NEWS/EDITORIAL

“Will STO Make It In 2010” ?
https://original.jupiterbroadcasting.net/?p=1557

“Is the game Trek enough?”
— Last year, Chris pioneered the statement “Trek is Trek” implying that the variability of the level of Trek doesn’t really matter.
— He also stated that STO gets a few important things wrong, but that it’s alright because it’s a video game and when FUN violates CANON, fun will win. (Specifically, too much combat.)
— It’s not CO with a Trek skin!
— There will always be hardcore fans of certain aspects of ST that will not get what they want. (Romulans, duck & cover ground combat, etc)

“What will be the impact of JJ Abram’s Trek?”
— We both know gamers that tried the game out because of this movie.
— We assumed there would be more sequel news by now, which would help with continuing hype for STO.
— The voice of Zach Quinto (Spock) in the Tutorial will confuse new players.
— Collector’s/Director’s Cut of this film have any STO tie-in?  NOPE.

“If the new Trek bombs will that impact STO negatively?”
— Still waiting to see the results of this, as the next film is still a ways off.

“Is Cryptic its own worst enemy? Is Star Trek TOO MUCH for them to handle?”
— This statement was made PRIOR to our trip to Cryptic, prior to the Player Council, prior to the replacement of Zinc with Stahl… and various other PR changes/blowbacks.
— Cryptic had insufficient staff during STO’s launch and post-launch boom.
— The KDF issues have from the beginning been a question of communication: Both telling players what the KDF will be about, and listening to KDF players about what they expect and want in the game.
— Early on, a lot of interviews included “canned answers” that didn’t actually answer the questions given, or resulted in wrong information and assumptions made by the audience.
— The community is the only thing that can scale with the success of the game, Cryptic can’t staff up to follow a trend of large audience.  You have to support the community at its core.

(Summary:  We were spot on with a number of things on this topic, and Cryptic has made major PR changes to improve their actions on this matter. Engineering Reports, Ask Cryptic Q&A, and a very active Dev Tracker.)

State of the KDF
This episode took place shortly after Cryptic’s announcement that the KDF would be almost entirely a PvP faction, with no episodic content.
— Some of the fallout over this announcement are STILL HAPPENING. This primary weak point of the game has been addressed in small ways over the past years, but remains the game’s #1 weakest content point.
— Since launch, the KDF has only seen a few dozen new missions. It has taken us until Season 3 launched before we felt good about the level of content to try it out as a dedicated project.

NEXT YEAR’S PREDICTIONS

Jeremy:
– Cryptic will acknowledge the positive impact the Foundry can have on their game, and embrace it by appointing a point of contact (or team) that will focus on publicity for the best-made and highly-reviewed player missions on a regular basis.  Maybe a secondary weekly spotlight?
– We will see an announcement toward the end of the year for a Romulan expansion. Including the new faction, 3-4 new sectors complete with PvE stories. The unique Romulan mechanic will be “espionage” and will be similar to Fed DXP.
– More voice overs and cut scenes for episode content.

Chris:
-Voice Overs + Cut Scenes (Demo record fly through)
-More Star Trek
-Slow Down
-UGC will snowball into requiring a more robust out-of-game experience to discover and discuss new player created content.

COMMUNITY FEEDBACK

All of these CAN BE PLAYED on Tribble.  So if you’d like a more thorough experience before voting for a favorite, feel free to check them out for yourself!

“The Longing” by Rachel Garrett
Investigate a Borg attack on a seemingly innocuous colony in the Gamma Orionis sector. Along the way you will investigate a silicon-based lifeform, encounter a deranged El-Aurian, and solve a mystery that puts the entire colony at stake.

“Circle of Deceit” by Fewzz
Called to assist in a search & rescue mission, you quickly find that all is not as it seems. The Admiral you’re sent to rescue has secretly been assisting a Gorn resistance movement to splinter away from the KDF and provide the Federation with valuable intel, and you must ensure the safety of the Gorn representative, and along the way survive an ambush by superior forces.

“Deep Space 11” by AdmiralMurphy
This is an introductory mission that takes you to a station deep in the Gamma Quadrant, where the Federation has set up an exploratory space station at the sight of a stable wormhole that leads to an entirely separate galaxy, called the Antonedian Galaxy. In this mission, you will defend the station from a Dominion raid, and get introduced to a Jem’hadar splinter group of freedom fighters, attempting to free their race from the Dominion’s rule.  First in a lengthy series.