archoncrypticMember, Cryptic DevelopersPosts: 0Arc User
edited November 2012
As Borticus said, there haven't been any intentional changes to make the Borg harder. I'll take another look at their torpedoes, though - those damage numbers do sound too high.
We've had some general tech changes that could be impacting things (like breaking Tachyon Harmonic) even if the Systems Designers haven't been intentionally rebalancing anything. For example, as I mentioned in another thread, the way certain targeting cones work was changed - that's cut down the "safe spots" above and below Borg Cubes.
As a general rule, we don't want players in level appropriate gear to be one-shotted. There can be some exceptions for special mechanics - like if players are out of position in the fight with the two Unimatrix ships and get hit by the lance, for example. Normal torpedoes shouldn't be producing that kind of burst damage.
I'll try to track down what's causing this and make adjustments as needed.
Borg can now hit us for 50-60k with un-buffed plasma torpedos. That's not heavy torpedos, so they are fully invisible and can not be shot down.
[Combat (Self)] Gateway deals 17530 (51901) Kinetic Damage to you with Plasma Torpedo.
[Combat (Self)] Gateway deals 743 (1135) Plasma Damage to you with Plasma Torpedo
As Borticus said, there haven't been any intentional changes to make the Borg harder. I'll take another look at their torpedoes, though - those damage numbers do sound too high.
The biggest noticeable effect is from the torpedoes, which they now seem to use quite a bit more liberally... There was a line in the patch notes about changing the way firing arcs were computed? Also, exactly how many torpedo launchers do these ships have, because a gateway launched 2 torps at me three seconds apart.
But it's not JUST the torpedoes... Beam arrays are also hitting for 1500-2000 damage now, and the heavy cannons can go over 6000. I don't remember them being that high, personally. So a torpedo wipes out my shields instantly, and I take a few hull hits from their turbo-charged energy weapons before I can react with tac team or whatever I've got. And a delightful 1674 damage per second in plasma burn which is definitely new.
I wish I had kept some old combat logs for direct comparison. Without numbers on both sides this is all just subjective.
If I were you, I'd check the Tholians in your new sector's DSEs too. I was hit for approximately 81 MILLION damage the other day by a tricobalt mine. That was undoubtedly an aberration, but they routinely hit for around 100k. That's enough to destroy most ships twice over.
The biggest noticeable effect is from the torpedoes, which they now seem to use quite a bit more liberally... There was a line in the patch notes about changing the way firing arcs were computed? Also, exactly how many torpedo launchers do these ships have, because a gateway launched 2 torps at me three seconds apart.
But it's not JUST the torpedoes... Beam arrays are also hitting for 1500-2000 damage now, and the heavy cannons can go over 6000. I don't remember them being that high, personally. So a torpedo wipes out my shields instantly, and I take a few hull hits from their turbo-charged energy weapons before I can react with tac team or whatever I've got. And a delightful 1674 damage per second in plasma burn which is definitely new.
I wish I had kept some old combat logs for direct comparison. Without numbers on both sides this is all just subjective.
hmm... it's flagged as critical. Borg are not supposed to score critical hits...
still, even without critical, I've seen close to 60k from an un-buffed torp...
when did the borg get that heavy plasma cannon? that does a fair amount of damage. and when are single cannons going to become heavy cannons, because a DHC firing cycle is 10 times better, and singles need a buff.
hmm... it's flagged as critical. Borg are not supposed to score critical hits...
still, even without critical, I've seen close to 60k from an un-buffed torp...
What? Since when? Borg have been critting the entire time I've been playing. And I will agree, the borg are much stronger than they used to be. But as I have stated before, I don't have a real issue with it, just means I have to play more carefully.
It is said the best weapon is one that is never fired. I disagree. The best weapon is one you only have to fire... once.
It's not just the borg. It would seem it's Plasma Torpedos in general. Romulan NPCs in Tau Dewa patrol can't to much to most of my ships most of the time, but there have been several occasions where a single torpedo has taken out most of my hull without even scrathing the shields. Just like that - 100% Shields and 100% => *poof* => 100% shields and 20% HP...
There's a lot of new plasma weaponry introduced with Season 7. Perhaps something has changed in this matter, that influenced enemy NPCs as well?
As Borticus said, there haven't been any intentional changes to make the Borg harder. I'll take another look at their torpedoes, though - those damage numbers do sound too high.
We've had some general tech changes that could be impacting things (like breaking Tachyon Harmonic) even if the Systems Designers haven't been intentionally rebalancing anything. For example, as I mentioned in another thread, the way certain targeting cones work was changed - that's cut down the "safe spots" above and below Borg Cubes.
As a general rule, we don't want players in level appropriate gear to be one-shotted. There can be some exceptions for special mechanics - like if players are out of position in the fight with the two Unimatrix ships and get hit by the lance, for example. Normal torpedoes shouldn't be producing that kind of burst damage.
I'll try to track down what's causing this and make adjustments as needed.
I've especially noticed one shotting in the ning'tao fleet bop ship but its not limited to the borg the tholians that have that special thing that is like the subspace snare for the bortasqu' does it as well.
What? Since when? Borg have been critting the entire time I've been playing. And I will agree, the borg are much stronger than they used to be. But as I have stated before, I don't have a real issue with it, just means I have to play more carefully.
since... sometimes in the spring. They made it so borg couldn't crit, then it broke, then they fixed it, then it broke again, and was fixed, broke, was fixed etc. Guess s7 broke it again...
Over the weekend: Gateway one-shotted me from 9.5 km even when I wasn't shooting at it and there were other players within range. There's also a nasty bug where you do not get optional if you're dead when the map finishes (even if there's plenty of time left) -- as I was unfortunate to find out when the Tac Cube at end of Infected space elite hit me for 45,000 kinetic damage from a torpedo a second before it blew up.
It seems they are trying to make STO a "Holy Trinity" game now with a game system that just can't handle it, and(/or?) was designed purposely to be against it.
(For those that don't know what the "Holy Trinity" is its the Tank/DPS/Healer MMO formula.)
What? Since when? Borg have been critting the entire time I've been playing. And I will agree, the borg are much stronger than they used to be. But as I have stated before, I don't have a real issue with it, just means I have to play more carefully.
Dstahl: While we want the STFs to remain challenging, we did recently update all of the enemies in the STFs to reduce their damage output ? the higher rank the enemy was, the more we nerfed their DPS. We also removed the ability for the bosses to crit. This leaves the STFs challenging, but greatly reduces the odds of getting ?one-shotted? by a single mob.
Though he does state only bosses, so maybe all other NPCs can still crit?
I've especially noticed one shotting in the ning'tao fleet bop ship but its not limited to the borg the tholians that have that special thing that is like the subspace snare for the bortasqu' does it as well.
A TRIBBLE in the wind could one shot that disaster of ship design.
It seems they are trying to make STO a "Holy Trinity" game now with a game system that just can't handle it, and(/or?) was designed purposely to be against it.
(For those that don't know what the "Holy Trinity" is its the Tank/DPS/Healer MMO formula.)
Actually, the game handles it fine. You'll see plenty of organized fleet mates rolling through HOE with a mixed setup and doing fantastic. The casual player base however...
It seems they are trying to make STO a "Holy Trinity" game now with a game system that just can't handle it, and(/or?) was designed purposely to be against it.
Except whether or not I can tank the enemies in a cruiser is now pretty much blind luck on whether they roll high with their torpedo attacks or not.
This issue is still under investigation, so I wanted to pop in and share a few things:
First, a quick confirmation that Battleship and Dreadnought STF ships should now be incapable of landing Critical Hits. This includes Cubes, Tac Cubes, and their Assimilated Klingon counterparts. A similar change will likely be made to ground-based Captain rank STF Borg, if it hasn't already.
Secondly, a few balancing changes will be coming soon that will hopefully once again diminish the chances of being "one-shotted" by Borg NPCs in Space...
1) The damage variance on high-magnitude hits is being cut in half.
This means that, while previously a Plasma Torpedo's damage could vary by as much as 10% +/- its target magnitude, it will soon only be capable of a 5% variance. Since variance is calculated prior to a critter's innate stats and any buffs, what starts as a small % can quickly be magnified into very large numbers. This is why a Borg's Plasma Torpedo may currently hit you for only a couple thousand one second, only to have the next land for tens-of-thousands.
Reducing the overall variance on this type of attack will mean fewer hyper-magnified high-end hits, though their damage floor on these attacks will also be raised concurrently.
2) Borg Plasma DOT magnitudes are being reduced.
Since these DOTs are also magnified by class tables and innate stats, Borg were managing to reliably land very high-magnitude hull DOTs on their targets. Since these ignore shields, we've decided that reducing their overall damage may improve player experience in STF content without significantly diminishing the difficulty and threat of the Borg as a whole.
I'd like to reiterate that the Borgs' ability to deal high-damage DOTs isn't something that recently changed, as far as I can see. It's possible there's been a Software change somewhere that I'm unable to verify, but inquiries into that have yielded no results thus far.
I suspect that the reason players are seeing more Hull Damage, may actually be attributable to the changes made to the Assimilated Ship set. Many players have chosen to try different equipment sets in light of those alterations, and may have been heavily reliant upon the 2-piece Hull Heal proc, which also cleansed Plasma Fires. If this is the case, it may mean that the Borg in general were inaccurately balanced for a specific set of equipment, and more changes will need to be made to bring them in line with other options of play style.
3) The version of Isometric Charge used by NPCs is being nerfed.
Both the damage dealt, and the distance at which the power can "jump" between targets, will be reduced.
Additional changes may be made to balance this ability, but keep in mind that it is used by both the Assimilated Klingons and the Borg Queen's Diamond. It's likely that the latter will see fewer alterations than the former.
And just in case it wasn't clear, none of the above changes should have any effect on the analog abilities used by players.
We'll be checking these changes into QA for testing this week, but I can't guarantee a date on when they'll arrive on Tribble and/or Holodeck. Keep your eyes on the patch notes if you are anxious.
Jeremy Randall
Cryptic - Lead Systems Designer
"Play smart!"
This issue is still under investigation, so I wanted to pop in and share a few things:
First, a quick confirmation that Battleship and Dreadnought STF ships should now be incapable of landing Critical Hits. This includes Cubes, Tac Cubes, and their Assimilated Klingon counterparts. A similar change will likely be made to ground-based Captain rank STF Borg, if it hasn't already.
Secondly, a few balancing changes will be coming soon that will hopefully once again diminish the chances of being "one-shotted" by Borg NPCs in Space...
1) The damage variance on high-magnitude hits is being cut in half.
This means that, while previously a Plasma Torpedo's damage could vary by as much as 10% +/- its target magnitude, it will soon only be capable of a 5% variance. Since variance is calculated prior to a critter's innate stats and any buffs, what starts as a small % can quickly be magnified into very large numbers. This is why a Borg's Plasma Torpedo may currently hit you for only a couple thousand one second, only to have the next land for tens-of-thousands.
Reducing the overall variance on this type of attack will mean fewer hyper-magnified high-end hits, though their damage floor on these attacks will also be raised concurrently.
2) Borg Plasma DOT magnitudes are being reduced.
Since these DOTs are also magnified by class tables and innate stats, Borg were managing to reliably land very high-magnitude hull DOTs on their targets. Since these ignore shields, we've decided that reducing their overall damage may improve player experience in STF content without significantly diminishing the difficulty and threat of the Borg as a whole.
I'd like to reiterate that the Borgs' ability to deal high-damage DOTs isn't something that recently changed, as far as I can see. It's possible there's been a Software change somewhere that I'm unable to verify, but inquiries into that have yielded no results thus far.
I suspect that the reason players are seeing more Hull Damage, may actually be attributable to the changes made to the Assimilated Ship set. Many players have chosen to try different equipment sets in light of those alterations, and may have been heavily reliant upon the 2-piece Hull Heal proc, which also cleansed Plasma Fires. If this is the case, it may mean that the Borg in general were inaccurately balanced for a specific set of equipment, and more changes will need to be made to bring them in line with other options of play style.
3) The version of Isometric Charge used by NPCs is being nerfed.
Both the damage dealt, and the distance at which the power can "jump" between targets, will be reduced.
Additional changes may be made to balance this ability, but keep in mind that it is used by both the Assimilated Klingons and the Borg Queen's Diamond. It's likely that the latter will see fewer alterations than the former.
And just in case it wasn't clear, none of the above changes should have any effect on the analog abilities used by players.
We'll be checking these changes into QA for testing this week, but I can't guarantee a date on when they'll arrive on Tribble and/or Holodeck. Keep your eyes on the patch notes if you are anxious.
The Assimilated Borg thing is not the case, I've not been using it for weeks and the plasma dot damage was still a very noticeable difference to me.
The isometric is a good change, that particular ability is too random and over the top.
I actually would prefer for the difficulty to not be tweaked, but this should at least somewhat pacify people that for whatever reason are having trouble adapting.
I suspect that the reason players are seeing more Hull Damage, may actually be attributable to the changes made to the Assimilated Ship set. Many players have chosen to try different equipment sets in light of those alterations, and may have been heavily reliant upon the 2-piece Hull Heal proc, which also cleansed Plasma Fires.
Nope. I haven't used the Assimilated set since... ... ! A long time. Mostly using MACO shields and deflector with a Jem'hadar engine, though recently I swapped in the MACO engine (faster sector space travel for the win).
3) The version of Isometric Charge used by NPCs is being nerfed.
All hail Borticus!
Getting individually stomped by high rolls on borg torpedoes is one thing, but I've seen the Negh'vars on CSE instantly wipe out multiple players with that thing. A very unfair weapon in the hands of the borg.
Before s7 i could easily kill cures bop in seconds now it takes alot longer to kill em in my jem ship. Somethings buffed their shields or hull alot. Also nanite gens in ISE have been buffed because i used to kill em alot quicker than i am now since s7.
The most annoying part was the plasma dot, although it can be handled by a couple of hazard emitters, something people not using the borg set anymore (like myself) could be reluctant to. But it's clearly how the Borg can finish off a player currently. It can't kill any ship, you have to be severely damaged before that.
I'm not sure about the isometric charges on the klingon assimilated ships... I always saw the instakill as a "punishement" for a lack of teamwork since theneg'var warships don't use it as soon as they spawn, most of the times.
I have to admit that I enjoyed greater challenges, since the new ships are always more and more powerful, so please don't dumb the endgame content even more, it's already incredibly easy as it is. The optionals are supposed to be a challenge, not something you get unless your team is utterly unable to understand how STFs work, and even with random teams it's achievable most of the times.
Before s7 i could easily kill cures bop in seconds now it takes alot longer to kill em in my jem ship. Somethings buffed their shields or hull alot. Also nanite gens in ISE have been buffed because i used to kill em alot quicker than i am now since s7.
It could be related to power levels, it looks like my cannons are sucking more energy since season 7, although I'm still trying to figure out if it's not just my imagination.
I have no preference as to whether you fix this issue or not as I have not seen any real changes in the performance of the BORG myself.
I have never really encountered the BORG one shot either. What I still see is ships up close in the face of CUBES not moving and expecting to withstand the fury of a CUBE scorned and expecting to be able to tank it.......
I run a cruiser specifically built to tank a CUBE and have not seen any issues whatsoever.
Even with the "so called" one shots I have survived them due to a tried and true regime of buffs and movements and skills. I also know many a KDF carrier driver that tank TAC cubes with no issues and know nothing of this ONE SHOT.
That being said I am not refuting its existance but rather saying with proper builds and experience the experience becomes negligible and survivable if properly prepared for.
I have seen the DOT of death though..the other day I was sizzling away and I think the proc was critical because I was hit for 4500 per tick..a little nasty IMO but also My hull resists were on cooldown so I am to blame for no rotating my buffs properly and keeping my hull safe.
Today we fight the GAULS......monstrous and HAIRY beyond reason.
is the only major issue I've had with Season 7 STFs - the plasma DoT has been simply evil - my Excelsior's previously been able to tank the gates from 100% to zero without going under but the plasma DoT's been wiping me out far too often.
On several occasions I've had 75% hull remaining and full shields then something with the plasma crits and *BOOM!* gone. Been using full MACO Mk XII only for a long time too.
Stuff like the torpedos firing from all angles and the Iso's are of no consequence to my Tac/Excel build - If I hit BFI and PH quick enough I'll live to fight again but the plasma DoT is just plain dirty.
Even with the "so called" one shots I have survived them due to a tried and true regime of buffs and movements and skills. I also know many a KDF carrier driver that tank TAC cubes with no issues and know nothing of this ONE SHOT.
Well, what can I say? It exists but in my experience the Borg need to have a shield facing down to pull it off so I don't really consider it a 'one-shot' - possibly with ships less equipped for shield/hull tanking it's a real issue though - all my ships (Tac/Eng/Sci) are specced to be able to tank Borg crits though so it's not a problem for me.
I imagine those that were reliant on the Borg set are suffering from it much more now though.
But its okay, I just keep moving, as you get an awesome def bonus usually, takes a bit longer, but hey.. atleast its a bit more interesting now.
Before in KASE I could tank cubes with my bug ship and kill incoming probes by just sitting there.. now i just need to move around a bit more and make sure I am on my heals.
The dev post about reducing the crits on the super ships is a welcome change though.
Hopefully they'll also address the insane kinetic damage Borg tractor beams do. I've been consistently destroyed in seconds by the Borg gate and Tac cube's Tractor Beams.
It's the plasma dots there were getting me. A torp spread or what have you would hit my steamrunner, and if I was under 50% health when a plasma dot procced I was cooked. At least 1k per tick, and I 've been playing elite STFs for ages now, and that's a new one for me. I don't mind the overall damage though, but the plasma proc shouldn't be quite so severe.
This issue is still under investigation, so I wanted to pop in and share a few things:
First, a quick confirmation that Battleship and Dreadnought STF ships should now be incapable of landing Critical Hits. This includes Cubes, Tac Cubes, and their Assimilated Klingon counterparts. A similar change will likely be made to ground-based Captain rank STF Borg, if it hasn't already.
Secondly, a few balancing changes will be coming soon that will hopefully once again diminish the chances of being "one-shotted" by Borg NPCs in Space...
1) The damage variance on high-magnitude hits is being cut in half.
This means that, while previously a Plasma Torpedo's damage could vary by as much as 10% +/- its target magnitude, it will soon only be capable of a 5% variance. Since variance is calculated prior to a critter's innate stats and any buffs, what starts as a small % can quickly be magnified into very large numbers. This is why a Borg's Plasma Torpedo may currently hit you for only a couple thousand one second, only to have the next land for tens-of-thousands.
Reducing the overall variance on this type of attack will mean fewer hyper-magnified high-end hits, though their damage floor on these attacks will also be raised concurrently.
2) Borg Plasma DOT magnitudes are being reduced.
Since these DOTs are also magnified by class tables and innate stats, Borg were managing to reliably land very high-magnitude hull DOTs on their targets. Since these ignore shields, we've decided that reducing their overall damage may improve player experience in STF content without significantly diminishing the difficulty and threat of the Borg as a whole.
I'd like to reiterate that the Borgs' ability to deal high-damage DOTs isn't something that recently changed, as far as I can see. It's possible there's been a Software change somewhere that I'm unable to verify, but inquiries into that have yielded no results thus far.
I suspect that the reason players are seeing more Hull Damage, may actually be attributable to the changes made to the Assimilated Ship set. Many players have chosen to try different equipment sets in light of those alterations, and may have been heavily reliant upon the 2-piece Hull Heal proc, which also cleansed Plasma Fires. If this is the case, it may mean that the Borg in general were inaccurately balanced for a specific set of equipment, and more changes will need to be made to bring them in line with other options of play style.
3) The version of Isometric Charge used by NPCs is being nerfed.
Both the damage dealt, and the distance at which the power can "jump" between targets, will be reduced.
Additional changes may be made to balance this ability, but keep in mind that it is used by both the Assimilated Klingons and the Borg Queen's Diamond. It's likely that the latter will see fewer alterations than the former.
And just in case it wasn't clear, none of the above changes should have any effect on the analog abilities used by players.
We'll be checking these changes into QA for testing this week, but I can't guarantee a date on when they'll arrive on Tribble and/or Holodeck. Keep your eyes on the patch notes if you are anxious.
Wait what???
WTF MAN!!!!! Why did you derp the NPCs??? THEY WERE PERFECTLY FINE. Fkin bunch of wimps whining that they can't faceroll the Borg anymore. Dude seriously... wtf...
Don't want bosses to crit, want npcs to be weaker... god you all are starting to sound like rodentmaster.
It is said the best weapon is one that is never fired. I disagree. The best weapon is one you only have to fire... once.
Comments
We've had some general tech changes that could be impacting things (like breaking Tachyon Harmonic) even if the Systems Designers haven't been intentionally rebalancing anything. For example, as I mentioned in another thread, the way certain targeting cones work was changed - that's cut down the "safe spots" above and below Borg Cubes.
As a general rule, we don't want players in level appropriate gear to be one-shotted. There can be some exceptions for special mechanics - like if players are out of position in the fight with the two Unimatrix ships and get hit by the lance, for example. Normal torpedoes shouldn't be producing that kind of burst damage.
I'll try to track down what's causing this and make adjustments as needed.
(The second line is the DoT)
Here is another example:
http://img197.imageshack.us/img197/1491/bplda.jpg
The biggest noticeable effect is from the torpedoes, which they now seem to use quite a bit more liberally... There was a line in the patch notes about changing the way firing arcs were computed? Also, exactly how many torpedo launchers do these ships have, because a gateway launched 2 torps at me three seconds apart.
http://momaw.kikaimegami.com/sto-borg-overpowered.png
But it's not JUST the torpedoes... Beam arrays are also hitting for 1500-2000 damage now, and the heavy cannons can go over 6000. I don't remember them being that high, personally. So a torpedo wipes out my shields instantly, and I take a few hull hits from their turbo-charged energy weapons before I can react with tac team or whatever I've got. And a delightful 1674 damage per second in plasma burn which is definitely new.
I wish I had kept some old combat logs for direct comparison.
So that's what hit me...
hmm... it's flagged as critical. Borg are not supposed to score critical hits...
still, even without critical, I've seen close to 60k from an un-buffed torp...
I went into a KASE a few days ago, and the Gate's Tractor beam grabbed me and was doing over 3000 damage per tick. Dropped me to 33%.
Borg Plasma dots are hitting myself and fleetmates for 600-1000 per tick.
What? Since when? Borg have been critting the entire time I've been playing. And I will agree, the borg are much stronger than they used to be. But as I have stated before, I don't have a real issue with it, just means I have to play more carefully.
There's a lot of new plasma weaponry introduced with Season 7. Perhaps something has changed in this matter, that influenced enemy NPCs as well?
I've especially noticed one shotting in the ning'tao fleet bop ship but its not limited to the borg the tholians that have that special thing that is like the subspace snare for the bortasqu' does it as well.
since... sometimes in the spring. They made it so borg couldn't crit, then it broke, then they fixed it, then it broke again, and was fixed, broke, was fixed etc. Guess s7 broke it again...
My STOwiki page | Reachable in-game @PhyrexianHero
Fed Armada: Section 31 (level 730, 2700+ members)
KDF Armada: Klingon Intelligence (level 699, 2100+ members)
(For those that don't know what the "Holy Trinity" is its the Tank/DPS/Healer MMO formula.)
Since May, apparently.
Though he does state only bosses, so maybe all other NPCs can still crit?
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
A TRIBBLE in the wind could one shot that disaster of ship design.
Actually, the game handles it fine. You'll see plenty of organized fleet mates rolling through HOE with a mixed setup and doing fantastic. The casual player base however...
Except whether or not I can tank the enemies in a cruiser is now pretty much blind luck on whether they roll high with their torpedo attacks or not.
First, a quick confirmation that Battleship and Dreadnought STF ships should now be incapable of landing Critical Hits. This includes Cubes, Tac Cubes, and their Assimilated Klingon counterparts. A similar change will likely be made to ground-based Captain rank STF Borg, if it hasn't already.
Secondly, a few balancing changes will be coming soon that will hopefully once again diminish the chances of being "one-shotted" by Borg NPCs in Space...
1) The damage variance on high-magnitude hits is being cut in half.
This means that, while previously a Plasma Torpedo's damage could vary by as much as 10% +/- its target magnitude, it will soon only be capable of a 5% variance. Since variance is calculated prior to a critter's innate stats and any buffs, what starts as a small % can quickly be magnified into very large numbers. This is why a Borg's Plasma Torpedo may currently hit you for only a couple thousand one second, only to have the next land for tens-of-thousands.
Reducing the overall variance on this type of attack will mean fewer hyper-magnified high-end hits, though their damage floor on these attacks will also be raised concurrently.
2) Borg Plasma DOT magnitudes are being reduced.
Since these DOTs are also magnified by class tables and innate stats, Borg were managing to reliably land very high-magnitude hull DOTs on their targets. Since these ignore shields, we've decided that reducing their overall damage may improve player experience in STF content without significantly diminishing the difficulty and threat of the Borg as a whole.
I'd like to reiterate that the Borgs' ability to deal high-damage DOTs isn't something that recently changed, as far as I can see. It's possible there's been a Software change somewhere that I'm unable to verify, but inquiries into that have yielded no results thus far.
I suspect that the reason players are seeing more Hull Damage, may actually be attributable to the changes made to the Assimilated Ship set. Many players have chosen to try different equipment sets in light of those alterations, and may have been heavily reliant upon the 2-piece Hull Heal proc, which also cleansed Plasma Fires. If this is the case, it may mean that the Borg in general were inaccurately balanced for a specific set of equipment, and more changes will need to be made to bring them in line with other options of play style.
3) The version of Isometric Charge used by NPCs is being nerfed.
Both the damage dealt, and the distance at which the power can "jump" between targets, will be reduced.
Additional changes may be made to balance this ability, but keep in mind that it is used by both the Assimilated Klingons and the Borg Queen's Diamond. It's likely that the latter will see fewer alterations than the former.
And just in case it wasn't clear, none of the above changes should have any effect on the analog abilities used by players.
We'll be checking these changes into QA for testing this week, but I can't guarantee a date on when they'll arrive on Tribble and/or Holodeck. Keep your eyes on the patch notes if you are anxious.
Cryptic - Lead Systems Designer
"Play smart!"
The Assimilated Borg thing is not the case, I've not been using it for weeks and the plasma dot damage was still a very noticeable difference to me.
The isometric is a good change, that particular ability is too random and over the top.
I actually would prefer for the difficulty to not be tweaked, but this should at least somewhat pacify people that for whatever reason are having trouble adapting.
Cheers.
Nope. I haven't used the Assimilated set since... ... ! A long time. Mostly using MACO shields and deflector with a Jem'hadar engine, though recently I swapped in the MACO engine (faster sector space travel for the win).
All hail Borticus!
Getting individually stomped by high rolls on borg torpedoes is one thing, but I've seen the Negh'vars on CSE instantly wipe out multiple players with that thing. A very unfair weapon in the hands of the borg.
The most annoying part was the plasma dot, although it can be handled by a couple of hazard emitters, something people not using the borg set anymore (like myself) could be reluctant to. But it's clearly how the Borg can finish off a player currently. It can't kill any ship, you have to be severely damaged before that.
I'm not sure about the isometric charges on the klingon assimilated ships... I always saw the instakill as a "punishement" for a lack of teamwork since theneg'var warships don't use it as soon as they spawn, most of the times.
I have to admit that I enjoyed greater challenges, since the new ships are always more and more powerful, so please don't dumb the endgame content even more, it's already incredibly easy as it is. The optionals are supposed to be a challenge, not something you get unless your team is utterly unable to understand how STFs work, and even with random teams it's achievable most of the times.
It could be related to power levels, it looks like my cannons are sucking more energy since season 7, although I'm still trying to figure out if it's not just my imagination.
God, lvl 60 CW. 17k.
My STOwiki page | Reachable in-game @PhyrexianHero
Fed Armada: Section 31 (level 730, 2700+ members)
KDF Armada: Klingon Intelligence (level 699, 2100+ members)
I have never really encountered the BORG one shot either. What I still see is ships up close in the face of CUBES not moving and expecting to withstand the fury of a CUBE scorned and expecting to be able to tank it.......
I run a cruiser specifically built to tank a CUBE and have not seen any issues whatsoever.
Even with the "so called" one shots I have survived them due to a tried and true regime of buffs and movements and skills. I also know many a KDF carrier driver that tank TAC cubes with no issues and know nothing of this ONE SHOT.
That being said I am not refuting its existance but rather saying with proper builds and experience the experience becomes negligible and survivable if properly prepared for.
I have seen the DOT of death though..the other day I was sizzling away and I think the proc was critical because I was hit for 4500 per tick..a little nasty IMO but also My hull resists were on cooldown so I am to blame for no rotating my buffs properly and keeping my hull safe.
is the only major issue I've had with Season 7 STFs - the plasma DoT has been simply evil - my Excelsior's previously been able to tank the gates from 100% to zero without going under but the plasma DoT's been wiping me out far too often.
On several occasions I've had 75% hull remaining and full shields then something with the plasma crits and *BOOM!* gone. Been using full MACO Mk XII only for a long time too.
Stuff like the torpedos firing from all angles and the Iso's are of no consequence to my Tac/Excel build - If I hit BFI and PH quick enough I'll live to fight again but the plasma DoT is just plain dirty.
Well, what can I say? It exists but in my experience the Borg need to have a shield facing down to pull it off so I don't really consider it a 'one-shot' - possibly with ships less equipped for shield/hull tanking it's a real issue though - all my ships (Tac/Eng/Sci) are specced to be able to tank Borg crits though so it's not a problem for me.
I imagine those that were reliant on the Borg set are suffering from it much more now though.
But its okay, I just keep moving, as you get an awesome def bonus usually, takes a bit longer, but hey.. atleast its a bit more interesting now.
Before in KASE I could tank cubes with my bug ship and kill incoming probes by just sitting there.. now i just need to move around a bit more and make sure I am on my heals.
The dev post about reducing the crits on the super ships is a welcome change though.
Wait what???
WTF MAN!!!!! Why did you derp the NPCs??? THEY WERE PERFECTLY FINE. Fkin bunch of wimps whining that they can't faceroll the Borg anymore. Dude seriously... wtf...
Don't want bosses to crit, want npcs to be weaker... god you all are starting to sound like rodentmaster.