After a little bit of playing, I've decided on the following
Decide where the farking button you have to click to 'scan/pickup/communicate' is going to appear, is it on the right hand side of the screen, or in the lower middle of the screen. It almost seems arbitary where the game decides to put it.
Once the Bank window is open, I should be able to interact with it, anywhere on the station/outpost. I've lost count of the number of times I have to keep running backwards and forewards between the exchange and the Bank to see what I have/want.
Updating the PvE ship AI, so that it does a little bit more than ring-a-ring a rosy around your ship... I mean I'm in an Escort doing a run, approach the foe, and then slow down and drop in behind it... 99% of the time, it will start turning left HARD, and then slows down as well, what's wrong with turning right, or accelerating
Tone down the warp core explosion when you kill a ship a tad.. The number of times I've been 2km+ away and still take over 10,000 hull damage is beyond unreal.
After a little bit of playing, I've decided on the following
Decide where the farking button you have to click to 'scan/pickup/communicate' is going to appear, is it on the right hand side of the screen, or in the lower middle of the screen. It almost seems arbitrary where the game decides to put it.
You decide where it goes. Open up your rearrange HUD option and the window it appears in normally is called the Interaction Window. The other place it will appear, only when you are in combat or under a red alert, is the Low Priority Window. It appears there so as to ensure you don't accidentally select it during a pressure situation and have a fatal experience.
Updating the PvE ship AI, so that it does a little bit more than ring-a-ring a rosy around your ship... I mean I'm in an Escort doing a run, approach the foe, and then slow down and drop in behind it... 99% of the time, it will start turning left HARD, and then slows down as well, what's wrong with turning right, or accelerating
Tone down the warp core explosion when you kill a ship a tad.. The number of times I've been 2km+ away and still take over 10,000 hull damage is beyond unreal.
I agree that the space combat AI is a bit predictable, but it's all based on a computer model made to ensure best possible attack vector. It doesn't take into account skill level of the NPC pilot, which would make things a little more realistic. As for the explosions, you have to take care to be out of the blast radius. That's why I don't understand people when they say there are no tactics involved. I've had plenty of instances where I've played with other captains who are four, five or more levels above me and I've sliced through more opposition in less time and, usually have to go rescue them. You have to plan ahead and be out of range when you deliver the killing blow. Think of it this way, 2 km is just over a mile(1.61 km = 1 mi). The matter/antimatter reaction is IMMENSELY more powerful than a nuclear reaction. The atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima had an effective radius of 4.4 miles. And the Chernobyl meltdown (not a true explosion as would on a military vessel), had a radius of 25 miles. So being just over a mile away from an a matter/antimatter explosion is not safe.
Although I would agree that ships blowing up every single time is a bit outlandish. Perhaps only when a critical is scored on the killing blow or when it exceeds a certain percentage of the hull strength, say 10%. That would almost always ensure an explosion during fleet engagement where combined fire would most certainly rupture the warp core, but make it rather rare in one on one engagements.
It took a second for me. The cursor doesn't need to line up, the top of the item does. Just move it around until the entry box lights up a light blue and then let go. It may take a few tries to get it right.
Think of it this way, 2 km is just over a mile(1.61 km = 1 mi). The matter/antimatter reaction is IMMENSELY more powerful than a nuclear reaction. The atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima had an effective radius of 4.4 miles. And the Chernobyl meltdown (not a true explosion as would on a military vessel), had a radius of 25 miles. So being just over a mile away from an a matter/antimatter explosion is not safe.
Whilst I would agree with you, the scales in this game are way way off.. Entire planets are less then 50km across. Transporters that in the series have a range of 50,000 km, often don't work until you're closer than 6.5km. Scanners that can't tell you what a ship is until you're close enough to fling rubber bands at it.
Communications methods that for some reason only have a range slightly longer than a longish piece of string (Yes Defra Outpost 3 I'm thinking of you).
* Add a checkbox in options to turn off battle music (That music is too chaotic and annoying)
* Add more (better) music scores to batlle music
* Add an option to enable a webradio url like shoutcast or icecast
* Let us fly straight up- and down in the Z direction, space is 3 dimensional !
Mid-term requests
* Contact Jeremy Soule to have music that change the experience entirely
* Add more missions, where it's not all about pew pew, preferably something where you have to use your brain (in stead of the goto A goto B, kill A kill B... we're not mindless monkeys!)
* Give meaning to the title Ambassador. At the moment it is a big disappointment to become Ambassador after a long and mindless grind. An Ambassador should end conflicts, give them skills, special missions or abilities that can help in a group... anything but just the title.
Long-term requests
* Make it possible to have interaction with your BO's at your starship. Make them follow, repair stuff, take them out on a date (drink) at the bar on your ship.. in stead of just sitting there.
* Player housing (and not just the inner ship)
* Fleet housing (very important!), so a fleet can have meetings
Generally i would like to add that the focus should be more on intellectual challenges and moral decisions then on shooting and killing. After all this is a MMO about Star Trek, not a John Wayne pew pew movie.
* Add an option to enable a webradio url like shoutcast or icecast
In the mean time, just long on to your web radio via your web browser and play it that way. Then just log in and you will still get your audio. Be sure to turn of the game music, or you will just have a cacophony. Should you find you want to change the station you'll have to Alt/Tab out and change it then go back into the game. Temporary fix, but it works.
Generally i would like to add that the focus should be more on intellectual challenges and moral decisions then on shooting and killing. After all this is a MMO about Star Trek, not a John Wayne pew pew movie.
I agree 100%, but I had to come to accept that a vast majority of MMO players want 75% violence and 25% talk. Look at the number 2 and 3 quickest MMO failures. Number 2, "Seed" was a social/cerebral game only, no combat or violence and it lasted only 149 days. Then the number 3, "Fury" was a combat only game that was just a PvE/PvP grind and they threw in the towel after 294 days. Morality plays and cerebral pursuits are more in line with the Star Trek Universe, I know that would be more of how Gene would have it, but we have to face facts in that people want some storyline and a lot of action. At least out of their MMNOs. When it comes time that all this can be done for less money then we can have more focused games, but until that time we will just have to deal.
1. more in ship interaction! more npc interaction! a club instead of a lounge!(ok, that was a joke. but then again.... there should be a party ship floating around or more development of Risa!)
2. more voice acting! i know this is a hard one to request, and has probably been discussed plenty of times. but when i first came on to STO, hearing nimoy doing the status stuff was absolutely awesome. i would literally stop my ship, forget about the mission, and just listen to nimoy tell me what was going on. it was like listening to him do the books on tape, or an interview. OH! and the guardian mission was such a treat. chase's voice is wonderful and playful, although sometimes the over and over again lines are sort of annoying.
3. i know turn rates are tier specific ship things, and with certain buff stuff(i remind you guys i am not a hardcore mmo player. purely here for the trek!), you can improve it. i find it curious though after watching so much, that certain ships had certain movement abilities i.e. galaxy class ships turning on the z axis while still directed towards a y axis attack vector. the defiant i was happy with. it seemed to zip around just like it did in the series. i'm not sure what the goals are for improvement of maneuvering, but i look forward to some sort of improvement!
4. you guys cant keep a secret. i know at some point, the delta quadrant will become available! just tell us already!
5. advancing forward as much as the game has in regards to the year. i am really impressed with the advancement of the story arcs. i look forward to seeing more develop. please do not sway from doing so. i absolutely HATE mmo's for the simple reason it is a bunch of people trying to out.. ummm... outlevel(?) (or some silly nerd TRIBBLE) each other. please please please PLEASE stay trek! stay awesome!
* Contact Jeremy Soule to have music that change the experience entirely
* Give meaning to the title Ambassador. At the moment it is a big disappointment to become Ambassador after a long and mindless grind. An Ambassador should end conflicts, give them skills, special missions or abilities that can help in a group... anything but just the title.
Long-term requests
* Make it possible to have interaction with your BO's at your starship. Make them follow, repair stuff, take them out on a date (drink) at the bar on your ship.. in stead of just sitting there.
* Player housing (and not just the inner ship)
* Fleet housing (very important!), so a fleet can have meetings
Generally i would like to add that the focus should be more on intellectual challenges and moral decisions then on shooting and killing. After all this is a MMO about Star Trek, not a John Wayne pew pew movie.
-- Please fix the Constitution-class skin option -- it only lets me choose 02.
Mid term:
-- Please add the Type 8 Shuttlecraft to the C-Store -- I don't live anywhere near a Del Taco.
-- I'm still holding on to my rare data samples, hoping they'll be useful for something beyond the accolade.
Long term:
-- I'd love to see more ship-interior interaction.
-- It'd be great if all of sector space had the same visual quality as Orellius Sector Block.
-- More crafting!
In the mean time, just long on to your web radio via your web browser and play it that way. Then just log in and you will still get your audio. Be sure to turn of the game music, or you will just have a cacophony. Should you find you want to change the station you'll have to Alt/Tab out and change it then go back into the game. Temporary fix, but it works..
Of course i do that already, thanks for the tip though, will be good for others
I agree 100%, but I had to come to accept that a vast majority of MMO players want 75% violence and 25% talk. Look at the number 2 and 3 quickest MMO failures. Number 2, "Seed" was a social/cerebral game only, no combat or violence and it lasted only 149 days. Then the number 3, "Fury" was a combat only game that was just a PvE/PvP grind and they threw in the towel after 294 days. Morality plays and cerebral pursuits are more in line with the Star Trek Universe, I know that would be more of how Gene would have it, but we have to face facts in that people want some storyline and a lot of action. At least out of their MMNOs. When it comes time that all this can be done for less money then we can have more focused games, but until that time we will just have to deal.
Agreed, yet I feel that software developers will have the ability (if they are any good) to come up with something refreshing and new, even if it is something the majority of the mmo-flock is not familiar with or even happy with. It just takes some guts and imagination. Sure, kids will shout like cry babies that they want more action, but the more adult crowd (who have the money to pay for the game) will prefer a mental challenge over mindless action, or I do assume so. Correct me if i'm wrong.
I am no moral knight, but to see people type: "I want to kill stuff"... I just shake my head to that.
I am for one very tired of all the violence, which is like a disease spreading not only in games, but television as well. Even the cartoons for kids nowadays are filled with violence. And yes, I am very aware this is probably not a discussion that belongs here, but it's still something to stop and think about.
Sex or nudity however, specially in the USA, is still taboo. In contrast to evenings filled with adultery, murders, blood and violence on television is too silly for words.
To stay on topic about MMO's, I think someone has to set an example of how compassion, intelligence, imagination and in general morality can prevail on mindless violence and hatred.
With it's history, there is no better choice to apply the above than Star Trek.
Though, then money comes around the corner and every good intention is dropped, even own fundamental rules are dropped or changed because of money.
I just hope someone has the guts to make a change someday to turn the tide, even on a seemingly small influential base like a mmo, it does have a psychological impact on the people that play it.
Well, I'd like to see actual rank for the WOK uniform in addition to the Admiral rank. I know, it's billed as the "Admiral's" uniform but I like the look of that uniform and have my bridge crew decked out in a cutom variant of mine. Just wish I could set their rank.
And while on the subject of uniforms, I'd like to see more variants from TNG. Like the Captain's alt uni with the grey with black shoulder's shirt and command jacket over it. Or the dress uniform.
I too would also like to see some use for the rare mats that take up 10 spaces in my bank, I got the accolade, but I keep saving them.
Agreed, yet I feel that software developers will have the ability (if they are any good) to come up with something refreshing and new, even if it is something the majority of the mmo-flock is not familiar with or even happy with. It just takes some guts and imagination. Sure, kids will shout like cry babies that they want more action, but the more adult crowd (who have the money to pay for the game) will prefer a mental challenge over mindless action, or I do assume so. Correct me if i'm wrong.
I am no moral knight, but to see people type: "I want to kill stuff"... I just shake my head to that.
I am for one very tired of all the violence, which is like a disease spreading not only in games, but television as well. Even the cartoons for kids nowadays are filled with violence. And yes, I am very aware this is probably not a discussion that belongs here, but it's still something to stop and think about.
Sex or nudity however, specially in the USA, is still taboo. In contrast to evenings filled with adultery, murders, blood and violence on television is too silly for words.
To stay on topic about MMO's, I think someone has to set an example of how compassion, intelligence, imagination and in general morality can prevail on mindless violence and hatred.
With it's history, there is no better choice to apply the above than Star Trek.
Though, then money comes around the corner and every good intention is dropped, even own fundamental rules are dropped or changed because of money.
I just hope someone has the guts to make a change someday to turn the tide, even on a seemingly small influential base like a mmo, it does have a psychological impact on the people that play it.
I would argue that violence is not the cause but the symptom. My analogy is that violent games/television/books no more cause violence as bleeding causes cuts. The violence that happens is because the society at large does not handle or know how to handle the violence inherent in all humans. We are what I call a "fast food society" in that we want it hot, fresh, and whenever we want it. That applies to cures and fixes. We don't want to spend more time on any one problem as we want to spend in the drive through lane at a fast food restaurant. So we slap a bandage on it and call it a day and bury it away until the next time it erupts. Look at Japanese television. SO much more violent than that of the U.S. or Europe and they have a much lower incidence of violence. It is how the society handles things. In the U.S., thanks to the "Boomers", we have a society that abhors responsibility and self reliance. It's always a disease, or someone or something else that is the cause of my problems. As long as we can pass the buck onto something inanimate or so large as to not have a single voice to defend itself, we are happy. It's human nature to be violent, each to varying degrees, but I bet I could get Ghandi to punch me given sufficient time and latitude. So as long as we deny our nature and blame others for our faults, we will not address the issue. I have to admit you have a problem before I can fix it. And it's MY problem, it wasn't caused by society, my Mother, my upbringing, my teachers, my whatever. There are no band-aid solutions, no quick fixes that our society so craves.
So that's my non-MMO related rant for the day. Back to more relative news. We might be winning that war. All Points Bulletin (APB), another PvP centric MMO with little or no storyline to speak of, just went belly up on the 16th, making it the new number one fastest failing MMO to date. A whopping 79 days of mayhem. So story might be what will bring people back for more. Maybe the split is looking a little more like 33% story and 67% action. It's heading in the right direction though.
Also with the bi-weekly storylines that are promised they may have a few morality plays within them. Since the missions will always be available, the ambitious schedule would almost have to yield some missions that are more inline with Gene's view than the more popular current one.
And as for the "I wanna kill stuff" people, you have to remember, that adults with money that love this genre are far fewer than kids with parents with money (who just want the little rug rats out of their hair). So you have to expect the immaturity and childish behavior. Fortunately they are easily bored and will move on to another game soon enough. The problem is that there is another one waiting to replace the one leaving, so they will always be there to annoy us. Thank goodness for the ignore button.
I for one have a wait and see attitude, as long as they really don't do something I really find dumb, I'll stick around. I know ultimately I can have a vote in my monthly subscription. If they consistently show progress, I will show my appreciation with a lifetime membership. But as I see it they have one year to impress or cheese me off.
1. i want to enjoy my ships cabins exploring my entire ship and using all kinds of thing like holodeck allows me to watch saved video files from my hard drive on screen in there
2. i want to feel like im really exploring bodly finding new and strange random stuff like im the first to find this species,mineral,plant,energy source idk im not getting paid for creativity
3.dont forget to make the on screen on bridge to be real time i can see other players that are actually going by my ship on screen of bridge
mid term
1. you can choose basic emotes inside the holodeck like maybe a strobe disco ball and choose random scenes like a party scene of people dancing and having fun or a beach scene whiles you walk on the sand.
2. make my crew better by finding there home planets and doing things for them or there peoples for morality points which can be used to go to there home worlds and purchase things they would like for there cabin quarters
3. random people walking about my ship as ensigns with emotes like i hope cook makes a certain meal or wonder if captain will give me time off to go to a planet for there own work or pleasures maybe needing rescue
long term
1. Lots of random hidden stuff to find that no one else has or maybe showing im the first or 2nd to this deposit and its being ran by another player as a mining location. Of all the random generated names why not random named new resources, items , minerals, and people to find
2. maybe find a baby right before it dies as the last of a species and raising it on my ship training or sending it to the academy to return after so long grown and changed btw where are animals what if i wanted to see what a whale would do on a certain planet in its oceans if the tri-corder says it could survive repopulating a planet
3. actually stating a location of a planet i nurtured raised as my own even populated it with my own species of peoples and creatures with trial and error they live peacefully together and its on the map for others to visit or help my planet with resources it may need as i am busy in another quadrant . thank you
I would argue that violence is not the cause but the symptom. My analogy is that violent games/television/books no more cause violence as bleeding causes cuts. The violence that happens is because the society at large does not handle or know how to handle the violence inherent in all humans. We are what I call a "fast food society" in that we want it hot, fresh, and whenever we want it. That applies to cures and fixes. We don't want to spend more time on any one problem as we want to spend in the drive through lane at a fast food restaurant. So we slap a bandage on it and call it a day and bury it away until the next time it erupts. Look at Japanese television. SO much more violent than that of the U.S. or Europe and they have a much lower incidence of violence. It is how the society handles things. In the U.S., thanks to the "Boomers", we have a society that abhors responsibility and self reliance. It's always a disease, or someone or something else that is the cause of my problems. As long as we can pass the buck onto something inanimate or so large as to not have a single voice to defend itself, we are happy. It's human nature to be violent, each to varying degrees, but I bet I could get Ghandi to punch me given sufficient time and latitude. So as long as we deny our nature and blame others for our faults, we will not address the issue. I have to admit you have a problem before I can fix it. And it's MY problem, it wasn't caused by society, my Mother, my upbringing, my teachers, my whatever. There are no band-aid solutions, no quick fixes that our society so craves.
So that's my non-MMO related rant for the day. Back to more relative news. We might be winning that war. All Points Bulletin (APB), another PvP centric MMO with little or no storyline to speak of, just went belly up on the 16th, making it the new number one fastest failing MMO to date. A whopping 79 days of mayhem. So story might be what will bring people back for more. Maybe the split is looking a little more like 33% story and 67% action. It's heading in the right direction though.
Also with the bi-weekly storylines that are promised they may have a few morality plays within them. Since the missions will always be available, the ambitious schedule would almost have to yield some missions that are more inline with Gene's view than the more popular current one.
And as for the "I wanna kill stuff" people, you have to remember, that adults with money that love this genre are far fewer than kids with parents with money (who just want the little rug rats out of their hair). So you have to expect the immaturity and childish behavior. Fortunately they are easily bored and will move on to another game soon enough. The problem is that there is another one waiting to replace the one leaving, so they will always be there to annoy us. Thank goodness for the ignore button.
I for one have a wait and see attitude, as long as they really don't do something I really find dumb, I'll stick around. I know ultimately I can have a vote in my monthly subscription. It they consistently show progress, I will show my appreciation with a lifetime membership. But as I see it they have one year to impress or cheese me off.
Well written
I did not blame anyone, merely stated that I am personally tired of all the violence in any media. And i do agree about Japan, where it is even more, though they are somewhere at the bottom of crimes per capita.
So, one could make a simple assumption that the (attitude of) society has a greater influence on violence than the media, though it is probably more complex.
Japan however is something very different, where values and honour are deeply rooted. In my field of software development, I can tell from experience that it is evident their attitude is at such degree they deliver near perfect software, where our "western" software is always haunted with bugs.
Anyway, you are right about many things, though one thing i disagree on, and that is that humanity is violent by nature. That would justify parts of the theory of darwin, on which I also disagree (and recent discoveries support my disagreement) And I'm very sure you could not get a buddhist master to become violent.
But again, this is something debatable, and not suited for this thread I guess :P
Of course it is an utopian wish to have a violence free game, because it will probably not be successful (although maybe farmville is a nice exception :P), but until then maybe a good balance, like you pointed out, will be the first step to show that you can have fun without mindlessly killing hordes of virtual enemies.
1. Super customizable ships. Allow us to be able to use parts from previous tiers of ships and (if possible) allow us to place the parts anywhere on the ship.
2. A retrain token for racial traits.
3. Cruisers should be granted passive abilities that increase threat generated by a huge margin to allow proper "tanking"
4. More melee weapons
5. Revisit finished missions to acquire the "hidden" accolades.
6. Tweak the bonuses weapons give. i.e. Disruptor debuffs hull only, Tetryon debuffs shields only (same current affect that disruptor do, accept for shields). Anti protons having crit severity against hull
Long Term:
1. Fleets being able to create their own instances for fleet actions.
2. Allow the prime directive to become a more influential role. Currently i feel that it isn't even part of the game
3. A trip to the Continuum would be extremely cool (more missions with Q would be great too)
4. There should be no confrontation; only retaliation in sector space. Not just seek and destroy everything
5. More uses for GPL, holo-emitters should be permanent with a 24 hr cd.
Short-term
- Fix bug in regards to BO's standing on top of the bridge consoles
- Fix bug in regards to the search feature in the exchange
- Fix bug in regards to the color glitch within the character creator
Mid-term
- Add more story driven missions, matter of fact... add MANY MANY more!
- Add more uniform / clothing opitions to the character creator
- Add more space stations with vendors, missions, things to do and etc.
Long-term
- Add smuggling, taking bribes, selling secrets, double agent (with risk of getting caught)
- Add cities to planets (vendors, missions, sociable with other players, more games to play, more "off-duty" things to do)
- Add loooong "Betrayal" mission that would allow you to "change sides"
1. Super customizable ships. Allow us to be able to use parts from previous tiers of ships and (if possible) allow us to place the parts anywhere on the ship.
3. Cruisers should be granted passive abilities that increase threat generated by a huge margin to allow proper "tanking"
4. More melee weapons
Long Term:
1. Fleets being able to create their own instances for fleet actions.
2. Allow the prime directive to become a more influential role. Currently i feel that it isn't even part of the game
3. A trip to the Continuum would be extremely cool (more missions with Q would be great too)
4. There should be no confrontation; only retaliation in sector space. Not just seek and destroy everything
5. More uses for GPL, holo-emitters should be permanent with a 24 hr cd.
- Please give us the option to disable tips...or just let them pop up once and thats it.
- Add the sovereign bridge to the game...it's my personal favorite and I'm sure people would rather like to see the sovereign bridge than some custom one. And while your at it...plz rework the sovereign itself. It still doesn't look like the real thing.
Mid term:
- Bring back Power HUE or something similar. I'd really love to change my weapon colours again. Especially RP players would benefit from it. Maybe you could limit each type of weapon to 2 or 3 colours...lets say orange, blue and red phasers; red and green disruptors; blue and yellow tetryon etc.
- Let us replay missions. There are some really great ones out there, that are worth playing over and over again.
Long Term:
- I'd love to see raids that require players to take on the role of bridge officers (player crew).
Short Term:
-Things to do on the bridge (Such as minigames or setup of ship or somthing to do with friends maybe)
Mid Term:
-Open the ships up with differnt rooms to use for missions. Such as science rooms to use scanners, Canteen to relax and gen food, medical bay where you can see the doctor and make requests on how he works when under attack (in all series there was a lot of time spent in medical) Just open ships with stuff to do in your own time.
LONGGG TERM-
FREEDOM! the worlds should be able to be explored freely. Beam down points and the ablility to go to places in the series. POI with rewards. Warp should be warp not something that pretends to be. Just look at Legacy and impant that style into the game to travel to the different planets. We should be able to travel to a world and expore it in our own time. Even to visit Earth and go to Starfleet command station would be cool.
GulDuvek/Zigz = Idea: Can we insert a Fleet Tag to the ships and character, so we can identify what fleet that individual belongs too.
Ironmike/Ankah = Idea: To help boost PVP. When you queue PVP either in space or ground battle, everyone should receive one (1) Emblem point reward for participating everytime you queue and complete the PVP. The team that wins the match should receive two (2) Emblem points for there reward.
Resize planets. Seriously, wtf, dudes, wtf? Pebbles do not a planet make.
Medium Term
Proper LCARS throughout the entire game. By proper I mean that the devs actually bother to read-up on the design rules of LCARS and implement it not only on every viewscreen in the game (on Federation side) but also as the GUI for interacting with the game.
I honestly think that this would be a major improvement to the playability of the game. I big part of playing a Star Trek game is the immersion in the milieu and currently, I'm not really all that immersed.
Long Term
Redesign every mission in the game so as to include an element of choice and decision-making with variable outcomes (rather than binary success/failure) based on those choices. I'd like to play a diplomatic Picard-like character and also a warrior-like Worfesque character who fights first and contemplates his actions later.
- Lettting Engineer ground fortifications (IE: Phaser turrets, medical generators, etc) be built instantly when out of combat.
- Greater variations within each ship 'level', model wise.
- Better documentation. Seriously. Just get one guy to write more stuff to skills so I know what I'm getting when I click the "Add Points" button.
Mid Term
- Greater ground variation. More skills, less wait time, new tactics, better crouch camera.
- Less repitition. I want to be able to level to 20 without having to do repeatables, thank you very much.
- Better design. It seems that every new tier of ships has its own set of problems (ex: In the 11-20 level range, the cruiser is pretty much useless).
Long Term
I don't really have any long term goals. In fact, I'm against long term goals. STO has so many short term and mid term problems that focusing on long term goals seems almost criminal.
I did not really agree with this article til I got to the long term option and Kudos!
All I wish for is a more interactive game... Making it were Feds and Klinks cannot go into each others territories was a huge error. Now if there were 6 playable races I would understand, you could then close borders up for treaties and all. But right now the game is getting boring Same ol dailies, basically no fleet interaction ever and I have been in a lot of them.. If this game allowed, say klinks to group up and stage raids in federation territory, that would be a lot better. It would allow us to surprise attack, no PVP Q in this case, but it would force both sides to work together, in this case the feds could be alerted of an attack by "Federation HQ" and go help out. Of course, as game grows, borders would be put up for the sake of peace treaties, etc and others would open up and go to war, allowing attaks again... Just an idea, this is getting lame quick but I keep coming back hoping for changes..;)
I'm not really good as far as term periods. What I think might be short term could take 6 months to work out so I'll just list a couple of things I'd like to see the game change.
The first thing I'd like to see changed is the lack of randomness in most non-episode missions. Instead of Do 5 X in a patrol or exploration I'd like to see it mixed up. Why gather 5 anomolies? Why not gather 1 anomoly, scan 1 disabled ship, defeat 1 ship protecting a base, beam down to a base and turn off 1 computer, and then defeat the boss there. Each time you go into a mission the 5/6 objectives will always be random like that. That keeps things from feeling overly repetitive.
The second thing I'd like to see is pre-loading of zones. When I click on Pico to start flying there the game should automatically start pre-loading Pico so that by the time I get there I can instantly load into the zone with no screenshot delays. Likewise when I'm in the zone if the mission is to go to and beam down to a planet or base the zone should be auto-loading while I'm flying to the planet or asteroid base. Smooth transitions like that would be a huge plus toward making the game feel less istanced - it certainly works for WoW.
The third thing is just more ship, race, and ground equipment variety. T1-4 need a lot more ships so that it doesn't always feel like you're using the same ships over and over. The Federation has hundreds of species so more BO variety would be great too. I can see where you'd want players to pay for player races but BO variety is greatly needed. And finally with equipment, there needs to be more variety. It seems like everyone's using the same ground gear over and over. Rather then making certain weapons good and the rest average find ways to make people want to use different guns, shields, and armor, and kits.
The last thing is just more missions. The weeklies are a good 15 minutes of fun but every rank in the game needs to have twice as many missions. More missions means more variety - and it also means slowing down the XP cycle a bit so that everyone is getting to VA in 60-80 hours of play.
I like these with one addition to the instances remove them from space so that when you cross the boarder of each sector block we can then just move freely this will make space feel open. and also make the ship interiors explorable this will add depth inside and outside of your ship. plus you could add missions/quests inside your ship. making you feel like you and the unkown people of your crew are one. plus you can fix things inside like they do in the actual show.
Comments
Decide where the farking button you have to click to 'scan/pickup/communicate' is going to appear, is it on the right hand side of the screen, or in the lower middle of the screen. It almost seems arbitary where the game decides to put it.
Once the Bank window is open, I should be able to interact with it, anywhere on the station/outpost. I've lost count of the number of times I have to keep running backwards and forewards between the exchange and the Bank to see what I have/want.
Updating the PvE ship AI, so that it does a little bit more than ring-a-ring a rosy around your ship... I mean I'm in an Escort doing a run, approach the foe, and then slow down and drop in behind it... 99% of the time, it will start turning left HARD, and then slows down as well, what's wrong with turning right, or accelerating
Tone down the warp core explosion when you kill a ship a tad.. The number of times I've been 2km+ away and still take over 10,000 hull damage is beyond unreal.
You decide where it goes. Open up your rearrange HUD option and the window it appears in normally is called the Interaction Window. The other place it will appear, only when you are in combat or under a red alert, is the Low Priority Window. It appears there so as to ensure you don't accidentally select it during a pressure situation and have a fatal experience.
I agree that the space combat AI is a bit predictable, but it's all based on a computer model made to ensure best possible attack vector. It doesn't take into account skill level of the NPC pilot, which would make things a little more realistic. As for the explosions, you have to take care to be out of the blast radius. That's why I don't understand people when they say there are no tactics involved. I've had plenty of instances where I've played with other captains who are four, five or more levels above me and I've sliced through more opposition in less time and, usually have to go rescue them. You have to plan ahead and be out of range when you deliver the killing blow. Think of it this way, 2 km is just over a mile(1.61 km = 1 mi). The matter/antimatter reaction is IMMENSELY more powerful than a nuclear reaction. The atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima had an effective radius of 4.4 miles. And the Chernobyl meltdown (not a true explosion as would on a military vessel), had a radius of 25 miles. So being just over a mile away from an a matter/antimatter explosion is not safe.
Although I would agree that ships blowing up every single time is a bit outlandish. Perhaps only when a critical is scored on the killing blow or when it exceeds a certain percentage of the hull strength, say 10%. That would almost always ensure an explosion during fleet engagement where combined fire would most certainly rupture the warp core, but make it rather rare in one on one engagements.
I finally got it to work...what a time saver.
Glad I could help.
Whilst I would agree with you, the scales in this game are way way off.. Entire planets are less then 50km across. Transporters that in the series have a range of 50,000 km, often don't work until you're closer than 6.5km. Scanners that can't tell you what a ship is until you're close enough to fling rubber bands at it.
Communications methods that for some reason only have a range slightly longer than a longish piece of string (Yes Defra Outpost 3 I'm thinking of you).
Short-Term
- Decrease space combat Disruptor bolt size (looks almost like a torpedo volley now)
- Undo FX changes to cloaking effect, i.e. bring back the old blurry look instead of the blue "ghost ship"
- Option for colored LCARS instead of the current blue-on-blue (can be as simple as an official texture mod)
Mid-Term- Option for customizing non-BO crew NPC uniforms (including the Redshirt Escort from the Tactical Ability)
- Option for assigning/unassigning BO seats on the bridge / ship interiors
- Optional roleplaying flag which affects instance prioritization (Friends -> Fleet -> Roleplayers -> everyone else)
Long-Term* Add a checkbox in options to turn off battle music (That music is too chaotic and annoying)
* Add more (better) music scores to batlle music
* Add an option to enable a webradio url like shoutcast or icecast
* Let us fly straight up- and down in the Z direction, space is 3 dimensional !
Mid-term requests
* Contact Jeremy Soule to have music that change the experience entirely
* Add more missions, where it's not all about pew pew, preferably something where you have to use your brain (in stead of the goto A goto B, kill A kill B... we're not mindless monkeys!)
* Give meaning to the title Ambassador. At the moment it is a big disappointment to become Ambassador after a long and mindless grind. An Ambassador should end conflicts, give them skills, special missions or abilities that can help in a group... anything but just the title.
Long-term requests
* Make it possible to have interaction with your BO's at your starship. Make them follow, repair stuff, take them out on a date (drink) at the bar on your ship.. in stead of just sitting there.
* Player housing (and not just the inner ship)
* Fleet housing (very important!), so a fleet can have meetings
Generally i would like to add that the focus should be more on intellectual challenges and moral decisions then on shooting and killing. After all this is a MMO about Star Trek, not a John Wayne pew pew movie.
In the mean time, just long on to your web radio via your web browser and play it that way. Then just log in and you will still get your audio. Be sure to turn of the game music, or you will just have a cacophony. Should you find you want to change the station you'll have to Alt/Tab out and change it then go back into the game. Temporary fix, but it works.
I agree 100%, but I had to come to accept that a vast majority of MMO players want 75% violence and 25% talk. Look at the number 2 and 3 quickest MMO failures. Number 2, "Seed" was a social/cerebral game only, no combat or violence and it lasted only 149 days. Then the number 3, "Fury" was a combat only game that was just a PvE/PvP grind and they threw in the towel after 294 days. Morality plays and cerebral pursuits are more in line with the Star Trek Universe, I know that would be more of how Gene would have it, but we have to face facts in that people want some storyline and a lot of action. At least out of their MMNOs. When it comes time that all this can be done for less money then we can have more focused games, but until that time we will just have to deal.
1. more in ship interaction! more npc interaction! a club instead of a lounge!(ok, that was a joke. but then again.... there should be a party ship floating around or more development of Risa!)
2. more voice acting! i know this is a hard one to request, and has probably been discussed plenty of times. but when i first came on to STO, hearing nimoy doing the status stuff was absolutely awesome. i would literally stop my ship, forget about the mission, and just listen to nimoy tell me what was going on. it was like listening to him do the books on tape, or an interview. OH! and the guardian mission was such a treat. chase's voice is wonderful and playful, although sometimes the over and over again lines are sort of annoying.
3. i know turn rates are tier specific ship things, and with certain buff stuff(i remind you guys i am not a hardcore mmo player. purely here for the trek!), you can improve it. i find it curious though after watching so much, that certain ships had certain movement abilities i.e. galaxy class ships turning on the z axis while still directed towards a y axis attack vector. the defiant i was happy with. it seemed to zip around just like it did in the series. i'm not sure what the goals are for improvement of maneuvering, but i look forward to some sort of improvement!
4. you guys cant keep a secret. i know at some point, the delta quadrant will become available! just tell us already!
5. advancing forward as much as the game has in regards to the year. i am really impressed with the advancement of the story arcs. i look forward to seeing more develop. please do not sway from doing so. i absolutely HATE mmo's for the simple reason it is a bunch of people trying to out.. ummm... outlevel(?) (or some silly nerd TRIBBLE) each other. please please please PLEASE stay trek! stay awesome!
All of the above
-- Please fix the Constitution-class skin option -- it only lets me choose 02.
Mid term:
-- Please add the Type 8 Shuttlecraft to the C-Store -- I don't live anywhere near a Del Taco.
-- I'm still holding on to my rare data samples, hoping they'll be useful for something beyond the accolade.
Long term:
-- I'd love to see more ship-interior interaction.
-- It'd be great if all of sector space had the same visual quality as Orellius Sector Block.
-- More crafting!
Of course i do that already, thanks for the tip though, will be good for others
Agreed, yet I feel that software developers will have the ability (if they are any good) to come up with something refreshing and new, even if it is something the majority of the mmo-flock is not familiar with or even happy with. It just takes some guts and imagination. Sure, kids will shout like cry babies that they want more action, but the more adult crowd (who have the money to pay for the game) will prefer a mental challenge over mindless action, or I do assume so. Correct me if i'm wrong.
I am no moral knight, but to see people type: "I want to kill stuff"... I just shake my head to that.
I am for one very tired of all the violence, which is like a disease spreading not only in games, but television as well. Even the cartoons for kids nowadays are filled with violence. And yes, I am very aware this is probably not a discussion that belongs here, but it's still something to stop and think about.
Sex or nudity however, specially in the USA, is still taboo. In contrast to evenings filled with adultery, murders, blood and violence on television is too silly for words.
To stay on topic about MMO's, I think someone has to set an example of how compassion, intelligence, imagination and in general morality can prevail on mindless violence and hatred.
With it's history, there is no better choice to apply the above than Star Trek.
Though, then money comes around the corner and every good intention is dropped, even own fundamental rules are dropped or changed because of money.
I just hope someone has the guts to make a change someday to turn the tide, even on a seemingly small influential base like a mmo, it does have a psychological impact on the people that play it.
And while on the subject of uniforms, I'd like to see more variants from TNG. Like the Captain's alt uni with the grey with black shoulder's shirt and command jacket over it. Or the dress uniform.
I too would also like to see some use for the rare mats that take up 10 spaces in my bank, I got the accolade, but I keep saving them.
I would argue that violence is not the cause but the symptom. My analogy is that violent games/television/books no more cause violence as bleeding causes cuts. The violence that happens is because the society at large does not handle or know how to handle the violence inherent in all humans. We are what I call a "fast food society" in that we want it hot, fresh, and whenever we want it. That applies to cures and fixes. We don't want to spend more time on any one problem as we want to spend in the drive through lane at a fast food restaurant. So we slap a bandage on it and call it a day and bury it away until the next time it erupts. Look at Japanese television. SO much more violent than that of the U.S. or Europe and they have a much lower incidence of violence. It is how the society handles things. In the U.S., thanks to the "Boomers", we have a society that abhors responsibility and self reliance. It's always a disease, or someone or something else that is the cause of my problems. As long as we can pass the buck onto something inanimate or so large as to not have a single voice to defend itself, we are happy. It's human nature to be violent, each to varying degrees, but I bet I could get Ghandi to punch me given sufficient time and latitude. So as long as we deny our nature and blame others for our faults, we will not address the issue. I have to admit you have a problem before I can fix it. And it's MY problem, it wasn't caused by society, my Mother, my upbringing, my teachers, my whatever. There are no band-aid solutions, no quick fixes that our society so craves.
So that's my non-MMO related rant for the day. Back to more relative news. We might be winning that war. All Points Bulletin (APB), another PvP centric MMO with little or no storyline to speak of, just went belly up on the 16th, making it the new number one fastest failing MMO to date. A whopping 79 days of mayhem. So story might be what will bring people back for more. Maybe the split is looking a little more like 33% story and 67% action. It's heading in the right direction though.
Also with the bi-weekly storylines that are promised they may have a few morality plays within them. Since the missions will always be available, the ambitious schedule would almost have to yield some missions that are more inline with Gene's view than the more popular current one.
And as for the "I wanna kill stuff" people, you have to remember, that adults with money that love this genre are far fewer than kids with parents with money (who just want the little rug rats out of their hair). So you have to expect the immaturity and childish behavior. Fortunately they are easily bored and will move on to another game soon enough. The problem is that there is another one waiting to replace the one leaving, so they will always be there to annoy us. Thank goodness for the ignore button.
I for one have a wait and see attitude, as long as they really don't do something I really find dumb, I'll stick around. I know ultimately I can have a vote in my monthly subscription. If they consistently show progress, I will show my appreciation with a lifetime membership. But as I see it they have one year to impress or cheese me off.
1. i want to enjoy my ships cabins exploring my entire ship and using all kinds of thing like holodeck allows me to watch saved video files from my hard drive on screen in there
2. i want to feel like im really exploring bodly finding new and strange random stuff like im the first to find this species,mineral,plant,energy source idk im not getting paid for creativity
3.dont forget to make the on screen on bridge to be real time i can see other players that are actually going by my ship on screen of bridge
mid term
1. you can choose basic emotes inside the holodeck like maybe a strobe disco ball and choose random scenes like a party scene of people dancing and having fun or a beach scene whiles you walk on the sand.
2. make my crew better by finding there home planets and doing things for them or there peoples for morality points which can be used to go to there home worlds and purchase things they would like for there cabin quarters
3. random people walking about my ship as ensigns with emotes like i hope cook makes a certain meal or wonder if captain will give me time off to go to a planet for there own work or pleasures maybe needing rescue
long term
1. Lots of random hidden stuff to find that no one else has or maybe showing im the first or 2nd to this deposit and its being ran by another player as a mining location. Of all the random generated names why not random named new resources, items , minerals, and people to find
2. maybe find a baby right before it dies as the last of a species and raising it on my ship training or sending it to the academy to return after so long grown and changed btw where are animals what if i wanted to see what a whale would do on a certain planet in its oceans if the tri-corder says it could survive repopulating a planet
3. actually stating a location of a planet i nurtured raised as my own even populated it with my own species of peoples and creatures with trial and error they live peacefully together and its on the map for others to visit or help my planet with resources it may need as i am busy in another quadrant . thank you
Well written
I did not blame anyone, merely stated that I am personally tired of all the violence in any media. And i do agree about Japan, where it is even more, though they are somewhere at the bottom of crimes per capita.
So, one could make a simple assumption that the (attitude of) society has a greater influence on violence than the media, though it is probably more complex.
Japan however is something very different, where values and honour are deeply rooted. In my field of software development, I can tell from experience that it is evident their attitude is at such degree they deliver near perfect software, where our "western" software is always haunted with bugs.
Anyway, you are right about many things, though one thing i disagree on, and that is that humanity is violent by nature. That would justify parts of the theory of darwin, on which I also disagree (and recent discoveries support my disagreement) And I'm very sure you could not get a buddhist master to become violent.
But again, this is something debatable, and not suited for this thread I guess :P
Of course it is an utopian wish to have a violence free game, because it will probably not be successful (although maybe farmville is a nice exception :P), but until then maybe a good balance, like you pointed out, will be the first step to show that you can have fun without mindlessly killing hordes of virtual enemies.
Namast
1. Super customizable ships. Allow us to be able to use parts from previous tiers of ships and (if possible) allow us to place the parts anywhere on the ship.
2. A retrain token for racial traits.
3. Cruisers should be granted passive abilities that increase threat generated by a huge margin to allow proper "tanking"
4. More melee weapons
5. Revisit finished missions to acquire the "hidden" accolades.
6. Tweak the bonuses weapons give. i.e. Disruptor debuffs hull only, Tetryon debuffs shields only (same current affect that disruptor do, accept for shields). Anti protons having crit severity against hull
Long Term:
1. Fleets being able to create their own instances for fleet actions.
2. Allow the prime directive to become a more influential role. Currently i feel that it isn't even part of the game
3. A trip to the Continuum would be extremely cool (more missions with Q would be great too)
4. There should be no confrontation; only retaliation in sector space. Not just seek and destroy everything
5. More uses for GPL, holo-emitters should be permanent with a 24 hr cd.
- Fix bug in regards to BO's standing on top of the bridge consoles
- Fix bug in regards to the search feature in the exchange
- Fix bug in regards to the color glitch within the character creator
Mid-term
- Add more story driven missions, matter of fact... add MANY MANY more!
- Add more uniform / clothing opitions to the character creator
- Add more space stations with vendors, missions, things to do and etc.
Long-term
- Add smuggling, taking bribes, selling secrets, double agent (with risk of getting caught)
- Add cities to planets (vendors, missions, sociable with other players, more games to play, more "off-duty" things to do)
- Add loooong "Betrayal" mission that would allow you to "change sides"
Hrm, scantily clad Orions running around Spacedock.... works for me!
I like these ideas.
- Please give us the option to disable tips...or just let them pop up once and thats it.
- Add the sovereign bridge to the game...it's my personal favorite and I'm sure people would rather like to see the sovereign bridge than some custom one. And while your at it...plz rework the sovereign itself. It still doesn't look like the real thing.
Mid term:
- Bring back Power HUE or something similar. I'd really love to change my weapon colours again. Especially RP players would benefit from it. Maybe you could limit each type of weapon to 2 or 3 colours...lets say orange, blue and red phasers; red and green disruptors; blue and yellow tetryon etc.
- Let us replay missions. There are some really great ones out there, that are worth playing over and over again.
Long Term:
- I'd love to see raids that require players to take on the role of bridge officers (player crew).
-Things to do on the bridge (Such as minigames or setup of ship or somthing to do with friends maybe)
Mid Term:
-Open the ships up with differnt rooms to use for missions. Such as science rooms to use scanners, Canteen to relax and gen food, medical bay where you can see the doctor and make requests on how he works when under attack (in all series there was a lot of time spent in medical) Just open ships with stuff to do in your own time.
LONGGG TERM-
FREEDOM! the worlds should be able to be explored freely. Beam down points and the ablility to go to places in the series. POI with rewards. Warp should be warp not something that pretends to be. Just look at Legacy and impant that style into the game to travel to the different planets. We should be able to travel to a world and expore it in our own time. Even to visit Earth and go to Starfleet command station would be cool.
But YES to disable tips!
Ironmike/Ankah = Idea: To help boost PVP. When you queue PVP either in space or ground battle, everyone should receive one (1) Emblem point reward for participating everytime you queue and complete the PVP. The team that wins the match should receive two (2) Emblem points for there reward.
Resize planets. Seriously, wtf, dudes, wtf? Pebbles do not a planet make.
Medium Term
Proper LCARS throughout the entire game. By proper I mean that the devs actually bother to read-up on the design rules of LCARS and implement it not only on every viewscreen in the game (on Federation side) but also as the GUI for interacting with the game.
I honestly think that this would be a major improvement to the playability of the game. I big part of playing a Star Trek game is the immersion in the milieu and currently, I'm not really all that immersed.
Long Term
Redesign every mission in the game so as to include an element of choice and decision-making with variable outcomes (rather than binary success/failure) based on those choices. I'd like to play a diplomatic Picard-like character and also a warrior-like Worfesque character who fights first and contemplates his actions later.
I did not really agree with this article til I got to the long term option and Kudos!
In sector space, I could challenge another captain to a match. We'd zip to an instance like the deep space encounters work, and have it out.
It would also be neat to be able to take two groups and have them challenge each other.
It would be neat to be able to challenge your friends (and enemies!) but it could also be useful from a perspective of testing ship and skill builds.
The first thing I'd like to see changed is the lack of randomness in most non-episode missions. Instead of Do 5 X in a patrol or exploration I'd like to see it mixed up. Why gather 5 anomolies? Why not gather 1 anomoly, scan 1 disabled ship, defeat 1 ship protecting a base, beam down to a base and turn off 1 computer, and then defeat the boss there. Each time you go into a mission the 5/6 objectives will always be random like that. That keeps things from feeling overly repetitive.
The second thing I'd like to see is pre-loading of zones. When I click on Pico to start flying there the game should automatically start pre-loading Pico so that by the time I get there I can instantly load into the zone with no screenshot delays. Likewise when I'm in the zone if the mission is to go to and beam down to a planet or base the zone should be auto-loading while I'm flying to the planet or asteroid base. Smooth transitions like that would be a huge plus toward making the game feel less istanced - it certainly works for WoW.
The third thing is just more ship, race, and ground equipment variety. T1-4 need a lot more ships so that it doesn't always feel like you're using the same ships over and over. The Federation has hundreds of species so more BO variety would be great too. I can see where you'd want players to pay for player races but BO variety is greatly needed. And finally with equipment, there needs to be more variety. It seems like everyone's using the same ground gear over and over. Rather then making certain weapons good and the rest average find ways to make people want to use different guns, shields, and armor, and kits.
The last thing is just more missions. The weeklies are a good 15 minutes of fun but every rank in the game needs to have twice as many missions. More missions means more variety - and it also means slowing down the XP cycle a bit so that everyone is getting to VA in 60-80 hours of play.
I like these with one addition to the instances remove them from space so that when you cross the boarder of each sector block we can then just move freely this will make space feel open. and also make the ship interiors explorable this will add depth inside and outside of your ship. plus you could add missions/quests inside your ship. making you feel like you and the unkown people of your crew are one. plus you can fix things inside like they do in the actual show.