2013 Reflections - A Letter From the STO Team

pwebranflakes · December 2013

As we near the end of 2013, it's a great time to reflect on the past year in Star Trek Online and to take a peek into the future of the game.

Link to the letter.

mattmiracle · December 2013

I guess I will be saving my Zen up for a "possible" Voyager interior.

hypl · December 2013

Another expansion for late 2014? I predict early 2015. :P

Make sure that if and when you invite Trek alumni to do voiceovers for the game that their character's presence in the story makes sense. A lot of particular fan favorites, as much as I would love to hear them play their characters again, just don't seem to fit for STO's story. But, knowing Cryptic you guys will probably find some cockamamie way to explain anything for anyone to get a boost in player activity and revenue.

thay8472 · December 2013

Nice read. Nice concept art too... though i'll be honest and say i'm thinking "Please, not the Borg."

robdmc · December 2013

At least the letter from the devs didn't say, "it is dangerous to to go out into the forums. Here, take this!"

worffan101 · December 2013

I want George Takei and Sir Patrick Stewart. The former because he is the coolest man on Earth, and the latter because he's the world's second-greatest actor (tied for first and second with Sir Ian McKellen).

Of course, George Takei's busy being awesome and fighting for equal rights and I heard that Sir Patrick Stewart doesn't want to go back to Trek, so getting either of them would be tough.

Realistically, Wil Wheaton would be great, because (a) he's cool and (b) he'd definitely have time to do it. William Shatner would jump at the chance, and I love his ham. Not sure about the others.

Benedict Cumberbatch would be insanely busy, but give him a role that is NOT a high-functioning sociopath and he might do it (plus, he's one of the top 3 greatest actors in the world). Sir Ian McKellen has not done any Trek work to my knowledge, but he's an awesome guy with an awesome voice. I'd love to hear him.

My 2 slips of latinum.

kagasensei · December 2013

Please do not make the mistake of introducing another "mini/pseudo-faction"... I already see the shadow of a playbale Hugh-like liberated Borg-faction looming over STO. Players flying a Cube or even a Tactical Cube? As big as player ships have gotten (Scimitar, Obelisk etc.), THIS would be the threshold to ridiculousness :-|

What STO really needs is more consolidation, even tho "Revamped Crafting/PvP/Exploration" doesn't sound as shiny as "Playbale Borg Cubes with big fat laser-mini-guns and free beer". I know you guys need to keep the game profitable...

As for new VOs: KDF has Michael Dorn, Romulans have Denise Crosby... Now the Feds need "their" celebrity. Replace T'Nae or Adm. Quinn with Adm. Riker, Adm. Data or Adm. Janeway (voiced by Frakes, Spiner and Mulgrew, respectively).

tpolebreaker · December 2013

hypl wrote: »

Make sure that if and when you invite Trek alumni to do voiceovers for the game that their character's presence in the story makes sense. A lot of particular fan favorites, as much as I would love to hear them play their characters again, just don't seem to fit for STO's story.

Yeah, pity there werent some more Wayoun clones stashed away somewhere (or were there???)... I'd love to hear some Jeffrey Combs in STO (he kills it in TSW!)

But... what happened with General Martok? I'm sure you could talk J G Hertzler into doing a reprisal 8) Or Andrew Robinson, or...

ashkrik23 · December 2013

*Puts on tinfoil cap* What could the expansion be....?

lordhavelock · December 2013

I'm pleased to hear the game is doing well. Congratulations are in order to the Cryptic Team on the game's success. Well done guys!

After reading the letter, I was most excited to read:

* There's another Expansion on the schedule for late 2014?!? Not just more seasons, but an Expansion! That's fantastic!!! :eek: The addition of the Cardassian Faction? Or 10 more levels worth of unique content/missions for each Fed/KDF/Roms and an upgrade to L60? Or both?

I wonder also, how many Season updates we'll get before the Expansion... At least one (S9) I imagine... I wonder if they'll squeeze in an S10 before the expansion or if the expansion will be S10... Oh, the possibilities...

* Featured episodes planned for Y04 and S9. Plural?!? I likey, I likey! Mo missions are always a treat.

Keep up the good work Cryptic!

P.S. I'll echo some of the comments here and say: Please no more Borg. Thanks.

robdmc · December 2013

If you get any actor it needs to be Jeffery Combs. he does excellent work.

bughunter357 · December 2013

tpolebreaker wrote: »

Yeah, pity there werent some more Wayoun clones stashed away somewhere (or were there???)... I'd love to hear some Jeffrey Combs in STO (he kills it in TSW!)

But... what happened with General Martok? I'm sure you could talk J G Hertzler into doing a reprisal 8) Or Andrew Robinson, or...

Martok is dead killed by J'mpok for the chancelor role would make no sense to bring him on for VO unless he was a whole new character.

look forward to seeing how 2014 shapes up for STO.

halxiii · December 2013

no word about PvP? Then cancel it..

lan451 · December 2013

Wow, more featured episodes AND another expansion? I love it.

I'm not really sure what I'd like to see in the next expansion, but I do know what I don't want to see. No more Borg and no more factions. I've had plenty of the Borg and I really don't think we should be adding in any more factions at all. Focus on the ones we already have. Might get some hate for that, but oh well.

One minor nitpick about the article though.

New captains were able to start the game as a Romulan, play through the experience of founding New Romulus, and help build a future for the struggling empire.

Shouldn't that be "struggling republic"? Unless D'Tan is going in a different direction now. :P

I know, I know. That's really nickpicky of me. But I can't help it.

magnus1a · December 2013

I would love to see William Shatner involved some how. I believe there was talk about him reappearing as Captain Kirk in the new movie series but that fell through. The original series movies especially Star Trek 2 The Wrath of Kahn was how I was introduced to Star Trek. His portrayal of Captain Kirk was and still is a childhood hero of mine.

kekvin · December 2013

Who id like to do vo? Garak.

other top fave would b bashier, dax, kim, seven, choktay, data anf laforge. Hope we get to goto the delta quad.

captaintpol · December 2013

kagasensei wrote: »

Please do not make the mistake of introducing another "mini/pseudo-faction"... I already see the shadow of a playbale Hugh-like liberated Borg-faction looming over STO. Players flying a Cube or even a Tactical Cube? As big as player ships have gotten (Scimitar, Obelisk etc.), THIS would be the threshold to ridiculousness :-|

What STO really needs is more consolidation, even tho "Revamped Crafting/PvP/Exploration" doesn't sound as shiny as "Playbale Borg Cubes with big fat laser-mini-guns and free beer". I know you guys need to keep the game profitable...

As for new VOs: KDF has Michael Dorn, Romulans have Denise Crosby... Now the Feds need "their" celebrity. Replace T'Nae or Adm. Quinn with Adm. Riker, Adm. Data or Adm. Janeway (voiced by Frakes, Spiner and Mulgrew, respectively).

I agree crafting needs some love, pvp, and star trek is exploration based, we need exploration revamped badly.
Jazdia@captaintpol

themarie · December 2013

lol pvp whatever. :rolleyes:

HOW ABOUT:

*finishing The Sphere. Add some more missions and oh yeah the final tier reward and cut-scene!

*a comprehensive bug-pass. Read the bug-reports we submit if you need ideas!

*taking care of the exploration side of the game, fixing crafting and adding some depth to the game.

*finally kicking PVP out of the main game and giving it a spinoff server: STO-PVP. Dedicated rules, customizable maps and it's own forum.

questerius · December 2013

magnus1a wrote: »

I would love to see William Shatner involved some how. I believe there was talk about him reappearing as Captain Kirk in the new movie series but that fell through. The original series movies especially Star Trek 2 The Wrath of Kahn was how I was introduced to Star Trek. His portrayal of Captain Kirk was and still is a childhood hero of mine.

No, please no.

captaintpol · December 2013

themarie wrote: »

lol pvp whatever. :rolleyes:

HOW ABOUT:

*finishing The Sphere. Add some more missions and oh yeah the final tier reward and cut-scene!

*a comprehensive bug-pass. Read the bug-reports we submit if you need ideas!

*taking care of the exploration side of the game, fixing crafting and adding some depth to the game.

*finally kicking PVP out of the main game and giving it a spinoff server: STO-PVP. Dedicated rules, customizable maps and it's own forum.

They won't do that with pvp, my guess is they will try to bring more light into it.

daelosprime · December 2013

If the game is going anywhere in the Delta Quadrant we need to have Voyager crew making appearances!

omegaphallic · December 2013

Martok is dead.

Its good to hear that more episodes are coming.

Also I admit I was wrong, the next season isn't an expansion, its Season 9, the next expansion will be after that.

My guess Season 9 will focus more on the Delta Quadrant, but the expansion will focus more on Cardassia.

wast33 · December 2013

yay.... seriously: props for all u achieved and all the fun sides sto has to offer

!

on the other hand there are many things u may could get ur hand on before progressing the game further. things like (as mentioned) improvements to exploration, pvp, crafting, several bug-fixes and balance-flaws, gal-x-saucer-se...*whistles*

...also:
does an upcoming expansion mean about the same u did with lor? another mini-faction, another rep, more grind, more creep, more widening gap between factions (f.e. boff-trait-wise)....
then plz not if u not alter the existing content to stay on par (like f.e. most of the c-store ships are outclassed by today, xcept the 10-con-ones. i remember statements like: "c-store ships will stay 9-con-ships. only way to obtain 10-con-ships will be lockboxes and fleet-shipyards" ^^...). and if borg: hell no!!!

....

peace

edit: whatever he says, i want jean-luc

.

fatman592 · December 2013

2013 has been the best year ever for STO, awesome. That'll stick in the craw of all the "sky is falling" trolls.

I'm thinking Garak or potentially Gul Moset (Marc Alaimo, Gul Dukat before there was a Dukat, TNG: The Wounded). Moset would be cool as I recall reading DS9 books which reintroduced this character post dominion war. Either way, I see a Cardassian mini-faction coming, and these two would be optimal.

But really, please, please, please, give me more Jeffery Combs, he was fantastic in DS9 and ENT. I think getting any of the Captains would be a huge stretch.

If there are to be no new factions, and we're getting more Voyager, I'd be happy to talk to Captain Kim (Garret Wang) as a mission contact over Captain Shon any day of the week.

cidstorm · December 2013

It's good to hear the game is so successful.

You guys should bring George Takei in for a FE. It could be a huge space battle with him in charge where he gives you a well disguised tutorial for the admiralty space party mechanic. You would have to form up like at the beginning of a DS9 battle, and he'd ask you to focus fire or use your extra ships abilities in certain ways.

mitch658058 · December 2013

Maybe you could continue the story about what happened after Voyager reached Earth. The way the series ended wasn't that good, but if you were to bring back Kate Mulgrew, you could continue from there.

mvp333 · December 2013

Very nice news about the Sphere episodes, but... what's with the massive Dewan/ancient Iconian/Cardassian/something energy core?

chadstratton · December 2013

Please do for the Cardassians what you did for the Romulans. Make them into a faction. Cardassian Defense Force with the Federation and True Way with the Klingons after level 10. So much of that content can be folded into a 'Legacy of Cardassia' section of our game here. It seems like a no brainer. The work is half done.

Seriously regardless of how the Voyager fans stacked the poll, no one cared about Voyager. Go back and look at the ratings. It was a show that happened outside of the Alpha and Beta quadrants with am 'Alien of the week' in every episode. Their was no long term focus on the history of Star Trek. By its very nature they had to constantly show new and different aliens and leave others behind before they could ever develop them into a good story point.

Focus on Cardassia, Bajor, DS9, the Dominion and the Breen. Its almost completed already. Make Cardassians a playable faction! They are one of the main four races in the Star Trek Universe.

chadstratton · December 2013

omegaphallic wrote: »

but the expansion will focus more on Cardassia.

I hope so.

chalpen · December 2013

Nice read but where does it talk about the future other than the STO team is looking forward to it?

dem613 · December 2013

I think that if they expand into Cardassia and make the Cardies a playable faction, they should bring Garak (voiced by Robinson) to the game and let them use him in the same capacity as Nimoy, Dorn, and Crosby. No one-time voice like Chase Masterson's Leeta or the EMH voiced by Zach Quinto

2013 Reflections - A Letter From the STO Team

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