Cryptic has shown that money is the driving force behind the current design path and not making a Star Trek MMO. In this post, I will outline how Cryptic can still change their ways and make a Great AAA MMO, instead of a mediocre not even close AAA they’re proposing now.
1. DON’T cater to the 6-18 month crowd. By catering to a player base that’s known to move from the MMO to MMO as it comes out, you’re presetting a death date in the game. Yes you’ll make quick cash in the beginning, but once these players leave for the next MMO, you’ll be left with a product that’s essentially void of players. Build for the Long Term customers, plan for the departure of the “Jumpers” from the beginning and you’ll draw more players that are willing to survive the initial phase and give greater returns in the long run.
2. Graphics: they’ve stated they are keeping them simple to draw the masses in. I 100% disagree with this approach. Build the graphics up, make them stellar, but also make a low quality version for the minor masses that can’t afford the great Graphics. Eve Online does this; they have the original graphics set from launch and a new set of awesome looking graphics. AoC drew in far more player because of the graphics than the name did, so pump it up.
3. Ship customization: I really have to say, do not allow players to customize the outside of the ship, it would not be true to the IP and would just lead to a very visually disgusting game. Players do not need to be putting g decals, flames, and other weird images on their ships, nor should they be coloring them, giving them visual names and registry numbers.
Instead, ships should have standardized exteriors, a database of ship names and numbers should be used to spawn ships with “proper” names and registry numbers. Again, I have to point to Eve Online here, no player can change their ships exterior look and no one even complains. This is Star trek, and as you have stated that everyone one will be part of the Military at launch, then ships should be standardized to that military.
4. Guilds: do not overly cater to these organizations, yes they can be a great addition to a game, but they must be controlled in a reasonable manner and not given too much control over the game. They should not be given the ability to build bases, this should be only done by NPC’s such that all bases, shipyards and manufacturing centers are NPC controlled that all players can use them. Again, players are part of a Military Organization, not a chaotic “us vs. them” society. Regulate guilds to a minor aspect, but give them basic support, build for the casual groupers, not the guilds.
5. Movement and galaxy: the galaxy needs to be set up as a seemless zone system, movement needs to be quasi-realistic. What does that mean? Means I should be able to fly from earth to DS9 and not ever see a loading screen. It also means it should take considerable time to travel that distance at warp speed. If it takes 4 years to go from earth to alpha centari at warp 1, then It should take about 1 year in game, that’s a 75% reduction in the warp times. Transwarp movement is a fine system in itself, however it needs to be very limited. I would highly recommend that it be limited to between central “regional HQ” starbases and be at 200% faster than normal warp.
Outside of controlled space, all players would have to use traditional warp movement. The galaxy itself would have to be set up that warp movement between “Regional HQ’s” should take a significant time via warp speed.
6. Planet naming: again, this is another aspect that shouldn’t be allowed, the illusion would be ruined to see “PwndU coloney IV”. I again suggest a database of acceptable names that a player can choose from, thus we would see quality named planets. If however a player did not want to use the “acceptable names database” and instead wanted to name them something outside that, then they should be a review system in place to allow it, Preferably by GM’s or such.
7. Go Sandbox: please don’t use some centralized plotline, start in the year you stated 2409, and then slowly work from there. Let the players go where they want and not have to worry if they’re advancing some weird plot and then suddenly find themselves at the end of said plot and now have nothing to do. Sandboxing softens this by letting players do missions without them strictly controlling the player’s life.
8. The Borg: ok, since we know they’ll be in game, let’s not overly use them. The Borg tends to be more for combat missions; Star Trek is not all about combat. If we have 60% of the game missions involving the Borg, the game will fail. It has been shown in both TNG and Voyager that the federation had 2 viable ways to destroy the Borg for good and that several delta quadrant races were working to perfect ways to destroy the borg as well, all with some semblance of success. Therefore, taking that this is 30+ years sicne we saw these attempts, one must conclude that at least one attempt would have been at least partially successful. That being the case, the Borg would most likely be working to rebuild itself and not really be worried about the federation. Therefore, they should be regulated to minor “rogue” vessels that have escaped the catastrophe, reducing them to a mere 2% missions.
Making these changes would be a step in the right direction to make the game great and would draw in more players that would be in it for the long term. These are by no fault the only changes needed, but they are the base changes that need to be done now for success.
