True. I've tried to but I can't seem to find the fun factor much now. Perhaps a break is just needed. I did that way in the past and came back to it. I've been hard at it for almost 2 years straight again. I even have close to 700 Mil EC saved up but still hedge to even buy a lockbox ship on the Exchange... lol.
Buy keys with that and sell the stuff that comes out of boxes. It's a game within a game and makes more sense than doing any of the DR boring patrol missions.
It's been a short ride and I would've loved to stay on but this ride is broken and nobody seems interested in fixing it.
I started playing just before DR hit and was having an absolute blast, whoever does the story line stuff is amazing. Thanks for the new Trek stuff, even if it's all non-canon it made me feel good again. As I levelled a couple of characters to 50 I became engrossed in the Episodes and building up new ships and meeting new Bridge Officers to drag along on away missions.
Then DR Hit.
Suddenly the missions have become a DPS grind (So many story-less patrol missions), then enemies are boring Pinatas 90% of the time until they fire some giant doom gun and then my space bar finger ends up with RSI from all the firing of weapons.
I try and do some queues to get better gear, research all the 'dungeons' just like I did back in the WoW days and then 2 mintues in for no reason I can fathom up pops a fail message. Ok, more research, make sure I'm not being a noob and spoiling it for everyone... nope, next STF fails even faster.
Every play session becomes a DOFFing grind mixed in with upgrading gear (grind) and running out of refined dilithium. Then do a couple of normal queues that offer no gear or 'currency' to buy more.
Finally the straw that broke me. Doing a Delta episode patrol. Defeat 4/5 waves including stupid Artillery ships that are made of some insane invulnerability material, then... nothing. No 5th wave. Fly around the whole map. nothing. This was at least 30 minutes of menial button mashing that I have to do again to progress because my progress is wiped when I leave the system to reset thanks to a stupid bug. No thanks.
It's been fun but sorry guys, you killed your own game (for me at least). I wish I was playing a couple of years ago but for me it's been a 1 month sub (cancelled) and that's it. At least my love for MMOs is back, time to find something else.
Hope you're all having more fun than me. Live long and prosper, and hopefully see you all in the next Trek franchise online. The community here has been overwhelmingly good, although a bit quiet in game.
IMO the game has been broken since the NERF patch of 10/23. Anything else were bandages to keep the few players that remained happy and throwing goodies to the new ones...DIL weekend/free Lobbi/MU. Some of the hardcore players are still here but just sad seeing LOTs of players leaving STO. It hasn't been the same and MR. EP (D'angelo) don't care about this game at all...just making more money for his own benefit. Im sure some of the DEVs are in our side but like any other job...security is just to keep you mouth shut and OBEY the big BOSS...even if this is the TITANIC.
*begins to plant daisies* LOOK, Der Perdyyy!!! smell them!! and be happy and stuff to each other ... lol
Nice Though that pic sig stare is weirding me a little...she keeps looking at me!
I am a lifer who demoed this at PAX, fell in love, ground it out through beta, and jumped in at release. The game has gone through some very rough growing pains. However I still keep coming back to it. There are so many little touches and refinements that exist now. And some major massive updates that helped a great deal.
I remember the almost endless cycle of "System Patrol" because that's all you had. Doing PvE and getting Mk 2 gear for my Captain because mission reward gear did not scale. Playing KDF and finding that there was zero PvE content. ZERO. Never being able to re-experience a mission to try it differently because mission replay did not exist. Playing PvP and having no countermeasures against cloaked fleets. Rage quit? Oh yeah, having that last objective not pop after hours I remember when that was common...not the infrequent hiccups I experience now.
Is this game perfect? Heck no, nothing is. But you know what? For folks like myself, it's fun. It is a great way to find ST fans who like to hang out together and not just chat about the ST universe, but also play in it at the same time. And yes even finding out I lost my Master craftsmanship skills. So I get to learn a new system...kind of like a new game.
I have not bought any T6 ships because I prefer more canon ships. And when they do come out, it will be my choice to dump zen for them. I found I don't need them to play the main game. And if I want to get a T5U ship? There are several ones that you can acquire during the seasonal events. I have Breen, Risian, and the 1000 day vet ships (though that last did cost me the $$$ for a lifetime sub). The other ships did not cost me any dil/zen. Just a week or two of playing ST: Vacation or Winter stuff with Q. I did get lucky and play during the Dyson event so I have a few of those as well.
I just started a brand new character without any of my free legacy awards. Just to see how it would be today. And I have to admit...it is still fun. Staying basic canon ships and even staying faction pure on ship weapons...still works fine in PvE and STFs.
I am sorry this game isn't for everyone. But it works for me...and ultimately if the game does not make $ it will fail. So the experiments with the business model I just shrug off. If the $ stream starts falling, the devs will go back or try something different.
IMO the game has been broken since the NERF patch of 10/23. Anything else were bandages to keep the few players that remained happy and throwing goodies to the new ones...DIL weekend/free Lobbi/MU. Some of the hardcore players are still here but just sad seeing LOTs of players leaving STO. It hasn't been the same and MR. EP (D'angelo) don't care about this game at all...just making more money for his own benefit. Im sure some of the DEVs are in our side but like any other job...security is just to keep you mouth shut and OBEY the big BOSS...even if this is the TITANIC.
Got a bright idead! If you don't like the state of the game as it is. STOP playing.
Why the suffering and the annoyance. Not taking any sides but nobody is forcing anyone to play this game.
I know quite a few people who decided to quit the game a while back then came back in a different season and have a different outlook of things. The solution is obvious...up to anyone to carry it out. I for one decide otherwise and stick with it....more plus than minus IMO :cool:
Maybe you should start taking your own advice?
STO is about my Liberated Borg Federation Captain with his Breen 1st Officer, Jem'Hadar Tactical Officer, Liberated Borg Engineering Officer, Android Ops Officer, Photonic Science Officer, Gorn Science Officer, and Reman Medical Officer jumping into their Jem'Hadar Carrier and flying off to do missions for the new Romulan Empire. But for some players allowing a T5 Connie to be used breaks the canon in the game.
It's ok Crusader. Cosmic keeps tabs on everyone here; He's like the omnipotent Q. I swear he has a special database that takes pictures of all of the forums threads and organizes them by OP's and by the users posting in them. He sees all!!! There is no escape!! Omg, is he the all seeing eye of Sauron!?
Did people forget that this is a game? The purpose of this game is to entertain you. If you are not entertained move on to something that does. Why keep playing the game if you aren't having fun?
That would be like a guy eating pizza, not liking it but continuing to eat it in the hopes that it will get better.
Your pain runs deep.
Let us explore it... together. Each man hides a secret pain. It must be exposed and reckoned with. It must be dragged from the darkness and forced into the light. Share your pain. Share your pain with me... and gain strength from the sharing.
LOL..One's is entitled to change one's mind right?
I considered myself a hardcore follower but the big NERF just broke the camel from its back...An analogy to use: It is consider a recession when the "bad" economy affects ONLY your neighbor or friend...However, it is a depression if it affects YOU personally.
I don't condone the behavior of the exploiters when Cryptic took away spec points and reverted back. However, once they NERFed XP leveling for ALL (including myself)...it made no sense anymore. That's when I changed my mind and started asking about the intent of that NEW business plan. Like anyone else I'm entitled to changed my mind
Did people forget that this is a game? The purpose of this game is to entertain you. If you are not entertained move on to something that does. Why keep playing the game if you aren't having fun?
That would be like a guy eating pizza, not liking it but continuing to eat it in the hopes that it will get better.
Because we love star trek and this is really the only option. So it's more like eating a pizza that's not very good, but there are no other pizza places around so you continue ordering it anyway in the hopes that eventually the pizza place will make it better.
It's ok Crusader. Cosmic keeps tabs on everyone here; He's like the omnipotent Q. I swear he has a special database that takes pictures of all of the forums threads and organizes them by OP's and by the users posting in them. He sees all!!! There is no escape!! Omg, is he the all seeing eye of Sauron!?
I try and do some queues to get better gear, research all the 'dungeons' just like I did back in the WoW days and then 2 mintues in for no reason I can fathom up pops a fail message. Ok, more research, make sure I'm not being a noob and spoiling it for everyone... nope, next STF fails even faster.
I'm guessing KSE, with nobody caring about the probes.
Every play session becomes a DOFFing grind mixed in with upgrading gear (grind) and running out of refined dilithium. Then do a couple of normal queues that offer no gear or 'currency' to buy more.
Finally the straw that broke me. Doing a Delta episode patrol. Defeat 4/5 waves including stupid Artillery ships that are made of some insane invulnerability material, then... nothing. No 5th wave. Fly around the whole map. nothing. This was at least 30 minutes of menial button mashing that I have to do again to progress because my progress is wiped when I leave the system to reset thanks to a stupid bug. No thanks.
I'm sure bugs suck, but assuming you're playing on Normal difficulty, there's no way 4 waves would take you 30 minutes. There's something fundamentally wrong with your build.
There's also no "currency" lacking in Normal queues needed for upgrades. You can't get BNPs/APCs outside of Advanced queues, but those aren't needed or even desired if you want to improve your performance. I'd advise you post your build in the Academy section and ask for advice, so that hitting a bug like that only wastes 5 minutes instead of 30. :P
LOL..One's is entitled to change one's mind right?
I considered myself a hardcore follower but the big NERF just broke the camel from its back...An analogy to use: It is consider a recession when the "bad" economy affects ONLY your neighbor or friend...However, it is a depression if it affects YOU personally.
I don't condone the behavior of the exploiters when Cryptic took away spec points and reverted back. However, once they NERFed XP leveling for ALL (including myself)...it made no sense anymore. That's when I changed my mind and started asking about the intent of that NEW business plan. Like anyone else I'm entitled to changed my mind
Yes, everyone is allowed to change their mind. But yours was still good advice. When you, or anyone, start to feel suffering and annoyance it is time to STOP playing. Come back later in a new Season with new updates. You might just have a different outlook on things then.
We need to be realistic here. Even if we assume Cryptic really wants to make amends for DR it is going to take them months to do that. We can sit here for the next few months being miserable or we can go and find some joy for ourselves. Things are only going to get better or worse, but the watched pot is never going to boil.
STO is about my Liberated Borg Federation Captain with his Breen 1st Officer, Jem'Hadar Tactical Officer, Liberated Borg Engineering Officer, Android Ops Officer, Photonic Science Officer, Gorn Science Officer, and Reman Medical Officer jumping into their Jem'Hadar Carrier and flying off to do missions for the new Romulan Empire. But for some players allowing a T5 Connie to be used breaks the canon in the game.
I mean, if we watch a movie and then leave the theatre thinking 'that was rubbish', we're not likely to either see it again or purchase the DVD of said movie later down the line.
So why do some gamers, who play a game and think 'that was rubbish' keep coming back for more?
Honestly, I think many gamers are the biggest masochists around. I play a game because I like it.
Hell just for craps and giggles redid my fed engineer and tooling around doing the Sirius sector patrols and a couple of foundry missions to immerse myself more into the ST universe.
Plus I am playing through all the ships I love per tier like the NX, Rhode Island, Akira and others.
Gotta find your own fun.
Star Trek Battles member. Want to roll with a good group of people regardless of fleets and not have to worry about DPS while doing STFs? Come join the channel and join in the fun!
Getting the DoFF XP to 100,000 in each school isn't a grind???
Depends on how you approach it.
If your goal is to max everything as fast as possible, then yes - that can and will both easily and quickly turn into a grind.
For me, I consider myself to be a "casual, but active" player; casual in the sense that "I'll get there when I get there". As such, it took me ~1.5 years to complete all CXP on my main, and some of my alts are just now hitting their first rank 4. Same goes for assignment chains, with my main being my first (and only, thus far) character to complete almost all of them - and I still haven't picked up all the purple/VR doffs from the Colonization assignments. Sometimes my interests shift and my focus along with them, and what I was working on today gets set aside tomorrow; doesn't matter to me - "I'll get there when I get there".
As for the bugs, aye; DR has been a steaming pile of 'em since it launched. The size of the weekly patches and the length of the corresponding release notes are sufficient evidence of that. However, like any other business, PWE/Cryptic can be their own best friends - or their own worst enemies. Players generally don't hang around unstable games, so it's in their own best interest to get it fixed.
Mac mini Server (mid 2011): 2GHz Intel Core i7, 8GB 1333 MHz DDR3, Intel HD Graphics 3000 512MB
OS X El Capitan 10.11.2
To each his own. I haven't set foot in an ASTF or STF other FFA and MI. I log in DoFF, run my events, hit Argala a couple times then that's about it. While I like parts of DR, there are parts I do not like. The biggest issue I have with the recent updates are the "blatant" Attempts at money grabbing (Crafting, Upgrades to the next tier of quality). Me, I'm fairly patient and already have a LTS. I've had mine since Beta so yeah, I've seen the double talk since the beginning.
They claim it's a game for casual players. It used to be. Now you can't be casual if you want to progress to endgame in a "reasonable" amount of time. LvL 1-50 in a few days then 40 days of reputation grind. Van start crafting at 15, this takes 65-77 days to get 1 school to 15 unless you pay Dil, 2 days for a lifer or 800day vet 3 for non. God knows how long it'll take to get the additional 2.5 mil xp to get all spec points unless you go A Clockwork orange and sit at the PC for weeks.
They can say it was the most successful launch ever, but my gut tells me they are doing the gift with the patch today to get an accurate count on how many people are actually logging in. I think they've realized they got a problem they created themselves. They've sticker shocked the player base into saying this game isn't for me.
Did people forget that this is a game? The purpose of this game is to entertain you. If you are not entertained move on to something that does. Why keep playing the game if you aren't having fun?
That would be like a guy eating pizza, not liking it but continuing to eat it in the hopes that it will get better.
Ah, but at one time I loved playing this game and enjoyed it very much. Now I don't but I love the IP and I'm hoping to find that fun factor again.
Same with the pizza analogy. I use to love X pizza, but they changed the formula and I don't like it now but they keep changing stuff about it so I keep trying it in hopes that it'll be that same pizza that I loved before.
On the same token, that is why Cryptic is constantly changing stuff within the game in hopes of getting the maximum potential players and hoping to get the gamers back that had left before. In the case of DR, it had the opposite effect on me and now I have decided to take a much needed break.
There were some grinds I loved. I loved the Risa event, I made 500 MIL EC off of that event alone selling favors (and still bought plenty of stuff for all my 15 toons that I have). I was still able to do rep grinds at the time on many toons as well. Now, just for one toon it seems like a job for me to grind the ship and gear and pay out way too much dilithium for it, so I'm moving away from it. It's just a personal opinion.
Yes, I'm that Askray@Batbayer in game. Yes, I still play. No, I don't care. Former Community Moderator, Former SSR DJ, Now Full time father to two kids, Husband, Retail Worker. Tiktok: @Askray Facebook: Askray113
Comments
ever heared of AUTOFIRE?
Buy keys with that and sell the stuff that comes out of boxes. It's a game within a game and makes more sense than doing any of the DR boring patrol missions.
Zeus
IMO the game has been broken since the NERF patch of 10/23. Anything else were bandages to keep the few players that remained happy and throwing goodies to the new ones...DIL weekend/free Lobbi/MU. Some of the hardcore players are still here but just sad seeing LOTs of players leaving STO. It hasn't been the same and MR. EP (D'angelo) don't care about this game at all...just making more money for his own benefit. Im sure some of the DEVs are in our side but like any other job...security is just to keep you mouth shut and OBEY the big BOSS...even if this is the TITANIC.
Nice
I am a lifer who demoed this at PAX, fell in love, ground it out through beta, and jumped in at release. The game has gone through some very rough growing pains. However I still keep coming back to it. There are so many little touches and refinements that exist now. And some major massive updates that helped a great deal.
I remember the almost endless cycle of "System Patrol" because that's all you had. Doing PvE and getting Mk 2 gear for my Captain because mission reward gear did not scale. Playing KDF and finding that there was zero PvE content. ZERO. Never being able to re-experience a mission to try it differently because mission replay did not exist. Playing PvP and having no countermeasures against cloaked fleets. Rage quit? Oh yeah, having that last objective not pop after hours I remember when that was common...not the infrequent hiccups I experience now.
Is this game perfect? Heck no, nothing is. But you know what? For folks like myself, it's fun. It is a great way to find ST fans who like to hang out together and not just chat about the ST universe, but also play in it at the same time. And yes even finding out I lost my Master craftsmanship skills. So I get to learn a new system...kind of like a new game.
I have not bought any T6 ships because I prefer more canon ships. And when they do come out, it will be my choice to dump zen for them. I found I don't need them to play the main game. And if I want to get a T5U ship? There are several ones that you can acquire during the seasonal events. I have Breen, Risian, and the 1000 day vet ships (though that last did cost me the $$$ for a lifetime sub). The other ships did not cost me any dil/zen. Just a week or two of playing ST: Vacation or Winter stuff with Q. I did get lucky and play during the Dyson event so I have a few of those as well.
I just started a brand new character without any of my free legacy awards. Just to see how it would be today. And I have to admit...it is still fun. Staying basic canon ships and even staying faction pure on ship weapons...still works fine in PvE and STFs.
I am sorry this game isn't for everyone. But it works for me...and ultimately if the game does not make $ it will fail. So the experiments with the business model I just shrug off. If the $ stream starts falling, the devs will go back or try something different.
Maybe you should start taking your own advice?
It's ok Crusader. Cosmic keeps tabs on everyone here; He's like the omnipotent Q. I swear he has a special database that takes pictures of all of the forums threads and organizes them by OP's and by the users posting in them. He sees all!!! There is no escape!! Omg, is he the all seeing eye of Sauron!?
http://gph.is/12wV6iC
LLAP!
That would be like a guy eating pizza, not liking it but continuing to eat it in the hopes that it will get better.
Let us explore it... together. Each man hides a secret pain. It must be exposed and reckoned with. It must be dragged from the darkness and forced into the light. Share your pain. Share your pain with me... and gain strength from the sharing.
LOL..One's is entitled to change one's mind right?
I considered myself a hardcore follower but the big NERF just broke the camel from its back...An analogy to use: It is consider a recession when the "bad" economy affects ONLY your neighbor or friend...However, it is a depression if it affects YOU personally.
I don't condone the behavior of the exploiters when Cryptic took away spec points and reverted back. However, once they NERFed XP leveling for ALL (including myself)...it made no sense anymore. That's when I changed my mind and started asking about the intent of that NEW business plan. Like anyone else I'm entitled to changed my mind
Because we love star trek and this is really the only option. So it's more like eating a pizza that's not very good, but there are no other pizza places around so you continue ordering it anyway in the hopes that eventually the pizza place will make it better.
NP...don't feel bad at all..great to have FANs
I know the old timers in the forums...heck been here for quite a while to note it as well.
I'm guessing KSE, with nobody caring about the probes.
I'm sure bugs suck, but assuming you're playing on Normal difficulty, there's no way 4 waves would take you 30 minutes. There's something fundamentally wrong with your build.
There's also no "currency" lacking in Normal queues needed for upgrades. You can't get BNPs/APCs outside of Advanced queues, but those aren't needed or even desired if you want to improve your performance. I'd advise you post your build in the Academy section and ask for advice, so that hitting a bug like that only wastes 5 minutes instead of 30. :P
We need to be realistic here. Even if we assume Cryptic really wants to make amends for DR it is going to take them months to do that. We can sit here for the next few months being miserable or we can go and find some joy for ourselves. Things are only going to get better or worse, but the watched pot is never going to boil.
Honestly, I think many gamers are the biggest masochists around. I play a game because I like it.
Hell just for craps and giggles redid my fed engineer and tooling around doing the Sirius sector patrols and a couple of foundry missions to immerse myself more into the ST universe.
Plus I am playing through all the ships I love per tier like the NX, Rhode Island, Akira and others.
Gotta find your own fun.
Star Trek Battles member. Want to roll with a good group of people regardless of fleets and not have to worry about DPS while doing STFs? Come join the channel and join in the fun!
http://forum.arcgames.com/startrekonline/discussion/1145998/star-trek-battles-channel-got-canon/p1
Depends on how you approach it.
If your goal is to max everything as fast as possible, then yes - that can and will both easily and quickly turn into a grind.
For me, I consider myself to be a "casual, but active" player; casual in the sense that "I'll get there when I get there". As such, it took me ~1.5 years to complete all CXP on my main, and some of my alts are just now hitting their first rank 4. Same goes for assignment chains, with my main being my first (and only, thus far) character to complete almost all of them - and I still haven't picked up all the purple/VR doffs from the Colonization assignments. Sometimes my interests shift and my focus along with them, and what I was working on today gets set aside tomorrow; doesn't matter to me - "I'll get there when I get there".
As for the bugs, aye; DR has been a steaming pile of 'em since it launched. The size of the weekly patches and the length of the corresponding release notes are sufficient evidence of that. However, like any other business, PWE/Cryptic can be their own best friends - or their own worst enemies. Players generally don't hang around unstable games, so it's in their own best interest to get it fixed.
OS X El Capitan 10.11.2
They claim it's a game for casual players. It used to be. Now you can't be casual if you want to progress to endgame in a "reasonable" amount of time. LvL 1-50 in a few days then 40 days of reputation grind. Van start crafting at 15, this takes 65-77 days to get 1 school to 15 unless you pay Dil, 2 days for a lifer or 800day vet 3 for non. God knows how long it'll take to get the additional 2.5 mil xp to get all spec points unless you go A Clockwork orange and sit at the PC for weeks.
They can say it was the most successful launch ever, but my gut tells me they are doing the gift with the patch today to get an accurate count on how many people are actually logging in. I think they've realized they got a problem they created themselves. They've sticker shocked the player base into saying this game isn't for me.
Ah, but at one time I loved playing this game and enjoyed it very much. Now I don't but I love the IP and I'm hoping to find that fun factor again.
Same with the pizza analogy. I use to love X pizza, but they changed the formula and I don't like it now but they keep changing stuff about it so I keep trying it in hopes that it'll be that same pizza that I loved before.
On the same token, that is why Cryptic is constantly changing stuff within the game in hopes of getting the maximum potential players and hoping to get the gamers back that had left before. In the case of DR, it had the opposite effect on me and now I have decided to take a much needed break.
There were some grinds I loved. I loved the Risa event, I made 500 MIL EC off of that event alone selling favors (and still bought plenty of stuff for all my 15 toons that I have). I was still able to do rep grinds at the time on many toons as well. Now, just for one toon it seems like a job for me to grind the ship and gear and pay out way too much dilithium for it, so I'm moving away from it. It's just a personal opinion.
Former Community Moderator, Former SSR DJ, Now Full time father to two kids, Husband, Retail Worker.
Tiktok: @Askray Facebook: Askray113