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A new kind of R&D
bioixi
Member Posts: 764 Arc User
You know, current R&D feels incomplete, there are many things left to RNG (Random number generator/god) and too few left to real crafting and personal effort, crafting made a lot of things obsolete, instead of being an improvement to all items in game, it became a curse for most, which are left forgotten.
I'm proposing a new revamp, one that will make all items useful, one that will get rid of the random number generator, true crafting.
Let's begin with with Modifiers:
From now on I'll call them Mods or [Mod]
We need craftable modifier, think of them as Gems from other MMOs, and we also need Mod slots, which would be equivalent to gem Sockets.
They'll be completely removable and exchangeable, think of weapons and mods as profession kit with their kit modules, you can have a [CrtD] mod, but if you grow tired of it you can just simply replace it with a [Pen] mod from your inventory, then you can use that [CrtD] mod for another weapon, or you can sell it in the exchange.
So, now Items will have [Mod] sockets based on rarity, 1 for uncommon, 2 for rare, and so on, Epic items will have one special socket for a dual mod.
Some special items might have more or less Sockets or might come with an special irremovable [Mod] (For example the AR-116b will have 4x irremovable shield penetration mods).
A [Mod] might have a quality, meaning it cannot be equipped to lower quality items, for example, the [arc] mod should be very rare and you won't be able to socket it in rare items.
Unique mods will remain unique, meaning you cannot slot more than one per weapon, and example of unique mods: [pen], [sprd], [arc], [over].
Some mods might not be craftable and are limited to exclusive items, for example the shield penetration mod for ground weapons will remain exclusive to the AR-116 series and other projectile and melee weapons.
Quality upgrades
Currentlu, quality upgrades rely in the RNG lottery, and that's annoying, you might upgrade something in your first try or spend a fortune of dilithium and failing to do so.
No more, you'll still need dilithium and tech upgrades to increase an item's level, and you can still craft very rare items, but you'll need a new quality upgrade item to increase an item's quality.
Such Quality tech upgrades will also be craftable items, for example, salvaged tech (reward from Elite PvE) can be used to craft a quality tech upgrade, let's say you need 4 salvaged tech to craft 1 quality tech upgrade, and 1 quality tech upgrade to increase an item's quality from very rare to ultra rare, 2 to increase quality from ultra rare to epic.
That was an example it doesn't have to be that exact number or that specific item, it could be an item (or several) composed of multiple materials, including salvaged tech, dilithium, EC, duty officers ...
Basic crafting:
It also relies in RNG, let's get rid of it.
A profession level shouldn't influence the chance to get a very rare instead of a rare, a profession level should guarantee rarity, and decrease time and costs needed to craft, research and upgrade.
So, I propose the ability to craft uncommon items at any level, rare items at level 5, very rare items at level 10, and special items at level 15.
Missing features:
We still need device crafting, and profession kit and modules crafting and upgrading.
Ship upgrading:
Why not? why can't we upgrade our favourite ship from tier 1 to tier 5 (and then 5-U with the zen token).
We need ship upgrading, allow us to level up our ship using crafting to add weapon, console, boff and device slots.
I'm not talking about adding extra weapon slots to T5/T6 ships, I'm talking about having a T5-U NX-01 with 4 fore weapons and 2-3 aft weapons, 2 device slots, 5 bridge officers and 10/11 consoles like most escorts of that tier.
To compensate, I think ship upgrading should cost Zen in addition to R&D materials, dilithium and time.
I'm proposing a new revamp, one that will make all items useful, one that will get rid of the random number generator, true crafting.
Let's begin with with Modifiers:
From now on I'll call them Mods or [Mod]
We need craftable modifier, think of them as Gems from other MMOs, and we also need Mod slots, which would be equivalent to gem Sockets.
They'll be completely removable and exchangeable, think of weapons and mods as profession kit with their kit modules, you can have a [CrtD] mod, but if you grow tired of it you can just simply replace it with a [Pen] mod from your inventory, then you can use that [CrtD] mod for another weapon, or you can sell it in the exchange.
So, now Items will have [Mod] sockets based on rarity, 1 for uncommon, 2 for rare, and so on, Epic items will have one special socket for a dual mod.
Some special items might have more or less Sockets or might come with an special irremovable [Mod] (For example the AR-116b will have 4x irremovable shield penetration mods).
A [Mod] might have a quality, meaning it cannot be equipped to lower quality items, for example, the [arc] mod should be very rare and you won't be able to socket it in rare items.
Unique mods will remain unique, meaning you cannot slot more than one per weapon, and example of unique mods: [pen], [sprd], [arc], [over].
Some mods might not be craftable and are limited to exclusive items, for example the shield penetration mod for ground weapons will remain exclusive to the AR-116 series and other projectile and melee weapons.
Quality upgrades
Currentlu, quality upgrades rely in the RNG lottery, and that's annoying, you might upgrade something in your first try or spend a fortune of dilithium and failing to do so.
No more, you'll still need dilithium and tech upgrades to increase an item's level, and you can still craft very rare items, but you'll need a new quality upgrade item to increase an item's quality.
Such Quality tech upgrades will also be craftable items, for example, salvaged tech (reward from Elite PvE) can be used to craft a quality tech upgrade, let's say you need 4 salvaged tech to craft 1 quality tech upgrade, and 1 quality tech upgrade to increase an item's quality from very rare to ultra rare, 2 to increase quality from ultra rare to epic.
That was an example it doesn't have to be that exact number or that specific item, it could be an item (or several) composed of multiple materials, including salvaged tech, dilithium, EC, duty officers ...
Basic crafting:
It also relies in RNG, let's get rid of it.
A profession level shouldn't influence the chance to get a very rare instead of a rare, a profession level should guarantee rarity, and decrease time and costs needed to craft, research and upgrade.
So, I propose the ability to craft uncommon items at any level, rare items at level 5, very rare items at level 10, and special items at level 15.
Missing features:
We still need device crafting, and profession kit and modules crafting and upgrading.
Ship upgrading:
Why not? why can't we upgrade our favourite ship from tier 1 to tier 5 (and then 5-U with the zen token).
We need ship upgrading, allow us to level up our ship using crafting to add weapon, console, boff and device slots.
I'm not talking about adding extra weapon slots to T5/T6 ships, I'm talking about having a T5-U NX-01 with 4 fore weapons and 2-3 aft weapons, 2 device slots, 5 bridge officers and 10/11 consoles like most escorts of that tier.
To compensate, I think ship upgrading should cost Zen in addition to R&D materials, dilithium and time.
A new kind of R&D 30 votes
I prefer this one over the current one
50%
15 votes
I prefer the one we have now
10%
3 votes
I dislike both
23%
7 votes
Other opinion -Specify
16%
5 votes
Post edited by bioixi on
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Comments
More predictable mods would be nice...but at the same time it makes crafting weaker until you get up to the rare to obtain items...but STO doesn't have any obtainable schematics...so not any unobtainable weapons...you can make most of the weapons you'll ever need without even having to max level your crafting...
Ship upgrading...never going to happen in a million years...wont see a T6 NX or Connie...thankfully.
That was an example it doesn't have to be that exact number or that specific item, it could be an item (or several) composed of multiple materials, including salvaged tech, dilithium, EC, duty officers ...
I also agree with the basic crafting green minimum. Who goes through all that added expense and resource dumping just to get something they could get at the home base supply shop?
The [mod] system will still be limited like the current one, you cannot have 4x[pen], 4x[arc] 4x[sprd] and so on, since those are unique mods.
I know you kids are spoiled by Blizzard's kids toys but I tell onto you current R&D is fine.
I do like the idea of turning mods into gems that go into gem slots concept. And they can still control what it takes to get each of those pieces by controlling the costs involved.
I also think they need to work on each of the mods to make each of them a viable choice and make it so that only how you play will determine if a mod is good for you or not.
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RR-KDF: Fleet Admiral Zemo (Reman Tactical)::Fleet Admiral Xinatek (Reman Science)::Fleet Admiral Bel (Alien Engineer)
TOS-Fed: Fleet Admiral Katem (Andorian Tactical)::Lieutenant Commander Straad (Vulcan Engineer)
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Dom-KDF: Kamtana'Solan (Jem'Hadar Science)
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I'm sorry but that's simply false, Blizzard MMOs don't use that system (BTW, I based my suggestion in the WoW crafting system), same goes for guild wars, path of exile, rift ...
Most MMOs don't use chance based crafting and upgrading, successful MMOs use skill&effort based crafting and upgrading, there is nothing more annoying than pouring resources into something and having a high chance of losing all of those resources (and the time invested), it's stupid, counterproductive and it pisses people off.
That's why MMOs tend to move away from chance based stuff, with the exception of loot and lockboxes.
i also prefer the Patrol Escort >.> so being able to upgrade it from tier to tier would be really nice it'd be nice if we could continue to upgrade and research our ships to improve their performances.
So basically you want to be wild and free in a game that already has tons of balance problems?
given that life is unbalanced..yep.
its not like i'm saying let us use 1,000,000 consoles.
the ships could still have their set number of consoles, but it'd be nice if we weren't forced to have 5 engineer slots 2 science slot an 3 tactical slots.
instead we could just have 10 console slots to outfit as we desired. an it'd let people customize their ship to their play style. it'd also let people use the ships they like the look of without having to compromise their desired performance.
for example i'd rather have more engineering an science consoles over tactical ones. but the only way to do that would be to use a science or engineering ship but for me the Patrol Escort is the one that looks nicest of the ones not in the Zen shop >.>
And quality upgrading not being RNG based would be good. Just make the upgrade costs commensurate to the rarity you are trying to achieve.
What I don't like is the ship upgrading you have. I would say you could upgrade ONE tier and that's it! You can't upgrade a tiny Constitution class to equal a much more massive T5/T6 cruiser, for example. You are not going to put some 16" battleship guns on a frigate frame and call it a battleship.
while they might not be upgradeable to the same size.
they could be upgraded to being the same level of sophisticated. an technologically the same level of formidable. after all i imagine in 400 years Miniturazation will still be as big as it is today. the problem the the tech in star trek is alot of its tech is from a 80's point of view.
but as we've seen with cell phones and computers you don't have to make something bigger to make it more powerful.
though for me i'd much rather make my ship faster , focusing on manuverability as my primary weapon/defense.
And these kits would be with a random set up to the kits that people use, however, you cannot upgrade your Kit Modules since that would just be plain silly.. lol
As mentioned above the gamble with rarity and mods is just a way for people to blow Dilithium in attempts at upgrading. And they promised a year ago that we would be allowed they would implement improvements to the R&D that would let us do just that....we're still waiting. The only ones running around with Epics are Whales who buy their Dilithium, while the poor players don't have the Dilithium to upgrade. And they even get ran off because they "aren't doing enough DPS" because they don't have MK14s.
Rarity Upgrades: All I will say is give us Tech Kits that focuses on the QoL chance. One time I actually got QoL to 99% and it still didn't roll over! It reminds me of the old Borg Tech Drops in the STFS in getting your MACO or Omega gear. Some people got luck within the first couple of days, and there are those who literally played for months until they actually saw their first drop. Too much gamble in this game, it's almost as if the server should be in Las Vegas.
And I never understood why basic crafting items never was added to NPC drops. Beats trash like batteries. This seemed a little to be questioned with the Talaxians, but still it should be more mainstream. Makes more sense to sell salvage and metals than a Mk12 beam array you just scored. But hey that's me. Hopefully they fix that if there is a STO2.
I suggested that many times over the years, even recently with the addition of T6. But there is two things about their logic:
1) They want us to rebuy ships, because that puts money in the game.
2) CBS actually said some ships they didn't want to see in endgame.
But you know, I would've loved to upgrade my Sovereign to T6 and even choose the specialization path or keep her traditional (no specialization). But alas.
T5-U is the biggest mistake after R&D system and should have never been introduced. All ships should have been automatically upgraded to T5-U capabilities without any cost. Moreover it just creates countless threads about "I want to upgrade my Miranda/Connie/Draguas from tier 1/2/3 to tier 5/6".
No, they don't have a chance of failure at each step, that again is false, currently the most popular MMOs don't use any chance based crafting at all, because they know is bad for business.
You can level up any profession in wow in 2-3 days, maybe in 1 day if you push it, it takes 100 days to level a R&D skill to level 15 without dumping a massive amount of dilithium in the process.
An end game item costs 14k dilithium (that's 2 characters worth of daily dilithium) and 10 advanced queue R&D materials (30 min cooldown+30min completion, not counting failures) and it takes 20 hours to complete or 20k dilithium.
It takes 42k xp to upgrade a weapon from mk XII to XIII and 112k xp to upgrade it from XIII to XIV, 128k xp after that for the quality upgrade, it takes literally 3 days or 3 characters grinding dilthium to upgrade a single item from mk XII to mk XIV, and that doesn't take into account the quality upgrade.
1 experimental tech upgrade=12800 xp and 1885 dilithium.
I'm not proposing reducing the amount of resources (in fact, creating [mods] will take time and resources) I just want the RNG to be gone.
I takes 100+ attempts to get a weapon with the mods you want, for a beam weapon that would be about 400 hydrazine gas, 300 magnesite and 300 trionium, well, make every beam mod cost 140 hydrazine, 100 magnesite, 100 trionium and take 10 hours to complete and problem solved.
Please, remind me again, which crafting method takes more time and resources?
I have a feeling that this is also something that the developers would look at - the current "cost" of ugprading to the desired mods is not by accident. They want upgrading and crafting to take a certain amount of effort and time, to get players to play regularly. If there is going to be a shortcut, it will be costly.
never ever ever gonna happen. they have already said the constitution will never be an end game ship
what i WOULD like to see is the ability to deconstruct items for raw materials. If Tony Stark can convert a missile to an Arc reactor, I should be able to get the components or elements from a purple photon to help construct a crafted torpedo or rifle
and +1 to being able to craft ship upgrades( extra weapon slots,boff slots, console slots, etc ) up to tier 4 would be a reasonable compromise......