-adaptive player based difficulty settings for queue events with a lot more options to make it harder
-playable Keldon class or even better: playable Tholian Tarantula
-new queue missions with a lot more randomness to them like a moving version of nws with up to lvl/wave 20 and stuff like that
In total i want more room to basically suck up all the power creep pf the last 1-2 years and i want a playable tarantula. Thats all:)
If I had a dream about the game changes for season 9, it would be..
NERF EVERYTHING to do with space combat NERF IT HARD, NERF IT HARSHLY!
It's STO's 4th anniversary, and for all the shiny money makingness of it all this is what we have.
STO is a muddled mess as a game. Much of the game story and lore do not hang together. It contradicts it's self badly and constantly. Some elements of the MMO's story don't tie into anything. There are unfinished stories all over the place.
It's KDF faction is still using cross faction FE's mission as part of its leveling up process for players instead of telling the player the story of how the empire got to its current situation.
It's missing ship types for it core Klingon race, and has a severe lack of costumes and uniforms for characters with avatars there. There is so much undone, or yet to be done that addressing the stories of the allied races of the Klingon Empire isn't even on the radar, much less a wish list.
If STO were a fine restaurant, there would be no menu. The waiter would wheel a out cart filled to overflowing with Ice cream, cakes, candies, and fruity potent dessert wines and aperitifs for the adults, Followed by a bill. Where is the meat and potato's? Where is the substance? what happened to the "complete dining experience"?
The combat mechanic in space have stat crept into insanity to the point where someone who has studied the interactions of systems, powers, skills, traits, weapon damage and types, synergies between this and that and everything can kit out a ship, Macro up a bunch of commands on their handy dandy G-13 keyboards and make a single passed again another player operated ship and blow it up with their first volley of fire. The Player on the receiving end is dead before they even realize they've been shot at. I see a lot of this in PvP.
What fun is there slaughtering an opponent who is not even a remote challenge? Where is the skill, the strategy, the tactics? You push a button and a target goes boom. Is it any wonder that so many players stay away from PvP in droves.
Players on the receiving end look at their ship, and all the work they've put in to get it equipped and loaded out just to be one shot killed like that and never bother with PvP again. And honestly, can you blame them? I've had it happen where I have died so fast I don't even know what killed me.
When a games mechanics are so poorly designed as to permit this sort of situation in Player vs Player combat then you have a severe game balance issue in the games core mechanics.
So yea, season 9... NERF NERF NERF AND MORE NERF. Game devs... go play Eve for a month or so and take a look at a space combat system that is specificly designed for PvP play.
Love you guys but from out here, ya'll do not have even a remote clue on how to balance PvP play and make it fun for everyone involved. Your ships weapons cause to much damage.. way way way to much.
If the game is ever going to have persistent territorial space combat, the ability to do a one pass kill on another players ship needs to be significantly reduced, if not eliminated entirely.
STO has come a long way since it launched 4 years ago. But it also has gotten a a lot of thing dead wrong as far as game play is concerned. I cant really tell you whats wrong, but I can at least point you at examples of where its been done right so you can go see your self.
This is not a great MMO. It's all in total rather poorly done at that. The only thing saving it from the trash folder is the Trek IP.
Here is the test.. If you changed the names of the races, put non star trek skins on the skips, and removed all reference to Star Trek would you still be playing? I know I wouldn't. Without the star Trek IP I would have never have bought a life time membership, and would have left this game long ago. If I had just started playing this game say 4 months ago, and it didn't have the Star Trek IP attached to it, I would have all ready deleted and marked all email coming from cryptic studio's and PWI as spam. As a game, its amazingly bad. It stories lack constancy and contiguity, it's leveling experience for one of its two main factions is horribly incomplete, faction balance is terribly bad because of inconstant development. The space combat system does NOT work for PvP combat because of the massive stat creep since launch... since before launch.. the numbers were to big to begin with, and have just gotten worse ever since.
I'm at the point where I don't play STO rep grind, or the PvP anymore. If I grind for stuff it's because its pretty. I can do the PvE in hung over, bleary eyed, running a fever, on medication and drugs and do just fine. PvP? Not so much...it just leaves me irritated.
I come for the social game, and lite RP, And to my utter shock, the social aspects of the title are also not effectivly monitored or moderated by the provider, nor are there sufficient provisions for users to police them selves.
It's the only Trek sandbox out here other then 2nd life (which while powerfull, requires users that have to be able to learn the games tools... ie, become a programmer and artist, or pay someone else to be one..there are no other options)
Honestly...After 4 years I expect absolutely nothing from this game. I know I am going to have an incomplete, unsatisfactory game experience while the studio and its owners constantly wave shiney bits in front of my eyes and saying.....
"Don't you want this? Isn't it nice? Isn't it pretty? Will you not look fine flying this ship? mounting this gear?"
I'm afraid I've turned into a bad customer who really is not all that interested in much of what the game has to offer any more. Mostly because I've all ready paid a great deal, and gotten very little in return. And what is here is honestly not all that much to write home about.
If there is something I truly want out of the C-store I'll go grind out a bunch of Dilithium and buy someone else s Zen to get it. But I no longer feel any urge what so ever to give Cryptic Studio's or PWI my hard earned money for such a poor product.
I wish I did feel more positive about STO but i don't. I've been a table top war gamer since I was 11, and I'm 56 now, almost 57. I know games. and I now what makes a good game.. board or table top.. balance is everything. Maybe someday there really will be actual artificial intelligence that can be incorporated into a game and beat a human player. But we don't have it yet, and I'd be surprised to see it in my life time. It took a super computer and hundreds of hours of programming effort just to beat a human playing chess. And that was NOT an AI. All it was, was a very cleverly programmed data base search program. It didn't actually "play" chess.
Well, later today, I will log in on several of my avatars to grind out some q-mendations. so they can get the Solanae Science Destroyer. Later I'll log in on my main to listen to a net radio station, do some in game social activity, chat, hang out, have my avatar dance, do some lite role play, maybe grind a little dilithium, or maybe not. I won't bother with a gear chase or a rep grind because they're boring to me, not especially challenging, and not worthy of my attention. I'll load up my DOFF missions so I can cycle some more reports through for fleet credits because some day I know that the tiny little fleet my main is on would kinda like maybe possibly reach tier 5. Once my level of boredom and disappointment with STO hits a certain point I'll log off and go find a REAL game to play instead of this mash of a over blown marketing tool.
*sighs* I know some folks love it... I even do to a point.... But STO has so many fundamental flaws as a game experience that I just do not play for the actual game play any more. I love the IP, fan since for ever. But the game...Yuck.. just Yuck. And I don't see it changing. Not really
It would be cool if there was an Iconian series that leads up to an super elite stf style mission with an Iconian boss, this arc of the story line needs to be filled in more.
I know that's how Cryptic prefers to make money (though that is not the only way). But the list of bugs has gotten so long now that they can't ignore it. Even the astronauts in space can see it.
One day Cryptic will be free from their Perfect World overlord. Until that day comes, they will continue to pamper the whales of this game, and ignore everyone that isn't a whale.
Better ship interiors. Having missions (and stories) that take place entirely inside the ship. Removal of all master system displays on all (or most) bridge/ship interiors and have that MSD replaced with a generic display of any kind.
Include the conference room (already in the game and used on some missions), and the shuttle bay (already in the game and used on some missions) as part of our "better ship interior". Put this on a third deck if needed.
Include a greater degree of customization for our ship appearance. Existing artwork could largely be used here, with a wider range of mixing and matching parts.
These things would make me happy. Well, I am already happy, so let us say happier.
*To be able use my own boffs as bridge crew and away team in the next episode.
*To be able to use my own ship in the next episode.
*for the next episode to not be an advertisement for another c-store/lobi/whatever ship.
*More Romulan bridges. any bridge for Orion, Gorn Nausicaan ships so they don't all look Klingon inside.
*More Romulan ships that look....Romulan. It's a bit sad that the new anniversary ship has more in line with romulan aesthetics than most of Cryptics original Romulan designs.
*The Slavemaster, Syphon frigate etc-all the Nausicaan/Gorn/Orion ships that the kdf doesn't have-added to the lsit of ships kdf captains can fly. Seriously, KDf can use fek'Ihri carriers but not nausicaan frigates?
*ditto for shuttles. The Orion Slavers, Marauding Force, Interceptors, Naga Fighters, and Stinger Fighters don't appear as shuttles-Naga Fighters and Stinger Fighters don't even appear as hanger pets! With the pvp arena coming out, this is even more baffling that they aren't pilotable yet,
* a Federation carrier that isn't caitan. The armitage is nice, but it's the only other option. I think the constellation would make a good flight deck cruiser for the federation.
*customizable embassy boffs/boffs in general. The number of non-customizable boffs is starting to pile up. More egregious because so many of them are limited to one per character-the end result being that it's difficult to theme a bridge crew (like an all jem'hadar crew for a dominion ship) and your crew ends up looking like some ragtag mercenary group with all the mismatched uniforms from various factions.
* MK XII phaser weapons that look like the Mk I ones. The higher mk ones look ridiculous-the MK XII hand phaser looks like a hand vacuum with broken glass glued to it.
* Either more romulan content so the faction doesn't have to 'borrow' so much fed/kdf content, or less exclusive Romulan content. Right now it's a bit of a one-way street in the Romulan's favor, while still leaving them with little content to call their own.
*More KDF/Romulan uniforms.
*an overhaul of the tailor system-it's just silly and arbitrary what's restricted to captains and what bridge officers can use. Troi's clothing is a 'uniform' but Nausicaan bridge officers can't wear the 'mercenary' off duty uniform?
*More meaningful episode decisions. We know the game can already detect your species, that decisions in one episode can affect ones down the road (Romulan faction choice) and the new episode shows that they can even detect where you are on the reputations- I'd like to see at least the occasional nod to the branching story decisions we occasionally get-it seems more often than not they are forgotten by the next episode, when they don't need to. it would be nice to get recognition that you tried to arrest Obisek etc...stuff like that, even if it's just a line or two of dialogue.
*more opportunities to act like a bad Romulan, instead of a generic Rebel Alliance/Bajoran resistance member.
Don't Want
*Another ship advertisement episode...we have had two in a row now.
*another empty episode arc like the Voth one. The only real episodes in it are the two bookend episodes, the reset are just tutorials for the rep system.
*another episode where I don't get to use my bridge crew or ship
*another rep grind as bad as the anniversary one
*another obscure alien species like the Elachii or Voth inflated to being a galaxy-threatening menace. Can we focus more on what we have? I'd rather have more Cardassian etc content than Dinos with lasers on their heads or shroom people. particularly with so many plot lines left unresolved.
- poker game
- less grind additions (fleet holdings/reputation tracks)
- more missions/story lines (with bigger maps and or world maps)
- more ships
- new ground armors, space sets
- more sector space with things to do there
- customizable ship interiors with the ability to set dress code for your crew interior
- FIX EXPLORATION in game. Tired of the random map generator and its ability to still make maps that make your bofs fall underneath it.
- new stfs
- new exotic loots that drop in certain stfs or on certain boss's
*crafting shem's, weapons, armor, ship parts, ect
- mounts
^- just to name a few things
nice list I'd rather have reworked Skill trees for each class (and per faction) than more ships i think we have enough.
sadly I am pretty sure that grinding additions will come though I'd like the ratio to be different (more toward story content)
THE NEW CRAFTING SYSTEM IS TERRA-BAD First of all it's not even a crafting system! It's just a dumb game system that's nothing more than a glorified slots machine.
second the "special items" you hope will be the saving the saving grace are messed up to.
I would like to see the ability to add more console and weapon slots to enhance your older and under powered ships. It could be a perk for people who become upper Admiral because I have always been fond of the constellation class star-ship but unless I just want to cruse its worthless in a fight once you get to rank of captain.
Maybe instead of getting a new ship you could be given a choice to add one row of slots to your present ship or choose a different ship. You would only be limited two five slots per row (because that is all that there is room for). I love my toon and would like to keep playing on it but it gets boring when its pushed to its limits. I have a odyssey class star-ship and I would really like to push the limits of what all my ships can do.
You could sell Slot packs for Zen that way it could breathe new life in your older ships.
More FEs, preferably up to the quality of Step Between Stars. Because that thing was f*cking beautiful.
First Officer Promotion system.
Iconians to shoot.
An end to the artificial Fed-Klingon war. It's getting to the stupid point now.
PVP overhaul, justifying Fed-vs-KDF fighting as holodeck simulations.
Iconians to shoot.
Undine PVE queues. Terradome would be nice.
"Nightmare" mode for PVE queues, gated for hardcore players (you have to do a certain number of Elites with the optional before unlocking Nightmare mode). This is explicitly noted as being for hardcore people, and has bad guys with the best toys and a high-caliber AI that wipes everyone every time for the first five or ten runs, until they figure out its weakness.
Iconians to shoot.
Another Trek actor VO. Preferably George Takei, Jeffery Combs, Sir Patrick Stewart, or Robert Picardo.
Things I don't want:
Comments
-playable Keldon class or even better: playable Tholian Tarantula
-new queue missions with a lot more randomness to them like a moving version of nws with up to lvl/wave 20 and stuff like that
In total i want more room to basically suck up all the power creep pf the last 1-2 years and i want a playable tarantula. Thats all:)
I like stabby death. I'd love to use Andorian Ushaan-tor, or a Klingon D'k tag. Maybe some sort of Romulan sword.
My character Tsin'xing
Ship melee weapons! Get some Reaver action going...eh?
NERF EVERYTHING to do with space combat NERF IT HARD, NERF IT HARSHLY!
It's STO's 4th anniversary, and for all the shiny money makingness of it all this is what we have.
STO is a muddled mess as a game. Much of the game story and lore do not hang together. It contradicts it's self badly and constantly. Some elements of the MMO's story don't tie into anything. There are unfinished stories all over the place.
It's KDF faction is still using cross faction FE's mission as part of its leveling up process for players instead of telling the player the story of how the empire got to its current situation.
It's missing ship types for it core Klingon race, and has a severe lack of costumes and uniforms for characters with avatars there. There is so much undone, or yet to be done that addressing the stories of the allied races of the Klingon Empire isn't even on the radar, much less a wish list.
If STO were a fine restaurant, there would be no menu. The waiter would wheel a out cart filled to overflowing with Ice cream, cakes, candies, and fruity potent dessert wines and aperitifs for the adults, Followed by a bill. Where is the meat and potato's? Where is the substance? what happened to the "complete dining experience"?
The combat mechanic in space have stat crept into insanity to the point where someone who has studied the interactions of systems, powers, skills, traits, weapon damage and types, synergies between this and that and everything can kit out a ship, Macro up a bunch of commands on their handy dandy G-13 keyboards and make a single passed again another player operated ship and blow it up with their first volley of fire. The Player on the receiving end is dead before they even realize they've been shot at. I see a lot of this in PvP.
What fun is there slaughtering an opponent who is not even a remote challenge? Where is the skill, the strategy, the tactics? You push a button and a target goes boom. Is it any wonder that so many players stay away from PvP in droves.
Players on the receiving end look at their ship, and all the work they've put in to get it equipped and loaded out just to be one shot killed like that and never bother with PvP again. And honestly, can you blame them? I've had it happen where I have died so fast I don't even know what killed me.
When a games mechanics are so poorly designed as to permit this sort of situation in Player vs Player combat then you have a severe game balance issue in the games core mechanics.
So yea, season 9... NERF NERF NERF AND MORE NERF. Game devs... go play Eve for a month or so and take a look at a space combat system that is specificly designed for PvP play.
Love you guys but from out here, ya'll do not have even a remote clue on how to balance PvP play and make it fun for everyone involved. Your ships weapons cause to much damage.. way way way to much.
If the game is ever going to have persistent territorial space combat, the ability to do a one pass kill on another players ship needs to be significantly reduced, if not eliminated entirely.
STO has come a long way since it launched 4 years ago. But it also has gotten a a lot of thing dead wrong as far as game play is concerned. I cant really tell you whats wrong, but I can at least point you at examples of where its been done right so you can go see your self.
This is not a great MMO. It's all in total rather poorly done at that. The only thing saving it from the trash folder is the Trek IP.
Here is the test.. If you changed the names of the races, put non star trek skins on the skips, and removed all reference to Star Trek would you still be playing? I know I wouldn't. Without the star Trek IP I would have never have bought a life time membership, and would have left this game long ago. If I had just started playing this game say 4 months ago, and it didn't have the Star Trek IP attached to it, I would have all ready deleted and marked all email coming from cryptic studio's and PWI as spam. As a game, its amazingly bad. It stories lack constancy and contiguity, it's leveling experience for one of its two main factions is horribly incomplete, faction balance is terribly bad because of inconstant development. The space combat system does NOT work for PvP combat because of the massive stat creep since launch... since before launch.. the numbers were to big to begin with, and have just gotten worse ever since.
I'm at the point where I don't play STO rep grind, or the PvP anymore. If I grind for stuff it's because its pretty. I can do the PvE in hung over, bleary eyed, running a fever, on medication and drugs and do just fine. PvP? Not so much...it just leaves me irritated.
I come for the social game, and lite RP, And to my utter shock, the social aspects of the title are also not effectivly monitored or moderated by the provider, nor are there sufficient provisions for users to police them selves.
It's the only Trek sandbox out here other then 2nd life (which while powerfull, requires users that have to be able to learn the games tools... ie, become a programmer and artist, or pay someone else to be one..there are no other options)
Honestly...After 4 years I expect absolutely nothing from this game. I know I am going to have an incomplete, unsatisfactory game experience while the studio and its owners constantly wave shiney bits in front of my eyes and saying.....
"Don't you want this? Isn't it nice? Isn't it pretty? Will you not look fine flying this ship? mounting this gear?"
I'm afraid I've turned into a bad customer who really is not all that interested in much of what the game has to offer any more. Mostly because I've all ready paid a great deal, and gotten very little in return. And what is here is honestly not all that much to write home about.
If there is something I truly want out of the C-store I'll go grind out a bunch of Dilithium and buy someone else s Zen to get it. But I no longer feel any urge what so ever to give Cryptic Studio's or PWI my hard earned money for such a poor product.
I wish I did feel more positive about STO but i don't. I've been a table top war gamer since I was 11, and I'm 56 now, almost 57. I know games. and I now what makes a good game.. board or table top.. balance is everything. Maybe someday there really will be actual artificial intelligence that can be incorporated into a game and beat a human player. But we don't have it yet, and I'd be surprised to see it in my life time. It took a super computer and hundreds of hours of programming effort just to beat a human playing chess. And that was NOT an AI. All it was, was a very cleverly programmed data base search program. It didn't actually "play" chess.
Well, later today, I will log in on several of my avatars to grind out some q-mendations. so they can get the Solanae Science Destroyer. Later I'll log in on my main to listen to a net radio station, do some in game social activity, chat, hang out, have my avatar dance, do some lite role play, maybe grind a little dilithium, or maybe not. I won't bother with a gear chase or a rep grind because they're boring to me, not especially challenging, and not worthy of my attention. I'll load up my DOFF missions so I can cycle some more reports through for fleet credits because some day I know that the tiny little fleet my main is on would kinda like maybe possibly reach tier 5. Once my level of boredom and disappointment with STO hits a certain point I'll log off and go find a REAL game to play instead of this mash of a over blown marketing tool.
*sighs* I know some folks love it... I even do to a point.... But STO has so many fundamental flaws as a game experience that I just do not play for the actual game play any more. I love the IP, fan since for ever. But the game...Yuck.. just Yuck. And I don't see it changing. Not really
I think I may just go off and cry.
I know that's how Cryptic prefers to make money (though that is not the only way). But the list of bugs has gotten so long now that they can't ignore it. Even the astronauts in space can see it.
Include the conference room (already in the game and used on some missions), and the shuttle bay (already in the game and used on some missions) as part of our "better ship interior". Put this on a third deck if needed.
Include a greater degree of customization for our ship appearance. Existing artwork could largely be used here, with a wider range of mixing and matching parts.
These things would make me happy. Well, I am already happy, so let us say happier.
*To be able use my own boffs as bridge crew and away team in the next episode.
*To be able to use my own ship in the next episode.
*for the next episode to not be an advertisement for another c-store/lobi/whatever ship.
*More Romulan bridges. any bridge for Orion, Gorn Nausicaan ships so they don't all look Klingon inside.
*More Romulan ships that look....Romulan. It's a bit sad that the new anniversary ship has more in line with romulan aesthetics than most of Cryptics original Romulan designs.
*The Slavemaster, Syphon frigate etc-all the Nausicaan/Gorn/Orion ships that the kdf doesn't have-added to the lsit of ships kdf captains can fly. Seriously, KDf can use fek'Ihri carriers but not nausicaan frigates?
*ditto for shuttles. The Orion Slavers, Marauding Force, Interceptors, Naga Fighters, and Stinger Fighters don't appear as shuttles-Naga Fighters and Stinger Fighters don't even appear as hanger pets! With the pvp arena coming out, this is even more baffling that they aren't pilotable yet,
* a Federation carrier that isn't caitan. The armitage is nice, but it's the only other option. I think the constellation would make a good flight deck cruiser for the federation.
*customizable embassy boffs/boffs in general. The number of non-customizable boffs is starting to pile up. More egregious because so many of them are limited to one per character-the end result being that it's difficult to theme a bridge crew (like an all jem'hadar crew for a dominion ship) and your crew ends up looking like some ragtag mercenary group with all the mismatched uniforms from various factions.
* MK XII phaser weapons that look like the Mk I ones. The higher mk ones look ridiculous-the MK XII hand phaser looks like a hand vacuum with broken glass glued to it.
* Either more romulan content so the faction doesn't have to 'borrow' so much fed/kdf content, or less exclusive Romulan content. Right now it's a bit of a one-way street in the Romulan's favor, while still leaving them with little content to call their own.
*More KDF/Romulan uniforms.
*an overhaul of the tailor system-it's just silly and arbitrary what's restricted to captains and what bridge officers can use. Troi's clothing is a 'uniform' but Nausicaan bridge officers can't wear the 'mercenary' off duty uniform?
*More meaningful episode decisions. We know the game can already detect your species, that decisions in one episode can affect ones down the road (Romulan faction choice) and the new episode shows that they can even detect where you are on the reputations- I'd like to see at least the occasional nod to the branching story decisions we occasionally get-it seems more often than not they are forgotten by the next episode, when they don't need to. it would be nice to get recognition that you tried to arrest Obisek etc...stuff like that, even if it's just a line or two of dialogue.
*more opportunities to act like a bad Romulan, instead of a generic Rebel Alliance/Bajoran resistance member.
Don't Want
*Another ship advertisement episode...we have had two in a row now.
*another empty episode arc like the Voth one. The only real episodes in it are the two bookend episodes, the reset are just tutorials for the rep system.
*another episode where I don't get to use my bridge crew or ship
*another rep grind as bad as the anniversary one
*another obscure alien species like the Elachii or Voth inflated to being a galaxy-threatening menace. Can we focus more on what we have? I'd rather have more Cardassian etc content than Dinos with lasers on their heads or shroom people. particularly with so many plot lines left unresolved.
nice list I'd rather have reworked Skill trees for each class (and per faction) than more ships i think we have enough.
sadly I am pretty sure that grinding additions will come though I'd like the ratio to be different (more toward story content)
First of all it's not even a crafting system! It's just a dumb game system that's nothing more than a glorified slots machine.
second the "special items" you hope will be the saving the saving grace are messed up to.
Maybe instead of getting a new ship you could be given a choice to add one row of slots to your present ship or choose a different ship. You would only be limited two five slots per row (because that is all that there is room for). I love my toon and would like to keep playing on it but it gets boring when its pushed to its limits. I have a odyssey class star-ship and I would really like to push the limits of what all my ships can do.
You could sell Slot packs for Zen that way it could breathe new life in your older ships.
Graphics fixes. Galaxy bugs especially.
Voth zone for sphere.
Iconians to shoot.
More FEs, preferably up to the quality of Step Between Stars. Because that thing was f*cking beautiful.
First Officer Promotion system.
Iconians to shoot.
An end to the artificial Fed-Klingon war. It's getting to the stupid point now.
PVP overhaul, justifying Fed-vs-KDF fighting as holodeck simulations.
Iconians to shoot.
Undine PVE queues. Terradome would be nice.
"Nightmare" mode for PVE queues, gated for hardcore players (you have to do a certain number of Elites with the optional before unlocking Nightmare mode). This is explicitly noted as being for hardcore people, and has bad guys with the best toys and a high-caliber AI that wipes everyone every time for the first five or ten runs, until they figure out its weakness.
Iconians to shoot.
Another Trek actor VO. Preferably George Takei, Jeffery Combs, Sir Patrick Stewart, or Robert Picardo.
Things I don't want:
Over-focus on Undine over Iconians.
More grind for questionable rewards.
Nerfing of content and/or buffing of ships.
Continuation of the Fed-KDF war TRIBBLE.
That's my 2 strips of latinum.