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Newbie Questions: What to aim for first off
vorshoth
Member Posts: 539 Arc User
Hey folks! Relatively newish player to STO, hopped on over from CO to have a gander at your gooses and whatnot.
Been enjoying the quests in STO thus far, but am increasingly curious about PvP, RP, whether there's an item crafting system around here, and things like that. I'm sure the game will soon be pointing me in the direction of these things, but I'll throw a few questions here.
1. PvP
How, where, and when do I get to do it? How does it occur? Do we have the tendency towards overpowered builds, or is it reccomended people play by their gut, at least on the first character they play? Is there ground-based PvP (if only because I find ship combat interesting but lacking that human touch sometimes that face to phase phaser duels have)?
2. RP
What's the RP scene like? Is it mostly ERP or do we have stuff less squicky?
3. Mission teaming
Are we able to team up with other players on missions? Hopefully it's possible to team up with another player on a ground mission: I'd be able to get some of my friends playing more if they were able to be guided by me, the undoubtedly awesome person who never intentionally dooms them to a redshirt retirement plan.
4. Dilithium
I'm guessing this is the STO Questionite right, grind to get crystal, refine crystal to convert into Zen? As I'm not a lifetime member on STO like I am on CO, what would you recommend at various level ranges to grind dilithium?
Loving the game thus far. Gonna be trying to get ALL the cosutme pieces I can get as my Ferengi captain feels a bit drab in Sierra in TNG colour scheme.
Been enjoying the quests in STO thus far, but am increasingly curious about PvP, RP, whether there's an item crafting system around here, and things like that. I'm sure the game will soon be pointing me in the direction of these things, but I'll throw a few questions here.
1. PvP
How, where, and when do I get to do it? How does it occur? Do we have the tendency towards overpowered builds, or is it reccomended people play by their gut, at least on the first character they play? Is there ground-based PvP (if only because I find ship combat interesting but lacking that human touch sometimes that face to phase phaser duels have)?
2. RP
What's the RP scene like? Is it mostly ERP or do we have stuff less squicky?
3. Mission teaming
Are we able to team up with other players on missions? Hopefully it's possible to team up with another player on a ground mission: I'd be able to get some of my friends playing more if they were able to be guided by me, the undoubtedly awesome person who never intentionally dooms them to a redshirt retirement plan.
4. Dilithium
I'm guessing this is the STO Questionite right, grind to get crystal, refine crystal to convert into Zen? As I'm not a lifetime member on STO like I am on CO, what would you recommend at various level ranges to grind dilithium?
Loving the game thus far. Gonna be trying to get ALL the cosutme pieces I can get as my Ferengi captain feels a bit drab in Sierra in TNG colour scheme.
The below is a signature and should not be considered a part of my post above.
@taekinuru
If I can't carry the ring, Mr Frodo, I can carry you!
I have one thing to say! It is better to burn out, than to fade away!
FUNNELCAKES!
No John, you are the demons.
I have an unfortunate addiction to the girliest things despite being a manly man of large stature and hair EVERYWHERE. So if I squee over your magical girl costume...
@taekinuru
If I can't carry the ring, Mr Frodo, I can carry you!
I have one thing to say! It is better to burn out, than to fade away!
FUNNELCAKES!
No John, you are the demons.
I have an unfortunate addiction to the girliest things despite being a manly man of large stature and hair EVERYWHERE. So if I squee over your magical girl costume...
Post edited by vorshoth on
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2) Be careful what you wish for.
3) Encouraged.
4) Dil is a harsh mistress...
What's a "quest"?
RIP KDF and PvP 2014-07-17 Season 9.5 - Death by Dev
lemme try to answer your questions. i've been playing since season 4, and i think i can help
1. PVP:
alot of people here on the forums will tell you to ignore it. that's generally true if you're new to the game. even with a decent build, 90% of players that try PVP will have a devastatingly horrible match their first time. if interested in hard core PVP, join a PVP fleet and ask for advice on how to make yourself good. if you dont want to do hardcore PVP, but still enjoy the occasional fight, there's one or two channels ingame for forming a random PVP match.
2. RP:
i'll be honest, i dont RP in STO much these days. i used to when i first started, gathered a few friends in my fleet on one of our ships and had grand mission briefings in the mess hall, then got our characters as drunk as virtually possible in quarks, and ended the day having a party on our bridge, usually continuing the theme that we were drunk as hell.
RPing is pretty much up to you. if you get into it, there's enough emoticons and actions ingame that you can roleplay just about anything star trek. a few places like DS9 and drozona are good places to find RPers sometimes. the foundry is also a good playground, and if someone in your RP group is creative enough, you can create some really fun roleplay scenarios for you and your friends.
a word of caution though.... i havent gone to drozona in years, but when i did... you sometimes had the issue of people roleplaying some more..... interesting things.... i warned some of my RL friends about that when they started playing, and as if to prove my point, the first time they went there for a mission, the first thing they saw was a gorn on top of a trill doing the pushup animation right above the trill who was using the sleeping animation. ..... i dont think i have to explain what it looked like, or what they were doing. thankfully i havent had this problem on DS9.
3. mission teaming:
there's only one or two very strict missions in all of STO that cant be done with friends. this are the sort of missions where you're so strictly guided from point A to B to C, that you wouldnt need a teammate anyway, and if you did have one they'd mess up the flow of the mission. there's only about 3 of these missions in total that i can think of right now, so you shouldnt have alot of trouble. just remember, if you're a high level, and you're helping a low level, dont forget to match their level with the team options. otherwise, you'll have alot of very high level NPCs killing your friends.
4. dilithium:
right now you may think EC is the primary currency in the game right? wrong. Dill is. you can only refine 8k a day, per character, and it's used for just about EVERYTHING. reputation, fleet, zen, the list is as long as my arm. thankfully there's alot of ways to get dill in the game, and if you cant find them, there's plenty of guides out there to get you going. basically, if you find a mission that gives alot of dill (more then 1k is considered alot for a mission) then it's generally a good idea to do it. i cannot stress enough how much of this you'll need. for a full shield/engine/deflector/warpcore set from either fleet or reputation or both, you'll need about 128k dill. that's not including any weapons you want to buy, so start saving!
hopefully this answers your questions, if you have anymore feel free to ask and someone will probably reply soon
PvP is mostly done in the 5v5 queue system, either Fed v Fed wargames or Fed v KDF war. You can do solo duals, but these take you out of the zone into a special instance. So it is not that much of a spectacle sport. Solo duals are either for grudge matches, or, more often, build testing in a controlled environment. Another popualr PvP is Ker'rat, which is an open space-based PvEvP system, where you and the opposite faction fight over resources in the zone. However, 90% of people there ignore the PvE mission and just punch each other in the face. Ker'rat is a good proving ground for PvP builds.
Builds are quite varied, and "optimal" builds vary based on Career, Ship, and playstyle. There tend to be the "flavor of the month" builds, and with every new ship released you get a small surge of noobs abusing it for a week or so. but you have several ways to take a build, with only a few "obvious" mistakes people tend to make. The rest is creativity.
There is a ground PvP, but it is underwhelming and is underplayed. Mostly because of the lack of flexibility of the career kits, and the imbalance of the classes on the ground. The most I have seen in the ground PvP was Fleetmates doing custom rules battlemaps for the lulz. However, there are hints on the horizon about a PvP revamp... and I beleive the Voth Battlezone will show that direction.
There is a very lively RP community, but it has been driven underground alot because of trolls. However, getting tied into the STO RP chat will get you set up. They have very strict rules about ERP and I have never personally seen it, heard of it, nor stumbled upon it in game. It may happen, but it is very much underground.
But, holy tribble squeezin's! It sure as hell answered mine!
You, sir or madame, have won an internets. Spend it wisely.
I have never ever seen any such thing during my visits to Drozana. This however might be due to a grand fleet of fearless warriors who sent this obnoxious plague back into the caves they came from. Unfortunately it also took its toll on the more decent RP'ers. There's been quite some collateral damage in the process I believe. Nevertheless you'll find an RP fleet if you look for one.
2) Lot of RP. As always, sigh, most RP people seem to think that RP is heavily connected to booze. So, if you want to find the RP folks, as always, find the RP booze -- there are several bars, DS9, droz station, etc, most major holdings have a bar and a couple of places have big party bars. A RP fleet would be important here.
3) you will probably solo most of the way to 50 -- finding someone on the same quest at the same time at say level 27 for example, the odds are lower than at 50 when 2500 people want to do a mission together. You can do it, if you can find someone to do things with.
4) My humble advice on dil is to make more characters, even going so far as to recommend you buy one set of char slots. Do a daily foundry on each one, try to find the fast combat heavy missions, get them done. At 50, you can blast thru the klingon "defend the empire" for 1400 each in about 10 min each with good gear, just zip to each group and waporize em. There are other ways to get dil at 50, but those are a steady income. Also, level those alts up to duty officer access and keep running DO missions, it adds up.
this was a big problem about 2 years ago when i first joined. the way i hear it, these sort of people were forcibly removed through intimidation and fleet bashing. anyone that associated with these people were effectively shunned from most of the community. the arguments got rather heated in private channels, though as i understand it, this grand drama lasted all of 6 hours, as the kids causing all the trouble had to go because of their bedtime and after their leaving peace seemed restored. thankfully it hasnt repeated, and the two RP fleets i know have specific rules against such behavior. act like that and it's an immediate ban from the fleet.
still, drozona is just that backwater area of the game respectable people stay out of. like the back alleys sort of thing. at least, that's how my fleet role plays it, in an almost serious sort of way. we all know its not nearly as bad anymore, but for sake of fun its deemed "the dark corner". like all things it's taken with a grain of salt.
I apologize fro this post being in the completely wrong area but can find no other way to post.
How does one actually start paying the game?
What are the steps,( From turning on the computer as a possibly beginning of such a 'walk through' ) .
I currently end up at a small screen/window with the opotions to
"Enter name/e-mail"
and then
"Password"
I have a small tab which says
"Login"
But nothing happens after this.
Much cheers for your patience and forbearance.
Any help will be appreciated.
Much cheers to all.
Next step after login, wait a long time for gigs of download to take place. Hopefully your connection will be good enough to not make it a really, really, excruciatingly long time. Once the "patching" button changes to "engage", enjoy.
As to the op:
1. Take advantage of, and enjoy, the low-level PvP queues. Those times will never come again as you level. Once you reach vice admiral, you're in for a rough time, come prepared.
2. Like others said, RP is focused on drinking at bars, playing dabo or having dance parties. There are RP dedicated fleets you may be able to join.
3. Within our fleet there is rarely anyone asking to team on missions, but most everyone is VA. You'll probably do most missions solo until you hit end-game stfs. I only did all the story missions on my main, and only did enough missions to open up the doff system on the rest of my alts. Doffing leveled 4 alts with way less time investment.
4. And the dilithium game is all about getting around the innate throttle which comes built in. Each toon can generate 8k dilithium per day, more alts means more dilithium. Contraband farming is the way to facilitate dilithium farming without putting in any effort.
The one thing you need to take away from everything: If you want the most out of the game - most dps, most abilites, absurd levels of critical chance and damage, best cloak, and an op ship pack - roll Klingon aligned Romulan tactical captains. Put them in a Scimitar with Plasmonic Leech and the Valdore console and farm contraband. You'll have a mountain of dilithium and be on the 20k dps channel without breaking a sweat.
I...don't get an 'Engage' button/symbol any where.
Basically...my little window seem to just sit there.
Nothing happens when I press the "Login" tab/button.
Thank you for your reply.
The game client (which is the half of the game that is on your computer) is 10-13 gigabites large. This isn't a browser game where your computer just connects with the server and loads a webpage. You need to download the client before you can play the game.
When you first log into the launcher, it will connect to the server and download the rest of the game. Where there would be a launch button, there will be a greyed out "patch" button and a progress bar to the left. Best to leave this downloading overnight; the average time is 4 hours depending on your internet speed.
If you do not have a progress bar.. let us know :P there maybe an issue with your game.
I can only help with getting Dilithium and gear, easiest way is grind STFs. The gear is standard for endgame, Normal level STFs give you a fair test of if your build is effective or not.