I have a Fed character (RA5) with a hyped up Fleet Escort. All Mk X weapons and devices, most rare, some uncommon, decent BO's, etc. When I played PvP the first time, I was creamed, sometimes before I got off the first shot. My escort never lasted more than a few seconds.
Reading the forums, I've seen others had similar problems, and the general idea was this problem was based on some sort of game bias against escorts. I don;t know if this was accurate or not, but it sure seemed so to me.
So I got a cruiser, and jacked it up - best weapons, shields, etc. Spent a ton of credits. Then I went back to PvP.
Same problem - I was creamed. In one case, I hit a KDF cruiser with three high yeild quantum torps and dual beam phasers. His shields went from 100% to 98%. My shields crashed on his first shot, and my hull to less than 25% on his second.
In some of the events I've seen, I see similar results with other players, though many fair a little better than me.
Seems no matter what I do, I get similar results. PvP is no fun if you have no chance of making a decent showing, let alone winning.
So here's the questions:
1) Why does PvP seem to favor Klingons s heavily over feds?
2) Is it just me? am I doing something wrong?
Thanks in advance for any and all responses and tips!
Do you think it might be possible that your disadvantage ( in your words: "favor Klingons heavily over feds")comes from the fact that klingons only have PvP to level up?
It´s pretty annoying when the Bird of prey that you seem to have crushed with your T1 cruiser easily now kicks your butt isn´t it. Leveling in easy mode and then complaining how the klingons are overpowered :rolleyes:
My advice would be to play alot of PvP against other Fed´s first. Play around with different BO setups and strategies. When you and your TEAM is good enough to cream (nice term btw) the other Fed teams like you got creamed by the Klingons you are ready to go back to fighting Klingons. You will see that it will work much better.
Here the answers:
1) Klingons are the better PvPers in average. Far better.
2) No. Probably.
1) The favor KLingons get is their experience. Klingons have very very limited PvE content (exploration missions only). Everything else requires PvP. They don't get into PvP at Rear Admiral Level. They start at Lt.5 and level via PvP, they use every ship tier in PvP and learned a lot. THis is an advantage that is not based on any mechanics.
It is very temping for a Federation player to enter PvP only at Rear Admiral, since only then are you actually out of new PvE content and are looking for a change. But you are inexperienced and are still put into fights against an Elite.
2) It's not just you, but that doesn't mean you aren't doing something wrong. That's the difference between 5 tiers of experience in PvP vs. 5 tiers of experience in PvE, and it leads to just not being prepared well for what is going on in PvP.
What you can do:
a) Someone shot you down and you had no time to react? Send him a message and ask him what you did wrong or what he did. Avoid anything indicating or being interpreted as you suspecting foul play, because that will be simply considered an insult. The player on the other side probably went through a lot to get where he is now, and he doesn't like his efforts to be cheapened. Some players are open about this and enjoy teaching, some less so.
b) Look at your build. What could you use to deal with massive incoming damage? What resources do you have for that? Ensure that you are prepared to hit them when you see your shields drop quickly. What do you have to the opposite - inflict massive damage or bypass defenses. How well do you really understand the mechanics of your abilities. How do shield resistance interact? What does hull resistance really mean? How do your energy levels affect your performance?
c) Target the other players when you see them and check what kind of buffs they have running. You will often see a long row of buffs when someone is attacking you (or an ally) and inflicts massive damage, or when you can only deal little damage to your opponent. Do you know what they do? Do you ever use a similar number of buffs?
d) Team up and work together. Sometimes it isn't actually some lone gunman that is shooting you down. Sometimes it's an entire team gunning for you. Obviously, if you're alone, that is hardly an even fight. No matter how good you are, you probably won't last. But if you had a team supporting you, things would look differently. They could use healing abilities to repair the damage done to your shields and hull. They can use debuffs and crowd control abilties to weaken the opponents attack. Teamwork is ultimately crucial to success. You have to focus fire, you have to use your heals on allies under fire.
e) Join a PvP fleet and learn from their experience.
f) Roll up a Klingon character and work your way through the ranks the hard, PvP way. Or do the same, but with a Federation character.
g) Experiment a little in Federation PvP. The quality of players there is a lot more mixed then among the KLingons. Many are in your positions, others have similar experience levels then the "stereotypical" "OMG WHAT JUST HAPPENED?"-Klingon player or "OMG WHY WONT HE JUST DIE"-player. Watch and learn.
Just a question, no offense intended, but when you pvp do you tend to stick with several other teammates or go off on your own? The wolfpack mentality has a greater impact on your survival than even your individual piloting skills.
This is the most important advice for tactical PVP in any game. STO isn't about 1-vs-1 duels. (Although they occasionally occur by accident, don't expect the other team to play fair.)
Stick with your team mates. Preferably within 5km but definitely within 10km. Let them buff you and buff them in return. They can only repair you if you're close.
Keep an eye on your shields as well. If you're taking a lot of hits, then reinforce the side you're being attacked from.
Good rule of thumb is to help teammates bring down a single target. So join in an existing battle instead of picking a different target. (If the main target is being heavily buffed and repaired, it's acceptable to shoot something else.)
And never, ever, rush at Full Impulse into the enemy. Your guns will be lucky to scratch 1% off their shields before you're space dust.
Likewise, if someone else in your team does that, don't break formation to follow them. Let them learn the hard way.
Reading the forums, I've seen others had similar problems, and the general idea was this problem was based on some sort of game bias against escorts. I don;t know if this was accurate or not, but it sure seemed so to me.
Forum posters frequently know very little, as quite a few of them seem to spend more time complaining on the boards than captaining their ships. As pointed out by several posters above, the best way to solve your problem is to join a fleet with capable PvPers, and get lots and lots of advice from them.
You've already shown an uncommon willingness to learn and adapt by taking the initiative on researching the problem, changing your ship (albeit based on bad info), and posting an honest question to the forum. I know many fleets that would kill to have members with that level of interest in improving.
Same problem - I was creamed. In one case, I hit a KDF cruiser with three high yeild quantum torps and dual beam phasers. His shields went from 100% to 98%. My shields crashed on his first shot, and my hull to less than 25% on his second.
The most likely reasons for this specific problem are:
Many Klingon players will immediately activate Reverse Shield Polarity (RSP) when decloaking, making them effectively invulnerable for 15 seconds. You can counter by doing the same, or by using a combination of other healing abilities to undo the damage he did in his initial strike.
That probably wasn't a cruiser that hit you, it was more likely a Raptor, which looks a lot like a cruiser but is actually the Klingon equivalent of an Escort.
The captain was probably a Tactical captain who had used every single damage-increasing ability available to him to try and get you down in the initial burst of damage.
1) Why does PvP seem to favor Klingons s heavily over feds?
2) Is it just me? am I doing something wrong?
Thanks in advance for any and all responses and tips!
1. PvP does favor Klingons by a small margin, but many people perceive it to be much worse than it really is because the Klingon advantage occurs in the first few seconds of combat. If they successfully press that advantage, the engagement never gets beyond that, and combat seems totally lopsided even though it isn't.
2. You are doing something wrong, but it's not just you. STO has an extremely steep learning curve in many areas, including PvP. A good fleet will be able to help you for sure.
1) Why does PvP seem to favor Klingons s heavily over feds?
2) Is it just me? am I doing something wrong?
Thanks in advance for any and all responses and tips!
1) It does not favor Klinks... the balance goes Klinks have advantage for 15-20 seconds Due to Cloak, feds have the advantage after that due to more shield and hull. (Things that don't pop for me quick are dangerous)
2) Well not to sound rude... but you most likely are doing something wrong.
Re evaluate your build. Make sure you have a plan to survive a first strike. (What resists/heals you will use).
Have a plan how you are gonig to counter attack.
Have a plan to survive a second wave.
When you are evaluating your boff skills look at things like Gloabal Cooldowns. Haveing 3 copies of something is useless. Having 2 seperate skills that share the same Global cooldown is going to be likely just as useless.
What can I say practice, Go to Ker'at. Bring 2 or 3 BOFF loadouts that you can change on the fly and test what works for you.
1) Why does PvP seem to favor Klingons s heavily over feds? PvP does not favor Klingons, but klinks do pvp more often and therefore have more experience. Try making a Klink of your own to build up your pvp confidence.
2) Is it just me? am I doing something wrong? No, but RA pvp is daunting without some prior experience. You may wish to try pvp at some of the lower tiers first to build your skills.
Thanks in advance for any and all responses and tips!
The only thing I have found that PvE is good for in preparation for PvP is just to learn how certain abilities work and what they do. Even then, PvE is of limited use. However, you can put together a mix of BOFFs and tactical consoles and get a sense of what kind of damages you will do, what you can expect out of your buffs, etc.
There is no real substitute for PvP experience though. Part of being successful in PvP is planning. Do you have an idea of what the other members of your team are capable of or what they are likely to do? How do you plan on attacking that cruiser, or that group? If they decide to focus their attacks on you, what will you do to respond? If that doesn't work, do you have a backup plan?
I don't mean to come off as a PvP expert. I'm not. This is the first real MMO that I've really gotten into PvP on. I usually hold my own (as either a Klink or Fed). I learned by getting into PvP, watching what my teammates did, observing what my opponent did, learning what the tendencies were, and then figuring out what I needed to do to counter it. Also, not all strategies work across all ships and profession types. Figure out what your strengths and weaknesses are and learn how to use them and compensate for them.
I have a Fed character (RA5) with a hyped up Fleet Escort. All Mk X weapons and devices, most rare, some uncommon, decent BO's, etc. When I played PvP the first time, I was creamed, sometimes before I got off the first shot. My escort never lasted more than a few seconds.
Post your build and discuss your playstyle on the forums, and we will try to give you advice on how to stop being terrible.
Be detailed, you are being very generic in your descriptions and with your comments.
I have a Fed character (RA5) with a hyped up Fleet Escort. All Mk X weapons and devices, most rare, some uncommon, decent BO's, etc. When I played PvP the first time, I was creamed, sometimes before I got off the first shot. My escort never lasted more than a few seconds.
The more experienced damage dealers have been honing their builds and playstyles to accomplish exactly this. Be expecting it. Sometimes if they see a name that is unfamiliar, they will test to see how easy a target a potential newcomer is.
Reading the forums, I've seen others had similar problems, and the general idea was this problem was based on some sort of game bias against escorts. I don;t know if this was accurate or not, but it sure seemed so to me.
Escorts are sometimes going to be easier to defeat due to the fewer Engineering and Science BO Skills they have to keep themselves going...
So I got a cruiser, and jacked it up - best weapons, shields, etc. Spent a ton of credits. Then I went back to PvP.
Same problem - I was creamed. In one case, I hit a KDF cruiser with three high yeild quantum torps and dual beam phasers. His shields went from 100% to 98%. My shields crashed on his first shot, and my hull to less than 25% on his second.
In many cases you may need to be proactive with triggering some of your defensive abilities.
In some of the events I've seen, I see similar results with other players, though many fair a little better than me.
Seems no matter what I do, I get similar results. PvP is no fun if you have no chance of making a decent showing, let alone winning.
Granted, it is going to be difficult as a new player to PvP to jump in and compete with some of the veterans. My suggestion here is to stick to Salvage Operation. You can gain some experience battling other players, but since the focus of the engagement is not enemy kill the enemy but to capture the Influence Points. In the Arenas it is just a 15 kill death match, and once a team has determined that there may be an inexperienced player opposing them, they will often just ruthlessly focus on that one player for the easiest kills.
1) Why does PvP seem to favor Klingons s heavily over feds?
Klingon players tend to have more experience in PvP. The Cloaking Device does often give them the opportunity to determine the time of engagement, but they need to make the most of that initiative.
Thanks in advance for any and all responses and tips!
It is not just you. Many players have felt the sting of Tier 5 PvP. Trying to go solo in PvP can also be very rough. Players tend to hunt in packs, since it usually tends to increase team survivability, and when prepared they can usually destroy any single ship in seconds.
Many players PvP in premade teams using vocal comminications (TeamSpeak, Ventrilo, Mumble) to increase their effectiveness. They will tend to be able to focus on chosen targets quicker, reach objective faster, and support each other better.
If you are out there solo, it will sometimes be you against a premade team. Do not feel bad if they destroy you in seconds. Remember, some of these groups have been doing this together since closed beta. They are practiced veterans who have invested a great deal of time in team dynamics and how to get the most out of their builds.
The next thing you may wish to do is evaluate your build, skill choices, BO choices, ship, weapons and equipment. While there is not only one way to play, there are certain combinations that have been proven at being effective.
There are some PvP oriented fleets out there. Talk to some people to see what you can learn.
And of course, continue to ask questions just as you have done here
Post your build and discuss your playstyle on the forums, and we will try to give you advice on how to stop being terrible.
Be detailed, you are being very generic in your descriptions and with your comments.
indeed the advice given here is already pretty great, but in order to further help you we need to see the build/loadout/playstyle to be more specific.
here's a slight tip though
The most deciding factor in the match is the first 15 seconds. If the klinks can push the surprise factor then they have the advantage, but if they cannot the federation will have the advantage. You need to consider how you can survive long enough to start firing back - the community can give you alot of advice on this.
Without your specs it is hard to help more then whats already been stated so I will give you a few UI and other odd tips.
First, turn up your sound a bit, when a cloaked player buffs up you can hear it even if you don't see them. This can help you be rdy with a Defensive BO skill like say RSP for one example but there are many others that work just fine as well. Don't pop it to soon but learn to be ready for anything after you hear them buff up. Timing is a big key for everything in PvP you can only learn this by experience. If you wait to see that your shields are going down, a lot of the time your already going to die as they have already fired the shots that are going to kill you. Try to be proactive and get your reaction time up.
Second, think about how weapons are faced on ships. Attacking a Raptor/Escort head on happens but is most likely not the best face to attack on as all there weapons are mounted there. Hit them from the side or rear if you have seen they don't have a strong rear load out. If it's Cruiser this is different a lot of Cruisers are a beam boats and attacking broadside might not be best. Learn what your enemies tactics and load outs are and remember them, attack them on the side with the least amount of weapons that can hurt you.
Third, I hate anything that changes my target or moves my Camera for me. I turn off anything in my UI that does this. Some like it some don't, play with it and see if it helps you improve.
Lastly, don't take dieing personally in PvP get use to dieing over and over until it doesn't make you nervous or bother you any more. Once you can calmly play without panic things will slow down and you can see whats going on better and who is doing what and how. Then you can really learn how to improve, something will just pop into your head "Hey, I wouldn't have died there if I would have ..... " then try to do that next time.
Speaking of UI. While my ships look nice and all, I made the experience that zooming out far gives me better results. You see more of the surrounding battleflied and can more easily identify threats and targets.
BALANCE YOUR SKILLS
First start with defensive... have a nice mix of resistance and heal skills so that you can resist and heal yourself continuously.
Second add offensive skills so that you are able to continuously cycle attack specials. Make sure you add attack buffs.
CUSTOMIZE YOUR ENERGY SETTINGS
This is generally overlooked by new players... Go to MODE 3 on your energy setting GUMP. You will have 4 energy profiles (attack, defense, speed, equalize). You can adjust the energy levels of each premade energy profile (then click the save icon for each). Make sure you switch energy profiles as required during PvP. You will want to be in attack mode as much as possible. Hopefully you are using 1 weapon energy type, you have specd the TRIBBLE out of it, you have put consoles in for it (as much as possible) AND you are running HIGH WEAPON POWER SETTING! Torps work when shields are down, so hold back on those until you penetrate shields with your energy weaps.
If you don't have it, the one skill that will help you more than any other is reverse shield polarity I. Any ship with this skill at least has a chance of living through a focus-fire.
basically though, it does come down to experience... RA5 is not the time to start pvping, he he he. Theres so many players with amped up abilities, most of whom have been honing their timings and tactics since they were Lieutenants.
i should note that if you are dying 'instantly' most of the time that is going to be because you are getting your shields downed by fire then followed up by a large salvo of torpedoes. You have to do one of three things: immediately restore your shields to resist the torpedoes (i.e. EP-shields, RSP), immediately boost your kinetic resist (i.e. brace for impact), or prevent your shields from collapsing in the first place by boosting shield resist (i.e. rotate shield frequences, EP-shields.)
experienced PVPers generally dont have better gear or better skill than other players. Their advantages tend to be in timing and ability stacking. Also fear, surprise, ruthless devotion to the space pope, etc.
I certainly wish more people posted threads like this. You are my favoritest person right now. You've been getting a lot of good advice based on the information provided so you can expect much more detailed input when you provide a bit more specific details.
I bounce between my Klink Tac/BoP and my Fed Sci/Cruiser right now and one thing that severely effects me is something as simple as coping with the different cameras settings that the two ships use. Chase cam is fail in a cruiser, lol. When you switched from your Escort to your Cruiser and changed all your weapons and BO load out did you also respec your captain to fit those changes? You have to remember that as an Escort you are flying with a huge flashing bullseye and even the best self defense can melt against 5 ships if you don't move yourself out of there or get some additional support from your team. Also, lobbing out High Yield Torpedoes all willy-nilly is pointless. You have to be sure to drop their shields before the torps hit or it's a waste.
As many others have said, don't take the deaths too hard but do learn from them. You have to expect that without good support (from yourself and from your team) you are going to look pathetic but you have to just keep coming at it, adapting. I rolled a Klink because I too started PvP after I hit RA5 and that was a very good learning experience for me.
Always keep moving, no matter what's going on, because if you are sitting still you have no defense and open yourself up to some huge critical hits. There is so much more but my mind is mushy right now. Keep posting and being open minded. Good luck!
I
1) Why does PvP seem to favor Klingons s heavily over feds?
2) Is it just me? am I doing something wrong?
Thanks in advance for any and all responses and tips!
Your doing something wrong PVP is very team based especially vs Klingons. If you go in alone with ur escort you my as well consider the game lost before it starts. Find some friends, gather up some plans and strats and u will do fine in PVP.
I started PVPing at RA level, Hated it at lower levels. And After a few hits and missess. me and my team are very well in PVP even agasint klingons.
Sure we lose 15-0 sometimes, we also win 15-0 on occasion.
you will never win trying to go in and do your own thing.
I employ a different tactic in PVP. I Charge in with my escort, get their attention and draw their fire (Sometimes doing the one pass kill). I find team mates at the time then often pickup and taget the guy kicking my nacelles. Once dead I respawn and go back in. I usually find as soon as I get back in the frey, I get targetted really fast and blown up again.
I have a kamikaze attitude and don't mind this. Takes the fire away from my team and more often than not helps out in the overal outcome of the game.
Everyone has different tactics. There has been some excellent advice in this thread. In PVP team play is everything and it comes down to what you can do for the team. Draw fire, heal them, destroy the enemy quicker. Find your niche and go for broke...
Comments
Do you think it might be possible that your disadvantage ( in your words: "favor Klingons heavily over feds")comes from the fact that klingons only have PvP to level up?
It´s pretty annoying when the Bird of prey that you seem to have crushed with your T1 cruiser easily now kicks your butt isn´t it. Leveling in easy mode and then complaining how the klingons are overpowered :rolleyes:
Here the answers:
1) Klingons are the better PvPers in average. Far better.
2) No. Probably.
It is very temping for a Federation player to enter PvP only at Rear Admiral, since only then are you actually out of new PvE content and are looking for a change. But you are inexperienced and are still put into fights against an Elite.
2) It's not just you, but that doesn't mean you aren't doing something wrong. That's the difference between 5 tiers of experience in PvP vs. 5 tiers of experience in PvE, and it leads to just not being prepared well for what is going on in PvP.
What you can do:
a) Someone shot you down and you had no time to react? Send him a message and ask him what you did wrong or what he did. Avoid anything indicating or being interpreted as you suspecting foul play, because that will be simply considered an insult. The player on the other side probably went through a lot to get where he is now, and he doesn't like his efforts to be cheapened. Some players are open about this and enjoy teaching, some less so.
b) Look at your build. What could you use to deal with massive incoming damage? What resources do you have for that? Ensure that you are prepared to hit them when you see your shields drop quickly. What do you have to the opposite - inflict massive damage or bypass defenses. How well do you really understand the mechanics of your abilities. How do shield resistance interact? What does hull resistance really mean? How do your energy levels affect your performance?
c) Target the other players when you see them and check what kind of buffs they have running. You will often see a long row of buffs when someone is attacking you (or an ally) and inflicts massive damage, or when you can only deal little damage to your opponent. Do you know what they do? Do you ever use a similar number of buffs?
d) Team up and work together. Sometimes it isn't actually some lone gunman that is shooting you down. Sometimes it's an entire team gunning for you. Obviously, if you're alone, that is hardly an even fight. No matter how good you are, you probably won't last. But if you had a team supporting you, things would look differently. They could use healing abilities to repair the damage done to your shields and hull. They can use debuffs and crowd control abilties to weaken the opponents attack. Teamwork is ultimately crucial to success. You have to focus fire, you have to use your heals on allies under fire.
e) Join a PvP fleet and learn from their experience.
f) Roll up a Klingon character and work your way through the ranks the hard, PvP way. Or do the same, but with a Federation character.
g) Experiment a little in Federation PvP. The quality of players there is a lot more mixed then among the KLingons. Many are in your positions, others have similar experience levels then the "stereotypical" "OMG WHAT JUST HAPPENED?"-Klingon player or "OMG WHY WONT HE JUST DIE"-player. Watch and learn.
Just a question, no offense intended, but when you pvp do you tend to stick with several other teammates or go off on your own? The wolfpack mentality has a greater impact on your survival than even your individual piloting skills.
This is the most important advice for tactical PVP in any game. STO isn't about 1-vs-1 duels. (Although they occasionally occur by accident, don't expect the other team to play fair.)
Stick with your team mates. Preferably within 5km but definitely within 10km. Let them buff you and buff them in return. They can only repair you if you're close.
Keep an eye on your shields as well. If you're taking a lot of hits, then reinforce the side you're being attacked from.
Good rule of thumb is to help teammates bring down a single target. So join in an existing battle instead of picking a different target. (If the main target is being heavily buffed and repaired, it's acceptable to shoot something else.)
And never, ever, rush at Full Impulse into the enemy. Your guns will be lucky to scratch 1% off their shields before you're space dust.
Likewise, if someone else in your team does that, don't break formation to follow them. Let them learn the hard way.
You've already shown an uncommon willingness to learn and adapt by taking the initiative on researching the problem, changing your ship (albeit based on bad info), and posting an honest question to the forum. I know many fleets that would kill to have members with that level of interest in improving.
The most likely reasons for this specific problem are:
1. PvP does favor Klingons by a small margin, but many people perceive it to be much worse than it really is because the Klingon advantage occurs in the first few seconds of combat. If they successfully press that advantage, the engagement never gets beyond that, and combat seems totally lopsided even though it isn't.
2. You are doing something wrong, but it's not just you. STO has an extremely steep learning curve in many areas, including PvP. A good fleet will be able to help you for sure.
Good luck.
1) It does not favor Klinks... the balance goes Klinks have advantage for 15-20 seconds Due to Cloak, feds have the advantage after that due to more shield and hull. (Things that don't pop for me quick are dangerous)
2) Well not to sound rude... but you most likely are doing something wrong.
Re evaluate your build. Make sure you have a plan to survive a first strike. (What resists/heals you will use).
Have a plan how you are gonig to counter attack.
Have a plan to survive a second wave.
When you are evaluating your boff skills look at things like Gloabal Cooldowns. Haveing 3 copies of something is useless. Having 2 seperate skills that share the same Global cooldown is going to be likely just as useless.
What can I say practice, Go to Ker'at. Bring 2 or 3 BOFF loadouts that you can change on the fly and test what works for you.
My 2cents.
Oh and,
The Teamwork of the Many outweighs the Teamwork of the few....or the one.
There is no real substitute for PvP experience though. Part of being successful in PvP is planning. Do you have an idea of what the other members of your team are capable of or what they are likely to do? How do you plan on attacking that cruiser, or that group? If they decide to focus their attacks on you, what will you do to respond? If that doesn't work, do you have a backup plan?
I don't mean to come off as a PvP expert. I'm not. This is the first real MMO that I've really gotten into PvP on. I usually hold my own (as either a Klink or Fed). I learned by getting into PvP, watching what my teammates did, observing what my opponent did, learning what the tendencies were, and then figuring out what I needed to do to counter it. Also, not all strategies work across all ships and profession types. Figure out what your strengths and weaknesses are and learn how to use them and compensate for them.
Good luck.
Post your build and discuss your playstyle on the forums, and we will try to give you advice on how to stop being terrible.
Be detailed, you are being very generic in your descriptions and with your comments.
The more experienced damage dealers have been honing their builds and playstyles to accomplish exactly this. Be expecting it. Sometimes if they see a name that is unfamiliar, they will test to see how easy a target a potential newcomer is.
Escorts are sometimes going to be easier to defeat due to the fewer Engineering and Science BO Skills they have to keep themselves going...
In many cases you may need to be proactive with triggering some of your defensive abilities.
Granted, it is going to be difficult as a new player to PvP to jump in and compete with some of the veterans. My suggestion here is to stick to Salvage Operation. You can gain some experience battling other players, but since the focus of the engagement is not enemy kill the enemy but to capture the Influence Points. In the Arenas it is just a 15 kill death match, and once a team has determined that there may be an inexperienced player opposing them, they will often just ruthlessly focus on that one player for the easiest kills.
Klingon players tend to have more experience in PvP. The Cloaking Device does often give them the opportunity to determine the time of engagement, but they need to make the most of that initiative.
It is not just you. Many players have felt the sting of Tier 5 PvP. Trying to go solo in PvP can also be very rough. Players tend to hunt in packs, since it usually tends to increase team survivability, and when prepared they can usually destroy any single ship in seconds.
Many players PvP in premade teams using vocal comminications (TeamSpeak, Ventrilo, Mumble) to increase their effectiveness. They will tend to be able to focus on chosen targets quicker, reach objective faster, and support each other better.
If you are out there solo, it will sometimes be you against a premade team. Do not feel bad if they destroy you in seconds. Remember, some of these groups have been doing this together since closed beta. They are practiced veterans who have invested a great deal of time in team dynamics and how to get the most out of their builds.
The next thing you may wish to do is evaluate your build, skill choices, BO choices, ship, weapons and equipment. While there is not only one way to play, there are certain combinations that have been proven at being effective.
There are some PvP oriented fleets out there. Talk to some people to see what you can learn.
And of course, continue to ask questions just as you have done here
indeed the advice given here is already pretty great, but in order to further help you we need to see the build/loadout/playstyle to be more specific.
here's a slight tip though
The most deciding factor in the match is the first 15 seconds. If the klinks can push the surprise factor then they have the advantage, but if they cannot the federation will have the advantage. You need to consider how you can survive long enough to start firing back - the community can give you alot of advice on this.
First, turn up your sound a bit, when a cloaked player buffs up you can hear it even if you don't see them. This can help you be rdy with a Defensive BO skill like say RSP for one example but there are many others that work just fine as well. Don't pop it to soon but learn to be ready for anything after you hear them buff up. Timing is a big key for everything in PvP you can only learn this by experience. If you wait to see that your shields are going down, a lot of the time your already going to die as they have already fired the shots that are going to kill you. Try to be proactive and get your reaction time up.
Second, think about how weapons are faced on ships. Attacking a Raptor/Escort head on happens but is most likely not the best face to attack on as all there weapons are mounted there. Hit them from the side or rear if you have seen they don't have a strong rear load out. If it's Cruiser this is different a lot of Cruisers are a beam boats and attacking broadside might not be best. Learn what your enemies tactics and load outs are and remember them, attack them on the side with the least amount of weapons that can hurt you.
Third, I hate anything that changes my target or moves my Camera for me. I turn off anything in my UI that does this. Some like it some don't, play with it and see if it helps you improve.
Lastly, don't take dieing personally in PvP get use to dieing over and over until it doesn't make you nervous or bother you any more. Once you can calmly play without panic things will slow down and you can see whats going on better and who is doing what and how. Then you can really learn how to improve, something will just pop into your head "Hey, I wouldn't have died there if I would have ..... " then try to do that next time.
Keep at it and GL.
Tor'Kaa
First start with defensive... have a nice mix of resistance and heal skills so that you can resist and heal yourself continuously.
Second add offensive skills so that you are able to continuously cycle attack specials. Make sure you add attack buffs.
This is generally overlooked by new players... Go to MODE 3 on your energy setting GUMP. You will have 4 energy profiles (attack, defense, speed, equalize). You can adjust the energy levels of each premade energy profile (then click the save icon for each). Make sure you switch energy profiles as required during PvP. You will want to be in attack mode as much as possible. Hopefully you are using 1 weapon energy type, you have specd the TRIBBLE out of it, you have put consoles in for it (as much as possible) AND you are running HIGH WEAPON POWER SETTING! Torps work when shields are down, so hold back on those until you penetrate shields with your energy weaps.
Hope that helps.
basically though, it does come down to experience... RA5 is not the time to start pvping, he he he. Theres so many players with amped up abilities, most of whom have been honing their timings and tactics since they were Lieutenants.
i should note that if you are dying 'instantly' most of the time that is going to be because you are getting your shields downed by fire then followed up by a large salvo of torpedoes. You have to do one of three things: immediately restore your shields to resist the torpedoes (i.e. EP-shields, RSP), immediately boost your kinetic resist (i.e. brace for impact), or prevent your shields from collapsing in the first place by boosting shield resist (i.e. rotate shield frequences, EP-shields.)
experienced PVPers generally dont have better gear or better skill than other players. Their advantages tend to be in timing and ability stacking. Also fear, surprise, ruthless devotion to the space pope, etc.
I bounce between my Klink Tac/BoP and my Fed Sci/Cruiser right now and one thing that severely effects me is something as simple as coping with the different cameras settings that the two ships use. Chase cam is fail in a cruiser, lol. When you switched from your Escort to your Cruiser and changed all your weapons and BO load out did you also respec your captain to fit those changes? You have to remember that as an Escort you are flying with a huge flashing bullseye and even the best self defense can melt against 5 ships if you don't move yourself out of there or get some additional support from your team. Also, lobbing out High Yield Torpedoes all willy-nilly is pointless. You have to be sure to drop their shields before the torps hit or it's a waste.
As many others have said, don't take the deaths too hard but do learn from them. You have to expect that without good support (from yourself and from your team) you are going to look pathetic but you have to just keep coming at it, adapting. I rolled a Klink because I too started PvP after I hit RA5 and that was a very good learning experience for me.
Always keep moving, no matter what's going on, because if you are sitting still you have no defense and open yourself up to some huge critical hits. There is so much more but my mind is mushy right now. Keep posting and being open minded. Good luck!
Your doing something wrong PVP is very team based especially vs Klingons. If you go in alone with ur escort you my as well consider the game lost before it starts. Find some friends, gather up some plans and strats and u will do fine in PVP.
I started PVPing at RA level, Hated it at lower levels. And After a few hits and missess. me and my team are very well in PVP even agasint klingons.
Sure we lose 15-0 sometimes, we also win 15-0 on occasion.
you will never win trying to go in and do your own thing.
I have a kamikaze attitude and don't mind this. Takes the fire away from my team and more often than not helps out in the overal outcome of the game.
Everyone has different tactics. There has been some excellent advice in this thread. In PVP team play is everything and it comes down to what you can do for the team. Draw fire, heal them, destroy the enemy quicker. Find your niche and go for broke...