1) when are you going to give us something fun to do e.g. more episodes?
2) PVP is so unbalanced, when are you going to fix that?
3) Fleet Assault cruiser, when is that coming out?
4) Why don't you listen to your customers/players who want to buy the cool stuff but you keep disappointing us?
5) Any new powers/abilities coming?
6) Anymore customisation options for ships?
7) Any more music coming?
8) Engine trails, can you give us the option to choose?
9) Any KDF stuff?
10) When are you going to keep us n the loop more of what is happening like you use to?
11) Any new/better warp out scenes?
12) Space explorations, when are the walls going to come down?
13) Why not release new ships on tribble for testing before being release on the holodeck e.g. Regent Class, like you use to?
14) Can we convert gold press laitum in to Zen points or dilitium?
15) Any improvements in graphics?
1) It's been said that there have been ideas tossed around for a revamp of a crafting system and it's sort of nebulously on the board for the future, but in the meantime has there been any consideration given to updating what we can craft by adding Mk XII craftables and/or the special damage types such as the Plasma-Disruptor Hybrid, Polarized Tetryon, and Phase Polaron? I know there are a number of players who would love to be able to obtain weapons other than the two currently offered for those damage types.
2) With the Lobi store being intended as a "second chance" store and with the current faction-split for the lockbox offerings have you considered adding the "top prize" for the lockboxes to the Lobi Store and making it a true second chance rather than a place to get (admittedly awesome) consolation prizes?
3) Is there a possibility that you could add the ability to unlock Mirror Universe skins for lower level ships somehow? Possibly as character unlocks from the Latinum store?
4) Going back to crafting - has any thought been given to adding the missing ground weapons to the crafting system? (Wide Beam and Compression Pistols, Split Beam and Full Auto rifles).
5) As part of the replay rewards for the Vault storyline mission you can select blue quality, Mk XI-S beam arrays or dual cannons. Has there been any thought to making higher quality or similar quality high level shuttle equipment available either through new mission rewards or as additions to the crafting system?
6) Is there a chance that the Pregerine and To'Duj fighter combat pets that were originally released with the Ferengi Lockboxes could make a return to the game in some form or fashion? Possibly as a replay reward alternative to the Scorpion fighters from the Vault story mission, an addition to the crafting system (like the turrets), or an addition to the EC Store's consumable section?
7) There are a number of space items that are considered "Unique" one per character, but you've demonstrated with the special weapons from the Sao Paulo and Regent class ships that you can limit the number of a specific item equipped on a ship (and a number of them either can't have more than one per-ship and/or would gain no additional benefit equipping more than one). Is it possible that you could modify the Jem'Hadar and Breen space sets, the Subspace Field Modulator, and any others that I may have missed so that we can possess more than one of each item but limit it to equipping only one per ship where more than one could be equipped?
8) Having mentioned both the Jem'Hadar set and the Phase Polaron weaponry would you or the other developers consider some method of either creating new enemy groups or modifying existing ones to use the Jem'Hadar set visuals and Phase-Polaron weaponry, even if just in the Foundry?
1) When are we going to see V'Ger? (I couldn't resist)
2) Are you able to advise as to what the new sector is going to be called?
3) Can something please be done to make SB missions a little fairer among the fleets?
4) When will we be able to change ships in space rather than having to go to a SB?
5) Do you have a general idea of which missions in the foundry are suitable candidates to become fully fledged canon and when is it likely to be?
6) We have the Hirogen and the Undine, perhaps we could have some more races and vessels from Voyager, perhaps the Kazon, Malon, Vidiians and the Talaxians and that these are added as playable races for us to choose for our characters perhaps some missions to go along with it to show how these races have evolved since USS Voyager, perhaps even have voice-overs from the crew?
7) Any chance of a veteran/lifer discount for things on C-store?
8) Are there any plans for any Featured episode series in the future?
9) Can you give us any tidbits on how the storyline is going to change?
10) Are we still in 2409 or have we moved on??
What's with explore strange new worlds/chart the b'tran cluster being on a 24 hour timer when most every other daily is on a 20 hour cool down?
Will the KDF Marauding Bridge officers ever be customizable? I get it doesn't make sense for them to be in their Starfleet uniform, but they could wear KDF stuff couldn't they? At least let us change skintones and facial features.
Can we please get a dedicated transporter room beam in point for the academies so we can end the game of "guess where on the grounds we'll beam into"?
Let us upgrade the Seleya Ceremonial Lirpa and Kri'stak Blade
I noticed that with the old marks and emblems turned into dilithium, that the KDF does have more options to get dilithium than the Fed. Is there anything to try and balance it out, or able to give more options for the Fed to get dilithium in the pipline?
Foundry helps, but it is getting quite boring doing Derferi, B'tran and repair satelites all the time.
not sure if this has been asked before but will there be like any new parts be added in the alien creator for FED I really like to be a Gorn on the Federation side or maybe have some borg parts for other species
Is Cryptic currently planning a fix to the UI issue where commodities and the like can only be bought from vendors in quantities of 50, when the stack sizes are 250 and most of the Fleet projects require hundreds or even thousands of these items?
If so, when? And what form will the fix take? Sliders up to the stack size, or perhaps being able to enter quantity to buy directly?
Second Set of Questions:
We have been told previously that Lobi can't be account-bound because that would be an "exploit". What changes would Cryptic need to make in order to make account-bound Lobi acceptable? And why can't those changes be made?
Third Set of Questions:
When the DOFF system was under development, the forums had a Q&A Thread for how the system was going to work and what people wanted to see. Can we get similar Dev-Player communication going about the new Reputation system being developed? Or can you give us more details about how you think it's going to work?
Will the Reputation system tie into actual story mission content, or will it be more like DOFF assignments, or like Starbase Projects? What are we going to have to grind in order to advance in it?
Fourth Set of Questions:
What can you tell us about the Fleet Embassy that's coming in Season 7? What features will we be able to unlock? Will advancement require any Civilian DOFFs as inputs? Which ones? (I'm trying to figure out whether I should hang onto them or not. )
Fifth Set of Questions:
Will the Foundry eventually (within the next year or two) support more advanced objectives and behaviors, like:
Having an NPC follow the player? Making them passive (no attacking) or active (can be aggroed and will fight)?
Making NPC's disappear on cue? Or run away from the player on cue, or after taking x amount of damage?
Trigger an NPC from Friendly to Hostile and Vice Versa?
Letting an Author decide whether a map is Player/Solo or whether the BOFF's can come along?
Disabling an enemy instead of killing/destroying them?
Teleport from one location to another on the same map?
Trigger player-affecting or damage effects like exploding bombs and other power-like effects? (Say for example, making a gravity well appear on cue? Or putting traps in our puzzles?)
Player-authored cutscenes?
Sixth Set of Questions:
Some players are saying that the current system for being silenced in chat is unfair because it is being abused by players that report chat for reasons that have nothing to do with the game's terms of service. It seems to be entirely possible to 'grief' somebody and lock them out of chat for 24 hours at a time for no good reason. During this time they can't communicate in-game with other fleet members, or effectively participate in team gameplay. Is Cryptic looking at this problem? Are any changes being considered?
Team and Fleet chat are basically self-limiting chat channels, as they are by invite only. Would it be possible to exclude these from being muted?
My views may not represent those of Cryptic Studios or Perfect World Entertainment. You can file a "forums and website" support ticket here Link: How to PM - Twitter @STOMod_Bluegeek
when will we get rid of the the ancient and archaic inventory system that has a banana split take up as much room in the cargo hold as a ships deflector to something more volume based than that of the slot based system
ok guys, we have got the lobi store which is great i think i am about ?50 poorer due to the keys!, but what is a captain to do with all this GPL we have got left over from Christmas, ? I think we were promised some updates for items that would be for cosmetic items?
1.) Since there are Universal BOFF Slots, can we have a Universal Boff who would be able to be trained in Science, Tactical and Engineering abilities at the same time.
2.) When can we expect, to see Season 7 on Tribble
3.) Can we have a Fleet B'Rel!
4.) With the new Reputation System how long will it take to get the STF-Set.
5.) How will you treat players that played those missions over 1000 times and have got nothing?
6.) Will we get new Space and Ground Sets with Into the Hive.
7.) What will happen to the current sets.
8.) Cryptic has changed the Traits in a way, that they have become useless to many players and we still don't have the option to reselect our Traits and that since they were changed, it is time to adress this.
Is there a way that Cryptic can allow Federation players to continue in thier DOFF missions without being visually seen throughout Klingon space? The last update I saw had the two factions at war with each other and it is ridiculous to see more Federation vessels in Klingon territory without the risk of being attacked by Klingon players. I've played both factions and during my time playing Federation characters never saw Klingon players in Federation space.
1. When will you allow us cash straped people to get Master keys beyond the current means since not all of us have time to grind out the needed dilitium?
2. Is there any plans to allow doffs to increase in colour say a white doess 100 mission it would go to green another 200 and it becomes blue and noather 300 purple?
3. One of the best things trek does is commenting on the world today like with "let this be your last battlefield" is Trek online going to continue that work or just continue its current ways
4. When or will we ever see weapon packs based on each TV series, like MACO weapons, phase pistols, EM 33 side arms from Enterprise, the phaser rifle from TNG season 4 and the two prong phaser rifle from Voyager
5. Since Enterprise was canncelled at the end of season 4 will we ever see anything to do with the Earth/Romulan war say in a time travel mission helping crewman Daniels from the
30th century?
6. When will there be more trek stars appear in STO?
7. What can you tell us about the story element of season 7?
Thanks
CVN-65 U.S.S. Enterprise - A ship so badass it survived John McCain.
There has been much hubbub about the state of PVP in this game. It has been mentioned before that a major PVP revamp is on the honey-do list. I was wondering when this will be implimented and what we can expect on it. Will it be a power revamp and balancing. Or will it be more maps and different game play?
Live on Earth. Work in Space. Play with Dragons. Join the best add on to STO, the Neverwinter holodeck program! Only 14 GPL a month.
How feasible/in-line with Cryptic's vision are these? I realize all these suggestions likely fall into the "not insignificant amount of work," so I was curious.
I'd like to see more sandbox or higher-level (ie, bird's eye view) gameplay. Certainly, there's a war going on, and at least two factions. While I'm not exactly thinking a MMO version of Civilization or Alpha Centauri, some of the ideas present in those games would be interesting.
Indirect PVP. Ways for players to compete with each other, but not directly. For instance, having some way for different players/playstyles to engage in their interests to give buffs to their faction, or strip buffs from the other side. For instance:
Players can commit resources towards developing new weapons or defenses of some kind. Once they achieve a goal, they get an appropriate, temporary buff. Other players can develop a direct counter to the buff, speed up the decay of the buff (essentially, hastening the return of status quo), or work on a strength somewhere else. Ideally, there should be multiple factions/groups the players can work with.
Certain goals/activities can contribute to the influence of a faction within the game. As a result, the more influential your particular faction is, the more benefits you get (or at least bragging rights). Naturally, influence should die off with time, thus needs to be maintained (ie, scoreboard reset).
Players can go around, doing missions, DOFFs, etc., to try and spread the influence of their faction(s), and a map showing how much influence they're exerting on the areas. Not only on a star chart, but in various areas corresponding with the different DOFF mission types (diplomacy, trade, research, development, etc). Sort of like a cultural or economic win versus military...
Stock market. You could even tie it into Champions if you're clever. "And how is Evil Inc. doing today?" "Not good..."
A developed Espionage system.
PVP as Sport. This would be an additional PVP format, rather than a replacement. Entering a PVP Sport event puts everyone on the same level with scaling weapons set to the match's level, so even a lowly Miranda would be firing weapons of the same power as a Caitian Atrox (albeit far fewer of them). In theory, anyways, by leveling out the equipment/stats, players would rely more on their skill, usage of Bridge Officer skills, teamwork, etc. Leaderboards would need to be established, and really, presented in a sport-like format (teams, leagues, etc). Having an energy-credit, latinum, or dilithium buy-in would provide a pool for winnings matches, tournaments, etc., as well.
To take a spin on another game: PVP/PVE where one side/faction of players volunteers to be the "enemy," and uses what would normally be enemy-only ships. Their loadouts might need to be pre-configured to avoid deliberate over/under-powering of their play, and I'd recommend they NOT be able to see other player's names (turning of detailing/customization views might be good, too). So, its essentially like having a whole host of GMs take over enemies, but instead its crowdsourced. You'd have more intelligent, cunning foes for select PVE content, and an interesting mix for the game. There should be some sort of incentive (Dilithium, Fleet Marks, etc) for this to keep things going.
Living battlefields. As much as I like the whole Defara Borg ground action, it still feels too MMO-ish rather than alive. An old game by Richard Garriott had these fantastic group activities where you laid siege to a building/location held by PVE enemies, and so long as you held it, you'd have control of its resources. Another game I've played has those locations serving specific functions, and serving as necessary, strategic assets (PVP activity).
If the same Borg ground action had similar attack, hold/defend to gain benefits (or more appropriately, access to missions, respawn points, etc), that'd be great and far more interesting. As is, I stopped playing because my friends would only hole up in a location and efficiently/boringly grind/farm Borg. There was no real loss or risk! As such, well, I never bothered going there anymore because its dull and undynamic
Giving us things to win and gain is great, but its not as interesting as having the give/take, risk/reward dynamic I've seen in other games/situations. Working to get it and keep it is pretty awesome, IMO, and more so than XP/loot pinatas.
Sub-Factions Instead of trying to start off with top-to-bottom new factions and content, why not start with them, creating a seed to start with? Offer the race, some ships, some new content (preferably tied into systems mentioned above), and let them grow with time. There's a lot of common ground for all races to play with already, so give them sandbox goals/desires based on their wants as a people. Romulans might well focus on colonization. Cardassians on espionage. Vulcans on science. Ferengi on trade. Bajorans on spirituality. And, be sure for every race they're countered by at least one other, goal/philosophy wise.
Stories can be added over time, definitely, but the right set of systems in place, coupled with their motivations, will give a great groundwork for future building. And, honestly, players will burn through stories FAR faster than they will a good, interesting, dynamic system.
Uhm... that's it for now
My blog! Zen|Dilithium tracking on Thursdays http://samonmaui.blogspot.com As a lifetime member of STO, I officially became a financial liability as of April 2012 when compared to a subscriber.
What happened to the Vesta being out in September or did you mean September of 2016?
Why are the Relitivity uniforms going on the Lobi Store when we have the AGT uniforms in the C-Store? This is a huge disappointment unless they are an account wide unlock for an increased Lobi price (say, 800 Lobi, bind on pickup)!
What do you define as content in comparison to the playerbase?
With a larger team working at Cryptic. Why are there still so many major bugs and graphical issues continuing to get no attention by the Dev team?
When can we expect DX11 to come out of beta?
Will the original Gorn skins and color options ever return?
Can we have another currency consolidation since we now have more than ever before?
I think it would be cool for fleets to have "fleet alerts" - on the same track as the "red alerts" we get in sector space to go fight the unimatrix - that would bring all who responded to the distress call to the fleets starbase to defend against attacks from various factions. I could even see it becoming something of a PvP kind of thing in later iterations.
Ah, here's a question... is anyone already working on such an idea? If not, what are the chances of that idea getting kicked around the office?
I know this question has cropped up various times on other Ask Cryptics, but can we expect to have the ability to change the standard uniforms for crew members on our ships or even the Starbase?
It would probably take a lot of work to implement, but it would be cool to see. My fleet admiral wants to put everybody in those awesome looking Sierra 1 uniforms.
How will Cryptic enable our captains to leave a mark on the universe, moving away from the static 2409 and moving into a dynamic world with persistent exploration, territory control, and other ways to compete and have an effect on STO? Grinding for personal resources and replaying static missions is something we can do in a single player game...Since STO is an MMO, I believe there is enormous untapped potential in the way the community can fuel itself. What is your strategy to unlock that community power and build a lasting dynamic universe as you continue to improve and expand the game?
Zinc: The universe of Star Trek Online is shaped and changed by the actions of the players...expect to see new planets and races discovered that were unknown the last time you logged in."
How come projects die as staff rotates out or take leave of absences? The 700-day veteran android, the first officer and department heads system, the removing of off-duty clothing and merging it all into one uniform slot, the converting of some of the fed off-duty clothing over to the Klingon side, the ability to use different ranks with various uniforms (like what they did with the com badges), the improvements to the Wrath of Khan uniform. These were all close to done but then the person(s) working on it left the dev team (or are on a leave of abences) and the project was scrapped.
Will there ever be a path that allows us to play the game and get rewarding content without having to be intertwined with other players? Things like owning personal properties, running businesses or crafting highly specialized items, influencing politics with our attacks against certain factions, etc., could all give us a way to play this game in an all new context.
Comments
2) PVP is so unbalanced, when are you going to fix that?
3) Fleet Assault cruiser, when is that coming out?
4) Why don't you listen to your customers/players who want to buy the cool stuff but you keep disappointing us?
5) Any new powers/abilities coming?
6) Anymore customisation options for ships?
7) Any more music coming?
8) Engine trails, can you give us the option to choose?
9) Any KDF stuff?
10) When are you going to keep us n the loop more of what is happening like you use to?
11) Any new/better warp out scenes?
12) Space explorations, when are the walls going to come down?
13) Why not release new ships on tribble for testing before being release on the holodeck e.g. Regent Class, like you use to?
14) Can we convert gold press laitum in to Zen points or dilitium?
15) Any improvements in graphics?
1) It's been said that there have been ideas tossed around for a revamp of a crafting system and it's sort of nebulously on the board for the future, but in the meantime has there been any consideration given to updating what we can craft by adding Mk XII craftables and/or the special damage types such as the Plasma-Disruptor Hybrid, Polarized Tetryon, and Phase Polaron? I know there are a number of players who would love to be able to obtain weapons other than the two currently offered for those damage types.
2) With the Lobi store being intended as a "second chance" store and with the current faction-split for the lockbox offerings have you considered adding the "top prize" for the lockboxes to the Lobi Store and making it a true second chance rather than a place to get (admittedly awesome) consolation prizes?
3) Is there a possibility that you could add the ability to unlock Mirror Universe skins for lower level ships somehow? Possibly as character unlocks from the Latinum store?
4) Going back to crafting - has any thought been given to adding the missing ground weapons to the crafting system? (Wide Beam and Compression Pistols, Split Beam and Full Auto rifles).
5) As part of the replay rewards for the Vault storyline mission you can select blue quality, Mk XI-S beam arrays or dual cannons. Has there been any thought to making higher quality or similar quality high level shuttle equipment available either through new mission rewards or as additions to the crafting system?
6) Is there a chance that the Pregerine and To'Duj fighter combat pets that were originally released with the Ferengi Lockboxes could make a return to the game in some form or fashion? Possibly as a replay reward alternative to the Scorpion fighters from the Vault story mission, an addition to the crafting system (like the turrets), or an addition to the EC Store's consumable section?
7) There are a number of space items that are considered "Unique" one per character, but you've demonstrated with the special weapons from the Sao Paulo and Regent class ships that you can limit the number of a specific item equipped on a ship (and a number of them either can't have more than one per-ship and/or would gain no additional benefit equipping more than one). Is it possible that you could modify the Jem'Hadar and Breen space sets, the Subspace Field Modulator, and any others that I may have missed so that we can possess more than one of each item but limit it to equipping only one per ship where more than one could be equipped?
8) Having mentioned both the Jem'Hadar set and the Phase Polaron weaponry would you or the other developers consider some method of either creating new enemy groups or modifying existing ones to use the Jem'Hadar set visuals and Phase-Polaron weaponry, even if just in the Foundry?
1) When are we going to see V'Ger? (I couldn't resist)
2) Are you able to advise as to what the new sector is going to be called?
3) Can something please be done to make SB missions a little fairer among the fleets?
4) When will we be able to change ships in space rather than having to go to a SB?
5) Do you have a general idea of which missions in the foundry are suitable candidates to become fully fledged canon and when is it likely to be?
6) We have the Hirogen and the Undine, perhaps we could have some more races and vessels from Voyager, perhaps the Kazon, Malon, Vidiians and the Talaxians and that these are added as playable races for us to choose for our characters perhaps some missions to go along with it to show how these races have evolved since USS Voyager, perhaps even have voice-overs from the crew?
7) Any chance of a veteran/lifer discount for things on C-store?
8) Are there any plans for any Featured episode series in the future?
9) Can you give us any tidbits on how the storyline is going to change?
10) Are we still in 2409 or have we moved on??
What's with explore strange new worlds/chart the b'tran cluster being on a 24 hour timer when most every other daily is on a 20 hour cool down?
Will the KDF Marauding Bridge officers ever be customizable? I get it doesn't make sense for them to be in their Starfleet uniform, but they could wear KDF stuff couldn't they? At least let us change skintones and facial features.
Can we please get a dedicated transporter room beam in point for the academies so we can end the game of "guess where on the grounds we'll beam into"?
Let us upgrade the Seleya Ceremonial Lirpa and Kri'stak Blade
I noticed that with the old marks and emblems turned into dilithium, that the KDF does have more options to get dilithium than the Fed. Is there anything to try and balance it out, or able to give more options for the Fed to get dilithium in the pipline?
Foundry helps, but it is getting quite boring doing Derferi, B'tran and repair satelites all the time.
Thanks
Is Cryptic currently planning a fix to the UI issue where commodities and the like can only be bought from vendors in quantities of 50, when the stack sizes are 250 and most of the Fleet projects require hundreds or even thousands of these items?
If so, when? And what form will the fix take? Sliders up to the stack size, or perhaps being able to enter quantity to buy directly?
Second Set of Questions:
We have been told previously that Lobi can't be account-bound because that would be an "exploit". What changes would Cryptic need to make in order to make account-bound Lobi acceptable? And why can't those changes be made?
Third Set of Questions:
When the DOFF system was under development, the forums had a Q&A Thread for how the system was going to work and what people wanted to see. Can we get similar Dev-Player communication going about the new Reputation system being developed? Or can you give us more details about how you think it's going to work?
Will the Reputation system tie into actual story mission content, or will it be more like DOFF assignments, or like Starbase Projects? What are we going to have to grind in order to advance in it?
Fourth Set of Questions:
What can you tell us about the Fleet Embassy that's coming in Season 7? What features will we be able to unlock? Will advancement require any Civilian DOFFs as inputs? Which ones? (I'm trying to figure out whether I should hang onto them or not.
Fifth Set of Questions:
Will the Foundry eventually (within the next year or two) support more advanced objectives and behaviors, like:
Sixth Set of Questions:
Some players are saying that the current system for being silenced in chat is unfair because it is being abused by players that report chat for reasons that have nothing to do with the game's terms of service. It seems to be entirely possible to 'grief' somebody and lock them out of chat for 24 hours at a time for no good reason. During this time they can't communicate in-game with other fleet members, or effectively participate in team gameplay. Is Cryptic looking at this problem? Are any changes being considered?
Team and Fleet chat are basically self-limiting chat channels, as they are by invite only. Would it be possible to exclude these from being muted?
Link: How to PM - Twitter @STOMod_Bluegeek
What is the status of the Romulans as a playable species?
Thanks
The Fleet builds the fleet
join date Feb 10
twitter us at sccfleet.
1.) Since there are Universal BOFF Slots, can we have a Universal Boff who would be able to be trained in Science, Tactical and Engineering abilities at the same time.
2.) When can we expect, to see Season 7 on Tribble
3.) Can we have a Fleet B'Rel!
4.) With the new Reputation System how long will it take to get the STF-Set.
5.) How will you treat players that played those missions over 1000 times and have got nothing?
6.) Will we get new Space and Ground Sets with Into the Hive.
7.) What will happen to the current sets.
8.) Cryptic has changed the Traits in a way, that they have become useless to many players and we still don't have the option to reselect our Traits and that since they were changed, it is time to adress this.
Lion Heart of Hammer Squadron
so that excuses them for constantly breaking pvp with every new release?
thats like saying a car manufactrer couldnt test the seats because too much time was put into the radio.
2. Is there any plans to allow doffs to increase in colour say a white doess 100 mission it would go to green another 200 and it becomes blue and noather 300 purple?
3. One of the best things trek does is commenting on the world today like with "let this be your last battlefield" is Trek online going to continue that work or just continue its current ways
4. When or will we ever see weapon packs based on each TV series, like MACO weapons, phase pistols, EM 33 side arms from Enterprise, the phaser rifle from TNG season 4 and the two prong phaser rifle from Voyager
5. Since Enterprise was canncelled at the end of season 4 will we ever see anything to do with the Earth/Romulan war say in a time travel mission helping crewman Daniels from the
30th century?
6. When will there be more trek stars appear in STO?
7. What can you tell us about the story element of season 7?
Thanks
There has been much hubbub about the state of PVP in this game. It has been mentioned before that a major PVP revamp is on the honey-do list. I was wondering when this will be implimented and what we can expect on it. Will it be a power revamp and balancing. Or will it be more maps and different game play?
I'd like to see more sandbox or higher-level (ie, bird's eye view) gameplay. Certainly, there's a war going on, and at least two factions. While I'm not exactly thinking a MMO version of Civilization or Alpha Centauri, some of the ideas present in those games would be interesting.
Indirect PVP. Ways for players to compete with each other, but not directly. For instance, having some way for different players/playstyles to engage in their interests to give buffs to their faction, or strip buffs from the other side. For instance:
PVP as Sport. This would be an additional PVP format, rather than a replacement. Entering a PVP Sport event puts everyone on the same level with scaling weapons set to the match's level, so even a lowly Miranda would be firing weapons of the same power as a Caitian Atrox (albeit far fewer of them). In theory, anyways, by leveling out the equipment/stats, players would rely more on their skill, usage of Bridge Officer skills, teamwork, etc. Leaderboards would need to be established, and really, presented in a sport-like format (teams, leagues, etc). Having an energy-credit, latinum, or dilithium buy-in would provide a pool for winnings matches, tournaments, etc., as well.
To take a spin on another game: PVP/PVE where one side/faction of players volunteers to be the "enemy," and uses what would normally be enemy-only ships. Their loadouts might need to be pre-configured to avoid deliberate over/under-powering of their play, and I'd recommend they NOT be able to see other player's names (turning of detailing/customization views might be good, too). So, its essentially like having a whole host of GMs take over enemies, but instead its crowdsourced. You'd have more intelligent, cunning foes for select PVE content, and an interesting mix for the game. There should be some sort of incentive (Dilithium, Fleet Marks, etc) for this to keep things going.
Living battlefields. As much as I like the whole Defara Borg ground action, it still feels too MMO-ish rather than alive. An old game by Richard Garriott had these fantastic group activities where you laid siege to a building/location held by PVE enemies, and so long as you held it, you'd have control of its resources. Another game I've played has those locations serving specific functions, and serving as necessary, strategic assets (PVP activity).
If the same Borg ground action had similar attack, hold/defend to gain benefits (or more appropriately, access to missions, respawn points, etc), that'd be great and far more interesting. As is, I stopped playing because my friends would only hole up in a location and efficiently/boringly grind/farm Borg. There was no real loss or risk! As such, well, I never bothered going there anymore because its dull and undynamic
Giving us things to win and gain is great, but its not as interesting as having the give/take, risk/reward dynamic I've seen in other games/situations. Working to get it and keep it is pretty awesome, IMO, and more so than XP/loot pinatas.
Sub-Factions Instead of trying to start off with top-to-bottom new factions and content, why not start with them, creating a seed to start with? Offer the race, some ships, some new content (preferably tied into systems mentioned above), and let them grow with time. There's a lot of common ground for all races to play with already, so give them sandbox goals/desires based on their wants as a people. Romulans might well focus on colonization. Cardassians on espionage. Vulcans on science. Ferengi on trade. Bajorans on spirituality. And, be sure for every race they're countered by at least one other, goal/philosophy wise.
Stories can be added over time, definitely, but the right set of systems in place, coupled with their motivations, will give a great groundwork for future building. And, honestly, players will burn through stories FAR faster than they will a good, interesting, dynamic system.
Uhm... that's it for now
My blog! Zen|Dilithium tracking on Thursdays
http://samonmaui.blogspot.com
As a lifetime member of STO, I officially became a financial liability as of April 2012 when compared to a subscriber.
My character Tsin'xing
Why are the Relitivity uniforms going on the Lobi Store when we have the AGT uniforms in the C-Store? This is a huge disappointment unless they are an account wide unlock for an increased Lobi price (say, 800 Lobi, bind on pickup)!
What do you define as content in comparison to the playerbase?
With a larger team working at Cryptic. Why are there still so many major bugs and graphical issues continuing to get no attention by the Dev team?
When can we expect DX11 to come out of beta?
Will the original Gorn skins and color options ever return?
Can we have another currency consolidation since we now have more than ever before?
I think it would be cool for fleets to have "fleet alerts" - on the same track as the "red alerts" we get in sector space to go fight the unimatrix - that would bring all who responded to the distress call to the fleets starbase to defend against attacks from various factions. I could even see it becoming something of a PvP kind of thing in later iterations.
Ah, here's a question... is anyone already working on such an idea? If not, what are the chances of that idea getting kicked around the office?
Thanks, love the game.
It would probably take a lot of work to implement, but it would be cool to see. My fleet admiral wants to put everybody in those awesome looking Sierra 1 uniforms.
Thanks for your time. The game is fantastic!
Any chance of allowing existing character bound items to become account bound?
Any chance of making future lobi store items account wide unlocks?
What's happened with "improved hair tech", what exactly is it and how far away is it?
Any plans to introduce more new music and sound effects throughout the game?