I personally am not a big fun of the UGC because i want cryptic to develop the content not the play base. that why am paying for the monthly fee. if i want play base content generated game i will have to buy standalone game not mmo. but half of the community are liking the idea so i just have to stick with it for now and see what come out of it. but i will be watching cryptic devs very closely.:mad:
You'll still be getting content made by Cryptic, feature episodes being one of those content bullet points. Giving the subscriber base the ability to also create missions just adds to the content pool, and there's some really awesome stuff that's being generated from the community thanks to a tool that was developed by Cryptic.
I am a little dismayed that there's the feeling on Gozer's part that because the Foundry is coming that whatever he makes isn't going to be worth a damn because other people are possibly going to make stuff that'll be better (Psi Velorum being cited as an example in the OP). I'd like to see what sort of aftermath results from the FE's we do, but the only thing that will be considered ST:O canon will be what Cryptic actually produces in regards to that.
The way I'm seeing it is Cryptic content can be likened to the set in stone canon we get from the shows, then the Foundry would be all the soft-canon books we have. There are some really good Trek novels out there that I love to read, and they add to the richness of the universe, but they don't drive the body of the universe which is firmly in the IP holder's control. In this case, Cryptic is firmly in control of where the Trek universe (for the purposes of ST:O) goes next and that doesn't need to include UGC in any way, shape, or form. It can, and that would rock so hard I haven't the words to describe how awesome that would be, but they would have to be very particular on what UGC is considered canon and what isn't so as to keep the universe from getting out of hand.
So just because player's are going to be putting a bunch of content in a sector doesn't mean that Cryptic should just ignore it because it's covered in content. Figure out your narrative Cryptic and plan from there!
I am a little dismayed that there's the feeling on Gozer's part that because the Foundry is coming that whatever he makes isn't going to be worth a damn because other people are possibly going to make stuff that'll be better (Psi Velorum being cited as an example in the OP). I'd like to see what sort of aftermath results from the FE's we do, but the only thing that will be considered ST:O canon will be what Cryptic actually produces in regards to that.
So just because player's are going to be putting a bunch of content in a sector doesn't mean that Cryptic should just ignore it because it's covered in content. Figure out your narrative Cryptic and plan from there!
This has been my concern since they decided on going this route. While dev tools being in games is nothing new, for a pay to play game, it could be a terrible thing.
I'm not saying Cryptic is going to go all lazy on US, especially with the new people there caring about the IP, it gives the higher ups in Atari a perfect reason not to expand the current dev team. While im sure player made content will be fine, and some truly epic ones will rise to the top, i just don't think the player base should be providing said content in a pay to play game, that also has a micro transaction model for the sole purpose of "gives the devs additionally revenue to make new content".
I didn't take Gozer's comments as UGC as a replacement to new content, but rather (and I would expect this to be the case) that any well designed, well thought, solid missions "could" be adapted to official content.
What all that means for the game in regards to compensation is a completely different topic. However, What I took Gozer to be saying is would you rathe him doing a bunch of 'fire and forget' (my own words) missions or have him do a single large mission?
I never said that we would not continue to make content.
My answer was more toward the type of content we would be making.
It was asked if we had plans to create more content like the patrols I created for the KDF in the Pi Canis sector. My answer basicially said... I dunno yet...
If the player base is creating great "basic" missions with the Foundry. Then the Content Team can concentrate on more elaborate mission creation.
I never said that we would not continue to make content.
My answer was more toward the type of content we would be making.
It was asked if we had plans to create more content like the patrols I created for the KDF in the Pi Canis sector. My answer basicially said... I dunno yet...
If the player base is creating great "basic" missions with the Foundry. Then the Content Team can concentrate on more elaborate mission creation.
Thanks for stopping in! Just for clarification, what is your answer to this question:
But will people get less number of new official missions because of UGC?
I never said that we would not continue to make content.
My answer was more toward the type of content we would be making.
It was asked if we had plans to create more content like the patrols I created for the KDF in the Pi Canis sector. My answer basicially said... I dunno yet...
If the player base is creating great "basic" missions with the Foundry. Then the Content Team can concentrate on more elaborate mission creation.
problem is .. some of us are not so sure about the foundry ?? I'm not saying it's bad .. just not sure !
I never said that we would not continue to make content.
My answer was more toward the type of content we would be making.
It was asked if we had plans to create more content like the patrols I created for the KDF in the Pi Canis sector. My answer basicially said... I dunno yet...
If the player base is creating great "basic" missions with the Foundry. Then the Content Team can concentrate on more elaborate mission creation.
I would imagine that we'll see some big decisions made regarding whether Cryptic's team is more geared towards art or mission design but the direction Stahl has indicated with regards to the plans for Featured Episodes and CapnLogan being the one "ship guy" left sure say to me that Cryptic's prime focus is on designing missions at this point.
Though, frankly, I can see where a game with a less story driven franchise like my hypothetical Cryptic-style Transformers or Ninja Turtles MMO might be better off focusing on art and new game mechanics if they had a Foundry-style UGC system because those franchises tend to have a broad, loose story that, as a toy-friendly franchise, largely centers around the user created story. Whereas Trek kinda hinges a lot more on a strong central narrative and vision of how the narrative is executed.
I think Stahl seems to be making the right calls for Trek, specifically, but the same calls might be totally wrong with a different IP. Like I say, a franchise many people know more through toys and standalone cartoons might be better off with devs creating art and gimmicks and handing story totally over to the community. Whereas a Buffy or a Doctor Who MMO might do better with a dev team constantly innovating social tools or creating a more cinematic action content style and art might be more secondary while content might take the form of introducing a new "big bad" that propagates through repeatable content every six months. Meanwhile, on the oddball chance you ever did an MMO based on a sitcom, art might be a more limited department and new terrain might not be the focus but instead have a focus on having light, small, regular content in the form of, effectively, comedy writers with Twitter-sized gags and ideas constantly being streamed into the game world and maybe a HUGE emphasis on a voiceover initiative.
Everything I see being donje looks good for Trek but it's issues very specific to the IP that make these choices good.
I'm sure many people here played, and probably still play NeverWinter Nights. Yeah the game was pretty cool but some of the persistent worlds players came up with were amazing (some were trash, yes). I spent more time on a couple of the online mods that I did playing NWN itself. Thats how I hope the Foundry works out, with the added bonus that the devs will still be making content too
Thanks for stopping in! Just for clarification, what is your answer to this question:
But will people get less number of new official missions because of UGC?
And, why not ask permission from some foundry authors, who make EPIC *Throws a 50 dollar bag of quarters in the epic jar* patrols, and other missions to import those to the official cannon of STO? Reward them for their time, certainly,somehow (C-store points, or a month of free gametime, or something else?)
But for most foundry missions, I'm not interested, for there is no point, it is a 'could have been'.
Not everyone wants to play a mission that has no actual meaning to the game, that doesn't have an impact. I want the stuff that works with the game cannon, that is brilliantly executed, and morally driven, the stuff that pushes the story of STO ahead to be recognized, and kept permanently.
he will never tell you that because
1) he doesnt' have enough information to make such an analysis and
2) if it was true, he still wouldn't tell you
He obviously knows the plan. Otherwise he wouldnt be talking about it at all. And your right, he probably wouldnt admit it because that would sound really bad.
The Dev's mentioned recently something along the lines that they were able to now double the number of featured series that they can create in a year from 5 to 10. At least i think that's what was said. So there's plenty more content to come
Yes... I look forward to that.
I do think they need to get away from the 5-part story arc thing for each wave of featured episodes. They are cool and all like that, but I feel that focusing too much on one element sort of detracts from the ability to focus on multiple elements. I'd like to see them move around with the plots the way the TV series move around. Keep with a central plotline that rears its head every couple of weeks, building towards the Season Finale. This will allow them to explore a lot more possibilities in terms of stories. We could have our Romulan Episodes, our Ferengi episodes, our Q episodes, our Borg episodes and what not.
If they can keep the featured episodes varried and reliesed on a more frequent basis, then I won't mind if they don't write a single other standard mission. As long as the Foundry keeps having contend and tool additions, I will be writing and playing missions in between weekly features.
Thanks for stopping in! Just for clarification, what is your answer to this question:
But will people get less number of new official missions because of UGC?
You really needed to ask that? Isn't the answer sort of self evident?
If the 1st part is true, that they are satisfied with the foundry missions as contributing enough "lite fare" and thus focus on the more elaborate missions...
... then of course there will be less. Its common sense.
Without an increase in manpower (which is possible, but COMPLETELY unrelated to this) you either get a Big Number of Short Missions or a Small Number of Big Missions.
Its the same discussion we've been having since the onset of the Featured Episodes, Quality vs Quantity.
And my stance remains Quantity, within reason.
In the end though, Gozer can't really answer that because he doesn't know how things will end up personnel-wise re: their desire to expand and deliver more Featured Series faster.
If their team grows, then they very well might increase both Quantity and Quality... so how can he answer yet?
I would much rather have quality missions with replayability than quantity missions that you never want to do again.
I like the idea behind the UGC where the fans can share their stories with other fans using the artwork supplied in game.
If Cryptic, for whatever business reasons, doesn't have the staffing to churn out content like they've done over the last few years and wants to rely to some degree on UGC, then by all means I would much rather have them work on quality missions and artwork while providing the UGC story-tellers with additional artwork to use. This way, we can get the best of both worlds - weekly quality content with best of the best of the best UGC content to intersperse. This should serve to keep all players somewhat happy(except for those STF'ers!) in between seasonal changes.
I'm sure many people here played, and probably still play NeverWinter Nights. Yeah the game was pretty cool but some of the persistent worlds players came up with were amazing (some were trash, yes). I spent more time on a couple of the online mods that I did playing NWN itself. Thats how I hope the Foundry works out, with the added bonus that the devs will still be making content too
true however i don t recall any subs in NWN1&2... meaning a lot more people were and some are still involved into making persistent worlds and missions cause it s free (beside the retail box)
Furthermore the NWN tool while more complicated is much more powerful than the Foundry since it could allowed people to create objects instead of just using prefabs hence extend limits set by the game.
it does not look like the Cryptic neverwinter tool being so different than the STO one....so i see a lot of disappointed people since D&D players have been able to create from scratch modules/missions/campaigns instead of just using prefabs. Oh well...
Without an increase in manpower (which is possible, but COMPLETELY unrelated to this) you either get a Big Number of Short Missions or a Small Number of Big Missions.
I'll take a medium number of medium length missions. Nice try though. Actually, it wasnt.
Defending The House of Martok against the House of Torg/Duras and Romulan influence.
Participating in a bat'leth tournament and hearing CANON Klingon Music (way before Amok Time in "Colosseum").
Seeing Mars and getting to attack the Utopia Planetia Shipyards.
(have not played these yet but...) Barge of the Dead, Grethor and the Fek'lhri.
Peregrine's point was that you just listed all 8 KDF-only PvE missions.
I'm really surprised the content team isn't too fond of the Foundry. You can create better missions in it than most of the ones from launch, yet it's this ugly pariah whose trying "to take er jobs!"
Yes, it's less powerful than current dev tools but some content is better than no content during a gap.
Think of it in terms of mathematics and game theory.
I never said that we would not continue to make content.
My answer was more toward the type of content we would be making.
It was asked if we had plans to create more content like the patrols I created for the KDF in the Pi Canis sector. My answer basicially said... I dunno yet...
If the player base is creating great "basic" missions with the Foundry. Then the Content Team can concentrate on more elaborate mission creation.
What's the criteria for a basic mission?
The Patrol Missions (Basic Missions) we have now are aiding in giving exposition for the sector block they take place in. Individually they aren't overly complex as they don't require much effort to complete (no puzzle solving, huge numbers of NPC's to fight). They're assignments handed to Starfleet/KDF Captains to do because their territories need to be patrolled for pirates, ships/stations/planets in distress, scouting for enemy incursion, and general 'showing the flag' type action. I appreciate patrol duty quite a bit since it's closer to what the majority of Starfleet/KDF personnel experience day in and day out as they carry on with their respective careers in their Areas of Operation.
Perhaps a redesign of "Patrol Mission" content to be more like random events you can respond to in all the sector blocks rather then be static one-offs from Samuel Winters is more in order. A "Respond to 3 Distress Calls" goal can be put in place as well, similar to the exploration repeatable we can do in various exploration sectors as we level up.
Either way, I'm not comfortable with the idea of UGC having such influence (beyond what to include in the toolset) over what you folks at Cryptic are doing.
You really needed to ask that? Isn't the answer sort of self evident?
If the 1st part is true, that they are satisfied with the foundry missions as contributing enough "lite fare" and thus focus on the more elaborate missions...
... then of course there will be less. Its common sense.
If that is the case, then that is a direct contradiction of what the Devs wold us in the past. They told us that the Foundry would not be used an an excuse to produce less official content.
If that is the case, then that is a direct contradiction of what the Devs wold us in the past. They told us that the Foundry would not be used an an excuse to produce less official content.
And it wont, if they can pull off what they said in the last engineering report. They said they are planning to double the amount of Featured Episodes we get every year, meaning we will actually be getting twice as much official content AFTER the Foundry comes out than we are now.
However, the question in the OP was specifically asking about Klingon faction content. So the truly pertinent question would be will Klingons get less official faction specific content because of UGC than they would otherwise?
Peregrine's point was that you just listed all 8 KDF-only PvE missions.
Peregrine's point was that he thinks the devs don't want to write Klingon content and that they're no good at it anyway, which is why he'd rather play user KDF content from The Foundry:
Besides, the devs obviously don't want to write Klingon content, and considering how poorly written most of the Federation content is I don't think I want them writing Klingon content either. The devs can stay in their little bubble and write Federation content and then keep filing the serial numbers off so that Klingons can play it too, and they can keep calling it "Klingon content" all they want.
I have nothing against the Foundry and believe it will be a nice addition to the game. Whoever doesn't like those 8 KDF-Only PVE missions is entitled to their opinion. My point is that I very much liked what Cryptic created for the KDF. Those Season 2 missions are better than what they created for Feds at launch.
Yes there's only 8 dev missions and we'll get a lot more with The Foundry (and better than Season 1 episodes in some cases). My point is I want "official" content that is part of STO's canon - HIGH QUALITY ones. This is something The Foundry won't provide unless the devs choose to take Foundry missions and make them official (and remaster them) which I support if they want to do this.
DStahl has stated his commitment towards filling the KDF content gaps after Season 4. So far, I believe him and he's reiterated his commitment too many times for Foundry content to just replace their plans for the KDF.
If Cryptic has been stringing us along, waiting on The Foundry to go live so they don't have to create KDF Episodes while stating that they eventually will... heh... well I don't think they want any more vitriol on that front.
Peregrine's point was that he thinks the devs don't want to write Klingon content and that they're no good at it anyway, which is why he'd rather play user KDF content from The Foundry.
Check this:
the part before the red you highlighted said the devs aren't doing it at a rate most people want and (the part you highlighted) says the stuff that does come out is sometimes underwhelming (which describes even the Federation launch content).
That said, my own take is that:
some content is better than no content (i.e. better to have dev-made foundry missions during droughts than to have no dev missions most of the year). This is moot if the devs manage 10 weekly series per year since they'd obviously be doing pretty awesome.
I'm just surprised the Foundry is so undervalued as a dev asset internally (i.e. devs could make missions more complex appearing than Fed launch ones in a fraction of the time, thus flushing out the KDF).
Your own lack of comprehension does not mean the topic does not make sense. Everyone else seems to understand the question and has been having a logical discussion. You are the only one who "doesnt get it".
. . . I wrote a post suggesting that the UGC was a mistake and crutch that could hide the fact that Cryptic/Atari had no intention of putting up the resources to bring this game up to par with most other MMORPGs and provide grade "A" content.
I was poo-poo'd then. Who was I to stop you fine folks from creating content?!!
Well, I'm sure everyone here are top-notch writers, eh? Most of you have written script treatments? Most of you own a copy of the book that the producers reference when holding story meetings?
I'm sure some of you are, indeed, fine writers. But, please, think this through.
For those hankering to create a story, more power to you, but everyone here is PAYING Cryptic a monthly subscription. They work for us. Therefore, instead of sitting down and shutting up, we, the clients, should demand that they increase the size of the team and generate real content!
Their team is "small", "close knit".
This is a BILLION-DOLLAR FRANCHISE.
This is a company that double-dips. They take your subscription and they charge you for premium "fluff", but no real new content was created besides some really short episodes, an extremely limited set of diplomatic missions, and some really messed up STFs (I'm talking real content here, not new ship models or a facelift of sector space). And we celebrate the Foundry as a holy grail.
I just don't get it folks. The Foundry is their way to weasle out of providing the kind of content that should have been live back on Day One. Most of you seem fine with that.
Wake up please! They're taking your money and you're working for free. Make them work for you. Not you for them.
the part before the red you highlighted said the devs aren't doing it at a rate most people want and (the part you highlighted) says the stuff that does come out is sometimes underwhelming (which describes even the Federation launch content).
That said, my own take is that:
some content is better than no content (i.e. better to have dev-made foundry missions during droughts than to have no dev missions most of the year). This is moot if the devs manage 10 weekly series per year since they'd obviously be doing pretty awesome.
I'm just surprised the Foundry is so undervalued as a dev asset internally (i.e. devs could make missions more complex appearing than Fed launch ones in a fraction of the time, thus flushing out the KDF).
Yes I can understand your point of view. I think some devs like StormShade who don't normally make content will use The Foundry and have already said they will.
From my point of view, it doesn't make much sense for STO's regular Content Team to use The Foundry to make missions when players can make even more using the same tools.
People aren't logging in on Saturday to play high quantities of content. They are subscribing and logging in to see the high quality content that only the devs can make using their internal tool set. DStahl saw this and it's why he shifted focus internally to make even more high quality content.
From my point of view, it doesn't make much sense for STO's regular Content Team to use The Foundry to make missions when players can make even more using the same tools.
This is where the fundamental differences in philosophy between the two camps lays:
Some of us feel that KDF haven't had enough content since beta and that putting more out quickly would be a blessing for the team. They feel the KDF don't have enough (and they don't, if unique PvE content is your thing).
The other primary camp is making more of a qualitative judgement: general quality should precede mass quantity.
I think that distinct, unique leveling paths for alts helps games in the long-run - or else everyone is at cap on their main character.
Here's an idea for the devs:
Hold a promotion to make Klingon Sortie packages for fleets.
The winning fleet that bands together to make the sorties for a given sector block gets either the protagonists or antagonists in the missions named after them and feature their fleet as a permanent part of that sector block's "story".
Fed fleets could enter, if only to show the content they've made on KDF Foundry toons - perhaps generating some rivalries between fleets.
I just don't get it folks. The Foundry is their way to weasle out of providing the kind of content that should have been live back on Day One. Most of you seem fine with that.
They just announced they will be doubling the amount of Featured episodes we get each year. That means we will be getting twice as much official content after the Foundry is released than we are now.
My general thinking is that I will never enjoy a foundry mission as much as an official mission. I really don't know why, even the quality and story is better, still rather play a dev made one. (OCD perhaps?:p) That plays to "simple" missions aswell. I would SO much rather play dev made sorties and dailies, then player made episodes. Same with fan-fic and licensed books.
So I really really hope that the devs don't think just because we have the foundry, they can stop giving dailies (And Sorties!!) as often or at all. Because if that is the case I am SEVERELY disappointed. I view the Foundry as merely a bonus to the real story. Like a holodeck program. It might be a fun diversion, and seem like a real mission, but in the back of my mind I will always know it's not an actual mission, or part of the story.
And, I believe this was already mentioned, but the devs should really use the Foundry to thier advantage to just crank out dailies or simple Epsiodes. Especially for the KDF! I mean the current KDF missions are fun, and most of them don't have anything special besides the art. I could live with Cut-scenes or career specific content! I just want some PvE!
Comments
You'll still be getting content made by Cryptic, feature episodes being one of those content bullet points. Giving the subscriber base the ability to also create missions just adds to the content pool, and there's some really awesome stuff that's being generated from the community thanks to a tool that was developed by Cryptic.
I am a little dismayed that there's the feeling on Gozer's part that because the Foundry is coming that whatever he makes isn't going to be worth a damn because other people are possibly going to make stuff that'll be better (Psi Velorum being cited as an example in the OP). I'd like to see what sort of aftermath results from the FE's we do, but the only thing that will be considered ST:O canon will be what Cryptic actually produces in regards to that.
The way I'm seeing it is Cryptic content can be likened to the set in stone canon we get from the shows, then the Foundry would be all the soft-canon books we have. There are some really good Trek novels out there that I love to read, and they add to the richness of the universe, but they don't drive the body of the universe which is firmly in the IP holder's control. In this case, Cryptic is firmly in control of where the Trek universe (for the purposes of ST:O) goes next and that doesn't need to include UGC in any way, shape, or form. It can, and that would rock so hard I haven't the words to describe how awesome that would be, but they would have to be very particular on what UGC is considered canon and what isn't so as to keep the universe from getting out of hand.
So just because player's are going to be putting a bunch of content in a sector doesn't mean that Cryptic should just ignore it because it's covered in content. Figure out your narrative Cryptic and plan from there!
This has been my concern since they decided on going this route. While dev tools being in games is nothing new, for a pay to play game, it could be a terrible thing.
I'm not saying Cryptic is going to go all lazy on US, especially with the new people there caring about the IP, it gives the higher ups in Atari a perfect reason not to expand the current dev team. While im sure player made content will be fine, and some truly epic ones will rise to the top, i just don't think the player base should be providing said content in a pay to play game, that also has a micro transaction model for the sole purpose of "gives the devs additionally revenue to make new content".
I didn't take Gozer's comments as UGC as a replacement to new content, but rather (and I would expect this to be the case) that any well designed, well thought, solid missions "could" be adapted to official content.
What all that means for the game in regards to compensation is a completely different topic. However, What I took Gozer to be saying is would you rathe him doing a bunch of 'fire and forget' (my own words) missions or have him do a single large mission?
Blak
My answer was more toward the type of content we would be making.
It was asked if we had plans to create more content like the patrols I created for the KDF in the Pi Canis sector. My answer basicially said... I dunno yet...
If the player base is creating great "basic" missions with the Foundry. Then the Content Team can concentrate on more elaborate mission creation.
Thanks for stopping in! Just for clarification, what is your answer to this question:
But will people get less number of new official missions because of UGC?
problem is .. some of us are not so sure about the foundry ?? I'm not saying it's bad .. just not sure !
I would imagine that we'll see some big decisions made regarding whether Cryptic's team is more geared towards art or mission design but the direction Stahl has indicated with regards to the plans for Featured Episodes and CapnLogan being the one "ship guy" left sure say to me that Cryptic's prime focus is on designing missions at this point.
Though, frankly, I can see where a game with a less story driven franchise like my hypothetical Cryptic-style Transformers or Ninja Turtles MMO might be better off focusing on art and new game mechanics if they had a Foundry-style UGC system because those franchises tend to have a broad, loose story that, as a toy-friendly franchise, largely centers around the user created story. Whereas Trek kinda hinges a lot more on a strong central narrative and vision of how the narrative is executed.
I think Stahl seems to be making the right calls for Trek, specifically, but the same calls might be totally wrong with a different IP. Like I say, a franchise many people know more through toys and standalone cartoons might be better off with devs creating art and gimmicks and handing story totally over to the community. Whereas a Buffy or a Doctor Who MMO might do better with a dev team constantly innovating social tools or creating a more cinematic action content style and art might be more secondary while content might take the form of introducing a new "big bad" that propagates through repeatable content every six months. Meanwhile, on the oddball chance you ever did an MMO based on a sitcom, art might be a more limited department and new terrain might not be the focus but instead have a focus on having light, small, regular content in the form of, effectively, comedy writers with Twitter-sized gags and ideas constantly being streamed into the game world and maybe a HUGE emphasis on a voiceover initiative.
Everything I see being donje looks good for Trek but it's issues very specific to the IP that make these choices good.
he will never tell you that because
1) he doesnt' have enough information to make such an analysis and
2) if it was true, he still wouldn't tell you
And, why not ask permission from some foundry authors, who make EPIC *Throws a 50 dollar bag of quarters in the epic jar* patrols, and other missions to import those to the official cannon of STO? Reward them for their time, certainly,somehow (C-store points, or a month of free gametime, or something else?)
But for most foundry missions, I'm not interested, for there is no point, it is a 'could have been'.
Not everyone wants to play a mission that has no actual meaning to the game, that doesn't have an impact. I want the stuff that works with the game cannon, that is brilliantly executed, and morally driven, the stuff that pushes the story of STO ahead to be recognized, and kept permanently.
He obviously knows the plan. Otherwise he wouldnt be talking about it at all. And your right, he probably wouldnt admit it because that would sound really bad.
Yes... I look forward to that.
I do think they need to get away from the 5-part story arc thing for each wave of featured episodes. They are cool and all like that, but I feel that focusing too much on one element sort of detracts from the ability to focus on multiple elements. I'd like to see them move around with the plots the way the TV series move around. Keep with a central plotline that rears its head every couple of weeks, building towards the Season Finale. This will allow them to explore a lot more possibilities in terms of stories. We could have our Romulan Episodes, our Ferengi episodes, our Q episodes, our Borg episodes and what not.
If they can keep the featured episodes varried and reliesed on a more frequent basis, then I won't mind if they don't write a single other standard mission. As long as the Foundry keeps having contend and tool additions, I will be writing and playing missions in between weekly features.
You really needed to ask that? Isn't the answer sort of self evident?
If the 1st part is true, that they are satisfied with the foundry missions as contributing enough "lite fare" and thus focus on the more elaborate missions...
... then of course there will be less. Its common sense.
Without an increase in manpower (which is possible, but COMPLETELY unrelated to this) you either get a Big Number of Short Missions or a Small Number of Big Missions.
Its the same discussion we've been having since the onset of the Featured Episodes, Quality vs Quantity.
And my stance remains Quantity, within reason.
In the end though, Gozer can't really answer that because he doesn't know how things will end up personnel-wise re: their desire to expand and deliver more Featured Series faster.
If their team grows, then they very well might increase both Quantity and Quality... so how can he answer yet?
I would much rather have quality missions with replayability than quantity missions that you never want to do again.
I like the idea behind the UGC where the fans can share their stories with other fans using the artwork supplied in game.
If Cryptic, for whatever business reasons, doesn't have the staffing to churn out content like they've done over the last few years and wants to rely to some degree on UGC, then by all means I would much rather have them work on quality missions and artwork while providing the UGC story-tellers with additional artwork to use. This way, we can get the best of both worlds - weekly quality content with best of the best of the best UGC content to intersperse. This should serve to keep all players somewhat happy(except for those STF'ers!) in between seasonal changes.
true however i don t recall any subs in NWN1&2... meaning a lot more people were and some are still involved into making persistent worlds and missions cause it s free (beside the retail box)
Furthermore the NWN tool while more complicated is much more powerful than the Foundry since it could allowed people to create objects instead of just using prefabs hence extend limits set by the game.
it does not look like the Cryptic neverwinter tool being so different than the STO one....so i see a lot of disappointed people since D&D players have been able to create from scratch modules/missions/campaigns instead of just using prefabs. Oh well...
I'll take a medium number of medium length missions. Nice try though. Actually, it wasnt.
Peregrine's point was that you just listed all 8 KDF-only PvE missions.
I'm really surprised the content team isn't too fond of the Foundry. You can create better missions in it than most of the ones from launch, yet it's this ugly pariah whose trying "to take er jobs!"
Yes, it's less powerful than current dev tools but some content is better than no content during a gap.
Think of it in terms of mathematics and game theory.
What's the criteria for a basic mission?
The Patrol Missions (Basic Missions) we have now are aiding in giving exposition for the sector block they take place in. Individually they aren't overly complex as they don't require much effort to complete (no puzzle solving, huge numbers of NPC's to fight). They're assignments handed to Starfleet/KDF Captains to do because their territories need to be patrolled for pirates, ships/stations/planets in distress, scouting for enemy incursion, and general 'showing the flag' type action. I appreciate patrol duty quite a bit since it's closer to what the majority of Starfleet/KDF personnel experience day in and day out as they carry on with their respective careers in their Areas of Operation.
Perhaps a redesign of "Patrol Mission" content to be more like random events you can respond to in all the sector blocks rather then be static one-offs from Samuel Winters is more in order. A "Respond to 3 Distress Calls" goal can be put in place as well, similar to the exploration repeatable we can do in various exploration sectors as we level up.
Either way, I'm not comfortable with the idea of UGC having such influence (beyond what to include in the toolset) over what you folks at Cryptic are doing.
If that is the case, then that is a direct contradiction of what the Devs wold us in the past. They told us that the Foundry would not be used an an excuse to produce less official content.
And it wont, if they can pull off what they said in the last engineering report. They said they are planning to double the amount of Featured Episodes we get every year, meaning we will actually be getting twice as much official content AFTER the Foundry comes out than we are now.
However, the question in the OP was specifically asking about Klingon faction content. So the truly pertinent question would be will Klingons get less official faction specific content because of UGC than they would otherwise?
I would rather see that man power spent on adding featured episodes and things like the duty officer system and territory control.
That having been said in order for the foundry to "fill the gaps" for KDF players, it needs to reward XP at the same rate a patrol mission would.
Peregrine's point was that he thinks the devs don't want to write Klingon content and that they're no good at it anyway, which is why he'd rather play user KDF content from The Foundry:
I have nothing against the Foundry and believe it will be a nice addition to the game. Whoever doesn't like those 8 KDF-Only PVE missions is entitled to their opinion. My point is that I very much liked what Cryptic created for the KDF. Those Season 2 missions are better than what they created for Feds at launch.
Yes there's only 8 dev missions and we'll get a lot more with The Foundry (and better than Season 1 episodes in some cases). My point is I want "official" content that is part of STO's canon - HIGH QUALITY ones. This is something The Foundry won't provide unless the devs choose to take Foundry missions and make them official (and remaster them) which I support if they want to do this.
DStahl has stated his commitment towards filling the KDF content gaps after Season 4. So far, I believe him and he's reiterated his commitment too many times for Foundry content to just replace their plans for the KDF.
If Cryptic has been stringing us along, waiting on The Foundry to go live so they don't have to create KDF Episodes while stating that they eventually will... heh... well I don't think they want any more vitriol on that front.
Check this:
That said, my own take is that:
I'm just surprised the Foundry is so undervalued as a dev asset internally (i.e. devs could make missions more complex appearing than Fed launch ones in a fraction of the time, thus flushing out the KDF).
More UGC = More Official content, as Official content feeds into UGC which is only utilized (as a game content feature) by the community.
As Dan said, UGC will not stagnate on assets because it is linked to official developments.
Your own lack of comprehension does not mean the topic does not make sense. Everyone else seems to understand the question and has been having a logical discussion. You are the only one who "doesnt get it".
I was poo-poo'd then. Who was I to stop you fine folks from creating content?!!
Well, I'm sure everyone here are top-notch writers, eh? Most of you have written script treatments? Most of you own a copy of the book that the producers reference when holding story meetings?
I'm sure some of you are, indeed, fine writers. But, please, think this through.
For those hankering to create a story, more power to you, but everyone here is PAYING Cryptic a monthly subscription. They work for us. Therefore, instead of sitting down and shutting up, we, the clients, should demand that they increase the size of the team and generate real content!
Their team is "small", "close knit".
This is a BILLION-DOLLAR FRANCHISE.
This is a company that double-dips. They take your subscription and they charge you for premium "fluff", but no real new content was created besides some really short episodes, an extremely limited set of diplomatic missions, and some really messed up STFs (I'm talking real content here, not new ship models or a facelift of sector space). And we celebrate the Foundry as a holy grail.
I just don't get it folks. The Foundry is their way to weasle out of providing the kind of content that should have been live back on Day One. Most of you seem fine with that.
Wake up please! They're taking your money and you're working for free. Make them work for you. Not you for them.
Yes I can understand your point of view. I think some devs like StormShade who don't normally make content will use The Foundry and have already said they will.
From my point of view, it doesn't make much sense for STO's regular Content Team to use The Foundry to make missions when players can make even more using the same tools.
People aren't logging in on Saturday to play high quantities of content. They are subscribing and logging in to see the high quality content that only the devs can make using their internal tool set. DStahl saw this and it's why he shifted focus internally to make even more high quality content.
This is where the fundamental differences in philosophy between the two camps lays:
I think that distinct, unique leveling paths for alts helps games in the long-run - or else everyone is at cap on their main character.
Here's an idea for the devs:
The winning fleet that bands together to make the sorties for a given sector block gets either the protagonists or antagonists in the missions named after them and feature their fleet as a permanent part of that sector block's "story".
Fed fleets could enter, if only to show the content they've made on KDF Foundry toons - perhaps generating some rivalries between fleets.
They just announced they will be doubling the amount of Featured episodes we get each year. That means we will be getting twice as much official content after the Foundry is released than we are now.
So I really really hope that the devs don't think just because we have the foundry, they can stop giving dailies (And Sorties!!) as often or at all. Because if that is the case I am SEVERELY disappointed. I view the Foundry as merely a bonus to the real story. Like a holodeck program. It might be a fun diversion, and seem like a real mission, but in the back of my mind I will always know it's not an actual mission, or part of the story.
And, I believe this was already mentioned, but the devs should really use the Foundry to thier advantage to just crank out dailies or simple Epsiodes. Especially for the KDF! I mean the current KDF missions are fun, and most of them don't have anything special besides the art. I could live with Cut-scenes or career specific content! I just want some PvE!