Don't give us death penalties(except in PVP)!!!
The majority of the player base does NOT want DPs!
Do a survey upon login of a player to determine this. Do this before you change fundamental behavior of the game. People LIKE no DPs, at least a majority do.
I read this address carefully, and perhaps I am the only one who not seeing any substance behind it. No specific, just vague information concerning some of the issues that been pending since CB/OB and the possibility of it within a 6 to 12 weeks time line.
Example - Improving Memory Aplha - well how? what is the thought process behind it? what is going to be improve within the next 6 to 12 weeks?
Is this going to be a new system compare to what currently have now, which I believe the majority of the players hate and want it gone, what exactly is going to be the improvement, can we make better/improve the items we gather to make our ships and weapons better and unique? Is the improvement going to be worth it for players to start crafting and not have another vendor crafting system, the way it is now, that is very confusing and does not give any benefits.
Example - Respec ? what does this entail, (free or fee) what about the biggest issues that everyone want to know about.. "SKILLS" where the revamp skills tree, showing how everything work, fix the UI of misinformation, etc. raise the skill cap limits, etc.
the list go on..
I am sorry, but this is just another pr fluff to me, because, if they truly want do all of these things, and I been in since CB and prepaid for a year, they should be setting up a testbed with people who been in CB and OB as focus groups users to really get a sense if they are hitting the mark, before they go down the path of developing the features.too much, the worst things you can do , it to develop something, spend ton of money, and the customers did not think it was as important as others. Getting the 20% right is the most important. if anything the priorities to me should be
1. Skills- showing the new skills paths and dependencies
2. Respec
3. Ground combat & Kling PVE
4. UI fixes - misinformation - fixes bug missions - like big dig, and others
5. PVP and balance of certain class/fractions skills. (queue too long, unbalance, not open, etc)
6. A. Crafting - revamp and change it entirely, B. more mission contents - both combat and non-combat, end game
7. More open worlds/zone, Also, let us revisit old systems if we just want to explore and see some of the great ones we like, instead of locking us out, make it feel like it a community, this sorely lacking, no sense of community or gathering places.
8. Put life into STO - environmental - where the creatures, the npc daily life activities, where the movements, weathers, etc.
Some may agree with this list or not, i just picking several of what I thinks of the top issues.. yes I like death penalty, but it not to me a high prioritiy items, where I need to have it within 6 to 12 weeks, I can wait for it another several months. Maybe is just me..
I like this update. I really do. Particularly the mention that they'll soon be finding ways of improving exploration content. My only concern is: Why did they choose not to mention diplomacy as something that was coming soon? Diplomacy is a big deal in Star Trek, and I'm going to by very disappointed if it's not added sooner rather than later.
I'm completely against a death penalty unless it is set to a difficulty slider. Casual = no DP, Serious = Minor DP, Hardcore = Major DP. That I could handle because I'm just a casual player, I only have an hour or two to play STO. A death penalty is a time sink and takes away from my time.
I do have a few options I would consider as a death penalty and some would be a game breaker to me.
Possible DP Solutions
Link death penalties to increase skill points. If you want to have greater risk, you should have greater rewards. And makes DP optional.
Rather than durability have gear damage be similar to hull damage. Self repairable but not costing anything but a little time to repair. Also have an option to use a small percentage of energy for an instant repair as they just use the replicator to make a new parts to fix the damage items faster.
Subspace Respawn Bubble : Respawn damaged but protected with an optional respawn now button. When killed you appear at the spawn point with 25% hull, 25% max shields, 25% gear damage, and low crew. You can wait until you are 100% or you can leave the subspace bubble early and risk fighting with a damaged ship.
I would even consider losing 1% energy per death as the DP to be acceptable as the crew replicates the parts needed to make repairs.
Game breaking DP
Permanent damage with the chance to lose BO's or gear permanently. Just NO! EPIC FAIL! Now the reason for the just NO! is this isn't a hardcore game, it's described as a casual game. We spend a lot of time training BO's and getting gear the right gear now is a time sink as it is.
Having to go back to base to repair. Time sinks in a casual game are no fun, having to go back to base to repair is the ultimate time sink and thus really no fun.
Losing skill points or having a skill point debt. Just NO! Increasing the need to grind more is no fun. If you want us to be able to log on and play for an hour or two then don't penalize us in that time.
And as my final points are the same as my point. Make death penalty optional based upon the difficulty slider. If I log on and want to blow up romulans when I'm having a bad day I don't want to get more frustrated by being penalized.
Make death penalties optional based upon a difficulty slider.
Time sinks are bad for casuals, think of a DP that isn't a time sink.
Don't make us go back to base to repair.
Don't take away our hard work. Either items, BO's, skill points. Energy loss would be acceptable
From what I've been seeing in the zone chats (as of late, not during testing or the first few days) there's a healthy portion of us playing who are, how shall I put this politely...employed and relatively responsible adults.
While I appreciate the desire to experience a challenge in any game, those of us who did not max level our characters in the first week would appreciate the ability to enjoy the game, not suffer constant setbacks because of some arbitrary and unrealistic penalty.
You want a challenge? Go Diablo hardcore, play like it's Rogue or NetHack.
If you die, delete your character. That is a penalty, and the only realistic one.
That will make you totally uber. You can brag how hardcore you are and meanwhile no one has to write an additional line of code.
The rest of us...we'd like to play a game...
Regards,
Senza
Im Captain 4, I have not rushed, i play Casual, Not logged in for 2 days, I want a Casual MMO, I quit Lotro. I am a massive believer in the DP. Your Idea of DP is all wrong and perhaps your views would be better suited to EVE onlines forums.
I also made it to lvl 32 with a Warden without a single death and Lotro rewards you for such Heroic deeds. I don't want this in STO but I do want atleast for my pulse to rise slightly when I die or am about too rather than just re-spawning with a completely Pristine ship
Commander "Raise shields we have engaged the Undine" Capt " Nah don't bother we will re-spawn in 5 seconds and kick there butts!"
Im Captain 4, I have not rushed, i play Casual, Not logged in for 2 days, I want a Casual MMO, I quit Lotro. I am a massive believer in the DP. Your Idea of DP is all wrong and perhaps your views would be better suited to EVE onlines forums.
I also made it to lvl 32 with a Warden without a single death and Lotro rewards you for such Heroic deeds. I don't want this in STO but I do want atleast for my pulse to rise slightly when I die or am about too rather than just re-spawning with a completely Pristine ship
Commander "Raise shields we have engaged the Undine" Capt " Nah don't bother we will re-spawn in 5 seconds and kick there butts!"
Indeed, but perhaps this should have been settled before I paid for my lifetime. So, if it ends up being along the lines of wow, city of heroes, eve, or earth and beyond.... I will expect my money back less time played.
And as my final points are the same as my point. Make death penalty optional based upon the difficulty slider. If I log on and want to blow up romulans when I'm having a bad day I don't want to get more frustrated by being penalized.
Make death penalties optional based upon a difficulty slider.
Time sinks are bad for casuals, think of a DP that isn't a time sink.
Don't make us go back to base to repair.
Don't take away our hard work. Either items, BO's, skill points. Energy loss would be acceptable
I like this and can see it working mate. I like some of your other points but didn't want to quote it all Must say this is the best solution I have see so far and Cryptic really need to listen to this Guy/Gal.
From what I've been seeing in the zone chats (as of late, not during testing or the first few days) there's a healthy portion of us playing who are, how shall I put this politely...employed and relatively responsible adults.
While I appreciate the desire to experience a challenge in any game, those of us who did not max level our characters in the first week would appreciate the ability to enjoy the game, not suffer constant setbacks because of some arbitrary and unrealistic penalty.
You want a challenge? Go Diablo hardcore, play like it's Rogue or NetHack.
If you die, delete your character. That is a penalty, and the only realistic one.
That will make you totally uber. You can brag how hardcore you are and meanwhile no one has to write an additional line of code.
The rest of us...we'd like to play a game...
Regards,
Senza
while your opinion didnt carry much thought inside itself I do see a reason for a DP. You are no trekkie thats for sure because there was a DP in all of star trek, even if it was in a small measure. I say there should be a DP. It makes the game realistic. It helps you learn from your mistakes and not just run around like a brain dead moron trying to playing an educational game. Yes star trek online is an educational game. It teaches you a great deal of science, engineering, mechanic in the game. Example, how are you flying your ship. not straight out all the time, your changing the systems, reallocating tach mods, carring extra types of torps, changing your beam weapons while not in combat. adding different mods to your ship learning which one stack together and changing BO before you get into a tough situation. DP should be brought in. only winny lazy brats want to never die and just run around without a brain in star trek online. Lets face it. this game is for a trekkie and an avaerge techie. learning from your mistakes is apart of life, so "YES" it should be in the game. hell have a BO die after 2 times of being killed. Have a station mod go offline due to damage while in combat, get a repremand from star fleet for not finishing/ completing a mission in a timely matter. give us the option to have the prime directive choice as every captain in star trek has had the choice to do. Give us demotions when we step out of line and actually reward us when we do things in service of our faction. Make this about star trek and not lazy trek. Give the klingons their house names.
@Devs- Good to hear fom you guys and seeing the changes you plan on implementing.
@ Death Penalty- Yes...I need a reason not to charge. Maybe a 5 min regional cooldown for all abilities. You are not out of the fight completely but you can't engage to your full extent either. For ground combat lets maybe go with 2 minute cooldown on all non weapon abilities.
@ Difficulty Slider- I dont think a slider is in order. I think seperate servers is in order. I also think those servers should have different skill point and rank caps. Easy Server = Max Rank Commander...Intermediate Server = Max Rank Captain...Hard Server = Max Rank Rear Admiral. More skill points would be available for the hard servers, after all the greater the risk the greater the reward. Would also create an atmosphere people can learn in rather than getting shafted by know-it-alls or being purposely misled by higher level players. Just thought I would throw it out there.
Hmm
Well.. I don't want DP exept in PVP, so I agree to that statement..
Autofire on ground combat is so and so.. I think it's a good idea to get that back. but then again, I'm REALY sattisfied when it comes to autofire on space combat, since it's easier to keep track on when to fire the torpedoes.. How ever.. I tried to keep autofire on both the phasers AND the torpedoes, but that didn't work very well.. but that's just minor details..
To get the chance to walk around the WHOLE ship, I'm REALY looking forward to.
The more ST feeling, the better..
Like walking from bridge to engineering or to ten forward, or the brig, no matter..
Star Trek IS a SAE, Search and Explore, type of story that I enjoy.. Also.. One thing I would LOVE, is the possibility to, instead of typing sublement to the captains Log, use the mike instead.. what is it called.. Speech to text kind of thing?
Annywhoo.. Just throwing wishes out there.. ^^,
Sublement:
Keep up the good work guys^^,
Live long and prosper..
while your opinion didnt carry much thought inside itself I do see a reason for a DP. You are no trekkie thats for sure because there was a DP in all of star trek, even if it was in a small measure. I say there should be a DP. It makes the game realistic. It helps you learn from your mistakes and not just run around like a brain dead moron trying to playing an educational game. Yes star trek online is an educational game. It teaches you a great deal of science, engineering, mechanic in the game. Example, how are you flying your ship. not straight out all the time, your changing the systems, reallocating tach mods, carring extra types of torps, changing your beam weapons while not in combat. adding different mods to your ship learning which one stack together and changing BO before you get into a tough situation. DP should be brought in. only winny lazy brats want to never die and just run around without a brain in star trek online. Lets face it. this game is for a trekkie and an avaerge techie. learning from your mistakes is apart of life, so "YES" it should be in the game. hell have a BO die after 2 times of being killed. Have a station mod go offline due to damage while in combat, get a repremand from star fleet for not finishing/ completing a mission in a timely matter. give us the option to have the prime directive choice as every captain in star trek has had the choice to do. Give us demotions when we step out of line and actually reward us when we do things in service of our faction. Make this about star trek and not lazy trek. Give the klingons their house names.
Originally Posted by knox1711 View Post
Rommies should be next, after klinks are finished.
As far as the death penalty...PLEASE think outside the box here and go for a death CONSEQUENCE....
Use death as a vehicle to launch into a series of immersive minigames that bring the bridge and your ship interior to life in a COMPLETELY star trek fashion...
Here is what I mean:
Before your ship blows up, it gets "incappped". During this time, as an engineer you would play a QUICK, fast, fun, minigame to avert a warp core breach, or bring life support back online...these would be done on "consoles" on the bridge or in engineering. If you succeed, you get back into the fight with a small energy buff - if you fail, well the ship goes kaboom, and you respawn with a debuff...
As a tactical officer, your minigames could be things like managing internal security system to repel boarders, or disarming a chroniton torpedo warhead that had pierced the hull, but not yet exploded...
A science officer could use a console minigame to navigate the ship out of some anomaly that that last volley of photons blasted your ship into, or a minigame to triage or heal the crew, etc.
It should be TRIVIAL to come up with 5 or so, fast, fun minigames, for each class based on exmaples from the series' of ways to save the bacon...then they would be triggered at random. Faster you complete the minigame successfully, faster you get back into the fight...
Fact is the episodes/series are full of countless examples of heroic effort by the captain and/or bridge officers to due various things to save the ship or the crew after things have all gone wrong. This is star trek. This would be immersion. PLEASE do NOT dumb the game down to some stupid, pay x amt of energy credits, sink that is unimaginative and pass up this kind of a chance to generate REAL, exciting, immersive content where your ship and your crew depend on your minigame actions....and those consoles we see in our interiors actually are USED for something...lol/QUOTE]
THIS IS IT:)
this is actually brilliant. one suggestion would be to give player choice - death penalty on stats or quick minigame that would make more star trek for trekies or people who love non combat system. And it would be another original thing in mmo that would cryptic put on their list of innovations.
I hope the Dev's can weed out all the forum Spam and trolling, most the time people only have allot to say when they don't like something and nothing to say when there happy "they are too busy at that point playing to say I like this" I'm just as guilty, so it worries me when the "Community" sounds like it has such an impact on the Dev's. I'm more for in game surveys or even web surveys like that recent one requiring us to log in before being allowed to fill it out...more of those please!
Death penalty is fine and good.. but how about before we get a death penalty you make sure issues where your landing party gets stuck in some non-existent hole and jsut stands there jumping over and over again...
(the map that this happened to me on most recently is the village with the tall green crystals (it was also heavy with wind and dust effects)) I must have died 5-6 times because I am having to solo groups of 6-7 Klingons (the groups with a swordmaster + weapons master is usually the one that kills me)
Also WE NEED LARGER INVENTORIES! The player inventory (the I key inventory) needs to be twice as big (with the two areas being separate (make life a little easier on people who actually have tribbles). The crafting times/ Commodities
eat up so much of one's inventory. Then every weapon/kit/starship item that drops.
I'm commanding a starship and this is the limit to what I can carry?? I read somewhere that the number of slots increase, but starting players have it almost worse.. you don't know what is good to keep or trash or sell at the exchange... and having to sell things to make room in your inventory is problematic for starting players.
Sure you have equipment slots on your characters, ship, BO....
But Ideally your ship is going to have all it slots filled...
Your B/O can only hold usable items (and they will use them... so don't give them that picard wine unless you don't even want the empty bottle to look at).. so that leave your basic inventory of 42 slots is really not enough... Concidering you will likely pick up (in less than 2 hours of playing)
Batteries (x4 types)
Crafting times (x3-6)
commodities (x4)
Food and ground use itmes (x4-8)
That right there you are down to about 20 slots... and I didn't include any ship or ground equipment..
Great update and I look forward to the future updates.
On the issue of the death penalty, I think its a good idea IF its implemented carefully. My biggest concern is that unlike other games, you don't get a whole lot of points for running around getting into random battles in STO, you get most of your points from completing missions. If the potential growth potential in a mission is limited to the points you get for winning it (plus the limited points you get for killing the random ships in it), then I would hope the downside potential would be limited to a similar amount (IE if the maximum skill points you could get from a mission was 600, you shouldn't stand to lose more than 600 over the course of all the deaths you have during that mission). I would't mind a mission where I don't make a lot of progress to the next grade if I get myself fragged a bunch of times, I would be a little irritated to lose out big (especially in the cases where you repawn in the middle of a battle - which happens somewhat frequently in deep space encounters- and get wiped out before you ever had a chance). Also, given the nature of PvP battles, I hope that there's no significant death penalty in "death match" style games.
Also, I would love to see the Z axis in space combat fixed. It would be great if we had at least 180 degrees of pitch (not suggesting we be able to do flips, but pointing straight up and straight down would be really nice). This is especially noticable in PvP and in missions where different groups of enemy ships are higher and lower in the Z axis. You spend a lot of time making circle after circle to get down. If its annoying me in an escort, I can only imagine what the people flying T4 or T5 cruisers feel like w/ their turn rate. It would also be nice as an escort player to be able to point my limited weapons arc wherever its needed. Its especially noticable when someone decloaks directly above or below you in PvP, sure you can fire turrets or beams at them, but cannons and torpedos are useless.
Again, thanks to the Dev's for listening to the players. I'm definately a fan of the game so far and looking forward to seeing its evolution.
II think that if the simulation is respectful of an RP scenario then I think a DP would be accepted.
I mean we've all seen crew and bridge officers, even captains get incapacitated after severe battles where the ship and bridge are severely damaged.
I would accept the following should a DP be implemented:
Reduced Power to Systems cooldown period: This simulates the dynamic of both crew and ship recovering and rebuilding after being decimated in combat. You would be able to maneuver after a certain period of time and your CLASS of captain would affect which subsystems came online first; i.e. ENG Captain Tree would have engines online first, TAC - weapons systems, etc.
In World of Warcraft it is a 10 minute cooldown. You still can fight, but at a severe disadvantage. However, within that 10 minute timeframe, you can slowly build strength and re-engage in a battle - with very limited choices and abilities.
I don't mind a little more challenge in the game, but this DP really needs to be done for the RIGHT reasons as opposed to reacting to customer demand to do so.
As long as it is LOGICAL and makes sense to do so, I'm all for it.
just being real ya know. to much of this no DP in game. I never saw a safe star trek ya know. It is star trek. something that has been alive for wow like 50 years. No where in it does it say safe. you wanna not die then please go play a hmmm relm game. of course peolpe are entitled to their opinion but not their own facts. Star trek history has tones of DP.
-kill off a bridge officer. makes you think twice about stratdgy
-damage a station in battle makes you think twice about running into 10 ships without a plan.
-actually diable a sub system
-have outpost in space for major repairs, mod repair, engineers can get the ship moving but you need a space station for major repairs if your ship gets that heavly damaged.
-make ships breakable in combat. If i target a nacell the yeah it should come off. If i target engines then yeah they should die if i take them out. you have trails on the ships while they fly. make smoke or material trails.
-next faction to open up should be the card, romulans, then the dominion.
-Please change Q from floating in space. bring Q onto the ships. I did search in the archives and havent found one ep to display that Q appears outside a ship as a tall being. the Q is sinical but not rediculous.
- why is the undine admiral still at starbase 39 after you find out she is an undine. doesnt make sense to see the character there still after the mission reveals her.
- why cant a rear admiral access the admiral uniform. a diplomat wears them as well as all admirals. MAKE IT SO
If you were going to have a death penalty, then you needed to have one in place from Day One.
But it would be unfair to current and future players to add a Death Penalty now that there hasn't been one this whole time. It would not be fair to me, someone who works 80 hours a week and therefore does not have time to play Star Trek online 24/7 like certain individuals, to add the death penalty now after all those no-job-having losers have had the chance to level their characters up to admiral without any death penalty, and then meanwhile now I would have a death penalty leading up to that point.
If people want a death penalty then you should make an OPTIONAL death penalty that players can turn on, if they are punishment-loving masochists, etc. But for me I think it would just be unfair punishment for having a life.
Of all the MMO's I have played over the past 6 years, this has GOT to be the only group of designers I feel listens to the community so intently. Sure most listen for bugs etc, but when some one says "hey heres suggestions" then no one ever replies.
But here, I have read the forums pretty heavily (takes a while to sift through the pointless whining with no suggestions in it and the rage quitters) and every time suggestion comes up, these guys take it into consideration and in fact have just listed a ton of forum ideas they are actually putting in! This gives me tons of faith in this game and makes me feel like this will one day be a game a lot of those rage quitters will have wished they stuck with.
Just my two cents,
Good Job guys, it is not easy, keep up the good work and make us proud.
I love anyone who, in a position of power with a (at least partially) frustrated community, can put humor and remain both light and serious in his post. I enjoy honesty and directness. One thing I would still like to see is FvF, which is canon (wargames), or a reworking of the PvP que system because at Admiral it's gotten to the point where I can't PvP unless I sit there for (literally) two-three hours waiting. I suggest FvF as a temporary fix to the problem. At Admiral I don't care about money, exp, badges, I could get nothing for FvF and I would be incredibly happy. I just would enjoy the ability to play.
That said, I'm really excited about the changes listed; and I thank you for putting things back into perspective for me. I was quite frustrated, and you reminded that these things take time, and they're not perfect the second the come out. That and there are hundred things you're working on and a thousand more that pop up every day so dealing with each problem and deciding how to organize them is indeed an enormous challenge.
So I really appreciate the State of the Game posts, they are informative, they give me a sense of where the game is heading, they show me that Cryptic is listening (which is easy to forget unfortunately), and they are an entertaining read.
Well done so far Cryptic, I look forward to what comes next.
-Arnfasta
Hi there STO. I just read your state of game update and it sounds great. I am prob one of those core Star Trek people you refer to. So, I look forward to seeing just how you go from here. If it helps, I like the game more with every play.
Eddie
Death penalty? please, no.
There are so many times when we get dragged into Enemy Signal conflicts without trying to, and then get stuck there and killed, and keep spawning in the middle of an enemy squadron. Which will then just kill us again. and again, and again, and again. with no escape but exiting.
I formally request that you do not have a death penalty in the game. And I hope others will join me in this request.
I have to agree with several others "No Death Penalty". I don't see that it adds anything.
And my vote for next faction. Is Cardassians!
Without a death penalty, this game won't do nearly as well as it should. What's the point of playing when there's no consequence? Why bother expending effort if you can die over and over and over and over without so much as an energy credit bill or an injured bridge officer? Power-levellers [or people who play for more than 2 hours a day, which excludes myself] are ranking up quickly because:
a) The game is too easy.
b) There is no penalty for being killed.
Increasing the difficulty a smidgeon and introducing a small death penalty will force players to be that little bit more careful, will prolong combat and add in risk. These are all good things.
But above all without risk how can you have accomplishment?
It's very obvious that Cryptic is paying more attention to the members' feedback, as evidenced with better communications. I know I welcome dstahl's release note updates posted to the Forums, along with articles such as Craig's.
I do hope the marketing team figures a better way to consolidate feedback. I understand how these Forums are an open, community arena. But there are so many, many good ideas scattered across different thread topics. I'd really like to see an online community event -- a "convention" of registered members who are able to share their insights, ideas and hopes. Or more polling by registered members (the ones paying for the game, not the general public) on what they want to see next.
I know you're dealing with IDIC with the feedback. We DO appreciate/notice when you pay attention and acknowledge you're serving your customers. *Thank you.*
Now get back to reducing the number of open Support tickets!
I read the state of the game letter and thought it was a bit condesending....like we should have a clue how tirelessly and selfless they have been working.....Come on it's your job...you do it for MONEY!!
Support.
They have said for a couple of weeks now how they are "devoted" to us...but did any one else catch the snarky post by a dev yesterday? saying if we complained he wouldn't come back?
Game Adjustments
Again just me but...
Respec..I have no need for them.
Death Penalty...I get penalized in real life for stuff that goes wrong...I have no need for that in a game.
Difficulty slider...um.....Not sure why this would be needed. ground combat to easy? fight without a sheild.
More Auto fire.....No thanks
Improve memory Alpha.....No intrest unless it turns into a vibrant and involved crafting proccess.
Fixing Commodity Missions.....I personaly think this mission type is more Star Treky than anyother type in game at the moment.
Tribble Comming
Oh boy a test server just like every other game in the world....is it a good thing sure is but nothing special.
Special task force
Meh..isn't this just mission content? so your releasing A single mission....Wheeeee
Update 1
Is this just suff that should have been in at release?
Beyond update 1
Just seams like more wishing to me...A it's lot of the same stuff they have been saying pre release....but still with out details.
And then some more comments about how if we only knew......
I am really trying to like STO... but it's like they never even watched the show.
Some people get star trek some people don't....I think the developers are part of the don't get it crowd.
_________________________________________________________________________________
Comments
The majority of the player base does NOT want DPs!
Do a survey upon login of a player to determine this. Do this before you change fundamental behavior of the game. People LIKE no DPs, at least a majority do.
Honestly, DPs only should be in PVP.
Example - Improving Memory Aplha - well how? what is the thought process behind it? what is going to be improve within the next 6 to 12 weeks?
Is this going to be a new system compare to what currently have now, which I believe the majority of the players hate and want it gone, what exactly is going to be the improvement, can we make better/improve the items we gather to make our ships and weapons better and unique? Is the improvement going to be worth it for players to start crafting and not have another vendor crafting system, the way it is now, that is very confusing and does not give any benefits.
Example - Respec ? what does this entail, (free or fee) what about the biggest issues that everyone want to know about.. "SKILLS" where the revamp skills tree, showing how everything work, fix the UI of misinformation, etc. raise the skill cap limits, etc.
the list go on..
I am sorry, but this is just another pr fluff to me, because, if they truly want do all of these things, and I been in since CB and prepaid for a year, they should be setting up a testbed with people who been in CB and OB as focus groups users to really get a sense if they are hitting the mark, before they go down the path of developing the features.too much, the worst things you can do , it to develop something, spend ton of money, and the customers did not think it was as important as others. Getting the 20% right is the most important. if anything the priorities to me should be
1. Skills- showing the new skills paths and dependencies
2. Respec
3. Ground combat & Kling PVE
4. UI fixes - misinformation - fixes bug missions - like big dig, and others
5. PVP and balance of certain class/fractions skills. (queue too long, unbalance, not open, etc)
6. A. Crafting - revamp and change it entirely, B. more mission contents - both combat and non-combat, end game
7. More open worlds/zone, Also, let us revisit old systems if we just want to explore and see some of the great ones we like, instead of locking us out, make it feel like it a community, this sorely lacking, no sense of community or gathering places.
8. Put life into STO - environmental - where the creatures, the npc daily life activities, where the movements, weathers, etc.
Some may agree with this list or not, i just picking several of what I thinks of the top issues.. yes I like death penalty, but it not to me a high prioritiy items, where I need to have it within 6 to 12 weeks, I can wait for it another several months. Maybe is just me..
I do have a few options I would consider as a death penalty and some would be a game breaker to me.
Possible DP Solutions
Game breaking DP
And as my final points are the same as my point. Make death penalty optional based upon the difficulty slider. If I log on and want to blow up romulans when I'm having a bad day I don't want to get more frustrated by being penalized.
Possible difficulty slider names : Picard (easy) - Janeway (medium) - Sisko (hard) - Kirk (hardcore)
Im Captain 4, I have not rushed, i play Casual, Not logged in for 2 days, I want a Casual MMO, I quit Lotro. I am a massive believer in the DP. Your Idea of DP is all wrong and perhaps your views would be better suited to EVE onlines forums.
I also made it to lvl 32 with a Warden without a single death and Lotro rewards you for such Heroic deeds. I don't want this in STO but I do want atleast for my pulse to rise slightly when I die or am about too rather than just re-spawning with a completely Pristine ship
Commander "Raise shields we have engaged the Undine" Capt " Nah don't bother we will re-spawn in 5 seconds and kick there butts!"
Indeed, but perhaps this should have been settled before I paid for my lifetime. So, if it ends up being along the lines of wow, city of heroes, eve, or earth and beyond.... I will expect my money back less time played.
I like this and can see it working mate. I like some of your other points but didn't want to quote it all
while your opinion didnt carry much thought inside itself I do see a reason for a DP. You are no trekkie thats for sure because there was a DP in all of star trek, even if it was in a small measure. I say there should be a DP. It makes the game realistic. It helps you learn from your mistakes and not just run around like a brain dead moron trying to playing an educational game. Yes star trek online is an educational game. It teaches you a great deal of science, engineering, mechanic in the game. Example, how are you flying your ship. not straight out all the time, your changing the systems, reallocating tach mods, carring extra types of torps, changing your beam weapons while not in combat. adding different mods to your ship learning which one stack together and changing BO before you get into a tough situation. DP should be brought in. only winny lazy brats want to never die and just run around without a brain in star trek online. Lets face it. this game is for a trekkie and an avaerge techie. learning from your mistakes is apart of life, so "YES" it should be in the game. hell have a BO die after 2 times of being killed. Have a station mod go offline due to damage while in combat, get a repremand from star fleet for not finishing/ completing a mission in a timely matter. give us the option to have the prime directive choice as every captain in star trek has had the choice to do. Give us demotions when we step out of line and actually reward us when we do things in service of our faction. Make this about star trek and not lazy trek. Give the klingons their house names.
@ Death Penalty- Yes...I need a reason not to charge. Maybe a 5 min regional cooldown for all abilities. You are not out of the fight completely but you can't engage to your full extent either. For ground combat lets maybe go with 2 minute cooldown on all non weapon abilities.
@ Difficulty Slider- I dont think a slider is in order. I think seperate servers is in order. I also think those servers should have different skill point and rank caps. Easy Server = Max Rank Commander...Intermediate Server = Max Rank Captain...Hard Server = Max Rank Rear Admiral. More skill points would be available for the hard servers, after all the greater the risk the greater the reward. Would also create an atmosphere people can learn in rather than getting shafted by know-it-alls or being purposely misled by higher level players. Just thought I would throw it out there.
Well.. I don't want DP exept in PVP, so I agree to that statement..
Autofire on ground combat is so and so.. I think it's a good idea to get that back. but then again, I'm REALY sattisfied when it comes to autofire on space combat, since it's easier to keep track on when to fire the torpedoes.. How ever.. I tried to keep autofire on both the phasers AND the torpedoes, but that didn't work very well.. but that's just minor details..
To get the chance to walk around the WHOLE ship, I'm REALY looking forward to.
The more ST feeling, the better..
Like walking from bridge to engineering or to ten forward, or the brig, no matter..
Star Trek IS a SAE, Search and Explore, type of story that I enjoy.. Also.. One thing I would LOVE, is the possibility to, instead of typing sublement to the captains Log, use the mike instead.. what is it called.. Speech to text kind of thing?
Annywhoo.. Just throwing wishes out there.. ^^,
Sublement:
Keep up the good work guys^^,
Live long and prosper..
Woah and I though I was pretty tough
For all the bad things said this needs to be said.
Thank you Cryptic, STO is damned good, keep it coming.
-Visigoth ^^
YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(the map that this happened to me on most recently is the village with the tall green crystals (it was also heavy with wind and dust effects)) I must have died 5-6 times because I am having to solo groups of 6-7 Klingons (the groups with a swordmaster + weapons master is usually the one that kills me)
Also WE NEED LARGER INVENTORIES! The player inventory (the I key inventory) needs to be twice as big (with the two areas being separate (make life a little easier on people who actually have tribbles). The crafting times/ Commodities
eat up so much of one's inventory. Then every weapon/kit/starship item that drops.
I'm commanding a starship and this is the limit to what I can carry?? I read somewhere that the number of slots increase, but starting players have it almost worse.. you don't know what is good to keep or trash or sell at the exchange... and having to sell things to make room in your inventory is problematic for starting players.
Sure you have equipment slots on your characters, ship, BO....
But Ideally your ship is going to have all it slots filled...
Your B/O can only hold usable items (and they will use them... so don't give them that picard wine unless you don't even want the empty bottle to look at).. so that leave your basic inventory of 42 slots is really not enough... Concidering you will likely pick up (in less than 2 hours of playing)
Batteries (x4 types)
Crafting times (x3-6)
commodities (x4)
Food and ground use itmes (x4-8)
That right there you are down to about 20 slots... and I didn't include any ship or ground equipment..
On the issue of the death penalty, I think its a good idea IF its implemented carefully. My biggest concern is that unlike other games, you don't get a whole lot of points for running around getting into random battles in STO, you get most of your points from completing missions. If the potential growth potential in a mission is limited to the points you get for winning it (plus the limited points you get for killing the random ships in it), then I would hope the downside potential would be limited to a similar amount (IE if the maximum skill points you could get from a mission was 600, you shouldn't stand to lose more than 600 over the course of all the deaths you have during that mission). I would't mind a mission where I don't make a lot of progress to the next grade if I get myself fragged a bunch of times, I would be a little irritated to lose out big (especially in the cases where you repawn in the middle of a battle - which happens somewhat frequently in deep space encounters- and get wiped out before you ever had a chance). Also, given the nature of PvP battles, I hope that there's no significant death penalty in "death match" style games.
Also, I would love to see the Z axis in space combat fixed. It would be great if we had at least 180 degrees of pitch (not suggesting we be able to do flips, but pointing straight up and straight down would be really nice). This is especially noticable in PvP and in missions where different groups of enemy ships are higher and lower in the Z axis. You spend a lot of time making circle after circle to get down. If its annoying me in an escort, I can only imagine what the people flying T4 or T5 cruisers feel like w/ their turn rate. It would also be nice as an escort player to be able to point my limited weapons arc wherever its needed. Its especially noticable when someone decloaks directly above or below you in PvP, sure you can fire turrets or beams at them, but cannons and torpedos are useless.
Again, thanks to the Dev's for listening to the players. I'm definately a fan of the game so far and looking forward to seeing its evolution.
II think that if the simulation is respectful of an RP scenario then I think a DP would be accepted.
I mean we've all seen crew and bridge officers, even captains get incapacitated after severe battles where the ship and bridge are severely damaged.
I would accept the following should a DP be implemented:
Reduced Power to Systems cooldown period: This simulates the dynamic of both crew and ship recovering and rebuilding after being decimated in combat. You would be able to maneuver after a certain period of time and your CLASS of captain would affect which subsystems came online first; i.e. ENG Captain Tree would have engines online first, TAC - weapons systems, etc.
In World of Warcraft it is a 10 minute cooldown. You still can fight, but at a severe disadvantage. However, within that 10 minute timeframe, you can slowly build strength and re-engage in a battle - with very limited choices and abilities.
I don't mind a little more challenge in the game, but this DP really needs to be done for the RIGHT reasons as opposed to reacting to customer demand to do so.
As long as it is LOGICAL and makes sense to do so, I'm all for it.
-kill off a bridge officer. makes you think twice about stratdgy
-damage a station in battle makes you think twice about running into 10 ships without a plan.
-actually diable a sub system
-have outpost in space for major repairs, mod repair, engineers can get the ship moving but you need a space station for major repairs if your ship gets that heavly damaged.
-make ships breakable in combat. If i target a nacell the yeah it should come off. If i target engines then yeah they should die if i take them out. you have trails on the ships while they fly. make smoke or material trails.
-next faction to open up should be the card, romulans, then the dominion.
-Please change Q from floating in space. bring Q onto the ships. I did search in the archives and havent found one ep to display that Q appears outside a ship as a tall being. the Q is sinical but not rediculous.
- why is the undine admiral still at starbase 39 after you find out she is an undine. doesnt make sense to see the character there still after the mission reveals her.
- why cant a rear admiral access the admiral uniform. a diplomat wears them as well as all admirals. MAKE IT SO
Fascinating all the complaints, but promising is all the things to possibly come! Polygeminus Grex jokes are always welcome. LOL
But it would be unfair to current and future players to add a Death Penalty now that there hasn't been one this whole time. It would not be fair to me, someone who works 80 hours a week and therefore does not have time to play Star Trek online 24/7 like certain individuals, to add the death penalty now after all those no-job-having losers have had the chance to level their characters up to admiral without any death penalty, and then meanwhile now I would have a death penalty leading up to that point.
If people want a death penalty then you should make an OPTIONAL death penalty that players can turn on, if they are punishment-loving masochists, etc. But for me I think it would just be unfair punishment for having a life.
But here, I have read the forums pretty heavily (takes a while to sift through the pointless whining with no suggestions in it and the rage quitters) and every time suggestion comes up, these guys take it into consideration and in fact have just listed a ton of forum ideas they are actually putting in! This gives me tons of faith in this game and makes me feel like this will one day be a game a lot of those rage quitters will have wished they stuck with.
Just my two cents,
Good Job guys, it is not easy, keep up the good work and make us proud.
That said, I'm really excited about the changes listed; and I thank you for putting things back into perspective for me. I was quite frustrated, and you reminded that these things take time, and they're not perfect the second the come out. That and there are hundred things you're working on and a thousand more that pop up every day so dealing with each problem and deciding how to organize them is indeed an enormous challenge.
So I really appreciate the State of the Game posts, they are informative, they give me a sense of where the game is heading, they show me that Cryptic is listening (which is easy to forget unfortunately), and they are an entertaining read.
Well done so far Cryptic, I look forward to what comes next.
-Arnfasta
Eddie
There are so many times when we get dragged into Enemy Signal conflicts without trying to, and then get stuck there and killed, and keep spawning in the middle of an enemy squadron. Which will then just kill us again. and again, and again, and again. with no escape but exiting.
I formally request that you do not have a death penalty in the game. And I hope others will join me in this request.
a) The game is too easy.
b) There is no penalty for being killed.
Increasing the difficulty a smidgeon and introducing a small death penalty will force players to be that little bit more careful, will prolong combat and add in risk. These are all good things.
But above all without risk how can you have accomplishment?
Thank you, Craig (and Cryptic).
It's very obvious that Cryptic is paying more attention to the members' feedback, as evidenced with better communications. I know I welcome dstahl's release note updates posted to the Forums, along with articles such as Craig's.
I do hope the marketing team figures a better way to consolidate feedback. I understand how these Forums are an open, community arena. But there are so many, many good ideas scattered across different thread topics. I'd really like to see an online community event -- a "convention" of registered members who are able to share their insights, ideas and hopes. Or more polling by registered members (the ones paying for the game, not the general public) on what they want to see next.
I know you're dealing with IDIC with the feedback. We DO appreciate/notice when you pay attention and acknowledge you're serving your customers. *Thank you.*
Now get back to reducing the number of open Support tickets!
I read the state of the game letter and thought it was a bit condesending....like we should have a clue how tirelessly and selfless they have been working.....Come on it's your job...you do it for MONEY!!
Support.
They have said for a couple of weeks now how they are "devoted" to us...but did any one else catch the snarky post by a dev yesterday? saying if we complained he wouldn't come back?
Game Adjustments
Again just me but...
Respec..I have no need for them.
Death Penalty...I get penalized in real life for stuff that goes wrong...I have no need for that in a game.
Difficulty slider...um.....Not sure why this would be needed. ground combat to easy? fight without a sheild.
More Auto fire.....No thanks
Improve memory Alpha.....No intrest unless it turns into a vibrant and involved crafting proccess.
Fixing Commodity Missions.....I personaly think this mission type is more Star Treky than anyother type in game at the moment.
Tribble Comming
Oh boy a test server just like every other game in the world....is it a good thing sure is but nothing special.
Special task force
Meh..isn't this just mission content? so your releasing A single mission....Wheeeee
Update 1
Is this just suff that should have been in at release?
Beyond update 1
Just seams like more wishing to me...A it's lot of the same stuff they have been saying pre release....but still with out details.
And then some more comments about how if we only knew......
I am really trying to like STO... but it's like they never even watched the show.
Some people get star trek some people don't....I think the developers are part of the don't get it crowd.
_________________________________________________________________________________