Glad they are removing almost all of the sector blocks loading screens, about time. It would have been great if they added the sectors for Iconia and other planets instead of taking the shortcut and simply moving them to different sectors.
The tour of the galaxy looks more interesting now. An they actually up the award on something, they were determine to keep this a good news only blog:P, give it a month after a release those rewards will be decrease again.
My only complaint is that I wish they finally they gotten rid of transwarp, having three engine types on a single vessel is silly, it would be far better if it was just warp drive and slip streams and actually force people to travel an explore sector space instead of just teleporting every, which transwarp effectively is.
I wish they bring back random encounters, traveling through sector space needs to serve a purpose and that purpose should be random encounters which goes beyond the standard blow everything, add a few puzzles and few of the high quality foundry episodes. Lots of xp opportunities.
I'm glad they improve the size ratio between planets and ships to something a little bit more sensible.
Theres actually 4 if you count impulse engines as well. but there was ships in star trek that had transwarp i.e The Excelsior so onc they got round Scottys sabotage they would want to put it on the long range exploration ships. and quantum slipstream is seen on the show as well. So i'm glad there keeping it in game there is nothing about this blog i hate i just hope the future blogs are also good news
NO TO ARC
Vice Admiral Volmack ISS Thundermole
Brigadier General Jokag IKS Gorkan
Centurion Kares RRW Tomalak
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
Theres actually 4 if you count impulse engines as well. but there was ships in star trek that had transwarp i.e The Excelsior so onc they got round Scottys sabotage they would want to put it on the long range exploration ships. and quantum slipstream is seen on the show as well. So i'm glad there keeping it in game there is nothing about this blog i hate i just hope the future blogs are also good news
5 if you count thrusters they have. I just think it would be better if we remove transwarp that way people have to travel in about in the world.
Im really excited for this, no more tedious loading screens, and space travel now feels like your traveling thru space, however I do have a few questions, I did ask them in this thread but they went unanswered, probably swamped by all the Sol System should be here posts, which I think you made a good choice by having it in the Beta Quadrant as from a game play perspective its the most logical place to put it so all the playable factions homeworlds are on the same map.
But anyway my questions are...
Are the nebulas in the Delta Quadrant going to come back and are the ones in the Alpha and Beta Quadrants going to be updated, such as making them more unique from one another (different shapes and sizes)?
Are the old Exploration Clusters and Nebulas going to be updated from there old looks?
Are systems that arent stars and planets going to be updated (asteroids, anomalys, starbases)?
And are the Enemy Encounters going to be updated so they're not those red clouds with ship flying around?
I ask these as with Sector Space being updated with an awesome new look it would be cool to see the other assets to get a new look to go with it as well.
"I think, when one has been angry for a very long time, one gets used to it. And it becomes comfortable like…like old leather. And finally… it becomes so familiar that one can't remember feeling any other way."
- Jean-Luc Picard
Like the fact that the walls are FINALLY coming down. Sector space needs to be bigger though, constantly running into star's sucks. Also I think a revamp of Earth is in-order as well. We need Starfleet HQ or even San Fransisco itself as a playable social zone. Heck more social zones period are needed. I would love to see more planets like Andoria make it into the game. Zone's that serve no function, but are iconic to visit.
Starfleet Academy is a playable social zone on Earth. Andoria also has a social zone.
That being said, I would very much like to see more social zones in general. Ferenginar would be a great place for a cross-factional stock exchange and/or traders' market. There should be social PvP/dueling on Forcas and/or Ty'Gokor (which has not yet been added to the game). I would imagine something could be done with Tellar, so that each of the four founding worlds of the Federation (well, there were five, if you count the reference guides stating that the Alpha Centauri colonies were a founding member in their own right) has its own social zone. Another cross-factional social or adventure zone on Cardassia where you could earn rewards by helping rebuild from the Dominion War (a process I believe STO lore has stated is still ongoing as of 2409) and root out True Way agents would be cool as well.
Author, "Facing the Past" and "Stepping Over the Line" (a duology), "Venus Unveiled", "Worlds of the Federation", and "Alliances and Alignments"
Member, Shadowbroker
Not linear
Starfleet Academy is a playable social zone on Earth. Andoria also has a social zone.
That being said, I would very much like to see more social zones in general. Ferenginar would be a great place for a cross-factional stock exchange and/or traders' market. There should be social PvP/dueling on Forcas and/or Ty'Gokor (which has not yet been added to the game). I would imagine something could be done with Tellar, so that each of the four founding worlds of the Federation (well, there were five, if you count the reference guides stating that the Alpha Centauri colonies were a founding member in their own right) has its own social zone. Another cross-factional social or adventure zone on Cardassia where you could earn rewards by helping rebuild from the Dominion War (a process I believe STO lore has stated is still ongoing as of 2409) and root out True Way agents would be cool as well.
Before adding more social zones, there needs to be more thought put into making the already existing ones that don't see a lot of traffic more attractive to players.
"I will make the Orion Syndicate face the light of justice or burn them with it." - Captainl Kyle Nathaniel Locke, U.S.S. Excalibur NCC-98105-C
I'm all for adding more social zones, but I guarantee that we won't be making them if they have no purpose. Andoria already gets no traffic, and it's a lot of work to build a good social zone.
Are the nebulas in the Delta Quadrant going to come back and are the ones in the Alpha and Beta Quadrants going to be updated, such as making them more unique from one another (different shapes and sizes)?
Are the old Exploration Clusters and Nebulas going to be updated from there old looks?
Are systems that aren’t stars and planets going to be updated (asteroids, anomaly’s, starbases)?
And are the Enemy Encounters going to be updated so they're not those red clouds with ship flying around?
No plans. I would love to, but this is already a massive undertaking, and we don't have time to touch up everything now. Think of this as broad strokes. We're covering the biggest offenders first (solar systems with planets, Sector borders, etc.) We can always go back at a later time and update Nebulae and such pretty easily.
Before adding more social zones, there needs to be more thought put into making the already existing ones that don't see a lot of traffic more attractive to players.
Getting a little off-topic at this point, but I think having some attractive reward for winning a certain number of duels on Andoria would draw more traffic there. And maybe there's some sequence you could perform on Vulcan once a week (participate in a ceremony, run errands for a priest, etc.) that would grant you a "serenity" buff for a few hours, as a sort of nod to the Enterprise crew recuperating there for a while after The Search for Spock.
Author, "Facing the Past" and "Stepping Over the Line" (a duology), "Venus Unveiled", "Worlds of the Federation", and "Alliances and Alignments"
Member, Shadowbroker
Not linear
I'm all for adding more social zones, but I guarantee that we won't be making them if they have no purpose. Andoria already gets no traffic, and it's a lot of work to build a good social zone.
thats the problem
you devs are the only ones who could give such public zones a purpose.
other MMOs do this much better than STO... they allow players to discover new places, do quests there... get special items from these places... rewards for doing this... rewards for doing that
There are millions of ways how to make public zones more interesting.
Andoria was ignored by the players because the devs completely dropped this place... only the devs could change this state and give players a reason to explore such places again.
Why is the Mutara Nebula located in Borg space? the original Mutara Nebula was located in Mutara Sector and the Federation had a Scientific research Station there "Regula 1" in Star Trek II. This area would seem to be sensitive given the research undertaken and I would logically think it wouldn't be located that far away, behind Romulan Space (at that time there was no trusting anyone especially the Romulans).
Sol is NOT in the Beta Quadrant, it is in the Alpha Quadrant. And there has NEVER been any contradiction to that. Not in TOS, TNG, DS9, Voyager, or Enterprise. Not. Once. Memory Alpha has this to say about it... http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Sol_system :mad:
It does look very pretty though, and I too hope it doesn't make the existing lag and graphical issues any worse. I just wish Earth was in the right place.
Delirium Tremens
XO of Training
Tier 5 Starbase, Tier 3 Embassy, Tier 3 Dilithium Mine, Tier 3 Spire
Join us at www.dtfleet.com
thats the problem
you devs are the only ones who could give such public zones a purpose.
other MMOs do this much better than STO... they allow players to discover new places, do quests there... get special items from these places... rewards for doing this... rewards for doing that
There are millions of ways how to make public zones more interesting.
Andoria was ignored by the players because the devs completely dropped this place... only the devs could change this state and give players a reason to explore such places again.
I think Cryptic is pretty well aware of who is responsible for the state of Social Zones. THat is why they don't need to make new ones just for the sake of having a zone. THere are already zones that exist just for the sake of having them, and until they offer more, why bother with a new zone?
But I think conceptually, STO is based on a franchise that were build mostly around a "planet-of-the-week" episodes. A planet appears once, and then is never seen again. Turning one of these plants into something with a lot of things to do means basically crafitng a story that is completely different from the source material.
The only exception would be a place like Deep Space Nine. It had an entire show set on it. But - it wasn't filled with hundreds of Captains either.
We're not playing Sisko in this game. We're playing Picard, Kirk or Janeway. Captains of starships, that fly through space, planet to planet, star to star.
So if the choice is between making an "activity-rich" social zone or a new mission, I think a new mission just fits the Star Trek concept better.
Star Trek Online Advancement: You start with lowbie gear, you end with Lobi gear.
thats the problem
you devs are the only ones who could give such public zones a purpose.
other MMOs do this much better than STO... they allow players to discover new places, do quests there... get special items from these places... rewards for doing this... rewards for doing that
There are millions of ways how to make public zones more interesting.
Andoria was ignored by the players because the devs completely dropped this place... only the devs could change this state and give players a reason to explore such places again.
Right. . . that's why we wouldn't make any new social zones with nothing to do. . . ? I'm not sure what your point is?
That they would be used more, if you actually put stuff there to do?
Right. . . isn't that what I'm saying?
1) Maps with nothing to do, don't get used.
2) We won't be making any more maps with nothing to do. (as per the suggestion of a post earlier in the thread)
1) Maps with nothing to do, don't get used.
2) We won't be making any more maps with nothing to do. (as per the suggestion of a post earlier in the thread)
On that note, I can't remember the last time I visited Andoria. Time to do that.
1) Maps with nothing to do, don't get used.
2) We won't be making any more maps with nothing to do. (as per the suggestion of a post earlier in the thread)
So make maps WITH things to do, that's what he's saying.
♪ I'm going around not in circles but in spirographs.
It's pretty much this hard to keep just one timeline intact. ♪
So make maps WITH things to do, that's what he's saying.
Precisely. If you put things in maps to do, players will come and do them. It doesn't mean DON'T make new sites. Just that there should be things to do at them.
Precisely. If you put things in maps to do, players will come and do them. It doesn't mean DON'T make new sites. Just that there should be things to do at them.
So like what? What would entice you to go to a social map. What could they add?
I'd go to them anyway, because I'm "that guy". But claiming no new maps, because the players at large don't use current under utilized ones, unfairly places the blame on the players.
Comments
Theres actually 4 if you count impulse engines as well. but there was ships in star trek that had transwarp i.e The Excelsior so onc they got round Scottys sabotage they would want to put it on the long range exploration ships. and quantum slipstream is seen on the show as well. So i'm glad there keeping it in game there is nothing about this blog i hate i just hope the future blogs are also good news
Vice Admiral Volmack ISS Thundermole
Brigadier General Jokag IKS Gorkan
Centurion Kares RRW Tomalak
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
Kanharn's Memory Alpha.
5 if you count thrusters they have. I just think it would be better if we remove transwarp that way people have to travel in about in the world.
But anyway my questions are...
Are the nebulas in the Delta Quadrant going to come back and are the ones in the Alpha and Beta Quadrants going to be updated, such as making them more unique from one another (different shapes and sizes)?
Are the old Exploration Clusters and Nebulas going to be updated from there old looks?
Are systems that arent stars and planets going to be updated (asteroids, anomalys, starbases)?
And are the Enemy Encounters going to be updated so they're not those red clouds with ship flying around?
I ask these as with Sector Space being updated with an awesome new look it would be cool to see the other assets to get a new look to go with it as well.
- Jean-Luc Picard
Starfleet Academy is a playable social zone on Earth. Andoria also has a social zone.
That being said, I would very much like to see more social zones in general. Ferenginar would be a great place for a cross-factional stock exchange and/or traders' market. There should be social PvP/dueling on Forcas and/or Ty'Gokor (which has not yet been added to the game). I would imagine something could be done with Tellar, so that each of the four founding worlds of the Federation (well, there were five, if you count the reference guides stating that the Alpha Centauri colonies were a founding member in their own right) has its own social zone. Another cross-factional social or adventure zone on Cardassia where you could earn rewards by helping rebuild from the Dominion War (a process I believe STO lore has stated is still ongoing as of 2409) and root out True Way agents would be cool as well.
Member, Shadowbroker
Not linear
Before adding more social zones, there needs to be more thought put into making the already existing ones that don't see a lot of traffic more attractive to players.
a reason to visit them
no need to add more andoria like worlds that nobody visits
No plans. I would love to, but this is already a massive undertaking, and we don't have time to touch up everything now. Think of this as broad strokes. We're covering the biggest offenders first (solar systems with planets, Sector borders, etc.) We can always go back at a later time and update Nebulae and such pretty easily.
Getting a little off-topic at this point, but I think having some attractive reward for winning a certain number of duels on Andoria would draw more traffic there. And maybe there's some sequence you could perform on Vulcan once a week (participate in a ceremony, run errands for a priest, etc.) that would grant you a "serenity" buff for a few hours, as a sort of nod to the Enterprise crew recuperating there for a while after The Search for Spock.
Member, Shadowbroker
Not linear
thats the problem
you devs are the only ones who could give such public zones a purpose.
other MMOs do this much better than STO... they allow players to discover new places, do quests there... get special items from these places... rewards for doing this... rewards for doing that
There are millions of ways how to make public zones more interesting.
Andoria was ignored by the players because the devs completely dropped this place... only the devs could change this state and give players a reason to explore such places again.
No too keen on this, but maybe a update/adding of a dueling system would be better. At least a few more arena options.
Why is the Mutara Nebula located in Borg space? the original Mutara Nebula was located in Mutara Sector and the Federation had a Scientific research Station there "Regula 1" in Star Trek II. This area would seem to be sensitive given the research undertaken and I would logically think it wouldn't be located that far away, behind Romulan Space (at that time there was no trusting anyone especially the Romulans).
Just a thought.
It does look very pretty though, and I too hope it doesn't make the existing lag and graphical issues any worse. I just wish Earth was in the right place.
XO of Training
Tier 5 Starbase, Tier 3 Embassy, Tier 3 Dilithium Mine, Tier 3 Spire
Join us at www.dtfleet.com
I think Cryptic is pretty well aware of who is responsible for the state of Social Zones. THat is why they don't need to make new ones just for the sake of having a zone. THere are already zones that exist just for the sake of having them, and until they offer more, why bother with a new zone?
But I think conceptually, STO is based on a franchise that were build mostly around a "planet-of-the-week" episodes. A planet appears once, and then is never seen again. Turning one of these plants into something with a lot of things to do means basically crafitng a story that is completely different from the source material.
The only exception would be a place like Deep Space Nine. It had an entire show set on it. But - it wasn't filled with hundreds of Captains either.
We're not playing Sisko in this game. We're playing Picard, Kirk or Janeway. Captains of starships, that fly through space, planet to planet, star to star.
So if the choice is between making an "activity-rich" social zone or a new mission, I think a new mission just fits the Star Trek concept better.
Right. . . that's why we wouldn't make any new social zones with nothing to do. . . ? I'm not sure what your point is?
Right. . . isn't that what I'm saying?
1) Maps with nothing to do, don't get used.
2) We won't be making any more maps with nothing to do. (as per the suggestion of a post earlier in the thread)
Big epic fights... buildings blowing up... pew pew pew.
Anyway... sector space... yay!! :P
On that note, I can't remember the last time I visited Andoria. Time to do that.
Why don't y'all use that for a winter event?
So make maps WITH things to do, that's what he's saying.
It's pretty much this hard to keep just one timeline intact. ♪
probably the same reason it isnt held on rura penthe...
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Precisely. If you put things in maps to do, players will come and do them. It doesn't mean DON'T make new sites. Just that there should be things to do at them.
Nah, they'd much rather just not make maps at all.
So like what? What would entice you to go to a social map. What could they add?
Wha? Where did you get that!?
I'm not sure how else to say this. So I'll just overemphasize things to try and get it across.
Someone said we should make MORE social zones, even if there's NOTHING TO DO.
I responded that we weren't likely to make MORE maps with NOTHING TO DO.
i.e. The new maps we DO make, will have THINGS TO DO.
I am not saying we won't make more maps, or that we won't make more things to do. I'm saying both of those things will happen.
Can we move the discussion of how "the devs should make things to do in the game," to another thread, and leave this to Sector Space?