I've been feeling the same way for quite some time., and despite getting my fleet up to T3 complete DM/Spire/Embassy, and mid-way to T5 Starbase... I really just don't find the game fun to play anymore, and I haven't in a long time.
These days I log in, do my rep, which takes barely any time at all, maybe run a FA or two, and then log off to go play WildStar.
Nope. What brings the majority of people to STO is the IP. You know...
Space: the final frontier.
These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise.
Its five-year mission: to explore strange new worlds,
to seek out new life and new civilizations,
to boldly go where no man has gone before.
Not to mindlessly gank each other over bragging rights on who has the bigger epeen.
Pvp would have in been a lot better shape, like other things in this game if Crptic took the advice of players. Before the lauch of the game there was plenty of disscaussion about pvp and what a lot people wanted. What we ended up getting was instance meaningless pvp, a few maps and a faction that was stuck doing it over and over again to progress and matches got pretty one sided.
The problem is the Locust Effect, a term Blizzard's devs coined. The Locust Effect is spending 6-9 months working on new end-game content, releasing it, and then all the end-game players consume it within 2-3 weeks and start clamoring for more. It isn't a viable development strategy to cater to /just/ the end-game players, the 'hardcore', the players that play 6+ hours a day, every day. So most games have started their development towards alternative systems, things to do other than just Shoot Manz, as well as replay value where making an alt and leveling that up is seen as "end-game". Things for everyone to be able to do, rather than the minority of end-game only players.
I've never gotten why so many game devs think only in terms of 6-9 months working on big things. Turn out a mission every two weeks or so. Don't wait for a bunch of stuff all at once, don't focus on new NPCs, new ships and new powers for this content. Just use some of the existing resources in new ways.
There's lots of cool one-off mechanics and missions that never get re-used but could. Like punching the Ferengi in the Klingon tutorial, or using the dabo table in the Devidian arc, integrated doff missions from The 2800, the interviews/tests in Undine Infiltration, and more. Neat mechanics that go beyond just shooting people and make for fun story.
Given the time to make a foundry mission, this is something that should be do-able and over time it would really add up to a lot of content.
The one example of this sort of thing I'm aware of is the Friday the 13th mission that I recall reading was developed outside the normal cycle by just one person. A small effort like this would give the locusts something to chew on while the bigger chunks were being developed.
I guess, I just love the new klingon and fed early arc and the revamped borg missions more than any new ship or in-game system or mechanics.
I've never gotten why so many game devs think only in terms of 6-9 months working on big things. Turn out a mission every two weeks or so. Don't wait for a bunch of stuff all at once, don't focus on new NPCs, new ships and new powers for this content. Just use some of the existing resources in new ways.
Because they can't churn out a new mission every two weeks. That is probably the essence of it. They need more time to do this.
If you're happy with re-used assets and not getting new rewards, just play Foundry missions. You'll complain "but many Foundry missions suck" - well, 1 mission every 2 weeks would also contain stinkers.
Cryptic has created the Foundry to take care of that aspect.
And remember that Cryptic once tried to do featured episode series. But they stopped doing that. Why was that?
My guess is they realized it was a lot of work, but didn't really draw players in and make them spend money on the game. And without that, they can't afford to make new content.
A big part of that may be - if you only need to tune in every 2 weeks, would you really need to buy a new ship? Would you need a lot of dilithium? Cool gear? For a single mission, a standard free ship with common white Mark X gear is completely sufficient.
So they added content that made people play the game, and need all of this. Stuff like the dreaded reputation grind. And that actually worked, no matter how much people complained about it. If you fight the same battle 100 times, it can really liven up things if you get better gear for it or switch to a different ship.
That doesn't mean they could afford to stop making new story missions entirely. The story missions must also exist, because they are a type of event that causes people to return to play or dangles as a kind of carot. ("When the next featured episode comes out, my new Xindi Carrier will be ready for it. All Purple Mark XII, the new set items. It will be glorious!")
The treadmill, or the grind, or whatever you call it, works. You can see it as a negative. Maybe it is. But in my opinion, you're doing it for entertainment, and if you are entertained by doing certain missions repeatedly, trying out new ships and what not, it's okay. If you're not, if you get bored or frustrated, it's time to stop spending money and time, and do something else. You owe that to yourself.
Star Trek Online Advancement: You start with lowbie gear, you end with Lobi gear.
I am suffocating under the monotony of this game now and am looking for someone to give me relief or at least hope.
I feel the same way...i came back maybe 2 weeks ago? i played for a few days then i stopped.
I tried the new Tuvok storyline but overall i didnt like it. I love Voyager and i thought bringing Tim Russ back for this was awesome (same for Michael Dorn and Denise Crosby). But i liked their storylines though this new one just wasnt doing it for me.
Then there was the STFs...i like dungeons, and i liked the original borg STFs. But i wanted new ones to do, however i was really bummed out to see that the new ones that have been added since i last left have nobody in the queues. While two of the original ESTFs were showing between 60-80 people in each queue. Seeing that was actually really depressing. From what other members have told me in another thread the rewards system is kinda jacked up.
The one thing that i hated the most is related to the new rep system. I like rolling alts...i'll delete a 40 or 50 toon and delete it just to reroll a new one. That was before the rep system though and i only did it for characters i dont have a lot of time invested in. When i came back 2 weeks ago the first thing i wanted to do was roll a fresh toon. But then i started thinking, why bother? i'd have to do the rep grind again and even with the rep bonus tokens i thought it was still a pita. There was one other thing i decided to do, i cant remember exactly what but i didnt end up doing that either because of how the rep system affected it.
This isnt some random Sci-fi game like EVE online. I *want* STO to succeed, or rather i *want* to enjoy a Star Trek based game. I want STO to succeed more then any Star Wars based game TBH. I'm not even burned out on doing the things that i like doing which is dungeons and raids. But i just dont like the direction STO is going with their D/R.
And don't try to pretend that you guys wouldn't act like that. People on the forums have acted like this in the past, they are acting like it now, and they will continue to act like it in the future.
I wouldn't know. Cryptic has never been able to put out anything on a consistent bi-weekly basis. It's hard to tell. I'd certainly have liked to see them try.
The difference between us and them is that they are in a position to make the game conform to their vision.
After reading the anonymous work reviews posted in a different thread, I'm not convinced that's the case. It's apparently a skewed vision mashed together by conflicting interests of company executives that don't understand the market they dipped their toes into butting up against the various cliques over here that have warring interpretations about what projects are worth resources.
Seems weird, but is in line with the work flow we've witnessed the past few years.
Plenty to do if you have time to kill. There are areas I've never even seen. One of the problems with any game like this is that you get caught up in the repetitiveness aspect of it and fail to simply just check things out. It's the repetitive aspect of this game that advances your character/ship and builds wealth and when you suddenly get bored of doing that, then the whole game is boring. As many folks said in this thread, you could simply take a break...or you could cruise the galaxy at warp 5 and see what's out there.
There are many things I've never even taken part in yet because I'm too caught up in the repetitive aspect of the game to try and accumulate wealth and power. Nevertheless, there are other things to do. I can waste an hour playing Dabo on Deep Space 9 if I got bored farming dilithium.
I'm not just blowing smoke up the devs skirts because I'd like to see some things happen in-game also that currently don't exist. But there's plenty that does exist that I've yet to see.
Sounds like me you need to take a break for a while. Or until the next Season or Expansion which ever comes first. Since this current one was mostly on crafting. Its good to take a break at times to keep the game fun. If not, forcing yourself to keep playing will create hate for it. And then you won't like playing and won't come back. Even after a break.
This is one thing I like about my low amount of hours I play each week. I hadn't got done with it all or bored with it yet. Even if this Season was decent, I can still float through with my other characters and etc.
USS Casinghead NCC 92047 launched 2350
Fleet Admiral Stowe - Dominion War Vet.
If I bored I rather go to some unexplored cluster and explore, the very basis of Star Trek. If I want to go to a holodeck, I would play a Foundry mission.
I rather not go to a Holodeck which I think Foundry is more ideal for. So all that untapped player created content that Cryptic mandates because they won't develop a substantial amount of content, revamp Genesis(They had 4 years), or pay Foundry players to make content (I mean cash since their developers aren't doing it).
I will not play Foundry simply some other player can play all that untapped content.
Don't worry, I do.
Joined: June 12, 1972
"The more complex the mind, the greater the need for the simplicity of play." - James T. Kirk
Comments
These days I log in, do my rep, which takes barely any time at all, maybe run a FA or two, and then log off to go play WildStar.
Pvp would have in been a lot better shape, like other things in this game if Crptic took the advice of players. Before the lauch of the game there was plenty of disscaussion about pvp and what a lot people wanted. What we ended up getting was instance meaningless pvp, a few maps and a faction that was stuck doing it over and over again to progress and matches got pretty one sided.
There's lots of cool one-off mechanics and missions that never get re-used but could. Like punching the Ferengi in the Klingon tutorial, or using the dabo table in the Devidian arc, integrated doff missions from The 2800, the interviews/tests in Undine Infiltration, and more. Neat mechanics that go beyond just shooting people and make for fun story.
Given the time to make a foundry mission, this is something that should be do-able and over time it would really add up to a lot of content.
The one example of this sort of thing I'm aware of is the Friday the 13th mission that I recall reading was developed outside the normal cycle by just one person. A small effort like this would give the locusts something to chew on while the bigger chunks were being developed.
I guess, I just love the new klingon and fed early arc and the revamped borg missions more than any new ship or in-game system or mechanics.
If you're happy with re-used assets and not getting new rewards, just play Foundry missions. You'll complain "but many Foundry missions suck" - well, 1 mission every 2 weeks would also contain stinkers.
Cryptic has created the Foundry to take care of that aspect.
And remember that Cryptic once tried to do featured episode series. But they stopped doing that. Why was that?
My guess is they realized it was a lot of work, but didn't really draw players in and make them spend money on the game. And without that, they can't afford to make new content.
A big part of that may be - if you only need to tune in every 2 weeks, would you really need to buy a new ship? Would you need a lot of dilithium? Cool gear? For a single mission, a standard free ship with common white Mark X gear is completely sufficient.
So they added content that made people play the game, and need all of this. Stuff like the dreaded reputation grind. And that actually worked, no matter how much people complained about it. If you fight the same battle 100 times, it can really liven up things if you get better gear for it or switch to a different ship.
That doesn't mean they could afford to stop making new story missions entirely. The story missions must also exist, because they are a type of event that causes people to return to play or dangles as a kind of carot. ("When the next featured episode comes out, my new Xindi Carrier will be ready for it. All Purple Mark XII, the new set items. It will be glorious!")
The treadmill, or the grind, or whatever you call it, works. You can see it as a negative. Maybe it is. But in my opinion, you're doing it for entertainment, and if you are entertained by doing certain missions repeatedly, trying out new ships and what not, it's okay. If you're not, if you get bored or frustrated, it's time to stop spending money and time, and do something else. You owe that to yourself.
I feel the same way...i came back maybe 2 weeks ago? i played for a few days then i stopped.
I tried the new Tuvok storyline but overall i didnt like it. I love Voyager and i thought bringing Tim Russ back for this was awesome (same for Michael Dorn and Denise Crosby). But i liked their storylines though this new one just wasnt doing it for me.
Then there was the STFs...i like dungeons, and i liked the original borg STFs. But i wanted new ones to do, however i was really bummed out to see that the new ones that have been added since i last left have nobody in the queues. While two of the original ESTFs were showing between 60-80 people in each queue. Seeing that was actually really depressing. From what other members have told me in another thread the rewards system is kinda jacked up.
The one thing that i hated the most is related to the new rep system. I like rolling alts...i'll delete a 40 or 50 toon and delete it just to reroll a new one. That was before the rep system though and i only did it for characters i dont have a lot of time invested in. When i came back 2 weeks ago the first thing i wanted to do was roll a fresh toon. But then i started thinking, why bother? i'd have to do the rep grind again and even with the rep bonus tokens i thought it was still a pita. There was one other thing i decided to do, i cant remember exactly what but i didnt end up doing that either because of how the rep system affected it.
This isnt some random Sci-fi game like EVE online. I *want* STO to succeed, or rather i *want* to enjoy a Star Trek based game. I want STO to succeed more then any Star Wars based game TBH. I'm not even burned out on doing the things that i like doing which is dungeons and raids. But i just dont like the direction STO is going with their D/R.
I wouldn't know. Cryptic has never been able to put out anything on a consistent bi-weekly basis. It's hard to tell. I'd certainly have liked to see them try.
After reading the anonymous work reviews posted in a different thread, I'm not convinced that's the case. It's apparently a skewed vision mashed together by conflicting interests of company executives that don't understand the market they dipped their toes into butting up against the various cliques over here that have warring interpretations about what projects are worth resources.
Seems weird, but is in line with the work flow we've witnessed the past few years.
There are many things I've never even taken part in yet because I'm too caught up in the repetitive aspect of the game to try and accumulate wealth and power. Nevertheless, there are other things to do. I can waste an hour playing Dabo on Deep Space 9 if I got bored farming dilithium.
I'm not just blowing smoke up the devs skirts because I'd like to see some things happen in-game also that currently don't exist. But there's plenty that does exist that I've yet to see.
This is one thing I like about my low amount of hours I play each week. I hadn't got done with it all or bored with it yet. Even if this Season was decent, I can still float through with my other characters and etc.
USS Casinghead NCC 92047 launched 2350
Fleet Admiral Stowe - Dominion War Vet.
Don't worry, I do.
"The more complex the mind, the greater the need for the simplicity of play." - James T. Kirk