If a dev was to pvp with us they would likely get alpha striked over and over.
Easy solution though.
They should come and TD with us. They should also come as a group... bring 2-3 devs into some TD matches and it would be hard to just focus on one of em.
Would be great of a few of them showed up for an afternoon of TD matches.
If a dev was to pvp with us they would likely get alpha striked over and over.
Easy solution though.
They should come and TD with us. They should also come as a group... bring 2-3 devs into some TD matches and it would be hard to just focus on one of em.
Would be great of a few of them showed up for an afternoon of TD matches.
I think Brandon did that once, no TS though, but he had target keybinds I heard. But he is only 1.
He seems like a celebrity, he goes into each zone in Kerrat, everyone tries to mob him and a certain Mogai tries his super Ion cannon with ISO for lolz.
I am not sure his reasoning for doing it, maybe make an appearance and appease the adoring mob, but he wasn't there to answer questions or solve problems.
I think it would be more constructive to hold a Q and A session with the TD channel and ask the everyday PVPer what works and is good now and what could be looked at and perhaps fixed.
Now found frequenting MWO short term and then Star Citizen long term. Raged Quit PVP long ago
- Gohan (House of Beautiful /Sad Pandas)
What would allow devs to participate in PvP with us so that they can have a first hand account on the status of Space PvP?
Another way of asking:
What stops the devs from PvPing with us?
Technically, they do. We just don't know it. Well, we do know it - but we don't know it.
They've got their Dev accounts. They've got their public private accounts. They've got their private private accounts.
Are they doing it as much as some folks? Extremely doubtful...cause well, between work - between non-work work - between those moments of possibly not wanting to have a damn thing to do with the game - other entertainment - families - etc, etc, etc, etc...well...yeah.
Course, you also have the folks that do and have left...like Archon.
Do they have somebody that's doing 3-4+ hours of PvP daily...? Meh...I doubt it, but I wouldn't say they're completely unaware of what's going on.
What would allow devs to participate in PvP with us so that they can have a first hand account on the status of Space PvP?
In all honesty, they probably are ingame and have participated in PvP more than you realise. At the games company I work for, we're allowed personal accounts alongside our staff ones (though we're not allowed to state we're staff when on those). I'd certainly bet that there's Cryptic staff who have 'out of office' accounts here in STO, and likely will have PvP'd.
They're probably aware of the state of PvP, and player/staff ideas or improvements will have been entered into their bug tracking system as suggestions. Those generally await in limbo until one of the project managers or producers gets around to reviewing it and signs it off. Given the state of PvP, it's a big job to fix. That coupled with the small population who actively PvP, it'll be a low priority task.
That said, I wouldn't be surprised if they've got a PvP Perforce branch of the game set up where they're testing concepts out. Though with no real dedicated resources, it'll probably be someones side project at best.
In all honesty, they probably are ingame and have participated in PvP more than you realise. At the games company I work for, we're allowed personal accounts alongside our staff ones (though we're not allowed to state we're staff when on those). I'd certainly bet that there's Cryptic staff who have 'out of office' accounts here in STO, and likely will have PvP'd.
They're probably aware of the state of PvP, and player/staff ideas or improvements will have been entered into their bug tracking system as suggestions. Those generally await in limbo until one of the project managers or producers gets around to reviewing it and signs it off. Given the state of PvP, it's a big job to fix. That coupled with the small population who actively PvP, it'll be a low priority task.
That said, I wouldn't be surprised if they've got a PvP Perforce branch of the game set up where they're testing concepts out. Though with no real dedicated resources, it'll probably be someones side project at best.
amirite, Cryptic? :P
Interesting insight, but not implausible. I wonder if the Dev accounts are OP, they can mess with their ship states for example and set resists to 1000% lolz
Now found frequenting MWO short term and then Star Citizen long term. Raged Quit PVP long ago
- Gohan (House of Beautiful /Sad Pandas)
Interesting insight, but not implausible. I wonder if the Dev accounts are OP, they can mess with their ship states for example and set resists to 1000% lolz
No, they would just be normal accounts with no special access rights. Probably have to pay for stuff off the C-store even.
Interesting insight, but not implausible. I wonder if the Dev accounts are OP, they can mess with their ship states for example and set resists to 1000% lolz
Dev accounts generally just have the debug console with all the commands available in game that code have set up. So yeah, they'll have commands for manually setting any value in-game from setting resists and hull/shield values, to spawning specific NPCs, to toggling god mode.
Their personal ones will be just like any other players with no special privilages (well... generally you get company games for free, so they'll probably have a free subscription). Plus they have a few extra rules to abide by.
Nah if they have a dev account they could go on a shopping spree with infinite zen
They can't, or at least they aren't allowed to. Last I checked Jesse Heinig was still flying D'kyr with obsolete gear, though I wouldn't be surprised to see him better equipped now. In the past, maybe around season 1 or 2 a dev would PvP with us on the tribble server. Sometimes he would use dev commands to instantly kill people. The reason was that he didn't actually have a proper toon on holodeck, nor was he able to use his dev commands.
I think they're busy doing something else... Like planning for the release of the next season.
Isn't that always the case? When exactly is the best year to choose a PVP revamp? So far it's been MIA, spare perhaps a change or two for ground/space.
To me it sounds like Naz has a suspicion that their direct involvement may actually benefit the game if they were to visit a bit more often.
Regardless of if/then/maybe/perhaps/speculation in general it does however bring an interesting point of reference. Just how large is the chasm between the devlopers knowing first-hand how the game feels vrs their run of the mill cubicle experience from their regularly scheduled hours of operation?
If they are logging into their respective accounts, how then, did we get so much power creep to the point of almost exponential results? How could you not notice it or at least raise an eyebrow over it? ..Or know what is or what has no longer become viable as weaponry? Or tell us that it's all ok as long as we're "having fun."
Why would they want to get trolled like that, going into a Q or match with their handles on. Someone always ends up being an idiot, flaming, or bring up a stupid idea about revamping every in game mechanic.
i doubt anyone has spent more time and effort trying to help the new guy then me. got that great big help thread and all the pms i get in game because of it. i wouldn't call the devs new guys though lol
I think this is something that would great assist devs in experiencing firsthand the effects of their code. But, I would be surprise if the devs do not have a dedicated team of FAT testers just for this. Tribble is a form of UAT, kinda.
What would allow devs to participate in PvP with us so that they can have a first hand account on the status of Space PvP?
Another way of asking:
What stops the devs from PvPing with us?
We've been told the Devs have been running their own fleet in order to see how easy/hard it is to do Progress Fleet Holding progression. They did that because F/L's are a big part of the game and their income.
The Devs DONT run a PvP team because they simply don't need to. Thats time spent playing an aspect of the game so old they don't even understand it, never mind be any good at it
We know the Devs are able to spawn any items, gear or characters they want in order to play. We know they can even break the moulds and create characters with options not currently in game. There's no excuse not to have the tools needed for the job, but at the end of the day, a few tools are needed to fly/use said stuff...
I've not seen any Cryptic employees in the queues for years. Their time is spent making scarves for the Kirks.
I'd love to see a handful of Devs make a team for tourneys or for the queues, but what would they gain out of it?
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC] @Aquitaine985 Lag Industries STO PvP Fleet - Executive
A Sad Panda of Industrial calibre. 2010: This is Cryptic PvP. Please hold the line, your call is very important to us...
They do all the time, in fact they're the best PvPers.
/cheat 1
/kill naz1411
Ok in all seriousness, at the moment they're probably too busy on S8 but I think a few probably pop into the public queues on their private accounts. Problem is teamwork is OP and there's little way to get a good read on the state of things from 1-2 games in a week. So it's not easy to tell if something is OP or it's just player skill. I think the reason double tap stood out so much is from what I heard someone used it on branflakes and it really got the attention needed.
Mind I've posted these horribly OP PvE runs in threads I know the debs have been watching and there's been no hint of it getting looked at so....*shrug* try offering them a cute panda like in your sig for joining PvP
Ok in all seriousness, at the moment they're probably too busy on S8 but I think a few probably pop into the public queues on their private accounts. Problem is teamwork is OP and there's little way to get a good read on the state of things from 1-2 games in a week. So it's not easy to tell if something is OP or it's just player skill. I think the reason double tap stood out so much is from what I heard someone used it on branflakes and it really got the attention needed.
Unfortunately, I don't believe many of the system's teams guys ever hop into PvP. I know a few of the other devs on the team do PvP from time to time, like Jesse Heining (content designer, last I knew).
We need systems team's guys to get first hand experience with these mechanics somehow.
They need to feel where a lot of these mechanics are, and what is fun or not-fun about them.
I really doubt these guys go into work with the idea in their heads to introduce some nightmarish new power that makes people hate PvP even more.
Instead its more their team is focused on making new powers and items that will be "fun" for the masses, but those masses are PvE players and NPCs dont care if you tractor spam them with 24 danubes.
Unfortunately making stuff that is fun and new, and most important "slightly better" than what is available now to have as many players as possible chase it, means adding power creep that constantly rampages all over the PvP metagame, PvP builds, and ultimately the morale of the PvP community.
There are a lot of obstacles to getting these guys into PvP.
Some of them are probably just PvP adverse, they don't like the environment, they are probably PvErs at heart and hold a lot of the preconceived notions that can come with (not all of which are wrong either).
And as others have said, there is probably a lot of hesitation on their part to get involved out of not wanting to get singled out, or picked on, or ranted at, etc.
Branflakes is a guy with a very thick skin (comes with his job description), he's very good socially and handling all kinds of social situations with aplomb - and that's something you definitely need before hopping into PvP with the sharks.
I'd be all for a job requirement that required them to grind a new toon every new season and PvP w/it so they get a sense of time gated nature of power creep and how new gear/abilities impact the meta game.
Edit: It wouldn't even have to be a dev toon, just a normal one.
[Zone] Dack@****: cowards can't take a fed 1 on 1 crinckley cowards Hahahaha you smell like flowers
Random Quote from Kerrat
"Sumlobus@****: your mums eat Iced Targ Poo"
C&H Fed banter
Yeah, what also doesn't help is and this isn't a dig, the PvP community isn't very large last time anyone mentioned figures. So no matter if the devs did say "hey let's devote a season to PvP" they would have to sell it t their bosses. Unfortunately the numbers don't play in PvP favour which means if said season was to bomb they will be out of a job, hell worst case scenario is people leave because it's forcing players to do something they don't want to do, case in point season 7.
Still I'll see if my fleets admiral can at least pitch the idea to branflakes for joining OPvP or TD so you can potentially get the ball rolling.
and most important "slightly better" than what is available
This is why PVP gets messed up so much.
You don't need to increase the power to increase the fun. Having a variety of options even if they are all the same in terms of how powerful they are is more fun than having one new thing that trumps everything that came before.
Increasing the power level should happen across the board for everyone, not in piecemeal fashion for a relative few, most of whom tend to be either lucky or rich.
Having a variety of options even if they are all the same in terms of how powerful they are is more fun than having one new thing that trumps everything that came before.
This isn't a salad bar, where just getting you in the door is enough.
Their goal is to sell us everything they can, as much as they can.
They aren't automatically obsoleting everything, but eventually things must become obsolete.
This makes it consumable, just like your mobile phone, your computer and even your car.
Which begs the question of why does PvP have to be one team blasting the other to pieces?
We could have PvP where teams are competing against each other to accomplish objectives with ways to mess with each other's team via killing NPCs that the other needs to protect or something. Would certainly help alleviate some balance issues in PvP if players weren't the direct recipients of...lol who am I kidding there would still be rage.
Still, Ultimatum is 100% right in terms of developing for PvP. The power creep is certainly seen in the new fleet consoles, they will become the new standard and we can probably expect lockbox versions like these special weapons we get in lock boxes now. I mean really there is no reason to not be in a fleet and a lot of the new content is geared towards fleets.
Still, devs do browse this forum so perhaps after season 8 hits something might get done.
Which begs the question of why does PvP have to be one team blasting the other to pieces?
We could have PvP where teams are competing against each other to accomplish objectives with ways to mess with each other's team via killing NPCs that the other needs to protect or something. Would certainly help alleviate some balance issues in PvP if players weren't the direct recipients of...lol who am I kidding there would still be rage.
Generally, that's really not what the arena crowd of PvPers want to do.
Sure, some different modes or objectives could be interesting, but if we want to kill NPCs we already have enemy player pets and the endless grind of PvE stuff where we can do that.
who here would have stopped playing this game years ago and never look back if this game had no pvp?
me
what the hell would i even be grinding for? so i could get through an stf faster?
i honestly dont know how so many people can stay interested in just the game play pve provides, ESPECIALLY when you compare it to the the pvp experience.
who here would have stopped playing this game years ago and never look back if this game had no pvp?
me
what the hell would i even be grinding for? so i could get through an stf faster?
i honestly dont know how so many people can stay interested in just the game play pve provides, ESPECIALLY when you compare it to the the pvp experience.
I get what you mean - I'm not sure what I would be doing. PvP provides for so much more build flexibility than PvE it's nuts. I mean, what PvE mission could you do on a pure healer with no weapons?
When I look at my grinding activity too, practically all of it is with PvP applications in mind. Without PvP, my activity would have degenerated to the level of a Facebook game, collecting ships and stuff via doff assignments.
Comments
If a dev was to pvp with us they would likely get alpha striked over and over.
Easy solution though.
They should come and TD with us. They should also come as a group... bring 2-3 devs into some TD matches and it would be hard to just focus on one of em.
Would be great of a few of them showed up for an afternoon of TD matches.
I think Brandon did that once, no TS though, but he had target keybinds I heard. But he is only 1.
He seems like a celebrity, he goes into each zone in Kerrat, everyone tries to mob him and a certain Mogai tries his super Ion cannon with ISO for lolz.
I am not sure his reasoning for doing it, maybe make an appearance and appease the adoring mob, but he wasn't there to answer questions or solve problems.
I think it would be more constructive to hold a Q and A session with the TD channel and ask the everyday PVPer what works and is good now and what could be looked at and perhaps fixed.
- Gohan (House of Beautiful /Sad Pandas)
Technically, they do. We just don't know it. Well, we do know it - but we don't know it.
They've got their Dev accounts. They've got their public private accounts. They've got their private private accounts.
Are they doing it as much as some folks? Extremely doubtful...cause well, between work - between non-work work - between those moments of possibly not wanting to have a damn thing to do with the game - other entertainment - families - etc, etc, etc, etc...well...yeah.
Course, you also have the folks that do and have left...like Archon.
Do they have somebody that's doing 3-4+ hours of PvP daily...? Meh...I doubt it, but I wouldn't say they're completely unaware of what's going on.
In all honesty, they probably are ingame and have participated in PvP more than you realise. At the games company I work for, we're allowed personal accounts alongside our staff ones (though we're not allowed to state we're staff when on those). I'd certainly bet that there's Cryptic staff who have 'out of office' accounts here in STO, and likely will have PvP'd.
They're probably aware of the state of PvP, and player/staff ideas or improvements will have been entered into their bug tracking system as suggestions. Those generally await in limbo until one of the project managers or producers gets around to reviewing it and signs it off. Given the state of PvP, it's a big job to fix. That coupled with the small population who actively PvP, it'll be a low priority task.
That said, I wouldn't be surprised if they've got a PvP Perforce branch of the game set up where they're testing concepts out. Though with no real dedicated resources, it'll probably be someones side project at best.
amirite, Cryptic? :P
Interesting insight, but not implausible. I wonder if the Dev accounts are OP, they can mess with their ship states for example and set resists to 1000% lolz
- Gohan (House of Beautiful /Sad Pandas)
No, they would just be normal accounts with no special access rights. Probably have to pay for stuff off the C-store even.
Nah if they have a dev account they could go on a shopping spree with infinite zen
- Gohan (House of Beautiful /Sad Pandas)
Dev accounts generally just have the debug console with all the commands available in game that code have set up. So yeah, they'll have commands for manually setting any value in-game from setting resists and hull/shield values, to spawning specific NPCs, to toggling god mode.
Their personal ones will be just like any other players with no special privilages (well... generally you get company games for free, so they'll probably have a free subscription). Plus they have a few extra rules to abide by.
They can't, or at least they aren't allowed to. Last I checked Jesse Heinig was still flying D'kyr with obsolete gear, though I wouldn't be surprised to see him better equipped now. In the past, maybe around season 1 or 2 a dev would PvP with us on the tribble server. Sometimes he would use dev commands to instantly kill people. The reason was that he didn't actually have a proper toon on holodeck, nor was he able to use his dev commands.
Isn't that always the case? When exactly is the best year to choose a PVP revamp? So far it's been MIA, spare perhaps a change or two for ground/space.
To me it sounds like Naz has a suspicion that their direct involvement may actually benefit the game if they were to visit a bit more often.
Regardless of if/then/maybe/perhaps/speculation in general it does however bring an interesting point of reference. Just how large is the chasm between the devlopers knowing first-hand how the game feels vrs their run of the mill cubicle experience from their regularly scheduled hours of operation?
If they are logging into their respective accounts, how then, did we get so much power creep to the point of almost exponential results? How could you not notice it or at least raise an eyebrow over it? ..Or know what is or what has no longer become viable as weaponry? Or tell us that it's all ok as long as we're "having fun."
Why do these things keep happening every year?
i doubt anyone has spent more time and effort trying to help the new guy then me. got that great big help thread and all the pms i get in game because of it. i wouldn't call the devs new guys though lol
We've been told the Devs have been running their own fleet in order to see how easy/hard it is to do Progress Fleet Holding progression. They did that because F/L's are a big part of the game and their income.
The Devs DONT run a PvP team because they simply don't need to. Thats time spent playing an aspect of the game so old they don't even understand it, never mind be any good at it
We know the Devs are able to spawn any items, gear or characters they want in order to play. We know they can even break the moulds and create characters with options not currently in game. There's no excuse not to have the tools needed for the job, but at the end of the day, a few tools are needed to fly/use said stuff...
I've not seen any Cryptic employees in the queues for years. Their time is spent making scarves for the Kirks.
I'd love to see a handful of Devs make a team for tourneys or for the queues, but what would they gain out of it?
@Aquitaine985
Lag Industries STO PvP Fleet - Executive
A Sad Panda of Industrial calibre.
2010: This is Cryptic PvP. Please hold the line, your call is very important to us...
/cheat 1
/kill naz1411
Ok in all seriousness, at the moment they're probably too busy on S8 but I think a few probably pop into the public queues on their private accounts. Problem is teamwork is OP and there's little way to get a good read on the state of things from 1-2 games in a week. So it's not easy to tell if something is OP or it's just player skill. I think the reason double tap stood out so much is from what I heard someone used it on branflakes and it really got the attention needed.
Mind I've posted these horribly OP PvE runs in threads I know the debs have been watching and there's been no hint of it getting looked at so....*shrug* try offering them a cute panda like in your sig for joining PvP
It is through repetition that we learn our weakness.
A master with a stone is better than a novice with a sword.
Has damage got out of control?
This is the last thing I will post.
Unfortunately, I don't believe many of the system's teams guys ever hop into PvP. I know a few of the other devs on the team do PvP from time to time, like Jesse Heining (content designer, last I knew).
We need systems team's guys to get first hand experience with these mechanics somehow.
They need to feel where a lot of these mechanics are, and what is fun or not-fun about them.
I really doubt these guys go into work with the idea in their heads to introduce some nightmarish new power that makes people hate PvP even more.
Instead its more their team is focused on making new powers and items that will be "fun" for the masses, but those masses are PvE players and NPCs dont care if you tractor spam them with 24 danubes.
Unfortunately making stuff that is fun and new, and most important "slightly better" than what is available now to have as many players as possible chase it, means adding power creep that constantly rampages all over the PvP metagame, PvP builds, and ultimately the morale of the PvP community.
There are a lot of obstacles to getting these guys into PvP.
Some of them are probably just PvP adverse, they don't like the environment, they are probably PvErs at heart and hold a lot of the preconceived notions that can come with (not all of which are wrong either).
And as others have said, there is probably a lot of hesitation on their part to get involved out of not wanting to get singled out, or picked on, or ranted at, etc.
Branflakes is a guy with a very thick skin (comes with his job description), he's very good socially and handling all kinds of social situations with aplomb - and that's something you definitely need before hopping into PvP with the sharks.
Not everyone has that ability.
Edit: It wouldn't even have to be a dev toon, just a normal one.
Random Quote from Kerrat
"Sumlobus@****: your mums eat Iced Targ Poo"
C&H Fed banter
Still I'll see if my fleets admiral can at least pitch the idea to branflakes for joining OPvP or TD so you can potentially get the ball rolling.
It is through repetition that we learn our weakness.
A master with a stone is better than a novice with a sword.
Has damage got out of control?
This is the last thing I will post.
You don't need to increase the power to increase the fun. Having a variety of options even if they are all the same in terms of how powerful they are is more fun than having one new thing that trumps everything that came before.
Increasing the power level should happen across the board for everyone, not in piecemeal fashion for a relative few, most of whom tend to be either lucky or rich.
They aren't developing for PvP. We are not their primary audience.
Their primary audience has been conditioned by 14 years of MMOs.
You grind new content, you progress, you get better gear, you grind new content.
This isn't a salad bar, where just getting you in the door is enough.
Their goal is to sell us everything they can, as much as they can.
They aren't automatically obsoleting everything, but eventually things must become obsolete.
This makes it consumable, just like your mobile phone, your computer and even your car.
We could have PvP where teams are competing against each other to accomplish objectives with ways to mess with each other's team via killing NPCs that the other needs to protect or something. Would certainly help alleviate some balance issues in PvP if players weren't the direct recipients of...lol who am I kidding there would still be rage.
Still, Ultimatum is 100% right in terms of developing for PvP. The power creep is certainly seen in the new fleet consoles, they will become the new standard and we can probably expect lockbox versions like these special weapons we get in lock boxes now. I mean really there is no reason to not be in a fleet and a lot of the new content is geared towards fleets.
Still, devs do browse this forum so perhaps after season 8 hits something might get done.
It is through repetition that we learn our weakness.
A master with a stone is better than a novice with a sword.
Has damage got out of control?
This is the last thing I will post.
Generally, that's really not what the arena crowd of PvPers want to do.
Sure, some different modes or objectives could be interesting, but if we want to kill NPCs we already have enemy player pets and the endless grind of PvE stuff where we can do that.
You might be one.
I might be one.
We all might be devs in disguise and not know it.
*OoooooEEEEOoooEEEeeee*
who here would have stopped playing this game years ago and never look back if this game had no pvp?
me
what the hell would i even be grinding for? so i could get through an stf faster?
i honestly dont know how so many people can stay interested in just the game play pve provides, ESPECIALLY when you compare it to the the pvp experience.
I get what you mean - I'm not sure what I would be doing. PvP provides for so much more build flexibility than PvE it's nuts. I mean, what PvE mission could you do on a pure healer with no weapons?
When I look at my grinding activity too, practically all of it is with PvP applications in mind. Without PvP, my activity would have degenerated to the level of a Facebook game, collecting ships and stuff via doff assignments.