OK, so I'm doing better now. I still need my local service provider to replace something they charge me for that isn't working, but it will be ok.
I have taken a good look at some toons today while grinding. I think I can do a good vanilla Fox for you with one or two of them maybe by Saturday the 17th, in the AM. I'll probably be able to hang in there most of the day.
Also will be happy to get shot at in regular Ironman mode also.
Qapla'!
P.S. I may try to fit in some before work on the 16th so if you are on look for me, please. 8am ish Pacific. either day
If you scarcely see me online these days, it's because I am presently busy on 2 other games, pvp games, which are both getting their new seasonal expansions pretty at the same time but I am alive and well
If you scarcely see me online these days, it's because I am presently busy on 2 other games, pvp games, which are both getting their new seasonal expansions pretty at the same time but I am alive and well
Well I am still dealing with my system not working right. I got connectivity working, and then picked up some malware through a normally safe app. So I got distracted cleaning that all up.
So I'm sticking with my goal of trying to log on in the am around 8am pacific each day.
Afternoons will probably still happen but it is harder to pin down. I should be able to at least check in after 5:30 pm pacific most days. I may not be able to stay very long.
I wonder if I could make a healer at level 10. Probably not. I might make a toon to keep at level 10 just to try it out.
I always liked the level 50-59 zone of ker'rat. When DR first came out and a lot of people moved to level 60 and started using the OP stuff, I kept my engineer between 50 and 59 for as long as I could and it was pretty much just like Pre-DR PvP. There were a lot of people in there who liked the old style PvP better, too. That was about 2 years ago. Last time I checked into the zone, it was still like that. It's not as simple as what you guys are doing, but it isn't nearly as bad as the level 60 zone.
@kyle223cat Yeah, time ago, I have been sometimes in Kerrat and especially arenas 50-59 and it wasn't bad at all. As for your question, at level 10 you would have rotate shields frequency unlocked which us undoubtably the tankiest of the captain abilities at that level . Also, shields seem to matter at this level so rotate shields frequency would give you a tanking edge. However , I think there's room for some healer's job : e.g. on my refit Nova I use hazard 2, sci team, et1, tss1 and tb1 , a utility mix of healing and debuff and it tanks well and can heal, better if with some primitive binding key in Kerrat I don't remember right now cruisers' setups at this level though.
I wonder if I could make a healer at level 10. Probably not. I might make a toon to keep at level 10 just to try it out.
If I were going to build a healer at lvl 10 I would use the C-store cruiser for the extra Lt Engineering ability, have at least one EPtS1 for myself, then probably buy two Aux2SIF1s and two Extend shields1 mixing them as the situation demands, ET1 for the extra hull heal, some of those torps are nasty, even at that level. For sci and tac I'd probably use the ST and TT respectively, although HE is always a good pick in Ker'rat.
I think that had a lot more to do with who were flying those ships. Most of your klingons were regular pvp'rs while a lot of your feddies were dabblers and newbies. Hobos also made it a point to come to Ker'rat in force multiple times a day. Teamwork and most of them were at least decent builders and pilots.
I don't remember fed fleets making the same commitment, but I'm sure some did back when I was a little younger and didn't know the difference. Back in the days of the group spawn in... I smile remembering.
The title of today's episode in Kerrat was " Save private Claus "
That was a lot of fun. He stayed for a long while after you guys left and he would follow me and engage if he saw me. I tried to make it fun even though he was a little green.
The title of today's episode in Kerrat was " Save private Claus "
That was a lot of fun. He stayed for a long while after you guys left and he would follow me and engage if he saw me. I tried to make it fun even though he was a little green.
He was a go getter for sure. Green yes, but still showed a lot of heart. I think this was a good example of a successful outcome for this challenge.
I hope someone remembered to add friend there, cause I think I forgot to do it.
OK, holiday news update. First off, Merry Christmas! Or whatever you celebrate in your part of the galaxy.
Secondly. it is that time of year when I need there to be six of me, and I don't have access to Dr Roger Korby's 'duplicator'. My guess is that we all are facing similar time pressure due to the holidays, so I'm thinking we should probably expect a short slowdown of activity at Ker'rat.
I need to maintain my grinds for fleet projects, and I wouldn't mind having a little bit to buy a key with afterwards, so that would be what I'd be up to online till maybe the 27th, and maybe till after New Years. Mostly I'll be busy with family, work, and general holiday distractions. I remain committed to the success of this adventure and I will be back into a routine as soon as the holiday pressure subside.
You can expect to see me on and off grinding, and it's great if you say howdy. Maybe there will be an opportunity to shoot up the scenery anyway. There are always possibilities.
Hmm... There's also the matter of the existing pvpers in Ker'rat at those levels.
I was thinking something along the lines of:-
No lockbox
No rep
No fleet gear
The last two are easy as they're basically locked behind pve (although fleet can be done through sheer dil grinding), with the exception of the lockbox consoles that go to the exchange, so a list may need to be made. Specialisations are a problem though, unless we're going to say "Pilot and commando only" which while a quick and easy solution that does away with most of the OP stuff, I'm not sure everyone would agree to it.
I only really have one issue with the VPVP rules, I don;t think I still have any of those freebie ships.
With regard to the fleet gear, I'm thinking primarily about those wonderful elite fleet shields that will make it very difficult for people to 1v1 and we've had notable issues with 1v1 already.
Coming back to specialisations, this is one of the reasons I suggested making the rule "Pilot and commando only" as the only immunities I can think of there are R&R which is probably detrimental to the user most of the time as it puts you way out of position and the one that counters warp core breaches, but that only nulls warp core breaches so that isn't an issue and using commando to to deny people a second space specialisation prevents people using synergising specs.
Be sure to drink your Ovaltine ... or if your a warrior then drink your Prune Juice. Either way, be careful not to shoot your eye out kids!
Still busy as all get out.
I think lock box ships are a grey area. You can hypothetically grind out the keys at any level, even in Ker'rat, and especially when there is a sale on
I don't think limiting use of universals to one at a time, per build is at all a problem. It allows you to use what your character has access to, just not overwhelmingly so. Also, universals can only take you so far, so allowing at least one seems like a good way to handle it.
I can swear off almost all fleet gear without blinking. I would like to leave fleet ships in play, if it was up to me. It's the only way I currently have to bring in a Nausicaan ship later on.
It would be really easy to limit all challenge builds to white-gear+one special console or item. That would be accessible to everyone. Most 'special ships' no matter where you get them would not be to OP with all white gear imho.
As far as skills/specializations and such, I can't claim tons of PvP experience on the overall effects, but it does seem to me that at that point you are telling a player what they can build their character to be. I think that goes further than just saying we all have to fly this or that tier and use only this or that gear. I'd approach the subject with caution as I think it would bother future recruits more than the gear choices.
Anyway. just need to check in. Good hunting, and enjoy the holidays as best you can.:)
I'm honestly not sure you CAN lock specializations out....
You can lock em out. Here is the recipe:
1. commando into secondary
2. swap your primary into secondary
3. commando back into secondary
4. PROFIT!!!
Mirror ships are not too expensive at the moment, but if there were ever a nice group of folks who jumped in, those would get expensive fast. Current dilex would cost about $2.50-$3 for a tier 5 rear admiral when a sale is not on... which isn't awful, but it is an investment. Obviously, that can change either way. I suppose at worst that's 13 days of single toon dilithium grinding, regardless of the market for mirror ships or dil.
If you have an old tier 5 9 console ship I would call that comparable.
My $.02 on consoles and armament:
No lockbox, no fleet, no rep, no level 15 crafting items.
VR max XII (you will likely have to invest a little here)
----In the old days it was mark xi rare, because it was possible for you to grind out the weapons by doing missions and not needing to purchase or upgrade. I would think that's a little cumbersome and finding mk xi rares on the exchange would be harder.
Common or uncommon Doffs
Boffs have no space traits
...there's more to opine about, but that's plenty atm.
The idea is to keep the field as level as possible resource wise. Make it relatively affordable to jump in.
Downside:VPVP is all it would be good for. Downside: Community does not exist.
Sorry I have not been around. I ended up covering some extra shifts at work and between that and the holidays I only managed a tiny bit of grinding. I'm looking to get back in as solidly as possible this coming week. I will be shooting for 8 AM pacific again and I hope we can get back to seeing something happen at least every other day.
Some concerns I have:
I am pretty religious about the Doff system, and because doffing was allowed and because of getting XP for doing Ker'rat, now my KDF character is about to hit level 20. Somehow I feel this is not working out as intended since I don't feel like the larger portion of progress came as a result of PvP, but from doffing ( I needs my contraband donchyaknow?). After today I can't see taking any more doff missions with that character or I will not have a KDF at level 10-19 for the Feds to tremble in fear of.
So maybe we need to stop doffing? I don't know what I think for sure except that it needs another look.
There has been more posting about what skills and ships should be allowed for the challenge:
I'm honestly not sure you CAN lock specializations out....
You can lock em out. Here is the recipe:
1. commando into secondary
2. swap your primary into secondary
3. commando back into secondary
4. PROFIT!!!
Mirror ships are not too expensive at the moment, but if there were ever a nice group of folks who jumped in, those would get expensive fast. Current dilex would cost about $2.50-$3 for a tier 5 rear admiral when a sale is not on... which isn't awful, but it is an investment. Obviously, that can change either way. I suppose at worst that's 13 days of single toon dilithium grinding, regardless of the market for mirror ships or dil.
If you have an old tier 5 9 console ship I would call that comparable.
My $.02 on consoles and armament:
No lockbox, no fleet, no rep, no level 15 crafting items.
VR max XII (you will likely have to invest a little here)
----In the old days it was mark xi rare, because it was possible for you to grind out the weapons by doing missions and not needing to purchase or upgrade. I would think that's a little cumbersome and finding mk xi rares on the exchange would be harder.
Common or uncommon Doffs
Boffs have no space traits
...there's more to opine about, but that's plenty atm.
The idea is to keep the field as level as possible resource wise. Make it relatively affordable to jump in.
Downside:VPVP is all it would be good for. Downside: Community does not exist.
The last two downsides are significant. My concern is that the more we lock out the harder it will be to attract people. This is a problem since I just sort of suggested locking out doffing because I could see it going off the tracks, but locking out to much can hurt our efforts.
All these things we are talking about locking out are the shiny and exciting things that would attract new players (noobs, nuggets, etc) to playing in the first place. They have not become bored out of their minds with the insta-kill dps extravanganza that much of game play has become. New people have not had a chance to become permanently entrenched in the rinse and repeat grind missions like many old timers have, and that should leave them more flexible to trying new things.
Old timers on the other hand earned a lot of stuff over time. The 'entrenched' ones may not be flexible at all, but among those who became bored with the queues (me!) you can probably find a few people willing to run all white gear with no officers at all, on stock/free ships just to feel like they are in a real battle, and not a predetermined curbstomp. For most of rest of them though, you may have to concede some things to get them to come in.
The Federation has more activity, partly because it has more cool stuff to play with. The KDF has always had less for options, and has always been the less populated faction. Taking that example and applying it to the difference between being able to play and have all your toys, vs being offered a chance to play without a lot of those toys, you can see where this challenge is already at a disadvantage vs the game at large. That doesn't mean we give up. It just means we really have to work on building the community. Maybe even at the expense of the purity of the challenge at the beginning?
Which in a way leads to my last concern for today;
What are we doing for proper plans to structure our community if it is to continue past the point we all have hit level 60 in PvP?
The more I think of it, the more I think we need to go ahead and build a Fleet per faction, specific to this challenge, Give the Fleet a description that links to the challenge, and makes promotions in the Fleet mostly, or at least partly dependent on participation in PvP/Ker'rat/etc. With this comes some idea about how we organize projects, and handling of gear.
The Fleet unlocks can be planned so that both factions have a level one Shipyard at the same time, etc. Fleet gear and ability to buy from stores can be attached to participation in the challenge. The fleet toys still exist, but become attached to overall progress inside the challenge. Stuff in the Fleet bank can be withdrawn and used provided it comes out of a bank slot designated for that purpose. In that way we can hand down white gear, or batteries or whatever to any newcomers we take a shine to, without making it to OP. You could also make a rule that if it isn't white gear, then it has to come from the Fleet in some way, and that it has met with the approval of Fleet command as a result.
Also a possible variant to this would be to place the PvP fleet in an Armada where to buy Fleet stuff you had to get a map invite from the Alpha, and contributions only go to the Alpha ... (?) That sounds more cumbersome, so I guess I need to think that through a bit more. I know it has possibilities.
Not sure what anyone thinks about this, but bunching together in fleets may help resolve a lot about community/gear/doffs/legacy items.
Well ... I have to grind. Spending time with family later so most likely the first chance I get to PvP will be Monday.
I'm finding it very difficult to level at all on pvp alone. That has been stated. Enter doffing and Ker'rat PVE. That's the primary action. I've stopped doffing. I've stopped pve'ing. If folks are in there, TO BATTLE!!! If they aren't, I'm out. Levelling a toon this way was not the intention. I think this might be the Achilles heal of Iron Man atm.
Back in 'the day' it was possible to level a toon from 10 to 50 doing nothing but PvP-that is, no queues, no storyline missions after level 10, just Ker'rat and Queues.
The Objective:
After Delta Rising, the PvP community lost a huge portion of it's best membership, the activity has declined to a shadow of a shadow of it's former glory (which to be honest, wasn't all that glorious). rebuilding the community on PC, and building the RIGHT kind of community on Console, is critical if we ever want to see any development, or even serious balancing efforts, from Cryptic. For too long, the hobby has lain in the gutter, with 'elites' only doing private matches and general negativity (Myself included) spurring new players to avoid it at all costs. With the current state of it-an endgame that demands hundreds of hours of PvE merely to be viable at level sixty, there isn't a strong cadre of new players coming in to replace the losses the community has suffered.
The only way we have available to reverse this, is community-level action, that means taking routes neglected, including bringing in new players, reinforcing basic skills, and building from the ground up.
I really like the idea of starting folks on low pvp. It's a few hours grind to get in, but that's most of it. If all you do is pew-pew with other players, you can pvp 10-19 for a LONG, LONG time. Especially if you aren't taking missions. When you're done, blow up your character and start a new one... I think if you can get folks showing up to low level pvp, you can build a community. Gotta start small.
Need to do a weekly event where most of the gang can pvp each other. Once a week for an hour or two. Get that rolling, and start inviting people to THAT. Right now, Ker'rat is a ghost town, save the rare traveler. Make a date. If you can get 10 folks to regularly show up for that, I don't think it will be long before you have 20. Keep it simple for now.
Even at 11 you can prop your character up with a bunch of garbage. Between Doffs, consoles, lockbox traits, and abilities you can load up on power creep down here. At that point, you're "twinking." I'm not saying I have the answers, but I am saying slippery-slope... but I don't think there should be any pretense at "forcing" other players to play the way I think is right. If a group of guys start regularly playing together with some self-imposed restrictions others may be interested in joining that fray.
Finally, my busy time of the year starts tomorrow. I'm in-season till the end of Feb. I'll be on when I can squeeze it, but it won't be often. Y'all take care of yourselves and good luck.
I'm finding it very difficult to level at all on pvp alone. That has been stated. Enter doffing and Ker'rat PVE. That's the primary action. I've stopped doffing. I've stopped pve'ing. If folks are in there, TO BATTLE!!! If they aren't, I'm out. Levelling a toon this way was not the intention. I think this might be the Achilles heal of Iron Man atm.
Back in 'the day' it was possible to level a toon from 10 to 50 doing nothing but PvP-that is, no queues, no storyline missions after level 10, just Ker'rat and Queues.
The Objective:
After Delta Rising, the PvP community lost a huge portion of it's best membership, the activity has declined to a shadow of a shadow of it's former glory (which to be honest, wasn't all that glorious). rebuilding the community on PC, and building the RIGHT kind of community on Console, is critical if we ever want to see any development, or even serious balancing efforts, from Cryptic. For too long, the hobby has lain in the gutter, with 'elites' only doing private matches and general negativity (Myself included) spurring new players to avoid it at all costs. With the current state of it-an endgame that demands hundreds of hours of PvE merely to be viable at level sixty, there isn't a strong cadre of new players coming in to replace the losses the community has suffered.
The only way we have available to reverse this, is community-level action, that means taking routes neglected, including bringing in new players, reinforcing basic skills, and building from the ground up.
I really like the idea of starting folks on low pvp. It's a few hours grind to get in, but that's most of it. If all you do is pew-pew with other players, you can pvp 10-19 for a LONG, LONG time. Especially if you aren't taking missions. When you're done, blow up your character and start a new one... I think if you can get folks showing up to low level pvp, you can build a community. Gotta start small.
Need to do a weekly event where most of the gang can pvp each other. Once a week for an hour or two. Get that rolling, and start inviting people to THAT. Right now, Ker'rat is a ghost town, save the rare traveler. Make a date. If you can get 10 folks to regularly show up for that, I don't think it will be long before you have 20. Keep it simple for now.
Even at 11 you can prop your character up with a bunch of garbage. Between Doffs, consoles, lockbox traits, and abilities you can load up on power creep down here. At that point, you're "twinking." I'm not saying I have the answers, but I am saying slippery-slope... but I don't think there should be any pretense at "forcing" other players to play the way I think is right. If a group of guys start regularly playing together with some self-imposed restrictions others may be interested in joining that fray.
Finally, my busy time of the year starts tomorrow. I'm in-season till the end of Feb. I'll be on when I can squeeze it, but it won't be often. Y'all take care of yourselves and good luck.
I'll be trying to hold to the AM schedule as muchg as I can from here out, so look for me at Ker'rat around 8AM pacific, or feel freee to send me a chat or E-mail.
Comments
I have taken a good look at some toons today while grinding. I think I can do a good vanilla Fox for you with one or two of them maybe by Saturday the 17th, in the AM. I'll probably be able to hang in there most of the day.
Also will be happy to get shot at in regular Ironman mode also.
Qapla'!
P.S. I may try to fit in some before work on the 16th so if you are on look for me, please.
Qapla'!
Well I am still dealing with my system not working right. I got connectivity working, and then picked up some malware through a normally safe app. So I got distracted cleaning that all up.
So I'm sticking with my goal of trying to log on in the am around 8am pacific each day.
Afternoons will probably still happen but it is harder to pin down. I should be able to at least check in after 5:30 pm pacific most days. I may not be able to stay very long.
Qapla'!
I always liked the level 50-59 zone of ker'rat. When DR first came out and a lot of people moved to level 60 and started using the OP stuff, I kept my engineer between 50 and 59 for as long as I could and it was pretty much just like Pre-DR PvP. There were a lot of people in there who liked the old style PvP better, too. That was about 2 years ago. Last time I checked into the zone, it was still like that. It's not as simple as what you guys are doing, but it isn't nearly as bad as the level 60 zone.
Yeah, time ago, I have been sometimes in Kerrat and especially arenas 50-59 and it wasn't bad at all.
As for your question, at level 10 you would have rotate shields frequency unlocked which us undoubtably the tankiest of the captain abilities at that level .
Also, shields seem to matter at this level so rotate shields frequency would give you a tanking edge.
However , I think there's room for some healer's job : e.g. on my refit Nova I use hazard 2, sci team, et1, tss1 and tb1 , a utility mix of healing and debuff and it tanks well and can heal, better if with some primitive binding key in Kerrat
I don't remember right now cruisers' setups at this level though.
If I were going to build a healer at lvl 10 I would use the C-store cruiser for the extra Lt Engineering ability, have at least one EPtS1 for myself, then probably buy two Aux2SIF1s and two Extend shields1 mixing them as the situation demands, ET1 for the extra hull heal, some of those torps are nasty, even at that level. For sci and tac I'd probably use the ST and TT respectively, although HE is always a good pick in Ker'rat.
I don't remember fed fleets making the same commitment, but I'm sure some did back when I was a little younger and didn't know the difference. Back in the days of the group spawn in... I smile remembering.
That was a lot of fun. He stayed for a long while after you guys left and he would follow me and engage if he saw me. I tried to make it fun even though he was a little green.
He was a go getter for sure. Green yes, but still showed a lot of heart. I think this was a good example of a successful outcome for this challenge.
I hope someone remembered to add friend there, cause I think I forgot to do it.
Hopefully Claus comes back soon.
Qapla'!
Secondly. it is that time of year when I need there to be six of me, and I don't have access to Dr Roger Korby's 'duplicator'. My guess is that we all are facing similar time pressure due to the holidays, so I'm thinking we should probably expect a short slowdown of activity at Ker'rat.
I need to maintain my grinds for fleet projects, and I wouldn't mind having a little bit to buy a key with afterwards, so that would be what I'd be up to online till maybe the 27th, and maybe till after New Years. Mostly I'll be busy with family, work, and general holiday distractions. I remain committed to the success of this adventure and I will be back into a routine as soon as the holiday pressure subside.
You can expect to see me on and off grinding, and it's great if you say howdy. Maybe there will be an opportunity to shoot up the scenery anyway. There are always possibilities.
I'll check back to see what people are saying.
Qapla'!
Also, how are the rules coming for higher levels?
I was thinking something along the lines of:-
No lockbox
No rep
No fleet gear
The last two are easy as they're basically locked behind pve (although fleet can be done through sheer dil grinding), with the exception of the lockbox consoles that go to the exchange, so a list may need to be made. Specialisations are a problem though, unless we're going to say "Pilot and commando only" which while a quick and easy solution that does away with most of the OP stuff, I'm not sure everyone would agree to it.
With regard to the fleet gear, I'm thinking primarily about those wonderful elite fleet shields that will make it very difficult for people to 1v1 and we've had notable issues with 1v1 already.
Coming back to specialisations, this is one of the reasons I suggested making the rule "Pilot and commando only" as the only immunities I can think of there are R&R which is probably detrimental to the user most of the time as it puts you way out of position and the one that counters warp core breaches, but that only nulls warp core breaches so that isn't an issue and using commando to to deny people a second space specialisation prevents people using synergising specs.
Be sure to drink your Ovaltine ... or if your a warrior then drink your Prune Juice. Either way, be careful not to shoot your eye out kids!
Still busy as all get out.
I think lock box ships are a grey area. You can hypothetically grind out the keys at any level, even in Ker'rat, and especially when there is a sale on
I don't think limiting use of universals to one at a time, per build is at all a problem. It allows you to use what your character has access to, just not overwhelmingly so. Also, universals can only take you so far, so allowing at least one seems like a good way to handle it.
I can swear off almost all fleet gear without blinking. I would like to leave fleet ships in play, if it was up to me. It's the only way I currently have to bring in a Nausicaan ship later on.
It would be really easy to limit all challenge builds to white-gear+one special console or item. That would be accessible to everyone. Most 'special ships' no matter where you get them would not be to OP with all white gear imho.
As far as skills/specializations and such, I can't claim tons of PvP experience on the overall effects, but it does seem to me that at that point you are telling a player what they can build their character to be. I think that goes further than just saying we all have to fly this or that tier and use only this or that gear. I'd approach the subject with caution as I think it would bother future recruits more than the gear choices.
Anyway. just need to check in. Good hunting, and enjoy the holidays as best you can.:)
Qapla'!
You can lock em out. Here is the recipe:
1. commando into secondary
2. swap your primary into secondary
3. commando back into secondary
4. PROFIT!!!
Mirror ships are not too expensive at the moment, but if there were ever a nice group of folks who jumped in, those would get expensive fast. Current dilex would cost about $2.50-$3 for a tier 5 rear admiral when a sale is not on... which isn't awful, but it is an investment. Obviously, that can change either way. I suppose at worst that's 13 days of single toon dilithium grinding, regardless of the market for mirror ships or dil.
If you have an old tier 5 9 console ship I would call that comparable.
My $.02 on consoles and armament:
No lockbox, no fleet, no rep, no level 15 crafting items.
VR max XII (you will likely have to invest a little here)
----In the old days it was mark xi rare, because it was possible for you to grind out the weapons by doing missions and not needing to purchase or upgrade. I would think that's a little cumbersome and finding mk xi rares on the exchange would be harder.
Common or uncommon Doffs
Boffs have no space traits
...there's more to opine about, but that's plenty atm.
The idea is to keep the field as level as possible resource wise. Make it relatively affordable to jump in.
Downside:VPVP is all it would be good for. Downside: Community does not exist.
Only 2 pubs, but how cool? That pvp mentor recognition page looks like a graveyard now.
Sorry I have not been around. I ended up covering some extra shifts at work and between that and the holidays I only managed a tiny bit of grinding. I'm looking to get back in as solidly as possible this coming week. I will be shooting for 8 AM pacific again and I hope we can get back to seeing something happen at least every other day.
Some concerns I have:
I am pretty religious about the Doff system, and because doffing was allowed and because of getting XP for doing Ker'rat, now my KDF character is about to hit level 20. Somehow I feel this is not working out as intended since I don't feel like the larger portion of progress came as a result of PvP, but from doffing ( I needs my contraband donchyaknow?). After today I can't see taking any more doff missions with that character or I will not have a KDF at level 10-19 for the Feds to tremble in fear of.
So maybe we need to stop doffing? I don't know what I think for sure except that it needs another look.
There has been more posting about what skills and ships should be allowed for the challenge:
The last two downsides are significant. My concern is that the more we lock out the harder it will be to attract people. This is a problem since I just sort of suggested locking out doffing because I could see it going off the tracks, but locking out to much can hurt our efforts.
All these things we are talking about locking out are the shiny and exciting things that would attract new players (noobs, nuggets, etc) to playing in the first place. They have not become bored out of their minds with the insta-kill dps extravanganza that much of game play has become. New people have not had a chance to become permanently entrenched in the rinse and repeat grind missions like many old timers have, and that should leave them more flexible to trying new things.
Old timers on the other hand earned a lot of stuff over time. The 'entrenched' ones may not be flexible at all, but among those who became bored with the queues (me!) you can probably find a few people willing to run all white gear with no officers at all, on stock/free ships just to feel like they are in a real battle, and not a predetermined curbstomp. For most of rest of them though, you may have to concede some things to get them to come in.
The Federation has more activity, partly because it has more cool stuff to play with. The KDF has always had less for options, and has always been the less populated faction. Taking that example and applying it to the difference between being able to play and have all your toys, vs being offered a chance to play without a lot of those toys, you can see where this challenge is already at a disadvantage vs the game at large. That doesn't mean we give up. It just means we really have to work on building the community. Maybe even at the expense of the purity of the challenge at the beginning?
Which in a way leads to my last concern for today;
What are we doing for proper plans to structure our community if it is to continue past the point we all have hit level 60 in PvP?
The more I think of it, the more I think we need to go ahead and build a Fleet per faction, specific to this challenge, Give the Fleet a description that links to the challenge, and makes promotions in the Fleet mostly, or at least partly dependent on participation in PvP/Ker'rat/etc. With this comes some idea about how we organize projects, and handling of gear.
The Fleet unlocks can be planned so that both factions have a level one Shipyard at the same time, etc. Fleet gear and ability to buy from stores can be attached to participation in the challenge. The fleet toys still exist, but become attached to overall progress inside the challenge. Stuff in the Fleet bank can be withdrawn and used provided it comes out of a bank slot designated for that purpose. In that way we can hand down white gear, or batteries or whatever to any newcomers we take a shine to, without making it to OP. You could also make a rule that if it isn't white gear, then it has to come from the Fleet in some way, and that it has met with the approval of Fleet command as a result.
Also a possible variant to this would be to place the PvP fleet in an Armada where to buy Fleet stuff you had to get a map invite from the Alpha, and contributions only go to the Alpha ... (?) That sounds more cumbersome, so I guess I need to think that through a bit more. I know it has possibilities.
Not sure what anyone thinks about this, but bunching together in fleets may help resolve a lot about community/gear/doffs/legacy items.
Well ... I have to grind. Spending time with family later so most likely the first chance I get to PvP will be Monday.
Again, Happy New Year! Qapla''!
I really like the idea of starting folks on low pvp. It's a few hours grind to get in, but that's most of it. If all you do is pew-pew with other players, you can pvp 10-19 for a LONG, LONG time. Especially if you aren't taking missions. When you're done, blow up your character and start a new one... I think if you can get folks showing up to low level pvp, you can build a community. Gotta start small.
Need to do a weekly event where most of the gang can pvp each other. Once a week for an hour or two. Get that rolling, and start inviting people to THAT. Right now, Ker'rat is a ghost town, save the rare traveler. Make a date. If you can get 10 folks to regularly show up for that, I don't think it will be long before you have 20. Keep it simple for now.
Even at 11 you can prop your character up with a bunch of garbage. Between Doffs, consoles, lockbox traits, and abilities you can load up on power creep down here. At that point, you're "twinking." I'm not saying I have the answers, but I am saying slippery-slope... but I don't think there should be any pretense at "forcing" other players to play the way I think is right. If a group of guys start regularly playing together with some self-imposed restrictions others may be interested in joining that fray.
Finally, my busy time of the year starts tomorrow. I'm in-season till the end of Feb. I'll be on when I can squeeze it, but it won't be often. Y'all take care of yourselves and good luck.
Don't forget to log on at least once in awhile.
Qapla'!
I'll be trying to hold to the AM schedule as muchg as I can from here out, so look for me at Ker'rat around 8AM pacific, or feel freee to send me a chat or E-mail.
Qapla'!