I only played for under a month after launch before I unsubscribed, but thought I'd come back for welcome back weekend to check out the improvements. I think welcome back weekend is a great idea. At this point, I'm not resubscribing, but I will take advantage of any future welcome back weekends. Hopefully, one day, I'll resubscribe. Perhaps when a diplomacy system is launched.
I'm a hardcore trekkie, but a casual gamer. My only other MMO experience is having played a little bit of WoW.
For my welcome back weekend, I started from the beginning with a new character, as I had forgotten much about the game. My first impression was that the tutorial was quite dramatic, and what i'd expect from a Star Trek game: on a bridge in the midst of battle, being given orders by the captain, operating consoles, shooting borg in cooridors. Again, it struck me was that the tutorial ground combat was fun, especially positioning myself for flanking damage. I didn't notice any changes to the tutorial from last time I did it, but that's ok.
Post-tutorial, the game started to lose me almost immediately. First, the very idea of skill points doesn't seem to quite fit with the spirit of Star Trek. (I admit I really don't understand, skill points and how they work, i'm just giving my impressions a casual gamer and Trek fan). I would have expected that my characters skills would develop as I practiced that skill. For example, if I wanted to be good with a phaser, I'd need to practice my phaser skills on the holodeck, or try to do missions that involved a lot of ground combat. But instead it seems like you're just given skill points for doing anything, and you can spend them on anything. I felt like rather than skill-points (or even items) as rewards for doing a quest, the reward should be social capital. For example, If I did well in a science mission, the admiralty might be more likely to give me important science missions in the future. Or, if I performed well in a diplomatic mission, my security clearance might be raised. Stuff like that.
Not feeling enthusiastic about the missions the admiral had assigned, I decided to just go exploring and so I went to Risa. In all the Star Trek episodes on Risa, the crew went for relaxation and ended up being drawn into some situation, so I was expecting someone on Risa to ask me for help, or to hit on me, or something. But no. There was only one NPC I could talk to, and she just wanted to buy and sell stuff. I didn't have enough money.
As for the new content, I never found it. Nor would i know how to. I soon gave up and logged off.
I guess I was hoping that STO would be an immersive experience, something like Oblivion or Knights of the Old Republic, or even WoW. At the moment, it seems more like a space and ground combat game (and quite a good one) with the extra hassle of having to travel through sector space, run around space dock etc. to get to the next mission. If Cryptic never really intends to make STO immersive, perhaps it would be better to remove the RPG element, or at least, make it optional. Just have a menu with a list of missions to do, and a store menu with a list of equipment, so players can just jump straight to the battles they want to do with the equipment they want to do it with.
Did you have the same issue with skill points when you played World of Warcraft? Because they had talent trees that accomplish the same goal.
Good point. And no, for some reason, the talent points seem to fit better in WoW. Not sure why. Perhaps it is because WoW also has skills that you have to practice in addition to talents. For example, staves, defense, alchemy etc. As far as I could see, that's not the case for STO, or did I miss something?
You hail star fleet to get missions. You don't have to go back to the Star bases much at all. The hail Star Fleet button is on the mini map.
Ah OK. But, you get my point. It seems like the things people do enjoy about STO (i.e., the combat) aren't really RPG elements. So why not remove the RPG aspect of the game? Just make it a ground and space combat game.
I wasn't really expecting things to have changed much since the last time I played but there are a few interesting changes that I do like, and a lot of things that I didn't like which still haven't been fixed. I made two referrals...neither of which actually seem to have resulted in a referral joining STO, but maybe in a few months something else will come around for STO.
Good point. And no, for some reason, the talent points seem to fit better in WoW. Not sure why. Perhaps it is because WoW also has skills that you have to practice in addition to talents. For example, staves, defense, alchemy etc. As far as I could see, that's not the case for STO, or did I miss something?
I was merely asking since you did bring up the previous game you played. And it did have a similar type of thing. Yes I do remember you had some skill ups that only came through combat. And no, this game doesn't really have that.
I believe the intent here is to allow for a lot of customization on the player side. So you can build your character the way you want to, without being ... I don't want to say forced, because that's got a negative connotation ... uh ... rigidly prompted to engage in repetitive combat activity solely for the purpose of increasing one skill?
Your post was an interesting read. And I do apoligize for merely zeroing in on just one tiny detail of it. It's just the part that caught my eye the quickest is all.
I was merely asking since you did bring up the previous game you played. And it did have a similar type of thing. Yes I do remember you had some skill ups that only came through combat. And no, this game doesn't really have that.
I believe the intent here is to allow for a lot of customization on the player side. So you can build your character the way you want to, without being ... I don't want to say forced, because that's got a negative connotation ... uh ... rigidly prompted to engage in repetitive combat activity solely for the purpose of increasing one skill?
Your post was an interesting read. And I do apoligize for merely zeroing in on just one tiny detail of it. It's just the part that caught my eye the quickest is all.
Oh, no, I didn't take any offence. It was a good point. I just wasn't sure if perhaps there was some aspect of skill points that I didn't understand.
RE: being forced to 'skill farm' (to coin a phrase), that's a good point. But, I guess I was thinking that, if skills were accumulated through practice, you would end up skilled in the aspects of the game you enjoy most. For casual players, it would make it less intimidating to get your skill/talent tree right. If you enjoy space combat, then through following your natural desire to do that a lot, you'll increase your skills in that area. It might also encourage cooperation among players. Say if I need a science skill to complete a certain mission, but I don't enjoy science, and don't want to skill up in that area, I could ask another player for help. Another option might be to send one of my bridge officers off for a period of time to do training in a particular area, to gain skills that my character lacks. "Ensign Crusher, I order you to take a runabout to Risa and brush up on your cocktail making skills."
Good point. And no, for some reason, the talent points seem to fit better in WoW. Not sure why. Perhaps it is because WoW also has skills that you have to practice in addition to talents. For example, staves, defense, alchemy etc. As far as I could see, that's not the case for STO, or did I miss something?
In a way you missed something, but maybe not too much.
In regards to advancement, most roleplaying games (even "pen & paper" ones where you don't have a stupid computer managing the NPCs but a human player) use some kind of experience point or skill point system where you get points for achieving goals and can spend them in any way you like, even if this is not actually related to what you did.
In Startrek Online, there is one "learning-by-doing" skill system at the moment - this would be Memory Alpha as its "crafting" system. The current UI is not very helpful in understand what is going on (the test server has a better UI that will go live soon), but basically, the more you craft, the higher level items you can create.
As I understand, the plans for the Prime Directive (not sure if that's still the name) system to cover diplomatic missions and stuff like that is supposed to also have a skill system like that. But that isn't in the game yet. You might want to check for updates when the next welcome-back weekend comes around to see if it's implemented already and how you can access it then.
For casual players, it would make it less intimidating to get your skill/talent tree right. If you enjoy space combat, then through following your natural desire to do that a lot, you'll increase your skills in that area. I
Certainly a good point. Particularly because parts of the skill system are... difficult to understand. I mean, increasing your starship weapon skills is intuitively easy to understand, but getting what a skill like "Doctor" actually affects and what you need to do to benefit is ... less so.
I too unsubcribed at the beginning of April and thought i'd take up the weekend back play. Thought it was a good idea, and i found a few things better... mainly the combat maybe nothings changed with that but whilst i was fighting the borg i found it better not sure why (lol).
Other than that still nothing exciting any different a went to a couple of systems fought some battles went to try infected.. and when i got there not 1 single person was playing it?!? is it that bad? I tried on my own for about 30 seconds then gave up.
I also won't be re-subcribing as all in all nothings really changed I was fun for a while to fly around again but still not worth the time and money it costs per month.
the changes really have only improved what was already there. if 'there' itself was not enough the last time then nothing of significance is going to draw you back. season 2 seams the big patch and i would recommend checking it out after that
the changes really have only improved what was already there. if 'there' itself was not enough the last time then nothing of significance is going to draw you back. season 2 seams the big patch and i would recommend checking it out after that
I agree, 1.1 was mostly trying to patch up holes. When we get the promised weekly episodes along with the other Season 2 content in July I'd suggest coming back and seeing if the path that the game is headed down is for you.
In a way you missed something, but maybe not too much.
In regards to advancement, most roleplaying games (even "pen & paper" ones where you don't have a stupid computer managing the NPCs but a human player) use some kind of experience point or skill point system where you get points for achieving goals and can spend them in any way you like, even if this is not actually related to what you did.
Interesting. As far as RPGs go I'm most familiar with WoW (and Oblivion only a little); I never played those pen & paper one's but I know what you're referring to.
Thinking about this some more, the way talent points are given out in WoW as you level up, it's as if the talent points represent the time you would have had in the duration between leveling up to practice certain things. In spending a talent point, it's as if you're deciding retroactively which talents your character worked on in that time. Of course, you have to do stuff to earn xp to level, but it's hard to avoid getting xp. So leveling up is sort of inevitable. It feels like having a birthday. In fact, i know people who refer to their RL birthday's as leveling up. In STO, however, it feels like the admiralty are just handing you actual skills. "Good job, Captain. Here, have some skills."
Perhaps, under a naturally accumulating skills system, in addition to skilling up via direct practice, you could be given training points to spend at a starbase with an expert in that area. It's just that, in my mind, skills are something that you are taught or that you develop through practice. You can't be given a skill.
In Startrek Online, there is one "learning-by-doing" skill system at the moment - this would be Memory Alpha as its "crafting" system. The current UI is not very helpful in understand what is going on (the test server has a better UI that will go live soon), but basically, the more you craft, the higher level items you can create.
As I understand, the plans for the Prime Directive (not sure if that's still the name) system to cover diplomatic missions and stuff like that is supposed to also have a skill system like that. But that isn't in the game yet. You might want to check for updates when the next welcome-back weekend comes around to see if it's implemented already and how you can access it then.
Those updates sound very encouraging, particularly the Prime Directive one. I will definitely try those out if there is another welcome-back weekend.
Certainly a good point. Particularly because parts of the skill system are... difficult to understand. I mean, increasing your starship weapon skills is intuitively easy to understand, but getting what a skill like "Doctor" actually affects and what you need to do to benefit is ... less so.
There was something added to the skills window that will help alleviate some of the confusion.
When looking at your captain's skills window you will notice a drop down menu on the top right corner called "Highlight Contributions To:". Using this drop down menu you can select one of your powers, or one of your bridge officer's powers and it will show which skills will boost those powers.
There is a known issue though that there is no "none" option in the drop down menu so the only way to turn it off and show all of your skills is to uncheck the "Contributing to Selected Power" filter (which is located on the top left corner of the skills window).
Personally I think that is the coolest thing ever and makes knowing where to allocate skill points SO much easier.
I is it that bad? I tried on my own for about 30 seconds then gave up.
Not sure from your post on how you did it - you have to build a team before you start the mission and enter as a team. It's not like a Fleet Action or Open Instance game.
That said, it might still be hard to find a player. The "Radisodes" take a lot of time and effort, and the random guy on the internet might not have time when you have. I personally didn't try any of them yet, since they might take very long when things don't work out well.
First off, let me congratulate the OP on being one of the first people to actually understand the use of constructive criticism. I have seen several post where people just basically rip the game apart under the pretense of "constructive criticism". Your accounting of your experience is very personal and your it is something you share well, even if I found some of your reasoning to be a bit lazy.
I will try to be constructive in return. I agree that much of the game is 'gun and run' and the things that aren't could use some work. I think Cryptic had to strike a balance between the people who wanted the combat aspect of Star Trek (think recent film) and the Diplomatic (think old ST). I think the combat won. Diplomacy is something that they are working on and hopefully when you come back next time you will find it. But you will have to be a little less lazy and actually spend some time getting to learn how to interact with the officers and such. I agree that there is little by way of side interaction and I do wish that there was something of which you speak like being hit on at a bar or someone starting a fight with you because they don't like the way you look and they are wanted n several star systems blah blah. But I am glad that the overall function of the game is good. I too played WoW and I played City of Heroes and I have to say that I prefer the Star Trek interface over at least the WoW. City of Heroes is hard to beat but it had it's own issues with repetativeness. One thing I am glad that they DID NOT do was follow the ridiculous bonuses that sets (and rare purple crafted sets) gave that made PvP impossible for the casual player. That created a group of farmers and out of game credit seekers so they could make juggernaut PvP toons ... which essentially is not fun. But I digress. There are holodecks and there are all sorts of mission that incorporate the diplomacy and trek world but sometimes you have done so many missions where all you did was click through the dialogue that you just miss it. To be succinct, my problems with the game stem from basic physics. Any moron knows that ships don't have to fly like they are in an atmosphere when in space. "What? I can't fly straight down to pick up that drop? I have to spiral my way down to get it?" Seriously, of all of the lame-brained things, this is what bugs me most about the game. I suppose it is canon though. Babylon 5 blew Star Treks physics out of the water with Star Furies and Ships that created artificial gravity with spinning sections but that's neither here nor there. There is simply no excuse to ignore the physics of ships in space ... none.
So, when you do come back, be patient. Ask someone for advice. I know there are a lot of wise-asses that crucify noobs but there are quite a few people willing to help people, (like me) out there and I would be more than happy to show you who to talk to and when. Send me a friend invite next time, same global and I will help you through the not-so-obvious interface.
On that note, I would say that Cryptic needs to make their interface a bit more user friendly. Old gamers and pro's have no issue with it but people who are casual gamers are frustrated to tears. It's really not all that hard but it's definitely not obvious. Good luck to you and thank you for being constructive. It's a nice refreshing change from what I usually see on these forums.
There was something added to the skills window that will help alleviate some of the confusion.
When looking at your captain's skills window you will notice a drop down menu on the top right corner called "Highlight Contributions To:". Using this drop down menu you can select one of your powers, or one of your bridge officer's powers and it will show which skills will boost those powers.
There is a known issue though that there is no "none" option in the drop down menu so the only way to turn it off and show all of your skills is to uncheck the "Contributing to Selected Power" filter (which is located on the top left corner of the skills window).
Personally I think that is the coolest thing ever and makes knowing where to allocate skill points SO much easier.
It's cool, however it's still lacking some of the options, like Reverse Shield Polarity. Also, it could be awkward when, from example above, you like to see which powers a Doctor skill influences. Then you have to check every item on that drop down to see which one highlights a Doctor. It would be so much easier that a list of ALL powers and stats that are influenced by a particular skill is written on it's info window.
In regards to advancement, most roleplaying games (even "pen & paper" ones where you don't have a stupid computer managing the NPCs but a human player) use some kind of experience point or skill point system where you get points for achieving goals and can spend them in any way you like, even if this is not actually related to what you did.
No One Lives Forever 2: A Spy in Harms Way had a skill point based advancement system, though you could only increase stealth, accuracy, carrying, armour, and health.
Not sure from your post on how you did it - you have to build a team before you start the mission and enter as a team. It's not like a Fleet Action or Open Instance game.
That said, it might still be hard to find a player. The "Radisodes" take a lot of time and effort, and the random guy on the internet might not have time when you have. I personally didn't try any of them yet, since they might take very long when things don't work out well.
Before I quit playing when ever I went near that system for infected there was usually 20+ players hanging around but when i went during the weekend not a single player was there. I comment was really is infected that unpopular already? I had given it a go a while back and played for a couple of hours (got bored in the end) all i was planning on doing this time was flying around going phew phew at the big cubes.
First off, let me congratulate the OP on being one of the first people to actually understand the use of constructive criticism. I have seen several post where people just basically rip the game apart under the pretense of "constructive criticism". Your accounting of your experience is very personal and your it is something you share well, even if I found some of your reasoning to be a bit lazy.
I will try to be constructive in return. I agree that much of the game is 'gun and run' and the things that aren't could use some work. I think Cryptic had to strike a balance between the people who wanted the combat aspect of Star Trek (think recent film) and the Diplomatic (think old ST). I think the combat won. Diplomacy is something that they are working on and hopefully when you come back next time you will find it. But you will have to be a little less lazy and actually spend some time getting to learn how to interact with the officers and such. I agree that there is little by way of side interaction and I do wish that there was something of which you speak like being hit on at a bar or someone starting a fight with you because they don't like the way you look and they are wanted n several star systems blah blah. But I am glad that the overall function of the game is good. I too played WoW and I played City of Heroes and I have to say that I prefer the Star Trek interface over at least the WoW. City of Heroes is hard to beat but it had it's own issues with repetativeness. One thing I am glad that they DID NOT do was follow the ridiculous bonuses that sets (and rare purple crafted sets) gave that made PvP impossible for the casual player. That created a group of farmers and out of game credit seekers so they could make juggernaut PvP toons ... which essentially is not fun. But I digress. There are holodecks and there are all sorts of mission that incorporate the diplomacy and trek world but sometimes you have done so many missions where all you did was click through the dialogue that you just miss it. To be succinct, my problems with the game stem from basic physics. Any moron knows that ships don't have to fly like they are in an atmosphere when in space. "What? I can't fly straight down to pick up that drop? I have to spiral my way down to get it?" Seriously, of all of the lame-brained things, this is what bugs me most about the game. I suppose it is canon though. Babylon 5 blew Star Treks physics out of the water with Star Furies and Ships that created artificial gravity with spinning sections but that's neither here nor there. There is simply no excuse to ignore the physics of ships in space ... none.
So, when you do come back, be patient. Ask someone for advice. I know there are a lot of wise-asses that crucify noobs but there are quite a few people willing to help people, (like me) out there and I would be more than happy to show you who to talk to and when. Send me a friend invite next time, same global and I will help you through the not-so-obvious interface.
On that note, I would say that Cryptic needs to make their interface a bit more user friendly. Old gamers and pro's have no issue with it but people who are casual gamers are frustrated to tears. It's really not all that hard but it's definitely not obvious. Good luck to you and thank you for being constructive. It's a nice refreshing change from what I usually see on these forums.
Thanks for the offer. If there is another welcome-back weekend I will definitely take you up on that. I think I may have come back too early. When the overall feel of the game post-tutorial turned out to be much the same, I couldn't be bothered continuing on. But I like the sound of the diplomacy system. I will certainly give that a good go, as long as I can find my way to missions that involve it.
So, yes, I was certainly impatient. But I may be representative of a certain proportion of Cryptic's potential customers. In WoW and other games, however, there was always something enticing me to keep going. "Ooh, I wonder what is across that bridge? I'd better level up so I can pass those guards and cross it. Ooh, I want that mount. I'd better get a good reputation with that faction." So far, STO doesn't seem to have anything like that to keep me motivated to keep at it. Of course, it may be that STO just isn't for a causal gamer like me, no matter how much I love Star Trek. I may just eventually have to accept that.
There was something added to the skills window that will help alleviate some of the confusion.
When looking at your captain's skills window you will notice a drop down menu on the top right corner called "Highlight Contributions To:". Using this drop down menu you can select one of your powers, or one of your bridge officer's powers and it will show which skills will boost those powers.
There is a known issue though that there is no "none" option in the drop down menu so the only way to turn it off and show all of your skills is to uncheck the "Contributing to Selected Power" filter (which is located on the top left corner of the skills window).
Personally I think that is the coolest thing ever and makes knowing where to allocate skill points SO much easier.
While this tool is helpful, the skill descriptions themselves leave a lot to be desired. Also the following is needed as well:
- When hovering the mouse cursor over a skill, the powers that boost the skill need to be shown.
- When selecting a skill in the Powers window, the powers that boost the skill need to be shown; currently some do, some don't. Also, if Aux Power affects the skill this needs to be shown as well.
There was something added to the skills window that will help alleviate some of the confusion.
When looking at your captain's skills window you will notice a drop down menu on the top right corner called "Highlight Contributions To:". Using this drop down menu you can select one of your powers, or one of your bridge officer's powers and it will show which skills will boost those powers.
There is a known issue though that there is no "none" option in the drop down menu so the only way to turn it off and show all of your skills is to uncheck the "Contributing to Selected Power" filter (which is located on the top left corner of the skills window).
Personally I think that is the coolest thing ever and makes knowing where to allocate skill points SO much easier.
I also appreciate the new feature, as it has cleared up a few mystery abilities. However, not every power I currently have available to my character seems to be listed there.
Thanks for the offer. If there is another welcome-back weekend I will definitely take you up on that. I think I may have come back too early. When the overall feel of the game post-tutorial turned out to be much the same, I couldn't be bothered continuing on. But I like the sound of the diplomacy system. I will certainly give that a good go, as long as I can find my way to missions that involve it.
So, yes, I was certainly impatient. But I may be representative of a certain proportion of Cryptic's potential customers. In WoW and other games, however, there was always something enticing me to keep going. "Ooh, I wonder what is across that bridge? I'd better level up so I can pass those guards and cross it. Ooh, I want that mount. I'd better get a good reputation with that faction." So far, STO doesn't seem to have anything like that to keep me motivated to keep at it. Of course, it may be that STO just isn't for a causal gamer like me, no matter how much I love Star Trek. I may just eventually have to accept that.
I think one of the problems is just the way Star Trek translates to a game. I am used to the ST I knew growing up. That is TOS and TNG. Both of those were very singular in nature. It was a single ship and crew exporing the universe. The stories mainly involved the one ship and crew and a single encounter per episode. I never got into Vouager or DS9, so the war thing is known, but a knew experiance.
So with the spirit of ST, the game sends you out on single missions like the TV shows. I like this, but it takes the game world and MMO feeeling out of the game. Sure you can group at anytime and the STF's are required grouping. But that doesn't change the design of the missions at all. They are all the same regardless of grouping.
I agree with your thoughts on Risa. If the game had actual systems for exploration and alternate quests as well as the missions. The game could have had a much different feeling. If you could just visit a system and land on a planet to explore. Then find random quests there that would separate from the main quests. You could actually feel like you are in a system and not just a TV show series that will be gone when you Finnish it.
There is no "World" to this game world. As you say in WoW, you can look across the bridge and see tha you would like to go there. But you know you have to have more experience to get there and it drives you. That doesn't exist in STO. I don't know if it ever will with this design. I am hoping that alternate advancement in diplomacy or exploration will bring a bit more of what is missing. We wi have to wait and see in July. Hope to see you then OP.
A bit of rambling from work, sorry......:rolleyes:
Ah OK. But, you get my point. It seems like the things people do enjoy about STO (i.e., the combat) aren't really RPG elements. So why not remove the RPG aspect of the game? Just make it a ground and space combat game.
Because they are constantly adding to and expanding the game. Due to player feedback, there is a lot more being added for the Season 2 Update in late June/early July including
- The Federation Diplomatic Corps. (aka Diplomacy and First Contact missions in Star Cluster exploration misssions; and a way to level up using that path if players so desire it)
- More Starship Interiors - including mini-games that allow you to heal yourself, or repair ship damage. (They've also stated the intent to start having mission that do take place on your ship once they have more of the ship interior game tech working).
- A PvE (Player vs Envioroment) story and set of player missions for the Klingons (Making them a fully developed faction); and a promise to continue to expand Klingon PvE content down the line as the game progresses.
and many other things, but for me (and others might feel differently) - these are the standout items in the upcoming Season 2 update.
Oh, and as for having waitied until season 2 to do the first 'Welcome Back Weekend' - personally, I think they will do another one soon after the Season 2 update is live. I like that they tried it here, as honestly, this and the start of te Referral Program were 'test runs; and hopfully after the Season 2 update hits and they do another one, they'll have caught bugs and situations you can only see once you expose something to the real world, thus hopefully both the Referral Program and any future 'Welcome Back Weekends' will run smoother and work better as far as the registartion and client download proccesses go.
Time will tell. Lastly, I do want to commend to OP for providing some actual feedback in a constructive manner. It did come across as a nerdrage post at all.
I also appreciate the new feature, as it has cleared up a few mystery abilities. However, not every power I currently have available to my character seems to be listed there.
Bug / Feature / However you want to look at it: The skill list will only populate with your currently equipped powers. I haven't confirmed if this means your class powers have to be assigned to your tray (but I assume they would be), but I know it depends on which BOff you currently have equipped. As a result, this pull down list will change depending on if you are on the ground or in space. Related to this, kits in your inventory will not show as available skills, only your equipped one.
I also appreciate the new feature, as it has cleared up a few mystery abilities. However, not every power I currently have available to my character] seems to be listed there.
Bug / Feature / However you want to look at it: The skill list will only populate with your currently equipped powers. I haven't confirmed if this means your class powers have to be assigned to your tray (but I assume they would be), but I know it depends on which BOff you currently have equipped. As a result, this pull down list will change depending on if you are on the ground or in space. Related to this, kits in your inventory will not show as available skills, only your equipped one.
Again, I'm talking about abilities I'm currently using that aren't showing up on the list, regardless of whether I check the list in space or on the ground. Examples (for me anyway) include: Feedback Pulse and Reverse Shield Polarity. Oddly enough, something like "Ramming Speed" shows up on the list despite not actually having any skills attached to it.
I also appreciate the new feature, as it has cleared up a few mystery abilities. However, not every power I currently have available to my character seems to be listed there.
I thought this was just me and I was missing something...I have the same issue. It would be nice if I could type the first few letters of the power I was looking for and have it jump down the list for me. The list is loooong, scrolling was rather painful. Still, it's a good addition to the game it just needs some more polish.
I also tried the Welcome back Weekend.. I tried my first free month when the game launched.. had some fun, not enough to make it worth a subscription.
However, I'll probably subscribe.. but only for month and then call it quits... the game is somewhat fun.. sufficiently so that 15 dollars for 1 month of entertainment is worthwhile.... but I just don't see the game having any longevity for me... most MMOs last 8-12 months for me, but I'll be done with this one after another month.
The space combat is the only reason it's worth the 15 dollars for me... but I'll get tired of it in a few weeks.. and that's that.
It's a decent game... but something about it doesn't hold me like other MMOs... if anything, it's more like how I treat my single player games.. play them for 1 month usually and move on... pretty much what I'll do with STO.
- The Federation Diplomatic Corps. (aka Diplomacy and First Contact missions in Star Cluster exploration misssions; and a way to level up using that path if players so desire it)
- More Starship Interiors - including mini-games that allow you to heal yourself, or repair ship damage. (They've also stated the intent to start having mission that do take place on your ship once they have more of the ship interior game tech working).
Comments
Good point. And no, for some reason, the talent points seem to fit better in WoW. Not sure why. Perhaps it is because WoW also has skills that you have to practice in addition to talents. For example, staves, defense, alchemy etc. As far as I could see, that's not the case for STO, or did I miss something?
Ah OK. But, you get my point. It seems like the things people do enjoy about STO (i.e., the combat) aren't really RPG elements. So why not remove the RPG aspect of the game? Just make it a ground and space combat game.
I was merely asking since you did bring up the previous game you played. And it did have a similar type of thing. Yes I do remember you had some skill ups that only came through combat. And no, this game doesn't really have that.
I believe the intent here is to allow for a lot of customization on the player side. So you can build your character the way you want to, without being ... I don't want to say forced, because that's got a negative connotation ... uh ... rigidly prompted to engage in repetitive combat activity solely for the purpose of increasing one skill?
Your post was an interesting read. And I do apoligize for merely zeroing in on just one tiny detail of it. It's just the part that caught my eye the quickest is all.
Oh, no, I didn't take any offence. It was a good point. I just wasn't sure if perhaps there was some aspect of skill points that I didn't understand.
RE: being forced to 'skill farm' (to coin a phrase), that's a good point. But, I guess I was thinking that, if skills were accumulated through practice, you would end up skilled in the aspects of the game you enjoy most. For casual players, it would make it less intimidating to get your skill/talent tree right. If you enjoy space combat, then through following your natural desire to do that a lot, you'll increase your skills in that area. It might also encourage cooperation among players. Say if I need a science skill to complete a certain mission, but I don't enjoy science, and don't want to skill up in that area, I could ask another player for help. Another option might be to send one of my bridge officers off for a period of time to do training in a particular area, to gain skills that my character lacks. "Ensign Crusher, I order you to take a runabout to Risa and brush up on your cocktail making skills."
In a way you missed something, but maybe not too much.
In regards to advancement, most roleplaying games (even "pen & paper" ones where you don't have a stupid computer managing the NPCs but a human player) use some kind of experience point or skill point system where you get points for achieving goals and can spend them in any way you like, even if this is not actually related to what you did.
In Startrek Online, there is one "learning-by-doing" skill system at the moment - this would be Memory Alpha as its "crafting" system. The current UI is not very helpful in understand what is going on (the test server has a better UI that will go live soon), but basically, the more you craft, the higher level items you can create.
As I understand, the plans for the Prime Directive (not sure if that's still the name) system to cover diplomatic missions and stuff like that is supposed to also have a skill system like that. But that isn't in the game yet. You might want to check for updates when the next welcome-back weekend comes around to see if it's implemented already and how you can access it then.
Certainly a good point. Particularly because parts of the skill system are... difficult to understand. I mean, increasing your starship weapon skills is intuitively easy to understand, but getting what a skill like "Doctor" actually affects and what you need to do to benefit is ... less so.
Other than that still nothing exciting any different a went to a couple of systems fought some battles went to try infected.. and when i got there not 1 single person was playing it?!? is it that bad? I tried on my own for about 30 seconds then gave up.
I also won't be re-subcribing as all in all nothings really changed I was fun for a while to fly around again but still not worth the time and money it costs per month.
Live long and prosper.
I agree, 1.1 was mostly trying to patch up holes. When we get the promised weekly episodes along with the other Season 2 content in July I'd suggest coming back and seeing if the path that the game is headed down is for you.
Interesting. As far as RPGs go I'm most familiar with WoW (and Oblivion only a little); I never played those pen & paper one's but I know what you're referring to.
Thinking about this some more, the way talent points are given out in WoW as you level up, it's as if the talent points represent the time you would have had in the duration between leveling up to practice certain things. In spending a talent point, it's as if you're deciding retroactively which talents your character worked on in that time. Of course, you have to do stuff to earn xp to level, but it's hard to avoid getting xp. So leveling up is sort of inevitable. It feels like having a birthday. In fact, i know people who refer to their RL birthday's as leveling up. In STO, however, it feels like the admiralty are just handing you actual skills. "Good job, Captain. Here, have some skills."
Perhaps, under a naturally accumulating skills system, in addition to skilling up via direct practice, you could be given training points to spend at a starbase with an expert in that area. It's just that, in my mind, skills are something that you are taught or that you develop through practice. You can't be given a skill.
Those updates sound very encouraging, particularly the Prime Directive one. I will definitely try those out if there is another welcome-back weekend.
There was something added to the skills window that will help alleviate some of the confusion.
When looking at your captain's skills window you will notice a drop down menu on the top right corner called "Highlight Contributions To:". Using this drop down menu you can select one of your powers, or one of your bridge officer's powers and it will show which skills will boost those powers.
There is a known issue though that there is no "none" option in the drop down menu so the only way to turn it off and show all of your skills is to uncheck the "Contributing to Selected Power" filter (which is located on the top left corner of the skills window).
Personally I think that is the coolest thing ever and makes knowing where to allocate skill points SO much easier.
That said, it might still be hard to find a player. The "Radisodes" take a lot of time and effort, and the random guy on the internet might not have time when you have. I personally didn't try any of them yet, since they might take very long when things don't work out well.
I will try to be constructive in return. I agree that much of the game is 'gun and run' and the things that aren't could use some work. I think Cryptic had to strike a balance between the people who wanted the combat aspect of Star Trek (think recent film) and the Diplomatic (think old ST). I think the combat won. Diplomacy is something that they are working on and hopefully when you come back next time you will find it. But you will have to be a little less lazy and actually spend some time getting to learn how to interact with the officers and such. I agree that there is little by way of side interaction and I do wish that there was something of which you speak like being hit on at a bar or someone starting a fight with you because they don't like the way you look and they are wanted n several star systems blah blah. But I am glad that the overall function of the game is good. I too played WoW and I played City of Heroes and I have to say that I prefer the Star Trek interface over at least the WoW. City of Heroes is hard to beat but it had it's own issues with repetativeness. One thing I am glad that they DID NOT do was follow the ridiculous bonuses that sets (and rare purple crafted sets) gave that made PvP impossible for the casual player. That created a group of farmers and out of game credit seekers so they could make juggernaut PvP toons ... which essentially is not fun. But I digress. There are holodecks and there are all sorts of mission that incorporate the diplomacy and trek world but sometimes you have done so many missions where all you did was click through the dialogue that you just miss it. To be succinct, my problems with the game stem from basic physics. Any moron knows that ships don't have to fly like they are in an atmosphere when in space. "What? I can't fly straight down to pick up that drop? I have to spiral my way down to get it?" Seriously, of all of the lame-brained things, this is what bugs me most about the game. I suppose it is canon though. Babylon 5 blew Star Treks physics out of the water with Star Furies and Ships that created artificial gravity with spinning sections but that's neither here nor there. There is simply no excuse to ignore the physics of ships in space ... none.
So, when you do come back, be patient. Ask someone for advice. I know there are a lot of wise-asses that crucify noobs but there are quite a few people willing to help people, (like me) out there and I would be more than happy to show you who to talk to and when. Send me a friend invite next time, same global and I will help you through the not-so-obvious interface.
On that note, I would say that Cryptic needs to make their interface a bit more user friendly. Old gamers and pro's have no issue with it but people who are casual gamers are frustrated to tears. It's really not all that hard but it's definitely not obvious. Good luck to you and thank you for being constructive. It's a nice refreshing change from what I usually see on these forums.
It's cool, however it's still lacking some of the options, like Reverse Shield Polarity. Also, it could be awkward when, from example above, you like to see which powers a Doctor skill influences. Then you have to check every item on that drop down to see which one highlights a Doctor. It would be so much easier that a list of ALL powers and stats that are influenced by a particular skill is written on it's info window.
No One Lives Forever 2: A Spy in Harms Way had a skill point based advancement system, though you could only increase stealth, accuracy, carrying, armour, and health.
Before I quit playing when ever I went near that system for infected there was usually 20+ players hanging around but when i went during the weekend not a single player was there. I comment was really is infected that unpopular already? I had given it a go a while back and played for a couple of hours (got bored in the end) all i was planning on doing this time was flying around going phew phew at the big cubes.
Thanks for the offer. If there is another welcome-back weekend I will definitely take you up on that. I think I may have come back too early. When the overall feel of the game post-tutorial turned out to be much the same, I couldn't be bothered continuing on. But I like the sound of the diplomacy system. I will certainly give that a good go, as long as I can find my way to missions that involve it.
So, yes, I was certainly impatient. But I may be representative of a certain proportion of Cryptic's potential customers. In WoW and other games, however, there was always something enticing me to keep going. "Ooh, I wonder what is across that bridge? I'd better level up so I can pass those guards and cross it. Ooh, I want that mount. I'd better get a good reputation with that faction." So far, STO doesn't seem to have anything like that to keep me motivated to keep at it. Of course, it may be that STO just isn't for a causal gamer like me, no matter how much I love Star Trek. I may just eventually have to accept that.
While this tool is helpful, the skill descriptions themselves leave a lot to be desired. Also the following is needed as well:
- When hovering the mouse cursor over a skill, the powers that boost the skill need to be shown.
- When selecting a skill in the Powers window, the powers that boost the skill need to be shown; currently some do, some don't. Also, if Aux Power affects the skill this needs to be shown as well.
I also appreciate the new feature, as it has cleared up a few mystery abilities. However, not every power I currently have available to my character seems to be listed there.
I think one of the problems is just the way Star Trek translates to a game. I am used to the ST I knew growing up. That is TOS and TNG. Both of those were very singular in nature. It was a single ship and crew exporing the universe. The stories mainly involved the one ship and crew and a single encounter per episode. I never got into Vouager or DS9, so the war thing is known, but a knew experiance.
So with the spirit of ST, the game sends you out on single missions like the TV shows. I like this, but it takes the game world and MMO feeeling out of the game. Sure you can group at anytime and the STF's are required grouping. But that doesn't change the design of the missions at all. They are all the same regardless of grouping.
I agree with your thoughts on Risa. If the game had actual systems for exploration and alternate quests as well as the missions. The game could have had a much different feeling. If you could just visit a system and land on a planet to explore. Then find random quests there that would separate from the main quests. You could actually feel like you are in a system and not just a TV show series that will be gone when you Finnish it.
There is no "World" to this game world. As you say in WoW, you can look across the bridge and see tha you would like to go there. But you know you have to have more experience to get there and it drives you. That doesn't exist in STO. I don't know if it ever will with this design. I am hoping that alternate advancement in diplomacy or exploration will bring a bit more of what is missing. We wi have to wait and see in July. Hope to see you then OP.
A bit of rambling from work, sorry......:rolleyes:
Because they are constantly adding to and expanding the game. Due to player feedback, there is a lot more being added for the Season 2 Update in late June/early July including
- The Federation Diplomatic Corps. (aka Diplomacy and First Contact missions in Star Cluster exploration misssions; and a way to level up using that path if players so desire it)
- More Starship Interiors - including mini-games that allow you to heal yourself, or repair ship damage. (They've also stated the intent to start having mission that do take place on your ship once they have more of the ship interior game tech working).
- A PvE (Player vs Envioroment) story and set of player missions for the Klingons (Making them a fully developed faction); and a promise to continue to expand Klingon PvE content down the line as the game progresses.
and many other things, but for me (and others might feel differently) - these are the standout items in the upcoming Season 2 update.
Oh, and as for having waitied until season 2 to do the first 'Welcome Back Weekend' - personally, I think they will do another one soon after the Season 2 update is live. I like that they tried it here, as honestly, this and the start of te Referral Program were 'test runs; and hopfully after the Season 2 update hits and they do another one, they'll have caught bugs and situations you can only see once you expose something to the real world, thus hopefully both the Referral Program and any future 'Welcome Back Weekends' will run smoother and work better as far as the registartion and client download proccesses go.
Time will tell. Lastly, I do want to commend to OP for providing some actual feedback in a constructive manner. It did come across as a nerdrage post at all.
Bug / Feature / However you want to look at it: The skill list will only populate with your currently equipped powers. I haven't confirmed if this means your class powers have to be assigned to your tray (but I assume they would be), but I know it depends on which BOff you currently have equipped. As a result, this pull down list will change depending on if you are on the ground or in space. Related to this, kits in your inventory will not show as available skills, only your equipped one.
I thought this was just me and I was missing something...I have the same issue. It would be nice if I could type the first few letters of the power I was looking for and have it jump down the list for me. The list is loooong, scrolling was rather painful. Still, it's a good addition to the game it just needs some more polish.
However, I'll probably subscribe.. but only for month and then call it quits... the game is somewhat fun.. sufficiently so that 15 dollars for 1 month of entertainment is worthwhile.... but I just don't see the game having any longevity for me... most MMOs last 8-12 months for me, but I'll be done with this one after another month.
The space combat is the only reason it's worth the 15 dollars for me... but I'll get tired of it in a few weeks.. and that's that.
It's a decent game... but something about it doesn't hold me like other MMOs... if anything, it's more like how I treat my single player games.. play them for 1 month usually and move on... pretty much what I'll do with STO.
I like the sound of those things very much.