You have 2 choices in this case - wait until the group comes in for their 3rd Rex and they will help you kill it - or tag and move on as everyone else did.
The change is designed to remove the huge bonus of getting credit for killing all 3. I'm sure this was meant to be a 5% of the time thing. They wanted to remove this without incurring the full wrath of removing it officially.
For me the zone is still fine. I do agree that it rewards Rex campers and zone hoppers still. I think this is very easily fixed by requiring capture of 2 zones to get the final bonus.
yeah this would work. I enjoy the zone a lot more now I dont see the giant herd running from point to point leaving me and another 3 guys to turn the entire map blue while we both got the same rewards.
If they could add capture a couple points on the map this would help this dino problem but its not so insanely annoying anymore... with me and the 3 other slaves or whatever are busy doing the bulk of the dino work. Its still me and some slaves turning the map blue for these dino campers but its not nearly as annoying as it was before
because people generate mobs in that zone meaning they would be there long enough to agro eleventy seventy mobs and then run away resulting in your untimely death in many instances. In this way i get mobs just for you know me and not the giant heard of taggers.
A month ago I pugged an advanced STF with my main toon, within 5 mins, three of us (including myself) were "one hot". We failed to complete the mission. Ever since then I have only run regular stfs, I only have VR MK XII weapons and fleet consoles on my ships, no UR or EPIC, so I plan to stay away from advanced for a lonnnnnngggg time.
mk 14 gear -> mostly wins, except when pug-teamed with people who haven't upgraded
the difficulty turned out not to be difficulty at all, it was just mounds of shield and hull that required people to upgrade to feed the system
we spend $$ for zen for dilthium for upgrade
Still run mk xii on most ships and will most complete advanced ques just fine. Quality of Captain is better than Quality of Gear.
You don't need to spend Money for Zen to convert to Dilthium, you can use the upgrade system as it was designed. It was designed to take time to upgrade your equipment. Now if you want to spend then money to rapidly lvl your eq, go for it but don't make it seem like you have to lvl the eq to play.
Many MMO's institute a gear rating system for just this reason. Players must then meet a required gear rating level before being allowed to que for pug missions.
Those are MMO's that actually work though, at least at a level of playability.
Odd, mind you, how this has basically been a discussion about how those MMOs actually don't work...
You know, the guy that meets the internal gear requirement and proceeds to run around the instance yelling, "Timmy!"
Very amusing. I suppose you could say games such as WOW dont work, being the most successful MMO in history. Its been out over a decade now and is still one of the most popular MMO's on the market.
WoW would be a perfect example of where folks can meet the gear requirements without having a clue and thus sabotage the run...
I played WoW it was the beginning of the "gaint MMO nerf" and that was before they nerfed it lol
I beta tested that one and we referred to WoW as "an mmo on training wheels" and its the reason why MMO's have become so simplistic in modern times including STO. All these games have all the same issues WoW is no different. Still they are all fun in their own way but as an mmo WoW is not any more successful then any of the others out there including this one.. because they are all pretty much identical lol.
WoW has more "failsafes" in place but still has the same issues as the games without them Leeroy was a WoW player
That term persists to this day but Leeroy Jenkins had all the gear and was still able to wipe a raid
gear doesnt make you smarter just it makes you look cooler
It gets into a mixed system of a combination of the gear check and accolades.
You have Dungeon A. Before a player can attempt to run Dungeon A, they've gone through a leveling process...where hopefully they have learned a little something about their character and have some mission gear near the level of the instance before tackling it.
Now why are they running Dungeon A? Well, because based on an accolade system they have to have run Dungeon A certain number of times before they can run Dungeon B. During this process of running Dungeon A, they pick up gear of a certain level - they learn more about their character - they learn more about some of the things they might face - they learn to work better with the party. Or they don't. Running Dungeon A to unlock Dungeon B is going to cut down on the number of folks that might cause issues in Dungeon B. It's not going to eliminate them, but it can reduce that number. It's also just a good learning environment for folks looking to move on to Dungeon B as well as a place for them to get gear to tackle that Dungeon B.
Guess what Dungeon B is? Dungeon B is to Dungeon C what Dungeon A was to Dungeon B. It's both a means for additional learning, improving skill, getting better gear, etc...and...a means to reduce the number of folks in Dungeon C that might not be ready for Dungeon C yet.
And it continues on like that...
Just dropping out a gear check...well, somebody could potentially leech their way along...whether its PUG leeching or just overgeared and skilled friends running them through it.
Then we come over to STO, and take a look at what we've got here.
What good would a gear check do? You don't have to do any runs to get any of the gear. You can completely gear without a clue as to the most basic of things in the game.
The endgame is horizontal. Sure, there might be normal/advanced/elite - but outside of NWS, there's not any sort of noticeable increase compared to what one might see in other games. The levels of difficulty are also such that would accolades even matter? "Timmy, you've successfully moved that brick from Pile A to Pile B one thousand times now...we're going to send you off to save the universe from the Borg!"
Hell, for the most part, the game doesn't teach anybody a thing about what they may or may not need to do once they reach endgame...
So without some major changes, some core changes, fundamental changes to the game...none of the things that may help or even minimally help in other games aren't going to mean TRIBBLE here.
One can only try to share their knowledge and experience with others that are open to it, in the hopes that everybody can have a more enjoyable gaming experience. The thing to watch out for this, is in folks thinking perhaps they know everything - that they always know best - or the like...cause that can just turn into a cesspool of egotistical nonsense which will just be detrimental to the game.
So it's case of having multiple folks look at stuff, having multiple folks checking things, doing different things, and all the like...folks keeping in mind that not everybody has the same goal, and all sorts of folks looking at things at different levels of play. But with one thing in common, those folks not looking to wag their epeens around but genuinely trying to help folks out in whatever small way they can while taking advantage of any help they can get that other folks are offering. A healthy learning community...no massive egos and no fragile egos.
News for you buddy, Cryptic wont make in their lifetime what Blizzard makes in one year. WoW alone has netted up in the billions, with a player base that this game, along with every game Cryptic runs wouldnt even begin to touch even in their best year.
snip
My point in all this, be happy as you can be with the game the way it is. You should be grateful for the time the game is actually up and running. Deal with the rest.
a lot of bile for me saying that sto is also successful no?
I dont normally answer angry posts but if its alive that means its turning a profit which = success
This has nothing to do with personal taste or opinions of game content.
Is WoW successful yes, but so is STO its been around for awhile and it turns a profit (just like WoW).
I am unsure of why you would have an issue with me saying both games are decent (as far as the dungeon dragon themepark type MMO game is concerned they both do a decent job) but they are identical in many many ways.
"The meaning of victory is not to merely defeat your enemy but to destroy him, to completely eradicate him from living memory, to leave no remnant of his endeavours, to crush utterly his achievement and remove from all record his every trace of existence. From that defeat no enemy can ever recover. That is the meaning of victory."
-Lord Commander Solar Macharius
bile? Think your reading too much into this, Im just stating facts, did I insult you in some way?
I think I made it pretty clear, if you had read the entire post, why there is not only a gap between STO and games that successfully implement fixes to this sort of problem, but a chasm to the extent that they are not even in the same league.
It would be like comparing a hotdog vendor in the street to Donald Trump. Are they both still in business... uh... yeah... so I guess by that logic they both share the same success?
Your entitled to your opinion of course, and again Im not trying to be rude or throw "bile" around, but to me your logic just dosent make sense.
if your saying that STO is a failure because it can't compare to WoW then that means every other MMO out there is a failure because WoW is a juggernaut and so all the other games being made should just you know shut down (this includes any future MMO"s blizzard might create) because in comparison to WoW they will be a failure.
WoW is an enigma that doesn't mean there aren't other games that are a success out there. There is not much rhyme or reason as to why WoW is so successful as MMO's go its not that much different then others and even blizzard wont be able to duplicate that success if they created another MMO.
What determines MMO's to be successful? in most rule books its MMO's that survived their initial launch period and have survived the first year without going bankrupt and turned a profit to keep the game up and running. That is success.
Also macdonals is very popular as well but they dont make gourmet food
Anyhow yes you seem angry that I dare say that STO is a success even in light of the existances of the one time juggernaut known as WoW surely every other game out there including anything Sony can create is an abysmal failure because it cannot draw the numbers that WoW can and never will. (no one has yet to design a "wow killer" not even Sony)
I can bearly play these stf's any more the only ones I can play is disconnected and bug hunt while the others are dead but i can still play the borg stf's as they are still are going. Also I'm really struggling to do the dyson rep system and I need to do the breech and storming the spire to get the implants but there's hardly any one doing these missions any more:(
Do the battlezone ground. You will get some when the boss dinos die. Plus, DBZ is a decent amount of marks, more than you need a day by far for rep, and a good output for dilithium.
You can always find someone that can't properly use his brain and hands at the same time. Doesn't mean you need skill to do what he can't, that's just mean he is bad. Really bad.
Being really bad at something...demonstrates a lack of skill at doing it?
Many MMO's institute a gear rating system for just this reason. Players must then meet a required gear rating level before being allowed to que for pug missions.
As bad as PUGs are at this point, I really REALLY don't think this should happen. People are already abandoning alts. There are those in PUGs who aren't horrifyingly inept. The queues are already pretty empty. Its already frustrating people with the "I can't play unless I surrender to the power creep." People are leaving. Is there anyone in this thread who doesn't know of at least ONE person ditching the game because of Dilithium Rising?
I'm a "returning player" i had to get them to dig my account out of the database. I have several friends that returned as well so I dont actually know anyone who has left
I've been gathering boxes today. Only elite failure was viscous cycle - in a group that killed the first planet killer in about 30 seconds. Fix that GD scan anomaly! Please. Come on.
Tried many different advanced. Overall about 50% success. I can live with that. My expectations are lowered enough now.
On casual inspection of about 50 bonus boxes. One score of 3 plekton, 1 craylon, and 1 trellium - it looks pretty suspiciously like a huge drop rate nerf. I used to get a VR at least 33% of the time, maybe close to 50%. So I think I will do only elite for this weekend.
Captain Jean-Luc Picard: "We think we've come so far. Torture of heretics, burning of witches, it's all ancient history. Then - before you can blink an eye - suddenly it threatens to start all over again."
"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censured, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably."
I've been gathering boxes today. Only elite failure was viscous cycle - in a group that killed the first planet killer in about 30 seconds. Fix that GD scan anomaly! Please. Come on.
Tried many different advanced. Overall about 50% success. I can live with that. My expectations are lowered enough now.
On casual inspection of about 50 bonus boxes. One score of 3 plekton, 1 craylon, and 1 trellium - it looks pretty suspiciously like a huge drop rate nerf. I used to get a VR at least 33% of the time, maybe close to 50%. So I think I will do only elite for this weekend.
All sorts of things, might be me being paranoid...seem way off since the unexpected downtime yesterday...I wanted to do some more testing tonight and in to tomorrow, but so far things seem way off.
All you have to know is the fail conditions and goals. That is, if you are for example in undine space, you must know to do the rifts before the planet killer. If you are in ICA, you must not let the nanite spheres heal the transformer thingy. If you are in khit, you must not let the probes slip thru the gate. This is as simple to learn as 1) reading the text for the mission and 2) observing WHY YOUR TEAM FAILED when you are in an unsuccessful run.
The rest is basic skills that may take a new player a while but in general are nothing exotic:
1) don't be a cowboy unless you ARE a cowboy. That is, if you can solo one side of KHIT while killing the probes, fine. But if you can't, don't try. Don't go over there and shoot the stuff to activate a cube you can't handle then die from it to let the probes go thru and lose.... derp.
2) Don't be dumb. Just because you read on the forums that your new breen carrier can use TBR to kill things ded fast, its probably not a good idea to push probes TOWARD their goal (failing the run) in order to do some damage to them... !
3) know the basic instance. Do it a few times on normal. Read the text and stuff. Get a feel for what spawns enemy, and the order to do things, etc.
4) gear up. Advanced does not require the best gear in the game, but is downright impossible if your gear is no good or your build is ineffective. That means XIV weapons, as a starter, and unless you are really good at #5 below, it probably means "mostly" purple quality fleet and rep gear. If you can do it with lesser gear, you didn't need to read this anyway.
5) learn to play. That is, learn to build your ship so it can pull its weight against these tough enemy and short timers. That really means "learn the freaking dps mechanics of the game" -- and apply them to your ship and build. Not to be an elitist jerk but the game is dps centric and if you can't dps, you can't really contribute much in this game at this point in time. Yes, that means I disrespect your tank and drain builds ... they are not helping me beat that timer -- I don't like this about the game, but complain to the devs, not me, its not *my* fault.
6) do your best. People get mad when someone fails, but everyone does it. I caused a KHIT fail right after getting my breen carrier, just overconfident and dumb (see #1, I cowboyed). Learn form the mistake, and move on.
7) if your best isn't good enough, acknowledge it and go back to #4, 5, and 6 until you can handle the content. Play a few more runs on normal. Earn some gear that will get you past it. Post your build and get help here. Even on a shoestring budget ppl here can "fix" your build to work "good enough" to pull your weight. You might not solo the thing, but that is above and beyond the requirement....
All you have to know is the fail conditions and goals. That is, if you are for example in undine space, you must know to do the rifts before the planet killer. If you are in ICA, you must not let the nanite spheres heal the transformer thingy. If you are in khit, you must not let the probes slip thru the gate. This is as simple to learn as 1) reading the text for the mission and 2) observing WHY YOUR TEAM FAILED when you are in an unsuccessful run.
The rest is basic skills that may take a new player a while but in general are nothing exotic:
1) don't be a cowboy unless you ARE a cowboy. That is, if you can solo one side of KHIT while killing the probes, fine. But if you can't, don't try. Don't go over there and shoot the stuff to activate a cube you can't handle then die from it to let the probes go thru and lose.... derp.
2) Don't be dumb. Just because you read on the forums that your new breen carrier can use TBR to kill things ded fast, its probably not a good idea to push probes TOWARD their goal (failing the run) in order to do some damage to them... !
3) know the basic instance. Do it a few times on normal. Read the text and stuff. Get a feel for what spawns enemy, and the order to do things, etc.
4) gear up. Advanced does not require the best gear in the game, but is downright impossible if your gear is no good or your build is ineffective. That means XIV weapons, as a starter, and unless you are really good at #5 below, it probably means "mostly" purple quality fleet and rep gear. If you can do it with lesser gear, you didn't need to read this anyway.
5) learn to play. That is, learn to build your ship so it can pull its weight against these tough enemy and short timers. That really means "learn the freaking dps mechanics of the game" -- and apply them to your ship and build. Not to be an elitist jerk but the game is dps centric and if you can't dps, you can't really contribute much in this game at this point in time. Yes, that means I disrespect your tank and drain builds ... they are not helping me beat that timer -- I don't like this about the game, but complain to the devs, not me, its not *my* fault.
6) do your best. People get mad when someone fails, but everyone does it. I caused a KHIT fail right after getting my breen carrier, just overconfident and dumb (see #1, I cowboyed). Learn form the mistake, and move on.
7) if your best isn't good enough, acknowledge it and go back to #4, 5, and 6 until you can handle the content. Play a few more runs on normal. Earn some gear that will get you past it. Post your build and get help here. Even on a shoestring budget ppl here can "fix" your build to work "good enough" to pull your weight. You might not solo the thing, but that is above and beyond the requirement....
Reading all of this made me think something. If someone doesn't know that they can't do something, they will just go try to do it.
I think that the "ZOMG you are an awesome captain and I can't belive you saved us all when it was so hard" from just playing the FEs is actually a detriment to a new player. You can totally destroy the FEs (at least through level 50) being vaguely competent. There is no warning anywhere that tells you "OK, this isn't what you're used to. Everything you have done before is a joke."
Shouldn't there be some kind of message, somewhere, alluding to the fact that anyone can do the FEs eating a sandwich and watching TV, while this is not the case for much of the Advanced/Elite content?
Again, I would say the in game information is bad, but there really isn't any at all when it comes to this stuff.
The price of dil is actually falling. Thats the problem.
Or did you mean dil was increasing server wide?
Both would be true.
I totally agree with you here, in fact subsequent posts I commented:
I dont think Cryptic is able to handle issues such as this one. At least, not without making the problem worse.
By "Dilithium Rising," I was pointing to the new system of "You need dilithium in order to do x." "X" being an increasing percentage of the game, with the expansion.
By "Dilithium Rising," I was pointing to the new system of "You need dilithium in order to do x." "X" being an increasing percentage of the game, with the expansion.
But if you stop to think about it for a moment...why?
Prior to S9.5/DR etc...
Post S9.5/DR etc...
What has actually changed?
Have they increased the number of things requiring Dil?
Have they increased the number of things requiring Dil?
Same question, but entirely different question.
You would spend Dil to upgrade gear, you had a limited number of options for doing that. They increase all the options that one has for upgrading gear, they didn't turn around and introduce the Dil costs as something new...it was already there.
You go to a restaurant. They offer cheese pizza. The cheese pizza costs whatever it costs. That restaurant turns around and starts offering ten different kinds of pizza. Those pizzas cost whatever they cost too.
Normal folks are happy that the place is offering more.
But if you stop to think about it for a moment...why?
Prior to S9.5/DR etc...
Post S9.5/DR etc...
What has actually changed?
Have they increased the number of things requiring Dil?
Have they increased the number of things requiring Dil?
Same question, but entirely different question.
You would spend Dil to upgrade gear, you had a limited number of options for doing that. They increase all the options that one has for upgrading gear, they didn't turn around and introduce the Dil costs as something new...it was already there.
You go to a restaurant. They offer cheese pizza. The cheese pizza costs whatever it costs. That restaurant turns around and starts offering ten different kinds of pizza. Those pizzas cost whatever they cost too.
Normal folks are happy that the place is offering more.
Here in STO...folks complain.
The biggest thing that comes to mind with this is that you could get Top level (VR MK XII) drops without any dilithium. Just playing the FEs gave you "endgame" (top tier) gear.
Whenever I think about the flagrant change in direction, I think of this. If you want MK XIV gear, you must spend in some way. Our level cap went up, but the drops didn't. Our level cap went from 50-60, but the last free ship is still at 40.
I'm not saying it is necessary to get or use MK XIV, just as MK XII wasn't necessary, but now, everything seems monetized, whereas before, you could get the same result without dilithium.
The biggest thing that comes to mind with this is that you could get Top level (VR MK XII) drops without any dilithium. Just playing the FEs gave you "endgame" (top tier) gear.
Whenever I think about the flagrant change in direction, I think of this. If you want MK XIV gear, you must spend in some way. Our level cap went up, but the drops didn't. Our level cap went from 50-60, but the last free ship is still at 40.
I'm not saying it is necessary to get or use MK XIV, just as MK XII wasn't necessary, but now, everything seems monetized, whereas before, you could get the same result without dilithium.
Just because you could get VR12 Plasma drops didn't mean that you didn't want the VR12 RomPlas. Just because you could get a VR12 Tac Console didn't mean you didn't want the UR12 Advanced Tac Console.
I honestly don't see any change in direction that's taken place...well, that's not true. Things have gotten cheaper and you get more for your resources than you did.
Consider how expensive the TRIBBLE was with R&D or in the Dil Store, eh? Consider how expensive things could get on the Exchange when there were fewer viable alternatives available for them?
As for it being monetized...how? I earn Dil in game...I spend that Dil. I don't need everything yesterday. Cryptic monetizing impatience isn't anything new either...that folks are more and more impatient...meh, I'll get there with my stuff when I get there.
It really does come off as a bunch of impatient spoiled kids moaning...and yeah, I've definitely gotten in more trouble with the mods since all the moaning started up.
Just because you could get VR12 Plasma drops didn't mean that you didn't want the VR12 RomPlas. Just because you could get a VR12 Tac Console didn't mean you didn't want the UR12 Advanced Tac Console.
I honestly don't see any change in direction that's taken place...well, that's not true. Things have gotten cheaper and you get more for your resources than you did.
Consider how expensive the TRIBBLE was with R&D or in the Dil Store, eh? Consider how expensive things could get on the Exchange when there were fewer viable alternatives available for them?
As for it being monetized...how? I earn Dil in game...I spend that Dil. I don't need everything yesterday. Cryptic monetizing impatience isn't anything new either...that folks are more and more impatient...meh, I'll get there with my stuff when I get there.
It really does come off as a bunch of impatient spoiled kids moaning...and yeah, I've definitely gotten in more trouble with the mods since all the moaning started up.
It's funny you mention Romulan Plasma. I had an alt with all VR MK XII Romulan Plasma from rep drops. Cost me 0. I almost used that as an example. I have an alt with all VR MK XII Biomolecular Disruptors for hahas. Still haven't done enough with it to see if I actually like them enough to keep them or not. Even the new Delta Rep doesn't give you MK XIV drops.
I do agree with the exchange being cheaper (at least for the things I'm looking at). I think that's a result of the vendor trash nerf, and maybe that I'm not really looking at stuff that wasn't there pre-DR, though. I surely could be wrong.
Comments
yeah this would work. I enjoy the zone a lot more now I dont see the giant herd running from point to point leaving me and another 3 guys to turn the entire map blue while we both got the same rewards.
If they could add capture a couple points on the map this would help this dino problem but its not so insanely annoying anymore... with me and the 3 other slaves or whatever are busy doing the bulk of the dino work. Its still me and some slaves turning the map blue for these dino campers but its not nearly as annoying as it was before
because people generate mobs in that zone meaning they would be there long enough to agro eleventy seventy mobs and then run away resulting in your untimely death in many instances. In this way i get mobs just for you know me and not the giant heard of taggers.
Still run mk xii on most ships and will most complete advanced ques just fine. Quality of Captain is better than Quality of Gear.
You don't need to spend Money for Zen to convert to Dilthium, you can use the upgrade system as it was designed. It was designed to take time to upgrade your equipment. Now if you want to spend then money to rapidly lvl your eq, go for it but don't make it seem like you have to lvl the eq to play.
Odd, mind you, how this has basically been a discussion about how those MMOs actually don't work...
You know, the guy that meets the internal gear requirement and proceeds to run around the instance yelling, "Timmy!"
WoW would be a perfect example of where folks can meet the gear requirements without having a clue and thus sabotage the run...
I beta tested that one and we referred to WoW as "an mmo on training wheels" and its the reason why MMO's have become so simplistic in modern times including STO. All these games have all the same issues WoW is no different. Still they are all fun in their own way but as an mmo WoW is not any more successful then any of the others out there including this one.. because they are all pretty much identical lol.
WoW has more "failsafes" in place but still has the same issues as the games without them Leeroy was a WoW player
That term persists to this day but Leeroy Jenkins had all the gear and was still able to wipe a raid
gear doesnt make you smarter just it makes you look cooler
&*(*&(& Leeroy!
You have Dungeon A. Before a player can attempt to run Dungeon A, they've gone through a leveling process...where hopefully they have learned a little something about their character and have some mission gear near the level of the instance before tackling it.
Now why are they running Dungeon A? Well, because based on an accolade system they have to have run Dungeon A certain number of times before they can run Dungeon B. During this process of running Dungeon A, they pick up gear of a certain level - they learn more about their character - they learn more about some of the things they might face - they learn to work better with the party. Or they don't. Running Dungeon A to unlock Dungeon B is going to cut down on the number of folks that might cause issues in Dungeon B. It's not going to eliminate them, but it can reduce that number. It's also just a good learning environment for folks looking to move on to Dungeon B as well as a place for them to get gear to tackle that Dungeon B.
Guess what Dungeon B is? Dungeon B is to Dungeon C what Dungeon A was to Dungeon B. It's both a means for additional learning, improving skill, getting better gear, etc...and...a means to reduce the number of folks in Dungeon C that might not be ready for Dungeon C yet.
And it continues on like that...
Just dropping out a gear check...well, somebody could potentially leech their way along...whether its PUG leeching or just overgeared and skilled friends running them through it.
Then we come over to STO, and take a look at what we've got here.
What good would a gear check do? You don't have to do any runs to get any of the gear. You can completely gear without a clue as to the most basic of things in the game.
The endgame is horizontal. Sure, there might be normal/advanced/elite - but outside of NWS, there's not any sort of noticeable increase compared to what one might see in other games. The levels of difficulty are also such that would accolades even matter? "Timmy, you've successfully moved that brick from Pile A to Pile B one thousand times now...we're going to send you off to save the universe from the Borg!"
Hell, for the most part, the game doesn't teach anybody a thing about what they may or may not need to do once they reach endgame...
So without some major changes, some core changes, fundamental changes to the game...none of the things that may help or even minimally help in other games aren't going to mean TRIBBLE here.
One can only try to share their knowledge and experience with others that are open to it, in the hopes that everybody can have a more enjoyable gaming experience. The thing to watch out for this, is in folks thinking perhaps they know everything - that they always know best - or the like...cause that can just turn into a cesspool of egotistical nonsense which will just be detrimental to the game.
So it's case of having multiple folks look at stuff, having multiple folks checking things, doing different things, and all the like...folks keeping in mind that not everybody has the same goal, and all sorts of folks looking at things at different levels of play. But with one thing in common, those folks not looking to wag their epeens around but genuinely trying to help folks out in whatever small way they can while taking advantage of any help they can get that other folks are offering. A healthy learning community...no massive egos and no fragile egos.
a lot of bile for me saying that sto is also successful no?
I dont normally answer angry posts but if its alive that means its turning a profit which = success
This has nothing to do with personal taste or opinions of game content.
Is WoW successful yes, but so is STO its been around for awhile and it turns a profit (just like WoW).
I am unsure of why you would have an issue with me saying both games are decent (as far as the dungeon dragon themepark type MMO game is concerned they both do a decent job) but they are identical in many many ways.
-Lord Commander Solar Macharius
if your saying that STO is a failure because it can't compare to WoW then that means every other MMO out there is a failure because WoW is a juggernaut and so all the other games being made should just you know shut down (this includes any future MMO"s blizzard might create) because in comparison to WoW they will be a failure.
WoW is an enigma that doesn't mean there aren't other games that are a success out there. There is not much rhyme or reason as to why WoW is so successful as MMO's go its not that much different then others and even blizzard wont be able to duplicate that success if they created another MMO.
What determines MMO's to be successful? in most rule books its MMO's that survived their initial launch period and have survived the first year without going bankrupt and turned a profit to keep the game up and running. That is success.
Also macdonals is very popular as well but they dont make gourmet food
Anyhow yes you seem angry that I dare say that STO is a success even in light of the existances of the one time juggernaut known as WoW surely every other game out there including anything Sony can create is an abysmal failure because it cannot draw the numbers that WoW can and never will. (no one has yet to design a "wow killer" not even Sony)
Do the battlezone ground. You will get some when the boss dinos die. Plus, DBZ is a decent amount of marks, more than you need a day by far for rep, and a good output for dilithium.
Being really bad at something...demonstrates a lack of skill at doing it?
As bad as PUGs are at this point, I really REALLY don't think this should happen. People are already abandoning alts. There are those in PUGs who aren't horrifyingly inept. The queues are already pretty empty. Its already frustrating people with the "I can't play unless I surrender to the power creep." People are leaving. Is there anyone in this thread who doesn't know of at least ONE person ditching the game because of Dilithium Rising?
Me! The people I see saying they're leaving are the same people that have left every couple of days for over three years now.
Tried many different advanced. Overall about 50% success. I can live with that. My expectations are lowered enough now.
On casual inspection of about 50 bonus boxes. One score of 3 plekton, 1 craylon, and 1 trellium - it looks pretty suspiciously like a huge drop rate nerf. I used to get a VR at least 33% of the time, maybe close to 50%. So I think I will do only elite for this weekend.
"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censured, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably."
All sorts of things, might be me being paranoid...seem way off since the unexpected downtime yesterday...I wanted to do some more testing tonight and in to tomorrow, but so far things seem way off.
All you have to know is the fail conditions and goals. That is, if you are for example in undine space, you must know to do the rifts before the planet killer. If you are in ICA, you must not let the nanite spheres heal the transformer thingy. If you are in khit, you must not let the probes slip thru the gate. This is as simple to learn as 1) reading the text for the mission and 2) observing WHY YOUR TEAM FAILED when you are in an unsuccessful run.
The rest is basic skills that may take a new player a while but in general are nothing exotic:
1) don't be a cowboy unless you ARE a cowboy. That is, if you can solo one side of KHIT while killing the probes, fine. But if you can't, don't try. Don't go over there and shoot the stuff to activate a cube you can't handle then die from it to let the probes go thru and lose.... derp.
2) Don't be dumb. Just because you read on the forums that your new breen carrier can use TBR to kill things ded fast, its probably not a good idea to push probes TOWARD their goal (failing the run) in order to do some damage to them... !
3) know the basic instance. Do it a few times on normal. Read the text and stuff. Get a feel for what spawns enemy, and the order to do things, etc.
4) gear up. Advanced does not require the best gear in the game, but is downright impossible if your gear is no good or your build is ineffective. That means XIV weapons, as a starter, and unless you are really good at #5 below, it probably means "mostly" purple quality fleet and rep gear. If you can do it with lesser gear, you didn't need to read this anyway.
5) learn to play. That is, learn to build your ship so it can pull its weight against these tough enemy and short timers. That really means "learn the freaking dps mechanics of the game" -- and apply them to your ship and build. Not to be an elitist jerk but the game is dps centric and if you can't dps, you can't really contribute much in this game at this point in time. Yes, that means I disrespect your tank and drain builds ... they are not helping me beat that timer -- I don't like this about the game, but complain to the devs, not me, its not *my* fault.
6) do your best. People get mad when someone fails, but everyone does it. I caused a KHIT fail right after getting my breen carrier, just overconfident and dumb (see #1, I cowboyed). Learn form the mistake, and move on.
7) if your best isn't good enough, acknowledge it and go back to #4, 5, and 6 until you can handle the content. Play a few more runs on normal. Earn some gear that will get you past it. Post your build and get help here. Even on a shoestring budget ppl here can "fix" your build to work "good enough" to pull your weight. You might not solo the thing, but that is above and beyond the requirement....
Reading all of this made me think something. If someone doesn't know that they can't do something, they will just go try to do it.
I think that the "ZOMG you are an awesome captain and I can't belive you saved us all when it was so hard" from just playing the FEs is actually a detriment to a new player. You can totally destroy the FEs (at least through level 50) being vaguely competent. There is no warning anywhere that tells you "OK, this isn't what you're used to. Everything you have done before is a joke."
Shouldn't there be some kind of message, somewhere, alluding to the fact that anyone can do the FEs eating a sandwich and watching TV, while this is not the case for much of the Advanced/Elite content?
Again, I would say the in game information is bad, but there really isn't any at all when it comes to this stuff.
By "Dilithium Rising," I was pointing to the new system of "You need dilithium in order to do x." "X" being an increasing percentage of the game, with the expansion.
But if you stop to think about it for a moment...why?
Prior to S9.5/DR etc...
Post S9.5/DR etc...
What has actually changed?
Have they increased the number of things requiring Dil?
Have they increased the number of things requiring Dil?
Same question, but entirely different question.
You would spend Dil to upgrade gear, you had a limited number of options for doing that. They increase all the options that one has for upgrading gear, they didn't turn around and introduce the Dil costs as something new...it was already there.
You go to a restaurant. They offer cheese pizza. The cheese pizza costs whatever it costs. That restaurant turns around and starts offering ten different kinds of pizza. Those pizzas cost whatever they cost too.
Normal folks are happy that the place is offering more.
Here in STO...folks complain.
The biggest thing that comes to mind with this is that you could get Top level (VR MK XII) drops without any dilithium. Just playing the FEs gave you "endgame" (top tier) gear.
Whenever I think about the flagrant change in direction, I think of this. If you want MK XIV gear, you must spend in some way. Our level cap went up, but the drops didn't. Our level cap went from 50-60, but the last free ship is still at 40.
I'm not saying it is necessary to get or use MK XIV, just as MK XII wasn't necessary, but now, everything seems monetized, whereas before, you could get the same result without dilithium.
Just because you could get VR12 Plasma drops didn't mean that you didn't want the VR12 RomPlas. Just because you could get a VR12 Tac Console didn't mean you didn't want the UR12 Advanced Tac Console.
I honestly don't see any change in direction that's taken place...well, that's not true. Things have gotten cheaper and you get more for your resources than you did.
Consider how expensive the TRIBBLE was with R&D or in the Dil Store, eh? Consider how expensive things could get on the Exchange when there were fewer viable alternatives available for them?
As for it being monetized...how? I earn Dil in game...I spend that Dil. I don't need everything yesterday. Cryptic monetizing impatience isn't anything new either...that folks are more and more impatient...meh, I'll get there with my stuff when I get there.
It really does come off as a bunch of impatient spoiled kids moaning...and yeah, I've definitely gotten in more trouble with the mods since all the moaning started up.
It's funny you mention Romulan Plasma. I had an alt with all VR MK XII Romulan Plasma from rep drops. Cost me 0. I almost used that as an example.
I do agree with the exchange being cheaper (at least for the things I'm looking at). I think that's a result of the vendor trash nerf, and maybe that I'm not really looking at stuff that wasn't there pre-DR, though. I surely could be wrong.