Let's keep this discussion to pre-existing forms of content (FEs, STFs, Queues, etc), instead of dreaming up new things like Exploration, since we appear to be on the strugglebus trying to just get "basic" new content.
What would you rather see?
More STFs (to grind out Marks in a different way)?
More FEs, with unique rewards? (Please clarify as to whether you would rather have 1-2 FEs that we repeat over and over for new rewards, over more missions in exchange for 'not as exciting' rewards)
More Battle Zones? Space or Ground?
More pop-up "Uh Oh" instances like Red Alerts?
More Open Zones like Ker'rat?
More PvP?
Maybe we can help the Devs out by giving them feelers what we really want to see.
More Story Oriented Content, like FE's. I don't need the unique rewards with them. Just better rewards than now.
I would also like to see Battle Grounds , both ground and space, for each Rep.
I wonder if Cryptic/PWE is finally waking up. Playerbase is at an all time low.
This is just dramatic right after a new Season.
That table doesn't say playerbase is at an all time low, this years figures on that are all 2k plus, except for january, and the low point on that table is September 2013...
<center><font size="+5"><b>Give a man a fire and he's warm for a day... Set a man on fire and he's warm for the rest of his life...</b></size></center>
"Critics who say that the optimistic utopia Star Trek depicted is now outmoded forget the cultural context that gave birth to it: Star Trek was not a manifestation of optimism when optimism was easy. Star Trek declared a hope for a future that nobody stuck in the present could believe in. For all our struggles today, we haven’t outgrown the need for stories like Star Trek. We need tales of optimism, of heroes, of courage and goodness now as much as we’ve ever needed them." -Thomas Marrone
I think PVP could be updated in a way that would benefit all. Right now pvp is like a private stf, and it doesn't work.
I think if Cryptic could figure out a way to turn them into a battlezone like area it might be better. By this I would also make it so that other players could watch the events. This way you would also expand the RP players as well into itl. They could expand worlds to add these arena's. So you could have a cold arena on Andoria for instance, so each one has a different setting with different conditions. Also I as an evil developer that I am would throw in random little things to make interesting for both sides. Like having to wear a spacesuit on one arena. Maybe use the floater for another. Maybe needing the gas mask for another. You could have a flying spacesuit (free one from episode), and ground one.
1) This could open up new areas and many different worlds. It would also be a forshadow of possible new types of play in the future. They will be smaller maps yet are there just for like a couple of people to duel.
2) Being smaller maps, you can have spectators and so the RP people will have something to add to the game too. This way you are offering something to 2 groups of players at once.
3) I would add single player gauntlets to run. These would be timed and with points. You can reset it every week or month. Listing high scores and/or best times. The object of the single player gauntlet is that it will list elite players in the top 10 score boards. It will give them a way to show off their elite skills or status.
The other thing is it will give a good testing bed for cryptic as well. Cryptic can keep a bigger private score board of like 100 players. The other point is this can give testing bed for cryptic as you create different types like basic/normal/advanced/elite/Immpossible gauntlets.
While this may seem like a cool idea it does have many flaws. The most important being how do you rank a player? You can no longer do so by level. Because you have added specializations, and we all know that when you have more of them your more powerful. If they can fix this problem they may actually be able to fix the many other game problems. This is also why normal/advanced/elite stf's also have problems.
But heavily changed.. Currently PvP is a gear-gasm/broken skills race... If need be limit PvP to Vanilla gear/ships, but I can understand if people have a hard time getting into it, with being blown up in 0.00001 seconds every time they poke a nose into a PvP area.
More FEs/STFs
But with challenging opponents. Dont just make it a "Wear down X amount of Health in Y amount of time", like most of the content is. Make NPCs individually weaker, but make up for this by making them Work together, and use their abilities intelligently.. Make them actually have resists to be debuffed, make them heal/crossheal.
Heralds is a step in the right direction. But the Heralds are still pathetically easy to fight. Heralds are effecive not because they use holds and disables, but because they flood the map with these Things. Once you know how they Work (Spam everything they have at the highest agro player - That Means, the first ship that enters range gets the probes/EMP Probes, Ionic times whatever amount in the mob) , they are really easy to fight.
Which is the underlying problem.. By increasing the challenge in NPC combat, by simply increasing their Health - You need abilities that can effective tear away that HP, any skill that are made to be effective against a 2.5mil HP NPC ship, will be kinda silly when used against a player with 50-80k HP.
Better fleshed out BOFFs/DOFFs.
Make these matter, other than simply be something you chose based on whatever trait/abilities they have (in essence they might as well be consoles with faces, they simply are nothing but a launchpad for your abilities). Add some voice acting, have the ability to actually talk with your crew. Other games have this (TOR for example).
Alignment/Reputation system.
Have NPCs react differently to you based on your prior actions.
All in all, this game is decent, but it could be so much better.
Content where you don't need a phaser to solve the problem. Of course, the optimal mission design is where there are numerous methods to solve a particular problem than just one.
This, many, many times over. Would be nice to see more missions that aren't all about pew-pew, or at least minimal pew-pew.
Resident TOS, G.I. Joe, Transformers and hair metal fangirl.
Turn the entire STO Galaxy into one huge battlezone with the Iconians, Borg, Undine, Tholians, Vaadwaur (for Delta), Felkhri, Terran Empire, et al. vying for their slice of the Alpha-Beta quadrant in a system similar to Dynaverse in the Star Fleet Command series or the Voth Dyson Sphere Battle Zones. The Story Arcs would remain as they were, playing the role of a history book on how the Feds, Romulans and Klingons got into the present 2409-2410.
As for the social zones, maybe more non-combat activities that can be done in those places like participating in a Graduation ceremony in Starfleet Academy or commissioning a new ship on ESD or the KDF Shipyards on Qonos. Perhaps a lecture or talk from you (as an Admiral) in the Vulcan Science Academy, Memory Alpha, or MACO center (depending on the type of captain you chose), evaluating Command cadets in the Kobayashi Maru, testing the melee combat prowess of cadets in the First City or perhaps R&R on Risa or Drozana, set before you log-out for the night.
Maybe a set of daily missions similar to the Officer of the Watch inside our ship interiors which accompanied by our Bridge Officers.
As for how it might be done:
We could tap the talents of the Foundry participants as some of the excellent Foundry missions have a nice mix and flow of combat and non-combat activities in their crafted missions.
A rotating series of episodes on home worlds that include new areas of Earth, Q'onos, Mol'Rihan, Vulcan, Gornar, Lethea, Terjas Mor (Orion Syndicate main area), Ferasa, Tellar, Andor, and so on.
Refurbished and imaginative Homeworlds of the main protagonists of the two factions (Gorn, Orion, Nausicaans and Vulcans, Andorians and Tellarites) with possible expansion to important "minor" places like Ferenginar.
Exploration. Even if they just bing back the old model - open-ended gameplay is not about repeating the same mission over and over again, it's facing random situations that don't play out the exact same way. There could be a whole space map to explore, randomly generated outposts for social maps, meaningful drops (hunt "Explorer sets" you can't buy in a store) etc.
Revisited old starships instead of new shinies. D'Kyr and Kumari could be complemented by a Tellarite ship and be brought up to par, Orion and Gorn vessels need a new paint brush, T6 versions of the Nebula or Vor'Cha classes - basically take a step back and improve and refurbish what we have before we get hit with another crazy load of plot and all over the place action.
^ Memory Alpha.org is not canon. It's a open wiki with arbitrary rules. Only what can be cited from an episode is. ^
"No. Men do not roar. Women roar. Then they hurl heavy objects... and claw at you." -Worf, son of Mogh
"A filthy, mangy beast, but in its bony breast beat the heart of a warrior" - "faithful" (...) "but ever-ready to follow the call of the wild." - Martok, about a Targ
"That pig smelled horrid. A sweet-sour, extremely pungent odor. I showered and showered, and it took me a week to get rid of it!" - Robert Justman, appreciating Emmy-Lou
Content where you don't need a phaser to solve the problem. Of course, the optimal mission design is where there are numerous methods to solve a particular problem than just one.
That would be nice, in theory. However, I have a feeling that in a game like this it may be an impossible mission to design a puzzle that both a) challenges you to actually think instead of just googling the solution and b) doesn't draw so many complaints from players about being "too hard" that it gets nerfed.
That would be nice, in theory. However, I have a feeling that in a game like this it may be an impossible mission to design a puzzle that both a) challenges you to actually think instead of just googling the solution and b) doesn't draw so many complaints from players about being "too hard" that it gets nerfed.
This is an excellent point. STO is just not build to be a simulator in space and a adventure game on ground and most people would be bored to death by the classic point and click adventures many of the older fans love. But sticking to combat doesn't mean it must be boring or stupid. For example, some combat in reasonable dimensions I can wrap my head around would be nice. Some "down to earth" 'villians' whose point of view may even be understandable but just can't be supported instead of weird sword and sorcery battle mages and purple cavemen with maces that are literally just comically evil.
^ Memory Alpha.org is not canon. It's a open wiki with arbitrary rules. Only what can be cited from an episode is. ^
"No. Men do not roar. Women roar. Then they hurl heavy objects... and claw at you." -Worf, son of Mogh
"A filthy, mangy beast, but in its bony breast beat the heart of a warrior" - "faithful" (...) "but ever-ready to follow the call of the wild." - Martok, about a Targ
"That pig smelled horrid. A sweet-sour, extremely pungent odor. I showered and showered, and it took me a week to get rid of it!" - Robert Justman, appreciating Emmy-Lou
I would like to see planetary Adventure Zones featuring multiple maps (similar to how Risa works) so that a level 10 player can experience one location while a level 50 experiences another
This is an excellent point. STO is just not build to be a simulator in space and a adventure game on ground and most people would be bored to death by the classic point and click adventures many of the older fans love. But sticking to combat doesn't mean it must be boring or stupid. For example, some combat in reasonable dimensions I can wrap my head around would be nice. Some "down to earth" 'villians' whose point of view may even be understandable but just can't be supported instead of weird sword and sorcery battle mages and purple cavemen with maces that are literally just comically evil.
I was actullay very pleased the other day I encountered a planetary patrol without any shooting .The reason it works is because you don't know that before you beam down , and even then enemies can pop-up at any time. I wasn't bored one second ...
I guess if there was one reasonable thing to ask for I guess it would be a level 60 battlezone, probably with the Heralds and stuff I suppose since it's the new hotness. Dyson Sphere battlezones are nice, I even enjoy the environments alone, but they're level 50 areas and we've got level 60 stuff and ridiculously stronger stuff now. So, a new battlezone, space or ground, dedicated to level 60s would be nice I guess.
Don't worry, sooner or later they'll be adding Operation Gamma. We'll all go to the Gamma Quadrant for [insert obtuse reason here] and we'll finally get to take care of those dirty Tholians and their newly acquired Weapons of Spamtastic Destruction. They'll be spamming those webs and weapon disables like never before! But wait, there's more! In the new lockbox you'll have a rare chance to acquire the foundry's "Kill Target" and "Untargetable" as ground and space abilities. DPS will be a thing of the past and soon we'll be running on KPS (kills per second).
Also, new reputation will do insane buffs to skittle-boats and rainbow beam boats. Operation Gamma will be so fabulous everyone will adore it.
(Did that make you go owww any?)
STO forum term definitions for newbies:Piloting Skill: That thing you do where you fly around and avoid big scary green plasma balls of death. Pressing F and spacebar may also relate to skill.Taco: A very sacred thing. Do not speak I'll of the Taco or things will happen. Terrible things! Humor: Something not found here. Don't bring it. This forum is serious business.Fun: Something illegal. Don't have it and don't bring it
I guess if there was one reasonable thing to ask for I guess it would be a level 60 battlezone, probably with the Heralds and stuff I suppose since it's the new hotness. Dyson Sphere battlezones are nice, I even enjoy the environments alone, but they're level 50 areas and we've got level 60 stuff and ridiculously stronger stuff now. So, a new battlezone, space or ground, dedicated to level 60s would be nice I guess.
Don't worry, sooner or later they'll be adding Operation Gamma. We'll all go to the Gamma Quadrant for [insert obtuse reason here] and we'll finally get to take care of those dirty Tholians and their newly acquired Weapons of Spamtastic Destruction. They'll be spamming those webs and weapon disables like never before! But wait, there's more! In the new lockbox you'll have a rare chance to acquire the foundry's "Kill Target" and "Untargetable" as ground and space abilities. DPS will be a thing of the past and soon we'll be running on KPS (kills per second).
Also, new reputation will do insane buffs to skittle-boats and rainbow beam boats. Operation Gamma will be so fabulous everyone will adore it.
Comments
More Story Oriented Content, like FE's. I don't need the unique rewards with them. Just better rewards than now.
I would also like to see Battle Grounds , both ground and space, for each Rep.
KDF: Dahar Master Kan (Borg Klingon Tactical)::Dahar Master Torc (Alien Science)::Dahar Master Sisteric (Gorn Engineer)
RR-Fed: Citizen Sirroc (Romulan Science)::Fleet Admiral Grell (Alien Engineer)
RR-KDF: Fleet Admiral Zemo (Reman Tactical)::Fleet Admiral Xinatek (Reman Science)::Fleet Admiral Bel (Alien Engineer)
TOS-Fed: Fleet Admiral Katem (Andorian Tactical)::Lieutenant Commander Straad (Vulcan Engineer)
Dom-Fed: Dan'Tar (Jem'Hadar Science)
Dom-KDF: Kamtana'Solan (Jem'Hadar Science)
CoHost of Tribbles in Ecstasy (Zombee)
That table doesn't say playerbase is at an all time low, this years figures on that are all 2k plus, except for january, and the low point on that table is September 2013...
Set a man on fire and he's warm for the rest of his life...</b></size></center>
"Critics who say that the optimistic utopia Star Trek depicted is now outmoded forget the cultural context that gave birth to it: Star Trek was not a manifestation of optimism when optimism was easy. Star Trek declared a hope for a future that nobody stuck in the present could believe in. For all our struggles today, we haven’t outgrown the need for stories like Star Trek. We need tales of optimism, of heroes, of courage and goodness now as much as we’ve ever needed them."
-Thomas Marrone
Yet, you dont call for removal of DPS or Space Barbie.. Why this hatred of PvP?
I think if Cryptic could figure out a way to turn them into a battlezone like area it might be better. By this I would also make it so that other players could watch the events. This way you would also expand the RP players as well into itl. They could expand worlds to add these arena's. So you could have a cold arena on Andoria for instance, so each one has a different setting with different conditions. Also I as an evil developer that I am would throw in random little things to make interesting for both sides. Like having to wear a spacesuit on one arena. Maybe use the floater for another. Maybe needing the gas mask for another. You could have a flying spacesuit (free one from episode), and ground one.
1) This could open up new areas and many different worlds. It would also be a forshadow of possible new types of play in the future. They will be smaller maps yet are there just for like a couple of people to duel.
2) Being smaller maps, you can have spectators and so the RP people will have something to add to the game too. This way you are offering something to 2 groups of players at once.
3) I would add single player gauntlets to run. These would be timed and with points. You can reset it every week or month. Listing high scores and/or best times. The object of the single player gauntlet is that it will list elite players in the top 10 score boards. It will give them a way to show off their elite skills or status.
The other thing is it will give a good testing bed for cryptic as well. Cryptic can keep a bigger private score board of like 100 players. The other point is this can give testing bed for cryptic as you create different types like basic/normal/advanced/elite/Immpossible gauntlets.
While this may seem like a cool idea it does have many flaws. The most important being how do you rank a player? You can no longer do so by level. Because you have added specializations, and we all know that when you have more of them your more powerful. If they can fix this problem they may actually be able to fix the many other game problems. This is also why normal/advanced/elite stf's also have problems.
PvP
But heavily changed.. Currently PvP is a gear-gasm/broken skills race... If need be limit PvP to Vanilla gear/ships, but I can understand if people have a hard time getting into it, with being blown up in 0.00001 seconds every time they poke a nose into a PvP area.
More FEs/STFs
But with challenging opponents. Dont just make it a "Wear down X amount of Health in Y amount of time", like most of the content is. Make NPCs individually weaker, but make up for this by making them Work together, and use their abilities intelligently.. Make them actually have resists to be debuffed, make them heal/crossheal.
Heralds is a step in the right direction. But the Heralds are still pathetically easy to fight. Heralds are effecive not because they use holds and disables, but because they flood the map with these Things. Once you know how they Work (Spam everything they have at the highest agro player - That Means, the first ship that enters range gets the probes/EMP Probes, Ionic times whatever amount in the mob) , they are really easy to fight.
Which is the underlying problem.. By increasing the challenge in NPC combat, by simply increasing their Health - You need abilities that can effective tear away that HP, any skill that are made to be effective against a 2.5mil HP NPC ship, will be kinda silly when used against a player with 50-80k HP.
Better fleshed out BOFFs/DOFFs.
Make these matter, other than simply be something you chose based on whatever trait/abilities they have (in essence they might as well be consoles with faces, they simply are nothing but a launchpad for your abilities). Add some voice acting, have the ability to actually talk with your crew. Other games have this (TOR for example).
Alignment/Reputation system.
Have NPCs react differently to you based on your prior actions.
All in all, this game is decent, but it could be so much better.
This, many, many times over. Would be nice to see more missions that aren't all about pew-pew, or at least minimal pew-pew.
And knowing is half the battle!
21 'til I die!
Turn the entire STO Galaxy into one huge battlezone with the Iconians, Borg, Undine, Tholians, Vaadwaur (for Delta), Felkhri, Terran Empire, et al. vying for their slice of the Alpha-Beta quadrant in a system similar to Dynaverse in the Star Fleet Command series or the Voth Dyson Sphere Battle Zones. The Story Arcs would remain as they were, playing the role of a history book on how the Feds, Romulans and Klingons got into the present 2409-2410.
As for the social zones, maybe more non-combat activities that can be done in those places like participating in a Graduation ceremony in Starfleet Academy or commissioning a new ship on ESD or the KDF Shipyards on Qonos. Perhaps a lecture or talk from you (as an Admiral) in the Vulcan Science Academy, Memory Alpha, or MACO center (depending on the type of captain you chose), evaluating Command cadets in the Kobayashi Maru, testing the melee combat prowess of cadets in the First City or perhaps R&R on Risa or Drozana, set before you log-out for the night.
Maybe a set of daily missions similar to the Officer of the Watch inside our ship interiors which accompanied by our Bridge Officers.
As for how it might be done:
We could tap the talents of the Foundry participants as some of the excellent Foundry missions have a nice mix and flow of combat and non-combat activities in their crafted missions.
Other than that, more dailies that award Dilithium, and a space battlezone for getting Iconian Marks.
KDF.
ROM.
Borg.
These three are here quite a while, and need some love.
Forget about anything else, this has priority.
Exploration. Even if they just bing back the old model - open-ended gameplay is not about repeating the same mission over and over again, it's facing random situations that don't play out the exact same way. There could be a whole space map to explore, randomly generated outposts for social maps, meaningful drops (hunt "Explorer sets" you can't buy in a store) etc.
Revisited old starships instead of new shinies. D'Kyr and Kumari could be complemented by a Tellarite ship and be brought up to par, Orion and Gorn vessels need a new paint brush, T6 versions of the Nebula or Vor'Cha classes - basically take a step back and improve and refurbish what we have before we get hit with another crazy load of plot and all over the place action.
Get the Forums Enhancement Extension!
I'd only vote for more battle zones if they shared payout with the Dino zone .
Anything else is just a waste of time & submitting to Geko's ego trip .
The last few days I've been hunting these, with some very questionable results .
It's clear that they are level based -- Klingon Rebels being the lowest level, yet often spawning far and away from Fed core space .
I also don't understand if other then the Borg ones have extended levels?
... even the Borg one (which has an AMAZING bonus level) only starts that level very rarely ...
edit : oh yeah, and as always -- I wants my old Borg STF's back ...
That would be nice, in theory. However, I have a feeling that in a game like this it may be an impossible mission to design a puzzle that both a) challenges you to actually think instead of just googling the solution and b) doesn't draw so many complaints from players about being "too hard" that it gets nerfed.
This is an excellent point. STO is just not build to be a simulator in space and a adventure game on ground and most people would be bored to death by the classic point and click adventures many of the older fans love. But sticking to combat doesn't mean it must be boring or stupid. For example, some combat in reasonable dimensions I can wrap my head around would be nice. Some "down to earth" 'villians' whose point of view may even be understandable but just can't be supported instead of weird sword and sorcery battle mages and purple cavemen with maces that are literally just comically evil.
Get the Forums Enhancement Extension!
1. More battle zones (so those of us who enjoy episodes have something to do while we're waiting for the next ones to come out)
2. More queues like Brotherhood of the Sword, which employ strategy as much as combat
3. More episodes
I was actullay very pleased the other day I encountered a planetary patrol without any shooting .The reason it works is because you don't know that before you beam down , and even then enemies can pop-up at any time. I wasn't bored one second ...
Don't worry, sooner or later they'll be adding Operation Gamma. We'll all go to the Gamma Quadrant for [insert obtuse reason here] and we'll finally get to take care of those dirty Tholians and their newly acquired Weapons of Spamtastic Destruction. They'll be spamming those webs and weapon disables like never before! But wait, there's more! In the new lockbox you'll have a rare chance to acquire the foundry's "Kill Target" and "Untargetable" as ground and space abilities. DPS will be a thing of the past and soon we'll be running on KPS (kills per second).
Also, new reputation will do insane buffs to skittle-boats and rainbow beam boats. Operation Gamma will be so fabulous everyone will adore it.
(Did that make you go owww any?)
lol yes.... this made me go "owww" and "AHHHH!"