*compares new command vs older intel.... Nope, not seeing the power creep here either*
One more console slot on t6 command ships vs intel, until fleet intels come out, which will quite be tied to a new fleet holding, requiring fleet ship modules and fleet provisions.
The T6 lockbox Manasa, 5/2 with 5/4/2 - t/e/s with 1.2 shield mod, turn rate 2 points short of a JHAS, and intel seating.
I'm not seeing this p2win you're concerned about. I see people think it, and complain about it, but outside of the faeht and phantom in PvP many top ships are t5u, and command is not game changing like Intel was.
You said it yourself: game changing. I'm not concerned, but fact is I am staring at some pre-DR end game gear that's very costly and locked to an RNG, which is then multiplied across ship gear and alts, and which took me a long time grinding, and which would take much more grinding to upgrade some. The grinds were never meant to be fun, but instead to serve as a constant reminder that it's more worth just paying for it or risk boring yourself out of the game altogether.
Pve you can still do everything with mirror ships and mark 11/12 gear. Even in advanced queues.
Nothing is obsolete yet.
Have you tried? I have, and I parsed it on my newest alt, with mark 11/12 rare or so gear in the dauntless, and the team average DPS was around 5-6K DPS in ISA in a PUG, and the team just so happened to know the objectives and coordinate good enough to not fail, and it took a long time, and no I did not feel 'competitive' taking on such NPCs.
Thanks to everyone who posted. There is still some fun to be had in game, just not on the bleeding edge for me. I have resigned my fate to plug along at a casual pace.
Today I spent a couple of hours training boffs. Thanks to Cryptic for that extra bit of grind. I suppose an all-in-one package was too much to ask.
-leveling a brand-new toon with a friend who hasn't played in about a year
-doing Foundries with my main
-playing through the new story content
I got a lot of mileage out of the Delta Volanis Cluster with my lvl 50 Engineer before they ripped out the exploration clusters. Other than that I was playing the hell out of the Foundry because there's some good stuff in there.
Too many people start STO and find it all exciting and new and interesting.
Then they get to level 50 (probably too quickly, since they didn't even have to play half the storyline to get there) and say "What do I do now?"
Then they learn about STFs.
Then they think they 'need to' get on the 'competitive DPS' grind, and the rep grind, Dil grind, exp grind, etc. begins.
Pretty soon they only focus on the 3 activities that give them the most payout, and start calling it a boring grind.
With the end goal of 'I will build the most powerful ship possible, so that I can have fun again. Or impress random strangers in STFs with my DPS. Or something.'
You probably had more fun when you were level 20, had a couple clear goals in mind, had just got a new ship and wondered what ship you would get next.
And weren't too worried about if it was 'max DPS', just that it could hold its own in your upcoming missions.
3 factions to play, dozens of storyline and episode missions, hundreds of Foundry missions, hundreds of ships, many sectors with strange little places tucked into them, different ship builds to try out (even at the affordable range, not the 'must have every max epic console' type).
Sounds like a lot of options to me. Sure they can use more, any game can. But don't lose sight of what's already there.
Comments
Key word: upgrade. Unless you fly one ship only, that's one ship upgrade token per T5 ship. You're neglecting to mention gear upgrades.
Why consult DPS records to inform you of ships when there's so much more to it then that? Run your own parsing on your own gear.
One more console slot on t6 command ships vs intel, until fleet intels come out, which will quite be tied to a new fleet holding, requiring fleet ship modules and fleet provisions.
The T6 lockbox Manasa, 5/2 with 5/4/2 - t/e/s with 1.2 shield mod, turn rate 2 points short of a JHAS, and intel seating.
You said it yourself: game changing. I'm not concerned, but fact is I am staring at some pre-DR end game gear that's very costly and locked to an RNG, which is then multiplied across ship gear and alts, and which took me a long time grinding, and which would take much more grinding to upgrade some. The grinds were never meant to be fun, but instead to serve as a constant reminder that it's more worth just paying for it or risk boring yourself out of the game altogether.
Have you tried? I have, and I parsed it on my newest alt, with mark 11/12 rare or so gear in the dauntless, and the team average DPS was around 5-6K DPS in ISA in a PUG, and the team just so happened to know the objectives and coordinate good enough to not fail, and it took a long time, and no I did not feel 'competitive' taking on such NPCs.
Today I spent a couple of hours training boffs. Thanks to Cryptic for that extra bit of grind. I suppose an all-in-one package was too much to ask.
-leveling a brand-new toon with a friend who hasn't played in about a year
-doing Foundries with my main
-playing through the new story content
I got a lot of mileage out of the Delta Volanis Cluster with my lvl 50 Engineer before they ripped out the exploration clusters. Other than that I was playing the hell out of the Foundry because there's some good stuff in there.
Then they get to level 50 (probably too quickly, since they didn't even have to play half the storyline to get there) and say "What do I do now?"
Then they learn about STFs.
Then they think they 'need to' get on the 'competitive DPS' grind, and the rep grind, Dil grind, exp grind, etc. begins.
Pretty soon they only focus on the 3 activities that give them the most payout, and start calling it a boring grind.
With the end goal of 'I will build the most powerful ship possible, so that I can have fun again. Or impress random strangers in STFs with my DPS. Or something.'
You probably had more fun when you were level 20, had a couple clear goals in mind, had just got a new ship and wondered what ship you would get next.
And weren't too worried about if it was 'max DPS', just that it could hold its own in your upcoming missions.
3 factions to play, dozens of storyline and episode missions, hundreds of Foundry missions, hundreds of ships, many sectors with strange little places tucked into them, different ship builds to try out (even at the affordable range, not the 'must have every max epic console' type).
Sounds like a lot of options to me. Sure they can use more, any game can. But don't lose sight of what's already there.