Ugh, so it is half of an STF . Not real happy about that. Although half is better than none, I was really hoping for this to keep consistent with what was previously developed (Space and Ground).
Could you guys please explain to us somehow why it is so difficult for story driven content to be produced? You have some very talented people and according to you you have a very robust engine. This leads me to believe you guys are using a very poor or outdated toolset something like an old version of Renderware or something.
Took more than 2 years since you guys originally announced it, but it's finally here. Just wish we had the older STF version, where we can experience the storyline. Since the STF queued revamp, there is no storyline.
So, what is the estimated playtime?
Will it have an actual narrative? Epic cutscenes (skippable of course for the 100th run you eventually do)?
And why would we believe that 5 people could just waltz in there and kill the Borg Queen, who, btw, is not a physical being but the whole collective with an Alice Krige avatar.
Cryptic, I understand why the original STFs were broken up, but the story line no longer makes any sense. The narratives of the original 3 STFs were completely ruined when they were split up and had many of the conversations removed.
A suggestion: Put the original STFs back in (with tweaks to playability...) in *addition* to the current iterations, so that fleets and organized groups can still experience the story as they were originally intended.
Perhaps the longer versions could offer better rewards commensurate to their higher level of difficulty. Everyone wins in this scenario. You already have the content, and the only thing that needs to be done is for them to be connected back to the PVE queue system.
agree
with all borg equipment we have today
I believe it will be easier to finish the mission in original way
Cryptic, I understand why the original STFs were broken up, but the story line no longer makes any sense. The narratives of the original 3 STFs were completely ruined when they were split up and had many of the conversations removed.
A suggestion: Put the original STFs back in (with tweaks to playability...) in *addition* to the current iterations, so that fleets and organized groups can still experience the story as they were originally intended.
Perhaps the longer versions could offer better rewards commensurate to their higher level of difficulty. Everyone wins in this scenario. You already have the content, and the only thing that needs to be done is for them to be connected back to the PVE queue system.
I definetely agree on this. I'm all up for the new version of the STFs as they are on holodeck right now. But the storyline originally was better. So I really would like to see this happening.
Another idea I had is to make them viable to be played solo and integrate it on the episode tab, effectively transforming it on missions like all the other borg missions we have (while keeping the actual queued version as well). So those who just wants to experience the storyline can do it without trouble. I don't know how muh dev time to do this it would take. But it seens a good idea.
And of course. I'm happy to see a new STF. I was wishing it to have an awesome space side as well. But this doesn't mean it won't be awesome. Thanks Cyptic.
Pre-forum change name: Captain Wilhelm Join Date: March 2009
Thanks Cryptic for introducing the Kelvin Timeline. It remembered why I decided to never more put any money on this game.
Into The Hive would be a grand opprotunity to reintroduce the TR-116.
Say it's a very rare drop from the Queen, like techs are now?
Actually say the drop is a Schematic for the TR-116, that is used in a shipboard assignment to create a Mk I.
Then, once you have created one, there is a chain of shipboard assignments, requiring exotic ingredients like EDC, rare Salvage, etc., to upgrade it 1 mark higher, and so on til it's Mk XI. [This process here is where the people that had gotten it from Target have the advantage, they don't need the Schematic, they already have the rifle. They get the head start for being ravinous fans. ]
To Upgrade it to XII, you need the "Prototype Schematic" that is a rare drop from the Elite Queen.
[SIGPIC]Handle: @kirian_darkstar
Registered: Oct/2009 , LTS : Feb/2011
Fleets: Warriors of the Phoenix, Kirian Industries[/SIGPIC] Three years and still no Captain Klaa hair...
Here's to hoping 2 years of waiting sinse we were told this STf was coming is worth the wait..... hopefully this will make me want to play STF's again...I never bothered sinse the "revamps."
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC] EXPLORE.
Dec '07 Account I EARNED 1000 days...I didn't BUY it! New LTS=Death to Vet.System: 10/10/12 Never Forget Something should be done for those who cared enough to have a 1000+ day sub.
hmm... if it was destroyed before, and rebuild again, so we go now to destroy it again, how can this be a final blow to the Borg? They will just rebuild it all again.
Also... this sounds very much like a suicide mission.
Take 4 dudes go into the Borg Queens chamber... and pew pew?
rly? that's the plan?
is there at least a Fleet of ships attacking the Unimatrix on the outside as diversion?
No?... uhm... who's plan was that again?
And... how do we get there? and how do we come back when everything around us is exploding?
Ah good thing we have some Klingons... respawn with honor and all that!
Great to have some new real ground content. That said, I would have liked a space STF. It's been a long long time since we've had anything lengthy set in space.
The STF looks to be great.
Also I'd like to add my voice to those asking for the old STFs (the full on blockbuster ones) to return. Not to replace the new versions, but act as the epic raid/story versions, where a team has to be good in space as well as ground.
I definetely agree on this. I'm all up for the new version of the STFs as they are on holodeck right now. But the storyline originally was better. So I really would like to see this happening.
Another idea I had is to make them viable to be played solo and integrate it on the episode tab, effectively transforming it on missions like all the other borg missions we have (while keeping the actual queued version as well). So those who just wants to experience the storyline can do it without trouble. I don't know how muh dev time to do this it would take. But it seens a good idea.
And of course. I'm happy to see a new STF. I was wishing it to have an awesome space side as well. But this doesn't mean it won't be awesome. Thanks Cyptic.
I think this is a great idea, make the original STF's solo and part of the storyline, that way newb's can get a chance to run them and see what they're all about before doing the actual STF's, of course you would get unique rewards and not the EDC's or rare borg tech but it would give people a chance to read the stoy and take time going thru them instead of running thru them over and over without really knowing what the story is. There could even be info about what you acutally do in the real STF's so it's like a tutorial as well.
"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censored, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably." Jean-Luc Picard
That would mean over one hour missions, do you want a hour long mission were so many things can and will go wrong?
Actually, with the latest gear, those old STFs would be a breeze. They would be about normal difficulty level, and those can be really quickly done now.
Those are team missions, they are not made to be soled without being downsized and being simplified to the 9th heavens, take Cure were you would be dependent on the AI to protect the consoles before they take down the shields, that is just not going to happen as things are.
Easy. Just don't do respawns on the first transformer once you activated it and protected it from some workers. Player moves then on to the nsecond transformer and so on. the timers however remain, so you can't take forever to do it.
That would mean over one hour missions, do you want a hour long mission were so many things can and will go wrong?
I am honestly having trouble seeing the down-side. No one ever suggested removing the current format of the STFs - the suggestion was to add the original, long versions as an option for those who actually enjoy a challenge.
I've yet to see a single argument as to why this a bad idea.
The space missions get to be done in under 15 minutes nearly all the time.
The ground parts are slightly longer 15-30 minutes.
So no full STF would take longer than 45 minutes.
The reason they used to be that long was our crappy gear we had back then and the unrefined strategies.
After running hundreds of them, everyone of us can do them in their sleep.
And the same strategies would mean steam rolling the old versions.
Heck, the old Infected space part was way shorter than it is today. A good team would blast the gate to under 25% and mob up the incoming ships and the tac cube. Should take not even 10 minutes atworst.
Cure space classic amounted to one lousy mob on the first part, 3 mobs on teh second and the assimilated carrier which is barely and afterthought in the current STF.
The Only space part really taking a long time was the classic KA, which was really 3 space parts, the unrelenting waves of probes and spheres heading for the vortex, the 3 cube mobs over Vega Colony and the Boss fight against Donatra after the ground part. You know, the one where she kept regenerating over and over between sending waves and waves of lesser borg ships.
Not that easy, Infected Ground requires jumping and there the whole locked room and other funny stiff, can you get the Optional in Infected Ground solo? I do not think so.
The entire missions would have to be redesigned for solo players in terms of objectives and difficulty, you cannot defend the Kang and blow up the Cube Shipyards at the same time.
Yes, some reworking would need to be done. But the new STFs introduced the bridges on normal which would work for BOFFs and who says there needs to be an optional for the solo version?
Stuff like teh kang defense I would cut back out and return it to the original scripting where you had a timer to destroy as many shipyards as you can to cut down teh number of enemies before the fight.
Another idea I had is to make them viable to be played solo and integrate it on the episode tab, effectively transforming it on missions like all the other borg missions we have (while keeping the actual queued version as well). So those who just wants to experience the storyline can do it without trouble. I don't know how muh dev time to do this it would take. But it seens a good idea.
Good idea. When I played DCUO what I liked most in that game was that each quest chain you do when you level up ends with an instance that you can do solo and when you reach max level you unlock a new version of that instance, but design for a group, with higher difficulty level and slightly changed mechanics. I wish for something similar for STO.
I like that it's just a ground mission. I have nothing against space missions, but I think it's better to have the story closed in just one mission. Having two missions for old STFs must be confusing for newer players (which is first ground or space part first???).
[SIGPIC]Join Date: August 2009[/SIGPIC] I live in an alternate universe, where j.j. abrams and cryptic never existed,
where R.S.E. is what it always should be.
I know my limits and also been around long enough to know that is BS, I seen many fail ... heck I seen a Infected Space fail because of a quiter due to "BAWWW OPTIONAL, YOU ALL SUCK" were at the end I was looking at a Tactical Cube and 4 Spheres all by myself.
And dont give me some BS talk about that if I want I can ... this is the kindergarten teacher talk, we are adults and I am not going to be a Jet Pilot or a Astronaut at my age, flying a keyboard is as far as I can with that and even at that I had better reaction times years ago.
Maybe you like the pre-F2P days and the old MMO method but I assure you, what you get with putting then back as before is nothing but setting a bar were most players WILL fail and sounds to be its nothing but a attempt of the usual "STF Elites" to go around bragging and look down on the rest of us.
Again, why would bringing back the old STFs affect you? No one is suggesting they would replace the current ones. At the same time, it's not unreasonable to say that this game caters to very many types of people who might legitimately find the current missions too easy.
Bragging has very little to do with it. If you can't physically play certain content, no one is forcing you to.
I know my limits and also been around long enough to know that is BS, I seen many fail ... heck I seen a Infected Space fail because of a quiter due to "BAWWW OPTIONAL, YOU ALL SUCK" were at the end I was looking at a Tactical Cube and 4 Spheres all by myself.
And dont give me some BS talk about that if I want I can ... this is the kindergarten teacher talk, we are adults and I am not going to be a Jet Pilot or a Astronaut at my age, flying a keyboard is as far as I can with that and even at that I had better reaction times years ago.
Maybe you like the pre-F2P days and the old MMO method but I assure you, what you get with putting then back as before is nothing but setting a bar were most players WILL fail and sounds to be its nothing but a attempt of the usual "STF Elites" to go around bragging and look down on the rest of us.
Well, with all due respect, but if you can't do the current STFs reliably (and ultimately it depends on the entire team, of course) then what's teh difference if you can't do the old ones? Genuine question. if something is to difficult for someown, he won' do it, so a different additional version doesn't mean he is losing something.
And people here ask to add the old missions in in addition to the current ones. So everyone can keep doing those without being forced to do the classic stuff.
Those would clearly be for those of us who enjoy the story over the grind of repeating them without end and for better socializing.
And that is everything I have to say about that matter here, because this is a thread about the next STF. carry on.
My hope for Into the Hive (and all future STFs) is that the optional objective is not time based, that it's something more creative than just "do the mission in TRIBBLE seconds" and that it requires something more than just lots and lots of DPS.
If they bring the old STFs rewards for doing those should be worse than for the current STFs. Rewards should be based on difficulty and the difficulty should be in the challenge the opponents provide and not in the time needed to finish the mission.
Old style STFs should be in just for the story.
[SIGPIC]Join Date: August 2009[/SIGPIC] I live in an alternate universe, where j.j. abrams and cryptic never existed,
where R.S.E. is what it always should be.
Because they will not stop at there, give a hand and they will take a arm.
I read this same request but what did it also wanted? the Borg set pieces to be "exclusive" to the "classic STF", eventually the "classic STF" would be the real deal with the actual rewards as the rewamp STFs would be for LOL N00bs to "train", the forums dont give me exactly a nice picture of the Elite STF players.
Do not judge a player base by its forum users. You do a lot of people a great discredit with such generalizations. There is a good reason I don't involve myself on here much any more... It's done my sanity a world of good.
Comments
Ugh, so it is half of an STF
Could you guys please explain to us somehow why it is so difficult for story driven content to be produced? You have some very talented people and according to you you have a very robust engine. This leads me to believe you guys are using a very poor or outdated toolset something like an old version of Renderware or something.
Will it have an actual narrative? Epic cutscenes (skippable of course for the 100th run you eventually do)?
And why would we believe that 5 people could just waltz in there and kill the Borg Queen, who, btw, is not a physical being but the whole collective with an Alice Krige avatar.
agree
with all borg equipment we have today
I believe it will be easier to finish the mission in original way
I definetely agree on this. I'm all up for the new version of the STFs as they are on holodeck right now. But the storyline originally was better. So I really would like to see this happening.
Another idea I had is to make them viable to be played solo and integrate it on the episode tab, effectively transforming it on missions like all the other borg missions we have (while keeping the actual queued version as well). So those who just wants to experience the storyline can do it without trouble. I don't know how muh dev time to do this it would take. But it seens a good idea.
And of course. I'm happy to see a new STF. I was wishing it to have an awesome space side as well. But this doesn't mean it won't be awesome. Thanks Cyptic.
Join Date: March 2009
Thanks Cryptic for introducing the Kelvin Timeline. It remembered why I decided to never more put any money on this game.
Could The Enterprise F give us a lift, would be nice to see the flagship earn her Name.
Nice cut scene showing the Enterprise dropping us off just a thought
That's what magical grouping queues are for... ah, if only Picard and Janeway had those back in the day!
Just queue up and poof we are in Unimatrix 001!
Say it's a very rare drop from the Queen, like techs are now?
Actually say the drop is a Schematic for the TR-116, that is used in a shipboard assignment to create a Mk I.
Then, once you have created one, there is a chain of shipboard assignments, requiring exotic ingredients like EDC, rare Salvage, etc., to upgrade it 1 mark higher, and so on til it's Mk XI. [This process here is where the people that had gotten it from Target have the advantage, they don't need the Schematic, they already have the rifle. They get the head start for being ravinous fans.
To Upgrade it to XII, you need the "Prototype Schematic" that is a rare drop from the Elite Queen.
Registered: Oct/2009 , LTS : Feb/2011
Fleets: Warriors of the Phoenix, Kirian Industries[/SIGPIC]
Three years and still no Captain Klaa hair...
Dec '07 Account
I EARNED 1000 days...I didn't BUY it! New LTS=Death to Vet.System: 10/10/12 Never Forget
Something should be done for those who cared enough to have a 1000+ day sub.
Does that mean we are going to the Delta Quadrant?
http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Unimatrix_01
nope Unimatrix One was destroyed in VOY Endgame.
hmm... if it was destroyed before, and rebuild again, so we go now to destroy it again, how can this be a final blow to the Borg? They will just rebuild it all again.
Also... this sounds very much like a suicide mission.
Take 4 dudes go into the Borg Queens chamber... and pew pew?
rly? that's the plan?
is there at least a Fleet of ships attacking the Unimatrix on the outside as diversion?
No?... uhm... who's plan was that again?
And... how do we get there? and how do we come back when everything around us is exploding?
Ah good thing we have some Klingons... respawn with honor and all that!
The STF looks to be great.
Also I'd like to add my voice to those asking for the old STFs (the full on blockbuster ones) to return. Not to replace the new versions, but act as the epic raid/story versions, where a team has to be good in space as well as ground.
Daizen - Lvl 60 Tactical - Eclipse
Selia - Lvl 60 Tactical - Eclipse
I think this is a great idea, make the original STF's solo and part of the storyline, that way newb's can get a chance to run them and see what they're all about before doing the actual STF's, of course you would get unique rewards and not the EDC's or rare borg tech but it would give people a chance to read the stoy and take time going thru them instead of running thru them over and over without really knowing what the story is. There could even be info about what you acutally do in the real STF's so it's like a tutorial as well.
Actually, with the latest gear, those old STFs would be a breeze. They would be about normal difficulty level, and those can be really quickly done now.
Easy. Just don't do respawns on the first transformer once you activated it and protected it from some workers. Player moves then on to the nsecond transformer and so on. the timers however remain, so you can't take forever to do it.
I am honestly having trouble seeing the down-side. No one ever suggested removing the current format of the STFs - the suggestion was to add the original, long versions as an option for those who actually enjoy a challenge.
I've yet to see a single argument as to why this a bad idea.
CO noob and STO veteran.
The space missions get to be done in under 15 minutes nearly all the time.
The ground parts are slightly longer 15-30 minutes.
So no full STF would take longer than 45 minutes.
The reason they used to be that long was our crappy gear we had back then and the unrefined strategies.
After running hundreds of them, everyone of us can do them in their sleep.
And the same strategies would mean steam rolling the old versions.
Heck, the old Infected space part was way shorter than it is today. A good team would blast the gate to under 25% and mob up the incoming ships and the tac cube. Should take not even 10 minutes atworst.
Cure space classic amounted to one lousy mob on the first part, 3 mobs on teh second and the assimilated carrier which is barely and afterthought in the current STF.
The Only space part really taking a long time was the classic KA, which was really 3 space parts, the unrelenting waves of probes and spheres heading for the vortex, the 3 cube mobs over Vega Colony and the Boss fight against Donatra after the ground part. You know, the one where she kept regenerating over and over between sending waves and waves of lesser borg ships.
Yes, some reworking would need to be done. But the new STFs introduced the bridges on normal which would work for BOFFs and who says there needs to be an optional for the solo version?
Stuff like teh kang defense I would cut back out and return it to the original scripting where you had a timer to destroy as many shipyards as you can to cut down teh number of enemies before the fight.
Suddenly I find myself completely indifferent to the whole thing.
I Support Disco | Disco is Love | Disco is Life
I like that it's just a ground mission. I have nothing against space missions, but I think it's better to have the story closed in just one mission. Having two missions for old STFs must be confusing for newer players (which is first ground or space part first???).
I live in an alternate universe, where j.j. abrams and cryptic never existed,
where R.S.E. is what it always should be.
Again, why would bringing back the old STFs affect you? No one is suggesting they would replace the current ones. At the same time, it's not unreasonable to say that this game caters to very many types of people who might legitimately find the current missions too easy.
Bragging has very little to do with it. If you can't physically play certain content, no one is forcing you to.
This is a storm in a teacup.
Well, with all due respect, but if you can't do the current STFs reliably (and ultimately it depends on the entire team, of course) then what's teh difference if you can't do the old ones? Genuine question. if something is to difficult for someown, he won' do it, so a different additional version doesn't mean he is losing something.
And people here ask to add the old missions in in addition to the current ones. So everyone can keep doing those without being forced to do the classic stuff.
Those would clearly be for those of us who enjoy the story over the grind of repeating them without end and for better socializing.
And that is everything I have to say about that matter here, because this is a thread about the next STF. carry on.
If they bring the old STFs rewards for doing those should be worse than for the current STFs. Rewards should be based on difficulty and the difficulty should be in the challenge the opponents provide and not in the time needed to finish the mission.
Old style STFs should be in just for the story.
I live in an alternate universe, where j.j. abrams and cryptic never existed,
where R.S.E. is what it always should be.
Well, KA lost a whole ground section.
IMHO, at this point, what we need are trailers explaining what the heck is going on in each STF, accessible from the Omega Force office on DS9.
Do not judge a player base by its forum users. You do a lot of people a great discredit with such generalizations. There is a good reason I don't involve myself on here much any more... It's done my sanity a world of good.