http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADhhw2Rh3YY&t=30m55s
It's all about the metrics! (and it runs for several minutes).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADhhw2Rh3YY&t=37m25s
"We're stingy with rewards because of exploits!"
(and you used to be able to get a full Omega set in a day heh)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADhhw2Rh3YY&t=38m10s
Sims Online? Street-view is all about the roof tiles.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADhhw2Rh3YY&t=57m45s
WHAT'S THIS? THE GALAXY DREADNOUGHT IS ON THE SCHEDULE (with the promethius?).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADhhw2Rh3YY&t=59m40s
The problem keeping "broadside cruisers" down is the FX team had one guy?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADhhw2Rh3YY&t=1h03m20s
Star Trek keeps growing, apparently the first year just didn't happen?
Post your own funny content video links, let's have a party!
Comments
I must have just been lucky, then. I have Mk XII space sets on every pre-rep character I have, even though only a couple have all the reps done.
IMHO, the little extras they've added (passive buffs, extra abilities, new ground toys, more easily-accessible high-end weapons) are the main benefits to the rep system. I miss the old 'grind', but I like the new pixelcrack...so I'm kinda meh about it, in the end.
I had characters that in 6 months of daily play never got assigned 1 part of the borg set. Only 1 (my fed Engineer) managed to get the full set.
I may dislike some grinds, but the one that says, X number of days to get something only having to do the same action a few times a day - I'll take it. Because 4 hours a day, for 6 months, for nothing - no thanks, I left Forsaken World for that very reason.
While I am not a fan of repetitive grind knowing I am actually getting something for my efforts outweighs hoping I get it.
It was the honesty that made it so terminally depressing. Could have been summed up in a few words: "You know all y'all have complained about? Expect lots more of the same! Cheers!"
Borg sets were easy to get (5 EDC per deflector/shield/engine, a console as a mission reward). Did you mean Omega/MACO? I was't active when Cryptic switched to the reputation system (and I ended up losing a lot of stuff because of it), the real problem back then was drop rates for "prototype gear" (they could have increased the drop rate or just let you trade in tokens for higher-tier tokens which I do not recall them doing).
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Listening to player feedback only is a bad idea, but not listening it at is also a bad idea. And there is 1 thing a metrics can't see, no matter how good it is. The amount of fun someone have on the game. Maybe they play, but are getting more bored each day. Maybe the class are supposed to be balanced, but the players doesn't have fun with them. The metrics can't see that.
Also, Cryptic should see STO more as a game, and less than a marketing thing. I know they need money like any business, but they still have to remember what they do. The more I hear this interview, and the numerous before, the more it sound like they are discussing marketing. They could be selling apples, houses or build planes, that would be the exact same talk. Where is the passion ? Where is the "we did this because we like it" or "we did that because players like it" ?
When was the last time you did something in the game ONLY for the player to have fun, and not for player retention, game promotion, or anything marketing related ?
Because so far, in this interview, everything you did last year was basically marketing. You did reputations and end game content for player retention. Then did LoR for attracting new players, and make the old ones come back, knowing your retention was high, as a long term marketing plan. You didn't do LoR because the Romulan was anticipated, and because a lot of players wanted it. No, you did it for marketing reasons.
For example, if you ask me why I did Foundry mission, my first answer will be because I wanted to do them. I wanted to tell a story, and I was hoping players would have fun playing it. But if STO was a Foundry mission, Cryptic would do it for the dil tip.
The EDCs were not very easy to get because even though they were supposed to be uncommon drops, but they turned out to be very rare. I got all the mk X to XI sets, but I could not get any of the ultra rare drops to make the MKXII sets complete.
We have the Prometheus.
Norway and Yeager dammit... I still want my Typhoon and Jupiter though.
JJ Trek The Kelvin Timeline is just Trek and it's fully canon... get over it. But I still prefer TAR.
#TASforSTO
'...I can tell you that we're not in the military and that we intend no harm to the whales.' Kirk: The Voyage Home
'Starfleet is not a military organisation. Its purpose is exploration.' Picard: Peak Performance
'This is clearly a military operation. Is that what we are now? Because I thought we were explorers!' Scotty: Into Darkness
'...The Federation. Starfleet. We're not a military agency.' Scotty: Beyond
'I'm not a soldier anymore. I'm an engineer.' Miles O'Brien: Empok Nor
'...Starfleet could use you... It's a peacekeeping and humanitarian armada...' Admiral Pike: Star Trek
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He's probably confused about the news of the new tech they were implementing for the Galaxy-X saucer separation. Which the Galaxy Seperation was old tech, while the Prometheus was newer technology. So that when you reintegrate the Saucer, it won't clip into the Third Nacelle.
What he was actually referring to is the tech that allows the ships to stay in flight when they saucer sep. right now they grind to a halt when they split
The EDCs were the green ones that dropped every time, that you could use for standard weapons and such. There was no mk XI or XII version of the Borg set at the time, so it wasn't on the rare drops like MACO/HG/Omega.
As far as I can tell, that's been on the schedule for ages. In fact, Geko tweeted the original leak of the Saucer Sep Galaxy-X over two years ago.
Hire some more people then, jeez!
EDC were the currency rewarded for completing an STF/E-STF. In fact you earned so many it was possible to complete a Borg set in 2-3 hours (including the mission needed for the console).
The rest of what has become the "reputation system excuse" is nothing that Cryptic couldn't have handled in the old system with an adjustment to drop rates and some greater conversion flexibility.
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By the language used it's the Saucer AND seemingly a "refit" of the layout. Perhaps more "Scimitar Dreadnought" and less "Assault Cruiser"..
edit: I feel kinda quesy now. What is they Dyson the ship by turning the Phaser lance into a 9th console weapon that cannot be changed and only works if you toggle between Escort/Cruiser mode during which time a LTC Tac and Engineer swap a commander slot?
Ugh, I think I'm going to vomit my brain out.
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that's an old but very actual one. quantity before quality gets u faster money. but quality before quantity gets u more money in the long run.
sad fact is that companies are not interested in "long-term"-investments. they want the quick money, not thinking about details. sad fact is sad, even more regarding everything that is labelled as star trek .
A shame the Constellation saucer was leaked the way it was, but this almost confirms it as an upcoming release. Definitely happy to hear they still want to make a Super-Neghvar even after the Mogh has come out, but I get the impression it still has a ways to go from the way he worded it. Likewise, I'm a bit excited about conversation regarding firing nodes, it sounds like they might actually be working on making port and starboard weapon facings a reality at long last.
It doesn't really impact me, but it's nice to hear the Galaxy update might finally be coming to fruition. I'm pretty ambivalent about the Dauntless, but kudos to those who are looking forward to their own U.S.S. Cuddlefish.
Actually the big fail I tend to see when the devs argue metrics is they don't always take the extra step to determine the 'why'.
For example ISE tends to be very popular in the Queue. The question of 'why' though is difficult to answer. Is it because of the high rewards for time invested? I would lean towards 'yes' except that CSE has a better reward for time ratio than KASE but is less popular. Is it because of the low difficulty bar with the high rewards? Once again I would lean towards 'yes' except that CE Elite only offers 50% more marks than the normal version and is significantly more difficult but much more popular.
So in the end I would hazard to say the reason for ISE popularity is related to the high rewards, relatively low difficulty, and fast completion but the true core explanation for it's popularity is the content design. Like any move or game it has a clear escalation of tension leading to a satisfying climax even if power creep has had a negative impact on it. Both KASE and CE Elite have that design element as well.
Metrics do not lie. But they never explain the 'why' or the human element of the equation that creates them.
I agree. He's also saying a lot of this stuff in relation to the Foundry, which is still in Beta at the 3 year mark. They've barely supported it. They've broken it over and over again. The search interface is terrible. The exploits are not controlled. STO doesn't have a programmer of their own, it seems.
But it's OK for a dev to point to metrics to say that the Foundry isn't a priority due to how the players play the game. Perhaps the numbers might be different if there was one person in charge of the thing, actually working on it. If they tried to incorporate the Foundry into the F2P model (like with a reputation system) while they prevented and punished the exploits, then maybe the numbers would teach them something.
At some point, it is like saying that pvp is the way it is because players don't pvp, so it's not a priority. Sure, but why is pvp so terrible in this game since day one? Maybe the player behavior should tell the devs something about their misplaced priorities.
If you say the word 'metrics' in an insane parrot voice it comes close to what the devs convey when they keep banging on about it.
Metrics can only measure the past.
This they do very well indeed.
But when you try to use these metrics to predict the future you get things like the grindaversay and Borticus's apparent desire to rewite history. (Nawww, you never HAD to run the grind to get the kit, it was also gonna be in the lobi store. Just dont read dev blog 47 and it'll all be ok)
Let's be utterly honest.
When devs say that written feedback is simply not going to be heard, then they're insulting the players.
When their metrics cause them to design an utterly horrible anniversary event and, despite the weeks of comments about why it'll go wrong, then try to rewrite history to cover their fundaments, then they're insulting players.
When the community manager decides rather than manage the community when they changed the fora to the 'sucks if your eyes are bad' version to offer a webcast from old material which he doesnt even know properly, its insulting the players.
A little less patting yourselves on the back, Cryptic. A bit more 'wtf are we getting wrong'.
A lot less contempt for the players and a whole lot more respect for your customers.
No zen for cryptic until they at least acknowledge errors.
Actually if you both listen to the segment the statement is very clear - the Prometheus and Galaxy "separation powers" are both getting overhauled to be in line with the Odyssey's, also the Dreadnought the may finally also get to use the separation power in game too.
Yep.
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I wish to second this opinion. I had 1 toon that managed to get a complete Mk XII space set in the pre rep era. Only managed the mk XI ground through grinding EDCs. The new rep grind is much better overall I feel in that you do know you are getting something, eventually and everyone has to work for it.
The only thing I don't like is the fact that someone can have Mk XII gear and still not have a clue how to run the STFs. At least back in the pre rep days when you saw someone in mk XII ground hear you knew that they knew what they were doing. (Or at least were very lucky and maybe had a rough idea of what was going on.) Nowadays some one can, in theory run nothing but ISN, grind out all the gear and still have no idea what is going on. Or worse yet get up to Mk XII ground gear and jump in the deep end right away. Which is why whenever I pug ground STFs (the horror I know) I always ask if people know what they are doing. It's not big deal. I know what I'm getting into when I pug.
To the OP: It's nice to see some communication from Cryptic. I might not like everything they do in their sandbox but at least hearing why is a nice thing. There should be more of it.
Omega/MACO Mk XII? Pain to get.
Borg Assimilated - Never had Mk at all prior to the reputation system.
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How very liberal. "Some gamers violate the rules so we're gonna punish everybody by enacting 'Reward Control.'"
Is that the reason why Azure Nebula Rescue gives a TRIBBLE amount of marks? For well over a year they just haven't acknowledged our requests to increase the mark amount a little. So it's because a small minority of players would find a way to exploit it? It's about the only thing in the PVE queue that people do for romulan marks, even though it gives the least amount.
Come to think of it, Elachi Alert was very popular and gave a decent amount of marks before they suddenly decided to remove it. Perhaps some players found an exploit in it and the only way to fix it was to pull the entire event from the game. The last think pwebranflakes, the previous community manager, said was some stupid joke and that they would give us more info soon. No explanation other than "the Elachi suddenly decided to stop coming through the gate". Well that was a while ago.
Maybe if the rewards in the game were worthwhile, players wouldn't find a need to "exploit" the game.
But just like in real life, no matter how much you punish those who follow the rules, there will ALWAYS be some that won't. I get so sick of playing the game the way I should be by following the rules and getting screwed over because of a few idiots. :mad:
Taking the stuff he says with a large grain of salt, is the first step to a happier time.
I doubt this very much, to be honest. The people who are doing these things would do these things if the payout was higher in a shorter amount of time. It doesn't matter if it's fun or not. It doesn't matter how reasonable the reward structure is designed. If there is a way to cheat, then there will be cheaters.
I just wish that they would address it. PWE cares about $$$. So, Cryptic should do something.
IMO, it's far more comparable to trolling when a past EP was constantly answering questions about the Foundry with, "Well, we've talked about... What we'd like to see... It would be neat..."
Meanwhile, very few of those discussions get prioritized or put on somebody's schedule. To me, that is comparable to trolling us along with empty talk and optimism.
At least Geko is honest, apart from really talking around the fact that nobody at STO is in charge of the thing.