I have had a LT'S since open beta. I have always been loyal to this game. However, the last several months have seen my interest wane. Then along Tirbble and the Duty Officer system and then the revamp to the STF and the economy. I thought I had fould my salvation. I simply found more dissapointment. What follows is my honest assessment of what is wrong and what is right.
Let's start with the realy positive. The duty officer system is absoltuley superb. It's implemented well and it provides some interesting activities as well as unique rewards. It's a fun diversion and adds a feel of being a real captain to the game. The only critique I have is the space/ground cap needs to be bigger. I would say 10 not 5 per environment. The only ohter thing is that there needs to be a way to view our cadres and add/dismiss officers at the same time. I hate having to dismiss officers, whiile I am at cap, not knowing what I am getting in the Cadres.
On to the dissapointment. First, the economy. Conversion to dillithium was supposed to control the economy. It did that all right. In fact, it killed it. Dillithium is to rare versus the prices for goods. The store prices are orders of magnitude higher than for the corresponding badges on Holodeck. You haven't controlled the economy. You've simply denied goods to them. YOur ships come underequipped yet you have no means to actually equip them effectively. By the time you earn enough dillithium to buy what you need you have out leveled the ship and the need for it. To add further insult to injury you can't even buy half the stuff, even if just common gear, for EC it's exclusively dillithium. All of this combined does one thing it drives the exchange prices for goods throught the roof. Mark my words, new players are gong to be undeer equipped and unable to purchase the goods they needs to be equipped. The potential frustration is huge. There are two immedieates fixes. One is is cut the dillthium price for goods drastically. The other is to make every piece of equipment in the game availdable for purchase for EC as the whie quality level. Nothing short of doing those two things will save the economy.
Second, the STFs. I love the way they were broken up to be shorter. It's very convient and nice. However, getting the STF equipment is a chore... and a big one. I should not have to run up to 30 STFs to get one piece of equipment. Since the last patch I have yet to be in a group that completed the optionals. somewhere gozer said the optionals shouldn't be pug friendly. Why not? The STFs, especially with the que system, is nothing but PUGs. A great number of players rely on pugs to get them done. By designing is this way you are ignoring a great majority of your player base. The STFs are a fun and unique game play; however, they should not be a grind and that is exactly what they have beome.
I realize that end-game in most MMOs is some variation of raid-fest grinding. This; howver, is not most MMOs. This is Star Trek. A universe that has alsways been about the human need for exploration and the need for self enlighment. The end gaem for STO should never have been grindy raids against the Borg. End game for Star Trek should have been and needs to be pushing the boundries of exploration and the advancement of knowledge. That has been and always will be the core of Star Trek.
I apologize for the wall of text but I had express my concerns.
This is my first MMO. I think it is very unlikely that I will buy another. I finally bought it the summer after it came out because I have been a Star Trek fan since I was six. I do not know what other MMO's are like, but if the content is geared toward "grinding", no thank you. If that is what STO becomes, I am going to be sorry that I shelled out for a lifetime subscription.
Playing the episodes is fun. PvP is fun. Exploring new frontiers is fun. Repeating solo missions to "gear up" is lame. I do not know much about game design, but I am pretty certain that people play Star Trek games because on some level they are fantasizing about being in the Star Trek universe. "Grinding" is not fun and it ruins the fantasy.
This is my first MMO. I think it is very unlikely that I will buy another. I finally bought it the summer after it came out because I have been a Star Trek fan since I was six. I do not know what other MMO's are like, but if the content is geared toward "grinding", no thank you. If that is what STO becomes, I am going to be sorry that I shelled out for a lifetime subscription.
Playing the episodes is fun. PvP is fun. Exploring new frontiers is fun. Repeating solo missions to "gear up" is lame. I do not know much about game design, but I am pretty certain that people play Star Trek games because on some level they are fantasizing about being in the Star Trek universe. "Grinding" is not fun and it ruins the fantasy.
Well said.... I hated the emblem grind enough, but it was tolerable.
I know the devs reasons for making Purple weapons VERY high in dilith cost. And that was to provide a meaning to aquiring these weapons. If you could outfit a ship with the highest MK purples in one month of dailies, then they werent worth very much. Everyone had them.
I get this.... BUT..... as the poster above stated and I will restate... grinding sucks. If grinding for months on end is the end game for STO then I too will be unsubbing. This is my third MMO, and second one where one was expected to grind. The other MMO...well I stopped playing it when I picked up STO hopping it would be different.
Grind is not fun if you have to run the same 10 or so missions/STFs over and over and over. Period.....
i agree, the game needs to get back to its roots in drama, science, diplomacy, exploration and optimism. after f2p lauches i would like to see this addressed, but f2p is a whole other beast that needs to be dealt with first. the new economy was the best thing ive heard from a mmo, since im one of those with all time-no money. had i the money at the time i would have bought a LTS, and only now have really gotten to play the game. mainly because its going f2p. the doff system is awesome, though i miss the shorter missions. the stf's arent bad, though, id like to see more drop rates for the salvages. the elite stf is horrible for pugs...you might just remove it from the pve queue, only have pre-organized groups do it, and/or only have it available to those that have done the normal difficulty, maybe a set amount of times, or have...shoot me now...a gearscore gateway.
what i would like for an endgame is getting stuff for helping other pc's or npc's, leading stf's/pvp actions that dont have a difficulty, or a difficulty based on preparations, not a switch, with cosmetic rewards-really cool cosmetics(titles, ship skins, costumes, pets, entry into the game history), creating content with real rewards donated by the end-gamer, so that the lower levels get something cool(of course, the rewards would end up being limited, unless you can afford a million mk7 personal shields), basically making you a real admiral, instead of a captain. but if you want to go around and tear the galaxy a new one, or just take matters into your own hands, you can, but more out of fun than needing to acquire better toys...or have fleet missions, which you can help do....
also have the community nominate foundry missions to put into the main storyline....which would help with the content drought
I have had a LT'S since open beta. I have always been loyal to this game. However, the last several months have seen my interest wane. Then along Tirbble and the Duty Officer system and then the revamp to the STF and the economy. I thought I had fould my salvation. I simply found more dissapointment. What follows is my honest assessment of what is wrong and what is right.
Let's start with the realy positive. The duty officer system is absoltuley superb. It's implemented well and it provides some interesting activities as well as unique rewards. It's a fun diversion and adds a feel of being a real captain to the game. The only critique I have is the space/ground cap needs to be bigger. I would say 10 not 5 per environment. The only ohter thing is that there needs to be a way to view our cadres and add/dismiss officers at the same time. I hate having to dismiss officers, whiile I am at cap, not knowing what I am getting in the Cadres.
On to the dissapointment. First, the economy. Conversion to dillithium was supposed to control the economy. It did that all right. In fact, it killed it. Dillithium is to rare versus the prices for goods. The store prices are orders of magnitude higher than for the corresponding badges on Holodeck. You haven't controlled the economy. You've simply denied goods to them. YOur ships come underequipped yet you have no means to actually equip them effectively. By the time you earn enough dillithium to buy what you need you have out leveled the ship and the need for it. To add further insult to injury you can't even buy half the stuff, even if just common gear, for EC it's exclusively dillithium. All of this combined does one thing it drives the exchange prices for goods throught the roof. Mark my words, new players are gong to be undeer equipped and unable to purchase the goods they needs to be equipped. The potential frustration is huge. There are two immedieates fixes. One is is cut the dillthium price for goods drastically. The other is to make every piece of equipment in the game availdable for purchase for EC as the whie quality level. Nothing short of doing those two things will save the economy.
Second, the STFs. I love the way they were broken up to be shorter. It's very convient and nice. However, getting the STF equipment is a chore... and a big one. I should not have to run up to 30 STFs to get one piece of equipment. Since the last patch I have yet to be in a group that completed the optionals. somewhere gozer said the optionals shouldn't be pug friendly. Why not? The STFs, especially with the que system, is nothing but PUGs. A great number of players rely on pugs to get them done. By designing is this way you are ignoring a great majority of your player base. The STFs are a fun and unique game play; however, they should not be a grind and that is exactly what they have beome.
I realize that end-game in most MMOs is some variation of raid-fest grinding. This; howver, is not most MMOs. This is Star Trek. A universe that has alsways been about the human need for exploration and the need for self enlighment. The end gaem for STO should never have been grindy raids against the Borg. End game for Star Trek should have been and needs to be pushing the boundries of exploration and the advancement of knowledge. That has been and always will be the core of Star Trek.
I apologize for the wall of text but I had express my concerns.
i agree with this, what is the perpouse of a new economey, if the prices is do high. you should have never made the basic boffs delith based, nor ship wepond or quipment. im actulally find with having the delith for the ships. as long i as i can afford to put stuff on it.
i agree with this, what is the perpouse of a new economey, if the prices is do high. you should have never made the basic boffs delith based, nor ship wepond or quipment. im actulally find with having the delith for the ships. as long i as i can afford to put stuff on it.
I know they really need to revaluate pricing. And soon!
Comments
Playing the episodes is fun. PvP is fun. Exploring new frontiers is fun. Repeating solo missions to "gear up" is lame. I do not know much about game design, but I am pretty certain that people play Star Trek games because on some level they are fantasizing about being in the Star Trek universe. "Grinding" is not fun and it ruins the fantasy.
Well said.... I hated the emblem grind enough, but it was tolerable.
I know the devs reasons for making Purple weapons VERY high in dilith cost. And that was to provide a meaning to aquiring these weapons. If you could outfit a ship with the highest MK purples in one month of dailies, then they werent worth very much. Everyone had them.
I get this.... BUT..... as the poster above stated and I will restate... grinding sucks. If grinding for months on end is the end game for STO then I too will be unsubbing. This is my third MMO, and second one where one was expected to grind. The other MMO...well I stopped playing it when I picked up STO hopping it would be different.
Grind is not fun if you have to run the same 10 or so missions/STFs over and over and over. Period.....
what i would like for an endgame is getting stuff for helping other pc's or npc's, leading stf's/pvp actions that dont have a difficulty, or a difficulty based on preparations, not a switch, with cosmetic rewards-really cool cosmetics(titles, ship skins, costumes, pets, entry into the game history), creating content with real rewards donated by the end-gamer, so that the lower levels get something cool(of course, the rewards would end up being limited, unless you can afford a million mk7 personal shields), basically making you a real admiral, instead of a captain. but if you want to go around and tear the galaxy a new one, or just take matters into your own hands, you can, but more out of fun than needing to acquire better toys...or have fleet missions, which you can help do....
also have the community nominate foundry missions to put into the main storyline....which would help with the content drought
i agree with this, what is the perpouse of a new economey, if the prices is do high. you should have never made the basic boffs delith based, nor ship wepond or quipment. im actulally find with having the delith for the ships. as long i as i can afford to put stuff on it.
I know they really need to revaluate pricing. And soon!