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It's time for a ground-up shakeup of Cryptic's vision for STO
leviathan99
Member Posts: 7,747 Arc User
Seriously, shuffle the systems team off to different projects. As-in, not just other games but split between games.
They've developed into too much of a self-oriented unit for bug testing or feedback to penetrate.
I'm not calling for anyone to lose their job but I will say I'd be:
- More likely to spend money here if Borticus, Geko, and others made room for new blood.
- More likely to spend money on a different game those developers were working on if they were broken up as a unit, given different objectives, and reassigned.
At this point, I would take delays or gaps in content for a vision and strategy overhaul for STO because I'm not certain how enthusiastically I can support STO without signs of revisions to business model, strategy, and vision.
What we need more than content or systems is a focus on the total customer experience.
They've developed into too much of a self-oriented unit for bug testing or feedback to penetrate.
I'm not calling for anyone to lose their job but I will say I'd be:
- More likely to spend money here if Borticus, Geko, and others made room for new blood.
- More likely to spend money on a different game those developers were working on if they were broken up as a unit, given different objectives, and reassigned.
At this point, I would take delays or gaps in content for a vision and strategy overhaul for STO because I'm not certain how enthusiastically I can support STO without signs of revisions to business model, strategy, and vision.
What we need more than content or systems is a focus on the total customer experience.
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But to me it was kind of telling when Bort completely lost his temper in the Bug Reports forum over something as small as the Hierarchy BOFF customization. It sounded like a combination of extreme defensiveness and burnout to me, though obviously I could be wrong.
Overall I think you're right that many on the Cryptic team are probably unable to step outside their own perspective and so locked into defensiveness that they are outright *averse* to it now. Which is definitely worrisome as far as the possibility of opening up better communications goes.
My question to you is, though, what about other elements that may be creating a toxic atmosphere, that may even be above Stephen's level? What would be your idea for addressing that?
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Above Stephen's level are Zinc, Jack, and PWE.
Zinc and Jack seem fairly relaxed in the interactions I've had with them. Jack obviously used to be known for his temper but seems to be focused more on health, mentorship, and the big picture. I think he could be an asset in terms of sharing the wisdom and perspective he's acquired in terms of dealing with customers and design issues, if he can apply the lessons he's learned and help develop the people under his charge. That would be a sign of real maturity and leadership.
As for PWE, Cryptic's charge as I understand it is to take their insight and make it work in western markets. So whatever PWE's influence is, it is ultimately still Cryptic's responsibility and prerogative to adapt and filter that influence. I am not suggesting the removal of lock boxes or charging for content in this case. Just calling for fresh eyes on how to take those directives and find the potential for delight in them. What those goals are can't be changed, perhaps, but how they're pursued at ground level implementation is Cryptic's reason for existing as an independent unit.
pwe and cryptic this thread needs to be sent off to the dev team and up just to see how much your player base cares and want you to be more successful so they can enjoy it.
Regards,
Robert
But i can definitely understand the feeling of being so entrenched in your own idea of right and wrong that you can become blinded to the alternatives. You can be unquestionably confident in your response to a situation, and still be unquestionably wrong.
The only problem with that is that it generally takes something pretty dramatic or catastrophic to finally make people see outside themselves and re-assess their priorities. And since the forums are never short of drama which is ignored, i'm afraid the game itself needs to suffer some cataclysm before we finally get some real change for the better.
For instance they would put something on Tribble to test. We would find bugs/issues and they would go to fix. However the bad code that was on tribble would just get pushed to live in the next patch with what ever else was on test at the time.
Other times we would say "hey we are having an issue with X" and they would be like no you couldn't be, fixed that like 3 months ago. And invariably it was stuck in the "pipeline" because it had to go to another dept and was sitting around until they decided to deal with it.
Just seems to be getting more balkanized, the left hand not knowing what the right is doing
They have a serious resource scarcity problem when it comes to bug fixing.
Here is what I see:
1) They release new content.
2) They shuffle their resources to bug fixing for about a month or two. (S9.5 got the least amount I've seen lately thanks to DR)
3) They shuffle most resources back to new development and leave Frost to fend for himself. Taco somehow finds a way to keep bug fixing.
4) Frost is put on Tribble bug duty so that last month to two months (depends on what is being released), the game bugs stay unless there is an exploit or serious bug they'll fix.
They need to have more resources, even if just for a year, to deal with fixing all that is broken in this game.
I find this post fascinating; Leviathan, you tend to have some of the most interesting and constructive ideas and insight that is generally well thought out. You also hardly get involved in the mud-slinging.
For me to see this post just confirms that I feel a certain portion of the player base is at a breaking point; we've just tired of being gradually squeezed more and more, tired of losing things, tired of nerfs, tired of the slog.
Non stop, every season, something is taken away, reduced or nerfed. Every. Damn. Season. People are just done.
Time for fresh blood and/or open ears and minds. PWE can make buckets of cash without making it an
i found out cryptic dont care about testing major releases or why else would you lock it behind a paywall ?
and OP i for once agree with you
system Lord Baal is dead
^^^^^This 100%
The post where you claim Bort lost his temper (was it heavily redacted since you saw it?) is also a reaction to players basically saying "Cryptic wants to take away the fun and doesn't want us to have nice things" in response to the very same patch notes that give us a new material for Tier 6 ships and the ability to apply all standard faction materials to Dyson ship.
And let's not forget that the "feature" that people clamored was being taken away from them was broken in ways suggesting it was never meant to work in the first place.
People are unwilling to see or appreciate positives, or see the developer's point.
How much chance would "new blood" really have in this environment? DO you think a different group of developers would have said: "Oh, yeah, the customizable Hierarchy BOFF was not intended, but you know what, who cares it it's bugged with missing arms and FEd uniforms on KDF characters. We'll throw away everything else our art team is doing now to get this fixed."
Maybe there are dev teams like that, but would they actually have a functional business?
I am not sure if it's PWE decision, or Crytpic's vision, what recently happened to STO.
Changes that did happen however, are pointing straight in one direction. More grinding.
Which, in my opinion, is a wrong direction. The amount of grinding this game had was "just alright". There was grinding, and then it was fun. Sometimes, if in good company, fun grinding.
As to a recent events, I am not sure if the devs lack of ability or motivation just shows. We really have reported bugs that just aren't getting fixed. We still have bugs from tribble. Which just defeats the purpose of a test server if the bugs are just carried over into the main one.
Maybe it's just PWE pushing the deadlines.
Either way, it's not healthy for STO. Recent mistakes, mishaps and changes made everyone involved uncomfortable. Including me. I fail to see reasoning behind some of the actions taken recently. Not only that but I am just unable to treat the devs seriously with the answers that are provided.
Things need to change. Otherwise this game is just running on the borrowed time. It's really sad to see people you played with for a year, people you knew were just online as much as they could... going offline.
I don't care on what side are you on in a recent arguments. The point is, if things stay the way they are, it's the end.
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Shaka, when the walls fell.
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Former Community Moderator, Former SSR DJ, Now Full time father to two kids, Husband, Retail Worker.
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Its funny because we sent him in to Cryptic as an agent for the players. But the Emperor must have seen the anger inside him (we all saw it in his STO podcasts) and knew he'd be a good hire to quickly turn to the Darkside.
Im just so surprised this game is still going with the way PWE has put such a stranglehold on it. We've all told them there are more simple and honest ways to get money from the loyal Star Trek IP fans, yet they'd rather aim for the whales instead of feast on a steady diet of loyal seals. The pricing has clearly shown its a FTP game they wishes it wasnt. You can tell they regret all the stipend zen they have to give to lifetimers, zen that distorts their profits gumming up the exchange pipeline.
I gave them $20 for a large XP boost, and upgrading one of my Vestas to T5U. I played nothing but Delta storyline, and already my boost ran out at lvl 53 and I have to grind the Kobali zone 3-4 times to advance in the story and level 54.
Im a casual, only here for the story, but aside from the giddyness of hearing the Voyager cast, STO story is never really ABOUT anything, as Gene always insisted it should be. I refused to grind the first few reps to get the story out of that. I wont grind for my story.
At this rate, I dont know why they dont just give up and just straight up offer high end gear for straight up zen. Who cares that players will complain that it can be bought instead of grinding for it, playing for it. What does that matter now. This game is all about the almighty dollar. Id slowly pay $10-$20 a month to build my ships to epic level if I could buy a gold mk XIV item for no more than $5 each. Ironically, the lockboxing of things is really holding them back from the windfall they COULD be making in this game. Fewer and fewer have to be lockboxing these days. How many suckers are left in the overall pool of worldwide eligible gamers are left to rip off with those things? If they dont start dialing it back and pricing things toward the honest casual market, the game will dry up now, with all the players who are leaving in droves now.
Capt. Will Conquest of the U.S.S. Crusader
I'd happily wait another 4-5 years and spend a 15$ a month subscription to finally get a decent Star Trek Game than staying with the mess that STO has become and that it will never cease to be under the given circumstances.
Please show us these numbers you have about this, or is it just you bringing negativity into a positive thread? It's people that keep derailing good threads that get them locked.
maybe some company like perpetual will try to make STO2...grass is greener.
- So that not everyone has already seen the new content (possibly without voice overs)
- To keep the server load acceptable.
- So that people keep playing the actual game and players that don't know about STO think the main servers are dead, and so that people keep buying Zen for use on the main server.
Just another example of how people always like to assume or see the worst.
To give yet another.
"Every patch they are nerfing something and taking away something".
Like the patch where they gave us more inventory slots.
The patch were they gave us even more inventory slots for new crafting materials.
The patch where we got extra ship slots.
The patch were we got extra BO slots.
The patch where they give us extra ship materials.
All that is ignored by people that make these kind of arguments.
On the last Qt Developer Conference, I saw an interesting talk on how to respond to critique on the web and particularly forums. I seriously recommend that advice there, but I can't remember who gave that talk. Dang.
I completely agree with the OP. I think DR has become the straw that broke the camels back for a lot of people. Nothing too major has happened from my point of view, more a collection of little things since LoR launched that have built up and up and culminated in this mess.
If I may add however, why not bring back the monthly "Ask Cryptic" Q&A we used to get. It was a fantastic way of getting communication from the higher ups without the need for rage threads in our forums. I think the largest portion of the problem is poor communication between the powers that be, the communitys mods and managers and us, the players and that has to be the priority to fix here.
I really hope this thread isn't closed or that a Dev reads this and presumes we are on a witch hunt. We're not. I wouldn't have bought that lifetime subscription all those years ago if I thought I couldn't discuss like an adult problems that this game faces. We are here ultimately because we are either fans of MMOs or fans of Star Trek, we are not a community full of hate.
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It's still a valid point
-Lord Commander Solar Macharius
To be clear, I agree that there isn't any one thing Cryptic did wrong outside of the obvious, which is communication. Communication of design intent, communication as a form of customer service, communication that consumers are valued, communication in terms of receiving bug reports.
But I believe there is the potential not only to not do wrong but to do right. That takes fresh eyes on deck.
Dude, generally I agree 100% with your posts as well! but things you list are pretty much shinies and bread/circuses things and not out of the kindness of their heart; there was likely a monetization goal behind every one of those gifts and shines don't compare fairly onto institutional changes to the game structure. Shoot, they could have ALL those back if they would give us the Dil and XP rewards to a reasonable level again.
But then again I'm typing this on an iPad while on the toilet while drunk so what do I know.
I suggest placing the post into the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) in the media area. Maybe someone can set up a paypal account for donations to cover the cost. That will surely get the attention of those with clout methinks.....
ingame: @.Spartan
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You say this in the belief that PWE is listening and actually CARES about customer service.
I can't agree with you in any way, simply because no one running this game gives half of one **** about their customers. They think constructive feedback is detrimental to their bottom line and therefore use the Tribble forum as a PR tool.
Give it up.
Cryptic has an extremely poor record when it come to communicating it's intentions. Its communications in the past have not always aligned with what they have delivered, and in some cases it's been the exact opposite.
"Deeds not words"
Well , one of the reasons you can get to that point is that you don't make major mistakes , so you begin to think that you can make none .
For example , when one of the P1 podcasters said something about the over complicated manner in which Mk14 gear becomes available , Geko asked (rhetorically) :
"would ppl have been more happy if we added another level to the Reputation system for Mk14 gear ?"
At this point , I think the resounding answer would have been YES ... if only to avoid the months of grind in crafting , and the chance / gambling for mods & rarities , and above all it would have been in line with previous advancement in the game ... , which in turn would have avoided some of the whiplash the casuals are feeling today .
Casuals ... , remember them ?
The ones Cryptic focused on since Season 5 , at the expense of (dare I say it ?) veterans ?!
So it's not like alternative ideas are not there ... , but from my perspective -- the need to make STO into a more monetized game , coupled with the need of the "gamers" in the Dev team to make STO more like other more "serious MMO's " (*caugh* SWTOR *caugh*) , that ultimately got us this mishmash of ... whatever STO is today .
Someone in my fleet recently wondered if STO should offer burial services to Alts .
Someone else piped up and offered the thought that it would probably cost as much as upgrading the toon , and thus sadly it would be equally unaffordable ... .
STFs are not the only source of dilithium income - and in my experience, it wasn't the best. The Voth Battlezone still seems the superior source of Dilithium (and Cybernetic Implants, which can be turned into Dilithium or into useful Gear). Not to forget that the developers mentioned that they are still tuning this stuff.
And the XP "nerf" - for a long time, no one cared about XP because most were at level 50. XP was meaningless. And it will be again, soon. Even with the effectively 60 extra levels worth of XP the game now has. We all made it to Level 50 without running Tau Dewa Dailies.
And seriously - how many people used to complain that levelling in STO was too fast! Sure, they are probably not the same as the people that complain now that it's too slow, but it tells me that it used to be too fast for some people, and now they have effectively 60 levels ahead for those. So it is not an unilateral bad decision that no one ever could have possibly wanted except the Evil Communist Bean Counters at PWE. (I hope everyone sees the oxymoron in that
I hardly believe everything that Cryptic does it good, and I certainly don't believe they do stuff out of the goodness of their heart. But I believe they do what they think will make this game continue to thrive (and that means making them money).
And if they are wrong, their numbers will show them. Maybe the wrong team won't know how to change their course (kinda like Bragga and Berman couldn't "save" Star Trek on TV, even though without them, it might have never gotten that far when they took the helm) in the right direction, will fail to read the feedback clearly delivered on the forums. But I wouldn't be so hasty here and not already assume an institutional blindness here.
Eh , we've had a few more like him , but most of this caliber have either left , got perma-banned or retreated to niche parts of the game .
Well without wanting to turn this thread into one more complaint thread -- those words are true , sadly .