Anyways, as far as there being a "slave trade", I highly doubt there will be any rare skills, so getting the skills you like for your bridge officer shouldn't be a problem. Since they apparently can only have 1 ground and 1 space skill per level, that gives you 8 of each. How your officer performs will be based on what skills you outfit him with, not how rare he is.
This seems like a good way to have players customize the way they perform in combat, not to mention letting them change roles on the fly. If you're fighting a bunch of small ships, maybe you want your officer with the torpedo spread. If you're fighting the battlecruiser, maybe you want to swap him out with an officer that can drain shields.
"Because it's easier to nitpick something than to be constructive." -roach5000
" Bridge Officers provide players with a more iconic and complete Star Trek experience. Part of the fantasy is to be the Captain and while some out there would no doubt love to travel the galaxies in the role of Ship’s Doctor, that’s not exactly compelling gameplay for the average player. "
Informative article over all, but then you had to take it down ten notches by parroting this over-used strawman argument. First of all, no Ship's Doctor class/profession was ever developed, so how do you know if something is compelling or not if it wasn't even created?
You also say "part of the fantasy" is to be a Captain. Well 'part of the fantasy' is to run ones ship from an interior. Another 'part of the fantasy' is to have player crews. Cryptic, and journalists, have created this circular argument that is beyond frustrating. Without proof or evidence, its assumed that being a Captain is the ONLY part of the fantasy that matters.
Finally, "Bridge officers provide players with a more iconice and complete Star Trek experience..." More iconic than what? Not having them? And if Iconic was so damn important, then Cryptic would have developed a system for player crews because that is even MORE Iconic.
_____________________________ Currently Playing: LOTRO; DDO Played: AC2, AO, Auto Assault, CoX, DAoC, DDO, Earth&Beyond, EQ1, EQ2, EVE, Fallen Earth, Jumpgate, Roma Victor, Second Life, SWG, V:SoH, WoW, World War II Online.
Games I'm watching: Infinity: The Quest for Earth, Force of Arms.
It should be noted that in all of those bridge screenshots, the ship's viewscreen is displaying the planetoid known as Memory Alpha: memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/Memory_Alpha
Also, those bridges look way, way, way, WAY too huge. They look too huge at the point of being utterly unrealistic and very immersion breaking for me. If I'm flying a Defiant class ship (which these bridges all appear to be) I want the bridge to feel like the small spartan warship the Defiant is supposed to be. I know this game is in beta, but please, please, please Cryptic, scale the bridges back to something more reasonable.
DANA wrote: " Bridge Officers provide players with a more iconic and complete Star Trek experience. Part of the fantasy is to be the Captain and while some out there would no doubt love to travel the galaxies in the role of Ship’s Doctor, that’s not exactly compelling gameplay for the average player. " Informative article over all, but then you had to take it down ten notches by parroting this over-used strawman argument. First of all, no Ship's Doctor class/profession was ever developed, so how do you know if something is compelling or not if it wasn't even created? You also say "part of the fantasy" is to be a Captain. Well 'part of the fantasy' is to run ones ship from an interior. Another 'part of the fantasy' is to have player crews. Cryptic, and journalists, have created this circular argument that is beyond frustrating. Without proof or evidence, its assumed that being a Captain is the ONLY part of the fantasy that matters. Finally, "Bridge officers provide players with a more iconice and complete Star Trek experience..." More iconic than what? Not having them? And if Iconic was so damn important, then Cryptic would have developed a system for player crews because that is even MORE Iconic.
Exactly.
I've seen fan pages devoted to Dr. Julian Bashir. I'm willing to bet that the fan who made that page would prefer to be like her hero rather than a captain. Why are all these people assuming that everone just loves the captains and wants to be one of them? What about all thev fans of Scotty or Data or Spock? They're being left out in the cold because people like Cryptic are making brash assumptions that really have no basis in reality. And that does not bode well for this game...
DANA wrote: " Bridge Officers provide players with a more iconic and complete Star Trek experience. Part of the fantasy is to be the Captain and while some out there would no doubt love to travel the galaxies in the role of Ship’s Doctor, that’s not exactly compelling gameplay for the average player. " Informative article over all, but then you had to take it down ten notches by parroting this over-used strawman argument. First of all, no Ship's Doctor class/profession was ever developed, so how do you know if something is compelling or not if it wasn't even created? You also say "part of the fantasy" is to be a Captain. Well 'part of the fantasy' is to run ones ship from an interior. Another 'part of the fantasy' is to have player crews. Cryptic, and journalists, have created this circular argument that is beyond frustrating. Without proof or evidence, its assumed that being a Captain is the ONLY part of the fantasy that matters. Finally, "Bridge officers provide players with a more iconice and complete Star Trek experience..." More iconic than what? Not having them? And if Iconic was so damn important, then Cryptic would have developed a system for player crews because that is even MORE Iconic.
Exactly.
I've seen fan pages devoted to Dr. Julian Bashir. I'm willing to bet that the fan who made that page would prefer to be like her hero rather than a captain. Why are all these people assuming that everone just loves the captains and wants to be one of them? What about all thev fans of Scotty or Data or Spock? They're being left out in the cold because people like Cryptic are making brash assumptions that really have no basis in reality. And that does not bode well for this game...
Hmm, there should have been something along the lines of personalities for the crew at least. Not only can you not play Bashir, you can't even have him on your crew. All doctors are the same, more or less, after all.
I almost wonder (well, instant brainstorm) if they shouldn't have done something where you don't play anything in particular per se. You aren't a member of the crew, you aren't the ship, you aren't quite all of them together either. Instead are identified with a ship and crew, and you can control the ship (in combat for instance) or a member of the crew, but only one at a time. Then quests and such basically pit you with problems that you have to solve utilizing the crew, but the crew will act independently of you to an extent (based on their personalities). That let's some crew members doing boring stuff that takes a long time while you control one of the people more involved in the action at the moment (and later you can get the info from the guy doing the boring stuff). Sometimes the focus of things might be on a planet, sometimes it might be in space, sometimes it might be on the ship, and sometimes a combination of all of those, but in any case you can zoom in on the action and control one of your "people/things" to help resolve the situation. If you use that person to talk to someone else, then the dialogue options are appropriate for that person's personality (if you have Worf try to be a diplomat it won't be nearly as effective as Picard..unless perhaps they are Klingons or something). I think that might have been pretty awesome to play. A lot of potentially for very interesting multi-player interaction.
Now, I suppose some people might try to claim STO is this, but without personalities for the crew and with the fact it identifies you as the captain and no internal ship problems, it loses out a lot (fails in other ways too). That said, not having personalities is the major loss as you're simply not going to identify as strongly with the crew. They should have spent another year or two and developed some procedural technology for personalities and crew interactions at the very least.
Nice article, the game sounds better everytime I read something new...I will be trying this out. Hopefully it can keep my attention for more than 3 months
They wont have full blown personalities like side-kicks in single-player RPGs like Dragon Age, but they wont be anonymous peons either.
Hmm... Doesn't sound good to me. Based on the TV shows, what could be more important than the character interaction between the captain and the crew? By having crew members without distinct personalities, I feel like this suggest that there will be a lack of story and character development in the game overall. Does it make any sense that you will have more meaningful interactions with random quest NPCs than you'll have with your own crew? And look at the screenshot on this article - the two female crewmembers look like they have the exact same head and face. Weak.
I'm not saying that I need elaborate back-stories like in Dragon Age, but if the crew has no personality than they're nothing more than a stat item to help you go fly around and shoot stuff better. Ho hum. Not interested.
I dont see why player crews are constantly being brought up. They have several reasons why they didnt go that route. The biggest being what happens when a specific player isnt needed??? Say you are the doctor of a ship. What are you supposed to do when the ship is warping to the next mission??? What if the next mission doesnt call for your character or abilities????? "Hey lets bring Counselor Jax cause she hasnt gone on any missions yet".
The reason they made everyone a captain is because 99.9% of the classic Trek episodes revolved around Kirk.
DANA wrote: " Bridge Officers provide players with a more iconic and complete Star Trek experience. Part of the fantasy is to be the Captain and while some out there would no doubt love to travel the galaxies in the role of Ship’s Doctor, that’s not exactly compelling gameplay for the average player. " Informative article over all, but then you had to take it down ten notches by parroting this over-used strawman argument. First of all, no Ship's Doctor class/profession was ever developed, so how do you know if something is compelling or not if it wasn't even created? You also say "part of the fantasy" is to be a Captain. Well 'part of the fantasy' is to run ones ship from an interior. Another 'part of the fantasy' is to have player crews. Cryptic, and journalists, have created this circular argument that is beyond frustrating. Without proof or evidence, its assumed that being a Captain is the ONLY part of the fantasy that matters. Finally, "Bridge officers provide players with a more iconice and complete Star Trek experience..." More iconic than what? Not having them? And if Iconic was so damn important, then Cryptic would have developed a system for player crews because that is even MORE Iconic.
Exactly.
I've seen fan pages devoted to Dr. Julian Bashir. I'm willing to bet that the fan who made that page would prefer to be like her hero rather than a captain. Why are all these people assuming that everone just loves the captains and wants to be one of them? What about all thev fans of Scotty or Data or Spock? They're being left out in the cold because people like Cryptic are making brash assumptions that really have no basis in reality. And that does not bode well for this game...
By heart I fully agree. I have many fav Trek characters who are NOT captains. I love Trek mostly for the crew interaction and I could not care less for space combat.
By brain however I wonder, what would someone as, say, Medic do all day? Be in sick bay and tend people? Or a Chief Engeneer? Stand in engeneering all day & press buttons to raise warp efficiency? I admit I can't really see anything to do for such ideas. I can imagine however a part of the game which has some quests on board starships or space stations. I am as unhappy with the idea that the players are all captains, but truth be told, I cant really imagine a working concept otherwise.
People don't ask questions to get answers - they ask questions to show how smart they are. - Dogbert
Originally posted by Elikal By brain however I wonder, what would someone as, say, Medic do all day? Be in sick bay and tend people? Or a Chief Engeneer? Stand in engeneering all day & press buttons to raise warp efficiency? I admit I can't really see anything to do for such ideas. I can imagine however a part of the game which has some quests on board starships or space stations. I am as unhappy with the idea that the players are all captains, but truth be told, I cant really imagine a working concept otherwise.
No one reads Drachasor's long posts (or even medium-length ones). Sad now. : (
They won’t have full blown personalities like side-kicks in single-player RPGs like Dragon Age, but they won’t be anonymous peons either.
Hmm... Doesn't sound good to me. Based on the TV shows, what could be more important than the character interaction between the captain and the crew? By having crew members without distinct personalities, I feel like this suggest that there will be a lack of story and character development in the game overall. Does it make any sense that you will have more meaningful interactions with random quest NPCs than you'll have with your own crew? And look at the screenshot on this article - the two female crewmembers look like they have the exact same head and face. Weak.
I'm not saying that I need elaborate back-stories like in Dragon Age, but if the crew has no personality than they're nothing more than a stat item to help you go fly around and shoot stuff better. Ho hum. Not interested.
Star Trek Online: Never quite able to get one step above mediocrity.
I dont see why player crews are constantly being brought up. They have several reasons why they didnt go that route. The biggest being what happens when a specific player isnt needed??? Say you are the doctor of a ship. What are you supposed to do when the ship is warping to the next mission??? What if the next mission doesnt call for your character or abilities????? "Hey lets bring Counselor Jax cause she hasnt gone on any missions yet". The reason they made everyone a captain is because 99.9% of the classic Trek episodes revolved around Kirk.
Isn't it up to the developers to find interesting things for every member of the party to do? Wouldn't it be the developers' fault if my paladin has nothing to do but stand around and occasionally buff or heal in WoW?
Also, wouldn't the doctor be the classic "healer" class? We've also seen on the shows that the doctors do far more than mindlessly heal people. From using hyposprays to incapacitate enemies to devising cures to plagues and even engaging in combat ("The Siege of AR-558," Dr. Bashir knows how to field strip a phaser rifle much to the surprise of the battle-hardened Starfleet security officer. Bashir mentions that he's had to do that far too often.) You're the one putting artificial restrictions on things, you're the one making them boring with your narrow imagination.
I dont see why player crews are constantly being brought up. They have several reasons why they didnt go that route. The biggest being what happens when a specific player isnt needed??? Say you are the doctor of a ship. What are you supposed to do when the ship is warping to the next mission??? What if the next mission doesnt call for your character or abilities????? "Hey lets bring Counselor Jax cause she hasnt gone on any missions yet". The reason they made everyone a captain is because 99.9% of the classic Trek episodes revolved around Kirk.
Isn't it up to the developers to find interesting things for every member of the party to do? Wouldn't it be the developers' fault if my paladin has nothing to do but stand around and occasionally buff or heal in WoW?
Also, wouldn't the doctor be the classic "healer" class? We've also seen on the shows that the doctors do far more than mindlessly heal people. From using hyposprays to incapacitate enemies to devising cures to plagues and even engaging in combat ("The Siege of AR-558," Dr. Bashir knows how to field strip a phaser rifle much to the surprise of the battle-hardened Starfleet security officer. Bashir mentions that he's had to do that far too often.) You're the one putting artificial restrictions on things, you're the one making them boring with your narrow imagination.
and if the developers cant come up with something interesting shouldnt we let it go???
And if you are in the middle of ship to ship combat with the Klingons what is Bashir going to do??? Wait until someone gets hurt???
Isn't it up to the developers to find interesting things for every member of the party to do? Wouldn't it be the developers' fault if my paladin has nothing to do but stand around and occasionally buff or heal in WoW? Also, wouldn't the doctor be the classic "healer" class? We've also seen on the shows that the doctors do far more than mindlessly heal people. From using hyposprays to incapacitate enemies to devising cures to plagues and even engaging in combat ("The Siege of AR-558," Dr. Bashir knows how to field strip a phaser rifle much to the surprise of the battle-hardened Starfleet security officer. Bashir mentions that he's had to do that far too often.) You're the one putting artificial restrictions on things, you're the one making them boring with your narrow imagination.
Exactly right. No reason officers can't have secondary - even tertiary training allowing them to step in for a player who has D/Ced, gone AFK, or bio.
"" Voice acting isn't an RPG element....it's just a production value." - grumpymel2
I dont see why player crews are constantly being brought up. They have several reasons why they didnt go that route. The biggest being what happens when a specific player isnt needed??? Say you are the doctor of a ship. What are you supposed to do when the ship is warping to the next mission??? What if the next mission doesnt call for your character or abilities????? "Hey lets bring Counselor Jax cause she hasnt gone on any missions yet". The reason they made everyone a captain is because 99.9% of the classic Trek episodes revolved around Kirk.
Isn't it up to the developers to find interesting things for every member of the party to do? Wouldn't it be the developers' fault if my paladin has nothing to do but stand around and occasionally buff or heal in WoW?
Also, wouldn't the doctor be the classic "healer" class? We've also seen on the shows that the doctors do far more than mindlessly heal people. From using hyposprays to incapacitate enemies to devising cures to plagues and even engaging in combat ("The Siege of AR-558," Dr. Bashir knows how to field strip a phaser rifle much to the surprise of the battle-hardened Starfleet security officer. Bashir mentions that he's had to do that far too often.) You're the one putting artificial restrictions on things, you're the one making them boring with your narrow imagination.
and if the developers cant come up with something interesting shouldnt we let it go???
And if you are in the middle of ship to ship combat with the Klingons what is Bashir going to do??? Wait until someone gets hurt???
If the developers can't come up with something interesting then they should be replaced with those who can.
excellent second part to the preview. everything in this game is giving me day dreams as i read about it. emagining myself in the capt's chair , going on away missions. great, i cant wait for BW's latest blockbuster....
excellent second part to the preview. everything in this game is giving me day dreams as i read about it. emagining myself in the capt's chair , going on away missions. great, i cant wait for BW's latest blockbuster....
BW? Are you referring to BioWare? They are putting out the The Old Republic game.
This game is being made by Cryptic.
"" Voice acting isn't an RPG element....it's just a production value." - grumpymel2
Originally posted by MMO_Doubter Originally posted by C04L excellent second part to the preview. everything in this game is giving me day dreams as i read about it. emagining myself in the capt's chair , going on away missions. great, i cant wait for BW's latest blockbuster....
BW? Are you referring to BioWare? They are putting out the The Old Republic game. This game is being made by Cryptic.
Both will be fine Space MMOS and both have an eager Player base looking forward to them.
excellent second part to the preview. everything in this game is giving me day dreams as i read about it. emagining myself in the capt's chair , going on away missions. great, i cant wait for BW's latest blockbuster....
BW? Are you referring to BioWare? They are putting out the The Old Republic game.
This game is being made by Cryptic.
oops! my bad, i guess thats the price i pay for following 2 games in production.. thanks for the correction, i indeed did mean Cryptic..
I dont see why player crews are constantly being brought up. They have several reasons why they didnt go that route. The biggest being what happens when a specific player isnt needed??? Say you are the doctor of a ship. What are you supposed to do when the ship is warping to the next mission??? What if the next mission doesnt call for your character or abilities????? "Hey lets bring Counselor Jax cause she hasnt gone on any missions yet". The reason they made everyone a captain is because 99.9% of the classic Trek episodes revolved around Kirk.
Oh, I don't know...you're in a fantasy MMO guild and you're running quests...Guild leader says, you know, we really don't need a Cleric against this Golem. John, why don't you bring your DPS wizard instead....
You see there's this new MMO innovation called Alt characters...they let you play various other roles if you want to.
And 99.9% of hyperbole will get you no where in an argument.
_____________________________ Currently Playing: LOTRO; DDO Played: AC2, AO, Auto Assault, CoX, DAoC, DDO, Earth&Beyond, EQ1, EQ2, EVE, Fallen Earth, Jumpgate, Roma Victor, Second Life, SWG, V:SoH, WoW, World War II Online.
Games I'm watching: Infinity: The Quest for Earth, Force of Arms.
DANA wrote: " Bridge Officers provide players with a more iconic and complete Star Trek experience. Part of the fantasy is to be the Captain and while some out there would no doubt love to travel the galaxies in the role of Ship’s Doctor, that’s not exactly compelling gameplay for the average player. " Informative article over all, but then you had to take it down ten notches by parroting this over-used strawman argument. First of all, no Ship's Doctor class/profession was ever developed, so how do you know if something is compelling or not if it wasn't even created? You also say "part of the fantasy" is to be a Captain. Well 'part of the fantasy' is to run ones ship from an interior. Another 'part of the fantasy' is to have player crews. Cryptic, and journalists, have created this circular argument that is beyond frustrating. Without proof or evidence, its assumed that being a Captain is the ONLY part of the fantasy that matters. Finally, "Bridge officers provide players with a more iconice and complete Star Trek experience..." More iconic than what? Not having them? And if Iconic was so damn important, then Cryptic would have developed a system for player crews because that is even MORE Iconic.
Exactly.
I've seen fan pages devoted to Dr. Julian Bashir. I'm willing to bet that the fan who made that page would prefer to be like her hero rather than a captain. Why are all these people assuming that everone just loves the captains and wants to be one of them? What about all thev fans of Scotty or Data or Spock? They're being left out in the cold because people like Cryptic are making brash assumptions that really have no basis in reality. And that does not bode well for this game...
By heart I fully agree. I have many fav Trek characters who are NOT captains. I love Trek mostly for the crew interaction and I could not care less for space combat.
By brain however I wonder, what would someone as, say, Medic do all day? Be in sick bay and tend people? Or a Chief Engeneer? Stand in engeneering all day & press buttons to raise warp efficiency? I admit I can't really see anything to do for such ideas. I can imagine however a part of the game which has some quests on board starships or space stations. I am as unhappy with the idea that the players are all captains, but truth be told, I cant really imagine a working concept otherwise.
There have been a lot of great suggestions both here and on the STO forums regarding the roles each would play. As a jumping off point, one only needs to look at SWG Jump to light speed as a foundational example of where to take the design.
But hey, I've come to appreciate how genius the original SWG Devs were -- brilliant system designers (not so great at content designing, though, heh). Maybe multi-player ships are just too damn hard for the Cryptic devs to design. Nothing to be ashamed of...can't all be Einsteins in the developing world.
_____________________________ Currently Playing: LOTRO; DDO Played: AC2, AO, Auto Assault, CoX, DAoC, DDO, Earth&Beyond, EQ1, EQ2, EVE, Fallen Earth, Jumpgate, Roma Victor, Second Life, SWG, V:SoH, WoW, World War II Online.
Games I'm watching: Infinity: The Quest for Earth, Force of Arms.
Comments
Maybe I read it wrong but it didnt seem like you could trade officers for parts...more like trading officers for officers.
It's fun to see the trolls come out, hi trolls!
Anyways, as far as there being a "slave trade", I highly doubt there will be any rare skills, so getting the skills you like for your bridge officer shouldn't be a problem. Since they apparently can only have 1 ground and 1 space skill per level, that gives you 8 of each. How your officer performs will be based on what skills you outfit him with, not how rare he is.
This seems like a good way to have players customize the way they perform in combat, not to mention letting them change roles on the fly. If you're fighting a bunch of small ships, maybe you want your officer with the torpedo spread. If you're fighting the battlecruiser, maybe you want to swap him out with an officer that can drain shields.
"Because it's easier to nitpick something than to be constructive." -roach5000
DANA wrote:
" Bridge Officers provide players with a more iconic and complete Star Trek experience. Part of the fantasy is to be the Captain and while some out there would no doubt love to travel the galaxies in the role of Ship’s Doctor, that’s not exactly compelling gameplay for the average player. "
Informative article over all, but then you had to take it down ten notches by parroting this over-used strawman argument. First of all, no Ship's Doctor class/profession was ever developed, so how do you know if something is compelling or not if it wasn't even created?
You also say "part of the fantasy" is to be a Captain. Well 'part of the fantasy' is to run ones ship from an interior. Another 'part of the fantasy' is to have player crews. Cryptic, and journalists, have created this circular argument that is beyond frustrating. Without proof or evidence, its assumed that being a Captain is the ONLY part of the fantasy that matters.
Finally, "Bridge officers provide players with a more iconice and complete Star Trek experience..." More iconic than what? Not having them? And if Iconic was so damn important, then Cryptic would have developed a system for player crews because that is even MORE Iconic.
_____________________________
Currently Playing: LOTRO; DDO
Played: AC2, AO, Auto Assault, CoX, DAoC, DDO, Earth&Beyond, EQ1, EQ2, EVE, Fallen Earth, Jumpgate, Roma Victor, Second Life, SWG, V:SoH, WoW, World War II Online.
Games I'm watching: Infinity: The Quest for Earth, Force of Arms.
Find the Truth: http://www.factcheck.org/
It should be noted that in all of those bridge screenshots, the ship's viewscreen is displaying the planetoid known as Memory Alpha: memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/Memory_Alpha
Also, those bridges look way, way, way, WAY too huge. They look too huge at the point of being utterly unrealistic and very immersion breaking for me. If I'm flying a Defiant class ship (which these bridges all appear to be) I want the bridge to feel like the small spartan warship the Defiant is supposed to be. I know this game is in beta, but please, please, please Cryptic, scale the bridges back to something more reasonable.
Exactly.
I've seen fan pages devoted to Dr. Julian Bashir. I'm willing to bet that the fan who made that page would prefer to be like her hero rather than a captain. Why are all these people assuming that everone just loves the captains and wants to be one of them? What about all thev fans of Scotty or Data or Spock? They're being left out in the cold because people like Cryptic are making brash assumptions that really have no basis in reality. And that does not bode well for this game...
if i go klingon i want the option to shoot my bridge officers to force the others to perform better.
Exactly.
I've seen fan pages devoted to Dr. Julian Bashir. I'm willing to bet that the fan who made that page would prefer to be like her hero rather than a captain. Why are all these people assuming that everone just loves the captains and wants to be one of them? What about all thev fans of Scotty or Data or Spock? They're being left out in the cold because people like Cryptic are making brash assumptions that really have no basis in reality. And that does not bode well for this game...
Hmm, there should have been something along the lines of personalities for the crew at least. Not only can you not play Bashir, you can't even have him on your crew. All doctors are the same, more or less, after all.
I almost wonder (well, instant brainstorm) if they shouldn't have done something where you don't play anything in particular per se. You aren't a member of the crew, you aren't the ship, you aren't quite all of them together either. Instead are identified with a ship and crew, and you can control the ship (in combat for instance) or a member of the crew, but only one at a time. Then quests and such basically pit you with problems that you have to solve utilizing the crew, but the crew will act independently of you to an extent (based on their personalities). That let's some crew members doing boring stuff that takes a long time while you control one of the people more involved in the action at the moment (and later you can get the info from the guy doing the boring stuff). Sometimes the focus of things might be on a planet, sometimes it might be in space, sometimes it might be on the ship, and sometimes a combination of all of those, but in any case you can zoom in on the action and control one of your "people/things" to help resolve the situation. If you use that person to talk to someone else, then the dialogue options are appropriate for that person's personality (if you have Worf try to be a diplomat it won't be nearly as effective as Picard..unless perhaps they are Klingons or something). I think that might have been pretty awesome to play. A lot of potentially for very interesting multi-player interaction.
Now, I suppose some people might try to claim STO is this, but without personalities for the crew and with the fact it identifies you as the captain and no internal ship problems, it loses out a lot (fails in other ways too). That said, not having personalities is the major loss as you're simply not going to identify as strongly with the crew. They should have spent another year or two and developed some procedural technology for personalities and crew interactions at the very least.
I'd be more worried about them shooting you if you fail that mission... Klingons often earn promotions through assassination...
I'd be more worried about them shooting you if you fail that mission... Klingons often earn promotions through assassination...
That was my thought exactly.
Nice article, the game sounds better everytime I read something new...I will be trying this out. Hopefully it can keep my attention for more than 3 months
Hmm... Doesn't sound good to me. Based on the TV shows, what could be more important than the character interaction between the captain and the crew? By having crew members without distinct personalities, I feel like this suggest that there will be a lack of story and character development in the game overall. Does it make any sense that you will have more meaningful interactions with random quest NPCs than you'll have with your own crew? And look at the screenshot on this article - the two female crewmembers look like they have the exact same head and face. Weak.
I'm not saying that I need elaborate back-stories like in Dragon Age, but if the crew has no personality than they're nothing more than a stat item to help you go fly around and shoot stuff better. Ho hum. Not interested.
I dont see why player crews are constantly being brought up. They have several reasons why they didnt go that route. The biggest being what happens when a specific player isnt needed??? Say you are the doctor of a ship. What are you supposed to do when the ship is warping to the next mission??? What if the next mission doesnt call for your character or abilities????? "Hey lets bring Counselor Jax cause she hasnt gone on any missions yet".
The reason they made everyone a captain is because 99.9% of the classic Trek episodes revolved around Kirk.
Exactly.
I've seen fan pages devoted to Dr. Julian Bashir. I'm willing to bet that the fan who made that page would prefer to be like her hero rather than a captain. Why are all these people assuming that everone just loves the captains and wants to be one of them? What about all thev fans of Scotty or Data or Spock? They're being left out in the cold because people like Cryptic are making brash assumptions that really have no basis in reality. And that does not bode well for this game...
By heart I fully agree. I have many fav Trek characters who are NOT captains. I love Trek mostly for the crew interaction and I could not care less for space combat.
By brain however I wonder, what would someone as, say, Medic do all day? Be in sick bay and tend people? Or a Chief Engeneer? Stand in engeneering all day & press buttons to raise warp efficiency? I admit I can't really see anything to do for such ideas. I can imagine however a part of the game which has some quests on board starships or space stations. I am as unhappy with the idea that the players are all captains, but truth be told, I cant really imagine a working concept otherwise.
People don't ask questions to get answers - they ask questions to show how smart they are. - Dogbert
No one reads Drachasor's long posts (or even medium-length ones). Sad now. : (
Hmm... Doesn't sound good to me. Based on the TV shows, what could be more important than the character interaction between the captain and the crew? By having crew members without distinct personalities, I feel like this suggest that there will be a lack of story and character development in the game overall. Does it make any sense that you will have more meaningful interactions with random quest NPCs than you'll have with your own crew? And look at the screenshot on this article - the two female crewmembers look like they have the exact same head and face. Weak.
I'm not saying that I need elaborate back-stories like in Dragon Age, but if the crew has no personality than they're nothing more than a stat item to help you go fly around and shoot stuff better. Ho hum. Not interested.
Star Trek Online: Never quite able to get one step above mediocrity.
Isn't it up to the developers to find interesting things for every member of the party to do? Wouldn't it be the developers' fault if my paladin has nothing to do but stand around and occasionally buff or heal in WoW?
Also, wouldn't the doctor be the classic "healer" class? We've also seen on the shows that the doctors do far more than mindlessly heal people. From using hyposprays to incapacitate enemies to devising cures to plagues and even engaging in combat ("The Siege of AR-558," Dr. Bashir knows how to field strip a phaser rifle much to the surprise of the battle-hardened Starfleet security officer. Bashir mentions that he's had to do that far too often.) You're the one putting artificial restrictions on things, you're the one making them boring with your narrow imagination.
Isn't it up to the developers to find interesting things for every member of the party to do? Wouldn't it be the developers' fault if my paladin has nothing to do but stand around and occasionally buff or heal in WoW?
Also, wouldn't the doctor be the classic "healer" class? We've also seen on the shows that the doctors do far more than mindlessly heal people. From using hyposprays to incapacitate enemies to devising cures to plagues and even engaging in combat ("The Siege of AR-558," Dr. Bashir knows how to field strip a phaser rifle much to the surprise of the battle-hardened Starfleet security officer. Bashir mentions that he's had to do that far too often.) You're the one putting artificial restrictions on things, you're the one making them boring with your narrow imagination.
and if the developers cant come up with something interesting shouldnt we let it go???
And if you are in the middle of ship to ship combat with the Klingons what is Bashir going to do??? Wait until someone gets hurt???
Exactly right. No reason officers can't have secondary - even tertiary training allowing them to step in for a player who has D/Ced, gone AFK, or bio.
"" Voice acting isn't an RPG element....it's just a production value." - grumpymel2
Isn't it up to the developers to find interesting things for every member of the party to do? Wouldn't it be the developers' fault if my paladin has nothing to do but stand around and occasionally buff or heal in WoW?
Also, wouldn't the doctor be the classic "healer" class? We've also seen on the shows that the doctors do far more than mindlessly heal people. From using hyposprays to incapacitate enemies to devising cures to plagues and even engaging in combat ("The Siege of AR-558," Dr. Bashir knows how to field strip a phaser rifle much to the surprise of the battle-hardened Starfleet security officer. Bashir mentions that he's had to do that far too often.) You're the one putting artificial restrictions on things, you're the one making them boring with your narrow imagination.
and if the developers cant come up with something interesting shouldnt we let it go???
And if you are in the middle of ship to ship combat with the Klingons what is Bashir going to do??? Wait until someone gets hurt???
If the developers can't come up with something interesting then they should be replaced with those who can.
excellent second part to the preview. everything in this game is giving me day dreams as i read about it. emagining myself in the capt's chair , going on away missions. great, i cant wait for BW's latest blockbuster....
BW? Are you referring to BioWare? They are putting out the The Old Republic game.
This game is being made by Cryptic.
"" Voice acting isn't an RPG element....it's just a production value." - grumpymel2
This game is being made by Cryptic.
Both will be fine Space MMOS and both have an eager Player base looking forward to them.
Unaware of the Jestor?
http://about.me/JestorRodo/
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BW? Are you referring to BioWare? They are putting out the The Old Republic game.
This game is being made by Cryptic.
oops! my bad, i guess thats the price i pay for following 2 games in production.. thanks for the correction, i indeed did mean Cryptic..
silly me
Oh, I don't know...you're in a fantasy MMO guild and you're running quests...Guild leader says, you know, we really don't need a Cleric against this Golem. John, why don't you bring your DPS wizard instead....
You see there's this new MMO innovation called Alt characters...they let you play various other roles if you want to.
And 99.9% of hyperbole will get you no where in an argument.
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Currently Playing: LOTRO; DDO
Played: AC2, AO, Auto Assault, CoX, DAoC, DDO, Earth&Beyond, EQ1, EQ2, EVE, Fallen Earth, Jumpgate, Roma Victor, Second Life, SWG, V:SoH, WoW, World War II Online.
Games I'm watching: Infinity: The Quest for Earth, Force of Arms.
Find the Truth: http://www.factcheck.org/
Exactly.
I've seen fan pages devoted to Dr. Julian Bashir. I'm willing to bet that the fan who made that page would prefer to be like her hero rather than a captain. Why are all these people assuming that everone just loves the captains and wants to be one of them? What about all thev fans of Scotty or Data or Spock? They're being left out in the cold because people like Cryptic are making brash assumptions that really have no basis in reality. And that does not bode well for this game...
By heart I fully agree. I have many fav Trek characters who are NOT captains. I love Trek mostly for the crew interaction and I could not care less for space combat.
By brain however I wonder, what would someone as, say, Medic do all day? Be in sick bay and tend people? Or a Chief Engeneer? Stand in engeneering all day & press buttons to raise warp efficiency? I admit I can't really see anything to do for such ideas. I can imagine however a part of the game which has some quests on board starships or space stations. I am as unhappy with the idea that the players are all captains, but truth be told, I cant really imagine a working concept otherwise.
There have been a lot of great suggestions both here and on the STO forums regarding the roles each would play. As a jumping off point, one only needs to look at SWG Jump to light speed as a foundational example of where to take the design.
But hey, I've come to appreciate how genius the original SWG Devs were -- brilliant system designers (not so great at content designing, though, heh). Maybe multi-player ships are just too damn hard for the Cryptic devs to design. Nothing to be ashamed of...can't all be Einsteins in the developing world.
_____________________________
Currently Playing: LOTRO; DDO
Played: AC2, AO, Auto Assault, CoX, DAoC, DDO, Earth&Beyond, EQ1, EQ2, EVE, Fallen Earth, Jumpgate, Roma Victor, Second Life, SWG, V:SoH, WoW, World War II Online.
Games I'm watching: Infinity: The Quest for Earth, Force of Arms.
Find the Truth: http://www.factcheck.org/