A bad trade in this case is better than no trade at all (I would hardly ever get enough commendations to finish a single toon without the exchange project, well, before giving up on it, anyway).
5 mins a day is too much if you can't log in at all every day. I've always hated Commendations and am glad they'll be gone.
And the EC and expertise cost can only hurt people with dozens of toons trying to finish all reps at once (unless they up the costs significantly), hence I believe all the changes are good.
You are seriously trying to make me believe you did not have 5 minutes of free time a day.
That's so silly, not even a five years old would believe it.
Still, this will make Nukara rep grind much more bearable.
Let us wear Swimsuits on Foundry maps or bridges please! I would pay zen for that.
I've been through several iterations of the endgame reputation in my time here, for me there has been no improvement the time and dilithium sinks introduced in Season 7 kept me away from the game for a year, I came back a few weeks ago and now they want to change the system again... this time however I like the change in terms of removing the commodities and other tripe we needed to waste our time clicking on. Which is all it was clicking on things to click on things it was an inefficient mess. I said this at the time, 12 months later the devs now agree with me. what a waste. It's shame for all the people who did the grinds to get shafted like that.
My only main concern the Experience and EC costs in terms of how much they will demand of us I mean if it's 250k Experience for Tier 1 in any rep then it's going to be a problem as the average MIE only bags you 16k in Experience on average. Wasn't so much of an issue back in the day when you could grind a certain amount in a few seconds on the Foundry but Experience is now not so easy to come across.
Hopefully they won't be asking for millions of EC for each Tier either. I worry that there is some kind of money making motive behind this...
I don't think the exp will increase so dramatical. At the moment tier 5 takes about 100k exp without double experience.
The Items from the boxes can't keep up with fleet items and sets. This has to be changed. As long as the Missions rewards no special items, people will play only the fast missions. IGE is nearly dead. How about using the MK X and MK XI sets as free rewards as they were pre reputation. They are to expensive comparing to MK XII version. Thats why nobody creates this stuff.
When I have the choice between 250 Marks for MK X, 375 for MK XI and 500 for MK XII i will skip MK X and MK XI. For 10k Dili for MK X I would by it for sure on the way to MK XII.
An additional way could be rewarding MK X from Reputation Boxes and MK XI from specific PvE.
I don't think the exp will increase so dramatical. At the moment tier 5 takes about 100k exp without double experience.
The Items from the boxes can't keep up with fleet items and sets. This has to be changed. As long as the Missions rewards no special items, people will play only the fast missions. IGE is nearly dead. How about using the MK X and MK XI sets as free rewards as they were pre reputation. They are to expensive comparing to MK XII version. Thats why nobody creates this stuff.
When I have the choice between 250 Marks for MK X, 375 for MK XI and 500 for MK XII i will skip MK X and MK XI. For 10k Dili for MK X I would by it for sure on the way to MK XII.
An additional way could be rewarding MK X from Reputation Boxes and MK XI from specific PvE.
Well it'd be nice if there as a greater chance of Very Rare MK XII loot drops as rewards on the grounds, I know that I'd be far more likely to play them if there was a 1 in 5 chance of picking up loot I could sell for 1Million EC or more, especially if EC is going to be an input for Reputation now. Of course an oversupply of those items would lower the price a little but still... maybe even just offer a straight up EC reward of say 250k for doing something like IGE. (remember you can make a Million on Tour the Galaxy)
You are seriously trying to make me believe you did not have 5 minutes of free time a day.
That's so silly, not even a five years old would believe it.
Still, this will make Nukara rep grind much more bearable.
A) There are days I'm nowhere near a computer with internet connectivity. There are days (though yes, this is increasingly rare) when I don't switch on my PC.
C) If I have 5 mins of free time I won't bother with launching STO for one little mission. I only launch STO if I know I'll have ample time for all I'll want to do (typically a matter of hours). At the very least I'd want to turn in contraband, exchange daily dil on all toons and start some basic Doff assignements.
Now, I don't know how old you are or what you believe in, so...
Either way, I'm happy with those changes (less so with the newly announced 'reputation traits').
TOIVA, Toi Vaxx, Toia Vix, Toveg, T'vritha, To Vrax: Bring in the Allegiance class. Toi'Va, Ti'vath, Toivia, Ty'Vris, Tia Vex, Toi'Virth: Add Tier 6 KDF Carrier and Raider. Tae'Va, T'Vaya, To'Var, Tevra, T'Vira, To'Vrak: Give us Asylums for Romulans.
MK X and MK XI were tools in which helped casual players.
...
I am a "Star Trek" fan.
I am not an MMO fan.
I snipped it, but purely for space, not because what you said isn't worth saying. The "confusion" would be removed by simply adding toggles or "branches" to the Rep UI. And letting people check "Mk X" and "Space" (or drill down in a more streamlined tree) would leave the option for new players (I get that Borg Mk X engine first thing on alts for sector space boosts) as well as ground, while avoiding confusion or mis-clicks as well.
And you're perfectly right--Star Trek Fans are not implicitly Grindy MMO fans.
A suggestion. Make each individual Tau Dewa Mission capable of handing out the bonus marks so you can run projects. But make the overall patrol a wrapper mission that on 100% completion hands out the 60 marks and 1440 dilithium like Aiding the Deferi does. This way you can provide comparable rewards for comparable work without having to come up with new missions. And please up the rewards on The Vault Ensnared. Even adding a dilithium reward would help.
That is a fantastic suggestion, and would make the daily something I enjoyed doing. But it still leaves the incredibly frustrating grind to earn Marks for gear--it's so bad I haven't even started on any alts, and don't think I will. Making the gear better doesn't change how nauseating the prospect of running more missions with paltry (perfect word for it, btw)/insulting rewards.
Putting the (mk X and XI) Omega sets in as rewards to the Borg storyline wouldn't be a terrible idea, for example. There's a lot of storyline content I just don't play right now because the rewards don't matter once you're level 50.
Putting in lower-tier rewards for missions would be an AMAZING compromise. Good idea!
There's a pattern I've been seeing on the forums. Everyone seems to view the game as some form of work. To get X, you must do Y. When people complain how much they dislike having to grind for 20 hours or more to get something, others fire back that those people are "lazy" and feel "entitled" to instant gratification that isn't deserved. They stress that you must "earn" your rewards. But this misses the greater issue. If the rewards were removed, would you keep doing that "work"? Would you have any incentive to keep playing? If your answer to either or both of those is "no", then you've just come to realize what's wrong with STO.
You're not wrong in content, but in context. That's EVERY game community. It was, however, lacking in STO, but you are correct in that it's creeping into STO too. A game should be enjoyable for the game itself, and acting elitist and condescending because people play a different way is sure to turn players off.
I don't know what constitutes an Endgame Rep vs a Non-Endgame Rep - nor do I want to know. The problem with the very declaration is first that no reputation is in any functional way endgame or they all are. Second reputation systems represent one of two types - those belonging to playable races and those that are pillaged from non-playable races. The role-play possibilities are completely ignored, and virtually discouraged by the game mechanics. It is like the Vulcan D'Kyr class starship. What is supposed to be the pride and joy of the Vulcan fleet, capable of both incredible scientific research and military power equal to the Andorian Kumari class vessels is pathetic.
Currently, I hear Dyson tauted as the epitome of tactical capacity. Once again, it is limited to a specific concept and fails to be adaptable to other role-play considerations. Dyson equipement has no support for the Andorian class ships, Romulan/Reman preferences in weaponry, or adaptation by Borg officers to interact intrinsically with Borg originated technology. There is no ability to use it to effectively enhance Klingon, Federation, Dominion, Ferengi, Orion, etc. tech. It is almost as if the very concept of role play is discouraged. Why would I want to invest in things that are ultimately horridly inappropriate to my characterization? It is like the Scimitar class warbirds which come from one of the most scientifically oriented races in the Star Trek universe and yet are incapable of a truly scientific build. (Making my purchase of them disappointing and further purchases of equipment less desirable.) If it is desirable to improve item sets, fine, but how about starting with improving the things that are already inappropriately inferior or poorly represent their people.
I was not happy the last time the reputation system was ripped apart and restructured and I have no reason to be excited with this one. The biggest problem with all of them is that they are centered on life controlling grind - as if people do not have homes to clean, cars to maintain, children to raise, homework, jobs, lawns, etc. The advantage of the Dyson Commendations was that they reduced the grind - so ofcourse they must be destroyed. Across my numerous Star Trek characters, it is this grind that is the most undesirable feature of the game.
Just... just wow. All of that... wow. If they gave awards for forum posts, I'd be nominating yours. As to mechanics--add Dilithium/Mark rewards to the reward packs? Maybe?
To everyone who feels the need to turn up your nose and poo-pooh the lesser players... realize that your game needs other people. All elitism and condescension and smug superiority will get you is the servers shut down sooner. Be nice, be accommodating, be accepting of other people and other drives/desires, and make the game better for everyone, or lose it altogether.
Now, as to the thread as a whole, and Cryptic in particular:
Since you're altering the Rep system anyway, might I suggest a change? Make the "daily" mission reset in 12, 16, 18 hours, not 20. Since the actual Rep missions have a 20 hour time delay, it means I log in at the same time. But logging in at that time means I then have to grind the marks/currency for that mission, making that 20 hour cycle a bit (or a lot, depending on the day) longer, and if I'm short on XP, much longer.
So why not let people run the "daily" a little faster? They won't be able to Rep Up quicker, but they will be able to keep with the same pulse of rep projects.
Other suggestions:
Make Mk X and Mk XI gear mission rewards, or drop from Reward packs, or available in some other way (Store, perhaps)
Make Reward packs also drop occasional Marks, Dil, etc
Add a conversion system from Rep marks to other Reps or Fleet Marks
Reduce Tau Dewa Patrol to ONE system for the daily, more for a bonus.
ADD DILITHIUM REWARDS and ELITE SPACE to Romulan Rep missions.
Make every Rep system as valuable time-wise as Omega, even if you already have the Rep and Gear--meaning balance time spent for dilithium, gear, Marks, and extras (BNP, etc)
If Commendations go away, at least make the Daily requirements as quick and easy to get.
Boost XP earned from combat, or add it in to the Dailies.
I find it incredibly odd that Cryptic constantly professes that this game caters to casual players, yet the game systems make it obvious that it is trying to encourage hardcore grinding, which is anything but casual. If this game was truly casual, there would be no grinding. It would be a game that is easy to pick up and put down on a whim. That's casual. I find Counter-Strike to be more casual in design because it only requires you to join a server and start playing. I can play for 5 minutes or 3 hours. I get the same amount of entertainment either way. Granted, it's not a role playing game, but it is very casual. The only "casual" part of STO is the Doff assignments. I think Cryptic needs to look into the definition of casual because to be a casual game, it needs to provide the maximum of enjoyment in a very short amount of time and still be able to maintain that for extended periods to satisfy the more dedicated players.
Go here and show your support for a better Foundry!
Awards SOME, as you said. Some. 20 hour doff missions award like 600. A new crappy MU event awards 6k per 18 minutes.
Apparently you picked one of the worst 20h doff assignment in the game.... The best 20 hour doff missions award about five times that much expertise on a critical result. You only get 600 on a success and even then only on the worst 20h doff missions.
Here are the highlights from yesterday's doff assignments on a couple of characters:
Entertain Foreign Dignitaries, 6h and 5 doffs, critical success, 4,542 xp and 5,203 exp for a total of 9,745 expertise. You should run this and the KDF equivalent (Entertain High-Ranking Warriors from Qo'noS) every single day on every character, if nothing else. You can get a decent critical chance with just green doffs and the assignment is almost always available on your First Officer once the hidden 20 hour cool down ends.
Provide Medical Support in Combat Zone, 20h and 3 doffs, success, 1,430 xp and 1,639 exp for a total of 3,069 expertise.
Debrief Prisoner, 20h and 2 doffs, success, 661 xp and 757 exp for a total of 1,718 expertise.
Debrief Prisoner, 20h and 2 doffs, critical success, 1,837 xp and 2,104 exp for a total of 3,941 expertise.
Support Eridan Belt Colonization Efforts, 4h and 5 doffs, success, 474 xp and 543 exp for a total of 1,017 expertise. Note that you can achieve a zero failure rate on this one with only blue doffs. If you use five good purples, you get 33% critical chance and 67% success chance.
Support Delta Volanis Cluster Colonization Efforts, 4h and 5 doffs, critical success, 1,362 xp and 1,561 exp for a total of 3,923 expertise.
Other assignments you should always run when you find them are Establish a Listening Post in ABC, Escort XYZ Representative/Ambassador to ABC, and Establish an Additional Military Base in ABC.
EC is not that easy to come by, but for example, MU drops it quite well, even if its not that good Expertise wise.
Strange, it takes me 30 minutes to do the Tau Dewa Patrol, and I make about 200K EC just from selling all the white and green loot. 200K EC should be enough to pay for all four reps' EC costs.
Still, for alts, this is a problem. With a commendation, you had to do ONE Mission. Now you need THREE things, Marks, Expertise and credits. Not going to be able to get those all in one mission, dude.
True. But Dyson rep was arguably far too easy compared to the older reps. Cryptic has decided to make Dyson slightly harder in return for making the other three reps much, much easier. Seems like a good trade to me.
As long as you get ONE character, and several hours to spend on it, this is not a problem for you.
I have five characters I play actively that are pursuing rep. It takes me half an hour to an hour per day for each of them. If I don't have enough time, I accept that the alts that don't get played that day won't advance that day.
I'm sorry, but it's in the nature of MMOs that you trade time for advancement. Alternatively, you P2W and trade money earned from your RL activities to accelerate your in-game advancement. But expecting alts to advance without investing any time into them is probably unrealistic....
In other words, what I'm saying is that the current Dyson rep mechanic and the old Mirror Universe event were mistakes. Both were much too easy compared to every other "grind" in the game.
I find it incredibly odd that Cryptic constantly professes that this game caters to casual players, yet the game systems make it obvious that it is trying to encourage hardcore grinding, which is anything but casual. If this game was truly casual, there would be no grinding. It would be a game that is easy to pick up and put down on a whim. That's casual. I find Counter-Strike to be more casual in design because it only requires you to join a server and start playing. I can play for 5 minutes or 3 hours. I get the same amount of entertainment either way. Granted, it's not a role playing game, but it is very casual. The only "casual" part of STO is the Doff assignments. I think Cryptic needs to look into the definition of casual because to be a casual game, it needs to provide the maximum of enjoyment in a very short amount of time and still be able to maintain that for extended periods to satisfy the more dedicated players.
You can complete pretty much every activity in the game without investing a single minute into any of the reputations. That's about as casual as you can get....
I do not like the MK XI ground gear being removed from the reputation system.
For my boffs, I like to get the MK XI ground gear. The armor visuals are nice and leave the head and face uncovered. The MK XII armor visuals however hide the face.
For my character, this is not a problem since I can always create a costume that leave the head uncovered.
If we are going to be limited to MK XII gear can we get an additional armor visual similar to the MK XI?
Weve reduced the cost on all ground costume unlock projects to only require 5 Marks. Going forward new reputations will automatically award these costume unlocks upon meeting their requirements.
Does this mean you will get around to remove the bug that makes unlocked costume option not being available?
One thing I really think you should add to Season 9 is a responding costumer support.
Still having trouble from before season 8 that I do not get response from support about. :eek:
A test server is supposed to be used to properly test patches before patching anything....
Just thought I'd post an update in this thread since we now have access to the revamped Rep systems on Tribble. Might help to address some of the concerns from those who are worried about EXP and EC requirements for the daily projects.
All reps use a standard amount for their projects; the daily projects use 30 Marks, 2K EXP, and 15K EC. So although the Dyson rep never had these requirements for the daily previously, the other rep systems now require far less in way of EC and EXP for their daily projects, so overall you're still going to be saving a fair amount. Plus, the amount you spend really isn't that high at all so it's likely not going to be a burden to the Dyson rep.
Also, at 30 marks for a daily project that's a big saving when you compare the exchange rates of 350 marks to just 5 commendations.
If you also account for each rep now rewarding a 'mystery item' from it's store upon filling a project, those items tend to sell for a minimum of a few thousand EC. Though most of the time, whatever mission you chose to run to get your 'daily bonus marks' will no doubt give enough drops to cover the EC cost of the daily project and it'll likely give at least 2K EXP too. So overall these changes are positive for the rep system.
Join date is wrong, I've actually been around since STO Beta.
True alters don't have a "main". Account wide unlocks for all unique event rewards!!
Will we be able to unselect Tier Upgrade Projects that demand 30 Marks? I am not allowed to cancel it in the current system. I would rather lose 2 and pay 5, than have to pay 28 to finish a project (version) that is going extinct.
[SIGPIC]Sarvour Shipyards[/SIGPIC]Sarvour Shipyards =A=Commodore Joshua Daniel Sarvour, S.C.E.
U.S.S. AKAGI NX-93347, Enterprise-class Battle Cruiser =A= U.S.S. T'KORA'S WRATH NX-110047, Odyssey-class Battle Cruiser "There Ain't No Grave, Can Hold My Body Down..." PS - I fully support a T6 Nova, fixing the Nova skins. I am also rooting for a T6 Science Cruiser, that can use Nova/Rhode Island skins. T6 Nova/Rhode Island, T6 Oberth & T6 Constellation are needed. Also needed a T6 Science Cruiser, that can wear any Science or Cruiser skin.
I do not like the MK XI ground gear being removed from the reputation system.
For my boffs, I like to get the MK XI ground gear. The armor visuals are nice and leave the head and face uncovered. The MK XII armor visuals however hide the face.
For my character, this is not a problem since I can always create a costume that leave the head uncovered.
If we are going to be limited to MK XII gear can we get an additional armor visual similar to the MK XI?
Armor and kit visuals in the character status window have been removed. You can no longer turn them on and off.
BUT! The armor and kit visuals have been added to the costume tailor. You can mix and max all kinds of stuff and even pick the colors. The armor and kit visuals have been added to the tailor for boffs too.
And get this! My character with the MACO costume unlocked I copied over to tribble, bridge officers can now be switched to these special costumes in the tailor via the uniform dropdown in the head and uniform options. Now you can not only get the MACO or Omega costumes on your boffs while choosing not to use the helmet, you can also customize the colors just like your own costume. Edit: The difference is that you can't toggle the armor on and off so if you want your boff in a regular outfit you have to modify them at the tailor again.
Just thought I'd post an update in this thread since we now have access to the revamped Rep systems on Tribble. Might help to address some of the concerns from those who are worried about EXP and EC requirements for the daily projects.
All reps use a standard amount for their projects; the daily projects use 30 Marks, 2K EXP, and 15K EC. So although the Dyson rep never had these requirements for the daily previously, the other rep systems now require far less in way of EC and EXP for their daily projects, so overall you're still going to be saving a fair amount. Plus, the amount you spend really isn't that high at all so it's likely not going to be a burden to the Dyson rep.
Also, at 30 marks for a daily project that's a big saving when you compare the exchange rates of 350 marks to just 5 commendations.
If you also account for each rep now rewarding a 'mystery item' from it's store upon filling a project, those items tend to sell for a minimum of a few thousand EC. Though most of the time, whatever mission you chose to run to get your 'daily bonus marks' will no doubt give enough drops to cover the EC cost of the daily project and it'll likely give at least 2K EXP too. So overall these changes are positive for the rep system.
Also the amount of marks, expertise, and energy credits required for the daily and hourly projects stays exactly the same no matter what tier in the rep you have.
Also the amount of marks, expertise, and energy credits required for the daily and hourly projects stays exactly the same no matter what tier in the rep you have.
However, both of them are smaller than the current cost of non Dyson reps.
Let us wear Swimsuits on Foundry maps or bridges please! I would pay zen for that.
Also the amount of marks, expertise, and energy credits required for the daily and hourly projects stays exactly the same no matter what tier in the rep you have.
Also the amount of marks, expertise, and energy credits required for the daily and hourly projects stays exactly the same no matter what tier in the rep you have.
That too yeah. I did note those down when I was on the other day, but then I realised I'd noted down the requirements for the hourly dilithium project and didn't want to post them in case they were different from the Rep rewarding hourly haha.
Join date is wrong, I've actually been around since STO Beta.
True alters don't have a "main". Account wide unlocks for all unique event rewards!!
We have added some updated information regarding the Borg Rep System functions to the OP Blog Post. Make sure to check out these additions.
Yesterdays updates were placed in the wrong blog and we want to make sure to get this out to everyone to reassure you that we listen to player feedback, and take it very seriously.
The removed bonus BNPs is just a nerf to our ability to earn dilithium. most of us have the gear already and we only do the stfs to earn dilithium via marks and bnps
We have added some updated information regarding the Borg Rep System functions to the OP Blog Post. Make sure to check out these additions.
Yesterdays updates were placed in the wrong blog and we want to make sure to get this out to everyone to reassure you that we listen to player feedback, and take it very seriously.
Sorry for the mix up everyone.
Thanks everybody! ~CaptainSmirk
Nice so the only really nice content got its rewards nerfed a bit - so sad. Loved those 11 bnps. They really feel we were farming to much i feel. We grinded the grind too fast. Now not only no daily rep event and less stuff that makes dil. me sad:(
Nice so the only really nice content got its rewards nerfed a bit - so sad. Loved those 11 bnps. They really feel we were farming to much i feel. We grinded the grind too fast. Now not only no daily rep event and less stuff that makes dil. me sad:(
You still have battlezone. Which will no doubt be a dilithium gold mine for a long time (if only because it got people on the ground).
We have added some updated information regarding the Borg Rep System functions to the OP Blog Post. Make sure to check out these additions.
Yesterdays updates were placed in the wrong blog and we want to make sure to get this out to everyone to reassure you that we listen to player feedback, and take it very seriously.
Sorry for the mix up everyone.
Thanks everybody! ~CaptainSmirk
Saw that, whats the word on currently slotted projects?
One of my toons just recently slotted the projects for a space set, will the BNP costs be auto reduced on an already slotted project? Ala fleet projects when a mine tier is completed?
We have added some updated information regarding the Borg Rep System functions to the OP Blog Post. Make sure to check out these additions.
Yesterdays updates were placed in the wrong blog and we want to make sure to get this out to everyone to reassure you that we listen to player feedback, and take it very seriously.
Sorry for the mix up everyone.
Thanks everybody! ~CaptainSmirk
Damn ya!
The 11 BNPs were what Prototype salvage was before. When you got it, it made you cheer up and it brightened your day. Now you're removing another bit of the fun.
And given I always play several STFs any given day (been at least a dozen daily, when I could play, lately), the daily mark bonus is nowhere near interesting compared to the bonus BNPs disappearing.
TOIVA, Toi Vaxx, Toia Vix, Toveg, T'vritha, To Vrax: Bring in the Allegiance class. Toi'Va, Ti'vath, Toivia, Ty'Vris, Tia Vex, Toi'Virth: Add Tier 6 KDF Carrier and Raider. Tae'Va, T'Vaya, To'Var, Tevra, T'Vira, To'Vrak: Give us Asylums for Romulans.
So, guaranteed loot is good. Taking away the BNP jackpot, though, is bad.
What, too many people earned too much Dil during the one weekend every three months (or more? are we ever getting another one??)? I mean, I get it--I had 200+ BNP cluttering my inventory, but the point remains:
STFS ARE THE ONLY REP MISSIONS THAT PROVIDE TRUE END-GAME CURRENCY, in the form of Mk XII purple gear and Dilithium.
Ever wonder why Omega PvE queues are always full, while Nukura (other than Crystalline) and Romulan remain empty? Or why Dyson space PvE isn't nearly as busy as Omega or Dyson Ground?
Because STFs and Dyson Ground provide DILITHIUM.
What I was really hoping to see from an update was this:
3-4 Space and 2-3 Ground Normal Missions per Rep (Mark Type)
3-4 Space and 2-3 Ground Elite Missions per
BALANCED variety in number and difficulty of Rep missions
DILITHIUM and GEAR rewards for ALL endgame PvE missions
Comparable marks/time invested in ALL PvE content.
Or, to sum it up, what people have asked for for years: Elite versions of Romulan missions, more Nukura Space missions, and truly balanced rewards across all endgame PvE.
You want people to play all the missions? Make them all a fair investment in time. Make all of them provide balanced rewards for effort. I should not have to wait 30-70 minutes in Mine Trap queue because no one is playing, only to check and see EVERYONE is playing Omega 1-3 (not Hive, of course, that's busted and broken to the point of non-playable), Elite, and whatever flavor-of-the-week. Romulan queues are usually empty. Nukura ground is empty (I've actually never done one). Dyson space is okay, but only people earning Marks.
BALANCE the Rep missions, make them all worthwhile, and make them all offer a similar variety of missions and difficulty. I would mind so much if the ONLY decent source of Rom marks wasn't Mine Trap Elite (hard to get enough to play), the Patrol (daily, should be HOURLY--five systems, should be 3), a broken Red Alert (seriously--you can't populate more of them?), and chasing around those bloody rabbits.
Chasing and raising fuzzy animals is not Star Trek, it's Pokemon. Some people like it, I get that--but if I want to spend all day Saturday playing, I can earn THOUSANDS of Omega marks, THOUSANDS of Dyson Marks (from ground only), maybe a THOUSAND Nukura (planet-side or one space mission, gets pretty stale), and a FEW HUNDRED Rom marks.
In the meanwhile, doing Omega and Dyson rewards me hella Dilithium and Gear, as well as bonuses (BNP, VCI, etc). Even Crystalline provides loot. Romulan... gives nothing.
Look, I'm already to a point where I don't play daily--sometimes not even weekly--because you nuked the hourly Events (1. No one wants to grind a whole weekend for one type of commodity, and 2. PEOPLE PLAY BETWEEN THOSE TWO WEEKENDS). Facing down Rom Rep on any alts I have is making it worse. I need it, as the weapons are amazing, but I get literally nauseous at the thought of doing one more bloody Patrol or chasing those fluffy schmucks on the ground.
You want people to want to play? Then let them play ANY part of the game and feel like it's worth their time, by making ALL endgame equally rewarding. That way no one gets left out, queues are fuller, and people have actual choice and variety.
You're already "fixing" it, please fix it all the way. Also, 8/8/4 for Rep reward slots, not 4/4/4. Make Romulan rep rewarding on its own, with comparable number and variety of missions. And put in SOMETHING to replace hourly events. Thanks for listening to feedback, hope to see improvement in the above.
You want people to want to play? Then let them play ANY part of the game and feel like it's worth their time, by making ALL endgame equally rewarding. That way no one gets left out, queues are fuller, and people have actual choice and variety.
I agree with this, but I fear Cryptic's response is likely to be simply to nerf the "good" rewards so all rewards are on a level, rather than boost the "bad" rewards so that all rewards are on a level.
And then they'll wonder why the game isn't doing as well as it ought to, given it's a Star Trek game.
I dunno, I can sense that Cryptic do have a traditional approach to MMO balance, etc., but I fear that such an approach just doesn't mix well with a pay2win approach. Either have one or the other, mixing the two is, I feel, disastrous.
And given that the game is already heavily oriented around pay2win, I think they should just go the whole hog and let people have fun getting big shinies for their efforts.
Sure, they'll get bored more quickly and leave, and that would be disastrous if this were a subscription game; but given it's a free game, they may also come back later with fond memories, instead of not come back at all, with bad memories of long, fruitless grind.
It's a new era, the old design tropes are irrelevant. "Give people what they want" is what everyone expects. No-one cares about being given a carefully-tailored, carefully-balanced experience by developers any more, they just want shinies, and if they don't get them in this game, they'll move to another.
Comments
God I hope so.
You are seriously trying to make me believe you did not have 5 minutes of free time a day.
That's so silly, not even a five years old would believe it.
Still, this will make Nukara rep grind much more bearable.
My only main concern the Experience and EC costs in terms of how much they will demand of us I mean if it's 250k Experience for Tier 1 in any rep then it's going to be a problem as the average MIE only bags you 16k in Experience on average. Wasn't so much of an issue back in the day when you could grind a certain amount in a few seconds on the Foundry but Experience is now not so easy to come across.
Hopefully they won't be asking for millions of EC for each Tier either. I worry that there is some kind of money making motive behind this...
#2311#2700#2316#2500
The Items from the boxes can't keep up with fleet items and sets. This has to be changed. As long as the Missions rewards no special items, people will play only the fast missions. IGE is nearly dead. How about using the MK X and MK XI sets as free rewards as they were pre reputation. They are to expensive comparing to MK XII version. Thats why nobody creates this stuff.
When I have the choice between 250 Marks for MK X, 375 for MK XI and 500 for MK XII i will skip MK X and MK XI. For 10k Dili for MK X I would by it for sure on the way to MK XII.
An additional way could be rewarding MK X from Reputation Boxes and MK XI from specific PvE.
Well it'd be nice if there as a greater chance of Very Rare MK XII loot drops as rewards on the grounds, I know that I'd be far more likely to play them if there was a 1 in 5 chance of picking up loot I could sell for 1Million EC or more, especially if EC is going to be an input for Reputation now. Of course an oversupply of those items would lower the price a little but still... maybe even just offer a straight up EC reward of say 250k for doing something like IGE. (remember you can make a Million on Tour the Galaxy)
#2311#2700#2316#2500
A) There are days I'm nowhere near a computer with internet connectivity.
C) If I have 5 mins of free time I won't bother with launching STO for one little mission. I only launch STO if I know I'll have ample time for all I'll want to do (typically a matter of hours). At the very least I'd want to turn in contraband, exchange daily dil on all toons and start some basic Doff assignements.
Now, I don't know how old you are or what you believe in, so...
Either way, I'm happy with those changes (less so with the newly announced 'reputation traits').
Toi'Va, Ti'vath, Toivia, Ty'Vris, Tia Vex, Toi'Virth: Add Tier 6 KDF Carrier and Raider.
Tae'Va, T'Vaya, To'Var, Tevra, T'Vira, To'Vrak: Give us Asylums for Romulans.
Don't make ARC mandatory! Keep it optional only!
And you're perfectly right--Star Trek Fans are not implicitly Grindy MMO fans. That is a fantastic suggestion, and would make the daily something I enjoyed doing. But it still leaves the incredibly frustrating grind to earn Marks for gear--it's so bad I haven't even started on any alts, and don't think I will. Making the gear better doesn't change how nauseating the prospect of running more missions with paltry (perfect word for it, btw)/insulting rewards. Putting in lower-tier rewards for missions would be an AMAZING compromise. Good idea! You're not wrong in content, but in context. That's EVERY game community. It was, however, lacking in STO, but you are correct in that it's creeping into STO too. A game should be enjoyable for the game itself, and acting elitist and condescending because people play a different way is sure to turn players off. Just... just wow. All of that... wow. If they gave awards for forum posts, I'd be nominating yours. As to mechanics--add Dilithium/Mark rewards to the reward packs? Maybe?
To everyone who feels the need to turn up your nose and poo-pooh the lesser players... realize that your game needs other people. All elitism and condescension and smug superiority will get you is the servers shut down sooner. Be nice, be accommodating, be accepting of other people and other drives/desires, and make the game better for everyone, or lose it altogether.
Now, as to the thread as a whole, and Cryptic in particular:
Since you're altering the Rep system anyway, might I suggest a change? Make the "daily" mission reset in 12, 16, 18 hours, not 20. Since the actual Rep missions have a 20 hour time delay, it means I log in at the same time. But logging in at that time means I then have to grind the marks/currency for that mission, making that 20 hour cycle a bit (or a lot, depending on the day) longer, and if I'm short on XP, much longer.
So why not let people run the "daily" a little faster? They won't be able to Rep Up quicker, but they will be able to keep with the same pulse of rep projects.
Other suggestions:
Apparently you picked one of the worst 20h doff assignment in the game.... The best 20 hour doff missions award about five times that much expertise on a critical result. You only get 600 on a success and even then only on the worst 20h doff missions.
Here are the highlights from yesterday's doff assignments on a couple of characters:
Entertain Foreign Dignitaries, 6h and 5 doffs, critical success, 4,542 xp and 5,203 exp for a total of 9,745 expertise. You should run this and the KDF equivalent (Entertain High-Ranking Warriors from Qo'noS) every single day on every character, if nothing else. You can get a decent critical chance with just green doffs and the assignment is almost always available on your First Officer once the hidden 20 hour cool down ends.
Provide Medical Support in Combat Zone, 20h and 3 doffs, success, 1,430 xp and 1,639 exp for a total of 3,069 expertise.
Debrief Prisoner, 20h and 2 doffs, success, 661 xp and 757 exp for a total of 1,718 expertise.
Debrief Prisoner, 20h and 2 doffs, critical success, 1,837 xp and 2,104 exp for a total of 3,941 expertise.
Support Eridan Belt Colonization Efforts, 4h and 5 doffs, success, 474 xp and 543 exp for a total of 1,017 expertise. Note that you can achieve a zero failure rate on this one with only blue doffs. If you use five good purples, you get 33% critical chance and 67% success chance.
Support Delta Volanis Cluster Colonization Efforts, 4h and 5 doffs, critical success, 1,362 xp and 1,561 exp for a total of 3,923 expertise.
Other assignments you should always run when you find them are Establish a Listening Post in ABC, Escort XYZ Representative/Ambassador to ABC, and Establish an Additional Military Base in ABC.
Strange, it takes me 30 minutes to do the Tau Dewa Patrol, and I make about 200K EC just from selling all the white and green loot. 200K EC should be enough to pay for all four reps' EC costs.
True. But Dyson rep was arguably far too easy compared to the older reps. Cryptic has decided to make Dyson slightly harder in return for making the other three reps much, much easier. Seems like a good trade to me.
I have five characters I play actively that are pursuing rep. It takes me half an hour to an hour per day for each of them. If I don't have enough time, I accept that the alts that don't get played that day won't advance that day.
I'm sorry, but it's in the nature of MMOs that you trade time for advancement. Alternatively, you P2W and trade money earned from your RL activities to accelerate your in-game advancement. But expecting alts to advance without investing any time into them is probably unrealistic....
In other words, what I'm saying is that the current Dyson rep mechanic and the old Mirror Universe event were mistakes. Both were much too easy compared to every other "grind" in the game.
You can complete pretty much every activity in the game without investing a single minute into any of the reputations. That's about as casual as you can get....
The be'veS costume option is OP. It should stay nerfed.
I do not like the MK XI ground gear being removed from the reputation system.
For my boffs, I like to get the MK XI ground gear. The armor visuals are nice and leave the head and face uncovered. The MK XII armor visuals however hide the face.
For my character, this is not a problem since I can always create a costume that leave the head uncovered.
If we are going to be limited to MK XII gear can we get an additional armor visual similar to the MK XI?
Does this mean you will get around to remove the bug that makes unlocked costume option not being available?
One thing I really think you should add to Season 9 is a responding costumer support.
Still having trouble from before season 8 that I do not get response from support about. :eek:
A test server is supposed to be used to properly test patches before patching anything....
All reps use a standard amount for their projects; the daily projects use 30 Marks, 2K EXP, and 15K EC. So although the Dyson rep never had these requirements for the daily previously, the other rep systems now require far less in way of EC and EXP for their daily projects, so overall you're still going to be saving a fair amount. Plus, the amount you spend really isn't that high at all so it's likely not going to be a burden to the Dyson rep.
Also, at 30 marks for a daily project that's a big saving when you compare the exchange rates of 350 marks to just 5 commendations.
If you also account for each rep now rewarding a 'mystery item' from it's store upon filling a project, those items tend to sell for a minimum of a few thousand EC. Though most of the time, whatever mission you chose to run to get your 'daily bonus marks' will no doubt give enough drops to cover the EC cost of the daily project and it'll likely give at least 2K EXP too. So overall these changes are positive for the rep system.
[SIGPIC]Sarvour Shipyards[/SIGPIC]Sarvour Shipyards
=A=Commodore Joshua Daniel Sarvour, S.C.E.
U.S.S. AKAGI NX-93347, Enterprise-class Battle Cruiser =A= U.S.S. T'KORA'S WRATH NX-110047, Odyssey-class Battle Cruiser
"There Ain't No Grave, Can Hold My Body Down..."
PS - I fully support a T6 Nova, fixing the Nova skins. I am also rooting for a T6 Science Cruiser, that can use Nova/Rhode Island skins.
T6 Nova/Rhode Island, T6 Oberth & T6 Constellation are needed. Also needed a T6 Science Cruiser, that can wear any Science or Cruiser skin.
Armor and kit visuals in the character status window have been removed. You can no longer turn them on and off.
BUT! The armor and kit visuals have been added to the costume tailor. You can mix and max all kinds of stuff and even pick the colors. The armor and kit visuals have been added to the tailor for boffs too.
And get this! My character with the MACO costume unlocked I copied over to tribble, bridge officers can now be switched to these special costumes in the tailor via the uniform dropdown in the head and uniform options. Now you can not only get the MACO or Omega costumes on your boffs while choosing not to use the helmet, you can also customize the colors just like your own costume.
Also the amount of marks, expertise, and energy credits required for the daily and hourly projects stays exactly the same no matter what tier in the rep you have.
However, both of them are smaller than the current cost of non Dyson reps.
Ooooooooooo this is welcome.
That too yeah. I did note those down when I was on the other day, but then I realised I'd noted down the requirements for the hourly dilithium project and didn't want to post them in case they were different from the Rep rewarding hourly haha.
We have added some updated information regarding the Borg Rep System functions to the OP Blog Post. Make sure to check out these additions.
Yesterdays updates were placed in the wrong blog and we want to make sure to get this out to everyone to reassure you that we listen to player feedback, and take it very seriously.
Sorry for the mix up everyone.
Thanks everybody!
~CaptainSmirk
Nice so the only really nice content got its rewards nerfed a bit - so sad. Loved those 11 bnps. They really feel we were farming to much i feel. We grinded the grind too fast. Now not only no daily rep event and less stuff that makes dil. me sad:(
You still have battlezone. Which will no doubt be a dilithium gold mine for a long time (if only because it got people on the ground).
TRIBBLE Hydra! Hail Janeway!
The Battlezone is the sole reason I got the Dyson ground set. I can now solo points there.
It is awesome.
Saw that, whats the word on currently slotted projects?
One of my toons just recently slotted the projects for a space set, will the BNP costs be auto reduced on an already slotted project? Ala fleet projects when a mine tier is completed?
HELL. YES.
Damn ya!
The 11 BNPs were what Prototype salvage was before. When you got it, it made you cheer up and it brightened your day. Now you're removing another bit of the fun.
And given I always play several STFs any given day (been at least a dozen daily, when I could play, lately), the daily mark bonus is nowhere near interesting compared to the bonus BNPs disappearing.
Toi'Va, Ti'vath, Toivia, Ty'Vris, Tia Vex, Toi'Virth: Add Tier 6 KDF Carrier and Raider.
Tae'Va, T'Vaya, To'Var, Tevra, T'Vira, To'Vrak: Give us Asylums for Romulans.
Don't make ARC mandatory! Keep it optional only!
What, too many people earned too much Dil during the one weekend every three months (or more? are we ever getting another one??)? I mean, I get it--I had 200+ BNP cluttering my inventory, but the point remains:
STFS ARE THE ONLY REP MISSIONS THAT PROVIDE TRUE END-GAME CURRENCY, in the form of Mk XII purple gear and Dilithium.
Ever wonder why Omega PvE queues are always full, while Nukura (other than Crystalline) and Romulan remain empty? Or why Dyson space PvE isn't nearly as busy as Omega or Dyson Ground?
Because STFs and Dyson Ground provide DILITHIUM.
What I was really hoping to see from an update was this:
Or, to sum it up, what people have asked for for years: Elite versions of Romulan missions, more Nukura Space missions, and truly balanced rewards across all endgame PvE.
You want people to play all the missions? Make them all a fair investment in time. Make all of them provide balanced rewards for effort. I should not have to wait 30-70 minutes in Mine Trap queue because no one is playing, only to check and see EVERYONE is playing Omega 1-3 (not Hive, of course, that's busted and broken to the point of non-playable), Elite, and whatever flavor-of-the-week. Romulan queues are usually empty. Nukura ground is empty (I've actually never done one). Dyson space is okay, but only people earning Marks.
BALANCE the Rep missions, make them all worthwhile, and make them all offer a similar variety of missions and difficulty. I would mind so much if the ONLY decent source of Rom marks wasn't Mine Trap Elite (hard to get enough to play), the Patrol (daily, should be HOURLY--five systems, should be 3), a broken Red Alert (seriously--you can't populate more of them?), and chasing around those bloody rabbits.
Chasing and raising fuzzy animals is not Star Trek, it's Pokemon. Some people like it, I get that--but if I want to spend all day Saturday playing, I can earn THOUSANDS of Omega marks, THOUSANDS of Dyson Marks (from ground only), maybe a THOUSAND Nukura (planet-side or one space mission, gets pretty stale), and a FEW HUNDRED Rom marks.
In the meanwhile, doing Omega and Dyson rewards me hella Dilithium and Gear, as well as bonuses (BNP, VCI, etc). Even Crystalline provides loot. Romulan... gives nothing.
Look, I'm already to a point where I don't play daily--sometimes not even weekly--because you nuked the hourly Events (1. No one wants to grind a whole weekend for one type of commodity, and 2. PEOPLE PLAY BETWEEN THOSE TWO WEEKENDS). Facing down Rom Rep on any alts I have is making it worse. I need it, as the weapons are amazing, but I get literally nauseous at the thought of doing one more bloody Patrol or chasing those fluffy schmucks on the ground.
You want people to want to play? Then let them play ANY part of the game and feel like it's worth their time, by making ALL endgame equally rewarding. That way no one gets left out, queues are fuller, and people have actual choice and variety.
You're already "fixing" it, please fix it all the way. Also, 8/8/4 for Rep reward slots, not 4/4/4. Make Romulan rep rewarding on its own, with comparable number and variety of missions. And put in SOMETHING to replace hourly events. Thanks for listening to feedback, hope to see improvement in the above.
I agree with this, but I fear Cryptic's response is likely to be simply to nerf the "good" rewards so all rewards are on a level, rather than boost the "bad" rewards so that all rewards are on a level.
And then they'll wonder why the game isn't doing as well as it ought to, given it's a Star Trek game.
I dunno, I can sense that Cryptic do have a traditional approach to MMO balance, etc., but I fear that such an approach just doesn't mix well with a pay2win approach. Either have one or the other, mixing the two is, I feel, disastrous.
And given that the game is already heavily oriented around pay2win, I think they should just go the whole hog and let people have fun getting big shinies for their efforts.
Sure, they'll get bored more quickly and leave, and that would be disastrous if this were a subscription game; but given it's a free game, they may also come back later with fond memories, instead of not come back at all, with bad memories of long, fruitless grind.
It's a new era, the old design tropes are irrelevant. "Give people what they want" is what everyone expects. No-one cares about being given a carefully-tailored, carefully-balanced experience by developers any more, they just want shinies, and if they don't get them in this game, they'll move to another.