Surely at some point specializations, reputations, etc have to end... Please tell me they end. If the game lasts 2-3 more years, I do not want to imagine how much admin there is going to be. 6-8 hours clicking the mouse?
And when you get to the end of the specialization you realize the complete futility of having it anyway, as everyone else will have the exactly duplicate you have, so any advantage "intended" is completed irrelevant over time. Months of grind only to come full circle.
You DO realize that you only need one primary specialization and one secondary specialization, right? You realize that you only need at most 5 reputations maxed for the active traits, right?
Hell, specializations were intended to be just that - a specialty that you can stat in if you want. Something you want your captain specializing in. Something extra from what you needed. This notion that everyone absolutely needs all of them, then complaining that everyone will be exactly the same is ridiculously self-defeating circular logic.
Well I hope you realize that most players in an mmopg do not play to be satisfied with getting what they need but rather with achieving what is best in their individual point of view.
And that is the tricky part here. The OP started his endeavor over 5 years ago but cryptic saw it fit to change the rules quiet a bit as time went by. Most noticeable change was Delta Rising where they overnight changed it in a way where the effort to reach endgame was multiplied by two and getting to optimum roughly was multiplied by ten.
The only thing they gave us to compensate were more and more clicking games which do help but which, let’s face it, suck beyond believe.
Now I would not worry about the OP, he may be exhausted for a while but is dedicated enough to get where he wants.
I would rather worry about all those players which are not willing to bring a fraction of his dedication because they log only to have some easy fun in a very limiting time.
They are the once for which advanced queues pose too much of an obstacle leading to empty queues. They are also the ones tending to forums because they encounter a hard time to even tend to normal contend and story missions.
Think that’s the hole point. Doing fun activities in this game is not enough to cope with the game itself.
I like Admiralty, I like Doffing, I like the Rep system, I do not need to "face" any realization that they "suck" because they do not. You cannot state your opinions as incontrovertible facts and expect to be taken seriously. If I did not have fun playing this game each and every time I log in I would have left long ago, just like I have every single other MMO I have ever tried out.
Oh if you like those activities and if they are the reason for you to play this space & ground combat action game with the star trek ip I apologize.
Yea, I have one or two in my fleet who also do this stuff mainly and like it. However it’s some 1% on my count. The rest just does it to get better or have more fun in the actual active game itself and that in a more reasonable time frame.
For them klickies are a tool, not the artwork.
Post edited by peterconnorfirst on
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I get why they do it, but it is mighty annoying. The impact of it could perhaps be reduced if it wasn't an access-everywhere UI but tied to specific NPCs (like how Omega was just on DS9) so if you want something you have to go go somewhere and talk to a specific person. Right now you can do everything standing between the bank and exchange at ESD not moving for 3 months. It would get people out to different zones again. For instance, one of my alts gets most of their stuff from the Nukara rep, but hasn't been there in over a year. If I had to take them there to get kit I might think "hey, why not kill some Tholians while I'm here" insted of log on - UI for 5 minutes - log off.
Those sidekicks of the game are ok. People complain about too much especially when you have a lot of alts. It is your own choice to create all those alts. Then doffing and admirality do help with alts. A lot of my alts were low 50 and I could not set myself to the task of playing them through the delta content. Thanks to admirality they all have reached level 60 now.
I hope you have some idea of what actually goes on with the work that the devs do. They don't all work on only one thing. Lets take an expansion where they decide to make a new faction.
No one on that team suddenly goes, oh let's stop producing episodes and focus just on the specialization system. They're always working on something in the game.
All good points you made, and actually yes I do know. I've been a Software Developer for going on 13 years. And perhaps I was not clear enough - each of these systems has a purpose and intent and I see that. My point is the exponential growth of this over time where it can become unmanageable, esp. for new players. Every single one of my friends I've tried recruiting to play, are immediately turned off by it.
I like the admiralty system from a gameplay perspective. I also like DOFFing. Yeah, it's non-gameplay gameplay. I get that. But I always head-canon this as me being a flag officer. I'm managing a crew and its resources. I'm now managing a fleet and its resources. It's part of the day to day operations of what I do for Starfleet (or the republic, or the empire, depending on the character).
I do wish Admiralty was far closer to what DStahl always suggested it could be, but I'll take what I got and enjoy it as it is.
For me it's an add-on to the game I play. Not the game itself. So I guess I identify with the folks who say that they don't do it often so it doesn't bug them. Thing is, I DOFF the heck out of DOFFing so I do it very often. It's part of my gameplay. And I always have this need to run ships on assignment. Though I feel weird assigning the ship I'm flying, and tend to leave that one unassigned.
So in my head, it's part of the game/story I'm doing. Hence, I like it.
Admiralty at least has the justification that, to be fully effective, you need to have bought a lot of C-store ships, which translates as a lot of Zen spent (even if you bought them via Dil trading, someone still spent real money). Really it's Cryptic trying to create an incentive for players to own more than a handful of ships, or give something back to those that bought lots.
THEY LAUGHED WHEN I BOUGHT THE KDF DYSON DESTROYER 3-PACK! BUT WHO'S LAUGHING NOW?
Ahem.
@drkfrontiers; While I like the improvements you suggest, I do have to say that you seem to be making a rod for your own back. You will never have an "advantage" because there will always be other players with equivalently-advanced alts, and the nature of any living game is that the developers are forever moving the goalposts. From a development perspective, I'd guess that bolt-on systems like R&D, DOffing, and Admiralty are *much* easier than core game engine changes like the ones you describe. Frankly, you'd have to go back to, what, Season 4? to find a change to the core engine (I'm thinking the Ground Combat revamp).
I have actually had my eyes on the Dyson pack for a while ... how good is it for Admiralty? I know that they are heavy on science and that's already good but I mean ... my main focus on Admiralty is the KDF ToD : are the Dyson ships cards good enough to make me win a - say - 9/10 ToD admiraly assignment?
I'm with most here, the clicky stuff can be convenient, but a bit much depending on how religiously you do it.
Doff and Admiralty don't seem to need any dev time other then adding a new mission chain every so often.
In terms of UI revamps, Boff and trait revamps were really great. That was dev time well spent. Skill tree.I don't know yet, haven't looked. I don't think it will be as great as the Boff/trait revamps were, but it should be better then it is (I hope).
But I think we're all getting a little tired of the UI stuff.
The only other UI revamp I think we need is maybe the Officers page. Where you assign your first officer and heads of departents. But that can wait.
Hopefully the Devs are already working on a lot of what the OP mentions. They said this will be a BIG year. And that they have a lot in store for us.
And congrats on the fleet Drk. That's commendable.
It's just another feature you can choose to take part in or choose to ignore.
I am seriously confused why anybody complains about 'extra's being added to the game.
If your complaint is 'they should be spending resources on something more interesting'; well in that case everybody's definition of 'interesting' is different.
As my grandmother used to say: "Take it or leave it, but don't start bellyaching if your hungry later". (But then she was a 'hardcore' grandmother who lived through a world war, rations and a whole boatload of TRIBBLE).
I have a love-hate relationship with these systems, myself. I don't really find them fun, but they do give resources that several of my characters would never get access to, and that's helping me a lot with buying the things I want.
A huge quality of life improvement that I think would help make duty officers at least consume less time is making it location independent, like the admiralty. Maybe add a duration multiplier to some of them based on distance if truly necessary, or a random chance (since they LOVE RNG so much) for some special bonus if you pick up a mission in its actual section.
I have a love-hate relationship with these systems, myself. I don't really find them fun, but they do give resources that several of my characters would never get access to, and that's helping me a lot with buying the things I want.
A huge quality of life improvement that I think would help make duty officers at least consume less time is making it location independent, like the admiralty. Maybe add a duration multiplier to some of them based on distance if truly necessary, or a random chance (since they LOVE RNG so much) for some special bonus if you pick up a mission in its actual section.
Staring the mission in a specific location isn't logically complete anyway, because somehow the doffs can still get back to you just fine without you having to go pick them up at the mission site. If they can take a space taxi on the return trip, they might as well do so both ways. EDIT: But no "special bonus," that would negate the whole point of location-independence.
Alternatively, they could be sent on missions aboard an Admiralty ship.
I do like this kind of systems, but would prefer to play them on a phone/tablet app than sitting at my computer.
Yeah the gateway mobile site is dead for development unfortunately, the doffing system and admiralty would be PERFECT for it but they don't want to continue it.. see adding that as a mobile companion to the game would have been epic. That being said.I don't mind these systems necessarily, but good lord reprogram the UI engine, the more tabs they add to the rep and admiralty screens, the laggier it gets. Even before these systems the UI was already blamed for eating FPS like a boss, now with all the stuff that keeps getting thrown on there it misses clicks, lags, pages don't load right (admiralty is guilty of this lIke crazy with the Fed tab showing kdf missions and vice versa).
Yeah the gateway mobile site is dead for development unfortunately, the doffing system and admiralty would be PERFECT for it but they don't want to continue it.. see adding that as a mobile companion to the game would have been epic. That being said.I don't mind these systems necessarily, but good lord reprogram the UI engine, the more tabs they add to the rep and admiralty screens, the laggier it gets. Even before these systems the UI was already blamed for eating FPS like a boss, now with all the stuff that keeps getting thrown on there it misses clicks, lags, pages don't load right (admiralty is guilty of this lIke crazy with the Fed tab showing kdf missions and vice versa).
I recall reading that there's a contractual reason that they can't put all the clicky stuff into a mobile/app interface, they don't have the rights to the IP for that kind of game.
This is my Risian Corvette. There are many like it, but this one is mine.
It's just another feature you can choose to take part in or choose to ignore.
I am seriously confused why anybody complains about 'extra's being added to the game.
If your complaint is 'they should be spending resources on something more interesting'; well in that case everybody's definition of 'interesting' is different.
As my grandmother used to say: "Take it or leave it, but don't start bellyaching if your hungry later". (But then she was a 'hardcore' grandmother who lived through a world war, rations and a whole boatload of TRIBBLE).
Because there's obviously a trade off. For every dev hour invested into clicky features there's one hour less spend on creating a new mission, a new queue or a new ship.
Yeah the gateway mobile site is dead for development unfortunately, the doffing system and admiralty would be PERFECT for it but they don't want to continue it.. see adding that as a mobile companion to the game would have been epic. That being said.I don't mind these systems necessarily, but good lord reprogram the UI engine, the more tabs they add to the rep and admiralty screens, the laggier it gets. Even before these systems the UI was already blamed for eating FPS like a boss, now with all the stuff that keeps getting thrown on there it misses clicks, lags, pages don't load right (admiralty is guilty of this lIke crazy with the Fed tab showing kdf missions and vice versa).
I recall reading that there's a contractual reason that they can't put all the clicky stuff into a mobile/app interface, they don't have the rights to the IP for that kind of game.
Hm is that the case here?
I mean gateway already has some considerable fleet interaction where one can slot projects and fill them without being logged in game at all.
I think the reason why cryptic did not expand the gateway functionality as far as doffing and admiralty is concerned is a different beast. Log in numbers are their main magnitude after revenue which tells them if their game is healthy or sick.
Given how often I have heard from my friends and fleet mates “sorry Pete, I’m just here to doff quickly before I head out again” since delta rising I conclude they don’t expand gateway for that reason alone.
Looking for a fun PvE fleet? Join us at Omega Combat Division today.
THEY LAUGHED WHEN I BOUGHT THE KDF DYSON DESTROYER 3-PACK! BUT WHO'S LAUGHING NOW?
ha! I cried for quite a while after making that purchase myself - the only bad one I've made in the game. But it is swell to have for admiralty.
Stop it, I've been looking at the fed/rom/kdf pack for some time now just for that reason ;-)
I do like the admiralty system and am very grateful to Cryptic for it. I am looking forward to the new Romulan admiralty add on. I have bought lots of c-store ships and its my reward
I agree with some of the points here but if you dislike it dont play it. It does take money to create stuff, the more money they make and better stuff they create, also it takes time. If you think 2-3 people can roll out good content weekly think again. Take a look at the detail of this event were doing now, doesnt matter if you like it or not, look at the work put into it, some times I just fly slow so I can check things out. I never fail the mission but Im not always in a rush either and I dont expect anyone who codes to do the same.
There are days I just jump in to ensure the crew are doing their assignments and process my dill on my 5 toons daily. Yes, its a job but some times the end result is very rewarding for me.
Because there's obviously a trade off. For every dev hour invested into clicky features there's one hour less spend on creating a new mission, a new queue or a new ship.
Systems such as Reputations, Admiralty, and Duty Officers are built by Systems Designers. (They also build powers, items, and critters.)
Content such as missions, queues, or seasonal events is built by Content Designers. (They also build calendar bonuses, shard-wide events, patrols, and tutorialization.)
(These are simply nomenclature to differentiate the disciplines.)
If you want fewer game systems and more missions, that doesn't mean one person making X instead of Y. It means replacing a System Designer with a Content Designer.
It's just another feature you can choose to take part in or choose to ignore.
I am seriously confused why anybody complains about 'extra's being added to the game.
If your complaint is 'they should be spending resources on something more interesting'; well in that case everybody's definition of 'interesting' is different.
As my grandmother used to say: "Take it or leave it, but don't start bellyaching if your hungry later". (But then she was a 'hardcore' grandmother who lived through a world war, rations and a whole boatload of TRIBBLE).
The problem is that if you choose to ignore it you are unwittingly gimping yourself. Cryptic has made the game harder -- not just the queues but throughout the entire game. Enemies have more hitpoints and do more damage. Casual play that used to be a breeze and something you could mindlessly enjoy for an hour or so is now something that takes concentration, planning, and a lot more time.
And then when you do get to level 60 and have played all the story missions available, what's left pretty much requires you to have better than basic skills and gear in order to complete, with piddly rewards no less.
I have seen the current trend and like others in this thread really do not like where the game is going. Grind for the sake of grind to me is not fun. Logging in every day to spend an hour or more clicking and clicking and clicking is not fun. Time-gating reputation, admiralty and dilithium refining is not fun. If I have enough marks to max out a rep why do I have to wait 40 days to actually get it maxed? It's ridiculous. Upwards of 8 or more MONTHS of DAILY resets to max out a crafting specialty. There is not enough free time in my day to keep all my alts up-to-date and viable to play at level 60. Which means most of them simply do not get played. All of the time and energy that went into building them, customizing them, creating backstories, designing uniforms, deciding upon a ship, and crafting a place for them in the STO universe was all for nothing, because they sit collecting dust, relics of a game that used to be fun and accessible to play, but is now a chore.
I did this past Into the Breach event, like I have done all others previously, and it will be my last. 42 times I ran that damned mission, time gated to over 2 weeks of my life. And no, I will NOT do it or any event like it again. Ever. I have had enough.
This is what I tell people who ask me if they should play STO. I tell them to pick a faction, create one character, and play thru the story. When you run out of story content, stop. Just stop. Do not continue. Your options at that point are to either create a new character of another faction and play thru their storyline or move on to another game, coming back to STO whenever new content is released (and do NOT get sucked into this "play this mission once a week for 4 weeks to get a few trinkets" nonsense. Play it once, and be done with it.)
Playing a starship captain and feeling like you're part of the Star Trek mythos...that's a thing of beauty. But that abruptly ends once you run out of missions. What's left is a never-ending carrot-on-a-stick grind that is not fun and not Trek, and literally sucks all the enjoyment out of doing anything in the game, including new missions.
And yes, I would like to see Cryptic hire more content designers and fewer system designers. We don't need more systems. We have enough. We honestly have too many. But one thing we can never have enough of is content.
Oh, and I completely understand why things are being done the way they are. You force people to login and "play" for an hour every day and you get to crow about how great your numbers are. Look... see how many people we have "playing" our game? See how long they "play" every day? We're doing a great job, aren't we PWE? Oh yes, I understand it all too well, which only makes it that much more infuriating because it's done on purpose, not to the make the game more enjoyable, but to manipulate people into doing things they likely have no interest in doing (or do so solely for the desire/need to keep pace with the increasing difficulty of the end game content) in order to justify your existence. Thing is, if you gave people a really good and enjoyable reason to log in and play they would -- not because they felt compelled to, but because they wanted to because it was FUN. Pressure them with all this nonsense, and all it does is lead to growing resentment, burnout, and churn. There are a few game developers that understand this and get it right. Unfortunately Cryptic is not one of them. The absolute failure of Champions should have been their first clue that this method of driving numbers is not sustainable in the long term.
In today's current meta, before I even start considering playing it takes me close to 3 hours to just do doff missions, specialization, R&D, fleet, etc.
Is there a ceiling to how many more of these Cryptic intend adding?
Because frankly, I would much rather dev time be spent on creation of episodes, than another specialization or reputation.
At some point these features loose their appeal, and just become resented as additional grind.
Why not spend time on a new dialogue system that does not entail Pop-ups but use the KOTOR, Witcher mechanics?
Why not design a new exploration arc?
Why not work on overhaul to PvP?
Why not work on a new Faction?
Why not work on a more interactive Bridge Commander aspect to the ship navigation?
Why not work on overhaul to Doff system?
Surely at some point specializations, reputations, etc have to end... Please tell me they end. If the game lasts 2-3 more years, I do not want to imagine how much admin there is going to be. 6-8 hours clicking the mouse?
And when you get to the end of the specialization you realize the complete futility of having it anyway, as everyone else will have the exactly duplicate you have, so any advantage "intended" is completed irrelevant over time. Months of grind only to come full circle.
I love all these clicky features you so hate. Adding more takes nothing away from the game and it's not like you're forced to do them.
As much as I'd like some of these suggestions you put forward, I must disagree with your premise. plus, Doffing is nearly perfect as it is, an overhaul would likely ruin one of my favorite aspects of the game.
"He shall be my finest warrior, this generic man who was forced upon me.
Like a badass I shall make him look, and in the furnace of war I shall forge him.
he shall be of iron will and steely sinew.
In great armour I shall clad him and with the mightiest weapons he shall be armed.
He will be untouched by plague or disease; no sickness shall blight him.
He shall have such tactics, strategies and machines that no foe will best him in battle.
He is my answer to cryptic logic, he is the Defender of my Romulan Crew.
He is Tovan Khev... and he shall know no fear."
This is what I tell people who ask me if they should play STO. I tell them to pick a faction, create one character, and play thru the story. When you run out of story content, stop. Just stop. Do not continue. Your options at that point are to either create a new character of another faction and play thru their storyline or move on to another game, coming back to STO whenever new content is released.
I disagree. Not everybody needs a constant influx of 'content' to be happy. I have not created a new character for years, and whilst I'm always grateful for any new storyline updates - the gap between them is no big deal (for me).
You say there is nothing to do once you have played through the storyline - I think many would disagree with you. I for instance enjoy doing STF's just for the sake of doing STF's (I find them fun - I don't even do it to complete the 'rep' system).
Some people play the foundry, there are some very interesting high quality stories to be found there. Some people just socialise, some people like to 'tinker' with ships as a hobby, a bit like a mechanic would do.
Some like 'clicky' content, some do not. But there are plenty of other things to do between 'content' updates as I have illustrated above.
I personally have never 'grinded', and do not understand such mentality - I play what I enjoy, and if I happen to get some kind of token from it (such as a rep token) I'll use it and get some freebies from it - but the tail does not 'wag the dog', I use my leisure time doing what I find enjoyable, if it ceases to be enjoyable then I no longer do it.
you mentioned you did The Breach over 40 times - that is enough to drive anyone insane, so why did you do it?, you clearly did not enjoy it because you said you would never do it again and seem quite angry about it.
If you don't find anything enjoyable about the game any more, perhaps you should follow the advice you mentioned you give to friends, and move on?
I've 'moved on' quite a few times when the game no longer held my interest and did other things (at one point I didn't log in for a year). When I came back, things seemed 'fresher' and more interesting. So definitely don't carry on if its not fun, that's the epitome of insanity when playing a 'game'.
Because there's obviously a trade off. For every dev hour invested into clicky features there's one hour less spend on creating a new mission, a new queue or a new ship.
Systems such as Reputations, Admiralty, and Duty Officers are built by Systems Designers. (They also build powers, items, and critters.)
Content such as missions, queues, or seasonal events is built by Content Designers. (They also build calendar bonuses, shard-wide events, patrols, and tutorialization.)
(These are simply nomenclature to differentiate the disciplines.)
If you want fewer game systems and more missions, that doesn't mean one person making X instead of Y. It means replacing a System Designer with a Content Designer.
Comments
Oh if you like those activities and if they are the reason for you to play this space & ground combat action game with the star trek ip I apologize.
Yea, I have one or two in my fleet who also do this stuff mainly and like it. However it’s some 1% on my count. The rest just does it to get better or have more fun in the actual active game itself and that in a more reasonable time frame.
For them klickies are a tool, not the artwork.
Looking for a fun PvE fleet? Join us at Omega Combat Division today.
All good points you made, and actually yes I do know. I've been a Software Developer for going on 13 years. And perhaps I was not clear enough - each of these systems has a purpose and intent and I see that. My point is the exponential growth of this over time where it can become unmanageable, esp. for new players. Every single one of my friends I've tried recruiting to play, are immediately turned off by it.
I do wish Admiralty was far closer to what DStahl always suggested it could be, but I'll take what I got and enjoy it as it is.
For me it's an add-on to the game I play. Not the game itself. So I guess I identify with the folks who say that they don't do it often so it doesn't bug them. Thing is, I DOFF the heck out of DOFFing so I do it very often. It's part of my gameplay. And I always have this need to run ships on assignment. Though I feel weird assigning the ship I'm flying, and tend to leave that one unassigned.
So in my head, it's part of the game/story I'm doing. Hence, I like it.
Others mileage varies greatly on this.
Doff and Admiralty don't seem to need any dev time other then adding a new mission chain every so often.
In terms of UI revamps, Boff and trait revamps were really great. That was dev time well spent. Skill tree.I don't know yet, haven't looked.
I don't think it will be as great as the Boff/trait revamps were, but it should be better then it is (I hope).
But I think we're all getting a little tired of the UI stuff.
The only other UI revamp I think we need is maybe the Officers page. Where you assign your first officer and heads of departents.
But that can wait.
Hopefully the Devs are already working on a lot of what the OP mentions.
They said this will be a BIG year. And that they have a lot in store for us.
And congrats on the fleet Drk. That's commendable.
I am seriously confused why anybody complains about 'extra's being added to the game.
If your complaint is 'they should be spending resources on something more interesting'; well in that case everybody's definition of 'interesting' is different.
As my grandmother used to say: "Take it or leave it, but don't start bellyaching if your hungry later". (But then she was a 'hardcore' grandmother who lived through a world war, rations and a whole boatload of TRIBBLE).
USS WARRIOR NCC 1720 Commanding Officer
Star Trek Gamers
A huge quality of life improvement that I think would help make duty officers at least consume less time is making it location independent, like the admiralty. Maybe add a duration multiplier to some of them based on distance if truly necessary, or a random chance (since they LOVE RNG so much) for some special bonus if you pick up a mission in its actual section.
Alternatively, they could be sent on missions aboard an Admiralty ship.
I do like this kind of systems, but would prefer to play them on a phone/tablet app than sitting at my computer.
I recall reading that there's a contractual reason that they can't put all the clicky stuff into a mobile/app interface, they don't have the rights to the IP for that kind of game.
Because there's obviously a trade off. For every dev hour invested into clicky features there's one hour less spend on creating a new mission, a new queue or a new ship.
Hm is that the case here?
I mean gateway already has some considerable fleet interaction where one can slot projects and fill them without being logged in game at all.
I think the reason why cryptic did not expand the gateway functionality as far as doffing and admiralty is concerned is a different beast. Log in numbers are their main magnitude after revenue which tells them if their game is healthy or sick.
Given how often I have heard from my friends and fleet mates “sorry Pete, I’m just here to doff quickly before I head out again” since delta rising I conclude they don’t expand gateway for that reason alone.
Looking for a fun PvE fleet? Join us at Omega Combat Division today.
Stop it, I've been looking at the fed/rom/kdf pack for some time now just for that reason ;-)
I do like the admiralty system and am very grateful to Cryptic for it. I am looking forward to the new Romulan admiralty add on. I have bought lots of c-store ships and its my reward
I agree with some of the points here but if you dislike it dont play it. It does take money to create stuff, the more money they make and better stuff they create, also it takes time. If you think 2-3 people can roll out good content weekly think again. Take a look at the detail of this event were doing now, doesnt matter if you like it or not, look at the work put into it, some times I just fly slow so I can check things out. I never fail the mission but Im not always in a rush either and I dont expect anyone who codes to do the same.
There are days I just jump in to ensure the crew are doing their assignments and process my dill on my 5 toons daily. Yes, its a job but some times the end result is very rewarding for me.
that being said.... all in good time... all in good time...
Systems such as Reputations, Admiralty, and Duty Officers are built by Systems Designers. (They also build powers, items, and critters.)
Content such as missions, queues, or seasonal events is built by Content Designers. (They also build calendar bonuses, shard-wide events, patrols, and tutorialization.)
(These are simply nomenclature to differentiate the disciplines.)
If you want fewer game systems and more missions, that doesn't mean one person making X instead of Y. It means replacing a System Designer with a Content Designer.
The problem is that if you choose to ignore it you are unwittingly gimping yourself. Cryptic has made the game harder -- not just the queues but throughout the entire game. Enemies have more hitpoints and do more damage. Casual play that used to be a breeze and something you could mindlessly enjoy for an hour or so is now something that takes concentration, planning, and a lot more time.
And then when you do get to level 60 and have played all the story missions available, what's left pretty much requires you to have better than basic skills and gear in order to complete, with piddly rewards no less.
I have seen the current trend and like others in this thread really do not like where the game is going. Grind for the sake of grind to me is not fun. Logging in every day to spend an hour or more clicking and clicking and clicking is not fun. Time-gating reputation, admiralty and dilithium refining is not fun. If I have enough marks to max out a rep why do I have to wait 40 days to actually get it maxed? It's ridiculous. Upwards of 8 or more MONTHS of DAILY resets to max out a crafting specialty. There is not enough free time in my day to keep all my alts up-to-date and viable to play at level 60. Which means most of them simply do not get played. All of the time and energy that went into building them, customizing them, creating backstories, designing uniforms, deciding upon a ship, and crafting a place for them in the STO universe was all for nothing, because they sit collecting dust, relics of a game that used to be fun and accessible to play, but is now a chore.
I did this past Into the Breach event, like I have done all others previously, and it will be my last. 42 times I ran that damned mission, time gated to over 2 weeks of my life. And no, I will NOT do it or any event like it again. Ever. I have had enough.
This is what I tell people who ask me if they should play STO. I tell them to pick a faction, create one character, and play thru the story. When you run out of story content, stop. Just stop. Do not continue. Your options at that point are to either create a new character of another faction and play thru their storyline or move on to another game, coming back to STO whenever new content is released (and do NOT get sucked into this "play this mission once a week for 4 weeks to get a few trinkets" nonsense. Play it once, and be done with it.)
Playing a starship captain and feeling like you're part of the Star Trek mythos...that's a thing of beauty. But that abruptly ends once you run out of missions. What's left is a never-ending carrot-on-a-stick grind that is not fun and not Trek, and literally sucks all the enjoyment out of doing anything in the game, including new missions.
And yes, I would like to see Cryptic hire more content designers and fewer system designers. We don't need more systems. We have enough. We honestly have too many. But one thing we can never have enough of is content.
Oh, and I completely understand why things are being done the way they are. You force people to login and "play" for an hour every day and you get to crow about how great your numbers are. Look... see how many people we have "playing" our game? See how long they "play" every day? We're doing a great job, aren't we PWE? Oh yes, I understand it all too well, which only makes it that much more infuriating because it's done on purpose, not to the make the game more enjoyable, but to manipulate people into doing things they likely have no interest in doing (or do so solely for the desire/need to keep pace with the increasing difficulty of the end game content) in order to justify your existence. Thing is, if you gave people a really good and enjoyable reason to log in and play they would -- not because they felt compelled to, but because they wanted to because it was FUN. Pressure them with all this nonsense, and all it does is lead to growing resentment, burnout, and churn. There are a few game developers that understand this and get it right. Unfortunately Cryptic is not one of them. The absolute failure of Champions should have been their first clue that this method of driving numbers is not sustainable in the long term.
Just my 2 cents.
I love all these clicky features you so hate. Adding more takes nothing away from the game and it's not like you're forced to do them.
As much as I'd like some of these suggestions you put forward, I must disagree with your premise. plus, Doffing is nearly perfect as it is, an overhaul would likely ruin one of my favorite aspects of the game.
"He shall be my finest warrior, this generic man who was forced upon me.
Like a badass I shall make him look, and in the furnace of war I shall forge him.
he shall be of iron will and steely sinew.
In great armour I shall clad him and with the mightiest weapons he shall be armed.
He will be untouched by plague or disease; no sickness shall blight him.
He shall have such tactics, strategies and machines that no foe will best him in battle.
He is my answer to cryptic logic, he is the Defender of my Romulan Crew.
He is Tovan Khev... and he shall know no fear."
I disagree. Not everybody needs a constant influx of 'content' to be happy. I have not created a new character for years, and whilst I'm always grateful for any new storyline updates - the gap between them is no big deal (for me).
You say there is nothing to do once you have played through the storyline - I think many would disagree with you. I for instance enjoy doing STF's just for the sake of doing STF's (I find them fun - I don't even do it to complete the 'rep' system).
Some people play the foundry, there are some very interesting high quality stories to be found there. Some people just socialise, some people like to 'tinker' with ships as a hobby, a bit like a mechanic would do.
Some like 'clicky' content, some do not. But there are plenty of other things to do between 'content' updates as I have illustrated above.
I personally have never 'grinded', and do not understand such mentality - I play what I enjoy, and if I happen to get some kind of token from it (such as a rep token) I'll use it and get some freebies from it - but the tail does not 'wag the dog', I use my leisure time doing what I find enjoyable, if it ceases to be enjoyable then I no longer do it.
you mentioned you did The Breach over 40 times - that is enough to drive anyone insane, so why did you do it?, you clearly did not enjoy it because you said you would never do it again and seem quite angry about it.
If you don't find anything enjoyable about the game any more, perhaps you should follow the advice you mentioned you give to friends, and move on?
I've 'moved on' quite a few times when the game no longer held my interest and did other things (at one point I didn't log in for a year). When I came back, things seemed 'fresher' and more interesting. So definitely don't carry on if its not fun, that's the epitome of insanity when playing a 'game'.
My character Tsin'xing