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Help! I'm nearing the level cap and feel lost!
pritch
Member Posts: 36 Arc User
I've been playing STO for a couple of months now (albeit a lot of time spent on Risa), I have only one toon so far and have reached level 64.
I think I have a good grasp of the fundamentals on equipment, boffs / doffs, and ship classes now, albeit I only own the five free tiers of cruisers - so my current ship is the Sovereign assault cruiser. I have completed the storylines up to half of the New Romulus missions.
Earlier today I undertook a patrol for the first time in a while in the Watran system and took a beating, whereas patrols have been pretty simple previously. I noticed that the bigger Voth ships had hull capacities of 150-180k vs mine at 40k. I've been careful to invest in hull healing at many stages and have two SIF generators fitted, etc., but they were through me quite quickly, and taking out shield facings almost instantly. None of my buffs made a big difference, so clearly I've reached a point where I'm supposed to do something differently, but I'm not entirely sure what the game is asking me to do next. I've enjoyed getting in to PvE but want to be helping teams effectively going forward.
My ship has mostly Mk XII equipment, some uncommon but much of it rare and the odd purple. I'm sure there's quite some improvement to be made, but I can't see that it would've made all the difference in the above scenario?
Do I basically have to have a T6 ship now? Some have said yes in chat, but others say equipment is more important, though again I can't see even very rare Mk XV equipment on this ship fully closing the gap in base stats to the adversaries I encountered today?
Speaking of upgrades - I'm currently levelling my R&D as much as possible through doff research lab assignments, but this will take a long time. Am I right in thinking this is necessary to take all Mk XII equipment up to Mk XV? With an increase in rarity chance at each mark?
Not helping this I'm sure, is that I don't really understand admiralty, endeavours or reputation. Endeavours I guess are quite straightforward and I've discovered give you a lot of EC, but I cannot see why it's useful to do admiralty or gain reputation? I have garnered quite a lot of marks through various things, for example I have nearly 1000 Omega marks, but until earlier today I had no idea what to do with them. Now I think I've worked out how to trade them in for reputation (all currently 0), but why am I doing this?
I feel the game is good at explaining what you need to do to get x, or where you can get x, but not why you would want x, what x is used for, or what x might lead to. I appreciate I may need to "do the work" now, but it would be very, very useful as a relative newcomer if there's a resource where the systems in the game are talked through in more detail? Does such a thing exist?
Failing that, if you have any comments on how I should generally progress my character and equipment, and what things I should undertake to do this (and how), that would be most welcome. I'm not in a rush, and I don't mind "grinding" a bit if that's what's required, but don't want to waste time and I feel that's a possibility with my current grasp on STO.
Thank you
PS if relevant, I have 105k dil, 13.8m EC. I'm ok with spending a little bit of real money on the game as I do like it, but not big amounts.
PPS I'm grateful for everyone's help in chat up to this point, without which I wouldn't have even gotten this far. Thanks
I think I have a good grasp of the fundamentals on equipment, boffs / doffs, and ship classes now, albeit I only own the five free tiers of cruisers - so my current ship is the Sovereign assault cruiser. I have completed the storylines up to half of the New Romulus missions.
Earlier today I undertook a patrol for the first time in a while in the Watran system and took a beating, whereas patrols have been pretty simple previously. I noticed that the bigger Voth ships had hull capacities of 150-180k vs mine at 40k. I've been careful to invest in hull healing at many stages and have two SIF generators fitted, etc., but they were through me quite quickly, and taking out shield facings almost instantly. None of my buffs made a big difference, so clearly I've reached a point where I'm supposed to do something differently, but I'm not entirely sure what the game is asking me to do next. I've enjoyed getting in to PvE but want to be helping teams effectively going forward.
My ship has mostly Mk XII equipment, some uncommon but much of it rare and the odd purple. I'm sure there's quite some improvement to be made, but I can't see that it would've made all the difference in the above scenario?
Do I basically have to have a T6 ship now? Some have said yes in chat, but others say equipment is more important, though again I can't see even very rare Mk XV equipment on this ship fully closing the gap in base stats to the adversaries I encountered today?
Speaking of upgrades - I'm currently levelling my R&D as much as possible through doff research lab assignments, but this will take a long time. Am I right in thinking this is necessary to take all Mk XII equipment up to Mk XV? With an increase in rarity chance at each mark?
Not helping this I'm sure, is that I don't really understand admiralty, endeavours or reputation. Endeavours I guess are quite straightforward and I've discovered give you a lot of EC, but I cannot see why it's useful to do admiralty or gain reputation? I have garnered quite a lot of marks through various things, for example I have nearly 1000 Omega marks, but until earlier today I had no idea what to do with them. Now I think I've worked out how to trade them in for reputation (all currently 0), but why am I doing this?
I feel the game is good at explaining what you need to do to get x, or where you can get x, but not why you would want x, what x is used for, or what x might lead to. I appreciate I may need to "do the work" now, but it would be very, very useful as a relative newcomer if there's a resource where the systems in the game are talked through in more detail? Does such a thing exist?
Failing that, if you have any comments on how I should generally progress my character and equipment, and what things I should undertake to do this (and how), that would be most welcome. I'm not in a rush, and I don't mind "grinding" a bit if that's what's required, but don't want to waste time and I feel that's a possibility with my current grasp on STO.
Thank you
PS if relevant, I have 105k dil, 13.8m EC. I'm ok with spending a little bit of real money on the game as I do like it, but not big amounts.
PPS I'm grateful for everyone's help in chat up to this point, without which I wouldn't have even gotten this far. Thanks
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I cannot stress how important it is to upgrade your equipment, even to basic level 15 (best done with Phoenix Upgrades). This will make things easier, and is relatively inexpensive.
The Admiralty system is a fantastic resource to earn Upgrades, Dil and EC. Use it, you won't regret it.
As for the ship you fly, anything T4 is still good enough to do the vast majority of content, provided you regularly upgrade your equipment.
Upgrading mk12 to 15 is important, since it's something like a 25-30% nonlinear increase in damage.
Other than that, reputations/spec trees/endeavors are all less visible but accumulative benefits. Send me mail or a message in-game to @tobiashirt and we can talk when I get on.
Admiralty is mostly a way to earn more dilithium, ec, and crafting resources. It just happens to be the most convenient/efficient way to do so. It's also by a wide margin the quickest way to get experience and thus specialization points at max level.
This is a list of some of the more desirable t6 ships, but it should serve as a showcase of the breadth of ship types and roles.
Generally speaking, the harder you hit, the quicker you get rid of the things trying to kill you. I call it survival through violence. Take your weapon power slider and jam that guy all the way up. Lock it there and adjust other power levels as you see fit.
Cruisers, especially 4/4 types lend themselves very very well to BFAW builds with beam arrays. loading out with those in all 8 slots will allow you to broadside with considerable power (Also considerable power drain, that's why you max out the weapons power)
Regarding access to top tier ships, you are very much in luck. Tomorrow (PC) starts a new event in which you will be able to earn a free T6 ship with what appears to be a more than serviceable layout.
Ask all the questions you can. Search out /R/STOBuilds or the academy here and ask loads of build questions. This community has a lot of really really smart folks who will get you going in the right direction in no time at all. Feel free to seek me out in game also. I'm usually on my main Frank@tm706 and am more than happy to help.
Message me in-game (@tm706) for help
1st Alpha Quadrant Fleet
The U.S.S. Sally Ride is an Intrepid-class Science Vessel. If approached in Sector Space - in the Beta Quadrant and outside the Narendra System - Captain T'Lan will award the ship to the player as an Admiralty card. It can be claimed by any faction.
phoenix ,blue paper rewards!
https://sto.gamepedia.com/Admiralty_System#The_Breach_Event_.28March_2016.29_Reward_-_V.S.S._Tanius
https://sto.gamepedia.com/Admiralty_System#First_Contact_Day_.28April_2016.29_Giveaway_-_Phoenix_Replica_Smallcraft
https://sto.gamepedia.com/Admiralty_System#First_Contact_Day_.28April_2016.29_Giveaway_-_Assimilated_Assault_Cruiser
https://sto.gamepedia.com/Admiralty_System#Mirror_Invasion_Event_.28August_2016.29_Reward_-_I.S.S._Stadi
https://www.arcgames.com/en/forums/startrekonline#/discussion/1234873/useful-daily-tasks
we have a event coming ,you will get a free t6 ship! t4 ships are not much different then t5 's. the important stuff are ,right gear\stations !
I’ve been playing for years and still learn new things. Keep asking questions.
I don’t run many patrols, and sadly don’t remember much from when I was a new player. Shields are important, more so than hull imo. I could be wrong on that but... You want a good shield, preferably Very Rare quality(light purple) Mk XII at the very least. I prefer covariant shields as they have higher shield strength, though you give up regen for that. Late game the common consoles aren’t as useful as the unique ones you get as mission rewards or universals. Weapon strength is also important for ANY class. Stick to a single type(phasher, disrupter, etc.). I usually have one Torp(quantum) equipped in a forward slot. My aft slots are for omni beams mostly. I suck at cannons, but if you can play that style I think they do more damage than beams.
The Mk XII is the lowest gear necessary for casual, or new players to do well in Non-mission PVE. TFOs, Patrols and Space Encounters. The Rarities are:
1.) Common(white) - probably only used by super hardcore gamers and new players who can’t afford anything else.
2.) Uncommon(green) - decent enough for early game (probably tutorial through level 19, Mks I-IV). Allows one Mod to the gear. This is shown by the (abcd) after the MK #. Each mod provides a specific bonus(which increase with rarity and mk Level).
3.) Rare(blue) – probably decent mid-game(level 20-39.Mks V-IX). Allows two Mods to gear.
4.) Very Rare(light purple) – late mid-game to end game needs at least this rarity to be effective outside of missions(Level 40-65. Mks X-XV). Allows three Mods to gear.
5.) Ultra Rare(dark purple) – medium end equipment for late mid-game to end game. Allows four Mods. Obtainable through upgrading except in rare cases where gear comes this rarity.
6.) Epic(gold) – high end gear. Best in game. Allows four Mods and a double Mod.
Mk XV gear in any of the last three rarities would have made a difference.
Personally I say yes. Once I can start using T6’ ships I don’t ever downgrade(excepting the cases in which a Shuttle is required). Better players can and sometimes do use lower Tier ships, but I’m not good enough for that. I need the high stats of a T6(I guess a T5-U have similar stats). And the Mastery Traits when chosen carefully are very helpful.
No R&D levels don’t matter when upgrading, except you have to have a high R&D level to craft the upgrade tokens if you can’t buy them off the exchange. This will take you to a helpful resource.
All three systems will help you grow. Admiralty will help you gain EC, Dilithium, Colonist, Prisoners, R&D Resources(Mats), 1-use admirality cards, and pass tokens. The problem is, you need to own ships to get their cards. Most of the missions will require more than the points provided by any 3 ships you could combine having only the free cruisers. Endeavors are also a source of EC, Dil and Mats. Also, if you click on the word endeavor above the box that tells you what they are you will get a window with two tabs. The main tab tells you how much endeavor xp you have. Every 20,000(I believe) you gain a Perk Point. You can spend them on bonuses, though it randomly picks three from the list for you to choose from with every point spent. The second tab will give more details about the endeavor, and if you have re-roll tokens(found by opening the reward box) y90u can change the personal endeavors 1 at a time for as many tokens as you have.
Reputations are very important. I did not understand this until late in the game. Each tier grants you many things. 1 and 3 give you ground reputation traits which give ground buffs, 2 and 4 give space traits. Tier 5 gives a large chunk of resources and an “active” trait that gives you a special space or ground action. These tiers also unlock the Reputation equipment, which is better most non-lockbox stuff in game. Especially the gamma engine/warp core combo. (imo). Tier 6 takes awhile but gives you projects for a fleet ship token, a discount in price for rep gear, a vanity shield(cosmetic) and a retrain token, as well as making the traits level 2. The forums have the Academy section, and the link I provided earlier is to the official wikia which is an amazing resource. The dil will be required to upgrade equipment and buy Phoenix lockboxes when they run that event again. These have two important purposes. You can acquire the Phoenix Upgrade token, which gives you a lot of tech points for the upgrades of gear at no dil cost. Also most of the older special event rewards are in the box. Epic tokens give a character bound t6 ship. But they are very, very hard to get. I’ve opened close to 3000 boxes since I began playing, and I’ve gotten 2 or 3 epic tokens. Ultra Rare tokens provide the t5 ships(I believe they can all be upgraded to t5-u for free). Very rare and rare have some consoles, some admiralty cards, some doffs and some weapons. Uncommon’s are what you can exchange for upgrade tokens and other things that aren’t as important.
I hope this helps. If you need anymore advice ask.
I will set some time aside to read and absorb and then apply all of this, and if I have more questions arising from that I will update this thread.
Thanks again.
For starters, I realised I had an unused free T5 retrofit token from reaching Vice Adm. I thought long and hard about the uprated Galaxy class as it's a favourite of mine, but I really wanted to try an escort for a change so chose the Defiant. It was the right choice - I applied what some of you had said and put together a polaron build with cannons and consoles. I added very rare XII polaron beams for the aft from the exchange. I also used the exchange to invest in an ultra rare mk XV covariant shield with 3x cap and heal, and even though it was ~6m EC I'd say it was definitely worth it at this stage. I found that all my traits had unloaded (which has happened again partially since, not sure what's going on here), and once I refilled my traits and with this shield and dealing a lot more damage, I'm relatively much more useful in PvE and I can overcome the 200k+ hull capital ships in patrols and missions, even if it sometimes needs a respawn or two. I do really enjoy flying the tactical escort retrofit and would consider the T5U upgrade some day but with mid 50k hull and the experimental weapon slot I'm not even sure it's necessary. My T5 Sovereign is now an antiproton build, as I had beams and the omni from mission rewards to use, and my other ships are focussed on single damage type as well, to help with endeavours plus I still like to fly them. I love my T2 connie with the Reman shield and tetryon weapons - I think she looks great
I also did the event and got the T6 Qulash last night! It's really nice - whatever I've got slotted in terms of abilities and consoles seems to give me about 76k hull at the minute. It turns pretty well and I think feels more like an escort than anything else, so I used the 8-pack of weapons it comes with - which is really nice btw - to go with a mix of cannons and dual beams up front, with two beams and a turret at the back. I added an extra disruptor console and I'm going to have to look at the other consoles and decide where to take it, but it's already powerful, even if the Elachi cannon fire looks a bit - mm - blobby? I think I prefer polarons! I've noted what's been said about the consoles and will need to play through more of the episode content to earn them. Since the event and with endeavours etc. I've had less time to play episodes, but am fine with this.
I figured out admiralty and what it's good for - thanks. The missing ship assignments have given me more to use and I've figured out I don't always have to pass but can send my Miranda out by itself etc. Is there a limit to how many admiralty ships you can have?
I think I'm getting there with reps. Have been spending my marks daily, and selling back unwanted rewards - usually the ground weapons - to recover some of the EC.
The Qulash took my last free active ship slot so last night I finally invested some money in to the game. I added two ship slots and removed the EC cap, and will probably use the rest of the zen for an account bank for when I start another char - I plan to do a KDF in due course.
I do still have questions! Mostly this is actually from your replies in this thread;
- I see the neutronium armour is available from fleet holdings? I still don't really know much about fleets - I was invited to join Elite task Force Alpha and accepted - I have lots of fleet marks but no credits. Tips on how to use / help fleets or links to would be appreciated. This presumably applies to the Spire locator tac consoles also mentioned earlier?
- I'm levelling my R&D but it is taking a long, long time. Am I right in thinking that, even if I level every category, upgrading items beyond Mk XII is still going to take a LOT of tech upgrades and dilithium? It seems to be prohibitive cost looking at it this way, unless there's something I don't know about here?
- Leading on from that, I hear what's been said about the Phoenix upgrades. Can you explain a bit more about these and when / how they become available?
- Easy question I hope - what's a BFAW build? Any other build acronyms I should know about?
- As a newbie, I started Risa late. I gained about a third of the required prize vouchers. Will I be able to use my summer event vouchers towards other events, or should I keep the project slotted until next summer?
Thanks all
Much to my Chagrin, R&D is a largely obsolete system of the game. Useful to minmax some things, but generally speaking, you'll have an easier time just buying whatever from the Exchange.
Phoenix Upgrades are the most efficient way to upgrade your equipment. During Phoenix Events, you can purchase phoenix boxes directly from the dilithium store(just below the minimap). When you open a box, you'll get a random rank 1-5 token. These can be exchanged down for double the quantity per rank. You can exchange the lowest tokens for a Phoenix Upgrade at a 1:1 ratio. Phoenix Upgrades are better than the crafted ones and require NO dilithium to use. Ideally, wait for an Upgrade Weekend to further maximize your returns. (Both phoenix and upgrade events will be going on during this weekend.)
Beams: Fire At Will; generally speaking, you take a ship, load it with tons of beam arrays, and pew-pew laser beams in all directions at everything in sight. There are plenty of acronyms, but they typically refer to various bridge officer skills, like this one.
This is a little difficult to answer as they're in the process of transitioning to a new method for events. Traditionally, unspent Event Vouchers did not carry over(they used to a long time ago, but it was deemed counter-productive for participation metrics). EDIT: I suggest keeping the ship project slotted until we hear otherwise - there's a chance you might still be able to get it.
As I've only just stumbled upon this thread, I suppose I have some advice/guidance:
-The Elachi Qulash you just obtained sounds like it will be an excellent workhorse for your current preferences - I suggest developing it as your main ship until you're a bit more confident with the nuances of 'end game' in STO.
-Pick either cannons or beams; avoid mixing them for the time being. There are a myriad of reasons I, and many others, could go into depth about why, but just think of it as keeping it simple for now.
-Since you enjoy Polarons, I'd recommend making the Delta, Lukari, and Gamma Reputations your priority. They all have weapon sets that will synergize.
-Defensively, there are a lot of ship sets to choose from and they're all good for different things. Excluding Rep sets for the time being: The Jem Hadar set boosts Polaron damage, but might feel a bit squishy for newer players. The Quantum Phase set is reasonably shield-tanky and easy to obtain. The Kobali set is ultra-tanky, but the (fantastic)warp core is not easy to obtain for newer players. My personal favorite set for new alts is the Solanae set, but again, the (mediocre)warp core is tied to an old anniversary ship that's not easily accessable - the set is still excellent for offensively-minded ships without it. You can get any of these sets by just replaying their respective missions a couple times.
Anyway, just about any ship you can get can be outfitted to kill things on normal. It's all according to your preferences. Good luck out there and hope to see you ingame.
As it happened I already had a neutronium console in my inv - duh - didn't notice when that one dropped in. I've slotted it in the Qulash for now (more on that below)
That's a shame about R&D - I can say from my new player perspective, everything seems to point to you needing to level R&D and very little points to things like Phoenix, but there we are. It's just my perspective. I'll keep levelling it because why not, at least research projects cost next to nothing. Looks like I'll be spending some time in the Drozana system this weekend though! (And spending dilithium, too)
I took the Qulash out a bit more properly this evening - I sorted out my consoles a bit and boffs and did a little training as I haven't had this many boff / universal seats before. I gave Elisa Flores Cannons Rapid Fire II - clearly I should've done this one the moment I got the Defiant. Wow. @echatty you're not wrong - this thing packs a punch.
I should say when I mentioned earlier the cannons / dual beams split, it's actually 2 dual heavy, 2 dual and one dual beams. I guess I just wanted a little less recharge on the fifth slot, probably for no good reason! But still, wow. I did a couple of the Mycellial patrols to round off today's event bonus and with boff buffs I was cutting through Sech cruisers - which had given me a bit of trouble since reaching the level cap - like a hot knife through butter. Some big crit numbers I haven't generated before - all deeply satisfying. This little ship must be great. I only got taken out once by the capital ship and that was my own fault - I basically lost my orientation in the firefight - the only slightly tricky thing with the Qulash is I'm not sure which way she's pointing sometimes when it all gets busy!
Clearly more practice needed but it's all fun!
The main reason you want to avoid mixing weapon types is that they tend to have different firing rates which can really mess with the consistency of your weapon power. By matching your weapons, it means they'll all fire at the same time and thus apply their salvos at the same power level(damage scale) before the drain gets applied. There are ways to mitigate the drain and overcharge your weapon power to (mostly) bypass all this, but it's a bit more of an advanced buildcraft topic.
D(ual)H(eavy)C(annon)s are generally the most power-efficient, but non-heavy DCs are very comparable if you're running E(mergency)P(ower)t(o)W(eapons). Mixing them.. tends to.. 'double-tax' your power supply with their offset firing cycles. Adding beams on top of that just complicates things further, making it even harder to hit for full potential damage. I digress, I've gone off on a rambling tangent that is probably unnecessary.. Long story short, try to match your weapon types and maybe throw in a torpedo(they don't require/use weapon power) if you want something a bit more punchy to smash through the hulls of your enemy.
As for R&D, the main use is to craft weapons with special exclusive weapon procs(beam arrays that can rarely activate Beam Overload on their own, a Penetration modifier that bypasses some of your enemy's defenses, etc.) and a few exotic pieces of gear(a sniper rifle that ignores shields, a torpedo that leaves plasma clouds behind, etc.) you cannot get elsewhere. It's a pretty massive (time) investment to reach the point of semi-usefulness with the system though, and it's a lot faster and cheaper to obtain otherwise comparable gear from other sources.
I decided to buy ten Phoenix prize vouchers from Grym for 40k dil. I gained a couple of very rares - would you say any of the universal consoles are worth it over, what is it - the four tech upgrades? One gives +5% damage / 7.5% hull, another gives +20% anitiproton / 5% hull, and the other is prolonged engagement power dynamo that affects power levels. Or would you still just break down into tech upgrades? I'm beginning to sense these universal consoles are a bit more niche and would only make sense to max out a particular build style, as most of those benefits can be had from regular consoles?
Also, can I check something before I get to using anything - if the upgrade points you put into an item are greater than needed to, say, take it from XII to XIII, will it carry over into the next upgrade from XIII to XIV, and so on? or are the extra points just lost? Seems very pertinent with these phoenix upgrades during upgrade weekend...
As for Phoenix prizes: I personally do hold onto some VR tokens in the event I want to pick something up in the future for my myriad of alts, but I largely consider the store contents to be luxury items. That said: If you don't have a Red Matter Capacitor, it's worth picking one up per character(it's effectively an infinite use omni-battery). If you were running Phasers, I would have suggested the Agony Phaser Torpedo; likewise, I would have suggested considering the voth decoy if you ran Anti-Proton. Otherwise, the Admiralty ships from the Rare category can come in handy in the long run. The Duty Officers from the Rare category can also be nice, depending on your build, but generally tend to fall into the niche category. At the end of the day, though, it's ultimately up to what you want to spend your resources on. It will probably be several months before the Phoenix Event rolls around again.
Tech Points carry over. Research Points(upgrade chance) will reset if the item upgrades in quality or levels up in mark.
https://sto.gamepedia.com/Gear_Upgrade_System
Finding consoles that either reduce the cooldown on BOFF abilities or give weapon haste are really good. too. Can't remember them off the top of my head, but there are also traits that give haste too. Some consoles like that are mission rewards, so cost nothing but running the mission to get them.
The tricky thing is choosing what to upgrade. And I've got those 3x ultimate upgrades from the event of course. I did wonder if they might be used on the standard weapons the Qulash came with?
Or maybe I should balance out upgrades across one or two of a few types of weapons as I like to use different ships?
Or maybe other equipment altogether?
Did you spot the newbie yet?
Edit: I am tempted by those admiralty ships, but would probably choose to use Phoenix on whatever is going to be hardest to obtain equivalently through other parts of the game, and that sounds like upgrades is best choice on this criteria?
You can upgrade the weapons in the weapon pack that came with the ship.
Here is my suggestion: 1) Upgrade all your Consoles first. Why? because it is good way to get the most bang for your buck. 2) Upgrade Ship Gear next. This is a little more expensive than upgrading Consoles. However, most Ship Gear enhances the abilities Consoles provide. 3) Upgrade Weapons last. This will be the most expensive in terms of both numbers of Upgrades required (of any type) and Dilithium (if not using Phoenix Upgrades). Make sure you acquire enough Upgrades and Dil so you can Upgrade ALL of your weapons at once. Probably a good idea to have a little Salvage and extra Dil handy as well. So you can adjust the [Mods] on gear and weapons to your liking.
Gratz on leveling all the way up!
Some last bits of advice:
- Always remember STO is a game. It should never become a lifestyle choice.
- Play to enjoy the game the way you enjoy playing. If you try something simply because 'Everyone says...' and it isn't fun for you, stop doing it.
- As much fun as this game is solo, it is A LOT more fun when played with friends.
- IF you enjoyed playing ST this time and you are eagerly looking forward to playing STO next time - YOU ARE WINNING!
Still waiting to be able to use forum titles
I hear what you and @thunderfoot006 say about upgrading consoles - that makes sense - they give up to 37.5% on a damage type at highest quality/mark, is that right? I've only had a cursory look, but the tech upgrade points requirements seem much lower for consoles than weapons, which made me wonder if it was actually overkill to use Phoenix on them? Or do "leftover" points result in a greater chance of rarity, in a similar way to improving a critical result in the Admiralty? I will look to do all tac consoles this weekend for sure - would you say a starting point of Mk XII green/blue is fine?
Oh, and I took the advice here and picked up V.S.S. Tanius - what a beast! +50 everything when alone? It's doing something by itself as I type. From what I read on Admiralty, once you are level 10 in each faction it seems you're kinda done with rewards from it? I'm getting close to there with Fed already. Yeah I figured that might be the case, hey ho. Upgrading the weapon pack is jolly tempting - the Elachi blobs as I've started to call them are pretty effective
But the TNG/DS9 era fan in me wants beam arrays and something really faithful looking for the Defiant, eventually. Thanks! I had a good roll with a ten-pack of Phoenix boxes last night and got quite a few purple/blue, so I'm probably potentially at 30-40 Phoenix upgrades if I break them down, if my math is right. When you say ship gear I assume this means deflector / warp core etc.? I now know that I want that Gamma warp core that gives great sector speed etc. - I've gotten into "tour of the galaxy" lol. So I'll probably look to get the marks etc. for that before upgrading it
Your other advice duly noted - wise words at any time, for any game! I will say that so far, I've enjoyed the game more as I've progressed further. I appreciate the episodic content more for the distractions of PvE for endeavours and the event, etc. - the game feels more balanced in terms of how you are doing things / applying effort at the higher levels and endgame. But that's kinda what I said earlier in the thread - I was struggling for a bit there to see how the in-game systems come together as the environment gets much harder at level cap - and now it's much clearer, but that's thanks to the really good advice I've been given without which I would've been clicking around or avoiding things out of inhibition or questioning if there was much point in doing them. I feel I can carry this knowledge into a second character which I will want to be Klingon in order to play those ships etc. I think once the novelty of figuring things out and upgrading is over, I will probably slow down a bit on a second alt - it's only natural - I've been gaming a long time and know the rhythms come and go
I did have the issue with my traits unloading from their slots though - which I guess is just a glitch? I did also purchase my first starship trait from the exchange yesterday - I got the one that gives hull regen under cloak for Romulan ships as I do like to fly my (tier 4) d'deridex sometimes and it was a relatively inexpensive trait for a first try out. I'll add more when I know more what I want.
Also I have to confess I had 26 unspent specialisation points, hehe. I'm playing Intel so spent much of them accordingly.
Thanks all!