I am overly sensitive. And insecure. It's a long story.
You call what happened on the first page merely "disagreeing" with me?
And look at this post. THIS should be in my comfort zone? Really? That guy does it all the time. There's no excuse to attack anyone like that.
If you don't insult me, I have nothing at all against you.
None of all that had to do with me..? I am extremely confused...
We both accept whats coming... Only difference between you and me, is that I don't like the changes... You seem to do, but I havn't attacked you for it (hence the confusion).
So what if someone bashes you... The person is likely thousands of km away...
Don't look silly... Don't call it the "Z-Store/Zen Store"...
Yep - D'Angelo left out the main theme of the PWE's directive to the STO Dev team in his recent Blog for 2015.
In short: "Monetize EVERYTHING!"
I also like the new policy of NOT posting an official announcement thread on the forums (notice how neither D'Angelo's Blog, nor the Boff training update Blog had a "Discuss this on the Forums"; meaning either Smirk is asleep at the CM wheel; or there's a new PWE directive NOT to officially put stuff like this up on the forums for fear of a negative reaction thread to the increased monetiztion aspect of everything Cryptic has revamped in STO of late.
I vote for terrible company communication between the CM's and the Arc people.
All I can say is I'm waiting for the s**t or sting to hit the community fan. Be it bugs, timegate, resources whatever it will come. Gone are the days when I'm excited or cautioned optimism I expect a TRIBBLE up and it will be a pleasant surprise if they don't. It's true Crypticcan pull some quality out of somewhere sometimes but expect a shoddy product and then time to 'try' and fix it which there is no certainty that they will.
Take this and past experiences with Cryptic as a warning and take precations before they can TRIBBLE it up.
IF this system were to be put alongside the existing system, where you can use boffs to train other boffs--it wouldn't be that bad. But instead, I have a feeling that it's going to destroy the entire system. Recruit BOFF missions are going to disappear altogether. Existing BOFFS on the exchange are going to go into the waste-bin...since they're entirely useless.
IF Cryptic wanted to bring this system to the game--and have players like it--they need to make it about training TRAITS, not SKILLS or ABILITIES. I, for one, would be willing to grind a little bit to get "Superior Federation Operative" on my BOFF's....
Except that's not what's happening here, and space-specific traits are still a rarity. Cryptic could actually make a little bit of $$$ selling more BOFF slots...if they'd allow trainable traits. People would outfit an entire space-only set of BOFFS & another set of ground-only BOFFS.
Instead, now I need to craft or buy a token to train skills that I could either do on my own..or train with a boff that usually cost <100 ec.
Am I the only one who's noticing that recent changes seem to be less group & community building, and more focused on an insular game?
They've been catering more and more to the solo player for a wee bit now. It plays a big part in many of the queues being what they are, imho - why hit queues when you can get almost everything faster or easier without hitting them...the exception being BNPs/APCs, eh? Heck, even back with Breach and Storming that was the case - why run them when you could get the stuff easier/faster elsewhere?
The BOFF training stuff and the need to interact with others (or roll a second account of trainers and run two clients) has been a complaint dating back near the dawn of time though...
Whatever they come up with, I certainly hope that the developers are not foolish enough to nerf our already existing Bridge Officer trained skills.
Also, it would be nice to see something like a max of three additional stationed skilled bridge officer rank slots, of the Captains choosing and not limited to Intel Officers or discounting T5u ships.
Note the Tac tray would also have to be taken into consideration. Having three rows showing of tactical options while in space already covers up a great deal of the screen. The tray could be extended out one more column, but not adding more rows. That would be too much.
So what if someone bashes you... The person is likely thousands of km away...
It's happening all the time on this forum. I have no clue why. I mean there are other posters here that have opinions that would seemingly coincide with the opinions that the bashers are assuming I have, but they don't get anywhere near the heat I do.
I have no idea what's happening.
And I know you're not attacking me, anazonda. And if you was, I wouldn't remember it. I'm trying to block it all out anyway.
I see just one problem for this revamp: Currently there are abilities that you can only obtain from a few BOFF-Candidates. If there is no way to butcher those Candidates for the new Training-Manuals, then it won't be possible to get the BOFFs you like with Transfer Shield Strength 3 or Cannon Scatter Volley 3.
I won't judge about the revamp before I see the costs related to BOFF-Training.
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
If Star Trek Online was an Open-Source (GPL) Game, we would have a low-grind fork.
Do you honestly believe it's going to be cheap given the track record we've seen so far?
That depends on what you consider to be expensive. I don't see 1,000 or 2,000 Dilithium as any amount to care about. 50,000 Dilithium is a fair chunk at about a week's refinement cap. A couple of thousand here and there? Nothing. Peanuts.
And let's get this out in the open - monetisation is not a bad thing. It helps bring in funds to this game which we are all free to play and ***** about without paying a penny. You CHOOSE to buy Zen rather than wait a few days to earn something.
Take this as a warning and an expectation that they will TRIBBLE this up somehow and prepare beforehand, don't wait until after the patch and then cry when history has shown what they're capable of.
Don't get people complaining about the dilithium costs... I play for one hour and already max out my 8000 dill cap, on at least 3 of my chars... you get dilithium for everything, and, probably the cost would be 300 to 500 dill, that's not a lot, and no ability will be erased, only added to the pool of abilities (I think there will be normal to UR abilities, that would be logical for them, don't know exactly).
The fact is, it will cost some dilitium, and I'm pretty sure it will be less than the upgrade system, and the training school wont need experience, so all the better!
Anyway, lets see how it goes before start rambling about it, will ya??
It's a shame. Dealing with players for training help was actually one of the fun aspects of the game. I've bought ships because of the bridges I visited 😳
On the surface it sounds like we're getting a better system, at the expense of a community mechanic. Still reserving judgement until I see it.
Well they sold you the same ship multiple times, now they'll sell you your abilities back piecemeal after carefully splitting them into delicious bite-sized profit ready morsels...
... but only after you properly grind the required xp, which due to the generous xp payouts since DR will be a snap.
Well I stopped reading when I got to the part that said "required to craft". Seriously?!?! This is just getting beyond ridiculous. You took crafting and turned it into a convoluted abortion. Upgrading just started off a complete train wreck. Now you had to take a simple thing like boff training and turn it into an ordeal. The sad, pathetic part is that doing your taxes is easy compared the idiotic, convoluted process that STO is becoming. Sigh, oh well, just one more thing in game not to do.
I don't care what the header says, I am not now, nor have I ever been, nor will I ever be, an "ARC user".
If they get the pricing wrong, it'll mean people are going to feel "locked in" to one single boff layout. You know, the way people feel "locked in" to a single ship build once they spend all kinds of money upgrading their weapons.
It'll bring in cash over the short term but in the long term, people will not want to buy a new ship because it'd mean paying to train boffs for that ship's layout.
Monetizing this system risks being a short-sighted decision. Let's wait and see though...
Wish Cryptic would work this hard coming up with new story content, and I mean real story content, not shoot five waves of ships.
Is it going to cost refined dilithium to train my bridge officer in Emergency Power to Weapons III as an engineering captain now?
If the dilithium cost was removed, this might actually be a good change, but there's a dilithium cost for something that used to only cost what 100, 300 energy credits.
I'll admit, it will definitely be nice to, hypothetically, train our Boffs in whatever ability we want without jumping through the hoops we occasionally have to now, but I narrowed my eyes a bit when I saw the bit about "costs a small amount of dilithium" and the fact that it's going to be attached to the crafting system.
Ultimately, I guess it depends on what they define as a "small amount". Still, there's no getting around the fact there is yet another dilithium cost now attached to something that once only cost energy credits, if it cost anything at all.
Also, how will it work for new characters or lower level alts, who may not have access to dilithium right away? Are they essentially stuck with whatever abilities their Boffs come with until they reach a point where they can earn the requisite dilithium?
"There will never be enough blood to wash away my need for vengeance! A single world...I could destroy a million worlds and it would not be enough! Your existence is an insult to the memory of my people! I will continue my fight, even if I must fight alone!"
Is it going to cost refined dilithium to train my bridge officer in Emergency Power to Weapons III as an engineering captain now?
That's answered in the blog.
Most things folks are asking are answered in the blog.
Most things folks are complaining about are stated to be other than what they're saying in the blog.
If people took a moment to read the blog...
...it wouldn't be as an entertaining as it has been in multiple threads.
I think it's too soon to jump on the "let's hate cryptic" train.
If I understood correctly, it might be the revamp for bridge skill that we have been waiting forever. As for traits, well that work to. Find a BOFF with the proper trait, and get everything you want on it, switch his abilities as you want. Meaning, you can have only 1 tac, for example, and he can be an intel, a beam or a cannon boff as you see fit, when you see fit.
If that's true, and there is no absurd grind involved (even a small one would be fine), then that's the single best update for STO I've ever seen. Except perhaps for LoR, but I love Romulan.
Still doesn't fix the grindy mess DR is, but it's extremely appreciated, if I think it is what I think it is. Seriously. Love it. Credit where it's due.
Obvious derp statement is obvious. At what point do all these "nickel and dime" dil sinks become too much?
Well, sure. You can grind enough dil to buy everything in the C-Store, every fleet holding etc. too. Is that really what most will want to do with their time? As Voporak once posted, "you can have a steak dinner by picking up pennies in the parking lot too."
But the fact remains that you don't *need* to spend that Dilithium, and you don't *need* to buy Zen to accelerate it. Every piece of content in this game is fully accessible without spending money on upgrades or shortcuts.
It's like people complaining about the cost to get to Mk XIV Gold. You don't need it; you can get by just fine with Mk XII Blues! It'll be the same with this new system; you don't need every single one of your BOFFs trained in every single skill. But if you do want that, at least now it's tied into the game's primary currency with infinitely better flexibility than the existing system.
Shove it. You don't even try to address any of my arguments. You just childishly jump to ad hominems. You're so blinded by entitlement you can't even look past your own greed to think rationally. You're pathetic.
Criticising someone for ad hominem attacks and yet peppering your own statement with phrases like "childish", "blinded by entitlement", "your own greed" and "you're pathetic" will probably not garner you a lot of goodwill. In fact it might be seen as hypocritical and downright insulting, and certainly not a kind of conduct that is consistent with the Golden Rule. But as I said, this is just a guess.
Its also answerable here too: No, only to craft the item. And if you decide to swap the ability later EPtW3 will still be available as an option for that officer. I imagine this working out somewhat similar to kid mods, though instead of pulling stuff from your general inventory using training manuals builds a pool of abilities for each officer.
As for this whole OP ****storn "wah, I don't want to spend dilithium for something that wasn't previously in the game." Don't. These items cost dil to craft and every captain [with relevant skill point spent] will be able to make them. Buy everything you need from the exchange once the prices settle down (and they should settle down to a very reasonable value.)
Bipedal mammal and senior Foundry author.
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Comments
None of all that had to do with me..? I am extremely confused...
We both accept whats coming... Only difference between you and me, is that I don't like the changes... You seem to do, but I havn't attacked you for it (hence the confusion).
So what if someone bashes you... The person is likely thousands of km away...
can I change their traits too? otherwise this totally sucks.
has any of the latest newly introduced features come without a nerf? -> no
so you know what you can expect now
I vote for terrible company communication between the CM's and the Arc people.
Take this and past experiences with Cryptic as a warning and take precations before they can TRIBBLE it up.
IF Cryptic wanted to bring this system to the game--and have players like it--they need to make it about training TRAITS, not SKILLS or ABILITIES. I, for one, would be willing to grind a little bit to get "Superior Federation Operative" on my BOFF's....
Except that's not what's happening here, and space-specific traits are still a rarity. Cryptic could actually make a little bit of $$$ selling more BOFF slots...if they'd allow trainable traits. People would outfit an entire space-only set of BOFFS & another set of ground-only BOFFS.
Instead, now I need to craft or buy a token to train skills that I could either do on my own..or train with a boff that usually cost <100 ec.
I'm not at all pleased about that.
I had this thought as well, and it is concerning. Look at intel skills for example, can you train them for a fleet mate or in-game friend? Nope.
They've been catering more and more to the solo player for a wee bit now. It plays a big part in many of the queues being what they are, imho - why hit queues when you can get almost everything faster or easier without hitting them...the exception being BNPs/APCs, eh? Heck, even back with Breach and Storming that was the case - why run them when you could get the stuff easier/faster elsewhere?
The BOFF training stuff and the need to interact with others (or roll a second account of trainers and run two clients) has been a complaint dating back near the dawn of time though...
Also, it would be nice to see something like a max of three additional stationed skilled bridge officer rank slots, of the Captains choosing and not limited to Intel Officers or discounting T5u ships.
Note the Tac tray would also have to be taken into consideration. Having three rows showing of tactical options while in space already covers up a great deal of the screen. The tray could be extended out one more column, but not adding more rows. That would be too much.
I have no idea what's happening.
And I know you're not attacking me, anazonda. And if you was, I wouldn't remember it. I'm trying to block it all out anyway.
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I won't judge about the revamp before I see the costs related to BOFF-Training.
If Star Trek Online was an Open-Source (GPL) Game, we would have a low-grind fork.
That depends on what you consider to be expensive. I don't see 1,000 or 2,000 Dilithium as any amount to care about. 50,000 Dilithium is a fair chunk at about a week's refinement cap. A couple of thousand here and there? Nothing. Peanuts.
And let's get this out in the open - monetisation is not a bad thing. It helps bring in funds to this game which we are all free to play and ***** about without paying a penny. You CHOOSE to buy Zen rather than wait a few days to earn something.
I fear macro dil pricetags added to it in a way that its discouraging to experiment & just not fun play around with it.
The fact is, it will cost some dilitium, and I'm pretty sure it will be less than the upgrade system, and the training school wont need experience, so all the better!
Anyway, lets see how it goes before start rambling about it, will ya??
On the surface it sounds like we're getting a better system, at the expense of a community mechanic. Still reserving judgement until I see it.
Shame I can't test it on tribble.
... but only after you properly grind the required xp, which due to the generous xp payouts since DR will be a snap.
I can't wait for the fun to begin!
:rolleyes:
At least the forums will be entertaining.
It'll bring in cash over the short term but in the long term, people will not want to buy a new ship because it'd mean paying to train boffs for that ship's layout.
Monetizing this system risks being a short-sighted decision. Let's wait and see though...
Free Tibet!
Is it going to cost refined dilithium to train my bridge officer in Emergency Power to Weapons III as an engineering captain now?
If the dilithium cost was removed, this might actually be a good change, but there's a dilithium cost for something that used to only cost what 100, 300 energy credits.
Ultimately, I guess it depends on what they define as a "small amount". Still, there's no getting around the fact there is yet another dilithium cost now attached to something that once only cost energy credits, if it cost anything at all.
Also, how will it work for new characters or lower level alts, who may not have access to dilithium right away? Are they essentially stuck with whatever abilities their Boffs come with until they reach a point where they can earn the requisite dilithium?
That's answered in the blog.
Most things folks are asking are answered in the blog.
Most things folks are complaining about are stated to be other than what they're saying in the blog.
If people took a moment to read the blog...
...it wouldn't be as an entertaining as it has been in multiple threads.
If I understood correctly, it might be the revamp for bridge skill that we have been waiting forever. As for traits, well that work to. Find a BOFF with the proper trait, and get everything you want on it, switch his abilities as you want. Meaning, you can have only 1 tac, for example, and he can be an intel, a beam or a cannon boff as you see fit, when you see fit.
If that's true, and there is no absurd grind involved (even a small one would be fine), then that's the single best update for STO I've ever seen. Except perhaps for LoR, but I love Romulan.
Still doesn't fix the grindy mess DR is, but it's extremely appreciated, if I think it is what I think it is. Seriously. Love it. Credit where it's due.
But the fact remains that you don't *need* to spend that Dilithium, and you don't *need* to buy Zen to accelerate it. Every piece of content in this game is fully accessible without spending money on upgrades or shortcuts.
It's like people complaining about the cost to get to Mk XIV Gold. You don't need it; you can get by just fine with Mk XII Blues! It'll be the same with this new system; you don't need every single one of your BOFFs trained in every single skill. But if you do want that, at least now it's tied into the game's primary currency with infinitely better flexibility than the existing system.
Its also answerable here too: No, only to craft the item. And if you decide to swap the ability later EPtW3 will still be available as an option for that officer. I imagine this working out somewhat similar to kid mods, though instead of pulling stuff from your general inventory using training manuals builds a pool of abilities for each officer.
As for this whole OP ****storn "wah, I don't want to spend dilithium for something that wasn't previously in the game." Don't. These items cost dil to craft and every captain [with relevant skill point spent] will be able to make them. Buy everything you need from the exchange once the prices settle down (and they should settle down to a very reasonable value.)
Notable missions: Apex [AEI], Gemini [SSF], Trident [AEI], Evolution's Smile [SSF], Transcendence
Looking for something new to play? I've started building Foundry missions again in visual novel form!