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xxmaelstrom11
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Hey everyone! So I've been on the fence with this game long enough! I have finally downloaded and installed it via Steam on my desktop. I have a few questions though.
1. This game received some flak during its early release stages and got some pretty low reviews from the press and players. How does it stack up now? Has the game gotten better? If it was a 66 on metacritic before, what would it be now?
2. What's end-game content like?
3. After getting all the best stuff (which takes about how long?), what is there to do?
4. What's PvP like?
5. Is the game challenging?
6. Is there lots to do in PvE?
7. Is the story anything to brag about?
Any other comments you can provide would be excellent! Thanks for all your help!
1. This game received some flak during its early release stages and got some pretty low reviews from the press and players. How does it stack up now? Has the game gotten better? If it was a 66 on metacritic before, what would it be now?
2. What's end-game content like?
3. After getting all the best stuff (which takes about how long?), what is there to do?
4. What's PvP like?
5. Is the game challenging?
6. Is there lots to do in PvE?
7. Is the story anything to brag about?
Any other comments you can provide would be excellent! Thanks for all your help!
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2. Reputations (there are two of them currently, each with a number of store unlocks and individual item unlocks), and fleet holdings (also two currently), both heavily tied to queued content and daily missions on and around New Romulus. There's also a third reputation coming next month with Legacy of Romulus, and a third holding coming at some unconfirmed time after that.
Both can get fairly repetitive if you take them the whole distance, once you hit tier 5 in your reputations some of the equipment can be extremely expensive, ranging up to 900 marks (which can take up to 15 elite STF runs).
3. Getting all the best stuff depends on your path there, since best can be a lot of different things. It can take several weeks to several months to get a set of mk XII stuff from the reputation store. However, if you go for elite fleet gear, that could only be a couple weeks if you join an established tier 4/5 fleet, or it could be 7-10 months if you join a young fleet and help every step of the way. Getting the best duty officers can be a never ending process, as can finding the perfect ship.
4. I'll leave this to somebody with more experience there.
5. Some of it is. However, there's been a lot of power creep in the game, and a lot of content can be simply outclassed by the best gear in the game. I will say that a lot of the comments about the game being too easy are from the perspective of long time players who have stayed on or ahead of that power creep all along. It can be a long climb up there when you first hit level 50 with a mixed bag of equipment and officers.
6. Yes. Aside from the reputation and fleet queue events (there's a couple dozen of these but they can still get fairly repetitive), there's the foundry, which has many hundreds of user created missions. You can get weeks of excellent missions out of this if you use a resource like starbaseugc.com, and can go almost forever on decent to mediocre missions.
Not a problem I'll do my best.
Due to how metacritic rates scores it'd probably still be in the high sixties.
If there were no early reviews bringing it down now then it'd probably score about high seventies at least. It'd probably go up even more with the new Romulan Faction next month though.
Currently you have several PvE instances against various foes including 45-50 versions of all previous PvE events.
Specialist end game content uses the Rep system in which you collect and purchase items to redeem for top tier equipment, it does require some amount of Grind however.
The current rep systems are New Romulus Reputation which involves missions on New Romulus and the PvE events Mine Trap, The Vault events and a couple of others I can't recall.
The other is Omega Rep against the Borg which includes the Defera Invasion area and the STF events (Infected, Cure, Hive and Khitomer).
The Legacy of Romulus expansion includes the Tholian Reputaion which is currently based around Nukera ground on the Test Server.
It can take 2 to three months to get the best equipment although best is subjective. After doing it you can do any of the following.
Unfortunately I couldn't say.
There's easy parts and challenging parts as well as the increased difficulties which include penalties for dying too much.
Yes and no, there's plenty of PvE content on the Fed side, Klingon side currenty isn't so great but is improving with the Legacy of Romulus update to have content to support a full 1-50 faction and there's plenty of PvE events most of which are cross faction at endgame.
Also quite a few planets have patrol missions on you can pick up just by going to them and the exploration content, whilst it can get a little samey after a while does give a lot of content out.
And that's without getting on about the user made content in the Foundry.
Some of the early writing is enough to make you cringe, however the Featured Episode series (Devidian arc, last 5 in the Romulan arc, Breen arc and the 2800 arc), the 2013 anniversary arc and the new content in LoR is some of the best content I've seen in MMOs and does actually feel like Trek, not to mention that the Featured Foundry missions are all excellently written and deserve at least one play of each.
Enjoy the game, give the Foundry stuff it's fair try (There is quite a bit of good content buried under all the farming and exploit missions in there) and if you have any questions either post them on the forums or contact me ingame at @Bluedarky
I would. Season 7 was a bit shaky there, I didn't consider it the step backwards some people did, but it wasn't a great step forward either. But I've been playing the Legacy of Romulus beta and the new missions and story expansion (not just for Romulans, but Klingons and Federation as well) has been excellent, and the beta's only scratching the surface at the moment. It also has an overhauled interface that improved performance and quality of life quite a bit.
The game was pretty unfinished in the early stages and has improved by leaps and bounds since. The game obviously appeals to fans of the star trek universe, but also works very well as an MMO. I would say it would score better, in the 80's. Keep in mind that it is, for an MMO, a rather casual-friendly environment: leveling happens rather swiftly and most events can be completed using "pug" groups put together through the queue system.
2. What's end-game content like?
The end game content is good, but again with a rather casual focus. There are four main systems that players focus on in endgame PVE (2 Reputations systems, the duty officer system and fleet advancement):
Most endgame content is time-gated: so while you get rewarded for playing more by accumulating more currency (of all types) to be spent on gear, the actually progression through the fleet and reputation systems is governed by cooldowns.
All endgame content can be completed by groups of 5 players, or groups of 10-20 put together by the in-game queue system. The system works well. Only the elite content (currently just a set of 8 lvl 50 STF missions) and winning the no-win scenario requires a particularly competent team working together.
Apart from some Elite ground STFs if your group has trouble, most endgame events can be completed in 5 - 20 minutes. This is great for people for whom real life can prevent you from enjoying 2-5 hour raid content that is present in other games.
The dual nature of the game is an asset. Space and Ground play like two different games, and you can progress through all endgame content in either of the two, and with many choices to earn your way through each of the main systems. Many people will express that space is more fun than ground. I enjoy both equally, and some people prefer ground. It comes down to personal preference AND what class you play: Tactical captains are the kings in space pve but rather bland to play on the ground. Science provides a mix of good abilities for space (especially pvp) and ground. Many agree that Engineering captains provide the best ground experience.
The fleet advancement system is nice because it allows a whole fleet to work individually or in groups toward a single goal. These goals are most easily achieved by larger fleets (obviously, as many hands make light work) and the source of much whining by people who refuse to expand.
Duty officers are sort of a mini-game. It is done entirely solo but communities have grown to support each other by announcing when and where rare officer assignments appear. The results of the mini-game are very apparent in both ground and space combat, but you can skip the doff system entirely if you don't enjoy it by buying desirable duty officers from other players. These officers can be real expensive, though.
3. After getting all the best stuff (which takes about how long?), what is there to do?
One nice thing about this game is that, though cookie-cutter players will tell you otherwise, the line of "best stuff" is blurred. Many players are finding success with different combinations of items from different endgame systems. Because of this, your "about how long" question.
Lots of people use reputation gear, and to get to the best gear, such as Omega and MACO MK XII, you need to get to T5 Reputation. This will take a minimum of 1 month (29 days if you never let time pass between starting the 20h timers and you do every assignment) but more like 1.5 months.
Fleet Gear is also good, especially Elite shields for pvp and advanced fleet weapons with [Acc]x2. Fleet advanced engines (the elite ones are pretty lame) are the best engines in terms of base stats, but most people want a set engine for set bonuses. How long to get these is based simply on if you can join an already established fleet and how long it takes for them to allow you access. Some very keep fleets have started to get access to the highest tier fleet equipment now (which includes some new ships and elite weapons and fighter pets (for carriers))
You will want T5.5 ship: these are available from the lockboxes or fleets. They are the best tier of ships and have 1 more console (which is great) and 10% more survivability than regular t5 ships. Some of these tier are only available for Zen in the C-store: Andorian Escorts, Multi-Mission Science Vessels, and Flagships (Odyssey/Bortasqu) (look for the 3 packs of ships)
As for what to do when you've got the gear you want: do doff assignments, contribute to your fleet, finish rep systems if you haven't (even if you don't want the gear, each tier gives wicked passive and eventually active abilities), a new reputation system will be available with the new expansion (which will be out for free on May 21st, so before you finish the two currently available rep systems). After that it is about playing whatever content you like: There is some challenges available like trying to get a group to beat the no win scenario, or optimizing yourself or with a team for pve and pvp. My fleet has current records for elite space stfs that we always try to beat. Also, make alts. Especially with the expansion, each side has different missions and story.
Also, there are tens of thousands of foundry missions to try out. This can be very fun.
4. What's PvP like?
I don't PVP too much, other people would be better to answer this.
5. Is the game challenging?
Story missions, foundry, and other ordinarily solo content scale to level and party size, and the games increased difficulty settings can be used to add some challenge. Try playing a character on Elite, it can get tough in some missions.
6. Is there lots to do in PvE?
I didn't even cover it all in the above wall of text, so yes.
7. Is the story anything to brag about?
The story in the current game is decent, but nothing fancy. Playing through all the mission arcs at least once is recommended. People will say otherwise about the story because it does get bland if you've done it before. Play through all the missions at least once between your characters.
*-The power is usually tied to a console. Tier 1-4 ships you can take the console and use it on any ship you want, tier 5 ships they're generally only usable on the ship they come with and any identical ships (eg. the Multivector Advanced Escort's MVAM console can also be used on the free Advanced Escort or the Fleet Advanced Escort).
Oh, where do you see those ships? And by "get" do you mean you gain access to be able to buy a new one? If so, where do I buy it, lol.
Go back to Earth Spacedock and turn it in with the admiral, and you'll get a token. Use that at the shipyard (take the turbolift in the right-lower section of ESD) to buy a ship of the appropriate rank for free.
Tier 1 (level 1 - 10) Ships (Constitution, NX Class and Oberth) and all shuttles and small ships cost 500.
Tier 2 (level 10 - 20)Ships cost 1000
Tier 3 (20-30) cost 1500
Tier 4 (30-40) cost 2000
and Tier 5 (40+) cost 2500 although make sure the ship you're buying can be used at your rank as some tier 5 ships are level 50 only.
Ships however are an account purchase, once you buy one you can claim it on every character. And all C-Store ships come with a special weapon or console. For example the Tier 5 Galaxy Retrofit comes with a saucer separation console, and the Tier 1 constitution comes with phaser arrays that level with you.
As for other C-Store stuff, costume sets, bridge packs, anything under bundles, Account bank slots, the EC cap increase and species unlocks are all lifetime unlocks, pay once, unlock for as long as you have the account.
Oh okay cool! Any recommendations on C-Shop stuff for a noobie?
There are several aspects of progression that don't even require you to be online(duty officer system, reputations). In some ways, these time-gate systems are a bit more like the skill progression in EVE Online, but you do have to play to acquire the resources to fuel these system(marks, various commodities, post level-cap experience/Expertise, etc.). However, there's no risk of losing progress like dying in EVE.
Before I talk about 'end-game', it's important to understand that player skill and knowledge is far more important in this game than gear. Yes, gear will allow you to do some really impressive stuff.. but people have cleared all of the end game stuff using starting frigates. Furthermore, the last 'freebie' ship(s) you get at level 40 are more than capable of keeping pace with paid ships... and are arguably better than some of them.
Once you reach the level cap, you do have a fairly decent variety of options. There are the dungeon-like S.pecial T.ask F.orce missions and raid-like Fleet Actions. Additionally, there are "Red Alerts" that you will encounter in sector space that will scale you up to a high level automatically and are roughly equivalent to a normal difficult STF. Outside of party-based stuff, there are also various patrols you can embark upon and several adventure zones. Also, there is also the Foundry where other players can create and share missions, there are some real gems to be found and more being made every day.
The overall difficulty of PvE stuff tends to vary. Borg can be overwhelming at first until you adapt to fighting them(for a change!), then they become a fairly tame enemy that occasionally bites your hand off for underestimating them. Tholians, on the other hand, are a quite obnoxious opponent and probably the biggest challenge PvE has to offer. They're especially irritating in ground combat if you're depending on bridge officers instead of other players.
That said, if you truly want to attain mastery of the game, you'll have to step out of the PvE kiddy pool and into the PvP shark tank. Nothing will tax the performance of your ship and skills like other players. Of course, it ultimately depends on what you want out of the game. Excelling in PvP means trivializing most parts of the game into raw numbers. As a result, PvE will become completely trivial once/if you do.
Few questions though now:
1. What are the two exp bars at the top?
2. Why is ground combat so boringggg (lol)
3. What does changing the difficulty change?
4. Are there side quests?
5. How do you get Dilithium (or w/e its called)
All I can think of for now. I think I joined a Fleet before stopping today lol. So maybe they can help. IGN is Tyr4el if anyone wants to add and friend me
2.) Subject to your personal tastes. There is more going on than is apparent at a glance. Crouching reduces ranged damage you take, but increases melee damage you take. Fine Aiming will increase your damage, but slow your movement. Furthermore, Flanking gives you a massive damage bonus. Lastly, there is the expose and expoit mechanic that will let you do increased damage and outright vaporize people. There are also the various properties of different damage types and the secondaries of various weapon types - Pulsewave and Sniper are generally prefered due to their effectiveness against the Borg.
Granted, I'm really not a fan of ground combat, and most people aren't.
3.) Changing the difficulty makes encounters harder(generally just scaling numbers up, but there are some spawn changes in some cases). Additionally, there are chances to suffer permanent injuries to your captain or ship if you die/explode. You can fix them with regenerators(captain) or components(ship), or by visiting the medical bay/engineering bay at space stations. It's suppose to increase the loot that drops as well, but it's honestly hard to notice(Elite STFs are one of the very few places you can get Mark XII drops, however).
4.) There are tons of missions that exist outside of Episode arcs. They range from exploration cluster patrols to pvp missions to a daily mining mission for dilithium.
5.) Lots of ways to get Dilithium, too many to just go over in brief. More ways open up as you get higher in level(where it becomes much more of a factor - you really don't need to spend any while you're still leveling up). Cryptic re-posts an article each month on the main website concerning what it is and various ways to acquire it.
Like others have said save for Tier 5 Vice Admiral ships, especially Fed side, the only console worth anything below Tier 5 fed side is the one from the Tier 3 Heavy Escort Refit.
Huh? People use the point defence console? It seems utterly useless to me.
1. The top xp bar is your level (or grade), when it fills up you will advance to next level. The bars below that is progress toward the next rank (10 levels)
2. Ground combat is pretty fun for engineers, at least I think so. If you hate it, remember, you can conceivably avoid it for the rest of your time in the game, but you will miss the story missions (and foundry spotlights) if you do. Want a fast, fun way to level: Join the 'mirror invasion' from your PVE queues during the 1 hour mirror universe invasion event. This is a space event that gives tons of exp.
4/5. There are some side-quests that appear just by flying past certain planets and stuff. Explore those. Also exploration missions are a sort of side-quest and one early way to earn dilithium. You can also get dilithium from doing spotlighted (or not, but spotlight is better) foundry missions in your foundry tab of the "J" menu.
I'm about to log in to the game myself, so if you see this and you still need some help, drop me a line (Laurence Corrin@diotw) and I'll come and give you a hand.
This character is why I don't play my Romulan any more. Tovan Khev is NOT my BFF! Get him off my bridge!
"Last Engage! Magical Girl Origami-san" is in print! Now with three times more rainbows.
Support the "Armored Unicorn" vehicle initiative today!
Thanks for Harajuku. Now let's get a real "Magical Girl" costume!
Thank you, Laurence. I tried for a solid hour, but that ship never gets close to destroyed, while my little ship does, then I have to run away. I went off after I posted last night or I would have called for help. I still don't even know how to do that in game. They don't explain that anywhere.
Ah, I wouldn't mind helping you, but one tip for you, if you run from any ship, a timer ticks down and if it's out of combat for too long, it'll fly back to it's spawn point and get full health, thats why it's important to never leave combat for too long, and a small cruiser is easily capable of taking out a battleship if you use your abilities and weapons correctly, shoot me a message (Roseluck@jupiter1122) if you happen to need help, I'm generally on really often, so I'd happily help a new player.
What's your in game handle? (Character Name@loginname) I can get in touch with you next time I'm in game and see if you still need a hand.
This character is why I don't play my Romulan any more. Tovan Khev is NOT my BFF! Get him off my bridge!