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Ten Forward Weekly 9/20/22
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Member Posts: 3,169 Arc User
From: https://reddit.com/r/sto/comments/xjt2dv/ten_forward_weekly_92022/
Credit to: https://reddit.com/user/TheSajuukKhar/
Credit to: https://reddit.com/user/TheSajuukKhar/
- The stacking Infiltrator issue was an old bug, it was never meant to stack. The bug got brought back up when stuff for testing the BOFF upgrades. It didn't really occur to anyone how much it would nerf that particular ability. Kael says it will likely be undone, but no official confirmation.
- Cryptic is looking at the data regarding the Agony Redistributor changes, to see if it got hit too hard with the nerf bat, before changing it again.
- Designers seem satisfied with how Eddy and Tholian changes are performing.
- Cryptic strives for balance so people feel like they have a choice when playing the game. When something is so good that you feel the need to always slot it that isn't good game design.
- The other half of the equation is that people went out and spent money on these things because they were so powerful so they have to figure out the balance there, how to to make people feel like they got their money's worth, but not wanting there to be one item in the game thats just so much more powerful then anything else.
- Kael talked about it Johnathan, and Jeremy, from the systems team during the leads meeting, and theres ongoing discussions about it.
- None of these changes were talked about(with Kael) until they were put into the patch notes, so Kael didn't know about them until they were put into the patch notes. Since this, Kael got access to the build manager, so he can see what changes are upcoming, and so he can talk about them with players/get a dev on stream to talk about them before the changes go live.
- PVP is not a huge focus since a small amount of players player PVP. Kael admits its a snake eating its own tale thing, but says designers are thinking more about PVP while they make adjustments for PVE as well.
- Invisible walls in new mission were caused by the Emperor's ship. A bug caused the ship to fall through the map, but its collision was sticking up through the map in some places.
- Cryptic had backup choices for the Emperor, like Harry Kim, in case Wil Wheaton couldn't do it.
- Emperor didn't rain down phaser fire from his ship, instead of making us go to the other on ground/he didn't fight The Other's minions because he wanted to personally walk to the other personally, and hes "an arrogant TRIBBLE".
- Emperor Barclay would've been fun, but his actor isn't really worth touching right now.
- Kael made a passionate case in the leads meeting a few weeks ago about getting the removed Klingon War missions back. There was a question on if players would play a season of just remastering the old Klingon War missions, with no new content, and responses seemed pretty positive. So there's talks about possibly doing a season with just that.
- Captain's Table issues stemmed from the map being very broken with internal facing issues. Fixing that somehow caused the map to break in player facing ways. They're looking into it.
- Apparently the old "Worf's sash" event is broken, and Kael is talking to Jared on how else to get the rewards added.
- Cryptic isn't actively working on the new Titan ship. Depending on the scale it might have interchangeable parts with the Connie.
- Clothing is being looked at by character artists piece by piece, here and there. Things will get updated, but there likely wont be a sweeping "we updated all the clothes" moment
- Changes to Tour the Galaxy were done because Cryptic got an opportunity to design something that matched something in an upcoming show that they could use to tie in. However that fell through for business reasons at the last second, and they were asked not to do it. They couldn't add it back in with the changes, because it wouldn't make sense, so they had to temp disable it, and change it back, but with the new destinations.
- No current plans for a new Voth ship(someone asked about the T5 Bulwark that got removed from the Phoenix Box and has no current T6 version)
- Gearbox San Francisco(the publisher) sets up the third party giveaways, and then asks Cryptic "what sort of item can you give away to X many people". They chose an item depending on how many people they giveaway is going to. Same applies to console specific giveaways like the Emerald & Cobalt one-shots.
- Talks are ongoing if STO is going to be its own universe, like the Kelvin timeline.
- Kael hasn't heard of any plans for a new rep any time soon.
- While Cryptic has access to ships from other games Kael isn't sure if they have access to characters from other games, so its unlikely STO will continue the plot of a character from another games(someone asked about an Elite Force character)
- DSC Andorians are being worked on, but no time table.
- Kael is still pushing for the UI removal option for consoles. Big issue is what button to map it to, since they're using them all on console already.
- Kael believes Jesse developed a cover system for STO once, but it broke too many things.
- New patrols are in the works.
- Kael isn't sure why the T6 ship coupons from Mudd's bundles aren't treadeable since he knows at least some of the coupons were set up to be tradeable.
- Kael will ask about making the platinum vanity shield available again.
- Kael doesn't understand the obsession Trek fans have in regards to killing characters they don't like, like air-locking Wesley.
- No announcement on a Khitomer Alliance bundle right now, maybe in the future.
- Space traits weren't included in the BOFF upgrades because it would allow you to stack too many space traits.
- No current plans for more Borg outfits/outfit updates.
- Kael believes there are 1-2 more updates for the Terran arc.
- Cat's Tale TFO will return this Halloween.
- Unlikely to get Terran faction since most people don't like playing villains.
- Kael asks what would the reaction be to changing Infected Space, and making it more difficult. He does note NO ONE has asked about this internally, its just something he asked in the moment since he was playing it.
- Big software hurdle for bringing over the DPS test map from Tribble is to make it not farmable. Kael might push for it some more again.
- Kael has reminded production several times to bring Hearts and Minds back, he will do so again.
- No news on the Romulan uniforms from SNW. Cryptic doesn't see everything early, and character artists tend to be very busy, so its not something that happens quickly.
- No plans for a TMP bridge pack(someone asked about one in chat)
- Kael doesn't think the vet ships are high on the remaster list.
- Kael has advocated for adding the Grand Nagus ship as a free giveaway, but Cryptic is understandably gunshy about the ship due to how legendarily angry people were about the ship. On one of his first weeks on the job Kael found a pack of Nagus ship codes ,but was too afraid to use it. One of the last pieces of advance LaughingTrendy gave to Kael before they left was never talk about the Grand Nagus ship.
- Kael's favorite TFO is Starbase One.
- Cryptic knows they need to do something about crafting since no one really uses it anymore, but talks keep stalling about what exactly to do with it.
Post edited by baddmoonrizin on
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The affixes / re-engineering are nice ideas and a minor new dil sink. Being able to craft omnis and DHCs that are missing from the reps and lock boxes is also a great idea.
> increase the effectiveness of 'crafted' equipment (resists, damage, etc) when used by its crafter
That one probably isn't practical -- it means adding a new database field to track the crafter, and much more work to add code to change the gear behavior when the crafter uses it.
"Trek fans"
Kael not understanding the "The Scrappy" trope https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TheScrappy , which is not limited to Star Trek.
They should then bring back Romulus and Remus if it's going to be it's own universe, like the Kelvin timeline.
A good guy Terran Faction is also doable, just make the PC a defector or a spy or a transporter duplicate of the Inquisitor like Thomas Riker and then have them serve Starfleet simply because their goals align.
Well, you can literally roleplay this with any Federation character already, so there's no need for a new Faction for this.
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Even better: emperor Neelix. Worked his way up by poisoning his enemies with leola root stew (and the occasional sacrifice to his pet serpent).
Or mirror Joe Carey, who cloned armies of Torreses and Chakotays to scrub the conduits on his ships.
I hope they'll add at least a few that aren't just 'shoot endless waves of enemies'. Those are great for quickly levelling a ship, but generally speaking I don't really like time-gated content. The patrol in the Donatu system or most of the Romulan patrols are much better, imo.
You get better at the game and shoot stuff faster, you're done faster. That's how it should be if you ask me.
Personally, I dislike killing off characters in general. It's a rather cheap way of entertaining the audience (not just when killing off characters, but also when destroying planets). See also the abovementioned Joe Carey for example.
Relating this to STO specifically: I wish they hadn't killed off Ja'rod. And E'genn. I still miss him.
There are other solutions for that. Just don't allow stacking.
Besides, why is stacking too many Boff traits a problem when adding even more Endeavour points isn't? Those are unlocked for the entire account too, whereas a player would have to buy countless tokens to stack 'too many space traits' across their account.
That's a shame.
A few things that could use an update are the available hull materials and the firing of the lance. The latter shouldn't require three seconds of charging up anymore when so many other ships can fire immediately. It makes the console less interesting than it would otherwise be.
People didn't take issue with this ship being given away for free. They didn't like how some people got it and others didn't - and had no other way of getting it. And no one knowing why some people were chosen and others weren't.
If they gave it to everyone, I doubt we would see the same uproar again as last time.
The problem with crafting is that we don't need it for upgrades anymore and there are only a handful of unique items that can be obtained through it.
And those items aren't really that good (some people like the TR rifle, but really, there are better and faster ways of fighting the Borg once you get past tier 3 of the Omega rep).
Further, the flooding of the market and game with particles and other requirements mean that there is little challenge in crafting. People - rightfully - complained that the old crafting of unique Borg gear was too difficult, with the requirements being handed out totally randomly.
Meaning some people had to play the missions hundreds of times before they'd get the whatever-they-were-called back then, while others would get a piece of gear the first time they played a mission.
That was a bad system. The current one is also bad, however, because it's at the other extreme end in terms of availability of and pace of acquiring the required inputs.
Infected needs to have its optional failure again. One of the transformers gets healed, you lose the optional - and maybe the mission on advanced. There should be some consequences to people not paying attention and just randomly shooting stuff. Whether that means losing the entire mission or just a part of the reward at the end, is up for debate I guess.
Too easy to troll and FORCE everyone into a 30 minute lockout. They tried that back with Delta Rising, and there were people who went out of their way to FAIL the group for their own amusment. No one liked it then, I doubt anyone would like that coming back.
That would require a MASSIVE rewrite of the entire story through the Iconian War.
Besides... its possible that the branching point for STO is a lot closer than the Kelvin Timeline. And Canon also establishes the destruction of Romulus. It just happened from a different source. (Also the Kelvin Timeline kinda shoehorned that into Prime by having Prime Spock mention it.)
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Most people didn't like it because they combined the changes with huge increases in speed - and hitpoints and shield points, which players weren't as well prepared for back then as they would now - which made it much harder to complete a mission.
There may have been trolls too, but that wasn't the most important reason why the changes weren't liked. It's a different situation now though, and a different change that is proposed.
They also shouldn't. I like what they did with the Republic. Though I wish we would have seen more gradual development / have events play out over a longer period of time. But that's an issue I have with many events.
Besides all that:
On the one hand, I am of the opinion that STO deserves to be considered prime timeline - simply because the writers and devs of this game were, for a long time, the only ones that tried to maintain some sort of continuity.
While the people at CBS didn't care for the franchise for most of the time, and then only for what could bring in the most of money even if it meant hitting reset buttons over and over again (which is a very cheap and lazy way of writing, imo, as is the fan servicing by constantly returning to TOS).
Hence why we have three or four different Spocks now, two timelines (even more if you count the books, which apparently also got hit with a huge reset button recently), three realities (including the one from Picard season 2), shows that take place everywhere and everytime - and so on.
On the other hand: that is exactly why the choice to put STO in its own timeline/reality wouldn't matter. Because few things related to Trek matter these days as every event and every story can be made undone the moment a new writer comes along.
I mean, I know I would get over whatever decision they make soon enough. Never thought Trek would one day make me so cynical btw.
If it is easy to fail the team on purpose, then it will not be liked because it WILL be abused. We've seen it in the past. While the blatant Trolling capabilities have been for the most part negated, such as blocking doors and the fail conditions, there are ALWAYS those who will seek to find ways to debilitate others for their own amusement. They shouldn't be enabled.
Fail conditions are fine, if they are in the right place. For STO that seems to be Elite level content. Normal and Advanced is where the majority of the playerbase hangs out for TFOs, and thus will take the most hits from any ability to troll fail conditions. I cannot speak for everyone, but I'm confident in saying that anything that gives Trolls ammo to use against the playerbase won't be liked. And for my part, I don't want to see that happen.
normal text = me speaking as fellow formite
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l don't know.
l really don't know what l'm about to say, except l have a feeling about it.
That l must repeat the words that come without my knowledge.'
Losing an optional wouldn't lock anybody out.
Haven't really noticed this sort of thing. Have seen some AFK players though which is possibly a result of uninspiring map design with too few challenges.
This one gave me a good laugh!
Instead, give us re-masters of some of the missions that were removed from the Borg, Romulan & Cardassian storylines - Saturday's Child, Under the Cover of Night, Minefield, Hunting the Hunters, Ghost Ship, Tear of the Prophets, Cage of Fire, Mine Trap, The Tribble with Klingons, State of Q, etc. Turn them into a story arc that has the appearance of being completely random and unconnected stories but then have the penultimate one stack sudden references to something that happened in each of the previous missions that connect to a massive finale. (Akin to how Doctor Who handled the "Bad Wolf" references in its' 2005 season.)
How about restoring/renewing Diplomatic content? Starfleet has almost no diplomatic content since the Exploration clusters were removed. Find some way to add back missions that let us solve problems without shooting anything. Let us have some missions that involve puzzle-solving -- and I'm not talking about scanning/radiation/omega's here.
Give us a puzzle in the places where we reconfigure Isolinear chips. Not the one with three chips of white/blue/green, but something like the maze puzzle that swaps around tiles to create a circuit from one point to another.
There's so much potential for puzzles and brain-games in STO yet they are almost always overlooked and turned into a button to press, or a mouse-click.
When pretty much everything is "face-roll easy" and auto-completes after X waves of enemies it's not exactly too engaging after a while. This could be why some players AFK. The map design allows it and perhaps they are bored ?
Conversely, engaging content that provides a bit of a challenge might provide a little more immersion for players and could even inspire some to try and do better or even work as a team.
Cryptic has produced a lot of minimum effort event content over the past few years and I think we're a bit overdue for some more focus on inspiring players. This is what I'm trying to advocate.
Back when Delta Rising first came out years ago, they added fail conditions to certain TFOs. What was optional in Normal, became required in Advanced. What was optional in advanced became required in Elite.
They were a lot harder because of the power jump in enemies, meaning coordination was needed a LOT more than it used to be. And people took advantage of that to FAIL a group and force a 30 minute lockout.
Reintroducing Fail Conditions could see similar behavior return to TFOs. I have no problem with them in Elite, but Advanced is too much of a temptation due to the sheer number of people who run it.
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colored text = mod mode
That kind of depends on exactly how bringing them back was done. I don't see a point to doing it and it would cause alot of logical issues with the story, such as things like the romulan republic and new romulus suddenly not making sense and having no real point. But don't forget they already did bring back romulus briefly, as part of the butterfly mission. So it could be done in a similar way. Not that it wouldn't be a tacky way to do it
Uh....What do they mean by that exactly? Putting it that way sounds like he got caught doing something creepy with kids or something, which as far as i'm aware he hasn't and hasn't been involved in anything questionable
What was said above that triggered some very passionate responses made reference to more than one type of failure condition. I lean towards the optional type for advanced and whole heartedly agree that there should be consequences for not properly fulfilling the mission. I think it might promote good things like teamwork and striving to do better. With the increased challenge it could possibly increase immersion as well, especially as compared to the more mundane timer based maps which often seem to inspire very little of anything at all.
> I don't why Cryptic did not hire the actor who played Reginald Barclay but if the reason was political that is a lame excuse. I understand why Jennifer Lien will never be hired to voice Kes.
It most certainly is political. The developers are San-franscicans and tend to be pretty liberal. Sure they could probably play nicely with Dwight Schultz, but I think they would rather not. I don’t blame them. I wouldn’t want to talk politics with that guy either.
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Honestly, most times optionals fail nowadays is because people simply don't care.
Like with the old Borg ground missions, many people just couldn't be bothered to even pay attention and look at the starbase personnel in Starbase 82 for example.
Same with Defend Rhiho station: instead of being cautious, most people will just charge into rooms and get hit by those spiders.
I do not think that it is unreasonable for players to suffer some kind of consequences for simply not paying attention at all.
Because that's what most optionals are really about. They don't revolve around breaking some kind of nearly impossible DPS barrier. They generally aren't tasks that require tremendous dexterity like jumping over gaps in the floor while being chased as in that one Hur'q featured episode.
Really, usually it's just an additional task that requires a tiny amount of planning your actions and sometimes not even that - in many cases it's a simple matter of reading the mission objectives that are available at all times on the screen.
Now, I'll admit that the trolling is a genuine concern (although I believe this was more an issue years ago than nowadays as most trolls simply have left, but anyway).
By itself, it certainly wouldn't hurt to bring in some fail conditions - or at the very least introduce some other type of consequence, like a seriously lower mark payout - if those fears of trolling could somehow be alleviated though. Also on Advanced, because it's called that for a reason. It's not the basic level and bringing in some challenge would be a good way to remind players of that fact.
Also, as I explained before: you can't compare the current situation with DR. Back then, tons of changes were introduced all at once and players didn't have as many options to improve their abilities and overcome those changes as we have now.