I dont think beta testers would have a very big advantage. Maybe they would be better off in the beginning of the global release, but the community would catch up in short order.
I would be more concerned with tp/wrg favoring beta test spots for the whales, which might result in even bigger problems if the meta community is not considered.
Regardless, i Am still patiently waiting for this new feature, and I am trying to keep my own expectations managed, but the trends over the past year have not been great.
Including the player base as reviewers in beta tests could improve
1. the content towards better meeting the players' expectations
2. the quality
3. communication.
I have wondered about this. Would it give said beta testers an unfair advantage in terms of advanced knowledge? They would know which resources to hoard on their live accounts. Alternatively, if these things are done transparently so all players see it (minimizing above advantage), then you get players across the spectrum giving feedback, despite only having third-hand or second-hand knowledge at best. Then when the ideas, complaints, and other input are not taken seriously due to this lack of first-hand knowledge, it can disenfranchised a large swath of players.
I don't know where that balance is between transparency, involvement, and keeping a level playing field. There's just so many times that we read (legitimate) complaints that it appears no one at WRG is play testing this feature or that change before it is rolled out. There's room for improvement. I just don't know where the balance points are or how to achieve a better equilibrium.
In many games I played everyone could be a beta tester, not just an elite small crowd. In other games it was the other way around. Both worked. I never cared to do it seriously as I lacked the devotion. But I have faith that some of the players here have it and would help to improve the game a lot. Even if they gained a small advantage for their beta work - so what? It would probably be less of an advantage than 100 $ would bring.
There is imparity anyway, some more for devoted work on the game would be fine with me.
Wir, die Mirror Tribbles [MiT] haben freie Plätze zu vergeben. Kein Zwang und kein Stress, dafür aber Spaß, Discord und eine nette, hilfsbereite Gemeinschaft, incl. voll ausgebauter Starbase und täglich 700 ISM.
Long time lurker. Rare poster. Can we step back from negative? The world is a bit nuts, yes. This is an escape, a game based on a future.... all the negativity in the forums, the rock bottom uc has found. I understand. Things are..... so Odd these days. To be polite.
Lets just all chill.
I do dig IRL is crazy. plz leave it at the door.
This game is a good place to just tap and escape............
I generally agree with this. This thread is off to a decent start though. Nothing wrong with wanting to keep people's expectations at a reasonable level. There does seems to be a problem of players expecting too much sometimes, then getting let down, so they leave the game. I kind of like the approach of keeping expectations reasonable and remembering that there is more coming than just this one feature. Like you, I hope people try to check some of the negativity at the door and keep complaints as objective as possible. So far, I think that's happening here.
I stand corrected. The thread has taken on a decidedly negative tone. I tried to give the benefit of the doubt. I'm just trying to decide if this could actually become helpful. Dragging the devs, post after post... maybe people will expect the new feature to be the product of incompetence and not expect much. It's not a view that I hold, but I suppose that's the most positive thing I can say about this thread.
Sadly, as nice as it was to see things off to a positive start, past experience said it wouldn't last.
With regards to your last part of your post, I agree.
But if that's the best silver lining we can come up with, we're in worst trouble than I thought.
I dont think beta testers would have a very big advantage. Maybe they would be better off in the beginning of the global release, but the community would catch up in short order.
I would be more concerned with tp/wrg favoring beta test spots for the whales, which might result in even bigger problems if the meta community is not considered.
Regardless, i Am still patiently waiting for this new feature, and I am trying to keep my own expectations managed, but the trends over the past year have not been great.
Or sneak peaks/dev blogs of "hey, this is our new feature in development and it's gonna be called Voyages and will give you the chance to send out crew on this long journeys. Here's a couple beta screen shots and check back next month for a look at how you will assign crew."
And then imagine in my less than creative example, that Voyages cost credits to send out. "Hey, here's how you assign crew to your Voyage. Currently we've got it set to cost 5000 credits to (do this thing) although we're still balancing costs."
Boom, everyone, beta tester or not suddenly knows that credits are involved.
Seems like the fear from TP is, like mini-events, being afraid of failure if the feature doesn't roll out on schedule or as designed. Except all they'd need to do is a next dev blog of "hey, we ran into some snags in coding how your crew members talked to each other during a Voyage. Turned out, putting a Klingon and a Borg on the same crew brought up a lot of tension and arguments - it's gonna take us a couple more months to establish some peace accords." Even with slight humor, that acknowledgement of the problem and the process wouldn't be looked upon as frustration by the players, it would earn them SO MUCH good will for their efforts of transparency.
Let's see... "I was negative before it was cool," and "if you don't like something, then don't read it." Never mind the fact you don't know if you will like something until you read it. And if you think that's an oversimplification, it's because I took your advice and stopped reading right there.
There's legitimate reasons to complain. There's flaws in the game that most of us would love to see addressed. None of that is being discussed at this point. If it is, it's not being done in a manner that even resembles productive. I'll try to to get the thread back on track...
Game developers have a line to walk in terms of getting their fan base excited for a new feature and over-hyping it in a way that sets player expectations too high. How would you communicate a new feature? Where do you think is the right balance for such communication?
THIS! 100% THIS.
Those of us who refuse to pile onto the negativity bandwagon aren't doing it because we think this game is perfect. It's because it doesn't address the issues or help the situation in any way.
I think the most frustrating part is that a lot (not all, so there's no room for misinterpretation) of those complaining do nothing to indicate what would make them happy or what specific changes they would make.
Some seem hellbent on proving that absolutely nothing would ever satisfy them. I wish more people would make balanced, constructive critiques, and less would just shovel piles of unhelpful 💩 onto the pile.
Some people seem to make a sport of literally saying absolutely nothing constructive or anything that they actually do like about this game. I can name probably a couple handful of users who have never once said anything that wasn't entirely negative. I have no idea why those people are still playing, let alone on these forums.
If you were running this game, what would be the biggest issue you have and how would you specifically address it, without either:
• breaking the game
• killing the revenue streams that enable it to continue running
To those of you making realistic suggestions, to this question, and others like it, I applaud you. To those of you who are just heaping scorn without any beneficial input, I have one question: why are you still playing?
Correct me if I'm wrong, but when DB ran Star Trek Timelines, didn't they allow users to sign up as beta testers for the Steam Client version of the game before it was released to the general public? There is precedence in this very game for beta testing, it has been done done before.
I think I want to take a poll later about beta testing. It'll have no bearing on what the devs actually do, but I find myself curious about what players prefer. So far this small group leans toward "yes, beta testing open to all" with some ok with just a "dev blog with some screen shots of upcoming feature." And "yes, small crowd" seems acceptable, though maybe not preferred. What other options would be worth including in such a poll? I'll probably include, "no, everything is fine as-is" but I see that getting zero votes.
Again... not trying to change the world or even the game. Just curious how forum folks feel about the issue.
What i find interesting that some people complain even before we know what new feature is. I like this game, it is one of the rare games that I play for long time. It is not perfect, actually it is far from it, but that does not mean I will complain about it non stop. Maybe I will write some suggestion in Make It So.
I would really like to that new feature is something that enable me to USE my crew. After placing 12 cards on Voyage, and 12-16 cards on shuttles and 5 for gauntlet, all others just occupy slots.
Most of the time, over 90% of my crew is useless. That is the main reason I don't buy cites any more. None of the crew which needs cites will become usefull, (well I need some calculations to do for some of them for future voyages, so maybe).
What i find interesting that some people complain even before we know what new feature is. I like this game, it is one of the rare games that I play for long time. It is not perfect, actually it is far from it, but that does not mean I will complain about it non stop. Maybe I will write some suggestion in Make It So.
I would really like to that new feature is something that enable me to USE my crew. After placing 12 cards on Voyage, and 12-16 cards on shuttles and 5 for gauntlet, all others just occupy slots.
Most of the time, over 90% of my crew is useless. That is the main reason I don't buy cites any more. None of the crew which needs cites will become usefull, (well I need some calculations to do for some of them for future voyages, so maybe).
Make It So is my favorite sub-forum. I look forward to seeing what you might come up with.
I think I want to take a poll later about beta testing. It'll have no bearing on what the devs actually do, but I find myself curious about what players prefer. So far this small group leans toward "yes, beta testing open to all" with some ok with just a "dev blog with some screen shots of upcoming feature." And "yes, small crowd" seems acceptable, though maybe not preferred. What other options would be worth including in such a poll? I'll probably include, "no, everything is fine as-is" but I see that getting zero votes.
Again... not trying to change the world or even the game. Just curious how forum folks feel about the issue.
I've been trying to figure out how to write a poll that won't come across as negative but is something I'm generally curious about where the overall consumer confidence levels are - and it ties to your beta test idea.... which is: "how confident are you that the new feature will work as intended upon release" -- not whether or not you're happy with it, but with lack of any apparent large-scale beta test, and with the recent history of the slip-ups, I'm just curious (and maybe can make a point to the developers) about how confident people currently are in the ability of the feature to be released.
I'm sure I'm not the only one who thought "hey, I'm gonna wait a couple days before pulling the new modified premium packs" just in case they didn't auto-behold correctly.
This is the other half of the expectations game and communication as well - because of the recent issues, regardless of the reason behind them (accidental, oversight, programming error, intentional but met with negativity, etc - doesn't matter) - TP should be really taking some major steps to help restore consumer confidence in the game. That transparency I talked about ties to this - if the players feel like they've got a window to see into the process, they'll feel more confident about how things are progressing.
I'm just guessing on my read of forums and personal opinion, that the favorability numbers when it comes to a smooth implementation would be pretty low. I hope I'm wrong, both on where the confidence numbers would be and on the ability of TP to roll out a smooth implementation. I'm not crossing my fingers and hoping they fail or slip-up -- I *want* them to succeed and blow us all away and make us look back on the last couple months with frustration that we didn't have faith in them. But I feel like the closer we get and the more it's hyped without any specifics, the higher player expectations go and the lower the player confidence drops.
That would be an interesting poll, @dext74 . I can try to help make the language neutral. I think I would phrase the question as: "What is your confidence level for the Q1 feature roll-out?"
Options I would include:
1) It will probably be flawless.
2) I think it will be pretty smooth with only a few individuals experiencing problems.
3) I expect a small hiccup, which will be handled quickly.
4) I expect a small problem, but it will persist for weeks.
5) There will probably be moderate problems that will be resolved quickly.
6) I think there will be moderate problems that take weeks to fix.
7) I expect major problems, but there will be a quick and equitable solution.
8) There will be huge problems and they will roll back to a previous version.
9) The feature will unbalance the game and the devs will just roll with it.
Those are kind of the stair steps of confidence as I see them. Seems like there should be more options, but I think you get a limit of 10.
Considering the game is constantly bouncing me out, even three times during a single portal, whatever it is is probably pretty big, but if it is making the game glitch like this BEFORE if is even released.... Welcome to 2021, son of 2020. Can I say i'm giving it a 13? If it glitches like this during the Skirmish, they will get tickets hourly from me.
W.W. CarlislePlayed since January 20, 2019Captain Level- 99 (May 9, 2022)VIP 14Crew Quarters: 485/485Most recent/Lowest- Anbo-jyutsu Kyle Riker (1/5* Lvl 30) 5/29/23Immortalized x-866 5* x184, 4* x 490, 3* x91, 2* x62, and 1* x27Most recent Immortal - Tearful Janeway 4* 5/25/23Current non-event project- Improving my Science base skill. Retrieval Project- Mestral 1/5*
I think your poll is on the right track, if you wanted to make it simpler, you could say “on a scale of 1-10, how smooth do you anticipate the new features release? 10 being perfection, 1 being a train wreck” and then allow people to post their justifications.
With polls though, i think it should probably be pointed out that the majority of the forum regulars are “uber fans” and its really only during times of technical difficulty/controversy that the forum has an influx of angry gamers. That being said, the poll is likely to be tipped decidedly toward the “positive” side.
If you were to cast the same poll during adiragate, you might find significantly less confidence.
That would be an interesting poll, @dext74 . I can try to help make the language neutral. I think I would phrase the question as: "What is your confidence level for the Q1 feature roll-out?"
Options I would include:
1) It will probably be flawless.
2) I think it will be pretty smooth with only a few individuals experiencing problems.
3) I expect a small hiccup, which will be handled quickly.
4) I expect a small problem, but it will persist for weeks.
5) There will probably be moderate problems that will be resolved quickly.
6) I think there will be moderate problems that take weeks to fix.
7) I expect major problems, but there will be a quick and equitable solution.
8) There will be huge problems and they will roll back to a previous version.
9) The feature will unbalance the game and the devs will just roll with it.
Those are kind of the stair steps of confidence as I see them. Seems like there should be more options, but I think you get a limit of 10.
10) It was overhyped by WRG/TP, just like most new content.
"The truth is like a lion; you don't have to defend it. Let it loose; it will defend itself."
After reading many posts decided to come in with my two cents.
The new feature, no more stuck voyages.
And I am 100% on board with that.
Fixing that bug should have been done one month after the bug was reported.
After reading many posts decided to come in with my two cents.
The new feature, no more stuck voyages.
And I am 100% on board with that.
Fixing that bug should have been done one month after the bug was reported.
Except they found a way to monetize stuck Voyages......
"The truth is like a lion; you don't have to defend it. Let it loose; it will defend itself."
After reading many posts decided to come in with my two cents.
The new feature, no more stuck voyages.
And I am 100% on board with that.
Fixing that bug should have been done one month after the bug was reported.
Except they found a way to monetize stuck Voyages......
So Dabo sale tomorrow and Klingon collection on Wednesday...
Bring the Collection. I have 32* Klingons Immortalized. {*Not counting Blood Oath Jadzia. Perfect time for her Trait to get fixed would be with the release of the Collection.}
🖖🖖🏼🖖🏻🖖🏽🖖🏾🖖🏿
"The truth is like a lion; you don't have to defend it. Let it loose; it will defend itself."
I think my bigger concern with the new feature is the concept of it. I worry that the new feature will be something that doesn’t really add to my enjoyment of the game and will either depend on lots of tapping or require a bunch of cash. I want reasons to add stars to most of my crew for reasons other than they can be frozen or they might help get a 12 hour voyage. I’m not as concerned about bugs, because I haven’t noticed as many glaring technical issues with the little things they have released to date (campaigns, offer wall, etc.).
I think my bigger concern with the new feature is the concept of it. I worry that the new feature will be something that doesn’t really add to my enjoyment of the game and will either depend on lots of tapping or require a bunch of cash. I want reasons to add stars to most of my crew for reasons other than they can be frozen or they might help get a 12 hour voyage. I’m not as concerned about bugs, because I haven’t noticed as many glaring technical issues with the little things they have released to date (campaigns, offer wall, etc.).
The promise of new and expanded collections will do more than a lot of things to help your voyage numbers. Those buffs add up more than you sometimes think. I maxed the Daystrom collection leading up to this event and my fleet upgraded Engineering. I'm been very "wow, where did you come from? Oh, right the new buff" when looking at crew ahead of the rerun, considering Torres, Detmer, and Picard variants usually have one or the other. Seeing as it is shuttles, I'm seriously considering immort'ing a couple non-event crew that will net me another skill buff for a rather reasonable cost that will be useful in general.
W.W. CarlislePlayed since January 20, 2019Captain Level- 99 (May 9, 2022)VIP 14Crew Quarters: 485/485Most recent/Lowest- Anbo-jyutsu Kyle Riker (1/5* Lvl 30) 5/29/23Immortalized x-866 5* x184, 4* x 490, 3* x91, 2* x62, and 1* x27Most recent Immortal - Tearful Janeway 4* 5/25/23Current non-event project- Improving my Science base skill. Retrieval Project- Mestral 1/5*
Let's see... "I was negative before it was cool," and "if you don't like something, then don't read it." Never mind the fact you don't know if you will like something until you read it. And if you think that's an oversimplification, it's because I took your advice and stopped reading right there.
There's legitimate reasons to complain. There's flaws in the game that most of us would love to see addressed. None of that is being discussed at this point. If it is, it's not being done in a manner that even resembles productive. I'll try to to get the thread back on track...
Game developers have a line to walk in terms of getting their fan base excited for a new feature and over-hyping it in a way that sets player expectations too high. How would you communicate a new feature? Where do you think is the right balance for such communication?
THIS! 100% THIS.
Those of us who refuse to pile onto the negativity bandwagon aren't doing it because we think this game is perfect. It's because it doesn't address the issues or help the situation in any way.
I think the most frustrating part is that a lot (not all, so there's no room for misinterpretation) of those complaining do nothing to indicate what would make them happy or what specific changes they would make.
Some seem hellbent on proving that absolutely nothing would ever satisfy them. I wish more people would make balanced, constructive critiques, and less would just shovel piles of unhelpful 💩 onto the pile.
Some people seem to make a sport of literally saying absolutely nothing constructive or anything that they actually do like about this game. I can name probably a couple handful of users who have never once said anything that wasn't entirely negative. I have no idea why those people are still playing, let alone on these forums.
If you were running this game, what would be the biggest issue you have and how would you specifically address it, without either:
• breaking the game
• killing the revenue streams that enable it to continue running
To those of you making realistic suggestions, to this question, and others like it, I applaud you. To those of you who are just heaping scorn without any beneficial input, I have one question: why are you still playing?
The clearest way to respond to this post, which blatantly bashes down any constructive, responsive, or offended criticisms of this game is to point out a couple of things that you seem to be taking for granted:
Your first four paragraphs, yes, paragraphs, indicate that you are essentially offended that anyone would come to these forums with criticisms of the game that don’t meet your criterium for being relevant. Thats pretty cute, icecat. Instead of delving into a 10,000 word Q and A about your opinion of what is and what isn’t a valid criticism, ill just ask you a couple of questions:
1: what do you expect?
This game has many tens of thousands of players......this forum has many dozens of posters. When things are steady, theres no negativity. When there are problems, the fanbase shows Up in force. Lately, there have been more problems than usual. So, more criticisms arrive. Just because someone dosnt know the solution to adira gate, or what the proper community reward thresholds during an anniversary event should be, does NOT make their opinion irrelevant.
2. Why, is there ANY negativity in the forum?
Look at the recent past. The devs have SCREWED UP A LOT. Not just simple stuff, but big stuff. Are you really surprised that the false advertising, missed targets and general misleading of player expectations had resulted in people that are upset?
3. How are you maintaining balance?
I see you talk about having a balanced perspective a lot. Talk. What i see you DO is a lot of circular logic and straw-manning of people who bring legitimate concerns or complaints to this forum. I have yet to see you offer any legitimate thought or perspective on one or ANY (past 12 months) of the backlog of controversial decisions the devs have made. These are not blown out of proportion. These are precedent setting issues, and the voices of those who came to these forums to speak out on them is what has helped to represent not only the people who don’t come to these forums, but at times it has come down to speaking out for what is ethical.
4. Why are YOU still on these forums?
These forums are the most direct line that gamers have to provide the developers of game feedback. Straight up, unfiltered feedback. Why do you feel like your job is to be the goal tender? Why do you feel like you are justified to decide whats valid or invalid feedback? Why does anyone need YOUR opinion or approval?
Why dont you just set up a discord channel and call it “the white knights”? Invite your buddies. See how boring that is?
5. Have you stopped to ask “where is the negativity coming from?”
In your haste to jump on the side of the line thats “positivity only” or “mr. balanced perspective”....have you stopped to ask why so many people are getting riled up? Are you really so pompous to believe that the masses of people showing up are somehow “stupid” because they dont sing tp/wrg praise or vent frustrations the way you think that they should?
Let's see... "I was negative before it was cool," and "if you don't like something, then don't read it." Never mind the fact you don't know if you will like something until you read it. And if you think that's an oversimplification, it's because I took your advice and stopped reading right there.
There's legitimate reasons to complain. There's flaws in the game that most of us would love to see addressed. None of that is being discussed at this point. If it is, it's not being done in a manner that even resembles productive. I'll try to to get the thread back on track...
Game developers have a line to walk in terms of getting their fan base excited for a new feature and over-hyping it in a way that sets player expectations too high. How would you communicate a new feature? Where do you think is the right balance for such communication?
THIS! 100% THIS.
Those of us who refuse to pile onto the negativity bandwagon aren't doing it because we think this game is perfect. It's because it doesn't address the issues or help the situation in any way.
I think the most frustrating part is that a lot (not all, so there's no room for misinterpretation) of those complaining do nothing to indicate what would make them happy or what specific changes they would make.
Some seem hellbent on proving that absolutely nothing would ever satisfy them. I wish more people would make balanced, constructive critiques, and less would just shovel piles of unhelpful 💩 onto the pile.
Some people seem to make a sport of literally saying absolutely nothing constructive or anything that they actually do like about this game. I can name probably a couple handful of users who have never once said anything that wasn't entirely negative. I have no idea why those people are still playing, let alone on these forums.
If you were running this game, what would be the biggest issue you have and how would you specifically address it, without either:
• breaking the game
• killing the revenue streams that enable it to continue running
To those of you making realistic suggestions, to this question, and others like it, I applaud you. To those of you who are just heaping scorn without any beneficial input, I have one question: why are you still playing?
The clearest way to respond to this post, which blatantly bashes down any constructive, responsive, or offended criticisms of this game is to point out a couple of things that you seem to be taking for granted:
Your first four paragraphs, yes, paragraphs, indicate that you are essentially offended that anyone would come to these forums with criticisms of the game that don’t meet your criterium for being relevant. Thats pretty cute, icecat. Instead of delving into a 10,000 word Q and A about your opinion of what is and what isn’t a valid criticism, ill just ask you a couple of questions:
1: what do you expect?
This game has many tens of thousands of players......this forum has many dozens of posters. When things are steady, theres no negativity. When there are problems, the fanbase shows Up in force. Lately, there have been more problems than usual. So, more criticisms arrive. Just because someone dosnt know the solution to adira gate, or what the proper community reward thresholds during an anniversary event should be, does NOT make their opinion irrelevant.
2. Why, is there ANY negativity in the forum?
Look at the recent past. The devs have SCREWED UP A LOT. Not just simple stuff, but big stuff. Are you really surprised that the false advertising, missed targets and general misleading of player expectations had resulted in people that are upset?
3. How are you maintaining balance?
I see you talk about having a balanced perspective a lot. Talk. What i see you DO is a lot of circular logic and straw-manning of people who bring legitimate concerns or complaints to this forum. I have yet to see you offer any legitimate thought or perspective on one or ANY (past 12 months) of the backlog of controversial decisions the devs have made. These are not blown out of proportion. These are precedent setting issues, and the voices of those who came to these forums to speak out on them is what has helped to represent not only the people who don’t come to these forums, but at times it has come down to speaking out for what is ethical.
4. Why are YOU still on these forums?
These forums are the most direct line that gamers have to provide the developers of game feedback. Straight up, unfiltered feedback. Why do you feel like your job is to be the goal tender? Why do you feel like you are justified to decide whats valid or invalid feedback? Why does anyone need YOUR opinion or approval?
Why dont you just set up a discord channel and call it “the white knights”? Invite your buddies. See how boring that is?
5. Have you stopped to ask “where is the negativity coming from?”
In your haste to jump on the side of the line thats “positivity only” or “mr. balanced perspective”....have you stopped to ask why so many people are getting riled up? Are you really so pompous to believe that the masses of people showing up are somehow “stupid” because they dont sing tp/wrg praise or vent frustrations the way you think that they should?
In the simplest of terms, I expect disappointment.
I was disappointed at the honor sale not happening around the holiday period. I was also annoyed that hoarding honor was portrayed like some kind of crime. I would also assume that when they do have the honor sale that was mentioned down the road, it will fail to live up to expectations.
The pack change while great for new players, does little to nothing for players that have most of the purple crew finished. Packs have become worthless for many unless you wanna pump dilithium/cash into the Trek skin slot machine.
I was really excited to get the two cites in the campaign but of course that didn’t get continued.
Uxbridge, one of my favorite characters in Trek was a huge disappointment stat wise for me.
I have zero reason to acquire new crew. I mean why would I? All they can do is sit at 1/5 and add to the other hundred or so others I’ll never finish. Ten hour voyages are nothing anymore, gauntlet is solid, can top 1500 any event, that is when I used to bother with it.
I just have nothing positive to say about the game currently, as I said early on, I just expect further disappointment.
On a side note, I didn’t purchase this current campaign nor will I the next. I haven’t continued my monthly card. In fact, I’ve gone free to play.
Hopefully, I’ll be blown off my feet with the new feature and the greenbacks will flow again...........not likely!
These forums are the most direct line that gamers have to provide the developers of game feedback. Straight up, unfiltered feedback. Why do you feel like your job is to be the goal tender? Why do you feel like you are justified to decide whats valid or invalid feedback? Why does anyone need YOUR opinion or approval?
Why dont you just set up a discord channel and call it “the white knights”? Invite your buddies. See how boring that is?
Way ahead of you, buddy.
@IceCat is not a member yet. He has some growing to do. As I said to him in a PM, derailing a conversation with bickering after it was rerouted back to productive conversation is not the way of the White Knight.
I think my bigger concern with the new feature is the concept of it. I worry that the new feature will be something that doesn’t really add to my enjoyment of the game and will either depend on lots of tapping or require a bunch of cash. I want reasons to add stars to most of my crew for reasons other than they can be frozen or they might help get a 12 hour voyage. I’m not as concerned about bugs, because I haven’t noticed as many glaring technical issues with the little things they have released to date (campaigns, offer wall, etc.).
The promise of new and expanded collections will do more than a lot of things to help your voyage numbers. Those buffs add up more than you sometimes think. I maxed the Daystrom collection leading up to this event and my fleet upgraded Engineering. I'm been very "wow, where did you come from? Oh, right the new buff" when looking at crew ahead of the rerun, considering Torres, Detmer, and Picard variants usually have one or the other. Seeing as it is shuttles, I'm seriously considering immort'ing a couple non-event crew that will net me another skill buff for a rather reasonable cost that will be useful in general.
I’m at the point in the game where buffs don’t affect my roster very much (check the leaderboard from the recently completed event). The fleets I’m in have maxed starbases. For smaller rosters, it will be nice. But for a lot of us more veteran players, we’ve felt like the devs have not been paying attention to our needs.
I agree, and while new features are great I wish they would *tweek* the existing ones.
Voyage's are a little 1 dimensional and need a few extra dilemmas to them with perhaps new crew or even some golds or citations in the mix.
Gauntlets are very difficult even as a long time player just by the amount of crew walls you face. One option would be to re-balance the crew trait bonuses to rather than a critical % chance to a % increase to their usual rolls.
Sooooo many times I have had a supposedly featured crew with 3 traits get battered by someone's Locutus, Caretaker etc.
Skirmishes, where do I start!? The whole skirmish engine is just really bad. I'd like ships to have a few more meaningful buffs to them rather than just using the Ferengi Alpha strike option.
I mentioned replacing the hull bonus with an attack bonus. That would make the featured ships more viable. I also would like to get more variety there.
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I would be more concerned with tp/wrg favoring beta test spots for the whales, which might result in even bigger problems if the meta community is not considered.
Regardless, i Am still patiently waiting for this new feature, and I am trying to keep my own expectations managed, but the trends over the past year have not been great.
New feature is one four times deeper......
In many games I played everyone could be a beta tester, not just an elite small crowd. In other games it was the other way around. Both worked. I never cared to do it seriously as I lacked the devotion. But I have faith that some of the players here have it and would help to improve the game a lot. Even if they gained a small advantage for their beta work - so what? It would probably be less of an advantage than 100 $ would bring.
There is imparity anyway, some more for devoted work on the game would be fine with me.
Sadly, as nice as it was to see things off to a positive start, past experience said it wouldn't last.
With regards to your last part of your post, I agree.
But if that's the best silver lining we can come up with, we're in worst trouble than I thought.
Or sneak peaks/dev blogs of "hey, this is our new feature in development and it's gonna be called Voyages and will give you the chance to send out crew on this long journeys. Here's a couple beta screen shots and check back next month for a look at how you will assign crew."
And then imagine in my less than creative example, that Voyages cost credits to send out. "Hey, here's how you assign crew to your Voyage. Currently we've got it set to cost 5000 credits to (do this thing) although we're still balancing costs."
Boom, everyone, beta tester or not suddenly knows that credits are involved.
Seems like the fear from TP is, like mini-events, being afraid of failure if the feature doesn't roll out on schedule or as designed. Except all they'd need to do is a next dev blog of "hey, we ran into some snags in coding how your crew members talked to each other during a Voyage. Turned out, putting a Klingon and a Borg on the same crew brought up a lot of tension and arguments - it's gonna take us a couple more months to establish some peace accords." Even with slight humor, that acknowledgement of the problem and the process wouldn't be looked upon as frustration by the players, it would earn them SO MUCH good will for their efforts of transparency.
THIS! 100% THIS.
Those of us who refuse to pile onto the negativity bandwagon aren't doing it because we think this game is perfect. It's because it doesn't address the issues or help the situation in any way.
I think the most frustrating part is that a lot (not all, so there's no room for misinterpretation) of those complaining do nothing to indicate what would make them happy or what specific changes they would make.
Some seem hellbent on proving that absolutely nothing would ever satisfy them. I wish more people would make balanced, constructive critiques, and less would just shovel piles of unhelpful 💩 onto the pile.
Some people seem to make a sport of literally saying absolutely nothing constructive or anything that they actually do like about this game. I can name probably a couple handful of users who have never once said anything that wasn't entirely negative. I have no idea why those people are still playing, let alone on these forums.
If you were running this game, what would be the biggest issue you have and how would you specifically address it, without either:
• breaking the game
• killing the revenue streams that enable it to continue running
To those of you making realistic suggestions, to this question, and others like it, I applaud you. To those of you who are just heaping scorn without any beneficial input, I have one question: why are you still playing?
Here's a link to the old thread on it:
https://forums.disruptorbeam.com/stt/viewthread/63539
Again... not trying to change the world or even the game. Just curious how forum folks feel about the issue.
I would really like to that new feature is something that enable me to USE my crew. After placing 12 cards on Voyage, and 12-16 cards on shuttles and 5 for gauntlet, all others just occupy slots.
Most of the time, over 90% of my crew is useless. That is the main reason I don't buy cites any more. None of the crew which needs cites will become usefull, (well I need some calculations to do for some of them for future voyages, so maybe).
Make It So is my favorite sub-forum. I look forward to seeing what you might come up with.
I've been trying to figure out how to write a poll that won't come across as negative but is something I'm generally curious about where the overall consumer confidence levels are - and it ties to your beta test idea.... which is: "how confident are you that the new feature will work as intended upon release" -- not whether or not you're happy with it, but with lack of any apparent large-scale beta test, and with the recent history of the slip-ups, I'm just curious (and maybe can make a point to the developers) about how confident people currently are in the ability of the feature to be released.
I'm sure I'm not the only one who thought "hey, I'm gonna wait a couple days before pulling the new modified premium packs" just in case they didn't auto-behold correctly.
This is the other half of the expectations game and communication as well - because of the recent issues, regardless of the reason behind them (accidental, oversight, programming error, intentional but met with negativity, etc - doesn't matter) - TP should be really taking some major steps to help restore consumer confidence in the game. That transparency I talked about ties to this - if the players feel like they've got a window to see into the process, they'll feel more confident about how things are progressing.
I'm just guessing on my read of forums and personal opinion, that the favorability numbers when it comes to a smooth implementation would be pretty low. I hope I'm wrong, both on where the confidence numbers would be and on the ability of TP to roll out a smooth implementation. I'm not crossing my fingers and hoping they fail or slip-up -- I *want* them to succeed and blow us all away and make us look back on the last couple months with frustration that we didn't have faith in them. But I feel like the closer we get and the more it's hyped without any specifics, the higher player expectations go and the lower the player confidence drops.
Options I would include:
1) It will probably be flawless.
2) I think it will be pretty smooth with only a few individuals experiencing problems.
3) I expect a small hiccup, which will be handled quickly.
4) I expect a small problem, but it will persist for weeks.
5) There will probably be moderate problems that will be resolved quickly.
6) I think there will be moderate problems that take weeks to fix.
7) I expect major problems, but there will be a quick and equitable solution.
8) There will be huge problems and they will roll back to a previous version.
9) The feature will unbalance the game and the devs will just roll with it.
Those are kind of the stair steps of confidence as I see them. Seems like there should be more options, but I think you get a limit of 10.
With polls though, i think it should probably be pointed out that the majority of the forum regulars are “uber fans” and its really only during times of technical difficulty/controversy that the forum has an influx of angry gamers. That being said, the poll is likely to be tipped decidedly toward the “positive” side.
If you were to cast the same poll during adiragate, you might find significantly less confidence.
10) It was overhyped by WRG/TP, just like most new content.
The new feature, no more stuck voyages.
And I am 100% on board with that.
Fixing that bug should have been done one month after the bug was reported.
Except they found a way to monetize stuck Voyages......
Ya, someone did mention that in another thread.
Proud member of Patterns of Force
Captain Level 99
Played since January 2017
TP: Do better!!!
Bring the Collection. I have 32* Klingons Immortalized. {*Not counting Blood Oath Jadzia. Perfect time for her Trait to get fixed would be with the release of the Collection.}
🖖🖖🏼🖖🏻🖖🏽🖖🏾🖖🏿
The promise of new and expanded collections will do more than a lot of things to help your voyage numbers. Those buffs add up more than you sometimes think. I maxed the Daystrom collection leading up to this event and my fleet upgraded Engineering. I'm been very "wow, where did you come from? Oh, right the new buff" when looking at crew ahead of the rerun, considering Torres, Detmer, and Picard variants usually have one or the other. Seeing as it is shuttles, I'm seriously considering immort'ing a couple non-event crew that will net me another skill buff for a rather reasonable cost that will be useful in general.
The clearest way to respond to this post, which blatantly bashes down any constructive, responsive, or offended criticisms of this game is to point out a couple of things that you seem to be taking for granted:
Your first four paragraphs, yes, paragraphs, indicate that you are essentially offended that anyone would come to these forums with criticisms of the game that don’t meet your criterium for being relevant. Thats pretty cute, icecat. Instead of delving into a 10,000 word Q and A about your opinion of what is and what isn’t a valid criticism, ill just ask you a couple of questions:
1: what do you expect?
This game has many tens of thousands of players......this forum has many dozens of posters. When things are steady, theres no negativity. When there are problems, the fanbase shows Up in force. Lately, there have been more problems than usual. So, more criticisms arrive. Just because someone dosnt know the solution to adira gate, or what the proper community reward thresholds during an anniversary event should be, does NOT make their opinion irrelevant.
2. Why, is there ANY negativity in the forum?
Look at the recent past. The devs have SCREWED UP A LOT. Not just simple stuff, but big stuff. Are you really surprised that the false advertising, missed targets and general misleading of player expectations had resulted in people that are upset?
3. How are you maintaining balance?
I see you talk about having a balanced perspective a lot. Talk. What i see you DO is a lot of circular logic and straw-manning of people who bring legitimate concerns or complaints to this forum. I have yet to see you offer any legitimate thought or perspective on one or ANY (past 12 months) of the backlog of controversial decisions the devs have made. These are not blown out of proportion. These are precedent setting issues, and the voices of those who came to these forums to speak out on them is what has helped to represent not only the people who don’t come to these forums, but at times it has come down to speaking out for what is ethical.
4. Why are YOU still on these forums?
These forums are the most direct line that gamers have to provide the developers of game feedback. Straight up, unfiltered feedback. Why do you feel like your job is to be the goal tender? Why do you feel like you are justified to decide whats valid or invalid feedback? Why does anyone need YOUR opinion or approval?
Why dont you just set up a discord channel and call it “the white knights”? Invite your buddies. See how boring that is?
5. Have you stopped to ask “where is the negativity coming from?”
In your haste to jump on the side of the line thats “positivity only” or “mr. balanced perspective”....have you stopped to ask why so many people are getting riled up? Are you really so pompous to believe that the masses of people showing up are somehow “stupid” because they dont sing tp/wrg praise or vent frustrations the way you think that they should?
this +1000
I was disappointed at the honor sale not happening around the holiday period. I was also annoyed that hoarding honor was portrayed like some kind of crime. I would also assume that when they do have the honor sale that was mentioned down the road, it will fail to live up to expectations.
The pack change while great for new players, does little to nothing for players that have most of the purple crew finished. Packs have become worthless for many unless you wanna pump dilithium/cash into the Trek skin slot machine.
I was really excited to get the two cites in the campaign but of course that didn’t get continued.
Uxbridge, one of my favorite characters in Trek was a huge disappointment stat wise for me.
I have zero reason to acquire new crew. I mean why would I? All they can do is sit at 1/5 and add to the other hundred or so others I’ll never finish. Ten hour voyages are nothing anymore, gauntlet is solid, can top 1500 any event, that is when I used to bother with it.
I just have nothing positive to say about the game currently, as I said early on, I just expect further disappointment.
On a side note, I didn’t purchase this current campaign nor will I the next. I haven’t continued my monthly card. In fact, I’ve gone free to play.
Hopefully, I’ll be blown off my feet with the new feature and the greenbacks will flow again...........not likely!
Way ahead of you, buddy.
@IceCat is not a member yet. He has some growing to do. As I said to him in a PM, derailing a conversation with bickering after it was rerouted back to productive conversation is not the way of the White Knight.
I’m at the point in the game where buffs don’t affect my roster very much (check the leaderboard from the recently completed event). The fleets I’m in have maxed starbases. For smaller rosters, it will be nice. But for a lot of us more veteran players, we’ve felt like the devs have not been paying attention to our needs.
Voyage's are a little 1 dimensional and need a few extra dilemmas to them with perhaps new crew or even some golds or citations in the mix.
Gauntlets are very difficult even as a long time player just by the amount of crew walls you face. One option would be to re-balance the crew trait bonuses to rather than a critical % chance to a % increase to their usual rolls.
Sooooo many times I have had a supposedly featured crew with 3 traits get battered by someone's Locutus, Caretaker etc.
Skirmishes, where do I start!? The whole skirmish engine is just really bad. I'd like ships to have a few more meaningful buffs to them rather than just using the Ferengi Alpha strike option.