Star Trek Online at Ten Ton Hammer

The top ten list is always a sure fire way to encapsulate items that are better served in a, well a list. Looking back at some of the interviews and developer discussions that took place prior to the launch of Star Trek Online provides ample fodder for listing out those things that “aren’t going to make it in at launch are on the list.” As Ted Knight said in Caddy Shack, “Well, we’re waiting.”

Cryptic has a whole slew of fires to handle right now as the first month of service draws to a close, so some of the projects have certainly been shelved in light of bigger issues. We won’t even go into the whole price-drop fiasco (aka discountgate) and then the backpeddling. Sticking with the theme of top ten rain checks we haven’t been able to cash, let’s roll on.

Number 10: Re-specs for Careers

Nothing chaps my hide more than knowing a decision I make early on in a game may be regretted for the remainder of the character’s span. Luckily we shouldn’t be waiting too long on this particular issue as it made an appearance on the developer’s State of the Game as a hot topic. I’m looking forward to undoing those embarrassing first-timer specs.

Don't pick the wrong one, respecs aren't available, yet.

Number 9: Player Housing/Fleet Starbases

The idea of having a starbase as central hub for Fleets to meet up is one way that the community could be enhanced. Having a transwarp to said starbase would be an extra special benefit. The Fleet system works fairly well, and Cryptic is definitely not afraid to add more instancing to the game, so why not our own starbase?

Number 8: Balancing

The never ending joy of balancing character careers/classes is one that haunts every game with PvP. Currently Klingons seem to be enjoying a little excess uberness, let’s hope that pendulum swings back the other direction soon, or PvP will get sillier.

Number 7: Crafting

Crafting sort of made its way into the game, but maybe they should have left it to ferment a little more before serving. The gathering is fine, but the actual manufacturing of beneficial items is just whacked. This is another topic from the hot list on the State of the Game. There was no sharing of how crafting might be fixed, other than to say it is high on the list.

Someday this will be worth something.

Number 6: Personal and Fleet Leaderboards

In one of the earlier interviews about PvP, there was a question about whether or not there would be a leaderboard. The answer at the time intoned that a leaderboard was high on the list of things to add right after launch. Leaderboards are an interesting animal, and draw out that competitive spirit even in those who seem mild mannered. It would interesting to watch the individual leaderboards in addition to fleet leaderboards if they come to fruition. Is STO going to head down the competitive e-sports with PvP as we’ve seen with some other large-scale MMO?

Number 5: Bridge Officer Training Ability

One of the core components to bridge officers was supposed to be their ability to train other bridge officers almost all the way up to their own level. This still isn’t in even though people are spending skill points up to skill level 9 since the tool tips still say at level 9 bridge officers learn the ability to train other bridge officers. This is a mission critical piece of the pie. Bridge officers make up a large part of the character experience AND the cultivation of bridge officer training was considered part of the crafting of the game. This one is a big deal and should be A #1 or dern close to it on the To Do list. Maybe right behind or next to Respecs.

Hey I should be able to train too, I know that stuff!

Number 4: Klingon Progression

Currently there is only one way to level up on the Klingon side and that involves PvP and more PvP. If you’ve spent a minute on the official forums, you’ve read the angst about the lack of depth to the leveling fun for Klingons. I’m sure this is also high on the list for completion, but this is a major undertaking. So big, that it is like creating whole new chunks of the game major.

Number 3: Fleet Leveling

There may be a theme to some of this list in that it’s community driven. Any MMOG launching these days should have at a bare minimum the basics offered by five year old MMOs. One of these is the idea of guild progression (see Everquest 2 for an excellent example). Please give people a reason to join a larger group than a random open instance, and give them a reason to stick around and grow with that group. Common goals bring out the best in cooperation and drive. Just ask the bobsledders in the Olympics, I’m sure they wouldn’t run around in lycra unless their team had some chance of progressing. Some of those dudes in the four man bobsled might want to rethink the lycra anyway. Yet I digress. Communal drive brings people together and keeps them together even when other parts of a game are falling apart.

Side note on Fleets in general, why can’t we join a Fleet Action as a Fleet? That seems counterintuitive and downright mean. I’m assuming this is a bug with unintended consequences that they aim to fix soon.

Showing a little respect in the Fleet Starbase.

Number 2: Bridge Combat

It’s Star Trek, where 90% of the battles we’ve watched on TV and the big screen take place from the view of the bridge. I know it is a major undertaking, requires all kinds of adaptations to the combat and blah blah blah. You are smart game developers, figure it out people.

Number 1: More Math

Theorycrafting is typically fairly low on my scale of fun, but one thing about STO that has perplexed me from the beginning is the fact that I can’t determine an upgrades actual bonus to my character. From kits and armor to more important things like skills and bridge officer skills, I should be able to calculate (or have a comparison provided that shows) what the heck potential changes will actually do for my character. Have you purchased a bridge officer yet and wondered “I wonder how that officer will be affected by this skill bonus?” Worse, what does boosting this skill actually do for me? At heart I think most of us are complete data sponges and will soak up all we can get. STO currently doesn’t provide a very friendly way to parse the data. Maybe I’m way off, if I am, please set me straight.

And there you have it, the top ten list of things that were promised or should have been and have yet to show up in the game. Some of the items we should see shortly, but many of these are pie in the sky at this point. Which is which? Well you tell me. Join us for a conversation at the corner bar, or the forums, whichever is closer.