Stranded in space :
-Using the NX replica (don't know if it's related), my ship was invisible during the first cutscene, showing the freighter under attack and 2 orions corvettes warping in to attack us.
-Still unable to save the crewmen when the player is not sci. Considering it's likely he/she have a sci BOFF during the mission (T'Vrell is given for free during the tutorial or when you skip it), it makes little sense not to ask her to provide help.
-Otherwise little change.
Optional objective, engineering.
The console was highlighted fine, but it was difficult to select it, I had to jump between the warp core and the console to be able to use it.
Diplomatic orders
-Unable to convince Savin to let Sokketh go with a newly created Vulcan.
-The added racial dialogs are nice.
Hide and seek
-Warning the station is nice, but the explosions comes immediately after the warning, and it make little sense anyone have the time to move or anything. Yet, shuttles leave. Maybe add a small timer, few seconds would do the trick.
Stop the signal
-There is an Undine in the end, which is part of a Klingon force. Yet, when he leave, it's an Undine ship waiting for him outside, and not a Klingon ship. Why ? Do the Undine really want to be seen and killed ?
-Same station than Hide and Seek, a small change would have been great.
from what I played (Stranded in Space, City on the edge of never, and Past Imperfect) it was ok.
Stranded in space: didnt seem much different besides the new transporter room being added
City on the Edge of Never: I like the fact that new fed interiors were use...although I don't think the Origin Bridge is a good fit on the USS Kirk...I mean it being the starter bridge for starting players is fine since its on a miranda..but I just dont see it being the bridge of an Exter Class Cruiser.
Past Imperfect: like that we get to see Mr. Spock on the viewscreen now (I think thats new?)
other then i didnt see much else different
I think City on the Edge of Never and Past Imperfect need more improvement
from what I played (Stranded in Space, City on the edge of never, and Past Imperfect) it was ok.
Stranded in space: didnt seem much different besides the new transporter room being added
City on the Edge of Never: I like the fact that new fed interiors were use...although I don't think the Origin Bridge is a good fit on the USS Kirk...I mean it being the starter bridge for starting players is fine since its on a miranda..but I just dont see it being the bridge of an Exter Class Cruiser.
Past Imperfect: like that we get to see Mr. Spock on the viewscreen now (I think thats new?)
other then i didnt see much else different
I think City on the Edge of Never and Past Imperfect need more improvement
Well for the most part, there's simply dialogue additions (instead of 'Continue' in most cases, now there's unique stuff), visual updates, and combat streamlining (previous 'defeat 5 patrols' is now 3 in some cases). Those seem insignificant, but they can make a big difference.
But of course, there are other touches.
For instance, I just played 'The Ultimate Klingon' - and aside from the newly-added branching bath on how to deal with Singh, we now save a scientist from a pressure chamber (like what Khan did to Kirk from 'Space Seed'), we actually slip and slide on the icy surface like in the Winter Wonderland, and there's an actual icon now for the 'magnetic concealment' bit upon planet approach.
Oh, and of course, the new smattering of career-specific objectives present this time around
Was named Trek17.
Been playing STO since Open Beta, and have never regarded anything as worse than 'meh', if only due to personal standards.
Treasure Trading Station. You beam up to deal with the Klingon Ship and get the same dialog box that greets you at mission start. Close that, nothing triggers. You have to trigger the Ops button to get the RIGHT dialog and start the mission.
Treasure Trading Station. You beam up to deal with the Klingon Ship and get the same dialog box that greets you at mission start. Close that, nothing triggers. You have to trigger the Ops button to get the RIGHT dialog and start the mission.
Other than that I'm liking what I see so far.
There's a similar issue with Ultimate Klingon. I had to kill the named Klingon ship twice. It couldn't have been intentional since this was a non-traditional battle.
I shot holes in it to disable it, acquired data from it's memory banks, then it used ramming speed in a last ditch effort to kill me.
Then I beamed down and wiped out the Klingons and Gorn to rescue the guy, beamed up to my ship and did it all over again... I suspect that the ship shouldn't have been there the first time. It didn't make sense plot-wise.
Anyways other thoughts:
what's the failure condition for the optional in the research station? Do I have to save her before I kill the klingon?
Hatoria surface: why is the water black on the map?
researchlab: the three-way choice is interesting.... I used option 2. what's with the forcefield with a guy behind it?
change notes:
the added slippery ice to Hatoria ground is hilarious
more boff dialog, it's not great but it does add atmosphere
things that haven't changed:
my dismemberment per second rate when using melee against Klingons and Gorn.
Stranded in Space: I am nitpicking now but when I go to the Transporter Room of my ship, give the order to beam me and my team to the Azura, it happens that my Boffs stay on my ship and I have to restart the mission to make sure the Boffs stand on the Transporterplatform.
Maybe this can be somehow fixed with an automated animation to beam them even when they are not on the platform.
It was mentioned just now on Defera, as once again we run into more bugs.
Why is Cryptic wasting time on content people no longer play, than fixing bugged content that players do play? Again, Defera. Full of bugs that been around for 3 years and never fixed, like the City and the Power Plant Hard missions.
So Devs, why isn't anyone fixing the bugged missions and wasting time on revamping old content? Just asking.
Because quality shouldn't be limited to endgame and because new players are still a thing that happens.
Quality? And pray tell what is exactly "quality" about these missions that warrants them to dumb down these missions even more to the point that even a 5 year old could play STO?
So new customers matter more than ones that been supporting the game for months and years?
My turn to post bugs/issues~ The first mission was done with a newly created female Vulcan, and the rest were done with an imported level 50 character who is a female Trill.
Stranded in Space:
Some doors on the S.S. Azura didn't open, so I walked right through them.
The turbolift cutseen camera angle only showed the wall.
Diplomatic Orders:
My Vulcan could not proceed.
The graphics didn't load properly on Vulcan.
The Sokketh to Undine transformation was not smooth. An Undine appeared on top of Sokketh, and then Sokketh disappeared.
Stop the Signal:
A crate in the computer core room did not get glowy and interactable until I could uplink the computer.
The Klingon did not smoothly transform into an Undine (see above).
After uplinking, the beam up sound did not play.
Researcher Rescue:
The fire suppression unit was invisible and made no sound when used.
Approaching the first hostage scientist caused the environment to turn gray, and parts of the environment continued to disappear and turn gray through the whole thing. This made it difficult to navigate, as the walls of the area were not always visible.
The flora on Kassae was very pixelated.
During "Safe Transport" the objective said "Gorn Battleship," yet the ship is labelled "Hostage Ship."
The Kuvah'Magh:
After cutting the wires in the disarm bomb minigame, if you can't click on "Disarm bomb" within a nanosecond, the wires reset.
Admiral B'vat's and Ambassador Kas's ships don't have actual names and are just called "Admiral B'vat" and "Ambassador Kas."
Treasure Trading Station:
The dialogue box from the beginning pops up after returning to your ship from the station.
Secret Orders:
The 2 scientists look exactly the same.
Task Force Hippocrates:
Salaar looks exactly like Ambassador Sokketh.
The Ultimate Klingon:
The I.K.S. Dugh was already in the Korvat System upon me entering.
City on the Edge of Never:
The NPCs did not display on the map of the U.S.S. Kirk, but right next to it.
Miral Paris and Admiral B'vat did not go through the Guardian of Forever.
The Guardian pronounced Miral's first name incorrectly (this was also in the original mission).
Past Imperfect:
The I.K.S Worvig is referred to as the "Warvig" on a few occasions.
B'vat has been studying his American dialect, as he at one point says "We walking in her footsteps before she has made them."
After defeating the first wave of D7's, the Enterprise came to help with the second wave. I accidentally died, and the first wave returned from the dead to fight with the second, and the Enterprise didn't respawn. I was unable to continue, as I couldn't defeat 6 D7's by myself.
General:
"Talk to Loot Critter" appears frequently
Plasma explosions (like mines) go off behind my ship every so often regardless of whether plasma mines are present. They also go off when not in combat.
Ground weapon sound effects and visual effects cut in and out.
Bridge officer tray does not display correctly.
Call me Yuka~
~Vice Admiral Saskia - U.S.S. Muenzuka (Dyson Science Destroyer)~
~Lieutenant General Kalinka - I.K.S. Kazami (Negh'Var Heavy Battlecruiser)~
~Vice Admiral Lorel - R.R.W. Aureus Aquila (Mirror Mogai Heavy Warbird)~
Quality? And pray tell what is exactly "quality" about these missions that warrants them to dumb down these missions even more to the point that even a 5 year old could play STO?
So new customers matter more than ones that been supporting the game for months and years?
By all realities, STO is a Free-to-Play MMO. And the F2P crowd masses generally desire 'easy' far more than the challenge expected by experienced gamers (and to my knowledge, this has been done with every F2P MMO, to varying degrees).
So yes, sometimes that crowd takes priority, because they are a big money maker whether we like it or not
Was named Trek17.
Been playing STO since Open Beta, and have never regarded anything as worse than 'meh', if only due to personal standards.
By all realities, STO is a Free-to-Play MMO. And the F2P crowd masses generally desire 'easy' far more than the challenge expected by experienced gamers (and to my knowledge, this has been done with every F2P MMO, to varying degrees).
So yes, sometimes that crowd takes priority, because they are a big money maker whether we like it or not
Again: This is EXACTLY what the difficulty slider in STO is for. Experienced gamers can easily crank it up to setting 2 or 3.
If you wander behind the embassy building (towards the single small tree) you will fall through the ground to the water and can not get back up.
It would be helpful to have a mini BO popup (for example) state that you need to snip the wires in quick sucession. Otherwise, its easy to feel like the dialogue is bugging out.
Minor issues where the entry way walls for the large tower do not connect to the tower proper. Easy to miss, except that you have placed a container pickup right there, so people will be able to see the gap.
After helping injured citizens, it would be nice to have them beam up, or even better to have a med team beam down to them (unless science class).
Science BO background dialogue that appears on entry to Embassy shows bridge background instead of embassy interior image. Issue also present on completion (beam to ship dialogue).
Bridge officers had difficulty nav-pathing through the small door into the main embassy lounge (the one with the cool UFP rug). Please keep it, we like small doors. Also from the right room (red) back into the lounge.
The non-functional door under the UFP flag at the reception desk is off-center to facilitate the addition of a console. Not the best trade-off.
B'vat's ship warped out using the blue-nacelle warp effect.
Issues: Treasure Trading Station
Dialogue backgrounds in the revamped station are not updated yet.
No bar staff on duty. Bar could benefit from more people (where only some attack you after the scans). Nobody's playing Tongo? Maybe when you discover its rigged they start complaining etc... add some life (that you can see instead of finding out they were mildly annoyed in the next dialogue).
The security teams beam up before you leave the bar. Seems odd.
When beaming back to space, I got the wrong BO dialogue. (The initial dialogue about scanning the freighters appeared). I was able to get the correct dialogue prompt after clicking through though.
As these missions have thusfar been the sole focus of my testing, I have quite a bit of feedback.
First off, the kudos:
The Embassy on Regulus is BEAUTIFUL. (The Kuvah'magh)
So is the Xarantine hospital. (Task Force Hippocrates)
In fact, all of the new maps. A massive well done and thank you to the Environment Team.
Not sure if it was intentional, but cloaking works FABULOUSLY in these older missions. I tested them in my Gal-X, and I was capable of beaming, scanning, having dialogues, even having cutscenes (and even did a map transition in Hide and Seek) while remaining cloaked. For those few Fed players that fly cloaking ships, this is great. I thank you... assuming it isn't a bug.
Loving some of the dialogues, and the mini-dialogues from BOffs that make it seem more connected.
I like that puzzles were added in a few places (the frequency scan from Of Bajor going into Stop the Signal, the wire-cutting puzzle from Alpha going into The Kuvah'magh)
Whoever thought of allowing me to buy off the bartender in Treasure Trading Station deserves a medal.
Major kudos to The Ultimate Klingon, for having a dialogue option that changes the mission flow. LOVED that bit. Also love how one of them lets you skip the bossfight, I've always had nightmares about the first time I fought those Augmented Gorn.
Next... the bug reports. Because this has to come some time. Note that some of these may be intermittent, as I only playtested each mission once (with the sole exception of The Ultimate Klingon, which I played twice).
In The Kuvah'magh, in the Federation Embassy, there's a door BOffs don't seem to want to go through. It leads to the chamber with the first Dahar Master, where you rescue two diplomats. There's an antechamber - well, a cupboard you could jokingly CALL an antechamber - that BOffs will go into, but you have to use waypoints to path them through the door into the room with the hostages.
In The Ultimate Klingon, when I beamed into Amar Singh's lab, one of my BOffs beamed into a chair and was stuck for several minutes. (this was on my second run. On my first, IF it happened, I didn't notice)
In The Ultimate Klingon, in the facility where you find the scientists, one of the researchers will not talk to you UNLESS you rescue his colleague in time (not sure if actually bug or if intentional).
In Stranded in Space, and City on the Edge of Never, cutscenes play where NPCs are supposed to be seen moving (as the camera pans to follow them). They do not. In Stranded in Space, it's the cutscene where you beam the Azura survivors to your ship. The medics do not appear at all. In City on the Edge of Never, the cutscene where B'Vat takes Miral Paris into the Guardian of Forever is probably meant to show them moving, but does not.
In Researcher Rescue, the Science optional to Override the Tower completes the shut down objective, but doesn't increment the counter for the towers OR remove the Shut Down Tower interact that other classes have to use.
The Wire Cutting puzzle in The Kuvah'magh is a bit borked, resetting the instant I click the button in some cases, making it annoying to complete.
In Treasure Trading Station, after I liberated Marta and beamed out, I got the dialogue to scan the freighters. The appropriate dialogue was in the Ops button after I cleared that, and the mission progressed.
And finally, after the cheers must come the jeers.
In Diplomatic Orders and Stop the Signal, I was disappointed to see the Undine ships scaled back to frigates, and the fights made easier. They were never hard to begin with, so I wouldn't mind these being reverted to their old forms. It may feel more worrying to have trouble with a frigate, but the victory afterward doesn't seem as significant BECAUSE of it.
The water in the final ground map in Researcher Rescue is a touch too well camouflaged, I didn't actually know it was water until I stepped in it and got the splash SFX.
In the Kuvah'magh, I was disappointed then I went up the hill and found the Bird-of-Prey. The mission never took me there, so some people will miss it, and it's a nice touch. Also, would not mind something to DO with the BoP. Like an Easter Egg.
This is a complaint I have with the original mission, but I feel (since the missions are being touched up anyway) now would be a good time to address it. In Past Imperfect, shouldn't we just DISABLE the D7s attacking us? Wouldn't destroying them as we have been corrupt the timeline more than it already has been?
In The Ultimate Klingon, if you choose to Entrap Amar Singh so that he can't beam away, it's a bit confusing where he is initially. A better indicator (maybe a mini-dialogue from a BOff saying "It worked! Amar Singh didn't go anywhere." or something of the sort) would be appropriate.
That's my feedback so far. My gripes are small and my praises are large, and overall there aren't MANY bugs.
There are little differences, but for the most part all I'm finding/seeing is 'We removed some npc's so the game's even easier then it already was'. I'm sorry, there are ten thousand better uses for the dev team then remastering episodes players will only do once or twice a playthrough. Especially since the 'remastering' only made them easier, and they still aren't on part with the Romulan or new KDF episodes.
And what is a major part of things going forward is to create incentives for playthroughs, like fleet marks or even reputations that require replays?
That was probably the only thing worth revamping in this mission. I always felt awkward to let civilians die because I'm not sci. I can't beam them to sickbay, and even more dumb, I can't ask my Sci BOFF standing right next to me to heal them !
The first time playing the mission, I thought I was missing something, and I was wondering how to ask my BOFF to heal them.
I think a simple solution would be something like this:
As a non-sci, you tag them for beam out to your ship.
As a sci, you heal them on site and maybe one of them gives you something you can use in the mission like a weapon locker key or thanks you by giving you a container of dilithium ore?
Hm. See... I can see what would be a nice, rewarding way to handle those class specific objectives.
If each one you complete awards some kind of marks, dilithium, rewards, etc. That makes mission replay a social activity, particularly if the whole team gets a reward for each profession optional.
It would be really exciting if you had two optionals for each profession that were mutually exclusive or if you had optionals that, rather than being profession based, were options 1-5 so that:
- 1 player can do a different one of the five on any playthrough.
- 2 players can do 2 of the 5.
- 5 players can do all 5 optionals at once, making 5 person replay teams the optimal way to replay.
I'm also going to bring up an old suggestion I made back in the day and propose that if you want social mission replay, here's how I'd do it.
You have the Gateway Planet as a social zone.
People form (or maybe even queue for) teams there (including cross-faction).
Player uses the gate.
Play that cutscene of the away team jumping through the gate.
Arrive in random replay mission, possibly with optional timeline options, ie. maybe an additional "challenge" optional or two relating to timeline meddling or research.
Some missions like Spin the Wheel or Cold Comfort would probably need to be excluded from this. Dialogues would probably be, ideally, simplified and reworked for team play, at least for this version.
Kuvah'Magh
Regulus 4 embassy:
had an issue with some of my boffs getting stuck in the second room. They didn't seem to path correctly when going through the second door.
Researcher rescue:
Kassae Station:
when fires get put out the glow remains.
The void... Simply changing camera angles can cause the entire map to disappear. Sometimes everything, sometimes only most things. I can find the edges of things by looking at my shadow.... not easy but doable.
Kassae 4 surface:
My tricorder is semi-useless since all it wants to point at is a dead guy laying near the center hut. Well, not always... but it's hard to tell with the brush. The brush is awesome.
Not sure if it's a bug, but there are invisiwalls blocking of access to random bits of swamp water. These walls aren't associated with map edges or foliage. Erm... one of them apparently isn't actually a wall. When I stood next to it my shadow revealed complex geometry.
EDIT: oh and the Gorn mob at the west shield generator respawned after several minutes, I killed it at least 3 times.
Why is Cryptic wasting time on content people no longer play, than fixing bugged content that players do play? Again, Defera. Full of bugs that been around for 3 years and never fixed, like the City and the Power Plant Hard missions.
So Devs, why isn't anyone fixing the bugged missions and wasting time on revamping old content? Just asking.
Because I know more people that have played those old missions than play Defera. Also, it's good for keeping new players to bring the old TRIBBLE up to snuff. Defera is optional. Leveling is not.
By all realities, STO is a Free-to-Play MMO. And the F2P crowd masses generally desire 'easy' far more than the challenge expected by experienced gamers (and to my knowledge, this has been done with every F2P MMO, to varying degrees).
So yes, sometimes that crowd takes priority, because they are a big money maker whether we like it or not
But the original content wasn't hard by any stretch of the imagination.
There are plenty of people who play the old content. Even on my level 50 I sometimes go back to relive old missions.
And you don't speak for "plenty of people".
Because YOU "sometimes" go back to play an old mission, doesn't mean everyone else does. In fact, I know for a fact everyone I know never bothers playing an old mission these days unless it involves a new accolade or something to do with a new item reward.
And creating pretty new buildings, isn't going to get players to play these missions again.
Because I know more people that have played those old missions than play Defera. Also, it's good for keeping new players to bring the old TRIBBLE up to snuff. Defera is optional. Leveling is not.
There is a bridge in New York I like to sell you. :rolleyes:
But the original content wasn't hard by any stretch of the imagination.
And you don't speak for "plenty of people".
Because YOU "sometimes" go back to play an old mission, doesn't mean everyone else does. In fact, I know for a fact everyone I know never bothers playing an old mission these days unless it involves a new accolade or something to do with a new item reward.
And creating pretty new buildings, isn't going to get players to play these missions again.
There is a bridge in New York I like to sell you. :rolleyes:
In regards to your previous statements, you said revamping a new player's starting experience isn't important.
That's a crazy remark. The game does not rely on your own support. If you left the game, we would still be here. STO needs new players, and alot of new players are turned off by the repetitive and linear missions in the Klingon War. I know I was back in 2010.
There is a bridge in New York I like to sell you. :rolleyes:
Not in the market for real estate, sorry. Have no idea what you mean by this, but let me elaborate on what you so kindly bolded.
I've brought friends into this game. Probably 5 or 6. Only a couple stayed. I've basically showed them everything. And I know they enjoyed leveling... somehow. They didn't enjoy Defera nearly as much. These old missions have needed the love since before the Deferi even existed, and WELL before the Invasion Zone (in fact, I can think of one spot in Hide and Seek, where there was a particularly vexing bug that's existed since Season 2 - or whenever they added the warp in cutscenes that you get when you spawn - that they've just NOW fixed in THIS patch). This is content that needed a polish at launch, but they haven't had the time to do it. And anyone wanting to make a Fed character has to play these missions (unless you decide to level through DOffing, and no new player knows to do that).
Defera has the same problem Nukara does, but Nukara has it far worse. It's just not worthwhile to go there. I can get Omega Marks faster and easier doing STFs. Defera isn't nearly rewarding enough for the hassle of going to the TRIBBLE-end of the galaxy, just to be in competition with forty other players to kill the drones and collect the loot needed for missions. I'd much rather PUG an Elite STF, pull my weight in space combat and try to salvage some new guys' goofs, than go to Defera. Just like I'd rather sit in a queue for 30 minutes for a space mission than go anywhere NEAR Nukara Prime.
But the original content wasn't hard by any stretch of the imagination.
I thought almost the exact same thing when I first started playing. Now I'm an experienced gamer, and I'm certain you are as well, so of course it seems that way.
But to an actual new gamer, or the general F2P crowd, the perception is not the same.
For example, I face this trouble on a somewhat-less-than-rare basis when my sister wants to play games, with me or by herself. I 'see' the entire screen and the controller at the same time, can mindlessly calculate a number of things at once, whether it's practiced motions or working on an entirely new game mechanics... my sister is hesitant and unsure, makes mistakes, and otherwise seems unbearably slow
I feel those differences acutely because my gamer experience is biasing me, but I know it's not the truth. She's simply learning, just like I once did
Also, not everyone desires a challenge, or even a level where they have to use their brain too much. Some just want to have fun
Was named Trek17.
Been playing STO since Open Beta, and have never regarded anything as worse than 'meh', if only due to personal standards.
Are any of the space environments getting updated? I ask because the space outside the station during Treasure Trading Station looks vastly different when seen from the inside of the the Klingon shuttle bay area. It looks completely black, with a starfield, rather than the opening and closing space maps which show the station to be surrounded by a bright and colourful nebula.
Also: Can we have some animal lifeforms added to some of the outdoor ground missions, like the new swamp map you encounter during Researcher Rescue? That map could use native versions of the Risian Tropical Bird; the Orithian Saber Cat; and the Gumato here and there. The Klingon colony on planet H'atoria could have a few Snow Possum dotted around too.
I thought almost the exact same thing when I first started playing. Now I'm an experienced gamer, and I'm certain you are as well, so of course it seems that way.
But to an actual new gamer, or the general F2P crowd, the perception is not the same
Perhaps, but if that's the case then how come since STO launched or the relauch with F2P, we never seen any complaints in the chat channels in game or on the forum saying it's too hard (on easy / normal mode)?
I've brought friends into this game. Probably 5 or 6. Only a couple stayed. I've basically showed them everything. And I know they enjoyed leveling... somehow. They didn't enjoy Defera nearly as much. These old missions have needed the love since before the Deferi even existed, and WELL before the Invasion Zone (in fact, I can think of one spot in Hide and Seek, where there was a particularly vexing bug that's existed since Season 2 - or whenever they added the warp in cutscenes that you get when you spawn - that they've just NOW fixed in THIS patch). This is content that needed a polish at launch, but they haven't had the time to do it. And anyone wanting to make a Fed character has to play these missions (unless you decide to level through DOffing, and no new player knows to do that).
Defera has the same problem Nukara does, but Nukara has it far worse. It's just not worthwhile to go there. I can get Omega Marks faster and easier doing STFs. Defera isn't nearly rewarding enough for the hassle of going to the TRIBBLE-end of the galaxy, just to be in competition with forty other players to kill the drones and collect the loot needed for missions. I'd much rather PUG an Elite STF, pull my weight in space combat and try to salvage some new guys' goofs, than go to Defera. Just like I'd rather sit in a queue for 30 minutes for a space mission than go anywhere NEAR Nukara Prime.
I'm not saying they didn't need love, but they didn't have to neuter it either.
And not going by what your friends said when you previous point was that people played the storyline missions more than Defera, the rest what you just said is just opinons and they likely left because they purely didn't like the game.
And Defera is not the same as Nukara outside of being an Adventure Zone. Players like Defera because its a great place to get a bunch of great Fleet Marks and Omega Marks at the same time, only thing they have to contend with is Borg and 3-year old bugs. Nukara however is just a frustrating place of rapidly spawning Tholians that spam you, which is why players hate that place. The only way Cryptic will ever see people return there en mass is if they restore the Fleet Mark farming after the zone launched.
In regards to your previous statements, you said revamping a new player's starting experience isn't important.
That's a crazy remark. The game does not rely on your own support. If you left the game, we would still be here. STO needs new players, and alot of new players are turned off by the repetitive and linear missions in the Klingon War. I know I was back in 2010.
Don't put words in my mouth. I never said it's not important, in fact I wanted it as well. But the way they are doing about it is wrong. It's like shining a TRIBBLE.
If their intention really was to improve the Tier 1 storyline missions, they should've given it a treatment like Azura and Doomsday. Instead all they did was dumb it down by removing mobs to fight, move spawn points closer in some cases to speed it up, and change up some scenery to make it all pretty. But they didn't improve the story at all. That's why I said what they are doing is a waste, especially when they removed content to make it easier. Because if it was so hard, then why nobody complained about it's difficulty in 4 years?
STO needs new players?
You sir are very much wrong. What Cryptic needs to do is keep their playerbase interested in playing this game. This MMO has been out for 4 years, 2 as F2P (after a massive advertisement campaign), if we get new players, it will be a trickle compared to when MMOs are new.
The STO playerbase is hemorrhaging because they vast majority are sick and tired of the grinding and repetitiveness. There are fleets that actually had members in high hundreds, which are now empty. If that's not evidence enough, then I don't know what will.
And you want to bring in new players? New players aren't going to stick around for long compared to veterans who been here for years, because new players don't have much of an investment compared to veteran players who put in hundreds or even thousands of dollars. They will come back, as long as there is interesting things to do. But the way Cryptic is doing things, they play for a month and exhaust the content, go back to whatever other MMO they are playing and wait for the next interesting thing to come about.
That's why I think their efforts is a waste, and they know it. All you have to do is look at Season 8 comments and go to the Sphere and see their populations.
All games do. If you don't have a steady stream of new players you die. It's inevitable. No game is THAT good that it will have 100% player retention. Thus you have to make the game inviting for new players. This is why Cryptic decided to work on improving the storyline missions.
Comments
Ah ok, sounds good anyways.
-Using the NX replica (don't know if it's related), my ship was invisible during the first cutscene, showing the freighter under attack and 2 orions corvettes warping in to attack us.
-Still unable to save the crewmen when the player is not sci. Considering it's likely he/she have a sci BOFF during the mission (T'Vrell is given for free during the tutorial or when you skip it), it makes little sense not to ask her to provide help.
-Otherwise little change.
Optional objective, engineering.
The console was highlighted fine, but it was difficult to select it, I had to jump between the warp core and the console to be able to use it.
Diplomatic orders
-Unable to convince Savin to let Sokketh go with a newly created Vulcan.
-The added racial dialogs are nice.
Hide and seek
-Warning the station is nice, but the explosions comes immediately after the warning, and it make little sense anyone have the time to move or anything. Yet, shuttles leave. Maybe add a small timer, few seconds would do the trick.
Stop the signal
-There is an Undine in the end, which is part of a Klingon force. Yet, when he leave, it's an Undine ship waiting for him outside, and not a Klingon ship. Why ? Do the Undine really want to be seen and killed ?
-Same station than Hide and Seek, a small change would have been great.
Stranded in space: didnt seem much different besides the new transporter room being added
City on the Edge of Never: I like the fact that new fed interiors were use...although I don't think the Origin Bridge is a good fit on the USS Kirk...I mean it being the starter bridge for starting players is fine since its on a miranda..but I just dont see it being the bridge of an Exter Class Cruiser.
Past Imperfect: like that we get to see Mr. Spock on the viewscreen now (I think thats new?)
other then i didnt see much else different
I think City on the Edge of Never and Past Imperfect need more improvement
But of course, there are other touches.
For instance, I just played 'The Ultimate Klingon' - and aside from the newly-added branching bath on how to deal with Singh, we now save a scientist from a pressure chamber (like what Khan did to Kirk from 'Space Seed'), we actually slip and slide on the icy surface like in the Winter Wonderland, and there's an actual icon now for the 'magnetic concealment' bit upon planet approach.
Oh, and of course, the new smattering of career-specific objectives present this time around
Been playing STO since Open Beta, and have never regarded anything as worse than 'meh', if only due to personal standards.
Treasure Trading Station. You beam up to deal with the Klingon Ship and get the same dialog box that greets you at mission start. Close that, nothing triggers. You have to trigger the Ops button to get the RIGHT dialog and start the mission.
Other than that I'm liking what I see so far.
I shot holes in it to disable it, acquired data from it's memory banks, then it used ramming speed in a last ditch effort to kill me.
Then I beamed down and wiped out the Klingons and Gorn to rescue the guy, beamed up to my ship and did it all over again...
Anyways other thoughts:
what's the failure condition for the optional in the research station? Do I have to save her before I kill the klingon?
Hatoria surface: why is the water black on the map?
researchlab: the three-way choice is interesting.... I used option 2. what's with the forcefield with a guy behind it?
change notes:
the added slippery ice to Hatoria ground is hilarious
more boff dialog, it's not great but it does add atmosphere
things that haven't changed:
my dismemberment per second rate when using melee against Klingons and Gorn.
My character Tsin'xing
Maybe this can be somehow fixed with an automated animation to beam them even when they are not on the platform.
Why is Cryptic wasting time on content people no longer play, than fixing bugged content that players do play? Again, Defera. Full of bugs that been around for 3 years and never fixed, like the City and the Power Plant Hard missions.
So Devs, why isn't anyone fixing the bugged missions and wasting time on revamping old content? Just asking.
Because quality shouldn't be limited to endgame and because new players are still a thing that happens.
I Support Disco | Disco is Love | Disco is Life
Defera can be access and play at low level.
Division Hispana
www.divisionhispana.com
Been playing STO since Open Beta, and have never regarded anything as worse than 'meh', if only due to personal standards.
Quality? And pray tell what is exactly "quality" about these missions that warrants them to dumb down these missions even more to the point that even a 5 year old could play STO?
So new customers matter more than ones that been supporting the game for months and years?
Stranded in Space:
Diplomatic Orders:
Stop the Signal:
Researcher Rescue:
The Kuvah'Magh:
Treasure Trading Station:
Secret Orders:
Task Force Hippocrates:
The Ultimate Klingon:
City on the Edge of Never:
Past Imperfect:
General:
~Vice Admiral Saskia - U.S.S. Muenzuka (Dyson Science Destroyer)~
~Lieutenant General Kalinka - I.K.S. Kazami (Negh'Var Heavy Battlecruiser)~
~Vice Admiral Lorel - R.R.W. Aureus Aquila (Mirror Mogai Heavy Warbird)~
So yes, sometimes that crowd takes priority, because they are a big money maker whether we like it or not
Been playing STO since Open Beta, and have never regarded anything as worse than 'meh', if only due to personal standards.
Again: This is EXACTLY what the difficulty slider in STO is for. Experienced gamers can easily crank it up to setting 2 or 3.
STOWiki admin.
But what's the point? The enemies just get more HP and more damage, dps is not hard...
Issues: Treasure Trading Station
Welcome changes overall.
First off, the kudos:
Next... the bug reports. Because this has to come some time. Note that some of these may be intermittent, as I only playtested each mission once (with the sole exception of The Ultimate Klingon, which I played twice).
And finally, after the cheers must come the jeers.
That's my feedback so far. My gripes are small and my praises are large, and overall there aren't MANY bugs.
And what is a major part of things going forward is to create incentives for playthroughs, like fleet marks or even reputations that require replays?
I think a simple solution would be something like this:
As a non-sci, you tag them for beam out to your ship.
As a sci, you heal them on site and maybe one of them gives you something you can use in the mission like a weapon locker key or thanks you by giving you a container of dilithium ore?
Hm. See... I can see what would be a nice, rewarding way to handle those class specific objectives.
If each one you complete awards some kind of marks, dilithium, rewards, etc. That makes mission replay a social activity, particularly if the whole team gets a reward for each profession optional.
It would be really exciting if you had two optionals for each profession that were mutually exclusive or if you had optionals that, rather than being profession based, were options 1-5 so that:
- 1 player can do a different one of the five on any playthrough.
- 2 players can do 2 of the 5.
- 5 players can do all 5 optionals at once, making 5 person replay teams the optimal way to replay.
I'm also going to bring up an old suggestion I made back in the day and propose that if you want social mission replay, here's how I'd do it.
You have the Gateway Planet as a social zone.
People form (or maybe even queue for) teams there (including cross-faction).
Player uses the gate.
Play that cutscene of the away team jumping through the gate.
Arrive in random replay mission, possibly with optional timeline options, ie. maybe an additional "challenge" optional or two relating to timeline meddling or research.
Some missions like Spin the Wheel or Cold Comfort would probably need to be excluded from this. Dialogues would probably be, ideally, simplified and reworked for team play, at least for this version.
Regulus 4 embassy:
had an issue with some of my boffs getting stuck in the second room. They didn't seem to path correctly when going through the second door.
Researcher rescue:
Kassae Station:
when fires get put out the glow remains.
The void... Simply changing camera angles can cause the entire map to disappear.
Kassae 4 surface:
My tricorder is semi-useless since all it wants to point at is a dead guy laying near the center hut. Well, not always... but it's hard to tell with the brush. The brush is awesome.
Not sure if it's a bug, but there are invisiwalls blocking of access to random bits of swamp water. These walls aren't associated with map edges or foliage. Erm... one of them apparently isn't actually a wall. When I stood next to it my shadow revealed complex geometry.
EDIT: oh and the Gorn mob at the west shield generator respawned after several minutes, I killed it at least 3 times.
My character Tsin'xing
Because the universe doesn't revolve around you.
There are plenty of people who play the old content. Even on my level 50 I sometimes go back to relive old missions.
Because I know more people that have played those old missions than play Defera. Also, it's good for keeping new players to bring the old TRIBBLE up to snuff. Defera is optional. Leveling is not.
But the original content wasn't hard by any stretch of the imagination.
And you don't speak for "plenty of people".
Because YOU "sometimes" go back to play an old mission, doesn't mean everyone else does. In fact, I know for a fact everyone I know never bothers playing an old mission these days unless it involves a new accolade or something to do with a new item reward.
And creating pretty new buildings, isn't going to get players to play these missions again.
There is a bridge in New York I like to sell you. :rolleyes:
That's a crazy remark. The game does not rely on your own support. If you left the game, we would still be here. STO needs new players, and alot of new players are turned off by the repetitive and linear missions in the Klingon War. I know I was back in 2010.
I've brought friends into this game. Probably 5 or 6. Only a couple stayed. I've basically showed them everything. And I know they enjoyed leveling... somehow. They didn't enjoy Defera nearly as much. These old missions have needed the love since before the Deferi even existed, and WELL before the Invasion Zone (in fact, I can think of one spot in Hide and Seek, where there was a particularly vexing bug that's existed since Season 2 - or whenever they added the warp in cutscenes that you get when you spawn - that they've just NOW fixed in THIS patch). This is content that needed a polish at launch, but they haven't had the time to do it. And anyone wanting to make a Fed character has to play these missions (unless you decide to level through DOffing, and no new player knows to do that).
Defera has the same problem Nukara does, but Nukara has it far worse. It's just not worthwhile to go there. I can get Omega Marks faster and easier doing STFs. Defera isn't nearly rewarding enough for the hassle of going to the TRIBBLE-end of the galaxy, just to be in competition with forty other players to kill the drones and collect the loot needed for missions. I'd much rather PUG an Elite STF, pull my weight in space combat and try to salvage some new guys' goofs, than go to Defera. Just like I'd rather sit in a queue for 30 minutes for a space mission than go anywhere NEAR Nukara Prime.
But to an actual new gamer, or the general F2P crowd, the perception is not the same.
For example, I face this trouble on a somewhat-less-than-rare basis when my sister wants to play games, with me or by herself. I 'see' the entire screen and the controller at the same time, can mindlessly calculate a number of things at once, whether it's practiced motions or working on an entirely new game mechanics... my sister is hesitant and unsure, makes mistakes, and otherwise seems unbearably slow
I feel those differences acutely because my gamer experience is biasing me, but I know it's not the truth. She's simply learning, just like I once did
Also, not everyone desires a challenge, or even a level where they have to use their brain too much. Some just want to have fun
Been playing STO since Open Beta, and have never regarded anything as worse than 'meh', if only due to personal standards.
Also: Can we have some animal lifeforms added to some of the outdoor ground missions, like the new swamp map you encounter during Researcher Rescue? That map could use native versions of the Risian Tropical Bird; the Orithian Saber Cat; and the Gumato here and there. The Klingon colony on planet H'atoria could have a few Snow Possum dotted around too.
Commanding Officer: Captain Pyotr Ramonovich Amosov
Dedication Plaque: "Nil Intentatum Reliquit"
Perhaps, but if that's the case then how come since STO launched or the relauch with F2P, we never seen any complaints in the chat channels in game or on the forum saying it's too hard (on easy / normal mode)?
I'm not saying they didn't need love, but they didn't have to neuter it either.
And not going by what your friends said when you previous point was that people played the storyline missions more than Defera, the rest what you just said is just opinons and they likely left because they purely didn't like the game.
And Defera is not the same as Nukara outside of being an Adventure Zone. Players like Defera because its a great place to get a bunch of great Fleet Marks and Omega Marks at the same time, only thing they have to contend with is Borg and 3-year old bugs. Nukara however is just a frustrating place of rapidly spawning Tholians that spam you, which is why players hate that place. The only way Cryptic will ever see people return there en mass is if they restore the Fleet Mark farming after the zone launched.
Don't put words in my mouth. I never said it's not important, in fact I wanted it as well. But the way they are doing about it is wrong. It's like shining a TRIBBLE.
If their intention really was to improve the Tier 1 storyline missions, they should've given it a treatment like Azura and Doomsday. Instead all they did was dumb it down by removing mobs to fight, move spawn points closer in some cases to speed it up, and change up some scenery to make it all pretty. But they didn't improve the story at all. That's why I said what they are doing is a waste, especially when they removed content to make it easier. Because if it was so hard, then why nobody complained about it's difficulty in 4 years?
STO needs new players?
You sir are very much wrong. What Cryptic needs to do is keep their playerbase interested in playing this game. This MMO has been out for 4 years, 2 as F2P (after a massive advertisement campaign), if we get new players, it will be a trickle compared to when MMOs are new.
The STO playerbase is hemorrhaging because they vast majority are sick and tired of the grinding and repetitiveness. There are fleets that actually had members in high hundreds, which are now empty. If that's not evidence enough, then I don't know what will.
And you want to bring in new players? New players aren't going to stick around for long compared to veterans who been here for years, because new players don't have much of an investment compared to veteran players who put in hundreds or even thousands of dollars. They will come back, as long as there is interesting things to do. But the way Cryptic is doing things, they play for a month and exhaust the content, go back to whatever other MMO they are playing and wait for the next interesting thing to come about.
That's why I think their efforts is a waste, and they know it. All you have to do is look at Season 8 comments and go to the Sphere and see their populations.
My character Tsin'xing