I’m enjoying the new release a lot. I could not imagine a better way to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Star Trek within STO.
Like everybody else I would have loved to stay a bit longer in the 23c but considering how much more we got for the other factions I’m fine with it.
On top of it all is the current recruitment event. If I ad up all the benefits it provides for the new toon and especially the account many aspects of the grindy nature in this game have been successfully negated.
I voted with "exceeded low expectations" because after Delta Rising my expectations where not zero but basically minus ten. AoY managed a solid six out of ten and with the recruitment event combined even a eight out of ten.
Looking for a fun PvE fleet? Join us at Omega Combat Division today.
Seems kind of pointless unless you're spending a fortune on the temporal pack. I'd rather spend my money on better things than ships that are obsolete after 10 levels.
I have low expectations for any expansion. I've been enjoying this expansion a lot, though, so it's certainly exceeded my expectations. I have my new AoY characters, and they've been benefitting greatly from the Temporal Agent system. I like my new temporal battlecruiser, and I've been making good use of some of the new costume pieces. I have a new character making rapid progress in the Reputation System, which is a first for me.
Seems kind of pointless unless you're spending a fortune on the temporal pack. I'd rather spend my money on better things than ships that are obsolete after 10 levels.
Can't say I'm surprised by these results...what you get when the devs make a expansion that is small enough to be a season as a excuse to sell a big ship pack that pawns of the letter Tee Ohh Ess.
Seems kind of pointless unless you're spending a fortune on the temporal pack. I'd rather spend my money on better things than ships that are obsolete after 10 levels.
Such as a 7-pack of t6 ships?
You can buy those for old characters leveling up a new character is just a lot of work with little fun involved. At least in LoR there were free romulan ships to look forward to testing along the way.
The Procyon V STF is not good. Portals and endless attack waves again, Devs? You guys sure will ride a good idea to destruction, won't you? I understand how <copy/paste> saves time, money, and man hours. But it should not be used in lieu of creativity. <copy/paste> is not the magic wand some game designers wish it were. I view it as a sign of laziness and shoddy game design when it is overused. And the Cryptic Dev Team has established an All Star status using <copy/paste>.
That isn't the only copy/paste, notice how that every time you go to Sol you get told how to dock?
That is just like how the fed-aligned Romulans get treated, seems that to make this ToS 'faction' they copy/pasted the romulan one then edited it heavily.
At this stage of the game...no pun intended...I am simply happy with new content. I intentionally keep my expectations low and am happy with continued new content. I am still hoping for a T6 K'tinga and Vor'cha, but continue to fly the T5-U versions. New content is always good. It means the STO virtual world is expanding.
old school sound effects
old gorns in character maker (if they get it working)
old story lines
the bad
Bugs
poorly cleaned sound files taken from old shows, if your
going to swipe sound bites from the old shows, clean them up so they
don't sound like a 12 year old did it.
4 races, 1 nobody ever uses.
you could have thrown us a bone by including Alien, but instead we see
the game areas FLOODED with clones of the same 3 characters - minus the pigs nobody
hardly played in the regular game.
Probes hidden to make the game more 'challenging' < technical word for 'less fun'
No return of old school Klingons (unless I missed that)
No M'Ress hair style (or similar) for Caitian females.
The Ugly
cut N paste Delta recruit expansion.
no Klingon version
The expansion is a disappointment.
Great idea, poorly done
The Procyon V STF is not good. Portals and endless attack waves again, Devs? You guys sure will ride a good idea to destruction, won't you? I understand how <copy/paste> saves time, money, and man hours. But it should not be used in lieu of creativity. <copy/paste> is not the magic wand some game designers wish it were. I view it as a sign of laziness and shoddy game design when it is overused. And the Cryptic Dev Team has established an All Star status using <copy/paste>.
That isn't the only copy/paste, notice how that every time you go to Sol you get told how to dock?
That is just like how the fed-aligned Romulans get treated, seems that to make this ToS 'faction' they copy/pasted the romulan one then edited it heavily.
and that's what makes them smart...anyone who's STUPID enough to continue typing code entirely by hand when there's already a template in place doesn't deserve to have any kind of a job as a programmer - things like that are the ENTIRE reason copy/paste was invented
A normie goes "Oh, what's this?"
An otaku goes "UwU, what's this?"
A furry goes "OwO, what's this?"
A werewolf goes "Awoo, what's this?"
"It's nothing personal, I just don't feel like I've gotten to know a person until I've sniffed their crotch." "We said 'no' to Mr. Curiosity. We're not home. Curiosity is not welcome, it is not to be invited in. Curiosity...is bad. It gets you in trouble, it gets you killed, and more importantly...it makes you poor!"
Passion and Serenity are one.
I gain power by understanding both.
In the chaos of their battle, I bring order.
I am a shadow, darkness born from light.
The Force is united within me.
Would have loved to roll a Klingon, Gorn or even Romulan in the TOS era. That would have been a lot more fun for me than one of four races. Meh, missed opportunity I think.
Warning: this will be long. I offer this as honest feedback from my perspective, because there's no way to improve on something if no one tells you honestly what they feel is wrong. I'm not going to touch what ISN'T there (like a Klingon campaign), or what was said off the cuff in podcasts or Twitter, just what is actually, officially in the game.
1. Numerous system problems. While nothing especially game breaking for me (yet), the "server not responding" message on nearly every map transfer screen for an episode, combined with "must kill" enemies falling through the floor and areas of the map actually trapping my character (Tholian consoles popping out) force me to abandon and restart the mission.
2. The new TOS user interface menus are poorly colored - especially the duty officer UI. Bright yellow on light brown is hard on the human eye to read - they are too similar. Consult the color wheel to better pick distinct color combinations.
3. While ship and environment graphics look nice (when they aren't masked by numerous text and pop-up overlays, but this is not unique to the expansion), the 3d models for the people are dated and poorly rendered. Compare Spock's appearance in the TOS character's promotion cutscene to this done in someone's spare time back in January 2014 using a free program:
That same free program also allows you to do animations, currently being used in video games, motion comics, and ad commercials.
5. The Battle of Procyon STF is poorly implemented. It is literally repeat the same action and watch the same two cut scenes three times, when this could have been far better done.
Stage 1 - Remain in stealth and look for/find evidence of temporal tampering.
Stage 2 - Engage enemy time ships and deploy MacGuffin Device to prevent further tampering.
Stage 3 - Aid the now weakened allied fleet in clearing the path for Enterprise-J to make its famous run on the sphere. (By the way, what is wrong with the J's pylons/nacelles?)
6. The storyline is weak. There are many pieces here that I'm rolling up into one, but here are some of the most glaring are. Game mechanic limitations do not excuse these, because writing for the story should work around those limitations.
- The Not'Kool (forgot their actual spelling, so just gave them this nickname) are incredibly weak, to the point that a Level 1 starship from hundreds of years in the past is superior to their most advanced warships. No wonder they have to go back in time to have any impact.
- Player characters are the prototypical definition of a Mary Sue/Marty Stu fanfic trope, complete with a "too good for this sinful Earth" death - sort of. The rest of the game is somewhat like this, but it doesn't have the source material's heroes fawning over us. Captain Kim, Seven, Tuvok all were integrated far better.
- The Temporal Agent concept gets simply nonsensical. Why does the TOS character end up in the 25th century instead of Daniels' century - since he's abducting the character from the timeline? Why allow the Tholian colony fleet to be destroyed at all instead of going back to prevent it, since he states this SHOULDN'T happen? If my ship is destroyed - as Daniels says - how do I still have it when I reach the future time? Why does no one in the future even question who I am or why I have no past - especially since I should theoretically be somewhat remembered for being the only reason Starfleet wasn't obliterated at Caleb? Since the reason the Not'Kool hate us is because they lost their star to temporal shenanigans, by definition shouldn't we fix the star - removing their reason to hate us as a side effect?
These are just a few of the obvious questions. STO is not big on logic - as my cat with a gingerbread man army can attest to - but I expect better from the official storyline.
- The story narrative actively argues against itself, the C-store purchases, and what the player wants to do. When dropped into the 25th century, the player is explicitly told to "pretend not to be who you are pretending to be." I can do that by not playing the game. This is a jarring disconnect, since the whole point was to create a "TOS character."
I'm not a fan of TOS - don't like or dislike it, just was before my time - and even I find this in poor taste since you wanted me to go through the process of creating and developing this character. If this were the end result, why not have me start off as a 25th century officer recruited out of the academy by Temporal Agents, because they know my "potential" and the threat is just that dire, to go back and forth between the two time periods? This would allow for more missions through the leveling process, maybe living a dual life between the two times, and justify how/why we would get "new" old school ships.
7. Mini-games to unlock the Temporal Probes are math problems and word puzzles? It feels like I'm studying for a test, not relaxing and having fun. Certainly nothing that feels connected to the Star Trek world.
8. The inability to have any actual post-level 10 TOS equipment and personnel defeats the purpose of creating the character. All TOS characters should have a means of getting the old school styled equipment, at least for basic things like hand phasers, shields, engines, and so on. A home run would be for loot drops and crafting to replace current time equipment with these and have them be tradeable, but even just a special requisition from the dilithium store (at a reasonable price) would be acceptable. This would allow the characters to feel at least somewhat unique throughout the entire lifespan.
The TOS part of the game was way too short, in my opinion. I was really geeking out with that '60s vibe it had going, and then bam it was all over. It don't think it would have hurt the devs to put a bit more content into it, or at least give us a way of swapping back and forth between the two centuries, particularly as I didn't grab the 23c BOff skills. Also, the lack of 23c equipment is a bit annoying, I can live with it of course, but annoying nonetheless.
So for me the expansion was fun while it lasted, but it didn't last long enough. I want a 23c STO experience, and AoY gave it to me... for 10 levels... and that's just not enough.
When it was announced I wasn't that excited. Do I want to reroll for a couple of missions in a scifi sixty setting? However now it is here and I have played it, I think it is really well done and gives a special flavour to the game, a nice enrichment. I enjoy it and let is sink in, but this expansion could have been awesome if they had done the same for a KDF and Romulan character. It is just a small after thought though.
Why does the TOS character end up in the 25th century instead of Daniels' century - since he's abducting the character from the timeline?
Because you're there as a temporal agent to start helping Daniels immediately, with what is about to happen on P'Jem.
If my ship is destroyed - as Daniels says - how do I still have it when I reach the future time?
You don't have it. You basically show up on Space Dock, report to Quinn and he immediately assigns you a new ship to captain. At least that's how the story goes. Yeah, you do have a ship in terms of game mechanics, but in terms of story, you get the one Quinn assigns you.
Why does no one in the future even question who I am or why I have no past - especially since I should theoretically be somewhat remembered for being the only reason Starfleet wasn't obliterated at Caleb?
Agent Cray (a former crew member on the Bozeman who has some experience with this and who now works with Daniels) helped pave the way for your re-integration.
Also remember at this very point in time, due to the hostilities with the KDF and the threat of the Undine, and the return of the Borg at Vega Colony, Starfleet is stretched so thin that it's now giving field promotions to Ensigns right out of the academy.
To Quinn, you're a warm body that can fill a seat.
Since the reason the Not'Kool hate us is because they lost their star to temporal shenanigans, by definition shouldn't we fix the star - removing their reason to hate us as a side effect?
Captain Nog and Noye kind of demonstrate why that idea is likely not to work that well. But it's a solid question and you should ask it when you meet Daniels next!
Comments
Like everybody else I would have loved to stay a bit longer in the 23c but considering how much more we got for the other factions I’m fine with it.
On top of it all is the current recruitment event. If I ad up all the benefits it provides for the new toon and especially the account many aspects of the grindy nature in this game have been successfully negated.
I voted with "exceeded low expectations" because after Delta Rising my expectations where not zero but basically minus ten. AoY managed a solid six out of ten and with the recruitment event combined even a eight out of ten.
Looking for a fun PvE fleet? Join us at Omega Combat Division today.
So it met my "low" expectations...
My character Tsin'xing
PnP Red Box DM & Player (74 - ?). NWN + SoU + HotU (4-03),
NWN Diamond Edition, Neverwinter Nights Complete (NWN + NWN2).
You can buy those for old characters leveling up a new character is just a lot of work with little fun involved. At least in LoR there were free romulan ships to look forward to testing along the way.
That isn't the only copy/paste, notice how that every time you go to Sol you get told how to dock?
That is just like how the fed-aligned Romulans get treated, seems that to make this ToS 'faction' they copy/pasted the romulan one then edited it heavily.
Good
old school sound effects
old gorns in character maker (if they get it working)
old story lines
the bad
Bugs
poorly cleaned sound files taken from old shows, if your
going to swipe sound bites from the old shows, clean them up so they
don't sound like a 12 year old did it.
4 races, 1 nobody ever uses.
you could have thrown us a bone by including Alien, but instead we see
the game areas FLOODED with clones of the same 3 characters - minus the pigs nobody
hardly played in the regular game.
Probes hidden to make the game more 'challenging' < technical word for 'less fun'
No return of old school Klingons (unless I missed that)
No M'Ress hair style (or similar) for Caitian females.
The Ugly
cut N paste Delta recruit expansion.
no Klingon version
The expansion is a disappointment.
Great idea, poorly done
and that's what makes them smart...anyone who's STUPID enough to continue typing code entirely by hand when there's already a template in place doesn't deserve to have any kind of a job as a programmer - things like that are the ENTIRE reason copy/paste was invented
#LegalizeAwoo
A normie goes "Oh, what's this?"
An otaku goes "UwU, what's this?"
A furry goes "OwO, what's this?"
A werewolf goes "Awoo, what's this?"
"It's nothing personal, I just don't feel like I've gotten to know a person until I've sniffed their crotch."
"We said 'no' to Mr. Curiosity. We're not home. Curiosity is not welcome, it is not to be invited in. Curiosity...is bad. It gets you in trouble, it gets you killed, and more importantly...it makes you poor!"
1. Numerous system problems. While nothing especially game breaking for me (yet), the "server not responding" message on nearly every map transfer screen for an episode, combined with "must kill" enemies falling through the floor and areas of the map actually trapping my character (Tholian consoles popping out) force me to abandon and restart the mission.
2. The new TOS user interface menus are poorly colored - especially the duty officer UI. Bright yellow on light brown is hard on the human eye to read - they are too similar. Consult the color wheel to better pick distinct color combinations.
3. While ship and environment graphics look nice (when they aren't masked by numerous text and pop-up overlays, but this is not unique to the expansion), the 3d models for the people are dated and poorly rendered. Compare Spock's appearance in the TOS character's promotion cutscene to this done in someone's spare time back in January 2014 using a free program:
You can even buy Baby Spock outright for $20 - and apparently do strange things to him, but to each his own.
That same free program also allows you to do animations, currently being used in video games, motion comics, and ad commercials.
5. The Battle of Procyon STF is poorly implemented. It is literally repeat the same action and watch the same two cut scenes three times, when this could have been far better done.
Stage 1 - Remain in stealth and look for/find evidence of temporal tampering.
Stage 2 - Engage enemy time ships and deploy MacGuffin Device to prevent further tampering.
Stage 3 - Aid the now weakened allied fleet in clearing the path for Enterprise-J to make its famous run on the sphere. (By the way, what is wrong with the J's pylons/nacelles?)
6. The storyline is weak. There are many pieces here that I'm rolling up into one, but here are some of the most glaring are. Game mechanic limitations do not excuse these, because writing for the story should work around those limitations.
- The Not'Kool (forgot their actual spelling, so just gave them this nickname) are incredibly weak, to the point that a Level 1 starship from hundreds of years in the past is superior to their most advanced warships. No wonder they have to go back in time to have any impact.
- Player characters are the prototypical definition of a Mary Sue/Marty Stu fanfic trope, complete with a "too good for this sinful Earth" death - sort of. The rest of the game is somewhat like this, but it doesn't have the source material's heroes fawning over us. Captain Kim, Seven, Tuvok all were integrated far better.
- The Temporal Agent concept gets simply nonsensical. Why does the TOS character end up in the 25th century instead of Daniels' century - since he's abducting the character from the timeline? Why allow the Tholian colony fleet to be destroyed at all instead of going back to prevent it, since he states this SHOULDN'T happen? If my ship is destroyed - as Daniels says - how do I still have it when I reach the future time? Why does no one in the future even question who I am or why I have no past - especially since I should theoretically be somewhat remembered for being the only reason Starfleet wasn't obliterated at Caleb? Since the reason the Not'Kool hate us is because they lost their star to temporal shenanigans, by definition shouldn't we fix the star - removing their reason to hate us as a side effect?
These are just a few of the obvious questions. STO is not big on logic - as my cat with a gingerbread man army can attest to - but I expect better from the official storyline.
- The story narrative actively argues against itself, the C-store purchases, and what the player wants to do. When dropped into the 25th century, the player is explicitly told to "pretend not to be who you are pretending to be." I can do that by not playing the game. This is a jarring disconnect, since the whole point was to create a "TOS character."
I'm not a fan of TOS - don't like or dislike it, just was before my time - and even I find this in poor taste since you wanted me to go through the process of creating and developing this character. If this were the end result, why not have me start off as a 25th century officer recruited out of the academy by Temporal Agents, because they know my "potential" and the threat is just that dire, to go back and forth between the two time periods? This would allow for more missions through the leveling process, maybe living a dual life between the two times, and justify how/why we would get "new" old school ships.
7. Mini-games to unlock the Temporal Probes are math problems and word puzzles? It feels like I'm studying for a test, not relaxing and having fun. Certainly nothing that feels connected to the Star Trek world.
8. The inability to have any actual post-level 10 TOS equipment and personnel defeats the purpose of creating the character. All TOS characters should have a means of getting the old school styled equipment, at least for basic things like hand phasers, shields, engines, and so on. A home run would be for loot drops and crafting to replace current time equipment with these and have them be tradeable, but even just a special requisition from the dilithium store (at a reasonable price) would be acceptable. This would allow the characters to feel at least somewhat unique throughout the entire lifespan.
So for me the expansion was fun while it lasted, but it didn't last long enough. I want a 23c STO experience, and AoY gave it to me... for 10 levels... and that's just not enough.
what the lady with the pink hair said.
Because you're there as a temporal agent to start helping Daniels immediately, with what is about to happen on P'Jem.
You don't have it. You basically show up on Space Dock, report to Quinn and he immediately assigns you a new ship to captain. At least that's how the story goes. Yeah, you do have a ship in terms of game mechanics, but in terms of story, you get the one Quinn assigns you.
Agent Cray (a former crew member on the Bozeman who has some experience with this and who now works with Daniels) helped pave the way for your re-integration.
Also remember at this very point in time, due to the hostilities with the KDF and the threat of the Undine, and the return of the Borg at Vega Colony, Starfleet is stretched so thin that it's now giving field promotions to Ensigns right out of the academy.
To Quinn, you're a warm body that can fill a seat.
Captain Nog and Noye kind of demonstrate why that idea is likely not to work that well. But it's a solid question and you should ask it when you meet Daniels next!