I'm shocked. There is some real information in this post, and a lot of clues as to what is coming. Usually their little interview/qa posts are so devoid of any real content that I was a short step away from ignoring them completely.
So Cryptic - well done. More posts like this and less of those little "no info nuggets" you usually post that take about 30 seconds to read.
I have been enjoying STO since the pre-order open beta and I have been thinking just what else would make this game a little more exciting. We have space PvP, ground PvP, along with Fleet Actions to interact with each other. However, we do not have any personal lose or gains from it, other than some XP and perhaps a nice piece of equipment. I would love it if we could have some type of planet control for fleets. Perhaps allow that fleet to even build cities on the planets with defense on the surface and around the atmosphere of the planet. I think that would add another level of excitement to the game and give another level to being part of a fleet. Let me give you a little more detail of what I have in mind.
Lets say fleets can control a planet or planets, which they can build cities along with defenses. Of course there will be certain requirements that have to be met. For example, a fleet must have a certain number of players and resources to attempt taking control of a planet. Once the fleet receives control of a planet by either force or diplomatic relations, that fleet can then begin to build their cities along with planetary defenses. The buildings and defense can be upgradable. This will give fleets plenty to do as they work towards building and defending their planets. Let's add a little more excitement to this by allowing other fleets the opportunity to try and take other fleets planets by scheduling an invasion. Of course you can keep it as the Feds verses its enemies and vice versa. This is just the tip of the iceberg, you can take this to a whole other level with barely having to think at all; ideas are popping into my head as I type right now. However, I don't want to sit here and write a 5 mb post and create a programmers nightmare..:) I am sure everyone gets the jest.
Id be totally fine with a repair bill. The more you TRIBBLE up, the less cash youll have to buy cool things. This way you are rewarded for playing better by being able to afford things faster.
Skill point loss? No thanks. "You screwed up, so instead of learning from your mistake, your character is actually going to UNLEARN things!" Perfectly logical. :P Seriously though, not a fan of time sinks in this manner. (I played EQ. /shudder)
Permanent BO deaths? Seriously? One of Cryptic's shining achievements is the level of detail in their customization. Who wants to spend 2 hours making their favorite bridge officer look EXACTLY like their Aunt Mable's neighbor's cousin's sister's hot roommate, only to have all that time lost because you had an emergency bio break after eating a bad tuna sandwich?
Death "Penalty" is misleading. Instead of penalizing failure, try rewarding success. I know it would be harder to code for, but I think it would be more rewarding for the player base.
Perhaps:
If you complete a mission without dieing, you receive bonus loot.
If a mission is now worth 200 skill points, make it worth 100 skill points, but if you complete it without dieing, you receive the full 200. This wouldn't punish people who are simply having a rough time and learning their way through an encounter. If they died twice, or thirty times, they can keep trying and keep learning without extra penalties.
I'm very excited about these new changes and will be resubscribing because of them thank you Cryptic for listening to your community...I have quick question tho...Will the difficulty slider (most excited about) work similar to the way it works in your previous game City of Heroes???...Heres a link to COH rules for the difficulty slider if you don't know what they are... http://coh.coldfront.net/index.php/content/view/533/32/ also here is more info on it http://cohvault.ign.com/View.php?view=Guides.Detail&id=77
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.
_________________________________________________________________________________
Just shut up. Ur attitude is exactly the thing that drives most Dev's crazy. You live in a world most probably where the squeaky wheel gets the oil, so u squeak the loudest. Just shhht. True Trek fans know patience and Cryptic seems to ask for this as well. Thus far they are delivering their prommis so show some regard.
The fact that they indeed refer to whiners a lot is because u are too loud. If you don't like it, be gone but make sure to measure ur own actions as severely in real life as u do here with other people!
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?
And why try if there is going to be a punishment for trying?
The other side of death penalties are :
1. People refuse to group out of fear of having the penalty imposed for someone's mistake
2. Enjoyment is cut back, because time is lost 'recovering' from the penalty
Not for nothing I hate getting killed.... and once again it is none of your business how another player choses to play the game
Yes I too want a challenge... what I expect is episodes that involve thought and strategy to overcome for both solo and group. So far, we have gotten merely the same smelly cheese as found in wow. Don't get me wrong some cheese is good, but this is star trek after all.
I'm telling you they are selling us a bogus bag of goods in the form of this death penalty... Smooth PR and duct tape solutions won't fix the state of the game.
Further, ethically speaking ... charging people for a life time sub and then throwing in any penalty after money has changed hands is technically illegal.
And I feel I should remind everyone what happened with Sony and Star Wars Galaxies. After the damage was done there... there was no going back... Sony established a very negative reputation which will linger despite any current and future product line.
Just shut up. Ur attitude is exactly the thing that drives most Dev's crazy. You live in a world most probably where the squeaky wheel gets the oil, so u squeak the loudest. Just shhht. True Trek fans know patience and Cryptic seems to ask for this as well. Thus far they are delivering their prommis so show some regard.
The fact that they indeed refer to whiners a lot is because u are too loud. If you don't like it, be gone but make sure to measure ur own actions as severely in real life as u do here with other people!
WOW How vile and idiotic you sound....I offer critisism and you rail on me WOW....squeaky wheel...WOW...
If I do end up leaving the game it sure won't be because of the failures of the dev team..although there are many...it will because of ******z like your self sir!!
Or did I hitting a raw nerve that sent you into this fit??
I really hope that most of the stuff that is written in that letter will be included over the coming next month's.
When I get a good laugh out of developers letters, they tend to be better than those where I just shake my head in disbelieve of what devs lie the heavens down on us. So id say GOOD WORK (i especially love the Fly her apart)
Keep up the good work Cryptic and give us some new content soon. And for gods sake I hope those Raid episodes will be as hard as possible. I want to be actually able to die sometimes.
Currently status quo is go in with full weapons and finnish the enemy off with a turn and a shot of my Tri-Cobalt device. Ground combat is just rushing into the enemy pack, setting up shield and medical generatos and phasering away.
And why try if there is going to be a punishment for trying?
The other side of death penalties are :
People refuse to group out of fear of having the penalty imposed for someone's mistake
What penalties would they get?? If *I* die and lose 50 skillpoints, how does that affect the people I'm grouping with??
2. Enjoyment is cut back, because time is lost 'recovering' from the penalty
Not for nothing I hate getting killed.... and once again it is none of your business how another player choses to play the game
Well, it *IS* my business. I want to have fun. I'm not having fun without the challenge. There is no challenge without risk, without consequence. That 'time sink' for non-idiots should come from taking a little bit more care of your ship and your avatar.
Yes I too want a challenge... what I expect is episodes that involve thought and strategy to overcome for both solo and group.
But none of that can exist if you can just mash your way through without thought.
Further, ethically speaking ... charging people for a life time sub and then throwing in any penalty after money has changed hands is technically illegal.
As someone who is actually responsible for eCommerce in a major multi-national... you're wrong. This stuff is covered by the ToU.
And I feel I should remind everyone what happened with Sony and Star Wars Galaxies. After the damage was done there... there was no going back... Sony established a very negative reputation which will linger despite any current and future product line.
Sony changed the fundamental scope of the game. Taking away 50 skillpoints or 5% of your energy credits isn't a fundamental change.
In the movies, the said the Genesis torpedo didn't work. However, it was meant to be detonated on a lifeless planet, moon, or other dead form. This wasn't done; The torpedo exploded within a nebula. I propose this is why it didn't work, not because it used unstable protomatter.
Obviously, a story line could involve modern day scientists trying to re-create or simply did finally perfect the process (illegally - or the Kilngons did it or or a another race based on Dr. Marcus's work).
The ramifications, secrecy and of course the weaonization of the device by the Klingons or other militaristic races are obvious multi-story adventures that could involve one or more episodes.
As someone who is actually responsible for eCommerce in a major multi-national... you're wrong. This stuff is covered by the ToU.
Sony changed the fundamental scope of the game. Taking away 50 skillpoints or 5% of your energy credits isn't a fundamental change.
I don't know, but a simple tort in a small claims court... would suffice to get the ball rolling. All it takes is for a simple country judge to render a decision. Even your 'multi-national' eCommerce company would be forced to respond...
Also a ToU does not apply the same in every Country, State, or county for that matter. I laugh my tail off at the corporate legal stuff that looks like it was put together by the junior varsity debate club.
And where do you get the 50 skill point quote. To my knowledge that information has not 'officially' released.
Complete change of topic. Im trying to register a friend and when we click register explorer tells us the certificate for this web page has been expired or not validated yet.
Is this a common problem right now?? little nervous about billing information.
I realize that many people will heckle the devs for not releasing a game that is 100% perfect in every way.
I for one want to say thank you for all your hard work, and feel that for an initial release, you did a good job.
Now you have the fun of trying to keep your development up with players who have no wishes other than to fly space ships until their eyes bleed, all with various opinions and varying levels of content/discontent.
Keep up the great work. It's great that you guys are listening to your community.
STO is the kind of IP that could develop into one of the larger MMO's out there if it continues to get TLC from those behind the curtain, so thanks again for your efforts.
The thing i would MOST like to see in STO right now is some sort of ship "skin". I really like the Cruisers, I Cpt a Vesper-Excalibur-Constitution hybrid and I really LIKE IT! i dont want a butt-ugly heavy cruiser or a giant lumbering exploration -thing- I WANT TO KEEP MY CRUISER!! So if it's not too much trouble, maybe you Devs can "develope" a way for me to have the weapons load out etc of a higher rank ship but still fly MY Cruiser. If turn rates etc change i will simply have to adapt. Thanks for reading this. Now, please--Make it so!
I was pleased with the direction STO is going, and understood the context. However, I wish you had listened to Craig. The main reason I left Everquest years ago was the death penalty. Now with STO, I am stuck. I had thought I made a good decision to purchase a lifetime subscription, but as I read the State of the Game, I realized I had lost all of my leverage. Now that you have my money, you gain nothing if I stay, and reduce server load if I leave. I wish that had occurred to me sooner.
I followed at least one thread on the Death Penalty, and thought the suggestion, that those who wanted a death penalty could destroy one of their own inventory items, to be apt. There are so many reasons that a ship or away party can be destroyed that are not related to ones own skill, but to others or problemmatic game design, that there is no justice in assessing a penalty in addition to the need to respawn and rejoin the action. For example, you set the difficulty of an instance to match the number of captains who are assigned to it, but if one or more captains warp out to sector space, the higher difficulty remains for those who stayed, and destruction is more likely. You even have captains who enter an instance and hang there doing nothing, yet earn the credit, while those actively engaging in combat take the risks, and with a death penalty, would suffer added consequences.
I feel betrayed by this decision, and my lifetime subscription traps me...if I want to stay in the Star Trek universe I enjoyed in beta and since launch, I am going to have to live with loosing something I earned...Everquest all over again. You should have listened to Craig.
Complete change of topic. Im trying to register a friend and when we click register explorer tells us the certificate for this web page has been expired or not validated yet.
Is this a common problem right now?? little nervous about billing information.
Thanks
PicHard
Oh boy! Please try harder to find where you should put this of topic thingie of yours.... or we will :mad:
So on topic again:
Death Penalty: hope they will ask us first... I mean really ask us first. What would it be like; cuz I am not playing so I can loose a whole day of play cuz I warped into the wrong crowd, for example.
Yes I too want a challenge... what I expect is episodes that involve thought and strategy to overcome for both solo and group.
But none of that can exist if you can just mash your way through without thought.
Your assumption is based upon your belief that other people should do what other people choose to do.
Player A uses strategy and preparation for each fight, player B pew pews Klingons.
Player A desires a death penalty with little fear for his own safety since he dies less often. But likes the realism and challenge aspect of it.
Player B doesn't want a death penalty because he has fun just pew pewing Klingons and respawns and continues pew pewing Klingons.
Which player plays the right way and who gets to judge which is the right way? Is player B any less deserving of his version of fun than player A. Or the other way around? Both pay the same company the same amount to play a game they both consider fun.
Reserve the death penalty for PvP and I think you'd make most people happy.
The PVE aggression rules are more than a little off right now. Simply attempting to use manuevering to rotate shield facings while engaging one group of NPC's in a Deep Space battle can result in eventually pulling 3 surrounding groups. There is no opportunity when this ocuurs near the level player spawn point to use "strategy" or "tactics" to avoid a recurring, escalating loss to apoorly implemented Death Penalty in these cases.
Additionally, in the ground game, there are significant pathing issues for BO's that can result in tatcical disadvantage despite the best planning.
Frankly, the PVE game is simply not ready for a Death Penalty.
I like very much the idea of a success oriented death penalty though.
Complete a mission or PvP match without death, and you get 150% of the normal EXP say. 1 death, and it's 100%, more than 1 results in a 75% of normal exp reward.
That is a resonable penalty in my view.
You don't lose anything per se, but your growth will be tremendously easier if you use better tactics and *group*.
Removing progress already earned is why I left the last MMO I played. I suggest treading lightly and carefully with a Death Penalty. The game does need a better reward for good play, but as pointed out, some of us work 50 to 60 hours a week, and have family responsibilites as well.
Please keep that in mind when you make your decision on how this will go live.
I am looking forward to the upcoming changes... all of you who complained in beta, headstart and now in game need to just chill, things are coming along nicely.
Comments
So Cryptic - well done. More posts like this and less of those little "no info nuggets" you usually post that take about 30 seconds to read.
Lets say fleets can control a planet or planets, which they can build cities along with defenses. Of course there will be certain requirements that have to be met. For example, a fleet must have a certain number of players and resources to attempt taking control of a planet. Once the fleet receives control of a planet by either force or diplomatic relations, that fleet can then begin to build their cities along with planetary defenses. The buildings and defense can be upgradable. This will give fleets plenty to do as they work towards building and defending their planets. Let's add a little more excitement to this by allowing other fleets the opportunity to try and take other fleets planets by scheduling an invasion. Of course you can keep it as the Feds verses its enemies and vice versa. This is just the tip of the iceberg, you can take this to a whole other level with barely having to think at all; ideas are popping into my head as I type right now. However, I don't want to sit here and write a 5 mb post and create a programmers nightmare..:) I am sure everyone gets the jest.
As for DPs:
Id be totally fine with a repair bill. The more you TRIBBLE up, the less cash youll have to buy cool things. This way you are rewarded for playing better by being able to afford things faster.
Skill point loss? No thanks. "You screwed up, so instead of learning from your mistake, your character is actually going to UNLEARN things!" Perfectly logical. :P Seriously though, not a fan of time sinks in this manner. (I played EQ. /shudder)
Permanent BO deaths? Seriously? One of Cryptic's shining achievements is the level of detail in their customization. Who wants to spend 2 hours making their favorite bridge officer look EXACTLY like their Aunt Mable's neighbor's cousin's sister's hot roommate, only to have all that time lost because you had an emergency bio break after eating a bad tuna sandwich?
Death "Penalty" is misleading. Instead of penalizing failure, try rewarding success. I know it would be harder to code for, but I think it would be more rewarding for the player base.
Perhaps:
If you complete a mission without dieing, you receive bonus loot.
If a mission is now worth 200 skill points, make it worth 100 skill points, but if you complete it without dieing, you receive the full 200. This wouldn't punish people who are simply having a rough time and learning their way through an encounter. If they died twice, or thirty times, they can keep trying and keep learning without extra penalties.
Just my 2cents.
Just shut up. Ur attitude is exactly the thing that drives most Dev's crazy. You live in a world most probably where the squeaky wheel gets the oil, so u squeak the loudest. Just shhht. True Trek fans know patience and Cryptic seems to ask for this as well. Thus far they are delivering their prommis so show some regard.
The fact that they indeed refer to whiners a lot is because u are too loud. If you don't like it, be gone but make sure to measure ur own actions as severely in real life as u do here with other people!
And why try if there is going to be a punishment for trying?
The other side of death penalties are :
1. People refuse to group out of fear of having the penalty imposed for someone's mistake
2. Enjoyment is cut back, because time is lost 'recovering' from the penalty
Not for nothing I hate getting killed.... and once again it is none of your business how another player choses to play the game
Yes I too want a challenge... what I expect is episodes that involve thought and strategy to overcome for both solo and group. So far, we have gotten merely the same smelly cheese as found in wow. Don't get me wrong some cheese is good, but this is star trek after all.
I'm telling you they are selling us a bogus bag of goods in the form of this death penalty... Smooth PR and duct tape solutions won't fix the state of the game.
Further, ethically speaking ... charging people for a life time sub and then throwing in any penalty after money has changed hands is technically illegal.
And I feel I should remind everyone what happened with Sony and Star Wars Galaxies. After the damage was done there... there was no going back... Sony established a very negative reputation which will linger despite any current and future product line.
No death penalty, Iam happy the way it is.
That is all
WOW How vile and idiotic you sound....I offer critisism and you rail on me WOW....squeaky wheel...WOW...
If I do end up leaving the game it sure won't be because of the failures of the dev team..although there are many...it will because of ******z like your self sir!!
Or did I hitting a raw nerve that sent you into this fit??
When I get a good laugh out of developers letters, they tend to be better than those where I just shake my head in disbelieve of what devs lie the heavens down on us. So id say GOOD WORK (i especially love the Fly her apart)
Keep up the good work Cryptic and give us some new content soon. And for gods sake I hope those Raid episodes will be as hard as possible. I want to be actually able to die sometimes.
Currently status quo is go in with full weapons and finnish the enemy off with a turn and a shot of my Tri-Cobalt device. Ground combat is just rushing into the enemy pack, setting up shield and medical generatos and phasering away.
Finally, Frodo can take his stiupid ring back to WoW where it belongs. . .
Good riddance to everyone who ever said they would leave if this ever got into game.
STO will be much better off, without you =P
perhaps .... but, you might be left playing with yourself no?
Well, it *IS* my business. I want to have fun. I'm not having fun without the challenge. There is no challenge without risk, without consequence. That 'time sink' for non-idiots should come from taking a little bit more care of your ship and your avatar.
But none of that can exist if you can just mash your way through without thought.
As someone who is actually responsible for eCommerce in a major multi-national... you're wrong. This stuff is covered by the ToU.
Sony changed the fundamental scope of the game. Taking away 50 skillpoints or 5% of your energy credits isn't a fundamental change.
We will like you even if you have your own goat!
Obviously, a story line could involve modern day scientists trying to re-create or simply did finally perfect the process (illegally - or the Kilngons did it or or a another race based on Dr. Marcus's work).
The ramifications, secrecy and of course the weaonization of the device by the Klingons or other militaristic races are obvious multi-story adventures that could involve one or more episodes.
I don't know, but a simple tort in a small claims court... would suffice to get the ball rolling. All it takes is for a simple country judge to render a decision. Even your 'multi-national' eCommerce company would be forced to respond...
Also a ToU does not apply the same in every Country, State, or county for that matter. I laugh my tail off at the corporate legal stuff that looks like it was put together by the junior varsity debate club.
And where do you get the 50 skill point quote. To my knowledge that information has not 'officially' released.
but didn't read anything about a remake of space sector
Is this a common problem right now?? little nervous about billing information.
Thanks
PicHard
V.
I for one want to say thank you for all your hard work, and feel that for an initial release, you did a good job.
Now you have the fun of trying to keep your development up with players who have no wishes other than to fly space ships until their eyes bleed, all with various opinions and varying levels of content/discontent.
Keep up the great work. It's great that you guys are listening to your community.
STO is the kind of IP that could develop into one of the larger MMO's out there if it continues to get TLC from those behind the curtain, so thanks again for your efforts.
I followed at least one thread on the Death Penalty, and thought the suggestion, that those who wanted a death penalty could destroy one of their own inventory items, to be apt. There are so many reasons that a ship or away party can be destroyed that are not related to ones own skill, but to others or problemmatic game design, that there is no justice in assessing a penalty in addition to the need to respawn and rejoin the action. For example, you set the difficulty of an instance to match the number of captains who are assigned to it, but if one or more captains warp out to sector space, the higher difficulty remains for those who stayed, and destruction is more likely. You even have captains who enter an instance and hang there doing nothing, yet earn the credit, while those actively engaging in combat take the risks, and with a death penalty, would suffer added consequences.
I feel betrayed by this decision, and my lifetime subscription traps me...if I want to stay in the Star Trek universe I enjoyed in beta and since launch, I am going to have to live with loosing something I earned...Everquest all over again. You should have listened to Craig.
Brandywyne
Oh boy! Please try harder to find where you should put this of topic thingie of yours.... or we will :mad:
So on topic again:
Death Penalty: hope they will ask us first... I mean really ask us first. What would it be like; cuz I am not playing so I can loose a whole day of play cuz I warped into the wrong crowd, for example.
Keep it up!
Your assumption is based upon your belief that other people should do what other people choose to do.
Player A uses strategy and preparation for each fight, player B pew pews Klingons.
Player A desires a death penalty with little fear for his own safety since he dies less often. But likes the realism and challenge aspect of it.
Player B doesn't want a death penalty because he has fun just pew pewing Klingons and respawns and continues pew pewing Klingons.
Which player plays the right way and who gets to judge which is the right way? Is player B any less deserving of his version of fun than player A. Or the other way around? Both pay the same company the same amount to play a game they both consider fun.
The PVE aggression rules are more than a little off right now. Simply attempting to use manuevering to rotate shield facings while engaging one group of NPC's in a Deep Space battle can result in eventually pulling 3 surrounding groups. There is no opportunity when this ocuurs near the level player spawn point to use "strategy" or "tactics" to avoid a recurring, escalating loss to apoorly implemented Death Penalty in these cases.
Additionally, in the ground game, there are significant pathing issues for BO's that can result in tatcical disadvantage despite the best planning.
Frankly, the PVE game is simply not ready for a Death Penalty.
I like very much the idea of a success oriented death penalty though.
Complete a mission or PvP match without death, and you get 150% of the normal EXP say. 1 death, and it's 100%, more than 1 results in a 75% of normal exp reward.
That is a resonable penalty in my view.
You don't lose anything per se, but your growth will be tremendously easier if you use better tactics and *group*.
Removing progress already earned is why I left the last MMO I played. I suggest treading lightly and carefully with a Death Penalty. The game does need a better reward for good play, but as pointed out, some of us work 50 to 60 hours a week, and have family responsibilites as well.
Please keep that in mind when you make your decision on how this will go live.
-X