Before Perpetual became an easy target for bloggers, because of their watering-down of STO into a more casual and unrealistic experience, they actually had a very good game design that they took to the press.

For example, they told Gamespot HERE: http://www.gamespot.com/pc/rpg/startrekonline/news_6120362.html

about how the crew experience was vital to STO, in starships. They promised all ships would have common social areas, and would have Holodecks and instanced bridges and engineering rooms. Players would sit at consoles on the bridge, and crews would be intimate clan-like experiences.

All this changed when ships became mounts and crews merely 2 or 3 players viewing a mount in space. Here is to Cryptic Studioes going back to the original vision of Perpetual, one that got the game all hyped up in the first place.

However, it may not be for a year or so until we find out what Cryptic has planned for STO in the visual look department and gameplay decisions, or even if Cryptic Studios is going to develop STO at all.

     Here's hoping Majestic13. It was that take on the game that got my excited it was being made. 

    But it soon went downhill. We had an entire "other" forum full of people that thought mounts in space, "oh im a tank ship, Oh im a healer ship +10 to healing beam!" That thought this was just ducky.

    If they do announce the game and they go with the original IP pitch with PSI's and group dynamics I'll be quietly waiting for the flush of the toliet run for the quick cash.

I doubt we'll see Perpetual's early design ideas in a new Star Trek MMO.  Most likely we'll see something closer to what Perpetual was actually developing.  Anyone can pilot any ship alone and maybe bring a friend or two along to take care of tactical and engineering duties.  When you brake down a combat in Star Trek the only people doing anything you can break down into game mechanics would be the conn officer, the tactical officer, and the chief engineer.  How do you incorporate a captain's duties into something other than telling people what to do (and most people don't want others telling them what to do in a game)?  How do you incorporate the first officers duties?

Could you come up with 10 things for people to do on a ship in combat?  Sure.  Would it be simultaneously, fun, engaging, and rewarding for everyone involved equally?  Probably not.

I don't know about 10 people but in SWG right this moment on a Nova ship in pvp its alot of fun.

One person pilots the ship, another is sitting in the co pilot chair using countermeasures and droid commands, 2 more are in the turrets, and one or more is running around the ship repairing damage done by the enemy ships. Sooooo thats half of your crew right there that you can experience right this second. And if you don't think its fun? Try it sometime. And it's all in real time. Look out the windows and all. So again if you can do that in an old game what exactly is the problem? 

   A federation ship if you use your imagination can have at least a few more fun stations that can be manned by a person if they have the skills from playing or just have them auto with NPC's that work just not as well as say a real person whos toon has the expertise to give them those options. It's not complicated just requires some guts to plan, test and impliment something unique.

Originally posted by Majestic13

...or even if Cryptic Studios is going to develop STO at all.

Um, yeah. Did I miss something? Was there an official press release that Cryptic has in fact acquired this license, or is this pure speculation/rumor?

Originally posted by barthburger

I don't know about 10 people but in SWG right this moment on a Nova ship in pvp its alot of fun.

 

One person pilots the ship, another is sitting in the co pilot chair using countermeasures and droid commands, 2 more are in the turrets, and one or more is running around the ship repairing damage done by the enemy ships. Sooooo thats half of your crew right there that you can experience right this second. And if you don't think its fun? Try it sometime. And it's all in real time. Look out the windows and all. So again if you can do that in an old game what exactly is the problem? 

   A federation ship if you use your imagination can have at least a few more fun stations that can be manned by a person if they have the skills from playing or just have them auto with NPC's that work just not as well as say a real person whos toon has the expertise to give them those options. It's not complicated just requires some guts to plan, test and impliment something unique.

Tried it. Numerous times. It wasn't fun. Not for me, as the pilot. Nor for the copilot (droid commands and countermeasures fun?? are you freaking kidding me??). Nor for the chumps running around (correction, mostly sitting around, afk) repairing enemy damage. Or really even for the guys manning the turrets, once that novelty wore thin. Oh and my YT-1300 didn't have any windows to speak of, other than the cockpit.

In my experience, most POB ships in SWG were largely decoration platforms for collectors and role-players; a portable house, if you will. Occasionally they're used to "power level" inexperienced pilots or people seeking faction ponts. And most of the time, attempting to find anyone willing and/or interested in crewing one for longer than ten minutes was futile. Even when you could, unless you all are on team speak, coordinating efforts is a nightmare.

By contrast, you know what was fun? 10 people flying their own ships.

I was in a guild that was pilot based. Often we had single person fighters and the POV ships. We had a blast. We were on Vent and when other factions would see POV ships on usually they would log in theirs. Apparently from your description you didn't really experince it at all.

People standing around doing nothing? Why did you invite them onto your ship for?

just because you didn't bother finding a server that had active JTL players doesn't mean that single person ships are all there was. Most people doing single person ships were  soloing by themselves and couldn't care less what other players were doing.

I did own almost every ship in the game and one of my favs was the Jedi starfighter. It was fun because it was star wars. But there was rarely any grouping or social interaction while using it unless I was helping a guildie though a mission or something. But often it was easier and more fun to get 4 or 5 friends on vent and use the Nova.

I had a group of about 20 people that played almost every night and I spent over 100 million credits on the equipment for my multi person ship. It sure didn't go to decorations. It went for shields and weapons to compete with the other ships.

So like I said if you have really experienced it you know what fun can be made into star trek online if its made with even simplified dynamics of what made star trek exciting.

For those that want to be a +10 to healing beam mount in space try up comming jumpgate evolution. I'm not knocking that game just saying its more along those lines.

Originally posted by barthburger

just because you didn't bother finding a server that had active JTL players...

Just because I didn't bother creating a new character on a different server to level up Master Pilot on, or forgo my long-standing friendships/guild/etc. and spend money for a less-than-reliable SOE server transfer, you mean?

No offense, but if this was truly such a great time enjoyed by all, why would I have to change servers just to find people interested in it? I never said I was on a server that didn't have active JTL players. From as you describe it, this is so much fun every server should have been hopping with people dying to crew a POB. Clearly, you're admitting it isn't.

And again, seriously... copiloting is fun?? Keying in a droid command once in a blue moon (assuming you can even sit in the chair) is your idea of a rollicking good time??

So basically because on your server you didn't get people to play in multi person ships its stupid. You are still standing by that. We never had any issues with being able to sit in chairs.

if you have a droid computer with decent stats you can send commands fairly quickly. So the co-pilot was sending out spoofs left and right during pvp. On vent with systems taking damage and lights and fire going off them running around trying to fix it before the imp comes about and takes out the system he is targeting was exciting and halarious at the same time.

As for friends and guild relationships, if you want to play JTL as it was ment to be played you go where the players are. Period. If not then that's your loss. Don't knock something that is fun and functional and just suggest to others to abandon the approach because you were not willing to give it a chance.

It worked for me and players on my server..it didn't for you on yours. But the mechanics where there and still are for anyone who wishes to play it. It's up to the players of that server to either make it fun or to ignore it.

Originally posted by hanshotfirst

 

 

Um, yeah. Did I miss something? Was there an official press release that Cryptic has in fact acquired this license, or is this pure speculation/rumor?

So how can it be Cryptic?

- Research the law firm Mojo (yeah, that's the name) and find out who their clients are.

- Then of those clients who deal with computer games, take those that are in the "Bay Area."

- Then take in the business scope of having experience with developing MMO's.

You're left with only one company, Cryptic.

Originally posted by Dracus

 

Originally posted by hanshotfirst

 

 

Um, yeah. Did I miss something? Was there an official press release that Cryptic has in fact acquired this license, or is this pure speculation/rumor?

All indicators point to Cryptic.  The only thing missing is an official announcement or a disgruntled employee reporting to multiple news companies.

 

So how can it be Cryptic?

- Research the law firm Mojo (yeah, that's the name) and find out who their clients are.

- Then of those clients who deal with computer games, take those that are in the "Bay Area."

- Then take in the business scope of having experience with developing MMO's.

You're left with only one company, Cryptic.

Not to mention that there have been several people in the game industry that used to be connected to STO in one form or another that have stated that according to their sources (friends that work at Cryptic) it's definitely Cryptic that has the license. Ken Henderson who used to be the art director for STO in the beginning made one of these references in a response to a blog post on Elder Game here.

Bren

Didn't catch that one, good find Bren.

Originally posted by Dracus

Didn't catch that one, good find Bren.

Bren

I'll be happy as long as it isnt a WoW clone. Give us...

• skill based
• sandbox virtual world
• dozens of career options
• interior ships
• player run economy (yes there was an economy)
• non-combat options

I want a virtual world with all kinds of possibilities. Star Trek wasnt all about Star Fleet either. Id like to play a ferengi merchant or maybe a scientist or a diplomat or a spy or an engineer who builds ships, etc.

I dont need to be Captain Kirk or Commander Riker to be happy. Im fine running a shop on a space station or mining dilithium on an asteroid. 

If I did choose to work on a ship, Id like to be the cook or maybe the doctor. I want my own quarters to decorate with artifacts that I collected while on shore leave !

What are the odds thanks to WoW's success though that we'll get any of that :(

I can always dream I suppose

Originally posted by TookyG

Could you come up with 10 things for people to do on a ship in combat?  Sure.  Would it be simultaneously, fun, engaging, and rewarding for everyone involved equally?  Probably not.

Sorry that your SWG multi-person ship experience wasn't fun.  It's clear that the challenge wasn't up to the skill of your crew.  The fun, however, has been proven, provided the situation is challenging.

What to do on a Star Trek ship during combat? The key is having several layers to combat other than 'spam X, Y, Z until victorious.'  Another key to remember is that there is always something going on on the ship... like on the show:

1) Helm - Fly the ship. 

2) Tactical - Shields and Phasers.

3) Engineering - "Running around ships making repairs."  Multiple people.

4) Science - Crafting solutions.  Multiple people.

5) Command - Control NPCs like pets. 

6) Captain - Buffer via handing out 'commands.'

7) Security - Fighting intruders.  Many people.

8) Medical - Priority Processing NPCs to keep the ship going.  Multiple people.

9) Operations - A "buffing" position. Toss in Communications (chat channel control/link attacks in multi-ship battles) and Transporters (steadiness of hand mini-game to determine speed and potential health loss) and Sensors (??) for good measure. multiple people.

10) Away Team - Who says you can't send some invaders over to that Klingon Battlecruiser... potentially many people.

11) Uniques - You never know who's Betazoid empathy or Aurian battle meditation is going to come in handy at crucial points in the battle.  Potentially multiple people.

12) Non-Combat - Let's face it... the cook is just going to be in the galley, mining dilithium, or some such.  And the ship's counselor... she's gotta be doing something useful, right?  And what about the guys who are already preparing for after the battle? Or some other pressing issue to which the battle is merely an inconvenience?  What about the people on the holodeck who don't even know there's a battle?  Many people.

That's TWELVE ship to ship combat roles, to say nothing of dealing with anomalies, crazy planetary mysteries, exploration, travel and shipboard crises of varying degree and cause.  These 12 roles -  Engaging? Every bit as much as combat.  Rewarding? With XP and the right art/sound team, every bit as much as combat.  Fun? That's totally subjective, but all signs point to yes.

And I think this is the key to making a Star Trek MMO successful: making ships viable adventure zones of their own.  You can have 50+ on a ship, of wildly varying levels and experience and each be engaged both in combat and out of combat.  When you add on TOP of that mutli-ship combat, you have hundreds of people in a single epic battle, all combining strategies and such.  Perpetual got one thing right: Ships are cities/hubs.  They just forgot that they were player-run hubs that can be flown into battle.

Players who favor solo, for whatever reason, should still be able to play ten people on ten ships, but those who wish to pool should be rewarded for their teamwork and specialization.  Let solo players train up NPC crew to man those stations, and tab between the stations on their hud as needed... of course, again, they lose the multitasking and specialization, but so do soloers in other MMOs... no worries.

I hope Cryptic will make a solid game but after all disapointments and how the mmo market today with its lack of creativity i dont think so. Time will tell i guess....