Thank you, STOked team, for conducting the podcast. That's about all I can say that's positive. The interview featured too many personal opinions/comments from the host to make this an objective interview. The host is not an employee of Cryptic/PWE, yet endeavored to speak to various subjects as though he were.
My biggest takeaway from this interview: CaptainGeko (Al Rivera) had some fantastic reasons for not addressing the DOff UI issues, as specific questions weren't being asked on the podcast.
It's understandable that STOked isn't going to read the STO forum posts on the air. STOked already solicited questions to be asked; I don't have any issue with that.
But it was incredulous to hear CaptainGeko's thoughts about the feedback on DOff UI complaints (among others).
Cryptic SOLICITED for feedback within their official STO forum on the DOff UI, Crafting, etc.
And SPECIFIC FEEDBACK was submitted freely by numerous players (aka testers)(aka customers).
SPECIFIC FEEDBACK, Mr. Rivera.
Maybe you and your team were handed a PRD and told, "here's the issue, come up with a solution." And in good (and typical) engineering fashion, the Dev team did. However, the product manager was inept in managing the end result -- and the beta test PROVED that.
Cryptic got SPECIFIC FEEDBACK. The feedback went largely ignored -- and a majority of players (aka customers) are not happy with the end result. Not based on "it sucks" comments, but substantial SPECIFIC FEEDBACK about the playability, usability and functionality of these new Season 9.5 additions.
'Nuff said.
this post was obviously a rant made by a delusional forum poster which doesn't mean anything. dat cryptic logiczzzzzzz
Why don't they implement feedback from the forums? Cause it's hard to read forums and spot the quality feedback. Especially when the customers are angry while giving feedback. Someone's feelings might get hurt I guess. http://www.raphkoster.com/2013/10/14/on-getting-criticism/
Why don't they improve AI? Creating AI is hard.
Why don't they release new KDF fleet ships? Copy 'n Paste is hard.
And I cannot fathom why on earth the Host is such an apologist to and for Cryptic. Make's it impossible for me to have any respect toward the entire podcast.
this post was obviously a rant made by a delusional forum poster which doesn't mean anything. dat cryptic logiczzzzzzz
Ts, ts, that's not very polite! It's really hard to read tucana's post with eyes wide shut! And maybe nobody showed Mr. Rivera (Geko) how to navigate in the forum so show a little more respect!;)
Edit: @bareel: "And I cannot fathom why on earth the Host is such an apologist to and for Cryptic" I assume that's the reason for Mr. Rivera to attend _this_ podcast
So you're a native speaker and I'm not. So what?:P
Yep,same old Al......anyone who doesn't agree with him is a 'whiney lil' b*tch' according to him.
People,if you really want to get your point across...don't log on to the game for a while....stop buying Zen,don't give them your money....don't fall into this trap of 'well,if it's only me it won't do any good anyway'.....you are not alone!
For Cryptic/PWE what counts is: the number of people online = money.
The PWE/Cryptic sweatshop...not where the game is made,but where the game is played!
Take back your home,end the grind!
Volunteer moderators policing the forums is like a mall cop trying to solve a murder.
Thank you, STOked team, for conducting the podcast. That's about all I can say that's positive. The interview featured too many personal opinions/comments from the host to make this an objective interview. The host is not an employee of Cryptic/PWE, yet endeavored to speak to various subjects as though he were.
My biggest takeaway from this interview: CaptainGeko (Al Rivera) had some fantastic reasons for not addressing the DOff UI issues, as specific questions weren't being asked on the podcast.
It's understandable that STOked isn't going to read the STO forum posts on the air. STOked already solicited questions to be asked; I don't have any issue with that.
But it was incredulous to hear CaptainGeko's thoughts about the feedback on DOff UI complaints (among others).
Cryptic SOLICITED for feedback within their official STO forum on the DOff UI, Crafting, etc.
And SPECIFIC FEEDBACK was submitted freely by numerous players (aka testers)(aka customers).
SPECIFIC FEEDBACK, Mr. Rivera.
Maybe you and your team were handed a PRD and told, "here's the issue, come up with a solution." And in good (and typical) engineering fashion, the Dev team did. However, the product manager was inept in managing the end result -- and the beta test PROVED that.
Cryptic got SPECIFIC FEEDBACK. The feedback went largely ignored -- and a majority of players (aka customers) are not happy with the end result. Not based on "it sucks" comments, but substantial SPECIFIC FEEDBACK about the playability, usability and functionality of these new Season 9.5 additions.
'Nuff said.
+1 - A great summation that is quite objective. Unlike Al's remarks re: Doff UI feedback.
It's easy to dismiss the outright rants (of which yes, there were a lot); but as stated above there was a lot of good and specific feedback as to why many felt the new Doff UI was not an improvement over the previous existing UI - as well as some good suggestions (and such feedback WAS in fact solicited); yet it seems largely dismissed by STO's lead designer Mr. Rivera - and thus the negative feedback continues which Mr. Rivera sees fit to casually dismiss as STO players hate change.
Personally, I don't mind change if there really was a reason for it, or it does improve something, BUT, I think looking over all the feedback - in terms of the way it presents info, or what it takes to do what you could do before, the new Doff UI is an improvement in functionality over the previous version.
As for the crafting revamp being a reason? Seriously, nothing in the new R&D section wouldn't have worked under the previous Doff interface; so again, I don't see how a redesign that reduces overall functionality can be considered 'good' in Mr. Rivera's eyes.
I also find in interesting that he effectively considers integrating Xindi insectoid models a waste in that it takes a lot of animator time, etc; yet he sees using UI developer/programmer and 2D artist design time to remake a UI whose previous incarnation presented more information in an easier to discern way, more quickly; and was faster to use with regard to what it was designed for (managing Doff assignments); with the end result that the new redesigned UI more obtuse, and takes more steps to do what could be done faster with the previous UI as a GOOD and VALID use of obviously limited STO Dev resources.
Yes, I can certainly see why Cryptic/PWE feels Mr. Al Rivera is an excellent Lead Dev for STO after hearing the interview.:rolleyes:
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..."
Yep,same old Al......anyone who doesn't agree with him is a 'whiney lil' b*tch' according to him.
People,if you really want to get your point across...don't log on to the game for a while....stop buying Zen,don't give them your money....don't fall into this trap of 'well,if it's only me it won't do any good anyway'.....you are not alone!
For Cryptic/PWE what counts is: the number of people online = money.
I'm afraid you're wrong here. Longtime players seems to be just a waste of time for Cryptic, they make their money with the guys spending their ten bucks and leave after some weeks. It seems to be some kind of "pay-and-get-lost"-business. I don't like it but it seems to get them money.
So you're a native speaker and I'm not. So what?:P
Yep,same old Al......anyone who doesn't agree with him is a 'whiney lil' b*tch' according to him.
At least he's honest. I may not agree with all of his decisions or opinions, but his straight talk has always made him one of my favorite people at Cryptic.
Even if I do criticise him from time to time, I'm always appreciative of his blunt honesty. Even if he does think I'm a 'whiney lil' b*tch'.
At least he's honest. I may not agree with all of his decisions or opinions, but his straight talk has always made him one of my favorite people at Cryptic.
Even if I do criticise him from time to time, I'm always appreciative of his blunt honesty. Even if he does think I'm a 'whiney lil' b*tch'.
the amount of pure bs that flowed from his lips today was a good example of blunt honesty.
At least he's honest. I may not agree with all of his decisions or opinions, but his straight talk has always made him one of my favorite people at Cryptic.
Even if I do criticise him from time to time, I'm always appreciative of his blunt honesty. Even if he does think I'm a 'whiney lil' b*tch'.
Man, this is really mean! Do you really think Mr. Rivera doesn't know exactly all the specific feedback that's been given? That he doesn't know about copy and paste? I don't like this guy but you make him much more stupid than he is. (And he isn't)
So you're a native speaker and I'm not. So what?:P
the amount of pure bs that flowed from his lips today was a good example of blunt honesty.
I wouldn't really call that honest as much as I would call it delusional.
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Looking for a new fleet? Drop by the in-game chat channel, "tenforwardforum", and say hi to the members of A Fleet Called Ten Forward (Fed) and The Orion Pirates (KDF). If you already have a fleet you are happy with, please feel free to drop by our chat channel if you are looking for a friendly bunch of helpful people to socialize with.
Well, I was planning to buy another 100 doff slots for crafting. But if he thinks that the criticism of the new and worse doff interface is just ranting I'm going to vote with my wallet and not spend any money on the doff system. Not that he will care, I'm here since open beta, so anything but his target customer.
FKA K-Tar, grumpy Klingon/El-Aurian hybrid. Now assimilated by PWE.
Sometimes, if you want to bury the hatchet with a Klingon, it has to be in his skull. - Captain K'Tar of the USS Danu about J'mpok.
+1 - A great summation that is quite objective. Unlike Al's remarks re: Doff UI feedback.
It's easy to dismiss the outright rants (of which yes, there were a lot); but as stated above there was a lot of good and specific feedback as to why many felt the new Doff UI was not an improvement over the previous existing UI - as well as some good suggestions (and such feedback WAS in fact solicited); yet it seems largely dismissed by STO's lead designer Mr. Rivera - and thus the negative feedback continues which Mr. Rivera sees fit to casually dismiss as STO players hate change.
Personally, I don't mind change if there really was a reason for it, or it does improve something, BUT, I think looking over all the feedback - in terms of the way it presents info, or what it takes to do what you could do before, the new Doff UI is an improvement in functionality over the previous version.
As for the crafting revamp being a reason? Seriously, nothing in the new R&D section wouldn't have worked under the previous Doff interface; so again, I don't see how a redesign that reduces overall functionality can be considered 'good' in Mr. Rivera's eyes.
I also find in interesting that he effectively considers integrating Xindi insectoid models a waste in that it takes a lot of animator time, etc; yet he sees using UI developer/programmer and 2D artist design time to remake a UI whose previous incarnation presented more information in an easier to discern way, more quickly; and was faster to use with regard to what it was designed for (managing Doff assignments); with the end result that the new redesigned UI more obtuse, and takes more steps to do what could be done faster with the previous UI as a GOOD and VALID use of obviously limited STO Dev resources.
Yes, I can certainly see why Cryptic/PWE feels Mr. Al Rivera is an excellent Lead Dev for STO after hearing the interview.:rolleyes:
True.
I think the main reason for most ppl to "rant" (as mr. rivera so charmingly says) it because there was no obvious reason for a UI change at all. So precious devs time got wasted for something no one needed or even could understand.
If i had more time i would comment Mr. Riveras point of view, but i'm sure i find something more interesting to do... anything...
"...'With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censured...the first thought forbidden...the first freedom denied--chains us all irrevocably.' ... The first time any man's freedom is trodden on, we're all damaged. I fear that today--"
- (TNG) Picard, quoting Judge Aaron Satie
Everything about the system is far superior, is far easier than it was before.
So, selecting each duty officer for each individual slot in the assignment...
one at a time...
in a separate pop-up...
that has to be closed and reopened...
for each slot...
is far superior, is far easier than it was before?
There was specific feedback provided. There was also ranting. If I can sort between the two, I'd assume a game development professional can tell the difference, and so I'd appreciate it if Mr. Rivera would review some of the posts in the Tribble forum threads leading up the the premature release of Season 9.5. Of course, both the hosts and Mr. Rivera showed no interest in actually doing so, which is part of the reason Mr. Rivera could not find specific issues with the doffing UI.
Plus side: "List Mode" sounds like it might have potential. I really look forward to seeing what is done along those lines.
With each passing day I wonder if I stepped into an alternate reality. The Cubs win the world series. Donald Trump is President. Britain leaves the EU. STO gets a dedicated PvP season. Engineers are "out of control" in STO.
The positive only thing I heard in this interview was that sometime they might get around to making some more canon ships like the New Orleans or Norway, although with the caveat that Rivera hates them and would rather see more Xindi in game. I guess we are as likely "birds with freaking lasers on their heads" to complement the Voth as we are to see some more trek ships that look like something from the IP.
Most of the important questions ignored again, none of the valuable followup questions to those that were asked and more dismissive or evasive answers I see. More softball at play here IMO. Not a positive impression from me overall.
As for the Trivia, the wormhole scientist and Admiral Jarok were two completely different Romulans. Romulans trivia definitely is not Cryptic's strong suit though, considering the mess that is the Republic storyline.
Well, I haven't watched/heard the podcast and quite frankly I don't intend to, so I can keep my blood pressure level normal even though I posted questions in the other thread.
Well, I haven't watched/heard the podcast and quite frankly I don't intend to, so I can keep my blood pressure level normal even though I posted questions in the other thread.
Mr. Rivera called all the critics in this forum about 9.5 "ranting" and couldn't find solid info. Okay, so let's stop sending feedback.
Is anyone shocked that this is the mentality that some of the devs have? I sometimes get the feeling that they have this playing on an infinite loop at work:
is Anyone Shocked That This Is The Mentality That Some Of The Devs Have? I Sometimes Get The Feeling That They Have This Playing On An Infinite Loop At Work:
List of constructive feedback given on the forums, in no particular order. This is the content of 4 pages of a 30 page thread where everyone was "whining" and "ranting," but offering little constructive feedback according to Geko. If you'd like further constructive feedback, read the thread.
Actually, when the doff UI was smaller you could just adjust the position of your replicator and doff UI so they were side-by-side. This doesn't work as well now thanks the the size of the new doff UI.
You can't see more than a few missions at once.
I no longer get the information about how many of an item I have when I don't have enough. I don't get told 3/15; now, all I know is I don't have 15. This effectively means I either have to carry everything on my person, or only doff at a bank...
When I select a doff to be part of a mission they aren't removed from the menu of choices. With multiples of the same doff, that's downright confusing.
I'm sure it's been said elsewhere, but we really need a confirmation dialogue for the complete-with-dilithium buttons in crafting. It's far too easy to accidentally hit the button and end up wasting a huge amount of dilithium that you never intended to use.
We can no longer right click Doffs (useful if we're looking to exchange a bound one) - we have to go into the roster to check 'em first
Vertical AND horizontal scrolling is frustrating and annoying, especially when I'm trying to scroll one way and my mouse pointer randomly lands on something that triggers the other direction.
Pieces or content are being obscured. When "Result" preview box only has 3 or less items in it text in the box is layered on top of each other and unreadable. Likewise, if an assignment requires more than 3 officers I can't see the others. This is amplified by...
"In Progress" assignments do not appear to be in any order that I can determine. This is especially annoying when I'm trying to tell how many assignments I need to have ready for the next 15 mins., or when my next available slot will be if I need to cancel.
Speaking of cancelling, once an assignment is started I can't see who is doing it. I just had an experience where I found a more valuable duty officer assignment than one running, but I couldn't tell who was doing that and if cancelling it would free up the people I think it would to do that assignment, let alone what their traits are.
Along the lines of cancelling, I can't find any way to tell what the success probability is for an "In Progress" assignment. I routinely cancel a running assignment if it has a lower than acceptable rate and I find a better assignment to run, but can't now.
So much space, and yet now I can't see how many commodities I have of whatever is in the assignment (used to show that an assignment would take 3/10 Tulaberries or the like). Believe it or not, I don't have it memorized EXACTLY how many of all commodities across all characters I have, so seeing if I'm getting low and need to restock even only in passing was much easier. This is now gone and makes the game more frustrating.
Assignments I can't do have no clear visual illustration. Several times now I've tried to "Plan" an assignment only to realize that I can't start it because I'm missing some commodity that is a different icon hidden in the side scroll beyond the "page." This is extremely annoying, especially when I've had to reassign duty officers.
After about 4 hours today I find the assignment screen page scrolling with the mouse over, highlights the boxes and causes the scrolling to not be smooth. Therefore it's me causing motion sickness.
another annoying thing if you scroll in the field and you end up having the mouse pointer in a requirements field you end up first scrolling that field Then scrolling the screen down the end up in a new requirements field scroll inside that field and scroll the screen down again.
Makes for a really clunky experience.
This is the mentality of F2P development, and it's why some companies churn out such games rapidly. It's a "cater to the new, short-term players" deal that disregards long-term existing players that older and/or more independent online games work harder to hold onto.
It's likely more a PWE decision than anything, though doesn't make the decisions and their implementation any less negative.
There's a variety of articles out nowadays about whether or not the F2P market is close to/going to burst, but the common theme underlying the articles and following discussions is the way publishers/developers of such games treat their players. Whether the F2P market bursts or not (and likely won't at least in most Eastern territories), this isn't healthy game development and is likely going to cause disenchanted players to be more discerning in their future games.
I feel this way of focusing on new, short-term players who come into the game, spend a few bucks, and leave to play another game for a short period is slowly diminishing and eroding at the games and the amazing work devs do on them that go overlooked by such players.
At the last GDC I went to, they had panels on just *how* to exploit these kinds of short-term players and their wallets, and it was frankly disgusting. But this is what actually happens, this is what publishers enact and demand their developers do, even independent developers do so.
Even long before F2P became big in the West, older games like SWG would short-change their long-term players by enacting massive gameplay changes (including a vast removal of old, more varied gameplay content) to cater only to new players. In SWG's case, this only increased the loss of their long-term population while short-term new players came, played a bit, and left shortly after.
This is mirrored in a lot of the reviews for SWG's "NGE" update, when game journalists would speak highly about how "action'y" and "easy to get into" the new version of the game would be, but then would find themselves talking months later about how they couldn't find anything else to do after grinding up to max level and just leaving. I was one of those players who stuck with the game for years leading up to the NGE update, finding excuses for why the NGE wasn't so bad, and then finally just leaving in disappointment, burned out with so much of the game I cared for gone and the active population of people who made the game fun leaving in droves.
I hold no illusion that STO is anything but a themepark game. That being said, STO has had elements that made it *seem* more open and less of a themepark. And I've been a pretty loyal player, a player who enjoys the game, the devs who work on it, and the franchise it represents, paying for services and fancy ships to help keep it going. But with so many new and interesting games in the future that hold the promise of doing more to hold long-term players, I feel STO is going to have to offer more than removal of alternative game content and monetized revamps of prior content to keep me here.
Though, considering what's been said and implied, and the obvious business practice of focusing on new short-term players, I'm not sure it matters to those in charge whether us older hands stay on or not.
All that said, I'll be here for now, being emotionally and financially invested as I am...but if Season 9.5 is going to be a trend (and it's, honestly, the first update that really bothers me as a player), I'm not sure for how much longer.
TL;DR: F2P is made to milk newbies who jump from F2P game to F2P game, long-term players aren't an important factor in F2P development. STO may be no different.
Isn't that a given? He can't go into much detail at all for what isn't set in stone, becauyse if plans change, many players will out him for lying,
.
you mean like when he said he was very busy at the moment and 1 more ship designer becasue we were supposed to get the constellation for picard day??? and we had alllll these ships coming??? ffs thats all it took for me not to ever listen to him again ........
Yep,same old Al......anyone who doesn't agree with him is a 'whiney lil' b*tch' according to him.
People,if you really want to get your point across...don't log on to the game for a while....stop buying Zen,don't give them your money....don't fall into this trap of 'well,if it's only me it won't do any good anyway'.....you are not alone!
For Cryptic/PWE what counts is: the number of people online = money.
This exactly. I am now 8 months of not spending a dime on this game in protest at all the terrible decisions by Al (Cryptic / PWE in general). People complain about my post but Al is clearly trolling players when he says it is all ranting about the new GUI. LOL ... really?
Go and read the numerous, well thought out comments, suggestions on tweaks and revamps. Players are clearly spelling out the problems and offering positive suggestions on how to fix it ... in addition to the obvious "revert the changes". This is what makes me angry. Not even necessarily the fact they refuse to budge but how contemptuous they are with the fans and veterans. It is shocking.
They are basically looking to transform this game into a revolving door where they constantly bring in new players ... sell them a bunch of shiny gear and ships and then ignore all their requests. The consumer base is actually disposable / recyclable resource. It is so cynical. But I won't dispute their success. Doesn't make it good business though ... profitable but not good.
"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censored, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably."
This is the mentality of F2P development, and it's why some companies churn out such games rapidly. It's a "cater to the new, short-term players" deal that disregards long-term existing players that older and/or more independent online games work harder to hold onto.
It's likely more a PWE decision than anything, though doesn't make the decisions and their implementation any less negative.
There's a variety of articles out nowadays about whether or not the F2P market is close to/going to burst, but the common theme underlying the articles and following discussions is the way publishers/developers of such games treat their players. Whether the F2P market bursts or not (and likely won't at least in most Eastern territories), this isn't healthy game development and is likely going to cause disenchanted players to be more discerning in their future games.
I feel this way of focusing on new, short-term players who come into the game, spend a few bucks, and leave to play another game for a short period is slowly diminishing and eroding at the games and the amazing work devs do on them that go overlooked by such players.
At the last GDC I went to, they had panels on just *how* to exploit these kinds of short-term players and their wallets, and it was frankly disgusting. But this is what actually happens, this is what publishers enact and demand their developers do, even independent developers do so.
Even long before F2P became big in the West, older games like SWG would short-change their long-term players by enacting massive gameplay changes (including a vast removal of old, more varied gameplay content) to cater only to new players. In SWG's case, this only increased the loss of their long-term population while short-term new players came, played a bit, and left shortly after.
This is mirrored in a lot of the reviews for SWG's "NGE" update, when game journalists would speak highly about how "action'y" and "easy to get into" the new version of the game would be, but then would find themselves talking months later about how they couldn't find anything else to do after grinding up to max level and just leaving. I was one of those players who stuck with the game for years leading up to the NGE update, finding excuses for why the NGE wasn't so bad, and then finally just leaving in disappointment, burned out with so much of the game I cared for gone and the active population of people who made the game fun leaving in droves.
I hold no illusion that STO is anything but a themepark game. That being said, STO has had elements that made it *seem* more open and less of a themepark. And I've been a pretty loyal player, a player who enjoys the game, the devs who work on it, and the franchise it represents, paying for services and fancy ships to help keep it going. But with so many new and interesting games in the future that hold the promise of doing more to hold long-term players, I feel STO is going to have to offer more than removal of alternative game content and monetized revamps of prior content to keep me here.
Though, considering what's been said and implied, and the obvious business practice of focusing on new short-term players, I'm not sure it matters to those in charge whether us older hands stay on or not.
All that said, I'll be here for now, being emotionally and financially invested as I am...but if Season 9.5 is going to be a trend (and it's, honestly, the first update that really bothers me as a player), I'm not sure for how much longer.
TL;DR: F2P is made to milk newbies who jump from F2P game to F2P game, long-term players aren't an important factor in F2P development. STO may be no different.
"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censored, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably."
Comments
this post was obviously a rant made by a delusional forum poster which doesn't mean anything. dat cryptic logiczzzzzzz
Defense Pattern : Facepalm Omega ....
Why don't they implement feedback from the forums? Cause it's hard to read forums and spot the quality feedback. Especially when the customers are angry while giving feedback. Someone's feelings might get hurt I guess. http://www.raphkoster.com/2013/10/14/on-getting-criticism/
Why don't they improve AI? Creating AI is hard.
Why don't they release new KDF fleet ships? Copy 'n Paste is hard.
And I cannot fathom why on earth the Host is such an apologist to and for Cryptic. Make's it impossible for me to have any respect toward the entire podcast.
Ts, ts, that's not very polite! It's really hard to read tucana's post with eyes wide shut! And maybe nobody showed Mr. Rivera (Geko) how to navigate in the forum so show a little more respect!;)
Edit: @bareel: "And I cannot fathom why on earth the Host is such an apologist to and for Cryptic" I assume that's the reason for Mr. Rivera to attend _this_ podcast
People,if you really want to get your point across...don't log on to the game for a while....stop buying Zen,don't give them your money....don't fall into this trap of 'well,if it's only me it won't do any good anyway'.....you are not alone!
For Cryptic/PWE what counts is: the number of people online = money.
Take back your home,end the grind!
Volunteer moderators policing the forums is like a mall cop trying to solve a murder.
+1 - A great summation that is quite objective. Unlike Al's remarks re: Doff UI feedback.
It's easy to dismiss the outright rants (of which yes, there were a lot); but as stated above there was a lot of good and specific feedback as to why many felt the new Doff UI was not an improvement over the previous existing UI - as well as some good suggestions (and such feedback WAS in fact solicited); yet it seems largely dismissed by STO's lead designer Mr. Rivera - and thus the negative feedback continues which Mr. Rivera sees fit to casually dismiss as STO players hate change.
Personally, I don't mind change if there really was a reason for it, or it does improve something, BUT, I think looking over all the feedback - in terms of the way it presents info, or what it takes to do what you could do before, the new Doff UI is an improvement in functionality over the previous version.
As for the crafting revamp being a reason? Seriously, nothing in the new R&D section wouldn't have worked under the previous Doff interface; so again, I don't see how a redesign that reduces overall functionality can be considered 'good' in Mr. Rivera's eyes.
I also find in interesting that he effectively considers integrating Xindi insectoid models a waste in that it takes a lot of animator time, etc; yet he sees using UI developer/programmer and 2D artist design time to remake a UI whose previous incarnation presented more information in an easier to discern way, more quickly; and was faster to use with regard to what it was designed for (managing Doff assignments); with the end result that the new redesigned UI more obtuse, and takes more steps to do what could be done faster with the previous UI as a GOOD and VALID use of obviously limited STO Dev resources.
Yes, I can certainly see why Cryptic/PWE feels Mr. Al Rivera is an excellent Lead Dev for STO after hearing the interview.:rolleyes:
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..."
I'm afraid you're wrong here. Longtime players seems to be just a waste of time for Cryptic, they make their money with the guys spending their ten bucks and leave after some weeks. It seems to be some kind of "pay-and-get-lost"-business. I don't like it but it seems to get them money.
At least he's honest. I may not agree with all of his decisions or opinions, but his straight talk has always made him one of my favorite people at Cryptic.
Even if I do criticise him from time to time, I'm always appreciative of his blunt honesty. Even if he does think I'm a 'whiney lil' b*tch'.
the amount of pure bs that flowed from his lips today was a good example of blunt honesty.
^^Avoided like the plague.
RIP KDF and PvP 2014-07-17 Season 9.5 - Death by Dev
That's sarcasm right there ... isn't it ?
(^^^ rhetorical question)
Man, this is really mean! Do you really think Mr. Rivera doesn't know exactly all the specific feedback that's been given? That he doesn't know about copy and paste? I don't like this guy but you make him much more stupid than he is. (And he isn't)
I wouldn't really call that honest as much as I would call it delusional.
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Sometimes, if you want to bury the hatchet with a Klingon, it has to be in his skull. - Captain K'Tar of the USS Danu about J'mpok.
True.
I think the main reason for most ppl to "rant" (as mr. rivera so charmingly says) it because there was no obvious reason for a UI change at all. So precious devs time got wasted for something no one needed or even could understand.
If i had more time i would comment Mr. Riveras point of view, but i'm sure i find something more interesting to do... anything...
So, selecting each duty officer for each individual slot in the assignment...
one at a time...
in a separate pop-up...
that has to be closed and reopened...
for each slot...
is far superior, is far easier than it was before?
There was specific feedback provided. There was also ranting. If I can sort between the two, I'd assume a game development professional can tell the difference, and so I'd appreciate it if Mr. Rivera would review some of the posts in the Tribble forum threads leading up the the premature release of Season 9.5. Of course, both the hosts and Mr. Rivera showed no interest in actually doing so, which is part of the reason Mr. Rivera could not find specific issues with the doffing UI.
Plus side: "List Mode" sounds like it might have potential. I really look forward to seeing what is done along those lines.
Most of the important questions ignored again, none of the valuable followup questions to those that were asked and more dismissive or evasive answers I see. More softball at play here IMO. Not a positive impression from me overall.
As for the Trivia, the wormhole scientist and Admiral Jarok were two completely different Romulans. Romulans trivia definitely is not Cryptic's strong suit though, considering the mess that is the Republic storyline.
However:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32UGD0fV45g
This about sums it up again, am I right?
OMG, did he actually say that?? :eek:
Yup...and he even threw in the obligatory "we have something special planned for the KDF!!".
So it was a standard interview.
RIP KDF and PvP 2014-07-17 Season 9.5 - Death by Dev
Is anyone shocked that this is the mentality that some of the devs have? I sometimes get the feeling that they have this playing on an infinite loop at work:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7R1nRxcICeE
Epic Win. Good Post.
no doubt that word came down from the propaganda ministry for it to be censored, then the indoctrinated volunteers made it go bye bye.
It just got moved. Linked above.
It's likely more a PWE decision than anything, though doesn't make the decisions and their implementation any less negative.
There's a variety of articles out nowadays about whether or not the F2P market is close to/going to burst, but the common theme underlying the articles and following discussions is the way publishers/developers of such games treat their players. Whether the F2P market bursts or not (and likely won't at least in most Eastern territories), this isn't healthy game development and is likely going to cause disenchanted players to be more discerning in their future games.
I feel this way of focusing on new, short-term players who come into the game, spend a few bucks, and leave to play another game for a short period is slowly diminishing and eroding at the games and the amazing work devs do on them that go overlooked by such players.
At the last GDC I went to, they had panels on just *how* to exploit these kinds of short-term players and their wallets, and it was frankly disgusting. But this is what actually happens, this is what publishers enact and demand their developers do, even independent developers do so.
Even long before F2P became big in the West, older games like SWG would short-change their long-term players by enacting massive gameplay changes (including a vast removal of old, more varied gameplay content) to cater only to new players. In SWG's case, this only increased the loss of their long-term population while short-term new players came, played a bit, and left shortly after.
This is mirrored in a lot of the reviews for SWG's "NGE" update, when game journalists would speak highly about how "action'y" and "easy to get into" the new version of the game would be, but then would find themselves talking months later about how they couldn't find anything else to do after grinding up to max level and just leaving. I was one of those players who stuck with the game for years leading up to the NGE update, finding excuses for why the NGE wasn't so bad, and then finally just leaving in disappointment, burned out with so much of the game I cared for gone and the active population of people who made the game fun leaving in droves.
I hold no illusion that STO is anything but a themepark game. That being said, STO has had elements that made it *seem* more open and less of a themepark. And I've been a pretty loyal player, a player who enjoys the game, the devs who work on it, and the franchise it represents, paying for services and fancy ships to help keep it going. But with so many new and interesting games in the future that hold the promise of doing more to hold long-term players, I feel STO is going to have to offer more than removal of alternative game content and monetized revamps of prior content to keep me here.
Though, considering what's been said and implied, and the obvious business practice of focusing on new short-term players, I'm not sure it matters to those in charge whether us older hands stay on or not.
All that said, I'll be here for now, being emotionally and financially invested as I am...but if Season 9.5 is going to be a trend (and it's, honestly, the first update that really bothers me as a player), I'm not sure for how much longer.
TL;DR: F2P is made to milk newbies who jump from F2P game to F2P game, long-term players aren't an important factor in F2P development. STO may be no different.
you mean like when he said he was very busy at the moment and 1 more ship designer becasue we were supposed to get the constellation for picard day??? and we had alllll these ships coming??? ffs thats all it took for me not to ever listen to him again ........
This exactly. I am now 8 months of not spending a dime on this game in protest at all the terrible decisions by Al (Cryptic / PWE in general). People complain about my post but Al is clearly trolling players when he says it is all ranting about the new GUI. LOL ... really?
Go and read the numerous, well thought out comments, suggestions on tweaks and revamps. Players are clearly spelling out the problems and offering positive suggestions on how to fix it ... in addition to the obvious "revert the changes". This is what makes me angry. Not even necessarily the fact they refuse to budge but how contemptuous they are with the fans and veterans. It is shocking.
They are basically looking to transform this game into a revolving door where they constantly bring in new players ... sell them a bunch of shiny gear and ships and then ignore all their requests. The consumer base is actually disposable / recyclable resource. It is so cynical. But I won't dispute their success. Doesn't make it good business though ... profitable but not good.
- Judge Aaron Satie
- Judge Aaron Satie