I want to try and get a feel from the community of any burning issues, or even what would you like to see come into the game in the future. This can be furthering an already existing in game system or possibly a new system that you have thought of that you would like to get in the game.
The only thing I ask is to be reasonable. If something is totally out of the question or just ridiculously not acceptable or likely to make it into the game for whatever reason then please don't put them here! Thanks.
I plan on compiling a list from all replies here that I get from the community and keeping them for the next Dev interview that we hold on Priority One Podcast, most likely with the Lead Designer of Star Trek Online Al "CaptianGeko" Rivera.
Thank you all in advance and I look forward to see what you guys come up with!
This is a nice thread you made here. I hope any of this stuff you compile helps improve the game.
How about Cryptic fix the server farm issues? MIE is nearly unplayable due to lag now, as well as having to wait up to 2 minutes switching between fleet holdings for each map change? We're now seeing server diconnects even traveling through sector space or using the AS GUI. The more code is piled onto an overworked server, the fewer players will be enjoying the game.
Expendables Fleet: Andrew - Bajoran Fed Engineer Ken'taura - Rom/Fed Scientist Gwyllim - Human Fed Delta Tac Savik - Vulcan Fed Temporal Sci Dahar Masters Fleet: Alphal'Fa - Alien KDF Engineer Qun'pau - Rom/KDF Engineer D'nesh - Orion KDF Scientist Ghen'khan - Liberated KDF Tac Welcome to StarBug Online - to boldly Bug where no bug has been before!
STO player since November 2013
How about Cryptic fix the server farm issues? MIE is nearly unplayable due to lag now, as well as having to wait up to 2 minutes switching between fleet holdings for each map change? We're now seeing server diconnects even traveling through sector space or using the AS GUI. The more code is piled onto an overworked server, the fewer players will be enjoying the game.
That too I can see how that could be a nightmare for some players or most for that matter. Hope they do something.
I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to elaborate on what you mean exactly! Thanks!
Ezicstar wants to know if there are any plans for content parity between the factions when it comes to certain tier 6 ships and overall content, to change the situation of forcing the minority, Federation (Starfleet), onto the majority, Klingon Empire. See the original Nielsen Media Research customer survey results:
The poster also wants to know if there are any plans to make Romulans into a full-fledged faction.
I hope this helps.
....Yeah, so ignoring dubious survey results, basically what I'm saying is that people aren't incentivized to play as Romulans or KDF currently because of lack of content for those factions, and Cryptic is subsequently not incentivized to make content for those factions due to lack of players. So those of us who play as these factions anyway (and the many players who would be willing to play as them) are left out in the cold. Does he see this as a problem and if so, how might he address it?
It's all fine to ask for development of the different factions (albeit a bit pointless imo, but that's just my opinion) but repeating the results of a 6 or 7 years old poll that was asking a question that isn't even relevant today anymore (as it mostly focuses on opposing factions) isn't going to help your case, in any way.
If anything, it becomes rather boring and annoying for others to point out that this poll is not relevant in any way anymore, if it ever has been.
What I would like to see, and what I believe should be the main focus, is more playable species that give an unique experience.
I'm mostly thinking something along the lines of the Caitians: premium species with an unique trait that allows them to do something on a regular basis that others cannot do (in this case: higher jumping).
It would be something that's more than just a passive trait, like higher stats for melee damage or regeneration. Instead I'm thinking of thing like, as said, higher jumping, but also for example an option to use a personal cloaking device as innate trait (like the Voth do), an option to assimilate an enemy or at least damage them with nanites (for liberated Borg) or stuff like a third melee weapon slot filled with a Lirpa for premium Vulcans or Bat'leth for Federation Klingons and premium KDF Klingons.
This would make it possible to sell more species in the C-store, and bring some much needed diversity (with unique traits that you actually experience while playing the game as they would be clicky-things or extra slots that can be used more often than the current species-specific abilities we have) to the playable species.
To summarise: my question is if we can expect some kind of species revamp, and especially a species' trait revamp at some point in the future that would lead to more unique experiences and special abilities for different species as innate traits.
And perhaps more premium species, but I don't want to repeat myself too much as I've asked these things before
You're summing up pretty well how things got to this state (Rom and KDF were never full-fledged factions and so were never fully adopted by many players). But that doesn't imply that nothing can/will change.
One band-aid sort of way just to get people playing these factions more would be providing some cross-account benefits for levelling a KDF/Romulan toon. For example, your Fed toon having "friends" in the other factions might get them access to some exclusive rewards. That could work to boost the numbers in other factions which would in turn lead to more money spent there.
I'm afraid that he would say one of two things. Either (A) It already exists in the game in the form of your personal quarters available on all our starships. Or (B) that it is the same as "Bridges". As in it's not something that they are willing to invest time into as there is no return on investment.
I think it is very important get input from the community and try and bring it to the attention of the developers.
Okay, so what's the point of gathering information if you're just going to go ahead and tell us what he's going to say without it coming straight from his mouth? I know your amateur podcast isn't exactly the second coming of Walter Cronkite, but you could at least pretend to stick to the basic fundamentals of journalistic ethos instead of making it blatantly obvious you have no interest on reporting on what the people want to know.
I'm afraid that he would say one of two things. Either (A) It already exists in the game in the form of your personal quarters available on all our starships. Or (B) that it is the same as "Bridges". As in it's not something that they are willing to invest time into as there is no return on investment.
I think it is very important get input from the community and try and bring it to the attention of the developers.
Okay, so what's the point of gathering information if you're just going to go ahead and tell us what he's going to say without it coming straight from his mouth? I know your amateur podcast isn't exactly the second coming of Walter Cronkite, but you could at least pretend to stick to the basic fundamentals of journalistic ethos instead of making it blatantly obvious you have no interest on reporting on what the people want to know.
Well I did add the question to the list but I felt that it was better to give some extra info in case we don't get to ask it. What you have to understand is that we have to try and balance the questions we ask to what is going to be new information, and what the community wants. Then on top of that I want to ask what is know as the "tough" questions. I mean, what is an important question to one person may not be important at all to another person.
I think your statement that I'm making it "blatantly obvious you have no interest on reporting on what the people want to know" is very unfair and not true. I've reached out to the community looking for questions for our next interview. It's not realistic that all questions are going to make it. If you would rather I could do the norm and give no response at all or try and explain the process that we go through when selecting what questions get asked and which ones don't. Just an FYI on that, I have no intention on doing that what so ever. I think that I'm being open and honest and I think it is far more respectful to respond to someone and at the very least give them a reason why their question may not be asked.
In any case you are entitled to your opinion and I respect it. All I can say is that I'm trying to be as open and as honest as possible.
Twitter: @P1Winters83 YouTube: WintersGaming
=/\= ========================================== =/\=
Fleet Admiral Winters - Priority One Armada
U.S.S. Wolverine - NCC 831216
=/\= ========================================== =/\=
Armada Leader // Executive Producer // Host // Priority One Podcast
I want to try and get a feel from the community of any burning issues, or even what would you like to see come into the game in the future. This can be furthering an already existing in game system or possibly a new system that you have thought of that you would like to get in the game.
The only thing I ask is to be reasonable. If something is totally out of the question or just ridiculously not acceptable or likely to make it into the game for whatever reason then please don't put them here! Thanks.
I plan on compiling a list from all replies here that I get from the community and keeping them for the next Dev interview that we hold on Priority One Podcast, most likely with the Lead Designer of Star Trek Online Al "CaptianGeko" Rivera.
Thank you all in advance and I look forward to see what you guys come up with!
This is a nice thread you made here. I hope any of this stuff you compile helps improve the game.
Thanks a million jackson900pwe!
Twitter: @P1Winters83 YouTube: WintersGaming
=/\= ========================================== =/\=
Fleet Admiral Winters - Priority One Armada
U.S.S. Wolverine - NCC 831216
=/\= ========================================== =/\=
Armada Leader // Executive Producer // Host // Priority One Podcast
6) In the same line as #5 - could they please stop making (and possibly remove) the cut-scenes in the middle of fights and in Event Missions?
6) I can definitely see where you are coming from with this one. I suspect though that it is part of their strategy to keep you in missions for a set amount of time. I'll definitely add the question in some form.
I know a dev (Taco, maybe) has already gone on record essentially saying that the "Unskippable cutscene" is filling the purpose of a curtain at a play - drops to "hide" all the preparation for the next scene/act.
Think Time and Tide - while the cutscene is "down" (Giant Holo Noye), all the delegates are - as the game has to think - beaming over to their offices or "off map" while the grunts are lining up in the wings for their fights...
Detecting big-time "anti-old-school" bias here. NX? Lobi. TOS/TMP Connie? Super-promotion-box. (aka the two hardest ways to get ships) Excelsior & all 3 TNG "big hero" ships? C-Store. Please Equalize...
To rob a line: [quote: Mariemaia Kushrenada] Forum Posting is much like an endless waltz. The three beats of war, peace and revolution continue on forever. However, opinions will change upon the reading of my post.[/quote]
6) In the same line as #5 - could they please stop making (and possibly remove) the cut-scenes in the middle of fights and in Event Missions?
6) I can definitely see where you are coming from with this one. I suspect though that it is part of their strategy to keep you in missions for a set amount of time. I'll definitely add the question in some form.
I know a dev (Taco, maybe) has already gone on record essentially saying that the "Unskippable cutscene" is filling the purpose of a curtain at a play - drops to "hide" all the preparation for the next scene/act.
Think Time and Tide - while the cutscene is "down" (Giant Holo Noye), all the delegates are - as the game has to think - beaming over to their offices or "off map" while the grunts are lining up in the wings for their fights...
Yup, I remember that another Dev has said the same thing here on the forum. Sometimes the scenery or background also changes like in Borg disconnected. Cutscenes are a necessary evil it seems.
Still, it would be nice to know if they could limit the use of cutscenes or if they're working on alternatives that don't slow down the player and take the flow out of the mission.
> @winters83 said: > ezicstar ezicstar#2795 > > wrote: » > > Do they have any plans for addressing the lack of content for the other factions and the self-perpetuating Fed-centric situation it promotes? > > > > > I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to elaborate on what you mean exactly! Thanks!
For me a huge issue with the game is getting low fps on a decent pc (AMD-FX 6350 cpu, GTX 970 gpu). Most recent triple A games run very well on my system (60fps, high graphic detail) but STO can slow down to 20 even 10fps. Hiding the GUI almost quadruples the fps is some parts of the game. If this could be fixed and I could maintain at least 60 fps in the whole game (especially STFs and Battlezones) my enjoyment of STO would increase immensely.
One thing that is really breaking immersion for me is how at the moment enemy npcs don't fallout over when they die, they just stand there frozen in whatever position they were last in, or sometimes they fall over, get back up and then fall down again.
^ I've been noticing that too; sometimes I kill an enemy NPC and they get back up and then fall back down again, as if to say, "Ha! That didn't kill me! Oh wait... it did..." and then they fall over. lol So many things are broken in the game now.
If its not too late and if you still have room could you please ask if they (Cryptic) can add the Maco, Voth, Temporal and Counter Command armour to the UNIFORM tab, like they have with the terrain outfit - I would love to be able to mix'n'match some of those visuals. though, I'm not sure how it would work for the Honour Guard, as that suit just seems to ... um, clunky.
Similarly, no-one is suggesting that people who did not do a particular event should suddenly gain access to the time-limited rewards. So if I missed out on the Cochrane Shotgun event completely - there is no reason I should now gain access to it.
You were a bit rash in your claim. There should be some method of making them available to new players. I know that a lot of new players would rather grind for the Shotgun or Agony Rifle over an Admiralty Card. Spending Lobi to purchase Multidimensional Transporter Devices or Crystal Shards or work for the previous rewards by doing the Event on multiple characters. Exclusivity punishes new players for not playing the game earlier.
A possibility would be to add the Mirror Invasion and Crystalline Cataclysm rewards to the Event Store and have them available for Multidimensional Transporter Devices or Crystal Shards depending on the item with account unlocks available for 500 Zen.
I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to elaborate on what you mean exactly! Thanks!
Ezicstar wants to know if there are any plans for content parity between the factions when it comes to certain tier 6 ships and overall content, to change the situation of forcing the minority, Federation (Starfleet), onto the majority, Klingon Empire. See the original Nielsen Media Research customer survey results:
The poster also wants to know if there are any plans to make Romulans into a full-fledged faction.
I hope this helps.
....Yeah, so ignoring dubious survey results, basically what I'm saying is that people aren't incentivized to play as Romulans or KDF currently because of lack of content for those factions, and Cryptic is subsequently not incentivized to make content for those factions due to lack of players. So those of us who play as these factions anyway (and the many players who would be willing to play as them) are left out in the cold. Does he see this as a problem and if so, how might he address it?
The main problem is that Star Trek is Starfleet. There is 114 episodes starring Klingons (excluding Worf and B'Ellana since they are Starfleet) and 726 episodes of Star Trek. So that is about 15% of all Star Trek episodes contain Klingons. Therefore, people are more likely to be inspired by Kirk, Picard, or Sisko over Kor or Martok. So even if Klingons were as fleshed out as Starfleet when the game launched instead of being a lousy PvP faction, the vast majority of players would still be Starfleet.
However under the current management, future Klingon and Romulan development is done. It is far easier to create Cross-faction content that is playable by everyone rather than creating faction-specific content. Lots of MMOs follow this lazy way out. City of Heroes only created Cross-faction content after Issue 7 except for the extremely rare faction-specific missions. SWTOR's newest content, Knights of the Fallen Empire, is exactly the same no matter what faction you originally belonged to and all future content looks to be exactly the same. They wiped out the main factions by introducing a new enemy that conquered everyone and allow npc companions from the former Republic and Empire to be recruited by any class. So there is little chance of new faction-specific content in SWTOR. And there is probably a ton of other MMOs that only focus on cross-faction content.
1. Expansion of the visual slots on the ships (engines, deflector, shield) to include weapons. Many sets require end up adding odd effects and colors- would be nice to standardized them.
2. Method to re-box ships and bound items to a Account Bound box for Zen. This will allow one to move one time items to a new character on the same account at a cost.
3. Orion Free Trader/Pirate mini-faction. This would be effectively the same as the AoY automatically joined to the Klingons after level 10 but with their own ship line and starting adventures. Perhaps allow choice of faction if depending upon if one takes Orion Fed members in the new movies as true here as well.
4. Better Banking systems. Many MMOs allow 'windows or tabs' into the inventory where you can place items to organize things while the total amount remains the same.
5. And perhaps a smaller "no sell" tab for general Inventory items as well, i.e. that things I want to carry, like pets and food but that I never want to sell. It too can share total space with the main inventory
5. Option to mark R&D Inventory as "no sell" so that it doesn't appear when selling to a vendor.
6. An option to downsize the rather oversized ground weapons in the game to something more like what appeared in the series/movies. Given that some like the large weapons, I think a toggle per user would be best.
Comments
This is a nice thread you made here. I hope any of this stuff you compile helps improve the game.
Savik - Vulcan Fed Temporal Sci
Dahar Masters Fleet: Alphal'Fa - Alien KDF Engineer Qun'pau - Rom/KDF Engineer D'nesh - Orion KDF Scientist Ghen'khan - Liberated KDF Tac
Welcome to StarBug Online - to boldly Bug where no bug has been before!
STO player since November 2013
That too I can see how that could be a nightmare for some players or most for that matter. Hope they do something.
Could we make it where cross-faction ships have the option to change their bridge to one of the standard faction ones?
....Yeah, so ignoring dubious survey results, basically what I'm saying is that people aren't incentivized to play as Romulans or KDF currently because of lack of content for those factions, and Cryptic is subsequently not incentivized to make content for those factions due to lack of players. So those of us who play as these factions anyway (and the many players who would be willing to play as them) are left out in the cold. Does he see this as a problem and if so, how might he address it?
If anything, it becomes rather boring and annoying for others to point out that this poll is not relevant in any way anymore, if it ever has been.
I'm mostly thinking something along the lines of the Caitians: premium species with an unique trait that allows them to do something on a regular basis that others cannot do (in this case: higher jumping).
It would be something that's more than just a passive trait, like higher stats for melee damage or regeneration. Instead I'm thinking of thing like, as said, higher jumping, but also for example an option to use a personal cloaking device as innate trait (like the Voth do), an option to assimilate an enemy or at least damage them with nanites (for liberated Borg) or stuff like a third melee weapon slot filled with a Lirpa for premium Vulcans or Bat'leth for Federation Klingons and premium KDF Klingons.
This would make it possible to sell more species in the C-store, and bring some much needed diversity (with unique traits that you actually experience while playing the game as they would be clicky-things or extra slots that can be used more often than the current species-specific abilities we have) to the playable species.
And perhaps more premium species, but I don't want to repeat myself too much as I've asked these things before
You're summing up pretty well how things got to this state (Rom and KDF were never full-fledged factions and so were never fully adopted by many players). But that doesn't imply that nothing can/will change.
One band-aid sort of way just to get people playing these factions more would be providing some cross-account benefits for levelling a KDF/Romulan toon. For example, your Fed toon having "friends" in the other factions might get them access to some exclusive rewards. That could work to boost the numbers in other factions which would in turn lead to more money spent there.
Okay, so what's the point of gathering information if you're just going to go ahead and tell us what he's going to say without it coming straight from his mouth? I know your amateur podcast isn't exactly the second coming of Walter Cronkite, but you could at least pretend to stick to the basic fundamentals of journalistic ethos instead of making it blatantly obvious you have no interest on reporting on what the people want to know.
Well I did add the question to the list but I felt that it was better to give some extra info in case we don't get to ask it. What you have to understand is that we have to try and balance the questions we ask to what is going to be new information, and what the community wants. Then on top of that I want to ask what is know as the "tough" questions. I mean, what is an important question to one person may not be important at all to another person.
I think your statement that I'm making it "blatantly obvious you have no interest on reporting on what the people want to know" is very unfair and not true. I've reached out to the community looking for questions for our next interview. It's not realistic that all questions are going to make it. If you would rather I could do the norm and give no response at all or try and explain the process that we go through when selecting what questions get asked and which ones don't. Just an FYI on that, I have no intention on doing that what so ever. I think that I'm being open and honest and I think it is far more respectful to respond to someone and at the very least give them a reason why their question may not be asked.
In any case you are entitled to your opinion and I respect it. All I can say is that I'm trying to be as open and as honest as possible.
=/\= ========================================== =/\=
Fleet Admiral Winters - Priority One Armada
U.S.S. Wolverine - NCC 831216
=/\= ========================================== =/\=
Armada Leader // Executive Producer // Host // Priority One Podcast
Thanks a million jackson900pwe!
=/\= ========================================== =/\=
Fleet Admiral Winters - Priority One Armada
U.S.S. Wolverine - NCC 831216
=/\= ========================================== =/\=
Armada Leader // Executive Producer // Host // Priority One Podcast
I know a dev (Taco, maybe) has already gone on record essentially saying that the "Unskippable cutscene" is filling the purpose of a curtain at a play - drops to "hide" all the preparation for the next scene/act.
Think Time and Tide - while the cutscene is "down" (Giant Holo Noye), all the delegates are - as the game has to think - beaming over to their offices or "off map" while the grunts are lining up in the wings for their fights...
To rob a line: [quote: Mariemaia Kushrenada] Forum Posting is much like an endless waltz. The three beats of war, peace and revolution continue on forever. However, opinions will change upon the reading of my post.[/quote]
Yup, I remember that another Dev has said the same thing here on the forum. Sometimes the scenery or background also changes like in Borg disconnected. Cutscenes are a necessary evil it seems.
Still, it would be nice to know if they could limit the use of cutscenes or if they're working on alternatives that don't slow down the player and take the flow out of the mission.
> ezicstar ezicstar#2795
>
> wrote: »
>
> Do they have any plans for addressing the lack of content for the other factions and the self-perpetuating Fed-centric situation it promotes?
>
>
>
>
> I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to elaborate on what you mean exactly! Thanks!
More Klingon content
One thing that is really breaking immersion for me is how at the moment enemy npcs don't fallout over when they die, they just stand there frozen in whatever position they were last in, or sometimes they fall over, get back up and then fall down again.
If its not too late and if you still have room could you please ask if they (Cryptic) can add the Maco, Voth, Temporal and Counter Command armour to the UNIFORM tab, like they have with the terrain outfit - I would love to be able to mix'n'match some of those visuals. though, I'm not sure how it would work for the Honour Guard, as that suit just seems to ... um, clunky.
Cheers
You were a bit rash in your claim. There should be some method of making them available to new players. I know that a lot of new players would rather grind for the Shotgun or Agony Rifle over an Admiralty Card. Spending Lobi to purchase Multidimensional Transporter Devices or Crystal Shards or work for the previous rewards by doing the Event on multiple characters. Exclusivity punishes new players for not playing the game earlier.
A possibility would be to add the Mirror Invasion and Crystalline Cataclysm rewards to the Event Store and have them available for Multidimensional Transporter Devices or Crystal Shards depending on the item with account unlocks available for 500 Zen.
The main problem is that Star Trek is Starfleet. There is 114 episodes starring Klingons (excluding Worf and B'Ellana since they are Starfleet) and 726 episodes of Star Trek. So that is about 15% of all Star Trek episodes contain Klingons. Therefore, people are more likely to be inspired by Kirk, Picard, or Sisko over Kor or Martok. So even if Klingons were as fleshed out as Starfleet when the game launched instead of being a lousy PvP faction, the vast majority of players would still be Starfleet.
However under the current management, future Klingon and Romulan development is done. It is far easier to create Cross-faction content that is playable by everyone rather than creating faction-specific content. Lots of MMOs follow this lazy way out. City of Heroes only created Cross-faction content after Issue 7 except for the extremely rare faction-specific missions. SWTOR's newest content, Knights of the Fallen Empire, is exactly the same no matter what faction you originally belonged to and all future content looks to be exactly the same. They wiped out the main factions by introducing a new enemy that conquered everyone and allow npc companions from the former Republic and Empire to be recruited by any class. So there is little chance of new faction-specific content in SWTOR. And there is probably a ton of other MMOs that only focus on cross-faction content.
2. Method to re-box ships and bound items to a Account Bound box for Zen. This will allow one to move one time items to a new character on the same account at a cost.
3. Orion Free Trader/Pirate mini-faction. This would be effectively the same as the AoY automatically joined to the Klingons after level 10 but with their own ship line and starting adventures. Perhaps allow choice of faction if depending upon if one takes Orion Fed members in the new movies as true here as well.
4. Better Banking systems. Many MMOs allow 'windows or tabs' into the inventory where you can place items to organize things while the total amount remains the same.
5. And perhaps a smaller "no sell" tab for general Inventory items as well, i.e. that things I want to carry, like pets and food but that I never want to sell. It too can share total space with the main inventory
5. Option to mark R&D Inventory as "no sell" so that it doesn't appear when selling to a vendor.
6. An option to downsize the rather oversized ground weapons in the game to something more like what appeared in the series/movies. Given that some like the large weapons, I think a toggle per user would be best.