Star Trek Online: Here We Go Again!

[Ratman_tf]

Quick question for ya all:

How many people truly give a crap about the color of their eyes and the shape of the eyebrows? I mean, outside the character creation event that is.

I have yet to play in a world where anything smaller than the costume itself is noticable in even roleplay activities. Hairstyles with multiple-colors is a valid stretch to the next level of depth, but having fluid control over the height of my cheekbones? Even with AoC at max settings, I'm never playing so zoomed in to see which scar my opponent(s) have on their face.

So is this really just a big old waste of effort?

I hated SWG's character creation. You could change your nose and eye color and freckles... and then put a helmet on.  Characters, despite having all these feature variables, still wound up looking pretty much the same as each other. And it's development resources that could have been put towards... making bandoliers and belts actually fit on a character's body instead of floating about 4 inches around the character. 

More than WoW, but not more of this freckle slider bullshit plz.

P.S. Note to devs: A pet peeve of mine. Making a character bigger or smaller does not make them shorter or taller. There is a difference.

[SnakeCharmer]

Quick question for ya all:

Even if you can't really notice it from an outwards view, it's nice to at least have some sort of validation internally that you look a little different than the rest. 

But if I had to chose between 30 slider points for cheekbones and more options for clothing/armor, I'd take clothing/armor every time.  That said, the number of slider points isn't really all that important, but I shapes could be expanded a bit. 

People fart around and make short, fat, balding characters to be funny, but I can't think of anyone I know that makes a fry cook to be 'serious' with it.

[Venkman]

I should have framed it different. What I want to get at is whether this is something you'd rather have than other related things. That it matters within the context of the character customization event of course makes sense. By level 10 though, covered in gear (which most games are inclined to do), it matters much less.

I don't think you can customize WoW's characters nearly enough. Nice they added the hair option, but it might as well be UO for as far as you can adjust your look at creation. And yet, nobody seems to care.

Prior to that, CoH was the apex of customization. Yea, you could adjust the look of your EQ2 character more, but 90% of that was of the cheekbone and eye color variety. Not the overt outward appearance that people notice even when running by. And EQ2 has since added the customization where it actually matters... or, where CoH already had it.

For me, I want to look good. And I'll take advantage of the cheekbone sliders and armor dyes when they're around. But it's like weather effects and player housing to me: good to have but don't deliver at the expense of more important features.

So basically, case-by-case basis imho. CoH it was really important. I can only hope DCUO has that level of options. And now to bring it back on topic, I agree with UnSub: for a game like Trek where being an alien often meant just some nose ridges, it probably is as important.

[Zzulo]

I always try to make my characters as obese as possible. Unfortunately most MMO's wont allow me to do that. I had a very fat Herald of Xotli in Age of Conan that I was very fond of. However, they removed the option to change characters girths before launch for some reason.






Don't ask me why he's wearing the belt like that. Just one of the many hundreds of bugs of beta. I never understood why they removed all the interesting character customization options for AoC though.

[FatuousTwat]

It's not a huge deal, but I'd rather not look like everyone else.

[Ratman_tf]

I'm partly drawn towards the gear aspect of doll dressup. I like my action figures to come with lots of accessories. Backpacks and guns and helmets. If I equip a pair of rangefinder goggles, I'd really like to see those goggles on my character.

And partly I want to look my role. I'd rather not be a Paladin in viking armor... I want to look like a Paladin. WoW is really bad in that case. Aside from a very few armor types, everyone winds up looking like a hobo clown. The tier armor is hit or miss. Sometimes it's really great and sometimes it's just awful.

[SnakeCharmer]

I'm sure they meant that in general internet parlance, there is nothing preventing two devices talking to a hub from talking to each other. But beyond that, the devil's in the details. I'd really love to see how a cross-device MMO could work without either requiring a keyboard for the console or voicechat for the PC user. That is the technical separation I'm more interested in.

Won't keyboard / mouse work with a 360?  If my 360 was plugged up to a TV and if my keyboard wasn't a bitch to get unplugged from my desktop, I'd plug it in one of the USB ports and see what happens.  For some reason, I think I asked that question here at F13...

I think the 360 will recognize it fine.  The game just has to be programmed to take advantage of it.  Which, should be possible, yeah?

[WindupAtheist]

I'd rather games canned all this eyebrow-slider shit and gave me fucking tons more clothing options. For all it's lack of at-creation customization, UO was the only game where I could recognize people without looking at their names.

[apocrypha]

The armour dyes in DAOC made it possible for some people too. Only some though.... the all-pink armsman stood out nicely in the crowd of black 

[NiX]

The armour dyes in DAOC made it possible for some people too. Only some though.... the all-pink armsman stood out nicely in the crowd of black 

I used to make a point to dye every piece of armor a different colour in DAoC. My friends never had a hard time finding me in RvR groups.

[UnSub]

I'd rather games canned all this eyebrow-slider shit and gave me fucking tons more clothing options. For all it's lack of at-creation customization, UO was the only game where I could recognize people without looking at their names.

STO + clothing options = does not compute. Apart from avoiding dying your shirts red, that is.

[Nevermore]

I don't think you can customize WoW's characters nearly enough. Nice they added the hair option, but it might as well be UO for as far as you can adjust your look at creation. And yet, nobody seems to care.

There are plenty of people who care.  I certainly do.  The trick is getting Blizzard to care.

[apocrypha]

STO + clothing options = does not compute. Apart from avoiding dying your shirts red, that is.

Why the fuck would anyone do that? Might as well just paint a target on your chest and hold a sign saying "bit-part about to die horribly"!

[WindupAtheist]

STO + clothing options = does not compute. Apart from avoiding dying your shirts red, that is.

Hey, that's their problem. I'm still never going to zoom in close enough to see everyone's eyebrows.

[Venkman]

I don't think you can customize WoW's characters nearly enough. Nice they added the hair option, but it might as well be UO for as far as you can adjust your look at creation. And yet, nobody seems to care.

There are plenty of people who care.  I certainly do.  The trick is getting Blizzard to care.

Their definition of "plenty" is at a different scale.

But it'll probably come eventually. No reason for them to NOT do clothing/appearance tab, and at the same time make Tailoring more relevant. Just not as high a priority as more loot tables.

[Ratman_tf]

I'd rather games canned all this eyebrow-slider shit and gave me fucking tons more clothing options. For all it's lack of at-creation customization, UO was the only game where I could recognize people without looking at their names.

Wat? All I remember is people in robes and bone masks. Everywhere.

[Fordel]

The only game where I REALLY could tell who was who at a glance, was CoH. For obvious reasons. All the eye brow adjusting is 'useless' in terms of character identification for the most part.

With that said, I still want it. I've spent an embarrassingly large amount of time fooling around with character generators and model viewers for games. While no one might notice my eye color, it still matters to ME, which is all that really counts In the end.

[raydeen]

I used to be all into character customization. Anymore, I just hit random till I hit something that looks good and then tweak it slightly. Gives me more of a "This is what this character was born with, let's see where it takes them". My own little weird personal RP thang. It also provides me with combos I might not have thought of using.

[Venkman]

With that said, I still want it. I've spent an embarrassingly large amount of time fooling around with character generators and model viewers for games. While no one might notice my eye color, it still matters to ME, which is all that really counts In the end.

This sort of sums up a theme I think.

People will jerk around with the settings ad nauseum, when they're there. But the usefulness of such things after character creation is nil. As such, it's hard to justify time spent to develop it if that time could go elsewhere (not that it always can of course). The other angle here is emotes. There's always dozens upon dozens of facial expressions and character emotes developers put into these game. But outside of /dance and /hump, how many do people actually use? Again a development justification question.

What I'd really like to see isn't the demise of this type of development, but rather a reason for it to be there. I'd like to see NPC dialog matter. If they can't make branching story arcs with meaningful choice anymore because they're too scared of pissing players off, at least have some mood-qualifier to the NPC dialog, something where one race will give you greater quest reward if you're happy go lucky where another wants stern seriousness while a third rewards overt aggression.

That could theoretically make emotes and facial tics more relevant even between players, because they'll be accustomed to caring from their frequent NPC interaction.

Of course, nowhere near a priority 

[Senses]

I think a couple games have pulled character creation off so well that it actually makes the game better.  CoX is a pretty good example and people have told me that the Matrix Online was pretty good about it too, though I never tested it myself.  I can honestly say that creating a hero in City of Villians was more fun than actually playing the character for me.

One thing I have never understood is why some games pretend to offer so much customization by allowing you to change the look, and color of your newbie clothes while forcing you to get rid of them 30 minutes later when you hit lvl 3.  If games are going to let you spend time on creating looks, you should be able to keep them regardless of what magic "armor" you pick up a couple minutes later.

[Delmania]

I think a couple games have pulled character creation off so well that it actually makes the game better.  CoX is a pretty good example and people have told me that the Matrix Online was pretty good about it too, though I never tested it myself.  I can honestly say that creating a hero in City of Villians was more fun than actually playing the character for me.

That's how I feel about Shadowbane.

One thing I have never understood is why some games pretend to offer so much customization by allowing you to change the look, and color of your newbie clothes while forcing you to get rid of them 30 minutes later when you hit lvl 3.  If games are going to let you spend time on creating looks, you should be able to keep them regardless of what magic "armor" you pick up a couple minutes later.

Well I don't think they would go into that much customization in terms of rendering armor, but at the very least, allowing you to hide your helmet is good.  LotrO's concept of allowing you to wear a role-play suit over your regular armor is pretty nifty.

[tmp]

http://io9.com/5220291/phaser-all-the-new-friends-youll-meet-on-star-treks-mmo

dev interview and some in-game footage.

[Ashamanchill]

http://io9.com/5220291/phaser-all-the-new-friends-youll-meet-on-star-treks-mmo

dev interview and some in-game footage.

I'm I the only one who feels they are biting off more than they can chew here?

[Malakili]

http://io9.com/5220291/phaser-all-the-new-friends-youll-meet-on-star-treks-mmo

dev interview and some in-game footage.

I'm I the only one who feels they are biting off more than they can chew here?

Of course they are.

[HaemishM]

It's an MMO. I thought "biting off more than you can chew" was part and parcel of building an MMO in the first place - or anything to do with Trek lore.

[Brogarn]

It's an MMO. I thought "biting off more than you can chew" was part and parcel of building an MMO in the first place - or anything to do with Trek lore.

Also, the sun is big and hot.

[tazelbain]

And your wings are made of wax.

[Hawkbit]

I'm so gonna play as Q.

[waylander]

If GW2 and SWTOR aren't close to release by the time this thing comes out (Jan 2010) then I may pick it up as filler game because I am sure I will be sick of Warhammer by then.

[Azaroth]

I'm so gonna play as Q.

What a fun way to introduce Seers into the game. ><

[Ashamanchill]

It's an MMO. I thought "biting off more than you can chew" was part and parcel of building an MMO in the first place - or anything to do with Trek lore.

Touche.  This one just really strikes me as having a reach that exceeds it's grasp, in a critical way.  I mean, both space ship combat and on planet adventures have to be functional, to say nothing of synching them together seemlessly.  I'm not going to lie, I may have missed it before when MMOs have in hindsight promised too much and delivered to little, but this game just seems beyond the pale. 

[FatuousTwat]

I'm gonna predict that it is going to be like PotBS and have fucking terrible avatar combat, and fun ship combat.

[Ghambit]

It's an MMO. I thought "biting off more than you can chew" was part and parcel of building an MMO in the first place - or anything to do with Trek lore.

Touche.  This one just really strikes me as having a reach that exceeds it's grasp, in a critical way.  I mean, both space ship combat and on planet adventures have to be functional, to say nothing of synching them together seemlessly.  I'm not going to lie, I may have missed it before when MMOs have in hindsight promised too much and delivered to little, but this game just seems beyond the pale. 

Ummm... it's not beyond the pale.  Really, all they have to do is port over Star Trek: Elite Force and they're done.  Maybe throw in a bit of Armada.  The only complication would've been if they'd given us all what we wanted, which was shared player-crewed ships.
The part where it becomes tricky is just how good and well-organized their programmers are.  Too often egos get in the way and they think they can just make everything from scratch.  If they were smart they'd pull as much as they can from prior titles...  get on the phone, hobnob with other programmers, etc.   These guys all know eachother, they're supposed to trade code even if it violates a few company clauses.

[LK]

First public showing at PAX. It will be playable.

[LK]

I'm watching a bunch of Federation Officers fighting Klingons that can take muliple phaser shots, combat that make no use of cover, and a pace that gives enough time to close to melée to do sweep kicks. This feels like some other game with a Star Trek skin.