If anything having materials in the queues is an argument to kill the queues - so you don't give anything away for free.
Empty queues are not the problem you think they are.
We don't have to have 1 single person in the queues...
Displacement of progression takes place all the time and so all it comes down to is, are the whales willing to do 800 patrol missions for the voyager story arc?
Yes they are, well then it's as simple as mass production of passive specialization points with no animations (no work), and then turn the grinding volume up to extreme.
From their perspective it's also a nice way to motivate you to finally play their story missions - over and over and over forever.
The patrol missions are actually the best content ever and the players love it, from a certain perspective.
But so there isn't any reason why all progression from now on can't be patrol grinding for spec points.
From their perspective nothing has ever been even remotely as profitable as DR, why not duplicate it
/edit
ps. the thing being we only need the non-whales on the server in so far as the whales need them.
Whales playing single player patrol grinding now queues are not needed, neither is the players
I'm level 57 (soon 58), and haven't even touched Argala... only doff missions, and building stuff and some STF's, yes it takes some time, but I play at least 2 to 3 hours a day, don't need to go faster.
Actually, I haven't done ANY DR mission with that char, I'll take them when I'm level 60, and already purchased 2 additional ships, "grinding" for a month, all the freebies from the WW, and so on...
People who "WAN IT NAW", usually complains.. I'm fine with the level progression, as progression is not everything in this game (never done the DPS race nor the rarity upgrade race), I play because I relax myself in this game, and because I do stf's and some missions with my family
I noticed that before. People were coming on here, saying leveling was awesome and they could do it just from Doffing. Then when they revealed they were level 52 or in one case, not even level 50 yet, they were laughed at and they went away.
Funny funny stuff.
It was dramatically different before the November 20th patch.
I made it from 50-54 replaying the Klingon and Romulan fronts and turning in 20 DOff assignments. DOff leveling did appear to be quite healthy.
From that point on, I was able to play DR missions but I did have to stop and do 2-3 queued events per level. I think I did 2 of the patrols twice. This got me to 59.
59-60 was more painful but didn't bug me much.
After that, I was getting 1 spec level a week from DOffing and queued missions. Not spectacular progress but it was okay and it kept me logging in daily.
After the Nov. 20th patch, I could no longer see my XP bar move from turning in 20 DOffing assignments. I could no longer see queued events contribute a visible chunk of XP. It was at that point that that I got very disenfranchised.
I'm level 57 (soon 58), and haven't even touched Argala... only doff missions, and building stuff and some STF's, yes it takes some time, but I play at least 2 to 3 hours a day, don't need to go faster.
Actually, I haven't done ANY DR mission with that char, I'll take them when I'm level 60, and already purchased 2 additional ships, "grinding" for a month, all the freebies from the WW, and so on...
People who "WAN IT NAW", usually complains.. I'm fine with the level progression, as progression is not everything in this game (never done the DPS race nor the rarity upgrade race), I play because I relax myself in this game, and because I do stf's and some missions with my family
The issue I think with patrols is less that you NEED them for leveling (though I think leveling shouldn't require any repetition).
It's that they're the only content which moves your XP bar fast enough to feel like you're making specialization progress at 60. The only content.
While leveling, you're still getting better XP off of initial playthroughs of missions. Your XP requirement per level is also lower.
Every specialization point requires the same skillpoint gain as 59-60 and the ONLY meaningful source is Delta Quadrant patrols, which you must complete thousands of. And if you want to do it before the next specialization system comes out, you're looking at a lifestyle of thousands of hours of playing the same 5 or so patrols a year just to have a "complete" character, which, incidentally, is the BASELINE for PvP.
A core premise of the game up until the recent regime changes was choice, freedom, being creative.
Which is actually the defintion of a game when you think about it.
Everytime they've nerfed a feature or straight up deleted them to control the players they are also limiting the gameplay.
You could be any career you wanted, make hybrid boats using whatever abilities you wanted - you were free to play around.
Power creep sure but you can keep the game for casuals and still have elite maps both at the same time.
We didn't HAVE to kill the queues and the entire premise of a open game with freedom to add harder maps.
We also didn't have to nerf the dil, nerf the marks and nerf the EC.
Just like we didn't have to nerf exp and ask people to play 800 patrol missions for a bunch of passives that essentially won't get you close to t6.
I actually always thought it was a strength that you could take your favorite ship into eSTF not a weakness.
When you turn over the control to the developers it won't just be power creep but it's going to be power creep for milking.
For example 5 million dil for text upgrades to your weapons that are mandatory.
When STF was what it was you could stop or even never begin to spend or farm when you wanted and still just play.
Now, there is an entry fee @ 5 million per character for PERMISSION to play the game (plus the 10 levels from 50 to 60)
I am saying that didn't add anything to the game, that ruined parts only, nothing more.
It took away gameplay and put money into the developers hands because whales.
On general principle alone developers should have as little influence as possible but seeing how these here people try to battery hens commandeer, it quickly becomes obvious they could care less about the quality of the game.
So, it's not just about if you can cope with whatever recent changes because they don't effect you personally.
The only good news is they time gated and dil sink'd nearly everything in the whole game so we are closer now to them actually adding content than previously.
Tailor, skillpoints and traits and doff obviously need to be nerfed badly.
Just think of all the dil they losing on contrabands for example or how many costume changes are being done per day for free!!!!1
However since whales accepted patrols-specialization-upgrading, which is essentially copy-pasted text with a timegate, I see no reason they won't just continue with that.
Basically we at a level now where they can just add some numbers in notepad.ini then have people farm the same mission 800 times without adding a single model or animation to the game.
I think people have very low standards these days regarding what constitutes "Content"
When I said "The new Bridge Officer Training System is not Content" people jumped all over me. I'm still not sure why as it definitely is not Content in any way, shape or form.
I could be way off on this but here's my suspicion behind:
- The accounting irregularities (Also keep in mind that Chinese accounting standards are different, making accidents in conversion possible)
- The voluntary de-listing
- Chinese companies in some cases re-listing on Chinese exchanges
- Complaints from Chinese companies about being undervalued, which seem to precipate some of the accounting irregularities, re-listing on Chinese exchanges, and stock buybacks
Okay. You ready?
On the U.S. exchanges, investors expect companies to beat targets. If you don't outperform targets, you get dumped. Additionally, investors tend to get very managerially hands on and tend to see themselves to some extent as "experts in all industries" and will threaten to manipulate your stock price down if you don't do what they want. (In PWE's case, I think investors wanted them to ditch PC and go mobile, despite PWE being fairly good at PC gaming development and fairly weak at mobile.)
From the Chinese perspective, I think, company targets should a maximum, not a minimum. An earnings target is a goal to strive for and not something you're comfortable setting with the intent of surpassing. The target is "absolute best case" as far as you can imagine. You expect to fall short and don't expect for that to negatively influence stock price. Also, distance to power and cultural respect for expertise probably means that you don't expect investors to dictate company strategy as overtly and you expect them to hold stock longer.
And I SUSPECT (this is more a sociological guesstimate) that some of what you see in the U.S. and Chinese economies does boil down to stockholder behavior.
Short term investors who dictate strategy in the U.S.:
- Force certain types of innovation, creating value. Companies have to act fast and only the sharpest survive.
- Overlook niche strategies and long term value, destroying value by tanking stocks unfairly.
- The frequency of trade may result in a more powerful economy but the trading fees tend to eat up a lot of the efficiency there, meaning we have a powerful economy but much of that power is increasingly funneled away from both investors and companies listed on the market, towards brokers and consultants.
The U.S. stock market turns stock about 20% more frequently than the Chinese market does.
I used to work for several Chinese companies. You have no idea how "irregular" their accounting practices are. We got sued for 2.3 Billion Dollars and the CEO took his 90 million in bonuses and ran to the Cayman islands (Allegedly, I have no actual knowledge beyond rumors so don't bother deposing me if the authorities see this).
Some of these guys are almost as bad as our Wallstreet Pirates, though because Wallstreet is in bed with the government and 5 US news corps they can hide what really goes on. Many Chinese companies are also very much controlled by the Chinese government.
I think people have very low standards these days regarding what constitutes "Content"
When I said "The new Bridge Officer Training System is not Content" people jumped all over me. I'm still not sure why as it definitely is not Content in any way, shape or form.
Of course it's not content. It's a system.
No mechanic is ever content.
Now... One caveat... Good mechanics can make content stretch further. Yes. Absolutely. Great mechanics can make a handful of maps very replayable. That's what drives something like Street Fighter or Tekken. Very little content but the mechanics are so good that the small amount of content stretches.
Systems are not what MMOs do well. They're what game designers think MMOs can do well.
Systems are painfully limited in PC MMOs. They can't be time sensitive because of latency. They can't be too graphics reliant because different customers have different rigs. They can't be combo sensitive because of how keyboards work but also because of automation/macros.
PC MMOs are good at complex spreadsheets and algorithms, environments (PCs can have bigger environments last I checked), and most of all openness to content expansion.
Content is play scenario. Only play scenario is content. You have two kinds of scenario: developer authored and emergent/player authored.
UI is not content unless it includes a play mechanism.
I noticed that before. People were coming on here, saying leveling was awesome and they could do it just from Doffing. Then when they revealed they were level 52 or in one case, not even level 50 yet, they were laughed at and they went away.
Funny funny stuff.
Sorry to disappoint your theory but your wrong, i play most every night after work and on weekends, my level officially 60 but i have 30 specialization points used on the last tier of space or space/ground specializations, so that woud probabbly make me level 80? ive finished all rep systems to tier 5, level 16 in beams and average of 6 in others. plus ive mastered 3 t6 ships and a t5u.
Granted i am in an active, full and fun loving fleet. Which helps to keep me entertained but everyone has the option. We do pve and pvp training in 5 man teams every night. i believe the game is what you make of it. Just as a job is, you can always find things wrong or can work with what is available and make the best of it. i prefer the latter.
Sorry to disappoint your theory but your wrong, i play most every night after work and on weekends, my level officially 60 but i have 30 specialization points used on the last tier of space or space/ground specializations, so that woud probabbly make me level 80? ive finished all rep systems to tier 5, level 16 in beams and average of 6 in others. plus ive mastered 3 t6 ships and a t5u.
Granted i am in an active, full and fun loving fleet. Which helps to keep me entertained but everyone has the option. We do pve and pvp training in 5 man teams every night. i believe the game is what you make of it. Just as a job is, you can always find things wrong or can work with what is available and make the best of it. i prefer the latter.
You will notice in the post that you've quoted that no reference was made to you at all, and it was specifically talking about people who are currently no longer posting on this issue.
I'm not sure why you felt it applied to you personally. That's an issue with you not me I'm afraid.
You will notice in the post that you've quoted that no reference was made to you at all, and it was specifically talking about people who are currently no longer posting on this issue.
I'm not sure why you felt it applied to you personally. That's an issue with you not me I'm afraid.
Live long and prosper.
My apologies, i quoted you because you had quoted the person that did quote me. My bad it was an assumption so i apologize
you should ask cryptic that.
argala rising wasnt entertaining at all.
Then stay out of Argala.
"But it's the quickest way to level!" I hear you cry.
So? What's your hurry? And if you're in that big a hurry to level, maybe you should try one of those other truly pay-to-win games, where you can buy levels. (Just make sure you use a prepaid credit card if you do that, so the more nefarious can't steal more than they're supposed to.)
And yes, if you'll scan through the last few pages of this thread, the complainers are indeed the same few loud voices. (And those trying to point out their inaccuracies are an even smaller minority.) None of us have any legitimate claim on "all the players", or even "the majority".
Look, if you want a job, go out and get a job. If you've already got one, why are you trying to make this game into another one, striving to get bigger and bigger numbers instead of just having fun playing pretend with your starship? (And if what you're really after is a starship with steadily-increasing numbers, I can point you to a couple of games that'll be happy to indulge you. At least one of them has some pretty doggone active PvP, another reason I avoid it - I get plenty of conflict in reality, I don't need it invading my relaxation time as well. If that's your cuppa, though...)
why are you trying to make this game into another one, striving to get bigger and bigger numbers instead of just having fun playing pretend with your starship?
Play what exactly ? PVE Queues (Good One) ? Repeat the same 8 Story Missions over & over ... maybe he is staying out of Argala, and just doesn't know what else to do (like me). I always hear "the game is what you make out of it", but if there is nothing there, I can't make anything out of it ...
In fact I'm staying out of the game completely because of it ... if you're 60 & done with Story Content etc, "Argala Rising" is the only reasonale Endgame Content, it's as simple as that ... I liked & cared about this game, so it's kind of sad, if the only thing left to do is checking back in 6-12 months when the next Mission in available ...
PS : Endless repetition of the same thing isn't "fun" for me, it doesn't really matter if it's Argala or some Story Mission I like(d) ... at least PVE Queues mixed things up a little, before ...
And yes, if you'll scan through the last few pages of this thread, the complainers are indeed the same few loud voices. (And those trying to point out their inaccuracies are an even smaller minority.)None of us have any legitimate claim on "all the players", or even "the majority".
Isn't that what you just did ? I'm sorry but the first & second sentence don't really "fit" together ...
Patch Notes : Resolved an Issue, where people would accidently experience Fun.
"But it's the quickest way to level!" I hear you cry.
So? What's your hurry? And if you're in that big a hurry to level, maybe you should try one of those other truly pay-to-win games, where you can buy levels. (Just make sure you use a prepaid credit card if you do that, so the more nefarious can't steal more than they're supposed to.)
The problem you're missing here, jon, is that there's points in DR where you have to go out and level-grind because Cryptic set the storyline level requirements up in such a way that you're not able to simply play the arc straight through from level 50.
Cryptic needs to do at least one of two things IMHO:
Remove the level requirements from the storyline missions entirely.
Make other content reward like Argala.
Possibly add a third thing: Don't penalize players XP-wise for playing the missions and patrols in groups. Last I looked this was supposed to be an MMO.
"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"
TBH I think the arbitrary level setup is outmoded. It could be totally done away with pretty easily and restructured towards a collective gear score. This would entail a rebalance to make the enemies use more than just sit there and die tactics, but that's again not really hard.
The hard part is getting Cryptic to actually do it.
Chris Robert's on SC:
"You don't have to do something again and again and again repetitive that doesn't have much challange, that's just a general good gameplay thing."
"But it's the quickest way to level!" I hear you cry.
So? What's your hurry? And if you're in that big a hurry to level, maybe you should try one of those other truly pay-to-win games, where you can buy levels. (Just make sure you use a prepaid credit card if you do that, so the more nefarious can't steal more than they're supposed to.)
And yes, if you'll scan through the last few pages of this thread, the complainers are indeed the same few loud voices. (And those trying to point out their inaccuracies are an even smaller minority.) None of us have any legitimate claim on "all the players", or even "the majority".
Look, if you want a job, go out and get a job. If you've already got one, why are you trying to make this game into another one, striving to get bigger and bigger numbers instead of just having fun playing pretend with your starship? (And if what you're really after is a starship with steadily-increasing numbers, I can point you to a couple of games that'll be happy to indulge you. At least one of them has some pretty doggone active PvP, another reason I avoid it - I get plenty of conflict in reality, I don't need it invading my relaxation time as well. If that's your cuppa, though...)
You make no sense man
2000 xp to do a STF which many find to be very fun team content
10000 xp to do a argala run which is 1/3 of the time and isn't as fun as a stf not only that you get much more loot/Ec per mission
Run 5 STfs taking at least 50 minutes across 5 characters to receive the same xp as 1 argala run taking 5 minutes on one character with no cool down
This is the reason the Qs are in such bad shape
instead of blindly defending cryptic you should be pointing out errors on their part like this to make the game better
people like you and your type are hurting this game just as much as the poor choices cryptic is making by supporting cryptic when they are clearly in error
personally I stand on the side I see as right.....Be it on cryptics side or against cryptic, If cryptic deserves praise I give it , If they need a swift kick in the behind I'll give that as well
using tactics like ive shown to funnel players into content cryptic chooses is BAD for the well being of the game and it should be stoped
The XP awards should be uniform across the content not placed on content cryptic wants players to run at the expense of the rest of the content in the game
Jellico....Engineer ground.....Da'val Romulan space Sci
Saphire.. Science ground......Ko'el Romulan space Tac
Leva........Tactical ground.....Koj Romulan space Eng
JJ-Verse will never be Canon or considered Lore...It will always be JJ-Verse
Developer apologists' buttom line is, you can't ask for anything ever period.
And that's not even dramatizing it. If you have anything negative to say you should be straight up removed by the secret police.
Jon is essentially just de-railing threads while he is bored - commenting on content he doesn't even play, knowing there is wide spread discontent in the game, moreso than ever before, because of DR, it doesn't take much more than to walk into a random thread and toss the usual "then don't play !!1" around.
In reality we not only finance the game we also are the game and the gameplay.
So even if DR did not go out of its way to kill all previous agreements of the game - casual to dps wall, reward system, time-effort and ALL the core elements, it would STILL come down to if the players like it or not.
Striving for bigger/better stuff is what MMOs are all about. Your comment here makes no sense. Why bother leveling beyond the tutorial then if getting better loot isn't what people should be working toward?
There's plenty of bigger and better stuff in the game, everyone is getting their panties in a twist over the top end stuff - the stuff that is supposedly exclusive and/or special and should be difficult/expensive to earn.
It goes without saying that if you are not obsessed with getting the very best, there is hardly any grind in STO at all. Which is a very good thing indeed in my book.
Besides, that grindy MMO 'gameplay' is out of date and very dull. That whole mentality needs to take a long walk off a short cliff.
There's plenty of bigger and better stuff in the game, everyone is getting their panties in a twist over the top end stuff - the stuff that is supposedly exclusive and/or special and should be difficult/expensive to earn.
It goes without saying that if you are not obsessed with getting the very best, there is hardly any grind in STO at all. Which is a very good thing indeed in my book.
Exactly my point. And as usual, shouted down by the same three people, all of whom are apparently quite angry that casual players can play this game casually. Dissent from the party line leads to dismissal as an "apologist".
Striving for bigger/better stuff is what MMOs are all about. Your comment here makes no sense. Why bother leveling beyond the tutorial then if getting better loot isn't what people should be working toward?
For some people the experience is far more important then the reward. Why do we watch Trek? For the experience of being immersed into something we enjoy - there is certainly no reward from watching Trek other then the enjoyment of the experience.
There are multitudes of players who would be perfectly happy to fly around in a single ship and do every single thing in the game with the same ship, equipment, and crew - start at Captain and end at Captain. They have no need for Levels or advancement. They see STO as a playable extension of the various Series. And there are people who see it as a game about achieving goals and getting more stuff - and some poor souls are all about the PvP.
At the end of the day it is a subjective debate with no right or wrong way of playing.
STO is about my Liberated Borg Federation Captain with his Breen 1st Officer, Jem'Hadar Tactical Officer, Liberated Borg Engineering Officer, Android Ops Officer, Photonic Science Officer, Gorn Science Officer, and Reman Medical Officer jumping into their Jem'Hadar Carrier and flying off to do missions for the new Romulan Empire. But for some players allowing a T5 Connie to be used breaks the canon in the game.
Exactly my point. And as usual, shouted down by the same three people, all of whom are apparently quite angry that casual players can play this game casually. Dissent from the party line leads to dismissal as an "apologist".
I'm really interested in what you're playing "casually", because I can't ... if you're not 60 yet, and still have new & exciting stuff to do, it's just a case of "delayed realization", and you have basically no clue what you're arguing about ...
I've done all the Story Content, and these are my choices if I choose to login :
1. Repeat that Story Mission for the x-Time
2. Do Patrols (no thanks)
3. Queue something and wait forever ...
4. Facebookish Mini-Games like Doffing & Crafting (fun for a while, but not really long-term)
-> all of these things might contribute to the "Long-Term Goal" of Spec. Points ... but what does it matter if all of them are either "broken" or "boring" ...
Patch Notes : Resolved an Issue, where people would accidently experience Fun.
Sorry. I was not trying to make at dig at PvPers. What I was trying to insinuate is that STO is not really an environment for PvPers and they are going to feel very unsatisfied and unwanted in the game. Thus they are poor souls for being here. This game will never have nurturing and interesting PvP, IMO.
STO is about my Liberated Borg Federation Captain with his Breen 1st Officer, Jem'Hadar Tactical Officer, Liberated Borg Engineering Officer, Android Ops Officer, Photonic Science Officer, Gorn Science Officer, and Reman Medical Officer jumping into their Jem'Hadar Carrier and flying off to do missions for the new Romulan Empire. But for some players allowing a T5 Connie to be used breaks the canon in the game.
No, when jon says he "plays casually" he means he doesn't play the content we are debating.
Jon, since you don't play said content would you mind letting the grown-ups talk
Yeah but what is he playing then, I'd really like to know ! ... I want to play this game "casually" as well ... what's his secret ? Playing something new only every 2 weeks, Staying in Queues for 2 weeks, Roleplaying ?
Patch Notes : Resolved an Issue, where people would accidently experience Fun.
Possibly add a third thing: Don't penalize players XP-wise for playing the missions and patrols in groups. Last I looked this was supposed to be an MMO.
Every MMO I am aware of does this. I am pretty sure I explained the reasoning in the big thread on this and why it might or might not be a good idea for some specific content.
But penalizing group XP is an essential part of how MMOs are balanced. You still earn more XP per minute than you would solo. Just not 5x as much, which would take grouping from being an improvement to being overpowered.
And yes, if you'll scan through the last few pages of this thread, the complainers are indeed the same few loud voices. (And those trying to point out their inaccuracies are an even smaller minority.) None of us have any legitimate claim on "all the players", or even "the majority".
And the same ones that have been stirring flames on the forums of other games pointing back to this one too. Some are the same few voices all over the place.
Comments
I'm level 57 (soon 58), and haven't even touched Argala... only doff missions, and building stuff and some STF's, yes it takes some time, but I play at least 2 to 3 hours a day, don't need to go faster.
Actually, I haven't done ANY DR mission with that char, I'll take them when I'm level 60, and already purchased 2 additional ships, "grinding" for a month, all the freebies from the WW, and so on...
People who "WAN IT NAW", usually complains.. I'm fine with the level progression, as progression is not everything in this game (never done the DPS race nor the rarity upgrade race), I play because I relax myself in this game, and because I do stf's and some missions with my family
It was dramatically different before the November 20th patch.
I made it from 50-54 replaying the Klingon and Romulan fronts and turning in 20 DOff assignments. DOff leveling did appear to be quite healthy.
From that point on, I was able to play DR missions but I did have to stop and do 2-3 queued events per level. I think I did 2 of the patrols twice. This got me to 59.
59-60 was more painful but didn't bug me much.
After that, I was getting 1 spec level a week from DOffing and queued missions. Not spectacular progress but it was okay and it kept me logging in daily.
After the Nov. 20th patch, I could no longer see my XP bar move from turning in 20 DOffing assignments. I could no longer see queued events contribute a visible chunk of XP. It was at that point that that I got very disenfranchised.
The issue I think with patrols is less that you NEED them for leveling (though I think leveling shouldn't require any repetition).
It's that they're the only content which moves your XP bar fast enough to feel like you're making specialization progress at 60. The only content.
While leveling, you're still getting better XP off of initial playthroughs of missions. Your XP requirement per level is also lower.
Every specialization point requires the same skillpoint gain as 59-60 and the ONLY meaningful source is Delta Quadrant patrols, which you must complete thousands of. And if you want to do it before the next specialization system comes out, you're looking at a lifestyle of thousands of hours of playing the same 5 or so patrols a year just to have a "complete" character, which, incidentally, is the BASELINE for PvP.
A core premise of the game up until the recent regime changes was choice, freedom, being creative.
Which is actually the defintion of a game when you think about it.
Everytime they've nerfed a feature or straight up deleted them to control the players they are also limiting the gameplay.
You could be any career you wanted, make hybrid boats using whatever abilities you wanted - you were free to play around.
Power creep sure but you can keep the game for casuals and still have elite maps both at the same time.
We didn't HAVE to kill the queues and the entire premise of a open game with freedom to add harder maps.
We also didn't have to nerf the dil, nerf the marks and nerf the EC.
Just like we didn't have to nerf exp and ask people to play 800 patrol missions for a bunch of passives that essentially won't get you close to t6.
I actually always thought it was a strength that you could take your favorite ship into eSTF not a weakness.
When you turn over the control to the developers it won't just be power creep but it's going to be power creep for milking.
For example 5 million dil for text upgrades to your weapons that are mandatory.
When STF was what it was you could stop or even never begin to spend or farm when you wanted and still just play.
Now, there is an entry fee @ 5 million per character for PERMISSION to play the game (plus the 10 levels from 50 to 60)
I am saying that didn't add anything to the game, that ruined parts only, nothing more.
It took away gameplay and put money into the developers hands because whales.
On general principle alone developers should have as little influence as possible but seeing how these here people try to battery hens commandeer, it quickly becomes obvious they could care less about the quality of the game.
So, it's not just about if you can cope with whatever recent changes because they don't effect you personally.
The only good news is they time gated and dil sink'd nearly everything in the whole game so we are closer now to them actually adding content than previously.
Tailor, skillpoints and traits and doff obviously need to be nerfed badly.
Just think of all the dil they losing on contrabands for example or how many costume changes are being done per day for free!!!!1
However since whales accepted patrols-specialization-upgrading, which is essentially copy-pasted text with a timegate, I see no reason they won't just continue with that.
Basically we at a level now where they can just add some numbers in notepad.ini then have people farm the same mission 800 times without adding a single model or animation to the game.
When I said "The new Bridge Officer Training System is not Content" people jumped all over me. I'm still not sure why as it definitely is not Content in any way, shape or form.
Free Tibet!
I used to work for several Chinese companies. You have no idea how "irregular" their accounting practices are. We got sued for 2.3 Billion Dollars and the CEO took his 90 million in bonuses and ran to the Cayman islands (Allegedly, I have no actual knowledge beyond rumors so don't bother deposing me if the authorities see this).
Some of these guys are almost as bad as our Wallstreet Pirates, though because Wallstreet is in bed with the government and 5 US news corps they can hide what really goes on. Many Chinese companies are also very much controlled by the Chinese government.
Of course it's not content. It's a system.
No mechanic is ever content.
Now... One caveat... Good mechanics can make content stretch further. Yes. Absolutely. Great mechanics can make a handful of maps very replayable. That's what drives something like Street Fighter or Tekken. Very little content but the mechanics are so good that the small amount of content stretches.
Systems are not what MMOs do well. They're what game designers think MMOs can do well.
Systems are painfully limited in PC MMOs. They can't be time sensitive because of latency. They can't be too graphics reliant because different customers have different rigs. They can't be combo sensitive because of how keyboards work but also because of automation/macros.
PC MMOs are good at complex spreadsheets and algorithms, environments (PCs can have bigger environments last I checked), and most of all openness to content expansion.
Content is play scenario. Only play scenario is content. You have two kinds of scenario: developer authored and emergent/player authored.
UI is not content unless it includes a play mechanism.
"Our goal in 2014 was to aggressively push the game forward, and you can expect us to build on this in 2015." AHAHAHAHA!
and it clearly shows:
Star Trek Online Steamcharts
this is how growing actually looks, Devs, for Reference:
7 Days to Die Steamcharts
Granted i am in an active, full and fun loving fleet. Which helps to keep me entertained but everyone has the option. We do pve and pvp training in 5 man teams every night. i believe the game is what you make of it. Just as a job is, you can always find things wrong or can work with what is available and make the best of it. i prefer the latter.
You will notice in the post that you've quoted that no reference was made to you at all, and it was specifically talking about people who are currently no longer posting on this issue.
I'm not sure why you felt it applied to you personally. That's an issue with you not me I'm afraid.
Live long and prosper.
Free Tibet!
you should ask cryptic that.
argala rising wasnt entertaining at all.
"But it's the quickest way to level!" I hear you cry.
So? What's your hurry? And if you're in that big a hurry to level, maybe you should try one of those other truly pay-to-win games, where you can buy levels. (Just make sure you use a prepaid credit card if you do that, so the more nefarious can't steal more than they're supposed to.)
And yes, if you'll scan through the last few pages of this thread, the complainers are indeed the same few loud voices. (And those trying to point out their inaccuracies are an even smaller minority.) None of us have any legitimate claim on "all the players", or even "the majority".
Look, if you want a job, go out and get a job. If you've already got one, why are you trying to make this game into another one, striving to get bigger and bigger numbers instead of just having fun playing pretend with your starship? (And if what you're really after is a starship with steadily-increasing numbers, I can point you to a couple of games that'll be happy to indulge you. At least one of them has some pretty doggone active PvP, another reason I avoid it - I get plenty of conflict in reality, I don't need it invading my relaxation time as well. If that's your cuppa, though...)
Play what exactly ? PVE Queues (Good One) ? Repeat the same 8 Story Missions over & over ... maybe he is staying out of Argala, and just doesn't know what else to do (like me). I always hear "the game is what you make out of it", but if there is nothing there, I can't make anything out of it ...
In fact I'm staying out of the game completely because of it ... if you're 60 & done with Story Content etc, "Argala Rising" is the only reasonale Endgame Content, it's as simple as that ... I liked & cared about this game, so it's kind of sad, if the only thing left to do is checking back in 6-12 months when the next Mission in available ...
PS : Endless repetition of the same thing isn't "fun" for me, it doesn't really matter if it's Argala or some Story Mission I like(d) ... at least PVE Queues mixed things up a little, before ...
Isn't that what you just did ? I'm sorry but the first & second sentence don't really "fit" together ...
The problem you're missing here, jon, is that there's points in DR where you have to go out and level-grind because Cryptic set the storyline level requirements up in such a way that you're not able to simply play the arc straight through from level 50.
Cryptic needs to do at least one of two things IMHO:
Possibly add a third thing: Don't penalize players XP-wise for playing the missions and patrols in groups. Last I looked this was supposed to be an MMO.
— Sabaton, "Great War"
Check out https://unitedfederationofpla.net/s/
The hard part is getting Cryptic to actually do it.
"You don't have to do something again and again and again repetitive that doesn't have much challange, that's just a general good gameplay thing."
You make no sense man
2000 xp to do a STF which many find to be very fun team content
10000 xp to do a argala run which is 1/3 of the time and isn't as fun as a stf not only that you get much more loot/Ec per mission
Run 5 STfs taking at least 50 minutes across 5 characters to receive the same xp as 1 argala run taking 5 minutes on one character with no cool down
This is the reason the Qs are in such bad shape
instead of blindly defending cryptic you should be pointing out errors on their part like this to make the game better
people like you and your type are hurting this game just as much as the poor choices cryptic is making by supporting cryptic when they are clearly in error
personally I stand on the side I see as right.....Be it on cryptics side or against cryptic, If cryptic deserves praise I give it , If they need a swift kick in the behind I'll give that as well
using tactics like ive shown to funnel players into content cryptic chooses is BAD for the well being of the game and it should be stoped
The XP awards should be uniform across the content not placed on content cryptic wants players to run at the expense of the rest of the content in the game
Saphire.. Science ground......Ko'el Romulan space Tac
Leva........Tactical ground.....Koj Romulan space Eng
JJ-Verse will never be Canon or considered Lore...It will always be JJ-Verse
And that's not even dramatizing it. If you have anything negative to say you should be straight up removed by the secret police.
Jon is essentially just de-railing threads while he is bored - commenting on content he doesn't even play, knowing there is wide spread discontent in the game, moreso than ever before, because of DR, it doesn't take much more than to walk into a random thread and toss the usual "then don't play !!1" around.
In reality we not only finance the game we also are the game and the gameplay.
So even if DR did not go out of its way to kill all previous agreements of the game - casual to dps wall, reward system, time-effort and ALL the core elements, it would STILL come down to if the players like it or not.
There's plenty of bigger and better stuff in the game, everyone is getting their panties in a twist over the top end stuff - the stuff that is supposedly exclusive and/or special and should be difficult/expensive to earn.
It goes without saying that if you are not obsessed with getting the very best, there is hardly any grind in STO at all. Which is a very good thing indeed in my book.
Besides, that grindy MMO 'gameplay' is out of date and very dull. That whole mentality needs to take a long walk off a short cliff.
There are multitudes of players who would be perfectly happy to fly around in a single ship and do every single thing in the game with the same ship, equipment, and crew - start at Captain and end at Captain. They have no need for Levels or advancement. They see STO as a playable extension of the various Series. And there are people who see it as a game about achieving goals and getting more stuff - and some poor souls are all about the PvP.
At the end of the day it is a subjective debate with no right or wrong way of playing.
I'm really interested in what you're playing "casually", because I can't ... if you're not 60 yet, and still have new & exciting stuff to do, it's just a case of "delayed realization", and you have basically no clue what you're arguing about ...
I've done all the Story Content, and these are my choices if I choose to login :
1. Repeat that Story Mission for the x-Time
2. Do Patrols (no thanks)
3. Queue something and wait forever ...
4. Facebookish Mini-Games like Doffing & Crafting (fun for a while, but not really long-term)
-> all of these things might contribute to the "Long-Term Goal" of Spec. Points ... but what does it matter if all of them are either "broken" or "boring" ...
Jon, since you don't play said content would you mind letting the grown-ups talk
Yeah but what is he playing then, I'd really like to know ! ... I want to play this game "casually" as well ... what's his secret ? Playing something new only every 2 weeks, Staying in Queues for 2 weeks, Roleplaying ?
Every MMO I am aware of does this. I am pretty sure I explained the reasoning in the big thread on this and why it might or might not be a good idea for some specific content.
But penalizing group XP is an essential part of how MMOs are balanced. You still earn more XP per minute than you would solo. Just not 5x as much, which would take grouping from being an improvement to being overpowered.
And the same ones that have been stirring flames on the forums of other games pointing back to this one too. Some are the same few voices all over the place.