Oh wow. I've probably done tons of them then. I'll have to re-read them as I didn't notice any icon in the mission rewards block suggesting that's what they give. Neat!
Note that you only get these buffs with a critical success.
"Let me guess, my theories appall you, my heresies outrage you, I never answer letters and you don't like my tie" - The Doctor
"Any sufficiently analyzed magic is indistinguishable from science!" -Agatha Heterodyne
Oh wow. I've probably done tons of them then. I'll have to re-read them as I didn't notice any icon in the mission rewards block suggesting that's what they give. Neat!
Note that you only get these buffs with a critical success.
Also, my Fed toon seems to have far greater access to these than my Rom. (Many more types are available). Not sure if this is intentional.
One of the issues I have with the new system (and with the old one as well) that it remains very hard to tell whether certain things affect certain other things.
For example, does Intimidating Strikes count as a control effect? And what about Gravimetric Torpedo? Does it benefit from effects that affect control effects and exotic damage, or are they separate, or not at all?
A good, consistent way to tell the actual result of a trait choice would be the most useful improvement to the trait system imho.
I agree, I like having everything modified by various skills but it would be nice for the tooltips to display this.
Also, some things like Gravity Well and Aceton Assimilator are modified by multiple skills and at the bottom it just lists the skills that modify it without stating which skills modify which effects. Could this be revised some so that new players understand that Drain Expertise will improve its drain abilities and Exotic Particle Generators modify it's damage etc?
Agreed. I think the tooltips could use some work. I would like to see what is impacting what. It would also be nice to see the impact on tooltips on my skillbar without having to open the power menu to see what is impacting my gear and numbers.
Additionally, I highly recommend a change to the current respec system. Tokens need to be cheaper or moved to the dil/EC stores. I want to try out all the new builds and switch more frequently, but if respec tokens cost a few dollars per respec, I'll probably forgo that experimentation. I would love to see a system similar to TOR's where the first few respecs are free, but then get increasingly expensive over a set period of time (e.g. for a week or two). Then the cost resets. If you are a sub you get free respecs (to make up for the loss of getting a respec token at every promotion ceremony).
@borticuscryptic The new skill system looks great and the tooltips are very informative, however...
Is there a reason that you have set it up this way? As far as we were told at the beginning, this was supposed to be simplifying the current holodeck skill system. This is fundamentally changing how players are going to set up their skill trees and to set them up correctly the first time or they will be forced to purchase a respec token.
On holodeck now, we are able to layout ALL of our skill points before we press the "Accept" button. This allows us to make little changes, fine tune our skills before commiting to using a token, just in case we put a few too many points in the wrong spot. This new system does NOT allow us to do that at all. We have to mouse over a skill, click it and then purchase it. You can not move on anywhere until that is done. And if you decided you did not want that choice, that you made a mistake (and yes, there are a lot of folks here that will), well no problem! Simply visit the ZEN store and purchase a respec token.
Let's say you finally get close to the bottom of the list, after doing your best not to mess up along the way, you come to find out you do not have enough points to grab an item on the final tier. You could have swore that you calculated correctly, but lets face it..not everyone is a math genius and you accidently placed one too many points in the captain tier that you did not intend on. You can purchase another respec token from the ZEN store.
I sincerely hope this changes when it does go live. We should be able to layout our builds before commiting the points we have available. Just like we are able to on Holodeck right now. Am I wrong in thinking this is the way the new setup should be as well?
The first release to Tribble there were no icons and Bort had no clear answer to whether there would be.
I have to believe that a "confirm" button will be added by the UI coders and Bort's similarly not in the loop and just pressing forward with matter that are in his bailiwick.
Because it would be crazy to not have that once the UI is all caught up.
as it came up in the livestream that (from my understanding) the major problem with combining energy weapons and projectile weapons skills would be a replacement skill: how about a cycle haste/cooldown reduction (possibly even shared cooldown reduction)?
other ideas would be "ship special" improvement (hangar recharge time, command frequency efficiency, sensor scan bonus), team size dependant buffs, respawn time reduction, injury resistance/repair time reduction, damage variance range (say, at lvl 0, each regular hit with the weapon does x dmg; lvl 1: each hit does -5% to +10% dmg), and pet+team speed&maneuverability buff
Would it be possible to change the Full Impulse energy shunt to the same level as improved EPS flow. The flow of game play slows down when you do not have this ability. It feels like like getting dismounted and stunned rather then just dismounted and slowed while having it. Since this skill no long effects the power of the emergency power to subsystem, the need to invest a full 3 points is rather rough.
Would it be possible to change the Full Impulse energy shunt to the same level as improved EPS flow. The flow of game play slows down when you do not have this ability. It feels like like getting dismounted and stunned rather then just dismounted and slowed while having it. Since this skill no long effects the power of the emergency power to subsystem, the need to invest a full 3 points is rather rough.
I don't think that a "tree" with just one pick is a good idea, but I wanted to suggest making EPS tree branching like new sci trees, instead of a straight line.
It would at the very least create impression of more choice, and although getting as much EPS as you can is a good idea 90% of the time, it's not always, and besides faster FI recovery would be available earlier as you level.
The first release to Tribble there were no icons and Bort had no clear answer to whether there would be.
I have to believe that a "confirm" button will be added by the UI coders and Bort's similarly not in the loop and just pressing forward with matter that are in his bailiwick.
Because it would be crazy to not have that once the UI is all caught up.
He actually talked about it on the stream quite a lot, and gave an impression of someone very much in the loop on the decision not to add it, because it may need more time than they have till 11.5 launch.
And for all their efforts to downplay it, it would be a nice feature (it is one area where mistakes may cost real money) On the other hand I don't want the skills UI to turn into Windows ME ("But are you sure that you are really sure that you were sure to empty Recycle Bin?")
Can the skills tab be switched to showing the Specialization tab by default once the skill trees are filled? We spend up to 105 points currently in the Specialization tree versus 56 in the new skill tree, so that might be nice for level 50 (or 60).
I also prefer the side click menu (as it is on holodeck) to select the spec tree I want to use/look at versus the new drop down menu. Less clicking is good in my opinion, not sure is that could be reverted.
i think its unwise to nerf aux benefit beyond 100 power. its the sole and one incentive to play a full aux sci ship.
now, cruiser/tactical online will proceed, with people demanding ships that use ltcom sci/unis where sci becomes a mere support role for tactical, like engineering is now.
everyone will use sci, but no reason to actually play a com sci 125aux ship anymore.
i dont get why the everall benefit beyond 100 aux got nerfed. (i do understand power beneath 100 got buffed a bit, so everyone can use sci decently, but why kill science sole expertise role of beeing good at science with science power level?)
im still not very pleased, the skil lrevamp is okay, cause, whatever gets nerfed, it gets nerfed for everyone same, but using the skillrevevamp to nerf sci again just so people stop demanding kdf/rom sciships is stupid.
explain to me, what reason is left to play a sciship with 125+ aux at all, if the net benefit is only 10% (between 100 and 125 aux) while the net benefit of using 100 weaponpower vs 125 weaponwer still is 25% weapon dps, and while shieldpwer beyond 100 is giving like tripple bonus per energy point to hardness and regeneration ...
so now everyone will specc into full tac, rest sci, and everyone will use the same power settings in all ships across the board as well.
you could just release "universalist universal ships" with all the same stats, loadouts and so on ... or only tac ships with ltcom uni/sci slots.
cause basically this will be the very best outcome.
use escort, skill tac(main) and sci (offspecc) and use ltcom sci, use bfaw, and everyone will wit at 125/15/15/70 setting all the time. because thats the BEST option for ALL speccs and builds now that aux doesnt give the same benefit to auxpow beyond 100 as weapon or shields do.
I'm getting equal or better performance from every science power I've tried and I use the most high end and specialized science builds money can buy. They are just fine and I am completely satisfied.
I'm curious. ..the old mantra on holodeck was to skip hull/shields regeneration and focus on heals because regeneration just wasn't fast enough. With the new system (and removal of the crew mechanic ), what does everyone think about the regeneration speeds now? Worth the 3/3 point cost?
I've been speccing with at least 2 points in regen and 2 points in hardness and I'm definitely seeing an improvement.
It should be noted though, that Borticus has said there is an error with shield regen, making it's base value too high,
So we'll have to wait and see what they're like with the new values.
"Let me guess, my theories appall you, my heresies outrage you, I never answer letters and you don't like my tie" - The Doctor
"Any sufficiently analyzed magic is indistinguishable from science!" -Agatha Heterodyne
i think its unwise to nerf aux benefit beyond 100 power. its the sole and one incentive to play a full aux sci ship.
now, cruiser/tactical online will proceed, with people demanding ships that use ltcom sci/unis where sci becomes a mere support role for tactical, like engineering is now.
everyone will use sci, but no reason to actually play a com sci 125aux ship anymore.
i dont get why the everall benefit beyond 100 aux got nerfed. (i do understand power beneath 100 got buffed a bit, so everyone can use sci decently, but why kill science sole expertise role of beeing good at science with science power level?)
im still not very pleased, the skil lrevamp is okay, cause, whatever gets nerfed, it gets nerfed for everyone same, but using the skillrevevamp to nerf sci again just so people stop demanding kdf/rom sciships is stupid.
explain to me, what reason is left to play a sciship with 125+ aux at all, if the net benefit is only 10% (between 100 and 125 aux) while the net benefit of using 100 weaponpower vs 125 weaponwer still is 25% weapon dps, and while shieldpwer beyond 100 is giving like tripple bonus per energy point to hardness and regeneration ...
so now everyone will specc into full tac, rest sci, and everyone will use the same power settings in all ships across the board as well.
you could just release "universalist universal ships" with all the same stats, loadouts and so on ... or only tac ships with ltcom uni/sci slots.
cause basically this will be the very best outcome.
use escort, skill tac(main) and sci (offspecc) and use ltcom sci, use bfaw, and everyone will wit at 125/15/15/70 setting all the time. because thats the BEST option for ALL speccs and builds now that aux doesnt give the same benefit to auxpow beyond 100 as weapon or shields do.
I have 130 Aux (probably more when the buffs/batteries/drains kick in but I have no idea if Aux works like Weapons and the overage is an invisible buff or if it is cut off at 130 and vanishes into the void) and I can tell you that at least Feedback Pulse is benefiting from it being there. Depending on how much love is directed at me, it can pack a huge punch on the enemy. With the low seating for engineering on my science ships though, you can't get much out of Aux to SIF simply because an Lt. seat is just too small on the skill. Energy Siphon is benefiting pretty nicely too.
Also, I would like to note that there seemed to me to be very little benefit even as a Sci Captain in a Sci ship to going for the science ultimate. Most of my skill tree is in engineering and science is the smallest of the set but I am seeing better parses on Tribble than on Holodeck. Getting enough EPG to max your crit rate on Gravity Well will benefit you more than the Aux power. Getting your Control higher to drag them into your well from farther out will also. Of course, Aux power affects these things but a clumped up bunch being hammered with FBP from the love they now show you for being welled while the biggest ship is being siphoned and capping off your entire power system then hitting them with a plasma dot torpedo boosted by high EPG, the spike damage is just beautiful. When the warp core breaches start, the fireworks show is complete.
Honestly, it's the very large universal cooldown on the science powers with punch that hurts more than Aux power changes. This is nothing new though. It's always been a sticking point to me. You can run two copies of beam of torpedo skills (unless it is subsystem targeting) and overlap beams and torpedoes but you can't run two copies of Gravity Well or even run a Gravity Well along side a Tyken's Rift. But, I see the very overpowerfulness of that combination.
For some reason, I was always under the impression that ON Ground, that BOFF abilities were not modified by skill tree...but by the Rank of the ability the BOFF was trained in.
Although, why I thought it worked different in Space, I do not know. On the Wiki, I notice they have now lumped "Kit abilities" and "BOFF abilities" as one, so I am thinking that may be wrong.
Does this mean points in "Kit Performance" in the new skill tree, is going to modify the BOFF ability performance, too? Or just the same ability carried in that captain's kit?
IF "Kit Performance" modifies BOFF abilities.....not just the Captain's ability to make BOFF Training Manuals... can it be stated in the description of that skill?
+++++++++++++++++++
I don't seem to see a difference between "Shield Penetration" and "Hull Penetration" when swapped out one for one in the skill tree. Are these two skills causing hull damage using the same scale as each other? I assume: stacking as many points into both, as possible, would be better for higher DPS.
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Readiness Skills : SCI, ENG, or TAC. Placing one point into these "General" level skills doesn't seem to make much impact.
It seems to me, that if I am "giving up" selections in other (lower levels) of skill tree board, to go for that first set of points in the top level of skills....that it should have more presence.
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Also, can you take a look at: "Brace for Impact"? It doesn't seem as strong on Tribble. I am not a numbers person and I do not have a parser...I just can go by what I see while playing. It used to be modified by Crew, it may need to get adjusted.
Which made me curious about "Diplomatic Immunity" and "Raiding Party" both of which used to add to sector space speed via Driver Coil. Though, I think someone with in group would need to test something like that.
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Additionally: Weapon Amplification and Specialization...which adds Crits. I think it is nice to be able to add this for those in the KDF and FED with less access to Superior Romulan Operative BOFFs. I am assuming, that the scale on the points here were based on SRO BOFFs.
How do the points added in these skill stack up to having SRO?
Post edited by where2r1 on
"Spend your life doing strange things with weird people." -- UNK
“Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.” -- Benjamin Franklin
Boffs gain Skills as they level up. They have their own Kit Performance Skill, which is (currently) equivalent to their level. So, at level 60, they have +60 in that Skill. And yes, it does affect their abilities even though they don't technically come from equipping Kit Modules.
Jeremy Randall
Cryptic - Lead Systems Designer
"Play smart!"
I tried the Engineering Ultimate, EPS Corruption, today. It didn't really feel noteworthy. In strength and effect, it seems to compare best with Aceton Beam, which isn't generally considered a particular noteworthy skill, either. The recent buff improved Aceton Beam, but I don't think it has gained that much popularity... (I use it more often now on engineering heavy ships that have too much healing anyway, but the long cooldown isn't that attractive - it might have a long duration, but most NPCs die too quickly to benefit from it.)
EPS Corruption might at least need some animation/SFX work, since it seemed very unspectacular.
(Ooops, I say that, despite normally thinking that the game has too much flashy SFX... But some SFX lately has been kinda neat, feeling more natural. Like Surgical Strikes or the Quantum Phase Torpedo effect. And unlike Destabilizing Resonance Beam. )
Mechanically, I am not sure. If in doubt, and with the resisting resists and strengthening strengths fixed, adding some damage resistance penalty never hurts, IMO (except the victims, of course). Not flashy, but useful.
Alternative, a a better uptime might help.
If you want all the Ultimates to have the same cooldowns and similar durations, this would pose a problem. For EPS Corruption think a longer duration is less useful than the ability to use it more often due to a shorter cooldown. If you can target only one enemy with it, and it has a long duration but also a long cooldown, you will feel it wasted if you use it on a simple enemy - but in the end often end up not using it at all.
Maybe the Corruption should be contagious, and spread out from ship to ship?
Of course, I don't want these abilities to suddenly turn into absolute must-haves...
Star Trek Online Advancement: You start with lowbie gear, you end with Lobi gear.
My concern with the new skill tree concerns training manuals specifically. In the old system I was able to make an alt whose main purpose was to be able to train everything. This seems impossible in the new system especially for ground abilities that have now been split into groups that limit your choice to being able to train half of the skills only.
Additionally, the inclusion of some skills that were previously difficult to obtain (like torpedo: spread 3) will drastically reduce the value of those items in game. The removal of Torpedo: high yield 3 will have the opposite effect on its value. I'm not sure if this was purposeful or accidental, but sometimes small things like this can make a big impact.
To remedy the situation, you could either make it so that it is possible to create all appropriate training manuals with the allotted number of points, or change it to the system that is used for specializations skills. That system being that, once enough skills are spent in the appropriate category all of the training manuals become available.
I really hope this new system doesn't make my training alts obsolete. I spent ZEN just to buy additional slots for them, and to not be able to train everything with them would be very disappointing.
Boffs gain Skills as they level up. They have their own Kit Performance Skill, which is (currently) equivalent to their level. So, at level 60, they have +60 in that Skill. And yes, it does affect their abilities even though they don't technically come from equipping Kit Modules.
I do not understand this answer.
Only know of "Promotions", "Traits", "Abilities" and colors on BOFFs....I have never heard of BOFFs having levels on a skill tree with their own Kit Performance Skill.
"Spend your life doing strange things with weird people." -- UNK
“Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.” -- Benjamin Franklin
I've noticed that, on the page for ground skills, the skill boxes are not very bright. Compared to the skill boxes for space skills and all the specialization nodes, it just seems like they're dull or something. Is this supposed to be? I'm assuming not.
Boffs gain Skills as they level up. They have their own Kit Performance Skill, which is (currently) equivalent to their level. So, at level 60, they have +60 in that Skill. And yes, it does affect their abilities even though they don't technically come from equipping Kit Modules.
I do not understand this answer.
Only know of "Promotions", "Traits", "Abilities" and colors on BOFFs....I have never heard of BOFFs having levels on a skill tree with their own Kit Performance Skill.
It's "behind the scenes" math, basically. You can't change or see anything about these skills, but when your first level, your bridge officers Medical Tricorder I will be less effective then his Medical Tricorder I at level 60.
Star Trek Online Advancement: You start with lowbie gear, you end with Lobi gear.
When I was on tribble (3/12) there seemed to be a lot of issues with the ground skill bonuses I tested. Below is some of the readings I was getting before and after selecting skills. A couple of things to note: I was on a ground map (ESD) and didn't change maps or relog. Also, the only variable was selecting skill points.
Armor Expert
Base health = 711
+30% bonus = 805
+50% bonus = 823
Boffs gain Skills as they level up. They have their own Kit Performance Skill, which is (currently) equivalent to their level. So, at level 60, they have +60 in that Skill. And yes, it does affect their abilities even though they don't technically come from equipping Kit Modules.
It's "behind the scenes" math, basically. You can't change or see anything about these skills, but when your first level, your bridge officers Medical Tricorder I will be less effective then his Medical Tricorder I at level 60.
So, when Borticus says, "...at level 60, they have +60 in that skill...". That meant the level on the character modifies the abilities used by the BOFFS, not just the level of the abilities, itself.
It makes sense that the BOFFs would scale the performance of their abilities to the level that the character is "playing" at. Thanks!
So, on Ground, continue to pick the Skill Tree points for how I need my Character to perform. Not on how I want my BOFFs to...because the BOFFs are not connected to the "Ground Skill Tree" at all.
*****I am going to add to this, just as a footnote, in case it might help someone else....I visualize it this way:
In space, "I" am a space ship. Therefore, the Skill Tree/traits etc...modifies that space ship.
Hence...the skill tree effects the BOFF abilities in a round about way: when they are seated at a station, via changes to the ship's performance with the space skill tree (not because the BOFFs themselves are "buffed").
On ground, "I" am the species of the character I created. Therefore, the Skill Tree/traits etc...modifies that "being".
The BOFFs are effected by the training I give them or the Level of my character, not through how I "build" my ground skill tree.
Post edited by where2r1 on
"Spend your life doing strange things with weird people." -- UNK
“Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.” -- Benjamin Franklin
Comments
"Any sufficiently analyzed magic is indistinguishable from science!" - Agatha Heterodyne
Also, my Fed toon seems to have far greater access to these than my Rom. (Many more types are available). Not sure if this is intentional.
Also does the electrical damage totally bypass shields, as drain infection is supposed to overload EPS conduits?
For example, does Intimidating Strikes count as a control effect? And what about Gravimetric Torpedo? Does it benefit from effects that affect control effects and exotic damage, or are they separate, or not at all?
A good, consistent way to tell the actual result of a trait choice would be the most useful improvement to the trait system imho.
Also, some things like Gravity Well and Aceton Assimilator are modified by multiple skills and at the bottom it just lists the skills that modify it without stating which skills modify which effects. Could this be revised some so that new players understand that Drain Expertise will improve its drain abilities and Exotic Particle Generators modify it's damage etc?
Additionally, I highly recommend a change to the current respec system. Tokens need to be cheaper or moved to the dil/EC stores. I want to try out all the new builds and switch more frequently, but if respec tokens cost a few dollars per respec, I'll probably forgo that experimentation. I would love to see a system similar to TOR's where the first few respecs are free, but then get increasingly expensive over a set period of time (e.g. for a week or two). Then the cost resets. If you are a sub you get free respecs (to make up for the loss of getting a respec token at every promotion ceremony).
Is there a reason that you have set it up this way? As far as we were told at the beginning, this was supposed to be simplifying the current holodeck skill system. This is fundamentally changing how players are going to set up their skill trees and to set them up correctly the first time or they will be forced to purchase a respec token.
On holodeck now, we are able to layout ALL of our skill points before we press the "Accept" button. This allows us to make little changes, fine tune our skills before commiting to using a token, just in case we put a few too many points in the wrong spot. This new system does NOT allow us to do that at all. We have to mouse over a skill, click it and then purchase it. You can not move on anywhere until that is done. And if you decided you did not want that choice, that you made a mistake (and yes, there are a lot of folks here that will), well no problem! Simply visit the ZEN store and purchase a respec token.
Let's say you finally get close to the bottom of the list, after doing your best not to mess up along the way, you come to find out you do not have enough points to grab an item on the final tier. You could have swore that you calculated correctly, but lets face it..not everyone is a math genius and you accidently placed one too many points in the captain tier that you did not intend on. You can purchase another respec token from the ZEN store.
I sincerely hope this changes when it does go live. We should be able to layout our builds before commiting the points we have available. Just like we are able to on Holodeck right now. Am I wrong in thinking this is the way the new setup should be as well?
I have to believe that a "confirm" button will be added by the UI coders and Bort's similarly not in the loop and just pressing forward with matter that are in his bailiwick.
Because it would be crazy to not have that once the UI is all caught up.
other ideas would be "ship special" improvement (hangar recharge time, command frequency efficiency, sensor scan bonus), team size dependant buffs, respawn time reduction, injury resistance/repair time reduction, damage variance range (say, at lvl 0, each regular hit with the weapon does x dmg; lvl 1: each hit does -5% to +10% dmg), and pet+team speed&maneuverability buff
It would at the very least create impression of more choice, and although getting as much EPS as you can is a good idea 90% of the time, it's not always, and besides faster FI recovery would be available earlier as you level.
He actually talked about it on the stream quite a lot, and gave an impression of someone very much in the loop on the decision not to add it, because it may need more time than they have till 11.5 launch.
And for all their efforts to downplay it, it would be a nice feature (it is one area where mistakes may cost real money) On the other hand I don't want the skills UI to turn into Windows ME ("But are you sure that you are really sure that you were sure to empty Recycle Bin?")
I also prefer the side click menu (as it is on holodeck) to select the spec tree I want to use/look at versus the new drop down menu. Less clicking is good in my opinion, not sure is that could be reverted.
Just a couple thoughts.....
now, cruiser/tactical online will proceed, with people demanding ships that use ltcom sci/unis where sci becomes a mere support role for tactical, like engineering is now.
everyone will use sci, but no reason to actually play a com sci 125aux ship anymore.
i dont get why the everall benefit beyond 100 aux got nerfed. (i do understand power beneath 100 got buffed a bit, so everyone can use sci decently, but why kill science sole expertise role of beeing good at science with science power level?)
im still not very pleased, the skil lrevamp is okay, cause, whatever gets nerfed, it gets nerfed for everyone same, but using the skillrevevamp to nerf sci again just so people stop demanding kdf/rom sciships is stupid.
explain to me, what reason is left to play a sciship with 125+ aux at all, if the net benefit is only 10% (between 100 and 125 aux) while the net benefit of using 100 weaponpower vs 125 weaponwer still is 25% weapon dps, and while shieldpwer beyond 100 is giving like tripple bonus per energy point to hardness and regeneration ...
so now everyone will specc into full tac, rest sci, and everyone will use the same power settings in all ships across the board as well.
you could just release "universalist universal ships" with all the same stats, loadouts and so on ... or only tac ships with ltcom uni/sci slots.
cause basically this will be the very best outcome.
use escort, skill tac(main) and sci (offspecc) and use ltcom sci, use bfaw, and everyone will wit at 125/15/15/70 setting all the time. because thats the BEST option for ALL speccs and builds now that aux doesnt give the same benefit to auxpow beyond 100 as weapon or shields do.
It should be noted though, that Borticus has said there is an error with shield regen, making it's base value too high,
So we'll have to wait and see what they're like with the new values.
"Any sufficiently analyzed magic is indistinguishable from science!" - Agatha Heterodyne
I have 130 Aux (probably more when the buffs/batteries/drains kick in but I have no idea if Aux works like Weapons and the overage is an invisible buff or if it is cut off at 130 and vanishes into the void) and I can tell you that at least Feedback Pulse is benefiting from it being there. Depending on how much love is directed at me, it can pack a huge punch on the enemy. With the low seating for engineering on my science ships though, you can't get much out of Aux to SIF simply because an Lt. seat is just too small on the skill. Energy Siphon is benefiting pretty nicely too.
Also, I would like to note that there seemed to me to be very little benefit even as a Sci Captain in a Sci ship to going for the science ultimate. Most of my skill tree is in engineering and science is the smallest of the set but I am seeing better parses on Tribble than on Holodeck. Getting enough EPG to max your crit rate on Gravity Well will benefit you more than the Aux power. Getting your Control higher to drag them into your well from farther out will also. Of course, Aux power affects these things but a clumped up bunch being hammered with FBP from the love they now show you for being welled while the biggest ship is being siphoned and capping off your entire power system then hitting them with a plasma dot torpedo boosted by high EPG, the spike damage is just beautiful. When the warp core breaches start, the fireworks show is complete.
Honestly, it's the very large universal cooldown on the science powers with punch that hurts more than Aux power changes. This is nothing new though. It's always been a sticking point to me. You can run two copies of beam of torpedo skills (unless it is subsystem targeting) and overlap beams and torpedoes but you can't run two copies of Gravity Well or even run a Gravity Well along side a Tyken's Rift. But, I see the very overpowerfulness of that combination.
For some reason, I was always under the impression that ON Ground, that BOFF abilities were not modified by skill tree...but by the Rank of the ability the BOFF was trained in.
Although, why I thought it worked different in Space, I do not know. On the Wiki, I notice they have now lumped "Kit abilities" and "BOFF abilities" as one, so I am thinking that may be wrong.
Does this mean points in "Kit Performance" in the new skill tree, is going to modify the BOFF ability performance, too? Or just the same ability carried in that captain's kit?
IF "Kit Performance" modifies BOFF abilities.....not just the Captain's ability to make BOFF Training Manuals... can it be stated in the description of that skill?
+++++++++++++++++++
I don't seem to see a difference between "Shield Penetration" and "Hull Penetration" when swapped out one for one in the skill tree. Are these two skills causing hull damage using the same scale as each other? I assume: stacking as many points into both, as possible, would be better for higher DPS.
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Readiness Skills : SCI, ENG, or TAC. Placing one point into these "General" level skills doesn't seem to make much impact.
It seems to me, that if I am "giving up" selections in other (lower levels) of skill tree board, to go for that first set of points in the top level of skills....that it should have more presence.
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Also, can you take a look at: "Brace for Impact"? It doesn't seem as strong on Tribble. I am not a numbers person and I do not have a parser...I just can go by what I see while playing. It used to be modified by Crew, it may need to get adjusted.
Which made me curious about "Diplomatic Immunity" and "Raiding Party" both of which used to add to sector space speed via Driver Coil. Though, I think someone with in group would need to test something like that.
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Additionally: Weapon Amplification and Specialization...which adds Crits. I think it is nice to be able to add this for those in the KDF and FED with less access to Superior Romulan Operative BOFFs. I am assuming, that the scale on the points here were based on SRO BOFFs.
How do the points added in these skill stack up to having SRO?
“Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.” -- Benjamin Franklin
Cryptic - Lead Systems Designer
"Play smart!"
EPS Corruption might at least need some animation/SFX work, since it seemed very unspectacular.
(Ooops, I say that, despite normally thinking that the game has too much flashy SFX... But some SFX lately has been kinda neat, feeling more natural. Like Surgical Strikes or the Quantum Phase Torpedo effect. And unlike Destabilizing Resonance Beam.
Mechanically, I am not sure. If in doubt, and with the resisting resists and strengthening strengths fixed, adding some damage resistance penalty never hurts, IMO (except the victims, of course). Not flashy, but useful.
Alternative, a a better uptime might help.
If you want all the Ultimates to have the same cooldowns and similar durations, this would pose a problem. For EPS Corruption think a longer duration is less useful than the ability to use it more often due to a shorter cooldown. If you can target only one enemy with it, and it has a long duration but also a long cooldown, you will feel it wasted if you use it on a simple enemy - but in the end often end up not using it at all.
Maybe the Corruption should be contagious, and spread out from ship to ship?
Of course, I don't want these abilities to suddenly turn into absolute must-haves...
Additionally, the inclusion of some skills that were previously difficult to obtain (like torpedo: spread 3) will drastically reduce the value of those items in game. The removal of Torpedo: high yield 3 will have the opposite effect on its value. I'm not sure if this was purposeful or accidental, but sometimes small things like this can make a big impact.
To remedy the situation, you could either make it so that it is possible to create all appropriate training manuals with the allotted number of points, or change it to the system that is used for specializations skills. That system being that, once enough skills are spent in the appropriate category all of the training manuals become available.
I really hope this new system doesn't make my training alts obsolete. I spent ZEN just to buy additional slots for them, and to not be able to train everything with them would be very disappointing.
I do not understand this answer.
Only know of "Promotions", "Traits", "Abilities" and colors on BOFFs....I have never heard of BOFFs having levels on a skill tree with their own Kit Performance Skill.
“Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.” -- Benjamin Franklin
Armor Expert
Base health = 711
+30% bonus = 805
+50% bonus = 823
Weapon Proficiency
Base DPS = 177*
+60 weapon = 174*
+100 weapon = 178*
*rounded
So, when Borticus says, "...at level 60, they have +60 in that skill...". That meant the level on the character modifies the abilities used by the BOFFS, not just the level of the abilities, itself.
It makes sense that the BOFFs would scale the performance of their abilities to the level that the character is "playing" at. Thanks!
So, on Ground, continue to pick the Skill Tree points for how I need my Character to perform. Not on how I want my BOFFs to...because the BOFFs are not connected to the "Ground Skill Tree" at all.
*****I am going to add to this, just as a footnote, in case it might help someone else....I visualize it this way:
In space, "I" am a space ship. Therefore, the Skill Tree/traits etc...modifies that space ship.
Hence...the skill tree effects the BOFF abilities in a round about way: when they are seated at a station, via changes to the ship's performance with the space skill tree (not because the BOFFs themselves are "buffed").
On ground, "I" am the species of the character I created. Therefore, the Skill Tree/traits etc...modifies that "being".
The BOFFs are effected by the training I give them or the Level of my character, not through how I "build" my ground skill tree.
“Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.” -- Benjamin Franklin