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Star Trek Online: Happy to be a Subsidiary of Perfect World
SBFord
Former Associate EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 33,129
In the latest Engineering Report posted on the Star Trek Online forum, Cryptic's Dan Stahl starts the discussion with the comment that he is "incredibly happy that Cryptic Studios is now a subsidiary of Perfect World Entertainment." He outline his reasons why before launching into the Engineering Report which outlines what the team is testing, investigating, developing and discussing with regard to STO.
First up are the Borg Red Alerts! These are challenging timed events that will randomly trigger each hour in different sectors. When you see a Red Alert pop-up, you can transfer with 4 other players (Fed and KDF) to take on a powerful Fleet of Borg ships. If you can take them out in 15 minutes, then you'll face a new Borg threat that is bigger than anything we've done in game yet. Tons of new accolades. Tons of great XP for these Red Alerts (they give 5x normal xp and combined with other bonuses that can go up to 10x!). Look for this to hit Holodeck around August 25th.
Then, starting in September we are firing up the REDSHIRT closed beta shard where we will begin testing of the Duty Officer System and the remastered STFs (along with tons of other things listed below in the "in testing" section). Some of these features will be going live in September, and others later in October, and we will continue to put features on TRIBBLE when possible so that you can all get your hands on them.
Read the full Engineering Report on the Star Trek Online site.
Thanks to Rohn for the tip!
Comments
Oh I have absolutely no doubt they're happy about it, and I imagine the players should expect better things as well. Atari....is not optimal and while Im not a fan of Cryptic, Cryptic+Atari? Ouch.
STO has a good deal of potential and Im sure that potential will be further realized now that Cryptic is under a far better helm.
Now only if it would go F2P or B2P. Personally, and this is just me, that was the big announcement I was kind of waiting for, and so far its just not come. Ah well.
Agreed.
I'd totally buy a box copy of STO if it didn't have a month fee.
and I'd totally think about spending money in an item shop for a F2P STO as well.
And now i am afraid for the Neverwinter MMO. {mod edit}
It is best for the industry the MMO throne remains an dusty empty seat never to be filled.
{mod edit}
I'd say NW is in better hands, but honestly everything I have seen from PWE has been free to play eastern grinders, and NW is supposed to be the complete and total opposite - freedom/choice/player driven etc.
Lesser of two evils?
I have no clue...
What exactly did you expect him to say?
At the end of the day he is simply an employee and as such cant say what he really thinks. That being said, after playing STO and what they have created Im not really sure anyone really wants to know what he or any other cryptic dev thinks.
These guys not only made bad games... they made bad games in bunches. They are way past their shelf life and the fact they are still allowed to make games boggles my mind.
It was recently announced that Hasbro has taken the D&D license from Atari, and that PW has decided to give NW another year of development:
http://www.gamespot.com/pc/rpg/dungeons-and-dragons-neverwinter/news/6328979/neverwinter-delayed-as-hasbro-atari-settle-dandd-dispute
However, Cryptic is still definitely developing the game:
http://forums.playneverwinter.com/showthread.php?p=86203#post86203
Its not just the developers whos glad to see the back of Atari. PW's attitude on Neverwinter (push it back into deeper development for content before release) will help STO.
For the last year Atari has crippled Cryptic by keeping them chronically understaffed and under resourced. The Executive Producer of STO even said there were times when there were no cups in the staff kitchen even!
After months of no substantial content additions, hopefully the next 2-3 will start bringing this game back to life.
'Red shirt' sounds interesting. I wonder if PWE gave them that name?
"Red Shirt" is the name of the private testing server, "Tribble" is the name of the public test server, and "Holodeck" is the name of the live server. All of these names have been around since launch, so PW wasnt involved with the server names.
{mod edit} We like to talk about MMO games here.
Personally I am looking forward to what PW intends for STO, Atari is such a decadent company anymore.
PW is fine as long as they're just on the funding and publishing side of things
torchlight is a good example of being a really successful game published by PW
Translation: I'm dam glad to still have my job!
I need a MMO to come back to till SWTOR...does anyone still play STO? I got tired of the rinse and repeat ground missions and dizzying merry go round space battles. Any help there?
I agree to your agreement. lol
Yea I already own a copy. I bought it new cause they had their hooks into me with the whole...Star Trek thing. Guilty as charged. So doing that, and then spending money for about 2 months on subs, its about 80 bucks I spent on that game.
I paid my dues. Least I feel like I sort of did. Its depressing having that thing sitting up on the shelf and not playing it, but it didnt take long for me to give in and realize this wasnt really a full fledged mmo. That along with the just absolutely massive item shop, and I just didnt feel like I should be paying a sub fee for it. Being that I hit end game in three weeks, playing only about 2-3 hours daily if that.
Id go back and mess around in it and yea, Id enjoy it, if it were only to go F2P. And if I played it more than a month in one sitting, Id buy from the item shop. Why not? But Im not touching their item shop if they're charging me a monthly fee. And Im not paying a monthly fee for a game I can pretty much fully complete in a month. So....I guess Im not participating in any of it until they make it B2P or whatever.
Most rediculous thing (just thought Id add this), is I saw a copy of STO at Gamestop for 7.99 recently. That comes with a free month of play. So if I just HAD to play it again (which I dont) I could just pick that up, start over, and pay only 8 bucks for a month instead of the 15 it would cost me to renew. Something is sort of wrong there. But whatever. :
{mod edit}
I persenolly am not a fan of Cryptic or PW.They are both known for money sinks to be competitive in almost all there games.
So, we now have a marriage of flavorless, content light develpment with boring grinds that bring you to tears. Sounds like a win / win for the people who enjoy lifeless grind your bones games.
The chances they will ever implement true 3D space is highly unlikely, so you can continue to enjoy the merry-go-round space combat for a long time to come.
Okay honestly I think STO might be the greatest Star Trek game ever made. Its not much of an mmo but.....
For die hard Star Trek fans its pretty neat. It does lack variety. Its got groovy ship intereriors, away missions, pretty darn good space combat, etc. I cant think of a more decent alternative for a Star Trek fix.
But again, no, its not much of an mmo.
if they could just decrease or minimize all the zoning...it feels like evey few feet you hit a load screen.
I have 8gb of ram, an I7, an ati 5800 card with 1gb, and an internet connection with big fat pipes. But with the game maxed graphically it takes too long for the load screens.
Torchlight was already developed by Runic Games, PW just bought them. It looks like Perfect World is buying successful but small game companies because they know that nearly every game they make doesn't mesure up.
{mod edit}
As for STO, its future doesn't matter much to me, as the potential it once had is long expired. Maybe Star Trek Infinity will be better?
Just started playing this a few weeks ago, and am surprisingly enjoying it alot. The story missions are engaging and well made, and space combat is a blast. Interested to see what they do next.
"When people don't know much about something, they tend to fill in the blanks the way they want them to be filled in. They are almost always disappointed." - Will Wright
The storyline and Episode missions are really awesome and great fun.
I had a total blast doing them.
It's just a shame they do not have the resources to push out one Episode series a month, or at least every 2 months.
Great, more money going to China...I stopped my subscription as soon as I heard about the buyout. I suggest others do the same. If any of you wonder why, just research how China expands their boundaries nearly daily farther into international waters. Do not support Communism!!
Yes, and my TV, bluray player, PC parts, mugs, kitchen appliances, trainers, phone and bed were all also made in China - so me playing a game now owned by a Chinese company wont make much difference - and no, Im not clearing out my house either!
"When people don't know much about something, they tend to fill in the blanks the way they want them to be filled in. They are almost always disappointed." - Will Wright