Star Trek Online thread

[Tuskin38]

Demons of Air and Darkness... Iconians???

Yes, they've been referenced as that in the last Romulan FE series as well.

I think they were called that in TNG as well, which is where STO got it.

[Darkthunder]

Phew... Just finished compiling a list of all the questions and answers from tonights Q&A. Some of the answers by Mr Stahl may not have had any obvious questions, so I have simply left them blank. Hopefully there is some useful new information to be had from it. I know I saw a few new details that I liked. I'll post the Q&A in 2 parts, so as to make it a bit easier on the reading.

Q & A with Daniel Stahl, February 1st 2013;

Q: Darkthunder: REAL updates to the KDF faction. Any answer to this???
A: KDF updates are coming this year - not going to share details yet

Q: lanceandragon: Andorian starship? coming with the big update or sooner?
A: Andorian Ship in Feb
   Andorian ship might be ship(s)

Q: Feklars_Hammer: Will there be a continuation to the Fekl'hri story arc on kdf side?
A: There is discussion of Fekhiri story extension, but focus will be on war

Q: MaxxinA: Dan - You were talking in december about reward system to foundry spotlight. Any more info about that ?
A: Foundry Spotlight rewards are going to be like normal foundry rewards (aka every mission gives rewards no cooldown) but better than normal foundry - coming in Feb

Q: Delion: Will we ever see conformal shield mode ingame? Or maybe choose between projected bubble shield mode and it?
A: RE: Shield modes - interesting idea - I'll pass it to systems guys

Q: dakcudA: any word on Jem attack ships comming back, would love to get the hanger for my Dread
A: Jem Attack Ship may be back soon - working on details

Q: gorasnayA: will there be a C store Ambassador class?
A: Ambassador is headed to Fleet Store - not C-Store from what I heard

Q: TrekkieLPC: hey Dstahl, how about the Ambassador and Odyessy in the foundry?
A: Amb. and Odyssey will be coming to Foundry this year

Q: gorasnayA: will there be any tiers for the starbase in season 8?
A: We are discussing more tiers to starbases - no details to share yet

A: We may have multiple ships under you command in space when we hit Fleet Admiral ranks

A: Inventory space/ship slots is something we are working on for next update

Q: Kpt.Krell: What is with May 2013?
A: Our next major update is in May - i cannot discuss any details yet

Q: NCODB: Is there any chance to keep the Temporal Ambassador mission post-anniversary? You guys have made an awesome story-based mission, shame to see it dissapear.
A: Temporal Ambassador mission will be permanent addition to game - T5 Ambassador is limited time tho

Q: Cerritouru: In the last Ask Cryptic you mention the posibility of a Spanish translation, any news on that?
A: We are looking into additional localizations for STO in 2013 - we haven't confirmed which languages yet, but I've heard possibly Portugeuse as a top contender

Q: lanceandragon: Customizable kits? are they on the table for the big update?
A: Customizeable Kits are on the docket for 2013
   Kits for KDF could be next season - it is potentially part of kit revamp

A: We will most likely go to Delta Before Gamma

A: We have more Reps on the way - PVP, Tholians are two at top of list

A: T3 Ambassador will be available indefinitely - T5 limited time

A: It is a personal goal to get factions to where they need to be - I've said this for years and you'll just have to wait and see

A: We are considering a kickstarter model for ship designs - just discussions at this point

A: Re-Trait is in the works - Re-Species is a possibility but we haven't finalized that part yet

A: Fleet Marks for PvP is a distinct possiblity

Q: Will Re-Trait include the option to change your specialisation?
A: Re-Trait will allow you to reset traits and or add more than before

Q: When can we do upgrade missions with Crafting, like make Aegis XII , rebalance the dilithium cost of crafting
A: Crafting is most likely end of 2013 or early 2014

Q: Darkthunder: Any details you can share on the "NEW UI" slated for Season 8? Or is it just minor touch-ups to existing UI?
A: New UI that Thomas the Cat is working on is a reskinning and reLCARsing of existing UI - improving - not replcaing

Q: Darkthunder: Color Customization to new UI?
A: We are going to support your choice UI coloring

Q: enna2v: is the dev team REALLY WORKING 6 days a week?????
A: Yes we are going to 6 day work weeks at least for next two months - we have a lot to do

Q: VengefulDjinn: will the fed/klingon war end ?
A: Will there be peace? Maybe - but something has to present an opportunity for peace - we are a ways from that right now

A: More Fleet Ships are coming - I don't have the list

[Darkthunder]

And now for part 2. If you have any additional questions or suggestions you'd like to ask, Mr Stahl offered to read your emails at dstahl@crypticstudios.com

Q: TrekkieLPC: will there be bridges for Chel Gret, Ambassador, and when will we see the TNG interiors?
A: Bridges - Maybe - but they are low priority

Q: Darkthunder: Bridges are nice. But what I want, is REAL interior customization/building. Possible???
A: Real customizeable interiors is a goal but about a year off from reality

Q: voporak: Kerrat and crystalline entity - will they get some love?
A: We do plan to retrofit older events like CE and Kerrate - we may not revamp them, but may take concept and remake them

Q: captainoblivous: When will we see a "bugfix and housekeeping" season release?
A: Bugkeeping is constant - we release bug fixes every week

Q: burstdragon323: 10 to 20 Man STF's???
A: STFs in the latter part of the year if all goes according to plan

A: Foundry on your ship is a ways off

Q: k4t3: will fluidic space and crystalline entity be back soon
A: Older Fleet Actions will return at some point once they get remastering

A: We are going to be adding more costume options for the next big update - more than normal

A: We are considering Risa for a future summer event

A: Character Creation Options are getting an overhaul for next update
   We are redoing our Character Creator for May - almost completely remade

Q: TrekkieLPC: when you redo the character creator will it mess up our current character models?
A: Existing character models will remain valid for next may

A: We will continue to make missions around Trek - sometimes that will be story - sometimes that will be big ships duking it out
   But we want to stay focused on "TREK"

Q: Are there plans on reducing the cost of fleet ships to 1-2 fleet ship modules for ships already purchased?
A: No current plans to reduce fleet ship prices

A: we have on our mid-term goals the revamp of BOFF abilities and training along with ship loadouts and ease of training

A: Cryptic Designed Ships are coming - some in May

A: Refuses to be baited by KDF trolls - I said my peace earlier

Q: Shippo4533: Are there plans to increase the lvl cap?
A: Level cap increases are in design right now - will happen over next 12 months or so

A: Fleet Admiral will be max skillpoint cap - but there will be alternate advancement and future reps

A: Fleet Maps for Foundry -= great idea - ZeroniusRex is the person to hit up for that

A: Season 8 is dead to me - the May Update is bigger than a Season and will be called something else

Q: Shippo4533: Mr Stahl, Just an addistion, What are the plans for Silver Members once they attain Vice admiral?
A: Silver members will get access to ships at FAdmiral

Q: rtk142: Wille we ever meet the crew of the KDF flagship Bortas?
A: Crew of Bortasq is part of a potential KDF storyline - no details to share yet

A: There will be Seasons in the future - next update is not a season
   May = Big Update, then we go back to season for a while

A: Lifetime accounts will be on sale a couple times a year - don't have dates on me

A: Scimitar ship is reserved for any future Romulan Faction

Q: Kpt.Krell: there are coming new emotes for Roleplay?
A: more emotes - I've heard this is coming but I can't remember which emotes

Q: overlapo: OK, T5 Miranda?
A: Classic Retrofits are possibly an idea for future Crafting

Q: Adarandrel: Are vet rewards finished at this point? or goign beyond hte 1000 day rewards
A: Vet Rewards are at max for now, but we may reconsider that in the future

Q: kekvin85: Any more Vulcan ships?
A: Vulcan ships - hmm... nothing in the works - if you have an idea, share

A: New Subscriber Benefits are coming in May update

Q: Capitain Wilhelm: Is there any plans to revamping the Captain's Table?
A: Captains Table definitely needs love - no eta yet though - other subscriber and lt benefits being dicussed tho

Q: z00t: cutscenes for foundry?
A: Cutscene editor for Foundry is something we've discussed but it is a ways off

Q: bruckner: Any chance the Foundry could gain 'Optional' objectives?
A: Optional Objectives for Foundry is something we've always wanted, but it is tricky - we are asking Neverwinter if they can look into it since they have all the Foundry code going on at the moment

A: Ent J is not going to happen according to CBS

A: Foundry Combat/Non-combat - we are looking into it, but for now rewards are based on other metrics - more filtering may be possible in future tho

A: I'm not at liberty to discuss May update in detail

----- END OF Q & A Session -----

A: Must head out to work - enjoy the anniversary and we'll chat again soon

A: Again - if you didn't get your question answered or you missed the answer I gave previously - email me and
   I'll do what I can to respond

A: dstahl@crypticstudios.com - email me issues or suggestions

[captain_obvious]

Btw, the ones marked "captainoblivous" were from me.  
Captain obvious was taken and worse, I made a wee typo in my handle  

When you get that email written, would you mind sharing it with us before you send it?  Proofreading never hurts and I think we should get together on this one to ask the really hard questions.

EDIT

I think that a LOT of questions got missed out of that transcript...  I asked and got answers to 6 questions iirc and on that list I see only one of mine.

[Darkthunder]

I tried to grab as many of the questions and answers as I could find in the transcript. I did notice you asked the same (or similar) question repeatedly, and I have chosen to not include questions that didn't get an answer. Ofcourse, I may have still missed some, but the above should be close to a complete list.

[Tuskin38]

So hyped for May.

Quick, someone invent reliable Cryo freezing.

[Joshmaul]

So hyped for May.

Quick, someone invent reliable Cryo freezing.

Sorry Mario, but your carbon freezing is in another galaxy. Far, far away.

[Tuskin38]

Here is a full log, taken right from the chatlog.

http://sto-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?p=7831711#post7831711

[Darkthunder]

Well, i've got 3 suggestions written up so far. Tried to keep each one as brief as possible, while simultaneously being detailed enough to be understandable. If you have additional suggestions, please feel free to add them to the thread. I'm still compiling a "short" list of various bugs that currently annoy me.

Suggestion #1:

Unified travel-system for leaving maps.

Currently the game have the following methods for leaving maps;

- Abort Mission: Button next to minimap
- Low Level Interaction: Bottom right corner by default
- Transporter Room: Depending on map, either forced or optional

The "Abort Mission" button should be re-built to be a one-stop shop for leaving the map you are currently on. When you hit the button, a popup should appear with various options for which map to "leave to". From Sol System, this would be Earth Spacedock, Starfleet Academy, and Sirius Sector Block.

Immediately upon entering a map with a social map attached (such as Sol System and Deep Space Nine System), player should be able to travel to the hub withou having to first fly there with the ship. Flying to a specific location, or walking into a transporter room, should only be for immersion purposes, and not forced on the players.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Suggestion #2:

Travelling the galaxy.

In lieu of developing a "one sector map to rule them all", i'd suggest the ability to travel to various star systems directly from the "Galaxy Map". The map window already has options for "Area" which is akin to a Zone Map, a System List which displays all the systems and points of interest within the current Sector Block, and a Galaxy Map to view a 2D representation of the entire galaxy in STO.

As soon as I leave Earth Spacedock, i'd like to be given the option to travel to Deep Space Nine. Setting a course via Galaxy Map to DS9, immediately sends the player ship warping off towards it's destination. There should be no popups for the player to confirm travel between maps. After setting a course, and traveling to said destination (uninterupted), should essentially drop the player ship at the door step of your destination. If a player deviates from the course for any reason, the auto-travel will be disabled. To re-enable, set a new course via the Galaxy Map.

This would ofcourse require the player to be able to interact with various locations on the Galaxy Map. Currently the Galaxy Map is merely a pretty map. There is so much more that can be done with this map. One could even suggest something bigger, and turning it into a "Google Maps" type system, and thus eliminating the need for the "System List" tab entirely.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Suggestion #3:

Computer Cores for ships.

Eliminate the pre-built "Bridge Officer" console layouts, and instead adding an entirely new item to the ship, in the form of Computer Cores. These cores would follow the same Mark, and Quality setup as the rest of the gear in the game.

Higher quality cores may elicit additional bonuses, currently found only via Traits, such as "Efficient". A Cruiser-type Computer Core may have additional effiency for any officer slotted at an Engineering console, which in turn provides additional benefits to ships hull/defenses/resistances. On the other hand, an Escort-type Computer Core may provide additional effiency to it's Tactical consoles, giving obvious benefits to ships weapons.

These Computer Cores would not be specific to a given ship, but may or may not be more suited for certain types of ships. Cruisers are inherently better at "Tanking" role, and thus an Engineering Computer Core may be best. If a Cruiser Captain instead chooses to follow the "DPS" role, a Tactical Computer Core may be better suited.

De-coupling the currently locked Bridge Officer station layouts from the ships, allows effectively ALL ships to be competitive at max level, both in PVE and PVP content.

[Tuskin38]

Combing through the Patch Manifest again.

Found references to an Andorian Battleship and a Dreadnought, along with an Andorian bridge set.

There are also textures for TOS Romulan uniforms and Enterprise MACO uniforms.

[Shadowknight1]

I enjoyed that mission.  Pretty neat.  Was having fun tracking down Q's party guests until the server booted me. :roll

[captain_obvious]

Ugh, I hated that damned Q hunt thing.  The 2nd anniversary one was okay, but this new one is just horrible. 

[Darkthunder]

And the price gouging continues...

http://sto.perfectworld.com/news/?p=817881

FIVE fleet modules, for a ship that has no unique ability, even if you own the event version, you get no discount. PASS!!!

[ACES_HIGH]

they've said that's a typo, it's only four, same as the other fleet ships.

[Darkthunder]

They say typo. (Cynical me) says they got caught with their hand in the cookie jar. Part of me thinks they deliberately posted it at a higher cost, to gauge the reaction from the community. Needless to say, the feedback wasn't exactly positive. Then all of a sudden, they make a statement with "Oops sorry, we made a typo". Now, typo's are a possibility, but the fact that they made such a -specific- typo, makes me suspicious.

As I wrote on the STO forums, they would most likely sell more digital items, if they reduced the cost of the items. Instead (since F2P), they have continuously INCREASED the costs.

[Tuskin38]

You're such a pessimist. Don't see why they would suddenly charge higher fleet modals.

They make typos on dev blogs lots of time, like 80% of their Ship blogs get edited at least once.

[captain_obvious]

ARGH not another useless bloody ensign tac slot :X
Still, it does make it seem a bit more useful as a sci boat with that extra sci console.  Seems a bit more like a passable healer now!

But ffs, the day after I get an orb weaver for my kdf sci they bring out the kamarag retro  
I have to admit though, the kammy is growing on me more and more.  It's an out and out blast to fly on my eng.  Handles like a dream 

[Darkthunder]

You're such a pessimist. Don't see why they would suddenly charge higher fleet modals.

My pessimism is warranted. Daniel Stahl said that the "Dilithium currency revamp" would bring CHEAPER items to the C-Store, compared to how it was before. Newsflash! Prices went UP, not down... Adding Fleet Ships, with a cost of 4 Fleet Modules per ship, on a PER CHARACTER basis, with -some- ships having a cost of 5 Fleet Modules (primarily the B'Rel Retrofit and Excelsior Retrofit). It's not a stretch to think that they "suddenly" decide to increase the cost yet again.

3 years of experiencing STO, having hopes and optimism for every new Season update, has made me extremely cynical. I'd like to think ahead of time, that i'll be disappointed. That way, -if- they improve, I can be happily surprised.

[Joshmaul]

3 years of experiencing STO, having hopes and optimism for every new Season update, has made me extremely cynical. I'd like to think ahead of time, that i'll be disappointed. That way, -if- they improve, I can be happily surprised.

Unfortunately, this is my mindset as well, and it largely explains why I step away from it for months at a time. There have been some bits that Cryptic has done well - I enjoyed the new mission for the anniversary, for instance - but there are some things, like the introduction of rep grinds; Old Republic has followed this trend as well, though somewhat more actively - following the current WoW model of daily questing for rep, as opposed to accumulating marks and mats (the STO method) or wearing a tabard in dungeons (the Wrath-Cata WoW method). The reactions I've seen - usually on the craptastic official forums, but occasionally in-game as well - have largely been "What is this shit?", though some look at it and go "eh, it's okay".

I felt this game had tremendous potential, but there are things that I found underwhelming. The Klingon Empire faction is one such, and I'm a guy who ground out his first KE character back when you started in the low levels. There have been promises of updates and expanded questing for years, and it has yet to manifest because of the focus on items for the store. I have never been one for PvP, but some people who are have told me that FvK is a joke, while FvF (and presumably KvK) is better off, probably because it's more balanced fighting each other rather than the "other side".

[captain_obvious]

New Patch notes. 

Rather big compared to the last few. 
Oh, and FM rewards have been completely removed from IOR.