??? the winter race to earn the ship is SOLO. None of the PVP races in events grants marks for the ships. They are all SOLO races against the clock or an NPC.
That's odd because the winter mission to get the ship mark always pointed me to the race vs other players where you have the stupid trophy grab at the end which is inherrently biased against anyone with a transatlantic ping to cope with.
Nope that is not the race for the ship. The race is Called The Fastest Race on Ice and you get it from the race coordinator in the gazebo near Q. You then go to the race starter who is standing alone in a tiny gazebo near the start finish line. The race you describe is for Epo marks for the winter pets.
As an alternative reward, how about some T6 Admiralty cards for completing rep trees? It's difficult to play the Admiralty system once it opens up on non-main faction alts. You don't get enough cards with the freebies.
I would not mind the idea of getting a tier five-U or tier six ship from the reps, but not so much as something quick. Make it that it takes items or marks from specific stfs that you use with the project. So something like 50k dil, maybe 1 billion ec, and then 5000 rep marks (maybe also 1000 elite marks too) while needing 50-100 maybe more of marks that you gain from completing specific stfs. Even this though I think would be too low an the devs if they did this would double those amount, maybe even more than that making it a true grind to get the ships.
Making any C-store ship available for nothing more than completing a Rep would be a financial loss for Cryptic, and no company stays in business by losing money, not to mention that the huge number of players that spent actual cash to buy a ship that all players now get free would not be good for business either. Making the people who are actually spending money on this game mad to cater to the whines whims of the non-spenders, not a wise business decision either.
Same goes for making lobi/lockbox ships a rep system reward. Key sales to open lock boxes trying to get a ship, or enough lobi to buy one at the lobi store is probably the largest income source this game has. Who is going to keep buying keys to open lock boxes if they can get what they by just playing a bunch of STFs for rep rewards ?
Every player gets a free T5 ship at level 40, and that ship is more than capable of handling all content this game has to offer ..elites might be a bit of a challenge though. I am not a top DPSer, not even close, and yet I managed to place 2nd or 3rd in CCA quite often, even 1st every now and then with nothing but my free T5 ship equipped with MK XII gear gotten from drops and missions. I even started running the story arcs on advance instead of normal cause normal wasn't challenging enough.
If someone can't handle this game in the free ship, they need to learn how to play better, not insulting anyone, it's just the cold hard truth.
I was F2P for two years before I went Gold. I never had any trouble getting any ship I wanted. I just didn't always get it RIGHT NOW. I suggest that there is no problem getting ships for F2P players and that some people need to learn some patience.
Use your T5 ship, grind some Dilithium, exchange for Zen, buy whatever ship you want. Will it take awhile? Yes. Is it easy to do? Yes. They do not need to be giving out any more free ships than they already do. This coming from someone who missed a couple of event ships that I really really want now, and can't get.
Or alternatively, wait for a Phoenix prize pack event and go nuts with them.
"Go play with your DPS in the corner, I don't care how big it is." ~ Me "There... are... four... lights!" ~Jean Luc Picard
You can buy a t5 ship on the fleet stores, there is a lot of ships for 200.000 marks, and they are very good, they are refits, as the refrofit need ship modules
Grind some Dilithium! I'm not sure what the current DL Exchange rate is but you should be able to grind out 25 ZEN or so a day with ease. Ship sales happen fairly regularly so getting whatever C-Store ship you want should come easily enough.
But it is so easy to farm the dilithium with which you can buy a ship. I'm still new. But even I (with my main and 5 farmer alts) can earn 300,000-ish Dilithium per week with minimal effort. At an exchange rate of 300 dilithium per zen that works out to 1000 zen per week. Three weeks to buy an important games asset is hardly unreasonable, especially in MMOs where grinding content is the end game.
I can see where this desire comes from. I, personally, never really wanted a T6 ship (till the S'ateth but that's was a lockbox drop so...) but alot of players push T6 like it's the only kind of ship a respectable captain would fly. Having to grind the months it'd take to get one outside of buying zen is just too delayed a gratification for many. But making a T6 a reputation reward, though, undermines not just the C-Store but also the dilithium market itself. Why bother with the market when a few weeks could have you possibly getting 6-7 different ships? Sure, the Reputations could try to balance that out with high dilithium costs, but those costs don't hold a candle to buying zen with dilithium. It's not needed nor necessary, the Reputations have rewards enough. And no, I'm not too rolling in ships to be out of touch. I still keep to a free account, I actually traded a mess of out-of-print lockboxes for my only non-event T6 (the previous mentioned S'ateth).
'Captain, though we spent much time and effort to train you as a Ship Captain, I regret to inform you that you will be assigned to the life of a miner to the end of your days.'
There was a Character on 'Babylon 5' who summed it up:
Zathras: 'Yes. Yes. Zathras is used to being beast of burden to other people's needs. Very sad life. Probably have... very sad death. But... at least there is Symmetry.'
'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.'
But... you get a Tier 5 at level 40. Why another Tier 5 at level 50? You know that if they did this it'd be another Tier 5 that can't be upgraded just like the one you get at level 40.
While I can't comment on the Lifetime rewards, free players don't get such an opportunity. I believe the notion presented by this thread is asking to expand the ship offerings for free players and not those with Lifetime memberships.
As an alternative reward, how about some T6 Admiralty cards for completing rep trees? It's difficult to play the Admiralty system once it opens up on non-main faction alts. You don't get enough cards with the freebies.
I could see this possibly working. I wouldn't make it a simple reward though. I would make it a rep project just like any other. It would have to cost at least 32,500 dilithium and maybe up to 65,000 and 750 marks and 5 elite marks. I would also make it more of a token admiralty ship and by that I mean a low level one. Like say a borg probe for Omega rep with 15-20ish points per category and a decentish bonus. Nothing too great like remove all event modifiers or anything but maybe something like +25 science when alone.
When you see "TRIBBLE" in my posts, it's because I manually typed "TRIBBLE" and censored myself.
If you buy a Lifetime Sub then you do get a free T6 ship. Problem solved!
But seriously, if you have been playing STO "for months now" then why not support it? Cryptic has to pay salaries and server bills, you should help with that if you're going to keep playing. Give up 6 lattes and you can buy a ship.
At least 5,000 marks
At least 20 elite marks
At least 100,000 dilithium
For each ship, and NEW ships, not C-store ships. Only then will you have yourself a deal from me.
I could see maybe the one tier 5 ship you getting at lvl 40, being upgraded to a T5U free at lvl 50, then another upgrade putting it at tier 6 lvl at 60. So the ship you get at 40 upgrades with you as you go along.
Simple, effective.
Star Trek Battles member. Want to roll with a good group of people regardless of fleets and not have to worry about DPS while doing STFs? Come join the channel and join in the fun!
If you buy a Lifetime Sub then you do get a free T6 ship. Problem solved!
But seriously, if you have been playing STO "for months now" then why not support it? Cryptic has to pay salaries and server bills, you should help with that if you're going to keep playing. Give up 6 lattes and you can buy a ship.
lets be serius, support what? Single player PVE based content that you can pass with balanced Tier 3 ship, and with balanced Tier 5 ship you can get 30-40K DPS, which is enought for enything you need to grind elites and adv?... PVP on the other side is power crreep feast where you die every 3 secs, and winer is team who die less... I dont think that paying for Tier 6 ship with OP console so you can storm PVE content in few seconds less then I can in T5 ship, is so good idea... PVP based game called WoT is far more profitabile, and there you can have free Tier 10 tank in one week "grinding hard" playstile... You dont need 2 months just converting dilithium to zen and ignoring everything else so you can buy one useless Tier 6 ship, that will do same thing as Tier 5 ship in PVE...
So leave then, nobody will miss you, and world of tanks blows.
As I would care if i dont miss some unknown STO wallet warrior with behaviour issues... I like SP part of this game, and its free, so i play it... But Would I pay for useless T6 ship just to storm ISA in 5sec less than im doing now in T5 ship? OFC not.... Would I pay premium time if PVP would be in better situation with some kind of good MM? I would pay that... And as far as is WoT concerned, fact is that PVP there is good example to be somehow balanced and profitable at same time...
Where are these "useless" Tier-6 ships?
I own quite a few of them (bought every one of them with cash I saved up by skipping Starbucks for a few months, didn't need the excess calories anyway). I concur with azrael605. If you do not like this game--and it certainly is not for everybody--then you can always just leave.
I've tried using Tier-3 ships in the PVE advanced maps. You don't last long, even with Hyper-shields (Capx4), properly balanced equipment (deflector, impulse, and warp core all geared towards increased shielding, shield-buff, and increased hull heal and max cap), kick-butt weapons (a set of MK XII Protonic_Polaron cannons and turrets, and ), and all MK XII-Very Rare Consoles (neutronium, nanite, prefire-mag, polaron-mag, and Protonic-Photon target module).
The simple fact that the Akira type Heavy Escort I am describing only has 20,000 hull-points illustrates that even with a nice set up of weapons, equipment and consoles, there is still room for improvement. I saved up $10.00 (in a week of no Starbucks) for a Thunderchild to replace it, but that ship was not good enough after a few months on some of the "Advanced" PVE maps so it gave me reason enough to dump it for the Tier-5U Armitage Heavy Escort Carrier which has 42,666 hull-points (at level-60, with the right character skills). Doing elite PVE got me to upgrade to the Tier-6 Alta-class. Paid cash/zen for all three by just giving up another vice/waste-of-money in the form of ridiculously-priced coffee.
I still have my Akira in inventory and I do use it on normal level-maps like Borg-Disconnected, but on maps like Gateway to Gre-thor it won't cut it. The Herald ships tear it to ribbons because it has no hit-points.
I'm with a Tier-4 starbase that is slowly grinding its way to Tier-5 and that is a good thing because it gives me a few months to save up for the Fleet level Akira type ships I'll use to replace the Akira, and Thunderchild, and add a fourth Akira type to my fleet of ships so that my escorts each have a different weapon set to best handle different alien opponents in PVE.
I dislike the loadout system of STO, I prefer to use ships (I know that is expensive....REALLY expensive, but I am willing to spend the cash to help support the game and keep the servers running, the staff paid, and new content coming).
Part of the appeal of this game for me is the ability to acquire ships that each be customized to fight a specific alien race, and/or be customized for PVE, and PVP, and general gaming. I use escorts for PVP (high-DPS) and some PVE. I use cruisers for the adventures, and some PVE maps. Once you have been here a few years you can do that. This game is not for those looking to get instant gratification (you cannot even pay in cash to get that). It is for people who love Star Trek and are enjoying a highly-customized experience within Cryptic's version of the Star Trek universe. I have enjoyed it since 2010, and I'm sorry you seem not to.
However, to each his own.
For PVP i use T5 science ship that you got on lvl 40, and it kicking T6 a*s without problem, just becouse it has good setup... For PVE i use T5-U tholian meshweaver that i buy on exchange for 3mil EC, and upgrade coast me another 17mil, an that you can grind up in few days... With meshweaver i can do new corfez without problems with premade team from my fleet, and my science T5 can kick a** in Elite content if i drop PVP equpment and put PVE based one... SO from my point of View, i dont need pay T6 ship...
Comments
Nope that is not the race for the ship. The race is Called The Fastest Race on Ice and you get it from the race coordinator in the gazebo near Q. You then go to the race starter who is standing alone in a tiny gazebo near the start finish line. The race you describe is for Epo marks for the winter pets.
Same goes for making lobi/lockbox ships a rep system reward. Key sales to open lock boxes trying to get a ship, or enough lobi to buy one at the lobi store is probably the largest income source this game has. Who is going to keep buying keys to open lock boxes if they can get what they by just playing a bunch of STFs for rep rewards ?
Every player gets a free T5 ship at level 40, and that ship is more than capable of handling all content this game has to offer ..elites might be a bit of a challenge though. I am not a top DPSer, not even close, and yet I managed to place 2nd or 3rd in CCA quite often, even 1st every now and then with nothing but my free T5 ship equipped with MK XII gear gotten from drops and missions. I even started running the story arcs on advance instead of normal cause normal wasn't challenging enough.
If someone can't handle this game in the free ship, they need to learn how to play better, not insulting anyone, it's just the cold hard truth.
Use your T5 ship, grind some Dilithium, exchange for Zen, buy whatever ship you want. Will it take awhile? Yes. Is it easy to do? Yes. They do not need to be giving out any more free ships than they already do. This coming from someone who missed a couple of event ships that I really really want now, and can't get.
Or alternatively, wait for a Phoenix prize pack event and go nuts with them.
"There... are... four... lights!" ~Jean Luc Picard
There was a Character on 'Babylon 5' who summed it up:
Zathras: 'Yes. Yes. Zathras is used to being beast of burden to other people's needs. Very sad life. Probably have... very sad death. But... at least there is Symmetry.'
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.'
But seriously, if you have been playing STO "for months now" then why not support it? Cryptic has to pay salaries and server bills, you should help with that if you're going to keep playing. Give up 6 lattes and you can buy a ship.
At least 20 elite marks
At least 100,000 dilithium
For each ship, and NEW ships, not C-store ships. Only then will you have yourself a deal from me.
Helpful Tools: Dictionary.com - Logical fallacies - Random generator - Word generator - Color tool - Extra Credits - List of common English language errors - New T6 Big booty tutorial
Simple, effective.
Star Trek Battles member. Want to roll with a good group of people regardless of fleets and not have to worry about DPS while doing STFs? Come join the channel and join in the fun!
http://forum.arcgames.com/startrekonline/discussion/1145998/star-trek-battles-channel-got-canon/p1
lets be serius, support what? Single player PVE based content that you can pass with balanced Tier 3 ship, and with balanced Tier 5 ship you can get 30-40K DPS, which is enought for enything you need to grind elites and adv?... PVP on the other side is power crreep feast where you die every 3 secs, and winer is team who die less... I dont think that paying for Tier 6 ship with OP console so you can storm PVE content in few seconds less then I can in T5 ship, is so good idea... PVP based game called WoT is far more profitabile, and there you can have free Tier 10 tank in one week "grinding hard" playstile... You dont need 2 months just converting dilithium to zen and ignoring everything else so you can buy one useless Tier 6 ship, that will do same thing as Tier 5 ship in PVE...
As I would care if i dont miss some unknown STO wallet warrior with behaviour issues... I like SP part of this game, and its free, so i play it... But Would I pay for useless T6 ship just to storm ISA in 5sec less than im doing now in T5 ship? OFC not.... Would I pay premium time if PVP would be in better situation with some kind of good MM? I would pay that... And as far as is WoT concerned, fact is that PVP there is good example to be somehow balanced and profitable at same time...
For PVP i use T5 science ship that you got on lvl 40, and it kicking T6 a*s without problem, just becouse it has good setup... For PVE i use T5-U tholian meshweaver that i buy on exchange for 3mil EC, and upgrade coast me another 17mil, an that you can grind up in few days... With meshweaver i can do new corfez without problems with premade team from my fleet, and my science T5 can kick a** in Elite content if i drop PVP equpment and put PVE based one... SO from my point of View, i dont need pay T6 ship...