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Quality of Life changes for players...
trs80
Member Posts: 11 Arc User
Quality of Life ?
As I have been playing Star Trek Online (STO) there are some small Quality of Life things that are annoying at worst but fixing them will have a great improvement on the overall gaming experience. Even small things can cost you players in a Free-to-Play (F2P) game that players have to voluntarily give up their cash. Making the simple little things less of a Sisyphian effort can help go a long way to getting that money out of the wallets of your players.
This list is not in any specific order ? just a list that to get you thinking?
UI: BANK/ITEM Transfers & Stacking: When you have your Bank open have it transfer items from BANK/INVENTORY when you ?right click? or MODIFIED+CLICK on an item, also have STACK like items. This may not seem like much but look at it from this point of view, try placing 20 different Data Samples/Particle Traces in your bank.
Item: Consumables - Hypo/Shield: Stack to a greater number, again this is a quality of life issue for players and Inventory management.
Fleet: Cancel Projects: Give us the ability to cancel a queued project. In my Fleet we just Started Tier 2 Communication Array, we intended on waiting till this one finished to start the Tier 2 Star Base Upgrade, an officer that wasn?t online for this discussion saw that Tier 2 Shipyard Upgrade was available, this means we will have to wait 4 additional days before we can even start our Star Base upgrade.
UI: Non-Combat Pets: Inventory Space is at a premium even if you expand it via the C-Store. Place Non-combat pets as skills that are added to your list even if they are in your bank.
Ground Equipment: EV Suits, Flash Lights and Re-Modulators: Right now a player has 5 equipment slots (Armor, PS, KIT, Wep1, Wep2) and 4 Device Slots? Then you make players equip the EV Suits which replaces their Armor and Flash Lights which takes a Device Slot. Make the EV suit its own equipment slot that is auto equipped when you?re in an area that requires () it, also just give us a flash like as part of our equipment.
UI: Better Numbers for Weapon/ITEMS: This is a bit larger but when you look at equipment it should reflect the DPS based on your skills/equipment for example an [Antiproton Beam Array Mk XII [ACC] x2 [CritH]] it will have the same listed DPS as a [Phaser Beam Array Mk XII [ACC] x2 [CritH]] the reality is that the Antiproton is higher DPS base, not counting the chance of disabling subsystems. But it if you have Three +26% Antiproton Damage consoles the weapons should show this information as well. This makes it very hard for new players to evaluate new equipment. My suggestion is to rework and update all the numbers of the weapons cast damage then list under the base number what the DPS of the weapon would be with the player?s current skill/equipment.
Exchange: Filters: The Exchange system really is one of the largest portions of the game. Fixing the search/filter options will allow you to index your dataset and speed up the overall performance of your exchange. My suggestion is to look at the Auction House from Diablo3, in D3 they have a list of SET search function in a drop down. That could be easily adapted to STO, for example Major Categories, Ship Equipment/Ground Equipment/Reward, Trade & Crafting/Duty Officers. The Example of a Sub-category for Ship Equipment would be, Deflectors, Shields, Weapons, ect. Drop down Options for something like Weapons would have things like Energy Type: Disruptor/Phaser/Antiproton, CrtH, CrtD, Dmg, Acc, and Phased. Because you?re now controlling the way that players search the system you can now build index?s on your database that will increase overall performance.
UI: Chat System: Again stealing from other games give each of the global/private channels a number. 1: local, 2: zone, 3: AllianceChannel, 4: TactaclChannel. This way the user only has to type Slash and the number of the channel. example: ?/4 What ship is better??
As I have been playing Star Trek Online (STO) there are some small Quality of Life things that are annoying at worst but fixing them will have a great improvement on the overall gaming experience. Even small things can cost you players in a Free-to-Play (F2P) game that players have to voluntarily give up their cash. Making the simple little things less of a Sisyphian effort can help go a long way to getting that money out of the wallets of your players.
This list is not in any specific order ? just a list that to get you thinking?
UI: BANK/ITEM Transfers & Stacking: When you have your Bank open have it transfer items from BANK/INVENTORY when you ?right click? or MODIFIED+CLICK on an item, also have STACK like items. This may not seem like much but look at it from this point of view, try placing 20 different Data Samples/Particle Traces in your bank.
Item: Consumables - Hypo/Shield: Stack to a greater number, again this is a quality of life issue for players and Inventory management.
Fleet: Cancel Projects: Give us the ability to cancel a queued project. In my Fleet we just Started Tier 2 Communication Array, we intended on waiting till this one finished to start the Tier 2 Star Base Upgrade, an officer that wasn?t online for this discussion saw that Tier 2 Shipyard Upgrade was available, this means we will have to wait 4 additional days before we can even start our Star Base upgrade.
UI: Non-Combat Pets: Inventory Space is at a premium even if you expand it via the C-Store. Place Non-combat pets as skills that are added to your list even if they are in your bank.
Ground Equipment: EV Suits, Flash Lights and Re-Modulators: Right now a player has 5 equipment slots (Armor, PS, KIT, Wep1, Wep2) and 4 Device Slots? Then you make players equip the EV Suits which replaces their Armor and Flash Lights which takes a Device Slot. Make the EV suit its own equipment slot that is auto equipped when you?re in an area that requires () it, also just give us a flash like as part of our equipment.
UI: Better Numbers for Weapon/ITEMS: This is a bit larger but when you look at equipment it should reflect the DPS based on your skills/equipment for example an [Antiproton Beam Array Mk XII [ACC] x2 [CritH]] it will have the same listed DPS as a [Phaser Beam Array Mk XII [ACC] x2 [CritH]] the reality is that the Antiproton is higher DPS base, not counting the chance of disabling subsystems. But it if you have Three +26% Antiproton Damage consoles the weapons should show this information as well. This makes it very hard for new players to evaluate new equipment. My suggestion is to rework and update all the numbers of the weapons cast damage then list under the base number what the DPS of the weapon would be with the player?s current skill/equipment.
Exchange: Filters: The Exchange system really is one of the largest portions of the game. Fixing the search/filter options will allow you to index your dataset and speed up the overall performance of your exchange. My suggestion is to look at the Auction House from Diablo3, in D3 they have a list of SET search function in a drop down. That could be easily adapted to STO, for example Major Categories, Ship Equipment/Ground Equipment/Reward, Trade & Crafting/Duty Officers. The Example of a Sub-category for Ship Equipment would be, Deflectors, Shields, Weapons, ect. Drop down Options for something like Weapons would have things like Energy Type: Disruptor/Phaser/Antiproton, CrtH, CrtD, Dmg, Acc, and Phased. Because you?re now controlling the way that players search the system you can now build index?s on your database that will increase overall performance.
UI: Chat System: Again stealing from other games give each of the global/private channels a number. 1: local, 2: zone, 3: AllianceChannel, 4: TactaclChannel. This way the user only has to type Slash and the number of the channel. example: ?/4 What ship is better??
Post edited by trs80 on
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Data samples already stack, up to 250. Unless you are talking about having different one in the same stack. That would be totally confusing. How would you know what is in the stack then?
The reason projects can't be canceled is because there is no current way to return the contributed items back to their original owners.
I actually like the way the system is now. I don't want to have to type "?/4" everytime I want to say something in that channel. Plus in STO, you are allowed up to 20 channel susbscriptions. I wouldn't be able to keep track of which channel corresponds to which number.
Come join the 44th Fleet.
startrek.44thfleet.com[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
I was hoping to get a discussion of small little things you take for granted in other games that once they are gone drive you stark raving mad... Where i work our developers call them "low fruit" things they can incorporate that are relatively small and easy that make things a lot easier. for me the Inventory is a nightmair, my Girl friend laughs at me on a regular basis when I growl at it.
Sorry I was not clear, Yes they stack up to 250, but when you send them to the BANK make sure they auto-stack with the ones in your bank.
I was talking about queued projects that have yet to start... Right now we have Upgrade Communication Array Tier 2 running with 70ish hours left, and Upgrade Shipyard Tier 2 que. We want to cancel the Upgrade Shipyard Tier 2 that has not started and leave it blank till upgrade Communication Array is done then start our Upgrade Star Base.
To be honest I'm still pretty new to STO chat channels and shot of typing /channel_send <ChannelName>, Message or useing the channel drop down i cant send in to a channel. Chat systems in MMO's should be intuitive and simple as possible.
/zone ....
/team ...
/fleet ...
However, there isn't a short command for custom channels that I am aware of. One thing i'd like thou, is if I use "/zone ...." my active channel (the one i'll type in next time I try to type), should switch to Zone. If I type /fleet, it should switch the active channel to Fleet etc.
I agree with the notion of adding numbers to the more common channels, as well as abbreviations;
/z = Zone
/t = Team
/f = Fleet
/o = Officer
/1 = Zone
/2 = Team (only while in team)
/3 = Fleet (only if in a fleet)
/4 = Officer (only if permitted to chat in Officer channel via fleet permissions)
One thing definitely missing (which exists in most other MMOs), is a common "Trade" channel.
Oh, yeah. Totally agree with you here then.
I guess I'm just used to the drop down menu. I actually am close to maxing with almost 20 channels. I suppose I would feel differently with only 3 or 4. But one of the things that I like about it is that the channel name is displayed. So whatever I type goes into that channel. This would become cumbersome if I am having a conversation and have to preface everything I say by typing "/4" everytime.
btw, there's a shortcut for returning private messages in case you weren't aware, and that is <backspace> will auto reply to the last person that sent you a PM.
Come join the 44th Fleet.
startrek.44thfleet.com[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
Even if it was only for the Private Chat Channels it would be great.. i know there are a lot of abbreviated channel commands like
/p = Pary/group
/g = Party/Group
/gu = Fleet Chats(Guild Chat)
/o = Officer
But for like the DOFFJobs channel... "/channel_send DOFFJobs, Message..." is kinda of obnoxious.
I liked how TOR did their pets being part of the Power Tray, so you can just bring up the list of tribbles you acquired / unlocked and simply click on the tribble to buff up. No cluttered inventory or digging to find the right one on short notice for particular mobs.
Pets can be done the same, just click on the one you want and there you go.
One thing I would really like them to do is redo the Emote System, is allowing basic text emotes without it making like you are saying it. Similar to what Everquest did back in the day.
I was thinking in addition to the input selection, say your in a private channel with friends and you see something in another channel (Channel #4, EliteSTF) and you wish to quickly respond to them without changing your input selection, typing a message then changing your input selection back. Would it just be much easier to type /4 <message> for quick 1 time messages
Right click on any of the chat tabs at the top of the chat window, open up the chat options and make a new chat tab.
When I make a new character i load up an old saved UI config i have. first chat channel is zone, then team, fleet, npc, combat and finally my private channels. You can even scale the UI and the text in the chat window, so everythign should fit nicely.
on the zone channel, just use the drop down to select zone, pick fleet on the drop down for the fleet channel and so on. When you have everything sorted mess with the chat options some more to rid yourself of things like zone chat in the fleet window.
Changing which channel you chat to is then as easy as clickng the tab for that chat window.
It's much better to use these:
/zone <message>
/say <message>
/fleet <message>
/team <message>
/officer <message>
Or use the drop-down menu to pick a channel.
To rob a line: [quote: Mariemaia Kushrenada] Forum Posting is much like an endless waltz. The three beats of war, peace and revolution continue on forever. However, opinions will change upon the reading of my post.[/quote]
Hell no! I saw that new Sort button and hit it...
Then spent the next 5 minutes putting stuff back where I had it.
My QoL idea would be to have custom ship loadouts. Where I can hit one button (out of combat) and my weapons and/or Boffs switch out. I have one set of gear for STFs (stuff w/ [borg]) and one set for non-borg stuff. It's a real pain to drag and drop all that junk; especially when the server is laggy.
Cool. That certainly helps.
Holy TRIBBLE yeah. I still can't figure out why I can't double click an item to move it from my inventory to the bank and vice versa.
Specifically for the traces and samples.
The drop down system is just bad, it is horribly inadequate and it works to a point but it defiantly needs improvement. <Holodeck_Team000000 could not be found.> Try leaving the drop down setting on TEAM, then run a few STF's without changing the setting and let me know if you think it still works fine.
For things like Zone/Say/Fleet/Team the current system is adequate, to a point. For the Private channels the system is inadequate and should be looked at. But just because "it is how it has always worked" or "we are use to the way it is" doesn't mean it can't or shouldn't be improved to help the scores of new players that are starting.
When I explain some of the bugs I run in to in STO to some of my friends that are software/hardware developers they find them laughable.
I really hate visiting vendors on a regular basis, and hate running out even more do i rent to stockpile a bunch once or twice a week. I also hand them out to my fleet mates that dont bring their own (yes, it pisses me off to) so i trend to carry far more then necessary and seeing that other items in the game stack up to 250, to me seems like a "quick and easy change"
If there is a way to cancel an inactive project it is not readily known, nor can it be found on a Google search. you can change one but at this point we have not found a way to cancel one.
Of course if they added an EV suit slot they might have to adjust the EV suit stats. But since they are mostly resist based i dont really see how it would be necessary.
This is a problem i seem to see a lot "all energy types are close in damage", I do theoretical modeling for a living and this really is a miss leading having a two different energy type weapons with the same stats, relative damage range and listed DPS. When you model and look at the way something things like energy types effect effect your DPS, some of the PROCs although interesting and useful do much less to effect your damage then others.
Example: Poleron has a 2.5% change to reduce the power setting for a target by 25, now if your fighting an NPC this is going to have little beneficial effect to your overall DPS. But if your fighting a player then you can effectually take 1-2 systems off line (AUX/ENG) normally the ones people run on the lean side.
Why not make them part of the new filters system?
Defiantly be customizable, The way other gamed used numbered chat channels was then you joined a custom chat channel it was assigned a number, this number appeared in chat in-font of the chant channel name.
Example:
1: [timestamp] CustomChannel01, 'message'
/1 reply
1: [timestamp] CustomChannel01, 'reply'
Some games i have played handled the customization and management of custom channels better then others but IMO the best would be allowing players to move them up/down in the list.
Overall think of it this way, how many times have you gone in to an STF and had the idiot that messes up. If that chat system was better then communication would be easier, less cumbersome maybe thoes people would ask questions and other people would mind less taking the few minutes to explane stuff to them. Making YOUR overall gaming experience better.
This might even be less work then it sounds like, because I know a Federation shuttle bay model already exists, since you fight through one on a KDF mission.
Make it work like the two weapons -- where you switch back and forth "on the fly", instead of having to drag from inventory to switch. There's no reason they should have to stack stats.
Admittedly, this wouldn't help when you have an EV suit as part of a "set" -- you'd still have to change out the shield and possibly the weapon.
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC] "I weary of the chase. Wait for me. I shall be merciful and quick."
Looks like according to the Ask Cryptic Aug it maybe very close to being updated
http://sto.perfectworld.com/news/?p=634281
Q: (maxxina) re-done exchange in S7? Yes/No?
Dstahl: Yes. Maybe soon. This is also true of the PVE Queue UI, and probably other UI elements as well. The very next UI updates we will be making are in relation to Fleet Project donations, where we plan to add the ability to donate multiple anomalies at once
I wanted a Shuttle Pet.
I went to Del Taco.
I spent the rest of my weekend in my restroom.
My quality of life changed.
Ha! Nice. :P
I want to see a "Switch to Small Craft" button where you push the button, your shuttlebay doors open and out pops you in your small craft!
Or even better, if you have the Captains yacht, and the Sovy, you can see it detach from the underside of the saucer!
This option is very much in the game right now. Click on 'sort by price' and go down to whichever option for sorting you want.
Conjoined, Re-emergence, and . . .
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]