Got a few noob questions if you all don't mind. Been playing for a few weeks and there are a few things I haven't quite figured out.
Difficulty levels
Are these more for replays once you have moved up a few levers or are all the difficulty levels designed to be beaten at the same level? I have playing on normal level but every time I try to go up a notch I find I'm just getting face melted by the NPC's (in space that is, on the ground I have never run into much of a problem). While I'm pretty sure I don't have the most optimal build I don't want o beat my head into a wall if the advanced levels on a Lt. commander mission require a higher level to be manageable.
Speaking of builds ...
Casting around on line there seems to be a lot of information on end game builds, leveling not so much. Does anyone know of a resource with specific leveling or role specific base line builds? That would be really helpful.
Finally, I reached Captain on my main toon and I already have a collection of ships, what do you all do with them? Are they just a little museum of your leveling experience or do they have a practical use in the end game?
Are these more for replays once you have moved up a few levers or are all the difficulty levels designed to be beaten at the same level? I have playing on normal level but every time I try to go up a notch I find I'm just getting face melted by the NPC's (in space that is, on the ground I have never run into much of a problem). While I'm pretty sure I don't have the most optimal build I don't want o beat my head into a wall if the advanced levels on a Lt. commander mission require a higher level to be manageable.
The difficulty level is more personal preference. There are some who say there are better loot drops, but I've never noticed an improvement. Since this game is very grind oriented, and thus efficiency is valuable, I'd suggest staying at normal difficulty.
Casting around on line there seems to be a lot of information on end game builds, leveling not so much. Does anyone know of a resource with specific leveling or role specific base line builds? That would be really helpful.
If you'd like advice, post your build using the STO Skillplanner and you'll easily get a ton of advice. It's pretty easy to use and gives others a baseline to help you. There is a bit of a learning curve for this game, finding an ingame friend to run missions, provide tips and build advice will do wonders. Joining a fleet, with knowledgeable vets, is probably the best thing you can do.
Finally, I reached Captain on my main toon and I already have a collection of ships, what do you all do with them? Are they just a little museum of your leveling experience or do they have a practical use in the end game?
Those ships are either a collection or junk, depending on how you look at them. But I say keep them. You too may one day be a bored vet and feel the need to run ESTFs in a tier 2 Connie for fun.
Difficulty levels are just there for a challenge if people want it, but hardly anybody uses them for leveling. Mostly you're just trying to get to 50 as fast as you can, because that's where the game really starts.
For your skill tree, find a skill tree on STO Academy you'd want to use at 50 then just fill it in as you go. You may well have points left over at some ranks that you can't spend yet, don't worry about it. Here are two useful "stock" skill trees:
Escort/Cruiser: http://www.stoacademy.com/tools/skillplanner/index.php?build=FleetEscortTac_494
Sci Ship: http://www.stoacademy.com/tools/skillplanner/index.php?build=mavstandardsci1_0Note: This assumes you're going to run the Sci ship as a torpedo boat to avoid having to put energy into weapons. If you are going to use energy weapons, you may need to move points from Projectile to Energy skills.
The rest of your ship's build is... whatever. Try to learn from the level 50 examples and use bridge skills and weapons that make sense, but it's not going to matter a whole lot if you stayed on Normal difficulty.
Once you hit 50, your old ships are there for nostalgia. You could replace them with T5 versions from the C-Store or Fleet, or keep them for nostalgia (and to be used as storage space). Most people wind up scuttling them as they buy/earn more T5 ships and need the ship slots. Sometimes it's fun among your friends and fleet to do PvP or a PvE queue in a low level ship. DO NOT fly them into public queues, that will annoy the other players as you would have artificially gimped the team's DPS and are therefore slowing down their grind.
Casting around on line there seems to be a lot of information on end game builds, leveling not so much. Does anyone know of a resource with specific leveling or role specific base line builds? That would be really helpful.
The game is actually very forgiving when it comes to starship equipment in PvE. If you are going to fight real players (PvP), then that is a different story.
My Fed and KDF toons have been level 50 for quite sometime. However, my starships only have very basic equipment and I can play end game content just fine. My Fed toon has not progressed beyond the "Doomsday Device" mission in the Klingon War story arc. If you have been playing the main story line mission" then as captain you have progressed further into the story than I have can you potentially have equipment that I do not have yet. Of course all of my equipment are Mk XI or XII.
The same can be said for my KDF toon. In terms of main story I have not progressed very far as well. My Fed toon is 3 missions away from "Temporal Ambassador" while my KDF toon is 4 missions away.
Anyway, I have success complete many elite STF missions (available at level 44 I think) with very basic equipment. It's pretty hard to TRIBBLE up your ship in STO. However, I do recommend not using Mk I weapons in eSTFs.
Comments
The difficulty level is more personal preference. There are some who say there are better loot drops, but I've never noticed an improvement. Since this game is very grind oriented, and thus efficiency is valuable, I'd suggest staying at normal difficulty.
If you'd like advice, post your build using the STO Skillplanner and you'll easily get a ton of advice. It's pretty easy to use and gives others a baseline to help you. There is a bit of a learning curve for this game, finding an ingame friend to run missions, provide tips and build advice will do wonders. Joining a fleet, with knowledgeable vets, is probably the best thing you can do.
Those ships are either a collection or junk, depending on how you look at them. But I say keep them. You too may one day be a bored vet and feel the need to run ESTFs in a tier 2 Connie for fun.
For your skill tree, find a skill tree on STO Academy you'd want to use at 50 then just fill it in as you go. You may well have points left over at some ranks that you can't spend yet, don't worry about it. Here are two useful "stock" skill trees:
Escort/Cruiser: http://www.stoacademy.com/tools/skillplanner/index.php?build=FleetEscortTac_494
Sci Ship: http://www.stoacademy.com/tools/skillplanner/index.php?build=mavstandardsci1_0 Note: This assumes you're going to run the Sci ship as a torpedo boat to avoid having to put energy into weapons. If you are going to use energy weapons, you may need to move points from Projectile to Energy skills.
The rest of your ship's build is... whatever. Try to learn from the level 50 examples and use bridge skills and weapons that make sense, but it's not going to matter a whole lot if you stayed on Normal difficulty.
Once you hit 50, your old ships are there for nostalgia. You could replace them with T5 versions from the C-Store or Fleet, or keep them for nostalgia (and to be used as storage space). Most people wind up scuttling them as they buy/earn more T5 ships and need the ship slots. Sometimes it's fun among your friends and fleet to do PvP or a PvE queue in a low level ship. DO NOT fly them into public queues, that will annoy the other players as you would have artificially gimped the team's DPS and are therefore slowing down their grind.
The game is actually very forgiving when it comes to starship equipment in PvE. If you are going to fight real players (PvP), then that is a different story.
My Fed and KDF toons have been level 50 for quite sometime. However, my starships only have very basic equipment and I can play end game content just fine. My Fed toon has not progressed beyond the "Doomsday Device" mission in the Klingon War story arc. If you have been playing the main story line mission" then as captain you have progressed further into the story than I have can you potentially have equipment that I do not have yet. Of course all of my equipment are Mk XI or XII.
The same can be said for my KDF toon. In terms of main story I have not progressed very far as well. My Fed toon is 3 missions away from "Temporal Ambassador" while my KDF toon is 4 missions away.
Anyway, I have success complete many elite STF missions (available at level 44 I think) with very basic equipment. It's pretty hard to TRIBBLE up your ship in STO. However, I do recommend not using Mk I weapons in eSTFs.