Un-nerf the breen spam torpedo
speed up the Romulan plasma torps
Make Tovan Khev dismissible.
allow the Quad Phaser cannon upgradeable to mk XVI since defiant btfo everything in canon
make fleet weapons account locked not character. Sometimes a character wants to change energy types permanently.
Make all queues for 5 players, private queues can still play with the original amount of players if they want.
Create a tutorial and a practice version of each queue, mandatory, at least once per account to unlock normal queues.
Make advanced and elite queues unlockable, you unlock them by beating a queue with less difficulty (normal unlocks advanced, advanced unlocks elite).
Remove cooldown for failing.
Remove shared cooldown (so you only get cooldown on one difficulty and not all 3 at the same time).
Reduce cooldown to 15 minutes.
Reduce the amount of time based objectives, let people play at their own pace.
Increase the amount of conditional fail objectives.
Add a weekly random feature queue, beating said queue rewards 25, 50 or 100 REFINED dilithium (max:500/day), depending on difficulty, and 1, 2 or 3 special tokens that can be exchanged for special stuff, like costumes, pets, and other cosmetics, as well as special upgrade tokens for your gear and stuff from past events and featured episodes.
Extra rewards depending on average completion time and optional objectives.
Increase rewards:
Normal queue: 500 dilithium, 1 normal R&D pack, 5000xp&expertise, 25k energy credits, 1 very rare item for best player, rare for 2nd and 3rd;
choose between:
100 marks
1000 bonus dilithium
100k energy credits
10k xp&expertise.
1 extra normal R&D pack
1 very rare item of your choosing
Advanced queue: 1k dilithium, 1 normal R&D pack, 1 advanced R&D pack, 10k xp& expertise, 50k energy credits, 2 very rare items for best player, 1 very rare for 2nd, 1 rare for 3rd.;
Choose between:
150 marks & 1 rep item (ex: borg neural processor)
2k bonus dilithium
200k energy credits
15k xp& expertise
1 extra advanced R&D pack
2 very rare items of your choosing
Elite queue: 1.5k dilithium, 1 Normal R&D pack, 1 advanced R&D pack, 1 elite R&D pack, 15k xp&expertise, 100k energy credits, 1 ultra rare item for best player, 2 very rare for 2nd, 1 very rare for 3rd;
Choose between:
200 marks & 2 rep items
3k bonus dilithium
300k energy credits
20k xp&expertise
1 extra elite R&D pack
3 very rare items of your choosing
Begin R&D Phase 2
You know, current R&D feels incomplete, there are many things left to RNG and too few left to real crafting and personal effort, crafting made a lot of things obsolete, instead of being an improvement to all items in game, it became a curse for most, which are left forgotten.
I'm proposing a new revamp, one that will make all items useful, one that will get rid of the random number generator, true crafting.
Let's begin with with Modifiers:
From now on I'll call them Mods or [Mod]
We need craftable modifier, think of them as Gems from other MMOs, and we also need Mod slots, which would be equivalent to gem Sockets.
They'll be completely removable and exchangeable, think of weapons and mods as profession kit with their kit modules, you can have a [CrtD] mod, but if you grow tired of it you can just simply replace it with a [Pen] mod from your inventory, then you can use that [CrtD] mod for another weapon, or you can sell it in the exchange.
So, now Items will have [Mod] sockets based on rarity, 1 for uncommon, 2 for rare, and so on, Epic items will have one special socket for a dual mod.
Some special items might have more or less Sockets or might come with an special irremovable [Mod] (For example the AR-116b will have 4x irremovable shield penetration mods).
A [Mod] might have a quality, meaning it cannot be equipped to lower quality items, for example, the [arc] mod should be very rare and you won't be able to socket it in rare items.
Quality upgrades
Quality upgrades now rely in the RNG lottery, and that's annoying, you might upgrade something in your first try or spend a fortune of dilithium and failing to do so.
No more, you'll still need dilithium and tech upgrades to increase an item's level, and you can still craft very rare items, but you'll need a new quality upgrade item to increase an item's quality.
Such Quality tech upgrades will also be craftable items, for example, salvaged tech (reward from Elite PvE) can be used to craft a quality tech upgrade, let's say you need 4 salvaged tech to craft 1 quality tech upgrade, and 1 quality tech upgrade to increase an item's quality from very rare to ultra rare, 2 to increase quality from ultra rare to epic.
Basic crafting:
It also relies in RNG, let's get rid of it.
A profession level shouldn't influence the chance to get a very rare instead of a rare, a profession level should guarantee rarity, and decrease time and costs needed to craft, research and upgrade.
So, I propose the ability to craft uncommon items at any level, rare items at level 5, very rare items at level 10, and special items at level 15.
Missing features:
We still need device crafting, and profession kit and modules crafting and upgrading.
Ship upgrading:
Why not? why can't we upgrade our favorite ship from tier 1 to tier 5 (and then 5-U with the zen token).
We need ship upgrading, allow us to level up our ship using crafting to add weapon, console, boff and device slots.
I'm not talking about adding extra weapon slots to T5/T6 ships I'm talking about having a T5-U an NX-01 (no, I don't own or want this ships, it's just an example) with 4 fore weapons and 2 aft weapons, 2 device slots, 5 bridge officers and 10/11 consoles like most escorts of that tier.
Other stuff
Upgrade the trait screen, with separate tabs for ground and space as well as adding filtering options and trait loadouts, added captain traits (like starship traits for ground).
Revamp the skill tree to something along the lines of the current specialization skill tree, merging several skills, adding new ones, ability to retrain for a dilithium fee, skill loadouts.
Duty officer mission system revamp.
Premium bridge officers and unique BOFFs will get customization options they were missing.
A fix for the exchange, many items don't show, filtering is broken and missing many options.
PVP revamp, with exclusive PVP stats and gear, so zen ships won't get advantage over free ships.
Monthly foundry contest, top ranked missions will be added (with permission from authors) as official content for patrols, exploration clusters or sidequests, authors will get in-game rewards like zen, costumes, special items, etc.
Increased XP from delta rising content so you can get to level 60 by playing the story, reduced spec points (after level 60) to 125k xp per point, you also get 1 spec point per level (60 at level 60).
Added ability to swap control of bridge officers during ground missions, added kit slot (so bridge officers can get set bonuses, doesn't affect skills) and secondary weapon slot for bridge officers, improved AI, they crouch while at low HP or if taking fire from 3 or more enemies, they aim if you aim, they'll attempt to dodge grenades.
I fully support this. :cool:
For best results, read my posts in the voice of Sheogorath, Daedric Prince of Madness.
*busts down your door while wearing a Starfleet uniform* Time to boldy go, losers.
#this is how you SHOULD collect your crew from shore leave
And begins your dissent into 'I dont like these people so I dont want to deal with them, even though simply not posting in their thread or outright ignoring them would accomplish this.'
Partially true. I believe that to foster productive conversation with the goal of improving the game, that there should be heavy-handed moderation against posters who simply do not play the game at all.
I don't believe in equal say, and never have. I have never believed that somebody's ignorance is equally as valid as somebody else's knowledge.
And if I were lead dev for a day, that would be my policy.
But no, lets ban everyone that annoys iconians.
Incorrect. Somebody is capable of annoying me while still contributing to the discussion. I would welcome feedback for STO, but I'm of the mentality that you have to actually play the game to comment on its ongoing development.
I don't PvP. So if I show up in a PvP thread to talk about an upcoming change to the game that affects PvP, and Cryptic is looking for feedback -- if I have nothing positive to say, then I would prefer that post being censored in its entirety.
I would only ban the few posters who allegedely have not played the game in years or more who still find the time and energy to show up here to take a tremendous dump in a thread.
Again with the ban anyone that you cant be bothered with ignoring.
If I'm a Cryptic dev for a day, my main goal would be communication. If I remember correctly, people have been asking for more communication from Cryptic (myself included). I see no point in ignoring toxicity when it can just be surgically removed from the forums entirely to create a better atmosphere for constructive dialogue.
So mob mentality should rule? Yeah. Youre really proving your sanity over others here.
I don't believe I have ever argued that point.
Pay people without any sort of evaluation of their duties and responsibilities. And if theyre even meeting those responsibilities?
Dave over there shows up 5 minutes early and works all day long, he even puts in extra hours in the evening to hit his deadline...Mike on the other hand shows up, regularly can not be found at his desk and goes home 15 minutes early every wednesday and friday. Mikes missed quite a few deadlines.
But sure lets give both Dave and Mike pay raises.
A flat payraise across the board. Simply because I can.
One day as Lead Dev? Nothing as the EP has to sign off on everything I do.
Now if I was EP slash Lead Dev for a day....
I would set the following projects in motion:
1) Eliminate PVP.
2) Eliminate Aux2Batt
3) Balance FAW. BO, TS, HY and any other existing or planned weapon-mod powers.
4) Investigate a way to limit DPS to 5-7K, this would prevent people from melting down trash-mobs then ******** that the content is too easy. This would shift focus from pushing the I WIN button to strategy, trinity-teaming and take care of the worst of the worst elitist-attitudes.
5) Discuss what needs to be done to implement randomly generated grind-maps with randomly placed trash-mobs and randomly generated objectives.
6) Discuss what needs to be done to create an exploration/diplomacy angle to the game.
7) Look at adding additional Admiral-level strategic-level experiences... Maybe a ship refit system where you can swap out seats or some kind of resource management/investment subgame like the DOFF system or even a DOFF-mission like system for sending your additional ships on missions.
None of these projects would come to fruition in a single day (except maybe SET_MODE_PVP = OFF) but it would be fun to at least discuss some of the bigger ideas with the rest of the staff.
If I were the lead dev for a day, I would tell PWE where to stick their metrics-driven grindfest mentality... Then I would quit before they have a chance to say "You are SO fired!"
Well this too tbh ... , however at this point I get the distinct feeling that metrics & lockboxes are a thing @ Cryptic .
That's a pretty great list OP, but the XP gain needs to be increased by like 15 times.
Personally, I'd bump XP by a lesser amount but grant Specialization Points at level 16+. That way our characters could hit level 60 with 45 Specialization Points, enough for a Primary and Secondary Specialization. Part of the problem with Specializations is that it impacts player capability in a variable not used for NPC scaling or PvP matchmaking. That, with a reasonable bump to overall progression, seems reasonable... to me. :P
Of course, that assumes I have Magic Dev Powers and can change things instantaneously... and nobody goes and changes things back the next day.
With each passing day I wonder if I stepped into an alternate reality. The Cubs win the world series. Donald Trump is President. Britain leaves the EU. STO gets a dedicated PvP season. Engineers are "out of control" in STO.
We need craftable modifier, think of them as Gems from other MMOs, and we also need Mod slots, which would be equivalent to gem Sockets.
It would appear, sir, that we are on the same page of the idea playbook here (reference). To this, I would also add the possibility of all-module sets (Defiance has several) and others consisting of a weapon and 2 or 3 mods.
But to actually address the topic of this thread, there are several things that come to mind; I'll just list a few:
seeing as consumable items have no business being in the lobi store, they would be moved out to various dilithium stores. For example, the rad crystals and web grenades would find new homes in the NSF store;
add melee weapons to the list of things players can craft;
allow players to choose which uniforms their NPCs use (i.e personnel wandering around their ship interior, security details, et cetera). This would of course be nowhere as extensive as player/boff apparel customization - for example, if you've unlocked the TFO or MACO visuals, you can have your security escort show up wearing them;
enable reverse-engineering. Example: you acquire a nanite disruptor pistol; by studying it in this fashion you add that to the list of personal weapon families you can craft;
expand the range of colors available for MACO gear. If the photonic staff on Facility 4028 can rock it, as the saying goes, in yellow-trimmed black, players should be able to follow suit
I would take the money and just talk to everyone. There is no way I could be brought up to speed on everything, formulate a plan, and inact it effectively to create any plausable and beneficial change....in a day.
Now if I had a year to be the lead, I culd feel like I could accomplish something useful.
Indeed. It is, after all, a job to produce a product that earns money for a company. We are fortunate in that the product is informed by an intellectual property that affords us some room to flex creativity and artistic ability.
If I were a Cryptic dev for a day, I would flirt with Zeroniusrex and when my wife found out, I would inform her that no one would attempt to flirt with QA or former QA folks cause all they do is analytically tear things apart looking for flaws to fix, and that I have her (my wife) in my life to do that....
“In the strict scientific sense we all feed on death…..even vegetarians.” – Spock
If I were lead dev for a day I'd spend it trying to figure out where the giant hole in the world bug reports vanish into is, and how much money it will cost to board that hole up so it doesn't happen.
So many bugs that are incredibly simple or trivial for the devs to fix never get addressed because they never reach the devs... and either never reach Q&A or Q&A is so overworked and underfunded they can't do their jobs effectively (from what I hear it's the latter)
Obviously I'd do things as per the remit of my position, but I'd also spend some time writing up a report to try and deal with the issue- so much rage and anger about easy to fix stuff and there's this huge communications void that appears to eat 90% of bug reports so they never see the light of day.
I mean it took what, eight months for you guys to fix the dyson destroyer console cooldown- eight months of not knowing the bug even existed despite constant reports, forum posts, campaigns to get it noticed- and about fifteen minutes of actual work after a player got a dev's attention directly.
So you know, I'd be doing actual work to try and empower the dev team to be better able to address important issues- but I'd catch a lot of flack on the forums because the work behind the scenes isn't visible so they'd just say "That Illcadia guy, he's not doing anything, he just sits around with his thumb up his aft." when I'm actually doing a fair amount of work.
Are a lot of the issues people have with the game a result of PWE meddling, or are they Cryptic designs?
I'd like to think that if it's a Cryptic issue, they can be resolved. But if they're PWE, then it's understandable that you guys are powerless against them and falsely face The Rage Machine.
Hit Fire at Will with the nerfbat to bring it in line with scatter volley.
Rebalance all the existing abilities to make every single one appealing and not useless (Aceton Beam much?).
Increase the XP gain by x2.
Remove the T5U thing and straight make a ship upgradable to T6 capabilities (minus the trait), making their Lieutenant seats hybrid universal.
Hit AtB with the nerfbat by allowing to slot only one of those doffs.
Hit Romulan Boffs with the nerfbat to bring them in line with other factions. (It's not possible that my Scimitar has 1/3 crit chance, 33% and unspeakable CrtD).
Give innate resistance to energy damage on hull to give torpedoes a reason to exist.
Give some basic matchmaking to PvP matches and make them more rewarding by increasing the awarded XP and adding an Advanced R&D Pack Reward.
Give NPCs an Artificial Intelligence worth of that name by making them use more advanced tactics rather than being hitpoint bags.
At Mk XIV, if upgrading again to improve the mark of an item, make it a 100% chance to happen.
Rework the Cardassian Arc, it's some tedious firing practice.
Make Starship Traits account wide.
Go full force on making an update aimed to address long lasting bugs and issues.
Stay more in touch with the community with in-game Dev sessions rather than excruciating long podcasts.
Glad you're not a DEV for anytime as its seems you would fail at the last item on your list.
Staying in touch with community.
1. PVE players out number the PVPers
2. In PVE A2B is very popular
3. BFW is very popular
4. I'm pretty sure a DEV does not just get to what he/she wants.
Glad you're not a DEV for anytime as its seems you would fail at the last item on your list.
Staying in touch with community.
1. PVE players out number the PVPers
2. In PVE A2B is very popular
3. BFW is very popular
4. I'm pretty sure a DEV does not just get to what he/she wants.
1) Almost all of those changes benefit PvE...
2) The Devs themselves said they're not fans of what Aux to Batt has become, and given the time, they would change how it works.
3) BFAW is pretty much universally recognized as problematic. In no other game will you find an ability that's the "One Button For All!" ability that literally solves 99% of all PvE. Especially one that somehow gains single target effectiveness while also being an AoE powerhouse.
Comments
speed up the Romulan plasma torps
Make Tovan Khev dismissible.
allow the Quad Phaser cannon upgradeable to mk XVI since defiant btfo everything in canon
make fleet weapons account locked not character. Sometimes a character wants to change energy types permanently.
I fully support this. :cool:
*busts down your door while wearing a Starfleet uniform*
Time to boldy go, losers.
#this is how you SHOULD collect your crew from shore leave
Even if that meant a personal visit to cogentco.
Do I win?
Partially true. I believe that to foster productive conversation with the goal of improving the game, that there should be heavy-handed moderation against posters who simply do not play the game at all.
I don't believe in equal say, and never have. I have never believed that somebody's ignorance is equally as valid as somebody else's knowledge.
And if I were lead dev for a day, that would be my policy.
Incorrect. Somebody is capable of annoying me while still contributing to the discussion. I would welcome feedback for STO, but I'm of the mentality that you have to actually play the game to comment on its ongoing development.
I don't PvP. So if I show up in a PvP thread to talk about an upcoming change to the game that affects PvP, and Cryptic is looking for feedback -- if I have nothing positive to say, then I would prefer that post being censored in its entirety.
I would only ban the few posters who allegedely have not played the game in years or more who still find the time and energy to show up here to take a tremendous dump in a thread.
If I'm a Cryptic dev for a day, my main goal would be communication. If I remember correctly, people have been asking for more communication from Cryptic (myself included). I see no point in ignoring toxicity when it can just be surgically removed from the forums entirely to create a better atmosphere for constructive dialogue.
I don't believe I have ever argued that point.
A flat payraise across the board. Simply because I can.
Now if I was EP slash Lead Dev for a day....
I would set the following projects in motion:
1) Eliminate PVP.
2) Eliminate Aux2Batt
3) Balance FAW. BO, TS, HY and any other existing or planned weapon-mod powers.
4) Investigate a way to limit DPS to 5-7K, this would prevent people from melting down trash-mobs then ******** that the content is too easy. This would shift focus from pushing the I WIN button to strategy, trinity-teaming and take care of the worst of the worst elitist-attitudes.
5) Discuss what needs to be done to implement randomly generated grind-maps with randomly placed trash-mobs and randomly generated objectives.
6) Discuss what needs to be done to create an exploration/diplomacy angle to the game.
7) Look at adding additional Admiral-level strategic-level experiences... Maybe a ship refit system where you can swap out seats or some kind of resource management/investment subgame like the DOFF system or even a DOFF-mission like system for sending your additional ships on missions.
None of these projects would come to fruition in a single day (except maybe SET_MODE_PVP = OFF) but it would be fun to at least discuss some of the bigger ideas with the rest of the staff.
https://youtube.com/channel/UCJZ5FBJ9bFaZ6yAFiNpZiRQ/featured?view_as=subscriber
Twitter:
https://twitter.com/CaptainCidStorm
I would also do this.
Oh, and I'd also experiment with some PVEVP ( PVE+PVP) content .
Well this too tbh ... , however at this point I get the distinct feeling that metrics & lockboxes are a thing @ Cryptic .
... sad but true ...
Curl up in a ball and sob.
the only reason it's not x16 is i don't bother with the podcasts personally.
Personally, I'd bump XP by a lesser amount but grant Specialization Points at level 16+. That way our characters could hit level 60 with 45 Specialization Points, enough for a Primary and Secondary Specialization. Part of the problem with Specializations is that it impacts player capability in a variable not used for NPC scaling or PvP matchmaking. That, with a reasonable bump to overall progression, seems reasonable... to me. :P
Of course, that assumes I have Magic Dev Powers and can change things instantaneously... and nobody goes and changes things back the next day.
But to actually address the topic of this thread, there are several things that come to mind; I'll just list a few:
This game needs more nerfs like the music world needs another album by Justin Bieber.
You bring underpowered abilities up to the current standard, you don't lower the standard by making better abilities suck.
"If this will be our end, then I will have them make SUCH an end as to be worthy of rememberance! Out of torpedos you say?! Find me the ferengi!".
Yeah, pretty much this.
Now if I had a year to be the lead, I culd feel like I could accomplish something useful.
KDF: Dahar Master Kan (Borg Klingon Tactical)::Dahar Master Torc (Alien Science)::Dahar Master Sisteric (Gorn Engineer)
RR-Fed: Citizen Sirroc (Romulan Science)::Fleet Admiral Grell (Alien Engineer)
RR-KDF: Fleet Admiral Zemo (Reman Tactical)::Fleet Admiral Xinatek (Reman Science)::Fleet Admiral Bel (Alien Engineer)
TOS-Fed: Fleet Admiral Katem (Andorian Tactical)::Lieutenant Commander Straad (Vulcan Engineer)
Dom-Fed: Dan'Tar (Jem'Hadar Science)
Dom-KDF: Kamtana'Solan (Jem'Hadar Science)
CoHost of Tribbles in Ecstasy (Zombee)
Indeed. It is, after all, a job to produce a product that earns money for a company. We are fortunate in that the product is informed by an intellectual property that affords us some room to flex creativity and artistic ability.
So many bugs that are incredibly simple or trivial for the devs to fix never get addressed because they never reach the devs... and either never reach Q&A or Q&A is so overworked and underfunded they can't do their jobs effectively (from what I hear it's the latter)
Obviously I'd do things as per the remit of my position, but I'd also spend some time writing up a report to try and deal with the issue- so much rage and anger about easy to fix stuff and there's this huge communications void that appears to eat 90% of bug reports so they never see the light of day.
I mean it took what, eight months for you guys to fix the dyson destroyer console cooldown- eight months of not knowing the bug even existed despite constant reports, forum posts, campaigns to get it noticed- and about fifteen minutes of actual work after a player got a dev's attention directly.
So you know, I'd be doing actual work to try and empower the dev team to be better able to address important issues- but I'd catch a lot of flack on the forums because the work behind the scenes isn't visible so they'd just say "That Illcadia guy, he's not doing anything, he just sits around with his thumb up his aft." when I'm actually doing a fair amount of work.
The question is: Which boss is calling the shots?
Are a lot of the issues people have with the game a result of PWE meddling, or are they Cryptic designs?
I'd like to think that if it's a Cryptic issue, they can be resolved. But if they're PWE, then it's understandable that you guys are powerless against them and falsely face The Rage Machine.
if I stop posting it doesn't make you right it. just means I don't have enough rum to continue interacting with you.
i'd also remove the RNG from crafting, i'd make it so you could add the mods that you want.
my 2 farts worth
Glad you're not a DEV for anytime as its seems you would fail at the last item on your list.
Staying in touch with community.
1. PVE players out number the PVPers
2. In PVE A2B is very popular
3. BFW is very popular
4. I'm pretty sure a DEV does not just get to what he/she wants.
1) Almost all of those changes benefit PvE...
2) The Devs themselves said they're not fans of what Aux to Batt has become, and given the time, they would change how it works.
3) BFAW is pretty much universally recognized as problematic. In no other game will you find an ability that's the "One Button For All!" ability that literally solves 99% of all PvE. Especially one that somehow gains single target effectiveness while also being an AoE powerhouse.