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How gear dependant is this game?
swithern
Member Posts: 21 Arc User
Just started and got to lvl20, tactical captain, in heavy escort. Prefer to solo at my own pace.
I am struggling on most missions and what I would like to know is how gear dependant is the game?
As a noob, I am upgrading from what ever drops and having read a few build posts, I'm trying to keep to beam arrays for the weapons, but I do still have dual cannons (Purples) so using them still.
I know I also have to 'get gud' and I am improving with repeating the same missions I keep dying on, but it is a bit frustrating not progressing the storyline missions.
STO builds confuses me as all text and I would like to see builds that show the set up - is there such a site?
The missions also level with you I think? I did see a post somewhere that said the missions don't level up to a point and that it is the ememies that scale to you - how is that any different as you have to fight them?
Any advice or pointers to web sites/guides/build page would be appreciated.
I am struggling on most missions and what I would like to know is how gear dependant is the game?
As a noob, I am upgrading from what ever drops and having read a few build posts, I'm trying to keep to beam arrays for the weapons, but I do still have dual cannons (Purples) so using them still.
I know I also have to 'get gud' and I am improving with repeating the same missions I keep dying on, but it is a bit frustrating not progressing the storyline missions.
STO builds confuses me as all text and I would like to see builds that show the set up - is there such a site?
The missions also level with you I think? I did see a post somewhere that said the missions don't level up to a point and that it is the ememies that scale to you - how is that any different as you have to fight them?
Any advice or pointers to web sites/guides/build page would be appreciated.
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Look us up "priority one armada" on recruitment threads or hit the website "same name". EVERYTHING you will ever need is there. weekly streams, our admiral has hundreds of how to vids and guides. You will be impressed for sure. And about 2000 very helpful members.
For your build.
On that ship I run dual heavy cannon, 2 of them and a torpedo up front. You can put a third cannon if you wish and I run 360* turrets in back. Try to keep all your cannon and turrets the same damage type, "phaser, disruptor, plasma etc" and get a tactical console that boosts their damage output.
For just starting out find some basic engineering consoles that boost hull hp and or heals, and science console that boost shield hp and or heals.
The complex parts are matching your bridge officer and captain skills to what you want to do with your ship. That's where the vids and guides come in and have saved my life!!!
2. There are builds that will make sense in time, as you will be more familiar with certain features, ships and others. It looks overwhelming at the start, but it grows on you.
3. There is plenty of help and advice. Just be patient and friendly. We're here
Now, if you wanna be less gear-depending, Sci comes first (Science captains).
Engineers are the second, more sturdy.
Tactical is the most gear dependant and slightly vulnerable, but hits like a truck in bursts and is a solid dps choice.
Science would be also great since it's less costly to make a viable Sci captain, both ground and space.
Engineering is more forgiving at the beginning and way more sturdy, especially in space.
Keep your tac character and also create and experiment with a science toon. And see which of them suits you better. Science is cheaper and oriented towards exotic (caster-like) damage sources, but requires more skill.
Tactical is more solid on weapon damage, but you're as strong as you can stay alive and fire (after buffing yourself up).
The truth is the exact opposite of what's posted here.
If you're just trying to get through story line content and do queues up to advanced, you can perform well with gear obtained through reputation and your fleet stores. You will have an easier time if you acquire a T6 ship along the way either from a free event or by purchasing one through the store. You will no doubt need build help and advice, the good news is you can find that pretty easily by just asking.
Now, if you want to get into the upper end of the performance spectrum, the answer is different. If you want to get to where you can carry teams that are ill equipped for the challenge at hand and you want to start becoming more of a 'power house' then yes.. it's going to take a mix of knowledge and top end gear and traits. If you want to do Elite Queues, you will need an elite load out, it's a must.
If you just want to play the game, do the story missions and have fun.. you don't need to stress too much about gear.
My character Tsin'xing
1. Build - from what I have read beams seem to be always suggested for escorts/tac. Am I better ignoring that and going with the cannons then? Or is that mainly for a Tac captain in a cruiser? (the beam set up)
2. Missions - just slowly enjoying working my way through the episodes. Got 2 at the moment - war zone klingon looters full of borg, where I need to scan for info. Getting better at this one as my gear and tactics playing improve.
The other one is the romulan - deliver a passenger to planet guarded by a single desrider? (sorry not sure on ship name/type) something like that ship which pummels you with blasts from torpedoes.
3. My main question is : are these meant to be this hard with the scaling? Should I be attempting these at a higher level when I have better gear?
Ok, those are some pretty funny stories.. and I honestly believe them all.
But what I was addressing is the OP's question of gear dependence and I don't really get what these examples have to do with that. I have seen quite a few bad pugs myself (which is why I don't doubt you) but are these players bad because of bad gear? or are they bad because they don't know what they're doing?
The answer is both.
But the OP is already one up on the general populace, he's here.. asking questions. He's doing a little research, he's making an attempt.. and that honestly goes much further in this game then just slapping a mix match of high mark gear on your ship and heading out into the queues to be a constant anchor on any pour souls who happen to get teamed with you.
If you put just a little work into your build in this game, you can absolutely be successful without having to have 'top of the line' gear. The very fact that top of the line gear doesn't save any of these people is all the proof you need that this game is not totally gear dependent. A scrub with all Epic Mark XV Gear is still a scrub, but the player with a sensible build and a good rotation of powers will consistently out perform the player who's only effort is upgrading gear even though that player has lower mark/rarity equipment.
The exception that I put here is Elite Queues where you absolutely need good gear and traits to go with a good build and tactics. But outside of that, if he just wants to do Story Missions and Advanced Queues, he's not going to need the 'best of the best' by any means.
Yep, you chose the right user name. Now could you stand by this window for a minute?
More seriously:
The main difference between beams and cannons are:
- Cannons are harder to keep on target, so if you're not good at flying you'll spend more time doing no damage. Look at the firing arcs of heavy cannons vs. dual beam banks (45 vs 90 degrees) and beam arrays (250 degrees). If you use all beam arrays you'll do more damage because you're hitting the target 90% of the time instead of say 30%.
- Cannon Scatter Volley is worse than Beam Fire At Will for 2 reasons: it only fires in a forward cone instead of a 360 degree arc, and it requires one level higher slot for the same skill rank (rank 3 = Commander for cannon, Lt. Commander for beam)
Other than that, you can use any energy type you want, phaser, disruptor, polaron, etc. but it's best not to mix them up since then you can't use the better tactical consoles that boost a single damage type.
Swapped out my beams for the cannons I had picked up - changed out skills etc and re-trained skills to suit.
Went back to the romulan ship blocking the planet and melted it in 3 secs
Tried the war zone with the borg - better but not there yet. I think the points about needing to be in the firing arc all the time, are good thanks, didn't quite manage that long enough to take out spheres & probes quick enough. Still was fun.
Loving the pace of this MMO - I can TRIBBLE around doing tweaking all I like and no pressure to be out questing constantly, the missions are fun and I'm enjoying the episode stories.
Great community here, thanks again.
1: if you damage the torpedoes they'll be destroyed. This is best handled with AoE abilities. Tractor Beam Repulsors is popular for this. Fire at Will is also a viable option.
2: Tractor beams have a range limit of 7 Km and if you engage from 9-10 Km they can't grab you with the tractor beam. You can also prevent it by using Polarize Hull immediately prior.
3: If you attack them from the side the AI with use tractor beam, but won't be in the targeting arc to fire torpedoes. also if you tractor beam them they won't be able to turn and fire at you. I have no idea what you mean by "this hard".
But, enemies tend to get better abilities to match your level. So waiting will only help if you come back with either better gear or a better strategy. I'd recommend better strategy.
Seriously, post your build. You said your ship is a "Heavy Escort". What science and Engineer powers do you have on your Bridge Officers?
My character Tsin'xing
Swithern's T3 Heavy Escort
You probably won't enjoy it. Most players avoid PVP so you'll usually be up against hardcore players with optimized builds.
It is not balanced and there is no working matchmaking that would pit you against players with similar skills and gear. Many players will have spent insane amounts of money and time to min-max their gear, bridge officer skills and traits. You will have no chance against them.
Everything davefenestrator said is true. Years ago (2000-2014) when things were simpler there was a decent PvP population in STO and you could even hop in while ranking up. That's not the case anymore <insert long story here> but now that you've found a fleet it can still be a lot of fun via a private match between like geared and leveled friends one on one, or even 5 newer players against your fleet leader. Your fleet leader will pay you a large amount of EC if you can make them blow up.
No idea how I picked that up but plenty to do so will drop it.
Not joining a fleet for now.
Thanks for build suggestion will take a look tonight.
Defnitly play the latest published episodes to get the matrix shield from the first one. would help you a lot to survive. oh and set weaponpower to maximum
in general, cannons could kill enemies defnitly faster, combine that with cannon scatter volley (highest possible), a attack pattern beta (highest possible), a tactical team (defensive ability), emergency power to weapons + emergency power to shields, hazard emitter. if you have room, 2 copies of the tactical abilities.
ingame: @Felisean
Let me chime in here for a second and tell you about one of the most important mechanic that people usually forget to tell you when doing anything with a limited fire-arc. When in range and having a tight arc, use your reverse, fly backwards slowly and adjust like that. It does two very important things: 1. Motion which gets you turning faster and 2. a more effective speed when within the 10km range. It's something that is overlooked quiet a bit, but probably one of the most important tools when using cannons.
Another thing important factor with limited firing arc is that you don't really want to fly around or strafe too much, despite what the TV shows/Movies tell you, you want to be more stationary to get rid of your enemies especially if you're struggling with targeting them (which happens to everyone, including people with 1000s of hours when trying to "look cool" while flying about, it's just very ineffective in terms of gameplay).
Gear makes a big difference. Some points you have already learned, such as making sure the weapons you equip your ship with work well for that type of ship. Fast turners such as escorts, cannons as they currently to the better DPS...but only if you can keep them on target, hence the need for a fast turning ship. Slow turners need beam arrays, although it is possible with all the right gear and skills/traits to make a slow turning ship turn a lot faster so you can use cannons, you do so at the expense of using gear and skills/traits to increase the damage of your beams.
Most of the advice given in here is spot on, there is a notable exception though. Whether at level 50, or any other level, at no time in this game is it ever necessary to pay for anything with "external resources" or "out of pocket". Difficulty does have a very sharp ramp up starting at level 50 but nothing that isn't handled just fine with nothing more than the stuff you get free, and quite easily, just playing the game. Pick a weapon type (cannons or beams) based on the type of ship you want to fly, pick an energy type and run with it. Using Google, or asking in these Forums, you can find the mission(s) to run to get the weapons you need, the ship gear you need, and complete sets of ground gear. You can then skip almost all content until you reach those missions, run them as many times as needed to completely equip your ship and away team with VR (purple) gear of the appropriate Mark level for your rank and you are set.
Every 10th level, you can upgrade that gear for free to match your level up until it hits MK XII, re-run missions as needed as you get new ships with more weapon/gear slots. That free gear, equipped on the free ship you got, along with a bit of skill, acquired by playing the game, will get you through all game content, even level 50 plus. Yes, unless you get real good, it'll be quite difficult (but doable) above level 60, and advanced TFOs are going to be tough. Also, unless you get really, really good, please don't jump into an Elite TFO with that ship and gear unless it's with friends/fleet mates. At level 61, you get a nice T5U ship free,and three times a year you can get a T6 ship for free. There are also some quite good T5 ships available on the exchange for a relatively low price that are a a bit better than the one you get free.
There are a lot of things you can spend external resources/out of pocket on but none of them are necessary to play this game. And with the exception of a few things only available to LTS, with patience, all of those things can still be gotten and still never spend even a penny out of pocket. I am a LTS and IMO, the monthly stipend and maybe the small craft are the only things that are LTS exclusive that can't be matched, or beat, by the stuff you can get without being LTS.
I disagree.
To me that chart shows that Mk XV of any rarity or energy type is good enough. In other words, eventually getting -something- to Mk XV is a good idea, but that something can be whatever you want -- Nukara reputation Tetryons, crafted plain Phasers, Vaadwaur Polarons.
Pick any theme you like. Get some tech upgrades -- omega, phoenix, or superior. Apply them. Be happy.
Also note that chart just says what to do if you want higher beam or cannon DPS, not:
- What minimum DPS is needed in any group activity to not be a burden to teammates
- What other types of exotic damage, control, debuff powers can be useful contribution in those activities
Also, in some queues pew pew pew is not the be-all and end-all.
All I am seeing is a chart comparing basic common quality weapons to fully upgraded epics.
I am in no way surprised to see that the high end gear is better.. if it wasn't, I think a lot of people would be pretty upset after spending so much time and resources on upgrades.
This shows the base damage for the weapons, but in no way takes into account the differences in build quality between someone that knows what they're doing and someone that doesn't. As big of a gap as there is between weapons of low mark/quality and top of the line.. there is at least as big of a gap between players using sensible builds vs players that are just out of their depth.
No one is disputing that high mark and quality gear outperforms basic gear.. it should. The question again, is rather or not that gear is required for story missions and advanced queues.. and the answer is still no. Plenty of us are running alts that by all comparison are heavily under geared and are still doing more then fine.
I don't care what any chart says, I am speaking from practical experience and I know for a fact that just loading up your ship with Gold weapons doesn't make you good. There are plenty of 'wallet warriors' out there with high dollar builds that are being easily outpaced my more experienced players with lower end gear.
They already answered their own thread title question by re-configuring their ship and boff abilities.
They've got some build advice that includes a link to the STO Academy, tactical advice for dealing with their current enemy, and some good general advice, so what's left? Links to helpful sites:
- General info: STO Wiki Usually a google search with STO + <question/item/ship/mission> works well. There's also the STO reddit
- Build info: the DPS League is a great site with budget to high end builds as well as helpful tips on everything from endeavour completion to how to gear up for various events. There's also the STO builds reddit and of course this forum
- Build planning and posting via the STO Academy Skill Planner and lot's of interesting things including mission walk throughs at their main page at the STO Academy
Best of luck OP, as it's been already said, you're already heads and tails above many as you're actively seeking advice on how to improve yourself right from the start. Enjoy the journey. Chances are most questions you have can be answered right here in conjunction with some additional self study at the sites listed aboveI bought the game on release and left after the first month sub ran out......played WoW for a long time and various other MMO releases.
However now STO is perfect for me so far - a slow pace, but in depth, battles require a bit of forethought and strategy, builds are really interesting and deep enough without being nonsensical once you start to understand how it all works (thanks to here especially), great community willing to help a noob.
Been a while since I have felt that the 'itch' has been scratched in a MMO, long may it continue
My character Tsin'xing
Ground combat hasn't been a problem so far. Skills set for crits & healing.
I just go in pew pew and all done, boring really and space is where it is at.
Always thought that Cryptic should have left out the ground missions as it is pretty naf, especially when you compare how clunky it is compared to almost every other MMO, even from 2013.
I used to feel the same way until I started doing regular ground queues with fleet mates.
I agree, the interface is archaic to put it mildly.. it was indeed even outdated for 2013, but it can still be fun. Some of the ground queues can be fun with the right team, but I get it.. the appeal of Star Trek Online is very obviously space combat and that is definitely what has received the bulk of the attention from the development team.
Later on, when you get to the point where you're an experienced Veteran who can wipe out entire fleets with a wave of your hand
Just near the end of completing Eposode 2 and the Reman story has a lot of ground missions and long ones at that, but they have been fun due to the storyline.