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400k refined dilithium & mats for nothing.. goodby to that!
higherfive
Member Posts: 30 Arc User
This is a cautionary tale..
A little background about myself. I've been playing STO for over two years. I've been a member of the Federation Fleet Alliance (with 10+ sub-fleets) a good one, for much of that time. I'm leaving the game (reluctantly) due to the new system for upgrading. I was actually very happy with a lot of the changes PW did with STO. The storyline remains entertaining & challenging, beefed up STFs, new panel/weapon abilities & the opportunity to improve equipment all I thought were good.
The only problem I have is ANY chance of failure of upgrades. The amount of resources needed to upgrade at the highest tiers is exorbitant. It seems as if PW/Arc has not as much raised the bar (which implies a set target) more like they are dangling a carrot on a string and when you get near they pull it away. The following is a letter I sent out to most of those who are my STO friends list. The combined in-game time of these friends amounts to 10's of thousands of hours.
Let the buyer beware
Hi,
This a form letter Im sharing with everyone on my friends list in STO. Im leaving the game for now because of the new R&D requirements for high-end gear. I know someone in the Federation Fleet Alliance who sunk over 400k refined dilithium & all the other materials to improve a panel to epic-gold quality and it failed. I was under the mistaken impression that you could not fail when upgrading a panel. I though when you look at what you upgrading to is what you got, with a slight chance of a critical advancement. What I didnt understand at the time was that you can fail in upgrading something, though you'll get a better chance the next time you try (fu very much try again).
I found this out the very hard way. After 3 panels I was trying to improve from xiv-rare to xiv ultra-rare (made tickets after each failure with no response) I took my problem to a game GM, but not before I had asked around if anyone had run into a similar problem, no one had a clue. After a day of back & forth with a GM, I did as instructed & posted my issue on the STO bug forum. It was clear in my conversation with the GM he did not understand the game mechanics in crafting in the highest tiers either. In his last comment to me he indicated that it must have some sort of bug. Unfortunately I learned on forums it is not a bug just bad luck rolling the dice.
The games duty-officer system, reputation system, crafting system & upgrading system all have different ways how a mission displays a critical success, normal success or failure. When you spend all the requirement to upgrade & it doesnt go to the next tier there is not mention You Failed one of the reasons I was confused. Part of why Im writing this is to let the buyer beware that if you want to upgrade something, be prepared to be disappointed. I'm going to use this as an 'Open Letter' to others on STO forums. Hopefully this system will change, please feel free to let PW know how you feel about this as well.
Arc sent me a 'How we are doing' survey a few days back. As much as I hate surveys, I've decided to spend some time to let them know my opinion.. Best Wishes to those who stick it out, hope you get your carrots..
A little background about myself. I've been playing STO for over two years. I've been a member of the Federation Fleet Alliance (with 10+ sub-fleets) a good one, for much of that time. I'm leaving the game (reluctantly) due to the new system for upgrading. I was actually very happy with a lot of the changes PW did with STO. The storyline remains entertaining & challenging, beefed up STFs, new panel/weapon abilities & the opportunity to improve equipment all I thought were good.
The only problem I have is ANY chance of failure of upgrades. The amount of resources needed to upgrade at the highest tiers is exorbitant. It seems as if PW/Arc has not as much raised the bar (which implies a set target) more like they are dangling a carrot on a string and when you get near they pull it away. The following is a letter I sent out to most of those who are my STO friends list. The combined in-game time of these friends amounts to 10's of thousands of hours.
Let the buyer beware
Hi,
This a form letter Im sharing with everyone on my friends list in STO. Im leaving the game for now because of the new R&D requirements for high-end gear. I know someone in the Federation Fleet Alliance who sunk over 400k refined dilithium & all the other materials to improve a panel to epic-gold quality and it failed. I was under the mistaken impression that you could not fail when upgrading a panel. I though when you look at what you upgrading to is what you got, with a slight chance of a critical advancement. What I didnt understand at the time was that you can fail in upgrading something, though you'll get a better chance the next time you try (fu very much try again).
I found this out the very hard way. After 3 panels I was trying to improve from xiv-rare to xiv ultra-rare (made tickets after each failure with no response) I took my problem to a game GM, but not before I had asked around if anyone had run into a similar problem, no one had a clue. After a day of back & forth with a GM, I did as instructed & posted my issue on the STO bug forum. It was clear in my conversation with the GM he did not understand the game mechanics in crafting in the highest tiers either. In his last comment to me he indicated that it must have some sort of bug. Unfortunately I learned on forums it is not a bug just bad luck rolling the dice.
The games duty-officer system, reputation system, crafting system & upgrading system all have different ways how a mission displays a critical success, normal success or failure. When you spend all the requirement to upgrade & it doesnt go to the next tier there is not mention You Failed one of the reasons I was confused. Part of why Im writing this is to let the buyer beware that if you want to upgrade something, be prepared to be disappointed. I'm going to use this as an 'Open Letter' to others on STO forums. Hopefully this system will change, please feel free to let PW know how you feel about this as well.
Arc sent me a 'How we are doing' survey a few days back. As much as I hate surveys, I've decided to spend some time to let them know my opinion.. Best Wishes to those who stick it out, hope you get your carrots..
Post edited by higherfive on
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If your speaking of epic yes yes it is because its "epic" and your not supposed to do it for all your gear only the very special gear. The upgrade in mark level is fine its actually not that expensive at all but they are lowering the cost.
you dont *need* epic gear to play this game they have stated its just for those who have this need to min/max and have bragging rights. Even the increase in stats is not worth the upgrade to epic its minimal. Its there so people can say "I have an epic wang".
Though I am sticking it out and taking my time, I understand many are not.
However I will say that "I quit" threads are a nono in the forums.
Consider returning every so often as others I know are, if for no other reason than to say hi to friends and check on the status of your in game grievances.
"If this will be our end, then I will have them make SUCH an end as to be worthy of rememberance! Out of torpedos you say?! Find me the ferengi!".
What I wrote was that had a fundamental misunderstanding about the games upgrade system that other experienced players and even a STO GM did not know. Using a personal experience of a friend who dropped 400k dilithium (etc.) to upgrade a panel & it didn't upgrade - is something people should know & understand it as a possibility. How long it took me to get an accurate answer was part of my frustration. How is it a nono to give a legitimate reason for leaving the game? I'm not flaming anyone - just telling it how it is & for others who stick around to be prepared for the consequences..
so to clarify, you misunderstood how the upgrade system works and your blaming the game
cautionary tale indeed
fair enough, bye bye
I was merely stating that " I quit" threads are in the forum rules as a nono, not that I did not sympathize.
"If this will be our end, then I will have them make SUCH an end as to be worthy of rememberance! Out of torpedos you say?! Find me the ferengi!".
The stat gain is simply not worth the expense of the crafting system.
Just play the game and have fun. You don't need to be at the very top. If you did, there'd be nothing to do. And don't give me that "but there's PvP!" BS. You know good and well there isn't.
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You don't go to forums for compassion - I've been playing this game longer (or as long) than anyone piped up here. I see that everyone here like posting on forums a lot more than I do - I prefer playing. I had a misconception about game mechanics that others were experiencing as well & that a game GM didn't have an answer for. I don't want others to be misled as I was. If you want to bend over and take it.. That is entirely up to you - when you 'fail' to upgrade that panel - think of me
Because quite frankly, I am not going to invest in some TRIBBLE RNG, let alone broken upgrading that likes to forget or, remove mods on things!
Fix it 100% and, I might consider upgrading a few more things but, the RNG will still play a huge factor in my decision to do so.
Praetor of the -RTS- Romulan Tal Shiar fleet!
Romulans: left one homeworld, lost another, third time's the charm?
people post on a forum and others comment you know what they say " opinions are like ... and everyones got one*"
forums are not for anything other then you know sharing info and people posting what they think.
You will notice that in some cases (like mine) I know where the huge huge costs are and there is a reason for that. Never "assume" anything. Its safer that way. The reality is though upgrading to mark XIII is not that expensive its people trying to get those higher stats. and that gold epic that are spending insane amounts, but the reality is this stuff is pretty much a "status item" and status items like in the real world are very expensive even if they do the same thing the "regular" one does.
You can buy jeans no name brand from your local store or brand name jeans for a 500% markup they both are jeans one just has a funny name attached.
epic is.. status and that is all
Besides, as a tank, all I would like is a Mk XIV MACO set. And then I am content with my ship.
I'm even upgrading my torpedoes waaaay ahead of my beams.
Join the Deltas today!
Your reading comprehension is below par. My misunderstanding was a shared one with other experienced players & an STO GM. You get my personal best wishes on your next upgrade :rolleyes: lol!
There is absolutely no reason whatsoever to grind to XIV. The content can easily be done using readily available XI and XII equipment.
Unless you want to do high end PVP there really is no real reason to upgrade to epic quality just yet, take your time.
Ill get to epic when im done with everything else to 14, until then I'll do just fine.
"If this will be our end, then I will have them make SUCH an end as to be worthy of rememberance! Out of torpedos you say?! Find me the ferengi!".
you mistakenly confused what was clearly indicated on the upgrade panel and insult MY reading skills? lol
the fact that others shared your stupid mistake doesn't eliminate the likelihood that your both simply idiots, the upgrade system has been running for sometime, most players understand exactly how it works, whether they choose to use it or not
the fault here was clearly yours, not the systems :rolleyes:
Enjoy the system now turn your head & cough :eek:
The item he was trying upgrade was a tac. Phaser relay, what the rarity was my friend said he's not sure (speaking with him on TS) and after 18 failed stf's today he said he's probably going back for a while. He's an efficient German player, really not one to brag or embellish though.
can i have your stuff???
(surprised it took 3 pages)
I'm sure you'll get over it :rolleyes:, no :P & it was on my dime :cool:
correction we are on pg. 4 now..