TRIBBLE MAINTENANCE AND RELEASE NOTES - 5/2/18

coldsnapped · May 2018

Tribble has been updated with build: ST.87.20180426a.4

New Feature:

Gamma Quadrant Battlezone:

The Gamma Quadrant is now open and can be accessed through the wormhole at Deep Space Nine!
While exploring the Gamma Quadrant and completing missions, captains will receive alerts about hot spots in various sectors where the Hur’q are attacking, gathering resources, or building up their forces.
Team with others in the Gamma Quadrant to stop the Hur’q.
Fighting in these operations will earn experience, expertise, Gamma marks, and Dilithium.
The more participation, the more captains earn!
This is still a work in progress.
- The boss in the final portion of the battlezone is not functioning correctly and cannot be completed at this time.
For more details, please visit the Gamma Quadrant Battlezone Blog at: https://www.arcgames.com/en/games/star-trek-online/news/detail/10887104-introducing:-the-gamma-quadrant-battlezone!

General:

Numerous updates made to the interior of Deep Space Nine.

leemwatson · May 2018

roebotsixtyfive wrote: »

Well. Not one of the Gamma missions is able to be actually completed (you can hold on and get a piffling amount of Marks (between 5 and 15 it seems, which is just feeble (a problem with all Battlezones), but can't actually complete the actual objective) solo.

"Planetary Assault" isn't possible to complete unless your ship is the fastest thing in the universe as 3 spread out lanes is not feasible to cover in any normal ship but at least the enemies aren't unbeatable.

"Sinister Gathering" is just impossible solo. I got the concept of "Break Asteroid, fire special torpedo" but Hur'q swarmers are faster than most ships (a seperated Galaxy X with Mk XV gold engines at 100 power! (that was what I was using)) and so numerous that chances are by the time you've fired off a few torpedoes, the Hur'q Swarmers have not only stole all the asteroid fragments but used them to fix the damage your torpedoes dealt, and often heal it even further.

"Break the Circle" is also impossible for 99% of people to do Solo, my Tribble Gal X isn't a DPS wagon yet is still better in DPS terms than the average player (due to Tribble, it has all Mk XV Gold weapons (Specifically cannons) and a more harmonious set of BOff powers than most people have as well as a Tac Captain), but whittling down a Dreadnought that gets a 10 second total damage immunity to that shield facing every few attacks to that shield makes whittling it down far more of a chore than it should be. This "Reactive Shielding" alone is what makes "Break the Circle" annoying as it's just too easy to trigger and it's effect is WAY too strong.

Now for some ideas I had to make these missions more fun for the solo player (and possibly groups).

"Planetary Assault" - *Number of Lanes = Number Of Players* or *move the lanes much closer together* would make it far more enjoyable, as it would make it more about stopping the Hur'q ships rather than fatally trying to defend 3 spots that are very far away from each other from infinitely respawning swarms. Maybe up the number of Hur'q per lane to make it more of a challenge. The primary issue I had with this mission was it seemed to assume you were in some hyper-speed pilot escort, which made it dull, boring and impossible to complete well with ships that can't go 1000 impulse (which guess what, is 99%+ of players).

"Sinister Gathering" - Instead of having the target ship be 100% immune to damage, have it resist say 75% of all incoming damage so that the Dominion force that engages actually does something as well as make it easier for players who don't have hyper-speed ships (when a ship at 100+ engine power and Gold Mk XV's is too slow to get anywhere near the asteroids before the Hur'q swoop in and grab all the fragments, it's an issue) to get the asteroid fragments (much larger pickup range (2km is a menace to get near in a larger ship) of say 5km as well as a lesser cooldown on torpedo launching (8 seconds is an eternity when the things fly so slowly and the Hur'q are constantly healing the target ship). OR Have the torpedoes remove the ship's damage immunity for 10 seconds so that you grab a load of torpedoes then fly near the target ship, unleash a special asteroid torpedo and unleash your normal weapons rather than having to constantly break asteroids, have the Hur'q steal most of it, then slowly wait for your torpedo to crawl to it's target to do 5% of damage which the rest of the Hur'q have almost certainly healed by that point.

"Break the Circle" - Nothing much needs to be done here, just make the Hur'q capital ship's "Reactive Shielding" less annoying (a change that should be applied to all Hur'q, it's not fun in the slightest to have an enemy constantly spam long duration damage immunities). 800k Hull is a lot for normal ships to whittle down without some cheap damage immunity springing up every few seconds.

P.S. Hur'q "Reactive Shielding" is the single most annoying power I've ever seen, it's way too strong an effect to give a shield facing 100% damage immunity (including things that normally ignore facing like Gravity Wells and Plasma Burns) for 3 easily built up stacks. Then there is the duration of 10 seconds which is obscene considering it seems to be applied/re-applied in a lot less than 10 seconds. A simple change would be to make it reduce incoming damage to that shield facing by 50% or 75%, which would still encourage moving to another facing, but wouldn't be anywhere near as cheap a move. Or give it a 20+ second cooldown after it is applied so that it doesn't just automatically re-apply pretty much as soon as it's gone.

At it's core, the Gamma Battlezone is a good idea, so don't let horrific balancing (Hint: Balance to NORMAL players, and not the top 1% of DPS chasers) completely ruin it like the Tzenkethi Battlezone!

Sorry but I solo'd each of these events without issue and I'm not a DPS chaser! These queues encourage different tactics that don't focus entirely on DPS and they scale to the average level of the players on the map.

Planetary Assault is fine. As long as you last the 5 mins without letting 25 ships land you'll pass the queue.

Sinister Gathering is working as intended. Clear away enemies whilst collecting up bombs. It's not that hard.

Break the Circle requires you whittle down the swarmers to make it easier to take out the Capital ship. It's very achievable.

People have got to used to weapons being the answer to every solution. Adaption to the tactics to beat these new activities is so simple. You over-state alot in your analysis. The fact is there are avenues to make this easier, which means players need to adapt. They haven't made anything too hard to figure out and each activity actually tells you what to do to beat it.

roebotsixtyfive · May 2018

What kind of ship do you fly? Because it all seems extremely biased to fast and agile beam ships (which seem to be exactly what the DPS chasers fly) who can just orbit enemies in a circle spamming beams. Not slower tanky cannon/dual beam/torpedo ships.

I also class complete as not "Sit out the timer and not fail" but to actually complete the objective which would be destroy target ship in 2 of them and not let any ships land in the other. I would be honestly amazed if people actually failed Break the Circle or Sinister Gathering as neither of these even seem to have a failure condition.

I could just sit and take the abuse from the swarmers in Break the Circle easily (I actually did), and if it wasn't for their repulsors I would never have been able to orbit the thing in the slightest as it always seemed to turn to face me as fast as my slow cruiser could turn.

P.S. I deliberately have my Tribble ship rigged to a more "General Player Skill" level to get more realistic results for testing (partly to make up for Tribble's unrealistic everything max Mk Gold, which the vast majority on holodeck don't have and probably won't have for an extremely long time) (no fleet Tac consoles, No Rom Op/Pirate BOffs, a few dud weapon procs like CrtH, no special traits). The thing is a lot more potent on Holodeck as it's actually built better, but it's still primarily a tank which means it's slow at the best of times, but very little can kill it.

I appreciate the design choices to make things less of a DPS race, but these Hur'q ones seem overly biased (like many things sadly) to agile beam ships. (I find Tzenkethi to be a non-DPS solution done really well, they are extremely tough from all angles except the front, which is where all their weapons are but their shields fold like a piece of paper, but due to their combat style being very forward facing, they aren't difficult for even the most sluggish of ships to attack in their weak spot (unless you are using mines and only mines, in which case, may luck be on your side)).

Speed wouldn't be an issue if Red Alert wasn't extended by many positive effects (seemingly at random) which make full impulsing to make a slow ship actually move a nuisance as killing Hur'q swarmers isn't an issue even for just a few turrets (they seem to sit somewhere inbetween Frigates and Fighters and are truly unique) but the long wait afterwards while waiting for a buff to expire so your big fat ship that relies on Full Impulse to move itself is.

On a side note, the Hur'q "Reactive Shielding" seems to completely fail in it's immunity if other facings have stacks (which would make group attacks a non-issue while making it a nuisance only for solo) (my Delta Flyers and Saucer were attack from one end, the main ship from the other, and the damage immunity didn't seem to appear until my pets got wiped and had to be redeployed), but it could've just been the swarms handily pushing me around. It also got the immunity when shields were totally down which struck me as odd given the power's name.

P.P.S. Sinister Gathering may also find issues once the initial novelty wears off as I've noticed from past queues that those with more complex objectives than "Go here, Shoot This" often have issues with people not doing what is needed.

P.P.P.S. Of course, balancing for solo may end up being moot in reality as Tribble always seems absolutely deserted in it's entirety compared to just one spot of Holodeck.

UPDATE: Glass Cannon Andorian-Pilot Escort easily wiped Break the Circle. Scatter Volley III + Spread III wiped the swarms out and then I just danced it around the target ship with the pilot rolls until it died. Seems very biased to agile DPS ships and makes me seriously wonder if there is even a point being a big heavy tank anymore.

UPDATE 2: Glass Cannon Ando-Pilot Escort also managed to do Sinister Gathering with no issues. Speed is something it can do which my tanky Gal-X can't. This whole battlezone seems to be heavily biased towards fast and agile ships (older battlezones allowed heavy tanking ships to do their job as they were primarily defensive in nature).

P.P.P.P.S. I'm assuming the GBZ missions being in the queues menu is a Tribble feature for easy testing (less sector crawling is always appreciated though).

leemwatson · May 2018

I'm flying the Paradox lumbering about 40 Impulse. It's slow, and it's a Sci Dreadnaught that punches hard. These maps are not made for 1 ship in mind at all. Yes speed helps, but that only on Planetary Assault when you are on your own, but it doesn't matter it you are teamed. If you need a speed burst, use Evasive. I use that skill for nothing else than a speed burst during Red Alert.

I destroyed the Captial ships in Sinister Gathering and Break The Circle without great issue and you don't need to sit out the five minutes at all.

In Sinister Gathering, the Cap Ship is immune to everything except the bombs, and to be honest, I never let it get completed. You can fire everything you have, use every trick you think, but it's immune to everything except those bombs.

Planetary Assault you HAVE TO LAST 5 MINUTES to win. It's the only way to win it. If you let 25 ships land you fail that instance. Your marks reward will be based on how many Hur'q land and the HP the Habitats survive with (The marks are not programmed in yet).

Break the Circle was a breeze, being a Sci, but anyone can throw a Grav well to control those swarmers.

The problem is, the game NEEDS tough enemies for players to learn and adapt. Too long have people had it easy with 'DPS power creep space bar spam'. Just taking that 40 seconds to read how to do each instance is all people need to adapt, and adapt they must do. I passed each first time, with only 3 ships landing on P.A.

STO needs to get away from STO:FARMVILLE that many players would like to become where they can log in, press one button and win.

The GBZ activities are in the queue, as you say correctly, for testing only. Once live, you'll fly to those locations instead.

And finally, balancing is not yet finished, as is anything in G.Q. They were talking about it for an hour last night on the Ten Forward live-stream and said this repeatedly. Personally, I really liked it all so far.

roebotsixtyfive · May 2018

Paradox explains a lot. It's a very potent science vessel with the added potency of Hangar bays, an extra weapon and a good health pool. It also explains how you easily dealt with Sinister Gathering as a full power grav well will just destroy the swarmers and they respawn rather slowly, just not slowly enough for a fat tank to lumber it's way through. I had 2 Science based ships on my rotation recently, and the difference between a hybrid Something-Else/Sci Vessel and a True Sci Vessel was clear as day. The True Sci Vessel just destroys things with a Grav Well III and Subspace Vortex combo and whatever I use to trigger the deteriorating secondary deflector and barely has to fire it's weapons at all, while the Hybrid ends up having to do most of the work with it's weapons due to a much weaker Grav Well I and SSV combo. True Sci Vessels are extremely powerful to the point of being game-breaking (not quite DPS chaser game-breaking, but close, but also not fun-ruining as you know there is a person controlling it and picking their targets and not some macro spamming keybinds) when used right and conditions are favourable (lots of enemies in close proximity get caught by grav well, one dies and triggers a chain of explosions).

However, you are delusional if you think 40 impulse is slow. My Galaxy X barely cracks somewhere between 20 and 30 (normal engine power, not give up everything else to try and make the thing move engine power) and that's one of my faster ones (my Ent J might just be my slowest (it also turns like a supertanker), but that thing has never died, even when it drew 90%+ of all fire in ISA it still lived. Most of the time I never even have to heal it regens so fast), and can't turn as well as a Paradox (I have a Paradox on another char not on Tribble, turns too well for something so big).

Also, don't get me wrong, I actually do like the GBZ (I also like the Tzen BZ, but I don't like it's time-gate and guaranteed Tzenkethi re-caps which combine to make it almost unbeatable unless 9 people actually capture every single point at once, which isn't going to happen with pubs as for some reason they like to make it harder on themselves by moving in a giant pack), I just wish there was content where being a fat tank was a plus rather than constantly favouring agility (such an example would involve being able to weather heavy incoming damage that can't be dodged). I'm also a firm believer in cannons.

P.S. Grav Well I has pretty much no pulling power to deal with faster ships anymore (it will snag slower ones, but anything speedy isn't going to be held for long, if at all) and barring Science based ships and a few select ships, nothing else can launch more than a Grav Well I (and many cruisers can't even launch that, and if they can, they often lose any and all tactical capabilities).

P.P.S. Never rely on the average pubber doing much more than just shooting things. Most of them seem to be on auto-pilot following the pack and shooting the first thing that moves (I see this in all manner of games, not just STO).

crioijouls · May 2018

Still getting the DXGI_UNSUPPORTED_DEVICE error for D3D. Is this a bug, and is there a work-around?

kirimuffin · May 2018

The new DS9 ship selector still doesn't actually let you select your ship (it only allows switching between your current starship and current small craft.)

Level 61 still doesn't grant a T5-U upgrade token like the blog says it should.

thetanine · May 2018

roebotsixtyfive wrote: »

What kind of ship do you fly? Because it all seems extremely biased to...[snip][/snip]...a Tribble feature for easy testing.

If you can't solve it logically, solve it like a moron.

Your words, not mine.

roebotsixtyfive · May 2018

kirimuffin wrote: »

The new DS9 ship selector still doesn't actually let you select your ship (it only allows switching between your current starship and current small craft.)

Level 61 still doesn't grant a T5-U upgrade token like the blog says it should.

It's not clearly stated in the wording if you get the T5-U token before or after choosing the free ship, I read it and got the implication that you got the token after you chose a ship. I can't recall being able to buy the ship to test this due to the C-Store being all but disabled on Tribble.

kirimuffin · May 2018

roebotsixtyfive wrote: »

kirimuffin wrote: »

The new DS9 ship selector still doesn't actually let you select your ship (it only allows switching between your current starship and current small craft.)

Level 61 still doesn't grant a T5-U upgrade token like the blog says it should.

It's not clearly stated in the wording if you get the T5-U token before or after choosing the free ship, I read it and got the implication that you got the token after you chose a ship. I can't recall being able to buy the ship to test this due to the C-Store being all but disabled on Tribble.

You actually don't need the C-Store; you can just go to a ship vendor (on ESD or elsewhere) and claim one of the eligible ships directly if you have the ship token from level 61. And yeah, I've tested it, and no, it doesn't give you the upgrade token when you claim the ship.

roebotsixtyfive · May 2018

kirimuffin wrote: »

roebotsixtyfive wrote: »

kirimuffin wrote: »

The new DS9 ship selector still doesn't actually let you select your ship (it only allows switching between your current starship and current small craft.)

Level 61 still doesn't grant a T5-U upgrade token like the blog says it should.

It's not clearly stated in the wording if you get the T5-U token before or after choosing the free ship, I read it and got the implication that you got the token after you chose a ship. I can't recall being able to buy the ship to test this due to the C-Store being all but disabled on Tribble.

You actually don't need the C-Store; you can just go to a ship vendor (on ESD or elsewhere) and claim one of the eligible ships directly if you have the ship token from level 61. And yeah, I've tested it, and no, it doesn't give you the upgrade token when you claim the ship.

How peculiar. When last I looked at a vendor it didn't let me get anything, but that was before this patch.

I wonder why you didn't get the token, I'm assuming the ship you picked wasn't one you have T5Ued before?

leemwatson · May 2018

roebotsixtyfive wrote: »

kirimuffin wrote: »

roebotsixtyfive wrote: »

kirimuffin wrote: »

The new DS9 ship selector still doesn't actually let you select your ship (it only allows switching between your current starship and current small craft.)

Level 61 still doesn't grant a T5-U upgrade token like the blog says it should.

It's not clearly stated in the wording if you get the T5-U token before or after choosing the free ship, I read it and got the implication that you got the token after you chose a ship. I can't recall being able to buy the ship to test this due to the C-Store being all but disabled on Tribble.

You actually don't need the C-Store; you can just go to a ship vendor (on ESD or elsewhere) and claim one of the eligible ships directly if you have the ship token from level 61. And yeah, I've tested it, and no, it doesn't give you the upgrade token when you claim the ship.

How peculiar. When last I looked at a vendor it didn't let me get anything, but that was before this patch.

I wonder why you didn't get the token, I'm assuming the ship you picked wasn't one you have T5Ued before?

It was in before this patch and it was working.

TRIBBLE MAINTENANCE AND RELEASE NOTES - 5/2/18

Comments