first of all, i play this game for 3 and half years (pretty much almost since F2P launch)
and i dont see the reason of the rage-fest going on here... yes star clusters do give a lot o Dil... yes star clusters do give a large scale of Doffs...
BUT!
yes the missions in there are very poor...
and YES they get boring VERY fast...
as i said before i play this game for 3 and half years, and about the fourth month playing i decided NOT to play those missions anymore,and until today i cant complete any of the first contact missions cause its bugged HARD and the rest was just a waste of EC (diplomatic investigations) and a waste of time (doing a ground starcluster mission without high end equipment is very frustating)
that all said... yes removing starclusters IS an improvment...
and its only logicall that it will be revamped with a not as boring mechanic and not as frustating bugged mission (first contacts mission should be the greatest part of a "trek" game at leats for a Federation player but since its bugged and cannot be completed its just a waste of HDD space)
besides that maybe removing this major part of data and server traffic maybe others areas of the game get improved like the lag-fest called "undine battlezone"
and about dillithium... the battlezones DO give dillithium VERY FAST and theres the asteroid mining, only 15 minutes and some coordination you can get almost all of the dillithium you can refine per day...
and by my opinion i can guess they are working on from ground zero on a new exploration system with a new mechanic (wich will be called as a grind-fest by some folks around here)
I'm not arguing that the exploration missions were good. I'm arguing that we need open space where players can feel like they are exploring and fighting in a quasi-RP sort of way, like how kids play with toys.....
Game design is the art of illusion, not perfect simulation. You don't cut out anything that doesn't work as well as you'd like, when it can serve an aesthetic purpose that cultivates just the feeling of openness and free exploration, as if the game world were as alive as Trek fans imagine their universe.
Instead, I see minds like the robot above who look at everything in terms of specific goals, tasks, and minimal simulation thereof. That's not an RPG. I don't like this mechanical mentality devoid of imagination.
Agree strongly with everything being said here. Adding to that, making some old, early level, content shiny is great, but it is hardly an edition to the expansion of the game, nor is the single feature, fly by wire, episode that arrives with each new .5 season. We are being given some great new tools to play with, but nowhere new and engaging to play with them.
you guys are the developers, yet you expect the player base to create the extra, or replace the old, content for you
first of all, i play this game for 3 and half years (pretty much almost since F2P launch)
and i dont see the reason of the rage-fest going on here... yes star clusters do give a lot o Dil... yes star clusters do give a large scale of Doffs...
BUT!
yes the missions in there are very poor...
and YES they get boring VERY fast...
as i said before i play this game for 3 and half years, and about the fourth month playing i decided NOT to play those missions anymore,and until today i cant complete any of the first contact missions cause its bugged HARD and the rest was just a waste of EC (diplomatic investigations) and a waste of time (doing a ground starcluster mission without high end equipment is very frustating)
that all said... yes removing starclusters IS an improvment...
and its only logicall that it will be revamped with a not as boring mechanic and not as frustating bugged mission (first contacts mission should be the greatest part of a "trek" game at leats for a Federation player but since its bugged and cannot be completed its just a waste of HDD space)
besides that maybe removing this major part of data and server traffic maybe others areas of the game get improved like the lag-fest called "undine battlezone"
and about dillithium... the battlezones DO give dillithium VERY FAST and theres the asteroid mining, only 15 minutes and some coordination you can get almost all of the dillithium you can refine per day...
and by my opinion i can guess they are working on from ground zero on a new exploration system with a new mechanic (wich will be called as a grind-fest by some folks around here)
i have been here just as long as you have sonny and i must respectfully disagree....*given how expensive Dilithium Items are the extra Dilithium is kinda necessary*
Although I may lose my progress, I had ultimately abandoned the crafting system. I got turned off by the dilithium price tag. Removing the exploration clusters is a little bit of a bummer; however, the patrols should still remain in tact.
What would be neat is if the fleet action maps rewarded crafting items. Since the fleet action maps are usually abandoned, adding crafting rewards to them may peek player's interest.
I agree that the random Star Cluster missions are below the game's current overall quality.
That being said, I believe removing a large selection of repeatable content is NEVER a good thing. Other games have done things like this before; SWG did it in the name of streamlining and making new player experiences better. That was called the "New Game Experience" or "NGE." Gaming history remembers that and other slip-ups in the MMO world.
Instead of outright removal, Star Clusters should be fixed up, given love, added to.
The idea of using the Foundry with Star Clusters is a *wonderful* idea! But instead of just using the Star Clusters as Foundry doors, we could have a sort of Featured Foundry contest for Star Clusters specifically, to do short one-off missions of exploration and add the winning ones in to specific Star Clusters. They could award crafting resources and dilithium as well, being made "official."
And yes, while the newer game content *is* of higher quality, it's also limited, linear, and absolutely *boring* upon the umpteenth repeat. How many players want to spend entire days, weeks, months, years playing the same handful of queues and story missions over and over and over and over and over again to acquire crafting resources and dilithium and *not* go out of their mind?
I'm personally getting burned out on the game because of this and I've stuck with it non-stop since release.
We need variety, and I don't mean adding more queueables either. I mean actual in-world locations you go to in order to see and explore. Adventure zones and the like are nice additions, but only comprise a very small portion of the game thus far.
Unless we're getting a real replacement for Star Cluster exploration missions, this is *very* disappointing.
My main question is what is going to happen to the Diplomatic Investigations and First Contact missons? I actually enjoyed them (to a certain extent). It gave the game that little bit more of a Star Trekish feel to it. If you're gonna get rid of a star cluster, have the FC and DI missions autowarp to a random location or something like that.
Lore posts are great, but give us real info first please!
Thanks a lot I Regularly use these for collection of samples, and doff missions .. they were some of the only places to regularly get missions for the assignment chains.
I have diligently been working the Colonization missions of the assignment chains with these.
You are taking away one way to earn accolades... and accolade chasing is one of the ways i avoid the game becoming stale and boring.
It is the most valuable way to bild your Colonization up to level 4.
This is a mistake !!!
DO NOT DO IT.
you seem to constantly be trying to cut your own profits by trying to follow an other MMO's
Blueprint.. Let STO Stand Unique. Stay within the Startrek Ideals
Sci FY fans are loyal .. not like Fantasy Fans that are fly by night from one new magic set to another.
So if the development team is not up to my standards, can I axe them out too?
But in all seriousness,
There is good and bad in this decision, and im taking a leap here by saying the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few or the one....
many people express anger over this decision, not a few or one....although there is the few White Knights that spend more time in the forum than playing the game....yeah some of you have over 10k posts...that's more than 2 a day for a game that has only been around 4 years....who continuously back every decision cryptic has made recently, and its downright silly at this point.
I think compromise is in order here, leave the initial cluster map up for each faction border, remove the rest, until said time that it is revamped properly (up to their standards) and than reintroduce the system fully.
Plus side removing said cluster entry locations leaves to possible expansion locations of full on sectors
Minus side is, it was the only real exploration we had, albeit not impressive but it was something...
I myself venture into a system like twice a week to just get that "flavor" going that and well.....
I've just read Dev Blog #29, and I'd like to clarify a point: will the Exploration Cluster colonization missions still be available? They're a great source of purple Duty Officers, and I don't want to lose that.
The blog states: "For example, Delta Volanis colonization missions can now be obtained from a Delta Volanis Exploration Cluster interactive object in the Vulcan sector of the Sirius sector block." So, can I still collect purple Doctors from here? Will I still be able to beef up my crew from the Cluster markers?
I, for one, am gonna really miss the exploration clusters. I enjoyed the Explore New Worlds daily. I fail to see why it needs to be eradicated as is, but "All Good Things..."
When will Neverwinter's "Neighbourhood" feature be implemented into STO?
Specifically, in Neverwinter, you could run up to a Bulletin Board, and find all available Foundry missions that exist "in the neighbourhood". I feel this would be a lot smoother, and might get more people (myself included) to run Foundry missions. If it were easier to find missions that are closer to your current location.
Now, if you could make it so that Foundry authors could actually WRITE Exploration missions, and have them awarded properly (Diplomacy XP etc), that might be the pain in losing the core Trek part of STO, a lot more manageable.
Honestly I can understand cutting the existing exploration clusters. Yes they were subpar. But doing so without having a new exploration system ready to replace them? Why? Who even thought this was a good idea?
Seriously, as long as you're axing content you don't want to take the time to fix you might as well cut PVP while you're at it.
I practically achieved the rank of Vice-Admiral just by doing nothing but Exploration Missions. One of the best parts of the game. I hear stuff about Foundry and Missions and Crafting... but removing Exploration seems like they want the body of game to walk and talk better so they... uh, shaved the game's hair off? Seems like a strange thing to get rid of. How did that aspect stand in the way of any new material? Let players have more options... especially quick daily things to knock out at their leisure.
Removing content from the game is bad in principle, especially if it is not being replaced with anything. And the fact it is exploration that is being taken out is sad - as exploration is at the heart of what Star Trek is about.
However, it is clear this is a fait accompli, and whilst annoying, it isn't going to break the game. The missions were a nice diversion, and did have a trek feel at times, but the quality was fairly poor across many of them. Hopefully the removal of this data may even optimise performance/download sizes a little.
That said, a lot of people are still upset, as this is not really being replaced with anything - this always causes problems in MMOs. Peoples' feelings might be soothed by some sort of additional measures. These could include:
1) The addition of foundry doors is welcome - I have always thought foundry-generated content could eventually replace the exploration missions. Perhaps you introduce a foundry contest specifically for exploration oriented missions which start at these doors? These could qualify for an additional dil (or something else) reward, through counting towards the strange new world wrapper (in the same way that normal missions qualify for investigate officer reports).
2) With the clusters gone, we will no longer be able to invite people to our bridge to do the doff missions. I believe a number of people have raised this already - the addition of the doff mission node is nice, but I understand it only works in sector space. People will no longer be able to offer bridge invites to friends, fleetmates, or players on channels like Public Service/Doffcalls, to access doff missions in the cluster. Players will have to each fly up to the node themselves in sector space. This removes a significant social element from the game - the ability to help other players - which is very much in line with the spirit of trek. Some people even bought a tuffli/cell ship for just this purpose - so that they could help other players!
I would urge some workaround to be found to this. Maybe adding a colonial tab to the doff officer console in people's ready rooms, which would have the relevant missions accessible on it, etc.
3) Add some of the alien race assets to the foundry. Seriously, the foundry is great for getting your users to generate content for you. But it is limited in terms of the assets on there. Adding some/all of the alien races (like the Scoodians, Bounc, Vito'D, etc) as NPCs in the foundry would significantly add to the variety available for players, allowing them to use more aliens - rather than just endless variants of klingons, nausicaans, etc.
The People at perfect world are coming closer than ever before.
To fans comaring what we have here and now called Star Trek Online to another space based MMO Star Wars Galaxies just after their new enhancements were put in place.
I see within the next 6 to 12 months that STO will be in the same type of MMO boat as Star Wars Galaxies was just after their new game enhancements and well leave STO to die a slow MMO death.
The announcement of the removal of exploration clusters as a matter of fire control should've been announced alongside plans to either replace or create a different content.
For instance if you were to add in another sector block or two of the Alpha Quadrant and offer repeatable missions there that would be one thing.
If there is an exploration revamp in the works then please tell us about it now, so that the flames can die down. You'll be flooded with suggestions but the vitriol will fade.
I understand that they sucked. They were fun as a diversion and an excellent source of dilithium, but to say that the missions were good is pushing it.
If removing them is necessary to be able to work on their replacement somehow, then that's fine, just don't keep us in the dark.
I know in other Dev posts the revamp of exploration has been hinted strongly, but the fact that the dev blog is silent on it is...bleak at best.
When going to a cluster/nebula/etc, one had the option to check both the Current Map and the Operations Department Head for certain DOFF missions. Because you were actually in a different "sector" map, the options for the Ops Head reflected the possibility of getting a DOFF mission for that Current Map that might not be available from the Current Map list. Basically, you got two rolls/chances for it to be there.
With the cluster/nebula now part of the standard sector block instead of its own sector, is this something that is planned on being maintained - or - will Ops Heads just pull from the normal sector block list and thus not provide that additional opportunity for those particular DOFF missions.
My apologies if this has already been answered. I remember it being brought up as an issue, but I do not recall any answer.
Thank you.
I hadn't thought about that but you're entirely correct.
Without the physical space we will be losing the individual department head missions which actually did get their own list of missions for a cluster.
Devs my request and recommendation is that you add the cluster's department head missions to primary sector block's list in order to resolve this, or place them under a separate section, you're reworking the DOFF menu (don't get me wrong I still despise the new Assignments screen with a passion) but while you're on it you can add this to fix the problem.
That sounds like an exploit, which is probably part of the reason these clusters were removed.
It's not nor was it ever an exploit. Department heads had a separate list of assignments by design and in fact Devs have instructed us many times to check the department heads if a mission we were looking for didn't show up in the main list.
One concern raised in the Tribble forums is the reduction in the number of doff assignments available from exploration clusters. Before, when you entered an exploration cluster, doff assignments were available under "Current Map", "Personal", and "Department Heads". Now, when you click on the button next to an exploration cluster, the doff window opens up with one extra tab containing assignments from that cluster. I've not seen more than 5 assignments in that tab.
Two solutions were suggested to address this:
1. Add the assignments from the cluster to the sector block containing it, with a corresponding increase to the assignment limits for the sector block.
2. Add multiple buttons to the exploration cluster tab that allow access to the cluster assignments previously available under "Current Map", "Personal", and "Department Heads".
What the toaster said
"Rise like Lions after slumber, In unvanquishable number, Shake your chains to earth like dew, Which in sleep had fallen on you-Ye are many they are few"
Wow. That's a statement for the ages right there. "We're admitting our stuff sucks so badly that removing it entirely, with no replacement, is an improvement."
"Critics who say that the optimistic utopia Star Trek depicted is now outmoded forget the cultural context that gave birth to it: Star Trek was not a manifestation of optimism when optimism was easy. Star Trek declared a hope for a future that nobody stuck in the present could believe in. For all our struggles today, we haven’t outgrown the need for stories like Star Trek. We need tales of optimism, of heroes, of courage and goodness now as much as we’ve ever needed them." -Thomas Marrone
If you want to entice the type of people who do crafting in MMOs then you are going to need to add more active non-combat methods to farm materials. Herding people into the PvE queues is not going to cut it. Yes we have the DOFF missions, but the costs to crew your ship full of good DOFFs is extremely expensive in terms of Zen (for packs), ec, DOFF grinders (dilithium costs in those are way too high), fleet marks etc..
Yes! I want a non-combat way to get these materials. Just slap the scanning mini-game in the same spot as the clusters--I'd be just fine with that. You can even do it like it is now on Holodeck where each nebula only gives one or two different items, so you have to visit several different ones to get a diverse array of supplies.
I find it frustrating to create a brand new, extensive crafting system, and literally at the same time remove one of the more popular methods for acquisition of crafting supplies. I want to do the new crafting--help me make sure I have what I need to do it!
I'm not interested in PvE queues and doff missions likely won't give enough to keep crafting.
They remove the exploration clusters to add to the already increasing grind and YET!?....fail to fix the currency issue.
I mean how many currencies we have 90? maybe more? HEY DEVS!!! how about "Fixing" something that needs fixed like the bloated amount of currencies ingame.
Ok thats my daily rant, i now return you to your regularly scheduled forum thread already in progress.
Yes! I want a non-combat way to get these materials. Just slap the scanning mini-game in the same spot as the clusters--I'd be just fine with that. You can even do it like it is now on Holodeck where each nebula only gives one or two different items, so you have to visit several different ones to get a diverse array of supplies.
I find it frustrating to create a brand new, extensive crafting system, and literally at the same time remove one of the more popular methods for acquisition of crafting supplies. I want to do the new crafting--help me make sure I have what I need to do it!
I'm not interested in PvE queues and doff missions likely won't give enough to keep crafting.
I picture the following compromise (for non-combat players who want crafting materials):
Pick up quest to "Scan 5 anomalies in X cluster"
(since the cluster no longer exists as a map, you essentially head to it's "portal" on the map)
Upon arrival at the cluster portal, hit your "Interact" key to conduct scans.
This brings up the standard Scanning Mini-game. Complete the scan on time for bonus.
Repeat the scan 4 additional times, and be rewarded with an additional "Material box"
Make the mission repeatable on a 30 minute timer (to match PVE Queues), with an additional bonus box (2 on first run, 1 on subsequent runs).
There Cryptic. How hard was that? The tech is already in place. No new systems to do. To quote Capt. Jellico: GET IT DONE!
Finally! About time they got rid of those wuss missions!! Exploration? Science? Providing aid and comfort to others? Compassion and empathy? They have no place in this game, unless it leads to the righteous, reasoned destruction we all feel good about right?. Kill everything cause of reasons, I mean that's what's fun, right?!
:rolleyes:
I'm sure PWE will make sure there is more than enough wanton carnage and destruction upcoming to take everyone's mind off of worthless missions of science, exploration, aid and logic.
:mad:
Can't wait to find out who we get to kill next in replace of all that inferior content!!
:rolleyes::rolleyes:
On a side note, Everyone does know that this is just another way for cryptic/PWE to monitize the new crafting system even further then before this was even a forethought. Right?
Basically in a nutshell this cash grab stunt is designed to funnel a persons ability to gather crafting materials in such a way that it forces payment for material packs and DoFF expansions just to craft quicker and easier where as non-payment will result in DAYS even WEEKS worth of material gathering just to craft.
Said it before and i'm sayin it again now... i knew that *censored* they got from that FB MMO company was gonna trash this game. Shure enough, this move just PROVES it.
I think im taking a break after risa. Been playing since beta and frankly im not happy. This dooms "star trek" online for me. Still a ok mmo that may last! But its no longer a star trek mmo. They don't respect long term players, they don't respect the name sake of this game.
Ill check in and see if something is new. Do the Santa and Risa. Or any other special events. Removing Exploration?? All those pretty maps. Amazing detail maps! Why not revamp them? Make them harder? No you want foundary authors to do your job.
The only concern I had about them being removed has been addressed:
Duty officer assignments that previous took place inside these Exploration Cluster sector maps can now be accessed from a landmark in the neighboring sector.
For example, Delta Volanis colonization missions can now be obtained from a Delta Volanis Exploration Cluster interactive object in the Vulcan sector of the Sirius sector block.
This is the one and only reason I go to the Clusters, to do the Colonization Chains and the Support assignment once they are complete.
Although I will do any 20hour assignment that rewards Colonial XP as well.
I'm also hoping this object will remove the random nature of the chain assignments.
This was a problem I consistently ran into where the next assignment in the chain simply did not appear in the random roster, which prevented me from progressing in the chain, sometimes for 1-2 days.
If the interactive object will give the next assignment upon completion of the prior one, I'd greatly prefer it, as it would increase the efficiency of the process.
Also, I'm glad they are being removed.
I lost count of the number of times I accidentally ended up in an Exploration Cluster by accident because I didn't read the map transition dialogue and realized it was prompting me to go into Rolor Nebula instead of Orellius Sector Block (for example).
With their removal, this problem will be gone forever.
Bees like honey, they don't like vinegar.
Everytime someone makes a character that is an copy of an existing superhuman, Creativity is sad
The only concern I had about them being removed has been addressed:
This is the one and only reason I go to the Clusters, to do the Colonization Chains and the Support assignment once they are complete.
Although I will do any 20hour assignment that rewards Colonial XP as well.
I'm also hoping this object will remove the random nature of the chain assignments.
This was a problem I consistently ran into where the next assignment in the chain simply did not appear in the random roster, which prevented me from progressing in the chain, sometimes for 1-2 days.
If the interactive object will give the next assignment upon completion of the prior one, I'd greatly prefer it, as it would increase the efficiency of the process.
Also, I'm glad they are being removed.
I lost count of the number of times I accidentally ended up in an Exploration Cluster by accident because I didn't read the map transition dialogue and realized it was prompting me to go into Rolor Nebula instead of Orellius Sector Block (for example).
With their removal, this problem will be gone forever.
So you are glad of their removal cause your too lazy to read and would rather severely throttled material gathering just to craft something in a game that is becoming more like a cheap world of borecraft knockoff and less like an actual Star Trek MMO?
Comments
and i dont see the reason of the rage-fest going on here... yes star clusters do give a lot o Dil... yes star clusters do give a large scale of Doffs...
BUT!
yes the missions in there are very poor...
and YES they get boring VERY fast...
as i said before i play this game for 3 and half years, and about the fourth month playing i decided NOT to play those missions anymore,and until today i cant complete any of the first contact missions cause its bugged HARD and the rest was just a waste of EC (diplomatic investigations) and a waste of time (doing a ground starcluster mission without high end equipment is very frustating)
that all said... yes removing starclusters IS an improvment...
and its only logicall that it will be revamped with a not as boring mechanic and not as frustating bugged mission (first contacts mission should be the greatest part of a "trek" game at leats for a Federation player but since its bugged and cannot be completed its just a waste of HDD space)
besides that maybe removing this major part of data and server traffic maybe others areas of the game get improved like the lag-fest called "undine battlezone"
and about dillithium... the battlezones DO give dillithium VERY FAST and theres the asteroid mining, only 15 minutes and some coordination you can get almost all of the dillithium you can refine per day...
and by my opinion i can guess they are working on from ground zero on a new exploration system with a new mechanic (wich will be called as a grind-fest by some folks around here)
spocked thumb face...
Agree strongly with everything being said here. Adding to that, making some old, early level, content shiny is great, but it is hardly an edition to the expansion of the game, nor is the single feature, fly by wire, episode that arrives with each new .5 season. We are being given some great new tools to play with, but nowhere new and engaging to play with them.
you guys are the developers, yet you expect the player base to create the extra, or replace the old, content for you
i have been here just as long as you have sonny and i must respectfully disagree....*given how expensive Dilithium Items are the extra Dilithium is kinda necessary*
What would be neat is if the fleet action maps rewarded crafting items. Since the fleet action maps are usually abandoned, adding crafting rewards to them may peek player's interest.
Let us see what happens next.
That being said, I believe removing a large selection of repeatable content is NEVER a good thing. Other games have done things like this before; SWG did it in the name of streamlining and making new player experiences better. That was called the "New Game Experience" or "NGE." Gaming history remembers that and other slip-ups in the MMO world.
Instead of outright removal, Star Clusters should be fixed up, given love, added to.
The idea of using the Foundry with Star Clusters is a *wonderful* idea! But instead of just using the Star Clusters as Foundry doors, we could have a sort of Featured Foundry contest for Star Clusters specifically, to do short one-off missions of exploration and add the winning ones in to specific Star Clusters. They could award crafting resources and dilithium as well, being made "official."
And yes, while the newer game content *is* of higher quality, it's also limited, linear, and absolutely *boring* upon the umpteenth repeat. How many players want to spend entire days, weeks, months, years playing the same handful of queues and story missions over and over and over and over and over again to acquire crafting resources and dilithium and *not* go out of their mind?
I'm personally getting burned out on the game because of this and I've stuck with it non-stop since release.
We need variety, and I don't mean adding more queueables either. I mean actual in-world locations you go to in order to see and explore. Adventure zones and the like are nice additions, but only comprise a very small portion of the game thus far.
Unless we're getting a real replacement for Star Cluster exploration missions, this is *very* disappointing.
I have diligently been working the Colonization missions of the assignment chains with these.
You are taking away one way to earn accolades... and accolade chasing is one of the ways i avoid the game becoming stale and boring.
It is the most valuable way to bild your Colonization up to level 4.
This is a mistake !!!
DO NOT DO IT.
you seem to constantly be trying to cut your own profits by trying to follow an other MMO's
Blueprint.. Let STO Stand Unique. Stay within the Startrek Ideals
Sci FY fans are loyal .. not like Fantasy Fans that are fly by night from one new magic set to another.
But in all seriousness,
There is good and bad in this decision, and im taking a leap here by saying the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few or the one....
many people express anger over this decision, not a few or one....although there is the few White Knights that spend more time in the forum than playing the game....yeah some of you have over 10k posts...that's more than 2 a day for a game that has only been around 4 years....who continuously back every decision cryptic has made recently, and its downright silly at this point.
I think compromise is in order here, leave the initial cluster map up for each faction border, remove the rest, until said time that it is revamped properly (up to their standards) and than reintroduce the system fully.
Plus side removing said cluster entry locations leaves to possible expansion locations of full on sectors
Minus side is, it was the only real exploration we had, albeit not impressive but it was something...
I myself venture into a system like twice a week to just get that "flavor" going that and well.....
IM TIRED OF BORG
The blog states: "For example, Delta Volanis colonization missions can now be obtained from a Delta Volanis Exploration Cluster interactive object in the Vulcan sector of the Sirius sector block." So, can I still collect purple Doctors from here? Will I still be able to beef up my crew from the Cluster markers?
Specifically, in Neverwinter, you could run up to a Bulletin Board, and find all available Foundry missions that exist "in the neighbourhood". I feel this would be a lot smoother, and might get more people (myself included) to run Foundry missions. If it were easier to find missions that are closer to your current location.
Now, if you could make it so that Foundry authors could actually WRITE Exploration missions, and have them awarded properly (Diplomacy XP etc), that might be the pain in losing the core Trek part of STO, a lot more manageable.
Honestly I can understand cutting the existing exploration clusters. Yes they were subpar. But doing so without having a new exploration system ready to replace them? Why? Who even thought this was a good idea?
Seriously, as long as you're axing content you don't want to take the time to fix you might as well cut PVP while you're at it.
However, it is clear this is a fait accompli, and whilst annoying, it isn't going to break the game. The missions were a nice diversion, and did have a trek feel at times, but the quality was fairly poor across many of them. Hopefully the removal of this data may even optimise performance/download sizes a little.
That said, a lot of people are still upset, as this is not really being replaced with anything - this always causes problems in MMOs. Peoples' feelings might be soothed by some sort of additional measures. These could include:
1) The addition of foundry doors is welcome - I have always thought foundry-generated content could eventually replace the exploration missions. Perhaps you introduce a foundry contest specifically for exploration oriented missions which start at these doors? These could qualify for an additional dil (or something else) reward, through counting towards the strange new world wrapper (in the same way that normal missions qualify for investigate officer reports).
2) With the clusters gone, we will no longer be able to invite people to our bridge to do the doff missions. I believe a number of people have raised this already - the addition of the doff mission node is nice, but I understand it only works in sector space. People will no longer be able to offer bridge invites to friends, fleetmates, or players on channels like Public Service/Doffcalls, to access doff missions in the cluster. Players will have to each fly up to the node themselves in sector space. This removes a significant social element from the game - the ability to help other players - which is very much in line with the spirit of trek. Some people even bought a tuffli/cell ship for just this purpose - so that they could help other players!
I would urge some workaround to be found to this. Maybe adding a colonial tab to the doff officer console in people's ready rooms, which would have the relevant missions accessible on it, etc.
3) Add some of the alien race assets to the foundry. Seriously, the foundry is great for getting your users to generate content for you. But it is limited in terms of the assets on there. Adding some/all of the alien races (like the Scoodians, Bounc, Vito'D, etc) as NPCs in the foundry would significantly add to the variety available for players, allowing them to use more aliens - rather than just endless variants of klingons, nausicaans, etc.
To fans comaring what we have here and now called Star Trek Online to another space based MMO Star Wars Galaxies just after their new enhancements were put in place.
I see within the next 6 to 12 months that STO will be in the same type of MMO boat as Star Wars Galaxies was just after their new game enhancements and well leave STO to die a slow MMO death.
For instance if you were to add in another sector block or two of the Alpha Quadrant and offer repeatable missions there that would be one thing.
If there is an exploration revamp in the works then please tell us about it now, so that the flames can die down. You'll be flooded with suggestions but the vitriol will fade.
I understand that they sucked. They were fun as a diversion and an excellent source of dilithium, but to say that the missions were good is pushing it.
If removing them is necessary to be able to work on their replacement somehow, then that's fine, just don't keep us in the dark.
I know in other Dev posts the revamp of exploration has been hinted strongly, but the fact that the dev blog is silent on it is...bleak at best.
I hadn't thought about that but you're entirely correct.
Without the physical space we will be losing the individual department head missions which actually did get their own list of missions for a cluster.
Devs my request and recommendation is that you add the cluster's department head missions to primary sector block's list in order to resolve this, or place them under a separate section, you're reworking the DOFF menu (don't get me wrong I still despise the new Assignments screen with a passion) but while you're on it you can add this to fix the problem. It's not nor was it ever an exploit. Department heads had a separate list of assignments by design and in fact Devs have instructed us many times to check the department heads if a mission we were looking for didn't show up in the main list.
What the toaster said
It's true, though.
"Critics who say that the optimistic utopia Star Trek depicted is now outmoded forget the cultural context that gave birth to it: Star Trek was not a manifestation of optimism when optimism was easy. Star Trek declared a hope for a future that nobody stuck in the present could believe in. For all our struggles today, we haven’t outgrown the need for stories like Star Trek. We need tales of optimism, of heroes, of courage and goodness now as much as we’ve ever needed them."
-Thomas Marrone
Yes! I want a non-combat way to get these materials. Just slap the scanning mini-game in the same spot as the clusters--I'd be just fine with that. You can even do it like it is now on Holodeck where each nebula only gives one or two different items, so you have to visit several different ones to get a diverse array of supplies.
I find it frustrating to create a brand new, extensive crafting system, and literally at the same time remove one of the more popular methods for acquisition of crafting supplies. I want to do the new crafting--help me make sure I have what I need to do it!
I'm not interested in PvE queues and doff missions likely won't give enough to keep crafting.
I mean how many currencies we have 90? maybe more? HEY DEVS!!! how about "Fixing" something that needs fixed like the bloated amount of currencies ingame.
Ok thats my daily rant, i now return you to your regularly scheduled forum thread already in progress.
I picture the following compromise (for non-combat players who want crafting materials):
(since the cluster no longer exists as a map, you essentially head to it's "portal" on the map)
Make the mission repeatable on a 30 minute timer (to match PVE Queues), with an additional bonus box (2 on first run, 1 on subsequent runs).
There Cryptic. How hard was that? The tech is already in place. No new systems to do. To quote Capt. Jellico:
GET IT DONE!
:rolleyes:
I'm sure PWE will make sure there is more than enough wanton carnage and destruction upcoming to take everyone's mind off of worthless missions of science, exploration, aid and logic.
:mad:
Can't wait to find out who we get to kill next in replace of all that inferior content!!
:rolleyes::rolleyes:
Basically in a nutshell this cash grab stunt is designed to funnel a persons ability to gather crafting materials in such a way that it forces payment for material packs and DoFF expansions just to craft quicker and easier where as non-payment will result in DAYS even WEEKS worth of material gathering just to craft.
Said it before and i'm sayin it again now... i knew that *censored* they got from that FB MMO company was gonna trash this game. Shure enough, this move just PROVES it.
Ill check in and see if something is new. Do the Santa and Risa. Or any other special events. Removing Exploration?? All those pretty maps. Amazing detail maps! Why not revamp them? Make them harder? No you want foundary authors to do your job.
This is the one and only reason I go to the Clusters, to do the Colonization Chains and the Support assignment once they are complete.
Although I will do any 20hour assignment that rewards Colonial XP as well.
I'm also hoping this object will remove the random nature of the chain assignments.
This was a problem I consistently ran into where the next assignment in the chain simply did not appear in the random roster, which prevented me from progressing in the chain, sometimes for 1-2 days.
If the interactive object will give the next assignment upon completion of the prior one, I'd greatly prefer it, as it would increase the efficiency of the process.
Also, I'm glad they are being removed.
I lost count of the number of times I accidentally ended up in an Exploration Cluster by accident because I didn't read the map transition dialogue and realized it was prompting me to go into Rolor Nebula instead of Orellius Sector Block (for example).
With their removal, this problem will be gone forever.
Bees like honey, they don't like vinegar.
Everytime someone makes a character that is an copy of an existing superhuman, Creativity is sad
So you are glad of their removal cause your too lazy to read and would rather severely throttled material gathering just to craft something in a game that is becoming more like a cheap world of borecraft knockoff and less like an actual Star Trek MMO?