Character Tacking and Achievement System

[ravenkind2]

I've been around a while and I haven't seen this topic yet so someone correct me if I'm wrong.

I used to be the type of person that just wanted to play the game straight through from beginning to end, no frills, get it done and get it over with. I used to think achievement systems were a complete waste of time "oh boy I opened a door, yay," but as I've been playing games that actually have achievement systems in them it actually can get kind of fun and exciting. Even MMO's are jumping on the achievement bandwagon: WoW, WAR, EQII, and I heard AoC but I'm not sure about that one.

To me it seems like WAR took the whole thing to a new level. They have their Tome of Knowledge which, as I can personally say, tracks just about everything a person can do. It tells you things like how many times you've killed person X, how much money you've acquired, how many wolves you killed, etc.

Now while I still basically go through out the game trying to get to end level, I sometimes stop and find myself sifting through its pages wondering if I've missed something. Its also a fun surprise when you're doing some stupid thing like jumping off a cliff and you get a little pop up saying "Good job you've killed yourself 100 times, here's a title." I think it adds a little extra spice to the game play while being stupid or while doing things that seem boring.

So my question to you guys is if you think we should have an achievement system and if we did what types of achievements would you want to see in it? What kind of information would you want Cryptic to track in your "Captain's Log?" Also if there was an achievement system do you think they should add in special items, titles, gear?

[Hagon]

I'd have to think a bit longer about what particular achievements I'd want tracked, and what possible rewards could possibly be included for achievements, but I'd just add in here that it's certainly not outside the realm of possibility that Cryptic will have these as a feature in the game. After all, they did include an achievement system in CoH/CoV.

[Father_Origin]

I would call them medals, and you can have them put on a 'dress' uniform

[AaronH]

I would call them medals, and you can have them put on a 'dress' uniform

I'll go along with this. Altough, if the achievment system is anywhere near as prolific as the CoX system you wouldn't be able to display them all. Even assuming a ribbon method similar to what most militaries use, you would wind up with a pretty cluttered dress uniform. Maybe a way to pick and choose what gets displayed? I wonder how badly sending that information consistantly would lag things? Too bad there won't be player quarters or even ready rooms, that would be a great place to display such items.

[k.mpok]

LoTR: O was big on title rewards (achieved after doing/killing something a set number or times) as well as skill ability advancements (using a skill/ability a set number of times).

I really like the medal/ribbon/badge option. Something that you can wear on your uniform.

A few Klingon ideas.

Honour of the Black Fleet
This Medal is awarded to the Commander of a ship that comes out victorious in a losing battle. (npc battles fought outnumbered or on the weaker side)

Honour of the Dahar
Klingon warrior who has reached the highest level attainable in the practice of Mok'bara The Klingon form of martial arts, and has attained legendary status among his peers. (maxed out skill in hand-2-hand or melee combat or maybe so many kills achieved without a wpn)

Shroud of Morath
Awarded to those who fall from the path of honour only to return in a glorious fashion, proving his honour and courage in a way that would serve as an example to other warriors of the Empire. (Having achieved a set number of failed missions of deaths)

Outstanding Service Award
Awarded for being an example of what the Empire stands for. Inspire others into deeds of valor and courage. Protecting the Empire beyond simply duties. (achieved a set amount of NPC or PC kills)

Medal of Heroism
Awarded for single handedly saving the lives of his crew or Klingon civilians at the peril of his own life. (achieved by completing a set number of missions/quest)

Purple Heart
Awarded to those that that have been injured in the line of duty. The injuries don't have to be life-threatening, they just have to be sufficient enough for the CO to feel it is necessary to award the player. With Klingons it generally is life threatening, to where only the Brak'lul can determine the survival. (completing a set number of missions with only a low/little health left).

Crimson Bat'leth
Awarded for the 100th kill of an enemy using a Bat'leth.

Life Time Service Award
Awarded for each year of service on a KDF vessel. (each year an active account is maintained)

Romulan Campaign Service Medal
Awarded to characters who actively preformed duties in the Campaign against the Romulan Star Empire. (killed a set amount of Romulans)

Federation Campaign Service Medal
Awarded to characters who actively preformed duties in the Campaign against the United Federation of Planets. (killed a set amount of Fed members)

Cardassian Campaign Service Medal
Awarded to characters who actively preformed duties in the Campaign against the Cardassian Union . (killed a set amount of Cardassian members)

[qoona]

They said t hey are considerig some kind of captains log. so maybe... Also some achievements are canon ( like worf going to bathleth turnament and bringing trophy)

[ravenkind2]

They said t hey are considerig some kind of captains log. so maybe... Also some achievements are canon ( like worf going to bathleth turnament and bringing trophy)

I must have missed them saying that. That's awesome if you can track your kills or how many species you brought to your side through diplomatic means.

[NeoWolf]

I certainly hope STO does have an achievement reward type system it is one of my favourite features of LOTRO.

I also like the idea of certain titles and service awards, medals etc.. being tied to them.

However from a roleplayers perspective I also hope that a Captains Log gives you a notepad style page you can write in each time you log in that are saved to your game directory.. so that I can actually write my own captains logs which chart my characters activities on any given day of game play.. as that would be cool too :)

[qoona]

well as a member of military you are quite logically expectibng to get some medals <_<

[Loekii]

I certainly hope STO does have an achievement reward type system it is one of my favourite features of LOTRO.

I also like the idea of certain titles and service awards, medals etc.. being tied to them.

However from a roleplayers perspective I also hope that a Captains Log gives you a notepad style page you can write in each time you log in that are saved to your game directory.. so that I can actually write my own captains logs which chart my characters activities on any given day of game play.. as that would be cool too :)

I would like to see the 'Captains Log' basically be like a WAR:Tomb Of Knowledge -- basically an 'all in one' device that serves as your:

Current Mission Log/Objectives
Completed Missions -- in Captains Log narrative style
Accomplishments
Factional Relationship levels
Discoveries, Science Data, etc
Character sheet

[Strandberg]

I've been around a while and I haven't seen this topic yet so someone correct me if I'm wrong.

I used to be the type of person that just wanted to play the game straight through from beginning to end, no frills, get it done and get it over with. I used to think achievement systems were a complete waste of time "oh boy I opened a door, yay," but as I've been playing games that actually have achievement systems in them it actually can get kind of fun and exciting. Even MMO's are jumping on the achievement bandwagon: WoW, WAR, EQII, and I heard AoC but I'm not sure about that one.

To me it seems like WAR took the whole thing to a new level. They have their Tome of Knowledge which, as I can personally say, tracks just about everything a person can do. It tells you things like how many times you've killed person X, how much money you've acquired, how many wolves you killed, etc.

Now while I still basically go through out the game trying to get to end level, I sometimes stop and find myself sifting through its pages wondering if I've missed something. Its also a fun surprise when you're doing some stupid thing like jumping off a cliff and you get a little pop up saying "Good job you've killed yourself 100 times, here's a title." I think it adds a little extra spice to the game play while being stupid or while doing things that seem boring.

So my question to you guys is if you think we should have an achievement system and if we did what types of achievements would you want to see in it? What kind of information would you want Cryptic to track in your "Captain's Log?" Also if there was an achievement system do you think they should add in special items, titles, gear?

Since they are doing a mmorpg they should focus on special loot like you suggest, the people who play this genre seem to feed on it - so yeah the more the better

[qoona]

thats why existence of endgame is bad. it makes rest of game nonexistent, only a grindmaterial. COX was nice as part of Endgame, include ability to go throuh low level storyarcs(Ouroburos), and helping low level players ( the sidekick/exemplar system was one of best things there). But for most games, the low level content is either nonexistent, or ignored. I am special kind of player, that ike to wonder, explore, look under all stones and leafs, and such things make me sad. Thats why i love eve so much. all conten is for all players. all you need are some balls.

[Sumdian]

I like the idea of an achievement system but i hated how wow had an armory system where people could armory people to and see what they had done and gear it promoted a lot of elitism in the game and people would only take people in the best gear and not give some people a chance to do things or gear up.

[Flatfingers]

So my question to you guys is if you think we should have an achievement system and if we did what types of achievements would you want to see in it? What kind of information would you want Cryptic to track in your "Captain's Log?" Also if there was an achievement system do you think they should add in special items, titles, gear?

Since this was presented as an open-ended question, I hope it's OK if I say I'd be just fine with no achievement/trophy/collections stuff in this game at all.

I'd be fine with there being a relatively small number of medals that could be won for accomplishing something extraordinary and completely unexpected, or even a very small number of "good conduct/theater service"-type medals.

What I'd strongly prefer not to see in this game are badges that can be collected by repetition of content: "100 enemy kills" or "discovered 50 new worlds" or some such. All those do is send the message to players that experiencing the gameworld as a world is less important than "beating" some minigame, that the developers are just fine with nudging players in the ribs to say, "Yeah, we know it's just a game, the whole Star Trek thing is completely irrelevant; just ignore it."

Rather than such cheap "content," I hope the developers will instead make an effort to create lots of fun non-repeatable things to do. If certain extremely rare combinations of those things yield an achievement -- something whose formula can't be posted on a web site for everybody to copy -- then achievements, like certain medals in our real world, will actually mean something. They won't just be rewards for mindless persistence.

It's not my intention to spark any kind of big debate by saying this. All I'm doing is answering the question that was asked: no, I'd prefer not to see a bunch of grindable achievements in this game.

I understand that some people will think I'm completely mistaken about that. That's fine; they're free to say so, though I hope they'll make the effort to explain why.

Thanks for allowing me to offer a different perspective on this question.

--Flatfingers