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Official STO Review by PrOx-Direct letter to the fans, newcomers and to Cryptic

SystemSystem Member, NoReporting Posts: 178,019 Arc User
Official review of STO by PrOx

Greetings my fellow Trekkies and Gamers!!! The original and 30 years in the making, PrOx is here once again on yet another thread for my official review of STO, post launch. Some of the few hundred posts we had in the previous Feedback thread that was archived will remember my posts. Those of you who do not, I invite you to search out the old posts if you wish to read up on what we all discussed on as a group during beta testing. For this thread I would like to discuss certain things I see that need changes, small minor changes to make sure that this MMO will not only break records but will be talked about for the next 10 years around the circles of Trek and MMORPG fans. Cryptic this is all for you.

To begin, let me just say now that I truly like the game, though we can all agree there is room for improvements, adjustments and additions. As for my previous thread that has been archived, I know now that it was a result of Cryptic waiving there NDA early and allowing all of us to openly discuss all about STO during open beta when they themselves didn’t give us a chance to experience all the features of the game and locked all of the goodies away for release day; very important goodies mind you. This was a mistake on there part. Simply understanding people and how they react initially to anything, especially something they were interested in ahead of time; it is very well known that this mistake cost them a lot of subscribers, thought only initially. They will come around eventually when they see the potential of STO and what it is today or see there friends leave an MMO for this one. This will occur. I do not even see SWTOR grabbing any of STO’s subscribers for a long term simply because it is a completely different game and also nothing like SWG. Unless of course Cryptic doesn’t read this review.

Ladies and germs I do my research very diligently in anything I am involved with or am passionate about. Going online now you will see things which I find are just plain old dumb. Reviews that have come out about STO, post release, that all say are NOT complete reviews and they are still testing them yet they still manage to write a 2 page article about what they have experienced thus far playing STO. That is their right. All press is good press. I just find it useless just like serving soup to someone that is still boiling water with an onion in it. We all know that the game is light years away from being what they call in the industry, polished. It seems like it has been a long time already playing the game but the reality is, it has only been 14 days after official launch and I have already read 15 premature and uncompleted articles about the game. The actual reason of why they are writing un-finished reviews is even unknown to the writers themselves; it is because Cryptic did in fact pull through and did make a very intense, largely deep MMO and there is just too much to write about lol. So let them peddle away at their typewriters and keyboards. They all need to make a living regardless.

THE GAME!!!
It is very understandable that Cryptic is very quietly reading and listening to their players because all in all were playing the game. They didn’t spend all that money so they themselves can sit in the office and play LAN party style. They did it for us. That being said I want to commend them for taking the time to going back to the drawing board and reviewing all the initial content and making the changes and fixes that where needed. I am a keen observer of everything I come in contact with and can safely say thank you for doing what you do and pulling the hours you guys did to fix all the little pesky mistakes that were made because you guys were moving at warp 10 to release it. Yes the game was rushed to release prior to completion; all of the evidence leads to this logical conclusion, but does it really matter, no it does not. To the gamers, I am referring to spelling errors in episodes all over the place, misplaced or empty sound in certain areas, even wrong sounds like birds inside Cargo ships. Choppy laggy issues, Team and fleet ups always didn’t work before and the interface was buggy also. Little subtle things that make the difference for the new person who logs in for the first time and can absorb all of the trek experience they can and not notice things that are wrong or flaky have all been fixed. Including the tutorial holograms’ new voice over’s. Thank you for that work. That was a huge complaint I remember at Beta, glad you heard us. I still think that the entire ground tutorial should be voiced over and not just certain parts like the officers with whom you speak with.

HAVEN'T PLAYED STO YET? READ HERE
To those of you who haven’t played this MMO before, Trek fans or not it really doesn’t matter. Cryptic really did pull it off. There unique alternate reality story line approach really does toss you in the middle of that world in all of its epic heroism glory and really makes you feel like you spent the last 4 years at star fleet academy training up in class to be a star fleet officer until the day arrived when you, being still an ensign, gets called into action by an Admiral to defend Planet earth, Star Fleet and your fellow United Federation of Planets citizens. Thrown into the story, you’re actually inside a multitude of things all put into one. From the second you log into the game you are at a star base; all hell is breaking loose and you begin your own epic journey which in turn over the next hour becomes an episode (aka mission/quest) and a tutorial on the basics of the MMO, how to play and a brief story for you to follow and assist in. This will be your quick formal ground combat interaction training. Accessing stations, speaking with NPC's, killing and blowing stuff up; you then get officially branded as an acting captain of a ship with your own crew as an acting Captain because of the need of captains and ships in space. From then on you’re tossed into your next tutorial phase which brings you into your space combat training. This I just won’t give away. You will have to experience this one for your selves. All I will say is this. It is 120% nothing you have ever experienced in any other mmo, heck game even, hands down... You will be blown away at space combat. That you can take to the bank.

The needs of the Role Players
Now I would like to address a subject that is very testy at the moment with all of the gamers who have played this mmo. Not speaking for myself, rather for gamers who indulge in this kind of play style and yes I do agree with you on some level that it must be addressed. Hence this article. Player toon interaction in game. There are those people who don’t care much about leveling full force or getting gear and PVP all night hours. What they care about is enjoying themselves within the virtual environment. Sorry to the rest of you gamers but they talked to me about it and so I am relaying it. They wanted the lush world of Trek as we all do but the whole war time situation in the story line, killing the planet Risa, really set off a nerve apparently. I can see the appeal of Role Playing. Congratulating one of the officers on making Commander in your fleet by meeting up at a popular Star Base bar location to raise a toast was an example brought up to me. Other examples brought up to me were mostly from this group about player interaction both on ground and in space, emotes galore and down right realism to the MMO. What I would care to share is my current view of the nature of the mechanics of the game and currently this would be a problem to employ at the moment. Regardless of what the game is missing for them the actual meeting up with people on a team and not having instancing issues of any kind is always a concern brought up during all kinds of parties I joined up with whether they are fleet engagements, missions or even meeting up on SOL SB and beaming down together. This instancing that Cryptic's has done in the game has really gone to extremes, not only to instance environment but virtually the players themselves causing an ill point when interacting with your friends and gamers. This hurtle is very important to overcome prior to the above needs being met though I think it would be cool to do something creative in the trek world rather then simply killing and destroying. (Read more below on this)

The Diplomacy factor in STO
Currently I will give this game a zero when it comes to incorporating any kind of diplomacy within the episodes. As of right now the Federation is on a multi front War on more then a few different fronts because of the story line. So Cryptic might respond to this simply as this is just not the time for diplomacy. I beg to differ though. Diplomacy is a very large word. It has several different avenues of its own pursuance. Regardless of which, the basic meaning of it is to calmly change the mind of another to see and agree with your point of views and believe it is the right choice to make with actions or even in-actions. In this MMO, aside the story line that has already been written there is no diplomacy on the Player vs. Player side or the Player vs. Non Player Character side. The only level of diplomacy I have seen thus far has been an ability that was given to the klingons called Battle Cloak which enables them to Cloak their ships during combat and that is my point. Klingons don’t run or hide, they attack and fight to the death. Any other course of action would label them a coward. A battle cloak was the dumbest thing brought to this game and sits in my dumb box along with the Tribble. The only ship ever designed that has a similar ability was the Scimitar from the Nemesis movie which could fire on your ship without disengaging its cloak making it extremely difficult to lock on to. While on the subject of the Scimitar it took 6-8 minutes to power up the Theteron Radiation guns and fully deploys the wings to do it. In game that ship can do the same within seconds which is wrong and should be changed to fit the Trek world accordingly.
Post edited by Unknown User on
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Comments

  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2010
    Current issues with the game: (Cryptic this you must read and fix, it is very important.)
    Current fixes are being sped our way at light speed thought problems that are very annoying still exist. Though I am sure this is on there board of things to complete:


    a) Starting off with the biggest complaint out there now is the GUI. The graphic user interface that you guys created is nifty but currently very useless because certain things occur that make is so annoying for the gamer to use and in some ways is just broken. Clicking sort tabs anywhere forces the entire search window to close no matter if you are trying to sort friends on your list or members in your fleet or other windows that have this function. Emotes function is very useless and also closes upon selection and is again smack in the middle of the screen. Also as for the emotes, they can never be used properly, always having to place your toon in precisely the correct location in order for the emote to look correct. Having different size toons also makes things look abnormal in certain situations as an example you have a tiny person trying to use a console during an episode and their hands are inside the console or visa/versa. Location specific items should have easily legible right click menus such as chairs with available emotes to use on that specific location, ie: right click chair, pop=up comes up, sit, sit lounge and upon selection the toon automatically and softly positions themselves into that emote depending on the situation.

    b) Currently the map screen has three windows. Area, Galaxy map and system list. This entire Map should be one screen where you are simply able to zoom way out to galaxy or physically click on certain parts of the map and go deeper into the system list using your clickers or and mouse scroller. Currently having an area map is useless other then the need to go to it when having teaming up issues and having the need to switch instances manually. All should be consolidated on one screen. Also supplemental notes should be added to system view for current mission locations and/or objectives right there in the list coming from your current episodes, perhaps even adding sub items in different colors for current team mates episodes. Consolidate and clean.

    c) The Bank and Fleet Bank are great things to have but currently Fleet leaders can not assign rights properly to there members to give or limit very specific access and or limit daily allowances. Transferring items from your inventory to the bank or fleet bank is a pain as well and requires a lot of time dragging one item at a time. The tabs in the fleet bank are also useless. Given the detail and the sheer amount of different kinds of items within the game and level ranges of the specific items the fleet bank should not simply be a drop box location but should have special sorting location within the drop box for different types of items to make things easier to find and understandably the actual size of the tabs themselves needs to be increased 3 or even 4 fold. Fleet tabs should be 3-4 times larger then personal banks slot amounts. Also there is no way to simply move items from one tab to the other without having to manually move them to your own inventory. This creates clutter in the log and is very difficult to sort through important things which fleet managers should be aware of.

    d) One of the largest complaints I have heard myself is the annoying mission screens that are not only huge and always in the middle smack of your screen but sometimes are almost impossible to close because they continuously pop back up. Everything comes up at the same time when completing a mission for example and we don’t get a chance to see what we received and things are way to misplaced and placed in the wrong location on the screen by default and are very large. Upon completing an episode as an example you get an instant pop up from your bridge officer, something you will need to go to the next screen to see and complete yet you have already received the reward for the completion and the information whizzes by over the popup and you missed it all, not to mention the fly by is in small print. Information of what has been received should always be shown up in your communication window and mission completed pop-ups and all other episode related pop-ups should not be smack in the middle of your screen. Many episodes, you’re already in combat getting killed while the popup is blocking your entire view.

    e) Lost feeling for when you pass into certain levels, Star Fleet isn’t there to guide you precisely enough as to which location you should be episode-ing in. There are many times people wander about exploring and getting lost because they didn’t complete a key missions that kicks them to the next episode area for their level. The episode lists should also have more detail as to things you have already done either by yourself or a few more times with friends and there should be a completely separate episode window pertaining directly to your own career in SF so you can always stay on track with your career and not get the two confused.

    f) Way too many currency types for items. The entire system should be simplified into three currencies: 1 type of Credit, 1 type of exploration badge for PVE gear and a third type for PVP gear. Having different levels of currency within each other is nonsense at the moment. The game is not even close to the level where gamers would not want to level at a certain level range and twink there toons for that specific level gap. An argument can be made that a collection of credits will commence if this will occur and will force people to not use them but to hold on to them until they are at there max level and would then purchase those items. But correct me if I am wrong. Isn’t that the point? (twinking toons definition: PVP only-Depending on what level you wish to max at and stop, whether it be LT Commander or Captain or which ever you choose and wish to not continue leveling, Thereby giving you the opportunity to twink your toon with the best gear attainable for that specific level range and then PVPing in that level range for an infinite amount of time always having the best gear and setup for that level range thereby almost always ensuring a win. This is done when a game is at its near death and there is nothing else to do hence my point)

    g) Episodes that are not episodes and more like wow quests. This needs to stop. This is star trek. Let’s not begin by watering down what we have. Every episode should be part of the story line with no exceptions and should be in detail and full emersion. Making us run around for an hour or two to purchase a ton of 1 item in order to use and make a purchase for another item, in order to complete the quest, and I am calling it a quest, is useless and dam annoying. Let’s try to stay on the ball and keep with the IP’s story line that you guys are doing so well in thus far and not make this a trailer park MMORPG.

    h) Spell checks on Episodes. Seriously it is almost as if you guys take the episode story content written by the writer, and copy paste it into a new episode. Do we not have the time for a spell check? I would also recommend beginning to build your own personal dictionary of words within that spell check given that the IP has words that are not real. Would make your lives a lot easier. While on the subject of episodes I would also like to point out that after completing an episode or part of one where you need to speak to someone who is gesturing like they are speaking, they continue to gesture after the fact which is funny but is kind of lame. Moving at warp 10 is fine but perhaps moving at warp 9 would be more beneficial. Each episode should be engaging from beginning to end.

    i) Pre-order bonuses that cost the same amount of money when originally purchasing the pr-order are not at all similar. Some have bonuses that they can use well into there Admiral days and can benefit from them in one way or another while others only get to use there pre-order bonus at start and become useless shortly there after. This must be rectified!!! For example the people who pre-ordered from GameStop and have nothing to show for it other then a ship that is sub-par and that they used at there LT level. Kind of rude if you ask me when those people who got it at GameStop didn’t download it, most of them stayed up late to get it, some took an off day from work to show their commitment to the game and to cryptic.

    j) When traveling at full impulse or at warp the speed differential is always different depending on your ship. When traveling with your friends, rubber banding still exists and is almost never smooth and the speed differential is also incorrect. As we all saw from many episodes, a single .2 of warp ahead of the apposing ship overtakes that ship rather quickly. This should be corrected and also sector space travel is very slow in relation as well. When in a system I also found that the ship that came with me, a much higher level then myself and much better gear and engines travels slower then I do at maximum impulse, however in warp they travel almost 2 warps faster. Their engines should out tax mine regardless if they are two commands ahead of me in rank.

    k) I won’t go into detail but every one of you who designed the klingons and the feds should sit down and talk balancing with Craig Z. because as it stands now it is totally unbalanced in PVP. Either the level ranges are off in a battle or the Klingons ships and/or player related gear are just simply harder or stronger then the FED’s. 5 on 5 space battles are useless as of now and should be computed correctly depending on gear layouts as well. Teaming the right balance of DPS, support vs Gear and ships; the more balanced the actual fight the longer and more enjoyable the PVP experience. Furthermore it would make it an episode in of itself and not feel like just a point and badge grind to get better gear. Regardless something needs nerfing. Craig Z., as you are supposedly famous for this I will leave this in your capable hands.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2010
    All in all Cryptic has designed a 10 for game potential rather in reality they get a solid 8.5 from me.
    (The following bullet points were drawn up by taking reviews from gamers playing this MMO which at the very least have played the game until Commander Rank. Most have reach Admiral.) (Each bullet point was a discussion amongst peers with 5-10 people for each bullet point)

    Things that need to be implemented added or altered.

    1. They need to be able to bring on a lot more people online.
    (Hopefully there server upgrades will do the trick)

    2. They need to have a system to automate instance travel seamlessly amongst players, party's and fleet's. (To much talk and time is wasted amongst players in regards to which instance are you in and change to my instance number)

    3. They need a player economy that is extremely in depth and in the player’s hands 95% and 5% in their hands. Creating auctions for items worth a billion credits for a hypo spray is useless and adds clutter. A clearer and more refined search must be implemented.

    4. They need a crafting system that has to be extremely in depth, detail oriented, unique and difficult, yet they must move away from mass farming type MMO strategies.

    5. They need to introduce role playing into this game amongst the players and not just with the content but player created events.

    6. They must add more scientific things to do, tangible things that make it trek.
    (Hitting F just simply wont cut it for any gamer, trek or not.)

    7. The end all reality is they must add death penalties and consequences to player actions. (Being held responsible for actions as a star fleet officers is the basics of the IP. Ready to be demoted for actions or inaction should be sporadic though should be in place to add to the realism of the Trek feel.)

    8. They must add intractable environments. (i.e.: flying into an asteroid currently does nothing. Flying into planets does nothing either.)

    9. The planets them selves are nothing more then pictures. (They need life within the game and meaning. Each one is important and is unique designed by the artists but interacting with them should be in the players hands. The ability to scan the planet to determine if there are life forms, what kind of life forms, if they are humanoid what kind of society do they have, basics, warp driven culture industrial society etc... Hint you can use this for player penalties for defying the prime directive for example to beam down to a planet and interfering with the people there for example. Though you should be able to travel the entire planetoids surface by means of shuttle craft or like Picard did it in Nemesis, the Argo...

    10. Scanning needs a god like remake. (Seriously this is Trek so in space or on the ground we need to be able to really scan for stuff. Energy patterns, life forms, air, water etc... Give us some tools to work with and more to do. Give us the ability to get stranded somewhere and have to survive or something, needing another player to come and rescue you. Give you points for survival and points for the rescuer. Leave us some clues to figure out with our scanners on the surface so we can complete real missions. The possibilities are just endless. )

    11. Every environment and locations static and always stay the same. During current exploring missions you’re in a cluster scanning for anomalies. You scan one and it is a system. You go in and do the mission and warp out. Now back out in the sector you have another anomaly .20 light-years away and the selection to explore comes right up. This is the same location yet when you warp in it is another system all together.

    12. Gap to have to grind from leveling level LTC4 to Commander needs to add more stuff to do.

    13. Can you ask your art department or perhaps your Genesis system why almost every planet I see has a ring of asteroids around it? Physically speaking gravitation of planets would eventually pull them to the surface of the planet causing mass destruction. Now I am doing episodes on this planet. While on the art note; we all remember the start of every episode of Captain Janeway’s crusades where her ship flies through a planets ring causing a beautiful disturbance. I have seen this in game on perhaps 2 planets. Every other ring of dust is as thin as a sheet of nano paper and dulls the realism.

    14. Player locations Flag areas (neutral Zone) I have no clue as to why you guys decided to instance everything. You should have gone “the different server’s” route in my opinion for this massive MMO. We have apposing factions in the game that want to fight each other. Arena’s are one thing and always in a controlled environment. But what ever happened to going to a system that was flagged and being able to get pummeled by that cloaked Bird of Prey. For what ever reasons, perhaps they would go there to collect resources or claim that system for themselves. I think a visit to the drawing boards might be in order for the over all long term experience and success of the mmo.

    15. Fleet bank needs an entire overhaul. Currently Fleet owners can not make it prohibited to remove money depending on ranks given. All money can be removed by anyone at any time. Moving items themselves from your inventory to the Fleet bank or your personal bank should be simply done as a double click interface whilst being within that screen. Moving items around, cleaning things up and getting things right should be done by the Fleet owners and they should be able to do them with as little ease as possible. Also your set amount energy costs for extra tabs is not Trek at all, more wow and that has to stop.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2010
    16. Sector space needs an entire overhaul. While the current design is in place it completely takes away the Trek feeling completely. Every Captain of a ship when telling there pilot to plot a course, set a speed and give the command to engage never once has said; “Set a course for sector space and then set a course for another sector and then set a course to another system. They would simply state the system or planet they wanted to go to, tell them the speed they want to travel at depending on the situation and then gave the command to engage. Understandably this goes to my previous bullet point of moving away from Instancing. Sector space should be fluid space. Systems from a far should look like Hubble images of those systems and every system should not be only travelable to the bubbles you let us go to. This redesign should incorporate many transwarp conduits which you have already designed in order to travel large distances and the travel times should give the captains the ability to interact with there ship while the traveling to that location is commencing and all has to bee done in real time. Next bulletin point will give more details.

    17. While on your ship in ground mode you should have the ability to make repairs, upgrades, use short and long range scanners, use the replicator, Adjust Bridge officers’ skills. Having to always meet at a specific location like a Star Base to do everything is a huge waist of time when we already know the power and awesomeness of a star ship within the genre and what they are capable of.

    18. Over all realism of the IP needs to be considered from every aspect of what you have designed thus far. Remaining true to the IP regardless of subscriptions is something that needs to be put into a think tank and will ensure long term subscriptions and a much larger audience.

    19. After reaching admiral there is nothing left to do and becomes rather boring. All there is left to do is do repeatable patrol missions, tweak out your bridge officers, buy more ships, rinse and repeat and PVP. Everyone will tell you the following. BORING!!!

    20. All sectors in sector space should be combined into one instance and then split into multiple instances, except for exploration location that have not been uncovered.. Travel should be seamless.

    21. Getting missions that you are unable to complete because of lack of level has to be reconfigured. High level transwarp in the Regulus Sector Block can only be accessed at level 43 currently though you can get the mission itself way earlier.

    22. We need transwarp conduits everywhere from early to end levels. They should all be used to cut down travel time. The cool look grid lines that you guys have in sector space that lead from one location to another could have some sort of super warp boost as long as you travel within them. Just a thought you can toss around.

    23. Fleet size caps, team size caps, raid size caps should all be properly increased to facilitate the amount of people we have gaming on one server design.

    24. Patch notes must be all included and not just some bullet points but all. As much detail as possible to every change that occurs is a very important must that we need to read and have so we can follow along precisely into the games future.

    25. Last but not least. No matter how bad it makes Cryptic look, please, you must always tell the truth to your subscribers. Your name is all you have aside your MMORPG coding and designing skills. Lying to us in the form of white lies are still lies. Telling us that you are performing scheduled maintenance when the people who were just playing got booted out of the game is plain old stupid. That is just pone example, I have 10 others. Truth to your subscribers should always be you’re first and foremost rule, to a point understandably. If not truth then by all means lie to us. However I must say, please, lie well because a lot of people out there will see through lies and most will agree that all lies get uncovered over time. I want you guys to take your place amongst the top MMORPG companies and solidify your stake here once and for all time. You have done an incredible job thus far and we all commend you for it. I highly recommend assigning someone a role to communicate with the public directly because this is lacking. I also highly recommend that in game tickets be handles live and discussed live with the gamers right there and then to get the issues resolved and or cataloged correctly. Communication is the only way that we as one huge team can get this MMO where it should be much sooner then later.

    On a personal note:
    Cryptic, God, or Q speed to you guys and if you haven’t already please have a drink on us all. I have a feeling that most of you didn’t really get a chance to party yet as to your newest creation and really do deserve a round of applause from us all for what you have achieved in the time allotted. And to all of you gamers out there who keep saying the usual “it’s just a Star Trek skin on another game” You’re dead wrong! Go get a better PC that is gaming certified or recommended specs for STO and then do us all another favor, after you do that go level past commander. Then talk!!!. I doubt I won’t see you in game afterwards. Unless you’re just a hater by nature then go do what you do and hate.

    Cryptic from the warmest place in our Star Trek hearts thank you for delivering to us a real and solid Star Trek MMORPG. Perpetual!!! SUCK IT!!!!! Cryptic/Atari/Paramount RULES!!!
    ______________________________________________________________________________________________

    Well that is it for me on this one. Oh and just to add something to you seasoned writers out there and your uncompleted article posts online. Here is a complete review. How it should be done. From start to finish; tell your boss I said to ease the deadlines for work that is incomplete. It makes you look like an TRIBBLE to the public and makes your company look like an unseasoned, shouldn’t be traveled upon by the user, site.

    “You can find me in game under the handle PrOx”
    “Fleet name: BACKBONE”
    Hope to fleet up with you soon.

    Captain PrOx, out…

    The above is all subject to copyright ©NYPCtechman a.k.a PrOx
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2010
    Nice one

    Smad
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2010
    epic wall of text
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2010
    I appreciate your statement but good writing is also concise.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2010
    I agree with a lot of what you said, and commend you for what must have taken a long time to write! I just hope it's not in vain, time will tell.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2010
    Wow Epic! lots to think about
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2010
    Thank you for reading it. Now to get everyone else to read it lol. Pretty much I said it all for you guys so I am not expecting deep replies or flames. I am more so hoping that Cryptic will work on the above or at the very least that I will be contacted by them. I hope it all falls on coherent ears.
    Also this post is a Bump :)
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2010
    Whoa!

    I have to go sleep now, but I promise to read it tomorrow at work.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2010
    SB324 wrote:
    Whoa!

    I have to go sleep now, but I promise to read it tomorrow at work.

    Fast Track Career Path?
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2010
    I'd love to see everything you comment on to be implemented in to the game. Unfortunately, I think that Cryptic would have to make a new game from scratch to cater for even half of your wish list....

    Enjoying what we've got though, let's just hope it can become more....
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2010
    That was a nice article. It covered just about everything. I agree with the 10 for potential, but that will only take you so far. They need to act on many changes to reach that number.

    As far as your 8.5/10 and the number of problems and changes you talked about. Does that make sense? It is more of a 6.5/10 as an MMO. Without many changes, it will never get much higher. It is a fun game as is. I am enjoying my time. But it needs a lot of work. Adding in what you asked for would get it to that 8.5 number.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2010
    Holy Jebus, that's a wall of text that George Lucas would be proud to put on a movie.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2010
    tl;dr

    Can a brother get an abstract?
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2010
    I warn now, flattery will go far with me lol. Thanks again guys. I do agree that the 8.5 sounds awkward given the amount of issues I have posted. However, the reason I gave it that number is simply because of what everyone takes for granted. It is a very large massive MMO they created. Too many things to write down all at once and if I did it would probably be even larger then my article in print. It has every flavor of an MMO you could want though it needs much polish. The fact that they did throw in all of the 31 flavors we all know and want in an MMO is why they get that rating from me. Think of it like this so you will better understand my ranking system. It works just like leveling. The higher the level the more difficult it is and more points you need to get to the next level. 1.5 doesn't sound like much though it does equal levels 1-6. They did a fantastic job to get it in our hands so quickly. I do feel the distinct feeling of Star Trek when in the game. Unfortunately that feeling is slowly diminishing through what I see now is a grind fest of clicks and F buttons and this does make me sad. I stand in waiting because I just know given what I have seen thus far that there is so much more to come for us that the ends will justify the means.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2010
    <<Bump>>

    Make sure you read this with your thinking cap on. A lot of research and game-time went into creating this article.

    Go "Backbone" !!!
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2010
    Very very nice review, and i agree mostly. But for the battle cloak on the klingons i disagree, for one, this plays 30 years in the future so better technology should be assumed(and cloaks are a core technology for klingons). Also the fact that the klingons use cloaks in the first place shows that they do not consider it dishonorable, cloaking midbattle to run away probably would be(i do not know wether they consider mitigating circumstances here, like a unreasonably superior force or a higher mission purpose that would be more important than their current skirmish), but cloaking midbattle to gain a advantage and get a better attackvector probably wouldnt be considered dishonorable(otherwise why employ cloaks for surpriseattacks in the first place?).
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2010
    Well done!!!

    Thank you so much.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2010
    Iheard aftewr particals they want add rain and rai nthat looks like u are actualy in it, so many things to work on, I think rain should be a backburner.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2010
    free bump lets see if a dev can jump in with his or her's 2 cents
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2010
    Arshes_Nei wrote:
    Very very nice review, and i agree mostly. But for the battle cloak on the klingons i disagree, for one, this plays 30 years in the future so better technology should be assumed(and cloaks are a core technology for klingons). Also the fact that the klingons use cloaks in the first place shows that they do not consider it dishonorable, cloaking midbattle to run away probably would be(i do not know wether they consider mitigating circumstances here, like a unreasonably superior force or a higher mission purpose that would be more important than their current skirmish), but cloaking midbattle to gain a advantage and get a better attackvector probably wouldnt be considered dishonorable(otherwise why employ cloaks for surpriseattacks in the first place?).

    There is a major difference from cloaking before the battle to gain the element of surprise and mid battle so that you can repair your ship. I am reminded of the Finial Frontier
    When my people cloak we intend to fight.

    How many times did we see someone trying to tell a Klingon to stop fighting and they would all but have to fight that Klingon then. Klingons just never back down from a fight no matter the odds. The very few who did/do were labeled cowards and possibly even dishonorable with enough cowardliness actions.

    I personally have reached RA 5 on one of my toons and couldn't begin to count the number of times in PvP when the Klingons have run away in space and ground when I try to go hand to hand with them. Where's the honor in running away? In the name of technological advancement I guess the Klingons could start saying,
    wrote:
    Engage battle cloak and prepare for FLEEING SPEED!
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2010
    Good post, I hope that Cryptic reads it.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2010
    OP has some good ideas but don't hold your breath to see them come to fruition. A lot of change would mean a large influx of $$$ which I don't think CBS/Atari will put in.

    There's always hope.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2010
    Nice read,
    I agreed with about 25%, thought about 50% had some good points, and completely disagreed with about 25%. Thanks for the time of writing out your thoughts on the matters.

    A big disagreement is on Sector Space, I defended Sector Space back in Closed Beta but to give it a aesthetic overhaul (which they did...trust me, it's a million times better than 1st starting out). I think it's perfectly fine where it is and is one of the most innovative yet functional forms of MMO travel created to date.

    Where Canon = no fun or not practical, Practical and fun > Canon.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2010
    I reported you for spam.... That much text, go submit an article to an online site. (if this guy can blog, anyone can... http://news.mmosite.com/content/2010-02-04/mmorpg_s_doomed_in_2010,3.shtml#comment_leave)
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2010
    pr0x wrote: »
    8. They must add intractable environments. (i.e.: flying into an asteroid currently does nothing. Flying into planets does nothing either.)
    Yes, it does. Although not every time, but sometime when you fly too close to a planet you'll see what happens. Try it.
    Creovex wrote: »
    I reported you for spam....
    When the fail is so strong....
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2010
    EPIC!! A solid review; no doubt. Now if only someone in their capacity as a decision maker on the dev team would only take it heart and respond accordingly.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2010
    Creovex wrote: »
    I reported you for spam.... That much text, go submit an article to an online site. (if this guy can blog, anyone can... http://news.mmosite.com/content/2010-02-04/mmorpg_s_doomed_in_2010,3.shtml#comment_leave)

    This is spam how? I'm tempted to report you for abuse of the report spam function...but that way lies madness :) Good post thank you for the effort.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited February 2010
    Shadow30 wrote: »
    A big disagreement is on Sector Space, I defended Sector Space back in Closed Beta but to give it a aesthetic overhaul (which they did...trust me, it's a million times better than 1st starting out). I think it's perfectly fine where it is and is one of the most innovative yet functional forms of MMO travel created to date.

    Most questions I see in game are people asking where things are...

    I agree the sector maps are deceptively simple, but the problem is people need to use Sherlock-brand logic, or just plain persistence to find a simple system! This is wrong. Any player should be able to find any system they want easily without losing valuable game time being frustrated.

    So, either cryptic combines sector maps, OR they provide adequate and organized sector and system information for every mission in game.
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