What are your feelings about the Mission Streamlining Overhaul that was released with AoD?

thevampinator

Decided to make this poll, ever since they released Age of Discovery, there have been talks of bugs with the missions I noticed some episodes in the Federation Storyline mention events I have not done yet as I didn't do Nimbus on that character nor Installation 18. I personally feel they will need to revamp those missions and change the Dialog so they don't mention those missions if you have not done them. I am happy they revamped several of the Federation Episodes would really like to see them do it with some of the other factions missions. But well they one day might get to that. I do feel they need to make an optional mission episodes tab so they can be replayed. But I understand why they couldn't fully do that, they might who knows.

Anyways since the change what do you see that they could do better with the the Streamlining any suggestions for future streamlined missions or maybe seeing the return of those arcs back into the mission episodes tab. Feel free to share or if you don't want to you could say No Comment in the Poll you don't have too.

mirrorterran

A rather lopsided poll since only one option out of 8 allows you to say you are happy with it, the next option moves on to "needs serious work"

However, the complaints I see in chat about it seem to boil down to content that was locked out because of a prior requirement not met or not being able to find content they are used to seeing being moved.

In both cases I think it was a mistake frankly, if you want to insist that players make certain choices before moving on they should make it clearer what they need to do. In the second case they shouldn't have made content more difficult to find.

If the intent was to make it more "streamlined" I would think they would make content unskippable and ALL of it part of the grand leveling process. I'm sure I'm in the minority here since the skip button is the greatest thing since sliced bread to some. On a side note to this, the leveling process is completely borked as it is because my last character hit 65 without buffs in the Borg story arc. There basically is no leveling in this game anymore....it's just BANG you are now level 65.

where2r1

It needs serious work and I'm not very happy with it.

It is not just moving around of the missions....it is no longer having access to missions at all. And it is borked different ways depending on your "faction".

It is removing access to gear you were able to use at a lower level before....example my favorite Tier 3 Kamarag from Temporal Ambassador, can't even get to that mission at level 20 at all any more...when the ship is level appropriate. I love that Kamarag. (Not sure how the Fed counter part holds up though.)

There are plenty of lower level missions to hunt for Accolades. And my Delta and Temporal Recruits assignments are all screwed up. As in, I have to wait till I get the missions unlocked at level 65 before I can complete my "Tasseract Device" or "Temporal Transponder" rewards.

I am pretty confident that they are working on attempting to fix this mess. But afraid it is going to be this screwy for some time....maybe they will have some time after the Anniversary.

And anybody know when does that "Magic The Gathering" go live????

warpangel

I am happy they streamlined Mission Episodes by making Some Arcs Optional.

The only negative I encountered was having to find and skip a bunch of frivolous TFO wrappers that reward nothing to be able to replay missions, which was kinda lame but not a big deal by any means. On the other hand, they enabled some more feddy missions for rommies with some actually useful rewards. So it's def well on the net positive.

mustrumridcully0

Happy with it but it needs serious work. Like an Optionals Episodes Tab for Replayability and Bug Fixes.

The really seemed to have tested it poorly with existing characters, with all the missions that are suddenly grayed out for some reason that you then have to figure out.
Also, the level requirements for the missions they moved out of the main arc make no sense coupled with the story progression.
They also generally need to clean up their mission flow or some missions. The 2800 arc still refers to you having met the Borg, were most of the Borg missions are later in the level or mission flow by now.

It really needs an additional iteration and going through all the details.

Also, they should have made the stories that they took from the main arc into a seperate tab that highlights the arc.

rattler2

I do agree that the issue with the Kamarag and Ambassador make her pretty pointless to claim except for an Admiralty Card now.

The Ambassador was a pretty decent option at her level if you wanted to fly a cruiser but not fly one with 4 nacelles. But now you can't even get her until you're WELL beyond that tier now. While I understand that it was moved into the Temporal Arc because it involves temporal shenanigans... the reward is clearly aimed towards lower level players and would still work in an earlier arc. Honestly the decision to move Temporal Ambassador makes no sense to me.

ashstorm1

They should revert it back to the way it was since it messes up storyline progression and its bugged.

I honestly don't see the point of that overhaul, and from my point of view, it's just making things one step more confusing for new players. I really don't understand why they implemented that change while there are so many potentially game-breaking bugs and glitches that need fixing.

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duncanidaho11

I am happy they streamlined Mission Episodes by making Some Arcs Optional.

somtaawkhar wrote: »

rattler2 wrote: »

I do agree that the issue with the Kamarag and Ambassador make her pretty pointless to claim except for an Admiralty Card now.

The Ambassador was a pretty decent option at her level if you wanted to fly a cruiser but not fly one with 4 nacelles. But now you can't even get her until you're WELL beyond that tier now. While I understand that it was moved into the Temporal Arc because it involves temporal shenanigans... the reward is clearly aimed towards lower level players and would still work in an earlier arc. Honestly the decision to move Temporal Ambassador makes no sense to me.

When Temporal Ambassador was originally released it was designed for people who had played the entire story up to that point, hence the appearance of all those NPCs that are in other missions in the game.

After it stopped being an event mission, they just sort of threw it on the end of the Klingon war arc, since that is what they did with several missions in that time. However, putting it there makes no sense as the player's haven't met even half of those NPCs yet, meaning they get no real impact out of seeing them in an alternate universe. Not to mention NPCs they added later like Noye, who doesn't show up until the Iconian War arc.

And people can always skip ahead to TA (see. that part of the revamp.) It's going to take a lot of skipping to but it's something folks can do if they care enough about that ship (guys, it's ultimately your choice now.)

IMO the journal changes are very welcome. I have total control over what I play now on a new character and if I find an arc just doesn't interest me or shine any kind of interesting light on my character I'm free to skip it. Optional arcs are fantastic for helping avoid bloat in story progression (see. every other RPG, this is very basic stuff and I don't think these optional side quests are going to confuse many incoming players) and for once in a long while, I didn't burn-out while leveling my DSC character and that's huge in keeping me invested in it.

ilithyn

At the moment I'm neither happy nor unhappy with the changes, I'm irritated by it because of all the bugs, the missing missions, the level changes, ect. If they can bring the unreplayable missions back so they're replayable and scrap the illogical minimum level for the optional arcs, then I can give you an answer to whether or not this was a good idea. As it stands the flaws and bugs along with the usual complete lack of communication as to whether this is bugs or if it's wai, makes me annoyed more than anything.

mneme0

It needs serious work and I'm not very happy with it.

I consider it wasted development time that could have been used to make a more functional and interesting mission UI and which was instead used to introduce bugs and needless annoyance into the system.

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seaofsorrows

They should revert it back to the way it was since it messes up storyline progression and its bugged.

I haven't personally had any issue with it, but it has seemed to cause a lot of problems for people.

I don't know why they even wasted time with this to begin with, there were many other things that should have received Developer attention over 'streamlining the mission arcs.' I felt the implementation was sloppy and poorly done, and then the entire borked system was rolled out to console players.

It's worked fine for me, I had to do a bunch of skips to unlock all my mission arcs, but others have not been so lucky. It's just a lot of hassle for something that was never requested and wasn't necessary at all.

razar2380

I have an idea for how they can do better (Please comment below)

I think that the first thing they need to do is go back to the way it was before. Then, after they fix that, step back, find out what they really want to do with the missions, and then examine the actual missions to see how it can properly be done. The jumbled mess they now have, is only more confusing for many than before.

What I feel they should so is I look at what stories were told, vs the story they now want to tell. Don't know how many times the beginning has been changed, or adapted so far. But they need to pick a story to tell, then tell that story. Stop changing the overall stories every time they get a new idea for starting a story.

Each story arc should set up the player for what the next story arc is next. If they want to skip it, then fine, let them. But, make sure they know that skipping that story may affect their experience in later missions. That may be in the form of past missions being mentioned, that they don't have any idea about because they skipped them, or maybe something they could have gotten from that missions that could help them in a future missions. (I do find it odd that we get some rewards at lower missions, that are completely pointless later on).

Before they ever remove a mission, they need to have a replacement in place first. If they are going to revamp a mission, then do that before removing the older version of it.

This game has always been focused on giving players a narrow view when it comes to missions. You keep doing missions in the story arcs, and never need to look for "side quest" to do. You can level up so fast, that you don't need them. But, most other MMOs will have side quest that can be done to help you level up. They have people clearly visible that you can talk to, and get missions. In STO, most of the side missions have a few problems with them. Not only do they come from NPCs that you don't see, unless looking for them in the minimap, but they also are boring. Or they will require you buying stuff to give to someone, and eating up your EC without something in return. They don't really tell a story. So most players that know about them don't even bother with them.

I know that STO isn't like other MMOs. But there are some things to learn from other MMOs. One of the things I also think this game can benefit from are planets like NR. You can wonder around the planet and do different missions on the surface of the planet. I would like to see others like that, that are not battlezones. Even missions where you can get cargo on one planet, and take it to another planet. But it involves going to the planet and actually doing stuff. These can be optional.

Another thing that I would like to see with early missions that have special rewards, is make it so that if you upgrade them to higher levels (MKs), they are actually useful. Even the regular mission gear needs to be better, at least the first time you play the mission. I get that they want the rep gear to be OP compared to regular mission rewards. But almost all missions rewards from early missions are just vendor trash.

Lastly, I would like to see good EC rewards for lower level missions. This is to help out new players to the game. They can do missions and receive decent EC as part of their rewards. As they move up through the missions, the EC gets filtered out eventually, and dil rewards increase. By the time they reach level 20, they should have enough EC and Dil from just missions to level up at least 4 weapons from MK II to the level they can use. This gets more newer players using the upgrade system, and will hopefully encourage the devs to lower the cost for higher MK weapons to be upgraded.

Razar.

jamieblanchard

I have an idea for how they can do better (Please comment below)

I feel that after a certain point, all story content should be optional, and in addition to that, the missions should be presented in a way that one may jump to an arc in any order they so choose. Like the bloke above me said, make all the stories past your intro/tutorial side quests. Maybe unlock them by a brief dialogue with your faction leader as he or she tells you about this and that. Heck, if they really wanna make it even more interesting, after concluding your tutorial/intro, maybe the game asks you something like "My adventure begins ..." then give you the choice of starting with one of the existing arcs. That would make rolling a new toon more interesting, IMO. Maybe start your new tac in the Iconian arc, your new engineer starts off at Nimbus - lots of possibilities!

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postagepaid

It needs serious work and I'm not very happy with it.

Typical half done idea from cryptic.

New stuff was added, fine.

New stuff being added locked out pretty much every mission replay, awful and should never had made it to live.

Bumping the "optional" arcs to an inappropriate level was just lazy icing on a cake that would be ridiculed by bakers for all eternity.

Only difference between this revamp and the half done reps are those might get completed to a point where they aren't full of clunky bs.

markhawkman

It needs serious work and I'm not very happy with it.

My issue is that it changed requirements for missions in ways that aren't visible to the player.

avantgarde01

I really do not like the changes they made and hope for a total revert.

Pisses me off. Some of my fav story line missions are gone for the time being.

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