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Strategy -vs- Pay to Win
section31agent
Member Posts: 665 Arc User
I am coming up on my 3rd anniversary as a STO player. I have some genuine concerns. This last patch allows Engineering Team 1 [a ensign level ability] to clear Viral Matrix 3 [a commander level ability] I could understand a percentage chance but to 100% clear it makes "0" sense. This move totally kills sci ship captains. If you can't placate or slow an opponent what is the purpose of flying a sci ship? Everyone knows a sci ship is under gunned and has limited movement compared to Klingon ships or Jem Hadar Bugs or Fed Escorts. I remember saving up to buy the Retrofit Long Range Science Vessel - Intrepid Class with the built in Ablative Generator. Next thing I know they start by taking that inate ability off of the ship and making it a console. In essence I lost a console slot. Next move they made was to take away the power from scramble sensors to make you untargatable while it was in effect. So basically I am being shot at more often. Then they took away the +5 to power levels from each of my Efficient Saurians [that I grinded and paid 50 mill apiece for] so now all of my power levels are 25 shorter in every category. I bought a lifetime account only to have them go to F2P. They take away the good drops for doing missions like kerrat and the STF's and now you must grind forever to get equipment to keep up with the changes. Now they add insult to injury...Klingons can clear space hazards with the push of a button...Really? So now my sci skills are totally NERFED! There is no point to PvP anymore... as a strategist and a player with limited resources I am upset with the direction of the game.
I can not in good conscience play PAY TO PLAY... I find it very unfair that all of the equipment I have bought and grinded for are totally nerfed by the latest "Big Gun" and newest lock box ship. Trying to keep up with the "Jonses" by spending hundreds or thousands of dollars is nothing short of sheer madness. It takes 1600 lobis to get a lobi ship and complete set at 4 lobis per lock box that is $500.00 that is unacceptable. I can think of many MANY other ways to spend 500 bucks other than a video game. What's even worse your 500 dollar ship is only good until the next uber super ship comes out then you go the way of the sci ship.....and have to spend more money and more money... I don't have a problem with the new ships or equipment, but don't take away the powers from my ship to force me into the madness of the lock box grab. By doing so PW/CRYPTIC will lose a source of income, it may only be $20.00 a month. When other players like me begin to opt out from this madness perhaps the people in charge will begin to understand something. Hogs go to slaughter...Pigs get fed. It is way better to have a ton of people paying 20 bucks then a few people spending 500 bucks. Go ahead PW kill the "Goose That Laid The Golden Egg". I know I run the risk of the BANHAMMER for stating the truth but, I speak for the silent majority of players who do not have unlimited resources. ANYOBDY can click a button to win only a strategist can find a way to win in lesser equipment until strategy is removed from the game.
I can not in good conscience play PAY TO PLAY... I find it very unfair that all of the equipment I have bought and grinded for are totally nerfed by the latest "Big Gun" and newest lock box ship. Trying to keep up with the "Jonses" by spending hundreds or thousands of dollars is nothing short of sheer madness. It takes 1600 lobis to get a lobi ship and complete set at 4 lobis per lock box that is $500.00 that is unacceptable. I can think of many MANY other ways to spend 500 bucks other than a video game. What's even worse your 500 dollar ship is only good until the next uber super ship comes out then you go the way of the sci ship.....and have to spend more money and more money... I don't have a problem with the new ships or equipment, but don't take away the powers from my ship to force me into the madness of the lock box grab. By doing so PW/CRYPTIC will lose a source of income, it may only be $20.00 a month. When other players like me begin to opt out from this madness perhaps the people in charge will begin to understand something. Hogs go to slaughter...Pigs get fed. It is way better to have a ton of people paying 20 bucks then a few people spending 500 bucks. Go ahead PW kill the "Goose That Laid The Golden Egg". I know I run the risk of the BANHAMMER for stating the truth but, I speak for the silent majority of players who do not have unlimited resources. ANYOBDY can click a button to win only a strategist can find a way to win in lesser equipment until strategy is removed from the game.
Post edited by section31agent#8506 on
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This is incorrect, when they change the inate ability to a universal console they also gave you an extra console slot. In essence you lost nothing.
≡/\≡
A Trekkie's solution would be to compensate...
I admit that I don't know anything about these lock box ships so lets assume that they start out top and then get nerfed. I would have no issue with that assuming the ships end up being somewhat on par with everything else. Why? Because it lets Cryptic earn the money to hire devs and continue this game.
Compare this to Magic the Gathering. If you play Standard every year a part of your collection becomes obsolete. You either accept that, play a different format or quit the game. That's how they prevent the market from saturating, keep up the demand and stay in business.
Consider the alternative(s):
a) No premium ship is ever better than normal ships. An interesting approach, as they would essentially be cosmetic items. They would certainly still sell but not in the same numbers. Considering how much you lament the changes to the ship you bought in order to win, I somehow doubt this scenario would cater to your needs.
b) Every new premium ship is better than the previous ones. (Or every new set of premium ships has one that is better) This would very quickly make the game pretty much unplayable for anyone who doesn't get himself at least a second generation premium ship. Considering how you deplore the alleged "Pay to Win" character of the current situation I can only assume how much you would hate this scenario.
At least this way it is your choice whether you play along. You can either try and be at the top and accept that devaluation will eventually hit. Or ride the tail end, see how everything turns out and pick your ships according to their "long term" value.
Wait, where I come from three minus one still leaves two!
Where I come from is a far more interesting place.
In what way do you have to spend money to keep up?
For one, neither the lockbox, Lobi or Fleet ships or equipment are so much over the top that you couldn't keep up with them with free ships or gear. Neither did any new lockbox ship obsolete the previous ones. if anything, the ships from the last lockbox are subpar to Fleet and older lockbox ships. Consoles and equipment from $$$-ships and lockboxes are even outright bad most of the time. (e.g. suicide-console on the krenn)
Secondly, looking the value of Zen in the dilithium exchange, even people that only have their 2 free characters will be able to get the newest and shiniest c-store ship within 2 weeks of it's release for free.
People are still doing fine in their RA Patrol Escorts, RA Heavy Hegh'tas or Mirror Raptors, even after a year of F2P and a dozen lockbox/lobi ships have been released.
Except they then made 10 console ships par for the course which was a huge nerf to the viability of any of the old Intrepid, Defiant or Galaxy classes. In fact to anything that had this swap happen to it.
Only the KDF are laughing cos their cloaking devices didnt become consoles and their Garumba didnt have its ability become a console so when they get 10 console versions of their ships in the fleet store they get to keep their special abilities without sacrificing a console slot. :rolleyes:
Klinks an Feds cannot get a 10 console ship from the zen-store (unless its Bortask/vesta/odsy pack/lifetime ship) any way atm Garumba isnt viable casue its only got 9 consoles an a out of date hull an shield multiplier....as for cloakn flinks have allways have free cloak an allways will (there ships have less shields most of time anyway)
Few exceptions like the veteran rewards (Chimera, Peghqu') and the Legacy Unlocks (Red Matter Capacitor), which amounts to very little.
^^ has point but serisouly wish it was easyer to aquire awesome new stuff.......
hopefully more people can read this now
Sirius - Tactical Kumari / Hatschy - Tactical Scimitar
lil - Engineer Corvette / Dark - Tactical Guramba
Not to mention that anyone using the Hilbert space bar bind for TT is going to have a tricky time micromanaging his space bar spamming to even get a chance to run ET...
The change seems like a huge nerf to VM on paper, but it comes with a significant tradeoff.
edit: if you get unlucky enough to end up in a PvP pug with no scis against a group of sci or sci heavy ships, you are in for a world of hurt if even one of them is a strategist, ET or no ET.
Let's hope they do more than simply read it. $500.00 for a outfitted lobi console ship is absolute madness. Cryptic/PW is laughing all the way to the bank... [Literally laughing at the lock box grabbers]
Note: I'm not talking about a SCI ships damage potential but rather it's effectiveness at what it should do best, debuffing and CC.
And let's be serious here: If you tag your VM at the right time, you can expect it to stick for a good 15 seconds before your opponent can do anything about it, far more than the actual ability lasts!
Read my post again. Using ET ( which a significant number of escort builds lack by the way ) can throw a big wrench in the average player's works. It will lock out TT which is primarily a defensive, not an offensive skill for 15 seconds. Getting a cooldown on TT isn't nerfing an escort because its damage is lower, its nerfing an escort by making it very difficult to effectively distribute paper-thin shield facings, hence leaving it very very vulnerable to damage spikes.
And as was said in the previous post, if you actually are a "strategist" and paying attention to your targets buff icons, hit VM when you see them pop TT and enjoy 15 seconds of nerf.
PvP in STO died when the game launched. Didn't you get the memo?
- Aral Vorkosigan