I don't necessarily need 'new activities', I enjoy the ones we have just fine. But the selection of prizes (more &%$#*! baseball uniforms, winter freeze powers, that ship) just aren't anything I want to earn. So no need to do any of those activities. So no need to log in to do them.
(I've got lots of Admiralty cards, so I don't need the ship for that. If I were a newer player, it'd probably be worth it for that at least. It's not good Space Barbie, it doesn't have game mechanics that I particularly care about, and I'm not a fan of it's design to start with.)
+ stats when alone can actually be very useful and good cards.
The Tanius has it. Of course it has +50 which is more than other cards have, but still. There are many assignments where the +stats can make the difference between needing another ship, or being able to do it with one card.
For players with few cards, that can be an important difference.
Of course they'd probably be more useful to others if we ever get an auto-fill/auto-select option for assignments like we have with Doffing.
They're cards I use on throw-away assignments. Except the Tanius. For everything else, they're usually lacking in one or two stats to achieve even reasonable success chances, rendering the benefit moot. And if they can't do it alone, then why would I use them at all?
Tanius is awesome. Can do up to ToD 9 on its own no problem.
I can't take it anymore! Could everyone just chill out for two seconds before something CRAZY happens again?!
The nut who actually ground out many packs. The resident forum voice of reason (I HAZ FORUM REP! YAY!)
normal text = me speaking as fellow formite colored text = mod mode
The Summer Squall module is not on the vendor. But the Tsunami module is still listed as 'new' -- is that the Summer Squall mislabeled? I'm not spending 1000 lolnuts to find out. Looks like they have at least one issue for the next patch...
The new kit frame seems useless though. I probably won't be even trying it, unless I have Favours to spare at the end of the event.
There isn't much content where we use EV suits and as others have noted, its buffs will rarely apply in combat situations (it's a bit like all those very old consumables that add extra hit points for a few seconds, but which can only be activated outside of combat - when the enemy still has to punch through your shields anyway...)
The Breen frame from the Winter event simply has much better stats that can be of use anywhere. I picked up that one as soon as I created a fully Andorian-themed character a bit over a year ago.
Yeah that run around with the jetpack isn't so bad, sadly don't have much time to do much else though.
The ship is basically an admiralty card, they did that engineery thing again.
0
rattler2Member, Star Trek Online ModeratorPosts: 58,667Community Moderator
I got the new kit module for my Cryomancer Sci. I haven't tried it yet but I predict some shenanigans when combined with Endothermic and Cold Fusion Flash.
I can't take it anymore! Could everyone just chill out for two seconds before something CRAZY happens again?!
The nut who actually ground out many packs. The resident forum voice of reason (I HAZ FORUM REP! YAY!)
normal text = me speaking as fellow formite colored text = mod mode
what happened to summer sale discount? 25%? i waited and saved zen for year for 50% like last year((( big disappointment. few weeks ago was better discount with no event. guess more waiting for me( not going to waste zen for 25% off
Replacing dance instructor VO is seriously leaving me scratching my head.
What was the issue in the old VO? We've never seen non-SAG actors reflexively replaced before. See. Kurland, who's VO was just reused for the latest TFO. Party instructor Zero is a classic part of the event and to see her replaced seems...excessive at the very least. I don't think there's any quantifiable reason why the old VO didn't work, they've been a staple for so long and there's no plausible feedback that could have possible reached the team this year that the instructors had to be removed. There's also no data that could possibly point to replacing the VO as there's been no summer event without the classic dance instructors. There was no update of their lines either, no reason why they needed to get a new and SAG actor to rework the character for new lines or an expanded role. It's the exact same script.
And while the new female dance instructor actor is fine in her own right (haven't heard the male yet if he's even present), the voice direction seems very off. It's more *instruction* and less of a party atmosphere at the base of a tropical resort. Mechanically, it's far less energizing and that deficiency feeds into the functional slog of clicking on an extended series of emotes. So on top of the cultural angle of replacing a classic character there's the basic point, "This new VO doesn't work as well as previous." The audio quality might be more clear but that by far isn't the most important aspect of this bit of game design.
Overall, there's just a lot of confusion and mild disappointment here. It doesn't seem like the decision was plugged in either into the social context of replacing Zero, in particular (in the especially crass way of overwriting her custom tailored NPC) or the functional needs of the character (see. giving the actor flat direction, not getting what players need to make this activity fun). I really don't see what the team could have been thinking here even on low-probability points of speculation (ex. sudden SAG issues. Again, we *just* saw Kurland re-used).
Ie. some explanation would be nice (as this is perhaps the most baffling change Cryptic's made in years). But here's my two recommendations regardless:
1. Revert the dance instructor VO
2. Alternatively, give the instructors new character models. Overwriting personal representations of team members with new VO isn't the classiest way of handling this. Separating out the new VO to a new character is the way to go to make it not seem like you're treating their place in the community as non-meaningful. Keep the old character models around in the background, but introduce the new instructor VO as new people. Don't play at implications of disposability (especially for one of your highest profile female team members in STO history) and give your new actor the best chance possible at being accepted by the community (it's only fair for their work).
Post edited by duncanidaho11 on
Bipedal mammal and senior Foundry author.
Notable missions: Apex [AEI], Gemini [SSF], Trident [AEI], Evolution's Smile [SSF], Transcendence
Looking for something new to play? I've started building Foundry missions again in visual novel form!
They changed the voiceover for Flying High, too. I don't know about anyone else, but she sounds smarmy to me.
I preferred the original in both cases. Whatever her flaws, the old dance instructor was enthusiastic.
Replacing dance instructor VO is seriously leaving me scratching my head.
What was the issue in the old VO? We've never seen non-SAG actors reflexively replaced before. See. Kurland, who's VO was just reused for the latest TFO. Party instructor Zero is a classic part of the event and to see her replaced seems...excessive at the very least. I don't think there's any quantifiable reason why the old VO didn't work, they've been a staple for so long and there's no plausible feedback that could have possible reached the team this year that the instructors had to be removed. There's also no data that could possibly point to replacing the VO as there's been no summer event without the classic dance instructors. There was no update of their lines either, no reason why they needed to get a new and SAG actor to rework the character for new lines or an expanded role. It's the exact same script.
And while the new female dance instructor actor is fine in her own right (haven't heard the male yet if he's even present), the voice direction seems very off. It's more *instruction* and less of a party atmosphere at the base of a tropical resort. Mechanically, it's far less energizing and that deficiency feeds into the functional slog of clicking on an extended series of emotes. So on top of the cultural angle of replacing a classic character there's the basic point, "This new VO doesn't work as well as previous." The audio quality might be more clear but that by far isn't the most important aspect of this bit of game design.
Overall, there's just a lot of confusion and mild disappointment here. It doesn't seem like the decision was plugged in either into the social context of replacing Zero, in particular (in the especially crass way of overwriting her custom tailored NPC) or the functional needs of the character (see. giving the actor flat direction, not getting what players need to make this activity fun). I really don't see what the team could have been thinking here even on low-probability points of speculation (ex. sudden SAG issues. Again, we *just* saw Kurland re-used).
Ie. some explanation would be nice (as this is perhaps the most baffling change Cryptic's made in years). But here's my two recommendations regardless:
1. Revert the dance instructor VO
2. Alternatively, give the instructors new character models. Overwriting personal representations of team members with new VO isn't the classiest way of handling this. Separating out the new VO to a new character is the way to go to make it not seem like you're treating their place in the community as non-meaningful. Keep the old character models around in the background, but introduce the new instructor VO as new people. Don't play at implications of disposability (especially for one of your highest profile female team members in STO history) and give your new actor the best chance possible at being accepted by the community (it's only fair for their work).
IKR? The older Dance Instructor voice actress sounded more alive and more... (like she had a soul), but this one sounds just...timid and absent.
Also, on topic: I was also reminded that Reman women are still glitched and have invisible lower halves if one attempts to put them in skirts, shorts, or bikinis. Are Remans simply forbidden from wearing less clothing or something?
They changed the voiceover for Flying High, too. I don't know about anyone else, but she sounds smarmy to me.
I preferred the original in both cases. Whatever her flaws, the old dance instructor was enthusiastic.
They changed the voiceover for Flying High, too. I don't know about anyone else, but she sounds smarmy to me.
I preferred the original in both cases. Whatever her flaws, the old dance instructor was enthusiastic.
There's a VO for that?
Haven't heard a word.
They added VO to the lines you get during the activity. I don't recall voiceover for flying high though, I think that was always text based. Hers is perfectly fine there but it seems very misplaced to revamp the dance instructor VO and fill out her NPC contact dialog for event explanation but then *don't* do the same for the flying high contact which is your central introduction to the event. She's also arguably most important silent Risan NPC to add VO to for (why on earth do the dance instructor first?) The new Flying High VO is only for the activity, not NPC interactions. She also sounds like its the same actor. So...what happened?
The best I can possibly guess is that due to a miscommunication they revamped the wrong NPC. The dance instructor lines were recorded with the Flying High actor (perhaps thinking they were the same) and the Flying High NPC's event explanations (still text only) were overlooked because the dance instructor NPC lines were covered. The new VO was then implemented but without rationalizing what the original intent was. Ergo: haphazard application of one actor across two NPC's. If not that or similar then: "what the hell happened?" (it's a really weird set of updates and not what any designer would strive for in deliberate application.)
There's an argument to make for needing a new actor if they want to add new lines but the application here seems all over the place and not upstanding with respect to a character that was both a fan favorite (as far as they can be articulated for STO) and one of the most prominent female members of the team who did a LOT of community building. Clarification and/or a reversion would be most appreciated. If it's a simple matter then that should be an easy conversation.
Post edited by duncanidaho11 on
Bipedal mammal and senior Foundry author.
Notable missions: Apex [AEI], Gemini [SSF], Trident [AEI], Evolution's Smile [SSF], Transcendence
Looking for something new to play? I've started building Foundry missions again in visual novel form!
Not only does the new female dance instructor sound like she should be wearing a business suit with her hair in a bun in a staff meeting somewhere instead of having fun and calling dance moves at a party, the new voice just does not sound right for her body type either, which is another disconnect. And the Flying High voice has an odd cadence to the way the lines are read that gives an impression of it being one of those home control box voices like Alexa where they try to sound natural but end up sounding clueless instead.
While the male dance instructor voice was annoying enough to warrant replacement (I haven't heard him yet this year so I don't know if they did it or not) the female one was spot on for the part and should be brought back. At the very least give any new voice actors some coffee or whatever so they wake up and sound like they want to be there.
The new visuals on the island like the roofs and whatnot are ok, btw, though i wonder if they may have increased lag a little since the Flying High gates are slower to appear than last year and I often had to guess where they were along the hud path (of course, that may just be because of the extra crowds on the first day or two).
My one complaint is that the increased detail on the palm trees hides the hoops you have to fly through for the aerial part of the Biathlon. Of course, nobody thought of that.
I and one of my fleetmates do not like the new VO for the Female Dance Instructor. He jokingly compared her to someone's mom or a Karen. Her voice is flat and lacks excitement.
As for the new VO for the previously unvoiced Event Coordinator, I actually like her voice. If the male Dance Instructor has been removed, I had no problem with him and I want him back. Though thinking of the new VO, if you get to the Dance Party before it starts you still hear the old VO from ZeroniusRex. That is a bug.
Cryptic, please add back the old VO from Zero and if you did take out the male Dance Instructor, please bring him back! I know there are SAG issues, but this an event that shows up during the summer and then disappears when it is done to come back for a new year, why can there not be an exception? Please do not change her voice during the Winter Event, I do not want a new precedent set here.
Also, noticed that the pop-in grass under Lighting 1.0 and a little under Lighting 2.0 is still present. Still prefer how Risa looks under Lighting 1.0, trying it in Lighting 2.0 and it looks drastically different, I am still exploring the island to see what it looks like. A lot of work I believe still needs to be done when it comes to Risa. Finally, the lag, FPS, and/or server issues need to be fixed for Risa and other maps that suffer from this. The first day of the event, I had to close the chat window in order not to have so much lag going on. Thanks.
Comments
(I've got lots of Admiralty cards, so I don't need the ship for that. If I were a newer player, it'd probably be worth it for that at least. It's not good Space Barbie, it doesn't have game mechanics that I particularly care about, and I'm not a fan of it's design to start with.)
The Tanius has it. Of course it has +50 which is more than other cards have, but still. There are many assignments where the +stats can make the difference between needing another ship, or being able to do it with one card.
For players with few cards, that can be an important difference.
Of course they'd probably be more useful to others if we ever get an auto-fill/auto-select option for assignments like we have with Doffing.
Tanius is awesome. Can do up to ToD 9 on its own no problem.
normal text = me speaking as fellow formite
colored text = mod mode
Original STO beta tester.
And although I stated earlier that I probably wouldn't be flying the new 'ship' much, it does look good on Risa in all its colourful innocence.
There isn't much content where we use EV suits and as others have noted, its buffs will rarely apply in combat situations (it's a bit like all those very old consumables that add extra hit points for a few seconds, but which can only be activated outside of combat - when the enemy still has to punch through your shields anyway...)
The Breen frame from the Winter event simply has much better stats that can be of use anywhere. I picked up that one as soon as I created a fully Andorian-themed character a bit over a year ago.
The ship is basically an admiralty card, they did that engineery thing again.
normal text = me speaking as fellow formite
colored text = mod mode
We're going to need new upgrade tokens soon, ones that allow us to use at least 7 kit modules.
What was the issue in the old VO? We've never seen non-SAG actors reflexively replaced before. See. Kurland, who's VO was just reused for the latest TFO. Party instructor Zero is a classic part of the event and to see her replaced seems...excessive at the very least. I don't think there's any quantifiable reason why the old VO didn't work, they've been a staple for so long and there's no plausible feedback that could have possible reached the team this year that the instructors had to be removed. There's also no data that could possibly point to replacing the VO as there's been no summer event without the classic dance instructors. There was no update of their lines either, no reason why they needed to get a new and SAG actor to rework the character for new lines or an expanded role. It's the exact same script.
And while the new female dance instructor actor is fine in her own right (haven't heard the male yet if he's even present), the voice direction seems very off. It's more *instruction* and less of a party atmosphere at the base of a tropical resort. Mechanically, it's far less energizing and that deficiency feeds into the functional slog of clicking on an extended series of emotes. So on top of the cultural angle of replacing a classic character there's the basic point, "This new VO doesn't work as well as previous." The audio quality might be more clear but that by far isn't the most important aspect of this bit of game design.
Overall, there's just a lot of confusion and mild disappointment here. It doesn't seem like the decision was plugged in either into the social context of replacing Zero, in particular (in the especially crass way of overwriting her custom tailored NPC) or the functional needs of the character (see. giving the actor flat direction, not getting what players need to make this activity fun). I really don't see what the team could have been thinking here even on low-probability points of speculation (ex. sudden SAG issues. Again, we *just* saw Kurland re-used).
Ie. some explanation would be nice (as this is perhaps the most baffling change Cryptic's made in years). But here's my two recommendations regardless:
1. Revert the dance instructor VO
2. Alternatively, give the instructors new character models. Overwriting personal representations of team members with new VO isn't the classiest way of handling this. Separating out the new VO to a new character is the way to go to make it not seem like you're treating their place in the community as non-meaningful. Keep the old character models around in the background, but introduce the new instructor VO as new people. Don't play at implications of disposability (especially for one of your highest profile female team members in STO history) and give your new actor the best chance possible at being accepted by the community (it's only fair for their work).
Notable missions: Apex [AEI], Gemini [SSF], Trident [AEI], Evolution's Smile [SSF], Transcendence
Looking for something new to play? I've started building Foundry missions again in visual novel form!
I preferred the original in both cases. Whatever her flaws, the old dance instructor was enthusiastic.
IKR? The older Dance Instructor voice actress sounded more alive and more... (like she had a soul), but this one sounds just...timid and absent.
Also, on topic: I was also reminded that Reman women are still glitched and have invisible lower halves if one attempts to put them in skirts, shorts, or bikinis. Are Remans simply forbidden from wearing less clothing or something?
There's a VO for that?
Haven't heard a word.
They added VO to the lines you get during the activity. I don't recall voiceover for flying high though, I think that was always text based. Hers is perfectly fine there but it seems very misplaced to revamp the dance instructor VO and fill out her NPC contact dialog for event explanation but then *don't* do the same for the flying high contact which is your central introduction to the event. She's also arguably most important silent Risan NPC to add VO to for (why on earth do the dance instructor first?) The new Flying High VO is only for the activity, not NPC interactions. She also sounds like its the same actor. So...what happened?
The best I can possibly guess is that due to a miscommunication they revamped the wrong NPC. The dance instructor lines were recorded with the Flying High actor (perhaps thinking they were the same) and the Flying High NPC's event explanations (still text only) were overlooked because the dance instructor NPC lines were covered. The new VO was then implemented but without rationalizing what the original intent was. Ergo: haphazard application of one actor across two NPC's. If not that or similar then: "what the hell happened?" (it's a really weird set of updates and not what any designer would strive for in deliberate application.)
There's an argument to make for needing a new actor if they want to add new lines but the application here seems all over the place and not upstanding with respect to a character that was both a fan favorite (as far as they can be articulated for STO) and one of the most prominent female members of the team who did a LOT of community building. Clarification and/or a reversion would be most appreciated. If it's a simple matter then that should be an easy conversation.
Notable missions: Apex [AEI], Gemini [SSF], Trident [AEI], Evolution's Smile [SSF], Transcendence
Looking for something new to play? I've started building Foundry missions again in visual novel form!
While the male dance instructor voice was annoying enough to warrant replacement (I haven't heard him yet this year so I don't know if they did it or not) the female one was spot on for the part and should be brought back. At the very least give any new voice actors some coffee or whatever so they wake up and sound like they want to be there.
The new visuals on the island like the roofs and whatnot are ok, btw, though i wonder if they may have increased lag a little since the Flying High gates are slower to appear than last year and I often had to guess where they were along the hud path (of course, that may just be because of the extra crowds on the first day or two).
The big problem with the palm trees is so many of them are completely obscuring many of the Flying High pathing and the Biathalon floater trail.
I don't like the increased foliage and I don't like the new Dance Instructor voicing.
Performance does seem to be better though, but I think that pre-dates the map changes.
Would rather see more things that need fixing fixed, than tinkering with something that was already fine.
As for the new VO for the previously unvoiced Event Coordinator, I actually like her voice. If the male Dance Instructor has been removed, I had no problem with him and I want him back. Though thinking of the new VO, if you get to the Dance Party before it starts you still hear the old VO from ZeroniusRex. That is a bug.
Cryptic, please add back the old VO from Zero and if you did take out the male Dance Instructor, please bring him back! I know there are SAG issues, but this an event that shows up during the summer and then disappears when it is done to come back for a new year, why can there not be an exception? Please do not change her voice during the Winter Event, I do not want a new precedent set here.
Also, noticed that the pop-in grass under Lighting 1.0 and a little under Lighting 2.0 is still present. Still prefer how Risa looks under Lighting 1.0, trying it in Lighting 2.0 and it looks drastically different, I am still exploring the island to see what it looks like. A lot of work I believe still needs to be done when it comes to Risa. Finally, the lag, FPS, and/or server issues need to be fixed for Risa and other maps that suffer from this. The first day of the event, I had to close the chat window in order not to have so much lag going on. Thanks.