Because when a developer doesn't have playable content to give to their players they substitute an absurd gear or time sink to buy time until they have content to release.
Or in Cryptic's case, until they release the next gear and time sink (Rep system).
There will never be enough content to only be played once by players before the next content patch. It just isn't feasible regardless of the difficulty level. There will always be time sinks and gateways for as long as gamers play games for an unhealthy amount of time per day.
The point was to keep you playing in the game daily, or near daily, with the hope that the longer you're logged in the more chance you have of spending Zen to buy things. It's somewhat the same reason they seemed to be hinting that new Rep grind progression speed would be based on being in the game daily.
I'm not sure that answers my question. I've worked so I can have some of the best items in the game then you said I should put them in my bank so that I can have a challenge.
Shouldn't Cryptic make some form of content where I can use my best items yet still have some semblance of challenge?
Well I can't forget a face but I won't remember y'all.
Bleed Green and Gold
There will never be enough content to only be played once by players before the next content patch. It just isn't feasible regardless of the difficulty level. There will always be time sinks and gateways for as long as gamers play games for an unhealthy amount of time per day.
You've completely missed the point. Cryptic has made it abundantly clear that they aren't even trying to create endgame content with a focus on fun and replay value. Instead, they've created structures for the sole purpose of forcing players to repeat specific content pieces ad nauseum.
There's a marked difference between putting into place a framework that allows players to earn rewards while having fun and eating up time, and a framework that punishes players if they don't play the game exactly how a designer wants the game to be played. STO falls unambiguously into the latter category.
I'm not sure that answers my question. I've worked so I can have some of the best items in the game then you said I should put them in my bank so that I can have a challenge.
Shouldn't Cryptic make some form of content where I can use my best items yet still have some semblance of challenge?
Your question was why did Cryptic make those things. The answer was to give you a reward so that you'd keep playing the game regularly. IE, a carrot on a stick.
Shouldn't Cryptic make some type of mission content, period? Forget about challenging. I'd just be happy to have some new content to do even if I had to do it in a small craft.
Think about the way MMOs work: they give you the best gear for defeating tough things with sub-best gear. At that point you either wait for a game advance - such as an Expansion Pack - or you go off and PvP against people who have the same super-gear you have.
STO is about my Liberated Borg Federation Captain with his Breen 1st Officer, Jem'Hadar Tactical Officer, Liberated Borg Engineering Officer, Android Ops Officer, Photonic Science Officer, Gorn Science Officer, and Reman Medical Officer jumping into their Jem'Hadar Carrier and flying off to do missions for the new Romulan Empire. But for some players allowing a T5 Connie to be used breaks the canon in the game.
...Think about the way MMOs work: they give you the best gear for defeating tough things with sub-best gear. At that point you either wait for a game advance - such as an Expansion Pack - or you go off and PvP against people who have the same super-gear you have.
^ pretty much this.
_______________________
---- FIRE EVERYTHING ! ----
Your question was why did Cryptic make those things. The answer was to give you a reward so that you'd keep playing the game regularly. IE, a carrot on a stick.
Shouldn't Cryptic make some type of mission content, period? Forget about challenging. I'd just be happy to have some new content to do even if I had to do it in a small craft.
Think about the way MMOs work: they give you the best gear for defeating tough things with sub-best gear. At that point you either wait for a game advance - such as an Expansion Pack - or you go off and PvP against people who have the same super-gear you have.
I can agree with you there but then that brings up the whole other topic about cryptic having abandoned pvp. (which would be thread derailment I believe).
Well I can't forget a face but I won't remember y'all.
Bleed Green and Gold
All i saw was a cute lil simple (almost browser-game) level of complexity systems and their idea of 'action mmo' being about 5 years out of date in comparison to other MMOs out atm....
Average NW player would run a mile when they look at all the equipment slots for ship/ground in STO
Your question was why did Cryptic make those things. The answer was to give you a reward so that you'd keep playing the game regularly. IE, a carrot on a stick.
Shouldn't Cryptic make some type of mission content, period? Forget about challenging. I'd just be happy to have some new content to do even if I had to do it in a small craft.
Think about the way MMOs work: they give you the best gear for defeating tough things with sub-best gear. At that point you either wait for a game advance - such as an Expansion Pack - or you go off and PvP against people who have the same super-gear you have.
Well-said.
I think this is the real face of "content locusts." It's not that players are ravenous, it's that the game is designed such that they grow tired of the content already there; the chase for gear by grinding through the same content over and over, only to then get the gear and grind through the same content over and over is outdated. It's no wonder that players consume new content so quickly when they've been subjected to the same content for so long. They just want to use the gear they earned from the grind on new content.
That is basically what Neverwinter dungeons are, endless waves of trash mobs up to and including the boss fight.
This is exactly what I came to post. There is nothing epic or engaging about the vast majority of Neverwinter's dungeon crawls. Nearly all of them are just mowing down minions in huge clumps for up to a couple hours at a time. And then you think you're going to have an epic moment with fighting a challenging boss, only to find out it's nothing but larger death-spots to avoid, and MORE waves of minions.
My kingdom for better dungeon design.
STO ain't much better, it's true, but at least they don't tend to waste my time.
STO isn't another generic mmo like many out there where distinct classes are well defined. If you're a star trek fan, you should know a starship always travels alone to explore the unknown. A starship isn't a person. Moreover, starship captain is and will always be a lone wolf. STO space combat is designed accordingly to this principle. For those who keeps thinking that STO is just or should be similar to other fantasy mmo out there, then you're not a trekkie but just a gamer.
Ground combats in STO are similar somewhat to other mmos, however. If you'd played ground Estfs, you should know by now that they're difficult and require a correct team work in order to get the opt or finish it. Try cure applied elite and see.
STO is the best mmo imo. I've played gw2, stwor and many other mmos, but none offers what I want or keeps me playing like STO - been here for 3 years. Perhaps, i'm a trekkie, but I also like the semi single player style of STO. Furthermore, STO isn't all about combats or grinds. Flying around and doing doff missions in different sectors is exploring.
STO isn't another generic mmo like many out there where distinct classes are well defined. If you're a star trek fan, you should know a starship always travels alone to explore the unknown. A starship isn't a person. Moreover, starship captain is and will always be a lone wolf. STO space combat is designed accordingly to this principle. For those who keeps thinking that STO is just or should be similar to other fantasy mmo out there, then you're not a trekkie but just a gamer.
I have to disagree with you somewhat. The entire end-game is built around the principal of teaming with others; and Cryptic has stated more then once that leveling is just designed to get you to STO's end-game.
I think STO does a disservice to its players in that it lets you play for 30-40 hours solo and then demands you start teaming with others to get the best end-game gear. The players aren't prepared for teaming and working with others - and they're generally not prepared for the challenges presented by the end-game content. I personally believe STO should force players into team events earlier at different times while they're leveling to get people ready for the end-game.
STO is about my Liberated Borg Federation Captain with his Breen 1st Officer, Jem'Hadar Tactical Officer, Liberated Borg Engineering Officer, Android Ops Officer, Photonic Science Officer, Gorn Science Officer, and Reman Medical Officer jumping into their Jem'Hadar Carrier and flying off to do missions for the new Romulan Empire. But for some players allowing a T5 Connie to be used breaks the canon in the game.
I have to disagree with you somewhat. The entire end-game is built around the principal of teaming with others; and Cryptic has stated more then once that leveling is just designed to get you to STO's end-game.
I think STO does a disservice to its players in that it lets you play for 30-40 hours solo and then demands you start teaming with others to get the best end-game gear. The players aren't prepared for teaming and working with others - and they're generally not prepared for the challenges presented by the end-game content. I personally believe STO should force players into team events earlier at different times while they're leveling to get people ready for the end-game.
Agreed. I fondly remember when on patrol missions, there was a chance that a nearby player would spawn into your instance and thus transform the mission into group content. Since patrols disappeared, group content has shifted almost exclusively to end-game.
You know, having Neverwinter assets in the STO foundry would be interesting for making missions in a Medieval setting. Since Star Trek has done a few episodes of that era.
And the dungeon creator could be interesting as well, in making settings of ancient ruins and having classic dungeon crawls.
Yes, but... you know we'd get way too many sub-par dungeon crawls and not nearly enough actual Star Trek.
I'm all for being able to build a decent anachronistic set. But I don't want to see Neverwinter dungeons in STO.
Make 'em really alien and I'm sold. Klingon dungeons would be perfect.
Make them look historical rather than sword-and-sorcery and I'm in.
My views may not represent those of Cryptic Studios or Perfect World Entertainment. You can file a "forums and website" support ticket here Link: How to PM - Twitter @STOMod_Bluegeek
Back in wow first expansion they released heroic 5 mans, when they were released they required a good tank that knew how to survive a healer that knew how to conserve mana and dps that knew how to control mobs as well as do damage. Near the end of that expansion they released a group finder tool that matched you with random people at the same time they nerfed the heroics but they still were a challenge for 5 random people.
The next expansion nerfed heroics to be a joke where within a week you could simply bind all your aoe onto 1 key and roll your face across the keyboard. The expansion after that tried to make heroics harder by adding in more need for cc and more hazards to avoid. The result was the forums on fire with players complaining about how it was too hard and they were quitting, by the next patch heroics were nerfed.
Once content is dumbed down and make easy it is very hard if not impossible to make it a challenge again.
I would love to see harder elites but as long as it is not more cheese like the random 1 shots that come from nowhere though 7k shields (running at 60% resist) and 40k hull.
Back in wow first expansion they released heroic 5 mans, when they were released they required a good tank that knew how to survive a healer that knew how to conserve mana and dps that knew how to control mobs as well as do damage. Near the end of that expansion they released a group finder tool that matched you with random people at the same time they nerfed the heroics but they still were a challenge for 5 random people.
The next expansion nerfed heroics to be a joke where within a week you could simply bind all your aoe onto 1 key and roll your face across the keyboard. The expansion after that tried to make heroics harder by adding in more need for cc and more hazards to avoid. The result was the forums on fire with players complaining about how it was too hard and they were quitting, by the next patch heroics were nerfed.
Once content is dumbed down and make easy it is very hard if not impossible to make it a challenge again.
I would love to see harder elites but as long as it is not more cheese like the random 1 shots that come from nowhere though 7k shields (running at 60% resist) and 40k hull.
I definitely think this is true. Once content difficulty has been "nerfed," it's nearly impossible for the developers to then go back and increase difficulty without considerable blow-back.
When the STF's first launched, they were Epic and Hard, Took a well managed group to meet the Objectives, let alone the optional Objectives. Then, after almost a year, and realizing only a small percentage of players were actually running them, thye chaned the STF's into 6 smaller missions instead of the 3 large ones. People flocked in droves to run them, so a smart move on Cryptic's part.
So now onto your original question, after 2 years of people maxing out gear, and getting the lock box consoles, the current STF's have not scaled in difficulty with the new avg gear of the player base. This includes ships as well, with 15% more Hull and ridiculously high shield and DPS.
This is because, cryptic has basically ignored or postponed new End Game content for the LoR expansion. While they did give us The Hive, it is so bug ridden, it is not worth playing imho, until it is fixed.
I would love to see harder elites but as long as it is not more cheese like the random 1 shots that come from nowhere though 7k shields (running at 60% resist) and 40k hull.
This is very true, I have to wonder if Cryptic even has it in them to design challenging content that isn't just a cheese fest. Though I think at least on ground they can, Hive ground was a step in the right direction. At least it had actual boss mechanics and not just a HP sponge that one-shots things at the end.
Can always make foundry missions to get a good raid style mission. Run my mission with 5 people and you'll see what I mean.
This may be true, but I have not supported Cryptic and STO so I can play YOUR game, or idea of what STO should be.
I as a consumer believe, if I support a company, they in turn will deliver goods as promised. I have always disliked the Foundry, because it feeds the players grandiose ideas that they are making content for a game. Well in actuality you help Cryptic continue to ignore the broken parts of the game all the while they say, "you have a great source of content" when referring to the Foundry.
I have been playing this game since launch, bought a Lifetime sub soon as they were available on Multiple accts, and then supported the C-Store even though it turns my stomach.
And what do we have at the ende of the day? A bug ridden game that the company must laugh at the player base for believing them yet again.
This may be true, but I have not supported Cryptic and STO so I can play YOUR game, or idea of what STO should be.
I as a consumer believe, if I support a company, they in turn will deliver goods as promised. I have always disliked the Foundry, because it feeds the players grandiose ideas that they are making content for a game. Well in actuality you help Cryptic continue to ignore the broken parts of the game all the while they say, "you have a great source of content" when referring to the Foundry.
I have been playing this game since launch, bought a Lifetime sub soon as they were available on Multiple accts, and then supported the C-Store even though it turns my stomach.
And what do we have at the ende of the day? A bug ridden game that the company must laugh at the player base for believing them yet again.
I respectfully disagree with this post and the false entitlement issues it conveys.
_______________________
---- FIRE EVERYTHING ! ----
This may be true, but I have not supported Cryptic and STO so I can play YOUR game, or idea of what STO should be.
I as a consumer believe, if I support a company, they in turn will deliver goods as promised. I have always disliked the Foundry, because it feeds the players grandiose ideas that they are making content for a game. Well in actuality you help Cryptic continue to ignore the broken parts of the game all the while they say, "you have a great source of content" when referring to the Foundry.
I have been playing this game since launch, bought a Lifetime sub soon as they were available on Multiple accts, and then supported the C-Store even though it turns my stomach.
And what do we have at the ende of the day? A bug ridden game that the company must laugh at the player base for believing them yet again.
My mission has nothing to do with my "idea" of what STO should be.
This is a casual MMO for fans of Trekdom. Get your dirty paws off my game ...
So virtually all the end game content should be aimed at "casual" players, with only NWS for people who want more of a challenge? What would be wrong with having a mix of easy & difficult end-game content, so we could both have what we want? I also know plenty of casual players who find the Elite STFs far too easy anyway. It's not like you need a really deep, advanced understanding of the game mechanics and top end gear to do Elites. You just need a competent build, a basic understanding of what tactics the mission requires and some decent equipment. You don't need sets. You don't need Mk XII purple everything. You don't need second-by-second coordination.
Besides which, if we accept that easy, PuGGable STFs (& Fleet Actions & everything else) are an intentional part of game-design, then it's not actually because STO's a casual MMO is it? It's because STO is a grind-based MMO, where you have to do the same mission 100s of times to get the reward from them. Couldn't have any of those missions be particularly hard or long, now, could we?
And "play Foundry missions" or "do PvP" doesn't really change the fact that PvE missions aren't challenging to an increasing number of players and Cryptic could do with rethinking their design. If you ate a poor meal in a restaurant, would you be satisfied "order something else next time" as an answer?
Ok... anyone worth their salt knows how ridiculously easy the "Elite" STFs are... a complete joke if you've got a halfway competent group of players.
I've been dabbling a bit in Neverwinter as of late... and their Epic Dungeons are just that, Epic, like how STFs used to be. You need a team with DPS, tanks and healers... decent gear and an understanding of game mechanics to have a chance at succeeding. Even then it takes a good amount of time to get through one.
Seeing as the same company is running both games I have to ask... why do they get challenging end-game content and STF is stuck with "Elite" STFs completable in under 10 minutes?
Other Neverwinter players feel free to chime in.
to find team for epics in Neverwinter u have to be maxed geared and enchanted and even then u need hour or more to find it or if play other class then CW or TR or DC u wont play any t2 or t3 epic dungeons and u need to know all exploits and shortcuts Are u sure STO need to be like that
This is exactly what I came to post. There is nothing epic or engaging about the vast majority of Neverwinter's dungeon crawls. Nearly all of them are just mowing down minions in huge clumps for up to a couple hours at a time. And then you think you're going to have an epic moment with fighting a challenging boss, only to find out it's nothing but larger death-spots to avoid, and MORE waves of minions.
My kingdom for better dungeon design.
STO ain't much better, it's true, but at least they don't tend to waste my time.
So far the most epic experience I've had in a cryptic game was the Therakiel's Temple lair in Champions. Which I did for the first time last week. It took a long time because none of us on the team had ever done it, and we were a pug with no healer or controls but luckily CO makes controls even more useless than STO does so meh.
There were multiple unique mechanics that exist no where else in Champions. Not too many trash mobs, mostly it was a maneuvering puzzle. First how to chain light using mirrors and players to get past obstacles. Then how to move past zones that charged you black or yellow and if you were charged you couldn't enter the same charged field but the opposite would make you neutral again. Then overcoming both at once.
Along the way there were 4 mini-bosses including one with a damage reflection power so massive DPS characters would kill themselves and others would be like "woah what happened to him?" Which I found a rather funny change from giving the boss a 1-shot kill power.
Then the finale in a gorgeous setting. Boss had three modes, including a guaranteed kill move, but it took about 6 seconds to get you. He would zot you with eyebeams that paralyzed you and did a strong DOT. If an ally channeled light to you, using the same mechanic from earlier, you could use your mirror to reflect the beams back onto the boss for big damage and survive the otherwise guaranteed kill.
Also, it had a victory cutscene that was actually worth watching more than once.
End reward? the equivalent of enough rep marks to get 1/5 of a costume piece from a vendor. which is half what I could have gotten doing a solo mission in 20 minutes.
Unsurprisingly, no one does therakiel's temple except a few people who can farm it to get unique costume drops that only come from the end boss. It took us over an hour to find 5 people willing to try this one run and when we did it was only people who had never done it before. No vets were interested. Most tried to talk us out of it.
Generally speaking, most people don't want a challenge. Kind of sad, but there it is.
In order for Cryptic to start making elite, but challenging content, they will have to start doing some re-balances and retooling all the classes.
Not really.
The easiest way to make all missions more challenging would be to add powers to NPCs. They gave the Spheres EPtE, which added a bit of chase-me-down action. Now add Tac team and TSS to the arsenal. Also, give all Borg NPCs the Borg set with that regen bonus. There, tougher without adding absurd 1-shot abilities.
Heck, adding Tac Team alone to every NPC in the game would double the challenge... as most NPCs do not distribute shields. It would even make the Tetryon weapons worth using in PvE again.
This way NPCs would stick around longer and you'd need more than a 10k DPS tac to tear them up. Make dedicated tanks truly useful in the game again.
I've got an Engineer that is a dedicated space tank... and people are asking me after STFs all the time how I manage it. They realize how much more entertaining the missions become when they don't have to worry about being fired at anymore.
So virtually all the end game content should be aimed at "casual" players, with only NWS for people who want more of a challenge? What would be wrong with having a mix of easy & difficult end-game content, so we could both have what we want? I also know plenty of casual players who find the Elite STFs far too easy anyway. It's not like you need a really deep, advanced understanding of the game mechanics and top end gear to do Elites. You just need a competent build, a basic understanding of what tactics the mission requires and some decent equipment. You don't need sets. You don't need Mk XII purple everything. You don't need second-by-second coordination.
Besides which, if we accept that easy, PuGGable STFs (& Fleet Actions & everything else) are an intentional part of game-design, then it's not actually because STO's a casual MMO is it? It's because STO is a grind-based MMO, where you have to do the same mission 100s of times to get the reward from them. Couldn't have any of those missions be particularly hard or long, now, could we?
And "play Foundry missions" or "do PvP" doesn't really change the fact that PvE missions aren't challenging to an increasing number of players and Cryptic could do with rethinking their design. If you ate a poor meal in a restaurant, would you be satisfied "order something else next time" as an answer?
Pretty much. See, they were long and difficult; and you did have to grind them over and over to get the rewards. People didn't like that.
Personally, I'm not really sure that they have got significantly easier as such; I believe that, since being broken into sections and becoming more accessible, people have simply got better at them. More people play them now, and do so more often; so the tips and tricks for victory are more widely known. Also, rep bonuses, new traits, and elite gear, have enhanced the ability of our characters. It's like we are preparing to move on to bigger and better things; but we don't actually have bigger and better things to move on to, so we just keep getting better at the same old stuff.
and now everyone can enjoy them, not just the people with no real lives and 19 hours a day to spend in STO. :rolleyes:
Yeah, they just stripped out the whole central plot and episodic format that made them unique and turned them into generic group missions.
Hows enjoying that amazing content working out for ya? :rolleyes:
But of course that was not enough, was it?
Even after they diced them up into easy short missions people continued to complain about the "Elite" gear, and as a result a second swing with the nerfbat and enter the grindy rep system, and now anyone can get the once coveted "Elite" gear without even half trying.
I mean god forbid that those people who want a real challenge should have it and have anything special to show for it. :rolleyes:
Seriously, us hardcore players don't begrudge casual players good and solid content.
But casual players seem to begrudge us hardcore players good and solid content and wants everything to revolve around them.
Comments
There will never be enough content to only be played once by players before the next content patch. It just isn't feasible regardless of the difficulty level. There will always be time sinks and gateways for as long as gamers play games for an unhealthy amount of time per day.
I'm not sure that answers my question. I've worked so I can have some of the best items in the game then you said I should put them in my bank so that I can have a challenge.
Shouldn't Cryptic make some form of content where I can use my best items yet still have some semblance of challenge?
Bleed Green and Gold
You've completely missed the point. Cryptic has made it abundantly clear that they aren't even trying to create endgame content with a focus on fun and replay value. Instead, they've created structures for the sole purpose of forcing players to repeat specific content pieces ad nauseum.
There's a marked difference between putting into place a framework that allows players to earn rewards while having fun and eating up time, and a framework that punishes players if they don't play the game exactly how a designer wants the game to be played. STO falls unambiguously into the latter category.
Shouldn't Cryptic make some type of mission content, period? Forget about challenging. I'd just be happy to have some new content to do even if I had to do it in a small craft.
Think about the way MMOs work: they give you the best gear for defeating tough things with sub-best gear. At that point you either wait for a game advance - such as an Expansion Pack - or you go off and PvP against people who have the same super-gear you have.
^ pretty much this.
---- FIRE EVERYTHING ! ----
I can agree with you there but then that brings up the whole other topic about cryptic having abandoned pvp. (which would be thread derailment I believe).
Bleed Green and Gold
All i saw was a cute lil simple (almost browser-game) level of complexity systems and their idea of 'action mmo' being about 5 years out of date in comparison to other MMOs out atm....
Average NW player would run a mile when they look at all the equipment slots for ship/ground in STO
Well-said.
I think this is the real face of "content locusts." It's not that players are ravenous, it's that the game is designed such that they grow tired of the content already there; the chase for gear by grinding through the same content over and over, only to then get the gear and grind through the same content over and over is outdated. It's no wonder that players consume new content so quickly when they've been subjected to the same content for so long. They just want to use the gear they earned from the grind on new content.
This is exactly what I came to post. There is nothing epic or engaging about the vast majority of Neverwinter's dungeon crawls. Nearly all of them are just mowing down minions in huge clumps for up to a couple hours at a time. And then you think you're going to have an epic moment with fighting a challenging boss, only to find out it's nothing but larger death-spots to avoid, and MORE waves of minions.
My kingdom for better dungeon design.
STO ain't much better, it's true, but at least they don't tend to waste my time.
STO isn't another generic mmo like many out there where distinct classes are well defined. If you're a star trek fan, you should know a starship always travels alone to explore the unknown. A starship isn't a person. Moreover, starship captain is and will always be a lone wolf. STO space combat is designed accordingly to this principle. For those who keeps thinking that STO is just or should be similar to other fantasy mmo out there, then you're not a trekkie but just a gamer.
Ground combats in STO are similar somewhat to other mmos, however. If you'd played ground Estfs, you should know by now that they're difficult and require a correct team work in order to get the opt or finish it. Try cure applied elite and see.
STO is the best mmo imo. I've played gw2, stwor and many other mmos, but none offers what I want or keeps me playing like STO - been here for 3 years. Perhaps, i'm a trekkie, but I also like the semi single player style of STO. Furthermore, STO isn't all about combats or grinds. Flying around and doing doff missions in different sectors is exploring.
This is Star Trek not just another mmo!
I think STO does a disservice to its players in that it lets you play for 30-40 hours solo and then demands you start teaming with others to get the best end-game gear. The players aren't prepared for teaming and working with others - and they're generally not prepared for the challenges presented by the end-game content. I personally believe STO should force players into team events earlier at different times while they're leveling to get people ready for the end-game.
Agreed. I fondly remember when on patrol missions, there was a chance that a nearby player would spawn into your instance and thus transform the mission into group content. Since patrols disappeared, group content has shifted almost exclusively to end-game.
Yes, but... you know we'd get way too many sub-par dungeon crawls and not nearly enough actual Star Trek.
I'm all for being able to build a decent anachronistic set. But I don't want to see Neverwinter dungeons in STO.
Make 'em really alien and I'm sold. Klingon dungeons would be perfect.
Make them look historical rather than sword-and-sorcery and I'm in.
Link: How to PM - Twitter @STOMod_Bluegeek
Back in wow first expansion they released heroic 5 mans, when they were released they required a good tank that knew how to survive a healer that knew how to conserve mana and dps that knew how to control mobs as well as do damage. Near the end of that expansion they released a group finder tool that matched you with random people at the same time they nerfed the heroics but they still were a challenge for 5 random people.
The next expansion nerfed heroics to be a joke where within a week you could simply bind all your aoe onto 1 key and roll your face across the keyboard. The expansion after that tried to make heroics harder by adding in more need for cc and more hazards to avoid. The result was the forums on fire with players complaining about how it was too hard and they were quitting, by the next patch heroics were nerfed.
Once content is dumbed down and make easy it is very hard if not impossible to make it a challenge again.
I would love to see harder elites but as long as it is not more cheese like the random 1 shots that come from nowhere though 7k shields (running at 60% resist) and 40k hull.
I definitely think this is true. Once content difficulty has been "nerfed," it's nearly impossible for the developers to then go back and increase difficulty without considerable blow-back.
So now onto your original question, after 2 years of people maxing out gear, and getting the lock box consoles, the current STF's have not scaled in difficulty with the new avg gear of the player base. This includes ships as well, with 15% more Hull and ridiculously high shield and DPS.
This is because, cryptic has basically ignored or postponed new End Game content for the LoR expansion. While they did give us The Hive, it is so bug ridden, it is not worth playing imho, until it is fixed.
Just my 2 cents
This is very true, I have to wonder if Cryptic even has it in them to design challenging content that isn't just a cheese fest. Though I think at least on ground they can, Hive ground was a step in the right direction. At least it had actual boss mechanics and not just a HP sponge that one-shots things at the end.
This may be true, but I have not supported Cryptic and STO so I can play YOUR game, or idea of what STO should be.
I as a consumer believe, if I support a company, they in turn will deliver goods as promised. I have always disliked the Foundry, because it feeds the players grandiose ideas that they are making content for a game. Well in actuality you help Cryptic continue to ignore the broken parts of the game all the while they say, "you have a great source of content" when referring to the Foundry.
I have been playing this game since launch, bought a Lifetime sub soon as they were available on Multiple accts, and then supported the C-Store even though it turns my stomach.
And what do we have at the ende of the day? A bug ridden game that the company must laugh at the player base for believing them yet again.
I respectfully disagree with this post and the false entitlement issues it conveys.
---- FIRE EVERYTHING ! ----
My mission has nothing to do with my "idea" of what STO should be.
So virtually all the end game content should be aimed at "casual" players, with only NWS for people who want more of a challenge? What would be wrong with having a mix of easy & difficult end-game content, so we could both have what we want? I also know plenty of casual players who find the Elite STFs far too easy anyway. It's not like you need a really deep, advanced understanding of the game mechanics and top end gear to do Elites. You just need a competent build, a basic understanding of what tactics the mission requires and some decent equipment. You don't need sets. You don't need Mk XII purple everything. You don't need second-by-second coordination.
Besides which, if we accept that easy, PuGGable STFs (& Fleet Actions & everything else) are an intentional part of game-design, then it's not actually because STO's a casual MMO is it? It's because STO is a grind-based MMO, where you have to do the same mission 100s of times to get the reward from them. Couldn't have any of those missions be particularly hard or long, now, could we?
And "play Foundry missions" or "do PvP" doesn't really change the fact that PvE missions aren't challenging to an increasing number of players and Cryptic could do with rethinking their design. If you ate a poor meal in a restaurant, would you be satisfied "order something else next time" as an answer?
answer to what ?
.
---- FIRE EVERYTHING ! ----
to find team for epics in Neverwinter u have to be maxed geared and enchanted and even then u need hour or more to find it or if play other class then CW or TR or DC u wont play any t2 or t3 epic dungeons and u need to know all exploits and shortcuts Are u sure STO need to be like that
So far the most epic experience I've had in a cryptic game was the Therakiel's Temple lair in Champions. Which I did for the first time last week. It took a long time because none of us on the team had ever done it, and we were a pug with no healer or controls but luckily CO makes controls even more useless than STO does so meh.
There were multiple unique mechanics that exist no where else in Champions. Not too many trash mobs, mostly it was a maneuvering puzzle. First how to chain light using mirrors and players to get past obstacles. Then how to move past zones that charged you black or yellow and if you were charged you couldn't enter the same charged field but the opposite would make you neutral again. Then overcoming both at once.
Along the way there were 4 mini-bosses including one with a damage reflection power so massive DPS characters would kill themselves and others would be like "woah what happened to him?" Which I found a rather funny change from giving the boss a 1-shot kill power.
Then the finale in a gorgeous setting. Boss had three modes, including a guaranteed kill move, but it took about 6 seconds to get you. He would zot you with eyebeams that paralyzed you and did a strong DOT. If an ally channeled light to you, using the same mechanic from earlier, you could use your mirror to reflect the beams back onto the boss for big damage and survive the otherwise guaranteed kill.
Also, it had a victory cutscene that was actually worth watching more than once.
End reward? the equivalent of enough rep marks to get 1/5 of a costume piece from a vendor. which is half what I could have gotten doing a solo mission in 20 minutes.
Unsurprisingly, no one does therakiel's temple except a few people who can farm it to get unique costume drops that only come from the end boss. It took us over an hour to find 5 people willing to try this one run and when we did it was only people who had never done it before. No vets were interested. Most tried to talk us out of it.
Generally speaking, most people don't want a challenge. Kind of sad, but there it is.
Not really.
The easiest way to make all missions more challenging would be to add powers to NPCs. They gave the Spheres EPtE, which added a bit of chase-me-down action. Now add Tac team and TSS to the arsenal. Also, give all Borg NPCs the Borg set with that regen bonus. There, tougher without adding absurd 1-shot abilities.
Heck, adding Tac Team alone to every NPC in the game would double the challenge... as most NPCs do not distribute shields. It would even make the Tetryon weapons worth using in PvE again.
This way NPCs would stick around longer and you'd need more than a 10k DPS tac to tear them up. Make dedicated tanks truly useful in the game again.
I've got an Engineer that is a dedicated space tank... and people are asking me after STFs all the time how I manage it. They realize how much more entertaining the missions become when they don't have to worry about being fired at anymore.
Pretty much. See, they were long and difficult; and you did have to grind them over and over to get the rewards. People didn't like that.
Personally, I'm not really sure that they have got significantly easier as such; I believe that, since being broken into sections and becoming more accessible, people have simply got better at them. More people play them now, and do so more often; so the tips and tricks for victory are more widely known. Also, rep bonuses, new traits, and elite gear, have enhanced the ability of our characters. It's like we are preparing to move on to bigger and better things; but we don't actually have bigger and better things to move on to, so we just keep getting better at the same old stuff.
Yeah, they just stripped out the whole central plot and episodic format that made them unique and turned them into generic group missions.
Hows enjoying that amazing content working out for ya? :rolleyes:
But of course that was not enough, was it?
Even after they diced them up into easy short missions people continued to complain about the "Elite" gear, and as a result a second swing with the nerfbat and enter the grindy rep system, and now anyone can get the once coveted "Elite" gear without even half trying.
I mean god forbid that those people who want a real challenge should have it and have anything special to show for it. :rolleyes:
Seriously, us hardcore players don't begrudge casual players good and solid content.
But casual players seem to begrudge us hardcore players good and solid content and wants everything to revolve around them.