So my mom recently bought me Metroid Prime Remastered for the Nintendo Switch about 2 days ago and I have to say that the game is as incredible as I remember it playing as a kid on my original Gamecube. The updated visuals really compliment the game well especially given the fact that even the original 2002 graphics have aged surprisingly well even by today's standards.
Metroid Prime is easily one of the best original Gamecube games of all time right next to Resident Evil 4, Pikmin 2, Super Smash Bros Melee and Legend of Zelda Windwaker. The game is the best due to it's epic, fun and fast paced combat, beautiful, dynamic and unique environments spread throughout the alien world of Tallon IV, lots of collectibles to find throughout the game's vast open world and a rich and complex story which is told through walls of text which the player must find through scanning Chozo templets and Pirate Data logs with the scan visor.
For anyone who hasn't yet played or ever bothered reading all of story logs in order to dig deeper into the story of the game I will going over a brief yet detailed description of the games main story so spoilers ahead.
In the reaches of space a bounty hunter known as Samus Aran is seen boarding onto a large space station known as the frigate orpheon which is home to the space pirates. A group of highly advanced, reptilian like extra-terrestrial beings who are similar to the predators/yautja from the predatoavp franchise and are hellbent on taking over the galaxy. After entering the space station Samus discovers that things have gone horribly wrong and many of the space pirates are weak and dying due to them doing experiments on various different life forms with a blue mutagenic substance known as Phazon which would cause the creatures to eventually turn against their masters. After Samus defeats a giant insect like parasite creature it falls into the reactor core causing the place to become unstable and thus forcing her to evacuate. Samus is then encountered by Ridley who has undergone cybernetic reconstruction after his first defeat with the bounty hunter back on Zebes. After Samus escapes the space station on her spaceship she follows her target on the alien homeworld known as Tallon IV. Having lost track of her old arch enemy Samus is forced to explore the vast world and recover her abilities she lost after being hit by an explosion back on the frigate orpheon. As Samus uncovers all of the deep dark mysteries of Tallon IV she soon discovers that the planet was once a peaceful world home to the Chozo. A bird like alien race which are responsible for raising the young bounty hunter from childhood and have since become extinct and now exist as evil spirits that roam the depths of the Chozo Ruins after a meteorite containing the mutagenic substance which the Chozo refer to as the great poison collided into Tallon IV's surface causing it kill and mutate any life it comes in contact with into hideous monstrosities. Leaving the planet infected and in danger of being consumed by the mutagenic ooze The Chozo lock the great poison away in an impact crater that can only be accessed through finding 12 artifacts which are the key to finding and destroying the source responsible. 50 years later It is now up to Samus to regain and obtain new abilities in order to save Tallon IV from being consumed by the Mutagenic Ooze bent on corrupting and consuming all life in the galaxy.

I just tried logging in like usual and I got an error I've never seen before several times in a row just a few minute ago.

Fifth Era
3.000 Million Years before "modern" Second Universe times.
Much of the First Planet is covered in large swamp forests.
Here nothing is as it seems.
The one kilometers giant plants towering over this water world may look like trees, but they're actually distant relatives of ferns.
Even the air is alien compared to most planets today. Over a third is oxygen, much higher than any other time in the lifespan of the First Planet.
This oxygen rich atmosphere has fuelled the growth of new, supersized arthropod predators.
Jumping on top of a tree was a fearsome creature, a mixture between a dragonfly and a spider.
This Megarachnea spider is the size of a limousine. She'd be hunting mammoths if she was alive today.
She's an ambush predator, operating from her headquarters on one of the giant plants. She had created an entrance on one of the plants, and now waited.
Safe in her nest, she rests her feed in carefully constructed tripwires extending all the way to the base of the plant.
This allows her to pick up vibrations from the outside world.
As she waits, an opportunity ventures near her burrow.
It was a 9 meters long reptile, with large eyes and many small, pointed teeth.
This Hylostegus is hunting on the forest floor.
Unlike it's amphibian ancestors, he has tough, scaley skin, which traps moisture inside his body, vital for all land dwellers.
Because it doesn't dry out in the sun, he can venture away from water.
But that means encountering new predators.
Inadvertently, the Hylostegus stepped on one of the wires at the base of the plant, with the Megarachnea diving at full speed to catch it.
Barely dodging the attack, the Hylostegus fled for his life, chased by the flying spider.
At the last second, the Hylostegus managed to take cover from the powerful predator, hiding inside the rotten remains of a giant plant.
The reptile has outrun the spider.
He has evolved a complex heart, much more efficient than his enemies, in fact the templet for all modern vertebrates. It's a powerful pump, that pushes oxygen and blood around his body to his muscles, so he can run at high speed without having to stop for a rest.
But now, he's trapped inside a log. Outside, the Megarachnea tried to break inside to catch her prey.
At first the spider armour stops her from squeezing in. But she's not going to give up so easily.
Taking advantage of an opening on the top of the log, the Megarachnea dived at full speed at its prey, using its powerful jaws to kill the unfortunate Hylostegus.
Back in her lair, Megarachnea would inject her victims with digestive juices, dissolving them from the inside.
But as the spider dragged her victim to her lair, she soon found out that the plant where her nest was located had been cut in half with surgical precision.
Not too far is the creature responsible. A massive arthropod resembling a giant scissor.
This is one of the most peculiar arthropods of the First Planet: a Forbicid, a powerful, flying arthropod the size of a house that has evolved to fly by expelling excess air from its carapaceon.
This is an herbivore, using its sharp, scissor like mandibles to cut down large plants and feast on their lymph.
The Megarachnea is now forced to find another suitable plant where to make a new home.
And once outside, she's vulnerable to even larger predators.
Descending from the air, another Forbicid, smaller and resembling a plier, grabbed the dead Hylostegus, consuming it with ease.
Forbicoraptor is a fearsome predatory Forbicid, queen of the Fifth Era skies. With a length of almost 20 meters, she's the size of a sperm whale, with an appetite to match.
High above the Fifth Era kingdom, normally she's invincible. But trouble's brewing.
A storm is approaching. The super oxygenated atmosphere, which has helped fuel the growth of the insects and arthropods, is highly volatile. A lightning strike could trigger an explosion.
The clock is ticking for the swamp.
Xxxxxxx
Below, a group of large creatures is enjoying the large quantity of water of the swamp.
They had a very long and slender body, with small and feeble limbs, and large jaws with powerful fangs.
These are Pholidoderpetons, 34 meters long amphibians.
They have continued to thrive in the last 600 million years.
Their thin skins still restrict them to the water's edge, but they're now powerful predators, with a devastating pair of jaws, ready to ambush anything that wonders within reach.
Xxxxxxx
The homeless spider tries her luck further inland, but other Megarachnea fill the nearby giant plants, and they don't like to share.
But as the spider kept on searching, she barely managed to dodge the attack of a giant.
It was a massive, armoured millipede, with large horns on the side of the head in the shape of a boomerang.
This giant, Diplopleura, doesn't like to share either.
He's a distant relative of modern millipedes, but as long as a tower crane. He could rear up, tall enough to look a person in the eyes if they stood at the top of a lighthouse.
Although he's vegetarian, its strong jaws can deliver a nasty bite.
As the Megarachnea flew away, the Diplopleura moved to its usual grazing grounds.
But with the rising waters, Diplopleura's foraging brings him into dangerous territories.
A group of Pholidoderpetons charged in, trying to kill the giant arthropod.
All tried to bite the giant millipede, with little success.
In this clash of the titans, the arthropod armour is his best defence.
Using its powerful jaws, the Diplopleura grabbed one of the Pholidoderpetons, crushing their skulls in seconds.
The rest of the group realizes they have little hope of tackling this giant. Not that it matters; Pholidoderpetons are not fussy eaters.
Their dead companion will provide a feast.
Xxxxxxx
Meanwhile, the lightning storm is building.
Just in time, the spider finds another giant plant.
Emerging from a hole on the side of the plant, an Hylostegus is evicted, but reptiles don't need nests to avoid danger. They have speed and stamina on their side.
Meanwhile the spider starts to turn the hole into her hunter's lair.
Xxxxxxx
Night falls.
And the Megarachnea settles into her new silk covered home.
She test the new tripwires. They're already picking up vibrations from outside.
The storm is very close now.
Lightning strikes light up the oxygen rich air.
The Forbicoraptors are forced down from the canopies to seek shelter below.
An unexpected bounty for the water predators below, as the Pholidoderpetons jumped out of the water to grab as many as possible.
Among the chaos, Megarachnea seems safe in her nest.
But luck is not on her side. One of the lightning strikes hits the plant she's residing in, with deadly precision.
Xxxxxxx
A huge fire, ignited by lightning, has devastated Megarachnea's neighbourhood. There are no signs of life above ground.
However a Hylostegus has managed to outrun the flames, and heads towards the spider's lair, now collapsed to the ground.
Megarachnea's hole was at the centre of the lightning strike, frying her on the spot.
The reptile gets a spider barbeque.
The era of the giant bugs is coming to an end for the First Planet.
The climate is drying and the air is losing oxygen. The monster insects and spiders can't survive the change.
Xxxxxxx
I hope you guys enjoyed this new chapter! Please review so I can know your opinion. I'm willing to accept suggestions for what is going to happen, so stay tuned! Also, remember to like and follow, if you want!
See you to the next update!

Hi, i'm getting deeper in the frutiger aero and aesthethic rabbit hole but something that i never quite understand is the future that it envisions, i think that it it's a future that humanity managed to solve poverty, social inequality, hunger, inequality between countries and areas with different climates (at the point that basically every city in the world looks the same futuristic developed eco city with a shit ton of skycreepers, access to some kind of water corpse like the sea, a lake or river and stable climate you'd see in a country like denmark or canada). global warming, logging, global peace (at the point that i think it envisions a future with the world being united as one single country) and everything that makes the present so bad while still using capitalism as most frutiger aero is used especially now exclusevely as corporate design for cleaning products and corporate eco powerpoint templetes and i think the frutiger aero future doesn't has poverty because it never really shows it and shows cities with tons of skycreepers and no surburbs but i think it might envision a socialist world because the words "solving poverty, social inequality and hunger" while using a system that basically promotes these things to make the rich more rich sounds impossible but what do you think

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1149460/view/3611354355089820956
Icarus Week Fifty Three Update One Year of Icarus & Data Decentralization
Data Decentralization is here along with our Dedicated Servers Beta. Plus we look back on 52 weeks of updates.
Happy One Year Anniversary! Today marks a year since the launch of Icarus and the 52 updates we’ve made to the game every single week since. We’re excited to celebrate it by giving power back to the players with our player data decentralization patch.
This week, all data will be migrated to players' local computers, shifting away from a reliance on cloud providers, allowing some new features and ensuring the player community can own their game data permanently. This opens the door for many more features and changes, including characters now being able to be used across multiple sessions simultaneously, the new Orbital Exchange Interface for Exotic extraction, and our Dedicated Servers Beta.
This is a big update and will require a full data migration upon launch of the patch, so have a read through all the details below.
Once you’re briefed on the changes, we’ve included a reflection on 52 weekly updates to Icarus, including a word from our game runner, Rocket, on this incredible journey and what’s to come.
Data Decentralization & Migration This week, we are releasing the highly anticipated data decentralization change.
This is a large update, requiring a migration process that will occur the first time you log in after the patch. However, for many players, it may not change how you play Icarus at all. None of your data, characters or gear will be lost - we’re moving where it is stored.
Going forward, all player data will be stored locally - on your PC. Previously, save files and player data were saved in the cloud, while everything else (including your Outposts and Open World games) was saved locally. Now, all data will be saved locally, shifting data ownership to the players, and moving away from the ‘game-as-a-service’ model which can leave us open to internet outages and can limit customization.
We see this move as putting the power back in the players' hands, giving them true ownership of the product. While this comes with some concessions, it’s a truer representation of the relationship we want to build between ourselves and the players, where you own what you buy without strings attached.
Migration will combine your offline and online characters and account data into a single entity. This includes loadouts, inventories, exotics, ren and skill refund tokens. It will also combine your mission progress and workshop talents, so players who have played both Offline and Online will see a much more saturated environment and may want to spend some time organizing their account.
All currently active Missions will be reset and not migrated over, and current progress on these missions will be lost. Characters and gear will not be lost. Characters and loadouts will be returned to your select screen, but you will have to restart any prospects you are currently in.
We have added a new branch on Steam called ‘Centralized’ which will hold the last 1.2.27 Update in case players want to bring their characters out of missions etc. This will not be present forever and will be removed in the following weeks.
This migration will also migrate over your Open World and Outpost sessions, but will reset and remove your characters from these missions in the process. You’ll find your characters and their loadouts in the character select screen, and can rejoin game via their dropship.
Steam Cloud has been enabled for Icarus, so if you have multiple computers on which you play Icarus, make sure you migrate on your preferred machine first (the one with the most up-to-date Outpost and/or Open World content). Steam should then sync it to your other machines.
We very much see this patch as providing players ownership over their own data and enabling everyone to play without having to have access to our servers. To enable this we had to make some concessions on various gameplay elements but it also allows us to explore new options and provide new levels of customization and persistence that have not been available before. It has been a massive effort from the team to pull this through and they have done a fantastic job. I want to thank everyone who has been with us over the last year providing feedback, enjoying the game and being patient throughout the issues we have had and hope you will join us for the next year as we continue to develop Icarus.
Jake Dodunski, Project Lead
A Multiplayer Hosting Change
Icarus will continue to have the peer-to-peer multiplayer it has always had, where one player acts as the host for their Steam friends - but with one change. That original host must always be online.
From now on the player who initially created the mission will be the only one able to resume it. Other players will not be able to carry on or launch a mission that another player has started, as this save data is now stored on the initial host’s hard drive rather than in the cloud. This is the same way that Outposts and Open World have functioned since their launch, so that experience won’t be entirely foreign to many of you.
It’s important to note that the host should always be the last person to leave a prospect. This way, players are guaranteed to be able to recover their gear and claim any rewards/exotics as they will be unable to launch the mission later (however, we now grant rewards immediately during missions to help).
If you want a way to play anytime regardless of where the original host is, then we’ve introduced Dedicated Servers to cater for you (see below).
Previously, Icarus had a very helpful feature that migrated the hosting between players when the original host left the game. While this feature won’t exist in the new data decentralized model, there is still a way to manually share saves with each other so you can continue someone else’s prospect while they aren’t online. You can find your saves in your file explorer at:
C:\ > Users > (your profile) > AppData > Local > Icarus > Saved > PlayerData > (your Steam ID) > Prospects
or
%LocalAppData%/Icarus/Saved/PlayerData/[SteamId]/Prospect
Steam ID with your 17 digit number, read more from Valve about how to locate this
From here, you can share them with your friends, but be aware that once a file has been activated, you’ll need to have the most recent version shared back to you to be able to continue it where they left off.
Gameplay Changes
Alongside this change, there are a few new features that provide a more seamless experience and take advantage of the new localised data: * The new Orbital Exchange Interface is a planetary-crafted deployable that when activated, allows you to call a drop ship down to extract your exotics up to the space station. This means you no longer need to take them up in your dropship with you on completion of your prospect. * Mission rewards are now granted immediately on completion of the mission, rather than sent to your inbox in orbit. * Characters are no longer ‘locked’ to one Mission or session and can be used on multiple active sessions simultaneously. You can select any character from the character select screen for any session at any time. * Insurance now only insures your items, as characters can’t be lost on prospects. If you do not bring your items up with you in a dropship, they stay on planet until returned. If you have insurance, you can reclaim your items after 5 real-time days from the menu. * Workshop items are no longer ‘auto-repaired’ when you return them to space. You will now have the option to repair them for 10 ren in the inventory, or on the surface using the new Tier 3 repair bench.
Dedicated Servers Beta
Decentralization opens the door for Dedicated Servers, which we are launching in Beta today.
Dedicated Servers let you host your own Icarus server to play with friends. You can control access, timing, hardware and in future customize your settings.
It is a new way to play Icarus multiplayer, but is not compulsory. You can still continue to play Icarus multiplayer without a dedicated server as described above.
If you are interested in setting up and running your own (beta) Icarus dedicated server, you can access our setup guide on github here. We will be partnering with a range of dedicated server providers to offer rental servers, so stay posted for news and info on who these are.
This application is still in Beta, so we imagine we’ll have some teething issues as we work through scaling this up to full capacity. To support this, we have a special discord channel #dedicated-server-beta where you can engage directly with our team on any issues that arise. Click here to join.
52 Weeks of Updates
After releasing Icarus back in December 2021, we quickly shifted our attention to how we could keep innovating, improving and adding to the game. Weekly updates became our approach, focusing on consistently improving and optimizing the base game while expanding the playable content and adding new ways to play to provide an experience regardless of how you enjoyed Icarus.
During this time we’ve released some big updates, small ones and everything in between. Some of our more memorable updates included:

• Adding insurance to prospects in Week Six so players could test harder missions without fear of losing their characters
• Adding Deep Ore Deposits in Week Ten for late-game valuable resource sourcing
• Adding Talent Respec in Week Thirteen, allowing players to rebuild their characters as they unlock new skills
• Changing the real-life timer to an in-game timer in Week Seventeen
• Adding World Bosses in Week Twenty Three
• Adding the Styx Map and Missions Pack in Week Twenty Five
• Adding Horde Mode in Week Twenty Nine
• Adding the Moa and Buffalo Mounts in Week Forty Two
• Adding Open World in Week Forty Seven, a full persistent survival experience
• Changed to a bigger, bolder Icarus logo

Looking back, the work we’ve done has been quite the journey. The Icarus we launched was a different game than it is now. We’ve tripled the available missions, added an entire second map, new game modes, new dynamic features, new deployables, craftables and fixed thousands of bugs in this time. In this time, our players have invested over 34 million hours in-game, a number that still blows us away to this day.
One Year of Icarus
Releasing ICARUS has been the studio's coming of age. As I've mentioned before the Beta weekends last year, prior to our release, were a mixed blessing. On one hand, it demonstrated a significant ground of players eager for our content - but it also outlined problems with both the concept as well as the game itself.
Most of all, the beta weekends crystalized what the game needed to be very effectively, helping end any uncertainty about what the game needed to be on the development front. You can think of the beta weekends as lighting a fuse on an explosive, it could only last a finite time before it needed to end. Our studio has a long and strong history of not crunching our project, but short iteration cycles during the beta week was exhausting for our team. Not to mention outages out of hours placed additional pressure.
The launch proper was rocky as well because we had made so many changes in the final beta weekend that it had become impossible within that last week to properly test the breadth of the changes in the game in a 'real' environment with large players. That came with the launch. After such a rocky launch we focused on two things:

• A detailed after action (lessons learned) process to identify what to change in the studio across all aspects
• Committing to a set content cadence to build trust with the community, internally we agreed this would be an update each week, every week, with not a single week missed including holidays.

It was really hard, but I'm really proud to say the team did both of those and done so with aplomb. The initial weeks were hard as the team scoped as much as possible into every update, but eventually we learned to keep the scope measured and portion out the work in smaller, more manageable, and consistent ways. We changed our build processes to bring the builds out earlier, and worked with our fantastic community members (particularly on discord), who would give excellent feedback. This feedback extended far beyond traditional testing - providing real "boots on the ground" information around balance.
Each weekend we would be fortunate to see a number of content creators who stuck with the project from the start. Most of them I would say have at times (and continue to be) quite critical of the project. This has played a very important role in the game getting to where it is today. They've asked tough questions, and pointed out our mistakes or missteps. This has helped the team and studio to grow.
This update brings us to the point we move away from that traditional "game as a service" or "live service" model. When we first announced this there was some pushback and concern, I hope we have done well at explaining why this is important for the longevity for the game. We do not want the game to be reliant on the studio. As a game creator I think the best outcome for me would be if people continue playing the games I make for long after I am not there to work on them. This is an important step on that path.
The addition of dedicated servers, and the decentralization of the data, also also the community to do further work to pull the game a part and make mods and conversions for the game. They allow our team to make changes that were impossible before. They provide resilience - removing the requirement to support a complex (and expensive) back end.
I know we haven't always done the right things, and we haven't always been as fast as you (or we!) would like at fixing these mistakes - but we thank you for being here with us nevertheless. We're excited for the future of ICARUS. I hope you are as proud of the team as I am. It's been a heck of a twelve months, and their work on the game is a testament to their resilience. We watch your videos. We read your reviews. We look at your posts. We talk with you on the discord. Together, I'm confident we've reached a point we can really build ICARUS into a game we all want.
Dean Hall, CEO
Changelog v1.2.28.105394
New Content

• New logo
• Added server settings for preventing non-admin players from either launching or deleting prospects
• Cleaned up matchmaking subsystem code, adding comments and extra steps to make sure session finding gets cleaned up correctly
• Moved test matchmaking server browser code into it's own file
• Removed duplicate spawn of quest manager
• Adding the ability to repair workshop items in space for 10 Ren
• Orbital Exchange Interface now has an associated Blueprint and Updated Recipe
• Fixing Return Via Dropship text so it makes sense in terms of the data decentralization
• Updating the Workshop Repair in Space to use better calls and logic
• Tidying up the Load Prospect Screen UI to show more feedback on remaning time, rewards and small layout fixes
• Adding Description text for Open World in D_ProspectList
• Tidying up Server Browser, fixing various overlap issues, Adding Open World text to Open World Sessions
• Change Insurance timeout from 14 days to 5 days
• Updating Descriptions where insurance is mention to explain how it works
• Updating Insurance Display Panel to show text if there are no items currently insured
• Updating Escape Menu database save text to reflect what it is now actually doing, saving the state of the prospect
• Updating Load Prospect UI to include Open World & Outpost names when selected
• Added Session type prefix before names in button selection in the Load Prospect UI
• Fixed talent syncing issues with unlocking new workshop items and unlocking new missions
• Updated Workshop Repair Kit and bundle description to refer the player to the repair bench instead of machining bench and fabricator.
• Added icon for Orbital Delivery Interface
• Modified Rocket saving to clean up rockets for players who are no longer part of the prospect
• Pre-migration character data on drops should now be correctly cleaned up. This should prevent flip-flopping between two different inventories/positions when reloading pre-migration saves repeatedly
• Locked STYX Open World and Mission buttons behind Styx_Map PackageFlag. Added optional MultiFlag requirement to all IcarusWidgets
• Fixed issue where Package Flags weren't being automatically unlocked in editor build target
• Added scroll bar to Load Game prospect list. Adjusted UI layout of Load Game window elements to be more in line with other Load/New/Join screens
• Tidying up Insurance Claim UI and Popup
• Players can now close the insurance claim UI with Escape
• Currently selected prospect in load screen is now highlighted. Adjusted style of resume prospect list to match others
• Adding new function to player data component to retrieve a characters loadout based on a passed in prospect
• Adding loadout information and various information messages about loadouts on the load screen
• Fixed bug where outposts tied to PackageFlags couldn't be selected when starting a new outpost
• Uninsured loadouts are no longer automatically deleted when returning from a prospect. This allows the option of returning to a prospect to collect the missing items. Loadouts can still be deleted from the popup menu if no longer wanted
• Added a scrollbox to the insurance popup and itemsondrop popup so that no items overflow if you bring over 10 items now
• Made layout and navigation of 'Load' screen similar to other prospect/outpost screens
• Fixed leaving a prospect that has multiple of your characters on it via dropship removing the wrong character from the prospect
• Fixed envirosuits still showing as checked out on a loadout when they were returned but another part of the loadout wasn't
• Fixed OldMap log spam on dedicated servers when loading an existing prospect
• Fixed burnt trees being incorrectly loaded after rejoining which caused clients to not them
• Can now only reclaim/destroy existing drop loadouts from the 'Loadout' screen after character select, could previously do this by clicking on any instance of the UMG_ItemsOnDrop widget
• Removed case where old prospect expiry time is set when it is no longer used
• Fixed blueprint compile error inside UMG_ItemsOnDropsList
• Fix a possible cause of multiple instances of the same prospect showing in Load screen, and sometimes missing associated characters data. Change the GetAllAssociatedProspects function to get all outposts and open worlds first before character associated prospects, and de-duplicate the merged results using prospect ID. To be manually merged up after review
• Included OW/Outpost names on buttons and loadouts for better clarity in menus
• Added temporary fix for incorrect lobby privacy when resuming prospects. Lobby privacy is now set to whatever privacy you initially hosted the prospect with
• Updates to 'Load' Screen UI. Players are now prompted to select Lobby Privacy when loading a prospect they have a character on
• Fixed issue that was preventing deletion of the last remaining character on your account
• Deleting a character now correctly removes additional character related files (associated prospects file)
• Fix sorting of GetAllAssociatedProspects results so that prospects which the selected character is actually associated with are at the top of the list
• Updating Text for Peer-to-Peer & Dedicated Servers so it is localised
• Resume button will now be disabled if the previous prospect played was with a servefriend
• Updated migrator version. This will trigger a fresh migration for all players
• Updated title screen to use new key art
• Reduced size of Icarus Logo Texture to improve aliasing issue on main menu. Added parallax effect to main menu key art
• Adding Logging to Update & Host Session Functions
• Forcing an update to trigger everytime the prospect data is set (The update allows a refresh and broadcast of the session for multiplayer)
• Fixed issue where key art character position would pop on first opening title screen
• Switched to clean version of new Icarus logo. Added panning smoke. Shifted character keyart in front of new logo
• Fixed smoke clipping on title screen.
• Fixed buttons not being interactable
• Fixed ordering of new title screen keyart to prevent it overlapping settings/credits menu
• Fixed tiling smoke texture on title screen not filling entire viewport for some aspect ratios

Fixed

• Fixed talent syncing issues with unlocking new workshop items and unlocking new missions
• Remove harvest particle and associated assets used on BerryBush actor, not using the existing effects flow. New unique DM for Berrybush pending
• Various texture settings fixes and optimizations
• Remove projectionlocation component from BP actors that shouldn't need it (copy pasta)er
• Improve location on FiPine saplings
• Fixed persistent blocker actors initialising before recorder components had been reloaded; Fixes issue where existing open world saves would have their blockers active even if player had completed related mission to unblock them
• Fixup redirectors in ENV folder
• Fixed Floating Mineable Rock J13: [IC-21723] Fixed Floating Cliff I6 on Styx
• Remove duplicate unused BerryBush assets
• Reparented BerryBush BP to ResourceNodeBase instead of DressedNodeBase as that tech is no longer being used
• Clean up some master texture references
• Fix grass being disabled on some plants where it makes a tangible difference to visuals
• Fixed dependency issue with hab menus
• Exotic Delivery ships now can only carry exotics in their inventories
• Delete 6 copies of the same bark texture, genercise filenames and repath use cases
• Delete 3 duplicates of the same Leaf normal texture, repath use cases for variations
• Delete duplicate smoke texture, repath use case
• Fix Fir01 filenames so that the incoming 1300+ reference fixes point to a nice filename
• Fix Flare Arrow and Transport Pod flare setups to be Green/Yellow again via new assets (after BP configurable setup caused crashes and was removed)
• Delete old Flaticons textures only used as placeholdeoverridden icons
• Fixing issue where players could not unlock workshop items, may block mission talent unlock in multiplayeron clients, another fix will come shortly
• The Drowned Drone in the Open World Dynamic mission will now reload as intended, it was not saving itself
• Hunt Missions are now once again Deterministic after creation, no more random flip flopping of targets on reload
• Dynamic Cache mission: Fixed quest tagging on rewards to never give the quest tag stat (was previously giving stat = 0). This will allow players to stack Cache rewards as expected
• Fixed description text format for AUGMENTATION, SPELUNKING and ABYSS steps to allow translation.
• Updated AUGMENTATION mission objectives to use a variable for the count, allowing easier updating of those values
• Fixed not being able to scroll in the server browser
• Enabled logging on shipping client builds
• Dynamic Cache mission: Fixed random seed of creature spawns guarding the cache so they will not reset on relaunch
• Remove Red light on Orbital Exchange interface. Moved audio locator for both OEI and Short Range Radio to be closer to devices for mesh
• Change hint text from 'Enter Outpost Name' to 'Enter Prospect Name' now that this UI is used for Outposts and OpenWorld
• Blacklist RDP adapter from graphics driver detection
• Fixed bug where you couldn't shoot through fortification gate.
• Fixed bug where creatures couldn't navigate properly through the semi-destroyed variant of fortification gate
• Fixed issue where Steam API call wasn't recognising unreleased DLC packages

Future Content

• Painted mangrove seedlings and polished foliage, decal in Swamp biome, Purple Quad, DLC
• Adding blueback attack slam audio and animation notifiers
• Ice Borer T3 - meshes, materials, textures, animation added
• Added logging when cave templates fail to generate to help Track Down the exact issue
• Fixed renamed foliage references in swamp cave templates
• LC Terraces - prototype mesh added
• Fix M_RockMaster missing function and new triplanar support
• Update Voxels in GL & LC Cave Templates for DLC Map
• Placement of Cliffs in the Phase 2 Area of Purple Quad, Prometheus
• Added destructible meshs for tundra bushes and tunrda saplings. Created harvest BPs and linked to node BPs
• Fixed CF_FirSap DM Materials that weren't assigned correctly
• Painted Pro Cave Voxels and stalactites in cave transition between Green and Purple Quad, DLC
• Added Destructible meshes for ToiToi and Aspen Saplings
• Updating p4ignore with backend removal changes
• GL Tussocks Harvest VFX Setup
• Various updates and fixes for breakable rocks:
• Fix issues with initialisation order which broke stuff when playing in a level
• Reserve FLOD instance when actor is first damaged
• Switch rep graph policy to Spatialise_Dormancy, which seems to be required to get replication working correctly with FLOD setup
• Set up a basic recorder component, needs testing on reload
• Resaved ErrorCodes DT to fix validation
• Placement of Cliffs in the Phase 2 Area of Purple Quad, Prometheus
• Update voxels in AC cave templates, made 2 new AC template cave & replace old cave templates with new ones on Blue Quad, DLC Map
• Updated swamp quadruped physics assets and added critial hit volumes to BP. Removed carry function for swamp quadruped corpse. Added base setup for SwampQuadruped Mount
• Paint Cave Pro voxels in manual cave tunnel between Swamp and Lava biome, polish dressing, Purple Quad, DLC
• Placement of Cliffs in the Phase 2 Area of Purple Quad, DLC
• Added derstuction for lava biome foliage
• Placement of Cliffs in the Phase 2 Area of Purple Quad and Added Red Grass Foliage In Volcanic Biome, Prometheus
• Added new cave templetes & replace old caves on Blue/Green Quad, DLC Map
• Resource_Scoria_Var1 mesh update
• Resource_Obsidian_Var1 mesh update
• Resource_Clay_Var1 mesh update
• SW_Tree_SML_Dead variations mesh, BP, material and textures
• SM_Node_SuperCooledIce mesh, material and textures
• Painted Cave Pro voxels in Mega tree cave , polished dressing, Purple Quad, DLC
• Fix initialisation issue with breakable rocks which prevented them from breaking properly when placed in editor. Add missing API macro to rock base recorder
• Delete duplicate Fir01 burnt bark texture from Fir02 folder and repathed 1400 materials to use the texture from the Fir01 folder with correct filename
• Added WL_Mangrove_Roots, 6 variations
• Adding blueback calls V1. May adjust once behavior is in game
• Update last remaining Brick buildable BPs and data to complete set. Add icons for all remaining meshes
• Fix wrong icon used on Iron Wall DBL window
• Adding swamp specific tree creaks to ambience layer
• SM_DEP_FurnaceElectric_IngotObsidian mesh and textures
• Delete unused duplicate ponga assets. Fix filenames and texture settings
• Placement of Cliffs in the Phase 2 Area of Purple Quad and Added Riverbanks Along Lava Rivers, Prometheus
• Added initial setup for Snow Striker mount
• Fix accidentally deleted Meshable row for Moa carcass
• Previous version of Account Flags are now Package Flags. Implemented new version of account flags, similar to characters flags but shared across all characters
• Temporarily removing Package Check for Styx, Reverting to deluxe edition package check for outposts

Stream Frequently Asked Questions

Wall of text incomming:
I went trough TheSajuukKhar Dev streams transcripts of 2022, and found those questions were asked almost every stream. The question about DSC Andorians was asked and answered the most. I am posting them here to inform those who don´t watch them, or those who want to ask them again. Posting them, I hope unanswered questions to have more chance to get an answer.
The post will have mistakes, I will try to fix them and I will try to add suggestions of questions and answers. Those questions and answers are not exact, they are a generalization, but they represent the overall idea, and I will be happy to try to correct mistakes/misinterpretations.

Also, Kuumarke set and Cnidarian console have upped the quantity of posts about motion sickness, headache, dizzyness and general unhappiness with the visual spam overload.

I hope this FAQ help us players by avoiding repeated questions and open space to non-repeated questions
Q: Why can´t we fly a Borg Cube? We can fly round ships as Lukari and now the Cnidarian
A: They say they have not found a way to make the make the cube show in a good way what side is the front, or the back. The other issues other than front/back is Cubes don't bank, and they don't actually have a front, as in the cube doesn't turn to face a ship in Startrek, it just changes direction without turning.
Q: Why can´t we have a Terran Faction?
A: They say playing as villains is not that popular, they learned that from Champions Online where villains were not popular. Also, Terrans would do really mean things against the overall spirit of Star Trek
Q: Why can´t we have more bridges?
A: Bridges don´t sell well for the ammount of effort spent on them
Q: Why the episodes taken off for remaster were not remastered?
A: There was not enough time/a reason with monetization to push more resources to release them
Q: Why don´t you get rid of lockboxes and sell all things for zen?
A: A ship from a lockbox give at least "a magnitude" more of money than selling the same ship at Zen Store. A magnitude/order is often 10x
Q: If last years were "banner" years, why don´t you hire more employees?
A: They currently have more employees than at the time before they closed the Magic the Gathering game. The current STO team is between 30-40 people
Q: A ship/uniform/weapon/thing appeared appeared in yesterday´s episode, when we will get it in game?
A: It will take months to they to put in game, sometimes more than a year. They plan content ahead for months to give time to artists, also, they need pre-release info from CBS to them a heads on about what will happen. Most of the times, CBS leave them in the dark as much as the fans for the surprise element.
A: Why there are more Federation shps than the other factions, now that we have cross faction fly?
Q: They are doing more ships from other species than before, but federation ships sell much better
Q: Why are special effects so flashy and unable to be turned off?
A: Not enough time or an easy way to do a toggle on/off for it now, they have the opinion that when a player get a new ship/console/power they want to feel good watching it work
Q: Why there are no Enterprise Era content/ships?
A: Nothing new done about that era on official shows/movie lately, other eras are more popular.
Q: Why we did not get Protostar yet?
A: Nickleodeon owns the design, the company and the show are of a different parental/viewer rating than STO. They are negotiating if they can use the Protostar but seems the rating is a bit of a problem.
Q: Sometheing happened on last episode of X series, it will break the timeline!
A: If something that really breaks the timeline of the game, we will adapt it somehow, so far nothing really broke it
Q: Why can´t we get actor XYZ?
A: Usually is time or money. Patrick Stewart is usually too busy to record.
Q: Why don´t we get more fleet holdings?
A: Currently they think there are enough holdings, and it the effort to do one does not reward enough, from TFW 5/4/22, doing a new fleet holding would mean no new content for two seasons. No new missions, no revamps, lowered ship releases, using the old templets of what they would add in a fleet holding
Q: Why don´t we have a new reputation?
A: Currently they think there are enough reputations, and it the effort to do one does not reward enough
Q: Why don´t you do "this idea" for an arc?
A: They don´t read player ideas for arcs so they don´t get into intellectual property problems. They said they maybe might read ideas for ships
Q: Lots of people in chat/reddit/forums are talking/wanting this, why don´t you do it?
A: They use metrics from inside the game, as what ships are being played more, what weapons are played more. One of things they measured is that a significative part of the players only log in when new stories are released. Metrics from inside the game are sometimes different/more accurate than post metrics.
Q: Can we get Jupiter map for a social zone? Or a new social zone in Andoria/Vulcan/Gamma Quadrant, etc?
A: TFW 7/13/22 There's a lot of social zones already, and its a lot of work to make even an existing map into a social zone.
Q: What is the Elite Boff Token?
A: TFW 7/7/22 The Elite BOFF Token, which Kael can't talk about because it hasn't been officially announced, was supposed to launch several times now, but theres a few kinks left to work out with it
Latest Forum questions from Q&A link: https://www.arcgames.com/en/forums/startrekonline#/discussion/1267506/july-developer-q-a-thread/p1 from TheSajuukKhar
Q: What is the philosophy behind restricting characters to certain uniform options based on location or faction? In a Star Trek theme park style game, I would love to put my Captains and Bridge Officers in any outfit.
A: Lead Character Artist, Ian Castaneda: Part of the issue is time. Not all costume parts will mix with other costume parts simply because of fitment, size, bulkyness, tiling textures, etc. It's not simply a case of moving a few edges and suddenly the costume piece works with every other costume piece. It would often require much more time, to allow it to fit with other costume pieces. That is why we generally try to make costume parts mixable to a limited degree - which is doable within our limited amount of time. But in some cases, the costume piece (and the rest of that piece's costume set) doesn't work well when being mixed. In those cases, we create a limited category where the costume is not customizable or is very limited. While we do strive to allow the player to customize their costume, there are time constraints that we have to deal with.
Q: Is it possible to open up the color palletes for all uniforms and clothing? Space Barbie is the true end game, but some of the clothing choices (especially those for Klingons and Romulans) are stuck with very drab pallettes. We would love to be able to choose any color for any uniform.
A: Lead Character Artist: Ian Castaneda: Giving the ability to allow any color on any costume part: The costume customization system is currently in a state where this is not possible, and we would require some additional Software Engineering support to be viable.
Other answers:

• Cryptic team is small and always busy
  
• They have a phylosphy of best return of investiment of time spent into new assets, that is why we usually get new patrols out of missions, or if they work in a new asset, as reworked Fed, Boreth, we tend to see more missions around that setting.
  
• About mission remasters, Cryptic did have a dev assigned to remaster them. However, that dev's wife had a baby, and he took time off to be with his new child, and by the time he got back it was all hands on deck for the 10th anniversary update so it didn't get done when it was originally scheduled to. And since then its been an issue of they need everyone to work on the new episodes more then revamping old ones.
  
• They currently focus on quality over quantity for missions
  
• Gamma Quadrant drop of multiple missions at the same time was a huge effort not able to be repeated
  
• 10th aniversary ship was a huge effort not able to be repeated
  
• They don´t comment upcoming content/not offically released content
  
• They avoid reading reddit posts, as they are sometimes mean and unmoderated
  
• Last time they released the info, 67% players were federation, even after Year of Klingon
  
• TheSajuukKhar often posts transcripts of the twitch dev streams
  
• When asked about possibly daily log in reward Kael says hes brought the idea up before, but the problem is they can't just pump out new rewards like some mobile games can which makes that difficult
  
• There's no plans for a complete ground combat revamp due to staff/resource issues
  
• CBS is against android/AI captains for players - no Data, Lore, B4, Nomad, etc Soong type captains
  
• Can't do day/night time changes in the current lighting system for Risa or anywhere else. They are thinking on rotating Risa each year to a different time of the day, but it take time and resources.
  
• Kael doesn't think they will ever unlock all races/costumes for all factions/races because Cryptic has a number of people who are very protective of canon.
  
• Kael is pushing for more colors to be unlocked for more item pieces. He recently learned its not as big a deal as he originally thought, but its still a process.
  
• Can't use floaters on other maps because other maps are designed to look good from the ground, but look weird/wrong if your looking at it from above. Would require remaking most maps in the game to allow for floater use elsewhere
  
• Unlikely they will do anymore adventure zones like the Dyson zone. Its a matter of resources. Resources are better spent making more contained stories they can put out more frequently then making a big BZ and have players wait for a long time
  
• Adventure zones were the "baby project" of members who don´t work anymore. Also, player metric/feedback on Tzenkethi that one of the latest ones, even after the balance is not good.
  
• Kael isn't sure if the STO console servers are/could be set up to allow cross play because they were made in an era where Microsoft and Sony didn't allow it
  
• Animators have been wrestling with the problem of player's NPCs clipping through chairs/sitting on the floor because its not caused by a simple bug
  
• Race/gender changes for STO, but its not an easy thing due to the way the game is coded. Kael hopes they can get race/gender change tokens done at some point
  
• Not a lot of people have bought 3D printed ships, and it was a lot of work to get it done, but the return was probably not worth the investment. Kael doesn't think they will put in the time to get the same done for 3D printed captains.
  
• Cryptic would love to do a Captain Proton or Dixon Hill mission, but its hard to do because art asset wise it would be like making a whole other game.
  
• We are closer to DSC Andorians then ever before, but still not that close
  
• Adding DSC characters to Temporal Recruits would be difficult since many objectives for Temporal Recruit
  
• Cryptic has talked about ships with different seating, or a way to change a ships seating, but they have to find the best way to do that from a technical side, and a merchandising side.
  
• Cryptic has talked about making infinity/lobi ships unlocked for an account that's already purchased them but it just didn't work out math wise.
  
• No plans to make a new Foundry.
  
• Unlikely they will do a new faction any time soon. Borg faction maybe, but others are unlikely.
  
• Kael finds it unlikely we will get another traditional expansion, where everything drops at once.
  
• About the golden Grand Nagus ship put out as part of giveaways and such, but has been shot down because of the negative reaction to the ship's initial release which has caused the devs to be wary on it
  
• Jeremy has been reading the feedback about about science carriers needing a boost. He sort of agrees, but suggestions like a third hanger bay, or a secondary deflector, ripple out to other ship types. Its an ongoing discussion on what needs to be done.
  
• Memory Alpha: they would update it, but to get the time to update it they need a good reason to bring it back/update it
  
• They want to rework Admiralty and duty officer system, but it is not a high priority.
  
• They don´t want to make admiralty auto-choosing ships as they think it is too easy the way the game auto-chooses duty officers for duty officers assigment
  

TLDR: Read to see if they already answered your question. Please if possible ask about visual spam giving players sickness.

I know a lot of you guys would ask for stackblitz but i'm a total noob to angular.
I'm facing a major problem here i need to create a upload form and i'm stuck here.
My code is as follows:
Html part:

  Upload  

Here is the component part:

uploadTemplatehere(event: any){ console.log(event.target.files.item(0),"upload template event",event.target.files[0]); this.filename = event.target.files[0].name; this.loader.open(); this.routesArray = []; this.uploadEvent = event; if (event.target.files.length > 0) { this.fromLoc = this.exampleForm.get('startingSource').value; this.toLoc = this.exampleForm.get('Destination').value; this.routeName = this.exampleForm.get('routeName').value this.exampleForm.get('fileUpload').setValue(event.target.files[0]) const formData = new FormData(); formData.append("company_id", this.branchid); formData.append("route_name", this.routeName); formData.append("from_location", this.fromLoc); formData.append("to_location", this.toLoc); formData.append("uploadfile", this.exampleForm.get('fileUpload').value); console.log(this.fileUpload0, "files upploaded1"); let req ={ "route_name": this.routeName, "company_id": this.branchid, "from_location": this.fromLoc, "to_location": this.toLoc, "uploadfile": this.files, }; this.jrmservice.loadingTemplate(formData).subscribe((e)=>{ console.log(e); console.log("route res-----===",e); this.bookingsenddata=e; }); 

Here is the Service file part:

const HttpUploadOptions = { headers: new HttpHeaders({ "Content-Type": "multipart/form-data" }) }; public loadingTemplate(formData){ return this.http.post(ANALYSIS_URL8+`/jrm/upload_jrm_route`,formData,HttpUploadOptions); } 

The error i get :
​

core.js:4442 ERROR DOMException: Failed to set the 'value' property on 'HTMLInputElement': This input element accepts a filename, which may only be programmatically set to the empty string. at EmulatedEncapsulationDomRenderer2.setProperty (http://localhost:4200/vendor.js:94135:18) at BaseAnimationRenderer.setProperty (http://localhost:4200/vendor.js:39502:27) at DefaultValueAccessor.writeValue (http://localhost:4200/vendor.js:8454:24) at http://localhost:4200/vendor.js:10627:27 at http://localhost:4200/vendor.js:11655:50 at Array.forEach () at FormControl.setValue (http://localhost:4200/vendor.js:11655:28) at JrmUploadComponent.uploadTemplatehere (http://localhost:4200/views-jrm-upload-jrm-upload-module.js:242:48) at JrmUploadComponent_Template_input_change_40_listener (http://localhost:4200/views-jrm-upload-jrm-upload-module.js:361:159) at executeListenerWithErrorHandling (http://localhost:4200/vendor.js:73732:16) 

What should i do to make the form work.
(The reason i'm not posting the URL is because the API is having AUTH_GUARD which makes it hard to give you guys to work )

Hi, If im administrator and i have a few users on the local machine , how can i control them? How to change thier configurations or give and take permissions?
I did changed the background wallpaper in group policies (user config./admin.templetes/desktop) and it didnt worked the wallpaper is now black/blank, i dont understand how it works in order to get it right
What will happen to the permissions if i change a users name? Or if i create a user with the same name?
I was asked to make a user log off when he logs on, that could be funny trolling but i didnt know how to do it and i want to make sure i know how to revert it before i try

Hi, If im administrator and i have a few users on the local machine , how can i control them? How to change thier configurations or give and take permissions?
What will happen to the permissions if i change a users name? Or if i create a user with the same name?
I was asked to make a user log off when he logs on, that could be funny trolling but i couldnt do it and i want to make sure i know how to revert it before i try
I know this info is out there, but i just couldnt find answers and im experimented on an non activated windows server 2019
I did changed the background wallpaper in gpedit.msc (user config./admin.templetes/desktop) and it didnt worked the wallpaper is now black/blank, but i'd love to understand more about group policies and how it works?

• Jeremy hopes this is the first of more regular Phoenix Box updates. Planned for once every 6 months. New items will not be drawn just from past event rewards.
• Not likely to create new items explicitly for the Phoenix Box because that was never the design for it.
• Removal of the T5 ships was based on the idea that putting non-end game ships in such a high prize position was disingenuous. Also because Cryptic has been removing T5 versions of these kinds of ships from the game when they put out T6 versions, so did it for these as well. Some of it is for business reasons, they want people to have a reason to buy the T6 ships, but also to prevent player confusion for being recommended X ship, and buying the T5 version on accident. Both monetization, and what they felt was best for players, lined up in this case, so it made sense to do.
• While STO has been doing exceptionally well the last few years, Cryptic isn't just sitting on piles of cash. Things cost what they do because thats whats needed to keep the game running. They also point out that the often made criticism that they are "forcing" you to spend money because you need these things doesn't really hold true since nothing in the game is so hard that you need the best/most expensive things to do well in the game.
• Jeremy states that sitting at the exchange cap for long periods of time hurts revenue for Cryptic, and has been bad for Neverwinter as well.
• Any items that move from Mudds into the Phoenix Box will remain account unlocks if you previously bought them from Mudds, but if you get it via the Phoenix box it will be an character item.
• Removal of T5 ships meant there was nothing in that tier so they eliminated it, pushing every tier down one.
• Token downgrading still works between tiers.
• Due to eliminating one tier, epic tokens no longer convert into as many upgrades. This was on purpose, and helped them not have to nerf the upgrade more then they did.
• Eliminating a tier means your chances of getting an epic token have gone up. Can't talk about exact odd because of company/business wide need for consensus before they can give it out. Took the old odds for the purple tier, and made the ultra rare odds are higher then that. Every tier, except the lowest, has its odd improved.
• The Phoenix Box is no longer serving the purpose it was originally meant to serve. That doesn't mean its bad/failing. Once you put out a feature into the wild its no longer really yours anymore you have to see how players are using it, and reinterpret/see what was you need to adapt.
• Phoenix Boxes were never meant to be the way you got these items. It was made as a dil sink for people who weren't involved with fleet systems, which were the primary dil sink at the time. Intended for people to buy them maybe 1-2 a play session, with the idea they might get something really cool out of it. This is why the Phoenix upgrade was made so efficient. But the Phoenix Prize pack was originally a limited event, so it was difficult for the average player to buy more then a dozen or so during that. Making the Box always on has eliminated getting upgrades from elsewhere in the community, which wasn't the original purpose of them. Changes here are meant to pave the way, not 100% achieve, adaptation.
• People relying on dil whales for fleet projects meant that a lot of dil began building up in the economy, the Phoenix Box was made to deal with this. This was also around the time the upgrade system was introduced, and Cryptic found that upgrades quickly became the biggest dil sink in the game until they introduced the Phoenix prize packs which caused the amount of dil spent on upgrades to drop. Making Phoenix Boxes permanent made it drop even more to the point its almost a non-factor. Changes to upgrades made to help bring back that dil economy. This is not the end solution, its a step on the path.
• One off things you buy once, like the vanity shields, aren't good dil sinks. Last time they ran the shield event it sank hundreds of billions of dil from the economy, which is insignificant. The playerbase earns that quicker then we imagine.
• Jeremy shows off a spreadsheet showing the current/changed values of upgrades. See attached
• Jeremy thinks enhanced upgrades are garbage and want to improve them.
• Under current values the Phoenix upgrades were 80% more effective then Superior upgrades, under new values they are 30% better. Still the best, just not so overwhelmingly so.
• In order to have a healthy upgrade economy the Phoenix upgrades were a huge issue to work around. The changes make it easier to work with, and in the long run can make more meaningful/impactful choices that are felt more in regards to making upgrades available in different places, making R&D feel better, making loot feel better.
• Phoenix boxes were a dil sink because of the upgrades. The top tier prizes in the epic category were never big dil sinks because they are things you only need to buy once per character. Things like upgrades, which you always have to buy, are always better sinks.
• Any upgrades you currently have wont be changed, they just wont be available from the box anymore.
• Making a new fleet holding is probably not within the scope of the team they have now because they are all busy making new ships, items, missions, etc. Fleet holding conversations happen on a regular basis because theres many people on the team who like fleet holdings.
• Last time Jeremy sat down with Al, and did some armchair math on a new fleet holding, doing a new fleet holding would mean no new content for two seasons. No new missions, no revamps, lowered ship releases, using the old templets of what they would add in a fleet holding. This did lead to a conversation about if theres another way to do fleet holdings/something they can do smartebettemore streamlined to make it not have such a cost. Conversation didn't come to any conclusions, but the conversations did start. Possibly doing what amounts to a new store with no environment, but nothing is planned/decided on.
• While STO is doing very well its unlikely theres going to be a ton of investment to turn it into something its not by hiring a bunch of new people. Gearbox hired Cryptic for what they are, not to change them, so its not in their best interest to change the way STO is developed now.
• You can no longer buy another box by using 10 green tokens because it figured into the math of the upgrade changes, and usage stats for it weren't very high.
• Jeremy's intention is that all the BOFFs are in the same tier, all the DOFFs are in the same tier, etc.
• Jeremy did the math of upgrading tokens as a dil sink and it was really ugly and terrible, and the part of Jeremy as an STO player felt terrible looking at it. It was something like 200 token to go up one tier, or it would require skewing the odds to where you got the lowest tier token 98% of the time.
• Jeremy did ask players if they know of any items that are old, and are no longer available anywhere, as those might be things they could add to the Box.
• Kael respond to a question as to why every update that isn't content seems to be about discouraging free to play players. "Its because of a psychological phenomenon coming from being on the internet and dealing with negativity that comes around certain things. When you see something in a blog, like phoenix tokens are going to be less effective, your first though is this is horrible, and going to ruin everything, because it's not as effective anymore. But the actual math, as Jeremy showed [us] before is not as doom and gloom at all. But our initial human reaction, [his] too is this is awful and they are ruining the game. When you those initial reactions its important to engage with them, and figure out why you are having those reactions. It could be because the tokens are being less effective, but it could also be your having a terrible day, or something else is going on in your life as well. Not to say your reactions aren't legitimate or valid, [he's] saying theres other things that could be contributing to them as well. And then if you go somewhere to like the subreddit, or the forums, and theres a whole bunch of other people who are also upset, its very easy to latch on to the first thing you read and say your right Cryptic is killing the game, and then your brain seizes on that because it doesn't want to examine where those feelings might be coming from. This is actually how a lot of the rage YouTube creators, who are constantly making the Alex Kurtzman is getting fired tomorrow videos, make all of their money. Because someone gets upset about like the Klingons look different, thats not how I remember Klingons looking like, I am not upset because its different. and isntead of engaging with that reaction they log onto YouTube and YouTube immediately shows them a video of the Klingons look different and its because these creators don't care about you as a human being and probably want you to die. And then that sticks in your brain, and it fires up the rage machine."
• Kael also said he is proud of the community for the maturity they handled the announcement about the changes, no ones threatened their lives over it.
• Jeremy answer that yes, this does make it harder for new players to upgrade their stuff, but they are doing it not because they want to screw over new players, but because they need to make changes to the economy, and unfortunately if they aren't economically powerful enough to offset those changes, its up to them to decide if these changes are enough to make them stop playing, or if they feel like they want to work harder, of it they want to accept that their spending power is reduced in that regard. Its not something they can look at those players and make specific allowances for when its a game wide economy. Jeremy says he isn't looking at individual players, r sample sizes of 5 boxes or 10 boxes, when making these changes. Hes looking at players who are spending literal billions on this and seeing what their experience is like. Or not even on an individual player's perspective but looking at the top 200 spenders and seeing what their economy looks like. This is devoid of people, and he admits it seems callous, but when dealing with economies you can't afford to hyper focus on individual's experience. So when they make decisions based on those game wide things, Jeremy comes back on a 2nd pass and say "how will the player respond to it, and is there anything they can do to message it clearer, to make sure they understand why their spending power is being impacted, or understand why there sacrifice as you might call it is good for other people or the game as a whole.
• No new shields being added in this events, and no plans to run the event on consoles. Jeremy is talking to lead producer Jared to see what they need to do, if they want to run it at current prices, etc.
• Not being able to gift zen items to others has back end issues regarding being able to play through Steam, Epic, etc.
• Jeremy might post the spreadsheet he made on his twitter for people to use themselves. If not he will post an apology.
• Experimental starship upgrades will only be available in the Phoenix Box during the event. The prices are highly modified because the changes in odds. Jeremy couldn't find a good way to reconcile the old and new odds for the token, and prices. Jeremy says just try to mind wipe yourself on how much you used to spend on these. Jeremy admits that its a crappy way to say it, but the old prices were too generous then the intended design. Used to be you could buy two upgrades for one UR token, when they should have been charging two tokens for one upgrade at minimum. Prices are going up, but they are making them available at more tiers which Jeremy hopes is a way for people to sink their unused tokens. Built off of Jeremy asking on twitter about why people weren't using their tokens, and a database scrub that revealed they had about 20 million unused uncommon tokens across the playerbase.
• The upgrades will be available a lower tiers for different price points. For 100 rares(previously greens now blues) tokens you can get one upgrade. For 20 very rare tokens, and for 5 ultra rares, you can still get them. Still overly generous compared to the price point they wanted but its a limited time event. Jeremy does clarify, based on a comment in chat, that the prices are not built off of the respective odds for each kind of token, and purposefully so. The costs are just based off of dollar value translations they are happy with. Its only available at rare(previously green tokens) because they know they can afford to price it at 100 tokens since people are sitting on literally millions of them. Main reason they are adding them at different tier is to try to sink out as many tokens as they can. The more tokens they let sit in the economy the worse the economy gets like in any economy.
• These same changes will be coming to console, despite consoles DilEx not being in the same situation currently because its better for them to go out on console so they can serve as a preventive measure.
• The pricing for the vanity shields is not only based on a conversion of dil to zen, but also zen conversion to EC via the use of master keys.
• Jeremy believes it would be rude to put the vanity shields on consoles at the same price point because they wouldn't be factoring in the differences in the economy on consoles by doing so.
• Blog for Cali class will come out tomorrow.
• Seleya Ceremonial Lirpa and the Kri'stak Blade will be made ugpradeable, even the old zen store ones.
• Changes will likely come to console in late June, may come with the console release of Stormfall in early June.
• Further fixes to intel powers/bugs from the new changes has taken a back seat because of the upcoming season release. Will have to wait until after release.
• Jeremy and Jared did talk about possibly moving stuff from Phoenix into Mudds, to make it acocunt unlock, but they were like "ugh?" and wanted to focus more on getting more in the box before thinking about that taking things out.
• CBS got really secretive about SNW with Cryptic, and gave them things really late by their normal standards which made doing anything for the SNW premier difficult.
• Jeremy's favorite looking ship is the Na'khul science vessel. Hes partial to science vessels. Favorite ship to fly is the Sommerville.
• Kael states, in response to a question, no one was asked/forced to stay late/crunch for this season. Some people did of their own will however. Jeremy says the leadership at Cryptic is very proactive about making sure they aren't being overworked.