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skullone514skullone514 Member Posts: 2 Arc User
So I'm new to this MMO thing (ive been an offline RPG player my hole life except for diablo series and a couple of months of SWTOR) and just wanted to be sure that I'm getting this right. I've been casually playing STO for the past few months and have noticed that all the best gear is behind a gambling pay wall? Basically I need to keep buying keys to open boxes until they drop the gear i want?
Am I missing something here?
Post edited by baddmoonrizin on
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  • where2r1where2r1 Member Posts: 6,054 Arc User
    edited December 2018
    All the best in slot that is required for "someone's special configuration" may be behind pay walls.....
    but you don't have to play like that, just so you know.

    Find another player to ask about gear. Someone that knows which gear that works and that is rewards from playing missions. Then, step up to Fleet level from there. Then, IF you feel like continuing and you feel up to doing the grind for it....then go lockbox or lobi.

    P.S. Don't let someone else spend YOUR moola for you with that must have lockbox or lobi stuff.
    "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
  • anazondaanazonda Member Posts: 8,399 Arc User
    You're missing the exchange... There is a load of keys there you can buy for EC. And the Dilithium exchange, where you can trade Dil for Zen. Both are free for you.

    That said: I have yet to open a single lock-box, and still, while not being a top end player, I am fairly well outfitted.

    There is not denying that the lock-boxes are a sort of gambling (except if you live in a bubble... true there is no real-world returns, but you still play a game of chance), and that they represent shortcuts to power, but that's all they are... shortcuts...

    They are by no means required.
    Don't look silly... Don't call it the "Z-Store/Zen Store"...
    Let me put the rumors to rest: it's definitely still the C-Store (Cryptic Store) It just takes ZEN.
    Like Duty Officers? Support effords to gather ideas
  • consortium#9349 consortium Member Posts: 3 Arc User
    I've been casually playing STO for the past few months and have noticed that all the best gear is behind a gambling pay wall? Basically I need to keep buying keys to open boxes until they drop the gear i want?
    Am I missing something here?
    Yes. No opening of lock boxes is required. Some of the best gear for your toon is found via mission or mission replay, some items require being in a fleet, others may be in the C-store, some you can craft. You might want to purchase a few thing (i.e. genetic resequencers or traits, certain weapons) from the exchange that originally came from lock boxes. No need to open boxes unless you want the lobi. People manage to save up for a lot of things in-game up to and including lock box ships. I find the occasional infusion of RL dollars gets me to where I want to be a little sooner and supports the game. It's a F2P model so the choice is yours.
  • davefenestratordavefenestrator Member Posts: 10,501 Arc User
    Some of the best weapons can be crafted by you at Mark II VR using cheap white and green mats (or bought from the exchange) and leveled up using tech upgrades. Much of the other best gear comes from Fleet holdings and the Reputation system. All of that requires only the free in-game dil and credits.

    Lock box and lobi gear is more about Space Barbie (the true endgame) than about min-maxing. You don't need any of it for completing Elite level content.

    You might want some expensive lock box traits for PVP, but PVP is a broken mess that 99% of us avoid like the plague.
  • risian6#1997 risian6 Member Posts: 128 Arc User
    So I'm new to this MMO thing (ive been an offline RPG player my hole life except for diablo series and a couple of months of SWTOR) and just wanted to be sure that I'm getting this right. I've been casually playing STO for the past few months and have noticed that all the best gear is behind a gambling pay wall? Basically I need to keep buying keys to open boxes until they drop the gear i want?
    Am I missing something here?

    Welcome to the game (or as I like to call it: the only real life that exists. Space is the final frontier, there is space in the game so there cannot be anything beyond the game).

    There's no need to gamble if you don't want to, everything (well almost everything) is on the exchange.

    There's a Infinity box coming soon. Prices of most lock box items should drop then as supply will likely increase.
    Formerly known as Risian4. Risian6 is my new PS4-account. Fleetcaptain5 is my main PC account. I hope to actively play again on PC in a few months.

    Now that that's made clear... on to the next issue: when are playable Voth coming, and where's are my T7 Vesta and C-store purchasable real life shuttle? :)
  • rattler2rattler2 Member Posts: 57,973 Community Moderator
    edited December 2018
    STO has a very generous F2P model. People post things from lockboxes on the Exchange all the time. That's how I got my Kelvin Connie. Just bought it off someone else for something like 300 mil ECs.

    There is almost nothing in game you cannot get via in game means. Only thing that comes to mind is a Lifer sub. Everything else... just time and a plan.

    I speak from experience. Before my Lifer sub I ground things out left and right. Hell... I still do.

    My advice if you wanna convert Dilithium to Zen... learn the patters on the DL Exchange (IE how it behaves depending on events and/or sales). And pace yourself. It can be pretty easy to burn out trying to get the most Zen for your Dilithium. Especially with only one or two characters.

    As for earning ECs to buy things... I'd suggest making a crafter character that can pump out a few tech upgrades. While it won't get you the big monies fast... there will always be a need for Tech Upgrades of one form or another. If you find another way of earning ECs at a steady rate... go with that as well.

    Long term... set reasonable goalposts for whatever project you're working on. For example if you want to get a T6 Assault Cruiser... don't just look at the full price. Divide it up into smaller pieces and work towards each piece. So first goal would be 1000 Zen. That is less intimidating than looking at the full 3000 Zen price.

    Also don't be afraid to ask for advice here on the forums. While you may get a few trollish replies, especially in game if you're asking in ESD Zone Chat... there are people who do want to help. We've all had to start somewhere ourselves after all.
    db80k0m-89201ed8-eadb-45d3-830f-bb2f0d4c0fe7.png?token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWIiOiJ1cm46YXBwOjdlMGQxODg5ODIyNjQzNzNhNWYwZDQxNWVhMGQyNmUwIiwiaXNzIjoidXJuOmFwcDo3ZTBkMTg4OTgyMjY0MzczYTVmMGQ0MTVlYTBkMjZlMCIsIm9iaiI6W1t7InBhdGgiOiJcL2ZcL2ExOGQ4ZWM2LTUyZjQtNDdiMS05YTI1LTVlYmZkYmJkOGM3N1wvZGI4MGswbS04OTIwMWVkOC1lYWRiLTQ1ZDMtODMwZi1iYjJmMGQ0YzBmZTcucG5nIn1dXSwiYXVkIjpbInVybjpzZXJ2aWNlOmZpbGUuZG93bmxvYWQiXX0.8G-Pg35Qi8qxiKLjAofaKRH6fmNH3qAAEI628gW0eXc
    I can't take it anymore! Could everyone just chill out for two seconds before something CRAZY happens again?!
    The nut who actually ground out many packs. The resident forum voice of reason (I HAZ FORUM REP! YAY!)
  • risian6#1997 risian6 Member Posts: 128 Arc User
    rattler2 wrote: »
    My advice if you wanna convert Dilithium to Zen... learn the patters on the DL Exchange (IE how it behaves depending on events and/or sales). And pace yourself. It can be pretty easy to burn out trying to get the most Zen for your Dilithium. Especially with only one or two characters.

    To be fair, I personally wouldn't even start trying to grind ships with just two characters.

    There are 8 free character slots nowadays. Even creating some extra toons to just do the daily at the academy would give a couple of thousand dilithium extra each day. If the OP can get extra doffs somehow (and there are many ways of getting those, my advice would be to start with the clusters and perhaps search for the Facility 4028 chain) there's even more dilithium to be earned without needing to level too many characters.

    Just getting a few security officers (from the T"ong Nebula, or just from the exchange) may also help. Each character can do contraband missions without too much effort. That's also a very easy way to get EC or dilithium.


    And of course, OP, if you do plan to create more characters anyway, doing it now may be wise. The sooner they are levelled, the faster they can start earning large amounts of dilithium through Admiralty which will open up at level 52, as well as through battlezones.
    Formerly known as Risian4. Risian6 is my new PS4-account. Fleetcaptain5 is my main PC account. I hope to actively play again on PC in a few months.

    Now that that's made clear... on to the next issue: when are playable Voth coming, and where's are my T7 Vesta and C-store purchasable real life shuttle? :)
  • risian6#1997 risian6 Member Posts: 128 Arc User
    Oh regarding those Security doffs: good ones can be expensive.

    But for each two Doffs, one more character can easily get 2-5 contraband (if you place characters near places where the Inspect Civilian Freighter assignment appears). Or even more with the Facility 4028 chain, which also gives options to get more doffs you could sell.

    Even if you have to spend a couple of million EC to get those security doffs to get it all started, you'll have earned it back in no time. You can approach break-even in less than a month with just the contraband assignments even if you spend 1m EC per character on doffs. After that, eternal profit basically.
    Formerly known as Risian4. Risian6 is my new PS4-account. Fleetcaptain5 is my main PC account. I hope to actively play again on PC in a few months.

    Now that that's made clear... on to the next issue: when are playable Voth coming, and where's are my T7 Vesta and C-store purchasable real life shuttle? :)
  • risian6#1997 risian6 Member Posts: 128 Arc User
    Also, something else that I just realised:

    Levelling those 6 extra free characters to 11 can easily give you another 500 dilithium per character each day. Resettle Colonists and Relocate colonists assignments are almost completely free but can give 500-1500 dilithium.

    Even ignoring the critical success chances means that you can easily get around 3000 dilithium each day (or perhaps almost each day).

    Just using the Academy mission and those colonisation missions that require three map changes in total, can earn you at least 5000 dilithium each day (assuming that the colonisation missions don't crit, and actually appear once every 1,5 days or so - not exactly sure about that, never paid that close attention to it).

    It may not seem like much, but it's an easy 20 zen each day at current prices (at least on console right now). That's approximately 600 zen per month, which is more than lifer stipend. And these are conservative estimates.
    Formerly known as Risian4. Risian6 is my new PS4-account. Fleetcaptain5 is my main PC account. I hope to actively play again on PC in a few months.

    Now that that's made clear... on to the next issue: when are playable Voth coming, and where's are my T7 Vesta and C-store purchasable real life shuttle? :)
  • tigerariestigeraries Member Posts: 3,492 Arc User
    edited December 2018
    The "Best" thngs are behind a paywall... a gamble based paywall at that. Either you pay or someone else pays... someone is paying. There is no way to generate lock box keys in game... you can buy em with EC off exchange... but someone payed Zen for those keys. You can also grind Dil ore and refine 8k a day... then put that on dil exchange and get a few zen a day... whats the rate right now? 200 dil for 1 zen? something like that. So you can grind and spend your time... but like the saying goes... "Time is money friend!" So yeah your still paying, just in a different currency.
  • rattler2rattler2 Member Posts: 57,973 Community Moderator
    Closer to 300/1. I think its because some people are already anticipating the Infinity Box.
    db80k0m-89201ed8-eadb-45d3-830f-bb2f0d4c0fe7.png?token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWIiOiJ1cm46YXBwOjdlMGQxODg5ODIyNjQzNzNhNWYwZDQxNWVhMGQyNmUwIiwiaXNzIjoidXJuOmFwcDo3ZTBkMTg4OTgyMjY0MzczYTVmMGQ0MTVlYTBkMjZlMCIsIm9iaiI6W1t7InBhdGgiOiJcL2ZcL2ExOGQ4ZWM2LTUyZjQtNDdiMS05YTI1LTVlYmZkYmJkOGM3N1wvZGI4MGswbS04OTIwMWVkOC1lYWRiLTQ1ZDMtODMwZi1iYjJmMGQ0YzBmZTcucG5nIn1dXSwiYXVkIjpbInVybjpzZXJ2aWNlOmZpbGUuZG93bmxvYWQiXX0.8G-Pg35Qi8qxiKLjAofaKRH6fmNH3qAAEI628gW0eXc
    I can't take it anymore! Could everyone just chill out for two seconds before something CRAZY happens again?!
    The nut who actually ground out many packs. The resident forum voice of reason (I HAZ FORUM REP! YAY!)
  • kiralynkiralyn Member Posts: 1,576 Arc User
    rattler2 wrote: »
    Closer to 300/1. I think its because some people are already anticipating the Infinity Box.

    Plus there was the Black Friday sale, and the R&D Promo box. Lots of reasons to exchange for Zen.


    But on the "best things are behind a paywall" thing... eh, as mentioned, they can be gotten from the exchange. And, unless you're trying to chase some uber-DPS build or do Elite queues, there's not a lot of need for that stuff to start with. This game really is one of the friendlier f2p MMOs around.
  • brian334brian334 Member Posts: 2,214 Arc User
    I once performed an experiment: I outfitted my ship with nothing but mission reward items. I didn't even upgrade them. Instead, I went back to replay the mission and earned the gear at a higher mark.

    It is entirely possible to play the game at all but the Elite levels with gear you can earn, if you're willing to replay missions for the items you need. But if you don't want to do that, even better gear can be purchased on the Exchange. And the Exchange can earn you the EC you need by selling the stuff you don't want, but which is valued by other players. If an item isn't available on the exchange, post yours for a rediculous price and see if it sells. If an item you have sells for two or three or more times what the vendors will pay, put it on the Exchange. Then when you have the money, buy the things you want.

    If you join a good fleet, (one with developed holdings,) you can purchase Fleet gear and ships. Some fleets will allow you to join to make use of their facilities, but that's a case-by-case thing, and the best way to go about that is to make friends.

    I highly recommend you ask on Chat channel if anyone near your level is interested in running the missions you need to run. You learn tricks they learned and you can teach them tricks you know, and you can trade items. For example, you may want Phaser weapons and he may want Polaron weapons. So you trade what you don't need for what he don't need, and both gain.

    One thing to learn early is how to be a teammate. The end game content is almost exclusively team oriented missions. Your ability to work with a team, learned by practicing with friends, will pay off when you are grinding TFOs. Learn to watch teammates to see if they need a heal, or to have a debuff cleansed. No one ship can heal everything, but a team which learns to cross-heal increases everyone's survivability. (Sure, sometimes you go from full health to dead, but usually there is enough time to help a teammate if you know to look.)

    Once you have the basics down, begin to look for the tutorials on the various Task Force Operations. Some players, especially on the elite missions, expect everyone to know what to do and what comes next. They get upset when they miss optional objectives and really upset when they fail a mission, and the new guy always gets the blame.

    Welcome to STO, and have fun! And believe it or not, help is usually just a chat message away, so use chat. You may run into an occasional dorkasaurus, but most STO players want to see you succeed.
  • thegrandnagus1thegrandnagus1 Member Posts: 5,165 Arc User
    edited December 2018
    Am I missing something here?

    Yes. 3 main points:

    1) you don't actually need the "best" ships/gear. Yes, some of the purchasable stuff is definitely cool, but you can easily play the game itself with the free stuff you get. You don't need to spend anything just to be able to play through all of the game's content.

    2) you don't actually have to spend your own money to get the purchasable stuff. You can earn dilithium, trade it on the exchange for zen, then use that zen to buy things you want from the game store.

    3) When it comes to the gambling boxes, you also don't have to be the one gambling to get the items you want. All of the ships that come from those boxes can also be purchased on the in game exchange(from other players) for EC. Yes, you will need a lot of EC, but that goes back to point number 2. You can earn dilithium, trade it for zen, then use that zen to buy things like lock box keys which you can turn around and sell on the exchange for a decent amount of EC.

    Speaking from personal experience, I have gotten tons of lock box ships without ever opening a box myself. I grind dil, turn it into EC, then buy the ships on the exchange.

    TL;DR: you don't actually need any of the purchasable stuff to play the game. But if you want it, you have ways to get it without actually spending any of your own real money.

    The-Grand-Nagus
    Join Date: Sep 2008

    og9Zoh0.jpg
  • leemwatsonleemwatson Member Posts: 5,331 Arc User
    edited December 2018
    So I'm new to this MMO thing (ive been an offline RPG player my hole life except for diablo series and a couple of months of SWTOR) and just wanted to be sure that I'm getting this right. I've been casually playing STO for the past few months and have noticed that all the best gear is behind a gambling pay wall? Basically I need to keep buying keys to open boxes until they drop the gear i want?
    Am I missing something here?

    Utterly wrong. The gear in lockboxes is often NOT the best, and alot of it can be replicated or bettered with other items. There are consoles and weapons in fleet stores, episodes and reputations that easily match Lockbox stuff. Lockbox items are just 'another flavour', and most of it is sold in the Exchange.

    The only 'gambling' is what item you'll get, on top of Lobi, but you will ALWAYS win something for that $1 (or EC) you paid for a key....it's more a Raffle. People like to throw around different odds, but the fact is no-one knows what the odds are except the Dev's.

    Just remember.....you got a 30GB game for nothing, zero, zip all and is way, way better than all the current 'free' Star Trek games out there. You could be playing 'Star Trek Fleet Command'......let's just say....P2W central, an element that does not exist here.
    "You don't want to patrol!? You don't want to escort!? You don't want to defend the Federation's Starbases!? Then why are you flying my Starships!? If you were a Klingon you'd be killed on the spot, but lucky for you.....you WERE in Starfleet. Let's see how New Zealand Penal Colony suits you." Adm A. Necheyev.
  • where2r1where2r1 Member Posts: 6,054 Arc User
    edited December 2018
    Don't get too confused....
    The folks saying that you can buy the stuff on the Exchange...that means IF you work on amassing the in game currencies. You will want to learn how to do that.

    And there are a lot of currencies but mainly:
    That would be EC (Energy Credits) for the Exchange....which is stuff sold by other players.
    That would be Dil (Dilithium) to trade for Zen for the Cryptic Store...which is stuff sold by Cryptic.

    Yes, items from Lockboxes and Lobi can be sold in the Exchange by other players.
    Even the keys to open the Lockboxes.

    Remember that "amass the in-game currency" thing?
    Maximum price in the Exchange is 1.5 Billion EC....so, with players setting the prices, you can expect, well...imagine what the more desired items go for.

    You really don't have to imagine, though. Have your Fleet Leader show you some different stuff in that "Exchange"....just to compare how those prices run.

    Always be aware of your own wallet...not other players who think "that's not expensive".

    Also, have your Fleet Leader show you how the Fleet Stores work. There is another currency for that: FM (Fleet Marks) which convert to FC (Fleet Credit) for the Fleet Store. Fleets are a great resource.

    Find a good fleet to join, if you haven't already. One that will not treat you like a number. And will help you.

    ++++++++++++++++++++++

    As for building and collecting the "gear" to play on "normal" or "advanced"...you needn't work on "grinding" out a fortune. You can use nice "sets" from missions and add on. Eventually, add on Fleet and decently priced stuff from the Exchange, as you can get currency lined up and/or saved.

    As for crafting your own...I don't like it. Just a personal thing, though.
    Maybe someone who has more heart in it can explain much better than I can.

    EDIT: Before you get too involved and spend on a build...experiment with lower level gear and see if you even like to play that way.
    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
  • consortium#9349 consortium Member Posts: 3 Arc User
    Even if you have to spend a couple of million EC to get those security doffs to get it all started, you'll have earned it back in no time. You can approach break-even in less than a month with just the contraband assignments even if you spend 1m EC per character on doffs. After that, eternal profit basically.
    Unless you're in a fleet building the Colony holding :smirk:
  • dracounguisdracounguis Member Posts: 5,358 Arc User
    I've been casually playing STO for the past few months and have noticed that all the best gear is behind a gambling pay wall? Basically I need to keep buying keys to open boxes until they drop the gear i want?

    Unless you have a lot of disposable income (or insanely good luck), do not open boxes!
    If you just HAVE to have something from a box, the surest way is to buy Master Keys and then sell them on the Exchange until you get enough EC to buy said item from someone who did get lucky and sells it there.

    There is a difference between gear you want and gear you need. You need nothing. You can take any gear you like and upgrade it to Mk15 and pew-pew just fine. You won't top the DPS charts, but who cares. Gear prices in MMOs are very exponentially priced. You can get very good gear for relativity cheap, but if you want 'the best' you will pay for it.
    Am I missing something here?
    STO is free to play. They depend on your desire to make money.
    If you can control/temper that desire you will be fine.
    My rule for getting stuff in STO... Patience

    If you want to buy Zen: wait for a sale.
    The more Zen you buy the more extra Zen you get. For example: $200 purchase gets you $280 in Zen during a sale. Sure, it's a big up front amount, but you'll get more from it than four $50 purchases.

    If you want something in the C-store: wait for a sale.
    They have sales regularly. Discounts from 15%-30%, depending on what type of sale.

    Also, in the C-store there are ship bundles. Most work like 'buy 2 get 1 free'; so savings there.

    So with discount Zen, C-store sale & buying a bundle, the saving add up to be substantial.

    Ship gear-wise in the Exchange. If you don't want the 2 big modifiers atm (pen and sensor-linked) you can grab your preferred flavor of weaponry for cheap. Or you can rerun some missions to get a whole set of gear.

    Or if you plan the upgrade gear path... you craft a bunch of Mk.2 weapons. Then when the Omega event comes around, you gather those mats like mad, craft the Omega Upgrades. When the Phoenix Box event comes around, you buy some w/ Dilthium just to get the Phoenix Upgrades. When that's all done, you upgrade your stuff during an Upgrade Weekend. (I mentioned patience was a good thing, right? :D ) You hit the Mk.2 with ONE Omega per item to start for it's big quality % chance (toss in a Research Boost if you have some or feel like buying some). Hopefully, your VR gear will hit UR or Epic before too many Mark levels pass, then you use the Phoenix Upgrades (they will give 110k points during upgrade weekend) to get it to Mk.15.
    If the item doesn't reach UR or Epic, depending on your desired quality level, you give up on that piece of gear, because getting it to proc better quality at Mk10+ is very resource heavy. You can toss it on the Exchange to see if anyone else wants it and make a bit of EC.

    There are many posts on the forums about the best way to do things. Find them and save yourself money/EC/Dil/time/hassle/etc! :D
  • dracounguisdracounguis Member Posts: 5,358 Arc User
    edited December 2018
    Each toon you make can refine 8000 Dil per day. (ignoring the fleet dil mine and LTS bonus)
    Current Dil/Zen exchange rate is around... 300:1 (just for sake of argument)
    So each toon you make turn that 8k dil into ~26 Zen. So $0.26.
    So yes, you can buy anything in the game w/o spending real money.
    But it will take you awhile.
    If it wasn't a huge grind, they'd never sell any Zen, right? ;)

    So to get 3000 Zen to buy a not-on-sale T6 ship you would need to spend 112.5 toon-day of Dil refining.
    If you had 10 toons, each making 8k refined Dil, it will take you 11.25 days to make 3000 Zen.
    If you have the time to do that and it entertains you then I say go for it. It's 'free' money.

    Also if you want to play Wall Street hot shot, you can always buy Zen when it's low and sell it when it's high. Historically, Zen prices dip a bit when the Phoenix Boxes come out.
  • dracounguisdracounguis Member Posts: 5,358 Arc User
    If you have access to the Tribble server. You can test alot of stuff there. You can buy a boxed up ship on Holodeck, transfer your toon to Tribble and open it there, w/o opening the 'real' box. If you don't like that ship, put the box back on the Exchange and maybe you'll get all your EC back.

    Also on Tribble's Drozana station, there's a vendor that gives away all sorts of rep and upgrade tokens to make it easy to upgrade or buy rep items to test out. You can go there and see if what you were wanting to do is something you still want to do after seeing it in action.
  • peterconnorfirstpeterconnorfirst Member Posts: 6,225 Arc User
    edited December 2018
    So I'm new to this MMO thing (ive been an offline RPG player my hole life except for diablo series and a couple of months of SWTOR) and just wanted to be sure that I'm getting this right. I've been casually playing STO for the past few months and have noticed that all the best gear is behind a gambling pay wall? Basically I need to keep buying keys to open boxes until they drop the gear i want?
    Am I missing something here?

    So far cryptic has been generous when it comes to good stuff and distributed it evenly from different sources.

    On high end builds you see elements from story rewards, reputations, fleets, events, zen store and yea sometimes but only sometimes from lock boxes as well.

    If you browse through the build examples of the league HP you will find that lock box stuff is only mildly present in sum.

    https://www.sto-league.com/
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    teamwork to reach a goal is awesome and highly appreciated
  • sandormen123sandormen123 Member Posts: 862 Arc User
    edited December 2018
    So I'm new to this MMO thing (ive been an offline RPG player my hole life except for diablo series and a couple of months of SWTOR) and just wanted to be sure that I'm getting this right. I've been casually playing STO for the past few months and have noticed that all the best gear is behind a gambling pay wall? Basically I need to keep buying keys to open boxes until they drop the gear i want?
    Am I missing something here?

    Welcome, and don't get caught up in the misconception of 'best gear'.
    This game is deffo a game that want people to pay money, as all(?) modern games are.
    Rest assured, it will be healthy for your mind and wallet if you refrain from being tempted.
    Play the game without spending a dime. Learn the ropes. The game is not unbeatable with T5, T5-U and mere blue mk XII-standard equipment and consoles.

    Getting loose-handed with your wallet will bring you to your knees in the end.
    Plan ship development cautiously, You are sure to be changing a lot of details many times over.
    Imagine if you were to spend real money on it for every gadget there is...
    I have been here for some eight years now. In the beginning i spent some on lifetime subscription and some stuff, but that was then. Now it flows in dilithium processing and ignoring most stuffs.
    ...My old main eng-toon is actually still flying the fleet phantom intel escort since 2014. *^.^*
    It is still magic for this toon. I see no reason to give the toon a new ship.
    ...Oooor, You could spend your monnies on the vanguard jem'hadar gamma-pack and never ever having to consider spending a dime again, but where is the fun in being overpowered? :pensive: -That really kills the fun of creativity and challenges.

    /Floozy
  • centurian821centurian821 Member Posts: 274 Arc User
    Welcome to the Sto Forums and the game as well.

    As many have already said, the "best" gear is not always in boxes. A lot of really reliable gear are mission rewards and fleet gear. Do a search for "star trek online budget builds" on YouTube or look into the sto-league that peterconnorfirst shared.

    My go to is TimberWolf on YouTube, he puts out a lot of high-end builds and budget-builds (based on energy type) in almost equal measure. He also showcases as many of the new ships as he can.

    In the end, don't get blinded by the shiney stuff in lockboxes. Mission and Fleet gear can take you just as far. Heck, my "high-end" builds that I'm working on use a lot of the free stuff.
  • jonsillsjonsills Member Posts: 10,354 Arc User
    Personal anecdote: Been playing since not long after the game went F2P. I've spent real-world money on it precisely once, for the Agents of Yesterday pack, because I really, really wanted all those TOS-style ships. Other than that, though, they give away so much stuff at the anniversary and at seasonal events (especially summer on Risa, where you get a T6 ship for doing a simple task once a day for about 20 days) that I haven't had to spend a dime on anything else. (I did recently spend a little time grinding Dil with Duty Officer missions and Admiralty missions, so I could get the new leveling cruiser, which is pretty neat. Now I'm trying to figure out the way to get the even newer leveling ship, the one you can take all the way from the beginning to T6, that will cost me the least effort - currently it's a possible drop from opening, IIRC, resource packs.)

    So yeah, that whole "pay-to-win" thing - well, first off, pay to win what, exactly? It's an MMO, not a competitive FPS - there's no "win" condition to be had. Second, you can play all the way through the entire storyline of the game (which I haven't managed yet, because every so often they add more story) with just what drops for free - my oldest toon is flying a T5U prototype Oddy that I got from an anniversary event, equipped with mission-dropped weapons, and he manages just fine.
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  • sheldonlcoopersheldonlcooper Member Posts: 4,042 Arc User
    What do you mean by gear? There is no need to spend money on any weapons or equipment. Craft, fleet and reputation are plenty plenty good.

    You can buy a ship for sure. You can use ground dilithium or EC. Or you can use an event ship. Winter and anniversary gives you 2 choices over 2 months. There's a lot of cstore ships that are very nice. Lot of cheap ships on the exchange too.
    Captain Jean-Luc Picard: "We think we've come so far. Torture of heretics, burning of witches, it's all ancient history. Then - before you can blink an eye - suddenly it threatens to start all over again."

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  • skullone514skullone514 Member Posts: 2 Arc User
    Hi Everyone,

    Sorry for not posting back here sooner but my life keeps me very busy. As I said very casual player.

    First of all I just want to start by saying thank you all so much for all the information. I'm just floored by the quality of info and kindness of everyone's who posted. But I guess I shouldn't be surprised as we are trekkies after all.

    I will try and put everyone's great advise to good use. It all just seems like so much "work/homework" for a game if you know what I mean. I play to relax from work, not to do more work lol.

    The space combat of STO is just so geekgasmic. It tickles all my parts in all the right ways. But at times I miss the good old days when I use to play starfleet academy. Jump into my ship, run missions, blow stuff up. Was great and fun, even had an awesome LAN party mode. (yes I know I'm showing my age here).

    I feel like I'm an relic of a by gone golden era. Even though I have a new found aversion to paying full AAA Price for games with all the shenanigans that's going on these days. (like when I pre-ordered SW Battlefront Deluxe and 2 weeks after launch it was half price) I would have haply paid one time that full price for the space combat of this game though, even subscription np.

    I don't know, I'm going to keep at it but I feel like I just don't play enough to make it work. Makes me sad, I feel like there are no games for me anymore...

    Anyways thank you again all,

    SKL1
  • davefenestratordavefenestrator Member Posts: 10,501 Arc User
    edited January 2019
    I will try and put everyone's great advise to good use. It all just seems like so much "work/homework" for a game if you know what I mean. I play to relax from work, not to do more work lol.

    Almost everything is optional. You don't "need" to grind dil, grind zen, grind Admiralty, grid doff missions. You can just play story episodes when you feel like it.

    You should do the Anniversary Event to get the free ship since it's an account-wide unlock for every character that you create and is also useful for the Admiralty system.

    It's also worth grinding as much extra as you can stand to for the free Omega Tech Upgrades, but if you're feeling burned out with that just stop. Focus on getting the ship and that's enough.

    When I'm busy with another game (currently replaying Fallout 4) I might not even log in every day outside of events. I don't force myself to do anything every day as a job -- I play the game when I want to and will have fun doing it. I skip Admiralty and doffing if I don't want to spend the time. It's OK to "lose out" on "free" dil and zen that cost you time.

    There are things that cam be nice to have, like non-event ships, where if you want them you have to decide between spending time or money, but that's no different from wanting a new phone or a coffee at Starbucks. If you really want it, then pay for it one way or the other. Or decide you don't want it that much and live without it. Either way you can keep playing the story episodes.
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