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My enthusiasm is dead. Here's why.

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  • gurugeorgegurugeorge Member Posts: 421 Arc User
    edited July 2014
    voporak wrote: »
    They are pumping out money for PWE. I don't think you understand the situation here - it's not that they can't, it's that they won't, or PWE won't let them (and instead make them pump out money making "content")

    No that's absurd, nobody would pay 40 people to hang around doing nothing, and it doesn't take a 40 man team to make doodads for p2w or revamp a crafting system.

    The team now has to be 20 tops, probably more like 15, and they pull in people from other parts of the company when they need to (e.g. when they're doing a major update). This is based on no more than past experience playing lots of MMOs (and sometimes knowing a bit about the teams involved, especially when MMOs go on "maintenance mode") and some amateur knowledge of what it takes to make games, but I would be extremely surprised if the figure were 40.

    If the team on STO now is 40 people then there's some seriously **** management going on and Cryptic are wasting tons of money, because that amount of manpower is not showing up in the game at all, in any way.

    Off the top of my head, I'd expect a 40 man team to be churning out something like the regular "episodes" STO had for a while in its early days - or, more current, to have sorted out exploration and made a proper thing, instead of just gutting it and leaving it.

    In fact, I'd say the smallness of the team must surely be one of the main reasons why it's focussing on grind content and p2w doodads/money making gimmicks - with a more sizeable content-full update only popping out every now and then. That's really what I'd expect from a team of 12-15 people; and gutting and not replacing the exploration system is, again, precisely what you'd expect from a small team that wants to keep its work within reasonable bounds.
  • snoggymack22snoggymack22 Member Posts: 7,084 Arc User
    edited July 2014
    gurugeorge wrote: »
    In fact, I'd say the smallness of the team

    The team's not that small. Other MMO companies are smaller and put out more content on a much more consistent basis. New teams like Carbine. Old teams like Everquest.

    It's not the size of the team. It's the talent involved. They're not that good at making this kind of stuff. Which we've pretty much seen in the past 4 years. They don't make content on any sort of consistent schedule. Never have.
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
  • voporakvoporak Member Posts: 5,621 Arc User
    edited July 2014
    gurugeorge wrote: »
    If the team on STO now is 40 people then there's some seriously **** management going on

    Captain Geko.
    I ask nothing but that you remember me.
  • vesterengvestereng Member Posts: 2,252 Arc User
    edited July 2014
    I haven't been worried up until this point.

    Sure plenty of decisions and problems to bring up but seeing them remove developers who know the game and knew their work away from the game, plus looking at the crafting revamp has me thinking what the hell is going on.


    How is it going to benefit the players having new developers come with less experience who have to waste additional time on learning their job?

    And also why was it done in the first place? Downsizing or simply moving the better developers on to something that takes priority either which way we are left with less.
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  • hojain2020hojain2020 Member Posts: 417 Arc User
    edited July 2014
    So i have two toons leveled to 50 .. now onto stfs especially the large ones... and i cant see weapons and shields when there are large pops of other players especially in crystal cat etc this is killing the game for me. what are the devs doing to address this issue?
    STO NPC AI LEVEL--->
    bollywood15_zpskyztknwo.gif
  • jonsillsjonsills Member Posts: 10,502 Arc User
    edited July 2014
    hojain2020 wrote: »
    So i have two toons leveled to 50 .. now onto stfs especially the large ones... and i cant see weapons and shields when there are large pops of other players especially in crystal cat etc this is killing the game for me. what are the devs doing to address this issue?
    They'll send someone over to your house to diagnose your computer just as soon as they can. :rolleyes:
    Lorna-Wing-sig.png
  • centersolacecentersolace Member Posts: 11,178 Arc User
    edited July 2014
    You have the timeline wrong.

    They had a huge team during the alpha/launch stage. The team dwindled over the next 2 years. But after the PWE purchase, the F2P launch and the absorption of staff from CoH dying and the creation of Cryptic North, they're actually way up on staff again.

    So it's like peak, dip, peak again.

    This is correct.
    vestereng wrote: »
    I haven't been worried up until this point.

    Sure plenty of decisions and problems to bring up but seeing them remove developers who know the game and knew their work away from the game, plus looking at the crafting revamp has me thinking what the hell is going on.


    How is it going to benefit the players having new developers come with less experience who have to waste additional time on learning their job?

    And also why was it done in the first place? Downsizing or simply moving the better developers on to something that takes priority either which way we are left with less.

    I am of this opinion as well. Every game makes unpopular additions/changes. You're guaranteed to not like everything, such is life. But this, this is such a mess, and the response has been negative across the board. A couple of major players have quit the game over this.

    I have no idea what the devs were even thinking with this one.
  • azurianstarazurianstar Member Posts: 6,985 Arc User
    edited July 2014
    I have no idea what the devs were even thinking with this one.

    I know exactly what they are thinking right now.............. LAS VEGAS BA BY! :rolleyes:
  • shpoksshpoks Member Posts: 6,967 Arc User
    edited July 2014
    jonsills wrote: »
    They'll send someone over to your house to diagnose your computer just as soon as they can. :rolleyes:

    Yes, because the problem is in his computer. :rolleyes:
    HQroeLu.jpg
  • snoggymack22snoggymack22 Member Posts: 7,084 Arc User
    edited July 2014
    shpoks wrote: »
    Yes, because the problem is in his computer. :rolleyes:

    Geek Squad will easily fix the problem for that person. By uninstalling the game, and Arc.

    ;)
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
  • hyplhypl Member Posts: 3,719 Arc User
    edited July 2014
    skollulfr wrote: »
    latest podcast had a few details about how the ships are added to the game. it indicated there is a lot of horrible going on in the code to make adding new stuff more difficult than it may be for other games.

    I believe most games or software utilize this method, but Al made it sound like a freagin' nightmare. The past 4 years have made it clear that the coding for this game is downright awful. The fact that it is somehow functional is nothing short of a miracle.
  • jonsillsjonsills Member Posts: 10,502 Arc User
    edited July 2014
    shpoks wrote: »
    Yes, because the problem is in his computer. :rolleyes:
    When a problem is occurring for a small number of people, and not fro a large number of others, then yes, the problem very likely is in the computer. Or possibly a PEBKAC issue.

    If the problem were on the server end, we could all expect to experience it (cf the issue with coyotes in the Desert area of CO). I can testify that I, for one, am not experiencing that issue, and I'm running a bog-standard HP Pavilion tower, not some kind of specialized gaming rig.

    Perhaps his settings are too high for his system. Perhaps his video card is overheating. Perhaps there's a bottleneck with his data feed. Perhaps there really is an issue with his connection with Cryptic. Whatever the problem is, since it can't be reproduced by everyone, it has to be diagnosed from his end. And if all he's going to do is sit there and complain until Cryptic fixes it for him - well, he's gonna have a long wait.
    Lorna-Wing-sig.png
  • jengozjengoz Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited July 2014
    I have to agree with the OP. For me, when I think of Star Trek I think of this... http://youtu.be/x3pOkhU9iYM?t=20s

    But when I think of STO now, I think of this.... http://youtu.be/i_OjztdQ8iw?t=2s

    It would be really great if the Dev sat down and tried to remember some of the things that Star Trek is about and used them to set this game apart for all the other free "kill 10 rats" games out there.

    I have also notice that while no one in my fleet declared they are giving up on STO, no one is really playing it anymore. A few logged in to check out the new crafting system but then just went back to playing other games.
    "Star Trek Online is powered by the most abundant resource in the galaxy . . . Gullibility"
  • snoggymack22snoggymack22 Member Posts: 7,084 Arc User
    edited July 2014
    jengoz wrote: »
    A few logged in to check out the new crafting system but then just went back to playing other games.

    They're taking jonsills's advice and playing other games while on break. Eventually a large enough group of people may do that where the metrics folks take notice.


    Of course, you ask me, they already HAVE taken notice as their current focus on attracting new players seems to be their solution to that problem. They've decided to pivot and shift focus on the short term cycle of attracting new players, convincing them to spend money. And less focus on the long term players who have already spent money and want more from their development team than they can currently provide. It's not a bad plan as it continually keeps them catching their target audience right at that point where things are new and it's easy to convince yourself to make a purchase. Old timey vets are less likely to impulse buy on ship packs when that ship pack already has ships they own, and stuff like that. Old timey vets are less likely to buy into a crafting system like the one that just launched since they already have top tier gear. And so on and so forth.

    So what that really demonstrates is perhaps the game isn't being made for your. Or me.

    Which is fine. I'll just take my long term committment, and the cash dollars that go with it, somewhere else. It's really that easy. I'll - for lack of a better word - go EXPLORING.
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
  • starswordcstarswordc Member Posts: 10,966 Arc User
    edited July 2014
    I hit my burnout point about three weeks into the summer event when I realized I was grinding for things I didn't even particularly want. I got no use for the Risa corvette on my Rom sci, my KDF engi does perfectly well in a Tor'Kaht, and my Fed tac? I frankly find the very idea of a frakking cruise liner that outperforms the GCS to be a colossal insult.

    I basically stopped playing due to a combination of lack of time (I suddenly found myself gainfully employed for the first time in literally years last month) and lack of attraction. I think I've logged in twice since then, both times solely to update my Foundry NPCs into the Odyssey uniforms.
    "Great War! / And I cannot take more! / Great tour! / I keep on marching on / I play the great score / There will be no encore / Great War! / The War to End All Wars"
    — Sabaton, "Great War"
    VZ9ASdg.png

    Check out https://unitedfederationofpla.net/s/
  • centersolacecentersolace Member Posts: 11,178 Arc User
    edited July 2014
    So what that really demonstrates is perhaps the game isn't being made for your. Or me.

    Which is fine. I'll just take my long term committment, and the cash dollars that go with it, somewhere else. It's really that easy. I'll - for lack of a better word - go EXPLORING.

    Or they're doing what I'm doing. Leveling up my strange stickybomb launcher. Which is actually fun to level up.
    starswordc wrote: »
    I hit my burnout point about three weeks into the summer event when I realized I was grinding for things I didn't even particularly want. I got no use for the Risa corvette on my Rom sci, my KDF engi does perfectly well in a Tor'Kaht, and my Fed tac? I frankly find the very idea of a frakking cruise liner that outperforms the GCS to be a colossal insult.

    I basically stopped playing due to a combination of lack of time (I suddenly found myself gainfully employed for the first time in literally years last month) and lack of attraction. I think I've logged in twice since then, both times solely to update my Foundry NPCs into the Odyssey uniforms.

    Pretty much my story exactly minus the unemployed part. I really want this game to be fun again, I will come back for whatever E2 holds, but until then, I have other things to do.


    I will still post on the forums though. I'm too much of a nerd to give that up.
  • mimey2mimey2 Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited July 2014
    I will still post on the forums though. I'm too much of a nerd to give that up.

    I know how you feel there.
    I remain empathetic to the concerns of my community, but do me a favor and lay off the god damn name calling and petty remarks. It will get you nowhere.
    I must admit, respect points to Trendy for laying down the law like that.
  • macroniusmacronius Member Posts: 2,526
    edited July 2014
    I found myself nodding with each and every sentence in this one. However, I don't believe the revolving door of new players is something they can keep relying on. Most people who I met in STO either are fans of Star Trek or at least enjoyed the series on some level. I don't see too many generic MMO players drawn into the shallow content pool and simplistic mechanics (of ESTF / end game). Add in the lack of challenge and poor story / RP and this is a mediocre MMO without the IP.

    Trek is suffering from diminishing fandom too. No running TV series in a decade and infrequent movie releases don't make for a massively expanding fanbase. Enterprise was a failure (it was cancelled) and Voyager suffered through major rating problems. So Trek hasn't really been in top form for more than 2 decades (early to mid 90s).

    Tread carefully Cryptic!


    They're taking jonsills's advice and playing other games while on break. Eventually a large enough group of people may do that where the metrics folks take notice.


    Of course, you ask me, they already HAVE taken notice as their current focus on attracting new players seems to be their solution to that problem. They've decided to pivot and shift focus on the short term cycle of attracting new players, convincing them to spend money. And less focus on the long term players who have already spent money and want more from their development team than they can currently provide. It's not a bad plan as it continually keeps them catching their target audience right at that point where things are new and it's easy to convince yourself to make a purchase. Old timey vets are less likely to impulse buy on ship packs when that ship pack already has ships they own, and stuff like that. Old timey vets are less likely to buy into a crafting system like the one that just launched since they already have top tier gear. And so on and so forth.

    So what that really demonstrates is perhaps the game isn't being made for your. Or me.

    Which is fine. I'll just take my long term committment, and the cash dollars that go with it, somewhere else. It's really that easy. I'll - for lack of a better word - go EXPLORING.
    "With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censored, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably."

    - Judge Aaron Satie
  • macroniusmacronius Member Posts: 2,526
    edited July 2014
    starswordc wrote: »
    I hit my burnout point about three weeks into the summer event when I realized I was grinding for things I didn't even particularly want. I got no use for the Risa corvette on my Rom sci, my KDF engi does perfectly well in a Tor'Kaht, and my Fed tac? I frankly find the very idea of a frakking cruise liner that outperforms the GCS to be a colossal insult.

    I basically stopped playing due to a combination of lack of time (I suddenly found myself gainfully employed for the first time in literally years last month) and lack of attraction. I think I've logged in twice since then, both times solely to update my Foundry NPCs into the Odyssey uniforms.

    I think they saturated on grinds and gimicks. Grind-a-versery was the first step. Add in Winter and Summer events (which I never bother to grind) and the lack of content. Even Season 9 was a dismal effort. The new queued missions are practically dead (except for the occasional group farming mats). People are still queueing for Borg ESTF (though in diminishing nunbers). Exactly how old are those again?

    I think the expansion is their best bet to revitalize the game. But considering Geko is in charge(technically) and he is excited about "metric tons new ships", I wouldn't get too optimistic just yet.
    "With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censored, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably."

    - Judge Aaron Satie
  • bernatkbernatk Member Posts: 1,089 Bug Hunter
    edited July 2014
    Hehe yeah, metric tons of new story missions would have been much much better.
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  • bruccybruccy Member Posts: 292 Arc User
    edited July 2014
    weird how the fans favourite mmos are both turned into F2P TRIBBLE . this and swtor

    maybe developers and publishers should start listening to what fans want and i dont mean gamers . i mean the fans who kept star trek and its vision alive during its not so popular years before TNG hit the screens . thats not saying new fans have no say lol . just why wont they listen to people who care

    just to add this game dieing might not be a bad thing from a trekkers point of veiw . as things are CBS will not offer new liscenses for trek games as this is supposed to be a flagship project maybe if it folded we would see some good stuff happening on a currently stagnant games scene

    longing for a remakes of star trek command etc
  • nachtfangennachtfangen Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited July 2014
    bruccy wrote: »
    weird how the fans favourite mmos are both turned into F2P TRIBBLE . this and swtor

    Fans... favorite?

    Favorites??

    *snrk* *SNORT* *GUFFAW!*

    The main reason many games go 'F2P' is because they can't get fans to subscribe... why? Because they cannot compete, that's why.
    They'd rather spew out dumb down grind and paygate their players and claim it's F2P.

    Favorites... Oh, lord, someone get me a girdle, I'm about to bust a gut here...

    The numbers in STO are lower than Eve Online had for half of its run (and *gasp* that game could engage players enough to Subscribe! No paygates! Manageable time grinds! Set it and go gameplay... It works!). Even now Eve Online enjoys more concurrent players at any given time than STO.
    Double that - and Eve is by far not the largest game out there. Not by a long stretch.
    But it eclipses STO as far as active users logging in.

    Then of course there's WoW - you think sw:tor is a favorite? It's a birthday candle on WoW's tenth anniversary continent. WoW's concurrent userbase doubles that of STO in its prime... quadruples it *with* sw:tor added in to boot.
  • bruccybruccy Member Posts: 292 Arc User
    edited July 2014
    Fans... favorite?

    Favorites??

    *snrk* *SNORT* *GUFFAW!*

    The main reason many games go 'F2P' is because they can't get fans to subscribe... why? Because they cannot compete, that's why.
    They'd rather spew out dumb down grind and paygate their players and claim it's F2P.

    Favorites... Oh, lord, someone get me a girdle, I'm about to bust a gut here...

    The numbers in STO are lower than Eve Online had for half of its run (and *gasp* that game could engage players enough to Subscribe! No paygates! Manageable time grinds! Set it and go gameplay... It works!). Even now Eve Online enjoys more concurrent players at any given time than STO.
    Double that - and Eve is by far not the largest game out there. Not by a long stretch.
    But it eclipses STO as far as active users logging in.

    Then of course there's WoW - you think sw:tor is a favorite? It's a birthday candle on WoW's tenth anniversary continent. WoW's concurrent userbase doubles that of STO in its prime... quadruples it *with* sw:tor added in to boot.

    i ment science fiction fans and i dont think you read my entire post and i while mostly agree with what you say .why did have to come accoss as a **** saying it
  • sennahcheribsennahcherib Member Posts: 2,823 Arc User
    edited July 2014
    i agree with the first post and also I get bored incredibly why?

    - wait wait wait

    - stfs (except ground borg) are too easy, no fail

    - too many Op and scimitar ships, and i don't know why but players who bought these ships don't play in team but alone in most stfs

    - the end of explorations, where i can play with my away team? (sphere battleground, nimbus that's all)

    - the courtesy is dead: no "hi, hello" when we begin a mission, no "thx" when you help someone etc

    - grinding/farming etc, damn i'm fed up with that, i want real playable contents (missions, campaigns etc), doffs have more interesting missions than us

    - more freedom is in the tailor, in fact the end of off-duty, uniforms etc

    - stop to release ships, because we have nothing to do with them, except always the same stfs

    - stupid packs, i want the eye patch for my klingon, but i won't buy the academy costume just for a piece.

    - costumes are too expensive, if cryptic wants to earn money, they should lowered the prices and add small items (for a price of 125), damn a tribble or a targ at 300 zen; are you crazy???

    - a small daily profits is more interesting than the hope of a big purchase (
  • spacebaronlinespacebaronline Member Posts: 1,103 Arc User
    edited July 2014
    - the courtesy is dead: no "hi, hello" when we begin a mission, no "thx" when you help someone etc

    -

    This kind of caught my attention - I have just recently started doing the PvE content after finishing the rep on many toons quite some time ago(I only did Undine rep on 1 toon) - but I noticed that no-one talks any more in chat. Maybe a couple "GG" at the end from 2 players at most. It's warp in - do the job - warp out as quickly as possible. I remember when not only did players say hello - but also commented on the mission(both during and after)

    I guess the new "Solo queues" that Al Rivera wants to bring in will be quite popular.
  • azurianstarazurianstar Member Posts: 6,985 Arc User
    edited July 2014
    This kind of caught my attention - I have just recently started doing the PvE content after finishing the rep on many toons quite some time ago(I only did Undine rep on 1 toon) - but I noticed that no-one talks any more in chat. Maybe a couple "GG" at the end from 2 players at most. It's warp in - do the job - warp out as quickly as possible. I remember when not only did players say hello - but also commented on the mission(both during and after).

    I guess the new "Solo queues" that Al Rivera wants to bring in will be quite popular.

    In the original versions of the STFs, we actually had <gasp> conversations! Sometimes they lasted hours. Then someone had the bright idea to split it up and then the conversations stopped. :(


    It's funny, Cryptic said they want to increase socializing, but they make it worse til now we have solo queues. :rolleyes:
  • spacebaronlinespacebaronline Member Posts: 1,103 Arc User
    edited July 2014
    In the original versions of the STFs, we actually had <gasp> conversations! Sometimes they lasted hours. Then someone had the bright idea to split it up and then the conversations stopped. :(


    It's funny, Cryptic said they want to increase socializing, but they make it worse til now we have solo queues. :rolleyes:

    Funny story:

    I remember way back when starting out eSTFs- someone told me that I should go read up on the strategy beforehand and I did! Can you image a new player going and reading up on how to do the mission now - LOL - like that would happen:rolleyes:
  • yreodredyreodred Member Posts: 3,527 Arc User
    edited July 2014
    This kind of caught my attention - I have just recently started doing the PvE content after finishing the rep on many toons quite some time ago(I only did Undine rep on 1 toon) - but I noticed that no-one talks any more in chat. Maybe a couple "GG" at the end from 2 players at most. It's warp in - do the job - warp out as quickly as possible. I remember when not only did players say hello - but also commented on the mission(both during and after)
    I noticed that too. It's strange to put it mildly.
    I guess the new "Solo queues" that Al Rivera wants to bring in will be quite popular.
    Personally i'm looking forward to it. But not for the reasons you may think.
    In fact i think it will increase the Star Trek feeling. One ship, one Crew. Not 5 ships five crews flying an attack. I hope that there will be some challenging missions.
    I always hated this MMO typical Min/Max-ing. If you are on your own, your ship can't just rip through enemy lines blowing up everything in sight (hopefully).
    Maybe i'm the only one looking forward to such missions, i just don't like to depend on other people (especially in a game).

    Of course such a mission must be done right...

    I couldn't care less about the MMO aspect TBH, what i want is to play a good Star Trek game.
    "...'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

    A tale of two Picards
    (also applies to Star Trek in general)
  • spacebaronlinespacebaronline Member Posts: 1,103 Arc User
    edited July 2014
    yreodred wrote: »
    I noticed that too. It's strange to put it mildly.


    Personally i'm looking forward to it. But not for the reasons you may think.
    In fact i think it will increase the Star Trek feeling. One ship, one Crew. Not 5 ships five crews flying an attack. I hope that there will be some challenging missions.
    I always hated this MMO typical Min/Max-ing. If you are on your own, your ship can't just rip through enemy lines blowing up everything in sight (hopefully).
    Maybe i'm the only one looking forward to such missions, i just don't like to depend on other people (especially in a game).

    Of course such a mission must be done right...

    I couldn't care less about the MMO aspect TBH, what i want is to play a good Star Trek game.

    In the context of Star Trek it makes sense. There was usually 1 ship - the "hero ship" - which was out there alone meeting the enemy. But in every major engagement there were lots of ships - just that they were nowhere near as powerful/useful as the "hero ship"

    I have mixed feeling about the solo queue. But I have little doubt that they are coming. When I go into a mission nowadays I get the distinct feeling from others: "why are these guys in my single player Star Trek game?"
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