Which would you prefer to see from Cryptic?

winters83

Hello everyone,

So in our last interview on Priority One Podcast with STO Lead Designer "Al Rivera" we brought up the issue that content (i.e. story missions) seem to be coming less and less frequently. Al's response is that to this issue is that the team are spending more time on creating story missions compared to say, three years ago. So rather than spending 3 weeks creating a mission they are spending 9 weeks creating them. I would like to see what you guys, the STO community thinks about this and hopefully we can get a good idea what the community wants for the future of STO. Thank you all in advance for your votes and opinions!

(Content=Story Missions)
(Less Frequently=Each Season Release and .5 Release)

-Winters

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mirrorchaos

the poll is biased unfortunately, there is a lack of middle ground. it is one extreme or the other and i would prefer a middle ground.

postagepaid

Quality is too hit or miss at the current level to suggest that a reduction in favour of more would be close to a good thing for the game.

baddmoonrizin

Continue to get high quality content but less frequently.

@mirrorchaos I think that the middle ground would be the obvious choice, and a clear winner in such a poll. This one, however, is intentionally trying to gauge between the two extremes, which would be preferable.

winters83

Lower the quality of content and produce it more frequently.

baddmoonrizin wrote: »

@mirrorchaos I think that the middle ground would be the obvious choice, and a clear winner in such a poll. This one, however, is intentionally trying to gauge between the two extremes, which would be preferable.

@badmoonrisin, thanks for voicing your opinion but I think you have taken the intent of this poll up wrong. I didn't say "drop the quality to it's lowest", all I said was to "lower it", as in from it's current level to something more mid range. I am sorry if I didn't make that clear enough.

-Winters

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duncanidaho11

Continue to get high quality content but less frequently.

1st option with a proviso: more of the same quality but changes to their composition. Ie. built with more replayability in mind (to capitalize on an expanding back catalogue of high quality missions.) For specific suggestions on how to do this [efficiently, in STO]: see my foundry missions.

(It's a lot ranging from simply putting more optionals in to major writing/design changes at the high-end to build stories that flow around multiple interacting plot points rather than proceeding to what's either going to be a goal or a twist [and another linear track]. It's easier to go back to something if there's more angles to re-examine.)

mirrorchaos

valoreah wrote: »

Anything put forth from the "lower quality but faster" end of the spectrum is only going to lead to the commensurate whining and complaining about "low quality" content. That option seems self defeating to me.

That is my thought on the subject from the start basically. i would prefer a slightly drop in quality if it meant saving a week in developing the episode so another one can be put on the line. i mean if the quality is was less than average and the episodes came out more often, it would be a really bad thing to see.

i don't want cryptic to lower their standards so much so it hurts them in the long run with bad content coming in thick and fast. i would prefer the episodes to come in a little sooner without compromising the quality to a point it is very noticable, in addition to not losing the idea of expansions and seasons.

baddmoonrizin wrote: »

@mirrorchaos I think that the middle ground would be the obvious choice, and a clear winner in such a poll. This one, however, is intentionally trying to gauge between the two extremes, which would be preferable.

there is no way to know for certain if it would be the winner or not.

fleetcaptain5

Difficult to answer this question. It may be simpler than the question posted in the other thread, but that's also because this question is more vague.

What exactly is meant by 'quality'?

Are we talking about graphical quality? Sizes of maps and their filling in terms of environments? Voice overs? Dialogue options? Rewards? All these things and more perhaps?

baddmoonrizin

Continue to get high quality content but less frequently.

@winters83 I'm sorry. I didn't mean "drop to the lowest". I meant between your two choices as stated in the poll.

leemwatson

Continue to get high quality content but less frequently.

valoreah wrote: »

Anything put forth from the "lower quality but faster" end of the spectrum is only going to lead to the commensurate whining and complaining about "low quality" content. That option seems self defeating to me.

Personally, I think Cryptic is doing a good job in releasing story content. Could it be faster? Sure. With that said, I would not want quality to suffer because of it.

I echo this opinion. There should be no compromise on quality, even though this is a free game. And I do think that they are sandbagging it a little in the time taken in releasing an episode, have a hard time believing that it took 9 weeks to create some the most recent episodes.

kaggert27

Continue to get high quality content but less frequently.

IDK, I'd kind of like both?

Don't get me wrong I like main overall story arc missions. But some mini-arcs that are not directly involved in main arcs would be nice. We could even go based on some Foundry missions beyond highlighting, if per say a "curated" set by some very well done ones, that would be officially revamped to streamline some; improve map, combat, dialog options, some writing, and maybe some voice work if able. As much as I like the idea of Foundry, sometimes event he best ones are broken.

An example of size of such missions would be... "Beyond the Nexus" in terms of length, and closed story/episode (though to be fair Beyond the Nexus seemed too short, but eh), or size of a part of an arc. Some sort of method to "payout" the creator(or sets of creators), basically have a Tournament of sorts to pick out ones, players vote, and based on Cryptic's requirements and stuff, much like how we do pick some ship visuals decide to take up, and "official seal of approval" include in game in another selection tab.

Basically saying this would enable Cryptic to focus on main storyline, while having a somewhat more content dropping pipeline. Also could help encourage better Foundry Missions in general and feed into it more, and enable those chosen to have more of a following, and maybe even want to go into the actual industry.

tunicate515

winters83 wrote: »

baddmoonrizin wrote: »

@mirrorchaos I think that the middle ground would be the obvious choice, and a clear winner in such a poll. This one, however, is intentionally trying to gauge between the two extremes, which would be preferable.

@badmoonrisin, thanks for voicing your opinion but I think you have taken the intent of this poll up wrong. I didn't say "drop the quality to it's lowest", all I said was to "lower it", as in from it's current level to something more mid range. I am sorry if I didn't make that clear enough.

-Winters

BMR's reply illustrates why this poll is not going to provide any valuable feedback; it is going to be MISintepreted between 2 extremes, even if that was not your intent.

If you actually want valuable feedback, you should request this thread be closed and post a poll with these(example) options:

1: very high quality content but NOT very often (what we currently have)

2: medium quality content MORE often than we get now

3: low quality content VERY often

It's very important to think about how other people are going to interpret your options before actually posting the poll, if you want the feedback to be of any value.

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theraven2378

Continue to get high quality content but less frequently.

I do prefer quality

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foxman00

Continue to get high quality content but less frequently.

sirsitsalot wrote: »

I would like for them to take three months and focus on improving their tools and ramp up for a workflow that will allow them to release 18-24 Episodes that consist of at least one hour of gameplay over the course of nine months. Just like the TV shows did with TNG, DS9, VOY and ENT. Every episode needs to include C-Store cosmetic items seen in the form of NPC character and ship skins, as well as bridges and interiors sets. In other words, every new thing introduced in an episode could be something players can own.

Also implement a large scale system-driven meta-game tied to the efforts of the Alliance exploring the galaxy together. Things discovered in this meta-game during the 3-month hiatus between the episodic content would hint at what the next season will deal with.

It would seem to me that what they need is a small but competent writing team, tools that better facilitate the development and deployment of structured episodic content, and a workflow that is based on that sort of delivery.

There would always be a 3-month hiatus between the episode release cycles. It would be in this period in which the art team would begin producing the content needed for the first three months of episodes, and they would continue six more months, finishing up with the last three months pending deployment. That last period would be where they produce the stuff that the will be needed for the system-driven meta game to occupy the three months between episode cycles.

STO could be perceived as the next Star Trek series taking place in the prime universe, but one where the audience is not just the spectators... but active participants.

That is what I would like to see them do...

Ummm

https://giphy.com/gifs/laughing-futurama-bender-OvL3qHSMO6uaI

midnightrider7

Continue to get high quality content but less frequently.

I like the way they have been doing the story missions. The longer wait just makes me look forward to them more when they are released.

I maybe one of the few, but I enjoy the patrol missions. If they could come up a few new ideas I wouldn't mind if they used one or two of the half seasons to add a handful of both ground and space patrols.

locutusofcactus

Continue to get high quality content but less frequently.

I voted based on me and not necessarily what could be best for the game in general. I have a lot of toons that keep me busy as it is so I don't need frequent new content. With that bias disclosed, I do in fact think that higher quality but less frequently is indeed a better course for STO to continue on.

slifox

Lower the quality of content and produce it more frequently.

I would rather have voted for a middle ground choice as well, but I’m at that point where queues are getting a little tiresome and have picked up some old games that have been collecting dust.

starswordc

Lower the quality of content and produce it more frequently.

I picked "less quality, more frequently", but I need to clarify what I mean by that, because I have somewhat different concerns.

See, I'm okay with less whizbang graphics and fewer celebrity cameos — every time we bring in a canon character I feel like I've become an extra in my own story — but the WRITING quality needs significant improvement and has since approximately the Kobali arc. If you aren't playing a Fed-human you're often completely out-of-character (why is my Romulan whining about playing tricks on allies for a good cause in "Operation Cooperation Conspiracy"?), the characters do illogical things because the plot requires them to (Sela's Joker Immunity being a good example), and the game world should more reflect what's happening in the current story (for an extreme example, compare the non-event of the Iconian War, to the Citadel being carpeted in refugees and people begging for information on missing loved ones in Mass Effect 3). And before anyone complains they can't do it: species-dependent dialogue is already available in multiple missions, the second one is a question of better plotting and characterization, and Cryptic already demonstrated that they can dynamically alter the overworld (by adding the Herald Sphere in place of Iconia after "Uneasy Allies").

And if you don't want to do something a certain way, explain in-story (NOT IN A BLOG, to make absolutely clear what I mean) why this is not PRACTICAL (with an extreme enough threat, conventional morality can suck it as far as I'm concerned). Explain IN-STORY why we can't just blow up the Herald Sphere, or go back a couple more days in time and take the keys out of the Annorax's ignition before Noye steals it since we have freaking time machines. (Existing example: In "Capture the Flag" you can suggest to Gaius Selan that, since you're standing in the transporter room, y'all should just beam the Vaadwaur boss out into space, and he answers that he tried that already and it didn't work.)

It would also be good to spend some effort on expanding and filling out the game world with more short-ish sidequests unrelated to the main plots.

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theboxisred

I, too, cannot vote in this poll because it presents a false dichotomy and a false syllogism.

In other words, High Quality does not automatically equal Long Wait. Besides which, "Quality" has not been defined.

I (we) wait quite a long time for certain content only to find that, for example, Starfleet Officers, who are supposed to be professionals, communicate in a very unprofessional manner. Seven of Nine follows my character too closely in the manner of someone in a super market checkout line who has no concept of personal space. My bridge officers jump atop some feature in a map and get stuck there. These are just some of the things we've had to wait for. Are they high quality?

Don't get the wrong idea. I'm not bashing the game. I love this game. I want this game to be the best it can be.

Earlier someone mentioned a lack of side quests. I'd have to agree with that assesment. And I don't mean the kind where we run zig-zag for an hour to find some ambassadors lost kitten. With all the ports and all the NPC's at those ports some really very good sidequests could be put in place. These would be opportunities to do "Stand-Alone Episodes," so to speak, as opposed to the season-long story arc that is the norm. Maybe it's a murder mystery. Maybe it's a kidnapping. Maybe the Fifo Fum Array has been sabotaged. Maybe it's a jewel heist. Plus this sort of thing could be done without creating new assets from scratch. Finally, upon release of these side quests, don't tell us where they start. Only tell us when a new side quest is released so we have to go find the right NPC to interact with to acquire the mission. Yes, I know it will be on reddit in less than five minutes, but not everyone would go out of game to find it.

Sorry, I got off topic there.

My point is that if you ask ten people what "Quality" means you'll get ten different answers, and that is why I find the question to be reliant upon a false premise.

But hey! You got me to post a comment. That's something, at least.

jiralinria

Continue to get high quality content but less frequently.

Obviously getting high quality content less frequently isn't the best solution ever, but I would much prefer keeping the high standard we have now rather than going back to kill 60 enemies on a new map in space every 4 weeks... altogether maybe some side quests as was said before along the longer wait on missions, or maybe something like the upcomming island exploration in WoW to fill in. But only my personal opinion and a bit off topic.

where2r1

Continue to get high quality content but less frequently.

Would also prefer EVENTS to be less frequent....having a heck of a time keeping up with all this.

tyler002

Continue to get high quality content but less frequently.

I vote for whatever I feel gets content that actually works and doesn't accidentally knee-cap something else in the process.

evilmark444

Lower the quality of content and produce it more frequently.

"Quality" is the wrong word. What I would prefer is fewer long, high production value missions and significantly more short, low production value missions. By production value I mean things like full voice overs, Trek actors, and elaborate cutscenes. Long missions with all the bells and whistles should be something special for us to look forward to occasionally, not the only form of mission content released. A release schedule I'd be happy with would go something like this:

February: One Featured Episode
April: 4+ short, patrol style missions
June: FE
August: 4+ Short missions
etc

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reafis

I cant really vote for this because I do not personally feel it has improved. The Last FE might be innovative but it was over in less than 30 mins very similar to Beyond the Nexus in length. You cannot say its higher quality and then make it shorter.