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Star Trek Online - Jack Emmert Reveals Details
On Sunday, Cryptic Studios Chief 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 presentation, 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 Lneonard 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:
After Nimoy introduces Cryptic Chief Creative Officer Jack Emmert, the info starts to fly. In the opening of his presetation, Emmert tells the audience that ever since their opening in 2000, they had been thinking about Star Trek as an IP for an MMO:
“It came with a rich lore, a background, societies, conflict, communities, fellowhsip, action, drama… it had all of the elements of an absolutely terrific MMORPG.”
“When the opportunity came,” Emmert continued, “for Cryptic to obtain the license for Star Trek Online (which happened when original licensees Perpetual Entertainment went under) we leapt at it.
So, you might say, the lead-up is all fine and good, but I really just want to know about the details. Well, good news, during the presentation, Emmert went into more detail about some of the elements of the game’s design.
The first thing Emmert told us is that the game is going to be set in the same timeframe as Perpetual’s version, about thirty years after the most recent movie, Star Trek Nemesis. From there, he went on to explain that players should expect to see the same universe that they are familiar with, but with a few changes. “Some friends have become enemies,” he told us, “and enemies have become friends.”
Over the next few months, we are told, we can expect to see Cryptic updating their official website with a year-by-year timeline, starting with nemesis, that will fill players in on what’s been happening in the Trek universe since the movie (thus trying to eliminate the confusion of popping into the game and seeing that the Federation is at war with, let’s say the Klingon Empire).
For the Trek fans, Emmert told us that while they have gone through every episode and movie and plan to use that as the foundation for the setting, they have also been looking at the side-projects, things like novels and comics that they are drawing ideas and information from.
With lore behind us, Emmert started talking about more specific gameplay features:
“You will be the captain of a starship. You will control a ship and its crew from day one,” he began, confirming speculation that this would be the players’ role. “Now that does not mean that you’re going to start out in rank as Captain,” he continued, addressing some player fears that advancing through the ranks of Starfleet wouldn’t be a part of the game.
It looks as though each player will have their own crew. Emmert told us to think of them like we would think of pets in a standard MMO. They’re going to be player controlled but AI driven.
“You’re going to equip them, you’re going to give them attributes, you’re going to level them up, you’re going to give them skills.”
Of course the crew that I’m referring to above is the Bridge crew (think main cast of any of the shows. That’s the bridge crew). Emmert told us that there were two kinds of crew: bridge crew and general crew. Bridge crew are pets, general crew act more as red-shirts.
Next, Emmert confirmed that there will be both space adventures and planetary away missions and while he mentioned being “on your ship”, there was some confirmation on the status of ship interiors, a hotly contested issue amongst players concerning the original incarnation of the game from Perpetual Entertainment, with jack telling the crowd that players would be able to invite one another aboard ship.
Next, Emmert promised the crowd :Star Trek combat” in terms of the space portion of the game. He told us that we could expect a slower-paced combat that allows us to be more tactical and allows us to do things like “send security forces to deck five”. On the ground, however, the combat is going to be faster-paced.
Whenever players take their characters on away missions, they will select from their bridge officers which of them will go to the surface (Honestly, this is all starting to sound very much like my first ever Star Trek game, A Final Unity, but I digress).
Cryptic Studios, as many know, are famous for the level of customization that City of Heroes brought to the MMO space, so how are they going to handle customization in Star Trek Online?
Well, it turns out that they’re doing it in a number of ways:
Races - Jack tells the crowd that they will be able to choose from a lot of their favorite races: Andorians, Tellerites, Vulcans, Ferengi, etc. Emmert also tells us that players will be able to create their own race.
Ship - Emmert tells us that players will be able to customize the look of their own ships using things like the saucer, the nacelles, decals, color and the like… all within the guidelines of whatever class of ship you’ve got.
At launch, we are told that there will be two factions in the game: The Federation and the Klingon Empire. Since he goes on to tell the audience that there will be PvP, one can assume that in the thirty years since Nemesis, the relationship between the Federationand the Klingons has deteriorated.
Those are the two factions that players can expect to see at launch, but we were told that we could expect to see more soon after launch. He specifically mentioned The Dominion and The Romulan Empire as factions that we will see soon.
While combat is going to play a role in the game, exploration will playa factor as well, including first-contact. From what I could tell of what Emmert said, player will even have the opportunity to make first contact with a new species (thus being the first player to meet them). He also told us that your character might discover a new race and then suddenly have a crew member from that race.
So, how is Cryptic planning to incorporate MMORPG standards like guilds into the game? Simple, “players can band together into guilds called fleets. In a fleet, you can pool your resources to create a space station or a mining platform or satellites.”
“Some things,” Emmert told us about the factions “can only be accomplished with many people working together.”
So that’s a basic overview of Jack Emmert’s presentation at the Star Trek convention, you can watch the full presentation yourself, complete with some interesting audience questions here, on the official Star Trek Online webpage.
i m not a great space combat fan and i ve thought that the trek franchise has been past its best for over a decade but some of this sounds like its heading in the right direction at least . it also does nt sound like its overly aimed at the hard core fans ( it might upset a few of them but who cares after all treks demise were due to its becoming so stagnent ) .
The direction choosen for this game doesn't really excite me. I would of liked more cooperation within a ships crew and for the game to of really stressed social/guild/ship management. the Star Trek IP could of been a very strong genre for a guild centered realm vs realm game. I think Cryptic really missed the potential with the direction they have choosen. Trying to over cater to the casual players (notice how I said OVER cater and not cater), which has always been a problem with Emmerts game philosophy.
I strongly dissagree.
My fears have now been confirmed!
This whole game is becoming almost totally solo geared!
- You cannot form a crew with other players.
- You are not going on away missions with other players.
Basically. Cryptic is going awfully wrong in this.
I am not against NPC crew. But they should do it differently.
I.e. Crew should be PC, but when difficulties getting player crew together, you can complement your crew with NPC's. Basically how Guildwars has done it.
This way guilds would become a lot more fun. Plus away missions will be more fun too as you can do it with fellow players.
As why they think EVERYONE wants to be Captain of their own ship only?
Ofcourse I like that too, but there are days that I wouldn't mind to be an officer at the helm or combat tactician or engineer or whatever else on a ship.
MMORPG's are about cameradie, coorperation and teamplay.
Sure fleet battle is tactical and teamplay as well. But it shouldn't be the only aspect you be able to play together.
Having only NPC crews on your ship becomes boring real fast as it's just not like the real thing aka Real player teammates!
Shame! Real shame!
This sounds like the same shit as Perpetual. Once again, the Star Trek IP has been screwed.
Face it, there will never be a good Star Trek game.
Ever!
I personally on the other hand think it sounds awesome. I will be keeping my eye on this game, I love everything he talked about.
Too bad if you watched the Webcast Jack said "You can even have you and your friends, all as captains of your own ships, beam down for ground missions."
Also he said "Your freinds can go onto your ship with you, as a social aspect of the game, just not as gameplay."
So yes you cant have player crews but the game is going to have groups and be social.
-Jive
I think Cryptic is making this game perfectly. I don't want to have to depend on other people to man my ship, you wanna know why? Becuase nothing will get done right or the way I want it. I prefer being in control of my own crew I don't want to have to depend on some sucky gamer to man the shields, or fire the weapons.
I love all the details that Jack has stated about the game and believe they will make it perfectly. I will be watching and praying I get a beta invite when the time comes. Keep up the great work Cryptic.
This sounds like an interesting single-player game. MMORPG? Not so much.
I suspect purists (and who has more than Star Trek?) will balk at customizable ships though, or the idea that you can build your own bases between you and your "fleet". I can see that working for Klingons who may be more factionalized, but not for the Federation...unless things are really different at that time period and the "Federation" is more mercenary.
You people going on about your player crews are just nuts. Sure, it sounds cool in theory. But in reality it would bore everyone to tears. There will be more than enough teamplay through ship grouping and fleets, so those thinking this is just a solo game are off their rocker as well. Think for a change people. Player crews would be BORING to the average player. You know it just as well as I do.
As usual, lots of negative comments because people fail to read and think.
Can any of you naysayers even imagine the mess you would have if everyone is a crew member instead of their own captain? First place, you spend spend forever crewing your ship. Nothing worse having a party sit around waiting for one or two slots to fill because they need a certain class. This game will probably have a bunch of needed classes too, some less desirable than others, good luck finding a crew member to fill that particular slot. Then you better hope you have a decent captain and hope that everyone follows orders. In a MMO, not going to happen. Sorry if you want to go play EQ, then go play it. The vast majority of us don't want to be forever sitting around waiting for others to play.
Cryptic has done the only thing they could do, make the crew attached to you as NPC's. That is the ONLY way to make a game like this.
At least you can walk around the ship, something Perpetual was refusing to do.
I think Cryptic is on the right track.
I hope Daron Stinnett is reading all this and realizing how wrong he was with his design.
There are other/better ways to deal with the issues you present. Having NPC red shirts isn't a bad thing but they should be used as fillers, not the whole team.
It's not because I fail to read or think, it is because I am able to think beyond what is just presented me that I see the wasted potential.
What makes Star Trek engaging hasn't been the awesome effects, or ships it is in the charcters stories and progressions. It's the exploration of humanity and the embodiment through the characters stories that makes Star Trek Iconic. Reducing that to a bunch of boys with their toy ships totally fails to represent the communinal dynamic which made Star Trek popular.
I have to agree, having PC crews sounds cool and all, but when i think about it i would just like to be in 100% control of MY ship. And be able to LVL/upgrade the crew where i see fit, rather than relying on others to carry out the tasks that i want. NPC crews/pets sounds to me the best way to start having fun right off the bat IMO..
One minor correction for you -
Starship interiors were confirmed during the Q&A that followed the formal presentation. Players will be able to invite other players onto their ships - holodecks were mentioned, though Jack didn't go into if or how the holodecks actually function.
We do not yet know if boarding actions will be a part of the PvP experience, but this certainly opens the door for it, as well as opportunities for roleplayers and social players.
My ideal Star Trek MMORPG would allow me to be a security officer, or engineer on a starship filled with 100s of other players all assigned to one task or another. To do well I'd have to actually study and learn how to control the ship and monitor its systems, and when I logged off another player would take my shift. Unfortunately this kind of game will not exist for a long time. Right now, the direction STO seems to be going in, is the best I could ask for. I have my doubts about a couple of their choices so far, but I also have confidence that nothing is set in stone yet. I love a highly customizable character creation process as much as anyone, but I honestly didn't see how they could implement one for a Star Trek game. Sure all the faces could be somewhat unique, but beyond that, I see a lot of limitations on both the clothes(uniforms) and even the hair. I had never thought of a species customization option, but it seems almost perfect. Not only will it give a player the chance to truely be an individual, but it also allows the players to really flesh out the Universe they will be playing in.
I am also very happy to hear that a single massive server is the goal for the dev team. If the game was released this year, despite the dev's assurance that the technology exists, I am quite sure the game would contain many servers like most or all the other MMORPGs out there. Luckily STO won't be released for a good 4-5 years which means that a single server will be much more likely. Recently I have become aware of how important population is in an MMORPG, and I feel that having absolutely everyone playing together will truely make this a "Next-Gen" MMORPG.
I am also very satisfied with the fact that PvP will not be an after-thought or only be found in simulator Duels like PE was suggesting. After many years of playing MMORPGs I have also recently come to the realization that PvP isn't everything, but that it absolutely makes the game better for both those who enjoy it as well as those who don't like to participate in it.
The lack of a level system, as well as their approach to the way we play the game is a big step forward in my book. I strongly feel that MMO Devs need to finally move forward in this department. Since UO was my first MMO and really also my first RPG I saw the Level-System as archaic and limiting. Who said the only two choices were between twitch and click anyway? Cryptic seems to be moving toward more of a RTS/MMORPG Hybrid. Avatar combat seems to be more FPS(which is the way it should be), ship combat seems more "Point and Click"(which is the way it should be, for Star Trek anyway) and both of these are heavily influenced by an RTS-like strategy mechanic involving your NPC Crew. This seems very ideal to me, and I am very interested in seeing how it shapes up. The fact that your character is almost a Jack of All Trades with a few chosen specialties seems both very real and very true to Star Trek.
Lastly I am very happy with the way he described the NPC Crew. I had an idea very much like this a few years back when thinking about a possible Firefly MMORPG: (www.mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm). The key to my idea was to have the NPC crew be made up of your own character alts(when logged off them), but with much better AI and the ability to improve your crew members individually I am still quite happy to see Cryptic go this direction. Oh, and up until a few months ago I was always very angry when I heard a player say or write that he was a casual gamer, and that he wanted a game he could pick up and play for a only a few hours a day or a week. I used to get upset that people like this were trying to turn games that I was interested in already, into games they would be interested in. I used to believe MMORPGs were so much fun because of all the effort and time needed. Now, however, I realize that the games I enjoy most(FPS Games) can be picked up and played fairly well immediately, but that there is always room for improvement for those who get in the practice. MMORPGs are not like this, and truely the only way to dominate in them, or even have fun, is to put a lot of time into them. Now I am the mid-20s+ guy getting the crap kicked out of him by the 15 year olds who play 6-8 hours daily. Now I get it.
Now for the bad. The only question I really wanted answered from the presentation was whether or not we would be able to board other players' ships. Luckily the dev answered this as part of the very last question he was asked. Unfortunately, his answer was not exactly what I wanted to hear. I never assumed an all-player crew would be in the cards for STO, but I had always hoped that the option would be available for at least a few Co-op ships. At the very least, I wanted having more than 1 player on a ship to make some sort of difference. Whether that included combat, or engineering, or even FPS benefits during enemy invasions aboard your ship. The dev implied that the only reason to have someone aboard is social. I am happy this will be an option, but I think that leaving out the ability for two players to work together on even PVE goals is very poor judgement. But again, I think the long development period will turn this around, and that by the time the game is released there will be some option for more cooperative play.
The other feature I didn't quite care for was the fact that there are only 2 faction choices: Either Federation or Klingon. I think these choices are poor by themselves, and that there should at least be a 3rd more Independent choice. Maybe a faction a little more neutral, and a little less restrictive (kind of like the Maqui). I think that adding a third more independent faction really turns the whole negative around. In fact, I think that the Federation vs Klingon Empire is an excellent background for the game. I just feel like it would be a negative if there were only the 2.
So far everything looks really good. However, with 3 to 4 more years to go, I really hate to get too involved with the game. I might just check in every 6 months or so.
I'm really excited with this announcement, finally Star Trek is going to be done right! Having factions was a necessity in my opinion and I agree with those that having bridge crews made up of other players would never have worked.
Yup, Emmert snowed many into believing that an open power system wouldn't work in COH either, and then he includes it into Champions. Not because of any change in technology, but because his veiw changed and the absence of as narrow of a time line.
Actiually, you can go on away missions with other players. Emmert mentions it in the :43 minute video that's up. I'm not sure where it is in the video (and I'm not going to go watch it again to find it), but I know he says it.
Either way, what he describes overall is not what I wanted to hear, lol. No, I'm not a card carrying member of the "PC crew" craze, in fact I hate that idea personally. I could see how people in large guilds or that have a greater tolerance for stupidity might like it, but I've played a few MMOs in my time and interacted with alot of people. Some were good, but the majority not so much. I don't want to be in a large guild and would rather not have to depend on 6 random players (group size in most games) much less more than that number to run a ship.
No, I wanted to see a little more lattitude other than "you begin the game a ship captain of Ensign rank (or the Klingon equivalent) and you (summarizing here, this wasn't said verbatim) grind combat and explore missions to "rank up" (we just called it promotions when I was in the army) to get bigger ships, grind more and OBTW you can pimp your ride.
I can just see some of the [sarcasm] "creative" [/sarcasm] names that will be given ships too. Anyway, I hope they attract their target audience with the direction they plan to go. I just got a feeling that this one is gonna turn out worse that SWG (NGE) from a PR standpoint. Star Wars fans are tough, but they don't hold a candle to Star Trek Fans.
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!
Because if you think that EVERYONE wants to be a captain of their own ship? Then you are SO SO WRONG!
It's same like saying that in a standard MMORPG EVERYONE wants to be the Main Tank.
There are a lot of (the more social) players that like to be a support class and operate more on the background (like the healers or ranged classes in standard MMO's).
Those type of players would love to be on the Helm or being the Engineer or being the Tactical Officer or the Science Officer for that manner on a ship and have not even the slightest interest in the responsability that comes with being a Captain.
But then again. Maybe it's just me and me imagining those players no longer exist and fooling myself as every MMO to date is filled with Main Tanks only running around solo'ing RAID bosses.
Have a nice day.
Why can't Cryptic allow players to be part of the bridge crew OPTIONALLY? That would hurt no one and satisfy everyone.
There are other/better ways to deal with the issues you present. Having NPC red shirts isn't a bad thing but they should be used as fillers, not the whole team.
It's not because I fail to read or think, it is because I am able to think beyond what is just presented me that I see the wasted potential.
What makes Star Trek engaging hasn't been the awesome effects, or ships it is in the charcters stories and progressions. It's the exploration of humanity and the embodiment through the characters stories that makes Star Trek Iconic. Reducing that to a bunch of boys with their toy ships totally fails to represent the communinal dynamic which made Star Trek popular.
"Other ways in dealing with the problems" Oh, and what might those be? If the play was just on planets it could be done, but since ships are such a big part of this, it creates too many problems to make a team up. How about you get your ship started on a mission after finally filling all the needed skill slots and all of a sudden you someone in an important position has to leave. Explain how you fill that position when you are out in space? Bzzt. I could spend all day listing countless problems with doing a team approach on a ship. I am sure Cryptic did the same.
While some players would actually put up with all the problems of such a system, developers would find that they are catering too a very small niche audience. MMO's are expensive games to develop and aiming for such a small audience is like setting out to swim the English channel with lead weights attached to your feet.
So, when you get down to it, what you propose is a situation any developer is going to go to all lengths to avoid. Hence, my original comment about sitting down and actually thinking about it, it is pretty obvious to anyone that a game with space ships will just not be designed like that.
Maybe someday, when highly advanced and productive tools allow quick coding of a MMO, something like you want will be possible, but not in this day and age.
Well, the one thing i can say about Cryptic is, that if enough people bitch about it long enough, they will more than likely put it in, if they can. They have a pretty good track record for that.
A crew based ship would be interesting, however I can't see a way to make it fun for a long period of time. Even though it wouldn't be hard to implement a team feature (NPCs taking over as people leave and join) I can't really see a way to make for example shield terminals fun for a long period of time. Obviously you could create an advanced mini game or similar, but it would only keep the player occupied for a few hours before he would be bored. Who pays 15 dollars a month to play a mini game? It's a great concept for sure, but I doubt it would be possible to implement.
You underestimate the different crew tasks. If you watched the series and movies you wouldn't have posted this!
The Security Officer that controls the tactical station controls weapons AND shields, so on a mission or in a fleet battle this station is highly critical and can actually be very interesting and fun.
As you put it, its the same saying like who in earth wants to be a priest in a MMO. It's hitting spam heal buttons all the time. Must be getting boring really fast. Reality is that people actually like it and find ways in making it interesting to play that character.
And if this game is Skill based and not level-class based, then people can switch and train to another profession/class easily.
So I really don't see a problem in this. That's why Star Wars Galaxies was one of the best MMO's ever before it got destroyed with the NGE update.
Cheers
No, you are correct in that I have not watched much of the series. I think I have watched three or four episodes in my short lifetime. I meant no offense by saying it would be boring. But think for a second however: Maybe the tactical position would be fun, but what about the others? As I said, it might be doable, but it would probably be extreemely hard to implement.
On the other hand I could imagine it being quite cool to have a ship you could controll with maybe one or two friends, but entire guilds would be quite hard. Again, not impossible, but very hard :)
"Other ways in dealing with the problems" Oh, and what might those be? If the play was just on planets it could be done, but since ships are such a big part of this, it creates too many problems to make a team up. How about you get your ship started on a mission after finally filling all the needed skill slots and all of a sudden you someone in an important position has to leave. Explain how you fill that position when you are out in space? Bzzt. I could spend all day listing countless problems with doing a team approach on a ship. I am sure Cryptic did the same.
While some players would actually put up with all the problems of such a system, developers would find that they are catering too a very small niche audience. MMO's are expensive games to develop and aiming for such a small audience is like setting out to swim the English channel with lead weights attached to your feet.
So, when you get down to it, what you propose is a situation any developer is going to go to all lengths to avoid. Hence, my original comment about sitting down and actually thinking about it, it is pretty obvious to anyone that a game with space ships will just not be designed like that.
Maybe someday, when highly advanced and productive tools allow quick coding of a MMO, something like you want will be possible, but not in this day and age.
You have mentioned creating a ship at the beginning of your play twice now like that's the only way to do something. It's that type of narrow mindness and inability to think out side the paramaters given to you that is the real failure.
If I was designing STO I would make the ships like guild halls. Everyone on your guild is part of your crew. The class of your ship grows with the growth of the guild and rank of the guild leader ( commanding officer). You have 2 seperate command structures, one being your standard military rank based upon your players progression and one based upon your position in the guild/ship. That way the "Captain" isn't the only one that has access to the ship, he still has control over who has access and how much.
You have 3 types of mission systems. The first being ship missions that are done with your guild (this is a system already used in other games). The larger/more established ships/guilds that adventure further away from the core planets would have to rely on these missions more, but would have access to NPCs and could get help from crews from different ships depending on how far away they were.
The second type of missions would be missions that anyone within the federation space could access. There are many LFG modes that have been used by various games, I actually like the system used in DDO, where you just have a LFG screen that says what you are looking for and someone clicks to fill the spot.
The third missions types would be missions that let whole guilds work together.
In a single open server. like Cryptic pitches, there is no reason anyone should ever have trouble finding teams. Yet, if you like you can still use NPCs to fufill missions. It allows the game to remain focused on characters, interaction and individuals progression by emulating the interactions/dependency of a ships crew from the TV shows/movies.
You can also take care of class needs by opening up skill sets, not making missions level dependent, making missions vast, defeatable in a varity of ways and at different levels of success.
Because there's so much more development time to put into such a system. It's much easier (and indeed will serve a far greater audience) to spend that development time in fleet and armada functionality so that players can team up for large scale encounters and pvp. If you'll allow me to talk about the way I see the system....Instead of being an engineer, you'll be captain of a ship that boosts the abilities of other ships, or can repair them in battle. Instead of being a medical officer, you'll boost the mental state of other captains and board ships to heal injured crew. Instead of being a first officer, you'll be a squad leader of sorts who could boost the targeting effectiveness of ships in the fleet, or give them better shields. Make no mistake about it, teamwork will be necessary to succeed in this game, it's just that the teamwork will be a different method then placing everyone on the bridge.
And seriously, the next idiot who claims that being your own captain makes the game completely soloable (not referring to Katriell here) and that nobody will ever have to work together should be shot for pure stupidity. If you had bothered to listen to the podcast, you would know that Jack specifically states that there are areas of the game that large scale teamwork will be required. That being said, I certainly hope that there is no forced grouping in this game. People should group because it is fun, not because they have to or otherwise progression is stiffled. That is simply bad gameplay design.
Because there's so much more development time to put into such a system. It's much easier (and indeed will serve a far greater audience) to spend that development time in fleet and armada functionality so that players can team up for large scale encounters and pvp. If you'll allow me to talk about the way I see the system....Instead of being an engineer, you'll be captain of a ship that boosts the abilities of other ships, or can repair them in battle. Instead of being a medical officer, you'll boost the mental state of other captains and board ships to heal injured crew. Instead of being a first officer, you'll be a squad leader of sorts who could boost the targeting effectiveness of ships in the fleet, or give them better shields. Make no mistake about it, teamwork will be necessary to succeed in this game, it's just that the teamwork will be a different method then placing everyone on the bridge.
And seriously, the next idiot who claims that being your own captain makes the game completely soloable (not referring to Katriell here) and that nobody will ever have to work together should be shot for pure stupidity. If you had bothered to listen to the podcast, you would know that Jack specifically states that there are areas of the game that large scale teamwork will be required. That being said, I certainly hope that there is no forced grouping in this game. People should group because it is fun, not because they have to or otherwise progression is stiffled. That is simply bad gameplay design.
And you should be shot for your ignorance and stupidity, because you failed to read constructive posts about solutions that make player crews on a ship possible and fun.
If everyone can only be a captain of a ship. Then were is the diversity? Exept of having just a ship that looks different from the outside.
People like customisation of their character, not just playing to level up some NPC crew.
What you are talking about already exists (fleet battles, armadas, that sorta thing) >> EVE Online.
Cheers.
And you should be shot for your ignorance and stupidity, because you failed to read constructive posts about solutions that make player crews on a ship possible and fun.
If everyone can only be a captain of a ship. Then were is the diversity? Exept of having just a ship that looks different from the outside.
People like customisation of their character, not just playing to level up some NPC crew.
What you are talking about already exists (fleet battles, armadas, that sorta thing) >> EVE Online.
Cheers.
Jesus, you didn't read a word of what I said did you?
"If everyone can only be a captain of a ship. Then were is the diversity? Exept of having just a ship that looks different from the outside."
Now, read my post again and recognize how utterly retarded your quote is. Actually, since I don't really trust you, I'll just repost...
"If you'll allow me to talk about the way I see the system....Instead of being an engineer, you'll be captain of a ship that boosts the abilities of other ships, or can repair them in battle. Instead of being a medical officer, you'll boost the mental state of other captains and board ships to heal injured crew. Instead of being a first officer, you'll be a squad leader of sorts who could boost the targeting effectiveness of ships in the fleet, or give them better shields."
There's your freakin' diversity.
And go ahead, shoot me for my "ignorance and stupidity" by not agreeing with your ridiculous PC crew idea. I know it wouldn't work, I know it would be boring to the vast majority of players, perpetual did too, and so does Cryptic. At what point do you finally begin to realize that your idea just isn't feasible for an online game?
That being said, you're right, STO sounds quite a bit like EVE. Even away from my take on it, the presentation today certainly supports that opinion. I think we're both on the same page in that we'd like to see something other then another EVE.
In a way Id love having Guild ships.
Un-locking Bigger ship as your lvl up the guild.
Everyone could have some small 10 Crew ship to fly solo with npc.
But to Bring out the big Flag ship you could need 10-40 players operating it.
That would be somthing fresh!
Imagine the class posibility's
HELM,ENGENEER,WEAPONS ,SENSORS,DIPLOMAT
Having everyone working as one to make the ship perform at best......
If somone sucks all you do is kick him out of the guild simple.
It would be nice for a change instead of being spoon fed
i like the idea,s .. and i hate working with peope ..... its ok off and on .. but for me solo is ok... need more games were u can solo . and to lvl your crew very nice ... cant wait ... for me i love it .. thanks jack :D
"Other ways in dealing with the problems" Oh, and what might those be? If the play was just on planets it could be done, but since ships are such a big part of this, it creates too many problems to make a team up. How about you get your ship started on a mission after finally filling all the needed skill slots and all of a sudden you someone in an important position has to leave. Explain how you fill that position when you are out in space? Bzzt. I could spend all day listing countless problems with doing a team approach on a ship. I am sure Cryptic did the same.
While some players would actually put up with all the problems of such a system, developers would find that they are catering too a very small niche audience. MMO's are expensive games to develop and aiming for such a small audience is like setting out to swim the English channel with lead weights attached to your feet.
So, when you get down to it, what you propose is a situation any developer is going to go to all lengths to avoid. Hence, my original comment about sitting down and actually thinking about it, it is pretty obvious to anyone that a game with space ships will just not be designed like that.
Maybe someday, when highly advanced and productive tools allow quick coding of a MMO, something like you want will be possible, but not in this day and age.
You have mentioned creating a ship at the beginning of your play twice now like that's the only way to do something. It's that type of narrow mindness and inability to think out side the paramaters given to you that is the real failure.
If I was designing STO I would make the ships like guild halls. Everyone on your guild is part of your crew. The class of your ship grows with the growth of the guild and rank of the guild leader ( commanding officer). You have 2 seperate command structures, one being your standard military rank based upon your players progression and one based upon your position in the guild/ship. That way the "Captain" isn't the only one that has access to the ship, he still has control over who has access and how much.
You have 3 types of mission systems. The first being ship missions that are done with your guild (this is a system already used in other games). The larger/more established ships/guilds that adventure further away from the core planets would have to rely on these missions more, but would have access to NPCs and could get help from crews from different ships depending on how far away they were.
The second type of missions would be missions that anyone within the federation space could access. There are many LFG modes that have been used by various games, I actually like the system used in DDO, where you just have a LFG screen that says what you are looking for and someone clicks to fill the spot.
The third missions types would be missions that let whole guilds work together.
In a single open server. like Cryptic pitches, there is no reason anyone should ever have trouble finding teams. Yet, if you like you can still use NPCs to fufill missions. It allows the game to remain focused on characters, interaction and individuals progression by emulating the interactions/dependency of a ships crew from the TV shows/movies.
You can also take care of class needs by opening up skill sets, not making missions level dependent, making missions vast, defeatable in a varity of ways and at different levels of success.
Who can't think outside the boundaries? I have already given you several very solid reasons why your pie in the sky idea won't fly, yet you continue to harp on it, yet cannot offer one rebuttal to my examples. I am not saying it can't be done, I am saying your ideas are entirely impractical.
Adding different ship professions into this game and making them interesting enough to play would add another years to the development time. To do this for a small niche group, just makes no sense at all.
Do a poll here, I bet you get more than 75% response of people who want to be captain. Who is going to play the other professions? Right, you are going to be looking at an inordinate amount of time trying to fill the less popular professions slots. Sorry that is what all of us hated about raiding, sitting around waiting.
It is nice to dream, but when you get down to it, if you want a product you have to make it so you have an audience of more than one to play it. Hence you can lament all you want, but unless you magically come up with your own funding mechanism, games like you want will never be made.
I have already given you several very solid reasons why your pie in the sky idea won't fly, yet you continue to harp on it, yet cannot offer one rebuttal to my examples.
My whole post was a rebuttle, saying that it didn't exsist doesn't change the facts.
Adding different ship professions into this game and making them interesting enough to play would add another years to the development time. To do this for a small niche group, just makes no sense at all.
I agree it would add more time, but that's because Cryptic choose the wrong direction in the first place. What I propseed is certainly more in line with what people are looking for then EVE with Guild War type NPCs. Talk about a nitch market. Generally people are looking for characters to advance and identify with in MMOs not star fleet battles.
Do a poll here, I bet you get more than 75% response of people who want to be captain. Who is going to play the other professions? Right, you are going to be looking at an inordinate amount of time trying to fill the less popular professions slots.
I don't need to poll I have some common sense. I have played star trek rpgs for years and not everyone is looking to be a captain. I have played RPGs and MMO for years and there is never been a shortage of players willing/wanting to play roll fillers. People are not as one dimensional as you want to paint them. Your clueless and argumentative to even make the sugggestion that everyone wants to play the same class/character type in a game. Have you even ever played an MMO before? Obviously if people all had the same desire when it came to playing a MMO or RPG they would be unplayable. Not everyone wants to be a leader, most people don't even want to start a team and certainly not lead a guild. Seriously that's one of the stupidest things I've seen on these boards.
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.
The guild being a fleet does sound interesting, but I'd still rather have a guild belong to one ship. Regardless of what your rank is, you're still the Captain if you control a ship and its crew. I don't have much to complain about other than that. Everything else sounds fun.
lets give them a chance to make a good game
i liked the exploration idea and i hope they can put innovation and fokus into that aspect.
if they come up with a concept to gather a medical officer, a weapons officer and a tank officer and beam down to a planet to grind spawning mobs ill send a bunch of klingons over to redecorate their homes...
The way they selected is the only correct one. While it may sound great to have player played crews, you are too dependent on the playing time of those players. I think they will introduce special ships which requires multiple players to fly them, aka "guild" ships.
After reading the story and giving it a good thought.. they have done a great job so far! I am curious how big the universe will be and how they get content into the game. I hope they use some gerenator for creating loads of missions
Well... just want to say this.. Everybody wants to see the game, everybody wants to go out and explore. If I read your idea, I get the impression I would be dependend on the 'guild' which content I can and can't do. Tell me.. how can *that* be fun?
I did read your post, but had to cut my reply short as it was late.
Everyone here is being egocentric and keeps thinking that EVERYONE wants to play and be a Captain.
Numerous MMO's to date prove otherwise. NOT everyone is interesting in being a guildleader or a Maintank.
There are so many players out there that like to play support classes.
And why would a PC crew be boring? It's how engaging Cryptic it can make.
Like an NPC crew...now that's fun isn't? The way they present it, the NPC crew is nothing more then a bunch of Skill Attributes you level up to make you as Captain stronger.
So in an essence your whole ship, with you as Captain, functions as ONE character. Much like how EVE works. Altho EVE with it's sandbox idea goes a lot further atm. But you get the picture.
If you know the series and the movies. Then you know that about 90% of Star Trek revolves around Away missions!
So if Cryptic is doing it the right way, then most of your gaming time will be spend in Away missions.
With this being said... makes a PC crew only more interesting and possible.
Because if Cryptic is going to focus too much on Space battles, then it won't be Star Trek anymore, but just another EVE Online, with a Star Trek skin over it.
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And like I said before. I hate FORCED grouping too! So here is were the NPC crew comes into place.
Guild Wars has solved this remarkably. You can form your own group with PC's and if they aren't available you can fill in the empty spots with NPC's.
So for example, you want to go on a mission and you can only find a Pilot at the Helm, then you can activate and fill the rest of your crew with NPC's (and the quality of these NPC's is based on your (Captain) skills and how far you have trained them).
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Such a solution would honor the whole Star Trek feeling a lot better in my opinion.
But at the same time, for the more solo minded players a solution as well, as they can still fill their crew with NPC's.
This way guilds become actually a lot more meaningful and interesting. A large guild can still have several ships with Captains and form fleets. Alliance with other guilds and form Armada's even.
But if you make everyone Captain only. Then a guild in STO will just be like a Coorperation in EVE Online.
But even worse. Everyone on the Space Stations would be walking around in a Red Uniform (Starfleet side). So from RP perspective that's pretty much immersion killing as well and highly unrealistic and very limited too.
That's my 2cents on all this.
I am not trying to offend anyone. I am just as a Star Trek fan as anyone else and would love to get the best immersion possible in a good ST MMO.
Cheers
A lot of post here say that getting a crew together takes time, and what if someone leaves midway etc etc.
Isnt that the exact same thing that you have to manage when going into a dungeon in other MMOs.
What if you get a party together and the healer leaves for example?
To me i dont see this as a problem , you should be able to pick and form a random crew from the space ports, and much easier if you are in a guild. Just as it is now in other MMOs.
Another solution is to have NPC with the ability to swap them for PCs.
More importantly what will a group of players do on a ship, especially during combat??
What people forget is that you have all sorts of ships. Just wait and see what they come up with. I don't mind being a Captain of a small vessel
well, i have read a lot of constructive posts and some not so constructive about that topic, but let me say this:
there is one point that none of u have thought about when stating that not everyone wants to be a captain or why cant i be a security officer or whatever...it seems to me that the developers go a completely different way and just ask for some more open minds...look: the starship IS your character more so than the creature (the captain) behind it, the PRIEST in normal mmorpgs surely will be a support frigate, with a cruiser as TANK and so on.........well it sounds funny but surely is their concept....the npc on your ship and yourself are just more or less some characteristics of your starship which u can not simply bosst like leveling up, adding a point to strength but rather go on planetary missions, get xp for skills thus supplementing and contributing them to your starship indirectly................lets say your character (the captain) is not really more than a very complex attribute of your main character, the starship........if u see it that way i guess u will have less problems in accepting the fact, that your crew consists of npcs.....
Ok, since Star Trek is one of my three holy grails, it's enough to make me say something for once again.
Having greatly enjoyed City of Heroes I do have some confidence Cryptic is capabale of making a good Trek MMO. However, there are some details that really made me thinking.
My personal concept of a ST MMO was somewhat like SWG in Trek, a game where you are mainly around with other players and *sometimes* make space combat. Now what I realized thinking about it all was, that ST unlike SW is mainly about space, not so much planets. So basically my hope was, STO would be about me as a character being either on a planet or a space station or a great starship with other players.
Now I must say that EVE never was my pair of shoes. The idea of space combat and staring into more or less endless blackness of space wasnt my idea of having a joyful MMO time. Not that I mind space combat, but I always preferred to explore, and explore PLACES, I mean like planets, space stations, whatever, but not endless variations of space, because with the exceptions of some nebulas or the one and other comet passing by, it's mainly empty blackness. It just does not have the same "density" of visual interest for me like a forest, a ruin, a city or a vast space station, or a big starship.
Now I wonder why everyone has to be captain? I had rather wished people would form crews together, but apparently people will be alone, everyone captain of his own ship now. I dont like that idea much, alas, I really would have preferred a more "social" approach than this. This sounds awfully much like you and your ship and pratically identical, as its the case in EVE, a concept that never thrilled me much. All my dreams had been, being a crew members along with other player and NPC crew members and not alo9ne as soloist in my ship.
I will follow how it goes, and I still think Cryptic can make a good game. But I wonder if a game where you are alone in your ship and a majority of time will be spent in the blackness of space really appeals? It is somewhat the same why Pirates of the Burning Sea wasnt my game. 90% of the time you rushed through bleak, blueness of "empty" ocean, and compared to the exploration of worlds it felt boring very fast, since ocean practially looks the same no matter where you go, and basically the same goes with space, right?
Just my 10 cents.
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.
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?
For a lot of players being part of building a guildand having a goal to create bigger ships and experience new content would be fun. Strong guild focused game are generally popular. However, if experiencing certain content is more important to you there are many ways to do that under the system I provided. Start your own guild, Join a guild that's has a ship to do that content, team up with players who belong to a ship that can do said content.
I have noticed though that the people who like Cryptics ideas and don't want player crews have been EVE players. So certainly coming from a different prespective then most MMo players.
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
Overall I think Cryptic is doing the best they can given that they do not want to reinvent the wheel. They have the engine which gives them the power to plug in scenarios and such. If they went the Bridge Commander route with player roles on a player ship, it will be much tougher to develop.
Watching the video at least it won't be a glorified Earth and Beyond. So I will watch and learn more as the game develops
You hit the nail on the head. They are doing the best they can at being lazy and uncreative :( If I were running their business, who knows, it's likely I would have went the same route. Being creative is too risky in this industry these days. But I can't help but feel this is a totally wasted opportunity at something that had potential to be revolutionary.
The emphasis on fleet battles feels like the opposite of what the franchise is about, while other aspects of the game sound pretty close to the direction I would go. At this point though, it sounds too much like "you are a ship" with some instances on the side. Will wait to see how it develops to know whether I like the game or not, but I think it could have been better.
On the plus side, at least my dream mmo idea is not stolen anymore. I was worried for a while :)
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.