That is what I more or less meant: instead of only selling character-bound promo ships at ridiculous prices, they used to sell big ship- and other content packs.
Uh... *looks at the various Legendary, Anniversary, and other ship Packs like New Genesis* No big ship packs...
Personally I'd like more playable races, like Disco Andorians, Fed Orions, Androids (Picard literally invented a whole planet for them), Kelpians and Sulibans, as well as more options for Alien Gen, like tail options.
Personally I'd like more playable races, like Disco Andorians, Fed Orions, Androids (Picard literally invented a whole planet for them), Kelpians and Sulibans, as well as more options for Alien Gen, like tail options.
Hell-to-the-**** yeah! And Disco Tellarites! And Disco Saurians! Especially Disco Saurians! They don't even have to be separate playable races, just cosmetic options like TOS Gorn and TOS Andorians. And what's with not having Disco Klingons as a cosmetic option for our BOFFs?
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Community Moderators are Unpaid Volunteers and NOT Employees of Gearbox/Cryptic
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That is what I more or less meant: instead of only selling character-bound promo ships at ridiculous prices, they used to sell big ship- and other content packs.
Uh... *looks at the various Legendary, Anniversary, and other ship Packs like New Genesis* No big ship packs...
Big ship packs as in: packs containing many ships (think Romulan or Delta Quadrant expansion ship packs).
A legendary pack with two or three ships and tons of fluff doesn't count as a big ship pack, because it suffers from the problem I was pointing out: overpriced items. There's a clear decline in the frequency of such big pack releases.
Also note that three-piece ship packs used to be the rule for years - another reason why I'm having trouble considering a pack with three or four ships a 'big ship pack'.
You can still see this in the T5 tab, parts of the T6 and yes, on a few rare occasions, the more recent additions in the C-store.
0
rattler2Member, Star Trek Online ModeratorPosts: 58,418Community Moderator
The 10th Anniversary bundle was 10 ships.
The last two Anniversary Bundles had at least 5 ships.
Those old big ship packs weren't aways as big as you might think, before cross faction flying you can more or less divide most of the big packs by three and that is the number of actual unique ships that were in them. Nowadays they don't have to make what is essentially the same ship with three (or four) faction skins so the packs are smaller for about the same number of unique ships per year as they used to do.
I have complained in the past of the emphasis on celebrity VAs. That ship, I am well aware, has sailed. In light of this, I'd like to see some greater emphasis on the player interacting directly with canon cast (as opposed to playing the ferryman, as has happened). As I mentioned on another thread, I find it oddly heartwarming that Ezri is the one to save the player from assimilation in the latest episode. In previous arcs, the PC seems to hit it off well with Kira Nerys and General Martok, and a Discovery PC is implied to be close friends with Sylvia Tilly.
Essentially what I'm saying is, if those big name characters are going to be there anyway, more meaningful interaction is a good way to add to immersion.
I have complained in the past of the emphasis on celebrity VAs. That ship, I am well aware, has sailed. In light of this, I'd like to see some greater emphasis on the player interacting directly with canon cast (as opposed to playing the ferryman, as has happened). As I mentioned on another thread, I find it oddly heartwarming that Ezri is the one to save the player from assimilation in the latest episode. In previous arcs, the PC seems to hit it off well with Kira Nerys and General Martok, and a Discovery PC is implied to be close friends with Sylvia Tilly.
Essentially what I'm saying is, if those big name characters are going to be there anyway, more meaningful interaction is a good way to add to immersion.
I like that! And I agree about Ezri's role there in the newest mission. Holy heck. o_o;
Also on the subject of new playable races, that reminds me, I've been longing for more special BOFFs like we got from missions, reputation, Lobi, or lockboxes before, but for species like Tzenkethi. Sure, it's understandable if those can't be playable. But I would *love* if we could get special BOFFs of them.
I also want to see more sandbox stuff in general. STO's story is incredible, but there are huge gaps of time between chapters, and I don't feel there's a whole lot to keep me interested in between.
I'd love it if we could have something like ship interior decorations, or planet colonization where you could actually built out your own base a bit more, permanent PvP zones that have a permanent anchor in the story (does anyone still care about the Voth warzone, really? And that's PvE in any event).
Basically, I want things that I can do all the time, that actually feel fun and rewarding. Ways to kill time between the big content patches.
STO has a lot of busywork right now - Grind TFO's, farm reputations ect, but none of it feels very fun or engaging to do.
0
rattler2Member, Star Trek Online ModeratorPosts: 58,418Community Moderator
The reason this is not coming back has been explained to death. Please refer to the FCT thread entry 24.
As much as we all might like it, they couldn't maintain it. Broke every update, and took more and more resources and time to fix each time. Resources and time taken away from game development.
I'd love it if we could have something like ship interior decorations, or planet colonization where you could actually built out your own base a bit more, permanent PvP zones that have a permanent anchor in the story (does anyone still care about the Voth warzone, really? And that's PvE in any event).
I'd love it if we could have something like ship interior decorations, or planet colonization where you could actually built out your own base a bit more, permanent PvP zones that have a permanent anchor in the story (does anyone still care about the Voth warzone, really? And that's PvE in any event).
So player housing and more PvP.
I don't get why people are asking for PvP, PvP is niche content, Especially within the STO community where the majority of STO players don't even do PvP, most usually do PvE or Space Barbie, However If I were to make PvP areas, I would place a PvP arena on Andor where the only weapon is Ushaans, PvP on Vulcan would be limited to Lirpas as well, got to keep it cultural on those planets,
Probably even place a PvP arena where anything goes (meaning it wouldn't limit weapon choices) on a Space Station in Orion space but with 1v1, 2v2 or an 8 person tournament, (Wrestling 1v1 and tag team matchs and a tournament mode with MMA rules pretty much, it'll take place on ring where people can watch from the stands and there be a EC and/or Dil betting area)
The devs would love to do player housing, specifically Starship Interiors, but they do not have the development time to devote to it. And I don't understand why people keep bringing up PVP, when the devs have been clear about their stance regarding it, FCT Topic 27) PVP Development, Balancing, and Promotion.
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Community Moderators are Unpaid Volunteers and NOT Employees of Gearbox/Cryptic
Views and Opinions May Not Reflect the Views and Opinions of Gearbox/Cryptic
I am not the first one with this wish.
More ground patrols. As a beginner it is difficult to practice your ground skills. The existing Jupiter Station Showdown is decent practice in the beginning but the hangar fight is just awful.
Now, having reached an acceptable level and with decent equipment etc it is possible to finish it fairly easy.
Adapt the ending making it more consistent and at least one more patrol would be my wish.
Regarding bug hunting (in software), I once triggered a very serious bug in the computer system at my job. It had been there for 16 years. Me running some jobs in an unusual order and having some rare (but valid) parameters set, caused a major serious failure on a large economy system.
As an ex programmer I am quite impressed of STO maintaining up-time well and imo having rather few serious bugs. Good job!
Those old big ship packs weren't aways as big as you might think, before cross faction flying you can more or less divide most of the big packs by three and that is the number of actual unique ships that were in them. Nowadays they don't have to make what is essentially the same ship with three (or four) faction skins so the packs are smaller for about the same number of unique ships per year as they used to do.
But the Romulan and Delta expansion packs clearly had more ships in them than most of the newer packs. Besides, after cross-faction flying was released, I would expect to see more ships per pack, not fewer.
Just to be clear, it's not so much a case of 'there should be more ships in a pack' - my main concern was that this game has become dependent on selling just a few (sometimes even re-released) ships that are, on average, more expensive than the average ship sold in previous times. And that a new source of income, such as subscriptions with new benefits, could help address that issue.
Also note how actual lockboxes are released less often than before. We used to have one every three months, that has gone down to twice a year, with no new ships being added to the Lobi store either.
The game is clearly increasingly depending on older, sold-as-new assets and new, but hugely expensive assets. To me, that's reason for concern. I wouldn't be surprised if we saw subscriptions return and personally I'd welcome it.
Read all the entries in this thread. Some of them are really good suggestions. Some are even better ideas.
None of them will ever be looked at. Let alone implemented. Unless...
Cryptic or Gearrbox or the Embracer Group figure out a way to monetize them.
A six year old boy and his starship. Living the dream.
Those old big ship packs weren't aways as big as you might think, before cross faction flying you can more or less divide most of the big packs by three and that is the number of actual unique ships that were in them. Nowadays they don't have to make what is essentially the same ship with three (or four) faction skins so the packs are smaller for about the same number of unique ships per year as they used to do.
But the Romulan and Delta expansion packs clearly had more ships in them than most of the newer packs. Besides, after cross-faction flying was released, I would expect to see more ships per pack, not fewer.
Just to be clear, it's not so much a case of 'there should be more ships in a pack' - my main concern was that this game has become dependent on selling just a few (sometimes even re-released) ships that are, on average, more expensive than the average ship sold in previous times. And that a new source of income, such as subscriptions with new benefits, could help address that issue.
Also note how actual lockboxes are released less often than before. We used to have one every three months, that has gone down to twice a year, with no new ships being added to the Lobi store either.
The game is clearly increasingly depending on older, sold-as-new assets and new, but hugely expensive assets. To me, that's reason for concern. I wouldn't be surprised if we saw subscriptions return and personally I'd welcome it.
STO is no longer staffed enough to produce the big DLCs that a subscription would require to be at all viable, the team is so small that they have their hands full with the incremental content setup they have now, let alone a two-tiered one like that. It would take a lot of investment up front to change the business model so radically after this long.
On top of that there is a very strong probability that any financial benefit provided by the subscription model would be neutralized by the people who were attracted to the game for its commitment to having no paywalls (and feel betrayed by the switch) leave the game.
I want another mission where I play as the Inquisitor again!
Long Live The Empire!
Terrans vs Mirror Borg with our mirrors teaming up with the prime versions to stop the Borg given the threat they pose to both universes.
"The meaning of victory is not to merely defeat your enemy but to destroy him, to completely eradicate him from living memory, to leave no remnant of his endeavours, to crush utterly his achievement and remove from all record his every trace of existence. From that defeat no enemy can ever recover. That is the meaning of victory."
-Lord Commander Solar Macharius
Got to teach our mirrors how to slay Borg and have a contest of who's the best Borg slayer?
"The meaning of victory is not to merely defeat your enemy but to destroy him, to completely eradicate him from living memory, to leave no remnant of his endeavours, to crush utterly his achievement and remove from all record his every trace of existence. From that defeat no enemy can ever recover. That is the meaning of victory."
-Lord Commander Solar Macharius
...when moving about environments STO could do a LOT better with its format by giving players some worldbuilding dialog on the side (which also helps missions scale to player interest. Don't care? Run on through. Want more meat? Here's stuff to linger with.)
One good example of this comes from the unfairly-maligned Fallout 76 (yes, it was buggy as frak on release, and forced PvP was a huge misstep, but both have been largely corrected now). Wherever you go, there are notes, holotapes, and computer entries on life just before and just after the War (most of the survivors were killed about ten years after the War by the rise of Scorched disease and the rampant attacks by its victims, who were tied into a malevolent hive mind). If you stop to read them, you can learn about things like the battles between the townies, who ruled the streets of Morgantown, and the VTU students who held the upper floors of the buildings and built so many little bridges between them; or the story of how exactly Scorched began running rampant over West Virginia, which also ties into the origin of the Scorchbeasts, huge mutated bats that spread the disease; or the tale of what went wrong in Vault 95, and why everything inside is covered in ice. If you don't, you can still get through the game just fine, as the only sections you need to read or listen to the notes for are when you're rebuilding the warning network the Free Staters developed and when you're tracking down Taggerdy's Thunder, the old Army unit that became the first chapter of the Brotherhood of Steel in Appalachia. There are also a number of minor tragedies told strictly in the environment, like the skeleton found in a bathtub in Grafton with a working radio still in the tub.
I don't know if STO has enough people still working on environmental art to be able to fit things like that in, but it would be cool to find, like, a tricorder aboard an abandoned starship with someone's personal log entries about what that person was going through when whatever happened happened.
In the Foundry we relied a lot on generic props (ie. data pads), repurposed consoles, and invisible interaction volumes over NPCs (see. scanning body). Cryptic builds new consoles reliably for new interior sets, so on the environmental art side I think Cryptic wouldn't have much trouble populating a handful of objects to write worldbuilding prompts around (say 2-6 depending on content.)
Where I think there's a more significant bottleneck is on the writing side. They need free devs and a free head writer to review content, and team changes have scrunched that potential talent pool (ex. Kael working three jobs across CM roles and Jesse moonlighting with the Systems team, they'd otherwise be prime candidates to write this stuff). But that's also a point for scheduling and making the time for this content. Ex. Cryptic could dial back the use of ancillary cutscenes (ex. animating a non-interactable gunfight before giving the player an interactable gunfight) and excessive NPC direction dialog (a crutch in mission direction when the environment/objectives aren't intuitive) to free up worldbuilding dialog time, with additional benefits to episode pacing and map/encounter design that can stand on its own.
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!
I want the Typhoon Class! That's what I want from 2024!
At a certain point, probably this year, Thomas is going to be looking at two choices for established FED ships (that aren't from new series) to launch to the c-store.
1) Yeager
2) Typhoon
Then we'll have to get it.
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!
I want the Typhoon Class! That's what I want from 2024!
I'd be more interested in a T6 Obelisk. Went through "Sphere of Influence" earlier today (did it way early to get my hands on that antiproton omni), and was reminded how much fun I had with that ship.
I want the Typhoon Class! That's what I want from 2024!
At a certain point, probably this year, Thomas is going to be looking at two choices for established FED ships (that aren't from new series) to launch to the c-store.
1) Yeager
2) Typhoon
Then we'll have to get it.
It'll probably be part of the Frankenstein Fleet Bundle!
* Typhoon Class
* Yeager Class
* Curry Class
* Elkins Class
Comments
Uh... *looks at the various Legendary, Anniversary, and other ship Packs like New Genesis* No big ship packs...
Hell-to-the-**** yeah! And Disco Tellarites! And Disco Saurians! Especially Disco Saurians! They don't even have to be separate playable races, just cosmetic options like TOS Gorn and TOS Andorians. And what's with not having Disco Klingons as a cosmetic option for our BOFFs?
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Moderation Problems/Issues? Please contact the Community Manager
Terms of Service / Community Rules and Policies / FCT
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Big ship packs as in: packs containing many ships (think Romulan or Delta Quadrant expansion ship packs).
A legendary pack with two or three ships and tons of fluff doesn't count as a big ship pack, because it suffers from the problem I was pointing out: overpriced items. There's a clear decline in the frequency of such big pack releases.
Also note that three-piece ship packs used to be the rule for years - another reason why I'm having trouble considering a pack with three or four ships a 'big ship pack'.
You can still see this in the T5 tab, parts of the T6 and yes, on a few rare occasions, the more recent additions in the C-store.
The last two Anniversary Bundles had at least 5 ships.
Essentially what I'm saying is, if those big name characters are going to be there anyway, more meaningful interaction is a good way to add to immersion.
I like that! And I agree about Ezri's role there in the newest mission. Holy heck. o_o;
Also on the subject of new playable races, that reminds me, I've been longing for more special BOFFs like we got from missions, reputation, Lobi, or lockboxes before, but for species like Tzenkethi. Sure, it's understandable if those can't be playable. But I would *love* if we could get special BOFFs of them.
I also want to see more sandbox stuff in general. STO's story is incredible, but there are huge gaps of time between chapters, and I don't feel there's a whole lot to keep me interested in between.
I'd love it if we could have something like ship interior decorations, or planet colonization where you could actually built out your own base a bit more, permanent PvP zones that have a permanent anchor in the story (does anyone still care about the Voth warzone, really? And that's PvE in any event).
Basically, I want things that I can do all the time, that actually feel fun and rewarding. Ways to kill time between the big content patches.
STO has a lot of busywork right now - Grind TFO's, farm reputations ect, but none of it feels very fun or engaging to do.
The reason this is not coming back has been explained to death. Please refer to the FCT thread entry 24.
As much as we all might like it, they couldn't maintain it. Broke every update, and took more and more resources and time to fix each time. Resources and time taken away from game development.
So player housing and more PvP.
I don't get why people are asking for PvP, PvP is niche content, Especially within the STO community where the majority of STO players don't even do PvP, most usually do PvE or Space Barbie, However If I were to make PvP areas, I would place a PvP arena on Andor where the only weapon is Ushaans, PvP on Vulcan would be limited to Lirpas as well, got to keep it cultural on those planets,
Probably even place a PvP arena where anything goes (meaning it wouldn't limit weapon choices) on a Space Station in Orion space but with 1v1, 2v2 or an 8 person tournament, (Wrestling 1v1 and tag team matchs and a tournament mode with MMA rules pretty much, it'll take place on ring where people can watch from the stands and there be a EC and/or Dil betting area)
Views and Opinions May Not Reflect the Views and Opinions of Gearbox/Cryptic
Moderation Problems/Issues? Please contact the Community Manager
Terms of Service / Community Rules and Policies / FCT
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Theres so many missions, especially mid level ones in need of some fixing.
I would love more races.
Having older uniforms brought up to snuff visually compared to new uniforms and colours would be amazing.
And im still waiting for federation klingons to have the same options as KDF klingons
More ground patrols. As a beginner it is difficult to practice your ground skills. The existing Jupiter Station Showdown is decent practice in the beginning but the hangar fight is just awful.
Now, having reached an acceptable level and with decent equipment etc it is possible to finish it fairly easy.
Adapt the ending making it more consistent and at least one more patrol would be my wish.
Regarding bug hunting (in software), I once triggered a very serious bug in the computer system at my job. It had been there for 16 years. Me running some jobs in an unusual order and having some rare (but valid) parameters set, caused a major serious failure on a large economy system.
As an ex programmer I am quite impressed of STO maintaining up-time well and imo having rather few serious bugs. Good job!
But the Romulan and Delta expansion packs clearly had more ships in them than most of the newer packs. Besides, after cross-faction flying was released, I would expect to see more ships per pack, not fewer.
Just to be clear, it's not so much a case of 'there should be more ships in a pack' - my main concern was that this game has become dependent on selling just a few (sometimes even re-released) ships that are, on average, more expensive than the average ship sold in previous times. And that a new source of income, such as subscriptions with new benefits, could help address that issue.
Also note how actual lockboxes are released less often than before. We used to have one every three months, that has gone down to twice a year, with no new ships being added to the Lobi store either.
The game is clearly increasingly depending on older, sold-as-new assets and new, but hugely expensive assets. To me, that's reason for concern. I wouldn't be surprised if we saw subscriptions return and personally I'd welcome it.
None of them will ever be looked at. Let alone implemented. Unless...
Cryptic or Gearrbox or the Embracer Group figure out a way to monetize them.
STO is no longer staffed enough to produce the big DLCs that a subscription would require to be at all viable, the team is so small that they have their hands full with the incremental content setup they have now, let alone a two-tiered one like that. It would take a lot of investment up front to change the business model so radically after this long.
On top of that there is a very strong probability that any financial benefit provided by the subscription model would be neutralized by the people who were attracted to the game for its commitment to having no paywalls (and feel betrayed by the switch) leave the game.
Long Live The Empire!
Terrans vs Mirror Borg with our mirrors teaming up with the prime versions to stop the Borg given the threat they pose to both universes.
-Lord Commander Solar Macharius
Then everyone to TSD for the epic afterparty!
-Lord Commander Solar Macharius
Have to pass on that one, personally. I'm tired of missions where I don't play as my character.
In the Foundry we relied a lot on generic props (ie. data pads), repurposed consoles, and invisible interaction volumes over NPCs (see. scanning body). Cryptic builds new consoles reliably for new interior sets, so on the environmental art side I think Cryptic wouldn't have much trouble populating a handful of objects to write worldbuilding prompts around (say 2-6 depending on content.)
Where I think there's a more significant bottleneck is on the writing side. They need free devs and a free head writer to review content, and team changes have scrunched that potential talent pool (ex. Kael working three jobs across CM roles and Jesse moonlighting with the Systems team, they'd otherwise be prime candidates to write this stuff). But that's also a point for scheduling and making the time for this content. Ex. Cryptic could dial back the use of ancillary cutscenes (ex. animating a non-interactable gunfight before giving the player an interactable gunfight) and excessive NPC direction dialog (a crutch in mission direction when the environment/objectives aren't intuitive) to free up worldbuilding dialog time, with additional benefits to episode pacing and map/encounter design that can stand on its own.
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!
At a certain point, probably this year, Thomas is going to be looking at two choices for established FED ships (that aren't from new series) to launch to the c-store.
1) Yeager
2) Typhoon
Then we'll have to get it.
Notable missions: Apex [AEI], Gemini [SSF], Trident [AEI], Evolution's Smile [SSF], Transcendence
Looking for something new to play? I've started building Foundry missions again in visual novel form!
I'd be more interested in a T6 Obelisk. Went through "Sphere of Influence" earlier today (did it way early to get my hands on that antiproton omni), and was reminded how much fun I had with that ship.
It'll probably be part of the Frankenstein Fleet Bundle!
* Typhoon Class
* Yeager Class
* Curry Class
* Elkins Class