Since the existence of this game Cryptic has done nothing but TRIBBLE around with Hitpoints, damage numbers, resistance , and all that TRIBBLE, from one extreme to the other.
Thats usually NOT the way to change the 'difficulty' on a game unless it was designed by a bunch of amateurs.
Perhaps they should consider actually implementing an intelligent AI, at least that way this whole game wouldnt be as unbalanced as it is right now, both PVE and PVP alike, by constantly having to adjust items and weapons and devices where both the player and NPC have access to. Because yes, most stats are directly linked to both AI and Player, worst decision ever.
Well I guess we will just have to disagree. Maybe the real difference between us is that I don't feel the need to insult someone when I happen to hold a different view.
I happen to believe the HP increase has made a marked change in the way the end-game is played. Having one hign performing Tac on a team blasting out a cone of death is no longer enough to complete an STF. The fact that this can be achieved simply by adding firepower and Hp to the enemies all the better.
Better AI? Well yes, of course, the holy grail of computer games. I would ask though, as we seem to be mostly talking about space combat here. What would a better AI do in ISE? In the featuresless wilderness of space there are very limited AI options; most of which are variations of - close to optimum range and use your abilities in an optimum sequence. That seems to be what players do. Can we criticise an AI for behaving in the same way?
allot of things i would change but aside from BUGS that need to fixed, and different sotries for the factions not one for all. is the reward system it was nerfed across the board and has killed the ques. reward vrs investment.
we now earn less dil
we now earn less skill points
we now earn less EC
we now earn less special rep items. (not long ago was nerfed to max of one per run borg STFs)
so we pick the missions that will give us the best return for the time invested. and because most are grinding right now and dil a requirement for everything now we really have no other choice.
Trophies for killing FEDS ahh those were the days.
I don't have the time or the patience to counter each aspect of this persons argument as it would create a wall of content most would not read ....
I will be brief and to the point
First of all your point of view is narrow. I have been here since beta. I went lifer before the game launched. Your 2 years is only a glimpse into the life of this game IMO>
We used to have things like terradome, Invasion DS9 where you waited for NPC's to flip coins, whole STF"s that could take hours.
When the STf's were launched we dived straight in anjd it took us 3 weeks of daily play to muscle our first win......we then hoped for a piece of UBER gear that could randomly drop. I remember doing CURE Elite for probably 3 months after launch before I got my first good drop.....NOW all you do is grind the easy stuff for the end gear. there are other options we , as earlier players, did not have. free sets of space gear for the taking (Breen) that can be easily upgraded to mk 14 that do very well against BORG. I should know I have them at 14.
Your complaint that you cannot hurt a sphere in advanced is truly a tragedy indeed. in a science vessel I can down a sphere on my own. Not fast but easily. I would recommend you discuss this in forums to help your builds.....
Borg Red alerts are not end content.....I seem to remember that lowbies can be in red alerts too....they have to balance that for equality although end level players will always be more powerful...You truly feel that because you down a CUBE on red alert that you should own the playing field in Advanced stf?
AGAIN there is optional gear that is often overlooked that can beat borg gear...breen space gear can easily be made mk 14 without ever doing an STF on advanced......ALSO Fleet gear....many fleets can get you gear that allows you to circumvent the need for borg gear. Again your absolutism is flawed...there are many ways around gearing up.
The old PVE stf system was weak and outdated...as the power of the players increased with cap increases and better gear the oldest STF's were too easy.....it was mandatory that they raise the skill needed to master them.....sadly for folks like you it seems like a big increase when in reality it is not.....the new stfs require nothing more then the older ones...maybe a few more minutes of PEW PEW. HINT lots of dps or, with lack thereof, GW and Tractors.
Lets move on to Delta quadrant rewards.....Doing a mission that require 5 minutes of pew pew that rewards you with marks that you can turn in daily is not enough for you? I can muster , easily, 100 marks in an hour or 1.5 hours.....you need 30 for the daily and 20 for the hourly......IT IS PLENTY to keep in line with doing your dailies and not bogging you down in one area of the game. With the extra 50 marks left over I can turn them in for dilitihum....win/win for me
The Dilithium cap is the oldest and weakest of the complaints....you have 2 toons you should EASILY be reaping in 16k...3 toons my word the number keeps growing and growing. For those who do not have a lot of time to invest 2 toons maxing out daily is a sweet number for dilitihum....and you get to see who the other half lives (a diff class). If ya run a KDF member lots of contraband also helps.
Younger players, while having valid concerns, do not see the whole picture. This game has evolved into a complex game. When it first launched it was much tougher then it is now. It NOW panders to the lowest denominator and the causal player to the point that many lifers, like myself, are left flabbergasted. It is too easy and too boring. With Delta they have reinvigorated the game to a small extent and made stf's a challenge again.
I, for one, am very glad they have done what they have done this newest expansion.
okay I'm going to do my best to take this a point at a time, so here goes
1) You have a long time in game, I have less I accept that, however the bulk of players have not been here that amount of time and so a wider perspective is needed when looking at these issues. Shorter length players and those who are brand new especially are hitting a wall and that does need addressing as these players are the ones who bring in the money, most of what I spent I did in the first 6 months, I've learnt ways I don't have to now, but those without that knowledge and players who don't have the time to commit to multiple toons in my experience and that of my fleet mates at least are hitting a wall and loosing enthusiasm for the game and simply going else where.
2) I've read about terradrome, sounded awesome tbh, but not sure that an STF which requires hours is a good thing especially when balancing this game alongside real life commitments, (the mid mission drop out rate must of been terrible?)
3) Okay ignoring the slightly condescending tone of this point, accessibility is what I am talking about, Borg Red Alerts are leveled at 44, my point is advanced should be at a similar level and accessible to those at the mid point. Simply so newer players and those of us who are more casual can go in, play and contribute to the mission. The old Elite was targeted at lvl 45-50 players (more the 50 end.) Advanced is now targeted at 50-60 the focus on final end game content has left those who were end game and now mid with a distinct lack of content they can build up there characters with. I learned STF's playing the old elite at lvl 48-50 its what enabled me to tackle the game later on but now its out of balance and rep gear is beyond the reach of many particularly the Omega rep gear for the points I mentioned earlier. I fully advocate having a level for those at Level 60 who have played for years and need a real challenge, but for the rest there needs to be an intermediate option which they have a reasonable chance of completing
4) You managed to do a Delta mission in 5 miniutes, it usually takes that in load times and flying from point A to point B but if you say so your a far better man than me, with a Gal X T5U I was tending to do those patrols in 30 minutes on Advanced (one memorable incident of 20 mins to kill a single Artillery Crusier before the first round of hit point lowering.) and 15 on normal! I apologize, that was pithy, still 1.5 hours to get 100 marks... I can go to Dyson Ground and earn 450 in the same time period or Undine Space and if memory serves around 300 depending on how many zones you capture, the point I was making is in comparison to these, the Battlezone rewards for Kobali Prime and Patrols are negligible when compared to the other battlezones even the older ones like Nukara (200 marks 30 mins) or Defra which is the best source of Fleet marks I know. A simple up scaling of the reward by comparison to what is already established is warranted in my view, especially once you stop leveling and start looking to buy Rep gear.
5) Okay this is the counter argument I get the least, I'm suggesting we as players get more of something how is that a bad thing? someone else pointed out that 3 toons the cap is 24K (life time plus fleet doff missions add another 3K.) split between them, granted this I accept, but a surprising amount of people run just 1 or 2 toons. But unless your farming with KDF this is not a huge sum when set alongside how much upgrading and R&D costs have increased the Dil you use, but the amount of refineable supplied has not, its a balancing issue and one I feel would give people that bit more incentive to play (and as the Dev's did not they based this on the average a player could make in a day in ore, that amount is now higher so the average refining needs to be reexamined by simple consequence.)
6) Sir I must say you also seem to not to be seeing the whole picture yourself. You are taking the view of a long established player who has beaten all the game has to offer and craves a new challenge. But as I said earlier, new players keep this game alive and if its no fun for them because the end difficulty curve is like running at a wall they will leave. You may see it as 'pandering to the lowest common denominator.' But I'd prefer a game that was accessible to all and wanting to be better is what made me want to spend money. And I don't at any point suggest that there shouldn't be a challenging level for PVE an 'Elite' level for those like yourself who need the challenge, merely that advanced is an intermediate level accessible to the rest of us.
7) I should of done this rright off the Bat, talked about what I liked from the new expansion, there was much to praise I admit, and as I said at the beginning I was blowing off steam when I started this, so lets look at the positives, Story line and Voice acting great, level design again great. New Rep equipment, only had a chance to use the Compression Rifle so far, but honestly big thank you for that one, as a Tac I've been wanting to drop Orbital Strikes since I started the game. There is a lot to like in Delta, but what has me concerned is in accessibilty of PVE to Mid point/casual/new players, what feels like a lack of rewards in the new areas and a general sense of frustration over things like Auto Fail is going to drive a lot of people away and in the end despite all this wonderful new content we'll be looking at a situation like City of Heros and that would make me very sad, I love this game I got the life time sub because of that and I'd like it to continue for a long time to come
Terradome was bugged to heck. THAT is why it was removed. I never completed it because of an obnoxious glitch that caused the Undine to respawn incessantly....
Terradome was bugged to heck. THAT is why it was removed. I never completed it because of an obnoxious glitch that caused the Undine to respawn incessantly....
And yet I completed it. Must have been the group dynamic.
As for the OP - I too share many of your sentiments.
3) Okay ignoring the slightly condescending tone of this point, accessibility is what I am talking about, Borg Red Alerts are leveled at 44, my point is advanced should be at a similar level and accessible to those at the mid point. Simply so newer players and those of us who are more casual can go in, play and contribute to the mission. The old Elite was targeted at lvl 45-50 players (more the 50 end.) Advanced is now targeted at 50-60 the focus on final end game content has left those who were end game and now mid with a distinct lack of content they can build up there characters with. I learned STF's playing the old elite at lvl 48-50 its what enabled me to tackle the game later on but now its out of balance and rep gear is beyond the reach of many particularly the Omega rep gear for the points I mentioned earlier. I fully advocate having a level for those at Level 60 who have played for years and need a real challenge, but for the rest there needs to be an intermediate option which they have a reasonable chance of completing
This is where you lose a lot of credibility. Old Elite were locked to 50, Normal was 44. Your whole argument seems based that a new player should have access to gear that a veteran player has earned over years of playing, nonsense. The new Advanced is doable by players that know the encounters & use tactics when they lack DPS, like the old 10% rule from the old days. The main problem is, for the last 1.5+ years, ppl got used to being OP & Elie STFs being soloable. The DIL refinemnt argument is so common, you rly should read old threads to learn why there's a DIL cap@8k & what effects it would have if raised(hint: Devs would increase DIL costs in game to compensate).
I've been playing for the last 2 years, I've enjoyed it so much I got the life time subscription and have deeply enjoyed being able to continue the Star Trek experience through this game.
But since Delta Rising, this game has caused me nothing but endless frustration, aggravation and disappointment. I'm not alone in this and it needs to be addressed as at this point the game is all but unplayable and is certainly not fun.
I'm posting this mainly to vent, I have no real expectation the Dev's will read it or even be interested in my point of view if they do, but still I'd like to put down what I feel is wrong and see if anyone agrees
the big one PVE, at the moment, PVE is all but unachievable unless you show up with a team of high level players and know the mission inside and out, the play figures have dropped through the floor, the focus on much of the feed back has been on space, but a lot of the ground PVE's have suffered aswell and that is generally overlooked. (Mine Trap was huge fun, but looking for a random team of 20 forget it now.)
lets look at the main complaint Space Hit points. I run a number of ships and in any Borg Red Alert I can take out all of the separate encounter points solo including if required the unimatirx. However I go into a Borg Advanced PVE such as conduit, I can barely damage a sphere. This is not balance, this is locking off the top level game from new players and forcing existing players into an endless cycle of grind just to become competitive.
I already know what many will say... "learn how to play, learn how to build your ship!" I know how to do both my point is new players, the guys who keep this game alive don't and they won't take the time to learn when there is no way to progress. Although Rep Gear is still accessible via battlezones which grant Cybernetic Implants or Isomorphic Injectors, the Borg Reputation Equipment is currently locked off from new players completely, the only place to acquire Borg Neural Processors is in Advanced Borg PVE missions and unless you already have the best equipment and a team of guys you know to help, you have no hope of completing those missions. This NEED's to be addressed as Borg Rep gear is the go to for most starting players or was until now.
I appreciate the Devs have put a lot of time into the new PVE system, but its time to admit, its not working, the play figures have dropped to about 1/4 of where they used to be and are not recovering after "2 passes" as they put it of altering the hit points. Its simply to frustrating and too much effort. Challenge for end game content is one thing, frustrating compulsory objectives and auto failures with a 10 mark 'you lose' prize are quite another.
No one wants to admit they are wrong, but if this game is going to survive that's whats needed and the old PVE system reinstated until the new one can be ironed out, properly play tested and introduced. If I may suggest and normal level aimed at players to upto level 45, an intermediate level achievable routinely at level 45-59 and a Elite for level 60 for some real challenge. And when I say challenge I do not me playable with lvl XIV epic gear and a fleet of freinds with the same. Another solution would be to make nueral processors and the like available at all levels of play so people can effectively play at the level they are capable and not be penalized for not having progressed far enough in the game. Either way I would suggest whatever level, optional Objectives are reinstated and failure causes a loss to the base reward for the mission, rather than success a bonus. Auto fails help no one just cause frustration and rage and anger amongst players, this is meant to be a social game after all.
Why should the Dev's care I hear you ask, well this is hitting them in their pocket, when I was a free to play member I spent a LOT of money on new ships, bits of equipment, outfits to look cool, so I could have more fun randomly STF'ing but now I avoid space PVE completely and only do a very few ground. Its not fun and those free to player's who are dropping £20 on a new ship every now and then aren't going to be if they can't win in the first place.
(Oh and on a personal note, borg Ground STF's were hard enough before the changes loose all the extra elite Tac drones the are not needed even with a team who knows the missions you were looking at a 50/50 completion rate on those missions and usually without optional's... Much lower on Hive so please just set them back the way they were, they were plenty challenging and fun, now I've played once and never want to again.)
Moving on from the PVE complaints I'd like to highlight the new Delta Contents rewards. PVE, Patrols and Battle/adventure zones they are amazingly small, 5 marks per area captured on kobali Prime, 10 for a patrol Mission this is small, especially regarding the effort involved in both and comparing it to the rewards earned in the Dyson Ground zone and Undine Space, with no daily missions and only a bonus of 2 marks for causing an area to Escalate bringing the total to 14 for a fully completed escalation on Kobali Prime it is tiny reward. I've ground most of my Delta Marks from the Mirror event, this lack of reward really needs to be addressed as apart from Bug Hunt once I finished the Delta Content on my main toon, I've had no urge to go near it again.
Finally The Dilithum Cap needs to be re-examined, I well understand the need for it, but it was based by the Dev's admission on the average a player could make daily 2 years ago. 8K a day plus fleet and Gold Member projects bringing it up to 9K per day (average) if you have access to both. but 2 factors are now unbalancing it significantly 1) You can routinely make a lot more than 8K a day once you hit level 50 and 2) there are far more things that demand Dilitum than there use to be. The only main needs for it before Delta was the Rep Gear, Fleet Gear/ships and the Dil store. Now the Updated R&D system and the Upgrade system have put 2 new huge demands on the average players Dil requirements and with a limit of 8K a day there is only so much you can do no matter how much you have hoarded (around 100K between 2 toons in my case) I would propose a modest increase to the base Dil cap of 2000 a day bringing the base total to 10,000 a day, its a nice round number and should help off set a lot of the strain caused by the new system, but in turn not hurt the Dev's profits for people looking to buy Dil in bulk, 2K a day is not enough they still won't want to pay Zen for 100K a time.
These are my thoughts, I kind of hope some positive action is taken beacuse at this point given the way the PVE numbers have dropped off and the general anger being expressed every time something posted on the STO Facebook page as well as the fact new player progression is now significantly limited, this game probably won't be here in 6 months and I'll be back to playing Skyrim
Agreed 100% with you OP, but the trouble is while they keep radio sillence on us good players you never know rather they do something to stop the complains or they ignoring the small part complaining about it....
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
"Coffee: the finest organic suspension ever devised. It's got me through the worst of the last three years. I beat the Borg with it."
Younger players, while having valid concerns, do not see the whole picture. This game has evolved into a complex game. When it first launched it was much tougher then it is now. It NOW panders to the lowest denominator and the causal player to the point that many lifers, like myself, are left flabbergasted. It is too easy and too boring. With Delta they have reinvigorated the game to a small extent and made stf's a challenge again.
I, for one, am very glad they have done what they have done this newest expansion.
You seem to be in the minority .
Mind you , you will find me posting in every thread that asks for the return of the old STF'S , but the best times in those were not time gated like STF content is now .
You could stop for a bio break or to discuss strategy .
Well now you can't , and just have to zerg your way to victory ASAP .
And timers are un-fun , especially when coupled with difficulty upgrades and expensive gear upgrades .
Had they introduced a host of new STF's with a new difficulty level but left the old content as it was , THAT would have been a true expansion .
The way things are, you are just being forced to play yesterday's content at a more difficult level for less awards .
Forgive me if I don't say "thank you" for that .
.... see, the double edge of being a long time player is that you also remember WHY it was fun back then ... ,and bowing to the DPS gods is not what ST0 was about , and by the numbers ditching it, it seems that has not changed ...
I don't have the time or the patience to counter each aspect of this persons argument as it would create a wall of content most would not read ....
I will be brief and to the point
First of all your point of view is narrow. I have been here since beta. I went lifer before the game launched. Your 2 years is only a glimpse into the life of this game IMO>
We used to have things like terradome, Invasion DS9 where you waited for NPC's to flip coins, whole STF"s that could take hours.
When the STf's were launched we dived straight in anjd it took us 3 weeks of daily play to muscle our first win......we then hoped for a piece of UBER gear that could randomly drop. I remember doing CURE Elite for probably 3 months after launch before I got my first good drop.....NOW all you do is grind the easy stuff for the end gear. there are other options we , as earlier players, did not have. free sets of space gear for the taking (Breen) that can be easily upgraded to mk 14 that do very well against BORG. I should know I have them at 14.
Your complaint that you cannot hurt a sphere in advanced is truly a tragedy indeed. in a science vessel I can down a sphere on my own. Not fast but easily. I would recommend you discuss this in forums to help your builds.....
Borg Red alerts are not end content.....I seem to remember that lowbies can be in red alerts too....they have to balance that for equality although end level players will always be more powerful...You truly feel that because you down a CUBE on red alert that you should own the playing field in Advanced stf?
AGAIN there is optional gear that is often overlooked that can beat borg gear...breen space gear can easily be made mk 14 without ever doing an STF on advanced......ALSO Fleet gear....many fleets can get you gear that allows you to circumvent the need for borg gear. Again your absolutism is flawed...there are many ways around gearing up.
The old PVE stf system was weak and outdated...as the power of the players increased with cap increases and better gear the oldest STF's were too easy.....it was mandatory that they raise the skill needed to master them.....sadly for folks like you it seems like a big increase when in reality it is not.....the new stfs require nothing more then the older ones...maybe a few more minutes of PEW PEW. HINT lots of dps or, with lack thereof, GW and Tractors.
Lets move on to Delta quadrant rewards.....Doing a mission that require 5 minutes of pew pew that rewards you with marks that you can turn in daily is not enough for you? I can muster , easily, 100 marks in an hour or 1.5 hours.....you need 30 for the daily and 20 for the hourly......IT IS PLENTY to keep in line with doing your dailies and not bogging you down in one area of the game. With the extra 50 marks left over I can turn them in for dilitihum....win/win for me
The Dilithium cap is the oldest and weakest of the complaints....you have 2 toons you should EASILY be reaping in 16k...3 toons my word the number keeps growing and growing. For those who do not have a lot of time to invest 2 toons maxing out daily is a sweet number for dilitihum....and you get to see who the other half lives (a diff class). If ya run a KDF member lots of contraband also helps.
Younger players, while having valid concerns, do not see the whole picture. This game has evolved into a complex game. When it first launched it was much tougher then it is now. It NOW panders to the lowest denominator and the causal player to the point that many lifers, like myself, are left flabbergasted. It is too easy and too boring. With Delta they have reinvigorated the game to a small extent and made stf's a challenge again.
I, for one, am very glad they have done what they have done this newest expansion.
I have prety good builds why there are others Always having a better build, It's not trying to learn a system it's mostly trying to find the time for it.
I my self play STO from day 1 after Beta and I enjoy it even while they make decissions I would never make, Advanced and Elite are purely for DPS Boats why they did do it like this I don't know !!! I Agree with the OP that a lot off stuff is not for those who arent into the DPS Gear. Learned you say it's a game right so realy do I want to put that much effort in a MMO ??
Do I have the time ?? No I don't even have the time and if I had I still do not want to learn it all. I play a game to have fun not to make it my study, Work and Study I allready have enough outside STO. STO I play for fun not to Learn or to grind fest me an better build....
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
"Coffee: the finest organic suspension ever devised. It's got me through the worst of the last three years. I beat the Borg with it."
I've been playing for the last 2 years, I've enjoyed it so much I got the life time subscription and have deeply enjoyed being able to continue the Star Trek experience through this game.
But since Delta Rising, this game has caused me nothing but endless frustration, aggravation and disappointment. I'm not alone in this and it needs to be addressed as at this point the game is all but unplayable and is certainly not fun.
I'm posting this mainly to vent, I have no real expectation the Dev's will read it or even be interested in my point of view if they do, but still I'd like to put down what I feel is wrong and see if anyone agrees
the big one PVE, at the moment, PVE is all but unachievable unless you show up with a team of high level players and know the mission inside and out, the play figures have dropped through the floor, the focus on much of the feed back has been on space, but a lot of the ground PVE's have suffered aswell and that is generally overlooked. (Mine Trap was huge fun, but looking for a random team of 20 forget it now.)
lets look at the main complaint Space Hit points. I run a number of ships and in any Borg Red Alert I can take out all of the separate encounter points solo including if required the unimatirx. However I go into a Borg Advanced PVE such as conduit, I can barely damage a sphere. This is not balance, this is locking off the top level game from new players and forcing existing players into an endless cycle of grind just to become competitive.
I already know what many will say... "learn how to play, learn how to build your ship!" I know how to do both my point is new players, the guys who keep this game alive don't and they won't take the time to learn when there is no way to progress. Although Rep Gear is still accessible via battlezones which grant Cybernetic Implants or Isomorphic Injectors, the Borg Reputation Equipment is currently locked off from new players completely, the only place to acquire Borg Neural Processors is in Advanced Borg PVE missions and unless you already have the best equipment and a team of guys you know to help, you have no hope of completing those missions. This NEED's to be addressed as Borg Rep gear is the go to for most starting players or was until now.
I appreciate the Devs have put a lot of time into the new PVE system, but its time to admit, its not working, the play figures have dropped to about 1/4 of where they used to be and are not recovering after "2 passes" as they put it of altering the hit points. Its simply to frustrating and too much effort. Challenge for end game content is one thing, frustrating compulsory objectives and auto failures with a 10 mark 'you lose' prize are quite another.
No one wants to admit they are wrong, but if this game is going to survive that's whats needed and the old PVE system reinstated until the new one can be ironed out, properly play tested and introduced. If I may suggest and normal level aimed at players to upto level 45, an intermediate level achievable routinely at level 45-59 and a Elite for level 60 for some real challenge. And when I say challenge I do not me playable with lvl XIV epic gear and a fleet of freinds with the same. Another solution would be to make nueral processors and the like available at all levels of play so people can effectively play at the level they are capable and not be penalized for not having progressed far enough in the game. Either way I would suggest whatever level, optional Objectives are reinstated and failure causes a loss to the base reward for the mission, rather than success a bonus. Auto fails help no one just cause frustration and rage and anger amongst players, this is meant to be a social game after all.
Why should the Dev's care I hear you ask, well this is hitting them in their pocket, when I was a free to play member I spent a LOT of money on new ships, bits of equipment, outfits to look cool, so I could have more fun randomly STF'ing but now I avoid space PVE completely and only do a very few ground. Its not fun and those free to player's who are dropping £20 on a new ship every now and then aren't going to be if they can't win in the first place.
(Oh and on a personal note, borg Ground STF's were hard enough before the changes loose all the extra elite Tac drones the are not needed even with a team who knows the missions you were looking at a 50/50 completion rate on those missions and usually without optional's... Much lower on Hive so please just set them back the way they were, they were plenty challenging and fun, now I've played once and never want to again.)
Moving on from the PVE complaints I'd like to highlight the new Delta Contents rewards. PVE, Patrols and Battle/adventure zones they are amazingly small, 5 marks per area captured on kobali Prime, 10 for a patrol Mission this is small, especially regarding the effort involved in both and comparing it to the rewards earned in the Dyson Ground zone and Undine Space, with no daily missions and only a bonus of 2 marks for causing an area to Escalate bringing the total to 14 for a fully completed escalation on Kobali Prime it is tiny reward. I've ground most of my Delta Marks from the Mirror event, this lack of reward really needs to be addressed as apart from Bug Hunt once I finished the Delta Content on my main toon, I've had no urge to go near it again.
Finally The Dilithum Cap needs to be re-examined, I well understand the need for it, but it was based by the Dev's admission on the average a player could make daily 2 years ago. 8K a day plus fleet and Gold Member projects bringing it up to 9K per day (average) if you have access to both. but 2 factors are now unbalancing it significantly 1) You can routinely make a lot more than 8K a day once you hit level 50 and 2) there are far more things that demand Dilitum than there use to be. The only main needs for it before Delta was the Rep Gear, Fleet Gear/ships and the Dil store. Now the Updated R&D system and the Upgrade system have put 2 new huge demands on the average players Dil requirements and with a limit of 8K a day there is only so much you can do no matter how much you have hoarded (around 100K between 2 toons in my case) I would propose a modest increase to the base Dil cap of 2000 a day bringing the base total to 10,000 a day, its a nice round number and should help off set a lot of the strain caused by the new system, but in turn not hurt the Dev's profits for people looking to buy Dil in bulk, 2K a day is not enough they still won't want to pay Zen for 100K a time.
These are my thoughts, I kind of hope some positive action is taken beacuse at this point given the way the PVE numbers have dropped off and the general anger being expressed every time something posted on the STO Facebook page as well as the fact new player progression is now significantly limited, this game probably won't be here in 6 months and I'll be back to playing Skyrim
I read your post and you have right with all you say.
But you are too gentle. After the work they do, the developer must be at least TRIBBLE, most probably sadistic *******. And they think world is full of masochistic person who like the pain and this game give a chance to get it.
I dont understend why they espect to go to hell to get so litle reward, becouse every mission on advanced is hell. I have a team of full develop ship with console of 14 and weapon of 14 and we fail the mission on advanced. Becouse we cant save 15 borg ship in amont of time give in 3 spot on map. Wich prouve my point, the developer are imbecils. Sory for spending your money for life subscripsion. I play this game long time ago when was ok. Now is wrong in so many way. And what i realy like is the pride of developer about theit work. SOMEONE MUST SAY IT TO DEVELOPER: YOUR WORK SUCK, AND YOU MUST GO WORK AT MC DONALD AND LET OTHER PEOPLE FIX THE GAME. WITH YOUR WORK, YOU MAKE "WORLD OF TANK" VERY ATRACTIV. I have a friend who erase all his caracters to stop playngs this game becouse he became too nervous in some mission.
I have a team of full develop ship with console of 14 and weapon of 14 and we fail the mission on advanced. Becouse we cant save 15 borg ship in amont of time give in 3 spot on map.
Borg Disconnected? You know that mission has very little to do with your gear, right? You don't have to fire a shot for the first two rounds. Indeed given you're viewing that mission objective in DPS terms just says that it's YOU and other idiots who go in guns blazing on that mission that make it so most of us fail.
Two go left, one goes forward, two go right.
If you're on a team of two then one person will keep the enemy focus on himself, the other person will avoid enemy focus (with intel team etc.) and focus on freeing the ships.
If you're on a team of one then just try your best to avoid aggro with holographic fleet / nimbus / other means.
It's EASY if you actual think about what the mission wants from you.
Wich prouve my point, the developer are imbecils.
It would be easier to sympathise with your viewpoint if you didn't write like an imbecile yourself...
I just logged in standing in one spot in my ship figuring out what to do.
Thoughts.
1) Try Dyson Space Battlezone - Rewards decent BUT hardly no one possibly in the map.
So, I go to the Dyson Space Battlezone. Only one ship so not worth the time to grind a half hour.
2) Try Kobali Prime - Rewards decent with high specialization BUT killing off Vaduaar who wants the Kobali head for using their(Vaduaar) dead people for their sefless purpose.
So, forget that.
3) Play Assimiliation - Reward meh but decent enougth for a superior upgrade or two.
Ran that about 100+ times already.. Forget it.
4) Play last two DR mssions - Rewards garbage.
Doesn't even help get 1 captain specialization
5) Queues - Reward garbage
Most queues dead.
6) Want to mine for materials..
Cryptic removed exploratoin sector.
7) Run Doff's?
No science and exploration doff missions showing.
8) Chat with a friend.
Talk to friend about how I wish Genesis was in the game, using learned skills on another game, unplug computer and take a walk, or work on some 3d.
So I can agree and disagree with the OP's statements. Let me say that there are 3 points of view.
First there is the point of view of the developer. He creates content which is frankly not lacking in STO anymore. Finally there is something to do for every level range and end game measurable goals and bragging rights. There is enough for everyone.
Second there is the view of the owners, perfect world. When they took the helm, with their experience in MMO games, they were able to see the flaws in the old TO design and corrected them. Sped up early levels, gave the ability to repeat things you missed but maintain the reward matches your current level, saw that there content missing from klingons and romulans and added it, revamped the pay to play model to a successful f2p model, etc. I hate to admit it, but it's better then it was.
Lastly there is the player base point of view. Turn the game into a F2P model, you will have more casuals that will have to learn and adopt. Suddenly, the scale of the end game content is ramped up to force players to get the perfect loadout in order to win, and the 'one shot kills' are now 'need a group of 5 to kills'. Old timers will be angry, but don't forgot, now there is end game content.
As a beta tester, personally this is my third comeback subbing to STO. I've watched is change and greatly improve. Right now I'm impressed with the new f2p model with HARD end game baddies. People today are forgetting that if something is free, and gives you hours and hours of entertainment, you need should tip. Spend a little in the cash shop or deal with the grind (which in all honesty isn't that bad since there is alot to do).
Although I do agree with a lot of the content by the OP I disagree with the conclusions.
1: I have been playing STO since the earliest of days and I for one am delighted. Delighted because the game is hard again. I remember when the first wave of revamped borg missions appeared as the first STFs. It was great. I had something to do, and it was hard. For the first time in ages once again the game is hard.
Thing is, it is going to get easier over time. I don't know about everyone else, but for the first time in years I log in and wonder which piece of equipment I am going to upgrade after a session of play. It is amazing to have new objectives.
I couldn't disagree more with complaints of this kind. What is the point of advanced and elite missions if everyone can complete them within a few weeks of the update?
2: End game borg gear. Well, you can get the upgrade items in the box you get for handing in marks. You dont need a large number of them to buy the equipment. No it isn't automatic, but it is not impossible. A few weeks from now these players who need two year old equipment will be able to join PuGs of super-equipped players that blast through it just as before. Alternatively they can still be 'carried' by fleet members who can.
Finally on this point. You really can't do ISE? It is a lot harder than before but I still havent seen it failed yet and I have a lot of toons with old style mk 12 gear. Are you really finding groups totally failing it regularly?
I'll explain why you are wrong.
The game isn't difficult again, its boring.
STFs with enemies that become massive HP boats isn't difficulty, there is no team work, no skill, its all about a very lame system of creating maximum DPS. You don't need well built ships, you need ships that create the most DPS, cookie cutter builds.
A step in the right direction would be restoring ships to have purposes and roles, then making the missions use those purposes instead of every one being exactly the same by mashing the spacebar and not thinking
OK veha I get English may not be your first language but I think you've missed a few points.
First the hard baddies aren't hard. They are just damage sponges. A hard NPC is one that makes you think, makes you try new tactics to defeat, one that challenges the player to play rather than just sit there bored hitting the same key over and over and over and over and over....
I agree PWE did help get the direction right with fixing up Klink's a little and adding Romulans. However it's gone a bit sour since the addition of the Dyson ships from the Carrier to the 9 ship pack onwards. The need for greed has taken over from the need to develop meaningful and enjoyable content, it's also forced bug fixing to hit an all time low and the UI design has managed to sap more performance than a copy of Crysis running in parallel.
Personally I think leveling shouldn't be a linear model. It should be the first time through is like the Single Player RPG experience and takes a bit longer, for secondary toons on an account you could have a choice to run through them sped up a bit (like choosing the easiest difficulty or unlocking a fast leveling difficulty). That would allow people to play at the pace they would like.
I'd just like to mention I agree with the OP's statement for the most part. It's concise and to the point on a lot of STO's major downfall's at the moment.
Chris Robert's on SC:
"You don't have to do something again and again and again repetitive that doesn't have much challange, that's just a general good gameplay thing."
After one month of the Expansion why would you expect to be dominating already? Take up the challenge rather than expecting a nerf. As you get better at game play, your opportunities will improve. Stop expecting it to be handed to you.
After a month i started to like this expansion (with the exception of low xp points though).
Just after launch it was very hard to do anything. Now, not so much (after the devs did something to the advanced stfs, as they are a tad enjoyable now).
I have a T5-U Avenger (not going to buy a T6 ship unless a good offer comes my way), and i can handle pretty much everything in advanced stfs (including 600k BoPs in Cure). As i got more and more traits in specialization, my results got even better. I have Mk XIII gear, and mk XIV consoles (nothing epic, and i don't think i will get epic stuff very soon ), but i think Mk XII would do just fine (i would only have 1-2k DPS less)
Your Plasma Torpedo - Heavy III deals 174321 (66343) Kinetic Damage(Critical) to I.R.W. Valdore.
Good post OP, I agree with everything except the dil cap raise.
I play this game for fun, and as I don't find the new Advance missions fun, I just dont play them.
Now I see what Cryptic were trying to do, I remember how hard it was trying to get my first piece of Mk XII anti-borg gear, and they seem to be trying to recreate that level of difficulty now.
But, for me, I enjoyed the game much more when the missions became easier, I enjoyed playing them with alts, all with different builds and tactics, some did well, others didn't, but now, if I did play an advanced, I would only take one of my high DPS builds, and even then, playing in a pug, most likely it would end quickly.
To those who think the new advance difficulty is a good thing, why don't you just play Elites, and be happy with that.
I'd hate to be a new player, just hitting 50, now.
First the hard baddies aren't hard. They are just damage sponges. A hard NPC is one that makes you think, makes you try new tactics to defeat, one that challenges the player to play rather than just sit there bored hitting the same key over and over and over and over and over....
Bullet sponges are a quick fix for devs to add harder end game content with hardly any need for mission redesign. But think about it, it forces teamwork and relying on your teammates for support to survive. I'm OK with this addition to start with. If you are looking for more STRATEGIC missions, STO isn't designed that way. The episode mission devs are getting better, in the future maybe missions will be more interactive ...
I agree PWE did help get the direction right with fixing up Klink's a little and adding Romulans. However it's gone a bit sour since the addition of the Dyson ships from the Carrier to the 9 ship pack onwards. The need for greed has taken over from the need to develop meaningful and enjoyable content, it's also forced bug fixing to hit an all time low and the UI design has managed to sap more performance than a copy of Crysis running in parallel.
You get the good with the bad. Here is bottom line...STO was winding down and costing more to run than was making. This new business model has been proven to work in recovering other games so they can make revenue. It adds population thus money. And yes, you will bottlenecked to PAY for the 'free' game in the model. And new engines will need the bugs worked out, have patience.
Personally I think leveling shouldn't be a linear model. It should be the first time through is like the Single Player RPG experience and takes a bit longer, for secondary toons on an account you could have a choice to run through them sped up a bit (like choosing the easiest difficulty or unlocking a fast leveling difficulty). That would allow people to play at the pace they would like.
I'd just like to mention I agree with the OP's statement for the most part. It's concise and to the point on a lot of STO's major downfall's at the moment.
I have no clue what the point is you are trying to make here. Linear level progression is required in any MMORPG, whether it's filling an experience bar or getting that new better dagger. Otherwise there is no goal and you have a sandbox player driven model. EVE would be a better game for you.
5) Okay this is the counter argument I get the least, I'm suggesting we as players get more of something how is that a bad thing? someone else pointed out that 3 toons the cap is 24K (life time plus fleet doff missions add another 3K.) split between them, granted this I accept, but a surprising amount of people run just 1 or 2 toons. But unless your farming with KDF this is not a huge sum when set alongside how much upgrading and R&D costs have increased the Dil you use, but the amount of refineable supplied has not, its a balancing issue and one I feel would give people that bit more incentive to play (and as the Dev's did not they based this on the average a player could make in a day in ore, that amount is now higher so the average refining needs to be reexamined by simple consequence.)
The premise of this is completely wrong. As had been pointed out in this thread already, and repeatedly whenever someone (who also clearly has massive gaps in understanding and knowledge of the system) wants the cap raised.
The dilithium refinement cap is not based on the average amount of dilithium that a player earns.
The dilithium refinement cap is the maximum amount of refined dilithium per character that Cryptic wants us to be able to refine. All dilithium costs and earnings are set relative to this cap.
They saw that pre-LoR the average amount of earned dilithium per player per day was only ~3k, so they increased the amount of raw dilithium we earned. Later, they saw that costs were too high relative to the dilithium income so they reduced the prices. The amount of ore we earn and the amount of refined dilithium we pay are set relative to the refinement cap.
You people complaining about the refinement cap need to get it through your heads. It's not going to change because it is what all income and expenses are based on.
What does that mean? It means that if you complain about the (immutable) cap being too low, you are complaining that you are earning too much ore. Get it? You are therefore arguing that they need to reduce the amount of ore we earn, which they did do.
So the reduction in dilithium rewards from the queues? I'm pointing the accusatory finger directly at those complaining about the refining cap. For the love of Q, if you don't know what you're whining about STFU or you'll TRIBBLE it all up!
I just logged in standing in one spot in my ship figuring out what to do.
You just logged in? When you posted...
It was 5AM PST, 8AM EST on a Wednesday. Between school and work, practically nobody in North America should be online.
It was 1PM GMT, 3PM EET on a Thursday. Between school and work, practically nobody in Europe should be online.
It was 5AM PST, 8AM EST on a Wednesday. Between school and work, practically nobody in North America should be online.
It was 1PM GMT, 3PM EET on a Thursday. Between school and work, practically nobody in Europe should be online.
The queues look about the same any of the day. Small amount in the Borg related STF's and the Mirror Universe thingie.
Even at the time frame I was online very briefly, should should hae been more activity. Not a ghost town channel chat and a small amount of ships moving in sector space. Mind you a lot was standing still also.
Um, you know how STO zoning works right? If there is half a dozen players in any zone, that zone should be deleted.
If you have an MMO and 10,000s of people play it, and you have 5 people in an area.. its dead
Which means most PvE queues should be deleted now.
Yep, after mirror is over we will have CCA and ISA. The rest might as well be deleted.
I had an idea that maybe they could eliminate pugs entirely. All the missions could then be available from 1 to 5 players in premade teams that scale based on group size.
I would certainly be happy with that.
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."
The game isn't difficult again, its boring.
STFs with enemies that become massive HP boats isn't difficulty, there is no team work, no skill, its all about a very lame system of creating maximum DPS. You don't need well built ships, you need ships that create the most DPS, cookie cutter builds.
A step in the right direction would be restoring ships to have purposes and roles, then making the missions use those purposes instead of every one being exactly the same by mashing the spacebar and not thinking
Not sure you explained why I am 'wrong'. Certainly explained you hold a different opinion, and managed to be insulting in the process.
You are, of course, completely correct in saying just boosting the HP of the mobs is a total no-brainer method of increasing the difficulty.
What you seem to overlooking is what that might achieve. I completely refute your contention that this pushes everyone into the MASSIVE DPS bracket. Certainly everyone needs to have a sustained respectable level of damage, but for an end-game challenge that should surely be the case?
What the HP really does is force the fight to last longer. Building a complete glass cannon is a less viable option when the target lives long enough to shoot back effectively instead of being absorbed in a cone shaped tide of death. This was how most STFs were running pre-patch. Zero-skill required just click buttons in sequence until loot is acquired.
This recent patch may not have given you what you want, but it has certainly made things harder without making massive systemic changes or scripting differences that require me to re-learn all my abilities and objectives.
It might not be what you want, and you might be bored with it. Fortunately boring is a highly subjective term and not everyone agrees with presumption.
What you seem to overlooking is what that might achieve. I completely refute your contention that this pushes everyone into the MASSIVE DPS bracket. Certainly everyone needs to have a sustained respectable level of damage, but for an end-game challenge that should surely be the case?
What the HP really does is force the fight to last longer. Building a complete glass cannon is a less viable option when the target lives long enough to shoot back effectively instead of being absorbed in a cone shaped tide of death. This was how most STFs were running pre-patch. Zero-skill required just click buttons in sequence until loot is acquired.
This guys gets it.
"Survival via DPS" builds worked great if you were in groups that did +20k each, but put them in a PUG where ISE takes 12 minutes instead of 3, and most of them will blow up at least once.
The increase in health effectively made "survival via DPS" far more difficult. The subsequent nerfing of Advanced now makes "survival via DPS" easy to achieve again. ISA times are roughly back down to the old ISE levels.
The complainants who say the increase in health cater to the ultra-high DPSers literally have no idea what they're talking about. Of course, that same lack of knowledge is why they're having trouble and making that complaint in the first place.
Comments
Well I guess we will just have to disagree. Maybe the real difference between us is that I don't feel the need to insult someone when I happen to hold a different view.
I happen to believe the HP increase has made a marked change in the way the end-game is played. Having one hign performing Tac on a team blasting out a cone of death is no longer enough to complete an STF. The fact that this can be achieved simply by adding firepower and Hp to the enemies all the better.
Better AI? Well yes, of course, the holy grail of computer games. I would ask though, as we seem to be mostly talking about space combat here. What would a better AI do in ISE? In the featuresless wilderness of space there are very limited AI options; most of which are variations of - close to optimum range and use your abilities in an optimum sequence. That seems to be what players do. Can we criticise an AI for behaving in the same way?
we now earn less dil
we now earn less skill points
we now earn less EC
we now earn less special rep items. (not long ago was nerfed to max of one per run borg STFs)
so we pick the missions that will give us the best return for the time invested. and because most are grinding right now and dil a requirement for everything now we really have no other choice.
okay I'm going to do my best to take this a point at a time, so here goes
1) You have a long time in game, I have less I accept that, however the bulk of players have not been here that amount of time and so a wider perspective is needed when looking at these issues. Shorter length players and those who are brand new especially are hitting a wall and that does need addressing as these players are the ones who bring in the money, most of what I spent I did in the first 6 months, I've learnt ways I don't have to now, but those without that knowledge and players who don't have the time to commit to multiple toons in my experience and that of my fleet mates at least are hitting a wall and loosing enthusiasm for the game and simply going else where.
2) I've read about terradrome, sounded awesome tbh, but not sure that an STF which requires hours is a good thing especially when balancing this game alongside real life commitments, (the mid mission drop out rate must of been terrible?)
3) Okay ignoring the slightly condescending tone of this point, accessibility is what I am talking about, Borg Red Alerts are leveled at 44, my point is advanced should be at a similar level and accessible to those at the mid point. Simply so newer players and those of us who are more casual can go in, play and contribute to the mission. The old Elite was targeted at lvl 45-50 players (more the 50 end.) Advanced is now targeted at 50-60 the focus on final end game content has left those who were end game and now mid with a distinct lack of content they can build up there characters with. I learned STF's playing the old elite at lvl 48-50 its what enabled me to tackle the game later on but now its out of balance and rep gear is beyond the reach of many particularly the Omega rep gear for the points I mentioned earlier. I fully advocate having a level for those at Level 60 who have played for years and need a real challenge, but for the rest there needs to be an intermediate option which they have a reasonable chance of completing
4) You managed to do a Delta mission in 5 miniutes, it usually takes that in load times and flying from point A to point B but if you say so your a far better man than me, with a Gal X T5U I was tending to do those patrols in 30 minutes on Advanced (one memorable incident of 20 mins to kill a single Artillery Crusier before the first round of hit point lowering.) and 15 on normal! I apologize, that was pithy, still 1.5 hours to get 100 marks... I can go to Dyson Ground and earn 450 in the same time period or Undine Space and if memory serves around 300 depending on how many zones you capture, the point I was making is in comparison to these, the Battlezone rewards for Kobali Prime and Patrols are negligible when compared to the other battlezones even the older ones like Nukara (200 marks 30 mins) or Defra which is the best source of Fleet marks I know. A simple up scaling of the reward by comparison to what is already established is warranted in my view, especially once you stop leveling and start looking to buy Rep gear.
5) Okay this is the counter argument I get the least, I'm suggesting we as players get more of something how is that a bad thing? someone else pointed out that 3 toons the cap is 24K (life time plus fleet doff missions add another 3K.) split between them, granted this I accept, but a surprising amount of people run just 1 or 2 toons. But unless your farming with KDF this is not a huge sum when set alongside how much upgrading and R&D costs have increased the Dil you use, but the amount of refineable supplied has not, its a balancing issue and one I feel would give people that bit more incentive to play (and as the Dev's did not they based this on the average a player could make in a day in ore, that amount is now higher so the average refining needs to be reexamined by simple consequence.)
6) Sir I must say you also seem to not to be seeing the whole picture yourself. You are taking the view of a long established player who has beaten all the game has to offer and craves a new challenge. But as I said earlier, new players keep this game alive and if its no fun for them because the end difficulty curve is like running at a wall they will leave. You may see it as 'pandering to the lowest common denominator.' But I'd prefer a game that was accessible to all and wanting to be better is what made me want to spend money. And I don't at any point suggest that there shouldn't be a challenging level for PVE an 'Elite' level for those like yourself who need the challenge, merely that advanced is an intermediate level accessible to the rest of us.
7) I should of done this rright off the Bat, talked about what I liked from the new expansion, there was much to praise I admit, and as I said at the beginning I was blowing off steam when I started this, so lets look at the positives, Story line and Voice acting great, level design again great. New Rep equipment, only had a chance to use the Compression Rifle so far, but honestly big thank you for that one, as a Tac I've been wanting to drop Orbital Strikes since I started the game. There is a lot to like in Delta, but what has me concerned is in accessibilty of PVE to Mid point/casual/new players, what feels like a lack of rewards in the new areas and a general sense of frustration over things like Auto Fail is going to drive a lot of people away and in the end despite all this wonderful new content we'll be looking at a situation like City of Heros and that would make me very sad, I love this game I got the life time sub because of that and I'd like it to continue for a long time to come
My character Tsin'xing
And yet I completed it. Must have been the group dynamic.
As for the OP - I too share many of your sentiments.
Looking for a fun PvE fleet? Join us at Omega Combat Division today.
This is where you lose a lot of credibility. Old Elite were locked to 50, Normal was 44. Your whole argument seems based that a new player should have access to gear that a veteran player has earned over years of playing, nonsense. The new Advanced is doable by players that know the encounters & use tactics when they lack DPS, like the old 10% rule from the old days. The main problem is, for the last 1.5+ years, ppl got used to being OP & Elie STFs being soloable. The DIL refinemnt argument is so common, you rly should read old threads to learn why there's a DIL cap@8k & what effects it would have if raised(hint: Devs would increase DIL costs in game to compensate).
Agreed 100% with you OP, but the trouble is while they keep radio sillence on us good players you never know rather they do something to stop the complains or they ignoring the small part complaining about it....
"Coffee: the finest organic suspension ever devised. It's got me through the worst of the last three years. I beat the Borg with it."
You seem to be in the minority .
Mind you , you will find me posting in every thread that asks for the return of the old STF'S , but the best times in those were not time gated like STF content is now .
You could stop for a bio break or to discuss strategy .
Well now you can't , and just have to zerg your way to victory ASAP .
And timers are un-fun , especially when coupled with difficulty upgrades and expensive gear upgrades .
Had they introduced a host of new STF's with a new difficulty level but left the old content as it was , THAT would have been a true expansion .
The way things are, you are just being forced to play yesterday's content at a more difficult level for less awards .
Forgive me if I don't say "thank you" for that .
.... see, the double edge of being a long time player is that you also remember WHY it was fun back then ... ,and bowing to the DPS gods is not what ST0 was about , and by the numbers ditching it, it seems that has not changed ...
I have prety good builds why there are others Always having a better build, It's not trying to learn a system it's mostly trying to find the time for it.
I my self play STO from day 1 after Beta and I enjoy it even while they make decissions I would never make, Advanced and Elite are purely for DPS Boats why they did do it like this I don't know !!! I Agree with the OP that a lot off stuff is not for those who arent into the DPS Gear. Learned you say it's a game right so realy do I want to put that much effort in a MMO ??
Do I have the time ?? No I don't even have the time and if I had I still do not want to learn it all. I play a game to have fun not to make it my study, Work and Study I allready have enough outside STO. STO I play for fun not to Learn or to grind fest me an better build....
"Coffee: the finest organic suspension ever devised. It's got me through the worst of the last three years. I beat the Borg with it."
That is Delta Rising described to the core!
Everything else provided were just expencive/time consuming curtains to blind or delay people from seeing it.
Looking for a fun PvE fleet? Join us at Omega Combat Division today.
You know ... in the old STF'S this was the que to "go ahead , get blown up first !" .
... unless you were flying an Excelsior ...
I read your post and you have right with all you say.
But you are too gentle. After the work they do, the developer must be at least TRIBBLE, most probably sadistic *******. And they think world is full of masochistic person who like the pain and this game give a chance to get it.
I dont understend why they espect to go to hell to get so litle reward, becouse every mission on advanced is hell. I have a team of full develop ship with console of 14 and weapon of 14 and we fail the mission on advanced. Becouse we cant save 15 borg ship in amont of time give in 3 spot on map. Wich prouve my point, the developer are imbecils. Sory for spending your money for life subscripsion. I play this game long time ago when was ok. Now is wrong in so many way. And what i realy like is the pride of developer about theit work. SOMEONE MUST SAY IT TO DEVELOPER: YOUR WORK SUCK, AND YOU MUST GO WORK AT MC DONALD AND LET OTHER PEOPLE FIX THE GAME. WITH YOUR WORK, YOU MAKE "WORLD OF TANK" VERY ATRACTIV. I have a friend who erase all his caracters to stop playngs this game becouse he became too nervous in some mission.
Two go left, one goes forward, two go right.
If you're on a team of two then one person will keep the enemy focus on himself, the other person will avoid enemy focus (with intel team etc.) and focus on freeing the ships.
If you're on a team of one then just try your best to avoid aggro with holographic fleet / nimbus / other means.
It's EASY if you actual think about what the mission wants from you.
It would be easier to sympathise with your viewpoint if you didn't write like an imbecile yourself...
Thoughts.
1) Try Dyson Space Battlezone - Rewards decent BUT hardly no one possibly in the map.
So, I go to the Dyson Space Battlezone. Only one ship so not worth the time to grind a half hour.
2) Try Kobali Prime - Rewards decent with high specialization BUT killing off Vaduaar who wants the Kobali head for using their(Vaduaar) dead people for their sefless purpose.
So, forget that.
3) Play Assimiliation - Reward meh but decent enougth for a superior upgrade or two.
Ran that about 100+ times already.. Forget it.
4) Play last two DR mssions - Rewards garbage.
Doesn't even help get 1 captain specialization
5) Queues - Reward garbage
Most queues dead.
6) Want to mine for materials..
Cryptic removed exploratoin sector.
7) Run Doff's?
No science and exploration doff missions showing.
8) Chat with a friend.
Talk to friend about how I wish Genesis was in the game, using learned skills on another game, unplug computer and take a walk, or work on some 3d.
Logs off.
I think 8 is the option I'm doing.
First there is the point of view of the developer. He creates content which is frankly not lacking in STO anymore. Finally there is something to do for every level range and end game measurable goals and bragging rights. There is enough for everyone.
Second there is the view of the owners, perfect world. When they took the helm, with their experience in MMO games, they were able to see the flaws in the old TO design and corrected them. Sped up early levels, gave the ability to repeat things you missed but maintain the reward matches your current level, saw that there content missing from klingons and romulans and added it, revamped the pay to play model to a successful f2p model, etc. I hate to admit it, but it's better then it was.
Lastly there is the player base point of view. Turn the game into a F2P model, you will have more casuals that will have to learn and adopt. Suddenly, the scale of the end game content is ramped up to force players to get the perfect loadout in order to win, and the 'one shot kills' are now 'need a group of 5 to kills'. Old timers will be angry, but don't forgot, now there is end game content.
As a beta tester, personally this is my third comeback subbing to STO. I've watched is change and greatly improve. Right now I'm impressed with the new f2p model with HARD end game baddies. People today are forgetting that if something is free, and gives you hours and hours of entertainment, you need should tip. Spend a little in the cash shop or deal with the grind (which in all honesty isn't that bad since there is alot to do).
http://sto-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?t=802371
Thank you and I hope you now understand.
The game isn't difficult again, its boring.
STFs with enemies that become massive HP boats isn't difficulty, there is no team work, no skill, its all about a very lame system of creating maximum DPS. You don't need well built ships, you need ships that create the most DPS, cookie cutter builds.
A step in the right direction would be restoring ships to have purposes and roles, then making the missions use those purposes instead of every one being exactly the same by mashing the spacebar and not thinking
Completed Starbase, Embassy, Mine, Spire and No Win Scenario
Nothing to do anymore.
http://dtfleet.com/
Visit our Youtube channel
First the hard baddies aren't hard. They are just damage sponges. A hard NPC is one that makes you think, makes you try new tactics to defeat, one that challenges the player to play rather than just sit there bored hitting the same key over and over and over and over and over....
I agree PWE did help get the direction right with fixing up Klink's a little and adding Romulans. However it's gone a bit sour since the addition of the Dyson ships from the Carrier to the 9 ship pack onwards. The need for greed has taken over from the need to develop meaningful and enjoyable content, it's also forced bug fixing to hit an all time low and the UI design has managed to sap more performance than a copy of Crysis running in parallel.
Personally I think leveling shouldn't be a linear model. It should be the first time through is like the Single Player RPG experience and takes a bit longer, for secondary toons on an account you could have a choice to run through them sped up a bit (like choosing the easiest difficulty or unlocking a fast leveling difficulty). That would allow people to play at the pace they would like.
I'd just like to mention I agree with the OP's statement for the most part. It's concise and to the point on a lot of STO's major downfall's at the moment.
"You don't have to do something again and again and again repetitive that doesn't have much challange, that's just a general good gameplay thing."
After a month i started to like this expansion (with the exception of low xp points though).
Just after launch it was very hard to do anything. Now, not so much (after the devs did something to the advanced stfs, as they are a tad enjoyable now).
I have a T5-U Avenger (not going to buy a T6 ship unless a good offer comes my way), and i can handle pretty much everything in advanced stfs (including 600k BoPs in Cure). As i got more and more traits in specialization, my results got even better. I have Mk XIII gear, and mk XIV consoles (nothing epic, and i don't think i will get epic stuff very soon
I play this game for fun, and as I don't find the new Advance missions fun, I just dont play them.
Now I see what Cryptic were trying to do, I remember how hard it was trying to get my first piece of Mk XII anti-borg gear, and they seem to be trying to recreate that level of difficulty now.
But, for me, I enjoyed the game much more when the missions became easier, I enjoyed playing them with alts, all with different builds and tactics, some did well, others didn't, but now, if I did play an advanced, I would only take one of my high DPS builds, and even then, playing in a pug, most likely it would end quickly.
To those who think the new advance difficulty is a good thing, why don't you just play Elites, and be happy with that.
I'd hate to be a new player, just hitting 50, now.
Seriously? In what way do you draw the conclusion that English 'isn't my first language'? Ignoring your BS and moving on....
Bullet sponges are a quick fix for devs to add harder end game content with hardly any need for mission redesign. But think about it, it forces teamwork and relying on your teammates for support to survive. I'm OK with this addition to start with. If you are looking for more STRATEGIC missions, STO isn't designed that way. The episode mission devs are getting better, in the future maybe missions will be more interactive ...
You get the good with the bad. Here is bottom line...STO was winding down and costing more to run than was making. This new business model has been proven to work in recovering other games so they can make revenue. It adds population thus money. And yes, you will bottlenecked to PAY for the 'free' game in the model. And new engines will need the bugs worked out, have patience.
I have no clue what the point is you are trying to make here. Linear level progression is required in any MMORPG, whether it's filling an experience bar or getting that new better dagger. Otherwise there is no goal and you have a sandbox player driven model. EVE would be a better game for you.
The premise of this is completely wrong. As had been pointed out in this thread already, and repeatedly whenever someone (who also clearly has massive gaps in understanding and knowledge of the system) wants the cap raised.
The dilithium refinement cap is not based on the average amount of dilithium that a player earns.
The dilithium refinement cap is the maximum amount of refined dilithium per character that Cryptic wants us to be able to refine. All dilithium costs and earnings are set relative to this cap.
They saw that pre-LoR the average amount of earned dilithium per player per day was only ~3k, so they increased the amount of raw dilithium we earned. Later, they saw that costs were too high relative to the dilithium income so they reduced the prices. The amount of ore we earn and the amount of refined dilithium we pay are set relative to the refinement cap.
You people complaining about the refinement cap need to get it through your heads. It's not going to change because it is what all income and expenses are based on.
What does that mean? It means that if you complain about the (immutable) cap being too low, you are complaining that you are earning too much ore. Get it? You are therefore arguing that they need to reduce the amount of ore we earn, which they did do.
So the reduction in dilithium rewards from the queues? I'm pointing the accusatory finger directly at those complaining about the refining cap. For the love of Q, if you don't know what you're whining about STFU or you'll TRIBBLE it all up!
You just logged in? When you posted...
It was 5AM PST, 8AM EST on a Wednesday. Between school and work, practically nobody in North America should be online.
It was 1PM GMT, 3PM EET on a Thursday. Between school and work, practically nobody in Europe should be online.
Dyson BZ is dead? Queues are empty? NS, S!
The queues look about the same any of the day. Small amount in the Borg related STF's and the Mirror Universe thingie.
Even at the time frame I was online very briefly, should should hae been more activity. Not a ghost town channel chat and a small amount of ships moving in sector space. Mind you a lot was standing still also.
Relative ratios, sure. Absolute populations? No way. I have never seen less than a half dozen other players in the Dyson space zone.
Um, you know how STO zoning works right? If there is half a dozen players in any zone, that zone should be deleted.
If you have an MMO and 10,000s of people play it, and you have 5 people in an area.. its dead
Which means most PvE queues should be deleted now.
Completed Starbase, Embassy, Mine, Spire and No Win Scenario
Nothing to do anymore.
http://dtfleet.com/
Visit our Youtube channel
Which is why I didn't believe that poster's claim that there was nobody in the Dyson space BZ.
Yep, after mirror is over we will have CCA and ISA. The rest might as well be deleted.
I had an idea that maybe they could eliminate pugs entirely. All the missions could then be available from 1 to 5 players in premade teams that scale based on group size.
I would certainly be happy with that.
"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censured, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably."
Not sure you explained why I am 'wrong'. Certainly explained you hold a different opinion, and managed to be insulting in the process.
You are, of course, completely correct in saying just boosting the HP of the mobs is a total no-brainer method of increasing the difficulty.
What you seem to overlooking is what that might achieve. I completely refute your contention that this pushes everyone into the MASSIVE DPS bracket. Certainly everyone needs to have a sustained respectable level of damage, but for an end-game challenge that should surely be the case?
What the HP really does is force the fight to last longer. Building a complete glass cannon is a less viable option when the target lives long enough to shoot back effectively instead of being absorbed in a cone shaped tide of death. This was how most STFs were running pre-patch. Zero-skill required just click buttons in sequence until loot is acquired.
This recent patch may not have given you what you want, but it has certainly made things harder without making massive systemic changes or scripting differences that require me to re-learn all my abilities and objectives.
It might not be what you want, and you might be bored with it. Fortunately boring is a highly subjective term and not everyone agrees with presumption.
This guys gets it.
"Survival via DPS" builds worked great if you were in groups that did +20k each, but put them in a PUG where ISE takes 12 minutes instead of 3, and most of them will blow up at least once.
The increase in health effectively made "survival via DPS" far more difficult. The subsequent nerfing of Advanced now makes "survival via DPS" easy to achieve again. ISA times are roughly back down to the old ISE levels.
The complainants who say the increase in health cater to the ultra-high DPSers literally have no idea what they're talking about. Of course, that same lack of knowledge is why they're having trouble and making that complaint in the first place.