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TRIBBLE MAINTENANCE AND RELEASE NOTES - June 1, 2016

coldsnappedcoldsnapped Member Posts: 520 Cryptic Developer
Tribble has been updated to: ST.64.20160526a.3.

*Only Gold and Lifetime Account players can access Tribble to view the new Agents of Yesterday content*

New Features:

New Episode: The Core of the Matter
  • Travel to the mysterious Romulan research facility of the Galorndon Core before it was turned into an unstable planet plagued by severe electromagnetic storms.
  • The episode can be found in the Yesterday’s War journal tab.
  • This episode is for level 19 Captains.
  • This episode can be played by all players on each faction.
  • Complete the hand-off mission “The Once and Future Agent” prior to beginning this episode.
  • At this time, this episode can only be played once.
    • In the near future, this can be replayed like other episodes.
  • For more details, visit the Core of the Matter blog at: http://www.arcgames.com/en/games/star-trek-online/news/detail/9994293-star-trek-online:-galorndon-core

General:
  • Resolved an issue that caused the Type F Shuttle to cost 1 EC for TOS Captains.
    • Now it costs 1 Shuttle Token.
  • Added new TOS themed icons throughout the TOS faction.
  • TOS captains now have TOS style beam outs and ins.
  • Resolved an issue where Uncommon/Green and VeryRare/Purple Specialization Kit Modules were unlocking on the store, and available for use, one point before they should have been.
  • Corrected the name of the 6th anniversary party popper to "Explosive Party Popper."
  • Some ground abilities that spawn hazard areas will no longer apply Damage-Over-Time effects that linger on targets after they leave the hazard area.
  • To compensate for this, the hazards themselves have had their lifespans increased. This affects the following abilities:
    • Plasma Grenade
    • Cryo Grenade
    • Exothermic Induction Field
  • Updated the registry numbers on TOS ships so that they have the appropriate spacing.
  • Now player ships will have widely-spaced numbers like the original Enterprise.
  • Updated the nacelle dome spin on TOS ships so that the spin on each dome is spinning to the "outside" of the ship, per canon.
  • Resolved a subtle seam in the model of top of the Pioneer's nacelle struts.
  • Removed the Seven of Nine hands from Female TOS characters.
  • The Space Trait "Secret Command Codes" no longer activates when you cloak or leave cloak.

Content:
  • The Taurean Affair:
    • Dislodging Klingons: Resolved the issue where the targets in the shooting range would quickly pop up then disappear.
    • Dislodging Klingons: Added a waypoint for science objective "Bring the Sensors Back Online".
    • Bull by the Horns: Resolved an issue with the waypoint being incorrect during "Talk to Ensign Mears" objective.
    • Bull by the Horns: Moved the respawn point to a safer location for the Defeat Klingon Assault squad objective.
    • Search and Rescue: Resolved an issue where exiting the client during objective "Drive off the Taurean" caused Taurean to disappear when reclogging blocking progression.
    • Bull by the Horns: Resolved an issue where Flores, Okamura, Skial reset during Taurus II missions.
  • Shadow of Cestus:
    • At the end of act 2, scientists now run over to the side of the shuttle and then disappear, instead of running off to another point and then beaming out.
    • Changed animation for placing the bamboo pipe bombs, so it no longer looks like punching a code into a keypad.
    • Map now displays the correct name of the map.
  • Return to Babel:
    • Being on Deck 5 now places a TOS uniform on the player.
    • Improvements made to the cutscenes.
  • Temporal Front: Resolved an issue where the USS Pastak followed the player’s ship a little too closely.
  • Removed duplicate vendor on Bajor: Hathon.
  • Resolved an issue with the Federation Siege Breaker accolade (KDF) to correctly track the defeat of the U.S.S. Marlowe.
  • Welcome to Earth Spacedock cannot be replayed by TOS characters.

Known Issues:
  • The TOS Captains and missions are all a work in progress.
  • Players that have already claimed the Constitution Class Starship will not see the updated art.
    • Go into the ship tailor with the ship and alter the costume to make all updates appear.

Comments

  • daveynydaveyny Member Posts: 8,227 Arc User
    Thank You for the opportunity to try these missions out early.
    B)
    STO Member since February 2009.
    I Was A Trekkie Before It Was Cool ... Sept. 8th, 1966 ... Not To Mention Before Most Folks Around Here Were Born!
    Forever a STO Veteran-Minion
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  • risian4risian4 Member Posts: 3,711 Arc User
    edited June 2016
    Regarding the changes to Exothermic induction field and plasma grenades:

    Won't this change make those powers practically useless*? Most enemies leave the DOT-area in, say, two or three seconds. Those that are too slow to quickly leave the area like the Borg sometimes jump literally 5 or 6 meters high to get around the fire.

    It also means that, in fact, all enemies get a cleanse power, something players don't automatically get when suffering from DOT effects. This seems a bit weird: I set an enemy on fire, and the moment they move away from the fire, all the flames that had already caught them are suddenly extinguished?

    Might as well remove the DOT-effect entirely and just increase the base damage of the initial impact. Or, what would be a better option I think, instead of increasing the duration of the fire / plasma, why not increase its radius? That would make this change less painful. I don't think that increasing the lifespan of the power will be enough to keep these abilities useful given how quickly most enemies get away from them (or cheat their way out of it :p ). Or perhaps consider adding a slow effect to these powers?

    Heralds will likely suffer much less anyway from these powers, regardless of how players are compensated, but for enemies like the Voth, Vaadwaur and many others these alternative ways of compensating players could mean the difference between making these things next-to-useless powers and something that can still be useful if activated at the right time/location.

    I don't know what the reasons are for changing these things of course, but these are just some ideas that may be worth considering.


    * Unless maybe when used in combination with other Sci powers that slow down enemies, but well, we only have so many kit modules and it would basically mean we'd have to sacrifice another slot to make these powers useful again ;) .
  • borticuscrypticborticuscryptic Member Posts: 2,478 Cryptic Developer
    Similar feedback was given elsewhere, regarding NPCs quickly exiting hazard patches as soon as they are applied. It's something we'll look into improving, as you're correct in pointing out that it limits the damage potential of these abilities fairly markedly.

    In the meantime, maybe it's best to have Knock, Hold or Root abilities handy if you want to get the best performance from hazard abilities.

    As for the reasons behind the change, there are a few:

    1) We wanted to more clearly separate the mechanics of a DOT (a duration-based damage effect) from a Hazard (a thing that does damage while you're within it), and so having Hazards that afflict DOTs really confuses the issue.

    2) The presence of DOT effects on these abilities caused bugs in the form of "an unknown entity" entries in your Combat Log, when the hazard entity expired but the DOT was still active.

    3) The idea of a periodically-applied periodic effect is not just messy, but is practically impossible to describe on a tooltip in a way that we were happy with, and that players can easily understand.

    I hope that helps explain the situation a bit more clearly.
    Jeremy Randall
    Cryptic - Lead Systems Designer
    "Play smart!"
  • risian4risian4 Member Posts: 3,711 Arc User
    It does. Thank you Borticus.

    I guess my Scientists will, in the end, have to be more than just the destructive kind they are now an start experimenting a bit with alternative stuff :p
  • kirimuffinkirimuffin Member Posts: 695 Arc User
    TOS captains now have TOS style beam outs and ins.

    ...that work exactly the same as they did in the previous patch, with none of their issues fixed.
  • monkeybone13monkeybone13 Member Posts: 4,640 Arc User
    edited June 2016
    Similar feedback was given elsewhere, regarding NPCs quickly exiting hazard patches as soon as they are applied. It's something we'll look into improving, as you're correct in pointing out that it limits the damage potential of these abilities fairly markedly.

    In the meantime, maybe it's best to have Knock, Hold or Root abilities handy if you want to get the best performance from hazard abilities.

    As for the reasons behind the change, there are a few:

    1) We wanted to more clearly separate the mechanics of a DOT (a duration-based damage effect) from a Hazard (a thing that does damage while you're within it), and so having Hazards that afflict DOTs really confuses the issue.

    2) The presence of DOT effects on these abilities caused bugs in the form of "an unknown entity" entries in your Combat Log, when the hazard entity expired but the DOT was still active.

    3) The idea of a periodically-applied periodic effect is not just messy, but is practically impossible to describe on a tooltip in a way that we were happy with, and that players can easily understand.

    I hope that helps explain the situation a bit more clearly.

    So that explains the 'unknown entity' in the combat log after all these years.

    The changes are understandable, but I don't like the idea of having to take other kit abilities and/or powers to compensate for it.

    It is what it is I guess.
  • mhall85mhall85 Member Posts: 2,852 Arc User1
    Yes, the TOS beaming effects don't seem to work on TOS maps, like TOS ESD.

    Also, I can't access the handoff mission in the new arc on my level 60 FED. Agent Cray won't give me the mission, and I got a message that said "The timeline is stable, we'll contact you if it changes." :confused:
    d87926bd02aaa4eb12e2bb0fbc1f7061.jpg
  • daveynydaveyny Member Posts: 8,227 Arc User
    edited June 2016
    My TOS toon has the TOS Transporter effect when beaming out, but it cuts away to a black screen after a second and I just hear the effect, I don't get to see it.
    Beaming in, I again hear the effect, but only see a vague outline for a second before it cuts out and my TOS Toon suddenly just appears out of thin air when the sound effect finishes.

    Also, my ENG Toon is also unable to obtain the ENG Accolade in the "Stranded in Space" mission.
    I get the first console call up, but the back left hand corner console that finishes the accolade doesn't activate.

    One other thing, I'm still using my Pioneer TOS starship and when I go to the transporter room during the "Stranded in Space" mission, I get the current modern Transporter room.

    It's quite jarring, since my 2270 ship hasn't been in dry-dock long enough at this point in the game, to have been upgraded.
    B)
    STO Member since February 2009.
    I Was A Trekkie Before It Was Cool ... Sept. 8th, 1966 ... Not To Mention Before Most Folks Around Here Were Born!
    Forever a STO Veteran-Minion
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  • oldkhemaraaoldkhemaraa Member Posts: 1,039 Arc User
    Yep, gonna need some TOS ships..I'm assuming most of those in the packs are the cryptic store ships and not the "stock" TOS ships...

    And what we need isn't a tier 6 Connie, what we need is a TOS Connie of the proper tier!.. I'm pointing at same same tier as a K'tinga . TOS parts and Movie parts in the ship tailor. My TOS Sci captain feels slightly strange running about in a Nova beating up TOS era hulls..

    *grumble grumble grumble grumble*

    Patching..





    "I aim to misbehave" - Malcolm Reynolds
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  • djmarr1964djmarr1964 Member Posts: 232 Arc User
    edited June 2016
    Just made another toon to re-run the whole line and noticed that the Tutorial of the TOS captians still has Captain Garret's feet stuck in the floor and when talking with Daniels in the new mission he is stuck in the floor hopefully these minor bugs will be noticed by others
    Edit : also just noticed in the transporter room there is a transporter bit above the control panel
    The True King In The North
  • tyrionjkirktyrionjkirk Member Posts: 95 Arc User
    risian4 wrote: »
    Regarding the changes to Exothermic induction field and plasma grenades:

    Won't this change make those powers practically useless*? Most enemies leave the DOT-area in, say, two or three seconds. Those that are too slow to quickly leave the area like the Borg sometimes jump literally 5 or 6 meters high to get around the fire.

    It also means that, in fact, all enemies get a cleanse power, something players don't automatically get when suffering from DOT effects. This seems a bit weird: I set an enemy on fire, and the moment they move away from the fire, all the flames that had already caught them are suddenly extinguished?

    Might as well remove the DOT-effect entirely and just increase the base damage of the initial impact. Or, what would be a better option I think, instead of increasing the duration of the fire / plasma, why not increase its radius? That would make this change less painful. I don't think that increasing the lifespan of the power will be enough to keep these abilities useful given how quickly most enemies get away from them (or cheat their way out of it :p ). Or perhaps consider adding a slow effect to these powers?

    Heralds will likely suffer much less anyway from these powers, regardless of how players are compensated, but for enemies like the Voth, Vaadwaur and many others these alternative ways of compensating players could mean the difference between making these things next-to-useless powers and something that can still be useful if activated at the right time/location.

    I don't know what the reasons are for changing these things of course, but these are just some ideas that may be worth considering.


    * Unless maybe when used in combination with other Sci powers that slow down enemies, but well, we only have so many kit modules and it would basically mean we'd have to sacrifice another slot to make these powers useful again ;) .

    I agree with you entirely. This change makes no sense at all from a if I set someone on fire just because they leave the area they will automatically not be on fire. This power was the backbone of my Science character in single player content. Most of the science powers do not do much damage and this was the standout power. Science always getting slapped in the face.

    In order for this to be re-balanced the initial blast needs to do no less then 25% more damage. Also a 1 to 2 second stun effect should be added to it. If you got set a blaze in real life you would not have the ability to react instantly to get out of the fire you would be in shock from the event. That would keep the enemies in the effected area longer and be less cheaty.

    But it still comes down to the fact that you are making the power less realistic. Which I know sounds silly we are all playing a game but this is a science based power and removing the real science effect makes no sense. This makes me not want to play my science character at all.
  • adwynythadwynyth Member Posts: 369 Arc User
    1) We wanted to more clearly separate the mechanics of a DOT (a duration-based damage effect) from a Hazard (a thing that does damage while you're within it), and so having Hazards that afflict DOTs really confuses the issue.
    To be honest, this seems like a theoretical problem that ignores the practicality of the powers. Lots of hazards cause DoTs, and something like a plasma grenade SHOULD cause a DoT. It's setting someone ON FIRE, for Kirk's sake. Of course there's going o be a DoT associated with that.
    2) The presence of DOT effects on these abilities caused bugs in the form of "an unknown entity" entries in your Combat Log, when the hazard entity expired but the DOT was still active.
    Simple solution: the hazard can never expire before the DoT. Simple solution #2: all remaining DoTs expire when the hazard does. Okay, with my limited view of the game's internal workings, maybe not quite so simple, but the DoT has to have an "owner", right? Make the hazard (or the hazard's damaging entity) the owner, and when it gets dumped, so do the DoTs.
    3) The idea of a periodically-applied periodic effect is not just messy, but is practically impossible to describe on a tooltip in a way that we were happy with, and that players can easily understand.
    This is obviously anecdotal, but I've played with kids, young adults, middle-aged peeps like myself, and those who are older, including those who are avid gamers and those who had never played an MMO before, and none of them had trouble understanding the tooltips for these powers any more than any other tooltips.

    Honestly, this sounds like a change that didn't need to be made, that was perhaps in the name of "cleaner code".

    As a programmer myself, I understand the desire as well as some of the possible benefits. But gameplay > clean code, and this essentially breaks a bunch of powers in ways that make them not what they purport to be.

    A plasma grenade that doesn't set you on fire so you keep burning ISN'T a plasma grenade.

  • awlaforgeawlaforge Member Posts: 235 Arc User
    I agree that immunity from a "hazard effect" should not kick in just because someone leaves the hazard area.
    "A plasma grenade that doesn't set you on fire so you keep burning ISN'T a plasma grenade."

    Well said @adwynyth .

    Also can't get the "Core of the Matter" featured episode with Federation officers. Kingon officers do not have problem. Haven't tried with Romulan but do not expect problem.
  • psiameesepsiameese Member Posts: 1,650 Arc User
    Tribble has been updated to: ST.64.20160526a.3.

    General:
    • Updated the nacelle dome spin on TOS ships so that the spin on each dome is spinning to the "outside" of the ship, per canon.

    Actually, they do spin to the "inside". Which is displayed correct per canon. So this note is wrong.
    (/\) Exploring Star Trek Online Since July 2008 (/\)
  • badgerpants999badgerpants999 Member Posts: 241 Arc User
    From the Once and Future Agent Mission (which I haven't done so I'm just speculating) It would seem we "die" at Caleb IV, run the Klingon Mission Arc to acclimatize ourselves with the 25'th century, then join Daniels in Murder Hobos Incorporated, AKA Temporal Investigations, to Fix any problems that the Temporal Cold War throws up. It would seen that things are just heating up with our new missions
  • mirrorchaosmirrorchaos Member Posts: 9,844 Arc User
    on an opinion level the galordan core mission doesnt make a lot of sense compared to all the other recent mission releases on tribble. when you are exposed as interlopers wearing holo disguises, it would be even more dangerous to remove such a disguise anyway in case of survivors, since there were survivors, in addition, why kill over 30 romulan people for when they could be stunned anyway? same in space, why remove the disguise and expose yourself as future agents and your ship?

    back to bugs or glitches i found:

    the cutscenes as usual dont work properly, the time travel scene first time from sector space has the playership disappear before the time portal animation shows up and during that point there are nacelle outlines showing.

    in the mission there is a placement issue after being exposed as imposter romulans, in that you are standing there but you and your crew are moving about without any movement orders, very glitch like, it stops when you input a movement direction.

    during the space cutscenes during fighting, its the same going back to all the previous missions through to new dawn, your ship is not immune during cutscenes, so by the time the cutscene is finished, your ship is destroyed (one of the most annoying things i have seen).

    the final cutscene does not show the doomsday device crashing into the planet or any explosion, nor any planetary model changes showing the planets atmosphere reacting..

    finally as the mission ends all the weapons showing including the armour, the weapons all show up as "disruptor" even the ones with the federation type 1 phaser icons.
    T6 Miranda Hero Ship FTW.
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  • nikeixnikeix Member Posts: 3,972 Arc User
    edited June 2016
    I hope that helps explain the situation a bit more clearly.

    Heh, @borticuscryptic ... Adding 25% larger radius and 25% longer duration will explain those tools still clearly being used after the change :).

  • crm14916crm14916 Member Posts: 1,532 Arc User
    edited June 2016
    Just a question regarding leveling in the new faction... I tried to speed level today to get my TOS character to level 19 in order to run the new mission. With the bonus XP I was able to jump two levels at a time. When I jumped from 18 to 20, I did not receive an assignment to talk to Admiral Quinn to receive my level 20 ship or receive an official recognition of becoming a Commander.

    Now, I ran the level 19 Galorndon Core mission, along with the final mission in the Klingon War arc, getting myself to level 24, and the whole time they kept referring to me as a Commander, and the rank label in the top left also says it, but no official assignment from Quinn... Also, Temporal Agent Clay says I should unlock certain items at lvl 20, but his options are unavailable also...

    Just wondering if this is by design, or I'm missing something, out if it's a bug that needs reporting...

    Thanks!
    CM
    Post edited by crm14916 on
    "Equipped with his five senses, man explores the universe around him and calls the adventure science." - Edwin Hubble
  • sharpie65sharpie65 Member Posts: 679 Arc User
    I'd expect that the Temporal Recruit rewards aren't polished out, or even released, as of this update. Considering we haven't seen anything regarding that, I'd be willing to go with my assessment.
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  • arkangel11004arkangel11004 Member Posts: 50 Arc User
    crm14916 wrote: »
    Just a question regarding leveling in the new faction... I tried to speed level today to get my TOS character to level 19 in order to run the new mission. With the bonus XP I was able to jump two levels at a time. When I jumped from 18 to 20, I did not receive an assignment to talk to Admiral Quinn to receive my level 20 ship or receive an official recognition of becoming a Commander.

    Now, I ran the level 19 Galorndon Core mission, along with the final mission in the Klingon War arc, getting myself to level 24, and the whole time they kept referring to me as a Commander, and the rank label in the top left also says it, but no official assignment from Quinn... Also, Temporal Agent Clay says I should unlock certain items at lvl 20, but his options are unavailable also...

    Just wondering if this is by design, or I'm missing something, out if it's a bug that needs reporting...

    Thanks!
    CM

    This is a current issue I have as well. I think the issue lies in a handoff somewhere, as for all intents and purposes the TOS Admiral Garrett is the Admiral Quinn of that time. I think somewhere it hasn't been linked up for either to provide promotion missions for TOS characters.

    I also had another issue, on my first TOS character, as a result of whatever circumstances occurred, I leveled fast. This had the unfortunate result of making my character level 16+ by the time I got to 25th century. I never got a promotion notice or a new liutenant commander ship from Garret. And, no bank or exchange access in TOS either. Thus, I was fighting lvl 16+ enemies with a lvl 1 ship and weapons... It wasn't pretty.

    The situation here is unique. As a result of the tos faction being displaced by time initially, they almost have a complete section of the game redesigned specifically for them. ESD, Sector space, etc. Most maps for FED,ROM,KLG are universal, if not accessible immediately. Sector space is the same from the beginning, as is the non faction specific missions/locales, for all characters. They can all equip each others weapon types, use the bank, exchange, etc. The Tos faction is different. It's unique story arc, neccessitates no access to future weapons/tech/ships until a certain point. Isolated from the rest of the game.

    The trick is to get everything balanced, what can and cannot be used when. One solution may be to hardwire no xp boosts during the TOS era. You have to complete each mission as it comes, at its mimimum level. Things will need to be balanced out, but this is all work-in-progress, and the fixes may be in the works already..

    Anyway, I enjoy the TOS content and think that they did a good job building the story.
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