What I would like to see is some guides in the game. Something to help new players with basic builds.
^^This!
When you first start playing you basically have no clue how to set up your ship and when you level up you get a constant flow of new ships with messed up load outs. No matter the type of ship you pick you end up with beams, dual beams, cannons, turrets, etc... all mixed together. They basically set up players for failure giving them ships with junk like that on them. I realized Cryptic Devs have no idea how to play their own game when they released that mission where you need to fly the Dyson Destroyer. That ships weapon load out is completely rubbish...and obviously that mission is end game so seriously wtf?
I realized Cryptic Devs have no idea how to play their own game when they released that mission where you need to fly the Dyson Destroyer. That ships weapon load out is completely rubbish...and obviously that mission is end game so seriously wtf?
This x 1000!!
I couldn't believe the way that ship was set up, every time I play that mission, all I can think the entire times is 'who would ever set up a ship this way?'
I guess that explains why most of the missions seem so easy.. if they're all set up assuming you build ships like Cryptic, no wonder most of us jack stop all the content.
I couldn't believe the way that ship was set up, every time I play that mission, all I can think the entire times is 'who would ever set up a ship this way?'
I guess that explains why most of the missions seem so easy.. if they're all set up assuming you build ships like Cryptic, no wonder most of us jack stop all the content.
Once, I did the mission a bit late (around midnight) and felt asleep on my keyboard. I wake up a few minutes later.
I would say this ship have a low DPS, but DPS is not the proper word for it. I don't think it helped sell this ship anyway.
I would say this ship have a low DPS, but DPS is not the proper word for it. I don't think it helped sell this ship anyway.
It was very strange that they set up a ship like that with the intent to sell it.
Most players probably came away from that mission thinking the Dyson Destroyers are the worst ships in the game just based on the way it performs in that mission.
It does further the argument that the people that wrote the mission don't know how to play the game. No Dev that wanted to sell that ship would have set it up that way. It was as if the ship layout was done by someone that had never touched the game in their lives.
1) get a set of AP weapons. You can farm some from a mission, if nothing else, or craft them, or get some rejects off the exchange. This will be your ONLY major expense, if you do not use the mission reward ones.
2) get the set. That means doing sphere of influence 2 times for beam and warp core.
3) craft, buy, or loot AP consoles for your tac slots. This could cost you a little if you buy them.
4) set up your bridge officers for damage. 2 copies of power to weapons. 2 copies of your weapon attacks (faw, for example). 2 copies of pattern beta (attack pattern) if you can fit it. A variety of healing/defense skills ... tac team 1, hazard emitters, sci team/TSS, maybe a polarize hull if you have room, maybe an eng heal if you have room, depends on the ship's seats.
5) use a tactical themed ship to get started. Later, when you have stuffs, you can learn to play other types of ships with high dps.
6) be sure to max weapon power.
7) if you use cannons, get 3k or less from targets, 5 at an absolute max. It is easier to use beams.
This is just the bare bones of a build but its cheap and will get you started.
It was very strange that they set up a ship like that with the intent to sell it.
Most players probably came away from that mission thinking the Dyson Destroyers are the worst ships in the game just based on the way it performs in that mission.
It does further the argument that the people that wrote the mission don't know how to play the game. No Dev that wanted to sell that ship would have set it up that way. It was as if the ship layout was done by someone that had never touched the game in their lives.
They did try to sell that ship though, if you looked at the gear it came with, it was all ultra high end stuff that was locked into the slot on the ship. All the gear was way better than you could get at the time, to give the player a false impression of how overpowered it was, but I really don't think they know how badly set up the ship was other than that.
Plus the way your hotkeys get randomized whenever you jump into a new ship is pretty disturbing, they still can't get that right after these years.
What I would like to see is some guides in the game. Something to help new players with basic builds.
Having the basics be more intuitive would be great. However, I personally can't think of any game that relies on in-game guides - if for no other reason than that you can't get player-driven guides in, and in basically every game the players are the ones that know or figure out how to get the most out of the current state of the game given any one focus. For anyone looking for such guides, though, I'd refer new users to /r/stobuilds.
Having the basics be more intuitive would be great. However, I personally can't think of any game that relies on in-game guides - if for no other reason than that you can't get player-driven guides in, and in basically every game the players are the ones that know or figure out how to get the most out of the current state of the game given any one focus. For anyone looking for such guides, though, I'd refer new users to /r/stobuilds.
I found anytime I was thinking of a new ship, or I'd buy a new ship to play around with I'd do a google search like "STO Reddit JHDC" or 'STO Builds Guardian" etc. Was an easy way to see what others not only do with a ship, but reading peoples replies on the build.
Also helps that Reddit isn't blocked at work so free to read up there. lol
Thanks for the positive responses to this post. Sorry if I should have posted this in a different category, it's just that the debate about dps was happening here so I put it here. A mod should move it if they think that's necessary.
And, yes, I do see people parsing 3000-6000 in ISA frequently, even people from the public elite stf channel. I also see people parsing below 1000 in other missions where dps is 1/2 to 1/3 of what it is in ISA... that basically means everyone else is doing the work.
And people, when we're teaming up for KSA, say that they can't do probes because their build isn't set up for DPS. It's 2 probes in 60 seconds - any build should be able to handle that *as well as* doing whatever cool thing (tanking, CC, whatever) it's set up to do.
I'm just not seeing it. I follow these threads. I copy the builds. I copy the skillsets. I keep my nose on the target and not waste shots. I see numbers scrolling everywhere and I get to the end and look... 9k dps.
I have spent a ton of dilithium upgrading this console and that weapon because they do this, that, or something else and will let you get 20k dps mashing buttons with your nose. I have spent millions upon millions of EC on gear to upgrade to get to epic and pray for the stat lottery gods to smile upon me - all the while dumping truckloads of Dil into the system. Then I go out and I see 480 dps gained. 480!
I guess I am not using the right ship and need to spend $1000 on lockboxes to get that perfect Lobi setup. Well, not happening. The world is just going to have to deal with my 9k dps. I am done chasing that rat in the unending rat race.
Mad? No. Clueless? I guess so. It seems so. The numbers say so. Determined? Not any more. Paint me in scrub paint. I'm done throwing time and resources at it.
Mad? No. Clueless? I guess so. It seems so. The numbers say so. Determined? Not any more. Paint me in scrub paint. I'm done throwing time and resources at it.
At times just knowing how to run the ship you are in well can make up for gear. Get the skill tray setup so you are comfortable popping the skills you need quickly, learn your ship(s) a ha'feh pilots way different than a bortas'qu and requires very different play styles. Also, like baelogventure sorta mentioned, hardware(yours and cryptic's) can play a major role and connection speeds. Considering you're over the 9k line I wouldn't say you have much to worry about tho really, you're ahead of a ton of people.
one last thing I think affects dps and gets forgotten too often, not everyone is some teenager hopped up on speed(sugar/whatever) mashin buttons like he's having a seizure at light speed. and not all of us want to bother tryin that ****.
To elaborate on this, use /combatlog 1 while in game to get STO to generate a combatlog.log file. Use /combatlog 0 to get STO to stop logging. Then you use CLR (linked above) to parse that log file into human-readable results.
I'm just not seeing it. I follow these threads. I copy the builds. I copy the skillsets. I keep my nose on the target and not waste shots. I see numbers scrolling everywhere and I get to the end and look... 9k dps.
I have spent a ton of dilithium upgrading this console and that weapon because they do this, that, or something else and will let you get 20k dps mashing buttons with your nose. I have spent millions upon millions of EC on gear to upgrade to get to epic and pray for the stat lottery gods to smile upon me - all the while dumping truckloads of Dil into the system. Then I go out and I see 480 dps gained. 480!
I guess I am not using the right ship and need to spend $1000 on lockboxes to get that perfect Lobi setup. Well, not happening. The world is just going to have to deal with my 9k dps. I am done chasing that rat in the unending rat race.
Anyone who tells you the sentence highlighted above is full of ****, and invariably have some stupid agenda they're trying to push. Like that guy who's everywhere talking about plasma doping right now, trying to get it nerfed so he'd have less competition on the epeen charts.
Presumably when you say you copied the build, those builds are at least 30k. If you're getting 9k out of them, then the problem is with piloting, and throwing thousands of dollars into the game won't do jack.
Are you flying aggressively, staying within 3km of all targets, minimizing time when you're not shooting? Are your controls properly set up? Are you spamming spacebar with everything firing instead of timing abilities? Are you using abilities (particularly long cooldown abilities) at the appropriate time, not just willy-nilly? If you're a Tac, are you getting your GDF? Are you familiar with the coat hanger?
Anyone who tells you the sentence highlighted above is full of ****, and invariably have some stupid agenda they're trying to push. Like that guy who's everywhere talking about plasma doping right now, trying to get it nerfed so he'd have less competition on the epeen charts.
Presumably when you say you copied the build, those builds are at least 30k. If you're getting 9k out of them, then the problem is with piloting, and throwing thousands of dollars into the game won't do jack.
Are you flying aggressively, staying within 3km of all targets, minimizing time when you're not shooting? Are your controls properly set up? Are you spamming spacebar with everything firing instead of timing abilities? Are you using abilities (particularly long cooldown abilities) at the appropriate time, not just willy-nilly? If you're a Tac, are you getting your GDF? Are you familiar with the coat hanger?
Yes, I know how to do ISA. I fly a science captain in a science ship. Those skills don't do well on faceroll mode. :P I have a plethora of science slots but not much for tactical slots - not much for tactical abilities. The Rhode Island Fleet T5-U is decent enough on tactical powers. A carrier gives more DPS because the pets are huge contributors. But they can't compete with a cruiser/scimitar bfaw. Those are the people I see doing 30k+ when I read the parses.
I guess I should have said I mimic the builds the best my ship can. Unless I am flying the exact same ship, I'm not going to get anywhere close to their 30k. But I did expect a bit better of show than 9k.
Use cruisers would be my advice for topping dps. I manage 18k-20k in my auxtbat sovereign beam boat in conduit but I'm really killing myself doing 10-12k in my prometheus. I keep two rapid fire cooldowns for most targets and even chain a gravity well with cannon volley when the spheres come out with attack pat alpha and omega up, but for some reason my escorts just can't match the sustained damage.
Dsiclaimer: I haven't read most of the thread, mostly just the first post, but i thought id share anyway.
Just as an example for anyone doubting the advise in the OP works.
I was running a cannon build on a KDF vet destroyer until recently, now I have a little bit of fancy gear, full borg set, elite fleet core 2 fleet tac consoles and I was filled with advanced fleet cannons/turrets. I was pulling a lazy 8k dps without trying.
last week I swapped out the cannons for dual beams and grabbed a omni disruptor to put in the back with the KCB and a turret because I had nothing to replace the turret with at the time. the dual beams were just elachi MK XII off the exchange because they were cheap. swapped out the cannon skills for overload, mainly because I deliberately didn't want to go FaW. DPS jumped by 2k just because I had a little more time on target with the wider arc of the dual beams.
last night I threw the same gear into a Mat'ha raptor with minor variations and added a 4th DBB (MK XI only becuase its what I had on hand) and filled the two Intel officer slots with overload subsystem safties. Havent parsed the results yet but it sure felt like everything was dying faster and i haven't even unlocked all the masteries on the raptor yet.
Doffs are a mix of green and blue one that match the abilities I have but nothing hard to get.
So yes, it really is not hard to get 8k these days, you can do it without even touching the upgrade system.
Also for the record the captain in question is not even tactical, she's an engineer.
I guess I should have said I mimic the builds the best my ship can. Unless I am flying the exact same ship, I'm not going to get anywhere close to their 30k. But I did expect a bit better of show than 9k.
Well, you can't copy a non-science ship build and expect a science ship to perform as well when you're missing big bits and pieces.
I'd recommend looking over science ship builds, like this 35k (in PUGs!) Pathfinder. Play to the strengths of the ship, you know?
I couldn't believe the way that ship was set up, every time I play that mission, all I can think the entire times is 'who would ever set up a ship this way?'
I guess that explains why most of the missions seem so easy.. if they're all set up assuming you build ships like Cryptic, no wonder most of us jack stop all the content.
I keep wishing I could permanently save a loadout for Step Between Stars, Sphere of Influence, and Temporal Ambassador.
Beyond the gear, just the tray layout is the hottest of hot hot garbage.
"Rise like Lions after slumber, In unvanquishable number, Shake your chains to earth like dew, Which in sleep had fallen on you-Ye are many they are few"
I TRIBBLE 8k dps on alts which literally only have Rep Gear (XII with crappy random mods such Rom, protonic, etc because I got them for free while leveling reps) No KCB, no plasmatic Leach, no lockbox gear whatsoever, no Space Warfare Doffs......
A better question would be how can you fail to do 8k dps?
Actually it's rather simple if you don't understand the system. Poor ship choices is probably the first way you TRIBBLE it up, then add in poor BOff skills because they sound really good on paper... but suck in practice (Viral Matrix for example), and poor choices with Rep Gear, x2 if you add poor rep gear that doesn't help your role.
For example I take a Galaxy cruiser, with phaser beams, a forward and aft photon torps, and using your engineer skills layered on damage mitigation to form a tank. Heck add Tets instead of Phasers actually because that shield drain looks damn good on paper.
Or couple in the fact that you use beams that two patches ago were great but have been nerfed into oblivion (I remember when Antiprotons were the best... then the worst...)
So it's not hard to do less then 8k if no ones told you the in's and outs of STO. Once though you have the basics... sure you can do all kinds of damage with mediocre gear because you know how to build around that gears strengths.
I'm just not seeing it. I follow these threads. I copy the builds. I copy the skillsets. I keep my nose on the target and not waste shots. I see numbers scrolling everywhere and I get to the end and look... 9k dps.
I have spent a ton of dilithium upgrading this console and that weapon because they do this, that, or something else and will let you get 20k dps mashing buttons with your nose. I have spent millions upon millions of EC on gear to upgrade to get to epic and pray for the stat lottery gods to smile upon me - all the while dumping truckloads of Dil into the system. Then I go out and I see 480 dps gained. 480!
I guess I am not using the right ship and need to spend $1000 on lockboxes to get that perfect Lobi setup. Well, not happening. The world is just going to have to deal with my 9k dps. I am done chasing that rat in the unending rat race.
Mad? No. Clueless? I guess so. It seems so. The numbers say so. Determined? Not any more. Paint me in scrub paint. I'm done throwing time and resources at it.
Depending on the ship, a lot of it suddenly comes in spurts. I know as a science ship driver I don't have a smooth curve with DPS gain. I really needed to stack a lot of gear and boffs to start seeing a difference.
The other issue is, you can read all the guides you want, build your ship to the specs perfect for the top DPS people, but if you don't know the rotation they're using to achieve that dps, it's not going to work for you. For example, you can find FAW builds all over here. But if you don't know the exact order of skills that you need to push in order to maximize your FAW build, you'll just be button mashing and quite possibly getting sub-optimal dps.
But you're right. Everyone says you need XYZ to be "good". Quite honestly the amount of time and effort these top players put into their ships is almost not worth the time, unless that's what you enjoy doing. I've been playing on and off for 5 years now, I was in closed beta for goodness sake, and my science ship is just beginning to get to the point where it's competative again.
It doesn't help that as soon as I get a build I enjoy and like Cryptic will nerf the hell out of something and ruin it forcing me back to the drawing board. But it took me 5 years... 5 years... to get my science ship where I want it.
Great OP, more peeps need to read it. The funny thing is we also know that Plasma Doping (Embassy +Pla consoles plus Spire +Beam Locators) will be nerfed. Borticus has said it will be addressed already, though it could happen next patch or next year, similar to the Full Auto Rifles giving double damage since DR dropped until just over a week ago.
It is awkward though when you turn up in a Tier 4 Defiant with Mk VIII Blue and Purple gear and out DPS Scimitar's with heavily upgraded gear. Even worse when the embarrassed Scimi pilot then rages at you for it...
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."
What does DPS mean to a player who cannot see said DPS? What program(s) are people supposed to use to accurately record dps?
Hey, Devs...it would be awesome if you could find a way to put a dps parser into the game for the player's eyes only. I know there are a couple 3rd party parsers but something in-game would do wonders to help the community adjust to the changes made since DR.
If a player has some metric to go by, they might even feel compelled to make purchases and/or craft to get those numbers up.
I'm just not seeing it. I follow these threads. I copy the builds. I copy the skillsets. I keep my nose on the target and not waste shots. I see numbers scrolling everywhere and I get to the end and look... 9k dps.
I have spent a ton of dilithium upgrading this console and that weapon because they do this, that, or something else and will let you get 20k dps mashing buttons with your nose. I have spent millions upon millions of EC on gear to upgrade to get to epic and pray for the stat lottery gods to smile upon me - all the while dumping truckloads of Dil into the system. Then I go out and I see 480 dps gained. 480!
I guess I am not using the right ship and need to spend $1000 on lockboxes to get that perfect Lobi setup. Well, not happening. The world is just going to have to deal with my 9k dps. I am done chasing that rat in the unending rat race.
Mad? No. Clueless? I guess so. It seems so. The numbers say so. Determined? Not any more. Paint me in scrub paint. I'm done throwing time and resources at it.
Same here.
I think, there is a lot exaggeration about the dps "with no $ and upgrades and consoles" Also, no one is mentioning their class. i think for a reason. As this game is all about dps, everyone is now a tac escort or similar.
But not me. I am happy to be one of the ~10% active eng captains flying a cruiser with appropriate/ originally intended purpose. Since DR i don't play the game on regular bases anymore. But if i do, then I am running elites exclusively, as other queues aren't worth the time.
Since the responsibility for the recently introduced dps-centric gameplay does not bear on us, don't blame me or other <10k dsp ppl for failing optionals or stf's.
Neither I think, that the dps-catch-up game is a good method, to pressure the players into spending money.
You'll find that may be the average for DPS10k (and that seems to be the case since DR and the upgrades with a new influx of members). It sure as HELL isn't the join-the-pve-queue-for-a-PUG average range. Not even close. Define PUG? If you're on PESTF you're already doubling the average PUG DPS levels. If somebody creates the match and invites you, it's NOT a PUG!
PUG is joining the unwashed masses and just hitting the "join queue" button on the PvE screen. You do that enough and I guaran-damn-tee you the numbers you see will be 3k (or less) on average.
Another thing to consider is people mixing weapons types. Mixing beams and cannons will always result in a net loss. Also cannons are inherently inferior to beams even without FAW. FAW pushes beams way way way ahead.
Torpedoes are inherently inferior against anything with shields...unless maybe some of the expensive rep gear and the Breen and Kobali clusters torps....
It is awkward though when you turn up in a Tier 4 Defiant with Mk VIII Blue and Purple gear and out DPS Scimitar's with heavily upgraded gear. Even worse when the embarrassed Scimi pilot then rages at you for it...
I believe this has something to do with more with the pilot than ship. A Defiant t4 plasma doping wont out DPS a Scimitar that uses AP consoles unless there is a huge gap between piloting skill.
Comments
isa 12K dps
^^This!
When you first start playing you basically have no clue how to set up your ship and when you level up you get a constant flow of new ships with messed up load outs. No matter the type of ship you pick you end up with beams, dual beams, cannons, turrets, etc... all mixed together. They basically set up players for failure giving them ships with junk like that on them. I realized Cryptic Devs have no idea how to play their own game when they released that mission where you need to fly the Dyson Destroyer. That ships weapon load out is completely rubbish...and obviously that mission is end game so seriously wtf?
This x 1000!!
I couldn't believe the way that ship was set up, every time I play that mission, all I can think the entire times is 'who would ever set up a ship this way?'
I guess that explains why most of the missions seem so easy.. if they're all set up assuming you build ships like Cryptic, no wonder most of us jack stop all the content.
I would say this ship have a low DPS, but DPS is not the proper word for it. I don't think it helped sell this ship anyway.
It was very strange that they set up a ship like that with the intent to sell it.
Most players probably came away from that mission thinking the Dyson Destroyers are the worst ships in the game just based on the way it performs in that mission.
It does further the argument that the people that wrote the mission don't know how to play the game. No Dev that wanted to sell that ship would have set it up that way. It was as if the ship layout was done by someone that had never touched the game in their lives.
its much more simple.
1) get a set of AP weapons. You can farm some from a mission, if nothing else, or craft them, or get some rejects off the exchange. This will be your ONLY major expense, if you do not use the mission reward ones.
2) get the set. That means doing sphere of influence 2 times for beam and warp core.
3) craft, buy, or loot AP consoles for your tac slots. This could cost you a little if you buy them.
4) set up your bridge officers for damage. 2 copies of power to weapons. 2 copies of your weapon attacks (faw, for example). 2 copies of pattern beta (attack pattern) if you can fit it. A variety of healing/defense skills ... tac team 1, hazard emitters, sci team/TSS, maybe a polarize hull if you have room, maybe an eng heal if you have room, depends on the ship's seats.
5) use a tactical themed ship to get started. Later, when you have stuffs, you can learn to play other types of ships with high dps.
6) be sure to max weapon power.
7) if you use cannons, get 3k or less from targets, 5 at an absolute max. It is easier to use beams.
This is just the bare bones of a build but its cheap and will get you started.
They did try to sell that ship though, if you looked at the gear it came with, it was all ultra high end stuff that was locked into the slot on the ship. All the gear was way better than you could get at the time, to give the player a false impression of how overpowered it was, but I really don't think they know how badly set up the ship was other than that.
Plus the way your hotkeys get randomized whenever you jump into a new ship is pretty disturbing, they still can't get that right after these years.
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Having the basics be more intuitive would be great. However, I personally can't think of any game that relies on in-game guides - if for no other reason than that you can't get player-driven guides in, and in basically every game the players are the ones that know or figure out how to get the most out of the current state of the game given any one focus. For anyone looking for such guides, though, I'd refer new users to /r/stobuilds.
The /r/stobuilds wiki has analysis on gear, starter ship builds, advanced builds, and much more.
SCM - Hive (S) - [02:31] DMG(DPS) - @jarvisandalfred: 30.62M(204.66K) - Fed Sci
Tacs are overrated.
Game's best wiki
Build questions? Look here!
I found anytime I was thinking of a new ship, or I'd buy a new ship to play around with I'd do a google search like "STO Reddit JHDC" or 'STO Builds Guardian" etc. Was an easy way to see what others not only do with a ship, but reading peoples replies on the build.
Also helps that Reddit isn't blocked at work so free to read up there. lol
And, yes, I do see people parsing 3000-6000 in ISA frequently, even people from the public elite stf channel. I also see people parsing below 1000 in other missions where dps is 1/2 to 1/3 of what it is in ISA... that basically means everyone else is doing the work.
And people, when we're teaming up for KSA, say that they can't do probes because their build isn't set up for DPS. It's 2 probes in 60 seconds - any build should be able to handle that *as well as* doing whatever cool thing (tanking, CC, whatever) it's set up to do.
I have spent a ton of dilithium upgrading this console and that weapon because they do this, that, or something else and will let you get 20k dps mashing buttons with your nose. I have spent millions upon millions of EC on gear to upgrade to get to epic and pray for the stat lottery gods to smile upon me - all the while dumping truckloads of Dil into the system. Then I go out and I see 480 dps gained. 480!
I guess I am not using the right ship and need to spend $1000 on lockboxes to get that perfect Lobi setup. Well, not happening. The world is just going to have to deal with my 9k dps. I am done chasing that rat in the unending rat race.
Mad? No. Clueless? I guess so. It seems so. The numbers say so. Determined? Not any more. Paint me in scrub paint. I'm done throwing time and resources at it.
Skill Layout.
Ship Type.
Universal Consoles.
BOff Types.
DOff Types.
Reputation Space Traits.
Captain Space Traits.
Team Configuration.
Pilot Skill. (Which encompasses a lot of other variables)
Server Stability.
And even if you have STO running at 60fps (or more) vs 30fps.
At times just knowing how to run the ship you are in well can make up for gear. Get the skill tray setup so you are comfortable popping the skills you need quickly, learn your ship(s) a ha'feh pilots way different than a bortas'qu and requires very different play styles. Also, like baelogventure sorta mentioned, hardware(yours and cryptic's) can play a major role and connection speeds. Considering you're over the 9k line I wouldn't say you have much to worry about tho really, you're ahead of a ton of people.
one last thing I think affects dps and gets forgotten too often, not everyone is some teenager hopped up on speed(sugar/whatever) mashin buttons like he's having a seizure at light speed. and not all of us want to bother tryin that ****.
To elaborate on this, use /combatlog 1 while in game to get STO to generate a combatlog.log file. Use /combatlog 0 to get STO to stop logging. Then you use CLR (linked above) to parse that log file into human-readable results.
Anyone who tells you the sentence highlighted above is full of ****, and invariably have some stupid agenda they're trying to push. Like that guy who's everywhere talking about plasma doping right now, trying to get it nerfed so he'd have less competition on the epeen charts.
Presumably when you say you copied the build, those builds are at least 30k. If you're getting 9k out of them, then the problem is with piloting, and throwing thousands of dollars into the game won't do jack.
Are you flying aggressively, staying within 3km of all targets, minimizing time when you're not shooting? Are your controls properly set up? Are you spamming spacebar with everything firing instead of timing abilities? Are you using abilities (particularly long cooldown abilities) at the appropriate time, not just willy-nilly? If you're a Tac, are you getting your GDF? Are you familiar with the coat hanger?
Yes, I know how to do ISA. I fly a science captain in a science ship. Those skills don't do well on faceroll mode. :P I have a plethora of science slots but not much for tactical slots - not much for tactical abilities. The Rhode Island Fleet T5-U is decent enough on tactical powers. A carrier gives more DPS because the pets are huge contributors. But they can't compete with a cruiser/scimitar bfaw. Those are the people I see doing 30k+ when I read the parses.
I guess I should have said I mimic the builds the best my ship can. Unless I am flying the exact same ship, I'm not going to get anywhere close to their 30k. But I did expect a bit better of show than 9k.
Just as an example for anyone doubting the advise in the OP works.
I was running a cannon build on a KDF vet destroyer until recently, now I have a little bit of fancy gear, full borg set, elite fleet core 2 fleet tac consoles and I was filled with advanced fleet cannons/turrets. I was pulling a lazy 8k dps without trying.
last week I swapped out the cannons for dual beams and grabbed a omni disruptor to put in the back with the KCB and a turret because I had nothing to replace the turret with at the time. the dual beams were just elachi MK XII off the exchange because they were cheap. swapped out the cannon skills for overload, mainly because I deliberately didn't want to go FaW. DPS jumped by 2k just because I had a little more time on target with the wider arc of the dual beams.
last night I threw the same gear into a Mat'ha raptor with minor variations and added a 4th DBB (MK XI only becuase its what I had on hand) and filled the two Intel officer slots with overload subsystem safties. Havent parsed the results yet but it sure felt like everything was dying faster and i haven't even unlocked all the masteries on the raptor yet.
Doffs are a mix of green and blue one that match the abilities I have but nothing hard to get.
So yes, it really is not hard to get 8k these days, you can do it without even touching the upgrade system.
Also for the record the captain in question is not even tactical, she's an engineer.
Well, you can't copy a non-science ship build and expect a science ship to perform as well when you're missing big bits and pieces.
I'd recommend looking over science ship builds, like this 35k (in PUGs!) Pathfinder. Play to the strengths of the ship, you know?
I keep wishing I could permanently save a loadout for Step Between Stars, Sphere of Influence, and Temporal Ambassador.
Beyond the gear, just the tray layout is the hottest of hot hot garbage.
Actually it's rather simple if you don't understand the system. Poor ship choices is probably the first way you TRIBBLE it up, then add in poor BOff skills because they sound really good on paper... but suck in practice (Viral Matrix for example), and poor choices with Rep Gear, x2 if you add poor rep gear that doesn't help your role.
For example I take a Galaxy cruiser, with phaser beams, a forward and aft photon torps, and using your engineer skills layered on damage mitigation to form a tank. Heck add Tets instead of Phasers actually because that shield drain looks damn good on paper.
Or couple in the fact that you use beams that two patches ago were great but have been nerfed into oblivion (I remember when Antiprotons were the best... then the worst...)
So it's not hard to do less then 8k if no ones told you the in's and outs of STO. Once though you have the basics... sure you can do all kinds of damage with mediocre gear because you know how to build around that gears strengths.
Depending on the ship, a lot of it suddenly comes in spurts. I know as a science ship driver I don't have a smooth curve with DPS gain. I really needed to stack a lot of gear and boffs to start seeing a difference.
The other issue is, you can read all the guides you want, build your ship to the specs perfect for the top DPS people, but if you don't know the rotation they're using to achieve that dps, it's not going to work for you. For example, you can find FAW builds all over here. But if you don't know the exact order of skills that you need to push in order to maximize your FAW build, you'll just be button mashing and quite possibly getting sub-optimal dps.
But you're right. Everyone says you need XYZ to be "good". Quite honestly the amount of time and effort these top players put into their ships is almost not worth the time, unless that's what you enjoy doing. I've been playing on and off for 5 years now, I was in closed beta for goodness sake, and my science ship is just beginning to get to the point where it's competative again.
It doesn't help that as soon as I get a build I enjoy and like Cryptic will nerf the hell out of something and ruin it forcing me back to the drawing board. But it took me 5 years... 5 years... to get my science ship where I want it.
Noticed about the same.
It is awkward though when you turn up in a Tier 4 Defiant with Mk VIII Blue and Purple gear and out DPS Scimitar's with heavily upgraded gear. Even worse when the embarrassed Scimi pilot then rages at you for it...
"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."
before 60 he had 3,3K dps on ISA
with lvl 60 he got a respek token and I helped him to properly set his skills
he got almost no rep-system progress (omega T2)
3 piece dyson set (free) from the mission
mk11 purple AP beams (free) from the borg mission
mk11-12 tac consoles dif colours from random drops
other consoles random stuff from missions mk7-11
traits: all the standart space ones every1 got + living hull (free)
then I helped him setting up the right boff abilites and to manage powerlvls
and there he goes 13K on ISA
with just a respec token investment
even if u cant get the respekltoken
10K dps is so easy with every new toon
Hey, Devs...it would be awesome if you could find a way to put a dps parser into the game for the player's eyes only. I know there are a couple 3rd party parsers but something in-game would do wonders to help the community adjust to the changes made since DR.
If a player has some metric to go by, they might even feel compelled to make purchases and/or craft to get those numbers up.
Same here.
I think, there is a lot exaggeration about the dps "with no $ and upgrades and consoles" Also, no one is mentioning their class. i think for a reason. As this game is all about dps, everyone is now a tac escort or similar.
But not me. I am happy to be one of the ~10% active eng captains flying a cruiser with appropriate/ originally intended purpose. Since DR i don't play the game on regular bases anymore. But if i do, then I am running elites exclusively, as other queues aren't worth the time.
Since the responsibility for the recently introduced dps-centric gameplay does not bear on us, don't blame me or other <10k dsp ppl for failing optionals or stf's.
Neither I think, that the dps-catch-up game is a good method, to pressure the players into spending money.
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Bullflop. Pure and simple bullflop.
You'll find that may be the average for DPS10k (and that seems to be the case since DR and the upgrades with a new influx of members). It sure as HELL isn't the join-the-pve-queue-for-a-PUG average range. Not even close. Define PUG? If you're on PESTF you're already doubling the average PUG DPS levels. If somebody creates the match and invites you, it's NOT a PUG!
PUG is joining the unwashed masses and just hitting the "join queue" button on the PvE screen. You do that enough and I guaran-damn-tee you the numbers you see will be 3k (or less) on average.
Torpedoes are inherently inferior against anything with shields...unless maybe some of the expensive rep gear and the Breen and Kobali clusters torps....
I believe this has something to do with more with the pilot than ship. A Defiant t4 plasma doping wont out DPS a Scimitar that uses AP consoles unless there is a huge gap between piloting skill.