The potential for a skill revamp concerns me...it was meant literally as a dumbed down version of the MMO Trinity, which I'm not a fan of it in the first place - but I kind of dig how STO allows for a more natural creation of those roles if somebody wants to run them rather than the canned way it's done in many games.
TBH, i like the MMO trinity, if aytthing it helps differentiate people and push away the "more deeps, MORE DEEPS" attitude. Most importantly, it makes it easier to create unique fight mechanics when you know certain roles will always be present.
TBH, i like the MMO trinity, if aytthing it helps differentiate people and push away the "more deeps, MORE DEEPS" attitude. Most importantly, it makes it easier to create unique fight mechanics when you know certain roles will always be present.
All the MMO Trinity is...is DPS.
Can the Tank in combination with the Healer survive the incoming DPS? Can the DPS deliver enough DPS? It's canned though...and it's irksome as Hell, imho. You've got some "boss" that's a threat to the known world, but there it is smacking on the meatshield while ignoring the guy keeping the meatshield alive and ignoring the guys actually killing it.
STO's issue, imho, is that NPCs just aren't a threat. It's a casual game, it's a monster farm...come home from work, school, whatever...and lob some grenades into a barrel of fish...wheee! /facepalm
I believe it's one of the reasons that this Tachyon thing is rubbing some folks the wrong way...cause they're just a wee bit of a threat now.
In STO we have to spend so little effort worrying about that incoming DPS, that of course we're basically left to focus on the outgoing DPS...the NPCs are so little a threat, that one quickly reaches the point where the best defense is simply more offense. The NPCs are just that weak.
Giving them additional health didn't increase difficulty...it just adjusted the engagement time for the average player. They just had to slap the mobs around a little longer.
Picture hitting up an "Advanced/Elite" dungeon in some other MMO...think about what would happen to somebody charging into a group of trash mobs by themselves, eh? Here in STO...is that a concern? The closest thing I've seen to that would be a quick CCA run where the Tholians are left alone so they're all there at the end...and everybody leaves, so you're there by yourself. So just how many Tholians is that...? And it's still nowhere near the fight a much smaller group of trash mobs would be in another MMO.
If STO were sporting the MMO Trinity, how much of the content would disappear? How many ways would things end up being so limited that folks just couldn't do things in a variety of ways for the content that remained?
With what it's got though, everybody can build for parts of it - it's just that, imho, it's just a monster farm sort of thing...so there's not the need to build for it. And well, the requirements are so low that even a Tank/Healer is going to put out DPS that's overkill for the content.
And if folks really want to get together to run content that allows for it, there's nothing stopping folks from putting together their Tank/Heals/3xDPS groups and hitting up that content...
...it's not something where, imho, we need the canned roles and the tedious scripted content.
I want more dynamic content...not more static content. I want more actual challenge...less gear check and don't stand in the fire challenge.
Which is where I kind of dig the Tachyon change...though, I do question if the scaling might not be off.
The potential for a skill revamp concerns me...it was meant literally as a dumbed down version of the MMO Trinity, which I'm not a fan of it in the first place - but I kind of dig how STO allows for a more natural creation of those roles if somebody wants to run them rather than the canned way it's done in many games.
When it came down to it, it was mentioned that a dumbing down would disproportionately affect science captains negatively. They're better off leaving things as they are, but adjusting some of the less used skills.
When it came down to it, it was mentioned that a dumbing down would disproportionately affect science captains negatively. They're better off leaving things as they are, but adjusting some of the less used skills.
I stopped listening to the various podcasts, so I'm woefully out of the loop - so the last I'd heard was some time back, and it was basically a skill revamp that would look something more like what we've been seeing with the Specializations rather than the points/ranks we've got now...has more been said about what they're potentially doing with that?
I stopped listening to the various podcasts, so I'm woefully out of the loop - so the last I'd heard was some time back, and it was basically a skill revamp that would look something more like what we've been seeing with the Specializations rather than the points/ranks we've got now...has more been said about what they're potentially doing with that?
Geko said something about dumbing it down to 3 skill points instead of the 9 we use now per skill. Can't find the thread about it, and it doesn't help my Google search that I post so much.
So you get how to counteract against the stronger NPC Tachyon Beams? Or are you going to be like many in this thread that will stamp their feet in anger that they have to do something else against these attacks?
I said what I said because it's a very simple and true observation. If it seems like a PVP vs PVE thing, it is... Because the PVP crowd is used to seeing very heavy hazards landing, in particular from some Science-heavy builds. If you didn't know how to resist and/or counter those, you were going to die. But PVE?... Other than the high end Borg Plasma DOTs, until now, what other Hazards in this game did the NPCs do on you on a regular basis that you had to take proper action against it or risk destruction?
NONE. ZILCH. ZERO.
Believe it or not, SPACEbar does not resolve all issues in STO's combat. The PVE in this game does absolutely NOTHING to prepare you for more serious threats, as this thread and the complainers has excellently shown. Most esp so with some coming from veteran players that have been around a while but seem to not be aware of how to clear a simple hazard, which Tachyon Beam basically is.
As I've said before, the means to counteract these drains are already there in the game, and can be done so with even Ensign level abilities. Not to mention the other means on removing hazards that have always existed in STO. Your shields will drop... Yes, but you can take immediate actions to remove the hazard and get your shields back up to protect your hull. Or you can have a variant on that and have your hull resists (remember those guys???) protecting you until your hazard removal abilities are back.
But by all means, continue to stamp your feet in anger.
I disagree.
It isn't a PvP versus PvE thing. It's you and lucho who are using it as an excuse to turn it into such.
What it is, to be honest, is a lack of common sense based on a long time over focus on DPS at the expense of all else due to poor mechanics.
You see, I'm of the school of thought that you have to SURVIVE to destroy the enemy. Being a "glass cannon" will, sooner or later, will come back to bite you in the TRIBBLE. And defences have to be constantly improved as you learn and climb up the difficulty scale.
And I learned all of this not through PvP, but via the variety of NPCs in the game. Especially from the Borg STFs. As a result, all of my ships are set up with an eye toward survival, at the expense of raw DPS. After all, you can't shoot if you are constantly in respawn mode.
Sure this put me at a disadvantage. But I'm far better able to weather changes like this. And I didn't need to be a 31337 dude-bro PvPer to do it.
It isn't a PvP versus PvE thing. It's you and lucho who are using it as an excuse to turn it into such.
What it is, to be honest, is a lack of common sense based on a long time over focus on DPS at the expense of all else due to poor mechanics.
You see, I'm of the school of thought that you have to SURVIVE to destroy the enemy. Being a "glass cannon" will, sooner or later, will come back to bite you in the TRIBBLE. And defences have to be constantly improved as you learn and climb up the difficulty scale.
And I learned all of this not through PvP, but via the variety of NPCs in the game. Especially from the Borg STFs. As a result, all of my ships are set up with an eye toward survival, at the expense of raw DPS. After all, you can't shoot if you are constantly in respawn mode.
Sure this put me at a disadvantage. But I'm far better able to weather changes like this. And I didn't need to be a 31337 dude-bro PvPer to do it.
You being prepared is an exception. I look at the hilarity I see in the STFs and look at the cries of anguish from PVE Country in this thread as evidence enough to confirm my beliefs.
In PVE, not many things force you into learning a wider aspect of the game. It's become a DPS race as you said yourself and it became the most efficient way to faceroll this game. Very, very few things land debilitating effects, debuffs in any sort of real magnitude until the Tachyon Beam buff. When more NPCs do as they are now, people are panicking with ZERO clue what to do. Again, I point to this thread and other threads on these boards of PVE Heroes having ZERO clue on how to get past a simple hazard.
If you learned on your own how to get past hilarious mess, I applaud you. And I mean that. Because the hordes out in this game wouldn't know what to do when the most basic of Science debuffs land on them. How many players out there really know the dangers of these effects landing on them, their team, recognizing the signs for them, and how to clear and get past these effects?
- Voth version of Tyken's Rift (nasty business even in the normal adventure zones)
- Scramble Sensors
- Tachyon Beam
- Borg Shield Neutralizer (this is OLD but people still get hurt real badly from these)
- Borg Plasma DOT (the regular and super heavy versions that land on you)
Except for the recently buffed Tachyon Beam, those examples are OLD. And people still struggle with them not knowing what to do. I still see people in simple ISAs and recall even Pre-DR ISEs, with people burning to oblivion from the Plasma DOTs. Maybe their own hazard clearing methods were still on CD, but all the other teammates in excellent health did NOTHING to help their teammate who was set upon by the heavy burns.
But in the PVP crowd, you had to know what to do against a wider variety of actions players do against you. Because you will see everything eventually and it's not a simple matter of encountering a specific NPC ability only in certain instances. For the very simple fact that players WILL notice such a weakness of inexperience, incapability and will exploit it until you learned your lesson or you've had enough. If the enemy sees a weakness in your build, playstyle that you cannot compensate or counter for, you are going to die. Repeatedly. You will be picked on as a weakness for the team, for your side.
Both in PVE and PVP things can happen that can kill you. But in PVP you just will see far more actions than you do with NPCs that barely do abilities. Players can SPAM abilities. NPCS don't. Players have repair abilities and use them all the time. NPCs really don't. A few do but the vast majority don't. They don't even rebalance shields and use Tactical Team. Players can be found using a wide spectrum of Tactical, Engineering, Science BOFF and Captain abilities. NPCs are don't and can be considered exceptional if they do more than 1-2 abilities before players destroy them. Players come at you with a variety of builds and playstyles at any time. NPCs don't.
It's that kind of school that the PVP crowd had to learn to just even get by and not be considered a weakness to a team. Darwinism in PVP forces you to learn and adapt. The threats you face in PVE, the frequency of facing such a variety of threats in PVE do not compare to what the newbie in PVP has to learn. It's that reason why, in general, PVPers are better equipped to deal with these changes.
The tools to get past the Tachyon Beam mess existed long before DR even released. It's just PVE Country never had much in the way to really push that.
People will not like what I said. But it's the damn truth. The Faceroll PVE in this game left many PVE'ers ill-prepared to deal with any real threats. Good players, PVE or PVPers, know what to do. Some came up with creative, non-standard ways of dealing with the danger. But many, again with these threads as evidence, have ZERO clue what to do.
Correction... the skills to get past ONE USE of a MUCH LESSER tachyon beam have been around for ages. In no mission or queue will you find this, except the dead PvP queues (because only 1 other person will be left trying to play them).
The more you pretend it's a minor change and that players just need to adapt or GTFO the more I'm convinced you don't even play the game and cannot relate to the people who are experiencing the change first-hand. I know everybody's experience is subjective, but damn... you must never play against NPCs... ever!
I think they should take the NPCs ... give them 20% less HP. Then give them APO... APD... APB... GW / TYKENS. Perhaps some TBR. Also wouldn't it be hillarious if Borg Gates would hit FBP here and there. I like that idea.
You being prepared is an exception. I look at the hilarity I see in the STFs and look at the cries of anguish from PVE Country in this thread as evidence enough to confirm my beliefs.
In PVE, not many things force you into learning a wider aspect of the game. It's become a DPS race as you said yourself and it became the most efficient way to faceroll this game. Very, very few things land debilitating effects, debuffs in any sort of real magnitude until the Tachyon Beam buff. When more NPCs do as they are now, people are panicking with ZERO clue what to do. Again, I point to this thread and other threads on these boards of PVE Heroes having ZERO clue on how to get past a simple hazard.
If you learned on your own how to get past hilarious mess, I applaud you. And I mean that. Because the hordes out in this game wouldn't know what to do when the most basic of Science debuffs land on them. How many players out there really know the dangers of these effects landing on them, their team, recognizing the signs for them, and how to clear and get past these effects?
- Voth version of Tyken's Rift (nasty business even in the normal adventure zones)
- Scramble Sensors
- Tachyon Beam
- Borg Shield Neutralizer (this is OLD but people still get hurt real badly from these)
- Borg Plasma DOT (the regular and super heavy versions that land on you)
Except for the recently buffed Tachyon Beam, those examples are OLD. And people still struggle with them not knowing what to do. I still see people in simple ISAs and recall even Pre-DR ISEs, with people burning to oblivion from the Plasma DOTs. Maybe their own hazard clearing methods were still on CD, but all the other teammates in excellent health did NOTHING to help their teammate who was set upon by the heavy burns.
But in the PVP crowd, you had to know what to do against a wider variety of actions players do against you. Because you will see everything eventually and it's not a simple matter of encountering a specific NPC ability only in certain instances. For the very simple fact that players WILL notice such a weakness of inexperience, incapability and will exploit it until you learned your lesson or you've had enough. If the enemy sees a weakness in your build, playstyle that you cannot compensate or counter for, you are going to die. Repeatedly. You will be picked on as a weakness for the team, for your side.
Both in PVE and PVP things can happen that can kill you. But in PVP you just will see far more actions than you do with NPCs that barely do abilities. Players can SPAM abilities. NPCS don't. Players have repair abilities and use them all the time. NPCs really don't. A few do but the vast majority don't. They don't even rebalance shields and use Tactical Team. Players can be found using a wide spectrum of Tactical, Engineering, Science BOFF and Captain abilities. NPCs are don't and can be considered exceptional if they do more than 1-2 abilities before players destroy them. Players come at you with a variety of builds and playstyles at any time. NPCs don't.
It's that kind of school that the PVP crowd had to learn to just even get by and not be considered a weakness to a team. Darwinism in PVP forces you to learn and adapt. The threats you face in PVE, the frequency of facing such a variety of threats in PVE do not compare to what the newbie in PVP has to learn. It's that reason why, in general, PVPers are better equipped to deal with these changes.
The tools to get past the Tachyon Beam mess existed long before DR even released. It's just PVE Country never had much in the way to really push that.
People will not like what I said. But it's the damn truth. The Faceroll PVE in this game left many PVE'ers ill-prepared to deal with any real threats. Good players, PVE or PVPers, know what to do. Some came up with creative, non-standard ways of dealing with the danger. But many, again with these threads as evidence, have ZERO clue what to do.
What you describe has always been the bread and butter and the lure of multiplayer content. For years gamers had no real way to receive a challenge suitable to them or a reason to get better other than that game AI that just has more shields and bigger guns on harder levels which more than likely forces you into a single or extremely limited tactic/weapon or the survivability skills to spend minutes rather than seconds sending bullets towards your foe.
In actuality I don't mind the OP'd new shiny BFG to get nerfed routine, it sort of simulates the mechanic of - enemy creates new weapon that seems unstoppable, allies find a counter, overtime the unstoppable weapon becomes just run of the mill. Remember when a Romulan plasma torpedo would just insta kill federation targets? (Balance of Power) Now its all "captain, shields are down to 80%). As you mentioned with some people not able to adjust as quickly if you don't eventually "nerf" the performance vast parts of the game become inaccessible.
I've chosen to play this game on normal because I'm not going to spend more than $60 on a game within one year and I don't have a great deal of time to dedicate to the game. Once I get my builds the way I want I'll consistently play on harder levels. I have noticed though that when battles last for a certain length (on any level) or when you play the same NPC repeatedly they will counter your alpha strikes and show "some" (that is very small amounts of) intelligence in the use of abilities and heals and counter tactics. but I'm sure most players never notice this because of how fast they kill.
But over the last few years the balance in this game has gotten way out of control. I come from the console genre and one of the things you notice is single player mechanics and multiplayer mechanics are balanced differently. It almost requires it.
Lastly, why I like this buff - even at the expense of more deadly NPC's - and a trend I hope continues is giving multiple options to destroy an enemy quickly. I don't like being forced into a certain select set of builds/weapons in order to successfully fight an enemy. As been said for ages, why would I use Tach Beam if I can accomplish the same thing with greater efficiency shooting energy weapons at the target? Why should I be forced to plasma dope and fly scimitars to maximize my DPS in response to NPC's whose shield and HP are so ginormous high DPS vessels are the only solution to end the battle quickly? Then again, the point of an STF is to kill and do battle. If I recall it was the large cruisers Star Trek that seem to bite it more frequently in battles than the strike ships. But it would be nice to see this trend of buffing some of the non tactical abilities continue if at the least it makes players more valuable in other areas than just pew pew.
since the current skill tree was created, ages ago, the skill power insulators could passively cut any shield striping in half by filling out a tier 2 skill. at the same time, tach beam and CPB didn't get any stronger, they might have actually gotten weaker.
god forbid a pve'er might have to put 3 to 9 points in PI so they can continue to ignore tach beam like normal.
its a shame bort went to the trouble of not buffing the skill 3x across the board, now that would have been something, the skill would actually exist again. im pretty tired of particle as the go to, and sciships being the most likely to strait up murder you, id like to see them back in the control and 'alley-oop' role again, direct death dealing is an over saturated role.
I think they should take the NPCs ... give them 20% less HP. Then give them APO... APD... APB... GW / TYKENS. Perhaps some TBR. Also wouldn't it be hillarious if Borg Gates would hit FBP here and there. I like that idea.
That's what I was hoping would happen before DR released. More hull compared to Pre-DR but not to the stupid amounts that arrived with DR. And NPCs doing abilities, protecting collapsed shield facings, doing repairs, etc.
Then the videos came out from guys on Tribble, namely the Battle of Korfez one. I looked at what the effects of the NPCs were and what they were doing (basically they were doing nothing, not even protecting a collapsed shield facing). Then I read that it was "Elite" content. And couldn't help but feel disappointed.
since the current skill tree was created, ages ago, the skill power insulators could passively cut any shield striping in half by filling out a tier 2 skill. at the same time, tach beam and CPB didn't get any stronger, they might have actually gotten weaker.
god forbid a pve'er might have to put 3 to 9 points in PI so they can continue to ignore tach beam like normal.
its a shame bort went to the trouble of not buffing the skill 3x across the board, now that would have been something, the skill would actually exist again. im pretty tired of particle as the go to, and sciships being the most likely to strait up murder you, id like to see them back in the control and 'alley-oop' role again, direct death dealing is an over saturated role.
Confession, I had never slotted CPB on my ship because the effect seems to suck and it isn't affected by deflector officers. Wow it sucks.
CBP is pretty much a joke and needs to be redone.
1) It's almost 1/3rd as effective as Tachyon beam. Even if it's an AoE effect, one heal and the shield drain goes away.
2) The cloaking disable is a joke when you consider all the speed and escape ability consoles out there.
3) A 45 second CD is too much for such a bad ability.
Potential upgrades to it:
1) Boost shield drain significantly. Tachyon Beam 3 is a Lt. Cmdr ability and it completely outclasses CPB.
2) It has absolutely no use in PvE and very limited in PvP. Make the disable add a significant turn and speed debuff and disable Romulan singularity core power for the same time it disables cloak.
3) Lower the global CD to 20 seconds and add it into the deflector officer list of abilites cooled down by it.
Correction... the skills to get past ONE USE of a MUCH LESSER tachyon beam have been around for ages. In no mission or queue will you find this, except the dead PvP queues (because only 1 other person will be left trying to play them).
The more you pretend it's a minor change and that players just need to adapt or GTFO the more I'm convinced you don't even play the game and cannot relate to the people who are experiencing the change first-hand. I know everybody's experience is subjective, but damn... you must never play against NPCs... ever!
One thing is clear
You can tell who has actually had this attack used on them and those who are reciting old data from months ago and no nothing about is going on today right now.
As a tank with 2 epic +threat(300) threat power insulator consoles in a guardian with 9 points in power insulators my shields have lasted only a few seconds and I was hull tanking with polarize hull3 and Hz2
The hull tanking works but most don't have any points in skills put to defense however I do
starship armor reinforcements and hull plating the subspace field modulator as well, There are traits that help your hull as well
RSP with TT will recharge your shields and the rsp doff are your shield saver recharger , It gives me plenty of time to be ready to hull tank.
if your not pulling threat from all the spheres and the tac cub you might not experience this power chain drain attack
I still tank the opening cube and spheres and the rest of the mobs throughout ISA but it is more challenging
And a 1/2 TRIBBLE tanker is going to get poped a few times if he is trying to also be dps kirk hero ...not calling anyone that either :P
you got to be able to hull and shield tank in the new ISA the new tach beam attacks are more powerful than what any player can do
I have also had 1 sphere do the same shield strip attack on me and dozens of them that did not, this attack is not constant from my experience
This tacbeam attack is a good thing in my opinion it seperates the wannbe tanks from the serious Tankers
The drawback is its a noob killer
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
I think they should take the NPCs ... give them 20% less HP. Then give them APO... APD... APB... GW / TYKENS. Perhaps some TBR. Also wouldn't it be hillarious if Borg Gates would hit FBP here and there. I like that idea.
These are great idea's except the hp reduction.......removing the timers and fail condititions would help make them optional...there needs to be a LOT of FBP :P
increase rewards for completing them
let those not prepared work 5x as hard to finish the mission but don't make them fail ......Fail condititions make them learn nothing
A few shield heals concearning this topic wont help
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
You can tell who has actually had this attack used on them and those who are reciting old data from months ago and no nothing about is going on today right now.
As a tank with 2 epic +threat(300) threat power insulator consoles in a guardian with 9 points in power insulators my shields have lasted only a few seconds and I was hull tanking with polarize hull3 and Hz2
...snip...
if your not pulling threat from all the spheres and the tac cub you might not experience this power chain drain attack
But... but... power insulators! They solve all your problems!
Gee, it's almost like PvE'ers know what's going on in PvE. While I only run at 84 to power insulators, I noticed much of the same thing. And 84 is far from the 0 that anyone who's been accused of this has, and I'm keeping He and ST on global CD, and using them frequently, and still having problems. It's probably because having less than 70% of the shots in in any given run is starting to become rather infrequent for me.
SCM - Crystal C. (S) - [00:12] DMG(DPS) - @jarvisandalfred: 8.63M(713.16K) - Fed Sci
But... but... power insulators! They solve all your problems!
Gee, it's almost like PvE'ers know what's going on in PvE. While I only run at 84 to power insulators, I noticed much of the same thing. And 84 is far from the 0 that anyone who's been accused of this has, and I'm keeping He and ST on global CD, and using them frequently, and still having problems.
Your post surprised me. Because, not to be rude, but 84 Power Insulators is, indeed, nothing! I thought it was common knowledge that, for Power Insulators to be reasonably effective in PvE, you need around 130 of them. And with the new and improved TB, I'd say the comfort zone against Borg is around ca. 170. All of which comes from Deflectors, Assimilated Coonsole, Zero-Point Energy Conduit, etc. I added a crafted Sci console, with 37.5% extra PI (and some partgens) after the new TB, and am faring quite well again against Borg.
So, not sure where all the sarcasm about adding Power Insulators is suddenly coming from, but Power Insulators *do* help. 84 just simply isn't enough of them.
Don't get me wrong - I do agree with you, and the PI rating on my FT5-U Rhode Island is
180. She can withstand one or two spheres doing the new and improved tachyon beam thing.
The problem arises, though, when you stop and consider that MOST PuG's were performing poorly in ISA before the spheres received the buff - I think it's safe to say that the fail rate for ISA is pretty high; certainly, my own experience is that probably seven out of ten instances I participate in fail, usually as a result of poor coordination, lack of teamwork, poorly built ships and players who THINK that they know what they're doing but prove, quite spectacularly, that they don't.
So, as much as you might like the changes - and I am indifferent about them (leaning toward dislike due to the number of times that I've been Tachyon smacked by four or more spheres)
- the fact remains that increasing the difficulty of something that your average player couldn't do anyway probably isn't a good idea.
I see more ppl dying, even in the DPS-channels. So, yeah, I can imagine it's less than fun in a PUG.
I was in a Borg patrol the other day, though, and actually got upset about how ridiculously easy those Cubes are to kill. Borg are supposed to be quite menacing: they slice sections out of your hull, or, in this case, strip your shields in seconds. 'Like', in the overall sense, was maybe too big a word; but I really do like NPC's that are at least half-way dangerous, and require you to adapt.
Even I have trouble with my shields at times (in my Mobius now, pretty much stationary, point-and-shoot style). But I don't die in STF's.
Btw, kudos on your Insultors, and the ship you Rhode in on!
It's somewhat entertaining now to run Empire Defence against the Federation at level 5-ish, and have your shield stripped away in moments, and STILL the Federation Dogs cannot score more than a few points of hull damage.
Your post surprised me. Because, not to be rude, but 84 Power Insulators is, indeed, nothing! I thought it was common knowledge that, for Power Insulators to be reasonably effective in PvE, you need around 130 of them. And with the new and improved TB, I'd say the comfort zone against Borg is around ca. 170. All of which comes from Deflectors, Assimilated Coonsole, Zero-Point Energy Conduit, etc. I added a crafted Sci console, with 37.5% extra PI (and some partgens) after the new TB, and am faring quite well again against Borg.
So, not sure where all the sarcasm about adding Power Insulators is suddenly coming from, but Power Insulators *do* help. 84 just simply isn't enough of them.
one role for a cruiser is to tank , Most cruisers have only 2 science console slots
with DPS out of control a cruiser is pushed into the romulan embassy consoles for increased threat generation to hold agro
and + threat is only on science consoles
To hold threat and have 170 power insulators is beyond what most cruisers can do and still be able to tank effectively
Most pugs don't have high dps so the time a tank has to hold agro and tank is a LOT longer than in a premade group with high dps and coordination
That's the problem in most pugs as ive saw...hull tanking is also not a very common skill either most pugs simply cant do it and arnt skilled for it
cruiser commands are really out of date as well and are way behind in attract fire and shield reinforcement and need a buff with + threat on romulan embassy consoles needed a buff as well
when cruiser commands were introduced DPS was about 1/3rd of what it is now
I guess Geko forgot this but then most cruiser consoles and most cruiser BO powers have been forgotten for quite some time
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
one role for a cruiser is to tank , Most cruisers have only 2 science console slots
My Borg Deflector has [Threat]. And you can spec into Threat Control (which I'm assuming you did; so did I, btw). But, other than that, yeah, Embassy Consoles it is.
With the Borg Deflector, for example, plus the Assimilated Coonsole, Zero-Point Energy Conduit, etc, with 6/9 in the skill, you'll get around 130 Insulators. So you'd need 1 extra Embassy Console (power insulators + threat?). Attract Fire should help too, of course,
To hold threat and have 170 power insulators is beyond what most cruisers can do and still be able to tank effectively
Most pugs don't have high dps so the time a tank has to hold agro and tank is a LOT longer than in a premade group with high dps and coordination
I understand what you're saying. And I didn't particular *like* having to up my Insulators with an extra Console either, as it inevitably goes at the expense of something else. But way it is is the way it is. The crafted consoles (and, to a degree, the Embassy ones), are usually combo's with Insulators as being just one component of it, though.
cruiser commands are really out of date as well and are way behind in attract fire and shield reinforcement and need a buff with + threat on romulan embassy consoles needed a buff as well
when cruiser commands were introduced DPS was about 1/3rd of what it is now
Has it been that long already? Feels like only yesterday when Cruiser commands were introduced. But sure, they could use a buff.
Wait, are people really complaining and their shields are dropping and they can't handle it in ISA?
There are many ways to hull tank. If you lose your shields, Yay! That means that the enemy is actually doing something worth caring about.
My Tac/Escort can tank them, and that's with Mk XII gear and a crappy pilot.
Attack Pattern Expertise, Aux to ID, ET, HE, TSS, Borg Procs, and Samsar console.
If I can do it, anyone can. I get that there's a misplaced decimal, but seriously - it's not as if it's suddenly impossible. And if you die? So what? Did you expect to be immortal?
I'm wondering if this change is more to do with the FAW builds that dominate the game. They couldn't nerf the power directly due to player backlash so buffed NPC Tachyon Beam to overpowered amounts to make FAW/AOE targeting less favourable, Having 1 Borg drain you're shields is bad enough but a whole mob instant zap them and then bombard you with plasma torpedos, i know i'm trying to avoid mob aggro since this change as my poor armitage has been battered to hell
LOL with you guys still struggling with this, even with all the counteractions listed by people to get past this!
Erm, yes?
6 points in PI, 1.1 shield mod and still lost shields in about 0.3 seconds flat against one sphere in a normal IS I ran.
I certainly haven't died as a result of it, but it's definitely OP the way it is right now. A buff to tachyon beam is needed and would be fine, if it wasn't to this crazy degree.
EDIT
Well, no. To be truthful it's less of a struggle and more annoying.
Erm, yes?
6 points in PI, 1.1 shield mod and still lost shields in about 0.3 seconds flat against one sphere in a normal IS I ran.
I certainly haven't died as a result of it, but it's definitely OP the way it is right now. A buff to tachyon beam is needed and would be fine, if it wasn't to this crazy degree.
You still don't understand, just like the others around here.
Instead of me cutting & pasting, I'll just link a response I had for all this from here.
Yup all those powers do work to a degree, however how much DPS does a team have to sacrifice in order to protect itself against a op'd attack.
Cryptic have made this game about DPS, if you can't DPS in Advanced or Ellite than you are stuffed. Its all geared to beat the timer and when it requires blowing stuff up to beat that timer then DPS is required. (I'll admit the dps channels have a overkill of firepower they take into these matches)
The casual player who is not in dedicated channels who uses the public channels like a vast majority of people haven't got a chance of running these missions with success, this leads to frustration and the deserted PvE queues we now see, (Although a Senior Dev tested the queues and tried to pass it off as a reporting error, Yeah right) I don't run Pugs since Delta hit other than Crystal Entity as having a mission fail within 90-120 secs and being locked out for that 1hr is no fun. Although if i hear right the "optional" for Crystal Entity is being made a auto-fail which now forces me out of pugging that mission.
A game is supposed to be fun, Ever since Delta hit with its hp sponges and constant nerfs to rewards and powers the fun is being taken out of the game.
If i were a new player starting out now as this game currently stands, without knowing how certain things work and constantly being hit with a auto-fail and no reward and a 1 hr lock out of re-running the mission, i wouldn't be hanging around for long.
The whole premise of Delta Rising is anti-gaming there's no encouragement outside pre-mades with good players with excellent ship builds to play the public queues beyond normal. Everything is being monetized, Fleet consoles, weapons, have been completely devalued in favour of an expensive R&D and upgrade system.
Whoever is currently at the helm and making these decisions needs a dam good slap. This game used to be universally friendly, encouraged casual gamers and hard core gamers, Its not anymore having multiple alts is a nightmare to get them from lvl 55-60. I won't go into the specialization trees.
Its been said before, if Cryptic lost the Star Trek i.p and have to remove all cannon ships, characters ect from the game how many would stick around.
Cryptic have a i.p that sells itself, They just don't respect it
I know having a mere 103 PI score and, some 8600 shield strength, a single sphere can sap it away by themselves.
The good thing about the massive tach beam attack is its super fast and you notice it
My counter is RSP with tac team ..that gives me 20 seconds of full shields to plan my next move I have the rsp doff so I get 8 more seconds of rsp with him
so instead of wasting your shield buffs use the rsp TT combo then follow it up with your normal shield buffsor be ready to hull tank
if your using aux to batt your rsp should be ready soon
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
Comments
TBH, i like the MMO trinity, if aytthing it helps differentiate people and push away the "more deeps, MORE DEEPS" attitude. Most importantly, it makes it easier to create unique fight mechanics when you know certain roles will always be present.
All the MMO Trinity is...is DPS.
Can the Tank in combination with the Healer survive the incoming DPS? Can the DPS deliver enough DPS? It's canned though...and it's irksome as Hell, imho. You've got some "boss" that's a threat to the known world, but there it is smacking on the meatshield while ignoring the guy keeping the meatshield alive and ignoring the guys actually killing it.
STO's issue, imho, is that NPCs just aren't a threat. It's a casual game, it's a monster farm...come home from work, school, whatever...and lob some grenades into a barrel of fish...wheee! /facepalm
I believe it's one of the reasons that this Tachyon thing is rubbing some folks the wrong way...cause they're just a wee bit of a threat now.
In STO we have to spend so little effort worrying about that incoming DPS, that of course we're basically left to focus on the outgoing DPS...the NPCs are so little a threat, that one quickly reaches the point where the best defense is simply more offense. The NPCs are just that weak.
Giving them additional health didn't increase difficulty...it just adjusted the engagement time for the average player. They just had to slap the mobs around a little longer.
Picture hitting up an "Advanced/Elite" dungeon in some other MMO...think about what would happen to somebody charging into a group of trash mobs by themselves, eh? Here in STO...is that a concern? The closest thing I've seen to that would be a quick CCA run where the Tholians are left alone so they're all there at the end...and everybody leaves, so you're there by yourself. So just how many Tholians is that...? And it's still nowhere near the fight a much smaller group of trash mobs would be in another MMO.
If STO were sporting the MMO Trinity, how much of the content would disappear? How many ways would things end up being so limited that folks just couldn't do things in a variety of ways for the content that remained?
With what it's got though, everybody can build for parts of it - it's just that, imho, it's just a monster farm sort of thing...so there's not the need to build for it. And well, the requirements are so low that even a Tank/Healer is going to put out DPS that's overkill for the content.
And if folks really want to get together to run content that allows for it, there's nothing stopping folks from putting together their Tank/Heals/3xDPS groups and hitting up that content...
...it's not something where, imho, we need the canned roles and the tedious scripted content.
I want more dynamic content...not more static content. I want more actual challenge...less gear check and don't stand in the fire challenge.
Which is where I kind of dig the Tachyon change...though, I do question if the scaling might not be off.
When it came down to it, it was mentioned that a dumbing down would disproportionately affect science captains negatively. They're better off leaving things as they are, but adjusting some of the less used skills.
I stopped listening to the various podcasts, so I'm woefully out of the loop - so the last I'd heard was some time back, and it was basically a skill revamp that would look something more like what we've been seeing with the Specializations rather than the points/ranks we've got now...has more been said about what they're potentially doing with that?
Geko said something about dumbing it down to 3 skill points instead of the 9 we use now per skill. Can't find the thread about it, and it doesn't help my Google search that I post so much.
I disagree.
It isn't a PvP versus PvE thing. It's you and lucho who are using it as an excuse to turn it into such.
What it is, to be honest, is a lack of common sense based on a long time over focus on DPS at the expense of all else due to poor mechanics.
You see, I'm of the school of thought that you have to SURVIVE to destroy the enemy. Being a "glass cannon" will, sooner or later, will come back to bite you in the TRIBBLE. And defences have to be constantly improved as you learn and climb up the difficulty scale.
And I learned all of this not through PvP, but via the variety of NPCs in the game. Especially from the Borg STFs. As a result, all of my ships are set up with an eye toward survival, at the expense of raw DPS. After all, you can't shoot if you are constantly in respawn mode.
Sure this put me at a disadvantage. But I'm far better able to weather changes like this. And I didn't need to be a 31337 dude-bro PvPer to do it.
You being prepared is an exception. I look at the hilarity I see in the STFs and look at the cries of anguish from PVE Country in this thread as evidence enough to confirm my beliefs.
In PVE, not many things force you into learning a wider aspect of the game. It's become a DPS race as you said yourself and it became the most efficient way to faceroll this game. Very, very few things land debilitating effects, debuffs in any sort of real magnitude until the Tachyon Beam buff. When more NPCs do as they are now, people are panicking with ZERO clue what to do. Again, I point to this thread and other threads on these boards of PVE Heroes having ZERO clue on how to get past a simple hazard.
If you learned on your own how to get past hilarious mess, I applaud you. And I mean that. Because the hordes out in this game wouldn't know what to do when the most basic of Science debuffs land on them. How many players out there really know the dangers of these effects landing on them, their team, recognizing the signs for them, and how to clear and get past these effects?
- Voth version of Tyken's Rift (nasty business even in the normal adventure zones)
- Scramble Sensors
- Tachyon Beam
- Borg Shield Neutralizer (this is OLD but people still get hurt real badly from these)
- Borg Plasma DOT (the regular and super heavy versions that land on you)
Except for the recently buffed Tachyon Beam, those examples are OLD. And people still struggle with them not knowing what to do. I still see people in simple ISAs and recall even Pre-DR ISEs, with people burning to oblivion from the Plasma DOTs. Maybe their own hazard clearing methods were still on CD, but all the other teammates in excellent health did NOTHING to help their teammate who was set upon by the heavy burns.
But in the PVP crowd, you had to know what to do against a wider variety of actions players do against you. Because you will see everything eventually and it's not a simple matter of encountering a specific NPC ability only in certain instances. For the very simple fact that players WILL notice such a weakness of inexperience, incapability and will exploit it until you learned your lesson or you've had enough. If the enemy sees a weakness in your build, playstyle that you cannot compensate or counter for, you are going to die. Repeatedly. You will be picked on as a weakness for the team, for your side.
Both in PVE and PVP things can happen that can kill you. But in PVP you just will see far more actions than you do with NPCs that barely do abilities. Players can SPAM abilities. NPCS don't. Players have repair abilities and use them all the time. NPCs really don't. A few do but the vast majority don't. They don't even rebalance shields and use Tactical Team. Players can be found using a wide spectrum of Tactical, Engineering, Science BOFF and Captain abilities. NPCs are don't and can be considered exceptional if they do more than 1-2 abilities before players destroy them. Players come at you with a variety of builds and playstyles at any time. NPCs don't.
It's that kind of school that the PVP crowd had to learn to just even get by and not be considered a weakness to a team. Darwinism in PVP forces you to learn and adapt. The threats you face in PVE, the frequency of facing such a variety of threats in PVE do not compare to what the newbie in PVP has to learn. It's that reason why, in general, PVPers are better equipped to deal with these changes.
The tools to get past the Tachyon Beam mess existed long before DR even released. It's just PVE Country never had much in the way to really push that.
People will not like what I said. But it's the damn truth. The Faceroll PVE in this game left many PVE'ers ill-prepared to deal with any real threats. Good players, PVE or PVPers, know what to do. Some came up with creative, non-standard ways of dealing with the danger. But many, again with these threads as evidence, have ZERO clue what to do.
The more you pretend it's a minor change and that players just need to adapt or GTFO the more I'm convinced you don't even play the game and cannot relate to the people who are experiencing the change first-hand. I know everybody's experience is subjective, but damn... you must never play against NPCs... ever!
I think they should take the NPCs ... give them 20% less HP. Then give them APO... APD... APB... GW / TYKENS. Perhaps some TBR. Also wouldn't it be hillarious if Borg Gates would hit FBP here and there. I like that idea.
What you describe has always been the bread and butter and the lure of multiplayer content. For years gamers had no real way to receive a challenge suitable to them or a reason to get better other than that game AI that just has more shields and bigger guns on harder levels which more than likely forces you into a single or extremely limited tactic/weapon or the survivability skills to spend minutes rather than seconds sending bullets towards your foe.
In actuality I don't mind the OP'd new shiny BFG to get nerfed routine, it sort of simulates the mechanic of - enemy creates new weapon that seems unstoppable, allies find a counter, overtime the unstoppable weapon becomes just run of the mill. Remember when a Romulan plasma torpedo would just insta kill federation targets? (Balance of Power) Now its all "captain, shields are down to 80%). As you mentioned with some people not able to adjust as quickly if you don't eventually "nerf" the performance vast parts of the game become inaccessible.
I've chosen to play this game on normal because I'm not going to spend more than $60 on a game within one year and I don't have a great deal of time to dedicate to the game. Once I get my builds the way I want I'll consistently play on harder levels. I have noticed though that when battles last for a certain length (on any level) or when you play the same NPC repeatedly they will counter your alpha strikes and show "some" (that is very small amounts of) intelligence in the use of abilities and heals and counter tactics. but I'm sure most players never notice this because of how fast they kill.
But over the last few years the balance in this game has gotten way out of control. I come from the console genre and one of the things you notice is single player mechanics and multiplayer mechanics are balanced differently. It almost requires it.
Lastly, why I like this buff - even at the expense of more deadly NPC's - and a trend I hope continues is giving multiple options to destroy an enemy quickly. I don't like being forced into a certain select set of builds/weapons in order to successfully fight an enemy. As been said for ages, why would I use Tach Beam if I can accomplish the same thing with greater efficiency shooting energy weapons at the target? Why should I be forced to plasma dope and fly scimitars to maximize my DPS in response to NPC's whose shield and HP are so ginormous high DPS vessels are the only solution to end the battle quickly? Then again, the point of an STF is to kill and do battle. If I recall it was the large cruisers Star Trek that seem to bite it more frequently in battles than the strike ships. But it would be nice to see this trend of buffing some of the non tactical abilities continue if at the least it makes players more valuable in other areas than just pew pew.
god forbid a pve'er might have to put 3 to 9 points in PI so they can continue to ignore tach beam like normal.
its a shame bort went to the trouble of not buffing the skill 3x across the board, now that would have been something, the skill would actually exist again. im pretty tired of particle as the go to, and sciships being the most likely to strait up murder you, id like to see them back in the control and 'alley-oop' role again, direct death dealing is an over saturated role.
That's what I was hoping would happen before DR released. More hull compared to Pre-DR but not to the stupid amounts that arrived with DR. And NPCs doing abilities, protecting collapsed shield facings, doing repairs, etc.
Then the videos came out from guys on Tribble, namely the Battle of Korfez one. I looked at what the effects of the NPCs were and what they were doing (basically they were doing nothing, not even protecting a collapsed shield facing). Then I read that it was "Elite" content. And couldn't help but feel disappointed.
Confession, I had never slotted CPB on my ship because the effect seems to suck and it isn't affected by deflector officers. Wow it sucks.
CBP is pretty much a joke and needs to be redone.
1) It's almost 1/3rd as effective as Tachyon beam. Even if it's an AoE effect, one heal and the shield drain goes away.
2) The cloaking disable is a joke when you consider all the speed and escape ability consoles out there.
3) A 45 second CD is too much for such a bad ability.
Potential upgrades to it:
1) Boost shield drain significantly. Tachyon Beam 3 is a Lt. Cmdr ability and it completely outclasses CPB.
2) It has absolutely no use in PvE and very limited in PvP. Make the disable add a significant turn and speed debuff and disable Romulan singularity core power for the same time it disables cloak.
3) Lower the global CD to 20 seconds and add it into the deflector officer list of abilites cooled down by it.
One thing is clear
You can tell who has actually had this attack used on them and those who are reciting old data from months ago and no nothing about is going on today right now.
As a tank with 2 epic +threat(300) threat power insulator consoles in a guardian with 9 points in power insulators my shields have lasted only a few seconds and I was hull tanking with polarize hull3 and Hz2
The hull tanking works but most don't have any points in skills put to defense however I do
starship armor reinforcements and hull plating the subspace field modulator as well, There are traits that help your hull as well
RSP with TT will recharge your shields and the rsp doff are your shield saver recharger , It gives me plenty of time to be ready to hull tank.
if your not pulling threat from all the spheres and the tac cub you might not experience this power chain drain attack
I still tank the opening cube and spheres and the rest of the mobs throughout ISA but it is more challenging
And a 1/2 TRIBBLE tanker is going to get poped a few times if he is trying to also be dps kirk hero ...not calling anyone that either :P
you got to be able to hull and shield tank in the new ISA the new tach beam attacks are more powerful than what any player can do
I have also had 1 sphere do the same shield strip attack on me and dozens of them that did not, this attack is not constant from my experience
This tacbeam attack is a good thing in my opinion it seperates the wannbe tanks from the serious Tankers
The drawback is its a noob killer
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
These are great idea's except the hp reduction.......removing the timers and fail condititions would help make them optional...there needs to be a LOT of FBP :P
increase rewards for completing them
let those not prepared work 5x as hard to finish the mission but don't make them fail ......Fail condititions make them learn nothing
A few shield heals concearning this topic wont help
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
But... but... power insulators! They solve all your problems!
Gee, it's almost like PvE'ers know what's going on in PvE. While I only run at 84 to power insulators, I noticed much of the same thing. And 84 is far from the 0 that anyone who's been accused of this has, and I'm keeping He and ST on global CD, and using them frequently, and still having problems. It's probably because having less than 70% of the shots in in any given run is starting to become rather infrequent for me.
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!
Your post surprised me. Because, not to be rude, but 84 Power Insulators is, indeed, nothing! I thought it was common knowledge that, for Power Insulators to be reasonably effective in PvE, you need around 130 of them. And with the new and improved TB, I'd say the comfort zone against Borg is around ca. 170. All of which comes from Deflectors, Assimilated Coonsole, Zero-Point Energy Conduit, etc. I added a crafted Sci console, with 37.5% extra PI (and some partgens) after the new TB, and am faring quite well again against Borg.
So, not sure where all the sarcasm about adding Power Insulators is suddenly coming from, but Power Insulators *do* help. 84 just simply isn't enough of them.
I see more ppl dying, even in the DPS-channels. So, yeah, I can imagine it's less than fun in a PUG.
I was in a Borg patrol the other day, though, and actually got upset about how ridiculously easy those Cubes are to kill. Borg are supposed to be quite menacing: they slice sections out of your hull, or, in this case, strip your shields in seconds. 'Like', in the overall sense, was maybe too big a word; but I really do like NPC's that are at least half-way dangerous, and require you to adapt.
Even I have trouble with my shields at times (in my Mobius now, pretty much stationary, point-and-shoot style). But I don't die in STF's.
Btw, kudos on your Insultors, and the ship you Rhode in on!
one role for a cruiser is to tank , Most cruisers have only 2 science console slots
with DPS out of control a cruiser is pushed into the romulan embassy consoles for increased threat generation to hold agro
and + threat is only on science consoles
To hold threat and have 170 power insulators is beyond what most cruisers can do and still be able to tank effectively
Most pugs don't have high dps so the time a tank has to hold agro and tank is a LOT longer than in a premade group with high dps and coordination
That's the problem in most pugs as ive saw...hull tanking is also not a very common skill either most pugs simply cant do it and arnt skilled for it
cruiser commands are really out of date as well and are way behind in attract fire and shield reinforcement and need a buff with + threat on romulan embassy consoles needed a buff as well
when cruiser commands were introduced DPS was about 1/3rd of what it is now
I guess Geko forgot this but then most cruiser consoles and most cruiser BO powers have been forgotten for quite some time
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
My Borg Deflector has [Threat]. And you can spec into Threat Control (which I'm assuming you did; so did I, btw). But, other than that, yeah, Embassy Consoles it is.
With the Borg Deflector, for example, plus the Assimilated Coonsole, Zero-Point Energy Conduit, etc, with 6/9 in the skill, you'll get around 130 Insulators. So you'd need 1 extra Embassy Console (power insulators + threat?). Attract Fire should help too, of course,
I understand what you're saying. And I didn't particular *like* having to up my Insulators with an extra Console either, as it inevitably goes at the expense of something else. But way it is is the way it is. The crafted consoles (and, to a degree, the Embassy ones), are usually combo's with Insulators as being just one component of it, though.
Has it been that long already?
There are many ways to hull tank. If you lose your shields, Yay! That means that the enemy is actually doing something worth caring about.
My Tac/Escort can tank them, and that's with Mk XII gear and a crappy pilot.
Attack Pattern Expertise, Aux to ID, ET, HE, TSS, Borg Procs, and Samsar console.
If I can do it, anyone can. I get that there's a misplaced decimal, but seriously - it's not as if it's suddenly impossible. And if you die? So what? Did you expect to be immortal?
Praetor of the -RTS- Romulan Tal Shiar fleet!
If one makes the ship good only for one aspect but does not know how to cover for a build's deficiencies, that is the end result.
Even worse when the other supposedly higher end players on the premade team don't know or will not help that other player getting hit.
Erm, yes?
6 points in PI, 1.1 shield mod and still lost shields in about 0.3 seconds flat against one sphere in a normal IS I ran.
I certainly haven't died as a result of it, but it's definitely OP the way it is right now. A buff to tachyon beam is needed and would be fine, if it wasn't to this crazy degree.
EDIT
Well, no. To be truthful it's less of a struggle and more annoying.
You still don't understand, just like the others around here.
Instead of me cutting & pasting, I'll just link a response I had for all this from here.
It's extremely easy to get past this.
Cryptic have made this game about DPS, if you can't DPS in Advanced or Ellite than you are stuffed. Its all geared to beat the timer and when it requires blowing stuff up to beat that timer then DPS is required. (I'll admit the dps channels have a overkill of firepower they take into these matches)
The casual player who is not in dedicated channels who uses the public channels like a vast majority of people haven't got a chance of running these missions with success, this leads to frustration and the deserted PvE queues we now see, (Although a Senior Dev tested the queues and tried to pass it off as a reporting error, Yeah right) I don't run Pugs since Delta hit other than Crystal Entity as having a mission fail within 90-120 secs and being locked out for that 1hr is no fun. Although if i hear right the "optional" for Crystal Entity is being made a auto-fail which now forces me out of pugging that mission.
A game is supposed to be fun, Ever since Delta hit with its hp sponges and constant nerfs to rewards and powers the fun is being taken out of the game.
If i were a new player starting out now as this game currently stands, without knowing how certain things work and constantly being hit with a auto-fail and no reward and a 1 hr lock out of re-running the mission, i wouldn't be hanging around for long.
The whole premise of Delta Rising is anti-gaming there's no encouragement outside pre-mades with good players with excellent ship builds to play the public queues beyond normal. Everything is being monetized, Fleet consoles, weapons, have been completely devalued in favour of an expensive R&D and upgrade system.
Whoever is currently at the helm and making these decisions needs a dam good slap. This game used to be universally friendly, encouraged casual gamers and hard core gamers, Its not anymore having multiple alts is a nightmare to get them from lvl 55-60. I won't go into the specialization trees.
Its been said before, if Cryptic lost the Star Trek i.p and have to remove all cannon ships, characters ect from the game how many would stick around.
Cryptic have a i.p that sells itself, They just don't respect it
The good thing about the massive tach beam attack is its super fast and you notice it
My counter is RSP with tac team ..that gives me 20 seconds of full shields to plan my next move I have the rsp doff so I get 8 more seconds of rsp with him
so instead of wasting your shield buffs use the rsp TT combo then follow it up with your normal shield buffsor be ready to hull tank
if your using aux to batt your rsp should be ready soon
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