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Out with the Old
flash525
Member Posts: 5,441 Arc User
Having been absent from STO for a while, I became curious last week about the games status, and it's progress. Yesterday I re-downloaded the game onto my laptop (which may not quite be up to the task of running it efficiently) and today I completed the update, and beamed in.
Upon a little exploring, I've got to say that I'm disappointed, not so much in what has been added, but more in what's been ignored. KDF character cosmetics seem forever limited; hairstyles, ridges, clothing. I was even expecting the KDF Academy and the First City to have received an overhaul by now, but no luck there. Could've sworn there was talk about that when I used to play.
For reference, I'm a lifer, and have managed to rack up some 21,000 zen since I last played, so that's nearly three years of absence. Cross faction bridge officers (be them rewards, or republic etc) still can't wear their chosen faction uniforms (seriously - we can dress up a Cardassian in FED or KDF clothing, but not a Republic Romulan?), there's no dilithium exchange officer for the Republic, and there's still no T6 Nova?
There certainly seems to be a huge element of missions and character specific abilities that have been added, far too many for me to get invested in at this time. And the ships and all those specilisations. Woah! That's going to be something to get my head around. If I do make this return long-term, I suspect I'll need to sit down and work it all out. I see the lock boxes are still going strong, and we've finally got those Son'a ships. I further see the game has managed to catch up with (and overtake) the JJverse, and Disco timeline too; no doubt with very costly JJ D7's and DSC Constitutions.
Plentiful guest characters too, which is nice to see (and hear). If there's one thing I would jump on first, it would be anything to do with Garak; loved his character.
Speaking of Cardassians, as playable characters, as boffs, and some new spoon headed ships, we haven't got any actual Cardassian faction or introduction? Very underwhelmed at that; would a Cardassian-themed introduction have killed the game? All we'd need is five mini episodes with a Hideki Destroyer in Cardassian space before joining Starfleet or the KDF.
When we've got a TOS-specialised faction (which later merges with standard Starfleet), a DSC-specialised faction (which later merges with standard Starfleet), a Republic mini faction (that later merges with the FEDs or KDF) and a Jem Hadar micro faction (that also later merges with the FEDs or KDFs) I'm actually rather disappointed that this element of the Cardassians was overlooked. It's obviously possible.
Granted, I haven't explored half of what this game has to offer over the last three years, and I suppose this seems more of a rant than a compliment, but it certainly seems as though everything is being thrown at providing new content whilst not caring about what's come before. It's just my opinion, but ensuring the foundations of your creation are updated and that they reflect the overall experience is paramount to a healthy build. I can't help but feel this isn't the case here?
The game is obviously still going strong, so something is working right, but as stated, I'm feeling a little disappointed by what hasn't happened in three years, rather than astounded by what has.
Upon a little exploring, I've got to say that I'm disappointed, not so much in what has been added, but more in what's been ignored. KDF character cosmetics seem forever limited; hairstyles, ridges, clothing. I was even expecting the KDF Academy and the First City to have received an overhaul by now, but no luck there. Could've sworn there was talk about that when I used to play.
For reference, I'm a lifer, and have managed to rack up some 21,000 zen since I last played, so that's nearly three years of absence. Cross faction bridge officers (be them rewards, or republic etc) still can't wear their chosen faction uniforms (seriously - we can dress up a Cardassian in FED or KDF clothing, but not a Republic Romulan?), there's no dilithium exchange officer for the Republic, and there's still no T6 Nova?
There certainly seems to be a huge element of missions and character specific abilities that have been added, far too many for me to get invested in at this time. And the ships and all those specilisations. Woah! That's going to be something to get my head around. If I do make this return long-term, I suspect I'll need to sit down and work it all out. I see the lock boxes are still going strong, and we've finally got those Son'a ships. I further see the game has managed to catch up with (and overtake) the JJverse, and Disco timeline too; no doubt with very costly JJ D7's and DSC Constitutions.
Plentiful guest characters too, which is nice to see (and hear). If there's one thing I would jump on first, it would be anything to do with Garak; loved his character.
Speaking of Cardassians, as playable characters, as boffs, and some new spoon headed ships, we haven't got any actual Cardassian faction or introduction? Very underwhelmed at that; would a Cardassian-themed introduction have killed the game? All we'd need is five mini episodes with a Hideki Destroyer in Cardassian space before joining Starfleet or the KDF.
When we've got a TOS-specialised faction (which later merges with standard Starfleet), a DSC-specialised faction (which later merges with standard Starfleet), a Republic mini faction (that later merges with the FEDs or KDF) and a Jem Hadar micro faction (that also later merges with the FEDs or KDFs) I'm actually rather disappointed that this element of the Cardassians was overlooked. It's obviously possible.
Granted, I haven't explored half of what this game has to offer over the last three years, and I suppose this seems more of a rant than a compliment, but it certainly seems as though everything is being thrown at providing new content whilst not caring about what's come before. It's just my opinion, but ensuring the foundations of your creation are updated and that they reflect the overall experience is paramount to a healthy build. I can't help but feel this isn't the case here?
The game is obviously still going strong, so something is working right, but as stated, I'm feeling a little disappointed by what hasn't happened in three years, rather than astounded by what has.
Post edited by baddmoonrizin on
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Oh, and the foundry is gone.
I took a break almost as long as yours and its pretty much the same game it has been since Delta came out. Changes here and there, worse performance overall, but I think there is more content, even with all the things they delete.
Not sure what you're expecting, but technically they have gone *forward*. STO did see improvements over time, but expecting to see radically drastic changes would be unrealistic.
- new ships
- new episodes, with new voice actors
- new end-game reward systems (T6 reps, and Endeavours)
- new abilities and mechanics
- new content from Disco, the TOS-era movies, TNG, DS9, and Kelvin
- new uniforms, and expanded access to old uniforms
- new species to play as, including mini-factions
- updated textures and lighting
- updated skins for ships that needed a touch-up
- updated events and rewards
You can now select a T6 ship on leaving the tutorial (joining the 25th century if you start a DSC or TOS Feddy, choosing a side for a Rom), and command the same ship for your entire career (more ship abilities and equipment slots will unlock as you level). Capt. John Rutsey has been commanding the USS Rocinante since the day he was brevetted to command of a ship after being thrust forward in time (he started in DSC, where the tutorial introduces you to Cadets Lee, Lifeson, and Peart), just as I had envisioned when I made him.
This is a great change, IMO. You know how a ship works with what consoles/weapons, good for RP, and decent scaling!
- Re-engineering of gear item modifiers
- Reputation T6 vanity shields and alternate energy type
- Visual slots on ships
- Admiralty Ship System
- Account unlocks for event shinies
... but yes, it's still almost the same game as in 2014 and aside from crafting and reputation gear not that different from in 2012 when I first played.
Don't let them promote you. Don't let them transfer you. Don't let them do anything that takes you off the bridge of that ship, because while you're there... you can make a difference.
-Captain James T. Kirk
Well, bye.
Play if it's fun for you, don't play if it isn't. Cryptic isn't going to add a new mini-faction just to get you to come back though.
I forgot a couple:
- Sector space revamp
- Endeavor system
I believe he was around for the sector space revamp. That happened in 2015.
I think the biggest problem with a Cardassian introduction is that there has to be something that they bring in that makes it worthwhile to play as a Cardassian.
Romulans were brought in having the Elachi and the Tal Shiar as primary enemies. TOS Federation was given the Na'khul along with the Klingons & Romulans as classic enemies. The Dominion, while not adding anything outright new, gave them a common adversary to deal with alongside the alliance in the Hur'q. Discovery Feds have house Mo'kai & J'Ula to deal with.
The Cardassians only have the True Way as kind of a de facto enemy group, though there cannot be any resolution there as the true resolution has to come at the end of the Cardassian struggle arc.
Even more than that, the TNG era stuff has fallen out of the focus with new Star Trek series like DSC and Picard happening, so the Cardassians and Dominion and anyone else from the older shows are unlikely to get much attention or effort, at least in the short run.
if I'm not mistaken, there was a poll in which the Dominion came out on top. Great, I accept that, but what they should've done is to have saved the Cardassian for a later update; it would've even been a good business move on their part too, as many players would have created a Cardassian-specific character within a Cardassian specfic (micro) faction.
It'd be a less interesting story tbh.
The Dominion literally brought the hammer down on Cardassia for opposing them at the end of the Dominion-war. From there to 2409, I would guess the cardassians were busy just rebuilding and regrouping as a people like Germany after WWII. For several decades, there was mostly just rubble and quabble until it was reborn as a democracy. Most of what happened in the meantime is people working to remove scraps and build homes again.
As compelling as a cardassian subfaction might be, from a story-standpoint it makes no sense. At all.
Cardassians are already in the game, they just have to pick Starfleet/KDF in the character creator instead of after the tutorial. Big whooping difference.
In fairness, the min-factions have also gotten a unique user interface skin along with visuals for scanning, beam-out, etc.
It's nice to have the UI change when switching to my TOS, Discovery, Romulan, KDF characters, and to see the small visual differences while playing.
Of course this being STO, some posters here complain about that and want to be able to switch to generic KDF of Fed UI.
It *is* nice to have at least that little bit of consistent distinction. TOS-toons even have some unique Training-Manuals/kit-modules with slightly altered VFX and SFX.
That being said, I kinda understand that's not much in the way of convincing Cryptic to spend time and resources in order to roll out an entire tutorial-section and a unique transition to the proverbial galaxy at large.
In fact, there are many more UI colors available than just the faction defaults, including several yellows that could fit a cardassian style even if they aren't named as such.
That's nothing unique to TOS toons, either. Everyone can get those if they want.
Really the only things that are actually unique to "factions" is the beam-out and warp-out effects...which is ironic as those should logically be based on the technology of the ship doing the beaming/warping, rather than the political affiliation of the captain.
My captain has no political affiliation. If he or she is a Romulan, they are either KDF-aligned or Fed-aligned. If Jem'Hadar (Dominion) they are either a Fed'Hadar or KDF-aligned. I understand what you are saying though.
My character Tsin'xing
That's a decent start, but if you compare Discovery to TOS to modern Federation they did much more than that.