Leveling up at a snails pace

gholendhor · December 2014

I know it's been talked about before,but I feel the need to bring it up again.Leveling up is a pain in the TRIBBLE$ now.The developers came to the conclusion that people were leveling up to fast after a few weeks after the release of Delta Rising.Something I think they should have caught while testing the new content on the tribble server by the way.So now you have to repeat patrols and missions scores of times to get to the next level.All patrols and missions give out a measly 2800 skill points,and when needing anywhere up to 90000 skill points to get to the next level(Lvl 52 to lvl 53)makes the game less fun than it was in the past.We already have so many other aspects of the game that are time consuming.Months to get R&D schools to levels to be beneficial then added time to get the materials and duty officers needed to craft.weeks to grind out enough marks for reputation tiers.No wonder people are leaving the game these days.Look at the PVE Queues a long list of them and maybe a quarter of them are being used.there is also a decline in people in the PVP queues.I think the Developers need to consider what they have done since the DR release and make leveling more reasonable then it is now.I can understand then not wanting us to race through the new content but put up speed bumps and not a road block.

qjunior · December 2014

gholendhor wrote: »

I know it's been talked about before,but I feel the need to bring it up again.

No, resist. Really, I mean it..... It's like saying "I know it will detonate the bomb but I had to press the red button with the skull on it". :mad::P

annemarie30 · December 2014

that's kinda why i decided to see what it is like for a totally new player.. with one exception.. I'm giving myself purple mk ii everything.. see what i get as i level up nad grind the dilithium to or EC to get upgrades.

erei1 · December 2014

I think that's the biggest hot topic since DR was released.
Anyway, join the crowd, and welcome

mustrumridcully0 · December 2014

I don't know what to do about it. I mean, they could make it shorter if they wanted, but there are reasons they didn't want that. Maybe what they really need to do is make the experience better. The Geko interview somehow gave me the impression they kinda think it would be just fine if you started a character from scratch, because the mission supposedly are now enough to bring you somewhere beyond level 50 by the time you reahc Delta Rising content.

But... Most of us played to Level 50 and did all the missions already. Who wants repeats, unless it grants great rewards. Great rewards isn't what replay gives, however.

The only hope I have - if it actually works that people play more and that overall positively affects Zen sales - it could mean they found a way to indirectly monetize story content. You don't have to buy to unlock it like in some other games (and how Cryptic promised never to do), but you'll need to grind for it. Unfortunately, that is more speculation than guarantee. That may not have been Cryptic's plan, and it may not work, even if it was - but if it was, and it is working, that could mean more story content then in the past years. And I think there are many people that would consider that good. But of course, people that just hoped to log in a few times a year to do the new story missions and then do something else with their time (and possibly money) will end up being disappointed.

annemarie30 wrote: »

that's kinda why i decided to see what it is like for a totally new player.. with one exception.. I'm giving myself purple mk ii everything.. see what i get as i level up nad grind the dilithium to or EC to get upgrades.

One thing that bothered me about the "new player leveling experience"- you get practically no dilithium during it.

Sure, it's an "endgame" currency. But wouldn't it be nice to be able to at least get a bit of it, so when you're level 50 or 60 you can buy a few things already?

shadowwraith77 · December 2014

well, I can tell you that going from lvl57-58 requires some 150k skill points and, just running 1 ISA handed me a mere 1490 skill points so, at that kind of advancement it would require some 100+ runs to gain 1 level!

Slow, most definitely but, not as slow as they would probably like it to be!

lordmalak1 · December 2014

shadowwraith77 wrote: »

well, I can tell you that going from lvl57-58 requires some 150k skill points and, just running 1 ISA handed me a mere 1490 skill points so, at that kind of advancement it would require some 100+ runs to gain 1 level!

Slow, most definitely but, not as slow as they would probably like it to be!

Yup, been grinding lvl 59 for over a week now and I'm only half way there. It's looking like near 60 hours of play for that last level- I can hardly contain my enthusiasm for the remaining 60+ levels.

j/k about the enthusiasm.

duncanidaho11 · December 2014

lordmalak1 wrote: »

Yup, been grinding lvl 59 for over a week now and I'm only half way there. It's looking like near 60 hours of play for that last level- I can hardly contain my enthusiasm for the remaining 60+ levels.

j/k about the enthusiasm.

...What the hell have you been doing? I'm made just about as much progress on an alt over the past few days just from doffing and light-moderate PVE's. I'm really curious because while slow, I haven't found near or beyond 60 that its THAT slow.

centaurianalpha · December 2014

Well, I mentioned only a few days after DR release that the dev's built themselves a version of STO that will keep even the most ambitious player busy for a looooong time. One can only hope that the next few months are used by the dev's to fix the broken features they introduced, and fix the things broken by the new release. Otherwise, the dev's can sit back on their figurative laurels, without needing to create anything new at all.

Apart from bug fixes, there is not much to add to DR in the short term, apart from finishing the hollow shell of "specializations". Meanwhile, try to have fun! I can't even imaging why people repeatedly talk about how many times they would have to repeat a given DR mission to level out their captains. Isn't a famous definition of "insanity" something about doing the same thing over & over again...?

lordmalak1 · December 2014

duncanidaho11 wrote: »

...What the hell have you been doing? I'm made just about as much progress on an alt over the past few days just from doffing and light-moderate PVE's. I'm really curious because while slow, I haven't found near or beyond 60 that its THAT slow.

Dyson contested zone and doffing.

Am getting proficient in clearing the tower spam alone, but it's not adding any XP points that I can see.

duncanidaho11 · December 2014

centaurianalpha wrote: »

Apart from bug fixes, there is not much to add to DR in the short term, apart from finishing the hollow shell of "specializations". Meanwhile, try to have fun! I can't even imaging why people repeatedly talk about how many times they would have to repeat a given DR mission to level out their captains. Isn't a famous definition of "insanity" something about doing the same thing over & over again...?

Basically. People seem to be approaching leveling as something to min-max. Do this to gain as much exp as unit time as possible, then blame the dev's when that doesn't turn out to be a fun experience. I'm back to wandering through the PVE queues and the various zones and I must say that I'm having more fun playing for the game's sake than pre DR and that IS thanks to the level cap increase (more options, more power, more gameplay even out of something I've run through as much as the Voth battlezone and the Azure Nebula.) And even when I do max out a spec tree there's that implicit promise of more specializations to come to keep me interested in the future (apart from the customary new missions, ships, and customization bits.)

There's a lot to chew on with DR and I too can't see a whole lot more that needs to be added (unlike a most previous seasons) to make it feel complete. Tweaked, yes, but there doesn't seem to be any functional gaps unlike with the RR faction, Dyson Sphere, Fleet System, and New Romulus when they were added. More spec trees, more specialist boffs, more specialist ship types. It builds out quite naturally to become more but without holding anything of critical importance now.

mossimo70fu · December 2014

A fellow forum poster spread a rumor that there was going to be a patch this week buffing XP rewards to match what they are on tribble (still poor, but better rewards nonetheless). That is doubtful since it would go live tomorrow but there has been no announcement of impending maintenance.

Guess I'll be playing something else for at least another week and just keep an eye out for developments (or lack thereof) here.

Gotta hand it to them though - they have some serious conviction. It appears they'll hold their foot to the floor with these nerfs all the way into the brick wall.

lordmalak1 · December 2014

mossimo70fu wrote: »

A fellow forum poster spread a rumor that there was going to be a patch this week buffing XP rewards to match what they are on tribble (still poor, but better rewards nonetheless). That is doubtful since it would go live tomorrow but there has been no announcement of impending maintenance.

Guess I'll be playing something else for at least another week and just keep an eye out for developments (or lack thereof) here.

Gotta hand it to them though - they have some serious conviction. It appears they'll hold their foot to the floor with these nerfs all the way into the brick wall.

I read something along those lines yesterday. A buff to lvl 14 gear (should be +30% above lvl 13 according to a dev), SO I take that to mean they're pushing upgrading HARD so missions will be easier (and faster) to complete, thus an 'XP buff'.

Like most things Cryptic says- "it true from a certain point of view".

mirrorchaos · December 2014

just got through to level 60 on tor with SoR, that took a day and a half in my books to do although it could be done sooner, in any event that was 55-60. with DR on sto though, your only option is grind, grind, grind and hope you make it out alive at the other end. obvious but essentially find stuff to do that helps, like running argala like 3k times a day or something. :P

chipg7 · December 2014

They said in the P1 podcast that 50 to 60 takes about 35hrs. I didn't time myself, but I'd say that was about right.

Agree with duncanidaho11 that a main complaint about level progression is min-maxing. It's really not as bad as it's hyped up to be. It's only bad if yes, a player is in fact playing the same content over and over and over to level as quickly as possible.

I think the #1 issue with the 50 to 60 grind is just that - it's a level-up grind. And many players haven't had to do the level-up grind for quite literally years. I'd have been disappointed if I speed-ran through the levels up to 60. I just played the game, and enjoyed the ride. I got to level 60, I'm upgrading my gear, got my starships up to mastery, etc. It's all happening slowly, for every minute I play the game.

It's not instant, that's for sure. But hey, this isn't a certain other MMO that offers a buy-to-immediately-level token. That's a pay-to-win approach. I'm glad STO has stuck with the play-to-win approach.

lordmalak1 · December 2014

chipg7 wrote: »

They said in the P1 podcast that 50 to 60 takes about 35hrs. I didn't time myself, but I'd say that was about right.

Thats horsehockey !

Now I KNOW geko's off his meds.

shadowwraith77 · December 2014

chipg7 wrote: »

They said in the P1 podcast that 50 to 60 takes about 35hrs. I didn't time myself, but I'd say that was about right.

Agree with duncanidaho11 that a main complaint about level progression is min-maxing. It's really not as bad as it's hyped up to be. It's only bad if yes, a player is in fact playing the same content over and over and over to level as quickly as possible.

I think the #1 issue with the 50 to 60 grind is just that - it's a level-up grind. And many players haven't had to do the level-up grind for quite literally years. I'd have been disappointed if I speed-ran through the levels up to 60. I just played the game, and enjoyed the ride. I got to level 60, I'm upgrading my gear, got my starships up to mastery, etc. It's all happening slowly, for every minute I play the game.

It's not instant, that's for sure. But hey, this isn't a certain other MMO that offers a buy-to-immediately-level token. That's a pay-to-win approach. I'm glad STO has stuck with the play-to-win approach.

As good as the 35hrs sounds, what they fail to mention is the spec points beyond lvl60!

Seeing how we still need 50 spec points beyond 60, than by this example formula it would require 35hrsX5=175hrs or 7.3 full days at 24hr non-stop.

Well, if we take an average player who logs only 1-3hrs a day, it would require from them to grind for 175hrs/1-3hrs[1day]=175-58days so, for them roughly 2&1/2-6months of grinding!

chipg7 · December 2014

Unless you're planning on stopping playing, then having the spec points gradually pop up isn't a problem.

I plan on playing the game on occasion over the next 6 months, so I'll get the spec points over that time. I think the main complaint is that it isn't immediate.

admrenlarreck · December 2014

I know there is no way you can level up with the story in DR. I took one of my characters ran all the episodes I skipped in the original missions, and got maybe 200 points over level 54. started running DR at that point. Story missions, doffing, Rep grinds for all reps.

I have one patrol story mission and all that glitters left to run, before the next ones unlock at 55.

I still need 58000 xp to hit 55.

So if you could run EVERY story mission in delta rising including Kobali prime. you MIGHT go up 2 levels. More likely just 1.

Leveling up at a snails pace

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