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X2=level cap raise and Iconians?
gurugeorge
Member Posts: 421 Arc User
Thinking about it, surely this is what we're being set up for?
1) Geko said in the interview that "power creep" is soon going to not be a problem (and he laughed while he said it). This suggests a level cap raise;
2) Iconians have been set up as the biggest bads any known faction in space has yet faced, particularly in a certain recent storyline episode, they've also been pretty much behind a lot of the troubles we've been dealing with in the storylines;
3) You'll need bigger bads for a level cap raise, especially to have STFs which, on Elite, will challenge even those who are 20k dps and above now. Borg, Voth, even the Undine just ain't going to cut it any more, they are weak sauce and Omega/MACO/Counter-Command, etc., etc. has learnt how to deal with them;
4) This also suggests it's not going to be about out-damaging, but the enemy will use AI, and it will require actual teamwork to beat them. More like endgame Raids in other MMOs.
5) Rewards from this ultra-high-end content will be commensurate: mk XIII-XIV gear, and a crapton of new ships, ultra badass variants of the ships we know, and possibly even captured Iconian tech. Plus high end crafted gear yet to be introduced.
Seems obvious.
Thoughts, ideas?
1) Geko said in the interview that "power creep" is soon going to not be a problem (and he laughed while he said it). This suggests a level cap raise;
2) Iconians have been set up as the biggest bads any known faction in space has yet faced, particularly in a certain recent storyline episode, they've also been pretty much behind a lot of the troubles we've been dealing with in the storylines;
3) You'll need bigger bads for a level cap raise, especially to have STFs which, on Elite, will challenge even those who are 20k dps and above now. Borg, Voth, even the Undine just ain't going to cut it any more, they are weak sauce and Omega/MACO/Counter-Command, etc., etc. has learnt how to deal with them;
4) This also suggests it's not going to be about out-damaging, but the enemy will use AI, and it will require actual teamwork to beat them. More like endgame Raids in other MMOs.
5) Rewards from this ultra-high-end content will be commensurate: mk XIII-XIV gear, and a crapton of new ships, ultra badass variants of the ships we know, and possibly even captured Iconian tech. Plus high end crafted gear yet to be introduced.
Seems obvious.
Thoughts, ideas?
Post edited by gurugeorge on
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Comments
I think they're going to have to give the carrot finally, if there's going to be a level cap raise.
None of the known enemies are strong enough for a level cap raise.
A level cap doesn't remove power creep. It introduces a new level of power creep that can start anew.
really, cause that would only effect one portion of the game.. power creap is effecting every portion of the game..
that being said.. him saying power creap will no longer be an issue makes it sound like more of a permanent fix.. raising the level cap just resets the power creap.. a year or so out, it will be right back in game..
it makes me think maybe they will assign numeric power numbers to items, and you can only equip a hard capped total number.. thus, the big boy heavy hitting consoles would be more expensive, and you could only slot so many of them.. making people try to balance their loadouts.. but then again, maybe not.. lol..
the short term answer to most of cryptics problems is level cap increase, however, it affords no real long term answer, which gekkos statement certainly sounded more permanent (the way he delivered it).
and in all likely hood, we will not be seeing the iconians.. as this expansion is most likely going to have us dealing with other baddies from the delta quadrant from what the rumor mill has been turning up.
The Iconians are behind the stuff happening in the DQ just like they are behind the stuff happening in the AQ and BQ.
Just on this point, I don't think Mk XIII/XIV would have much impact beyond what we have now. The power creep we have now is due to combinations of special consoles and abilities we already have, not to Mk XII gear being so uber powerful.
My point stands: Geko said explicitly that power creep is going to be a non problem soon (tm
And it suggests some very strong medicine - i.e. a higher ceiling to absorb the power creep we've had up till now, with a slight skills bump and gear level reward raise (slight relative to what's actually been responsible for the power creep, as per para above).
I think the Iconians logically follow from this.
But of course I could be wrong - we might see unleashed Voth, deeper GQ/DQ stuff, etc., and the carrot might yet remain firmly attached to its stick
Did he explicitly state the goal was the removal of power creep? My memory could be fuzzy but I believe the question was about the power disparity between fresh 50s and veteran 50s. And the answer was it would not be a problem soon. Which does hint at the standard level cap increase progression reset style expansion.
Which is hilarious and terrifying. I personally have not upgraded any of the gear on my toons for awhile and have absolutely no intention to do so until after expansion 2 because of the instant obsolete possibility.
And that leads to the final truly to me amusing part. The variance has far less to do with fresh VS vet equipment and much more to do with bad builds VS good builds. Don't get me wrong a truly min/max build can do some impressive things but if you have a good build even with mk X or mx XII greens you will still pull your weight. By contrast a bad build will still be terrible no matter how good it's gear.
So hopefully we are going to see an honest effort at the game teaching the players how to make effective builds along with a complete rebalance of the various boff abilities, gear, and other things to reduce the chances of a player making a terribad build.:rolleyes:
I don't mind seeing a level cap increase as I would love to have more skill points to use and new abilities.
And after ED, they introduced the Invention system. The Invention system would not have worked if everyone slotted 6 Damage Enhancements. The rage induced by ED was pretty much non-existent when the Invention system became available.
Hear hear! To add on to that, include lock boxes as well. "Player X just won an Iconian dreadnought!" :mad:
After seeing the R&D system, I fear what they'll do trying to revamp the skill tree. He already hinted before that science captains would be the ones getting the most screwed up with his crazy skill tree simplification junk.
--Gecko was pretty clearly trolling the entire playerbase through his entire last interview. While I appreciate his honesty, I think that it's time for him to leg it while the going's good and let Tacofangs or Kestrel or someone like that take over. And maybe actually tell PW to stop shoving grinds and cash grabs down our throats.
--Yes. Can't wait to kill Iconians. I sure hope that we can actually fight them in X2.
--Exactly. I'm still hoping for NO level cap increase, though.
--Sure as heck hope so, that would be awesome.
--Again, likely but I hope not.
Tacofangs and Kestrel seem to be some of the few people still in their right minds over at Cryptic.
But I doubt they have the necessary experience to take over Geko's position.
Sadly. Man, I would pay to see him gone at this point.
Maybe Cryptic can monetize it... I already see the "Boot the Geko" lockbox. With a chance of 1 in a trillion to get a new guy take over his job.
More like a "Find someone with the necessary organs (external or internal, I don't care) to stand up to PW and say NO to more monetization and grinds" Kickstarter.
My entire fleet is angry about the DOFF UI fiasco and the new nerf to crafting. There are a LOT of angry people on the popular channels, as well.
All the dooom talk about various issues in STO aside, this could very well be the one that brings the game down if it happens. I'm on the fence anyway, but if they do a stupid thing like this I'm pretty sure I'll unistall STO the same moment that announcement is made.
It is one of the dumbest things that could be done. Unfortunatley, that could also mean it's dumb enough for Cryptic to actually do it.
This is where you're wrong. Geko's been trolling the entire playerbase through STO entire 4+ years of existence.
Why would reducing console stacking be so bad? If it applies to everyone the same. I don't think that would bother me. A change that rendered all my old ships useless would.
"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censured, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably."
I wasn't talking about the stacking, but about the hardcapping.
1) incorrect. The explanation is: They will make a broad-band nerf to damage
2) maybe, but irrelevant
3) incorrect - in combination with 1) we will see a(nother) boost to borg/voth/undine
4) incorrect - it has always been about out-damaging. the only shift in paradigm since the dyson-expansion is, that the enemies use/spam more "cheat"-skills to ignore damage for the first 10 seconds. So in future you will see even more annoying stuff coming from the enemies: immunity fields, sensor breaking/scrambling, maybe another FBP-esque skill or insta-respawn/repair (check shapeshifter on ground)
5) no, maybe, no, no, no
I don't have enough experience to know what that would mean. Maybe having to make a more balanced ship? That's kind of what I do, tho leaning to the defense.
I see how it would be unpopular. Sort of a totalitarian approach. Thy ship shall not be better than X.
"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censured, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably."
No, what I'm actually talking about is increasing forum speculation (which I currently don't believe TBH) about the possibility of hardcapping certain things, like for ex. the DPS output. It's not about more min-maxed or balanced ships, I actually tend to make my ships all fairly balanced in a manner in which they could handle things alone.
It's about essentially putting a limit on effectiveness. Let's take DPS for ex., there are 20k, 40k DPS channels that have lead to STFs finishing in around an minute, which was not the initial intention for that content. So let's say, Cryptic puts a hardcap on DPS at, IDK some random number - let it be 15k DPS - what this means for me is that regardless of what I do in game, I can't improve over that. And that kinda' kills the point of growing and expanding the character for me. Why would I keep playing and adding more if I know where the roof of my char's capabilities is regardless?
Agreed. But considering the source, and their track record with being unable to properly manage and balance ship design and instead fall victim to powercreep ... I think it's a decent guess that Geko actually believes a level cap raise will remove powercreep issues.
He may be banking a level cap raise on saving everything, and this may be a source of future frustration.
Leopards, spots, all that.
They're not going to put a hardcap on DPS. Partially because it's really, really stupid, partially because it would actually be hard to do.
Something like ED though (which was a great idea, btw. and did wonders for the game) with sharp diminishing returns for console (or other type of stuff) stacking, DOFF stacking, etc. Would be nice though. (
If they actually made this I could see 3 things happening.
1. It imediatly goes on the exchange at the price of 2 JHAS
2. It is part of an alien artifact you can only craft at level 20 in all schools with a x% chance of success.
3. It is a doff and the devs decide at last minute it was meant for another faction rendering your character bound item usless.
Sure there are, add a massive 20 player borg related mission would be nifty, as the Hive is a joke being the hardest atm borg space STF.
Being surrounded by hundreds of borg vessels, could spell for some fun.
Praetor of the -RTS- Romulan Tal Shiar fleet!