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Ask Cryptic answers your Klingon questions
Late last week we gave you a heads-up that Cryptic was going to begin answering your questions about all things Klingon in Star Trek Online, and the first round of answers is up. This installment of Ask Cryptic focused heavily on customization, with questions answered about how far characters can go when customizing and creating ships and characters. The Cryptic development team reiterated a theme that we've heard before: they'll start with a solid foundation and plenty of room to grow, and add things in the future according to what the player base responds to. It's a process that could serve them very well if done right. The final question went in a slightly different direction and holds the potential for a lot of fun and debate in the Star Trek Online community. One fan asked if there were plans for Klingon language content. The answer? "We've been looking all over for someone to help us out with Klingon Localization. However, at this time there seems to be a shortage of Klingon linguists. We're hoping that as the Klingon language becomes more prominent we'll be able to find someone to help us out with this. We're also looking into ways we can farm this out to the community. Any volunteers?" Those of you that speak KIingon, hop to it, and for the rest of you the full Ask Cryptic entry can be read here.
Ask Cryptic about Klingons in STO
Do you have burning questions about Klingon play in Star Trek Online? Cryptic is more than aware that people are going to have questions, and so they've put up a new thread (hit it up right here) where you can use a Cryptic account to post all the questions your heart could ever possibly desire to ask. We're sure to see the answers sooner rather than later, but with holidays occurring next week, it may take longer than usual. Also, in case you need some help with your questions, here are some keywords we'd suggest you consider using when asking questions about Klingons: booze, battle and bat'leth.
Latest Ask Cryptic installment discusses episode missions
The development team at Cryptic has been spending a good amount of time satisfying player curiosity about the upcoming Star Trek Online MMO, and the newest Ask Cryptic session continues the trend. Episode Missions are a feature that potential players are excited about and want to hear more about, and the developers covered the high points as asked by fans. The questions covered everything from flexibility for players in the Episode missions, to Cryptic's future plans for them. Is there a fixed 1-2-3 progression with only one path, or can you jump around a bit, skipping here and there to do what sounds like fun? What kind of rewards are planned? Can they be soloed? Will there be more, and how often? The Cryptic team covered a fair amount of ground and seems to be having a great time creating the Episode Missions. The full Ask Cryptic installment can be read here.
Star Trek Online: Ask Cryptic continues with player progression theme
Today's dev chat in Star Trek Online was all about player progression, but the STO team seems to be getting a jump on things, since yesterday's Ask Cryptic was all about...yep, player progression. (This is actually part two, with previous questions on the same subject being answered in last month's Ask Cryptic.)This round of questions covered several topics including a brief overview of endgame material, and repeating missions to help other players. A discussion of Bridge Officers gave a bit more information on how their skills, traits, and abilities will work together to bring a potentially wide variety of talent to your ship. Yes, your ship -- an aspect of the game that's sparked a great amount of interest and questions. One question addressed the advantages and disadvantages of different tiers, leading to some explanation of the ship categories and the progression through them. This month's Ask Cryptic served as a great lead-in to the dev chat, and is well worth the read. It can be viewed on the official site.
Star Trek Online player progression dev chat October 20th
If you've got any additional questions on player progression in Star Trek Online, Cryptic will be holding a 30 minute dev chat next Tuesday, October 20, at 11:30 a.m. Pacific time. The topic's been covered previously -- particularly in the ongoing Ask Cryptic feature -- but as always the developer is more than happy to open itself to follow-up questions from the community.There's a Java client you can access from the web right here, just make sure to type "/join #STO" in the text input field. If you've got IRC, simply point it at #STO on coldfront.net and you're in business. Also, anyone who'd like their question answered but can't make it should post it in this official thread on the Star Trek Online forums. Cryptic will be selecting questions from there as well.We hope you guys have questions, because we're kinda stumped on anything but Klingon specific stuff, which we're sure they're not going to answer right now.
Skill and ship progression covered in new STO dev chat
The latest Star Trek Online dev chat was expectedly focused on the skill-based progression system revealed in last week's Ask Cryptic. A particularly interesting answer revealed that although it's possible to eventually earn all the space skills in the game, your ship equipment and bridge officer selection will be a determining factor. Since ground combat is focused around your skill kit, which is based off your career choice, it's restricted by class.We also learned that advancing in rank earns players the right to newer, larger ships. When hitting a new rank, Starfleet will grant one free vessel, but the acquisition of other vessels within that new type will require merit. Knowing that puts us at ease, because we're sure that once Starfleet gets a load of our captaining abilities, they'll have no choice but to give us a trillion merit on the spot.
Star Trek Online to feature skill-based leveling
So, Star Trek Online is using a skill-based progression system where experience earned translates into new skill points instead of new levels. Players start at the wide end and specialize into the "point" of the triangle as they progress in rank. Speaking of ranks, there are five of them: Lieutenant, Lieutenant Commander, Commander, Captain and Admiral.It sounds like the nature of the system is to allow players some granularity in their specialization as they level. The types of skills invested in at the Lieutenant rank will determine what kinds of more specialized skills are available at the Lieutenant Commander rank. Then, once a player invests enough skill points to become a Commander, they'll dig even further into their chosen specialty.There's a lot more detail in the Ask Cryptic write-up, and you can even post questions directly to the devs in the forum thread linked to the article.
Star Trek Online IRC dev chat tomorrow, August 12th
Tomorrow marks another Star Trek Online IRC dev chat, which is scheduled to being at 11:30am Pacific Standard Time and will last 30 minutes. The chat will focus on the recent Ask Cryptic, which was all about ground combat, firing your lasers and guys in big rubber monster suits. Okay, so maybe we made that last part up, but it felt right. Anyhow, if you've still got some burning questions after reading that recent Ask Cryptic, feel free to head over to #STO on coldfront.net or access the chat via the web-based java client -- just make sure to type "/join #STO" in the text field.Thankfully, Cryptic realizes that not everyone will be able to make it to the chat. So if you can't, just head over to this ongoing thread and toss your question into the pile. It's a sure bet there'll be a transcript shortly after the chat ends.
Latest Ask Cryptic for Star Trek Online focuses on combat balance
Ask Cryptic is a regular Q&A between the developers working on Star Trek Online (and Champions Online) and the game community that's formed around the upcoming title(s). This week's Ask Cryptic for Star Trek Online focuses on ship combat, particularly how the damage inflicted upon your vessel affects its performance. Essentially, you'll be able to go all out in combat right up until your demise. That said, focused attacks on your specific subsystems can take them out, and losing crew members will weaken your skills in tasks that the injured or deceased personnel handled. The Cryptic Studios devs also clarify that solo players will be able to acquire the same ships as those involved in high level group play, although soloists will likely find they're not able to get through some higher level content. Endgame rewards are meant to be a guild-level pursuit, but Cryptic stresses that the best ships will be available to anyone, regardless of play style.
Champions Online's official State of the Game makes its public debut
It's always appreciable when a developer makes as much effort as it can to not only listen to their community, but respond in kind as well. The fairly regular Ask Cryptic features have gone great lengths to achieve a nice give and take, but we're really excited for the first public State of the Game for Champions Online.There's a lot to take in, but we've decided to focus on the first topic, which is about power selection. The current system has players visiting an UNTIL database whenever they level, but many players weren't happy about having to check in with "The Man" every time they grew stronger. Plus there's that time sink in having to go run back to a computer with every new level.Thankfully Cryptic has found a good middle-ground on the issue. They're keeping the UNTIL computers, but adding a "Hazard Vault" where new powers can be tried before they're purchased. In a game where the look of your character is of the utmost importance to a large portion of the player base -- including us here at Massively -- we're completely stoked to hear this news. Try before we buy? Oh yes, please.
Latest Ask Cryptic explains space combat tactics in Star Trek Online
A nice thing Cryptic Studios has been doing across their MMO titles in development is "Ask Cryptic", where fans of Star Trek Online (and Champions Online) pose questions to the developers and get answers. The latest (and tenth) Ask Cryptic for Star Trek Online covers a wide variety of topics. Cryptic explains a bit about space navigation in Star Trek Online, done via three levels of maps -- sector space maps (planets, solar systems, space stations, nebulas, anomalies), system maps (3D), and ground maps which include the surface of planets for away missions as well as space station interiors. They also address a strength of Star Trek Online that not all MMOs have -- entity into entity collision. What does this mean for STO players? Ramming speed! In fact, that will be one of the skills players can select. Cryptic explains the advantage to this, with one caveat: "Keep in mind, if your ship is already badly damaged, you may not want to ram into a fully intact Borg cube, for example. That would be a bad idea. On the other hand, if you know you're going to lose, you could ram into them, hit the self destruct and take them out with you."
No more naming woes in Champions Online
Everyone knows the pain and frustration that you feel when, after spending time on a really great name for your character, you find that it's already been taken. Well no more for Champions Online players! Cryptic has worked out an interesting system that's poised to alleviate the classic issue. You can read about it in the latest Ask Cryptic and also go over a ton of other crunchy information on the game, too.It works like this: Now everyone can be named Fellbat, but you can only have one character per account with said name. To prevent confusion when looking for a person in-game, you specify the player via their handle. So for example, "Fellbat@Massively" or "Fellbat@Boboid" would reach two different players.Though a perfect solution it may not be, we think it's far better than having to come up with a second, third, fourth or sometimes even fifth name in lieu of the one you really wanted.
Ask Cryptic: Lemuria includes sharks, laser beams and water powers
In what we expect is a final bout of news on the Champions Online zone Lemuria, a new Ask Cryptic has appeared on the official website and its focus is firmly centered on the underwater zone. We now know that Lemuria will be a high-end zone focused on players experiencing the civil war between good Lemurians and those looking to once again worship the Bleak Ones for power to overthrow the surface world.In less story-driven answers, it appears as though those looking for water-themed costumes will have plenty to choose from. However, water-based powers aren't going to be happening due to the graphical requirements. Maybe Aquaman wannabes will get their watery comeuppance sometime in a future post-launch update, although it may be a long wait.
Customizing to your heart's content in Star Trek Online
When it comes to quantities of races in MMOs, Star Trek Online will probably have every other game beat. Not only does the official canon offer plenty of racial choices, but the level of person-by-person customization offers endless combinations.If you need some detailed examples of how all of this will work, look no further than the latest Ask Cryptic for Star Trek Online. In this edition of the venerable community-driven question and answer bonanza, the focus is firmly upon visual and statistic customization choices. Yep, that's right, not only will we be allowed to make a character with ridges and point ears -- we'll also be able to make them psychic or resistant to poisons as well.Want to make an android? Go for it, the creation process very much allows you to achieve it through visual, technical and story avenues. About the only limitation will be our imaginations and the classic Trek adherence to bipedal abundance.
Champions Online answers on shapeshifting and defense systems
Defense, defense, defense. This week's bout of questions followed succinctly by answers moves through the ins and outs of how Champions Online's defense mechanics work. While this isn't 100% brand new information, it's quite thorough. Also discussed are the specifics about tweaking powers, like making a one-off electric AoE into a toggle ability that you don't have to worry constantly tapping in combat. However, the downside is that it gains a recharge.Another subject addressed was the matter of whether or not Cryptic plans to have shapeshifting powers -- something of a hot topic in the forums. The answer was not at launch, but the team most definitely wants to do it. Simply put -- and we know this isn't the first time you've heard this -- they want to do it right, and give shapeshifting the right amount of time and budget.
Retcons, non-combat and superpowered travelling in Champions Online
The first Ask Cryptic for Champions Online in February spends a lot of time clearing up questions concerning travel powers, non-combat features and, well, even more non-combat features. Yeah, this set of questions definitely run the gamut -- but that's how we like 'em!What caught our attention in this one was the reveal of respecs in the game or as Cryptic is calling them, "Retcons" It sounds like we may actually be able to get Retcons on specific power choices in Champions Online. Our reason for thinking this comes from the line saying, "Up to a certain level, retcons are fairly cheap, but the higher the level of your character, the more thorough the retcon, the more expensive." While this could simply be some miscommunication, it does sound like less thorough Retcons will be available to those looking for only a little take-back.Additionally, there's a good amount of discussion on how physics and the balancing of travel powers in combat works as well. Mostly it's concerning the functionary bits on how it'll all work in the game come launch, but if you're interested in that you should definitely check this one out.
Discovering Champions Online's evidence and investigation systems
Another series of community-supplied questions and answers is sitting on the Champions Online website just in time for the weekend. As usual, Cryptic cherry-picked a nice variety of inquiries that vary from how much non-combat content the game would have, to whether or not in-game social gathering locations an events were planned.Social spots/events are being facilitated in a big way, so no surprises there. Although you may find yourself a little surprised concerning non-combat in Champions Online. Combat? There's a lot of it - shock! But that doesn't mean Cryptic is blind to the fact that some superheroes do much more than pound faces until they look like a bowl of meat pudding.
Ships, NPCs and art direction in newest Star Trek Online Ask Cryptic
The first Star Trek Online Ask Cryptic for 2009 is out now, and with it comes information on some essential information about ships and NPC interactions. What we've now learned about ship progression is that while trekking across space, seeking out new life, players will be able to upgrade tier 1 ships to compete with tier 2 ships. However, the caveat here is that a fully upgraded tier 1 ship may not always be a match for a fully upgraded tier 2 wessel- er, vessel. As a side note, certain ship types will probably be better at things like blockade running anyhow. So a tier 1 Defiant would be better than a tier 2 Excelsior class.
New details on custom powers and more for Champions Online
It seems like Champions Online is starting to exist in that development space where there's quite a bit of solid, factual information ready to be divulged. How do we know? Easy, the latest Ask Cryptic -- traditionally at least semi-informative, if not pretty entertaining -- gets quite detailed on the subjects of power customization, grinding, character creation and non-combative roles such as healers and buffers.Our seasoned MMO geek "detectotrons" are telling us that a tidal wave of new information is possibly just around the corner, but even so, this newest volley of answers is surprisingly satisfying. That being said, we'd love to hear more about the quest, crafting and PvP systems designed into Champions Online. If only because after creating your superhero, his nemesis (and lackeys) and doing the tutorial, those are the meat and bones of any MMORPG.
Audio details and more character customization in the latest Ask Cryptic
It looks like character customization is still the source of many of the most burning questions for followers of Champions Online, and another handful of these are answered in the latest "Ask Cryptic" feature. We find out that, although there are a number of crazy costume elements like tails, fins and claws, that is all they are intended to be for now -- costume elements. No wicked tail-strikes for the time being, but they haven't ruled this sort of thing out entirely, so keep your flippers crossed.Another community member asked about the audio in CO, and whether it is an important part of development for Cryptic Studios. In response, they say that they have just tripled the size of their audio team, which roughly translates to "Hell yes audio is important!". Signature villains have unique voices, and ambient sounds and music are being paid particular attention to. The final question asked if the biggest villains (like Foxbat) would have their own musical themes; although it doesn't look like they had planned it before, they certainly sound interested in incorporating it now. Check out the full answers to these questions and a bunch more at the Ask Cryptic page.
