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Path to F2P Dev Blog #18

SystemSystem Member, NoReporting Posts: 178,019 Arc User
edited November 2011 in Galactic News Network [PC]
In today's entry on the Path to F2P, Lead Designer, Al Rivera, introduces us to the new space skills, now available for testing on Tribble.

Link to the Article
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  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited November 2011
    StormShade wrote:
    In today's entry on the Path to F2P, Lead Designer, Al Rivera, introduces us to the new space skills, now available for testing on Tribble.

    Link to the Article

    I LOVE THIS CHANGE. GREAT WORK CRYPTIC
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited November 2011
    my very first reaction is that i like the look of this. it will be a bit of a pain relearning what stuff does but it looks pretty good from what ive seen so far.

    i dont know if its just lag but the reaction time was a bit slow. so when i added something that would increase my power levels. it took about 10 seconds for them t change. on holodeck it took about 1-2 sconds.

    might just be everybody changing at once but at first glance it looked like it was not working.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited November 2011
    If there's one thing I don't understand... it's why the "Starship Engine Performance" and "Starship Shield Performance" are Tier 4 while their Weapon and Auxiliary Power analogs are Tier 5. The end result is the same - more power points to distribute - so I don't think that the argument that weapon and auxiliary power have a larger role in DPS hold much water.

    One improvement I could see as worthwhile is putting these powers all on the same tier.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited November 2011
    I must say, my initial reaction to this change is a positive one. I can now experiment with a wide varitey of weapon types without penalty. I've never tried antiproton weapons for instance because I did not want to resepc for it only to find that I did not like it.

    Kudos on the much needed changes. So far I like what I see.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited November 2011
    Allrighty, time to roll up those sleeves and dive right in.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited November 2011

    Right off the bat, it seems like specing for tank is much more cost effective than specing for dps. Also, I thought this was going to seperate space and ground, did I misunderstand? I found that I still have to spend all my points in space and leave ground alone.I'm not talking specific skills now, I know ground changes are still-to-come, I'm talking about still having to specialize in either space or ground otherwise you're underpowered in both.

    These are just first impressions. I'd really like a few respecs to play around with this a bit. Some of my initial concerns may just be due to this being a new system.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited November 2011
    Even if this particular iteration isn't perfect, the idea behind it is fantastic. This is literally one of the three things I was griping about my first week into the game, it it looks like you guys are going to fix that sucker up nice. I love it!

    It will be fun to see this change take shape over the coming weeks!
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited November 2011
    Now THAT IS WONDERFUL News :D:D:D:D
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited November 2011
    GenEricII wrote:

    These are just first impressions. I'd really like a few respecs to play around with this a bit. Some of my initial concerns may just be due to this being a new system.

    Agreed. We can't do much "testing" with 1 frickin respec token. We need a minimum of 3. Since it's just the test server, this shouldn't be hard.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited November 2011
    Agreed. We can't do much "testing" with 1 frickin respec token. We need a minimum of 3. Since it's just the test server, this shouldn't be hard.

    Just buy Cryptic Points to get more Test Points to buy Test Tokens... That's how it works these days :)
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited November 2011
    What about the penalty system, do % consoles still give a penalty when stacked ?

    weapon consoles used to be a +(number increase) console but are now + % consoles.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited November 2011
    OK almost all of my impressions are positive on this change however, one is negative the forced respec we should not lock in our choices till we are done.

    picked all my skills as VA and I have 100 points left over because of the *50 skills, and they are all locked in so now I have to go and spend a Respec Token to get full points usage. And no this isn't about using all my points cus really I don't care about that, I DO care about my slipstream.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited November 2011
    Ok ... I can't for the life of me get my points to balance out to zero. Anyone else having this problem?

    I always have 100 points left.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited November 2011
    Tested the new tree, it's unfinished, unpolished, and again not designed for a game with a skill cap.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited November 2011
    All of the damage skills are at the top, with healing at the bottom. Way to design!
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited November 2011
    Ok you can ignore my previous post.. just cashed in a Doff mission and got another 50 points. letting me spend my last skill points!!
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited November 2011
    I love some of these changes but one thing I've noticed is the new spec system requires you to put more eggs in one basket. Where as before putting most skills up to 5 would get you majority of what you needed and could balance yourself out well. With this new system they take more points per tier and you have to make crucial decisions such as am I gonna have strong starship weapons or survivability. I'm sure this will prolly get ironed out but still needs some fine tuneing.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited November 2011
    Zeroscifer wrote: »
    Ok you can ignore my previous post.. just cashed in a Doff mission and got another 50 points. letting me spend my last skill points!!

    So that explains that ... Cool .... Still find myself looking at the interface and wishing I had a lot more points.

    Hard to choose ... hard to choose.

    And you know what the kicker is? ... My fear is that when we get the ground revamp ... we will have even less points to toss into space skills.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited November 2011
    After retraining one of my level-capped characters, the impression I get is the current cost scheme will make me even less likely to spend points on ground skills, no matter HOW you revamp them. There are too many broad space skills that have replaced specific ones I used to be able to cherry-pick as my build dictated.

    If effect, we now have less choice than ever, but we can apply those skills to any ship or weapon. Yippee! :mad:
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited November 2011
    oO You can "buy" skills now?!? oO
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited November 2011
    Over all a good change. I like the fact that we can now spec for specific abilities rather than ship types or weapon types. Though the reduction of interdependency between active abilities and skill tree boxes may have gone a bit to far. I actually liked the rather complex planing for some abilities in combination with various consol and deflector options.

    At first I also found that there may be not enough different options, but there I was wrong, With the amount of points required the new system seems to be still leaving enough options for specialisation.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited November 2011
    Zeuxidemus wrote:
    I love some of these changes but one thing I've noticed is the new spec system requires you to put more eggs in one basket. Where as before putting most skills up to 5 would get you majority of what you needed and could balance yourself out well. With this new system they take more points per tier and you have to make crucial decisions such as am I gonna have strong starship weapons or survivability. I'm sure this will prolly get ironed out but still needs some fine tuneing.

    This brings up the question .... How useful will consoles now be in filling in these gaps?

    Will consoles and such help with allowing us to feel more balanced?

    If you use a console on a skill you have already maxed, will it cause diminishing returns that much sooner?
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited November 2011
    After retraining one of my level-capped characters, the impression I get is the current cost scheme will make me even less likely to spend points on ground skills, no matter HOW you revamp them. There are too many broad space skills that have replaced specific ones I used to be able to cherry-pick as my build dictated.

    If effect, we now have less choice than ever, but we can apply those skills to any ship or weapon. Yippee! :mad:

    This is where the forthcoming ground / space skill set split will come in.

    At that point, you will not be able to pick and choose between the two but have two separate pools of skill points.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited November 2011
    Ok ... I can't for the life of me get my points to balance out to zero. Anyone else having this problem?

    I always have 100 points left.

    That's because they've increased the level cap. If you check the amount of exp you have before and after a fight, you'll see "points until vice admiral 2" or something to that effect.

    *Edit: Just checked what it actually says:

    Requirements for Next Grade - Vice Admiral 2:
    *Gain 2181 Skill Points

    Next Grade Rewards
    *Increase in combat effectiveness
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited November 2011
    Great work I definitely think this is a great idea. Hopefully it gets tweaked based on feedback. Gonna log into tribble now and respec my character.,
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited November 2011
    Have consoles been revamped then to reflect the new space skill setup?
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited November 2011
    GenEricII wrote:

    Right off the bat, it seems like specing for tank is much more cost effective than specing for dps. Also, I thought this was going to seperate space and ground, did I misunderstand? I found that I still have to spend all my points in space and leave ground alone.I'm not talking specific skills now, I know ground changes are still-to-come, I'm talking about still having to specialize in either space or ground otherwise you're underpowered in both.

    These are just first impressions. I'd really like a few respecs to play around with this a bit. Some of my initial concerns may just be due to this being a new system.

    This is just a preliminary change not the end product if you notice there aren’t any ground skills besides tier 1. Did you read the blog?

    http://www.startrekonline.com/node/2675
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited November 2011
    Have consoles been revamped then to reflect the new space skill setup?

    Yes, the stats have changed on consoles and deflectors as well
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited November 2011
    So I respeced on tribble and this is just awesome!!! I am liking this. So far I love this, the new doff system and the new STFs. If you guys tweak the dilithium economy I think I will really love the F2p Conversion. Good job on the new skill tree!
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited November 2011
    You have to spend way too many points in Tier 1 skills to unlock Tier 2, at least for my Tac/Fleet Escort.
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