THANK YOU!! ITS COMPLETELY AMMAZING!
I have had reason to post a few negative posts on the forum in the past and I was so glad to find myself needing to sign into the forums to unanomously and unequivicably praise this latest update and the 1 year celebrations.
I spend a lot of time explaining when things are wrong with STO, so I feel I should spend an equal amount of time praising when things are good and explaining what was so right:
- Surprise
- Wonder
- Choice
- Community
- Humor
- Breaking down barriers
First of all, it was excellent to find that when the update was rolled out there was lots of new content that wasn't seen on the test server! This was great as I thought I knew what was comming only to be given a wonderfull surprise in the form of Q.
Adding the "random" element in the form of the fountain daily was marvolous. It meant that every time I logoin and have a fish in the fountain I am wondering what special gift might turn up next. Having Q turn us into all sorts of animals, and us keeping wondering if there might just be one more form, rarer than the rest we might yet have missed.
The fact that we could have a fish in the fountain and then if we wheren't really 100% impressed with the offering we could risk another fish was a wonderfull idea. It provided a lovely combination of both wonder (whats next) and choice (I don't like that) with just a hint of... oooh maybe I should take that, sure there might be better? but what if thats the best I will get. Awesome!
Having all the event happen in the two central hubs for the two main playable factions was again genuis! Where previously people where scattered about the universe all doing different things (and not wanting to do them together because of the perils of people left behind, forced favouritism, and ranks leading to everyone ending up in different instances of the same mission) now everyone has a common goal! To fish for goddies. Everyone can get together in the same instance, share stories of "the one that got away" as well as "being stiffed by Q" which, whilst probably a bug is acutally quite good in the sense that we get another go tommorow and we will fish even longer in the hopes of re finding the "one that Q took away". The fleet has never been so vibrant and new members are comming quickly as a fellow Goddess are spotted gambing in the fountain pool.
The wonderfull way that each alternate form has some little "touch" that makes it just that bit special. Some can dance (devian, golum-look-a-like and spector), some can rear and squirm in the fountain (the spider), some pounce really well (the snow wolf type thing from Rura Penthe) even a couple float (like the leggless spector or the Devian). The way Q has dancing Breen at Q'Nos and there are 12 foot Orion slave dancing girls to ring in the year. The way that when "playing" in the fountain we all look like we have gone mental (unless we are a spider and we just look drunken, or a Targ cub who just looks cute hehe). Its a great leveler, noone is beneeth looking stupid and we all have a chance to avoid it. Perfect! This update has been fantastic and I've never had more fun! Though, like I said to my fleeties and to my STO fellows.. we are all going to feel so boring when we are limited to one species next week ;). You have out-done yourselves and the only possible negative is how on earth your going to top this one! hehehe. and finally...
Having the Dev's there to usher in the first year of Star Trek online was a wonderful touch. It gave everyone the chance to feel that they in some way had a connection to the developers and what they where doing and it broke down (just a little) the player/developer barrier and made us all feel that little bit more special.
WELL DONE CRYPTIC..
WELL DONE DEVS!
