I find them to be irksome, but for no other reason than most of them seem to be dragged out pointlessly.
The missions themselves are better split up than old patrols where your five targets you had to hit were pretty much all in a line with no intervening content. These have dialog, things that happen between minor characters, other fluff tidbits that make them worth doing once. The shuttle track was a particularly nice surprise.
But then you get parts where two or three groups warp in to fight you for seemingly no other reason than to pad out playtime, which we've already seen Cryptic skim out on older story missions once before. In addition, there's pretty much no ground portions that I've happened across. Ground may not be as popular as space but a fair bit of interesting stuff, both combat and non, can be done this way. Imagine, a ground patrol that utilizes floater tech, or EV suits. Or what about another shuttle patrol set in a planet's atmosphere? Lots of possibilities for variety, missed.
If I had to pick I'd rather play DR's patrols over old Exploration and old patrols any day but they're still mostly underwhelming and even frustrating sometimes.
The patrols are horrid and really lazy compared to the other missions quality. I'll never play them again. Not that I even can now. Playtesting at its finest when half the missions background drive my computer so wild that the FPS drop to a crawl and make them all but impossible. And I know this is a common complaint from dozens of players.
The patrols are horrid and really lazy compared to the other missions quality.
In fairness, patrols aren't supposed to be high-budget affairs. They're quick, simple missions you do to gain some XP and maybe get some gear. Comparing them to story missions and STFs isn't really fair.
In fairness, patrols aren't supposed to be high-budget affairs. They're quick, simple missions you do to gain some XP and maybe get some gear. Comparing them to story missions and STFs isn't really fair.
You know what they should have done, put in more story content. When you have to grind outside the main storyline to progress the story is just lazy. We are excited to play and be immersed in this new content, not replaying Tau Dewa. In regards to the new patrol missions, this is just proof that Devs think we are five-second Bobs.
I do have to agree with the general sentiment of several of the other posters. The patrol content itself is a touch repetitive. However I do think the Devs are certainly on the right track with them. There really is a feeling that you are out on a frontier, away from the safety and support of the Alpha Quadrant, and it's been kind of cool to catch up with and get some fleshing out of some of the species, cultures, and character we only got a glimpse of before. If this is to become a facet of future expansions (or the present one is going to get the usual gradual tweaking) I would offer the following suggestions:
- Change up the gameplay a bit, mixing with space and ground missions. Yes, this is a space simulator but visiting worlds is nice too. Ancient ruins, pirate bases, abandoned colonies, etc are always great settings for a mysteries and adventures and may provide hooks or hints for future content.
- Mix in an minor subplot or two. I liked the bit in the patrols where you keep running across a particular rogue Ferengi trader. Similar little recurring characters and touches like that helps tie the missions together and provide a pleasant surprise when encountered. You could also include something like choices in one patrol have an effect on another patrol, like a smuggler you chose to turn over to authorities on one planet rather than let escape returns to attack you during another.
- Vary the mission rewards some. Having the same four reward choices for each patrol run kind of dulls the incentive. Switching it up would help inspire players to keep exploring. Doesn't have to be anything specular mind you. Perhaps having pieces of a minor ground equipment set or a random mystery prize of a Doff or equipment, or vanity pet or trinket. If the point of the patrols is exploration and discovery nothing gets people moving like the prospect of an interesting find.
Again, over all good job guys. Just providing a little constructive feed back.
In fairness, patrols aren't supposed to be high-budget affairs. They're quick, simple missions you do to gain some XP and maybe get some gear. Comparing them to story missions and STFs isn't really fair.
They are part of the storyline, according to Cryptic. That's why they are compared to story mission. And as patrol mission, they are really bad vs story mission, which is to be expected.
Now, if they were patrol mission, and not story mission, they would be really fine.
I can only speak for myself and some of my fleetmembers would agree with me.
I never felt so much bored and frustrated from the "story" missions EVER.
I play STO since it started and it had much bugs and useless content so far, but this update really drains all of my patience with this game. I even thought about playing a new MMO, and thats really sad.
When I got to the point that even with my best t5 ship its not possible to fight against the stupid vaadwaur ships, I lost my verves. This fights are way too long and there is no intention for ever playing them again.
I even skipped all the patrol missions, cause I totally hate those boring missions. I NEVER skipped any new "story"-missions I played so far. Thats so frustrating and stupid.
Then the last Mission...OMG! :mad: I cancelled it in the last fight after 30mins., cause I got so damn bored shooting at artillery ships and it said 0-3 waves...wtf. No way, I ever play this content any longer....because...wow...surprise...you get a useless, TRIBBLE, groundweapon for a mission that takes you twice as much time as all STF's together! Not to mention the 4 Phaser Arrays in my inventory I will never get to use, cause Set Items are way better....
What a complete waste of time! For such a hard, and useless story mission I expect nothing less than a complete new MKXIII Ship-Set like the solanae set or something else! Even if you have to play 3 times for it, like the "Step between stars" mission. Anything else is TRIBBLE and gets many players only frustrated with STO game for now.
I could start arguing about this useless crafting k&d part...(wow put it on once a day and get happy...wtf?!?!)...but this would take too long.
Only positive thing is the new spionage traits and leveling it. Everything else is uselles and boring I thnk.
My personal Summary:
Story: boring, useless loot(Ok...you get a "Doctor" and a nice Spy Brigde Officer), not worth replay at any time.
New Faction: Nice to have but not necessary
New Spionage traits and nice effects, and way too less Ships/content for Klingons or Romulans but ok, thats normal.
I think this addon iis somehow just a way for Cryptic and PW to gain more money with the new Spionage Ships, but nothing more.
I totally agree with these new episodes being the most boring I have ever seen in STO. I'm utterly disappointed by those episodes, they are mostly a cut and past of the previous one. Terrible coding, terrible imagination but I presume the company is feeling some economic crunch cause I doubt they would have decided to stray so far from the quality content they have given us in the past.
Sorry to say but most of these new episodes are absolute trash, they make me go nuts in frustration on how long they are to complete and how UTTERLY maddening it is to complete them.
The patrols are horribly designed to suck as much time as possible. No way in hell I'd repeat them.
Episodes are great, except the ones where you're forced to run patrols.
THIS^ Soooo much...^THIS^
I think I got into an argument with you in another thread.
if so, I take back anything I might have said.
If you, feel this way, too, I am your new stalker ;-)
j/k about the stalker thing, but...yeah.
"Join Date: Jun 2012" Says Cryptic's "new" forum system. I've been here since a week before launch, but SOME stuff just didn't carry over through multiple system changes/updates. :rolleyes:
I have to say, the new patrol missions are among the worst, most dreary, most boring, unimaginative content released in a long long while. In contrast to previous patrol missions, these are part of the official story progression ("Friends in Unlikely Places" and "Friends in all the Usual Places"), and they are unbelievably dreary, much more so than any previous counterpart. Even on normal difficulty setting they are nothing but an never-ending killing frenzy.
One wave after another, or 10 (!) Hierarchy ships firing at you at once (in Normal difficulty)... ridiculous and simply incredibly boring.
I know STO is nothing but a "space combat simulator" (DStahl), but keep this type of "content" away from players who despise it. Putting it into the official story line disgruntles a lot of people I would imagine.
Not only did I find them to be forced and dull, but I would get overpowering lag upon zoning into them. So much so, that it was more of a fight against 2-3 second delays in activations than fighting the NPCs.
The maps sure looked pretty, though. I know that because I feel I was looking at them for nearly an eternity.
I have actually enjoyed them. they are basically kill 5/5 which i do still think can use some spicing up but i enjoy the little bits of story in there.
perhaps they should have been kept as missions you find rather than part of the mission chain to aid the sense of exploration over linear progression but they can still be skipped if you dont like them effectively making them optional. i just wished a few were ground ones.
I enjoy the patrols too. It was a bit strange to add them as a part of the storyline though
the quality of the exploration clusters was low, not just because it was 5/5 though but because it was buggy, buildings floated above the ground, groups did not spawn, the stories made no sense. many of the non combat ones were awful etc.
Most of the backstories were quite hilarious when applied to the Borg though. You find artifacts from the Third Dynasty of Borg. Or you investigate an attacked freighter and find out that it was attacked by the Borg and they want to use diplomatic channels to contact the Borg government first. Or the Borg have a hidden underground base from where they tried to covertly influence the elections but abandoned it when the plan didn't work. Or you find a damaged Borg probe that's asking for assistance and you HAVE to help because you are Starfleet. Of course it's always a trap too. Or you find a planet claimed by the Borg and they want their rights respected.
In principle I don't have an issue with the missions
BUT if they are increasing the HP of enemies, please reduce the number of enemy waves that come in
Its okay in general, I like the diversity of enemies, but it feels like they are lasting far too long to be properly enjoyable
These are the Voyages on the STO forum, the final frontier. Our continuing mission: to explore Pretentious Posts, to seek out new Overreactions and Misinformation , to boldly experience Cynicism like no man has before.......
In principle I don't have an issue with the missions
BUT if they are increasing the HP of enemies, please reduce the number of enemy waves that come in
Its okay in general, I like the diversity of enemies, but it feels like they are lasting far too long to be properly enjoyable
The fake diversity is largely because it seems to be mostly random enemies.
The patrols would be more bareable if they had any rewards that reflect the time consumed, but right now you get very low SP and always the same items, i don't Need that phaser bank.
To me most of them are horrible from a storyline perspective.
I don't understand how they could not have learned from LoR--AND the Foundry--that what people REALLY wanted was a clear, coherent story, with grand, sweeping plot arcs and unique effects...
I wonder if this is a sign that Cryptic/PWE is not in such great health that they either cannot afford or can no longer see the need to put in such resources...
Christian Gaming Community Fleets--Faith, Fun, and Fellowship! See the website and PM for more. :-) Proudly F2P.Signature image by gulberat. Avatar image by balsavor.deviantart.com.
To me most of them are horrible from a storyline perspective.
I don't understand how they could not have learned from LoR--AND the Foundry--that what people REALLY wanted was a clear, coherent story, with grand, sweeping plot arcs and unique effects...
I wonder if this is a sign that Cryptic/PWE is not in such great health that they either cannot afford or can no longer see the need to put in such resources...
Voice of dissent here
I don't really want "Grand, sweeping plot arcs" for everything
I enjoy small events in the game, Micro as well as Macro is needed for balance or all the story is going to be is a big escalating curve of saving everything every day
Over saturating the already saturated market in grand save the day/conspiricy/ disaster plots tend to just make people bored of them, its too repeatative, no matter how much sci fi spin you put on it
These are the Voyages on the STO forum, the final frontier. Our continuing mission: to explore Pretentious Posts, to seek out new Overreactions and Misinformation , to boldly experience Cynicism like no man has before.......
I don't really want "Grand, sweeping plot arcs" for everything, please don't speak for the majority unless you happen to have surveyed the majority and recorded its desires as a collective whole
I enjoy small events in the game, Micro as well as Macro is needed for balance or all the story is going to be is a big escalating curve of saving everything every day
Ohh yah same here
DR storyline minus the patrols was cooper-neelix reunion-vaadwuar-vaadwuar--radadwawr-vaadwuar-marrrgwaar-vaadwuar-argarrarr.
ughh!
I was getting sick of hearing about the vaadwuar and the kobali. I would rather have the Vaadwuar and Kobali war cover 2-3 episodes then the next ones after that be about something else. But the bad thing about that is you change the subject to something else then now you have to create npc/ship models for the new races in the next episodes. By keeping the same race all throughout this one chapter they can use the same character models and same ship models.
The fake diversity is largely because it seems to be mostly random enemies.
The patrols would be more bareable if they had any rewards that reflect the time consumed, but right now you get very low SP and always the same items, i don't Need that phaser bank.
More marks would be nice, 5 is a bit of a pittance
DR storyline minus the patrols was cooper-neelix reunion-vaadwuar-vaadwuar--radadwawr-vaadwuar-marrrgwaar-vaadwuar-argarrarr.
ughh!
I was getting sick of hearing about the vaadwuar and the kobali. I would rather have the Vaadwuar and Kobali war cover 2-3 episodes then the next ones after that be about something else. But the bad thing about that is you change the subject to something else then now you have to create npc/ship models for the new races in the next episodes. By keeping the same race all throughout this one chapter they can use the same character models and same ship models.
Indeed, from a game design point of view I can understand it, and belive me I thought they did a good job with the writing and plot over all, did not see some of the twists coming.
And the Vaadwaur and Kobali art design and map building is in my opinion well made, its just that over exposure can make it feel devalued sometimes.
BUT as good as the story is, if it drags on too long, it gets dwindling returns I think
These are the Voyages on the STO forum, the final frontier. Our continuing mission: to explore Pretentious Posts, to seek out new Overreactions and Misinformation , to boldly experience Cynicism like no man has before.......
So many Mobs, SO much HP on them, so unbeliavable boring and every patrol has the same rewards.
The Story is Kind of OK, but as that is only like <10% of the leveleing you do, the whole DR is extremely bad on the Content side.
This sums things up for me. I don't mind some of the old patrols but the current DR Patrols are so incredibly boring! Playing them ina group is a bit better but still just too much of a ridiculous grind that keeps coming up every other misson. :eek:
I really liked the first two missions of Delta Rising but after that point, it's a steady decline as you progress with a cliff at each patrol. No other content has made me loathe doing more so in teh entire game and I can't stand Of Bajor! Of Bajor is bad because it's too long and just running around. If the mission was chopped in half and you had your choice of half of them for tasks, it really wouldn't be so bad. Especially if some space stuff was added in. However, the same old long and extremely boring patrols over and over and over and over again really puts them as the all-time worst content this game has ever seen!
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They are part of the storyline, according to Cryptic. That's why they are compared to story mission. And as patrol mission, they are really bad vs story mission, which is to be expected.
Now, if they were patrol mission, and not story mission, they would be really fine.
Agreed. I don't mind them being there as side content but lumping them into the storyline was a pretty tacky move. They feel like low budget mediocre Foundry efforts to be quite blunt and a way for Cryptic to artificially beef out the story content by quite some margin.
I was surprised to find that I actually like these. I would describe them as having 20% too much HP on elite and do 20% insufficient damage.
The new delta enemies do use a lot more abilities and they dance around a bit more, so that's good to see. I also noted some of them trying to work in tandem - ie the more damaged one cloaks while his pal fights me.
To me there is also sufficient story mixed in to the patrols.
Captain Jean-Luc Picard: "We think we've come so far. Torture of heretics, burning of witches, it's all ancient history. Then - before you can blink an eye - suddenly it threatens to start all over again."
"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censured, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably."
It's funny how different people like different things, 'cos I have to say, much as I'm disgruntled with the general direction STO is going, I quite like the DR Patrols (on Elite). I'm finding the combat is right in the pocket for me - challenging enough to be fun, but not taking too long.
It's funny how different people like different things, 'cos I have to say, much as I'm disgruntled with the general direction STO is going, I quite like the DR Patrols (on Elite). I'm finding the combat is right in the pocket for me - challenging enough to be fun, but not taking too long.
i agree with you with one exception
Hierachy Holographic Bulwark
What where they thinking, that thing was ridiculous, Now i'm not some amazingly geared player, But I've got into a comfortable elite groove so far, and then this thing shows up and won't die without a lot of encouragement
These are the Voyages on the STO forum, the final frontier. Our continuing mission: to explore Pretentious Posts, to seek out new Overreactions and Misinformation , to boldly experience Cynicism like no man has before.......
New patrol missions are boring. Oh look... another wave....Oh look... another wave....Oh look... another wave. After about the first ten minutes it get's boring blowing up yet another of the same vessel I blew up 10 minutes ago. Enough already and get on with the story.:mad:
What where they thinking, that thing was ridiculous, Now i'm not some amazingly geared player, But I've got into a comfortable elite groove so far, and then this thing shows up and won't die without a lot of encouragement
Wasn't that part of the actual "Story Content" (Alliances), though (including fancy VO from Neelix, Tuvok etc) ... funny how people can't even tell the difference anymore, being stuck deep in all the grind :P
Patch Notes : Resolved an Issue, where people would accidently experience Fun.
I'm glad others feel the same about this. I don't have a problem with Patrol missions themselves. I have a problem with them being part of the story arc. I hate to call it lazy game design but some of those missions remind me of an entry level foundry author.
The thing is, Cryptic is better than this. Two outstanding missions for me were the diplo meeting at the Talaxian mine and the retaking of Leiset. You put missions like that side by side with patrol missions and it just doesn't make any sense.
Calling a duck, a duck, isn't wrong, but it may not be appreciated by the designer who put all of 5 mins work into it. The asset dude then put another 5 mins work into it by selecting the ships the artist put a good few hours into making. The Voice over artists put more time into recording their lines, that the combination of the level designers/makers.
Who knows it may all have been done by one dude over an entire afternoon for all we know.
Currently though the Patrol missions in DR ARE worse than the avg entry level foundry attempt. Food for thought for the team at Cryptic.
Funny thing is it'd be less boring if they didn't have close to 1 Million HP on all the damn enemy ships on Elite. Even on normal they only have around 280000 HP which must be really damn weak if it still takes 20-30 mins to down 5 waves of them with good gear...
Chris Robert's on SC:
"You don't have to do something again and again and again repetitive that doesn't have much challange, that's just a general good gameplay thing."
New patrol missions are boring. Oh look... another wave....Oh look... another wave....Oh look... another wave. After about the first ten minutes it get's boring blowing up yet another of the same vessel I blew up 10 minutes ago. Enough already and get on with the story.:mad:
It's not only that, but also that the thought "this is so un-Star Trek" constantly hammers down on me doing these missions... killing 10s of 10,000s of people... just because "real" story missions are too much work??? I'd rather run errands, click through text-dialogues or scan plants than this all the time!
But the community has been talking about this since launch... all I can do is to repeat DStahl's words: "STO first and foremost is a space combat simulation." OK, but look at good ego-shooters like Mass Effect, Half-Life, etc etc... how much time do you actually and really spend with shooting things, and how much with figuring things out, talking to people, etc etc...
Mhh, I'm afraid this is all pointless, STO is what it is... if anything the game became more and not less grindy in the past two years (which us natural for any f2p title)... take or leave it I guess. But even a free game doesn't become more fun, just because it's free. Boring is boring. Out of IP is out of IP - and no Trek celebrity will help making such missions better!
Comments
The missions themselves are better split up than old patrols where your five targets you had to hit were pretty much all in a line with no intervening content. These have dialog, things that happen between minor characters, other fluff tidbits that make them worth doing once. The shuttle track was a particularly nice surprise.
But then you get parts where two or three groups warp in to fight you for seemingly no other reason than to pad out playtime, which we've already seen Cryptic skim out on older story missions once before. In addition, there's pretty much no ground portions that I've happened across. Ground may not be as popular as space but a fair bit of interesting stuff, both combat and non, can be done this way. Imagine, a ground patrol that utilizes floater tech, or EV suits. Or what about another shuttle patrol set in a planet's atmosphere? Lots of possibilities for variety, missed.
If I had to pick I'd rather play DR's patrols over old Exploration and old patrols any day but they're still mostly underwhelming and even frustrating sometimes.
I Support Disco | Disco is Love | Disco is Life
In fairness, patrols aren't supposed to be high-budget affairs. They're quick, simple missions you do to gain some XP and maybe get some gear. Comparing them to story missions and STFs isn't really fair.
I Support Disco | Disco is Love | Disco is Life
You know what they should have done, put in more story content. When you have to grind outside the main storyline to progress the story is just lazy. We are excited to play and be immersed in this new content, not replaying Tau Dewa. In regards to the new patrol missions, this is just proof that Devs think we are five-second Bobs.
Killing 5 waves of 5 ships each is not fun. It's not challenging. It's just time consuming.
And all the patrol missions are that. I have yet to play one that really wasn't that.
None of that increases sales of XP Boosters.
Now, if they were patrol mission, and not story mission, they would be really fine.
I never felt so much bored and frustrated from the "story" missions EVER.
I play STO since it started and it had much bugs and useless content so far, but this update really drains all of my patience with this game. I even thought about playing a new MMO, and thats really sad.
When I got to the point that even with my best t5 ship its not possible to fight against the stupid vaadwaur ships, I lost my verves. This fights are way too long and there is no intention for ever playing them again.
I even skipped all the patrol missions, cause I totally hate those boring missions. I NEVER skipped any new "story"-missions I played so far. Thats so frustrating and stupid.
Then the last Mission...OMG! :mad: I cancelled it in the last fight after 30mins., cause I got so damn bored shooting at artillery ships and it said 0-3 waves...wtf. No way, I ever play this content any longer....because...wow...surprise...you get a useless, TRIBBLE, groundweapon for a mission that takes you twice as much time as all STF's together! Not to mention the 4 Phaser Arrays in my inventory I will never get to use, cause Set Items are way better....
What a complete waste of time! For such a hard, and useless story mission I expect nothing less than a complete new MKXIII Ship-Set like the solanae set or something else! Even if you have to play 3 times for it, like the "Step between stars" mission. Anything else is TRIBBLE and gets many players only frustrated with STO game for now.
I could start arguing about this useless crafting k&d part...(wow put it on once a day and get happy...wtf?!?!)...but this would take too long.
Only positive thing is the new spionage traits and leveling it. Everything else is uselles and boring I thnk.
My personal Summary:
Story: boring, useless loot(Ok...you get a "Doctor" and a nice Spy Brigde Officer), not worth replay at any time.
New Faction: Nice to have but not necessary
New Spionage traits and nice effects, and way too less Ships/content for Klingons or Romulans but ok, thats normal.
I think this addon iis somehow just a way for Cryptic and PW to gain more money with the new Spionage Ships, but nothing more.
Sorry to say but most of these new episodes are absolute trash, they make me go nuts in frustration on how long they are to complete and how UTTERLY maddening it is to complete them.
Episodes are great, except the ones where you're forced to run patrols.
THIS^ Soooo much...^THIS^
I think I got into an argument with you in another thread.
if so, I take back anything I might have said.
If you, feel this way, too, I am your new stalker ;-)
j/k about the stalker thing, but...yeah.
Not only did I find them to be forced and dull, but I would get overpowering lag upon zoning into them. So much so, that it was more of a fight against 2-3 second delays in activations than fighting the NPCs.
The maps sure looked pretty, though. I know that because I feel I was looking at them for nearly an eternity.
I enjoy the patrols too. It was a bit strange to add them as a part of the storyline though
Most of the backstories were quite hilarious when applied to the Borg though. You find artifacts from the Third Dynasty of Borg. Or you investigate an attacked freighter and find out that it was attacked by the Borg and they want to use diplomatic channels to contact the Borg government first. Or the Borg have a hidden underground base from where they tried to covertly influence the elections but abandoned it when the plan didn't work. Or you find a damaged Borg probe that's asking for assistance and you HAVE to help because you are Starfleet. Of course it's always a trap too. Or you find a planet claimed by the Borg and they want their rights respected.
BUT if they are increasing the HP of enemies, please reduce the number of enemy waves that come in
Its okay in general, I like the diversity of enemies, but it feels like they are lasting far too long to be properly enjoyable
I sure would like a ship like that with weapons that can deal enough damage to kill these HP monsters in under five minutes.
The fake diversity is largely because it seems to be mostly random enemies.
The patrols would be more bareable if they had any rewards that reflect the time consumed, but right now you get very low SP and always the same items, i don't Need that phaser bank.
I don't understand how they could not have learned from LoR--AND the Foundry--that what people REALLY wanted was a clear, coherent story, with grand, sweeping plot arcs and unique effects...
I wonder if this is a sign that Cryptic/PWE is not in such great health that they either cannot afford or can no longer see the need to put in such resources...
Christian Gaming Community Fleets--Faith, Fun, and Fellowship! See the website and PM for more. :-)
Proudly F2P. Signature image by gulberat. Avatar image by balsavor.deviantart.com.
Voice of dissent here
I don't really want "Grand, sweeping plot arcs" for everything
I enjoy small events in the game, Micro as well as Macro is needed for balance or all the story is going to be is a big escalating curve of saving everything every day
Over saturating the already saturated market in grand save the day/conspiricy/ disaster plots tend to just make people bored of them, its too repeatative, no matter how much sci fi spin you put on it
Ohh yah same here
DR storyline minus the patrols was cooper-neelix reunion-vaadwuar-vaadwuar--radadwawr-vaadwuar-marrrgwaar-vaadwuar-argarrarr.
ughh!
I was getting sick of hearing about the vaadwuar and the kobali. I would rather have the Vaadwuar and Kobali war cover 2-3 episodes then the next ones after that be about something else. But the bad thing about that is you change the subject to something else then now you have to create npc/ship models for the new races in the next episodes. By keeping the same race all throughout this one chapter they can use the same character models and same ship models.
More marks would be nice, 5 is a bit of a pittance
Indeed, from a game design point of view I can understand it, and belive me I thought they did a good job with the writing and plot over all, did not see some of the twists coming.
And the Vaadwaur and Kobali art design and map building is in my opinion well made, its just that over exposure can make it feel devalued sometimes.
BUT as good as the story is, if it drags on too long, it gets dwindling returns I think
This sums things up for me. I don't mind some of the old patrols but the current DR Patrols are so incredibly boring! Playing them ina group is a bit better but still just too much of a ridiculous grind that keeps coming up every other misson. :eek:
I really liked the first two missions of Delta Rising but after that point, it's a steady decline as you progress with a cliff at each patrol. No other content has made me loathe doing more so in teh entire game and I can't stand Of Bajor! Of Bajor is bad because it's too long and just running around. If the mission was chopped in half and you had your choice of half of them for tasks, it really wouldn't be so bad. Especially if some space stuff was added in. However, the same old long and extremely boring patrols over and over and over and over again really puts them as the all-time worst content this game has ever seen!
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Agreed. I don't mind them being there as side content but lumping them into the storyline was a pretty tacky move. They feel like low budget mediocre Foundry efforts to be quite blunt and a way for Cryptic to artificially beef out the story content by quite some margin.
The new delta enemies do use a lot more abilities and they dance around a bit more, so that's good to see. I also noted some of them trying to work in tandem - ie the more damaged one cloaks while his pal fights me.
To me there is also sufficient story mixed in to the patrols.
"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censured, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably."
i agree with you with one exception
Hierachy Holographic Bulwark
What where they thinking, that thing was ridiculous, Now i'm not some amazingly geared player, But I've got into a comfortable elite groove so far, and then this thing shows up and won't die without a lot of encouragement
Wasn't that part of the actual "Story Content" (Alliances), though (including fancy VO from Neelix, Tuvok etc) ... funny how people can't even tell the difference anymore, being stuck deep in all the grind :P
Calling a duck, a duck, isn't wrong, but it may not be appreciated by the designer who put all of 5 mins work into it. The asset dude then put another 5 mins work into it by selecting the ships the artist put a good few hours into making. The Voice over artists put more time into recording their lines, that the combination of the level designers/makers.
Who knows it may all have been done by one dude over an entire afternoon for all we know.
Currently though the Patrol missions in DR ARE worse than the avg entry level foundry attempt. Food for thought for the team at Cryptic.
Funny thing is it'd be less boring if they didn't have close to 1 Million HP on all the damn enemy ships on Elite. Even on normal they only have around 280000 HP which must be really damn weak if it still takes 20-30 mins to down 5 waves of them with good gear...
"You don't have to do something again and again and again repetitive that doesn't have much challange, that's just a general good gameplay thing."
It's not only that, but also that the thought "this is so un-Star Trek" constantly hammers down on me doing these missions... killing 10s of 10,000s of people... just because "real" story missions are too much work??? I'd rather run errands, click through text-dialogues or scan plants than this all the time!
But the community has been talking about this since launch... all I can do is to repeat DStahl's words: "STO first and foremost is a space combat simulation." OK, but look at good ego-shooters like Mass Effect, Half-Life, etc etc... how much time do you actually and really spend with shooting things, and how much with figuring things out, talking to people, etc etc...
Mhh, I'm afraid this is all pointless, STO is what it is... if anything the game became more and not less grindy in the past two years (which us natural for any f2p title)... take or leave it I guess. But even a free game doesn't become more fun, just because it's free. Boring is boring. Out of IP is out of IP - and no Trek celebrity will help making such missions better!
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