Further upcoming EPtX tweaks

adjudicatorhawk · May 2013

Hi all,

Sorry for the prolonged silence on the EPtX front, but until we had made a final decision on what we were going to do with these powers, I didn't want to risk miscommunication on the issue. We are planning to revert the cooldowns of these abilities back to their Holodeck recharge times, while maintaining the QoL upgrades to Weapons, Auxiliary, and Engines which are currently on Tribble. The duration of all Emergency Power buffs will be 30 seconds across the board.

While we do want to create situations in which players choose between survivability and damage and make conscious choices about what powers they use when, we've decided it's more important right now to make all Emergency Power choices viable than it is to disrupt the metagame that's evolved around builds with ensign-level Engineering powers. My hope is that now, every time you get an Engineering Bridge Officer with an Emergency Power ability of any sort, you will feel like you could conceivably benefit from slotting that officer without retraining them. We may make further adjustments to these powers in the future as part of our ongoing quest to keep the game fun for all players, but for now, this is what we're planning on doing.

-AdjudicatorHawk

graleron · May 2013

Thank you very, very much for listening to and understanding our feedback.

icegavel · May 2013

Many thanks for listening to our feedback. Any chance Team powers will be getting a similar quality-of-life bonus (since Tactical Team is way more powerful than Engineering/Science Teams and lasts longer)?

ursusmorologus · May 2013

*falls over*

THANK YOU

khayuung · May 2013

Yeeeeeeaaaaaaahhhhh...

Now my dreadnought is getting better!

gpgtx · May 2013

thanks!

as i really was interested at trying different combinations of the powers when the changes to them was first made

momaw · May 2013

The intense drama could have been avoided if there was interactive discussion about what you were trying to accomplish and the ideal way of getting there. Players want the game to be better too.

ussultimatum · May 2013

And Ten Thousand nerds simultaneously breathe a sigh of relief!

Thanks for listening to our feedback adjucatorhawk.

dontdrunkimshoot · May 2013

this is the best news on this subject we could hope for.

with this decisions you succeeded in making all the other EPt skills extreamly nice too, instead of just an ok option to fill up low level eng station slots you might have an excess of. im a long time user of 2 different EPt types, possible on any ship thanks to damage control doffs or tech doffs, and this change makes the other 3 EPt skills significantly better.

everyone will still use EPtS, because shield res is literally everything, and will be as long as shooting each other is a thing in game. but i think more will adjust their build, and use damage control or tech doffs, to include a second EPt skill into their builds.

1 thing thisl will change for me on a few builds is drooping EPtS down to EPtS1, and moving the other EPt skill up to a higher level then my EPtS. consider that a success in making the other 3 types desirable

oh boy, maybe theres some hope for DPS cruisers after all...

sunfrancks · May 2013

Nice, thanks for listening to us

darkkindness2 · May 2013

This is fantastic news for everyone, but Cruiser Captains will especially rejoice over their newfound choices and functionality. Thank you, adjudicatorhawk, for listening to the debate on the issue, understanding where we were coming from, and implementing a solution that's good for everyone!

toiva · May 2013

Gratitude, now I welcome Legacy of Romulus.

EDIT for stressing this: Thanks for listening to our feedback. Very much appreciated.

cha0s1428 · May 2013

Thank you 1000 times over, thank you.

Honestly though, a decent discussion from you guys would have been welcome. Most of us understand it needs to be fixed, and are willing to discuss changes. Just please be forthcoming with your intent and we can provide feedback.

Thank you again for listening to us.

gpgtx · May 2013

dontdrunkimshoot wrote: »

oh boy, maybe theres some hope for DPS cruisers after all...

sort of what i was thinking dropping EPtS down to 1 and having EPtW3 on my gal-x

hmmm even contemplating about trying EPtE on my defiant instead of EPtS just to see how it works

tsurutafan01 · May 2013

adjudicatorhawk wrote: »

Hi all,

Sorry for the prolonged silence on the EPtX front, but until we had made a final decision on what we were going to do with these powers, I didn't want to risk miscommunication on the issue. We are planning to revert the cooldowns of these abilities back to their Holodeck recharge times, while maintaining the QoL upgrades to Weapons, Auxiliary, and Engines which are currently on Tribble. The duration of all Emergency Power buffs will be 30 seconds across the board.

While we do want to create situations in which players choose between survivability and damage and make conscious choices about what powers they use when, we've decided it's more important right now to make all Emergency Power choices viable than it is to disrupt the metagame that's evolved around builds with ensign-level Engineering powers. My hope is that now, every time you get an Engineering Bridge Officer with an Emergency Power ability of any sort, you will feel like you could conceivably benefit from slotting that officer without retraining them. We may make further adjustments to these powers in the future as part of our ongoing quest to keep the game fun for all players, but for now, this is what we're planning on doing.

-AdjudicatorHawk

Thanks for taking the time to keep us in the loop. And I do think the heart was in the right place with the changes being undone, even if they didn't quite work out in practice.

Personally I'm interested in seeing how the changes for Engines and Weapons will work out for slow ships that traditionally have gone shields shields shields. That may still prove to be the best use, but I have a feeling there's more room for a little creativity now. Or at least that's the hope.

Keep up the good work.

clintsat · May 2013

Thank you!!!

dontdrunkimshoot · May 2013

gpgtx wrote: »

sort of what i was thinking dropping EPtS down to 1 and having EPtW3 on my gal-x

hmmm even contemplating about trying EPtE on my defiant instead of EPtS just to see how it works

even a defiant can run 2 different EPt skills with basically full up time, with just minor chance of failure thanks to damage control doffs. if you can fly it well, an escort with the tribble version of EPtS will be amazing. something like the galaxy X, and all the other cruisers could run a tech doff build too, which is even better.

messahla · May 2013

Thank you for listening to us about this subject and reversing the nerf

acejim · May 2013

Thank you very much...thank you for listening. Now we can go back to looking forward to the Legacy of Romulus.

chillee · May 2013

Thank the Lords of Kobol... oops, wrong sci-fi setting.

Hey, I would shake the devil's hand too... common sense prevailed! The system (Tribble) works!

I applaud the fact that cruisers were not crippled AND that more options are now present with the QoL changes made to other EPtX powers. The greater options for these enhanced powers make cruisers a bit more valuable to play.

It is a first step in your therapy... but I am confident that we can eventually cure the Developers of their mysterious afficltion that causes them to favor Escorts! :P

I am a Lifetime member since beta, maybe the Legacy pack for LoR is worth buying after all...

naevius · May 2013

Awesome.

/10chars

studleydoo · May 2013

Wow....thank you very much. We were getting really worried and we appreciate your response to the fans. Also consider these changes to Emergency powers a success as it has made all the other powers as viable as EPtoShields without nerfing any existing builds (esp for cruisers. Now, hope is restored for Tactical cruisers.

gpgtx · May 2013

dontdrunkimshoot wrote: »

even a defiant can run 2 different EPt skills with basically full up time, with just minor chance of failure thanks to damage control doffs. if you can fly it well, an escort with the tribble version of EPtS will be amazing. something like the galaxy X, and all the other cruisers could run a tech doff build too, which is even better.

my doff roster is pretty lack luster i really need to correct that

bareel · May 2013

adjudicatorhawk wrote: »

Hi all,

Sorry for the prolonged silence on the EPtX front, but until we had made a final decision on what we were going to do with these powers, I didn't want to risk miscommunication on the issue. We are planning to revert the cooldowns of these abilities back to their Holodeck recharge times, while maintaining the QoL upgrades to Weapons, Auxiliary, and Engines which are currently on Tribble. The duration of all Emergency Power buffs will be 30 seconds across the board.

While we do want to create situations in which players choose between survivability and damage and make conscious choices about what powers they use when, we've decided it's more important right now to make all Emergency Power choices viable than it is to disrupt the metagame that's evolved around builds with ensign-level Engineering powers. My hope is that now, every time you get an Engineering Bridge Officer with an Emergency Power ability of any sort, you will feel like you could conceivably benefit from slotting that officer without retraining them. We may make further adjustments to these powers in the future as part of our ongoing quest to keep the game fun for all players, but for now, this is what we're planning on doing.

-AdjudicatorHawk

Thank you.

sparhawk · May 2013

adjudicatorhawk wrote: »

Hi all,

Sorry for the prolonged silence on the EPtX front, but until we had made a final decision on what we were going to do with these powers, I didn't want to risk miscommunication on the issue. We are planning to revert the cooldowns of these abilities back to their Holodeck recharge times, while maintaining the QoL upgrades to Weapons, Auxiliary, and Engines which are currently on Tribble. The duration of all Emergency Power buffs will be 30 seconds across the board.

While we do want to create situations in which players choose between survivability and damage and make conscious choices about what powers they use when, we've decided it's more important right now to make all Emergency Power choices viable than it is to disrupt the metagame that's evolved around builds with ensign-level Engineering powers. My hope is that now, every time you get an Engineering Bridge Officer with an Emergency Power ability of any sort, you will feel like you could conceivably benefit from slotting that officer without retraining them. We may make further adjustments to these powers in the future as part of our ongoing quest to keep the game fun for all players, but for now, this is what we're planning on doing.

-AdjudicatorHawk

Thank you very much for listening to feedback and changing this. You just made many players very happy.

stirling191 · May 2013

adjudicatorhawk wrote: »

Hi all,

Sorry for the prolonged silence on the EPtX front, but until we had made a final decision on what we were going to do with these powers, I didn't want to risk miscommunication on the issue. We are planning to revert the cooldowns of these abilities back to their Holodeck recharge times, while maintaining the QoL upgrades to Weapons, Auxiliary, and Engines which are currently on Tribble. The duration of all Emergency Power buffs will be 30 seconds across the board.

While we do want to create situations in which players choose between survivability and damage and make conscious choices about what powers they use when, we've decided it's more important right now to make all Emergency Power choices viable than it is to disrupt the metagame that's evolved around builds with ensign-level Engineering powers. My hope is that now, every time you get an Engineering Bridge Officer with an Emergency Power ability of any sort, you will feel like you could conceivably benefit from slotting that officer without retraining them. We may make further adjustments to these powers in the future as part of our ongoing quest to keep the game fun for all players, but for now, this is what we're planning on doing.

-AdjudicatorHawk

Sokath, his eyes uncovered!

Seriously though, as much as I hated being in the dark I do appreciate your intent for doing so. Hopefully this is the first step towards taking a good deal of the clunkiness out of lower tier Engineering power arrangements.

amosov78 · May 2013

adjudicatorhawk wrote: »

Hi all,

Sorry for the prolonged silence on the EPtX front, but until we had made a final decision on what we were going to do with these powers, I didn't want to risk miscommunication on the issue. We are planning to revert the cooldowns of these abilities back to their Holodeck recharge times, while maintaining the QoL upgrades to Weapons, Auxiliary, and Engines which are currently on Tribble. The duration of all Emergency Power buffs will be 30 seconds across the board.

While we do want to create situations in which players choose between survivability and damage and make conscious choices about what powers they use when, we've decided it's more important right now to make all Emergency Power choices viable than it is to disrupt the metagame that's evolved around builds with ensign-level Engineering powers. My hope is that now, every time you get an Engineering Bridge Officer with an Emergency Power ability of any sort, you will feel like you could conceivably benefit from slotting that officer without retraining them. We may make further adjustments to these powers in the future as part of our ongoing quest to keep the game fun for all players, but for now, this is what we're planning on doing.

-AdjudicatorHawk

Could we finally, after all these years, just get new Ensign-Lieutenant Commander abilities added for all classes, but especially for ensign tactical and engineering.

sonulinu2 · May 2013

Thank you very much. I must admit I'm a little surprised, but pleasantly so. Cryptic, you just went up a couple of notches in my mind's eye.

autumnturning · May 2013

adjudicatorhawk wrote: »

Sorry for the prolonged silence on the EPtX front, but until we had made a final decision on what we were going to do with these powers, I didn't want to risk miscommunication on the issue.

Now *THAT* sounds like the Arbiter Hawk I remember so fondly from my City of Heroes days (and Player Summits). Playing it straight and explaining what he can (and this is the really important thing) *WHEN* he can. In this case, the reasoning and rationale for the "silence" makes perfect sense ... a final decision needed to be made, and until that happened, speaking out publicly ran serious risk of being misconstrued.

What I hope everyone takes away from this sequence of events is that the Devs *ARE LISTENING* to what we have to say here on the forums ... but a lot of the time they aren't "at liberty" to discuss what's going on internally until Final Decisions have been made (either to cause changes or revert them). The decision process cycle on the Dev Teams however tend to be really out of sync with the discussion cycles here on the forums, by which I mean that things the community can get worked up over "in no time at all" actually takes a fair bit longer for teams of developers to address through their processes and workflows (all while still adhering to the almighty Schedule). This typically means that the community chews through issues FASTER than the Devs can respond ... and this EPtX situation is a prime example of that.

In fact, having talked with Adjudicatorhawk in person and gotten a sense of how things operated at Paragon Studios when he was working on City of Heroes (and knowing that things won't be all that much different at Cryptic), I'd say that having this entire EPtX set of changes put on Tribble, the community rebelling in response, and then getting a partial reversion of adverse changes in the plan all in a space of about 3 weeks is practically lightning fast as far as Developer Cycles go ... even though to us on the forums, it feels like FOREVER.

Good call, Jeff, you're doing the right thing. Keep up the good work. :cool:
/emote thumbsup

mrkollins · May 2013

Great!

I'm feeling the power on my cruisers already

darkkindness2 · May 2013

amosov78 wrote: »

Could we finally, after all these years, just get new Ensign-Lieutenant Commander abilities added for all classes, but especially for ensign tactical and engineering.

Despite all of the gratitude for reverting this change from a crippling nerf to a fairly appreciable buff, this suggestion right here would be the long-term solution. Though it's sure to take time, BOff ability choices in the lower end slots need to be expanded pretty badly, and have needed that treatment for some time.

Further upcoming EPtX tweaks

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