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YE OLDE SUMMER EVENT!

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  • jexsamxjexsamx Member Posts: 2,803 Arc User
    edited June 2023
    It's incredibly funny to me how, with the time and ability to use any costume in the game for a screenshot that should principally be about the sword, they still managed to use an outfit that clips horrendously and put it front and center. Stunningly careless.

    Having said that, the ship looks incredible. Not so keen on Intel but I'm not a number chaser so that's a minor concern. The opportunity for a gimmick character presented by this is outstanding though. I very much think I'll be firing up the game again for this one.
  • seelowenseelowen Member Posts: 2 Arc User
    I like the medieval theme. Maybe let players use these new items on Risa in "sparring competitions" against other players for lohlunat favors as a new summer activity? Though I'd be happy if they would just fix Risa's day/night cycles.
  • eazzieeazzie Member Posts: 4,211 Arc User
    seelowen wrote: »
    I like the medieval theme. Maybe let players use these new items on Risa in "sparring competitions" against other players for lohlunat favors as a new summer activity? Though I'd be happy if they would just fix Risa's day/night cycles.

    I too would of liked to see medieval themed activities. Jousting, Archery, Banqueting Table, where you have to drink mead at speed just like the winter pie eating competition, A ground TFO to slay a dragon. Have medieval clothing to purchase.
  • zedbrightlander1zedbrightlander1 Member Posts: 14,782 Arc User
    seelowen wrote: »
    I like the medieval theme. Maybe let players use these new items on Risa in "sparring competitions" against other players for lohlunat favors as a new summer activity? Though I'd be happy if they would just fix Risa's day/night cycles.

    Jousting?
    f5cc65bc8f3b91f963e328314df7c48d.jpg
    Sig? What sig? I don't see any sig.
  • eazzieeazzie Member Posts: 4,211 Arc User
    seelowen wrote: »
    I like the medieval theme. Maybe let players use these new items on Risa in "sparring competitions" against other players for lohlunat favors as a new summer activity? Though I'd be happy if they would just fix Risa's day/night cycles.

    Jousting?

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jousting
  • duncanidaho11duncanidaho11 Member Posts: 7,980 Arc User
    edited June 2023
    Someone please tell me that there is a new Ren Faire outfit standing by, and NOT another baseball outfit please?

    And also, please make the sword mount on the hip, and NOT on the back PLEASE!!!

    Outfits are usually announced with the event blog. Nothing here on outfits likely means there's none coming this year. Risa's new grinding targets amount to the new ground set, only.
    jexsamx wrote: »
    It's incredibly funny to me how, with the time and ability to use any costume in the game for a screenshot that should principally be about the sword, they still managed to use an outfit that clips horrendously and put it front and center. Stunningly careless.

    Most players won't notice/won't care. The question then from the Kael's point of view (worth considering when stepping up to the podium of consumer grievance) is whether redoing that shot is worth the zero-sum opportunity cost of being able to move onto other tasks. That time cost being: redo costume, re-run demo record, get back to that same point, and hope the other elements of the shot line up as well (which they might not in a single run, clipping being sacrificed for frame, action, and major content). This isn't insignificant time being spent. There aren't many states of mind that'll come down on redoing the shot (beyond the lie of perfectionism, fine for people with no experience or accountability on the internet but unworkable in practice in just about any field of writing/media production. Good enough to finish a task is the gold standard.) Thus the "stunning" comment is wholly theatrical.

    As one of STO's leading space barbie enthusiasts, I noticed the clipping and thought nothing of it. It's a problem with the asset under non-Leeta slider settings which Cryptic hasn't noticed. The only possible tangible effect here is Kael passing it along to the art team as a bug if he noticed. We, on this side of the equation, will either not give it any attention or feed it into an existing confirmation bias. It's not a transformative point.
    Bipedal mammal and senior Foundry author.
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  • inferiorityinferiority Member Posts: 4,370 Arc User
    seelowen wrote: »
    ...I'd be happy if they would just fix Risa's day/night cycles.
    Alas, the Lighting 2.0 system they introduced as they were porting the game to Consoles doesn't support it.
    Still, it'd be great to see day & night happening again.
    - - - - I n f e r i o r i t y - C o m p l e x - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
    Everyone has a better name and Youtube Channel than me...  :/
  • duncanidaho11duncanidaho11 Member Posts: 7,980 Arc User
    edited June 2023
    seelowen wrote: »
    ...I'd be happy if they would just fix Risa's day/night cycles.
    Alas, the Lighting 2.0 system they introduced as they were porting the game to Consoles doesn't support it.
    Still, it'd be great to see day & night happening again.

    There is a potential way to fake it (have multiple maps each with a different time of day set) but I think that's undesirable from either an ergonomic perspective (having a choice between classic Risa and say 3 lighting variants with only classic offering a major gameplay difference. You're layering in two different things with a single choice and that's being driven by accommodation needs on legacy design/system constraint), player population splitting (less popular lighting choices creating user impressions of a less active event, which is generally bad for online games), or efficiency perspective (3 versions of a map mean 3x the work to update any single element if needed, or recreating the lighting variants every time an update is made from the core version).

    Regardless of the main cause, it's not something the team has had the appetite for since lighting 2.0 was introduce. The most we've had are lighting shifts between years.
    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!
  • zedbrightlander1zedbrightlander1 Member Posts: 14,782 Arc User
    Reading the descriptions of the "Spells" seems as if the Devs have been Lifted or "borrowed" from Neverwinter. Could that be possible? I've sometimes felt that various other elements seemed to have come from Champions Online.
    Waylon_Talos_(West_Side).png

    I do not know enough about making MMOs, so can a machine gun in one game be used in another game made for the same company?
    f5cc65bc8f3b91f963e328314df7c48d.jpg
    Sig? What sig? I don't see any sig.
  • phoenixc#0738 phoenixc Member Posts: 5,809 Arc User
    Reading the descriptions of the "Spells" seems as if the Devs have been Lifted or "borrowed" from Neverwinter. Could that be possible? I've sometimes felt that various other elements seemed to have come from Champions Online.
    Waylon_Talos_(West_Side).png

    I do not know enough about making MMOs, so can a machine gun in one game be used in another game made for the same company?

    At least some of those terms came directly from dialog in the Lower Decks episode that ship appeared in. The terms were meant to resemble classic D&D terms because the people the ship belonged to, the Hysperians, are a colony of avid D&D LARPers, and Neverwinter is also based on D&D so naturally it sounds like Neverwinter.
  • paradox#7391 paradox Member Posts: 1,800 Arc User
    Reading the descriptions of the "Spells" seems as if the Devs have been Lifted or "borrowed" from Neverwinter. Could that be possible? I've sometimes felt that various other elements seemed to have come from Champions Online.
    Waylon_Talos_(West_Side).png

    I do not know enough about making MMOs, so can a machine gun in one game be used in another game made for the same company?

    At least some of those terms came directly from dialog in the Lower Decks episode that ship appeared in. The terms were meant to resemble classic D&D terms because the people the ship belonged to, the Hysperians, are a colony of avid D&D LARPers, and Neverwinter is also based on D&D so naturally it sounds like Neverwinter.

    Exactly
  • baucoinbaucoin Member Posts: 813 Arc User
    So, no new fashion items or pets this year? :(
  • jenicazarinajenicazarina Member Posts: 79 Arc User
    baucoin wrote: »
    So, no new fashion items or pets this year? :(

    So it would seem, unless they surprise us by putting them in the Lobi store, or something, but they usually announce things like that too, so...

    This seems like a huge missed opportunity to introduce ren faire outfits. It's not like they are something new, or out of the blue... TOS had them, TNG had them, DS9 had 'em and VOY had 'em... and even SNW had them in that amazing episode!

    I mean, ren faire isn't really my thing, but a chance to change things up a bit would've been nice... ohh well...

    Resistance is never futile!

    800S3a8.jpg
  • jonnyrocket#1627 jonnyrocket Member Posts: 14 Arc User
    "They're not even PRETENDING it's a Star Trek game anymore"
    To be fair Trek has had its moments where psudo magical abilities have been on display, be it the powers of omnipotent entities like Q or Trelane or "techno sorcery" like what was seen in ToS episodes like Catspaw.

    ...then there was the animated ToS episode where the Enterprise was sent to a universe where magic was real.

  • kiralynkiralyn Member Posts: 1,576 Arc User
    baucoin wrote: »
    So, no new fashion items or pets this year? :(


    Wonder if the data analysts said "Gee, no-one bought the Yet More Baseball Shirts last year." and concluded "no-one is interested in costumes!" rather than "maybe people would like Anything Other Than Baseball Shirts".
  • duncanidaho11duncanidaho11 Member Posts: 7,980 Arc User
    edited June 2023
    kiralyn wrote: »
    baucoin wrote: »
    So, no new fashion items or pets this year? :(
    Wonder if the data analysts said "Gee, no-one bought the Yet More Baseball Shirts last year." and concluded "no-one is interested in costumes!" rather than "maybe people would like Anything Other Than Baseball Shirts".

    Part of it could also be the choice in theme. Costumes are really labor intensive to produce and appropriate gear from LDS or SNW would be *very* elaborate on the scale of costumes. Might not have made production sense to include themed costumes this year especially as it's not likely they'll continue this theme next year. That said, I'd hate for this to become the new pattern. I'd like to think this is just the product of particular circumstances but this year's offerings still speaks to team focus and thinking RE. player engagement (because there's absolutely other ways to apportion content).


    It feels very minimal to only have 3 new items as part of a single niche ground set (melee build with middling ranged mod). I have an ice build on my DSC Sci and it's iffy whether I'll even grind for the new kit module for them (since there's no way they'll go for the set bonus for them, breaks the synergy with the breen set, and its not clear whether the new module will perform better than their existing options). Every melee character I have (ie. the one Klingon) is already set for their weapons and the longsword theme would require a completely new character (ex. a transplanted D&D character) for me to consider using it earnestly (and that's a huge investment for a single gag). What they've done so far was fun for a laugh on Ten Forward but to sustain a whole summer event with items that don't work for most character themes...yeah it's not great. And on principle: why are Risa's offerings this year all content you can't use on Risa? We've had combat gear for a long while but never *exclusively*. Part of what makes Risa so enjoyable is the change in cadence from the usual event grind, including reward focus. This stuff could just as well come out of a TFO event (though TFO events have also included ground costumes for equivalent gear...)

    The long and the short of it is that despite being advertised as a festival that feeling is absolutely not conveyed by the event. The marketing here makes it easy to imagine for what could have been for Risa per a fully populated renfair theme (costumes, decor, miscellaneous items, new NPC's, ect.) which is counterpointed by the parsimonious reality of the game and what the team chose to dedicate their time to between alternative content and its high polish focus (which compounds effects here).

    Just a lot of head scratching with respect to investment focus and yet more of the game falling by the wayside of "can't support, not enough resources" despite no major personnel losses recently and certainly no dip in the frequency of FED loot box releases, cameos (eating character art time), or lobi costumes (ex. Majalan guard armor could have been saved for Risa or its slot on the schedule taken by something appropriate for Risa.) Broadly, it's part a slide of content into more expensive channels under the umbrella of "manufactured discontent", reducing accessible forms of new content to drive engagement vs. fun but for a few rare instances. Enter 3 new ground combat items on a niche set with no costume unlocks and a equally niche ship populating an entire summer's worth of activity. Old regimes made the time for more balanced releases even under sterner economic circumstances for the game. That's part of why we kept playing. Having Bright Eyes, for example, be the friendly Tholian to lead us out of the last mission (at the expense of character artist time for a bespoke model that could have gone into minimal Risa gear, ex. a single festival hat, had another Tholian be used) isn't as motivating for continued long-term play. It's a nice gesture in a vacuum, a few seconds of catharsis for a deep cut reference, but as we starve for content elsewhere in the game that can populate days/week of gametime it feels like a gesture that's, on the whole, more fun for the team.

    My summer grinding targets this year are probably going to missed items for previous years, if I bother at all, which is a nadir state for summer event offerings besides not including anything new at all. There needed to be more here for this to be a good year. Ex. Hysperian vanity shield, no idea why that wasn't included to broaden offerings. See also Hysperian floater and surf board, low stakes content that couldn't be made. I'd even appreciated it if they put up the banner they made for the loading screen somewhere on Risa too. Depressing that even that low bar of single novel environmental asset was probably seen as too costly per available dev time and priorities. A few NPC's could have also been kitbashed using available assets to *approximate* a renfair theme. But no time or inclination was present for that either. Players will grind on regardless, right? We don't have to think about a human reaction to all this.

    And the dance instructor still wasn't reverted back to Zero's VO. Shadow of its former self might be the operative phrase this summer. And we're dealing with heavy shadowing issues that the team's been unable to fix for months. A few hours in and I'm just feeling bummed out.
    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!
  • paradox#7391 paradox Member Posts: 1,800 Arc User
    edited June 2023
    kiralyn wrote: »
    baucoin wrote: »
    So, no new fashion items or pets this year? :(


    Wonder if the data analysts said "Gee, no-one bought the Yet More Baseball Shirts last year." and concluded "no-one is interested in costumes!" rather than "maybe people would like Anything Other Than Baseball Shirts".

    Do people buy Baseball uniforms?,

    I never see anyone running around in one and I personally don't own any Baseball uniforms on any of my accounts.
  • vanive1vanive1 Member Posts: 5 Arc User
    What happened to the lighting here? It's too bright and makes it hard to see the sandcastle sand with lighting 2.0 turned on. Please bring the evening light back.
  • baucoinbaucoin Member Posts: 813 Arc User
    kiralyn wrote: »
    baucoin wrote: »
    So, no new fashion items or pets this year? :(


    Wonder if the data analysts said "Gee, no-one bought the Yet More Baseball Shirts last year." and concluded "no-one is interested in costumes!" rather than "maybe people would like Anything Other Than Baseball Shirts".

    Do people buy Baseball uniforms?,

    I never see anyone running around in one and I personally don't own any Baseball uniforms on any of my accounts.

    I've bought baseball uniforms for many of my alts. Mainly just for the baseball cap that becomes part of their off-duty uniform.
  • baucoinbaucoin Member Posts: 813 Arc User
    kiralyn wrote: »
    baucoin wrote: »
    So, no new fashion items or pets this year? :(


    Wonder if the data analysts said "Gee, no-one bought the Yet More Baseball Shirts last year." and concluded "no-one is interested in costumes!" rather than "maybe people would like Anything Other Than Baseball Shirts".

    True, but how about a Wizard's robe or Chainmail bikini to go along with the D&D theme? Yes, I know Orions pretty much have the chainmail. ;)
  • aesicaaesica Member Posts: 736 Arc User
    Cool ship, but honestly I'd rather have a second chance at that ridiculously broken space squid that utterly annihilates anything near it by...literally just sitting there, flailing its tentacles.
    Rubberband Dance has been unlocked!
    kNqxcCf.gif
  • paradox#7391 paradox Member Posts: 1,800 Arc User
    edited June 2023
    Most Star Trrk Species have a D&D counterpart, Vulcans are High Elves, Romulans are Drow/Dark Elves, TNG Klingons are Space Orcs, DSC Klingons are Space Ogres, Ferengi are Goblins, Cardassains are Yuan-Ti Purebloods, Gorn are either Dragonborn or Lizard folk, Caitians and Ferasans are Tabaxi,Tellarites are Dwarves, Augments are Variant Humans, Androids are Warforged, Remans are Githyanki, ect, ect
  • phoenixc#0738 phoenixc Member Posts: 5,809 Arc User
    aesica wrote: »
    Cool ship, but honestly I'd rather have a second chance at that ridiculously broken space squid that utterly annihilates anything near it by...literally just sitting there, flailing its tentacles.

    The Cnidarian is nice ship if you like aura-tanking, though like most event ships it will probably end up in Mudds Market instead of recycled in another event.

    It is a rather niche ship as well, it thins out packs of trash mobs well enough (unsurprising since that is the role of a bastion type aura tank, to provide a small island of relative safety for glass-cannon teammates) but killing bigger ships usually requires guns, which you don't have in that mode. Some of the tankier carriers, if kitted out right, actually perform the role better than the jellyfish because of the broken role implementation in STO.

    A few of the patrols where you have enough NPC allies on the board are practically tailored for that tank style, but it is not otherwise a great soloing ship since the mobile and area-denial aura modes compete for console space and support roles are really not well implemented in the game (for instance, any DPS ships operating outside of the bubble will draw mobs away from it no matter how many aggro enhancers you run, so jelly pilots tend to sit on spawn points to have much in the way of kills).

    The ship is not "broken", it is just designed to fill a role that many STO players don't seem to understand and apparently don't care to try to understand.
  • duncanidaho11duncanidaho11 Member Posts: 7,980 Arc User
    edited June 2023
    aesica wrote: »
    Cool ship, but honestly I'd rather have a second chance at that ridiculously broken space squid that utterly annihilates anything near it by...literally just sitting there, flailing its tentacles.

    The Cnidarian is nice ship if you like aura-tanking, though like most event ships it will probably end up in Mudds Market instead of recycled in another event.

    This, and there's other ways of getting to a cnidarian-like build (ex. chunky cruisers focusing on tanking and AOE consoles) for those that missed the event ship. Generally in STO these days even a ship with a gimmick isn't going to be the foundation for a new meta. Missed the Vorgon 3/5 cruiser and want to mine like mad? 4/4 cruisers (ex. Clarke) can get you a build approximation and even some better optimization. STO builds are very flexible and what unique elements a ship has is only a small component of the total ship. It's worth emphasizing as FOMO can add a lot of stress and pressure with assumptions otherwise (focusing on the shiniest part of any new/missed ship while ignoring the game's flexibility and actual balance targets). Even for something that's really good for an intended build, the next choice down is more than likely good enough to still have a lot of fun.
    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!
  • mariqa#4594 mariqa Member Posts: 112 Arc User

    The Cnidarian is nice ship if you like aura-tanking, though like most event ships it will probably end up in Mudds Market instead of recycled in another event.

    It is definitely an area denial or base defense ship. it is very good at this just sitting there annihilating whatever gets through to it. In general play it's OK, like most ships it's up to you how well it performs, captains make the difference most times. However it can be overwhelmed by many hard hitting ships, like the Voth fleets around the citadel ships, you need a heavy self-heal build and it is not always going to work. Main issue I have with it is finding out which way is 'front'.
  • spiritbornspiritborn Member Posts: 4,362 Arc User
    Reading the descriptions of the "Spells" seems as if the Devs have been Lifted or "borrowed" from Neverwinter. Could that be possible? I've sometimes felt that various other elements seemed to have come from Champions Online.
    Waylon_Talos_(West_Side).png

    I do not know enough about making MMOs, so can a machine gun in one game be used in another game made for the same company?

    At least some of those terms came directly from dialog in the Lower Decks episode that ship appeared in. The terms were meant to resemble classic D&D terms because the people the ship belonged to, the Hysperians, are a colony of avid D&D LARPers, and Neverwinter is also based on D&D so naturally it sounds like Neverwinter.

    Exactly

    Yeah some people don't seem to get that these things are just 25th century version of throwing packets of salt and yelling "lightning bolt!" not actual in-universe spells, for that shield and kit module that is and yes obviously more damaging versions but the idea is the same. As for the sword, it's a sword, they cut just as well now (and will cut around 500 years into the future) then they did when they were primary weapons on the battlefield.

    Same deal with the tech on the ship, it's most likely 99% federation standard tech with fancy names and the 1% is local variance but still just tech with a fancy name not actual magic.
  • jenicazarinajenicazarina Member Posts: 79 Arc User
    I thought that they promised us that we would get a nighttime setting for this years theme? Instead all we got was a cloudy sky :(
    Resistance is never futile!

    800S3a8.jpg
  • baddmoonrizinbaddmoonrizin Member Posts: 10,843 Community Moderator
    I thought that they promised us that we would get a nighttime setting for this years theme? Instead all we got was a cloudy sky :(

    No, they never promised any such thing.
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  • jenicazarinajenicazarina Member Posts: 79 Arc User
    I thought that they promised us that we would get a nighttime setting for this years theme? Instead all we got was a cloudy sky :(

    No, they never promised any such thing.

    During 10 Forward Weekly last year, one of the devs said that they could change it to nighttime setting "easy", then they took a poll if anyone would like that, which was overwhelmingly responded with "YES!" to which the dev said okay they would "try" to make it happen, so maybe "promise" is too strong of a term, but easy sounds... easy?

    ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
    Resistance is never futile!

    800S3a8.jpg
  • spiritbornspiritborn Member Posts: 4,362 Arc User
    I thought that they promised us that we would get a nighttime setting for this years theme? Instead all we got was a cloudy sky :(

    No, they never promised any such thing.

    During 10 Forward Weekly last year, one of the devs said that they could change it to nighttime setting "easy", then they took a poll if anyone would like that, which was overwhelmingly responded with "YES!" to which the dev said okay they would "try" to make it happen, so maybe "promise" is too strong of a term, but easy sounds... easy?

    ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

    Well something to learn about programming it that something might seem easy until you try it, especially when dealing with a complex and poor documented code base like that STO has, it's possible they tried to do night time but it just didn't work so overcast skies is the compromise.
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