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Is this game no longer for me?
commanderkassy
Member Posts: 1,005 Arc User
So I'm a casual. I log in every few months, play for a couple weeks, and take another break. I enjoy the game while I'm here. Even with this minimal time investment, I was able to get the best gear in the game and compete at the highest levels of play. To me, that was always the greatest appeal of this game, that is is so casual friendly.
However I gotta say, DR does not look casual friendly. It looks like the gear upgrade system is a massive time and resource sink beyond almost anything we've seen before, and the game has become significantly more grindy. I would like to see the story, but I am honestly reluctant to even log in.
However I gotta say, DR does not look casual friendly. It looks like the gear upgrade system is a massive time and resource sink beyond almost anything we've seen before, and the game has become significantly more grindy. I would like to see the story, but I am honestly reluctant to even log in.
♪ I'm going around not in circles but in spirographs.
It's pretty much this hard to keep just one timeline intact. ♪
It's pretty much this hard to keep just one timeline intact. ♪
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Cryptics BETA testing is a bit of a running joke. (As in, none existent - and/or pointless, as they ignore any and all feedback)
Still, the game will go on, it will get tweaked - as always- eventually.
I may take a break until I hear something has been tweaked. I don't have anywhere near the dil I need to get back to where I was.
Pretty good idea. I'm going to recommend it to everyone. Cryptic need a bit of 'positive feedback' in the nuts.
Damn good advice. Think I'm gonna back off for a bit myself. Clearly a misstep on Cryptics part.
I usually hate it when players cry "NERF!" but that isn't the case this time.
I've been playing STO since before it was F2P and I know how to play this game, but I haven't successfully finished one single PVE queue on NORMAL difficulty since the launch of Delta Rising ... not ONE.
Forget about crazy hard Advanced or whatever the new Elite/Insane level will be ... I'm saying a seasoned player with nothing but mk XII, mk XIII, and mk XIV gear hasn't been able to beat a single stinking team PVE on the normal/newb/idiot level since the game was updated!!!
I'm not trying to be one of those jerk "DOOOM!!!" players who are constantly saying this game is finished, but this is a SERIOUS problem that needs to be fixed IMMEDIATELY.
Don't believe the lies in this forum. I am NOT an ARC user. I play STO on Steam or not at all.
so far im able to play the story missions with a non-T5U galaxy lol(im not gonna play them in a recluse lol, breaks immersion for me). But yeah, im sure cryptic will turn down how hard the new advanced are. Some people report not being able to complete fleet alert which tells me its way to hard. The grinding has wore me out too, just does not feel worth it anymore. But there is foundry missions and the new FE's. Not everyone likes the foundry, but I always suggest to people to give it a go if their tired of grinding. I have not tried the foundry after DR released so idk if the NPC's there became harder, last time i checked you can do them with basic gear.
Normal is fine, it's what happens in Advanced and Elite that got out of hand thanks to lazy "nightmare mode" programming. Only way to get dil now easy is with Geko's dinosaurs with freaking lazers on their heads.
Advanced is really not a whole lot more imcoming damage from npcs but instead some npcs now have 10 times the hull hp and more shield hp/resist as well then normals enemies have. So you better have a group pulling 15-20k dps if you want to finish and even then its gonna take 30 minutes or so. (the borg bird of prey in advanced cure is a great example they have over 600k hull and pretty good shields as well but still do nearly no damage to a player until you get half a dozen or so on top of you)
I look at this update and see more grind, more rep systems (I've only ever maxed out omega force, one two chars. Otherwise rep was untouched). Not going to touch the new rep system without seeing what the end tier costume/armor looks like (Which won't happen until a month and a half or so when people actually get it, since the wiki never updates it seems).
But I've had a friend try the STORY missions, and unable to do them without Tu5 ship or Mark 14 gear. The stuff cryptic said we'd be able to do with our current stuff. I've yet to get into those missions personally, but I know this one friend isn't planning to come back to STO at all now.
me? I'll come on to chat and maybe punch out a daily rep for a costume piece on one char... but I don't see myself playing the new queues or content much at all. The grind? No thanks. I burnt out on grinding with the original eSTF XII gear. No love for doing the rep systems constantly nor do I have the time.
I grew tired of the gameplay with all the character bound costumes and ships. If say, lobi ships were account wide bound (the store or the jackpot ships), I'd be enticed to buy keys and try for them, as I wouldn't feel like it's a ton of money wasted if I wanted the two ship console bonus.
I don't feel like cryptic really deserves me spending money to get ship upgrade tokens, or the delta rising pack.
for spoiler text use #1b1c1f
the more I play, the more that feeling creeps up on me.
there has even been talk of it in game. people are thinking quite seriously of leaving.
it's a shame.
the art team, and the development team have done amazing work. and the ground is just so good.
they even got a successful launch!
but
1) all free, mirror and fleet mark ships cant be upgraded. effectively making a new ship 35,000zen (1000 for token)
2) Battles are way too long, I love the fact that the ai will support its allys, but frigates with 90k hull, fighters with 150k and cursers with 200-300k hulls and borg with 800k I have even seen a 1500k hull. is long, laborious and silly
3) dilithium grinding is severely hampered, even if you have a claim and loads of time, 8,000 is your max... unless you throw money at it of corse
4) Grind........ Grind for marks.....grind for fleet.......grind for Energy Credits.........Grind for dilithium..............Grind For Equipment..................Grind for rep........Grind For Doffs.........Grind for Particles....... I might as well play Farmville!
5)the big wait for weapon upgrades that go away with dilithium (zen)
6) I am levelling up a new alt and if you look at my I need help thread, you will see I am having a great deal of bother
7) to get advanced gear you need nural processers, implants and whatnot, you get them from advanced. but you cant play advanced without advanced gear, it just wont happen....
catch 22
8) thanks to Dilithium Rising my fleet will struggle to grow
thease are the things are playing on my mind
If you spend your casual time wisely and hunt the blue and purple crafting components you can make a decent profit by selling them on the exchange, then buy the upgraded hear.
I am running DR on elite, have a T5 and no gear past MKII (granted, I won't play an elite STF wiht this setup) and I am doing okay in tjhe episodes. Sure, the new rep system is as much of a grind as the old ones, but you can do those at your leisure and they, too, will award high-end gear when at tier V.
So again my answer is the game has not changed for the casual player UNLESS you want to gring to 60 and join elite STFs.
The main story missions will be doable using the free ships provided at level 40. You can also do normal STF missions as well without any problem. The issue comes up when you want play STFs that are harder than normal. The old Elite STFs are now called Advanced and they are meant to be played by level 60 toons and a T5U or T6 starship. I would say you need a ship that can do at least 10k or perhaps 15k DPS for Advanced STFs. The new Elite STF are truly elite, they are meant for people who have poured time and effort into pushing the DPS of their ships to 30K DPS or more.
If you want the best gear now, then you need to grind for it. I believe Mk XIII gear do drop in the DR main story missions, but if you want Mk XIV gear, then you need to level up your crafting skills to at least level 15. There are 7 schools, but you cannot level them up all at the same time. You start with only one free slot to level up a specific school like Beam Weapons or Science. More slots open up as you level up crafting. At most there are 5 slot for crafting; but you need to level to 15 in one school to have all 5 slots available. Doing the daily crafting school project means you can get to level 15 in a school in just over 90 days I think. Slightly less if you get critical success consistently enough.
The other option is to buy Mk XIV gear from the Exchange for like tens of million of ECs. Nice to have, but only an absolute must if you intend on playing Elite STFs.
From what people are saying leveling from 50 to 60 is slower compared to lower levels because each level above 50 does require a lot of XP. But they have also stated the new main story missions also reward more XP than older missions so that partially offsets the increased XP necessary.
At this point you have nothing to loose. Load up the game and play for a couple of days if it really leaves a sour taste then put down the game and try it again when season 10 begins next year. If it still sucks then.... it's up to you.
Sure, at your leisure.
And it takes 30-40 days to reach tier 5. And that's just doing the rep missions which boil to "Throw marks, XP, and EC at screen. Wait one hour/20 hours and repeat." Such exciting gameplay to keep people hooked.
And even then, you need plenty of marks for the gear, which is more time spent if you can't play for long each day or fail to get good groups for the higher mark rewarding queues.
Playing the exchange isn't fun for many people. Hunting materials to try to throw at the exchange doesn't entice me at all, as the prices for anything are so huge. I barely have... 6 million probably across ALL my characters.
I'll try the story missions and make my thoughts then, but I look at the ship upgrading alone and see huge real cash sinks. If you fly a normal tier 5 ship, you must buy a fleet ship to upgrade it. Then pay more for the upgrade token. If I had to say, it might appear like cryptic is desperately trying to get cash in.
edit: Jaguar, you are jsut repeating the press articles. Since you've not done it personally, you can't say for sure those story missions can be done without issue with normal gear right now. Some might be really tough. Other people are saying NORMAL STF or PVE queues are giving them a lot of grief and trouble right now, exactly opposite of what you are saying as well.
edit2: I've also heard that when you go to replay the new missions, you don't even GET the same level tier items as rewards. They go down to XI or XII (I forget which).
I guess it really depends on how badly you want/need the new gear, etc. No one said grinding marks and rep was easy. If it was, it wouldnt be a grind.
STO is and has always been casual friendly. It is not, however, optimized for the casual player. I, too, am somewhat casual. I cant afford to play for hours on end every day and I will undoubtedly fall behind my fleet soon enough. However, I am enjoying the new episode missions and, as I have said, am completing them on elite difficulty with a non upgraded T5 ship and MKII gear.
Granted, its not easy. It shouldnt be easy isnt fun.
I have yet to see any real evidence that a T5U is worth it, to be honest. You gain one extra console slot and, depending on your ship, nothing else. Why not stick with my T5 and find the MK III/IV gear?
if they fix a few things it can be averted.
1: the new "Advanced" difficulty is too "advanced", one little mess up and the thing dumps you out of it with nothing for your efforts... and the ships i used to be able to kill laugh at me now
2: the crafting system is way to complicated as noted by somone else here...
3: the ship/equipment upgrade system is also way to involved, it almost borders on the aquiring tier gear on world of ******** at this point.
"How badly you want the high end gear." doesn't matter if it still takes you more then a month to even start getting a full set.
And getting the marks? Easy for dyson rep at least. But still just dumping the marks into something and waiting 20 hours doesn't make the game fun if I'm needing that to get to the fun, challenging STFs.
I agree with your statement. But what can we do? In the end we have two choices: play or do not play.
If the latter is your choice then so be it. I wish you well.
I hope that the hp scaling is toned down, and that will make many things better, but that said a lot of what's in delta is more casual friendly than people are making it out to be.
The upgrade system means my small fleets no longer need to upgrade fleet holdings. Buying mark 10 weapons and consoles then upgrading is cheaper then buying mark 12.
The solo missions are fun and very rewarding, and if a fix goes through for scaling HP, then the worst enemy (vaadwar) will be more fun too. Right now they are a slog.
Delta rep has some cool gear, and the battle zone is a great way to earn rep and dil, much like the dyson one. I prefer ground though, so I know it's not viable for everyone.
Event ships upgrade for free, which means all my characters get one 5u ship for free. I don't need any upgrade tokens at all, but I plan to get a few. Fortunately they are on the ah, and while expensive today within less then a month they'll be close to fleet modules, probably around 10 mil each. I am bummed for my romulan engineer because he flies a mirror ship and that isn't upgradeable. Not sure I want him in the risamcruiser even though he has one. Kinda wish I'd gotten him a dyson destroyer.
The new hazari ship is selling for less than the xindi did in its first week. So at least one of my guys will get a t6 within a month.
The silent masses are apparently obsessed with crafting and I saved up boxes from queues and am earning lots of ec selling them. Plus the sphere and delta space have great crafting mat doff missions. Easy money.
Really, the biggest hurdle is that people are trying to do advanced queues with characters under 60.
I never did the queues all that often anyway, and from tribble it only took two weeks to get them on farm status. Even now some people are farming elite (and its not because they dumped cash). But with the forum rage, I expect a HP Nerf so holodeck will have them farmable by pugs before Monday I bet.
Worst case scenario is I use sets other than borg, because BNP's are harder to get than voth and undine stuff. I can live with that.
Is that worth 500-700 zen? Not to me. If the price on the ah comes down to 10-12million ec, then yes. For some ships.
But all the event ships upgrade for free (except the single mission reward ones). And I have a lot of chel Brett's, risian corvettes/cruisers and a few dyson destroyers. And winter is coming up again soon. For free, its totally worth it. Free is my favorite price.
Hmmm... I forgot about the scaling bonuses tbh. RIght now, as I have seen, the price for upgrade tokens is 50 mil EC - now you have 2 choices - 1: wait for the price to come down, if it ever does or 2: spend $20, get 4 tokens, use 2 and sell 2 on the AH for 50 MIL EC.
Then use the EC to get lockbox keys for the new boxes... gain lobi, sell the items you don't want...
Just one turn in contraband and one prisoner exchange and one round of recruit/send off colonists per day at our current exchange rates gives ~20zen a day for less than 10 minutes of work including transwarp time. That's a key a week = more than 2 million ec. Or it works out to two t6 ships per year.
And anything you earn after those 10 minutes is gravy on top.
If you had the time to grind the event ships out... or were even playing during the events happened.
Or if you even like the event ships or they match your preferred builds. Which I think a lot of people won't fit into those slots.
A lot of people don't have millions of EC, or the means to get millions of EC.
Something running for 10 million EC is far out of what I can pay, so I don't find that to be a good solution/alt. Unless there is some magic easy way to get millions of EC with little time spent that doesn't involve playing the exchange and hoping...
Craptic. your own dev team prefers a Star Trek Mod of Sins over STO. That is done by a handful of people in their own time with no money other than buying the original game they mod. And they are doing better at a treak game then a company that gets alot of money from this game alone before even count PWE and CBS. CLEARLY YOU ARE DOING SOMETHING WRONG. You ignore what the customers are all but screaming at you to do and do your own thing. This expansion was rushed and poorly done and people need to go for you are clearly failing to make this game last.