This past week we had a chance to talk with Star Trek Online Executive Producer, Daniel Stahl. With Season Two in full effect, Daniel spoke about how the direction of the game is really being driven by the players. He points out some triumphs with Season Two as well as some areas that he feels need some more work. Overall, Daniel gave us some fantastic insight into MMO development after a launch, as well as how the community can really drive the journey of a game, something other developers could certainly listen too.
Daniel explained that with Season One they were laying the groundwork to build improvements for the game. He described Season One as a “sure step” in the right direction. With Season Two, the team worked really hard to implement things that the players wanted in the game. Non-combat quests were a big part of the design and something that definitely had a Star Trek feel to it. Daniel explained that both players and developers liked the more Star Trek style missions of exploration and diplomacy to solve the missions rather than just combat. They wanted to deliver more of a Star Fleet Captain experience rather than just action combat.
We had a long indepth talk about the Klingons and their roles in Season Two. Dan explained that they are really working towards giving the Klingons more content. Because they were only PvP at launch, they are workingo n specific missions for Klingons. They want them to have their own episode archs. Daniel explained, “There are still some problems with the way Klingons were developed.” They are working hard on a solution and changing gears to incorporate PvE episodes. They are also working on new enemies for the Klingons out of their historic lore. Right now the team is heading towards more missions and making great strides in addressing PvE content for Klingons. So be prepared for some good Klingon news to come.
One of the areas that Daniel and the team are very happy with are the Weekly Episodes for players. The development team was re-thinking how they develop missions and came up with some weekly content to help all players explore and progess in a new way. The weekly missions do not have levels so anyoen can run them. Also, Klingon players can do the weekly missions as well. So they are set up for any level, any faction. In Series One the new sector opens and players can start off with the first mission. The zone can also be explored and there are enemies to fight it out with. The new mission will give clues as to what is going on in the zone. Each week the storyline will progress with new missions for players. Eventually the zone and story line will play out to an ending with some great unique rewards for players. This style of episodic content gives players a reason to log in each week and advance through the stories and zones just like a Star Trek series. Also, in the end, the content remains in the game.
Daniel talked about the some of the bigger goals for Star Trek Online, one of which was finding a resolution to the conflict between Star Fleet and the Klingon Empire. The game is centered on that dispute and eventually he would like to see where it goes. Daniel also explained that as a player he is really excited about the non-combat missions because they feel very much like Star Trek. He also really likes the growing social aspects of the game and is looking forward to seeing players have more reasons to get together.
Overall, Daniel definitely gave the impression of having the players’ best interests at heart as well as working with the community to add the features they want in the game. In closing, Daniel said, “Season Two is proof that the team is committed to delivering the game players want and will continue to work with the fans.” It looks like the community voices are being heard in the final frontier.
