Here's some details about how we'll be making Memory Alpha less confusing.
First some details about how Memory Alpha is set up
There are 7 different research skills that offer a list of upgrades. The Basic research skill is what you see when you start talking to Romaine. Once you've made enough upgrades with the Basic research skill "store", then it unlocks 3 additional research lists which lean towards requiring either Physical, Technological, or Energy anomaly data. Once you've made enough upgrades in one of those groups, it unlocks an advanced version of that "store".
Basic research skill allows you to upgrade Mark 2 gear
Physical, Technological, and Engery research skill allows you to upgrade Mark 4 and 6 gear
Advanced Physical, Advanced Tech, and Advanced Energy research skill allows you to upgrade Mark 8 and 10 gear.
Many of the rare gear you can upgrade at Memory Alpha is not available anywhere else in the game - as it contains unique combinations of bonuses not found on lootable gear.
Now here's what we're doing to make all of this much clearer to the player
- Adding a new UI that shows you all research skill paths and the items that can be made in each list, as well as the items required - which players can view at any time (ie you don't need to be at Memory Alpha)
- Each research skill will display the number of skill ups required to hit maximum in that research and unlock the next level.
- Each item will tell you how many skill ups you'll receive for making it. And then update your progress meter once you make it.
- Instead of talking to an NPC to "purchase" the upgrade, you'll instead go to a specific research computer at Memory Alpha and "make" the updgraded item.
- We'll be evaluating and reducing the number of "anomaly data" required to make each item
- We're going to leave the 140 items that can be upgraded as is for now until we can see how they work with the new system (which we'll evaluate and tweak with your feedback).
- Any player will be able to achieve max skill in each research type - and there are no level restrictions.
These changes will make it much clearer how to progress as well as give you the ability to look up an item you really want to make - and know exactly what you need to get there.
For those who have already progressed at the current implementation of Memory Alpha - we will be converting your existing progress to the new research skill system so you shouldn't have to redo any research.
We are trying to get the basics of this on to Tribble next week for testing - but since it is a new system - we're not going to release it to Holodeck until it has had some testing and player feedback rounds - so while scheduled for Season 1.1 - we're not going to push it out if it isn't ready, and we'll keep it on Tribble until it is in good shape.
Comments
Star Trek: Online's crafting isn't so much gear based as it is rarity and modifier-based. The chief idea behind crafting is, instead of crafting new items, you improve already existing items. This lets us move away from crafting skills that create items that quickly become outclassed by mission rewards or item drops. There's no easy way to resolve this except gradual changeovers and keeping Memory Alpha relevant is required.
"Learning" seems a bit obtuse and too code-heavy. There are two pitfalls to any crafting system, and those are farming and failure. This combines factors of both. "Learning" requires a failure step. If, because the value of the item is too high, the learning doesn't take, then you've done the same as deny them the opportunity to craft by forcing the player to expend an item. The solution then, as your suggestion posits, is to farm enough items to toss into the replicator for it to learn.
But, I have a separate idea. I'll get into this in a moment.
I'll agree that Memory Alpha needs to stay current and relevant--though I'm slightly taken aback at "recipes." Memory Alpha's focus should shift into something more than a recipe hub--instead, it should offer Bind on Pick-Up upgrades that is a). tier relevant, b). can be applied on the intended equipment for its tier. Pretty much, it sells enhancements that cannot stack with existing enhancements. This lets you move forward, save up upgrades, and apply them at your own pace. It cuts out the replicator churning out equipment for you that may be profitable over the Exchange (and thereby flooding it), though BoPU replicator items may make this null and void.
I think it's more towards the theme of the game to keep Memory Alpha as less of a skill trainer and more of a place where research is done and something comes out of it that is usable. It also helps alleviate the issue of replicating entire starship components, like Phaser Bank Arrays.
Subtypes of Energy Credits clutter and confuse people, the same way anomalies clutter your inventory and confuse players. It leads to the problem that you have to micromanage your currencies--which isn't something I'd be too interested in. It will confuse the hell out of EC spammers, though. Star Trek introduced multiple currency from the onset, instead of making it simply a PVP reward or high-end content reward. Keeping it simpler--that is, the way it is now--keeps everyone happy.
I mentioned before that Memory Alpha should offer ground equipment and starship component upgrades. So what of your "learning" option? Consumables. Consumables such as energy cells, shield charges, and hyposprays, etc. shouldn't be dumped into the replicator, but instead should be handled by the player--whether through Memory Alpha research (which yields it into a crafting trainer, but one that's reasonable), so once you learn it, you can replicate it as normal using anomaly data.
Mind you, I don't entirely disagree with your approach, nor am I screaming, "Well that's just stupid!" You have some very well thought out suggestions, and though I do not entirely agree with them, my suggestions are a counter-thought.
Very well-thought out concepts indeed. I'd have to sleep on them a while before posting any real feedback, but I do very much think we can get far more use out of our replicators than we do now, so almost any change in that department looks..... shiny.
Also, I wouldn't mind seeing a slightly more "complex" economy (in terms of sub-resources and /or additional uses for existing ones.) So long as there is enough freedom to allow players to bypass the complexity if they choose and play a bit more casually.
Live long ----
Keeping Memory Alpha relevant
A lot of work has been put into making Memory Alpha, and it should remain relevant. However, Memory Alpha should be a research center, not an industrial manufacturing factory. In order to reinforce this idea:
Things that add Accuracy, Critical Hit Chance, Critical Damage Severity, Additional Hit Points, Additional Capacity, Hit Point Regeneration, Shield Point Regeneration, etc. so you can modify your preferred weapons? I like AoE Cone weapons and prefer Regenerative shields on my characters, but I much prefer Resilient shields on my ships with Regeneration or Capacity.
R&D improves on existing technologies a great deal of the time in Real Life(tm).
The problem with this is that they've already said that their item system doesn't support adding random or even assigned modifiers. Every variation of item that we have is created as an entire individual item in a database, not as a base item with modifier slots (even though it seems like they are, looking at their descriptors). The only thing you can "modify" (which isn't actually what you're doing) are base (white/common) items, where you trade them for a different individual item.
What I'm trying to do is build within what they've got so far. They have stat trackers, so they could feasibly keep track of items that we toss in our replicator, for unlocking common items to purchase from the replicator.
We've seen in the previous Memory Alpha build that they can have vendors that look for anomaly types. Changing the replicator to operate on "white/common" versions of anomalies that make up our energy credits would work the same way
We see that they're able to assign a UI function to a 3D object via the consoles, so they should be able to provide similar consoles within ship interiors or other maps as well. (I think it would make more sense if they were able to limit certain types of crafting to certain types of consoles, but I'm not sure if they can get it to work that way)