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What ever happened to Exploration
roujin346
Member Posts: 34 Arc User
It appears that among all the revamps of the game, one thing has fallen to the wayside. Exploration. This is the one huge element that Star Trek is notable for and the missions here are redundant and un-imaginative.
How many times can you go to a research station, taken over by Klingons, Nausicaans, Scoodians or Orions? What about those save the planet missions that hardly appear? Also, those scan for anomolies missions where you seem to only encounter the same things?
If you're going to create a Reputation System or revamp anything, start there.
And does anyone really feel the need to visit the same area 75 times before you get the accolade?
Who's with me on this?!
How many times can you go to a research station, taken over by Klingons, Nausicaans, Scoodians or Orions? What about those save the planet missions that hardly appear? Also, those scan for anomolies missions where you seem to only encounter the same things?
If you're going to create a Reputation System or revamp anything, start there.
And does anyone really feel the need to visit the same area 75 times before you get the accolade?
Who's with me on this?!
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I think of this game set in the JJ-verse.
I know it is not, but for my sanity, it is.
I hope STO get's better ...
the exploration system on the game fell out of favor when pwe took over the operation, i doubt this system will ever be touched, the current pvp system is not much better although pwe prod it with a 30meter pole occasionally.
Been around since Dec 2010 on STO and bought LTS in Apr 2013 for STO.
Exploration revamp was planned. Ages ago. It fell off the schedule.
On the contrary, STO attracts a large portion of the Star Trek fan population. Having been attracted to the Star Trek universe which is based primarily around exploration I would like to think that they agree on the WHERE THE *#@% IS THE EXPLORATION PART! Then only to find the space combat interesting enough to keep them hooked.
Just think what this game would be like if it had its game engine revamped and STO itself relaunched with heaps of canon stuff that we've all been thinking we want, including the exploration. Hell, imagine how much of the ST fan community we would be tapping into.
AND there's no problem in thinking this game as a real Star Trek game, cause it's called STAR TREK! People who say the opposite are just throwing up those damn walls and barriers again.
CLASSIFIED
[/SIGPIC]
Creating random missions in a game this graphically complex, in an IP that has infinite stories is just really time consuming and labor intensive to set up. Not saying it cant be done but for the manpower and resources involved to create a system that offers you lots of different missions, with compelling gameplay is not something i would pin my hopes on. That's almost a game in itself if you want it done right.
The best bet, is they do some kind of doff like mini game where its mostly text based, or some 2d mechanics. that is much, much easier, but if you want full scale exploration, go use the foundry. its the closest thing we will ever get.
What about NOT SHOOTING EVERYONE for JUST ONCE!
As much as I really like exploration, the big issue with exploring in any video game is... someone has to make it. The current exploration clusters made with the Genesis Engine was supposed to allow for randomized exploration-based missions. It backfired horribly.
The adventure zones have been really the first step towards bringing back exploration to the game in a manner of speaking. New Romulus was about exploring this new world the Republic had settled on and trying to understand it (while progressing the story). Nukara Prime was supposed to be about finding out why the Tholians were there and stopping them. And the Dyson Sphere space zones, while unpopular, have scattered missions you have to seek out to find and the ability to send duty officers on exploratory missions.
We also have the foundry so the community can create strange new worlds to explore for the devs. In addition, its been suggested that Cryptic has licensing issues with exploring new races (Deferi had to be approved by CBS for instance) preventing this from really get the revamp they deserve.
Also, your logic is semi-flawed. Yes, they did do alot of exploration, but they also did routine patrols of the Neutral Zones and Federation Space. Repetition and such does happen, even in Starfleet.
There are Non-Combat missions. Everyone overlooks them. "Spin the Wheel" and "Of Bajor" (whose only combat is you failing diplomacy and a simulation) come to mind.
TRIBBLE Hydra! Hail Janeway!
I dont't think so. I believe A LOT of people will enjoy the game much much more if we had more exploration zones (i hope one day we will see those "deep space" zones re-vamped, sigh) and more exploration missions, like back in the day games like "the 25th anniversary" did in a minor scale of course, but the exploration immersion was there. Even if the game was only about that. But cryptic does not know anything about "enjoy" or "original thinkers", they just can only think uni-dimensionally, and that implies making content , only based in the profits they will make. They will not even have in consideration the sugesstions of people, even if 90% of the STO population agree with them. So, sadly, i dont think we will ever see exploration re-vamped, it will be awesome for the game and for the fun, but thats not how cryptic works.
But i am pretty sure most people want it. He is not in the minority, not by far.
Videogames, rewarding Genocide since Space Invaders.
Something like an Exploration Reputation system might sound nice but it wouldn't work. Exploration is about unique content and Reputation systems are about repeating content - it would be mutually exclusive.
Creating content is expensive, weeks of work. If you only have create 6 or 8 missions, that's ok. If you have to create 20 to 30, that's too expensive and players would consume it at such a high rate and then ask for more unique content.
They would have to figure out a way to bring in money for their time. Cheeks-in-seats would not be enough for this unless Cryptic got clever about it and made it not feel like a grind, dare I say, like make it available to only Lifetime members and thus an incentive to bring in more LTs.
Exploration in Star Trek has been in the stories and characters. Your best bet for content is the Foundry missions. Check-out the Overture series or the Purity series. Here's a list of other Foundry missions available: http://sto-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?t=286621
SCE ADVISORY NOTICE: Improper Impulse Engine maintenance can result in REAR THRUSTER LEAKAGE. ALWAYS have your work inspected by another qualified officer.
I'd like to see those clusters made into waaaaay larger zones with huge expanses of nothing.
You'd need to be scanning to actually find the randomized worlds.
I would just like to have a zone I could fly in one direction for hours if I wanted. Huge empty expanses of sub space. Then a notification an hour or two in that I've got my first contact.
In the meantime I could be doing doff stuff or queues while I'm cruising the vast expanse of space.
But again, i dont want more new exploration zones until the rest of the game is FIXED. What i dont want is more bugs and fails again, to add the thousands already there. :mad:
I do like the Foundry.... but that's another sector that needs improvement.
...and then suddenly get eaten by a space gerbil, fight your way out past the Borg cubes inside and come out the other end with a bunch of "dark matter". That would be fun!
Seriously, it would be great if they could dedicate a whole sector to randomly offered Foundry content.
SCE ADVISORY NOTICE: Improper Impulse Engine maintenance can result in REAR THRUSTER LEAKAGE. ALWAYS have your work inspected by another qualified officer.
Giant Space Hamster.
I'm fine with the devs leaving the exploration clusters at the wayside. Neat concept, but they're no where near as engaging as a single well-written story mission.
The first step would be to making random encounters more random. The second would be starship interiors.
Well if TNG: Parallels is anything to go by, we could be one of the several realities.
Officially Nerfed In Early 2410
Not true in the slightest!
Officially Nerfed In Early 2410
I think you are miistaken
I thought WoW's forums had angry elitist snobs, but I never could have imagined the level STO forums has.
But to answer your question, continuing voyages into the unknown are what Foundry is for. Our Implementors aren't G-d. They can't just keep generating new universe ahead of us.
We are in a parallel reality. Any shows or movies that airs after Nemesis would be the prime universe. The novels universe and STO universe each share their own universe.
open a new - "exploration" sector - a big space with lots of planets to find and without a working map. (slowly creating itself RANDOM for every player and grouped players or even whole fleet)
( i would love to see whole systems to explore. with sun, planets and so on..)
make a new Foundry Spotlight - EXPLORATION missions. Reward for the Author - for accepting the mission as exploration one - 500 Zen.
Open the sector for players, let us create & play the missions, which we should encounter as RANDOM missions from the "Foundry Reputation Missions" pool, reward every mission with some exploration reputation points, or a nice MKXII console, or some stuff needed for Fleet Holdings, Crafting, and so on...
new Fleet holding - a Colony somewhere in the new sector.
add reputation accolades.
StARt NOW!