My overall feeling today is that I really like the direction the game is going in.
I personally measure the game in the following aspects:
1. PVE
2. Fleet matters
3. Foundry
4. STFs
5. PVP
Since the game has gone F2P, I have adapted a new philosophy of the game. I decided that I would not be critical about things I could not control.
Two things that have come out of F2P are the Duty Officer tool and the Fleet/Starbase tool. I like all the little improvements the developers have made to special effects for the ground and space game.
I do like that they made non-replicable material based on Zen and not dilithium. Why is this? Because in the older system, the dilithium price would fluxuate up and down, but the price for material would stay the same. Now, because it is based on Zen, you can buy Zen on a day when dilithium is cheaper. Then bank it until you are ready to craft.
My suggestion about crafting is this...
I think that the game developers should make the gear in terms of common, uncommon, elite. And, what we craft as players are the modifiers. Other games do this now, like DCUO.
What a player crafts is the type and potency a modifier will do to the gear.
I think that this benefits the game in two ways:
1. When the game needs to expand, the developers do not have to keep increasing the level cap.
2. Past the level cap, I think the game should have a Combat rating on the ground and in space.
a. This will allow the developer to expand the game and quality of equipment, or gear
b. The player will be able to determine how to apply modifiers to the gear
In DCUO, how they expand gear is each piece of gear has a colored slot; red, yellow, and blue.
So, in the game you collect one of 3 color exobits. A player needs to combine 8 exobits into an exobyte to make it useful. Then depending on what kind of modifier you need, a player then has to purchase a item from a vendor or crafter to make the modifier.
I think the crafting in Star Trek Online should work this way.
The way DCUO works is that the game caps at level 30, but from that point on, you need gear to improve your combat rating.
I like the way the event calendar allows people to plan their playing times with their fleet members.
I liked many of the things that have been mentioned about the next Season update
So, as stated before, I really like where the game is at currently. It is not perfect, but at the same time, the game is not boring.
One area that I think needs to be addressed is, I am not sure how to articulate what I mean, but as the game is moving forward, I feel the game has less to do with Star Trek. For example, In DCUO, they tend to make expansion packs available when superhero movies come out. Even if it is a marvel movie, they have some event that takes advantage of this media hype.
To me, it seems that Cryptic Studios Star Trek and Paramount Studios Star Trek seems to be acting as two opposing forces. It seems to me it would be better if these forces were to work together. Maybe not directly together, but a appearance should be we are all part of the Star Trek franchise.
I was in Walmart the other day, and I noticed the store had 5 sections of Game Cards. I walked around and saw game cards for the PlayStation Network, SOE games, XBOX, and other non-Sony games. I did not see anything for Perfect World Entertainment or Cryptic Studios.
I then went to Best Buy, and they did not have 5 sections of game cards, but they did have a section.
The price ranges were as low as 5 dollars all the way to 50 dollars. A 50 dollar commitment allowed a 2 year subscription to the PlayStation network which allows me to download any game of the PlayStation network. Of course these are all older PS2 and PS1 games, but SONY has gone in and updated all those games. Totally worth 50 bucks for two years worth of free downloads.
Also, I can use the SC point sto buy things on the PC version of DCUO. I currently own the PS3 and PC version of the game. I have been a subscriber to SOE for over 14 years.
What I am getting at here is that it seems these companies try to advertise their products. I have never seen Star Trek Online advertised on TV. However, I always see Eve Online advertising on the SyFi channel, and DCUO advertise on Cartoon Network.
It seems to me PWE and Cryptic are very bashful about advertising a great game.
I asked around DCUO, and many people on the PS3 and PC have never heard of Champions Online or Star Trek Online. But, they can tell you the type of shoes the Executive Producer of SONY wears. I am suggesting here, maybe we need to advertise the game better.
STO needs more Mission Content. It's just that simple. They need to either devote a couple of Seasons exclusively to Mission Content or they need to come out with an Expansion Pack like Pandaria or Rohan.
I completely understand that the game needs time-sinks like DOFFs and Fleetbases, but without Mission Content the 10-20% who are willing to spend money on C-Store items are going to keep fading away and you're going to be left with nothing but the grinders who spend almost nothing.
I understand that PW's philosophy is to not charge for Mission Content, but the Western market isn't as willing to do the same things over and over and over and over as the Eastern market is. If PW wants to move into the Western market then it needs to adjust some of its philosophies toward that market - and that means the game needs more Missions Content; whether free, C-Store, or Expansion Pack.
STO is about my Liberated Borg Federation Captain with his Breen 1st Officer, Jem'Hadar Tactical Officer, Liberated Borg Engineering Officer, Android Ops Officer, Photonic Science Officer, Gorn Science Officer, and Reman Medical Officer jumping into their Jem'Hadar Carrier and flying off to do missions for the new Romulan Empire. But for some players allowing a T5 Connie to be used breaks the canon in the game.
i dont know what would make the game a cut above the rest , im totally fed up with the whole gaming scene atm , feels like the publishers are only interested in short term money spins then on to the next project they can hype
i play sto because i love star trek and modern TV is TRIBBLE , if im gonna relax in the evening it may aswell be here .
i have my own idea what would make the perfect game but who does not . all i know its becoming more and more common place for developers to completely ignore basic requests from there communities they are supposed to be entertaining because it dosent match there particular vision .
lets make no bones about it ,games are about entertaining the public.
personally think cryptic should have concentrated on entertaining star trek fans . that would have provided a game base more than big enough to make them a tidy profit , as it is i have no idea who there trying to target as there audiance .
STO needs more Mission Content. It's just that simple. They need to either devote a couple of Seasons exclusively to Mission Content or they need to come out with an Expansion Pack like Pandaria or Rohan.
I completely understand that the game needs time-sinks like DOFFs and Fleetbases, but without Mission Content the 10-20% who are willing to spend money on C-Store items are going to keep fading away and you're going to be left with nothing but the grinders who spend almost nothing.
I understand that PW's philosophy is to not charge for Mission Content, but the Western market isn't as willing to do the same things over and over and over and over as the Eastern market is. If PW wants to move into the Western market then it needs to adjust some of its philosophies toward that market - and that means the game needs more Missions Content; whether free, C-Store, or Expansion Pack.
aGNOSTIC, kdf, AND FED. We need storyline content.
STO doesn't need mission content at all; the game is overflowing with it already. STO really only needs three things in the immediate future:
1) Better foundry integration. Ideally, I'd like to see total integration of the Foundry into STO via our ship's holodecks which makes the most contextual sense for them. The game's best content is in the Foundry anyways;
2) Romulan faction. 'Nuff said, really. Needs to be a starter faction. Klinks need to be a starter faction as well; and
3) PvP-based Territorial Warfare between the three factions where border systems can be captured and controlled. Needs to be space and ground content.
It's become less Star Trek and more general scifi these days, and I'm ok with that. I'm more of a all around scifi fan than a fan of any one scifi IP anyway.
Just needs more ships that aren't cruisers and endgame content. Doing the same stfs is painfully dull, and rewards for fleet event stuff need to be better. Fleet actions are also much needed. I don't care about lore or story, I just want more stuff to kill and with more variety of said things that need to die.:)
You state PvP as a criteria for judging a game, yet you don't mention it (and the constant lack of any resource directed at it) in your assessment.
...I think PVP players burned themselves in Season 4 and 5. I think Cryptic set out to redesign the combat system to develop better PVP in the game. I think that Cryptic laid out enough bread crumbs to test the PVP players commitment. But, the PVP community in game left all those Cryptic Guys to burn. Which is why I think with Season 6 and the updates that came out after February did not have any PVP related updates.
I think in a subtle way Dan Stahl mention this in the ASK Cryptic forum. But he stated it in a nice way.
I think what has really slowed the game down is they had a good thing going with committing with the PVE community, which is why the last Season update focused on this area of the game. I think this is why the things mentioned about Season 7 and Season 8 are the PVE assets.
I do not think the developers have abandon the PVP community, but I think they are waiting for a more substantial commitment in terms of revenue.
The only reason I queue up for PVP now-a-days is because it is a easy way to make dilithium ore. You just go there for a couple of minutes of work and let people blow you up and "payday."
However, after a while, combat grinds become boring. In my fleets what makes the Star Trek experience work for our people is the Foundry and the Starbase tool.
...I think PVP players burned themselves in Season 4 and 5. I think Cryptic set out to redesign the combat system to develop better PVP in the game. I think that Cryptic laid out enough bread crumbs to test the PVP players commitment. But, the PVP community in game left all those Cryptic Guys to burn. Which is why I think with Season 6 and the updates that came out after February did not have any PVP related updates.
Actually, Gozer was assigned to make the new PvP system - and some of it was supposed to come with Season 6. Then Gozer tendered his resignation, again; and Heretic left as well. Those are the two Devs Dstahl probably had the most faith in to do a new PvP system. Now Cryptic's back to square one and needed to assign newer people to a large project.
STO is about my Liberated Borg Federation Captain with his Breen 1st Officer, Jem'Hadar Tactical Officer, Liberated Borg Engineering Officer, Android Ops Officer, Photonic Science Officer, Gorn Science Officer, and Reman Medical Officer jumping into their Jem'Hadar Carrier and flying off to do missions for the new Romulan Empire. But for some players allowing a T5 Connie to be used breaks the canon in the game.
...the Starbase is the first step in making a PVP war system. But the game as it is, is not ready for it. Part of that is I think between Season 3 and Season 6 Cryptic lost the identity of what Star Trek Online is.
Early on it was clear the game was a PVE game with elements of PVP. In season 4 it looked like it could go either way.
It looked like Cryptic threw out meat to the PVP people first and then to the PVE community...and the PVE community had the better numbers to the meat.
I think right now, the game has felt to me the closest to Star Trek since they updated sector space. It felt to me for a while there, the game was moving away from Star Trek. But, lately, since I have been adapting my play style to the calendar events, it does give a sense of Star Trek.
However, I spend more time exploring in the game and playing Foundry stories, and if nothing is going on, I do only 3 STF's a day. I have been in the 3,000 and 5,000 range of dilithium. I find that is a good pace for me. Although, I could get in the 30,000 dilithium ore range a day. I do not like that pace at all.
Comments
I completely understand that the game needs time-sinks like DOFFs and Fleetbases, but without Mission Content the 10-20% who are willing to spend money on C-Store items are going to keep fading away and you're going to be left with nothing but the grinders who spend almost nothing.
I understand that PW's philosophy is to not charge for Mission Content, but the Western market isn't as willing to do the same things over and over and over and over as the Eastern market is. If PW wants to move into the Western market then it needs to adjust some of its philosophies toward that market - and that means the game needs more Missions Content; whether free, C-Store, or Expansion Pack.
i play sto because i love star trek and modern TV is TRIBBLE , if im gonna relax in the evening it may aswell be here .
i have my own idea what would make the perfect game but who does not . all i know its becoming more and more common place for developers to completely ignore basic requests from there communities they are supposed to be entertaining because it dosent match there particular vision .
lets make no bones about it ,games are about entertaining the public.
personally think cryptic should have concentrated on entertaining star trek fans . that would have provided a game base more than big enough to make them a tidy profit , as it is i have no idea who there trying to target as there audiance .
aGNOSTIC, kdf, AND FED. We need storyline content.
R.I.P
1) Better foundry integration. Ideally, I'd like to see total integration of the Foundry into STO via our ship's holodecks which makes the most contextual sense for them. The game's best content is in the Foundry anyways;
2) Romulan faction. 'Nuff said, really. Needs to be a starter faction. Klinks need to be a starter faction as well; and
3) PvP-based Territorial Warfare between the three factions where border systems can be captured and controlled. Needs to be space and ground content.
Just needs more ships that aren't cruisers and endgame content. Doing the same stfs is painfully dull, and rewards for fleet event stuff need to be better. Fleet actions are also much needed. I don't care about lore or story, I just want more stuff to kill and with more variety of said things that need to die.:)
...I think PVP players burned themselves in Season 4 and 5. I think Cryptic set out to redesign the combat system to develop better PVP in the game. I think that Cryptic laid out enough bread crumbs to test the PVP players commitment. But, the PVP community in game left all those Cryptic Guys to burn. Which is why I think with Season 6 and the updates that came out after February did not have any PVP related updates.
I think in a subtle way Dan Stahl mention this in the ASK Cryptic forum. But he stated it in a nice way.
I think what has really slowed the game down is they had a good thing going with committing with the PVE community, which is why the last Season update focused on this area of the game. I think this is why the things mentioned about Season 7 and Season 8 are the PVE assets.
I do not think the developers have abandon the PVP community, but I think they are waiting for a more substantial commitment in terms of revenue.
The only reason I queue up for PVP now-a-days is because it is a easy way to make dilithium ore. You just go there for a couple of minutes of work and let people blow you up and "payday."
However, after a while, combat grinds become boring. In my fleets what makes the Star Trek experience work for our people is the Foundry and the Starbase tool.
Early on it was clear the game was a PVE game with elements of PVP. In season 4 it looked like it could go either way.
It looked like Cryptic threw out meat to the PVP people first and then to the PVE community...and the PVE community had the better numbers to the meat.
I think right now, the game has felt to me the closest to Star Trek since they updated sector space. It felt to me for a while there, the game was moving away from Star Trek. But, lately, since I have been adapting my play style to the calendar events, it does give a sense of Star Trek.
However, I spend more time exploring in the game and playing Foundry stories, and if nothing is going on, I do only 3 STF's a day. I have been in the 3,000 and 5,000 range of dilithium. I find that is a good pace for me. Although, I could get in the 30,000 dilithium ore range a day. I do not like that pace at all.
Thank you