For the sake of Trek fans interested in trying out this game, here is a list of known ways the game breaks the spirit and design of the Trek IP. 1 - You can only be the Captain. You can't play the navigator. You can't play the chief Engineer. You can't play the science officer. There is one class - captain, with three possible 'builds' -tactical, science, engineering. This also mean that captains run the entire ship on their own. Players can't form a crew and run a ship together. 2 - Captains own every ship they unlock. Yep. Don't know where Picard is keeping the 'Stargazer', but he can park the Enterprise and run around on his old ship if he likes. 3 - Captains and their ships are immortal. Don't worry about battles anymore, because you can't die, and your ships can't be destroyed. 4 - Ground combat features personal shields and ranged healing abilities (spells). Standard fantasy MMORPG combat with a Trek skin. Feel free to add more examples.
I'm not going to repeat what has already been said because so many have already pointed out the craziness in your arguments.All I have to add is that I hope you keep it up. You are doing far more to help the game than hurt it. Please carry on /thumbs up.
Agree completely. The guy, in his obsession, is really just grasping at straws in trying to bash the game.
Honestly, it's funny he's still here, after his completely embarrassing failure to come through with an article on how he'd design a successful Star Trek MMO. He brings nothing to the discussion, other than this type of petty sniping.
Example: I'd guess he's advocating permadeath with his third point. Hey, I guess it's a viewpoint, just not one founded in the reality of an enjoyable GAME. Then again, he'll say just about anything, as his posting history proves.
The IP break would be of a same rank (or senior) just showing up with no right to be there (after all he did just desert his post to show up on your doorstep!) and taking over. That's pretty much wrong in any military.
There are occasions when Captains in the US Navy are ordered to take command of a ship temporarily
LOL! OK I'm confused, are we on the same side or is this a for vs against thing? :-) Since we both seem to be saying the same thing.
Yea in my 20 years in, I saw that happen a few times; the dreaded 'loss of confidence' syndrome. 14 CO's in 2009 was a record high for this.
Just to have fun and convert ST to the US Navy - Riker would have gotten the boot long ago since he turned down 3 or 4? command promotions. Just think what his Fitrep would have said - 'This officer displays knowledge and abilities above his rank but shows no inititive to assume the duties and responsibilities of superior rank.' :-)
For the sake of Trek fans interested in trying out this game, here is a list of known ways the game breaks the spirit and design of the Trek IP. 1 - You can only be the Captain. You can't play the navigator. You can't play the chief Engineer. You can't play the science officer. There is one class - captain, with three possible 'builds' -tactical, science, engineering. This also mean that captains run the entire ship on their own. Players can't form a crew and run a ship together. 2 - Captains own every ship they unlock. Yep. Don't know where Picard is keeping the 'Stargazer', but he can park the Enterprise and run around on his old ship if he likes. 3 - Captains and their ships are immortal. Don't worry about battles anymore, because you can't die, and your ships can't be destroyed. 4 - Ground combat features personal shields and ranged healing abilities (spells). Standard fantasy MMORPG combat with a Trek skin. Feel free to add more examples.
I'm not going to repeat what has already been said because so many have already pointed out the craziness in your arguments.All I have to add is that I hope you keep it up. You are doing far more to help the game than hurt it. Please carry on /thumbs up.
Agree completely. The guy, in his obsession, is really just grasping at straws in trying to bash the game.
Honestly, it's funny he's still here, after his completely embarrassing failure to come through with an article on how he'd design a successful Star Trek MMO. He brings nothing to the discussion, other than this type of petty sniping.
Example: I'd guess he's advocating permadeath with his third point. Hey, I guess it's a viewpoint, just not one founded in the reality of an enjoyable GAME. Then again, he'll say just about anything, as his posting history proves.
Edit: spelling
I had to do a double take with that one. I can't think of any developer being crazy enough to make a game where if you die you lose your ship and your charatcter. The only point that had any semblence of being a sane one was the second one. No captain keeps his own ship, but he is issued his ship by starfleet and the type of ship depends on the situation. I guess cryptic could have made those that choose Escort ships do only escort type missions, but then that would get pretty boring IMO.
The IP break would be of a same rank (or senior) just showing up with no right to be there (after all he did just desert his post to show up on your doorstep!) and taking over. That's pretty much wrong in any military.
There are occasions when Captains in the US Navy are ordered to take command of a ship temporarily
LOL! OK I'm confused, are we on the same side or is this a for vs against thing? :-) Since we both seem to be saying the same thing.
Yea in my 20 years in, I saw that happen a few times; the dreaded 'loss of confidence' syndrome. 14 CO's in 2009 was a record high for this.
Just to have fun and convert ST to the US Navy - Riker would have gotten the boot long ago since he turned down 3 or 4? command promotions. Just think what his Fitrep would have said - 'This officer displays knowledge and abilities above his rank but shows no inititive to assume the duties and responsibilities of superior rank.' :-)
well I do know of one officer who turned down command of his own ship...he didnt want that ship and another officer had to come in and take over. I've been in 10 years. I get out in 17 days to pursue my dream of being a screenwriter. Love that new GI BIll
For the sake of Trek fans interested in trying out this game, here is a list of known ways the game breaks the spirit and design of the Trek IP. 1 - You can only be the Captain. You can't play the navigator. You can't play the chief Engineer. You can't play the science officer. There is one class - captain, with three possible 'builds' -tactical, science, engineering. This also mean that captains run the entire ship on their own. Players can't form a crew and run a ship together. This has nothing to do with 'breaking the IP'. It's a game mechanic that you don't like, not a deviation from star trek lore. I believe the game is assuming that there are 'virtual' engineers, science officers, etc. underneath your command as Captain - so simply not a break in the Star Trek IP.
But let's say they had multiple players on the crew and we want to stay true to the IP. You be chief medical officer and I'll be captain, oh and we didn't 'form a crew and run a ship together' we were assigned to our ship by the military. Oh and since I'm captain, you must follow my orders. We're going on a suicide mission - with permadeath - how you like being true to the IP now subordinate?
2 - Captains own every ship they unlock. Yep. Don't know where Picard is keeping the 'Stargazer', but he can park the Enterprise and run around on his old ship if he likes. This is nebulous about how exactly it breaks the IP- fortunately there are lots of posts explaining the various times in Star Trek a commander has returned to an older ship. 3 - Captains and their ships are immortal. Don't worry about battles anymore, because you can't die, and your ships can't be destroyed. If we were to be true to the IP - then only the ensign wearing a red shirt could die. Seriously, even when we thought that Spock was dead, they did a whole movie to bring him back, and far from being the earliest to die, he ends up living for hundreds of years.
But again, let's say we have permadeath and races true to the IP.
Will you be a human? 75- 80 years on the gameplay calander.
Will you be a vulcan? A few hundred years on the gameplay calander.
If you make it through your 75 years as a human without dying, does the game auto delete your toon, or is there a 'i'm going to die final epic quest?'
Or were you suggesting that if you avoid death in combat you would live forever in this game? Seems like a break in the IP to me...... 4 - Ground combat features personal shields and ranged healing abilities (spells). Standard fantasy MMORPG combat with a Trek skin. Personal shields and ranged healing abilities can be explained through advances in technology. Now I'm not sure where in the time line STO takes place, but if its 'next' next generation, you don't have an IP leg to stand on. It's the one concession I'll give you if it isn't post TV shows timeline. Feel free to add more examples. Because the best you came up with doesn't hold water.
Look man, either you don't understand what 'breaking an IP' means or you just have sour grapes that they didn't break it in the ways you would have.
There has to be better breaks in IP than this in the game, but the fact that this is the best you could come up with shows that they probably did their homework.
For the sake of Trek fans interested in trying out this game, here is a list of known ways the game breaks the spirit and design of the Trek IP. 1 - You can only be the Captain. You can't play the navigator. You can't play the chief Engineer. You can't play the science officer. There is one class - captain, with three possible 'builds' -tactical, science, engineering. This also mean that captains run the entire ship on their own. Players can't form a crew and run a ship together.
2 - Captains own every ship they unlock. Yep. Don't know where Picard is keeping the 'Stargazer', but he can park the Enterprise and run around on his old ship if he likes. 3 - Captains and their ships are immortal. Don't worry about battles anymore, because you can't die, and your ships can't be destroyed. 4 - Ground combat features personal shields and ranged healing abilities (spells). Standard fantasy MMORPG combat with a Trek skin. Feel free to add more examples.
Nothing you have pointed out are breaks in IP.. they are features you are unhappy about not existing. This whole debate is becoming ridiculous. Features do not equal IP and IP does not mean you get to do everything that was ever shown. If that's the arguement then every game based on an IP, has a broken IP...
Aside from some of the movies, Star Trek has always been a show limited by it's budget. The biggest reason "personal deflectors" were never developed was the fact the effect was either not possible or too expensive to make a regular thing. Same goes for Human-shaped borg versus the "new borg" we'll see in the game.
An MMO is basically a format that allows for a nearly unlimited effects budget compared to a movie or tv show. A virtual environment doesn't have gravity or weight. A character model isn't limited to a human shape or require a 3 midgets in a giant puppet suit. It's built on an graphics engine that already has energy fields, energy beams, and swords.
As for death and ship destruction, until they create a near lagless internet infrastructure, any game where you leave and die by how good your connection is to the map server would be hideously unfair.
The biggest problem with Star Trek games has never been "Do they feel like Star Trek?", the problem has been "Are they fun games to play?". You could probably count on one hand the number of "fun" star trek games, and at least one of them was made with absolutely no connection to the IP holders in the days of DOS-based text games. The last Star Trek game to come out was Star Trek DAC which was terrible.
If I stick with this game for any amount of time it'll be because it's fun to play, not because it conformed to what my notion of Star Trek should be. Which is an arguement I've heard everytime a new Spinoff came out. "TNG won't work because it's not TOS, DS9 won't work because it's not TNG, VOY won't work..." well the jury is still out on VOY and Enterprise. I think the people behind Star Trek had creative burnout, but kept pumping episodes because it was a license to print money. This was also why most of the TNG movies felt like retreads of other episodes with the exception of First Contact.
The IP has trouble being consistant with itself, so I'm not going to begrudge Cryptic for immersion-breaking gameplay compromises. What I will hold against them is a buggy game that is more aggrivation or boredom than fun.
For the sake of Trek fans interested in trying out this game, here is a list of known ways the game breaks the spirit and design of the Trek IP. 1 - You can only be the Captain. You can't play the navigator. You can't play the chief Engineer. You can't play the science officer. There is one class - captain, with three possible 'builds' -tactical, science, engineering. This also mean that captains run the entire ship on their own. Players can't form a crew and run a ship together.
2 - Captains own every ship they unlock. Yep. Don't know where Picard is keeping the 'Stargazer', but he can park the Enterprise and run around on his old ship if he likes. 3 - Captains and their ships are immortal. Don't worry about battles anymore, because you can't die, and your ships can't be destroyed. 4 - Ground combat features personal shields and ranged healing abilities (spells). Standard fantasy MMORPG combat with a Trek skin. Feel free to add more examples.
Some things are because game play > canon/lore/IP.
I'd say everyone being an Admiral commanding a ship is more IP breaking than any of your examples. Away teams composed of potentially 5 admirals fits in the same category.
1. Crew interaction was a focus of the show because that's what you have to have in a show. Have you watched a tv show where the characters don't interact? Er, what? Because they have to do it in a TV show? Are you saying that had Star Trek started in a different media- say, novels- it would have focused on a single character? Do you even understand the concept of Star Trek?
This single point irrepairably breaks the spirit of the IP, as MMO_Doubter says. There is no way around it, no argument against it. Close crew interaction- whether that crew was on a starship or space station - is paramount to the Star Trek universe and is completely lacking from this game design. This is all a Star Trek fan needs to know about this game.
Much bigger failings to me revolve around several of the "not combat" aspects.
The Federation, is a to a large extent, loaded with scientists, engineers, inventors, and research specialists of every type. In an MMO, this would translate most directly to crafting and re-engineering equipment. As best, this is going to be (and is) a sorry after thought by Cryptic. How many times in the various series were people inventing new stuff to solve problems or new ship equipment or any of that? Tons. How much here? Next to none.
How about trade, and smuggling? Gambling? Plenty of that in DS9, TNG and even Enterprise. Planets that produce stuff to trade for? Relics? The whole Ferengi race was about trade and "business". But apparently no one wants to do that in the Cryptic universe. Apparently the only reason to fly around in a ship is to blast someone, if they consent to it.
Nothing here but a shallow, heavily instanced, not even fully functional pseudo MMO with a cash shop that was hurried through production before the majority of things work properly.
Of the 4 friends in the beta, all have stopped playing and have canceled pre-orders through various means. Mostly for the reasons I have stated.
First and foremost your complaints are so nitpicky it's silly. You basically said I want to watch the show, not play the game. Cool, go watch the show. You have to make changes when you cross media, there's a reason that a book is changed to a script, otherwise you'd go to the movie to...read the book on a big screen?
Nothing more needs to be said then that right there. His name is MMO_Doubter. He comes on here and makes it sound like he basically hates the idea of a video game. So... why is anyone giving this person any more of their attention on mmorpg.com?
1. Crew interaction was a focus of the show because that's what you have to have in a show. Have you watched a tv show where the characters don't interact? Er, what? Because they have to do it in a TV show? Are you saying that had Star Trek started in a different media- say, novels- it would have focused on a single character? Do you even understand the concept of Star Trek?
This single point irrepairably breaks the spirit of the IP, as MMO_Doubter says. There is no way around it, no argument against it. Close crew interaction- whether that crew was on a starship or space station - is paramount to the Star Trek universe and is completely lacking from this game design. This is all a Star Trek fan needs to know about this game.
Err, actually the people who think player crews are necessary seem to be in the very small minority. I guess nobody knows Star Trek better than you specifically, though, right?
Star Trek is more than just a crew interacting, and there's nothing that says those crewmembers need to be player controlled. Not only that, but it's also just as likely you could have a worse experience with player crews. If Star Trek was only about crew interacting, then there wouldn't be any episodes where one crewmember was off by himself.
Try puzzle pirates, they have player crews. I'm sure there's plenty of roleplaying opportunities there. Just name your ship the Enterprise.
"Because it's easier to nitpick something than to be constructive." -roach5000
Well I admit I didn't read all the 5 pages of replies (only the first page as a whole) but I have to agree that no matter how you put it, in a game you have to inlcude more things and different things then in the show if you want to keep your playerbase interested. The only thing that bothers me a bit aswell is the player created races cause as others already said, if the possibilities won't have certain limitations, it can get out of hand and turn out the game to a endless balancing act.
My question mainly is though: why couldn't they just include all the races they had in the offline game Birth of the Federation?
That was a cool game to say the least and there were more than enough races they could had included in this game from there.
This way every race would have their certain features and pro/contras and the players would have tons of races to pick/choose from. Additionaly they could add this customization feature they have now only for the looks so people can have more than like 8-10 possibilties most mmos have (a huge exception city of heroes/Villains that has the best character editor out there).
He just pops in to point that out, because he has nothing good to say or any real objections to your guys indepth replies to his whinning little complaints.
I am looking forward to the game, and things he complained about are very very minor at best. Trust me.
Well I admit I didn't read all the 5 pages of replies (only the first page as a whole) but I have to agree that no matter how you put it, in a game you have to inlcude more things and different things then in the show if you want to keep your playerbase interested. The only thing that bothers me a bit aswell is the player created races cause as others already said, if the possibilities won't have certain limitations, it can get out of hand and turn out the game to a endless balancing act. My question mainly is though: why couldn't they just include all the races they had in the offline game Birth of the Federation? That was a cool game to say the least and there were more than enough races they could had included in this game from there. This way every race would have their certain features and pro/contras and the players would have tons of races to pick/choose from. Additionaly they could add this customization feature they have now only for the looks so people can have more than like 8-10 possibilties most mmos have (a huge exception city of heroes/Villains that has the best character editor out there).
correct me if I am wrong but pretty much every race is there to be chosen as a playable Federation race (I think Kilingon and Romulan excluded but I could be wrong). However if you want to create your own race or create a hybrid you can....just as you describe
You know, I was waiting for the nerd rage threads to start on Star Trek -- About how it breaks the IP of the show, about how 'this' isn't "correct" or 'that' is "out-of-the-time-continuum", etc.
This has got to be one of the toughest MMOs to make in history, simply because of the sheer number of nutjobs out there who will nickpick, bash, and never be happy with a Star Trek product unless them, themselves, are wearing the captain's uniform in real life and ordering people around with phasers.
Please, for the sake of others who actually just want to play a fun game that is based upon a Star Trek THEME: Give it a friggin rest or just rage quietly on the inside for our sake. Thanks.
Originally posted by jaxsundane You all realize the person with the most authority to the IP has given Cryptic permission to work with the IP.
This. I would even go so far as to say that since Paramount or Universal or whomever owns the ST IP has licensed Cryptic to run with it, that anything Cryptic does now is CANON. Learn to live with it or move on, Treknerd.
•Human: I'm pretty confident you don't need an explanation for them. They come with two required traits:
?Leadership: 10% increase to "Crew Powers."
?Teamwork: 5% team bonus to Exploit Damage.
•Andorian: The blue aliens with antennas. They come from the frozen moon of Andoria. They have one required trait:
?Acute Senses: 20% improvement to stealth sight, 10% damage bonus to exploit damage.
•Bajoran: You'll remember these guys from Deep Space Nine. They're the ones with the funky earrings and ridged noses. They're also a very spiritual people and don't get along so well with Cardassians. They have two required traits:
?Creative: 5% bonus damage with Kits, 5% heal bonus with kits.
?Spiritual: 10% bonus from Heals, 10% improvement to Regeneration.
•Bolian: These are the blue guys without antennas! They apparently also enjoy a good laugh and rarely have hair.
?Corrosive Blood: 20% resistance to toxic/poison damage, Damage trigger to target if bitten. Deals Toxic DoT with Chance to Vomit.
•Vulcan: These guys require nearly as little explanation as humans. They have pointy ears, they're quite logical, and you need to be able to split your middle and ring finger in salute to be one. Think Spock. They have two required traits:
?Logical: 30% resistance to Psionic damage, 30% resistance to confuse, 30% resistance to Placate.
?Physical Strength: 10% improvement to melee Physical Damage.
•Ferengi: Everyone's favorite space age used car salesmen. The Ferengi love a good deal. They have two required traits:
?Acute Senses: 20% improvement to stealth sight, 10% damage bonus to exploit damage.
?Natural Immunities: 33% resistance to Radiation and Toxic damage.
Human, Andorian, Bajoran, Bolian, Vulcan, Ferengi •Human: I'm pretty confident you don't need an explanation for them. They come with two required traits:
?Leadership: 10% increase to "Crew Powers."
?Teamwork: 5% team bonus to Exploit Damage.
•Andorian: The blue aliens with antennas. They come from the frozen moon of Andoria. They have one required trait:
?Acute Senses: 20% improvement to stealth sight, 10% damage bonus to exploit damage.
•Bajoran: You'll remember these guys from Deep Space Nine. They're the ones with the funky earrings and ridged noses. They're also a very spiritual people and don't get along so well with Cardassians. They have two required traits:
?Creative: 5% bonus damage with Kits, 5% heal bonus with kits.
?Spiritual: 10% bonus from Heals, 10% improvement to Regeneration.
•Bolian: These are the blue guys without antennas! They apparently also enjoy a good laugh and rarely have hair.
?Corrosive Blood: 20% resistance to toxic/poison damage, Damage trigger to target if bitten. Deals Toxic DoT with Chance to Vomit.
•Vulcan: These guys require nearly as little explanation as humans. They have pointy ears, they're quite logical, and you need to be able to split your middle and ring finger in salute to be one. Think Spock. They have two required traits:
?Logical: 30% resistance to Psionic damage, 30% resistance to confuse, 30% resistance to Placate.
?Physical Strength: 10% improvement to melee Physical Damage.
•Ferengi: Everyone's favorite space age used car salesmen. The Ferengi love a good deal. They have two required traits:
?Acute Senses: 20% improvement to stealth sight, 10% damage bonus to exploit damage.
?Natural Immunities: 33% resistance to Radiation and Toxic damage.
Watch the video in the thread "STOUniverse.com HD Character Creation Video". If you set it to HD and fullscreen then (with a lot of pausing) you can read the full descriptions of all the character traits.
Comments
*yawns* The only thing I'll post on this thread since it's STO is : OMFG I CAN'T F*beep* WAIT TO PLAY THIS MAN!
Can't wait to receive my Collectors Edition in the mail !
I'm not going to repeat what has already been said because so many have already pointed out the craziness in your arguments.All I have to add is that I hope you keep it up. You are doing far more to help the game than hurt it. Please carry on /thumbs up.
Agree completely. The guy, in his obsession, is really just grasping at straws in trying to bash the game.
Honestly, it's funny he's still here, after his completely embarrassing failure to come through with an article on how he'd design a successful Star Trek MMO. He brings nothing to the discussion, other than this type of petty sniping.
Example: I'd guess he's advocating permadeath with his third point. Hey, I guess it's a viewpoint, just not one founded in the reality of an enjoyable GAME. Then again, he'll say just about anything, as his posting history proves.
Edit: spelling
Hell hath no fury like an MMORPG player scorned.
There are occasions when Captains in the US Navy are ordered to take command of a ship temporarily
LOL! OK I'm confused, are we on the same side or is this a for vs against thing? :-) Since we both seem to be saying the same thing.
Yea in my 20 years in, I saw that happen a few times; the dreaded 'loss of confidence' syndrome. 14 CO's in 2009 was a record high for this.
Just to have fun and convert ST to the US Navy - Riker would have gotten the boot long ago since he turned down 3 or 4? command promotions. Just think what his Fitrep would have said - 'This officer displays knowledge and abilities above his rank but shows no inititive to assume the duties and responsibilities of superior rank.' :-)
SWG (pre-cu) - AoC (pre-f2p) - PotBS (pre-boarder) - DDO - LotRO (pre-f2p) - STO (pre-f2p) - GnH (beta tester) - SWTOR - Neverwinter
I'm not going to repeat what has already been said because so many have already pointed out the craziness in your arguments.All I have to add is that I hope you keep it up. You are doing far more to help the game than hurt it. Please carry on /thumbs up.
Agree completely. The guy, in his obsession, is really just grasping at straws in trying to bash the game.
Honestly, it's funny he's still here, after his completely embarrassing failure to come through with an article on how he'd design a successful Star Trek MMO. He brings nothing to the discussion, other than this type of petty sniping.
Example: I'd guess he's advocating permadeath with his third point. Hey, I guess it's a viewpoint, just not one founded in the reality of an enjoyable GAME. Then again, he'll say just about anything, as his posting history proves.
Edit: spelling
I had to do a double take with that one. I can't think of any developer being crazy enough to make a game where if you die you lose your ship and your charatcter. The only point that had any semblence of being a sane one was the second one. No captain keeps his own ship, but he is issued his ship by starfleet and the type of ship depends on the situation. I guess cryptic could have made those that choose Escort ships do only escort type missions, but then that would get pretty boring IMO.
Currently Playing: World of Warcraft
There are occasions when Captains in the US Navy are ordered to take command of a ship temporarily
LOL! OK I'm confused, are we on the same side or is this a for vs against thing? :-) Since we both seem to be saying the same thing.
Yea in my 20 years in, I saw that happen a few times; the dreaded 'loss of confidence' syndrome. 14 CO's in 2009 was a record high for this.
Just to have fun and convert ST to the US Navy - Riker would have gotten the boot long ago since he turned down 3 or 4? command promotions. Just think what his Fitrep would have said - 'This officer displays knowledge and abilities above his rank but shows no inititive to assume the duties and responsibilities of superior rank.' :-)
well I do know of one officer who turned down command of his own ship...he didnt want that ship and another officer had to come in and take over. I've been in 10 years. I get out in 17 days to pursue my dream of being a screenwriter. Love that new GI BIll
Congrats. Fair winds and following seas. Good luck with all your future plans.
OSC (USN Ret)
SWG (pre-cu) - AoC (pre-f2p) - PotBS (pre-boarder) - DDO - LotRO (pre-f2p) - STO (pre-f2p) - GnH (beta tester) - SWTOR - Neverwinter
Congrats. Fair winds and following seas. Good luck with all your future plans.
OSC (USN Ret)
Thanks
QM1
Look man, either you don't understand what 'breaking an IP' means or you just have sour grapes that they didn't break it in the ways you would have.
There has to be better breaks in IP than this in the game, but the fact that this is the best you could come up with shows that they probably did their homework.
Tha game takes place 30 years after Nemesis
Nothing you have pointed out are breaks in IP.. they are features you are unhappy about not existing. This whole debate is becoming ridiculous. Features do not equal IP and IP does not mean you get to do everything that was ever shown. If that's the arguement then every game based on an IP, has a broken IP...
Aside from some of the movies, Star Trek has always been a show limited by it's budget. The biggest reason "personal deflectors" were never developed was the fact the effect was either not possible or too expensive to make a regular thing. Same goes for Human-shaped borg versus the "new borg" we'll see in the game.
An MMO is basically a format that allows for a nearly unlimited effects budget compared to a movie or tv show. A virtual environment doesn't have gravity or weight. A character model isn't limited to a human shape or require a 3 midgets in a giant puppet suit. It's built on an graphics engine that already has energy fields, energy beams, and swords.
As for death and ship destruction, until they create a near lagless internet infrastructure, any game where you leave and die by how good your connection is to the map server would be hideously unfair.
The biggest problem with Star Trek games has never been "Do they feel like Star Trek?", the problem has been "Are they fun games to play?". You could probably count on one hand the number of "fun" star trek games, and at least one of them was made with absolutely no connection to the IP holders in the days of DOS-based text games. The last Star Trek game to come out was Star Trek DAC which was terrible.
If I stick with this game for any amount of time it'll be because it's fun to play, not because it conformed to what my notion of Star Trek should be. Which is an arguement I've heard everytime a new Spinoff came out. "TNG won't work because it's not TOS, DS9 won't work because it's not TNG, VOY won't work..." well the jury is still out on VOY and Enterprise. I think the people behind Star Trek had creative burnout, but kept pumping episodes because it was a license to print money. This was also why most of the TNG movies felt like retreads of other episodes with the exception of First Contact.
The IP has trouble being consistant with itself, so I'm not going to begrudge Cryptic for immersion-breaking gameplay compromises. What I will hold against them is a buggy game that is more aggrivation or boredom than fun.
Some things are because game play > canon/lore/IP.
I'd say everyone being an Admiral commanding a ship is more IP breaking than any of your examples. Away teams composed of potentially 5 admirals fits in the same category.
Much bigger failings to me revolve around several of the "not combat" aspects.
The Federation, is a to a large extent, loaded with scientists, engineers, inventors, and research specialists of every type. In an MMO, this would translate most directly to crafting and re-engineering equipment. As best, this is going to be (and is) a sorry after thought by Cryptic. How many times in the various series were people inventing new stuff to solve problems or new ship equipment or any of that? Tons. How much here? Next to none.
How about trade, and smuggling? Gambling? Plenty of that in DS9, TNG and even Enterprise. Planets that produce stuff to trade for? Relics? The whole Ferengi race was about trade and "business". But apparently no one wants to do that in the Cryptic universe. Apparently the only reason to fly around in a ship is to blast someone, if they consent to it.
Nothing here but a shallow, heavily instanced, not even fully functional pseudo MMO with a cash shop that was hurried through production before the majority of things work properly.
Of the 4 friends in the beta, all have stopped playing and have canceled pre-orders through various means. Mostly for the reasons I have stated.
Nothing more needs to be said then that right there. His name is MMO_Doubter. He comes on here and makes it sound like he basically hates the idea of a video game. So... why is anyone giving this person any more of their attention on mmorpg.com?
Err, actually the people who think player crews are necessary seem to be in the very small minority. I guess nobody knows Star Trek better than you specifically, though, right?
Star Trek is more than just a crew interacting, and there's nothing that says those crewmembers need to be player controlled. Not only that, but it's also just as likely you could have a worse experience with player crews. If Star Trek was only about crew interacting, then there wouldn't be any episodes where one crewmember was off by himself.
Try puzzle pirates, they have player crews. I'm sure there's plenty of roleplaying opportunities there. Just name your ship the Enterprise.
"Because it's easier to nitpick something than to be constructive." -roach5000
Nobody posting in this thread, anyway.
Well I admit I didn't read all the 5 pages of replies (only the first page as a whole) but I have to agree that no matter how you put it, in a game you have to inlcude more things and different things then in the show if you want to keep your playerbase interested. The only thing that bothers me a bit aswell is the player created races cause as others already said, if the possibilities won't have certain limitations, it can get out of hand and turn out the game to a endless balancing act.
My question mainly is though: why couldn't they just include all the races they had in the offline game Birth of the Federation?
That was a cool game to say the least and there were more than enough races they could had included in this game from there.
This way every race would have their certain features and pro/contras and the players would have tons of races to pick/choose from. Additionaly they could add this customization feature they have now only for the looks so people can have more than like 8-10 possibilties most mmos have (a huge exception city of heroes/Villains that has the best character editor out there).
Why waste time and energy complaining about a game so much..
LOL @ ;MMO-Doubter or Troll.
He just pops in to point that out, because he has nothing good to say or any real objections to your guys indepth replies to his whinning little complaints.
I am looking forward to the game, and things he complained about are very very minor at best. Trust me.
correct me if I am wrong but pretty much every race is there to be chosen as a playable Federation race (I think Kilingon and Romulan excluded but I could be wrong). However if you want to create your own race or create a hybrid you can....just as you describe
You know, I was waiting for the nerd rage threads to start on Star Trek -- About how it breaks the IP of the show, about how 'this' isn't "correct" or 'that' is "out-of-the-time-continuum", etc.
This has got to be one of the toughest MMOs to make in history, simply because of the sheer number of nutjobs out there who will nickpick, bash, and never be happy with a Star Trek product unless them, themselves, are wearing the captain's uniform in real life and ordering people around with phasers.
Please, for the sake of others who actually just want to play a fun game that is based upon a Star Trek THEME: Give it a friggin rest or just rage quietly on the inside for our sake. Thanks.
This. I would even go so far as to say that since Paramount or Universal or whomever owns the ST IP has licensed Cryptic to run with it, that anything Cryptic does now is CANON. Learn to live with it or move on, Treknerd.
Warhammer fanatic since '85.
from Dana's hands on review.....
Human, Andorian, Bajoran, Bolian, Vulcan, Ferengi
•Human: I'm pretty confident you don't need an explanation for them. They come with two required traits:
?Leadership: 10% increase to "Crew Powers."
?Teamwork: 5% team bonus to Exploit Damage.
•Andorian: The blue aliens with antennas. They come from the frozen moon of Andoria. They have one required trait:
?Acute Senses: 20% improvement to stealth sight, 10% damage bonus to exploit damage.
•Bajoran: You'll remember these guys from Deep Space Nine. They're the ones with the funky earrings and ridged noses. They're also a very spiritual people and don't get along so well with Cardassians. They have two required traits:
?Creative: 5% bonus damage with Kits, 5% heal bonus with kits.
?Spiritual: 10% bonus from Heals, 10% improvement to Regeneration.
•Bolian: These are the blue guys without antennas! They apparently also enjoy a good laugh and rarely have hair.
?Corrosive Blood: 20% resistance to toxic/poison damage, Damage trigger to target if bitten. Deals Toxic DoT with Chance to Vomit.
•Vulcan: These guys require nearly as little explanation as humans. They have pointy ears, they're quite logical, and you need to be able to split your middle and ring finger in salute to be one. Think Spock. They have two required traits:
?Logical: 30% resistance to Psionic damage, 30% resistance to confuse, 30% resistance to Placate.
?Physical Strength: 10% improvement to melee Physical Damage.
•Ferengi: Everyone's favorite space age used car salesmen. The Ferengi love a good deal. They have two required traits:
?Acute Senses: 20% improvement to stealth sight, 10% damage bonus to exploit damage.
?Natural Immunities: 33% resistance to Radiation and Toxic damage.
Watch the video in the thread "STOUniverse.com HD Character Creation Video". If you set it to HD and fullscreen then (with a lot of pausing) you can read the full descriptions of all the character traits.