Here's what I think happened...correct me if I'm wrong here...
People were running Intel primary and Pilot secondary, resulting in better escapes and attacks than either would provide on it's own, and somewhere in the big disconnect between what Cryptic thinks is going on, and what's really going on, they think there's PvP happening and it must be fed more powercreep until it finally dies.
There's nowhere in game where +200 defense is useful outside of PvP. PvE is target practice, and that's all it is or ever will be.
At Cryptic, they think adding yet "Moar Powah" is the solution to declining PvP and PvE numbers...
but it's the adding "Moar Powah!!!" that's killed PvP in the first place-that and the endless PvE grind necessary to achieve it.
They continue to release things that don't work for PvE, to a game that only gets support for PvE, development for PvE, attention to PvE.
It's that lack of attention that leads to the misconception that just offering another trinket of OPness is going to magically fill empty queues.
Because the Devs aren't connected in any way, shape or form to the gaming public.
The intentional destruction of game balance is driving the core market for this from the game in droves.
It's got to be a complete disconnect in the PWE/Cryptic offices that's causing this.
Ummmm... What? Where are you getting any of this nonsense from?
How does expanding the Pilot Secondary Specialisation into a Primary Spec result in anything being OP, given it will mean you need to replace either Intel, or Command as your Primary Spec, and relegate either of their first 2 tiers to Secondary...
I'm not seeing this massive power creep you're speaking of, especially since no one knows what abilities are coming in the expanded Pilot Spec...
There is no talk about Pilot as a BOFF specialization yet, only as a Captain specialization. Maybe there will be a BO Pilot specialization, too, but Cryptic hasn't stated that yet.
And Pilot Specialization for BOs or not - you never know what the future holds, it could always contain a ship that you find cooler than the last offering. That's one of the risks of buying now instead of waiting indefinitely. But of course, waiting indefinitely means never having anything nice.
edit: Okay, perhaps it would help to list what the abilities currently show at the Bridge Officer Trainer/Store (note it's on Ground, since you can't actually create the Pilot Specialization nor buy a Pilot BOFF - so keep that in mind for the obvious numbers that are out of place, damage/heal-type stuff)...
Attack Pattern Lambda I
Ensign
On Weapon Hit: -Acc, -Perception, Chance to Confuse
Self for 15 sec:
+15% Accuracy
+299 Perception
Foe on Weapon Hit:
-25% Accuracy for 5 sec
-299 Perception for 5 sec
20% chance: Confuse for 5 sec
Attack Pattern Lambda II
Lieutenant
On Weapon Hit: -Acc, -Perception, Chance to Confuse
Self for 15 sec:
+20% Accuracy
+373.8 Perception
Foe on Weapon Hit:
-32.4% Accuracy for 5 sec
-373.8 Perception for 5 sec
20% chance: Confuse for 5 sec
Deploy Countermeasures I
Ensign
PBAoE Destroy Targetable Torpedoes, Kinetic Immunity
To foes within 3.0 km:
Destroys Targetable Torpedoes and Mines
25% chance: Confuse for 4 sec (double chance vs. Fighters and Frigates)
to self: Immunity to Kinetic Damage for 4 sec
Deploy Countermeasures II
Lieutenant
PBAoE Destroy Targetable Torpedoes, Kinetic Immunity
To foes within 3.0 km:
Destroys Targetable Torpedoes and Mines
35% chance: Confuse for 6 sec (double chance vs. Fighters and Frigates)
to self: Immunity to Kinetic Damage for 6 sec
Lock Trajectory I
Ensign
Continue on Current Course, but Turn Freely
Inertia Rating set to Zero
+100% Flight Turn Rate
(Requires >50% Throttle to activate)
Lock Trajectory II
Lieutenant
Continue on Current Course, but Turn Freely
Inertia Rating set to Zero
+150% Flight Turn Rate
(Requires >50% Throttle to activate)
Pilot Team I
Ensign
Accuracy/Defense Buff, Immune to Movement Debuffs
+12% Accuracy for 10 sec
+12% Defense for 10 sec
+100 Resistance Rating to Movement Debuffs
Pilot Team II
Lieutenant
Accuracy/Defense Buff, Immune to Movement Debuffs
+16% Accuracy for 10 sec
+16% Defense for 10 sec
+300 Resistance Rating to Movement Debuffs
Clean Getaway I
Lieutenant
Rear-Facing Placate/Debuff, Speed Boost
All Foes in 90-degree Rear-Facing Cone, 5.0km Range:
Reset Aggro vs. Affected NPCs
Placate for 4 sec (Fragile)
-33.3% Flight Speed for 4 sec
To Self: +136.2% Flight Speed for 4 sec
Clean Getaway II
Lieutenant Commander
Rear-Facing Placate/Debuff, Speed Boost
All Foes in 90-degree Rear-Facing Cone, 5.0km Range:
Reset Aggro vs. Affected NPCs
Placate for 6 sec (Fragile)
-50% Flight Speed for 6 sec
To Self: +177.1% Flight Speed for 6 sec
Fly Her Apart I
Lieutenant
Speed Boost but Damage Self; Ambush on Expire
+25 - 100% Flight Speed (increases each sec)
-20.4 Hull Capacity per sec (3% of max)
On Expire: +2% All Damage Bonus per second Active
Fly Her Apart II
Lieutenant Commander
Speed Boost but Damage Self; Ambush on Expire
+50 - 200% Flight Speed (increases each sec)
-17 Hull Capacity per sec (2.5% of max)
On Expire: +2.5% All Damage Bonus per second Active
Hold Together I
Lieutenant
Self Hull Regen and Dmg Res Based on Throttle
+6.1 Hull Restored per sec (Based on Throttle)
+37 All Damage Resistance Rating (Based on Throttle)
At 100% Throttle: Remove one hazard debuff per sec
Hold Together II
Lieutenant Commander
Self Hull Regen and Dmg Res Based on Throttle
+7.9 Hull Restored per sec (Based on Throttle)
+48.1 All Damage Resistance Rating (Based on Throttle)
At 75% Throttle: Remove one hazard debuff per sec
Reinforcements Squadron I
Lieutenant
Summon Fighter Pets
Call in a squadron of four level 1 Reinforcement Fighters
Reinforcements Squadron II
Lieutenant Commander
Summon Fighter Pets
Call in a squadron of four level 1 Advanced Reinforcement Fighters
Coolant Ignition I
Lieutenant Commander
AOE Plasma Hazard Trail
Ejects Coolant Cloud that ignites after 10 sec
Before Ignition foes in Cloud suffer:
-99% Flight Turn Rate
-75% Flight Speed
After Ignition foes in Cloud suffer:
7.5 Plasma Damage (Ignores Shields) every sec
Coolant Ignition II
Commander
AOE Plasma Hazard Trail
Ejects Coolant Cloud that ignites after 10 sec
Before Ignition foes in Cloud suffer:
-99% Flight Turn Rate
-85.7% Flight Speed
After Ignition foes in Cloud suffer:
9.8 Plasma Damage (Ignores Shields) every sec
Form Up I
Lieutenant Commander
Teleport to Ally, Buff Both if Remain Close
Teleport to Target Ally
For up to 20sec, while within 5km of Target Ally:
Bonus +5 - 20% All Damage (based on pulse) to Self and Target Ally
Effect ends immediately if >5km from Target Ally
Form Up II
Commander
Teleport to Ally, Buff Both if Remain Close
Teleport to Target Ally
For up to 20sec, while within 5km of Target Ally:
Bonus +10 - 30% All Damage (based on pulse) to Self and Target Ally
Effect ends immediately if >5km from Target Ally
Reroute Reserves to Weapons I
Lieutenant Commander
Weapons Haste, but Drain from Engines
Set Weapon Power Drain to zero
20% Firing Cycle Haste for Energy Weapons
-10 Engine Power from Energy Weapon activation
Reroute Reserves to Weapons II
Commander
Weapons Haste, but Drain from Engines
Set Weapon Power Drain to zero
40% Firing Cycle Haste for Energy Weapons
-8 Engine Power from Energy Weapon activation
Subspace Boom I
Lieutenant Commander
PBAoE Damage + Movement Debuff
28.4 Kinetic Damage in 3km radius
Creates a Subspace Distortion for 15 sec which inflicts the following on foes in the area:
-33.3% Flight Speed and Turn Rate
-15% Defense
Subspace Boom II
Commander
PBAoE Damage + Movement Debuff
34.3 Kinetic Damage in 3km radius
Creates a Subspace Distortion for 15 sec which inflicts the following on foes in the area:
-50% Flight Speed and Turn Rate
-25% Defense
So yeah, there's going to be pilot ships with pilot boff powers.
Also; i vote for virusdancer to be added to the dev tracker. He "tracks the dev's math" at least.
Lol, that would go so wrong...it wouldn't take long for me to get banned. Not all of my posts are...friendly.
That being said, my apologies to the folks I may have been a douche to in overreacting or having a bad day. To the others, it's still pretty much a TRIBBLE you.
And on the matter of a T6 Pilot ship...it blows my mind that the JHSS wasn't matched up with that stuff.
I expected more concern about the fact that they just obsoleted 30 levels of XP (with split ground/space Intel & Command that will be replaced by pure optimized specialties). But I guess people are good with that with barely even a wish for a respect in light of this change.
Eh, Intel/Pilot is still a better Space spec than Pilot/Intel. Nothing in the T3 or T4 Pilot (that we've seen so far) appears more powerful than T3 Intel (flanking!) or T4 Intel (Intel Fleet) in Space.
If we get Commando spec BOffs (which sounds awesome), I'm hoping they'll convert these specific Spec seats on existing ships to just a Hybrid seat. Although the balance is likely to get wonky...
Lol, that would go so wrong...it wouldn't take long for me to get banned. Not all of my posts are...friendly.
That being said, my apologies to the folks I may have been a douche to in overreacting or having a bad day. To the others, it's still pretty much a TRIBBLE you.
And on the matter of a T6 Pilot ship...it blows my mind that the JHSS wasn't matched up with that stuff.
While the JHSS has awesome turn rate and all - it wasn't exactly known for fancy maneuevers, was it? Despite the theoretical maneuverability, the Jem'Hadar really showed any fancy flying. Neither did the DS9 crew when they comandeered one.
A Galaxy Class with a Pilot seat would be awesome - there have been at least two episodes where fancy flying rescued the ship - flying through the Jenolan Dyson Sphere gate and flying through an Asteroid Field full of Aceton Generators.
It may turn like a brick, but some pilots did awesome things with it.
But probably all TNG era hero ships have done stuff like that. The Defiant certainly did. (TOS era stuff lacked sufficient SFX capabilities to realy show off fancy maneuvering.)
Star Trek Online Advancement: You start with lowbie gear, you end with Lobi gear.
Eh, Intel/Pilot is still a better Space spec than Pilot/Intel. Nothing in the T3 or T4 Pilot (that we've seen so far) appears more powerful than T3 Intel (flanking!) or T4 Intel (Intel Fleet) in Space.
We don't know the full extent of the new Pilot abilities, so it's a bit early to worry about that.
However that was never my concern, what I'm concerned about is the *next* pure Space specialization. That will be the one (in combination with Pilot, taking up both active primary and secondary) that will make Intel and Command obsoleted if it's worth having at all.
I expect it before the end of the year at the rate they are making changes.
While the JHSS has awesome turn rate and all - it wasn't exactly known for fancy maneuevers, was it? Despite the theoretical maneuverability, the Jem'Hadar really showed any fancy flying. Neither did the DS9 crew when they comandeered one.
A Galaxy Class with a Pilot seat would be awesome - there have been at least two episodes where fancy flying rescued the ship - flying through the Jenolan Dyson Sphere gate and flying through an Asteroid Field full of Aceton Generators.
It may turn like a brick, but some pilots did awesome things with it.
But probably all TNG era hero ships have done stuff like that. The Defiant certainly did. (TOS era stuff lacked sufficient SFX capabilities to realy show off fancy maneuvering.)
Yeah, I was thinking back to when I used to do EWP powerslides in the Ody when it first came out (I slammed into all sorts of things and kept getting stuck on asteroids in CnH). Imagine a Galaxy with that Lock Trajectory ability...oh man, with Subspace Jump.
> X
>
<
X
> X
>
If the slide wasn't reset by the jump, going at the target broadsiding, passing the target broadsiding, jumping behind the target to do it again...wheeeee.
Course, if somebody attacked from the wrong angle and did that...lol.
Here's what I think happened...correct me if I'm wrong here...
People were running Intel primary and Pilot secondary, resulting in better escapes and attacks than either would provide on it's own, and somewhere in the big disconnect between what Cryptic thinks is going on, and what's really going on, they think there's PvP happening and it must be fed more powercreep until it finally dies.
There's nowhere in game where +200 defense is useful outside of PvP. PvE is target practice, and that's all it is or ever will be.
At Cryptic, they think adding yet "Moar Powah" is the solution to declining PvP and PvE numbers...
but it's the adding "Moar Powah!!!" that's killed PvP in the first place-that and the endless PvE grind necessary to achieve it.
They continue to release things that don't work for PvE, to a game that only gets support for PvE, development for PvE, attention to PvE.
It's that lack of attention that leads to the misconception that just offering another trinket of OPness is going to magically fill empty queues.
Because the Devs aren't connected in any way, shape or form to the gaming public.
The intentional destruction of game balance is driving the core market for this from the game in droves.
It's got to be a complete disconnect in the PWE/Cryptic offices that's causing this.
I agree on most points except R&R not being useful in PvE your dead wrong on that one , not only is it useful its a lot of fun too
But all there rest of your points are pretty much dead on
Once PvP gets its own server and its own set of rules , Only then can PvP become the game it is soposed to be
The two playing styles are so alien and different to balance them both together is impossible
Pve is mostly kill the swarming mobs of stuff charging you
PvP is destroy the single high value unpredictable target...Then the HUGE experience gap in players ..Then the huge pay to win gap...Wait the HUGE grind gap also and many more things that would need tuning
But as long as the two systems share the game rulebook there will be no progress
And last but not least PvP in no way resembles starship combat that we have watched in the films and shows
Starfleet command ..That was starship combat cryptic should grab a few copys and learn how its soposed to be
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
Ummmm... What? Where are you getting any of this nonsense from?
How does expanding the Pilot Secondary Specialisation into a Primary Spec result in anything being OP, given it will mean you need to replace either Intel, or Command as your Primary Spec, and relegate either of their first 2 tiers to Secondary...
I'm not seeing this massive power creep you're speaking of, especially since no one knows what abilities are coming in the expanded Pilot Spec...
Think you're jumping the gun a little here...
The powers are already on tribble.
Good ol Virus posted this in the pvp forums:
So yeah, there's going to be pilot ships with pilot boff powers.
Well, it seems I stand corrected.
Interesting.
Will this lead to a Tier 6 BOP and Defiant?
Or a new shuttle?
Also; i vote for virusdancer to be added to the dev tracker.
Lol, that would go so wrong...it wouldn't take long for me to get banned. Not all of my posts are...friendly.
That being said, my apologies to the folks I may have been a douche to in overreacting or having a bad day. To the others, it's still pretty much a TRIBBLE you.
And on the matter of a T6 Pilot ship...it blows my mind that the JHSS wasn't matched up with that stuff.
Eh, Intel/Pilot is still a better Space spec than Pilot/Intel. Nothing in the T3 or T4 Pilot (that we've seen so far) appears more powerful than T3 Intel (flanking!) or T4 Intel (Intel Fleet) in Space.
If we get Commando spec BOffs (which sounds awesome), I'm hoping they'll convert these specific Spec seats on existing ships to just a Hybrid seat. Although the balance is likely to get wonky...
While the JHSS has awesome turn rate and all - it wasn't exactly known for fancy maneuevers, was it? Despite the theoretical maneuverability, the Jem'Hadar really showed any fancy flying. Neither did the DS9 crew when they comandeered one.
A Galaxy Class with a Pilot seat would be awesome - there have been at least two episodes where fancy flying rescued the ship - flying through the Jenolan Dyson Sphere gate and flying through an Asteroid Field full of Aceton Generators.
It may turn like a brick, but some pilots did awesome things with it.
But probably all TNG era hero ships have done stuff like that. The Defiant certainly did. (TOS era stuff lacked sufficient SFX capabilities to realy show off fancy maneuvering.)
We don't know the full extent of the new Pilot abilities, so it's a bit early to worry about that.
However that was never my concern, what I'm concerned about is the *next* pure Space specialization. That will be the one (in combination with Pilot, taking up both active primary and secondary) that will make Intel and Command obsoleted if it's worth having at all.
I expect it before the end of the year at the rate they are making changes.
Yeah, I was thinking back to when I used to do EWP powerslides in the Ody when it first came out (I slammed into all sorts of things and kept getting stuck on asteroids in CnH). Imagine a Galaxy with that Lock Trajectory ability...oh man, with Subspace Jump.
> X
>
<
X
> X
>
If the slide wasn't reset by the jump, going at the target broadsiding, passing the target broadsiding, jumping behind the target to do it again...wheeeee.
Course, if somebody attacked from the wrong angle and did that...lol.
I agree on most points except R&R not being useful in PvE your dead wrong on that one , not only is it useful its a lot of fun too
But all there rest of your points are pretty much dead on
Once PvP gets its own server and its own set of rules , Only then can PvP become the game it is soposed to be
The two playing styles are so alien and different to balance them both together is impossible
Pve is mostly kill the swarming mobs of stuff charging you
PvP is destroy the single high value unpredictable target...Then the HUGE experience gap in players ..Then the huge pay to win gap...Wait the HUGE grind gap also and many more things that would need tuning
But as long as the two systems share the game rulebook there will be no progress
And last but not least PvP in no way resembles starship combat that we have watched in the films and shows
Starfleet command ..That was starship combat cryptic should grab a few copys and learn how its soposed to be
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