Speaking of cores and graphics: The singularity cores need to have a bigger graphical difference between them. Right now their icons are all just recolors. Combined with the halo effect from the rarity frame, I have trouble telling them apart and I am not color blind in the sligtest.
They need to have different shapes so we can more easily differentiate them.
The one thing I've noticed about the quantum absorption is that it says it gives X amount of temporary hull points....it does say how long or doesnt show anything that it does that...im at lvl 16 with 17,352 hull..i used the skill...not a change what so ever. the shield portion WAI...just not the hull portion.
Edit:....another thing...As much as I like having a Doff console for all the contacts...can we also have physical contacts to each of the decks, for those of us who LIKE to go to the contact physically?
I find this line of replies sadly hilarious. We put a lot of work into the massive list of fixes/changes above, and ya'll are hung up on the ability to skip our content. =p
what kind of difference the captain's Warp Core Efficiency stat makes relative to what you might call a "normal" setup (say 100/50/25/25 just for the sake of having something to work with), vs. a "Romulan" setup (90/40/15/15).
This won't have a different effect on Romulan ships than it does on Fed/KDF ones. The Efficiency bonus is based on what your power setting is, not what your actual power level is. Setting your power to 25 will gain the same amount of Efficiency bonus regardless of whether if your unboosted power level is 15 or 30.
3-4 people are complaining about pvp issues and want to TRIBBLE people who enjoy pve. It's like sayng "no new gameplay for you pve, we pvp want to rule the game". This isn't nice.
I'm not sure if the ddridex is going to "suck". The recluse is fun to fly. The only issue i see with power levels is that it enforces roles, engineering ships will have to heal, escorts will have to do damage and there is no science ship if I remember correctly. That's ok.
I think the turnrate for the T2 escort is a bit low, no escort has such a small turnrate and since it is the most critical stat when you play escort ships (you lose dps if you need time to turn to get your new target into your firing arc), it could use a boost. 15 tunrate, come on. This isn't an escort. I think this little ship is similar to the defiant and thus deserves a 17 turnrate.
I have no complaints so far from the singularity mechanism.. unique new concept, though I'm pretty sure it occupies the particle generator skill.. or will Romulan characters have a new singularity skill attached for this?
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-The D'deridex has a base turn rate of 5.5, which is still low, but comparable to the Bortas. I'll check into why it might be displaying so low on the store. Some of the D'deridex's Singularity abilities can help to compensate for the low turn rate, and there will be more details coming on that (as well as the Refit and Retrofit versions of the D'deridex) soon.
-The lower power levels for Warbirds are intentional. Warbirds currently start with a base of 40 power to all subsystems, plus a ship-specific bonus (in the case of the T'liss, +5 Engines and +10 Weapon Power). This is to help counterbalance the power of the Singularity abilities that these ships have access to. We are still iterating on this and welcome player feedback. There are blogs coming to describe some of this further.
The D'deridex-class Warbirds were meant to have an "advantage" in fire power compared to the Galaxy-class, so I'm not quite sure why the new info states "comparable" instead. With its battle cloak (if it actually does have one) I see the ship engaging in more positional combat situations. Something more like this as a set up would seem appropriate in that case:
I'm not sure if the ddridex is going to "suck". The recluse is fun to fly.
The Recluse has 2 lieutenant commanders, a universal commander, and 2 hangar bays to offset its sluggish turn rate. It's a tremendously flexible ship. That's why it's fun to fly.
The Recluse has 2 lieutenant commanders, a universal commander, and 2 hangar bays to offset its sluggish turn rate. It's a tremendously flexible ship. That's why it's fun to fly.
Exactly. Giving the Dderidex the Galaxy R boff layout is Cryptic Suicide.
Okay, I was looking through the Romulan ships and three ships stuck out as having *much* too high a crew value.
The first was the Subcommander "Valdore Heavy Warbird". This is a heavier version of the 'T'liss' starting warbird. Same ship style. it has 900 crew. Up from 150. considering the size of the ship in canon, that's much too high. But, it gets worse.
The Rear Admiral "Ha'apex Advanced Warbird" and Vice Admiral "Haakona Advanced Warbird", again both based on the TOS "T'liss" style, have *2000* crew each. The D'Deridex only has 1500 crew. 2000 crew for a ship that size is *insane*.
I'm guessing they're typos? Because those crew values are crazy.
"Back on topic. Destinii is correct."
(Formerly Destinii until the 'Great PWE Forum Shakeup of 2012')
Okay, I was looking through the Romulan ships and three ships stuck out as having *much* too high a crew value.
The first was the Subcommander "Valdore Heavy Warbird". This is a heavier version of the 'T'liss' starting warbird. Same ship style. it has 900 crew. Up from 150. considering the size of the ship in canon, that's much too high. But, it gets worse.
The Rear Admiral "Ha'apex Advanced Warbird" and Vice Admiral "Haakona Advanced Warbird", again both based on the TOS "T'liss" style, have *2000* crew each. The D'Deridex only has 1500 crew. 2000 crew for a ship that size is *insane*.
I'm guessing they're typos? Because those crew values are crazy.
The TOS T'liss "skins" you're seeing on those ships are just placeholders. You can see what some of them will eventually look in this blog: http://sto.perfectworld.com/news/?p=869551
The stuff I've read so far in this thread has me a little concerned...okay a lot of concerned. When this entire romulan faction thing was announced my first thought was "I'm going to get to fly a D'Deridex warbird!" What didn't pop into my head was how horrible the ship could be. A turn rate of 5.5 is painful and the bridge officer layout of the Galaxy-R? Who thought that was a good idea? I really hope that the dev's don't ruin the D'Deridex. It, like the Galaxy, has always been a favorite and it would be sad if it suffers the same fate as the Galaxy. The Galaxy is really terrible, it is arguably the worst ship in the game and with a 5.5 turn rate the D'Deridex would be even worse. Please don't ruin this ship like you did the Galaxy.
3-4 people are complaining about pvp issues and want to TRIBBLE people who enjoy pve. It's like sayng "no new gameplay for you pve, we pvp want to rule the game". This isn't nice.
I'm not sure if the ddridex is going to "suck". The recluse is fun to fly. The only issue i see with power levels is that it enforces roles, engineering ships will have to heal, escorts will have to do damage and there is no science ship if I remember correctly. That's ok.
All I ever do is PvE, and I still say this lineup could use some work.
As for the D'deridex and Recluse. Turn rate is only part of the problem. Recluse relys on fighters for much of its DPS and is adaptable. D'Deridex has the same turn rate but is more reliant on weapons which are arc limited unlike fighters, and it has a fixed layout which happens to be a layout that has been found to be lackluster.
The two ships are not that comparable.
Also no science vessels is a problem because it means certain playstyles are hung out to dry. At least when KDF didn't have science ships, their BoPs could be set up with a sci heavy layout. It isn't the same as a science vessel, but it does fall in the category of good enough. Right now we don't even have good enough where science oriented vessels are concerned.
After getting the t2 ship, and closing in on the t3 i have to agree with the posters before, the singularity core abilities are not worth the -10 Power to each subsystem.
For this price the cd of the core is way to long. Being able to use 1 special ability and then have to handle a 1 min cd until you can start recharging and use the same ability again or a different the core offers, doesn?t justify a -40 Power in total.
You could do it that way, that each single ability the core offers has a 1 min cd, but the core itself ahs only a 15 or 20 sec global after which you can start to recharge it again. If you count in the recharge time, you could use one of the cores abilities every 25 to 30 seconds.
That would justify the -40 Power in total imo.
Other option would be to keep the core as it is, and reduce the power price to - 5 to each subsystem.
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Well the big thing with the cooldowns is that you've actually got 2 different cooldowns. The first is the singularity core's 1 minute vacation, and the second is however long it takes for the core to recharge to the level you want. I don't see why we need both. Using an ability before the core is fully recharged already comes with a penalty, in that the ability used won't function at its best potential.
Either the player should be locked into waiting a minute between singularity powers that work at full strength, OR they should have the option to use them frequently but at lower magnitude. Right now we have both at the same time and it kind of makes the thing a bad tradeoff.
(Though I would really prefer some kind of solution where the player can choose to drive the singularity core harder at the cost of Bad Things happening, to suit the alleged "high risk, high reward" style of play that warbirds are supposed to typify).
To be fair, I'm not the best person to be asking about testing mechanics. I play as I like and if I think something's under- or overpowered, I'll post my opinion. But I'm sure there are more respected ship builders here who can say if what I say has merit.
First off, I *love* playing the 23rd century T'liss Light Warbird! I was kinda disappointed when I leveled up and figured I had to upgrade for the extra Singularity ability and normal extra weapons and BOFF slots. Will this old costume be available on any Retrofit or Refit versions?
The singularity abilities are...meh, honestly, if the Plasma Shockwave is any indication. I was getting through most ships before I could raise my Singularity power meter enough for its damage and abilities to mean anything against ships other than drones or fighters (which usually exploded soon after the Plasma Shockwave hit).
I just upgraded to the Dehlan Warbird and, sorry to say, I see using its healing Singularity ability more often than the Plasma Shockwave.
Finally, a 1-minute CD on even being able to charge up seems horrible to me. There's no point putting a cd on the abilities themselves if I can't get power for 1 minute. I could see being able to charge after 30 seconds and putting a 1-minute cd on the abilities, though.
Again, most experienced builders can probably rip me to shreds on this or may actually agree. Just posting my opinion as more of a casual player than a hardcore PvE/PvP builder.
EDIT: Seems I'm not the only one. I posted this without reading any previous posts. Good to feel I was right.
So I was thinking, the UI element for the core abilities seems out of place with the rest of the ui. The way it's shaped just doesn't seem to fit with any of the other elements. Make the charge beter a straight bar and it would fit better and frame it similarly to the boff slots (or the power tray). Also, since many of us are going to be slotting those abilities in our tray anyways, give us an option to hide the icons and just have the charge meter similar to howwe can hide our boff slots and have just the tray.
Just as a reminder to people spazzing about the state of the D'Dex, we're still a month out from planned launch and this round of testing is focused on content from the first twenty levels of progression.
The D'Dex isn't in that range, and I wouldn't tend to take it's current state as 'finished'. Think of it as an unfired clay pot...of course it's not going to hold water yet. It hasn't been fired.
It's not even the most important thing we could be concerning ourselves with...it's /one ship/ out of a set. An iconic ship, to be sure, but one thing that fits into the whole of the playstyle they're trying to develop for Romulan Warbirds.
Personally, I'm more concerned with the notion that at some point my choice of ship is going to be "D'Dex or Get Out."
Even with the Singularity Core as it stands, the Warbirds don't seem to do enough to warrant that progression chain, and the lack of options within it.
Cryptic, your watchword as developers has always been 'choice'. You've had a great track record of enabling players to create their own style and story within the context of the worlds you work in, better than virtually every other developer in the MMO space.
The current state of the Warbirds runs against that grain in a lot of ways. This is particularly counterproductive framed within a story about breaking free from tyranny. Yes, we can choose to fly outside the Warbird line, but that's a choice we already have. It offers little to nothing new, and still leaves the Warbirds themselves feeling anemic and dull.
I once again point to the Singularity Cores as the place to experiment here, far more than you already have. Right now, they're little more than a flashy bridge officer stand in with a rigid progression that ensures that everyone will have and use the same tools, and have to develop the same strategies to use them. In this respect, they offer little novelty and much stagnation.
They need to be real game changers. Give us the ability to make a D'Deridex pivot on a dime. Give us the ability to turn the T'Liss into a tiny tank. Let us set gravitic fire to the battlefield. Make it hurt. Whatever it takes, give us the power and make us pay. Make us dangerous, to ourselves and others. Let us gamble with the edge of the universe we're flying on.
That's Romulan: You do what you have to do, even if it means breaking your wings in a dive at your enemy's throat.
Just as a reminder to people spazzing about the state of the D'Dex, we're still a month out from planned launch and this round of testing is focused on content from the first twenty levels of progression.
The D'Dex isn't in that range, and I wouldn't tend to take it's current state as 'finished'. Think of it as an unfired clay pot...of course it's not going to hold water yet. It hasn't been fired.
It's not even the most important thing we could be concerning ourselves with...it's /one ship/ out of a set. An iconic ship, to be sure, but one thing that fits into the whole of the playstyle they're trying to develop for Romulan Warbirds.
Personally, I'm more concerned with the notion that at some point my choice of ship is going to be "D'Dex or Get Out."
Even with the Singularity Core as it stands, the Warbirds don't seem to do enough to warrant that progression chain, and the lack of options within it.
Cryptic, your watchword as developers has always been 'choice'. You've had a great track record of enabling players to create their own style and story within the context of the worlds you work in, better than virtually every other developer in the MMO space.
The current state of the Warbirds runs against that grain in a lot of ways. This is particularly counterproductive framed within a story about breaking free from tyranny. Yes, we can choose to fly outside the Warbird line, but that's a choice we already have. It offers little to nothing new, and still leaves the Warbirds themselves feeling anemic and dull.
I once again point to the Singularity Cores as the place to experiment here, far more than you already have. Right now, they're little more than a flashy bridge officer stand in with a rigid progression that ensures that everyone will have and use the same tools, and have to develop the same strategies to use them. In this respect, they offer little novelty and much stagnation.
They need to be real game changers. Give us the ability to make a D'Deridex pivot on a dime. Give us the ability to turn the T'Liss into a tiny tank. Let us set gravitic fire to the battlefield. Make it hurt. Whatever it takes, give us the power and make us pay. Make us dangerous, to ourselves and others. Let us gamble with the edge of the universe we're flying on.
That's Romulan: You do what you have to do, even if it means breaking your wings in a dive at your enemy's throat.
The combat style for Romulans is more than just the Singularity Core; it is also heavily dependent on the Battle Cloak. This is what the "5.5 turn rate OMFGWTFBBQ!!!1!1!1" people are missing: that jumps up to 15.5 when you're cloaked. So, clearly, the battle cloak is an INTEGRAL part of high-level Romulan play. Combine that with the Singularity Core, and you have a fairly unique playstyle.
Looking forward to seeing how well it actually works once I'm that high a level (but T5, I'll probably go back to a more maneuverable ship)
The combat style for Romulans is more than just the Singularity Core; it is also heavily dependent on the Battle Cloak. This is what the "5.5 turn rate OMFGWTFBBQ!!!1!1!1" people are missing: that jumps up to 15.5 when you're cloaked. So, clearly, the battle cloak is an INTEGRAL part of high-level Romulan play. Combine that with the Singularity Core, and you have a fairly unique playstyle.
Looking forward to seeing how well it actually works once I'm that high a level (but T5, I'll probably go back to a more maneuverable ship)
I was actually giving this some thought over breakfast and while waiting for the Academy event to spin up on my Klingon.
The battle cloak is a neat and useful thing, but I'm not sure it's entirely the right direction. I'd like to see the Singularity employed to flesh out the 'Masters of Stealth' concept even further.
Think about it: You've got a thing that eats all trace of everything. So why not feed all your drive emissions into it while bending light around your craft and all that jazz? By all means keep a regular or battle cloak for cruising, initial contact and cold running, but why not have a cloak effect that feeds into the core and it's usage? You spin it up in combat, disappear, start gaining mass/charge/spin on the core. Divert surplus power wherever you need it, brace for the big reveal, reappear to rain fire on your adversary, clean up your mess and prepare for the next round.
i know how to exploit the openings the EPt changes create, its child's play. i know how these changes have a ripple effect into everything, is blatantly obvious to those of us pvping for 3 years.
I think that's the problem, most people don;t see the ripple effects or how space combat is more or less a house of cards, lots of ...questionable design choices propping each other up and a seemingly small change like this will have rather hefty consequences. The really funny part is that I say this as a PvE hero, PvE is where the EPtX change will be be most felt by people trying to play cruisers in anything other than unkillable zombie cruiser mode. This would be a shame since cruisers offer a unique playstyle from my escort.
Or... oh no, could it be that the EPtX change is in preparation to more things being made at the CE difficulty level and not as the elite hive or elite cure levels of difficulty? Is teh game becoming even easier??!! Say its not so!!
3-4 people are complaining about pvp issues and want to TRIBBLE people who enjoy pve. It's like sayng "no new gameplay for you pve, we pvp want to rule the game". This isn't nice.
I'm not sure if the ddridex is going to "suck". The recluse is fun to fly. The only issue i see with power levels is that it enforces roles, engineering ships will have to heal, escorts will have to do damage and there is no science ship if I remember correctly. That's ok.
I think the turnrate for the T2 escort is a bit low, no escort has such a small turnrate and since it is the most critical stat when you play escort ships (you lose dps if you need time to turn to get your new target into your firing arc), it could use a boost. 15 tunrate, come on. This isn't an escort. I think this little ship is similar to the defiant and thus deserves a 17 turnrate.
In this case you're off base I'm afraid. I'm not a pvp guy but have been around for years, and I'm in complete agreement with DDIS and the others. Bad/unfun ship designs and mechanics are not good regardless of whether one is playing PVE or PVP.
Hate is the wrong word to use here also, pointing out issues/problems doesn't mean people personally hate the developers.
It could possibly be that Science ships got nerfed into the ground so the only people who fly them anymore are the ones who prefer the hull design and lighshows over actual effectiveness.
I can fire a ton of drains and only draw a few power from a target, shield strips are lol and exotic damage doesn't make up for the loss of weapons. You can;t hold anybody and disables only work for 3 seconds.
Ahh, you mean the "classic" sci vessels, in these more enlightened times when we talk about sci vessels we usually mean a carrier of some sort.
Hate is the wrong word to use here also, pointing out issues/problems doesn't mean people personally hate the developers.
It's the internet. You're going to run into a lot of people who don't understand it's actually possible to be critical and negative about parts of a thing without actually disliking that overall thing. For some reason a lot of people seem only able to process loving or hating something with absolutely no middle ground. Which is crazy, but I suppose that's an entirely separate issue.
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Member of Alliance Central Command/boq botlhra'ghom
I do have a question I'm not totally clear on. Once we join with whichever faction, what happens with C-store ship consoles unique to that faction?
For example if you side with the KDF, and have the Tier 3 Kt'inga Battle Cruiser Refit, could you carry the Magnetometric Generator from that ship over to a Tier 4 D'Deridex, or is that console only good on Klingon ships?
"We are smart." - Grebnedlog
Member of Alliance Central Command/boq botlhra'ghom
Comments
Think we could get an update to the Particle Generator skill info to list Singularity Cores then?
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As for Singularity mechanic, I like it.
They need to have different shapes so we can more easily differentiate them.
Edit:....another thing...As much as I like having a Doff console for all the contacts...can we also have physical contacts to each of the decks, for those of us who LIKE to go to the contact physically?
This won't have a different effect on Romulan ships than it does on Fed/KDF ones. The Efficiency bonus is based on what your power setting is, not what your actual power level is. Setting your power to 25 will gain the same amount of Efficiency bonus regardless of whether if your unboosted power level is 15 or 30.
3-4 people are complaining about pvp issues and want to TRIBBLE people who enjoy pve. It's like sayng "no new gameplay for you pve, we pvp want to rule the game". This isn't nice.
I'm not sure if the ddridex is going to "suck". The recluse is fun to fly. The only issue i see with power levels is that it enforces roles, engineering ships will have to heal, escorts will have to do damage and there is no science ship if I remember correctly. That's ok.
I think the turnrate for the T2 escort is a bit low, no escort has such a small turnrate and since it is the most critical stat when you play escort ships (you lose dps if you need time to turn to get your new target into your firing arc), it could use a boost. 15 tunrate, come on. This isn't an escort. I think this little ship is similar to the defiant and thus deserves a 17 turnrate.
Wanting ships to be better...screws people who enjoy PvE how?
5 FED Fleets | 3 KDF Fleets - T5 Colony on both factions
The D'deridex-class Warbirds were meant to have an "advantage" in fire power compared to the Galaxy-class, so I'm not quite sure why the new info states "comparable" instead. With its battle cloak (if it actually does have one) I see the ship engaging in more positional combat situations. Something more like this as a set up would seem appropriate in that case:
If really need be you could knock the turn rate down to just 5, if the forward weapon power of the ship is deemed too much.
Commanding Officer: Captain Pyotr Ramonovich Amosov
Dedication Plaque: "Nil Intentatum Reliquit"
The Recluse has 2 lieutenant commanders, a universal commander, and 2 hangar bays to offset its sluggish turn rate. It's a tremendously flexible ship. That's why it's fun to fly.
Exactly. Giving the Dderidex the Galaxy R boff layout is Cryptic Suicide.
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the only suprise you are going to get from a d'deridex is what idiot is asking to be killed....
the only dread will be "what idiot is trying to handicap our team by bringing that into pvp...."
as ddis pointed out: its TRIBBLE^2. I m sure Geko is happy with it, from now on Gal-R is not only WAD, but hi look D'd is even worse.
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The first was the Subcommander "Valdore Heavy Warbird". This is a heavier version of the 'T'liss' starting warbird. Same ship style. it has 900 crew. Up from 150. considering the size of the ship in canon, that's much too high. But, it gets worse.
The Rear Admiral "Ha'apex Advanced Warbird" and Vice Admiral "Haakona Advanced Warbird", again both based on the TOS "T'liss" style, have *2000* crew each. The D'Deridex only has 1500 crew. 2000 crew for a ship that size is *insane*.
I'm guessing they're typos? Because those crew values are crazy.
"Back on topic. Destinii is correct."
(Formerly Destinii until the 'Great PWE Forum Shakeup of 2012')
The TOS T'liss "skins" you're seeing on those ships are just placeholders. You can see what some of them will eventually look in this blog: http://sto.perfectworld.com/news/?p=869551
Commanding Officer: Captain Pyotr Ramonovich Amosov
Dedication Plaque: "Nil Intentatum Reliquit"
All I ever do is PvE, and I still say this lineup could use some work.
As for the D'deridex and Recluse. Turn rate is only part of the problem. Recluse relys on fighters for much of its DPS and is adaptable. D'Deridex has the same turn rate but is more reliant on weapons which are arc limited unlike fighters, and it has a fixed layout which happens to be a layout that has been found to be lackluster.
The two ships are not that comparable.
Also no science vessels is a problem because it means certain playstyles are hung out to dry. At least when KDF didn't have science ships, their BoPs could be set up with a sci heavy layout. It isn't the same as a science vessel, but it does fall in the category of good enough. Right now we don't even have good enough where science oriented vessels are concerned.
For this price the cd of the core is way to long. Being able to use 1 special ability and then have to handle a 1 min cd until you can start recharging and use the same ability again or a different the core offers, doesn?t justify a -40 Power in total.
You could do it that way, that each single ability the core offers has a 1 min cd, but the core itself ahs only a 15 or 20 sec global after which you can start to recharge it again. If you count in the recharge time, you could use one of the cores abilities every 25 to 30 seconds.
That would justify the -40 Power in total imo.
Other option would be to keep the core as it is, and reduce the power price to - 5 to each subsystem.
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Either the player should be locked into waiting a minute between singularity powers that work at full strength, OR they should have the option to use them frequently but at lower magnitude. Right now we have both at the same time and it kind of makes the thing a bad tradeoff.
(Though I would really prefer some kind of solution where the player can choose to drive the singularity core harder at the cost of Bad Things happening, to suit the alleged "high risk, high reward" style of play that warbirds are supposed to typify).
First off, I *love* playing the 23rd century T'liss Light Warbird! I was kinda disappointed when I leveled up and figured I had to upgrade for the extra Singularity ability and normal extra weapons and BOFF slots. Will this old costume be available on any Retrofit or Refit versions?
The singularity abilities are...meh, honestly, if the Plasma Shockwave is any indication. I was getting through most ships before I could raise my Singularity power meter enough for its damage and abilities to mean anything against ships other than drones or fighters (which usually exploded soon after the Plasma Shockwave hit).
I just upgraded to the Dehlan Warbird and, sorry to say, I see using its healing Singularity ability more often than the Plasma Shockwave.
Finally, a 1-minute CD on even being able to charge up seems horrible to me. There's no point putting a cd on the abilities themselves if I can't get power for 1 minute. I could see being able to charge after 30 seconds and putting a 1-minute cd on the abilities, though.
Again, most experienced builders can probably rip me to shreds on this or may actually agree. Just posting my opinion as more of a casual player than a hardcore PvE/PvP builder.
EDIT: Seems I'm not the only one. I posted this without reading any previous posts. Good to feel I was right.
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The D'Dex isn't in that range, and I wouldn't tend to take it's current state as 'finished'. Think of it as an unfired clay pot...of course it's not going to hold water yet. It hasn't been fired.
It's not even the most important thing we could be concerning ourselves with...it's /one ship/ out of a set. An iconic ship, to be sure, but one thing that fits into the whole of the playstyle they're trying to develop for Romulan Warbirds.
Personally, I'm more concerned with the notion that at some point my choice of ship is going to be "D'Dex or Get Out."
Even with the Singularity Core as it stands, the Warbirds don't seem to do enough to warrant that progression chain, and the lack of options within it.
Cryptic, your watchword as developers has always been 'choice'. You've had a great track record of enabling players to create their own style and story within the context of the worlds you work in, better than virtually every other developer in the MMO space.
The current state of the Warbirds runs against that grain in a lot of ways. This is particularly counterproductive framed within a story about breaking free from tyranny. Yes, we can choose to fly outside the Warbird line, but that's a choice we already have. It offers little to nothing new, and still leaves the Warbirds themselves feeling anemic and dull.
I once again point to the Singularity Cores as the place to experiment here, far more than you already have. Right now, they're little more than a flashy bridge officer stand in with a rigid progression that ensures that everyone will have and use the same tools, and have to develop the same strategies to use them. In this respect, they offer little novelty and much stagnation.
They need to be real game changers. Give us the ability to make a D'Deridex pivot on a dime. Give us the ability to turn the T'Liss into a tiny tank. Let us set gravitic fire to the battlefield. Make it hurt. Whatever it takes, give us the power and make us pay. Make us dangerous, to ourselves and others. Let us gamble with the edge of the universe we're flying on.
That's Romulan: You do what you have to do, even if it means breaking your wings in a dive at your enemy's throat.
I just noticed something odd about the EC Vendor warp core progression versus the singularity progression. The system they buff isn't consistent.
MkI
WC: Auxilliary
S: Auxilliary
MkIII
WC: Engine
S: Engine
MkV
WC: Auxilliary
S: Shield
MkVII
WC: Engine
S: Auxilliary
MkIX
WC: Shield
S: Engine
So warbirds get that minor shield buff a lot sooner, but don't have such on a (cheap) tier V engine. Is this intentional?
The combat style for Romulans is more than just the Singularity Core; it is also heavily dependent on the Battle Cloak. This is what the "5.5 turn rate OMFGWTFBBQ!!!1!1!1" people are missing: that jumps up to 15.5 when you're cloaked. So, clearly, the battle cloak is an INTEGRAL part of high-level Romulan play. Combine that with the Singularity Core, and you have a fairly unique playstyle.
Looking forward to seeing how well it actually works once I'm that high a level (but T5, I'll probably go back to a more maneuverable ship)
I was actually giving this some thought over breakfast and while waiting for the Academy event to spin up on my Klingon.
The battle cloak is a neat and useful thing, but I'm not sure it's entirely the right direction. I'd like to see the Singularity employed to flesh out the 'Masters of Stealth' concept even further.
Think about it: You've got a thing that eats all trace of everything. So why not feed all your drive emissions into it while bending light around your craft and all that jazz? By all means keep a regular or battle cloak for cruising, initial contact and cold running, but why not have a cloak effect that feeds into the core and it's usage? You spin it up in combat, disappear, start gaining mass/charge/spin on the core. Divert surplus power wherever you need it, brace for the big reveal, reappear to rain fire on your adversary, clean up your mess and prepare for the next round.
I think that's the problem, most people don;t see the ripple effects or how space combat is more or less a house of cards, lots of ...questionable design choices propping each other up and a seemingly small change like this will have rather hefty consequences. The really funny part is that I say this as a PvE hero, PvE is where the EPtX change will be be most felt by people trying to play cruisers in anything other than unkillable zombie cruiser mode. This would be a shame since cruisers offer a unique playstyle from my escort.
Or... oh no, could it be that the EPtX change is in preparation to more things being made at the CE difficulty level and not as the elite hive or elite cure levels of difficulty? Is teh game becoming even easier??!! Say its not so!!
In this case you're off base I'm afraid. I'm not a pvp guy but have been around for years, and I'm in complete agreement with DDIS and the others. Bad/unfun ship designs and mechanics are not good regardless of whether one is playing PVE or PVP.
Hate is the wrong word to use here also, pointing out issues/problems doesn't mean people personally hate the developers.
Ahh, you mean the "classic" sci vessels, in these more enlightened times when we talk about sci vessels we usually mean a carrier of some sort.
It's the internet. You're going to run into a lot of people who don't understand it's actually possible to be critical and negative about parts of a thing without actually disliking that overall thing. For some reason a lot of people seem only able to process loving or hating something with absolutely no middle ground. Which is crazy, but I suppose that's an entirely separate issue.
"We are smart." - Grebnedlog
Member of Alliance Central Command/boq botlhra'ghom
For example if you side with the KDF, and have the Tier 3 Kt'inga Battle Cruiser Refit, could you carry the Magnetometric Generator from that ship over to a Tier 4 D'Deridex, or is that console only good on Klingon ships?
"We are smart." - Grebnedlog
Member of Alliance Central Command/boq botlhra'ghom