Your build needs a serious refit, I guess you have weapon- and shieldpower at 25 or so to not be able to solo a single sphere. Truth to be told, THAT kind of incompetence isnt the games problem, its simply your lack of skill.
But well, what should we expect when we only read "I have this monstergear" in the OP. Gear has -compared to other things- only a low impact on performance.
Again you don't read. my power levels were pretty clearly described as all at 55 or better with the weapons jacked. I never said "monstergear" that's yer interpretation. I used a similar term simply noting in effort to improve that I have gone and read build tip sheets which is why I now used area attacks vs individual. Either way you sure are a ****.
On the other hand, thanks to those that read and are trying to help me out. It's really appreciated
Just to be 100% clear... I am incorrect a bit...
W: 120, Sh: 62, Engines 39, and Aux 44
Mind you I have tried even steven on them, Shields 1st priority... that's why I am on here asking for tips vs insults.
Op I agree there has been some broken sh@t happening in borg stfs. My scimitar would peak a decent 40 to 42 k on isa regularly but after that change its dropped to 20-25 k. My build is the exact same rom plasma aux to bat build everything at muk 14 vr and 5 epic tac console from fleet.
Have you been able to take a look at your dps after the change?
You know I really should... I have a DPS monitor but I seldom crank it up. Seems against the spirit of the game to me like when people in D&D didn't care what weapon fit their culture they just wanted the one that does the most damage. SMH. But DPS IS a reality of this game... sigh...
This sounds like a personal problem. I can effectively ignore cubes (on advanced) as they're essentially inconsequential and will die to FAW fire eventually anyway. Spheres just melt before I even notice them. I've never attempted soloing a tactical cube, as I can't join an STF solo and the group is always there to help.. but my guess is that I probably could.
ISA is now a tossup for Pug. That doesn't bother me too much.
I am a bit annoyed that my assimilated set Vesta can now be killed by the borg (and by undine on elite as well)
I experimented today with a partial version of my old defensive build and found it didn't help. If you get close to the mass of spheres and the gateway they will take your shields even with the 3 piece set and will often one-shot you. So I returned to my pure offense build and will just have to fly more cautiously.
I haven't played it enough to really judge but I would say the pug fail rate is around 50% now, down from maybe 10% before the recent change.
eh, I can live with it. Long ago the borg were nasty with their shield stealing. this reminds me of those times.
Fair call though I thought this was an era in which there had at least been SOME amount of catch up to them. Either way the borg ARE supposed to be tough I guess...
The bad guys are leveled up to match level 60's now, thats a start. The increased fails have made it critical for people to work with a plan. Hotshots in ISA use to TRIBBLE things up by blowing a a generator early, now they garauntee an early ending and only 10 marks. The scenario was the same for almost threee years and people didnt learn the scenario. Hopefully that will increase the learning curve significantly.
A fair point and again why I ask WTF am I doing wrong all of a sudden?? LOL
This sounds like a personal problem. I can effectively ignore cubes (on advanced) as they're essentially inconsequential and will die to FAW fire eventually anyway. Spheres just melt before I even notice them. I've never attempted soloing a tactical cube, as I can't join an STF solo and the group is always there to help.. but my guess is that I probably could.
Yes, cubes are a joke. It's the 10x tachyons from spheres that aren't. It's annoying enough that spheres put out as much dps as a cube or even a tac cube, now that they have a vastly stronger shield stripper (that you can't even cleanse), it's terrible.
Its the recent change they did to Tachyon Beam.
It broke the Borg version of it, turing it into the most OP method of STF Borg shield ripping ever. Doesn't matter how much shield drain resist you got, 2-3 seconds of Tachyon Beam and pfft. Shields gone. Might as well Hull Tank if you can.
I've also stuggled with Spheres on advanced since DR. I've got 6 mk XII Phasers with ACC x3 thanks to the original patrol wrapper mission rewards in the Delta Quadrant, and with full weapons power... and still feel like its soloing a tac cube.
A friend said that Advanced is like the old Elite as was advertised... if you're rockin' mk XIV gear. But clearly everyone is struggling due to recent changes. I think we've returned to the days where any bugfix somewhere breaks the STF Borg.
SCM - Crystal C. (S) - [00:12] DMG(DPS) - @jarvisandalfred: 8.63M(713.16K) - Fed Sci
True, but it's incredibly easy to do these things without shields even being equipped. Soon after DR released I went through and did every borg stf (including disconnected) without any shields equipped at all, just to prove to some friends that I could (didn't alter my setup, was even running the normal shield heals/EPtS). Even though I was by far the highest threat and tanking, I never dropped under 90% (aside from when I got too close to an exploding cube and got GDF).
With a proper setup and piloting, these enemies are a joke. Most enemies in STO are, aside from those that have the crazy one shot abilities you can't predict or defend against. Borg stf's aren't like that.. they've got high yield torps but those are easily shot down by FAW, and not even a concern if you've got shields.
A fair point and again why I ask WTF am I doing wrong all of a sudden?? LOL
2 right off the top problems with your build, is the lack of emergency power to shields.
Instead, you have 2 ET's, DEM & RSP which take forever to cd without major assistance.
ST isn't bad but, provides no actual shield DR for itself so, you can keep it if you prefer but, you really need something else for shield heals to back it up.
Your lt.cmdr boff slot IMO, should have a tac boff using it but, if you want more tankiness than eng can get by as is.
Captain skills are a complete mess, need a respect IMO.
Beam barrage trait is an utter waste, if you aren't using beam skills, trade it out for another trait.
Otherwise the gear albeit not upgraded high enough all around, can still get you by on what you have so, keep working at those when you can.
Not sure what your choice is of doffs but, those play a key role in boff skills being aided.
IMO, a single cube or, a single sphere shouldn't pose a great threat to you but, this also depends on your actual player skill as well!
Clearly they have jacked up the difficulty several times over. I can't even solo a sphere in my monster fleet patrol escort refit. Trip XIV Dual Heavy's up front, Elite regen turrets in back... The people are playing the parts right... it's just they literally overwhelm you.
I have been able to succeed once in about my last 20 tries... last few making sure to hook with quality players. This is getting crazy. I need one Damn Borg Neural Processor and of course will eventually need others and they have nearly destroyed the possibility of getting them.
I can never think of enough ways to say how much I hate Cryptic.
hey.. psssssssssssst.. tried surgical strike 3 yet ? u wont need better gears than white mk x ones !
While build advice is always nice, please save it. It won't be of any use for the OP. He may adjust his build a bazillion times, the Borg will still drain his shields to nothing and then one-shot him.
Borg STFs were borked by the irresponsible Tachyon Beam change. If you don't find a problem with it, good for you. But the average PUG will always beg to differ.
While build advice is always nice, please save it. It won't be of any use for the OP. He may adjust his build a bazillion times, the Borg will still drain his shields to nothing and then one-shot him.
Borg STFs were borked by the irresponsible Tachyon Beam change. If you don't find a problem with it, good for you. But the average PUG will always beg to differ.
I appreciate your support but if others can beat it so can I. I am not afraid to learn the knack of it so it may BE goofed but if there is a way around it then I shall use it
Also... what Boff skills would you recommend for a second tactical (to the cat that offered me that advice)
indeed, one of my toon has full point in power insulator + the nukara set and the nukara console; and actually, this is useless. the tachyon beam still sucks the shield in few seconds.
The best defense is a good offense. When you've got no actual defense, that's especially true. The borg have always drained shields ridiculously fast, though I've always thought it was the cubes that did it. When your defense is taken away, the only option left is to hit them as hard as possible as quickly as possible.. luckily, that's the name of the game anyway.
I appreciate your support but if others can beat it so can I. I am not afraid to learn the knack of it so it may BE goofed but if there is a way around it then I shall use it
I wish you luck. Not saying you can't beat it, I'm just saying that you're fighting against a terribly broken mechanic. I've heard numbers of 30K/drain per second from a single sphere, and the average player doesn't get past 1/3 of that.
To win against it, you can't deal with the drain directly, but rather do stuff that affects it indirectly. Like draining their aux so they drain less; using a decoy so it gets drained instead of you; or just damage them fast enough before they can torpedo you. But against so many spheres, you will need some team coordination and wise usage of some skills like Gravity Well to succeed. You can't expect that if you're PUG'ing it.
Additionally, a few broken mechanics were fixed prior to the Tachyon Beam change, so many players are doing less DPS overall, which makes the missions last longer and increase your chance of failure.
The mechanic isn't broken. Harder than before - yes.
I am not a monster dps guy - but I hit high 20k's in pugs.
I also tank (engineer) all the mobs and the gate/Tac cube at the end at the same time. Am i busy? Oh yes but my team (pugs) usually wins unless someone pops a generator before the rest of the team is in place.
I run 6 points in threat and have excellent heals for shields and miricle worker plus kobali heal as well. In mission without buffs I'm at 2100 per beam and with buff's 2500. And spamming bfaw. Thats 20k - single target minus get there time.
I run only 6 points in insulators (84) but have the Delta rep shield with 50% drain restance. Kobali core and Nukara deflector and engine.
Flying a cruiser of course.
Since I hold aggro...the others focus on dps - even without communication..usually - they are pugs.
I has lost aggro to a couple high dps scimitars - but get it back by switching to attract fire cruiser command then switch back to shield. I run a constant epts1 with a eptw3 and maintain aux to ID 2 with doff. And a eject plasma 3.
Hull resistance stays between 40 and 50.
I'm not hull tanking. Do i lose them occasionally - yes...but its usally very briefly.
I'm at 100% defense - even in my cruiser.
I suspect that since the OP is using cannons...he's stopping a lot...in that case even a single sphere will kill him...unless he kills it first...which he's admitted he's not doing.
Op I agree there has been some broken sh@t happening in borg stfs. My scimitar would peak a decent 40 to 42 k on isa regularly but after that change its dropped to 20-25 k. My build is the exact same rom plasma aux to bat build everything at muk 14 vr and 5 epic tac console from fleet.
Have you been able to take a look at your dps after the change?
I agree Borg STFs are screwed up big time, ship keep spawning after the cubes or gateway have been destroyed.
I use KHG XIV shields 12963 with a regeneration rate of 263, 1 shot gone then i cant get them repair, hull wont repair, even pedal to the metal dose not help. Dps down by 5-6k which might not sound a lot to some but when you only do 19k it is.
Gone from doing advance to struggling to do normal at times.
And this makes no scene to me at all, recorded by a friend, none fleet T5-U BOP 11.5K, T6 RAPTOR which was doing 19k now 13k,,,,,
I am not a monster dps guy - but I hit high 20k's in pugs.
An Engineer doing high 20Ks? I am sorry but you are very well within the "monster dps guy" area. For your career, at least.
With that high DPS, tanking, and aggro control, your setup pretty much carries your team. I'd even say the combination is perfect to prevent most PUG flaws.
The mechanic isn't broken. Harder than before - yes.
... it is broken, but you don't notice it (as much as the average PUG does) because your build is way above average.
Also, what weapons and consoles are you using? I am guessing that your build is expensive, which is out of reach for many average players. I don't know about the OP finances though, so it might be something for him to invest on.
20k isn't bad, it actually would have been pretty good pre-DR. That said, the dps league doesn't even have a 20k channel anymore. 30k is closer to the average for those that are actually trying these days, though that's mainly tactical captains. Power creep and all that good stuff. Of course, your average pug hasn't gotten any better at all and is still sitting in the low single digit k's.
Clearly they have jacked up the difficulty several times over. I can't even solo a sphere in my monster fleet patrol escort refit. Trip XIV Dual Heavy's up front, Elite regen turrets in back... The people are playing the parts right... it's just they literally overwhelm you.
I have been able to succeed once in about my last 20 tries... last few making sure to hook with quality players. This is getting crazy. I need one Damn Borg Neural Processor and of course will eventually need others and they have nearly destroyed the possibility of getting them.
I can never think of enough ways to say how much I hate Cryptic.
Well.. if thats truly your build then I'd say you are doing it wrong. A ship with purple mk 14 weapons can do it.. even a science ship.
Keep Tac Team cycling every 15s. Keep EPtW3/EPtW1 cycling every 30s for damage, if you have 3 blue Damage Control Engineer DOffs or 2 Purple ones you can go EPtS1/EPtW3 or EPtW1/EPtS3 instead, cycling them every 15s. Could always go AtSIF2 for more heals, of course.
You'd only have Sci Team, AtSIF, and HE for recovery, though.
Offensively, you go CSV2/APO3, CSV1/APB1, CSV2/APO1, CSV1/APB1, repeat every 15s.
This would mean alternating between APB1/CSV3/TS3 and APB1/CSV2 every 15s.
Using the LCdr Uni as an Engineer hampers your offensive abilities, leaving you with 4 Tactical abilities - which means you need some way to make more use out of them.
That likely means going with an AuxToBatt/Technicians build. With (ideally) 3 Purple Technicians:
AtB + Technicians reduces cooldowns, so that can effectively double your Tactical slots. This will obviously be a tougher build than the above, as well.
I think the root of your problem is your skill tree (no pun intended).
Its a pretty awful mess.
But don't feel bad, my sci needed 4 or 5 respecs before I found my way.
First thing I noticed is you have 9 points in Driver Coil, and 3 in Flow Caps, I stopped right there.
That's not good.
Fortunatly you can look up viable skill trees up on Sto wiki.
Go find one you like, then use that for your respec.
One thing to remember if upgrading weapons is to always use CrtDx3 or x4 weapons.
*CrtDx2 will do if you can't afford the latter.
Otherwise your wasting resources imo !
My tac and engi both still use mk xii equipment and they score almost as well as my end game sci.
And its because they all have a solid base. They all have efficient skill trees.
Some skills are more worthy of investment then others.
Personally I max everything that boosts energy damage, everything that boosts warp core, power levels and power tranfer, part and grav gens (for my sci), anything that will boost attack patterns or debuffs (sensor scan for sci).
Everything else is only worth 3-6 points. Some are worth 0.
You want to hit as hard as possible. Defensive skills in the tree don't need more the 4-6 skill points.
Engines the same, unless you want speed for tour build.
I use these defensive skills in isa
Polarize Hull
Hazard Emitters
Transfer Shield Strength
Energy Siphon
Brace for Impact
Rock N Roll
Shield Batts and Aux Batts
Weapons Max
Sheild Min
Engines Min
Aux Rest of available power approx 75
*Use leetch or Maco shield to supplement your energy levels.
As you can see, other then shield batts and TSS1 I don't worry about shield heals. Its useless with all the draining going. Focus on making your hull as impenetrable as possible. And hitting as Hard as possible.
Your main concern is plasma burn and kinetic damage.
Hazard Emitters to clear Plasma Burn, and +40 kinetic resist console to negate torp damage.
That's all you need.
If you can use the skills I mentioned above efficiently, you should be a lot more survivable
Fixing your tree will help the offensive side.
That's it
Edit: Even with all this though, pugs are still a toss up, I'm averaging about 80% sucess with pugs. That's why normally I roll with my fleet or in a premade.
BTW, it's a commander rank intel power, so you need to get a ship with a commander rank intel slot.
Oh and I did an ISA yesterday that succeeded, and my ship only got blown up once. Despite being on probe wrangling duty and using mostly mk11 gear. But it was a premade and not a PUG.
I have not been in a single pug, not one. that could complete a Borg Advanced.
Maybe I'm unlucky. but if Pugs can't do it. it's broken.
I know what some say. Don't do it in a Pug. I like thousands of other players, have no choice. Most of my Fleet is asleep when I am playing.
I miss the days when I could solo Borg Advanced/Elite.
Finally decided to make a sig.
I see allot of them with a character, and ship.
though I'm not sure which ship to put on there...
I'll think about it. This will do for now.
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
Comments
http://www.stoacademy.com/tools/skillplanner/
Their format is the gold-standard for discussing builds. Easy to enter, easy to glance at, put your doffs in the Description or Notes section.
Thanks I'll do that next time instead of spam the board.
Alright this was a HUGE pain in the TRIBBLE but I suppose done it's better... Yikes this is where this game becomes more like a job than a game.
http://skillplanner.stoacademy.com/?build=deathnote_9598
Obviously you're over-estimating how powerful your ship is.
Again you don't read. my power levels were pretty clearly described as all at 55 or better with the weapons jacked. I never said "monstergear" that's yer interpretation. I used a similar term simply noting in effort to improve that I have gone and read build tip sheets which is why I now used area attacks vs individual. Either way you sure are a ****.
On the other hand, thanks to those that read and are trying to help me out. It's really appreciated
Just to be 100% clear... I am incorrect a bit...
W: 120, Sh: 62, Engines 39, and Aux 44
Mind you I have tried even steven on them, Shields 1st priority... that's why I am on here asking for tips vs insults.
Ya THINK? Hmmm... maybe I should go on a Forum or something and ask for help... what do you think?
You know I really should... I have a DPS monitor but I seldom crank it up. Seems against the spirit of the game to me like when people in D&D didn't care what weapon fit their culture they just wanted the one that does the most damage. SMH. But DPS IS a reality of this game... sigh...
Fair call though I thought this was an era in which there had at least been SOME amount of catch up to them. Either way the borg ARE supposed to be tough I guess...
A fair point and again why I ask WTF am I doing wrong all of a sudden?? LOL
Yes, cubes are a joke. It's the 10x tachyons from spheres that aren't. It's annoying enough that spheres put out as much dps as a cube or even a tac cube, now that they have a vastly stronger shield stripper (that you can't even cleanse), it's terrible.
SCM - Hive (S) - [02:31] DMG(DPS) - @jarvisandalfred: 30.62M(204.66K) - Fed Sci
Tacs are overrated.
Game's best wiki
Build questions? Look here!
With a proper setup and piloting, these enemies are a joke. Most enemies in STO are, aside from those that have the crazy one shot abilities you can't predict or defend against. Borg stf's aren't like that.. they've got high yield torps but those are easily shot down by FAW, and not even a concern if you've got shields.
2 right off the top problems with your build, is the lack of emergency power to shields.
Instead, you have 2 ET's, DEM & RSP which take forever to cd without major assistance.
ST isn't bad but, provides no actual shield DR for itself so, you can keep it if you prefer but, you really need something else for shield heals to back it up.
Your lt.cmdr boff slot IMO, should have a tac boff using it but, if you want more tankiness than eng can get by as is.
Captain skills are a complete mess, need a respect IMO.
Beam barrage trait is an utter waste, if you aren't using beam skills, trade it out for another trait.
Otherwise the gear albeit not upgraded high enough all around, can still get you by on what you have so, keep working at those when you can.
Not sure what your choice is of doffs but, those play a key role in boff skills being aided.
IMO, a single cube or, a single sphere shouldn't pose a great threat to you but, this also depends on your actual player skill as well!
Praetor of the -RTS- Romulan Tal Shiar fleet!
hey.. psssssssssssst.. tried surgical strike 3 yet ? u wont need better gears than white mk x ones !
I'll give that a shot
Borg STFs were borked by the irresponsible Tachyon Beam change. If you don't find a problem with it, good for you. But the average PUG will always beg to differ.
STO Screenshot Archive
I appreciate your support but if others can beat it so can I. I am not afraid to learn the knack of it so it may BE goofed but if there is a way around it then I shall use it
Also... what Boff skills would you recommend for a second tactical (to the cat that offered me that advice)
indeed, one of my toon has full point in power insulator + the nukara set and the nukara console; and actually, this is useless. the tachyon beam still sucks the shield in few seconds.
borg tachyon beam is just ridiculous
I wish you luck. Not saying you can't beat it, I'm just saying that you're fighting against a terribly broken mechanic. I've heard numbers of 30K/drain per second from a single sphere, and the average player doesn't get past 1/3 of that.
To win against it, you can't deal with the drain directly, but rather do stuff that affects it indirectly. Like draining their aux so they drain less; using a decoy so it gets drained instead of you; or just damage them fast enough before they can torpedo you. But against so many spheres, you will need some team coordination and wise usage of some skills like Gravity Well to succeed. You can't expect that if you're PUG'ing it.
Additionally, a few broken mechanics were fixed prior to the Tachyon Beam change, so many players are doing less DPS overall, which makes the missions last longer and increase your chance of failure.
STO Screenshot Archive
I am not a monster dps guy - but I hit high 20k's in pugs.
I also tank (engineer) all the mobs and the gate/Tac cube at the end at the same time. Am i busy? Oh yes but my team (pugs) usually wins unless someone pops a generator before the rest of the team is in place.
I run 6 points in threat and have excellent heals for shields and miricle worker plus kobali heal as well. In mission without buffs I'm at 2100 per beam and with buff's 2500. And spamming bfaw. Thats 20k - single target minus get there time.
I run only 6 points in insulators (84) but have the Delta rep shield with 50% drain restance. Kobali core and Nukara deflector and engine.
Flying a cruiser of course.
Since I hold aggro...the others focus on dps - even without communication..usually - they are pugs.
I has lost aggro to a couple high dps scimitars - but get it back by switching to attract fire cruiser command then switch back to shield. I run a constant epts1 with a eptw3 and maintain aux to ID 2 with doff. And a eject plasma 3.
Hull resistance stays between 40 and 50.
I'm not hull tanking. Do i lose them occasionally - yes...but its usally very briefly.
I'm at 100% defense - even in my cruiser.
I suspect that since the OP is using cannons...he's stopping a lot...in that case even a single sphere will kill him...unless he kills it first...which he's admitted he's not doing.
I agree Borg STFs are screwed up big time, ship keep spawning after the cubes or gateway have been destroyed.
I use KHG XIV shields 12963 with a regeneration rate of 263, 1 shot gone then i cant get them repair, hull wont repair, even pedal to the metal dose not help. Dps down by 5-6k which might not sound a lot to some but when you only do 19k it is.
Gone from doing advance to struggling to do normal at times.
And this makes no scene to me at all, recorded by a friend, none fleet T5-U BOP 11.5K, T6 RAPTOR which was doing 19k now 13k,,,,,
Just to add it all started for me on Feb 9th.
Not sure if it's a random glitch that causes HP and power levels of NPCS to be magically higher than normal
An Engineer doing high 20Ks? I am sorry but you are very well within the "monster dps guy" area. For your career, at least.
With that high DPS, tanking, and aggro control, your setup pretty much carries your team. I'd even say the combination is perfect to prevent most PUG flaws.
That said...
... it is broken, but you don't notice it (as much as the average PUG does) because your build is way above average.
Also, what weapons and consoles are you using? I am guessing that your build is expensive, which is out of reach for many average players. I don't know about the OP finances though, so it might be something for him to invest on.
STO Screenshot Archive
Well.. if thats truly your build then I'd say you are doing it wrong. A ship with purple mk 14 weapons can do it.. even a science ship.
You're definitely not hitting hard enough.
Try a "Kill them before they can kill you approach" with:
Cdr Tac: TT1/APB1/APO1/APO3
LCdr Eng: EPtW1/AtSIF1/EPtW3
Lt Sci: HE1/ST2
LCdr Uni: TT1/CSV1/CSV2
Keep Tac Team cycling every 15s. Keep EPtW3/EPtW1 cycling every 30s for damage, if you have 3 blue Damage Control Engineer DOffs or 2 Purple ones you can go EPtS1/EPtW3 or EPtW1/EPtS3 instead, cycling them every 15s. Could always go AtSIF2 for more heals, of course.
You'd only have Sci Team, AtSIF, and HE for recovery, though.
Offensively, you go CSV2/APO3, CSV1/APB1, CSV2/APO1, CSV1/APB1, repeat every 15s.
Alternatively:
Cdr Tac: TT1/APB1/TS3/CSV3
LCdr Uni: TT1/APB1/CSV2
This would mean alternating between APB1/CSV3/TS3 and APB1/CSV2 every 15s.
Using the LCdr Uni as an Engineer hampers your offensive abilities, leaving you with 4 Tactical abilities - which means you need some way to make more use out of them.
That likely means going with an AuxToBatt/Technicians build. With (ideally) 3 Purple Technicians:
Cdr Tac: TT1/APB1/TS3/CSV3
LCdr Eng: EPtS1/AtB1/EPtW3
Lt Sci: ST1/HE2
LCdr Uni: ET1/AtB1/RSP2
AtB + Technicians reduces cooldowns, so that can effectively double your Tactical slots. This will obviously be a tougher build than the above, as well.
Its a pretty awful mess.
But don't feel bad, my sci needed 4 or 5 respecs before I found my way.
First thing I noticed is you have 9 points in Driver Coil, and 3 in Flow Caps, I stopped right there.
That's not good.
Fortunatly you can look up viable skill trees up on Sto wiki.
Go find one you like, then use that for your respec.
One thing to remember if upgrading weapons is to always use CrtDx3 or x4 weapons.
*CrtDx2 will do if you can't afford the latter.
Otherwise your wasting resources imo !
My tac and engi both still use mk xii equipment and they score almost as well as my end game sci.
And its because they all have a solid base. They all have efficient skill trees.
Some skills are more worthy of investment then others.
Personally I max everything that boosts energy damage, everything that boosts warp core, power levels and power tranfer, part and grav gens (for my sci), anything that will boost attack patterns or debuffs (sensor scan for sci).
Everything else is only worth 3-6 points. Some are worth 0.
You want to hit as hard as possible. Defensive skills in the tree don't need more the 4-6 skill points.
Engines the same, unless you want speed for tour build.
I use these defensive skills in isa
Polarize Hull
Hazard Emitters
Transfer Shield Strength
Energy Siphon
Brace for Impact
Rock N Roll
Shield Batts and Aux Batts
Weapons Max
Sheild Min
Engines Min
Aux Rest of available power approx 75
*Use leetch or Maco shield to supplement your energy levels.
As you can see, other then shield batts and TSS1 I don't worry about shield heals. Its useless with all the draining going. Focus on making your hull as impenetrable as possible. And hitting as Hard as possible.
Your main concern is plasma burn and kinetic damage.
Hazard Emitters to clear Plasma Burn, and +40 kinetic resist console to negate torp damage.
That's all you need.
If you can use the skills I mentioned above efficiently, you should be a lot more survivable
Fixing your tree will help the offensive side.
That's it
Edit: Even with all this though, pugs are still a toss up, I'm averaging about 80% sucess with pugs. That's why normally I roll with my fleet or in a premade.
Oh and I did an ISA yesterday that succeeded, and my ship only got blown up once. Despite being on probe wrangling duty and using mostly mk11 gear. But it was a premade and not a PUG.
My character Tsin'xing
Maybe I'm unlucky. but if Pugs can't do it. it's broken.
I know what some say. Don't do it in a Pug. I like thousands of other players, have no choice. Most of my Fleet is asleep when I am playing.
I miss the days when I could solo Borg Advanced/Elite.
I see allot of them with a character, and ship.
though I'm not sure which ship to put on there...
I'll think about it. This will do for now.
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]