar chain exists as they'd never even seen it.
Again, in-group common knowledge vs out-group is a world of difference.
Bit of hyperbole there wouldn't you say? "only thing"? The consumables and operational assets are very cool and will certainly be an ongoing drain on my resources once I actually have ships decked out.
Also the announced future system of sending boffs/doffs out on missions with backup ships might mean I want to buy more than one copy of fleet gear.
Also another positive for the Doff system from the fleets: +3 missions at once for each character can be unlocked. And the new mine has several unique missions too. My fleet hasn't unlocked enough for me to know if there's any new chains though.
Totally agree. Not just a taxi driver, more like a death camp executioner. Star bases have a crew of between 200 and 1500. it takes a MINIMUM of 14,500 doffs and 165 BOFFS to crew a starbase, 3,600 for the embassy and over 5,500 for the mine. All I can assume is that the casualty rate among new recruits is astronomical. My klingon fleet claims the walls of our base are made from the crushed corpses of our duty officers and painted red with their blood. Given the numbers needed, it's hard to argue.
I have mixed feelings about the cost on this. I know it well because selling duty officers is primarily how I financed two of my ships (Krenn Destroyer and Tholian Recluse) in just a few months and a few lucky ups of rare officers was what put me over the top (yay for stubborn + resilient tellarite engineers).
1,000 dil = 1 Uncommon Unreplicatable Material or 100 Commons for the past several months has had a reliable selling price of near 240,000 EC (the commons are more valuable than the uncommons).
1,000 dil = 1 junior officer cadre pack, sells for ~140,000 EC with spikes up over 240,000 and dips to 75,000. Mini-packs are stable at 95-110k but those need keys
25 units of contraband = 10,000 dil = reliably 850,000 EC.
If I run these numbers I get a rough dil:EC exchange rate of 1:186
Now, if I look at the EC value of doffs (excluding outliers like white science officers, and any civilian other than refugees) we find:
White doffs: 25k-65k each call it 45k
Green: 25k-95k each, call it 55k (many fewer high value than mid-value)
Blue: 90k-450k = 275k solid average (prices rose with LOR and the new warp/singi crafting plus a few other missions)
Purple: 450k - 12 million (mostly outliers at the top), average 1.5m
HOWEVER, anyone smart only uses the lowest value input, but gets the average output. So that means:
White civilian/scientist = 11k
Green civilian/scientist = 24k
Blue civilian = 90k
Cost vs Expected Output (ec:dil -> ec)
Common: 55k:500 -> 55k = 0 profit
Uncommon: 120k:2500 -> 275k = 155k profit
Rare: 450k:5000 -> 1500k = 1050 profit
Exchange rate (dil:ec)
common: 1:0 (complete loss of all input for no gain)
uncommon: 1:62
rare: 1:210
Which gives interesting results. the blue-> purple grinder actually yields slightly better profit than many other uses of dilithium on the exchange. All others are overpriced.
But the exchange rates fluctuate and are unstable. Especially given what you said Heretic's intention was, as a stable and reliable way for casuals to upgrade doffs, the dilithium costs should undeniably be lower. However, not so significantly lower as many people are asking.
I do think the below would be a quite reasonable price for them (but personally I'd love them lower):
common: 150
uncommon: 1,000
rare: 2,500
Recruiting missions at the command center can crit and yield greens and blues. I haven't gotten a purple yet though. It's random, and hella slow but it still happens. But that's random it's not really a "progression".
To add some more data to your numbers lest anyone try to claim your sample size is too small: I've opened over 90 fleet support mini packs and 8 full fleet support packs. zero romulans/remans. over 60 reinforcement mini packs, also zero romulans/remans.
At least we now have a romulan pack in the C-store, but I'd love the minipacks in the tal-shiar box to start being those instead of fleet support.
Agree 100%
I came here from City of Heroes, specifically I only tried STO because it shares a chat system with Champions and both Dr Aeon (now the STO Dev Commander Ander) and Synapse (here known as Gorngonzolla) got jobs here. Trust me when I say if there's anyway to get Gorngonsolla (generally a powers guy but also good with systems) to look over the Doff system, only good things will result from it. He had a strong hand in the singularity engine system for example. He is cautious, would prefer to buff/nerf three times instead of one to make sure it's not an over-reaction, we saw it many times over at City.
Actually, since the game playerbase has grown lately, if you aren't seeing increased numbers that means a smaller percentage are joining the doff community. In medicine this is called "compensating errors" its like having a disease that raises your blood pressure and another that lowers it so yours looks healthy but really you have two bad things hiding each other. Take away the bump and there's a decline hidden in your numbers.
Agree 100%
I am fine with monetization of latest and/or greatest. I am fine with monetization of convince and speed.
But to completely bar me from tons of interesting active duty roster abilities because I don't want to fork out millions of EC for a doff that will become bound to a single toon that keeps me from using an interesting ship build? That I do not like.
Every sector block needs to become as interesting as the cardassian one for doff purposes. I had hoped that the new romulan sector, and the surrounding sectors, would have had this treatment by now. Sadly it has not.
Look, simply put the Doff system greatly enhances the game for many players, for others it has become the game. It is one of the few competitive advantages STO has over other MMOs. Please do not let it die.
Romulans: left one homeworld, lost another, third time's the charm?
First off, let me begin by asking for the traits on DOFFs to be shown as modifiers on the exchange, e.g. DOFFNAME [Efficient] [Logical].
This would align with the already existing system in place on the exchange and would allow for easy quick searching.
Secondly, please allow the faction filter (aka "only show usable items") to completely erase the items that you cannot use instead of merely hiding them from being seen. That way you can actually go beyond the 400 total items and maybe have a shot of finding what you are looking for.
Thirdly, allow for multiple copies of the commendation DOFFs to be purchased. They're nothing special besides the fact that a few of them look pretty cool on my roster. Keep the price the same and them being CBOP (Character Bind on Pickup). Adds a dilithium sink if players desired to obtain more than one of the same DOFF.
Fourthly, even out the officer exchanges across the board to have the same amount of critical/success/failure/disaster base traits. At the moment Bajor has 1 critical trait on their officer exchange program, but 3 on their asylum. This makes no sense. Please be consistent with the amount of traits.
Fifthly, do the same as 4, but for asylum missions. Why does Trill only have one critical trait? Trill is a part of the Federation or at least it was when I watched the TV Shows. Even everything out to have the same amount please.
Sixthly, introduce good missions elsewhere outside of Cardassian Space. If one is heavily into DOFF Missions you realize that the best things are in Cardassian Space. CS has rare commodities that no where else has. Other sectors have commodities of their own I am sure, but only the ones from CS exist in the game. CS has officer exchange programs, and again I have to be sure that officer exchange programs exist elsewhere. Why isn't there a Ferengi Officer exchange program? I could go on, but I am sure that by now you get the drift so I will just name the unique CS DOFF missions: Negotiate Delivery/Additional Delivery of Rare Commodities, 3 Exploration Sectors, Ghosts of the Jem'Hadar Chain, Recover Jem'Hadar Supply Cache, Give Sanctuary to Anti-Dominion Cardassian Agent, 4 Officer Exchange Programs, Colonial Team Assignments, the only NPC Trader that I know of outside of lockbox ships, 4 Asylums, Haggles for Rare Commodities, and TONS of assignments that use those rare commodities.
Adding good rewarding DOFF missions outside of CS, would promote exploration to these other places and therefore making the game feel more authentic because you're actually traveling the galaxy looking for more cool stuff instead of camping DS9 or Beta Ursae waiting for the next thing to pop up.
Seventhly, introduce a trait specializing system for DOFFs, Cryptic has already set a precedent that they will be "selling" Character Traits via lockboxes for players to obtain so why not include DOFF traits in this as well? Nothing to lose for sure. Make it another Dilithium sink, lockbox prize, or C-Store item.
Anyways these things were just off the top of my head, there's so much potential in this "Mini-Game" and I would love to see it be expanded even further.
When I first started I got so caught up into Doffing that I skipped the rest of the game. I use Doffing to level my alts. Rep + Doff = 99% of my play time.
One of these days I'll actually hit the storyline.
Ex-CoH players, Please add the chat channel "CoX STO"
http://sto-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?t=362311
As you (and some others) know, I have been doffing as long as you and actively participate in the DoffJobs channel and I gotta say I agree with most of what you say, particularly about the stagnation part and the seeming lack of energy with Heretic's exit.
I mean TRIBBLE - when Season 7 came about , we had an entire new sector ffs! Would have it been so hard to throw together a handful of chain missions specific to the new sector? It certainly would have generated more traffic in that sector. But no - zilch.
I feel with Heretic's exit, the DoFF system is pretty much coasting on what he built, with what little development and innovation being shoved behind a paywall via lockboxes and Doff Packs.
Aside from that, simple questions regarding the DoFF system are going unanswered. Without seeming self-serving, I posted 2 questions about the Quartermaster Battery doff to get clarification if they buff the RMC. Heretic likely would have offered clarification or would have adjusted if it was an oversight. But now, as you say, we have no champion. Perhaps it was because he was able to focus more on the DoFF system and wasn't pulling double duty like Borticus is.
The DoFF system kept me playing this game probably longer than I should have, but its' seeming stagnation and apathy from devs is also making me leave the game sooner than I should have as well.
The blue->purple grinder someone mentioned only works out to a profit sometimes. Plenty of purples are down in the 500k range.
Also there is still doffing done in DOFFJOBS and DOFFCALLS, but it's true it's not as much as before. Heck the Accolades channel is practically dead during the week so you can't complain.
Especially LoR has been a huge disappointment doff-wise and has even been somewhat destructive to my doffing routine.
Tau Dewa and New Romulus are Doff wastelands. No chains, no asylums, no cultural exchange, no support clusters. Heck there aren't even personal and general doff assignments in New Romulus Space and Ground maps.
In addition to that you have a horrible Romulan/Allied Doff up- and downgrinding system and not a single Romulan or Reman commendation Doff from Ferra. On top of all of that, Tau Dewa completely screwed up Hromi and Arucanis, up to a point where I usually skip them nowadays because it's to f***ing annoying to maneuvers to 0.00 km. I really hope to god you don't handle Rolor and Delta Volanis the same way when you decide to add the sector between Sirius and BU.
--Red Annorax
But in general, I will agree with what is said here. The Doff system needs an expansion and improvement beyond powers for PvP. You need to be able to have more doff slots, more places to send doffs, and ways to get doffs (in particular romulan and reman doffs that are not out of a box for the Romulan faction, I don't like those Federations or Klingon officers on my Romulan ships). Also, the Romulans need their own doff missions. Why am I raiding ships if I ally with the Klingons? Why am I helping federation interests if I ally with them? I am Romulan, and I'm building a new homeworld, you would think that would imply some work I could do for that as well.
And for the future, personally, I think that the doff system should be expanded so that you can take your old ships, and convert it into a doff system of its own. So you would take doffs, assign them to the ship, maybe take some boffs for bridge crew, and send that ship on its own super doff missions, and you can tweek it by swaping doffs to give it better stats for a particular mission. Like, a mining mission, you fill it with hortas, or a diplomatic mission, its packed with diplomats. Anyway, the last part is IMHO, YMMV.
Nouveau riche LTS member
One major downfall is undoubtedly Heretic leaving, thus the vacuum we find ourselves in now.
I only dabble in doffing, not really my thing, but a nice enough past time when not blowing ships into kingdom come
Also, the new Risa summer event has NO doff jobs at all, except raising/hatching those birds.
No doff missions to give additional favors or food, wich the winter event had tons of.
Did no one think of adding the same type of doff missions to the summer event? Would of been nice to have atleast one or two doff missions that gave favors/food to help it feel less grindy to get said favors/food...
Just seems a tad lazy imo...
(not dissing you by calling it a "rant", I actually think your observations are accurate, you'll see my point soon)
Unfortunately, I'm starting to think Lake is dead on correct. Which brings me to my point...
I've seen it ALL TO MANY times on the forums. Player X has an issue with PWE, the game, something added, a glitch, whatever. Posts said concern on the forums, to which player Y responds to the effect of "that's just the way it is because of money". Now player Y may or may not agree with player X. That's irrelevant. But I'm starting to see the actual problem, as Lake has pointed out. Player X is under the assumption that PWE actually cares what some or all of the players think. i.e. Happy? Therefore they assume that they want to make things "better". What I'm slowly being convinced of is that this is not even close to the case. I'm not just going to ramble on about it, but show some examples.
http://sto-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?t=763211
This is but one of MANY examples I've seen where something was pointed out involving player perspective that was totally ignored for an excessive amount of time. It almost follows an intentional pattern as another poster in that thread pointed out. Make OP, leave OP, profit, "fix". Total disregard for player satisfaction EXCEPT for the speed grinder that works extra hard to get the latest glitched item. Profitable? Short term yes, long term no. More on this later.
Instead, here is what Devs like to do with their time. Aside from create new maps, ships, doffs, boxes, anything that can be sold or is fun to make, forum interaction is very selective because, hey, who wants to hear bad news or upset people? I've seen 30+ page threads involving something ALOT of people care about and not one Dev response. 1 thread even got shut down by a Community Moderator because it was "too negative". !!!
http://sto-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?t=695071
http://sto-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?t=768401&page=3
Yet a Dev found the time and interest to comment on a silly thread about jetpacks or something which ofc was a praise.
so I says... He replies (yes, I got a prompt response!) "...Keep in mind that there's no "One Dev To Rule Them All" type... they all have their specialties." Apparently there are no customer service Devs. Oh wait, Branflakes is, but he's not a programmer so that excuse is reversed to fit the situation.
Finally, go ahead and check out the Devtracker. Responses to serious issues? No. You would think the game was in tip-top shape with no complaints at all. Just minor ";-)" replies and simple "Did you try re-logging?" comments.
Sooo....
What all this adds up to to me, is either they care about a happy fan base or they don't and just want you to buybuybuy, then move along. Now, let's not be confused, PWE/Cryptic/STO/CBS/whatever is a company. Question is do they take ANY pride in customer satisfaction or just selling us snake oil? If it is the first, players will also be proud to be in a "community" and recommend to friends, buy more stuff, etc and feel good about it for a long time. If it's the latter....., well PWE will get their money for as long as they are good at it, but guess what the side effect is? Just like Lake said and I personally see all the time is that the PLAYERS stop caring too. Can you really blame anyone for using exploits, stacking questionable gear, or basically doing "whatever it takes"? OFC not. If PWE does'nt care and just worries about themselves, please expect the same in return. Cordially, your players. From what I've seen things have gone down hill for many years now, and players are just starting to get fed up with it in the majority. PWE/Cryptic need to make up their minds which side of the fence they are on. Else, we will have a free-for-all soon. DoFF system getting updated? ONLY when it's clearly and immediately profitable I think. OFC I'm still waiting for something to be improved just for the sake of it in STO. In the last year, i can think of only 1 thing out of 100's. The UI.
If your post is anything like, "I have a sandwich so you can't be starving" it's time to rethink posting. ~thlaylierah
<shrug> would be nice, would prefer to be able to search by trait(s). Not holding my breath for either.
I don't have a strong feeling about number of traits being equal or the same. I think different species/traits makes sense - if you're giving asylum to someone, they are refugees whose traits are going to be much different than if you're actually exchanging officers with a different species, who will serve on your crew.
And Trills were not founders of the Federation - Only Vulcans, Humans, Tellarites and Andorians can rightfully have that trait. The trait is not 'member' of Federation.
Last project that Heretic ran. 'nuff said
Aliella Hawklight, Divine Oracle Devoted Cleric
"Whenever a time arises where clarity is desired, it is always wise to reflect on the sage within."
― Sereda Aleta Dailey
DaiMon Moogie, U.S.S. Acquisition
Rule of Acquisition #57: Good customers are as rare as latinum. Treasure them.
STO LTS since launch; NW player since 2014; ARC user - only when I have to put in codes for free stuff
I don't think it could be that hard to implement since they already have it done with weapons, shields, deflectors, warp cores, singularity cores, etc.
I get the traits not being the same, that is totally fine but when you have an imbalance of just 1 trait compared to 2-3 traits, why would you waste a refugee on one of the 1 trait missions? For example I have a refugee from completing one of the support missions and it has the following traits: Founders of the Federation, Tactful, and Teamwork. Why on earth (lol irony) would I want to not put him on a Asylum on Earth but on an Asylum on Trill? All the critical traits are met on both yet the critical chance on Earth will be higher simply because there are more traits.
Alright yeah I see your point on the Founders of the Federation trait, I wasn't sure on all of the who founded what with who backstory since Enterprise was a terrible terrible show and it someone would literally have to pay ME to watch it. Even considering this, the point stands at least in my opinion from the paragraph before. Why waste a refugee on a bad mission with low critical chance? Could add some traits to even it out and they don't even have to be new traits. From the shows most Trills were friendly and got along well with others so why not add Congenial? Also most of the Trills were fairly emotional (not sure if this is biased since the majority of Trills we saw on screen were joined).
Anyways I personally just want to see them evened out because at the moment I see no reason to bother doing the Asylum missions that only have one critical trait because their chances of purple are so low. Especially considering that the exchange price for refugees are fairly high for a white civilian DOff. Or if the traits matched somewhere else better and I was already running the mission could simply mail to a different character and run the mission on that character as well.
I am not familiar with Heretic even though I see his name mentioned frequently in this subforum, as I did not start playing until a few months ago but still, I believe there should be good missions to run in the other parts of space aswell. Camping out in Beta Ursae feels like Star Trek, but only DS9 (ironic because DS9 was my favorite) and putting good missions elsewhere would help to provide the exploration feel of going all over the quadrant/galaxy and doing new cool things (which was established that it was the mission of the other series).
/100% support!
The last things that happened doff-wise while heretic was still here (June 2012) was the implementation of doffs as a starbase commodity, the Tuffli freighter from the Reinforcement c-store pack and the Fersan chain, which was seemingly implemented to supply feds with Flight Deck Officers for the Atrox that was released 2 weeks earlier.
The Cardassian missions, truly the last positive and constructive changes to the doff system, were implemented a few months before he left.
I know this is probably impossible to implement, but what I'd really love to see is some sort of foundry for doffing. Create your own missions and chains and share them to others via bridge invite.
Thanks zero keep up the good work.
a history of sto pvp: 2010 - 2011
a history of sto pvp: 2012 - 2013
They don't even bother to give special doffs quotes anymore, or to give KDF special doffs unique names and traits (KDF... Marion Dulmur? Really?). That clearly indicates that the doff system is now in the hands of people who don't care about it at all.
That ill desire to search through hundreds of doffs for that one perfect doff seperates doffers from the rest and more importantly, the ability to shove supar doffs into their lazy, convenience addled hands are what gives us our spiffy new gear and toys (let alone help fund the ever hungry starbases - purple kdf techs and security are my bread and butter)
Don't suggest we kill the golden goose.
Get the Forums Enhancement Extension!
I would assume that the demand for such doffs (especially on the KDF side where there are fewer players) is more what drives the price then the inadequacies of the search feature.
I actually dared to believe that finally Cryptic would stay with something and grow it over time. As a longtime player of both CO and STO I can honestly say the biggest reason why Cryptic's development is so mediocre is the way they distribute work into little individual compartmentalized systems. Once that system is done its practically sealed away never to be touched. Frankly I'm surprised they've actually added a second holding, but I can almost guarantee that after a preplanned number of them they will simply NOT release more.
I could rattle off a list of systems in CO and STO that once done were never again looked at and were left to stagnate but why bother, we all have our favorite and neglected systems.
Why does Cryptic have this culture of develop and forget? ITs clearly a company wide isue since it plagues both STO and CO. I would guess NWO also suffers from it but since its so new the stagnation in systems won't be felt for a while.
Is it some sort of power or ego thing? Where those at the top want to keep everyone easily replaceable? No one being in charge of anything makes it so all devs can be replaced easily, and damn the lost knowledge that dev carried.
Until Cryptic can STICK with a system and grow it its just not possible for it to grow beyond a mediocre developer. It'll be profitable but mediocre. That's probably good enough for them I guess, but it leaves us wanting.
Edit: they were fools for letting heretic and gozer go. They could've had one work on integrating more of the doff system into every aspect of the game and the other on more STFs. But no, we get "action zones" that are snoozefests!
My guess is that Cryptic's employees take charge of certain systems and when they are gone, there is no further major development in that system until someone replaces them. Money making additions excluded ofc.
With the next season coming out later this year, additions to the Duty Officer system were promised in recent interviews of Dan Stahl. I believe he said that the next season will have the biggest update the duty officer system has had since its release. Whether or not you want to put any stock in that is a completely different story, but I am optimistic about it since I like DOff missions about as much as I like the actual game.
As someone who betaed the HECK out of this system WHILE ON A VACATION. I am sad to see it languishing. Marauding is what got me into playing KDF.
I still have heard no talk of an app option lately.