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Dear Cryptic...

samuelmatthewssamuelmatthews Member Posts: 0 Arc User
Dear Cryptic,

First of all congratulations on the fantastic Legacy of Romulus expansion and for all your hard work on STO in general. I have been enjoying the game for a couple of years now, and despite having played many MMOs in my time, none have quite as consistently held my attention like STO and I think you deserve more credit for your efforts than you are often given in these forums! I also think your feedback and communication with players in the forum is second to none, and I feel that this has improved the game (and our relationship with it) immeasurably.

For this particular reason, I have put together some ideas and suggestions for my first forum posting - hopefully one or two might be considered or at least be a starting point for other players to improve upon or discuss.

Apologies for the wall of text to follow or if any of these topics have been covered in depth elsewhere in the forum.

Ok - let's get started!

The Odyssey (and Bortasqu') Class

I read LOR dev blog #29 with envious eyes this morning. The Scimitar is clearly a powerful and worthy flagship for the Romulans - and you have done a brilliant job with it. The problem is I don't really enjoy playing as a Romulan enough to make it worthwhile ever buying one - but hey, I hope those that do and will enjoy it. Unfortunately this vessel now clearly overshadows the Odyssey and Bortasqu' class flagships of the Feds and Klingons in power and I think it's now maybe time to refresh them a tad. (The following also applies to the Klingon equivalent where applicable).

First of all the Odyssey class has a pretty weak three piece set bonus (enhanced engineering systems). Combined with two interesting but fairly mediocre set consoles (work bees and Aquarius) and one useful but circumstantial one (saucer separation), this creates a slightly underwhelming flagship (ability-wise) in my opinion. Perhaps the set/ship could be buffed, updated, or added to in order to help with this?

The second problem is the lack of a 'two piece set bonus' that further undermines any justification for using the consoles. Not only does this leave it far behind the rather impressive two and three piece set bonuses for the Scimitar flagship, but even behind every other Z Store three pack (Vesta, Kumari etc.) I understand that The Odyssey and Bortasqu' three packs were the first of their kind and didn't require a two piece set bonus at the time of release - but an update now would be most welcome!

Perhaps an idea to bring the Odyssey in line with other flagships would be to provide it with an ability like the Romulan Haakona warbird? A console that allows you to potentially pilot the Aquarius destroyer upon separation would not only be fantastic fun, but might also provide it with the bit of 'punch' it seems to be lacking sometimes. Perhaps players should have to purchase the fleet Aquarius first to be able to 'kit out' the ship for when separated - this would also help give a use to the fleet Aquarius which otherwise seems a pretty lacklustre endgame escort choice. This might seem a far fetched potential ability for the Odyssey but it is after all already implemented in game for the Romulans...

It might seem a bit over zealous to be suggesting so much for one ship, but it is the flagship of the entire federation after all! Even if none of these changes can be implemented, maybe we (Feds and KDF) could be provided with a better end game cruiser/battleship/dreadnought class to compete with the Scimitar instead? I know the Feds have an already enviable fleet of ships so hopefully this won't come across as a petty complaint - I just think some existing ones for both Feds and KDF need a bit of an update.

P.S The 'large Aquarius' ship bug is now getting a little annoying and immersion breaking - I'm sure you're very busy but could we please have this bug addressed as soon as possible? Thank you!

Customisation and Flexibility


The DPS, Tank, Debuffer/Healer MMO 'holy trilogy' is kind of dead... Ok a little dramatic perhaps, but it's certainly not alive and kicking in many modern MMOs in development (or recent in release) like Elder Scrolls Online, Guild Wars 2, Everquest Next, etc. to name just a few. It seems that thankfully the genre is finally leaning more towards increased role and play style flexibility and it would be nice to somehow see this gradually brought into STO.

I know the tactical, engineering and science class system isn't a perfect fit for this MMO holy trilogy mechanic, but it does feel a bit like this sometimes. Why shouldn't a cruiser do massive damage if it wants to sacrifice defence, or a science ship have cruiser-like defence if it wants to sacrifice damage etc? I know this can be done to an extent already, but it needs expanding in my opinion - maybe a good start might be to allow many more 'universal bridge officer' seating options for all ships?

I don't want to stir up the 'buff cruiser/science - nerf escorts' debate here, but it does appear that end game PvE specifically seems very dps or tactically orientated. Maybe a nice compromise would be to add new weapons like '90 degree wide angle dual cannons' that lose a modifier or perhaps '180 degree heavy beam arrays' etc for all ships to use. I think the recent 'beam turrets' forum post might be a step in the right direction for this also. These ideas could potentially add viability to science and cruiser dps builds without 'nerfing' anyone in particular.

Maybe adding a few more tactical abilities would also help resolve the dps debate? A 'Beam rapid fire' ability that doesn't result in huge energy drain, and a 'cannon overload' equivalent for escorts (that does) perhaps? On a separate note, it does seem fairly obvious (to me at least) that tactical energy consoles should share the same diminishing returns that the engineering equivalent have. After all, I think increased variation and flexibility in play style should be key here; just loading up on phaser relays, neutronium armour and field emitters does seem a little restrictive and dull - give us a reason to not do this! Give us a reason to use other console types in builds please guys!

I think it would be great if this increased play style flexibility was extended towards our characters too. Why just have three possible captain careers when there are already so many interesting departments they could specialise in? A medical captain with specialised ground healing capabilities, or an operations captain with a more logistical support role in space - maybe a security captain with increased ground combat options? A huge amount more possibilities for the player, massively extended shelf life for the game (players wanting to try all classes) and a less 'cookie cutter' or 'rock, paper, scissors' approach to player characters makes it an all 'round win in my humble opinion.

P.S I would have purchased a lifetime subscribers package by now if the Chimera was a ten console ship. Petty and off topic I know, but when weighing up the pros and cons of 'is the lifetime package worth it?' - it was the final straw for me. Even the summer event Risian Corvette gets ten consoles so C'mon! A fleet variant for veterans at least!

Immersion and Roleplay


I think it's fair to say that the incredible Star Trek universe and IP is a major reason that many players love this game - myself included. It would therefore be great if the game allowed us to 'live more' inside the Trek universe.

Maybe a player housing equivalent on home worlds or simply further customising the interior of starships? Let us feel like the ship is our home for extended exploration/duty periods, and allow us to personalise and inhabit it more to this end. The fantastic fleet star base system was definitely a step in the right direction - it just needs an equivalent personal touch for individual players. Maybe also allowing players more options to simply exist in the Universe as a trader etc. rather than taking an active role in the faction war? These are just a few ideas to get the ball rolling. Oh and when PvP is eventually revamped, I think it needs to have 'more at stake' for the players involved. Maybe territory or resource control for example. Just a thought...

The duty officer system was such a great addition to the game - it would be amazing if the duty officers I choose for my roster were the ones seen walking around and performing their duties on my starship (a fun thing to imagine but probably a nightmare to code and implement!) Perhaps a future game update might allow space and ground PvP/PvE to integrate with each other? I mean imagine piloting your ship in an STF when suddenly the Borg beam on board and you have to swap to the ship interior to fend off the invasion while the space battle rages on around you? One vs one PvP games could work in a similar way - if one captain attempts to board the other ship when shields are down then you have to fend off their attack with your chosen away team and duty officers. Perhaps you could fight through to the enemy bridge with your away team and destroy, disable or capture the ship from the inside!

I think ideas like these might again increase the lifespan of the game for many players, and deepen the sense of immersion that gamers love in MMORPGs. It could allow players to enjoy being happily engrossed in the Star Trek universe without necessarily needing a constant flow of new content or ships or reputation systems to grind.

P.S Having a few torpedoes hit your shields/hull and losing a thousand lives on board a ship is a bit annoying and unrealistic! If the system can't be changed, can it at least be renamed 'available crew' so it feels a tad more realistic?

Anyway, thanks to anyone who read this very long winded first post of mine! I will certainly be more specific when posting in the future - just had a lot to get off my chest this time! Hopefully these suggestions haven't come across as too critical as I do love the game, although I admit some ideas might be a little naive in their understanding of what's possible to implement - I would just like to see the game continue to grow and thrive as it has done these past few years.

Any constructive comments, criticisms, ideas or additions would of course be welcome.

Hopefully see you in game

Sam ;)
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