Delta Ops Benthan Shield Dist Officer now only works with APB?

imruined

Did I miss something in the patch notes, or is this a stealth nerf?

I recently noticed that the Benthan Shield Distribution Officer (which allowed energy weapons to regenerate your hull when firing) was no longer 'working'...

Initially I thought my Active Space Doffs has been dropped again, but they were all still there and that's when I noticed that the Doff's special Active ability now only works with Attack Pattern Beta...

I cannot recall this ever being the case - when was this changed?

fatman592

It was always only with APB. The text always stated this condition, and the text remains unchanged since I've had it.

warmaker001b

fatman592 wrote: »

It was always only with APB. The text always stated this condition, and the text remains unchanged since I've had it.

No it wasn't. The DOFF used to be always in effect when you attacked. It was not tied to any ability other than energy weapons hitting targets. This was a stealth nerf.

imruined wrote: »

Did I miss something in the patch notes, or is this a stealth nerf?

I recently noticed that the Benthan Shield Distribution Officer (which allowed energy weapons to regenerate your hull when firing) was no longer 'working'...

Initially I thought my Active Space Doffs has been dropped again, but they were all still there and that's when I noticed that the Doff's special Active ability now only works with Attack Pattern Beta...

I cannot recall this ever being the case - when was this changed?

This was done on last week's patch. Undocumented of course.

For reference, STOWiki still has the original Fed & KDF entries for this DOFF as released when DR hit.

"On each shot: Heal .2% of your hull"

Because apparently APB is too weak and needs some reason to be used.

virusdancer

warmaker001b wrote: »

No it wasn't. The DOFF used to be always in effect when you attacked. It was not tied to any ability other than energy weapons hitting targets. This was a stealth nerf.

http://sto.gamepedia.com/Specialization:_Shield_Distribution_Officer

Hasn't been updated since November 7th, 2014...when the hull heal variant was added...with the APB as the requirement.

Both the entries for Nerul and Ayal, which both state the use of APB..were last modified Nov 28th last year.

warmaker001b

virusdancer wrote: »

http://sto.gamepedia.com/Specialization:_Shield_Distribution_Officer

Hasn't been updated since November 7th, 2014...when the hull heal variant was added...with the APB as the requirement.

Both the entries for Nerul and Ayal, which both state the use of APB..were last modified Nov 28th last year.

I've looked at that DOFF's Info page ingame so many times between 12 different toons since DR hit. There has never been mention of APB being tied to it.

imruined

warmaker001b wrote: »

I've looked at that DOFF's Info page ingame so many times between 12 different toons since DR hit. There has never been mention of APB being tied to it.

Yep... I reshuffled my Doffs only recently (as I dusted off my old Adapted BC for ****s and giggles) and as of only a week or so back, the text stated it was tied in with Energy Weapons, not a specific ability...

Perhaps the effect was changed previously, and I simply had not noticed until now, but the wording, as of at least a week ago, had not been changed... I'm am 100% certain of this...

I have a feeling, looking at the STO Wiki entries, this had been changed a long time back (and I only just noticed it not working), but the text change itself had not been updated on the Doff's description - that being the effect was tied into APB...

fatman592

I distinctly remember testing the APB SDO Boff for one of my fleetmates back at DR launch. If I recall correctly he wanted to know if the heal triggered when APB was triggered, or only when the buff was applied to the target.

Seriously, the description in the doff UI always stated APB as a condition for the heal. I've used the doff for months and it only ever healed me when APB was used. If it healed you any other time then this was a fix, not a nerf.

standupwookie

I have always used this DOFF since I got him, and there has NEVER been a mention of any attack pattern. This is a total nerf.

Also, I don't think the actual power ever worked so I guess that sort of makes up for it. The DOFF is totally useless, 100% U-S-E-L-E-S-S now.

WTG

jarvisandalfred

It works, per shot, to the primary target, during APB only, and has for several months now. I have logs that can be used to prove this if need be.

virusdancer

warmaker001b wrote: »

I've looked at that DOFF's Info page ingame so many times between 12 different toons since DR hit. There has never been mention of APB being tied to it.

But you're the one that pointed to STOwiki as the source...and that source has stated since Nov 7th, no edits since, that APB was required...

Doing a search on the forums for Nerul...

Nov 28th, 2014...

venyarth wrote: »

TAC Fed Captain here, I've extensively played with and can recommend the following:

By far the #1 Fed Escort ship in my opinion is...
T6 Phantom:
The new Intel abilities set this apart from other Escorts.
-OSS1/2/3 ups your Weapons (and all other) power to max potential 155/165/175 temporarily - really adding burst.
-Ionic Turbulence is an AoE Cloud for 20s that is basically another Attack Power Beta (stacks with it), multiplying your damage potential
-Surgical Strikes 1/2/3 ups your crit chance by 20%/30%/40% (to be nerfed to 20%/25%/30%), AND it works on every weapon type, allowing you to mix beams and cannons. AND it benefits from DOFF's which reduce CD on beam/cannon attacks. Great for single target focus.

Did I mention it can cloak out of combat, without needing a console?
It also has the new Intel skill that exposes target vulnerability (reduce target defense, weapons, etc.)

Use SS plus OSS and the usual debuffs (and Intel Expose for big boss targets), and stuff melts faster than ever.

But the very best of all is the Phantom T5 starship trait (which you can re-use on any other starship later once you earn it), arguably the very best in the game so far, by far.... Reciprocity. With this trait, every time an enemy misses you, your Tactical AND Intel abilities have their CD reduced by 10%. Insane!! Think about all Tac and Intel abilities close to global CD (as long as you are being shot at), with no other tricks needed. No A2B, No special DOFF, No Bio-Neural Gel Pack needed, etc.

And since you are in a speedy escort with speed/defense tanking, you will get missed all the time.

This trait makes every ship you own, or will ever own, so much better!!

---

#2 is the T5-U Maelstrom (Fleet/Patrol Escort Refit)
- Still a great ship, and the previous Escort king
- But no further "known" upgrade path unlike the T6's.

---

I have no #3 escort, but worthy of mention is the T6 Eclipse Cruiser, "The TAC captain's cruiser"
-Same Intel abilities as above.
-Turn rate very fast for a cruiser
-More Tanky then an escort, yet 8 weapon slots.
-Cloaks out of combat, no console
-Plenty of TAC BOFF slots, and should gain another TAC console at Fleet level later.

---

If you can afford it, get the Delta Operations Pack at discount. You get Eclipse, Phantom, 3 other fed ships to unlock traits on, 3 VR Bridge Intel BOFF's, 3VR DOFF's only available in the pack. Best of which is.....
Agent Nerul - Heals you +0.2% of your hull on every shot while Attack Pattern Beta is up. That's over
30% of your hull in an 8 beam FAW.....

Aesthetically, the DR pack unlocks all the nacelle choices for the 3 new Intel ships, so you can mix and match for more options/variety if the looks of one of them is of importance.

_______

My Rec:
#1 Buy the Phantom
#2 See #1
#3 Buy the DR Operations pack - which has the Phantom. Do you notice a trend here?

Hope this helps. Good luck with your decision.

Enjoy your purchase and the game!

Nov 11th, 2014...

annah wrote: »

If i can make a suggestion. I would probably go with something like:

TT1-OSS2-SS1-SS2/3
TT1-APB1-APB2
OSS1-EptW2
EptS1
PH1-ST2-HE3

My reasons for those choises would be:
dual copies of OSS gives you overall better energy uptimes. Plus Intelligence Team isn't all that good imo.
Attack Patterns will boost your damage more then a torp will, plus you won't have the trouble of finding the point of the ship to fire the torps as you mentioned your eye sight problem.
I would prob also replace the torpedo with another beam array.
Also if you have the delta pack with Agent Nerul, he makes APB even more amazing.
Swapped engineering team for shield heal/strength.
Dropped grav well cause while its a nice skill, it's not all that useful since you're not running cannons with scatter volley. Also Hazard Emitters 3 is a pretty strong hull heal as well and makes up for the loss of engineering team to some extent.

warmaker001b

virusdancer wrote: »

But you're the one that pointed to STOwiki as the source...and that source has stated since Nov 7th, no edits since, that APB was required...

Doing a search on the forums for Nerul...

Nov 28th, 2014...



Nov 11th, 2014...

Did you look at the links I originally provided for the Fed & KDF versions of this DOFF? Because that's what it read every time I looked at the DOFF ingame for both my Fed & KDF toons. Those pages hadn't been messed with since November '14.

But all this arguing is pointless. It seems I have 1 more Active Space DOFF slot open now.

imruined

warmaker001b wrote: »

Did you look at the links I originally provided for the Fed & KDF versions of this DOFF? Because that's what it read every time I looked at the DOFF ingame for both my Fed & KDF toons. Those pages hadn't been messed with since November '14.

But all this arguing is pointless. It seems I have 1 more Active Space DOFF slot open now.

It seems pretty clear now that it was a textual description issue in STO... The Wiki does state, under the notes section, that the ability requires APB, but this was not stated in the Doff's ability description on the same page...

I'd say it's just that it's taken Cryptic this long to update the Doff's ability description to properly reflect the ability's actual mechanics...

ussprometheus79

imruined wrote: »

It seems pretty clear now that it was a textual description issue in STO... The Wiki does state, under the notes section, that the ability requires APB, but this was not stated in the Doff's ability description on the same page...

I'd say it's just that it's taken Cryptic this long to update the Doff's ability description to properly reflect the ability's actual mechanics...

This. I've always recalled knowing APB was needed when you look further into the DOFFS in game.

jasonl21

APB was noted. It just wasn't noted very well by Cryptic. No surprise there.