I got characters who have been around since the game started, they got more than 10 million expertise.
Its the alts that suffer from the lack of it. Now with old MU , it was not a problem since you could grind it out with it, around 20-30k expertise a day, which was enough for rep projects (they took 9k expertise) or for XII gear.
Now that expertise source is lessened. This again, only hits alts. My main got enough expertise to level 10 more rep systems and buy their mk XII gear.
I have half a dozen alts, three of which are actively working on reputations. I can honestly say that I have not run into that bottleneck at all. The main bottleneck for them has always been simply getting the marks. Having to run one or two STFs per rep per day per alt has proven a much bigger issue than the Expertise costs. It is not at all uncommon for my alts' rep projects to sit for a day or two with everything filled except for the marks. So much so that I've put them all on a rep hiatus until my main can forward them all sponsorship tokens. (Which is why my first question was whether Season 9 would have any impact on the sponsorship system.)
If the new system guarantees that they'll be able to get what they need from a single daily STF per rep, that would go a long way toward making the grind more bearable for me. Nevertheless, I do hope they address the concerns of those worried about Expertise. The way they wrote the blog implies that all the costs will be a flat rate per project, so hopefully they will arrive at a good compromise Expertise cost.
Just like to add my voice to the expertise concerns. One of my biggest joys with Dyson was not having to spend expertise. My old characters didn't care, but my newer ones did. And the eng i just made who has to do all four (FIVE with Undine) simply can not keep up with expertise costs. I am only running the large project currently because of this.
Since you removed the old Mirror event, there is NO suitable source of large amounts of expertise. Please either reinstate the old mirror, or remove expertise costs from the large xp project, and preferably from gear unlocks as well, as the 64k or so per item is crippling under the current system for newer characters.
A few question and answers have been added to the blog. make sure to check them out!
~CaptainSmirk
After playing many, many MMORPGs where the team of their respective game never listens to their players, you have no idea how grateful I am to witness community interaction at this level by you guys.
This may be a normal post clustered in a sea of other forum posts, but I hope you see my message and understand how this means to me. Sincerely, thank you.
Just like to add my voice to the expertise concerns. One of my biggest joys with Dyson was not having to spend expertise. My old characters didn't care, but my newer ones did. And the eng i just made who has to do all four (FIVE with Undine) simply can not keep up with expertise costs. I am only running the large project currently because of this.
Since you removed the old Mirror event, there is NO suitable source of large amounts of expertise. Please either reinstate the old mirror, or remove expertise costs from the large xp project, and preferably from gear unlocks as well, as the 64k or so per item is crippling under the current system for newer characters.
Yes. Please, just add back the Old mirror universe event. That would solve all the problems.
Personally marks were never a problem for me. One elite ISE or Crystal entity elite mission gives more than enough marks for rep xp projects.
With commendations, Dyson was easiest rep ever. But All my 19 characters will have it at tier 5 before this goes live. So I'm very luckily avoiding the issue with Dyson rep.
And as for Romulan marks.... Epohhs, friendly and cuddly epohhs!
Let us wear Swimsuits on Foundry maps or bridges please! I would pay zen for that.
No, I do the doff missions. But one doff mission gives like 200-300 expertise, and takes like 4 hours.
Honestly this would not be a problem with old Mirror event.
Simply put, you're doing the wrong doff assignments. Concentrate on the 20+ hour ones, especially assignments that have high critical success multipliers. Then make sure you optimize for critical success. Some of those assignments can net you thousands of XP/Expertise. And while you may have to wait 20 hours for the result, it only takes minutes to queue the assignments and then you're free to move on. Mind you, the "good" assignments are not always readily available, etc. There is certainly some aspect of "grind" to locating them and then getting them queued up on all your eligible characters. But as a supplement to normal Expertise-generating methods, it works wonders, at least for me.
One word: Fleets. Expertise to fleet credits is one of the easiest way to get them. Many fleets require you to get to a certain number of credits before you can buy stuff, so any way you can get to that point is a good way.
True, but then it becomes a matter of balancing resources, which is one of the major aspects of most MMOs....
Without the resource distribution aspect, I suspect most players would get bored with actual gameplay very quickly, no matter how good the game.
After playing many, many MMORPGs where the team of their respective game never listens to their players, you have no idea how grateful I am to witness community interaction at this level by you guys.
This may be a normal post clustered in a sea of other forum posts, but I hope you see my message and understand how this means to me. Sincerely, thank you.
A thing I liked with Dyson Commendations was that they provided a nice, easy way of earning a bit of Dilithium and marks even after I hit Tier 5. Just drop into the Dyson Zone, grab some quick Doff Missions, run the Daily Commendation mission, get my box and commendation. Is something like that going to continue, so we keep getting the daily missions to get the boxes? Or will you get no more boxes after you hit Tier 5?
__________________________________
STO Forum member since before February 2010. STO Academy's excellent skill planner here: Link I actually avoid success entirely. It doesn't get me what I want, and the consequences for failure are slim. -- markhawman
Overall looks cool. I was hoping that you guys would add in a ground set for the Romulan faction since its the only rep faction without both a Ground and Space set.
Cryptic, my question is about Progression (Loss) of Mk XI Omega Sets.
I have characters with partially progressed Mk XI Space and Ground sets from Omega that were previously earned via Normal STF play, Pre-Reputation System. These characters are 1-2 items away from completing a XI Set such as Honor Guard Ground or M.A.C.O Space.
I quit the game, came back and planned on revisiting these characters to complete their XI sets via the Rep System. Elite STFs are outside my play range hence my progression towards XI sets.
With X & XI Omega Items being removed what will become of my progression towards completing these sets? How do I proceed without the ability to purchase the remainder of these sets?
Very good observation and question.
Once the MK X and MK XI space and ground gear are removed, what will motivate players to work through the reputation systems? Unless there is something to obtain, the purpose for working on the system would not exist.
Why stick around?
Not being able to build MK X & MK XI sets = No motivation to play through the new system.
I do not buy zen, so I get nothing in return.
No 'substantial' reward system = No money coming out of my pocket.
Simply put, you're doing the wrong doff assignments. Concentrate on the 20+ hour ones, especially assignments that have high critical success multipliers. Then make sure you optimize for critical success. Some of those assignments can net you thousands of XP/Expertise. And while you may have to wait 20 hours for the result, it only takes minutes to queue the assignments and then you're free to move on. Mind you, the "good" assignments are not always readily available, etc. There is certainly some aspect of "grind" to locating them and then getting them queued up on all your eligible characters. But as a supplement to normal Expertise-generating methods, it works wonders, at least for me.
True, but then it becomes a matter of balancing resources, which is one of the major aspects of most MMOs....
Without the resource distribution aspect, I suspect most players would get bored with actual gameplay very quickly, no matter how good the game.
Problem is, those 20 hour ones are A: Rare as you said, and B: Alts usually dont have a lot of good doffs for a high crit chance.
Honestly, they took the biggest Expertise source away, and are adding more sinks for it. That two factors added together can make some very stinky end result.
Let us wear Swimsuits on Foundry maps or bridges please! I would pay zen for that.
No, I do the doff missions. But one doff mission gives like 200-300 expertise, and takes like 4 hours.
Honestly this would not be a problem with old Mirror event.
But you can also run at least 20 DOFF missions at once.
Right now, I have something like 14 or 15 million expertise just sitting there.
If you just load up on DOFF missions even once a day, expertise is the easiest thing to get in the game.
As to the changes, at first blush I had a bit of trepidation because I actually liked the commendation set-up, because you can easily turn in marks in exchange for them and they make the journey to get to the end of the Reputation train relatively rapidly.
Then when I got down to the bottom FAQ, where it says the daily missions will still award 2500XP, I feel a lot better, and I see the benefit of streamlining. In fact, it will be even cheaper to get that 2500XP now, as to "buy" 5 commendations with marks costs 350, so that's 70 marks/daily mission, and if they only cost 30 marks now to get the same XP, that reduces them to less than half the cost. I think going back to one type of "mark" per reputation will also save waste later on, so sounds good to me.
I also think the removal of the lower-level projects is a great idea - it just feels like a waste to have them there, and confusing as well (I am always checking to make sure I'm not running a "lesser" version of something I'm going to be able to get later in a better version).
That said, while Reputation is being further developed, I have some lingering concerns/issues with the system that I hope get looked at in one way or another:
FIRST, foremost, and the most impact on how I play, is:
1) DILITHIUM. All "get some dilith" projects are utterly useless to me, because with the 8,000/day cap for refining, I'll never be able to cash in my dilith unless, ironically, I pretty much stop playing and just log in once a day to refine my 8K. The Dyson sphere gives out so much dilith that after playing it for a few days I already broke 100K in unrefined dilith. It feels silly that the game almost encourages me to pretty much stop playing so I can start to use the dilith I've already earned.
I really, really hope that some type of increase is done here - I understand because of the Dilith Exchange there is reluctance to increase it, but it seems that between that, DOFFing, mining, etc. - it's just useless even if you play even a moderate, regular amount, because you earn much more unrefined dilith than you can ever actually turn into usable refined Dilith. I actually think mining is fun (and I have an enormous stack of Rich Vein coupons that I can't even give to my other toons), but it's just a waste of time because I can never actually use the dilith I have earned anyway.
2) The Reputation interface just seems so...clunky. I find myself going blind trying to go down through the list of projects, for example - I would really like a filter there, so I can just see what I am looking for. The categories don't always help with that.
I'd also like to be able to see better descriptions of what I'm getting - I use the Romulan re-enforcements quite a bit, on ground and space, and the only way to tell the difference between, say, Support Team and Security Team is that some cost more/better consumables than others but besides the graphic of the teams that appear for you, I presume some are more powerful than others but I have no idea really.
And, a final note on that - the consumables they cost (like, Common Personal Shields Mk XX) - are just annoying, really. Having to trek somewhere to get common, cheap items is just a time sink and stocking up on them just wastes space. It would be really great that if they remain, that we can purchase common items like that from our replicators - having to go to a Starbase just to get common items is a nuisance when you are out and about and just want to start a project. I can't see any balance issues arising from making them easier to obtain since they are so cheap anyway.
3) It depends on your playstyle, but it would be really great if what gives marks for a given reputation were a little more even. For instance, if you like to run solo space missions, Romulan Marks are very easy to get - but the only way to get Borg marks at a decent pace seems to be queuing up for group missions. So because of how I play, I find Romulan marks rather easy to get, but since I don't have a lot of time for extended missions I find Borg very difficult. I've heard lots of people say the opposite - because of their playstyles - it would be nice if some adjustments/additions could be made here or there that would make it more feasible to get marks via various playstyles.
Overall, changes sound good - like a lot of recent things (increasing item limits, etc.) - and how impressed I have been with the Dyson sphere content period (I think the ground Battle is probably the best area control system I have ever seen in an MMO - allows for so many different playstyles, doesn't force grouping but encourages teamwork, etc.) - but some of the older systems (like dilithium refining) just need to be adjusted to work with the new content.
Yes. Please, just add back the Old mirror universe event. That would solve all the problems.
Personally marks were never a problem for me. One elite ISE or Crystal entity elite mission gives more than enough marks for rep xp projects.
With commendations, Dyson was easiest rep ever. But All my 19 characters will have it at tier 5 before this goes live. So I'm very luckily avoiding the issue with Dyson rep.
And as for Romulan marks.... Epohhs, friendly and cuddly epohhs!
I would rather spend two hours doing the same few STFs over and over rather than spend three minutes a days chasing epohhs. The very thought makes me want to gag....
Quite frankly, my preferred method of grinding Romulan rep (and it has taken me approximately two months to get from zero rep to tier V) is to simply do the Beta Thoridar patrol five times, turn in the daily Tau Dewa Patrol mission for 60 marks and move on. A little time-consuming, but less annoying than spending even 30 seconds on the ground on New Romulus (especially if it involves epohhs....)
Basically, I rank the four reps like this:
Easiest: Dyson - Transwarp to Allied Space, run a single five minute mission that probably involves a small amount of space combat. Acquire Commendation. Queue project. Done.
Omega - Run one or two incredibly boring STFs (two if your team is so inept that you fail the optional or, worse, fail the mission entirely). When you get utterly bored of STFs (usually happens by the time I'm working on alts) the alternative is to mindlessly run around the Defera ground zone (which is better for Fleet Marks than Omega Marks, unfortunately).
Romulan - No good options. The most efficient option is chasing epohhs, then breeding epohhs. If, like me, you can't stand the thought of a Starfleet Vice Admiral or KDF Lieutenant General running through idyllic fields tagging small, furry creatures, then your alternatives are much bleaker. You can waste hours of your life running around the ground zone for about ten marks an hour, you can queue for one of several exceedingly long and painful STFs for about fifteen marks an hour, you can fly around Tau Dewa for half an hour (though you might end up having to save space whales :^P), or you can sit at one system and patrol it five times (I prefer Beta Thoridar because killing Klingons never gets old, even if you're a Klingon).
I am hoping the new rep system moves all the reps a lot closer to the Dyson model (currently that appears to be the plan). As long as Tau Dewa Patrol provides the daily bonus marks, I'll be happy, I guess.
In any case, with the exception of New Romulus, I have not found any of these reps to be a true "grind." It has taken me less than two months to go from zero to tier V in all four reps simultaneously. If you believe that you need tier V before the "real game" begins, then I guess that's a grind. But I personally believe that the "real game" begins at the start of the tutorial mission, so two months is hardly a grind at all to me.
Once the MK X and MK XI space and ground gear are removed, what will motivate players to work through the reputation systems? Unless there is something to obtain, the purpose for working on the system would not exist.
Why stick around?
Not being able to build MK X & MK XI sets = No motivation to play through the new system.
I do not buy zen, so I get nothing in return.
No 'substantial' reward system = No money coming out of my pocket.
Game over.
Shrug. I made it all the way to tier V Omega without buying Mk X or Mk XI gear. Why would I bother since I'm just going to replace it with Mk XII in a couple of months?
The only rep gear I've bought on my way to tier V in any rep was the Dyson rifle because getting Expose and Exploit on the same weapon makes the otherwise lackluster ground aspect of the game much faster, at least. Other than that, you simply don't -need- rep gear to play the game. And, quite frankly, once you actually -have- all the rep gear, the game is pretty much "over" until they add something new anyway. Hence why so many people start alts....
In any case, the way I read the dev blog, instead of having to get Mk X and Mk XI sets, you'll start getting pieces of the Mk XII right from the start. If it works like Dyson, you'll get the weapon at one tier, the shield at another tier, and the armor in yet a third tier. Not sure what order they'll implement, though.
so wat happens to the Mk X or XI Borg set that we already have...will they be upgraded to Mk XII
Bottom of the dev blog had a Q&A
Q: I have a Mk X or Mk XI version of an item that belongs to a set that is being improved, will my set be improved as well?
A: No. Most older item sets have separate set bonus item requirements. So, if you own a Mk X or Mk XI item set that has an improved Mk XII version, it will likely not receive improved set bonuses.
I like to get those Reward Packs, do i need to reset the reputations from tier 5 in order to get them? really hope able to continue to do the xp projects after completed tier 5.
Ultimately, after a bit of data-mining, listening to player feedback, and experiencing the flow of the Dyson Joint Command first hand, weve decided to ditch Commendations entirely and keep things nice and simple.
Goodbye quick reputations. Hello 6 month grinds that make the game a boring job.
Easiest: Romulan one. I think Epohhs are cute, and tagged they give a load of marks.
Still good: Dyson commendations, easy to get.
Okey : Omega. ISE is easy, gives marks well enough. Bit long cooldown, but its ok.
Hardest: Nukara, especially if you do not like ground combat against Tholians. Than your only option is Elite Crystal entity.
Different tastes and playstyles. If you just want to complete the big rep project every day (the most efficient use of resources, IMO), then running Elite CE once is generally enough to accomplish that. I've seen some bad ECE pugs and we still managed to finish the event (because there's no timer of which I'm aware).
Conversely, if you're trying to accumulate extra marks every day (or accelerate rep accumulation faster than 2K per day), then yes, Nukara is problematic. You can do Azure Nebula (gag) or Nukara ground (sigh). At least Nukara ground generates marks much faster than New Romulus or Defera, though. My first time there I got around 200 marks in two hours. It's even easier now because the zone was tuned for players running around in the old EV suits, not the new super Dyson EV suits. It's just god awful boring.
Shrug. I made it all the way to tier V Omega without buying Mk X or Mk XI gear. Why would I bother since I'm just going to replace it with Mk XII in a couple of months?
The only rep gear I've bought on my way to tier V in any rep was the Dyson rifle because getting Expose and Exploit on the same weapon makes the otherwise lackluster ground aspect of the game much faster, at least. Other than that, you simply don't -need- rep gear to play the game. And, quite frankly, once you actually -have- all the rep gear, the game is pretty much "over" until they add something new anyway. Hence why so many people start alts....
In any case, the way I read the dev blog, instead of having to get Mk X and Mk XI sets, you'll start getting pieces of the Mk XII right from the start. If it works like Dyson, you'll get the weapon at one tier, the shield at another tier, and the armor in yet a third tier. Not sure what order they'll implement, though.
Same with me. I found no point in wasting time to grind out the marks and dilithium and spending lots of EC to get lower mark sets I'm just gonna replace anyway. Same for reputation store unlocks; by the time I get the dilithium to purchase the lower marks, I have the Mk XII unlocked. To me it was always a waste of time and resources. I like the change of the lower mark junk being removed.
Love the changes to the rep system. An improved Romulan, Reman, and Nukara ship set sounds intriguing and may actually be worth getting finally.
I really hate how you have to work through Dyson's five tiers to complete a set.
Within this new version of the system, we have no reason to reach for the carrot.
Cryptic had moved the goal post.
It stinks.
Why bother playing?
I don't understand your comparison.
If the mk XII versions are available at each tier they've essentially placed the carrot, of I assume you mean a complete set, at the end of the course.
The reason I imagine they're doing this is that plenty of people, like myself on my alts, actually didn't purchase the lower tiered sets instead devoting those marks to the rep leveling and reserving all the marks for the final Mk XII versions.
The primary impetus I had for getting the whole set at the lower levels was the A) At that time I was planning to work the ground STFs too (but my computer couldn't take it) and the accolades.
If they said once you complete the Mk XII set you get all the accolades for the Mk X and XI sets I wouldn't glance at them sideways again.
Cryptic, my question is about Progression (Loss) of Mk XI Omega Sets.
I have characters with partially progressed Mk XI Space and Ground sets from Omega that were previously earned via Normal STF play, Pre-Reputation System. These characters are 1-2 items away from completing a XI Set such as Honor Guard Ground or M.A.C.O Space.
I quit the game, came back and planned on revisiting these characters to complete their XI sets via the Rep System. Elite STFs are outside my play range hence my progression towards XI sets.
With X & XI Omega Items being removed what will become of my progression towards completing these sets? How do I proceed without the ability to purchase the remainder of these sets?
An earlier post indicated that they would remain and possibly autocomplete the accolade if you have just one piece.
A thing I liked with Dyson Commendations was that they provided a nice, easy way of earning a bit of Dilithium and marks even after I hit Tier 5. Just drop into the Dyson Zone, grab some quick Doff Missions, run the Daily Commendation mission, get my box and commendation. Is something like that going to continue, so we keep getting the daily missions to get the boxes? Or will you get no more boxes after you hit Tier 5?
That's a good point, will we still have the continued efforts dailies with the nice payout?
"Rise like Lions after slumber, In unvanquishable number, Shake your chains to earth like dew, Which in sleep had fallen on you-Ye are many they are few"
Looks mostly good except ... Loosing commendations is not Alt friendly!
At least for me ... I don't have a lot of time to play each day, so the Dyson Commendation '5 pack" was very handy.
I could run a toon for the few hours I have, earn enough marks to get a "5 pack" of commendations, then I only needed to log in and cycle DoFF missions and the Rep Upgrade on that toon every 20 hrs or so. Rinse and repeat for each toon.
Now I'll have to run at least one mission each day on each Alt to get the same result, which equals less time on each toon, which equals longer level up on new/current alts, which equals less XP on each alt per day, which equals llloooonnngggeerrr grinds for each one ...
I like to get those Reward Packs, do i need to reset the reputations from tier 5 in order to get them? really hope able to continue to do the xp projects after completed tier 5.
I'm pretty sure the answer is "no" and this won't change to what it is now. Once you complete the tier 5 upgrade for a reputation, the XP projects are removed for good and you can no longer do them. The reward packs you get when completing the XP projects are things that become unlocked in the reputation store. So when you're tier 5, you'll be able to buy all items for dilithium from the store that you could get for free while leveling up your rep. Continuing to do the XP projects to get the rep store stuff completely free would defeat the purpose of the rep store. It would make it too easy to obtain those items. (The items unlock in the reputation store automatically with each tier you complete)
Edit: Here is a tip: The dilithium store discounts unlocked through your Dilithium Mine Fleet Holding *do* work for reputation stores, and yes this was intentional from the beginning. So that is a way to get rep store items at a permanent discount, as long as you're in a fleet with the discounts unlocked.
Comments
I have half a dozen alts, three of which are actively working on reputations. I can honestly say that I have not run into that bottleneck at all. The main bottleneck for them has always been simply getting the marks. Having to run one or two STFs per rep per day per alt has proven a much bigger issue than the Expertise costs. It is not at all uncommon for my alts' rep projects to sit for a day or two with everything filled except for the marks. So much so that I've put them all on a rep hiatus until my main can forward them all sponsorship tokens. (Which is why my first question was whether Season 9 would have any impact on the sponsorship system.)
If the new system guarantees that they'll be able to get what they need from a single daily STF per rep, that would go a long way toward making the grind more bearable for me. Nevertheless, I do hope they address the concerns of those worried about Expertise. The way they wrote the blog implies that all the costs will be a flat rate per project, so hopefully they will arrive at a good compromise Expertise cost.
Since you removed the old Mirror event, there is NO suitable source of large amounts of expertise. Please either reinstate the old mirror, or remove expertise costs from the large xp project, and preferably from gear unlocks as well, as the 64k or so per item is crippling under the current system for newer characters.
This may be a normal post clustered in a sea of other forum posts, but I hope you see my message and understand how this means to me. Sincerely, thank you.
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Yes. Please, just add back the Old mirror universe event. That would solve all the problems.
Personally marks were never a problem for me. One elite ISE or Crystal entity elite mission gives more than enough marks for rep xp projects.
With commendations, Dyson was easiest rep ever. But All my 19 characters will have it at tier 5 before this goes live. So I'm very luckily avoiding the issue with Dyson rep.
And as for Romulan marks.... Epohhs, friendly and cuddly epohhs!
Simply put, you're doing the wrong doff assignments. Concentrate on the 20+ hour ones, especially assignments that have high critical success multipliers. Then make sure you optimize for critical success. Some of those assignments can net you thousands of XP/Expertise. And while you may have to wait 20 hours for the result, it only takes minutes to queue the assignments and then you're free to move on. Mind you, the "good" assignments are not always readily available, etc. There is certainly some aspect of "grind" to locating them and then getting them queued up on all your eligible characters. But as a supplement to normal Expertise-generating methods, it works wonders, at least for me.
True, but then it becomes a matter of balancing resources, which is one of the major aspects of most MMOs....
Without the resource distribution aspect, I suspect most players would get bored with actual gameplay very quickly, no matter how good the game.
Invasion of the body snatchers.
U.S.S. Maelstrom, NCC-71417 (Constitution III-class/flagship) --- Fleet Admiral Hauk' --|-- Dahar Master Hauk --- I.K.S. qu'In 'an bortaS (D7-class / flagship)
This^^^^^
I agree wholeheartedly with all of this.
Really great job, Smirk. Great job.
STO Forum member since before February 2010.
STO Academy's excellent skill planner here: Link
I actually avoid success entirely. It doesn't get me what I want, and the consequences for failure are slim. -- markhawman
Once the MK X and MK XI space and ground gear are removed, what will motivate players to work through the reputation systems? Unless there is something to obtain, the purpose for working on the system would not exist.
Why stick around?
Not being able to build MK X & MK XI sets = No motivation to play through the new system.
I do not buy zen, so I get nothing in return.
No 'substantial' reward system = No money coming out of my pocket.
Game over.
Problem is, those 20 hour ones are A: Rare as you said, and B: Alts usually dont have a lot of good doffs for a high crit chance.
Honestly, they took the biggest Expertise source away, and are adding more sinks for it. That two factors added together can make some very stinky end result.
But you can also run at least 20 DOFF missions at once.
Right now, I have something like 14 or 15 million expertise just sitting there.
If you just load up on DOFF missions even once a day, expertise is the easiest thing to get in the game.
As to the changes, at first blush I had a bit of trepidation because I actually liked the commendation set-up, because you can easily turn in marks in exchange for them and they make the journey to get to the end of the Reputation train relatively rapidly.
Then when I got down to the bottom FAQ, where it says the daily missions will still award 2500XP, I feel a lot better, and I see the benefit of streamlining. In fact, it will be even cheaper to get that 2500XP now, as to "buy" 5 commendations with marks costs 350, so that's 70 marks/daily mission, and if they only cost 30 marks now to get the same XP, that reduces them to less than half the cost. I think going back to one type of "mark" per reputation will also save waste later on, so sounds good to me.
I also think the removal of the lower-level projects is a great idea - it just feels like a waste to have them there, and confusing as well (I am always checking to make sure I'm not running a "lesser" version of something I'm going to be able to get later in a better version).
That said, while Reputation is being further developed, I have some lingering concerns/issues with the system that I hope get looked at in one way or another:
FIRST, foremost, and the most impact on how I play, is:
1) DILITHIUM. All "get some dilith" projects are utterly useless to me, because with the 8,000/day cap for refining, I'll never be able to cash in my dilith unless, ironically, I pretty much stop playing and just log in once a day to refine my 8K. The Dyson sphere gives out so much dilith that after playing it for a few days I already broke 100K in unrefined dilith. It feels silly that the game almost encourages me to pretty much stop playing so I can start to use the dilith I've already earned.
I really, really hope that some type of increase is done here - I understand because of the Dilith Exchange there is reluctance to increase it, but it seems that between that, DOFFing, mining, etc. - it's just useless even if you play even a moderate, regular amount, because you earn much more unrefined dilith than you can ever actually turn into usable refined Dilith. I actually think mining is fun (and I have an enormous stack of Rich Vein coupons that I can't even give to my other toons), but it's just a waste of time because I can never actually use the dilith I have earned anyway.
2) The Reputation interface just seems so...clunky. I find myself going blind trying to go down through the list of projects, for example - I would really like a filter there, so I can just see what I am looking for. The categories don't always help with that.
I'd also like to be able to see better descriptions of what I'm getting - I use the Romulan re-enforcements quite a bit, on ground and space, and the only way to tell the difference between, say, Support Team and Security Team is that some cost more/better consumables than others but besides the graphic of the teams that appear for you, I presume some are more powerful than others but I have no idea really.
And, a final note on that - the consumables they cost (like, Common Personal Shields Mk XX) - are just annoying, really. Having to trek somewhere to get common, cheap items is just a time sink and stocking up on them just wastes space. It would be really great that if they remain, that we can purchase common items like that from our replicators - having to go to a Starbase just to get common items is a nuisance when you are out and about and just want to start a project. I can't see any balance issues arising from making them easier to obtain since they are so cheap anyway.
3) It depends on your playstyle, but it would be really great if what gives marks for a given reputation were a little more even. For instance, if you like to run solo space missions, Romulan Marks are very easy to get - but the only way to get Borg marks at a decent pace seems to be queuing up for group missions. So because of how I play, I find Romulan marks rather easy to get, but since I don't have a lot of time for extended missions I find Borg very difficult. I've heard lots of people say the opposite - because of their playstyles - it would be nice if some adjustments/additions could be made here or there that would make it more feasible to get marks via various playstyles.
Overall, changes sound good - like a lot of recent things (increasing item limits, etc.) - and how impressed I have been with the Dyson sphere content period (I think the ground Battle is probably the best area control system I have ever seen in an MMO - allows for so many different playstyles, doesn't force grouping but encourages teamwork, etc.) - but some of the older systems (like dilithium refining) just need to be adjusted to work with the new content.
Other than that, it all looks pretty good on paper. Will have to see it in action though.
Officially Nerfed In Early 2410
I no longer have any motivation to play or buy zen.
Where are the motivational rewards?
What is the purpose to playing the reputation system?
Go to Defera and craft one of the enhanced remodulators. Just need to use that adventure zone for drops from killin' borg.
TRIBBLE Hydra! Hail Janeway!
Sorry.
Officially Nerfed In Early 2410
I would rather spend two hours doing the same few STFs over and over rather than spend three minutes a days chasing epohhs. The very thought makes me want to gag....
Quite frankly, my preferred method of grinding Romulan rep (and it has taken me approximately two months to get from zero rep to tier V) is to simply do the Beta Thoridar patrol five times, turn in the daily Tau Dewa Patrol mission for 60 marks and move on. A little time-consuming, but less annoying than spending even 30 seconds on the ground on New Romulus (especially if it involves epohhs....)
Basically, I rank the four reps like this:
Easiest: Dyson - Transwarp to Allied Space, run a single five minute mission that probably involves a small amount of space combat. Acquire Commendation. Queue project. Done.
Nukara - Queue Crystalline Catastrophe. Collect marks. Queue project. Done.
Omega - Run one or two incredibly boring STFs (two if your team is so inept that you fail the optional or, worse, fail the mission entirely). When you get utterly bored of STFs (usually happens by the time I'm working on alts) the alternative is to mindlessly run around the Defera ground zone (which is better for Fleet Marks than Omega Marks, unfortunately).
Romulan - No good options. The most efficient option is chasing epohhs, then breeding epohhs. If, like me, you can't stand the thought of a Starfleet Vice Admiral or KDF Lieutenant General running through idyllic fields tagging small, furry creatures, then your alternatives are much bleaker. You can waste hours of your life running around the ground zone for about ten marks an hour, you can queue for one of several exceedingly long and painful STFs for about fifteen marks an hour, you can fly around Tau Dewa for half an hour (though you might end up having to save space whales :^P), or you can sit at one system and patrol it five times (I prefer Beta Thoridar because killing Klingons never gets old, even if you're a Klingon).
I am hoping the new rep system moves all the reps a lot closer to the Dyson model (currently that appears to be the plan). As long as Tau Dewa Patrol provides the daily bonus marks, I'll be happy, I guess.
In any case, with the exception of New Romulus, I have not found any of these reps to be a true "grind." It has taken me less than two months to go from zero to tier V in all four reps simultaneously. If you believe that you need tier V before the "real game" begins, then I guess that's a grind. But I personally believe that the "real game" begins at the start of the tutorial mission, so two months is hardly a grind at all to me.
Like this: http://youtu.be/m3gok0k3mcw ?
Easiest: Romulan one. I think Epohhs are cute, and tagged they give a load of marks.
Still good: Dyson commendations, easy to get.
Okey : Omega. ISE is easy, gives marks well enough. Bit long cooldown, but its ok.
Hardest: Nukara, especially if you do not like ground combat against Tholians. Than your only option is Elite Crystal entity.
Shrug. I made it all the way to tier V Omega without buying Mk X or Mk XI gear. Why would I bother since I'm just going to replace it with Mk XII in a couple of months?
The only rep gear I've bought on my way to tier V in any rep was the Dyson rifle because getting Expose and Exploit on the same weapon makes the otherwise lackluster ground aspect of the game much faster, at least. Other than that, you simply don't -need- rep gear to play the game. And, quite frankly, once you actually -have- all the rep gear, the game is pretty much "over" until they add something new anyway. Hence why so many people start alts....
In any case, the way I read the dev blog, instead of having to get Mk X and Mk XI sets, you'll start getting pieces of the Mk XII right from the start. If it works like Dyson, you'll get the weapon at one tier, the shield at another tier, and the armor in yet a third tier. Not sure what order they'll implement, though.
Bottom of the dev blog had a Q&A
Goodbye quick reputations. Hello 6 month grinds that make the game a boring job.
Different tastes and playstyles. If you just want to complete the big rep project every day (the most efficient use of resources, IMO), then running Elite CE once is generally enough to accomplish that. I've seen some bad ECE pugs and we still managed to finish the event (because there's no timer of which I'm aware).
Conversely, if you're trying to accumulate extra marks every day (or accelerate rep accumulation faster than 2K per day), then yes, Nukara is problematic. You can do Azure Nebula (gag) or Nukara ground (sigh). At least Nukara ground generates marks much faster than New Romulus or Defera, though. My first time there I got around 200 marks in two hours. It's even easier now because the zone was tuned for players running around in the old EV suits, not the new super Dyson EV suits. It's just god awful boring.
Same with me. I found no point in wasting time to grind out the marks and dilithium and spending lots of EC to get lower mark sets I'm just gonna replace anyway. Same for reputation store unlocks; by the time I get the dilithium to purchase the lower marks, I have the Mk XII unlocked. To me it was always a waste of time and resources. I like the change of the lower mark junk being removed.
Love the changes to the rep system. An improved Romulan, Reman, and Nukara ship set sounds intriguing and may actually be worth getting finally.
If the mk XII versions are available at each tier they've essentially placed the carrot, of I assume you mean a complete set, at the end of the course.
The reason I imagine they're doing this is that plenty of people, like myself on my alts, actually didn't purchase the lower tiered sets instead devoting those marks to the rep leveling and reserving all the marks for the final Mk XII versions.
The primary impetus I had for getting the whole set at the lower levels was the A) At that time I was planning to work the ground STFs too (but my computer couldn't take it) and
If they said once you complete the Mk XII set you get all the accolades for the Mk X and XI sets I wouldn't glance at them sideways again.
An earlier post indicated that they would remain and possibly autocomplete the accolade if you have just one piece.
That's a good point, will we still have the continued efforts dailies with the nice payout?
At least for me ... I don't have a lot of time to play each day, so the Dyson Commendation '5 pack" was very handy.
I could run a toon for the few hours I have, earn enough marks to get a "5 pack" of commendations, then I only needed to log in and cycle DoFF missions and the Rep Upgrade on that toon every 20 hrs or so. Rinse and repeat for each toon.
Now I'll have to run at least one mission each day on each Alt to get the same result, which equals less time on each toon, which equals longer level up on new/current alts, which equals less XP on each alt per day, which equals llloooonnngggeerrr grinds for each one ...
I'm pretty sure the answer is "no" and this won't change to what it is now. Once you complete the tier 5 upgrade for a reputation, the XP projects are removed for good and you can no longer do them. The reward packs you get when completing the XP projects are things that become unlocked in the reputation store. So when you're tier 5, you'll be able to buy all items for dilithium from the store that you could get for free while leveling up your rep. Continuing to do the XP projects to get the rep store stuff completely free would defeat the purpose of the rep store. It would make it too easy to obtain those items. (The items unlock in the reputation store automatically with each tier you complete)
Edit: Here is a tip: The dilithium store discounts unlocked through your Dilithium Mine Fleet Holding *do* work for reputation stores, and yes this was intentional from the beginning. So that is a way to get rep store items at a permanent discount, as long as you're in a fleet with the discounts unlocked.