Yes I think its nice that games add a little flaver.  For the past few years we had the same old thing in LOTRO horse races, and what not, same old recycled quests.  This time we have a new beer fight quest that was a lot of fun and the horse races changed somewhat not for the better.

EQ2 has a lot of nice stuff for frostfell,  I wish they would go back to the old stuff of giving snow globes but I like the new ice dragon quest.

I think new fresh stuff is the way to go, but with the econody the way it is a lot of companies keep the same old thing.

All in all a Good read.

Originally posted by Xondar123

It makes me sad that Cryptic is working so hard to cash in on the new faux Star Trek movie's fame instead of actually trying to make a Star Trek game.

I actually look at the new Star Trek movie the same way I looked at the 2nd season of Battlestar Galictica in 1978 that had like 8 episodes where they found earth basicly a not so very good version where they added kid actors.  We called that the season that never happened, and in fact it never even made it to the DVD cut, only the first season.

I always like the idea of player built cities.  We say this with SWG, and now were seing it with FE.   To bad some of the other games don't do it.  FE crafting is a must, not just a side game.

But I have to agree so many MMO's are based of the same old same ol,a nd they copy one another it is so obvious.

Originally posted by championsFan

I am the type of person who would deliver a lot of feedback, testing to find bugs and describing them exactly, but I am demotivated by having to compete with the 1000s of people who are in closed beta just to play the game.  

 Perhaps the application process could include a multiple-choice quiz about game-design, to seperate beta testers who have some knowledge or intuition about making good games, from the testers who share poorly thought out overly selfish opinions that won't make the game better.  

 

 

Some beta's still ask this. I remember when middle earth now called lotro had that type of application. Asked about guild size, hours of playtime, questions about what would you do if you found the bug. I know KOTROL had an application that asked questions like that as well as hardware design so they could get a good cross section of players.

I reported  tons of bugs back in the early days of middle earth SOA, and we got to see those fixed as A2 through a4 were rolled out,  LOTRO itself when SOA got here did not have many bugs.  I wish I could say the same about SOM.  I was in the beta.  I reported many bugs, and I can say that I have actually had a good 10 or more of those bugs hit me when we went live.  There was little effort made to change thigns as by the time we got to beta we were only 2 months out and basicly the product was already finished at that point.

There used to be a day when you could say quilty at turbine,  and probably other games.  Quality has been bypassed by speed of the release, and the intent to let folks get into your closed beta, knowing that they are going to tell their friends what they see hoping folks buy into it.

Originally posted by ArmySurplus

No offense to Quinto, but they should have gotten Robert Picardo.

AS much as I hate Picard, he would have been a much better choise.

It was funny watching him mention stargate then stardate and get it all mixed up.

Ha ha the reason why games are offiering free comebacks is they are bleading subs.  Wow does not have to do that they ahve more than enough subs.

LOTRO and other games are in trouble.  After January when the force 3 month upgrade that most of folks took to get SOM for free runs out I have a fealign there is going to be a huge loss in subscriber base.

By far my most favorite place in the galaxy.  Yes I loved tatooine.  I spent many of an hour in Bestine in swg. I also helped found a city called Asheron out near the great pit of the Sarlac and served as mayor for a year.   Remembering the good old days before the first CU.

I cant wait for this,  I by far loved this planet.

Originally posted by jadonc

By all admissions this game has been "rushed" and it is "half-baked". I think I am gonna wait til you all try it out first, before buying.

I fully expect it to be full of bad bugs that dont get fixed.  IT is not even here yet and I don't have any expectations of it doing well. Probably when all is said and done it will be another failed product for cryptic.

I had already cancled my preorders, and I have no intention of even playing this game until we can see what really happens.

Well I had left SWG, and went to EQ2 and got disgusted with the nerfs, left that went to LOTRO.  I have a lifetime at lotro but even with som I find myself board.   I went back to eq2, only to find the latest update that I now hate. Had a good 3 months in eq2 untile the released this tyrant update and destroyed stuff in freeport.

OH well I guess im just hard to please atm. I might just give up mmo's for good for a while until they can make something fun.

So what they are saying is, OK  were going to add klingon's in at some point.   You just have to comlete al lthe federation stuf first.

So that gives them time, and forces you to unlock a playable race.   Leason not learned from EQ2 with froglots. 

All this means is omg we F****** up and now were going to have to do it, we cant do it at launch.  However if we promise them they are going to get it they still will buy our product.

Any of your folks belive this bunch of bs, its dammage control at best they knew they blew it.   I don't want to have to do all the missions in sector 1 or whatever it is to unlock.

Im sorry going to call it like I see it a big fat lie in order to get your money.

Originally posted by HeH8Me

Can anyone say "WOW Killer"

 

:)

I will take some of what you been smoking,  wow killer he he he.  If I wanted wow I would play it.  Why does everybody want a wow killer.  Let those who play wow play it and stay on the other side of the universe.

You have to be telling a joke Pirates of the burrning see!!  I ws like omg I tried to beta that game and instanly hated it.

You probably turned off a lot of folks even saying that.   The naval battelts were lame,  so if thats what we have forward to looking too, then no thanks.

I guess one persons personal favorite are another persons pos.

It is a sad thing that when beta goes live and not one of the things that you turned in as a bug got fixed.  Not one.  So you have to even ask yourself why do we do a beta, even a closed one.

They have become more of a publicity stunt than anything else.

Originally posted by Airwren

Originally posted by MikeB

Star Trek Online Producer Daniel Stahl let slip some disappointing information during a recent podcast interview with the folks at STOked, namely that Klingons would not have any genesis content, nor any episodic content, but most disappointing of all, Klingons will be PvP only.

This information surfaced on the Star Trek Online official forums in a thread started by user Crimson_Shadows, and has now been confirmed by Cryptic Studios' Jack Emmert in a stickied announcement.

Jack Emmert on Klingons in Star Trek Online:

Seems like good ole Dan kicked off Klingon month in STYLE!

First, let me apologize that info has been slow to get out. Believe it or not, December was supposed to "klingon" month. I have zero clue why it's Dec. 15th and still nothing, but I can tell you this WILL change (I just saw the threads yesterday).

Secondly, yes, Klingon gameplay is almost entirely PvP. We are trying to get some PvE in (there's already a tad bit). And, if the players demand it, we'll add more content (like episodes). I want us to be agile as a company and respond to what the customers want.

Third, I'll reiterate my point in the other thread. I'm most excited about playing a Klingon. I love combat in a bird of prey. Klingons are getting attention - from me. It's not as much as I'd want, but we have a foundation that we can grow into. If people like the federation gameplay, we can put that in for the Klingons. If players have a different set of requests for klingons, we can do that instead. We can make STO into the game that YOU want.

I'll close with that. MMORPG's aren't just about release. They're about community and the years of gameplay. Disappointed that there isn't more Klingon gameplay? Play STO, tell us what you'd like and we can deliver that. Every passing day, we can make STO into what the fans want.

So, there you have it. Klingon content could certainly broaden in scope post-launch, but for launch you can expect Klingons to be PvP only. Sorry guys.

On the plus side, we've got a number of new Klingon screenshots to tease you with! You can check them out in our Star Trek Online gallery.

 

I'm glad this was confirmed before trying out this MMO as I was super excited when the announcement that ST was going to be an MMO.  Unfortunately the 'monster play' in games like LoTRO are what make those titles absolute ****ing failures in my opinion.  I know there are plenty of folks who love PvE and just sometimes PvP so this isn't much of a big deal.  Sadly I'm not one of them and will be passing on STO.  Too bad really, another story of what might have been in the world of MMORPG's.

Yes another monster play type theem, all we hear lin lotro is the creaps (monter players) and freeps scream how bad it is.  If you design it this way up front its going to be an epic fail.  I had already giving up on this game but now we can add  -100 rept to cryptic, who at this point I don't think they could code their way out of a wet paper bag.

I think the rating was a little too high. I ranked this xpac with a 6.5 out of 10.

The problem with the new content while there is you go through  90% of the stand alone outside quests getting to 65.  After that; then you relegated to doing more grindy instances. It only takes 3 days to get to 65 doing it part time.  So then your left with repeatables, until the next book update or xpac.   

Skirmages or whatever you want to call them are fun in a way. However the AI on the pets is bad. Half the time your pet saunders around not doing anything.  I am hoping that the listen to that and do something to help us controling the pets you have.

Gear gating is still a problem you now need to 110 rad+ to do the latest 12 man instance, somethng a lot of folks will never see the inside of.  so I paid 20 bucks for 20% of the content that I will never ever see ever. 

Skills and character progression. Something we totaly missed in this xpac.  While we got upgraded skils most of them useless. Hunters and Wardens got a port not even a skill.  And virtues are still capped at 10 after a year.  So no real character progression is being made. 

All in all did I get a lot of enjoyment out of my 20 bucks,  not really.  I watched a lot of folks come back and now today were actually at the same number of folks playing that we had prior to the xpac.  The new has worn off and folks have went back to the other stuff they were doing.

Originally posted by Hermes_Zum

Played 2 years, have 7 chars lvl60, I created a kinship, a big one. But they missed achieve the brilliant game, the story was already created , its foundations, its community, but they blew it, they failed the genial touch, they always had bad chars design, bad armours design and stats (they still working one it but doing collateral damage), good worlds, great story. But still managed to spoil the game and do so stressful and with touches of fundamentalism exaggerated in RP servers.

Anyways, i love the the philosophy and history but hate what they done with the game ...

And that is the entire problem in a nutshell.  It became about a gear grind and not about player achievment or progresion any more.   I went off blind faith with the SOM xpac as did a lot of folks.   So I voted yes this time.  I will not be voting yes next time one comes up, I will wait and see what they do.  Oh I watched my kinship desolve after the release of this xpac.  I watched four founder/lieftime players who had the 9.95 deal walk away from the game.  We went from 89 active accounts to 2 active accounts and 6 inactive acounts.  The rest simply canceled their subs.  

Originally posted by zeowyrm

I absolutely loved the skirmish system.  And then I realized that  I could get better gear from crafting, dungeons, pretty much everything else in the game.   I don't mind a hamster wheel, especially a fun one, but with no in game benefits?  I canceled my sub.

Well the only thing that drops is skirmish is the marks,  and sometimes a bounty or 2, and curiosity items that can be used to get more marks.  Suposdly the symbol of clebour for crafting 2nd age weapons drops in the 6 or 12 mans, I have yet to see anything like that at al.

Other than that the bounty system give no rewards, this again being a hotly debated item amoung most folks I know.

I am a founder if that means anything now days wich it does not and a lifer.  I bought the xpac based on half truths.

We did get the skirmage system.  It is buggy on some instances.  What they don't tell you is the repair cost went out of the roof.  The new combat system causes you armor weapons, and jewlry items to degrade at a quicker pace. A lot quicker pace.  So it cost more to repair.  The 1/3/6/12 mans can be fun,  I don't recoment you take  2 folks in to do a 3 man as your doomed on the last boss.

They actually made the LI system worse in fact there is a lot of backlash now at the new LI system pages on pages of folks very upset with the way we went.  Now your forced to do 6 or 12 man to get a sysbol of cleaborn in order to craft 2nd age level 65 reforged items, They do not drop in the 3 man or solo instances, and they barly drop at all.  So they tied crafting into the new skirmage system.

We continue on with gear gating and the barter system is just another game grind of items you need to barter went up on some stuff.  The +15 pieces went up in price of the items you needed to barter with. I know several folks who had 3/4 tolkens now it takes 15 or more.

It does give more options on how you want to play the game.  There was content added as far as questing, however we had our first level 65 within 7 hours of mirkwood.  I know several folks who now have multiple level 65's. I have one and several level 63's.   There was plenty of content added to get to 65, then your stuck with the same grind grind grind instances.

Overall I look at this better than I did moria as far as fun.  As far as quests it was a small patch, unless you look at the many repeatable instances.  This game is turning into DDO as what I see them going for is to instance everything they can. 

The question is where do we go from hear,  what will happen to those folks who took the 3 month sub deal to get SOM for free. Will LOTRO be able to survive, or will we return to the pre SOM numbers.  Right now plenty of folks are playing, but for how long.

The way I see it this xpac was way to small, however it was worth my 20 dollars to upgrade to the ap pack.  I just hope next time they get it right.

Interesting article.

Some blame the devs, and some of that can be true, but who I like to blame is those who give the dev's their marching orders.  Orders come down from the top and the devs have to do what they are told, unless in some cases they think they are god. I can use a  few examples SWG - Helious,  LOTRO - Orion.  When you have devs like those with the atitude of what I am doing is the way it needs to be despite what the comunity thinks that is when things get sucky.

Oh and then lets do talk balance.  When you program something and you not its way over power, leave it that way for 2 years, then go omg its game breaking then fix it, yes players get way upset.  DOn't code stuff that makes things way over power, like for instance RK's in lotro everybody knew they were op and that was a fact,  now after a year they hend out nerfs.  When you program something so far out of balance and then fix it thats when things suck.

Players hate nerf's of any kind so you need to think about what your doing in the first place so as not to nerf the player down later.

Players like a chalange, but they dont want it to be insane on the hard side either.  Take for instance Dark Delvings in lotro, that thing was imposible to beat in normal mode so folks went and they exploited it there were 5 distink exploits.. Then 6 months after the fact the beefed up the instance took out 4/6  exploits and made it impossible to beat again.  Guess what players figured out the hole and exploited it every night until SOM arived.  Now they all just run the one easy instance GS over and over and over.

So players dont want stuff to easy, and they dont want it to hard, but when you make it insane they will expliot it. 

So I blame both devs and management for making a sucky game.   And even the company sometimes.  Just look at NCSOFT or Cryptic you mention those names and its a huge turn off for folks, due to how they run things.

Well I have to weigh in on this now.

I can remember when STO was first talked about you were going to have a crew of folks.  Now you are the entire crew.  I hate to call it like it is, but this is a single player game with a global chat network.  This is the same kind of crap that the folks over at  CME are trying with that SWG whatever it is now. 

They lost me when they picked the new spock to do voice overs.  The new moview sucked. It blew 25 years of Star Trek lore right out of the window.  The acting was pathetic, and there going to use this guy.

We have had so many bad Star Trek games over the years, and now we get this to add to the pile.