bang for the buck? pve vs pvp

for all the pve heroes poking their heads around in pvp, this ones for you:)

lets take a sec, and see what cryptics new boff powers will add to the game for pve vs pvp via the intelligence officer,

now, first off, these new powers are only available on the new t6 ships, and out of those ships, we are going to look at the ones that someone would actually use for pve with 4+ tac consoles cause we all know, for pve, the only thing that matters is your dps, thats how you get stuff done in time and get bonuses

phantom escort
1 Lieutenant Commander Tactical, 1 Commander Tactical/Intelligence, 1 Lieutenant Commander Engineering, 1 Lieutenant Science/Intelligence and 1 Ensign Universal


fat warbird
1 Lieutenant Commander Tactical, 1 Commander Tactical/Intelligence, 1 Lieutenant/Intelligence Engineering, 1 Lieutenant Commander Science and 1 Ensign Universal

BOTH have the option to replace the commander tac slot with an intel officer, and that intel officer can pick between standard boff powers or the new intel powers so lets look at the intel powers and see what gets you a gain in dps aka completing sleepy time pve content


Electromagnetic Pulse Probe: slow probe, weak disable along path, explodes on target + disables, you gotta sac a lt or higher slot to get this in, so ditch the faw/rapid to put this sad thing on that wont bust the lip on any borg spheres or get the job done faster loss for pve- for pvp? disable is a gain++

Energy Weapons : Surgical Strikes: buff beams-cannons for more acc and crit chance plus weapons fire slower, sac a lt com slot or higher so goodbye omega, hello extra....acc? slower fire rate? DONT NEED acc in pve, and slower shooting means slower killing, so loss for pve-for pvp? acc is HUGE plus crit chance, need to hit, and hit hard! so gain++

Evade Target Lock: drop targets acc and gain invis vs torps and mines, comes in at ensign level, for pve I could see this, but really, am I going to drop a tac team, a haz, a emergency power to this or that for this thing? it doesn’t heal, it doesn’t do damage so loss for pve- for pvp? even with all the targetable torps and mines being chewed up by grav wells and accetons, we still see some folks rocking it, the real possible payoff, would be the debuff on acc, debuffs help in pvp so gain++

Intelligence Team: insta cloak will remove the "expose vulnerability" debuff, comes in at ensign, for pve? a get out of jail free card, but tell me what pve content will be putting the "expose vulnerability" debuff on you? NOTHING! SO loss for pve, for pvp? MASSIVE gain, this power will be the backbone of almost all t6 ships in the cues so huge gain for pvp++

Ionic Turbulence: cause ships caught in cloud to take damage, slow down, and spin (LOL), anyways, exotic particles here we come, comes in at a lt slot, so say again, goodbye to that second copy of faw, torp spread, high yield, rapid, etc in favor of slotting this weaksause grav well, unless your running exotic particles like crazy, the pay off on this will be somewhere in the ball park of a eject warp plasma, so good for fluffing numbers for the parser, but bad over all for the loss of killing power, so ya, loss for pve, as for pvp? THERE are alot of builds and teams that focus on particles, slows, and creating obstacles in pvp matches, something like this is a AWSOME addition to the tactics in pvp, so huge gain++

Kinetic Magnet: bonus damage for kinetic vs target plus draw in torps and mine regardless their "allegiance", comes in at a lt station, FOR a torp boat? this will be a good addition, BUT we torp boat players (im one) know all to well, that its slow killing for pve content, so whats left? mix builds? got a torp up front? so now you sack a torp spread 2 or 3 for this power?? dont think thats a good trade, so loss for pve, as for pvp? LOVE anything that give torp boats a chance to do damage, and let me tell ya, theres nothing funnier then watching a guy get stuck in his own nukara mine (we all been there) so, big gain for pvp++

Override Subsystem Safeties: buff all power levels that fade quick thru the duration, then a subsystem goes off-line, (yeah) comes in at an ensign, ok, for pve we all know the power levels are huge, keep the weapons hot as it were, but this traded out even at an ensign level level is horrible, use batteries like normal people to get the job done, then you also dont have to worry about a random system going down after it all, so loss for pve, as for pvp? there are some drain builds out there that this little power (besides haz) will be a bit of a nightmare to deal with, not to mention some nice vape builds perhaps will put this to work, perhaps not, anyways, gain for pvp++

Subnucleonic Carrier Wave: the gem, the big cheese, here it is, group subnuke, (good lord) COMES IN at ONLY a lt slot, (LOL) anyways, so subnuke 5 guys, not full on subnuke, but enough right? pve? TELL me were dropping a omega, or a rapid for a 5-target subnuke will help? anyone? (crickets) ya, so what eves for pve, waste of a slot, for pvp? good lord, the horror, ... thats all I got to say about that, anyways, gain for pvp++

Torpedo : Transport Warhead: (YEAH!) beam your torp to your target after delay go boom bypassing shields and possibly taking a system offline, comes in at a lt com slot, not a bad one I must say, but lets face it, your fighting hordes and hordes of mobs, and the bosses have millions of hp, unless this buffs the damage huge (it probably dont) this will fall flat vs just having high yield or spread (spread dont miss anyways, so theres that) so cute to recreate what janeway does but fail over all for getting the work done in the stfs, loss for pve, for pvp? we may just see some tricos coming out to play with this little number, solves alot of problems for the targetable torp brothers and sisters I got out there, over all, gain for pvp++

Viral Impulse Burst: nearby foes lose control of their ship and fly off, comes in at ensign, get out of jail card of sorts, in pve? sure, sure, scatter some spheres for a few seconds, doesnt stop them from shooting at you while they slowly wander away ONLY to come right back, by the way, farther away your target, less damage you do, so without some form of placate added, this is kind of a HUGE waste of a boff slot, so loss for pve, as for pvp? what a wonderful trolling power that can be had at ensign, lets not forget, alot of zippy escorts out there, nice to blast them with a power the causes them to fly in a strait line for a few seconds, give yourself an easier target, let alone the chaos it can cause for healers getting to far away or messing up the day for a sci captain, so, big gain for pvp++

Subspace Beacon: place a targetable becon at your spot and be able to teleport right back to it long as you stay within range, comes in at ensign, not epic range, sooo that effectiveness in pve, im thinking kitomer or cure here, just off the top of my head, common man, even the fact that its an ensign level, this isnt going to help you kill anything faster, get around the map faster? yes, but on a leash, and with my stfs being a run and gun style, having this waste of a boff power on is just that, waste, so loss for pve, as for pvp? controlling the fight is a huge part of pvp, its not just about damage and healing, big part is positioning, and it only being an ensign to use, there is some wicked potential, beyond simply a get out of jail free card, big surprise here, another gain for pvp++


so after you look at this list of upcoming abilities, thinking from a pve standpoint, I have to wonder what cryptic is really selling you guys, cause it is NOT new awesome abilities that will enhance game play thats for sure, some gimmicky powers, that in rare situations will pay off, but over all, your int officers will be running basic boff powers for sure if you want to succeed at pve content-

your team looks to you to pull your weight in the stf, they look to you to do damage and help them complete the content in a normal frame of time, SO with that in mind, running a jacked boff layout for the sake of doing something that doesn’t help bring the mission to a close is well, stupid

when I look at this list of upcoming int powers, I see a huge addition to the dynamics of pvp, I see some console replacement, I see some stacking effects, I see some control,

you know what see for pve? its not any addition to the speed of completion of pve content, but simply some new shiny ships to look at is all

ask yourself, who is cryptic adding content for again, pvers or pvpers?