test content
Logo
What is the Arc Client?
Install Arc
Can we get a choice on leveling speed?
System
Member, NoReporting Posts: 178,019 Arc User
Look I understand why the amount of skill points gained with each mission, was added into the game. I know Cryptic and the STO team did it to make it appear there is more content. I get it, that is actually a very smart idea, somewhat (only in the sense that it makes it psychologically seem like the game has a lot more to it). However, for myself, and I believe a lot of veteren players, it just makes the game go by very fast and cheapens the overall product.
-For Roleplayers, going from ensign to rear admiral in a week IRL, ruins immersion.
-For veteran players (for me anyways), it feels like a slap in the face, since it was an unneccessary change and the 'trick' of extra content does'nt really work for us.
-For hardcore gamers/ MMO veterans, it makes this game feel like a joke when it comes to difficulty (the game is already rediculously easy for these folks)
-For new players, it makes this game seem like it was just hashed out, with lot's of extra missions prodcued later (Since when you hit Rear Admiral, you have'nt even gotten to the Cardassian missions.) This hurts the game more then it helps. Besides STO has had a lot of hardwork and love put into it by everyone on the team!:)
This is why i'm asking, that in addition to the option of difficulty (normal, advanced, elite) you make one for speed of leveling (the original speed, and the new speed). I'm not going to ask that you change the new system to the old one, what i'm askiing is that you at least give us a choice. MMOs are built on giving the player choices, this is what makes MMOs a step ahead of standard games in customizability.
Giving us a choice between the current speed of leveling and original one (3000 Sp vs 800 Sp per mission) would only benefit the game rather then hurt it. Besides, one can level up with the original system on ain quests/missions alone without having to do side quests. Please STO team, please just do this for us in the community who have stuck with the game since Beta or Launch. I am willing to beg if I have to:o
(BTW, what's the point in selling Skill boosts in the C-Store when they only had purpose in the original system?)
-For Roleplayers, going from ensign to rear admiral in a week IRL, ruins immersion.
-For veteran players (for me anyways), it feels like a slap in the face, since it was an unneccessary change and the 'trick' of extra content does'nt really work for us.
-For hardcore gamers/ MMO veterans, it makes this game feel like a joke when it comes to difficulty (the game is already rediculously easy for these folks)
-For new players, it makes this game seem like it was just hashed out, with lot's of extra missions prodcued later (Since when you hit Rear Admiral, you have'nt even gotten to the Cardassian missions.) This hurts the game more then it helps. Besides STO has had a lot of hardwork and love put into it by everyone on the team!:)
This is why i'm asking, that in addition to the option of difficulty (normal, advanced, elite) you make one for speed of leveling (the original speed, and the new speed). I'm not going to ask that you change the new system to the old one, what i'm askiing is that you at least give us a choice. MMOs are built on giving the player choices, this is what makes MMOs a step ahead of standard games in customizability.
Giving us a choice between the current speed of leveling and original one (3000 Sp vs 800 Sp per mission) would only benefit the game rather then hurt it. Besides, one can level up with the original system on ain quests/missions alone without having to do side quests. Please STO team, please just do this for us in the community who have stuck with the game since Beta or Launch. I am willing to beg if I have to:o
(BTW, what's the point in selling Skill boosts in the C-Store when they only had purpose in the original system?)
Post edited by Unknown User on
0
Comments
It should be rewarded similarly to how difficulty is rewarded. If you choose to gain experience at a slower rate you have a much better chance at getting Rare and Very Rare Loot Drops. But to prevent people turning Slow XP on to farm drops then turning it back off to level up, the option should be enabled from a mission with a 1 week cool-down timer.
1) The worst unintended result is that new players don't really develop the skill sets they need to handle the steeper learning curve once they get to STF's and special team/fleet missions. They also tend to have large gaps in their knowledge base regarding how ship systems, devices and skills mesh together to maximize their effectiveness. (This leads to a lot of frustration by both the newly frocked admirals as well as the experienced players when they wind up on the same pug.)
2) For Crafters, the rapid leveling means that you are constantly playing catch-up with the equipment MK's for the new ships. At the same time, the skill point demands to craft appropriate level equipment often fall farther and farther behind. This discourages newer players from developing a valuable skill that could help them greatly at earlier levels.
3) Finally, it's probable that rapid leveling actually costs Cryptic revenue. Players that can max-level in a week don't always feel the need to delve into the subtleties in the game (doffs/ crafting/ foundry creation) that could encourage subscription.
The upshot is that I agree that either the XP for patrol missions should be reduced, or perhaps the XP curve steepen even further at higher levels. Alternately, some system could be put into place whereby patrol mission XP could be adjusted to match the difficulty level. (I am guessing that this formula may already be in the system, but if it is, it has had little real effect.)
Additionally, there could be a different kind of reward instituted for completing patrol missions that off-sets the loss in leveling power. (Bonus to the crafting skill, perhaps a temp reduction in crafting fees, an extra Doff awarded through the mission, etc.)
This would also make rank achievement and getting a new ship feel like more of an accomplishment as well as encourage players to hone skills in areas other than just maximizing DPS.
For the moment, I found a workaround that is just about right for me. I do all of the patrol missions but I don't turn them in for XP.
I find that the skill points and XP from the kills is about all of the assistance I need to assist with leveling while at the same time preventing my level from overshooting the story missions by more than a few levels. (At last count, one of my alts had sixty unreported patrol missions by the time I reached Cardassian Space.) While this might deprive me of some character and Boff skill points, this doesn't seem to hamper me very much even playing at advanced or elite level.
The workaround isn't terribly fulfilling or practical, but it is effective. For the moment, until Cryptic does some balancing here, if you find you level far too quickly, I suggest banking the patrol missions and not turning them in until you need a boost.
I know that this is a casual game and Cryptic doesn't want to discourage players at any level of ability, but I would argue that new players might get more enjoyment out of the game once they've had a chance to explore options other than to see how fast they can eat up the mission content and reach max-level.
Star Trek is about Captains. Not Admirals. Admiral should be a title granted only to those that lead Fleets.
In particular, the aforementioned roleplayers.
A simple command or menu drop down option that'll allow the player to factor in a penalty to his gained xp (say from half the xp to 1/10th or NO XP GAINED AT ALL) would suffice.
Also, level naming conventions would be fit to be restructured with Captain being the final title.
Whoever want to be admiral can go play ST:Armada. Because Admirals only do two things: Decide on fleet/forces deployment and push papers and requisition forms behind a desk.
If you really dont want to level fast, dont do doff assignments too.
on my last char i tried for a record and my sci capt reached 50 in /played 20 hours. I'm sure it would have been much faster if I had purely done Mirror, instead of leveling through mostly arena/cap.
Learning curve is not steep at all, I learned all the stfs, just by watching how ppl do it. I've never even done normals until 1 day I decided to join my fleets "new guys stf". You can just buy mk xi rare/vr and hop straight into elites. Granted i've played mmos for some time, so with an understanding, doing well in stfs is quite easy. In fact, 9 out of 10 times I'm the lead dpser. Tanking elite cube/tac cube with a fleet escort or guramba/raptor is nothing special. It's really not a case of new players loldunnohowtostf. I've seen 300 day veterans doggedly shooting Cure cubes, with all the nanite probes still present lol. It's just a case of some players just don't know what to do.
Regarding crafting, doffing from the beginning you have access to it until level 50 you would have gathered more then enough mats to speed level crafting in 1 session at RnD. Since I didn't see much point to crafting, I only leveled 1 fed, 1 kdf to max craft level. However, if I did not even touch crafting, I could easily buy the Field Gens and tac consoles needed, since EC is very easy to make ingame.
Now there is not much else to do cept pvp =/ All said, I wholeheartedly agree that leveling should be slower imo.
That's the lousiest solution of them all.
I beat the challenge and earn even more xp reward in Elite.
In fact I wish more MMOs had this level of casual leveling to them. Smooth and painless. Takes the emphasis off watching that little blue bar and puts it on enjoying what you're doing at the time.
I know what you're saying, that's why I think the leveling speed should be an option like difficulty, that way casual players and hardcore players get a choice of speed.
I don't why the team won't do this, because a slower leveling process as an optionl, can potentially gain them money. If it takes you longer to level, you're playing the game longer and you are more likely to put more money into the game. If you finish the game in a week like the way it is now, what's the point in staying after a month?
And what happens when you run out of missions and are only at Cmdr level, because you declined all the skill points? I mean I could maybe see something kind of like this working if there were a surplus of mission content to play, but the way it is now, you can play every mission in the game one after the other and still not receive enough XP to be at the level cap. How is slowing it down further supposed to help things?
I see a snowballs chance of implementation (until the game takes another downturn) , but I like it .
That's all .
I have had that same gripe since the game launched.
It has always been too easy and fast to level up.
Furthermore I hear new players post they are angry because they buy ships in the C-Store and it outlives its usefulness far too quick and they simply do not get their monies worth.
I trt to explain its about the console more than the ship, but to them they still feel jipped.
I recollect what I did when leveling was to simply not spend my skill points and avoid promotions, so in a way you can opt out of fast leveling.
the option to choose would be good. maybe those who choose to go slower get exp sliced in half or something.
would also be a great way to prevent sleepers from just doing doff missions to level upi have 2 low level alts i intended as "bank "chars that are only sitting around academy doing the doffs and they leveled 2 slots already so would not mind the captain skill points being removed from doff missions
XP per mission should be a function of how many missions there are over how much XP is needed for max level. As new missions are added (Dominion arc, this new KDF mission etc.) the amount of XP gained should decrease.
I reached the level cap by doing the episode missions and a couple of kerrat and borg sector attacks, i was actually feeling bad since each one has the minimum level requirement which i was always above which made me think i was behind on them, i wasn't even attempting to level fast and i joined in janurary when it was announced as f2p on steam, by the time i made this account i was a VA (first bug and lack of response by GM experienced in B'tan VA cluster mission) and while i do have experience with previous mmo's (neocron, wow, crime city, matrix online, black prophecy etc) i feel that the leveling speed in this game is to fast as you have very little time to gain experience with the free ships you gain for leveling and as there is no free respec option you aren't encouraged to try spending points to see if it works.
The majority of the advice you see in zone for this game regardling leveling and skill builds is "get to va and buy a respec" and and on gear its "don't bother with gear till you reach VA" which puts all the emphasis on getting to the top rank and once your at the top rank there is not much more content than you could access previously so it does feel a bit of a let down when you reach it.
and would also take away game play from folks who have done enough leveling in the game already who want a different way to level, which is slower than missions
The real crux of the problem is this. Not enough content. They sped it up to give the appearance of more content but its still not enough.
I know a lot of players like the fast levelling, and thats fine. An OPTIONAL slower-levelling speed would keep me playing multiple characters, and those who don't want it wouldn't have to use it. Surely allowing the players to make their own choice to suit their own gaming needs would keep everyone happy?
Please listen, developers : I love Star Trek and find a lot to like in this game, but I do NOT want to blast up to Admiral in the space of a week's gaming!
JR
just do the Exploration Sectors (w/out the Explore [sector] mission) so you're only getting combat xp. slow/ random missions until you hit VA then go through the mission chains.
P.S. some of us aren't good enough, don't have good enough PC's, or don't play long enough each day to get up to level 50 in a week or whatever ridiculous time some people are doing it in. So yeah...optional speed slider or a multi-track system is probably best.
Former/Cryptic Name: Captain_Hans_Langsdorff
Founding member, Special Service Squadron
"Fear God and Dread Nought." First Sea Lord, Adm. Jacky Fisher
This issue is the reason : I still like the game and all, but I'm more interested in playing AS I level, and gradually developing my character - not rocketing up to max level in a few days then raiding (or STF).
The current levelling speed is far, far too fast for my tastes. If they introduce a slower levelling option, then I'd consider resubscribing, because then I would enjoy developing a newer character at a more reasonable rate of progression.
I doubt that they'll actually implement any kind of slower levelling option , of course : I get the impression that 'super-fast levelling' is a deliberate decision on the part of the developers. But then, I ain't paying for this no more, so *shrug*.
At this point I've leveled 3 Federation and 1 KDF characters to max level; if I start another character, it will be because I want to try some different combination of species/career/traits, not because I want to see the story progression again (when I want to do that, I replay the missions on my main). Slowing down leveling would make me vanishingly unlikely to reroll.
So when you level slow and run out of content, what is Cryptic supposed to do?