rattler2Member, Star Trek Online ModeratorPosts: 58,147Community Moderator
True. When I started playing I was a solo player. I didn't join a fleet until I got to know some of the member's of said fleet, including the leaders. For me, I don't want a group of people just for the sake of being in a fleet. I wanted someplace where I fit in, and could actually make friends.
Now here I am, years later, STILL a member of that one fleet I got to know years ago.
I was the same way with the old Jedi Academy clan I was in. oFc. Good guys. Just... kinda drifted apart due to real life and our server was usually empty or only had Russians who didn't know any English other than "Force Please".
I've been having a think regarding my own lack of social activity within the Fleets i'm in and it boils down to this. I have an account with 22 characters to maintain and with commodities like dilithium/R&D mats/EC to farm, its just so much faster/quicker and efficient to farm them solo rather than try to put a team together, waiting for x player to have a bio/smoke or equip a ship ect.
Hello rubber banding my old friend, time to bounce around the battlezone again, where are all my bug reports going?, out of love with this game I am falling, As Cryptic fail to acknowledge a problem exists, Shakes an angry fist, And from Support all I'm hearing are the sounds of silence.
I clearly understand where the OP is coming from. I have a few unpleasant stories about fleets which are just as bad as any previously posted. Some of mine are self-inflicted. Which only made it worse when I realized what I had done. I am not by nature a sociable or amiable person but apparently I can play one very convincingly in STO. Which may be why I am the de facto leader of the KDF Fleet I am in. I just wanted people to play STO with. The game is more than doable solo and by going the PUG route. But I have always enjoyed STO much more when I have Fleet mates to share it with. I got lucky and found some folks who see things as I do and we play together nightly and for hours on the weekends.
OP, I joined the KDF Fleet I am in a year ago in April and 65% of the membership back then had not logged into STO in over 18 months. A significant fraction of this number had not played STO in over three years. By accident I recruited someone who has a gift for recruiting. He's the prime reason our Fleet is growing again. Even better, he has another talent: Finding active Fleetless Red Side players. We now have a core membership of around five or six who can be counted on to join in on anything any of us suggest over TeamSpeak. Each of these has found one or two new members and brought them in. We're still feeling our way and we've hit a few bumps in the road, but everyone involved is making an effort to make our Fleet a positive experience. I am indeed thankful to be a part of this group and I cannot express strongly enough how grateful I really am.
Lots of Fleets out there yet. Not all of them are full of bad people. Or no people at all. Not even the so-called 'bad' Fleets are not completely composed of bad people. Else they would have collapsed a long time ago. Keep looking. You'll find the Fleet you want.
A six year old boy and his starship. Living the dream.
We have a level 63 KDF fleet that just acheived a T5 starbase. The fleet has been around since 2012 but was kind of dead for a while. Over the past couple of months we have been rebuilding our membership. Nothing is mandatory, you have to earn 30,000 fleet credits to access the stores, but often that requirement is waived to get promoted. There are about 5 or 6 of us that use teamspeak, go to KPR parties and powerlevel some fleeties here and there. We had a big party on the starbase when it hit T5. I just started a website for it http://houseofgaf.enjin.com
I am also part of a fed fleet, though I haven't been there as much lately we have done missions together and friendly pvp. The leader is constantly recruiting and it has a strong membership. Federation Science Directorate. I notice a lot of new members are returning to the game after a long break, usually over a year.
I have been a part of 2 roleplaying groups in the past 6 months that run in game stories on ship bridges and other locations, some involving friendly pvp.
Which also holds for this. Those kinds of bios are probably the ones you are most likely to remember. I've seen maybe one or two bios of people who described their character as being the most awesome being in the universe so to say. (I'm not counting the ones who describe their characters as being genetically modified, an android, or of some very advanced made-up species - that's just wanting to have a special background for your character, it doesn't mean their character is the hero of the Galaxy)
On the other hand, I've seen many more humble character descriptions.
That's why I favor funny or (somewhat) unique characters. One is an alien loosely based on Roger Wilco. An Officer Exchange Program from a different government who's the best Maintenance Specialist 2nd Class they had. It's just that 'Maintenance Specialist 2nd Class' is nothing more than a janitor. But it's okay! His recent adventures before joining Starfleet gave him a unique outlook to solving problems, breaking all logic a few times, and once breaking all physics (involving a ten foot ladder and his pocket), and he's a decent shot with a blaster.
So of course, he's an Engineer, with orange skin (because EGA graphics) and an Elachi pistol to emulate the whole retro sci-fi look.
Or my Temporal Agent, she's a kid who stole a 26th Century Timepod that was visiting her timeperiod so she could go back in time to save her father (an Admiral in the modern 2410's) from some kind of event, but it...well, broke during the trip and she was sent back too far. A whole century before he was even born. Worse, Temporal Investigations found out that it was supposed to happen (Predestination Paradoxes are such a headache), at least until she grew up a little and could join them as an Agent. Now that she's in the modern time but before she was even born, she can shadow her father's fleet and protect him from the insurmountable odds that he faces....and could have handled himself honestly, just don't tell her that.
My newest alt is made just so I had an excuse to buy the NX Refit. He's a mercenary hired by various groups to handle situations that might be dangerous for a Starfleet Captain to go in first, so he and his crew are sent in just in case. He's not without his morals though, he doesn't take assassination missions, doesn't attack innocent, he's not some space pirate preying on the weak, he's just a guy getting paid to go into dangerous events. Plus, being a merc doesn't mean he's rolling in Latinum, far from it. To make ends meet he's had to salvage and upgrade most of his equipment, bringing it mostly up-to-date to Starfleet's best (it's why he's in an NX Refit, and will be using a mix of TOS and Modern Phasers, plus Ferengi Missiles to emulate Spatial Torpedoes)
Which also holds for this. Those kinds of bios are probably the ones you are most likely to remember. I've seen maybe one or two bios of people who described their character as being the most awesome being in the universe so to say. (I'm not counting the ones who describe their characters as being genetically modified, an android, or of some very advanced made-up species - that's just wanting to have a special background for your character, it doesn't mean their character is the hero of the Galaxy)
On the other hand, I've seen many more humble character descriptions.
That's why I favor funny or (somewhat) unique characters. One is an alien loosely based on Roger Wilco. An Officer Exchange Program from a different government who's the best Maintenance Specialist 2nd Class they had. It's just that 'Maintenance Specialist 2nd Class' is nothing more than a janitor. But it's okay! His recent adventures before joining Starfleet gave him a unique outlook to solving problems, breaking all logic a few times, and once breaking all physics (involving a ten foot ladder and his pocket), and he's a decent shot with a blaster.
So of course, he's an Engineer, with orange skin (because EGA graphics) and an Elachi pistol to emulate the whole retro sci-fi look.
Or my Temporal Agent, she's a kid who stole a 26th Century Timepod that was visiting her timeperiod so she could go back in time to save her father (an Admiral in the modern 2410's) from some kind of event, but it...well, broke during the trip and she was sent back too far. A whole century before he was even born. Worse, Temporal Investigations found out that it was supposed to happen (Predestination Paradoxes are such a headache), at least until she grew up a little and could join them as an Agent. Now that she's in the modern time but before she was even born, she can shadow her father's fleet and protect him from the insurmountable odds that he faces....and could have handled himself honestly, just don't tell her that.
My newest alt is made just so I had an excuse to buy the NX Refit. He's a mercenary hired by various groups to handle situations that might be dangerous for a Starfleet Captain to go in first, so he and his crew are sent in just in case. He's not without his morals though, he doesn't take assassination missions, doesn't attack innocent, he's not some space pirate preying on the weak, he's just a guy getting paid to go into dangerous events. Plus, being a merc doesn't mean he's rolling in Latinum, far from it. To make ends meet he's had to salvage and upgrade most of his equipment, bringing it mostly up-to-date to Starfleet's best (it's why he's in an NX Refit, and will be using a mix of TOS and Modern Phasers, plus Ferengi Missiles to emulate Spatial Torpedoes)
Never really understood why people do this, coming up with these "stories" and whatnot. Are they supposed to be primarily for the benefit of the RPist or for the people they get to RP with them? Maybe understanding their motives would help unlock the reason why some people feel compelled to do this.
I've seen a lot of folks talk about how their character background stories were written decades ago, painstakingly developed throughout their childhoods or adolescence. Sometimes they talk about them as if they were real people, their imaginary friends. Seems like "bringing them to life" after decades of imaginary friendship would change the dynamics of their imaginary relationships, especially considering the disturbing things they do with them.
I can't speak for others of course, but one of the reasons I've started making effort in writing my characters' bios is that I've done pretty much everything else there's to do in the game.
And it's a way to make a character something more than just another toon, just like we give names to our ships to distinguish them from the other hundreds of Vestas that are flying around. Explaining where your character comes from and what he's done, his views on life or the Federation etc. make it something more than just 'character x'.
And coming back to what was said before: it's a way to actually make your character something else than mr. Awesome, the thing the story line is basically making us when we save the galaxy yet again.
I don't really actively role-play in the sense that my characters' bios determine my actions in-game or that I RP with others; at most I'll use a different title like Arucanis Explorer (instead of the more combat-related titles I use for most others like 'MACO Elite Commander') but writing bios are just a way to make my characters special to me.
I just came back from being away for a year and a half. I logged in and while i see lots and lots of people running around it feels like nobody does anything together anymore.. I've joined 7 fleets in a week all of them touting lvl 56 fleets and over 400 members.. but i never see more than 4 online! I don't get it do people not team up in this game anymore or am i just getting the short end of the stick when it comes to fleet invites?
If your out there... oh fleet of my dreams.. i'm looking for a Fed fleet that has ya know active members not 395 dead ones.. prefer one that uses discord but i'll live with teamspeak.. I'm looking for a fleet that does stf's together events missions you know play the game in a group setting... if you think your fleet fits the bill please msg me and i'll be happy to join.. and so would my friend.
Wrong time to return to STO. Historically, this is the worst time since not much to do between winter/summer events. Usually its dead here till summer then goes deader till winter event when most people are off for either winter/summer vacations.
Also, you hit STO the wrong time since lots of people are quitting due to the new "balancing" in space. Game is being nerfed to oblivion and only peeps left are noobs or hardcore fans of STO.
Give it till June to sort things out and hope by then you can find much more "active" fleets. Be aware of those who like to pull fake promises or plugs since most fleets depend on new members and harder to come by these days. There are always quacks in there who might over promise. Goodluck finding anything alive.
There are too many low level fleets out there. All the Max level fleets just can not find people. Also people get more fleet marks in a low level fleet and then find a max level fleet and get stuff. So no point in leveling a fleet star base. Only thing needed is to level up all the other stuff for the gear really. Most of the low level fleets are just filled with hand full of people. So multiply that by 50 and that would be a max population fleet right there. Problem is the Devs don't want to do anything because people will spend cash to level up a fleet by themselves. So in the end there is no point to fleets now. You want to make fleets viable again, get rid of tier 3 and below fleets across the board in one shot. That would get people actually talking and interacting with people to join a fleet. Wait a few months and look at the max tier fleet population, I will guaranty that they go up and people will be more active. Also maybe reimburse the die, credit and fleet mark cost to get rid of the fleets based on who contributed to the fleet so people won't complain too much. But that would mean that Perfect World and Cryptic invest in the future of the game, which looks like they are not with all the gimmick driven ships that a flooding ESD now. STO is not dead, but in heavy life support as of 2017. The balances that came out should have been done a long time ago. Who ever is giving them advice on the game balance is a enlightened PVPer. But who ever is giving them advise on stuff to add in the game is not as smart. Anyone been to Defara? That instance is still not fixed since the game came out. Anyone bothered to fix the PVP issues in karot? This is why the game is in the state it is in. No investment in the stuff you have already. Just build more buggy stuff into the game and call it a feature or sell it in a lock box.
There are too many low level fleets out there. All the Max level fleets just can not find people. Also people get more fleet marks in a low level fleet and then find a max level fleet and get stuff. So no point in leveling a fleet star base. Only thing needed is to level up all the other stuff for the gear really. Most of the low level fleets are just filled with hand full of people. So multiply that by 50 and that would be a max population fleet right there. Problem is the Devs don't want to do anything because people will spend cash to level up a fleet by themselves. So in the end there is no point to fleets now. You want to make fleets viable again, get rid of tier 3 and below fleets across the board in one shot. That would get people actually talking and interacting with people to join a fleet. Wait a few months and look at the max tier fleet population, I will guaranty that they go up and people will be more active. Also maybe reimburse the die, credit and fleet mark cost to get rid of the fleets based on who contributed to the fleet so people won't complain too much. But that would mean that Perfect World and Cryptic invest in the future of the game, which looks like they are not with all the gimmick driven ships that a flooding ESD now. STO is not dead, but in heavy life support as of 2017. The balances that came out should have been done a long time ago. Who ever is giving them advice on the game balance is a enlightened PVPer. But who ever is giving them advise on stuff to add in the game is not as smart. Anyone been to Defara? That instance is still not fixed since the game came out. Anyone bothered to fix the PVP issues in karot? This is why the game is in the state it is in. No investment in the stuff you have already. Just build more buggy stuff into the game and call it a feature or sell it in a lock box.
HAHAHAHAHAHA
Star Trek Online Volunteer Community Moderator and Resident She-Wolf
Community Moderators are Unpaid Volunteers and NOT Employees of Gearbox/Cryptic
Views and Opinions May Not Reflect the Views and Opinions of Gearbox/Cryptic
I've only been playing the game since it dropped for consoles. I have really appreciated the times when I was able to get some help from others for a couple of the tougher missions (based upon my lower quality gear not matching up with that particular enemy).
The game does seem to me to be pretty much a solo affair for the most part!
Comments
Now here I am, years later, STILL a member of that one fleet I got to know years ago.
I was the same way with the old Jedi Academy clan I was in. oFc. Good guys. Just... kinda drifted apart due to real life and our server was usually empty or only had Russians who didn't know any English other than "Force Please".
Hello rubber banding my old friend, time to bounce around the battlezone again, where are all my bug reports going?, out of love with this game I am falling, As Cryptic fail to acknowledge a problem exists, Shakes an angry fist, And from Support all I'm hearing are the sounds of silence.
Space barbie isn't that great given uniform categories and restrictions. Also limited color selections for some factions.
OP, I joined the KDF Fleet I am in a year ago in April and 65% of the membership back then had not logged into STO in over 18 months. A significant fraction of this number had not played STO in over three years. By accident I recruited someone who has a gift for recruiting. He's the prime reason our Fleet is growing again. Even better, he has another talent: Finding active Fleetless Red Side players. We now have a core membership of around five or six who can be counted on to join in on anything any of us suggest over TeamSpeak. Each of these has found one or two new members and brought them in. We're still feeling our way and we've hit a few bumps in the road, but everyone involved is making an effort to make our Fleet a positive experience. I am indeed thankful to be a part of this group and I cannot express strongly enough how grateful I really am.
Lots of Fleets out there yet. Not all of them are full of bad people. Or no people at all. Not even the so-called 'bad' Fleets are not completely composed of bad people. Else they would have collapsed a long time ago. Keep looking. You'll find the Fleet you want.
I am also part of a fed fleet, though I haven't been there as much lately we have done missions together and friendly pvp. The leader is constantly recruiting and it has a strong membership. Federation Science Directorate. I notice a lot of new members are returning to the game after a long break, usually over a year.
I have been a part of 2 roleplaying groups in the past 6 months that run in game stories on ship bridges and other locations, some involving friendly pvp.
Fed Side: Access Denied
KDF Side: Naw'tem
Check out the code of conduct first on the website and then fill out an app if you want: http://adfleet.org/
That's why I favor funny or (somewhat) unique characters. One is an alien loosely based on Roger Wilco. An Officer Exchange Program from a different government who's the best Maintenance Specialist 2nd Class they had. It's just that 'Maintenance Specialist 2nd Class' is nothing more than a janitor. But it's okay! His recent adventures before joining Starfleet gave him a unique outlook to solving problems, breaking all logic a few times, and once breaking all physics (involving a ten foot ladder and his pocket), and he's a decent shot with a blaster.
So of course, he's an Engineer, with orange skin (because EGA graphics) and an Elachi pistol to emulate the whole retro sci-fi look.
Or my Temporal Agent, she's a kid who stole a 26th Century Timepod that was visiting her timeperiod so she could go back in time to save her father (an Admiral in the modern 2410's) from some kind of event, but it...well, broke during the trip and she was sent back too far. A whole century before he was even born. Worse, Temporal Investigations found out that it was supposed to happen (Predestination Paradoxes are such a headache), at least until she grew up a little and could join them as an Agent. Now that she's in the modern time but before she was even born, she can shadow her father's fleet and protect him from the insurmountable odds that he faces....and could have handled himself honestly, just don't tell her that.
My newest alt is made just so I had an excuse to buy the NX Refit. He's a mercenary hired by various groups to handle situations that might be dangerous for a Starfleet Captain to go in first, so he and his crew are sent in just in case. He's not without his morals though, he doesn't take assassination missions, doesn't attack innocent, he's not some space pirate preying on the weak, he's just a guy getting paid to go into dangerous events. Plus, being a merc doesn't mean he's rolling in Latinum, far from it. To make ends meet he's had to salvage and upgrade most of his equipment, bringing it mostly up-to-date to Starfleet's best (it's why he's in an NX Refit, and will be using a mix of TOS and Modern Phasers, plus Ferengi Missiles to emulate Spatial Torpedoes)
Never really understood why people do this, coming up with these "stories" and whatnot. Are they supposed to be primarily for the benefit of the RPist or for the people they get to RP with them? Maybe understanding their motives would help unlock the reason why some people feel compelled to do this.
I've seen a lot of folks talk about how their character background stories were written decades ago, painstakingly developed throughout their childhoods or adolescence. Sometimes they talk about them as if they were real people, their imaginary friends. Seems like "bringing them to life" after decades of imaginary friendship would change the dynamics of their imaginary relationships, especially considering the disturbing things they do with them.
And it's a way to make a character something more than just another toon, just like we give names to our ships to distinguish them from the other hundreds of Vestas that are flying around. Explaining where your character comes from and what he's done, his views on life or the Federation etc. make it something more than just 'character x'.
And coming back to what was said before: it's a way to actually make your character something else than mr. Awesome, the thing the story line is basically making us when we save the galaxy yet again.
I don't really actively role-play in the sense that my characters' bios determine my actions in-game or that I RP with others; at most I'll use a different title like Arucanis Explorer (instead of the more combat-related titles I use for most others like 'MACO Elite Commander') but writing bios are just a way to make my characters special to me.
@kianazero ,
Those are some funny stories btw
Wrong time to return to STO. Historically, this is the worst time since not much to do between winter/summer events. Usually its dead here till summer then goes deader till winter event when most people are off for either winter/summer vacations.
Also, you hit STO the wrong time since lots of people are quitting due to the new "balancing" in space. Game is being nerfed to oblivion and only peeps left are noobs or hardcore fans of STO.
Give it till June to sort things out and hope by then you can find much more "active" fleets. Be aware of those who like to pull fake promises or plugs since most fleets depend on new members and harder to come by these days. There are always quacks in there who might over promise. Goodluck finding anything alive.
Original STO beta tester.
HAHAHAHAHAHA
Views and Opinions May Not Reflect the Views and Opinions of Gearbox/Cryptic
Moderation Problems/Issues? Please contact the Community Manager
Terms of Service / Community Rules and Policies / FCT
Facebook / Twitter / Twitch
The game does seem to me to be pretty much a solo affair for the most part!