I get that. This season seems more, I don't know, aimless(?) than the others? I guess I'm missing large parts of the how's/why's/where's by not doffing or repping. Oh well.
That is nicely stated indeed, it is aimless. I dont know what they were thinking when they built this, as i stated it is a waste of resources. Remember, they have to satisfy that of their Chinese overlords at Perfect World.
Actually, aimless is a very good description for the new zone. As in, there is no aim or direction once you get there. You just fly around randomly and pick up missions that pop up with no overarching goal provided by the game. I'm not doing the new rep so I'm solely there to check out the new content. So far, it has been aimless. I'm guessing that some of the story elements for the new season being locked behind doff assignment crits and the new rep isn't helping matters.
And the word you're thinking of to describe the same queued missions over and over again isn't "aimless." It's "tedious."
No, no direction at all and it has been aimless and this idea of going around trying to locate others to play with instead of queue it is insane.
I have to agree with this thread. The theory behind the adventure zone is good. The execution leaves a lot to be desired. The story feels quite fragmented. I don't see myself going into the Sphere very often.
Oh well...Seasons 1-7 were substantial improvements. I guess they were bound to have a less-than-stellar season ocassionally. Hopefuly Season 9 is better...
I'm more excited by the new mac client than any content in the Sphere.
Again, i have to agree but perhaps they could place all the PvE into STF's with queue as iam tired of this looking for other players, it is not fun at all and the direction is just not available. Iam not even going to play it any longer, i dont care about the rep system.
Yes, Season 8 is quite possibly the worst example of content added to STO since Cryptic took over the game. It is a definite failure in my books...
The story from the end of the Feature episode to what we see in Season 8 is missing several chapters as far as I can see, and if any sci fi author submitted this addition to their editor I am certain the editor would be contacting them asking if they forgot to send the missing chapters/content.
How come the Federation have turned into complete thugs and now follow orders from Romulans?
How does the Federation know if the Voth are actually collecting Omega Particles for some good purpose, perhaps to build a weapon that will give them the edge against an Iconian invasion force?
Instead the Federation just tosses the Prime Directive out the airlock and decides it is time to turn Klingon where we just kill everything and enslave the rest that survive the battles?
I can just imagine Gene Roddenberry would be spinning in his grave right about now with the way Cryptic and CBS have completely forgotten about the Prime Directive that Star Trek was founded on.
Season 8 is horribly written and even the game play sucks because these Voth are supposed to be millions of years ahead of the rest of us in technology and we can solo most of the content?
Ridiculous, and MMO developers in general seem to be afraid to put any sort of challenge into their games because they want everyone to be able to succeed and that leaves nothing for good players to do but grind, and there is always plenty of that...:rolleyes:
This is what i've been saying also. And why is the once great Federation turning into thugs for Romulan's. Yeah its the worse season update. And i thought nothing could be worse than season 4. I just avoid the whole thing now. Could care less about grinding more marks. In fact never again. I hate what this game is turning into. God i want a game that feels like Star Trek.
The problem here with this one, though I don't find it bad at all, is that a lot of the season's story is hidden within DOFF missions and in the Dyson Joint Reputation. Dyson Joint isn't so bad, but the DOFF missions require you to hit Critical Success and that's easier said than done.
Seriously? That is a terrible, terrible way to deliver story and lore. Ugh.
Wait until Season 9 when they "take all the good user feedback into account," and...add Z-store tokens you can buy to unlock all the buried "story" hidden behind DOff missions and Rep Tiers. :rolleyes:
Thanks for the replies, it does help to see I am not the only lost soul.
I do like the new area and the start of story arc was nice change.
The openness on how to complete the daily missions is an idea I liked from LOR.
I am just getting used to the aimless, I like that description, nature of the zone. While I am not looking for hand holding, I am looking for a bit more direction.
Hopefully as I play, it will become clearer. Also once all the patching is done, things may be a bit smoother.
Peaceful exploration? I have a heavily armed ship and a phaser with a kill setting, how peaceful is that?
as i mentioned a little while back, the sphere has no context to it, which makes it a pointless war. the dead would never be remembered for any heroic victories or sacrifices in the sphere because we have no idea what the purpose of the fighting is about.
should season 9 be out sometime end Q1-start Q2 in 2014, the cryptic team should keep to the storyline stuff.
You must have not played the featured story. You must have not read the stuff from the romulan intelligence agent before you enter the sphere. You must not understand Omega particles. All this seems like a personal problem. You guys gotta be high to not know whats going on in Season 8. I mean really? Almost seems like the forum is just complaining to complain. FINALLY we dont have to do the same qued stuff over and over or collect samples on Romulas and all we get is complainers. Like i said before, thank god the forum, while loud, is a small small minority of actual sto players.
This is what i've been saying also. And why is the once great Federation turning into thugs for Romulan's. Yeah its the worse season update. And i thought nothing could be worse than season 4. I just avoid the whole thing now. Could care less about grinding more marks. In fact never again. I hate what this game is turning into. God i want a game that feels like Star Trek.
Well we kn ow the Voth arent making a weapon to fight the Iconians. They wont even acknowledge that the Iconians exisit! Omega particles override the prime directive, that is star trek canon. Lol your complaints are such a fail its hard to even respond. Do yourself a favor, look up the Voth online as well as Omega particles. It will help you understand they are not breaking or ignoring the prime directive and that the elders in the Voth refuse to believe any science that shows that the Voth were not the first intelligent species in the Delta Quadrant.
No, no it's not. It feels more like ritual sacrifice and the occasional shooting of voth in the back. In fact they look more so as if they're saving the poor creaure. Besides all of geko's dinos are bald and unrealistic. Far from the dinos we had here on earth.
The initial exploration teams to the Sphere were attacked by Voth and the Voth have refused any and all attempts to negotiate. Instead they've decided to eradicate all those who stand in their way.
Nice stretch of the imagination. Of course anybody who will watch the voth episode knows that they wouldn't want to be aggressive at all. Nor would they even make their presence known. They only captured (didn't even fire a single shot at them) voyager because they represented a threat at the time.
Eradicating everything that stands in their way are NOT the voth that were in that episode. Maybe you should watch it.
I haven't seen much of Season 8 yet (not intending to do much at all).
Cryptic made Humanity, Starfleet and the Federation to the agressors.
No more dead weight (peaceful philospohy) Star Trek made unique, they put Humanity from being evolved and "mature" right back to the stone age.
"...'With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censured...the first thought forbidden...the first freedom denied--chains us all irrevocably.' ... The first time any man's freedom is trodden on, we're all damaged. I fear that today--"
- (TNG) Picard, quoting Judge Aaron Satie
I haven't seen much of Season 8 yet (not intending to do much at all).
Cryptic made Humanity, Starfleet and the Federation to the agressors.
No more dead weight (peaceful philospohy) Star Trek made unique, they put Humanity from being evolved and "mature" right back to the stone age.
Novel parallel. Yeah if there was anything that shouted stone age, it's a bunch of starfleet officers running around a dino and shooting it dead. I mean it's just all so low-brow that it's really disgusting.
I seriously think Geko needs to step down for this travesty.
it's not spelled out-kindergarten style, but it's there.
I'm going to make a Foundry mission and get reviewed by Roundtable. I hope that you will appreciate how I bury the story in out-of-the-way npcs, puzzles, and fetch quests. I don't want to make it kindergarten style by giving it an overt plot that makes sense for why the player is killing massive numbers of axe-swinging squirrels.
Trust me, there will be an explanation if you search for it and press f 5,000 times. It will be an epic Foundry mission.
I'm going to make a Foundry mission and get reviewed by Roundtable. I hope that you will appreciate how I bury the story in out-of-the-way npcs, puzzles, and fetch quests. I don't want to make it kindergarten style by giving it an overt plot that makes sense for why the player is killing massive numbers of axe-swinging squirrels.
Trust me, there will be an explanation if you search for it and press f 5,000 times. It will be an epic Foundry mission.
I'm going to make a Foundry mission and get reviewed by Roundtable. I hope that you will appreciate how I bury the story in out-of-the-way npcs, puzzles, and fetch quests. I don't want to make it kindergarten style by giving it an overt plot that makes sense for why the player is killing massive numbers of axe-swinging squirrels.
Trust me, there will be an explanation if you search for it and press f 5,000 times. It will be an epic Foundry mission.
I agree that it would be nice if it was explained better. As-is the only explanation is a short conversation with Kaol.
I think the thing that I'm missing the most is the actual discovery of the Sphere. When we go through the gate for the first time, we aren't the first ones on scene. The Republic already has a HQ set up and ready to go. And to me, that's rather disappointing.
What I would have liked to see is a second part episode to Sphere of Influence. After the Enterprise picks up Omega, it's now our job to go and investigate it. The episode would have us be the first through the gate. Now we have to figure out where we are and how Omega is involved. It's then a big reveal, OMG we're inside a Dyson Sphere on the edge of the Delta Quadrant and it's generating Omega particles for some unknown reason! Then we can have the Republic set up the HQ and we can go about the currently existing activities inside the Sphere.
It just really feels disjointed and incomplete to me right now. I feel that we're missing a huge chunk of major story line between Sphere of Influence and the missions we're doing inside the Sphere. And I don't like that. At all.
I really agree with this post. I'm having a hard time just relating the Worf mission to the S8 stuff. I think you're absolutely right about the reveal of the sphere. I don't remember anything about a Dyson sphere in the FE and suddenly I'm reporting to some kind of solar alliance that sends me into a Dyson sphere.
I'm not so sure that we're missing a huge chunk of story. I may be more convinced that the story simply isn't there at all. If there is a continuation of the plot, I'm pretty sure it will mostly ignore the Dyson sphere and the dinosaurs with lasers.
I think the thing that I'm missing the most is the actual discovery of the Sphere. When we go through the gate for the first time, we aren't the first ones on scene. The Republic already has a HQ set up and ready to go. And to me, that's rather disappointing.
What I would have liked to see is a second part episode to Sphere of Influence. After the Enterprise picks up Omega, it's now our job to go and investigate it. The episode would have us be the first through the gate. Now we have to figure out where we are and how Omega is involved. It's then a big reveal, OMG we're inside a Dyson Sphere on the edge of the Delta Quadrant and it's generating Omega particles for some unknown reason! Then we can have the Republic set up the HQ and we can go about the currently existing activities inside the Sphere.
It just really feels disjointed and incomplete to me right now. I feel that we're missing a huge chunk of major story line between Sphere of Influence and the missions we're doing inside the Sphere. And I don't like that. At all.
Agreed, and you don't really explore the delta quadrant around the dyson sphere. Speaking of which.. if all the gates are open shouldn't we explore the gates? Isnt there a gate on all planets we saw in FE, Earth, Iconia, etc.. why are we sharing the gate on Tau sector?
I really agree with this post. I'm having a hard time just relating the Worf mission to the S8 stuff. I think you're absolutely right about the reveal of the sphere. I don't remember anything about a Dyson sphere in the FE and suddenly I'm reporting to some kind of solar alliance that sends me into a Dyson sphere.
I'm not so sure that we're missing a huge chunk of story. I may be more convinced that the story simply isn't there at all. If there is a continuation of the plot, I'm pretty sure it will mostly ignore the Dyson sphere and the dinosaurs with lasers.
Well the end of the FE has them open the gate in the Jouret system, and scan the other side of the gate. But we don't go back through, we just get that message about Omega. It's possible that the events of the FE actually occur within the Dyson Sphere. The swarmers had to come from somewhere, and most of the structures we saw were a bit small to hold them.
Agreed, and you don't really explore the delta quadrant around the dyson sphere. Speaking of which.. if all the gates are open shouldn't we explore the gates? Isnt there a gate on all planets we saw in FE, Earth, Iconia, etc.. why are we sharing the gate on Tau sector?
Here here. It seems like Geko thinks exploration really isn't a money maker. At least he shies away from it's mentioning on the interviews. Seems to me that to boldly go means to boldly blow up his choice of antagonists.
I think the thing that I'm missing the most is the actual discovery of the Sphere. When we go through the gate for the first time, we aren't the first ones on scene. The Republic already has a HQ set up and ready to go. And to me, that's rather disappointing.
What I would have liked to see is a second part episode to Sphere of Influence. After the Enterprise picks up Omega, it's now our job to go and investigate it. The episode would have us be the first through the gate. Now we have to figure out where we are and how Omega is involved. It's then a big reveal, OMG we're inside a Dyson Sphere on the edge of the Delta Quadrant and it's generating Omega particles for some unknown reason! Then we can have the Republic set up the HQ and we can go about the currently existing activities inside the Sphere.
It just really feels disjointed and incomplete to me right now. I feel that we're missing a huge chunk of major story line between Sphere of Influence and the missions we're doing inside the Sphere. And I don't like that. At all.
I agree that letting us be a bigger part of the backstory would have been interesting.
I can see why Cryptic would have skipped that, though. They weren't interested in creating TWO spheres... one where the Alliance isn't there and you're more or less on your own, and this one which is meant to be a persistent zone.
What interests me about this set up under the hood is that it's not a bad model for "Exploration Under Fire". You're going into this big, unexplored, somewhat dynamic territory and nobody's telling you where to go, exactly. But you can find plenty of things to do, and your logistical needs as a player are being cared for.
Yeah, Kirkfat, I agree with you that this is not a story-driven zone. Players are basically being thrown in to the situation and told to go figure it out. And maybe that wasn't entirely the best choice for this particular area. But it's not a horrible choice, either. That challenge of figuring things out might actually be a very deliberate decision on their part, that has nothing to do with cutting corners. Sheer speculation, of course, and I'm probably completely wrong. But maybe I'm not.
If you need a story-based rationale behind this lack of direction, it's easily found. The Republic is in over their collective heads on this one. They haven't even fully explored their new homeworld and now they're directing what amounts to an invasion of a territory that's far bigger than they ever dreamed of, and coordinating it all with two galactic powers that aren't entirely on good terms with each other.
What Cryptic should do, is go back and add some NPC interaction that makes it more clear that the Republic is struggling to organize all of this and that the lines of communication are disorganized at best. D'Tan has his hands full back on New Romulus, so the Republic leadership in the Sphere are on their own more or less.
Heck, wouldn't be a bad idea to have Tal Shiar showing up to sabotage things in favor of the Iconians... or to let drop that the Iconians are using the coalition against the Voth.
My views may not represent those of Cryptic Studios or Perfect World Entertainment. You can file a "forums and website" support ticket here Link: How to PM - Twitter @STOMod_Bluegeek
I agree that letting us be a bigger part of the backstory would have been interesting.
*Snippity snip a doo da *
Heck, wouldn't be a bad idea to have Tal Shiar showing up to sabotage things in favor of the Iconians... or to let drop that the Iconians are using the coalition against the Voth.
Or the borg. A species with a master blend of so many technologies has to figure out there's an unclaimed kitchen already cooking up omega particles for the taking sooner or later.
I was kind of afraid this would happen when Adranna, I think that was her name, said in the FE " How is this different then the wormhole at Deepspace Nine?"
Well it is different because the Iconian gate is technology based and the wormhole is a natural occurrence. The Iconian's are millions of years ahead of our part of the galaxy in technology, so we don't understand how and what this gate really does...
So somehow, we don't know how, but somehow they discovered a gate to the Sphere and decided we need to go there, obliterate the Voth because they are so weak and they are collecting Omega Particles, which I might add is something else our part of the galaxy really does not understand either. But we need to stop these evil Voth because we can't let them have all the Omega!?!?! We need it more then they do apparently, well according to our new Romulan Masters we do...:eek:
Also why are the Voth so weak? They are supposed to be something like 65 million years ahead of us in technology, any race that far ahead of us would see us as nothing more then insects and perhaps a minor annoyance compared to them and they would sweep us aside as if we were ants raiding their picnic basket.
However Cryptic has made them so weak we can solo most of the battlezone content! hahahahahahahahahaha! :rolleyes:
I was kind of afraid this would happen when Adranna, I think that was her name, said in the FE " How is this different then the wormhole at Deepspace Nine?"
Well it is different because the Iconian gate is technology based and the wormhole is a natural occurrence. The Iconian's are millions of years ahead of our part of the galaxy in technology, so we don't understand how and what this gate really does...
So somehow, we don't know how, but somehow they discovered a gate to the Sphere and decided we need to go there, obliterate the Voth because they are so weak and they are collecting Omega Particles, which I might add is something else our part of the galaxy really does not understand either. But we need to stop these evil Voth because we can't let them have all the Omega!?!?! We need it more then they do apparently, well according to our new Romulan Masters we do...:eek:
Also why are the Voth so weak? They are supposed to be something like 65 million years ahead of us in technology, any race that far ahead of us would see us as nothing more then insects and perhaps a minor annoyance compared to them and they would sweep us aside as if we were ants raiding their picnic basket.
However Cryptic has made them so weak we can solo most of the battlezone content! hahahahahahahahahaha! :rolleyes:
This is precisely why I face palm over season 8 so much. It's clear to me that Geko was TiVo surfing one night and graced this voth episode on voyager and took 1/3rd of what he remembered and never watched the episode again.
Honestly the game doesn't need to stand on canon to progress because ultimately you'll run out of material, but you certainly don't take good canon and twist it so incredibly much that it's nothing like the one and only example you've been given either.
It's like trying to turn the voyager crew into a warship and trying to sell that. The episode where voyager actually got portrayed as a warship was an interesting one in which the species was left with that impression and rebuilt the scenario to the best of their knowledge but even that was a very uncomfortable episode. It was a relief at the end to have the story straight after all.
Unfortunately I don't think we'll get that kind of reprieve here. Geko is certainly not going to make his dino's look realistic from fossil record as much as he isn't going to replace the dinos with something palatable with a reasonable backstory just as much as he isn't going to apologize for dousing us into a non-story that makes no sense.
I like the 2 new STFs that came with Season 8, and I like the idea of what we have with Season 8, but the end result doesn't feel very much like "Star Trek" to me. In fact, you could take all of Season 8, stick it into a generic space battle game, and no one would really know the difference.
One thing STO doesn't need is another "big bad" to threaten the lives of the players. The Federation is already at war with the Kilingons, the Tal Shiar, the Breen, the Borg, the Undine, and the True Way. Plus, we have individual and packaged missions fighting the Devidians, the Orions, and other miscellaneous villains. Now, the Voth?
When are we going to start making friends with some of these people?!?!
I like the 2 new STFs that came with Season 8, and I like the idea of what we have with Season 8, but the end result doesn't feel very much like "Star Trek" to me. In fact, you could take all of Season 8, stick it into a generic space battle game, and no one would really know the difference.
One thing STO doesn't need is another "big bad" to threaten the lives of the players. The Federation is already at war with the Kilingons, the Tal Shiar, the Breen, the Borg, the Undine, and the True Way. Plus, we have individual and packaged missions fighting the Devidians, the Orions, and other miscellaneous villains. Now, the Voth?
When are we going to start making friends with some of these people?!?!
Amen... Money CAN be made off of exploration and diplomacy. One of my favorite episodes from cryptic was when you had to try to convince the romulans/klingons/feds to work together on DS9.. Since then though, it looks like Geko's reign of leadership has left us with some very sad desperate attempts to forge the voth into something they're not. He should have left them as a non violent non-engaging unless provoked kind of species. He'd have been much better off introducing the borg into this dynamic. At least it would have made so much more sense.
It's like trying to turn the voyager crew into a warship and trying to sell that. The episode where voyager actually got portrayed as a warship was an interesting one in which the species was left with that impression and rebuilt the scenario to the best of their knowledge but even that was a very uncomfortable episode. It was a relief at the end to have the story straight after all.
Well, that episode was ultimately about historical revisionism. Voyager got caught in the middle of a conflict and the eventual winner decided to rewrite history to pretend that Voyager was the villain when it was really themselves. The events of the episode happened due to someone finding proof that the accepted version of history was a pack of lies. Not even misunderstandings, outright fabrications.
Well, that episode was ultimately about historical revisionism. Voyager got caught in the middle of a conflict and the eventual winner decided to rewrite history to pretend that Voyager was the villain when it was really themselves. The events of the episode happened due to someone finding proof that the accepted version of history was a pack of lies. Not even misunderstandings, outright fabrications.
How does this differ with my mention that they built that scenario to the best of their knowledge whether it's full blown deception or not? Aren't you splitting hairs here?
How does this differ with my mention that they built that scenario to the best of their knowledge whether it's full blown deception or not? Aren't you splitting hairs here?
The people who created the "Warship Voyager" version of events did so to intentionally hide the truth, they weren't trying to show people what really happened. Now, the guy in the museum who made a holonovel version of was actually trying to make a proper historical recreation, but all he had was a badly edited history book to go on.
I asked in game and got a few replies, so I thought I would ask here.
Am I the only one who just doesn't get what the Sphere and it missions are all about? I have been playing around the area since the season started and I cannot seem to figure out the missions. Doesn't matter where I go, I just seem to be lost and running around at random taking pot shots at targets.
I have been playing STO since just before the beta ended and this is the first time I just cannot figure out what the heck I am supposed to be doing. In fact this is the first game that I have run into this feeling with and I have been gaming longer than I care to admit.
Kinda feel dumb stating this on an open forum, maybe part of the healing process is to admit a problem. Maybe I will find out I am not the only one.
Going back to the root of the question without being sidetracked....wouldn't it be nice that every time Cryptic sends out a new addition or version of the game to have an FQA thread attached to it (from DEVs).
I know there is the "release notes". However, not much information there about the new STUFF. For instance, it took me a while to know there were some added missions and where to look for the Romulus rep.
Also, just recently I know THROUGH THE RANDOM FORUMS again that there are lots of added DOFF missions in the Dyson sphere. I could have missed all of this if it wasn't for the forums.
Hope someday they would add a thread or two directly from the DEVs and explain to players what the new missions/content is all about....nice gesture IMO.
Well the answer to that one at least is simple, if they were challenging the forums and zone would be full of people crying "OMG Cryptic made the Voth sooo OP epic fail" and chants of "wtf y I haz to team? fake difficulty fake difficulty"
One thing STO doesn't need is another "big bad" to threaten the lives of the players. The Federation is already at war with the Kilingons, the Tal Shiar, the Breen, the Borg, the Undine, and the True Way. Plus, we have individual and packaged missions fighting the Devidians, the Orions, and other miscellaneous villains. Now, the Voth?
When are we going to start making friends with some of these people?!?!
From what I remember storyline-wise...
Fed/KDF is at a detente over all the "big bad evils" in the universe hanging out in the Delta Quadrant.
Tal'Shiar are licking wounds with the loss of Hakeev and Sela being given the hook.
Breen are off being a target in dailies... Could expand their war some more, but other than a territorial zone like the sphere, I don't see much from here...
Borg - ongoing.
Undine were "pacified" when we blasted their gate and the invasions from "void space" or whatever they call our non-fluid space stopped.
Orions are quiet with KDF, Devidians are popping up once in a while.
Iconians are behind the Tal'Shiar and previous Undine activity, which is why we attempted to investigate their gate and are in a tizzy over Omega Particles...
Detecting big-time "anti-old-school" bias here. NX? Lobi. TOS/TMP Connie? Super-promotion-box. (aka the two hardest ways to get ships) Excelsior & all 3 TNG "big hero" ships? C-Store. Please Equalize...
To rob a line: [quote: Mariemaia Kushrenada] Forum Posting is much like an endless waltz. The three beats of war, peace and revolution continue on forever. However, opinions will change upon the reading of my post.[/quote]
I asked in game and got a few replies, so I thought I would ask here.
Am I the only one who just doesn't get what the Sphere and it missions are all about? I have been playing around the area since the season started and I cannot seem to figure out the missions. Doesn't matter where I go, I just seem to be lost and running around at random taking pot shots at targets.
I have been playing STO since just before the beta ended and this is the first time I just cannot figure out what the heck I am supposed to be doing. In fact this is the first game that I have run into this feeling with and I have been gaming longer than I care to admit.
Kinda feel dumb stating this on an open forum, maybe part of the healing process is to admit a problem. Maybe I will find out I am not the only one.
the best I can say to make things easier to understand would be to watch "The Omega Directive" from Voyager http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/The_Omega_Directive_(episode) that will help explain what the fight is about and why Romulans,KDF, & Federation are all fighting for one thing to dispose of the omega particles the sphere is creating and to stop it from creating it as well, the best place in season 8 where you actually feel like you are doing that is the Battle zone on the ground once all zone are taken then you help to keep the voth from taking the Omega Particles and you fight there big rex. To me that is where most the fun is takinf the zones over then fighting the rex and getting a descent amount of marks and dilithium in the process. hope this helps a bit to understand what S8 is all about and why your flying around pew pewing the voth.
p.s. most the missions to me in the space adventure zone don't relate to what is happening on the ground as much but it is all related.
The people who created the "Warship Voyager" version of events did so to intentionally hide the truth, they weren't trying to show people what really happened. Now, the guy in the museum who made a holonovel version of was actually trying to make a proper historical recreation, but all he had was a badly edited history book to go on.
Uh ok.. I'm pretty sure this all fits under "to the best of their knowledge".
Comments
That is nicely stated indeed, it is aimless. I dont know what they were thinking when they built this, as i stated it is a waste of resources. Remember, they have to satisfy that of their Chinese overlords at Perfect World.
No, no direction at all and it has been aimless and this idea of going around trying to locate others to play with instead of queue it is insane.
Again, i have to agree but perhaps they could place all the PvE into STF's with queue as iam tired of this looking for other players, it is not fun at all and the direction is just not available. Iam not even going to play it any longer, i dont care about the rep system.
This is what i've been saying also. And why is the once great Federation turning into thugs for Romulan's. Yeah its the worse season update. And i thought nothing could be worse than season 4. I just avoid the whole thing now. Could care less about grinding more marks. In fact never again. I hate what this game is turning into. God i want a game that feels like Star Trek.
Wait until Season 9 when they "take all the good user feedback into account," and...add Z-store tokens you can buy to unlock all the buried "story" hidden behind DOff missions and Rep Tiers. :rolleyes:
I do like the new area and the start of story arc was nice change.
The openness on how to complete the daily missions is an idea I liked from LOR.
I am just getting used to the aimless, I like that description, nature of the zone. While I am not looking for hand holding, I am looking for a bit more direction.
Hopefully as I play, it will become clearer. Also once all the patching is done, things may be a bit smoother.
Peaceful exploration? I have a heavily armed ship and a phaser with a kill setting, how peaceful is that?
You must have not played the featured story. You must have not read the stuff from the romulan intelligence agent before you enter the sphere. You must not understand Omega particles. All this seems like a personal problem. You guys gotta be high to not know whats going on in Season 8. I mean really? Almost seems like the forum is just complaining to complain. FINALLY we dont have to do the same qued stuff over and over or collect samples on Romulas and all we get is complainers. Like i said before, thank god the forum, while loud, is a small small minority of actual sto players.
Well we kn ow the Voth arent making a weapon to fight the Iconians. They wont even acknowledge that the Iconians exisit! Omega particles override the prime directive, that is star trek canon. Lol your complaints are such a fail its hard to even respond. Do yourself a favor, look up the Voth online as well as Omega particles. It will help you understand they are not breaking or ignoring the prime directive and that the elders in the Voth refuse to believe any science that shows that the Voth were not the first intelligent species in the Delta Quadrant.
No, no it's not. It feels more like ritual sacrifice and the occasional shooting of voth in the back. In fact they look more so as if they're saving the poor creaure. Besides all of geko's dinos are bald and unrealistic. Far from the dinos we had here on earth.
It is spelled out kindergarten style.. It's a "rush job." They didn't even get to open up the voth zone as intended so yeah it's pretty obvious.
Nice stretch of the imagination. Of course anybody who will watch the voth episode knows that they wouldn't want to be aggressive at all. Nor would they even make their presence known. They only captured (didn't even fire a single shot at them) voyager because they represented a threat at the time.
Eradicating everything that stands in their way are NOT the voth that were in that episode. Maybe you should watch it.
Cryptic made Humanity, Starfleet and the Federation to the agressors.
No more dead weight (peaceful philospohy) Star Trek made unique, they put Humanity from being evolved and "mature" right back to the stone age.
Novel parallel. Yeah if there was anything that shouted stone age, it's a bunch of starfleet officers running around a dino and shooting it dead. I mean it's just all so low-brow that it's really disgusting.
I seriously think Geko needs to step down for this travesty.
I'm going to make a Foundry mission and get reviewed by Roundtable. I hope that you will appreciate how I bury the story in out-of-the-way npcs, puzzles, and fetch quests. I don't want to make it kindergarten style by giving it an overt plot that makes sense for why the player is killing massive numbers of axe-swinging squirrels.
Trust me, there will be an explanation if you search for it and press f 5,000 times. It will be an epic Foundry mission.
lol.. Too funny
My character Tsin'xing
I really agree with this post. I'm having a hard time just relating the Worf mission to the S8 stuff. I think you're absolutely right about the reveal of the sphere. I don't remember anything about a Dyson sphere in the FE and suddenly I'm reporting to some kind of solar alliance that sends me into a Dyson sphere.
I'm not so sure that we're missing a huge chunk of story. I may be more convinced that the story simply isn't there at all. If there is a continuation of the plot, I'm pretty sure it will mostly ignore the Dyson sphere and the dinosaurs with lasers.
Agreed, and you don't really explore the delta quadrant around the dyson sphere. Speaking of which.. if all the gates are open shouldn't we explore the gates? Isnt there a gate on all planets we saw in FE, Earth, Iconia, etc.. why are we sharing the gate on Tau sector?
No, there apparently isn't a gate on Earth.
My character Tsin'xing
Here here. It seems like Geko thinks exploration really isn't a money maker. At least he shies away from it's mentioning on the interviews. Seems to me that to boldly go means to boldly blow up his choice of antagonists.
I agree that letting us be a bigger part of the backstory would have been interesting.
I can see why Cryptic would have skipped that, though. They weren't interested in creating TWO spheres... one where the Alliance isn't there and you're more or less on your own, and this one which is meant to be a persistent zone.
What interests me about this set up under the hood is that it's not a bad model for "Exploration Under Fire". You're going into this big, unexplored, somewhat dynamic territory and nobody's telling you where to go, exactly. But you can find plenty of things to do, and your logistical needs as a player are being cared for.
Yeah, Kirkfat, I agree with you that this is not a story-driven zone. Players are basically being thrown in to the situation and told to go figure it out. And maybe that wasn't entirely the best choice for this particular area. But it's not a horrible choice, either. That challenge of figuring things out might actually be a very deliberate decision on their part, that has nothing to do with cutting corners. Sheer speculation, of course, and I'm probably completely wrong. But maybe I'm not.
If you need a story-based rationale behind this lack of direction, it's easily found. The Republic is in over their collective heads on this one. They haven't even fully explored their new homeworld and now they're directing what amounts to an invasion of a territory that's far bigger than they ever dreamed of, and coordinating it all with two galactic powers that aren't entirely on good terms with each other.
What Cryptic should do, is go back and add some NPC interaction that makes it more clear that the Republic is struggling to organize all of this and that the lines of communication are disorganized at best. D'Tan has his hands full back on New Romulus, so the Republic leadership in the Sphere are on their own more or less.
Heck, wouldn't be a bad idea to have Tal Shiar showing up to sabotage things in favor of the Iconians... or to let drop that the Iconians are using the coalition against the Voth.
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Or the borg. A species with a master blend of so many technologies has to figure out there's an unclaimed kitchen already cooking up omega particles for the taking sooner or later.
Well it is different because the Iconian gate is technology based and the wormhole is a natural occurrence. The Iconian's are millions of years ahead of our part of the galaxy in technology, so we don't understand how and what this gate really does...
So somehow, we don't know how, but somehow they discovered a gate to the Sphere and decided we need to go there, obliterate the Voth because they are so weak and they are collecting Omega Particles, which I might add is something else our part of the galaxy really does not understand either. But we need to stop these evil Voth because we can't let them have all the Omega!?!?! We need it more then they do apparently, well according to our new Romulan Masters we do...:eek:
Also why are the Voth so weak? They are supposed to be something like 65 million years ahead of us in technology, any race that far ahead of us would see us as nothing more then insects and perhaps a minor annoyance compared to them and they would sweep us aside as if we were ants raiding their picnic basket.
However Cryptic has made them so weak we can solo most of the battlezone content! hahahahahahahahahaha! :rolleyes:
This is precisely why I face palm over season 8 so much. It's clear to me that Geko was TiVo surfing one night and graced this voth episode on voyager and took 1/3rd of what he remembered and never watched the episode again.
Honestly the game doesn't need to stand on canon to progress because ultimately you'll run out of material, but you certainly don't take good canon and twist it so incredibly much that it's nothing like the one and only example you've been given either.
It's like trying to turn the voyager crew into a warship and trying to sell that. The episode where voyager actually got portrayed as a warship was an interesting one in which the species was left with that impression and rebuilt the scenario to the best of their knowledge but even that was a very uncomfortable episode. It was a relief at the end to have the story straight after all.
Unfortunately I don't think we'll get that kind of reprieve here. Geko is certainly not going to make his dino's look realistic from fossil record as much as he isn't going to replace the dinos with something palatable with a reasonable backstory just as much as he isn't going to apologize for dousing us into a non-story that makes no sense.
One thing STO doesn't need is another "big bad" to threaten the lives of the players. The Federation is already at war with the Kilingons, the Tal Shiar, the Breen, the Borg, the Undine, and the True Way. Plus, we have individual and packaged missions fighting the Devidians, the Orions, and other miscellaneous villains. Now, the Voth?
When are we going to start making friends with some of these people?!?!
Amen... Money CAN be made off of exploration and diplomacy. One of my favorite episodes from cryptic was when you had to try to convince the romulans/klingons/feds to work together on DS9.. Since then though, it looks like Geko's reign of leadership has left us with some very sad desperate attempts to forge the voth into something they're not. He should have left them as a non violent non-engaging unless provoked kind of species. He'd have been much better off introducing the borg into this dynamic. At least it would have made so much more sense.
My character Tsin'xing
How does this differ with my mention that they built that scenario to the best of their knowledge whether it's full blown deception or not? Aren't you splitting hairs here?
My character Tsin'xing
Going back to the root of the question without being sidetracked....wouldn't it be nice that every time Cryptic sends out a new addition or version of the game to have an FQA thread attached to it (from DEVs).
I know there is the "release notes". However, not much information there about the new STUFF. For instance, it took me a while to know there were some added missions and where to look for the Romulus rep.
Also, just recently I know THROUGH THE RANDOM FORUMS again that there are lots of added DOFF missions in the Dyson sphere. I could have missed all of this if it wasn't for the forums.
Hope someday they would add a thread or two directly from the DEVs and explain to players what the new missions/content is all about....nice gesture IMO.
Well the answer to that one at least is simple, if they were challenging the forums and zone would be full of people crying "OMG Cryptic made the Voth sooo OP epic fail" and chants of "wtf y I haz to team? fake difficulty fake difficulty"
From what I remember storyline-wise...
Fed/KDF is at a detente over all the "big bad evils" in the universe hanging out in the Delta Quadrant.
Tal'Shiar are licking wounds with the loss of Hakeev and Sela being given the hook.
Breen are off being a target in dailies... Could expand their war some more, but other than a territorial zone like the sphere, I don't see much from here...
Borg - ongoing.
Undine were "pacified" when we blasted their gate and the invasions from "void space" or whatever they call our non-fluid space stopped.
Orions are quiet with KDF, Devidians are popping up once in a while.
Iconians are behind the Tal'Shiar and previous Undine activity, which is why we attempted to investigate their gate and are in a tizzy over Omega Particles...
To rob a line: [quote: Mariemaia Kushrenada] Forum Posting is much like an endless waltz. The three beats of war, peace and revolution continue on forever. However, opinions will change upon the reading of my post.[/quote]
the best I can say to make things easier to understand would be to watch "The Omega Directive" from Voyager http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/The_Omega_Directive_(episode) that will help explain what the fight is about and why Romulans,KDF, & Federation are all fighting for one thing to dispose of the omega particles the sphere is creating and to stop it from creating it as well, the best place in season 8 where you actually feel like you are doing that is the Battle zone on the ground once all zone are taken then you help to keep the voth from taking the Omega Particles and you fight there big rex. To me that is where most the fun is takinf the zones over then fighting the rex and getting a descent amount of marks and dilithium in the process. hope this helps a bit to understand what S8 is all about and why your flying around pew pewing the voth.
p.s. most the missions to me in the space adventure zone don't relate to what is happening on the ground as much but it is all related.
Uh ok.. I'm pretty sure this all fits under "to the best of their knowledge".