No, of course not. There may be, however, a new and more action-friendly targeting method coming to an aqua-colored lab near you. In Dan Stahl’s latest “State of the Game” post, he says the following:
We have a new ground combat mode in testing that allows you to switch to a target reticule and shoot your weapons where you are aiming instead of needing to click target.
An intriguing notion. This is, as far as I know, the first mention of this new system, and I’m very curious to see it in action.When I read Stahl’s line, I was intrigued. Then I imagined how people would react if STO’s ground combat turned into a twitch-fest, and I started cackling.
I’ve had a troubled relationship with STO’s ground combat, but I’m hard-pressed to describe my dissatisfaction. It simply doesn’t flow like it should. It feels forced. Clunky. Like it doesn’t know what it wants to be.
Saying the ground combat lacks polish isn’t terribly illuminating, but compared to its showier, more majestic counterpart — space combat — it feels unfinished. I’ve recently been skipping ground combat missions whenever possible. It’s partly my own bias. Ground combat scenes in the various Trek series were never quite as engaging as the space battles. Then again, comparing a bunch of guys with phasers crouched behind boulders to a Sovereign going toe-to-toe with a Borg Cube is hardly fair.
I still feel encouraged, and rather comforted, by Dan Stahl’s leadership on Cryptic’s STO team. I can appreciate a leader who’s willing and able to acknowledge shortcomings and mistakes that Cryptic has made in STO’s creation and evolution. At the risk of sounding like I’ve downed a whole jug of the Kool-Aid, I think the game is heading in a much healthier direction.
The new Featured Episodes — new weekly mission arcs that are thematically connected — are nicely done. The initial diplomatic missions were a very welcome change of pace, although the subsequent diplomatic XP grinding still needs to be addressed. Still, there’s promise.
“It also helps to show that our business is not just about putting items in the C-Store,” Stahl writes. Yes, Cryptic is still loading up the C-Store, and each time a new item appears, people set the forums on fire.
