New DOFF Assignment Idea - "Hacking Lock Boxes"

booker9172 · September 2012

I think this might be a cool idea. A new DOFF assignment called "Hacking Lock Boxes'. It could be a very rare assignment and you would need 3 Science Doffs (research lab, development and maybe gravimetric) AND 3 Engineering doffs (systems, technician and diagnostic). It could be a two day assignment with a 2 to 5 day cooldown. If you succeed, you can hack the boxes and open them. Cryptic could even put a maximum reward lock on it where maybe you could only have a chance to get all the rewards except for the big ships; or maybe if you do get a ship than you wouldn't be able to get another one for a month or two. However, anything that you get out of the lock boxes would be bound to your character or account. You would not be able to sell them on the exchange. This way no one who has more luck than others with DOFF assignments can take advantage of it. It would be a great way to use all the old lock boxes that are floating around and also give people a way to get the new ships without spending money and also utilizing the DOFF system. Of course the odds of completing the assignment would have to be small. Maybe a 10% or 15% chance. This does give us another way of getting the great items that are inside of all the lockboxes.

Thoughts? Comments?

Quark: "It?s good to want things."
Odo: "Even things you can?t have?"
Quark: "Especially things you can?t have."
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Season 1 Episode 9 "The Passenger"

icegavel · September 2012

Great idea... but they'd never do it. Lock Boxes are STO's revenue now. If we could open boxes for free, STO would lose most funding and shut down. I'd love to, but no.

booker9172 · September 2012

Oh I know it won't happen, but we can dream.

deadspacex64 · September 2012

since it's only a dream...

Unlocking the Box: 72 hour duration, 48 hour CD
cauality risk: extreme
success: 2%
failure: 50%
disaster: 48%
Traits: Cunning, Stubborn, Logical, Resolve, Teamwork
required doffs:
Diagnostic Engineer x2
Fabrication Engineer
Technician x2
Explosives Expert x2
Hazard System Officer
requires 10 lockboxes

9 boxes are tested, analyzed, and probed (:eek:) before the attempt to open the 10th.
failure: loss of all boxes.
disaster: random number of doffs die from explosion.
success: one box gets opened.

or something like that, high risk for the possible high reward.

apophis77 · September 2012

Heres an idea that doesn't mess with their lockbox stuff:

Shell Game: 48 hour duration, no cooldown
cauality risk: None
Critical: 5%
success: 85%
failure:10%
Traits: Cunning, Stubborn, Resolve, Unscruplous
required doffs:
Trader
1 Lockbox, 100 Dylith, 1 master key
Reward: Standard Lockbox loot
Critical: 2x lockbox loot

Basically, just a chance to once every 48 hours have a lockbox that gives double the lockbox loot. Or maybe it just makes it gold?

Also, another idea:

Lobi Crystal Growth Serum: 48 hour duration, no cooldown
Casuality risk: Extreme
Critical: 2%
Success: 70%
Failure 20%
Disaster 8%
Traits: Logical, Eidetic Memory, Resolve, (other sciency ones)
Requred doffs:
Research Lab Scientist x3
10 Lobi Crystals
Reward: 20 lobi crystals
Critical: 40 lobi crystals
Failure: 0 lobi crystals
Critical Failure: Lab explosion, 33% chance for each scientist to die

hevach · September 2012

It might not be something players would actually want, but stripping the "grand prize" out of lockboxes opened this way could be a way to do this that wouldn't hugely impact revenues. It would still leave a free path to Lobi ships, but lowering the lobi to one per box would make it truly prohibitive to get ships (assuming a 24 hour cooldown, well over 2 years to get a lobi ship - far longer than grinding dilithium>Zen>keys>EC>ships), while leaving cheap items still reasonable.