Has Tau Dewa Sector Patrol Got More Difficult?

lostyus · February 2015

Before the patch I was doing well in them, I would only die occasionally and when I was going on my attacking run (ie when the wave spawned etc) I wouldn't end up having to limp away the way I do now. They just seem so much more powerful than just a few days ago.

I go head to head with an Escort and seem to now come off a lot worse.

The other reason why I think they've been changed is because there's now a patch before you do each patrol.

I've played these missions a lot (as I enjoy them) but they just seem different.

davefenestrator · February 2015

There was a change back in December to make it level up with you instead of staying at level ?50?.

Which system?

I haven't noticed any change since then, and I go to Beta Thermidor (lobster?) regularly to try out a new ship / loadout, or to top off the daily patrol for Romulan rep marks.

lostyus · February 2015

It's all of them because each one now has a patch.

We've been playing them most of the night and it does just seem a lot different from only just a few days ago.

Now when the initial wave enters I need to pull out of the fight after I've got right on top of them (this sometimes used to happen anyway because it depends on how many of the ships target me) but this is happening ever time now. If I don't kill anything then it's like starting again (as if I haven't just done that run on them) but this time I'm more up **** creek without a paddle because I've used some of my heals.

It's now turned into a game of hit and run, whittling them down, I need to run away after every engagement (when there's nearly a full wave left) where just a week ago, it wasn't like this.

historynerd1 · February 2015

You are correct. Everything in Tau Dewa is now 17x harder than it was last week.

kayajay · February 2015

I'm not surprised...it was a good source of XP. Don't forget to check your difficulty settings...all of mine were screwed-up.

lostyus · February 2015

kayajay wrote: »

I'm not surprised...it was a good source of XP. Don't forget to check your difficulty settings...all of mine were screwed-up.

That's a good idea, I will, thanks

_______

I'm not saying they definitely have been changed, but with the patch before each patrol now (first time only) and how I'm getting my TRIBBLE handed to me, it just seems sopmething's been changed. I'm not a DPS hammer so maybe I'm feeling it more.

We played Carraya (or something) before the patch about 4 times in a row because the Enterprise spawns, (sometimes). It only spawned the first time so that's why we did it 3 extra times (I like fighting beside the Enterprise

) That was the mission we finished on (prepatch) and that was the mission we started on again and it seemed so different.

I'd love to know what those patches did lol :P

razar2380 · February 2015

Another thing to keep in mind is if you leveled up recently to level 60, it will change from level 59 by a large amount. The enemies are now hitting like they have MK XIV weapons, and are doing massive torp damage to my shields now. Though, the NPC's torps always had the advantage to do shield damage with their kinetic weapons, it is a lot worse now.

I think it is to try to push more people to spend Dil to level up their weapons and gear. My suggestion, if you don't want to level up, is to try a cruiser. They are much better for tanking, and can stay in the fight longer. Also, the engineering consoles that increase energy and kinetic damage resistance will help as well as the science consoles that will give you an increase to max shield cap. They will help all ships to withstand the pounding you now get from TD patrol.

lostyus · February 2015

razar2380 wrote: »

Another thing to keep in mind is if you leveled up recently to level 60, it will change from level 59 by a large amount. The enemies are now hitting like they have MK XIV weapons, and are doing massive torp damage to my shields now. Though, the NPC's torps always had the advantage to do shield damage with their kinetic weapons, it is a lot worse now.

I think it is to try to push more people to spend Dil to level up their weapons and gear. My suggestion, if you don't want to level up, is to try a cruiser. They are much better for tanking, and can stay in the fight longer. Also, the engineering consoles that increase energy and kinetic damage resistance will help as well as the science consoles that will give you an increase to max shield cap. They will help all ships to withstand the pounding you now get from TD patrol.

Ouch!

I'm lvl 59 (and 1/2) now and getting to 60 does not sound fun.

Thanks for the info though.

______

I think I got it wrong,

and it was lag instead of increased difficulty... or something else...

I've just played it now and it was like it normally was, the same as a few days ago. The only reason I can think of as to why it might have been lag was because now and again, when I pressed a power, it wouldn't activate.

If it was lag, it was minor but consistent, the enemy ships weren't moving erratically or stop/starting. I just can't think of any other reason why it was so much different last night.

razar2380 · February 2015

lostyus wrote: »

Ouch!

I'm lvl 59 (and 1/2) now and getting to 60 does not sound fun.

Thanks for the info though.

______

I think I got it wrong, and it was lag instead of increased difficulty... or something else...

I've just played it now and it was like it normally was, the same as a few days ago. The only reason I can think of as to why it might have been lag was because now and again, when I pressed a power, it wouldn't activate.

If it was lag, it was minor but consistent, the enemy ships weren't moving erratically or stop/starting. I just can't think of any other reason why it was so much different last night.

Were you teamed with someone? That could have something to do with it too. I stopped teaming for it because it is faster now alone. If you are after the daily marks bonus, which is now the only reason to run it (unlike before DR), then it is faster to set the difficulty to normal, and run it alone.

Also, another tip is GW, if you have it. If not, the enemies are easy to predict, since they spawn at the same places every time. Just move out of 10 km from where they will spawn before they get there. Let the NPCs with you start the attack. Then, start with the ones on the outside, and start hitting them first.

If running cannons, use cannon rapid fire. If beams, use beam overload. These skills will help keep you from attracting too much attention from the crowd. Same with torp, torp high yield instead of spread.

By doing this, you can let the NPC's go in first, and take a lot of heat off of you. If you go in first, and have multi target attacks, you open yourself up to being the target of everyone.

If you really like running escorts for the turn rate, and don't have a Lt. Commander station (which is needed for the GW) then you might want to try the Breen Rader, if you got it from the winter event. If I remember correctly, I think it has an Universal Lt. Commander station. I might be thinking about something else.

But, if you use the single target approach, it will not be needed anyway.

The cool thing about the new Boff system (though a lot is really bugged) is that you can use the same build now, but just swap skills when out of combat for 5 seconds. This can let you use the same setup you ship has, but make big changes on the fly. All you need to do is train them with the skill first.

I hope they work the bugs out. Though it is another time gate, and Dil sink, it has a lot of potential to help a lot with ones that are not chasing DPS, and need different skill setups for different situations.

Good luck out there. Hope some of this might help.

theredcomet · February 2015

I still don't see why they just bumped up the HP so high. it's the same mob in every other aspect just takes forever to kill (i'm not flying a t6 fully decked out is why i guess)

razar2380 · February 2015

theredcomet wrote: »

I still don't see why they just bumped up the HP so high. it's the same mob in every other aspect just takes forever to kill (i'm not flying a t6 fully decked out is why i guess)

To answer your question, look at what they are trying to do with the entire game.

1-Make as much money, as fast as possible.
2-Make endgame an endless grind, instead of content, to keep players in the game.
3-Make the each grind take as long as possible, to encourage players to either grind for stupid amounts of Dil to upgrade to speed it up, or they will pay for it.

If it was about the quality of the game, then they would have done more than make the game all about DPS. They would have either worked on making enemies smarter (the Voth, and Undine are not smarter, they just have different skills they spam brainlessly), or they would have gotten someone in that knew how to do it, and "worked with" them. Also, they would have used the resources that went into a lot of pointless things, and focus them into things needed for the game.

Don't get me wrong, the art is awesome. The stories, not patrols made into missions, but the actual episodes that further the main story, are pretty good from what I have seen. And the new featured episode that came out with the anniversary event was awesome. It was the first thing I have seen in this game that actually made you think. (I loved that!)

But, a revamp of the Romulan missions when we still have missions from the rep system that are locked behind missions on New Romulus without any indication of it. When we have this new big expansion, which is lacking content needed to level to 60 at a proper pace. When we have the same mindless enemies that needed to be made smarter. I am not saying the revamp of the Romulan missions is horrible. I am sure the ones working on it did a lot of work. But there are other things that should have been put on the list ahead of them to improve the overall quality of the game.

So, you asked why they just give them a huge amount of hp...well... it is the cheapest way to make the game "challenging" and to try to get everyone to either spend more time grinding (padding numbers), or spending money to upgrade, instead of fixing the game.

coolheadal · February 2015

This area of space was my favorite to testing and having some fun! Now not so much fun. Everything is higher Hulls and DPS. Beyond what my ships levels so hitting and taking it down is much longer task. I don't even see the U.S.S.Enterprise saying "these guys picked the wrong system", "good to see someone else answer distress calls", "need assistance" I don't need the help but good to see that ship around. PWE/CS need to tone it down otherwise players won' t be having fun.

theredcomet · February 2015

Not to mention instant respawns - not even talking about kiting.
Killed spawns for the space creature escort mission ahead of the creatures and ended up fighting the same spawn because of the script (i guess?).
I wouldn't mind mega-HP behemoths if they at least made sense - a hirogen escort should not be having the same hull as say a dreadnought/guardian cruiser/etc.

razar2380 · February 2015

coolheadal wrote: »

This area of space was my favorite to testing and having some fun! Now not so much fun. Everything is higher Hulls and DPS. Beyond what my ships levels so hitting and taking it down is much longer task. I don't even see the U.S.S.Enterprise saying "these guys picked the wrong system", "good to see someone else answer distress calls", "need assistance" I don't need the help but good to see that ship around. PWE/CS need to tone it down otherwise players won' t be having fun.

Before DR, I used to go to TD patrol for marks, and expertise. It was always the best place to get expertise to fill fleet projects.

Which was funny that the developers acted like it was something new after DR came out. It always gave more expertise and XP than most other places in the game. It just didn't help leveling because you couldn't do them till level 50.

lostyus · February 2015

razar2380 wrote: »

Were you teamed with someone? That could have something to do with it too. I stopped teaming for it because it is faster now alone. If you are after the daily marks bonus, which is now the only reason to run it (unlike before DR), then it is faster to set the difficulty to normal, and run it alone.

Yeah, My girlfriend and I run it together, at the moment we're still having fun with it (theres grind but they're fun for the moment

), when it stops being fun we will do it in single player so cheers for the idea

Also, another tip is GW, if you have it. If not, the enemies are easy to predict, since they spawn at the same places every time. Just move out of 10 km from where they will spawn before they get there. Let the NPCs with you start the attack. Then, start with the ones on the outside, and start hitting them first.

If running cannons, use cannon rapid fire. If beams, use beam overload. These skills will help keep you from attracting too much attention from the crowd. Same with torp, torp high yield instead of spread.

By doing this, you can let the NPC's go in first, and take a lot of heat off of you. If you go in first, and have multi target attacks, you open yourself up to being the target of everyone.

If you really like running escorts for the turn rate, and don't have a Lt. Commander station (which is needed for the GW) then you might want to try the Breen Rader, if you got it from the winter event. If I remember correctly, I think it has an Universal Lt. Commander station. I might be thinking about something else.

But, if you use the single target approach, it will not be needed anyway.

We're not having trouble with it now and its pretty much back to how it was, which we could handle. I use Cannons RF, (I'm in an Escort Carrier) I did try Beam Banks but they draw well too much aggro when using BFAW. We normally use the tactics you've mentioned, but before this 'lag' I had, that wasn't necessary as much, so we tried that again and it wasn't working, we were still getting a kicking lol, that's why I said it felt so different.

The cool thing about the new Boff system (though a lot is really bugged) is that you can use the same build now, but just swap skills when out of combat for 5 seconds. This can let you use the same setup you ship has, but make big changes on the fly. All you need to do is train them with the skill first.

I hope they work the bugs out. Though it is another time gate, and Dil sink, it has a lot of potential to help a lot with ones that are not chasing DPS, and need different skill setups for different situations.

I wouldn't know what to change really as I've become too used to my 2 Tactical Team and 2 C:RF. Then I have one BFAW that I use cause of the two 360 beams on the rear (I could change that but it's an ensign), below that is 2 EPTS and a hull heal, then my final 2 slots are Science and I have a shield heal and a hull heal (the shield heal I infrequently use to heal my team mate, and the hull heal is really good for getting rid of some debuffs). I feel I need all of them to make this build work (I know I could be wrong, but it just seems to work, at least playing in a team with my girlfriend), but I admit I haven't looked too closely at what other skills are available. I do think that might be more viable with my girlfriends ship though

Good luck out there. Hope some of this might help.

Thanks

as mentioned we already use the tactics you wrote, but I appreciate you taking the time to help me

lostyus · February 2015

theredcomet wrote: »

I still don't see why they just bumped up the HP so high. it's the same mob in every other aspect just takes forever to kill (i'm not flying a t6 fully decked out is why i guess)

It does seem strange, I agree.

I wouldn't know how else they could sort it but giving mobs more hp just seems weird. (Having 2 escorts, mine with 32k hull, and theirs having 90k+ hulls)

There's escorts that have roughly 90-120k hulls :eek: lol.

It was such a shock to me playing the game. I was playing through the missions and was killing things well enough, and then the missions lead me to TD, I tried the Patrols, and they were just worlds apart, so much more difficult, and totally unexpected.

I had good items on my ship (though I have since improved them a little bit by paying more for very rare) but the main thing I've had to change is now constantly using Tactical Team + Cannons: Rapid Fire (plus Attack Pattern Omega, when it's available), as soon as one pair goes on cool down, using the other pair. I only used to use this (before TD) when against a strong boss.

lostyus · February 2015

razar2380 wrote: »

to Answer Your Question, Look At What They Are Trying To Do With The Entire Game.

1-make As Much Money, As Fast As Possible.
2-make Endgame An Endless Grind, Instead Of Content, To Keep Players In The Game.
3-make The Each Grind Take As Long As Possible, To Encourage Players To Either Grind For Stupid Amounts Of Dil To Upgrade To Speed It Up, Or They Will Pay For It.

If It Was About The Quality Of The Game, Then They Would Have Done More Than Make The Game All About Dps. They Would Have Either Worked On Making Enemies Smarter (the Voth, And Undine Are Not Smarter, They Just Have Different Skills They Spam Brainlessly), Or They Would Have Gotten Someone In That Knew How To Do It, And "worked With" Them. Also, They Would Have Used The Resources That Went Into A Lot Of Pointless Things, And Focus Them Into Things Needed For The Game.

Don't Get Me Wrong, The Art Is Awesome. The Stories, Not Patrols Made Into Missions, But The Actual Episodes That Further The Main Story, Are Pretty Good From What I Have Seen. And The New Featured Episode That Came Out With The Anniversary Event Was Awesome. It Was The First Thing I Have Seen In This Game That Actually Made You Think. (i Loved That!)

But, A Revamp Of The Romulan Missions When We Still Have Missions From The Rep System That Are Locked Behind Missions On New Romulus Without Any Indication Of It. When We Have This New Big Expansion, Which Is Lacking Content Needed To Level To 60 At A Proper Pace. When We Have The Same Mindless Enemies That Needed To Be Made Smarter. I Am Not Saying The Revamp Of The Romulan Missions Is Horrible. I Am Sure The Ones Working On It Did A Lot Of Work. But There Are Other Things That Should Have Been Put On The List Ahead Of Them To Improve The Overall Quality Of The Game.

So, You Asked Why They Just Give Them A Huge Amount Of Hp...well... It Is The Cheapest Way To Make The Game "challenging" And To Try To Get Everyone To Either Spend More Time Grinding (padding Numbers), Or Spending Money To Upgrade, Instead Of Fixing The Game.

+1

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Has Tau Dewa Sector Patrol Got More Difficult?

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