Seeing as I canceled my account, I'd like to give a nice big thank you to all the PvPers before I can't post anymore. It was a nice run, but all the great camaraderie in the world isn't gonna keep me around in such a shallow game.
I don't know half of you half as well as I should like, and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve. That pretty much covers it. Shout outs to my own fleet Section 31 (those of you still around), GoD/182, Sto'vo'kor, D.O.B., 7th Core, Lafamilia, and I guess even 187, as well as many more I fought with. Competition was good, times were great. You guys are the reason I stayed around as long as I did.
So why bother to make a quit thread, you ask? Well, this is, beyond that, a saving throw, and maybe, JUST MAYBE, Cryptic will realize that A) I gave them my full, undivided gaming attention,

I had a great time playing with the community, and C) None of the above could possibly convince me to keep playing such a poor representation of PvP.
Maybe I'll come back and give it a second shot, but I can't see that being any sooner than 3-6 months. I see ABSOLUTELY NOTHING on the horizon PvP wise worth coming back for. Oh, we keep hearing the promise of Open PvP wars, or a map or two. We even had a big balancing patch, which I wasn't convinced we needed, but.. meh. I think the Klingon population speaks for itself in regards to how well PvP was handled. Things that need to happen:
1. A real, honest to god open pvp warzone. Something BIG. That involves shooting up bases, capturing objectives, possible ground war integration, and an actual persistent battle. No Kerrat "Battles over, let's magically teleport everyone to one spot" reset. When sides are unbalanced, decent NPC warships fill in for either side. No broken borg please, stuck in objects, with invisible boarding parties and a unstoppable shield drain which makes an extremely tempting target for cloaked BoPs with High Yield and Beam:Overload.
2. When I say shallow, I mean shallow as in "I should be popping quarters into my PC-arcade-shallow." PvP in the game (and this applies to PvE as well) is so lacking I wonder why I payed a monthly fee. I think MW2 has more customization and PvP options by far than this game. Where are my sensors? Where are my hide and seek options? Where are the nebulae to hide in? Why can't I launch sensor probes? Why doesn't my ship have dozens of options which come standard? It just doesn't feel like Star Trek without more options. You wanted to make a simple game, but you forgot to add the bells and whistles of a real starship.
3. In an effort to cater to the PvE playerbase, you absolutely destroyed any hope for the Klingon faction to get off the ground, and PvP in general. Zero open world combat, zero "PvP flag" zones, zero duel options. Wouldn't a big warning like "NOW ENTERING A OPEN PVP SECTOR. ENTER AT YOUR OWN RISK" be enough? I am COMPLETELY BEWILDERED that no one at Cryptic had enough concern about PvP to make any changes a high priority. I know the playerbase has predicted the breakdown of PvP since open beta. We told you so.
4. What exactly am I working for here? I can't conquer anything. I can't protect any borders. I can't even patrol a system (even in a PvE farming or grinding sense). Cryptic made a HUGE deal about a galaxy at war, combat everywhere! High tensions, massive upheavals, and dangers everywhere! Instead, I fall asleep flying thru sector space, half cause it's ugly, and the other half cause there's nothing in it cept loading screens. Boring. I have merits, badges, and tokens coming out of my nacelles. And absolutely nothing I really want to purchase with it all that I don't already have. If feels like I've hit max level, hit max renown, conquered Icecrown, destroyed the enemies capital, and then farmed them over 2 months. In a mmo, that's just sad. This was acceptable in the first half of the decade, but we're well into 2010. You have either grind and/or content to keep us amused. You have neither.
I could go on forever, but I'd rather not, since this is too long as it is. I'm sure anyone in this forum can see the stagnation setting in. People like me, who use to at least make attempts for constructive criticism on the forum and in game, have stopped posting. It's self evident. The PvP forum posts have fallen off so significantly that you can count on your hands the number of updates in a hour. There are Klingon specific forums that sometimes don't update for days.
Anyone that's sticking with this game, don't fall silent. If you want change, yell it. Those that sit meekly on the sidelines, get with the program. If you're happy with the status quo, more power to ya.
Good luck all, and happy PvPing, wherever you may boldly go.
Comments
Very angry, but made some sense and I agree with parts.
SOrry you leaving.
I am indeed sad to see you go. As a great competitor and online friend...even from a rival fleet...I always found you to be a pleasure to be around. You treated both opponents and teammates with class regardless of the game's outcome. I have never once seen you antagonize or provoke others in Zone Chat during PvP matches with and against you. My gaming experience in particular...and STO in general...just lost some of its luster.
As to your points and suggestions...I agree with every one. This mass exodus of elite PvP players and fleets is going to continue as long as the woeful lack of end-game content and disregard for PvP improvements (not forum appeasing nerfs) and variety continues at its current unchecked pace. Many members in my own fleet have become bored or disenchanted with the game and have either stopped playing altogether or are rarely seen online anymore.
One can hope that Cryptic will finally listen to the crowd who doesn't whine on the forums constantly but still pays their $15 a month like the ones that do. I've always said STO has survived in large part to two factors...one of the top two science fiction IP's in history and the lack of competition. Come spring next year they'll have to face both when SW: TOR is released. The next three to four months has a slew of PC and Console games with huge followings being released and by that time so many good players will have left already that I'm not sure what we'll have.
Perhaps that's the biggest lesson to be learned here. STO can probably survive on a modicum of subscribers after the initial box sales totaling over a million and the thousands upon thousands of lifetime or one-year subscriptions. They can continue to get by on monthly subscriptions, minor box sales, and their latest cash-grab...C-Store items galore. They seemed resigned to this fate and this defeatist attitude (much like the PvE crowd they so lovingly coddle) and are happy to ride it into oblivion. Half the original staff has moved on from Cryptic to other projects or left the company entirely for other opportunities. They made their money. I don't know how much longer I can keep giving them mine...:(
Have fun in whatever game you decide to turn to. Hope you find more fulfilling experiences there and if you do return it would make PvP and STO a better place. I guess I can only say goodbye to a fellow true PvP'er the only way I know how and the only way a match against a real competitor should: GG
Bounty
Still, be it EVE, Guild Wars, or whatever that claims to have a large PvP playing population:
PvPers make up around 10% of the population.
Now keep in mind that we live in a time where MMO gamers get mollycoddled so that getting killed in PvE or PvP does not hurt them at all.
Nobody should expect a glorious PvP future for STO. If the game has one, it will be the PvE content that decides that.
A real, honest to god open pvp warzone. Something BIG. That involves shooting up bases, capturing objectives, possible ground war integration, and an actual persistent battle. No Kerrat "Battles over, let's magically teleport everyone to one spot" reset. When sides are unbalanced, decent NPC warships fill in for either side. No broken borg please, stuck in objects, with invisible boarding parties and a unstoppable shield drain which makes an extremely tempting target for cloaked BoPs with High Yield and Beam:Overload.
To Cryptic: Open PvP is something that concerns a lot of players (not just Klingons) and can be a considerable resource to be used for player retention, sparking new interest and building rivalries between the factions, and as an ongoing end-game metagame. I've made a thread and quite a few posts about how to implement an open PvP system using as much of the core gameplay mechanics already in the game as possible, but you guys know what your engine is capable of much better than I do. I'd like to suggest that you guys open up a feedback thread solely for discussion about what we'd like to see in an open PvP environment, and what you're capable of building, versus how much time it would take and what resources would need to be created.
If we just hear you guys talking about it, even to say that you're still working on it, it will go far toward letting us know that you're aware of the issues that concern us.
Yes, I'm a little bitter, but that's because I truly put my support behind this game, hoped for the best, and came out utterly disappointed. No one can claim I didn't give Cryptic the chance.
While I can't claim hard facts, I'd say that in any game with PvP, 10% or less of the population consists of the "hardcore" following, not just 10% total. That >10% is the most vocal, the most PvPcentric of the population. The other 90% can be very mixed. Maybe as much as half of them might be PvE only, and never engage in PvP at all, and maybe even hate it. But that other half might be the "casual" PvPers, who will invest the time, but don't approach the hardcore group. But they DO spend a good part of their time extending their play experience through PvP. One of the things that kept WoW alive during those early times on PvP servers was massive world battles (fond memories of the ol Southshore/Tarren Mill rivalry). Sadly, you will find nothing of that type of immersion here. Kerrat is a joke, and it's the only place we have. Some MIGHT look fondly back on it, but I won't.
Believe it or not, one of my main theories for the underlying breakdown of this game is loading screens. I kid you not, I actually believe it works against everyone under the surface to completely destroy immersion, but furthermore, everyone in this game hates it on a level they may or may not recognize.
Some games, like Warhammer, consist of even higher numbers. And EVE, well, the farther you get from the core the closer you approach 100% PvP participation
~Q