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Ten Forward Weekly 4/11/23
protoneous
Member Posts: 3,169 Arc User
From: https://reddit.com/r/sto/comments/12mw832/ten_forward_weekly_41123/
Credit to: https://reddit.com/user/TheSajuukKhar/
Credit to: https://reddit.com/user/TheSajuukKhar/
General issues
- Invalidentityname bug should(ve) been fixed on Wednesday
- Issue with people not being able to log into Cryptic games wasn't an issue with any one product. The "hamster" in the servers in Boston died. There was a malfunction that led to some of the configuration files getting borked. Because of this they couldn't deliver the patch files, however some user's clients thought they already had the files and let them get in, while others didn't, so they couldn't.
- Crashes for the people who were able to get in were caused by running into items like armors that the players didn't have the right files for, since the client never downloaded them, because the client didn't know it was missing files
- The fix for the server issues required Cryptic to upload terabytes of data to the Boston servers
- They basically had to upload the entirety of STO, Neverwitner, and Champions, both the code base and asset base, to the Boston servers to fix all the files.
- STO was uploaded first. Neverwinter second because it had a patch in the works so they couldn't use the current build they had in the office(due to partnership stuff like certifications), so they had to upload a clone of the current build. Champions last due to its lower player count.
- Upload process took significantly longer then they thought it would due to the sheer amount of data involved
- Xbox and Playstation weren't affected because the way patching is done on third party platforms like consoles is that Cryptic sends the patches to Microsoft and Sony, and you download the patches from them not Cryptic. It was the patch server that was broken, not the game server, which is why some people on PC, and the people on Xbox/Playstation, could still get into the game.
- Upload was taking so long that Cryptic changed the configs to route everyone through their internal company patch server, which did cause some lag internally and made everyone work slower. Though it was changed back to Boston.
- Misa Ganz(Lead Product Manager) says that it would've been faster to just FedEx the data to Boston had they been able to do so literally immediately after the issue occurred.
- Fake cancellation news image someone made for their Discord getting spread to Reddit actually led to friends of the STO staff contacting them and saying their sorry for the game getting shut down. With the STO staff having to tell them it isn't.
- Kael finds all the invalidentityname memes funny. Neverwinter is doing a screenshot contest and is getting a lot of memes about the issues.
- Kael is now a senior community manager at Cryptic.
- When trying to formulate ideas for a "make good" package to give to players for the downtime they were constantly having to up the level of items in the package as the downtime extended until they had some idea as to when the servers would be back up.
- Misa is the product manager on STO and Champions stuff, while another product manager does the Neverwitner stuff. She says she will be appearing on STO streams in the future
- *Kael reads the official explanation they got mid stream about what happened. Same as above, but additional assurances no player data was exposed or affected*
STO issues
- Kael contacted STO's partner manager, who is talking to Nvidia about Geforce Now saying the game is still down
- Kael will talk to Jared about possible making the Tommy Gun in the Picard bundle account unlock. Will likely depend on how well the Picard bundle is selling
- STO, nor any Cryptic product, will not change engines to Unreal. Process would likely take 2-3 years, require rebuilding the game from scratch, and the game wouldn't look or play any different then it does now. Also wouldn't change the game even if they wanted too in that situation because of the Star Wars Galaxies New Player Experience debacle. If they were to make a game in Unreal it would be something like STO 2, which isn't on the table
- Someone suggests doing a STO 2.0 announcement for April Fools next year. Kael says that would be a really good troll, but isn't something he would do because of how much bad information that would create. You don't want to make April Fools announcements something plausible.
- Kael said the Sonic murder mystery game Sega put out this year for April Fools has reminded him he could probably program his own dating sim visual novel type game for the Date your starship joke they did a few years back(someone asked about that joke from a few years ago and if it could ever happen)
- There were some people at Cryptic who were real big bad at the "STO sunsetting" thing, and suggests people not make those kinds of jokes in the future
- Kael got a message back about Tribble, saying it should(ve) be back on Wednesday/Thursday
- Even with Lower Decks making the Kzinti canon again its likely the Ferasans will remain STO's Kzinti
- There's been no discussion about doing a Frontier Day event. Would probably run into the Star Trek day celebration they do, which Kael thinks is more important
- New story arc begins soon
- Plasma Quad canon wasn't added to the bundle because the only existing one was a set item, and they cant just add that to a starter ship
- We will get more Klingon ships. Kael just can't say when
- STO doesn't have the population of people wanting harder content as it may seem based on twitter/reddit. Kael doesn't know if it would be worth it to make more difficulty levels for content
- Teaser for the next story arc was at the end of the last episode
- Kael got a pretty clear definitive answer that the reaction to the initial release of the Grand Nagus ship was so bad that Cryptic wont ever touch it again. Kael knows everyone wants one, and that people wouldn't be mad if they just gave it out to everyone, but the initial reaction to it was so bad he can't convince the people who were there at the time, and saw the initial reaction, that the playerbase wouldn't be angry if they just released it for everyone.
- A solid gold vanity shield is more probable
- Cryptic would like to redo crafting to make it more useful and fun
- Bird Cage issues were raised again today(Tuesday) and hopefully they get fixed soon
- Old exploration system won't come back. There's a chance Cryptic will do something one day, but its more likely they will make missions that have a more exploration focus then build a whole new exploration system
- Kael accidentally reveals the name of a new TFO on the TFO menu. Called Leviathan. Looks V'ger/Other/Borg related from the icon
- When the invalidentityname bug is fixed ship names won't need reinputting. The names haven't been changed, they're just displaying as invalid.
- Cryptic unlikely to use chatGPT to write dialogue for the game or anything like that due to ethical issues.
- Cryptic was working on playable Changelings at one point but there was technical issues(seemingly involving the shape shifting)
- Kael is pushing for gender change options in STO all the time, but theres big technical issues behind it.
- New Fed bridges being made playable will happen, but maybe not for awhile. Team is really excited for it but keeps getting busy with other things.
- Bort is enjoying his new job
- Kael said he would suggest a Space battleship Yamato themed vanity shield to thomas
- Getting more UI/camera options for console players is something Kael really wants to get done. Its just finding the time for the devs to do it. Actual photomode unlikely.
Post edited by baddmoonrizin on
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Comments
Why can't we have both species as canon, The Ferasans are pretty cool in their own right, why not say they're an offshoot of the Kzinti who got really crazy with genetic modification and say that the Kzinti are busy fighting a civil war, that way we can later do a Kzinti arc once the STO team takes care of the legal issues with Larry Niven,
also wouldn't be the first time the feline species split off since it happened before with the Caitians and the Kzinti.
Kzinti run about a foot taller than humans, with a "ribcage" consisting of a lattice-like structure, a hairless tail like a rat's, and large furless ears that can fold completely under the fur or extend out into something that looks like a small pink parasol, as one might find in a fruit-based alcoholic drink. Their legs have a more "beast-like" structure, enabling their prodigious leaps (although they're uncomfortable with climbing, or watching humans climb - their ancestors were the equivalent of plains cats, not house cats), something we can only get here if there's some way to import the Beast Legs code from Champions Online, which I doubt at this stage. Also, I don't think the fact that kzin females are nonsapient would go over well with a modern audience - it's biologically plausible, but would mean that even though it's a sexually dimorphous species, you would only be able to have male PCs.
they wouldn't have to be playable but they could be like Cameos or as Antagonists.
" initial release of the Grand Nagus ship was so bad that Cryptic wont ever touch it again. "
That's really frustrating as the problem wasn't the Grand Nagus ship which was great. The problem was the arbitrary way they realised it to a limited amount of players if I recall possibly US players only.
At the time I was flying the D'Kora and at the time it was impossible for me to get the upgraded version or use the D'Kora console set because of the arbitrary release of the Grand Nagus. That is what upset the players not the ship itself.
"STO doesn't have the population of people wanting harder content as it may seem based on twitter/reddit. Kael doesn't know if it would be worth it to make more difficulty levels for content"
I find that hard to believe as STO doesn't have the best history of looking at metrics correctly. It would be relatively simple to re-allow Elite TFO's for events even if as private queues only. This will take little work as the feature is already in game, make the player base happy who want harder content and make the normal level players happy as a some high DPSers move out of normal events.
The number of vocal people posting on various sites does not reflect actual numbers. Don't forget that Cryptic has access to data that can show how many people actually queue up for certain TFOs, enter certain maps, ect, and that would be a better reflection of what the in game population is doing rather than relying on Reddit or the forums alone. If the numbers say that PvP is not popular based on where the game's population spends most of its time, then that's a much clearer picture than looking at forum threads.
Its the same thing with people trying to use Steam graphs to show STO is dying. Its inherently a flawed argument because the number of people logging in via Steam only shows a fraction of the total population. There are some who use the old Arc Launcer, some who use Epic, and some who use the stand alone launcher still. Steam's numbers would not reflect those access points whatsoever as they are not connected to Steam.
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Yep you need all versions of STO to get the full picture,
Would be pretty cool, also would be interesting mechanic if you make an alien species that were shapeshifters, like you could have a male form that looks like Tovan Khev (Main Character of the RR storyline) and then use the gender change option to look like Koren (Captain of KDF's Flagship).
For example, we got forced out running Elites for events and forced out of running Elites via the public queue system so there is a drop in Elites being played but the conclusion is we are not interested in Elites because we don’t play them? Ok I am making some assumptions here but I don’t see how the devs can have the data we don’t want to play Elites when they have done no player surveys and no testing to see what the interest level is in years and have made changes so we cannot play with others as easy as it used to be in the past.
I didn't see this particular 'joke', but I agree. I don't see the fun in claiming that a game that many people depend on and put many hours of work in is going to be shut down. It's harmful too, as it might cause real financial damage.
As long as it doesn't involve the Mirror Universe (too much), I'm curious as to what it will be.
Good. I don't get all the enthusiasm for AI-programs. Yes, it's new and trying out something new can be fun. But it's doing serious damage already and it'll only make humans redundant in yet more businesses. I'm feeling very sorry for all those people in creative industries (and also hobbyists) who'll soon have to compete with computer programs.
I mean, think about how many promising writers, artists and photographers might, in the end, never break through because a program out-competed them. Also, what is human talent going to be worth when everyone can produce just as beautiful a painting, book or other work of art with the press of a few buttons?
The less these programs are used and the more their development is slowed down, the better. At least until rules, other software for checking the involvement of AI so that people can know whether they're dealing with something a human has created or not etc. has caught up.
Considering most AI art tends to have cursed hands... its FAR from being that flawless. Yes it can make some good pieces, but the hands do tend to be what kill most portraits. Also I have YET to see anything other that portrait style art. And I don't think its got the ability to customize thing like registry numbers if you want to make a picture of, say the Lexington instead of the Enterprise. Or even some other ship that doesn't have any reference.
Its limited by what you put in. And it shows.
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I really appreciate the heads-up on what happened!
While Changelings would be nice, Vorta would be much more practical (and as the day-to-day officer corps and mid-level administration people Vorta make a lot more sense to have as PCs). I remember a dev in one of the Ten Forwards or something saying that it was mainly the combat shifting that was holding things up, which makes sense since you can actually do a limited shape shift just using the regular costume slots (I have
Gender change would possibly be handy in a few cases, mainly for breaking the genderlock on the horneytoads, though they have enough other problems (such as being total zeroes RP wise) that doubt that a lot of people would use it much even for that.
Getting some new cam options would be great. I have always wondered why the game does not have first person camera view, not only is it great for immersion at times, it is also perfect for navigating the kind of tight spaces that cause the vomitworthy camera oscillations that happen in the game as it is if you are standing too close to a wall or whatever.
Ha! Remember the good old 10% Rule?! And ppl getting scolded for breaking it (and ruining the TFO). Nowadays everyone fires at everything all at once, and everything dies all at once. Yawn.
breaking the genderlock on Jem'Hadars would be a Canon violation, while the Jem'Hadar may resemble the male sex, they themselves are actually genderless.
EDIT: the Quote button isn't working like I want it to, it's doing some stupid @ thingy today.
You know what I might try that out on one of characters, would be pretty cool.
Outside of the game some friends and I are working on an RP thread and when we covered Butterfly, saving Romulus meant my character was reported KIA at Vega, making my XO Captain at that point. A phase variance in the Lexington's shields ended up phasing the ship partially in sync with that timeline, pushing Tala into Command and Krystal was missing. She wasn't dead though. They found her... on a damaged, assimilated USS Cerberus. So instead of the confident war veteran Admiral, they have a recently liberated, scared Borg Trill Ensign. Later when they were trying to escape and restore the timeline to its previous state, she went down to Deflector Control to try and keep the Temporal Shields from failing. As the controls were too slow, she plugged herself into the system directly.
End result, she assimilated the temporal shielding, adapting her own personal shield by accident, and ended up coming with them when they restored the timeline.
You heard of Transporter Clones? Well... we now have a Temporal Clone as Admiral Krystal Jade was restored, wearing an Odyssey uniform with a skirt rather than her preferred Sierra 1, but Ensign Krystal Jade came along for the ride.
Good times.
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hmmm, maybe a story of the Ferasans and Caitians having to ally to face off the kizinti?
Just make it so the one type is significantly better outside upgrade weekend and the other type is significantly better in upgrade weekends.
Change lockboxes to drop a doff that can craft the weapons instead of the weapons themselves
Probably the thing that could revitalize crafting the most would be to make the SFX of the crafted weapons match the era/sub-faction of the character where possible. Of course, that could have a negative impact on K-13 unless the fleet "advanced" TOS weapons were buffed to actually BE advanced instead of just being normal-spec weapons with TOS SFX.
The main reason crafting is not more popular is probably the fact that crafted weapons and systems tend to be so inferior compared to set and boxed versions. It seems to be coasting on momentum nowadays, so complicating it to make it "more interesting" is just as likely to make people to not bother with it at all if they make doing it too annoying to gather supplies or jump through other hoops.
Still got a couple floating around my fleet's bank.
When they added the DOff system and tied crafting into that, you could craft anywhere. Made it easier to access, but added timegates.
As for Crafted vs Lockbox...
Would be nice to be able to craft some of the older Lockbox weapons, but that is also a mixed bag with HOW do you get the schematics for those weapons, and how would it affect the economy.
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So simple a child of 5 could come up with it.
#LegalizeAwoo
A normie goes "Oh, what's this?"
An otaku goes "UwU, what's this?"
A furry goes "OwO, what's this?"
A werewolf goes "Awoo, what's this?"
"It's nothing personal, I just don't feel like I've gotten to know a person until I've sniffed their crotch."
"We said 'no' to Mr. Curiosity. We're not home. Curiosity is not welcome, it is not to be invited in. Curiosity...is bad. It gets you in trouble, it gets you killed, and more importantly...it makes you poor!"
Champions would probably have a much higher count if they also released a console version, I'm on and off Champions, my favorite Champions creation was Shinobi Monkey, He's an anthropomorphic monkey ninja, didn't do much with him aside from running around in the main hub and fighting the purple gang.
@ambassadorkael#6946 if you are reading this do it, make the Dating Sim, who knows, it might be popular.
I tried Champions. Made a, I wanna say Commando, managed to give her a fox tail, and I think I called her Sakura McCloud. Backstory was she was part of a supersoldier program that had some unusual side effects (IE anthropomorphic traits like a tail).
Main issue I had with Champions was that I didn't understand the inventory system, and the ground combat felt a bit clunkier than STO. And you don't even aim at the enemy when you attack them. At least it was like that when I tried it.
The main thing I liked was being able to give my character a fox tail and fox ears.
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I played CO as my main "real game" online-game (as opposed to Second Life which is more of a 3D social/creative thing with some informal RP stuff on the side) for a few years starting in 2011 and off and on since then. It is a decent enough game, but it has a lot more structure to its plot progression than STO which limits its replayability for those like me who have a hard time grinding along the exact same path for every character (I had the same trouble with SWTOR).
My first Champions Online character was Shadowsilk, a "Grimoire"-class adaption of a more-or-less Drow character I had as the "embedded mouthpiece" NPC in a tabletop urban fantasy/superhero crossover campaign I ran for a few years in the old Hero Games tabletop Champions about 20 years ago. She is the only one of my many tabletop-version Champions characters who was a natural drop-in fit to the stuff available in the F2P level of CO at the time, right down to a surprisingly close match to her tabletop-version costume.