Startrek Online for Dungeon Masters - Foundry Online

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

Not sure if people are still following the game and considering to check it out, but I thought I should mention it here... Should be enough Startrek fans around here...

A few weeks back, the Foundry went online. The Foundry is basically a mission editor, kinda like they existed for Neverwinter Nights 1 and 2, allowing players to create their own missions. (AFAIK, it is also work that will be re-used for the Neverwinter Online title, also made by Cryptic.)

So, if you always had a cool Startrek adventure in mind to play, this could be one way to implement and experience it in a game.

The Foundry still has some limitations, but it also allows a lot of interesting stuff. A few days back, I played the best mission I ever played in Startrek Online (in case you're already playing or intend to start soon: Parallel Intersections), and it was made by a player.

While the "Featured Episodes" Cryptic is creating are good and have become better with every installment, they cannot really satisfy the pace at which you can run through content. The Foundry changed this.

There are still some limits - to avoid the grind potential, you only get skill points from kills (which is not the major way to advance in STO), and there is only 3-Mission Daily that gives a small boost in skill point awards. Cryptic has taken a stance against grind missions overall, and so the majority of missions so far seem to be focused on story-telling. Of course, nota ll of them are good. If title and mission description are not enough - and often enough, those can already tell you if what you'll get will be interesting and made with some care or not - the review and search system should give you some hints at what to try out.

Unfortunately, I myself didn't have much time yet to build new missions. I only have stuff on the test server (which is still playable there), and the only life server mission I made is not a story mission, but instead a kind of "advanced tutorial" into the gameplay mechanics, as well as some insights into tactics, strategies and metrics for PvP. (Who would have thought I'd end up being an avid PvP player!)

 

[Truth Seeker]

I like it, but like you, need time to make a great mission. And I have several in mine. All Trek related...

 

[Kzach]

This would be great if not for the fact that one has to pay for the privilege of making content for the developers. It's like saying, "Here, have my money and I'll do all the work for you as well!" It's a sweet gig for Cryptic but pretty lame for players.

I say this having four max-level characters (three on Federation, one on Klingon) and having been in a really good guild with great people. Eventually, that's just not enough and the sheer lack of content in the game reduces the experience to a boring daily grind and the odd group PVP or PVE mission.

But the worst thing about the game is that it's a sci-fi shoot 'em up with Star Trek paraphernalia tacked on as an afterthought rather than a Star Trek game with some combat in it. If I wanted to commit genocide on a daily basis (and believe me, with the amount of ship and ground mobs you kill just doing dailies, you are wiping out entire species pretty fast), I wouldn't be playing Star Trek in the first place.

I was excited when the Foundry was announced until I suddenly realised that I'd be paying the developers and doing their work for them. If the game was rife with content already and wasn't just a lame space grind, then the Foundry would be a boon, but without that richness and diversity of content, it's more like a boondoggle.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

This would be great if not for the fact that one has to pay for the privilege of making content for the developers. It's like saying, "Here, have my money and I'll do all the work for you as well!" It's a sweet gig for Cryptic but pretty lame for players.

I say this having four max-level characters (three on Federation, one on Klingon) and having been in a really good guild with great people. Eventually, that's just not enough and the sheer lack of content in the game reduces the experience to a boring daily grind and the odd group PVP or PVE mission.

But the worst thing about the game is that it's a sci-fi shoot 'em up with Star Trek paraphernalia tacked on as an afterthought rather than a Star Trek game with some combat in it. If I wanted to commit genocide on a daily basis (and believe me, with the amount of ship and ground mobs you kill just doing dailies, you are wiping out entire species pretty fast), I wouldn't be playing Star Trek in the first place.

I was excited when the Foundry was announced until I suddenly realised that I'd be paying the developers and doing their work for them. If the game was rife with content already and wasn't just a lame space grind, then the Foundry would be a boon, but without that richness and diversity of content, it's more like a boondoggle.

Meh.

Am I paying WotC or Paizo money for doing their job when I buy rulebooks and create adventures?

I don't think so.

What I am paying for (as a Foundry creator) is a tool that allows me to tell stories that others can experience. If that has no worth to you, so be it. I like it.

MMOs always depend on player participation to work. If there weren't those hundreds or thousands of other players in the game, you would be playing a single player game. Fleet Actions, STFs, PvP, all that would not be possible without other people.

We're paying for a playground with a lot of nice toys. Nothing wrong with that, IMO.

 

[Kzach]

We're paying for a playground with a lot of nice toys. Nothing wrong with that, IMO.

You missed the distinction I made at the end: we're paying for a playground without any toys in it.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

I don't follow you

If the game was rife with content already and wasn't just a lame space grind, then the Foundry would be a boon

No, it would be superflous then. If you have tons of content already, you don't need a mission creator!

 

[Kzach]

I don't follow you

No, it would be superflous then. If you have tons of content already, you don't need a mission creator!

It would be a boon because you could play the game without having to create content to play through whereas currently there is so little content that you pretty much have to either create it yourself or play through other people's created content.

Cryptic put out an unfinished game with very little content and are relying on the people sustaining their business with subscription money to not only pay for all of the above, but to further create the content that they're paying for; it's like saying, "Here's some wood, some tools, some sand... now, pay us so that you can make a sand pit to play in."