Mostly typing a post for the first time since ages due to really nasty feelings in my stomach. Feelings that say that Delta Rising, how awesome it might be, will be the end for F2P.
What we know is that we are going to get T5U and T6 ships. I'm not going to detail in their differences, those are of no concern for this topic. We know that both of them are gonna cost Zen (which means that somebody has to pay for them somewhere, whether they pay for the ship or for dilithium).
There are a few exceptions, such as lock box ships (which all costed money somewhere), lobi ships (which all costed money somewhere) and such.
The devs have so far stated that a good old fashioned T5 will be all you need to fight your way up to level 60, in storyline. Sure, you may fall a little behind, but you can do it. And this is perfectly fine for me. Even though the difference between the free T5's (9 console level 40 ships), T5+ (10 console ships), T5U and T6 might seem big, that free ship at level 40 should be enough.
However, we also have heard of some new PvE missions that are gonna require T5U's or T6 ships.
This would be perfectly fine, if we gave at least some of these ships away for free.
We know there are about 8 T6 ships confirmed. Now we saw the Operations Pack, which includes 8 T6 ships.
And I have a feeling Cryptic won't be putting free ships in a payed pack. That would be kinda silly.
Where does all of this leave us? No free ships to play the final PvE's of the game. There is the exception of anniversary ships, but in my opinion, these don't count as much. And before you ask why; they can only be earned in a very limited timeframe (a very small window considering how fast anyone can level from 1 to 50/60), and because they only offer tactical-heavy gameplay (no true cruisers/science vessels/carriers included).
So unless I have missed a piece of information somewhere, F2P players are essentially locked out of parts of the game for the first time. PvP didn't lock them out (I saw the newest of C-Store ships with really fancy equipment being blown to pieces by old Sovereigns, piloted by skilled captains). No PvE has locked them out. No mission has locked them out. All F2P was locked out from, was a dead social zone.
And why do I claim this is the end of F2P altogether? Once a line is crossed, its very easy to cross it again. Nothing will prevent the development of more T5U/6 ship content only, once the first content is already here and is being accepted by us.
I am not F2P myself at all, but I do feel the need to defend those that choose not to spend money on this game. That is exactly what drawed me to it to begin with.
(Note, everytime I state a fact, it is information I got from the Dev Blogs. These are subject to change. And no, I am not gonna link every line to a blog.)
TL;DR.
Cryptic will make T5U/T6 ship content only for Delta Rising, without giving away free T5U/T6 ships. This locks people out of that content that don't want to pay, hence the end of F2P.
Q: Will there be any story content that requires a T5-U or T6 starship?
A: Absolutely not.
Our goal here is to allow players to play through all of the game’s story content without requiring the purchase of a starship.
Owning one of these top notch ships will certainly give you an edge, but story content isn’t designed to require these ships.
so you can play the content with existing ships, and a 5 buck token will allow you to upgrade to t5u.
So far people have tested quite a bit of the delta rising content in t5 not upgraded ships without issue. Some even on elite difficulty.
Also, why do you assume that future event ships will not be t6? Even more additionally, there was no free ship at level 50, why should there be one at 60? Existing free event ships are upgradeable to t5u, so anyone who has one is set.
This sounds fairly cool, however what I would really like to know is: "Is this going to be completely separate, or will my lifetime membership give any access at all ?
This sounds fairly cool, however what I would really like to know is: "Is this going to be completely separate, or will my lifetime membership give any access at all ?
all sto expansion packs are free to the players. they never charge for playable content.
I imagine the PVE content you are speaking of is the queued content. That might be gated behind T5-U and T6s. I seriously doubt that episode missions will be gated by T5-U and T6s.
For all we know we may be getting T5-U ships at 50. I wouldn't bet on it but we don't know exactly what is up right now.
Just wait and see is all people can do at this point.
Exactly what I am not trying to achieve here. All I am trying is to confirm/deny my suspicions, and to defend F2P. Not gonna claim this game is doomed in any way whatsoever. Even if it goes back to P2P, I'm still covered.
At least this was reassuring. And why I don't see the lack of free ship at 50 a problem yet, is quite simple. All ships from 40-50 are T5 (although some are T5+ with an additional console slot). The difference between them is really just a +1 console, which is hardly gamebreaking. T5 vs T5U will be different though.
Q: Will there be any story content that requires a T5-U or T6 starship?
A: Absolutely not.
Our goal here is to allow players to play through all of the games story content without requiring the purchase of a starship.
Owning one of these top notch ships will certainly give you an edge, but story content isnt designed to require these ships.
so you can play the content with existing ships, and a 5 buck token will allow you to upgrade to t5u.
The QA there is only about single-player episode story missions. Read it again.
There are going to be some multiplayer maps/modes that require T5U/T6.
The QA there is only about single-player episode story missions. Read it again.
There are going to be some multiplayer maps/modes that require T5U/T6.
i'll say it again, people are killiing the borg queen in the new stf on tribble using existing t5 ships. they weren't given t5u or t6 ships to test that. they're doing it with their existing ships.
if you bothered to watch the new stf video you'd see people doing the toughest new stf on normal difficulty with their regular t5 ships.
exactly this right here, there are videos of players using t5 ships who haven't been upgraded doing several new stf's in delta rising with little to no problems and the videos i've seen there is no t6 or t5-u from the videos i've seen so far. Plus I have a friend in the tribble server who plays delta rising ( well trying it) story content and stf's with little to no problems in a t5 ship. So no you do not need to have a t6 ship or t5-u ship really
i'll say it again, people are killiing the borg queen in the new stf on tribble using existing t5 ships. they weren't given t5u or t6 ships to test that. they're doing it with their existing ships.
exactly this players who are saying you can only do the new stf's with t5-u or t6 ships need to watch the videos again with the new delta rising stf's none of the players there are using tf-u ships or t6 ships everyone is using existing t5 ships with no problems at all from what i've seen
Mind you, one of the things "subject to change" (ah, that old line) is the difficulty level, once the content itself has been verified as working, debugged, etc using existing ships.
Also Regular often has a few differences from how it runs on Elite.
Mind you, one of the things "subject to change" (ah, that old line) is the difficulty level, once the content itself has been verified as working, debugged, etc using existing ships.
Also Regular often has a few differences from how it runs on Elite.
so true on this but at the very moment the video's we are getting of story, stf's in delta rising the players are there are not using t5-u or t6 ships only using t5 existing ships with little to no problems. Again it is only on the tribble server so things can change when it goes live on the live servers which I agree on that
Mind you, one of the things "subject to change" (ah, that old line) is the difficulty level, once the content itself has been verified as working, debugged, etc using existing ships.
Also Regular often has a few differences from how it runs on Elite.
the op's premisis is that cryptic will only make content playable with t5u and t6 ships, and because of that the game isn't ftp any more. i pointed out that the both the faq and existing content proves that wrong. as far as whether an stf will be different between normal and elite, it doesn't matter. if you can do it on normal or advanced with a t5 ship that clearly shows cryptic isn't forcing anyone to buy a t6 ship. which means the op is just fearmongering, like he does in so many of his posts.
so true on this but at the very moment the video's we are getting of story, stf's in delta rising the players are there are not using t5-u or t6 ships only using t5 existing ships with little to no problems. Again it is only on the tribble server so things can change when it goes live on the live servers which I agree on that
Sure but most likely they are not using rank promotion T5s, they are using store T5s. It was also on normal difficulty.
Not strictly require it. That is basically the same as bringing in a T3 into Hive Onslaught the way I currently understand it.
People (ausmonauts fleet and others) have completed all kinds of elite stfs with the whole team in tier 1 ships, and posted the videos for proof.
That said, even if they gate content behind t6 and lock out t5u ships (which I doubt they'll do, I'm just giving a hypothetical worst case), there is the upcoming winter event, the next lock box we all know they will release with delta rising and it will have a new ship, plus probably a new lobi ship both of which will appear on the auction house for free players to buy, etc.
TL;DR.
Cryptic will make T5U/T6 ship content only for Delta Rising, without giving away free T5U/T6 ships. This locks people out of that content that don't want to pay, hence the end of F2P.
They already gave you opportunities to earn five T5-U ships, over the last two years. No, they're not pure Starfleet/KDF/Romulan ships, but they'll be T5-U as soon as Delta Rising hits Holodeck.
The Risian Corvette, Risian Luxury Cruiser, Breen Chel Gret Warship, Breen Plesh Brek Heavy Raider, and the Dyson Science Destroyers were all made available for relatively little effort and will be upgradeable to T5-U for free.
the op's premisis is that cryptic will only make content playable with t5u and t6 ships, and because of that the game isn't ftp any more. i pointed out that the both the faq and existing content proves that wrong. as far as whether an stf will be different between normal and elite, it doesn't matter. if you can do it on normal or advanced with a t5 ship that clearly shows cryptic isn't forcing anyone to buy a t6 ship. which means the op is just fearmongering, like he does in so many of his posts.
Do you want to take twice as long to gather the same rep marks?
Do you want to take twice as long to gather the same rep marks?
Then it matters
the argument's that it can't be done. it can be done. whether it takes longer to gain marks is meaningless, because it can still be done with an existing t5 ship.
So far people have tested quite a bit of the delta rising content in t5 not upgraded ships without issue. Some even on elite difficulty.
Also, why do you assume that future event ships will not be t6? Even more additionally, there was no free ship at level 50, why should there be one at 60? Existing free event ships are upgradeable to t5u, so anyone who has one is set.
I fail to see the required level of doom.
Why do you assume they will be? Every faction in the galaxy is suddenly going to be building intelligence ships? You think the Breen are suddenly going to be building intelligence ships even though they probably have no interest in the Delta Quadrant or any way to get there except the long way?
Can't have a honest conversation because of a white knight with power
Right now, I have 12,500 Zen, every bit of it bought from the dil-Zen exchange, all of it bought since the last dilithium bonus event. That was, what, a month ago?
So yeah. You can get T6 ships for free. I'm going to.
Why do you assume they will be? Every faction in the galaxy is suddenly going to be building intelligence ships? You think the Breen are suddenly going to be building intelligence ships even though they probably have no interest in the Delta Quadrant or any way to get there except the long way?
The devs have repeatedly said not all t6 ships will have hybrid boff slots. So no one needs to build into ships just to be t6. Also they have no where limited the hybrid mechanic to intelligence, though that is the only class to use it or be introduced thus far. Their wording has been vague enough to let them introduce additional forms of hybrid seats (TAC/eng for example).
To directly answer your first question, thus far, all event ships have been end game capable. Even the anniversary ships though limited time available for the top tier version. Nothing indicates they intend to vary from this three year old pattern.
Now show me video of lvl 40 T5 or/and any of the free ships that was part of the giveaways with low death count .
you don't look new so i guess you're just confused. by the time you have all your rep gear and fleet stuff it doesn't matter if you have a free 9 console ship or a cstore 10 console ship. you're already past the power creep curve for all the content in the game. there's youtube vids of teams in t4 ships doing estfs, and vids of t5 ships soloing estfs. just go and watch the new tribble stf vid. the guy is soloing a section by himself and never gets below 98% hps. there's nothing hard in the new stfs, especially since they now have 3 level settings. regular t5s can do them easily too.
Comments
Q: Will there be any story content that requires a T5-U or T6 starship?
A: Absolutely not.
Our goal here is to allow players to play through all of the game’s story content without requiring the purchase of a starship.
Owning one of these top notch ships will certainly give you an edge, but story content isn’t designed to require these ships.
so you can play the content with existing ships, and a 5 buck token will allow you to upgrade to t5u.
Also, why do you assume that future event ships will not be t6? Even more additionally, there was no free ship at level 50, why should there be one at 60? Existing free event ships are upgradeable to t5u, so anyone who has one is set.
I fail to see the required level of doom.
For all we know we may be getting T5-U ships at 50. I wouldn't bet on it but we don't know exactly what is up right now.
Just wait and see is all people can do at this point.
most queues will not require a Tier 6 or Upgraded Tier 5 starship. Only the most challenging new level 60 content will strongly benefit from using an upgraded Tier 5 starship or a Tier 6 starship, however it will not strictly require it.
Not strictly require it. That is basically the same as bringing in a T3 into Hive Onslaught the way I currently understand it.
Exactly what I am not trying to achieve here. All I am trying is to confirm/deny my suspicions, and to defend F2P. Not gonna claim this game is doomed in any way whatsoever. Even if it goes back to P2P, I'm still covered.
At least this was reassuring. And why I don't see the lack of free ship at 50 a problem yet, is quite simple. All ships from 40-50 are T5 (although some are T5+ with an additional console slot). The difference between them is really just a +1 console, which is hardly gamebreaking. T5 vs T5U will be different though.
Join the Deltas today!
The QA there is only about single-player episode story missions. Read it again.
There are going to be some multiplayer maps/modes that require T5U/T6.
How about Science Fiction as a medium?
LIFE AS WE KNOW IT!!??!?
exactly this right here, there are videos of players using t5 ships who haven't been upgraded doing several new stf's in delta rising with little to no problems and the videos i've seen there is no t6 or t5-u from the videos i've seen so far. Plus I have a friend in the tribble server who plays delta rising ( well trying it) story content and stf's with little to no problems in a t5 ship. So no you do not need to have a t6 ship or t5-u ship really
exactly this players who are saying you can only do the new stf's with t5-u or t6 ships need to watch the videos again with the new delta rising stf's none of the players there are using tf-u ships or t6 ships everyone is using existing t5 ships with no problems at all from what i've seen
Also Regular often has a few differences from how it runs on Elite.
so true on this but at the very moment the video's we are getting of story, stf's in delta rising the players are there are not using t5-u or t6 ships only using t5 existing ships with little to no problems. Again it is only on the tribble server so things can change when it goes live on the live servers which I agree on that
I've test Tribble and by far, everyone is wrong about being forced into a T6 ship or needing a T5-U ship to play the Content...
LAWL even a T4 ship is good enough to play through the missions...
Which means this is not the end of F2P, by far lolz...
*goes back to testing Delta Rising on Tribble*
Sure but most likely they are not using rank promotion T5s, they are using store T5s. It was also on normal difficulty.
People (ausmonauts fleet and others) have completed all kinds of elite stfs with the whole team in tier 1 ships, and posted the videos for proof.
That said, even if they gate content behind t6 and lock out t5u ships (which I doubt they'll do, I'm just giving a hypothetical worst case), there is the upcoming winter event, the next lock box we all know they will release with delta rising and it will have a new ship, plus probably a new lobi ship both of which will appear on the auction house for free players to buy, etc.
There will be options.
They already gave you opportunities to earn five T5-U ships, over the last two years. No, they're not pure Starfleet/KDF/Romulan ships, but they'll be T5-U as soon as Delta Rising hits Holodeck.
The Risian Corvette, Risian Luxury Cruiser, Breen Chel Gret Warship, Breen Plesh Brek Heavy Raider, and the Dyson Science Destroyers were all made available for relatively little effort and will be upgradeable to T5-U for free.
Do you want to take twice as long to gather the same rep marks?
Then it matters
Freakin kids these days want everything free. Movies, music, games.
They pollute everything they touch. Contort the entire business model so it favors the most common denominator, rewarding mediocrity.
I think money filters out the leeches and the sooner they go, the better the game will be.
Why do you assume they will be? Every faction in the galaxy is suddenly going to be building intelligence ships? You think the Breen are suddenly going to be building intelligence ships even though they probably have no interest in the Delta Quadrant or any way to get there except the long way?
oh, gee thanks... now I have R.E.M. running through my skull
So yeah. You can get T6 ships for free. I'm going to.
The devs have repeatedly said not all t6 ships will have hybrid boff slots. So no one needs to build into ships just to be t6. Also they have no where limited the hybrid mechanic to intelligence, though that is the only class to use it or be introduced thus far. Their wording has been vague enough to let them introduce additional forms of hybrid seats (TAC/eng for example).
To directly answer your first question, thus far, all event ships have been end game capable. Even the anniversary ships though limited time available for the top tier version. Nothing indicates they intend to vary from this three year old pattern.
I can still move.
I can still fight.
I will never give up!