I think that the outrage is mostly the result of a very bad month for the Cryptic STO team. The new DOFF/crafting system rollout didn't go smoothly at all, and they still haven't fixed the bug where missions would be stuck "Finishing."
Then after that was the X2 announcement, with the "My ship's going to be worthless in 2 months?!?" reaction, which is still ongoing to a certain extent, mostly because of the vague comments from the dev team. (Something like, you'll be able to upgrade your ships to have comparable hull, shields and weapons to the T6 ships would've been nice.)
In the current situation, whoever said "jettison the Romulan doff, and don't say anything" really miscalculated. If the dude was there, things would've been peachy. If they'd done damage control ahead of time, things probably would've been OK. As is, it just adds to the frustration of the player base. Not something you want headed into a big new release.
We don't care about the doff. We care about the reason why we cannot get it.
A dev explicitly stated that after the last time the doff wasn't available, the issue would be on his "don't forget" list. And to nobody's surprise at all, he completely forgot about it.
It raises questions about how much effort they are actually willing to put into both community events and bug fixing.
What you're missing is that everything was set up for just that last event: Romulan players got two missions for Maintenance Engineers -- One in New Romulus Command, with a broken NPC contact, and one at their ally's Academy. The Romulan mission would have given a liberated Borg Romulan doff, had the NPC actually been present.
Personally, I'm completely fine with only getting one doff. I'd rather it be the Romulan for RP reasons alone, but apparently what they've done is just removed the Romulan mission and only let you get your ally's now. It's not the most elegant fix, so of course it has some people upset, even though the doffs are statistically identical.
Frankly, I'm getting tried of all the "fraction" comments when the Romulans typically get more than either "full" faction when it comes to doffing. Double the recruitment, double the R&D assistance, their own unique assignments and their ally's, their own boff recruitment and their ally's... "Fraction" indeed. I main a Romulan, anyone who can't see we get more out of the alliance setup than we lose is letting their RP cloud their judgment. Getting two doffs out of this just would've been yet another case of this, and that's exactly what would've happened if the NPC contact hadn't been broken in the first place.
Still would rather trade this Exocomp for a Romulan, though...
We don't care about the doff. We care about the reason why we cannot get it.
A dev explicitly stated that after the last time the doff wasn't available, the issue would be on his "don't forget" list. And to nobody's surprise at all, he completely forgot about it.
It raises questions about how much effort they are actually willing to put into both community events and bug fixing.
That was not the first time nor that last time a dev stated something and it did not happen.
Wonderful. Then the community deserves an equally respectful answer to the question posed here, by Cryptic.
Thank you.
Even if the question is asked in a polite manner, they only answer what they want to. There are many questions that the players ask (important questions in our eyes) that never get answered.
Nitpicking is a time-honored tradition of science fiction. Asking your readers not to worry about the "little things" is like asking a dog not to sniff at people's crotches. If there's something that appears to violate natural laws, then you can expect someone's going to point it out. That's just the way things are.
And to say that I would have been fine to read a post by Smirk explaining they decided not to include this doff as Romulans (that have joined an ally) can get an ally's doff.
I'd be sad, but not angry. Which I am because someone said he'd not forget about the issue yet he doesn't mention it in any way now. All that remains is players' memory and some of those missions not yet dropped and lost.
TOIVA, Toi Vaxx, Toia Vix, Toveg, T'vritha, To Vrax: Bring in the Allegiance class. Toi'Va, Ti'vath, Toivia, Ty'Vris, Tia Vex, Toi'Virth: Add Tier 6 KDF Carrier and Raider. Tae'Va, T'Vaya, To'Var, Tevra, T'Vira, To'Vrak: Give us Asylums for Romulans.
I'm going to guess that Smirk can't comment on it until it's been written up and approved higher up.
When does Cryptic go silent? When they aren't allowed to say anything. Or when they're busy with a large release and a looming deadline. That's when they always go silent.
It's not an evil conspiracy. It's the result of years of Devs getting flamed and a company that likes to control how information goes out.
My views may not represent those of Cryptic Studios or Perfect World Entertainment. You can file a "forums and website" support ticket here Link: How to PM - Twitter @STOMod_Bluegeek
I'm going to guess that Smirk can't comment on it until it's been written up and approved higher up.
When does Cryptic go silent? When they aren't allowed to say anything. Or when they're busy with a large release and a looming deadline. That's when they always go silent.
The problem is, this is happening more and more often and it's turning into a self-reinforcing feedback loop where the forums become more hostile and then even less information comes out and then repeat. "When they aren't allowed to say anything" seem to correlate an awful lot with "When they mess up and they know they messed up and the forums are rightfully indignant about it."
Nitpicking is a time-honored tradition of science fiction. Asking your readers not to worry about the "little things" is like asking a dog not to sniff at people's crotches. If there's something that appears to violate natural laws, then you can expect someone's going to point it out. That's just the way things are.
I'm going to guess that Smirk can't comment on it until it's been written up and approved higher up.
When does Cryptic go silent? When they aren't allowed to say anything. Or when they're busy with a large release and a looming deadline. That's when they always go silent.
It's not an evil conspiracy. It's the result of years of Devs getting flamed and a company that likes to control how information goes out.
I'm going to guess that Smirk can't comment on it until it's been written up and approved higher up.
When does Cryptic go silent? When they aren't allowed to say anything. Or when they're busy with a large release and a looming deadline. That's when they always go silent.
It's not an evil conspiracy. It's the result of years of Devs getting flamed and a company that likes to control how information goes out.
Good points all, bluegeek.
With regards to this thread, though:
Star Trek Online is a live 24x7x365 product (not counting the downtimes)
There is a Support option for players (aka customers) to file tickets about issues. There is also this forum to flag issues as well. (It's an opinion that people share issues here in the forum to see if others are encountering similiar problems -- and see if they had a solution/resolution to share.)
Cryptic should be addressing customers regardless of product development deadlines. This is a live product; the product is not functioning as it should. Some F2P players are converted customers (e.g. subscribers, pay-to-play with Zen, etc.).
Better customer service should be at the top of the list.
It's too much of an excuse to blame past interactions or current deadlines as one of the reasons there is no engagement here.
About this thread: Cryptic needs to address in-game problems with the player base. Right now, it's obviously through the Support ticket system (which isn't yielding results for some), as well as this Cryptic/PWE community forum site.
I do apologize publicly for raking the community manager (in an earlier posting within this thread) over business practices which I feel are sorely lacking. There are serious problems with the day-to-day running of the business, imho.
Thank you for continuing to volunteer as a moderator.
Comments
Then after that was the X2 announcement, with the "My ship's going to be worthless in 2 months?!?" reaction, which is still ongoing to a certain extent, mostly because of the vague comments from the dev team. (Something like, you'll be able to upgrade your ships to have comparable hull, shields and weapons to the T6 ships would've been nice.)
In the current situation, whoever said "jettison the Romulan doff, and don't say anything" really miscalculated. If the dude was there, things would've been peachy. If they'd done damage control ahead of time, things probably would've been OK. As is, it just adds to the frustration of the player base. Not something you want headed into a big new release.
A dev explicitly stated that after the last time the doff wasn't available, the issue would be on his "don't forget" list. And to nobody's surprise at all, he completely forgot about it.
It raises questions about how much effort they are actually willing to put into both community events and bug fixing.
This post has been edited to remove content which violates the Perfect World Entertainment Community Rules and Policies . ~Bluegeek
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Beg to differ, it doesn't raise any questions. It simply answers a couple, loudly and clearly.
That was not the first time nor that last time a dev stated something and it did not happen.
Yep, that's why I said "to nobody's surprise". It is something we have come to expect, which is a little sad.
in after edit. y o y
Wonderful. Then the community deserves an equally respectful answer to the question posed here, by Cryptic.
Thank you.
Don't worry, they're respectfully completely ignoring the entire issue. That's how sweeping things under the rug works, after all.
Even if the question is asked in a polite manner, they only answer what they want to. There are many questions that the players ask (important questions in our eyes) that never get answered.
It sounds like..
like..
Deafening silence.
Joined January 2009
I'd be sad, but not angry. Which I am because someone said he'd not forget about the issue yet he doesn't mention it in any way now. All that remains is players' memory and some of those missions not yet dropped and lost.
Toi'Va, Ti'vath, Toivia, Ty'Vris, Tia Vex, Toi'Virth: Add Tier 6 KDF Carrier and Raider.
Tae'Va, T'Vaya, To'Var, Tevra, T'Vira, To'Vrak: Give us Asylums for Romulans.
Don't make ARC mandatory! Keep it optional only!
When does Cryptic go silent? When they aren't allowed to say anything. Or when they're busy with a large release and a looming deadline. That's when they always go silent.
It's not an evil conspiracy. It's the result of years of Devs getting flamed and a company that likes to control how information goes out.
Link: How to PM - Twitter @STOMod_Bluegeek
The problem is, this is happening more and more often and it's turning into a self-reinforcing feedback loop where the forums become more hostile and then even less information comes out and then repeat. "When they aren't allowed to say anything" seem to correlate an awful lot with "When they mess up and they know they messed up and the forums are rightfully indignant about it."
Joined January 2009
no im pretty sure it is
With regards to this thread, though:
Better customer service should be at the top of the list.
It's too much of an excuse to blame past interactions or current deadlines as one of the reasons there is no engagement here.
About this thread: Cryptic needs to address in-game problems with the player base. Right now, it's obviously through the Support ticket system (which isn't yielding results for some), as well as this Cryptic/PWE community forum site.
I do apologize publicly for raking the community manager (in an earlier posting within this thread) over business practices which I feel are sorely lacking. There are serious problems with the day-to-day running of the business, imho.
Thank you for continuing to volunteer as a moderator.
Indeed the Exocomp was the Fed DOff that was offered. The KDF got a Reman.
The issue with the Romulan DOff I will address in the main thread for the event.
Sorry for the confusion!
~CaptainSmirk