WoW didn't have an online store selling tier gear along with a lottery lockbox system that could have players potentially spending lots of cash to get keys to participate in. Comparing WoW to STO isn't the same thing unless STO became more like WoW or the reverse happened. Also unlike Cryptic/PWE, Blizzard didn't shaft it's lower population factions as much as Cryptic/PWE has because $$$. Blizzard invested in their lower population factions to not only balance them out more in offerings but populations as well.
This idea that Cryptic has shafted lower population factions is objectively false as
A. The KDF have just as many faction exclusive missions as the Feds do
B. The RR have more faction exclusive missions then the Feds do
C. Both the KDF and RR can get all the cross faction ships, just like the Feds can
D. Both the KDF and RR have gotten the same bundles of dyson science ships, flagships, Intel, pilot, command, multimission, etc. etc. packs the Feds have.
Compare the T6 offerings to the Federation faction vs. the KDF and Romulan factions during Delta Rising and you are proven wrong.
Compare the lack of science specific ships during the initial T6 release for KDF and Romulan players vs. Federation players and again you are proven wrong. Especially since science ships were sorely lacking for KDF and Romulan players in variety when compared to Federation players before T6 was released. This only got elevated recently by the T6 science mega bundle which still doesn't make up for the lack of options ignored before that pack was released.
For the Agents of Yesterday content KDF and Romulan players only got three 31c ships from the whole bundle. Federation players got a whole slew of faction specific starships available which daisy chained back to the main Federation faction by default. No 23c ships for KDF or Romulan players as well as no AoY toons for KDF and Romulan players.
I'm sorry, but the KDF and Romulan factions have been shafted quite nicely by Cryptic/PWE because of population imbalances favoring Federation players where the large majority of whales are located.
See the above, your arguments fall totally flat and are based on the wrong idea that they are getting shafted unless there is a perfect 1:1 ratio between all factions.
Anyone who has actually watched the shows can ou tell how wrong this idea is, since the Klingons and the Rom's don't appear for most episodes(outside of token Klingons like Worf and Torres)
I'm sorry I don't agree with you. This isn't about 1 to 1 or what shows say. This is about a video game where you implement three factions and need to properly support those factions. If a company is in such a position where they decide it's best to favor one faction and not meet the needs of the other two factions they put in then really there shouldn't be any factions in this game because quite honestly they're doing a disservice to their customers who play those factions.
Correct. Your fun IS wrong and it's being purged. Ball's in your court what you're gonna do next.
Yeah about that:
Increase the fun – Games are about having fun, and players should not be made to feel that their fun is “wrong.”
Oops!
There are exceptions, such as when allowing your fun takes away from the fun of many other players.
That truly is just pure nonsense.
"If you can't take a little bloody nose, maybe you ought to go back home and crawl under your bed. It's not safe out here. It's wondrous, with treasures to satiate desires both subtle and gross. But it's not for the timid." - Q
You really do love trying to twist things don't you?
Yes I built a single ship build focused around the Plasmonic Leech, so what? I could also build a ship centered entirely around the thaloron weapon if I wanted, or any number of powers and abilities. My KDF toons ship is built entirely around a single power, Surgical Strikes III. None of this is inherently broken or "wrong", it is a "choice" that we make, and none of them are optimal epic DPS builds. But they are still "viable" and "fun".
Ha! You are so right!
So, yeah, people are so eager to justify the nerfs, that now specialized builds are wrong!? Have people ever considered Bort purposely CREATED those items, so we would use them? Err, BUY them. I'm truly baffled by this. People see someone having built around DrainX, or Exploders, or partgens, and, what, they can't stand that?! What I see is jeaulousy, yea, sheer sociopathy even, when I see the gleeful joy some are having over seeing the investment of others destroyed. All y'all must be having a field day!
And from a game-mechanics POV, invalidating DrainX gear-groups, as a whole, is simply insane. Now, before anyone says you can still drain a bit, that's not the point. The point is, that things like the Terran Space set no longer bring you any surplus power from what you bought them for: their DrainX spec. Aka, they're vendor trash now.
And this is all good for the country, right?! And all supposed to increase the 'fun', no? How's about Cryptic don't dictate how I experience fun!? That was the whole notion of Trendy's saying to begin with.
And from a game-mechanics POV, invalidating DrainX gear-groups, as a whole, is simply insane. Now, before anyone says you can still drain a bit, that's not the point. The point is, that things like the Terran Space set no longer bring you any surplus power from what you bought them for: their DrainX spec. Aka, they're vendor trash now.
Not being a super meta, 200K+ DPS, level item does not make it vendor trash.
Haha! Show me how I can do 200k+ with my nerfed Terran Space set, and all will be forgiven.
I'm sorry I don't agree with you. This isn't about 1 to 1 or what shows say. This is about a video game where you implement three factions and need to properly support those factions. If a company is in such a position where they decide it's best to favor one faction and not meet the needs of the other two factions they put in then really there shouldn't be any factions in this game because quite honestly they're doing a disservice to their customers who play those factions.
This is a video game based on an existing series, and should stick to the series as much as possible when it comes to content.
If a race showed up 1/10 as much as the Feds in the TV shows, they should get 1/10 the content as the Feds in-game to balance it out and be fair.
And from a game-mechanics POV, invalidating DrainX gear-groups, as a whole, is simply insane. Now, before anyone says you can still drain a bit, that's not the point. The point is, that things like the Terran Space set no longer bring you any surplus power from what you bought them for: their DrainX spec. Aka, they're vendor trash now.
Not being a super meta, 200K+ DPS, level item does not make it vendor trash.
Please learn what that word means, and stop using false equivalence fallacies.
What you are arguing for is basically if Blizzard Entertainment let the Horde have paladins and the Alliance have Shamans during the Burning Crusade expansion but not let them have access to tier gear till near the end of said expansion. Its poor design and I don't think WoW would be where it's been over the years if Blizzard made the same choices for WoW as Cryptic/PWE has for STO. While it's important to respect the TV shows you do need to use suspension of disbelief in order to provide for the players of your game across all the factions you implement. Otherwise you'll end up with a product that is running on a string budget where bugs don't get fixed and change is introduced for the sake of generating more revenue and not just providing a good game experience which would get the revenue in the first place.
Transferred a new copy of my main over to Tribble. Didn't change a thing in the build. Tribble version did about 75% less dps. Accuracy with FAW3 was 99.69% (I have been trained in Advanced Targeting Expertise and took the extra 2% accuracy option). Swapped out the Leech and 2 plasma consoles, added the accuracy trait; 86% dps compared to live and 100% hit rate with FAW3. The only other difference I had noticed was that the NPCs were causing me to have to heal more. I still have training in DrainX without Leech, it does also provide resists. But players will adapt.
"I'm not big on telepaths myself. I'm not big on guns either. But if everyone else has them, I want to make sure I can get my hands on the biggest one I can."
What you are arguing for is something along the lines of letting the Horde have paladins but not letting them have access to Paladin tier gear to near the end of the expansion when they were introduced for the Horde. Same goes for shamans in the Alliance. If Blizzard Entertainment did that do you think WoW would be where it is today? The shows should be respected but you also need to provide for your players and that calls for a suspension of disbelief sometimes in order to provide things to players across the board when it comes to factions.
Uhh no, in fact, I literally argued for the exact opposite of that.
Also, your argument is a false equivalence fallacy as WoW was never based on a TV show, it was based on an RTS.... and RTS Blizzard themselves made.
Haha! Show me how I can do 200k+ with my nerfed Terran Space set, and all will be forgiven.
Go read what I wrote again. You seem to have not the first time.
It doesn't matter that WoW wasn't based on a TV show. You build a good game and wrap the show around it sticking as true as possible to the game while making allowances for good game play. You don't build the game around a show that was never designed to provide good game play but only tell a story.
The intent of DrainX is mainly for drain builds. If you're going to go heavy on drains, it's to use it as part of an overall strategy of draining your target to make it weak. You stacked a bunch of drain for the pure purpose of DPS and nothing more.
That being said, yes, I think @crypticspartan#0627 handled the change to plasmonic leech in the worst way possible. He could have easily drastically reduced the buff scaling with DrainX, but instead, he threw the whole buff equation to the garbage.
He also could have attempted the "impossible" and made the drain equal to the power actually drained from the target, but a long time ago a dev mentioned that the buff and the drain are completely separate so it's not possible. A quick calc off the drain resistance of the target to figure out the buff portion would have been a nice fix. Hell, combine both my solutions, but no.
He took the easy way out "fixing" it with a very heavy handed nerf, hence why personally, I don't agree with it. Taking out the scaling aspect just turns it into garbage for most people.
The original intention of the console when it came out and after it stacked only 8 times was to suck power and at the same time buff self power equally. Now the console basically makes a lot of that power you suck disappear to who knows where.
Calling someone a sociopath because they disagree with you is beyond ridiculous.
I didn't call someone a sociopath. I *did* notice the general presence of 'sheer sociopathy' in these threads, though. And looking at the glee, and the pure Schadenfreude I witness in people about seeing these nerfs, I say that assessment was not far off.
Me? I have never laughed at someone's build getting nerfed; or felt joy about it even. Like those Exploders. Don't much use 'em myself, but don't experience any of the 'frenzy of joy' I see others having over someone else's stuff getting invalidated. I simply believe in 'Live, and let live.' I don't call for others being nerfed, and I don't like to be nerfed myself.
The intent of DrainX is mainly for drain builds. If you're going to go heavy on drains, it's to use it as part of an overall strategy of draining your target to make it weak. You stacked a bunch of drain for the pure purpose of DPS and nothing more.
Actually you would be very wrong there. I stacked a bunch of drain for the pure purpose of overcoming the severe power penalty that Romulan Warbirds suffer from, and actually give me enough shield, engine and auxillary power to be viable in Elite Content.
"If you can't take a little bloody nose, maybe you ought to go back home and crawl under your bed. It's not safe out here. It's wondrous, with treasures to satiate desires both subtle and gross. But it's not for the timid." - Q
Then it seems you don't understand the terminology you use.
You have to admit that certain comments concerning these nerfs are a little on the insulting side. If you are happy about all these nerfs that's great, but you don't need to act like a complete a$$hat about it. I don't mean you in particular, but I have read some pretty dickish comments lately where people voice how happy they are at other peoples angst. It's one thing to discuss and argue the benefits of these nerfs, it's entirely another thing to be a unpleasant about it and directly attack people. That is of course the nature of the internet. You can be as mean-spirited as you want without consequence.
'You say yes, I say no, You say stop, and I say go, go, go, Oh no. You say goodbye and I say hello, hello, hello, I don't know why you say goodbye, I say hello, hello, hello, I don't know why you say goodbye, I say hello. I say high, you say low, You say why, and I say I don't know...'
Well, you get the ghist.
'But to be logical is not to be right', and 'nothing' on God's earth could ever 'make it' right!'
Judge Dan Haywood
'As l speak now, the words are forming in my head.
l don't know.
l really don't know what l'm about to say, except l have a feeling about it.
That l must repeat the words that come without my knowledge.'
Let's try this again with being "constructive" rather than just whine about the balancing act of these days.
The positives:
1-IMO to entertain perhaps a new playerbase to start playing STO and to focus on those "casual" players who do not have the time to embark themselves in costly builds or search for the "I win" button.
2-At least it shows Devs are willing to try something else besides the status quo.
3-Devs might be looking for a parallel balancing system that could be adapted easily to both platform XBOX/PS2 and PC play.
4- Newer ways to sell consoles or tag new skills to go with similar planning as it was from ships going from T5 to T6? Say calling this balancing V2?
Negatives:
Where to start...
1- Increase "Fun". This is a very subjective terms and should not be used. For those who were here on Delta Rising we heard "Best Expansion ever and players love it".
These statements should not used or could be misconstrued by the hardcore playerbase who might not find this balancing as a "Fun"
2- Balancing will affect MANY systems currently in place. For instance take the plasmoic leech...Some might think it is not "just" the plasmoic leech being nerfed though, or even the plasma consoles, its everything else associated with them.
Many powers and abilities are being nerfed into the ground. See tribble for more details.
This will necessarily cause literally to become "obsolete builds" and creating less diversity.
3- Builds and past investments to collect them will be broken. This might cause a flood of players exiting STO since this will not go well to those hardcore players who slaved to have the latest and best builds ever.
I could go on with more criticism but will leave to others to add either positive or negative.
Will this be the "only" time skills get re-balanced this way or will there be more versions in the future. I know PWE is a private company and can do whatever they want but would be nice if they can acknowledge the fact that many players have spent countless of hours/time and resources into builds. To make those obsolete for the mere sake of balancing is to some degree sending a bad signal.
Why have skills anyways or encourage players to dwell in getting the latest shinies or consoles if they know they might get nerf anytime?
But let's keep it constructive and do hope Cryptic does communicate "better" with the playerbase in the future. Communication and constructive feedback from both ends is what could ease this new balancing from being detrimental to players.
Disclaimer....I dont speak for you and only represent myself. However, please disagree respectfully if you must.
Bottom line is this Cryptic is owned by Perfect World now, if Perfect World says figure out how to get more money from the players, Cryptic has to obey their bosses. lol
"Nuke the entire site from orbit--it's the only way to be sure"
A normie goes "Oh, what's this?"
An otaku goes "UwU, what's this?"
A furry goes "OwO, what's this?"
A werewolf goes "Awoo, what's this?"
"It's nothing personal, I just don't feel like I've gotten to know a person until I've sniffed their crotch." "We said 'no' to Mr. Curiosity. We're not home. Curiosity is not welcome, it is not to be invited in. Curiosity...is bad. It gets you in trouble, it gets you killed, and more importantly...it makes you poor!"
Passion and Serenity are one.
I gain power by understanding both.
In the chaos of their battle, I bring order.
I am a shadow, darkness born from light.
The Force is united within me.
I'm sure the Design Team will be excited to know they answer to the bold vision statement of a person's whose job was literally to pat children on the head and tell them everything will be alright.
You all don't get it, they need to shift thing around so folks will invest in their future upcoming and new shiny. Do DPSers hurt their bottom dollar? By doing what they deem a necessary evil, will improve more time & money investments? Hmmm, interesting. Won't surprise me if they introduce some new console, ship, trait box or something soon after the changes.
Comments
Compare the T6 offerings to the Federation faction vs. the KDF and Romulan factions during Delta Rising and you are proven wrong.
Compare the lack of science specific ships during the initial T6 release for KDF and Romulan players vs. Federation players and again you are proven wrong. Especially since science ships were sorely lacking for KDF and Romulan players in variety when compared to Federation players before T6 was released. This only got elevated recently by the T6 science mega bundle which still doesn't make up for the lack of options ignored before that pack was released.
For the Agents of Yesterday content KDF and Romulan players only got three 31c ships from the whole bundle. Federation players got a whole slew of faction specific starships available which daisy chained back to the main Federation faction by default. No 23c ships for KDF or Romulan players as well as no AoY toons for KDF and Romulan players.
I'm sorry, but the KDF and Romulan factions have been shafted quite nicely by Cryptic/PWE because of population imbalances favoring Federation players where the large majority of whales are located.
I'm sorry I don't agree with you. This isn't about 1 to 1 or what shows say. This is about a video game where you implement three factions and need to properly support those factions. If a company is in such a position where they decide it's best to favor one faction and not meet the needs of the other two factions they put in then really there shouldn't be any factions in this game because quite honestly they're doing a disservice to their customers who play those factions.
That truly is just pure nonsense.
And once a gain you think hiding under a general philosophical goal is going to deflect a definite specific change.
Good luck with that. But you no longer get to wear your surprised face at the outcome.
Ha! You are so right!
So, yeah, people are so eager to justify the nerfs, that now specialized builds are wrong!? Have people ever considered Bort purposely CREATED those items, so we would use them? Err, BUY them. I'm truly baffled by this. People see someone having built around DrainX, or Exploders, or partgens, and, what, they can't stand that?! What I see is jeaulousy, yea, sheer sociopathy even, when I see the gleeful joy some are having over seeing the investment of others destroyed. All y'all must be having a field day!
And from a game-mechanics POV, invalidating DrainX gear-groups, as a whole, is simply insane. Now, before anyone says you can still drain a bit, that's not the point. The point is, that things like the Terran Space set no longer bring you any surplus power from what you bought them for: their DrainX spec. Aka, they're vendor trash now.
And this is all good for the country, right?! And all supposed to increase the 'fun', no? How's about Cryptic don't dictate how I experience fun!? That was the whole notion of Trendy's saying to begin with.
Haha! Show me how I can do 200k+ with my nerfed Terran Space set, and all will be forgiven.
What you are arguing for is basically if Blizzard Entertainment let the Horde have paladins and the Alliance have Shamans during the Burning Crusade expansion but not let them have access to tier gear till near the end of said expansion. Its poor design and I don't think WoW would be where it's been over the years if Blizzard made the same choices for WoW as Cryptic/PWE has for STO. While it's important to respect the TV shows you do need to use suspension of disbelief in order to provide for the players of your game across all the factions you implement. Otherwise you'll end up with a product that is running on a string budget where bugs don't get fixed and change is introduced for the sake of generating more revenue and not just providing a good game experience which would get the revenue in the first place.
It doesn't matter that WoW wasn't based on a TV show. You build a good game and wrap the show around it sticking as true as possible to the game while making allowances for good game play. You don't build the game around a show that was never designed to provide good game play but only tell a story.
The intent of DrainX is mainly for drain builds. If you're going to go heavy on drains, it's to use it as part of an overall strategy of draining your target to make it weak. You stacked a bunch of drain for the pure purpose of DPS and nothing more.
That being said, yes, I think @crypticspartan#0627 handled the change to plasmonic leech in the worst way possible. He could have easily drastically reduced the buff scaling with DrainX, but instead, he threw the whole buff equation to the garbage.
He also could have attempted the "impossible" and made the drain equal to the power actually drained from the target, but a long time ago a dev mentioned that the buff and the drain are completely separate so it's not possible. A quick calc off the drain resistance of the target to figure out the buff portion would have been a nice fix. Hell, combine both my solutions, but no.
He took the easy way out "fixing" it with a very heavy handed nerf, hence why personally, I don't agree with it. Taking out the scaling aspect just turns it into garbage for most people.
The original intention of the console when it came out and after it stacked only 8 times was to suck power and at the same time buff self power equally. Now the console basically makes a lot of that power you suck disappear to who knows where.
I didn't call someone a sociopath. I *did* notice the general presence of 'sheer sociopathy' in these threads, though. And looking at the glee, and the pure Schadenfreude I witness in people about seeing these nerfs, I say that assessment was not far off.
Me? I have never laughed at someone's build getting nerfed; or felt joy about it even. Like those Exploders. Don't much use 'em myself, but don't experience any of the 'frenzy of joy' I see others having over someone else's stuff getting invalidated. I simply believe in 'Live, and let live.' I don't call for others being nerfed, and I don't like to be nerfed myself.
Actually you would be very wrong there. I stacked a bunch of drain for the pure purpose of overcoming the severe power penalty that Romulan Warbirds suffer from, and actually give me enough shield, engine and auxillary power to be viable in Elite Content.
After reading this whole thread, I come to find out, I am not a hardcore player. Awesome, I am normal!.
You have to admit that certain comments concerning these nerfs are a little on the insulting side. If you are happy about all these nerfs that's great, but you don't need to act like a complete a$$hat about it. I don't mean you in particular, but I have read some pretty dickish comments lately where people voice how happy they are at other peoples angst. It's one thing to discuss and argue the benefits of these nerfs, it's entirely another thing to be a unpleasant about it and directly attack people. That is of course the nature of the internet. You can be as mean-spirited as you want without consequence.
Reminds me of the lyrics from a Beatles song:
'You say yes, I say no,
You say stop, and I say go, go, go,
Oh no.
You say goodbye and I say hello, hello, hello,
I don't know why you say goodbye, I say hello, hello, hello,
I don't know why you say goodbye, I say hello.
I say high, you say low,
You say why, and I say I don't know...'
Well, you get the ghist.
l don't know.
l really don't know what l'm about to say, except l have a feeling about it.
That l must repeat the words that come without my knowledge.'
Bottom line is this Cryptic is owned by Perfect World now, if Perfect World says figure out how to get more money from the players, Cryptic has to obey their bosses. lol
#LegalizeAwoo
A normie goes "Oh, what's this?"
An otaku goes "UwU, what's this?"
A furry goes "OwO, what's this?"
A werewolf goes "Awoo, what's this?"
"It's nothing personal, I just don't feel like I've gotten to know a person until I've sniffed their crotch."
"We said 'no' to Mr. Curiosity. We're not home. Curiosity is not welcome, it is not to be invited in. Curiosity...is bad. It gets you in trouble, it gets you killed, and more importantly...it makes you poor!"
No, wait. They don't.
Tier 7 Ships coming soon in 2017. :P