notoryczny: Losing to single spheres isn't the player's fault many times. The borg have been buffed repeatedly over the past couple years. The spheres often do more damage than gateways now. Further, if the server is crapping bricks instead of running properly, it can give them 100k uber-hit ability with every shot. If, as you say, they had good gear then I wouldn't necessarily blame them unless it was 100% user error. There's just too much BS programming with the spheres to lay that solely on the player in 99% of cases.
I was talking about 2 players with decent to good gear who lost to single sphere. One was in an Intrepid, ran MACO (used 3-pc once or twice) and didn't redistribute his shields or heal anything, nor use any sci magic either. Just used that boat for kirking. Other guy was a vorcha engie who died when anything looked in his direction, judging by visuals he had KHG shield. Sphere that did them in had about 70% hull and 2 facings up.
That case was pretty clear.
Anyway, I see "players" like that all the time. New trend is for 5-second tanks, they go in fully specced in threat control and pop at best 20 seconds after respawn. Luckily, I see less and less 3-4k dps scims in ISE pugs.
May 2013, automatic permanent ban for mentioning gold-seller sites pwebranflakes: this system is currently in place and working the way it should. moradum: I got banned for saying "I started my day with cutting off 3 MM off of the bottom of my cabinet"
Speaking of Grav Well and ISE, I've recently been running some (EDIT) pugged (/EDIT) STFs to get the speedy Assimilated engines for my alt 'serviceman' account and saw a very well thought out attack.
First of all, both of the chars were flying more or less rainbow Risian cruisers with equipment only from drops (except for the shields, mostly around mk X common junk), barely any drops, no rep traits ..., so I was nowhere near good performance. Still I managed to get better than the average joe's numbers not to mention the loads of healing the build could do. Also the special console ain't entirely useless to control nanites in ISE.
In one of those runs that was going rather slowly, I was getting ready to 'escort' the coming spheres away, as there was still even a generator standing as they approached. Sadly, the generator in question was the one closest to the spheres and as it was being blown up (and I was just starting a run on the spheres to get them far away), someone casted a strong Gravity Well on it. Of course, it immediately attracted the spheres and the optional was lost a fraction of a second after the transformer was finally freed for destruction.
Pretty sad.
TOIVA, Toi Vaxx, Toia Vix, Toveg, T'vritha, To Vrax: Bring in the Allegiance class. Toi'Va, Ti'vath, Toivia, Ty'Vris, Tia Vex, Toi'Virth: Add Tier 6 KDF Carrier and Raider. Tae'Va, T'Vaya, To'Var, Tevra, T'Vira, To'Vrak: Give us Asylums for Romulans.
This thread will be a rreally crowded place soon. Due to queued events dilithium rewards nerf, all those guys who show up only to get dil will migrate to new elite queues, where failing optional equals going home emptyhanded. All that against extra-buffed enemies. Also, those guys will stop improving due to removal of gear rewards from queues.
Raising difficulty and moving current rewards to that level will not make average pugger a better player. Just the opposite.
May 2013, automatic permanent ban for mentioning gold-seller sites pwebranflakes: this system is currently in place and working the way it should. moradum: I got banned for saying "I started my day with cutting off 3 MM off of the bottom of my cabinet"
the new elites will cause a torrent of stf casualties with the objectives, this thread will really start filling up real fast with the horror stories come delta rising
"The meaning of victory is not to merely defeat your enemy but to destroy him, to completely eradicate him from living memory, to leave no remnant of his endeavours, to crush utterly his achievement and remove from all record his every trace of existence. From that defeat no enemy can ever recover. That is the meaning of victory."
-Lord Commander Solar Macharius
the new elites will cause a torrent of stf casualties with the objectives, this thread will really start filling up real fast with the horror stories come delta rising
That will be the first 2-3 weeks tops.
Either until people get used to the new difficulty or until people complained enough for the new elite content to be hit with the nerf hammer.
This program, though reasonably normal at times, seems to have a strong affinity to classes belonging to the Cat 2.0 program. Questerius 2.7 will break down on occasion, resulting in garbage and nonsense messages whenever it occurs. Usually a hard reboot or pulling the plug solves the problem when that happens.
That will be the first 2-3 weeks tops.
Either until people get used to the new difficulty or until people complained enough for the new elite content to be hit with the nerf hammer.
Way more than 2 weeks. Elite STFs are open to griefing in a way no STF has ever been. No optional means no reward. Someone wants to TRIBBLE up your STF because he doesn't need the piddly 960 dilithium? Easy to do.
I already see people royally TRIBBLE up current elite STFs, sometimes so bad I swear they're doing it on purpose (but they never speak so who knows). You'll have to run elites in a premade group, and why bother when the reward is even worse than now. At now we get random drops along with our 960 dil. After the 14th you'll get less reward for harder content that takes longer to do. Yay, just what everyone's been asking for. Oh, and you're open to griefing if you choose to pug.
the new elites will cause a torrent of stf casualties with the objectives, this thread will really start filling up real fast with the horror stories come delta rising
That will be the first 2-3 weeks tops.
Either until people get used to the new difficulty or until people complained enough for the new elite content to be hit with the nerf hammer.
forget the new elites, the pain of the optionals in ISE becoming required is gonna kill........
New HSE is apparently a nightmare, with cubes that have 3.2 million HP and take ~7 million damage to go down with a team of 5 with an average of 20k DPS.
These are guys who can solo ISE. And even THEY failed the first optional.
New HSE is apparently a nightmare, with cubes that have 3.2 million HP and take ~7 million damage to go down with a team of 5 with an average of 20k DPS.
These are guys who can solo ISE. And even THEY failed the first optional.
Nightmare mode indeed. I am SO in for this!
so in addition to being massive bloated sacks of HP, they also have somewhere in the neighborhood of 55% resist to everything...well, science will have fun with that - a fully buffed sensor scan alone strips somewhere close to 70% resist
A normie goes "Oh, what's this?"
An otaku goes "UwU, what's this?"
A furry goes "OwO, what's this?"
A werewolf goes "Awoo, what's this?"
"It's nothing personal, I just don't feel like I've gotten to know a person until I've sniffed their crotch." "We said 'no' to Mr. Curiosity. We're not home. Curiosity is not welcome, it is not to be invited in. Curiosity...is bad. It gets you in trouble, it gets you killed, and more importantly...it makes you poor!"
Passion and Serenity are one.
I gain power by understanding both.
In the chaos of their battle, I bring order.
I am a shadow, darkness born from light.
The Force is united within me.
so in addition to being massive bloated sacks of HP, they also have somewhere in the neighborhood of 55% resist to everything...well, science will have fun with that - a fully buffed sensor scan alone strips somewhere close to 70% resist
I'm making a science toon with a Sci Vesta and making it the perfect debuffer.
Then I'm going into HSE. And I will PWN.
Looks like at least 2 40k DPS scimitard beamboats are needed, along with one sci debuffer, one Recluse with max threat grab and tholian fighters to tank, and probably a Mat'Ha raptor specced for maximum forward firepower.
I'm making a science toon with a Sci Vesta and making it the perfect debuffer.
Then I'm going into HSE. And I will PWN.
Looks like at least 2 40k DPS scimitard beamboats are needed, along with one sci debuffer, one Recluse with max threat grab and tholian fighters to tank, and probably a Mat'Ha raptor specced for maximum forward firepower.
Should be fun.
and mine only does 20K...looks like i've got some serious work to do
A normie goes "Oh, what's this?"
An otaku goes "UwU, what's this?"
A furry goes "OwO, what's this?"
A werewolf goes "Awoo, what's this?"
"It's nothing personal, I just don't feel like I've gotten to know a person until I've sniffed their crotch." "We said 'no' to Mr. Curiosity. We're not home. Curiosity is not welcome, it is not to be invited in. Curiosity...is bad. It gets you in trouble, it gets you killed, and more importantly...it makes you poor!"
Passion and Serenity are one.
I gain power by understanding both.
In the chaos of their battle, I bring order.
I am a shadow, darkness born from light.
The Force is united within me.
and mine only does 20K...looks like i've got some serious work to do
Yeah, and that sci ship needs to be parsing 12-15k at least. The Recluse needs to parse 20k, minimum, without pets, AND be able to take at least 1 THY3 plasma torp and one heavy plasma bolt at once without dying. Lots of MK 14 gold fleet neutroniums seem likely. I'm thinking the Mat'Ha or other forward-damage 'scort should parse a bare minimum of 50k DPS.
Possible with MK 14 gold gear and t5u or t6 ships, at least. Given the numbers I've seen for MK 14 tac consoles and weapons...we're looking at a single DHC on a well-specced DHCmitard parsing 2.5k DPS even before adding boff abilities, skills, and the weapons power factor.
New HSE is apparently a nightmare, with cubes that have 3.2 million HP and take ~7 million damage to go down with a team of 5 with an average of 20k DPS.
These are guys who can solo ISE. And even THEY failed the first optional.
Nightmare mode indeed. I am SO in for this!
HSE has been as close as totally abandoned for a long time.
It's still one of the most bug ridden queued missions, most PUG lose 1-2 members during play and if you want any sort of reliable group you have to put up with elitist a-holes from DPS channels.
Wat is going to happen is that for the first 1-2 weeks after launch of DR is the once people hit level 60 they will test every elite queue and if the new HSE is as rough as rumored then people will simply not play it after that.
There will be plenty of moaning and either it'll get nerfed (12-15k dps needed, perhaps less) or "removed because it didn't fit the new standards".
Either way it'll be nothing to worry about.
This program, though reasonably normal at times, seems to have a strong affinity to classes belonging to the Cat 2.0 program. Questerius 2.7 will break down on occasion, resulting in garbage and nonsense messages whenever it occurs. Usually a hard reboot or pulling the plug solves the problem when that happens.
HSE you can do nowadays nearly alone and quite ok in a pug, if (great if^^) you abandon some DPS for sturdiness. If you find the middleway, and have some sense of strategy, its a wonderful piece of game.
Of course, in a dps group its laughable easy, but then again, only in a pug you can call it a challenge, eh.
I thought I read somewhere (do not ask me where I can not seem to find it now) that a Dev said that the new elite will not get nerfed and that they were worried that some of them were going to be too easy for the difficulty they want and that those ones would get boosted, but again I cannot seem to find the reference anywhere.
I thought I read somewhere (do not ask me where I can not seem to find it now) that a Dev said that the new elite will not get nerfed and that they were worried that some of them were going to be too easy for the difficulty they want and that those ones would get boosted, but again I cannot seem to find the reference anywhere.
That's the ongoing story, but i have my doubts about the no-nerf policy.
Either DR is going for a power jump (more than the 20% extra damage going from MK XII to Mk XIV) or the elite content will only be available for the top 5% of the players.
In addition i doubt that the rewards will completely scale according to the difficulty (240-480-960 for the dilithium) and if the new Elite is as difficult as rumored then even the top 5 will not find playing those time efficient and as a result the Elite queues will go barren.
The devs want their new content to be played and thus i believe that the base line for the toughest Elite (rumored HSE) will likely be 18-20K instead of the 30k DPS I've seen mentioned.
This program, though reasonably normal at times, seems to have a strong affinity to classes belonging to the Cat 2.0 program. Questerius 2.7 will break down on occasion, resulting in garbage and nonsense messages whenever it occurs. Usually a hard reboot or pulling the plug solves the problem when that happens.
Sunday Morning (GMT+1) is actually the incompetent hour. Don't even bother with a PUG during those hours because you're guaranteed to at least lose an optional.
This program, though reasonably normal at times, seems to have a strong affinity to classes belonging to the Cat 2.0 program. Questerius 2.7 will break down on occasion, resulting in garbage and nonsense messages whenever it occurs. Usually a hard reboot or pulling the plug solves the problem when that happens.
If it were only the upcoming "Elite" difficulty, that would be one thing. Folks could avoid it if they wanted. They have said that our current "Elite" will be "advanced" going forward.
This is a lie.
Even on Tribble now, playtests have shown that "Advanced" has 3x-4x the hitpoints ACROSS THE BOARD for everything. Single Borg Hegh'Tas take almost 2 minutes of direct hull pounding to kill. Negh'var/Dreadnoughts have millions of hitpoints.
It seems the only approximation for a current level we have is that our current "Elite" will translate into "beginner" on the DR system.
There are SO many problems with this. Forgetting the fact that this kills all the average players in the game who can't cut it on our current Elite setting... but this is a seriously bad system.
Why? You can't continue on with your current play experience, even IF you're on Elite now. If you try to carry on at "Beginner" difficulty under DR your rewards are cut to 1/4 of what they are now. Reward scales with difficulty, and instead of bumping up the reward to reflect the higher difficulty, they have shifted the 100% rewards to the worst difficulty and screwed over everybody else.
You can't even play casually. You can't play as you are now. Forget about affording even a single piece of rep gear, let alone a full kit, let alone upgrading anything. You won't be able to afford it with 200 dil rewards for the equivelant of what is now an ESTF.
Further, unless you 100% devote yourself to kitting out at the max level of gear, you won't be able to even continue on with your current level of compensation. That means you'll have to bankrupt yourself just to not bankrupt yourself.
It's all a lie, and all a scam. It's a complete money grab by Cryptic/PWE. They are increasing dil costs exponentially while geometrically reducing dil rewards on everything.
They tried to do this back when they introduced the rep system as well. Tried to cut dil rewards across the board and jack up dil prices everywhere. We still haven't recovered to pre-rep levels of dil rewards, and now they're going down more (and more) with DR.
DR is inconsequential. The real release is the new system whereby you're forced to pay real money every day just to get by on the dil requirements this game has in place.
So I PUG for ISE because PESTF is too chicken for HSE, and I head in with my intentionally-gimped 10k DPS DHCmitar (regularly parses 10k, 8k if I blow up or lag), and I get...
Some dude 1: Xindi escort, looks like single cannons and a pair of mines. He did fair DPS for a PUG, he was relatively chatty after the match and mentioned that this was his alt.
Some dude 2: Fleet Defiant, rainbow beamscort.
Some dude 3: Rom-Plasma Scimitar hybrid DHC/DBB build with the rommie beam and the hypertorp. This guy was around 12k DPS, had elite scorps. Looked like a PVP build cheaply remade for PVE, he had a sci officer with GW in his universal slot.
Some dude 4: Rainbow torp Oddy.
I'm not joking, this dude was in an Oddy and was using a tricobalt, a plasma, a photon, and a quantum torpedo with I think transphasics in the rear.
So anyway. I PUG in, see an Oddy, a Defiant, a scimitard, and a Lobi ship, and I'm like, "OK, this shouldn't be too painful unless the Scimitard is pants."
Cube and spheres take a few seconds longer than normal (warning sign #1), and the other Scimitar and I are pulling a lot of aggro despite my threat reduction consoles. We head left, I nuke the cube in a hail of doom, and the Oddy first goes up to the gate and starts spawning mines and torps, then gets 1-shot, respawns, and heads right without healing his injuries.
Beamscort man is trying to take out the spheres and failing; the other Scimitard leaves me and the Xindi escort to clear up the last generator and the transformer, and he goes off to drop a grav well on the nanites and hoover them up for a wicked powerful CSV volley.
Oddy man, ignoring the cube, somehow blows a gen on the right side after about 3 deaths with about 25% left on the left transformer. Xindi dude sees this and swears in chat, telling us what the idiot Oddy is doing. The other Scimitar breaks and goes beast mode in front of the gate, shooting all of the nanites as they spawn. Beamscort man goes to help him, draws the gate's aggro, and dies instantly. Oddy man has like 5 unhealed injuries at this point.
Xindi dude and I pop the transformer, I shoot the gate to draw its aggro off of the beleaguered plasma scimitar, and we make it to the right side. Oddy man is slowly shooting torps at the transformer.
Xindi dude says he's got CSV and enough DPS to take the spheres. I stay in front just in case he needs me, and the other Scimitar goes around the back and vapes the gens in 10 seconds. We power into the transformer, and beamscort guy respawns...
He tries to fly through the nanites for some dumb reason and gets caught in three core breaches as Xindi dude's CSV bears fruit.
Transformer's down to 20%, Beamscort man respawns alongside the Oddy, and...
Beamscort man does TBR.
So now the nanites are like 1km away from blowing the optional. Xindi dude turns like lightning and starts plugging them with everything he's got, and the other Scimitar shoots off a quick grav well, but then Xindi dude gets 1-shot from behind by the gate.
I pop EM and my attack pattern class skill, turn as fast as possible and nuke the nanites with everything I have, up to and including the Nukara t5 skill. They die maybe 2 seconds before optional would've been lost.
Xindi guy flies back in all healed up and the transformer blows. Oddy dude has like 10 injuries and is in respawn hell. Beamscort fool respawns, goes for the tac cube, and is 1-shot.
Two scimitars and a Xindi escort against a gate--easy peasy. I pop every buff I have left, the other Scimitar (a sci) subnucs the gate, and the Xindi guy just CRFs it.
Oddy man respawns and is 1-shot by an instatorp crit.
Gate's on 12%, Beamscort respawns, somehow avoids getting nuked by the tac cube, shoots the gate a few times and gets casually swatted by an instatorp that's just flying around.
Gate blows, three dudes head for the tac cube. Oddy man respawns, now with like 12 injuries, shoots a few torps at the cube that get FAWed out of space, and apparently is trying to tank with 12 injuries (given the attract fire aura that I can see on my HUD), and he gets blown up with an invisatorp that deals 3 times his HP in damage.
The tac cube goes down fairly easily after that. Takes about a minute, Xindi guy almost dies but I pop CRF at that point and the damage boost draws the aggro to me just as I pop my secondary shields and my temporary HP singularity power. Get my BNP and marks, hang out chatting with the Xindi dude and the Scimitar--nice guys, friendly enough--and the n00blets warp out without saying anything.
A normie goes "Oh, what's this?"
An otaku goes "UwU, what's this?"
A furry goes "OwO, what's this?"
A werewolf goes "Awoo, what's this?"
"It's nothing personal, I just don't feel like I've gotten to know a person until I've sniffed their crotch." "We said 'no' to Mr. Curiosity. We're not home. Curiosity is not welcome, it is not to be invited in. Curiosity...is bad. It gets you in trouble, it gets you killed, and more importantly...it makes you poor!"
Passion and Serenity are one.
I gain power by understanding both.
In the chaos of their battle, I bring order.
I am a shadow, darkness born from light.
The Force is united within me.
Yea when DR goes live I will NOT be pugging anymore.
I will.
Currently a PUG is the only minor challenge in queued content. Using premade or DPS channels would make them even more mind numbing.
Truth be told i have been fine tuning my builds and squeezed on average 4-6k extra out of them (some builds were made in the early budget tight years on my characters).
I encourage every able player to PUG to (re)learn the masses the basics on the queued content and grow a semi competent player base for the advanced queues.
These players can then grow into competent Elite queue players. If "everyone" goes pre made/DPS channel then we'll lose the majority of players and we can say farewell to a quick STF.
This program, though reasonably normal at times, seems to have a strong affinity to classes belonging to the Cat 2.0 program. Questerius 2.7 will break down on occasion, resulting in garbage and nonsense messages whenever it occurs. Usually a hard reboot or pulling the plug solves the problem when that happens.
Me (DHCmitard, parses 10k pretty regularly).
Some guy 1 (Recluse, this thing took Donatra to the face and laughed it off, and was parsing 19k)
Some guy 2 (Klingon battlecruiser, freebie vor'cha I think, was parsing around 8k and knew what he was doing).
N00blet 1 (C-store Nebula retrofit)
And then there was this guy, let's call him the Grand Vizier. He's in a scimitard, and as we warp in he starts spamming team chat telling us to pull aggro and deal with the probes while his massive DPS epeen kills everything else. Nobody listened to him, I and the Klingon guy went straight for the cube and got it down to half health as the Recluse lumbers up behind us and melts the cube's face with plasma and pets. The Vizier starts yelling about his DPS and how we're all n00bs and should listen to him. I tell him that I parsed 20k before I gimped my build and he should go work on one of the transformers if he think's he's so hard. Recluse guy says "what worffan said", then starts working on the forward transformer on left AND the probes at the same time (this guy was beastly). Klingon guy goes for right probes and whatever slips through recluse guy. N00blet 1 is dead, having caught an instatorp to the face.
Mr. Grand Vizier I'm So Great starts ranting and cursing at me in chat. He's still sitting at the spawn without his pets even out.
I say "LOL whatevs dude", and take out the generators on the other side of the gate from the recluse. I mop up the cube with a CRF 3 blitz volley and get to work on the transformer. N00blet respawns and has enough of a clue to actually read the optional guide and go help Klingon guy with probes.
Recluse man is still soloing his entire side, but now he's around the back blitzing the cube and the generators at the same time. His cube blows, I've got my transformer on about 80%.
Mr. Vizier Epeen insults my mom, my dad, my grandparents, my brother, my hypothetical sister, my appearance, my sexual prowess, and my, shall we say, sports equipment. Recluse man goes right and starts PWNing the front transformer, n00blet and Klingon guy handling the probes because even though n00blet has a DPS of about 1k and is farting skittles, he's got enough of a clue to use TBR and grav well.
My transformer blows, Klingon man tells n00blet to come heal me, he can handle stuff. n00blet listens. Grand DPS Lord is still sitting and ranting. N00blet pulls out a subnuc and debuffs the gate just as all my buffs cycle and I melt it in about 45 seconds. Klingon, n00blet, and I go right just as Recluse finishes off his transformer (and seriously, this guy's got insane DPS despite spending a lot of time lumbering from place to place).
Klingon and I waste the sphere wave, n00blet takes an instatorp to the face and blows up. He's not healing his injuries. DPS Master is now insulting n00blet for blowing up, Klingon for flying an inferior ship, and Recluse for allegedly hacking because in DPS Lord's world there's no way a Recluse with 2 hangars of elite widows can parse 19k. :rolleyes:
Klingon PMs me to say he can handle probes, n00blet respawns and sticks with Klingon, Recluse and I waste the transformer, gens, and cube in under a minute and start pounding the gate with a bit of help from n00blet, who valiantly subnucs the gate and spawns a photonic fleet before dying of what I think was a beam overload crit with his shields drained.
DPS Master says he's reported us all and lumbers over at about half impulse to the gate, then starts spamming rainbow beams as Recluse and I blow it. He then has the nerve to brag again about his DPS and how we would be wasted without him.
Donatra spawns, n00blet flies up behind her as we blast away, and TBRs her into my flank. She cloaks instantly. DPS Vizier starts allcaps ranting. Klingon man PMs me and Recluse guy to say that he's taking n00blet aside for a chat, we should be able to 2-man Donatra. DPS Lord rants and is so busy ranting that Donatra 1-shots him with the cone of doom. Recluse and I LOL and manage to use CC and firepower to hold Donatra in place while we bring her down to 30%. She's just starting to move again when n00blet, 4 injuries on his ship and Klingon at his side, rides heroically into battle and drops a grav well and another subnuc on Donatra.
DPS King respawns while screaming at us for not healing and buffing him and his DPS, and Donatra dies. Recluse, Klingon, n00blet, and I warp out, and Recluse and I have a conversation about the annoying DPS lord (who sends several profane PMs before I put him on ignore). I thank Klingon and n00blet, tell n00blet it's nice to see a newbie who's willing to learn, and collect my 7 VR crafting mats.
Comments
I was talking about 2 players with decent to good gear who lost to single sphere. One was in an Intrepid, ran MACO (used 3-pc once or twice) and didn't redistribute his shields or heal anything, nor use any sci magic either. Just used that boat for kirking. Other guy was a vorcha engie who died when anything looked in his direction, judging by visuals he had KHG shield. Sphere that did them in had about 70% hull and 2 facings up.
That case was pretty clear.
Anyway, I see "players" like that all the time. New trend is for 5-second tanks, they go in fully specced in threat control and pop at best 20 seconds after respawn. Luckily, I see less and less 3-4k dps scims in ISE pugs.
pwebranflakes: this system is currently in place and working the way it should.
moradum: I got banned for saying "I started my day with cutting off 3 MM off of the bottom of my cabinet"
First of all, both of the chars were flying more or less rainbow Risian cruisers with equipment only from drops (except for the shields, mostly around mk X common junk), barely any drops, no rep traits ..., so I was nowhere near good performance. Still I managed to get better than the average joe's numbers not to mention the loads of healing the build could do. Also the special console ain't entirely useless to control nanites in ISE.
In one of those runs that was going rather slowly, I was getting ready to 'escort' the coming spheres away, as there was still even a generator standing as they approached. Sadly, the generator in question was the one closest to the spheres and as it was being blown up (and I was just starting a run on the spheres to get them far away), someone casted a strong Gravity Well on it. Of course, it immediately attracted the spheres and the optional was lost a fraction of a second after the transformer was finally freed for destruction.
Pretty sad.
Toi'Va, Ti'vath, Toivia, Ty'Vris, Tia Vex, Toi'Virth: Add Tier 6 KDF Carrier and Raider.
Tae'Va, T'Vaya, To'Var, Tevra, T'Vira, To'Vrak: Give us Asylums for Romulans.
Don't make ARC mandatory! Keep it optional only!
Toiva: See my comment to notoryczny
Raising difficulty and moving current rewards to that level will not make average pugger a better player. Just the opposite.
pwebranflakes: this system is currently in place and working the way it should.
moradum: I got banned for saying "I started my day with cutting off 3 MM off of the bottom of my cabinet"
-Lord Commander Solar Macharius
That will be the first 2-3 weeks tops.
Either until people get used to the new difficulty or until people complained enough for the new elite content to be hit with the nerf hammer.
Way more than 2 weeks. Elite STFs are open to griefing in a way no STF has ever been. No optional means no reward. Someone wants to TRIBBLE up your STF because he doesn't need the piddly 960 dilithium? Easy to do.
I already see people royally TRIBBLE up current elite STFs, sometimes so bad I swear they're doing it on purpose (but they never speak so who knows). You'll have to run elites in a premade group, and why bother when the reward is even worse than now. At now we get random drops along with our 960 dil. After the 14th you'll get less reward for harder content that takes longer to do. Yay, just what everyone's been asking for. Oh, and you're open to griefing if you choose to pug.
forget the new elites, the pain of the optionals in ISE becoming required is gonna kill........
These are guys who can solo ISE. And even THEY failed the first optional.
Nightmare mode indeed. I am SO in for this!
May be fun...
#LegalizeAwoo
A normie goes "Oh, what's this?"
An otaku goes "UwU, what's this?"
A furry goes "OwO, what's this?"
A werewolf goes "Awoo, what's this?"
"It's nothing personal, I just don't feel like I've gotten to know a person until I've sniffed their crotch."
"We said 'no' to Mr. Curiosity. We're not home. Curiosity is not welcome, it is not to be invited in. Curiosity...is bad. It gets you in trouble, it gets you killed, and more importantly...it makes you poor!"
I'm making a science toon with a Sci Vesta and making it the perfect debuffer.
Then I'm going into HSE. And I will PWN.
Looks like at least 2 40k DPS scimitard beamboats are needed, along with one sci debuffer, one Recluse with max threat grab and tholian fighters to tank, and probably a Mat'Ha raptor specced for maximum forward firepower.
Should be fun.
#LegalizeAwoo
A normie goes "Oh, what's this?"
An otaku goes "UwU, what's this?"
A furry goes "OwO, what's this?"
A werewolf goes "Awoo, what's this?"
"It's nothing personal, I just don't feel like I've gotten to know a person until I've sniffed their crotch."
"We said 'no' to Mr. Curiosity. We're not home. Curiosity is not welcome, it is not to be invited in. Curiosity...is bad. It gets you in trouble, it gets you killed, and more importantly...it makes you poor!"
Yeah, and that sci ship needs to be parsing 12-15k at least. The Recluse needs to parse 20k, minimum, without pets, AND be able to take at least 1 THY3 plasma torp and one heavy plasma bolt at once without dying. Lots of MK 14 gold fleet neutroniums seem likely. I'm thinking the Mat'Ha or other forward-damage 'scort should parse a bare minimum of 50k DPS.
Possible with MK 14 gold gear and t5u or t6 ships, at least. Given the numbers I've seen for MK 14 tac consoles and weapons...we're looking at a single DHC on a well-specced DHCmitard parsing 2.5k DPS even before adding boff abilities, skills, and the weapons power factor.
Should be fun.
HSE has been as close as totally abandoned for a long time.
It's still one of the most bug ridden queued missions, most PUG lose 1-2 members during play and if you want any sort of reliable group you have to put up with elitist a-holes from DPS channels.
Wat is going to happen is that for the first 1-2 weeks after launch of DR is the once people hit level 60 they will test every elite queue and if the new HSE is as rough as rumored then people will simply not play it after that.
There will be plenty of moaning and either it'll get nerfed (12-15k dps needed, perhaps less) or "removed because it didn't fit the new standards".
Either way it'll be nothing to worry about.
Of course, in a dps group its laughable easy, but then again, only in a pug you can call it a challenge, eh.
That's the ongoing story, but i have my doubts about the no-nerf policy.
Either DR is going for a power jump (more than the 20% extra damage going from MK XII to Mk XIV) or the elite content will only be available for the top 5% of the players.
In addition i doubt that the rewards will completely scale according to the difficulty (240-480-960 for the dilithium) and if the new Elite is as difficult as rumored then even the top 5 will not find playing those time efficient and as a result the Elite queues will go barren.
The devs want their new content to be played and thus i believe that the base line for the toughest Elite (rumored HSE) will likely be 18-20K instead of the 30k DPS I've seen mentioned.
This is a lie.
Even on Tribble now, playtests have shown that "Advanced" has 3x-4x the hitpoints ACROSS THE BOARD for everything. Single Borg Hegh'Tas take almost 2 minutes of direct hull pounding to kill. Negh'var/Dreadnoughts have millions of hitpoints.
It seems the only approximation for a current level we have is that our current "Elite" will translate into "beginner" on the DR system.
There are SO many problems with this. Forgetting the fact that this kills all the average players in the game who can't cut it on our current Elite setting... but this is a seriously bad system.
Why? You can't continue on with your current play experience, even IF you're on Elite now. If you try to carry on at "Beginner" difficulty under DR your rewards are cut to 1/4 of what they are now. Reward scales with difficulty, and instead of bumping up the reward to reflect the higher difficulty, they have shifted the 100% rewards to the worst difficulty and screwed over everybody else.
You can't even play casually. You can't play as you are now. Forget about affording even a single piece of rep gear, let alone a full kit, let alone upgrading anything. You won't be able to afford it with 200 dil rewards for the equivelant of what is now an ESTF.
Further, unless you 100% devote yourself to kitting out at the max level of gear, you won't be able to even continue on with your current level of compensation. That means you'll have to bankrupt yourself just to not bankrupt yourself.
It's all a lie, and all a scam. It's a complete money grab by Cryptic/PWE. They are increasing dil costs exponentially while geometrically reducing dil rewards on everything.
They tried to do this back when they introduced the rep system as well. Tried to cut dil rewards across the board and jack up dil prices everywhere. We still haven't recovered to pre-rep levels of dil rewards, and now they're going down more (and more) with DR.
DR is inconsequential. The real release is the new system whereby you're forced to pay real money every day just to get by on the dil requirements this game has in place.
You've all been warned.
So I PUG for ISE because PESTF is too chicken for HSE, and I head in with my intentionally-gimped 10k DPS DHCmitar (regularly parses 10k, 8k if I blow up or lag), and I get...
Some dude 1: Xindi escort, looks like single cannons and a pair of mines. He did fair DPS for a PUG, he was relatively chatty after the match and mentioned that this was his alt.
Some dude 2: Fleet Defiant, rainbow beamscort.
Some dude 3: Rom-Plasma Scimitar hybrid DHC/DBB build with the rommie beam and the hypertorp. This guy was around 12k DPS, had elite scorps. Looked like a PVP build cheaply remade for PVE, he had a sci officer with GW in his universal slot.
Some dude 4: Rainbow torp Oddy.
I'm not joking, this dude was in an Oddy and was using a tricobalt, a plasma, a photon, and a quantum torpedo with I think transphasics in the rear.
So anyway. I PUG in, see an Oddy, a Defiant, a scimitard, and a Lobi ship, and I'm like, "OK, this shouldn't be too painful unless the Scimitard is pants."
Cube and spheres take a few seconds longer than normal (warning sign #1), and the other Scimitar and I are pulling a lot of aggro despite my threat reduction consoles. We head left, I nuke the cube in a hail of doom, and the Oddy first goes up to the gate and starts spawning mines and torps, then gets 1-shot, respawns, and heads right without healing his injuries.
Beamscort man is trying to take out the spheres and failing; the other Scimitard leaves me and the Xindi escort to clear up the last generator and the transformer, and he goes off to drop a grav well on the nanites and hoover them up for a wicked powerful CSV volley.
Oddy man, ignoring the cube, somehow blows a gen on the right side after about 3 deaths with about 25% left on the left transformer. Xindi dude sees this and swears in chat, telling us what the idiot Oddy is doing. The other Scimitar breaks and goes beast mode in front of the gate, shooting all of the nanites as they spawn. Beamscort man goes to help him, draws the gate's aggro, and dies instantly. Oddy man has like 5 unhealed injuries at this point.
Xindi dude and I pop the transformer, I shoot the gate to draw its aggro off of the beleaguered plasma scimitar, and we make it to the right side. Oddy man is slowly shooting torps at the transformer.
Xindi dude says he's got CSV and enough DPS to take the spheres. I stay in front just in case he needs me, and the other Scimitar goes around the back and vapes the gens in 10 seconds. We power into the transformer, and beamscort guy respawns...
He tries to fly through the nanites for some dumb reason and gets caught in three core breaches as Xindi dude's CSV bears fruit.
Transformer's down to 20%, Beamscort man respawns alongside the Oddy, and...
Beamscort man does TBR.
So now the nanites are like 1km away from blowing the optional. Xindi dude turns like lightning and starts plugging them with everything he's got, and the other Scimitar shoots off a quick grav well, but then Xindi dude gets 1-shot from behind by the gate.
I pop EM and my attack pattern class skill, turn as fast as possible and nuke the nanites with everything I have, up to and including the Nukara t5 skill. They die maybe 2 seconds before optional would've been lost.
Xindi guy flies back in all healed up and the transformer blows. Oddy dude has like 10 injuries and is in respawn hell. Beamscort fool respawns, goes for the tac cube, and is 1-shot.
Two scimitars and a Xindi escort against a gate--easy peasy. I pop every buff I have left, the other Scimitar (a sci) subnucs the gate, and the Xindi guy just CRFs it.
Oddy man respawns and is 1-shot by an instatorp crit.
Gate's on 12%, Beamscort respawns, somehow avoids getting nuked by the tac cube, shoots the gate a few times and gets casually swatted by an instatorp that's just flying around.
Gate blows, three dudes head for the tac cube. Oddy man respawns, now with like 12 injuries, shoots a few torps at the cube that get FAWed out of space, and apparently is trying to tank with 12 injuries (given the attract fire aura that I can see on my HUD), and he gets blown up with an invisatorp that deals 3 times his HP in damage.
The tac cube goes down fairly easily after that. Takes about a minute, Xindi guy almost dies but I pop CRF at that point and the damage boost draws the aggro to me just as I pop my secondary shields and my temporary HP singularity power. Get my BNP and marks, hang out chatting with the Xindi dude and the Scimitar--nice guys, friendly enough--and the n00blets warp out without saying anything.
That was a strange run.
and these are the kinds of idiots who are going to be queuing with you for the new elite come DR...bon appetit!
HAHAHAHAHAHA!
#LegalizeAwoo
A normie goes "Oh, what's this?"
An otaku goes "UwU, what's this?"
A furry goes "OwO, what's this?"
A werewolf goes "Awoo, what's this?"
"It's nothing personal, I just don't feel like I've gotten to know a person until I've sniffed their crotch."
"We said 'no' to Mr. Curiosity. We're not home. Curiosity is not welcome, it is not to be invited in. Curiosity...is bad. It gets you in trouble, it gets you killed, and more importantly...it makes you poor!"
I will.
Currently a PUG is the only minor challenge in queued content. Using premade or DPS channels would make them even more mind numbing.
Truth be told i have been fine tuning my builds and squeezed on average 4-6k extra out of them (some builds were made in the early budget tight years on my characters).
I encourage every able player to PUG to (re)learn the masses the basics on the queued content and grow a semi competent player base for the advanced queues.
These players can then grow into competent Elite queue players. If "everyone" goes pre made/DPS channel then we'll lose the majority of players and we can say farewell to a quick STF.
Use PESTF and/or DPS channels for grinding. Use PUGs for a good time.
I warp in, and I see the following:
Me (DHCmitard, parses 10k pretty regularly).
Some guy 1 (Recluse, this thing took Donatra to the face and laughed it off, and was parsing 19k)
Some guy 2 (Klingon battlecruiser, freebie vor'cha I think, was parsing around 8k and knew what he was doing).
N00blet 1 (C-store Nebula retrofit)
And then there was this guy, let's call him the Grand Vizier. He's in a scimitard, and as we warp in he starts spamming team chat telling us to pull aggro and deal with the probes while his massive DPS epeen kills everything else. Nobody listened to him, I and the Klingon guy went straight for the cube and got it down to half health as the Recluse lumbers up behind us and melts the cube's face with plasma and pets. The Vizier starts yelling about his DPS and how we're all n00bs and should listen to him. I tell him that I parsed 20k before I gimped my build and he should go work on one of the transformers if he think's he's so hard. Recluse guy says "what worffan said", then starts working on the forward transformer on left AND the probes at the same time (this guy was beastly). Klingon guy goes for right probes and whatever slips through recluse guy. N00blet 1 is dead, having caught an instatorp to the face.
Mr. Grand Vizier I'm So Great starts ranting and cursing at me in chat. He's still sitting at the spawn without his pets even out.
I say "LOL whatevs dude", and take out the generators on the other side of the gate from the recluse. I mop up the cube with a CRF 3 blitz volley and get to work on the transformer. N00blet respawns and has enough of a clue to actually read the optional guide and go help Klingon guy with probes.
Recluse man is still soloing his entire side, but now he's around the back blitzing the cube and the generators at the same time. His cube blows, I've got my transformer on about 80%.
Mr. Vizier Epeen insults my mom, my dad, my grandparents, my brother, my hypothetical sister, my appearance, my sexual prowess, and my, shall we say, sports equipment. Recluse man goes right and starts PWNing the front transformer, n00blet and Klingon guy handling the probes because even though n00blet has a DPS of about 1k and is farting skittles, he's got enough of a clue to use TBR and grav well.
My transformer blows, Klingon man tells n00blet to come heal me, he can handle stuff. n00blet listens. Grand DPS Lord is still sitting and ranting. N00blet pulls out a subnuc and debuffs the gate just as all my buffs cycle and I melt it in about 45 seconds. Klingon, n00blet, and I go right just as Recluse finishes off his transformer (and seriously, this guy's got insane DPS despite spending a lot of time lumbering from place to place).
Klingon and I waste the sphere wave, n00blet takes an instatorp to the face and blows up. He's not healing his injuries. DPS Master is now insulting n00blet for blowing up, Klingon for flying an inferior ship, and Recluse for allegedly hacking because in DPS Lord's world there's no way a Recluse with 2 hangars of elite widows can parse 19k. :rolleyes:
Klingon PMs me to say he can handle probes, n00blet respawns and sticks with Klingon, Recluse and I waste the transformer, gens, and cube in under a minute and start pounding the gate with a bit of help from n00blet, who valiantly subnucs the gate and spawns a photonic fleet before dying of what I think was a beam overload crit with his shields drained.
DPS Master says he's reported us all and lumbers over at about half impulse to the gate, then starts spamming rainbow beams as Recluse and I blow it. He then has the nerve to brag again about his DPS and how we would be wasted without him.
Donatra spawns, n00blet flies up behind her as we blast away, and TBRs her into my flank. She cloaks instantly. DPS Vizier starts allcaps ranting. Klingon man PMs me and Recluse guy to say that he's taking n00blet aside for a chat, we should be able to 2-man Donatra. DPS Lord rants and is so busy ranting that Donatra 1-shots him with the cone of doom. Recluse and I LOL and manage to use CC and firepower to hold Donatra in place while we bring her down to 30%. She's just starting to move again when n00blet, 4 injuries on his ship and Klingon at his side, rides heroically into battle and drops a grav well and another subnuc on Donatra.
DPS King respawns while screaming at us for not healing and buffing him and his DPS, and Donatra dies. Recluse, Klingon, n00blet, and I warp out, and Recluse and I have a conversation about the annoying DPS lord (who sends several profane PMs before I put him on ignore). I thank Klingon and n00blet, tell n00blet it's nice to see a newbie who's willing to learn, and collect my 7 VR crafting mats.
That was a hilarious run.