I was in the mirror universe for two years...

twg042370

Okay, I was in one of PWE's FORBIDDEN NATIONs for the last two years. I haven't had the bandwidth to reinstall the game yet but looking around the forums it seems to me that I waved goodbye to Tuvok and I'll be coming back to a different game.

Anyone care to give me the dummies version of what to expect after the download?

kirimuffin

Off the top of my head: Raised level cap, Tier 6 ships (though you can upgrade some of your T5s to a sort of pseudo-T6, usually for a fee), a new (and grindier) crafting system, an upgrade system (lets you upgrade most items' marks/rarity by throwing dil and upgrade kits at them), a couple of iterations of trait and rep revamps, a bunch of new story content, some new reps, the Admiralty system (basically doffing with ships), specializations (a sort of additional advancement system that begins at level 50 and also involves some new boff powers), a boff revamp that basically turns boffs into walking kits where you can swap their powers at will (provided they've been trained in them), a revamp of queue difficulties (Advanced is like old Elite but harder, and Elite now truly is elite), and a change to holiday event ships (they're now account-wide and claimable through the Events rep store, but they're also no longer available in repeats of the event, so you're SoL as far as getting the ones you missed unless you already have their projects slotted).

Some key things to mention about the above:

• If you want a T6 ship without paying, your best bet is to go for one of the holiday event ships. I'm guessing there'll be another Breen ship on offer this winter.
• If you have any T5 lockbox, lobi and/or event ships from when you played before, you can upgrade them to T5-U for free. (If you have C-Store or Fleet T5s, you can upgrade them by buying and applying an upgrade token.) This will give those ships some T6 features (namely, level-scaling hull, Starship Mastery passives, and an extra console slot), and will keep them viable in the current endgame. (You can also make standard T5s work; it's just harder now.)
• If you're looking to upgrade items, make sure you use superior tech upgrades, as they are waaaay more dil-efficient. (Also, if you're looking to get Epic-quality items, it's much more cost-effective to craft purple Mk IIs and upgrade them from there than it is to try to play the RNG with Mk XIV items.)
• From level 52 onward, the Admiralty system is going to be a huge source of XP, and should save you a lot of grinding (especially from level 55 up, where the XP grind is relatively beastly). Use it well.
• Specialization points can be a little rough to earn (though less so now that Admiralty exists), so take advantage of additional spec point rewards (the weekly FE reward, for instance) when you can.
• You now teach your boffs new skills through the use of training manuals. You can get these manuals from a boff trainer or off of other boffs (much like before), grab them off the Exchange, or (in some cases) craft them yourself. This is especially true for the high-level boff skills that your skill points unlock; you now have to craft those training manuals instead of training boffs directly, and you can trade them with other players that way. (Also, you no longer have to put Expertise into boff skills; they are automatically "maxed out" compared to the old system.)

twg042370

Thanks!

So... How many of these caused player meltdowns?

kirimuffin

twg042370 wrote: »

Thanks!

So... How many of these caused player meltdowns?

Pretty much all of them.

And to be fair, some were justified. The launch of the Delta Rising expansion was kind of a disaster, because at the time there wasn't nearly enough content to get players all the way to 60 (to say nothing of earning spec points), so it was extremely grindy. The fact that Cryptic rolled back a lot of people's spec point gains due to an "exploit" (to this day, it's questionable how much of an exploit it really was) didn't help matters any. Also, the new queue difficulties were, arguably, way too hard. Now, things have settled down a little; there's more content available and more ways to earn spec points, the new queue difficulties are still harder but more reasonable, Admiralty helps a lot with XP, and folks seem more accepting of the crafting/upgrade system now that it's better-understood (and it's also been tweaked some since DR's launch).

The game still ain't perfect (not that it ever was), and some folks still want to roll back to sometime before DR. But it's improved a lot over the last year, for sure, and I personally am enjoying it a whole lot nowadays. YMMV, of course.

rattler2

twg042370 wrote: »

Thanks!

So... How many of these caused player meltdowns?

Cryptic does ANYTHING and there are meltdowns.

kirimuffin wrote: »

and some folks still want to roll back to sometime before DR.

I'm pretty sure someone wants to roll back all the way to Season 1 because of PvP Balance or something PvP related.

mustrumridcully0

A lot of meltdowns were to be had. You missed all the fun, basically.

kirimuffin wrote: »

*snip*
[/list]

I think kirimuffin covered most of it pretty well. The story line has moved on, of course, we've gotten the whole Delta Rising arc and since then there were monthly new missions that often reward set items (requiring you to replay them).

Tier 6 brings Bridge Officer Specializations and Starship Mastery (Traits)
Maybe important for Tier 6 ships: The net benefit is an extra console slot and an extra bridge officer slot plus some hull and shield point boosts, and access to hybrid bridge officer seats. These seats can be used to slot abilities from either one of the traditional bridge officer "traditional" type skills (engineering, tactical, science) or specialization abilities. Specializations with bridge officer powers are currently Intel, Pilot and Command. These represent completely new bridge officer skills that didn't exist before.
Tier 5 Upgrade and Tier 6 ships allow you to earn starship masteries as you fight with them. Tier 6 ships (except fleet ships) also unlock a Starship Mastery Trait that you can slot to gain some form of benefit. You can slot them even when you switch ships.

If you're considering spending Zen or EC on ships: Pilot Escorts are awesome, otherwise anything with Intel seat is worth a consideration, and generally anything that is a "Specialization" ship (Intel Escort, Intel Cruiser, Intel Science Vessel; Command Cruisers; Pilot Escorts) as they get access to Commander hybrid seats and a ship special ability related to the specialization.

twg042370

kirimuffin wrote: »

twg042370 wrote: »

Thanks!

So... How many of these caused player meltdowns?

Pretty much all of them.

Classic STO!

Anyway, I should be back in game some time next week. I'll see then if things are to my tastes or not. Thanks folks.

samt1996

The story writing has improved greatly, most of the negative affects of DR have been fixed but PVP sucks even more now. Avoid it at all costs.

Otherwise the new ships and such are nice and were in fact necessary because Cryptic ran out of T5 ships to make.