You mean destroyed to where it was past 3 years ? Oh yeah, good job on that.....
"Cryptic Studio’s Jack Emmert (2010): Microtransactions are the biggest bunch of nonsense. I like paying one fee and not worrying about it – like my cellphone. The world’s biggest MMO isn’t item based, even though the black market item GDP is bigger than Russia … microtransactions make me want to die.”
So what? I won't blame them for trying to remove immortal ships in pve or pvp. This is a nonsense. There's no fun if there's no risk.
This isn't something that can be dealt with just by tinkering with EPtX powers though. Unfortunately, all the current Tribble versions do is devalue Engineering bridge officer slots. A more comprehensive package of changes is needed, and EPtX shouldn't change until the developers have time to unpick, understand, and overhaul the entire damned mess.
STO has never been ballenced. Thats ok, ballence is what people think or claim they want, but very few do. They either want an ego boost or a challenge and ballence dosnt provide that. Ballence is boring.
Without constant poking and proding from developers games do aquire a sort of ballence, because the flavour of the month becomes the flavour of forever. When every one is using the same ship and the same build and the same abilities ballence is achived. But as previusly stated, ballence is boring.
I often dislike the changes that the development team make, but I adapt and find a new way to play. Let the Devs remodulate their game, we will adapt. Ressistance is futile.
You mean destroyed to where it was past 3 years ? Oh yeah, good job on that.....
I haven't tested it yet, it does look severely diminished.
On the other hand it is way too strong on holodeck, and is one of the contributing factors that adversely affects mid-range pressure damage & bleedthrough, the type of damage that most cruisers are relegated to dealing.
STO has never been ballenced. Thats ok, ballence is what people think or claim they want, but very few do. They either want an ego boost or a challenge and ballence dosnt provide that. Ballence is boring.
The problem is, the current Tribble versions of these powers changes very little in the meta, except hurting cruiser damage output.
I often dislike the changes that the development team make, but I adapt and find a new way to play. Let the Devs remodulate their game, we will adapt. Ressistance is futile.
This is what SOE thought would happen in Nov of 2005. However, the opposite occured when 2/3rds of the playerbase left for "greener pastures". Hense, the NGE became the poster child of "what not to do to your MMORPG". SOE thought they were immune due to the IP. Key word there is "thought".
Even Bliz has made a study of lost subs and why. It seems they believe, from studying their metrics that NERFs/mechanics CHANGES are the largest cause for player loss. SOE found this out a few years before.
Cryptic will find all of this out as well. And the immunity of F2P is about as good as immunity of IP. If there is no1 that buys anything but all the F2Pers play, you still have the problem.
Sorry guys-- I got to page 7 or 8 before I had to skip to the end (I already had eight posts I wanted to reply to, and my post-lengths already get out of hand), so I'm sorry if my replies have missed some important revelation. If this is the case, please yell at me in a civil fashion. Much obliged! :P
Okay, so my gut reaction when I first read these changes was pretty similar to everyone else's, I'm sure-- "Oh no! My chained emergency power to weapons! Curses! Foiled Again!" (okay, the rest of you chain EPtS, but I run a slightly wonky build. ... and use the expletive "curses!" in every-day speech...)
But, y'know what? I think I like this change. I like the basic concept that of making all four EPtX powers about as good as each other and standardizing their effects a bit. I love the other proposed modifications (the ones that largely are not involved in this firestorm). But as for EPtS, well... it's kinda' like the engineering version of Tactical Team as your ensign-level auto-take. I have found in my (not insubstantial) experiences in game designing (I build pen-and-paper RPGs, not MMOs, but bare with me) if something is an auto-take, that ability represents a problem which needs to be addressed. Whether we're talking Power Attack in 3.5 Dungeons and Dragons (the auto-take feat for anyone with full BAB who swings a sword), or we're talking Tactical Team and Emergency Power to Shields in STO.
Eff if I know with any sort of finality what should be *done* about it. (The great thing about Pen and Paper RPGs is that they're much easier to code than MMOs, I assure you.)
The fact that the devs are being brave enough to try to tackle this one is commendable, and whether or not you agree with their solution, they deserve respect for having the guts to stick their hands into this hornet's nest. (... and, y'know, for making a game we all love enough to get somewhat heated about...)
That's really something that's easy to forget when you're bashing away a response into a text box to address a little icon and a username, instead of dealing directing with the real flesh-and-blood human being that picture and name represent. [/soapbox]
However, it's possible that the gap in coverage won't be the death sentence everyone is worried about for two reasons, which I'm going to blend together into one (over-long) wall of text.
Warp Cores-- From what I've read of them (http://sto-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?t=605491), these could easily add a nice bit of extra shield power on a passive basis (5 points for starters, then another ambiguous amount based on which Rare synergy is in use). Add to this the substantial boost in functionality of EPtE, and it looks viable to plug that 10-second "death window" with a combination of the passive boost from your warp core, and an extra bump from synergy with engine power. Why do I say engine power? Well, the 15 second CD between different EPtX hadn't been touched on yet-- jam the newly-improved EPtE in there, and you can cover yourself with a touch of extra defense from the speed bump, a bit of extra turn rate to do what you will with.
Depending on how the numbers interact, that might make an emergency power-using cruiser just as well defended (more or less, with more actually being a real possibility here) as it was before, but with the chance to spring an unanticipated bump to its agility while it's at it.
And, as a consolation prize, at that 20 second mark when your EPtS starts to give out, the escort you've been shooting back at is also losing his. Yes, he does way more damage, but it's not unlikely that you've worn down his shields enough that it's possible to hurt the enemy escort during that 10 second window just as bad as he's hurting you-- possibly with a well-placed B:O-2 or C:RF-1, depending on your build and how much of an optimist you are.
Okay, so if you don't buy that, then I saw two interesting possibilities that may yet ameliorate this problem.
Potential compromise: Return the duration to 30s, but for the last 10 seconds of the ability have the effect of EPtX diminish by 10% per second.
You still have an exploitable gap in coverage but it's more nuanced, less binary. The skill also behaves more like one would expect an "emergency battery" to -- spike in power followed by slow return to normal.
I had originally assumed, back when I wasn't making very heavy use of EPtX abilities, that this had been the case. It could be useful and I can really appreciate the extra granularity of it.
Or you could go with Dalnar83 and have its duration scale with rank so that the 10 second window can be shrunk or possibly eliminated. Although, with my speculations about Warp Core synergy above, that may get quite out of hand.
Granted, I saw a very good criticism from Hurleybird, commenting on how EPtX, as a personal buff, is more conducive to "selfish" tanking than effective team play.
<Redacted for space, but click the little circle icon to read it if you don't know what I'm talking about.>
And while there is certainly merit in these concerns, if the ability is going to be offered (and it should be), it should also be made so that it's worth taking. A good player who recognizes their tank can't always keep an enemy's attention when the party's escort is doing exponentially more damage can still benefit from higher-end emergency power abilities, as long as the tank still fits cross-healing capabilities somewhere into the build.
Okay, anyone still reading? Cool! Thank you very much!
TLDR Version:
-I think I like this modification.
-Warp Cores of the correct rarity and synergy will likely make that 10-second "hole" in EPtS coverage easily fillable, if that's the build you're going for.
-If the numbers don't look to be cooperative in that way, two fixes have been posed by other posters that i think I quite like:
-On an EPtX's expiration, have power levels drop over the course of 5 to 10 seconds instead of immediately tanking.
~or~
-Make power duration scale with EPtX ability tier to shrink or eliminate the coverage hole.
True success is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm.
-- Winston Churchill
The problem comes down to the devs not being entirely clear on the reason for the change.
IF the reason was because they felt that a cruiser's ability to chain 4 powers (2 and 2) was somehow overpowered and made them unkillable, then I can see why they would want to make a change, but they have gone around it in such a sloppy fashion, it has created this "hornet's nest".
IF the reason was to give reasons for people to chose different EPtX abilities, then they again have failed entirely.
What you are suggesting with your ideas/solutions is just a complicated solution to a complicated solution to a problem that didn't exist in the first place.
The main problem is Elite Fleet Shields have come into the mix and now everyone is unkillable. So naturally, they nerf Emergency powers......?
Maybe I could see the validity of this change if cruisers have been running around for the last few months being the kings of the battlefield. If they had been making escorts obsolete because of their ability to chain EPs, then yes, I could see this change being necessary, but they haven't.
Maybe you have some PvP experience, but from your post it sure doesn't sound like it.
A cruiser, without the capacity to turn, or threaten escorts in any way, has NO chance of survival when being targeted with DHCs without EPtS. None. An Engineer in a cruiser can throw up RSF, but you cannot use that every 30 seconds, and a concentrated barrage even while its up, will still result in death.
Personally, I will not be running any Emergency powers besides Shields, ever. And most cruisers I hear from are of the same mindset. I will not survive otherwise. The very marginal increase in damage from EPtW is not remotely enough to warrant me taking off EPtS to hopehully use that EPtW to kill an attacker. And the defense bonus you get from EPtE is minimal, so again it does not make up for the damage mitigation loss.
The truth is, ironically I would have considered dropping EPtW for EPtE with the buffs, but without the cool down train wreck we see now. Now I have to drop them both.
I have been running test after test with different builds and warp cores on tribble. Mainly in the 3v3 or 4v4 pvp setting. What I am finding is that even with the leadership nerf, I lose out in a fight against an escort without giving him a scratch. My weapon power just is not enough. To make it respectable, I have to drop shield power. If I do that, I am dead. I have to juggle my power levels so much JUST to be, well, significantly worse than I was before, its not even remotely fun anymore.
You cannot change the nature of the ability of a ship to defend itself without then looking at significantly reducing the damage of DHCs.
Cruisers have been neutered, plain and simple, and it doesn't appear the devs have any inclination to change it from what we see on tribble now, given the fact that we have had NO feedback on the issue, despite overwhelming hatred for the change from the community. Throw us a bone here devs.
TLDR Version:
-I think I like this modification.
-Warp Cores of the correct rarity and synergy will likely make that 10-second "hole" in EPtS coverage easily fillable, if that's the build you're going for.
-If the numbers don't look to be cooperative in that way, two fixes have been posed by other posters that i think I quite like:
-On an EPtX's expiration, have power levels drop over the course of 5 to 10 seconds instead of immediately tanking.
~or~
-Make power duration scale with EPtX ability tier to shrink or eliminate the coverage hole.
While I agree with your note that the devs are in fact human, and are not monsters, most of the rest of your post, I must in turn disagree with strongly.
* Everything I've seen about warp cores indicates the boosts will be modest, at best. +5 power does not compare to +20-+30 by a longshot, nor the loss of the periodic shield repair or other "spot" boosts, or any useful boosts attainable through skills such as Electro-Plasma Systems. The synergy bonuses do not inspire my confidence, either - it seems like they could take already-tremendous boosts to weapon power from escorts and dump them straight into shields, or something along those lines. As cruisers have more general power bonuses, they may well get less of an inherent bonus in anything they synergize with via warp core than either escorts or science ships.
* This also does not address the question of managing the cooldowns for multiple (or even single) EPtX powers, nor the fact that a lot of the time, a ship - usually a cruiser - is not going to need something every 3 minutes, or however the capacitor might be deployed, but will need something every 30 seconds. If the cruiser is in the thick of it, as they're arguably supposed to be, they're going to need to be able to constantly self-restore. One thing that chaining helps with is being able to pay attention to factors, such as the battlefield itself, as opposed to managing 20+ captain/BOff abilities.
* A proposed BO2 or CRF would only make this problem worse by requiring perfect timing. And this does not change the fact that an escort can turn to let another shield facing take the blow - something a cruiser would be hard pressed to do in time. The escort will likely at the end of the day still manage to pound through your shields, and what's more, they'll likely get close enough to get you to throw up your EPtS, back off, wait for it to expire, and THEN pound through your shields - and take your retaliation with their fresh side shields. Once again, cooldowns strike hard, because you won't be able to get off another timed high-powered burst before the escort can come around for another burst - which they might well be sustaining through chaining of cannon rapid fire, which I usually do in an escort, wherein the 2/3rds uptime is not nearly so painful as it would be to shields under constant fire.
* Not all of us like running cruisers as healboats, especially in PvE. In fact, I'd say most people don't - a DPS cruiser playstyle is a good bit different than either a dedicated tank or an escort of any variety. There is a reason why the tactical cruisers sell, and why tactical officers so often take cruisers (in fact, I daresay that tactical/cruiser is the most common combo in the game). If this playstyle was not popular, then the Galaxy-R would be the final go-to cruisers instead of having a mere, niche role.
* Further, the comparison between tactical team and EPtS also doesn't really match up, because tactical team is considerably better for short duration situations because you are effectively facing four shield facings worth of shield HP for ten seconds. Ironically one could argue that in many circumstances, this makes tactical team a better emergency power ability than EPtS!
* Finally, considering the use of any emergency power as being a "false choice" is something I very strongly disagree with. There isn't anything wrong with wanting to be self-sufficient. While some might point out that this is a Massively Multiplayer Online game, and this is true, it is also not a Massively Codependent Online game, and there are many parts of the game that can be - and are intended to be able to be - played solo if one so chooses. Being able to simply take care of yourself can often be a good contribution to a team by itself.
Cruisers have been neutered, plain and simple, and it doesn't appear the devs have any inclination to change it from what we see on tribble now, given the fact that we have had NO feedback on the issue, despite overwhelming hatred for the change from the community. Throw us a bone here devs.
I agree with most of your points here, although I disagree with some of your notes regarding chaining, as I view it as actually beneficial for both escorts and cruisers.
But you capture a great deal of the problem very well, and I thank you for doing so in a concise manner. In particular I agree that almost all cruisers will pick up EPtS and nothing more, thus resulting in a general lessening of their ability to support others - especially as they now require more slots just to support and repair their shields. I also agree that there is a concerning chance that the devs will do nothing to correct this, which is one reason why I'm active on this forum for this issue - I prefer cruisers, and I'd rather not find I've wasted tons of zen buying them. If it was a mistake it is one I will not be repeating with escorts.
I must say I am getting some faint vibes of the STF dilithium change from last season here, and cannot help but wonder if the backlash will be similar if this makes it to holodeck. As-is, it has gotten me kind of bummed about playing, really.
I must say I am getting some faint vibes of the STF dilithium change from last season here, and cannot help but wonder if the backlash will be similar if this makes it to holodeck. As-is, it has gotten me kind of bummed about playing, really.
I too have been more active here than I usually am for the very same reason. Ever since I began testing these changes on tribble, I have had very little desire to log in. I must admit my desire to play had been diminishing, but this change really seeming like the final push for me. I too have spent much zen on buying cruisers/modules, only now do I wholeheartedly regret it. To have this kind of sweeping change to the fundamentals of gameplay for one type of ship in particular is just detrimental.
But as for EPtS, well... it's kinda' like the engineering version of Tactical Team as your ensign-level auto-take. I have found in my (not insubstantial) experiences in game designing (I build pen-and-paper RPGs, not MMOs, but bare with me) if something is an auto-take, that ability represents a problem which needs to be addressed.
Actually, for a subset of cruisers, EPtW is the ensign choice; EPtS is the Lt Commander choice. Unless the power's ability to provide a high-uptime boost to a ship's ability to absorb damage is completely eviscerated, it will continue to be an auto pick. And that can't be done without seriously weakening one of the touted benefits of commanding a cruiser. TRIBBLE with uptimes also screws with the only strong benefit to commanding a ship with a preponderance of engineering ability slots. Again, this hurts cruisers more than the other classes.
That's really something that's easy to forget when you're bashing away a response into a text box to address a little icon and a username, instead of dealing directing with the real flesh-and-blood human being that picture and name represent.
There has to be bite behind our criticisms of these changes. The spilling over of this into attacks on the devs' good judgement is unfortunate, but the result of real fear that they don't appreciate that the negative consequences of these changes to cruisers far outweigh any balance brought to the different EPtX abilities. An entire class of ship deprecated rather than two parts of a group of powers.
Unfortunately, your understanding of how warp cores work is flawed. The +5 bonus is to the maximum possible power of a subsystem, not their power level; it allows one (non-weapon) subsystem to reach 130 power. Also, the synergy bonus results in only a few points being added to the receiving system's level.
Oh, and you mentioned EPtE. The two biggest obstacles to that power being considered a good choice are Evasive Manoeuvres and Deuterium Surplus, not EPtS.
And, as a consolation prize, at that 20 second mark when your EPtS starts to give out, the escort you've been shooting back at is also losing his.<snip>
Unfortunately, this scenario fails in actual gameplay as the advantage cruisers have in absorbing damage is far smaller than the advantage escorts enjoy in spike damage generation.
Granted, I saw a very good criticism from Hurleybird, commenting on how EPtX, as a personal buff, is more conducive to "selfish" tanking than effective team play.
It's perfectly possible on Holodeck to have a dual EPtX build cruiser that gives good support to the rest of the team. The selfish variant is one that uses Aux2Bat due to the constantly low AUX levels the ship using it will have.
And while there is certainly merit in these concerns, if the ability is going to be offered (and it should be), it should also be made so that it's worth taking.
There is a corollary to this. If a ship is going to be offered, it should also be made worth taking. These changes reduce build options, make engineering power slots less efficient to use, and kills the best trick cruisers can do. Because ships represent a very real investment into the game, I think it's better to have a few powers underused than an entire class of ship.
It's perfectly possible on Holodeck to have a dual EPtX build cruiser that gives good support to the rest of the team. The selfish variant is one that uses Aux2Bat due to the constantly low AUX levels the ship using it will have.
This exactly. (as with the rest of your points)
My ship is built entirely around being a healer/tank. EPtS3 and EPtW1 x2 being the only exceptions. Nobody who has ever played with me would call my build selfish.
Aux2Batt builds are very selfish builds, and I don't want to be forced into using it to be able to continue flying my cruiser, which is looking more and more like what is going to happen.
I'd sooner give up space flight altogether, which seems to be what the devs want. Or they may in fact be nerfing current cruisers and then releasing the Romulan ones which will somehow have the abilities we are used to in an attempt to get us all to buy those.
This whole thing, as referenced by cha0s1428, looks very like the STF/dilithium changes of Season 7. That actually convinced me to NOT buy a Lifetime sub during the sale, and I had been looking forward to doing so. Later fixes didn't actually fix, but rather split the old STF dilithium between Fleet Actions and STF's; this unintentionally made both worse than before, since you could no longer cycle 30 min cooldown missions for 1440 dil, but rather one 30 min and on 1 hr for the same total. It took the addition of (irritating) Reputation slider projects and the return of loot drops to finally place the STF's near to parity with their previous value. Don't even ask me about the Omega Crates...
I know, I haven't posted much (at all, I think), but it seems like a bad idea to implement another significant nerf after it took so much effort on the devs' part to get things back the last time. There were likewise rumblings on the forums prior to Season 7 hitting Holodeck, and it concerns me greatly that a similar ignore/nerf/"fix" pattern is going to be implemented as part of Legacy of Romulus... which otherwise looks amazing.
If the later posts reflecting the 20 sec duration/20 sec same/15 sec category cooldowns follow, however, there is another thing to take into account: This will give ships running 2x EP2S a shield heal every 20 secs rather than every 30 secs; this helps everyone tank better. Looks ok at first glance...
However, if a cruiser has to sacrifice the uptime of 2x EP2S in order to make use of 2x EP2W, an escort or science vessel using the same 2x EP2S will be that much harder to kill for an cruiser, given the mediocre DPS ratings a healer/tank usually has anyway, while the cruiser is opening gaps in its resistances trying to do so. I do acknowledge that running 2x DEWM has a 66/33% uptime potential, but really isn't effective enough to replace even the current incarnation of EP2W. So, yes, the cruiser still loses out on this one.
Sorry about the wall of text, I'll go back to just reading the forums again... I may have gotten carried away.
With each passing day I wonder if I stepped into an alternate reality. The Cubs win the world series. Donald Trump is President. Britain leaves the EU. STO gets a dedicated PvP season. Engineers are "out of control" in STO.
Not really, I will probably upgrade to EptE 3 and just fly around like crazy so noone catches me.
"Cryptic Studio’s Jack Emmert (2010): Microtransactions are the biggest bunch of nonsense. I like paying one fee and not worrying about it – like my cellphone. The world’s biggest MMO isn’t item based, even though the black market item GDP is bigger than Russia … microtransactions make me want to die.”
I assume you're writing off your ensign slots, then.
Nope, I will use them just for opportunity buttons. EPtS and EPtW. But will prefer to move quickly and not tank at all. There is not many choices anyway.
Well, until they nerf EptE, because the speed is really good. And when something is good, it will be nerfed.
"Cryptic Studio’s Jack Emmert (2010): Microtransactions are the biggest bunch of nonsense. I like paying one fee and not worrying about it – like my cellphone. The world’s biggest MMO isn’t item based, even though the black market item GDP is bigger than Russia … microtransactions make me want to die.”
So yeah, anybody else downgrading their cruisers to EPTS1 and learning how to torpedo-boat?
I am torn between this, trying to "tough it out" without those engineering slots (with my "fleet assault cruiser" now becoming pretty toothless), and trying to force myself to use escorts full time, upgrading my toons' ships to Fleet Defiants with the remaining Zen I have (as I am certainly not going to be paying them for breaking my favorite ship, or trying to cram me into Aux2Bat).
So yeah, anybody else downgrading their cruisers to EPTS1 and learning how to torpedo-boat?
On Tribble I'm fiddling with a build for my Tac Odyssey that removes EPtW1, downgrades EPtS to 1, moves the Lt Com universal from engineering to science and the Ensign universal from science to engineering. I've added a warp core from the dilithium store that boosts shield maximum, has a shield -> weapon synergy, and boosts Warp Core Efficiency skill. Between procs from Warp Core Engineer and EPS Manifold I can keep weapon and shield powers in the 110+ range, spiking to maximised when EPS is up. But weapon power dips lower with my beams, and my shields are definitely squishier.
Thanks for your feedback, all. I've been playing this game for a reasonably long time, but I know that I'm not, in and of myself, particularly knowledgeable about its underlying mechanics. For that I'm reliant on research and feedback. Thank you all for that.
The problem comes down to the devs not being entirely clear on the reason for the change.
IF the reason was because they felt that a cruiser's ability to chain 4 powers (2 and 2) was somehow overpowered and made them unkillable, then I can see why they would want to make a change, but they have gone around it in such a sloppy fashion, it has created this "hornet's nest".
Fair enough. Something changing a widely-used power is bound to create a large amount of push-back (see literally any discussion about Tactical Team for that), but you are correct-- this could have been handled much better and with some much better communication, and that would likely have made it much less of a papery-stingy-thingy.
About my ill-advised soap-boxing, however-- I'm sorry. Most of the incivility towards the devs I've seen has been in one or two KDF threads I've read, and I've become a little oversensitive on that count. I can't remember which post in this thread provoked my mini-rant on the subject, but it was unfair to the vast majority of posters in this thread and I'm sincerely very sorry I did that.
...Anyway! I believe the reason I've seen stated was to normalize the EPtX powers in usefulness, which gets tricky when one of the four is something that most builds that focus on staying power must take.
I still think that's a problem, but the responses to my post have been pretty convincing that this is not the correct way to deal with it.
Maybe you have some PvP experience, but from your post it sure doesn't sound like it.
. . .
I have been running test after test with different builds and warp cores on tribble. Mainly in the 3v3 or 4v4 pvp setting. What I am finding is that even with the leadership nerf, I lose out in a fight against an escort without giving him a scratch. My weapon power just is not enough. To make it respectable, I have to drop shield power. If I do that, I am dead. I have to juggle my power levels so much JUST to be, well, significantly worse than I was before, its not even remotely fun anymore.
As for the first part, you are correct-- I've only been doing PvP for about a month and a half, and almost exclusively on my KDF character (since there, I at least got rewarded for being slaughtered on my way up the first few steps of the learning curve). She's a sci/sci heal-boat, so not entirely applicable to this discussion.
I defer to actual testing of the changes in PvP when presented.
I'm sorry but it sounds like you've never even been in a cruiser:eek:
. . .
I don't know where your getting your information from mate but it is inaccurate and it sounds suspiciously like what an escort player would say :rolleyes:
Does the Ambassador Refit count as a cruiser? I've been running one since the anniversary. Granted, my main character is a tactical officer and I run the Ambassador in a very aggressive build that focuses far more on damage and cross-healing than on personal damage mitigation.
I have very few hard numbers, so I resort to conjecture and what data I can find here and there from the devs without putting an inordinate amount of effort into researching it. And the wiki, where applicable.
As I said straight off in this post, I'm actually very reliant on feedback when it comes to this sort of thing.
But then again, the new GDF would make a good cruiser tanking skill.
I don't know about that, unless you're talking about escort pseudo-tanking. The way I've always seen it, a tank needs to have endurance - and in this game possibly be able to just plain slug it out with an opponent for several minutes. The cooldown on GDF seems to make it prohibitive in terms of what you need in order to actually attain victory in this situation.
My ship is built entirely around being a healer/tank. EPtS3 and EPtW1 x2 being the only exceptions. Nobody who has ever played with me would call my build selfish.
Aux2Batt builds are very selfish builds, and I don't want to be forced into using it to be able to continue flying my cruiser, which is looking more and more like what is going to happen.
I'd sooner give up space flight altogether, which seems to be what the devs want. Or they may in fact be nerfing current cruisers and then releasing the Romulan ones which will somehow have the abilities we are used to in an attempt to get us all to buy those.
I am joking of course, but.....am I really?
I'm not even sure Aux2Batt is going to continue to be viable at this point; I heard something about it getting the nerf, too, at least regarding cooldown times. I'm not sure, since Aux2Batt has never been my style, so I haven't kept up on it, although it looks like I may not have much of a choice at some point in the very near future.
However, in regards to the Romulans, you touch on a theory that I've had for a while, although I hope it isn't so. Simply put, Star Trek's iconic ships are the cruisers. People tend to want to be Captain Kirk or Picard here, so they'll want to pick up a cruiser. They may want a stronger cruiser, or one that's particularly favored, so they pick it up. However, when they realize escorts are better for their purposes, then they purchase a c-store escort as well... or at least, that's the theory. Two short-to-medium term purchases, one escort, one cruiser, instead of one.
Hopefully they aren't going to be expecting people to trade in their Starfleet ships for Romulan ships that have 'cure-all' aspects to the recent nerfing. Whether or not they actually do, though, is yet to be seen. I hope they don't. As-is I am reluctant to pick up anything right now. I came to play a Starfleet captain, so while I'd like a D'deridex C-Store version myself, if I can't play with a Starfleet captain with an appropriate ship, that's pretty irrelevant.
I'm not even sure Aux2Batt is going to continue to be viable at this point; I heard something about it getting the nerf, too, at least regarding cooldown times.
Aux2Bat is currently untouched on Tribble. Do you have a source for this rumour?
Actually, I had a suggestion upon thinking of these "re-balancing" decisions...
Put this and other information on any direct changes to the functionality of Boff powers into a Dev Blog and post it in the launcher news tab, with specifics as to why these changes are being made and a link to your preferred feedback forum posting. I know many were unpleasantly surprised by the STF changes in Season 7 (since they had not combed the forums like those of us posting here), and it could at least dampen the blow of such game-changing alterations if folks know they are coming. I am pretty sure the players that log in after LoR launches and suddenly find their ships performing in a completely different manner will be a bit put out if there isn't any warning... the chat on ESD and DS9 last time was pretty much filled with that sentiment (albeit less politely phrased) for a while following the launch of Season 7: New Romulus.
Personally, though, I might suggest a bit of pop-psychology. If you give people new toys they will be happy; if you take away things their old toys can do they will be angry. How would you feel if someone took your mint-condition 1980's Optimus Prime and super-glued it closed in semi-truck form, because they felt Transformers had an unfair advantage over Hotwheels? Food for thought maybe... and yes, I'm old :P.
With each passing day I wonder if I stepped into an alternate reality. The Cubs win the world series. Donald Trump is President. Britain leaves the EU. STO gets a dedicated PvP season. Engineers are "out of control" in STO.
Aux2Bat is currently untouched on Tribble. Do you have a source for this rumour?
Unfortunately, I do not recall. I believe it may have been a conversation on TTS on STO, regarding cooldowns colliding - or somewhere on one of the longer threads in this forum.
I'll see if I can find it, though that's pretty iffy as I don't have a huge amount of time to do it just now. If this is in fact untrue, I apologize.
Actually, I had a suggestion upon thinking of these "re-balancing" decisions...
Put this and other information on any direct changes to the functionality of Boff powers into a Dev Blog and post it in the launcher news tab, with specifics as to why these changes are being made and a link to your preferred feedback forum posting. I know many were unpleasantly surprised by the STF changes in Season 7 (since they had not combed the forums like those of us posting here), and it could at least dampen the blow of such game-changing alterations if folks know they are coming. I am pretty sure the players that log in after LoR launches and suddenly find their ships performing in a completely different manner will be a bit put out if there isn't any warning... the chat on ESD and DS9 last time was pretty much filled with that sentiment (albeit less politely phrased) for a while following the launch of Season 7: New Romulus.
Personally, though, I might suggest a bit of pop-psychology. If you give people new toys they will be happy; if you take away things their old toys can do they will be angry. How would you feel if someone took your mint-condition 1980's Optimus Prime and super-glued it closed in semi-truck form, because they felt Transformers had an unfair advantage over Hotwheels? Food for thought maybe... and yes, I'm old :P.
I agree with everything in this post. In fact, the reactions might well be WORSE than S7's changes - they attacked earnings, which got people frustrated and exasperated. Attacking fundamental parts of most ship builds may be worse, especially since there's no alternative (e.g. fleet actions to get dilithium, ship builds require one to rejuggle everything, including quite possibly the basic ship type). This would also put a considerable damper on the influx of people they are sure to be hoping for on the release of the expansion.
Furthermore, the thought of gluing together a mint 1980s Optimus is heretical, especially when the mold is reissued every few years. Shame on you for even suggesting it as a hypothetical! (Yes, I'm old, too, and perhaps a touch senile...)
Comments
You mean destroyed to where it was past 3 years ? Oh yeah, good job on that.....
Without constant poking and proding from developers games do aquire a sort of ballence, because the flavour of the month becomes the flavour of forever. When every one is using the same ship and the same build and the same abilities ballence is achived. But as previusly stated, ballence is boring.
I often dislike the changes that the development team make, but I adapt and find a new way to play. Let the Devs remodulate their game, we will adapt. Ressistance is futile.
I haven't tested it yet, it does look severely diminished.
On the other hand it is way too strong on holodeck, and is one of the contributing factors that adversely affects mid-range pressure damage & bleedthrough, the type of damage that most cruisers are relegated to dealing.
The problem is, the current Tribble versions of these powers changes very little in the meta, except hurting cruiser damage output.
This is what SOE thought would happen in Nov of 2005. However, the opposite occured when 2/3rds of the playerbase left for "greener pastures". Hense, the NGE became the poster child of "what not to do to your MMORPG". SOE thought they were immune due to the IP. Key word there is "thought".
Even Bliz has made a study of lost subs and why. It seems they believe, from studying their metrics that NERFs/mechanics CHANGES are the largest cause for player loss. SOE found this out a few years before.
Cryptic will find all of this out as well. And the immunity of F2P is about as good as immunity of IP. If there is no1 that buys anything but all the F2Pers play, you still have the problem.
1 good sign....., "TESO is a coming".
Okay, so my gut reaction when I first read these changes was pretty similar to everyone else's, I'm sure-- "Oh no! My chained emergency power to weapons! Curses! Foiled Again!" (okay, the rest of you chain EPtS, but I run a slightly wonky build. ... and use the expletive "curses!" in every-day speech...)
But, y'know what? I think I like this change. I like the basic concept that of making all four EPtX powers about as good as each other and standardizing their effects a bit. I love the other proposed modifications (the ones that largely are not involved in this firestorm). But as for EPtS, well... it's kinda' like the engineering version of Tactical Team as your ensign-level auto-take. I have found in my (not insubstantial) experiences in game designing (I build pen-and-paper RPGs, not MMOs, but bare with me) if something is an auto-take, that ability represents a problem which needs to be addressed. Whether we're talking Power Attack in 3.5 Dungeons and Dragons (the auto-take feat for anyone with full BAB who swings a sword), or we're talking Tactical Team and Emergency Power to Shields in STO.
Eff if I know with any sort of finality what should be *done* about it. (The great thing about Pen and Paper RPGs is that they're much easier to code than MMOs, I assure you.)
The fact that the devs are being brave enough to try to tackle this one is commendable, and whether or not you agree with their solution, they deserve respect for having the guts to stick their hands into this hornet's nest. (... and, y'know, for making a game we all love enough to get somewhat heated about...)
That's really something that's easy to forget when you're bashing away a response into a text box to address a little icon and a username, instead of dealing directing with the real flesh-and-blood human being that picture and name represent. [/soapbox]
However, it's possible that the gap in coverage won't be the death sentence everyone is worried about for two reasons, which I'm going to blend together into one (over-long) wall of text.
Warp Cores-- From what I've read of them (http://sto-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?t=605491), these could easily add a nice bit of extra shield power on a passive basis (5 points for starters, then another ambiguous amount based on which Rare synergy is in use). Add to this the substantial boost in functionality of EPtE, and it looks viable to plug that 10-second "death window" with a combination of the passive boost from your warp core, and an extra bump from synergy with engine power. Why do I say engine power? Well, the 15 second CD between different EPtX hadn't been touched on yet-- jam the newly-improved EPtE in there, and you can cover yourself with a touch of extra defense from the speed bump, a bit of extra turn rate to do what you will with.
Depending on how the numbers interact, that might make an emergency power-using cruiser just as well defended (more or less, with more actually being a real possibility here) as it was before, but with the chance to spring an unanticipated bump to its agility while it's at it.
And, as a consolation prize, at that 20 second mark when your EPtS starts to give out, the escort you've been shooting back at is also losing his. Yes, he does way more damage, but it's not unlikely that you've worn down his shields enough that it's possible to hurt the enemy escort during that 10 second window just as bad as he's hurting you-- possibly with a well-placed B:O-2 or C:RF-1, depending on your build and how much of an optimist you are.
Okay, so if you don't buy that, then I saw two interesting possibilities that may yet ameliorate this problem. I had originally assumed, back when I wasn't making very heavy use of EPtX abilities, that this had been the case. It could be useful and I can really appreciate the extra granularity of it.
Or you could go with Dalnar83 and have its duration scale with rank so that the 10 second window can be shrunk or possibly eliminated. Although, with my speculations about Warp Core synergy above, that may get quite out of hand.
Granted, I saw a very good criticism from Hurleybird, commenting on how EPtX, as a personal buff, is more conducive to "selfish" tanking than effective team play. And while there is certainly merit in these concerns, if the ability is going to be offered (and it should be), it should also be made so that it's worth taking. A good player who recognizes their tank can't always keep an enemy's attention when the party's escort is doing exponentially more damage can still benefit from higher-end emergency power abilities, as long as the tank still fits cross-healing capabilities somewhere into the build.
Okay, anyone still reading? Cool! Thank you very much!
TLDR Version:
-I think I like this modification.
-Warp Cores of the correct rarity and synergy will likely make that 10-second "hole" in EPtS coverage easily fillable, if that's the build you're going for.
-If the numbers don't look to be cooperative in that way, two fixes have been posed by other posters that i think I quite like:
-On an EPtX's expiration, have power levels drop over the course of 5 to 10 seconds instead of immediately tanking.
~or~
-Make power duration scale with EPtX ability tier to shrink or eliminate the coverage hole.
-- Winston Churchill
IF the reason was because they felt that a cruiser's ability to chain 4 powers (2 and 2) was somehow overpowered and made them unkillable, then I can see why they would want to make a change, but they have gone around it in such a sloppy fashion, it has created this "hornet's nest".
IF the reason was to give reasons for people to chose different EPtX abilities, then they again have failed entirely.
What you are suggesting with your ideas/solutions is just a complicated solution to a complicated solution to a problem that didn't exist in the first place.
The main problem is Elite Fleet Shields have come into the mix and now everyone is unkillable. So naturally, they nerf Emergency powers......?
Maybe I could see the validity of this change if cruisers have been running around for the last few months being the kings of the battlefield. If they had been making escorts obsolete because of their ability to chain EPs, then yes, I could see this change being necessary, but they haven't.
Maybe you have some PvP experience, but from your post it sure doesn't sound like it.
A cruiser, without the capacity to turn, or threaten escorts in any way, has NO chance of survival when being targeted with DHCs without EPtS. None. An Engineer in a cruiser can throw up RSF, but you cannot use that every 30 seconds, and a concentrated barrage even while its up, will still result in death.
Personally, I will not be running any Emergency powers besides Shields, ever. And most cruisers I hear from are of the same mindset. I will not survive otherwise. The very marginal increase in damage from EPtW is not remotely enough to warrant me taking off EPtS to hopehully use that EPtW to kill an attacker. And the defense bonus you get from EPtE is minimal, so again it does not make up for the damage mitigation loss.
The truth is, ironically I would have considered dropping EPtW for EPtE with the buffs, but without the cool down train wreck we see now. Now I have to drop them both.
I have been running test after test with different builds and warp cores on tribble. Mainly in the 3v3 or 4v4 pvp setting. What I am finding is that even with the leadership nerf, I lose out in a fight against an escort without giving him a scratch. My weapon power just is not enough. To make it respectable, I have to drop shield power. If I do that, I am dead. I have to juggle my power levels so much JUST to be, well, significantly worse than I was before, its not even remotely fun anymore.
You cannot change the nature of the ability of a ship to defend itself without then looking at significantly reducing the damage of DHCs.
Cruisers have been neutered, plain and simple, and it doesn't appear the devs have any inclination to change it from what we see on tribble now, given the fact that we have had NO feedback on the issue, despite overwhelming hatred for the change from the community. Throw us a bone here devs.
While I agree with your note that the devs are in fact human, and are not monsters, most of the rest of your post, I must in turn disagree with strongly.
* Everything I've seen about warp cores indicates the boosts will be modest, at best. +5 power does not compare to +20-+30 by a longshot, nor the loss of the periodic shield repair or other "spot" boosts, or any useful boosts attainable through skills such as Electro-Plasma Systems. The synergy bonuses do not inspire my confidence, either - it seems like they could take already-tremendous boosts to weapon power from escorts and dump them straight into shields, or something along those lines. As cruisers have more general power bonuses, they may well get less of an inherent bonus in anything they synergize with via warp core than either escorts or science ships.
* This also does not address the question of managing the cooldowns for multiple (or even single) EPtX powers, nor the fact that a lot of the time, a ship - usually a cruiser - is not going to need something every 3 minutes, or however the capacitor might be deployed, but will need something every 30 seconds. If the cruiser is in the thick of it, as they're arguably supposed to be, they're going to need to be able to constantly self-restore. One thing that chaining helps with is being able to pay attention to factors, such as the battlefield itself, as opposed to managing 20+ captain/BOff abilities.
* A proposed BO2 or CRF would only make this problem worse by requiring perfect timing. And this does not change the fact that an escort can turn to let another shield facing take the blow - something a cruiser would be hard pressed to do in time. The escort will likely at the end of the day still manage to pound through your shields, and what's more, they'll likely get close enough to get you to throw up your EPtS, back off, wait for it to expire, and THEN pound through your shields - and take your retaliation with their fresh side shields. Once again, cooldowns strike hard, because you won't be able to get off another timed high-powered burst before the escort can come around for another burst - which they might well be sustaining through chaining of cannon rapid fire, which I usually do in an escort, wherein the 2/3rds uptime is not nearly so painful as it would be to shields under constant fire.
* Not all of us like running cruisers as healboats, especially in PvE. In fact, I'd say most people don't - a DPS cruiser playstyle is a good bit different than either a dedicated tank or an escort of any variety. There is a reason why the tactical cruisers sell, and why tactical officers so often take cruisers (in fact, I daresay that tactical/cruiser is the most common combo in the game). If this playstyle was not popular, then the Galaxy-R would be the final go-to cruisers instead of having a mere, niche role.
* Further, the comparison between tactical team and EPtS also doesn't really match up, because tactical team is considerably better for short duration situations because you are effectively facing four shield facings worth of shield HP for ten seconds. Ironically one could argue that in many circumstances, this makes tactical team a better emergency power ability than EPtS!
* Finally, considering the use of any emergency power as being a "false choice" is something I very strongly disagree with. There isn't anything wrong with wanting to be self-sufficient. While some might point out that this is a Massively Multiplayer Online game, and this is true, it is also not a Massively Codependent Online game, and there are many parts of the game that can be - and are intended to be able to be - played solo if one so chooses. Being able to simply take care of yourself can often be a good contribution to a team by itself.
I agree with most of your points here, although I disagree with some of your notes regarding chaining, as I view it as actually beneficial for both escorts and cruisers.
But you capture a great deal of the problem very well, and I thank you for doing so in a concise manner. In particular I agree that almost all cruisers will pick up EPtS and nothing more, thus resulting in a general lessening of their ability to support others - especially as they now require more slots just to support and repair their shields. I also agree that there is a concerning chance that the devs will do nothing to correct this, which is one reason why I'm active on this forum for this issue - I prefer cruisers, and I'd rather not find I've wasted tons of zen buying them. If it was a mistake it is one I will not be repeating with escorts.
I must say I am getting some faint vibes of the STF dilithium change from last season here, and cannot help but wonder if the backlash will be similar if this makes it to holodeck. As-is, it has gotten me kind of bummed about playing, really.
I too have been more active here than I usually am for the very same reason. Ever since I began testing these changes on tribble, I have had very little desire to log in. I must admit my desire to play had been diminishing, but this change really seeming like the final push for me. I too have spent much zen on buying cruisers/modules, only now do I wholeheartedly regret it. To have this kind of sweeping change to the fundamentals of gameplay for one type of ship in particular is just detrimental.
On paper, yes, it's a nice idea.
Actually, for a subset of cruisers, EPtW is the ensign choice; EPtS is the Lt Commander choice. Unless the power's ability to provide a high-uptime boost to a ship's ability to absorb damage is completely eviscerated, it will continue to be an auto pick. And that can't be done without seriously weakening one of the touted benefits of commanding a cruiser. TRIBBLE with uptimes also screws with the only strong benefit to commanding a ship with a preponderance of engineering ability slots. Again, this hurts cruisers more than the other classes.
There has to be bite behind our criticisms of these changes. The spilling over of this into attacks on the devs' good judgement is unfortunate, but the result of real fear that they don't appreciate that the negative consequences of these changes to cruisers far outweigh any balance brought to the different EPtX abilities. An entire class of ship deprecated rather than two parts of a group of powers.
Unfortunately, your understanding of how warp cores work is flawed. The +5 bonus is to the maximum possible power of a subsystem, not their power level; it allows one (non-weapon) subsystem to reach 130 power. Also, the synergy bonus results in only a few points being added to the receiving system's level.
Oh, and you mentioned EPtE. The two biggest obstacles to that power being considered a good choice are Evasive Manoeuvres and Deuterium Surplus, not EPtS.
Unfortunately, this scenario fails in actual gameplay as the advantage cruisers have in absorbing damage is far smaller than the advantage escorts enjoy in spike damage generation.
It's perfectly possible on Holodeck to have a dual EPtX build cruiser that gives good support to the rest of the team. The selfish variant is one that uses Aux2Bat due to the constantly low AUX levels the ship using it will have.
There is a corollary to this. If a ship is going to be offered, it should also be made worth taking. These changes reduce build options, make engineering power slots less efficient to use, and kills the best trick cruisers can do. Because ships represent a very real investment into the game, I think it's better to have a few powers underused than an entire class of ship.
This exactly. (as with the rest of your points)
My ship is built entirely around being a healer/tank. EPtS3 and EPtW1 x2 being the only exceptions. Nobody who has ever played with me would call my build selfish.
Aux2Batt builds are very selfish builds, and I don't want to be forced into using it to be able to continue flying my cruiser, which is looking more and more like what is going to happen.
I'd sooner give up space flight altogether, which seems to be what the devs want. Or they may in fact be nerfing current cruisers and then releasing the Romulan ones which will somehow have the abilities we are used to in an attempt to get us all to buy those.
I am joking of course, but.....am I really?
I know, I haven't posted much (at all, I think), but it seems like a bad idea to implement another significant nerf after it took so much effort on the devs' part to get things back the last time. There were likewise rumblings on the forums prior to Season 7 hitting Holodeck, and it concerns me greatly that a similar ignore/nerf/"fix" pattern is going to be implemented as part of Legacy of Romulus... which otherwise looks amazing.
If the later posts reflecting the 20 sec duration/20 sec same/15 sec category cooldowns follow, however, there is another thing to take into account: This will give ships running 2x EP2S a shield heal every 20 secs rather than every 30 secs; this helps everyone tank better. Looks ok at first glance...
However, if a cruiser has to sacrifice the uptime of 2x EP2S in order to make use of 2x EP2W, an escort or science vessel using the same 2x EP2S will be that much harder to kill for an cruiser, given the mediocre DPS ratings a healer/tank usually has anyway, while the cruiser is opening gaps in its resistances trying to do so. I do acknowledge that running 2x DEWM has a 66/33% uptime potential, but really isn't effective enough to replace even the current incarnation of EP2W. So, yes, the cruiser still loses out on this one.
Sorry about the wall of text, I'll go back to just reading the forums again... I may have gotten carried away.
I assume you're writing off your ensign slots, then.
Nope, I will use them just for opportunity buttons. EPtS and EPtW. But will prefer to move quickly and not tank at all. There is not many choices anyway.
Well, until they nerf EptE, because the speed is really good. And when something is good, it will be nerfed.
No, it'll get buffed more case in point Tac/scorts
I am torn between this, trying to "tough it out" without those engineering slots (with my "fleet assault cruiser" now becoming pretty toothless), and trying to force myself to use escorts full time, upgrading my toons' ships to Fleet Defiants with the remaining Zen I have (as I am certainly not going to be paying them for breaking my favorite ship, or trying to cram me into Aux2Bat).
On Tribble I'm fiddling with a build for my Tac Odyssey that removes EPtW1, downgrades EPtS to 1, moves the Lt Com universal from engineering to science and the Ensign universal from science to engineering. I've added a warp core from the dilithium store that boosts shield maximum, has a shield -> weapon synergy, and boosts Warp Core Efficiency skill. Between procs from Warp Core Engineer and EPS Manifold I can keep weapon and shield powers in the 110+ range, spiking to maximised when EPS is up. But weapon power dips lower with my beams, and my shields are definitely squishier.
Fair enough. Something changing a widely-used power is bound to create a large amount of push-back (see literally any discussion about Tactical Team for that), but you are correct-- this could have been handled much better and with some much better communication, and that would likely have made it much less of a papery-stingy-thingy.
About my ill-advised soap-boxing, however-- I'm sorry. Most of the incivility towards the devs I've seen has been in one or two KDF threads I've read, and I've become a little oversensitive on that count. I can't remember which post in this thread provoked my mini-rant on the subject, but it was unfair to the vast majority of posters in this thread and I'm sincerely very sorry I did that.
...Anyway! I believe the reason I've seen stated was to normalize the EPtX powers in usefulness, which gets tricky when one of the four is something that most builds that focus on staying power must take.
I still think that's a problem, but the responses to my post have been pretty convincing that this is not the correct way to deal with it.
As for the first part, you are correct-- I've only been doing PvP for about a month and a half, and almost exclusively on my KDF character (since there, I at least got rewarded for being slaughtered on my way up the first few steps of the learning curve). She's a sci/sci heal-boat, so not entirely applicable to this discussion.
I defer to actual testing of the changes in PvP when presented.
Does the Ambassador Refit count as a cruiser? I've been running one since the anniversary. Granted, my main character is a tactical officer and I run the Ambassador in a very aggressive build that focuses far more on damage and cross-healing than on personal damage mitigation.
I have very few hard numbers, so I resort to conjecture and what data I can find here and there from the devs without putting an inordinate amount of effort into researching it. And the wiki, where applicable.
As I said straight off in this post, I'm actually very reliant on feedback when it comes to this sort of thing.
Meow?
-- Winston Churchill
GDF disagree with that.
But then again, the new GDF would make a good cruiser tanking skill.
I don't know about that, unless you're talking about escort pseudo-tanking. The way I've always seen it, a tank needs to have endurance - and in this game possibly be able to just plain slug it out with an opponent for several minutes. The cooldown on GDF seems to make it prohibitive in terms of what you need in order to actually attain victory in this situation.
I'm not even sure Aux2Batt is going to continue to be viable at this point; I heard something about it getting the nerf, too, at least regarding cooldown times. I'm not sure, since Aux2Batt has never been my style, so I haven't kept up on it, although it looks like I may not have much of a choice at some point in the very near future.
However, in regards to the Romulans, you touch on a theory that I've had for a while, although I hope it isn't so. Simply put, Star Trek's iconic ships are the cruisers. People tend to want to be Captain Kirk or Picard here, so they'll want to pick up a cruiser. They may want a stronger cruiser, or one that's particularly favored, so they pick it up. However, when they realize escorts are better for their purposes, then they purchase a c-store escort as well... or at least, that's the theory. Two short-to-medium term purchases, one escort, one cruiser, instead of one.
Hopefully they aren't going to be expecting people to trade in their Starfleet ships for Romulan ships that have 'cure-all' aspects to the recent nerfing. Whether or not they actually do, though, is yet to be seen. I hope they don't. As-is I am reluctant to pick up anything right now. I came to play a Starfleet captain, so while I'd like a D'deridex C-Store version myself, if I can't play with a Starfleet captain with an appropriate ship, that's pretty irrelevant.
Put this and other information on any direct changes to the functionality of Boff powers into a Dev Blog and post it in the launcher news tab, with specifics as to why these changes are being made and a link to your preferred feedback forum posting. I know many were unpleasantly surprised by the STF changes in Season 7 (since they had not combed the forums like those of us posting here), and it could at least dampen the blow of such game-changing alterations if folks know they are coming. I am pretty sure the players that log in after LoR launches and suddenly find their ships performing in a completely different manner will be a bit put out if there isn't any warning... the chat on ESD and DS9 last time was pretty much filled with that sentiment (albeit less politely phrased) for a while following the launch of Season 7: New Romulus.
Personally, though, I might suggest a bit of pop-psychology. If you give people new toys they will be happy; if you take away things their old toys can do they will be angry. How would you feel if someone took your mint-condition 1980's Optimus Prime and super-glued it closed in semi-truck form, because they felt Transformers had an unfair advantage over Hotwheels? Food for thought maybe... and yes, I'm old :P.
Unfortunately, I do not recall. I believe it may have been a conversation on TTS on STO, regarding cooldowns colliding - or somewhere on one of the longer threads in this forum.
I'll see if I can find it, though that's pretty iffy as I don't have a huge amount of time to do it just now. If this is in fact untrue, I apologize.
I agree with everything in this post. In fact, the reactions might well be WORSE than S7's changes - they attacked earnings, which got people frustrated and exasperated. Attacking fundamental parts of most ship builds may be worse, especially since there's no alternative (e.g. fleet actions to get dilithium, ship builds require one to rejuggle everything, including quite possibly the basic ship type). This would also put a considerable damper on the influx of people they are sure to be hoping for on the release of the expansion.
Furthermore, the thought of gluing together a mint 1980s Optimus is heretical, especially when the mold is reissued every few years. Shame on you for even suggesting it as a hypothetical!