Priority One Podcast 210 | A Crafty Story

elijahmre

Greetings, Admirals! You’re listening to EPISODE 210 OF PRIORITY ONE PODCAST, the premier Star Trek Online podcast! This episode was recorded on Thursday, February 19th, 2015 and made available for download on Monday, February 23rd, 2015 at PriorityOnePodcast.com!

This week we Trek Out what it’s really like to travel at Light Speed - right from the comfort of your computer! In STONews, we bring you the latest things to affect the game including this week’s patch notes, some DEV Tracking, and a special review of the Crafting system by none other than our resident Professor, Jayce. Later, we're joined by a surprise guest for an inside perspective of some of the hot topics Priority One has been discussing.* Finally, before we wrap the show, we’ll open hailing frequencies for your incoming messages!

TOPICS DISCUSSED

• Riding Light
• Stellar Neighborhood*- *Only visible in Chrome*
• Making of Command Ships
• Release Notes: February 19th, 2015
• Tachyon Beam - Updated Values
• DEV Tracking
  Tweet by Captain Smirk, @PWECaptainSmirk- Call for Foundry Authors
• Tweet by Al Rivera, @CaptainGeko- New Star Trek actor in the game?
• Tacofangs forum post: Behind the curtain of a space map
• Tweet by Maria Rosseau, @ZeroniusRex- Klingon Fire Blast

This week’s Community Question:

• What have your*experiences been with the crafting system? What do you consider “good enough” when you are crafting items with random features? What changes or new features would you like to see?

Let us know YOUR thoughts by commenting below!

In case you missed it, we’ve already published several video interviews on our YouTube Channel from Priority One Podcast’s on-site visit to Cryptic Studios in October 2014.*BE SURE TO VISIT OUR CHANNEL AND SUBSCRIBE TO THE PREMIER STAR TREK ONLINE PODCAST!

The Priority One Productions is always looking for new team members that have a passion for Star Trek. *Please know that all of our positions are volunteer, but we do offer a well known outlet for your work.* If you have a skill that you believe could enhance our content, then*send your contact information and experience along with a few writing samples to*incoming@priorityonepodcast.com

Did you miss any of our great Blogs last week? Stop by*this link*and see for yourself! How about our latest Video Release? You can also follow us on the social media sites!*We’re on*Facebook! Head over to*www.facebook.com/PriorityOnePodcast*and say, "Hi!" Or, Check us out on*Twitter*via*@stopriorityone*for show times and other cool stuff.

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STOPriorityONE

There are no plans to transcribe this episode at this time.

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gulberat

For crafting, I do no upgrades without a 100% return. This means all items stop at Mk XIV wherever they are rarity or mods-wise. The costs are exorbitant to go any further, and unlike, say, a lockbox, where you will at least get some Lobi and an item that you can either use or sell for EC so you get *something* at least a little useful for your trouble (and sometimes if you hold the item and play the market right, a very *nice* EC return), any resources spent on upgrading past Mk XIV are thrown away for nothing if you don't get the vanishingly rare quality upgrade.

Same when I crafted my secondary deflector: I happened to have catalysts around to make it as close to a sure bet as I could that I'd hit VR status, but I did not gamble with the mod on it...I just took what I got. Again, I will not throw time, effort, and in-game resources away by continuing to plug away at it to an overly uncertain return.

I should ALSO note that I went entirely F2P as a result of DR, so I ALSO do not throw real money after upgrades.

ussackerman

I have done some cannon crafting, but found the same problems as Jayce in not getting the mods I wanted.

I have had better luck on my PvP gear in that I bought 7 [Acc]x2 [CrtD] Mk II Polaron Beam arrays for my Jem'Hadar Dreadnaught and upgraded them some so far with the Omega kits.
So far I have gotten 2 [Acc]x3 [CrtD], 1 [Acc]x2 [CrtD]x2 and 1 [Acc]x2 [CrtD] [CrtH].

I am really excited that they WANT and are "making it a priority" to get the "re-roll system" online. My concern is the quote "a reasonable amount of time." We have been told by Cryptic Devs before that systems, storyline and projects are two years deep in development from beginning to launch. If they don't even know HOW they are going to implement this yet, a "reasonable amount of time" doesn't sound as "soon" as many, including myself, would like.

nodz

I always assumed the crafting system was working as intended. Crit 3 (or what ever flavor becomes more desirable) would be extremely rare. The point was that there would only be a few out there, not a common weapon for everyone. I never expected to have l33t gear all at once.

That said, I won't complain if it becomes easier :-).

chalpen

I use the crafting system. Everything has been maxed out for a while.
I don't think the system is finished. It doesn't make sense.

You can't craft shuttles.
You cannot modify your ship.
You cannot modify your ships hangers.

I would have thought that you would be able to modify your hanger to be allowed to include more ships types. But I don't think the system is that good.

Oh well. At least I could take what I had and upgrade to 14 gold.

eldarion79

I don't craft anything due to the costs and i just level the schools.

rmy1081

I only craft Mk II items then upgrade. It's too expensive, time consuming, and random to craft mk XII items.

Also, I love being able to slot 3 20 hour crafting rep projects.

sqwished

I've crafted a few items. But the shear cost of producing items along with the constant random modifiers means I don't consider it worth while so I normally go buy items off the exchange. Same applies when upgrading items. That being said I've made more use of the system since the release of the omega particles. But only because of the bonus and lack of dilithium required to create and apply them.

pennylong

When it first came out I crafted loads but now it's just for upgrading really.

I wish there were more unique items or that we could make rather than one per school and end up just churning out upgrades. As it is I don't feel the need to use it as a crafting system.

angrybobh

My first thought on the crafting question was "LOL! Crafting". Honestly, I have not and probably will not ever produce more than a couple of items. It costs too much for too little return. I level my schools for no real reason and sell mats if I need some extra EC.

notrealedna

Geko "lag exists because everyone loves the game" ... mind blown.

quepan

Great episode guys , enjoying the live casts again .

as for the crafting system , its one disappointment after another . its taken me time to get one toon out of 5 i have to get even a couple of schools to 15+ ive been very causal with it . then when you get there you one unlock items that unless you have the doffs off the packs you cant do . but the worst part is the inability to control the mods of any item you create or upgrade. you get a bunch of basically junk items . IVE seen between 1 out of 1000 up to 1 out of 6000 to get the more useful mods that im looking for .
This too me makes the usefulness of the system pointless and make crafted weapons more expensive that even straight reputation and fleet gear even more than some ship purchases (Zen to Dill) . especially during the upgrading of these rep and fleet gear that get junk mods which you have to rebuy and try again.

there needs to be a way to better control putting mods into Gear rather than just dumb luck and start over from scratch . its a waste of player time and our time based resources .

again thanks for the show

mhall85

Something to note... I believe that all of the high-end reputation gear, as well as sets like the Jem'Hadar space set, have fixed mods upon quality upgrade. So, you'll always get that mod on quality upgrade. (Please correct me, if I am wrong on that.)

While this is a little more comforting, I have only upgraded a few items (MACO and Jem'Hadar space sets, my phaser quad cannons, and a couple of ground weapons). I still will not use the upgrade system to touch things like reputation store weapons or lock box weapons, because I don't want them ruined.

And, yes, I'm still hesitant to use the R&D system for the reasons others have mentioned. The modifier adjuster system will be a welcomed addition.

psiameese

I hadn't heard about Geko's tweet regarding incoming voice talent.

I have previously heard Geko mention that a new event was coming this spring, which might slow development of First Contact day improvements. Something that required a new map. Was it not concluded - in these forums - that 2410 would be the next year for the Nexus ribbon to pass through Federation space? If so, than I'm going to speculate that the new voice talent is Whoopi Goldberg.

vestereng

It was always the plan to add modifiers

But seeing as people such as yourself, were knocking over tables and sprinting to the door to pay them millions and millons of dil, for a fundamentally broken system, they decided to say, why should we fix it?

And that is actually the exact way everything in the whole game has been ruined; the whales can't help themselves giving them money - no matter what -

You could theoretically ask for changes or have suggestions heard but not with no life subscribers around.

No matter how terrible the game gets they will open wallet and they ultimately responsible for the demise

razar2380

Here are a few things to think about.

One, when you are spending a lot of time grinding content that is being focused towards DPS, and has a low success rate in PUGs (which many in fleets need to do more now because of so many leaving the game, or not playing as much), and you take a big risk of gambling, it takes a lot of fun out of the game.

One of the things I mentioned before about the gamble is like captain Picard going up to Geordi Laforge, and asking him to build a beam array for the ship. When Picard ask what will the beam be able to do, Laforge says, "I have no idea till after it is built."

That makes no sense to be honest. I can understand if they are a very low level Engineer, and have never made one before. But if you have that class leveled up, then the one building it should know what they are making, and can know what they are putting on them.

Here is a good way to do it.

There are 20 levels, and also from common to VR, there are four different qualities. So, they should be able to make it so that every 5 levels, you are guaranteed a specific quality, with a chance at another quality.

So, from 1-5 you will get common, with a chance at uncommon. 6-10 is uncommon with a chance at rare, etc.

Also, if you get an uncommon or greater, you can pick which mods you want, up to x3 of some, and only one of others.

Then, when it is upgraded, after reaching MK XIV, if you upgrade again, and haven't increased in quality, it is guaranteed a quality increase.

The Dil cost for crafting should be cut to a third of where it is now, and the upgrade system should be about a fourth of where it now is at.

If they ever decide to go a different route other than DPS with the game, (not as far as ships are concerned, but content) then the crafting system can have the x3 mods reduced to only x2. But as it is now, limiting ones like crtd to only x2 would be a huge mistake because the content is focused on DPS.

But, these things will make a huge improvement in the system, and it will see a large number of players start using the system, because it will take it from a resource and Dil sink to a useful system for all.

hitonozanshi

notrealedna wrote: »

Geko "lag exists because everyone loves the game" ... mind blown.

Are you serious?! What a liar!

Anyway, the crafting doesn't bother me as much as paying ****loads of dilithium for upgrading gear. I'm sorry, but it's needlessly expensive, and it INCREASES power creep because the frebies won't be able to pay for dilithium with zen like whales.

Geko needs to stop his lies and come back to reality. FIX THIS GAME!!!

adamkafei

psiameese wrote: »

I hadn't heard about Geko's tweet regarding incoming voice talent.

I have previously heard Geko mention that a new event was coming this spring, which might slow development of First Contact day improvements. Something that required a new map. Was it not concluded - in these forums - that 2410 would be the next year for the Nexus ribbon to pass through Federation space? If so, than I'm going to speculate that the new voice talent is Whoopi Goldberg.

I hope the Nexus isn't included, given that it's supposed to show you your heart's desire (or something of that nature), I know my Betazoid doesn't enjoy killing everything in sight.

angrytarg

vestereng wrote: »

(...)

And that is actually the exact way everything in the whole game has been ruined; the whales can't help themselves giving them money - no matter what -

You could theoretically ask for changes or have suggestions heard but not with no life subscribers around.

No matter how terrible the game gets they will open wallet and they ultimately responsible for the demise

I think something along these lines whenever sometthing new comes out. People complain (rightfully so, not every form of complaint is whining and entitlement) but whenever something comes out, and if it's six million dil or hundred-twentyseven dollars, "whales" jump on it immedeatly and you can bet there are even "bragging posts" made on the forums.

shandypandy

notrealedna wrote: »

Geko "lag exists because everyone loves the game" ... mind blown.

If you're having lag problems I'll feel bad for you son, I've got 99 problems and lag ain't one.


Yeah, proper poor thing to say on his part IMO. To be fair, he then did go on to say if there's a problem network bods would be looking at it. The thing is, the issue has been on-going since before Christmas in my experience, and has got worse.

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bergins

So, when Geko first comes on he says "First of all, what I do want to say is that the Command Ship[s have] been the most sucessful ships that we've ever released in Star Trek Online..."

All I could think was "...AND THE PLAYERS LOVE IT!!!!"

js26568

bergins wrote: »

So, when Geko first comes on he says "First of all, what I do want to say is that the Command Ship[s have] been the most sucessful ships that we've ever released in Star Trek Online..."

All I could think was "...AND THE PLAYERS LOVE IT!!!!"

Did he really say that? How bizarre. It's way too early to make that sort of call and even when all the data is in, I highly doubt that his statement will be accurate.

adamkafei

bergins wrote: »

So, when Geko first comes on he says "First of all, what I do want to say is that the Command Ship[s have] been the most sucessful ships that we've ever released in Star Trek Online..."

All I could think was "...AND THE PLAYERS LOVE IT!!!!"

So much this!

frtoaster

Missing features from the crafting system:

1. Ability to customize modifiers on items
2. Ability to craft kits and kit modules
3. Ability to craft melee weapons
4. Ability to craft Romulan-faction ground weapons

I would also like to know the algorithm that determines how the modifiers are randomly generated. The only explanation we have is this post by adjudicatorhawk:

http://sto-forum.perfectworld.com/showpost.php?p=17883491&postcount=41

However, that post leaves quite a bit of room for interpretation. People have noticed that the distribution of outcomes is non-uniform; for example, [CrtD]x3 is less likely than [Acc] [CrtD] [Dmg]. The best person to ask about this is the programmer who wrote the code for generating the modifiers. I have the feeling that the algorithm was not included in the specifications and left up to the programmer. But different algorithms result in different distributions of outcomes.

quepan

bergins wrote: »

So, when Geko first comes on he says "First of all, what I do want to say is that the Command Ship[s have] been the most sucessful ships that we've ever released in Star Trek Online..."

All I could think was "...AND THE PLAYERS LOVE IT!!!!"

sometimes i feel that Geko says this stuff up for just the PR factor to promote things
I really dont see any real popularity in the command ships anymore than other ships . since there release when i log in to play i barely see any of them . mostly intel ships and lockbox ships i see the most , to me that sez that the intel ships more successful over the command . hell ive seen more pathfinder than command ships. IMO there not doing that well .

fcaptkmton

After hearing your crafting report, I think I'm gonna wait to craft more until I get a school to level 20. Maybe then I will have a better chance of getting what I want.

aelfwin1

bergins wrote: »

So, when Geko first comes on he says "First of all, what I do want to say is that the Command Ship[s have] been the most sucessful ships that we've ever released in Star Trek Online..."

All I could think was "...AND THE PLAYERS LOVE IT!!!!"

Word .
Except visual evidence suggests that the Samsar is currently the top favorite out there, Scimitars not counting .

fcaptkmton wrote: »

After hearing your crafting report, I think I'm gonna wait to craft more until I get a school to level 20. Maybe then I will have a better chance of getting what I want.

No you won't have a better chance at better Mod's .
What you will have is a better chance to crit when crafting components & upgrade tokens .

bergins

aelfwin1 wrote: »

Word .
Except visual evidence suggests that the Samsar is currently the top favorite out there, Scimitars not counting .

Well, he DOES later say it is based on release weekend sales, so since the Samsar sales are technically Zero...

Interestinly enough, he also mentions the all-time best seller, and it isn't the Scimitar, but the Gal-X!