This will probably be erased but I hope it doesn't.
Cryptic, the Star Trek license many hold dear to their heart is being taken through the garbage disposal (in the sink) and shredded by perhaps the worst grind and bug to this date in the history of the game. There are many of us who stuck with you from those first days live and gaining all those who bought the game, some of us continued to subscribe for as long as 200 days or more, others left, new came. Others left like myself, returned and gave you many chances. While some lingering bugs were fixed, others were left and feel like a Scarlet letter on this game. You took the Foundry offline forever because of personnel reasons.
You then added these TFO's that fill more like a tactic to keep us busy while you work on something new. We have begged you to watch just what you are asking us to do. Instead you find a new way to either force us to pay zen to get out of a tfo the rewards or to grind, grind, grind. This tfo synthwave and the previous read like this, "Enemy forces all over the place, destroy this, keep fighting endless waves till either they are finally all dead or find a way to help them destroy stuck objects, good job, see you in 20hrs or so, rinse and repeat, Live longer and grind."
You did not at least from the work you have put out on the servers for all users to have to play/grind for yet another reward set show any respect to the license and to all your users. It is simply inexcusable to keep putting out tfo's with so many problems that some can and some can't finish. It just happened at the same time you put out the bugged Phoenix mission that just ask is there pride anymore (Please let people read this don't delete the message or ban me as then you aren't letting your users say that they are offended, tired, angry, upset, etc. and instead punishing us for having something to say and expressing it so you know what it feels like). Why is it new content has to have a tfo with rewards people want but with a 14 day grind and with bugs on release? I just don't see how you can expect us to say thank you yet you gives us a mess to deal with.
I am sure your time is valuable to you just as my time is valuable to me. Yet when I have to spend over an 1 hour on synthwave tfo event because first a transport won't move, then a warship gets stuck and repeated efforts caused two people to rather take a 30m penalty than sit there. I then myself have to look at my personal time and think, hmm, penalty, or hope I can "Help" the enemy find the stuck warship so they can destroy it thereby ending the tfo completed, but also failed as we failed to protect a ship, the ship that got stuck in the starbase.
So if we both value our time, is it considered disrespectful if I tie up your time with this letter of disgust the way you tie up my time with a, well not to put to straight a point to it, a sloppy Q/A and a lackluster patch test that takes away my time to play something I bet you would be madder than ever if you were a player and it wasn't your game-work. You need to or must pull this tfo event or pause it till you fix the bugs, glitches, unfinished errors or other issues. If you don't you are forcing people to choose to have to do the ground mission or risk an hour of rinse and repeat within just 1 tfo mission, then repeat all of this for 14 days more.
These bugs in the tfo just have no justification. I have told people actually in the tfo do not rescue warships as they get stuck in the starbase. I have had to tell people get away from the single transport that is still stuck despite your patch notes. The rubber banding still is a hassle with no real end in sight. Is this how you present your efforts? Yes the missions show imagination and creativity but all of that is lost in the bugs and wasted grinding time not to mention bloated inventories after the tfo. One should not have to avoid doing things in a tfo in order to have it complete in a reasonable time.
I am sorry for my outright anger but seeing this problem now for the 3 days I have played the TFO I simply can't hold back the above. If this is what future tfo's will look like, then please don't release them. Just let the game be stale for a while instead. That way I don't and many others don't have to waste their time on these continued and endless grinds.
Now to those who will come to Cryptic's defense, there always are, look you have your passion for the company and/or game and that is yours. However you are not the only players, not the only people who love this IP, not the only people who might have time to toss around for unchecked and horrible errors that never should have left whatever testing there is now and then put out onto servers with a patch as we go appearance we are seeing when we look at the mess. You might say you can buyout or don't worry about getting the reward. Well that is not very sensible as you know any player of any game will want rewards and play it not because we have no life but because we want the reward and are willing to endure some rinse and repeat but not rinse error error grind and repeat. That is why any company offers rewards at the end of the stick to keep its players coming back and going through events (it sure isn't because we don't have anything else to do) but when the content is not working correctly and taking just too much of time just to tie us up it can be excused by any reason or player defense.
I have no idea what I have written to be honest I am just so upset and angry with this tfo as it simply is enough is enough. This came out what the 6th or the 8th, don't remember, don't care anymore, but I don't want to have to buyout of a buggy tfo event, play the alternate mission or endure what I just went through. Either FIX the bug, pause the event, or allow us to have an escape timer that we won't get a abandoned afk penalty but after X number of minutes beyond intended tfo completion allow us to click mercy and collected our daily progress, I just can't see straight anymore after 3 days of this.
Oh, didn't you hear? Every game has bugs and this is nothing strange or unusual. Everything the devs do is perfect and right, and any bugs or problems are completely out of their control. So basically, you shouldn't be upset. In fact, you should be thanking Cryptic for the privilege of playing this game. Shame on you!
No, I'm not serious. But the above comments are not far off from what some people will actually say to you
rattler2Member, Star Trek Online ModeratorPosts: 58,667Community Moderator
I just blame 2020 and all the BS that's come with it. Especially Corona.
Cryptic's not working under ideal circumstances with a lot of people working from home. I honestly expected a few bugs, as usual for any update, but what we had... was... um... yea. Something borked all to hell.
I can't take it anymore! Could everyone just chill out for two seconds before something CRAZY happens again?!
The nut who actually ground out many packs. The resident forum voice of reason (I HAZ FORUM REP! YAY!)
normal text = me speaking as fellow formite colored text = mod mode
I just blame 2020 and all the BS that's come with it. Especially Corona.
Cryptic's not working under ideal circumstances with a lot of people working from home. I honestly expected a few bugs, as usual for any update, but what we had... was... um... yea. Something borked all to hell.
I'm total agreement. I'll say I'm giving them even more latitude at the moment as I understand the limitations. It worked fine on their test-server. I cannot see for second why they would intentionally make live something so broken however. A bit of common sense logic is needed all around at the moment.
"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.
If they are, would they tell us? They'd be ashamed, after all. I don't like to talk about things I am ashamed off.
But it doesn't really matter whether they are ashamed or not. What matters is that they fix it, and figure out how to avoid such issues appearing again.
IIRC from the livestream, they mentioned they would make one fix this week (they did), but there would be another next week, so i guess they are at least working on the first item. The second we'll probably never quite know.
Star Trek Online Advancement: You start with lowbie gear, you end with Lobi gear.
My main issue now isn't the fact these bugs exist, but the fact they said they were fixed... when they clearly weren't.
Reminds me of the "rescue the 15 people" optional objective in The Khitomer Discord that was supposedly fixed, but actually wasn't and has been ignored so far.
I do agree that the Covid virus has thrown an unknown variable into everything they do. However testing from home shouldn't be totally and impossible to represent players, playing this on the holodeck servers, just they won't be able to comment as easily to each other or look over one's shoulder to see where the error is occuring.
However, taking Covid into their project completion dates, by perhaps extending the deadline and once again telling us that hey we are mostly working from home and so some of our plans will be delayed as we try to create the new content but without the same working environment of an office that would allow for normal development and rooting out bugs. Hope you will work with us and understand any delays in content that we talk about.
They didn't. They need to do the Q/A on all content whether from home or office. Now if they don't want to make an actual prize in the c-store, then perhaps say if you are able to complete the mission/tfo you could earn either daily progress or a daily bonus of dil on the tribble server (if they still have it - haven't bothered to keep up on that and no that should be used as a get out of hot water excuse) lets say 2000 dil plus the normal dil and perhaps extra 50 marks added to the daily bonus and mission/tfo completion, with of course the warning that you might have to drop the mission or fail as the mission might not work properly for all. Yes I know why should we be rewarded for helping new content get out to all sooner and with fewer bugs, well for some playing it on the test server will spoil the final release and second you asking people to give up time that they could use to do other things work, school, gaming or whatever instead of being on a test server.
In terms of is this unique, the bugs at release, no. Am I holding them at a higher level than others, no. I remember Sie,,, Entertainment when they put out Ground Control (I remember beta testing it) and it worked fine. Then when they went gold and released to retail, you couldn't install the game, even if you had no issues as a beta tester. So you had to wait for a patch, which I don't remember how many days after retail release before they announced the problem. Also is that how things work now all over, well the industry has this error margin of X so we are within norms? It should always be a goal to be a stride above so that people will say hey Cryptic has its stuff together as they aim for no bugs and have done it many times over across their titles. I will watch for future games from them that I might like because of this reputation. Just as Elect. A... gained a bad reputation with gamers that has been hard for them to shake off (I don't remember if tos forbid naming other gaming companies). However for Cryptic this major bug crushing that blocks completion of the event or getting into the event is a common problem. They also create new bugs on top of that like the Phoenix Prize mission.
Also I am showing all these available items in the store yet clicking on them doesn't get you them and instead gives an error about not able to purchase (meaning it is a Available/Free price). How do you add content and then cause this to show up and it seems to vary by character on a single account and my alt account it also is different per character. So error + error + error = frustration and anger. With the covid 19 variable, there are many things they can do to handle delays or fixes in a manner they aren't doing now. Putting out patch notes saying it is fixed and it isn't, the transports have problems with leaving the starbase requiring that you let it die so you can progress or wait the process to what appears to be a timed limit on the transport to show it is moving.
Bugs aside I doubt there are many around awaiting such a boring new PvE in the first place.
Beaming in at location A... transporting to B... protecting line C... and the magic timer ruining it all in the background. God we had this nonsense a thousand times already.
I really think cryptic should have spared themselves *and* us a lot of trouble here for just not trying in the first place... especially when the circumstances happen to be difficult. 😒
Looking for a fun PvE fleet? Join us at Omega Combat Division today.
There's no point to buying pay to win toys from lock boxes if the content you use it in doesn't work and people leave the instance in droves. Seriously it's the AFK STF because if ships are stuck you need to AFK dead/cloaked so the enemy NPCs kill the stuck ships and complete the instance. There's always one player though that stretches out the play time in the last part by healing friendly ships and CC/Tanking enemies farming drops. Up side to that though is you can afk after dealing damage through most of it and needing on their drops as they die repeatedly from overwhelming numbers.
I have come to look at bugs as unintentional new features introduced into content by Cryptic for our fun by keeping things interesting... You're just never sure exactly what you're going to get. Box of chocolates? Anyway, you can get angry or you can relax and enjoy the ride.
I did the TFO 3 times, TWICE a transport was bugged and it seems to always be the same in the exact same location in the exact same angle.
The hardest part is to have players leave it to to die instead of keeping mindlessly BFAWing their way around it.
I vastly prefer to play the story mission until the "protect the ship" part on each alt and leave it, waiting for the daily timer to be reset.
For now at least, as I'll run out of alts way before reaching the 20-day mark and the mission has zero incentive to be replayed. No accolade, no alternative choice, no secret bonus objective, no dialogue difference, nothing.
As long as they are fixed... Of course when one is fixed
Implying they fix bugs in this game.
They do fix bugs from time-to-time, just not the bugs you may want fixed. 🤷🏽♂️ From what I've experienced since game launch...the source code isn't exactly a work of art. Fixing this game's code is probably a game of Jenga...with marbles. Makes me wonder just how big their staff is. A game this old can't have more than 8-12 people working it; perhaps less.
As long as they are fixed... Of course when one is fixed
Implying they fix bugs in this game.
They do fix bugs from time-to-time, just not the bugs you may want fixed. 🤷🏽♂️ From what I've experienced since game launch...the source code isn't exactly a work of art. Fixing this game's code is probably a game of Jenga...with marbles. Makes me wonder just how big their staff is. A game this old can't have more than 8-12 people working it; perhaps less.
Maybe it's just time the game was retired. It just seems to be coming apart at the seams. I would miss this game though. Other space games just don't do it for me. As far the universe goes. Like of course other games are way better at space combat and flight controls and what not. but no other game really captures the Trek feel. I've resigned myself to just enjoying this game while its here, bugs and all.
Yes i do agree but that is where STO 2.0 could come in give the company a chance to fix a lot of the game code which in turn would fix a lot of the long standing bugs and errors do happen that haven't been fixed or addressed at all.
An STO 2.0 would just result in a new game with its own slew of bugs, glitches, and system problems, that never get fixed for the same reason many bugs, glitches, and system problems never get fixed in STO now.
No doubt but STO right now also has the challenge that the majority of those who made the code arent there, or moved to other projects within Cryptic, and the game was made in crunchtime because they had to make the game before the lincense expired back then so they couldnt make a neat code with well documented subroutines that have explanatory text for each ones function like coders normally do in big projects. Add to it STOs engine starts to show its age as they keep adding things so eventually they may hit a wall where everything they add impacts overall game performance
Yes i do agree but that is where STO 2.0 could come in give the company a chance to fix a lot of the game code which in turn would fix a lot of the long standing bugs and errors do happen that haven't been fixed or addressed at all.
An STO 2.0 would just result in a new game with its own slew of bugs, glitches, and system problems, that never get fixed for the same reason many bugs, glitches, and system problems never get fixed in STO now.
No doubt but STO right now also has the challenge that the majority of those who made the code arent there, or moved to other projects within Cryptic, and the game was made in crunchtime because they had to make the game before the lincense expired back then so they couldnt make a neat code with well documented subroutines that have explanatory text for each ones function like coders normally do in big projects. Add to it STOs engine starts to show its age as they keep adding things so eventually they may hit a wall where everything they add impacts overall game performance
The game is a crusty old onion with many, many, layers...sort of like Drozana station.
Comments
No, I'm not serious. But the above comments are not far off from what some people will actually say to you
The-Grand-Nagus
Join Date: Sep 2008
Cryptic's not working under ideal circumstances with a lot of people working from home. I honestly expected a few bugs, as usual for any update, but what we had... was... um... yea. Something borked all to hell.
normal text = me speaking as fellow formite
colored text = mod mode
I'm total agreement. I'll say I'm giving them even more latitude at the moment as I understand the limitations. It worked fine on their test-server. I cannot see for second why they would intentionally make live something so broken however. A bit of common sense logic is needed all around at the moment.
But it doesn't really matter whether they are ashamed or not. What matters is that they fix it, and figure out how to avoid such issues appearing again.
IIRC from the livestream, they mentioned they would make one fix this week (they did), but there would be another next week, so i guess they are at least working on the first item. The second we'll probably never quite know.
Reminds me of the "rescue the 15 people" optional objective in The Khitomer Discord that was supposedly fixed, but actually wasn't and has been ignored so far.
However, taking Covid into their project completion dates, by perhaps extending the deadline and once again telling us that hey we are mostly working from home and so some of our plans will be delayed as we try to create the new content but without the same working environment of an office that would allow for normal development and rooting out bugs. Hope you will work with us and understand any delays in content that we talk about.
They didn't. They need to do the Q/A on all content whether from home or office. Now if they don't want to make an actual prize in the c-store, then perhaps say if you are able to complete the mission/tfo you could earn either daily progress or a daily bonus of dil on the tribble server (if they still have it - haven't bothered to keep up on that and no that should be used as a get out of hot water excuse) lets say 2000 dil plus the normal dil and perhaps extra 50 marks added to the daily bonus and mission/tfo completion, with of course the warning that you might have to drop the mission or fail as the mission might not work properly for all. Yes I know why should we be rewarded for helping new content get out to all sooner and with fewer bugs, well for some playing it on the test server will spoil the final release and second you asking people to give up time that they could use to do other things work, school, gaming or whatever instead of being on a test server.
In terms of is this unique, the bugs at release, no. Am I holding them at a higher level than others, no. I remember Sie,,, Entertainment when they put out Ground Control (I remember beta testing it) and it worked fine. Then when they went gold and released to retail, you couldn't install the game, even if you had no issues as a beta tester. So you had to wait for a patch, which I don't remember how many days after retail release before they announced the problem. Also is that how things work now all over, well the industry has this error margin of X so we are within norms? It should always be a goal to be a stride above so that people will say hey Cryptic has its stuff together as they aim for no bugs and have done it many times over across their titles. I will watch for future games from them that I might like because of this reputation. Just as Elect. A... gained a bad reputation with gamers that has been hard for them to shake off (I don't remember if tos forbid naming other gaming companies). However for Cryptic this major bug crushing that blocks completion of the event or getting into the event is a common problem. They also create new bugs on top of that like the Phoenix Prize mission.
Also I am showing all these available items in the store yet clicking on them doesn't get you them and instead gives an error about not able to purchase (meaning it is a Available/Free price). How do you add content and then cause this to show up and it seems to vary by character on a single account and my alt account it also is different per character. So error + error + error = frustration and anger. With the covid 19 variable, there are many things they can do to handle delays or fixes in a manner they aren't doing now. Putting out patch notes saying it is fixed and it isn't, the transports have problems with leaving the starbase requiring that you let it die so you can progress or wait the process to what appears to be a timed limit on the transport to show it is moving.
Beaming in at location A... transporting to B... protecting line C... and the magic timer ruining it all in the background. God we had this nonsense a thousand times already.
I really think cryptic should have spared themselves *and* us a lot of trouble here for just not trying in the first place... especially when the circumstances happen to be difficult. 😒
Looking for a fun PvE fleet? Join us at Omega Combat Division today.
The hardest part is to have players leave it to to die instead of keeping mindlessly BFAWing their way around it.
I vastly prefer to play the story mission until the "protect the ship" part on each alt and leave it, waiting for the daily timer to be reset.
For now at least, as I'll run out of alts way before reaching the 20-day mark and the mission has zero incentive to be replayed. No accolade, no alternative choice, no secret bonus objective, no dialogue difference, nothing.
actually, they're features
aut vincere aut mori pro imperio
either to conquer or to die for the Empire
Really, I'd love to say that
They do fix bugs from time-to-time, just not the bugs you may want fixed. 🤷🏽♂️ From what I've experienced since game launch...the source code isn't exactly a work of art. Fixing this game's code is probably a game of Jenga...with marbles. Makes me wonder just how big their staff is. A game this old can't have more than 8-12 people working it; perhaps less.
Agreed.
No doubt but STO right now also has the challenge that the majority of those who made the code arent there, or moved to other projects within Cryptic, and the game was made in crunchtime because they had to make the game before the lincense expired back then so they couldnt make a neat code with well documented subroutines that have explanatory text for each ones function like coders normally do in big projects. Add to it STOs engine starts to show its age as they keep adding things so eventually they may hit a wall where everything they add impacts overall game performance
The game is a crusty old onion with many, many, layers...sort of like Drozana station.