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People Actually Buy This Stuff?
reginamala78
Member Posts: 4,593 Arc User
Looking around at other people's ships after pugging a hundred CCAs over the last week and I've been surprised at some of what I see. Seems like every run there's one or two ships that run multiple lockbox-ship traits, gene-sequencer traits, and specialization traits that must have taken hundreds if not thousands of patrols to grind out. All told just with a glance they must be half-billion-EC setups, and if they're spending that much ya just know they've spent a similar amount in the upgrade system and lobi store.
I'd always been under the impression that such setups were outliers, just the occasional powergaming munchkin or wallet warrior. Instead it seems like about a quarter of the game if not more is buying all this stuff, loading up on lockbox stuff and buying ships for the traits alone and grinding out hundreds if not thousands of patrols (or they were Tau Dewa cheaters) for spec points, just more more more power. I'd always been under the impression that most people had given all the DR power creep the one-finger salute, hence my surprise.
So how many people actually are buying and using all this stuff?
I'd always been under the impression that such setups were outliers, just the occasional powergaming munchkin or wallet warrior. Instead it seems like about a quarter of the game if not more is buying all this stuff, loading up on lockbox stuff and buying ships for the traits alone and grinding out hundreds if not thousands of patrols (or they were Tau Dewa cheaters) for spec points, just more more more power. I'd always been under the impression that most people had given all the DR power creep the one-finger salute, hence my surprise.
So how many people actually are buying and using all this stuff?
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I recall plenty of people chasing whatever what was the new powercreep at the time when each of the previous seasons came online. It never changed.
I personally want nothing to do with most of the lockbox stuff but I know just from seeing people wandering around and in the pugs that there are a great many of people who do use it
However you do all of the above, so whats up with this just looking for a reaction out of people.
Oh I know, but I figured they were the vocal exception, not the rule. Hence my question, curiousity about how many people around here DO go for the fancy stuff and how many are something like "Nah, My 12s still work just fine."
Edit:
Take [acc]x3 weapons back when they used to be hot stuff. Only PVPers had genuine use for the things, and only the wealthiest PVPers could load up on them. They were considered absolute best top of the heap everyone chasing them, but the number of actual users was fleetingly small.
I do both, actually. I estimated that one of my characters has ~1.2 billion ec, +dil, invested since DR. I have another one that hasn't been touched since pre-DR, and I fly them both, and don't have issues.
The big difference is that while one works 'just fine', the other tends to crush stuff in front of it. I can see the benefit of upgrades. I would have been fine without them, but doing things faster and easier (and having more fun ships, which was about half of that) was more enjoyable to me.
SCM - Hive (S) - [02:31] DMG(DPS) - @jarvisandalfred: 30.62M(204.66K) - Fed Sci
Tacs are overrated.
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As for the buying of premium stuff, outside fancy ships, Pre-DR it was more "under the hood," esp when DOFFs came out and they didn't present an icon on a ship. Weapons, weapon bonus, weapon mods. Not all set bonus have an icon either. Not all consoles had icons either whether they were Universals or not. You didn't know someone was running Marion DOFF with their DEM unless you were watching for their energy weapons dmg numbers after firing old school Beam Overload. You didn't know if someone had trashy Technician DOFFs for their A2B build (when it was all the rage) or if they got the Very Rare Technicians unless you sat there and studied their rotation timers, because there definitely were no icons for them.
And how are we talking about Wallet Warriors today when we had the epitome of Wallet Warrior-ing from the Pre-DR days: The T5 JHAS
That was blatant power creep to the Umpteenth Degree until last year when newer Escorts were becoming on par with it and Cruisers were gaining steam. Yet people were fine with "Power Creep For Sale" like that and not the Power Creep of today?
The Post-DR stuff is more of the same but it's more plainly open about it.
Good point. I guess it just used to be if you bought a lockbox ship, it was to fly that ship or to steal a part off it for it's sister ship (to get TIF for example). Today though I saw a Sheshar running Reciprocity, Supremacy, AHOD, and Improved Predictive Algorithms, and running Qulash pets, and was just "Wow." The Sheshar itself sure, but then with special stuff from 4 other ships just to buff it, he clearly sunk a lot into that setup, and I can only imagine what else he had that I couldn't see at a glance. Extreme example sure, but wow.
Huh? I'm not picking a fight, just curious. (Doesn't everyone quick-look at their teammates in a run?) I may have the social skills of, well, Rat, but that doesn't invalidate my curiousity. I just thought the community was doing one thing, seeing evidence suggesting I was wrong, so thought I'd ask. Thats all.
No, the forums are the vocal exception. They always have been. In every game I've played, the forums have always been a minority of the playerbase.
No different today as it was before DR. People before DR bought ships for the consoles to use on something else. This isn't new.
Feds paid a bit of EC for the Plasmonic Leech (unless they got a bit lucky). Today, that is still a dividing line for Feds. Those with Plasmonic Leech, those who don't have Plasmonic Leech.
It's all the same thing as before. Just different names, different ships, new things added.
A pile of in-game currency plus years of collecting makes me that guy. Not sure why that's a problem for you. But then I see plenty of people in PUGs with maybe 3 buffs, chasing butterflies and I judge them. I guess we all have our biases...
Defending The Galaxy By Breaking One Starfleet Regulation After The Next.
How much more, I am too afraid to find out, lol.
But I have never been one of those to ostentatiously display my abilities. I don't mind if you figure out what I am carrying by watching me use it. Heck, if you ask nicely, I'll probably tell you. But to put on what my mother used to refer to as a 'vulgar display' simply to show off is not something I do.
One other thing I am not going to do is discourage someone else from showing off. They are playing STO and enjoying themselves. If spending on those ships to get those Traits makes the game more fun for them to play, then I say go for it! Have fun! Kill Bad Guys!
What more does this game need to provide besides entertainment?
Compared though, it seems like the flood of JHSS is less than the JHAS when they came out. Back then every pug queue would almost be guaranteed to have a minimum of two.
In my opinion, if the build is bad, no matter how much power you slather on it, it will still be bad - its why I rarely use command/intel as they are nice but not essential to a build
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Doesn't mean I ever grinded money. By simply playing you'll earn money, and sometimes, a lucky drop will earn you a lot.
Also, I was lucky enough to take opportunity of some past exchange trick. For example, I remember a box being released, with special kind of weapon in them. Those were worth a lot more when for a single of them, than a bundle of several of them. I just had to buy the various bundles, and re-sell the weapon 1 by 1. Giving me money with every trade.
Or recently, I sold a lot of manual for a few select skill (those useful without too much competition, or not that useful but without any competition at all). Made millions, while people where selling ApB and such for 50k or less, I was selling mine for 500k a piece.
Not always.
GW forums were full of fanboys, as the game. On the opposite, when it was released, Defiance forum was highly toxic with full of complain, just like most people I met ingame.
As for STO, I don't know how it's worth, but since DR, we had our share of discontent on the forum, and I've seen a large amount of complain on the various Hub zone chat. Including directly attacking Taco and Trendy when they showed up (which is bad and all, but that's something else).
the truth is you are about wright to power creep you must buy up the latest content to have the best power creep options this pwe company plan has been every few months make gear or other content that is unquestionably better or simply so advanced in an alternet option it cant be countered reasonably by anything ie ionic turbulence 80% chance of being a one shot win in pvp no matter what setup or specialization
I know a player that quit because he spent $4000 over 2 years before delta rising to find everything he had completely useless junk I had some good stuff aswell then delta rising launched and no one I knew playing with less than $1000 per year and lifer sub with less play time than my 8/2013 start with an average of 30 hours a week could offer more than an auto fail in advanced stfs till leveling what we had already to mk13 and get to level 60
the only good stuff I had before delta rising was the crafted rcs witch before delta rising was like 2 fleet consoles with one fleet grade active mod
now I was already mad with how the new crafting system was intentionaly mad to expensive for anyone that has simply maxed out what thay can save up on 12 toons to complete the crafting system before delta rising giving all the advantage to players that can TRIBBLE $1000s for fun and games
before the crafting system update a new player could not set up an account and drop $5000 grand thare was not that much content to pay with real cash and it was not needed to get to endgame in a week 100 hours strait could get to end game in a week then a month to complete reputation if you got 10 hours a day every day
now if you can drop 5 grand you can get to endgame and reputations complete in about 250 hours game play
but a new player that only buys a lifetime subscription can not get to level 60 reputations completed and contribute more than an auto fail to elite stfs under a year without rich friends witch is the same as spending $1000s themselves in my opinion
like the large R&D boost, 800 zen. for 10k research xp.
I could buy 145600 dil atm (182dill/zen as i type this) for those 800 zen and Hurry up 8 projects at 6k xp each for total of 48k research xp. Almost five times the gain for the same zen.
Of course not everyone is as efficientdriven as me, but not everyone with "shiny things" is a whale. Last time I spend money here was mid-2013. Even now this game is pretty much f2p, you just have to know how to tackle it.
But yes, most of my chars still use mk xii-stuff, there are only three exceptions, and those have just mk xiv-VR, if I wasnt lucky to get UR/Epic in the process.
Before DR came out, I spent close to 1 billion Ec just buying different weapons, consoles, and other stuff for my 12 characters at that time, just to try different builds. I like being able to hop into a game, and play around with different setups, and see what the benefits are for each.
However, after DR, I said forget it. I have spend a few million in EC, and have no interest in buying into power creep. It was fun to play with once, but after that, I lost all interest in it. I would prefer that they made the game where you could have more options, without hurting the team.
I have 2 weapons upgraded to MK XIV. One is the TR-116B (Which didn't need to be upgraded, just wanted to), and the other one is the Plasma Emissions torp someone crafted for me. Though, the slight increase it gained was not worth it either.
Besides, I am now only doing grind events like CC, and Mirror, or ones where we can get items or weapons. I have lost interest in trying to play a game where the ones making the decisions don't know how to improve the gaming experience after what DR did to it. It is all about selling power creep, and those that don't buy into it, they could care less about.
And about the ones that you see in the queues with the expensive setups, keep in mind that a lot of people have left the game after DR, and some may never come back. So, the number of DPS chasers are more easily seen, because a lot of those that are not chasing it have left.
Sadly, I know about 73 people that said they are done with STO. And even if they do fix the games power creep design, they most likely will never be coming back. There is a lot of work that needs to be done to fix the game. I just hope someone that knows what they are doing is put in charge soon.
i run a t5u fleet excelsior and the only thing in my setup i bought from a lockbox type of thing from the exchange is a plasmonic leech and some nanite disruptor beam banks, now i could lose those without issue and find ordinary disruptor beams and be left with the plasmonic alone, now with a little adjustment here and there, my setup can run up 1st places on CE without issue at times.
i dont run a multi billion EC setup at all, at most, probably 5 million credits outside the plasmonic leech which i bought for 33 million not long ago.
as for zen spending, ive only used zen in the past to buy ships and constumes, but nothing that would directly affect my toon in question even though i know i could convert 500z into refined dil. everything i have upgraded is from the system alone including the CE event rewarding 50k dil.
Been around since Dec 2010 on STO and bought LTS in Apr 2013 for STO.
Free Tibet!
I like the whales, they've allowed me to play since Feb 2013 without spending a dime while getting all sorts of goodies.
Honestly, without them wanting Dil or popping boxes left, right, and center - I couldn't have gotten anything I've gotten. Wouldn't have been able to delete and reroll toons as often as I have only to get all sorts of stuff again.
1) Get over my obsession
2) Get beamed up by Scotty to travel to the Future and help save Earth from an alien probe.
Mustrum "The latter is of course more likely*" Ridcully
*) Well, not really. I stopped playing this game for 2 years. It could happen again.