I have never really been a fan of Crafting, and i am struggling to see how crafting fits in with the Star Trek lore. Individuals in Star Trek universe do not craft ships, and every other thing is 'crafted' by the replicators.
So what exactly is there to craft in a Star Trek game? Because it is an MMO does that mean that is MUST have crafting? I don't think so, it has other things that are not in other MMOs, like the management of your bridge officers for example (there is no holy trinity, tank, helar, dps either at least not in the tradtional way), i am not saying that this can/should replace crafting, just that each game is different and an MMO forumla cannot apply to all MMOs.
It is called inventing items and something that certainly existed in the Star Trek universe.
So the crafting in STOL is about inventing things, cool. I guess everyone invents something unquie each time they craft then, can you give more info on how this works in game?
It is good to see that Cryptic has taken a new direction on crafting with inventions instead of the general application of a formula or recipe to collected ingredients.
I've been playing the beta for a few weeks - and although I am mostly enjoying it, for me, there is way too much space, and not enough "M"MO.
Flying through space does not feel (at the moment anyway) as though I am light years from home exploring a new section of space, like you do in EvE. It feels more "arcadey" - you open up a list of places, click it, go there, appear in a what feels like a small instance with a planet and a few ships to fire at, then leave. Sometimes you can warp down to the planet, but again, this feels very restricted.
I had hoped that being on a planet would be where the game took off, and I would be able to spend days exploring this new land - a bit like you do in SWG. Instead, you are in a small instance with invisible walls, do your mission, leave.
The game IS very Star Trek in feel, very cinematic, and is fun in short blasts - but it just feels like they missed a trick or two. If Space had felt BIG, like it does in EvE, and the planets felt big, like in most other MMO's, then I think you could easily get lost in the immersion - go out exploring uncharted space for days, always wondering if your about to be jumped by some unknown enemy. Instead, you go to Starbase, get a quest to destroy something, click on the map to go to the location, appear there, kill stuff, return to base. Just feels "too" restricted for me.
Then theres the MMO part. At starbase I see other ships, who I presume must be player controlled, but once out of there, I'm mostly stuck in instances with my AI controlled group. Occasionally I find myself in an "open instance" and another ship or two appear, but it never feels like Im working with other people. If they unplugged the server and let me play solo, Im not entirely sure I would notice...
But.. it is fun, it does have a certain Star Trek quality to the game play, and in short blasts the space combat can be enjoyable, but there is never that feeling of "I must log in and do X" that other MMO's offer.
Oh and the Bridge stuff... what a let down!! They had this big thing in beta about "Bridges, COming SOON!" and "THis Patch! Bridges are HERE!" and everyone got very excited - until they realised how it worked. When in space, you click a button, and you appear on the bridge (with a "beam in" animation oddly) and can then stand there and go "oh look, theres my away team sat in some seats". And you can run around them and do some jumping. But thats about it. You cant (as I had hoped) see whats happening outside through the view screen, you cant control the ship from here, you cant leave and explore anywhere else, you cant speak to your crew... its just a tiny static instance that you can walk around... quite a let down!
Anyway, thats all my negatives I guess - but it is fun - just not in an MMO way (for me personally), more like an arcade ST game, where you can arrange to do some things with other people now and again. Which I quite like now and again, and will probably sub once its out, and play it when I need a quick "blast em up" action moment!
"When people don't know much about something, they tend to fill in the blanks the way they want them to be filled in. They are almost always disappointed." - Will Wright
Cant talk about crafting as I didn't really do anything with it.
I'm going to ask you, and Blurr, and Ktanner to try out the crafting, so we can get a good impression of it.
My download is taking forever, so it might well be two days before I can even begin.
Hey Doubter
Just to let you know on this, I have done the basic Crafting that is ingame.
basically as Blurr said, its not new items but experimental items based on current items, the current crafting is limited (MKI/II gear is what I saw)
During missions you will see a little icon on the screen indicating an anomalie (these occur in both ground and space) depending on the 'toughness' of the encounter will reflect on the rareness of the anomaly)
Anyway you scan the anomaly and aquire a 'Resource', you can go to the Scientist at Sol Station and see what she ahs available (each scientist will offer different goodies afaik), once you ahve the resources you then need to ensure you have the corresponding item (ie Co-Variant Shielding) and you can see the experimental item she will give you, it will basically be the item but enhanced. As you get higher levels the items get better and will certainly give the players an edge in combat of passive ship stats etc.
Hey Doubter Just to let you know on this, I have done the basic Crafting that is ingame. basically as Blurr said, its not new items but experimental items based on current items, the current crafting is limited (MKI/II gear is what I saw) During missions you will see a little icon on the screen indicating an anomalie (these occur in both ground and space) depending on the 'toughness' of the encounter will reflect on the rareness of the anomaly) Anyway you scan the anomaly and aquire a 'Resource', you can go to the Scientist at Sol Station and see what she ahs available (each scientist will offer different goodies afaik), once you ahve the resources you then need to ensure you have the corresponding item (ie Co-Variant Shielding) and you can see the experimental item she will give you, it will basically be the item but enhanced. As you get higher levels the items get better and will certainly give the players an edge in combat of passive ship stats etc. Hope this helps
Thanks for the info.
"" Voice acting isn't an RPG element....it's just a production value." - grumpymel2
This may have been the Star Trek MMO Blurr dreamed of, and I respect that. That said, I've been playing MMOs for as long if not longer than Blurr and he most certainly doesn't speak for me when he made the statement STO is the best we could have hoped for in a Star Trek MMO. My hopes and expectations were certainly "detailed".
I've been playing since they started so I'm afraid we'd have to settle for "as long as" :P
I will be the first to say that not every MMO is for every person. Heck not even every Star Trek is for every Trekker. I personally loved Enterprise and Voyager the most. Other people didn't like em that much, from what I've heard. I have no problem with you not liking STO, and I'm sure the reasons you have are very vaild for you. For me they're different, but it would be insane of me to expect you like the same things I do.
This is precisely one of the reasons I say that STO is about the best ST mmo we could have hoped for. There's no way we could please anyone, and there's no way Cryptic could do everything they want to. I think this achieves the closest balance to what will please the most people, while still being possible with today's technology.
Think of it like the Lord of the Rings. Not everyone who liked the book liked the movie. There was no way to make the movie exactly like the book really, either. They did do an excellent job though, and the majority of people who liked the book also had fun watching the movie. I think that's the best they could have hoped for in the same way.
Oh, I hear what you're saying. For the record if anyone saw any "hostility" in my first post then I apologize as it was not my intent. Anyone who has ever liked Star Trek in any bit should give the game a try to see if it's for them. Most assuredly every MMO isn't for every gamer and this one turned out not to be one for me. I did, however, submit bug reports, so I didn't just totally abuse my beta privilege, hehe.
Should Cryptic add full episodic pve content for Klingons I might reconsider (even despite the 360 turning thing and the item shop). I have a feeling, though, that by the time they do this I'll hopefully be in Final Fantasy Beta and/or WOrld of Darkness Online beta so I doubt I will be purchasing this product at all.
That said, I wish it health and that it lives long and its players prosper.
Don't worry Kalathwyr. Blurr is the kind of guy that takes anything negative you say about the game as a personal insult. He will actively hunt you down with whatever random insult he can think off to win the debate.
Currently playing browser games. Waiting for Albion Online, Citadel of Sorcery and Camelot Unchained. Played: almost all MMO pre 2007
Comments
It is called inventing items and something that certainly existed in the Star Trek universe.
So the crafting in STOL is about inventing things, cool. I guess everyone invents something unquie each time they craft then, can you give more info on how this works in game?
It is good to see that Cryptic has taken a new direction on crafting with inventions instead of the general application of a formula or recipe to collected ingredients.
I've been playing the beta for a few weeks - and although I am mostly enjoying it, for me, there is way too much space, and not enough "M"MO.
Flying through space does not feel (at the moment anyway) as though I am light years from home exploring a new section of space, like you do in EvE. It feels more "arcadey" - you open up a list of places, click it, go there, appear in a what feels like a small instance with a planet and a few ships to fire at, then leave. Sometimes you can warp down to the planet, but again, this feels very restricted.
I had hoped that being on a planet would be where the game took off, and I would be able to spend days exploring this new land - a bit like you do in SWG. Instead, you are in a small instance with invisible walls, do your mission, leave.
The game IS very Star Trek in feel, very cinematic, and is fun in short blasts - but it just feels like they missed a trick or two. If Space had felt BIG, like it does in EvE, and the planets felt big, like in most other MMO's, then I think you could easily get lost in the immersion - go out exploring uncharted space for days, always wondering if your about to be jumped by some unknown enemy. Instead, you go to Starbase, get a quest to destroy something, click on the map to go to the location, appear there, kill stuff, return to base. Just feels "too" restricted for me.
Then theres the MMO part. At starbase I see other ships, who I presume must be player controlled, but once out of there, I'm mostly stuck in instances with my AI controlled group. Occasionally I find myself in an "open instance" and another ship or two appear, but it never feels like Im working with other people. If they unplugged the server and let me play solo, Im not entirely sure I would notice...
But.. it is fun, it does have a certain Star Trek quality to the game play, and in short blasts the space combat can be enjoyable, but there is never that feeling of "I must log in and do X" that other MMO's offer.
Oh and the Bridge stuff... what a let down!! They had this big thing in beta about "Bridges, COming SOON!" and "THis Patch! Bridges are HERE!" and everyone got very excited - until they realised how it worked. When in space, you click a button, and you appear on the bridge (with a "beam in" animation oddly) and can then stand there and go "oh look, theres my away team sat in some seats". And you can run around them and do some jumping. But thats about it. You cant (as I had hoped) see whats happening outside through the view screen, you cant control the ship from here, you cant leave and explore anywhere else, you cant speak to your crew... its just a tiny static instance that you can walk around... quite a let down!
Anyway, thats all my negatives I guess - but it is fun - just not in an MMO way (for me personally), more like an arcade ST game, where you can arrange to do some things with other people now and again. Which I quite like now and again, and will probably sub once its out, and play it when I need a quick "blast em up" action moment!
"When people don't know much about something, they tend to fill in the blanks the way they want them to be filled in. They are almost always disappointed." - Will Wright
I'm going to ask you, and Blurr, and Ktanner to try out the crafting, so we can get a good impression of it.
My download is taking forever, so it might well be two days before I can even begin.
Hey Doubter
Just to let you know on this, I have done the basic Crafting that is ingame.
basically as Blurr said, its not new items but experimental items based on current items, the current crafting is limited (MKI/II gear is what I saw)
During missions you will see a little icon on the screen indicating an anomalie (these occur in both ground and space) depending on the 'toughness' of the encounter will reflect on the rareness of the anomaly)
Anyway you scan the anomaly and aquire a 'Resource', you can go to the Scientist at Sol Station and see what she ahs available (each scientist will offer different goodies afaik), once you ahve the resources you then need to ensure you have the corresponding item (ie Co-Variant Shielding) and you can see the experimental item she will give you, it will basically be the item but enhanced. As you get higher levels the items get better and will certainly give the players an edge in combat of passive ship stats etc.
Hope this helps
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/ab/Norsefire-logo.png
Thanks for the info.
"" Voice acting isn't an RPG element....it's just a production value." - grumpymel2
I've been playing since they started so I'm afraid we'd have to settle for "as long as" :P
I will be the first to say that not every MMO is for every person. Heck not even every Star Trek is for every Trekker. I personally loved Enterprise and Voyager the most. Other people didn't like em that much, from what I've heard. I have no problem with you not liking STO, and I'm sure the reasons you have are very vaild for you. For me they're different, but it would be insane of me to expect you like the same things I do.
This is precisely one of the reasons I say that STO is about the best ST mmo we could have hoped for. There's no way we could please anyone, and there's no way Cryptic could do everything they want to. I think this achieves the closest balance to what will please the most people, while still being possible with today's technology.
Think of it like the Lord of the Rings. Not everyone who liked the book liked the movie. There was no way to make the movie exactly like the book really, either. They did do an excellent job though, and the majority of people who liked the book also had fun watching the movie. I think that's the best they could have hoped for in the same way.
Oh, I hear what you're saying. For the record if anyone saw any "hostility" in my first post then I apologize as it was not my intent. Anyone who has ever liked Star Trek in any bit should give the game a try to see if it's for them. Most assuredly every MMO isn't for every gamer and this one turned out not to be one for me. I did, however, submit bug reports, so I didn't just totally abuse my beta privilege, hehe.
Should Cryptic add full episodic pve content for Klingons I might reconsider (even despite the 360 turning thing and the item shop). I have a feeling, though, that by the time they do this I'll hopefully be in Final Fantasy Beta and/or WOrld of Darkness Online beta so I doubt I will be purchasing this product at all.
That said, I wish it health and that it lives long and its players prosper.
Don't worry Kalathwyr. Blurr is the kind of guy that takes anything negative you say about the game as a personal insult. He will actively hunt you down with whatever random insult he can think off to win the debate.
Currently playing browser games. Waiting for Albion Online, Citadel of Sorcery and Camelot Unchained.
Played: almost all MMO pre 2007