Random player encounters would not happen in an exploration type setting really. Star Fleet wouldn't send two ships to the same area without them knowing it. And currently, I could definately see issues of making the entire galaxy static due to the fact that they'd have to store all this data somewhere and also increase the amount of servers they have running the game. Physical servers, not "shards".

So, at this time, since it is really impossible to make a complete statiic galaxy, I can accept a form of instanced exploration. Now... if you dedicated your computer for all eternity, and promised to keep it on, connected, and running, as well as promising to have a terrific processor and internet connection... I could see a theoretical situation where what a player explores is stored on their comp and accessed by others... but thats rather far fetched.

Think the closest you'll get is grouping with a friend, and going exploring together.

Originally posted by Tadzio

They lost me here

You don’t lose your ship [if it blows up]; you just respawn at the beginning of the map with a little damage done to your systems. But overall, we don’t want you to spend 80 hours getting that Sovereign class vessel, get owned, and then lose that ship.

Another arcade crap, meh
Im not asking for a cartoony version of eve... but you know...

Looking forward to open beta though - i want to see war with meaningless death, rofl

But yeah, people play CO as well... different tastes i guess ;)

So what would be your suggestion?  How about you respawn on an asteroid and mine enough ore to craft a new ship, then hitchhike to the nearest starbase and begin crafting? 

This is why MMOs fail. Producers and Developers need to stop thinking about contending with WoW and instead think about making a game that caters to its fans and not everyone. As soon as people get out of this mindset we will have more success.

When a company talks about how they want to compete with WoW is when I decide that I am not going to buy that game at release, but rather wait to see what the the fans think of their game.

Originally posted by DanaDark

Nearly meaningless death isn't my ideal situation either. But seems 90%+ of all MMOs these days have it that way now.

Generally, if the risks arent that high, I prefer the rewards to not be that high either, or at least take a long long time to achieve.

This is a detail I dislike about STO, but I am also totally not surprised given how prevalent it is in MMOs anyway. Now if they said "We'll buff you and blow up all your enemies every time you die!" then I'd be gone.

I remember having this argument with a lot of folks on the official forums back in the early part of this year. I hate that recent trend in PVP of dieing and being right back in the action within seconds. I hope with the PVP in the neutral zone that if you die you are out of the action for a good long while. I don't want the old days of  death resulting in losing everything you have but not so cheesy that death is used to move across maps and zones.

Originally posted by grandpagamer

So what would be your suggestion?  How about you respawn on an asteroid and mine enough ore to craft a new ship, then hitchhike to the nearest starbase and begin crafting? 

How about forcing giving a player the choice to permadeath ( go down with the ship ) their char or " pod " into space and drift until someone discovers the pod ( semi - permadeath ).  

That would be an interesting game mechanic I think.

Originally posted by thinktank001

Originally posted by grandpagamer

So what would be your suggestion?  How about you respawn on an asteroid and mine enough ore to craft a new ship, then hitchhike to the nearest starbase and begin crafting? 

 

How about forcing giving a player the choice to permadeath their char or " pod " into space and floating until someone discovers your pod ( semi - permadeath ).  

That would be an interesting game mechanic I think.

1.)Perma Death is too harsh. You can't expect to keep a player base when they are afraid to PVP out of fear of having all their hard work disappear. This is a game, not real life.
 

2.) And if no one ever notices your pod, what then? You expect people to log in and wait for their pod to be picked up before actually being able to PLAY? Nope, that will lose you subs as well. People want to be able to play when they log in not sit in a line or in empty space.

Worth noting that in Star Trek... they actually give a benefit for losing your ship. Kirk became captain again and regained command of the Enterprise... Picard got a brand new shiny vessel, which was the most advanced in the fleet, after his first officer lost the ship in a battle to a glorified torpedo launcher (bird of prey).

I wouldn't want to see a perma death of your character, but I'd like it for the Bridge officers, making us want to protect them.

Originally posted by grandpagamer

So what would be your suggestion?  How about you respawn on an asteroid and mine enough ore to craft a new ship, then hitchhike to the nearest starbase and begin crafting? 

Hmm, I think it would require more than Robinson Crusoe to make a space-worthy ship. Even a life boat type.

What I would suggest is three possible outcomes to a space combat - victory, escape, catastrophic failure. At some point in a losing battle, the captain has the option to warp out of the conflict - sacrificing any related quest progress and skill/xp points gained for that mission. If he stays, then his ship is at risk. A captain losing his ship is downgraded in his command rating and assigned a lesser ship.

I think people are overreacting too quickly at the slightest thing here. You notice he didn't actually talk about diplomacy in the quesiton that everyone was so worried about, and I think as someone pointed out, it might have been a joking manner. So while they have talked about trying to get diplomacy in the game before, I haven't seen anywhere that they've denied it so far.

That being said, putting in a diplomacy system can't be easy. If it's all pre-scripted, then everyone can just follow the trail and get all the good reputation. Creating a fully fleshed out diplomacy system can't be easy, I mean I can't really think of an MMO that's actually done it. Vanguard had a system with a lot of potential, but they couldn't get it implemented fully. Add to that the fact that STO is going from Closed beta to launch in the space of 4 months or so, and it's a very precarious thing altogether.

I think maybe just wait to play the game before you get too worked up about there being no diplomacy.

@the death-issue:
Perma-death is bad, really bad.
Insta-respawn at no loss whatsoever is the other extreme, which is just as bad.
To ME, anything that costs a (limited) amount of online time to "recover" is ok.
10mins might not do it, but 2hrs "loss" is the maximum for me, really - that is half a night's playtime if not more already.
I'm looking forward to see how they are tackling this issue.

@the "diplomacy vs combat" issue:
Combat is simply that much easier to implement than (decent) diplomacy, so i guess that is why they are taking that route.
And the ST shows are very much about "WAR" and "Combat", (almost) all the time:
The Borg were fought, not talked to much. the Dominion as well, to mention just two major opponents. Even in episodes where they reached a diplomatic solution it went seldom without any violence at all.
What it comes down to, for me, is HOW they implement stuff (mechanic- and story-wise).

The only thing i am REALLY concerned about, and which might provide "the" reason for me NOT to play STO is this though:

---

MPC: What do you think about different business models, like opting for micro-transactions instead of subscriptions?
CZ: We like the subscription model, and will probably be using that in the near term. We are looking at micro-transactions and how that would work – Star Trek will have micro-transactions, but most of those will be cosmetic things. Some will augment gameplay, but won’t replace any gameplay.

---

The point of a game (from a players perspective) is to have FUN.
And that fun is based in a large amount on equal "footing" for all involved.

Originally posted by Grakel

 Really, one question that should have been asked after this:

MPC: What about playing as the Klingons

 

CZ: We’re not ready to reveal too much, but the Klingon gameplay will be drastically different from the Federation. It’ll open up a couple of hours into the game, and will be more PVP focused.

You have to play as Federation to get to the Klingon content?

Besides that some question of the obvious worries from Start Trek fans should have been made.

 

I read somewhere that the Klingon part opens after the tutorial... but I agree with you, I'd prefer a Klingon tutiorial and play from the start.

Originally posted by thinktank001

Originally posted by grandpagamer

So what would be your suggestion?  How about you respawn on an asteroid and mine enough ore to craft a new ship, then hitchhike to the nearest starbase and begin crafting? 

 

How about forcing giving a player the choice to permadeath ( go down with the ship ) their char or " pod " into space and drift until someone discovers the pod ( semi - permadeath ).  

That would be an interesting game mechanic I think.

You can have perma-death - just delete your character and start again if you die, problem solved.

People always think they are smart when they suggest deleting a character to simulate perma-death. The reality is it makes you look very foolish to suggest such.

Originally posted by DanaDark

People always think they are smart when they suggest deleting a character to simulate perma-death. The reality is it makes you look very foolish to suggest such.

I rather liked his suggestion.
 

I think what they should do is you have to put your upgraded main ship in space dock for a certain amount of time, say thirty minutes. In the meanwhile you would have to use your lesser ship which would be upgraded with spare parts.  They still are planning to let you keep your older ships right? 
 

Originally posted by DanaDark

People always think they are smart when they suggest deleting a character to simulate perma-death. The reality is it makes you look very foolish to suggest such.

1. I know I'm smart.

2. My opinion is the only one that matters.

3. It's only a game, get over yourself.

Originally posted by flatline29

I think what they should do is you have to put your upgraded main ship in space dock for a certain amount of time, say thirty minutes. In the meanwhile you would have to use your lesser ship which would be upgraded with spare parts.  They still are planning to let you keep your older ships right? 
 

What? I sure as hell hope not. More than one ship to a captain?

Can someone confirm this? Are captains going to 'own' more than one ship? This is silliness beyond lunacy.

Originally posted by MMO_Doubter

Originally posted by flatline29

I think what they should do is you have to put your upgraded main ship in space dock for a certain amount of time, say thirty minutes. In the meanwhile you would have to use your lesser ship which would be upgraded with spare parts.  They still are planning to let you keep your older ships right? 
 

What? I sure as hell hope not. More than one ship to a captain?

Can someone confirm this? Are captains going to 'own' more than one ship? This is silliness beyond lunacy.

I can dig up the quote, but they've said any ship you've ever had to maintain access to.  You can go to a Starbase and switch out.
 

 I didnt realise STO was going to have a cash shop. 

And what happens to your ship when you go on away missions? Does it hang there and is attackable, or does it vanish when you "beam down"?

Originally posted by Drachasor

Originally posted by MMO_Doubter

Originally posted by flatline29

I think what they should do is you have to put your upgraded main ship in space dock for a certain amount of time, say thirty minutes. In the meanwhile you would have to use your lesser ship which would be upgraded with spare parts.  They still are planning to let you keep your older ships right? 
 

What? I sure as hell hope not. More than one ship to a captain?

Can someone confirm this? Are captains going to 'own' more than one ship? This is silliness beyond lunacy.

I can dig up the quote, but they've said any ship you've ever had to maintain access to.  You can go to a Starbase and switch out.
 

It's in the article that the OP quoted.

Originally posted by jayanti

 I didnt realise STO was going to have a cash shop. 

And what happens to your ship when you go on away missions? Does it hang there and is attackable, or does it vanish when you "beam down"?

It will vanish in some fashion (warp out, disappear, or something like that.  They haven't decided on exact looks).