Kael Leaving, DECA Takeover!? Star Trek Online

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[@Flight--tz5nf]

Don't let the door hit you in the arse Kael. Also Cryptic being told how to run this game isn't a bad thing either. They clearly can't run it with any integrity.

[@NotoriousNickNorris]

Thanks for the update Gauss. I appreciate you diving in on this. I'm optimistic that this means good for the players as far as game longevity. It's clear existing staff are under the knife, but for all we know they may only be listing these positions as a formality, having existing employees reapplying for their own jobs, and or just responding to those that have listed themselves as 'open for work'. I choose to remain hopeful and look forward to a prosperous future not only for Star Trek Online, but all of us players as well.

[@shadow7037932]

This may actually be a good thing for STO considering Kael wasn't fired years ago for his bad work ethic. And old people like Kael leaving is probably because DECA is tightening their reigns on the staff quality.

[@TheIrvy]

I noticed on the job description that a high level of copywriting was required. Someone who can use spell check would make a nice change. Many people will say spelling isn't important, but it is if you want to appear professional. At the moment, every update breaks something else, and they won't comment on it. There are whole sections of the game that can't be updated because the present devs can't get into the code. Regardless of which company holds the reins, those reins are attached to a Star Trek license, and that's a well protected IP that, at the moment, isn't being served well. I also think this change might be bad for Cryptic, but good for the game.

[@ashbringeroflore]

​@TheIrvy, I agree. If STO took a year to just give us tokens for events and just fixed bugs for a year, I would be cheering and telling everyone to sign back into STO today! New buggy content is not as valuable as fixed, bug less content.

[@TheIrvy]

@@ashbringeroflore Yes, tokens of some form as an event reward are useful. The latest underpowered trinket that I won't use, just isn't. The weekly bugdate is, frankly, embarrassing, and like you, they're the reason I won't recommend the game to anyone at the moment.

[@elvangulley3210]

omg he miss spelled words get over yourself. sto has been one of the few good things dealing with trek the last decade. @@TheIrvy

[@TheIrvy]

@@elvangulley3210 It's misspelled, or misspelt, one word, not 2. As I said in my post, many people don't care about spelling, but those people, generally, can't spell for toffee and that's why it doesn't matter to them. I don't know what your job is, but if you want to be taken seriously in business, spelling is important, especially in a world with spell check. If you're working for a business and posting public facing copy without proof reading it or checking it for spelling and grammar, you are not doing your job correctly. That's an important part of the job, and it's being done in a half arsed way. As for who cares, DECA cares, they've put it in the job requirements. And speaking of half arsed, I'd like to play a game that doesn't have weekly breakdowns and a growing list of games that will cost you half an hour of timeout if you get them in a random. I don't want to start tfo's by having to issue instructions to the team so we don't bug the game out and get another half hour timeout. I want to be able to start a story mission series without finding out later that I can't finish it because it's been broken for 2 weeks. Maybe it was a good game, a decade ago. Right now it's an embarrassment.

[@Jay-ql4gp]

I knew Kael was lying when he said nothing was happening. I think I even said as much over on one of Spencer's videos.

[@jennifermason6649]

Good on Kael! In any other job, he would have been fired for his unprofessionalism, his sloppiness with public releases, and how he has treated players at various points Now maybe they can get someone who act ally cares about the games rather than getting notches on his belt for whatever labels and titles he gets!

[@elvangulley3210]

like calling out you idiots because you attacked devs and other other players for stupid shit you deserve everything he said about you

[@Ashendal]

Honestly, they can't run it worse than cryptic has. Even if they have to "cut costs" and go back to how the game used to run where it's just the occasional voice actor but we get more STO original stories that are smaller in scope and a decent number of missions every year because of that, that would immediately be better than the mess we currently have. Don't get me wrong, I'm happy to see the actors get in game, but when everything became warping the game around the voice actors instead of once in a while including one it tanked everything. Even just a community manager that knows he'll be fired and can't just sit around and collect 100k+ a year to not even put in the bare minimum of effort would be a massive improvement.

[@TheMythriel]

DECA: "Do you believe we know how to do live-events better then anyone, that we know how to run old MMOs, and agree with having the development done by a group of random people, and with getting a new community manager?" Me: "Ummm, if it gets me a 5/3 Command Sovereign Flight Deck Carrier...I'll believe anything you say."

[@Robotrik1]

I ain't afraid of no space ghost !

[@stephensmith6660]

Cryptic never was independent. STO in particular was beholden to CBS and paramount for years and years.

[@stephensmith6660]

Don't get me wrong, You are on point 100% with your video. But from a corporate pov, It doesn't surprise me, that Cryptic isn't mentioned. How many years has it been since Atari was mentioned, in relation to STO.

[@NotoriousNickNorris]

They came across as largely independent while working under set guidelines. What they did was open as long as certain criteria were met and certain lines not crossed. Feels pretty standard for working under a license such as this.

[@stephensmith6660]

@@NotoriousNickNorris You do raise a good point, esp. when we examine Scope and Scale type discussions. So thank you.

[@mwisniewski79]

That was impressive how you put that all together, you would make a great Columbo.

[@LeaveMyGun]

Great news, Kael should have been gone a long time ago

[@20JK10]

Kael leaving would be the only positive outcome with this. He gatekeeps too much information people are trying to inform the devs about the game.

[@Kitsula]

The job position only mentions only Star Trek and not D&D and also Junior Community Managers... Maybe Kael is moving over to Neverwinter and they're going to be getting a full CM team as well instead of the current arrangement where Kael is doing CM for everything.

[@gausssto570]

That's true, it's possible he isn't going to stop working for Cryptic/DECA but it does look like he won't be the CM for STO anymore.

[@jessicacole5955]

That job position was also kind of strange: advertised as fully remote but based in Uganda (which I don't think DECA is based out of) and then also 'not avaliable' in the US. Actually looks like they are burying it, maybe because they already have a planned hire.

[@Yandarval]

The job listings are not available in the UK either. makes me wonder if Decca are looking for cheap labour or poor employee protections.

[@jessicacole5955]

@@Yandarval It's not out of the realm of possibility. Make me wish for better, such as already having a hire in mind. But it's not like the VG industry is known for great treatment of workers.

[@afterlame]

The link is for a Ugandan site, so meant for Ugandan applicants. The job listings can also be found on other sites like DECA themselves or Glassdoor, etc, and aren't restricted by region, so I don't think it's anything intentionally fishy going on. I'm in Canada and the DECA games site let me apply for the Community Manager position (I didn't actually fill the application, but would have been able to if I actually wanted to throw my name in for the job)

[@MatthewBluefox]

Deka is German actually. :)

[@godimas101]

Lever is a HR software package used for jobs and a bunch of other stuff. Cryptic was probably using it. Seems like the new guys are not I wouldent be surprised if the cryptic web page is just in the process of being converted over to whatever their new publisher uses

[@NotoriousNickNorris]

If you look at the job posting more closely, it's Star Trek centred. I think perhaps Kael is going to focus on Champions and Never winter, while another person gets to take over Star Trek community management.

[@ronk2832]

Is it possible that they're just hiring for the software side of it which does cover STO, Never Winter, and Champions?

[@varthelm]

Looks to me like they are trashing the existing staff in favor of what is likely cheaper labor. While I think the game will keep running, I think it will be run on the cheap with less Trek actors making appearances and staff that may not be nearly as invested in Trek as a brand. I am probably dialing back my Zen purchases quite a bit until I see where this is going.

[@mikeellery3336]

I've cut mine off completely since the rumor that STO would be shutting down. The time was off, but the sentiment was close.

[@DerDrecksack87]

It can only get better, the flow of content might actually pick up.

[@peterhans3791]

​@@DerDrecksack87 lol. It can be much less

[@dc-4ever201]

How Kael's "It's all about the metrics" line in response to people telling them there were hundred of dil farmer accounts and people exploiting the game fucking the games economy, didn't get him shitcanned is beyond me. He was deceiving his bosses by ignoring accounts that take money away from the game by selling currency and that should have done for him...shocking.

[@nunya3163]

Does kael even understand how the games economy works?

[@DrunkFlux]

@@nunya3163 Probably not, I mean he also always sucked at the game and flew like a total n00b(not someone new, someone who just refused to ever improve at the game). I mean, I'd have at least expected a community manager to get good enough at the game they are representing to be able to match up to the 100k DPS range, or at least handle advanced reasonably well. Kael couldn't even do that. Community managers shouldn't be like modern game journalists.

[@nunya3163]

@@DrunkFlux Yeah, he always struck me as not understanding, nor caring about the game. In fact, I never even got the feeling that he liked, or cared about Star Trek in general.

[@ReyOfLight]

Who knows, maybe he's one of the bot farmers 🤔

[@nunya3163]

This makes me think that the Cryptic bureaucracy is getting axed, and the portfolio moving under the parent company.

[@QuantumNova]

This is great news. STO needs a new direction besides just 'new ships.' Maybe the new people may actually **fix** things and listen. The people we're with should go. They didn't even release official odds on lockboxes. We had to figure it out ourselves (thank you for that BTW), and the BIG secret IS: The odds might be higher or lower at certain times of the day. It depends on the clock. Mr. Spencer tested that a while back. Somewhat similar results: 40m-50m of the hour had the highest winners. 10m-20m had the lowest. It was interesting, maybe people just open more boxes around a certain time. lol DECA should release the odds. Personally I'm not gambling if there are no official odds. That would be *EXTREMEMLY* illegal for U.S. lottery companies.

[@tenalpoen]

They can lie about the odds and no official government body exists to hold them responsible for it.

[@elvangulley3210]

its a loot box the odds were never good that goes for any game nobody opened boxes for the prize in the first place get over yourself

[@ReelMeurik]

As much as I'd hate to lose people like Thomas (the Cryptic Cat), as he is one of their best ship designers, I wholeheartedly agree that STO needs a new direction. Not necessarily "besides just new ships", but the constant reliance on lockbox ships/promo ships/event ships. Why not have an episode-chain where the final reward is... a ship? Hell, they had a one-off "Yesterdays Enterprise" episode which rewarded players with a free Ambassador Class back in the day, so we know it's certainly possible. Also: episode-chains! Bring those back. This 1 new story episode every 3-6 months, which is done in 30 minutes, is infuriating and reeks of "maintenance mode" behavior.

[@tenalpoen]

STO peaked with the victory is life update and quark's lucky seven. Lockbox ships were 5m EC. It'll never be that good again.

[@QuantumNova]

@@tenalpoen It hurts. Hold me, Zen was 85 dil each too. The Golden age of STO was great. Keys sold for 900k - 1m back in 2013.

[@bheathrow]

Job listings in Uganda... that's one way to keep salaries down, and profits way up! And coding quality way way way down.

[@short72hp1]

thanks for info in more detail what does not act autonomous exactly mean only thing I am not clear on

[@Yandarval]

The games listing may be due to all the listed games all being mobile games.

[@FrozenKnight21]

To be honnest this may be for the best. The game will either die, or they will finally bring it back from the stale stance it has been in for so long.

[@mikeellery3336]

Does it really matter who owns STO? If someone buys Cryptic and STO as part of Cryptic, maybe they will make some much needed improvements. They will, after all, want their investiment to show a return. And its not like Crpytic has made good changes to the game for the last several years.

[@radeadcool]

Kael just never cared. Its clear he wanted to work on other projects like Champions and it seems he hates Star Trek as hes based knowledge has not improved.

[@MatthewBluefox]

I had no chance, so I took it and applied as SCM for STO ... who knows if they accept KZbinrs with fleet-leadership experience and 14 years of being STOked. I would certainly communicate more and mention the wishes of the playerbase in the developer team. :)

[@jp-st2sl]

This is actually probably great news because maybe they will fix all the bugs and if not I know a lot of people have spent so much on this game that they can't afford to quit but regardless they will fix the game or shut it down but change is coming for the better or worse and get rid of the old developers they have been there to long and won't fix the bugs get some new talent

[@DrunkFlux]

I'm not bothered by cryptic no longer being autonomous, although I admit now things look very uncertain for STO, and how the future will unfold for the game. How will the meta change? How will my investments in my characters and whatnot age, how will I have to change them over time? Will torpedoes remain viable, if insane, at high levels play with high investment, or will they're extreme performances at high levels cause a nerf to something already underpowered as heck at low skill levels(lets be honest, torpedoes require you to be VERY good at the game, have traits to make them work at all to....and those traits are lockbox traits...they get OP with those traits but without they are pretty pathetic except for maelstorms) ect?

[@jjcastleberry3662]

I cannot log on now!! What the Hell. The password is no good. I asked them to send me the link to reset my link to e-mail and mobile. An hour has passed and nothing!!!

[@m.f.cauley9729]

Feels like we might be getting a combat upgrade or NGE ala SWG. that should be awesome, lol

[@EliotJohnson]

From what I have seen, Kael did not seem like a real good community leader. I have watched the leaders of other games like Planet Coaster. Their enthusiasm for the game is really different than what Kael was portraying on live streams. I Hope they find someone who really loves Star Trek and Star Trek.

[@Mr_Waffle.]

This is pure speculation but I recall some fan outrage when it came out that Kael was being paid quite a high salary (I think because at the time Cryptic wasn't work from home and the cost of living is high where their office is). Maybe they're looking to cut the high-salary staff with cheaper remote staff... kind of like how I was laid off from Big Tech Company and my job was sent to India a couple of months ago lol :(

[@marhawkman303]

Kael has also been shuffled around to do mor than just community manager stuff. So even if they get a new STO CM... they may not actually have him leave.

[@SGz_Eliminated]

This 'could' be quite a good thing for STO, as much as I'm wary of Mobile game developers STO desperately needs new blood, Joseph I think his name is was the perfect example of what new blood looked like and he's done some great work since coming onboard That Flexible Development part of their webpage about fixing old spahgetti code is exactly what STO has lacked for years. I just hope they don't try to make it even more gambly/expensive than it already is like mobile games often are

[@darthdragonborn1076]

Johnathan not Joseph

[@nunya3163]

@@darthdragonborn1076 Yes, he is the one person that I think needs to stay, at least short term. He seems to have both the knowledge, and appreciation for the game and material, and seems far more consciencious than predecessors.

[@Caveman_420]

All this is business, I welcome any changes to improve the game. If they still want my money things need to get better. . Over the last year there's been poorly written blogs explaining stuff, but major glitches that have broken the game temporarily, bad decisions. These kind of things happening constantly .You need to make the hard decisions. Hopefully deck games, fines, creative and wild balance, business people and programmers to give us the experience we expect when we spend money and play this game.

[@tenalpoen]

don't forget nerfing event rewards after they go to mudd's market and a lot of people buy them

[@Caveman_420]

@@tenalpoen I have bought them out before, daddy summer and winter event ships are a pretty good price when they're 75% off.

[@short72hp1]

also if you do an update on your gambling video can you go over ods fo t5 I have never seen the even talked about a I win that lot so the odds an won't be the same ty

[@gausssto570]

Unfortunately they removed T5 shipst that they did T6 refreshes on, and now the T5 choice box has basically nothing left in. A lof of those old ships don't exist anymore. There are quite a few T5 ships that literally have no mechanism for coming into the game outside of some old lockboxes that haven't been opened yet, but even those can't be created anymore so when they are gone they are gone.

[@sr3473]

Bring back Dan Stahl! lol

[@DannieGemz]

welp they where crap to begin with so things can only get better

[@short72hp1]

sorry dude I seems you have come back just to witness the apocalypse 😭😥😱 I saw this but passed over it

[@madman123456]

Could've looked at the other games this Deca company took on and see what happened there. People working there would eventually want to get away. Might've started as enthusiastic trek fans and gamers but day after day routine will eventually get on your nerves and any big change happening to your job might jolt you enough to have you considering getting out. Possibly getting out before you "have" to get out when STO goes the way of all MMOs. That day might not be coming soon but it will be coming eventually and then you might be five years or ten years or fifteen years older then you are now and a somewhat less enticing prospect for hiring. I'm over forty, would you hire me for your fresh and new MMO game? Would you hire me in ten years or so or would you be thinking that i'd start announcement posts with "Kids these days..."?

[@kaimeraprime]

Let's face it, STO has been a buggy mess with a drip feed of new content for years and horrid RNG loot box gambling for any ship that was in a Star Trek show / movie. When the average cost for a new loot box ship is $200 It's hard to imagine them making it worse. STO used to get frequent updates and content now it's 3 times a year FFS. They have the bloody Star trek MMO only one that exists, and they have wasted its potential. hell they could run competitions to design new bridges or ships i.e. design the new enterprise contest. so much of a wasted opportunity to use the STO licence to its full potential.

[@zigzag8949]

Game is broken. They FIX nothing. Cryptic are rubbish thank god someone might do something Pro active.

[@mikeekim2532]

2022-2023 was a dumpsterfire for most STO players that have been around to know better. Or more accurately, for those of us WANTING sto to NOT suck as bad as it was sucking. Seriously, put some of the effort into providing what the INVESTING PLAYER BASE is asking for instead of the crap episodes, vendor trash, BROKEN dil market, WORTHLESS loot, dogdish and fractal lame starships and ever growing BUG LISTS. All that effort bragging how wonderful they were and no effort into what I HEAR from what the players have been asking for. TYPICALLY THE OPPOSITE OF WHAT FANS AREE ASKING FOR AND TALKING ABOUT online. They fancy themselves Trek novelists on par with the film writers...... >GAG!< What was worse man, their stories or the worthless loot rewards for suffering the 50X too long episodes? WASTED TIME. WASTED EFFORTS. Almost ZERO worthwhile ships and weapons offered since early 2022 that were not gambleboxed out of reach. They did what they wanted to do, and catered practically ONLY to the 2% of the player base obsessed with pronouns. NOT what fans/INVESTORS and the other 98% of players asked for. Instead of bug fixes we got NERFING. NERFING ie, bait and switch. Buy with $$ to be nerfed next month to 'balance' the game [checkbooks]. Fire them all. Burn it to the ground. Get some real talent with EARS that listen. Provide the fans what they ask for JUST LIKE VALVE DID WITH HALF LIFE+++++ Otherwise, let it die. Life is too short for this shitshow dumpsterfire soap opera.

[@Westindiesboyz]

Thank God cryptic is trash anyway and the devs. Maybe this means more tfo and Raids added to the game not ships, ships, and more ships run the game to the ground.

[@short72hp1]

💯💯👍👍🖖

[@ReyOfLight]

When it comes to if Kael leaves or gets fired, all I can say is good riddance, and it's about ruddy time! All he does is copy and paste poorly written blogs that a 5 year old could have written better, and being a celebrity wannabe on the dev streams, flying worse than I did when I first started playing the game years ago. I can't even watch the dev streams because it just makes me cringe so badly! The game needs a CM who actually gives a damn about the franchise, has at least basic (preferably above average) knowledge of the game and game mechanics and how to make a ship build. They have access to everything totally maxed out, at least put something togethet that resembles something that the average player would fly! It's not rocket science... Even a Pakled ship is put together better than the sample "builds" on streams when a new ship is showcased 🫣