Personally, I would like to be able to craft a lot of the mission reward items we get to compliment my level. These items are unique but they only exist at a very specific level as mission rewards, and that's not exactly intelligent design. I.E. The one and only MkVII Polarized Dual Tetryon Beam Bank.
These kinds of items should be craft-able and would entice players to pursue crafting simply to get a full compliment of these on their ships. Effecient Impulse Engines for appropriate levels are a great candidate for crafters. And also, being able to craft blue/purple/gold quality versions of these items at increasing cost should also be implemented.
Obviously at one point, Cryptic wanted to add various kinds of items that could be differentiated from the run-of-the-mill variety that we get from vendors but forgot about them after the first few were implemented sporadically through the game.
As far as these weapons are concerned, I like that they offer a much higher chance of proc to distinguish them. That said, the naming convention that was used makes me think that combining procs into hybrid weapons would be interesting as well. For instance, when I first saw the name Polarized Tetryon Beam, I assumed that meant it was a Tetryon Beam that shared properties with Polaron weapons, i.e.: Chance to -25 power from all enemy systems. It wasn't until reading the details that I saw it meant 10 percent chance to drain 144 from shields as opposed to 2 percent.
I like both ideas actually, but naming conventions will need a second pass. I'm thinking a universal term for 10 percent procs needs to be implemented, like "Overcharged Tetryon Beam", "Overcharged Plasma Cannon", or maybe "Enhanced Antiproton Turret". You understand. This way if we decide to implement Hybrid Technology, we could have a Polarized Tetryon Beam, and that will mean exactly as it sounds: chance to drain shield facings, chance to drain power levels. Then we can worry about the gold Overcharged Phased Dual Heavy Disruptor Cannon Mk XII with the 10 percent chance to disable 1 subsystem and 10 percent chance to reduce damage resistance.... Wow, now that sounds like something I want to sell on the exchange! Guess I'll go farm some anomalies and try to match those nifty wave signatures!
Another easy way to make our crafting system closer to what we expect of mmorpgs is a random benefit. Why not make the attached benefit we associate with higher rarities a random bonus on our crafted items? I'm talking about the [CrtH][CrtD][Dmg] bonuses we see on weapons for example. Which bonuses you get should be randomized rather than predetermined based on your blueprint. You know you've made something special when you craft that rare Dual Heavy Disruptor Cannon MkXII [Dmg x3].Note: The amount of bonuses remain determined by rarity, i.e.: Blue= 2 random bonuses, Purple= 3 random bonuses.
Note: When it comes to Hybrid Tech, it's important to realize that a Phased Disruptor Beam Bank is different from a Disrupted Phaser Beam Bank where skill points are concerned. I.E.: Phased Disruptor Beam Bank use Disruptor skill points and consoles, where as Disrupted Phaser Beam Bank use Phaser skill points and consoles.
In case you're wondering: Radiated would be the term for Plasma procs, Antiprotonic for Antiproton procs, and Tetryonic for Tetryon procs. So that makes
Phased,
Disrupted(Ionized is actually more appropriate),
Radiated,
Tetryonic,
Polarized, and
Antiprotonic.
And lets not forget about the Klingons! They don't need another Memory Alpha planet they have to travel to. Lets simply add a Salvage Hall extension to their main starbase where they can craft all the things that fed side can.
Comments
Joke aside, more crafting is required and we need some usable crafting item. I mean something that is consumed like the torpedo for Doomsday device and need a refill. The ability to customize our weapon would be great but maybe hard to balance.
Yeah, thus: Salvage Hall.
They use Romulan cloaks, remember? Obviously they have no qualms about using and ultimately replicating the technology of others.
IMHO it's not so much the idea of a "new" or more powerful weapon ... as it might be a different console that still acomplished the same thing that a very rare console would... only it's crafted.
The same thing would be true for say a hull part for a ship (simular to a modified part for a Galaxie class) .. only it is "crafted". Maybe even in the process a "crafted part" could have a distinguished look of it's own.
In short: there are ways to allow "crafting" to become a viable part of the STO experience (as mentioned in a simular thread ).
In terms of implementing Klingon crafting, it seems like the easiest way would be to replace all of the "anamolous data" with "combat scans" or something and then have it drop off of npcs. Then just add a room to the great hall, or if you feel like making it a trip, across the street from it with the crafting consoles and pull the fed system across.
I think crafting just needs a few more improvements to make it worthwhile/neat. I think the unique weapons thing is awesome.
Adapting one's self to better weapons and tactics is the way of the warrior.
Bring on the better crafting.
as long as its not basket weaving, that just seem silly for a Klingon.
For example, the inability to craft talent enhanced weapons at the higher levels. In the beginning of Tier 2, you can make Plasma and Quantum Torpedoes and Plasma Beam Arrays.
You invest points into these categories while filling out the talent tree.
Then, when the MK VIII weapons roll around, it's all Tetryon and Polaron, Transphasic and Chronometric!
Why the heck can't I have MK VIII Quantum Torpedo Launchers like I did at the lower levels? I should be able to craft these and outfit them. I now have wasted talent points in my talent tree, which could have gone elsewhere, and yet, to make matters worse, I can't even fix my talents without giving Cryptic 400 C-Store points.
If you ask me, that's the stuff they need to fix in crafting. Forget adding the one-off custom and special stuff. Add the stuff that logically should have been there to begin with. (Phaser Beams, Photon Torpedoes, Quantum Torpedoes, Plasma Beam Arrays up through MK X.)
I disagree, crafting shouldn't be about making the same stuff you can get from vendors and badges, it should be about modification and enhancement. That would make crafting important. Otherwise a crafter says 'look at the phaser bank I made!', and no one cares because they already have it from drops or badges/marks.
But this isn't WoW!!!!
That's the point people keep missing. Everyone wants to be that special snowflake, to have what no one else has.
But that isn't Starfleet.
In Star Trek, it was not the technology that made the Captain's great. They didn't have better technology or equipment or gear than anyone else. It was their experience, their strength, their character that set them apart.
I want for my ship to be as uniform as it can be. I want to be able to outfit it with the gear that makes sense, not these super weapons that no one has ever seen before. But I can't do that within the current crafting system, and that makes me a tad bit disappointed.
I'm not saying either that you should ONLY be able to make what I requested. What I'm saying is that the further into crafting you go, the more you should be able to craft. However, there would be a baseline of technology that you could always craft (Phaser, Photon and Quantum) and then would branchout from that baseline to produce the rarer, odder weapons like Tetryon and Chronometric. But the baseline stuff should always be there, from MK II, all the way to MK X.
And I wouldn't discourage that.
I would say we need more variety. Much more.
And, we need tiers within tiers.
Basically, we need to have the ability to craft all kinds of green (uncommon) items, then further improve those uncommon items by turning them into blue (rare) items.
And as I said before, having a baseline, basic weapons buildout, then an experimental weapons buildout. Have Phaser / Photon / Quantum be the default weapon for all ranks, then use the Tetryon / Polaron / Transphasic etc as enhancements and upgrades from the baseline. Instead of how it is now where Phaser / Photon = Lieutentant, Quantum / Plasma = Lt. Cmdr. & Cmdr., Tetryon / Chrono = Captain, etc.
I guess the best way I could explain it is this:
Available Craftable Weapons By Rank:
Lieutentant (Limited to Uncommon) - Phasers, Photons
Lieutentant Commander - Phasers, Photons, Quantums
Commander - Phasers, Photons, Quantums, Plasma
Captain - Phasers, Photons, Quantums, Plasma, Tetryon, Transphasic
Admiral - Phasers, Photons, Quantums, Plasma, Tetryon, Transphasic, Polaron, Chronometric, etc.
See what I'm suggesting here?
Make it so once you can craft a type of weapon, then the ability to craft that continues forward in MK category. That way, a ships commander may chose what he wishes to craft and load out, rather than being forced into a weapon category that maybe he doesn't want his ship to have.
I'm not trying to limit anyone or anything, but rahter give people more options and choices.
Yes... I also want more stuff to craft like a tri-colbat dmgX2 torpedo launcher...