"Content doesn't come as quickly as it used to in the old days. "
Nostalgia glasses or fact? When was this, and how many episodes?
It's just not possible for Cryptic to release an episode a week, and if you want quantity there is the Foundry.
What you need to do is play other games besides STO. Play STO until you're tired of it, then play something from Steam, GoG, Humble Bundles, and/or consoles.
It is sad to see those who only see STO as we know it today and not the glorious days the OP was talking about...here is a sampling of what it was in terms of blogs and state of the game that outlined new content. Quality and Quantity.
Also:
State of the Game: January 18th, 2010 by Craig Zinkievich
State of the Game: January 27th, 2010 by Craig Zinkievich
State of the Game: 2/25/10 by Craig Zinkievich
State of the Game: 03/12/10 by Craig Zinkievich
State of the Game: May 21, 2010 by Craig Zinkievich
State of the Game: Season Two Launch Edition - July 27, 2010 by Dan Stahl
State of the Game: 09/15/10 by Dan Stahl
State of the Game: June 2012 by Brandon Felczer
State of the Game: July 2012 by Brandon Felczer
State of the Game: September 2012 by Brandon Felczer
State of the Game: November 2012 by Brandon Felczer
State of the Game: January 2013 by Brandon Felczer
State of the Game: July 2013 by Dan Stahl
They even used the word "roadmap" a few times with real content. I guess through time these have come and gone. However, there was LOTs of communications in the past dealing with lots of new content that leaves today a mere shadow of what used to be.
With every passing version and Season/Expansion content has been declining ever since this game post LoR. Why make new content if you can make PWE rich and sell GOLDEN boxes.
LoR was a great expansion, no question about that, and I was away from late 2012 - mid 2014 so I did miss its initial release.
Seasons 3 -5 were a bit less impressive though:
Season 3: One Deferi patrol mission
Season 4: KDF only, some quests to walk around and talk to people in first city
Season 5: 4 shared, 1 KDF, "Hearts and Minds" for Friday the 13th
LoR was a great expansion, no question about that, and I was away from late 2012 - mid 2014 so I did miss its initial release.
Seasons 3 -5 were a bit less impressive though:
Season 3: One Deferi patrol mission
Season 4: KDF only, some quests to walk around and talk to people in first city
Season 5: 4 shared, 1 KDF, "Hearts and Minds" for Friday the 13th
This is important.
I was thinking the same thing while walking outside yesterday (yes, I even think about the game when I'm taking a walk outside).
Just comparing expansions isn't entirely fair. Delta Rising for instance, was released after the summer event and, IIRC, not much content was released in the months following it. Indeed, they spent several weeks alone correcting the hit points of enemies, changing the effect of abilities and so on.
For a fair comparison, we also need to look at what was released shortly before and after an expansion. An expansion may seem relatively small such as in the case of Agents of Yesterday when compared to Delta Rising.
But in reality, Agents of Yesterday and related episodes contained more different enemies and in the few months before that, they revamped the skill system and after that expansion they released more episodes and an entire new arc - which, in the case of Delta Rising, didn't happen until the Iconian War began more than half a year later and with only one episode every month or one month and a half.
It's easy to just look at the official release date and complain that more recent expansions had less content. But that's only logical if more content was developed shortly after and before such an expansion, compared to other ones. Some expansions simply had a lot of content/revamps and then nothing or just tweaking of such content, while others were part of a more steady stream of releases.
Besides all that, let's not forget that each new playable species has to work with tons of different content and systems we have nowadays. Until LoR or Delta Rising were added, we didn't have specialisations, we had fewer reputations, fewer different types of ships, fewer different uniforms, fewer items with unique visuals, fewer ground gear options. All these things have to work with new playable species. So I think it is only logical that expansions seem to contain less content: with every new addition there are more existing features and things that new additions need to be integrated with.
[4:46] [Combat {self}] Your Haymaker deals 23337 (9049) Physical Damage(Critical) to Spawnmother
We don't even know how long those episodes will be.
Maybe they'll be much longer than some of the shorter episodes we've seen recently.
Until we know more about that aspect of 'quantity' it is really difficult to say whether the next expansion will be a disappointment or not.
Simply counting the episodes doesn't feel like a fair comparison anyway, as they have also already stated that there will be entirely new progression systems (wording that make me assume that we're talking about things similar to reputations or specialisation trees) and an entirely new feature in the form of sector battlezones.
Those things require work too and they make applying a relatively simple quality-quantity equation to compare seasons a bit difficult. Even if there are only 7, 3 or 2 very short episodes, if these other systems are interesting then that small quantity will matter less than if these new systems are not interesting.
I'd rather have four 15 minute missions than a single hour long mission, and missions are my main interest in STO, none of the other systems they've introduced so far has captured my interest even half as much as new missions do.
"Content doesn't come as quickly as it used to in the old days. "
Nostalgia glasses or fact? When was this, and how many episodes?
It's just not possible for Cryptic to release an episode a week, and if you want quantity there is the Foundry.
What you need to do is play other games besides STO. Play STO until you're tired of it, then play something from Steam, GoG, Humble Bundles, and/or consoles.
It is sad to see those who only see STO as we know it today and not the glorious days the OP was talking about...here is a sampling of what it was in terms of blogs and state of the game that outlined new content. Quality and Quantity.
Also:
State of the Game: January 18th, 2010 by Craig Zinkievich
State of the Game: January 27th, 2010 by Craig Zinkievich
State of the Game: 2/25/10 by Craig Zinkievich
State of the Game: 03/12/10 by Craig Zinkievich
State of the Game: May 21, 2010 by Craig Zinkievich
State of the Game: Season Two Launch Edition - July 27, 2010 by Dan Stahl
State of the Game: 09/15/10 by Dan Stahl
State of the Game: June 2012 by Brandon Felczer
State of the Game: July 2012 by Brandon Felczer
State of the Game: September 2012 by Brandon Felczer
State of the Game: November 2012 by Brandon Felczer
State of the Game: January 2013 by Brandon Felczer
State of the Game: July 2013 by Dan Stahl
They even used the word "roadmap" a few times with real content. I guess through time these have come and gone. However, there was LOTs of communications in the past dealing with lots of new content that leaves today a mere shadow of what used to be.
With every passing version and Season/Expansion content has been declining ever since this game post LoR. Why make new content if you can make PWE rich and sell GOLDEN boxes.
And that's why I also disagree with comments like these. LoR had more content because they didn't have to add multiple reputations for Romulans, their playable species didn't have to work with the wide variety of specialisations, uniforms and gear we have today.
The game, simply put, was much smaller back then. Of course it's easier to add something to it, under those circumstances.
Oh and btw: I remember all the complaining about how Romulans only got a handful of ships when LoR was released. Hell, even until a year or two ago people were still (with some justification) complainin about the lack of science ships for Romulans. To the point it began to irritate Trendy. Not to mention the still on-going complaining about the Romulans being only a 'half-faction'.
All this 'LoR was much better and contained way more content' is, first of all, not entirely fair because it's always easier to add features to a relatively small game. Second, the way people now look back at LoR is very different from what people thought of it when it was actually released. Back then, and in some ways to this day, people thought a lot different about that expansion. LoR is mainly used to complain about newer released nowadays, but people also complained about that expansion.
And that's just LoR. It's even more so the case of Delta Rising. I find it quite funny that this same Forum that became notorious for its vicious attitude regarding 'Delta Rising is the best expansion ever and people like it'-memes, now remembers and recalls Delta Rising as a great expansion - only to complain about the newer ones. One of which we don't even know that much about yet.
Shows that people just want to complain. So I guess I can answer the OP's question after all: many players here will never be satisfied.
[4:46] [Combat {self}] Your Haymaker deals 23337 (9049) Physical Damage(Critical) to Spawnmother
We don't even know how long those episodes will be.
Maybe they'll be much longer than some of the shorter episodes we've seen recently.
Until we know more about that aspect of 'quantity' it is really difficult to say whether the next expansion will be a disappointment or not.
Simply counting the episodes doesn't feel like a fair comparison anyway, as they have also already stated that there will be entirely new progression systems (wording that make me assume that we're talking about things similar to reputations or specialisation trees) and an entirely new feature in the form of sector battlezones.
Those things require work too and they make applying a relatively simple quality-quantity equation to compare seasons a bit difficult. Even if there are only 7, 3 or 2 very short episodes, if these other systems are interesting then that small quantity will matter less than if these new systems are not interesting.
I'd rather have four 15 minute missions than a single hour long mission, and missions are my main interest in STO, none of the other systems they've introduced so far has captured my interest even half as much as new missions do.
Ok, that's possible of course. But I think that, to many other players, battlezones, reputations and spec trees were important. And because they are, I also think it's unfair that some people complain about expansions getting less episodes when there are many good reasons for that. They are working on other things, and sometimes content is simply spread out more equally in the times before and after the official expansion release date.
[4:46] [Combat {self}] Your Haymaker deals 23337 (9049) Physical Damage(Critical) to Spawnmother
"Content doesn't come as quickly as it used to in the old days. "
Nostalgia glasses or fact? When was this, and how many episodes?
It's just not possible for Cryptic to release an episode a week, and if you want quantity there is the Foundry.
What you need to do is play other games besides STO. Play STO until you're tired of it, then play something from Steam, GoG, Humble Bundles, and/or consoles.
It is sad to see those who only see STO as we know it today and not the glorious days the OP was talking about...here is a sampling of what it was in terms of blogs and state of the game that outlined new content. Quality and Quantity.
Also:
State of the Game: January 18th, 2010 by Craig Zinkievich
State of the Game: January 27th, 2010 by Craig Zinkievich
State of the Game: 2/25/10 by Craig Zinkievich
State of the Game: 03/12/10 by Craig Zinkievich
State of the Game: May 21, 2010 by Craig Zinkievich
State of the Game: Season Two Launch Edition - July 27, 2010 by Dan Stahl
State of the Game: 09/15/10 by Dan Stahl
State of the Game: June 2012 by Brandon Felczer
State of the Game: July 2012 by Brandon Felczer
State of the Game: September 2012 by Brandon Felczer
State of the Game: November 2012 by Brandon Felczer
State of the Game: January 2013 by Brandon Felczer
State of the Game: July 2013 by Dan Stahl
They even used the word "roadmap" a few times with real content. I guess through time these have come and gone. However, there was LOTs of communications in the past dealing with lots of new content that leaves today a mere shadow of what used to be.
With every passing version and Season/Expansion content has been declining ever since this game post LoR. Why make new content if you can make PWE rich and sell GOLDEN boxes.
And that's why I also disagree with comments like these. LoR had more content because they didn't have to add multiple reputations for Romulans, their playable species didn't have to work with the wide variety of specialisations, uniforms and gear we have today.
The game, simply put, was much smaller back then. Of course it's easier to add something to it, under those circumstances.
Oh and btw: I remember all the complaining about how Romulans only got a handful of ships when LoR was released. Hell, even until a year or two ago people were still (with some justification) complainin about the lack of science ships for Romulans. To the point it began to irritate Trendy. Not to mention the still on-going complaining about the Romulans being only a 'half-faction'.
All this 'LoR was much better and contained way more content' is, first of all, not entirely fair because it's always easier to add features to a relatively small game. Second, the way people now look back at LoR is very different from what people thought of it when it was actually released. Back then, and in some ways to this day, people thought a lot different about that expansion. LoR is mainly used to complain about newer released nowadays, but people also complained about that expansion.
And that's just LoR. It's even more so the case of Delta Rising. I find it quite funny that this same Forum that became notorious for its vicious attitude regarding 'Delta Rising is the best expansion ever and people like it'-memes, now remembers and recalls Delta Rising as a great expansion - only to complain about the newer ones. One of which we don't even know that much about yet.
Shows that people just want to complain. So I guess I can answer the OP's question after all: many players here will never be satisfied.
ahem, not all of us remember Delta Rising as a 'great expansion'. some of us remember it as 'unleashing the uncontrolled powercreep', and as the first of a series of truly weak, badly written storylines.
No not everyone will remember it as such of course. And until ViL was announced, many wouldn't think of it as 'great'. But during the past couple of weeks, after news about the new expansion was slowly released, I have found it quite remarkable how Delta Rising is suddenly praised in many comments.
Kudos for being consistent.
[4:46] [Combat {self}] Your Haymaker deals 23337 (9049) Physical Damage(Critical) to Spawnmother
No not everyone will remember it as such of course. And until ViL was announced, many wouldn't think of it as 'great'. But during the past couple of weeks, after news about the new expansion was slowly released, I have found it quite remarkable how Delta Rising is suddenly praised in many comments.
Kudos for being consistent.
well, I suspect a lot of the critics flat out left between that time, and now. turnover happens.
That.. or they were paid to give rave reviews. thing is that we have no way to know for sure.
T6 Miranda Hero Ship FTW. Been around since Dec 2010 on STO and bought LTS in Apr 2013 for STO.
^I'm still here, and not getting paid, either (not even as a moderator: Kael is the only one of us who is actually a paid PW employee). Aside from the Kobali BS in its entirety, DR's story missions actually weren't that bad and frequently pretty fun (I love the one on the Turei homeworld with us teaming up with the Voth), although there's spots where they really seriously needed to keep in mind that not everyone plays a Picard-style Fed ("Operation Cooperation Conspiracy" being a standout: we needed an option to congratulate the Romulan spy on her ingenious plan instead of whining about how this is immoral blah blah blah). I don't think the story REALLY jumped the shark until "Uneasy Allies".
And then it jumped again, grabbed the shark in midair and took it on a wild ride for a few billion klicks when "House Pratfall" dropped.
"Great War! / And I cannot take more! / Great tour! / I keep on marching on / I play the great score / There will be no encore / Great War! / The War to End All Wars"
— Sabaton, "Great War"
^I'm still here, and not getting paid, either (not even as a moderator: Kael is the only one of us who is actually a paid PW employee).
You can only justify from your own point of view. AmbassadorKael will have his, as will Patrickngo, Fleetcaptain5 or anyone else. There will be shills out there and if a lot of the critics have moved on, that leaves the shills to overwhelm the scores without the critics pushing back. again i can't know for certain.
Aside from the Kobali BS in its entirety, DR's story missions actually weren't that bad and frequently pretty fun (I love the one on the Turei homeworld with us teaming up with the Voth), although there's spots where they really seriously needed to keep in mind that not everyone plays a Picard-style Fed ("Operation Cooperation Conspiracy" being a standout: we needed an option to congratulate the Romulan spy on her ingenious plan instead of whining about how this is immoral blah blah blah). I don't think the story REALLY jumped the shark until "Uneasy Allies".
And then it jumped again, grabbed the shark in midair and took it on a wild ride for a few billion klicks when "House Pratfall" dropped.
I found the patrol missions at the time to be a turn off, mostly because they provided little in the way to gain grades so to play the next mission. of course the Argala patrol was a popular spot before and after the initial nerf. some missions seemed like a shoehorn for no good reason and the Vaadwuar were just boring to play against, i found the mission with the Elachi at the end to be the best part of that whole chapter, especially where the storyline is concerned back home.
T6 Miranda Hero Ship FTW. Been around since Dec 2010 on STO and bought LTS in Apr 2013 for STO.
To answer the thread title: when the map is empty of official settings. Even a meh Vulcan or Andor is better than a completely non-existent Betazed or Ferenginar.
Personally I've wished we could skip the Kobali stuff for awhile now because I've never been a fan of that battlezone. Don't mind the zone being there for folks who like it but I personally can't stand the place, but I digress. The fact that the patrols were initially made to be part of the story was a turn off for me in terms of the Delta Quadrant story. I don't mind doing patrols when I need to grind mastery for a ship or something along those lines, but at the time it just felt like several one off filler episodes that have little to do with the story, like you might see in Dragon Ball or something like that. Back at the start of DR patrols were pretty much mandatory as it was really easy to miss a level up and not be able to do the next mission. I'm sure they've learned some lessons from the past expansions and have thought of ways to improve since then. As we get closer and closer to ViL and get more info, and even into the eventual release, we'll know more. Right now we're just speculating based off the initial info drop and the couple streams since then.
"Someone once told me that time was a predator that stalked us all our lives. I rather believe that time is a companion who goes with us on the journey and reminds us to cherish every moment, because it will never come again." - Jean Luc Picard in Star Trek Generations
As we get closer and closer to ViL and get more info, and even into the eventual release, we'll know more. Right now we're just speculating based off the initial info drop and the couple streams since then.
That's so true. And the sky is blue and grass is green. Obvious statements are obvious.
But anyway, I'm concerned with how expansions are getting smaller and smaller with each new one. LOR dropped what, 30 episodes? Then Delta was less. Then AOY was sort of a joke, and now VIL is 7 episodes. If this pattern keeps up, I don't see why the OP's hypothetical about a 1-episode expansion is far-fetched. They are well on their way to getting there. Will the next expansion be even smaller than this? And when is it an "expansion" in name only and not in reality?
As we get closer and closer to ViL and get more info, and even into the eventual release, we'll know more. Right now we're just speculating based off the initial info drop and the couple streams since then.
That's so true. And the sky is blue and grass is green. Obvious statements are obvious.
But anyway, I'm concerned with how expansions are getting smaller and smaller with each new one. LOR dropped what, 30 episodes? Then Delta was less. Then AOY was sort of a joke, and now VIL is 7 episodes. If this pattern keeps up, I don't see why the OP's hypothetical about a 1-episode expansion is far-fetched. They are well on their way to getting there. Will the next expansion be even smaller than this? And when is it an "expansion" in name only and not in reality?
Well, as I have explained before: LOR only had more episodes because it had to release less other stuff. As the game develops, there are more things to maintain, more systems to integrate the new playable species / content / ships / whatever with and so on.
As for the question when things are worthy of being called an expansion: whenever they feel it is an expansion. To some players it may seem underwhelming, but strictly speaking any addition is an 'expansion' of the game.
I also agree with @darkbladejk . Besides people complaining about a lack of content that they haven't even seen yet, there's also the fact that we don't know what will happen in the months following the expansion. Which ties in with another comment I made earlier: it's easy to judge expansions just by the amount of content released at that specific date, but of course it also matters how much content, be it episodes or other things, are released in the period before it and afterwards.
The latter of which we can't say much about either. From the way the story currently has developed with the latest episodes, it is likely that we will be seeing episodes from the perspective of the Dominion, which will explain the Hur'q threat. But of course that threat will also be relevant to the Alliance, which also has to deal with the Tzenkethi at some point.
I guess that many episodes will follow shortly after the offical expansion release date as it seems unlikely that they will only further the story for the new faction and not give the existing ones anything to play. So more episodes may well be coming, even if they are not released at the exact date the expansion is launched.
[4:46] [Combat {self}] Your Haymaker deals 23337 (9049) Physical Damage(Critical) to Spawnmother
uh, i think you meant late 2011, because doffing was already part of the game when i started shortly before STO's second anniversary, which was in early 2012
A normie goes "Oh, what's this?"
An otaku goes "UwU, what's this?"
A furry goes "OwO, what's this?"
A werewolf goes "Awoo, what's this?"
"It's nothing personal, I just don't feel like I've gotten to know a person until I've sniffed their crotch." "We said 'no' to Mr. Curiosity. We're not home. Curiosity is not welcome, it is not to be invited in. Curiosity...is bad. It gets you in trouble, it gets you killed, and more importantly...it makes you poor!"
Passion and Serenity are one.
I gain power by understanding both.
In the chaos of their battle, I bring order.
I am a shadow, darkness born from light.
The Force is united within me.
"Content"=stuff to do, stuff to play with, stuff that takes more than 5 minutes of clicking a menu.
"Composition"=Systems, structures, UI features, game mechanics tweaks, lockboxes/upgrade boxes, packs...
"Busywork"= "minigames" like Doffing, filling fleet assets, or reputation sliders. You dump the currency in, something comes out the other end.
"Composition" can take a LOT of resources, but it's mostly back-end work. it's not "Game content" it's "Maintenance and modification".
Does it matter what you, Somtaawkhar or I call it?
For most people Admiralty, Doffing, lockboxes (at least their contents) and reputations enhance the game.
So it is acceptable that it takes up work, so it needs to be taken into account when comparing expansions.
[4:46] [Combat {self}] Your Haymaker deals 23337 (9049) Physical Damage(Critical) to Spawnmother
"Content"=stuff to do, stuff to play with, stuff that takes more than 5 minutes of clicking a menu.
"Composition"=Systems, structures, UI features, game mechanics tweaks, lockboxes/upgrade boxes, packs...
"Busywork"= "minigames" like Doffing, filling fleet assets, or reputation sliders. You dump the currency in, something comes out the other end.
"Composition" can take a LOT of resources, but it's mostly back-end work. it's not "Game content" it's "Maintenance and modification".
Does it matter what you, Somtaawkhar or I call it?
For most people Admiralty, Doffing, lockboxes (at least their contents) and reputations enhance the game.
So it is acceptable that it takes up work, so it needs to be taken into account when comparing expansions.
Admiralty and Doffing I flat out ignore (a similar mechanic in Warlords of Draenor made me quit WoW for over a year starting a month after the expansion launched due to burn out), and I absolutely despise STOs reputation system, for the few reps I've bothered to complete I did the slider busy work while flying from planet to planet during the anniversary events.
Just because you don't like some content doesn't mean it's not content.
How exactly is clicking some buttons and then waiting on a long timer "content"? Admiralty, Doffing, and STO reps can all be accurately described as such: click, click, log off and take a nap (or just come back tomorrow to do the same thing). That's not content.
Just because you don't like some content doesn't mean it's not content.
How exactly is clicking some buttons and then waiting on a long timer "content"? Admiralty, Doffing, and STO reps can all be accurately described as such: click, click, log off and take a nap (or just come back tomorrow to do the same thing). That's not content.
Everything in the game except the engine is content. That's the purpose of the term. To distinguish a digital media product from the "container" it's delivered in.
And practically everything in any game can be described as "clicking some buttons." Well, any game played with a mouse anyway.
Comments
It is sad to see those who only see STO as we know it today and not the glorious days the OP was talking about...here is a sampling of what it was in terms of blogs and state of the game that outlined new content. Quality and Quantity.
Some blogs:
http://www.arcgames.com/en/games/star-trek-online/news/detail/1014020-legacy-of-romulus-dev-blog-_1
http://www.arcgames.com/en/games/star-trek-online/news/detail/1013820-legacy-of-romulus-dev-blog-_3
http://www.arcgames.com/en/games/star-trek-online/news/detail/1012660-legacy-of-romulus-dev-blog-_10
Also:
State of the Game: January 18th, 2010 by Craig Zinkievich
State of the Game: January 27th, 2010 by Craig Zinkievich
State of the Game: 2/25/10 by Craig Zinkievich
State of the Game: 03/12/10 by Craig Zinkievich
State of the Game: May 21, 2010 by Craig Zinkievich
State of the Game: Season Two Launch Edition - July 27, 2010 by Dan Stahl
State of the Game: 09/15/10 by Dan Stahl
State of the Game: June 2012 by Brandon Felczer
State of the Game: July 2012 by Brandon Felczer
State of the Game: September 2012 by Brandon Felczer
State of the Game: November 2012 by Brandon Felczer
State of the Game: January 2013 by Brandon Felczer
State of the Game: July 2013 by Dan Stahl
more at:
https://sto.gamepedia.com/Developer_Blogs#Legacy_of_Romulus_Dev_Blogs
They even used the word "roadmap" a few times with real content. I guess through time these have come and gone. However, there was LOTs of communications in the past dealing with lots of new content that leaves today a mere shadow of what used to be.
With every passing version and Season/Expansion content has been declining ever since this game post LoR. Why make new content if you can make PWE rich and sell GOLDEN boxes.
Original STO beta tester.
Seasons 3 -5 were a bit less impressive though:
Season 3: One Deferi patrol mission
Season 4: KDF only, some quests to walk around and talk to people in first city
Season 5: 4 shared, 1 KDF, "Hearts and Minds" for Friday the 13th
This is important.
I was thinking the same thing while walking outside yesterday (yes, I even think about the game when I'm taking a walk outside).
Just comparing expansions isn't entirely fair. Delta Rising for instance, was released after the summer event and, IIRC, not much content was released in the months following it. Indeed, they spent several weeks alone correcting the hit points of enemies, changing the effect of abilities and so on.
For a fair comparison, we also need to look at what was released shortly before and after an expansion. An expansion may seem relatively small such as in the case of Agents of Yesterday when compared to Delta Rising.
But in reality, Agents of Yesterday and related episodes contained more different enemies and in the few months before that, they revamped the skill system and after that expansion they released more episodes and an entire new arc - which, in the case of Delta Rising, didn't happen until the Iconian War began more than half a year later and with only one episode every month or one month and a half.
It's easy to just look at the official release date and complain that more recent expansions had less content. But that's only logical if more content was developed shortly after and before such an expansion, compared to other ones. Some expansions simply had a lot of content/revamps and then nothing or just tweaking of such content, while others were part of a more steady stream of releases.
Besides all that, let's not forget that each new playable species has to work with tons of different content and systems we have nowadays. Until LoR or Delta Rising were added, we didn't have specialisations, we had fewer reputations, fewer different types of ships, fewer different uniforms, fewer items with unique visuals, fewer ground gear options. All these things have to work with new playable species. So I think it is only logical that expansions seem to contain less content: with every new addition there are more existing features and things that new additions need to be integrated with.
[3/25 10:41][Combat (Self)]Your Haymaker deals 26187 (10692) Physical Damage(Critical) to Orinoco.
I'd rather have four 15 minute missions than a single hour long mission, and missions are my main interest in STO, none of the other systems they've introduced so far has captured my interest even half as much as new missions do.
And that's why I also disagree with comments like these. LoR had more content because they didn't have to add multiple reputations for Romulans, their playable species didn't have to work with the wide variety of specialisations, uniforms and gear we have today.
The game, simply put, was much smaller back then. Of course it's easier to add something to it, under those circumstances.
Oh and btw: I remember all the complaining about how Romulans only got a handful of ships when LoR was released. Hell, even until a year or two ago people were still (with some justification) complainin about the lack of science ships for Romulans. To the point it began to irritate Trendy. Not to mention the still on-going complaining about the Romulans being only a 'half-faction'.
All this 'LoR was much better and contained way more content' is, first of all, not entirely fair because it's always easier to add features to a relatively small game. Second, the way people now look back at LoR is very different from what people thought of it when it was actually released. Back then, and in some ways to this day, people thought a lot different about that expansion. LoR is mainly used to complain about newer released nowadays, but people also complained about that expansion.
And that's just LoR. It's even more so the case of Delta Rising. I find it quite funny that this same Forum that became notorious for its vicious attitude regarding 'Delta Rising is the best expansion ever and people like it'-memes, now remembers and recalls Delta Rising as a great expansion - only to complain about the newer ones. One of which we don't even know that much about yet.
Shows that people just want to complain. So I guess I can answer the OP's question after all: many players here will never be satisfied.
[3/25 10:41][Combat (Self)]Your Haymaker deals 26187 (10692) Physical Damage(Critical) to Orinoco.
Ok, that's possible of course. But I think that, to many other players, battlezones, reputations and spec trees were important. And because they are, I also think it's unfair that some people complain about expansions getting less episodes when there are many good reasons for that. They are working on other things, and sometimes content is simply spread out more equally in the times before and after the official expansion release date.
[3/25 10:41][Combat (Self)]Your Haymaker deals 26187 (10692) Physical Damage(Critical) to Orinoco.
No not everyone will remember it as such of course. And until ViL was announced, many wouldn't think of it as 'great'. But during the past couple of weeks, after news about the new expansion was slowly released, I have found it quite remarkable how Delta Rising is suddenly praised in many comments.
Kudos for being consistent.
[3/25 10:41][Combat (Self)]Your Haymaker deals 26187 (10692) Physical Damage(Critical) to Orinoco.
That.. or they were paid to give rave reviews. thing is that we have no way to know for sure.
Been around since Dec 2010 on STO and bought LTS in Apr 2013 for STO.
And then it jumped again, grabbed the shark in midair and took it on a wild ride for a few billion klicks when "House Pratfall" dropped.
— Sabaton, "Great War"
Check out https://unitedfederationofpla.net/s/
You can only justify from your own point of view. AmbassadorKael will have his, as will Patrickngo, Fleetcaptain5 or anyone else. There will be shills out there and if a lot of the critics have moved on, that leaves the shills to overwhelm the scores without the critics pushing back. again i can't know for certain.
I found the patrol missions at the time to be a turn off, mostly because they provided little in the way to gain grades so to play the next mission. of course the Argala patrol was a popular spot before and after the initial nerf. some missions seemed like a shoehorn for no good reason and the Vaadwuar were just boring to play against, i found the mission with the Elachi at the end to be the best part of that whole chapter, especially where the storyline is concerned back home.
Been around since Dec 2010 on STO and bought LTS in Apr 2013 for STO.
Star Trek Online volunteer Community Moderator
That's so true. And the sky is blue and grass is green. Obvious statements are obvious.
But anyway, I'm concerned with how expansions are getting smaller and smaller with each new one. LOR dropped what, 30 episodes? Then Delta was less. Then AOY was sort of a joke, and now VIL is 7 episodes. If this pattern keeps up, I don't see why the OP's hypothetical about a 1-episode expansion is far-fetched. They are well on their way to getting there. Will the next expansion be even smaller than this? And when is it an "expansion" in name only and not in reality?
Well, as I have explained before: LOR only had more episodes because it had to release less other stuff. As the game develops, there are more things to maintain, more systems to integrate the new playable species / content / ships / whatever with and so on.
As for the question when things are worthy of being called an expansion: whenever they feel it is an expansion. To some players it may seem underwhelming, but strictly speaking any addition is an 'expansion' of the game.
I also agree with @darkbladejk . Besides people complaining about a lack of content that they haven't even seen yet, there's also the fact that we don't know what will happen in the months following the expansion. Which ties in with another comment I made earlier: it's easy to judge expansions just by the amount of content released at that specific date, but of course it also matters how much content, be it episodes or other things, are released in the period before it and afterwards.
The latter of which we can't say much about either. From the way the story currently has developed with the latest episodes, it is likely that we will be seeing episodes from the perspective of the Dominion, which will explain the Hur'q threat. But of course that threat will also be relevant to the Alliance, which also has to deal with the Tzenkethi at some point.
I guess that many episodes will follow shortly after the offical expansion release date as it seems unlikely that they will only further the story for the new faction and not give the existing ones anything to play. So more episodes may well be coming, even if they are not released at the exact date the expansion is launched.
[3/25 10:41][Combat (Self)]Your Haymaker deals 26187 (10692) Physical Damage(Critical) to Orinoco.
#LegalizeAwoo
A normie goes "Oh, what's this?"
An otaku goes "UwU, what's this?"
A furry goes "OwO, what's this?"
A werewolf goes "Awoo, what's this?"
"It's nothing personal, I just don't feel like I've gotten to know a person until I've sniffed their crotch."
"We said 'no' to Mr. Curiosity. We're not home. Curiosity is not welcome, it is not to be invited in. Curiosity...is bad. It gets you in trouble, it gets you killed, and more importantly...it makes you poor!"
Does it matter what you, Somtaawkhar or I call it?
For most people Admiralty, Doffing, lockboxes (at least their contents) and reputations enhance the game.
So it is acceptable that it takes up work, so it needs to be taken into account when comparing expansions.
[3/25 10:41][Combat (Self)]Your Haymaker deals 26187 (10692) Physical Damage(Critical) to Orinoco.
Admiralty and Doffing I flat out ignore (a similar mechanic in Warlords of Draenor made me quit WoW for over a year starting a month after the expansion launched due to burn out), and I absolutely despise STOs reputation system, for the few reps I've bothered to complete I did the slider busy work while flying from planet to planet during the anniversary events.
How exactly is clicking some buttons and then waiting on a long timer "content"? Admiralty, Doffing, and STO reps can all be accurately described as such: click, click, log off and take a nap (or just come back tomorrow to do the same thing). That's not content.
And practically everything in any game can be described as "clicking some buttons." Well, any game played with a mouse anyway.