This is a nice article to read. It shows that they are listening to what we are saying and are taking it all into account. I have to also add that the recent survey handed out (havnt seen it? Check your e-mail!) is a nice little feature. Ive never seen this method before in an MMO and while most of the actual questions to me seemed a bit unneeded it was still a good idea. I think further surveys regarding content ideas would be an excelent idea. Got an expansion lined up but not sure what features would be nice for us to have in it? Simple! Just push out a survey to all the community and let us decide through your choices on a survey! Makes sense to me anyway...
In regards to the support section I have to agree. I have seen a huge increase in stability and actual feedback. At launch and for about a week afterwards I had tickets lasting easily up to 5 days without being seen to. Now that has been dramatically reduced and my bug reports are being seen to swiftly. This is a good thing as I feel my reports arn't in danger of being outdated and I also know that my voice is being heard!
The current adjustments mentioned sound pretty decent and we all know these are things we have all been asking for. A major one for me here is the improvement on Memory Alpha. By this im hoping they mean they will actually have a better form of crafting or similar. It simply isnt engaging as it stands and I actually havn't bothered using it.
The news of Tribble being released shortly is also music to my ears. This will help greatly with the production of smooth patches/updates and is generally a needed commodity in MMOs these days. Excellent news!
Raidisodes coming very soon is also nice to know but personally im nowhere near the level to actually experience them as it stands. This is still great news for those who are at that level and those of us who are not. More content in any shape or form is fantastic, especially this close after release.
The mention of new Klingon ships is quite interesting. I was only aware of a T2 cruiser being created but this seems to indicate there are more. Are they simply different types for customisation or different in functionality? This will be an interesting one to watch.
In the entire article though the main thing that catches my eye and makes me all excited is the mention of more factions. Now its not to say that the Federation and KDF are not good factions because frankly it wouldn't be Star Trek without the two but for me I can't quite get stuck into them. Federation feel a little lacking to me (not my taste maybe) and Klingons make me feel all proud and fierce but the lack of current content makes me feel a bit unsure. The suggested faction that caught my eye the most was Cardassian. Now there have been rumours about Romulan and Cardassian playable factions for a while but nothing has been official other than this article. This is, quite frankly, awesome news.
Now im a HUGE Cardassian fan (given that I know very, very, very little of them its quite strange) and even though it is possible to create them as an 'alien' race it isnt the same as actually playing an official Cardassian. Romulans are rather cool also but I feel as far as factions go they are pretty much like the Blood Elves on WoW. You have the Vulcans and then you add Evil Vulcans (pretty much what they are). Cardassians in my eyes are more unique and would add a lot more flavour (definately keep Romulans in though!). Of course this is a biased view as I find Cardassians far more interesting than Romulans.
What I will say however regarding the Factions is that even though I love Cardassians and im probably going to pause my involvement into the game until they are available (now that I know they will be realeased. HURRY!) is that out of those suggested the Dominion would probably be a better choice. Purely because I think they would be far more liked community wise than just Romulans or Cardassians. I could be wrong but believe they would.
Anyway hurry with my Cardassians please! (Seriously I cant play STO until you do! (I feel like im wasting my time on a character that will be put on a shelf to gather dust when the Cardassians arrive!) PLEAAAAAAASE!!).
So far all sounds good, I'm slowly starting to like, no, respect Cryptic more as an MMO developer seeing them pay such close attention to what the players want because after all is done there wouldn't be a game without us so we rule!:p
Maybe you never played CoX but the XP debt does not force anyone to grind. It's 50% xp for a mission or two then you're done. It's a very light death penalty.
Plus what I do doesn't feel like a grind. It's progress towards upgrades just like there's progress towards ranking up. Everything in MMO's is a grind - it's only an illusion that the main content isn't one. You are essentially killing the same NPCs in different environmens with different text over and over = grind. Only difference is that cluster missions can be completed more quickly.
Having Admirals flying around a couple days after release proves its extremely easy to level in this game. It's not a grindy game no matter what you do. A little XP debt for dying won't hurt anyone and hemmorhaging subs from it is laughable. If someone can't handle 50% xp for 15 minutes they need to go play Hello Kitty Online.
I would disagree. The people that are admirals within a short period of time are not your average gamer. Also, I played CoX and they must have changed the DP system, because I remember it being a real pain to grind back the debt at upper levels. And it really sucked getting socked with debt due to bad team mates.
One thing I think would be cool to see, and I think would bring a lot of joy to the pvpers. A few sectors along the fed/kling boarder (new so you dont HAVE to go there) where feds can quest with higher rewards but is free for all open pvp. This would give klingons the advantage (with cloaking) of being able to hunt feds, and feds will come here even at a disadvantage because of the better rewards and of course some people just like the pvp regardless.
Just a thought though.
Also, of all those races... and even as big of a fan as I am of ds9.
Romulans first, its only fair they where the next big thing after klingons in TOS so thats my two cents.
Though you could also put all scale open pvp in the romulan zone, heck they could war against every one and each other in civil war. Once again though as a mainly pve style person it should be open pvp but in a place that makes it optional just better rewards for putting up with ganking and camping lol.
:So far I really like the game, space combat is over simplified. But I hope will improve, thanks Cryptic for your prompt reply to my suggestion for possible improvement for space combat. The game concept is awesome! And hopefully you can deliver on your visions for the future of stol.
Death Penalty = Death of STO for me, it will promplty go into the uninstall bin when ToR arrives.
Im just 1 person but lots of Just 1 persons will agree and pretty soon you will have Warhammer Online
Warhammer Online bent over a chair for the PvP crowd and destroyed the game. YES I know it was a PvP game wrapped in a PvE wrapper, but it had massive potential for both. the PvP and PvE meshed marvelously in beta.
Conan anyone? another developer that didnt listen to the fans til it was hemmoraging players
Tabula Rasa? Great game plagued by a developer whose ego was so big he made himself the main character in not one but 3 games (offline Ultima, UO and TR) and still didnt listen to his audience.
SWG? very drastic I agree but they didnt listen to their core.
Ill be looking forward to Star Trek Online 2 when its put out by company that isnt built on MMOs designed with a 6 month lifespan in mind.
Fix the bugs
Add Klink PvE
Balance PvP
Add any number of popular requests
Death Penalty is somehow your top priority? Really? nothing like shooting yourself in the foot
the bane of fun in any MMO is the time sink which is usually a cover for lack of content.
WIthin a month of launch your level cap has been hit an obliterated by casual players and instead of working on fixing bugs and extending content you go back and close the door after the horses have escaped.
Unless your going to cause exp loss on death like EQ1 its not going to stop me or anyone being level capped.
Fix your existing content so I dotn have to redo missions 3 or 4 times before they "take", add more borg content, more mirror unverse, less DS9 garbage, make romulans playable, and lift the skill cap.
I don;t think counting Free realms or Wizardry 101 is really fair, even WoW just about the most casual friendly MMORPG on the market has a death penalty.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA, casual friendly???? REALLY? Are you serious?
That expletive-deleted GRINDFEST is casual friendly? The game where you can't accomplish a damn thing without grinding hours a day, every day unless you want it to take years?
Why can some people not understand that NOT EVERYONE WANTS TO PLAY WOW? Maybe, just maybe, we don't care if it's the most popular MMO in history? Popular <> Best. Are you trying to tell me that Miley Cyrus' music is "The Best" because she sells a lot of units? Pff.
Personally, I'm in the mild or no death penalty camp...consequences for death are good, add challenge and interest...more time sinks, however, are BAD. Sector Space is a big enough time sink for me, thanks. Things that force you to grind are also BAD.
I don't speak for the community, I speak for me. But I bet I'm not the only one who gets GD sick and tired of people saying "MAEK IT MOAR LIEK WOW PLZORZ".
(Okay, and I also play EvE...I get all the Brutal, Crippling Incentives To Be Careful I could ever need there. One reason I subscribed to STO is for a rest from all that 0.0 Constant Vigilance).
Death Penalty = Death of STO for me, it will promplty go into the uninstall bin when ToR arrives.
Fix the bugs
Add Klink PvE
Balance PvP
Add any number of popular requests
Death Penalty is somehow your top priority? Really? nothing like shooting yourself in the foot
Again, this is how I feel. Fix the bugs, get the PvE up and running for the Klingons, and clean everything up before throwing another wrench into the works (the death penalty).
And am for all the new stuff coming in, I would like you guys to take another look at ahem... crafting??? it thats what its called? hmm please read:
STO crafting a new take on it?
From level 1 to 10 this would have no effect as people are learning the game and know how to use there ships and weapons stats, BOF's, Skills, and such like, while they are doing mission they have chosen the following archetypes Engineering / Science / Tactical, When said player is searching the galaxy doing missions and also kicking phap out of AI Klingon's and Gorn they will also automatically pick up Rewards of there said Archetypes these would part 1 for 4 every 2 levels to 10, once they hit Tier 1 ships aka Excalibur, Nova, Saber they will be able to active the ESH (Emergency Science Hologram) / EEH (Emergency Engineering Hologram) / ETH (Emergency Tactical Hologram) these will guy the new Lt. Commander through the process of crafting and how it will work, this would depend upon the chosen archetype.
I will break it down now for each section
In-depth look at it:
OK when we go on our bridges its kinda limited and therefore needs to be improved not only for Hardcore Trekies and Trekers but everyone who has ever seen a show or want to get in with STO and enjoy it (but not be a necessity)
When you are on your bridge interface with the Turbo lift and you will be taken to Deck (**) department (**) which will be designated by your choice of Archetypes (however after initial stage of Lt. Commander learning you can loot items or buy them on the Exchange market or requestion these from Star fleet which will give you access to each other are which your Character is not able to access at lvl 11
Right lets start with my Favourite Engineering:
you enter the turbo lift from the bridge and this then opens to a corridor and then to engineering:
ok when your in Engineering the EEH will explain what systems you can access for instance (these could change but here is some I thought of EPS, Warp Drive, Power management, once you have accessed your Engineering section you will unlock the ability to get the loot drops or buy parts from the Exchange which will improve efficiency of your ship by a maximum of 10% for PVE content only.
Each panel will let you choose how to adjust it and what you have achieved and what parts you still need to make these improvements also there will be an element of failure depending upon how complex of item you are trying to upgrade which Cryptic can sort out. Below are panels you could possibly interact with:
Warp Nacelles
Warp drive improvements
Re-routing power and also checking the status of the ships systems and making sure all systems have power need to operate. (mini game)
The engineering Archetypes will have the ability to make Exo comps and interface with Bio-neural circuity. (mini game)
Engineering will be given problem by star fleet to solve or in the case of new ships need to reconfigure them to make them work correctly. (mission mini game)
Now on to Science
You enter the turbo lift from the bridge and on this section you will be able to access sickbay / scientific labs
The Science officer will be able to have a chance of healing crew if you die in a mission and may stop the penalty of having to go to space station also they will have the chance to analyse scientific samples gathered from Space or sub space anomaly's which could improve crew operations and also reduce the count of cycling of any ship system as the crew is in peak health.
And will also be able to grow biological cultures to cure people who are sick and will be a mission for science archetypes
They will also be able to access other systems to enable mission to be on your own ship.
Mission will require Science lab mini games.
Also this could open up major illness / virus attack to the crew or BOF inwhich the Science archetype would need find a cure threw research / and study of the virus
Now on to tactical:
The Tactical Archetypes will have access to tactical station on the bridge and also the holodeck to see if the manoeuvres are good and what protection it will give and minus other ships will have when they try and shoot you, and also the torpedo room / phaser assembly.
So you know how movement is limited to just up, down, left, right, well maybe not surely Cryptic would be able to allow Set manoeuvres in the Tactical side of the game under your name and -alpha, -beta, gamma, -zeta
The manoeuvres that could be completely computer controlled for no more than 5-10 secs which would be barrel rolls, standard loop and loops peeling in and spiraling out, these would have to be found from loots or from Exchange markets. (also these manoeuvres would increase the chance to miss and/or decrease damage to shields hull.
Possible tactical interface: Holodeck to enable battle review or mavoeuvers creation (one tactical information or plans found during PVE /gained from starfleet)
Advanced manoeuvre would be lateral rotation to enable full speed ahead but have the whole guns facing rear then return to the normal forward position.
Torpedo room / phaser assembly to improve torpedos or beam weapons from rewards/ tech found
All these suggested changes to STO will improve the sense of being in there and also allow people to Emerse themselves in the game, all the possible manoeuvres are PVE and will only be used in missions and also Fleet actions, all possible changes to systems once brought online and crafted will only give a maxium of 10% to any of the systems.
If these are sucessful then the manoeuvres would cross over to PVP
FreejackeR -out.
PS - I know your can do the internals of the ships from the missions i've done so far and also from the tutorial mision, so that part is not much a reach for you the other parts maybe.
Death Penalty = Death of STO for me, it will promplty go into the uninstall bin when ToR arrives.
Sounds to me like you are going to leave for ToR either way.
I dont see a problem with a death penalty. Do you really thing ToR wont have one?
EVERY MMO I have played except this one has a death penalty and noone *****es about it. Its part of the game. Why shouldn't they punish death? It stops people casually suiciding for a start. It also means you play the game with a bit more meaning. By this I mean you dont simply run into a group of mobs thinking 'well it doesnt matter if I die because I can just respawn and carry on'.
Death penalties are a needed feature of any MMO. Dont like them then I suggest you don't play MMOs to be fair. I can guarantee ToR will have one. Every RPG that Bioware has created has a form of death penalty and I really don't think ToR will be the one to break that mould.
If it was a gripe on the severity of death penalty however I may be with you. As long as its not overly punishing its very welcome. For example I don't want to die and be forced to wait the time of the debuff becuase its so severe I stand no chance of completing what killed me in the first place. On the other hand you don't want it to be so weak that you can just carry on willy nilly flying into things without a care. Its a thin line and im guessing this is why they removed it in the first place (to try and catch that line and test it!).
* Respec
Absolutly, every game should have a way to respec.
* Death Penalty
I'm going with no on this one, specially when you are swarmed by 3 battle cruisers and from the get go they lock all your powers untill your dead. If any thing, maybe tie it to the difficulty slider. By default, no penatly, but maybe an increasing death penatly based on the difficulty slider.
* Difficulty Slider
Sure why not, don't think I will use it but don't see an issue with it.
* More open auto-fire
If this is being able to put more then one beam weapon per side on auto, absolutely. Already spend most my effort in keeping my ship facing the correct way and chasing things down. Removing the extra hassle of trying to fire beam weapons while also looking for the right number for a power up will be welcome.
* Replayable missions
Haven't seen any yet that I think warrant replaying on the same character. Make exploring better before you work on this. Flying in circles looking for an anomaly to explore that turns into a normal mission is not what I would call exploring.
* Improving Memory Alpha
Still haven't figured it out, no idea what needs improving.
* Fixing those Commodity missions
Not sure whats broken, except for the fact I hate spending money on a mission.
* Who are the Undine and what drives them?
Expanding a back story is always nice, when do we get to play them? What about a purchasable Undine federation character, complete with shape changing power.
* How can we better exploit the Genesis System to create even more compelling content?
So far, I don't see the Genesis System as a big deal. It makes a random small map, yay. Where are the worlds it's supposed to create, ones where we can take a shuttle craft and circle the world looking at all the wild life and trees.
* Where can we boldly go next?
Let us explore each galaxy, we pick a galaxy from the sector map, then we fly around all the planets, moons and suns looking at what each has to offer. The Risa system might not be something new in trek history, but for a player, we have never been there before. We haven't looked at each of the sister planets, or explored any asteroid belt that may be there. While your at it, make Risa (and all planets) more then just one small map.
Where shall we take exploratory missions, as there's so much potential there?
Lets really explore. It's not hide and seek, its "That solar system has been taunting me for a week, I want to see whats there". Even if all that's there is a big rock that says "Made You Look!", at least I got the chance to go out of my way to find something I haven't seen before.
* Which faction should be playable next? Romulan? Cardassian? Pakled? Dominion? Horta? Okay, not so much the Pakleds.
Simply because they are a very long time federation enemy, would have to say Romulan. But I also want to see playable Undine.
Other stuff for the future?
More federation ships, I'm noticing a lack of the Excelsior and the Ambassador classes. Maybe a tactical escort that has a bit of height to it, wheres the pylons! Throw in some vulcan ships, there's part of the federation after all, maybe as extra science ships.
Gorn and orion ships added to the KDF. We are always fighting them in space driven by NPC's, why cann't a player pilot one?
Maps that make since. Been plenty of times I beam down to a circular ship like a Miranda, and the map is in a bizar shape for that class of ship. Once I even looked out a window and saw the entry room (minus a wall since back faces where clipped). In a Miranda, if you look out the window, only parts of the ship you should be seeing is the nacells, if any thing (possible the surface of the saucer section if you are in an uper or lower deck). Get some schematics, I'm sure plenty of trek fans have posted them on the net, and make mission maps out of those.
I would disagree. The people that are admirals within a short period of time are not your average gamer. Also, I played CoX and they must have changed the DP system, because I remember it being a real pain to grind back the debt at upper levels. And it really sucked getting socked with debt due to bad team mates.
I'm not one of those who can quote numbers and math to prove it. I gather that from comments I see all over the forums and my own experience. I wish I could turn XP off sometimes LOL. Plus I been playing these games since text based MUDs. Those were grinds back then - you could NEVER level as fast as you do in STO.
There's a cap on XP debt as well. Since STO is geared towards casuals they could lower the the cap here. If you want to grind to pay it you could. But if you want to continue playing like normal you can - its just at a reduced XP rate. And there's no debt for PvP deaths.
I see no problem with this as that's what a "penalty" is about. But if you don't want one at all there's nothing anyone can say to convince you.
I have been in games with death penalitys that almost ruined the game. So I hope you are listening to the average player and not just the hard core gamers.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA, casual friendly???? REALLY? Are you serious?
That expletive-deleted GRINDFEST is casual friendly? The game where you can't accomplish a damn thing without grinding hours a day, every day unless you want it to take years?
Why can some people not understand that NOT EVERYONE WANTS TO PLAY WOW? Maybe, just maybe, we don't care if it's the most popular MMO in history? Popular <> Best. Are you trying to tell me that Miley Cyrus' music is "The Best" because she sells a lot of units? Pff.
Personally, I'm in the mild or no death penalty camp...consequences for death are good, add challenge and interest...more time sinks, however, are BAD. Sector Space is a big enough time sink for me, thanks. Things that force you to grind are also BAD.
I don't speak for the community, I speak for me. But I bet I'm not the only one who gets GD sick and tired of people saying "MAEK IT MOAR LIEK WOW PLZORZ".
(Okay, and I also play EvE...I get all the Brutal, Crippling Incentives To Be Careful I could ever need there. One reason I subscribed to STO is for a rest from all that 0.0 Constant Vigilance).
You have a very warped perspective. WoW is just about the most casual MMORPG on the market. I exclude Free realms and wizardry 101 for obvious reasons. Really just about all the others are far less casual friendly.
I was really surprised and very happy to hear the quotes from the Game Dev. Finally! A company that isnt afraid to refuse to " water down " the content to cater to the mass media. The game is superbly crafted, engaing and the DEv's did a super job! The only concern that I had, until now was the conspicously missing "non-combat" content that drew so many to this project. The recognition that the devs are aware of these issue and looking to add content to keep up with player wishes is a complete and new breath of fresh air. I've told all my friends, this is the first subscription game I have ever bought and it is so rewarding to see that my money is, and will contine to be very well spent! Engage!!!
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
Then please quit griping about the positive changes that are being worked on to make this a better game. If those features, DP etc bother you so much then go play one of your other games.
Enjoying the game a lot and very interested to hear what is coming. However this quote concerned me though:
"What you guys post and say and do in-game and on the forums is the biggest factor we consider when making our decisions. "
Pleasing players and fans is great but you do not want to get the reputation of a company that folds faster than Superman on laundry day over issues at the behest of a few concerted forum posters.
If you have a vision or plan for this game don't be held back by people telling you that you can't do things because game x,y or z never did them. Remember the great ones always break the rules.
I've heard from some people in my fleet that it seemed as though this game was not as popular as it should be. I'm glad to hear that they are wrong. Glad to hear that all ie well and I would just like to say keep up theh great work.
Furthermore I would like to say that I have a love hate relationship with the whole debt thing. I love it when other peoplo get it, hate it when I get it, but, to be honest, it's necessary otherwise people will not care if they die and will just hurl themselves into oncomming enemies.
What I would like to see in future. Romulan characters. I donno about anyone else, but I think that Romulans should be given their rightful place and be the next race to be developed. I also think that Klingons and Romulans should also have more story and content to help even out the way the game is developed. I also spoke to numberous people and they think it would be reallyt cool if there could be a way that the enemy ships that we encounter in our own space have real players in them instead of NPC's.
Other than that it looks great and can't wait to see what's going to happen next. Got to go and reach admiral before debt appears.
Glad to see the info on the update (or at least as much as you can reveal about it). I was happy to get a lifetime sub, knowing that this sort of thing was coming, and of course although I could theoretically wait a 'lifetime' for it to show up, I'm pleased it appears to be on the way shortly.
It's also gratifying to note that what many have seen as a lack of direction, is really more about a desire to deliver what we want, and I'm glad that it appears Cryptic can keep a sense of humour about that in the face of quite a bit of vocal complaining via the forums. Some of us do indeed 'get it' as Cryptic put it.
I for one think Cryptic made a smart decision in concentrating on getting the mechanics of the basic platform fairly solid, instead of worrying about throwing tons of content into something that is not a stable base upon which to put things. The way Cryptic prioritiesed matters demonstrated to those who were able to recognise it, that they are in it for the long haul. Of course such a long term approach does not suit those who wanted to be an admiral in five days, right after launch, but in the long run I reckon people will come to appreciate that the way things are being done is the better choice.
First off I would like to say Cryptic, you are doing an incredible job! I'm very impressed with how much you all listen to your community, and I don't think I've seen that in most of my MMOS.
However, I think your FIRST priority after a respec should be PVE for Klingons, before this faction gets so boring no one wants to play it anymore. I am doing my best trying to keep my head up and tough it out, but its very hard to not want to go back to my Fed, and I know a lot of people feel this way.
I can't wait to see what you all have in store for the future!
I just ask for one favour, since we appear to be getting a DP whether most of us want it or not (reread that before bashing me)...
Dont make the DP too harsh, we dont need an Allods DP, or an Everquest DP either. I am... ok, with DPs as long as they are not overbearing to the point that they make the game a chore instead of fun. DPs are the killers of most games that have really tough ones... Look at Aion's DP for instance, an XP nerf that costs money to remove doesnt seem like a bad thing, until you realize that the cost to remove it gets pretty ridiculous in higher levels. It was bad enough that hard-core players where complaining about it.
Ok. if we go to how wow had death penalties the better your gear the more it would cost to repair it. Which means having fun and getting better at the game required you to grind for money alot. Thats really boring and repetitive. I seriously do not recommend a death penalty. I mean it costs alot of gold in wow to repair armor. How much of that gold do you think it would cost to repair a starship? That would be like 2 million gold for one death. Theres really no way to do that and being that star trek IS NOT money based and never was in the shows, other than ferengi latinum, making us pay for ship damage would be stupid. Picard said it best "The economics of the future are different we no longer aquire wealth, we try to improve the human race" Don't make this game into another grinding game. Theres no need for it and people who do weird things do so in wow they just devote there lives to the game for the repairs.
i think i just fell in love with cryptic again...havn't had a feeling like his about them since CoX.... but yeah it is great to hear that you are not hiding behind the shadows but rather working nervously in the shadows.
i dont know if it is because you have public relations genius but you have turned me around, you have defiantly put my mind at ease and i am going to stick with the game and hope it grows to truly become an experience on par with the shows
and assuming the discussion is still about the death penalty all i can say is woohoo!
Who's dumb idea was it to add a Death Penalty to this game? There was no vote giving to us players.
It's the players who want to feel they are 'risking something' when they go into a fight. Or those who think its rather unrealistic to get blown out of the stars then instantly reconstitute.
I'm personally fine with no death penalty but if they are adding one I wanted to advocate something easy and simple like XP debt. No running around to find your corpse, no having to go to starbase for repairs, etc. Those are more realistic but less fun and you waste a lot of time doing them.
First off I would like to say Cryptic, you are doing an incredible job! I'm very impressed with how much you all listen to your community, and I don't think I've seen that in most of my MMOS.
However, I think your FIRST priority after a respec should be PVE for Klingons, before this faction gets so boring no one wants to play it anymore. I am doing my best trying to keep my head up and tough it out, but its very hard to not want to go back to my Fed, and I know a lot of people feel this way.
I can't wait to see what you all have in store for the future!
I have to agree with this. Pve for klingons definetly makes sense. Yes the klingon are a violent race, but come Klingons do explore and look for better weaponry, i mean do people forget about star trek generations where lursa and betor are trying to get sauron to make them high end weapons of unlimited power. pvp only is boring, i mean if your gonna have that only go play ps3 the controls are better.
Maybe you never played CoX but the XP debt does not force anyone to grind. It's 50% xp for a mission or two then you're done. It's a very light death penalty.
I have, and the difference is that City of... has much more content. If you hit a penalty on your level ten blaster and get set back so many XP it doesn't matter. There WILL be more level ten scripted missions that you can do to hit eleven (unless you're dying a LOT) because those missions are there. In STO if you stick to story mission, as is, with no penalty you WILL hit content gaps.
Let me rephrase that, if you don't do PvP or the random Cluster Missions you can't progress normally. Can't be done. I know because I've tried, and doing only story missions you -will- run out of missions for your level at several points and -have- to do some of the "repetitious content" to fill that gap. As is, where the game stands now, you are force into some degree of grind (though admittedly not much).
Now, if you add an XP debt it's going to compound the problem and the amount of grind that has to be done WILL increase.
It will. I've was doing Cluster Missions (a LOT of them) and PvP (a LOT of it) in beta. Been here since closed. After a time it WILL wear on you. Already has for me.
Everything in MMO's is a grind - it's only an illusion that the main content isn't one.
No, grind is random and repetitive. Scripted missions are -not- that. City on the Edge of Never? Not grind. Yet another PvP session? Grind. Minefield? Not grind. Scan five glowies on randomly generated planet #74935? Grind.
The difference is in story, objectives, sights, NPCs, and reward. The scripted missions offer unique content, and that distinguishes them from everything else.
Comments
In regards to the support section I have to agree. I have seen a huge increase in stability and actual feedback. At launch and for about a week afterwards I had tickets lasting easily up to 5 days without being seen to. Now that has been dramatically reduced and my bug reports are being seen to swiftly. This is a good thing as I feel my reports arn't in danger of being outdated and I also know that my voice is being heard!
The current adjustments mentioned sound pretty decent and we all know these are things we have all been asking for. A major one for me here is the improvement on Memory Alpha. By this im hoping they mean they will actually have a better form of crafting or similar. It simply isnt engaging as it stands and I actually havn't bothered using it.
The news of Tribble being released shortly is also music to my ears. This will help greatly with the production of smooth patches/updates and is generally a needed commodity in MMOs these days. Excellent news!
Raidisodes coming very soon is also nice to know but personally im nowhere near the level to actually experience them as it stands. This is still great news for those who are at that level and those of us who are not. More content in any shape or form is fantastic, especially this close after release.
The mention of new Klingon ships is quite interesting. I was only aware of a T2 cruiser being created but this seems to indicate there are more. Are they simply different types for customisation or different in functionality? This will be an interesting one to watch.
In the entire article though the main thing that catches my eye and makes me all excited is the mention of more factions. Now its not to say that the Federation and KDF are not good factions because frankly it wouldn't be Star Trek without the two but for me I can't quite get stuck into them. Federation feel a little lacking to me (not my taste maybe) and Klingons make me feel all proud and fierce but the lack of current content makes me feel a bit unsure. The suggested faction that caught my eye the most was Cardassian. Now there have been rumours about Romulan and Cardassian playable factions for a while but nothing has been official other than this article. This is, quite frankly, awesome news.
Now im a HUGE Cardassian fan (given that I know very, very, very little of them its quite strange) and even though it is possible to create them as an 'alien' race it isnt the same as actually playing an official Cardassian. Romulans are rather cool also but I feel as far as factions go they are pretty much like the Blood Elves on WoW. You have the Vulcans and then you add Evil Vulcans (pretty much what they are). Cardassians in my eyes are more unique and would add a lot more flavour (definately keep Romulans in though!). Of course this is a biased view as I find Cardassians far more interesting than Romulans.
What I will say however regarding the Factions is that even though I love Cardassians and im probably going to pause my involvement into the game until they are available (now that I know they will be realeased. HURRY!) is that out of those suggested the Dominion would probably be a better choice. Purely because I think they would be far more liked community wise than just Romulans or Cardassians. I could be wrong but believe they would.
Anyway hurry with my Cardassians please! (Seriously I cant play STO until you do! (I feel like im wasting my time on a character that will be put on a shelf to gather dust when the Cardassians arrive!) PLEAAAAAAASE!!).
Awesome article and thank you!
I would disagree. The people that are admirals within a short period of time are not your average gamer. Also, I played CoX and they must have changed the DP system, because I remember it being a real pain to grind back the debt at upper levels. And it really sucked getting socked with debt due to bad team mates.
Just a thought though.
Also, of all those races... and even as big of a fan as I am of ds9.
Romulans first, its only fair they where the next big thing after klingons in TOS so thats my two cents.
Though you could also put all scale open pvp in the romulan zone, heck they could war against every one and each other in civil war. Once again though as a mainly pve style person it should be open pvp but in a place that makes it optional just better rewards for putting up with ganking and camping lol.
Im just 1 person but lots of Just 1 persons will agree and pretty soon you will have Warhammer Online
Warhammer Online bent over a chair for the PvP crowd and destroyed the game. YES I know it was a PvP game wrapped in a PvE wrapper, but it had massive potential for both. the PvP and PvE meshed marvelously in beta.
Conan anyone? another developer that didnt listen to the fans til it was hemmoraging players
Tabula Rasa? Great game plagued by a developer whose ego was so big he made himself the main character in not one but 3 games (offline Ultima, UO and TR) and still didnt listen to his audience.
SWG? very drastic I agree but they didnt listen to their core.
Ill be looking forward to Star Trek Online 2 when its put out by company that isnt built on MMOs designed with a 6 month lifespan in mind.
Fix the bugs
Add Klink PvE
Balance PvP
Add any number of popular requests
Death Penalty is somehow your top priority? Really? nothing like shooting yourself in the foot
the bane of fun in any MMO is the time sink which is usually a cover for lack of content.
WIthin a month of launch your level cap has been hit an obliterated by casual players and instead of working on fixing bugs and extending content you go back and close the door after the horses have escaped.
Unless your going to cause exp loss on death like EQ1 its not going to stop me or anyone being level capped.
Fix your existing content so I dotn have to redo missions 3 or 4 times before they "take", add more borg content, more mirror unverse, less DS9 garbage, make romulans playable, and lift the skill cap.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA, casual friendly???? REALLY? Are you serious?
That expletive-deleted GRINDFEST is casual friendly? The game where you can't accomplish a damn thing without grinding hours a day, every day unless you want it to take years?
Why can some people not understand that NOT EVERYONE WANTS TO PLAY WOW? Maybe, just maybe, we don't care if it's the most popular MMO in history? Popular <> Best. Are you trying to tell me that Miley Cyrus' music is "The Best" because she sells a lot of units? Pff.
Personally, I'm in the mild or no death penalty camp...consequences for death are good, add challenge and interest...more time sinks, however, are BAD. Sector Space is a big enough time sink for me, thanks. Things that force you to grind are also BAD.
I don't speak for the community, I speak for me. But I bet I'm not the only one who gets GD sick and tired of people saying "MAEK IT MOAR LIEK WOW PLZORZ".
(Okay, and I also play EvE...I get all the Brutal, Crippling Incentives To Be Careful I could ever need there. One reason I subscribed to STO is for a rest from all that 0.0 Constant Vigilance).
Again, this is how I feel. Fix the bugs, get the PvE up and running for the Klingons, and clean everything up before throwing another wrench into the works (the death penalty).
And am for all the new stuff coming in, I would like you guys to take another look at ahem... crafting??? it thats what its called? hmm please read:
STO crafting a new take on it?
From level 1 to 10 this would have no effect as people are learning the game and know how to use there ships and weapons stats, BOF's, Skills, and such like, while they are doing mission they have chosen the following archetypes Engineering / Science / Tactical, When said player is searching the galaxy doing missions and also kicking phap out of AI Klingon's and Gorn they will also automatically pick up Rewards of there said Archetypes these would part 1 for 4 every 2 levels to 10, once they hit Tier 1 ships aka Excalibur, Nova, Saber they will be able to active the ESH (Emergency Science Hologram) / EEH (Emergency Engineering Hologram) / ETH (Emergency Tactical Hologram) these will guy the new Lt. Commander through the process of crafting and how it will work, this would depend upon the chosen archetype.
I will break it down now for each section
In-depth look at it:
OK when we go on our bridges its kinda limited and therefore needs to be improved not only for Hardcore Trekies and Trekers but everyone who has ever seen a show or want to get in with STO and enjoy it (but not be a necessity)
When you are on your bridge interface with the Turbo lift and you will be taken to Deck (**) department (**) which will be designated by your choice of Archetypes (however after initial stage of Lt. Commander learning you can loot items or buy them on the Exchange market or requestion these from Star fleet which will give you access to each other are which your Character is not able to access at lvl 11
Right lets start with my Favourite Engineering:
you enter the turbo lift from the bridge and this then opens to a corridor and then to engineering:
ok when your in Engineering the EEH will explain what systems you can access for instance (these could change but here is some I thought of EPS, Warp Drive, Power management, once you have accessed your Engineering section you will unlock the ability to get the loot drops or buy parts from the Exchange which will improve efficiency of your ship by a maximum of 10% for PVE content only.
Each panel will let you choose how to adjust it and what you have achieved and what parts you still need to make these improvements also there will be an element of failure depending upon how complex of item you are trying to upgrade which Cryptic can sort out. Below are panels you could possibly interact with:
Warp Nacelles
Warp drive improvements
Re-routing power and also checking the status of the ships systems and making sure all systems have power need to operate. (mini game)
The engineering Archetypes will have the ability to make Exo comps and interface with Bio-neural circuity. (mini game)
Engineering will be given problem by star fleet to solve or in the case of new ships need to reconfigure them to make them work correctly. (mission mini game)
Now on to Science
You enter the turbo lift from the bridge and on this section you will be able to access sickbay / scientific labs
The Science officer will be able to have a chance of healing crew if you die in a mission and may stop the penalty of having to go to space station also they will have the chance to analyse scientific samples gathered from Space or sub space anomaly's which could improve crew operations and also reduce the count of cycling of any ship system as the crew is in peak health.
And will also be able to grow biological cultures to cure people who are sick and will be a mission for science archetypes
They will also be able to access other systems to enable mission to be on your own ship.
Mission will require Science lab mini games.
Also this could open up major illness / virus attack to the crew or BOF inwhich the Science archetype would need find a cure threw research / and study of the virus
Now on to tactical:
The Tactical Archetypes will have access to tactical station on the bridge and also the holodeck to see if the manoeuvres are good and what protection it will give and minus other ships will have when they try and shoot you, and also the torpedo room / phaser assembly.
So you know how movement is limited to just up, down, left, right, well maybe not surely Cryptic would be able to allow Set manoeuvres in the Tactical side of the game under your name and -alpha, -beta, gamma, -zeta
The manoeuvres that could be completely computer controlled for no more than 5-10 secs which would be barrel rolls, standard loop and loops peeling in and spiraling out, these would have to be found from loots or from Exchange markets. (also these manoeuvres would increase the chance to miss and/or decrease damage to shields hull.
Possible tactical interface: Holodeck to enable battle review or mavoeuvers creation (one tactical information or plans found during PVE /gained from starfleet)
Advanced manoeuvre would be lateral rotation to enable full speed ahead but have the whole guns facing rear then return to the normal forward position.
Torpedo room / phaser assembly to improve torpedos or beam weapons from rewards/ tech found
All these suggested changes to STO will improve the sense of being in there and also allow people to Emerse themselves in the game, all the possible manoeuvres are PVE and will only be used in missions and also Fleet actions, all possible changes to systems once brought online and crafted will only give a maxium of 10% to any of the systems.
If these are sucessful then the manoeuvres would cross over to PVP
FreejackeR -out.
PS - I know your can do the internals of the ships from the missions i've done so far and also from the tutorial mision, so that part is not much a reach for you the other parts maybe.
Sounds to me like you are going to leave for ToR either way.
I dont see a problem with a death penalty. Do you really thing ToR wont have one?
EVERY MMO I have played except this one has a death penalty and noone *****es about it. Its part of the game. Why shouldn't they punish death? It stops people casually suiciding for a start. It also means you play the game with a bit more meaning. By this I mean you dont simply run into a group of mobs thinking 'well it doesnt matter if I die because I can just respawn and carry on'.
Death penalties are a needed feature of any MMO. Dont like them then I suggest you don't play MMOs to be fair. I can guarantee ToR will have one. Every RPG that Bioware has created has a form of death penalty and I really don't think ToR will be the one to break that mould.
If it was a gripe on the severity of death penalty however I may be with you. As long as its not overly punishing its very welcome. For example I don't want to die and be forced to wait the time of the debuff becuase its so severe I stand no chance of completing what killed me in the first place. On the other hand you don't want it to be so weak that you can just carry on willy nilly flying into things without a care. Its a thin line and im guessing this is why they removed it in the first place (to try and catch that line and test it!).
Absolutly, every game should have a way to respec.
* Death Penalty
I'm going with no on this one, specially when you are swarmed by 3 battle cruisers and from the get go they lock all your powers untill your dead. If any thing, maybe tie it to the difficulty slider. By default, no penatly, but maybe an increasing death penatly based on the difficulty slider.
* Difficulty Slider
Sure why not, don't think I will use it but don't see an issue with it.
* More open auto-fire
If this is being able to put more then one beam weapon per side on auto, absolutely. Already spend most my effort in keeping my ship facing the correct way and chasing things down. Removing the extra hassle of trying to fire beam weapons while also looking for the right number for a power up will be welcome.
* Replayable missions
Haven't seen any yet that I think warrant replaying on the same character. Make exploring better before you work on this. Flying in circles looking for an anomaly to explore that turns into a normal mission is not what I would call exploring.
* Improving Memory Alpha
Still haven't figured it out, no idea what needs improving.
* Fixing those Commodity missions
Not sure whats broken, except for the fact I hate spending money on a mission.
* Who are the Undine and what drives them?
Expanding a back story is always nice, when do we get to play them? What about a purchasable Undine federation character, complete with shape changing power.
* How can we better exploit the Genesis System to create even more compelling content?
So far, I don't see the Genesis System as a big deal. It makes a random small map, yay. Where are the worlds it's supposed to create, ones where we can take a shuttle craft and circle the world looking at all the wild life and trees.
* Where can we boldly go next?
Let us explore each galaxy, we pick a galaxy from the sector map, then we fly around all the planets, moons and suns looking at what each has to offer. The Risa system might not be something new in trek history, but for a player, we have never been there before. We haven't looked at each of the sister planets, or explored any asteroid belt that may be there. While your at it, make Risa (and all planets) more then just one small map.
Where shall we take exploratory missions, as there's so much potential there?
Lets really explore. It's not hide and seek, its "That solar system has been taunting me for a week, I want to see whats there". Even if all that's there is a big rock that says "Made You Look!", at least I got the chance to go out of my way to find something I haven't seen before.
* Which faction should be playable next? Romulan? Cardassian? Pakled? Dominion? Horta? Okay, not so much the Pakleds.
Simply because they are a very long time federation enemy, would have to say Romulan. But I also want to see playable Undine.
Other stuff for the future?
More federation ships, I'm noticing a lack of the Excelsior and the Ambassador classes. Maybe a tactical escort that has a bit of height to it, wheres the pylons! Throw in some vulcan ships, there's part of the federation after all, maybe as extra science ships.
Gorn and orion ships added to the KDF. We are always fighting them in space driven by NPC's, why cann't a player pilot one?
Maps that make since. Been plenty of times I beam down to a circular ship like a Miranda, and the map is in a bizar shape for that class of ship. Once I even looked out a window and saw the entry room (minus a wall since back faces where clipped). In a Miranda, if you look out the window, only parts of the ship you should be seeing is the nacells, if any thing (possible the surface of the saucer section if you are in an uper or lower deck). Get some schematics, I'm sure plenty of trek fans have posted them on the net, and make mission maps out of those.
I'm not one of those who can quote numbers and math to prove it. I gather that from comments I see all over the forums and my own experience. I wish I could turn XP off sometimes LOL. Plus I been playing these games since text based MUDs. Those were grinds back then - you could NEVER level as fast as you do in STO.
There's a cap on XP debt as well. Since STO is geared towards casuals they could lower the the cap here. If you want to grind to pay it you could. But if you want to continue playing like normal you can - its just at a reduced XP rate. And there's no debt for PvP deaths.
I see no problem with this as that's what a "penalty" is about. But if you don't want one at all there's nothing anyone can say to convince you.
You have a very warped perspective. WoW is just about the most casual MMORPG on the market. I exclude Free realms and wizardry 101 for obvious reasons. Really just about all the others are far less casual friendly.
Then please quit griping about the positive changes that are being worked on to make this a better game. If those features, DP etc bother you so much then go play one of your other games.
"What you guys post and say and do in-game and on the forums is the biggest factor we consider when making our decisions. "
Pleasing players and fans is great but you do not want to get the reputation of a company that folds faster than Superman on laundry day over issues at the behest of a few concerted forum posters.
If you have a vision or plan for this game don't be held back by people telling you that you can't do things because game x,y or z never did them. Remember the great ones always break the rules.
Furthermore I would like to say that I have a love hate relationship with the whole debt thing. I love it when other peoplo get it, hate it when I get it, but, to be honest, it's necessary otherwise people will not care if they die and will just hurl themselves into oncomming enemies.
What I would like to see in future. Romulan characters. I donno about anyone else, but I think that Romulans should be given their rightful place and be the next race to be developed. I also think that Klingons and Romulans should also have more story and content to help even out the way the game is developed. I also spoke to numberous people and they think it would be reallyt cool if there could be a way that the enemy ships that we encounter in our own space have real players in them instead of NPC's.
Other than that it looks great and can't wait to see what's going to happen next. Got to go and reach admiral before debt appears.
Cya all
It's also gratifying to note that what many have seen as a lack of direction, is really more about a desire to deliver what we want, and I'm glad that it appears Cryptic can keep a sense of humour about that in the face of quite a bit of vocal complaining via the forums. Some of us do indeed 'get it' as Cryptic put it.
I for one think Cryptic made a smart decision in concentrating on getting the mechanics of the basic platform fairly solid, instead of worrying about throwing tons of content into something that is not a stable base upon which to put things. The way Cryptic prioritiesed matters demonstrated to those who were able to recognise it, that they are in it for the long haul. Of course such a long term approach does not suit those who wanted to be an admiral in five days, right after launch, but in the long run I reckon people will come to appreciate that the way things are being done is the better choice.
So keep up the good work.
Al
First off I would like to say Cryptic, you are doing an incredible job! I'm very impressed with how much you all listen to your community, and I don't think I've seen that in most of my MMOS.
However, I think your FIRST priority after a respec should be PVE for Klingons, before this faction gets so boring no one wants to play it anymore. I am doing my best trying to keep my head up and tough it out, but its very hard to not want to go back to my Fed, and I know a lot of people feel this way.
I can't wait to see what you all have in store for the future!
Dont make the DP too harsh, we dont need an Allods DP, or an Everquest DP either. I am... ok, with DPs as long as they are not overbearing to the point that they make the game a chore instead of fun. DPs are the killers of most games that have really tough ones... Look at Aion's DP for instance, an XP nerf that costs money to remove doesnt seem like a bad thing, until you realize that the cost to remove it gets pretty ridiculous in higher levels. It was bad enough that hard-core players where complaining about it.
i dont know if it is because you have public relations genius but you have turned me around, you have defiantly put my mind at ease and i am going to stick with the game and hope it grows to truly become an experience on par with the shows
and assuming the discussion is still about the death penalty all i can say is woohoo!
It's the players who want to feel they are 'risking something' when they go into a fight. Or those who think its rather unrealistic to get blown out of the stars then instantly reconstitute.
I'm personally fine with no death penalty but if they are adding one I wanted to advocate something easy and simple like XP debt. No running around to find your corpse, no having to go to starbase for repairs, etc. Those are more realistic but less fun and you waste a lot of time doing them.
I have to agree with this. Pve for klingons definetly makes sense. Yes the klingon are a violent race, but come Klingons do explore and look for better weaponry, i mean do people forget about star trek generations where lursa and betor are trying to get sauron to make them high end weapons of unlimited power. pvp only is boring, i mean if your gonna have that only go play ps3 the controls are better.
I have, and the difference is that City of... has much more content. If you hit a penalty on your level ten blaster and get set back so many XP it doesn't matter. There WILL be more level ten scripted missions that you can do to hit eleven (unless you're dying a LOT) because those missions are there. In STO if you stick to story mission, as is, with no penalty you WILL hit content gaps.
Let me rephrase that, if you don't do PvP or the random Cluster Missions you can't progress normally. Can't be done. I know because I've tried, and doing only story missions you -will- run out of missions for your level at several points and -have- to do some of the "repetitious content" to fill that gap. As is, where the game stands now, you are force into some degree of grind (though admittedly not much).
Now, if you add an XP debt it's going to compound the problem and the amount of grind that has to be done WILL increase.
It will. I've was doing Cluster Missions (a LOT of them) and PvP (a LOT of it) in beta. Been here since closed. After a time it WILL wear on you. Already has for me.
No, grind is random and repetitive. Scripted missions are -not- that. City on the Edge of Never? Not grind. Yet another PvP session? Grind. Minefield? Not grind. Scan five glowies on randomly generated planet #74935? Grind.
The difference is in story, objectives, sights, NPCs, and reward. The scripted missions offer unique content, and that distinguishes them from everything else.