Hope they plan on doubling the effectiveness of the Voth Space and Ground sets cause currently they're not much better then a basic set, definitely not end game content worthy but certainly more then end game grind....
Increased the Dyson Sphere Mark cost of equipment projects.
Ground set pieces now cost 500 up from 250.
Secondary space sets now cost 500 up from 300.
Space sets now cost 900 up from 450.
Increased the Energy Credit cost of secondary space set pieces from 12,000 to 30,000.
Increased the Dyson Sphere Mark cost on the hourly reputation XP project from 10 to 20.
Increased the Energy Credit cost on the hourly reputation XP project from 2000 to 7500.
Items awarded from Dyson Equipment Requisition boxes now sell for energy credits again.
With the dyson store items now selling to the vendors for ec again I can't say I am bothered too much by the energy credit increase of the hourly rep project (though it does put it far higher than the 800xp projects in the other rep projects).
The mark increase is rather annoying, you now have to spend 107 marks to get the 800 exp you get in other rep systems where you spend under 50 MAX to get 2800 per day. Plus these marks are harder to get.
Regarding the set mark increases, I don't even know what to say about them except: what are you thinking?
You seem to have lost track of the supposed "less grindy" aspect of this new rep system.
I liked it at one point, now I am less interested in it.
With the dyson store items now selling to the vendors for ec again I can't say I am bothered too much by the energy credit increase of the hourly rep project (though it does put it far higher than the 800xp projects in the other rep projects).
The mark increase is rather annoying, you now have to spend 107 marks to get the 800 exp you get in other rep systems where you spend under 50 MAX to get 2800 per day. Plus these marks are harder to get.
Regarding the set mark increases, I don't even know what to say about them except: what are you thinking?
You seem to have lost track of the supposed "less grindy" aspect of this new rep system.
I liked it at one point, now I am less interested in it.
Your mark cost/xp is a little off. When they decreased the 1h project from 200xp to 150 they increased the 20h project from 2000xp to 2500xp. To get 2800xp a day you need to do the 150xp project 2 times, not 5 1/3 times.
As it was, it was pretty easy to get to T5 (granted, it was hyper-accelerated due to Tribb le being in "debug mode" - projects completing in 30s). But I LIKED that. The other reps feel too sluggish, even in the beginning.
FEEDBACK - Revert these changes, please. We understand that you want reputations to be end-game stuff and a bit of a challenge, but making them twice as expensive and grindy isn't the way to do it. You're fixing what isn't broken - the Dyson rep was fine as it was.
Uhuh... so the idea behind all the new missions was that they would reward less marks due to the fact that less marks are required for the revamped reputation, yet despite all of this you increase the cost of all the new items to be more in-line with the current holodeck costs...
Makes no sense. This just makes it a bit easier to level up the reputation, but makes grinding for equipment even worse than it is.
So...what you've done is to take most of what was going to be great (and MUCH IMPROVED over the current Rep systems) about the Dyson Rep set-up, and which was hoped to be a model to be followed later by the other systems, and you've Crypticized it: i.e., made it expensive, require lots of inputs, and so on...all of which was supposed to be changing for the better. It was even demonstrated and talked about as such in the live Twitch event Bran did. Maybe you should go back and watch it...
Why do you guys do this kind of stuff? I know that a lot of this was just for testing purposes (e.g., the "20-hour cooldown" taking minutes, etc.), but the fear is that, when this launches, it's just going to be ANOTHER grindfest, introducing yet ANOTHER currency (going back yet again on the early 2011 announcement of "we're just going to stay with credits, Dil, and Latinum" when we complained about too many currencies) - because since S6, EVERYTHING one can donate to a Starbase is a currency - and, in the end, not introducing anything progressive at all.
Bwhahahahahaha! I am dying at some of these comments. C'mon you cant really have thought that Cryptic was going to LOWER the prices on things and make things easier or less grindy.
Too funny. I guess you all forgot when they said "price in the C-Store are going to lower after free to play."
"Star Trek Online is powered by the most abundant resource in the galaxy . . . Gullibility"
Whatever happened to removing the distinction between Uniform/Off-Duty/Formal costume pieces so we could mix'n'match whatever (and also allow BOffs to wear non-uniform peices)?
Increased the Dyson Sphere Mark cost of equipment projects.
Ground set pieces now cost 500 up from 250.
Secondary space sets now cost 500 up from 300.
Space sets now cost 900 up from 450.
Uhuh... so the idea behind all the new missions was that they would reward less marks due to the fact that less marks are required for the revamped reputation, yet despite all of this you increase the cost of all the new items to be more in-line with the current holodeck costs...
Makes no sense. This just makes it a bit easier to level up the reputation, but makes grinding for equipment even worse than it is.
Agreed 100%.
If you intend the cost of equipment to be near/higher than Omega, Romulan, and Nukaran, then you need to increase the rewards.
Higher costs + low rewards = playing only to level up.
You just lowered the replay value of the whole of Season 8. I too was thinking of getting some Dyson Rep equipment. Not at double the prices and no increase in rewards.
Beyond disappointed if this makes it to Holodeck. Since they went to all of these rep systems I've all but stalled working on gear. I simply don't have the time to grind every day to keep up with all of the aspects with the current reputation system.
I had so much hope that they would make the new Dyson reputation system grind and price for gear manageable for people like me. Its not like I've been paying for gold or buying ships and packs since launch.
This just blew all the wind out of my sails for the new season. I was especially happy with the ground equipment prices. Being able to do some new content with an overhauled rep system that had decently priced gear? It was like a dream come true. Except now it's not. So now I'll just stick with my Omega/Fleet gear for both ground and space.
So you created a crappy space set that I see even less value in than the romulan/nukara ones (which are significantly worse than omega I might add) and now you think it is worth 900 marks which are more time consuming to acquire from my limited experience and think anyone would bother with them?
The space set is a mess. The individual pieces are bad. The set bonuses are also fairly pointless. I can see no place on any of my ships where they would be an upgrade to exisiting gear and this is coming from someone who has found a good use for a 2pc Jem'Hadar and 3pc Nukara space set on toons.
I don't know why everyone is complaining about.... I mean... you guys were complaining about having to grind all the time.. You get this new Rep system.. yes they increased it... what gives.. but when you look at it in the long run.. your spending WAY less and less time to reach tier 5 unlike the Romulan, Omega and Nukara Reps... and now your saying you don't like it...
We will never know...
anyhow... I myself.. I don't care if they doubled the cost.. it's still cheap... and for me that I can get 1-2M ec's day to buy the stuff needed.. I don't mind spending 30K for it...
AT LEAST I know i'll be hitting Tier 5 for the 1st time since the Rep system was first implemented... and yes I've been here long enough to see the old DS9 store go away....
Oh, btw. I think you can stop using REDACTED now and just call it by the name "Omega Particle"...
I really don't think they will, because it's fairly in-line with the importance of the Omega Directive: no one has to know about the existence of Omega particles, until such time as they're forced to deal with them.
Since Season 8 hasn't officially happened yet and all players haven't physically come into contact with omega particles, with our own ships, we're not supposed to know about them either
Obviously we know, but our characters don't by all rights
Was named Trek17.
Been playing STO since Open Beta, and have never regarded anything as worse than 'meh', if only due to personal standards.
I don't know why everyone is complaining about.... I mean... you guys were complaining about having to grind all the time.. You get this new Rep system.. yes they increased it... what gives.. but when you look at it in the long run.. your spending WAY less and less time to reach tier 5 unlike the Romulan, Omega and Nukara Reps... and now your saying you don't like it...
We will never know...
anyhow... I myself.. I don't care if they doubled the cost.. it's still cheap... and for me that I can get 1-2M ec's day to buy the stuff needed.. I don't mind spending 30K for it...
AT LEAST I know i'll be hitting Tier 5 for the 1st time since the Rep system was first implemented... and yes I've been here long enough to see the old DS9 store go away....
so im happy to for this change!!!
Please show me in numbers how exactly this is quicker and cheaper in marks?
No one is complaining about the EC increase. We're complaining about the MARKS increase that makes it near cost, or actually MORE EXPENSIVE in marks to do the rep system for the same returns, then previous rep systems.
Oh, and you're still time gated by the way. Sure the little quests go quicker, but you need to dedicate 3 hours each day, every day, to get the same return as you can on other rep systems now, rep systems where you can get the marks to do a days worth of rep in an hour.
So please, tell me how 1 hour is longer then 3 hours, and an increase in marks cost is a good thing.
Because I'm not great at math, and I may be making a mistake, but I don't see it.
I have to agree with a lot of the people on here that this was a really bad decision, but to be fair, Cryptic has made a long career of false advertisements, non-truths, and overhyping their less than quality additions. Champions online is full of them, as is STO. Remember all the times they promised Klingon content? Peregrine Falcon does. Remember that time they advertised a brand new faction, that didn't really turn out to be a faction? The fed/kdf romulans do. Or what about that time they were advertising all of the hard work that went into totally revamping the Character creator? Well "Character Creator 2.0" (their name, not mine) was only a different UI, but there was no new anything besides that, and a few buggy pieces for romulans. They still can't even make fullbody skins for 90% of the characters in game, and that's an error they're proudly putting in the promotional photos.
I have no faith in cryptic.
While season 8 will be adding some interesting things, they're pretty much giving up on all that Trek is supposed to be about. The way they overprice every little thing alone, clearly shows that. I'm really hoping that once season 8 is done, they will finally go back and fix a lot of the quality of life issues that they've been ignoring since launch. What point is buying things in a game, if the rest of the game is too full of issues to make it worth while?
PLEASE, revert the rep system. Otherwise you're just perpetuating the underlying problem that every one warned you about to begin with. At the doubled price, these items just really are not worth the time for a lot of the players that had reached endgame a long time ago. much like most of the things in all cryptic stores, they cost way more than they are really worth, and frankly it's ridiculous.
Someone needs to run the new numbers on this Rep versus the old ones and see just how much more/less we're spending on leveling up the Rep after the doubling of prices
I can tell you this right now for Mk XII items (Mark prices are per piece):
KHG/MACO Mk XII Ground equipment: 500 Marks (along with BNPs, Expertise, etc.) (equal to Dyson's 500)
KHG/MACO Primary Space Sets (Deflector, Engine, and Shield): 1,000 Marks (higher than Dyson's 900)
Secondary Space Set (Torpedo, Cutting Beam, Assimilated Module): 500 Marks (equal to Dyson's 500 now)
So this is just a tad bit of proof that the Rep system *as it stands today* for the Dyson Joint Command is actually not fulfilling its promise: to lessen the grind on players. Because at these prices, I still must lean toward the STF/Task Force Omega Rep equipment. [Reason is two-fold: 1) better rewards in STFs, and 2) the Dyson set is just not worth an STF set. It's worth a lot less, and the original price was probably right considering the reward amounts for Season 8 content.]
Please show me in numbers how exactly this is quicker and cheaper in marks?
No one is complaining about the EC increase. We're complaining about the MARKS increase that makes it near cost, or actually MORE EXPENSIVE in marks to do the rep system for the same returns, then previous rep systems.
Oh, and you're still time gated by the way. Sure the little quests go quicker, but you need to dedicate 3 hours each day, every day, to get the same return as you can on other rep systems now, rep systems where you can get the marks to do a days worth of rep in an hour.
So please, tell me how 1 hour is longer then 3 hours, and an increase in marks cost is a good thing.
Because I'm not great at math, and I may be making a mistake, but I don't see it.
just quit whining about it... This Rep system is much better than spending ENDLESS Hours, on the old store... Where the drops had odds.. you either spend hours if not months to only get blue stuff... where a noob could just easily do it's fort STF and get the damn purple gear...
You know what... Im not even gonna start this... You can like it or not... I don't care...
just quit whining about it... This Rep system is much better than spending ENDLESS Hours, on the old store... Where the drops had odds.. you either spend hours if not months to only get blue stuff... where a noob could just easily do it's fort STF and get the damn purple gear...
No show me the numbers that say how it's better then spending ENDLESS hours, which by the way you're still doing. So instead of telling me to quit whining because you say so, show me the PROOF of your statement.
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No show me the numbers that say how it's better then spending ENDLESS hours, which by the way you're still doing. So instead of telling me to quit whining because you say so, show me the PROOF of your statement.
Yep... or can't you support your statement? Because I'm firmly against your statement, and all I see is a Cryptic Fanboi that seems to be saying the exact opposite of EVERYONE else that's posted.
So prove us ALL wrong.
Edit: Okay just to show my own numbers. Romulan rep. Total marks for 2800 rep... 48. Azure Nebula 10 minutes 30 marks. Elachi Mission. 30 marks. 10 minutes. 20 minutes wait 20 hours. Gain 2800 rep. That's approx 34 marks for the big mission (2800 marks) and I believe 15 marks for the little one (800 rep) (someone correct me on this I think I may be over on the cost)
This rep. 1 commendation Elite Storming the Spire. Lets say 10 minutes. 20-30 marks elite Storming the Spire (second play through) 10 minutes. 1 commendation 2000 rep 10 minutes wait 20 hours. 20 marks. to gain 200 rep, 1 hour cool down. So 60 marks, 4 hours, to get 800 rep.
Which means what I could play in an half an hour and wait, I now need to do 3 hours of playing, and for the small rep, need over 3 times the cost.
FEEDBACK - Revert these changes, please. We understand that you want reputations to be end-game stuff and a bit of a challenge, but making them twice as expensive and grindy isn't the way to do it. You're fixing what isn't broken - the Dyson rep was fine as it was.
^ this this, a thousand times this!!! I was looking very forward to having a rep system where you could get to tier 5 without treating STO like a second job. You just broke that. Please fix it.
It IS NOT a bad thing to let max level characters get ONE of the rep systems to tier 5 without too much of a grind... in fact, it would probably encourage folks to go ahead and get the rest of them!
Please revert these changes, or at the least raise the costs by only 25% or so instead of doubling them!!!
If your goal is to run only the 2k XP projects, then it'll take you 50 days and 50 events to fully Tier up. If I understand correctly, anything that awards Dyson Commendations also awards Dyson marks. You'll only need 25 Dyson Sphere Marks (5 for each Tier upgrade) in total for that, and you can get all those (and then some) from the events that award the Commendations.
If your goal is to match the current pace, 2800 XP per day, you're looking at roughly 800 from the hourly projects (150 XP per run?) and 2k from the Commendation-only project. If it's 150 XP per run, that's 6 hours you'd need in order to get 900 XP. 6 project runs = 120 Dyson Marks at current prices.
You'll do 34-35 days of that cycle, so you're looking at 25% of each day for over a month and 120 Marks per day and 1 Commendation from 1 daily per day. Also don't forget the 25 Marks total needed for the Tier upgrade projects.
If I'm calculating correctly, that brings the total number of Dyson Marks needed to 4,225 (on a 35-day clock). (This doesn't take into account the 350 Marks it takes to get 5 Commendations in case of a hectic schedule where you can't do dailies but you can stick around and gain a ton of Dyson Sphere Marks on a weekend or off day.). Before today's price hike, it would have taken 2,125 Marks to complete the Rep at roughly the same pace (XP per day) of the previous Rep systems.
Under the current Rep systems, going at 2800 XP per day and 150 Marks total to upgrade, you're looking at a total of 1,676 Marks over a span of 35-36 days? Could someone double-check that please?
Honestly, this was a raw deal either way. The Dyson Joint Command reputation system, if my numbers are correct, would have taken 2,125 Dyson Sphere Marks and 35 days to complete. The old Reps would have taken 1,676 of their respective Marks and taken 1-2 days longer than the Dyson Joint Command reputation. That's a difference of over 500 Marks, with Dyson taking more Marks than the others. Now, the discrepancy is that it now takes 2,600 more Dyson Sphere Marks than any other Mark in the game to run along at roughly the same speed as previous Rep systems.
With doubling the hourly project price, the Dyson Joint Command reputation system is actually more grindy simply for its massive amount of more Marks needed to maintain the old pace of progress. The reward was supposed to be cheaper gear, but that's no longer an option.
PvP'ers will still grind this. They'll take whatever stat boosters they can get. But for the casual player, I'd suggest unless you're really into having all the options available to just skip it now. More grind = less fun.
But for the casual player, I'd suggest unless you're really into having all the options available to just skip it now. More grind = less fun.
So what I'm seeing here is with your numbers (being much closer then mine) is that to come out ahead you need to play roughly 7 hours each day on one character to go "quicker" then the previous reps, 6 hours each day to go at the same pace, and anything less you go slower.
Plus, it's going to cost you MORE marks, meaning more grinding to get the number of marks you need in order to accomplish this?
So for the more casual, only get to play 2-4 hours during a weekday and massive play on the weekend, this isn't such a good deal. For those players with no life outside of STO, it's not a bad deal. If I'm seeing it right.
Now I'd still like to see Generalmoco's numbers to see the opposite arguements side on this, but entnx01's numbers seem to pretty much jive with what I was roughly seeing.
...to come out ahead you need to play roughly 7 hours each day on one character to go "quicker" then the previous reps, 6 hours each day to go at the same pace, and anything less you go slower.
And that is hitting the nail straight on the head as too why cryptic would do such move like this. they want bodies here longer.
I'm disapointed with this blatant and underhanded move to accomplish this, but that is the only reason I can see them artificially extending out the process like this
Comments
But thanks for giving me smaller buttons for the shard names. Those were totally needed :rolleyes:
With the dyson store items now selling to the vendors for ec again I can't say I am bothered too much by the energy credit increase of the hourly rep project (though it does put it far higher than the 800xp projects in the other rep projects).
The mark increase is rather annoying, you now have to spend 107 marks to get the 800 exp you get in other rep systems where you spend under 50 MAX to get 2800 per day. Plus these marks are harder to get.
Regarding the set mark increases, I don't even know what to say about them except: what are you thinking?
You seem to have lost track of the supposed "less grindy" aspect of this new rep system.
I liked it at one point, now I am less interested in it.
Your mark cost/xp is a little off. When they decreased the 1h project from 200xp to 150 they increased the 20h project from 2000xp to 2500xp. To get 2800xp a day you need to do the 150xp project 2 times, not 5 1/3 times.
Rest of it mirrors me feelings though.
This.
Also this.
And let's not forget this.
Too funny. I guess you all forgot when they said "price in the C-Store are going to lower after free to play."
Good question. I want Bra and Armor troopers.
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Agreed 100%.
If you intend the cost of equipment to be near/higher than Omega, Romulan, and Nukaran, then you need to increase the rewards.
Higher costs + low rewards = playing only to level up.
You just lowered the replay value of the whole of Season 8. I too was thinking of getting some Dyson Rep equipment. Not at double the prices and no increase in rewards.
To keep in the theme of Michael Dorn showing up http://media.desura.com/images/members/1/501/500772/worf_facepalm.JPG
Like I said sometimes, I would rather use real money to buy marks..
I had so much hope that they would make the new Dyson reputation system grind and price for gear manageable for people like me. Its not like I've been paying for gold or buying ships and packs since launch.
Thank you Cryptic
Okay, serious response time now.
This just blew all the wind out of my sails for the new season. I was especially happy with the ground equipment prices. Being able to do some new content with an overhauled rep system that had decently priced gear? It was like a dream come true. Except now it's not. So now I'll just stick with my Omega/Fleet gear for both ground and space.
I'm done.
Mine Trap Supporter
The space set is a mess. The individual pieces are bad. The set bonuses are also fairly pointless. I can see no place on any of my ships where they would be an upgrade to exisiting gear and this is coming from someone who has found a good use for a 2pc Jem'Hadar and 3pc Nukara space set on toons.
Why bother?
We will never know...
anyhow... I myself.. I don't care if they doubled the cost.. it's still cheap... and for me that I can get 1-2M ec's day to buy the stuff needed.. I don't mind spending 30K for it...
AT LEAST I know i'll be hitting Tier 5 for the 1st time since the Rep system was first implemented... and yes I've been here long enough to see the old DS9 store go away....
so im happy to for this change!!!
Since Season 8 hasn't officially happened yet and all players haven't physically come into contact with omega particles, with our own ships, we're not supposed to know about them either
Obviously we know, but our characters don't by all rights
Been playing STO since Open Beta, and have never regarded anything as worse than 'meh', if only due to personal standards.
Please show me in numbers how exactly this is quicker and cheaper in marks?
No one is complaining about the EC increase. We're complaining about the MARKS increase that makes it near cost, or actually MORE EXPENSIVE in marks to do the rep system for the same returns, then previous rep systems.
Oh, and you're still time gated by the way. Sure the little quests go quicker, but you need to dedicate 3 hours each day, every day, to get the same return as you can on other rep systems now, rep systems where you can get the marks to do a days worth of rep in an hour.
So please, tell me how 1 hour is longer then 3 hours, and an increase in marks cost is a good thing.
Because I'm not great at math, and I may be making a mistake, but I don't see it.
How many ways can you say 'no'? Nein, Nyet, No, Negative, Nee, Jo, Non, etc etc etc...
http://www.arcgames.com/en/games/star-trek-online/news/detail/10052253
Why are you not rejoicing?
I have no faith in cryptic.
While season 8 will be adding some interesting things, they're pretty much giving up on all that Trek is supposed to be about. The way they overprice every little thing alone, clearly shows that. I'm really hoping that once season 8 is done, they will finally go back and fix a lot of the quality of life issues that they've been ignoring since launch. What point is buying things in a game, if the rest of the game is too full of issues to make it worth while?
PLEASE, revert the rep system. Otherwise you're just perpetuating the underlying problem that every one warned you about to begin with. At the doubled price, these items just really are not worth the time for a lot of the players that had reached endgame a long time ago. much like most of the things in all cryptic stores, they cost way more than they are really worth, and frankly it's ridiculous.
I can tell you this right now for Mk XII items (Mark prices are per piece):
KHG/MACO Mk XII Ground equipment: 500 Marks (along with BNPs, Expertise, etc.) (equal to Dyson's 500)
KHG/MACO Primary Space Sets (Deflector, Engine, and Shield): 1,000 Marks (higher than Dyson's 900)
Secondary Space Set (Torpedo, Cutting Beam, Assimilated Module): 500 Marks (equal to Dyson's 500 now)
So this is just a tad bit of proof that the Rep system *as it stands today* for the Dyson Joint Command is actually not fulfilling its promise: to lessen the grind on players. Because at these prices, I still must lean toward the STF/Task Force Omega Rep equipment. [Reason is two-fold: 1) better rewards in STFs, and 2) the Dyson set is just not worth an STF set. It's worth a lot less, and the original price was probably right considering the reward amounts for Season 8 content.]
just quit whining about it... This Rep system is much better than spending ENDLESS Hours, on the old store... Where the drops had odds.. you either spend hours if not months to only get blue stuff... where a noob could just easily do it's fort STF and get the damn purple gear...
You know what... Im not even gonna start this... You can like it or not... I don't care...
No show me the numbers that say how it's better then spending ENDLESS hours, which by the way you're still doing. So instead of telling me to quit whining because you say so, show me the PROOF of your statement.
You made water come out my nose. Hahahahaha!
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You really want the math???? Is that so???
I'll prove it to you.. I'll do the math!!!
Yep... or can't you support your statement? Because I'm firmly against your statement, and all I see is a Cryptic Fanboi that seems to be saying the exact opposite of EVERYONE else that's posted.
So prove us ALL wrong.
Edit: Okay just to show my own numbers. Romulan rep. Total marks for 2800 rep... 48. Azure Nebula 10 minutes 30 marks. Elachi Mission. 30 marks. 10 minutes. 20 minutes wait 20 hours. Gain 2800 rep. That's approx 34 marks for the big mission (2800 marks) and I believe 15 marks for the little one (800 rep) (someone correct me on this I think I may be over on the cost)
This rep. 1 commendation Elite Storming the Spire. Lets say 10 minutes. 20-30 marks elite Storming the Spire (second play through) 10 minutes. 1 commendation 2000 rep 10 minutes wait 20 hours. 20 marks. to gain 200 rep, 1 hour cool down. So 60 marks, 4 hours, to get 800 rep.
Which means what I could play in an half an hour and wait, I now need to do 3 hours of playing, and for the small rep, need over 3 times the cost.
^ this this, a thousand times this!!! I was looking very forward to having a rep system where you could get to tier 5 without treating STO like a second job. You just broke that. Please fix it.
It IS NOT a bad thing to let max level characters get ONE of the rep systems to tier 5 without too much of a grind... in fact, it would probably encourage folks to go ahead and get the rest of them!
Please revert these changes, or at the least raise the costs by only 25% or so instead of doubling them!!!
If your goal is to run only the 2k XP projects, then it'll take you 50 days and 50 events to fully Tier up. If I understand correctly, anything that awards Dyson Commendations also awards Dyson marks. You'll only need 25 Dyson Sphere Marks (5 for each Tier upgrade) in total for that, and you can get all those (and then some) from the events that award the Commendations.
If your goal is to match the current pace, 2800 XP per day, you're looking at roughly 800 from the hourly projects (150 XP per run?) and 2k from the Commendation-only project. If it's 150 XP per run, that's 6 hours you'd need in order to get 900 XP. 6 project runs = 120 Dyson Marks at current prices.
You'll do 34-35 days of that cycle, so you're looking at 25% of each day for over a month and 120 Marks per day and 1 Commendation from 1 daily per day. Also don't forget the 25 Marks total needed for the Tier upgrade projects.
If I'm calculating correctly, that brings the total number of Dyson Marks needed to 4,225 (on a 35-day clock). (This doesn't take into account the 350 Marks it takes to get 5 Commendations in case of a hectic schedule where you can't do dailies but you can stick around and gain a ton of Dyson Sphere Marks on a weekend or off day.). Before today's price hike, it would have taken 2,125 Marks to complete the Rep at roughly the same pace (XP per day) of the previous Rep systems.
Under the current Rep systems, going at 2800 XP per day and 150 Marks total to upgrade, you're looking at a total of 1,676 Marks over a span of 35-36 days? Could someone double-check that please?
Honestly, this was a raw deal either way. The Dyson Joint Command reputation system, if my numbers are correct, would have taken 2,125 Dyson Sphere Marks and 35 days to complete. The old Reps would have taken 1,676 of their respective Marks and taken 1-2 days longer than the Dyson Joint Command reputation. That's a difference of over 500 Marks, with Dyson taking more Marks than the others. Now, the discrepancy is that it now takes 2,600 more Dyson Sphere Marks than any other Mark in the game to run along at roughly the same speed as previous Rep systems.
With doubling the hourly project price, the Dyson Joint Command reputation system is actually more grindy simply for its massive amount of more Marks needed to maintain the old pace of progress. The reward was supposed to be cheaper gear, but that's no longer an option.
PvP'ers will still grind this. They'll take whatever stat boosters they can get. But for the casual player, I'd suggest unless you're really into having all the options available to just skip it now. More grind = less fun.
So what I'm seeing here is with your numbers (being much closer then mine) is that to come out ahead you need to play roughly 7 hours each day on one character to go "quicker" then the previous reps, 6 hours each day to go at the same pace, and anything less you go slower.
Plus, it's going to cost you MORE marks, meaning more grinding to get the number of marks you need in order to accomplish this?
So for the more casual, only get to play 2-4 hours during a weekday and massive play on the weekend, this isn't such a good deal. For those players with no life outside of STO, it's not a bad deal. If I'm seeing it right.
Now I'd still like to see Generalmoco's numbers to see the opposite arguements side on this, but entnx01's numbers seem to pretty much jive with what I was roughly seeing.
And that is hitting the nail straight on the head as too why cryptic would do such move like this. they want bodies here longer.
I'm disapointed with this blatant and underhanded move to accomplish this, but that is the only reason I can see them artificially extending out the process like this