Q: Did I hear something about “Crew” being removed? What happened to my Crew?
A: This is a mechanic that never worked well in Star Trek Online, and needlessly confused some systems (such as Hull Regeneration). Rather than try and improve a system that added complexity to an already complex game, we decided it was time to retire the mechanic as a whole. As a result, you will no longer see a Crew meter in the HUD, and all existing mechanics that relied upon Crew have been changed so that they behave at all times as if you had 100% of your available Crew.
Let's all have a Moment of Silence for everyone's soon to be instantly-obsolete [Hargh'peng Torpedo Launcher].
another vote for the "I'll recreate my build as close as possible and never look at the skill tree again" camp. Hell, on my alts I won't even do that, I'll just copy some career-recommeded point allocation that someone posts on Reddit and be done with it. Pay to respec? Sure, if it cost Dil or Ec. But I doubt I would respec, even then.
LUKARI GUERILLA GARDENING MILITIA - Glowing fingers are Growing fingers!
Quick question: Will the Unlock Path abilities warn new players that they are just bait designed to TRIBBLE up their skill tree so you can sell more skill respec tokens to them later on?
How can none of you realize that this whole revamp was just to get players to waste money on respec tokens?.. Are you people really this dumb, wow!
This line right here at the very beginning:
"Time and again, we have received feedback from our players that the Skill System is unusually difficult to understand"
Is by far the stupidest and most ignorant statement I have ever read in any game I ever played. The system we have now is far more then just easy to understand, if you do not understand it you are either blind, can't read, freaking TRIBBLE or have some metal issues.
The system never needed a change at all, instead of changes it needed new things added to it and not changes. Like the Hanger Pets new tree they added and stuff, all this bull is just yet another attempt to take our $$$$ by forcing us to buy Respec Tokens.
Well played Craptic and PwE, well played!
Can't shake the feeling that with this new system u are going to end up needing one or two respecs a year.
Also agree that the current system isn't complicated in itself just that what u get (and what u need to get)isn't well explained(especially early on) and I can't see the new system really changing that.
Can we keep the crew stat on ship statistics? It's nice to know.
What statistics? When I was on the tibble server I was unable to locate a place where I could find my statistics. Where once there were categories for "Tactical", "Science" and "Engineering", there is now nothing.
They may add it back in at some point? Maybe? Who knows.... It certainly wasn't addressed here in this FAQ.
This skill improves your Starship's weapon damage, including all energy and projectile weapons.
That right there is obviously direct base damage.
You must be ignorant, it boost your STARSHIP WEAPON DAMAGE, it freaking states it on the damn stats, what the hell is wrong with you. Seriously, do you know you need to eat to stay alive or are you told this daily so you won't die by someone?!
Out of all of this, I'm most happy about the crew system being removed. I love my heavy cruisers, so I was always getting into crew problems. It was a problematic mechanic for a long time, so I'm glad it's being removed instead of toyed into something else that's possibly more of an issue.
Looking forward to the new skill tree. Looks a lot cleaner and simpler. Although as many other posters in here noted, I'll likely set it once with the auto-reset once Season 11.5 hits, and forget about it. But it seems like it'll be a lot simpler for gearing up new toons, and that in itself is a nice bonus.
This skill improves your Starship's weapon damage, including all energy and projectile weapons.
That right there is obviously direct base damage.
You must be ignorant, it boost your STARSHIP WEAPON DAMAGE, it freaking states it on the damn stats, what the hell is wrong with you. Seriously, do you know you need to eat to stay alive or are you told this daily so you won't die by someone?!
And I'm not insulting anyone, I am stating a fact. If you have some kind of mental issue of course you can not function as a normal person. Understand the point and don't come over here claiming stupidity, thank you.
So, it's direct base damage? Does it add a certain absolute quantity, or does it instead add a percentage of base damage?
And by how much? Does "+18" add 18 base damage? I suppose it must be scaled per level in some way, otherwise it would be too strong at low levels and too weak later on. How much, then? Whatever the actual amount is, is it significant and worth investing skill points into? How is anyone supposed to know the answer to those questions based on the text of that skill description?
Do you really think "do you know you need to eat to stay alive or are you told this daily so you won't die by someone" isn't an insult? Really?
So my science captain might now be able to make training manuals for cannon rapid fire 3 depending on how I pick skills?
You can only unlock Training Manuals for your own captain career.
All of this is on Tribble so they may move things around, but basically:
They have already laid out which manuals are unlocked at each point in the three Space paths.
None of the manuals are repeated...they are all different on every point, on all three paths.
There is no way one character can attain ALL the career specific BOFF Training Manuals in SPACE.
There just isn't enough points to get there....unless they move the points in the paths, lower.
ON GROUND....you choose between 2 different Training Manuals at every point where there is an unlock on those BOFF Training Manuals. For choices: pick one, leave the other behind. So, there is no way one character can get all of those, either.
Make your BOFF Training Manuals, while you can.
AND get friendly with your local "Alt-aholic", NOW.
Or you are going to be playing a catch up game with the Ferengis on the Exchange, later.
(Well, I don't even have to look, I am sure the Ferengis are already at it on the Exchange, cause they been on Tribble, too.)
Post edited by where2r1 on
"Spend your life doing strange things with weird people." -- UNK
“Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.” -- Benjamin Franklin
" Q: I am a Science Captain. Can I purchase Tactical and/or Engineering skills?
A: Absolutely! Just as it is true with Skills currently, any character can purchase any of the same skills as any other Captain. This did not used to be true of the Ground Skills, but these have been standardized with the new Skill Revamp so that all characters have access to the same Ground Skills. "
So are you saying you are moving away from a captain having to pick whether they are going to be an Engineer, Tactical, or Science officer when they create their character? And instead let the player decide what they grow up to be based totally on which skills they pick as they level up?
Because that would be really nice! I enjoy my Engineer and his innate tanking abilities, but I many times I have wished I went the DPS route and made him a Tactical officer instead. Too far into the game now to toss everything aside that I have acquired for this engineer toon.
Might as well make every other traditional MMO moot. I think this is a very bad idea. There are three classes for a reason. Just as it is in the Star Trek universe, there are gold, red and blue. Each of those colors represents a career path. I find it disgusting that they would try to merge everything into one class. Takes the uniqueness away. There would be a cookie cutter build that everyone would be using. Just a stupid idea.
It's too late at this point since the skill revamp is already in place and waiting to be uploaded to holodeck, but what would really help is to show our actual weapon/system stats at the time we are doing the respec. I think it would solve the problems this new system is supposed to be addressing but doesn't. If I add 5 points to "starship weapon damage" how much does that actually improve the damage my weapons are going to do when I'm in combat? That is not explained with the current or new system from what I can tell. "+10 bonus per level" to weapon damage doesn't tell me what I'm going to see in game, other than it means "more" damage.
That is what is actually needed, specifically showing the player that adding one point of x skill, directly improves a stat for a weapon/console/ability by a value of y. That is not explained currently and not from what I have seen in the new system.
Here is the current rank progression for all skills:
What does +99 mean for a damage skill? Is it 99 more to DPS? To base damage? How does it affect the damage I am going to do with my beam array in combat? How does that same progression bar help a player understand something like Graviton Generators? What does +99 even represent for that skill other than "more" hold? Does the hold last longer with more points? If so, by how long? Is the hold harder to break? If so, by how much? You can view that information when you are in space, but then you can't actually respec in space, so you can't see the practical affect as you add and remove skill points.
You can streamline the skills field, but unless I actually know what exact affect a skill has on my character/ship it's just guess work. I've been playing since launch, so I know what the skills do. But it took a lot of experimenting and reading guides from other players to get to that point. None of which is addressed just by making a simpler system and none of which helps a new player, if that is who this system is meant to help the most.
As others have said though, it does feel that the lack of specifics is done intentionally to get people, once they have run out of the free respecs they get leveling, to spend actual money if they want to make changes. It discourages rather than encourages experimentation, by having people pay just to figure out how to play the game. That to me as a new player would be the greatest barrier to entry. Not having specifics while I'm making the decision and then being punished if I make the "wrong" choice because I didn't know what exact affect my choice had.
Q: I am a Science Captain. Can I purchase Tactical and/or Engineering skills?
A: Absolutely! Just as it is true with Skills currently, any character can purchase any of the same skills as any other Captain. This did not used to be true of the Ground Skills, but these have been standardized with the new Skill Revamp so that all characters have access to the same Ground Skills.
^ This is a bad idea. If science officers chose that path, there should be no reason that they need to be tactical or engineer. Choosing the tactical path as a science officer is just gimping their class of its true potential. An actual tactical officer in the tactical path will be MUCH more effective in combat.
Q: Will the existing pricing of Skill Respec Tokens remain unchanged?
A: To help celebrate the launch of Season 11.5 and the Skill Revamp, we will be holding a promotional sale at that time to reduce the price of Skill Respec Tokens. The exact pricing will be announced at a later date.
I have been playing with the new skill trees. One thing that is going to aggravate a lot of players is the fact that while building your new tree and filling out the points, the choices you are making are permanent. There is no "pre-filling" the tree like there is on holodeck now. Say you spent one point in the wrong section as you are choosing your spec, well, to bad, you are going to need a respect token to undo that change.
Hopefully this changes. I also hope that they limit the amount of points a specific class can spend in another tree. An example would be a Science officer going all tactical. That should be prevented imo. Allowing players that chose certain professions is going to result in a lot of gimped players out there that think they are contributing to the match, when in fact, they are not.
It's too late at this point since the skill revamp is already in place and waiting to be uploaded to holodeck, but what would really help is to show our actual weapon/system stats at the time we are doing the respec. I think it would solve the problems this new system is supposed to be addressing but doesn't. If I add 5 points to "starship weapon damage" how much does that actually improve the damage my weapons are going to do when I'm in combat? That is not explained with the current or new system from what I can tell. "+10 bonus per level" to weapon damage doesn't tell me what I'm going to see in game, other than it means "more" damage.
That is what is actually needed, specifically showing the player that adding one point of x skill, directly improves a stat for a weapon/console/ability by a value of y. That is not explained currently and not from what I have seen in the new system.
Here is the current rank progression for all skills:
What does +99 mean for a damage skill? Is it 99 more to DPS? To base damage? How does it affect the damage I am going to do with my beam array in combat? How does that same progression bar help a player understand something like Graviton Generators? What does +99 even represent for that skill other than "more" hold? Does the hold last longer with more points? If so, by how long? Is the hold harder to break? If so, by how much? You can view that information when you are in space, but then you can't actually respec in space, so you can't see the practical affect as you add and remove skill points.
You can streamline the skills field, but unless I actually know what exact affect a skill has on my character/ship it's just guess work. I've been playing since launch, so I know what the skills do. But it took a lot of experimenting and reading guides from other players to get to that point. None of which is addressed just by making a simpler system and none of which helps a new player, if that is who this system is meant to help the most.
As others have said though, it does feel that the lack of specifics is done intentionally to get people, once they have run out of the free respecs they get leveling, to spend actual money if they want to make changes. It discourages rather than encourages experimentation, by having people pay just to figure out how to play the game. That to me as a new player would be the greatest barrier to entry. Not having specifics while I'm making the decision and then being punished if I make the "wrong" choice because I didn't know what exact affect my choice had.
I asked this question to Borticus on Tribble. I, and everyone else was told that 1 point node in the new skill tree is equal to 9 or more points in the current holodeck skill tree depending on the skill you are picking. Example would be weapon amplification. 1 point in that would equal 9 points in space weapon specialization on the current tree.
It's too late at this point since the skill revamp is already in place and waiting to be uploaded to holodeck, but what would really help is to show our actual weapon/system stats at the time we are doing the respec. I think it would solve the problems this new system is supposed to be addressing but doesn't. If I add 5 points to "starship weapon damage" how much does that actually improve the damage my weapons are going to do when I'm in combat? That is not explained with the current or new system from what I can tell. "+10 bonus per level" to weapon damage doesn't tell me what I'm going to see in game, other than it means "more" damage.
That is what is actually needed, specifically showing the player that adding one point of x skill, directly improves a stat for a weapon/console/ability by a value of y. That is not explained currently and not from what I have seen in the new system.
Here is the current rank progression for all skills:
What does +99 mean for a damage skill? Is it 99 more to DPS? To base damage? How does it affect the damage I am going to do with my beam array in combat? How does that same progression bar help a player understand something like Graviton Generators? What does +99 even represent for that skill other than "more" hold? Does the hold last longer with more points? If so, by how long? Is the hold harder to break? If so, by how much? You can view that information when you are in space, but then you can't actually respec in space, so you can't see the practical affect as you add and remove skill points.
You can streamline the skills field, but unless I actually know what exact affect a skill has on my character/ship it's just guess work. I've been playing since launch, so I know what the skills do. But it took a lot of experimenting and reading guides from other players to get to that point. None of which is addressed just by making a simpler system and none of which helps a new player, if that is who this system is meant to help the most.
As others have said though, it does feel that the lack of specifics is done intentionally to get people, once they have run out of the free respecs they get leveling, to spend actual money if they want to make changes. It discourages rather than encourages experimentation, by having people pay just to figure out how to play the game. That to me as a new player would be the greatest barrier to entry. Not having specifics while I'm making the decision and then being punished if I make the "wrong" choice because I didn't know what exact affect my choice had.
I asked this question to Borticus on Tribble. I, and everyone else was told that 1 point node in the new skill tree is equal to 9 or more points in the current holodeck skill tree depending on the skill you are picking. Example would be weapon amplification. 1 point in that would equal 9 points in space weapon specialization on the current tree.
But again, my point is what is that 1 or 9 points actually worth when I'm firing a beam array or using a tractor beam, or adding power to my shields? That is what is missing. Not what the conversion is, but what does that 1 point actually do. If they included that information, while you were doing your respec, there would be no need to create a new skill system. I would see that adding x points to "starship weapons damage" adds y value to the damage my beam array does. I would know the beam array went from doing 300 damage to 400 damage because I added 5 points for example. I would know that my tractor beam went from a 5 second hold to a 7 second hold etc. And the new system doesn't address that either.
And if I were a new player, how would that help me make my decision about how to spend my points? That is what needs to be addressed. You and I may understand that because we've been playing for a long time, but if you were just starting to play the game, the day this new system was released, would you know exactly what adding a point to a specific skill would do to your weapon/console/ BO ability? You wouldn't and the new system doesn't answer that question either from what I have seen.
I tried out the test server today and I actually kind of like it. They removed some of the vague skill descriptions. Some choices could use some quantification like the aforementioned weapon skill, +85 weapon skill is really nebulous. If you want to unlock the "ultimates" you have to make some sacrifices in your tank, deeps or space wizzardry to get them. You cannot directly replicate old builds but that is part of the fun to some people like myself. Eventually there will be one build to rule them all and people will just line up and settle for uniformity marching under the banner of efficiency anyway.
Q: I heard mention of an “Unlock Path” – what is that?
A: Every time you spend a Space Point to purchase a Skill, you will also earn progress on the Unlock Path associated with the Skill you just purchased – Engineering, Science or Tactical. After earning specific amounts of progress on an Unlock Path, additional bonuses will be made available to you. Many of these will present you with a choice, and you will able to decide how you would like to further customize your character’s progression.
All Ground Points spent earn progress on the same Unlock Path for all characters, but every node on the Ground Unlock Path is a choice.
I think it would be better if the Unlock Path was rather based on how many Skills one has purchased period; then for each unlocked bonus skill, the extra skill choices available should be based upon the career of that particular captian.
Who the hell even uses Boarding Party?
LMAOROFL!!!
Exactly. A skill no one liked anyway, even more useless. Since they are in the process of revamping, would be nice for this Engineering skill to be redesigned or replaced.
I used Boarding Party when it actually worked, back when crew numbers really did matter. It got nerfed since then.
" Q: I am a Science Captain. Can I purchase Tactical and/or Engineering skills?
A: Absolutely! Just as it is true with Skills currently, any character can purchase any of the same skills as any other Captain. This did not used to be true of the Ground Skills, but these have been standardized with the new Skill Revamp so that all characters have access to the same Ground Skills. "
So are you saying you are moving away from a captain having to pick whether they are going to be an Engineer, Tactical, or Science officer when they create their character? And instead let the player decide what they grow up to be based totally on which skills they pick as they level up?
Because that would be really nice! I enjoy my Engineer and his innate tanking abilities, but I many times I have wished I went the DPS route and made him a Tactical officer instead. Too far into the game now to toss everything aside that I have acquired for this engineer toon.
Might as well make every other traditional MMO moot. I think this is a very bad idea. There are three classes for a reason. Just as it is in the Star Trek universe, there are gold, red and blue. Each of those colors represents a career path. I find it disgusting that they would try to merge everything into one class. Takes the uniqueness away. There would be a cookie cutter build that everyone would be using. Just a stupid idea.
Even in the Star Trek universe I remember an episode where one of the main characters decided to get some command time and they were not a gold shirt. People make career changes all the time. This isn't some fantasy world full of magical dwarves, elves, etc. STO is supposed to be closer to us, real world humans, of the future and what we might encounter out in the universe. I don't know of anyone that said when they grow up they want to clean toilets the rest of their lives...and then stick with it until they die.
Now don't get me wrong here. I like that each specific class has a uniqueness to it. But if you are set on having the 3 main ones in STO, then I would like to see a "re-class" token to give me the option to change paths if I so choose. Obviously, unlike the real world, I would "forget" everything I learned in my past career. But for those that run a character up to level 60, acquire some ZEN ships and other items, and then decide they would have been better at another career; they should get the option to shift to that career. Even if it means to wipe that toon back to level 1 in the new career, but keep all the items they purchased. And anything they can no longer use in the new class will have to be sold, discarded, or rot away in their bank incase they decide to do another career change in the future.
Q: Why is the Skill System receiving a Revamp?
A: Time and again, we have received feedback from our players that the Skill System is unusually difficult to understand, and has done a poor job at helping players master the combat mechanics involved in Star Trek Online. In fact, even a basic level of understanding required a good amount of research and “tribal knowledge” that was difficult for players to obtain through game experience alone. For both the benefit of existing players, and to lessen the barrier to entry for new players starting their Star Trek Online experience, we felt it was necessary to simplify the system, improve the leveling experience, and de-mystify many of the underlying combat mechanics.
OR, the Devs could just explain it better.
An official publication on what/how Skills interact with each other would solve that problem.
Do you know what would be infinitely better, though?
Having 3 buttons on top of the current Skills tab that reads "SciMagic", "Tank" and "DPS" with presets for each.
Then, it would be up to the Player to tweak these settings if they feel it's needed.
That would make both the n00bs and "vet" Players happy.
But I've just been playing this game for years, so wtf do I know.
I got blasted when I mentioned a 'legendary planet' (as in a planet that doesn't appear on modern maps, that was known for plants that had amazing healing qualities) in a possible 'Unwinnable' scenario back in the pre-public alpha.
A critic complained that legendary implied magic, but I had to explain to him that legends are closer to reality than myths, such as Troy (there were at least 9 cities built on the same location where Troy was supposed to be, city #7 discovered to be the Troy of the Iliad/Odyssey story).
So to call Science skill track "SciMagic" would send that guy and others into rabid frenzy.
Ok, intercession here with a few positives/points from spending time on tribble and 4 years using the existing skill system:
1: The "stepping out of our comfort zone", as I understand, is expressed as the lower-on-the-skill-tree access to things like drain and control skills and the intermediate average value of range dropoff that both beams and canons now have. It was never going to be a de-monetization of the respec system, especially with the ability to grind dil to respec. I get enough dil refined to respec several times a year on my main alone, none of it being real money that supports Cryptic, which does no favors to the economic health of the business and is why stuff like lockboxes are such a staple.
2: The tooltips on tribble explain more than they do now, especially for people who don't do their own digging into the math. Yes, there are still a few awkward or unclear wordings, but things like a quantification of how much % hardness a point of shield system power gives does help to plan a build. No system will ever be simple enough that everyone will get it day one, but the worst case for the new skill trees is what we have now where new folks ask and those with experience help as they're able.
3: A reduction in the base cost of respecs would be nice, but unlikely. More useful, and bulding off existing systems like ship loadouts and drydock slots would be the inclusion of multiple saved skill allocations, possibly tied to ships. It'd be an ongoing source of revenue, in that rather than spending 500 zen once and never touching stuff again, we would have 500 to respec, 3-500 for each additional slot or 2, and 500 each time we wanted to tweak a skill allocation. Given the potential for a more consistent revenue source and the addressing of player concerns about having to seek an average/efficient build, I feel its likely something like this will come eventually.
LOL, EPS Corruption is a joke.
Easy NPC hull strength before: 100%
after use : 100%
This is your ULTIMATE ability? ROFL
This ability adds 1-2k dps for 15 secs at its best, that's 0.12k - 0.24k averall (2 min recharge)
Aceton Beam Light.
NOUSE'TIMATE
----
btw, why do you have to purchase every skill point one by one separately? This results in mass clicking and poor planning possibilities.
Why not selecting them first with the possibility to un-/reselect and purchase all points together at once afterwards?
I mean, since you can't purchase all of them and have to set priorities, it's not the same like with the specialization points, where your choices don't matter (in the long run).
You want us to use external skill planers again? ... to copy every point one by one? This is stupid.
Comments
A: This is a mechanic that never worked well in Star Trek Online, and needlessly confused some systems (such as Hull Regeneration). Rather than try and improve a system that added complexity to an already complex game, we decided it was time to retire the mechanic as a whole. As a result, you will no longer see a Crew meter in the HUD, and all existing mechanics that relied upon Crew have been changed so that they behave at all times as if you had 100% of your available Crew.
Let's all have a Moment of Silence for everyone's soon to be instantly-obsolete [Hargh'peng Torpedo Launcher].
Can't shake the feeling that with this new system u are going to end up needing one or two respecs a year.
Also agree that the current system isn't complicated in itself just that what u get (and what u need to get)isn't well explained(especially early on) and I can't see the new system really changing that.
What statistics? When I was on the tibble server I was unable to locate a place where I could find my statistics. Where once there were categories for "Tactical", "Science" and "Engineering", there is now nothing.
They may add it back in at some point? Maybe? Who knows.... It certainly wasn't addressed here in this FAQ.
At 500 zen each? Not a chance. Like everyone else I will play it safe and only respec once.
That right there is obviously direct base damage.
You must be ignorant, it boost your STARSHIP WEAPON DAMAGE, it freaking states it on the damn stats, what the hell is wrong with you. Seriously, do you know you need to eat to stay alive or are you told this daily so you won't die by someone?!
[Inflamatory comment modded out]
Looking forward to the new skill tree. Looks a lot cleaner and simpler. Although as many other posters in here noted, I'll likely set it once with the auto-reset once Season 11.5 hits, and forget about it. But it seems like it'll be a lot simpler for gearing up new toons, and that in itself is a nice bonus.
So, it's direct base damage? Does it add a certain absolute quantity, or does it instead add a percentage of base damage?
And by how much? Does "+18" add 18 base damage? I suppose it must be scaled per level in some way, otherwise it would be too strong at low levels and too weak later on. How much, then? Whatever the actual amount is, is it significant and worth investing skill points into? How is anyone supposed to know the answer to those questions based on the text of that skill description?
Do you really think "do you know you need to eat to stay alive or are you told this daily so you won't die by someone" isn't an insult? Really?
You can only unlock Training Manuals for your own captain career.
All of this is on Tribble so they may move things around, but basically:
They have already laid out which manuals are unlocked at each point in the three Space paths.
None of the manuals are repeated...they are all different on every point, on all three paths.
There is no way one character can attain ALL the career specific BOFF Training Manuals in SPACE.
There just isn't enough points to get there....unless they move the points in the paths, lower.
ON GROUND....you choose between 2 different Training Manuals at every point where there is an unlock on those BOFF Training Manuals. For choices: pick one, leave the other behind. So, there is no way one character can get all of those, either.
Make your BOFF Training Manuals, while you can.
AND get friendly with your local "Alt-aholic", NOW.
Or you are going to be playing a catch up game with the Ferengis on the Exchange, later.
(Well, I don't even have to look, I am sure the Ferengis are already at it on the Exchange, cause they been on Tribble, too.)
“Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.” -- Benjamin Franklin
Might as well make every other traditional MMO moot. I think this is a very bad idea. There are three classes for a reason. Just as it is in the Star Trek universe, there are gold, red and blue. Each of those colors represents a career path. I find it disgusting that they would try to merge everything into one class. Takes the uniqueness away. There would be a cookie cutter build that everyone would be using. Just a stupid idea.
That is what is actually needed, specifically showing the player that adding one point of x skill, directly improves a stat for a weapon/console/ability by a value of y. That is not explained currently and not from what I have seen in the new system.
Here is the current rank progression for all skills:
Rank Progression
Rank Bonus
1 +18
2 +36
3 +54
4 +64
5 +74
6 +84
7 +89
8 +94
9 +99
What does +99 mean for a damage skill? Is it 99 more to DPS? To base damage? How does it affect the damage I am going to do with my beam array in combat? How does that same progression bar help a player understand something like Graviton Generators? What does +99 even represent for that skill other than "more" hold? Does the hold last longer with more points? If so, by how long? Is the hold harder to break? If so, by how much? You can view that information when you are in space, but then you can't actually respec in space, so you can't see the practical affect as you add and remove skill points.
You can streamline the skills field, but unless I actually know what exact affect a skill has on my character/ship it's just guess work. I've been playing since launch, so I know what the skills do. But it took a lot of experimenting and reading guides from other players to get to that point. None of which is addressed just by making a simpler system and none of which helps a new player, if that is who this system is meant to help the most.
As others have said though, it does feel that the lack of specifics is done intentionally to get people, once they have run out of the free respecs they get leveling, to spend actual money if they want to make changes. It discourages rather than encourages experimentation, by having people pay just to figure out how to play the game. That to me as a new player would be the greatest barrier to entry. Not having specifics while I'm making the decision and then being punished if I make the "wrong" choice because I didn't know what exact affect my choice had.
A: Absolutely! Just as it is true with Skills currently, any character can purchase any of the same skills as any other Captain. This did not used to be true of the Ground Skills, but these have been standardized with the new Skill Revamp so that all characters have access to the same Ground Skills.
^ This is a bad idea. If science officers chose that path, there should be no reason that they need to be tactical or engineer. Choosing the tactical path as a science officer is just gimping their class of its true potential. An actual tactical officer in the tactical path will be MUCH more effective in combat.
This is just sad.
A: To help celebrate the launch of Season 11.5 and the Skill Revamp, we will be holding a promotional sale at that time to reduce the price of Skill Respec Tokens. The exact pricing will be announced at a later date.
I have been playing with the new skill trees. One thing that is going to aggravate a lot of players is the fact that while building your new tree and filling out the points, the choices you are making are permanent. There is no "pre-filling" the tree like there is on holodeck now. Say you spent one point in the wrong section as you are choosing your spec, well, to bad, you are going to need a respect token to undo that change.
Hopefully this changes. I also hope that they limit the amount of points a specific class can spend in another tree. An example would be a Science officer going all tactical. That should be prevented imo. Allowing players that chose certain professions is going to result in a lot of gimped players out there that think they are contributing to the match, when in fact, they are not.
I asked this question to Borticus on Tribble. I, and everyone else was told that 1 point node in the new skill tree is equal to 9 or more points in the current holodeck skill tree depending on the skill you are picking. Example would be weapon amplification. 1 point in that would equal 9 points in space weapon specialization on the current tree.
But again, my point is what is that 1 or 9 points actually worth when I'm firing a beam array or using a tractor beam, or adding power to my shields? That is what is missing. Not what the conversion is, but what does that 1 point actually do. If they included that information, while you were doing your respec, there would be no need to create a new skill system. I would see that adding x points to "starship weapons damage" adds y value to the damage my beam array does. I would know the beam array went from doing 300 damage to 400 damage because I added 5 points for example. I would know that my tractor beam went from a 5 second hold to a 7 second hold etc. And the new system doesn't address that either.
And if I were a new player, how would that help me make my decision about how to spend my points? That is what needs to be addressed. You and I may understand that because we've been playing for a long time, but if you were just starting to play the game, the day this new system was released, would you know exactly what adding a point to a specific skill would do to your weapon/console/ BO ability? You wouldn't and the new system doesn't answer that question either from what I have seen.
BTW: This Skill revamp is unnecessary and a complete waist of time for everyone; the current Skill system is fine just the way it is.
I think it would be better if the Unlock Path was rather based on how many Skills one has purchased period; then for each unlocked bonus skill, the extra skill choices available should be based upon the career of that particular captian.
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I used Boarding Party when it actually worked, back when crew numbers really did matter. It got nerfed since then.
Even in the Star Trek universe I remember an episode where one of the main characters decided to get some command time and they were not a gold shirt. People make career changes all the time. This isn't some fantasy world full of magical dwarves, elves, etc. STO is supposed to be closer to us, real world humans, of the future and what we might encounter out in the universe. I don't know of anyone that said when they grow up they want to clean toilets the rest of their lives...and then stick with it until they die.
Now don't get me wrong here. I like that each specific class has a uniqueness to it. But if you are set on having the 3 main ones in STO, then I would like to see a "re-class" token to give me the option to change paths if I so choose. Obviously, unlike the real world, I would "forget" everything I learned in my past career. But for those that run a character up to level 60, acquire some ZEN ships and other items, and then decide they would have been better at another career; they should get the option to shift to that career. Even if it means to wipe that toon back to level 1 in the new career, but keep all the items they purchased. And anything they can no longer use in the new class will have to be sold, discarded, or rot away in their bank incase they decide to do another career change in the future.
I got blasted when I mentioned a 'legendary planet' (as in a planet that doesn't appear on modern maps, that was known for plants that had amazing healing qualities) in a possible 'Unwinnable' scenario back in the pre-public alpha.
A critic complained that legendary implied magic, but I had to explain to him that legends are closer to reality than myths, such as Troy (there were at least 9 cities built on the same location where Troy was supposed to be, city #7 discovered to be the Troy of the Iliad/Odyssey story).
So to call Science skill track "SciMagic" would send that guy and others into rabid frenzy.
1: The "stepping out of our comfort zone", as I understand, is expressed as the lower-on-the-skill-tree access to things like drain and control skills and the intermediate average value of range dropoff that both beams and canons now have. It was never going to be a de-monetization of the respec system, especially with the ability to grind dil to respec. I get enough dil refined to respec several times a year on my main alone, none of it being real money that supports Cryptic, which does no favors to the economic health of the business and is why stuff like lockboxes are such a staple.
2: The tooltips on tribble explain more than they do now, especially for people who don't do their own digging into the math. Yes, there are still a few awkward or unclear wordings, but things like a quantification of how much % hardness a point of shield system power gives does help to plan a build. No system will ever be simple enough that everyone will get it day one, but the worst case for the new skill trees is what we have now where new folks ask and those with experience help as they're able.
3: A reduction in the base cost of respecs would be nice, but unlikely. More useful, and bulding off existing systems like ship loadouts and drydock slots would be the inclusion of multiple saved skill allocations, possibly tied to ships. It'd be an ongoing source of revenue, in that rather than spending 500 zen once and never touching stuff again, we would have 500 to respec, 3-500 for each additional slot or 2, and 500 each time we wanted to tweak a skill allocation. Given the potential for a more consistent revenue source and the addressing of player concerns about having to seek an average/efficient build, I feel its likely something like this will come eventually.
Easy NPC hull strength before: 100%
after use : 100%
This is your ULTIMATE ability? ROFL
This ability adds 1-2k dps for 15 secs at its best, that's 0.12k - 0.24k averall (2 min recharge)
Aceton Beam Light.
NOUSE'TIMATE
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btw, why do you have to purchase every skill point one by one separately? This results in mass clicking and poor planning possibilities.
Why not selecting them first with the possibility to un-/reselect and purchase all points together at once afterwards?
I mean, since you can't purchase all of them and have to set priorities, it's not the same like with the specialization points, where your choices don't matter (in the long run).
You want us to use external skill planers again? ... to copy every point one by one? This is stupid.
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