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Exploration FEs
ussintercept
Member Posts: 627 Arc User
With the announcement that Exploration Clusters are being removed and the Foundry fulfilling that role. I would like to challenge the Cryptic Devs to consider the possibility of creating some Featured Episodes that revolve around Exploration as a possible alternative. And when I say Exploration I mean storylines that have nothing directly related to the Voth, Undine, Dyson Spheres and the Iconians.
Through out the history of the franchise we have seen plenty examples of major story arcs playing out over the course of portions of seasons and the entire series. DS9 is a great example of this with the Dominion War. And a great example of what Im trying to point out. During the Seasons involving the Dominion War there would be numerous episodes dealing with the War and then a handful of episodes dealing with life on the station, life for the individual crew, and even opportunities to explore and discover things between the story arcs dealing directly with the war.
Now I know that this isnt something we will see for a while if the Devs decided to pursue it. But if the rumors are true regarding Expansion 2. Then it would open up the perfect opportunity for Exploration oriented FEs.
And even if that specific rumor isnt true. It would still be a really nice change of pace to just have a handful of new FE Content that didnt require us to turn 20+ ships into space dust. Or battle for every inch of some space station. But instead to be called upon by Starfleet and the Federation to make First Contact with a new race that sought to start dialog regarding joining the Federation. Or some mystery on an Outpost that lead us to discover some space-born entity akin to the Crystalline Entity or the numerous other space-born lifeforms out there. Maybe chase down some Federation Officer thats gone off the reservation on a Pre-Industrial Planet.
Point being. Dont leave the burden of Exploration of the Milky Way on the shoulders of the Foundry Community. While they have generated a lot of interesting gameplay. They can not open up areas of space like the Gamma Quadrant, Delta Quadrant, the remaining areas of the Alpha and Beta Quadrants or the Galaxys Core/Fringes. There is so much out there to explore and something to help highlight the Foundry and just give a change of pace would be the Exploration centric content created by the Devs.
Through out the history of the franchise we have seen plenty examples of major story arcs playing out over the course of portions of seasons and the entire series. DS9 is a great example of this with the Dominion War. And a great example of what Im trying to point out. During the Seasons involving the Dominion War there would be numerous episodes dealing with the War and then a handful of episodes dealing with life on the station, life for the individual crew, and even opportunities to explore and discover things between the story arcs dealing directly with the war.
Now I know that this isnt something we will see for a while if the Devs decided to pursue it. But if the rumors are true regarding Expansion 2. Then it would open up the perfect opportunity for Exploration oriented FEs.
And even if that specific rumor isnt true. It would still be a really nice change of pace to just have a handful of new FE Content that didnt require us to turn 20+ ships into space dust. Or battle for every inch of some space station. But instead to be called upon by Starfleet and the Federation to make First Contact with a new race that sought to start dialog regarding joining the Federation. Or some mystery on an Outpost that lead us to discover some space-born entity akin to the Crystalline Entity or the numerous other space-born lifeforms out there. Maybe chase down some Federation Officer thats gone off the reservation on a Pre-Industrial Planet.
Point being. Dont leave the burden of Exploration of the Milky Way on the shoulders of the Foundry Community. While they have generated a lot of interesting gameplay. They can not open up areas of space like the Gamma Quadrant, Delta Quadrant, the remaining areas of the Alpha and Beta Quadrants or the Galaxys Core/Fringes. There is so much out there to explore and something to help highlight the Foundry and just give a change of pace would be the Exploration centric content created by the Devs.
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or they trying to add content with out dealing with annoying canon diehards who don't even know what the word "canon" means. do nothing but pew pew, then people whine it's not star trek.
not saying iit couldn't be done or wouldn't be fun but their would be alot of whining no matter what.
if I stop posting it doesn't make you right it. just means I don't have enough rum to continue interacting with you.
And there is nothing wrong with the Foundry community, sometimes they have more imagination than Cryptic does with their stories.
Right now they put out one new featured episode mission every three or so months.
That's barely a pulse. But better than the time when they made nothing new for over a year.
Still I don't think their ability to make new content is a viable resource for improving anything, let alone exploration.
This character is why I don't play my Romulan any more. Tovan Khev is NOT my BFF! Get him off my bridge!
Sometimes? lol.
The foundry will be the solution to the exploration system. I hope cryptic realizes this, if not, they actually told me everything i needed to know lol. If they just remove the exploration system for good, i dont think im going to keep playing a game with a company that makes so stupid decisions all the time.
another dead horse thread another stick to poke at it. this is the type of thread that would get an instant lockdown by the mods through that fct, frankly it cant come soon enough.
prescripted exploration isnt exploration at all.
Been around since Dec 2010 on STO and bought LTS in Apr 2013 for STO.
Are people really going to try and leverage moderator bias to shut down threads? That's ... ugh. And the primary reason why that FCT nonsense is soooo horrible.
This topic is too young to be a dead horse. 9.5 isn't even live yet. It's still being tested. If testing means anything close to what they say it means, then the discussion of what's being tested pretty much means this isn't even close to being a dead horse.
Just ... ugh. If we can't provide feedback on stuff being tested ... then really they should just shut the forums down completely. Use their facebook feed to communicate. And call it a day.
I recommend we carry this discussion off into a nearby Galaxy thread. Since that's not a dead horse!
i already made my point clear and im not gonna drag the issue either.
Been around since Dec 2010 on STO and bought LTS in Apr 2013 for STO.
Ive read the FCT. There is nothing in it about Exploration FEs. Its so interesting how negative and unoriginal people can be in this forum when it comes to their responses. And its always from the same people. Nothing to add to the threads but their vitriol.
Honestly I dont know why you continue to post on here if you have this much hate for the game and those who may want to see something different in the game then you.
So youre still just sour over the Clusters being removed? Hate to break it to you. But your precious Exploration Clusters was just as pre-scripted as an FE. There was nothing significantly different from one mission to the next. The only variables that changed was ground/space/scanning/shooting/model of item/model of ship. And another shocker. All those Star Trek Exploration episodes were pre-scripted. And they always had some sort of message to convey to the viewer, some lesson to be learned. As for what it is you want, there is no means of introducing a system to this game that will satisfy your demand for something truely un-scripted.
And by no means did my OP say that there was anything wrong with the Foundry (Still Pre-Scripted Exploration). I play missions off the Foundry all the time. And I enjoy them. Id still like to see the Devs take a crack at it in a future FE.
I might have to check it out. I suspect you are one of the few among the Foundry gurus that can actually pull this off.
Craptic thought pattern Delta 3.
Very true but there was a single aspect of the exploration system that had some semblance of exploration in it: that randomization factor. Even if you could recognize the very simple theme behind it you could never be quite sure what you were going to get (ground grind, space grind, or talk to the planet.)
However one roll of the dice is NOT sufficient to support this feature. It needs to go, if not for the complications it raises with the crafting revamp then for its absymal quality. But there is still the potential for another system to try to perform a similar function (but with some decent standard of quality this time.) We could still do with a system of randomized mini-missions that help build the STO universe beyond the biggest plot points and settings. That could simply be Exploration 2.0, but that's predictable (and so far more susceptable to expectations and the failure there of to meet) and would probably require a massive scale project to do proper justice.
What might work better is to take a cue from the shows and develop interior ship missions (since that's about 85% of ST). Diplomacy events, BOFF matters, maintenence, medical drama, spies, intruige, miscellaneous extra-terrestrial affairs, Q; create a host of dailies with variable plot elements that could satisfy A. the need to build more into the STO universe and B. include some element of surprise and replayability that people were trying to wring out of the late exploration system. It would also finally justify a ship interior overhaul (just build FED and KDF equivalents of the Rom interior, ie. higher qualtiy and one scale) which is another check in the long list of things we've been asking for for years.
And lets not forget that it would also be C. meaningful non-combat content and D. be relatively cheap to produce and for the same reason as the shows (only need to build one set.)
Notable missions: Apex [AEI], Gemini [SSF], Trident [AEI], Evolution's Smile [SSF], Transcendence
Looking for something new to play? I've started building Foundry missions again in visual novel form!
maybe you should reread the crafting and exploration thing going on and see what little connection your apparently claiming on the issue, or is that how you put it "vitriol" too?
i will point it out for you if you fail to notice the connection which i suspect you will try to avoid. the exploration section is gone, you mentioned it in your own words in the opening argument and your looking for a way to compensate, others are doing the same, its issue a looking for fix a, b or c. the devs have thrown the exploration aspect out, its a matter of what they state then you or me getting into it, but right now your poking a dead horse, others are doing the same in similar threads about exploration.
Been around since Dec 2010 on STO and bought LTS in Apr 2013 for STO.
Therefore, the Devs have spoken and the decision is final. NOTHING will change their minds.
Well, maybe not a DEAD horse, but...
http://sto-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?t=1161481
http://sto-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?t=1160151
http://sto-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?t=1162061
http://sto-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?t=1149081
Res Ipsa Logitur...
http://www.arcgames.com/en/games/star-trek-online/news/detail/10052253
Why are you not rejoicing?
A scripted mission will not have much in the way or randomization, so on replay, it would look pretty much similar. (At least no more different then different runs of a Step Between Stars or what it's called has).
So how would it play? Is it just about scanning stuff and figuring out what it is? Is there a conflict that needs to be resolved? (Does it have to be non-violent, more something like "Scientist A wants to do it this way and Scientist B wants to do it that way, and you have to decide what the best way is", instead of "Crimto beaming down, we need to kill them all if we want to finish these botanical scans".)
Exploration stories in TOS/TNG/VOY usually involved some kind of conflicts - sometimes it may not have something to do with what is being explored (say, if two crew members need to work out their differences.)
Testing with Cryptic almost never is about finding out whether they should do something - it is more about the how's, and the bugs involved with it. (And even "How's" might be saying too much - the Crafting Testing is not about what kind of mechanics crafting should have, but what values certain things should have - and some things are pretty much fixed, like deciding how long it is supposed to take to max out crafting.)
The update isn't even live yet. So trying to get it labeled a dead horse is beyond stupid. Cutting off all discussion about UPCOMING CONTENT?
That's ...
I absolutely blame Askray for this. This kind of behavior is the result of that inane FCT thread. And it's already getting worse and worse.
There's no point in even having forums in an environment like this. There's no discussion going on. That kind of thing is worse trolling than any of the flames or insults I've ever seen on here. There's no consistency at all. Disco balls? Galaxy Revamp? T5 Connies? Exploration removal that hasn't even officially happened yet?
Just ... god ... this is disgusting.
BUT, since you already know how cryptic makes things, it is no so hard to expect a half dead horse anyways. Happened all the time in the past, i dont think this time will be different. But lets hope we all are wrong.
Been around since Dec 2010 on STO and bought LTS in Apr 2013 for STO.
The last time something on Tribble didn't go live that I remember is when they created a new convoy defense PvP map.
As usual, PvP has the worst luck. IT was also the first area of the game where content was removed (Space Assault, gone forever.) It seems it wasn't the last...
(And seriously, what happened to that special Eta Eridani Sector you needed those computer chips for? Why did they disappear? I don't even remember any bugs in that mission!)
Of course I'm "sour" because they are removing CONTENT!
It's not "Exploration" they removed, but we are losing out "First contact" Diplomacy missions and we don't even know the fate of some DOFF missions. Not to mention we are losing 14 sector zones at the same time. Sure STO exploration clusters really was a random mission generator and I really didn't enjoy it, but there are people who did. But for them to remove the content because "people got lost" is a really bad excuse. So instead of installing a REAL exploration system, we are losing it altogether for more shoehorning into endgame grinding and empty queues.
So I think being sour or grumpy is somewhat justified. :P
Actually it's only justified if you think the quantity of content is the only defining factor of it. Exploration is a null entity, its hardly playable in the simple fact that there's hardly any gameplay or story telling to it. Like I said in a previous post here the only virtue of the old exploration system was randomized mission selection, which to be honest a stout hat and a list of FE names will do the job just about as well.
What it selected however was TRIBBLE (unlike the hat). Now of course it was TRIBBLE that could technically be played again and again with some very superficial variation but simply having it for the sake of having it is no justification. It's a simple statement that the status quo is good enough for you regardless of function, regardless of impact, regardless of any tangible need or reason for having that sad sack of content.
Notable missions: Apex [AEI], Gemini [SSF], Trident [AEI], Evolution's Smile [SSF], Transcendence
Looking for something new to play? I've started building Foundry missions again in visual novel form!
Further, no player has any say over how the FCT is run. You can suggest things (thats why I have a pm box) but beyond that the discussion is not to be taken to the forums.
Stay on topic folks or I'll just start issuing spam warnings.
Former Community Moderator, Former SSR DJ, Now Full time father to two kids, Husband, Retail Worker.
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