They're pretty much telling us what kinds of ships we can expect to see with this Spec.
No Pilot cruisers. No Pilot battlecruisers. Probably all ships with a heavy tactical emphasis, although the "light starship" designation would seem to open it up to ships that aren't considered escorts or raiders. Or maybe they just mean light warbirds so our Romulan friends aren't excluded.
I'd kind of like to see a fighter-class small vessel with a LT Tac/Pilot slot. That would be really useful for small craft missions.
Ok, fine you've made your point.
Now, many of us other players ARE TELLING them (Cryptic) what WE want. WE. The customers. Fancy that huh. How preposterous. Customers TELLING the "store" what WE want.
Like that's NEVER happened before? There's so many precedents of The Customer telling the "store" what they want AND those customers actually getting what they asked for, that I do NOT have to cite ANY references to back it up. It happens EVERY single day in stores across America.
So guess what Cryptic, get with the program.
Macy's, Sears, JC Pennys, Walmart, etc. are multi- BILLION dollar companies that provide their customers with what they want.
What is PWE/Crytic in comparison to that; nothing more than another two-bit software game provider.
Now, many of us other players ARE TELLING them (Cryptic) what WE want. WE. The customers. Fancy that huh. How preposterous. Customers TELLING the "store" what WE want.
Like that's NEVER happened before?
Well, I guess it depends on what their sales are. Obviously, the sale values are showing a different picture.
Either way, I'm plenty fine with them releasing new ships for new specs because:
A) My existing ships are still great, even without the new powers
They've had Intel- and Command-specific ships already, so Pilot-specific ships wasn't a surprise move
C) They knocked the ball outta the park with the Command ships. I see them everywhere in game, so it didn't surprise me when I heard on Priority One a few weeks back when Cryptic (maybe it was Geko?) said that the Command ships were the fastest out-of-the-gate sellers out of any ship released yet (to clarify as he did, that was most sales at initial adoption, not biggest overall volumes). So the outpouring of support for this release model speaks for itself, apparently. So I hope for good things with the Pilot ships.
D) I'm not being forced to buy anything. I'm very happy they're giving players choices, because having more choice makes me feel like I'm really selecting a path I want to take in this game. I'm not just a sci captain on my main - I'm a sci captain, specializing in Command, with a Command ship. Offers more variation in ships, playstyles, etc.
E) I didn't like Intel, I may like Pilot depending on how it turns out, but I really liked Command. As a player, there's nothing forcing me to buy into all three specializations. So I made the choice not to. So far I've only put spec points in Command, and I've only bought a Command ship. I'll wait to see about Pilot, but I may just pass on that one as well. I have that choice. I don't need access to everything.
Either way, this seems to be the way they're going with it.
But seriously... insulting the company, like you did lower in your post, isn't going to get you heard. It's going to get your post ignored by the very people you want to read it.
Let me guess... One new FED Escort, one Lockbox/Lobi ship with Cmdr. hybrid pilot seating, one Lockbox/Lobi ship with Lt. hybrid pilot, and no ships for KDF and ROM as usual?
While I like the idea of having better diversity and, even adding it what is seemingly a move towards furthering trinity roles in this game.
The major problem is, that there are very few if any missions, that even allow player's to fully use this stuff.
PVE missions are pretty short and, don't really ask much of player's regarding trinity play styles, other than just inflict massive dps is all,
So, there really needs to be some additional missions, designed to be challenging enough + lengthy enough, for player's to even really get the full benefits from such additions IMO.
It doesnt really matter what "we" the customers want. Its about what "we" the customers are willing to pay for. Sure, T6 Sovereign with pilot seat - how much will THAT cost?
Why is it that you devs keep putting out new ships that we don't need instead of fixing the bugs that are in the game? You dev's can say what you want about or were doing this or that to make the game better but truth is your not. All you guys care about is trying to get more money out of people with ships that are worthless. I've been playing this game for just over 8 months and have already put almost $1,000 into this game. I can tell you this I WILL NOT BE PUTTING ANYMORE MONEY INTO THIS GAME AND MY FLEET'S OF 700 WILL NOT BE DOING SO AS WELL. Fix the problems first then add new items and so forth. There's a reason so many vets of the game have left and this dumb ship idea is one of them. GOOD DAY.....I SAID GOOD DAY.
It doesnt really matter what "we" the customers want. Its about what "we" the customers are willing to pay for. Sure, T6 Sovereign with pilot seat - how much will THAT cost?
Why is it that you devs keep putting out new ships that we don't need... I've been playing this game for just over 8 months and have already put almost $1,000 into this game.
I think you answered your own question. You've been in the game 8 months, and have spent almost $1000. As long as players are buying the content, there is a reason for them to keep producing more C-Store content. Yes, you're saying you're not going to buy more - but you already did buy a significant chunk of content, so the market is definitely there.
Case in point, as I mentioned before, the Command ships were the best out-of-the-gate sellers of any ship release (Priority One podcast, either 3 or 4 weeks ago now). So there are clearly enough players who do really like the new content and ships, and want to purchase it.
1 underperforming KDF "Battlecruiser" (because that's all Geko wants to let us have)
1 Romulan Warbird (with decent-but not barn-burner stats)..
I don't really know how you're figuring that? The Command ships released equally, with 3 ships per faction. Lockbox and Lobi too, of course, but no faction got quite the shaft you're suggesting will happen this time around.
They messed up with the Intel ships by over-stacking the Feds for sure, but why wouldn't you take the more recent example as a basis? Clearly, they realized the mistake and gave more ships to each faction - and it worked, according to sales.
4. Look at how the Blog is titled, written, and what images were used. A lockbox ship and two Feds. (one Fed-Rom, one Fed). KDF is completely absent.
1. The blog is titled 'pilot bridge officers'. Last I checked, all three factions, KDF included, used both pilots and bridge officers.
2.The blog admittedly does mentione Riker and Paris as the great pilots to emulate, but could you name a famous klingon pilot off the top of your head? One that the average player is likely to have heard of? I certainly couldn't. The blog then goes on to mention the types of ships the pilot spec is aimed at: escorts (fed), raiders (KDF), and other light starships (neutral). None of the rest of the blog mentions anything faction based, outside of a reference to 'your faction hub' when saying where to buy pilot officers which is, again, neutral.
3. The ships used are the sheshar dreadnught (lockbox), the sovereign (fed) although admittedly they used that for two images, and the peghqu' heavy destroyer (KDF).
Yeah, they screwed up with the initial release of ships at DR, but the most recent example we have is every faction getting the same amount of ships. No reason to think this won't be the case going forward, meaning that if you do get nothing but cruisers, that's all we'll get as well.
I can see the flame war getting ugly if you are going to require yet another specific class of Tier 6 ships to use the pilot bridge officer...
Ugly by design because you need specific ships to pull these off when there were some of these things were already done with canon ships. Seriously, universal slots that aren't universal anymore? That is just confusing to users.
Cryptic, you're ruining the game for me with this new system. 'Pilot' is something every ship is built for. Am I suppose to abandon my Intel or Command ships just so I can use abilities that should be from the Boff (or the Captain) not a station slot?
Here's a novel idea why don't you spend your time on telling the Iconian story and just put the specializations inside the ships we own. I mean look at this forum, people are sick and tired of one shiny thing after another, hell SWTOR has more story that Star Trek Online and that is just embarrassing considering how vastly rich and superior Trek storylines are. Wake up! People want entertainment not a cheap toy, if we want that your customer base would demand it but its NOT. Otherwise your flagship servers are going to crash much sooner and your cash cow is gone, now is that what you truly want because people are getting extremely fed up and are leaving.
If its not the Sphere hopping its the Specializations for specific ships. You guys do great story missions now and considering how much MONEY the player base pumps into this game for existing material, don't tell us you need more to make the next series of story missions happen. This money grab you are excited to reveal would be worth something if we knew if our money went on the up keep and progression of the game but instead it goes to more ships, specializations and other gimmicks.
As a lifelong Star Trek fan, this is an embarrassment that the one franchise that pushed the boundaries of story telling and adventure went to the Ferengi.
LLAP
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC] "This planet smells, it must be the Klingons"
Cryptic, you're ruining the game for me with this new system. 'Pilot' is something every ship is built for. Am I suppose to abandon my Intel or Command ships just so I can use abilities that should be from the Boff (or the Captain) not a station slot?
I don't think you're supposed to abandon your ships, no. Just swap in and out as you feel like. I have one ship I consider my go-to flagship, but then a handful of others (including a Command ship) that I play whenever I feel like it.
No one's asking you to abandon anything. They're just giving us more choice, and that does include the choice of not to get Pilot stuff if it's not interesting enough for your playstyle.
Here's a novel idea why don't you spend your time on telling the Iconian story and just put the specializations inside the ships we own. I mean look at this forum, people are sick and tired of one shiny thing after another...
First of all, they are telling the story. This week's mission is only a teaser of what's to come.
Second, from logging in and flying around, the reality seems to differ from claims that the new ships aren't selling well, and players don't want them. I see a ton of DR / Intel ships flying around all the time. And when Command released, I saw them everywhere within a few days. I'd have expected Command did extremely well, even before I heard the claim on Priority One.
Clearly, there are a lot of players who are very interested in the new ships, and who are buying them. Doesn't mean the Pilot will be a guaranteed sale of course - that'll depend on what the ships actually turn out to be.
1. The blog is titled 'pilot bridge officers'. Last I checked, all three factions, KDF included, used both pilots and bridge officers.
2.The blog admittedly does mentione Riker and Paris as the great pilots to emulate, but could you name a famous klingon pilot off the top of your head? One that the average player is likely to have heard of? I certainly couldn't. The blog then goes on to mention the types of ships the pilot spec is aimed at: escorts (fed), raiders (KDF), and other light starships (neutral). None of the rest of the blog mentions anything faction based, outside of a reference to 'your faction hub' when saying where to buy pilot officers which is, again, neutral.
3. The ships used are the sheshar dreadnught (lockbox), the sovereign (fed) although admittedly they used that for two images, and the peghqu' heavy destroyer (KDF).
Yeah, they screwed up with the initial release of ships at DR, but the most recent example we have is every faction getting the same amount of ships. No reason to think this won't be the case going forward, meaning that if you do get nothing but cruisers, that's all we'll get as well.
Hehe... I tried.... but all I get are nameless bekks. :P Apparently Gene Roddenberry didn't consider Klingons important enough for that. :P
1. The blog is titled 'pilot bridge officers'. Last I checked, all three factions, KDF included, used both pilots and bridge officers.
2.The blog admittedly does mentione Riker and Paris as the great pilots to emulate, but could you name a famous klingon pilot off the top of your head? One that the average player is likely to have heard of? I certainly couldn't. The blog then goes on to mention the types of ships the pilot spec is aimed at: escorts (fed), raiders (KDF), and other light starships (neutral). None of the rest of the blog mentions anything faction based, outside of a reference to 'your faction hub' when saying where to buy pilot officers which is, again, neutral.
3. The ships used are the sheshar dreadnught (lockbox), the sovereign (fed) although admittedly they used that for two images, and the peghqu' heavy destroyer (KDF).
Yeah, they screwed up with the initial release of ships at DR, but the most recent example we have is every faction getting the same amount of ships. No reason to think this won't be the case going forward, meaning that if you do get nothing but cruisers, that's all we'll get as well.
I could easily name you a good Klingon pilot: worf's brother kern. Remember the move he pulled during the Klingon civil war where he ignited the sun by going to warp and the two bops pursuing him were incinerated? Yeah, he was a skilled pilot, no doubt about it.
Why does Pilot NEED to be something that all boffs learn/have? There is a reason that it is called a Pilot SPECIALIZATION - ships that allow officers with the appropriate training to maximise the usage of that skill. It's the same with the Command/Intel ships - a bridge officer might have command or intelligence training, but the ships that they serve on may not necessarily have the facilities to accommodate a station for those skills a la Intrepid/Bellerophon compared to the Pathfinder.
Why does Pilot NEED to be something that all boffs learn/have? There is a reason that it is called a Pilot SPECIALIZATION - ships that allow officers with the appropriate training to maximise the usage of that skill. It's the same with the Command/Intel ships - a bridge officer might have command or intelligence training, but the ships that they serve on may not necessarily have the facilities to accommodate a station for those skills a la Intrepid/Bellerophon compared to the Pathfinder.
well, that the issue right there. it appears that a pilot lacks their skill unless they are in a special ship. its like maintaining that michael schumacher is skilled in his ferrari but loses any advantages of that skill when driving a lesser car, when its pretty obvious that schumacher would be capable of pushing any car at all to its absolute limits.
well, that the issue right there. it appears that a pilot lacks their skill unless they are in a special ship. its like maintaining that michael schumacher is skilled in his ferrari but loses any advantages of that skill when driving a lesser car, when its pretty obvious that schumacher would be capable of pushing any car at all to its absolute limits.
I actually addressed that very point a while back. For reference:
But using the new Pilot abilities would require a ship that's specifically built for them. Finely tuned impulse engines, a reinforced frame, double the standard complement of RCS thrusters, a cold-start / hot-shutdown warp core, and so on.
A NASCAR driver could do some pretty impressive things in a Honda Accord off the lot (again, think our currently-available abilities). But they need an actual NASCAR vehicle to really let their skills shine. Top speeds in NASCAR are way beyond the red-line in your average family sedan, and the suspension just wouldn't hold up for that long on even the slightest turn.
So, a Pilot BOFF trying any of these new abilities on a ship that's not built for them... well, every attempted maneuver would end up being different variations of the "Fly Her Apart" ability :P
It's not the boff that's the problem. It's that even if the boff is highly trained, the ship can only take so much if it's not built for it.
These new Pilot ships will be built for the advanced piloting skills.
I actually addressed that very point a while back. For reference:
It's not the boff that's the problem. It's that even if the boff is highly trained, the ship can only take so much if it's not built for it.
These new Pilot ships will be built for the advanced piloting skills.
...So? The fact that Pilots can't do the same awesome things in (say) a B'rel as in a specialized pilot ship, doesn't mean they suddenly magically can't lock their ship's trajectory while turning or perform a microwarp jump to support an ally. Or, for that matter, reroute reserve power to the weapons arrays... We see people do that all the time on Star Trek, regardless of ship or crew member training.
Likewise, do you really need a Command Battlecruiser or a Vaadwaur ship just to be able to mark a target for other ships in your fleet to fire at, order other ships into formation, or call in reinforcements?
...So? The fact that Pilots can't do the same awesome things in (say) a B'rel as in a specialized pilot ship, doesn't mean they suddenly magically can't lock their ship's trajectory while turning or perform a microwarp jump to support an ally. Or, for that matter, reroute reserve power to the weapons arrays... We see people do that all the time on Star Trek, regardless of ship or crew member training.
Likewise, do you really need a Command Battlecruiser or a Vaadwaur ship just to be able to mark a target for other ships in your fleet to fire at, order other ships into formation, or call in reinforcements?
Yes, specialized ships for specialized tasks makes sense.
It's not like this didn't exist prior to specializations, either. Want to use Gravity Well? Have to make sure you're flying a ship that can seat a 3rd level sci boff. Want to use dual cannons? Better make sure you've flying a ship that's capable of mounting cannons.
It's the same with spec ships. Not all ships can have an Intel seat for Surgical Strikes, and not all ships are capable of using Inspiration abilities.
Not every ship is the Enterprise, or the Defiant, or Voyager. Not every ship is a hero ship that can do anything at any time. Not every ship will have access to every ability or mechanic.
Enough is enough! I have no problem supporting Cryptic financially, but I do have a problem supporting something that invalidates players investments in previous ships.
It has been suggested by many to allow us to buy upgrade slots on our existing ships, this allows Cryptic to make money and players to use ships they have already purchased. It's a win-win scenario. This would also allow the artist and ship designers to get back to filling in the missing ships from each faction.
I've been impressed by a lot of the quality of life improvements added into the game. Now it's time to improve the quality of life of monetizing the game. You can keep going after the whales with big purchases or go after the little fishes and the whales with smaller purchases but higher volume. Higher volume will help in the long term survival for this game.
It's kind of like Wal-Mart vs. going to the mall. Wal-Mart makes money because of volume and they know the average person will buy more little items over time than a couple of big purchases.
It just makes more sense long term.... especially with digital goods!
I've seen a lot of posts use the logic that "cryptic needs to sell ships to make a profit so of course they tie access to new boff abilities to new ships in order to sell them". I'm paraphrasing of course but that's the general statement.
Well, that makes no sense as an argument for the desire to make profit from selling new ships.
Let's break this down. But first I am not talking about new ships that offer some special ship specific console like saucer separation and the sort. But specifically the command and intel ships.
By creating a restriction to new boff powers by providing them only on intel/command ships its obvious Cryptic is trying to promote the new ship. Which is a cost to cryptic to develop at probably some several hundred hours of development at something around $100-200+ per hour cost, associated costs of computer hardware/software/maintenance and additional cost of testing and and and. But at the end of the day its just some code on a server. The profit is reclaimed through the purchase of this ship with real currency the most common being zen. There are the select few that have earned enough in game currency to convert to zen and "purchase" without spending real money but let's leave those out of the equation. So for 2500 zen you can have the new ship and cryptic can recoup/generate cash flow. This model seems inherently flawed in that cryptic would be losing (potential) money.
In contrast, by providing the new boff abilities - at the same cost or slightly lower of a new ship - but with the added flexibility the features can be added to ANY ship in the game cryptic would increase the potential number of buyers AND save the cost of designing a new ship. Of course they can still provide a new ship perhaps with some other SPECIAL feature that makes them unique. But in this second model at least in theory cryptic would stand to gain even more revenue as players who would not spend on a new ship may be more inclined to pull out their wallets if they could upgrade their favorite ship. Hell, you could monetize boff seating as a packaged item to sell online an alter the seating - within certain restrictions - of your favorite space boat. Cryptic still gets paid the same if not more, players keep their favorite ships and STO universe still retains that ST feel rather than the hot cars show its turning into.
So Cryptic...why the NEED to design and sell a brand new ship with such increased frequency when you can generate the same revenue with an upgrade variation of these new boff skill? it would appear to be more of a cost to you than it is for us.
I actually addressed that very point a while back. For reference:
It's not the boff that's the problem. It's that even if the boff is highly trained, the ship can only take so much if it's not built for it.
These new Pilot ships will be built for the advanced piloting skills.
that doesnt follow logic.
while michael schumacher will obviously get a faster track time from his ferrari, even in a hyundai he is going to run a faster lap than you or i. putting schumacher and i in identical vehicles does not make us equals.
that doesnt follow logic.
while michael schumacher will obviously get a faster track time from his ferrari, even in a hyundai he is going to run a faster lap than you or i. putting schumacher and i in identical vehicles does not make us equals.
That's correct. And seeing as your toon isn't a pilot, that's doesn't equate.
One can assume your helmsman is already very competent. Evasive Maneuvers and Attack Patterns are already a thing. But s/he would be able to do more in a Pilot ship, that is specially designed.
That's correct. And seeing as your toon isn't a pilot, that's doesn't equate.
One can assume your helmsman is already very competent. Evasive Maneuvers and Attack Patterns are already a thing. But s/he would be able to do more in a Pilot ship, that is specially designed.
right because Voyager was a specially designed ship for piloting? or was it that janeway searched even the lowest of places to find a pilot who would maximize the performance of her ship?
Comments
That's correct. But he was helmsman of the Stargazer originally - that's what I was referring to there.
Ok, fine you've made your point.
Now, many of us other players ARE TELLING them (Cryptic) what WE want. WE. The customers. Fancy that huh. How preposterous. Customers TELLING the "store" what WE want.
Like that's NEVER happened before? There's so many precedents of The Customer telling the "store" what they want AND those customers actually getting what they asked for, that I do NOT have to cite ANY references to back it up. It happens EVERY single day in stores across America.
So guess what Cryptic, get with the program.
Macy's, Sears, JC Pennys, Walmart, etc. are multi- BILLION dollar companies that provide their customers with what they want.
What is PWE/Crytic in comparison to that; nothing more than another two-bit software game provider.
So was I.
/10char
Well, I guess it depends on what their sales are. Obviously, the sale values are showing a different picture.
Either way, I'm plenty fine with them releasing new ships for new specs because:
A) My existing ships are still great, even without the new powers
C) They knocked the ball outta the park with the Command ships. I see them everywhere in game, so it didn't surprise me when I heard on Priority One a few weeks back when Cryptic (maybe it was Geko?) said that the Command ships were the fastest out-of-the-gate sellers out of any ship released yet (to clarify as he did, that was most sales at initial adoption, not biggest overall volumes). So the outpouring of support for this release model speaks for itself, apparently. So I hope for good things with the Pilot ships.
D) I'm not being forced to buy anything. I'm very happy they're giving players choices, because having more choice makes me feel like I'm really selecting a path I want to take in this game. I'm not just a sci captain on my main - I'm a sci captain, specializing in Command, with a Command ship. Offers more variation in ships, playstyles, etc.
E) I didn't like Intel, I may like Pilot depending on how it turns out, but I really liked Command. As a player, there's nothing forcing me to buy into all three specializations. So I made the choice not to. So far I've only put spec points in Command, and I've only bought a Command ship. I'll wait to see about Pilot, but I may just pass on that one as well. I have that choice. I don't need access to everything.
Either way, this seems to be the way they're going with it.
But seriously... insulting the company, like you did lower in your post, isn't going to get you heard. It's going to get your post ignored by the very people you want to read it.
can you give me this weeks lotto numbers....
cause me thinks u hit it spot on m8ty...
The major problem is, that there are very few if any missions, that even allow player's to fully use this stuff.
PVE missions are pretty short and, don't really ask much of player's regarding trinity play styles, other than just inflict massive dps is all,
So, there really needs to be some additional missions, designed to be challenging enough + lengthy enough, for player's to even really get the full benefits from such additions IMO.
Praetor of the -RTS- Romulan Tal Shiar fleet!
T6 ships cost 3000 ZEN.
I think you answered your own question. You've been in the game 8 months, and have spent almost $1000. As long as players are buying the content, there is a reason for them to keep producing more C-Store content. Yes, you're saying you're not going to buy more - but you already did buy a significant chunk of content, so the market is definitely there.
Case in point, as I mentioned before, the Command ships were the best out-of-the-gate sellers of any ship release (Priority One podcast, either 3 or 4 weeks ago now). So there are clearly enough players who do really like the new content and ships, and want to purchase it.
I don't really know how you're figuring that? The Command ships released equally, with 3 ships per faction. Lockbox and Lobi too, of course, but no faction got quite the shaft you're suggesting will happen this time around.
They messed up with the Intel ships by over-stacking the Feds for sure, but why wouldn't you take the more recent example as a basis? Clearly, they realized the mistake and gave more ships to each faction - and it worked, according to sales.
2.The blog admittedly does mentione Riker and Paris as the great pilots to emulate, but could you name a famous klingon pilot off the top of your head? One that the average player is likely to have heard of? I certainly couldn't. The blog then goes on to mention the types of ships the pilot spec is aimed at: escorts (fed), raiders (KDF), and other light starships (neutral). None of the rest of the blog mentions anything faction based, outside of a reference to 'your faction hub' when saying where to buy pilot officers which is, again, neutral.
3. The ships used are the sheshar dreadnught (lockbox), the sovereign (fed) although admittedly they used that for two images, and the peghqu' heavy destroyer (KDF).
Yeah, they screwed up with the initial release of ships at DR, but the most recent example we have is every faction getting the same amount of ships. No reason to think this won't be the case going forward, meaning that if you do get nothing but cruisers, that's all we'll get as well.
Ugly by design because you need specific ships to pull these off when there were some of these things were already done with canon ships. Seriously, universal slots that aren't universal anymore? That is just confusing to users.
oh, look...something new and cool..btw, it won't work on any of your existing ships...so sorry...
Here's a novel idea why don't you spend your time on telling the Iconian story and just put the specializations inside the ships we own. I mean look at this forum, people are sick and tired of one shiny thing after another, hell SWTOR has more story that Star Trek Online and that is just embarrassing considering how vastly rich and superior Trek storylines are. Wake up! People want entertainment not a cheap toy, if we want that your customer base would demand it but its NOT. Otherwise your flagship servers are going to crash much sooner and your cash cow is gone, now is that what you truly want because people are getting extremely fed up and are leaving.
If its not the Sphere hopping its the Specializations for specific ships. You guys do great story missions now and considering how much MONEY the player base pumps into this game for existing material, don't tell us you need more to make the next series of story missions happen. This money grab you are excited to reveal would be worth something if we knew if our money went on the up keep and progression of the game but instead it goes to more ships, specializations and other gimmicks.
As a lifelong Star Trek fan, this is an embarrassment that the one franchise that pushed the boundaries of story telling and adventure went to the Ferengi.
LLAP
I don't think you're supposed to abandon your ships, no. Just swap in and out as you feel like. I have one ship I consider my go-to flagship, but then a handful of others (including a Command ship) that I play whenever I feel like it.
No one's asking you to abandon anything. They're just giving us more choice, and that does include the choice of not to get Pilot stuff if it's not interesting enough for your playstyle.
First of all, they are telling the story. This week's mission is only a teaser of what's to come.
Second, from logging in and flying around, the reality seems to differ from claims that the new ships aren't selling well, and players don't want them. I see a ton of DR / Intel ships flying around all the time. And when Command released, I saw them everywhere within a few days. I'd have expected Command did extremely well, even before I heard the claim on Priority One.
Clearly, there are a lot of players who are very interested in the new ships, and who are buying them. Doesn't mean the Pilot will be a guaranteed sale of course - that'll depend on what the ships actually turn out to be.
My character Tsin'xing
I could easily name you a good Klingon pilot: worf's brother kern. Remember the move he pulled during the Klingon civil war where he ignited the sun by going to warp and the two bops pursuing him were incinerated? Yeah, he was a skilled pilot, no doubt about it.
well, that the issue right there. it appears that a pilot lacks their skill unless they are in a special ship. its like maintaining that michael schumacher is skilled in his ferrari but loses any advantages of that skill when driving a lesser car, when its pretty obvious that schumacher would be capable of pushing any car at all to its absolute limits.
free jkname
Get the Forums Enhancement Extension!
I actually addressed that very point a while back. For reference:
It's not the boff that's the problem. It's that even if the boff is highly trained, the ship can only take so much if it's not built for it.
These new Pilot ships will be built for the advanced piloting skills.
...So? The fact that Pilots can't do the same awesome things in (say) a B'rel as in a specialized pilot ship, doesn't mean they suddenly magically can't lock their ship's trajectory while turning or perform a microwarp jump to support an ally. Or, for that matter, reroute reserve power to the weapons arrays... We see people do that all the time on Star Trek, regardless of ship or crew member training.
Likewise, do you really need a Command Battlecruiser or a Vaadwaur ship just to be able to mark a target for other ships in your fleet to fire at, order other ships into formation, or call in reinforcements?
Yes, specialized ships for specialized tasks makes sense.
It's not like this didn't exist prior to specializations, either. Want to use Gravity Well? Have to make sure you're flying a ship that can seat a 3rd level sci boff. Want to use dual cannons? Better make sure you've flying a ship that's capable of mounting cannons.
It's the same with spec ships. Not all ships can have an Intel seat for Surgical Strikes, and not all ships are capable of using Inspiration abilities.
Not every ship is the Enterprise, or the Defiant, or Voyager. Not every ship is a hero ship that can do anything at any time. Not every ship will have access to every ability or mechanic.
It has been suggested by many to allow us to buy upgrade slots on our existing ships, this allows Cryptic to make money and players to use ships they have already purchased. It's a win-win scenario. This would also allow the artist and ship designers to get back to filling in the missing ships from each faction.
I've been impressed by a lot of the quality of life improvements added into the game. Now it's time to improve the quality of life of monetizing the game. You can keep going after the whales with big purchases or go after the little fishes and the whales with smaller purchases but higher volume. Higher volume will help in the long term survival for this game.
It's kind of like Wal-Mart vs. going to the mall. Wal-Mart makes money because of volume and they know the average person will buy more little items over time than a couple of big purchases.
It just makes more sense long term.... especially with digital goods!
Well, that makes no sense as an argument for the desire to make profit from selling new ships.
Let's break this down. But first I am not talking about new ships that offer some special ship specific console like saucer separation and the sort. But specifically the command and intel ships.
By creating a restriction to new boff powers by providing them only on intel/command ships its obvious Cryptic is trying to promote the new ship. Which is a cost to cryptic to develop at probably some several hundred hours of development at something around $100-200+ per hour cost, associated costs of computer hardware/software/maintenance and additional cost of testing and and and. But at the end of the day its just some code on a server. The profit is reclaimed through the purchase of this ship with real currency the most common being zen. There are the select few that have earned enough in game currency to convert to zen and "purchase" without spending real money but let's leave those out of the equation. So for 2500 zen you can have the new ship and cryptic can recoup/generate cash flow. This model seems inherently flawed in that cryptic would be losing (potential) money.
In contrast, by providing the new boff abilities - at the same cost or slightly lower of a new ship - but with the added flexibility the features can be added to ANY ship in the game cryptic would increase the potential number of buyers AND save the cost of designing a new ship. Of course they can still provide a new ship perhaps with some other SPECIAL feature that makes them unique. But in this second model at least in theory cryptic would stand to gain even more revenue as players who would not spend on a new ship may be more inclined to pull out their wallets if they could upgrade their favorite ship. Hell, you could monetize boff seating as a packaged item to sell online an alter the seating - within certain restrictions - of your favorite space boat. Cryptic still gets paid the same if not more, players keep their favorite ships and STO universe still retains that ST feel rather than the hot cars show its turning into.
So Cryptic...why the NEED to design and sell a brand new ship with such increased frequency when you can generate the same revenue with an upgrade variation of these new boff skill? it would appear to be more of a cost to you than it is for us.
that doesnt follow logic.
while michael schumacher will obviously get a faster track time from his ferrari, even in a hyundai he is going to run a faster lap than you or i. putting schumacher and i in identical vehicles does not make us equals.
free jkname
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That's correct. And seeing as your toon isn't a pilot, that's doesn't equate.
One can assume your helmsman is already very competent. Evasive Maneuvers and Attack Patterns are already a thing. But s/he would be able to do more in a Pilot ship, that is specially designed.
right because Voyager was a specially designed ship for piloting? or was it that janeway searched even the lowest of places to find a pilot who would maximize the performance of her ship?