AMEN to that friend! And while they're thinking of that why not make sure these traits, skills, and such actually work. How many times do you see "Resolved an issue" in the release notes.
It's the unresolved ones that I detest. But, yes, a bit of foresight would be welcome.
The plasmonic leech is still - even after nerfs - one of the strongest if not THE strongest thing you can put in that slots. So yeah, I really am ok with them nerfing it because despite all the caterwauling, its still has tremendous value.
The plasma exploders? They can die in a fire. The way they distorted the play space was terrible.
But most of all, I came back only a little while before the infinity boxes came out, paid my $130 or so to buy my two Tal'Shiar adapted T5Us and had a great time. Then infinity came along and tanked the cost of everything. And even though I could now buy each of those ships for between $15 and $30, it was still a Good Thing. Fantastic for the game and playerbase as a whole, actually. At this point the reality of lockboxes is there's a 6 month grace period where early adopters can pay big bucks for new shinnies, and then everything in them becomes absolutely casual for any player to get without spending a dime of real money.
So yes, I genuinely DO NOT CARE that my 5 million Ec console might lose some of its value next year. So What? that's like a week of putzing around grinding Ec or One Whole Dollar of real money.
Admittedly, this thread is focused on Plasmonic Leech, but my reply was about all the nerfs to commonly used powers and items as a whole. So respectfully that total would be a little more then 5 million ec. Additionally, someone had to spend real money to get that console out of a lockbox or buy the ship kdf side, but as you say you do not care about that and that's fine. I am still curious about your view on my last point. Wouldn't it be better if cryptic thought about maintaining balance within the game before releasing the new gear into the game; be it traits, skills, ships, ..etc? Or is it just better to let things get out of hand and then blanket nerf all the things they feel are over performing?
So yes, I genuinely DO NOT CARE that my 5 million Ec console might lose some of its value next year. So What? that's like a week of putzing around grinding Ec or One Whole Dollar of real money.
What you're missing is the other side of the equation. The current content is scaled to that OP console with NOTHING to take its place. All the "skill" and wishful thinking that people will play differently (try to code that one) you WILL NOT like this change a week from live....believe it.
It's about more than money, it's about you can't MAKE people play this or that way. They simply won't play after a while.
So yes, I genuinely DO NOT CARE that my 5 million Ec console might lose some of its value next year. So What? that's like a week of putzing around grinding Ec or One Whole Dollar of real money.
What you're missing is the other side of the equation. The current content is scaled to that OP console with NOTHING to take its place. All the "skill" and wishful thinking that people will play differently (try to code that one) you WILL NOT like this change a week from live....believe it.
It's about more than money, it's about you can't MAKE people play this or that way. They simply won't play after a while.
This. Whilst is is hardly surprising, some players are acting as if Big Bad Cryptic replaced everything on their ship with non-upgradable white MkX equipment and followed it up with an inbox message saying 'LOL'.
What makes it more funny is that it is always, ALWAYS, the EXACT same argument in every MMO.
>I spent a lot of time and money getting the gear so I could use this CLEARLY overpowered and exploit based build, and now the devs have ruined it!... They just HATE EVERYONE and are trying to get us to spend more money... it has NOTHING to do with balance or anything like that!
Usually followed up by some demand of a refund of the in-game cash they spent to get said gear as if they are owned a refund for exploiting the game.
EXPLOITING A GAME...LMFingAO.
The devs SET IT UP to be exploited with crossfaction leech etc etc etc. When it quit making them money they got pissy, having the unmitigated NERVE to say it was "unintended" and decided to drink a bottle of vodka, pour another on their head, get on a roller-coaster and set their hair on fire all the while blaming the guy that sold them the booze.
I don't mind them making money, I mind them destroying the game without an alternative TO spend the money on.
Besides if you re-read my post you COMPLETELY missed my point and didn't even address it.
So yes, I genuinely DO NOT CARE that my 5 million Ec console might lose some of its value next year. So What? that's like a week of putzing around grinding Ec or One Whole Dollar of real money.
What you're missing is the other side of the equation. The current content is scaled to that OP console with NOTHING to take its place. All the "skill" and wishful thinking that people will play differently (try to code that one) you WILL NOT like this change a week from live....believe it.
It's about more than money, it's about you can't MAKE people play this or that way. They simply won't play after a while.
This. Whilst is is hardly surprising, some players are acting as if Big Bad Cryptic replaced everything on their ship with non-upgradable white MkX equipment and followed it up with an inbox message saying 'LOL'.
What makes it more funny is that it is always, ALWAYS, the EXACT same argument in every MMO.
>I spent a lot of time and money getting the gear so I could use this CLEARLY overpowered and exploit based build, and now the devs have ruined it!... They just HATE EVERYONE and are trying to get us to spend more money... it has NOTHING to do with balance or anything like that!
Usually followed up by some demand of a refund of the in-game cash they spent to get said gear as if they are owned a refund for exploiting the game.
EXPLOITING A GAME...LMFingAO.
The devs SET IT UP to be exploited with crossfaction leech etc etc etc. When it quit making them money they got pissy and decided to drink a bottle of vodka, pour another on their head, get on a roller-coaster and set their hair on fire all the while blaming the guy that sold them the booze.
I don't mind them making money, I mind them destroying the game without an alternative TO spend the money on.
Besides if you re-read my post you COMPLETELY missed my point and didn't even address it.
"Destroying the game" - that comment right there is all I need to know about you and is why I withdraw from this conversation.
You CAN'T be in the conversation because you don't even understand it, nor, frankly have you even really been in it. All you can seem to do is accuse people of whining...
So yes, I genuinely DO NOT CARE that my 5 million Ec console might lose some of its value next year. So What? that's like a week of putzing around grinding Ec or One Whole Dollar of real money.
What you're missing is the other side of the equation. The current content is scaled to that OP console with NOTHING to take its place. All the "skill" and wishful thinking that people will play differently (try to code that one) you WILL NOT like this change a week from live....believe it.
It's about more than money, it's about you can't MAKE people play this or that way. They simply won't play after a while.
This. Whilst is is hardly surprising, some players are acting as if Big Bad Cryptic replaced everything on their ship with non-upgradable white MkX equipment and followed it up with an inbox message saying 'LOL'.
What makes it more funny is that it is always, ALWAYS, the EXACT same argument in every MMO.
>I spent a lot of time and money getting the gear so I could use this CLEARLY overpowered and exploit based build, and now the devs have ruined it!... They just HATE EVERYONE and are trying to get us to spend more money... it has NOTHING to do with balance or anything like that!
Usually followed up by some demand of a refund of the in-game cash they spent to get said gear as if they are owned a refund for exploiting the game.
Not all MMO's are like that though. The original guild wars for instance. I played that game for 4 or 5 years and in that time there was never a blanket nerf of skills and I didn't have to change any of my gear except for cosmetic reasons.
What you're missing is the other side of the equation. The current content is scaled to that OP console with NOTHING to take its place. All the "skill" and wishful thinking that people will play differently (try to code that one) you WILL NOT like this change a week from live....believe it.
You mean the content that the super-pro players constantly say is too easy, and the 'bad' players can't do anyway? I don't see a change there.
It's about more than money, it's about you can't MAKE people play this or that way.
Sure they can 'make' people play a certain way - I mean, they release some totally uber thing, the super-pros declare the meta changed, and 'everyone' switches to the One True Build for Max DPS™.
----
But yeah. You were just lucky you got to keep your particular sacred gear so long, in any other MMO you'd have been moaning about losing your Perfect Build/Gear at least every year. (I mained a Hunter in WoW from vanilla through Cata. Soooo many cycles of "easiest loser class! wait, no, totally uber DPS class! wait, no, total garbage that'll be auto-kicked from any group! <repeat>". And every single expansion eating popcorn as I watched the Super Raid Guilds wail about how the Uber Gear they ground forever for was Now Useless!)
So yes, I genuinely DO NOT CARE that my 5 million Ec console might lose some of its value next year. So What? that's like a week of putzing around grinding Ec or One Whole Dollar of real money.
What you're missing is the other side of the equation. The current content is scaled to that OP console with NOTHING to take its place. All the "skill" and wishful thinking that people will play differently (try to code that one) you WILL NOT like this change a week from live....believe it.
It's about more than money, it's about you can't MAKE people play this or that way. They simply won't play after a while.
This. Whilst is is hardly surprising, some players are acting as if Big Bad Cryptic replaced everything on their ship with non-upgradable white MkX equipment and followed it up with an inbox message saying 'LOL'.
What makes it more funny is that it is always, ALWAYS, the EXACT same argument in every MMO.
>I spent a lot of time and money getting the gear so I could use this CLEARLY overpowered and exploit based build, and now the devs have ruined it!... They just HATE EVERYONE and are trying to get us to spend more money... it has NOTHING to do with balance or anything like that!
Usually followed up by some demand of a refund of the in-game cash they spent to get said gear as if they are owned a refund for exploiting the game.
EXPLOITING A GAME...LMFingAO.
The devs SET IT UP to be exploited with crossfaction leech etc etc etc. When it quit making them money they got pissy and decided to drink a bottle of vodka, pour another on their head, get on a roller-coaster and set their hair on fire all the while blaming the guy that sold them the booze.
I don't mind them making money, I mind them destroying the game without an alternative TO spend the money on.
Besides if you re-read my post you COMPLETELY missed my point and didn't even address it.
"Destroying the game" - that comment right there is all I need to know about you and is why I withdraw from this conversation.
You CAN'T be in the conversation because you don't even understand it, nor, frankly have you even really been in it. All you can seem to do is accuse people of whining...
Not sure where I did that - please feel free to quote the post(s) in which I did so though.
What you're missing is the other side of the equation. The current content is scaled to that OP console with NOTHING to take its place. All the "skill" and wishful thinking that people will play differently (try to code that one) you WILL NOT like this change a week from live....believe it.
You mean the content that the super-pro players constantly say is too easy, and the 'bad' players can't do anyway? I don't see a change there.
It's about more than money, it's about you can't MAKE people play this or that way.
Sure they can 'make' people play a certain way - I mean, they release some totally uber thing, the super-pros declare the meta changed, and 'everyone' switches to the One True Build for Max DPS™.
----
But yeah. You were just lucky you got to keep your particular sacred gear so long, in any other MMO you'd have been moaning about losing your Perfect Build/Gear at least every year. (I mained a Hunter in WoW from vanilla through Cata. Soooo many cycles of "easiest loser class! wait, no, totally uber DPS class! wait, no, total garbage that'll be auto-kicked from any group! <repeat>". And every single expansion eating popcorn as I watched the Super Raid Guilds wail about how the Uber Gear they ground forever for was Now Useless!)
I have never played Wow myself, but I know people that do and that would be so annoying. Having to change gear with every expansion because your current gear has been rendered obsolete. I think over the past 4 or 5 years that I have been playing STO I have changed my ships space set twice.
What you're missing is the other side of the equation. The current content is scaled to that OP console with NOTHING to take its place. All the "skill" and wishful thinking that people will play differently (try to code that one) you WILL NOT like this change a week from live....believe it.
You mean the content that the super-pro players constantly say is too easy, and the 'bad' players can't do anyway? I don't see a change there.
It's about more than money, it's about you can't MAKE people play this or that way.
Sure they can 'make' people play a certain way - I mean, they release some totally uber thing, the super-pros declare the meta changed, and 'everyone' switches to the One True Build for Max DPS™.
----
But yeah. You were just lucky you got to keep your particular sacred gear so long, in any other MMO you'd have been moaning about losing your Perfect Build/Gear at least every year. (I mained a Hunter in WoW from vanilla through Cata. Soooo many cycles of "easiest loser class! wait, no, totally uber DPS class! wait, no, total garbage that'll be auto-kicked from any group! <repeat>". And every single expansion eating popcorn as I watched the Super Raid Guilds wail about how the Uber Gear they ground forever for was Now Useless!)
I have never played Wow myself, but I know people that do and that would be so annoying. Having to change gear with every expansion because your current gear has been rendered obsolete. I think over the past 4 or 5 years that I have been playing STO I have changed my ships space set twice.
One thing is certain. The likes of narasil should NEVER go anywhere near EvE online.
Played it and enjoyed it immensely. Never had an issue like this in that game.
In fact every time I came back to EVE I had one of the lowest curves to get back up to par than any other game. WoW is the worst. This one patch here is worse than any change I came back to WoW for...even after two years.
What you're missing is the other side of the equation. The current content is scaled to that OP console with NOTHING to take its place.
May I suggest the Warp Core Engineer DOff? It causes Emergency Power To X abilities to increase all Power Levels. A Blue Quality one should be about as powerful as the current Leech.
Not all MMO's are like that though. The original guild wars for instance. I played that game for 4 or 5 years and in that time there was never a blanket nerf of skills and I didn't have to change any of my gear except for cosmetic reasons.
I only played a little bit of 'Guild Wars' as I was moving around lot at the time and basically forgot about it. I picked 'Guild Wars 2' last week. I have enjoyed the few hours that I played it thus far.
What you're missing is the other side of the equation. The current content is scaled to that OP console with NOTHING to take its place.
May I suggest the Warp Core Engineer DOff? It causes Emergency Power To X abilities to increase all Power Levels. A Blue Quality one should be about as powerful as the current Leech.
And then that takes away the functionality of another officer which is needed to keep up the insane levels of DPS the current content is scaled for....
Lol, it would be wonderful if someone would dig out from the forums the dev post about avoiding as much as possible nerfing lockbox items. Maybe it's from back in 2013.
May I suggest the Warp Core Engineer DOff? It causes Emergency Power To X abilities to increase all Power Levels. A Blue Quality one should be about as powerful as the current Leech.
And then that takes away the functionality of another officer which is needed to keep up the insane levels of DPS the current content is scaled for....
I respectfully disagree with your assessment. The current content is most assuredly not scaled for insane levels of DPS. Queue are not intended to be completed in under twenty seconds. The content is scaled to way back when you would sometimes not even get to a chance to see the V'ger in Borg Red Alerts because the time limit would run out before you defeated the preamble Cubes.
Back then... that was when the game was the most fun, in my opinion. You had a team. You fought hard with your team. And if you all worked together then you earned the opportunity to try your hand against a massive Boss who could derez your ship in a single hit if you let your guard down.
Lol, it would be wonderful if someone would dig out from the forums the dev post about avoiding as much as possible nerfing lockbox items. Maybe it's from back in 2013.
I think they changed their mind there with re-boxing T5 ships as T6. From a business point of view it's brilliant because a lot of people will happily spend $$$.
May I suggest the Warp Core Engineer DOff? It causes Emergency Power To X abilities to increase all Power Levels. A Blue Quality one should be about as powerful as the current Leech.
And then that takes away the functionality of another officer which is needed to keep up the insane levels of DPS the current content is scaled for....
I respectfully disagree with your assessment. The current content is most assuredly not scaled for insane levels of DPS. Queue are not intended to be completed in under twenty seconds. The content is scaled to way back when you would sometimes not even get to a chance to see the V'ger in Borg Red Alerts because the time limit would run out before you defeated the preamble Cubes.
Back then... that was when the game was the most fun, in my opinion. You had a team. You fought hard with your team. And if you all worked together then you earned the opportunity to try your hand against a massive Boss who could derez your ship in a single hit if you let your guard down.
I miss those days.
Yes and no. I can't say I miss the days of pug CSE. The poor Kang. In general I agree. Advanced is tuned to VR Mk XII gear. If anything, zipping through ISA within 3 minutes my popping everything like grapes and clicking the goodie bag, simply underscores how bad powercreep has gotten. I actually remember when beating the optional time limit was a big deal.
Yes and no. I can't say I miss the days of pug CSE. The poor Kang. In general I agree. Advanced is tuned to VR Mk XII gear. If anything, zipping through ISA within 3 minutes my popping everything like grapes and clicking the goodie bag, simply underscores how bad powercreep has gotten. I actually remember when beating the optional time limit was a big deal.
Some times the group would leave me to defend him. I was in a Bomber with only Rapid-Reload Transphasics because those were new and cool at the time. Poor Kang, indeed.
May I suggest the Warp Core Engineer DOff? It causes Emergency Power To X abilities to increase all Power Levels. A Blue Quality one should be about as powerful as the current Leech.
And then that takes away the functionality of another officer which is needed to keep up the insane levels of DPS the current content is scaled for....
I respectfully disagree with your assessment. The current content is most assuredly not scaled for insane levels of DPS. Queue are not intended to be completed in under twenty seconds. The content is scaled to way back when you would sometimes not even get to a chance to see the V'ger in Borg Red Alerts because the time limit would run out before you defeated the preamble Cubes.
Back then... that was when the game was the most fun, in my opinion. You had a team. You fought hard with your team. And if you all worked together then you earned the opportunity to try your hand against a massive Boss who could derez your ship in a single hit if you let your guard down.
I miss those days.
Well reasonable people will disagree. Time will tell. I don't expect to finish in twenty seconds, but I do expect to be able to pug advanced content with a gold ship and make it 80 percent of the time.
I strongly feel, based on the patch notes and past experience with new content before everyone is equipped up/hard nerfs that pugs will take literally 45 min-1hour to complete making none of the objectives virtually every time. Moreover, since I see no new toys which will make up for the nerf to leech, beams, and abilities THIS WILL NOT CHANGE...no matter how you change your play-style or if you shoot move and communicate as well as seal team 6.
The only time you might make a few objectives or make a run in 15 minutes is if you're lucky enough to have someone who possibly (strong emphasis on possibly) be able to carry the team...this will represent .001% of the player-base.
Only a rollback, or the introduction of new toys that cost money/generate revenue and become the new "must have" central piece of the new meta builds (and yes this WILL happen) will change it.
Well if you remember after the skill revamp plasmonic leech was heavily nerfed, but after an uproar by the players it was restored to its normal function. To be completely honest I'm surprised cryptic has the cojones to go after it again.
Bort warned us that it would be rebalanced in the future. He did a post revealing just how many people use it and explaining why it needed to be fixed.
Lol, it would be wonderful if someone would dig out from the forums the dev post about avoiding as much as possible nerfing lockbox items. Maybe it's from back in 2013.
I think they changed their mind there with re-boxing T5 ships as T6. From a business point of view it's brilliant because a lot of people will happily spend $$$.
That's one thing. The other is the infinity box. The model fundamentally changed when those were introduced and now lockbox stuff is shiny-sacred for 6 month, and then it goes in the stew pot.
My favorite ships, and the ones I've spent the most real money on are my Tal'Shiar Adapted Destroyer and a Narcine Dreadnought. Both of them are being flat-out obsoleted by newer T6 versions. Would I like it if I could go drop $15-$20 in the zeni store for an upgrade? Sure, that'd be great. But I'm not gonna lose my mind over it.
So ultimately I'm seeing a lot more real dollars left behind by power creep than most people in a cold sweat over this balance pass and you know what? I had a good time with it. If I wanted to stick with them, I'd still have a good time. And to me it's not some sort of moral offense that the people whose work gives me fun would like to occasionally get paid for it.
Well if you remember after the skill revamp plasmonic leech was heavily nerfed, but after an uproar by the players it was restored to its normal function. To be completely honest I'm surprised cryptic has the cojones to go after it again.
Bort warned us that it would be rebalanced in the future. He did a post revealing just how many people use it and explaining why it needed to be fixed.
With respect then, Bort should have done something about it a looooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong time ago.
It's just like the Fed and the interest rate, oh there is going to be a huge rate hike at some point, they've been saying this for decades...it won't make anyone in the soup lines in The Great Depression 2.0 feel any better, and it would have been FAR less painful if done ages ago.
To all those complaining about their "investments" being shot to hell, I say this:
Get over yourselves.
For the vast majority of items that are being nerfed, the only actual, real-world investment from you as a player was time. Even those items obtained through real-world purchases aren't really an investment, but an entertainment expense.
Someone mentioned an analogy to buying a Porsche. This is a fallacious analogy, as a vehicle IS an investment, while this game is not.
In truth, this would be more analogous to someone spending the same amount of money every season for baseball season passes, only to get livid when the ticket prices go up.
They are not "entitled" to receive the same price for tickets, no matter how loyal of a fan they have been, and you are not "entitled" to keep the same stuff with no changes while everyone else has to deal with the new system.
Things change. Deal with it, or quit.
Space Barbie Extraordinaire. Got a question about Space Barbie? Just ask.
Things I want in STO:
1) More character customization options such as more clothing options, letting the toon complexion affect the entire body, not just the head. Also a true RGB color picker applied to all costume and appearance options, which would allow for true appearance customization and homogenous colors instead of "this same exact color looks vastly different on two different pieces."
2) Bridge customization, not bridge packs. Let us pick a general layout and adjust the color palette, console appearance, and chair types, as well as more ready room layout options.
3) Customizable ground weapons, i.e. The aesthetic look of phaser dual pistols but they shoot antiproton bolts. For obvious reasons this would only apply to standard ground weapons.
4) For the love of Q please revamp Plasma Ground Weapons. They look like demented Supersoakers right now.
5) True Vanity Impulse and Deflector effects similar to Vanity Shields.
6) A greater payout for hitting T6 Reputations. Currently it takes more time and resources to get from T5 to T6 than it does to get from nothing to T5. Make that grind really pay out at the end.
7) Mirrorverse Refugee event similar to AoY/Delta/Gamma, complete with new Mirrorverse recruits for all factions.
8) Independent Faction, because yo ho yo ho a pirate's life for me!
To all those complaining about their "investments" being shot to hell, I say this:
Get over yourselves.
For the vast majority of items that are being nerfed, the only actual, real-world investment from you as a player was time. Even those items obtained through real-world purchases aren't really an investment, but an entertainment expense.
Someone mentioned an analogy to buying a Porsche. This is a fallacious analogy, as a vehicle IS an investment, while this game is not.
In truth, this would be more analogous to someone spending the same amount of money every season for baseball season passes, only to get livid when the ticket prices go up.
They are not "entitled" to receive the same price for tickets, no matter how loyal of a fan they have been, and you are not "entitled" to keep the same stuff with no changes while everyone else has to deal with the new system.
Things change. Deal with it, or quit.
Never read a more asinine or self centered piece of diatribe in my life, even though I agree with the basic principle. Get over yourself
To all those complaining about their "investments" being shot to hell, I say this:
Get over yourselves.
For the vast majority of items that are being nerfed, the only actual, real-world investment from you as a player was time. Even those items obtained through real-world purchases aren't really an investment, but an entertainment expense.
Someone mentioned an analogy to buying a Porsche. This is a fallacious analogy, as a vehicle IS an investment, while this game is not.
In truth, this would be more analogous to someone spending the same amount of money every season for baseball season passes, only to get livid when the ticket prices go up.
They are not "entitled" to receive the same price for tickets, no matter how loyal of a fan they have been, and you are not "entitled" to keep the same stuff with no changes while everyone else has to deal with the new system.
Things change. Deal with it, or quit.
Never read a more asinine or self centered piece of diatribe in my life, even though I agree with the basic principle. Get over yourself
What? I look at the game for what it is. Entertainment. Nothing more.
Have I put real world money into it? Of course. Did I do so in order to obtain something I thought would be cool? Yup. Have I purchased Zen to get keys and then gotten nothing worthwhile out of lockboxes? Yep. Did I buy a Plasmonic Leech off the exchange for an exorbitant amount of EC, only to have them show up in lockboxes a few weeks later? Absolutely.
Am I upset by any of it? Not in the slightest.
Why? Because it's a game. Sometimes you win, and sometimes you get slaughtered. That's life.
Space Barbie Extraordinaire. Got a question about Space Barbie? Just ask.
Things I want in STO:
1) More character customization options such as more clothing options, letting the toon complexion affect the entire body, not just the head. Also a true RGB color picker applied to all costume and appearance options, which would allow for true appearance customization and homogenous colors instead of "this same exact color looks vastly different on two different pieces."
2) Bridge customization, not bridge packs. Let us pick a general layout and adjust the color palette, console appearance, and chair types, as well as more ready room layout options.
3) Customizable ground weapons, i.e. The aesthetic look of phaser dual pistols but they shoot antiproton bolts. For obvious reasons this would only apply to standard ground weapons.
4) For the love of Q please revamp Plasma Ground Weapons. They look like demented Supersoakers right now.
5) True Vanity Impulse and Deflector effects similar to Vanity Shields.
6) A greater payout for hitting T6 Reputations. Currently it takes more time and resources to get from T5 to T6 than it does to get from nothing to T5. Make that grind really pay out at the end.
7) Mirrorverse Refugee event similar to AoY/Delta/Gamma, complete with new Mirrorverse recruits for all factions.
8) Independent Faction, because yo ho yo ho a pirate's life for me!
Not only is your analogy patently flawed as ticket prices in a real world situation like tht typically increase by the inflation rate, and any massive spike in cost is directly related to an increase in content "new stadium, new xyz" and is always researched to be at the proper price point to optimize old and new sales.
The current "balance" patch offers no new content, no new direction, no new anything. Just a hodgepodge of requested nerfs over the last 3+ years all of which was power creep directly sold to that player base.
Most successful mmos that do a massive balance patch usually coincide with some type of content drop i.e. A more apt timing for this "balance" would have been console release or hell with any "new" content... but instead the console was milked for all it's worth by directly selling the last 5 years of power creeep staggered over the last 9 months only to decimate them...
Whatever suit thinks this is a good business model is sorely mistaken (haven't seen anywhere that console will not be getting this update either). And the thought process of if you don't like it, quit doesn't keep the lights on. If 15-30% of players (spenders) quit due to feeling "spat on" with no avenue to generating new interest = dead and unsustainable game model... so yea lets go about "balance" in an actual "balanced" fashion
Sorry but removing items from gameplay is not "new direction or content" it's rehashing the same same old in a lazy fashion. The power creep has been plain to see for anyone paying attention and instead of increasing difficulty of content or adding something new COUPLED with balance tweaks IMO is how this should be addressed.
The current path comes off as nothing but lazy and a suit looking at the spreadsheet saying sales are down net of "xyz"... what's the cheapest way to sell new power creep? "Nerf the old stuff, call it balance and 2 months later sell new power creep in r&d/lockbox" which are beyond tested at being >1% odds...
Comments
It's the unresolved ones that I detest. But, yes, a bit of foresight would be welcome.
Admittedly, this thread is focused on Plasmonic Leech, but my reply was about all the nerfs to commonly used powers and items as a whole. So respectfully that total would be a little more then 5 million ec. Additionally, someone had to spend real money to get that console out of a lockbox or buy the ship kdf side, but as you say you do not care about that and that's fine. I am still curious about your view on my last point. Wouldn't it be better if cryptic thought about maintaining balance within the game before releasing the new gear into the game; be it traits, skills, ships, ..etc? Or is it just better to let things get out of hand and then blanket nerf all the things they feel are over performing?
What you're missing is the other side of the equation. The current content is scaled to that OP console with NOTHING to take its place. All the "skill" and wishful thinking that people will play differently (try to code that one) you WILL NOT like this change a week from live....believe it.
It's about more than money, it's about you can't MAKE people play this or that way. They simply won't play after a while.
EXPLOITING A GAME...LMFingAO.
The devs SET IT UP to be exploited with crossfaction leech etc etc etc. When it quit making them money they got pissy, having the unmitigated NERVE to say it was "unintended" and decided to drink a bottle of vodka, pour another on their head, get on a roller-coaster and set their hair on fire all the while blaming the guy that sold them the booze.
I don't mind them making money, I mind them destroying the game without an alternative TO spend the money on.
Besides if you re-read my post you COMPLETELY missed my point and didn't even address it.
You CAN'T be in the conversation because you don't even understand it, nor, frankly have you even really been in it. All you can seem to do is accuse people of whining...
Not all MMO's are like that though. The original guild wars for instance. I played that game for 4 or 5 years and in that time there was never a blanket nerf of skills and I didn't have to change any of my gear except for cosmetic reasons.
You mean the content that the super-pro players constantly say is too easy, and the 'bad' players can't do anyway? I don't see a change there.
Sure they can 'make' people play a certain way - I mean, they release some totally uber thing, the super-pros declare the meta changed, and 'everyone' switches to the One True Build for Max DPS™.
----
But yeah. You were just lucky you got to keep your particular sacred gear so long, in any other MMO you'd have been moaning about losing your Perfect Build/Gear at least every year. (I mained a Hunter in WoW from vanilla through Cata. Soooo many cycles of "easiest loser class! wait, no, totally uber DPS class! wait, no, total garbage that'll be auto-kicked from any group! <repeat>". And every single expansion eating popcorn as I watched the Super Raid Guilds wail about how the Uber Gear they ground forever for was Now Useless!)
You just did it in the previous post
I have never played Wow myself, but I know people that do and that would be so annoying. Having to change gear with every expansion because your current gear has been rendered obsolete. I think over the past 4 or 5 years that I have been playing STO I have changed my ships space set twice.
Played it and enjoyed it immensely. Never had an issue like this in that game.
In fact every time I came back to EVE I had one of the lowest curves to get back up to par than any other game. WoW is the worst. This one patch here is worse than any change I came back to WoW for...even after two years.
May I suggest the Warp Core Engineer DOff? It causes Emergency Power To X abilities to increase all Power Levels. A Blue Quality one should be about as powerful as the current Leech.
I only played a little bit of 'Guild Wars' as I was moving around lot at the time and basically forgot about it. I picked 'Guild Wars 2' last week. I have enjoyed the few hours that I played it thus far.
I respectfully disagree with your assessment. The current content is most assuredly not scaled for insane levels of DPS. Queue are not intended to be completed in under twenty seconds. The content is scaled to way back when you would sometimes not even get to a chance to see the V'ger in Borg Red Alerts because the time limit would run out before you defeated the preamble Cubes.
Back then... that was when the game was the most fun, in my opinion. You had a team. You fought hard with your team. And if you all worked together then you earned the opportunity to try your hand against a massive Boss who could derez your ship in a single hit if you let your guard down.
I miss those days.
I think they changed their mind there with re-boxing T5 ships as T6. From a business point of view it's brilliant because a lot of people will happily spend $$$.
Yes and no. I can't say I miss the days of pug CSE. The poor Kang. In general I agree. Advanced is tuned to VR Mk XII gear. If anything, zipping through ISA within 3 minutes my popping everything like grapes and clicking the goodie bag, simply underscores how bad powercreep has gotten. I actually remember when beating the optional time limit was a big deal.
Some times the group would leave me to defend him. I was in a Bomber with only Rapid-Reload Transphasics because those were new and cool at the time. Poor Kang, indeed.
Well reasonable people will disagree. Time will tell. I don't expect to finish in twenty seconds, but I do expect to be able to pug advanced content with a gold ship and make it 80 percent of the time.
I strongly feel, based on the patch notes and past experience with new content before everyone is equipped up/hard nerfs that pugs will take literally 45 min-1hour to complete making none of the objectives virtually every time. Moreover, since I see no new toys which will make up for the nerf to leech, beams, and abilities THIS WILL NOT CHANGE...no matter how you change your play-style or if you shoot move and communicate as well as seal team 6.
The only time you might make a few objectives or make a run in 15 minutes is if you're lucky enough to have someone who possibly (strong emphasis on possibly) be able to carry the team...this will represent .001% of the player-base.
Only a rollback, or the introduction of new toys that cost money/generate revenue and become the new "must have" central piece of the new meta builds (and yes this WILL happen) will change it.
My character Tsin'xing
That's one thing. The other is the infinity box. The model fundamentally changed when those were introduced and now lockbox stuff is shiny-sacred for 6 month, and then it goes in the stew pot.
My favorite ships, and the ones I've spent the most real money on are my Tal'Shiar Adapted Destroyer and a Narcine Dreadnought. Both of them are being flat-out obsoleted by newer T6 versions. Would I like it if I could go drop $15-$20 in the zeni store for an upgrade? Sure, that'd be great. But I'm not gonna lose my mind over it.
So ultimately I'm seeing a lot more real dollars left behind by power creep than most people in a cold sweat over this balance pass and you know what? I had a good time with it. If I wanted to stick with them, I'd still have a good time. And to me it's not some sort of moral offense that the people whose work gives me fun would like to occasionally get paid for it.
With respect then, Bort should have done something about it a looooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong time ago.
It's just like the Fed and the interest rate, oh there is going to be a huge rate hike at some point, they've been saying this for decades...it won't make anyone in the soup lines in The Great Depression 2.0 feel any better, and it would have been FAR less painful if done ages ago.
Get over yourselves.
For the vast majority of items that are being nerfed, the only actual, real-world investment from you as a player was time. Even those items obtained through real-world purchases aren't really an investment, but an entertainment expense.
Someone mentioned an analogy to buying a Porsche. This is a fallacious analogy, as a vehicle IS an investment, while this game is not.
In truth, this would be more analogous to someone spending the same amount of money every season for baseball season passes, only to get livid when the ticket prices go up.
They are not "entitled" to receive the same price for tickets, no matter how loyal of a fan they have been, and you are not "entitled" to keep the same stuff with no changes while everyone else has to deal with the new system.
Things change. Deal with it, or quit.
Things I want in STO:
1) More character customization options such as more clothing options, letting the toon complexion affect the entire body, not just the head. Also a true RGB color picker applied to all costume and appearance options, which would allow for true appearance customization and homogenous colors instead of "this same exact color looks vastly different on two different pieces."
2) Bridge customization, not bridge packs. Let us pick a general layout and adjust the color palette, console appearance, and chair types, as well as more ready room layout options.
3) Customizable ground weapons, i.e. The aesthetic look of phaser dual pistols but they shoot antiproton bolts. For obvious reasons this would only apply to standard ground weapons.
4) For the love of Q please revamp Plasma Ground Weapons. They look like demented Supersoakers right now.
5) True Vanity Impulse and Deflector effects similar to Vanity Shields.
6) A greater payout for hitting T6 Reputations. Currently it takes more time and resources to get from T5 to T6 than it does to get from nothing to T5. Make that grind really pay out at the end.
7) Mirrorverse Refugee event similar to AoY/Delta/Gamma, complete with new Mirrorverse recruits for all factions.
8) Independent Faction, because yo ho yo ho a pirate's life for me!
Never read a more asinine or self centered piece of diatribe in my life, even though I agree with the basic principle. Get over yourself
What? I look at the game for what it is. Entertainment. Nothing more.
Have I put real world money into it? Of course. Did I do so in order to obtain something I thought would be cool? Yup. Have I purchased Zen to get keys and then gotten nothing worthwhile out of lockboxes? Yep. Did I buy a Plasmonic Leech off the exchange for an exorbitant amount of EC, only to have them show up in lockboxes a few weeks later? Absolutely.
Am I upset by any of it? Not in the slightest.
Why? Because it's a game. Sometimes you win, and sometimes you get slaughtered. That's life.
Things I want in STO:
1) More character customization options such as more clothing options, letting the toon complexion affect the entire body, not just the head. Also a true RGB color picker applied to all costume and appearance options, which would allow for true appearance customization and homogenous colors instead of "this same exact color looks vastly different on two different pieces."
2) Bridge customization, not bridge packs. Let us pick a general layout and adjust the color palette, console appearance, and chair types, as well as more ready room layout options.
3) Customizable ground weapons, i.e. The aesthetic look of phaser dual pistols but they shoot antiproton bolts. For obvious reasons this would only apply to standard ground weapons.
4) For the love of Q please revamp Plasma Ground Weapons. They look like demented Supersoakers right now.
5) True Vanity Impulse and Deflector effects similar to Vanity Shields.
6) A greater payout for hitting T6 Reputations. Currently it takes more time and resources to get from T5 to T6 than it does to get from nothing to T5. Make that grind really pay out at the end.
7) Mirrorverse Refugee event similar to AoY/Delta/Gamma, complete with new Mirrorverse recruits for all factions.
8) Independent Faction, because yo ho yo ho a pirate's life for me!
Not only is your analogy patently flawed as ticket prices in a real world situation like tht typically increase by the inflation rate, and any massive spike in cost is directly related to an increase in content "new stadium, new xyz" and is always researched to be at the proper price point to optimize old and new sales.
The current "balance" patch offers no new content, no new direction, no new anything. Just a hodgepodge of requested nerfs over the last 3+ years all of which was power creep directly sold to that player base.
Most successful mmos that do a massive balance patch usually coincide with some type of content drop i.e. A more apt timing for this "balance" would have been console release or hell with any "new" content... but instead the console was milked for all it's worth by directly selling the last 5 years of power creeep staggered over the last 9 months only to decimate them...
Whatever suit thinks this is a good business model is sorely mistaken (haven't seen anywhere that console will not be getting this update either). And the thought process of if you don't like it, quit doesn't keep the lights on. If 15-30% of players (spenders) quit due to feeling "spat on" with no avenue to generating new interest = dead and unsustainable game model... so yea lets go about "balance" in an actual "balanced" fashion
The current path comes off as nothing but lazy and a suit looking at the spreadsheet saying sales are down net of "xyz"... what's the cheapest way to sell new power creep? "Nerf the old stuff, call it balance and 2 months later sell new power creep in r&d/lockbox" which are beyond tested at being >1% odds...