As mentioned before, I at least think it is better that SOMETHING was said about this instead of dropping it in the patch notes or worse, stealth-nerfing it. That is
part of the communications piece that many of us have been asking for.
But there is a key thing Cryptic is missing. Frankly, all Cryptic has been doing is taking things away from the playerbase--endless dilithium sinks, an XP slowdown so severe as to ruin story progression, and then the recent SpecGate debacle. And at the same time, raising the difficulty to levels so extreme that they have decimated the queues and have run players out of the game out of refusal to fork out the insane amounts of cash needed to make significant upgrades.
To be quite honest, I feel like I've been kicked while I'm down. This is absolutely the opposite direction of what Cryptic needs to be doing right now. The NPC scaling that has ruined the queues and numerous other missions is a FAR more pressing issue than some sort of "error" with the carrier pets.
Quite frankly, my Danubes are NOT doing such stellar DPS, and they do get blown up, very often. Perhaps a dev should watch a Vesta pilot play--not clone a toon and choose an elite player to play them, not go to the 50k DPS Club to pick out a sample, but watch a
normal player and see exactly what it's like for the little folks.
This is not JUST about carrier pilots--but this points to a serious problem.
As a carrier pilot, though, here is what I want:
1) Hard numbers on exactly what the proposed losses in all categories cited would actually be, and examples of how those numbers are in practice.
2) NPC scaledowns, not just for those of us in carriers, but for everyone so that the queues are no longer completely gutted.
3) OPEN DIALOGUE with the players in which Cryptic can actually find out what this game has become for the average player. Not the whales, not the people who are in the game 24-7, but normal, everyday people.
Take warning from these numbers. If something major, positive, and sustained does not happen soon, Cryptic needs to think very seriously about the fact that for all the presumed dev labor hours,
actors' fees and royalties for the use of their voices and likenesses, servers, bandwidth, maintenance, and all other overhead that they are paying for, there is a very serious risk with so many of us having shut our wallets that there will be no recouping of the massive outlay without a complete 180 on Cryptic's part.
http://steamcharts.com/app/9900#All
At this point Cryptic may even need to worry about those who STAY just as much as those who leave--for there are many who were once accused as "freeloaders" who came in as F2P who may well decide to do exactly that in full knowledge of the resource drain that they are causing.
It is still not necessarily irreversible--but I can assure Cryptic that if they decide to stay their current course, of which this latest punishment is yet another example, this is the exact opposite of the goodwill that they desperately needed. The way to save their revenue stream is exactly
backwards from their actual course of action.
This is not a personal attack. This is a call to open serious communications now, before the damage becomes uncontainable and nobody wins.
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Comments
After, you know, 300 seconds....
I don't think it's an unresonable request. Show us the numbers or take your nerf and stuff it.
130 seconds.... my balls hurt each time I try to post, I swear....
34 seconds.... if I could post half of what's flying through my mind right now...
If--and sadly I doubt it at this point--we're only looking at a very small "scaling," Cryptic would also do themselves a huge favor by coming forward with that fact instead of letting a crisis build.
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And someone please slap the spammer!
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I would also note that IMO, NPC scaledowns should be considered as well.
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I don't like spam, mind you. But I fear the uptick in their advertising cannot be an accident for those in charge of shady sites like that.
Yet another thing Cryptic could potentially help with by bringing the game back into a better balance: helping to get rid of such an annoyance in the forums, zone, and in-game mail. :mad:
But anyway...back to carrier pets and hopefully the opportunity for Cryptic to walk us through the actual math.
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Which is why we are in need of a report post option.
Added note: This post time gate is another horrible idea.
And I would also suggest Cryptic think very, very carefully on this question: you've got empty queues, people complaining of resource sinks, heavy payers talking of closing wallets due to the problems you've introduced. We're facing massive HP hulls and ground NPCs (even on normal), poorly implemented Difficulty queues that aren't what was promised, appalling levels of grind matched to XP nerfing... Now the question:
Is "Player Pets" really the thing that needs to be prioritized, right now, before anything else?
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I don't think it's fair to assume that this is something they just decided on a whim to do. For all we know, this could have been on the schedule since LoR launched. However, it's most likely a glaring bug with the introduction of DR.
Yeah, but the good news is we only have to see them every 300 seconds.
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It would be more clear to the players whether or not this has merit if we could actually see the information that the devs are looking at to make their proposal.
That's not a decision on Cryptic's part that I particularly want to validate.
The reason we are seeing the spammers is, I suspect, a symptom of the broken game economics. This is the same thing that happens any time supply of a valuable commodity is severely tightened up artificially (dilithium/Zen, in this case).
Fixing the game economy will give them less of a leg to stand on.
If Cryptic wants something worthwhile to nerf, it would be the goldsellers. And they can do that by creating a more beneficial environment for the players.
Everybody wins.
Think about that one, Cryptic. Please. This is a symptom of something that will only hurt everyone.
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Maybe... but the first thing normal people do in a crisis is to move "fix crisis!" to the top of the "To Do" list :P
i would say that depends on if we are taking the sanity of all parties into account as well. some of the things they do simply don't make any sense.
Vice Admiral Nova Snow S'Car, U.S.S. Caitian Fury-F (Multi-Vector Advanced Escort)
Lieutenant R'Maani Hunter, I.K.S. Teng'vek (B'rel Bird of Prey)
I want to hope that maybe, MAYBE we can get some data tomorrow that could keep this one spiraling out of control. But if we hear nothing more, it could very well do that instead. :-/
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Vice Admiral Nova Snow S'Car, U.S.S. Caitian Fury-F (Multi-Vector Advanced Escort)
Lieutenant R'Maani Hunter, I.K.S. Teng'vek (B'rel Bird of Prey)
Another thing is the stupid long timer on a command you give a pet actually you know altering the tactics of the pet.. Pet Recalll should be instant! We can communicate from the delta quadrant to the alpha quadrant more quickly, easily and efficiently than a carrier sending orders to a fighter pilot... in what year? 2409? Are you sure I'm not launching P-51 Mustangs with a ham radio?
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Non-frigate pets are completely useless against the Voth. I guess they want frigates to be as well.
Just checked, on the last ISA run (solo queuing) my drone ships did 9k. They could probably pass 10k in a premade with some more dubuffs. They did around 4k pre DR IIRC. Their damage went up by less than enemy HP, so i do not support a nerf.
Maybe Cryptic should make a bit more effort to teach players how to play the game (did they at least include power settings in the new tutorials? i don't remember them in the old ones, may be wrong though) so they can do more damage than pets?
Im F2P and ohh look ive a forum title ive spent more in 6mths then most Gold players pay in in a year.
Get over you self importent ****
...That did not make much sense to me.
I also don't wanna be confuzzled with numbers. I just, for once, since DR, would like a straightforward answer, as to where you Cryptic guys want to take this game. Then I can decide, upfront, whether I still want to be a part of it.
I thought they were nerfing the pets because they applied that ludicrous hp scaling npcs have to carrier pets.
I'm all for more resilient pets, just not ones that have more hp then the ship that launched them.
No they are not that strong. They seem exactly the same as before delta. My scorpions die on launch - boom. The Xindi frigates are much tougher of course. But exactly the same as they were October 13. It's just another poke in the eye. My main complaint is that this is NOT something that needs to be worked on first, even if it is an issue. Maybe work on it sometime next February. Fix the GD queues first while there's still a game to fix.
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Both voq, Karfi, jem, recluse, xindi. And all flight deck ships as well.
Love those ships. IMHO, they all need updating.
The AI.
The fact that frigates are bound to specific ships.
The fact that the kdf hasn't seen a new carrier in 4 years.
Pet dps wasn't the problem. It seems like cryptic is looking at the wrong thing again. But I bet it was the easiest thing to look at.
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The less said about the B'Rolth and it's High Yield quantum torpedo salvoes compared to mine the better....
I'm taking a page from the NFL's no more campaign. No More it's none of my business, No More they said they were sorry, No More it only happened once, No More why don't we just leave, No more they didn't mean it, No More by-standing, No More. No More ignoring bugs/broken mechanics Cryptic.
http://sto-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?t=1285761
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