I am kind of sad. I understand the reasoning behind this up to a certain level, however I think STO (and probably Neverwinter too) will be poorer for this. On the commercial front I wonder whether this will not be a setback once STO runs out of canon based content and switches to maintenance, whenever that may be, considering that mods have kept many a game alive way past its sell-by date. But mostly I am sad.
My mother was an epohh and my father smelled of tulaberries
Last Two News Items
Foundry Spotlight Mission
Foundry Sunset Announcement
That's an insult.
Everyone else has already expressed many of the feelings I have about this.
I cannot fathom how they came to this decision.
I am floored by the news.
In equal parts angry and sad.
As one who played the Foundry missions several times a week, I'm going to miss this feature of the game. It's a sad day for me. I'd like to thank all the creators of the Foundry missions who put their blood, sweat and tears into making the missions. Goodbye Foundry, RIP.
“The louder he talked of his honor, the faster we counted our spoons.” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson ~
Dumb move on cryptics part. Foundry was a hallmark of STO and one of its major driving force. To remove the foundry is to cut off your own nose to spite your face.
Thank you to all the authors that made their works available to us fellow players.
I am in agreement with everything else that has been stated. This is the opposite of a smart move. Honestly it was foolish to not at least do maintenance on the Foundry (which really in the last few years was zip - talk about letting yourself go!).
I did not see in comments outside of the adventure, the exploration and the fun that will be lost, was that roleplaying will die further than it has. Roleplayers or anyone slightly interested in roleplaying LOVE custom maps. In the foundry, if I wanted a pool party, I could make a map with an awesome pool and deck. Roleplayers and others have created some incredible maps in the foundry as well. Honestly, some foundry work puts 90% of the dev team to shame. Considering the Foundry was broken, almost unusable, had more bugs than the entire Hurq population people still made maps that rivaled anything we've had of late. That's gotta count for something. Plus there are so many mechanics that you cannot do normally (Jetpack combat anyone?).
Many of the comments I see are from Cryptic's best and repeat customers - loyal fans of the game and long time vets. That is a major loss of revenue that was likely very consistent. At the least, this announcement has shaken that core and for what? a system they never loved but their loyal customers did. The foundry was cool and is clearly going to be missed myself included. The game is going in a questionable direction and now a large core of players are ready to declare "All hands! Abandon ship!". There is now less diversity in the STO's gameplay but I guess cryptic doesn't care. I hope I am wrong and we see an announcement that we are getting a replacement that is equivalent or better specifically for user generated content. Likely I am hoping in vain.
While I'm sad to see the Foundry go, I salute all the people who made missions and gave us a chance to experience them. I have been fortunate myself to author several missions, and even had a KDF mission selected as a spotlight. One of the high points of my time in STO. It's very hard work and time consuming, but well worth the rewards it offered. We have a chance to experience these missions one last time, so I encourage you to share your love for these authors once more and thank them for their contributions.
I've played the Foundry for years and always loved coming back to it, even the last year (where you've left the search function broken) I've still tried to use it.
This isn't a threat, but with you removing the Foundry I will be playing a lot less and I will be spending a lot less (I don't know if I will spend anything any more.)
The reason being is that you don't release much content (no blame here) so when I'd finished grinding out a new rep and/or doing whatever event was on i would always move onto the Foundry. There was always something to play in the Foundry, and with me having played this game for years I have played the story arcs over and over and TBH I don't feel like playing them again. So that is why i go to the Foundry missions, there was always something new I hadn't played to bring me back to the game, to keep me spending.
Why would I buy a new ship if all I have to use it on is maybe 1 or 2 new missions, and 1 or 2 new queues? If i bought a new ship those new missions and/or queues would maybe keep me entertained for a day or 3, then I would stop playing again as I have hammered the games content over the years I have played. That doesn't make me what to spend money on a new ship I won't use much.
It is known that Devs can't create content fast enough for the players to consume so the Foundry was always there with somehting new to play to keep players logging in. The foundry was unique in online games, I really wish more games would implement something like this because some players do actually enjoy story content, instead of just playing queues every day.
1/3 of the player base playing Foundry is no small number and if you take the Foundry away you will leave the game a lot smaller for it. I feel this way and a third of your customers could also feel this way.
With the foundry in your game it could be argued that you have the most content in any online game, think of how many hours it would take for a player to finish all of your content and all of the Foundry content. That can be an attractive selling point to people. There would have always been missions for people to play and to use their new ships on.
*Note to the Foundry content creators.*
Thank you for all the great stories you've made, and for giving me something to keep returning to the game for.
I appreciate the time you've spent making these missions and they will be missed.
A lot of pages already so this may have been asked. But are those "rewards" for since the Foundry was created years ago or only during the last revamp that required some to be taken down and updated missions?
So I very seldom speak out in these kinds of threads and I'm certain my opinion means very little to the people in charge, who, in all likelihood won't read or see this - but removing the Foundry removes a very unique and attractive aspect to this (these) games. Otherwise, the majority of the game is an endless grind, repeating the same missions and the same actions over and over again until you finally simply give up and leave the game.
Foundry allowed, not only us to enjoy unique player-sponsored content, but also allowed us something different when we were fed up with TFOs or Episodes or dilithium grinding. With the Foundry being removed, I have no doubt there will be a good portion of people leaving the game, I myself may be one of them. If it is at all possible to keep at least the old missions alive, or to introduce something that functions like the foundry, allowing player creativity and love for Star Trek (in particular) be seen.
I cannot underline or emphasize enough how important Foundry operations are to games like STO and how very necessary it is to take the time and effort to protect and work it back up to these Standards you've named. It's worth the wait, it's worth the effort.
First, a big thank you to everybody who spend his or her free time on creating some great missions for the Foundry, be it a story mission or a simple endeavor grind one.
I had always hoped that one day, an exploration revamp would come to STO, and the Foundry would play a big part in it. What could have been easier for Cryptic? They would create a new UI, the players create the content. But it wasn't to be.
There goes one of the greatest assets STO ever had, and one of the most neglected one. The Foundry was choked to death by lack of attention, abundance of bugs and a terrible UI.
Peoples usage of the foundry would vary quite a lot given that a fair chunk of the quality missions could be fairly time consuming. If someone knows they won't be online for all that long they're more likely to opt for some quick and d
The 40% less than 40% of whatever % without proper context isn't that useful.
Cool that foundry folk are getting the botany bay, although it's a shame its not that detailed in the screenshot, pretty sure they have at least one window on it somewhere.
A better nod would be to make at least the spotlit missions a permanent feature in sto, Who knows maybe working with the foundry talent might rub off on the cryptic side.
This not only saddens me, but also frightens me. Taking such a popular feature out of the game is sometimes followed by the game's shuttown being announced. I have played STO since it went F2P and enjoyed my time, despite all the issues, and the Foundry was the best part of that! I have played several missions that were very fun and enjoyable! Taking that away for whatever reason is NOT the right thing to do!
"Suffer the little ones, lest they rise up and beat you senseless." Druid's Call, from Magic: The Gathering
If you can't keep developing it, then ok.. but I really don't get why it should be completely removed.
I don't really use the Foundry myself, but this is honestly not a very good decision. If you want to stop updating it, ok.. but it seems silly to just remove the feature completely.
I am sad to see the Foundry go. I just want to thank everyone for their efforts. I especially want to thank those who actually played my missions. Good luck to all.
It was too labour and cost intensive to maintain.
No replacement planned for the Foundry.
Foundry Missions and data WILL be saved, but not accessible.
Man-power spent on Foundry will be diverted to the main game.
and NO, STO is not shutting down anytime soon.
"You don't want to patrol!? You don't want to escort!? You don't want to defend the Federation's Starbases!? Then why are you flying my Starships!? If you were a Klingon you'd be killed on the spot, but lucky for you.....you WERE in Starfleet. Let's see how New Zealand Penal Colony suits you." Adm A. Necheyev.
I believe them when they said they didn't have the resources for this. I mean if they didn't have the resources or know-how to provide the Daily Account Bonus of Lobi during Featured Episode Rerun Events after the person who did it left, then they surely couldn't handle this.
If they couldn't get Delta Marks Boxes to self open when they introduced the Delta Reputation when all others already had it, and couldn't fix that before they had a Bonus Marks Weekend. This could have been a catastrophe but we got a fix that removed the Bonus for the Daily Mark Bonuses before that Event. Then surely they couldn't support Foundry.
Removing 'Investigate Officer Reports' was a foretelling of this, and probably cut down the number of people to that less than 40%.
'But to be logical is not to be right', and 'nothing' on God's earth could ever 'make it' right!'
Judge Dan Haywood
'As l speak now, the words are forming in my head.
l don't know.
l really don't know what l'm about to say, except l have a feeling about it.
That l must repeat the words that come without my knowledge.'
And that's only on PC, 0% of the console players use it since it isn't on consoles.
Even at "less than" 40%, that is still a significant percentage of the playerbase for a particular system in any MMO. It is a larger percentage than those who participate several other portions of this game, as has been pointed out. Doesn't matter how artistically you note that it is "less than," we are still talking about a relatively large segment of the player population.
Not that it matters now, but it is okay for people to express their sadness and opinions about an enjoyable part of the game being discontinued.
Unless Cryptic can start churning out decent episodes faster, this will leave a major hole in the game for a lot of players. I don't enjoy raids or PvP; I rely an a good selection of episode content to enjoy the game (I have been enjoying STO from beta and as a lifetimer, in spite of the bumps in the road along the way).
Comments
Foundry Spotlight Mission
Foundry Sunset Announcement
That's an insult.
Everyone else has already expressed many of the feelings I have about this.
I cannot fathom how they came to this decision.
I am floored by the news.
In equal parts angry and sad.
I really want someone specific to blame.
- Memory Alpha;
- Exploration Clusters;
- First Contact Missions;
- Borg/Undine storyline cuts (9 episodes removed, 4 inserted);
- Romulan Mystery storyline cuts (14 episodes removed, 4 inserted - we lost some good stuff here);
- Cardassian storyline cuts (14 episodes removed, 4 inserted - again, we lost some cracking stuff here);
- Delta Quadrant Patrol Wrappers (not a massive loss here, but they helped point you in the right direction);
- Klingon War storyline cuts - we lost some great stuff here too;
- Featured Episode journal entries (leading to massive plotholes in the overall STO storyline);
- ...and now the Foundry!
If they keep on going like this, they won't have any game left...Thank you to all the authors that made their works available to us fellow players.
I did not see in comments outside of the adventure, the exploration and the fun that will be lost, was that roleplaying will die further than it has. Roleplayers or anyone slightly interested in roleplaying LOVE custom maps. In the foundry, if I wanted a pool party, I could make a map with an awesome pool and deck. Roleplayers and others have created some incredible maps in the foundry as well. Honestly, some foundry work puts 90% of the dev team to shame. Considering the Foundry was broken, almost unusable, had more bugs than the entire Hurq population people still made maps that rivaled anything we've had of late. That's gotta count for something. Plus there are so many mechanics that you cannot do normally (Jetpack combat anyone?).
Many of the comments I see are from Cryptic's best and repeat customers - loyal fans of the game and long time vets. That is a major loss of revenue that was likely very consistent. At the least, this announcement has shaken that core and for what? a system they never loved but their loyal customers did. The foundry was cool and is clearly going to be missed myself included. The game is going in a questionable direction and now a large core of players are ready to declare "All hands! Abandon ship!". There is now less diversity in the STO's gameplay but I guess cryptic doesn't care. I hope I am wrong and we see an announcement that we are getting a replacement that is equivalent or better specifically for user generated content. Likely I am hoping in vain.
Signed,
Disappointed Vet of STO
i would suggest put a pack out, related to foundry. char slots 5-10 ,xp ,ec ,dil , ...
i am sure after the success of the pack sale ,devs can be found to manage the system.
I've played the Foundry for years and always loved coming back to it, even the last year (where you've left the search function broken) I've still tried to use it.
This isn't a threat, but with you removing the Foundry I will be playing a lot less and I will be spending a lot less (I don't know if I will spend anything any more.)
The reason being is that you don't release much content (no blame here) so when I'd finished grinding out a new rep and/or doing whatever event was on i would always move onto the Foundry. There was always something to play in the Foundry, and with me having played this game for years I have played the story arcs over and over and TBH I don't feel like playing them again. So that is why i go to the Foundry missions, there was always something new I hadn't played to bring me back to the game, to keep me spending.
Why would I buy a new ship if all I have to use it on is maybe 1 or 2 new missions, and 1 or 2 new queues? If i bought a new ship those new missions and/or queues would maybe keep me entertained for a day or 3, then I would stop playing again as I have hammered the games content over the years I have played. That doesn't make me what to spend money on a new ship I won't use much.
It is known that Devs can't create content fast enough for the players to consume so the Foundry was always there with somehting new to play to keep players logging in. The foundry was unique in online games, I really wish more games would implement something like this because some players do actually enjoy story content, instead of just playing queues every day.
1/3 of the player base playing Foundry is no small number and if you take the Foundry away you will leave the game a lot smaller for it. I feel this way and a third of your customers could also feel this way.
With the foundry in your game it could be argued that you have the most content in any online game, think of how many hours it would take for a player to finish all of your content and all of the Foundry content. That can be an attractive selling point to people. There would have always been missions for people to play and to use their new ships on.
*Note to the Foundry content creators.*
Thank you for all the great stories you've made, and for giving me something to keep returning to the game for.
I appreciate the time you've spent making these missions and they will be missed.
Foundry allowed, not only us to enjoy unique player-sponsored content, but also allowed us something different when we were fed up with TFOs or Episodes or dilithium grinding. With the Foundry being removed, I have no doubt there will be a good portion of people leaving the game, I myself may be one of them. If it is at all possible to keep at least the old missions alive, or to introduce something that functions like the foundry, allowing player creativity and love for Star Trek (in particular) be seen.
I cannot underline or emphasize enough how important Foundry operations are to games like STO and how very necessary it is to take the time and effort to protect and work it back up to these Standards you've named. It's worth the wait, it's worth the effort.
This.
I had always hoped that one day, an exploration revamp would come to STO, and the Foundry would play a big part in it. What could have been easier for Cryptic? They would create a new UI, the players create the content. But it wasn't to be.
There goes one of the greatest assets STO ever had, and one of the most neglected one. The Foundry was choked to death by lack of attention, abundance of bugs and a terrible UI.
The 40% less than 40% of whatever % without proper context isn't that useful.
Cool that foundry folk are getting the botany bay, although it's a shame its not that detailed in the screenshot, pretty sure they have at least one window on it somewhere.
A better nod would be to make at least the spotlit missions a permanent feature in sto, Who knows maybe working with the foundry talent might rub off on the cryptic side.
I don't really use the Foundry myself, but this is honestly not a very good decision. If you want to stop updating it, ok.. but it seems silly to just remove the feature completely.
“Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.” -- Benjamin Franklin
Twitch and Facebook page for the game
"It appears we have lost our sex appeal, captain."- Tuvok
The video on Facebook is freezing...for some reason. I guess I could try twitch
“Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.” -- Benjamin Franklin
It was too labour and cost intensive to maintain.
No replacement planned for the Foundry.
Foundry Missions and data WILL be saved, but not accessible.
Man-power spent on Foundry will be diverted to the main game.
and NO, STO is not shutting down anytime soon.
If they couldn't get Delta Marks Boxes to self open when they introduced the Delta Reputation when all others already had it, and couldn't fix that before they had a Bonus Marks Weekend. This could have been a catastrophe but we got a fix that removed the Bonus for the Daily Mark Bonuses before that Event. Then surely they couldn't support Foundry.
Removing 'Investigate Officer Reports' was a foretelling of this, and probably cut down the number of people to that less than 40%.
l don't know.
l really don't know what l'm about to say, except l have a feeling about it.
That l must repeat the words that come without my knowledge.'
Even at "less than" 40%, that is still a significant percentage of the playerbase for a particular system in any MMO. It is a larger percentage than those who participate several other portions of this game, as has been pointed out. Doesn't matter how artistically you note that it is "less than," we are still talking about a relatively large segment of the player population.
Not that it matters now, but it is okay for people to express their sadness and opinions about an enjoyable part of the game being discontinued.
Unless Cryptic can start churning out decent episodes faster, this will leave a major hole in the game for a lot of players. I don't enjoy raids or PvP; I rely an a good selection of episode content to enjoy the game (I have been enjoying STO from beta and as a lifetimer, in spite of the bumps in the road along the way).