but probably to easy for the devs to implement :rolleyes:
Problem with a ticker to check on powers being used is that I can create macro to punch my space bar and cycle my powers whilst I am AFK so that wouldn't work as a solution.
Also there are a number of legit reasons for going AFK including phone-calls and other real world interruption we must be mindful to only target persistent AFKr's, especially considering the myriad bugs in the game that often interfere with peoples ability to contribute.
That is difficult, the developers would have to be vary wary that any solution didn't create more problems than it solves.
We don't need another discussion, we need an open and transparant dialogue between the team at Cryptic and all of those in the community that wish to partake.
Well, I'd like that as much as you but I think the window for that has passed - Dan's thrown a whole bunch of Fleet Marks at Tribble but otherwise, like a petulant child that knows they've been caught doing wrong, he's remained silent.
Instead of posting to the main forums (in an unrelated thread) he should have posted here. Instead of keeping the Tribble Fleet Mark changes secret until now, he should have informed us what was the plan.
Instead of hoping we'll all be quiet and go away, he should be engaging with the community right now to ensure this sort of thing doesn't happen again.
OR they were still data mining the server to see what players were earning from the other content designed to reward FM - and were fiddling with the final numbers based on the data they got.
You'll notice I put a fairly massive disclaimer on that.
However, I still stand by my opinion that a great deal of the rage going Cryptic's way could be ameliorated if they simply stopped with the "trust us while we don't tell you anything" act and simply provided details.
I have to say overlord, I completely agree with your long summary on the game as it stands. The main thing that keeps me coming back to this game is my friends, my fleet and the fact that it is Star Trek.
I've played other MMOs in my time like FFXI (8 years), Guild Wars and even tried Eve. Now when I look at how they manage their games and deliver new content, it really sets a standard that Cryptic don't seem to live up to. I know Eve is quite an extreme to look at when it comes to a space MMO, but there are aspects of that game which could be utilized in a game like STO.
I've moved on from FFXI and I'm getting ready to beta test FFXIV 2.0 - SE really got it wrong when they originally released FFXIV, much like Cryptic and despite this they made major changes to the game and re-introduced aspects of FFXI that worked and eventually shut down the game for a small period of time to prepare for the Alpha release of FFXIV 2.0 and after playing the Alpha release, it's really paid off IMO.
It's honestly getting to the point where I think a revamp of many aspects of this game would be worth it and re-introducing a Star Trek Online 2.0 to the community. I know Cryptic doesn't have as much power behind them as say Square Enix, so whether this would be possible, I honestly have no idea.
Either way, to avoid having to revamp the game and take servers offline, I think Cryptic have a lot of work on their hands to be getting on with, to deliver us a true Trek game.
Lets forget about all the other problems the games having now..
XD
Please don't let them draw your attention away from all the other problems. This should have happened LAST week when they pulled the other FMs from The Foundry.
Honestly, this whole chain of events has me baffled.
a) Cryptic removes Fleet Marks from Foundry Missions because of 'AFK exploiters'.
b) Dan states that by his metrics, Fleets are hurting for Dilithium, not Fleet Marks.
c) Cryptic leaves in Dilithium rewards for Foundry missions which remain exploitable by 'AFK exploiters'
d) Dan says he want Fleet Marks as rewards for 'Fleet Play' (with no real justification why).
e) Fleet Marks are reinstated into various 'Fleet' Actions, PvP etc.
Now, the additional Fleet Marks are a good thing, but the scaled reward nature of these events is still horrible - and if I'm honest (PvP aside) the only one of those options I find remotely engaging is Mine Trap, which (since it's possible to be teamed with a truly dismal team) can reward single-figure FM rewards.
This thing takes what? 20 minutes to play? And I'm still looking at a likely pay-out of 35-40 FMs for doing it?
Why would you want to ration FMs? Is it really to TRIBBLE over the small Fleets? It just feels so much like that's the plan here.
c) Cryptic leaves in Dilithium rewards for Foundry missions which remain exploitable by 'AFK exploiters'
That does put the lie to his erroneous labelling. And from another standpoint the foundry payouts were nerfed enough that it is now a very inefficient means of collecting compared to other methods.
How MMO companies reach for the stars: "And as far as Season 7 being "grindy" - welcome to the MMORPG genre."
Indeed a good example of exploitation is having a monopoly on an item people cherish and are addicted too then cynically milking them for all they are worth...
:rolleyes:
Oh I agree completely. I really dislike the way the game has gone, where you are led down a small hall and told you may only enter one door at time to receive one reward at a time. I would much prefer being able to play whatever content I enjoy playing to receive the reward I need at that time.
I was merely pointing out the massive fail of this patch given the OP and his subsequent posts in this, and other, threads.
Join date is wrong, I've actually been around since STO Beta.
True alters don't have a "main". Account wide unlocks for all unique event rewards!!
Well, I'd like that as much as you but I think the window for that has passed - Dan's thrown a whole bunch of Fleet Marks at Tribble but otherwise, like a petulant child that knows they've been caught doing wrong, he's remained silent.
Instead of posting to the main forums (in an unrelated thread) he should have posted here. Instead of keeping the Tribble Fleet Mark changes secret until now, he should have informed us what was the plan.
Instead of hoping we'll all be quiet and go away, he should be engaging with the community right now to ensure this sort of thing doesn't happen again.
We used to have just that. This community pretty much put an end to it.
Every time a plan was announced, the people who thought the devs should be doing something else would flame them. Every time there was a delay or problem that forced a change of plans, they would get called liars and flamed some more.
Now they hold their cards close to their chests, and I don't blame them. Hardly any of them interact with us much any more; I don't blame them for that either. I know I wouldn't post here if I were a dev; not by choice anyway.
Now they hold their cards close to their chests, and I don't blame them. Hardly any of them interact with us much any more; I don't blame them for that either. I know I wouldn't post here if I were a dev; not by choice anyway.
I can blame them.
Because they want my money - money that'd I'd love to give to them but,
half the time I beam down to First City, I end up in the Shipyard.
I can't edit any characteristics of my KDF Marauding Boff.
To use a bank terminal I have to stand on the far left or right hand side.
Switching Zones completely screws up my ground and space trays for no apparent reason for Fed and KDF.
And those are the ones off the top of my head - I'm sure everyone has a 'favorite' bug.
There should be Devs fixing this stuff - but there isn't - just new ways to get us to buy or spend Dilithium and grind for currencies to slot into the Zynga-inspired Fleet Advancement System or the Reputation stuff.
It's time this stuff got some attention - honestly, the Devs themselves give the impression that this game isn't going to be around for long because well, if we're closing up shop, why bother fixing anything?
We used to have just that. This community pretty much put an end to it.
Every time a plan was announced, the people who thought the devs should be doing something else would flame them. Every time there was a delay or problem that forced a change of plans, they would get called liars and flamed some more.
Now they hold their cards close to their chests, and I don't blame them. Hardly any of them interact with us much any more; I don't blame them for that either. I know I wouldn't post here if I were a dev; not by choice anyway.
I fundamentally disagree,
It isn't the players who made poor choices about the direction in which they wanted the game to go.
In fact along the way most of us could see the trainwreck that was Season 7 coming a mile off, indeed the tribble testers warned the team but were ignored.
You can argue all you want that in the past they were open and people flamed them for it but the changes the game has taken on and the directions it has been going since the PWE deal has nothing to do with the community getting things wrong and everything to do with Cryptic getting it wrong.
Their aversion to interaction does not excuse their failure to generate a balanced and enjoyable gaming experience.
yeah, you guys are full of it. this was totally about fleet marks. in the end, everyone was venting about their dissatisfaction at the way cryptic handled things. but let's be clear, this all started because of the fleet marks. if it wasn't, no one would be cheering them on in the latest tribble notes.
"refer to post 2311." give me a break. this is just like every other thread that's past 3 pages: *****, nag, moan. i'm not going to wade through this cesspool of misplaced outrage from a community of gamers who don't know how good of a situation they have here on sto compared to any other good mmo.
The removal of FM's was only the "last straw"! If you think this entire thread is only about FM's then that if fine. I am one of the "majority" in here that don't agree with you and that is fine also. We are all entitled to our opinions.
So please don't try to make your opinion the only thing we are allowed to discuss in here because this thread has morphed into the overall issues with STO and how PWE/Cryptic treats us (the customers). It also is about the direction that PWE/Cryptic is taking the game, which for most of the people in here, is nothing more than a grind on the "farm" without any new fun content or even the idea of fixing the bugs and broken promises for 3 years now.
So yes, this started as a thread about FM's (by the way this was a separate thread than the other ones before it on the St. Valentine's Day Massacre Patch) but it is far from that original single minded item now!
PWE/Cryptic Where are you? Why do you NOT listen to your Customers?
I've played other MMOs in my time like FFXI (8 years), Guild Wars and even tried Eve. Now when I look at how they manage their games and deliver new content, it really sets a standard that Cryptic don't seem to live up to. I know Eve is quite an extreme to look at when it comes to a space MMO, but there are aspects of that game which could be utilized in a game like STO.
If you're being honest though, you have to admit that CCP's (EVE Online's) QA dept. is in worse shap them Cryptic's; and C CP isn't at all above implementing major design debacles (like the $80.00 Monacle; and the way Captain's Quarters were initially implemented back in June 2011 (Where they promised use of said Quarters would be optional - and 'ship spinning would still be available for those with lower spec hardware -- yet when it was finally implemented that wasn't the case; and it took much more then one week of feedback to get CCP to finally relent.)
I'm just saying overall (if you look at how a lot of other MMO developers handle situations like these); Cryptic isn't all that bad; and most developers have had situations where they haven't kept earlier promises etc.
(And honestly, even though I'm not a big KDF player, or Klingon fan in general; I will say that the KDF players at this point DO have a right to be upset as Cryptic HAS been stringing them along - without detailing any real 'plan' for fixing the KDF to date; and I do recall that right after teh acquisition StormShade personally posted that there WERE plans for a big KDF content patch -- that was later retracted - and that may be because PWE was saying one thing during the acquisition negotiations; yet changed their minds after <-- But either way, since that time, I do think it' bad PR when DStahl keeps teasing KDF content every season; yet they seem unable to state up front what the plan is for completing the KDF. I realize that now gthey've been claiming they will let players know what their plans are for the KDF (and any future faction) before the May update -- but givenm tenh history on all this, I'll believe it when I hear it.
^^^
(This is one major thing I think Cryptic has handled poorly since closed beta and the original STO 2010 launch -- and again, while I'm not a Klingon fan (I have one KDF character - Level 50 Eng; and while I do play him; and have experienced all the KDF content; I will not create another KDF alt until I know the plans for the faction's future); I do sympathize and say that Cryptic has not treated that portion of the fanbase well when it comes to honest/upfront info about the future of the KDF faction. In this area Cryptic needs to stop promising, and start delivering.)
Formerly known as Armsman from June 2008 to June 20, 2012 PWE ARC Drone says: "Your STO forum community as you have known it is ended...Display names are irrelevant...Any further sense of community is irrelevant...Resistance is futile...You will be assimilated..."
It isn't the players who made poor choices about the direction in which they wanted the game to go.
In fact along the way most of us could see the trainwreck that was Season 7 coming a mile off, indeed the tribble testers warned the team but were ignored.
You can argue all you want that in the past they were open and people flamed them for it but the changes the game has taken on and the directions it has been going since the PWE deal has nothing to do with the community getting things wrong and everything to do with Cryptic getting it wrong.
Their aversion to interaction does not excuse their failure to generate a balanced and enjoyable gaming experience.
Yes I remember the concerns and feedbacks given with S7 hitting Tribble. There was a great many of them, and all ignored. Unfortunately since Pakled World took over, listening to the players went out the window. Frankly any flaming they get now for not listening to us, the users about what we want to see in the game, what we want out of it, and what we want FIXED is more then fully deserved...
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC] ***Disenchanted***
Real Join Date: Monday, 17 May 2010
Well, this is a good thing to do adding Fleet Mark's into other areas as suggested in this thread over various pages prior. Good job for that, I just don't understand why we have to go through this melodrama when it's so obvious that there is a mistake/problem, and there are strategic ways to go about mending it.
Yes, there is more wrong with the game than this Fleet Mark fiasco and the Valentine's Day Massacre patch. Hopefully we will be able to touch on those issues individually with the cooperative efforts of the powers that be, and Dan can start to engage the community directly like he used to, when things didn't get to this point before they were addressed. I hope that this thread has been a catalyst for future relations on how to not handle issues similar. Season 7 and now this should be pinnacle examples.
Thank you to everyone who posted ideas, suggestions, alternatives, and even the complaints a lot of which had very valid justification behind them and it shows people DO care - taking the time to write a multiple paragraph long post with the above means people give a ****. If they didn't, it wouldn't make them upset, and they wouldn't bother coming here or logging in at all - they would just disappear.
If you're being honest though, you have to admit that CCP's (EVE Online's) QA dept. is in worse shap them Cryptic's; and C CP isn't at all above implementing major design debacles (like the $80.00 Monacle; and the way Captain's Quarters were initially implemented back in June 2011 (Where they promised use of said Quarters would be optional - and 'ship spinning would still be available for those with lower spec hardware -- yet when it was finally implemented that wasn't the case; and it took much more then one week of feedback to get CCP to finally relent.)
I'm just saying overall (if you look at how a lot of other MMO developers handle situations like these); Cryptic isn't all that bad; and most developers have had situations where they haven't kept earlier promises etc.
(And honestly, even though I'm not a big KDF player, or Klingon fan in general; I will say that the KDF players at this point DO have a right to be upset as Cryptic HAS been stringing them along - without detailing any real 'plan' for fixing the KDF to date; and I do recall that right after teh acquisition StormShade personally posted that there WERE plans for a big KDF content patch -- that was later retracted - and that may be because PWE was saying one thing during the acquisition negotiations; yet changed their minds after <-- But either way, since that time, I do think it' bad PR when DStahl keeps teasing KDF content every season; yet they seem unable to state up front what the plan is for completing the KDF. I realize that now gthey've been claiming they will let players know what their plans are for the KDF (and any future faction) before the May update -- but givenm tenh history on all this, I'll believe it when I hear it.
^^^
(This is one major thing I think Cryptic has handled poorly since closed beta and the original STO 2010 launch -- and again, while I'm not a Klingon fan (I have one KDF character - Level 50 Eng; and while I do play him; and have experienced all the KDF content; I will not create another KDF alt until I know the plans for the faction's future); I do sympathize and say that Cryptic has not treated that portion of the fanbase well when it comes to honest/upfront info about the future of the KDF faction. In this area Cryptic needs to stop promising, and start delivering.)
1] Cryptic do not have a Q&A department so they can't be better or worse than CCP as they don't exist
2] TOR or EVE really aren't industry leaders in F2P at all, look at Turbine who own DDO and LOTRO they actually have real live in-game DM's that actually and respond to problems in-game (currently Cryptic in-game ticket system is broken and they have no in game dm's), they have massive amounts of content and the perfect F2P modular story buy-in framework.
When I heard about Neverwinter I was really up for it because I prefer Forgotten Realms to Eberron but after playing STO I will never ever consider moving from DDO to Neverwinter
I really don't think you're being honest to yourself when you discuss Cryptic and STO because the reality is this game is falling way short and the worst part is so much of it is still beta. Could you imagine any other post-production live MMO with the kind of massive Franchise monopoly this has that has a major component like PVP still effectively in Beta, heck some parts of the game like the Andorian adventure zone still feel Alpha!.
Having played a quite a number of MMO's from Ultima, through to Matrix Online up to DDO and on to STO I can honestly say of the major games I've played Cryptic are on par with Sony Online Entertainment and that is not an accolade anyone wants. Turbines customer services can be bitchy but at least you can speak to a human being on the phone and expect an actual response to your ticket and their games don't feel like Beta oofferings and their systems and relatively bug free.
1] Cryptic do not have a Q&A department so they can't be better or worse than CCP as they don't exist
Cryptic DOES have a QA department. If you honestly believe otherwise then I can just throw out anything else you say, as it appears you're just out to slam Cryptic, no matter what the situation. Yes, their QA procedures need work, but Cryptic QA exists, and overall, they haven't been outside the range of most other MMO developers when it comes to TRIBBLE ups and bugs slipping through. And I speak as someone who's played or beta'd most western MMOs since EQ back in 1999 - never tried Ultima Online though.) I don't try to give Cryptic a free pass per se, but QA in any MMO in the last 10 years hasn't been great across the board.
2] TOR or EVE really aren't industry leaders in F2P at all, look at Turbine who own DDO and LOTRO they actually have real live in-game DM's that actually and respond to problems in-game (currently Cryptic in-game ticket system is broken and they have no in game dm's), they have massive amounts of content and the perfect F2P modular story buy-in framework.
When I heard about Neverwinter I was really up for it because I prefer Forgotten Realms to Eberron but after playing STO I will never ever consider moving from DDO to Neverwinter
I only mentioned EVE and CCP (didn't say a thing about EA/BioWare, although in my opinion as someone who beta' SWTOR for 4 months prior to launch; and subbed for 3 months - they IMO are tops in my book as a company with zero real direction for that game, and QA that's worse gthen Cryptic's atm.) -- but it DOESN'T MATTER if CCP and EVE is 100% F2P (although many players do stay subbed to EVE without paying a cent via PLEX); or if they are 'an F2P leader'. CCP bosts they are growing their playerbase every quarter (although in the last two quarters that's up for debate); and they've been running EVE for 10 years and STILL have lousy QA.
You do have some good ideas; but don't fall into the trap of going overboard with hyperbole. It doesn't help your position.
Formerly known as Armsman from June 2008 to June 20, 2012 PWE ARC Drone says: "Your STO forum community as you have known it is ended...Display names are irrelevant...Any further sense of community is irrelevant...Resistance is futile...You will be assimilated..."
Because they want my money - money that'd I'd love to give to them but,
half the time I beam down to First City, I end up in the Shipyard.
I can't edit any characteristics of my KDF Marauding Boff.
To use a bank terminal I have to stand on the far left or right hand side.
Switching Zones completely screws up my ground and space trays for no apparent reason for Fed and KDF.
And those are the ones off the top of my head - I'm sure everyone has a 'favorite' bug.
There should be Devs fixing this stuff - but there isn't - just new ways to get us to buy or spend Dilithium and grind for currencies to slot into the Zynga-inspired Fleet Advancement System or the Reputation stuff.
It's time this stuff got some attention - honestly, the Devs themselves give the impression that this game isn't going to be around for long because well, if we're closing up shop, why bother fixing anything?
Oh, I agree there's more than enough stuff needs fixing to go around, but 'feedback' on these forums is not unlike someone marching into a store and screaming into the manager's face.
There's plenty of good feedback too; but... well, one makes more of an impression than the other right?. A bad impression.
Cryptic staff are not obliged to stick their noses in here; we should try to avoid chasing them off when they do (again).
It isn't the players who made poor choices about the direction in which they wanted the game to go.
In fact along the way most of us could see the trainwreck that was Season 7 coming a mile off, indeed the tribble testers warned the team but were ignored.
You can argue all you want that in the past they were open and people flamed them for it but the changes the game has taken on and the directions it has been going since the PWE deal has nothing to do with the community getting things wrong and everything to do with Cryptic getting it wrong.
Their aversion to interaction does not excuse their failure to generate a balanced and enjoyable gaming experience.
I didn't say that wasn't the case, so you aren't disagreeing with me about anything.
All I'm saying is that is community often comes across as rude and abusive; and the devs can be put off talking to us by it. We've already seen it happen several times.
Even with the FM's added back in to less then fun but large variety of mission, it still didn't and will not compare to being able to get it from the foundry.
At this point even if they added back FM to the foundry or to everything else in game, the underlining issues with the game still exists.
Like untold bugs, more and more grind and the continued lack of communication from the devs who still feel on need to say anything more about the communities concerns.
So I just not willing to return at this time while the FM are a small step there is so much more that has to be done including communication improvements.
But I am not holding my breath if the past has taught me anything, it's that cryptic will continue to nerf content when their metrics don't match what they are aiming for.
As Kirk once said "Don't Trust them!"
I for one would have to agree why should I trust a company driven by a even larger parent company that doesn't want to communicate or even share its upcoming improvements nor tests things for real in tribble and try to fix things based tribble forum feedback.
As for pming to share ideas, i am far from qualified to share any idea for improvements and most of the good idea in one form or another have already been stated many times over in this topic.
Hopefully with continued communication by us people that care something good will come out of this all, but after seeing more then one mmo fall to similar issues, I question if the game is being setup for a skeleton crew in preparation of it slowing down to a final pulling of the plug.
Only time will tell, but I have been one to observe so many things that have happen over the years that dishearten me both in this game and others that I think most games like this that are bought out are only in it for the short term.
Either way I will be watching to see how things progress or regress from the side lines for the time being.
Cryptic DOES have a QA department. If you honestly believe otherwise then I can just throw out anything else you say, as it appears you're just out to slam Cryptic, no matter what the situation. Yes, their QA procedures need work, but Cryptic QA exists, and overall, they haven't been outside the range of most other MMO developers when it comes to TRIBBLE ups and bugs slipping through. And I speak as someone who's played or beta'd most western MMOs since EQ back in 1999 - never tried Ultima Online though.) I don't try to give Cryptic a free pass per se, but QA in any MMO in the last 10 years hasn't been great across the board.
I only mentioned EVE and CCP (didn't say a thing about EA/BioWare, although in my opinion as someone who beta' SWTOR for 4 months prior to launch; and subbed for 3 months - they IMO are tops in my book as a company with zero real direction for that game, and QA that's worse gthen Cryptic's atm.) -- but it DOESN'T MATTER if CCP and EVE is 100% F2P (although many players do stay subbed to EVE without paying a cent via PLEX); or if they are 'an F2P leader'. CCP bosts they are growing their playerbase every quarter (although in the last two quarters that's up for debate); and they've been running EVE for 10 years and STILL have lousy QA.
You do have some good ideas; but don't fall into the trap of going overboard with hyperbole. It doesn't hep your position.
You have proof that they have a QA and department? because a friend of mine sent in a resume to them and was told they had no intentions of creating a QA department at the present time.
considering the amount of bugs that happen with every patch are you really surprised that they have no dedicated QA department? I mean look at recent bug with bridge officers if they had a QA department that wouldn't have taken long to identify and could have been fixed before going live, heck they have Tribble too and yet failed to respond to the bug before going live.
Seriously if they did have a QA department they are doing a terrible job, lets not forget that the game was broke for an entire week from STF's down to the very first mission due to an NPC pathing bug that they didn't for an entire week.
I'm not slamming Cryptic at all these events did happen these bugs and the prevalence of such bugs do exist.
I don't play EVE because I hate the approach to that game, I also didn't touch SWTOR with a barge pole but I can say after having extensive time playing Turbine games that Cryptic falls way behind them way way way way behind. I find them to be as bad as SEO was.
What about in game DM's and a functioning ticket system, you've not addressed that yet.
you will see that they have no dedicated Q&A department and just comes under "publishing" they have just opened a job for a single Q&A tester on a short term contract probably for Neverwinter, as far as I can see they have little to no Q&A testers the job description doesn't even mention any concept of working as part for a Q&A Team!, though I will email my friend that they have a position open maybe he's still looking.
there is also no hard cap either you can run pure foundry and get way over 8,000 if you so desire
^^^
And you've personally confirmed it's possible to get 8K dil from one Foundry mission (and I'm honestly not attempting to disparage you or your claim, as I've heard there was a hard max cap from Fleetmates; so it would be interesting to find that wasn't the case.)
Formerly known as Armsman from June 2008 to June 20, 2012 PWE ARC Drone says: "Your STO forum community as you have known it is ended...Display names are irrelevant...Any further sense of community is irrelevant...Resistance is futile...You will be assimilated..."
Indeed a good example of exploitation is having a monopoly on an item people cherish and are addicted too then cynically milking them for all they are worth...
I think I just found my new sig.
How the Devs see Star Trek, apparently:
Star Trek: The Original Grind
Star Trek: The Next Grind
Star Trek: Deep Space Grind
Star Trek: Voyage to the Grind
You have proof that they have a QA and department? because a friend of mine sent in a resume to them and was told they had no intentions of creating a QA department at the present time.
Considering at least one of the system's Devs (Bort in case you're curious, who happens to be one of the only Cryptic names I take at face value precisely because he has been so open with folks when it comes to mechanics and systems related situations) has spoken directly to the existence of QA, you're really reaching here.
They just may want to consider hiring more people to help.
How the Devs see Star Trek, apparently:
Star Trek: The Original Grind
Star Trek: The Next Grind
Star Trek: Deep Space Grind
Star Trek: Voyage to the Grind
Comments
Problem with a ticker to check on powers being used is that I can create macro to punch my space bar and cycle my powers whilst I am AFK so that wouldn't work as a solution.
Also there are a number of legit reasons for going AFK including phone-calls and other real world interruption we must be mindful to only target persistent AFKr's, especially considering the myriad bugs in the game that often interfere with peoples ability to contribute.
That is difficult, the developers would have to be vary wary that any solution didn't create more problems than it solves.
#2311#2700#2316#2500
Well, I'd like that as much as you but I think the window for that has passed - Dan's thrown a whole bunch of Fleet Marks at Tribble but otherwise, like a petulant child that knows they've been caught doing wrong, he's remained silent.
Instead of posting to the main forums (in an unrelated thread) he should have posted here. Instead of keeping the Tribble Fleet Mark changes secret until now, he should have informed us what was the plan.
Instead of hoping we'll all be quiet and go away, he should be engaging with the community right now to ensure this sort of thing doesn't happen again.
You'll notice I put a fairly massive disclaimer on that.
However, I still stand by my opinion that a great deal of the rage going Cryptic's way could be ameliorated if they simply stopped with the "trust us while we don't tell you anything" act and simply provided details.
I've played other MMOs in my time like FFXI (8 years), Guild Wars and even tried Eve. Now when I look at how they manage their games and deliver new content, it really sets a standard that Cryptic don't seem to live up to. I know Eve is quite an extreme to look at when it comes to a space MMO, but there are aspects of that game which could be utilized in a game like STO.
I've moved on from FFXI and I'm getting ready to beta test FFXIV 2.0 - SE really got it wrong when they originally released FFXIV, much like Cryptic and despite this they made major changes to the game and re-introduced aspects of FFXI that worked and eventually shut down the game for a small period of time to prepare for the Alpha release of FFXIV 2.0 and after playing the Alpha release, it's really paid off IMO.
It's honestly getting to the point where I think a revamp of many aspects of this game would be worth it and re-introducing a Star Trek Online 2.0 to the community. I know Cryptic doesn't have as much power behind them as say Square Enix, so whether this would be possible, I honestly have no idea.
Either way, to avoid having to revamp the game and take servers offline, I think Cryptic have a lot of work on their hands to be getting on with, to deliver us a true Trek game.
Oh look a SHINY!
Lets forget about all the other problems the games having now..
XD
Please don't let them draw your attention away from all the other problems. This should have happened LAST week when they pulled the other FMs from The Foundry.
This could be a measure just to placate the masses until then.
Because as you surely know by now, its all in the metrics...
a) Cryptic removes Fleet Marks from Foundry Missions because of 'AFK exploiters'.
b) Dan states that by his metrics, Fleets are hurting for Dilithium, not Fleet Marks.
c) Cryptic leaves in Dilithium rewards for Foundry missions which remain exploitable by 'AFK exploiters'
d) Dan says he want Fleet Marks as rewards for 'Fleet Play' (with no real justification why).
e) Fleet Marks are reinstated into various 'Fleet' Actions, PvP etc.
Now, the additional Fleet Marks are a good thing, but the scaled reward nature of these events is still horrible - and if I'm honest (PvP aside) the only one of those options I find remotely engaging is Mine Trap, which (since it's possible to be teamed with a truly dismal team) can reward single-figure FM rewards.
This thing takes what? 20 minutes to play? And I'm still looking at a likely pay-out of 35-40 FMs for doing it?
Why would you want to ration FMs? Is it really to TRIBBLE over the small Fleets? It just feels so much like that's the plan here.
That does put the lie to his erroneous labelling. And from another standpoint the foundry payouts were nerfed enough that it is now a very inefficient means of collecting compared to other methods.
about other issues too...
This post has been edited to remove content which violates the Perfect World Entertainment Community Rules and Policies . ~BranFlakes
Oh I agree completely. I really dislike the way the game has gone, where you are led down a small hall and told you may only enter one door at time to receive one reward at a time. I would much prefer being able to play whatever content I enjoy playing to receive the reward I need at that time.
I was merely pointing out the massive fail of this patch given the OP and his subsequent posts in this, and other, threads.
it will not last and they will find away around this , proberly in season 8 or 9 but one thing i have learned here is it is only temp
DELTA PRICE RISING
Sorry warbird, but this isn't a victory for the community - quite the opposite in fact
We used to have just that. This community pretty much put an end to it.
Every time a plan was announced, the people who thought the devs should be doing something else would flame them. Every time there was a delay or problem that forced a change of plans, they would get called liars and flamed some more.
Now they hold their cards close to their chests, and I don't blame them. Hardly any of them interact with us much any more; I don't blame them for that either. I know I wouldn't post here if I were a dev; not by choice anyway.
I can blame them.
Because they want my money - money that'd I'd love to give to them but,
half the time I beam down to First City, I end up in the Shipyard.
I can't edit any characteristics of my KDF Marauding Boff.
To use a bank terminal I have to stand on the far left or right hand side.
Switching Zones completely screws up my ground and space trays for no apparent reason for Fed and KDF.
And those are the ones off the top of my head - I'm sure everyone has a 'favorite' bug.
There should be Devs fixing this stuff - but there isn't - just new ways to get us to buy or spend Dilithium and grind for currencies to slot into the Zynga-inspired Fleet Advancement System or the Reputation stuff.
It's time this stuff got some attention - honestly, the Devs themselves give the impression that this game isn't going to be around for long because well, if we're closing up shop, why bother fixing anything?
*Edit* Oh dear lord, the sycophancy's begun :rolleyes:
I fundamentally disagree,
It isn't the players who made poor choices about the direction in which they wanted the game to go.
In fact along the way most of us could see the trainwreck that was Season 7 coming a mile off, indeed the tribble testers warned the team but were ignored.
You can argue all you want that in the past they were open and people flamed them for it but the changes the game has taken on and the directions it has been going since the PWE deal has nothing to do with the community getting things wrong and everything to do with Cryptic getting it wrong.
Their aversion to interaction does not excuse their failure to generate a balanced and enjoyable gaming experience.
#2311#2700#2316#2500
The removal of FM's was only the "last straw"! If you think this entire thread is only about FM's then that if fine. I am one of the "majority" in here that don't agree with you and that is fine also. We are all entitled to our opinions.
So please don't try to make your opinion the only thing we are allowed to discuss in here because this thread has morphed into the overall issues with STO and how PWE/Cryptic treats us (the customers). It also is about the direction that PWE/Cryptic is taking the game, which for most of the people in here, is nothing more than a grind on the "farm" without any new fun content or even the idea of fixing the bugs and broken promises for 3 years now.
So yes, this started as a thread about FM's (by the way this was a separate thread than the other ones before it on the St. Valentine's Day Massacre Patch) but it is far from that original single minded item now!
PWE/Cryptic Where are you? Why do you NOT listen to your Customers?
PWE/Crytpic Stop the FARM, Bring back the FUN!
Zeus
If you're being honest though, you have to admit that CCP's (EVE Online's) QA dept. is in worse shap them Cryptic's; and C CP isn't at all above implementing major design debacles (like the $80.00 Monacle; and the way Captain's Quarters were initially implemented back in June 2011 (Where they promised use of said Quarters would be optional - and 'ship spinning would still be available for those with lower spec hardware -- yet when it was finally implemented that wasn't the case; and it took much more then one week of feedback to get CCP to finally relent.)
I'm just saying overall (if you look at how a lot of other MMO developers handle situations like these); Cryptic isn't all that bad; and most developers have had situations where they haven't kept earlier promises etc.
(And honestly, even though I'm not a big KDF player, or Klingon fan in general; I will say that the KDF players at this point DO have a right to be upset as Cryptic HAS been stringing them along - without detailing any real 'plan' for fixing the KDF to date; and I do recall that right after teh acquisition StormShade personally posted that there WERE plans for a big KDF content patch -- that was later retracted - and that may be because PWE was saying one thing during the acquisition negotiations; yet changed their minds after <-- But either way, since that time, I do think it' bad PR when DStahl keeps teasing KDF content every season; yet they seem unable to state up front what the plan is for completing the KDF. I realize that now gthey've been claiming they will let players know what their plans are for the KDF (and any future faction) before the May update -- but givenm tenh history on all this, I'll believe it when I hear it.
^^^
(This is one major thing I think Cryptic has handled poorly since closed beta and the original STO 2010 launch -- and again, while I'm not a Klingon fan (I have one KDF character - Level 50 Eng; and while I do play him; and have experienced all the KDF content; I will not create another KDF alt until I know the plans for the faction's future); I do sympathize and say that Cryptic has not treated that portion of the fanbase well when it comes to honest/upfront info about the future of the KDF faction. In this area Cryptic needs to stop promising, and start delivering.)
PWE ARC Drone says: "Your STO forum community as you have known it is ended...Display names are irrelevant...Any further sense of community is irrelevant...Resistance is futile...You will be assimilated..."
Yes I remember the concerns and feedbacks given with S7 hitting Tribble. There was a great many of them, and all ignored. Unfortunately since Pakled World took over, listening to the players went out the window. Frankly any flaming they get now for not listening to us, the users about what we want to see in the game, what we want out of it, and what we want FIXED is more then fully deserved...
***Disenchanted***
Real Join Date: Monday, 17 May 2010
Yes, there is more wrong with the game than this Fleet Mark fiasco and the Valentine's Day Massacre patch. Hopefully we will be able to touch on those issues individually with the cooperative efforts of the powers that be, and Dan can start to engage the community directly like he used to, when things didn't get to this point before they were addressed. I hope that this thread has been a catalyst for future relations on how to not handle issues similar. Season 7 and now this should be pinnacle examples.
Thank you to everyone who posted ideas, suggestions, alternatives, and even the complaints a lot of which had very valid justification behind them and it shows people DO care - taking the time to write a multiple paragraph long post with the above means people give a ****. If they didn't, it wouldn't make them upset, and they wouldn't bother coming here or logging in at all - they would just disappear.
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
The o3 - Killed you good
1] Cryptic do not have a Q&A department so they can't be better or worse than CCP as they don't exist
2] TOR or EVE really aren't industry leaders in F2P at all, look at Turbine who own DDO and LOTRO they actually have real live in-game DM's that actually and respond to problems in-game (currently Cryptic in-game ticket system is broken and they have no in game dm's), they have massive amounts of content and the perfect F2P modular story buy-in framework.
When I heard about Neverwinter I was really up for it because I prefer Forgotten Realms to Eberron but after playing STO I will never ever consider moving from DDO to Neverwinter
I really don't think you're being honest to yourself when you discuss Cryptic and STO because the reality is this game is falling way short and the worst part is so much of it is still beta. Could you imagine any other post-production live MMO with the kind of massive Franchise monopoly this has that has a major component like PVP still effectively in Beta, heck some parts of the game like the Andorian adventure zone still feel Alpha!.
Having played a quite a number of MMO's from Ultima, through to Matrix Online up to DDO and on to STO I can honestly say of the major games I've played Cryptic are on par with Sony Online Entertainment and that is not an accolade anyone wants. Turbines customer services can be bitchy but at least you can speak to a human being on the phone and expect an actual response to your ticket and their games don't feel like Beta oofferings and their systems and relatively bug free.
http://www.mmorpg.com/gamelist.cfm/show/all/sCol/rankHype/sOrder/desc
Hardly popular amongst established and stable games.
#2311#2700#2316#2500
Cryptic DOES have a QA department. If you honestly believe otherwise then I can just throw out anything else you say, as it appears you're just out to slam Cryptic, no matter what the situation. Yes, their QA procedures need work, but Cryptic QA exists, and overall, they haven't been outside the range of most other MMO developers when it comes to TRIBBLE ups and bugs slipping through. And I speak as someone who's played or beta'd most western MMOs since EQ back in 1999 - never tried Ultima Online though.) I don't try to give Cryptic a free pass per se, but QA in any MMO in the last 10 years hasn't been great across the board.
I only mentioned EVE and CCP (didn't say a thing about EA/BioWare, although in my opinion as someone who beta' SWTOR for 4 months prior to launch; and subbed for 3 months - they IMO are tops in my book as a company with zero real direction for that game, and QA that's worse gthen Cryptic's atm.) -- but it DOESN'T MATTER if CCP and EVE is 100% F2P (although many players do stay subbed to EVE without paying a cent via PLEX); or if they are 'an F2P leader'. CCP bosts they are growing their playerbase every quarter (although in the last two quarters that's up for debate); and they've been running EVE for 10 years and STILL have lousy QA.
You do have some good ideas; but don't fall into the trap of going overboard with hyperbole. It doesn't help your position.
PWE ARC Drone says: "Your STO forum community as you have known it is ended...Display names are irrelevant...Any further sense of community is irrelevant...Resistance is futile...You will be assimilated..."
Oh, I agree there's more than enough stuff needs fixing to go around, but 'feedback' on these forums is not unlike someone marching into a store and screaming into the manager's face.
There's plenty of good feedback too; but... well, one makes more of an impression than the other right?. A bad impression.
Cryptic staff are not obliged to stick their noses in here; we should try to avoid chasing them off when they do (again).
I didn't say that wasn't the case, so you aren't disagreeing with me about anything.
All I'm saying is that is community often comes across as rude and abusive; and the devs can be put off talking to us by it. We've already seen it happen several times.
At this point even if they added back FM to the foundry or to everything else in game, the underlining issues with the game still exists.
Like untold bugs, more and more grind and the continued lack of communication from the devs who still feel on need to say anything more about the communities concerns.
So I just not willing to return at this time while the FM are a small step there is so much more that has to be done including communication improvements.
But I am not holding my breath if the past has taught me anything, it's that cryptic will continue to nerf content when their metrics don't match what they are aiming for.
As Kirk once said "Don't Trust them!"
I for one would have to agree why should I trust a company driven by a even larger parent company that doesn't want to communicate or even share its upcoming improvements nor tests things for real in tribble and try to fix things based tribble forum feedback.
As for pming to share ideas, i am far from qualified to share any idea for improvements and most of the good idea in one form or another have already been stated many times over in this topic.
Hopefully with continued communication by us people that care something good will come out of this all, but after seeing more then one mmo fall to similar issues, I question if the game is being setup for a skeleton crew in preparation of it slowing down to a final pulling of the plug.
Only time will tell, but I have been one to observe so many things that have happen over the years that dishearten me both in this game and others that I think most games like this that are bought out are only in it for the short term.
Either way I will be watching to see how things progress or regress from the side lines for the time being.
there is also no hard cap either you can run pure foundry and get way over 8,000 if you so desire
You have proof that they have a QA and department? because a friend of mine sent in a resume to them and was told they had no intentions of creating a QA department at the present time.
considering the amount of bugs that happen with every patch are you really surprised that they have no dedicated QA department? I mean look at recent bug with bridge officers if they had a QA department that wouldn't have taken long to identify and could have been fixed before going live, heck they have Tribble too and yet failed to respond to the bug before going live.
Seriously if they did have a QA department they are doing a terrible job, lets not forget that the game was broke for an entire week from STF's down to the very first mission due to an NPC pathing bug that they didn't for an entire week.
I'm not slamming Cryptic at all these events did happen these bugs and the prevalence of such bugs do exist.
I don't play EVE because I hate the approach to that game, I also didn't touch SWTOR with a barge pole but I can say after having extensive time playing Turbine games that Cryptic falls way behind them way way way way behind. I find them to be as bad as SEO was.
What about in game DM's and a functioning ticket system, you've not addressed that yet.
Indeed if you check here
http://crypticstudios.com/openings
you will see that they have no dedicated Q&A department and just comes under "publishing" they have just opened a job for a single Q&A tester on a short term contract probably for Neverwinter, as far as I can see they have little to no Q&A testers the job description doesn't even mention any concept of working as part for a Q&A Team!, though I will email my friend that they have a position open maybe he's still looking.
#2311#2700#2316#2500
^^^
And you've personally confirmed it's possible to get 8K dil from one Foundry mission (and I'm honestly not attempting to disparage you or your claim, as I've heard there was a hard max cap from Fleetmates; so it would be interesting to find that wasn't the case.)
PWE ARC Drone says: "Your STO forum community as you have known it is ended...Display names are irrelevant...Any further sense of community is irrelevant...Resistance is futile...You will be assimilated..."
I think I just found my new sig.
Star Trek: The Original Grind
Star Trek: The Next Grind
Star Trek: Deep Space Grind
Star Trek: Voyage to the Grind
Considering at least one of the system's Devs (Bort in case you're curious, who happens to be one of the only Cryptic names I take at face value precisely because he has been so open with folks when it comes to mechanics and systems related situations) has spoken directly to the existence of QA, you're really reaching here.
They just may want to consider hiring more people to help.
Star Trek: The Original Grind
Star Trek: The Next Grind
Star Trek: Deep Space Grind
Star Trek: Voyage to the Grind