While I don't always see eye-to-eye with Geko I have to completely agree with him that any beliefs that there's a tac or escort focus are misguided and hyperbolic.
It wouldn't surprise me if most of the STF speedrun records were cruiser-heavy teams (well, probably Scimitars now, and the Scim sort of defies categorization).
I edited my post to say it wasn't entirely relevant to the discussion of STO Boffs and game cannon for this reason.
But at the risk of troll-feeding, do you really think the colour of Riker's uniform is in any way relevant to Bridge officer positions in Star Trek. You say he's a tactical officer, but he wasn't really. If anything, he was general ship operations, seeing the whole crew basically answered to him (either directly or indirectly), and he answered to the captain. Operations isn't represented in STO's BOff system at the moment, so what should the Commander BOff slot be? Should it not exist, since the First Officer did a job not represented in game?
+1 this
and at the time of TNG those were the colors: Red for Command (Captain, Commander, Flight Operator or Chief of a facility), Yellow for Engineer and Tactic, Blue/Green for Science and Medical.
Date was officially an engineer officer with speciality in controlling and observing the ship resources etc. (OPS) but he was also part a scientist.
Umm - how does that fit canon? I will have to dig through the other Galaxy classes see on screen, but as I recall Cmdr was always a redshirt tactical.
Enterprise was Cmdr Tactical(Riker)
Oddessy was Cmdr Tactical(some black guy)
what a bizarre thing to say. there is like 2 layers or total disconnect to deal with here.
in tng, red shirts= command track, always an actual officer. yellow shirts= engineering, operations, security, and tactical. blue = medical and science. in sto its different.
thats 1 layer of disconnect. heres the second
boff station setup on a ship =/= anything to do with who was manning bridge consoles on the shows
station setups are just a representation of the ships innate capabilities, having boffs be a part of that at all is just to give them a reason to exist. who on the voyager bridge had a blue shirt on? no one! yet its got 3 sci stations. these things have nothing to do with each other.
thats why that station setup i proposed fits the galaxy best. shes a large cruiser, so commander tactical, is a capable explorer with strong sci ability, thats set in stone. but its also an extreamly modular ship, with 70% of its interior customizable. so it could use that to be hyper sci and eng focused, or have high end tactical, or whatever balanced mix you like.
While I don't always see eye-to-eye with Geko I have to completely agree with him that any beliefs that there's a tac or escort focus are misguided and hyperbolic.
It wouldn't surprise me if most of the STF speedrun records were cruiser-heavy teams (well, probably Scimitars now, and the Scim sort of defies categorization).
I can only speak for my own experience, but the fastest ISE I ever had was with 5 Akiras.
So, I have to ask...were I to report Geko's replies as trolling...would I:
1) Be pulled aside and quietly told not to do that again?
2) Receive a slap on the wrist and disappear for a few days?
3) Be taken into a back room, beaten to a pulp, and disappear for a month or two?
4) Become a figment of people's imagination as every mention of my existence was purged and I was never seen from again?
[CaptainGeko] We are strongly considering giving older ships a second look to see if any of them need some love. We have a couple in mind, but I don't want to share which ones yet in case the list changes. But, to be clear, I'm talking about older ships, not the Odyssey or Bortasqu. We are happy with those, although we may consider new set bonuses for them.
Awesome start, right? I mean, really - that's a pretty good start.
[CaptainGeko] We have talked about this quite a bit, and, exactly as you described in the question, we are planning on adding more set bonuses to ships. Since there are so many ships, we will probably release a few at a time.
Wow, this is going pretty well, am I right?
[CaptainGeko] We could sell a 3-ship Galaxy pack that would include the T4 Galaxy Refit, the T5 Galaxy Retrofit and the Galaxy Dreadnought, or even possibly the T5 Galaxy Retrofit, the Galaxy Dreadnought and a new variant ? though, there is no plan for either at this moment in time. We have considered bundling retrofits and refits. Perhaps as we introduce set bonuses.
Makes sense...makes sense, right?
[CaptainGeko] Not exactly. We have considered allowing users to purchase Bridge Officer seating and ship slot options for their ships, but this would require a significant amount of new tech. Even though it is a lot of work, we do think it is worth it, but it?s too early to say exactly that that would mean for players.
Been discussed quite a bit in the past...
[CaptainGeko] Unlikely. Making all players ship purchases obsolete would be something we would want to avoid. Possible alternatives would be (and I'm just brainstorming now): A level cap increase to characters only; allow players to level up any T5 ship ? either with time or Zen; or maybe something completely different.
Again, been discussed in the past...
[CaptainGeko] There is a new T5 Klingon ship planned. It?s actually already designed and partly made. We had hoped on releasing it before the end of the year, but that may not be practical anymore. The ship artists are feverishly working on some epic Voth ships and other Season 8 content at the moment. I prefer not to speculate at this time when the new Klingon ship will be done, but it?s in the works.
Trollololol...
[CaptainGeko] We recently were discussing this. We have started to evaluate Klingon Raiders and we will determine soon whether any tuning is needed.
Trollololol...
[CaptainGeko] It isn't effective to release too many ships at once ? especially competing ships. Typically, we release fleet versions of ships sometime after the C-store version is released. Presumably, this question is regarding the Ar'Kif. Eventually, a Fleet version will be made available, but I would rather not speculate on the exact date.
Trollololol...
[CaptainGeko] The Corsair and the Scourge currently have no customization options and are only available in the C-store and Fleet Store, and I do not anticipate any new costume options for those ships in the near future. As for the B'rel, we will have to look into it and see if there is something that needs attention.
Trollololol...
[CaptainGeko] We are aware of the reports and are looking into the validity of these claims.
OMFG, Trollololol...
[CaptainGeko] I don't know if I would agree that the vast majority of ships that are released "scream DPS and Tactical", though it should be no surprise they are popular. We are currently working on a new mechanic for Cruisers (and related Battlecruisers and Flight Deck Cruisers), as well as Science Vessels. I can't give you any details at this time, but you may see something soon.
OMFG, Trollololol...
[CaptainGeko] I don't personally agree with this statement and feel it is hyperbole to say "science abilities are useless and the tanking role is obsolete". At the same time, I completely acknowledge that many players prefer DPS builds over control or tanking builds ? that shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone. But I feel this is usually the opinion of hard core and dedicated players. Hard core players will always find the most optimal build.
There are few ways to address this: make everything else better; nerf Escorts (oh the horror!); offer gameplay objectives that only certain classes can achieve; offer new gameplay mechanics to other classes to make them tactically interesting, or change the entire game to satisfy more traditional Tank/Support/DPS MMO gameplay. Any change will either have no significant effect on the perceived value of Escorts, or it could possibly just shift the ?flavor of the week. ?
My take as Lead Designer is that the problem is not significant. Stop off at any social hub or sector space and there are plenty of cruisers, carriers and science vessels that players fly. Now, that all being said, I don't deny the effectiveness of Escorts, and I'm not saying we are not interested in offering new options. As mentioned above, we are currently looking into a possible new mechanic for Cruisers and Science Vessels, as well as new Bridge Officer power options for all professions. Also, some of the new Content in Season 8 has objectives that are better completed by different ship classes. But I don't believe any of these changes will significantly change ship roles in STO ? our goal is to just keep things fresh and fun.
Remember those "I've got a headache this big!" commercials? After the /facepalm reading that...yeah.
Thank you for answering those questions, Mr. Rivera. I may not have liked some of the answers, but your honesty has always been one of the biggest things I've respected about you, and that needs to be commended.
I look forward to hearing more interviews from you.
what a bizarre thing to say. there is like 2 layers or total disconnect to deal with here.
in tng, red shirts= command track, always an actual officer. yellow shirts= engineering, operations, security, and tactical. blue = medical and science. in sto its different.
thats 1 layer of disconnect. heres the second
boff station setup on a ship =/= anything to do with who was manning bridge consoles on the shows
station setups are just a representation of the ships innate capabilities, having boffs be a part of that at all is just to give them a reason to exist. who on the voyager bridge had a blue shirt on? no one! yet its got 3 sci stations. these things have nothing to do with each other.
thats why that station setup i proposed fits the galaxy best. shes a large cruiser, so commander tactical, is a capable explorer with strong sci ability, thats set in stone. but its also an extreamly modular ship, with 70% of its interior customizable. so it could use that to be hyper sci and eng focused, or have high end tactical, or whatever balanced mix you like.
Although Geko I think said a big NO(or sorta no) to the issue I like the idea over been able to buy from a set of multiple boff layouts for each ship - so you can customize it more to your liking. I always hated this set in stone boff layout when getting ships - there are so many more ships I would buy but I don't just because of the boff layout.
Hmmmm, not so sure you can dismiss the claim that science ships and cruisers are not where they should be, simply based on the number and types of ships you see floating around social hubs.
People mend and make do. They adapt, improvise and overcome.
Doesn't mean the problem isn't there, just means people are adaptive.
And I'm slightly underwhelmed when a lead designer dismisses a genune issue so blithely.
[CaptainGeko] Not exactly. We have considered allowing users to purchase Bridge Officer seating and ship slot options for their ships, but this would require a significant amount of new tech. Even though it is a lot of work, we do think it is worth it, but it?s too early to say exactly that that would mean for players
I could finally have the Defiant with Jem'Hadar Attack Ship BOFF slots I've always dreamed of.
After reading through the interview, I came away with the impression that Season Eight is the end.
Its sounds like Cryptic gave up.
How many years has "Star Trek: Online" been running? Three? Four?
What is the average lifespan of a MMO? Five?
TRIBBLE. I never thought of it this way I wonder as we approach the end of the license agreement if they will be granted a renewal.....think about that for a second folks Most lic agreements are for 5 years and if sto were not granted a renewal? Poof! It's all gone in a heart beat ......now this or based on greed another Is given a lic as well and they launch a MMO based on trek as well (swtor vs sw galaxies) and the new MMO crushes sto just in sheer. Freshness ....we will learn a lot in 2014 .......a lot
When they had the countdown to reveal info about "it's too big to be called a season" LoR expansion, players started speculating we were going to get playable romulans, and they were right. I was skeptical though but was pleasantly surprised.
At that time everybody was complaining "when are KDF going to be finished and have the missing level 1-20 content?"
I don't think many players (I sure as hell didn't) expected Cryptic to do just that. Before and during that countdown all Cryptic would say is "it has something to do with Romulans". No mention of the KDF at all that I can remember. :eek:
So.....with season 8 I expect the unexpected again. Maybe some things CaptainGeko talked about will come with season 8, and maybe not.
They won't reveal much at this time because they want to surprise us again.
For all we know we may get at least 1 fleet version of a c-store ship that was talked about for the KDF when season 8 launches, or soon after. No idea, but I'm hoping.
Edit: The moral of the story is not to assume anything with what Cryptic is doing. They are named that for a reason.
Yep to sum up this interview there has not been any work done on the KDF all year long.
Heck same could be said for the fed side this year too.
That is incorrect, the KDF received several low ranking ships as well as level 1-23 mission content, something that the faction was previously missing. Cryptic put a lot of work into the Romulan faction and an early level KDF revamp. Granted it's not endgame KDF content, but it is something significant.
It was a good read. I think it would be good to adjust some of the older ships. To bring them up to par. Or at least make them more competitive in current trends of game play. To the other ships.
I can understand why he said a lot of this is in the "talks" or "works". Since they are really focused on the new Season with the Voth and other goodies. After they get this out of the way. I'm sure it would free them up for other projects to take care of.
USS Casinghead NCC 92047 launched 2350
Fleet Admiral Stowe - Dominion War Vet.
Hmmmm, not so sure you can dismiss the claim that science ships and cruisers are not where they should be, simply based on the number and types of ships you see floating around social hubs.
People mend and make do. They adapt, improvise and overcome.
Doesn't mean the problem isn't there, just means people are adaptive.
And I'm slightly underwhelmed when a lead designer dismisses a genune issue so blithely.
^^ Absolutely!!
I'll also add that some peoples (like me) love for their favorite ships, trumps that ships competitive deficiencies. Doesn't mean that there isn't a problem or players wouldn't relish having their ship not seen or felt as a handicap.
Cruisers and science ships really need an update i have been in stfs where the escort players yell at me saying get out of that cruiser you are slowing us down and making us lose, which is BS because i am always right in the action making everything target me so they can kill everything, and yet they still yell at me because i am in a slow cruiser, doing my job which is tanking.
That's not cryptic's fault, those people are just TRIBBLE$hats.
"So my fun is wrong?"
No. Your fun makes everyone else's fun wrong by default.
Validated of rom boff traits being better than fed/kdf boff traits isn't something that needs a lot of thought. It simply is. More critical chance and severity vs a ounces of power, or ounces of hull repair. Just add sci and eng rom boffs to the embassy store and call it good.
That is incorrect, the KDF received several low ranking ships as well as level 1-23 mission content, something that the faction was previously missing. Cryptic put a lot of work into the Romulan faction and an early level KDF revamp. Granted it's not endgame KDF content, but it is something significant.
Its not significant unless oh say I could demote myself back to level 1 to actually bother doing any of it after 500 billion alts later. Nice try but no cigar
Its not significant unless oh say I could demote myself back to level 1 to actually bother doing any of it after 500 billion alts later. Nice try but no cigar
You can replay the missions, only the Tutorial you can't
IMO, that's a ridiculous inference. Nothing Geko said can be construed as "we're all done after this".
Most of what he said amounts to either "we're working on something I can't tell you about" or "that's not something we're planning to do right now", with a heavy dose of "we're working really hard on S8 and that's our priority".
When they stop putting new stuff on the C-Store, stop releasing content of any kind, and only run deep sales on what they already have, then maybe it's time to worry. Otherwise, I'm getting really tired of all of the knee-jerk gloom and doom {word redacted due to forum rules}.
The problem is that the end isn't what anyone should be worried about, there is nothing that can be done at the end. The concern should be on the decision making processes that will keep the game from that preceface. That is where concern for many seem to lie, including myself.
From conversations I have had with STO accpunt holders that I know, both in personal contact and in the forums (some still play and some don't), the feeling of involvement between players and staff has widened.
The MMO market has many substitutes within itself and the other games are biting into the market share of original and early stage account holders. As an example, my own fleet, once with thirty active people playing, is down to two. The rest are playing other games because they got bored/lost interest. Several of the allied fleets of ours are in similar situations. The end might not be near, but I am curious to Cryptics expected life cycle time of this product.
As far as Geko seeing many cruisers still out there, I know I still use mine because escorts dont appeal to me and I hope that if enough people use cruisers, Cryptic might pay attention to them and bring them on par with other types in regards to effectiveness (especially in PvP). I know I can't win against escorts in PvP, even with decent teammates and a great build , but I continue to use them in hope that some day that can change.
thats why that station setup i proposed fits the galaxy best. shes a large cruiser, so commander tactical, is a capable explorer with strong sci ability, thats set in stone. but its also an extreamly modular ship, with 70% of its interior customizable. so it could use that to be hyper sci and eng focused, or have high end tactical, or whatever balanced mix you like.
So now you want a CMDR tactical station for the Explorer? At that rate, why bother having any other cruisers except Explorers? Whats next, give the Explorer the Defiants Boffs plus a LTCMDR sci and console layout, 60k base hull 5/5 weapons layout and 150 power cap?
"[CaptainGeko] We are strongly considering giving older ships a second look to see if any of them need some love. We have a couple in mind, but I don't want to share which ones yet in case the list changes. But, to be clear, I'm talking about older ships, not the Odyssey or Bortasqu. We are happy with those, although we may consider new set bonuses for them." Hopefully by older ships you mean the Miranda and I personally have 2 thumbs up for this as I've been waiting since the begin. Good job !
As far as he's concerned, everything's balanced. As long as you fly his escorts.
And you heard him. He's thinking about maybe looking into giving cruisers & science ships new vague and undefined abilities. Which you know will be scrapped the instant a single tacscort complains.
I can see it now, "+2% chance to fire tribbles at the Borg".
Whenever I see "+2%" on anything, the first things I say is, "null".
How about +15% to +25% chance?
"+2%" is like winning the lottery.
Out of all the negative news that was said, I think the T5 cap on ships was the most positive.
Comments
It wouldn't surprise me if most of the STF speedrun records were cruiser-heavy teams (well, probably Scimitars now, and the Scim sort of defies categorization).
+1 this
and at the time of TNG those were the colors: Red for Command (Captain, Commander, Flight Operator or Chief of a facility), Yellow for Engineer and Tactic, Blue/Green for Science and Medical.
Date was officially an engineer officer with speciality in controlling and observing the ship resources etc. (OPS) but he was also part a scientist.
what a bizarre thing to say. there is like 2 layers or total disconnect to deal with here.
in tng, red shirts= command track, always an actual officer. yellow shirts= engineering, operations, security, and tactical. blue = medical and science. in sto its different.
thats 1 layer of disconnect. heres the second
boff station setup on a ship =/= anything to do with who was manning bridge consoles on the shows
station setups are just a representation of the ships innate capabilities, having boffs be a part of that at all is just to give them a reason to exist. who on the voyager bridge had a blue shirt on? no one! yet its got 3 sci stations. these things have nothing to do with each other.
thats why that station setup i proposed fits the galaxy best. shes a large cruiser, so commander tactical, is a capable explorer with strong sci ability, thats set in stone. but its also an extreamly modular ship, with 70% of its interior customizable. so it could use that to be hyper sci and eng focused, or have high end tactical, or whatever balanced mix you like.
I can only speak for my own experience, but the fastest ISE I ever had was with 5 Akiras.
I look forward to hearing more interviews from you.
Although Geko I think said a big NO(or sorta no) to the issue I like the idea over been able to buy from a set of multiple boff layouts for each ship - so you can customize it more to your liking. I always hated this set in stone boff layout when getting ships - there are so many more ships I would buy but I don't just because of the boff layout.
People mend and make do. They adapt, improvise and overcome.
Doesn't mean the problem isn't there, just means people are adaptive.
And I'm slightly underwhelmed when a lead designer dismisses a genune issue so blithely.
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
TRIBBLE. I never thought of it this way I wonder as we approach the end of the license agreement if they will be granted a renewal.....think about that for a second folks Most lic agreements are for 5 years and if sto were not granted a renewal? Poof! It's all gone in a heart beat ......now this or based on greed another Is given a lic as well and they launch a MMO based on trek as well (swtor vs sw galaxies) and the new MMO crushes sto just in sheer. Freshness ....we will learn a lot in 2014 .......a lot
Heck same could be said for the fed side this year too.
At that time everybody was complaining "when are KDF going to be finished and have the missing level 1-20 content?"
I don't think many players (I sure as hell didn't) expected Cryptic to do just that. Before and during that countdown all Cryptic would say is "it has something to do with Romulans". No mention of the KDF at all that I can remember. :eek:
So.....with season 8 I expect the unexpected again. Maybe some things CaptainGeko talked about will come with season 8, and maybe not.
They won't reveal much at this time because they want to surprise us again.
For all we know we may get at least 1 fleet version of a c-store ship that was talked about for the KDF when season 8 launches, or soon after. No idea, but I'm hoping.
Edit: The moral of the story is not to assume anything with what Cryptic is doing. They are named that for a reason.
That is incorrect, the KDF received several low ranking ships as well as level 1-23 mission content, something that the faction was previously missing. Cryptic put a lot of work into the Romulan faction and an early level KDF revamp. Granted it's not endgame KDF content, but it is something significant.
--->Ground Combat General Bugs Directory
Real join date: March 2012 / PvP Veteran since May 2012 (Ground and Space)
I can understand why he said a lot of this is in the "talks" or "works". Since they are really focused on the new Season with the Voth and other goodies. After they get this out of the way. I'm sure it would free them up for other projects to take care of.
USS Casinghead NCC 92047 launched 2350
Fleet Admiral Stowe - Dominion War Vet.
^^ Absolutely!!
I'll also add that some peoples (like me) love for their favorite ships, trumps that ships competitive deficiencies. Doesn't mean that there isn't a problem or players wouldn't relish having their ship not seen or felt as a handicap.
That's not cryptic's fault, those people are just TRIBBLE$hats.
No. Your fun makes everyone else's fun wrong by default.
No news on the Vesta bridge.
certainly doesn't seem like it...
Its not significant unless oh say I could demote myself back to level 1 to actually bother doing any of it after 500 billion alts later. Nice try but no cigar
You can replay the missions, only the Tutorial you can't
The problem is that the end isn't what anyone should be worried about, there is nothing that can be done at the end. The concern should be on the decision making processes that will keep the game from that preceface. That is where concern for many seem to lie, including myself.
From conversations I have had with STO accpunt holders that I know, both in personal contact and in the forums (some still play and some don't), the feeling of involvement between players and staff has widened.
The MMO market has many substitutes within itself and the other games are biting into the market share of original and early stage account holders. As an example, my own fleet, once with thirty active people playing, is down to two. The rest are playing other games because they got bored/lost interest. Several of the allied fleets of ours are in similar situations. The end might not be near, but I am curious to Cryptics expected life cycle time of this product.
As far as Geko seeing many cruisers still out there, I know I still use mine because escorts dont appeal to me and I hope that if enough people use cruisers, Cryptic might pay attention to them and bring them on par with other types in regards to effectiveness (especially in PvP). I know I can't win against escorts in PvP, even with decent teammates and a great build , but I continue to use them in hope that some day that can change.
So now you want a CMDR tactical station for the Explorer? At that rate, why bother having any other cruisers except Explorers? Whats next, give the Explorer the Defiants Boffs plus a LTCMDR sci and console layout, 60k base hull 5/5 weapons layout and 150 power cap?
DELTA PRICE RISING
Whenever I see "+2%" on anything, the first things I say is, "null".
How about +15% to +25% chance?
"+2%" is like winning the lottery.
Out of all the negative news that was said, I think the T5 cap on ships was the most positive.