Polishing for consoles - don't forget 'orphaned' content.

Hi everyone,

In light of the upcoming player surge with the new Console platforms this fall, Cryptic is polishing up the game (see Dev blogs about new graphical lighting upgrades). I just wanted to let the Dev Team know not to forget currently 'orphaned' content that is very important to the overall story flow in STO. I'm specifically talking about the New Romulus and Nukara story missions (and also to a lesser degree the Borg invasion of Defera)

I was a little shocked while running my Temporal Agent up the ladder that these areas are not included in the story arcs, especially considering they all took a great deal of development effort and are beautiful/very interesting areas with some good missions. The New Romulus content is especially critical as it has some major set up material for the rest of the game. (The Tholian and Defera content also has some major background stuff).

I would suggest a slight revamp on how this 'orphaned' content is structured to make it more like the Kobali adventure zone. Remove the restrictions (like the Romulan rep requirements, etc.) currently in place to 'unlock' missions in these older adventure areas and put them as new story arcs on the Episode list (see below). The old restrictions are no longer required as these missions are no longer 'end game' content. I would include the Nukara missions (Tholian Incursion) just after the 'Borg Advance' story arc and drop the requirement from level 50 to 48 having the arc start with the mission "Hot Lead". The New Romulus missions (staying level 50) should be added in just after 'Tholian Incursion' arc missions starting with "Lending a Helping hand" as the first mission.



In addition, an introduction to the Defera Invasion zone should also be added as a simple one shot (no replay) mission right at the start of the Borg Advance story arc (see above). Placing this intro mission just before the 'Report to Battle Group Omega" mission creates a wonderful segue from the Breen missions and their connection with the Deferi to the Borg storyline arc which follows. The mission level should be 47 in keeping with the rest of the Borg Advance missions and the mission contact should be Captain Kuzmina (Fed) or Captain Wek (KDF) who are in charge of the invasion base camp on Defera. This does mean that the adventure zone might have to have its level requirement reduced slightly (just as with the Nukara zone above). The mission dialog from Captain Kuzmina/Captain Wek for this intro mission could be as simple as, "Good job dealing with the Breen attempt to steal the Preserver's technology. Unfortunately we just went from the frying pan into the fire. The Borg somehow found out Defera had Preserver technology. A cube just dropped a massive probe near a city close to an old Preserver temple site and they have begun the assimilation process. We can't attack this threat using starships in orbit due to the proximity to the city and the temple. We need people on the ground to neutralize this invasion. Please report to me at the base camp we have set up outside the city." Once arriving on the surface, the contact's dialog would be as it is now (describing the invasion zone objectives, but saying the Borg are overrunning the 'area' not 'planet'). It would end with, "Thanks/Qa'pla for your assistance. We're making headway and will continue to our efforts to stop the Borg plans here. You should report to Battle Group Omega when you are ready, as it seems this is just the tip of the iceberg. The Borg are massing in the Beta Quadrant and we need to stop them before it's too late." The mission prompt to pick up the "Report to Battle Group Omega" mission would be included in the dialog box at this point.

With all the new players coming in with the console launch, I really think it's time to include all these areas in the story arc lists to help polish up the game and make the story much less confusing to people who haven't been playing the game for the last six years.

What do you all think?