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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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:
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.
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?
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.
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
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 arent any ground skills besides tier 1. Did you read the blog?
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!
Comments
I LOVE THIS CHANGE. GREAT WORK CRYPTIC
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.
One improvement I could see as worthwhile is putting these powers all on the same tier.
Kudos on the much needed changes. So far I like what I see.
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.
It will be fun to see this change take shape over the coming weeks!
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
weapon consoles used to be a +(number increase) console but are now + % consoles.
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.
I always have 100 points left.
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.
If effect, we now have less choice than ever, but we can apply those skills to any ship or weapon. Yippee! :mad:
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.
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?
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.
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
This is just a preliminary change not the end product if you notice there arent any ground skills besides tier 1. Did you read the blog?
http://www.startrekonline.com/node/2675
Yes, the stats have changed on consoles and deflectors as well