I have generally enjoyed my time playing STO. But the one thing that really bugs me about this game (aside all the bugs) is the emphasis on warfare and shooting and practically no emphasis on exploration.
If there is one thing I would like to see added to the game is methods of genuine exploration. Hidden sectors of space and unannounced content (such a NPC species and anomalies) for players to discover as they amble their way through the galaxy.
I realise that the Federation is at war with...everyone, but even in war, exploration always took first seat to combat for Starfleet.
I realise that the Federation is at war with...everyone, but even in war, exploration always took first seat to combat for Starfleet.
So you are saying that during the Dominion War, when Starfleet could barely find enough ships to fight and was forced to send in small converted courier ships as fighter craft and 125 year old Mirandas, that Exploration took the first seat even then?
STO is about my Liberated Borg Federation Captain with his Breen 1st Officer, Jem'Hadar Tactical Officer, Liberated Borg Engineering Officer, Android Ops Officer, Photonic Science Officer, Gorn Science Officer, and Reman Medical Officer jumping into their Jem'Hadar Carrier and flying off to do missions for the new Romulan Empire. But for some players allowing a T5 Connie to be used breaks the canon in the game.
I realise that the Federation is at war with...everyone, but even in war, exploration always took first seat to combat for Starfleet.
Did you watch DS9 at all?
Formerly known as Armsman from June 2008 to June 20, 2012 PWE ARC Drone says: "Your STO forum community as you have known it is ended...Display names are irrelevant...Any further sense of community is irrelevant...Resistance is futile...You will be assimilated..."
With almost everyone, depending on what part of the story line you're in. (No spoilers, don't worry)
So when your enemies are at the gates and knocking on them with a giant battering ram, I don't think you're going to have a little exploratory jaunt into the nearby mysterious magical forest of magic.
Then again, you can always do that between missions in the various Clusters, like Delta Volanis.
I realise that the Federation is at war with...everyone, but even in war, exploration always took first seat to combat for Starfleet.
...on the one or two ships we followed along with, and maybe the 3 or 4 those ships' captains mentioned. Space is large, and the "fleet" in Starfleet contains many many more ships than the tiny few we actually heard about firsthand. Per the hardline definition of canon, "only canon if it happened onscreen," we don't know for sure what Starfleet's first priority was. For all we know the shows followed the only ships that didn't spend most of their time on some battlefront somewhere.
With almost everyone, depending on what part of the story line you're in. (No spoilers, don't worry)
So when your enemies are at the gates and knocking on them with a giant battering ram, I don't think you're going to have a little exploratory jaunt into the nearby mysterious magical forest of magic.
Then again, you can always do that between missions in the various Clusters, like Delta Volanis.
I mean more for after end-game. After-end game there should be 'peacetime' gameplay with isolated skirmishes (for people who love combat anyway) but with more rewards (much of it unannounced so we have surprises) for exploration.
I have generally enjoyed my time playing STO. But the one thing that really bugs me about this game (aside all the bugs) is the emphasis on warfare and shooting and practically no emphasis on exploration.
If there is one thing I would like to see added to the game is methods of genuine exploration. Hidden sectors of space and unannounced content (such a NPC species and anomalies) for players to discover as they amble their way through the galaxy.
I realise that the Federation is at war with...everyone, but even in war, exploration always took first seat to combat for Starfleet.
This has been a major complaint since day one. During season 2, Cryptic introduced a diplomacy system and some interesting non-combat missions. However, about 95% of all non-combat missions are horrible auto-generated "Explore Unknown System," where either the inhabitants request stem bolts that they've been waiting for you to deliver or you scan 5/5 or kill 5/5 ships.
There are some interesting non-combat things to do. I enjoy the doffing. And the Foundry is rich with stories that often have more story than combat. Some are entirely diplomatic.
Please try these three missions and let us know if you enjoyed yourself (You'll have to custom search for mine):
Forget Me Not by Sovereign77x (spotlight tab)
The Needs of the Few by Kirkfat (me)
The Return to Terra Nova by Kirkfat
Also, check out the other spotlights, like the Purity series. It has combat, but it's combat that makes sense for a story, not a story as filler for killing 5/5 ships in a patrol.
There are others out there. I'm not sure how to find the old Cryptic diplomacy missions, like the who done it at Vulcan. That was a great mission.
The main game of this game is getting super lootz to shoot guns like a MMO guru. There are some alternative ways to play.
PS. If you play those foundry missions, make sure to pick up "Investigate Officer Reports" for the bonus dilithium.
All of you guys are displaying really poor form towards the OP, and what was his legitimate observation. There's no harm in asking for content that has been the established trademark of Star Trek. The way you all (before this post, except Kirksplat who ninja'd me :P) replied almost comes off as trying to make an excuse for Cryptic to never even attempt making something besides just pew-pew content.
All of you guys are displaying really poor form towards the OP, and what was his legitimate observation. There's no harm in asking for content that has been the established trademark of Star Trek. The way you all (before this post, except Kirksplat who ninja'd me :P) replied almost comes off as trying to make an excuse for Cryptic to never even attempt making something besides just pew-pew content.
When the automated STO missions fail to provide adequate exploration missions, the Foundry UGC's tend to provide more of the desired content
All of you guys are displaying really poor form towards the OP, and what was his legitimate observation. There's no harm in asking for content that has been the established trademark of Star Trek. The way you all (before this post, except Kirksplat who ninja'd me :P) replied almost comes off as trying to make an excuse for Cryptic to never even attempt making something besides just pew-pew content.
The game is what it is. It never claimed to be anything else. Since the time Cryptic announced they now had the Star Trek license they have told us what it would be about: the Federation and Klingons at war and the Borg invading. It is a Trek game specifically set in a time of war. The fact that people want it to be a peace-time Trek game does not change the fact that it was never planned to be.
STO is about my Liberated Borg Federation Captain with his Breen 1st Officer, Jem'Hadar Tactical Officer, Liberated Borg Engineering Officer, Android Ops Officer, Photonic Science Officer, Gorn Science Officer, and Reman Medical Officer jumping into their Jem'Hadar Carrier and flying off to do missions for the new Romulan Empire. But for some players allowing a T5 Connie to be used breaks the canon in the game.
I have generally enjoyed my time playing STO. But the one thing that really bugs me about this game (aside all the bugs) is the emphasis on warfare and shooting and practically no emphasis on exploration.
If there is one thing I would like to see added to the game is methods of genuine exploration. Hidden sectors of space and unannounced content (such a NPC species and anomalies) for players to discover as they amble their way through the galaxy.
I realise that the Federation is at war with...everyone, but even in war, exploration always took first seat to combat for Starfleet.
It's a sad thing to see that a new member to our communites first sentence is about the bugs.... We have been screaming about them for ..years but the devs decide to do new shinny lock boxes instead of bug fixing hard work.
We are at war, ...and this is a game... A Star Trek game....but why the hell can't we have exploration and diplomacy or has Star Fleets edict changed so much that now its shoot first make a season about why later.
What's the point our diplomacy rep is bugged been forgotten about, exploration areas are running around scanning. I sometimes wonder if this game didn't have the Star Trek IP and was just a generic space game how long ago it would have shut down. The devs have been resting on the Star Trek IP for too long, stop this space based shooter game and give us Star Trek.
And if you aren't sure what that is shame on you......
Where ever you go, there you are.......
Join The Space Invaders,..... Federation and KDF fleets.
The game is what it is. It never claimed to be anything else. Since the time Cryptic announced they now had the Star Trek license they have told us what it would be about: the Federation and Klingons at war and the Borg invading. It is a Trek game specifically set in a time of war. The fact that people want it to be a peace-time Trek game does not change the fact that it was never planned to be.
While this is true, that doesn't mean that inquiring minds should cease asking for Cryptic to do something more in the area of exploration and even crafting. That's the beauty of an MMO, it's able to progress and evolve in multiple ways, so things may change since the initial conception and the ideas revolving around then.
Or simply put, what I'm trying to say is that we shouldn't really try to justify the lack of exploration with the Federation being at war with everyone, because if we want that kind of logical observation on the events - than the Federation wouldn't have survived the year 2409 with everyone attacking it from every possible side.
While this is true, that doesn't mean that inquiring minds should cease asking for Cryptic to do something more in the area of exploration and even crafting. That's the beauty of an MMO, it's able to progress and evolve in multiple ways, so things may change since the initial conception and the ideas revolving around then.
Or simply put, what I'm trying to say is that we shouldn't really try to justify the lack of exploration with the Federation being at war with everyone, because if we want that kind of logical observation on the events - than the Federation wouldn't have survived the year 2409 with everyone attacking it from every possible side.
No one said people cannot ask for more from the game. I am simply saying people should not be so quick to denigrate the game for being exactly what it was advertised to be. The companion novel which came with the game is a "History of the Undine War" as told by Jake Sisko. It was always supposed to be about conflict and war.
Can the game evolve over time? Yes, and I hope it does; but it is what it is right now.
And I will also point out that most of us were addressing the comment the OP got wrong. The Federation did not always make exploration the priority; at least not in canon. That is not to say the game cannot have exploration. We were simply addressing the OP's incorrect view of the canon.
STO is about my Liberated Borg Federation Captain with his Breen 1st Officer, Jem'Hadar Tactical Officer, Liberated Borg Engineering Officer, Android Ops Officer, Photonic Science Officer, Gorn Science Officer, and Reman Medical Officer jumping into their Jem'Hadar Carrier and flying off to do missions for the new Romulan Empire. But for some players allowing a T5 Connie to be used breaks the canon in the game.
The game is what it is. It never claimed to be anything else. Since the time Cryptic announced they now had the Star Trek license they have told us what it would be about: the Federation and Klingons at war and the Borg invading. It is a Trek game specifically set in a time of war. The fact that people want it to be a peace-time Trek game does not change the fact that it was never planned to be.
It claimed to be Star Trek Online. In my experience Star Trek has been a franchise about the exploration of space. As it stands for me at the moment, STO is just a more poorly developed, buggier and more resource-hogging, simplistic version of EVE online.
But think of it: You're exploring a star system in the game that nobody has ever visited before and come across a species nobody has heard of before and get content nobody else has (at least for a while), how cool would that feel?
It claimed to be Star Trek Online. In my experience Star Trek has been a franchise about the exploration of space. As it stands for me at the moment, STO is just a more poorly developed, buggier and more resource-hogging, simplistic version of EVE online.
But think of it: You're exploring a star system in the game that nobody has ever visited before and come across a species nobody has heard of before and get content nobody else has (at least for a while), how cool would that feel?
I would simply ask you the same question crypticarmsman asked: Did you ever see DS9?
DS9 was not about exploration. I would even go so far as to say that most of TNG was not about exploration. The Enterprise D spent most of its time in known space dealing with Klingons, Romulans, Cardassians, and other known species. The Enterprise D was not out doing First Contact missions in unknown space.
And that is not to say that exploration would not be cool, but the game was not set up to be about that. But that is the beauty of FTP MMOs: if you do not like what they are about you are not forced to play them.
STO is about my Liberated Borg Federation Captain with his Breen 1st Officer, Jem'Hadar Tactical Officer, Liberated Borg Engineering Officer, Android Ops Officer, Photonic Science Officer, Gorn Science Officer, and Reman Medical Officer jumping into their Jem'Hadar Carrier and flying off to do missions for the new Romulan Empire. But for some players allowing a T5 Connie to be used breaks the canon in the game.
I would simply ask you the same question crypticarmsman asked: Did you ever see DS9?
Yes. I didn't enjoy DS9. I felt like it had split ways with Rodenberry's vision for Star Trek.
And that is not to say that exploration would not be cool, but the game was not set up to be about that. But that is the beauty of FTP MMOs: if you do not like what they are about you are not forced to play them.
Point taken. But that doesn't mean cryptic has to follow the same tired formula as every other MMO to try and feel like it's competing. The most successful games out there (not necessarily MMO's) these days are the ones trying new things (mostly indie games) because people are crying out for stuff that's not just more pew pew.
Yes. I didn't enjoy DS9. I felt like it had split ways with Rodenberry's vision for Star Trek.
Even Roddenberry did not follow Roddenberry's vision.
Point taken. But that doesn't mean cryptic has to follow the same tired formula as every other MMO to try and feel like it's competing. The most successful games out there (not necessarily MMO's) these days are the ones trying new things (mostly indie games) because people are crying out for stuff that's not just more pew pew.
The most successful MMOs are Asian MMOs - probably games you have never heard about. The most successful Western MMO is still WoW, though. Even though WoW is below 8 million Subscribers it is still the king of the hill in the Western market. Outside of the MMO market there are many other types of games; but that is the beauty of the market - there are different types of games for everyone. The people who want pew-pew MMOs have them. The people who want games about shooting birds with slingshots have them, and so on.
MMOs generally need to function like MMOs though; and the trope is heavy into action and conflict.
STO is about my Liberated Borg Federation Captain with his Breen 1st Officer, Jem'Hadar Tactical Officer, Liberated Borg Engineering Officer, Android Ops Officer, Photonic Science Officer, Gorn Science Officer, and Reman Medical Officer jumping into their Jem'Hadar Carrier and flying off to do missions for the new Romulan Empire. But for some players allowing a T5 Connie to be used breaks the canon in the game.
I am simply saying people should not be so quick to denigrate the game for being exactly what it was advertised to be.
From the main page, this is a new player's first impression of STO, as written by PWE on their main game's page:
"Explore strange new worlds, seek out new life and civilizations, and boldly go in this expanding universe."
This is the most concise summary of what this game is about and it emphasizes what is just not here, unless we have big definitions of boldly going.
Also, here is PWE's most extensive description of what STO is all about:
Become Part of Star Trek®...
Players will have the opportunity to visit iconic locations from the popular Star Trek fiction, reach out to unexplored star systems and make contact with new alien species. With Episode Missions, every moment spent playing Star Trek Online will feel like a new Star Trek episode in which you are the star...
Adventure in the Final Frontier
Explore strange new worlds and seek out new life and new civilizations in a vast, expanding universe.
Establish contact with new races, discover resources and uncover mysteries that will influence Star Trek's future. Set in 2409, Star Trek Online exists in a timeframe beyond even the latest movies, so everything you experience will be brand new, but still based on all the fiction you love.
They also advertise the WAAAAAR part of the game too.
DS9 was not about exploration. I would even go so far as to say that most of TNG was not about exploration. The Enterprise D spent most of its time in known space dealing with Klingons, Romulans, Cardassians, and other known species. The Enterprise D was not out doing First Contact missions in unknown space.
Um, the entire premise of the show was about what might be discovered on the other side of a wormhole which led to unexplored space. Sure, there was a lot of conflict but also a lot of exploration. Even the Dominion War was in part an exploration of cultural differences that culminated in war.
Um, the entire premise of the show was about what might be discovered on the other side of a wormhole which led to unexplored space. Sure, there was a lot of conflict but also a lot of exploration. Even the Dominion War was in part an exploration of cultural differences that culminated in war.
Now you are spewing psychobabble. Lots of people went through the wormhole to explore and trade, but the characters on the show did not - that was not their job, nor was it the premise of the show. Things we learned about the GQ game from others returning - NPC conversations like "where's Sulu?" Sisko was not out exploring the Gamma Quadrant. If he went there in the Defiant he was scouting, not looking to make peaceful First Contact.
STO is about my Liberated Borg Federation Captain with his Breen 1st Officer, Jem'Hadar Tactical Officer, Liberated Borg Engineering Officer, Android Ops Officer, Photonic Science Officer, Gorn Science Officer, and Reman Medical Officer jumping into their Jem'Hadar Carrier and flying off to do missions for the new Romulan Empire. But for some players allowing a T5 Connie to be used breaks the canon in the game.
At first while leveling my first character, I too thought there should be more exploration content. After really getting into the game and playing through the different factions, have the various content we do have and more coming. One thing is quite curious though, with Rodenberry's view that everyone is equal and works towards the betterment of Humanity, why does STO have so many forms of currency? :P
At first while leveling my first character, I too thought there should be more exploration content. After really getting into the game and playing through the different factions, have the various content we do have and more coming. One thing is quite curious though, with Rodenberry's view that everyone is equal and works towards the betterment of Humanity, why does STO have so many forms of currency? :P
Well in regards to Zen: lazy development. Cryptic couldn't be bothered to come up with a unique currency for STO (IE: federation credits) and so simply ported an existing currency (which also happens to be a rip-off) from perfect worlds.
The rest can be explained away by the diversity of species.
Well in regards to Zen: lazy development. Cryptic couldn't be bothered to come up with a unique currency for STO (IE: federation credits) and so simply ported an existing currency (which also happens to be a rip-off) from perfect worlds.
The rest can be explained away by the diversity of species.
The name Zen was forced upon them by their owners - all of PW's games use the same currency and system for purchasing/distributing the currency.
Since your characters are not actually purchasing the ships - the Captains do not own the ships, Starfleet does - the name Zen has no real meaning within the game anyway.
STO is about my Liberated Borg Federation Captain with his Breen 1st Officer, Jem'Hadar Tactical Officer, Liberated Borg Engineering Officer, Android Ops Officer, Photonic Science Officer, Gorn Science Officer, and Reman Medical Officer jumping into their Jem'Hadar Carrier and flying off to do missions for the new Romulan Empire. But for some players allowing a T5 Connie to be used breaks the canon in the game.
Did you watch DS9? We must have seen different shows, because I remember a lot of exploration, unless you are defining exploration as watching the crew survey a nebula with no exciting or life threatening events.
DS9 was full of strange new worlds, amazing discoveries, and new civilizations that we got to learn about. Even the ones Sisko had to shoot in the face, like the JH became complex cultures by the end of the show.
In STO, I am introduced to the Gorn and Orions as generic bad guys who are just there to kill. No hellos. No explanation for the war (not really, I mean). Just things to shoot in the face.
If my first contacts in sto don't end with a ship exploding, I usually get to beam over, kill them, and leave, often without having a single conversation. Almost never am I given the opportunity to resolve a conflict through diplomacy or cunning, unless having an uberlootz Maco set counts for my cunning in this game.
Did you watch DS9? We must have seen different shows, because I remember a lot of exploration, unless you are defining exploration as watching the crew survey a nebula with no exciting or life threatening events.
Do you remember what Season the Defiant was even added to the show? It was not there in the beginning. It was added precisely due to watcher feedback about the show being to station-bound. Of course the Dominion War came right after that - as did Worf.
DS9 was full of strange new worlds, amazing discoveries, and new civilizations that we got to learn about. Even the ones Sisko had to shoot in the face, like the JH became complex cultures by the end of the show.
In STO, I am introduced to the Gorn and Orions as generic bad guys who are just there to kill. No hellos. No explanation for the war (not really, I mean). Just things to shoot in the face.
If my first contacts in sto don't end with a ship exploding, I usually get to beam over, kill them, and leave, often without having a single conversation. Almost never am I given the opportunity to resolve a conflict through diplomacy or cunning, unless having an uberlootz Maco set counts for my cunning in this game.
I completely understand that you are the resident Foundry guru who hates almost every aspect of STO content and thinks the sun rises and sets on the Foundry, but the game does not need to be as complex as you wish it to be. My children play STO even more then I do and they do not need all the "drama" you want from a game.
This game is not just for Star Trek fanboys. It is for MMOers too who are casual Trek fans at best. Most people are content with the pew-pew levels. If they were not there would be thousands of anti-pew-pew thread on the forum daily rather then the few we now get.
STO is about my Liberated Borg Federation Captain with his Breen 1st Officer, Jem'Hadar Tactical Officer, Liberated Borg Engineering Officer, Android Ops Officer, Photonic Science Officer, Gorn Science Officer, and Reman Medical Officer jumping into their Jem'Hadar Carrier and flying off to do missions for the new Romulan Empire. But for some players allowing a T5 Connie to be used breaks the canon in the game.
The name Zen was forced upon them by their owners - all of PW's games use the same currency and system for purchasing/distributing the currency.
Since your characters are not actually purchasing the ships - the Captains do not own the ships, Starfleet does - the name Zen has no real meaning within the game anyway.
Starfleet (canon wise) replicates all of the parts for its ships, so a currency for buying such ships is irrelevant anyway.
Did you watch DS9? We must have seen different shows, because I remember a lot of exploration, unless you are defining exploration as watching the crew survey a nebula with no exciting or life threatening events.
Me too! The discovery of the Jem'Hadar came from exploration (even if it wasn't starfleet officially exploring and just the Siskos and Nog).
Yes, sometimes exploration can lead to conflict. But STO has (so far) done nothing except revive old tropes, old enemies and smash them all together like a sadistic child with a jenga set and a toy wrecking ball.
I have generally enjoyed my time playing STO. But the one thing that really bugs me about this game (aside all the bugs) is the emphasis on warfare and shooting and practically no emphasis on exploration.
If there is one thing I would like to see added to the game is methods of genuine exploration. Hidden sectors of space and unannounced content (such a NPC species and anomalies) for players to discover as they amble their way through the galaxy.
I realise that the Federation is at war with...everyone, but even in war, exploration always took first seat to combat for Starfleet.
I was actually thinking, as I flew around different sectors doffing, that new and random anomaly's would be interesting. I'm not sure how feasible it would be but it could be interesting.
I hear your concern regarding exploration, unfortunately I think more players are interested in causal combative gaming. But let me not be a hypocrite, I enjoy explosions myself.
If you consider Foundry episodes: One of my favorite Foundry series is written by Nagarok; actually take the time to play any mission he has written. And take the time to run down every rabbithole in his missions, in short take your time playing the missions. I felt that I was in an episode with each mission I played. For the record, I'd love a personal Entertainer EMH doff prize from his mission Cyptic.
Another enjoyable mission is "Rising Phoenix" written by H2Orat. "Spectres, Episode Six" by Hippie John is also good-I'm waiting for 1-5 and 7 and beyond. There was a good TOS time travel one also...very true to the era.
Do you remember what Season the Defiant was even added to the show? It was not there in the beginning. It was added precisely due to watcher feedback about the show being to station-bound. Of course the Dominion War came right after that - as did Worf.
Rewatch the first three seasons. There was a lot of exploration.
Trekkies complained that there was no ship. That didn't mean that they didn't go anywhere. And often, the unknown came to them, which is still about exploring the universe of strange new worlds and new civilizations.
I"Spectres, Episode Six" by Hippie John is also good-I'm waiting for 1-5 and 7 and beyond. There was a good TOS time travel one also...very true to the era.
Just FYI, "Spectres" is an official Cryptic Featured Episode. Hippy's part 6 was from a contest to write a sequel to a Cryptic FE. Thanks for playing Foundry.
Comments
Did you watch DS9 at all?
PWE ARC Drone says: "Your STO forum community as you have known it is ended...Display names are irrelevant...Any further sense of community is irrelevant...Resistance is futile...You will be assimilated..."
We're at WAR!
With almost everyone, depending on what part of the story line you're in. (No spoilers, don't worry)
So when your enemies are at the gates and knocking on them with a giant battering ram, I don't think you're going to have a little exploratory jaunt into the nearby mysterious magical forest of magic.
Then again, you can always do that between missions in the various Clusters, like Delta Volanis.
...on the one or two ships we followed along with, and maybe the 3 or 4 those ships' captains mentioned. Space is large, and the "fleet" in Starfleet contains many many more ships than the tiny few we actually heard about firsthand. Per the hardline definition of canon, "only canon if it happened onscreen," we don't know for sure what Starfleet's first priority was. For all we know the shows followed the only ships that didn't spend most of their time on some battlefront somewhere.
I mean more for after end-game. After-end game there should be 'peacetime' gameplay with isolated skirmishes (for people who love combat anyway) but with more rewards (much of it unannounced so we have surprises) for exploration.
This has been a major complaint since day one. During season 2, Cryptic introduced a diplomacy system and some interesting non-combat missions. However, about 95% of all non-combat missions are horrible auto-generated "Explore Unknown System," where either the inhabitants request stem bolts that they've been waiting for you to deliver or you scan 5/5 or kill 5/5 ships.
There are some interesting non-combat things to do. I enjoy the doffing. And the Foundry is rich with stories that often have more story than combat. Some are entirely diplomatic.
Please try these three missions and let us know if you enjoyed yourself (You'll have to custom search for mine):
Forget Me Not by Sovereign77x (spotlight tab)
The Needs of the Few by Kirkfat (me)
The Return to Terra Nova by Kirkfat
Also, check out the other spotlights, like the Purity series. It has combat, but it's combat that makes sense for a story, not a story as filler for killing 5/5 ships in a patrol.
There are others out there. I'm not sure how to find the old Cryptic diplomacy missions, like the who done it at Vulcan. That was a great mission.
The main game of this game is getting super lootz to shoot guns like a MMO guru. There are some alternative ways to play.
PS. If you play those foundry missions, make sure to pick up "Investigate Officer Reports" for the bonus dilithium.
When the automated STO missions fail to provide adequate exploration missions, the Foundry UGC's tend to provide more of the desired content
It's a sad thing to see that a new member to our communites first sentence is about the bugs.... We have been screaming about them for ..years but the devs decide to do new shinny lock boxes instead of bug fixing hard work.
We are at war, ...and this is a game... A Star Trek game....but why the hell can't we have exploration and diplomacy or has Star Fleets edict changed so much that now its shoot first make a season about why later.
What's the point our diplomacy rep is bugged been forgotten about, exploration areas are running around scanning. I sometimes wonder if this game didn't have the Star Trek IP and was just a generic space game how long ago it would have shut down. The devs have been resting on the Star Trek IP for too long, stop this space based shooter game and give us Star Trek.
And if you aren't sure what that is shame on you......
Join The Space Invaders,..... Federation and KDF fleets.
While this is true, that doesn't mean that inquiring minds should cease asking for Cryptic to do something more in the area of exploration and even crafting. That's the beauty of an MMO, it's able to progress and evolve in multiple ways, so things may change since the initial conception and the ideas revolving around then.
Or simply put, what I'm trying to say is that we shouldn't really try to justify the lack of exploration with the Federation being at war with everyone, because if we want that kind of logical observation on the events - than the Federation wouldn't have survived the year 2409 with everyone attacking it from every possible side.
Can the game evolve over time? Yes, and I hope it does; but it is what it is right now.
And I will also point out that most of us were addressing the comment the OP got wrong. The Federation did not always make exploration the priority; at least not in canon. That is not to say the game cannot have exploration. We were simply addressing the OP's incorrect view of the canon.
It claimed to be Star Trek Online. In my experience Star Trek has been a franchise about the exploration of space.
But think of it: You're exploring a star system in the game that nobody has ever visited before and come across a species nobody has heard of before and get content nobody else has (at least for a while), how cool would that feel?
DS9 was not about exploration. I would even go so far as to say that most of TNG was not about exploration. The Enterprise D spent most of its time in known space dealing with Klingons, Romulans, Cardassians, and other known species. The Enterprise D was not out doing First Contact missions in unknown space.
And that is not to say that exploration would not be cool, but the game was not set up to be about that. But that is the beauty of FTP MMOs: if you do not like what they are about you are not forced to play them.
Yes. I didn't enjoy DS9. I felt like it had split ways with Rodenberry's vision for Star Trek.
Point taken. But that doesn't mean cryptic has to follow the same tired formula as every other MMO to try and feel like it's competing. The most successful games out there (not necessarily MMO's) these days are the ones trying new things (mostly indie games) because people are crying out for stuff that's not just more pew pew.
The most successful MMOs are Asian MMOs - probably games you have never heard about. The most successful Western MMO is still WoW, though. Even though WoW is below 8 million Subscribers it is still the king of the hill in the Western market. Outside of the MMO market there are many other types of games; but that is the beauty of the market - there are different types of games for everyone. The people who want pew-pew MMOs have them. The people who want games about shooting birds with slingshots have them, and so on.
MMOs generally need to function like MMOs though; and the trope is heavy into action and conflict.
From the main page, this is a new player's first impression of STO, as written by PWE on their main game's page:
"Explore strange new worlds, seek out new life and civilizations, and boldly go in this expanding universe."
This is the most concise summary of what this game is about and it emphasizes what is just not here, unless we have big definitions of boldly going.
Also, here is PWE's most extensive description of what STO is all about:
They also advertise the WAAAAAR part of the game too.
Um, the entire premise of the show was about what might be discovered on the other side of a wormhole which led to unexplored space. Sure, there was a lot of conflict but also a lot of exploration. Even the Dominion War was in part an exploration of cultural differences that culminated in war.
Well in regards to Zen: lazy development. Cryptic couldn't be bothered to come up with a unique currency for STO (IE: federation credits) and so simply ported an existing currency (which also happens to be a rip-off) from perfect worlds.
The rest can be explained away by the diversity of species.
Since your characters are not actually purchasing the ships - the Captains do not own the ships, Starfleet does - the name Zen has no real meaning within the game anyway.
Did you watch DS9? We must have seen different shows, because I remember a lot of exploration, unless you are defining exploration as watching the crew survey a nebula with no exciting or life threatening events.
DS9 was full of strange new worlds, amazing discoveries, and new civilizations that we got to learn about. Even the ones Sisko had to shoot in the face, like the JH became complex cultures by the end of the show.
In STO, I am introduced to the Gorn and Orions as generic bad guys who are just there to kill. No hellos. No explanation for the war (not really, I mean). Just things to shoot in the face.
If my first contacts in sto don't end with a ship exploding, I usually get to beam over, kill them, and leave, often without having a single conversation. Almost never am I given the opportunity to resolve a conflict through diplomacy or cunning, unless having an uberlootz Maco set counts for my cunning in this game.
I completely understand that you are the resident Foundry guru who hates almost every aspect of STO content and thinks the sun rises and sets on the Foundry, but the game does not need to be as complex as you wish it to be. My children play STO even more then I do and they do not need all the "drama" you want from a game.
This game is not just for Star Trek fanboys. It is for MMOers too who are casual Trek fans at best. Most people are content with the pew-pew levels. If they were not there would be thousands of anti-pew-pew thread on the forum daily rather then the few we now get.
Starfleet (canon wise) replicates all of the parts for its ships, so a currency for buying such ships is irrelevant anyway.
Me too! The discovery of the Jem'Hadar came from exploration (even if it wasn't starfleet officially exploring and just the Siskos and Nog).
Yes, sometimes exploration can lead to conflict. But STO has (so far) done nothing except revive old tropes, old enemies and smash them all together like a sadistic child with a jenga set and a toy wrecking ball.
I was actually thinking, as I flew around different sectors doffing, that new and random anomaly's would be interesting. I'm not sure how feasible it would be but it could be interesting.
I hear your concern regarding exploration, unfortunately I think more players are interested in causal combative gaming. But let me not be a hypocrite, I enjoy explosions myself.
If you consider Foundry episodes: One of my favorite Foundry series is written by Nagarok; actually take the time to play any mission he has written. And take the time to run down every rabbithole in his missions, in short take your time playing the missions. I felt that I was in an episode with each mission I played. For the record, I'd love a personal Entertainer EMH doff prize from his mission Cyptic.
Another enjoyable mission is "Rising Phoenix" written by H2Orat. "Spectres, Episode Six" by Hippie John is also good-I'm waiting for 1-5 and 7 and beyond. There was a good TOS time travel one also...very true to the era.
Rewatch the first three seasons. There was a lot of exploration.
Trekkies complained that there was no ship. That didn't mean that they didn't go anywhere. And often, the unknown came to them, which is still about exploring the universe of strange new worlds and new civilizations.
Just FYI, "Spectres" is an official Cryptic Featured Episode. Hippy's part 6 was from a contest to write a sequel to a Cryptic FE. Thanks for playing Foundry.