test content
What is the Arc Client?
Install Arc

Tier 5 Starship Upgrades

1910121415110

Comments

  • miriclemaxmiriclemax Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited August 2014
    First let me say this, I'm a Life Time Subscriber. Next let me say when LoR came out I bought the Legacy Pack. I've bought numerous C-store ships, Ship slots, Character Slots, Bridge Officer slots, Duty officer roster expansions, costume packs, costume slots, and lets not forget Keys. I've spent well over $3000 on a game that I have enjoyed playing since it's inception.

    Now having said that let me say this has got to be the worst idea I have ever heard from the dev's. First lets examine the facts

    1. Lock box and Lobi ships will upgrade for free.
    2. C-store ships will not.

    What is the difference between the two in the minds of the Dev's? Money? Can't be because both types of ships COST YOU MONEY to get. Does it matter how many keys you use on lock boxes or sell to get the EC to buy the ships? Not really!

    What the Dev's are saying here to every player, including LTS or monthly, is that if you didn't spend tons of money on keys your dollars don't matter.

    I can understand charging for T6 ships, I mean we have been paying for the T5 ships already. But telling us that we will have to pay to upgrade the T5's to T5-U's and not already acknowledging the simple truth that the T5's plus Upgrade should be less than the cost of T6 ships is a slap in the face of all players. You the Dev's have already told us in plain English that the T5-U's will not be as "good" as the T6 ships, so you can at least say they won't cost as much.

    My next issue is that you have effectively ruined T5 ships. Even the upgrade is not a perk. From the time we start playing we are in a ship. TO get a better ship we need to progress through the levels. When we hit the cap we had the best ships possible. But now, well lets be honest the T5's are dead, useless. Why buy a T5 when you can skip it and get a better ship? Why Pay an upgrade cost when your ship still won't be as good as some new players (New meaning a player that spent 3 months playing one character to get to 50 and max out his reps plus bought dill with zen to get them completed).

    SO not only have you slapped your players once for not paying enough money to you, you are now slapping the old players a second time.

    I saw where it was said that this change is intended to pave the way for the future of the game, but I fail to see how this can be good for us a players when it show that you really don't care about the time, effort, or money we put into the game.

    I want to believe that this expansion, level cap increase, and new tier of ships is a good thing. But it's hard to believe that when the facts are already proving this is not good for loyal players who want to enjoy this game.
    Originally Posted by rosetyler51 August 14, 2014
    First rule of STO: Avoid PVP or Drozana.
  • swamarianswamarian Member Posts: 1,506 Arc User
    edited August 2014
    I'm mostly OK with this.
    I am worried about the costs of T6 ships. With T5 costing $20-$25, it looks like T6 will cost $35 or more, which is hard to justify as a microtransaction. And with the free ships getting a free upgrade (thank you Cryptic), I'll probably go with one of those rather than a C store T6 ship on my character with the Vo'quv.
    It'd probably be best to keep the upgrade cost low, so people would be more likely to upgrade. At $5 a shot, I'd probably upgrade the main ships of my eligible characters. At $10 a shot, I'd probably hold off, or switch to free ships.
  • azurianstarazurianstar Member Posts: 6,985 Arc User
    edited August 2014
    talonxv wrote: »
    Nope you are paying for scaling HP, 1 more console slot and 4 out of 5 ship skills that can be uesd.

    That's it.

    In short, Cryptic's ripping us off. :rolleyes:
  • mhall85mhall85 Member Posts: 2,852 Arc User1
    edited August 2014
    valoreah wrote: »
    At this point, the only question I have is are there full Tier 6 versions of the iconic hero ships from Star Trek or not? Yes or no?

    Fair question. My guess is that tomorrow ship will give us insight into that.

    This "well-known ship"... will it be eligible for a T5-U? Or will it be a true T6?

    And the extra BOFF power will be negligible, IMO... Torp High Yield IV will fire five torpedoes, instead of four. Meh.
    d87926bd02aaa4eb12e2bb0fbc1f7061.jpg
  • cerritourugcerritourug Member Posts: 1,376 Arc User
    edited August 2014
    I think you'll find this statement to not be true once Delta Rising goes live. A T5-U Lockbox/Lobi ships is still an incredibly powerful ship even compared to a T6 ship. Also, your first two points are the same thing. The 5th Starship Mastery level is just unlocking the starship trait.

    And what about the non lockbox ships! Yes, the ones that we also spend real money on! The ones that are canon and represent Star Trek in this killing fest game? What about them? What about the Sove, the Nebula, hell.. what about the dam flagship (Ody)? They will be obsolete and you guys know it..
    __________________________________________________

    Division Hispana
    www.divisionhispana.com
  • markandrews1977markandrews1977 Member Posts: 12 Arc User
    edited August 2014
    well I'm glad information has been released on the new ships and the upgrades for T5 ships.

    First off, I will say I don't mind having to pay a small amount of zen to upgrade my existing ships to be equivalent to a new T6 ship. But I'd want that ship to become equivalent to a T6 ship. I love the existing ships, as many of them are Star Trek classics, while others are great ships of either Cryptics design or from novels. A small zen charge is do-able by anyone via either just paying, or selling dilithium, and this game does have to make money to keep going. There is no such thing as a free lunch unfortunately.

    Please find a way to make the T5-U ships EQUAL to the T6 ships, and you'll have a lot of happy players, players who will continue to support the game by either upgrading existing ships, or outright buying new T6 ships. By all means give funky different abilities to T6 ships only, but in place of traditional abilities, make them about being different rather than a must have better ship. And you can't have the Flag ships of the 3 faction's being sub-standard ships now, which is what they are starting to look like.

    Unfortunately given the information that has been given out, I've got to predict that Thursday's new ship will be a total bust when it comes to sales. After all... who will want to pay 2000 - 2500 zen (I'm assuming its a z store ship) for a ship that will be virtually obsolete in less than 2 months

    The next question of course is what happens to the MK XII Fleet advanced and Elite equipment, as well as the reputation equipment. That's a blog I'm looking forward to reading, as that will need handling carefully to avoid causing upset, as people have put 2 years work into that equipment
    Commanding Officer
    Greywolf Taskforce
  • tuskin67tuskin67 Member Posts: 1,097 Arc User
    edited August 2014
    The thought crossed our minds. However, we'd like to keep Fleet Modules specific to purchasing fleet ships and whatever we do for T5-Us to be entirely seperate.



    Upgraded Lockbox ships aren't inferior to T6s ships. Existing lockbox ships lack the 13th bridge officer power once they're upgraded and they don't have a Starship Trait, but they generally have superior hull and shield mods. Additionally a T5-U upgraded lockbox/lobi ship will have 11 console slots vs. a standard T6 ship's 10 console slots.



    Good question. Here's the breakdown on Fleet ships. Right now, Fleet Ships offer +1 console slot, +10% Hull HP and +10% Shield HP over a standard T5 ship. If you were to upgrade a Fleet Ship to T5-U, it would gain all the benefits mentioned:

    -Bonus scaling HP
    -Starship Mastery passive abilities
    -+1 Console Slot

    The short answer to your question is no. They will have 10% better shield and hull than the non-fleet T5-U variant and have +1 console slot.



    I think you'll find this statement to not be true once Delta Rising goes live. A T5-U Lockbox/Lobi ships is still an incredibly powerful ship even compared to a T6 ship. Also, your first two points are the same thing. The 5th Starship Mastery level is just unlocking the starship trait.

    I hope to be able to answer more questions later today.

    Thanks,
    Phil "Gorngonzolla" Zeleski
    Cryptic Studios
    Systems Designer

    Quoting for new page
  • gpgtxgpgtx Member Posts: 1,579 Arc User
    edited August 2014
    so with the upgrade the ship gain +1 console slot

    so does this mean the 9 console C-store ships basically become 10 console fleet ships and the fleet ships gain 11?

    wile i understand not getting the extra boff slot why not the specialist abilities? there are some ships that sorely could use that option (looking at you 3 tac, 3 sci, and 3 eng ensign ships)

    i mean this could of been an easy way to make the galaxy less gimped
    victoriasig_zps23c45368.jpg
  • hyplhypl Member Posts: 3,719 Arc User
    edited August 2014
    Where do fleet ships fit in this? How does upgrading work for them? is it the same? If I use a Fleet Patrol Escort on one character and upgrade it, it will be free for any other character with a Fleet Patrol Escort?

    Honestly, STO is a mess, system-wise. The whole ship system has been messy for a long time. I feel as if a revamp is in order that allows players more freedom and flexibility in what ships they desire to command, as well as streamlining the whole system into something simpler that can easily be expanded for future additions to the game.
  • noxteregnoxtereg Member Posts: 111 Arc User
    edited August 2014
    djxprime wrote: »
    I'm not sure I want to spend real money on upgrading ships I've already paid for. The only analogy I can think of for something like this is buying a '1998 model car and having to buy parts for it to perform on par with a 2014 model. I guess it's the norm these days in games like this?

    I may have to stockpile dilithium like crazy and trade it for zen. Good-bye, fleet projects that require dilithium!

    Id rather buy a 1972 Monte Carlo and fix it up than a 2014. If I had the money lol.
    I know irrelevant and pointless post on my part.
  • razorwalkerrazorwalker Member Posts: 160 Media Corps
    edited August 2014
    Ok, I have read MOST of the comments here and have NOT seen this asked....

    ...What about the ship going up for sale tomorrow? Is it gonna be T5-U upon claiming it, or will I have to "Upgrade" it in a few weeks? Because, that makes a big difference if I buy it tomorrow or not at all. And, here is why...

    ...I currently have 20 characters on Holodeck split between all three factions. I have approximately 75% of the C-store ships unlocked plus about the same percentage of Lobi/Lockbox ships. Now, the Free Upgrades to the Lobi/Lockbox ships is great and all that. However, just for the ships that I WILL have to pay to upgrade, I am looking at close to $300 or more to upgrade ALL my ships across all three factions.... That is a lot of money for virtual items in a video game. Which also brings up another important question...

    ...What about Multi-Packs? Like the Scimi Bundle, the Dyson Mega Bundle, etc. I have all of these. Am I going to have to pay for each individual ship to be upgraded? Or, will there be a "Discount" for upgrading the entire pack all at once?


    Please Dev's, this is important and we need to know.
  • edited August 2014
    This content has been removed.
  • venkouvenkou Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited August 2014
    After our family spent allot of money, across two accounts, on 'endgame' ships, we have universally decided that it is time to tighten our wallets.

    "Dragon Age: Inquisition" is going to be released soon; therefore, we may not have the time to sign into "Star Trek: Online". We have decided to spend $60 on an entirely new game. We are now looking for an entirely new experience.
  • cerritourugcerritourug Member Posts: 1,376 Arc User
    edited August 2014
    djxprime wrote: »
    I'm not sure I want to spend real money on upgrading ships I've already paid for.

    And they dont want you spend real money on upgrading ships! They want you to buy the full Tier 6 ship and open de new lockbox with the fully Tier 6 ship that they are going to relese.

    They want you to spend 35-40 dollars on a new ship, not just 5 on a old one.
    __________________________________________________

    Division Hispana
    www.divisionhispana.com
  • quistraquistra Member Posts: 214 Arc User
    edited August 2014
    ...lack the 13th bridge officer power once they're upgraded...

    That is a very serious thing to lack. It's the difference between flying my T4 ship into an ESTF and my T5 ship into an ESTF. One is demonstrably weaker than the other.
    The artist formerly known as PlanetofHats.
    Actual join date: Open beta, 2009ish.
  • rezkingrezking Member Posts: 1,109 Arc User
    edited August 2014
    tuskin67 wrote: »
    "This cost will be significantly lower than if you were to purchase a Tier 6 ship from the Zen Store."

    Yeah, but whats the price of a T6 ship? That isn't a very good frame of reference.

    I believe it will be @3500 Zen because the average T5 ship goes for 2500Z + Upgrade (@500Z - 1000Z).
    Unless the Feddies whine like they never whined before.

    I like this arrangement, though.
    STO is a little generous with how much premium stuff players can get for free.
    I'll have my $35 ready...I just hope the Redside ships aren't pre-nerfed like the T5's.
    NO to ARC
    RIP KDF and PvP 2014-07-17 Season 9.5 - Death by Dev
  • tpalelenatpalelena Member Posts: 1 Arc User
    edited August 2014
    iconians wrote: »
    Official feedback time.

    It isn't the doom and gloom people were saying it is. But it's kind of a hard pill to swallow.

    You have $50 3-pack ships. You have that extremely expensive Dyson 9-pack you released semi-recently.

    But you want to push us to upgrade our ships on a per-ship basis, regardless of whether or not it's account wide? After already spending $50 on a 3-pack that was pitched as being the most advanced/powerful/whatever already?

    This is where I start to sound entitled, because I do understand Cryptic has to make money, and I'm not opposed to giving them money, either. But I think that's asking a bit much for a $5-$10 fee to bring something nearly to the same level of a T6 ship.

    Part of the reason people spend Zen/Fleet Modules on ships is that they're the best help a player can get. If you make this T5-U push, then you kind of invalidate that line of thinking. I've always felt the game was pay4convenience, not pay2win. But with this latest dev blog, I can most definately see a slant towards pay2win, and not pay4convenience.

    If you want some constructive feedback? Here you go.

    I'm okay with paying Zen, or an equivelant amount of ECs for a fleet module-type device that will upgrade a particular line of ships.

    For instance, an Escort Upgrade Module where I can spend $5-10 dollars to upgrade all escorts on my account to T5-U status. Or a Cruiser Upgrade Module, or Science Upgrade Module. Carrier Upgrade Module, Raider Upgrade Module, Destroyer Upgrade Module, whatever.

    Furthermore, I think all ships sold in a pack should be given a straight upgrade to T6 (not T5-U) for free. We paid enough money for them as it is. You're going to sell more of the packs anyway as of Delta Rising with players who weren't convinced they wanted to buy them prior to Delta Rising launch.

    There's no point in nickel-and-diming players who sprung for the ship packs in the c-store for that kind of money. Just give them a T6 upgrade for free and having an additional selling point for the packs. I bet you'll sell far more Dyson Ship 9-Packs by advertising they're going to be T6 than you would by saying for just $5-$10 more you'll get a T5-U version of them.

    Something to think about.

    Also, I echo sentiments that the difference between T5-U and T6 is not as insignifigant as originally pitched. Bridge officer abilities make or break ships. The addition/subtraction of one can make a world of difference.

    Also, I'm probably asking for a lot -- but how about you just ditch the T5-U aspect entirely and make an upgrade system to straight up T6? It gets rid of a lot of confusion and lets you make finer adjustments which results in a clear pathway to selling more ships.

    This sounds like a well thought out post. I want to keep my Fleet Mogai Refit.
    Let us wear Swimsuits on Foundry maps or bridges please! I would pay zen for that.
  • jeffel82jeffel82 Member Posts: 2,075 Arc User
    edited August 2014
    Here you go:
    Good question. Here's the breakdown on Fleet ships. Right now, Fleet Ships offer +1 console slot, +10% Hull HP and +10% Shield HP over a standard T5 ship. If you were to upgrade a Fleet Ship to T5-U, it would gain all the benefits mentioned:

    -Bonus scaling HP
    -Starship Mastery passive abilities
    -+1 Console Slot

    The short answer to your question is no. They will have 10% better shield and hull than the non-fleet T5-U variant and have +1 console slot.
    You're right. The work here is very important.
    tacofangs wrote: »
    ...talking to players is like being a mall Santa. Everyone immediately wants to tell you all of the things they want, and you are absolutely powerless to deliver 99% of them.
  • edited August 2014
    This content has been removed.
  • mustrumridcully0mustrumridcully0 Member Posts: 12,963 Arc User
    edited August 2014
    quistra wrote: »
    Fair enough.

    I think I'm most concerned about missing the bridge officer ability, though. We've seen in every jump from tier to tier so far how more boff seating means more power. Having a ship with one less ability feels like it will really, really hurt.
    And thus I think this is really a decision they need to change. It will mean if you really want to compete at the top end (be it in PvP), you will be locked into a smal selection of Tier 6 ships, and have to abandon a previously well liked ship.

    Not having access to whater the new BO abilities is is not that terrible, I suspect, it is a bit more stringent then only having a Lt. for a particular BO type, but it's probably something you can deal with, but if you actually have numerically less powers, you have a problematic imbalance.

    The Klingon Bird of Preys had to pay with one BO slot for their all-universal BO layouts - and you can already see that these are now of minor relevance in the game because newer ships just blow them out the water.
    Star Trek Online Advancement: You start with lowbie gear, you end with Lobi gear.
  • assimilatedktarassimilatedktar Member Posts: 1,708 Arc User
    edited August 2014
    Upgraded Lockbox ships aren't inferior to T6s ships. Existing lockbox ships lack the 13th bridge officer power once they're upgraded and they don't have a Starship Trait, but they generally have superior hull and shield mods. Additionally a T5-U upgraded lockbox/lobi ship will have 11 console slots vs. a standard T6 ship's 10 console slots.


    Then why does this say that they will both get an additional console slot? http://images-cdn.perfectworld.com/arc/f1/92/f1923bd72957e73ecc51caed69f704171409083464.png
    FKA K-Tar, grumpy Klingon/El-Aurian hybrid. Now assimilated by PWE.
    Sometimes, if you want to bury the hatchet with a Klingon, it has to be in his skull. - Captain K'Tar of the USS Danu about J'mpok.
  • edited August 2014
    This content has been removed.
  • lucho80lucho80 Member Posts: 6,600 Bug Hunter
    edited August 2014
    It's sad. But hey, since we're also talking about things they've point blank said ... consider this ... they've point bland straight up said they care about NEW players. And a lot of decisions are being made to get new players. They have also danced around how they don't care about vet players. The longer YOU play this game, the less they need you or your money.

    This is why computer engineers and computer programmers need to get a business degree of which I have both. Basic marketing, a new customer requires a lot more money to bring in and therefore takes more time to be profitable than an existing customers. Their first expansion brought in new customers, but they failed miserably in retaining most of them. This second one is angering their existing customers to the point of leaving the game.

    There was no reason why they had to bulldoze all the player's canon ships, specially fleet ones, to hell. They:
    1) Angered everyone who paid to get those
    2) Angered fleets who did the very very long grind to tier 5
    3) Made everyone wary of spending money on this game when they can blow up everything people have worked on getting to hell.

    They haven't even addressed what will happen to lobi equipment, but the damage is already done. The worst bomb was to the people getting the JHAS. That made me lolz. Why spend all that hard earned lobi or EC when they're making it all obsolete?

    My prediction, they'll get another bump up of new or people that quit for a while. They might even stay a bit longer thanks to them making the level grind to 60 harder, but in the end, they'll loose a lot of people again, not counting all the existing players to whom they basically said: "We don't care about you".
  • karcornerkarcorner Member Posts: 294 Arc User
    edited August 2014
    I think it is time to unload my lockbox ships as I fear the price will drop significantly or there will be no want for these ships anymore except for role players.
  • johngazmanjohngazman Member Posts: 2,826 Arc User
    edited August 2014
    Ok, I have read MOST of the comments here and have NOT seen this asked....

    ...What about the ship going up for sale tomorrow? Is it gonna be T5-U upon claiming it, or will I have to "Upgrade" it in a few weeks? Because, that makes a big difference if I buy it tomorrow or not at all. And, here is why...

    Well it's going to be T5 since it comes out tomorrow, which means it's very probably going to be T5-U.

    The reason that question won't get answered? Because if they say it'll effetively be obselete in six weeks time, it'll hurt sales.

    Speaking of the ship - stats blog? Don't we normally get one the day before a ship release?
    You're just a machine. And machines can be broken.
    StarTrekFirstContactBorgBattleonetumblr_lln3v6QoT31qzrtqe.gif
  • edited August 2014
    This content has been removed.
  • markandrews1977markandrews1977 Member Posts: 12 Arc User
    edited August 2014
    Upgraded Lockbox ships aren't inferior to T6s ships. Existing lockbox ships lack the 13th bridge officer power once they're upgraded and they don't have a Starship Trait, but they generally have superior hull and shield mods. Additionally a T5-U upgraded lockbox/lobi ship will have 11 console slots vs. a standard T6 ship's 10 console slots.
    Thanks,
    Phil "Gorngonzolla" Zeleski
    Cryptic Studios
    Systems Designer

    Ah this got posted while I was typing, I feel a bit better. Question then becomes will there be fleet T6 ships?
    Commanding Officer
    Greywolf Taskforce
  • grayfoxjamesgrayfoxjames Member Posts: 1,516 Arc User
    edited August 2014
    From what I got out of it, T5U won't have:

    * seating for the new special hybrid boffs - ok fine, my lockbox ships have universal stations anyway

    * ability to unlock ship traits - as long as these are not tied to the ship, and we can unlock them elsewhere and use them on the ship of our choice, no big deal, cosmetic

    * an extra boff ability - well that instantly makes T5U obsolete NOT ACCEPTABLE :mad:

    I feel sorry for everyone who bought the JHAS based on the representations of the last few weeks...

    This right here. The question is do these Tier 6 ships get 5 Boff seats +1 Special Boff seat or do they get 5 Boff seats and one of them just happens to be the Special Boff seat.

    Now for the extra Boff ability this can be HUGE. if the extra ability is simply an Ensign seat/skill maybe not so much; however, if they turn a Lieutenant seat into a Lieutenant Commander, or God forbid two Commander seats!...pretty much game over for Tier 5-U.
    Fleet Admiral Thomas Winston James a.k.a. The Grayfox
    Fleet Leader of:
    Liberty Task Force/Liberty Honor Guard
    Pride of the Federation/Pride of the Empire
    Liberty Guardians
    U.S.S. Liberty, NX-42813-L, T-6 Legendary Odyssey Class

    Game Handle: Grayfox@GrayfoxJames
    Website: https://www.libertytaskforce.com
    Armada (STOFA Member Fleet): https://www.libertytaskforce.com/stofa
    Discord: https://discord.gg/bGp9N7z
    Twitter: STOFA@LTFGrayfox
    Email: CSDynamix@Hotmail.com
  • ragnar0xragnar0x Member Posts: 296 Arc User
    edited August 2014
    Wait so how much money do I need to pay to upgrade my Elite fleet phasers mkXII to mkXIV if i need Zen to upgrade my ship? I guess 1$ per phaser? or more? And for other fleet mkXII items?

    So 10$ for ship, 5$ (4 phaser arrays + 1 omni) 1$ for Torpedo, 2$ for 2 engi console, 4$ for 4 sci consoles, 4$ for 4 tac consoles= 26$ for one ship?
  • hausofmartokhausofmartok Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited August 2014
    How can you say that T5-U are going to be the utter TRIBBLE of STO with just this little info? :rolleyes:

    I agree they won't be straight on par with T6, but not to trash as well.

    Not "being straight on par" is plenty enough to make the difference between killing and being killed in STO last time I checked.
    Did you read the specifics? I don't know how you can't see what I'm saying if you did. And you're off on your quote. I didn't say that T5-U are going to be TRIBBLE. And it's not a little info. They gave us all the pertinent info, the only variable is that ship traits may be available in lox boxes for use on T5 ships.
    T5-U will be fine for PvE I'm sure. But in PvP specifically I'm predicting that T6 will dominate. Mark my words. And lastly, why do people go around rolling their eyes at internet people? lol so annoying if you were in front of me you wouldn't do that. haha
Sign In or Register to comment.