Exclusive Interview: Star Trek Online's Combat Sytems Designer Steve Nix

[chronodev]

Steve Nix, Combat Systems Designer, told us about the mechanics of combat:

RG: Are there different roles like in other MMORPG? For example a tank, a controller and a healer?

Steve: Yes. We have the Tactical officer who does the most DPS (Damage per Second). Engineering is the tank, while the Science Officer is the support.

Read the full interview with Steve Nix Here
Exclusive Interview: Star Trek Online's Steve Nix (Combat Sytems Designer)

[NeverEnding]

part about death penalty is interesting:

RG: So basically if the penalty is minimal, there's nothing to lose by dieing?

Steve: There is. In PvP, you lose the battle. In PvE, someone who dies often will take longer to progress because he will have to wait for the crew to recover. But as I said recovery is pretty quick so it is not up to a point that it is frustrating to die. You don't even have to go back to a starbase to recover your crew, they recover on their own with time.

RG: Is there a logical explanation as to how a ship respawns if it's blow up? For example City of Heroes had Super Hero Hospitals of sort which would detect when you die and beam you in for recovery. How do you explain a blown up ship respawning with it's captain alive?

Steve: We don't. It's just a game, your ship gets blown up you try again. On a related note, later in the game you can blow up your own ship using a self destruct like power, hoping to take the other ship with you.