I hope that you with your lead, the improvements at Season 10 address many issues that current exist. But change is exciting and we look forward to see what you can bring.
You know, I'm curious to how the merging of the sector maps will affect the DOFF system. Will we have far less DOFF missions? What about the mission chains?
Or will there be a massive list of DOFF assignments available, all of the ones from the entire quadrant on one map?
A lot of people rely on the DOFF system for a whole host of things, and I really hope you have a plant to make it work.
I sure dont envy you one bit. You have just inherited a Dev team that has lot their way when it comes to showing pride in their work. Im not saying that everyone is a bad apple, what Im sure of is that you do have a few of them and it only takes a few to spoil the batch.
Heres hoping you weed out the bad ones and move this game forward and push out good quality work that you all can be proud of.
Just remember youre their leader 1st and their friend 3rd.
I think instead of the PvP folks arguing with certain of the PvE folks, that the PvP folks should put PvP on the backburner for the moment and contribute to PvE discussions. Cause they'd likely find some PvE allies that are interested in fixing PvE...which would drive away the particular PvE folks the PvP folks are arguing with anyway.
Just saying, it's not really a PvP vs. PvE discussion...as much as it is a Players (PvE and PvP) vs. Players (Pathetic) discussion.
Cause the PvE (not Pathetic) folks are oft arguing with those same PvE (Pathetic) folks as well.
There is absolutely no reason for the PvP players (or better stated "proponents") to put the desire for an improvement of PvP on the back burner, just as much as people who are vocal about PvE people content changes should have to put their desires on the back burner. Honestly, anyone who has to call names and act offended when someone asks for additional development on a part of the game is highly unlikely to be swayed by putting their desires on the back burner (especially when the aspect has been on the back burner for a great amount of the existence of the game). Also, anyone who has to get personal towards PvE isn't being effective either.
As far as "making PvE allies" goes, that's not what needs to be done. Everyone needs to take a chill pill and accept that change needs to come from a holistic point of view. I have seen people making things personal at people wanting PvP development for quite some time now, and not all of the pro-PvP content people started off insulting people. There has been plenty of suggestion that a "minority" wants to force things upon the "majority", while at the same time people of that same sample are saying how bad PvP is for the game and it shouldn't receive any efforts fro development. Its as if the PvP content requests meant that its proponents meant to do away with new PvE content and the people requesting it want to hurt PvE content. Heck, nobody really knows what is a ajority and what isn't , most people really dont speak their mind.
The fact is, they don't. The people who play PvP also play PvE, if a person wants gear and dil' and EC to get stuff that the game offers, they have to, and it adds to the story of the game. The poor state that PvP has been since almost the beginning has turned away a great deal of people from playing it because it is so limited in content and ways to play it. The KDF has pretty much died as a faction because of the lack of PvP content, which in the beginning was how they leveled up.
Developing PvP will actually help contribute to the development of PvE. Improved PvP will get some people that hadn't tried it out yet to give it a shot, and those who have abandoned it to come back (even those who haven't played the game for a while due to lack of interest). It would also bring the game closer to being a well rounded game, and that would go far to get more people to try. From what I have seen in this, and other, game(s) PvPers tend to spend time and money to have up to date gear. They will buy things. Extra traffic and extra purchasing will give more funds to develop the game as a whole. Some of it would go towards PvP, but the safe money is on a greater share goes to PvE because all players try that stuff. The more the dev's exercise themselves in development of different aspects of the game, the more they will learn from it as well, and would help in attracting additional talent if it becomes needed. PvP will never become a requirement, so those who don't like it dont have to play it.Will their be jerks tearing into PvE players? Sure, right now most them are also PvE players. Honestly , what does a person have to lose with getting more PvP content?
So my suggestion is that everyone stop flipping their "e-fingers" off at each other for the sake of their "e-pride", and stop looking at game content as zero sum. We all have a stake and all have something to gain.
I don't give two chits who's running this, fix your game. Going on day 5, in your 5th anniversary event of release and still NOTHING. You've been here since the beginning, cool. Light a fire under your debuggers and fix EVERYTHING YOUR TEAM HAS BROKEN STARTING FRIDAY JAN. 29! Come the frick on STO, today was a shot at redemption with a patch to fix the lag, fix No Commander Spot on Romulan Dyson Destroyers, fix your broken omega particle event, and the list goes on from there.
You say you're excited to come in and see where this will go. I will tell you right now, I dread your development team battering down the sector walls. I dont see how you can pull that off without destroying the game, specially knowing how you(crytpic) release broken add-on's....good god, I can only hope you were kidding about that.
However, if you are not, please keep your team accountable for the mistakes and bugs they add into the game. Its not that difficult, maybe with new manager will be better fixes and possibly a little more inclined to listen to your player base??
Speaking about trying to avoid Finish Now buttons and the overall theme of bringing walls down, how about making gear into frames where we can slot mods or traits if you wish.
Obviously certain mods would be tied to the weapon, but this is along the lines of Aliens having 10 Personal Traits while the various species have 9, right?
Traits, Kits, BOFFs, all sorts of things are pointing to the tech that could be used for mods, yeah?
How many VR Mk II weapons have to keep giving up their lives in the needless chase to find the right mods?
Incidentally, I always thought it'd be a neat idea for directed energy weapons to be fitted with various switchable tech mods; for example the Frequency Remodulators could be slotted into weapons when fighting Borg, and some kind of nanoprobe adapter could be slotted when facing Undine.
When a captian take over a new command he reads the ships log
I suggest you read the STO log..The forums
We got everything in STO but startrek , We need some star trek in STO
Like star trek realistic exploration loaded with huge planets to explore and colonize, colonys to build staff and support
ask the fan base for suggestions and you will receive a lot of good ideas
Good luck in your new post
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
You know, I'm curious to how the merging of the sector maps will affect the DOFF system. Will we have far less DOFF missions? What about the mission chains?
Or will there be a massive list of DOFF assignments available, all of the ones from the entire quadrant on one map?
A lot of people rely on the DOFF system for a whole host of things, and I really hope you have a plant to make it work.
My best guess is that they'll make it so local assignments are determined by sector block (groups?) and not by sub map.
Welcome. Hope you do more than your predecessor. Make more content for the other factions. Feds are not the only people that have money to spend on this game. Plain and simple.
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.
Well it's been a long road since the first launch. Now everyone doesn't use the chatbox anymore and it's extremely disappointing. Maybe Season 10 they can bring a special chat feature where everyone would be willing to type again. Place used to be a chatterbox and now nobody talks local or zone channel anymore. All they got are stupid microphones and the best part i am hard of hearing and i cannot understand anyone's microphone. I even have a deaf friend that plays this. We use the chatbox often. It's EXTREMELY disappointing how nobody even bothers to type at all. Seriously is everyone scared to talk in the public? Place used to be a chatterbox! What the hell happened?:(
There is absolutely no reason for the PvP players (or better stated "proponents") to put the desire for an improvement of PvP on the back burner, just as much as people who are vocal about PvE people content changes should have to put their desires on the back burner. Honestly, anyone who has to call names and act offended when someone asks for additional development on a part of the game is highly unlikely to be swayed by putting their desires on the back burner (especially when the aspect has been on the back burner for a great amount of the existence of the game). Also, anyone who has to get personal towards PvE isn't being effective either.
There is a wham, bam, in our faces reason for folks to put certain things on the back burner. The game itself...just doesn't warrant it at this point. There have simply been too many changes and things broken in the past couple of years.
PvP is not a standalone element in this game. It's tied into everything else.
So...they drop out new maps? Okay, new maps with all the same broken mechanics and a majority playerbase that can't even handle missions on Normal without having to complain that the game is somehow cheating.
So...they add in a leaderboard? Great...and that fixes all the broken TRIBBLE or gets folks to want to play the game how when everything else is the same?
Almost anything added wouldn't mean TRIBBLE cause the underlying foundation is garbage for it. Broken TRIBBLE out the wahzoo, imbalance out the wahzoo, and that playerbase that's more interested in how they look for their next date on Drozana than they do about bothering to change their Subsystem Power settings.
Until things start getting fixed, until balance is addressed, until this is even a hint of a game rather than just a 3D chatroom...what good could possibly come from PvP development?
If they'd done the PvP development back before S5...it still would have been screwed up by S5 through now.
So wanting to have some PvP development in the game...yeah, it might mean having to wait for stuff to get resolved. The "I want it now" TRIBBLE is no better than all the whining about folks wanting stuff in the game now. If folks want meaningful PvP in the game, it's not going to be some magic wand that's waved and it's all better...a Hell of a lot of stuff would have to change because of the direction of the game for the past 2-3 years.
As far as "making PvE allies" goes, that's not what needs to be done. Everyone needs to take a chill pill and accept that change needs to come from a holistic point of view. I have seen people making things personal at people wanting PvP development for quite some time now, and not all of the pro-PvP content people started off insulting people. There has been plenty of suggestion that a "minority" wants to force things upon the "majority", while at the same time people of that same sample are saying how bad PvP is for the game and it shouldn't receive any efforts fro development. Its as if the PvP content requests meant that its proponents meant to do away with new PvE content and the people requesting it want to hurt PvE content. Heck, nobody really knows what is a ajority and what isn't , most people really dont speak their mind.
There are limited resources...any development done is going to be done instead of some other development. They are not some massive studio with folks standing around the water cooler all day bored out of their minds...they're busting their humps to meet insane production schedules that leaves TRIBBLE even more broken as time goes along. So yeah, it's a fight out there amongst the playerbase, regardless of any discussions of majority or minority...over how devopment time is allocated.
Knowing that certain things would need to be in place for any meaningful PvP development to take place, regardless of one's preference for PvP or not - the same stuff has to get done; why would it not make sense to ally with those folks that want that as well? Sure, the PvP folks want more after that - but until that happens, they're just spinning their wheels? So why not work together with those folks rather than further splitting the community?
The fact is, they don't. The people who play PvP also play PvE, if a person wants gear and dil' and EC to get stuff that the game offers, they have to, and it adds to the story of the game. The poor state that PvP has been since almost the beginning has turned away a great deal of people from playing it because it is so limited in content and ways to play it. The KDF has pretty much died as a faction because of the lack of PvP content, which in the beginning was how they leveled up.
I find it hilarious, to be honest, that your reason for the KDF dying off is the lack of PvP content. Cryptic rearranged things, added things, provided all sorts of additional content for KDF players. What's missing? Ships. Traits. Etc, etc, etc.
Which gets back to what I was saying earlier...there's a fundamental issue there with the KDF. PvP isn't going to fix that. Want more folks to play KDF? Then don't make it so freaking obvious that they're not even second class citizens in this game.
Developing PvP will actually help contribute to the development of PvE. Improved PvP will get some people that hadn't tried it out yet to give it a shot, and those who have abandoned it to come back (even those who haven't played the game for a while due to lack of interest). It would also bring the game closer to being a well rounded game, and that would go far to get more people to try. From what I have seen in this, and other, game(s) PvPers tend to spend time and money to have up to date gear. They will buy things. Extra traffic and extra purchasing will give more funds to develop the game as a whole. Some of it would go towards PvP, but the safe money is on a greater share goes to PvE because all players try that stuff. The more the dev's exercise themselves in development of different aspects of the game, the more they will learn from it as well, and would help in attracting additional talent if it becomes needed. PvP will never become a requirement, so those who don't like it dont have to play it.Will their be jerks tearing into PvE players? Sure, right now most them are also PvE players. Honestly , what does a person have to lose with getting more PvP content?
It's just mindboggling to me...do you even play this game? It's like you're saying we should paint the car cause it will look better and be more attractive to folks...meanwhile the engine is in pieces over there and the transmission is in pieces over there. I don't think there were as many bugs and out of balance things introduced between S5 and S9 as there have been since S9.5...
I don't think I've ever read something so out of touch with the state of the game.
So my suggestion is that everyone stop flipping their "e-fingers" off at each other for the sake of their "e-pride", and stop looking at game content as zero sum. We all have a stake and all have something to gain.
Which is where fixing the underlying issues would be necessary for any kind of PvP development...cause they could do all the bells and whistles: add all sorts of game types beyond just Arena, CnH, and Ker'rat; could add game lobbies for folks to set stuff up; could add leaderboards so folks could track individual and team progress; could have starter PvP, unlimited PvP; could do oh so many things...
...but in the end, you still can't take two steps without coming across something that it is either broken or massively OP compared to the next.
Until that's fixed...who the Hell would touch PvP in a game like that?
Here are some unlinked recent dev quotes...
Players have a different perspective that we sometimes take for granted due to having different information at our fingertips. Sometimes it requires that unique perspective to notice the things that we cannot.
Personally, I play plenty. But I'm not watching the digits of every single bit of XP fly by as I destroy another Kazon or Hierarchy vessel. This is admittedly my bias: I trust the data that I have access to, and don't need to be constantly charting everything that happens to be in-game on a spreadsheet or notepad. This is the type of data that goes unnoticed, while I focus on things like "am I having fun?" or "is this AI behaving as expected?" and "was that boss fight tuned to the right difficulty?"
Confirmed = Bug. This will be fixed. Enjoy it while it lasts!
And though they irk me...they fit this game fine, because it's just a casual pew pew are you having fun game. It doesn't have a competitive bone in it's body...it's just not that kind of game. It's not the foundation for any sort of PvP. So unless folks work toward fixing bugs, getting balance, creating progressive challenges...just how would there be PvP in this game?
I would like to see bug fixes too. And fixing the already-existing stuff should be the priority, not making more new content. Case in point? Defera Invasion Zone. The City was a game-breaking bug, and that took 4 years to fix. 4 YEARS! And after several years, there are KDF people who STILL cannot use several outfit slots. So, instead of planning another season, the focus should be The Big Fix.
There wouldn't, and shouldn't. If I wanted to PvP, I would start playing Team Fortress 2 again, a game that was explicitly build around PvP. STO was especially built around PvE. So when I do play STO, I want to shoot Borg. In fact, after 3 years of playing STO, my characters and ships are STILL specifically built for anti-Borg.
Place used to be a chatterbox and now nobody talks local or zone channel anymore.
Where have you been since launch? Zone is often so populated, thet you don't have time to read before it scrolls out of view. Go to (literally) ANY social zone, and you will see Zone is loaded with recruiter spam, Gorn jokes, bacon, politics, and other such nonsense. And Local is the haven for roleplayers. And the roleplayers often type in the emotes channel too.
You should have those disabled anyway. Seriously, the VERY FIRST thing you should have done when you started playing STO was to disable Zone and Local. And while you're at it, disable Emotes too. And then leave them permanently disabled.
There wouldn't, and shouldn't. If I wanted to PvP, I would start playing Team Fortress 2 again, a game that was explicitly build around PvP. STO was built around PvE. So when I do play STO, I want to shoot Borg. In fact, after 3 years of playing STO, my characters and ships are STILL specifically built for anti-Borg.
There's a big difference between having optional PvP in a game which can provide additional sources of revenue that would provide additional expansion of the game as a whole...and...it being just a PvP game.
Somebody wanting the option of having some form of balanced PvP available to them does not mean that everybody would have to PvP. Yes, it still gets into the "war" over how development resources are allocated; but unless the PvP development itself was operating at a loss - it would actually provide additional funding for the game as a whole. That would be a good thing, no?
But unless there was some basic work done to the underlying mechanics of the game - things like bug fixes, balancing abilities, having Advanced/Elite mean something, and all the rest - well, imho, it would just be a waste of resources that would go nowhere.
I grew up watching TOS in syndication...watched TNG...didn't really get into DS9/VOY/ENT. Adventure...action...the various crews facing challenges and overcoming them. That's what I'd like in STO...challenges. It would be the Star Trek thing to do.
And if STO were more like that...then, imho, there would be room to do the PvP development and profit from it for the folks that were looking for that level/type of challenge as well.
It sounds like a good start. Combining the sector space cuts down on the unnecessary. I hope that this marks the beginning of a wave of changes where the game moves in a new direction.
New content is an experiment and we've seen a prolific increase in time gates which i think have worked well enough but spinning our wheels in the same area for too long can develop an air of repetition.
I would like to see more chances, more risks taken.
New guy seems like a ST fan. Hopefully he fixes all the problems that the game has, specially with the DR mess.
On another note, mediocrity seems to be rewarded with a promotion. CTO, really?
Stephen D'Angelo has always been the CTO of Cryptic. He took on the EP role when Stahl left. My guess is to fill in while they found Stahl's replacement. If you want my opinion, wearing 2 huge hats is probably overwhelming. I know it would be for me, at least. :P
D'angelo was already CTO, and took on the role of EP as well while they found someone else i assume.
As for the sectors all being combined - it's about time. We've heard this is something they've wanted to do for awhile.
I've been looking for the Super-sector since Dan mentioned it before year 3. Ah, That would be a wonderful thing, and a good step, IMO, of things to come! (Please make sure it's [relatively] bug free, though. Humble request. :P)
Welcome, Stephen...you're taking over in a difficult time for sure, and I wish you the best as I want this game to succeed for everyone's benefit.
You'll really help yourself if you remember three things above all:
1) Customer Service
2) Quality Control
3) Two-Way Communication
Placing your emphasis on these will allow you to understand what it is that the players want and what we consider quality both in technical sense and in the sense of enjoyable, rewarding gameplay. You have a chance, as a new leader on the STO team, to change the team culture for the better. You have some individuals that we already know are very talented (never underestimate your art team), and likely others on your staff who have been hampered from living up to their full potential by lack of corporate support for them in both culture and staffing. This is especially true in the quality assurance and communications departments. I am hoping the fact that your prior position had you working closely with QA is something you will keep to the forefront of your mind and that you will fight to get them the support they deserve, both in terms of staffing and letting them have a real influence on what actually goes onto Holodeck.
There is far more detail if you set aside some time to read the review in my signature and the excellent discussion between forum posters that resulted, looking at Delta Rising as a whole, and the way that it comes together as a whole, and what can be done to fix it.
I hope to see things turn around and go in a positive direction. And don't forget to chat with us...yes, some of us have criticisms, and I know I do, but that doesn't mean I forgot you guys are human.
Christian Gaming Community Fleets--Faith, Fun, and Fellowship! See the website and PM for more. :-) Proudly F2P.Signature image by gulberat. Avatar image by balsavor.deviantart.com.
You have more resources you can use if you want. That would be the players that would help create content with the use of the Foundry tools. I would suggest opening more of those tools up and allowing players to create more with it.
You have trusted members of the pvp community that seem to really want to help and would be able to do so. Reach out to them and see if they could help create new pvp maps and maybe even create pvp type missions.
The strongest thing going for STO has been it's community. It's got one of the best communities out there and they want to help YOU make a better game and they will do so for FREE. It's win win all around.
i hope that you have the makings of a leader that can manage the ruffians that work for ya and shape them up into a more efficient crew and put nails in the coffins of some bugs and playability issues.
The weight of this responsibility may be massive but for STOs sake i hope you got what it takes.
Comments
I hope that you with your lead, the improvements at Season 10 address many issues that current exist. But change is exciting and we look forward to see what you can bring.
Snipey47a
Or will there be a massive list of DOFF assignments available, all of the ones from the entire quadrant on one map?
A lot of people rely on the DOFF system for a whole host of things, and I really hope you have a plant to make it work.
I sure dont envy you one bit. You have just inherited a Dev team that has lot their way when it comes to showing pride in their work. Im not saying that everyone is a bad apple, what Im sure of is that you do have a few of them and it only takes a few to spoil the batch.
Heres hoping you weed out the bad ones and move this game forward and push out good quality work that you all can be proud of.
Just remember youre their leader 1st and their friend 3rd.
There is absolutely no reason for the PvP players (or better stated "proponents") to put the desire for an improvement of PvP on the back burner, just as much as people who are vocal about PvE people content changes should have to put their desires on the back burner. Honestly, anyone who has to call names and act offended when someone asks for additional development on a part of the game is highly unlikely to be swayed by putting their desires on the back burner (especially when the aspect has been on the back burner for a great amount of the existence of the game). Also, anyone who has to get personal towards PvE isn't being effective either.
As far as "making PvE allies" goes, that's not what needs to be done. Everyone needs to take a chill pill and accept that change needs to come from a holistic point of view. I have seen people making things personal at people wanting PvP development for quite some time now, and not all of the pro-PvP content people started off insulting people. There has been plenty of suggestion that a "minority" wants to force things upon the "majority", while at the same time people of that same sample are saying how bad PvP is for the game and it shouldn't receive any efforts fro development. Its as if the PvP content requests meant that its proponents meant to do away with new PvE content and the people requesting it want to hurt PvE content. Heck, nobody really knows what is a ajority and what isn't , most people really dont speak their mind.
The fact is, they don't. The people who play PvP also play PvE, if a person wants gear and dil' and EC to get stuff that the game offers, they have to, and it adds to the story of the game. The poor state that PvP has been since almost the beginning has turned away a great deal of people from playing it because it is so limited in content and ways to play it. The KDF has pretty much died as a faction because of the lack of PvP content, which in the beginning was how they leveled up.
Developing PvP will actually help contribute to the development of PvE. Improved PvP will get some people that hadn't tried it out yet to give it a shot, and those who have abandoned it to come back (even those who haven't played the game for a while due to lack of interest). It would also bring the game closer to being a well rounded game, and that would go far to get more people to try. From what I have seen in this, and other, game(s) PvPers tend to spend time and money to have up to date gear. They will buy things. Extra traffic and extra purchasing will give more funds to develop the game as a whole. Some of it would go towards PvP, but the safe money is on a greater share goes to PvE because all players try that stuff. The more the dev's exercise themselves in development of different aspects of the game, the more they will learn from it as well, and would help in attracting additional talent if it becomes needed. PvP will never become a requirement, so those who don't like it dont have to play it.Will their be jerks tearing into PvE players? Sure, right now most them are also PvE players. Honestly , what does a person have to lose with getting more PvP content?
So my suggestion is that everyone stop flipping their "e-fingers" off at each other for the sake of their "e-pride", and stop looking at game content as zero sum. We all have a stake and all have something to gain.
You say you're excited to come in and see where this will go. I will tell you right now, I dread your development team battering down the sector walls. I dont see how you can pull that off without destroying the game, specially knowing how you(crytpic) release broken add-on's....good god, I can only hope you were kidding about that.
However, if you are not, please keep your team accountable for the mistakes and bugs they add into the game. Its not that difficult, maybe with new manager will be better fixes and possibly a little more inclined to listen to your player base??
Good luck Stephen, we'll be here watching :cool:
Member Access Denied Armada!
My forum single-issue of rage: Make the Proton Experimental Weapon go for subsystem targetting!
Incidentally, I always thought it'd be a neat idea for directed energy weapons to be fitted with various switchable tech mods; for example the Frequency Remodulators could be slotted into weapons when fighting Borg, and some kind of nanoprobe adapter could be slotted when facing Undine.
Commanding Officer: Captain Pyotr Ramonovich Amosov
Dedication Plaque: "Nil Intentatum Reliquit"
truth is you don't have big shoes to fill
But you do have a lot of work ahead of you
When a captian take over a new command he reads the ships log
I suggest you read the STO log..The forums
We got everything in STO but startrek , We need some star trek in STO
Like star trek realistic exploration loaded with huge planets to explore and colonize, colonys to build staff and support
ask the fan base for suggestions and you will receive a lot of good ideas
Good luck in your new post
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
My character Tsin'xing
With PWE pulling the puppet strings, only time will tell.
Join Date: Tuesday, February 2, 2010
It is the music of a people who will not be slaves again.
:P
There is a wham, bam, in our faces reason for folks to put certain things on the back burner. The game itself...just doesn't warrant it at this point. There have simply been too many changes and things broken in the past couple of years.
PvP is not a standalone element in this game. It's tied into everything else.
So...they drop out new maps? Okay, new maps with all the same broken mechanics and a majority playerbase that can't even handle missions on Normal without having to complain that the game is somehow cheating.
So...they add in a leaderboard? Great...and that fixes all the broken TRIBBLE or gets folks to want to play the game how when everything else is the same?
Almost anything added wouldn't mean TRIBBLE cause the underlying foundation is garbage for it. Broken TRIBBLE out the wahzoo, imbalance out the wahzoo, and that playerbase that's more interested in how they look for their next date on Drozana than they do about bothering to change their Subsystem Power settings.
Until things start getting fixed, until balance is addressed, until this is even a hint of a game rather than just a 3D chatroom...what good could possibly come from PvP development?
If they'd done the PvP development back before S5...it still would have been screwed up by S5 through now.
So wanting to have some PvP development in the game...yeah, it might mean having to wait for stuff to get resolved. The "I want it now" TRIBBLE is no better than all the whining about folks wanting stuff in the game now. If folks want meaningful PvP in the game, it's not going to be some magic wand that's waved and it's all better...a Hell of a lot of stuff would have to change because of the direction of the game for the past 2-3 years.
There are limited resources...any development done is going to be done instead of some other development. They are not some massive studio with folks standing around the water cooler all day bored out of their minds...they're busting their humps to meet insane production schedules that leaves TRIBBLE even more broken as time goes along. So yeah, it's a fight out there amongst the playerbase, regardless of any discussions of majority or minority...over how devopment time is allocated.
Knowing that certain things would need to be in place for any meaningful PvP development to take place, regardless of one's preference for PvP or not - the same stuff has to get done; why would it not make sense to ally with those folks that want that as well? Sure, the PvP folks want more after that - but until that happens, they're just spinning their wheels? So why not work together with those folks rather than further splitting the community?
I find it hilarious, to be honest, that your reason for the KDF dying off is the lack of PvP content. Cryptic rearranged things, added things, provided all sorts of additional content for KDF players. What's missing? Ships. Traits. Etc, etc, etc.
Which gets back to what I was saying earlier...there's a fundamental issue there with the KDF. PvP isn't going to fix that. Want more folks to play KDF? Then don't make it so freaking obvious that they're not even second class citizens in this game.
It's just mindboggling to me...do you even play this game? It's like you're saying we should paint the car cause it will look better and be more attractive to folks...meanwhile the engine is in pieces over there and the transmission is in pieces over there. I don't think there were as many bugs and out of balance things introduced between S5 and S9 as there have been since S9.5...
I don't think I've ever read something so out of touch with the state of the game.
Which is where fixing the underlying issues would be necessary for any kind of PvP development...cause they could do all the bells and whistles: add all sorts of game types beyond just Arena, CnH, and Ker'rat; could add game lobbies for folks to set stuff up; could add leaderboards so folks could track individual and team progress; could have starter PvP, unlimited PvP; could do oh so many things...
...but in the end, you still can't take two steps without coming across something that it is either broken or massively OP compared to the next.
Until that's fixed...who the Hell would touch PvP in a game like that?
Here are some unlinked recent dev quotes...
And though they irk me...they fit this game fine, because it's just a casual pew pew are you having fun game. It doesn't have a competitive bone in it's body...it's just not that kind of game. It's not the foundation for any sort of PvP. So unless folks work toward fixing bugs, getting balance, creating progressive challenges...just how would there be PvP in this game?
Just as a small PS... these updates are great, but for the love of all that is holy... PLEASE REVAMP THE EXCHANGE!
Hail Cesar!
You should have those disabled anyway. Seriously, the VERY FIRST thing you should have done when you started playing STO was to disable Zone and Local. And while you're at it, disable Emotes too. And then leave them permanently disabled.
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There's a big difference between having optional PvP in a game which can provide additional sources of revenue that would provide additional expansion of the game as a whole...and...it being just a PvP game.
Somebody wanting the option of having some form of balanced PvP available to them does not mean that everybody would have to PvP. Yes, it still gets into the "war" over how development resources are allocated; but unless the PvP development itself was operating at a loss - it would actually provide additional funding for the game as a whole. That would be a good thing, no?
But unless there was some basic work done to the underlying mechanics of the game - things like bug fixes, balancing abilities, having Advanced/Elite mean something, and all the rest - well, imho, it would just be a waste of resources that would go nowhere.
I grew up watching TOS in syndication...watched TNG...didn't really get into DS9/VOY/ENT. Adventure...action...the various crews facing challenges and overcoming them. That's what I'd like in STO...challenges. It would be the Star Trek thing to do.
And if STO were more like that...then, imho, there would be room to do the PvP development and profit from it for the folks that were looking for that level/type of challenge as well.
Congratulations on your promotion, captain!
New content is an experiment and we've seen a prolific increase in time gates which i think have worked well enough but spinning our wheels in the same area for too long can develop an air of repetition.
I would like to see more chances, more risks taken.
Thank you for your time.
Stephen D'Angelo has always been the CTO of Cryptic. He took on the EP role when Stahl left. My guess is to fill in while they found Stahl's replacement. If you want my opinion, wearing 2 huge hats is probably overwhelming. I know it would be for me, at least. :P
I've been looking for the Super-sector since Dan mentioned it before year 3. Ah, That would be a wonderful thing, and a good step, IMO, of things to come! (Please make sure it's [relatively] bug free, though. Humble request. :P)
You'll really help yourself if you remember three things above all:
1) Customer Service
2) Quality Control
3) Two-Way Communication
Placing your emphasis on these will allow you to understand what it is that the players want and what we consider quality both in technical sense and in the sense of enjoyable, rewarding gameplay. You have a chance, as a new leader on the STO team, to change the team culture for the better. You have some individuals that we already know are very talented (never underestimate your art team), and likely others on your staff who have been hampered from living up to their full potential by lack of corporate support for them in both culture and staffing. This is especially true in the quality assurance and communications departments. I am hoping the fact that your prior position had you working closely with QA is something you will keep to the forefront of your mind and that you will fight to get them the support they deserve, both in terms of staffing and letting them have a real influence on what actually goes onto Holodeck.
There is far more detail if you set aside some time to read the review in my signature and the excellent discussion between forum posters that resulted, looking at Delta Rising as a whole, and the way that it comes together as a whole, and what can be done to fix it.
I hope to see things turn around and go in a positive direction. And don't forget to chat with us...yes, some of us have criticisms, and I know I do, but that doesn't mean I forgot you guys are human.
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You have trusted members of the pvp community that seem to really want to help and would be able to do so. Reach out to them and see if they could help create new pvp maps and maybe even create pvp type missions.
The strongest thing going for STO has been it's community. It's got one of the best communities out there and they want to help YOU make a better game and they will do so for FREE. It's win win all around.
The sector space revamp is a great start, and thanks for teasing that and giving us a little bit of info.
I'd echo others and say exploration, less grind, and fixing the bugs would be the priorities I'd like to see focused on.
Cheers!
i hope that you have the makings of a leader that can manage the ruffians that work for ya and shape them up into a more efficient crew and put nails in the coffins of some bugs and playability issues.
The weight of this responsibility may be massive but for STOs sake i hope you got what it takes.