The thing that made me happiest about the recent "Ask Cryptic" article was that the motto for everyone involved with STO has is, "Make the game more like Star Trek>"
Kudos, to you all for such an excellent direction to want to expand and refine the game in!
I thought a fun idea would be if everyone posted what they felt would be their own #1 way to make the game "More like Star Trek."
The rules: Post ONE way that you would make the game feel "more like Star Trek."
*Remember that often small details make a big difference.
My own suggestion: Comlete Deep Space Nine! We are still missing the Security Office, Infirmiry (the CMO stands around in the loading bay), Captain's Office (just a black space...add Sisko's desk and leave a baseball on the desk!), holosuites upstairs at Quark's (the foundary should really add incentive for holosuites!), not to mention the need for mini-games like DARTS and TONGO. Also, I believe a certain character named MORN needs to appear at the end of the bar, whether as a real person or a hologram.
So what's the ONE way YOU'D make Star Trek Online feel "more like Star Trek"?
Uniforms, that are well Uniforms. To me, the novelty of the customized uniforms is over... I'd like to see a default 25th century uniform that is actually uniform.
The problem is that "more like Star Trek" means different things to different people; and most people want a Star Trek MMO more then they want the setting we've been given to play.
STO, unlike any of the 5 series, has the Federation at war on many different fronts. We have a dedicated Klingon war, a full-fledged Borg invasion, an Undine infiltration and invasion, a True Way growth that is just as big as anything from the Dominion Wars, the Terran Empire fully in our dimension and making war, and so on. The Federation is plagued on every side by real wars rather then the cold wars of the past and yet fans want to go out and explore for new things rather then deal with any of the problems facing the Federation.
What would I do to make STO feel more like ST? I'd actually enforce the era (25th century) and the environment given to us in the game. Make the wars mean something. Make the turmoil in the Romulan Empire mean something. Right now nothing means anything. They're just foes to fight rather then challenges to overcome. When all these situations become challenges rather then mindless one-shot encounters then it will feel more like ST, IMO.
If they want to close it, they can close it. It won't change how we feel.
Yes, but intentionally saying things to get threads closed solves nothing; especially when the topic of this thread isn't about whether or not the game should have wars.
Uniforms, that are well Uniforms. To me, the novelty of the customized uniforms is over... I'd like to see a default 25th century uniform that is actually uniform.
The novelty of that will never end for me and it's what keeps me interested in the game when nothing else grabs my fancy. The music is just about impossible to license for an ongoing project like this, too, and few regular video games could even afford it. I don't find these to be very realistic suggestions.
I also find uniform customization to be a realistic part of the setting in the face of a collapsing, embattled Federatiion. They're playing on nostalgia, in part.
It's also much like the Zouave in the American Civil War. Rich volunteers allowed to fight in their own (non-standard and overly elaborate) uniforms, basically set by the rich guy in charge of each unit.
Now... I think the CURRENT default uniforms are part of what cause new players to recoil and say "That's not Trek". It's not a recognizable era. The leathery stuff looks like it belongs in a different game and people seem reluctant to accept the idea of a new era of Trek where designs have changed in ways that are unsupported by past eras, where what "Admiral" means has changed, etc.
The current default uniforms also look low polygot around the collar and simple don't have the polish of more recent designs.
I would make the default uniform for NPCs the "All Good Things" look. Not everybody loves the uniform but it clearly identifies the era of the game. It's familiar. And Cryptic did a much better job on the art design of these than anything else so far. The biggest fault is that they're a bit plain but I tend to think it's better if most NPCs DO look fairly plain.
Also, with as many facial sliders as this game gives us and the way faces get used in dialogues, I tend to think we should be directed to look at the detail in people's faces, at least with NPCs, and not get distracted by their necks or torsos or three color boots. With players, it's somewhat different. But with NPCs, their faces should sell the story.
Well. Easiest would be to make more places visitable, I think. The Federation is vast. More sector blocks, more content within them, more fronts for war-related story content. New Sectors gives them so much more room to fill things in, so new sectors is obviously the best place to start.
Yes, but intentionally saying things to get threads closed solves nothing; especially when the topic of this thread isn't about whether or not the game should have wars.
I'm just saying that if the players want more exploration and such, because it feels more like Star Trek, then that should be the direction the game goes in.
I'm just saying that if the players want more exploration and such, because it feels more like Star Trek, then that should be the direction the game goes in.
Then why even mention the wars if that's all you meant?
I'm just saying that if the players want more exploration and such, because it feels more like Star Trek, then that should be the direction the game goes in.
You use the word "players" as if it actually means something to your sentence. It doesn't. The largest poll on this forum got around 11,600 votes. Most threads live and die on less then 100 different posters and there's probably only around 1,000 dedicated posters on the forum. Those types of numbers don't dictate what the "players" want. The 1,000 dedicated posters constitute 1-2% of the fan-base, and those 1,000 agree on very little.
my hope is when you enter a star system you warp into the actual SYSTEM. star, planets, etc and perhaps low warp/high impulse to the planet with the mission on it. this would add a more trek feel I think and a more realistic feel to space travel. With the enhancements to sector space coming in season 3, this addition would make space travel almost perfect.
I think we should petition to get all the starfleet NPCs default uniforms in game to be the AGT uniforms...or the TNG Nemesis type uniforms at the least.
I realized that this doesn't feel like STAR TREk because THE UNIFORMS DON'T LOOK LIKE STAR TREK.
Some of this stuff looks like Starship Troopers or something. Stick all the NPCs in the All Good Things Uniform and it will make a world of difference!
Something tells me this thread is going to get closed by tomorrow, lol.
I don't mind the wars, in fact I enjoy them. As was suggested by someone else, make them mean something as opposed to it being just enemies to kill. Other stuff like exploration can be done on top of that, no one says that having the war means we can't have the other stuff as well.
As for suggesting one thing that would make the game more trek, as per the OP. I can't say any one thing will do. But if I'd have to pick, it would be the open sectors without warping (since sector space appearance has already been fixed to look more realistic).
End to a War that means nothing (like the wars with Klingons always have).
Exploration of a system where we get to see the whole system (where was that in Star Trek?).
Oh and not mentioned, my lowly ship (Miranda) holding it's own against Borg cubes (bad enough when a single top tier can do it).
Did I leave anything out?
No offense but this seems like a "how this game can be MY TREK". Star Trek only if your name is Star.
Exacta.
Most of the oft bandied about suggestions are hardly based upon canon at all.
In fact, in the case of uniforms, while it was not total customization, in TOS different ships and fleets used different emblems. Enterprise used the chevron adopted by the rest of the fleet in the present. Thats the precedent.
IMO, anyway, the default uniforms look like star trek. They look like trek because they take design cues from past uniforms. What they are not is actually being a previously used uniform. So some people's idea of 'more trek' is not really to have more 'trek' looking uniforms, but to have ONLY old trek uniforms.
The problem is that "more like Star Trek" means different things to different people; and most people want a Star Trek MMO more then they want the setting we've been given to play.
STO, unlike any of the 5 series, has the Federation at war on many different fronts. We have a dedicated Klingon war, a full-fledged Borg invasion, an Undine infiltration and invasion, a True Way growth that is just as big as anything from the Dominion Wars, the Terran Empire fully in our dimension and making war, and so on. The Federation is plagued on every side by real wars rather then the cold wars of the past and yet fans want to go out and explore for new things rather then deal with any of the problems facing the Federation.
What would I do to make STO feel more like ST? I'd actually enforce the era (25th century) and the environment given to us in the game. Make the wars mean something. Make the turmoil in the Romulan Empire mean something. Right now nothing means anything. They're just foes to fight rather then challenges to overcome. When all these situations become challenges rather then mindless one-shot encounters then it will feel more like ST, IMO.
I do like that idea. Right now it is just too much of a SPG when it comes to missions. Nothing any of us do makes a difference. So adding in events maybe that tie into what is going on in a zone for everyone in the zone to take part in if they choose. It still won't be a big group encounter. But at least if enough players complete an objective. There could be a zone wide reward or buff.
As far as my own idea. I am a fan of TOS shows, so yes, exploration and discovery are high on my list. I would like to see an exploration zone put in the game that is just traveling through sector space with random incounters. Incounters that could still use the genesis system. But instead of random incounters you fly to, it should just be something detected by your BO's or distress calls you investigate. The current exploration zones are just too small and feel meaningless to me.
I'm just saying that if the players want more exploration and such, because it feels more like Star Trek, then that should be the direction the game goes in.
I can agree with this as well. The federation needs more PvE exploration and discovery missions while the KDF needs more raid/conquest/house conflict style PvE missions along the lines of what has been recently released.
We all need a more open PvP setting(s) to reflect the war between the factions in a logical and competitive way besides just small arena's a capture the flag and KTA. (though it is fun to KTA)
I also strongly like the war settinga s it is in STO. I find it to be both realistic for the genre in that the KDF and star fleet have always had a cold war of sorts that erupted into conflicts between them over the genre storylines both canon and uncanon, with only a few exceptions.
I like whole storyline that the Devs have created to explain the chaos and anarchy of current events in the STO universe.
I do not wish for the war to stop.
Comments
The music.
Uniforms, that are well Uniforms. To me, the novelty of the customized uniforms is over... I'd like to see a default 25th century uniform that is actually uniform.
STO, unlike any of the 5 series, has the Federation at war on many different fronts. We have a dedicated Klingon war, a full-fledged Borg invasion, an Undine infiltration and invasion, a True Way growth that is just as big as anything from the Dominion Wars, the Terran Empire fully in our dimension and making war, and so on. The Federation is plagued on every side by real wars rather then the cold wars of the past and yet fans want to go out and explore for new things rather then deal with any of the problems facing the Federation.
What would I do to make STO feel more like ST? I'd actually enforce the era (25th century) and the environment given to us in the game. Make the wars mean something. Make the turmoil in the Romulan Empire mean something. Right now nothing means anything. They're just foes to fight rather then challenges to overcome. When all these situations become challenges rather then mindless one-shot encounters then it will feel more like ST, IMO.
If they want to close it, they can close it. It won't change how we feel.
Romulans 2011... be friends with them.
The novelty of that will never end for me and it's what keeps me interested in the game when nothing else grabs my fancy. The music is just about impossible to license for an ongoing project like this, too, and few regular video games could even afford it. I don't find these to be very realistic suggestions.
I also find uniform customization to be a realistic part of the setting in the face of a collapsing, embattled Federatiion. They're playing on nostalgia, in part.
It's also much like the Zouave in the American Civil War. Rich volunteers allowed to fight in their own (non-standard and overly elaborate) uniforms, basically set by the rich guy in charge of each unit.
Now... I think the CURRENT default uniforms are part of what cause new players to recoil and say "That's not Trek". It's not a recognizable era. The leathery stuff looks like it belongs in a different game and people seem reluctant to accept the idea of a new era of Trek where designs have changed in ways that are unsupported by past eras, where what "Admiral" means has changed, etc.
The current default uniforms also look low polygot around the collar and simple don't have the polish of more recent designs.
I would make the default uniform for NPCs the "All Good Things" look. Not everybody loves the uniform but it clearly identifies the era of the game. It's familiar. And Cryptic did a much better job on the art design of these than anything else so far. The biggest fault is that they're a bit plain but I tend to think it's better if most NPCs DO look fairly plain.
Also, with as many facial sliders as this game gives us and the way faces get used in dialogues, I tend to think we should be directed to look at the detail in people's faces, at least with NPCs, and not get distracted by their necks or torsos or three color boots. With players, it's somewhat different. But with NPCs, their faces should sell the story.
Well. Easiest would be to make more places visitable, I think. The Federation is vast. More sector blocks, more content within them, more fronts for war-related story content. New Sectors gives them so much more room to fill things in, so new sectors is obviously the best place to start.
I'm just saying that if the players want more exploration and such, because it feels more like Star Trek, then that should be the direction the game goes in.
Then why even mention the wars if that's all you meant?
Is there a functional difference from actually ending the wars and just never mentioning them again?
That'd be pretty boring.
I realized that this doesn't feel like STAR TREk because THE UNIFORMS DON'T LOOK LIKE STAR TREK.
Some of this stuff looks like Starship Troopers or something. Stick all the NPCs in the All Good Things Uniform and it will make a world of difference!
I don't mind the wars, in fact I enjoy them. As was suggested by someone else, make them mean something as opposed to it being just enemies to kill. Other stuff like exploration can be done on top of that, no one says that having the war means we can't have the other stuff as well.
As for suggesting one thing that would make the game more trek, as per the OP. I can't say any one thing will do. But if I'd have to pick, it would be the open sectors without warping (since sector space appearance has already been fixed to look more realistic).
They're still fugly, though.
My favorite uniforms that everyone has to wear.
End to a War that means nothing (like the wars with Klingons always have).
Exploration of a system where we get to see the whole system (where was that in Star Trek?).
Oh and not mentioned, my lowly ship (Miranda) holding it's own against Borg cubes (bad enough when a single top tier can do it).
Did I leave anything out?
No offense but this seems like a "how this game can be MY TREK". Star Trek only if your name is Star.
Lol....think you nailed it.
Exacta.
Most of the oft bandied about suggestions are hardly based upon canon at all.
In fact, in the case of uniforms, while it was not total customization, in TOS different ships and fleets used different emblems. Enterprise used the chevron adopted by the rest of the fleet in the present. Thats the precedent.
IMO, anyway, the default uniforms look like star trek. They look like trek because they take design cues from past uniforms. What they are not is actually being a previously used uniform. So some people's idea of 'more trek' is not really to have more 'trek' looking uniforms, but to have ONLY old trek uniforms.
Gotta agree 100% with all that!
I do like that idea. Right now it is just too much of a SPG when it comes to missions. Nothing any of us do makes a difference. So adding in events maybe that tie into what is going on in a zone for everyone in the zone to take part in if they choose. It still won't be a big group encounter. But at least if enough players complete an objective. There could be a zone wide reward or buff.
As far as my own idea. I am a fan of TOS shows, so yes, exploration and discovery are high on my list. I would like to see an exploration zone put in the game that is just traveling through sector space with random incounters. Incounters that could still use the genesis system. But instead of random incounters you fly to, it should just be something detected by your BO's or distress calls you investigate. The current exploration zones are just too small and feel meaningless to me.
I can agree with this as well. The federation needs more PvE exploration and discovery missions while the KDF needs more raid/conquest/house conflict style PvE missions along the lines of what has been recently released.
We all need a more open PvP setting(s) to reflect the war between the factions in a logical and competitive way besides just small arena's a capture the flag and KTA. (though it is fun to KTA)
I also strongly like the war settinga s it is in STO. I find it to be both realistic for the genre in that the KDF and star fleet have always had a cold war of sorts that erupted into conflicts between them over the genre storylines both canon and uncanon, with only a few exceptions.
I like whole storyline that the Devs have created to explain the chaos and anarchy of current events in the STO universe.
I do not wish for the war to stop.