[PODCAST] Tribbles in Ecstasy Take 262: 'Sharing is Caring'

midniteshadow7

Tribbles in Ecstasy Take 262: 'Sharing is Caring' has warped on to Holosuite Media, you can download and stream it from:

http://holosuitemedia.com/tie262/

Despite it being a quiet news week, the Tribbles in Ecstasy crew still find plenty to talk about. In episode 262 we discuss this week's news and information from Star Trek Online, Star Trek Online Consoles (0:52:42), Star Trek Timelines (1:03:50), The Circuit: Urbiessa (1:16:12) and Community Feedback (1:30:10).


Community Questions:
1. If Star Trek Online had a Starship sale, what ship do you want to get?
2. What do you think about all the new Wargames in Star Trek Online?
3. Do you share crew in Star Trek Timeliness and if so, how do you do it?

garaks31

pilot mega bundle ,vesta mega t6
i like this rap and the amount of marks associated missions give

chozoelder2nd

1.) All of them.

All. Of. Them.

But really, the list of ships I want almost seems never ending. For now, I'm aiming to one day save up for one of two mega bundles, the T6 Multi-Mission Explorers or the T6 Flagships. I'm sort of leaning towards the explorers because of the Gorn ships, but I've reallyyy been wanting those Flagships ever since they came out last year, especially the Odys. I didn't make it in time for the sale, but oh well. There will be another. At least it gives me more time to think about which bundle I'll go for first.

The T6 Miranda with a gorgeous model update is finally here, so of course I'll get one eventually. And it's ZEN, as it should be.


Feedback

Discovery Trailer

I understand people being upset over not sticking with the continuity. I truly think they should've pulled back on the Kelvinverse throttle instead of going all in and unlocking the limiters. The show borrows nearly everything about the Kelvin/JJ aesthetic. Here's the thing though, I still liked what I saw.

Some would argue and question why it had to be set in the prime universe if it was just going to look Kelvin, or why it had to be set 10 years before TOS. I would actually agree with this. I don't agree with the setting if they're going to make it look like this. It's just really bizarre seeing the TOS era like this, all while knowing that the show takes place in the prime universe. Unless of course they were just yanking our chains the whole time and the "surprise" is that a ship and crew from the Kelvinverse find themselves stuck in the Prime one. But then again, isn't anything Kelvin related in this new show a no-go for CBS... or?

Idk. I feel like I've been out of the loop for too long, but whatever. I'm still looking forward to seeing it. I'm getting closer to caving for CBS All Access. Not sure what the heck is up with the Klingons though.

chozoelder2nd

I should note that I'm not quite thrilled, simply cautiously optimistic. I liked what I saw, but I'm not getting my hopes up. It's not out yet, so I will obviously hold off actual opinions until I've seen it.

alex1ger

Hello there, tribbles.



Community questions:

1.) Funny question since there's a sale going on right now. But people seemed to expect a ship sale coming up, so... uhm... back to topic... I agree with Chozo. I "would like" to own all the ships. Wait... maybe not "all" of them, just most of them but unless I win the lottery that seems like a bad idea. So I'll just wait until my stipend adds up to an amount of Zen that allows me to get a nice bundle. And I should add that I don't buy anything unless it's on sale.

2. and 3.) *crickets*



Feedback:


Advanced Light Cruiser (T6 Miranda) livestream:

Well, I watched it and uhm... the romulan ship looks fine. If I understood it correctly, it was supposed to look like a bigger version of a romulan shuttle/runabout. I'd say: Mission accomplished.
The klingon ship is interesting. I like the idea, but I'm not sold on the execution. I don't like the proportions of it. Specifically the elongated aft section. I think IF you want the ship to have some kind of "tail", it should have a neck to balance it out (visually). I'd rather they keep it without a neck and cut off the "tail" but different folks and such...
The 2409/2410 Miranda... I'm not sure why but it feels like they tried to play it safe. Some of the other 2409/2410 designs seem much more "progressive" (for lack of a better word) to me. Playing it safe is not necessarily bad but it's also not particularly exciting.

Later on someone asked about... I don't even remember what it was, but Kael and Borticus basically said that they can't announce things on stream because of marketing. I happen to disagree. Sure, you might have to plan around making the announcement on stream, but it is definitely possible.
Wait, this is Perfect World we're talking about.
The same company that took about a week to publish an official Delta Rising announcement.
The same company that either couldn't be bothered to use a time zone converter or that just didn't care when they blurted out that STO was coming to consoles instead of letting Mr. Ricossa announce it at... some con in germany.

Btw. during the livestream someone in chat asked for a T6 Phoenix and Borticus shot it down because of reasons. To that I say: there is no reason, logic or anything anymore. T6 Phoenix, T6 T'Plana Hath, T6 Apollo 11 even a T6 "Brothers Wright plane"... wouldn't that be "fun"? Yes, it would be! SO! MUCH! FUN! (No, I am not kidding. Spiteful? Maybe, but definitely not kidding.)

And Borticus said another very interesting thing during the livestream. See, when Kael and Borticus showed off the romulan ship, they both admitted to not really playing their romulan characters. And Borticus clarified that he was tempted to play his romulan when people started breaking records left and right using the Scimitar.
First, that is a wonderful example for fotm in action.
Second, if I was a game designer this kind of record-breaking might cause me to take a look at whatever is used to break those records. Just to see if there was some sort of balance issue. But hey, I'm not a game designer. *shrug*


Game design/game balance:

I feel like I might have to bring my "STOrytime" back to talk about game design (and other things). But for now, let's keep it quick and easy:

What is "power creep"?

Let's look at examples from STO. Remember the balance Q&A livestream? Someone brought up torpedoes and Borticus mentioned that balancing them would probably take as much time and effort as the balance pass they just did. Because they can't just buff torpedoes across the board, since there are special torpedoes like the one that drains shields (he couldn't remember the name on the spot, but people assumed he talked about the quantum phase torpedo). And it seems like the gravimetric torpedo might be better than most other torpedoes. Those torpedoes are actually an example for "power creep". It might not feel like it because it seems like they are still not powerful enough to compete with energy weapons but that's a different story.

Every new starship that offers a "must have" console and/or trait is "power creep". Every levelcap increase is technically "power creep". Every new reputation/lockbox that offers "must have" weapons/traits/consoles/whathaveyou is "power creep".
Pretty much every MMO deals with "power creep" because that tends to be the carrot they use: New and better "loot" to make your character feel more powerful.
The issue with that is... if the gap grows big enough it discourages new players from jumping in. So every MMO tries to find a way around it. Many other games use expansions to do complete balance passes. Shuffling abilities around, reworking talent trees, introducing (or even cutting) progression systems. A lot of games offer purchasable levelboosts to (near-) endgame.
So the question might not be how to avoid "power creep" but how to deal with it.


Interview with Kipleigh Brown:

Mmh. Okay. You've done interviews before. I'm not sure why this interview shows up now because they usually seem to pop up around the time the character is introduced to us, but whatever. *shrug*
I still think the interviews with Laura Bailey, Liam O'Brien, Dave Rivas, Lani Minella and some of the other VOICE actors were slightly more interesting to me.
Wait. Those interviews never happened? *whistles* Like I said you will never hear the end of this, Cryptic/PW.


Discovery trailer:

I watched it. Well, both of them. The Netflix trailer and the CBS trailer. Because there were slight differences. Btw. region-locked content needs to go away. Either way, I remember reading on some site... trekcore? trekmovie? I can't remember which one but not too long ago that site linked an exchange on twitter between a fan and one of the Discovery writers. The fan asked whether Discovery is going to be a reboot, a re-imagining or a true prequel. The writer claimed it would be a prequel.
I watched the trailer. I don't know what to make of it.
I can see the production value. That is good. But it looks like an offspring of the JJ-verse. This kind of... we're calling it a prequel but make it look like a reboot/re-imagining is... well... they're trying to have their cake and eat it. That usually doesn't work.
And the klingons... When I saw those things I thought that if you took a JJ-klingon and a reman and genetically engineered a hybrid, that creature might look like this.
If you don't want to make a prequel, DON'T make a prequel. I'm sitting here and... the trailers didn't look bad. But they definitely didn't look like a prequel. Maybe that was intentional. I don't know. Let's wait and see. *shrug*

The funny part is, these people want me to pay money to watch this new incarnation of Trek and everything I've seen so far makes me go... Okay. I don't see how this fits into the grand scheme of things but hey maybe you'll convince me later on.
And at the same time there's this thing called Overwatch and my PC can't handle it and I don't even like shooters that much, but the comics and animated shorts and all the backstory and lore just... give me an animated Overwatch movie or TV show!
I wants it, I needs it! My preciouuuussssssssssssssss!


Console gaming:

Okay, PC gaming is not going to die anytime soon. PC gaming was supposed to die ever since... the first XBox? And PC gaming is still going strong. Sure, PCs are more susceptible to hardware and software conflicts, but that's the price you pay for their higher flexibility. And because console hardware is "locked", PCs will always have an edge when it comes to high-end graphics (for a price).
And yes, when Cryptic overhauled the lighting engine to "pretty up" STO, that said a lot about the poor state the game was in. Usually you have to tone down the graphics for consoles since, at least for dedicated gamers, a PC is a monster compared to any console out there.