Raptr Q&A session with Dan Stahl

Some of you guys here may have seen the devblog from Branflakes about STO Joining Raptr, meaning that Raptr users playing STO will be starting to see new rewards from Raptr (similar to many of the other games tracked through Raptr).

Dan Stahl is also doing a Q&A session on Raptr today. Raptr users can post comments on the page and Dan is answering them there. The comment system on Raptr is a little... cumbersome at the moment, however. You can sort the comments on the thread page by Newest, Oldest, and Top Rated, but "Newest" only refers to the original comment, not the updated replies to the comment. Dstahl's name is highlighted on his replies, but you still have to scroll through all the questions. You can even view all the comments Dstahl has made on his Raptr page, but that only shows a "blurb" of his reply, and not the comment he was replying to. There is a link, but it takes you to the thread page, and not the individual comment (which means you still have to scroll through all the comments to find the specific reply).

There is still some good info there, so I am going to try and do a compilation here:


Batch 1:

Matt Miracle: Dan, if you could go back in time to when you were first working on STO (via slingshot, Guardian of Forever, Bepi 113, or other Trime Travel method), what would you tell yourself to do differently with STO. For this exercise, assume to "Temporal Prime Directive" or any universe ending paradoxes. LLAP.

Dstahl: Love the Time Travel Reference - so very Star Trek! If I could go back to production discussions we were having prior to launch, I would tell myself to focus less on trying to have "MMO Feature Parity" with other MMOs (meaning x number of gameplay hours, x number of features" and simply focus on all the things that make STO unique and "Star Trek"

DracoDITS: In a recent upgrade to the Federation Starbases there were Tri-D chessboards added. In the future, would it be possible to turn this into (Or add - in addition to) a playable mini-game? Perhaps adding a KDF minigame to be added to their starbase as well. I would find this to be a massive addition for all Star Trek fans out there.

Dstahl: We love mini-games and this is already on our list of games that we would add if we had the resources. For now, it is a nice-to-have and not on any schedule, but it sure would be cool.

The Edge Mistress: When will we expect the next set of Episodes for our already existing Factions ? What happened to Sela with the Iconians ? Will we see it at the perspective of the Federation, the Klingons or the rumored Romulan Faction or all of them ? There has been plenty of Federation game store starships released after the Odyssey and Bortas, will there be ones for the Klingons ?

Dstahl: Season 7 is going to reveal more information about what *might* have happened to Sela as well as dive deep into the aftermath of the Romulan Feature Episode series. In addition, we are planning a big story update for Season 8 which will futher other story lines, but we aren't sharing any details about that yet since it is further out.

IndigoMercy: Are there any plans to improve on the diplomacy side of things? Maybe the ability to create and maintain alliances for trade income? or the ability for fleets to formally go to war with each other to fight for control of resource rich sectors/systems possibly?

Dstahl: The next major update (Season 7) will be adding a Fleet Embassy which will focus on Diplomacy and Recruiting tracks and will require some Diplomatic efforts in exchange for some cool new rewards. The Embassy will be on the new Romulan colony. In the future we will consider branching out into the type of iPvP resource game you describe.

danwaigand: Have you ever considered merging the Klingon/Fed factions into one? This would destroy a number of common complaints regarding the game and allow the dev team to focus on creating 1 game instead of two, as well as fixing most issues such as balancing, content, and pvp. Might also let us start on race-specific homeworlds or possibly get a race-specific weapon.

...Any chance we'll get more end-game missions that allow us the use of boffs, or simply updates to current ones? I wouldn't mind seeing how my boffs respond to some STFs or something.

Dstahl: We have considered merging the KDF and FED factions, but only as a due-diligence thought process. We strongly believe that STO needs both factions and we would rather see the KDF come inline with the FED faction. One of the options we are considering to make this happen is to add other key races and species to the KDF faction, so I'm curious what you might think of that solution if it say meant more content for the KDF, even if that content is specific to a species such as the Gorn or Orions?

mewi: Why not just have the True Way, Romulan and KDF etc in an alliance against the federation? Although the Romulan and KDF might not sound logical. You may just need a 3rd faction in order to make that idea work.

Dstahl: @mewi Hypothetically speaking, even though the Romulans and Klingons aren't logical allies, there might still be a subset of Romulans that would be interested in fighting the Federation and work with the KDF to do so. This is something we would consider.

sabredruid: Dan, any chance of getting Vulcan, Andorian, and other Fed founding specific clothing? I'd love a vulcan Kohlinar robe

Dstahl: Certainly a chance, and more than likely this will happen. The Kohlinar robe is already on an internal wish list, so that may happen sooner than later.

MrMental: Will we ever be able to add foundry missions to our fleet Holodecks?

Dstahl: All signs point to yes in the future. This is one of the primary reasons we want to see the interior room-by-room editor being featured in Neverwinter, ported over to STO after they launch. In the meantime, we will be investigating the option to put Foundry mission doors on Starbases, but there are some technical challenges such as how do players get to the door if they aren't in your fleet? We'll get that resolved at some point.

gamerjosh: Will Raptr and STO accounts connect to each other to share accolade information?

Dstahl: That would be cool and something we can talk to Raptr about to determine future feasibility.

ShadowMajere: Hey dan, I got an interesting Idea to replace the loading screen when moving between Sector, Why not replace it with an animation of you moving threw the Warp field like in any of the ST series. Instead of seeing Loading it can look like our ships are enroute to the location we are heading.

Dstahl: At some point we had this working internally, so I'll need to dig around and see what happened to that!

Xyphus: Currently, there are only Borg-related STFs. Are there any future plans to include Tholian or Iconian based STFs? Iconians play a large role in several of the PvE missions, and of course the Tholians are making a strong showing with the launch of the Starbases. But the STFs have pretty much been left untouched. It would be great to have some new STF missions and gear to go along with the two enemy factions.

Dstahl: STFs are getting a make-over in Season 7 and becoming part of the new Reputation system. Similar to how Fleet Progression works, individual players will now be able to run Omega Fleet Reputation specific missions (e.g. STFs) to earn items that they can spend on increasing their Reputation with the Omega Fleet in order to unlock rewards. Once this new feature is released, we intend to add new Reputations and associated missions that provide inputs (drops) for that new Rep.

SteelMagnum: <major snippage due to wall of text> Were is the GROUND pvp on the 'to-do' list?

Dstahl: Ground PvP is a ways off. Looking at game play data, most people are currently playing Space PvP and so it was the first on the to-do list for a revamp and something that Gozer and now Dods is responsible for. Once we make some headway with Space PvP, then we can consider moving to Ground PvP and developing something that is reminiscent of a Battleground. We have a long term goal to get that type of gameplay into STO because it is sorely missing.

MrMental: Will the old emotes from emote pack's make it to the GPL store still or has that idea been scraped?

Dstahl: It hasn't been scrapped, it is just on hold until our animators get a break to hook it up to the proper reward tables. We are also in the process of evaluating the GPL store and coming up with a solution to make the GPL store more in line with what it was inteded to be (aka the Lobi store). We expect to have more news on that soon.

stumped978: How about ever having the Romulan factions as a playable option?

Dstahl: Probably one of the top features we are considering for 2013, but there are a few obstacles we have to overcome first.

joshlewis7889: where is my Andorian Escort? lmao

Dstahl: On the schedule - should be out before our 3rd anniversary.

DTums: Any chance that Denise Crosby could be brought in to do a voiceover for Sela in future content? Or any other Trek actors? Maybe Barclay?

Dstahl: We would love to do this and so far the only thing that has been holding us up is the cost benefit of doing this. VO for top talent is very expensive and when we have to weigh having having a famous actor perform VO for one episode series, versus say having another content designer for a whole year, the headcount has won. That doesn't mean it never happens, only that it is a challenge. That said, I spoke to John de Lancie at the Vegas Star Trek con about the possibility of doing some VO in the future as he (along with Denise Crosby) have characters that are active in our timeline, so we'll see what the future brings.

StarArmy: Hi Dan. I have two questions. 1. What is Cryptic doing to move the game from a static "amusement park" experience to a more dynamic one where players can influence the setting (via territory conquest or persistent exploration, etc). When will we leave 2409 behind for 2410, etc?

2. Can you tell us about some of the exciting C-store items coming down the pipe? Specifically, any updates on player-choosable transporter effects, TNG season 1 skants and pants (we only have the TNG season 1 top showing in game) and more replica bridges?

Dstahl: Skants! hahaha this comes up far more than you may imagine. We've been very close to releasing skants for some time, but it always misses the cut at the last minute. That said, we are always looking for more feedback on what YOU would like to see added to the store.

Phazerbank: <wallotext snippage> My question is that, there seems to be a trend of concern among player base about the company Pefect World Entertainment or (PWE). They have a track record of turning games into money sinkholes with gambling games like the lockboxes, and making games that focus on killing anything that moves. How can you re-assure, if at all, the player base and canon Star Trek fans that the game will move closer to canon Star Trek, content meant to satisfy the exhileration of combat and exploration and not be manipulated by PWEs goals for achieving a profit? <more snippage from wallotext>

Dstahl: Great Post! Thus far, PWE has been awesome for Cryptic and specifically for STO. You have to keep in mind that the division that we are owned by is the North American / EU subsidiary and so most of the games you are referring to are ports they've brought to this region from China. One of the reasons they purchased Cryptic was so that the local subsidiary could work more closely with a local developer to build games that are more in tune with local audiences. As such, we have a great collaboration going over STO because STO was going F2P whether we were owned by PW or not. While we will continue to have multiple offerings in our stores that help us generate revenue (the only reason F2P games don't go bust), STO is about Star Trek and as such never lose sight of the fact that the people who will be playing this game in 5 years are Star Trek fans. Season 7 will be introducing our largest ground zone to date focused on exploration and advancing Story.

MikeWard1701: Will Christine Thompsons' (CrypticKestrel) stories and information regarding the fate of the Enterprise E and crew of the Enterprise F be made available in game, either as missions or some other method?

Dstahl: That is the plan!

jonhuff33: There has been in STO the Mirror Universe Uniforms for a while now and resently Mirror ships have been added to the game thanks to the Tholian Lockboxes can Cryptic add the ability to change your fed ships' registery from U.S.S. to I.S.S. like you guys added the N.X. from N.C.C.?

Dstahl: We are considering this.

halophoenix: There was a lot of chatter after the last Featured Episodes that because they require so much time and resources to put together that we may never see more on the same scale that we saw in The 2800. Do you guys have plans for future Featured Episodes in upcoming seasons?

Dstahl: Yes we do! We plan to re-introduce Feature Episodes in Season 8.

whelm: dstahl, Going forward are there more plans for book and/or comic tie in's to Star trek online's lore?

Dstahl: We are in discussions about future tie-ins, but for now Star Trek Magazine has been featuring storylines related to STO in nearly every issue since #41 http://titanmagazines.com/t/star-trek/us/41/

anazonda: For fleets, what future plans do you have to include new projects, perhaps:

- Cross Profession (for example 250 Tac and 250 Sci, rather than just 500 Tac)
- Some with few to none Duty Officer assignments
- Options to make fleet bases unique for each fleet, so that they have a shot at really making it look diffrent from everyone elses?

Finally: We miss you guys on the forums... We know you guys are working, but we'd also like to see you every now and then.

Dstahl: We plan to continue supporting Fleets with new Holdings well into the future. Next up in Season 7 is the Fleet Embassy, with plenty more Holdings to come.

skywise12: i have a question mr.stahl will you at sto raise the cap levels anytime soon?

Dstahl: Sorta - let me explain. Before the end of this year we will introduce the Reputation system which is a max level progression system that will allow you to expand your Captain's career and offer new rewards. This doesn't up the skillcap yet, but we do eventually plan to do that in the future, but we have a lot of new end game content to build first so that there are new STFs and missions to do once the level goes up.

JaxJaguars: Will there be away to switch characters without a logoff?

Dstahl: Until the Accounts team rewrites they way they handle authentication, the answer is unfortunately - no. Sorry

Jesse3581: Any plans to add in some more missions to other sector blocks? Obviously the future content will be for new sectors, but what about adding story lines? i.e. peace talks with the Klingons.

Dstahl: We do have plans to add in some more missions to existing sector blocks and do this on occassion, typically with the release of Feature Episode series (most of which were additions to previously existing sectors)

thisisoverlord: Have you ever considered adding more depth into the missions, what i mean by this is adding complex puzzles, more dialogue and a more Trekkie feel to it. Perhaps also considering having puzzles that only an engineering or science BO can do for you on a mission. I'd like a bit more of the old poin n click Judgemen Rites type experience, would also be good fun for RP fleets.

Dstahl: Have you played any of the missions in the Romulan Featured Episode Series? These have a very good mixture of what you are asking for. As we move forward, Feature Episodes will have this same mix.

Herak: Will we get a carrier pet status window any time soon?

Dstahl: This is on our UI wish list but isn't on any of our near term schedules. If we can get to it, we will.

Madskillz007: Will the KDF get more content soon?

Dstahl: The KDF will have all of the new Season 7 content available as soon as it launches later this year. In terms of KDF "only" content, then it will be a little longer before you see something that only KDF can play.

ShadowMajere: I would love to see SOMETHING done to lifetime. Hell, I think a way to Push LTS and Gold subs would be make adjustments that Distance themselves more from Silver. Maybe instead of the 8k cap on dil per day across all accounts Gold could get 12k and Lifetime could get 16k. It would not be a MAJOR game changer as many of us have multiple characters we switch between. But something needs to be made that gives a reason to maintain a Gold subscription or sink your teeth into a lifetime subscription.

Dstahl: Considering that a large majority of the Stipend Gold members receives is spent on keys, this is in effect already happening. In terms of a discount, we are considering running discounts on keys as parts of promotions in the future, but no timeframe has been announced yet.

Athen Rahl: Has there been any time to devote to social media linking in-game? The options to link to Facebook and Twitter have been in the game since launch, but they've been disabled for pretty much the same length of time. Will this be able to finally be implemented within the next 2 or 3 season patches? I would love to be able to share my character's milestones, accolades, and screenshots with friends directly from the game.

Dstahl: This is a hot topic for me as I'm a big advocate for social linking in games. STO will soon be releasing a web/mobile app that will put our foot in the pool so we can start thinking about ways to incorporate more FB and Twitter concepts into the game.

alexa01: will klingons ever get costumes such as the feds do, It seems the other side is a bit neglected, why is that?

Dstahl: This is one of those issues that dates back to some tough decisions made prior to launch. When we look at Klingon costumes, they typically have a lot of add-on accessories such as sashes, capes, cloaks, hoods, etc that don't conform to the normal body-sock of a computer model. Conversely, Fed costumes are almost always body-sock conforming (skin tight) uniforms such as most of the Federation Uniforms. Thus when we built Kits and other armors that went "on top", they easily worked with the Skin-Tight Fed uniforms, but looked broken on KDF uniforms (in fact there are still some issues related to this in game). Thus we made the decision to prevent kits and other "on top of costume" options from displaying on KDF uniforms. In the future we would absolutely like to solve this by removing the look and feel from Armors from whether or not an item is equipped, and instead have those act as unlocks in the Tailor so that KDF can go in and add kit geometry and other accessories as the player seems fit in order to make their costumes more unique. This is a ways off, but we've done extensive investigations into what it will take to make it work, so its only a matter of time.


===============

Batch 2

Panamaalex: Will there be not only a fleshing out of the Klingon faction, but also more varieties to the types of missions available in STO?

Dstahl: We are always looking for inspiration from the TV shows when making episodes and as you mention, even though these Captains were in command of a large crew, much of the drama surrounded their personal pursuits on various planetary outings. This is why Featured Episodes break with convention and have the Captain do most of the work. Expect more of this in the future.

RileyWolf: How likely is it that we could see the KDF become a starting faction, instead of unlocking it? The Klingon-Federation feud has, in my opinion, always been a frontrunner of the Star Trek universe. I feel that players should be given the opportunity from the get-go to side with the KDF and then unlock the "sub-factions" like Romulans, Cardassians, etc. And honestly, this would appease those fighting for KDF storylines. They want the KDF to act like a main faction, and I think it actually should be treated as such.

Dstahl: /agreed and very likely.

Artan42: Could we have all Starbase NPC's in fleet uniforms please.

Dstahl: Someday, but unfortunately we need some tricky tech to make this happen (for starships as well)

pyro0139: since we have fleet mark and dilithium tribbles?
when can i get my lobi crystal tribble, or my borg salvage tribble:D

Dstahl: Lobi crystal tribble! LOL great idea.

pyro0139: when we getting ship wide uniforms?
also what will next lock box be? hope its a derilict ship box, what i mean, top prize be old style bop's for feds, and old forget name starter ship for klinks,
there is cannon to prove any one with resources could get these ships.

Dstahl: Only "time" will tell what the next Lock Box is....

Charlie25188: I believe when i speak for everyone...

When will there be a Romulan Expansion? 2013-2014? Thanks!

Dstahl: Odds are looking up for a 2013.. but nothing definite to announce yet.

JeraKaigeos88: When you're a player for the KDF and move up to rear admeral, you can select a Carrier that you don't have to purchase with Zen, why doesn't the federation player get to pick a free carrier?

Dstahl: Because we love the KDF more... (j/k) We probably just haven't gotten to it yet.

blueamdgamer: Dan, any chance us the players ever getting Admiral Janeways SC-4 Shuttle with the Armor and Cloak, that would be a awesome shuttle to use in game, and for some shuttle PVP, what do you think ?

Dstahl: Definitely a strong possibility of this in future seasons when we add more Shuttle combat.

MikeWard1701: What tech from other Cryptic games will be coming to STO and When? We know some of the Foundry tech from Neverwinter is coming, anything from Champions? The interiors/hideouts tech and character creator for example?

Dstahl: Oddly enough, because the Cryptic games share a core set of editor code, we all benefit when other teams make features. That said, the games are so incredibly different when it comes to how they are designed and how the combat works, that it is often difficult to share features. The Foundry Spotlight is a feature that NW is currently working on that we plan to get in our game ASAP.

GarakS31: Will be there racing games with ground vehicles and ships in future seasons ?

Dstahl: We are keeping a close eye on how Champs introduces vehicles to see if there are any cool animations related to ground vehicles that we could use, but the problem is nearly everything in Champs flies, so the only other ground vehicle available in our game is horses (from Neverwinter). We have considered adding horses to STO, but it would have to be in a very specific situation. That said, it is an interesting idea and something we would consider doing in the future.

Tuskin38: There are many Era of Trek that could be explored Via time travel or by exposition of someone from that era, is there one era of trek you'd like to explore/reveal the most in STO?

Dstahl: This may not be the most popular idea, but it would be interesting to go back and have missions related to what the Sphere builders were up to or forward in time to when the Xindi had allied with the Federation to fight the Sphere builders (as seen in ENT)

Dennis0829: When is the KDF going to get new uniforms?

Dstahl: Most likely with the new rewards being released in Season 7

Cyconian: Since we all know from winning STFs and the borg episode missions, that resistance is not futile, what is it really?

Dstahl: Thats kind of like saying, "I've stepped on a million ants, and I won" when really there are so many ants, they will probably be around long after humans are. I get your point though. Into the Hive is coming and at least you'll have a chance to square off against the Queen (finally)

ironscythe: Dan, I am often finding myself wondering why there aren't more planets to beam down to (outside of missions). I, for one, would love to experience Ferenginar. Also, is there anything planned for Andoria and Vulcan? The ice-fields are nice, but there's nothing to do. It feels unfinished.

Dstahl: We have a plan to address the social zones in 2013, but you'll see the biggest planet exporation exterior we've ever done in Season 7 this November.

JackSparrowJive: 1) When will spotlight missions get custom rewards and be featured in the mission journal? 2) How long after NW's launch will STO get all of the new foundry features? 3) When are you going to add a fleet store version of the Excalibur?

Dstahl: 1) October? 2) TBD 3) TBD, but its being discussed.

anazonda: Can you talk to the web-team about creating API's for webpages, that allows us to display fleet base status and other cool things like that.

Dstahl: Absolutely - something we want to see happen over the next year as the STO web team spools up.

delvok5: Will there be more things you can do (and do to) the inside of your ship and are you planing to add more shuttle insides.

Dstahl: The holy grail right now is the hope that we'll be able to port over the room-by-room Foundry editor after NW launches so that you can design your own Ship interior. When we do that, we'll add cool things you can add to your ship interior to make it more functional.

roguetrooperz: Is there any plan to introduce any new Klingon ships in e future along with Fed Sci and Escorts as crusiers have been getting a lot of loving recently?

Dstahl: If you are looking for more KDF Ships in the C-Store, this may be a challenge because KDF ships haven't been as cost-effective to make. That is why I'd like to see the team focus more on fixing the KDF faction issue first before we go crazy adding more KDF ships.

TITUSIAM: why are you taking so long to update the kits for engineers,tac and so on.
its frustrating that the kits are so dam low level ???

Dstahl: This has been in limbo because we want to completely retrofit how kits work in the game and that work is scheduled further out. So anything we did now would be throw away and only last until we revamp kits.

MoonHeaven: I also am wondering about the STF updates, when are we going to see the end of the gate one hit wonder torps. even if you kill them they still hit.

Dstahl: forwarded this to STO QA to investigate

hanix1986: We've heard the next playable faction in the works is the Romulan Faction, but are there any plans for other playable factions besides the Romulans? If so, are the Borg included.

Dstahl: If and when we introduce the Romulans, it will set the stage for how we plan to introduce additional races such as Cardassians and Borg

mavgeek: Now that Gozer is no longer with Cryptic Studios, you said at STLV that a new guy was "being brought up to speed" on where Gozer left off on his complete overhaul on PvP gameplay. It's been over two and a half years since we've seen actual content added for PvP, with Gozer gone is the "new guy" who is taking over his roll able to keep up with the changes Gozer was making? And will he be able to keep us update to date weekly on the pace of PvP changes like Gozer was?

Dstahl: Gozer was awesome in that he would keep players up to date on what he was working on. That said, PvP isn't going to change significantly any time soon. We are looking into changes that will improve it, but as you mention it hasn't seen anything new for a long time. Wish I had better news, but this is the reality of where it is at for the time being until we can get some serious manpower to tackle it. That said, I can't imagine us raising the skillcap without resolving this once and for all.

osmodjo: What is the chance of getting a Tier 5 or fleet science ship for the KDF?

Dstahl: 5% chance! which is my way of saying - it could happen, I just don't know when. Gecko would know more but he's not on this chat.

davidfloresii: Any comment on what to expect on a Voyager Bundle Pack?

Dstahl: An interior for sure, and then most likely a new awesome variant of the intrepid class along with either a costume pack and/or an item set. TBD as this isn't on the schedule for 2012, but hopefully next year.

Plump: What exactly happened to the Enterprise-E? Was it lost? Don't see any lore reference to what had happened.

Dstahl: We're not really at liberty to say much, but we have posted some hints in various storylines and some of the fiction written for Star Trek magazine.

mgmirkin: Will we EVER see BOFFs / DOFFs combined into a single officer system? <snippage from wall of text>

Dstahl: This is one of our long term goals - Bridge officer management and training is too complicated and messy in our opinion and we eventually want to revamp this.

thefifthdoctor: Is there any chance we could have episode missions which take place within your own ship, similar to the actual shows? Die Hard Picard, as a notable example?

Dstahl: Extremely challenging to make because all ship interiors are different and designers have to physically open maps in the editor and hand place encounters and mission logic similar to building a Foundry episode. We can cheat by using rooms that all ships have, but it might not feel the same.

Airborne3502: Dan are we ever going to get new playable Factions?

Dstahl: If the question is, will we ever have Roms or Cardassians or Borg, etc... then the answer is yes eventually - whether or not they are a 3rd, 4th, and 5th faction is TBD.

DarkDeityX: Hey Dan - just wanted to thank you for all your work with STO. Any chance of incorporating the fleet emblems in and around our starbases?

Dstahl: It was on our wishlist for Season 6 but we didn't get the tech. If we can close the loop on this, you may see it in a future season.

DTums: Do you have any plans in mind to expand the use of "The Captain's Table"?

Dstahl: It certainly has been neglected and I'm going to ask the rewards team to come up with some new ways to incorporate the zone in future updates.

srhenke: Wondering if STO is going to make a "view fleet holdings" option so fleet members can see what the next project coming up is so they can plan ahead? instead of just the manage fleet holdings for the higher up officers?

Dstahl: That is a nice feature request and something I'll pass on to the Software UI team.

whipplor: whats the planned release date for season 7?

and will the klingons like it

Dstahl: Sometime in November, preferably as soon as possible.

Zardon: Will PWE/STO start doing weekly sales on Zen items that don't sell that well? I'm comparing this to LotRO weekly sales. I know I would spend more zen if costume/boost/anything else was on sell. Thanks.

Dstahl: Dunno - that is really up to them.

Supergroverohpc: Will we ever be seeing the Skants costume?

Dstahl: It is possible - in fact I've requested this in the past but it always seems to miss the cutoff

zero32483: Well, all my other questions have already been asked except this one (unless I missed it, too) Can we expect Galaxy Dreadnought Saucer Separation anytime soon, or has that idea been scrapped, and will I need to purchase the Exploration Cruiser Retrofit just to get the console?

Dstahl: Don't know about soon, but it is being worked on. Not sure about how the consoles will work, Gecko would know more.

SeMuH: I have been wondering if there are plans to add new uniform options for the KDF since Fed characters have so many and we are very limited.

Dstahl: Not in the short term, but with Lobi store updates as well as Fleet Holding updates we do plan to introduce more KDF costume options - so in that sense - soon.

Revan67: When will we get a Romulan Faction? And I don't mean as a subset to feds/klinks a full Romulan Faction. I would be happy just getting like level 1-10 right now and getting the rest of it in pieces I just want to play a Romulan -_-

Dstahl: We are waiting until after the Election to make any announcements... :P

RedShirtJohnson: Why a third party program when you've got the PWE's CORE system already not being used

Dstahl: PWE Core integration is in development, but STO extends beyond Core, Steam, Raptr, etc... so it doesn't hurt to have integration everywhere...

mewi: The faction system seems inconvenient and creates a lot of balance issues. So with the current state of the faction system, has there been any talk of ditching this effort for a more convenient and consolidated system? If not, will you be implementing lower level KDF missions, that are below level 20 and remove the unlocking feature in an attempt to bolster recruitment for the game's only other faction?

Dstahl: I believe strongly in a strong two faction game, so that means my bets would be on beafing up the KDF and making it so that players could play from level 1 as a KDF toon with the philosphy of "if you build it, they will come" to increase KDF numbers.

Skeltah: Are there any future plans to bring in the Romulans/Remans as an Official character playable race rather than having to create sidelined outcast aliens? and if this happens, could current Alien-gen type beings already created by some of the talented community be converted to that Faction. cheers

Dstahl: re: Alien Gen - this is an interesting idea. At present, any new Rom playable race would be limited to just Rom, but that doesn't necessarily mean Rom Military caste solely...perhaps there would be room for non-military Romulans and that might be an interesting place for Alien-Gen...

lordoftime94: I have heard there is a new sector to be introduced (Betazed). Is this true or just rumour?

Dstahl: There's an idea on the table that in 2013, we are going to revamp our social zones and make them more interesting and playable, and that would include adding in one of the Federation's key sectors that includes a lot of the key Fed homeworlds, including Betazed. All of that is TBD, but something that is a big possibility in the future as I mentioned this in a past Ask Cryptic.

Ramos40000: When will we able to buy, craft, or get by loot Mark XI or XII kits? Or customisable kits?
What about new ground and space sets?

Dstahl: New Ground and Space sets typically release with every new Lock Box and Lobi Store update as well as any new Season, so keep an eye out for those releases.

thesaxlad: Is there anymore news as to when the New STF (Into the Hive) will be coming out for Holodeck consumption- and what its reward will be? (Ground and Space)?

Dstahl: Into the Hive = Season 7 - tbd on rewards as they haven't been finalized yet.

tuxbrewer: Any chance you would ever add the civilian corps to the game. Would be interesting to be a freighter captain or to build a financial empire in the STO universe.

Dstahl: It has been considered. In some ways though, this would diverge somewhat from the key storylines we still need to resolve in the game first. Once we've expanded and or resolved the FED/KDF war then perhaps we can discuss non-military classes.

data662: When will fleets be able to attack other fleets and their starbases?
Where's our elite space weapons at tier 5 engineering?
Where's our fleet assault cruiser?
Will we ever see a mirror universe oddessy?
Any idea when the starbase will get a hangerbay?

Dstahl: RE: Starbase hangerbay: This is tentatively scheduled for Season 7 so that you can take a shuttle from your Starbase directly to your Embassy.

MrOgre: Dan I am curious if some things could be added to game to make things less time consuming for the players. <snippage from wallotext>

Dstahl: We agree that there is a lot of room for improvement in the UI and have recently hired additional UI devs to help out. In addition to the things you mention we also have a strong desire to revisit the HUD entirely and have also considered the role LCARs could play in the UI, although we'd have to discuss what to do about the KDF HUD if we went that route.

Suavek: <wallotext snippage> I won't ask when it's going to come out, as I understand how much work such undertaking requires, but I'll ask this - What is the current concept you're leaning toward when planning the playable Romulan faction? <more wallotext snippage>

Dstahl: The idea that I like best is one where Romulans can be a playable race that can ultimately side with either the FED or KDF, but not necessitate having numerous factions at end game. This allows existing Fleets and Factions to all benefit from having new playable races that are somewhat like their own faction, but not necessarily a third faction in the grand scheme of things. There are a lot of questions that plan would bring up, but this is the idea that resonates the most and would allow us the most flexibility to add new "factions" in the future while not shafting the KDF. In any case, Romulans would need their own starting story before they integrated into FED or KDF mission flows. Again, don't hold me to this design as it could easily change, but this is where the most possibilities exist for actually getting it into the game in a reasonable way.

hoipoloi: Dan, can you tell us anything about the new personal advancement system that is coming up soon in season 7?

Dstahl: Think Fleet Advancement for Individuals, where you select a Reputation faction such as Omega Fleet and run missions and contribute to "Projects" in order to increase your standing and earn rewards, where those rewards aren't provisioned but instantly attainable and not limited to just items and numerics, but may also include new abilities for your captains and ships.

derdelush: And another one that I'm not sure made it in the QA since I posted it on the second day: Are there any plans for proper Steam integration? Like updates and Account Management and so on?

Dstahl: Possibly, but there are no plans at the moment. This could quickly change however.

derdelush: Would you guys consider either, lowering the dilithium requirement for Special projects, making it give you fleet marks and/or starbase experience or at least making them rarer? Sometimes we had 2 projects one after another and it's really hard for fleets with a low amount of active players to do it.

Dstahl: We are monitoring this and I go into much more detail on how we are viewing this in the upcoming Ask Cryptic which should be out later this week.

AdmiralChase: Dan,

I would like to know if there's any plans for any actual content? <snippage from wallotext>

Dstahl: Foundry Spotlight = Coming in October-ish, New STF = Coming in Season 7, New Feature Episode Series = A big focus of Season 8

tpot1988: is there any chance of adding holodeck missions like in the show how they have detective Jean-Luc Picard solving crimes an what not would be fun and entertaining

Dstahl: One of the top requests on our DS9 wish list is the ability to have "Dixon Hill" like Holodeck missions you can rent from Quarks for GPL... we simply need the resources and time to build out the costumes, interiors, and props to make this look right, but unfortunately resources are hard to come by for something that has limited use - however the argument could be made that this could result in some cool Foundry content...

Zandermundell: will There be a Dimionion Game Play

Dstahl: If you mean will we ever go into the Gamma or Delta quadrants? Absolutely on our long term planning board.

TesseractToxx: May we please get the ability to have multiple ground pets out at the same time? Even like three would be good.

Dstahl: That is a cute idea and something I'll forward to the systems team to see if we can make that work. Currently the tech limits us to 1 but we can change that is my guess.

mepm: Any chance of a Romulan faction? I'm guessing it would consist of some sort of Romulan, Reman, Breen, Hirogen alliance.

Dstahl: Romulans would most likely only include Romulans and Remans. Hirogen and Breen might be a stretch, but unlikely given our current thinking. Not saying Hirogens will never happen...

stefanvalric: What is the stance of the development team towards paid STO expansions? If they are receptive to the idea, what kind of content could we expect these expansions to contain? There has been some discussion of paid expansions for STO in the community with more content or major upgrades. Reasonably priced upgrades to add new features, factions, or content seem to be of interest to the community.

Dstahl: We are not fans of paid content expansions. We have been staffing up so we could do something along the lines of a content expansion in the future without needing to charge for it. Not saying we will never do it, but rather that you might see something similar without a cost.

===============

Batch 3

MattBl: Any chance of a further expansion of the DOFF system, especially in regards to use of otherwise hard to implement races? I mean, we have some Borg, Jem'Hadar and Exocomp DoFFs, why not add something like an Edosian or Tamarian? It would just a picture rather than actual assets to the game so it'd be easy to implement and would be a nice tip of the hat to long term Trek fans.

Dstahl: We have big plans to continue developing the DOFF system, both in the addition of new races, but also the hopes that we can also introduce new functionality and ways to use your Duty Officers. We are also heavily considering porting the DOFF system to the web/mobile.

argent07: DStahl, there appears to me that there aren't nearly enough ways to earn dilithium and/or fleet marks, and as a result of the fleet starbases, the dilithium market nearly crashed

is there any hopes of increasing rewarded dilithium or even opportunities to acquire dilithium?

Dstahl: Yes we are looking into more ways to earn Dilithium and expect to have something out before the end of September.

kiriamaya: Mr. Stahl, there is one question I have wanted you and the rest of the game's staff to answer ever since I first heard that you were getting the STO license, a question that still has yet to be addressed in any kind of official capacity:

Who is Future Guy?

Dstahl: While there is no definitive answer to this yet, this is a great topic for a future Feature Episode series involving time travel. I'm a fan of the existing theory that he was probably Romulan.

ofdpt23: My question is in reguards to ship interiors. You've made a ship interior that is unique for both the Defiant and Constitution class starships. Will you be making more packs like that for like the Galaxy class and other ships of the line.

Dstahl: Yes, eventually. They are time consuming to make, so we can only do one every once in a while, typically related to some missions that could potentially use the new interior.

at0msmasher: Why is the Fleet Starbase system geared so heavily against small fleets? The grind requirement (or dollar investment, if you go that route) to make a starbase a viable and interesting part of the game is astronomical if your fleet is made up of a few friends and only has 4-5 active members.

Dstahl: When Fleets can range from size of 1 up to 500 members, it was a difficult challenge to come up with the requirements so that it wasn't impossible for a small fleet, yet still challenging to a large fleet. I'm going deeper into this in the next Ask Cryptic and discussing some options we have on the table.

zombienutz: Will the Feh'lhr ever be playable?

Dstahl: hmm... interesting. My guess is that you might see that as a one of mission, but the odds of them being a playable race is slim.

TerilynnS: Dan: What would you like new players to STO to know the most? What are their most important resources?

Dstahl: Hands down the best resource is the community and all of the awesome community websites out there. STO can be tough on new players because there is a lot to learn between space and ground based combat, so the most important thing is to have fun and don't be afraid to ask questions in chat or on the forums as there are plenty of players willing to help. Joining a Fleet can also provide a lot of guidance to new players.

Atma Bernardo: 1 ) Dan, what is your favorite tribble?

2 ) Any plans to improve the KDF Faction, with content, ships or any other thing?

3 ) Crypt/PW have plans to make any change with the Special limited time Projects of the starbase? The price, the amount of time to finish or other feature?

4 ) Any plans to unlock the holodeck in the starbase, to use foundry missions?

Dstahl: 1) Tribble of Borg 2) Yes 3) Yes 4) Yes, but see other similar answer for more details

dkellycg: Many STO gamers wonder what is up the pipeline in the near future, are we going to see a return of weekly episodes or new STF's? In terms of development it seems the game has stalled some. I remember when every 3 months there was new content back when the game launched. It seems the content has dwindled to a few new missions and lock boxes. I was always anxious to see new weekly episodes, but now it seems it takes longer to publish them.

Dstahl: Featured Episodes have been on haitus while we focus on End Game for Season 6 and Season 7 but will be making their return in Season 8. In terms of development, 2011 was brutal as the entire (small) team was sidelined to convert the game to F2P as well as deal with the possibility of Cryptic being sold, so comparing 2010 to 2011 is rough. By the time we hit our 3 Year anniversary, it will be easier to have perspective and look back and see that we've actually had a decent amount of content releases every year, they have just been inconsistent. As we move foward in Year 4, our goal is to make the cadence far more consistent.

sabredruid: what new foundry assets can we expect soon?

Dstahl: We are discussing Tholian stuff as well as the possibility of adding in some interesting new hook ups to the new Romulan Colony world. ZeroniusRex will be starting a thread up in October to gather requests for other stuff, so keep an eye on the Foundry forums.

mikeofborg: Mr Stahl, are there plans to make a more imersive crafting system like there was in Star Wars Galaxies. Where we harvest different materials and build subcomponents to make an item. And have rotating resource quality like mining asteroids etc. The crafting system in Star Wars Galaxies was intricate and extremely fun. Best part of the game, that and the sandbox feel with houses and decore for those houses. It would be cool if you guys could add houses to the game other than our ships and fleet starbases. Maybe apartments on Earth and other planets like Risa, Vulcan etc.

Dstahl: Having played SWG, it certainly was a crafter's paradise, but it remains to be seen exactly what an update to STO Crafting will bring as we have several proposals on the table but it is not scheduled for an update until sometime in 2013.

1964: The more pets the better keep them coming, I would however like better access to the gold lock boxes a map to their location for 900 day or better vets would be a great perk?

Dstahl: These are great suggestions for veteran perks, and something we'll consider.

sammygm: Will we ever see DS9 under siege again?

Dstahl: Yes, but most likely after Season 8.

aroni125: Are there any more plans to revisit the times of the show, like it was done for the Devidian episode?

Dstahl: Yes. We have a strong desire to revisit the Yesterday's Enterprise story for example...

Homadais: Will there be at anytime in the future any possible events to maybe help small fleets to help build their stations any faster. I truly feel that the small fleets are being penalized for not being big.

Dstahl: In the upcoming Ask Cryptic I'm going into more detail about this issue. Know that the dev team have our own small fleet that we have been trying to level up as well so we are well aware of the crunch and thinking through options to help.

Hardcover: Dan: When comparing the interiors from some of the normal bridges to ones like the Constitution and Belfast, it becomes pretty obvious that the high ceilings in most maps aren't that necessary. (Indeed, they seem almost comical, given that for some smaller ships like escorts, either everything is actually just on one deck, or the Federation has cracked Time Lord style interior design.) Given that there is a canon, normal-scale Galaxy interior coming Soon(TM), how likely is it that more interiors - both starship and mission maps - will get this same treatment?

Dstahl: It will happen eventually, but it is time consuming to go back and retrofit these and thus far we've only been able to do about 1 new ship interior per year.

emjaypawka: Why is there even a non-combat mugato/gumato/mogatu/tomatugmmmmq?

Dstahl: Mugatos need love too...

SFZero: Dan,

In a previous Ask Cryptic you said that that the Devs were looking at an alternative method to select Ships for the KDF Fleet Requisitions. Can you elaborate on this, and will we see Non-Klingon ships added, such as the Varanus, which is one of two Pure Science Vessels with a Console available?

Dstahl: The gist was that since there are fewer KDF ships, we were considering taking some of the lower tier non-Klingon ships and making Fleet Variants of them. There is not currently a set timeframe for how soon this will hit Holodeck yet.

NemesisChiken: What if any plans are there for the Captains Table which would have been great ingame place to share game and accolade information, foundry stories, etc. ?

Dstahl: Foundry hook ups would be interesting, but in another thread I mentioned that we do need to look into improving this area, especially as we get closer to our 3 year anniversary.

Kraven: Hey there dstahl great game my wife and i both love it but we where wondering if there is gonna be some type of change for the pvp like mabey some type of rateing system or possibly some better rewards anything would be nice. Also raising the dilthum cap form 8k-10k would be awsome even if it was just an event like twice a day...8D

Dstahl: PvP ratings and or leaderboards are on the discussion table as the tech we needed is now available (and being used in the Fleet System for example). Upping the Dilithium Refining cap is one of the options we are considering to deal with the Dilithium prices we're seeing. Look for something Dilithium related before the end of the month, even if it isn't a cap increase.

zensingtea: a real question... Every single post is overloaded with negative reaction to "bad economy", "High prices", and "Lack of content". While it can be difficult to please players, corporate bigwigs, and yourself... how can a game like Star Trek Online stand to have such a constant negative reaction?

...or a more politically friendly question, have you ever considered merging the fleets? It's somewhat pointless (like on/offduty/etc restrictions, as well as color restrictions) and only causes the dev team to have to waste time making 2 games instead of one great one.

Dstahl: Because the negative reaction is coming from a very passionate and engaged subset of the player base that wants very specific solutions, when the reality is STO as a whole is actually growing, improving, and releasing new content year over year. We believe strongly in the future of having 2 full factions, and it is only a matter of time until all the concerns are addressed. In the meantime we continue to work away and the game moves forward. Season 7 will be another great release and Season 8 is going to be great too. Keep in mind that there are many many people in game who are enjoying STO just as it is.

thesaxlad: Is there any chance we will be getting to see a feature episode story arc soon including the Tholians and their involvement with the mysterious Iconians- Perhaps with rewards that would enhance End-Game play- say the chance to earn Rare/V.Rare Mk XII consoles from a mission played on Elite setting?

Dstahl: Tholians will be featured in Season 7 and you'll get some answers about the Iconians as well. We are also introducing tons of new rewards tied to the Fleet Embassy and Reputation systems

rodneyddalton: What about allowing the humans to Play on the Klingon side. I also thought that Like the bird of prey on Klingon side it has all universal bridge officers. What if you could make a ship like that on the Fed side? Just a thought.

Dstahl: Both interesting ideas. It wouldn't necessarily add more content to KDF, but something to consider nonetheless. Like the ship concept too.

data662: Any plans of having better items in lockboxes like melee or ranged weapons?

Dstahl: There has been talk of more gear sets in future Lobi store updates, so keep an eye out.

Phazerbank: Round of applause for Dan, and the moderators of Raptr for handling the heckling. Dan, at some points we just have to laugh with people like that!! Believe it or not there IS a community that supports this game, and a community that believes in it's development. Everyone let's show our support of the dev team and Dan at maintaining a digital universe for one of the most celebrated serie's in Sci-fi history. You know what, at least we have an opportunity for a QA with a dev lead!! Where else do you see community interaction like that in the business world? Put yourself in Stahl's shoes and walk the line, so far he has done a fantastic job at answering all relevant(non duplicated) questions. I for one am going to put my trust and faith in Cryptic Studios to deliver on what they have said, and more. It will be more of something to be proud of in the face of adversity from negative and unprofessional attitudes. From those of us who know you are genuinely trying and those of us who believe in our community, thank you.

Dstahl: Thank you! (from the real me)

jodmos: Can we please have an alternative method of obtaining MK 12 STF sets other than luck?

Dstahl: Your wish is my command! Coming in Season 7.

Tannlore: Will there be an ipad add that will allow us access to our Doff system so we can work on it on the go?

Dstahl: We are investigating this, but haven't announced anything yet. We will be releasing a web based way to check in on your ship before the end of the year which will set the stage for further app development.

aygis: One thing I find annoying with the DOFF system is that it knows when I do or don't have enough of a required resource to run a given mission, but it doesn't tell the player how much of that resource they have. Is there any chance you could display how many of that resource the player actually has right there in the assignment planning screen? eg: 3/5 contraband

Dstahl: forwarded to our UI team as this is a great suggestion.

jrhendrock: Hi Dan! As a long time player, I would love to see the "old" STF's make a return, even if it meant going to Gamma Orionis and using Zone chat to find a team. Fact is those STF's had some teeth to them and, at least to me, it was a true accomplishment to finish on Elite mode.
<snip>
Any chance we can get them back?

Dstahl: Not entirely, but we can certainly look to replicate those challenges in future STFs which we do plan to make more of. Into the Hive is coming soon and has some teeth as well.

Charlie25188: Will there be any updates on how to disable ships than destroying them? That way it would be interesting and getting more rewards for disabling them but not easy to do?

Dstahl: This is something that was discussed prior to game launch but never quite made it into the game. It certainly would open up opportunities for roleplay and challenge, and in some missions we've gone through the hoops to make this possible. We are going to incorporate some of this type of gameplay into the new sector we're building for Season 7.

Charlie25188: Dan Stahl, i wanna say thank you for making such a fantastic game. Without you, there wouldn't of been any star trek game now. God bless you!

Dstahl: Thanks to Cryptic for taking the chance on picking up the license from Perpetual when they folded, despite the baked in deadline to ship the game. Thanks to the STO team for the many hours they work to make this game great and continue to improve it day to day. Thanks to the fans for supporting us through thick and thin and for making STO one of the best MMOs on the market in a world where MMOs are dying left and right. Live long and prosper!

CreamyGoodnss : Not sure