Sounds fun.... So how do I make the excuse to the boyfriend to skip our anniversary?

and Beta is now live!.....there goes my weekend ..so far I'm really enjoying it..and ive only died several hundred times ...so its not all that bad lol :blush: :blush:

http://www.swtor.com/user/ce/e9e5n

http://www.swtor.com/user/ce/2ikp5

Please share your New York Comic-Con Cantina redemption code for in-game goodies. If you take one, share one!

http://www.swtor.com/user/ce/4m5j5

:woohoo:

That's fine, I'll be on SWTOR during the down time.

Oh noes! I´m on PC! :(

we will all have to be on the same xbox/ps3/PC :(

Im on the ps3 as I cant afford a ps4.. :(

Quote by Gravity

I'm curious have we ever tried a ship costume contest for example in this case making the ugliest most horrific ship design (hello original galaxy and defiant variants).

I wont lie to you Ben, I Brought this idea to Volerons desk during our mind mapping sessions on this event a few mths ago.

He promptly screwed up my paper full of idea bubbles (in pretty coloured felt tip pens) and threw it against the wall, and said "aint nobody got time fo Dat"
and told me to shut up and go sit back in my basket.

but im going to make my ship look ugly, with ugly colours and ship costume patterns.. cos im a rebel B) and fly them during our PVE runs.
all feel free to make your ships look ugly or vibrant and take them into runs .. just for the Halloween giggles.

Quote by Voleron

...

Hubba hubba Dave, the gathering of ghouls and your picture avatar. :woohoo:

I'll make no pretense that I've been among STO's fanboys - that is to say, a certain subset of the playerbase that will cheerlead for any new developments.

There are things Cryptic chooses to do that are great, and others, less so.

I can speak only for myself, but I'm reasonably certain I'm not alone in the opinion that the essential narrative thrust of 10 seasons worth of content has generally not been strong. Individual episodes certainly stand out - and the remastering process clearly indicates that Cryptic has an ongoing commitment to elevating the quality of its content.

That doesn't take away from the superlative talents of writing staff and other content development staff that Cryptic's employed over the years, Kestrel and Tacofangs most notably.

I'll be frank, and go ahead and say that 10 seasons worth of content - taken as one extended narrative told as gameplay - I would simply not recommend to either the most casual gamer, the most hardcore gamer, the most passing fan of Trek, or the most dedicated Trekkie.

Which is a shame, since (particularly later in the development process) there are clear elements of quality throughout the game.

At a narrative level, it boils down to one of the most classic arguments since the first announcement pre-Alpha days, before Cryptic even picked up the license: the divide between gamist and simulationist gameplay. It's an argument that extends beyond STO into other licensed properties, and even into original franchises.

That tension could perhaps be described in two directins: as elements of the Trek premise and universe that may not translate very well into game mechanics (like say, the old diplomacy or exploration systems), or gameplay that doesn't quite fit or sometimes outright controverts established Trek canon (like, say - the extensive player economy).

In a hypothetical ideal, the game can apply both gamist and simulationist ends in a synergistic manner - and there are game systems that do a pretty good job of bridging that tension - like, say the Doff system. But that's not the real world of deadlines, limited capital and resources, and a demanding playerbase from both gamist and simulationist viewpoints. So, Cryptic's herculean task has been to prioritize largely gamist gameplay, with tip o' the hat respect to simulationist gameplay.

If I had to synposize a critical opinion of STO - it's a reasonably good pair of space and ground games, with a passing resemblance to the Trek universe.

But I'm not alone in being of the opinion that the principles of diplomacy and exploration are key, central elements of the Trek premise have been woefully underserved by Cryptic's development priorities.

The point of New Dawn seems to be the most direct answer to that problem that Cryptic has offered since they essentially extracted the exploration and diplomacy elements of gameplay. It could be great, or possibly the opposite of that - but most likely, given the constrained resources Cryptic has available - probably somewhere in between those extremes.

100% agree with you, though sadly its STO is aimed at DPS players,
This is why im so looking forward to "No Mans Sky" .. (when its released in 50 years time... :p )

But your idea of Stealing the mass effect idea in going from system to system, and running your scanner over the planets surface to find minerals or R&D stuffs at random could also be interrogated.. but tedious for some.. and a bit like dil mining.. but it gets you around the galaxy.
Like EvE has a lot of exploration elements.

I fear that wont change.. excitement will be raised at new PVEs and rep systems.. but as said before me.. its just remodled respeced things that we will be bored with in 3 months.
its just this game is heavily geared towards being the best killer .. but thats what makes them money, they wont make a living if they put in to much exploration stuff in, as its free to do and will make them no money.

I just stay in the game for my friends and the fleet really, to avoid the monotony of log in.. pve pve pve.. refine dil, reached limit.. do again tommorow.. log out.

By now an updated game Engine could be integrated

Engine limitations though. The game is almost six years old. There's only so much they can drag out of it.

But see that is my issue with this. The new episodes might be fun and all, but the new lock boxes, rep system, and updates are all the same. Carbon copies of what we already see where there is no variety or challenge. It's just going to be more grinding through repetitive missions (dependent entirely on random luck in what groups you're stuck with) for gear that isn't much different than what you already can get. It's just a re-skin, that's all

Season 11 is coming though. There'll be new feature episodes (released as per the last few on a monthly basis with new rewards weekly). At launch there will be a new lockbox, new rep, admiralty system and some STFs.

I looked into it and it's just standard maintenance, more geared to refreshing hardware and such. I over sold it.

As for new content updates, I spoke with a friend of mine about this while carpooling home. It's MMO fatigue: companies building and hosting MMO's never really update the game system, just create 'new content' which is just reskinned versions of existing content.
Take the reputation system for example. They are all basically the same. Every other update might have some build in missions and such, but it's nothing more than grinding through the same kind of battles for gear that is only marginally different. The only value is maybe either esthetic or novelty for some players... but there is nothing new or exciting.

Star Trek could offer so much to build variable game play, especially since this is the only Trek we really get (aside from fan made content) and it's sad that Cryptic would rather stick to the same tired MMO methods instead of building in fun and challenging new aspects to game play. As I said, all the pieces are there... but instead of organizing them into something interesting they just keep churning out more of the same.

You've pretty much summed up my thoughts on the state of the game given it's history and storyline. I'm reserving judgement for season 11 because it is Star Trek, but I also have to be honest and say that i am not too hyped with what it's expected to bring.

As for an Exploration System: I agree, i would love to see something new... Sure the star clusters of old with "random" missions and the occasional away mission got stale and repetitive, but while exploring in those days I still nonetheless managed to find my away team literally wandering through strange new worlds, from beautiful forests overlooking huge canyons to towering crystalline structures that dominated the landscape and overhead. Even missions involving first contact had some decent stories about the culture of the new race we were meeting.

They had the right idea, but it didn't get much attention as the game and story arc developed through the seasons. It was a wonky system for sure, but it was something. Instead of improving upon it, they just removed it entirely from the game... While I get that the majority of players don't prefer the more mellow gameplay, it still does not bode well with Star Trek fans that the franchise's flagship game doesn't feature the exploration aspect of Trek much. Sure, there's the Foundry, and while it's a powerful tool and Stonewall is fortunate to have some talented authors, it simply should not be the player's role to create content for a game, IMHO.

At this point, I'm doubting whether or not Cryptic has the resources (or is willing to devote much) to building a new exploration system. But with respect to your post, I too wonder what is next for STO now that the war is over, and I strongly feel that DOFF'ing and timegated point-and-click gameplay can only go so far.

BUt that's just my own assessment, I am also curious what other folks think of STO's road ahead post-season 11. I love your suggestions.

Steve

PS: So this big update coming up with extended downtime, is it believed that improvements to the game or the engine are expected? I figured they may just be upgrading hardware and services to address the lag/network issues. Either way, it wouldn't hurt. ;)

Bumping this and reminding myself that I want to reply when I'm home :)

Quote by Gravity

Looks great,

I'm curious have we ever tried a ship costume contest for example in this case making the ugliest most horrific ship design (hello original galaxy and defiant variants).

Just thinking ahead for opportunities.

lol, that's an interesting idea. I can think of a few horrifying ship creations; basically anything star cruiser or deep space science related, though most of the original tier V ship designs at launch were just terrible, lol. This year's costume categories have been picked already, but we'll have to remember that for the event line-up next year.