Meet and Greet in Vegas Info [Archive] - Star Trek Online Forums

knightofhyrule730

08-08-2009, 03:34 PM

Hey everyone,

Just wanted to update yall on whats going on at the meet and greet as I get updates from Nebraska_Dave and Tamgos who are on the line.

150ish people there. Craig is doing a Q&A during the Dev Demo

First 25 people have received Beta invites.
Awen says Hello!
Rekhan is taking down emails for the beta.
PLAYABLE DEMO AT MEET AND GREET (That Devs are playing?)
Dave Enjoys Demo...then Crashes to Windows.
Will have no rat killing. Linked episodes are called Arcs, Linked Arcs are called Seasons
Demo back. Klingon side looks nice
-No Pictures or Videos Allowed-
Detailed Asteriod Field
Phasers vs Shields Torps vs Hulls
Enemy AI Will concentrate fire at weak points
GUI Moveable
Bridge Officers have their own inventories
Chain Reaction Explosions possible
No Picard maneuver
Boarding Actions Possible
Power Switching "Easy"
Career affects missions as well as ships
Subsystem Targeting is in
~Beaming down~
Bridge Officers give Pop up Messages
Raid zones are in (on ground?)
Federation using Batleth's and Jujitsu
Android and Holographic Bridge Officers avaliable (most of us knew this one)
DS9 is a social hub and ingame at launch.
Dev throws Grenades!
Dev gets butt kicked by 8 Klingons (has God Mode on, cannot die, still funny to watch)
COH like "Side-Kick" system in the game.
The game looks very good.

-Dave Signs Out-

Big thanks to Nebraska_Dave for iPhoning this to us in the IRC chat!

curtst

08-08-2009, 03:39 PM

Hey everyone,

Just wanted to update yall on whats going on at the meet and greet as I get updates from Nebraska_Dave and Tamgos who are on the line.

First 25 people have received Beta invites.

Will update as i see things.

I was expecting that. Did you make it there in time for that? Times I wish I was stationed at Creech :(

knightofhyrule730

08-08-2009, 03:40 PM

I was expecting that. Did you make it there in time for that? Times I wish I was stationed at Creech :(

im sitting in my home in NJ. :P

I'm watching the IIRC chat. Dave is updating us as to whats going on.

Awen says hello :)

knightofhyrule730

08-08-2009, 03:44 PM

Playable Demo

R4mp4ge

08-08-2009, 03:46 PM

they giving them out to people on line or just in person?

Angelphoenix12

08-08-2009, 03:49 PM

wish i was there :D

knightofhyrule730

08-08-2009, 03:51 PM

not sure what your question is :\

also, I am not there, specific questions are kinda hard to answer

Varrangian

08-08-2009, 03:53 PM

not sure what your question is :\

also, I am not there, specific questions are kinda hard to answer

I think the question was if they were giving the beta's out to people in IRC, or just at the Con at least that's how I read it.

My guess is just at the Con.

knightofhyrule730

08-08-2009, 03:55 PM

Ah, yeah, i dont know. im thinking they just have PCs set up with the game that people can play.

At NYCC they had different CO scenarios set up for people to play.

knightofhyrule730

08-08-2009, 04:06 PM

STO DEMO BREAKS

"Falls down and goes boom" as Dave says.

"there will be NO 'Kill 20 rats" quests"

knightofhyrule730

08-08-2009, 04:10 PM

No Pictures or Vidoes allowed.

MyOwnSling

08-08-2009, 04:23 PM

Nice news so far. Looks like you are safe from the tribbles.

Edit:
The news of the playable demo makes me wonder if we will be seeing a large influx of hard info. We shall see.

knightofhyrule730

08-08-2009, 04:25 PM

Nice news so far. Looks like you are safe from the tribbles.

until i use my boarding action to beam over tribbles :D

MyOwnSling

08-08-2009, 04:27 PM

until i use my boarding action to beam over tribbles :D

Can we do that?! :D Would be an awesome way of slowly incapacitating an enemy.

Swordopolis

08-08-2009, 04:29 PM

GUI Moveable

Very interesting.

knightofhyrule730

08-08-2009, 04:57 PM

Dave signed out a few seconds ago. Thanks for the info dave, way to go. If you want to add anything, feel free :)

I hope Cryptic shows us some of the demo they used :\

USS_Parallax

08-08-2009, 05:06 PM

Darn it! I hope someone didn't listen and posts this thing on Youtube. ;)

SelorKiith

08-08-2009, 05:08 PM

Cryptic HAS to show us something... they can't let the rest of the world die of thirst for Moving Pictures Oo

Esgar

08-08-2009, 05:08 PM

-Boarding ACtions possible

This has me very, very excited. I am curious how we'll be able to work it. do YOU have to personally beam over? Can you assign security teams to do it (to disrupt the enemies ship; this sort of thing would probably happen in the 'invisible' areas of teh interior populated by the faceless NPCs). Nonetheless, it has me giggling. Oh yes. Tell our spies great job, and thanks for bringing it to us! :)

TruthSeer

08-08-2009, 05:08 PM

Thanks for the info Knight.

EDIT: Question I just thought of, any word on how the weapons look? Do they look like normal weapons we are used to or the ones that have been showing up in screen shots?

knightofhyrule730

08-08-2009, 05:11 PM

Esgar

08-08-2009, 05:17 PM

mm, i hear that. im thinking its going to be some kind of rock paper scissor with their security officer boarding skill vs your security officer repelling/defense skill

Could be. NPC vs. NPC seems like it'll be the route they take, which makes me think boarding actions will work like a form of 'debuff'; hindering repairs, killing off crew, etc. I'm very interested to see how the particulars work out. And even though it would be a little silly, I hope we can 'port over in the flesh as it were. Facing down the enemy captain face-to-face would be a pretty cool ability to have.

Xibala

08-08-2009, 05:19 PM

I was very impressed with the demo; the screenshots we have seen thus far have not done the game justice. Seeing the demo has now allowed me to get excited about the game; that and I was one of the first 25 to receive a beta key (had to wait in line an hour and a half though.)

As has been announced, space combat is slow-paced and ground combat is fast paced. The demo we saw with the bat'leth was imnpressive as was the martial art movements.

I will collect my thoughts later and try to give more details, though I bet that by the time I getr back here, someone wil have beat me to it.

MyOwnSling

08-08-2009, 05:22 PM

knightofhyrule730

08-08-2009, 05:57 PM

Nice to hear a first-person perspective (not to diminish your information, knight). I look forward to your details.

Also, you are the envy of many right now :)

hahaha. dont worry about me. someone who was there > me, obviously. All I had to go off of was Dave's IRC posts which were really only a few words.

I'm glad to hear that you enjoyed the game. Were you excited for it at all, or were you one of those people who were made all those "zomg no rolls" posts :P

Highlander

08-08-2009, 05:57 PM

I want a 20 min long vid :P that should keep me happy for a day or two :P

Dragonmonk

08-08-2009, 06:13 PM

So as msot now know the first 25 got beta invites ( i was number one :P ty) after taking our emails, and giving us some food/drinks, we are introduced to the team that was there, dave then shows us the playable demo ( although i suspect the server was running on his own comp..) the game looks very slick and polished, Confirmed that you will start in space with a light cruiser starcraft ( after the tutorial is what i am thinking), first mission was to escort an ambassador to the vulcan embassy.

Dave drives to the planet in "Sector" view then warps down to the system and we are now in "solar system" view, he shows off how the ships move, they are big and bulky so no loopy loops or barrel rolls. Enemy AI will all work together to target same areas of the shield and or sub systems, Manouvering and getting into proper position seems very critcal in space flight/fights. After playing around with the klingons for a few dave shows us how the bridge commanders can "buff" your attacks, his tactical officer is able to send out a group of torpedoes at once rather then just the normal one at a time. He shows us how you can take auxilary power and switch ot shield, propolsion, weapons etc. Then shows how we can move power of the shields from aft/port etc to where we need them or balance all shields.

After killing off all the Klingons he then shows us the bridge commanders, all have ther eown set of skills, inventory, and exp. They level up as you use them more. He then takes us on an Away Mission. Away Missions conist of 5 people, whether they are NPC's or PC's. He takes his 3 commanders, plus his own char and a red suite :p.

We are now on the ground he is showing us the combat, the AI of the computer group mates, and teh hand to hand combat. Not sure but it looks like to me character collision is in game and you cnat jsut step through an enemy to get to the back lines ( body blocking choke points may be possible??). After killing several klingons Dave manages to get his commanders seriously injured and they are beamed up to his ship and are healing in his Medical Bay. They will be ready to go once he is done and beams back up himself.

This is the end of the live discussion, lots of questions where asked. Confirmed that there will be no mob grinding to level up, seems pretty mission(quest) driven. One very kewl aspect of the game is you are able to make your own playable race and choose which side he/she/it fights for. Also they are trying to work on ways that you can share your races with other fleet (guild) members.

While there is no Friendly Fire on away mission there is collatoral damage in space, if another ship blows up next to you you can get destroyed if you shield is to low or at the least take some damage.

Groups will be 5 man missions, Raids ( space raids where really only talked about not sure about land raids..) can be up to 20 some ships fighting together to take on a Borg Cube etc.

If you have any questions i will try to answer to the best of my ability. If i got anything wrong please anyone else that was there or a dev let me know and i will fix :p

Dragonmonk

08-08-2009, 06:16 PM

I want a 20 min long vid :P that should keep me happy for a day or two :P

sadly they banned all video and photography, but you can read my write up HERE (http://forums.startrekonline.com/showthread.php?t=24266)

The_Padre

08-08-2009, 06:21 PM

Sounds pretty sweet so far.

Sorbek

08-08-2009, 06:25 PM

You lucky dog!! Congrats on the Beta key.

TFO_KillSwitch

08-08-2009, 06:26 PM

nice info thanks
starts to druel:D

MyOwnSling

08-08-2009, 06:30 PM

Thanks for the info.

Esgar

08-08-2009, 06:31 PM

Thanks for the write-up! some fun new stuff to chew on in this post and in the other meet and greet thread.

njdss4

08-08-2009, 06:37 PM

Grats on the beta key and thanks for the info! Now if they would only upload a VIDEO of this demo...

CrazyVulcan

08-08-2009, 06:42 PM

Groups will be 5 man missions, Raids ( space raids where really only talked about not sure about land raids..) can be up to 20 some ships fighting together to take on a Borg Cube etc.

now by that is there a limit to how big battles can be or is that the limit of each group meanding that you can have more than one group in a area taking on that cube

could you explane furthere

Angelphoenix12

08-08-2009, 06:43 PM

curtst

08-08-2009, 07:00 PM

now by that is there a limit to how big battles can be or is that the limit of each group meanding that you can have more than one group in a area taking on that cube

could you explane furthere

Sounds to me like many battles will be instanced including raids. I don't this so much. I can understand instanced missions on planets but not in space.

Dragonmonk

08-08-2009, 07:06 PM

now by that is there a limit to how big battles can be or is that the limit of each group meanding that you can have more than one group in a area taking on that cube

could you explane furthere

The group limit seems to be limited only on away missions ( land missions) and not in space....

Varrangian

08-08-2009, 07:08 PM

Sounds to me like many battles will be instanced including raids. I don't this so much. I can understand instanced missions on planets but not in space.

Umm it makes perfect sense to instance space missions (maybe not raid events, but regular missions). I've never seen a Trek episode where 70 ships were orbiting a planet waiting for a Klingon ship to spawn. Make much more sense to instance it. Now 70 ships fighting a borg cube makes a heck of a lot more sense, but that's not an everyday mission, that's a raid style mission.

Dragonmonk

08-08-2009, 07:08 PM

does this mean we can use our red shirts crews also on away missions on ground or on board other ships? btw a very cool write up :)

was told that the red shirts would only be used in the first 2-3 hours of game play, as by that time you will have your 4+ crew mean so if you wanted to solo a land mission you would be able to with our using red shirts ( red shirts have no special skills, no special weapons, and i dont think you cun customize them in any way)

Dragonmonk

08-08-2009, 07:10 PM

Sounds to me like many battles will be instanced including raids. I don't this so much. I can understand instanced missions on planets but not in space.

ok space really has two forms, you have sector space ( going between system's) and Solar System space. I would suspect that sector space will be none instance and that sector/land area would be instanced, but peeps can join you at any time in any of the three really quickly according to devs

Varrangian

08-08-2009, 07:10 PM

was told that the red shirts would only be used in the first 2-3 hours of game play, as by that time you will have your 4+ crew mean so if you wanted to solo a land mission you would be able to with our using red shirts ( red shirts have no special skills, no special weapons, and i dont think you cun customize them in any way)

This makes a lot of sense. I would worry that if you had access to Red shirts at all times they would just be utilized as cannon fodder, since they don't level up and have skills. I'd rather not see that as a tactic personally, and it would make me worry about lazy game design.

TFO_KillSwitch

08-08-2009, 07:11 PM

Dragonmonk

08-08-2009, 07:13 PM

here is a question
is it a persistant state. meaing if i take say this mission here. and player b is allreyd doint hat same mission will i be able to see him in that section or on that planet?
or will it be like guild wars were you only see other players in town or and such?

I may be wrong but the feeling i got was more of a guild wars town/hub feel, but Sector space is going to be open so you will see 50+ other peeps around you ready to go down to a planet to do a mission and you will be able to group.

I jsut really hope they have a good LFG window/function to help facilate grouping

Veglargh

08-08-2009, 07:13 PM

thanks for the info and congrats

Angelphoenix12

08-08-2009, 07:14 PM

was told that the red shirts would only be used in the first 2-3 hours of game play, as by that time you will have your 4+ crew mean so if you wanted to solo a land mission you would be able to with our using red shirts ( red shirts have no special skills, no special weapons, and i dont think you cun customize them in any way)

cool that does make sence :) and ty for your answer. im looking forward to this game more and more :)

Varrangian

08-08-2009, 07:18 PM

here is a question
is it a persistent state. meaning if i take say this mission here. and player b is already doing that same mission will i be able to see him in that section or on that planet?
or will it be like guild wars were you only see other players in town or and such?

I may be wrong but the feeling i got was more of a guild wars town/hub feel, but Sector space is going to be open so you will see 50+ other peeps around you ready to go down to a planet to do a mission and you will be able to group.

I jsut really hope they have a good LFG window/function to help facilate grouping

My guess would be this. System space (is that what you meant above Dragonmonk?) will be instanced, but it will be a situation where if a friend pops up on your friends list and you ask them to group with you, they suddenly get access to the instance you are in. A lot of games work in a similar form.

This means that you'll have social space = sector space and game play space = system space. This is ideal. I honestly think there is no reason to run into another character while I'm in a system working on a mission unless I invite them.

The_Padre

08-08-2009, 07:25 PM

My guess would be this. System space (is that what you meant above Dragonmonk?) will be instanced, but it will be a situation where if a friend pops up on your friends list and you ask them to group with you, they suddenly get access to the instance you are in. A lot of games work in a similar form.

This means that you'll have social space = sector space and game play space = system space. This is ideal. I honestly think there is no reason to run into another character while I'm in a system working on a mission unless I invite them.

It also solves the issue of what happens to your ship(s) while you're down on the planet. No Enemy vessel blasting yours to pieces while you're away :D

curtst

08-08-2009, 07:26 PM

ok space really has two forms, you have sector space ( going between system's) and Solar System space. I would suspect that sector space will be none instance and that sector/land area would be instanced, but peeps can join you at any time in any of the three really quickly according to devs

I guess as long as people can join you no problems any time while in instance, I guess I can be ok with that. But if it is just a bunch of instances what is the point of having an MMO?

Varrangian

08-08-2009, 07:31 PM

I guess as long as people can join you no problems any time while in instance, I guess I can be ok with that. But if it is just a bunch of instances what is the point of having an MMO?

What is MMO, about the following things...

Spawn camping, Kill stealing, loot harvesting?

All MMO stands for is Massively Multi-player Online (RPG being the rest of the acronym). Instances prevent the above issues (loot harvesting to a degree depending on how the instances are handled). They do not prevent you from participating in a Massively Multi-player game, they simply are bit in away so you don't see all of those players at all times.

Let's be honest it makes sense not to see 1000's of players all the time in Space. You know space - that kinda big thing all around us. Having space divided into social and game play sections is the best way to provide both a feeling of spaces vastness without the complete isolation that it would likely really feel like.

TFO_KillSwitch

08-08-2009, 07:33 PM

keldarus88

08-08-2009, 07:52 PM

Which space does space combat take place? Sector? System? what if you are out in open space?

E.M.H.

08-08-2009, 07:54 PM

TFO_KillSwitch

08-08-2009, 07:59 PM

i dont mind the fact of not runign in to people in space but. at least you can fleet up with peopl in stations

CherriBerri

08-08-2009, 07:59 PM

Ugh. I am at the convention and I thought this was something else. Because of the lack of the information, I thought it was just "have a drink with Cryptic!". Since I'm under 18 I thought they wouldn't allow me in and skipped it. And then they go and show a DEMO! :mad:

Well, I suppose I can live with it. I had a nice dinner. Thanks for the info (Although they should have had more information than just flyers with the lines "have a drink with the developers"). Still can't wait for the game!

Aww im sorry to here that. I thought the same thing me being 17 but I went anyways and I got in. Haha one of the bartenders thought I was 21 and almost gave me a beer!

curtst

08-08-2009, 08:08 PM

i was just wandering so say for exsample i drop out of warp. at this system and scan it and i get a report that there are such and such ships in the Vasinaty. so i go to thos cordantes see defiant class ship piloted buy say
UFP. can i hail them and aske fi i can help with mission and so on

If he is in an instanced mission you won't see him thus be unable to join unless invited. Which to me defeats the purpose of an MMO which is to play online with a bunch of people. If all I am going to do is invite people I know, might as well just stick with a regular multiplayer game with no monthly fees.

Threshold

08-08-2009, 08:12 PM

Thanks for the info Knight.

EDIT: Question I just thought of, any word on how the weapons look? Do they look like normal weapons we are used to or the ones that have been showing up in screen shots?

The weapon designs are unique and diverse. In the gameplay we saw hand to hand martial arts, phaser rifles, grenades, wide beam phaser spread, Bat'leth combat.

The controls for the away team is similar to the Mastermind style of City of Villains. The away team follows you, you are able to send them places, leave some behind and such.

There is a certain number of NPCs that can attack you at a given chance which is similar to City of Heroes.

The Space combat is similar to SFC but much faster.

Rgoodfel

08-08-2009, 08:13 PM

Congrats on your beta key and thanks for the extra info.

Varrangian

08-08-2009, 08:14 PM

If he is in an instanced mission you won't see him thus be unable to join unless invited. Which to me defeats the purpose of an MMO which is to play online with a bunch of people. If all I am going to do is invite people I know, might as well just stick with a regular multiplayer game with no monthly fees.

But you can group up in social space. You'll see plenty of people you don't know there. The entire game is not instanced just the parts where the missions actually happen.

Threshold

08-08-2009, 08:20 PM

dif-tor

08-08-2009, 08:23 PM

Thanks for the info...wish I could have been there.

IIntrude

08-08-2009, 08:32 PM

Sounds fine to me. I remember the early days of WoW and other such MMOs. I really have no urge to be sitting at a mission zone with 20 other Starships waiting for the next wave of Orion smugglers to spawn.

It sounds like we will see plenty of people in Social Space and not have to worry about overcrowding in missions unless we choose to allow them in our group.

Sounds kind of like EvE, you can see everyone most of the time, but if you go on a mission it's all yours unless you invite friends. I think that is how I remember EvE working.

maltzenburgerz

08-08-2009, 08:35 PM

Thanks for the info, I wish they'd tell us more about things from the Klingon side tho. X-P

Dragonmonk

08-08-2009, 08:42 PM

Solar Space is live and apart of the game where others can interact with each other. When you go to a sector of space it is instanced. During the live gameplay scene the dev who was playing (I forgot his name) had to press "F" to enter the sector. I'm just not sure if we will be able to explore space instead of jumping from one place to another.

You got it backwards here system space or solar space ( where you see planets etc) is instanced for you and who ever yyou invite along, this is also will space combat happens. Sector space is where it is everyone around, this is also where you will "jump" from planet to planet, not sure how long this will take tho. Also they did mention that if your bridge commander detects klingons in the area ( if you are a fed) then you cna intercept in kill them, i assume this is for PvP etc...

Also t oanswer another question up above i believe space fights will be in solar/system space and not in sector space. But like in the case of a borg invasion, you will see the borg cube(s) and be able to attack them which will put you in system/solar space.

JMD10222

08-08-2009, 08:43 PM

Thanks for taking the time to share the info sir, and congrats on the Beta Key;)

Dragonmonk

08-08-2009, 08:44 PM

Thanks for the info, I wish they'd tell us more about things from the Klingon side tho. X-P

they said klingon isn't much there as it is a totally different starting area and different missions then fed. I think what they meant was the culture and mentality of the klingons are such that the tutorial isn't going ot be you at teh acadamy and starting in your own ship....

Personally i hope they make it so that only they make it a lil harder to play klingon but that if you do in the long run you are a lil bit stronger :P

evan.is.weyoun

08-08-2009, 09:20 PM

Wow, sounds awesome. Wish they had something like this for us East Coasters :(

Jaymz

08-08-2009, 09:21 PM

What is MMO, about the following things...

Spawn camping, Kill stealing, loot harvesting?

Why, yes, and it wouldn't be the same without it.

I don't doubt for one moment that creating an MMO in space is a challenge and seeing several dozen other ships bunny hopping along side you at all times would probably break the immersion that should be provided by the vastness of space. BUT, being unaffected completely by other players during missions... That's going a bit overboard i think. While probably nowhere in the official description of an "MMO", I tend to think of them as one gaming world being shared by thousands of people. For better or (more likely) for worse.

Still, it's way too early to start *****ing about it. I'll wait till i can see it for myself or get more accurate information about the level of instancing in this game.

billybob442

08-08-2009, 09:22 PM

You got it backwards here system space or solar space ( where you see planets etc) is instanced for you and who ever yyou invite along, this is also will space combat happens. Sector space is where it is everyone around, this is also where you will "jump" from planet to planet, not sure how long this will take tho. Also they did mention that if your bridge commander detects klingons in the area ( if you are a fed) then you cna intercept in kill them, i assume this is for PvP etc...

Also t oanswer another question up above i believe space fights will be in solar/system space and not in sector space. But like in the case of a borg invasion, you will see the borg cube(s) and be able to attack them which will put you in system/solar space.

Thanks a lot for getting this info out to the forum!

Just to make sure I've got this straight... there're Sectors that represent big areas of space where everyone can run around and Systems where you have you instanced missions. Right?

What do the Sector and System screens look like? And did they show off the character creator any?

Thanks again.

Varrangian

08-08-2009, 09:28 PM

Why, yes, and it wouldn't be the same without it.

I don't doubt for one moment that creating an MMO in space is a challenge and seeing several dozen other ships bunny hopping along side you at all times would probably break the immersion that should be provided by the vastness of space. BUT, being unaffected completely by other players during missions... That's going a bit overboard i think. While probably nowhere in the official description of an "MMO", I tend to think of them as one gaming world being shared by thousands of people. For better or (more likely) for worse.

Still, it's way too early to start *****ing about it. I'll wait till i can see it for myself or get more accurate information about the level of instancing in this game.

See i can buy a world (singular) that I'm questing on and I run into other people killing the Orc hordes, or killing ewoks. I can't buy a galaxy (or even quadrant of a galaxy) where I run into other people trying to save the planet Firepants from the impending doom of a collision with an asteroid unless I asked them to come along.

I love to group, but I don't need people hovering around me to do that. There will be static areas of space and as we've been told static POI's like Vulcan, DS9, etc... so there should be no problem finding people to group with and that really is more what MMO is supposed to be about not the lack of personal space that comes with spawn camping et alia.

Jaymz

08-08-2009, 10:24 PM

I can't buy a galaxy (or even quadrant of a galaxy) where I run into other people trying to save the planet Firepants from the impending doom of a collision with an asteroid unless I asked them to come along.

But isn't that what we are paying monthly for? I mean, if i wanted to save the galaxy on my own, i'd play Mass Effect (again). If i wanted to run a couple of missions with 2 or 3 friends, i'd play any regular Multi-Player game. What i'm paying for, and expecting to get, is something completely different than those 2 experiences. I'm expecting that the entire sea-donkey population of planet Firepants would become extinct without the cooperation of an entire fleet.

And it doesn't have to be a 6 hour affair that was planned 2 weeks in advanced (raid), it could be spontaneous and light hearted like those public quests (or what you call them) that were introduced in Warhammer, and are now in CH as well. And since it will probably also be in ST:O... Again... I'll need to get more information on it.

I just feel that MMOs need to have the least amount of instanced, exclusive (as in the opposite of inclusive), content possible. MMOs have issues, sure. But you are not fixing them by turning it into a regular MP game with a really big ladder.

Varrangian

08-08-2009, 11:00 PM

But isn't that what we are paying monthly for? I mean, if i wanted to save the galaxy on my own, i'd play Mass Effect (again). If i wanted to run a couple of missions with 2 or 3 friends, i'd play any regular Multi-Player game. What i'm paying for, and expecting to get, is something completely different than those 2 experiences. I'm expecting that the entire sea-donkey population of planet Firepants would become extinct without the cooperation of an entire fleet.

And it doesn't have to be a 6 hour affair that was planned 2 weeks in advanced (raid), it could be spontaneous and light hearted like those public quests (or what you call them) that were introduced in Warhammer, and are now in CH as well. And since it will probably also be in ST:O... Again... I'll need to get more information on it.

I just feel that MMOs need to have the least amount of instanced, exclusive (as in the opposite of inclusive), content possible. MMOs have issues, sure. But you are not fixing them by turning it into a regular MP game with a really big ladder.

See a Star Trek episode which is what they've said they are trying to capture, was one ship saving the planet of Firepants. To even come close to capturing that essence you can't have 40 ships orbiting the planet waiting for the next asteroid to spawn so they can tractor beam it away. Sure 5 or so people grouped together might push the immersion, but not in the same way that spawn camping does.

A borg cube or another large scale issue is fine for massive amounts of people, but not everyday mission content.

PvP will be non-static, there will be large social areas, there is likely to even be some static "spawn" areas, but how the hell do you "boldly go where no man has gone before" when you can actually see the line forming to go there?

robgomm

08-08-2009, 11:32 PM

Great new info. Really jelous, really want to see the demo.

Roy_Vash

08-08-2009, 11:37 PM

I think any modern game (MMO) has to be a judicious blend of the old "everybody everywhere everytime" and the ability to instance SOME percentage of the play content. This preserves the traffic density of the shows. This preserves the episodic flow of the hour long narrative. Add in the capability of player generated missions, and I think this may be a blockbuster.

Oops. Forgot to add my congrats to Dragon for the Beta.

Now I'm waiting for that thread that whines about how unfair it is to give out Beta keys to people who can afford to get to Vegas for the convention. Unless you live there, it probably cost most people more than a six month subscription to Champions.:rolleyes:

Azurian

08-08-2009, 11:42 PM

Nice Cryptic gave 25 Beta Keys away, while the rest of us have to pay for ours. :rolleyes:

Kind of sad too, seems like they gave up on contests, because we haven't had one since May and apparently the Rap contest (which I thought was stupid) obviously didn't get the green light by the lawyers. :(

As for the hearsay about STO's Demo. I know there can be difficulties, but having it crash doesn't sound too good. I hope they will show us some sort of video.

Roy_Vash

08-08-2009, 11:43 PM

There it is....

Phunix

08-09-2009, 12:05 AM

Congrats and thanks to the OP and contributors!
Looking good sofar.
Now I'm EXPECTING a video from Cryptic after the weekend! :p

Phunix

08-09-2009, 12:08 AM

curtst

08-09-2009, 12:19 AM

A few crashes is the most normal thing in the world, especially for a show'n'tell version of something that hasn't even gone into closed beta yet!
Looking forward to getting a shot at Beta and the game afterwards!

Kinda like when MS was showing off XP. Crashed during a show, but now, not too many people want to give it up lol.

As far as everyone saying "you are buying a beta slot"

No you are buying a sub to CO, the beta slot is a perk.

Don't worry I am sure everyone else will get a chance to get in the beta, either through contests or the tried and true method of hardware surveys!!!

Isengardtom

08-09-2009, 12:40 AM

good read. I'm hoping for a video as well

Jaymz

08-09-2009, 01:31 AM

how the hell do you "boldly go where no man has gone before" when you can actually see the line forming to go there?

Simple; You preorder so you could get in on the prelaunch.

I understand that they are trying to capture the essence of an episode. But can't it be an episode in which you unexpectedly run into another ship (or 12)? Maybe you'll ask one to help you. Maybe one will shoot at you and you'll get to say "go to red alert!" for something that's not scripted.

I can see the issues you are referring to. And try as i might, i can't find a good solution to 300 ships visiting the same planet doing the same Star-Trek-Episodish quest without annoying each other. It's just that... well... it's not just a Star Trek game. it's also an MMO. And i'm worried that too much of it is being dedicated to the solo experience.

And again, i'm probably worried about nothing. I'm sure that as more info comes along about all the aspects of the game i will be rather pleased.

Swordopolis

08-09-2009, 02:30 AM

A few crashes is the most normal thing in the world, especially for a show'n'tell version of something that hasn't even gone into closed beta yet!

I wouldn't exactly say that a crash is NORMAL, but it's nothing to get too worked up over.

Phunix

08-09-2009, 03:05 AM

Ok, how does 'not unexpected' sound? ;)
It's part of why they'll throw in the Beta crowd. To see on which configurations it goes poof.

RetroX

08-09-2009, 03:54 AM

Really guys don't worry about instancing, it works well provides a better way for missions to be your own and your always guaranteed enemy's as long while travelling between missions even maybe different planets you can see random other players otherwise its not an MMO but that's what it sounds like. A similar set up to what MxO had, really didn't like it when they put more traditional quests in as you would just get loads of players camping to get the loot. (For the first days, then it was clear but that was a numbers problem:P).

Really looking forward to it and really glad they ani't going the tradintional MMO route, I hope you also don't have to go to one person the other side of the game world to get missions and you can just hail Star Fleet command for missions.

The demo sounds great though and should mean we get more infos soon:D

quette4000

08-09-2009, 04:53 AM

Thanks for the info.:cool:

Xibala

08-09-2009, 06:27 AM

Why Dragonmonk had to start a second thread rather than post in this one, i don't know, but since it is the original, I am going to continue here (pssst moderators, merge the two threads...)

EDIT: The threads have now been merged.

One of the things I can remember about the space demo, was how cool it looked. I have read complaints about it looking cartoonish, but I did not feel it did. The asteroids, planets, and the openness of space were nice eye candy. And the biggest impression I left with so far as the space combat, was how cool the explosions were. Far better than Eve Online.

As for the ground game, and similar to other games, you have the option of third person perspective or first person. I am assuming it is a simple matter of using your scroll wheel to zoom in or out. And regarding the look of the characters, cartoonish, yes, but not terribly so; a hundred-fold better than SWG and since I have not played any other MMO's with character avatars lately, I cannot compare to any other games but I can say it is similar if not better than Mass Effect's characters.

More later...

knightofhyrule730

08-09-2009, 07:18 AM

That's awesome, thanks for the input.

Btw, I heard on the Hailing Frequency report that Interiors are in? can someone that was there explain what Craig is talking about? i was under the impression we wouldnt have it at all (besides missions)

Drexxus3d

08-09-2009, 07:25 AM

Instancing helps immersion.

You can't get a mission to send in a small assault force of 5 or so people into enemy territory to save the day...

Then show up and have 100 people there spawn camping and blowing everything away the second it spawns.

Everquest was like that and it sucked because it completely ruined the immersion to have spawn camp groups everywhere in the game.

Also without instancing, it causes key characters to respawn after they die. When you kill Kleebork the klingon, he should be dead and that action reflect future things you do. Not have it completely unconnected and then have him respawn every 2 minutes or so in order for the next guy in line to kill him as well.

Immersion requires instancing.

The advantage of MMOs is having a persistent universe with thousands of other people to play with so theres almost always someone, somewhere out there willing to group with you that is much easier to find than standard multiplayer. In addition to that, you get frequent game improvements, balancing, and new content constantly being added. Non-subscription multiplayer games are never improved on, or when they are it is very rarely done and only a year or so after release, after that it's old, done, and never patched or upgraded again. MMOs constantly evolve and give you new things to do. It's a completely different game experience, it's nothing like a regular multiplayer game.

Swea

08-09-2009, 07:29 AM

thanks for the info, im really glad they went a route to get away from the spawn camping issues with mmo's these days.

thefrayl

08-09-2009, 07:39 AM

Locutus

08-09-2009, 07:44 AM

Thank you ^^

Dragonmonk

08-09-2009, 07:44 AM

Great job, thanks for the information. It sounds awesome. I'm kicking my own ass now for not going up to Vegas.

Character hit detection sounds really cool, until you come across a very heavily populated ground map. But I especially liked the ship beaming your wounded up to sickbay while you finish the fight. I wonder if there will also be a timer before the wounded character could heal and transport back down for more combat in extended away team battles, especially those with 5 player characters.

for intents and purposes when you get beamed back up to your ship you are dead, so i figure you will be able to go back down, however with NPC bridge mates i hardly doubt it will be oh i am dead, oh i am in the ship, great i am back... i would suspect a 5-10 min delay atleast....

thefrayl

08-09-2009, 07:47 AM

for intents and purposes when you get beamed back up to your ship you are dead, so i figure you will be able to go back down, however with NPC bridge mates i hardly doubt it will be oh i am dead, oh i am in the ship, great i am back... i would suspect a 5-10 min delay atleast....

Another question. What were they playing the demo with a keyboard/mouse or controller? :D

Dragonmonk

08-09-2009, 07:53 AM

Thanks a lot for getting this info out to the forum!

Just to make sure I've got this straight... there're Sectors that represent big areas of space where everyone can run around and Systems where you have you instanced missions. Right?

What do the Sector and System screens look like? And did they show off the character creator any?

Thanks again.

Scetor space looked like a univers map with grids, and hyperspace jump paths etc, you could se Sol system in the background ( earth system) and we where at the vulcan planet ( sorry i am bad with names, numbers is my game :D ). you cna still see all hte planets but not the enemies flying around them. Your bridge commanders if the have teh proper skills can scan the system and let you know what is there. Then you jump down into solar space where you see the astroids, planet, and other ships ( in this case groups of 3 klingon medium cruiser fighter ships).

All the graphics looked really nice and polished, they really didn't show off the character customization but they did talk about it for a good bit of time. The ability to be able to make your own species and have him look the way you want sounds very kewl to me. And you can then share that species with your fleet mates ( guild mates) so that is even kewler :D.

Dragonmonk

08-09-2009, 07:55 AM

Another question. What were they playing the demo with a keyboard/mouse or controller? :D

They where using a keyboard mouse, but i was looking at his mocements and he wasn't pushing alot of letter keys during the space fights, so i am thinking it may be adaptable to a controller. I was thinking i could use a controller for my space fights and then use the keyboard/mouse in the away missions as that is more of a traditional point and click MMO ( although your really not spamming buttons all day so you might be able to use a controller here also).

Dragonmonk

08-09-2009, 08:00 AM

Why Dragonmonk had to atart a second thread rather than post in this one, i don't know, but since it is the original, I am going to continuue here (pssst moderators, merge the two threads...)

As i thought this was during the event, and an IRC report from devs in the report i thought i would start my own thread with my views/thoughts on how it went, i am sorry if htis upsets you and if a moderator wants to he/she is happy to merge the threads.

thefrayl

08-09-2009, 08:01 AM

Very cool, I too am hoping for the option to use either or, depending on personal preference, what you are doing and which works out better for it.

Dragonmonk

08-09-2009, 08:03 AM

As for the hearsay about STO's Demo. I know there can be difficulties, but having it crash doesn't sound too good. I hope they will show us some sort of video.

To clear things up, the game itself did not freeze up, during the process of loading up the solar sector the whole comp froze up and had to be hard rebooted, reason was giving that the computer was put together yesterday (thursday now) and it was being tempermental....

After that inital hiccup the game never lagged, froze, crashed or anything and ran as smooth as could be

LordDave

08-09-2009, 08:33 AM

Ugh. I am at the convention and I thought this was something else. Because of the lack of the information, I thought it was just "have a drink with Cryptic!". Since I'm under 18 I thought they wouldn't allow me in and skipped it. And then they go and show a DEMO! :mad:

Well, I suppose I can live with it. I had a nice dinner. Thanks for the info (Although they should have had more information than just flyers with the lines "have a drink with the developers"). Still can't wait for the game!

According to the hailing frequency's pod cast, they weren't supposed to show a demo. So that's why. The PR department only intended for it to be "talk with the developers" and not "show a demo and talk to the developers" And since the PR department made the flyers, signs, ect....

Moony

08-09-2009, 08:42 AM

big thx for the info

moony

LordDave

08-09-2009, 08:44 AM

Davies82

08-09-2009, 08:47 AM

Thanks for the meet and greaat info.
Do you think they might release the demo you saw as a video on the website soon?

Also was there any mention of the console version of STO, is it still going ahead and did they announce which console they are developing for?

Thanks.

naynayz

08-09-2009, 08:51 AM

I hope to see a video out of this put out by cryptic. I also am glad they chose to proceed with the demo against the marketing groups approval. I can understand not stealing CO's thunder but good publicity is never bad. Good move. I love what I am hearing so far and am looking forward to beta and CO (at least for the first 6 months. ;)

mwood1387

08-09-2009, 08:52 AM

Appreciate the info on the event OP. Nice to hear about the unexpected like the game demo.

Davies82

08-09-2009, 08:57 AM

Thanks for the info.

Was there any mention of the Console Version of STO at all?

Thanks

naynayz

08-09-2009, 08:58 AM

This is awesome! I can't wait for beta to happen. I got CO because I wanted to use it to hone my ground combat skills in the cryptic engine and got a beta slot that way. But either way I was considering trying CO before I found out that it also gives you a beta slot.

Thanks for the update regarding the system crash. I imagine if the PC was just thrown together a few days prior it may have been temperamental and not have anything to do with the game at all. Good move on showing the demo! Must be nice to work on that team everyday. Hmm get paid to come in and work on STO. I don't see a downside.

TruthSeer

08-09-2009, 12:32 PM

The weapon designs are unique and diverse. In the gameplay we saw hand to hand martial arts, phaser rifles, grenades, wide beam phaser spread, Bat'leth combat.

The controls for the away team is similar to the Mastermind style of City of Villains. The away team follows you, you are able to send them places, leave some behind and such.

There is a certain number of NPCs that can attack you at a given chance which is similar to City of Heroes.

The Space combat is similar to SFC but much faster.

Thanks sounds awesome.

Loekii

08-09-2009, 12:38 PM

Scetor space looked like a univers map with grids, and hyperspace jump paths etc, you could se Sol system in the background ( earth system) and we where at the vulcan planet ( sorry i am bad with names, numbers is my game :D ). you cna still see all hte planets but not the enemies flying around them. Your bridge commanders if the have teh proper skills can scan the system and let you know what is there. Then you jump down into solar space where you see the astroids, planet, and other ships ( in this case groups of 3 klingon medium cruiser fighter ships).

.

I wonder, do you think you could find some examples from the net (from other games, etc) to sort of show what you saw?

I mean is it a 2D Map, but with small 'planet icons' marking the planets, etc? Or was it something different?

Did it look like any of these:

http://www.st-minutiae.com/graphics/academy/command419/dorza_dorza_system.png
http://www.st-minutiae.com/graphics/academy/command419/dorza_map.png
http://sims.sb254.com/endevour/images/map.jpg
http://www.st-minutiae.com/graphics/academy/history162/map_3_1.jpg
http://www.sttff.net/images/AST030.jpg
http://masseffect.bioware.com/_commonext/images/me/screenshots/2007/masseffect_73_745x440.jpg
http://www.moviecritic.com.au/images/star-wars-galaxy-map1.jpg
http://gamerscreed.com/files/IMG_0229.PNG

Also, 'how many' systems did you see? 5, 10, lots?

Thanks.

.Spartan

08-09-2009, 01:01 PM

Some people have all the luck. If you can please ask about Romulans in the game and just when they will be a proper faction.

Dragonmonk

08-09-2009, 02:30 PM

Varrangian

08-09-2009, 02:36 PM

Loekil honsetly it doesn't look liek any of those, it looks a bit like the Mass Affect galaxy but not much. the map is 3D but not to scale persay, your ship is the same size'ish as the planets depicting the solar system, and you cna see the grids in X/Y cords with blue worm hole looking things showing the jump paths. My understanding was you could explore grids off of the jump paths but the jumps paths would get you from point a to point b faster.

It is funny how this made me even more curious than before. The imagination is such a great tool for creating curiosity.

TruthSeer

08-09-2009, 02:54 PM

Loekil honsetly it doesn't look liek any of those, it looks a bit like the Mass Affect galaxy but not much. the map is 3D but not to scale persay, your ship is the same size'ish as the planets depicting the solar system, and you cna see the grids in X/Y cords with blue worm hole looking things showing the jump paths. My understanding was you could explore grids off of the jump paths but the jumps paths would get you from point a to point b faster.

Have you ever played Star Fleet Command 3? Any chance it is similar to that grid view, because that's what I keep imagining when ever someone tries to explain it.

Dragonmonk

08-09-2009, 03:24 PM

Have you ever played Star Fleet Command 3? Any chance it is similar to that grid view, because that's what I keep imagining when ever someone tries to explain it.

sorry i never did, maybe some one else that was there can explain ti better than me...

Dragonmonk

08-09-2009, 03:26 PM

Some people have all the luck. If you can please ask about Romulans in the game and just when they will be a proper faction.

we cant ask any mroe questions as the meet and greet was yesterday for 2 hours, but they did say that romulans are planned to be a playable race after release and that they are as of yet un sure which faction they will go with or be there own.

They did state however that any "species" can go wit hnay factions if that is how you wish so a Klingon could fight for the Federation and a vulcan for the klingongs i'd imagine...

Keros

08-09-2009, 04:01 PM

Hey, at least we know that they're actually making a game this time around.

Varrangian

08-09-2009, 05:00 PM

we cant ask any mroe questions as the meet and greet was yesterday for 2 hours, but they did say that romulans are planned to be a playable race after release and that they are as of yet un sure which faction they will go with or be there own.

They did state however that any "species" can go wit hnay factions if that is how you wish so a Klingon could fight for the Federation and a vulcan for the klingongs i'd imagine...

Interesting that the said they were not sure if it would be its own faction or join one of the other two... Some might not like that uncertainty, but to me it is a sign that they want to see how faction play actually turns out once let loose upon the masses. This to me is a very good idea, as adding a third or fourth faction could kill faction play or enhance it, but no one will know until people start playing with it.

The_Padre

08-09-2009, 05:08 PM

Interesting that the said they were not sure if it would be its own faction or join one of the other two... Some might not like that uncertainty, but to me it is a sign that they want to see how faction play actually turns out once let loose upon the masses. This to me is a very good idea, as adding a third or fourth faction could kill faction play or enhance it, but no one will know until people start playing with it.

I assumed that they're trying to figure out which other species to slot in with the Romulans. Like how the Klingons will have the Gorn, Orions and Nausicaans fighting on their side.

Varrangian

08-09-2009, 05:41 PM

I assumed that they're trying to figure out which other species to slot in with the Romulans. Like how the Klingons will have the Gorn, Orions and Nausicaans fighting on their side.

Well if they are their own faction, I think Reman are a decent bet. One does have to wonder if the events of the countdown comics put a spanner in their plans for the Romulans. If they are not their own faction you could Add the Romulans to the Federation (as I can't ever see them joining the Klingons) and the Reman with the Klingons.

Rota

08-09-2009, 06:08 PM

Varrangian

08-09-2009, 06:18 PM

why not bundle a bunch of races into the non-affiliated category?

they can fight against klingons and federation and each other. Not every race needs to "claimed" by one of the two factions. and it leaves the opportunity for a third faction to form in the future.

just having 2 sides is sounding way too "WoW"ish to me

Well the problem is that adding in a third faction or fourth faction and really mess with the over balance of the game. Even worse is trying to balance for a "non-aligned" faction. Though it is simplistic two factions is easy to balance for and easy to create "distinctly" different faction play. Adding more factions in makes it very difficult to no take play styles from one of the other factions.

Rota

08-09-2009, 06:22 PM

Well the problem is that adding in a third faction or fourth faction and really mess with the over balance of the game. Even worse is trying to balance for a "non-aligned" faction. Though it is simplistic two factions is easy to balance for and easy to create "distinctly" different faction play. Adding more factions in makes it very difficult to no take play styles from one of the other factions.

well the "third faction" remark was just an afterthought. The main point I wanted to put into the discussion was that not everyone has to be affiliated. just let the romulans be out there as wildcards in the mix.

or have anyone of these non affiliated races choose a side at character creation screen(another afterthought)

SelorKiith

08-09-2009, 06:24 PM

Problem is, no matter how you call it "Not-Affiliated" is practically a third faction... if you break it down to certain members you get 4, 5 etc. factions to balance to another...

Varrangian

08-09-2009, 06:26 PM

well the "third faction" remark was just an afterthought. The main point I wanted to put into the discussion was that not everyone has to be affiliated. just let the romulans be out there as wildcards in the mix.

or have anyone of these non affiliated races choose a side at character creation screen(another afterthought)

How would that work if they become playable? I think the issue (specifically with the Romulans) is too many people want to play them (their ships, their ranks structure) as a faction. How to do that without out adding a faction is tricky... any ideas?

Rota

08-09-2009, 06:27 PM

Varrangian

08-09-2009, 06:32 PM

maybe have whatever colony a new romulan starts at be non affiliated and unable to pvp. after going through all the beginner quests at the colony an event occurs where the character must chose a side. and then go off to Federation or Klingon territory to continue their adventures.

still 2 sides. The romulan race in the canon remains uncommited but people can still play them

Well I think for the Romulan what they would do is simply make an "alliance" (I'm guessing with the Feds). They would have to add something for the Klingons then though, Cardassians?

Voyager24

08-09-2009, 07:10 PM

Great info thanks for sharing. Hope they release a video of the demo or something.

Loekii

08-09-2009, 07:10 PM

Loekil honsetly it doesn't look liek any of those, it looks a bit like the Mass Affect galaxy but not much. the map is 3D but not to scale persay, your ship is the same size'ish as the planets depicting the solar system, and you cna see the grids in X/Y cords with blue worm hole looking things showing the jump paths. My understanding was you could explore grids off of the jump paths but the jumps paths would get you from point a to point b faster.

After speaking with you in the chat, I am still not sure if I will like they way they are doing 'Sector space'.

It sounds too 'arcade gamey' -- sort of like how Star Trek DAC is 'arcade gamey'.

And I am not sure I like the sounds of the 'jump paths'. It makes it sound Eve-ish, rather than having space being more open movement like PoTBS oceans travel map.

Catamount

08-09-2009, 07:50 PM

Well I think for the Romulan what they would do is simply make an "alliance" (I'm guessing with the Feds). They would have to add something for the Klingons then though, Cardassians?

It is true that I can't really see a Romulan joining up with the Klingons (if for no other reason, than because they'd probably get disemboweled for trying). It is true though that the Cardassians have quite a bit in common with the Klingons, so that's a thought, though the problem is that the way Cryptic is doing their history is making the Cardassians a much better fit with the Feds than the Klingons themselves.

IIntrude

08-09-2009, 08:05 PM

I could see the Romulans siding with Feds due to the assistance that was offered during the Nova incident.

That would set the Cardassians up to pair with the Klingons, though I am unsure how they would sell that seeing as the two were the most bitter of rivals not too long ago.

By pairing the Romulans with the Feds that would also allow Federation access to cloaking technologies one would assume, but I am not sure how I feel about that.

Now that I think about it, if they are wanting to keep both sides unique, (cloaks for Klingons, etc...) then I can't see Romulans joining the Feds after all...ohhh it all gets so convoluted.

All is speculation on an expansion to a game without a release date so far, but it is fun to speculate :D

Xibala

08-09-2009, 08:11 PM

Was there any mention of the Console Version of STO at all?

Yes, there was indeed mention of a console port. Unfortunately for those who would like to play on a console, it was said it may be a year down the road.

One other aspect I noticed in the game demo was how the bridge officers will play a role in the game. Say you are firing lasers to take down a ship and are now ready to rip a hole in its hull. You can use what was described as a wide variety of torpedoes from proton to quantum torpedoes and a few others that I cannot recall, though it seems there will be a large selection depending on skills. Torpedoes will have a standard rate of fire, so when you fire them, they will be one at a time with a short cool-down (using my words and from a two day old memory) but basically the point I am trying to make is that if you have a bridge officer with the "salvo" skill, you can fire 3 torpedoes in quick session to provide much more damage.

And for anyone interested and if it was not yet confirmed, ramming another ship although not necessarily prudent can still be a valid tactic in certain situations. It will be possible to incur damage from an exploding ship whose warp core has exploded, so again, tactics will come into play as it was inferred that it will be wise to put some distance between your ship and the exploding ship.

Everyone knows that there will be firing arcs, and it was said that with some ships it will be possible to overlap arcs for more damage. Ship position in relation to an attacking ship will be a necessary strategy; you will be constantly aware how you are taking damage and making adjustments. And you also know that it will be possible to move shields around, increasing them in one area while decreasing them in another. Transferring power from one are to another is also possible. And lastly, not only will you need to protect sub-systems but you will also be able to target an enemy ships sub-systems.

IIntrude

08-09-2009, 08:17 PM

dgriffis

08-09-2009, 08:22 PM

Gozer throws Grenades!
Gozer gets butt kicked by 8 Klingons
COH like "Side-Kick" system in the game.
The game looks very good.

-Dave Signs Out-

Big thanks to Nebraska_Dave for iPhoning this to us in the IRC chat!

Just a note :) .. I wasn't driving the demo ... so DStalh was getting his butt kicked by 8 Klingons.. I however was standing over in the corner laughing while he was getting his butt kicked..

IIntrude

08-09-2009, 08:25 PM

Just a note :) .. I wasn't driving the demo ... so DStalh was getting his butt kicked by 8 Klingons.. I however was standing over in the corner laughing while he was getting his butt kicked..

I hope our Klingon brethren didn't embarrass him too badly in front of everyone :D

Any change of seeing a Cryptic approved video of the demo by chance Gozer?

Dragonmonk

08-09-2009, 09:09 PM

Just a note :) .. I wasn't driving the demo ... so DStalh was getting his butt kicked by 8 Klingons.. I however was standing over in the corner laughing while he was getting his butt kicked..

and here i thought you brethern stuck together, no jumping in warping to his location and savign the day?? although with god mode on he we wasn't going any where just his team :P

Dragonmonk

08-09-2009, 09:13 PM

After speaking with you in the chat, I am still not sure if I will like they way they are doing 'Sector space'.

It sounds too 'arcade gamey' -- sort of like how Star Trek DAC is 'arcade gamey'.

And I am not sure I like the sounds of the 'jump paths'. It makes it sound Eve-ish, rather than having space being more open movement like PoTBS oceans travel map.

just to clearify they never said anything about "jump paths" i was jsut trying to describe what the map looked like and that is what it looked like to me. i am sure that space is as open as we want it to be and we wont be forced to always take this path to get from sol to vulcan etc....

Dragonmonk

08-09-2009, 09:16 PM

All is speculation on an expansion to a game without a release date so far, but it is fun to speculate :D

yes it is and dont try to read to much into it, i am trying to explain what was said and shown to teh best of my ability there may be things that i got wrong :p

Azurian

08-09-2009, 09:38 PM

If done right, we don't necessarily need to have every single faction "fair and balanced". Players from factions could make their own alliances. For instance, back in my EQ days, on the PvP servers (not the FFA or Race Server), players basically made their own alliances.

You had the 4 factions (Human, Shorts, Elves, and Dark/Evil). And at launch, the Dwarves and Elves, as well as the Dark and Human races fought one another (because of proximity). Over time, because the Dark races had the best spots, the Humans, Shorts, and Elves allied to combat the Dark races. (Well of course, years down those alliances evolved to guild vs guild, but that's another story. :p)

And I think this could be also be done for STO.

For instance, Cryptic wouldn't have to bend over backwards in making the Romulan Remnant, the Cardassians, etc all balanced with the Klingon and Federation factions. Instead, we give these other factions a type of bonus or perk to have that gives them an edge economonically or techonologically. And they could use that in part of their diplomacy. That way, the players could be the one who decides the course of action of the Star Trek Galaxy.

In fact, we could give the Admirals of the Fleets this power and act as the Faction Council (Federation Council, Klingon High Council). And the majority vote would decide the actions (diplomatically) with the other factions (Romulan, Cardassian, etc).

Of course, Cryptic has the power to keep things interesting and cause difficulity in this diplomacy. Especially when it comes to storyline events.

And for players to keep things interesting on their end, perhaps meetings be held in a spot where PvP can occur and hostile fleets could come in and interupt the meetings and cause a setback with negotiations.

So what you think?

maxgrimberger

08-10-2009, 12:46 AM

we cant ask any mroe questions as the meet and greet was yesterday for 2 hours, but they did say that romulans are planned to be a playable race after release and that they are as of yet un sure which faction they will go with or be there own.

They did state however that any "species" can go wit hnay factions if that is how you wish so a Klingon could fight for the Federation and a vulcan for the klingongs i'd imagine...

thanks for the write-up and especially for this information!
playable romulans FTW ... although we will have to see how the "Path to..." series works out and in which state the Romulan Empire will be at the time we start out in STO!

IIntrude

08-10-2009, 02:50 AM

yes it is and dont try to read to much into it, i am trying to explain what was said and shown to teh best of my ability there may be things that i got wrong :p

No no, not trying to read too much into it. I really was meaning that all this talk is very fun, it makes you think of all the different possibilities. I am enjoying it thoroughly. :D

Davies82

08-10-2009, 04:35 AM

[QUOTE=Xibala;690255]Yes, there was indeed mention of a console port. Unfortunately for those who would like to play on a console, it was said it may be a year down the road.

Thanks for the information Xibala, that is good news that the console port is still in the pipeline and in development. I don't mind waiting a year. :)

Did the mention which console by any chance?

knightofhyrule730

08-10-2009, 05:49 AM

Just a note :) .. I wasn't driving the demo ... so DStalh was getting his butt kicked by 8 Klingons.. I however was standing over in the corner laughing while he was getting his butt kicked..

lol, im just going on what the IRC was telling me :P I'll fix it though ;)

Azurian

08-10-2009, 07:40 AM

Kinda like when MS was showing off XP. Crashed during a show, but now, not too many people want to give it up lol.

As far as everyone saying "you are buying a beta slot"

No you are buying a sub to CO, the beta slot is a perk.

Don't worry I am sure everyone else will get a chance to get in the beta, either through contests or the tried and true method of hardware surveys!!!

It's a perk if you were interested in Champions Online. For STO people, it's paying for Beta. :p

And dunno about the contests, it's been 3 months since the last one........ :(

Varrangian

08-10-2009, 07:57 AM

And dunno about the contests, it's been 3 months since the last one........ :(

Can't blame them for that, I'm not sure I'd offer contests to a community that constantly calls for someone to be fired or complain that the contest was unfair because they didn't win (not directed at you Azurian, I have to make sure people realize I'm not being attacking anyone personally I'm just being snarky :p ).

Lictalon

08-10-2009, 08:13 AM

<Hands out Redbulls to the Cryptic crew>

So.. how are the hangovers? What did you bring me from Vegas (besides a bill for a llama and a police record)?

cipher_nemo

08-10-2009, 08:17 AM

Wow, sounds awesome. Wish they had something like this for us East Coasters :(

Ditto. I would be there! :)

redleader

08-10-2009, 08:24 AM

Thanks for all the nice info about the Meet and Greet in Vegas.
Hopefully we can get a Cryptic approved video of the demo sometime soon ;)

cipher_nemo

08-10-2009, 08:24 AM

So the real question is, when do we get to see some of that demo video on the site? Or other media of the meet and greet for those no where near the west coast? :)

Dragonmonk

08-10-2009, 10:21 AM

No no, not trying to read too much into it. I really was meaning that all this talk is very fun, it makes you think of all the different possibilities. I am enjoying it thoroughly. :D

hehe kk just dont want everyone thinking that what i say is law and must be in STO, remeber that even tho they showed us a live demo everything could change before beta and live :p

CanQua

08-10-2009, 10:22 AM

Had forgotten about this over the weekend. Glad to hear a few really were able to go and enjoy things. And congratulations are indeed in order for all those who got the coveted beta slots. Any and all full reports would be welcome. 150 people you'd think we'd have a few more response by now. Would really enjoy hearing from one or more of the devs about how it felt to be there as well.

The_Padre

08-10-2009, 10:22 AM

Kinneas

08-10-2009, 10:38 AM

Great stuff, folks. TY!

Blackavaar

08-10-2009, 11:48 AM

Okay, I'm going to try to answer some of these questions as best I can based on my memory and impressions from the Meet & Greet on Saturday.

Beta Keys are to be delivered to the emails of the first 25 people physically at the Meet & Greet. There was no word on whether Beta Keys would be given out at any other time.

None of the players got to play the game. Dan played the Demo to show us some of the stuff while Craig told us what he was doing. So, while the Demo was playable it was not something they set up for the guests to play and they did not set up any sort of LAN to allow them to Demo PvP or Co-op play or anything.

As far as what was said, boarding parties and away teams will always include the Captain. You can hand pick your away team every time (choosing different officers for different occasions) but the Captain (you) will always be among them. They want the player to be in on the main action, not waiting while the action takes place elsewhere.

Weaponslock appears to work like we're used to. You click the mouse cursor on the target you want to select and receive a lock, assuming the target is within weapons range and firing arc. Firing arcs are apparently going to be a big thing to keep in mind as will positional shielding and balancing of power placement.

Yes, you can use your Red Shirts at your discretion, but Red Shirts are just Red Shirts. Your Bridge Officers will be more useful to you as they have additional skills and special abilities. Red Shirts can die. Bridge Officers cannot be permanently killed.

I'm not going to get into the Warp (Sector) Space and System (Solar) Space stuff as they didn't really demo that or say much about how player interaction will work, at least not much that I heard. The Demo they had set up was single player only.

Space combat takes place in System Space. You will not be able to initiate combat in Warp. But you can follow targets to the system they are in and engage them there.

Starbases (DS9 is in the game) will be social hubs. More space travel will be via Wormholes to decrease playtime worries of travel to far off sectors. The star bases near these wormholes will commonly be the main social hubs of the game.

The Demo crashed only because the box they were using was new and was not fully decked out for the event. The crash was not related to the game according to the devs.

Overall I was very impressed with the demo. The space combat while slower still had an urgency to it, especially when being gunned at by two Kilngon cruisers and then seeing a third and fourth drop their cloaks. The mission system is more based on where you go and missions are initiated by information given to you by your Bridge Officers instead of some vague contact style system. The ground combat was very fast paced and both movement and actions appeared very similar to CoH style. The variety of weapons and skills sounds great. I can't wait.

Congrats to Dragon for his Beta key. I was about 5 people back from you, man. I got my Beta key as well. Look forward to seeing you all in game.

:D

Oh and btw, all of the devs that appeared at the Meet & Greet were great. Very personable and friendly. Thank you all for coming to see us.

Azurian

08-10-2009, 11:53 AM

Can't blame them for that, I'm not sure I'd offer contests to a community that constantly calls for someone to be fired or complain that the contest was unfair because they didn't win (not directed at you Azurian, I have to make sure people realize I'm not being attacking anyone personally I'm just being snarky :p ).

Well the people here can't exactly be blamed for that. Because, they just wanted the rules to be followed and not altered at the last second to suit Cryptic's means. :p

To be honest, it would be wise for Cryptic to give the people here beta slots. Because the majority of us want STO to be a success, while those who get beta through CO or the walk-ins, might not.

Blackavaar

08-10-2009, 11:59 AM

Well the people here can't exactly be blamed for that. Because, they just wanted the rules to be followed and not altered at the last second to suit Cryptic's means. :p

To be honest, it would be wise for Cryptic to give the people here beta slots. Because the majority of us want STO to be a success, while those who get beta through CO or the walk-ins, might not.

Trust me, there were next to zero walk-ins at the Meet & Greet. (when Craig asked who in the room played City of Heroes previously 97% of the room raised their hands). And the walk-ins weren't the ones that were waiting in line outside the door to the Ballroom for an hour and a half or more.

:D

Varrangian

08-10-2009, 12:09 PM

Well the people here can't exactly be blamed for that. Because, they just wanted the rules to be followed and not altered at the last second to suit Cryptic's means. :p

I can blame them for demanding someone be fired, yes.

.Spartan

08-10-2009, 12:15 PM

we cant ask any mroe questions as the meet and greet was yesterday for 2 hours, but they did say that romulans are planned to be a playable race after release and that they are as of yet un sure which faction they will go with or be there own.

They did state however that any "species" can go wit hnay factions if that is how you wish so a Klingon could fight for the Federation and a vulcan for the klingongs i'd imagine...

For what it is worth, I surely hope they chose to make them a stand alone faction. It would be the right thing to do for the sake of the game dynamics and player options.

Blackavaar

08-10-2009, 12:29 PM

They did state however that any "species" can go with any faction if that is how you wish. So, a Klingon could fight for the Federation and a Vulcan for the Klingons I'd imagine...

I don't remember them saying that. I do remember them specifically stating that Klingons would not be playable with the Federation, but that you could use the Species creator to make a Kilngon if that what you wanted to do. I got the impression the Species creator is going to make up for the lack of being able to choose from enemy races by allowing you to create those races.

:D

Blackavaar

08-10-2009, 12:34 PM

For what it is worth, I surely hope they chose to make them a stand alone faction. It would be the right thing to do for the sake of the game dynamics and player options.

Well, according to the game timeline the Romulans are in the midst of a civil war currently. Though they didn't say anything specifically, I would hazard a guess that the two leading factions of the civil war may split their loyalty between the Klingon Defense Force and the Federation.

So, they could end up being a playable race for both of the existing factions, instead of being a single faction of their own.

I may be mistaken though.

:D

Commander_Nate

08-10-2009, 01:56 PM

Well, according to the game timeline the Romulans are in the midst of a civil war currently. Though they didn't say anything specifically, I would hazard a guess that the two leading factions of the civil war may split their loyalty between the Klingon Defense Force and the Federation.

So, they could end up being a playable race for both of the existing factions, instead of being a single faction of their own.

I may be mistaken though.

:D

I sincerely hope not.

If separate Houses are going to be able to fight each other on the Klingon side, what's the problem with creating two different factions for the Romulans while still having them be their own distinct, player controlled empire at some point?

.Spartan

08-10-2009, 02:04 PM

Well, according to the game timeline the Romulans are in the midst of a civil war currently. Though they didn't say anything specifically, I would hazard a guess that the two leading factions of the civil war may split their loyalty between the Klingon Defense Force and the Federation.

So, they could end up being a playable race for both of the existing factions, instead of being a single faction of their own.

I may be mistaken though.

:D

I would not call it a "civil war" to be frank. I would call it a "contentious domestic policy issue" and one that the Empress and only the Empress is in a position to resolve on behalf of her people. The usurpers and their ilk are obviously under some form of subversive mind control or other such nonsense.

cipher_nemo

08-10-2009, 02:05 PM

I think people are forgetting that being born of any specific race does not instantly mean you're aligned with the Federation, Klingon Empire, or any other faction.

Xibala

08-10-2009, 03:46 PM

TY Xibala, can you answer this?

When ground combat was shown did it remind you more of WoW combat, Mass Effect Combat, or if you have seen it, Champions Online combat?

WoW combat being very clicky, waiting for cool downs.
Mass Effect Combat being very run and gun.
Champions Online, being a mix of the two, able to move and shoot at the same time while still balancing cool downs or energy bars and whatnot.

Any info or your opinions on that would be welcome.

I have never played Champions Online, so I cannot compare the demo to that game. However I can saw it was very Mass Effect-like, but not an exact copy. There was something unique to it but I cannot pin down exactly what. I have a gut feeling that everyone will be happy with the results.

So the real question is, when do we get to see some of that demo video on the site? Or other media of the meet and greet for those no where near the west coast? :)

It was stated in the beginning that there were to be no photographs or movies. Although I did see one person taking a picture, you never know if others did as well.

Remember, according to the Cryptic folks, they sneaked out the demo. And I just want to say "Thank you" Cryptic! I am very impressed and anxious to get my hands on the game.

vipeness

08-10-2009, 04:09 PM

I will I could have went; I live in Vegas, and was ready to go, but just had a recent death in my family and that was more important than a beta voucher. I hope everyone had fun and maybe next time, I'll get to go and enjoy it.

thefreshjedi

08-10-2009, 04:11 PM

Thanks for the info guys. This is great. Wish I could have seen it. I hope they lift the NDA for video or picture coverage, it would be nice for those that cannot attend for whatever reason.

-avery

Blackavaar

08-10-2009, 04:16 PM

I think people are forgetting that being born of any specific race does not instantly mean you're aligned with the Federation, Klingon Empire, or any other faction.

As far as the game is concerned, it does. You will only be able to select from standard races that are available to your faction.

Though you will be able to use the character creation system to create your own species, which can include already existing species. You just won't necessarily have all of the same bonuses for species that you would if you normally selected them. So, a Klingon made on the Federation side won't necessarily be able to use all of the racial bonuses he would get if he had been created on the KDF side.

:cool:

LordDave

08-10-2009, 04:30 PM

As far as the game is concerned, it does. You will only be able to select from standard races that are available to your faction.

Though you will be able to use the character creation system to create your own species, which can include already existing species. You just won't necessarily have all of the same bonuses for species that you would if you normally selected them. So, a Klingon made on the Federation side won't necessarily be able to use all of the racial bonuses he would get if he had been created on the KDF side.

:cool:

Correct.
Except for the bonuses.
You can make it look like a Klingon, Fight like a Klingon, smell like a Klingon, and sound like a Klingon, but you can't call it a Klingon.

bothan

08-10-2009, 04:50 PM

Red Shirts can die. Bridge Officers cannot be permanently killed.

Cool! Just like in the shows. :D

Nasedo

08-10-2009, 07:13 PM

Just a note :) .. I wasn't driving the demo ... so DStalh was getting his butt kicked by 8 Klingons.. I however was standing over in the corner laughing while he was getting his butt kicked..

thought something was wrong,,, didnt think a Star trek nerd would get his butt kicked

cipher_nemo

08-10-2009, 08:00 PM

It was stated in the beginning that there were to be no photographs or movies. Although I did see one person taking a picture, you never know if others did as well.

Remember, according to the Cryptic folks, they sneaked out the demo. And I just want to say "Thank you" Cryptic! I am very impressed and anxious to get my hands on the game.

The point was directed at Cryptic for some officially posted media on the site, not individuals trying to get pictures/video of the event. Cryptic restricted outside media so that they could share it the way they wanted to share it (ie: no 3rd parties videos in case they ran into bugs, etc. in the demo).