What I've noticed the first time I played it through and especially now that I am playing it at elite mode is that I get too many skill points and advance in rank much to quickly.
I would have liked to be able to do more of exploration missions, defense, pvp & fleet actions at the lower rankings in between the storyline missions. The way it is set up now, if you do any of these things you will advance too quickly and you have to do the story lines way below your level.
Now that I am on elite it is even more extreme, I am only L10 and I already have three story line missions in the queue below my level. This makes elite mode easier than normal mode, that can't be the purpose of the difficulty slider.
We have also noticed that when you play together in a group on elite mode (which is extremely fun) you get even more skill points because there are more big ships to kill.
If (in normal mode) you would only receive half of the skill points on each mission it probably would have made it less rushed. And maybe on elite mode you would get even less skill points on a mission.
Instead of increasing the skill points on elite, it may be better instead to increase the number of bridge officer points and starfleet merits. The bridge officer and starfleet merits allow one to experiment more with the BO powers on elite.
Personally I think reaching RA5 went way to quick, you would expect (if compared to reality, or the tv show) that it would take at least a year of playing (2 hours per day at least) to reach a rank like admiral. I rather like you to add content between L1 and RA5 and reduce the number skill points, than to add content after RA5. (in combination with "replays" the current rear admirals can still do those missions).
Also I felt the missions were too long especially when playing solo, it took me often around an hour to complete them. It may be possible to split these missions up a bit more, so that you can have shorter missions, but more of them. As a player may do other things (exploration/pvp/fleet actions/defence) between these missions you can extend the time it takes for ranking up.
What I've noticed the first time I played it through and especially now that I am playing it at elite mode is that I get too many skill points and advance in rank much to quickly.
I would have liked to be able to do more of exploration missions, defense, pvp & fleet actions at the lower rankings in between the storyline missions. The way it is set up now, if you do any of these things you will advance too quickly and you have to do the story lines way below your level.
Now that I am on elite it is even more extreme, I am only L10 and I already have three story line missions in the queue below my level. This makes elite mode easier than normal mode, that can't be the purpose of the difficulty slider.
We have also noticed that when you play together in a group on elite mode (which is extremely fun) you get even more skill points because there are more big ships to kill.
If (in normal mode) you would only receive half of the skill points on each mission it probably would have made it less rushed. And maybe on elite mode you would get even less skill points on a mission.
Instead of increasing the skill points on elite, it may be better instead to increase the number of bridge officer points and starfleet merits. The bridge officer and starfleet merits allow one to experiment more with the BO powers on elite.
Personally I think reaching RA5 went way to quick, you would expect (if compared to reality, or the tv show) that it would take at least a year of playing (2 hours per day at least) to reach a rank like admiral. I rather like you to add content between L1 and RA5 and reduce the number skill points, than to add content after RA5. (in combination with "replays" the current rear admirals can still do those missions).
Also I felt the missions were too long especially when playing solo, it took me often around an hour to complete them. It may be possible to split these missions up a bit more, so that you can have shorter missions, but more of them. As a player may do other things (exploration/pvp/fleet actions/defence) between these missions you can extend the time it takes for ranking up.
The games leveling in general is quick because of lack of content. But I am going to disagree with you and let me tell you why.
Elite might give more points per kill in space, but not ground nor turn-in for the mission. Elite takes longer to kill or go through than Normal mode. If you take a stop watch and time yourself, from beginning Ensign to RA5, you'll see on Elite it still takes longer cause the fight's are longer. Instead of 2 or 3 days play time, its 3 or 4 days play time.
Granted I cannot test this without deleting one of my 3 RA5's, cause I was able to level them very fast. At CMD Elite setting for me was noticeable(3rd toon, that got to RA5 Daybefore yesterday), thats 25 lvls of content I can tell that took longer than normal. After several missions and wanting to get to RA5 faster, I turned it back to normal. Elite is not a cheat and not a power leveling dream, but a challenge.
It is not so much how long it takes to do a mission, it is just you get too many points for a single mission. Causing me to play story line missions below my level, unless I only do the storyline missions and nothing else in the game.
To me it felt like the game was forcing me to do the story line missions (and thus causing me to feel being rushed). I wonder how you can say there is not enough content between L and RA, when I have to skip content.
With or without elite mode this is a problem.
Also elite is only a challenge if you only do the storyline missions, as what I said, I already have three missions on my queue that are below my level.
I know I have taken an unpopular position, it seems from discussion inside our fleet that many people seem to want to get a lot of points for mission so that one can rank up quicker. Maybe it is the exposure of so many people to other MMOs that causes most of them to think it is all about getting your character at max level. It seems you do the same thing, as you have set your character back to normal because it took too long to level your character.
The only other MMO I've played is EVE Online, which doesn't have that sort of leveling/ranking system. And there is thus less (well none, I guess) a need to level your character up quickly. Which is maybe why I have a warped understanding of how to play an MMO. In fact most people in eve online only play with a single character for years, while here everyone has as many characters as possible.
Maybe they should add a skill point slider, so people can select either to be able to play all the content or to get your character to max level as quick as possible.
One way i made the game last for me(after maxing 3 different characters.. 4 if ya count the kling) was avoid any missions that give me ground reqards.. So yea.. all I do is missions that give me rewards for my ships.. Made the current character i am on last a lot longer(currently Com 8)
The reason i quit the game is because it was too easy. I like both ground and space combat. I liked ground combat a little more than space combat when I started playing without personal shields on myself or my men. So there were things I could do to make the game more of a challenge for me but there was no way to slow down the progression to admiral.
"Admiral??? Admiral?? Admiral Kirk never bothered to check on our progress."
That's why I quit.
I came back because of the addition of a difficulty slider but I am noticing the same speed run toward endgame and I'm not liking it. I am contemplating wearing lower level gear and just doing lower level missions as a way to slow it down but really, why should I have to.
Just make it harder and make it progress slower, to make it last longer.
(And yes. I do know that that's what she said.)
I would even be okay with having to grind exploration, defense and patrol missions in order to level up.
Less skill points per mission or the option to play at a slower pace would be an amazing improvement to an already great game. I would go so far as to cut the number in half. Or at least give us the option.
I can understand why some folks would want this...but what about those of us who like the skill points as is. would we not have a choice in the matter and have to start dealing what many of us would consider a unbearable SP grind? I keep thinking back to CO and the whole war on fun and what a total PR disaster that was. I think Cryptic should give folks a choice but not one or the other.
Occasionally there's been threads started by players suggesting the ability to turn off skill point gain. Usually the motivation is so that the player can lock himself or herself into a specific tier for PVP. (Usually the most popular tier for that is Lt. Commander level).
Perhaps this thread and those threads share a common goal, albeit from different sources of motivation?
Perhaps that might be an alternative solution for the OP? Stop all XP gain for awhile, basically, and then turn it back on. Let's you catch back up or slow back down accordingly? And since it's a binary control (On or Off), it might be easier to implement?
Just some thoughts.
EDIT: To expand a bit ... I would not want either of the suggestions myself. My own personal gameplay experience doesn't really want that. However, that does not invalidate the issue that the poster has. So if a solution can be had that allows the poster the ability to customize their play time like that, while still allowing me to keep things the way I like them ... then I can't object to such a thing. In short, it doesn't seem like something I would ever want to use ... but if it can be done and it makes some folks happy and it won't mess me up ... go for it.
Your all playing this game "One Trick Pony" style, and missing the flexability of this game .
try playing those missions with a lesser ship.... for example fight the romulans / Remans in a Runabout, or play with a ship your not specialized in. Don't use the best weapons. use less lancemates on the ground missions, or limit them by giving them lesser weapons. All of these tricks can make these missions more interesting.
I personally found great fun in playing LtCom and Cmr missions in Team mode as a Lt fresh out of spacedock. The game is what you make it.
If that happened, I would be all for it. You just cannot cut the points and not add content, because then there would be nothing to do.
Furthermore, on my Klingon character, I do not see any skill point bonuses whether I do a mission on regular of elite. Elite also takes much longer, so to cut out any extra skill points (which may exist, I just have not seen them), seems to be... illogical. It takes longer to do elite, so it is kind of a wash.
Elite also takes much longer, so to cut out any extra skill points (which may exist, I just have not seen them), seems to be... illogical. It takes longer to do elite, so it is kind of a wash.
You're right it is a wash. And that's my point. It's still the same speed rush to RA5. It still takes less than a month to go from Ensign to Admiral no matter how difficult the missions are.
And there is no need for the immediate addition of new content. As the OP states (I'm paraphrasing) you still have unfinished lower level missions in your log because you zoomed past that rank days ago.
And I will be crippling myself in order to keep playing as long as I can. I don't know how yet. weaker ship, lower level components and weapons or empty Bridge seats? But I'm hoping this is a temporary measure and that I can choose to play at a slower pace.
It takes about a month now. I would be much happier if it took about a year.
Fix, short term. Improve, mid term. But always think, long term.
Comments
The games leveling in general is quick because of lack of content. But I am going to disagree with you and let me tell you why.
Elite might give more points per kill in space, but not ground nor turn-in for the mission. Elite takes longer to kill or go through than Normal mode. If you take a stop watch and time yourself, from beginning Ensign to RA5, you'll see on Elite it still takes longer cause the fight's are longer. Instead of 2 or 3 days play time, its 3 or 4 days play time.
Granted I cannot test this without deleting one of my 3 RA5's, cause I was able to level them very fast. At CMD Elite setting for me was noticeable(3rd toon, that got to RA5 Daybefore yesterday), thats 25 lvls of content I can tell that took longer than normal. After several missions and wanting to get to RA5 faster, I turned it back to normal. Elite is not a cheat and not a power leveling dream, but a challenge.
To me it felt like the game was forcing me to do the story line missions (and thus causing me to feel being rushed). I wonder how you can say there is not enough content between L and RA, when I have to skip content.
With or without elite mode this is a problem.
Also elite is only a challenge if you only do the storyline missions, as what I said, I already have three missions on my queue that are below my level.
I know I have taken an unpopular position, it seems from discussion inside our fleet that many people seem to want to get a lot of points for mission so that one can rank up quicker. Maybe it is the exposure of so many people to other MMOs that causes most of them to think it is all about getting your character at max level. It seems you do the same thing, as you have set your character back to normal because it took too long to level your character.
The only other MMO I've played is EVE Online, which doesn't have that sort of leveling/ranking system. And there is thus less (well none, I guess) a need to level your character up quickly. Which is maybe why I have a warped understanding of how to play an MMO. In fact most people in eve online only play with a single character for years, while here everyone has as many characters as possible.
Maybe they should add a skill point slider, so people can select either to be able to play all the content or to get your character to max level as quick as possible.
"Admiral??? Admiral?? Admiral Kirk never bothered to check on our progress."
That's why I quit.
I came back because of the addition of a difficulty slider but I am noticing the same speed run toward endgame and I'm not liking it. I am contemplating wearing lower level gear and just doing lower level missions as a way to slow it down but really, why should I have to.
Just make it harder and make it progress slower, to make it last longer.
(And yes. I do know that that's what she said.)
I would even be okay with having to grind exploration, defense and patrol missions in order to level up.
Less skill points per mission or the option to play at a slower pace would be an amazing improvement to an already great game. I would go so far as to cut the number in half. Or at least give us the option.
Perhaps this thread and those threads share a common goal, albeit from different sources of motivation?
Perhaps that might be an alternative solution for the OP? Stop all XP gain for awhile, basically, and then turn it back on. Let's you catch back up or slow back down accordingly? And since it's a binary control (On or Off), it might be easier to implement?
Just some thoughts.
EDIT: To expand a bit ... I would not want either of the suggestions myself. My own personal gameplay experience doesn't really want that. However, that does not invalidate the issue that the poster has. So if a solution can be had that allows the poster the ability to customize their play time like that, while still allowing me to keep things the way I like them ... then I can't object to such a thing. In short, it doesn't seem like something I would ever want to use ... but if it can be done and it makes some folks happy and it won't mess me up ... go for it.
try playing those missions with a lesser ship.... for example fight the romulans / Remans in a Runabout, or play with a ship your not specialized in. Don't use the best weapons. use less lancemates on the ground missions, or limit them by giving them lesser weapons. All of these tricks can make these missions more interesting.
I personally found great fun in playing LtCom and Cmr missions in Team mode as a Lt fresh out of spacedock. The game is what you make it.
If that happened, I would be all for it. You just cannot cut the points and not add content, because then there would be nothing to do.
Furthermore, on my Klingon character, I do not see any skill point bonuses whether I do a mission on regular of elite. Elite also takes much longer, so to cut out any extra skill points (which may exist, I just have not seen them), seems to be... illogical. It takes longer to do elite, so it is kind of a wash.
You're right it is a wash. And that's my point. It's still the same speed rush to RA5. It still takes less than a month to go from Ensign to Admiral no matter how difficult the missions are.
And there is no need for the immediate addition of new content. As the OP states (I'm paraphrasing) you still have unfinished lower level missions in your log because you zoomed past that rank days ago.
And I will be crippling myself in order to keep playing as long as I can. I don't know how yet. weaker ship, lower level components and weapons or empty Bridge seats? But I'm hoping this is a temporary measure and that I can choose to play at a slower pace.
It takes about a month now. I would be much happier if it took about a year.
Fix, short term. Improve, mid term. But always think, long term.