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Devs please read: Major Documentation issues/needs

SystemSystem Member, NoReporting Posts: 178,019 Arc User
While there are a lot of things with the game that need fixing (or overhauling), I believe that the Devs know this and are working on things in the best priority they can.

However...

There is one area where I feel that action needs to be taken *right now*, and that area is documentation. This is particularly relevant to the skill trees and abilities. This is essential for new players, some of which may be less technically oriented than others. Retaining new players involves making sure they can get a feel for the game quickly and that they believe they know how to successfully operate the game - that takes solid documentation, and we seriously don't have that right now.

Case in point: when you mouse over skills on the skill trees, at the bottom it reads "Examples include". This, right there, admits that not all the information is present, and that's a very bad thing. There has to be transparency on how skills affect abilities - ALL information needs to be present.

I strongly recommend that all skills that affect abilities have, in the skills description text, a full list of all abilities that are affected by it. There's a scroll function on the right hand side of the skill description sidebar, so there's plenty of room to put all the information in.

As to abilities, there should be a tab on the character sheet that lists the abilities that the player has - call it Powers or Abilities. This can be similar to how the skill tab is on the Bridge Officer sheet. Right now a player has to fish this info out of the P menu and that is confusing.

Furthermore, as to the skills on the BO character sheet (and what would be the Powers or Abilities sheet on the player character sheet) right now the affecting skills are not listed. Players can only get that information from the P menu. On these skill/powers tabs, *all* affecting skills should be listed. The Devs don't necessarily need to provide all of the formula for how the abilities are affected, but some details are in order. For example, Science Team is affected by the Crew score only in terms of how much Starship Operations bonus is granted. Players should not need to conduct trial and error to figure this out.

Once all of these things are properly documented, it will be easier for everyone to figure out if certain skills are not affecting abilities as planned because people in general will better know what is supposed to affect what. For example, Starship Shield Maintenance is supposed to affect Emergency Power to Shields. At present, it has absolutely no effect on that ability. The Devs need to be told this by as many players as possible so that they can flag it for fixing.

Specific notes:

Player reports indicate that the Tier 2 ship skills (Cruiser, Escort, Science Vessel) do in fact only affect the tier 2 ships. If this is so, the skill description is misleading as the text reads that they help with ANY ship of that class, and the text should be fixed to note that it only affects tier 2 ships.

In the Tactical Officer area, the ground skill descriptions say things like, for Security: "This skill provides ground pistol weapons damage, as well as firearms, threat control and close protection abilities." This is highly confusing. For one thing, pistols ARE firearms. Also, players are not going to know what threat control or close protection abilities are by seeing them described this way; they'd have to research the groups elsewhere, presuming that they are actually properly described somewhere (it doesn't seem like it to me). It would be far more appropriate to simply put in some non-informative flavor text and then, for information, directly list the abilities or game functions affected below.

Lastly, PLEASE make a loading screen text that reads something to the effect of: "To advance in rank, you need to spend a certain amount of skill points. To find how many, mouse over your grade and rank designation in the upper right corner of your screen." This question is starting to rival "Where is Sulu?" in terms of being asked by newbies.
Post edited by Unknown User on

Comments

  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2010
    Thank you!
    I have been posting about this. As a new player, the tutorial is too basic. I need a PDF of every detail in the game so I can learn how to play.
    For example, all the stuff at the starbase? Banks, fleets, exchange etc... There are no instructions.
    There is no explanation about all the items and what they do and how all the numbers work.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2010
    I think they just rely on us the community to figure it out and help others find the answer and this seems to be low on their priority which it should be one of the highest. Nothing worse than getting into a game they consider aimed at the casual player with very little help figuring out anything. Take Memory Alpha as another example of it, unless you've searched play posted threads on it, most people would still be scratching their head and saying Huh?


    There was one line you wrote about the ships skills and i do know this much, when you train in starship operations and then the first tier of what ship you plan on flying (escort, science or cruiser) those stack onto the next 3 tiers but none of the others do, they are the more "specialized" skills and only effect that tier of ships. Let's hope they get their act together with this very important element of the game or they can start adding up all those new players sub's canceling based on lack of documentation and being frustrated. Not always is the community right in answering questions Cryptic, throw us a bone!
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2010
    *bumppity bump bump bump*
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2010
    I absolutely agree. The only bits of documentation out right now are fanmade reverse-engineered bits of information. And that's atrocious.

    Waiting for the players to do the developers' work is wrong. Cryptic, you ought to already have the documentation saved on your server. Release it to the masses, tell us how the game mechanics work, which formula is utilized to calculate a given value.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2010
    *bump to aid in discussion*
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2010
    Bump in support.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2010
    *bump*
    After playing the beta, I was really hoping the game would come with a manual or at least a PDF that would better explain the skills. That did not happen.
    I'm still confused. Often I spend my points on skills just to spend them. I'm not sure what I am getting.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2010
    Great post
    The one thing missing in this game is in some areas of just mousing over something with a detailed description.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2010
    Thankyou for summarising my major hang up with the game. Last night I cancelled my paid subscription (maybe in haste I admit) due to my massive frustration over not actually knowing what half the things in the game are. I've search many of the wiki sites about STO aswell but maybe they're lacking in info as it's just not out there. There are so many skill and ability choices that it's ridiculous there's no real help or guide to them. I've found myself just randomly assigning abilities as I didn't really know their effects only to find out this morning that I've made a bit of a boo-boo, but can't respec.

    Having not participated in the beta, I had no heads up on what was going on, and it was very much "in at the deep end", and is still feeling somewhat that way. Maybe if things sort themselves out I'll add my subscription again, but for now I've got 4 weeks to test it out...
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2010
    Snarf999 wrote:
    Thankyou for summarising my major hang up with the game. Last night I cancelled my paid subscription (maybe in haste I admit) due to my massive frustration over not actually knowing what half the things in the game are. I've search many of the wiki sites about STO aswell but maybe they're lacking in info as it's just not out there. There are so many skill and ability choices that it's ridiculous there's no real help or guide to them. I've found myself just randomly assigning abilities as I didn't really know their effects only to find out this morning that I've made a bit of a boo-boo, but can't respec.

    Having not participated in the beta, I had no heads up on what was going on, and it was very much "in at the deep end", and is still feeling somewhat that way. Maybe if things sort themselves out I'll add my subscription again, but for now I've got 4 weeks to test it out...

    If you have questions let me know, I'd be happy to help. I'm trying to research things and if I had more time I would write up a full database on the skills. As it is I'm just maintaining the melee combat guide I wrote... which is a completely undocumented, but very fun system in the game.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2010
    I honestly think the skill and skill tree is so confusing and under documented is because even Cryptic has conflicting ideas of what skills should be. I've heard of last minute cap on skill points right before the game went live. To me this screams confusion on part of the developers about how the game is suppose to work. This is only magnified by lack of skill point resets, lack of documentation both in game and out, confusing and painful semi-crafting system at Memory Alpha and the meh space and ground gameplay.

    ~ Foulwin
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2010
    Even a player made Wiki would be friggin brilliant
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2010
    Even a player made Wiki would be friggin brilliant

    There is one:

    http://stowiki.org/wiki/Main_Page

    I should look into this myself soon.

    As for the skills system, it is my *unconfirmed* understanding that Cryptic is going to be redesigning their skill system to match one that suits a skill cap. If this is so, they're probably waiting on fixing the documentation until they release that. In any case, I hope they implement whatever fix they intend to sooner rather than later.
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