In the latest "Path to F2P Dev Blog", Executive Producer Stephen D'Angelo confirms the launch date for Star Trek Online Free-To-Play: January 17, 2012. As some have pointed out, a little rearrangement of the date makes it 17/01. I needn't point out the significance to long time Trek fans.
He also reveals that the relaunch will be made available on the Holodeck server a month early for subscribers, and that C-Point stipends will also be starting a month early.
But, based on what I'm reading in the forums and past experience with Cryptic, I have to reiterate a prediction I made that it's too soon. Even if they waited until 17/01 to put anything online, there are still too many bugs, too many incomplete systems that exist in a half-baked state. They haven't even had time to make the Space Skills changes and give them time to settle on Tribble yet, as far as I know.
In short, the F2P launch seems likely to cause even more chaos than the Hobus Supernova. Yet another hit to Cryptic's reputation.
I can see where they need to buy themselves some time. They're losing more and more subscribers as time goes on with no new content. For them, it's better to launch an incomplete game (again) than to keep working on it. For players, not so much.
I am going to keep my money in my bank account and wait. I'll try to be there at launch, assuming there are no major game-breaking bugs that haven't been dealt with, but I'll be taking a try before I buy approach.
Thursday, November 10, 2011
Monday, November 7, 2011
Space Skills Revision
Path to F2P Dev Blog #18
I have read the latest Star Trek Online Dev Blog regarding the Space Skills Revision and I must say that this is one change that I wholeheartedly agree with and I like how these changes are being implemented. Call it NGE, but the skill tree has needed to be changed for a long time now and this looks like the right change to me. As long as they are able to address 99% of the inevitable balance issues before F2P launches, this will be a winner.
I have read the latest Star Trek Online Dev Blog regarding the Space Skills Revision and I must say that this is one change that I wholeheartedly agree with and I like how these changes are being implemented. Call it NGE, but the skill tree has needed to be changed for a long time now and this looks like the right change to me. As long as they are able to address 99% of the inevitable balance issues before F2P launches, this will be a winner.
Friday, November 4, 2011
If This Is Love, I'd Hate To See Hate
This is my response to a post by CaptainGeko.
Source: http://forums.startrekonline.com/showpost.php?p=3844420&postcount=1
I've already posted about Dilithium, so I won't spend a lot of time on that point. Retroactive Dilithium refinement is better than not having it, I suppose, but I'm not sure it's really going to add much QoL to the game for subscribers. You still have to earn it, and the system is still set up to starve the economy artificially.
VA Ship Tokens. Or should I say "token", no "s"? Previously, if you leveled up to VA/LG, you got a VA token for that character. You could buy a VA ship, even if only for that one character. Now, you want it, you buy it. Except that 500 day subscribers can get ONE for free, for ONE character.
Again, better than nothing, but still pretty weak for shelling out $15 a month in my opinion. An account-wide unlock of one free token for every character, would be more like it. Players can't sell it, they couldn't get more than one VA ship per character without shelling out more money, so why such a draconian limit?
Sure, there are lots of benefits for Gold accounts... just not any that we care about very much. I get that they need to make money... but they're already getting steady cash from subscribers.
This isn't really love. This is more, "We like you... Sort of... It's your money we really love."
More love for Gold members:
If you are a gold member, each time you log in, the system will automatically refine your Dilithium Ore for each day that has passes since you last logged in - up to one week.
The 500 day Veteran reward will now come with a free Vice Admiral ship token (account unlock). This change will be retroactive. If you are a 500 day veteran and already have a character that has earned a Vice Admiral Ship Token, that character will not get another one.
Source: http://forums.startrekonline.com/showpost.php?p=3844420&postcount=1
I've already posted about Dilithium, so I won't spend a lot of time on that point. Retroactive Dilithium refinement is better than not having it, I suppose, but I'm not sure it's really going to add much QoL to the game for subscribers. You still have to earn it, and the system is still set up to starve the economy artificially.
VA Ship Tokens. Or should I say "token", no "s"? Previously, if you leveled up to VA/LG, you got a VA token for that character. You could buy a VA ship, even if only for that one character. Now, you want it, you buy it. Except that 500 day subscribers can get ONE for free, for ONE character.
Again, better than nothing, but still pretty weak for shelling out $15 a month in my opinion. An account-wide unlock of one free token for every character, would be more like it. Players can't sell it, they couldn't get more than one VA ship per character without shelling out more money, so why such a draconian limit?
Sure, there are lots of benefits for Gold accounts... just not any that we care about very much. I get that they need to make money... but they're already getting steady cash from subscribers.
This isn't really love. This is more, "We like you... Sort of... It's your money we really love."
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Star Trek: The Netflix Frontier
I just need to say that I love the fact that Netflix is carrying all of the episodes of every Star Trek TV series.
I'd been working my way through TNG anyhow. Last night while enduring a bout of insomnia I caught the opener for Deep Space Nine. Pseudo-religious babble aside, I'd forgotten how awesome this show was. I'll have to start fitting this in to my limited geek viewing schedule.
I may never have enough time to get through them all, but it's nice to know they're there.
I'd been working my way through TNG anyhow. Last night while enduring a bout of insomnia I caught the opener for Deep Space Nine. Pseudo-religious babble aside, I'd forgotten how awesome this show was. I'll have to start fitting this in to my limited geek viewing schedule.
I may never have enough time to get through them all, but it's nice to know they're there.
Monday, October 24, 2011
The Marvel Office
Here's the reason behind the management problems at Marvel Comics:
Coincidence? I think not.
Coincidence? I think not.
Friday, October 21, 2011
Dilithium Dilemma
So... STO's economy revamp is shaping up to be the worst idea Cryptic has ever had, from a player's standpoint. Bear in mind all my information here is second-hand, because I'm still not subbing. (One of the best financial decisions I ever made.)
The idea behind Dilithium is that it is a "time-based currency". In other words, you only get it by investing time in playing the game. Or, eventually, by trading for it with C-Points. All of the good stuff in the game is eventually going to cost either Dilithium or C-Store points. Probably necessary, considering they want players with free accounts to spend money in the C-Store.
The real problem with this idea is that Dilithium costs are way too high, if the forums are to be believed. You have to buy ships with it, you have to buy gear with it, and now you need it for crafting, too. The Dilithium economy is capped with a restriction on how much of it you can refine per day... because while the game awards you with unrefined Dilithium ore, you can only spend the refined stuff.
It seems to me that Dilithium is being set up to be in high demand. Too high, I suspect. I have a feeling that the demand will not only exceed the supply, but that it will "starve" players out of the economy and out of the game. Cryptic will have to adjust it of course, but not before STO's reputation takes yet another hit.
Worse, subscribers who pay their monthly fee appear to get very little respite from the Dilithium demand. They'll have to grind it like everybody else, or they'll be spending their meager stipend of C-Store points on nothing but Dilithium and not enough to do them any real good.
Here's my suggestion, but I can't tell Cryptic because as a non-subber I am locked out of their forums: Make Dilithium REALLY time-based. Subscribers should get Dilithium just for time logged in, over and above whatever they get actually playing the game. Or even a small amount just for subscription time. If Cryptic does that, I can just about guarantee that they'll not only preserve their existing subscriber base, they'll get others like me to resub.
The idea behind Dilithium is that it is a "time-based currency". In other words, you only get it by investing time in playing the game. Or, eventually, by trading for it with C-Points. All of the good stuff in the game is eventually going to cost either Dilithium or C-Store points. Probably necessary, considering they want players with free accounts to spend money in the C-Store.
The real problem with this idea is that Dilithium costs are way too high, if the forums are to be believed. You have to buy ships with it, you have to buy gear with it, and now you need it for crafting, too. The Dilithium economy is capped with a restriction on how much of it you can refine per day... because while the game awards you with unrefined Dilithium ore, you can only spend the refined stuff.
It seems to me that Dilithium is being set up to be in high demand. Too high, I suspect. I have a feeling that the demand will not only exceed the supply, but that it will "starve" players out of the economy and out of the game. Cryptic will have to adjust it of course, but not before STO's reputation takes yet another hit.
Worse, subscribers who pay their monthly fee appear to get very little respite from the Dilithium demand. They'll have to grind it like everybody else, or they'll be spending their meager stipend of C-Store points on nothing but Dilithium and not enough to do them any real good.
Here's my suggestion, but I can't tell Cryptic because as a non-subber I am locked out of their forums: Make Dilithium REALLY time-based. Subscribers should get Dilithium just for time logged in, over and above whatever they get actually playing the game. Or even a small amount just for subscription time. If Cryptic does that, I can just about guarantee that they'll not only preserve their existing subscriber base, they'll get others like me to resub.
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
"O Death, Where Is Thy Sting?" the Marvel Way
Source article: http://www.newsarama.com/comics/hey-thats-my-cape-marvel-deaths-for-sales-110216.html
Go ahead, check it out, then come back. But if you're the impatient type, I'll just give you the main quote:
Once upon a time, this "leak" might have raised my blood pressure. That's certainly the reaction Marvel would like to get. It creates buzz. The fanboys scream, the mainstream media takes note, and sales rise temporarily as the curious and the collectors turn out.
The problem is, the whole "kill off a main character" schtick has been done to... death. It's nearly impossible to care anymore. Everytime a comic book publisher pulls this stunt, it makes it harder to make a splash the next time. Especially when they're meaningless deaths.
"We really killed him/her off," they promise. And sooner or later, when the buzz wears off, they create another media event and bring 'em back.
Frankly, who cares? It's just comics. But it does cause me to wonder about the social impact of turning death into entertainment. The real tragedy is not the death of a fictional character, but the death of our sensitivity to mortality.
Go ahead, check it out, then come back. But if you're the impatient type, I'll just give you the main quote:
David Gabriel, Senior Vice President of Sales at Marvel said, “As a result of the Fantastic Four sales and media coverage, Marvel is going to kill a main character every quarter.” He then made sure to say, “This is not a joke.”The article goes on to mention other media-hype "events" such as the death of Captain America, the death of Johnny Storm, and the death of Peter Parker in the Ultimate universe.
Once upon a time, this "leak" might have raised my blood pressure. That's certainly the reaction Marvel would like to get. It creates buzz. The fanboys scream, the mainstream media takes note, and sales rise temporarily as the curious and the collectors turn out.
The problem is, the whole "kill off a main character" schtick has been done to... death. It's nearly impossible to care anymore. Everytime a comic book publisher pulls this stunt, it makes it harder to make a splash the next time. Especially when they're meaningless deaths.
"We really killed him/her off," they promise. And sooner or later, when the buzz wears off, they create another media event and bring 'em back.
Frankly, who cares? It's just comics. But it does cause me to wonder about the social impact of turning death into entertainment. The real tragedy is not the death of a fictional character, but the death of our sensitivity to mortality.
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
Executive Producer Dan Stahl Leaves For New Frontiers
As announced today, STO's Executive Producer, Daniel Stahl, will be leaving Cryptic at the end of this month. The going away message was upbeat and seems to suggest that Dan has another opportunity somewhere else and that this is not involuntary.
Dan presided over a very rocky period in the game's short history, which culminated in an announcement that Star Trek Online would be relaunched as a Free-To-Play MMO along the same lines as Champions Online.
A lot of controversial decisions were made, but nobody can argue that Dan helped to shake things up and keep the game alive.
Dan's interim successor managing the project will be Cryptic's CTO, Stephen D'Angelo. No word on who might permenently replace him.
Dan presided over a very rocky period in the game's short history, which culminated in an announcement that Star Trek Online would be relaunched as a Free-To-Play MMO along the same lines as Champions Online.
A lot of controversial decisions were made, but nobody can argue that Dan helped to shake things up and keep the game alive.
Dan's interim successor managing the project will be Cryptic's CTO, Stephen D'Angelo. No word on who might permenently replace him.
Monday, September 12, 2011
Until Free-To-Play... Free-To-Leave
It appears that I must now reverse my opinion of Cryptic and Star Trek Online. Since my last blog, it has come to light that Cryptic's main agenda is converting STO over to a hybrid Free-To-Play model.
I don't really have a problem with this, except that certain expectations were given on what Cryptic was working on during the "content drought" and those expectations are not entirely accurate.
I hesitate to use the word "lie". But it is pretty clear that subscriptions (such as mine) were maintained for months in the hopes that certain features and additional content would be added to the game in a short time frame, but the time frame continues to extend. And in fact, unknown to me, my paid subscription was helping to fund development toward a free-to-play game.
I might have discontinued my subscription had I but known that F2P development trumped everything else, or I might not. I could have saved up for future C-Store purchases, or not. But... regardless of the reasons why, Cryptic was not straight with us about this until Perfect World's CFO leaked that Star Trek Online would go free-to-play by the end of the year. The fact is that I made a bad decision to continue my subscription based on inaccurate information... and that the inaccurate information was at least partly intentional.
Look, all Cryptic had to say was that new features after Ground Combat 2.0 would be delayed until after the sale was complete. Or say nothing at all. I realize that they couldn't spill all the beans, but subscribers were deliberately strung along with empty assurances. Continuing to promise that specific new stuff (the Duty Officer System and the new Featured Episode series) was coming "soon" when they knew full well that what most subscribing players really wanted was NOT coming until after F2P launched... I call that misleading. Sure, they would have lost subscriptions temporarily... but not goodwill. Goodwill is what they will need when they re-launch STO as a free-to-play game and have to compete with other games for time and attention.
Well, now that I am in possession of the necessary information, I have in fact cancelled my subscription and I'm just waiting for the clock to run out. I wish I'd known two weeks ago what I know now. I could have saved myself $15. I have voted with my wallet to send the message that empty assurances have a price tag.
Will I come back when F2P launches? Probably. Will I renew my subscription? Maybe, if it's worth it. But the odds are worse than they might have been. Will I buy Cryptic Points for the C-Store? Less likely than before, actually, if the prices will be as high as they are for Champions Online.
Will I trust Cryptic's assurances from now on? Will the Engineering Report encourage me to keep hoping for "All Good Things"? Not a chance, friend. From now on my motto is: "It's in there, or it's vaporware."
I don't really have a problem with this, except that certain expectations were given on what Cryptic was working on during the "content drought" and those expectations are not entirely accurate.
I hesitate to use the word "lie". But it is pretty clear that subscriptions (such as mine) were maintained for months in the hopes that certain features and additional content would be added to the game in a short time frame, but the time frame continues to extend. And in fact, unknown to me, my paid subscription was helping to fund development toward a free-to-play game.
I might have discontinued my subscription had I but known that F2P development trumped everything else, or I might not. I could have saved up for future C-Store purchases, or not. But... regardless of the reasons why, Cryptic was not straight with us about this until Perfect World's CFO leaked that Star Trek Online would go free-to-play by the end of the year. The fact is that I made a bad decision to continue my subscription based on inaccurate information... and that the inaccurate information was at least partly intentional.
Look, all Cryptic had to say was that new features after Ground Combat 2.0 would be delayed until after the sale was complete. Or say nothing at all. I realize that they couldn't spill all the beans, but subscribers were deliberately strung along with empty assurances. Continuing to promise that specific new stuff (the Duty Officer System and the new Featured Episode series) was coming "soon" when they knew full well that what most subscribing players really wanted was NOT coming until after F2P launched... I call that misleading. Sure, they would have lost subscriptions temporarily... but not goodwill. Goodwill is what they will need when they re-launch STO as a free-to-play game and have to compete with other games for time and attention.
Well, now that I am in possession of the necessary information, I have in fact cancelled my subscription and I'm just waiting for the clock to run out. I wish I'd known two weeks ago what I know now. I could have saved myself $15. I have voted with my wallet to send the message that empty assurances have a price tag.
Will I come back when F2P launches? Probably. Will I renew my subscription? Maybe, if it's worth it. But the odds are worse than they might have been. Will I buy Cryptic Points for the C-Store? Less likely than before, actually, if the prices will be as high as they are for Champions Online.
Will I trust Cryptic's assurances from now on? Will the Engineering Report encourage me to keep hoping for "All Good Things"? Not a chance, friend. From now on my motto is: "It's in there, or it's vaporware."
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Media Monkey-Business
Can a Monkey Get a Copyright & Issue a Takedown?: "An anonymous reader writes 'Last week, the Daily Mail published a story about some monkeys in Indonesia who happened upon a camera and took some photos of themselves. The photos are quite cute. However, Techdirt noticed that the photos had copyright notices on them, and started a discussion over who actually held the copyright in question, noting that, if anyone did, the monkeys had the best claim, and certainly not the photographer. Yet, the news agency who claimed copyright issued a takedown to Techdirt! When presented with the point that it's unlikely the news agency could hold a legitimate copyright, the agency told Techdirt it didn't matter. Techdirt claims that using the photos for such a discussion is a clear case of fair use, an argument which has so far been ignored.'
Read more of this story at Slashdot."
Read more of this story at Slashdot."
PuTTY 0.61 Released
PuTTY 0.61 Released: "drmacinyasha writes 'Simon Tatham announced Tuesday the official release of PuTTY 0.61 after four years of development. It brings a number of bug fixes and improvements, such as GSSAPI SSH-2 authentication, significantly faster SSH key exchanges, and even support for Windows 7's jump lists. Downloads are available from the project's homepage.'
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
"
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
"
This Federation Is Not Ideal
Season 4 has launched at Star Trek Online, and it's not without problems. There are bugs, the Foundry had to be turned off, the PvE queues aren't working as expected, and so on.
But the biggest problem is not one of Cryptic's making. The biggest problem, in my mind, is the rotten behavior of many players on the STO forums.
I do understand and support the right of a customer to complain about something they don't like. But nothing gives anyone the right to be nasty about it.
Cryptic has been accused of lying about things, breaking promises, laziness, shoddy work, and on and on. Mean-spirited accusations without any proof of intent to dupe the poor customers and cheat them out of their money.
There is, unfortunately, a long history of disappointments associated with this game. That much is irrefutable. But the Dev Team under Daniel Stahl's leadership has made, in my opinion, heroic efforts to reach out to the community to try to make things better. Some people call this"spin" and dismiss it as insincere. I don't think so. All the indications I have seen are that Cryptic is trying diligently, with varying degrees of success, to improve the whole game for everybody. There are business realities that they are forced to deal with and there are technical challenges that are not as trivial as some players would like to make them out to be.
I think the Dev Team has over all displayed exemplary conduct under a great deal of stress. Unfortunately the same can not be said of many of the players on the forums. Their fingers are on the firing studs, just waiting for Cryptic to make a mistake so they can blast them. It's enough to tempt me to despair that the attitude of the forums will ever remain civil.
I wonder sometimes how many of the people playing STO really get Star Trek. Do they understand that it represents certain ethics and ideals? How many episodes were about "Doing the Right Thing"? About taking the time and making the effort to understand others? To try to make peace before firing a full spread of Photon Torpedoes?
I see this as not just a problem for Cryptic and for STO, but for our whole culture. Where are the ideals? Where is the love for our fellow man? Why are we so quick to lash out when something interferes with our self-gratification? Why so quick to assume the worst about others? Where is the patience? The kindness?
The ugliness is on the surface and raw. But there are points of light, people out there who are willing to help each other and to do what's right. They're underappreciated, to be sure. They aren't as obvious as the others lashing out. But STO, and the world, could use a lot more of them and a lot less bitterness and selfishness.
But the biggest problem is not one of Cryptic's making. The biggest problem, in my mind, is the rotten behavior of many players on the STO forums.
I do understand and support the right of a customer to complain about something they don't like. But nothing gives anyone the right to be nasty about it.
Cryptic has been accused of lying about things, breaking promises, laziness, shoddy work, and on and on. Mean-spirited accusations without any proof of intent to dupe the poor customers and cheat them out of their money.
There is, unfortunately, a long history of disappointments associated with this game. That much is irrefutable. But the Dev Team under Daniel Stahl's leadership has made, in my opinion, heroic efforts to reach out to the community to try to make things better. Some people call this"spin" and dismiss it as insincere. I don't think so. All the indications I have seen are that Cryptic is trying diligently, with varying degrees of success, to improve the whole game for everybody. There are business realities that they are forced to deal with and there are technical challenges that are not as trivial as some players would like to make them out to be.
I think the Dev Team has over all displayed exemplary conduct under a great deal of stress. Unfortunately the same can not be said of many of the players on the forums. Their fingers are on the firing studs, just waiting for Cryptic to make a mistake so they can blast them. It's enough to tempt me to despair that the attitude of the forums will ever remain civil.
I wonder sometimes how many of the people playing STO really get Star Trek. Do they understand that it represents certain ethics and ideals? How many episodes were about "Doing the Right Thing"? About taking the time and making the effort to understand others? To try to make peace before firing a full spread of Photon Torpedoes?
I see this as not just a problem for Cryptic and for STO, but for our whole culture. Where are the ideals? Where is the love for our fellow man? Why are we so quick to lash out when something interferes with our self-gratification? Why so quick to assume the worst about others? Where is the patience? The kindness?
The ugliness is on the surface and raw. But there are points of light, people out there who are willing to help each other and to do what's right. They're underappreciated, to be sure. They aren't as obvious as the others lashing out. But STO, and the world, could use a lot more of them and a lot less bitterness and selfishness.
Monday, June 13, 2011
"52" Reasons Why DC's Reboot May Fail
In case you hadn't heard, DC Comics has decided to "reboot" their entire line of comics to a whole new volume of issue #1's. 52 of them, to be exact.
When I first heard of it, I tried to be optimistic. Since then, bits and pieces of information have trickled out, including teasers of cover art. What I see leaves me unimpressed and underwhelmed. None of the descriptions of the 52 titles that will survive the reboot leave me with any desire to obtain even digital copies... Digital distribution being one of the reasons stated for the shakeup. (Or is that "shake-down"? I'm not sure yet...)
Action Comics might as well have been titled "Superman: Year One" as it literally is about Supe's first year on the job in Metropolis. According to rumor, he'll lose most of his power in the process, and he'll be "younger, angrier, and more of a social activist". Right. Don't know what they're going to do when they have to "catch up" with the timeline they'll establish in the new "Superman" title. Oh, and forget what you know about Superman... history has been changed so that Clark and Lois aren't married.
A large portion of the 52 titles have been given to the "Batman Family", which should be a clear signal that DC is aiming to make their lineup darker and edgier. A look at the revealed cover art and tidbits about the rest of the lineup seems to confirm that hypothesis. In some cases, it seems as if DC has decided to take the worst of the DC-verse and comics trends in general. A lot of the decisions leave me scratching my head. Like, did they really need a magic-oriented "Dark Justice League"? Did they really tape an S-shield onto Superboy's back? Did they really allow Liefield to draw any of these titles?
One hopes that this move by DC turns out to be nothing more than another "event" like Infinite Crisis and that, sooner or later, something more like the old status quo re-emerges.
When I first heard of it, I tried to be optimistic. Since then, bits and pieces of information have trickled out, including teasers of cover art. What I see leaves me unimpressed and underwhelmed. None of the descriptions of the 52 titles that will survive the reboot leave me with any desire to obtain even digital copies... Digital distribution being one of the reasons stated for the shakeup. (Or is that "shake-down"? I'm not sure yet...)
Action Comics might as well have been titled "Superman: Year One" as it literally is about Supe's first year on the job in Metropolis. According to rumor, he'll lose most of his power in the process, and he'll be "younger, angrier, and more of a social activist". Right. Don't know what they're going to do when they have to "catch up" with the timeline they'll establish in the new "Superman" title. Oh, and forget what you know about Superman... history has been changed so that Clark and Lois aren't married.
A large portion of the 52 titles have been given to the "Batman Family", which should be a clear signal that DC is aiming to make their lineup darker and edgier. A look at the revealed cover art and tidbits about the rest of the lineup seems to confirm that hypothesis. In some cases, it seems as if DC has decided to take the worst of the DC-verse and comics trends in general. A lot of the decisions leave me scratching my head. Like, did they really need a magic-oriented "Dark Justice League"? Did they really tape an S-shield onto Superboy's back? Did they really allow Liefield to draw any of these titles?
One hopes that this move by DC turns out to be nothing more than another "event" like Infinite Crisis and that, sooner or later, something more like the old status quo re-emerges.
Friday, June 10, 2011
Changes!
There are a lot of changes for the Federation Reborn fleet to be excited about!
First, we added another tab to our Fleet Bank repository (we're up to 4 now) for storing supplies (non-combat items). Okay, not too radical so far.
Two, I finally got a Fleet Forum up and running on a new provider. It's a relatively plain-looking InvisionFree board at the moment, but I hope to tweak some of the visuals when I can get around to it. The important things are: it's functional, it's easy to use, it's free, and the ad banners are tolerable (unlike the others I looked at). All fleet members (and visitors) are encouraged to join the new forum.
Still ho-hum for you?
The real excitement is the changes coming to STO in the very near future.
Scheduled on June 23 are the new Borg Deep Space Encounters, swiftly followed by a Q Boost Double XP Weekend starting June 24. Anybody want to join me for those?
It is entirely possible that Season 4 will hit Tribble for testing even before that. I'm seriously thinking about reloading test.
By the end of July, we should get Season 4 in all its' glory. Ground Combat 2.0 is rumored to be an awesome and game-changing experience and I am totally geeked about the possibilities with the new Duty Officer system.
Sometime after that, Cryptic will be rolling out new Featured Episodes (starring DS-9), Department Heads and First Officers, remastered STF's ("Into the Hive" is rumored to be next on Gozer's dev hit list), new Tutorials, lots of stuff on the Engineering Report I haven't even mentioned... basically enough new stuff to make me dance for joy like a Ferengi who just inherited a latinum mine.
First, we added another tab to our Fleet Bank repository (we're up to 4 now) for storing supplies (non-combat items). Okay, not too radical so far.
Two, I finally got a Fleet Forum up and running on a new provider. It's a relatively plain-looking InvisionFree board at the moment, but I hope to tweak some of the visuals when I can get around to it. The important things are: it's functional, it's easy to use, it's free, and the ad banners are tolerable (unlike the others I looked at). All fleet members (and visitors) are encouraged to join the new forum.
Still ho-hum for you?
The real excitement is the changes coming to STO in the very near future.
Scheduled on June 23 are the new Borg Deep Space Encounters, swiftly followed by a Q Boost Double XP Weekend starting June 24. Anybody want to join me for those?
It is entirely possible that Season 4 will hit Tribble for testing even before that. I'm seriously thinking about reloading test.
By the end of July, we should get Season 4 in all its' glory. Ground Combat 2.0 is rumored to be an awesome and game-changing experience and I am totally geeked about the possibilities with the new Duty Officer system.
Sometime after that, Cryptic will be rolling out new Featured Episodes (starring DS-9), Department Heads and First Officers, remastered STF's ("Into the Hive" is rumored to be next on Gozer's dev hit list), new Tutorials, lots of stuff on the Engineering Report I haven't even mentioned... basically enough new stuff to make me dance for joy like a Ferengi who just inherited a latinum mine.
I'm a Marvel... I'm a DC...
If you are a comic book fan (Marvel or DC) and you've never heard of "ItsJustSomeRandomGuy", you are missing out on some hilarious video shorts.
RandomGuy uses a large cast of action figures and the vocal talents of himself and his girlfriend to create outrageous parodies where the comic universes of Marvel and DC intersect. Many of them are humorous takes on movies based on Marvel and DC characters.
Anyway, there has been some recent activity on his YouTube channel, so I thought I'd share:
GL/KungFu parody
http://www.youtube.com/user/ItsJustSomeRandomGuy#p/u/2/dztvjZ4y9Ic
GL/X-Men:First Class
http://www.youtube.com/user/ItsJustSomeRandomGuy#p/u/0/reQL5TU9VFA
I especially liked Prof X channeling Obi Wan Kenobi...
RandomGuy uses a large cast of action figures and the vocal talents of himself and his girlfriend to create outrageous parodies where the comic universes of Marvel and DC intersect. Many of them are humorous takes on movies based on Marvel and DC characters.
Anyway, there has been some recent activity on his YouTube channel, so I thought I'd share:
GL/KungFu parody
http://www.youtube.com/user/ItsJustSomeRandomGuy#p/u/2/dztvjZ4y9Ic
GL/X-Men:First Class
http://www.youtube.com/user/ItsJustSomeRandomGuy#p/u/0/reQL5TU9VFA
I especially liked Prof X channeling Obi Wan Kenobi...
Thursday, May 26, 2011
I'm Sorry!
Just a quick note to say that I'm sorry about the level of inactivity in regard to the fleet. There's been a lot going on and I've been kind of distracted in RL. That said, things haven't been totally quiet.
Time permitting, I've been playing around with setting up a new fleet message board. THIS time, I'm not going to try to go live with it until I'm confident it won't be a waste of time. I'm not going to be able to get away from ad banners, but I can try to see that they aren't so obnoxious that nobody would want to use the forums.
I've also added some more Energy Credits to the fleet bank. Some feedback as to what we should do with it would be nice. I've been thinking about adding repositories for data samples, food items, etc. If Duty Officers turn out to be bankable, that might be a really good repository to have.
Hope to see you online!
Monday, April 25, 2011
Foundry: First Impressions
So, the Foundry has been live on STO nearly a month. I can say that I have not played a single Foundry mission, as I've been too busy working on my own. So, from an Author's point of view, how is the Foundry?
Well, the fact that it's taken me this long and I'm still nowhere near finished is a good indication that the Foundry is not something that a casual gamer is going to get into very deeply.
The mission I'm working on is not a terribly complicated plot, despite being something of a "whodunit". The player is basically gathering facts in order to solve a problem. This would be a completely boring mission if not for the branching dialog capabilities of the Foundry.
The Foundry's Story mode is reasonably intuitive, and the advanced dialog editor is not indecipherable. Once you know how, it's easy to construct complex dialog trees with loops and interconnected branches. The only downside here is that there is no way to truly fail an objective and thus no way to use that failure to trigger anything else. The Costume editor is not bad, but needs more costume parts and options.
The real problem with the Foundry, and the place where the learning curve is exceedingly steep, is the Map editor. Since this is the foundation for everything you're able to do in the Foundry, this is where Cryptic needs to get it right. So allow me to walk you through some of the challenges I've faced in trying to build my mission.
First, I needed this mission to take place entirely on board a ship. Your mission MUST start from a mission "door" so it was necessary that the player travel to one of these doors in order to start the mission. Not a show-stopper, just a bit of an adjustment.
The very next challenge was that there are no good ship maps currently in the Foundry. A generic Federation ship interior map for the Engineering deck just like I find when I visit my own ship's interior would have been ideal. But, no such luck. There is a Federation type bridge map, which was good to start with but not good enough for the rest of my mission. From the available parts, I think I might have had an easier time building the interior of a Borg ship.
So, I had to take a generic ship interior map (which doesn't look much like the inside of a Federation vessel, by tthe way) and section off everything but one room and one corridor. It took me 20 minutes just to properly position a turbolift in place of an opening to another room. I had to build a room containing a warp core from scratch; it wasn't easy and the result was not very satisfying. Given that we've seen such rooms in-game already, I don't think it would be asking too much to have a map with a complete warp core room and external corridor for each faction.
Placing objects on the map is a very repetitive exercise involving:
1. Finding a suitable object from the list of available objects. Despite search filters, this isn't easy to do.
2. Placing the object on the map. This involves placing the object by drag and drop and then fiddling with the X,Y,Z coordinates as well as the object's rotation. There's no ruler or guide to help you align things. Also, I would have expected the Y coordinate to be on the horizontal plane, like on a sheet of graph paper. But no, it's on the vertical. It gets especially difficult when you're trying to connect objects. It would be great if there were some intelligent "snap-to-grid" or "snap-to-object" feature, but there isn't.
3. Play the map. This is where you find out that the object isn't where you expected it to be, isn't facing the direction you thought it would, or discover that it doesn't really look right where you chose to place it. So you bounce back and forth between the map editor to tweak the coordinates and playing the map until the object is right where you want it. Getting an actor to sit down properly is nearly more headache than it's worth. I don't mind the initial placing of objects on a map grid, but there really needs to be a mechanism for being able to move those objects into place from a 3D view.
Finally, I really would have liked to be able to adjust the lighting to set the proper mood... but that isn't one of the things you can customize just yet.
I really like the idea of the Foundry, and I'm rooting for it to succeed. But it's painfully obvious that it still needs a lot of work before the average user is able to produce a half-decent original mission without a great deal of trial-and-error.
Have you used the Foundry yet? What's your impression?
Well, the fact that it's taken me this long and I'm still nowhere near finished is a good indication that the Foundry is not something that a casual gamer is going to get into very deeply.
The mission I'm working on is not a terribly complicated plot, despite being something of a "whodunit". The player is basically gathering facts in order to solve a problem. This would be a completely boring mission if not for the branching dialog capabilities of the Foundry.
The Foundry's Story mode is reasonably intuitive, and the advanced dialog editor is not indecipherable. Once you know how, it's easy to construct complex dialog trees with loops and interconnected branches. The only downside here is that there is no way to truly fail an objective and thus no way to use that failure to trigger anything else. The Costume editor is not bad, but needs more costume parts and options.
The real problem with the Foundry, and the place where the learning curve is exceedingly steep, is the Map editor. Since this is the foundation for everything you're able to do in the Foundry, this is where Cryptic needs to get it right. So allow me to walk you through some of the challenges I've faced in trying to build my mission.
First, I needed this mission to take place entirely on board a ship. Your mission MUST start from a mission "door" so it was necessary that the player travel to one of these doors in order to start the mission. Not a show-stopper, just a bit of an adjustment.
The very next challenge was that there are no good ship maps currently in the Foundry. A generic Federation ship interior map for the Engineering deck just like I find when I visit my own ship's interior would have been ideal. But, no such luck. There is a Federation type bridge map, which was good to start with but not good enough for the rest of my mission. From the available parts, I think I might have had an easier time building the interior of a Borg ship.
So, I had to take a generic ship interior map (which doesn't look much like the inside of a Federation vessel, by tthe way) and section off everything but one room and one corridor. It took me 20 minutes just to properly position a turbolift in place of an opening to another room. I had to build a room containing a warp core from scratch; it wasn't easy and the result was not very satisfying. Given that we've seen such rooms in-game already, I don't think it would be asking too much to have a map with a complete warp core room and external corridor for each faction.
Placing objects on the map is a very repetitive exercise involving:
1. Finding a suitable object from the list of available objects. Despite search filters, this isn't easy to do.
2. Placing the object on the map. This involves placing the object by drag and drop and then fiddling with the X,Y,Z coordinates as well as the object's rotation. There's no ruler or guide to help you align things. Also, I would have expected the Y coordinate to be on the horizontal plane, like on a sheet of graph paper. But no, it's on the vertical. It gets especially difficult when you're trying to connect objects. It would be great if there were some intelligent "snap-to-grid" or "snap-to-object" feature, but there isn't.
3. Play the map. This is where you find out that the object isn't where you expected it to be, isn't facing the direction you thought it would, or discover that it doesn't really look right where you chose to place it. So you bounce back and forth between the map editor to tweak the coordinates and playing the map until the object is right where you want it. Getting an actor to sit down properly is nearly more headache than it's worth. I don't mind the initial placing of objects on a map grid, but there really needs to be a mechanism for being able to move those objects into place from a 3D view.
Finally, I really would have liked to be able to adjust the lighting to set the proper mood... but that isn't one of the things you can customize just yet.
I really like the idea of the Foundry, and I'm rooting for it to succeed. But it's painfully obvious that it still needs a lot of work before the average user is able to produce a half-decent original mission without a great deal of trial-and-error.
Have you used the Foundry yet? What's your impression?
Friday, April 15, 2011
Late News Dept: .COM Signed for DNSSEC
.COM has been signed as of March 31st... When will big companies switch over to DNSSEC?
A Red-Letter Day
I have a suspicion that most of them will be dragged to it kicking and screaming by their marketing and legal departments.
A Red-Letter Day
I have a suspicion that most of them will be dragged to it kicking and screaming by their marketing and legal departments.
Friday, March 25, 2011
Foundry Scheduled to go Live March 28!!!
According to Dstahl, the Foundry is in final testing and is on track to be released to Holodeck on Monday, March 28.
http://forums.startrekonline.com/showpost.php?p=3452967&postcount=19
I haven't spent a lot of time yet thinking about the stories I want to tell. I only tried an early version of it on Tribble and it was too soon to tell what was going to be possible. Features I wanted weren't there yet.
With the inclusion of branching dialog and some of the other new features, this could be a huge boost for replayability. I can't wait to get in there and start tinkering with the release version!
So, what story do YOU want to tell?
http://forums.startrekonline.com/showpost.php?p=3452967&postcount=19
I haven't spent a lot of time yet thinking about the stories I want to tell. I only tried an early version of it on Tribble and it was too soon to tell what was going to be possible. Features I wanted weren't there yet.
With the inclusion of branching dialog and some of the other new features, this could be a huge boost for replayability. I can't wait to get in there and start tinkering with the release version!
So, what story do YOU want to tell?
Monday, March 21, 2011
STO Public Service Announcement
Just a reminder, there are three days left from today to claim your limited time FE reward for the "Cloaked Intentions" series. If you need that Reman Science Bridge Officer, get him while he's still interested in joining your crew.
Thursday, March 17, 2011
A Rear Admiral, Lower Half, By Any Other Name...
Before I get into my little rant, I'd like to point out that the latest Engineering Report is up on the STO website:
http://forums.startrekonline.com/showthread.php?t=207260
I love the game, but there's one little annoyance that I can not shake. And that is how the game uses the character's name and rank in mission text.
The most visible and controversial evidence of this are players who have reached the exalted rank of Rear Admiral. The game assigns the proper formal ranks of "Rear Admiral, Lower Half" and "Rear Admiral, Upper Half". Unfortunately, there is no code that correctly interprets the informal verbal address of "Admiral". So instead of being "Admiral G'eek", I was for a time known in mission text as "Rear Admiral, Lower Half G'eek".
It would have been far worse if my character's full formal name had been in play; "Rear Admiral, Lower Half G'eek, Son of N'erd" is quite a mouthful in conversation. And very, very disruptive for immersion.
I understand the need in game for distinctive ranks, and that it is probably hard-coded all over the place. I'm not expecting that to change. The simple fix for the Rear Admiral annoyance is a simple substitution filter that applies only to mission text. The substitution itself is but a minor exercise. The game logic that would implement it might be far less simple, but I imagine it would be something achievable. At least in newer missions, if it couldn't be easily backported to old missions. But the problem goes beyond that, I'm afraid.
The game assumes a Western naming convention, for another thing. First name, Last name. There is little room for any creative parsing of a non-Western name.
The point I am getting at is that the game should have the right "tags". There should be a user-configurable tag for [PreferredName] that gets used pretty much everywhere and guarantees that the player will be addressed in the way that they expect. There should also be a user-configurable [FormalName] tag that insures that the player is addressed properly in a formal situation. Both tags should have reasonable defaults so that players only need to mess with them if their names are getting misparsed. [FormalRank] and [Informal Rank] would be determined by the game, allowing them to be precisely applied in mission text. Beyond that, there should be tags for [Faction], [Species] and [Gender] and various gender pronouns and game logic that allows them to be used in missions for mission text and for mission triggers.
Imagine the flexibility! The level of immersion that would be possible in both Cryptic-authored missions and in player-created Foundry missions!
Imagine a mission in a diplomatic setting, where the player is not only addressed by his Formal Rank and Formal Name in the appropriate situation but where one of the alien delegates might react angrily because of the player's Faction or Species!
Or to take a classic Trek example, it could be "Captain James T. Kirk" or "Captain Kirk" or just "Jim".
I know it's not happening in the near future. Cryptic has quite enough on their plate at the moment. But 'Never' is a poor solution to what appears to me to be an unfortunate and annoying limitation in the game.
http://forums.startrekonline.com/showthread.php?t=207260
I love the game, but there's one little annoyance that I can not shake. And that is how the game uses the character's name and rank in mission text.
The most visible and controversial evidence of this are players who have reached the exalted rank of Rear Admiral. The game assigns the proper formal ranks of "Rear Admiral, Lower Half" and "Rear Admiral, Upper Half". Unfortunately, there is no code that correctly interprets the informal verbal address of "Admiral". So instead of being "Admiral G'eek", I was for a time known in mission text as "Rear Admiral, Lower Half G'eek".
It would have been far worse if my character's full formal name had been in play; "Rear Admiral, Lower Half G'eek, Son of N'erd" is quite a mouthful in conversation. And very, very disruptive for immersion.
I understand the need in game for distinctive ranks, and that it is probably hard-coded all over the place. I'm not expecting that to change. The simple fix for the Rear Admiral annoyance is a simple substitution filter that applies only to mission text. The substitution itself is but a minor exercise. The game logic that would implement it might be far less simple, but I imagine it would be something achievable. At least in newer missions, if it couldn't be easily backported to old missions. But the problem goes beyond that, I'm afraid.
The game assumes a Western naming convention, for another thing. First name, Last name. There is little room for any creative parsing of a non-Western name.
The point I am getting at is that the game should have the right "tags". There should be a user-configurable tag for [PreferredName] that gets used pretty much everywhere and guarantees that the player will be addressed in the way that they expect. There should also be a user-configurable [FormalName] tag that insures that the player is addressed properly in a formal situation. Both tags should have reasonable defaults so that players only need to mess with them if their names are getting misparsed. [FormalRank] and [Informal Rank] would be determined by the game, allowing them to be precisely applied in mission text. Beyond that, there should be tags for [Faction], [Species] and [Gender] and various gender pronouns and game logic that allows them to be used in missions for mission text and for mission triggers.
Imagine the flexibility! The level of immersion that would be possible in both Cryptic-authored missions and in player-created Foundry missions!
Imagine a mission in a diplomatic setting, where the player is not only addressed by his Formal Rank and Formal Name in the appropriate situation but where one of the alien delegates might react angrily because of the player's Faction or Species!
Or to take a classic Trek example, it could be "Captain James T. Kirk" or "Captain Kirk" or just "Jim".
I know it's not happening in the near future. Cryptic has quite enough on their plate at the moment. But 'Never' is a poor solution to what appears to me to be an unfortunate and annoying limitation in the game.
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Show of hands: Who wants to be Assimilated?
I follow the official STO boards as often as I can, and one recurring theme that I see popping up from time to time is the suggestion from players that the Borg STF's should be available for solo players.
What part of "Task Force" is unclear here? In every other MMO that uses the term, it means "Content intended for team play". Cryptic continues to reiterate that STF's will never be revised for solo play. And though I tend to play solo most of the time, I have no problem with this.
One of the main reasons for this pro-solo sentiment is the exclusive Borg set. Can't get it any other way, and I fully agree that there should be an exclusive reward for the Borg STF's. Cryptic has suggested that there will eventually be other sets, hopefully some obtainable outside of an STF, and I think this will satisfy many players who --
The concern I have revolves around Endgame content. There is a story that solo players are missing out on. It would be nice if there were other, complimentary missions available at that level that helped to fill in some of the blanks and had different rewards. Even at Vice Admiral, players want something to DO that isn't mindless grind.
Someday, I hope I can get together with members of my Fleet and we can tame the STF beasties at least once in our fictional careers. Cryptic has promised a difficulty slider for the STF's and this should help ease the concerns that they are PUG team-wipe train wrecks; missions to be avoided as a waste of time for those who aren't experienced team players.
What do you think? Will more sets fill in the demand? Will more single-player Endgame content help? Will the difficulty slider for STF's end the debate once and for all?
What part of "Task Force" is unclear here? In every other MMO that uses the term, it means "Content intended for team play". Cryptic continues to reiterate that STF's will never be revised for solo play. And though I tend to play solo most of the time, I have no problem with this.
One of the main reasons for this pro-solo sentiment is the exclusive Borg set. Can't get it any other way, and I fully agree that there should be an exclusive reward for the Borg STF's. Cryptic has suggested that there will eventually be other sets, hopefully some obtainable outside of an STF, and I think this will satisfy many players who --
- Can't or won't play an STF and,
- Can't or won't craft the Aegis set at Memory-Alpha.
The concern I have revolves around Endgame content. There is a story that solo players are missing out on. It would be nice if there were other, complimentary missions available at that level that helped to fill in some of the blanks and had different rewards. Even at Vice Admiral, players want something to DO that isn't mindless grind.
Someday, I hope I can get together with members of my Fleet and we can tame the STF beasties at least once in our fictional careers. Cryptic has promised a difficulty slider for the STF's and this should help ease the concerns that they are PUG team-wipe train wrecks; missions to be avoided as a waste of time for those who aren't experienced team players.
What do you think? Will more sets fill in the demand? Will more single-player Endgame content help? Will the difficulty slider for STF's end the debate once and for all?
Friday, March 11, 2011
The Romulans...
They're obviously going to be the next faction in the game, but what does that actually mean? There's been a lot of talk about them being fractured, that there could be a civil war, and even that there could be sides that lean towards the Federation and the Klingon Empire (though I honestly don't see that happening without some huge event to do away with centuries of hate and distrust). For the faction itself, though, I think certain things need to be considered:
1. The home base (akin to Qo'nos or Earth Space Dock). For me this absolutely HAS to be something like Romulus. Losing that planet, as much as it helped the storyline and the like, was a loss to the Star Trek universe, and honestly, playing a game as a Romulan and not being able to visit some grand Romulan City (akin to the planet from "Cutting the Cord", though with more) would be something that would hurt. People are still clamouring to this day for Earth to be included, and I honestly believe it's a necessity.
2. The races. I'm a perfectionist that will only have a Klingon crew on a Klingon ship (and once we get more PVE content, will have a Gorn ship with Gorn crew and so on), and as such with the Romulans will most likely be the same route. That said, three starting races does seem a tad small. The Romulans, Remans and Hirogen are great, but I can't help feeling that they could do with a little more just for variety's sake.
3. The ships. For me, this is the most important part of the entire thing. Yes, obviously we'll get the D'deridex (T5 cruiser hopefully), and the Mogai (T5 escort), but what of the others? Yes, we'll get the Hunter Escort (Hirogen ship), and the Bird of Prey, but there are still going to be massive holes in the tiers. To that end, I'd like to see the ships used in TNG episodes like "The Defector", "The Next Phase", and the shuttle seen in the DS9 episode "In The Pale Moonglight". If we get those added to what's in the game already, I think we'll be fine.
4. The Eras. People are going to want their TOS ship patterns and their TNG/DS9 uniforms and weapons (though thankfully as of the latest series, we have the disruptor), and my bet is that Cryptic will of course use the C-Store for such things.
5. The missions. By no means the least important part of the whole thing, people are going to want missions involving subterfuge and sneaking around rather than diplomacy or blunt force. Thankfully Cryptic being Star Trek fans themselves means that the odds are good for such a thing.
That's how I feel about the Romulans as they are: There's a good foundation already laid, and as long as the Klingons get their content issues sorted during the year, there should be little to no problem getting the Romulans out in to the game, and their faction, if it's even half as good as people are hoping, will make a lot of people very happy.
Links:
The Defector - Romulan Scout Ship
The Next Phase - Romulan Science Vessel
^ As you can see, both ships are quite similar, so a tier one ship might be the answer for those designs.
In The Pale Moonlight - Romulan shuttle
1. The home base (akin to Qo'nos or Earth Space Dock). For me this absolutely HAS to be something like Romulus. Losing that planet, as much as it helped the storyline and the like, was a loss to the Star Trek universe, and honestly, playing a game as a Romulan and not being able to visit some grand Romulan City (akin to the planet from "Cutting the Cord", though with more) would be something that would hurt. People are still clamouring to this day for Earth to be included, and I honestly believe it's a necessity.
2. The races. I'm a perfectionist that will only have a Klingon crew on a Klingon ship (and once we get more PVE content, will have a Gorn ship with Gorn crew and so on), and as such with the Romulans will most likely be the same route. That said, three starting races does seem a tad small. The Romulans, Remans and Hirogen are great, but I can't help feeling that they could do with a little more just for variety's sake.
3. The ships. For me, this is the most important part of the entire thing. Yes, obviously we'll get the D'deridex (T5 cruiser hopefully), and the Mogai (T5 escort), but what of the others? Yes, we'll get the Hunter Escort (Hirogen ship), and the Bird of Prey, but there are still going to be massive holes in the tiers. To that end, I'd like to see the ships used in TNG episodes like "The Defector", "The Next Phase", and the shuttle seen in the DS9 episode "In The Pale Moonglight". If we get those added to what's in the game already, I think we'll be fine.
4. The Eras. People are going to want their TOS ship patterns and their TNG/DS9 uniforms and weapons (though thankfully as of the latest series, we have the disruptor), and my bet is that Cryptic will of course use the C-Store for such things.
5. The missions. By no means the least important part of the whole thing, people are going to want missions involving subterfuge and sneaking around rather than diplomacy or blunt force. Thankfully Cryptic being Star Trek fans themselves means that the odds are good for such a thing.
That's how I feel about the Romulans as they are: There's a good foundation already laid, and as long as the Klingons get their content issues sorted during the year, there should be little to no problem getting the Romulans out in to the game, and their faction, if it's even half as good as people are hoping, will make a lot of people very happy.
Links:
The Defector - Romulan Scout Ship
The Next Phase - Romulan Science Vessel
^ As you can see, both ships are quite similar, so a tier one ship might be the answer for those designs.
In The Pale Moonlight - Romulan shuttle
Thursday, March 10, 2011
I want an Exocomp!
The thought has been nagging at me for days... I want a pet Exocomp!
I'm geeked with the idea that I could have one of those floating along behind me wherever I went.
Even better if it were a defensive pet... one that could 'fix' your equipment malfunctions, or something.
Who else wants an Exocomp?!
I'm geeked with the idea that I could have one of those floating along behind me wherever I went.
Even better if it were a defensive pet... one that could 'fix' your equipment malfunctions, or something.
Who else wants an Exocomp?!
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Featured Episode: Series 3, Part 5 "Cutting The Cord"
I had a chance to play through the latest Featured Episode in the "Cloaked Intentions" series, "Cutting The Cord". There was a lot to like in this new episode, and a few new twists and gimmicks.
The first part of the mission is basically to blast your way into orbit over the Tal Shiar base. This was probably the most boring part. It was both too easy and too time-consuming as a solo mission. More enemy ships and fewer enemy space turrets would have been better, I think.
One of the new gimmicks is a "virtual path guide" that basically shows you which way you're supposed to go. This was a neat gimmick, and I hope they port that feature over to the Foundry for use by players. The three dimensional nature of the map was very nice and added to the experience.
I also liked the ability to call in an "Orbital Strike", even though it's mostly just a couple of cutscenes.
The respawning mobs (both Romulan enemies and Reman allies) were another interesting feature that I hope gets into the Foundry.
I won't spoil the story, but it's not bad. Like some others, I am puzzled over the decision to involve Empress Sela in the final space battle and the outcome. I suppose we'll find out in a future FE.
Briefly touching on the rewards, I suspect that the tractor mines are not going to be a popular weapon, at least not if you're on the receiving end. Most people didn't want another Bridge Officer, but I'm geeked that it was a Science Officer.
So, what did you like or dislike about this episode? What did you think of the series as a whole? Leave your comments here!
The first part of the mission is basically to blast your way into orbit over the Tal Shiar base. This was probably the most boring part. It was both too easy and too time-consuming as a solo mission. More enemy ships and fewer enemy space turrets would have been better, I think.
One of the new gimmicks is a "virtual path guide" that basically shows you which way you're supposed to go. This was a neat gimmick, and I hope they port that feature over to the Foundry for use by players. The three dimensional nature of the map was very nice and added to the experience.
I also liked the ability to call in an "Orbital Strike", even though it's mostly just a couple of cutscenes.
The respawning mobs (both Romulan enemies and Reman allies) were another interesting feature that I hope gets into the Foundry.
I won't spoil the story, but it's not bad. Like some others, I am puzzled over the decision to involve Empress Sela in the final space battle and the outcome. I suppose we'll find out in a future FE.
Briefly touching on the rewards, I suspect that the tractor mines are not going to be a popular weapon, at least not if you're on the receiving end. Most people didn't want another Bridge Officer, but I'm geeked that it was a Science Officer.
So, what did you like or dislike about this episode? What did you think of the series as a whole? Leave your comments here!
Friday, March 4, 2011
Commentary on "Ask Cryptic, March 2011"
So, the latest "Ask Cryptic" is up, where the Executive Producer for Star Trek Online answers questions from players.
http://www.startrekonline.com/node/2323
I understand he can't answer everybody's questions. There were over 1000 posts in the question thread! But I can't help thinking that he really did some cherry picking for short questions that could be answered easily. Hint for future installments: Make sure your question is only one or two sentences long.
Still, there were a few interesting tidbits in there.
Which answers interested you the most? Post your comments here!
http://www.startrekonline.com/node/2323
I understand he can't answer everybody's questions. There were over 1000 posts in the question thread! But I can't help thinking that he really did some cherry picking for short questions that could be answered easily. Hint for future installments: Make sure your question is only one or two sentences long.
Still, there were a few interesting tidbits in there.
A: We are working closely with the Champions Online team on a big update for interiors that will allow players much more control over what is displayed and available on their ship interior. We don’t have a solid eta for this, but it is something that both of our teams are developing as a cool new feature that will greatly improve ship interiors.
A: We have long term plans to allow Player Run Starbases to be “staffed” by extra officers you have. We are also looking into increasing storage so that you can have more potential candidates in the wings.
A: We have created a system map for each planet in the Sol system, and where appropriate we have also added stations and other sites that are expected to be there such as Utopia Planetia at Mars and Jupiter Station at Jupiter. You will have a navigation option that will ask you which planet you want to visit and it will transfer you there.Other notable things which were mentioned were that Featured Episode replay is being looked at for March or April, new kits are in the works, and another Science vessel (the Oberth) is planned for April or May.
Which answers interested you the most? Post your comments here!
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Top Ten Features I Want To See In Star Trek Online
Star Trek Online is a great game. It has caused my inner Trekkie to bloom and rekindled my interest in all of the Star Trek lore. The game is sure to grow and add new features. These are the ones I really want to see in the next two years.
1. Romulan Faction
Ok, this one's a no-brainer. Everybody wants this. A third Trek faction could potentially alter the dynamic of the entire game, particularly if Territory Control zones are ever added. Plus Romulans are cool.
2. Exploration Maps Without Inconsistencies
Ever visited an uninhabited planet with colony buildings on it? I have. The worst, though, was one where I was told I had to hide from the natives so we wouldn't contaminate their development and the whole freaking landscape had been Borgified. I don't think the Prime Directive applies. Plus the buried and otherwise inaccessible data anomalies drive me nuts.
"Lieutenant, hand me a shovel."
3. Diplomatic Exchange Bridge Officers I'd Actually Want
When you diplo-grind your way up to full Ambassador, you are supposed to get your pick of bridge officer candidates from the opposing faction. What you get to choose from are a bunch of common, average BO's ... nearly all of which are completely inferior to the candidates you have sitting around doing nothing because you can only use so many Tactical officers. Currently, the only real use for this is to indulge geek fantasies of having an Orion Love Slave ... which I don't. These DXO's should be Rare with Improved/Superior racial traits and Tier III skills.
4. Personnel Bank for Fleets
Trading and training Bridge Officers is too difficult under the current system. Fleets especially ought to have the ability to reassign BO's (and later on Duty Officers) with ease. One way to do this would be to give fleets a special Personnel Bank to facilitate this.
5. Call Me Admiral
When my Vulcan character was a Rear Admiral (Lower Half) it was extremely annoying to have Non-Player Characters addressing him like "You're our best hope, Rear Admiral, Lower Half G'eek". I don't think the average Starfleet command officer should talk like an obsessive-compulsive idiot who can't figure out to call him just "Admiral" like in the real world. In addition to this, I wish we could have more leeway to customize how we're addressed by NPC's in general. His real name is supposed to be "G'eek, Son of N'erd" but I had to change it. "Rear Admiral, Lower Half Son of N'erd" was just too much to deal with.
6. Customized Kits Or On-The-Fly Kit Swapping
The only options a Player Captain has on Ground missions are:
While I'm on the subject of customization, I'd also love to see the ability to customize other equipment abilities as well.
7. Retrofitted Ships
Over the course of a career, your character gets to fly a number of different ships. But, there's no going back to fly your favorite because it's underpowered for your current rank. The ability to retrofit your old ships to make them relatively useful again would be a real boon.
8. Exocomp Pets
I want my own Exocomp floating along behind me and using certain Engineering abilities to help me out (regenerate my personal shields, remove mechanical debuffs, etc).
9. In-Game Databank
It's the 23rd century, right? I'm surrounded by databanks, but they don't tell me a darn thing about the planet I'm on, Klingon customs, etc. Why can't we have an in-game databank/encyclopedia? Sure, I can go to http://www.memory-alpha.org/, but a subset of information in-game and at your fingertips would be better.
10. Ship Interior Missions
Because some of the TV episodes that had things going on right there on the Enterprise were the coolest of all.
What do you want to see? Leave your comments here!
1. Romulan Faction
Ok, this one's a no-brainer. Everybody wants this. A third Trek faction could potentially alter the dynamic of the entire game, particularly if Territory Control zones are ever added. Plus Romulans are cool.
2. Exploration Maps Without Inconsistencies
Ever visited an uninhabited planet with colony buildings on it? I have. The worst, though, was one where I was told I had to hide from the natives so we wouldn't contaminate their development and the whole freaking landscape had been Borgified. I don't think the Prime Directive applies. Plus the buried and otherwise inaccessible data anomalies drive me nuts.
"Lieutenant, hand me a shovel."
3. Diplomatic Exchange Bridge Officers I'd Actually Want
When you diplo-grind your way up to full Ambassador, you are supposed to get your pick of bridge officer candidates from the opposing faction. What you get to choose from are a bunch of common, average BO's ... nearly all of which are completely inferior to the candidates you have sitting around doing nothing because you can only use so many Tactical officers. Currently, the only real use for this is to indulge geek fantasies of having an Orion Love Slave ... which I don't. These DXO's should be Rare with Improved/Superior racial traits and Tier III skills.
4. Personnel Bank for Fleets
Trading and training Bridge Officers is too difficult under the current system. Fleets especially ought to have the ability to reassign BO's (and later on Duty Officers) with ease. One way to do this would be to give fleets a special Personnel Bank to facilitate this.
5. Call Me Admiral
When my Vulcan character was a Rear Admiral (Lower Half) it was extremely annoying to have Non-Player Characters addressing him like "You're our best hope, Rear Admiral, Lower Half G'eek". I don't think the average Starfleet command officer should talk like an obsessive-compulsive idiot who can't figure out to call him just "Admiral" like in the real world. In addition to this, I wish we could have more leeway to customize how we're addressed by NPC's in general. His real name is supposed to be "G'eek, Son of N'erd" but I had to change it. "Rear Admiral, Lower Half Son of N'erd" was just too much to deal with.
6. Customized Kits Or On-The-Fly Kit Swapping
The only options a Player Captain has on Ground missions are:
- Which two weapons to equip?
- Which four Bridge Officers to take?
- Which kit to equip (for special class-related abilities)?
While I'm on the subject of customization, I'd also love to see the ability to customize other equipment abilities as well.
7. Retrofitted Ships
Over the course of a career, your character gets to fly a number of different ships. But, there's no going back to fly your favorite because it's underpowered for your current rank. The ability to retrofit your old ships to make them relatively useful again would be a real boon.
8. Exocomp Pets
I want my own Exocomp floating along behind me and using certain Engineering abilities to help me out (regenerate my personal shields, remove mechanical debuffs, etc).
9. In-Game Databank
It's the 23rd century, right? I'm surrounded by databanks, but they don't tell me a darn thing about the planet I'm on, Klingon customs, etc. Why can't we have an in-game databank/encyclopedia? Sure, I can go to http://www.memory-alpha.org/, but a subset of information in-game and at your fingertips would be better.
10. Ship Interior Missions
Because some of the TV episodes that had things going on right there on the Enterprise were the coolest of all.
What do you want to see? Leave your comments here!
We Are Project Management (A Borgism)
We are Project Management.
You will be assimilated on schedule.
Your resources will be added to our own.
Your technological distinctiveness is irrelevant.
Deviation from the project is futile.
You will be assimilated on schedule.
Your resources will be added to our own.
Your technological distinctiveness is irrelevant.
Deviation from the project is futile.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
