Many players (especially those who spent tons of Zen on this game already, and the lifetimers) are concerned about the evolution of this game and how it can be able to survive in the future. Graphical quality of games keeps evolving so will it be possible to revamp this game to look 'up to date' in the future? Something D'angelo needs to consider when he steers this ship called STO.
Throwing in new ships and content is not enough to keep this game going. Keeping this game technically up to date will be the biggest challenge. If that fails, then STO will disappear. I've grown fond of my boffs (they are my crew and I don't want to change their visual customizations anymore, like you can't do that with real people) and ships, I don't want to see it go.
WoW has been around for 10 years, so it is possible to make an MMO survive. The brand of Star Trek should help, but by itself it's not enough. How the devs upgrade this game will matter the most.
Tyr shall give me strength! For the glory of Tempus! I am the hands of Shar! Flames of Kossuth, protect me! Oghma, grant me knowledge! Lolth commands, and I obey!
so basically because he is a straight talking guy that may lack the charisma of Stahl, people give him a hard time. lol :eek:
and give him no credit for season 5? or the f2p transition?
D'Angelo struck me as extremely condescending and evasive. Jessie Heinig and the J-man were the only 2 on the team that were really pushing to make SOMETHING desirable to the players during the F2P transition. I like the Doff system. That was the gold star in that hideous time, and some of D'Angelo's comments in his long-winded "reassurance" posts were downright insulting.
So dan moves on without even a whimper.............................
Well
Mr DeAngelo welcome i saw you wrote you watched TOS and next Gen
That is a stroke of luck for us because after you review whats going on in this game you wont be able to tell this is a game about star trek !!!
You have a lot to do to educate the current Devs about what star trek is all about
Good luck and believe what you know is right from watching the shows and not this ....Stuff that is constantly being fed to us
pleae get in a ship and go do some PvP and be horrified Look at the numbers of players in the Ques and see what content is really popular and just how much is terrible because no one plays it
You Sir have huge problems to fix and a chalenge to make it happen if your a star trek fan
If your just a Suit Relax..................you cant do worse than what we got
Jellico....Engineer ground.....Da'val Romulan space Sci
Saphire.. Science ground......Ko'el Romulan space Tac
Leva........Tactical ground.....Koj Romulan space Eng
JJ-Verse will never be Canon or considered Lore...It will always be JJ-Verse
He's "gone" from STO, if that's what you mean, but he's here at Cryptic working on a top secret new project; it's pretty exciting.
And no, what you're guessing is completely inaccurate and you know it
Cheers,
Brandon =/\=
A top secret project! :O Could it be....an alternate STO using my "all Cat" universe, where every species is basically a cat? NOMulans, Nyandorians, Vulcats, and even the infamous Lolcatus of Borg?! Staring James T Cat, Captain of the USS Kittyprize!
So dan moves on without even a whimper.............................
Well
Mr DeAngelo welcome i saw you wrote you watched TOS and next Gen
That is a stroke of luck for us because after you review whats going on in this game you wont be able to tell this is a game about star trek !!!
You have a lot to do to educate the current Devs about what star trek is all about
Good luck and believe what you know is right from watching the shows and not this ....Stuff that is constantly being fed to us
pleae get in a ship and go do some PvP and be horrified Look at the numbers of players in the Ques and see what content is really popular and just how much is terrible because no one plays it
You Sir have huge problems to fix and a chalenge to make it happen if your a star trek fan
If your just a Suit Relax..................you cant do worse than what we got
COme now, dont u remember when Kirk faced those dinosaurs with the lazers...er wait....or..or, how about when picard overseen the progress of the romulan senates visit to Quonos..oh, hmm...wait, I know remember when a fleet of jem hadar, tholian and scimitar class ships gathered together near Earth space dock in episode.....nm...
Wow. That's one way to kill a thread... just blend it into the middle with someone else's so that none of the responses are in order or make sense. I guess they didn't want a discussion of what causes futility and drop outs in STO.
Check out post # 260 if you want to see what got shuffled from view.
Wow. That's one way to kill a thread... just blend it into the middle with someone else's so that none of the responses are in order or make sense. I guess they didn't want a discussion of what causes futility and drop outs in STO.
Check out post # 260 if you want to see what got shuffled from view.
I mentioned some of your same points a while back and have been shunned by them ever since. But the reason for me still being here is the social aspect, I've lost a lot of friends, they went to other games. I have been trying to pull together as many as I could to salvage my investment here, as I've spent thousands on this game. I'm not sure if it's appreciated by the company or employees themselves. but I have made a name for my toon and spent a great deal of time building him up as it is my artwork and I'm proud of the fictions and art I have put time, effort and imagination into. No, the game doesnt resemble star trek much anymore, but its a social hub for me and I get more fun out of what I myself can make out of it as many have seen in my videos and deviant art submissions. I guess its kinda silly to be in a star trek game and still have to use your imagination to make it feel like its a star trek game. lol
I have abandoned a number of toons too due to nerfing, I have done grinding tons of times to outfit many ships and personal gear, but i cant keep up with all of it ether so I have reached out to the authors of foundry missions as my joy in the game, if you notice I give points to those who use the ACTUAL star fleet uniforms and keep it with the trek traditional missions of diplomacy and exploration. Maybe a chance to turn foundry into a "which-way book" should be a good goal for them.
I try to keep my sense of humor through it all, but the name CatStar is now associated with STO on the web even for those who have never played it. Hopefully the bosses will see that the fans have made the game more then it is and inspire them to join us. Star Trek fans will even help pull you up if you just work with us and give us a chance to!!
I have already dumped hundreds into this game, and I supported this game before it went F2P so please keep such comments to yourself.
Without comments, there would be little to do here. We would have to play the actual game or something. It was the tongue-in-cheek emoticon I bet. The notion wasn't all that offensive. For reflections should not contain vices or virtues.
I've put money into this product since 2010, just for the (archived) record.
While the possibilities always will be plentiful, the probabilities remain doubtful. As long as Cryptic can't seem to find resources to properly maintain STO, why should we invest heavily in return? It doesn't add up.
So please forgive me, but faith is hard to come by, when the church is falling apart around you. One of these days you might get splattered by a falling Gargoyle. For that happened to another Cryptic product. And I dare say, the investment in that product, was as heavy as any stone figure in free fall. So please. Let it not come down to an "Holier than Thou" attitude. We are all brothers and sisters in faith here.
Edit: Besides, the thread merging Graemlins tend to shake up the context a little.
Have you seen WoW's graphics lately? You can't revamp a game's graphics without changing engines. If you do this, you're essentially making a new game. Plus, let's face it, STO's modular, cut'n'paste, graphics were never that good to begin with. At the time of release, they were already dated.
Thats not entirely true, for example, if you look at what launched in game, and then look at say, Bajor, or DS9 after the revamp, you will notice a marked difference in the look of the entire environment. That said, yes you will eventually reach a hard limit where you cannot improve the visual quality because the current infrastructure wont allow for it. Without an environment or ship artist to comment, I will state I dont know that we have reached that yet.
There is a big difference between plain graphics and Hi res graphics as between fix graphics like buildings, etc etc and active graphics like moving objects persons etc. All can be improved ones require more memory that others. But at the end of the day you need a better engine to run the game.
Meh, I'm not seeing it. As far as I can tell, DS9 looks the same as it did at launch. I agree that Bajor looks better than the generic star cluster random maps, but it's still pedestrian looking by today's standards.
Because many of the graphics lack High Resolution or the use of HDRI to give better light to the environment of the scene.
Meh, I'm not seeing it. As far as I can tell, DS9 looks the same as it did at launch. I agree that Bajor looks better than the generic star cluster random maps, but it's still pedestrian looking by today's standards.
Ironically... Those 3 things are things I could'n care less about, if got changed.
having only one race to rule them all (romulans ) is very important.Having pvp (which is true end game content ) is very important.Also I signed the TOS for Star Trek Online not Legacy of Romulus.
This games biggest strength is that it offers both space simulation/arcade combat, as well as the mmo style third person play. This game could use an added third element of strategy beyond doff assignments with the incorporation of rts or tbs play to broaden market appeal and keep it alive for longer.
This games biggest strength is that it offers both space simulation/arcade combat, as well as the mmo style third person play. This game could use an added third element of strategy beyond doff assignments with the incorporation of rts or tbs play to broaden market appeal and keep it alive for longer.
Sector conquest ala Starfleet command. But that would mean hostility, and we can't have that. :P
having only one race to rule them all (romulans ) is very important.Having pvp (which is true end game content ) is very important.Also I signed the TOS for Star Trek Online not Legacy of Romulus.
I believe Anazonda's point was that those are things that are important to YOU. Other people (such as myself or Anazonda, apparently) might choose three completely different aspects of the game they would be interested in seeing changed. Your statement that "no one cares" about the changing of the guard unless your three specific concerns are addressed is inaccurate. Some people want the Scimitar because they have a Reman character to put in it. I am sure others want it for role playing purposes. Or because it looked nice in the movie. I suspect you want it removed because of PvP concerns. That doesn't come in ahead of all the other reasons people had for buying the ship.
While I am completely unconcerned about what my screen shows while it is loading the game, I am hoping that major changes to the game are not introduced in stealth mode anymore and that loss of inventory in the mail system doesn't occur again under this new regime.
Thats not entirely true, for example, if you look at what launched in game, and then look at say, Bajor, or DS9 after the revamp, you will notice a marked difference in the look of the entire environment. That said, yes you will eventually reach a hard limit where you cannot improve the visual quality because the current infrastructure wont allow for it. Without an environment or ship artist to comment, I will state I dont know that we have reached that yet.
I think really any changes to graphics have to be modest because of system requirements. An MMO with cutting edge graphics is probably bad at being an MMO. WoW has slowly upgraded graphics with things like water effects, anti-aliasing, and the upcoming replacement of character models.
Where there's more room to grow is in a solid sense of art DIRECTION rather than raw technical improvements. That has improved somewhat with STO. I think TacoFangs' maps go a long way towards being IP appropriate. Getting away from solid blue LCARs has made the game feel more vibrant.
Style doesn't date in the same way that technical advancement dates.
Take Mario games. The technical aspect dated fast but people still love games like Mario World or Mario Cart 64 or even the 8 bit games because they have style that overcomes technical proficiency.
I'd rather see texture clean-ups in the vein of the LCARS overhaul than see sophisticated new lighting systems and higher polycounts on everything. Clean-ups benefit everyone regardless of system specs whereas a new graphics engine isn't going to do jack for people playing on a 5 year old laptop except maybe make them stop playing.
I'd like to see all the gunmetal grey walls and floors in Federation facilities updated in cream/brown/white walls with more elegant paneling and carpeted floors than see fancy new lighting effects. I'd rather see character slider control improved and facial diversity worked on than see higher poly count character models.
There is a lot that can be done stylistically with new types of skyfiles, mattes, sham sets, and polish before I think we'd ever need more poly rich environments.
I believe Anazonda's point was that those are things that are important to YOU. Other people (such as myself or Anazonda, apparently) might choose three completely different aspects of the game they would be interested in seeing changed. Your statement that "no one cares" about the changing of the guard unless your three specific concerns are addressed is inaccurate. Some people want the Scimitar because they have a Reman character to put in it. I am sure others want it for role playing purposes. Or because it looked nice in the movie. I suspect you want it removed because of PvP concerns. That doesn't come in ahead of all the other reasons people had for buying the ship.
While I am completely unconcerned about what my screen shows while it is loading the game, I am hoping that major changes to the game are not introduced in stealth mode anymore and that loss of inventory in the mail system doesn't occur again under this new regime.
it was not 3 aspects ...It was more or less the same espect ,end game content which in all games is pvp or trading (in star trek trading should be on the same level with pvp as end game content)
Many thanks to the many posters wishing me welcome to the job. As noted in the blog, I'm a huge Star Trek geek, and I absolutely love working with the team. It's a fabulous place to be!
Let me see if I can answer a few of the big questions posed on this thread...
First, Star Trek Online is no on its way into "maintenance mode". In fact, the team is larger than ever and STO is healthier than ever before. Cryptic is dedicated to not only supporting the game but growing it.
Second, this position isn't a temporary one for me. I'm not sure how long my tenure will be, but I expect to be here for at least three or four updates.
Third, there are lots of requests for more communication. I'll do me best to communicate regularly both directly and through the team. I can say that I'm not a forum person, and that I will probably communicate more via Dev Blogs than in the forums, but I'll post every now and then.
Fourth, there are lots of requests for what's coming next. I'm going to purposefully avoid talking too much about futures. Why? Because so much changes in the dev team on a regular basis that anything posted that discusses something more than two months out is subject to change. I will share as much as I can along the way, but you may get more hints than concrete information the further something is into the future.
Fifth, there are questions about strategy. My overall strategy comes in several parts:
1) Continue to fix things in the existing game. I believe in working to fix old bugs, clean up existing content, and otherwise look for ways to make existing play better. The revamped episodes coming in Season 8.5, along with the new starship switching features are examples of this kind of investment.
2) Continue to develop the story and new content. Most of the dev resources go into this effort. We know that you all show up for your fix of new Star Trek content, and that is the center of everything we do.
3) To work to stretch the game in new ways. I'll be working with the team to do new things and to change up the game to keep it fresh. A static and unchanging game gets stale. Change is part of growth, and I want to see STO grow. Change is scary for some people, however, and I'll work to keep you informed about scary changes well before they get live. I highly value the input of the community and want to make sure that we do what is best for the game as a whole.
At the moment, we're 100% focused on delivering an excellent 8.5 update and 4th anniversary celebration two weeks from today, and I'm off to work.
Stephen D'Angelo
Executive Producer
Star Trek Online
It's nice to see communication from the EP even if it's occasional and simple, you're in the (possibly) unfortunate position that Dan set a precedent for this in the early days that he didn't live up to second time around, but hey. To each their own.
it was not 3 aspects ...It was more or less the same espect ,end game content which in all games is pvp or trading (in star trek trading should be on the same level with pvp as end game content)
Ok, whatever, one aspect it was then. However, you might need to explain to me exactly how the load screen text relates to PvP.
End game for you might mean PvP, but since a significant portion of players are not at all interested in PvP, end game must mean something different to them. PvP is NOT the only end game content in all games. In other games PvE like raids and dungeons, RP, or just riding around on a pretty pony collecting in-game pets or accolades can all be the end game. As I said before, what you want does not equal what everyone wants or what should happen.
Comments
Throwing in new ships and content is not enough to keep this game going. Keeping this game technically up to date will be the biggest challenge. If that fails, then STO will disappear. I've grown fond of my boffs (they are my crew and I don't want to change their visual customizations anymore, like you can't do that with real people) and ships, I don't want to see it go.
WoW has been around for 10 years, so it is possible to make an MMO survive. The brand of Star Trek should help, but by itself it's not enough. How the devs upgrade this game will matter the most.
For the glory of Tempus!
I am the hands of Shar!
Flames of Kossuth, protect me!
Oghma, grant me knowledge!
Lolth commands, and I obey!
D'Angelo struck me as extremely condescending and evasive. Jessie Heinig and the J-man were the only 2 on the team that were really pushing to make SOMETHING desirable to the players during the F2P transition. I like the Doff system. That was the gold star in that hideous time, and some of D'Angelo's comments in his long-winded "reassurance" posts were downright insulting.
Well
Mr DeAngelo welcome i saw you wrote you watched TOS and next Gen
That is a stroke of luck for us because after you review whats going on in this game you wont be able to tell this is a game about star trek !!!
You have a lot to do to educate the current Devs about what star trek is all about
Good luck and believe what you know is right from watching the shows and not this ....Stuff that is constantly being fed to us
pleae get in a ship and go do some PvP and be horrified Look at the numbers of players in the Ques and see what content is really popular and just how much is terrible because no one plays it
You Sir have huge problems to fix and a chalenge to make it happen if your a star trek fan
If your just a Suit Relax..................you cant do worse than what we got
Saphire.. Science ground......Ko'el Romulan space Tac
Leva........Tactical ground.....Koj Romulan space Eng
JJ-Verse will never be Canon or considered Lore...It will always be JJ-Verse
Arhem iraeka hwi. Mnean nuberae krehn mnekir mh'hwaoi.
Bhaonev,
G'essatra ir'Virinat t'Prell,
galae'Enriov s'Tal'Diann
((Hello, Stephen.
I congratulate you. We expect good things from you.
Sincerely,
Gessatra of Virinat, woman of House Prell,
Fleet Admiral of the Tal'Diann))
A top secret project! :O Could it be....an alternate STO using my "all Cat" universe, where every species is basically a cat? NOMulans, Nyandorians, Vulcats, and even the infamous Lolcatus of Borg?! Staring James T Cat, Captain of the USS Kittyprize!
...made u look! :P
COme now, dont u remember when Kirk faced those dinosaurs with the lazers...er wait....or..or, how about when picard overseen the progress of the romulan senates visit to Quonos..oh, hmm...wait, I know remember when a fleet of jem hadar, tholian and scimitar class ships gathered together near Earth space dock in episode.....nm...
lol
Check out post # 260 if you want to see what got shuffled from view.
Nerfing is Fraud...
I mentioned some of your same points a while back and have been shunned by them ever since. But the reason for me still being here is the social aspect, I've lost a lot of friends, they went to other games. I have been trying to pull together as many as I could to salvage my investment here, as I've spent thousands on this game. I'm not sure if it's appreciated by the company or employees themselves. but I have made a name for my toon and spent a great deal of time building him up as it is my artwork and I'm proud of the fictions and art I have put time, effort and imagination into. No, the game doesnt resemble star trek much anymore, but its a social hub for me and I get more fun out of what I myself can make out of it as many have seen in my videos and deviant art submissions. I guess its kinda silly to be in a star trek game and still have to use your imagination to make it feel like its a star trek game. lol
I have abandoned a number of toons too due to nerfing, I have done grinding tons of times to outfit many ships and personal gear, but i cant keep up with all of it ether so I have reached out to the authors of foundry missions as my joy in the game, if you notice I give points to those who use the ACTUAL star fleet uniforms and keep it with the trek traditional missions of diplomacy and exploration. Maybe a chance to turn foundry into a "which-way book" should be a good goal for them.
I try to keep my sense of humor through it all, but the name CatStar is now associated with STO on the web even for those who have never played it. Hopefully the bosses will see that the fans have made the game more then it is and inspire them to join us. Star Trek fans will even help pull you up if you just work with us and give us a chance to!!
Without comments, there would be little to do here. We would have to play the actual game or something. It was the tongue-in-cheek emoticon I bet. The notion wasn't all that offensive. For reflections should not contain vices or virtues.
I've put money into this product since 2010, just for the (archived) record.
While the possibilities always will be plentiful, the probabilities remain doubtful. As long as Cryptic can't seem to find resources to properly maintain STO, why should we invest heavily in return? It doesn't add up.
So please forgive me, but faith is hard to come by, when the church is falling apart around you. One of these days you might get splattered by a falling Gargoyle. For that happened to another Cryptic product. And I dare say, the investment in that product, was as heavy as any stone figure in free fall. So please. Let it not come down to an "Holier than Thou" attitude. We are all brothers and sisters in faith here.
Edit: Besides, the thread merging Graemlins tend to shake up the context a little.
---
Thats not entirely true, for example, if you look at what launched in game, and then look at say, Bajor, or DS9 after the revamp, you will notice a marked difference in the look of the entire environment. That said, yes you will eventually reach a hard limit where you cannot improve the visual quality because the current infrastructure wont allow for it. Without an environment or ship artist to comment, I will state I dont know that we have reached that yet.
Because many of the graphics lack High Resolution or the use of HDRI to give better light to the environment of the scene.
DS9 circa 2010:
http://img204.imageshack.us/img204/1158/ds9wormhole.jpg
Will the new guy delete scimitars ?
Will the new guy give a single shet about pvp?
if no ...no one cares.
Ironically... Those 3 things are things I could'n care less about, if got changed.
having only one race to rule them all (romulans ) is very important.Having pvp (which is true end game content ) is very important.Also I signed the TOS for Star Trek Online not Legacy of Romulus.
Sector conquest ala Starfleet command. But that would mean hostility, and we can't have that. :P
---
I believe Anazonda's point was that those are things that are important to YOU. Other people (such as myself or Anazonda, apparently) might choose three completely different aspects of the game they would be interested in seeing changed. Your statement that "no one cares" about the changing of the guard unless your three specific concerns are addressed is inaccurate. Some people want the Scimitar because they have a Reman character to put in it. I am sure others want it for role playing purposes. Or because it looked nice in the movie. I suspect you want it removed because of PvP concerns. That doesn't come in ahead of all the other reasons people had for buying the ship.
While I am completely unconcerned about what my screen shows while it is loading the game, I am hoping that major changes to the game are not introduced in stealth mode anymore and that loss of inventory in the mail system doesn't occur again under this new regime.
I think really any changes to graphics have to be modest because of system requirements. An MMO with cutting edge graphics is probably bad at being an MMO. WoW has slowly upgraded graphics with things like water effects, anti-aliasing, and the upcoming replacement of character models.
Where there's more room to grow is in a solid sense of art DIRECTION rather than raw technical improvements. That has improved somewhat with STO. I think TacoFangs' maps go a long way towards being IP appropriate. Getting away from solid blue LCARs has made the game feel more vibrant.
Style doesn't date in the same way that technical advancement dates.
Take Mario games. The technical aspect dated fast but people still love games like Mario World or Mario Cart 64 or even the 8 bit games because they have style that overcomes technical proficiency.
I'd rather see texture clean-ups in the vein of the LCARS overhaul than see sophisticated new lighting systems and higher polycounts on everything. Clean-ups benefit everyone regardless of system specs whereas a new graphics engine isn't going to do jack for people playing on a 5 year old laptop except maybe make them stop playing.
I'd like to see all the gunmetal grey walls and floors in Federation facilities updated in cream/brown/white walls with more elegant paneling and carpeted floors than see fancy new lighting effects. I'd rather see character slider control improved and facial diversity worked on than see higher poly count character models.
There is a lot that can be done stylistically with new types of skyfiles, mattes, sham sets, and polish before I think we'd ever need more poly rich environments.
it was not 3 aspects ...It was more or less the same espect ,end game content which in all games is pvp or trading (in star trek trading should be on the same level with pvp as end game content)
Many thanks to the many posters wishing me welcome to the job. As noted in the blog, I'm a huge Star Trek geek, and I absolutely love working with the team. It's a fabulous place to be!
Let me see if I can answer a few of the big questions posed on this thread...
First, Star Trek Online is no on its way into "maintenance mode". In fact, the team is larger than ever and STO is healthier than ever before. Cryptic is dedicated to not only supporting the game but growing it.
Second, this position isn't a temporary one for me. I'm not sure how long my tenure will be, but I expect to be here for at least three or four updates.
Third, there are lots of requests for more communication. I'll do me best to communicate regularly both directly and through the team. I can say that I'm not a forum person, and that I will probably communicate more via Dev Blogs than in the forums, but I'll post every now and then.
Fourth, there are lots of requests for what's coming next. I'm going to purposefully avoid talking too much about futures. Why? Because so much changes in the dev team on a regular basis that anything posted that discusses something more than two months out is subject to change. I will share as much as I can along the way, but you may get more hints than concrete information the further something is into the future.
Fifth, there are questions about strategy. My overall strategy comes in several parts:
1) Continue to fix things in the existing game. I believe in working to fix old bugs, clean up existing content, and otherwise look for ways to make existing play better. The revamped episodes coming in Season 8.5, along with the new starship switching features are examples of this kind of investment.
2) Continue to develop the story and new content. Most of the dev resources go into this effort. We know that you all show up for your fix of new Star Trek content, and that is the center of everything we do.
3) To work to stretch the game in new ways. I'll be working with the team to do new things and to change up the game to keep it fresh. A static and unchanging game gets stale. Change is part of growth, and I want to see STO grow. Change is scary for some people, however, and I'll work to keep you informed about scary changes well before they get live. I highly value the input of the community and want to make sure that we do what is best for the game as a whole.
At the moment, we're 100% focused on delivering an excellent 8.5 update and 4th anniversary celebration two weeks from today, and I'm off to work.
Stephen D'Angelo
Executive Producer
Star Trek Online
It's nice to see communication from the EP even if it's occasional and simple, you're in the (possibly) unfortunate position that Dan set a precedent for this in the early days that he didn't live up to second time around, but hey. To each their own.
I look forward as ever to seeing what comes next.
Ok, whatever, one aspect it was then. However, you might need to explain to me exactly how the load screen text relates to PvP.
End game for you might mean PvP, but since a significant portion of players are not at all interested in PvP, end game must mean something different to them. PvP is NOT the only end game content in all games. In other games PvE like raids and dungeons, RP, or just riding around on a pretty pony collecting in-game pets or accolades can all be the end game. As I said before, what you want does not equal what everyone wants or what should happen.