Star Trek: Online

[syberghost]

and just need a few people to debug/simplify the results. That adds a ton of planet locations (have a 'design San Fransisco' week) with little strain on the development team.

Unfortunately, designing missions using existing assets in non-iconic locations is easy to get CBS to approve. Letting random people design iconic locations seems like it'd be a harder sell.

Of course, if the players are building up your non-iconic content base, that frees up development time for the iconic stuff, so it might still benefit.

 

[Scout101]

that would be how I'd probably approach it, yeah. Not sure how engaging the Foundry stuff would be, anyway. i'm sure you can do a ton with the pre-existing models, might be a lot more difficult to design stuff that doesn't exist in the system (golden gate bridge, for example).

But yeah, if you can take the load off the developers for the side missions, you can put them to better work on the harder stuff.

Might be nice to get them to add some more "alien base" designs to pick from, and update some old maps. Pretty much every base looks like a run-down Klingon outpost or Memory Alpha. Limited time, and not a huge concern at launch (plenty of gameplay issues had to come first), but maybe eventually keep the map layout, but change what the walls/doors look like a little...

 

[Aeolusdallas]

Oh GOD, I HATE the STFs...

I just started dealing with the Borg and OMG they are kicking the snot out of me.

 

[Dancing Doctor]

Oh GOD, I HATE the STFs...

I just started dealing with the Borg and OMG they are kicking the snot out of me.

I just stopped. I couldn't do them without punching my monitor.

 

[Scout101]

Couple of those levels are just stupid to the point of why bother. Plus take hours, and force you to have a group that will stay the whole time. I could never get a competitent group to stay that long, so one or two of those 5 player missions is unfinished. Just not worth it.

Same with the Crystaline Entity. I didn't finish it at the beginning, could never get a big enough group, or someone would always be wrecking it. It's now forcing you into groups by level, so there's just not anyone I CAN try it with, or you get 3 ships to try it, but not nearly enough. I always check it out, hopeful, but just can't finish it.

 

[Dancing Doctor]

That's pretty much my stance.

I love all the posters on the STO forums who constantly belittle those who even breathe the idea that maybe the STFs should be redone.

 

[Blamo]

Oh GOD, I HATE the STFs...

I just started dealing with the Borg and OMG they are kicking the snot out of me.

I just stopped. I couldn't do them without punching my monitor.

From what's been said, those missions are in the process of being made easier. Which is good, since the Borg spawning (and their holds) was driving me mad.

 

[Dancing Doctor]

I just started dealing with the Borg and OMG they are kicking the snot out of me.

I just stopped. I couldn't do them without punching my monitor.

From what's been said, those missions are in the process of being made easier. Which is good, since the Borg spawning (and their holds) was driving me mad.

The spawning didn't necessarily bug me, it was the non-stop holds and the fact that I'd be like 20-30 feet away and the assimilation tubules would just shoot out and snag me.

 

[Scout101]

I'm more annoyed with the levels requiring a team. That by itself is fine, but when you require 5 people AND the mission takes 3-4 hours to complete, it's difficult to keep people online that long. And then you get in a situation like I was in, where I only needed the last part of the Infected mission. Tough to get a team, even tougher to find 5 people that only need the last chapter. And then there was always just enough of a lap/skipping problem that someone would fall in the plasma, and you basically HAVE to have a full team alive the whole time to finish it. They respawn outside the forcefield, so everyone has to die and start again. Just a terrible concept for an episode. Didn't need to be half that long, plus require 5 people at all times, with no chance to revive a teammate, basically.

Teaming up can be a lot of fun, but when it requires a team, plus a decent-sized one, PLUS roughly 4 hours of committment with the same group, it can be a bitch

 

[Bird of Prey]

I just stopped. I couldn't do them without punching my monitor.

From what's been said, those missions are in the process of being made easier. Which is good, since the Borg spawning (and their holds) was driving me mad.

The spawning didn't necessarily bug me, it was the non-stop holds and the fact that I'd be like 20-30 feet away and the assimilation tubules would just shoot out and snag me.

I've been wanting to try the STF's, but for the reasons listed above, I haven't. I'd love to try them as something different, but to find a group of people that will stick around for a couple of hours of frustrating gameplay seems impossible. If they are updating the STF's to make them easier, do we know when they plan on releasing that change?

 

[Scout101]

Would love to know that. That's about the only area of the game where I still have a playable level to go at. Once it becomes actually playable, will go do that one and terrordome, and see if there are any follow-up episodes behind those two.

 

[syberghost]

STFs are intended to be group-only content, are intended to be difficult, and are intended to require a long time to finish. They're going to make them easier so it's possible for pick-up-groups to complete them, but I wouldn't hold my breath for them to be soloable or short. They're end-game raiding content.

Scout101, yes, Infected leads to two other STFs, and along the way you can collect a full set of gear that adds Borg upgrades to your ship. Makes it better, stronger, faster, and partially green.

 

[Scout101]

Was wondering where that crap came from Yeah, I dont' HATE the length of time, but needs to be easy enough that if you DO put in the 4 hours to beat one, you actually FINISH it, rather than failing, getting stuck looking for other people that need part 4 of 5 only, STILL being an hour from finished, and then still have the extremely difficult boss that you can't quite get past unless everyone is there, good, and the screen doesn't lag for half a second so you fall in and die. Hell, just respawning INSIDE the damned room would have been enough to finish it eventually.

 

[Timelord79 (he/him)]

Apparently there is demand here to do a competent STF run.
I would call myself a pretty experienced STF leader by now.
Or at least Infected and the Cure.... I know how to finish them and I know how to finish them quickly...
Infected can be done in under 1 hour, average is about 90 minutes.
The Cure clocks in at 2 1/2 hours.
If you guys would like we can schedule an Infected run soon and see how it goes. If we do well, I'm sure we can do the same with The Cure.
Khitomer Accord is not that hard for the most part, it's just the first space part that needs precision and exceptionally timing and a little bit of luck, have only done it once and not as team lead, because so few people actually have it unlocked.

 

[Bird of Prey]

Apparently there is demand here to do a competent STF run.
I would call myself a pretty experienced STF leader by now.
Or at least Infected and the Cure.... I know how to finish them and I know how to finish them quickly...
Infected can be done in under 1 hour, average is about 90 minutes.
The Cure clocks in at 2 1/2 hours.
If you guys would like we can schedule an Infected run soon and see how it goes. If we do well, I'm sure we can do the same with The Cure.
Khitomer Accord is not that hard for the most part, it's just the first space part that needs precision and exceptionally timing and a little bit of luck, have only done it once and not as team lead, because so few people actually have it unlocked.

I'd be up for that. I'm available tonight from 7pm-9:30pm tonight and Sunday during the day if anyone else is available.

 

[Timelord79 (he/him)]

What time zone are you in? It's 9:30pm for me right now. (compare to posting time index).

 

[Bird of Prey]

Eastern... so it's 3:55pm for me right now.

 

[Timelord79 (he/him)]

In that case, let's do it on Sunday.
That gives people time to join in and would be easier to manage with the different time zones.
Relatively early for you and late for me.

 

[Bird of Prey]

Sounds good. 11 AM EST would be 5pm for you... does that work?

 

[Timelord79 (he/him)]

Perfect.