Why? That's exactly how paragon levels work in d3 and specializations are essentially paragon points with a different name.
Blizzard didn't create the system...it's amazing how many things Blizzard gets credit for when they weren't anywhere near the first to do something. Lol, it goes back to what Blizzard first did when they started...literally, and it hasn't been any different since.
There are all sorts of games out there with AA systems...
...and having account-wide spec points deserves an answer better than something that would lead to "if Timmy stuck his head in the oven"...no?
Blizzard didn't create the system...it's amazing how many things Blizzard gets credit for when they weren't anywhere near the first to do something. Lol, it goes back to what Blizzard first did when they started...literally, and it hasn't been any different since.
There are all sorts of games out there with AA systems...
...and having account-wide spec points deserves an answer better than something that would lead to "if Timmy stuck his head in the oven"...no?
I've heard Dungeons & Dragons stole the concept of hit points from WoW.
Star Trek Online Advancement: You start with lowbie gear, you end with Lobi gear.
See, that's a system with some meat on the bone - not just a "I dunwanna" thing as some of the stuff in this thread is coming across. There's all sorts of things Cryptic could do to alleviate some of the concerns out there with a system akin to what's going on there with that...
Not sure what they're going to get done with anything.
I'm trying not to picture Hawk having quit so he could go play WoW - but his Twitter, lol.
Bort's got nothing since September. Geko posted 9 hours ago about chocolate farts...and well then, I was going to look up more - type more - but that kind of yeah...well, then.
Levelling this game for many has been seen as so much of a chore that they have actually stopped playing and left STO. Many more are slowly trudging their way through the mindless patrols knowing that their goal is still many hundreds of hours away.
For these players the idea of doing this all again on numerous alts is quite literally sickening.
So most people I have discussed this with have decided to take only one or two alts, perhaps three, one from each faction to level 60.
For me that means at least 7 of my alts that were all fully kitted out top level and pvp capable, for whom I spent money on lobi items, Z store items, zen for keys to buy the latest gear on the exchange, all those alts are now docked at ESD permanently. It is a shame, some of them have rare ships like the Galor and the JHAS, but I simply cannot stomach the monotonous slog to get them to either level 60 or worse to fill up their spec points.
This means Cryptic that I am NOT SPENDING MONEY on them, and you are losing big time if this is being repeated as I suspect across the board.
So, rather than just QQ about the game I thought I would throw in what to me seemed an obvious solution. Cryptic if you want people to play their alts then you must make specialization points account bound as well as vastly increase XP in previous story missions and patrols, in fact everywhere. If you do this it unlocks the game for all our alts, and I CAN SPEND MONEY AGAIN!
Discuss.
yeah if they were accwide it would bne ok that itz takes for ever
Not sure what they're going to get done with anything.
I'm trying not to picture Hawk having quit so he could go play WoW - but his Twitter, lol.
Bort's got nothing since September. Geko posted 9 hours ago about chocolate farts...and well then, I was going to look up more - type more - but that kind of yeah...well, then.
Pardon my daftness, but where do these Devs Twitter? Does Cryptic have a global Twitter account or something?
I could give you a few pointers. I love ground combat, and I both play and write foundry missions. :P
And I'd gladly take them... if I didn't have to level alts, gain information and experience from new normal/advanced/elite STFs, ponder dil costs on Fleet equipment, ponder upgrading gear (from basic to possibly fleet gear),...
And if you say I don't necessarily have to do those things (which is true, I don't have to play STO at all - I hope), I'll retort saying space combat is simply more important for me. I can only try other things as long as I'm fine with my preparedness for space combat.
TOIVA, Toi Vaxx, Toia Vix, Toveg, T'vritha, To Vrax: Bring in the Allegiance class. Toi'Va, Ti'vath, Toivia, Ty'Vris, Tia Vex, Toi'Virth: Add Tier 6 KDF Carrier and Raider. Tae'Va, T'Vaya, To'Var, Tevra, T'Vira, To'Vrak: Give us Asylums for Romulans.
so if they Make Spec Points Acc Bound presumably so if i get Spec Points on character A i can send them to character B they why not just win the points on character B to start with.
i have leveled 3 characters to lv60 since DR released i dont think that an excessive amount of time, so what have i got since i have reached level 60 that i didnt have before?
a boff i didnt need and a trait slot woohoo!.
most of my leveling was done with doff missions and if i had not played the few extra bits i have i would most likly have reached lv60 in another 2 weeks.
just level up your idle characters with doff missions and when they get to lv60 carry on from there.
i predict that completing captains spec will be as equally rewarding as reaching lv60.
When I think about everything we've been through together,
maybe it's not the destination that matters, maybe it's the journey,
and if that journey takes a little longer,
so we can do something we all believe in,
I can't think of any place I'd rather be or any people I'd rather be with.
Why? That's exactly how paragon levels work in d3 and specializations are essentially paragon points with a different name.
No it's not. 1: Paragon points are tiny stat bonuses, not new character abilities. (such as +5 hp and assorted other things.)
2: The Paragon system is designed under the assumption that players will get HUNDREDS of these points. The devs actually have a special badge design for people that have 800 or more... EIGHT HUNDRED!
I have no idea what Legacy in SWTOR is but I am sure there are multiple examples throughout the gaming world of how this kind of problem has been successfully and not so successfully dealt with.
BEHOLD! Never played the game, but based on that description, it doesn't sound awesome. It sounds like a lot of the Legacy system is more like the Accolade system in STO or CO, than Specialization.
Actually... speaking of Champions... yeah, Champions has their own version of Spec and it's for all levels.
BEHOLD! Never played the game, but based on that description, it doesn't sound awesome. It sounds like a lot of the Legacy system is more like the Accolade system in STO or CO, than Specialization.
Actually... speaking of Champions... yeah, Champions has their own version of Spec and it's for all levels.
The Legacy system keeps tracks of Accolades, Reputations, and certain powers that you unlocked through their version of Energy Credits or Zen. It also has its own version of a Sims system where it can be used to link the relationships between your alts. Although, I haven't seen any evidence of any use of that in the game besides personal RP. There is also global unlocks and character unlocks so in order to do Field respecs on all your characters, then you need to spend Energy Credits or Zen for each character while if you want Rocket Boost which allows your character to travel as fast as a mount anywhere, then you just need to buy it once. There is also race restrictions that can be removed if you get a racial character to level 50 or spend Zen. So if you want to play a Cyborg Sith, then you need to get a Cyborg to level 50 in one of the classes that allow it or pay Zen for it.
The problem is no content. You hit 60 and its back to the same old grind as before. I'm sitting at lvl 58 and just don't care if i hit 60 or not anymore. I'm sick of the patrols as new content. Its lazy Dev work to me.
The problem is no content. You hit 60 and its back to the same old grind as before. I'm sitting at lvl 58 and just don't care if i hit 60 or not anymore. I'm sick of the patrols as new content. Its lazy Dev work to me.
It's the combination of 50 to 60 happens too fast, but there's not enough to cover 50 to 60 in the first place...much less doing anything after you have hit 60.
IMHO, it's a damn good story arc - would have made for a decent Season...but it's not enough to have supported an increase in the level cap. Yes, there's going to be more content coming out as time goes on - it's a staged process. But that's then and this is now...
Which is where alts would come back into play, giving some folks something to do with all that extra time of not having anything to do...which is where it's somewhat confusing that folks want to speed everything up even more so they can sit around with even less to do.
No it's not. 1: Paragon points are tiny stat bonuses, not new character abilities. (such as +5 hp and assorted other things.)
Isn't that what secondary specializations are, more or less? And the bulk of what primary specializations are?
If so, geez. Up the rate of spec point gains and just make the active abilities at the end of the trees cost, like 20 spec points each. That would speed up the gain for the passives, restore a sense of progress, and wall off the abilities if the abilities warrant the added grind.
It's the combination of 50 to 60 happens too fast, but there's not enough to cover 50 to 60 in the first place...much less doing anything after you have hit 60.
IMHO, it's a damn good story arc - would have made for a decent Season...but it's not enough to have supported an increase in the level cap. Yes, there's going to be more content coming out as time goes on - it's a staged process. But that's then and this is now...
Which is where alts would come back into play, giving some folks something to do with all that extra time of not having anything to do...which is where it's somewhat confusing that folks want to speed everything up even more so they can sit around with even less to do.
It would have been fine if they'd just raised the level cap to 55.
Or even if they'd just grouped the missions together as available between 50 and 55, had the final queues be 55-60, and left 55 to 60 as more of an optional grind like 15-20 in crafting. With new missions as they're released requiring level 55.
Isn't that what secondary specializations are, more or less? And the bulk of what primary specializations are?
If so, geez. Up the rate of spec point gains and just make the active abilities at the end of the trees cost, like 20 spec points each. That would speed up the gain for the passives, restore a sense of progress, and wall off the abilities if the abilities warrant the added grind.
Uh, no. Very few of the spec points are as simplistic as +5 hp. A lot of them are things that have active buff effects, like shield heals, dropping mines when you combat roll, and similar things. Also spec points aren't designed with the expectation that players will accumulate hundreds of them.
Also spec points aren't designed with the expectation that players will accumulate hundreds of them.
Actually, they are. The Devs have said several times (or strongly alluded to, at least) that more Spec trees are to follow. Which is why I'm currently just saving up on points (I refuse to spend any on Commando: I'll just wait for the next space tree).
Uh, no. Very few of the spec points are as simplistic as +5 hp. A lot of them are things that have active buff effects, like shield heals, dropping mines when you combat roll, and similar things. Also spec points aren't designed with the expectation that players will accumulate hundreds of them.
Well, if they aren't, they should be at the rate they're talking about rolling out specializations.
And what you're talking about are active abilities at the ends of the trees or starship traits. The bulk of abilities are in fact passives.
There is one starship trait per specialization. There is one active ability per secondary specialization and two per primary. Everything else is a passive.
In which case, what's really needed is to scale the point values for specific effects. Rather than have everything cost 1 specialization point.
Then increase spec point gains so that we can actually see our progress bars move again.
The specialization points are ridiculously slow in coming. But as posters have already pointed out, it's a symptom of a larger problem.
Previous to DR we had multiple alts, multiple sets of gear and multiple ships. They even gave us the ability to switch between them when the whim or need suited us - and if we wanted more, they charged you for it.
Delta Rising changed that dynamic. The new reality is 1 set of gear and 1 ship per player. Hard choice.
You can't possibly afford to develop more than one if you're a casual player. I busted a year's worth of saving plus added $100 to get the process started on 5 of seven toons. Only 1 is 'complete'. My collection of ships and gear is now a joke.
After playing for 3 years with 7 alts, now having to choose one over another for development, I'm having issues. Any development will require a herculean effort plus cash - and - most of my friends have moved on to other games.
Sharing spec points would be awesome, but it's not enough. And frankly I doubt Cryptic will do anything about it. The games's profitability is higher now. They've culled the player base, the queues are empty, the Ep treats us with disdain and the devs are making jokes about 'grumpy cats'.
This is the hard to swallow new reality. And it's messy.
Actually, they are. The Devs have said several times (or strongly alluded to, at least) that more Spec trees are to follow. Which is why I'm currently just saving up on points (I refuse to spend any on Commando: I'll just wait for the next space tree).
Develop more trees? How? We can hardly do the current ones.
It's possible that I'm being a bit thick here, but here's a rudimentary timeline:
1: People level up in Japori faster than the Devs realised
2: People maxed out their skill trees and got Dilithium for it
3: This loss of Dilithium caused the devs to shut down a whole sector block's patrols
4: As a response to this, they did the following: A) Removed the dilithium reward and Slowed down the pace of leveling through various nerfs.
My question is... if they didn't want us to get the Dilithium (make no mistake, THAT is why this happened) why did they put it there in the first place? It's obviously about the dilithium. All this nonsense about slowing down leveling so we can learn the game and level up at a sensible pace is... well, horse manure is what it is.
It's possible that I'm being a bit thick here, but here's a rudimentary timeline:
1: People level up in Japori faster than the Devs realised
2: People maxed out their skill trees and got Dilithium for it
3: This loss of Dilithium caused the devs to shut down a whole sector block's patrols
4: As a response to this, they did the following: A) Removed the dilithium reward and Slowed down the pace of leveling through various nerfs.
My question is... if they didn't want us to get the Dilithium (make no mistake, THAT is why this happened) why did they put it there in the first place? It's obviously about the dilithium. All this nonsense about slowing down leveling so we can learn the game and level up at a sensible pace is... well, horse manure is what it is.
You're not being thick at all. It's pretty accurate for what happened on release. The part that was claimed to be the problem by D'Angelo and co. was actually the levelling speed, not the Dil rewards at the end. However the first emergency nerf was the dil rewards, so I would assume that had a large factor in it. The second part was to literally disable all TD patrols to prevent people "leveling too fast". The thing is they haven't stopped nerfing levelling speeds. Currently we are levelling at a rate that's about 50% that of the post-patch nerf which in turn was apparently 17x slower than pre-emergency nerf. If you do a 50% nerf to something that was already nerfed that hard it effectively doubles it, so now you are levelling around 34x slower than pre-DR going off quoted numbers. The reality isn't that bad, but it's still far from acceptable.
I hit 60 on 3 toons, I'm not aiming for all spec points, because the grind necessary to reach them is just a waste of time. Playing STF's, something that actually required good gear and timing along with co-operation is pointless. I could spend all sorts of money on getting gear up to Mk 14 (not even UR or Epic) and get through Elite Queue's, but the reward is pathetic. It's literally the ability to waste more dilithium making items from R&D that other people can't make because of the HP Sponge gate of Elite STF's.
They've also stated that the Elite STF's won't be reduced in difficulty...
Newsflash they aren't difficult, they're tedious due to the massive HP/SP of the enemies. THAT ISN'T GOOD GAMEPLAY, IT'S LAZY DESIGN.
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."
Well, if they aren't, they should be at the rate they're talking about rolling out specializations.
And what you're talking about are active abilities at the ends of the trees or starship traits. The bulk of abilities are in fact passives.
There is one starship trait per specialization. There is one active ability per secondary specialization and two per primary. Everything else is a passive.
In which case, what's really needed is to scale the point values for specific effects. Rather than have everything cost 1 specialization point.
Then increase spec point gains so that we can actually see our progress bars move again.
I'm NOT talking about clickie powers.... Perhaps I should have said triggered...
I'm talking about stuff like "Eat my Dust" which gives you a bonus IF you get hit on your rear shield facing. And Attack Pattern expertise which gives a bonus when you use an attack pattern skill.
It's very different from the Paragon thing because Paragon levels are 1: far less interesting(I wasn't being sarcastic when I said one of the options was +5 to the stat that increases your HP), and 2: do far less individually.
It's possible that I'm being a bit thick here, but here's a rudimentary timeline:
1: People level up in Japori faster than the Devs realised
2: People maxed out their skill trees and got Dilithium for it
3: This loss of Dilithium caused the devs to shut down a whole sector block's patrols
4: As a response to this, they did the following: A) Removed the dilithium reward and Slowed down the pace of leveling through various nerfs.
My question is... if they didn't want us to get the Dilithium (make no mistake, THAT is why this happened) why did they put it there in the first place? It's obviously about the dilithium. All this nonsense about slowing down leveling so we can learn the game and level up at a sensible pace is... well, horse manure is what it is.
I am not sure you're making sense here.
If it was about the Dlithium reward, they could have just removed the dlithium reward - no need to adjust levelling speed. All those complicated changes to skill point values and rewards just as smoke & mirror to hide they don't want you to get Dilithium that fast? That's questionable. Development time is not that cheap.
The reward was most likely becoming a problem for them, too. But they also wrote that it was still under review when they removed it.
We'll talk about this two month from now or so, when things have settled and they tuned things how they like it, or at least how they can get away with it.
Star Trek Online Advancement: You start with lowbie gear, you end with Lobi gear.
If it was about the Dlithium reward, they could have just removed the dlithium reward - no need to adjust levelling speed. All those complicated changes to skill point values and rewards just as smoke & mirror to hide they don't want you to get Dilithium that fast? That's questionable. Development time is not that cheap.
The reward was most likely becoming a problem for them, too. But they also wrote that it was still under review when they removed it.
We'll talk about this two month from now or so, when things have settled and they tuned things how they like it, or at least how they can get away with it.
It's true the xp gain changes were extensive, far more than the simple removal of dil gain after maxing specializations.
But make no mistake, the closing of Tau Dewa was only because of the dil being gained. Dil exploitation* is about the only thing that makes Cryptic/PWE take almost immediate action.
*One more thing to make clear: There indeed were people exploiting the game and getting specs much faster then they should have. But those were a very small minority that found ways of getting easily dozens and dozens of specs per session (those were gaining a lot of dilithium in the process). Not those tediously replaying patrols over and over for hours to slowly gain a couple spec points. And guess what characters were later labeled as exploiters and saw their specs removed (thankfully returned later).
TOIVA, Toi Vaxx, Toia Vix, Toveg, T'vritha, To Vrax: Bring in the Allegiance class. Toi'Va, Ti'vath, Toivia, Ty'Vris, Tia Vex, Toi'Virth: Add Tier 6 KDF Carrier and Raider. Tae'Va, T'Vaya, To'Var, Tevra, T'Vira, To'Vrak: Give us Asylums for Romulans.
Comments
Blizzard didn't create the system...it's amazing how many things Blizzard gets credit for when they weren't anywhere near the first to do something. Lol, it goes back to what Blizzard first did when they started...literally, and it hasn't been any different since.
There are all sorts of games out there with AA systems...
...and having account-wide spec points deserves an answer better than something that would lead to "if Timmy stuck his head in the oven"...no?
I've heard Dungeons & Dragons stole the concept of hit points from WoW.
See, that's a system with some meat on the bone - not just a "I dunwanna" thing as some of the stuff in this thread is coming across. There's all sorts of things Cryptic could do to alleviate some of the concerns out there with a system akin to what's going on there with that...
Not sure what they're going to get done with anything.
I'm trying not to picture Hawk having quit so he could go play WoW - but his Twitter, lol.
Bort's got nothing since September. Geko posted 9 hours ago about chocolate farts...and well then, I was going to look up more - type more - but that kind of yeah...well, then.
yeah if they were accwide it would bne ok that itz takes for ever
Pardon my daftness, but where do these Devs Twitter? Does Cryptic have a global Twitter account or something?
https://twitter.com/captaingeko
https://twitter.com/borticuscryptic
https://twitter.com/Cryptic_Kestrel
https://twitter.com/Tumerboy
https://twitter.com/crypticeqah
https://twitter.com/zeroniusrex
https://twitter.com/MMODesigner
https://twitter.com/thomasthecat / https://twitter.com/Cryptic_TtC
https://twitter.com/trekonlinegame
https://twitter.com/pwecaptainsmirk
https://twitter.com/laughingtrendy
https://twitter.com/sto_devtracker
Recently no longer with Cryptic: https://twitter.com/jeffahamilton
And there's a bunch more out there...my apologies to those I didn't link there, and lol, my apologies to those I did link there.
Wow! Thank you! Very kind of you.
Account wide spec points would be huge for players with ALTs.
I'd also like to throw in that Account wide Research and Development Trees would be a huge plus has well.
And I'd gladly take them... if I didn't have to level alts, gain information and experience from new normal/advanced/elite STFs, ponder dil costs on Fleet equipment, ponder upgrading gear (from basic to possibly fleet gear),...
And if you say I don't necessarily have to do those things (which is true, I don't have to play STO at all - I hope), I'll retort saying space combat is simply more important for me. I can only try other things as long as I'm fine with my preparedness for space combat.
Toi'Va, Ti'vath, Toivia, Ty'Vris, Tia Vex, Toi'Virth: Add Tier 6 KDF Carrier and Raider.
Tae'Va, T'Vaya, To'Var, Tevra, T'Vira, To'Vrak: Give us Asylums for Romulans.
Don't make ARC mandatory! Keep it optional only!
i have leveled 3 characters to lv60 since DR released i dont think that an excessive amount of time, so what have i got since i have reached level 60 that i didnt have before?
a boff i didnt need and a trait slot woohoo!.
most of my leveling was done with doff missions and if i had not played the few extra bits i have i would most likly have reached lv60 in another 2 weeks.
just level up your idle characters with doff missions and when they get to lv60 carry on from there.
i predict that completing captains spec will be as equally rewarding as reaching lv60.
When I think about everything we've been through together,
maybe it's not the destination that matters, maybe it's the journey,
and if that journey takes a little longer,
so we can do something we all believe in,
I can't think of any place I'd rather be or any people I'd rather be with.
2: The Paragon system is designed under the assumption that players will get HUNDREDS of these points. The devs actually have a special badge design for people that have 800 or more... EIGHT HUNDRED! BEHOLD! Never played the game, but based on that description, it doesn't sound awesome. It sounds like a lot of the Legacy system is more like the Accolade system in STO or CO, than Specialization.
Actually... speaking of Champions... yeah, Champions has their own version of Spec and it's for all levels.
My character Tsin'xing
The Legacy system keeps tracks of Accolades, Reputations, and certain powers that you unlocked through their version of Energy Credits or Zen. It also has its own version of a Sims system where it can be used to link the relationships between your alts. Although, I haven't seen any evidence of any use of that in the game besides personal RP. There is also global unlocks and character unlocks so in order to do Field respecs on all your characters, then you need to spend Energy Credits or Zen for each character while if you want Rocket Boost which allows your character to travel as fast as a mount anywhere, then you just need to buy it once. There is also race restrictions that can be removed if you get a racial character to level 50 or spend Zen. So if you want to play a Cyborg Sith, then you need to get a Cyborg to level 50 in one of the classes that allow it or pay Zen for it.
Also, SWTOR has a bunch of Lockbox Reputations.
Aye....and I stopped playing D3 after all I had nothing to do but gain more paragon levels.
It's the combination of 50 to 60 happens too fast, but there's not enough to cover 50 to 60 in the first place...much less doing anything after you have hit 60.
IMHO, it's a damn good story arc - would have made for a decent Season...but it's not enough to have supported an increase in the level cap. Yes, there's going to be more content coming out as time goes on - it's a staged process. But that's then and this is now...
Which is where alts would come back into play, giving some folks something to do with all that extra time of not having anything to do...which is where it's somewhat confusing that folks want to speed everything up even more so they can sit around with even less to do.
Isn't that what secondary specializations are, more or less? And the bulk of what primary specializations are?
If so, geez. Up the rate of spec point gains and just make the active abilities at the end of the trees cost, like 20 spec points each. That would speed up the gain for the passives, restore a sense of progress, and wall off the abilities if the abilities warrant the added grind.
It would have been fine if they'd just raised the level cap to 55.
Or even if they'd just grouped the missions together as available between 50 and 55, had the final queues be 55-60, and left 55 to 60 as more of an optional grind like 15-20 in crafting. With new missions as they're released requiring level 55.
My character Tsin'xing
Actually, they are.
Well, if they aren't, they should be at the rate they're talking about rolling out specializations.
And what you're talking about are active abilities at the ends of the trees or starship traits. The bulk of abilities are in fact passives.
There is one starship trait per specialization. There is one active ability per secondary specialization and two per primary. Everything else is a passive.
In which case, what's really needed is to scale the point values for specific effects. Rather than have everything cost 1 specialization point.
Then increase spec point gains so that we can actually see our progress bars move again.
Previous to DR we had multiple alts, multiple sets of gear and multiple ships. They even gave us the ability to switch between them when the whim or need suited us - and if we wanted more, they charged you for it.
Delta Rising changed that dynamic. The new reality is 1 set of gear and 1 ship per player. Hard choice.
You can't possibly afford to develop more than one if you're a casual player. I busted a year's worth of saving plus added $100 to get the process started on 5 of seven toons. Only 1 is 'complete'. My collection of ships and gear is now a joke.
After playing for 3 years with 7 alts, now having to choose one over another for development, I'm having issues. Any development will require a herculean effort plus cash - and - most of my friends have moved on to other games.
Sharing spec points would be awesome, but it's not enough. And frankly I doubt Cryptic will do anything about it. The games's profitability is higher now. They've culled the player base, the queues are empty, the Ep treats us with disdain and the devs are making jokes about 'grumpy cats'.
This is the hard to swallow new reality. And it's messy.
Develop more trees? How? We can hardly do the current ones.
1: People level up in Japori faster than the Devs realised
2: People maxed out their skill trees and got Dilithium for it
3: This loss of Dilithium caused the devs to shut down a whole sector block's patrols
4: As a response to this, they did the following: A) Removed the dilithium reward and
My question is... if they didn't want us to get the Dilithium (make no mistake, THAT is why this happened) why did they put it there in the first place? It's obviously about the dilithium. All this nonsense about slowing down leveling so we can learn the game and level up at a sensible pace is... well, horse manure is what it is.
Free Tibet!
You're not being thick at all. It's pretty accurate for what happened on release. The part that was claimed to be the problem by D'Angelo and co. was actually the levelling speed, not the Dil rewards at the end. However the first emergency nerf was the dil rewards, so I would assume that had a large factor in it. The second part was to literally disable all TD patrols to prevent people "leveling too fast". The thing is they haven't stopped nerfing levelling speeds. Currently we are levelling at a rate that's about 50% that of the post-patch nerf which in turn was apparently 17x slower than pre-emergency nerf. If you do a 50% nerf to something that was already nerfed that hard it effectively doubles it, so now you are levelling around 34x slower than pre-DR going off quoted numbers. The reality isn't that bad, but it's still far from acceptable.
I hit 60 on 3 toons, I'm not aiming for all spec points, because the grind necessary to reach them is just a waste of time. Playing STF's, something that actually required good gear and timing along with co-operation is pointless. I could spend all sorts of money on getting gear up to Mk 14 (not even UR or Epic) and get through Elite Queue's, but the reward is pathetic. It's literally the ability to waste more dilithium making items from R&D that other people can't make because of the HP Sponge gate of Elite STF's.
They've also stated that the Elite STF's won't be reduced in difficulty...
Newsflash they aren't difficult, they're tedious due to the massive HP/SP of the enemies. THAT ISN'T GOOD GAMEPLAY, IT'S LAZY DESIGN.
"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."
I'm talking about stuff like "Eat my Dust" which gives you a bonus IF you get hit on your rear shield facing. And Attack Pattern expertise which gives a bonus when you use an attack pattern skill.
It's very different from the Paragon thing because Paragon levels are 1: far less interesting(I wasn't being sarcastic when I said one of the options was +5 to the stat that increases your HP), and 2: do far less individually.
My character Tsin'xing
If it was about the Dlithium reward, they could have just removed the dlithium reward - no need to adjust levelling speed. All those complicated changes to skill point values and rewards just as smoke & mirror to hide they don't want you to get Dilithium that fast? That's questionable. Development time is not that cheap.
The reward was most likely becoming a problem for them, too. But they also wrote that it was still under review when they removed it.
We'll talk about this two month from now or so, when things have settled and they tuned things how they like it, or at least how they can get away with it.
It's true the xp gain changes were extensive, far more than the simple removal of dil gain after maxing specializations.
But make no mistake, the closing of Tau Dewa was only because of the dil being gained. Dil exploitation* is about the only thing that makes Cryptic/PWE take almost immediate action.
*One more thing to make clear: There indeed were people exploiting the game and getting specs much faster then they should have. But those were a very small minority that found ways of getting easily dozens and dozens of specs per session (those were gaining a lot of dilithium in the process). Not those tediously replaying patrols over and over for hours to slowly gain a couple spec points. And guess what characters were later labeled as exploiters and saw their specs removed (thankfully returned later).
Toi'Va, Ti'vath, Toivia, Ty'Vris, Tia Vex, Toi'Virth: Add Tier 6 KDF Carrier and Raider.
Tae'Va, T'Vaya, To'Var, Tevra, T'Vira, To'Vrak: Give us Asylums for Romulans.
Don't make ARC mandatory! Keep it optional only!