From what I have played, I would say simply lower the cubes and spheres hp by 10-20% in ISE and increase rewards to something like the old elite or close to it. I do like how it feels like a challenge again.
I am just level 50 and i love the new advanced difficulty It finally gives a meaning to playing.
I failed 10 times in crystaline advanced but when finally won it felt nice.
For walking in parks and watching content there is Normal difficulty.
For good gear there are 2 ways at least for new players:
1. fleet gear + upgrades to 14
2. regular exchange gear + upgrades.
Beside i guess the new advanced is tuned for level 60 with lev14 gear and ships upgraded etc.
I want that advanced STILL present a CHALLENGE at lev 60 and pug success rate to be around 50%.
I very specifically named the box in which the cat was.
If you dont see that cat i can not be held responsible, i am sorry.
We arent thinking "outside the box" to beat current STFs, thats pretty much standart PvE... some thinking required on beating No win with 2 players though.
Its so funny how every guy on these forums sees a sentence here and there where he thinks he can pick upon you, while its so much out of context, that you can just see how he didnt understand what has been presented. Almost like watching people play Advanced Queues.
Oh and by the way of Boxthinking. I just pulled 29k DPS against hull (top dps in that regard) out of an ISA, ahead of two Fire at Will Scimitars on a Vesta, with one omnidirectional beam array equipped as the only energy Weapon...
Can i get that boxed please?
best regards still ;D
RyanSTO
The box is still waiting over --->here, when you accomplish this in a PUG by yourself!
For good gear there are 2 ways at least for new players:
1. fleet gear + upgrades to 14
2. regular exchange gear + upgrades.
1) They wouldn't be able to get fleet gear (or at least not for a few years), because at the rate that normals give rewards it would take years to get fleet equipment.
2) How would they be able to get exchange gear without any EC? They took reward drops out. The best you could hope for is the occasional Mk XI blue in a normal queue, which don't sell well at all.
3) How are they going to upgrade without any of the upgrade materials that are trapped behind an advanced and elite difficulty wall?
Support 90 degree arc limitation on BFaW! Save our ships from looking like flying disco balls of dumb!
The difficulty is clearly out of whack with the majority of the playerbase.
There are players out there who take pride in squeezing every decimal point out of their ship to get DPS up to and over 50K but they are in a minority.
But the average player i'd wager is shooting a lot, lot lower, probably in the 10K or less range. They are not doing it because they are rubbish players, they are doing it because they are casual players and chasing some mythical DPS number is not of interest to then in a game like STO.
I mean i've got a fair bit of fleet and rep gear and some top-end fleet ships to run with. Plus i've learnt enough about the game to know how to run the old ESTFs without being too much of an embarrassment to the team. I'm not a DPS monster, probably only up to 15K at the absolute best.
The only players who now stand a chance at the high-end content are those either grinding non-stop for hours every day or those throwing 100's of $'s at the game to buy kit or whiz through the crafting.
I'm at a loss as to how a fresh Lvl. 50 player is meant to get competitive now that to even get the higher rep gear they need things like BNP's and the like that are effectively locked behind content they can't hope to compete in. And even if they do get some rep gear it's all Mk XII and outdated too.
Who is seriously going to queue to join a PVE where the rewards are tiny and outdated and the whole affair is just another grind?
At the end of the day they've effectively turned PVE into the new PVP.
I'm not really willing to go into an advanced STF on a character who isn't reasonably well-geared -- especially if it's my first time (I've only ever really done Conduit) or I'm trying it out in a different type of ship. I don't want to be responsible for wasting the time of other people who came better-prepared than I did.
I can't get reasonably well-geared without Borg neuroprocessors.
So I'm stuck in a kind of chicken-and-egg problem.
I'm not much of a min/maxer. I understand how to do it, I just don't like to do it. I prefer to build characters and ships thematically. That wasn't a problem under the old difficulty; I felt that if I got a couple pieces of gear (which I could with the ten processors I got for reaching rep level 5) and put some time into upgrading weapons via the exchange, I could hold my own and make myself useful in Conduit. Occasionally we'd miss the bonus objective but it usually wasn't my fault, and we all came away with something. Now, I don't feel I can risk that.
Give me another way to acquire processors, and I'll be fine with the new difficulty. I don't know if I'll participate in Advanced queues (if it's necessary to min/max to be successful, I know I won't be successful), but at least I'll be able to progress in my own way at my own pace.
The difficulty is clearly out of whack with the majority of the playerbase.
There are players out there who take pride in squeezing every decimal point out of their ship to get DPS up to and over 50K but they are in a minority.
But the average player i'd wager is shooting a lot, lot lower, probably in the 10K or less range. They are not doing it because they are rubbish players, they are doing it because they are casual players and chasing some mythical DPS number is not of interest to then in a game like STO.
I mean i've got a fair bit of fleet and rep gear and some top-end fleet ships to run with. Plus i've learnt enough about the game to know how to run the old ESTFs without being too much of an embarrassment to the team. I'm not a DPS monster, probably only up to 15K at the absolute best.
The only players who now stand a chance at the high-end content are those either grinding non-stop for hours every day or those throwing 100's of $'s at the game to buy kit or whiz through the crafting.
I'm at a loss as to how a fresh Lvl. 50 player is meant to get competitive now that to even get the higher rep gear they need things like BNP's and the like that are effectively locked behind content they can't hope to compete in. And even if they do get some rep gear it's all Mk XII and outdated too.
Who is seriously going to queue to join a PVE where the rewards are tiny and outdated and the whole affair is just another grind?
At the end of the day they've effectively turned PVE into the new PVP.
I agree. A hardcore minority of players have now be satisfied, those whose are top end players with amazing builds and DPS monsters. At the cost of the vast majority of the playerbase who just can't do these new queues. Don't even get me started on new or novice skilled players. They are totally locked out of progressing to high end builds and becoming better. Cryptic have effectively killed endgame for everyone except the highest class of player.
Ironically, I think even the top end players will see the mistake of all this as time goes on. They won't be able to complete the queues without others players, those players will be a lot less from the total queue exodus we're seeing and what players they do get will likely be not good enough anyway, so you'll fail the optional and therefore the whole thing.
This was a totally insane idea. They've forced this policy onto everyone and ruined things in the process. The amazing players were asking for higher challenges. Why not just give them that with the new Elite and leave everyone else the hell alone? Instead, novice or intermediate players have been swept up in this and made to suffer.
I wouldn't expect a change for a few more weeks at least. Cryptic is in no rush as long as people are spending money hand over fist. Once people start to bail because of this, then it'll get fixed. Until then, expect the same of the same.
I suspect you are right. The whole things reeks of a calculated way to bully us into spending money imo. They've made queues unplayable, nerfed the rewards to nothing and pushed an Upgrade system that requires money and rare drops to invest into.
Its horribly abusive and shockingly obvious that they've strangled every realistic way to progress at endgame.
Has Gecko responded to this post? He asked a question and got overwhelming negative response. Seems like maybe an apology and a timeframe of when this will be patched would bea good start?
And i'm forced to upgrade and play STF for my R&D Materials...
If there where other means to get VR Particles, there would be no problem.. but..
There are other ways, they just give an even smaller return (in the case of the R&D Assistance doff assignment) or cost a lot of money (real or EC - R&D packs from the C-Store or exchange).
It's not like the Advanced queue packs ever had a lot of (or a high chance of) VR mats, it was just easy to get them and play the odds before.
I suspect you are right. The whole things reeks of a calculated way to bully us into spending money imo. They've made queues unplayable, nerfed the rewards to nothing and pushed an Upgrade system that requires money and rare drops to invest into.
Its horribly abusive and shockingly obvious that they've strangled every realistic way to progress at endgame.
I suspect this was the intent. Players will see that they need a T6 ship after all to do the queues so they'll go ahead and buy it. However there is a limit to how effective that will be based on outrage. It's clear that they've greatly exceeded that limit. I just hope it is fixed before lasting damage is done to the game.
Captain Jean-Luc Picard: "We think we've come so far. Torture of heretics, burning of witches, it's all ancient history. Then - before you can blink an eye - suddenly it threatens to start all over again."
"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censured, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably."
And i'm forced to upgrade and play STF for my R&D Materials...
If there where other means to get VR Particles, there would be no problem.. but..
For those who didn't begin the upgrade when the early upgrade event started - they are in big trouble now. The cost of the materials is absolutely skyrocketing. Even the blue rubidium was over 150,000 each and you burn through this like you wouldn't believe. The craylon gas has been removed from the game as the defend rhiho station is now impossible.
Captain Jean-Luc Picard: "We think we've come so far. Torture of heretics, burning of witches, it's all ancient history. Then - before you can blink an eye - suddenly it threatens to start all over again."
"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 agree. A hardcore minority of players have now be satisfied, those whose are top end players with amazing builds and DPS monsters. At the cost of the vast majority of the playerbase who just can't do these new queues. Don't even get me started on new or novice skilled players. They are totally locked out of progressing to high end builds and becoming better. Cryptic have effectively killed endgame for everyone except the highest class of player.
Ironically, I think even the top end players will see the mistake of all this as time goes on. They won't be able to complete the queues without others players, those players will be a lot less from the total queue exodus we're seeing and what players they do get will likely be not good enough anyway, so you'll fail the optional and therefore the whole thing.
This was a totally insane idea. They've forced this policy onto everyone and ruined things in the process. The amazing players were asking for higher challenges. Why not just give them that with the new Elite and leave everyone else the hell alone? Instead, novice or intermediate players have been swept up in this and made to suffer.
This sums it up. If they want to appease the super elite player base, keep queues around that have the difficulty they desire, but add back in a few different queues with previous difficulties so that new players, casual players etc. can come and enjoy, while earning rewards for the difficulty they play at.
You need to give them SOME kind of avenue or you'll just drive off any new subs, and then you've stalemated business to a select few, who eventually will get bored with the title, leave for others, and by that time there will be @#$* all you can do about it. Congrats! You've lost a huge title, parts of your staff will be laid off and move into competing studios and it goes on and on. If I wanted this kind of game, I'd be playing a SOE title that has permadeath in it.
I know I don't spend as much as others do, but figure, full cost for Collectors Edition (now a FTP title that you gift away one of the "exclusive" rewards ad nauseum), monthly subscription, $200+ a month on Zen for Lock Boxes and other services (ship slots, BO slots, DOFFs)... Keep it up, I've got cash to burn and I'll burn it elsewhere.
At the moment I am wondering wheather the developers are liars or absolutely incompetent.
It was clearly said... and let me quote it:
Second, all existing content, all new story content, patrols and 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.
Well, the situation on the server somehow conflicts with the given promise.
Maybe a developer wants to answer this question: liar or incompetent?
Fact is that since the release of delta rising the entire balance is totally screwed.
Players that were able to play elite STFs before can be glad if they win a normal PVE game. Im not even talking about adv. PVEs which are now for at least 95% of the +lvl50 players impossible to win.
Really i see more ppl dropping out of these matches than ever before because the optionals are impossible to fulfill and therefore the missions fails.
Just alone that optionals are requirements now is so ridiculous that its hard for me to find the right words for this TRIBBLE.
Even the normal missions are for new lvl50 players pretty hard to do.
About elite stuff i wont even discuss here.
But lets take a look at the situation from another point of view.
Before delta rising a halfway good player with a T5 ship was able to join an elite match... and get an acceptable reward from it 960dil + repuation item.
Now the same player is not allowed to join an elite match anymore (coz its lvl60 now)... so the 960 dil reward is pretty much impossible to get since delta rising.
This player might join an adv. PVE now... his chances to win are minimal at the moment.... the 480dil reward is also out of reach. Of course the player also wont get the reputation specific rewards which in the end blocks any progress on the rep systems for most of the STO players.
Normal difficulty... thats what the STO players still can play and win.
Thats ~240dil?
Normal difficulty btw. in many PVEs is as hard as the old elite difficulty meanwhile.
So the players have to spend the same amount of time for the missions... but dont even get 1/4 of the original reward from before Delta Rising.
Fellow developers.... the game is no fun anymore.
People dont know what to play anymore because most of the content has become so hard that the missions fail almost everytime.
And your promise that people can play the game just like before is aparently worth nothing.
Experience from PVE play:
1. Crystaline Entity Adv.
(2 Scimitars + 1 Odyssey + 1 Dreadnaught Cruiser + one of the uggly T6 Cruisers)
The time on that mission was up before the team could get the Entity down to 70%
2. Starbase 24 (rofl)
(3 scimitars + a few other t5 ships)
The whole team died like flies during the mission.
3. Infected Space adv.
(a mix of t5 and t6 ships)
half the team left the game frustrated after a few mins
I have the feeling that the developers have not tested anything prior releasing this season.
The balance is a total mess... there are bugs everywhere... some players still cant launch the game or stay online for longer than 5mins.
Next to that does it appear like countless of old bugs are back again (how can that be? how messed up if the code for this game that this always happens?)
I am also developing software and i would be ashamed if my work had the lack of quality and quality management like in STO.
Worst probably is that most of the problems in delta rising were predictable. I mean... people have pointed out what would happen.... and this TRIBBLE did happen just because the developers of this game give a damn to listen to the players.
Next thing is that since about one year pretty much everything in the game is getting more and more expensive.
The costs to get a toon maxed out with good ship, good equipment and halfway good traits trippled in the past 12 months. Everything takes longer... everything is more expensive... everything is more complicated than before.
Hell, thinking about MK14 equipment... you need to go through months of crafting and hundred thousands of dilithium for that.
You cant get a good ship anymore if you are not spending ages for crafting and grinding. The entire game can meanwhile be reduced to this purpose...
Around at season 8 the developers said that they want to reduce the grinding for the players.
What happened to that?
To me it appears like the devs do everything to made grinding more and more difficult and time intense in the past 12 months.
Around at season 9.5 the developers said that they want to allow new lvl50 players to be more competitive with old players.
What happened to that?
To me it appears that season 10 does exactly the opposite of whats announced in season 9.5 (which was just a few months ago btw).
Everything in this game is getting more expensive, more complicated and more time consuming.
Ive spent 5 hours on the server yesterday... and i managed to get a little more than 4k dilithium via PVE missions.
Cryptic, is this a joke at the cost of the players?
Id give you a simple advice.
Fix this mess or STO will lose many players in the next few weeks.
Base Storyline content, Normal and Advanced Queues should have stayed the same. Elite should be the only thing cranked up. They've probably got maybe 30 days before people finally give up face smashing their keyboards and go elsewhere for fun, especially if they're having the same troubles once they've reached 60.
I know I for the most part am enjoying DR (and the exception), but I have not done any STFs just to avoid the frustration right now.
For those thinking they need a T6 ship. Not true. My Fleet Avenger outperforms the Eclipse in every manner wit the same gear. The debuffs are ok from what little I've used it but the ship is fragile. We might hit like a feather now but at least I can survive in the Avenger.
Cryptic, please remember that casuals ho play an hour a week and do not spend money on the game are useless for any MMO. Look at this thread, they barely scored 50 pages of qqing in 4 days. If the new difficulty would be a problem for majority, this topic would have grown to 1,000-2000 pages in 1-2 days. End game content must be hard... end game gear must be hard to obtain...
This how all successful mmo work:
"Make no mistake, end-game is all about challenging harder and harder content and having fun while doing so. As you complete content you will gain better gear, which can be used to challenge even harder content. If your gear is not good enough then you will struggle with content, so it is important to not get too far ahead of yourself. While it may feel that end-game is all about gear, the main thing is having fun. The gear rewards you for taking on the challenges and gives you the feeling of getting stronger as you beat higher challenges."
Cryptic, please remember that casuals ho play an hour a week and do not spend money on the game are useless for any MMO. Look at this thread, they barely scored 50 pages of qqing in 4 days. If the new difficulty would be a problem for majority, this topic would have grown to 1,000-2000 pages in 1-2 days. End game content must be hard... end game gear must be hard to obtain...
This how all successful mmo work:
"Make no mistake, end-game is all about challenging harder and harder content and having fun while doing so. As you complete content you will gain better gear, which can be used to challenge even harder content. If your gear is not good enough then you will struggle with content, so it is important to not get too far ahead of yourself. While it may feel that end-game is all about gear, the main thing is having fun. The gear rewards you for taking on the challenges and gives you the feeling of getting stronger as you beat higher challenges."
Most MMO players AVOID the forums because they want to play the game. When it gets to be absurd they simply log off and don't return. The true minority are the players on the forums.
Cryptic, please remember that casuals ho play an hour a week and do not spend money on the game are useless for any MMO. Look at this thread, they barely scored 50 pages of qqing in 4 days. If the new difficulty would be a problem for majority, this topic would have grown to 1,000-2000 pages in 1-2 days. End game content must be hard... end game gear must be hard to obtain...
This how all successful mmo work:
"Make no mistake, end-game is all about challenging harder and harder content and having fun while doing so. As you complete content you will gain better gear, which can be used to challenge even harder content. If your gear is not good enough then you will struggle with content, so it is important to not get too far ahead of yourself. While it may feel that end-game is all about gear, the main thing is having fun. The gear rewards you for taking on the challenges and gives you the feeling of getting stronger as you beat higher challenges."
I am a paying customer
I dont post on forums very often because they are dramafest from hell
I made an exception and posted in this thread and a couple others.
Your assumptions are wrong and would be curious to know how many of the posters in this thread do spend money on this game.
At the moment I am wondering wheather the developers are liars or absolutely incompetent.
It was clearly said... and let me quote it:
Well, the situation on the server somehow conflicts with the given promise.
Maybe a developer wants to answer this question: liar or incompetent?
Fact is that since the release of delta rising the entire balance is totally screwed.
Players that were able to play elite STFs before can be glad if they win a normal PVE game. Im not even talking about adv. PVEs which are now for at least 95% of the +lvl50 players impossible to win.
Really i see more ppl dropping out of these matches than ever before because the optionals are impossible to fulfill and therefore the missions fails.
Just alone that optionals are requirements now is so ridiculous that its hard for me to find the right words for this TRIBBLE.
Even the normal missions are for new lvl50 players pretty hard to do.
About elite stuff i wont even discuss here.
But lets take a look at the situation from another point of view.
Before delta rising a halfway good player with a T5 ship was able to join an elite match... and get an acceptable reward from it 960dil + repuation item.
Now the same player is not allowed to join an elite match anymore (coz its lvl60 now)... so the 960 dil reward is pretty much impossible to get since delta rising.
This player might join an adv. PVE now... his chances to win are minimal at the moment.... the 480dil reward is also out of reach. Of course the player also wont get the reputation specific rewards which in the end blocks any progress on the rep systems for most of the STO players.
Normal difficulty... thats what the STO players still can play and win.
Thats ~240dil?
Normal difficulty btw. in many PVEs is as hard as the old elite difficulty meanwhile.
So the players have to spend the same amount of time for the missions... but dont even get 1/4 of the original reward from before Delta Rising.
Fellow developers.... the game is no fun anymore.
People dont know what to play anymore because most of the content has become so hard that the missions fail almost everytime.
And your promise that people can play the game just like before is aparently worth nothing.
Experience from PVE play:
1. Crystaline Entity Adv.
(2 Scimitars + 1 Odyssey + 1 Dreadnaught Cruiser + one of the uggly T6 Cruisers)
The time on that mission was up before the team could get the Entity down to 70%
2. Starbase 24 (rofl)
(3 scimitars + a few other t5 ships)
The whole team died like flies during the mission.
3. Infected Space adv.
(a mix of t5 and t6 ships)
half the team left the game frustrated after a few mins
I have the feeling that the developers have not tested anything prior releasing this season.
The balance is a total mess... there are bugs everywhere... some players still cant launch the game or stay online for longer than 5mins.
Next to that does it appear like countless of old bugs are back again (how can that be? how messed up if the code for this game that this always happens?)
I am also developing software and i would be ashamed if my work had the lack of quality and quality management like in STO.
Worst probably is that most of the problems in delta rising were predictable. I mean... people have pointed out what would happen.... and this TRIBBLE did happen just because the developers of this game give a damn to listen to the players.
Next thing is that since about one year pretty much everything in the game is getting more and more expensive.
The costs to get a toon maxed out with good ship, good equipment and halfway good traits trippled in the past 12 months. Everything takes longer... everything is more expensive... everything is more complicated than before.
Hell, thinking about MK14 equipment... you need to go through months of crafting and hundred thousands of dilithium for that.
You cant get a good ship anymore if you are not spending ages for crafting and grinding. The entire game can meanwhile be reduced to this purpose...
Around at season 8 the developers said that they want to reduce the grinding for the players.
What happened to that?
To me it appears like the devs do everything to made grinding more and more difficult and time intense in the past 12 months.
Around at season 9.5 the developers said that they want to allow new lvl50 players to be more competitive with old players.
What happened to that?
To me it appears that season 10 does exactly the opposite of whats announced in season 9.5 (which was just a few months ago btw).
Everything in this game is getting more expensive, more complicated and more time consuming.
Ive spent 5 hours on the server yesterday... and i managed to get a little more than 4k dilithium via PVE missions.
Cryptic, is this a joke at the cost of the players?
Id give you a simple advice.
Fix this mess or STO will lose many players in the next few weeks.
Totally agree with this. I'm a casual player who used to love this game! I did put some serious money into getting fleet advanced mk 12 gear (so I could enjoy my advanced ships) and now (ON NORMAL DIFFICULTY) i'm finding my weapons are like water pistols against enemies...and to upgrade to make a difference....they want MORE MONEY! AGAIN...I'm so deflated. Standard fights are taking 20 odd minutes (where they used to take an enjoyable 2 or 3 mins per wave) and i find myself getting very annoyed and bored VERY quickly with the new standard BLOATED HP of standard enemies. I pay a yearly sub to play and even with my 500-a-month zen-into dilithium - to upgrade to play at normal difficulty comfortably means I can never afford this to enjoy my game anymore.:-(.
I do feel shafted by CRYPTIC as it seems all they want me to do is shower them with money to play comfortably...it's soul destroying. I already had to fork out £25 to upgrade all my characters ships (so I could play comfortably) for ships I already paid £17 odd for on the c store..again i felt shafted..but it was all for nothing it would seem. If this is not patched and returned to fun again...then i will cancel and not play.....as I feel that my love for Star Trek is being milked for my money. I work full time and don't have the required 'no life' that is required to upgrade all my gear to make a difference in this game and play comfortably. As I say, I love causual play...the storylines...the roleplay...and now I feel like i can't play normal gameplay without a serious struggling challenge and that's not what I literally signed up for and pay for!.
Has Gecko responded to this post? He asked a question and got overwhelming negative response. Seems like maybe an apology and a timeframe of when this will be patched would bea good start?
Cryptic, please remember that casuals ho play an hour a week and do not spend money on the game are useless for any MMO. Look at this thread, they barely scored 50 pages of qqing in 4 days. If the new difficulty would be a problem for majority, this topic would have grown to 1,000-2000 pages in 1-2 days. End game content must be hard... end game gear must be hard to obtain...
This how all successful mmo work:
"Make no mistake, end-game is all about challenging harder and harder content and having fun while doing so. As you complete content you will gain better gear, which can be used to challenge even harder content. If your gear is not good enough then you will struggle with content, so it is important to not get too far ahead of yourself. While it may feel that end-game is all about gear, the main thing is having fun. The gear rewards you for taking on the challenges and gives you the feeling of getting stronger as you beat higher challenges."
The vast majority of players do not participate in the forums. one way or another. Merely because thousands are not posting does not mean anything, one way or another. The extreme drop in queue numbers is a pretty good indication there is an issue.
Comments
I totally agree here. Lovin the changes, Please help ease the grind tho!
I failed 10 times in crystaline advanced but when finally won it felt nice.
For walking in parks and watching content there is Normal difficulty.
For good gear there are 2 ways at least for new players:
1. fleet gear + upgrades to 14
2. regular exchange gear + upgrades.
Beside i guess the new advanced is tuned for level 60 with lev14 gear and ships upgraded etc.
I want that advanced STILL present a CHALLENGE at lev 60 and pug success rate to be around 50%.
The box is still waiting over --->here, when you accomplish this in a PUG by yourself!
Praetor of the -RTS- Romulan Tal Shiar fleet!
1) They wouldn't be able to get fleet gear (or at least not for a few years), because at the rate that normals give rewards it would take years to get fleet equipment.
2) How would they be able to get exchange gear without any EC? They took reward drops out. The best you could hope for is the occasional Mk XI blue in a normal queue, which don't sell well at all.
3) How are they going to upgrade without any of the upgrade materials that are trapped behind an advanced and elite difficulty wall?
Support 90 degree arc limitation on BFaW! Save our ships from looking like flying disco balls of dumb!
There are players out there who take pride in squeezing every decimal point out of their ship to get DPS up to and over 50K but they are in a minority.
But the average player i'd wager is shooting a lot, lot lower, probably in the 10K or less range. They are not doing it because they are rubbish players, they are doing it because they are casual players and chasing some mythical DPS number is not of interest to then in a game like STO.
I mean i've got a fair bit of fleet and rep gear and some top-end fleet ships to run with. Plus i've learnt enough about the game to know how to run the old ESTFs without being too much of an embarrassment to the team. I'm not a DPS monster, probably only up to 15K at the absolute best.
The only players who now stand a chance at the high-end content are those either grinding non-stop for hours every day or those throwing 100's of $'s at the game to buy kit or whiz through the crafting.
I'm at a loss as to how a fresh Lvl. 50 player is meant to get competitive now that to even get the higher rep gear they need things like BNP's and the like that are effectively locked behind content they can't hope to compete in. And even if they do get some rep gear it's all Mk XII and outdated too.
Who is seriously going to queue to join a PVE where the rewards are tiny and outdated and the whole affair is just another grind?
At the end of the day they've effectively turned PVE into the new PVP.
I'm not much of a min/maxer. I understand how to do it, I just don't like to do it. I prefer to build characters and ships thematically. That wasn't a problem under the old difficulty; I felt that if I got a couple pieces of gear (which I could with the ten processors I got for reaching rep level 5) and put some time into upgrading weapons via the exchange, I could hold my own and make myself useful in Conduit. Occasionally we'd miss the bonus objective but it usually wasn't my fault, and we all came away with something. Now, I don't feel I can risk that.
Give me another way to acquire processors, and I'll be fine with the new difficulty. I don't know if I'll participate in Advanced queues (if it's necessary to min/max to be successful, I know I won't be successful), but at least I'll be able to progress in my own way at my own pace.
I agree. A hardcore minority of players have now be satisfied, those whose are top end players with amazing builds and DPS monsters. At the cost of the vast majority of the playerbase who just can't do these new queues. Don't even get me started on new or novice skilled players. They are totally locked out of progressing to high end builds and becoming better. Cryptic have effectively killed endgame for everyone except the highest class of player.
Ironically, I think even the top end players will see the mistake of all this as time goes on. They won't be able to complete the queues without others players, those players will be a lot less from the total queue exodus we're seeing and what players they do get will likely be not good enough anyway, so you'll fail the optional and therefore the whole thing.
This was a totally insane idea. They've forced this policy onto everyone and ruined things in the process. The amazing players were asking for higher challenges. Why not just give them that with the new Elite and leave everyone else the hell alone? Instead, novice or intermediate players have been swept up in this and made to suffer.
I suspect you are right. The whole things reeks of a calculated way to bully us into spending money imo. They've made queues unplayable, nerfed the rewards to nothing and pushed an Upgrade system that requires money and rare drops to invest into.
Its horribly abusive and shockingly obvious that they've strangled every realistic way to progress at endgame.
Really, I gotta play the TRIBBLE that makes this game feel like a job? Unenjoyable rubbish?
NM, I'll stfu and buy some zen to buy some dil from the dil exchange
That's what you guys want right?
Exactly. You get it.
And i'm forced to upgrade and play STF for my R&D Materials...
If there where other means to get VR Particles, there would be no problem.. but..
There are other ways, they just give an even smaller return (in the case of the R&D Assistance doff assignment) or cost a lot of money (real or EC - R&D packs from the C-Store or exchange).
It's not like the Advanced queue packs ever had a lot of (or a high chance of) VR mats, it was just easy to get them and play the odds before.
I suspect this was the intent. Players will see that they need a T6 ship after all to do the queues so they'll go ahead and buy it. However there is a limit to how effective that will be based on outrage. It's clear that they've greatly exceeded that limit. I just hope it is fixed before lasting damage is done to the game.
"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censured, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably."
For those who didn't begin the upgrade when the early upgrade event started - they are in big trouble now. The cost of the materials is absolutely skyrocketing. Even the blue rubidium was over 150,000 each and you burn through this like you wouldn't believe. The craylon gas has been removed from the game as the defend rhiho station is now impossible.
"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censured, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably."
This sums it up. If they want to appease the super elite player base, keep queues around that have the difficulty they desire, but add back in a few different queues with previous difficulties so that new players, casual players etc. can come and enjoy, while earning rewards for the difficulty they play at.
You need to give them SOME kind of avenue or you'll just drive off any new subs, and then you've stalemated business to a select few, who eventually will get bored with the title, leave for others, and by that time there will be @#$* all you can do about it. Congrats! You've lost a huge title, parts of your staff will be laid off and move into competing studios and it goes on and on. If I wanted this kind of game, I'd be playing a SOE title that has permadeath in it.
I know I don't spend as much as others do, but figure, full cost for Collectors Edition (now a FTP title that you gift away one of the "exclusive" rewards ad nauseum), monthly subscription, $200+ a month on Zen for Lock Boxes and other services (ship slots, BO slots, DOFFs)... Keep it up, I've got cash to burn and I'll burn it elsewhere.
It was clearly said... and let me quote it:
Well, the situation on the server somehow conflicts with the given promise.
Maybe a developer wants to answer this question: liar or incompetent?
Fact is that since the release of delta rising the entire balance is totally screwed.
Players that were able to play elite STFs before can be glad if they win a normal PVE game. Im not even talking about adv. PVEs which are now for at least 95% of the +lvl50 players impossible to win.
Really i see more ppl dropping out of these matches than ever before because the optionals are impossible to fulfill and therefore the missions fails.
Just alone that optionals are requirements now is so ridiculous that its hard for me to find the right words for this TRIBBLE.
Even the normal missions are for new lvl50 players pretty hard to do.
About elite stuff i wont even discuss here.
But lets take a look at the situation from another point of view.
Before delta rising a halfway good player with a T5 ship was able to join an elite match... and get an acceptable reward from it 960dil + repuation item.
Now the same player is not allowed to join an elite match anymore (coz its lvl60 now)... so the 960 dil reward is pretty much impossible to get since delta rising.
This player might join an adv. PVE now... his chances to win are minimal at the moment.... the 480dil reward is also out of reach. Of course the player also wont get the reputation specific rewards which in the end blocks any progress on the rep systems for most of the STO players.
Normal difficulty... thats what the STO players still can play and win.
Thats ~240dil?
Normal difficulty btw. in many PVEs is as hard as the old elite difficulty meanwhile.
So the players have to spend the same amount of time for the missions... but dont even get 1/4 of the original reward from before Delta Rising.
Fellow developers.... the game is no fun anymore.
People dont know what to play anymore because most of the content has become so hard that the missions fail almost everytime.
And your promise that people can play the game just like before is aparently worth nothing.
Experience from PVE play:
1. Crystaline Entity Adv.
(2 Scimitars + 1 Odyssey + 1 Dreadnaught Cruiser + one of the uggly T6 Cruisers)
The time on that mission was up before the team could get the Entity down to 70%
2. Starbase 24 (rofl)
(3 scimitars + a few other t5 ships)
The whole team died like flies during the mission.
3. Infected Space adv.
(a mix of t5 and t6 ships)
half the team left the game frustrated after a few mins
I have the feeling that the developers have not tested anything prior releasing this season.
The balance is a total mess... there are bugs everywhere... some players still cant launch the game or stay online for longer than 5mins.
Next to that does it appear like countless of old bugs are back again (how can that be? how messed up if the code for this game that this always happens?)
I am also developing software and i would be ashamed if my work had the lack of quality and quality management like in STO.
Worst probably is that most of the problems in delta rising were predictable. I mean... people have pointed out what would happen.... and this TRIBBLE did happen just because the developers of this game give a damn to listen to the players.
Next thing is that since about one year pretty much everything in the game is getting more and more expensive.
The costs to get a toon maxed out with good ship, good equipment and halfway good traits trippled in the past 12 months. Everything takes longer... everything is more expensive... everything is more complicated than before.
Hell, thinking about MK14 equipment... you need to go through months of crafting and hundred thousands of dilithium for that.
You cant get a good ship anymore if you are not spending ages for crafting and grinding. The entire game can meanwhile be reduced to this purpose...
Around at season 8 the developers said that they want to reduce the grinding for the players.
What happened to that?
To me it appears like the devs do everything to made grinding more and more difficult and time intense in the past 12 months.
Around at season 9.5 the developers said that they want to allow new lvl50 players to be more competitive with old players.
What happened to that?
To me it appears that season 10 does exactly the opposite of whats announced in season 9.5 (which was just a few months ago btw).
Everything in this game is getting more expensive, more complicated and more time consuming.
Ive spent 5 hours on the server yesterday... and i managed to get a little more than 4k dilithium via PVE missions.
Cryptic, is this a joke at the cost of the players?
Id give you a simple advice.
Fix this mess or STO will lose many players in the next few weeks.
The cost of R&D materials is increasing too much.
Without neural processor and the other stuff the reputation sistem is lock.
The number of players is decreasing and i sell with much more difficulties my materials on the market.
THANKS CRYPTIC :mad:
I know I for the most part am enjoying DR (and the exception), but I have not done any STFs just to avoid the frustration right now.
For those thinking they need a T6 ship. Not true. My Fleet Avenger outperforms the Eclipse in every manner wit the same gear. The debuffs are ok from what little I've used it but the ship is fragile. We might hit like a feather now but at least I can survive in the Avenger.
End game content must be hard... end game gear must be hard to obtain...
This how all successful mmo work:
"Make no mistake, end-game is all about challenging harder and harder content and having fun while doing so. As you complete content you will gain better gear, which can be used to challenge even harder content. If your gear is not good enough then you will struggle with content, so it is important to not get too far ahead of yourself. While it may feel that end-game is all about gear, the main thing is having fun. The gear rewards you for taking on the challenges and gives you the feeling of getting stronger as you beat higher challenges."
Most MMO players AVOID the forums because they want to play the game. When it gets to be absurd they simply log off and don't return. The true minority are the players on the forums.
I am a paying customer
I dont post on forums very often because they are dramafest from hell
I made an exception and posted in this thread and a couple others.
Your assumptions are wrong and would be curious to know how many of the posters in this thread do spend money on this game.
A couple of weeks and this game will be no more a successful game :mad:
3+ year old bugs still prevalent, new content excluded..
Before you guys ruin the game, you think you could fix some of the old bugs?
Totally agree with this. I'm a casual player who used to love this game! I did put some serious money into getting fleet advanced mk 12 gear (so I could enjoy my advanced ships) and now (ON NORMAL DIFFICULTY) i'm finding my weapons are like water pistols against enemies...and to upgrade to make a difference....they want MORE MONEY! AGAIN...I'm so deflated. Standard fights are taking 20 odd minutes (where they used to take an enjoyable 2 or 3 mins per wave) and i find myself getting very annoyed and bored VERY quickly with the new standard BLOATED HP of standard enemies. I pay a yearly sub to play and even with my 500-a-month zen-into dilithium - to upgrade to play at normal difficulty comfortably means I can never afford this to enjoy my game anymore.:-(.
I do feel shafted by CRYPTIC as it seems all they want me to do is shower them with money to play comfortably...it's soul destroying. I already had to fork out £25 to upgrade all my characters ships (so I could play comfortably) for ships I already paid £17 odd for on the c store..again i felt shafted..but it was all for nothing it would seem. If this is not patched and returned to fun again...then i will cancel and not play.....as I feel that my love for Star Trek is being milked for my money. I work full time and don't have the required 'no life' that is required to upgrade all my gear to make a difference in this game and play comfortably. As I say, I love causual play...the storylines...the roleplay...and now I feel like i can't play normal gameplay without a serious struggling challenge and that's not what I literally signed up for and pay for!.
totally
The vast majority of players do not participate in the forums. one way or another. Merely because thousands are not posting does not mean anything, one way or another. The extreme drop in queue numbers is a pretty good indication there is an issue.
Since February 2010... $700+. Counting several launch copies of the game and the subscription fees back then, LTS in 2011, lotsa ships and costumes.
I think the last thing I paid cash for Zen for was the Vesta pack, though. They're not getting any more until they earn it.