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Stop worrying about the power creep, and just balance the game/powers...

dark4blooddark4blood Member Posts: 1,192 Arc User
The power creep is NOT the problem, this happens with ANY MMO as more items are released and more LVLs are added. The problem is the nerfs to the NPCs when this game was challenging. Added back ALL the powers to the Borg Cube for Elite missions, including pulse energy shield drain, tractor cutting beam, FOW III for Tactical Cubes, and the one kill torpedo overload that both Cubes and Tactical Cubes had. Also, considering increasing sphere speed to half of what it was when people were complaining about them moving too much.

The Borg Sphere should have Direct Energy Modulation II, and Tactical Cubes should have Direct Energy modulation III with Fire at Will.

Next add that when ships are destroyed there is a 5% chance White Bridge Officers can die, 4% Green, 3% Blue and 1.5% Purple. This makes the game closer to Star Trek Universe as no-name officers died all the time in the show. Also, since Bridge Officers can be bought on the exchange, for the most part, it doesn't hurt the player that much.

Lastly, look at player powers that are overpowered and just adjust current power to match. Novice players WILL ALWAYS complain about difficulty, thus making the main "normal" game easy will be on purpose, but when you step to Elite, it will be the nightmare that it is supposed to be. Adding unique drops to all content played at lvl 50 would be nice, but let's be realistic, I would be happy if you stopped taking content from the game.
Post edited by dark4blood on

Comments

  • angrytargangrytarg Member Posts: 11,016 Arc User
    edited March 2014
    These are terrible suggestions. You realize that by maintaining the power creep and just boosting NPC mobs to ridiculous stats again, thus requiring more power creep to keep up with them will shaft new players even more?

    New items and skills can be released all the time to keep the game fresh. But just make it so that you can't have all of it all the time. New items don't have to be blatantly better than others, just different. Releasing bigger and bigger numbers only is a one-way. Releasing different things and more diverse content keeps a game alive - but a free to play model isn't about that anymore, it's about designing stuff for people to buy and people will want better stuff to spent money on.

    And the loss of items is a stupid model to artificially increase challenge, really.
    lFC4bt2.gif
    ^ Memory Alpha.org is not canon. It's a open wiki with arbitrary rules. Only what can be cited from an episode is. ^
    "No. Men do not roar. Women roar. Then they hurl heavy objects... and claw at you." -Worf, son of Mogh
    "A filthy, mangy beast, but in its bony breast beat the heart of a warrior" - "faithful" (...) "but ever-ready to follow the call of the wild." - Martok, about a Targ
    "That pig smelled horrid. A sweet-sour, extremely pungent odor. I showered and showered, and it took me a week to get rid of it!" - Robert Justman, appreciating Emmy-Lou
  • deianirrahdeianirrah Member Posts: 236 Arc User
    edited March 2014
    dark4blood wrote: »
    The power creep is NOT the problem, this happens with ANY MMO as more items are released and more LVLs are added. The problem is the nerfs to the NPCs when this game was challenging. Added back ALL the powers to the Borg Cube for Elite missions, including pulse energy shield drain, tractor cutting beam, FOW III for Tactical Cubes, and the one kill torpedo overload that both Cubes and Tactical Cubes had. Also, considering increasing sphere speed to half of what it was when people were complaining about them moving too much.

    The Borg Sphere should have Direct Energy Modulation II, and Tactical Cubes should have Direct Energy modulation III with Fire at Will.
    While I do agree that the Borg could use some more 'oomph' especially on Elite - Invisible One-Hit Torpedoes that You cannot really defend against as You never see them coming offer about as much tactical challenge as a randomly generated event that destroys Your ship at the start of the mission. Sphere speed - especially after the (albeit still a bit half-hearted) revamp of Gravity Well - is fine.
    Next add that when ships are destroyed there is a 5% chance White Bridge Officers can die, 4% Green, 3% Blue and 1.5% Purple. This makes the game closer to Star Trek Universe as no-name officers died all the time in the show. Also, since Bridge Officers can be bought on the exchange, for the most part, it doesn't hurt the player that much.
    *facepalm* You know that prices of BOffs would skyrocket on the Exchange if a system like that were to be introduced? And new players trying to learn the ropes would not simply be able to afford a new BOff? Please, think such proposals through to the end before You offer such a system.
    I for one do not only name but equip and dress my BOffs exactly the way I want them to be.

    Or was this simply an attempt at trolling?
    Lastly, look at player powers that are overpowered and just adjust current power to match. Novice players WILL ALWAYS complain about difficulty, thus making the main "normal" game easy will be on purpose, but when you step to Elite, it will be the nightmare that it is supposed to be. Adding unique drops to all content played at lvl 50 would be nice, but let's be realistic, I would be happy if you stopped taking content from the game.
    The current Mirror Event is not the worst example on how this is already implemented, on Normal ('Medium' ingame) difficulty, people need to stick together a bit but usually it will work out even in a random PUG.
    On Elite difficulty, it does take a lot more effort, cruisers have their small role and science ships are actually useful - and, of course, so are damage dealers.
    I see few complaining about a too difficult game.

    Unique drops - been there, done that. I for one do not want yet another game where I have to hope for a 0.X% chance to see the one, coveted item drop that anyone else in the group will want as well or that I do have to hunt for like pre-Omega-Reputation-system set items.

    Taskforce 47 Falkenwacht (Federation) / Greifenreiter (KDF)
    (at) deianirrah
    Free Gear and where to get it
  • angrytargangrytarg Member Posts: 11,016 Arc User
    edited March 2014
    deianirrah wrote: »
    (...)

    Unique drops - been there, done that. I for one do not want yet another game where I have to hope for a 0.X% chance to see the one, coveted item drop that anyone else in the group will want as well or that I do have to hunt for like pre-Omega-Reputation-system set items.

    But isn't that the only thing that keeps the game dynamic to a certain degree? Right now, from the moment you create your character, you are able to create sheets when you get what item, what trait through the never ending grind - to me at least, that's just a huge bore. This is a game, "luck" should play a part - and not in form of lotteries.
    lFC4bt2.gif
    ^ Memory Alpha.org is not canon. It's a open wiki with arbitrary rules. Only what can be cited from an episode is. ^
    "No. Men do not roar. Women roar. Then they hurl heavy objects... and claw at you." -Worf, son of Mogh
    "A filthy, mangy beast, but in its bony breast beat the heart of a warrior" - "faithful" (...) "but ever-ready to follow the call of the wild." - Martok, about a Targ
    "That pig smelled horrid. A sweet-sour, extremely pungent odor. I showered and showered, and it took me a week to get rid of it!" - Robert Justman, appreciating Emmy-Lou
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  • edited March 2014
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  • deianirrahdeianirrah Member Posts: 236 Arc User
    edited March 2014
    angrytarg wrote: »
    But isn't that the only thing that keeps the game dynamic to a certain degree? Right now, from the moment you create your character, you are able to create sheets when you get what item, what trait through the never ending grind - to me at least, that's just a huge bore. This is a game, "luck" should play a part - and not in form of lotteries.
    I would not really call grinding for a low, random chance drop 'dynamic'. Luck still does play a part of the game, admittedly less than random HighEnd-loot - but it is also rewarding to strive to become better at playing the game by understanding its' mechanics.
    The level of challenge to succeed in the given content needs to be adjusted from time to time, though - which is why it is so difficult to make a game interesting to both Casual and 'Hardcore' players without excluding anyone from participating.

    Taskforce 47 Falkenwacht (Federation) / Greifenreiter (KDF)
    (at) deianirrah
    Free Gear and where to get it
  • edited March 2014
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  • talientalien Member Posts: 712 Arc User
    edited March 2014
    dark4blood wrote: »
    and the one kill torpedo overload that both Cubes and Tactical Cubes had.

    OHKO attacks are the cheapest and laziest way of adding difficulty because they do not actually add difficulty, only frustration.
    Next add that when ships are destroyed there is a 5% chance White Bridge Officers can die, 4% Green, 3% Blue and 1.5% Purple. This makes the game closer to Star Trek Universe as no-name officers died all the time in the show. Also, since Bridge Officers can be bought on the exchange, for the most part, it doesn't hurt the player that much.


    Boffs are not "no name" redshirts, they're the equivalent of Spock, Scotty, McCoy, Riker, LaForge, Worf, Data, etc. Not only that you have unique boffs that come from events, featured episodes, and Diplomacy rewards that can't easily be replaced. For some not at all.

    While I know some people would relish being able to get rid of Tovan Khev this isn't a very good way of going about doing it.
  • angrytargangrytarg Member Posts: 11,016 Arc User
    edited March 2014
    deianirrah wrote: »
    I would not really call grinding for a low, random chance drop 'dynamic'. Luck still does play a part of the game, admittedly less than random HighEnd-loot - but it is also rewarding to strive to become better at playing the game by understanding its' mechanics.
    The level of challenge to succeed in the given content needs to be adjusted from time to time, though - which is why it is so difficult to make a game interesting to both Casual and 'Hardcore' players without excluding anyone from participating.

    It's no easy task, but I like to compare STO to Diablo 2, back in the day. STO is nothing else than a constant hack and slay grind. Diablo 2 appealed to all levels of "expertise" really and you recieved a huge morale boost once you actually managed to find a piece of exquisit loot. That piece of exquisit loot wasn't necessarily the end-to-all since different sets and items had different synergies you could specialize yourself in. I personally find such a system more appealing than the dangling carrot, as in "I need to do this grind a thousand times (literally) so I can get this one piece of superior equipment - and I know for certain that 999 times NOTHING will happen". Since well, basically STO doesn't have viable loot at all since everything that can drop is so vastly underpowered.
    lFC4bt2.gif
    ^ Memory Alpha.org is not canon. It's a open wiki with arbitrary rules. Only what can be cited from an episode is. ^
    "No. Men do not roar. Women roar. Then they hurl heavy objects... and claw at you." -Worf, son of Mogh
    "A filthy, mangy beast, but in its bony breast beat the heart of a warrior" - "faithful" (...) "but ever-ready to follow the call of the wild." - Martok, about a Targ
    "That pig smelled horrid. A sweet-sour, extremely pungent odor. I showered and showered, and it took me a week to get rid of it!" - Robert Justman, appreciating Emmy-Lou
  • edited March 2014
    This content has been removed.
  • deianirrahdeianirrah Member Posts: 236 Arc User
    edited March 2014
    dark4blood wrote: »
    1.)Bugs will always exist, I am not just talking a power revamp but a battle revamp. As I suggested in another blog, have the Borg analyze players when they first enter a mission. One making the battle fresh by randomly choosing to have backup if people have Scimitars, Kumari, Battle Cruiser, etc. It would also be cool to hear the Borg state which species were present in a battle based on their identification number. Like these--http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Borg_species_designations
    I have not written anything about bugs, either. As for AI changes - sure, if they'd actually work and if another level of difficulty (call it 'Utra' or 'Hardcore' or whatever) would be added - why not? The rest is fluff.
    2.)Facepalm, really!? Since the most rare BOFFs can be obtained through DOFF missions, what is the issue again? Also, are the other very rare BOFFs acquired through the Lobi store or the fleet system. How again would the exchange really hold that up? Pretty sad if people don't learn the game enough to know that. White BOFFs are a given, so are Green, and even most Blue, and Purple are obtainable EASILY beyond the exchange. Wait a day to get a purple on one mission, wow so hard. Adding death POSSIBILITY on ELITE ONLY would just add challenge. This would "maybe" cause a price increase for 2 months and it would go back to normal levels because BOFFs are easily obtainable.
    You are looking at it from the current perspective. It is a supply and demand system. If You create additional, constant demand by adding the random death of BOffs - the supply will have to meet that demand or prices go up for the coveted BOffs. In addition, if You do create alternative sources of supply (You can also buy BOffs for dilithium at the ESD/First city) - players are forced to buy them or they will have empty BOff stations aboard which makes a ship rather useless. Becoming useless during any kind of content does not add to the challenge of the game - but excludes You from participating in it. To obtain BOffs via DOff-missions requires DOffs of a certain quality - that especially new players will not be able to afford. In addition, not every player is part of a fleet - or desires to become such. Not to mention fleets that are still building their holdings so You do not only have limited access to new DOffs - but also a limited supply of them as they require ressources. All Your proposed system does create is a frustrating experience and yet another ec, Dilithium and Fleet Credit (not to mention fleet project) and player time sink. So yes: *facepalm*
    3.)I didn't say stop focusing gear around fleet and rep system, I just said add SOMETHING to STFs that is unique and legendary. These would obviously be available on the exchange, and with a chance crafting system, you could actually MAKE better items than can be dropped. I am trying to give EVERY aspect of the game a reason to be played. There is nothing more boring than repeating the EXACT same mission, for the EXACT same gear as EVERYONE else in the game with no variance, damn is that boring.
    Been there - as mentioned before. As this system is implemented in quite a number of existing MMOs - You can easily compare with them. Is this about the e-peen comparison with other players?

    Taskforce 47 Falkenwacht (Federation) / Greifenreiter (KDF)
    (at) deianirrah
    Free Gear and where to get it
  • shadowwraith77shadowwraith77 Member Posts: 6,395 Arc User
    edited March 2014
    dark4blood wrote: »
    ^I agree that certain BOFFs could be marked so they can't die, as they are only obtained through missions, but for the most part the amount of BOFFs people have on the exchange really show that adding the POSSIBILITY of BOFF death to ELITE missions would not hurt the game.

    As for the Borg, ungodly slow torpedo that can be shot down, come-on, it literally moves slower than most ships at impulse, can you be caught by Tractor beam, yes, but instead of nerfing all the rep powers, you could easily keep them as ways to survive these weapons.

    I hate removal of content then I hate a predictable Death Star Torpedo that can be shot down. Aren't most people using FAW anyway, this pretty much negates that torpedo.

    Really dumb idea here, as imagine what happens when all your boff's die and you are left with no boff skills in the midst of battle!!!

    Oh and the main killer borg torpedo is not a HY, but a standard TS one.
    tumblr_nq9ec3BSAy1qj6sk2o2_500_zpspkqw0mmk.gif


    Praetor of the -RTS- Romulan Tal Shiar fleet!

  • tehbubbalootehbubbaloo Member Posts: 2,003 Arc User
    edited March 2014
    dark4blood wrote: »
    2.)Facepalm, really!? Since the most rare BOFFs can be obtained through DOFF missions, what is the issue again? Also, are the other very rare BOFFs acquired through the Lobi store or the fleet system. How again would the exchange really hold that up? Pretty sad if people don't learn the game enough to know that. White BOFFs are a given, so are Green, and even most Blue, and Purple are obtainable EASILY beyond the exchange. Wait a day to get a purple on one mission, wow so hard. Adding death POSSIBILITY on ELITE ONLY would just add challenge. This would "maybe" cause a price increase for 2 months and it would go back to normal levels because BOFFs are easily obtainable.

    you realise that the veteran boffs are greens (4% chance of death as per your proposal), and cannot be obtained via doff missions, the exchange, the lobi store, or the fleet holdings?
    they are the furthest thing from 'easily obtained'. they are 'out of print', and you are proposing that there is a 4% chance that one of them will die every time the ship gets blown up in an stf?
    dream on.
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