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Is STO becoming a game only for the well heeled and big fleets? (Dilithium)
realisticalty
Member Posts: 851 Arc User
Is STO becoming a game only for the well heeled or those with big fleets?
I wonder if there shouldn't be a new character level based on your dilithium holdings?
So I'm saving up my precious Dili, much of it I got from rep bonuses and dili weekends, can't afford to pump up our small fleet with its 800K dili requirement projects, gotta save it all for DR, to see what I might need.
At first glance it looks like I won't be able to afford to RnD up Mk XIII and XIV gear anyway, and no access to fleet ships, so that should help me with less spending options.
Been levelling RnD over time but it takes so long, cant afford DILI to speed it up. If I'm not at 15 in any of the technologies by Xmas I might just not bother with RnD anymore...
DOFF rewards are so miniscule that I'm beginning to ignore all but a few core Doff assignments.
I fear the new queues and their requiring XIII and XIV gear. Its hard enough to find a pug now.
And EC has gotten harder to collect as item values have decreased...
Maybe I should delete one or two of my characters (to save buying new slots) and just start the new long rep climbs to get Dili...
I await the expansion with deep concern.
/rant off
I wonder if there shouldn't be a new character level based on your dilithium holdings?
So I'm saving up my precious Dili, much of it I got from rep bonuses and dili weekends, can't afford to pump up our small fleet with its 800K dili requirement projects, gotta save it all for DR, to see what I might need.
At first glance it looks like I won't be able to afford to RnD up Mk XIII and XIV gear anyway, and no access to fleet ships, so that should help me with less spending options.
Been levelling RnD over time but it takes so long, cant afford DILI to speed it up. If I'm not at 15 in any of the technologies by Xmas I might just not bother with RnD anymore...
DOFF rewards are so miniscule that I'm beginning to ignore all but a few core Doff assignments.
I fear the new queues and their requiring XIII and XIV gear. Its hard enough to find a pug now.
And EC has gotten harder to collect as item values have decreased...
Maybe I should delete one or two of my characters (to save buying new slots) and just start the new long rep climbs to get Dili...
I await the expansion with deep concern.
/rant off
Post edited by realisticalty on
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and In long: Nooooooo
there is a brand new difficultly setting that is specifically designed for the hardcore player who wants to be challenged and like to have all the top gear. its not there for the casual player, or even the decent ones. everyone else can continue being as they are in the existing difficulties.
there is one single queued event that is elite only, so you can still see 99.9% of the game just fine.
Accept every invite. If the fleet is less than level 20 stay a polite amount of time and then leave. There are lots of fleets recruiting mediocre players.
As far as not being in a fleet you can always join the NOP public channel to join a fleet to get some gear that you need and leave, so a casual player can get fleet stuff but still do their own thing.
There isn't anything stopping you from playing any part of the game, I mean some things will be more of a challenge or very difficult but nothing to say you couldn't play anything being released with DR.
I'll go back to the bar at DS9 now and have another synth-ale...
Plus now you have the upgrade system which makes just about anything ultra rare or even epic.
*Points at sig*
My fleet runs 3 space STFs as a set Infected, Khitomer and Cure, as a way to have fun and earn dilithium. Each can be completed in around 5 minutes with a good team. Each one of those STFs can provide 960 dilithium and 1 borg neural processor. The 3 borg neural processors can be turned in for 1000 dilithium. That is 3880 dilithium in around 15 minutes of work. If you have more than one toon, you can repeat that process to earn another 3880 and so on.
Staying with just those 3 borg STFs, 50 omega marks can be turned in for 500 dilithium.
There are many other ways to earn dilithium in the game, and some may be able to provide more dilithium per minute overall than busting out a few STFs.
As for EC, the exchange prices for some items have plummeted, but others have shot way up too. We used to be able to count on the drops in STFs for some solid EC sales, but I think the quality and percentages have changed to the point that you are less likely to get anything worth even 500k these days.
As a large number of folks are approaching R&D level 15 on things, some of the prices of items should come down with a larger supply on the exchange. Hang in there.
As for fleet gear, more and more fleets are allowing others access to their resources. You might be surprised what you can find.
There is no reason to delete a character because you aren't earning dil or EC with it, just learn to utilize them better.
why?
here nice finding a video that or well anything that showed what i had been seeing as a trend with cryptic. and that there are actually people looking into things like this.
the game has nothing at end game for soloers, point for large fleets
it has nothing in the way of comparable fleet leveling for small fleets, if you're bigger you do better faster. another point for large fleets.
the constant and consistent dil<>zen=cash added every update. more stuff costs more and more dil, fastest way to get dil is to buy zen and sell it.
that video is dead on for sto's model. most players i've run into in other games quit once they reach endgame or shortly thereafter. the lack of content, the grind, pugs or just flat out having to wait for content because they or i happen to play at off peak times, required to join a fleet for the best gear...cause seriously, without spending a ton of cash even a small group of friends are going to get nowhere fast trying to make their own fleet with everything.
locking out content in that way is never a good business strategy, limits your consumers which in turn limits your potential profits.
which is another indicator of how badly cryptic is TRIBBLE htings up. relying on the few players willing to spend anything...except there are fewer and fewer people for them to even play with. high turn around is an understatement.
yet continually, cryptic heads straight for the dilithium teat crafting, doffs, fleets, upgrades, ship upgrades in delta or pure cash.
so yeah, spend a lot and you can create and build a small fleet pretty fast since the biggest limiter tends to be dil...considering it has to be used everywhere else as well. and large fleets never have to spend any as the cost is spread out among the members. get the best consoles/ships/the new T-6's or upgrade your old ones...
you could see cryptics collective eyes light up from space when s7 hit and players spent TONS trying to get the first tier 5 fleet with all the perks...cash pouring in for that dil<>zen conversion.
sadly they still believe that's the best way to make cash. not realizing that they really don't have a game at all anymore, just grind, they alienate a large number of player types with high fleet costs that do not scale and complete lack of solo content for rep and other end game loot.
so they have to milk what they have, fleets are mostly all done, at least those that were willing to spend cash to advance faster, doffs was their next hope, crafting, upgrades, then delta. and of course the ever present z-store ships and their consoles, lobi and it's requirement from lockboxes only opened by keys bought in the store.
you have money you're willing to blow you can buy max tier anything easily even a fleet. the only grind you have is rep tokens.
cash and more warm bodies win, it's the star trek way...roddenberry's grand vision as interpreted by cryptic.
Donate Brains, zombies in Washington DC are starving.
That's all very well, but doesn't really take into account fleet loyalty.
If all we're interested in is getting fleet gear, then fleet-hop to your hearts content.
However, for every group of individuals who could care less who's next to them in the fleet roster, there are fleets who care about that sort of thing.
My only beef with the fleet system, as is, is the extremely high requirements for anything past tier 3.
A small fleet can, by dint of hard work and perseverence, easily get to tier 3 in most things.
Small fleets can make tier 4 or 5, but thats the exception rather than the rule.
I don't know what the solution is, even if one exists, but in the context of Tier 6 ships, its hard to justify a fleet Armitage requiring a T5 shipyard. imo.
The only things a small fleet need to work on are provisions, the space dock and optionally the mine. Except for ships everything can be bought using your fleet credits and to et provisions on someone else's fleet map. There are whole chat channels devoted to fleet store invites.
You don't need to leave your fleet, just step onto a fleet map.
try making some kind of point somewhere eh? no one mentioned anything should be given to them. it being an mmo is irrelevant as many mmo's do what cryptic DOES NOT. and don't do several things cryptic does.
Donate Brains, zombies in Washington DC are starving.
As you say though, except for ships.
And while I am happy that some big fleets are so generous in this regard, I do not think this sort of thing should be officially balanced around their generosity.
I agree it should not, but it is balanced around 25 people, which isn't too bad. The bad math comes in at the 5th tier, where it assumes a rather high investment even for 25 people.
Again, there is the work around where some fleets will let you join, buy a ship and leave. But as you say, workarounds shouldn't be needed. Still, if you need help, do drop me a line, I might be able to help.
And your generosity is appreciated.
I also agree that T5 is the hard yards for fleets under the optimim number.
T4 is a slog, but for groups that size T5 is brutal.
Been thinking about this issue and I do have a tentative suggestion.
However, think I will start its own thread rather than hijack this one.
Instead of calling that a "workaround", I would rather describe it as a product of STO's social community rather than as an intended feature by the developers. It's a social dynamic that is a result of the fleet system.
(UFP) Ragnar
Analysis of the Fleet system back when this was still a hot topic showed that the Fleet Credits/Provisions/Projects get optimal returns with Fleets of around two dozen active players, with diminishing returns past that point where players would have to wait for Fleet Credits or Provisions, without any significant progress with the Projects that advance the holdings.
When Cryptic said the system wouldn't leave small Fleets behind, that's what they're talking about, because they're referring to two dozen people in a Fleet as a small Fleet. Heck, with less than 20 people you can't even fill a Fleet queue.
I think it is all of those things.
And, while I personally choose not to take advantage of the generosity of the community in this way, I also am extremely pleased that the opportunity exists.
However, at the same time as being an example of a player bases nobility, it is also a workaround.
One of my fleets is three people, one of whom is disabled and can't play a lot. But I'm good earning ec, he does good with dilithium and our third gets all our fleet marks so we make steady progress. In my larger fleet what I've found is everyone is good at marks and no one but me is good at ec, and our best dil farmers both had kids and cut back their play time so we stall out despite having about 50 people