Originally posted by fansede

Originally posted by dalevi11

Originally posted by Stradden

On Sunday, Cryptic Studios Chielf Creative Officer Jack Emmert officially unveiled Star Trek Online to a Trek convention in Vegas. Fortunately for those of us not in attendance, the event was available for viewing online. During the preentation, Emmert revealed some details about the highly anticipated upcoming MMORPG.

On Sunday, Cryptic Studios made their very first public presentation concerning the recently announced Star Trek Online. The presentation was made in Las Vegas appropriately, at a Star Trek convention. This was smart for a number of reasons including the fact that in a crowded MMORPG market, the core fans of the IP are an important demographic for the upcoming game. Then, or course, there’s the fact that at a Star Trek convention, you can have your game introduced by Leonard Nimoy, the original Mr. Spock.

Before continuing, I should make it clear that the full presentation has been made available via www.startrekonline.com if you’re interested in watching the whole 43 minute long presentation. For those of you who aren’t, I’m going to try to cover the most important bits:

Check it out here.

 

Yeah, what a let down. I didn't really want to play a captain. So, it sounds like PoTBS on the ship, and what? Sword of the New World on ground?

 

They are playing the odds that most people do want to command a ship. I think that is a safe bet.  In the MMO world, safe bets don't lose money.  For people that like a supporting role, I hope they offer instancing scenarios. Maybe you can work for an NPC Captain in defending the ship when it is boarded, or help a Station from its power source from exploding, or planetary missions, etc.

We shall see how things evolve in the coming years

I would say you are right, if it hadn't been introduced at a Star Trek Convention =). Star Trek fans are all over the map when it comes to character popularity preference. My favorites were, Spock, Data, Jadzia Dax, Chicote and T'Pol (rowr). Everyone being a starship captain seems to make it very one sided.

And for away missions, my guess is you'll have to control multiple toons.

The whole thing just seems like its going in a very strange direction.

Originally posted by fansede

Originally posted by Alienovrlord

Lost me the second he said 'economy'

This is Star Trek.  The Feds don't use money.  They replicate all the goods they need.  The only reason the Feds don't replicate a billion tons of latinum or whatever and ruin the economy of every other civlization is the Prime Directive. 

Cryptic took fantasy MMORPG classes and jammed them into City of Heroes rather than looking at the genre and doing something innovative like making a game to fit superheroes.   It looks like they're going to do the same for Star Trek and use MMORPG mechanics that don't belong in the setting just because they're not original enough to come up with a game that isn't just a copy. 

 

 

I was thinking the same thing.  I was banking on Cryptic to keep their "influence" mechanic as the method of player run economies.

That being said, not all things can be made with a replicator.  All the captains in the series had episodes where tangible objects were traded for items / resources desired.  So resources will be something desired as jack said in his video.  But, latinum? Yes, i agree. Latinum and monetary economies were not emphasized in the Star Trek universe to our Federation.

from the new FAQ http://www.startrekonline.com/faq

Will there be an economy?
Many of the details are still in the works, but yes, there will be an economy that makes sense in the Star Trek universe. Since the Federation has explicitly done away with money, expect bartering and trading of goods to be an important part of the economy. Less tangible forms of economics such as Reputation are also not out of the question.

So maybe there's hope for a non-latinum-based economy after all...

You know it was always a weak point of the franchise that they said there is no money. Economies are created out of necessity due to scarcity, and although replicators do help they certainly don't eliminate the scarcity problem. This is why over and over the different series had to create a pseudo-economy via bartering, energy rations, etc. It's a very kludgey way to fix a broad statement that could never have held up.

So an economy makes perfect sense to me.

I agree that it currently sounds a little solo-ish for an MMO. "Come walk around my ship" will be great for die-hard RPers or showing off to a friend, but it doesn't equate to cooperative play. Surface missions in groups do make more sense, so I'll hold out hope for that. But it brings to mind the question of travel time: how it's handled will determine how easy it is to form a team.

My last concern is about customization not in apperance but in effect. Will everyone be 90% the same but with different skins, or will there be significant differences between my ship/crew and yours? An "open powers system" seems to imply the first, and that would be very disappointing to me.

But I do like a lot of what they've said. Devil is in the details, but we'll see!

Originally posted by Amarsir

My last concern is about customization not in apperance but in effect. Will everyone be 90% the same but with different skins, or will there be significant differences between my ship/crew and yours? An "open powers system" seems to imply the first, and that would be very disappointing to me.

Well, I'm not expecting much customization. All Starfleet vessels with weapons have the same phasers, photon torpedoes, quantum torpedoes, etc. All Klingon vessels have the same disruptors and torpedo-things. If you're in Starfleet, you're either going to have a red, yellow, or blue uniform. All freighters/runabouts/science vessels/Constitution-/Excelsior-/Galaxy-class ships have pretty much the same crew complements. They have the same bulkheads/carpet/lighting/etc.

Great, now I've gone and half convinced myself to NOT buy this...

Couple typos, I don't mean to be rude. 

Then, or course, there’s the fact that at a Star Trek convention, you can have your game introduced by Lneonard Nimoy, the original Mr. Spock.

 While combat is going to play a role in the game, exploration will playa factor as well, including first-contact.

I've seen people beat around the bush on this issue, but no one blatantly said anything about it. Some of us want to form a group and fly 1 vessel. One of the reasons no one has listed, is that "Boldly go where no man has gone before..." or the fact that the shows was all about 1 ship and its crew exploring the unexplorable. How does an entire fleet made up of explorers fit into all of this and how long before everything is explored, when everyone is a Captain?

I've read every post in this thread and have read the very reasonable responses to why Cryptic should cater to the Captain crowd vs the "all in one ship" crowd, however, why do we as consumers have to "settle" for anything less than a superb product. Star Trek is a huge IP and has a lot of potential in MMORPGs to allow Trekkie fans to experience the life of the Captain and it's crew they watched on television. I think we expect more of a social exploration game, more than anything else. It seams to me the "reasonable" ones agreeing with everyone being a Captain are giving up. I'd rather see a proper Star Trek MMORPG or no Star Trek MMORPG, because when technology gets better in the future, we will be stuck with a mediocre Star Trek MMORPG the way things are going now. The "game" might be fun, but Star Trek lends itself as a virtual reality/world social simulator, more than it does a game.

People like me are expecting that virtual reality/world social simulator and are very displeased with Cryptics direction.

First off, I think that the direction they're going with this game is the right one.

Lots of opinions on here on soloing vs playing with others, so I'll throw in mine:   gaming with others can be fun, but I have never, ever enjoyed spending time finding one, forming one, or waiting for others to show up at the dungeon (or whatever).    In fact, I call shenanigans on any pro-grouper who tells me this aspect of grouping is fun.    Then there's the multiple afks, brbs, gtgs, and so on.     So yes, if everyone is on the same page, and dedicated, it's fun.   But the reality is that this is almost never the case.

So, yes, this game sounds to me like it will be a blast.   However, the we're-all-in-this-together attitude that made Star Trek so great will not exist in this MMO.    Why?   Because there are just too many asses online.   It's sad, but it's true.    I'm afraid anyone looking forward to the ever-hopefulness so pervasive to Star Trek will be disappointed, but that's not to say that this won't be a great game.

I think some of you may not have gotten the gist of what Star Trek is all about. It is about bringing humanity together, for a greater good... and you all can do that here.

I see several posts of doom and gloom... but I really dont see many people using common sense, and trying to guide this to a POSITIVE outcome.

Why does the crew issue need to be mutually exclusive (other than to give people something to bicker about)? Let me paint a picture that generally follows what they have described (remember this game isnt done yet, and some good positive input could make this a win for everyone).

Description of how the game COULD turn out:

The game is skill based. People have to do a job to get better at it, and they cant be the best at everything.

Everyone starts as a captain (not rank) of thier own ship (be it shuttle craft, or space dingy). They all have a mode of transportation, and the ability to use it. They can develop these skills, and eventually get larger craft with openings for more crew. These crew will be NPC's, and as your career develops, so does your ship and crew.

Now, not all players want to be captains, all the time... but they all start with those basic skills. They have the option to join the crew of other ships, and to replace the standard NPC's. They can develop thier skills as a science officer, medic, engineer, etc. They can change from ship to ship, as slots are available, or they can just captain thier own ship when none are available.

Now, the missions that crews accept would range in difficulty, and the best crews would be all human crews, with well developed skills. These crews could pull off missions, that a single player, with only NPC crews would never dream of taking on.

This would also lead to the tradeoff for guilds/fleets. They could field many ships, with NPC crews, or less ships, with human crews. This would make for a trade off in large scale raids. It would also allow for a mixing of skills for different missions to allow players to accomplish them in different ways.

I think if people were to present something like THIS as the most desirable outcome (i.e. they have taken what was given, and put it together in the fashion most desirable for both sides), then this feedback could be considered during development, and the benefits of such a system could be realized.

Originally posted by SwampRob

First off, I think that the direction they're going with this game is the right one.

Lots of opinions on here on soloing vs playing with others, so I'll throw in mine:   gaming with others can be fun, but I have never, ever enjoyed spending time finding one, forming one, or waiting for others to show up at the dungeon (or whatever).    In fact, I call shenanigans on any pro-grouper who tells me this aspect of grouping is fun.    Then there's the multiple afks, brbs, gtgs, and so on.     So yes, if everyone is on the same page, and dedicated, it's fun.   But the reality is that this is almost never the case.

So, yes, this game sounds to me like it will be a blast.   However, the we're-all-in-this-together attitude that made Star Trek so great will not exist in this MMO.    Why?   Because there are just too many asses online.   It's sad, but it's true.    I'm afraid anyone looking forward to the ever-hopefulness so pervasive to Star Trek will be disappointed, but that's not to say that this won't be a great game.

 

I only watched some of Star Trek: The Next Generation as a kid when my mother had it on, so take my opinion with a grain of salt.

I am a pro-grouper, as you call them, and I will be the first to tell you that sitting around waiting for a group sucks. That's why I left DDO. A pure grouping game, while in theory, is fun, it just cannot work. But it's not my job to figure out the details, it's the programmers. My job is to hold Cryptic accountable to the Star Trek lore as a fan. If they cannot do this, they should not make the game. Some IP's just shouldn't be made into games, especially MMORPGs, because they have a tendacy to throw lore and history out the window, which for fans is a big NoNo. SoE did this with Star Wars and I don't want Cryptic to say F' the lore for the sake of fun/game. If lore, fun, and game cannot be synonomous, then I don't want to see the game made...period.

Yeah, I want a game where I can be a Science Officer on a PC crew. I want to be staring at a LCARS display with Atari 2600 graphics every time an exciting space battle is going on. I want to stand like a Bridge Orniment with my thumb up my ass whenever there is nothing for me to scan. What an exciting concept for a game!! Sign me up for that!! NOT!!.....You people screaming for player crews crack me up because if you got what you want you'd be bored out of your skulls after the first day and quit the game.

I think the game is going in the exact direction it needs to go to be a success. Cryptic's team are true Star Trek fans and excellent game designers. The IP is in very capable hands.

Bren

Meh, just chucking my two cents worth in here

First of all (off the top of my head from the FAQ)

First up, Captains all has secondary roles IE Picard was archelogist, Crusher was a doctor, Janeway was an engineer, they all has secondary classes but their primary objective was to give direction to the crew of a starship

I personally like the idea of having my own starship (I want a Defiant or Nova Class maybe even a Sovereign (since I doubt they will include the Prometheus class)) Then I can get friends to come over and join me on my ship or we can fly in a group to our destination then beam down to teh surface to carry out our awat missions

Bear in mind how much the Star Trek franchise has changed from Gene Rodenberries original vision, in teh original everything was funky and Kirk Save Mankind again

Reach ST:TNG and things become 'Crew' Centric, ST:DS9 moved to the space stations and then ST:VOY became the 'stranded' version. bear in mind ST:DS9 and ST:VOY overlapped, by the time you get to the end of the series of them both its obvious to see that Starfleet has gone from haveing all its vessels as 'Diplomatic' vesels and realised with the threat of the Dominion, Borg and Species 87549 (or whatever it was) that they have to be more 'Militant' then they have been, they cant rely on other members to protect them so they have gone from being the 'Diplomatic; race to the 'Peacekeepers'

This is based 30 years on so they have the Canon Timeline to play with, lets face it Janeway will have brought back all kinds of advanced technology for the Federation to use, along with 7 of 9.

I personally cant wait and am certainly gonna be seeking out that 'First Contact' scenes

Lets just hope we dont get any 'Omega' Alerts or 'Warp Core Ejected' scenarios :)

Sometimes you just have to have faith, from the video I watched you say exterior planet views, combat, interior spaceship and also 'Hostile' boarding parties on the bridge of the federation vessel ;) 

So many possibilities, so many opinions...

Unfortunately, it's a given fact that Cryptic can't spend the time/money/resources to make STO all things to all people.  In order to keep their fan base, they will have to cater to the hardcore fan.  What does that mean?  Canon, visual appeal, core elements (away missions, first contact, Prime Directive, Klingons, etc.).  Everything else is optional.

Were I to design it, I would try to let people make as many choices about how they play as they can.  I think the earlier suggestion of people moving between crews or captaining their own vessel was right on.  Starfleet is a military organization, and crew members regularly rotate between different assignments.  The idea of an independent organization also appeals, allowing an option for people who don't want to be constrained to a specific faction.

With that being said, there needs to be an excellent set of rules governing how these items interact.  How does one sign up for a crew?  What sanctions are in place to penalize lamers whose sole purpose is disrupting the gameplay of others?  What are the rules of engagement for combat between factions?  Plenty of things still need to be addressed in order to provide a platform that a maximum number of people can enjoy.

There is an enormous amount of potential in this idea, and I think that 4-5 years is barely enough time to envision, code and test such an undertaking.  I sincerely hope Cryptic looks at some of these discussion threads and takes them into consideration during their design process.

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Originally posted by Guillermo197
It seems people are just too solo and egocentric minded these days then the people were back in the old days of UO and EQ1 when people liked to team up and accomplish goals together through teamwork.
I never said ships should be ONLY PC crew! People always fail to read, just read one line and hit the quote button and start their rant! Sad!
I said, that NPC's should be a filler to complete a crew if not enough players are available to fill up the needed slots of the crew of a ship.
That would be a LOT better solution that will apeal both the solo minded player as the social group-oriented player.
- Solo players can fill their crew with NPC's.
- Group minded players can fill their crew with other players / friends.
So like I said. There are more ways that lead to Rome. Not just one!

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This is a good idea, to run ships on a Guild Wars-type model. One thing I appreciated about GW was that you could play with only AI, with AI plus a few friends, or with a full (bridge) crew of players if you wanted.

Still, if the choice were only AI or only PCs, I'd choose AI in a heartbeat.

So it's EvE. With the ability to take NPCs down to a planet.

Yer, cos EvE is so bad we need a new version. With Klingons.

Clearly.

The annoying thing is that I bet any member of this forum, if asked "How would you make a Star Trek MMO" would have come up with a better idea than this pile of crap sounds.