Well, obviously, I support some madlibs based on my Bridge Officer Character Arc proposal.
The problem with Exploration Content is that it ISN'T madlibs. There are less than 50 unique mission texts (many of which look quite similar) which all involve one of less than ten tasks. The only mad libs elements are who the friendly and hostile aliens are.
Better madlibs would go a long way. Give people 3 things to do in a system (including the possibility for two similar ones) and adjust the repeatable exploration missions and that's a huge step. Better and more diverse text with richer madlibs elements is another step.
Well, obviously, I support some madlibs based on my Bridge Officer Character Arc proposal.
The problem with Exploration Content is that it ISN'T madlibs. There are less than 50 unique mission texts (many of which look quite similar) which all involve one of less than ten tasks. The only mad libs elements are who the friendly and hostile aliens are.
Better madlibs would go a long way. Give people 3 things to do in a system (including the possibility for two similar ones) and adjust the repeatable exploration missions and that's a huge step. Better and more diverse text with richer madlibs elements is another step.
I'm no IT person so I don't know how viable this is, but on the subject of open PVP, would it not be possible to add a third server?
By that I mean we have holodeck as general gameplay, and we have Tribble for testing; could we not have holodeck 2 server which would be completely flagged for PVP? So you join that server when wanting some PVP action, and join Holodeck 1 for normal gameplay.
Is that doable?
That's one of my chief concerns for User Generated Content (UCG). Theoretically we have an infinite number of missions in the Expanses. If the UCG just lets us build the same missions without regard to the 18 items in the list, then it won't be of much use.
Otherwise nice detail on 4 of the 18 items on the list (although your #1 isn't a direct match with #18, so let me know if it misses the boat).
I'm no IT person so I don't know how viable this is, but on the subject of open PVP, would it not be possible to add a third server?
I'm assuming your reason to not have the same server, is that seeing two same-faction starships go "boom" breaks immersion for you and that's why you want them on a different server or in their own instance?
I'm assuming your reason to not have the same server, is that seeing two same-faction starships go "boom" breaks immersion for you and that's why you want them on a different server or in their own instance?
No not at all. All I was thinking was the way the server is set up at the moment is not concusive to open PVP (correct me if I'm wrong). Other MMOs either segment through arena types, or area types, and some have dedicated servers for PVPers to roll on.
STO doesn't use a server name choice option for players to create characters on, and putting specific areas in the game for PVP to take place outside of dedicated instances seems like a laborious process. So my thought was, why not make a duplicate server as we have with Tribble, but with a command line entered for PVP flag. It's not an immersion thing, just what seemed to me to be an easy way to do it. Maybe I'm wrong though since I have no idea how hard that is.
The biggest reason i dont log in anymore is the LACK of Massive in the MMO. Lets face it, this game is a single player game with a local chat system.
The only thing i could think of to fix this would be to REMOVE all the damn loading screens.
There just isnt enough interaction on the community side for this to seem anything more then a online single player game.
Wish it were different, i love the IP but the game just needs more social interaction, and LESS C-STORE TRIBBLE/development
Also where's the MMO? THeres almost no MMO aspects except for a few missions I wouldnt even know theres other players. they certainly arent playing with me. I can see their ships flying around as they go about their day but for 14.99 a month, THE top notch MMO fee, you'd expect more even from an instanced game.
YES I just said this in another post and you've hit it right on the head Trent. What is the 14.99 a month for I can not even see the members of my fleet online...
I don't think it's a content issue at all. I think it's a core game play issue, and the rush to add content is only masking flaws in the core game.
Star Trek movies and television shows were almost never about having 20+ ships and their crews doing anything. They were about 1-2 ships and small away teams helping to unravel the day to day mysteries and conflicts that arose across a huge area of space, and which occasionally led to larger plots and deeper mysteries.
STO does not have the budget to produce content at the pace that players will consume it, and they (Cryptic) don't even seem to have a handle yet on the formula for their content. So you have a lot of "stuff" being made badly, consumed quickly, and then players sit around with intellectual heart burn complaining about how bad that stuff was, how they went through it too quickly, and by the way, when will the next stuff be ready?
I don't entirely agree here.
I've played several quests that directly involved having to play with other players and the missions were on the ground and involved special tasks that would be pretty relevant.
But based on the timeline on this game , which you have not read apparantly, the content which we are seeing is appropriate for this timeline in Star Trek. It is Star Trek and before you signed up I would suggest to have read when or where this game takes place. There's a war going on in this time line.
So what I pay 14.99 and now you expect to deliver rye bread to the Undine to try to make peace?
Your expectation is out of the content of this game completely.
All you can do is request for diplomacy missions which they said they are going to do.
But the content you say they cant develop actually exists. For whatever reason you've not encountered the ground "mmo" co-op missions where you play with others. I have found them to be fun and especially requiring skill when you move the slider to advanced. Its a heck of alot more challenging requiring group cooperation. Elite no pug group can do our guild is well organized for those missions.
But I don't agree with your post. The core is there already with some good missions.
About the only ting I can agree with is that the "mystery" needs more oomph and some puzzles need to be more difficult other than turning off something. They need to put the mystery into it and then we have complate package. But the core is there and its decent with potential.
Notice I said potential. We have a lift off but now lets ice the cake over.
You speak as if they don't what the game is but what I hear is someone hasn't encountered the content.
The biggest reason i dont log in anymore is the LACK of Massive in the MMO. Lets face it, this game is a single player game with a local chat system.
The only thing i could think of to fix this would be to REMOVE all the damn loading screens.
There just isnt enough interaction on the community side for this to seem anything more then a online single player game.
Wish it were different, i love the IP but the game just needs more social interaction, and LESS C-STORE TRIBBLE/development
Yep too many shards not enough people.
Some mission should require ADVANCED and we need some auto grouping or "meeting clusters".
Instancing as an issue isn't on the list. Primarily its because I don't get it other than as a break in immersion (which seems fairly minor and common to MMOs) and the size issue (although that's a chicken/egg thing).
I started a thread to try to get feedback on it since I wasn't getting it. But I think people were so incredulous they suspected trolling (the thread is only three pages long, and there's nothing that solidly hits the mark as to why its bad).
A friend and I were reminiscing about past characters when I made the observation that most of my STO characters felt the same. The two exceptions being my Klingon and my Ferengi which I enjoyed more than the other characters. They asked what was it that made them special? But, that was a hard question!
My Klingon was obvious. Sure they can be brutish, but they have a strong religion and well defined concepts of honor (even if some choose not to follow those customs). How can you not love a race so tough they killed their gods? Similarly, the Ferengi are capitalism run amuck. But down deep they're still people.
My friend made the observation that the reason I probably liked them is that they're "alien" in the sense of not being like me. So, they offer what games are suppose to offer people, a break from reality. So, it's one level of play to be a starship captain, but feeling alien offers an accent to that.
So why doesn't my gorn or Federation custom rolled alien given that save feeling? Probably because other than their image, they just don't feel alien. They don't have that rich culture or history. My Vulcan uses the neck-pinch in away-missions, but he doesn't really feel "Vulcan". Certainly there's as much, if not more, known about Vulcans but it doesn't "speak to me". I'm sure others get a great thrill from playing Vulcans.
To bring all this to the thread's topic, is there some underlying issue, or is this just the way it is and there's no way to improve it?
A friend and I were reminiscing about past characters when I made the observation that most of my STO characters felt the same. The two exceptions being my Klingon and my Ferengi which I enjoyed more than the other characters. They asked what was it that made them special? But, that was a hard question!
My Klingon was obvious. Sure they can be brutish, but they have a strong religion and well defined concepts of honor (even if some choose not to follow those customs). How can you not love a race so tough they killed their gods? Similarly, the Ferengi are capitalism run amuck. But down deep they're still people.
My friend made the observation that the reason I probably liked them is that they're "alien" in the sense of not being like me. So, they offer what games are suppose to offer people, a break from reality. So, it's one level of play to be a starship captain, but feeling alien offers an accent to that.
So why doesn't my gorn or Federation custom rolled alien given that save feeling? Probably because other than their image, they just don't feel alien. They don't have that rich culture or history. My Vulcan uses the neck-pinch in away-missions, but he doesn't really feel "Vulcan". Certainly there's as much, if not more, known about Vulcans but it doesn't "speak to me". I'm sure others get a great thrill from playing Vulcans.
To bring all this to the thread's topic, is there some underlying issue, or is this just the way it is and there's no way to improve it?
Sadly it's just the way it is, all the backstory, history, mythology and lore of canon races is reduced to ability scores and in-game applications. Until missions based on race/class are implemented it will remain so. What I mean by this is you get a mission like "Planet X is under an outbreak of Andorian Measles, deliver the antidote". With the caveat that in order to administer the antidote and treat the inhabitants you must have at least 4 Andorian Science Officers, this requirement can be met with PC/BO's. So if you don't meet the requirements you can't complete the mission.
ya, thats why you guys use cloak to sneak up on an adversary and them hammer them by suprise instead of fighting face to face... so go hide behind your cloak you cowards.... honorable my a ss. No different than a lying little ferengi trying to peddle something...
ya, thats why you guys use cloak to sneak up on an adversary and them hammer them by suprise instead of fighting face to face... so go hide behind your cloak you cowards.... honorable my a ss. No different than a lying little ferengi trying to peddle something...
Values like honor do not exist on the internet. It's a false shield used by pew pew pew PvP'rs to try and justify detrimental behavior by claiming "RP".
Theres no need to make it complicated, because it couldnt be simpler: the main thing STO needs is new content on a regular basis. In addition to that, the so called "crafting" system needs to be fixed. There you have it, no long discussion necessary.
Theres no need to make it complicated, because it couldnt be simpler: the main thing STO needs is new content on a regular basis. In addition to that, the so called "crafting" system needs to be fixed. There you have it, no long discussion necessary.
Content with no reward such as mini-games needs to be placed in right after they fix their sub-par attempt at crafting.
Is it really such a bad thing to things to do for no reward if you just want to kill 30 to 45 minutes?
I]speaking about Klingons[/I ya, thats why you guys use cloak to sneak up on an adversary and them hammer them by suprise instead of fighting face to face... so go hide behind your cloak you cowards.... honorable my ***. No different than a lying little ferengi trying to peddle something...
There's no need to make it complicated, because it couldnt be simpler: the main thing STO needs is new content on a regular basis. In addition to that, the so called "crafting" system needs to be fixed. There you have it, no long discussion necessary.
If content was King, why aren't people happy with expanse missions as there's an infinite number of them? I agree more content is required, but humbly submit that in order for new content to be successful it needs to have more going for it than the fact it exists. In a way, that's what this thread is about. The 18 items summarized in the OP are (I think) a good start, but we'd welcome your evaluation of them or any inputs on what elements, if captured, would improve UGC.
If content was King, why aren't people happy with expanse missions as there's an infinite number of them?
Because those arent new content, just the same content over and over again. I actually said "new content" in the post you quoted, so not sure why you even brought up the star clusters.
If content was King, why aren't people happy with expanse missions as there's an infinite number of them? I agree more content is required, but humbly submit that in order for new content to be successful it needs to have more going for it than the fact it exists. In a way, that's what this thread is about. The 18 items summarized in the OP are (I think) a good start, but we'd welcome your evaluation of them or any inputs on what elements, if captured, would improve UGC.
Because those arent new content, just the same content over and over again. I actually said "new content" in the post you quoted, so not sure why you even brought up the star clusters.
Starclusters? I apologize if the logic of my earlier post was seen as a non sequitur. I did see and understand what you meant by "new" and am aware of the difference between missions and content. What escaped you is that there's no guarantee that "New Content" isn't going to be the same as "Existing Content" and "new missions with new content" might be indistinguishable from "old missions with old content". How can anyone guarantee they'll be different without understanding the shortcomings of the past?
So, again, yes I agree more content is required. It even says so in the OP.
Or, is it that you believe that the existing missions and content were the best that they could possibly be and there is no room for improvement? I think you want a lot more. I think you want STO to be all you ever imagined it could be.
So help us! I'm not positive, but I don't think they'll kick you off Ferenginar for turning that mighty wit into an analysis of what elements could be used to help Cryptic (and UGC designers) from repeating the mistakes of the past. Don't forget, there's profit to be made.
I think as long as Atari has the money to continue improving it, it will be okay. I hate to say it, I love the game, but I do think they rushed it out. However, none of us are behind the scenes. Maybe Atari simply needed it to come out now for financial reasons.
You can never compare or expect this game to be as successful as warcraft. It simply isn't possible and it's unfair to hold cryptic to the same standards.
You can never compare or expect this game to be as successful as warcraft. It simply isn't possible and it's unfair to hold cryptic to the same standards.
I like the game too! Which, IMHO, already makes it better than WoW.
But, that doesn't mean every mission is perfect. Nor is the intent of the thread to set impossible standards. Rather, it's to try and help the game we love by identifying what the underlying issures are that are holding it back (the current issue list is summarized in the OP).
A lot of threads suggest ways to "fix" STO, but the premise of this thread is you can't know what solutions will work (or perhaps how well they'll work) unless you understand the issues and the solution accounts for them.
DIPLOMACY! Not fetchquests but mission arcs were your making conversation choices that effect futer missions. Like....
A: Dialogue driven Diplomatic missions. With any combination of the following
*Actual Dialouge trees: Were there are seven or 8 choices and several possible outcomes
*Suprise plot twists: Make geniunely beneficial allies early on that turn out to cost you something 6 missions later. Forcing you to think carefully about your choices when speeking to others.
*Cultural studies: were you have to blend into a young society to learn thier culture. Use words instead of weapons to try and uncover bits and peices of thier culture.
B:First Contact Missions. Were you need to succefully negotiate with new alien races . Impress them enough and they give you a reward, make them mad they cut you off and end talks, Really make them angry they attack you.
DIPLOMACY! Not fetchquests but mission arcs were your making conversation choices that effect futer missions. Like.....
Your wish is about to be granted! According to the Engineering Notes Diplomacy is coming in July. As far as I know, we have zip information on it, so it might not be what you expect. Also, Darren has some fun thoughts that might interest you for Diplomacy.
True Exploration. One of the hallmarks of Star Trek has always been exploring the unknown. Theoretically the Star cluster missions represent this. Really they do not.
The current Exploration system is underwhelming...
As a part of this thread's goal, its important to understand why exploration missions feel underwhelming. It's a big task, I hope you'll help.
Here's some of my thoughts:
The most obvious is that while you never run out of exploration missions, the content is very limited and they don't feel new. You're not "exploring" at that point, you're grinding.
There's no persistence to exploration zones, even if you did find a cool world, you can't bookmark it to return later or send to a friend.
Exploration doesn't let you meet alien races that you can learn things from either technologically or culturally. Everything I've seen has them as being needy.
Exploration Zones don't feel like the farthest edges of space, typically there are multiple starships zooming around trying to snag the next popup before you get there.
There's no real social element to exploration missions, so it has a lonely feel to it.
There also things I really like about Exploration zones:
It's a great place to go when you only have time for a quick mission
Gives my Klingon a break from PvP
Something to do at RA-5 when all other content has been exhausted
Great way to test changes on Tribble when there aren't enough to PvP with
They aren't the only thing you can do at RA5 (DSEs, Fleet Actions, pvp also qualify) but they have the opportunity to be something different that varies from mission to mission and right now they pretty much disappoint after the first few dozen times through. I know exactly what the mission will be just from looking at the map and reading the first popup. After a few months of this, they are just a grind, the only thing I do, just to get more of those marks that give me the best gear. Odd that the best gear doesn't drop, ever, or that ground missions give TRIBBLE rewards compared to space and take longer to boot so everyone I know turns them down a lot. Of course now my 4 admirals (I'll have six by the end of the month) have enough marks to outfit 2 whole new ships with the best gear immediately, and at least 3 more ships with the badge gear that gives the green uncommon equipment. They capped my skills or at least I'd have been able to learn the rest of the skills and have fun swapping ships and weapon types and such, but we all sort of got screwed there.
Of course Fleet Actions are dead zones, the crytalline entity in particular has become a joke, crafting recipes are haphazard and don't make much sense (I can make plasma cannons, then forget how and make tetryon cannons, then forget how and make polaron cannons), and pvp means being cannon fodder for vastly more experienced and skilled people unless you happen to be one of those elite. I said a long time ago that it is a logical certainty that 90% of players will not be as good at pvp as the top ten percent. Add in the fact that people gravitate toward what they are good at and away from things they lose badly at over and over, and you see that pvp will not be the thing that picks up the slack. A skill ladder that teams people up with like skilled players might help, but premade teams with voice chat will always beat an equal team made up on the spot.
So I see the exploration missions (perhaps enhanced by the Diplomatic corps coming) as the real end game content. The scripts need revamping, some just need rewriting, we need to be able to go into orbit around a planet, we need vastly more ability to talk to people instead of just shoot them. This is an area where user generated content could be invaluable. Write the scripts for the missions, let the dev team add them as they will until instead of a few dozen variations we get hundreds. Give us a format to write the story scripts, maybe use your advisory board to pick the best ones, then code for them and add them to the library of possible exploration missions.
Oh yeah, make episode versions of the STFs that can be soloed with bridge officers, or perhaps where you only need one other human to complete. All that content goes to waste because they take too long and are too hard on normal mode for the typical pug. I doubt 5% of the players have completed them. More content is already waiting for the masses, but you guys wrongly thought that grinding those every day for the few who have teams that like to do it would be something to hold end game players long term. Now that you have a difficulty slider you could perhaps move the normal STFs to advanced and make an easier normal mode that is more like a long episode and adds that much content to the 90% who don't bother with STFs.
Oh yeah, you folks really really should have in game voice chat. PvP pugs would have a chance to become cohesive groups if they had an easy way to join up in voice chat.
Voice-overs are also key to immersion in your episodes and missions. I don't care if you have the interns doing barely passable voice overs, they would be better than the ubiquitous boff telling you what to do.
Also, find a way to dispense with the nakedly exposed mechanic Scan 5/Kill 5 and at least try to disguise it with making it part of the story.
Comments
The problem with Exploration Content is that it ISN'T madlibs. There are less than 50 unique mission texts (many of which look quite similar) which all involve one of less than ten tasks. The only mad libs elements are who the friendly and hostile aliens are.
Better madlibs would go a long way. Give people 3 things to do in a system (including the possibility for two similar ones) and adjust the repeatable exploration missions and that's a huge step. Better and more diverse text with richer madlibs elements is another step.
I agree. More complex mission variants would go a long way toward fostering more involving gameplay.
Even gameplay gimmicks (like a "race the clock" - the sun is going nova and a crew needs to be beamed aboard) would go a long ways toward making.
I do like that. Or at least let you duke it out for fun with others and have other content for this.
By that I mean we have holodeck as general gameplay, and we have Tribble for testing; could we not have holodeck 2 server which would be completely flagged for PVP? So you join that server when wanting some PVP action, and join Holodeck 1 for normal gameplay.
Is that doable?
That's one of my chief concerns for User Generated Content (UCG). Theoretically we have an infinite number of missions in the Expanses. If the UCG just lets us build the same missions without regard to the 18 items in the list, then it won't be of much use.
Otherwise nice detail on 4 of the 18 items on the list (although your #1 isn't a direct match with #18, so let me know if it misses the boat).
I'm assuming your reason to not have the same server, is that seeing two same-faction starships go "boom" breaks immersion for you and that's why you want them on a different server or in their own instance?
No not at all. All I was thinking was the way the server is set up at the moment is not concusive to open PVP (correct me if I'm wrong). Other MMOs either segment through arena types, or area types, and some have dedicated servers for PVPers to roll on.
STO doesn't use a server name choice option for players to create characters on, and putting specific areas in the game for PVP to take place outside of dedicated instances seems like a laborious process. So my thought was, why not make a duplicate server as we have with Tribble, but with a command line entered for PVP flag. It's not an immersion thing, just what seemed to me to be an easy way to do it. Maybe I'm wrong though since I have no idea how hard that is.
The only thing i could think of to fix this would be to REMOVE all the damn loading screens.
There just isnt enough interaction on the community side for this to seem anything more then a online single player game.
Wish it were different, i love the IP but the game just needs more social interaction, and LESS C-STORE TRIBBLE/development
YES I just said this in another post and you've hit it right on the head Trent. What is the 14.99 a month for I can not even see the members of my fleet online...
I don't entirely agree here.
I've played several quests that directly involved having to play with other players and the missions were on the ground and involved special tasks that would be pretty relevant.
But based on the timeline on this game , which you have not read apparantly, the content which we are seeing is appropriate for this timeline in Star Trek. It is Star Trek and before you signed up I would suggest to have read when or where this game takes place. There's a war going on in this time line.
So what I pay 14.99 and now you expect to deliver rye bread to the Undine to try to make peace?
Your expectation is out of the content of this game completely.
All you can do is request for diplomacy missions which they said they are going to do.
But the content you say they cant develop actually exists. For whatever reason you've not encountered the ground "mmo" co-op missions where you play with others. I have found them to be fun and especially requiring skill when you move the slider to advanced. Its a heck of alot more challenging requiring group cooperation. Elite no pug group can do our guild is well organized for those missions.
But I don't agree with your post. The core is there already with some good missions.
About the only ting I can agree with is that the "mystery" needs more oomph and some puzzles need to be more difficult other than turning off something. They need to put the mystery into it and then we have complate package. But the core is there and its decent with potential.
Notice I said potential. We have a lift off but now lets ice the cake over.
You speak as if they don't what the game is but what I hear is someone hasn't encountered the content.
Yep too many shards not enough people.
Some mission should require ADVANCED and we need some auto grouping or "meeting clusters".
I started a thread to try to get feedback on it since I wasn't getting it. But I think people were so incredulous they suspected trolling (the thread is only three pages long, and there's nothing that solidly hits the mark as to why its bad).
My Klingon was obvious. Sure they can be brutish, but they have a strong religion and well defined concepts of honor (even if some choose not to follow those customs). How can you not love a race so tough they killed their gods? Similarly, the Ferengi are capitalism run amuck. But down deep they're still people.
My friend made the observation that the reason I probably liked them is that they're "alien" in the sense of not being like me. So, they offer what games are suppose to offer people, a break from reality. So, it's one level of play to be a starship captain, but feeling alien offers an accent to that.
So why doesn't my gorn or Federation custom rolled alien given that save feeling? Probably because other than their image, they just don't feel alien. They don't have that rich culture or history. My Vulcan uses the neck-pinch in away-missions, but he doesn't really feel "Vulcan". Certainly there's as much, if not more, known about Vulcans but it doesn't "speak to me". I'm sure others get a great thrill from playing Vulcans.
To bring all this to the thread's topic, is there some underlying issue, or is this just the way it is and there's no way to improve it?
Sadly it's just the way it is, all the backstory, history, mythology and lore of canon races is reduced to ability scores and in-game applications. Until missions based on race/class are implemented it will remain so. What I mean by this is you get a mission like "Planet X is under an outbreak of Andorian Measles, deliver the antidote". With the caveat that in order to administer the antidote and treat the inhabitants you must have at least 4 Andorian Science Officers, this requirement can be met with PC/BO's. So if you don't meet the requirements you can't complete the mission.
ya, thats why you guys use cloak to sneak up on an adversary and them hammer them by suprise instead of fighting face to face... so go hide behind your cloak you cowards.... honorable my a ss. No different than a lying little ferengi trying to peddle something...
Values like honor do not exist on the internet. It's a false shield used by pew pew pew PvP'rs to try and justify detrimental behavior by claiming "RP".
Content with no reward such as mini-games needs to be placed in right after they fix their sub-par attempt at crafting.
Is it really such a bad thing to things to do for no reward if you just want to kill 30 to 45 minutes?
If content was King, why aren't people happy with expanse missions as there's an infinite number of them? I agree more content is required, but humbly submit that in order for new content to be successful it needs to have more going for it than the fact it exists. In a way, that's what this thread is about. The 18 items summarized in the OP are (I think) a good start, but we'd welcome your evaluation of them or any inputs on what elements, if captured, would improve UGC.
Because those arent new content, just the same content over and over again. I actually said "new content" in the post you quoted, so not sure why you even brought up the star clusters.
So, again, yes I agree more content is required. It even says so in the OP.
Or, is it that you believe that the existing missions and content were the best that they could possibly be and there is no room for improvement? I think you want a lot more. I think you want STO to be all you ever imagined it could be.
So help us! I'm not positive, but I don't think they'll kick you off Ferenginar for turning that mighty wit into an analysis of what elements could be used to help Cryptic (and UGC designers) from repeating the mistakes of the past. Don't forget, there's profit to be made.
before i got to the Borg Level i whould have beed RA 7
I have started at 09.05.2010 and was RA 5 at 28.05.2010
Ok i have no Job at the moment and played 6 h or more a Day. But for a Game like WOW, which you play many years it is to short.
A Big new Part could be playing in the Delta Qu. were the USS Voyager was long time before they meet the Borg and later were back in Sol System
You can never compare or expect this game to be as successful as warcraft. It simply isn't possible and it's unfair to hold cryptic to the same standards.
Atari is still millions of dollars in the hole right now. STO helped bring them some positive returns, but they're still deep in debt.
I like the game too!
But, that doesn't mean every mission is perfect. Nor is the intent of the thread to set impossible standards. Rather, it's to try and help the game we love by identifying what the underlying issures are that are holding it back (the current issue list is summarized in the OP).
A lot of threads suggest ways to "fix" STO, but the premise of this thread is you can't know what solutions will work (or perhaps how well they'll work) unless you understand the issues and the solution accounts for them.
A: Dialogue driven Diplomatic missions. With any combination of the following
*Actual Dialouge trees: Were there are seven or 8 choices and several possible outcomes
*Suprise plot twists: Make geniunely beneficial allies early on that turn out to cost you something 6 missions later. Forcing you to think carefully about your choices when speeking to others.
*Cultural studies: were you have to blend into a young society to learn thier culture. Use words instead of weapons to try and uncover bits and peices of thier culture.
B:First Contact Missions. Were you need to succefully negotiate with new alien races . Impress them enough and they give you a reward, make them mad they cut you off and end talks, Really make them angry they attack you.
Your wish is about to be granted! According to the Engineering Notes Diplomacy is coming in July. As far as I know, we have zip information on it, so it might not be what you expect. Also, Darren has some fun thoughts that might interest you for Diplomacy.
As a part of this thread's goal, its important to understand why exploration missions feel underwhelming. It's a big task, I hope you'll help.
Here's some of my thoughts:
There also things I really like about Exploration zones:
Of course Fleet Actions are dead zones, the crytalline entity in particular has become a joke, crafting recipes are haphazard and don't make much sense (I can make plasma cannons, then forget how and make tetryon cannons, then forget how and make polaron cannons), and pvp means being cannon fodder for vastly more experienced and skilled people unless you happen to be one of those elite. I said a long time ago that it is a logical certainty that 90% of players will not be as good at pvp as the top ten percent. Add in the fact that people gravitate toward what they are good at and away from things they lose badly at over and over, and you see that pvp will not be the thing that picks up the slack. A skill ladder that teams people up with like skilled players might help, but premade teams with voice chat will always beat an equal team made up on the spot.
So I see the exploration missions (perhaps enhanced by the Diplomatic corps coming) as the real end game content. The scripts need revamping, some just need rewriting, we need to be able to go into orbit around a planet, we need vastly more ability to talk to people instead of just shoot them. This is an area where user generated content could be invaluable. Write the scripts for the missions, let the dev team add them as they will until instead of a few dozen variations we get hundreds. Give us a format to write the story scripts, maybe use your advisory board to pick the best ones, then code for them and add them to the library of possible exploration missions.
Oh yeah, make episode versions of the STFs that can be soloed with bridge officers, or perhaps where you only need one other human to complete. All that content goes to waste because they take too long and are too hard on normal mode for the typical pug. I doubt 5% of the players have completed them. More content is already waiting for the masses, but you guys wrongly thought that grinding those every day for the few who have teams that like to do it would be something to hold end game players long term. Now that you have a difficulty slider you could perhaps move the normal STFs to advanced and make an easier normal mode that is more like a long episode and adds that much content to the 90% who don't bother with STFs.
Oh yeah, you folks really really should have in game voice chat. PvP pugs would have a chance to become cohesive groups if they had an easy way to join up in voice chat.
Voice-overs are also key to immersion in your episodes and missions. I don't care if you have the interns doing barely passable voice overs, they would be better than the ubiquitous boff telling you what to do.
Also, find a way to dispense with the nakedly exposed mechanic Scan 5/Kill 5 and at least try to disguise it with making it part of the story.