...the psychological sense that the player owns a chunk of the game world. Hook enough of them on that sense of ownership and maybe you can celebrate the game's tenth anniversary a decade hence.
Beyond that... let us browse chat channels (ones designated by the creator as open, at any rate). You mentioned the fleet system -- good! Include an open public channel for fleets to recruit along with the other tools. Provide moderated help and feedback channels (with paid staffers, thanks, not volunteers).
The easier you make it to make friends in the game (real friends, not random strangers in a pickup group), the better your chances of building on a phenomenal launch into a real contender...
"Time" has been the primary "psychological sense of ownership" that the most successful MMO (to date) has wielded. Although many people in MMOs, like WOW, may often play with friends and guildies, I would bet that the majority of players quested alone. Generally a game has the first 10 minutes to win you over, if your experience is substandard within that time, a well-established community will not keep a player interested in playing the game. I believe STO survives the 10 minute rule. The next thing before community ever becomes a large component to majority players, I would believe, is the quality of the quests, tasks, & story. Having a great community is the icing on the cake imo. Without the other stuff, lack of community = fail, but its not enough to keep players.
Everything sounded great, and then I got to the death penalty part. I'd like to know how they reached the conclusion that the majority of the players want a death penalty. I've mainly seen people complaining about it on the forums, but they complain about everything (even free cryptic points!).
Really, I'd like to know how to be a part of the "community" and have my opinion heard without having to put up with the endless negativity on the official forums.
Oh, right, player surveys... get on it, Devs! Please make sure that this is what your players really want before adding in something that is just going to be a hassle.
I looked forward to this game for so long but was let down. The platform and the idea are awesome but the game fails on content and variety. I havent decided if im going to continue but if i dont Battlefield Bad Company 2 comes out on the 2nd.
I looked forward to this game for so long but was let down. The platform and the idea are awesome but the game fails on content and variety. I havent decided if im going to continue but if i dont Battlefield Bad Company 2 comes out on the 2nd.
Truth of the matter, STO is an evolving and changing world. Its an original concept and very much in its beginning stages. If you like the game enough to stick around, your support is important for the game's future success. To allow your initial expectations to dictate how content you are with the game is definitely a fallacy. Remember, Rome wasn't built in a night!
death penalty is a really bad idea, many people i have talked to doesnt like the idea of losing experience upon death. A repair to a system would sound better. Also the items that are rare and very rare need to fit their rarity instead of being on par with uncommons.
"Time" has been the primary "psychological sense of ownership" that the most successful MMO (to date) has wielded. Although many people in MMOs, like WOW, may often play with friends and guildies, I would bet that the majority of players quested alone. Generally a game has the first 10 minutes to win you over, if your experience is substandard within that time, a well-established community will not keep a player interested in playing the game. I believe STO survives the 10 minute rule. The next thing before community ever becomes a large component to majority players, I would believe, is the quality of the quests, tasks, & story. Having a great community is the icing on the cake imo. Without the other stuff, lack of community = fail, but its not enough to keep players.
Sorry but I don't understand most of this.
I think I understand your 10 minute rule but I don't think you're right about it. I've never heard it before and I've been playing MMOs a really long time. I've experience way more disasters than successes. If the day to day game is overly repetative people leave. If PVP is all there is and it's boring people leave. There are lots of elements and my experience suggests to me at least that a small number of people would leave in the first 10 minutes but a day or two will decide it untill end game anyway.
Truth of the matter, STO is an evolving and changing world. Its an original concept and very much in its beginning stages. If you like the game enough to stick around, your support is important for the game's future success. To allow your initial expectations to dictate how content you are with the game is definitely a fallacy. Remember, Rome wasn't built in a night!
I just have a hard time paying a monthly fee when there exists so many things that should have been fixed before release. Hell there are tons of typos in the text. But I may quit for now and come back in like 6 month to check it out. I just see this game going the way of enb tho.
When I purchased the lifetime membership, I saw a lot of potential in this game, lots of room for improvement, and slowly but surely I'm seeing things ironed out. The survey on the site was good but didn't allow me to directly address or rate the game's features, besides the ?/10 score. (Mine was 7/10).
The questing arcs are the ones I find the most lacking, in terms of story depth and character involvement. It's very surface level with the exception of a few fantastic quests (Guardian of Forever, Doomsday Device). I know this was rushed out. Too many errors, too many unfinished elements. Players who bought the game only after the announcement of playable Klingon faction were royally ripped off.
I've seen some truly innovative elements executed nicely, however, and if you can continue to avoid cookie-cutter mission formulas, and to include more story-based missions, I will be very satisfied. All of the other features I hope will be in the game someday will come as they may, but I believe you have a responsibility to fix - no, not fix: *complete* - the Klingons before there's even *talk* about adding additional factions. If and when you do, as much thought should go into them as Blizzard put into their Drainei and Blood Elves.
What seems to be missing most is genuine substance. I enjoy my re-runs and easter eggs, and I love the arcade-style gameplay, but that will eventually bore me.
Player-generated content would probably hook me for life, if the toolset is friendly enough too. In due time. Fix what's broken before trying to add too many features to the pot!
Thank you, Cryptic, for a truly stellar effort and promising outlook on the future of one of my most beloved IPs.
Its been my doubt all along that a single players voice is heard over hundreds of thousands of others but it is my hope that maybe, just maybe, I might have contributed something helpful. However arrogant that may seem, I never posted a bug report or Trekker nitpick just because a fix would make me feel better but because I feel so very deeply for this fiction that I felt nothing short of perfection would be worthy of it.
I am not asking for a perfect game. Because of the multitude of people involved, that would be impossible. Differing opinions and all that. Besides, there were oh so many less than perfect episodes, movies, books, and games that it would be silly to expect that from you. No, I am asking for a perfect devotion. I want the creators of Star Trek, be they a director, author, actor, or game developer to care. Not for money or fame, but for the story. I want to know that those in charge of all the big decisions are always keeping in mind what has made this fiction so different from anything else out there and why that is so important to people.
I understand perfectly that you are in a business and in order to prosper, you need to make the game fun for more people than just a core group of fans/fanatics. Maybe that is why it seems Ive been playing a role in the Terran Empire versus the Starfleet Ive grown up with.
We made a conscious decision to not water things down and go mass market. While it appears to me that the opposite is true it is my sincerest hope that this means that there is light at the end of the tunnel.
I have often asked myself why I am so in love with Star Trek. Well, for one thing, the ships. I am simply fascinated with the idea of space travel and Treks ships have always been the most majestic. Then theres Jolene Blalock, but thats a fantasy of a different type. The real reason is its a story of us. Of what we could be. And we need that right now. I need that hope. You, Cryptic, are a caretaker of that hope. Does that sound a bit lunatic? Maybe. I may not be one of the (fan)atics that sent Malcolm McDowell a death threat for killing Kirk but Star Trek is more than just a passing fancy for me. I can however keep my head about me and I understand the realities of our world only too well. I am a Marine. I know death and destruction. My reality is a bit darker than most.
All Im asking is that you take me out of that reality for a few hours here and there and that you do so with respect for what has come before, original thought put into what is to come and a constant concern for the those of us silly enough to believe that humanity may yet reach far distant stars with wonder and peaceful intentions. So far the overall story has done just that. Its the little things that could use a bit of polish. Well, maybe not so little. I cringe nearly every time one of my bridge officers has something to say because of the grammatical train wreck you guys have put out but thats not what Im here for. What I want to say is thank you. Thank you Mr. Zinkievich for the update and for setting my mind at ease and thank you Cryptic for well, for caring.
PS. I know its a game but as it has been said, there is much potential. Make it more than just a game. Make an epic Cryptic. Tell a great story. Fill my mind with wonder. Just make sure who ever writes it has passed English 101. Now, if youll excuse me, I have to read this over several times so that Im not accused of hypocrisy.
Death Penalties? Yeesh, no, nononononono. If you're listening to us, then listen to this.. :P
The point someone made about Deep Space Encounters is quite valid.. It'd be horrid, warping into the middle of the 'Enemy Flagship' group, dying before you can move 10km, then being penalized and dragged down for it.
Also, looking forward to the respec system.. hoping it'll be implemented better than on CO. It needs to be relatively affordable and PLEASE, DEAR LORD, no microtransactions. It's sacrilege for any game to charge for such a basic in-game function as respeccing on top of a steady monthly fee. Trust me, you'll make a bit of money with a microtransaction fee.. but the players you'll lose because of it will certainly outweigh the gain.
And yes.. more clothes would be nice, considering the Admiral rank glitches on most of the current outfits I like.
All in all, though, I'm very much looking forward to the update. As long as you guys remain active and consistent in your updates, you'll keep Trekkies like myself hanging around for years... and as the little-known 286th Rule of Acquisition states, "Nerds are good for business."
Please do reconsider that death penalty thing. Y'all originally said the DP was going to be minimal. What we have now is just that. Adding a DP will only frustrate a larger portion of the player base. Also, introducing a DP post launch is pretty "out there" and highly suspect/questionable. I am recalling issues with "the purple patch" down the DP path.
In the least you should to an extensive poll regarding your thoughts on the DP and the potentual options for a DP to get a better feel for what the community wants.
I don't mind the idea of a death penalty, but I certainly like the idea about a death consequence someone was mentioning earlier in the thread. Yes, combat and strategy should be more meaningful in the game than it is currently, but you should also be encouraged to try out new things, experiment, and fail. The DP has to be handled very carefully.
I, for one, feel that you should be rewarded for completing a mission without a death, not penalised for biting off more than you can chew - this can't be helped sometimes, especially for DSEs where you're already taking on a huge group and another massive group happens to blunder in as well.
For instance, it would provide a bonus to the item you get at the end of the mission, or some other kind of reward. Example: say you were going to get a Phaser Array MkV for completing the mission. You do it at a higher difficulty, or without a death (of anyone in your group, this is to encourage teamwork)? Make that a Phaser Array MkV [Acc] [CrtH].
One thing that this thread has appeared to illuminate is that this is a very sensitive and divisive topic, I'm on the fence personally, but I would hate to see an implementation that is unfair or cruel. I would not condone a penalty that would force you into losing something that you invested time and effort into, eg. a boff (which is a limited resource essentially) dying permanently or piece of equipment (that may very well be unique) becoming unusable forever. I don't know about you, but every Boff I've recruited I've customised their look, name, and even added bios for extra flavour! If one of them dies, that's pretty harsh, and will make people very angry. I sincerely believe that Cryptic will not take this route, they don't want to anger almost everyone.
Hell, even in EVE every piece of equipment that you lose can just be bought again, if you have the ISK. That game revolves around a very robust market, and money is fairly easy to come by, but the game encourages greed. STO doesn't have that market, and in my eyes, should not be about that. Also, energy credits aren't as important as other in-game currency in other titles currently. This might change, but this means a massive overhaul of pretty much all the currency, reward and loot mechanics.
With that said, I don't think that folks should get too worked up over this yet, and we can't really speculate what's going to happen. Craig only just announced it's something they're looking into, I'm sure that if we voice our opinions on what we - the players - want, Cryptic should take this into consideration. When we do get more concrete information on what they're planning to implelement, then we can all go nuts if we don't like it
Until then, let's play the game, have fun, and provide that all important feedback so we can make STO a better place to live and die in!
Truth of the matter, STO is an evolving and changing world. Its an original concept and very much in its beginning stages. If you like the game enough to stick around, your support is important for the game's future success. To allow your initial expectations to dictate how content you are with the game is definitely a fallacy. Remember, Rome wasn't built in a night!
If some players are like I am, we realize it takes time, etc. The issue has never been the game but the lack of communication from Cryptic since launch day.
evolving and changing as in they're still fixin all the **** that should have been addressed in beta..........last cryptic title i waste my money on
LOL, no...don't think it works like that, you make it seem as if the game was magically turned into beta for your enjoyment. MMO doesn't mean = static environment. That is why you pay a subscription. I don't know about you, but I definitely want my MMO to evolve, grow, and change over time. Your logic is faulty my friend, you assume that beta testers actually tested the material or that those issues were duplicated "at all" during the beta testing. Also, sometimes patch updates produce very unexpected bugs.
PS. I know its a game but as it has been said, there is much potential. Make it more than just a game. Make an epic Cryptic. Tell a great story. Fill my mind with wonder. Just make sure who ever writes it has passed English 101. Now, if youll excuse me, I have to read this over several times so that Im not accused of hypocrisy.
Thank you, Resin, for voicing your passion about it. I agree wholeheartedly with you about the themes and the sense of hope Trek has provided people like you and me. Also, I can't stand the typos either.
Cryptic, I'm a spelling/grammar savant. Would you like to hire an editor? Cheers!
I just dont think there is enough substance to evolve anything substancial from where the game is now. It is what it is...a rushed game thrown together for release. There will have to be a major expansion pack for me to return, and believe me I wanted this game to succeed. I have followed this game long before the beta and have seemingly been let down.
To me this is just a basic shell of a mmo and unless there is vast improvment there will only be repetition and boredness.
Im in favor of the DP.:D i see why its needed. It provides a challenge to PVE that is lacking. Imagine the possibilities with DP and Difficulty sliders:eek:? It will encourage TEAMS! There will be a REASON to join up with a tactical, engineering, and science ship! I look forward to the challenge!
More depth and mechanics= more fun gameplay!
Thats my opinion though:rolleyes: I will stay with this game regardless! Have fun evry1!
Do you not see the contradiction in what you have said here? You're saying that DP provides a challenge and yet at the same time you are praising the addition of difficulty sliders?
A DP is nothing more than a time sink. It does not make the game more challenging at all. That is what the difficulty slider is for.
If you're going to give serious consideration on adding a death penalty, at least add another survey to get a stronger feel for that the "real" community wants and not the screaming WoW'Tards wanting to turn this game into every other MMO.
Hell, even in EVE every piece of equipment that you lose can just be bought again, if you have the ISK. That game revolves around a very robust market, and money is fairly easy to come by, but the game encourages greed. STO doesn't have that market, and in my eyes, should not be about that. Also, energy credits aren't as important as other in-game currency in other titles currently. This might change, but this means a massive overhaul of pretty much all the currency, reward and loot mechanics.
While you've brought that up.... any chance Cryptic could utilize a better search engine for the Exchange... say by, oh I don't know, auction price? Filtering through ridiculously inflated prices for items is a bit of a pain. Then it would cut down on all that nonsense too.
Comments
"Time" has been the primary "psychological sense of ownership" that the most successful MMO (to date) has wielded. Although many people in MMOs, like WOW, may often play with friends and guildies, I would bet that the majority of players quested alone. Generally a game has the first 10 minutes to win you over, if your experience is substandard within that time, a well-established community will not keep a player interested in playing the game. I believe STO survives the 10 minute rule. The next thing before community ever becomes a large component to majority players, I would believe, is the quality of the quests, tasks, & story. Having a great community is the icing on the cake imo. Without the other stuff, lack of community = fail, but its not enough to keep players.
Really, I'd like to know how to be a part of the "community" and have my opinion heard without having to put up with the endless negativity on the official forums.
Oh, right, player surveys... get on it, Devs! Please make sure that this is what your players really want before adding in something that is just going to be a hassle.
Truth of the matter, STO is an evolving and changing world. Its an original concept and very much in its beginning stages. If you like the game enough to stick around, your support is important for the game's future success. To allow your initial expectations to dictate how content you are with the game is definitely a fallacy. Remember, Rome wasn't built in a night!
Sorry but I don't understand most of this.
I think I understand your 10 minute rule but I don't think you're right about it. I've never heard it before and I've been playing MMOs a really long time. I've experience way more disasters than successes. If the day to day game is overly repetative people leave. If PVP is all there is and it's boring people leave. There are lots of elements and my experience suggests to me at least that a small number of people would leave in the first 10 minutes but a day or two will decide it untill end game anyway.
I just have a hard time paying a monthly fee when there exists so many things that should have been fixed before release. Hell there are tons of typos in the text. But I may quit for now and come back in like 6 month to check it out. I just see this game going the way of enb tho.
The questing arcs are the ones I find the most lacking, in terms of story depth and character involvement. It's very surface level with the exception of a few fantastic quests (Guardian of Forever, Doomsday Device). I know this was rushed out. Too many errors, too many unfinished elements. Players who bought the game only after the announcement of playable Klingon faction were royally ripped off.
I've seen some truly innovative elements executed nicely, however, and if you can continue to avoid cookie-cutter mission formulas, and to include more story-based missions, I will be very satisfied. All of the other features I hope will be in the game someday will come as they may, but I believe you have a responsibility to fix - no, not fix: *complete* - the Klingons before there's even *talk* about adding additional factions. If and when you do, as much thought should go into them as Blizzard put into their Drainei and Blood Elves.
What seems to be missing most is genuine substance. I enjoy my re-runs and easter eggs, and I love the arcade-style gameplay, but that will eventually bore me.
Player-generated content would probably hook me for life, if the toolset is friendly enough too. In due time. Fix what's broken before trying to add too many features to the pot!
Thank you, Cryptic, for a truly stellar effort and promising outlook on the future of one of my most beloved IPs.
-B
I am not asking for a perfect game. Because of the multitude of people involved, that would be impossible. Differing opinions and all that. Besides, there were oh so many less than perfect episodes, movies, books, and games that it would be silly to expect that from you. No, I am asking for a perfect devotion. I want the creators of Star Trek, be they a director, author, actor, or game developer to care. Not for money or fame, but for the story. I want to know that those in charge of all the big decisions are always keeping in mind what has made this fiction so different from anything else out there and why that is so important to people.
I understand perfectly that you are in a business and in order to prosper, you need to make the game fun for more people than just a core group of fans/fanatics. Maybe that is why it seems Ive been playing a role in the Terran Empire versus the Starfleet Ive grown up with.
We made a conscious decision to not water things down and go mass market. While it appears to me that the opposite is true it is my sincerest hope that this means that there is light at the end of the tunnel.
I have often asked myself why I am so in love with Star Trek. Well, for one thing, the ships. I am simply fascinated with the idea of space travel and Treks ships have always been the most majestic. Then theres Jolene Blalock, but thats a fantasy of a different type. The real reason is its a story of us. Of what we could be. And we need that right now. I need that hope. You, Cryptic, are a caretaker of that hope. Does that sound a bit lunatic? Maybe. I may not be one of the (fan)atics that sent Malcolm McDowell a death threat for killing Kirk but Star Trek is more than just a passing fancy for me. I can however keep my head about me and I understand the realities of our world only too well. I am a Marine. I know death and destruction. My reality is a bit darker than most.
All Im asking is that you take me out of that reality for a few hours here and there and that you do so with respect for what has come before, original thought put into what is to come and a constant concern for the those of us silly enough to believe that humanity may yet reach far distant stars with wonder and peaceful intentions. So far the overall story has done just that. Its the little things that could use a bit of polish. Well, maybe not so little. I cringe nearly every time one of my bridge officers has something to say because of the grammatical train wreck you guys have put out but thats not what Im here for. What I want to say is thank you. Thank you Mr. Zinkievich for the update and for setting my mind at ease and thank you Cryptic for well, for caring.
PS. I know its a game but as it has been said, there is much potential. Make it more than just a game. Make an epic Cryptic. Tell a great story. Fill my mind with wonder. Just make sure who ever writes it has passed English 101. Now, if youll excuse me, I have to read this over several times so that Im not accused of hypocrisy.
The point someone made about Deep Space Encounters is quite valid.. It'd be horrid, warping into the middle of the 'Enemy Flagship' group, dying before you can move 10km, then being penalized and dragged down for it.
Also, looking forward to the respec system.. hoping it'll be implemented better than on CO. It needs to be relatively affordable and PLEASE, DEAR LORD, no microtransactions. It's sacrilege for any game to charge for such a basic in-game function as respeccing on top of a steady monthly fee. Trust me, you'll make a bit of money with a microtransaction fee.. but the players you'll lose because of it will certainly outweigh the gain.
And yes.. more clothes would be nice, considering the Admiral rank glitches on most of the current outfits I like.
All in all, though, I'm very much looking forward to the update. As long as you guys remain active and consistent in your updates, you'll keep Trekkies like myself hanging around for years... and as the little-known 286th Rule of Acquisition states, "Nerds are good for business."
In the least you should to an extensive poll regarding your thoughts on the DP and the potentual options for a DP to get a better feel for what the community wants.
I don't mind the idea of a death penalty, but I certainly like the idea about a death consequence someone was mentioning earlier in the thread. Yes, combat and strategy should be more meaningful in the game than it is currently, but you should also be encouraged to try out new things, experiment, and fail. The DP has to be handled very carefully.
I, for one, feel that you should be rewarded for completing a mission without a death, not penalised for biting off more than you can chew - this can't be helped sometimes, especially for DSEs where you're already taking on a huge group and another massive group happens to blunder in as well.
For instance, it would provide a bonus to the item you get at the end of the mission, or some other kind of reward. Example: say you were going to get a Phaser Array MkV for completing the mission. You do it at a higher difficulty, or without a death (of anyone in your group, this is to encourage teamwork)? Make that a Phaser Array MkV [Acc] [CrtH].
One thing that this thread has appeared to illuminate is that this is a very sensitive and divisive topic, I'm on the fence personally, but I would hate to see an implementation that is unfair or cruel. I would not condone a penalty that would force you into losing something that you invested time and effort into, eg. a boff (which is a limited resource essentially) dying permanently or piece of equipment (that may very well be unique) becoming unusable forever. I don't know about you, but every Boff I've recruited I've customised their look, name, and even added bios for extra flavour! If one of them dies, that's pretty harsh, and will make people very angry. I sincerely believe that Cryptic will not take this route, they don't want to anger almost everyone.
Hell, even in EVE every piece of equipment that you lose can just be bought again, if you have the ISK. That game revolves around a very robust market, and money is fairly easy to come by, but the game encourages greed. STO doesn't have that market, and in my eyes, should not be about that. Also, energy credits aren't as important as other in-game currency in other titles currently. This might change, but this means a massive overhaul of pretty much all the currency, reward and loot mechanics.
With that said, I don't think that folks should get too worked up over this yet, and we can't really speculate what's going to happen. Craig only just announced it's something they're looking into, I'm sure that if we voice our opinions on what we - the players - want, Cryptic should take this into consideration. When we do get more concrete information on what they're planning to implelement, then we can all go nuts if we don't like it
Until then, let's play the game, have fun, and provide that all important feedback so we can make STO a better place to live and die in!
lets get something straight right now i never said im going to go play this game or that game.....
i have currently active
STO account
WOW accounts (since the beta)
Eve accounts 2 years now
If some players are like I am, we realize it takes time, etc. The issue has never been the game but the lack of communication from Cryptic since launch day.
A quick note from a DEV or CR goes a long way.
LOL, no...don't think it works like that, you make it seem as if the game was magically turned into beta for your enjoyment. MMO doesn't mean = static environment. That is why you pay a subscription. I don't know about you, but I definitely want my MMO to evolve, grow, and change over time. Your logic is faulty my friend, you assume that beta testers actually tested the material or that those issues were duplicated "at all" during the beta testing. Also, sometimes patch updates produce very unexpected bugs.
It makes for great and easier reading!
Thank you, Resin, for voicing your passion about it. I agree wholeheartedly with you about the themes and the sense of hope Trek has provided people like you and me. Also, I can't stand the typos either.
Cryptic, I'm a spelling/grammar savant. Would you like to hire an editor? Cheers!
Cheers
To me this is just a basic shell of a mmo and unless there is vast improvment there will only be repetition and boredness.
If you apply one, please don't make it too bad and it should not apply to PvP.
Death penalty is a bad idea (unless it is just a credit charge of a small amount).
Do you not see the contradiction in what you have said here? You're saying that DP provides a challenge and yet at the same time you are praising the addition of difficulty sliders?
A DP is nothing more than a time sink. It does not make the game more challenging at all. That is what the difficulty slider is for.
Amen to disagreeing with WoW'tards!
Who said it will be massive?
While you've brought that up.... any chance Cryptic could utilize a better search engine for the Exchange... say by, oh I don't know, auction price? Filtering through ridiculously inflated prices for items is a bit of a pain. Then it would cut down on all that nonsense too.