Blog of Heroes

I’ve never been so anticipatorially hung up on a game that I really felt the yen for a lifetime sub (which would have SO paid off with CoX, and been SUCH a waste with CO, so I guess it’s a wash).

STO just announced (or re-announced, or firmly established) the perks for lifetime members. It’s worth a comment or two on what works and what doesn’t. Of course, this is just for me — your ego-boo mileage will certainly vary.

Greetings Lifetime Members!
We just wanted to thank you again for purchasing a Lifetime Subscription from us. As you already know, this entitles you to play the game without paying a monthly fee. But, that’s not where it ends. Later this month, we’ll be releasing special perks for you, just to show our appreciation. Here’s some of what we’re working on, exclusive to Lifetime Subscribers:

Exclusive In-Game Chat Channel:
Talk shop with other Lifetime Subscribers. Share thoughts and ideas about the game, or anything else.

Okay, this is pretty easy and straightforward to do — but are any folks (or any significant number) really going to take advantage of this? Is it worth all that and a bag of chips? The chance to chat with, well, other folks so obsessed about Star Trek and so willing to drop a chunk of money?

Folks who like chat will find this the sort of perk they like.

Front-of-Queue Support
Waiting isn’t fun, and we don’t think you should have to do it. Any time the server is queued, you’ll go to the front of it.

Now this is a very, very cool perk. It’s not life-changing, but it’s very appropriate for a lifetime sub.

In-Game Title
Visibly show off your support.

Some people will think this cool. Other people will find it abhorrent.

In-Game VIP Lounge
Spend time in an exclusive area inside the game. This social area is limited to Lifetime Subscribers only.

From what I was reading (and Tweeting) yesterday, this is the Captain’s Table (as in the ST book series). The question is, just like the chat channel, how many people will actually make use of this?

A Unique Costume Piece
Show off that fancy new title in style.

Without knowing what this is, it’s hard to say, but a very cool costume piece is an appropriate thing to have in this game.

So, some stuff that is pretty nice, some stuff mixed, some social stuff that I really don’t see being used all that much (social interaction is most likely to be based on common interests; the intersection of “social players” and “lifetime subscribers” and “folks who are going to want to socialize with other lifetime subscribers” is, I suspect, fairly small.

Queue-jumping is pretty damned cool, though. Getting high priority on support requests / bug reports would also be along those same lines.

I’m not a lifetime subscriber to STO, and am not likely to be, but I think those who are should get some measure of reward to make their lives easier or nicer without giving them an unfair advantage in the game.  Most of these things provide just that.  Nicely done, Cryptic.

The STO Season One “Common Ground” update, sometime real soon now (“Mid-March”).  Features:

PVP Updates

• Wargames – Federation players can now participate in PvP against one another to better prepare for the dangers of the battlefield.

Um … PvP meh.  But new PvP map will likely mean a new PvE map to use, so that’s good.

Customization

• Off-Duty Uniforms – Experience DS9 in style! Starfleet officers will have the option to change into off-duty outfits to enjoy more casual attire.

On the presumption this will cost extra, meh.  I can imagine that if I were doing more RPGing, this would be of value.

• New Stances and Hairstyles – Further customize your Captain by changing his or her hairstyle, or adopting two brand new stances: Stern and Relaxed.

New stances always good.  Actually, the ability to dynamically change your stance would be welcome.

• The Captain’s Log – A web-based application to check in on you and your friends’ Captains and ships.

You mean, a website portal to our characters and their ships?  Excellent!

Ships

• A New Klingon Battle Cruiser – The K’Tanco Battle Cruiser has been made available to Klingon Lieutenant Commanders.
• Klingon Ship Customization – Use the ship tailor to customize your Bird of Prey, Carrier or Raptor.

Fine, fine.  When I finally roll up a Klingon, I’m sure I’ll find this cool.

Missions

• New Fleet Actions Everywhere!
  • The Big Dig – Available in Romulan space.
  • DS9 Under Siege – The True Way has attacked and boarded DS9. Repel the invasion to save the day.
  • Klingons Can Play, Too – Klingon Captains may now access the Crystalline Entity, Big Dig and Breaking the Planet Fleet Actions

Skills

• Respec Is Here – Unhappy with your Captain’s skill point allocation? Use the respec tool to change things up. (Available both in-game and as a C-store item.)

Don’t see a personal need for this, but some folks do.  Hopefully Cryptic will have learned some costing lessons here from CO.

• New Skill: Starship Attack Vectors – Improve your ship’s accuracy and critical hit chance.
• New Skill: Combat Maneuvers – Improve your ship’s evasion and turn rate.
• New Skill: Starship Battle Strategy – Improve your ship’s critical hit severity and damage resistance.

All good-sounding stuff, though I’m not sure we need more skills to split our skill points out onto.

In The C-Store

• New Bridge Variants – All new ways to update your Bridges’ look, available for a low price in the C-Store for both Federation and Klingon ships.
• Federation Ship Variants – New takes on your old favorites, available for a low price in the C-Store.
• Respec – Unhappy with your Captain’s skill point allocation? Use the respec tool to change things up.
• Character Slot – Purchase an additional character slot if you’d like to have more than three characters on your account.
• Rename – Changed your mind about the cool name you chose? Get it legally changed! Recognized across the Alpha Quadrant.
• New Federation Playable Species – Become a Tellarite, Pakled or Rigelian.

Well, no big surprises here, though it’s good to see some new stuff finally showing up in the C-Store. Holding out for the Caitian playable species, though …

This is only a bit of the changes, fixes and updates coming to Star Trek Online in March. Season One: Common Ground will be available in mid-March. For a full list of what will be available in Season One, please visit the Engineering Reports forum. Interested in checking things out early? Visit the Tribble test server forums for early release notes.

Some very cool stuff upcoming in Star Trek Online, beyond just “We’re doing a lot in customer support and stabilizing bugs”:

Now that the game is out and in your loving hands, we’re taking long, hard looks at everything each and every one of you is interested in seeing changed. Cruiser turn rates? Death penalties? More open auto-fire? All those topics and more are being scrutinized by the all-seeing eye of… um, us!Some of the few things on the way:

• Respec
• Death Penalty
• Difficulty Slider
• More open auto-fire
• Replayable missions
• Improving Memory Alpha

Some good stuff there, though, honestly, not enthused about the whole Death Penalty thing …

We’re in the final stages of testing the first STF (the five-man raids we internally referred to as “Raidisodes”). STF: Infected is just about ready to release.You know, I might actually record one of our internal play sessions. The excited cries for more shielding and healing get the blood pumping. Although, once our testers reach the end room and the action really heats up… Well, it’s not exactly “family friendly” in there. Definitely going to be an exciting, thrilling mission for our players, though.

After Infected, we’ll roll out more STFs. “The Cure”, “The Khitomer Accord” and “Into the Hive” are all coming along nicely. We look forward to regularly releasing these and seeing what everyone thinks.

Given that I’m pretty much content in my duo-ness, this part isn’t nearly as exciting … though, y’know, y’never know …

We haven’t set the future of STO’s content into stone because so much of it will be determined by you, but we’re laying out what we’d like to focus on for the next 6 to 12 months.

• Who are the Undine and what drives them?
• How can we better exploit the Genesis System to create even more compelling content?
• Where can we boldly go next? Where shall we take exploratory missions, as there’s so much potential there?
• Which faction should be playable next? Romulan? Cardassian? Pakled? Dominion? Horta? Okay, not so much the Pakleds.

And that’s not even the start of it! Ship interiors, more bridges, crew quarters, First Officers, Fleet advancement… You have subscribed to a service that delivers a universe unending, and we shall see that universe populated with compelling content or, by the Prophets, we will die trying.

Some people get that. Some people don’t. We’re here for those that do.

Interesting idea, that future development might be (at least partially) focused on more playable factions.  That might provide some frontiers in playability over time.

RTWT.