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Content system idea: Deployments
gannadene
Member Posts: 81 Arc User
I'll try to restrict the topic to prevent it going off on a tangent.
I think something missing in general gameplay is the feeling of long term accomplishments, and the feeling of being on a mission
(outside of the story.) And I don't mean upgrading your equipment to Mk14 Epic, or space barbie. You can go to a battlezone, you can complete a queue, or you can do a patrol. But those things don't create the feeling of, "Yes! Finally, mission complete!"
I'm sure the Endeavor system will eventually expand. To what, I don't know. But it was mentioned in interview that its current form is a "well, let's see what happens first" integration. So, that's where my mind falls.
My idea, then, is for sequences of goals that must be completed in sequence, without any deaths. If your ship is destroyed during instanced combat, the entire sequence/mission fails. The goal is a more difficult, slightly longer term goal with decent, themed rewards to the mission you're on that gives the player the impression of actually being on a deployment mission, while still (mostly) utilizing existing and older content, instanced for the player. Hopefully divided between space and ground...
An example might be, a deployment with a goal of, "Track and identify a pirate vessel in the Maxia sector." The reward would be a specified amount of Military and Espionage XP, Fleet Marks, Specialization XP, Credits and Dilithium. Enough to reflect the time barrier (whatever that amount might be in your head.) The actual content might entail entering a player-unique deep space encounter against breen ships, followed by your next objective being the Kelvani Belt, where the actual pirate is "attacking." This leads to utilizing the already existing "Ore for Outpost 3" -> "Outpost 3 Security" found missions. This sort of chain can continue with minimal altered text (if any), until a final deep space encounter between you and your target.
Normally, such missions aren't worth the time, since the rewards are usually about 1k xp. Especially in later levels. But, with scaled up enemies and a wider scope of accomplishment, mixed in with a few unique deep space encounters (where you don't need to use planet maps), you can utilize any amount of STO's general content, since the actual reward is completing smaller goals. And since the only restriction is rationalizing why the content is linked with minimal text, you can have players jumping across quadrants if you want.
If STO's Exploration content still existed, I think this would be a good way to utilize it. Although most of that old system's problem was the randomization of things you actually wanted within the systems. Securing the reward outcome and making the content able to be placed anywhere, rather than clusters... well, I digress.
Again, I'm not sure what the expanded Endeavor system will be, but I get the impression it's more for short, daily accomplishments. It also doesn't utilize content very well because it creates the same issue underused queues currently have, in that people gravitate to whatever is expedient. Personally, I would love to be able to explore the whole expanse of STO's content without the knowledge that I'm usually wasting my time. And yes, I know, strawman forum poster I'm sure is already writing this exact response: rewards aren't everything and you can explore content regardless of those rewards. But that isn't the point, and it's a good thing to unify content and direct players to explore all of it. Creating reward umbrellas for older or infrequently accessed content will increase its use. Just an idea.
I think something missing in general gameplay is the feeling of long term accomplishments, and the feeling of being on a mission
(outside of the story.) And I don't mean upgrading your equipment to Mk14 Epic, or space barbie. You can go to a battlezone, you can complete a queue, or you can do a patrol. But those things don't create the feeling of, "Yes! Finally, mission complete!"
I'm sure the Endeavor system will eventually expand. To what, I don't know. But it was mentioned in interview that its current form is a "well, let's see what happens first" integration. So, that's where my mind falls.
My idea, then, is for sequences of goals that must be completed in sequence, without any deaths. If your ship is destroyed during instanced combat, the entire sequence/mission fails. The goal is a more difficult, slightly longer term goal with decent, themed rewards to the mission you're on that gives the player the impression of actually being on a deployment mission, while still (mostly) utilizing existing and older content, instanced for the player. Hopefully divided between space and ground...
An example might be, a deployment with a goal of, "Track and identify a pirate vessel in the Maxia sector." The reward would be a specified amount of Military and Espionage XP, Fleet Marks, Specialization XP, Credits and Dilithium. Enough to reflect the time barrier (whatever that amount might be in your head.) The actual content might entail entering a player-unique deep space encounter against breen ships, followed by your next objective being the Kelvani Belt, where the actual pirate is "attacking." This leads to utilizing the already existing "Ore for Outpost 3" -> "Outpost 3 Security" found missions. This sort of chain can continue with minimal altered text (if any), until a final deep space encounter between you and your target.
Normally, such missions aren't worth the time, since the rewards are usually about 1k xp. Especially in later levels. But, with scaled up enemies and a wider scope of accomplishment, mixed in with a few unique deep space encounters (where you don't need to use planet maps), you can utilize any amount of STO's general content, since the actual reward is completing smaller goals. And since the only restriction is rationalizing why the content is linked with minimal text, you can have players jumping across quadrants if you want.
If STO's Exploration content still existed, I think this would be a good way to utilize it. Although most of that old system's problem was the randomization of things you actually wanted within the systems. Securing the reward outcome and making the content able to be placed anywhere, rather than clusters... well, I digress.
Again, I'm not sure what the expanded Endeavor system will be, but I get the impression it's more for short, daily accomplishments. It also doesn't utilize content very well because it creates the same issue underused queues currently have, in that people gravitate to whatever is expedient. Personally, I would love to be able to explore the whole expanse of STO's content without the knowledge that I'm usually wasting my time. And yes, I know, strawman forum poster I'm sure is already writing this exact response: rewards aren't everything and you can explore content regardless of those rewards. But that isn't the point, and it's a good thing to unify content and direct players to explore all of it. Creating reward umbrellas for older or infrequently accessed content will increase its use. Just an idea.
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Certainly the endeavour system is giving me a reason to log on each day and "do something".
I mean, there's a lot of daily stuff in STO to do, but its so repetitive, and doing it "all" takes too long.
One of my thoughts was to give players a 24th admiralty slot that refreshes every 24h, with the proviso that the player doesn't assign an admiralty ship to the mission: instead the admiralty mission is an open zone encounter somewhere that the player actually visits with their actual ship.
Although to me, the possibility of failure is what creates the feeling of accomplishment. Even if there's basically no chance of dying in an Endeavor, it's still going to feel like a number to grind out, rather than a mission, since nothing can ever go wrong with it.
Movies where Enterprise was not Totaled:
Star Trek: The Motion Picture
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (Was damaged but still operational)
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (Did not feature an Enterprise until the very end, unless you count the aircraft carrier)
Star Trek V: The Final Frontier
Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (Was damaged, but still operational)
*Star Trek: Generations (Enterprise-B was damaged by the Nexus, but still operational)
Star Trek: First Contact (Unless you count the Assimilated bits inside, no damage to Ent-E)
Star Trek: Insurrection (Damaged but still operational, and minus a Warp Core)
Star Trek (Took a torpedo hit to the neck, but came back and wrecked face with the Narada)
Movies where Enterprise was Totaled:
Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (Self Destruct over Genesis)
*Star Trek: Generations (Enterprise-D destroyed by old Klingon BoP due to shield frequency and targeting. Still killed the BoP though, and crew survived in the saucer)
Star Trek: Nemesis (Enterprise-E rammed Simitar. Was undergoing extensive repairs at the end of the movie)
Star Trek Into Darkness (Heavy damage from battle against USS Vengeance. Was repaired and refitted)
Star Trek Beyond (Enterprise literally Shredded)
*Two Enterprises appeared in Generations
I would honestly enjoy having more fail states in solo content. Never really enjoyed it when games have you respawn infinitely with practically no consequence. To be fair though, the game is a bit easy even in solo content. It's hard to die unless you artificially hamper yourself by flying a lower tier ship, unslotting traits and high mark gear, or using an alt that doesn't get much attention and raising the difficulty to elite to turn enemies into damage sponges.
But maybe just knowing the failstate is there is enough? Can't speak for everyone, but I know my enjoyment would be raised by at least some amount as opposed to just feeling like I'm casually walking to the end knowing nothing can affect the outcome.
Probably the biggest hurdle when it comes to that sort of content in STO is how the PvE enemies naturally cheat in not-so-fair ways. For general content it's not going to matter. But even flying around a battlezone, I'm sure everyone has been hit with 3 or 4 waves of AI-brand torpedo spreads that one shot killed them through 100% shield and hull. You die more often in STO from things like that, than running out of abilities or doing something wrong.
Plus, my alt is probably not going to have any issues running content designed for anyone, whereas my other 60s or a new player who just hit 60 might struggle. There's a lot of build and equipment disparity in STO, so it's difficult to design content that has a fail state that exists to provide that experience of accomplishment. One player will clear it in 5 minutes, and another will take 30 minutes and die 10 times in the process. That's probably why death state content just doesn't exist in STO - it's too contingent on everyone being on a level playing field.
Totally off-topic, but (no doubt because of the recent 'pilot skills' thread) I read that as spacebar-bie.
Ahem, love your idea of an Endeavor Arc!