I think they should've waited to...or rather prioritized the implementation of whatever the mod selection system they are going to add to the Crafting system and then integrated it into the upgrade system. That way people wouldn't be having these panic attacks and rage trashing of items upon getting a damage mod.
I would've thought that Season 9.5 would've taught them that there is nothing that STO players hate more than random results.
Seriously. It is kinda baffling they didn't do just that.
Ok, this is the point I can't take min-maxing seriously.
The weapon loses nothing. Nada. Zip. Dim.
It gains a bonus. Admittedly random for some weapons, apparently specific for some named ones.
According to you, if you don't like the additional bonus, the weapon is now junk.
Even if, before gaining a bonus, it was your go-to weapon in PvP.
Imagine you part exchanged your car for a better one. Only the new car has a clogged valve in the engine, sure it's still a better car but it sounds like **** and doesn't quite have the oomph you were hoping for.
So you take it back to the dealer. And what does he do? Tells you to go buy your old car so you part exchange it for the better car which may or may not have something wrong with it.
Imagine you part exchanged your car for a better one. Only the new car has a clogged valve in the engine, sure it's still a better car but it sounds like **** and doesn't quite have the oomph you were hoping for.
So you take it back to the dealer. And what does he do? Tells you to go buy your old car so you part exchange it for the better car which may or may not have something wrong with it.
Personally I think abetter analogy would be disliking the car's color...
Sorry if this has been answered, I didn't see it in the few pages I read.
If I upgrade my rare Mk XII weapon in this system and I end up with a common Mk XIV item, do I loose my modifiers? I would be really upset to go from a MK XII [CrtD]x3 to a Mk XIV [nothing].
Here are some answers to some of those question marks that are floating over your heads!
* Upgrading Item Mark is Always Successful
When your item gains enough Tech Points to upgrade to a higher Mark, this operation always succeeds. Your Mark 12 Breen shield will become a Mark 13 Breen shield with no failure chance. It's only when your item reaches maximum Mark and you are trying to improve its quality (color) that there is a chance that the upgrade won't succeed -- but even then, you keep your quality improvement chance and add to it for the next upgrade, and eventually you will reach a 100% chance of quality improvement.
* Item mods are not re-rolled
Your item's mods don't change as part of the upgrade, so if you like the mods on your Phaser Beam Array [Acc]x3, you won't lose them. You just have a chance to get a new, extra mod. You might turn your array into a Phaser Beam Array [Acc]x4, or Phaser Beam Array [Acc]x3 [Dmg], or Phaser Beam Array [Acc]x3 [CrtH].
For most items, if you get a new mod, it is randomly selected. Set reputation gear does not get a random modifier; instead, the mod gained is always the same for a specific item. When you upgrade a MACO deflector to ultra-rare (ultraviolet) quality, for instance, it will always get one specific mod. That way you never have to worry about a random mod and having to grind out another piece of expensive rep gear and then upgrading it again -- once it improves in quality, you know that you have gained the one upgraded version.
* Epic (Gold) items have special bonus mods
The bonus mod for an item at Epic (Gold) quality is a unique special mod that doesn't otherwise appear, generally more powerful than other mods. These are: Space Shield: [Cp/Rg] Combined capacity/regen boost Space Impulse Engine: [Drv2] Overcharged driver coil, double coil bonus Space Deflector: [SS/SI] Interlaced integrity, structural integrity/shield systems combined bonus Space Weapon: [Ac/Dm]: Bonus accuracy/damage combo Ground Shield: [Cap2] Double capacity bonus Ground Armor: [ResAll/HP] Bonus HP and bonus resist all damage Ground Weapon: [Dm/CrH] Bonus damage and critical chance combo
* Your item can't accidentally out-level you
If you aren't a max level captain, you can't upgrade an item past the Mark that you can currently use. You don't need to worry about accidentally making a good piece of gear unusable.
* Making Tech Upgrades doesn't cost crafters dilithium
Tech Upgrades do not require dilithium to make; the dilithium cost is on use. This means that crafters don't have to worry about spending their dilithium to make Tech Upgrades for their friends and fleet, or for sale on the Exchange.
* Set Gear
As part of the upgrade system implementation, we've made set bonuses Mark-independent. This means that you can have Jem'Hadar shields Mk 10, deflector Mk 11, engines Mk 12, and still get the three-piece set bonus.
* Levelless items
Many pieces of levelless gear will stop receiving bonuses at level 50. After this, you can upgrade the item and it will gain a Mark, and will then improve after this. This will allow your levelless gear to actually keep up with your other gear, since Mk 12 gear is actually above level 50 and Mk 14 is even better than that.
* Special Mission Rewards
Almost everything you can get should be upgradeable. As noted in the blog, you can upgrade Breen set gear, caustic plasma beams, Hargh'peng torpedoes -- if you're on Tribble and you find something that you can't upgrade, post on the Tribble forum.
Dudes, loving the new Epic mods - they are awesome.
Not loving the whole random mod thing though - we should be able to pick, lest we end up with a nigh-on worthless DMG mod. Bleurgh. Or even guaranteeing that the mod is anything other than DMG, preferably guaranteeing another ACC mod. You admit you dont want us to have to grind and regrind for the mods we want on set gear - why should we have to put up with random mods on weapons? A full weapons loadout can cost as much, usually even more, than a shield engine and deflector set.
Also, may I suggest that you give most Rep Set shields the Adapt mod as their quality upgrade mod? Looking at the Delta Alliance Shield, getting Cap instead of Adapt hobbles it in my mind.
Seriously, giving Adapt to all those shields (except maybe the MACO shield, which is great as is) would lead to a lot more variety and shield choice. Right now we almost always pick up Elite shields or sometimes MACO.
Otherwise it seems great, especially that we can now mix and match Mk and still get the set bonuses. And getting AMP on set cores? Yummy. SciCdr on set Deflectors? almost passed out with joy.
Out of curiosity, what will the special "epic" mod be on warp cores and ship consoles?
Got a cat? Have 10 minutes to help someone make the best degree dissertation of all time?
Then please fill out my dissertation survey on feline attachment, it'd be a massive help (-:
Each time you attempt to upgrade an item the research points stack. So each time you run the project the critical chance or more accurately the success rate goes up. Eventually it will reach 100% and be impossible to fail.
Can you actually raise your R&D level up to a point where your critical rate is 100%?
Can you actually raise your R&D level up to a point where your critical rate is 100%?
Is rank 15 100% crit rate?
Its unrelated to r&d level. You don't need to craft and crafting gives no advantage. Instead, each time you upgrade an item you have a chance to go up in quality, and you will never go down in quality. If you do not go up, the next upgrade adds the old chance plus the new one. This is why some people are stocking up on low mark gear, so they can upgrade it many times.
As an example using false numbers just to make the process clear....
Let's pretend that upgrading your favorite heavy cannon has a 5% to crit and go up in quality. You have a mark 12 and a mark 4 both are blue items. You upgrade both and neither crits. Now you have a mark 13 and a mark 5, but both have a 10% chance to crit. You go again and the first crits. Now you have a mark 14 purple with a 5% chance to become violet, and a mark 6 with a 15% chance to become purple.
Again, these are not real percentages but this is exactly how the mechanic works.
Because the quality only upgrades once your gear is mark 14 is so expensive, people are looking at starting with mark 2 gear to maximize the number of chances to upgrade quality cheap.
As far as I know, only using better quality upgrade kits increases the %chance to crit, if anyone knows better please chime in.
blog posts for the new revised ques say you need the rare drop from the new elite ques to for gear upgrades... unless you buy from store I guess. so zen is required for gear upgrades for most folks.
blog posts for the new revised ques say you need the rare drop from the new elite ques to for gear upgrades... unless you buy from store I guess. so zen is required for gear upgrades for most folks.
That is the exact opposite of what the blog says. You can upgrade items from vendor purchased kits, from crafted kits, or you can use items from the elite stfs to craft even better kits. You absolutely do NOT need to run elite or buy with zen. You can if you choose to, but there are other options.
That is the exact opposite of what the blog says. You can upgrade items from vendor purchased kits, from crafted kits, or you can use items from the elite stfs to craft even better kits. You absolutely do NOT need to run elite or buy with zen. You can if you choose to, but there are other options.
Sure, if you want to just throw Dil down the drain.
Nitpicking is a time-honored tradition of science fiction. Asking your readers not to worry about the "little things" is like asking a dog not to sniff at people's crotches. If there's something that appears to violate natural laws, then you can expect someone's going to point it out. That's just the way things are.
-Edit- oops I thought this was the Tribble thread. I didn't realize it was the GNN. Yeah bug reports in the GNN are pretty useless.
Tech Point price table for Space Weapon, Shield, Engine, Deflector, Warp/Singularity Core upgrades. Red numbers are extrapolations from my direct observations with all of the other numbers. (Yay math)
Important note: There are some exceptions that do not conform to this table, like spiral waves, reputation set weapons, and lobi weapons that cost more than what is listed in this table. Also this table doesn't really address rarity upgrades at the end of XIV that might fail repeatedly.
For example, although a MK XII Spiral Wave Disruptor, Kinetic Cutting Beam, or Heavy Bio-Molecular Turret is Very Rare quality, it costs 85120 TP to go from XII to XII, and 170240 TP to go from XIII to XIV. Whereas Gravimetric Photon Torpedo Launcher Mk XII and Enhanced Bio-Molecular Photon Torpedo Launcher Mk XII from the reputation stores are also Very Rare quality but they cost 106240 TP to go from XII to XIII and 212,480 to go from XIII to XIV.
It leaves me wondering if TP prices are set by the # of modifiers, and if these special weapons have extra internal modifiers that aren't listed in their names.
Nitpicking is a time-honored tradition of science fiction. Asking your readers not to worry about the "little things" is like asking a dog not to sniff at people's crotches. If there's something that appears to violate natural laws, then you can expect someone's going to point it out. That's just the way things are.
My testing says NO. Apparently the Lobi stats are the new base stats. Even for low tier versions. (mk 6 etc...)Probably Lobi... But less Lobi.
Ok, that being said, I've already (via Lobi Store) upgraded 1 Jem ground set & 1 Jem space set.
I don't remember EXACTLY how much Lobi both upgrades cost (together in total); but for the sake of argument, let's say it cost me 1000 Lobi crystals to upgrade both sets.
Lobi being PRIMARILY obtained via Master Key/Lockbox (@ minimum of 4 Lobi per):
4 Lobi = 125 Zen (single key purchase) OR 40 Lobi = 1125 Zen (10 pack key purchase)
1000 Lobi / 4 = 250 Master keys needed
(yes I know it's POSSIBLE to get up to 10 Lobi but in my experience, 90+ % of the time I've only gotten 4 per lockbox opened).
(single key purchase) 250 keys cost 31,250 Zen
(10 pack key purchase) 250 keys cost 28,125 Zen
So how much REFINED Dilithium is represented here?
Well, if the Ref-Dil to Zen exchange is 150 for example:
31,250 Zen * 150 = 4,687,500 Ref-Dil
28,125 Zen * 150 = 4,218,750 Ref-Dil
In either case, that's A LOT of Refined Dilithium! But, considering 6 pieces of gear were upgraded (3 ground & 3 space) from Mk XI to Mk XII and also (is the mission reward quality Blue or VR?) a POSSIBLE quality upgrade from Rare to VR;
4,687,500 Ref-Dil / 12 (6 pieces of gear upgraded twice; once for Mk & once for quality)
= 390,625 Ref-Dil for each piece of gear.
Or, if it was just the Mk that was upgraded then 4,687,500 Ref-Dil / 6 = 781,250 Ref-Dil per piece of gear upgraded using the Lobi Store.
With all of that in consideration, which is MORE expensive in terms of Refined dilithium, the Lobi Store or the New Upgrade system?
short:
r&d goals/weap-mods to add should be setable by player. the outcome still could be rng, but with clear tendency to get what u did set.
or just make quality upgrades like ground kits. one more proc-module to slot more with every quality increase beyond very rare. these modules would also generate another source of income.
That's not true. For 250 keys you can POSSIBLY receive ~1250 crystals.
Hello everyone! Isn't it great & don't you love it when people do NOT read your entire post and therefore are very likely to make a mistaken reply
Here's the relevant part of my previous post, that IF you had actually read it, you then would've been LESS likely to make a mistake.:rolleyes:
"... 4 Lobi = 125 Zen (single key purchase) OR 40 Lobi = 1125 Zen (10 pack key purchase)
1000 Lobi / 4 = 250 Master keys needed
(yes I know it's POSSIBLE to get up to 10 Lobi but in my experience, 90+ % of the time I've only gotten 4 per lockbox opened)." ...
Actually IF someone had MORE luck than Lady Luck herself at a maximum of TEN Lobi per Box opened you would receive 2500 Lobi crystals IF each Box you opened ALWAYS gave you 10 Lobi; when in "reality" / actual practice, you are FAR more likely to receive ONLY 4 per box 90% of the time.:(
@alexvio1 - as for your ~ 1250 Lobi miracle luck, then YES, it would ONLY require 200 keys to get 1000 Lobi; and thus 5 Lobi would then = 125 Zen (single key purchase) OR 50 Lobi = 1125 Zen (10 pack key purchase).
(single key purchase) 200 (miracle) keys cost 25,000 Zen
vs
(single key purchase) 250 (Master) keys cost 31,250 Zen
If Dil Exchange at 150 per Zen:
25,000 Zen = 3 MILLION 750 THOUSAND Refined dil - THAT"S still a lot of Refined dilithium!
vs
31,250 Zen * 150 = 4,687,500 Ref-Dil
(10 pack key purchase) 200 (miracle) keys cost 22,500 Zen
vs
(10 pack key purchase) 250 (Master) keys cost 28,125 Zen
22,500 Zen = 3,375,000 Refined dil
vs
28,125 Zen * 150 = 4,218,750 Ref-Dil
So you see your ~ 1250 crystal argument is essentially moot.:)
I have a question about the upgrade for items. Is it then also poissible to upgrade the inbuild Protonic DHC from the Sci Destroyer, or will that one automaticly get MK 14 when you upgrade the ship itself?
Reynolds/Thokal
U.S.S. Helios -Vesta Class/R.R.W. Dark Science - Dyson Surveillance Science Destroyer U.S.S. Donut - Fleet Advanced Research Vessel Retrofit TheWiseGuys
Some builds are based around crit procs, some builds are based around maximum CritD, etc.
Not "junk" in the ultimate sense, no. But putting RNG into a system in a way that the "improvement" ends up being more of a side-grade and in a way that prevents you from EVER getting that particular item to the ideal for your build, requiring you to start the process over again losing all of the multiple currencies involved?
That just seems coldly calculated and crass.
wow, are you psychic?! You are saying exactly what I am thinking!
No. I'm a gamer and a Trekkie. I play this game solely because it is Star Trek. It is my first, last, and only MMO.
But I don't even like the idea of min-maxing. It violates my sense that if you don't make a ship at least passable as an all arounder with some strengths then it gets killed. I know that's not how it actually works in practice, but it can't be denied that min-maxing completely unbalances the system. I see it as a legitimate exploit. So I am in no way a min-maxer. Being forced to be would force me to quit the game. My feeling is basically that hyper specific specialization should literally force you to be SUPER good at only that one thing.
That said it isn't the fault of the min maxers either. They are the player and the mathematician who have worked out the shortest distance from point A to point B. It is the developers fault for not closing the loopholes and not properly balancing abilities and skills so they are all equally valuable over time.
But again, that's not me.
you confuse min-maxing whit hyper-specializing. Now granted hyper-specialists tend to min-max the most. DPS hyper-specialists would make glass cannons forsaking deference for an incremental boost to DPS but over time they add up. That's whats min-maxing is about seeking incremental upgrades. Now your more of an all-rounder that means that to you if one item gives you an incremental upgrade to defense you can take an incremental upgrade to offense or healing to another to stay well rounded. You are still looking for those incremental upgrades even though you you spread them around more where a hyper-specialist would put them in one place. You are both min-maxing but take another approach at it.
Now you see I approach that from the opposite end.
You see it as a gambling system.
Each time you attempt to upgrade an item the research points stack. So each time you run the project the critical chance or more accurately the success rate goes up. Eventually it will reach 100% and be impossible to fail.
So from my perspective it is a level up system that has a random chance to actually jump to the next level.
I kind of skipped over this part because I though people would automatically get it. Turns out I am wrong. What I originally didn't elaborate on was this: If like you said Eventually it will reach 100% and be impossible to fail. then cryptic knows how many attempts that takes. Cryptic will have done it's home work and they know how many attempts it takes on average to upgrade an item in rarity. I estimate that to be between 5 to 10 attempts. Lets for now assume that it takes on average 5 attempts to get the upgrade then why not make the upgrade for rarity guarantied but 5 times more expensive?
You end up spending the same amount of resources but the gambling element is out.
In the end it comes down to statistics those will form a bell-curve. you can be at the lucky end of this curve and upgrade fast. Most likely you are at the average part. But you can be at the extremely unlucky part of that curve and that's just frustrating. Cryptic can prevent quite a bit of frustration by taking another approach on this system.
Arguably the zen purchase idea is worse to those who don't have the real world money or the real dilithium as they would have to purchase that zen on the dilithium exchange which can be pretty brutal.
The rest is quite good, though I think you'll need signed orders from God (or your acceptable local deity) in order to get them to abandon dilithium as their primary currency.
I do like the ideas of accelerators be a Gold Reward as subscribers badly need good incentives.
I think they should've waited to...or rather prioritized the implementation of whatever the mod selection system they are going to add to the Crafting system and then integrated it into the upgrade system. That way people wouldn't be having these panic attacks and rage trashing of items upon getting a damage mod.
I would've thought that Season 9.5 would've taught them that there is nothing that STO players hate more than random results.
thank you.
You realize that making accelerators a instant finish is about the same as making the finishing cost a ZEN purchase since accelerators cost ZEN to buy. I feel like those options are mutually exclusive you pick the one or the other. Though making the accelerators instant finish tokens is a little more flexible. Those tokes can be sold on the exchange, given as a possible price in lock boxes and as a rewards to gold members. Changing the instant finish from dilithium to ZEN is the quicker option though making the accelerators instant finish tokens is probably the more flexible option and better in the long run.
Shorter upgrade times and giving instant finish tokens to gold members doesn't need to be mutually exclusive but can be balanced to one another. The faster your project go the less you need to finish them quickly. In the end they both serve to sweeten the pot a little to sell more subscription then they are currently doing.
I believe that it was Al Rivera who said it I don't understand why MMORPG players want to get everything now while working to get those items ins what those games are about.
So even if you don't get it why don't you just make use of it and sell it to us? People will spend that ZEN to get that item now rather then waiting a day for it to upgrade why not cash in?
The system I am proposing will reward you for spending ZEN. The system Cryptic is trying to use now punishes players for not spending ZEN. Players will not stand for a system like that and I would've thought that Season 9.5 would've taught them that.
THE NEW CRAFTING SYSTEM IS TERRA-BAD First of all it's not even a crafting system! It's just a dumb game system that's nothing more than a glorified slots machine.
second the "special items" you hope will be the saving the saving grace are messed up to.
Ok, that being said, I've already (via Lobi Store) upgraded 1 Jem ground set & 1 Jem space set.
I don't remember EXACTLY how much Lobi both upgrades cost (together in total); but for the sake of argument, let's say it cost me 1000 Lobi crystals to upgrade both sets.
Lobi being PRIMARILY obtained via Master Key/Lockbox (@ minimum of 4 Lobi per):
4 Lobi = 125 Zen (single key purchase) OR 40 Lobi = 1125 Zen (10 pack key purchase)
1000 Lobi / 4 = 250 Master keys needed
Actually... it was a total of 350 lobi. So.. less than 100 keys
I have a question about the upgrade for items. Is it then also poissible to upgrade the inbuild Protonic DHC from the Sci Destroyer, or will that one automaticly get MK 14 when you upgrade the ship itself?
Good point! I now am wondering about the same thing
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
Greywolf Taskforce - Officer of the Fleet
Let's face it, R&D is BORING! Why this new focus on R&D is puzzling. So many players don't do R&D because it's simply BORING! Now you want us to do R&D grind on top of the Mark's grind? No thank you.
Let's face it, R&D is BORING! Why this new focus on R&D is puzzling. So many players don't do R&D because it's simply BORING! Now you want us to do R&D grind on top of the Mark's grind? No thank you.
I am going with what I can get from Rep system for Delta Rising. My stock pile of D-rough-ore then to covert them into usable D-crystals time consumer each day I have to make sure all the toons have there processing going on. R&D I just don't like how they're pushing this onto us. My prior online game called it Retro Lab. I won't say more because those methods they use I don't want to see them used here. Already the young minds have started the process. At the end of day I just wanted to make sure my gear was up to it.
Mark 12 Purple to go to Mark 14 Purple will not be so cheap to do even with D-ore. One ship going to be very expensive and a lot of grinding to do. The game is fun when I started but it they make you have to wait a very long time and to speed-up the process by using more D-ore converted or dig into your wallet to get it instantly is the the aim I see here.
Rep system has changed so you use more marks, xp points, ec also. Best you all start working harder to get nicer things. Tier 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 going to take longer to do but then again I heard you can buy those to finish quickly.
That is the exact opposite of what the blog says. You can upgrade items from vendor purchased kits, from crafted kits, or you can use items from the elite stfs to craft even better kits. You absolutely do NOT need to run elite or buy with zen. You can if you choose to, but there are other options.
If you want to buy the regular stuff sure... but for the superior upgrades? Elite only for in game or you can probably buy it at the zen store.
"Success in an Elite mode event means you will earn for yourself more Marks, more Dilithium Ore, and an Elite Queue R&D Material Reward Package for the Research & Development system. This has an even greater chance of getting you those Very Rare R&D materials, and in addition to that, you will receive a Material reward for creating a Superior upgrade for the upgrade system we talked about in an earlier blog."
That is the complete paragraph... notice the part regarding the S upgrades? saying you can buy upgrades from vendors is like saying you can equip all common weapons on your ship.
Actually... it was a total of 350 lobi. So.. less than 100 keys
Thank-you for providing the actual amount, as it WAS over a year ago when I upgraded both of those sets, so I honestly didn't remember:o
4 Lobi = 125 Zen (single key purchase) OR 40 Lobi = 1125 Zen (10 pack key purchase)
350 Lobi / 4 = 87 Master keys needed +2 Lobi (88 keys then with 2 Lobi left over OR 90 keys to take advantage of the 10 key pack -- with 10 Lobi left over)
(single key purchase) 90 keys cost 11,250 Zen
(10 pack key purchase) 90 keys cost 10,125 Zen
So, the amount of REFINED Dilithium represented if the Ref-Dil to Zen exchange is 150:
11,250 Zen * 150 = 1,687,500 Ref-Dil (single key purchase)
With our R&D system we can craft MKII to MKXII weapons and with this new upgrade system we can upgrade old gear including the unique gear that comes out of lockboxes/lobi/etc.
However, would it possible to add in the semi custom gear to the crafting system? For example, add crafting MKII to MKXII fluidic antiproton beams, nanite disruptors, Elachi crescent pulse cannons, etc allowing us to custom craft our own versions of that gear? It would allow for a lot of new end game gear setups for weapons
The more I think about it, the more I think they should implement a Mod selection system first. Both for crafting and gear upgrade.
I dont mind gambling dil on rarity (since I can rinse and repeat until I succeed), but once I get an increase in rarity Id like to ensure I get a mod I actually want. As it stands with unchangeable mods it does make optimizing a lot harder, frankly way too hard and frustrating with random mods.
Got a cat? Have 10 minutes to help someone make the best degree dissertation of all time?
Then please fill out my dissertation survey on feline attachment, it'd be a massive help (-:
Comments
Seriously. It is kinda baffling they didn't do just that.
Imagine you part exchanged your car for a better one. Only the new car has a clogged valve in the engine, sure it's still a better car but it sounds like **** and doesn't quite have the oomph you were hoping for.
So you take it back to the dealer. And what does he do? Tells you to go buy your old car so you part exchange it for the better car which may or may not have something wrong with it.
My character Tsin'xing
If I upgrade my rare Mk XII weapon in this system and I end up with a common Mk XIV item, do I loose my modifiers? I would be really upset to go from a MK XII [CrtD]x3 to a Mk XIV [nothing].
Cool, thanks. I might give the system a go then, but not for everything I have
Dudes, loving the new Epic mods - they are awesome.
Not loving the whole random mod thing though - we should be able to pick, lest we end up with a nigh-on worthless DMG mod. Bleurgh. Or even guaranteeing that the mod is anything other than DMG, preferably guaranteeing another ACC mod. You admit you dont want us to have to grind and regrind for the mods we want on set gear - why should we have to put up with random mods on weapons? A full weapons loadout can cost as much, usually even more, than a shield engine and deflector set.
Also, may I suggest that you give most Rep Set shields the Adapt mod as their quality upgrade mod? Looking at the Delta Alliance Shield, getting Cap instead of Adapt hobbles it in my mind.
Seriously, giving Adapt to all those shields (except maybe the MACO shield, which is great as is) would lead to a lot more variety and shield choice. Right now we almost always pick up Elite shields or sometimes MACO.
Otherwise it seems great, especially that we can now mix and match Mk and still get the set bonuses. And getting AMP on set cores? Yummy. SciCdr on set Deflectors? almost passed out with joy.
Out of curiosity, what will the special "epic" mod be on warp cores and ship consoles?
Then please fill out my dissertation survey on feline attachment, it'd be a massive help (-:
https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/87XKSGH
Can you actually raise your R&D level up to a point where your critical rate is 100%?
Is rank 15 100% crit rate?
Its unrelated to r&d level. You don't need to craft and crafting gives no advantage. Instead, each time you upgrade an item you have a chance to go up in quality, and you will never go down in quality. If you do not go up, the next upgrade adds the old chance plus the new one. This is why some people are stocking up on low mark gear, so they can upgrade it many times.
As an example using false numbers just to make the process clear....
Let's pretend that upgrading your favorite heavy cannon has a 5% to crit and go up in quality. You have a mark 12 and a mark 4 both are blue items. You upgrade both and neither crits. Now you have a mark 13 and a mark 5, but both have a 10% chance to crit. You go again and the first crits. Now you have a mark 14 purple with a 5% chance to become violet, and a mark 6 with a 15% chance to become purple.
Again, these are not real percentages but this is exactly how the mechanic works.
Because the quality only upgrades once your gear is mark 14 is so expensive, people are looking at starting with mark 2 gear to maximize the number of chances to upgrade quality cheap.
As far as I know, only using better quality upgrade kits increases the %chance to crit, if anyone knows better please chime in.
That is the exact opposite of what the blog says. You can upgrade items from vendor purchased kits, from crafted kits, or you can use items from the elite stfs to craft even better kits. You absolutely do NOT need to run elite or buy with zen. You can if you choose to, but there are other options.
Sure, if you want to just throw Dil down the drain.
Joined January 2009
http://sto-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?t=1225161&page=3
My character Tsin'xing
Tech Point price table for Space Weapon, Shield, Engine, Deflector, Warp/Singularity Core upgrades. Red numbers are extrapolations from my direct observations with all of the other numbers. (Yay math)
Important note: There are some exceptions that do not conform to this table, like spiral waves, reputation set weapons, and lobi weapons that cost more than what is listed in this table. Also this table doesn't really address rarity upgrades at the end of XIV that might fail repeatedly.
https://i.imgur.com/YxfS1AB.jpg
For example, although a MK XII Spiral Wave Disruptor, Kinetic Cutting Beam, or Heavy Bio-Molecular Turret is Very Rare quality, it costs 85120 TP to go from XII to XII, and 170240 TP to go from XIII to XIV. Whereas Gravimetric Photon Torpedo Launcher Mk XII and Enhanced Bio-Molecular Photon Torpedo Launcher Mk XII from the reputation stores are also Very Rare quality but they cost 106240 TP to go from XII to XIII and 212,480 to go from XIII to XIV.
It leaves me wondering if TP prices are set by the # of modifiers, and if these special weapons have extra internal modifiers that aren't listed in their names.
Joined January 2009
Ok, that being said, I've already (via Lobi Store) upgraded 1 Jem ground set & 1 Jem space set.
I don't remember EXACTLY how much Lobi both upgrades cost (together in total); but for the sake of argument, let's say it cost me 1000 Lobi crystals to upgrade both sets.
Lobi being PRIMARILY obtained via Master Key/Lockbox (@ minimum of 4 Lobi per):
4 Lobi = 125 Zen (single key purchase) OR 40 Lobi = 1125 Zen (10 pack key purchase)
1000 Lobi / 4 = 250 Master keys needed
(yes I know it's POSSIBLE to get up to 10 Lobi but in my experience, 90+ % of the time I've only gotten 4 per lockbox opened).
(single key purchase) 250 keys cost 31,250 Zen
(10 pack key purchase) 250 keys cost 28,125 Zen
So how much REFINED Dilithium is represented here?
Well, if the Ref-Dil to Zen exchange is 150 for example:
31,250 Zen * 150 = 4,687,500 Ref-Dil
28,125 Zen * 150 = 4,218,750 Ref-Dil
In either case, that's A LOT of Refined Dilithium! But, considering 6 pieces of gear were upgraded (3 ground & 3 space) from Mk XI to Mk XII and also (is the mission reward quality Blue or VR?) a POSSIBLE quality upgrade from Rare to VR;
4,687,500 Ref-Dil / 12 (6 pieces of gear upgraded twice; once for Mk & once for quality)
= 390,625 Ref-Dil for each piece of gear.
Or, if it was just the Mk that was upgraded then 4,687,500 Ref-Dil / 6 = 781,250 Ref-Dil per piece of gear upgraded using the Lobi Store.
With all of that in consideration, which is MORE expensive in terms of Refined dilithium, the Lobi Store or the New Upgrade system?
That's not true. For 250 keys you can receive ~1250 crystals.
http://sto-forum.perfectworld.com/showpost.php?p=19350861&postcount=18
short:
r&d goals/weap-mods to add should be setable by player. the outcome still could be rng, but with clear tendency to get what u did set.
or just make quality upgrades like ground kits. one more proc-module to slot more with every quality increase beyond very rare. these modules would also generate another source of income.
Hello everyone! Isn't it great & don't you love it when people do NOT read your entire post and therefore are very likely to make a mistaken reply
Here's the relevant part of my previous post, that IF you had actually read it, you then would've been LESS likely to make a mistake.:rolleyes:
"... 4 Lobi = 125 Zen (single key purchase) OR 40 Lobi = 1125 Zen (10 pack key purchase)
1000 Lobi / 4 = 250 Master keys needed
(yes I know it's POSSIBLE to get up to 10 Lobi but in my experience, 90+ % of the time I've only gotten 4 per lockbox opened)." ...
Actually IF someone had MORE luck than Lady Luck herself at a maximum of TEN Lobi per Box opened you would receive 2500 Lobi crystals IF each Box you opened ALWAYS gave you 10 Lobi; when in "reality" / actual practice, you are FAR more likely to receive ONLY 4 per box 90% of the time.:(
@alexvio1 - as for your ~ 1250 Lobi miracle luck, then YES, it would ONLY require 200 keys to get 1000 Lobi; and thus 5 Lobi would then = 125 Zen (single key purchase) OR 50 Lobi = 1125 Zen (10 pack key purchase).
(single key purchase) 200 (miracle) keys cost 25,000 Zen
vs
(single key purchase) 250 (Master) keys cost 31,250 Zen
If Dil Exchange at 150 per Zen:
25,000 Zen = 3 MILLION 750 THOUSAND Refined dil - THAT"S still a lot of Refined dilithium!
vs
31,250 Zen * 150 = 4,687,500 Ref-Dil
(10 pack key purchase) 200 (miracle) keys cost 22,500 Zen
vs
(10 pack key purchase) 250 (Master) keys cost 28,125 Zen
22,500 Zen = 3,375,000 Refined dil
vs
28,125 Zen * 150 = 4,218,750 Ref-Dil
So you see your ~ 1250 crystal argument is essentially moot.:)
U.S.S. Helios -Vesta Class / R.R.W. Dark Science - Dyson Surveillance Science Destroyer
U.S.S. Donut - Fleet Advanced Research Vessel Retrofit
TheWiseGuys
wow, are you psychic?! You are saying exactly what I am thinking!
you confuse min-maxing whit hyper-specializing. Now granted hyper-specialists tend to min-max the most. DPS hyper-specialists would make glass cannons forsaking deference for an incremental boost to DPS but over time they add up. That's whats min-maxing is about seeking incremental upgrades. Now your more of an all-rounder that means that to you if one item gives you an incremental upgrade to defense you can take an incremental upgrade to offense or healing to another to stay well rounded. You are still looking for those incremental upgrades even though you you spread them around more where a hyper-specialist would put them in one place. You are both min-maxing but take another approach at it.
I kind of skipped over this part because I though people would automatically get it. Turns out I am wrong. What I originally didn't elaborate on was this: If like you said Eventually it will reach 100% and be impossible to fail. then cryptic knows how many attempts that takes. Cryptic will have done it's home work and they know how many attempts it takes on average to upgrade an item in rarity. I estimate that to be between 5 to 10 attempts. Lets for now assume that it takes on average 5 attempts to get the upgrade then why not make the upgrade for rarity guarantied but 5 times more expensive?
You end up spending the same amount of resources but the gambling element is out.
In the end it comes down to statistics those will form a bell-curve. you can be at the lucky end of this curve and upgrade fast. Most likely you are at the average part. But you can be at the extremely unlucky part of that curve and that's just frustrating. Cryptic can prevent quite a bit of frustration by taking another approach on this system.
thank you.
You realize that making accelerators a instant finish is about the same as making the finishing cost a ZEN purchase since accelerators cost ZEN to buy. I feel like those options are mutually exclusive you pick the one or the other. Though making the accelerators instant finish tokens is a little more flexible. Those tokes can be sold on the exchange, given as a possible price in lock boxes and as a rewards to gold members. Changing the instant finish from dilithium to ZEN is the quicker option though making the accelerators instant finish tokens is probably the more flexible option and better in the long run.
Shorter upgrade times and giving instant finish tokens to gold members doesn't need to be mutually exclusive but can be balanced to one another. The faster your project go the less you need to finish them quickly. In the end they both serve to sweeten the pot a little to sell more subscription then they are currently doing.
I believe that it was Al Rivera who said it I don't understand why MMORPG players want to get everything now while working to get those items ins what those games are about.
So even if you don't get it why don't you just make use of it and sell it to us? People will spend that ZEN to get that item now rather then waiting a day for it to upgrade why not cash in?
The system I am proposing will reward you for spending ZEN. The system Cryptic is trying to use now punishes players for not spending ZEN. Players will not stand for a system like that and I would've thought that Season 9.5 would've taught them that.
First of all it's not even a crafting system! It's just a dumb game system that's nothing more than a glorified slots machine.
second the "special items" you hope will be the saving the saving grace are messed up to.
My character Tsin'xing
Good point! I now am wondering about the same thing
Greywolf Taskforce - Officer of the Fleet
I am going with what I can get from Rep system for Delta Rising. My stock pile of D-rough-ore then to covert them into usable D-crystals time consumer each day I have to make sure all the toons have there processing going on. R&D I just don't like how they're pushing this onto us. My prior online game called it Retro Lab. I won't say more because those methods they use I don't want to see them used here. Already the young minds have started the process. At the end of day I just wanted to make sure my gear was up to it.
Mark 12 Purple to go to Mark 14 Purple will not be so cheap to do even with D-ore. One ship going to be very expensive and a lot of grinding to do. The game is fun when I started but it they make you have to wait a very long time and to speed-up the process by using more D-ore converted or dig into your wallet to get it instantly is the the aim I see here.
Rep system has changed so you use more marks, xp points, ec also. Best you all start working harder to get nicer things. Tier 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 going to take longer to do but then again I heard you can buy those to finish quickly.
Time will only tell!
If you want to buy the regular stuff sure... but for the superior upgrades? Elite only for in game or you can probably buy it at the zen store.
"Success in an Elite mode event means you will earn for yourself more Marks, more Dilithium Ore, and an Elite Queue R&D Material Reward Package for the Research & Development system. This has an even greater chance of getting you those Very Rare R&D materials, and in addition to that, you will receive a Material reward for creating a Superior upgrade for the upgrade system we talked about in an earlier blog."
That is the complete paragraph... notice the part regarding the S upgrades? saying you can buy upgrades from vendors is like saying you can equip all common weapons on your ship.
Thank-you for providing the actual amount, as it WAS over a year ago when I upgraded both of those sets, so I honestly didn't remember:o
4 Lobi = 125 Zen (single key purchase) OR 40 Lobi = 1125 Zen (10 pack key purchase)
350 Lobi / 4 = 87 Master keys needed +2 Lobi (88 keys then with 2 Lobi left over OR 90 keys to take advantage of the 10 key pack -- with 10 Lobi left over)
(single key purchase) 90 keys cost 11,250 Zen
(10 pack key purchase) 90 keys cost 10,125 Zen
So, the amount of REFINED Dilithium represented if the Ref-Dil to Zen exchange is 150:
11,250 Zen * 150 = 1,687,500 Ref-Dil (single key purchase)
10,125 Zen * 150 = 1,518,750 Ref-Dil (10 pack key purchase)
Then 6 pieces of gear upgraded (3 ground & 3 space) from Mk XI (VR) to Mk XII (VR)
1,687,500 Ref-Dil (single key purchase) / 6 = 281,250 Ref Dil for each piece of gear
1,518,750 Ref-Dil (10 pack key purchase) / 6 = 253,125 Ref Dil for each piece of gear
Well, even though 350 Lobi is about 3 million Dil cheaper than 1000 Lobi;
253,125 Dil (average) to upgrade a piece of gear SIMILAR to Reputation gear is STILL a pretty steep price to pay (Lobi Store method).
Utilizing the google spreadsheet another Poster provided for the rest of us (AWESOME job by the way to the person who did all that work)
upgrading a single piece of Rep gear from MkXII to MkXIV costs 18,275 (31,888 if you press finish now)
Lobi store method IS already "Finish Now" without any choice.
So 253,125 - 31,888 = 221,237
The NEW Upgrade System is actually VERY generous to us players in terms of Refined Dilithium cost!
For rep ground gear it's 221,237 Dil cheaper! AND that's with upgrading from Mk12 to Mk14
The Lobi method is ONLY upgrading from Mk11 to Mk12. Which ought to be LESS expensive.
With our R&D system we can craft MKII to MKXII weapons and with this new upgrade system we can upgrade old gear including the unique gear that comes out of lockboxes/lobi/etc.
However, would it possible to add in the semi custom gear to the crafting system? For example, add crafting MKII to MKXII fluidic antiproton beams, nanite disruptors, Elachi crescent pulse cannons, etc allowing us to custom craft our own versions of that gear? It would allow for a lot of new end game gear setups for weapons
Please.... lower the dilithium cost, the crafting material cost, and maybe boost up the rarity upgrade chance.
PS, and Make Tegolar swords upgradable! For the sake of Yarrrr!
I dont mind gambling dil on rarity (since I can rinse and repeat until I succeed), but once I get an increase in rarity Id like to ensure I get a mod I actually want. As it stands with unchangeable mods it does make optimizing a lot harder, frankly way too hard and frustrating with random mods.
Then please fill out my dissertation survey on feline attachment, it'd be a massive help (-:
https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/87XKSGH