I'm glad you said this, as, no offense, it shows some people are rather detached from reality here. You think 100K is what your average player can pull?! Or even 50K, for that matter!? The casual player does around 30K, tops. Forgot what thread it was, but I saw a guy post a Tribble parsing here, with him doing barely 4K (I kid you not!). Now, that's exceptionally low, but let's take me, for instance, shall we? Best I ever did was 78K. So, taking your 60% hit, at 32.6K, I can count myself lucky if I will even be able to make the 30K channel again. And, mind you, that 78K was on a *good* day!
So, if this just turns out to be a desolation-nerf, just to get to a handful of Elite players, out of spite, then I'm going to be even more upset than I already am!
Oh, I don't think 50-100k is normal at all - in fact I think it's outright broken and desperately needs to be reined in, based on how fast people pulling those ~100k builds melt everything in their path. Nobody should be blazing through appropriately leveled enemies that quickly in any game IMO.
I don't run a parser myself but have had my better ships parsed by others in ISA at between 10-15k, which based on how the content I do feels is probably just under where the devs want me to be. I was just using the number alexraptorr provided to illustrate that a nerf as great as they suggested they would take post-Leech was far from a game-breaker.
Actually, there are a handful of elite queues where 50k builds (50k parsed in ISA - as that's the parsing standard) are the bare minimum. To complete the optional in there, you really need a team of people who do 75k+.
However, both Storming the Spire and The Herald Sphere are extemely unpopular. I believe the reasons for it are:
1) They require more brain activity than pressing spacebar.
2) They are timegated - meaning the higher end of team's skill doesn't matter. You can have a team of 50k-ers or a team of 200k-ers, team still needs to wait for timer(s) to reach 0 and the mission will still take roughly the same time to complete.
3) They give out **** poor rewards (StSE taking ~15 minutes and THSE ~8 minutes to complete, they both give around 80 marks)
And so players avoid them. Outside The Science Channel, I haven't seen people even forming premades to do those.
You make some excellent points.
One of the things that always pushes my buttons on the oft-discussed topic of "nerf this" or "nerf that" is rooted in point 1.
Essentially it goes like this:
Forum Post 01 decries the state of the game because ISA or CCA are too easy and get stomped by big bad DPSers.
Forum Post 01 comes up with brilliant solution to make ISA and/or CCA take longer, and involve more teamwork to complete.
Forum Post 01 completely ignores the context of ISA and CCA.
Forum Post 01 also forgets that there already IS harder content in the game that requires teamwork. It's just ... as you point out, unpopular as all get out!
So yeah, we're going to tinker with a balance pass that is going to likely make all the content less enjoyable for people. But hey, FAW got the nerf is supposedly deserves! And that doggone Leech is getting nerfed!
Exactly. The problem has never been "too much DPS." It's the reward structure that drives everyone into the easy fast content.
People will still be speedrunning ISA and CCA after the "balance pass," because that's where the rewards are. And the people cheering the nerfing of FAW or leech or whatever will be back here crying that other people are still better at the game than they are.
You all don't get it, they need to shift thing around so folks will invest in their future upcoming and new shiny. Do DPSers hurt their bottom dollar? By doing what they deem a necessary evil, will improve more time & money investments? Hmmm, interesting. Won't surprise me if they introduce some new console, ship, trait box or something soon after the changes.
Tier 7 Ships coming soon in 2017. :P
I personally don't buy the paranoid ranting that says this was done to sell things. When I read all the notes on how extensive the changes are it looked to me like they were doing exactly what they claimed to be doing. That is looking at what is too good, or not good enough and changing them to be less of outliers.
And yet what was deemed 'too good' is what they created themselves, also very deliberately. You may believe they just create these good items haphazardly, and that's fine. Me, however, I think they do so for one reason only: power creep sells! Simple as that. No paranoia required, but simply bottom line tactics. Don't believe? Wait for next month's lock box, and watch them try and sell you the power creep all over again. It's really almost amusing ppl don't get this.
See, the rather naive thing I'm noticing here -- not from you per se, mind you -- is that ppl really buy into this whole "Gee, we have no idea what caused this mess; but look at us being responsible cleaning it up!" routine. Why, they weren't so alert when they were selling me those items, now were they!? That's what makes all of this so unpalatable for me. I spent the last few month upgrading my Tact Rom, at pretty high cost; and then Bort comes along, effectively saying "Hahaha, we're gonna cap the Leech at +6. So, good luck getting your power levels back up! And, oh yeah, your weps will now use extra power too. In your face!"
And then they go about it in a totally shoddy way. I mean, what self-respecting Dev just outright kills all DrainX equipment entirely?! Nerf a bit here and there, fine; but this is total BS. DrainX not your thang? What if next week we kill all partgens builds? Would ppl like that?! I bet they wouldn't.
Yep, entirely not happy about any of this.
Yea cold going on about grind MMO's, nothing new there, and i played them too back when FF11 was "12" months to cap and a scorpion harness was 6 months of 8 hour days of real time to farm, three toons in 6 months? meh, childs play.
Try shoveling something else Cold, like people who play MMO's such as you described are anything more than gamings silent minority anymore.
Sadly Meim, in a respect he actually never mentions, (and you did) i have to agree with him which with Cold and i is shocking to say the least, you have known this pattern of buff and nerf for some time now, i don't know why you didn't see it coming and avoid it.
Meim is however right as well, the cycle of sucker your money then nerf is obvious, this is a spend reset, live with it Meim, it's old hat.
25-odd years of gaming, seen the same thing over and over again, and the grognards used to grumble about how things had been churning since the 1980s; designers work on the "new thing" then it becomes the "old thing". Or they have a change of heart, or personnel, and take things in a new direction. No doubt it's at least partially deliberate, but if there's a company that's managed to last without doing so I'd be interested to know.
What's good about this rebalance is that there is a decent line in bringing older builds and weapons back into value - it's interesting to note the attempts to make accuracy make BO more useful. I do like what seems to be the guiding principle - if something was so good it was a "must have" it's been reined in. For those crying nerf, I have to ask what it is you've lost; bragging rights? Content taking a few minutes more to complete? It's supposed to be a game you enjoy playing...
It may have the effect of causing or even the "illusion" in some respects of appearing to be done for the sake of balance, thats what it will be billed as, make no mistake.
I have had a Rommy 1%er for some time now, if i have lost anything i personally don't care, but thats me, someone else might actually care though, and i don't mind if they say so.
Ludicrous. The sale of power creep was going to continue regardless of balance passes. That is this game's financial model. There is not more or less of it because of these changes. They don't need a balance pass to keep selling us creep.
Meanwhile, people who want to see better balance between options and don't care about the game's income pretty accurately guessed where and what the changes would be. Almost as if the adjustments will pull down some of the highest outliers and bring up some of the junk. You don't see anyone flipping out that mines are getting substantially better.
There's plenty of "you should always" situations in the game, and a lot of them are getting poked in the eye. What Profession should I roll? "You should always roll Tactical." What weapons should I equip? "You should always go beams for BFAW." What consoles should I equip? "You should always run Plasmonic Leech, and if you're doing beams (like you always should) then you should always stack plasma exploders."
For the most part people will continue to follow that exact cookie cutter template, because as much as people are sniveling, it's still a VERY STRONG path (minus the exploders, which really did get nerfed into the ground - the price they pay for not being unique). But hopefully, when people ask these questions, the answer becomes "well, some things are a bit stronger than others, but you've got some options..."
And believe it or not, balance sells. Well crafted games with diverse solutions to the challenges presented have broader appeal. So sure, it IS about the money. Just not the way the tinfoil hat crowd thinks.
You all don't get it, they need to shift thing around so folks will invest in their future upcoming and new shiny. Do DPSers hurt their bottom dollar? By doing what they deem a necessary evil, will improve more time & money investments? Hmmm, interesting. Won't surprise me if they introduce some new console, ship, trait box or something soon after the changes.
Tier 7 Ships coming soon in 2017. :P
I personally don't buy the paranoid ranting that says this was done to sell things. When I read all the notes on how extensive the changes are it looked to me like they were doing exactly what they claimed to be doing. That is looking at what is too good, or not good enough and changing them to be less of outliers.
And yet what was deemed 'too good' is what they created themselves, also very deliberately. You may believe they just create these good items haphazardly, and that's fine. Me, however, I think they do so for one reason only: power creep sells! Simple as that. No paranoia required, but simply bottom line tactics. Don't believe? Wait for next month's lock box, and watch them try and sell you the power creep all over again. It's really almost amusing ppl don't get this.
See, the rather naive thing I'm noticing here -- not from you per se, mind you -- is that ppl really buy into this whole "Gee, we have no idea what caused this mess; but look at us being responsible cleaning it up!" routine. Why, they weren't so alert when they were selling me those items, now were they!? That's what makes all of this so unpalatable for me. I spent the last few month upgrading my Tact Rom, at pretty high cost; and then Bort comes along, effectively saying "Hahaha, we're gonna cap the Leech at +6. So, good luck getting your power levels back up! And, oh yeah, your weps will now use extra power too. In your face!"
And then they go about it in a totally shoddy way. I mean, what self-respecting Dev just outright kills all DrainX equipment entirely?! Nerf a bit here and there, fine; but this is total BS. DrainX not your thang? What if next week we kill all partgens builds? Would ppl like that?! I bet they wouldn't.
Yep, entirely not happy about any of this.
Yea cold going on about grind MMO's, nothing new there, and i played them too back when FF11 was "12" months to cap and a scorpion harness was 6 months of 8 hour days of real time to farm, three toons in 6 months? meh, childs play.
Try shoveling something else Cold, like people who play MMO's such as you described are anything more than gamings silent minority anymore.
Sadly Meim, in a respect he actually never mentions, (and you did) i have to agree with him which with Cold and i is shocking to say the least, you have known this pattern of buff and nerf for some time now, i don't know why you didn't see it coming and avoid it.
Meim is however right as well, the cycle of sucker your money then nerf is obvious, this is a spend reset, live with it Meim, it's old hat.
No, it's 6 month PER toon...and you NEED 3 of them to actually start the endgame. If you want to be good at the game, you need 8 of them. And that is assuming you actually PAY money...like 100s each month...to get the boosts that lets you do this. If not, each toon will take a year or more. Assuming you play 8 hours a day.
Yeah...I am so not even remotely playing the endgame for that game. I am having fun exploring the pretty world with my pretty avatars and I am not spending more than the 25 dollar starter pack. I am their worst nightmare ;p . See...I suck at games...and I don't spend money...or at least not a lot. That means in most games, I am a scrub. I have enough for me to barely scrap by and play and explore the game. In this game...I am called an elitist DPSer because I don't buy power...or have any mad skills...but because I can leverage the resources I can get playing this game to basically solo advanced queues. That is clearly a systems issue. I should not be able to do that. I should not be in anything elite. I should not be the one who carries half the bloody queues I am in. There is something seriously wrong when I am the top DPSers in PUG queues 9 out of 10 times. I know systems...but my reflexes are ****.
I'd say you get called an elitist DPSer because you post condescending replies to people who can't leverage those resources, declaring they deserve to get screwed over by broken mechanics like the queue reward structure and the "AFK" penalty because they don't know the systems and can't do what you do.
I agree there are a lot of bad players in there. It's inevitable, really. And the game is easy for the most parts so that's OK. But it's not their fault they get in over their heads when the game itself doesn't give any performance feedback at all (and no, being punished for being "AFK" with no explanation when your teammates carried you a bit too effectively for you to hit an undocumented DPS quota despite honestly trying your best, is not performance feedback). It's all too easy to get carried through an Advanced queue and not even notice.
And believe it or not, balance sells. Well crafted games with diverse solutions to the challenges presented have broader appeal. So sure, it IS about the money. Just not the way the tinfoil hat crowd thinks.
Or to look at it from a slightly more cynical POV.... A balanced game means that you can sell a wider variety of stuff.
All good points. I think what Cryptic is trying to do is re-set all these "buffs" into part of new consoles/powers that they can sell to the playerbase in the near future. They understand they do have a market for powercreep and why not make a fast buck for it.
There will be some dissapointed players but if Delta Rising has shown again is that Cryptic do not care in player retention. History serves well to tell a different story that older players go away frustrated at the changes but then other players join in based on the audience it tends to attract.
I guess on the positive side is that there will be more noobs to kick around but then again old friends who might go away for good.
Its an absoute fact that the number of people who actually quit because of DR is fantastically exagerrated. It was barely a blip.
Can't say for sure. We don't have numbers.
The DR Player Exodus may be over exaggerated, sure. But we also saw many complaints on the forums about fleets dying shortly after DR released (only time I've seen threads of that nature around here). And the complete decimation of the PvP community.
I would estimate a good 75% of the PvP community left.
So perhaps it is an over exaggerated claim. But their is some truth in it. Hence why people still talk about it.
From my own perspective I feel that the player base has been on a slow declining since DR, and especially quiet in the last 6-8 months. But that's just what I'm seeing.
Whatever the numbers were, it definitely wasn't a success.
From what I've seen in-game, it wasn't so bad directly after DR went live, with people trying out everything but after a few weeks I definitely noticed that there was less activity overall, in the queues, my personal friend list, fleet etc.
We also have definitely recovered from it though. And I don't think that these changes will have the same effect as DR anyway.
Its an absoute fact that the number of people who actually quit because of DR is fantastically exagerrated. It was barely a blip.
Can't say for sure. We don't have numbers.
The DR Player Exodus may be over exaggerated, sure. But we also saw many complaints on the forums about fleets dying shortly after DR released (only time I've seen threads of that nature around here). And the complete decimation of the PvP community.
I would estimate a good 75% of the PvP community left.
So perhaps it is an over exaggerated claim. But their is some truth in it. Hence why people still talk about it.
From my own perspective I feel that the player base has been on a slow declining since DR, and especially quiet in the last 6-8 months. But that's just what I'm seeing.
If we look at the average player count on Steam since the game's FTP launch (courtesy of Steamcharts), we can actually see that overall players haven't changed much. LOR, DR, and AOY did all bring a momentary boost in players, but otherwise the player count seems to be holding to the steady rhythm it has had for 5 years. Though these numbers don't represent ARC numbers, I doubt that would change too much on ARC's side too.
What I feel is that the player base is aging, and new players are coming in at very slow rates. What's the point of doing queues if you've min-maxed the game to the ground and already got everything you'll ever need (not personally talking to you, but in general). I feel that if we want the queues to fill up again we need to attract new players and a good start is this balancing patch.
Its an absoute fact that the number of people who actually quit because of DR is fantastically exagerrated. It was barely a blip.
Where is this fact? You can't say something is an absolute fact without having some kind of proof to back it up. The only reason I disagree is because my f-list says different. Many friends that I had that played this game since launch left shortly after dr was launched and never came back.
As mentioned by others above the average player numbers tracked through Steam are very consistent, and while this is naturally an incomplete picture it supports comments from the EP about STO's "remarkably consistent player population" so, on average, it can be seen that even when some leave they are balanced by new and returning players. As for friends lists, some of mine have left, some of those have returned (one recently who left in 2012), and any one player's list is far too small a sample to draw conclusions on the health of the game or any expansion's effect on the game population.
Yeah I'm not saying a friend list is a good sample size...just that it's a better then just making a random statement based on nothing and presenting it as an absolute fact.
The last time I saw Steam player population numbers for STO they had dropped pretty significantly from a high just after the release of LoR. I haven't seen them recently though.
The queues are all pretty empty now though compared to a few years ago which seems to support that the game population has dropped. It's possible these players could have just migrated to other content I suppose.
Its an absoute fact that the number of people who actually quit because of DR is fantastically exagerrated. It was barely a blip.
Can't say for sure. We don't have numbers.
The DR Player Exodus may be over exaggerated, sure. But we also saw many complaints on the forums about fleets dying shortly after DR released (only time I've seen threads of that nature around here). And the complete decimation of the PvP community.
I would estimate a good 75% of the PvP community left.
So perhaps it is an over exaggerated claim. But their is some truth in it. Hence why people still talk about it.
From my own perspective I feel that the player base has been on a slow declining since DR, and especially quiet in the last 6-8 months. But that's just what I'm seeing.
If we look at the average player count on Steam since the game's FTP launch (courtesy of Steamcharts), we can actually see that overall players haven't changed much. LOR, DR, and AOY did all bring a momentary boost in players, but otherwise the player count seems to be holding to the steady rhythm it has had for 5 years. Though these numbers don't represent ARC numbers, I doubt that would change too much on ARC's side too.
What I feel is that the player base is aging, and new players are coming in at very slow rates. What's the point of doing queues if you've min-maxed the game to the ground and already got everything you'll ever need (not personally talking to you, but in general). I feel that if we want the queues to fill up again we need to attract new players and a good start is this balancing patch.
As to your first point, I would guess that could suggest that STO has a pretty solid core of players who will stick around through thick and thin. Which is good.
As to your second paragraph I don't agree, specifically with the claim that a balance pass is going to help in the player retention/population of queues department. But fair enough.
Its an absoute fact that the number of people who actually quit because of DR is fantastically exagerrated. It was barely a blip.
Can't say for sure. We don't have numbers.
The DR Player Exodus may be over exaggerated, sure. But we also saw many complaints on the forums about fleets dying shortly after DR released (only time I've seen threads of that nature around here). And the complete decimation of the PvP community.
I would estimate a good 75% of the PvP community left.
So perhaps it is an over exaggerated claim. But their is some truth in it. Hence why people still talk about it.
From my own perspective I feel that the player base has been on a slow declining since DR, and especially quiet in the last 6-8 months. But that's just what I'm seeing.
If we look at the average player count on Steam since the game's FTP launch (courtesy of Steamcharts), we can actually see that overall players haven't changed much. LOR, DR, and AOY did all bring a momentary boost in players, but otherwise the player count seems to be holding to the steady rhythm it has had for 5 years. Though these numbers don't represent ARC numbers, I doubt that would change too much on ARC's side too.
What I feel is that the player base is aging, and new players are coming in at very slow rates. What's the point of doing queues if you've min-maxed the game to the ground and already got everything you'll ever need (not personally talking to you, but in general). I feel that if we want the queues to fill up again we need to attract new players and a good start is this balancing patch.
As to your first point, I would guess that could suggest that STO has a pretty solid core of players who will stick around through thick and thin. Which is good.
As to your second paragraph I don't agree, specifically with the claim that a balance pass is going to help in the player retention/population of queues department. But fair enough.
I think STO eventually will do fine...no matter how many DPSers get upset of whats coming. Eventually, more noobs will balance out whatever exodus might be.
Its an absoute fact that the number of people who actually quit because of DR is fantastically exagerrated. It was barely a blip.
Can't say for sure. We don't have numbers.
The DR Player Exodus may be over exaggerated, sure. But we also saw many complaints on the forums about fleets dying shortly after DR released (only time I've seen threads of that nature around here). And the complete decimation of the PvP community.
I would estimate a good 75% of the PvP community left.
So perhaps it is an over exaggerated claim. But their is some truth in it. Hence why people still talk about it.
From my own perspective I feel that the player base has been on a slow declining since DR, and especially quiet in the last 6-8 months. But that's just what I'm seeing.
If we look at the average player count on Steam since the game's FTP launch (courtesy of Steamcharts), we can actually see that overall players haven't changed much. LOR, DR, and AOY did all bring a momentary boost in players, but otherwise the player count seems to be holding to the steady rhythm it has had for 5 years. Though these numbers don't represent ARC numbers, I doubt that would change too much on ARC's side too.
What I feel is that the player base is aging, and new players are coming in at very slow rates. What's the point of doing queues if you've min-maxed the game to the ground and already got everything you'll ever need (not personally talking to you, but in general). I feel that if we want the queues to fill up again we need to attract new players and a good start is this balancing patch.
As to your first point, I would guess that could suggest that STO has a pretty solid core of players who will stick around through thick and thin. Which is good.
As to your second paragraph I don't agree, specifically with the claim that a balance pass is going to help in the player retention/population of queues department. But fair enough.
I think STO eventually will do fine...no matter how many DPSers get upset of whats coming. Eventually, more noobs will balance out whatever exodus might be.
If you even remotely affected in any way to complete any content in this game over the upcoming changes, you ain't a DPSer. You are a wannabe.
Quoted for being at least 8000000000000000000% accurate.
"I'm sorry, I can't hear you over the sound of how awesome I am."
Its an absoute fact that the number of people who actually quit because of DR is fantastically exagerrated. It was barely a blip.
Where is this fact? You can't say something is an absolute fact without having some kind of proof to back it up. The only reason I disagree is because my f-list says different. Many friends that I had that played this game since launch left shortly after dr was launched and never came back.
Anecdotal evidence is all any player (including you or I) can offer, but one's individual mileage may vary. I saw a brief dip when frustrated people left and came back, but there was no meaningful long-term difference in my fleet or friend's list in the wake of Delta Rising. Delta Rising had it's share of genuine glaring faults, but the great post-Delta Rising exodus is a myth/urban legend from my perspective.
"I'm sorry, I can't hear you over the sound of how awesome I am."
Its an absoute fact that the number of people who actually quit because of DR is fantastically exagerrated. It was barely a blip.
Can't say for sure. We don't have numbers.
The DR Player Exodus may be over exaggerated, sure. But we also saw many complaints on the forums about fleets dying shortly after DR released (only time I've seen threads of that nature around here). And the complete decimation of the PvP community.
I would estimate a good 75% of the PvP community left.
So perhaps it is an over exaggerated claim. But their is some truth in it. Hence why people still talk about it.
From my own perspective I feel that the player base has been on a slow declining since DR, and especially quiet in the last 6-8 months. But that's just what I'm seeing.
If we look at the average player count on Steam since the game's FTP launch (courtesy of Steamcharts), we can actually see that overall players haven't changed much. LOR, DR, and AOY did all bring a momentary boost in players, but otherwise the player count seems to be holding to the steady rhythm it has had for 5 years. Though these numbers don't represent ARC numbers, I doubt that would change too much on ARC's side too.
What I feel is that the player base is aging, and new players are coming in at very slow rates. What's the point of doing queues if you've min-maxed the game to the ground and already got everything you'll ever need (not personally talking to you, but in general). I feel that if we want the queues to fill up again we need to attract new players and a good start is this balancing patch.
As to your first point, I would guess that could suggest that STO has a pretty solid core of players who will stick around through thick and thin. Which is good.
As to your second paragraph I don't agree, specifically with the claim that a balance pass is going to help in the player retention/population of queues department. But fair enough.
I think STO eventually will do fine...no matter how many DPSers get upset of whats coming. Eventually, more noobs will balance out whatever exodus might be.
If you even remotely affected in any way to complete any content in this game over the upcoming changes, you ain't a DPSer. You are a wannabe.
Pretty much this. The only part about the nerfathon I'm upset slightly annoyed over is the hot restart lockout, and only because getting spam-weapon-disabled by tholians et al is boring.
The damage nerfs...couldn't care less, game's easy.
War Games: The War Games queues will put players in head-to-head competitive PvE scenarios. These new queues split ten players into two teams of five, who must race to complete objectives before the other team succeeds.
Comments
People will still be speedrunning ISA and CCA after the "balance pass," because that's where the rewards are. And the people cheering the nerfing of FAW or leech or whatever will be back here crying that other people are still better at the game than they are.
Yea cold going on about grind MMO's, nothing new there, and i played them too back when FF11 was "12" months to cap and a scorpion harness was 6 months of 8 hour days of real time to farm, three toons in 6 months? meh, childs play.
Try shoveling something else Cold, like people who play MMO's such as you described are anything more than gamings silent minority anymore.
Sadly Meim, in a respect he actually never mentions, (and you did) i have to agree with him which with Cold and i is shocking to say the least, you have known this pattern of buff and nerf for some time now, i don't know why you didn't see it coming and avoid it.
Meim is however right as well, the cycle of sucker your money then nerf is obvious, this is a spend reset, live with it Meim, it's old hat.
It may have the effect of causing or even the "illusion" in some respects of appearing to be done for the sake of balance, thats what it will be billed as, make no mistake.
I have had a Rommy 1%er for some time now, if i have lost anything i personally don't care, but thats me, someone else might actually care though, and i don't mind if they say so.
It's about the money.
Meanwhile, people who want to see better balance between options and don't care about the game's income pretty accurately guessed where and what the changes would be. Almost as if the adjustments will pull down some of the highest outliers and bring up some of the junk. You don't see anyone flipping out that mines are getting substantially better.
There's plenty of "you should always" situations in the game, and a lot of them are getting poked in the eye. What Profession should I roll? "You should always roll Tactical." What weapons should I equip? "You should always go beams for BFAW." What consoles should I equip? "You should always run Plasmonic Leech, and if you're doing beams (like you always should) then you should always stack plasma exploders."
For the most part people will continue to follow that exact cookie cutter template, because as much as people are sniveling, it's still a VERY STRONG path (minus the exploders, which really did get nerfed into the ground - the price they pay for not being unique). But hopefully, when people ask these questions, the answer becomes "well, some things are a bit stronger than others, but you've got some options..."
And believe it or not, balance sells. Well crafted games with diverse solutions to the challenges presented have broader appeal. So sure, it IS about the money. Just not the way the tinfoil hat crowd thinks.
I agree there are a lot of bad players in there. It's inevitable, really. And the game is easy for the most parts so that's OK. But it's not their fault they get in over their heads when the game itself doesn't give any performance feedback at all (and no, being punished for being "AFK" with no explanation when your teammates carried you a bit too effectively for you to hit an undocumented DPS quota despite honestly trying your best, is not performance feedback). It's all too easy to get carried through an Advanced queue and not even notice.
My character Tsin'xing
There will be some dissapointed players but if Delta Rising has shown again is that Cryptic do not care in player retention. History serves well to tell a different story that older players go away frustrated at the changes but then other players join in based on the audience it tends to attract.
I guess on the positive side is that there will be more noobs to kick around but then again old friends who might go away for good.
My character Tsin'xing
Can't say for sure. We don't have numbers.
The DR Player Exodus may be over exaggerated, sure. But we also saw many complaints on the forums about fleets dying shortly after DR released (only time I've seen threads of that nature around here). And the complete decimation of the PvP community.
I would estimate a good 75% of the PvP community left.
So perhaps it is an over exaggerated claim. But their is some truth in it. Hence why people still talk about it.
From my own perspective I feel that the player base has been on a slow declining since DR, and especially quiet in the last 6-8 months. But that's just what I'm seeing.
From what I've seen in-game, it wasn't so bad directly after DR went live, with people trying out everything but after a few weeks I definitely noticed that there was less activity overall, in the queues, my personal friend list, fleet etc.
We also have definitely recovered from it though. And I don't think that these changes will have the same effect as DR anyway.
If we look at the average player count on Steam since the game's FTP launch (courtesy of Steamcharts), we can actually see that overall players haven't changed much. LOR, DR, and AOY did all bring a momentary boost in players, but otherwise the player count seems to be holding to the steady rhythm it has had for 5 years. Though these numbers don't represent ARC numbers, I doubt that would change too much on ARC's side too.
What I feel is that the player base is aging, and new players are coming in at very slow rates. What's the point of doing queues if you've min-maxed the game to the ground and already got everything you'll ever need (not personally talking to you, but in general). I feel that if we want the queues to fill up again we need to attract new players and a good start is this balancing patch.
And if you check the @ handles, you'll notice that many accounts were created not that long ago.
Where is this fact? You can't say something is an absolute fact without having some kind of proof to back it up. The only reason I disagree is because my f-list says different. Many friends that I had that played this game since launch left shortly after dr was launched and never came back.
Yeah I'm not saying a friend list is a good sample size...just that it's a better then just making a random statement based on nothing and presenting it as an absolute fact.
The last time I saw Steam player population numbers for STO they had dropped pretty significantly from a high just after the release of LoR. I haven't seen them recently though.
The queues are all pretty empty now though compared to a few years ago which seems to support that the game population has dropped. It's possible these players could have just migrated to other content I suppose.
As to your first point, I would guess that could suggest that STO has a pretty solid core of players who will stick around through thick and thin. Which is good.
As to your second paragraph I don't agree, specifically with the claim that a balance pass is going to help in the player retention/population of queues department. But fair enough.
I think STO eventually will do fine...no matter how many DPSers get upset of whats coming. Eventually, more noobs will balance out whatever exodus might be.
Original STO beta tester.
Quoted for being at least 8000000000000000000% accurate.
Anecdotal evidence is all any player (including you or I) can offer, but one's individual mileage may vary. I saw a brief dip when frustrated people left and came back, but there was no meaningful long-term difference in my fleet or friend's list in the wake of Delta Rising. Delta Rising had it's share of genuine glaring faults, but the great post-Delta Rising exodus is a myth/urban legend from my perspective.
The damage nerfs...couldn't care less, game's easy.
http://www.arcgames.com/en/games/star-trek-online/news/detail/10451743-season-13:-escalation-coming-april-25th
Only 5 years LATE!
Original STO beta tester.
War Games: The War Games queues will put players in head-to-head competitive PvE scenarios. These new queues split ten players into two teams of five, who must race to complete objectives before the other team succeeds.