The problem with ships

jackal1701apw

T5-U, T6, ship masteries, ship traits, hybrid slots. Delta rising introduced an entirely new concept to endgame ships, and now that I have had alot of time to digest the impact and discuss with the other players I would like to say it has been done wrong. It is too complicated (there are now too many different levels of vessel, rather than simplify things DR made it ALOT worse). More importantly too many vessels have been made OBSELETE (including the jackpot cash cow lockbox ships) which sets a dangerous precedent. I have not opened any boxes since DR for this very reason. Below is my suggestion on how it should/could still be handled - a proposal that allow Cryptic to monetise the new systems but importantly give players what they want - the ability to improve existing ships to be on par with top-of-the-line shiny new things.



1) No T5-U.
Existing T5 and T5+ (the + denotes fleet, lockbox, event, newer 3 set vessels which are already +1 console etc) could be upgraded to T6/T6+ (either via an upgrade token or free upgrade in the case of lockbox ships only). T6 grants one extra boff ability slot (either Ens, Lt, or LtC), ship mastery (level 1-5 on all ships), +1 console, and a ship trait (at mastery 5). Ship upgrade tokens could have been +10-25% more expensive in Zen cost (as it's giving you more than the current T5-U - you are getting an extra BO slot AND the ship trait at mastery 5).

2) Specialisation Hybrid Boff slots.
When Delta Rising launched we got the Intel Specialisation and Intel Hybrid bridge officers with their new set of powers. DR also saw the release of a number of vessels that were either 'full intel' with a Lt AND Cmdr hybrid stations, or 'half intel' with just a Lt hybrid station.
The suggestion works like this. You could purchase a Hybrid station token (c.500 Zen) that would change one Lt slot on ANY T6 ship to a hybrid station (fixed for every ship). This way you could take an older lockbox/lobi ship which would be freely upgraded to T6, and then spend Zen to grant that ship the ability to run Intel or [REDACTED] future specialisation slots. Alternatively you could take a T5 ship (like a scimitar) and would have to use both a T6 upgrade token AND a Lt hybrid token to enable that ship to have access to specialist powers.

C-store ships released from DR and in the future are already T6 (no upgrade token needed however fleet token needed to become T6+) and are already have the hybrid slots (no specialisation hybrid token needed). There are a selection of 'full' ships that have Cmdr AND Lt hybrids and others are 'half' ships that only have the lower rank hybrid stations. Future spec types would also have their own C-Store ships as I am sure we will see come the Anniversary event. However, this system allows for older ships to be on par with the newer ships and is a monetised system that will have players paying Zen to bring their old ships up to spec and have access to the new powers. Only Full Intel ships get the Cmdr Hybrid but all other ships can get up to Lt (and occasionally there will be special ships like the sheshar that actually have LtC hybrid but these are exceptions).

3. Ship Traits.
The suggestion means that lots of new ship traits are needed (for all existing T5/5+ ships that can be taken up to T6) but actually traits can be grouped together (e.g. all Jem Hadar ships could have the same trait, all Voth ships could have the same trait, all T5/5+ fed escorts could have the same trait etc.) so it isn't really that many. Also some could be passives (easier to code). However, a VERY important aspect would be that T5-mastery traits are ACCOUNT based unlocks. You could monetise this as follows: Once a mastery is unlocked on one character they are able to manufacture an item from the dil-store like this 'Detailed Ship Schematic: Phantom Intel Escort' (c.20,000 dilithium). This item is account bound on pickup and can be transferred to other characters on that account via the account bank (just like Rep sponsorship tokens). Once used on another character this item unlocks the relevant ship trait for that character (in this example it is Reprocicity). This suggestion will INCREASE ship sales as people purchase ships to obtain trait combinations for toons of different factions and gets rid of the faction lock-out issues that the ship trait system has introduced. It is also an additional sink.

Please listen to this. Players are fed up with the constant replace your stuff for the new things rather than upgrade your current things. Ships are your toon in space. This is your avatar and people based their entire character around them so are rightfully pi55ed when they are made sub-standard.

Here is an analogy - if you released a skin for your ground toon that made the player look like a giant frog but gave you +100% HP, +100% Damage, +100% crit chance, what do you think the player reaction to that would be? People would be mad, as they don't want to look like a frog, but you made it that the only way to be viable would be to purchase and use that skin.

We are your CUSTOMERS. We are your PLAYERS. This is how we PLAY. This is how you get us to PAY.

thedodgehopper

This sums up quite a few of the problems with the Ship System as it stands. It shows a
complete disconnect on the part of the Developers, that they do not even realize that
the ship is a Character as much as it is an item. They could just as easily make money off of
specific items used to augment our ships, but rather than doing something which benefits
themselves and the customer they choose the zero sum game. All win for the devs, no win
for the player.

I think this change to the Bridge Officers is potentially a good thing, as it finally makes our bridge
officers the characters they should be. If we can upgrade individual officers as well... that would be the ideal change. Don't sell us new officers, sell us ways to IMPROVE the one we have. You get your money perfect world, and we get what we want, something WE DEVELOPED and earned.
That is the core of this issue.

The ship list went from over 100 to what, 10? They've completely killed choice with tier 6, and that is a mistake. I don't want to be a Frog.

virusdancer

That's a lot of words for: "I want to be able to make my T5 ship into a Hybrid T6 ship and not have to buy multiple copies of Lock Box/Lobi ships to get Starship Traits for all of my characters."

If I missed something else there, my apologies for that - I've seen basically the same thing posted countless times since before Delta Rising by a small group of folks, so I may have started to skim as I was reading through it.

Will say, though, in regard to the non-specialist ships that include Hybrid seats, I'm highly disappointed that those are not Hybrid Universal seats, as in those seats can be used for any Specialization. I don't quite get why they are being limited to a specific Specialization when the ship itself does not have the benefits of that Specialization. Sure, an Intel Ship...Hybrid Intel Seat. I can dig that, makes sense to me, and all that. Sarr Theln Carrier...Lt Eng/Hybrid with it being limited to Intel without access to Command or any future Specializations? Yeah, nah...I just don't quite understand that. If that's the case, then make the Sarr Theln an Intel Carrier and give it the Active Sensor Arrays. Same with any of the other current T6 ships that are going to have that issue (imho, it's an issue).

edit: And oh yeah, stop trying to speak for me - I'm perfectly capable of voicing my own opinions without having somebody taking it upon themselves to do so.

rsoblivion

I was actually just commenting on this in two separate threads. One on reddit where I was suggesting the non-Intel ships with hybrid intel seats get changed to universal specialisation seats and another where mustrumridcully was after a T6 BoP.

I think that BoP's in particular should have interchangeable skins throughout the whole range. They are all practically the same with only minor differences, same with the Raptors.

Now this thread is pointing out the poor decision to re-sell all the ship's to the players in T6 format is pretty bad form. I did get the Pathfinder, but only due to excess dilithium and zen, not due to money. The T5-U upgrade system would only work until a large enough T6 stable had been created and renders the T5-U's obsolete. Oddly there are some T5 ships that should clearly be T6, like the Scimitar, Odyssey, Bortasqu etc...

If they adjusted all T5-U ships to be T6 it would assuage some of the issues, then to get T6+ you'd need the usual Fleet modules to get there. That would be a better compromise. The attempts to get re-buying of gear though is getting rather tiresome.

virusdancer

Tom gets his free T4 Intrepid and likes it so much that he buys the T4 Refit. When he gets the chance, he buys the T5 Retrofit. The opportunity presents itself, so he upgrades it to T5 Fleet Retrofit. An expansion comes along and he can upgrade to T5U Fleet Retrofit. Later they announce the T6 version, and he starts to grumble. He knows that there will also be a Fleet T6 version down the road too.

Jerry buys his T4 Corsair and likes it. At T5 he sees that his choices are to get a Marauder, though he prefers the look of the Corsair, get a Fleet 9 console version of the Corsair that matches the BOFF layout he likes or he can get the Fleet Corsair with a BOFF layout he doesn't like. There is no T5U option for the Fleet 9 console version, so he can't upgrade that. There is a T5U for both the Marauder and Fleet Corsair 10 console, but there is no Fleet Marauder. So he could fly a weaker version of a ship than he would like to keep the BOFF version he wants while looking at a ship he'd rather not look at or he could get the Fleet Corsair 10 console and T5U it. No matter which way he goes, he has no T6 option.

Tom and Jerry have different problems...

edit: Went to get some caffeine and left this unfinished, meh. What I was getting at though, is how folks have potentially complained about different things. Hell, just saw another post in another thread where somebody was saying they'd pay for a Typhoon again. I don't know if it's a case that Cryptic reads complaints with eyes half-closed and they see more of the I'd pay for that...but how many folks out there, if you were to poll them (elsewhere) would say they'd buy a T6 Galaxy that was decent? Aren't there even discussions out there from folks wanting to buy a T6 Ody, Scim, and Bort? Some want an upgrade, some think it should have been automatic, some just want to give Cryptic the money for it.

razar2380

To the OP, the biggest problem is that they are trying to monetize it too much. A single T5-U C-Store ship cost more than a T6 C-Store ship, and doesn't even have the goods that a T6 does.

Then, you have select ships with free upgrades to T5-U, while others have to pay for the same thing just because they didn't gamble, or buy it from the exchange. Then, you have other good ships that don't even have the option to upgrade.

The entire system was made while ones over it were blinded by dollar signs in their eyes. There are a lot of ways this could have gone better. However, there have been a lot of things done in the game recently that could have been done a lot better.

I have nothing against a company making money. However, when you are making a "game" it should still be fun to actually play. Micro-transactions are okay. But when it feels like they are trying to force you into buying so that you can compete, it is shameful. The upgrade (both ship, gear and weapons), crafting, new doff changes, etc. Everything now cost Dil, whereas before there was more than just grind in the game (Dil and level).

So, the problem is not so much that they just did something wrong, it is that they are blinded by money to do anything in a way that is focused on the gaming experience. It is turning into more of a Star Trek Online work experience, than a Star Trek Online game.

Hopefully they will see this, and start actually fixing some of the things that are pushing players away when there is no special event going on.

rattler2

I agree with Virus in that non Intel designated ships like the Guardian or the Sarr Theln shouldn't be limited to only Intel BOffs. They aren't specifically Intel ships. They are general purpose ships. Making ships like the Guardian able to slot Command BOffs doesn't stop people from getting Command ships. It will expose more people to the new Command powers, thus increase the desire to get the designated Command ships for more powerful Command abilities.

It just doesn't make sense not to retrofit the existing non Intel T6 hybrid slots to accept any hybrid BOff in the future.