When i noticed that there were gaps in the storyline leveling, gaps that were so big that i was starting to forget what the previous story is about i kinda said "wtf this sucks" too. I didnt really care about the spec points, just the pace at which the story moves. So then i stopped caring about what the story was about and said TRIBBLE it and kept on leveling. But now i'm noticing that while i am doing just stuff that i want (pve queues and BZ) that the xp bar barely moves and that also made me say "wtf this sucks" there too. But then i thought to myself that it didnt matter so much really. I dont PVP but if i did i dont think STO PVP matters too much cause there is no rating system. Plus there is the current state of Intel abilities in PVP which i wont go into because i dont PVP but from what i hear it just sucks. I do PVE, but any kind of competitive PVE here has the pay wall and regular XIV vs epic XIV you have to deal with so its not really a level/equal playing field. And even if it was...how have the PVE difficulties been over the past 4 years? part of the reason i'm not in any rush to get to level cap is because of how difficulty has been handled over the years and the pace at which we get new content. Why should i bother getting to 60, getting XIV upgrades and doing elites when...most of the queues are the same ones i've been doing for the last couple of years? with only 2 or 3 new additions.
I'm in no rush, but even if i was what exactly is there for me to look forward to?
I'm not apologizing for PWE or Cryptic, but TBH you self entitled babies sicken me.
are you all rich kiddies and daddy when and bought you a Mercedes for your 16th birthday? get everything you wish for RIGHT NOW because mommy doesn't want her baby upset???
leveling SHOULD be HARD. I guess none of you live in the real world where LIFE is hard
LOL rich kids? You are really barking up the wrong tree there. Very few of the complainant's come across as kids for a start. Secondly as you post later on you only hit 52, you haven't even started to comprehend the level of grind doing repetitive number crunching tasks which then allow you, once complete, to be able to do more repetitive number crunching tasks. It's literally become a game of spreadsheets, not a game which engages any more.
I do think levelling should be hard, but I'll emphasise that hard and grind are not mutually exclusive. I also think that the content should be more involving during the early levels to make the desire to get through the story arc's and the large amount of secondary content enjoyable. The ability to switch difficulty so you can breeze through with your Alt's vs have a challenge on your mains is a good idea too. However the current implementation of HARD is increased SP and HP, a ship or two extra and NOTHING else. That's not hard that's LAZY.
Then you could always take into account the nerfs to all known methods of XP gain faster than patrolling the DQ patrols. But hey why think logically when you can react emotionally without basis in fact.
I'm not sure how much you value dev word, but one or two did say they already had the next set of specializations made up at Delta Rising's release.
I just hope it comes with new BOFF flavors like Intel did. I sad it before, and I'll say it again, Intel BOFF seatings are getting too saturated.
BoFF's need to be more saturated. There need to be more options for players to choose from. That way multiple build styles are possible and even desirable. There's usually a "One Ring to Rule them all" build, but for the most part the diversity is useful. The other thing that needs to be done is a proper balance pass on BoFF abilities. Currently it's a BoFF spam scenario, especially with the clicky consoles reduced to 2 min timers. The goal is to reduce to a global cooldown scenario for most builds. This is of course the most efficient method and results in the disco-ball laser light shows seen most of the time late game.
Abilities like FAW shouldn't be a standard, repeat ability, it's too powerful, it should be an ability like Go Down Fighting, a last ditch resort that totally drains ship power from all power settings, making it useful on a main tank who can get external healing/shielding, but useless on that fast moving escort.
One of the major issues is that balance doesn't seem to have been considered in a consistent or organised manner, which has resulted in the current scenario. Having AI that could use a full ship compliment of weapons would require a totally different approach to the game, suddenly you'd need to have a Science Vessel or a Cruiser to support unlike currently when DPS is just king. DPS would still be important, but when the enemy can now dish out decent DPS (multiple set builds for AI ships required) then the player has to focus on staying alive long enough to do the DPS, instead of just flash killing everything.
The game should teach players better about building ships, they can even do it over the course of the new ships without much hassle, but the original BoFF's and layouts are often counter-intuitive to ship building and promote builds that are broken or very poor from a mechanics point of view.
The other point is the Tac/Eng/Sci Captain mechanic. That's either got to be expanded with a range of abilities/options to define a character rather than a set number of options which don't necessarily work correctly. Currently Eng are the worst of the offenders being only able to tank, very little in the way of damage enhancement and in PvP are basically useless. In PvE they fare a little better, but Sci and Tac are both better choices.
Science have some interesting and useful abilities that can really shine on a properly decked out Science ship. However they are more limited in ship choice than the other two because of this. If they were to change a bit they should have more abilities (say a pick 3 from 10 scenario) then you could have far more tactical options for setup giving them the ability to have far more useful Sci-scorts and Sci-tanks.
Tac's are excessively overpowered compared to the other two by a margin primarily due to Go Down Fighting and Attack Pattern Alpha. They can out DPS both other Captain types by a huge margin, they can can use all ship types more effectively and while unable to maximise Partgen or Drain builds they can still use the Science ships for the most part as effectively as any Science Captain.
I could go on for a very long time regarding this, primarily because I do design game worlds and balance them. Probably the main reason I'm so disappointed in the direction taken by Cryptic/PW.
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."
The one who gets it. Stop trying to grind, just have fun. +10 to you sir!
RL Work is a grind. Why do you want to add it into a game? The spec points don't really matter that much. A few bells, a few whistles. But that's it.
I honestly don't see very much difference in my naked 60 without the specs, than I do now with T2 pilot and whatever I am in the Intel (IIRC, T2 in that as well, ship specs). A little more survivability, but nothing to write home about. I honestly did fine without them, even in elite.
Half the time I'm TRYING to get the NPCs in my rear arc to take advantage ...
I just play the game and have fun and go oh goodie when I get a spec point every few days.
That is my attitude too. I must say, you can almost play as if nothing has changed. The things I did with the game before DR, I can still do and they still offer me the same grade of entertainment. But I told before, don't raise the level cap. Whenever that happens, there is always a player that reaches the new cap the next day. The rest will folllow the next day. Hence a cap increase doesn't have much of a meaning.
Cryptic tried to solve that 'problem' by the absurd amount of skill points needed and they broke the game. I suppose the people that wanted it, a cap increase, are unhappy, because leveling goes to slow. The people that didn't want it, me, are unhappy just because of it.
Now there is a solution. Lower the XP needed. The players that wanted the cap increase got what they want. The players that didn't want it, for them it is just a minor inconvenience.
I really love it when the staunchest defenders of the post-level 60 grind suddenly say "Oh, I'm only at level 52"
The fact is, people at level 52 are almost playing a totally different version of STO to players at level 60. Level 60 players get less XP for kills than people at level 52 do. Do you think I enjoy killing a ground NPC for 2 skill points? Blowing up a tac cube for 50?
LOL rich kids? You are really barking up the wrong tree there. Very few of the complainant's come across as kids for a start. Secondly as you post later on you only hit 52, you haven't even started to comprehend the level of grind doing repetitive number crunching tasks which then allow you, once complete, to be able to do more repetitive number crunching tasks. It's literally become a game of spreadsheets, not a game which engages any more.
I do think levelling should be hard, but I'll emphasise that hard and grind are not mutually exclusive. I also think that the content should be more involving during the early levels to make the desire to get through the story arc's and the large amount of secondary content enjoyable. The ability to switch difficulty so you can breeze through with your Alt's vs have a challenge on your mains is a good idea too. However the current implementation of HARD is increased SP and HP, a ship or two extra and NOTHING else. That's not hard that's LAZY.
Then you could always take into account the nerfs to all known methods of XP gain faster than patrolling the DQ patrols. But hey why think logically when you can react emotionally without basis in fact.
BoFF's need to be more saturated. There need to be more options for players to choose from. That way multiple build styles are possible and even desirable. There's usually a "One Ring to Rule them all" build, but for the most part the diversity is useful. The other thing that needs to be done is a proper balance pass on BoFF abilities. Currently it's a BoFF spam scenario, especially with the clicky consoles reduced to 2 min timers. The goal is to reduce to a global cooldown scenario for most builds. This is of course the most efficient method and results in the disco-ball laser light shows seen most of the time late game.
Abilities like FAW shouldn't be a standard, repeat ability, it's too powerful, it should be an ability like Go Down Fighting, a last ditch resort that totally drains ship power from all power settings, making it useful on a main tank who can get external healing/shielding, but useless on that fast moving escort.
One of the major issues is that balance doesn't seem to have been considered in a consistent or organised manner, which has resulted in the current scenario. Having AI that could use a full ship compliment of weapons would require a totally different approach to the game, suddenly you'd need to have a Science Vessel or a Cruiser to support unlike currently when DPS is just king. DPS would still be important, but when the enemy can now dish out decent DPS (multiple set builds for AI ships required) then the player has to focus on staying alive long enough to do the DPS, instead of just flash killing everything.
The game should teach players better about building ships, they can even do it over the course of the new ships without much hassle, but the original BoFF's and layouts are often counter-intuitive to ship building and promote builds that are broken or very poor from a mechanics point of view.
The other point is the Tac/Eng/Sci Captain mechanic. That's either got to be expanded with a range of abilities/options to define a character rather than a set number of options which don't necessarily work correctly. Currently Eng are the worst of the offenders being only able to tank, very little in the way of damage enhancement and in PvP are basically useless. In PvE they fare a little better, but Sci and Tac are both better choices.
Science have some interesting and useful abilities that can really shine on a properly decked out Science ship. However they are more limited in ship choice than the other two because of this. If they were to change a bit they should have more abilities (say a pick 3 from 10 scenario) then you could have far more tactical options for setup giving them the ability to have far more useful Sci-scorts and Sci-tanks.
Tac's are excessively overpowered compared to the other two by a margin primarily due to Go Down Fighting and Attack Pattern Alpha. They can out DPS both other Captain types by a huge margin, they can can use all ship types more effectively and while unable to maximise Partgen or Drain builds they can still use the Science ships for the most part as effectively as any Science Captain.
I could go on for a very long time regarding this, primarily because I do design game worlds and balance them. Probably the main reason I'm so disappointed in the direction taken by Cryptic/PW.
If they're looking at a balance pass on BOffs, I'd look seriously at eliminating BOff training and replacing it with kit module slots directly on the BOffs. With space kits added. You also get around the issue of being unable to train BOffs if you simply allow Captains to craft tradeable space kits with the appropriate powers on them.
One of the things you could have then aside from a pass on all the space powers is something like set bonuses on powers.
Or maybe even just passive stat brick or toggle ability modules that can be slotted on BOffs for beginner players to get some extra viability without having to manage as many powers. It could be tuned to a moderately high level of viability.
I'm not apologizing for PWE or Cryptic, but TBH you self entitled babies sicken me.
are you all rich kiddies and daddy when and bought you a Mercedes for your 16th birthday? get everything you wish for RIGHT NOW because mommy doesn't want her baby upset???
leveling SHOULD be HARD. I guess none of you live in the real world where LIFE is hard
Real world life is hard. That's why I play videogame. To have fun. Otherwise, if it was just as hard, I'll work even more and makes money in the process.
I'll never understand people that think videogame should be as hard than real life, and a second job.
As for leveling should be hard, that's YOUR opinion. Not everyone's. Also, define "hard", because in LOTRO, WoW, SWTOR, it takes a while, but it's never hard. Very long, yes, sometimes boring, perhaps, hard, never.
In the end, it's just YOUR opinion, vs OURS. It's stupid to try to convince you of the opposite, just like saying we are entitled brat is.
In STO, leveling was never hard or long. So expecting DR to be the same is normal. Just like I expect SWTOR or LOTRO to have a long leveling when they add a new level cap, and not level by doing 2 missions.
I'm not apologizing for PWE or Cryptic, but TBH you self entitled babies sicken me.
are you all rich kiddies and daddy when and bought you a Mercedes for your 16th birthday? get everything you wish for RIGHT NOW because mommy doesn't want her baby upset???
leveling SHOULD be HARD. I guess none of you live in the real world where LIFE is hard
"Did you know that the first Expansion was designed to be a perfect human world? Where none suffered. Where everyone would be happy. It was a disaster. No one would accept the program. Entire crops were lost. Some believed that we lacked the programming language to describe your Perfect World. But I believe that as a species, human beings define their reality through misery and suffering."
funny i thought nobody was playing stfs because everyone is saying you cant get a game because the ques are dead.
personally since getting lv60 on all of my characters all i have been doing is doff missions for the last week and i have completed another level on each of them, thats not bad for vitually no play.
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.
and againyour lack of reading comprehension has let you down I said it SHOULD be hard. and you throw in some nonsense insinuating that i support some survey TRIBBLE. you disagree with what i said fine but respond to WHAT I SAID not what you SUPPOSE or IMAGINE
Nothing wrong with making things tough to achieve, but the journey there has to feel worthwhile and enjoyable. It's a game remember? We're all here to have fun, or at least we should be.
Make things hard yes, but please don't drain the fun out of it. There are many other MMOs that have much deeper progression and harder unlocks than STO, that are actually more fun to play because the getting there part is nowhere near as repetitive and grindy as what STO currently offers. Add some meaningful content (more places to explore, more things to do, less reused content) and most players wouldn't even care about the levels because gaining them would be secondary to actually playing the game.
Cryptic made end game (well, most of the game really) revolve completely around filling up bars at a very slow pace, while we redo the same content over and over again, in place of providing fun things for players to do. Lets fill SOME bars up, sure, but expecting players to repeat the same content over and over to achieve this and be happy about is a bit much.
When i noticed that there were gaps in the storyline leveling, gaps that were so big that i was starting to forget what the previous story is about i kinda said "wtf this sucks" too. I didnt really care about the spec points, just the pace at which the story moves. So then i stopped caring about what the story was about and said TRIBBLE it and kept on leveling. But now i'm noticing that while i am doing just stuff that i want (pve queues and BZ) that the xp bar barely moves and that also made me say "wtf this sucks" there too. But then i thought to myself that it didnt matter so much really. I dont PVP but if i did i dont think STO PVP matters too much cause there is no rating system. Plus there is the current state of Intel abilities in PVP which i wont go into because i dont PVP but from what i hear it just sucks. I do PVE, but any kind of competitive PVE here has the pay wall and regular XIV vs epic XIV you have to deal with so its not really a level/equal playing field. And even if it was...how have the PVE difficulties been over the past 4 years? part of the reason i'm not in any rush to get to level cap is because of how difficulty has been handled over the years and the pace at which we get new content. Why should i bother getting to 60, getting XIV upgrades and doing elites when...most of the queues are the same ones i've been doing for the last couple of years? with only 2 or 3 new additions.
I'm in no rush, but even if i was what exactly is there for me to look forward to?
You bring up the Master point
There is NOTHING at the end of the grind
But repeating the same thing that got you there
Nothing at all
And that is the biggest problem with this game ....No end game content nothing at the end of the grind.................pvp is a joke and not considered and even if it was it needs something like below to support it
No colony building and maintaining
no ship construction to patrol space around colonys
no mines /farming/gathering needed materials
no territory control
no diplomacy
no wars
no exploration
no scouting enemy territory
A big Fat Zip
Jellico....Engineer ground.....Da'val Romulan space Sci
Saphire.. Science ground......Ko'el Romulan space Tac
Leva........Tactical ground.....Koj Romulan space Eng
JJ-Verse will never be Canon or considered Lore...It will always be JJ-Verse
TBH, no one I know (myself included) enjoys MMOs because they are tedious, boring and repetitive grinds to advance to the next level. We all play because it's a way of spending time together and immersing ourselves in a virtual world.
I'm sure there are people out there who enjoy difficult games, but that isn't everyone.
You should take comments about STO's leveling speeds with a pinch of salt when they come from someone who's only at level 52. People at level 52 are practically playing a different game to those at level 60.
TBH, no one I know (myself included) enjoys MMOs because they are tedious, boring and repetitive grinds to advance to the next level. We all play because it's a way of spending time together and immersing ourselves in a virtual world.
I'm sure there are people out there who enjoy difficult games, but that isn't everyone.
Leveling should be hard so you feel like you've actually accomplished something, leveling pre-DR was a joke like getting ribbon just for participating, everyone gets one, when everyone wins winning is meaningless
TBH, no one I know (myself included) enjoys MMOs because they are tedious, boring and repetitive grinds to advance to the next level. We all play because it's a way of spending time together and immersing ourselves in a virtual world.
I'm sure there are people out there who enjoy difficult games, but that isn't everyone.
I agree with you on this. You don't need all the grind in to enjoy game and understand having some grind in it but not for everything you need in game.
They increased some xp in game which is great but then increase how much you need to level and they cancel each other out lol. So we are back to same grind lol and say it is not a nerf. I could be wrong but I think they are trying to destroy game so they can end it which I hope is wrong.
Leveling should be hard so you feel like you've actually accomplished something, leveling pre-DR was a joke like getting ribbon just for participating, everyone gets one, when everyone wins winning is meaningless
if leveling is too easy the game is boring
but thats just it its not hard, its just not instant like everyone expected it to be.
everyone thought right play one mission do a few doffs to get one level and it was never going to be that quick but that doesnt make it hard.
i have been lv60 on all of my characters for 1 week and just this week alone all i have been doing is doff missions and i have still gained one level on each character, once the christmas event is over i will start playing more of my normal stuff and expect to raise 3 levels a week on each character.
i know this is not particularly fast but i was never expecting it to be and then its certainly not hard either its just playing all the stuff i normally do.
if i have any spair time i may try out some more of the DR missions as i still have a lot to do there.
and i will tell you somthing else, when everyone completes their captain specialization and realise its not the pot of gold they expected it to be they will wonder why they were in such a rush to get there.
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.
What i don't get is the fixation from people on the DQ when it comes to XP and skill points.
Remember your classics.
If you want to power level a character from 0-50, what content did you do prior to DR and what makes you think that content is worthless nowadays?
There are spots which have relatively high rewards, but there are several places where you can get decent or good rewards and an added bonus is that you don't have to grind one type of content. You vary things and the game is suddenly fun again.
Don't fixate on the DQ as the place to be for XP and skill. Team up with friends or fleet members and take on content on elite. There's a lot of fun waiting for those who mistakenly believe argal is the only place for XP/skill points.
Yesterday i got 1.5 skill points at level 60 in roughly 45 minutes when i teamed up and did a specific piece of content (not argala). Try different things.
This program, though reasonably normal at times, seems to have a strong affinity to classes belonging to the Cat 2.0 program. Questerius 2.7 will break down on occasion, resulting in garbage and nonsense messages whenever it occurs. Usually a hard reboot or pulling the plug solves the problem when that happens.
What i don't get is the fixation from people on the DQ when it comes to XP and skill points.
Remember your classics.
If you want to power level a character from 0-50, what content did you do prior to DR and what makes you think that content is worthless nowadays?
There are spots which have relatively high rewards, but there are several places where you can get decent or good rewards and an added bonus is that you don't have to grind one type of content. You vary things and the game is suddenly fun again.
Don't fixate on the DQ as the place to be for XP and skill. Team up with friends or fleet members and take on content on elite. There's a lot of fun waiting for those who mistakenly believe argal is the only place for XP/skill points.
Yesterday i got 1.5 skill points at level 60 in roughly 45 minutes when i teamed up and did a specific piece of content (not argala). Try different things.
indeed, most of my leveling has been done in the AQ playing pre DR stuff, I have done very little in the DQ just a few story missions.
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.
This is where I disagree, to an extent, with annemarie30. Leveling should only be as hard as the brains behind the game want it to be. If they want a Nintendo Hard game, it should be hard. If they want a figurative walk in the park, the game's difficulty should be lowered appropriately. The trouble here is, Cryptic wants levels 50-60 to take(going off my horrible memory here) 36 hours of gameplay time. That's pretty steep compared to past levels. But it IS past the old plateau going into what Geko calls "infinite progression"(specialization point grind), as the devs wanted the specialization point grind to last at least long enough for the next specialization sets to release...
Seems like a simple clash of developer intent vs player preference. Even without the miscommunication/inconsistencies in Geko's claims and the state of the game.
Leveling should be hard so you feel like you've actually accomplished something, leveling pre-DR was a joke like getting ribbon just for participating, everyone gets one, when everyone wins winning is meaningless
There are four main motivations for online gameplay. It helps to understand that most people have a mix of motivations.
As a rule, achievement is not an overwhelmingly significant motivator for the majority of online gamers.
Many have zero interest in achievement but may have an interest in exploration, which includes build construction. Making abilities or leveling an achievement-satisfying goal frustrates explorers and socializers.
What i don't get is the fixation from people on the DQ when it comes to XP and skill points.
Remember your classics.
If you want to power level a character from 0-50, what content did you do prior to DR and what makes you think that content is worthless nowadays?
There are spots which have relatively high rewards, but there are several places where you can get decent or good rewards and an added bonus is that you don't have to grind one type of content. You vary things and the game is suddenly fun again.
Don't fixate on the DQ as the place to be for XP and skill. Team up with friends or fleet members and take on content on elite. There's a lot of fun waiting for those who mistakenly believe argal is the only place for XP/skill points.
Yesterday i got 1.5 skill points at level 60 in roughly 45 minutes when i teamed up and did a specific piece of content (not argala). Try different things.
Pre-60 XP was easier in part because the requirements per level were easier. That has had the effect of devaluing content.
Valuable content will be replayed because of player intrinsic motivation.
Using a carrot on a stick to motivate content repetition devalues that content as anything other than a stamina/patience achievement.
Pre-60 XP was easier in part because the requirements per level were easier. That has had the effect of devaluing content.
Valuable content will be replayed because of player intrinsic motivation.
Using a carrot on a stick to motivate content repetition devalues that content as anything other than a stamina/patience achievement.
Level requirements pre-50 (going to assume that is what you meant) were lower than those 50-60, but the pre-50 content is still valid especially if you use advanced difficulty (unless you have a very high dps ~20k i find the advanced setting more efficient) or if you use private matches where you can set the level requirements exactly how high/low you can set them.
Perhaps valuable content will be replayed more readily, but that does not explain why people are fixated on the DQ because the best leveling content is NOT located in the DQ.
This program, though reasonably normal at times, seems to have a strong affinity to classes belonging to the Cat 2.0 program. Questerius 2.7 will break down on occasion, resulting in garbage and nonsense messages whenever it occurs. Usually a hard reboot or pulling the plug solves the problem when that happens.
Comments
you are a wise, wise player
When i noticed that there were gaps in the storyline leveling, gaps that were so big that i was starting to forget what the previous story is about i kinda said "wtf this sucks" too. I didnt really care about the spec points, just the pace at which the story moves. So then i stopped caring about what the story was about and said TRIBBLE it and kept on leveling. But now i'm noticing that while i am doing just stuff that i want (pve queues and BZ) that the xp bar barely moves and that also made me say "wtf this sucks" there too. But then i thought to myself that it didnt matter so much really. I dont PVP but if i did i dont think STO PVP matters too much cause there is no rating system. Plus there is the current state of Intel abilities in PVP which i wont go into because i dont PVP but from what i hear it just sucks. I do PVE, but any kind of competitive PVE here has the pay wall and regular XIV vs epic XIV you have to deal with so its not really a level/equal playing field. And even if it was...how have the PVE difficulties been over the past 4 years? part of the reason i'm not in any rush to get to level cap is because of how difficulty has been handled over the years and the pace at which we get new content. Why should i bother getting to 60, getting XIV upgrades and doing elites when...most of the queues are the same ones i've been doing for the last couple of years? with only 2 or 3 new additions.
I'm in no rush, but even if i was what exactly is there for me to look forward to?
I do think levelling should be hard, but I'll emphasise that hard and grind are not mutually exclusive. I also think that the content should be more involving during the early levels to make the desire to get through the story arc's and the large amount of secondary content enjoyable. The ability to switch difficulty so you can breeze through with your Alt's vs have a challenge on your mains is a good idea too. However the current implementation of HARD is increased SP and HP, a ship or two extra and NOTHING else. That's not hard that's LAZY.
Then you could always take into account the nerfs to all known methods of XP gain faster than patrolling the DQ patrols. But hey why think logically when you can react emotionally without basis in fact.
BoFF's need to be more saturated. There need to be more options for players to choose from. That way multiple build styles are possible and even desirable. There's usually a "One Ring to Rule them all" build, but for the most part the diversity is useful. The other thing that needs to be done is a proper balance pass on BoFF abilities. Currently it's a BoFF spam scenario, especially with the clicky consoles reduced to 2 min timers. The goal is to reduce to a global cooldown scenario for most builds. This is of course the most efficient method and results in the disco-ball laser light shows seen most of the time late game.
Abilities like FAW shouldn't be a standard, repeat ability, it's too powerful, it should be an ability like Go Down Fighting, a last ditch resort that totally drains ship power from all power settings, making it useful on a main tank who can get external healing/shielding, but useless on that fast moving escort.
One of the major issues is that balance doesn't seem to have been considered in a consistent or organised manner, which has resulted in the current scenario. Having AI that could use a full ship compliment of weapons would require a totally different approach to the game, suddenly you'd need to have a Science Vessel or a Cruiser to support unlike currently when DPS is just king. DPS would still be important, but when the enemy can now dish out decent DPS (multiple set builds for AI ships required) then the player has to focus on staying alive long enough to do the DPS, instead of just flash killing everything.
The game should teach players better about building ships, they can even do it over the course of the new ships without much hassle, but the original BoFF's and layouts are often counter-intuitive to ship building and promote builds that are broken or very poor from a mechanics point of view.
The other point is the Tac/Eng/Sci Captain mechanic. That's either got to be expanded with a range of abilities/options to define a character rather than a set number of options which don't necessarily work correctly. Currently Eng are the worst of the offenders being only able to tank, very little in the way of damage enhancement and in PvP are basically useless. In PvE they fare a little better, but Sci and Tac are both better choices.
Science have some interesting and useful abilities that can really shine on a properly decked out Science ship. However they are more limited in ship choice than the other two because of this. If they were to change a bit they should have more abilities (say a pick 3 from 10 scenario) then you could have far more tactical options for setup giving them the ability to have far more useful Sci-scorts and Sci-tanks.
Tac's are excessively overpowered compared to the other two by a margin primarily due to Go Down Fighting and Attack Pattern Alpha. They can out DPS both other Captain types by a huge margin, they can can use all ship types more effectively and while unable to maximise Partgen or Drain builds they can still use the Science ships for the most part as effectively as any Science Captain.
I could go on for a very long time regarding this, primarily because I do design game worlds and balance them. Probably the main reason I'm so disappointed in the direction taken by Cryptic/PW.
"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."
The one who gets it. Stop trying to grind, just have fun. +10 to you sir!
RL Work is a grind. Why do you want to add it into a game? The spec points don't really matter that much. A few bells, a few whistles. But that's it.
I honestly don't see very much difference in my naked 60 without the specs, than I do now with T2 pilot and whatever I am in the Intel (IIRC, T2 in that as well, ship specs). A little more survivability, but nothing to write home about. I honestly did fine without them, even in elite.
Half the time I'm TRYING to get the NPCs in my rear arc to take advantage ...
That is my attitude too. I must say, you can almost play as if nothing has changed. The things I did with the game before DR, I can still do and they still offer me the same grade of entertainment. But I told before, don't raise the level cap. Whenever that happens, there is always a player that reaches the new cap the next day. The rest will folllow the next day. Hence a cap increase doesn't have much of a meaning.
Cryptic tried to solve that 'problem' by the absurd amount of skill points needed and they broke the game. I suppose the people that wanted it, a cap increase, are unhappy, because leveling goes to slow. The people that didn't want it, me, are unhappy just because of it.
Now there is a solution. Lower the XP needed. The players that wanted the cap increase got what they want. The players that didn't want it, for them it is just a minor inconvenience.
The fact is, people at level 52 are almost playing a totally different version of STO to players at level 60. Level 60 players get less XP for kills than people at level 52 do. Do you think I enjoy killing a ground NPC for 2 skill points? Blowing up a tac cube for 50?
It's not fun.
Free Tibet!
If they're looking at a balance pass on BOffs, I'd look seriously at eliminating BOff training and replacing it with kit module slots directly on the BOffs. With space kits added. You also get around the issue of being unable to train BOffs if you simply allow Captains to craft tradeable space kits with the appropriate powers on them.
One of the things you could have then aside from a pass on all the space powers is something like set bonuses on powers.
Or maybe even just passive stat brick or toggle ability modules that can be slotted on BOffs for beginner players to get some extra viability without having to manage as many powers. It could be tuned to a moderately high level of viability.
I'll never understand people that think videogame should be as hard than real life, and a second job.
As for leveling should be hard, that's YOUR opinion. Not everyone's. Also, define "hard", because in LOTRO, WoW, SWTOR, it takes a while, but it's never hard. Very long, yes, sometimes boring, perhaps, hard, never.
In the end, it's just YOUR opinion, vs OURS. It's stupid to try to convince you of the opposite, just like saying we are entitled brat is.
In STO, leveling was never hard or long. So expecting DR to be the same is normal. Just like I expect SWTOR or LOTRO to have a long leveling when they add a new level cap, and not level by doing 2 missions.
"Did you know that the first Expansion was designed to be a perfect human world? Where none suffered. Where everyone would be happy. It was a disaster. No one would accept the program. Entire crops were lost. Some believed that we lacked the programming language to describe your Perfect World. But I believe that as a species, human beings define their reality through misery and suffering."
funny i thought nobody was playing stfs because everyone is saying you cant get a game because the ques are dead.
personally since getting lv60 on all of my characters all i have been doing is doff missions for the last week and i have completed another level on each of them, thats not bad for vitually no play.
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.
Nothing wrong with making things tough to achieve, but the journey there has to feel worthwhile and enjoyable. It's a game remember? We're all here to have fun, or at least we should be.
Make things hard yes, but please don't drain the fun out of it. There are many other MMOs that have much deeper progression and harder unlocks than STO, that are actually more fun to play because the getting there part is nowhere near as repetitive and grindy as what STO currently offers. Add some meaningful content (more places to explore, more things to do, less reused content) and most players wouldn't even care about the levels because gaining them would be secondary to actually playing the game.
Cryptic made end game (well, most of the game really) revolve completely around filling up bars at a very slow pace, while we redo the same content over and over again, in place of providing fun things for players to do. Lets fill SOME bars up, sure, but expecting players to repeat the same content over and over to achieve this and be happy about is a bit much.
You bring up the Master point
There is NOTHING at the end of the grind
But repeating the same thing that got you there
Nothing at all
And that is the biggest problem with this game ....No end game content nothing at the end of the grind.................pvp is a joke and not considered and even if it was it needs something like below to support it
No colony building and maintaining
no ship construction to patrol space around colonys
no mines /farming/gathering needed materials
no territory control
no diplomacy
no wars
no exploration
no scouting enemy territory
A big Fat Zip
Saphire.. Science ground......Ko'el Romulan space Tac
Leva........Tactical ground.....Koj Romulan space Eng
JJ-Verse will never be Canon or considered Lore...It will always be JJ-Verse
You should take comments about STO's leveling speeds with a pinch of salt when they come from someone who's only at level 52. People at level 52 are practically playing a different game to those at level 60.
Free Tibet!
Leveling should be hard so you feel like you've actually accomplished something, leveling pre-DR was a joke like getting ribbon just for participating, everyone gets one, when everyone wins winning is meaningless
if leveling is too easy the game is boring
I agree with you on this. You don't need all the grind in to enjoy game and understand having some grind in it but not for everything you need in game.
They increased some xp in game which is great but then increase how much you need to level and they cancel each other out lol. So we are back to same grind lol and say it is not a nerf. I could be wrong but I think they are trying to destroy game so they can end it which I hope is wrong.
but thats just it its not hard, its just not instant like everyone expected it to be.
everyone thought right play one mission do a few doffs to get one level and it was never going to be that quick but that doesnt make it hard.
i have been lv60 on all of my characters for 1 week and just this week alone all i have been doing is doff missions and i have still gained one level on each character, once the christmas event is over i will start playing more of my normal stuff and expect to raise 3 levels a week on each character.
i know this is not particularly fast but i was never expecting it to be and then its certainly not hard either its just playing all the stuff i normally do.
if i have any spair time i may try out some more of the DR missions as i still have a lot to do there.
and i will tell you somthing else, when everyone completes their captain specialization and realise its not the pot of gold they expected it to be they will wonder why they were in such a rush to get there.
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.
Remember your classics.
If you want to power level a character from 0-50, what content did you do prior to DR and what makes you think that content is worthless nowadays?
There are spots which have relatively high rewards, but there are several places where you can get decent or good rewards and an added bonus is that you don't have to grind one type of content. You vary things and the game is suddenly fun again.
Don't fixate on the DQ as the place to be for XP and skill. Team up with friends or fleet members and take on content on elite. There's a lot of fun waiting for those who mistakenly believe argal is the only place for XP/skill points.
Yesterday i got 1.5 skill points at level 60 in roughly 45 minutes when i teamed up and did a specific piece of content (not argala). Try different things.
indeed, most of my leveling has been done in the AQ playing pre DR stuff, I have done very little in the DQ just a few story missions.
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.
Seems like a simple clash of developer intent vs player preference. Even without the miscommunication/inconsistencies in Geko's claims and the state of the game.
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If I may interject:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bartle_Test
There are four main motivations for online gameplay. It helps to understand that most people have a mix of motivations.
As a rule, achievement is not an overwhelmingly significant motivator for the majority of online gamers.
Many have zero interest in achievement but may have an interest in exploration, which includes build construction. Making abilities or leveling an achievement-satisfying goal frustrates explorers and socializers.
Pre-60 XP was easier in part because the requirements per level were easier. That has had the effect of devaluing content.
Valuable content will be replayed because of player intrinsic motivation.
Using a carrot on a stick to motivate content repetition devalues that content as anything other than a stamina/patience achievement.
But well OP, the thing is, as level 50, level 60 or level 7 you still have the same basic problem.
There ain't nothing to do in-game...
Used to be a time where you could log in for 1 hour mirror, exploration, console fabrication, doff upgrinder, tour the galaxy.
So in order to control you those things had to be deleted.
So not only is the grind pointless to do, it also brought about the wrecking of the entire game.
You know, a +2.5 in flanking damage specialization point is going to do absolutely zero for the gameplay.
Ultimately you still farming the same old maps only now they are way worse and they rewards have been nerfed yet again
Level requirements pre-50 (going to assume that is what you meant) were lower than those 50-60, but the pre-50 content is still valid especially if you use advanced difficulty (unless you have a very high dps ~20k i find the advanced setting more efficient) or if you use private matches where you can set the level requirements exactly how high/low you can set them.
Perhaps valuable content will be replayed more readily, but that does not explain why people are fixated on the DQ because the best leveling content is NOT located in the DQ.