You know, as I play these days, more and more I find myself missing the old days of the game.
I miss going to planets and beaming down, just walking about collecting data samples (I miss seeing my CREW, actually).
I miss having other players just turn up when I'm doing a patrol mission. For that matter, I miss patrol missions. Yes, I know there's a few out there now, but they're so specific (and mired in Discovery era nonsense). Old patrol missions seemed more generic, somehow.
I miss the exploration system, limited as it was.
I miss the Foundry, limited as it was.
I miss when there was a semblance of game balance.
I miss seeing Starfleet ships... these days everything is some alien, usually enemy vessel, 20 times larger than normal ships, etc.
I even miss the old, original UI.
Not sour grapes, here... just feeling somewhat bereft.
I miss the foundry most of all. And while I do fly alien ships often, even building characters out of it, I have noticed a few times when I'm parked in Earth orbit just seeing how few actual Starfleet ships (Or Terran ships, I'll give those a pass) are around ESD. Its disappointing.
I miss the to boldy go where RNG made a really messy but still fun map days. It was not much, but it was a nice something simple in-between with just my crew to do. And some of the random map/alien designs where interesting to watch.
*sigh* These days we can be happy if we can play our own character on a new mission release. I came to utterly despise these "Now let me tell you how it went... (fade out load map with NPC rando/ship to play)". My little act of defiance became to lean back, cross my arms an say "Ok, tell me a$%&$&; and make it quick because I have things to do with MY char". Followed by hateplaying it as fast as possible and probably missing stoy parts for skipping.
I really miss having to be more tactical with shields and weapons, and the live damage system.....oops that's the SFC series
I miss not being to play the removed episodes of the 2409 Fed Arc and the long-form STF's.
"You don't want to patrol!? You don't want to escort!? You don't want to defend the Federation's Starbases!? Then why are you flying my Starships!? If you were a Klingon you'd be killed on the spot, but lucky for you.....you WERE in Starfleet. Let's see how New Zealand Penal Colony suits you." Adm A. Necheyev.
I too miss the Exploration Clusters, and even after almost four years, I still miss the Foundry deeply. I don't care that it was clunky, limited and tedious to use. Some of my best STO memories are of playing original player-created Foundry content, made by Star Trek fans who knew their stuff, and graced us with thoughtful storylines. Not saying today's official content isn't good, mind you, but the Foundry's sunset left a void in STO that still hasn't been filled back, in my case.
Totally concur with the OP. I also miss the Cryptic-hosted database of Captain's Logs. Searchable by players. I haven't bothered writing one in-game for many, many years. No one else can read it. It was part of our sense of community building at launch.
(/\) Exploring Star Trek Online Since July 2008 (/\)
rattler2Member, Star Trek Online ModeratorPosts: 58,660Community Moderator
I'm probably in the minority, but I miss the Shuttle Event.
Being able to queue up for Shuttle Fleet Alert, and join 19 other players in swarming capital ships with shuttles. It was chaotic fun that I enjoyed with a side of Star Fox music. I hardly have a reason to pull out my old Aeon shuttle anymore.
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!)
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I'm probably in the minority, but I miss the Shuttle Event.
Being able to queue up for Shuttle Fleet Alert, and join 19 other players in swarming capital ships with shuttles. It was chaotic fun that I enjoyed with a side of Star Fox music. I hardly have a reason to pull out my old Aeon shuttle anymore.
Yeah, the good old days of the Third Borg Dynasty and missions requiring you to fight enemies who spawned underground - they could shoot you, but you couldn't touch them. Oh, and having to go to Ker'rat, to be instavaped by Klingon players who had become preternaturally good at PvP because that was the only way for them to advance from level 1 to 20. Ah, memories...
Yeah, the good old days of the Third Borg Dynasty and missions requiring you to fight enemies who spawned underground - they could shoot you, but you couldn't touch them. Oh, and having to go to Ker'rat, to be instavaped by Klingon players who had become preternaturally good at PvP because that was the only way for them to advance from level 1 to 20. Ah, memories...
Ah, those warm fuzzy feels....nah...that's just the bulkheads being vaporised
"You don't want to patrol!? You don't want to escort!? You don't want to defend the Federation's Starbases!? Then why are you flying my Starships!? If you were a Klingon you'd be killed on the spot, but lucky for you.....you WERE in Starfleet. Let's see how New Zealand Penal Colony suits you." Adm A. Necheyev.
I miss the foundry most of all. And while I do fly alien ships often, even building characters out of it, I have noticed a few times when I'm parked in Earth orbit just seeing how few actual Starfleet ships (Or Terran ships, I'll give those a pass) are around ESD. Its disappointing.
I lament that, as someone that only started playing this game in the summer of 2019, I never got to witness or experience this "Foundry" that y'all speak of.
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rattler2Member, Star Trek Online ModeratorPosts: 58,660Community Moderator
While the Foundry was a useful tool that players could use to tell their own stories... it literally broke every time they updated the game. They tried for MONTHS to find a way to fix that before publically admitting they couldn't and were sunsetting it.
I did enjoy a couple Foundry missions myself. Especially those that gave a faction access to an enemy group that faction normally doesn't encounter, like back then there was really no way for the Federation to encounter the Fek'lhri.
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
I'm probably in the minority, but I miss the Shuttle Event.
Being able to queue up for Shuttle Fleet Alert, and join 19 other players in swarming capital ships with shuttles. It was chaotic fun that I enjoyed with a side of Star Fox music. I hardly have a reason to pull out my old Aeon shuttle anymore.
I never participated in that but it sounds like a blast. they should bring it back as a filler like the red alert
I'm probably in the minority, but I miss the Shuttle Event.
Being able to queue up for Shuttle Fleet Alert, and join 19 other players in swarming capital ships with shuttles. It was chaotic fun that I enjoyed with a side of Star Fox music. I hardly have a reason to pull out my old Aeon shuttle anymore.
"Star Fox?" You have my attention.
I now have to ask which stage theme and from which version of Star Fox?
I miss the foundry most of all. And while I do fly alien ships often, even building characters out of it, I have noticed a few times when I'm parked in Earth orbit just seeing how few actual Starfleet ships (Or Terran ships, I'll give those a pass) are around ESD. Its disappointing.
I lament that, as someone that only started playing this game in the summer of 2019, I never got to witness or experience this "Foundry" that y'all speak of.
Many missions in the Foundry were just quick EC farm missions. Those probably wouldn't be played anymore today since you can get just as much loot and EC from a single patrol. You didn't miss anything there.
There were also many well-thought out missions though, with unique species, player-created cities and environments etc. Some players even had their own arcs consisting of something like 5 or 6 episodes, each of which could keep you occupied for just as long as a regular featured episode.
As for the shuttle event: it's a shame we never see those anymore.
I *think* though, that it is possible to take a team with shuttles set as their active ship into a pre-made 'regular' fleet alert? It'd be more difficult with 5 players compared to 20.
But then again, it's an old map with only 'simple' enemies like Nausicaans, Gorn and Borg (i.e., no enemies who use all sorts of tricks like Tzenkethi or Terrans with feedback pulses etc.) Players with some decent gear could probably enjoy themselves there.
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rattler2Member, Star Trek Online ModeratorPosts: 58,660Community Moderator
I never participated in that but it sounds like a blast. they should bring it back as a filler like the red alert
It was. Yea it was the same Fleet Alert, just as a 20 man shuttle rather than 5 man. And it was probably one of the few 20 man queues that were likely to pop. Was fun as hell just swarming things like Borg Cubes. And while they're not T6 ships with consoles it was fun to see what people slapped on their shuttles to cause chaos.
And honestly there's still quite a few shuttle type craft that they could add to the game.
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
rattler2Member, Star Trek Online ModeratorPosts: 58,660Community Moderator
Hell... my Aeon on my main is actually named Arwing, and I tried for a semi Arwing look with some Competitive Engine visuals and a grey/blue hull color. I pass it off as my main has a holoprogram based on Star Fox, and customized the Aeon.
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
I'm probably in the minority, but I miss the Shuttle Event.
Being able to queue up for Shuttle Fleet Alert, and join 19 other players in swarming capital ships with shuttles. It was chaotic fun that I enjoyed with a side of Star Fox music. I hardly have a reason to pull out my old Aeon shuttle anymore.
Me too. The Vault isn't much fun but it's about all we have left for our shuttles these days
The exploration missions were OK when they didn't glitch out and waste 15 minutes of your time, but a few modern ground Patrols could easily replace them without being any more repetitive.
There's a LOT about 2012 that I don't miss at all - crafting was awful and required 10 minutes of travel to get to the one place you could craft, plus the resulting gear was non-upgradeable. No transwarps to missions. No full KDF faction, no Romulans, no TOS, no Jem'Hadar, no Discovery. Event ships and gear were per-character unlocks. Want a Winter ship? 25 ice races per character, and when you created that Romulan in a later year they got zero of those ships and gear. Rep gear was an RNG horror show. All gear except common was character bind on equip. Bridge officer training was much harder - no crafting of Beam Overload III or BFAW III just from having enough tac points in your skill tree.
When people say they want to go back to the good old days, many of them mean "...while keeping the last decade's worth of QoL improvements."
Yeah, the good old days of the Third Borg Dynasty and missions requiring you to fight enemies who spawned underground - they could shoot you, but you couldn't touch them. Oh, and having to go to Ker'rat, to be instavaped by Klingon players who had become preternaturally good at PvP because that was the only way for them to advance from level 1 to 20. Ah, memories...
I miss seeing the occasional KDF player being respawned on ESD and being instantly attacked and killed by all the NPCs (Of course they sometimes took a few of those NPCs with them; and it was a pain when said NPCs DIDN'T respawn.)
Formerly known as Armsman from June 2008 to June 20, 2012
PWE ARC Drone says: "Your STO forum community as you have known it is ended...Display names are irrelevant...Any further sense of community is irrelevant...Resistance is futile...You will be assimilated..."
Strange as it may sound, I miss the hustle and bustle of the old sector system. I enjoyed seeing people zooming around each sector and having a rough idea of what they were up to; seeing people zipping towards Memory Alpha(yes, the old crafting hub) when hourly events were a thing; seeing people crossing the gaps between klingon and federation space; seeing the constant convoys to and from DS9; seeing people swarm around the exploration and defense clusters - those felt like frontiers where people were gathering to venture off on expeditions.
As nice as it was when the walls fell, so much regional personality was lost.. and the sense of desolation was only compounded by 'Transwarp: Everywhere' becoming a thing. We don't even really have npc traffic(merchants, patrol fleets, etc.) between systems or the like to help fill the gap.
I feel a bit sad that newer players will never know that indescribable sense of.. navigational familiarity.. when transferring through the crossroads that was the Regulus Sector, as an example.
Strange as it may sound, I miss the hustle and bustle of the old sector system. I enjoyed seeing people zooming around each sector and having a rough idea of what they were up to; seeing people zipping towards Memory Alpha(yes, the old crafting hub) when hourly events were a thing; seeing people crossing the gaps between klingon and federation space; seeing the constant convoys to and from DS9; seeing people swarm around the exploration and defense clusters - those felt like frontiers where people were gathering to venture off on expeditions.
As nice as it was when the walls fell, so much regional personality was lost.. and the sense of desolation was only compounded by 'Transwarp: Everywhere' becoming a thing. We don't even really have npc traffic(merchants, patrol fleets, etc.) between systems or the like to help fill the gap.
I feel a bit sad that newer players will never know that indescribable sense of.. navigational familiarity.. when transferring through the crossroads that was the Regulus Sector, as an example.
It's true, that was all nice when you didn't mind spending 10 minutes just to get to the next story episode.
I remember in 2014 being annoyed by some of the back and forth fetch quests -- wasn't there someone at Alpha who sent you far away, then you came back, then they sent you out again? So. many. map. transitions.
I really miss the original ESD, I know the new one is easier to navigate, but the feel of the original was something special to me. I also agree with a lot of what has been said here about exploration and patrols, and the rise of the non-FED ships around ESD. I still remember when the star cruiser was touted as the 'best' ship in the tutorial.
I also miss some of the old missions, anyone remember the tribble mission?
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rattler2Member, Star Trek Online ModeratorPosts: 58,660Community Moderator
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
I really miss the original ESD, I know the new one is easier to navigate, but the feel of the original was something special to me. I also agree with a lot of what has been said here about exploration and patrols, and the rise of the non-FED ships around ESD. I still remember when the star cruiser was touted as the 'best' ship in the tutorial.
I also miss some of the old missions, anyone remember the tribble mission?
I liked the old ESD too. The current one is too bright, too open and it feels too much like you're running through a giant shopping mall.
Sometimes I go to SB 39 just to enjoy the cozier, dim environment that old ESD was.
Also, ships felt more special back then. Levelling up in a Miranda, then buying a slightly larger Nova... Working your way up through the ranks until you could finally get a big star cruiser or a fast patrol escort.
It wasn't so much about the 'best' ship - for me it was a great experience to finally fly a real big ship once you were done levelling. Unlocking a new ship was a very joyful experience.
Of course, all those free ships are all tiny now and you can get a T6 as soon as you're level 2 anyway.
Comments
*sigh* These days we can be happy if we can play our own character on a new mission release. I came to utterly despise these "Now let me tell you how it went... (fade out load map with NPC rando/ship to play)". My little act of defiance became to lean back, cross my arms an say "Ok, tell me a$%&$&; and make it quick because I have things to do with MY char". Followed by hateplaying it as fast as possible and probably missing stoy parts for skipping.
I miss not being to play the removed episodes of the 2409 Fed Arc and the long-form STF's.
Being able to queue up for Shuttle Fleet Alert, and join 19 other players in swarming capital ships with shuttles. It was chaotic fun that I enjoyed with a side of Star Fox music. I hardly have a reason to pull out my old Aeon shuttle anymore.
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Same here.
Things just aren't the same anymore. People talk noticably less, also in PUGged TFO's.
And yes, the random pieces of content like the exploration clusters, old Borg deep space encounters and the Foundry are missed too.
Now almost all content takes the shape of clearly delineated instances with a set duration.
Ah, those warm fuzzy feels....nah...that's just the bulkheads being vaporised
I lament that, as someone that only started playing this game in the summer of 2019, I never got to witness or experience this "Foundry" that y'all speak of.
I did enjoy a couple Foundry missions myself. Especially those that gave a faction access to an enemy group that faction normally doesn't encounter, like back then there was really no way for the Federation to encounter the Fek'lhri.
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I never participated in that but it sounds like a blast. they should bring it back as a filler like the red alert
I now have to ask which stage theme and from which version of Star Fox?
Many missions in the Foundry were just quick EC farm missions. Those probably wouldn't be played anymore today since you can get just as much loot and EC from a single patrol. You didn't miss anything there.
There were also many well-thought out missions though, with unique species, player-created cities and environments etc. Some players even had their own arcs consisting of something like 5 or 6 episodes, each of which could keep you occupied for just as long as a regular featured episode.
I *think* though, that it is possible to take a team with shuttles set as their active ship into a pre-made 'regular' fleet alert? It'd be more difficult with 5 players compared to 20.
But then again, it's an old map with only 'simple' enemies like Nausicaans, Gorn and Borg (i.e., no enemies who use all sorts of tricks like Tzenkethi or Terrans with feedback pulses etc.) Players with some decent gear could probably enjoy themselves there.
An Arranged version of Corneria from the SNES game.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r1JYqmJU8oM
It was. Yea it was the same Fleet Alert, just as a 20 man shuttle rather than 5 man. And it was probably one of the few 20 man queues that were likely to pop. Was fun as hell just swarming things like Borg Cubes. And while they're not T6 ships with consoles it was fun to see what people slapped on their shuttles to cause chaos.
And honestly there's still quite a few shuttle type craft that they could add to the game.
And that's just off the top of my head.
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Oh my Godzilla! I have that song! Double respect!
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Me too. The Vault isn't much fun but it's about all we have left for our shuttles these days
The exploration missions were OK when they didn't glitch out and waste 15 minutes of your time, but a few modern ground Patrols could easily replace them without being any more repetitive.
There's a LOT about 2012 that I don't miss at all - crafting was awful and required 10 minutes of travel to get to the one place you could craft, plus the resulting gear was non-upgradeable. No transwarps to missions. No full KDF faction, no Romulans, no TOS, no Jem'Hadar, no Discovery. Event ships and gear were per-character unlocks. Want a Winter ship? 25 ice races per character, and when you created that Romulan in a later year they got zero of those ships and gear. Rep gear was an RNG horror show. All gear except common was character bind on equip. Bridge officer training was much harder - no crafting of Beam Overload III or BFAW III just from having enough tac points in your skill tree.
When people say they want to go back to the good old days, many of them mean "...while keeping the last decade's worth of QoL improvements."
I miss seeing the occasional KDF player being respawned on ESD and being instantly attacked and killed by all the NPCs (Of course they sometimes took a few of those NPCs with them; and it was a pain when said NPCs DIDN'T respawn.)
PWE ARC Drone says: "Your STO forum community as you have known it is ended...Display names are irrelevant...Any further sense of community is irrelevant...Resistance is futile...You will be assimilated..."
As nice as it was when the walls fell, so much regional personality was lost.. and the sense of desolation was only compounded by 'Transwarp: Everywhere' becoming a thing. We don't even really have npc traffic(merchants, patrol fleets, etc.) between systems or the like to help fill the gap.
I feel a bit sad that newer players will never know that indescribable sense of.. navigational familiarity.. when transferring through the crossroads that was the Regulus Sector, as an example.
It's true, that was all nice when you didn't mind spending 10 minutes just to get to the next story episode.
I remember in 2014 being annoyed by some of the back and forth fetch quests -- wasn't there someone at Alpha who sent you far away, then you came back, then they sent you out again? So. many. map. transitions.
I also miss some of the old missions, anyone remember the tribble mission?
It was a nice nod to Trouble with Tribbles.
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colored text = mod mode
I liked the old ESD too. The current one is too bright, too open and it feels too much like you're running through a giant shopping mall.
Sometimes I go to SB 39 just to enjoy the cozier, dim environment that old ESD was.
It wasn't so much about the 'best' ship - for me it was a great experience to finally fly a real big ship once you were done levelling. Unlocking a new ship was a very joyful experience.
Of course, all those free ships are all tiny now and you can get a T6 as soon as you're level 2 anyway.