Im going to quote myself to emphasise the fact these are serious question id love to have answered im not being snarky.
But by not answering them it will prove my point which is we dont ask question since they dont get answered thus we assume the worst.
So please cryptic i invite you to answer them
You seem to have missed the point. I wasn't asking why players don't ask about the next season. I was asking why players now ask about the next season even before the new season is out yet.
Doesn't matter much, I just found it kind of amusing.
As for your questions, I totally understand wanting to know what's coming up, but there's a reason no devs answer those. We'd be fired if we did. We have all signed NDAs, and there are serious consequences when we disclose stuff before it's official.
I actually got in a bit of hot water after I started talking about the revamp to Sector Space after SalamiInferno teased it. I thought we were clear to talk, but the tease was not a full announcement, so I wasn't supposed to.
So, yes. We're careful about what we talk about. We can talk about stuff on live or on Tribble all you want. But future stuff is bad juju.
I can probably say that at this point there is a rough outline for S11 and beyond. I mentioned that I had been reading some story stuff lately, and I liked where it was going. Nothing concrete has been done with it yet.
Edit: Also, everything Iconians said in response to this same post.
I have a question: do you think making a few queues to a new reputation at that new reputations launch only to, a few months down the line, add more content for that reputation even though everyone has already done the reputation is worth doing?
STO will be actively developed as long as people are spending enough money to justify that level of development. If Champs were making as much money as STO, it would be getting more development; sadly it is not. But the point remains, as long as the money is flowing in, the development continues.
Truer words have never been typed on the forums, methinks.
Game Development is directly proportional to revenue generated.
So long as a game is making more money than it costs to run, it will continue to run. And luckily, the costs to run a game are very scalable. The Dev team is most of the cost of running a game, and we can have more or fewer devs depending on the money coming in.
STO has a dev team proportional to it's revenue.
NW has a dev team proportional to it's revenue.
Champs has a dev team proportional to it's revenue.
For the most part, there are very few scenarios where a game will simply shut down out of the blue.
From what ive seen, mostly because they see the iconians as the "ultimate enemy" and automatically assume in their heads that because they see them as the ultimate enemy in the lore then that bassically means the game will end. lol which is dumb.
The fact that people keep comparing them to the reapers doesnt help either lol.
people are thinking way to small though. they seem to think the universe is the size of texas for some reason lol and that we wont encounter anything else
others are just extremely lazy trolls.
The fact that they are the ultimate enemy can also mean that it will take several seasons to defeat them. And historically, in Star Trek, defeated enemies become allies. We still have to see the Gamma Quadrant and Uneasy Allies opened a very interesting door: the Dyson sphere we were on was in the Andromeda Galaxy. Exploration and conquest!
Tacofangs pointed out in tweet that we have gone from asking What's Next after a season launches to demanding to know what the plans are for the NEXT season.
Why are we doing this? A good number of people in the various chats I frequent in-game see the Iconian War season as "the last season" and are adamant that the game is closing down sometime after the season launches.
Most conversations consist of "not buying any T-6 content or keys for Iconian boxes because the game is slated to shut down at the conclusion of this season."
First of all, I need to see some actual proof. Second, why would the game suddenly end after the launch of a season? And third, if you suddenly withhold cashflow to the game it WILL close!
I've worked for companies that have changed owners and had layoffs and are still around churning out product and services. I don't see PW's trouble as a sign, nor do I worry about the 'layoffs.' In fact since the last changing of the guard (new Big Boss) certain bugs have been stomped on, and there has been an increase in communication. Don't believe me? Look at twitter, Dev posts and so forth.
Since I joined this game all the way back at the end of Beta, people have been crying "oh woe the game is on the verge of shutting down." Every time there is a hiccup, every time there is a glitch, and every time there is a news-post about corporate.
So out with it, STO-ers. Why do we as a fanbase have this morbid insistence that the game is constantly on the verge of failure and ruin... why are we all so convinced (since season 4) that the game is one more release away from shutdown?
In all serious-ness, I think we'll see the end coming by months.
As you've pointed out, some Devs are more open than others and they'll be the canaries in our mine.
When even they fall silent...yeah...something's in the air.
Then, we'll get the announcement.
Of course, Cryptic will milk STO until the last second.
If you have your sights on that discount pack, get it now so you'll have time to enjoy it...I believe they only have 1 year planned out.
NO to ARC RIP KDF and PvP 2014-07-17 Season 9.5 - Death by Dev
I am going to disagree here - as I have complained about the lack of Content since it Launched. Delta Rising has 19 missions: the first is just a "go and talk about what is going on" and 6 of which are just a series of Patrols. So you are left with 12 unique Missions. If you can make your 10 Levels and get into your Spec tree, great! If not you are left replaying a narrow group of Missions over and over to do so - and there have been plenty of posts on the forum of people running out of Missions in the Mid-50s.
Actually my Delta Recruits are all in their mid-50's and have not completed the pre-DR missions yet. I might hit 60 before I start doing them. I wasn't planning on creating Delta recruits at first but I have to admit I like them.
Also, could the Iconians be "fleeing" the Andromeda Galaxy? Is the Kelvan Empire too strong for them?
First of all, the Iconians are not the only ancient super power out there. There is races much older then they are, one we already meet -the voth-. But in STO they are only a fraction of how strong they truely are, according to Voyager show (voth are like 50+ million of years old, while Iconians are only 1-2 million). Then you got the Caretakers, a race the <seeded> the galaxy with life, yes it is said they are completely dead. But same was said about the Iconians, and here they are ready to fight us.
Then you got the Q (we know they are not going to do anything except mess with us a little), who we have learned there as a few races out there about as strong as they are themselves. One of which Kirk has meet when he won in a life or dead fight with a Gorn (i can't remember their name).
So there is much more stuff that PWE-Crypic can throw at us. Some people say the borg will come back to invade, but after seeing all the story in Delta Quadrant, I don't think so. Not with the borg as divided as it is, and all the anti-borg weapons we got, heck we may even have a anti-nanobot weapon that will stop assimilation. Right now the borg is like 20% of it's strength it had back in seasons 1-4, and dropping, heck even the Voth are taking a anti-borg approach (though they don't care what side the borg are on). Only way the Borg will live though all this is if they get some Iconian tech lol.
Another thing I think may happen is the Dominion (the real Dominion, not the True-Way's Dominion) will make a come back. Like they found some Iconian or even more advanced tech, from a older race. Then learned how to use it (while keeping the Jem'Hader in line this time lol, think they learned their lesson from the last time they discovered a Iconian gateway).
The Metrons you mean? And where did the Organians go?
The fact that they are the ultimate enemy can also mean that it will take several seasons to defeat them. And historically, in Star Trek, defeated enemies become allies. We still have to see the Gamma Quadrant and Uneasy Allies opened a very interesting door: the Dyson sphere we were on was in the Andromeda Galaxy. Exploration and conquest!
You are assuming. I am not saying you are wrong but it is just a guess.
Also, they have the iconian rep starting tomorrow. If it lasts several seasons what incentive is there to do newer iconian stuff?
Typhon Pact would be nice but I'm sure there would be licensing issues.
Gamma Quadrant species? Yes bring back the Hunters and the Tosk.
The Voth return? I never considered the Voth to be vilains in the first place. Not sure.
Vidiians? It was established in Voyager that the Phage was cured. They are no longer a threat.
Maybe in fact they are still a threat, now more than ever, since they are not frantically looking for body parts while each individual of them is falling apart, but actually building an Empire now?
Star Trek Online Advancement: You start with lowbie gear, you end with Lobi gear.
Actually my Delta Recruits are all in their mid-50's and have not completed the pre-DR missions yet. I might hit 60 before I start doing them. I wasn't planning on creating Delta recruits at first but I have to admit I like them.
Your Delta Recruits took advantage of all the XP buffs for them to advance quicker. For the millions of characters in the game who were not Delta Recruits and had to go through Delta Rising only via the offered Missions when it came out 6 months ago it has been an issue.
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.
opened a very interesting door: the Dyson sphere we were on was in the Andromeda Galaxy. Exploration and conquest!
Exploration ? ... that's hilarious ... I remember when everyone told me that the DQ is the perfect opportunity for an Exploration Revamp ... I guess this "magical Unicorn" turned into the "Andromeda Galaxy" now ... but the DEVs already told us that "True Exploration" is basically impossible, so I'm not going to hold my breath ...
btw : it's a hell of a stretch ... just because the Iconian Sphere WAS suppossed to be in the "Andromeda Galaxy" ...
Patch Notes : Resolved an Issue, where people would accidently experience Fun.
Truer words have never been typed on the forums, methinks.
Game Development is directly proportional to revenue generated.
So long as a game is making more money than it costs to run, it will continue to run. And luckily, the costs to run a game are very scalable. The Dev team is most of the cost of running a game, and we can have more or fewer devs depending on the money coming in.
STO has a dev team proportional to it's revenue.
Oh dear, then the layoffs and reassignments right after DR came out really say a lot about its profitability.
For the most part, there are very few scenarios where a game will simply shut down out of the blue.
That's good to know. Even in maintenance mode I think I would still enjoy Foundry missions.
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.
Oh dear, then the layoffs and reassignments right after DR came out really say a lot about its profitability.
IIRC, STO only lost 2. NW lost 9. And the layoffs were corporate-wide: all of Perfect World's businesses lost people.
The thing to keep in mind is that PW has 19 games and several different divisions. Any area can lose money and have those losses reflected throughout the entire corporation. STO does not need to be losing money to get hit by a corporate-wide layoff.
And a final interesting point here is that the owner of the company is attempting to buy-back all of its stock and go private again. Making the company look less appealing to shareholders helps sway them to agreeing to the stock buy-back: "Look, there are layoffs! Maybe we should take that deal and sell?" Of course as a businessman I have to think, why is this guy willing to spend half-a-billion dollars to buy his company back? What does he know that I do not?
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.
There is no justification for thinking that the game is going to end anytime soon, other than that those who think so have no imagination, and cannot think of anything else to continue the story, therefore the game can't continue. There's still plenty of the trek universe to work with. And even if the story itself doesn't continue, that's still no reason to close the game. It would actually be a perfect time for the revs to focus on fixing everything and balancing everything out (including making PvP playable). The majority of players making these stupid 'games ending' threads have already quit anyway, so their opinion doesn't even matter. If there were plans to end the game, I'm sure we'd see some major changes in available ships and equipment, and their prices, to entice more spending beforehand. But so far, the trend has been pretty steady, the newer ships are getting a little more expensive each time their released, and I haven't seen prices dropping for anything else.
There is no justification for thinking that the game is going to end anytime soon, other than that those who think so have no imagination, and cannot think of anything else to continue the story, therefore the game can't continue.
Actually, you are wrong. I can imagine plenty of *real life* reasons a game could end, which have absolutely nothing to do with it's in game story. So "imagination" has nothing to do with it.
Oh dear, then the layoffs and reassignments right after DR came out really say a lot about its profitability.
Actually, the layoffs said more about NeverWinter Online's profitability as STO lost one Dev, Matt Liller (Positron); and PWE one Community Manager (Captain Smirk) - and NeverWinter lost 9 Devs , which news reports of the layoffs stated was to bring the NeverWinter Dev team in parity (size wise) with the STO Dev team.
Now obviously, things are performing below corporate expectations, or there wouldn't have been layoffs; that said, many times things perform below expectations through no real fault of the people working on them. Of late, a majority of MMO Development studios have seen cutbacks and downsizing - and in general the MMO genre has seen an 18% drop in profitability as MOBAs rise in popularity
Personally, I didn't like DR as much as I did LoR and I don't care for many recent decisions made for the overall meta game; but in general the MMO market is seeing more competition in general and most developers are seeing some downturn and downsizing as a result (some more than others.)
Formerly known as Armsman from June 2008 to June 20, 2012 PWE ARC Drone says: "Your STO forum community as you have known it is ended...Display names are irrelevant...Any further sense of community is irrelevant...Resistance is futile...You will be assimilated..."
I cant see this game ending anytime soon. They'll drag the Iconian War storyline out for about two years I reckon unless this years expansion is devoted to half a dozen meaty episodes that will cover it and conclude in epic fashion. After that, there are dozens of other directions they can go off in - this franchise and the stories within in are near limitless.
This game will only end when they stop making a decent amount of money, something I don't think they are anywhere near yet, despite the damage DR did.
Your Delta Recruits took advantage of all the XP buffs for them to advance quicker. For the millions of characters in the game who were not Delta Recruits and had to go through Delta Rising only via the offered Missions when it came out 6 months ago it has been an issue.
There are no "all the XP buffs" - the bonus XP week was basically the only major one. But having created between DR and today, I had no problems whatsoever with the required levels. Admittedly, I log on daily for doff appointments while not having the time to do a mission daily (well, my main toon has finally completed the episodes), so I will have more XP and thus a higher rank compared with somebody who does a mission a day or more. But I think, and others thought the same before, that the main problem was for toons that hit the old level cap, probably way before finishing the storyline, and thus gained XP that did not contribute to anything like "get level 55 in time" anymore. Newer toons are way higher than 50 before they enter Delta. Admittedly, the older ones are quite a few, but I do not think that the slower level progression post 50 will lead to new toons having problems - unless maybe they are only going through the main storyline, no STFs, no events, no DOff missions etc.
My mother was an epohh and my father smelled of tulaberries
Of course, Cryptic will milk STO until the last second.
Yes. they will. Of course they will. But milking a cow includes feeding the cow as long as it gives milk. And it doesn't mean slaughtering the cow before it's due. So if STO is making money, Cryptic will try to put out incentives to generate it.
My mother was an epohh and my father smelled of tulaberries
Successful games add content regularly. World of W*rCraft doesn't even add content as often as Star Trek Online gets, and it's crazy popular.
Despite the flaws... bugs, lag, inefficient game mechanics, and some reward imbalances, the game is actually fun to play. That will be enough to keep the Star Trek fans playing, while the MMO grind will keep addicted gamers gaming.
Unless the game starts badly losing cash flow for a projectable period, they won't just shut it down.
Comments
You seem to have missed the point. I wasn't asking why players don't ask about the next season. I was asking why players now ask about the next season even before the new season is out yet.
Doesn't matter much, I just found it kind of amusing.
As for your questions, I totally understand wanting to know what's coming up, but there's a reason no devs answer those. We'd be fired if we did. We have all signed NDAs, and there are serious consequences when we disclose stuff before it's official.
I actually got in a bit of hot water after I started talking about the revamp to Sector Space after SalamiInferno teased it. I thought we were clear to talk, but the tease was not a full announcement, so I wasn't supposed to.
So, yes. We're careful about what we talk about. We can talk about stuff on live or on Tribble all you want. But future stuff is bad juju.
I can probably say that at this point there is a rough outline for S11 and beyond. I mentioned that I had been reading some story stuff lately, and I liked where it was going. Nothing concrete has been done with it yet.
Edit: Also, everything Iconians said in response to this same post.
Asking hypothetically.
Truer words have never been typed on the forums, methinks.
Game Development is directly proportional to revenue generated.
So long as a game is making more money than it costs to run, it will continue to run. And luckily, the costs to run a game are very scalable. The Dev team is most of the cost of running a game, and we can have more or fewer devs depending on the money coming in.
STO has a dev team proportional to it's revenue.
NW has a dev team proportional to it's revenue.
Champs has a dev team proportional to it's revenue.
For the most part, there are very few scenarios where a game will simply shut down out of the blue.
Unless it's NCSoft.
That's what I do...
I have been playing since beta and if I did that, my liver would be the size of a basketball by now
*grins*
Unless that game belongs to EA.
The fact that they are the ultimate enemy can also mean that it will take several seasons to defeat them. And historically, in Star Trek, defeated enemies become allies. We still have to see the Gamma Quadrant and Uneasy Allies opened a very interesting door: the Dyson sphere we were on was in the Andromeda Galaxy. Exploration and conquest!
In all serious-ness, I think we'll see the end coming by months.
As you've pointed out, some Devs are more open than others and they'll be the canaries in our mine.
When even they fall silent...yeah...something's in the air.
Then, we'll get the announcement.
Of course, Cryptic will milk STO until the last second.
If you have your sights on that discount pack, get it now so you'll have time to enjoy it...I believe they only have 1 year planned out.
RIP KDF and PvP 2014-07-17 Season 9.5 - Death by Dev
Actually my Delta Recruits are all in their mid-50's and have not completed the pre-DR missions yet. I might hit 60 before I start doing them. I wasn't planning on creating Delta recruits at first but I have to admit I like them.
Also, could the Iconians be "fleeing" the Andromeda Galaxy? Is the Kelvan Empire too strong for them?
The Metrons you mean? And where did the Organians go?
As a former CoH player, that hurt, virus.
Gen
I'm sure your DPS is great, but as Kahless said, "a petaQ with high system mastery is still a petaQ." (Well, he should have said it...!)
Typhon Pact would be nice but I'm sure there would be licensing issues.
Gamma Quadrant species? Yes bring back the Hunters and the Tosk.
The Voth return? I never considered the Voth to be vilains in the first place. Not sure.
Vidiians? It was established in Voyager that the Phage was cured. They are no longer a threat.
The Borg are far from gone. They are the ultimate enemy in my book.
Mirror universe? Maybe.
You are assuming. I am not saying you are wrong but it is just a guess.
Also, they have the iconian rep starting tomorrow. If it lasts several seasons what incentive is there to do newer iconian stuff?
Exploration ? ... that's hilarious ... I remember when everyone told me that the DQ is the perfect opportunity for an Exploration Revamp ... I guess this "magical Unicorn" turned into the "Andromeda Galaxy" now ... but the DEVs already told us that "True Exploration" is basically impossible, so I'm not going to hold my breath ...
btw : it's a hell of a stretch ... just because the Iconian Sphere WAS suppossed to be in the "Andromeda Galaxy" ...
Oh dear, then the layoffs and reassignments right after DR came out really say a lot about its profitability.
That's good to know. Even in maintenance mode I think I would still enjoy Foundry missions.
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.
The thing to keep in mind is that PW has 19 games and several different divisions. Any area can lose money and have those losses reflected throughout the entire corporation. STO does not need to be losing money to get hit by a corporate-wide layoff.
And a final interesting point here is that the owner of the company is attempting to buy-back all of its stock and go private again. Making the company look less appealing to shareholders helps sway them to agreeing to the stock buy-back: "Look, there are layoffs! Maybe we should take that deal and sell?" Of course as a businessman I have to think, why is this guy willing to spend half-a-billion dollars to buy his company back? What does he know that I do not?
Yeah, that's why I wish Champs had the foundry. But that is never going to happen at this point
The-Grand-Nagus
Join Date: Sep 2008
Actually, you are wrong. I can imagine plenty of *real life* reasons a game could end, which have absolutely nothing to do with it's in game story. So "imagination" has nothing to do with it.
The-Grand-Nagus
Join Date: Sep 2008
Actually, the layoffs said more about NeverWinter Online's profitability as STO lost one Dev, Matt Liller (Positron); and PWE one Community Manager (Captain Smirk) - and NeverWinter lost 9 Devs , which news reports of the layoffs stated was to bring the NeverWinter Dev team in parity (size wise) with the STO Dev team.
Now obviously, things are performing below corporate expectations, or there wouldn't have been layoffs; that said, many times things perform below expectations through no real fault of the people working on them. Of late, a majority of MMO Development studios have seen cutbacks and downsizing - and in general the MMO genre has seen an 18% drop in profitability as MOBAs rise in popularity
http://www.superdataresearch.com/market-data/mmo-market/
Personally, I didn't like DR as much as I did LoR and I don't care for many recent decisions made for the overall meta game; but in general the MMO market is seeing more competition in general and most developers are seeing some downturn and downsizing as a result (some more than others.)
PWE ARC Drone says: "Your STO forum community as you have known it is ended...Display names are irrelevant...Any further sense of community is irrelevant...Resistance is futile...You will be assimilated..."
This game will only end when they stop making a decent amount of money, something I don't think they are anywhere near yet, despite the damage DR did.
There are no "all the XP buffs" - the bonus XP week was basically the only major one. But having created between DR and today, I had no problems whatsoever with the required levels. Admittedly, I log on daily for doff appointments while not having the time to do a mission daily (well, my main toon has finally completed the episodes), so I will have more XP and thus a higher rank compared with somebody who does a mission a day or more. But I think, and others thought the same before, that the main problem was for toons that hit the old level cap, probably way before finishing the storyline, and thus gained XP that did not contribute to anything like "get level 55 in time" anymore. Newer toons are way higher than 50 before they enter Delta. Admittedly, the older ones are quite a few, but I do not think that the slower level progression post 50 will lead to new toons having problems - unless maybe they are only going through the main storyline, no STFs, no events, no DOff missions etc.
Yes. they will. Of course they will. But milking a cow includes feeding the cow as long as it gives milk. And it doesn't mean slaughtering the cow before it's due. So if STO is making money, Cryptic will try to put out incentives to generate it.
Despite the flaws... bugs, lag, inefficient game mechanics, and some reward imbalances, the game is actually fun to play. That will be enough to keep the Star Trek fans playing, while the MMO grind will keep addicted gamers gaming.
Unless the game starts badly losing cash flow for a projectable period, they won't just shut it down.
Captaincy, Excelsior-Class U.S.S. Bianca Beauchamp NCC-99947-F
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
Answers are here = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hmr_I6gBXjc