I enjoy dipping my toes into PvP every once in awhile just to play a match or two.
I am a VERY casual type.
People like Drkfrontiers, Capt.Horizon, and a few others actually are very welcoming and helpful.
But like the OP , for the most part PvP is dead to me.
It's bevcause of people who have these premades who roll into ques and roflstomp newbies and casuals often act like total ***hats.
Yesterday, I even asked in the zone , hey that was cool , how did you guys do that, and the other team (fairly well known team name - not naming names) , wasn't at all helpful and kind. Instead they turned their "lets be jerks" switches up to 11 and started making fun of all of us casual players , and one guy even said "Go back to PvE ya freaking noobs."
If they didn't want to possibly fight noobs, why did they PUG que ?
That's why PvP is dead in this game.
Because for every great and welcoming person in the community who actually want to help, there are teams (who act all nice here on the forums) , that turn into total ****wads when they get into a match.
So, I will continue to occaisionally pop in for a match here and there, but attitudes like experienced yesterday , keep me a very .... VERY occaisional visitor.
I will say that the Boot Camp and the territory control thing are some of my very favorite player driven initiatives. Seriously props to all involved.
I think you misunderstand. I have done plenty of other ground missions..
(Hell I remember when Infected wasn't 2 Queue missions, but one long and honestly fun mission. If you couldn't jump in the final ground boss fight.. you died :P)
The newest ones with the Elachi I die more often due to the newest ways their attacks work thanks to Neverwinter. I some times forget to look for the Red cones of doom from some attacks from Turrets or some boss effects. Or I'll get caught in the plasma blasts of one of their weird Walking Flame turrets. Other PVE, including the BORG I have an easier time with, because they were created much earlier.
It's really fun when the Elachi position a stasis turret so that it yanks people into the line-of fire from the cone weapon.
But yeah, Borg AIs are dumb as dirt. they spam cheap shots simply because it's the only way they can challenge the player.
Anyway, as far as this 'Learning Curve' goes, I consider it to be an illusion perpetrated unintentionally by players with superior equipment.
My reasoning?
The Black Poo Cloud Of Certain Inevitable Disabling, plus a tractor beam, is both completely inescapable, and a very simple combo to figure out. There is no 'Learning Curve' required, just a deep EC wallet.
Now, one might think that a player who can pop your ship without a second thought must be an experienced PvP veteran, but the above example shows that this is most likely not the case. That 'skilled' player is probably just better equipped.
So i decide to try out pvp. this game's pvp has reached a tipping point. You either really really have, or you really really dont. and theres nothing that can really be done to save it. its to specialized. the feeling i get, as a new pvper, is you have no chance in hell of ever getting better, there is no learning curve. you are just here so us leet veterans have a target to practice on. My experience is so bad thats im never trying it again. ever. cryptic could dangle a three pack of scimitar ships in front of me, and id tell them where they can shove their TRIBBLE.
ok ill leave now so everyone can tell me how bad i am, or learn to fly. and i wont read a word of it. Just wanting you to have feedback, of why ill never pvp again.
TL;DR the learning curve in pvp is too brutal. to ever get the pvp community to grow, soften it.
Please do mail me. We are always looking to assist folks. There are also other players of various levels which we can arrange friendly matches for you so that you gain the most amount of enjoyment while learning.
Don't let it get you down mate. We have all been where you are. Its the getting-up thats the victory. Do it with a laugh and you are a legend.
We have a channel for the students too called "PvP Boot Camp" - friendly bunch of supportive players. Its small but sometimes small is good.
The biggest bit of PvP learning curve people have to go through is learning what Boff and captain powers they should be carrying and how to use them (cycle or on demand). A surprising number of max level players you see in STFs and whatnot do not actually understand their powers. Doffs play into this as well since most desirable Doffs act upon a particular power. One can copy builds off another player and many have been posted for that purpose, but being able to understand WHY certain things are chosen and come up with builds on your own is a matter of skill and experience.
Once they do that, the next step is learning how to manage and time those powers while flying. This is a skill thing. Appropriate use of keybinds and figuring out where to put things so that you, personally, are able to hit them reliably. Then, knowing exactly when to trigger a power to either save your butt or exploit an enemy's weakness. Easily stated, super hard to actually do. Not everybody will be able to master it.
Last step is how to act as a unit. Not only are you now watching yourself and your target, but also the status of your allies. Being ready to cross heal and having keybinds set up for that. Knowing how and when to coordinate a strike with your teammate(s). This is even harder than the last step, and is how the really good teams set themselves apart.
Those are all the skill things. The big issue with power creep comes in that first step - your build. Just because you see what you want to do doesn't mean you have the resources to do it. Like DDIS said, you gotta spend some months in the game slamming rep grinds and buying high end gear just to make your build work.
Maybe what we need is a restricted vs. unrestricted PvP. I know this has been brought up before, but something like this to level the gear playing field and make it a true measure of skill. How restricted is a matter of debate. Could be anything from a simple PvP ban list to remove stuff like this Elachi console and bug ships, to a highly restricted queue that bans all C-Store consoles and lockbox ships/gear. I don't know where I come down on that (though for private matches it would be nice if you could customize it to your liking).
Some of the confusion for PvEers is just straight ego. I was speaking with an experienced fleet galaxy player yesterday and it took almost an hour of convincing him that he needed to carry a tac team. It takes alot to be able to swallow that the build you've been working on for months isn't any good. Now some people are more gentle than others but it's takes alot of work and patience to help some people. Then there are others who are rude to new ppl in PvP then wonder why more people don't PvP.
I've had similar conversations within my fleet. I try to tell people that putting beam arrays on their escort is pointless. Or that they should be running EPtS and TT as the fundamentals of their defense. Or that their cruiser is not the DPS champ they think it is, especially since I know they're not running A2B. Simple stuff that we find obvious, but since whatever they're doing works well enough for PvE, they have no idea how far down the curve it is. It is indeed really hard to convince them these builds "don't work" when just about anything is good enough for PvE. What people don't get is that making a competent "PvP" build will also make their PvE a WHOLE LOT easier. I started reading the PvP forum to improve my PvE game, then started doing PvP after making massive improvements to my build and personal skill level.
"As for space, we don't want to fall into the trap of trying to make starship combat into a dogfighter. That's not what Star Trek is about. In the shows and movies, space combat is about positioning, shifting power from weapons to shields, analyzing weaknesses, and having your crew come up with a plan at the last minute that can blast your enemy out of the sky! Space combat in Star Trek Online is a much more measured and tactical experience to reflect the spirit of the franchise" -Craig Zinkievich
Can anyone tell me how the current state of PvP in STO has been able to live up to the goal described above?
When you can go into a PvP match and get blasted back to Respawn countdown in less than 10 seconds upon contact with the enemy, how does that fit into what was described above?
i know my help thread has done a lot of people a lot of good, they pm my about it all the time lol. they started with nothing, and after getting advice from me, opvp, and anyone else that knows what they are doing, they can be plenty competitive.
but, gear maters now. there is a minimum level you need you need, and that minumum is rather high now
-a fleet/lockbox/3pack level ship
-fleet weapons or mkXII acc3
-completed rep grind with all passives
-STF sets, or fleet equipment
-between 50mil to 200mil worth of for space active roster doffs
once you have all that, and you have 4 or 5 keybinds set up, all you need is experience and tactics.
I know exactly what you're saying, and that entry level cost outside of PVP experience is too damn high.
I do miss the days of STO when you could pop into PVP as soon as you hit max level (BGen long ago), get your free ship, get some Mk X gear, and you weren't totally, hopelessly outclassed. And this was the time when the Feds were lining up for PVP with lines so long that there wasn't enough KDF players to meet those demands.
Anyways, to get into today's PVP, it requires way too much. Yes, new PVPers expect to get smoke checked due to inexperience and to a degree, fancy equipment and ships. But if you don't have those prerequisites you just mentioned, you're going to get absolutely *****.
And that's on a fair fight with no cheesey opponents.
I try to tell people that putting beam arrays on their escort is pointless.
If you're lumping in Dual Beam Banks with the Beam Arrays, then you are flat out wrong. I score a fair amount of 1-shot BO3 spike damage kills that would not be possible in the typical "4xDHC + 3xTurret" cookie cutter DPScort.
I also get by just fine-PvP included-with no custom keybinds whatsoever and no billions of EC spent on DOFFs.
There is no difference in winning or loosing in PVP. Personaly as individual you cannot loose because you not play alone and one does not control what others do. There is also no point in putting effort in trying to win because there is nothing tot win. So you can also just fly in without shields and try to get the most times killed as fast as possible as an alternative gameplay and enjoy the dilli you get for it :-)
Cryptic has a bad habit of releasing things that are terrible for PvP balance at every step... it has gotten to the point where vets don't have good games either unless they spend 10 min before every game trying to balance things out before playing.
This is so true for me... I generally find myself in one of two situations in PvP.
A) I run into one or more folks who do not have good setups, gear, or ability who I destroy almost more effortlessly than the NPCs. (Read: Not fun.)
I run into a premade that I can kill a ship or two of now and then but because the rest of my group cannot function together we stand no chance of actually being able to destroy. (Read: Slightly more fun but still disappointing.)
Power Creep is a major major MAJOR problem these days. There are a number of ships that are insanely OP. Scimitar, for example, properly set up can run its cloak from Cloaked Barrage, then its Romulan Rep Cloak, then its Warp Shadows Cloak and have Perfect Cloak for a LONG time. That is not to mention all the other reasons it is ridiculously OP but that should be enough to make it obvious.
What it means is that if you are running one of these majorly OP setups you can utterly dominate anyone who is not which I know some enjoy but for me it is rather boring fighting a battle I cannot possibly lose. If you are on the other end then undoubtedly that is no fun at all being constantly destroyed with no chance to fight back.
OP: Yes, this is how PvP has always been in STO, unfortunately.
Gear: No, you don't need the best of the best. Not even the second best. Heck, a group that excel at teamwork using mkII gear could probably beat 5 good solo players using top gear. Universal consoles however, is another matter.
My opinion: I have said this before, and had my hand slapped by the members of the good premades, few of whom remain in STO, but I'll give it another go. Teamwork is OP in STO!! Seriously, stacking healing and stacking disables is just too good.
But seriously: STO is not made for PvP, and the devs clearly have few/none ambitions in that direction. If they wanted to get new players into PvP, all they'd have to do was make some softer pvp maps/missions. Heck, even a 3v3 arena que would help. Or a no-pre-teamed que. (random teams only).
It is really all about gear and mass swarming with multiple players on one at a time.
In 1v1 fights I usually hold my own or roll face (piloting is a skill in and of itself, and ive always been complimented at my survivability in a fleet advanced vs some pretty nasty dps builds), but in group play, its all about gear and setup. Those that have toys usually get the wins.
Ive started to think that this game's pvp is a pointless endeavor but I just cant give up the goose yet.
Fleet Admiral Rylana - Fed Tac - U.S.S Wild Card - Tactical Miracle Worker Cruiser
Lifetime Subscriber since 2012 == 17,200 Accolades = RIP PvP and Vice Squad
Chief of Starfleet Intelligence Service == Praise Cheesus
One of the most depressing things about this is what it has done to PvP's reputation in STO. It used to be that, if I got fed up with VA level games, I could make a new toon and have fun with lower rank PvP (which I've always considered to be far more entertaining); but now it's put so many people off that there isn't any.
My new Rom character is level 43 now, and hasn't played a single match; in fact, I haven't seen more that 2 other people in the queues at any given time. Looks like it's hardcore or nothing now.
If you're lumping in Dual Beam Banks with the Beam Arrays, then you are flat out wrong. I score a fair amount of 1-shot BO3 spike damage kills that would not be possible in the typical "4xDHC + 3xTurret" cookie cutter DPScort.
No, I specifically meant arrays. I am a proponent of the DBB/BO escort. That reminds me of another conversation I have frequently though, the "too many kinds of weapons" conversation. 3x DHC and a DBB OR a torpedo. Not 2x DHC, a DBB and a torpedo, and a mine on the back because why the hell not. If you can't consistently buff that weapon with Tac powers, it's not worth having.
It is often forgotten that PvP was the *only* way to level a KDF player for the first several months of the game. Exploration on the KDF side was a 2nd season enhancement.
I have 10 level 50 characters. Eight (6 KDF characters) leveled to max level via PvP. It was easy to queue PvP because the entire KDF community that was leveling was in the queues. There was no such thing as private queues then.
And while it was easy to get a match, only some nostalgia smoking liar will tell you it was some kind of wonderful. The game was just as borked then as it is now. Science skills were 10x more powerful than they are now, and the balance between DPS and resists was much more broken than it is even today.
Ironically ground PvP was remarkably balanced, and extremely popular before level 50. The best PvP was max level characters in tier IV ships.
Things have evolved. PvP is better today in some areas, and is worse than others. It has been awhile since the last real balance between DPS and resist was addressed by Cryptic. In my experience those rebalance efforts take a lot of work, but usually buy the PvP community about 4 months of great PvP.
And having played through three of those four month long windows of great PvP in STO, it is easy to understand why the PvP community is still alive, still around, still engaged, and probably not going anywhere.
Because once you play STO PvP during one of those times when PvP is balanced well between DPS and resist, you'll never experience anything in this game remotely close to that much fun. We're currently in a long drought of unbalanced, outrageous DPS advantage over resist. It means you will blow up super quick if your new. It's not fun, and pigeon holes nearly every element of PvP into only a small number of extremely limited choices to compete at any level above pugSuck. It wasn't always like this, and it's a safe bet it won't always be like this.
But until the rebalance comes, this community will do what all communities ultimately do in STO... they'll grind it out
Too much DPS in the game. Min/Max has been allowed to run unchecked for too long. It is up to the development staff to test combinations and limit how high something can stack and also how it interacts with other skills.
Point in principle being the SIC console (yes im aware of the fix on tribble) being used by a high spike escort, turning it into a pure i-win button. Faceroll your alpha strike buffs, pop the console, and point your guns at your immobile, blind, and skill disabled opponent, dead, guaranteed. Repeat in three minutes.
That kinda TRIBBLE needs to stop, Cryptic.
Fleet Admiral Rylana - Fed Tac - U.S.S Wild Card - Tactical Miracle Worker Cruiser
Lifetime Subscriber since 2012 == 17,200 Accolades = RIP PvP and Vice Squad
Chief of Starfleet Intelligence Service == Praise Cheesus
No, I specifically meant arrays. I am a proponent of the DBB/BO escort. That reminds me of another conversation I have frequently though, the "too many kinds of weapons" conversation. 3x DHC and a DBB OR a torpedo. Not 2x DHC, a DBB and a torpedo, and a mine on the back because why the hell not. If you can't consistently buff that weapon with Tac powers, it's not worth having.
If I'm reading you right, I disagree.
I run 2xDHC, 1xDBB, 1xOmega Torpedo, 1xturret, 1xCutting Beam, and 1xWeb mine, and I am able to buff all but the mine launcher in two different ways.
Because of the Tac officer layout on my Fleet Defiant, I am able to buff them with:
BO3
CRF3
HY3
DPB1
CSV1
BFAW1
TS1
And still have room for one copy of Tactical Team. I like a variety of attacks, so that I can take advantage of varied openings, and countering me requires varied defenses.
I run 2xDHC, 1xDBB, 1xOmega Torpedo, 1xturret, 1xCutting Beam, and 1xWeb mine, and I am able to buff all but the mine launcher in two different ways.
Because of the Tac officer layout on my Fleet Defiant, I am able to buff them with:
BO3
CRF3
HY3
DPB1
CSV1
BFAW1
TS1
And still have room for one copy of Tactical Team. I like a variety of attacks, so that I can take advantage of varied openings, and countering me requires varied defenses.
Please tell me that you at least have PH......or if a proper Sci even looks at you, you're dead.
Yes, I have Polarize Hull. :rolleyes: Also Brace for Impact, Science Team , Engineering team, Miracle Worker, and Engineering fleet.
That's it for resists and heals, but then there's also the stealth/defense bonus stuff:
Subspace field modulator, cloaking device, photonic displacement, and quantum singularity manipulation, and when all else fails, Evasive Maneuvers + Emergency power to engines for some quick GTFO.
And now that I mention reputation abilities, I also chose every resist/heal passive in all three reputations.
Also the hull heal from the Borg set 2 bonus. And I have all three rep consoles, which among other things improve healing and give a power insulator bonus to resist drains.
Yes, I have Polarize Hull. :rolleyes: Also Brace for Impact, Science Team , Engineering team, Miracle Worker, and Engineering fleet.
That's it for resists and heals, but then there's also the stealth/defense bonus stuff:
Subspace field modulator, cloaking device, photonic displacement, and quantum singularity manipulation, and when all else fails, Evasive Maneuvers + Emergency power to engines for some quick GTFO.
And now that I mention reputation abilities, I also chose every resist/heal passive in all three reputations.
Also the hull heal from the Borg set 2 bonus. And I have all three rep consoles, which among other things improve healing and give a power insulator bonus to resist drains.
Comments
I am a VERY casual type.
People like Drkfrontiers, Capt.Horizon, and a few others actually are very welcoming and helpful.
But like the OP , for the most part PvP is dead to me.
It's bevcause of people who have these premades who roll into ques and roflstomp newbies and casuals often act like total ***hats.
Yesterday, I even asked in the zone , hey that was cool , how did you guys do that, and the other team (fairly well known team name - not naming names) , wasn't at all helpful and kind. Instead they turned their "lets be jerks" switches up to 11 and started making fun of all of us casual players , and one guy even said "Go back to PvE ya freaking noobs."
If they didn't want to possibly fight noobs, why did they PUG que ?
That's why PvP is dead in this game.
Because for every great and welcoming person in the community who actually want to help, there are teams (who act all nice here on the forums) , that turn into total ****wads when they get into a match.
So, I will continue to occaisionally pop in for a match here and there, but attitudes like experienced yesterday , keep me a very .... VERY occaisional visitor.
I will say that the Boot Camp and the territory control thing are some of my very favorite player driven initiatives. Seriously props to all involved.
Peace
Have fun killing each other in the stars
But yeah, Borg AIs are dumb as dirt. they spam cheap shots simply because it's the only way they can challenge the player.
My character Tsin'xing
Don't insult the dirt!:(
Anyway, as far as this 'Learning Curve' goes, I consider it to be an illusion perpetrated unintentionally by players with superior equipment.
My reasoning?
The Black Poo Cloud Of Certain Inevitable Disabling, plus a tractor beam, is both completely inescapable, and a very simple combo to figure out. There is no 'Learning Curve' required, just a deep EC wallet.
Now, one might think that a player who can pop your ship without a second thought must be an experienced PvP veteran, but the above example shows that this is most likely not the case. That 'skilled' player is probably just better equipped.
Please do mail me. We are always looking to assist folks. There are also other players of various levels which we can arrange friendly matches for you so that you gain the most amount of enjoyment while learning.
Don't let it get you down mate. We have all been where you are. Its the getting-up thats the victory. Do it with a laugh and you are a legend.
We have a channel for the students too called "PvP Boot Camp" - friendly bunch of supportive players. Its small but sometimes small is good.
Once they do that, the next step is learning how to manage and time those powers while flying. This is a skill thing. Appropriate use of keybinds and figuring out where to put things so that you, personally, are able to hit them reliably. Then, knowing exactly when to trigger a power to either save your butt or exploit an enemy's weakness. Easily stated, super hard to actually do. Not everybody will be able to master it.
Last step is how to act as a unit. Not only are you now watching yourself and your target, but also the status of your allies. Being ready to cross heal and having keybinds set up for that. Knowing how and when to coordinate a strike with your teammate(s). This is even harder than the last step, and is how the really good teams set themselves apart.
Those are all the skill things. The big issue with power creep comes in that first step - your build. Just because you see what you want to do doesn't mean you have the resources to do it. Like DDIS said, you gotta spend some months in the game slamming rep grinds and buying high end gear just to make your build work.
Maybe what we need is a restricted vs. unrestricted PvP. I know this has been brought up before, but something like this to level the gear playing field and make it a true measure of skill. How restricted is a matter of debate. Could be anything from a simple PvP ban list to remove stuff like this Elachi console and bug ships, to a highly restricted queue that bans all C-Store consoles and lockbox ships/gear. I don't know where I come down on that (though for private matches it would be nice if you could customize it to your liking).
I've had similar conversations within my fleet. I try to tell people that putting beam arrays on their escort is pointless. Or that they should be running EPtS and TT as the fundamentals of their defense. Or that their cruiser is not the DPS champ they think it is, especially since I know they're not running A2B. Simple stuff that we find obvious, but since whatever they're doing works well enough for PvE, they have no idea how far down the curve it is. It is indeed really hard to convince them these builds "don't work" when just about anything is good enough for PvE. What people don't get is that making a competent "PvP" build will also make their PvE a WHOLE LOT easier. I started reading the PvP forum to improve my PvE game, then started doing PvP after making massive improvements to my build and personal skill level.
(http://www.gamespot.com/star-trek-online/previews/star-trek-online-qanda-overview-new-developer-early-details-6195709/?page=1)
Can anyone tell me how the current state of PvP in STO has been able to live up to the goal described above?
When you can go into a PvP match and get blasted back to Respawn countdown in less than 10 seconds upon contact with the enemy, how does that fit into what was described above?
I know exactly what you're saying, and that entry level cost outside of PVP experience is too damn high.
I do miss the days of STO when you could pop into PVP as soon as you hit max level (BGen long ago), get your free ship, get some Mk X gear, and you weren't totally, hopelessly outclassed. And this was the time when the Feds were lining up for PVP with lines so long that there wasn't enough KDF players to meet those demands.
Anyways, to get into today's PVP, it requires way too much. Yes, new PVPers expect to get smoke checked due to inexperience and to a degree, fancy equipment and ships. But if you don't have those prerequisites you just mentioned, you're going to get absolutely *****.
And that's on a fair fight with no cheesey opponents.
If you're lumping in Dual Beam Banks with the Beam Arrays, then you are flat out wrong. I score a fair amount of 1-shot BO3 spike damage kills that would not be possible in the typical "4xDHC + 3xTurret" cookie cutter DPScort.
I also get by just fine-PvP included-with no custom keybinds whatsoever and no billions of EC spent on DOFFs.
This is so true for me... I generally find myself in one of two situations in PvP.
A) I run into one or more folks who do not have good setups, gear, or ability who I destroy almost more effortlessly than the NPCs. (Read: Not fun.)
Power Creep is a major major MAJOR problem these days. There are a number of ships that are insanely OP. Scimitar, for example, properly set up can run its cloak from Cloaked Barrage, then its Romulan Rep Cloak, then its Warp Shadows Cloak and have Perfect Cloak for a LONG time. That is not to mention all the other reasons it is ridiculously OP but that should be enough to make it obvious.
What it means is that if you are running one of these majorly OP setups you can utterly dominate anyone who is not which I know some enjoy but for me it is rather boring fighting a battle I cannot possibly lose. If you are on the other end then undoubtedly that is no fun at all being constantly destroyed with no chance to fight back.
OP: Yes, this is how PvP has always been in STO, unfortunately.
Gear: No, you don't need the best of the best. Not even the second best. Heck, a group that excel at teamwork using mkII gear could probably beat 5 good solo players using top gear. Universal consoles however, is another matter.
My opinion: I have said this before, and had my hand slapped by the members of the good premades, few of whom remain in STO, but I'll give it another go. Teamwork is OP in STO!! Seriously, stacking healing and stacking disables is just too good.
But seriously: STO is not made for PvP, and the devs clearly have few/none ambitions in that direction. If they wanted to get new players into PvP, all they'd have to do was make some softer pvp maps/missions. Heck, even a 3v3 arena que would help. Or a no-pre-teamed que. (random teams only).
Sincerely
-Dassem-
In 1v1 fights I usually hold my own or roll face (piloting is a skill in and of itself, and ive always been complimented at my survivability in a fleet advanced vs some pretty nasty dps builds), but in group play, its all about gear and setup. Those that have toys usually get the wins.
Ive started to think that this game's pvp is a pointless endeavor but I just cant give up the goose yet.
Fleet Admiral Rylana - Fed Tac - U.S.S Wild Card - Tactical Miracle Worker Cruiser
Lifetime Subscriber since 2012 == 17,200 Accolades = RIP PvP and Vice Squad
Chief of Starfleet Intelligence Service == Praise Cheesus
My new Rom character is level 43 now, and hasn't played a single match; in fact, I haven't seen more that 2 other people in the queues at any given time. Looks like it's hardcore or nothing now.
No, I specifically meant arrays. I am a proponent of the DBB/BO escort. That reminds me of another conversation I have frequently though, the "too many kinds of weapons" conversation. 3x DHC and a DBB OR a torpedo. Not 2x DHC, a DBB and a torpedo, and a mine on the back because why the hell not. If you can't consistently buff that weapon with Tac powers, it's not worth having.
It is often forgotten that PvP was the *only* way to level a KDF player for the first several months of the game. Exploration on the KDF side was a 2nd season enhancement.
I have 10 level 50 characters. Eight (6 KDF characters) leveled to max level via PvP. It was easy to queue PvP because the entire KDF community that was leveling was in the queues. There was no such thing as private queues then.
And while it was easy to get a match, only some nostalgia smoking liar will tell you it was some kind of wonderful. The game was just as borked then as it is now. Science skills were 10x more powerful than they are now, and the balance between DPS and resists was much more broken than it is even today.
Ironically ground PvP was remarkably balanced, and extremely popular before level 50. The best PvP was max level characters in tier IV ships.
Things have evolved. PvP is better today in some areas, and is worse than others. It has been awhile since the last real balance between DPS and resist was addressed by Cryptic. In my experience those rebalance efforts take a lot of work, but usually buy the PvP community about 4 months of great PvP.
And having played through three of those four month long windows of great PvP in STO, it is easy to understand why the PvP community is still alive, still around, still engaged, and probably not going anywhere.
Because once you play STO PvP during one of those times when PvP is balanced well between DPS and resist, you'll never experience anything in this game remotely close to that much fun. We're currently in a long drought of unbalanced, outrageous DPS advantage over resist. It means you will blow up super quick if your new. It's not fun, and pigeon holes nearly every element of PvP into only a small number of extremely limited choices to compete at any level above pugSuck. It wasn't always like this, and it's a safe bet it won't always be like this.
But until the rebalance comes, this community will do what all communities ultimately do in STO... they'll grind it out
Rules of Acquisition at Priority One
Point in principle being the SIC console (yes im aware of the fix on tribble) being used by a high spike escort, turning it into a pure i-win button. Faceroll your alpha strike buffs, pop the console, and point your guns at your immobile, blind, and skill disabled opponent, dead, guaranteed. Repeat in three minutes.
That kinda TRIBBLE needs to stop, Cryptic.
Fleet Admiral Rylana - Fed Tac - U.S.S Wild Card - Tactical Miracle Worker Cruiser
Lifetime Subscriber since 2012 == 17,200 Accolades = RIP PvP and Vice Squad
Chief of Starfleet Intelligence Service == Praise Cheesus
They don't add anything new, and only those who are the most dedicated remain playing. Those who play only to win.
Cryptic killed the userbase with their neglect and ZEN milking.
I'm not dedicated. I'm that bored.
If I were just playing to win...well, I suck...that would be kind of depressing.
I'm just that bored.
If I'm reading you right, I disagree.
I run 2xDHC, 1xDBB, 1xOmega Torpedo, 1xturret, 1xCutting Beam, and 1xWeb mine, and I am able to buff all but the mine launcher in two different ways.
Because of the Tac officer layout on my Fleet Defiant, I am able to buff them with:
BO3
CRF3
HY3
DPB1
CSV1
BFAW1
TS1
And still have room for one copy of Tactical Team. I like a variety of attacks, so that I can take advantage of varied openings, and countering me requires varied defenses.
FAW1, CSV1, BO3, CRF3
TS1, DPB1, HY3
TT1
Seriously?
Now what?
Please tell me that you at least have PH......or if a proper Sci even looks at you, you're dead.
-gives him the mai kai stare-
Do you even Science Bro?
Yes, I have Polarize Hull. :rolleyes: Also Brace for Impact, Science Team , Engineering team, Miracle Worker, and Engineering fleet.
That's it for resists and heals, but then there's also the stealth/defense bonus stuff:
Subspace field modulator, cloaking device, photonic displacement, and quantum singularity manipulation, and when all else fails, Evasive Maneuvers + Emergency power to engines for some quick GTFO.
And now that I mention reputation abilities, I also chose every resist/heal passive in all three reputations.
Also the hull heal from the Borg set 2 bonus. And I have all three rep consoles, which among other things improve healing and give a power insulator bonus to resist drains.
-gives you the mai kai stare-
Do you even Science Bro?