TBH, I'll probably still use the general tech upgrades simply because I tend to have a better chance at upgrading the quality with them versus the Phoenix upgrades, but that maybe just me.
A sad day for some crafters though, no more income from selling tech upgrades in between pack weeks.
Yeah, wow, this is a huge change to upgrade kits. Now only the experimental ones will be worth anything.
If they are smart they will bump up those quality improvement chances to keep crafted kits relevant. Make all the kits up to superior give +10% chance and experimental +15%. Phoenix can take over being the cheap 5% option, and then it will all work out.
Looks like the STO economy will be impacted big time. Nice for those who do need the upgrades and will burn DIL in the process much more quicker...at least in the short term.
I think of it like this, folks have been asking for a new and better dilithium sink for awhile. This provides one that will always have some value even if just for the upgrade tokens. Fleet holdings are good but they're only good dilithium sinks for awhile because you don't need to sink dilithium into them nearly as much once they're completed. I about fell out of my chair when I read this myself. Now I don't have to feel pressured to save my dilithium and guess when phoenix is going to happen, I can just pick them up as needed.
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OK so what will be the point of crafting upgrade kits now and the materials required to do so? The only thing superior ones are good for is not wasting extra dilithium when reaching mkxv but at the cost of some EC. A change is needed to keep them viable alongside those from phoenix boxes.
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OK so what will be the point of crafting upgrade kits now and the materials required to do so? The only thing superior ones are good for is not wasting extra dilithium when reaching mkxv but at the cost of some EC. A change is needed to keep them viable alongside those from phoenix boxes.
Yes, you now only need them to "top off" an upgrade where a 4,000 dil Phoenix would waste tech points.
Experimental still has some value for leveling up from Mark II VR crafted and Mark 1 white store purchases (TOS gear, melee weapons, maybe some Romulan guns?).
I like the suggestion earlier of raising the quality improvement chance for both plain and experimental crafted upgrades. Even something small like 1.5x chance for plain and 2.5 - 3x chance for experimental would keep them relevant.
OK so what will be the point of crafting upgrade kits now and the materials required to do so? The only thing superior ones are good for is not wasting extra dilithium when reaching mkxv but at the cost of some EC. A change is needed to keep them viable alongside those from phoenix boxes.
There is no point in it aside from having a noob trap of some sort. Overall the change makes the whole subject of upgrading easier and cheaper now. No real reason to progress the crafting system on alts either anymore. Another step back to that "casual" game experience we once had before DR and that so many miss.
Down for me is less EC income, big up is lots of free time on my hand instead of manufacturing upgraders and bushing buttons. Time will tell if I tend more or less to STO over it. Atm it looks like the latter but not sure.
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I like the idea mentioned here about the 5, 10, 15% quality improvement to keep the crafted ones useful
I only use them myself when close to the next flip as I am a miser who hates to waste points.
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I think of it like this, folks have been asking for a new and better dilithium sink for awhile. This provides one that will always have some value even if just for the upgrade tokens.
Except it doesn't, because it just replaces the original upgrade tokens with cheaper ones. In other words, standard upgrades were a bigger sink than phoenix upgrades.
Phoenix was only a major dil sink in the beginning, when space-rich collectors were going for ships they'd missed (I got myself a Bulwark).
I think of it like this, folks have been asking for a new and better dilithium sink for awhile. This provides one that will always have some value even if just for the upgrade tokens.
Except it doesn't, because it just replaces the original upgrade tokens with cheaper ones. In other words, standard upgrades were a bigger sink than phoenix upgrades.
Phoenix was only a major dil sink in the beginning, when space-rich collectors were going for ships they'd missed (I got myself a Bulwark).
You could well be right on that. This looks like its reducing the dilithium sink not increasing it. Its hard to be 100% sure but I expect this change will reduce the amount of dilithium leaving the game. Its a win though for people who like upgrading gear for less dilithium cost.
Unless they're actually going to give the drop rate a bump there's going to be an initial flurry on the dilex then little to no movement until the next upgrade weekend which won't be til the new year sometime. Assuming of course those don't become more regular in another panic move.
On both f2p and LTS accounts all the freebies from grym were green tokens, not even a single blue. That confirms that I won't be wasting my dil on these until such a time that I'm hitting the cap on both refined and raw.
Actually the one epic token I have gotten since phoenix packs started was from the Grym freebie, as one the single ultra rare. The best I have gotten out of the dil store packs have be very rare. Aside from that the freebie packs ran about the same as the dil packs (which is very heavily weighted towards green) as far as I could see.
I think of it like this, folks have been asking for a new and better dilithium sink for awhile. This provides one that will always have some value even if just for the upgrade tokens. Fleet holdings are good but they're only good dilithium sinks for awhile because you don't need to sink dilithium into them nearly as much once they're completed. I about fell out of my chair when I read this myself. Now I don't have to feel pressured to save my dilithium and guess when phoenix is going to happen, I can just pick them up as needed.
That dil reserve stockpiling could very well be why they made the change, savings have a big effect on economies in general and they may be trying to get more of a flow going in place of the build-up-and-bust cycle.
It is like the temporary ships in admiralty thing, when asked about a filter system to sort them into a separate pool the devs seemed to be genuinely puzzled as to why people were not using them as they got them. Their economic model was probably set up with the idea that people would spend dil as an everyday thing instead of saving huge reserves of it.
It might also be a case of trying to encourage people to work their way up to the epic level ships by using the 10->1 token upgrade pyramid in the phoenix store. As long as people think of the tokens as event-only currency that is not likely to happen, but if it becomes another normal (if expensive) currency people will eventually start climbing the pyramid for an epic token ship the same way they do with keys in the exchange to build up funds for a lockbox ship. And that would sink a lot of dil if it caught on.
I think people will spend more dil even though Phoenix boxes are more dil-efficient, because now dil is all that you need.
Before you either had to (be R&D level 15 for each type, craft, wait 15 minutes for 1-2) or spend 50 - 100,000 credits to buy Superiors off the exchange.
Now, if you get a promotion leveling up a new character you can spend some dil no matter where you are, and instantly have a tech upgrade even if you have 0 credits. New players need no credits, no R&D levels.
Or if you're at endgame and somewhere in sector space away from the exchange, no need to make 5 map transitions.
It's an impulse buy now. You get dil, you think "hmm, my dual beam bank is still mark XII..."
I think people will spend more dil even though Phoenix boxes are more dil-efficient, because now dil is all that you need.
Before you either had to craft and wait 15 minutes for 1-2 or spend 50 - 100,000 credits to buy Superiors off the exchange.
Now, if you get a promotion leveling up a new character you can spend some dil no matter where you are, and instantly have a tech upgrade even if you have 0 credits.
Or if you're at endgame and somewhere in sector space away from the exchange, no need to make 5 map transitions.
It's an impulse buy now. You get dil, you think "hmm, my dual beam bank is still mark XII..."
I can't immediately think of any location in game where it would take 5(!) map transitions to get to an exchange, but it sure ain't sector space (even with the Azura transponder on cd).
Anyway, "impulse buy" isn't significant. It's not even possible to just all of a sudden get all that much dil and ultimately a player who wants to upgrade their gear will do so even if it can't be done in the middle of nowhere. And players who don't want to upgrade aren't going to change their minds just 'cause it could be done in the middle of nowhere.
And it still won't really even be an impulse buy since the optimal remains "wait for the upgrade bonus weekends."
> @warpangel said: > (Quote) > Except it doesn't, because it just replaces the original upgrade tokens with cheaper ones. In other words, standard upgrades were a bigger sink than phoenix upgrades. > > Phoenix was only a major dil sink in the beginning, when space-rich collectors were going for ships they'd missed (I got myself a Bulwark).
Actually id say it works better. Everyone I talked to during the double upgrade weekend spoke against upgrading without phoenix boxes.
I can see why. There is a psychological shame to feeling ripped off. And using any upgrade but the phoenix for many was just that. No one was using the upgrades except the very, very desperate. Because to most it was a waste of dil and creates the feeling of being ripped off.
When it comes to upgrades if its not phoenix or omega is just as well have not existed. People even said here in the forums only fools would use non phoenix or omega upgrades, even during double upgrade.
Thinking of ideas from lots of games for, dunno how long now.
I think of it like this, folks have been asking for a new and better dilithium sink for awhile. This provides one that will always have some value even if just for the upgrade tokens. Fleet holdings are good but they're only good dilithium sinks for awhile because you don't need to sink dilithium into them nearly as much once they're completed. I about fell out of my chair when I read this myself. Now I don't have to feel pressured to save my dilithium and guess when phoenix is going to happen, I can just pick them up as needed.
When I heard this, I just about fell out of my chair, I had over 2,200 Pheonix upgrade bought that morning.
Looking on this some more, I don't see this having a meaningful impact on reduction of the dilithium exchange. Perhaps a quickie short term drop of 30 points or so, but that's all, before it pops back up with constant sales. It's the same amount when the Phoenix packs events were happening at the same time as any sale(especially key or promo box sales).
One of the reasons why it worked so well for dropping the dilithium exchange so hard the first couple of times, was because there was no zen store sale to hamstring it. And because it was so fresh, with a sense of urgency attached to it being limited duration. It had its luster, it felt like a special treat to get for dessert. I don't see it dropping the ratio much below 450:1 for a sustained period of time. It certainly didn't drop it below that with this latest Phoenix event.
I think of it like this, folks have been asking for a new and better dilithium sink for awhile. This provides one that will always have some value even if just for the upgrade tokens.
Except it doesn't, because it just replaces the original upgrade tokens with cheaper ones. In other words, standard upgrades were a bigger sink than phoenix upgrades.
Phoenix was only a major dil sink in the beginning, when space-rich collectors were going for ships they'd missed (I got myself a Bulwark).
You could well be right on that. This looks like its reducing the dilithium sink not increasing it. Its hard to be 100% sure but I expect this change will reduce the amount of dilithium leaving the game. Its a win though for people who like upgrading gear for less dilithium cost.
I think so as well but am not certain to 100%. The overall Dil consumption for upgrades is a whole lot less now not to mention easier to do. Then again it could also verry well be that the reduced costs will trigger a greater percentage of STO players to even bother with upgrades you know? That would make it a greater sink then.
The change makes a major, ongoing part of the crafting system completely uselss which is indeed a big price to pay for those who tended to the system. This is a bit sad but fits the picture I was getting as of late that everything in STO *must* get easier for some reason.
No idea why cuz *everything in game is awsome and great as it is anyway* but metrics seems to tell them so I guess.
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It's just like when they removed the capability of the Reputation Elite Marks trade-in for Dilitium of benefiting from Bonus Dilitium Weekends - it makes the trade-in 'valuable' all year long.
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I think of it like this, folks have been asking for a new and better dilithium sink for awhile. This provides one that will always have some value even if just for the upgrade tokens.
Except it doesn't, because it just replaces the original upgrade tokens with cheaper ones. In other words, standard upgrades were a bigger sink than phoenix upgrades.
Phoenix was only a major dil sink in the beginning, when space-rich collectors were going for ships they'd missed (I got myself a Bulwark).
You could well be right on that. This looks like its reducing the dilithium sink not increasing it. Its hard to be 100% sure but I expect this change will reduce the amount of dilithium leaving the game. Its a win though for people who like upgrading gear for less dilithium cost.
I think so as well but am not certain to 100%. The overall Dil consumption for upgrades is a whole lot less now not to mention easier to do. Then again it could also verry well be that the reduced costs will trigger a greater percentage of STO players to even bother with upgrades you know? That would make it a greater sink then.
The change makes a major, ongoing part of the crafting system completely uselss which is indeed a big price to pay for those who tended to the system. This is a bit sad but fits the picture I was getting as of late that everything in STO *must* get easier for some reason.
No idea why cuz *everything in game is awsome and great as it is anyway* but metrics seems to tell them so I guess.
While having breakfast today I was wondering will this also impact the Omega event? Not only will the change be hurting metrics by players like us that will not be crafting. But with the overflow of dill we have and 24/7 access to Phoenix mean there isn’t a need to take part in Omega?
How do others feel? Personally I find Omega better but I am wondering if I should bother with Omega anymore with the mass supply of Phoenix I can get practically for free when ever I need an upgrade.
Its not going to kill off the Omega event, I still expect a mass of players to take part. But how many would have taken part wont any more, is what I was wondering.
It's just like when they removed the capability of the Reputation Elite Marks trade-in for Dilitium of benefiting from Bonus Dilitium Weekends - it makes the trade-in 'valuable' all year long.
The impact of that was because it no longer had a spike value I stopped doing trade-ins. Although we gained access all year around it lost its value.
I can sort of see the same with Phoenix. When the Phoenix was a rare event I used to drop large amounts of Dilitium in it if I needed upgrades or not. If I have access 24/7 all year around I wont be dropping mass amount of Dilitium in anymore only what I need when I need. The past 1million Dilitium I spent was only because its a spike event. If its a 24/7 I would only spend a tiny fraction of that.
The hard bit to work out is players like me who will now spend less against players who will dip in more often spending more.
I think of it like this, folks have been asking for a new and better dilithium sink for awhile. This provides one that will always have some value even if just for the upgrade tokens.
Except it doesn't, because it just replaces the original upgrade tokens with cheaper ones. In other words, standard upgrades were a bigger sink than phoenix upgrades.
Phoenix was only a major dil sink in the beginning, when space-rich collectors were going for ships they'd missed (I got myself a Bulwark).
You could well be right on that. This looks like its reducing the dilithium sink not increasing it. Its hard to be 100% sure but I expect this change will reduce the amount of dilithium leaving the game. Its a win though for people who like upgrading gear for less dilithium cost.
I think so as well but am not certain to 100%. The overall Dil consumption for upgrades is a whole lot less now not to mention easier to do. Then again it could also verry well be that the reduced costs will trigger a greater percentage of STO players to even bother with upgrades you know? That would make it a greater sink then.
The change makes a major, ongoing part of the crafting system completely uselss which is indeed a big price to pay for those who tended to the system. This is a bit sad but fits the picture I was getting as of late that everything in STO *must* get easier for some reason.
No idea why cuz *everything in game is awsome and great as it is anyway* but metrics seems to tell them so I guess.
While having breakfast today I was wondering will this also impact the Omega event? Not only will the change be hurting metrics by players like us that will not be crafting. But with the overflow of dill we have and 24/7 access to Phoenix mean there isn’t a need to take part in Omega?
How do others feel? Personally I find Omega better but I am wondering if I should bother with Omega anymore with the mass supply of Phoenix I can get practically for free when ever I need an upgrade.
Its not going to kill off the Omega event, I still expect a mass of players to take part. But how many would have taken part wont any more, is what I was wondering.
It's just like when they removed the capability of the Reputation Elite Marks trade-in for Dilitium of benefiting from Bonus Dilitium Weekends - it makes the trade-in 'valuable' all year long.
The impact of that was because it no longer had a spike value I stopped doing trade-ins. Although we gained access all year around it lost its value.
I can sort of see the same with Phoenix. When the Phoenix was a rare event I used to drop large amounts of Dilitium in it if I needed upgrades or not. If I have access 24/7 all year around I wont be dropping mass amount of Dilitium in anymore only what I need when I need. The past 1million Dilitium I spent was only because its a spike event. If its a 24/7 I would only spend a tiny fraction of that.
The hard bit to work out is players like me who will now spend less against players who will dip in more often spending more.
omega is stil better, because no dil cost. especially for items <xv. for items >xv and highest quality phoenix.
Hm oki. If Omega is still top of the line a tuning of classic upgraders might be in order to keep the respective effort put into the crafting system valid.
Perhaps they change it later on. The way phoenix was changed all out of sudden feels more like a half assed hot fix than a thoroughly thought through plan. Let’s wait and see friends.
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It's a quick fix to try and keep the dilex just below cap so the impact of the greedonomics can be spun in a slightly better light.
Boxes have had nothing new added to them and likely won't going by event stuff ending up in muggs market. A tweaking of the drop rates is highly unlikely so the only thing coming from them is the upgrade tokens which has devalued the R&D system even more than the incessant deluge of materials thanks to the awful drop rate from endeavours favouring trash as rewards.
Without a big change in gearing requirements (such as hard caps on the number of consoles that can be stacked) the demands for upgrades isn't really that great and still relies on peer pressure to push folk into doing so as there is no content outside optional elites that demands anything above the bog standard mk12 gear the game gives out. A new rep gives a smattering of gear but beyond that, once someone has their gear done they don't need to go again.
While having breakfast today I was wondering will this also impact the Omega event? Not only will the change be hurting metrics by players like us that will not be crafting. But with the overflow of dill we have and 24/7 access to Phoenix mean there isn’t a need to take part in Omega?
How do others feel? Personally I find Omega better but I am wondering if I should bother with Omega anymore with the mass supply of Phoenix I can get practically for free when ever I need an upgrade.
Its not going to kill off the Omega event, I still expect a mass of players to take part. But how many would have taken part wont any more, is what I was wondering.
I only farmed Omega on the first run, and not very seriously. Quit when it turned out it couldn't be used for anything but upgrades and since then I've just AFKed the minigame for the event token. I do imagine it might have an effect on farmers, but couldn't guess how big.
It's just like when they removed the capability of the Reputation Elite Marks trade-in for Dilitium of benefiting from Bonus Dilitium Weekends - it makes the trade-in 'valuable' all year long.
The impact of that was because it no longer had a spike value I stopped doing trade-ins. Although we gained access all year around it lost its value.
Same here. Since there's never any benefit to trading in the marks now, I just sit on them and only trade a few if I happen to need a few spare points on the refining quota. Used to empty my stock on every dil bonus.
It it were me, I would've done it the exact opposite way. Made a dil weekend that applies ONLY to mark conversions, thus encouraging players to collect marks at all times and cash them all in on the bonus. As opposed to the current which doesn't encourage anything, just occasionally gives some extra on the side for going about business as usual.
In fact, all the bonus weekends are business as usual, except the upgrade weekend. Something I've always wondered why they don't make that "valuable all year round." But since upgrading is pretty frivolous to begin with I suppose they might believe making it a "speak now or forever for a few months hold your peace" -thing is the only way to get some people to do it at all.
I can sort of see the same with Phoenix. When the Phoenix was a rare event I used to drop large amounts of Dilitium in it if I needed upgrades or not. If I have access 24/7 all year around I wont be dropping mass amount of Dilitium in anymore only what I need when I need. The past 1million Dilitium I spent was only because its a spike event. If its a 24/7 I would only spend a tiny fraction of that.
The hard bit to work out is players like me who will now spend less against players who will dip in more often spending more.
I'm sure Cryptic has their statistics. Me, I spent a few million dil to get my Bulwark on the first run of the event, left the spare tokens unused because I don't need upgrades and since then have barely remembered to claim the daily freebies when they're up.
I think this might also add another problem. Increased bloat of R&D materials not being used for crafting the upgrade tokens. Now you use them to craft some gear that you want over lockbox and reputation gear, but after that? What, a few fleet holding projects or to get your R&D schools up to 15-20(if you want the "Master" titles.)
I think this might also add another problem. Increased bloat of R&D materials not being used for crafting the upgrade tokens. Now you use them to craft some gear that you want over lockbox and reputation gear, but after that? What, a few fleet holding projects or to get your R&D schools up to 15-20(if you want the "Master" titles.)
Thanks to Bort's forsight, the entire system is invalid now.
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Remember Omega also has the quality improvement chance boost. It's the best choice for something at Mark II.
I agree 1 Omega beats 1 Phoenix but what I was thinking is lots of us have more dill then we know what to do with. When you combine that with 24/7 access to Phoenix and removing the high cost dill sink for upgrading is it worth the time to get Omega?
For myself at least I am not sure its worth spending any time on the Omega event or EC buying Omega. As I can just buy a few extra Phoenix. I already have more dill coming in then I know what to do with. So there isn't really any benefit to spending resources on Omega anymore. The only reason I got Omega in the past is due to limited access to Phoenix.
Remember Omega also has the quality improvement chance boost. It's the best choice for something at Mark II.
I agree 1 Omega beats 1 Phoenix but what I was thinking is lots of us have more dill then we know what to do with. When you combine that with 24/7 access to Phoenix and removing the high cost dill sink for upgrading is it worth the time to get Omega?
For myself at least I am not sure its worth spending any time on the Omega event or EC buying Omega. As I can just buy a few extra Phoenix. I already have more dill coming in then I know what to do with. So there isn't really any benefit to spending resources on Omega anymore. The only reason I got Omega in the past is due to limited access to Phoenix.
That's ... a good point. I hadn't thought of it that way.
I only use dil for fleet contributions, re-engineering, and phoenix packs so I have plenty of dil too. I like the efficiency of Omegas but I'd have more fun just skipping the grinding this year.
let's face it: the so-called 'superior' Upgrades were a bust, the moment Phoenix boxes arrived. The duration of the Phoenix event is rather irrelevant. For me, at least. I've always kept global track of what items needed upgrading, and made sure I had sufficient Phoenix Upgrades at hand. I mean, c'mon, 12,500 upgrade XP (for like a few hundred thousand EC each) vs. a single 50,000 UXP Phoenix Upgrade, that's no match. And with Phoenix, you get a chance for a cool ship to boot. 'Superior' upgrades are in fact so inferior -- especially given their exorbitant Dilithium cost -- that I never bought/made any of those any more since the advent of Phoenix. 'A fool and his Dilithium are soon parted.'
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Yeah, wow, this is a huge change to upgrade kits. Now only the experimental ones will be worth anything.
If they are smart they will bump up those quality improvement chances to keep crafted kits relevant. Make all the kits up to superior give +10% chance and experimental +15%. Phoenix can take over being the cheap 5% option, and then it will all work out.
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Yes, you now only need them to "top off" an upgrade where a 4,000 dil Phoenix would waste tech points.
Experimental still has some value for leveling up from Mark II VR crafted and Mark 1 white store purchases (TOS gear, melee weapons, maybe some Romulan guns?).
I like the suggestion earlier of raising the quality improvement chance for both plain and experimental crafted upgrades. Even something small like 1.5x chance for plain and 2.5 - 3x chance for experimental would keep them relevant.
There is no point in it aside from having a noob trap of some sort. Overall the change makes the whole subject of upgrading easier and cheaper now. No real reason to progress the crafting system on alts either anymore. Another step back to that "casual" game experience we once had before DR and that so many miss.
Down for me is less EC income, big up is lots of free time on my hand instead of manufacturing upgraders and bushing buttons. Time will tell if I tend more or less to STO over it. Atm it looks like the latter but not sure.
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I only use them myself when close to the next flip as I am a miser who hates to waste points.
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Phoenix was only a major dil sink in the beginning, when space-rich collectors were going for ships they'd missed (I got myself a Bulwark).
Actually the one epic token I have gotten since phoenix packs started was from the Grym freebie, as one the single ultra rare. The best I have gotten out of the dil store packs have be very rare. Aside from that the freebie packs ran about the same as the dil packs (which is very heavily weighted towards green) as far as I could see.
That dil reserve stockpiling could very well be why they made the change, savings have a big effect on economies in general and they may be trying to get more of a flow going in place of the build-up-and-bust cycle.
It is like the temporary ships in admiralty thing, when asked about a filter system to sort them into a separate pool the devs seemed to be genuinely puzzled as to why people were not using them as they got them. Their economic model was probably set up with the idea that people would spend dil as an everyday thing instead of saving huge reserves of it.
It might also be a case of trying to encourage people to work their way up to the epic level ships by using the 10->1 token upgrade pyramid in the phoenix store. As long as people think of the tokens as event-only currency that is not likely to happen, but if it becomes another normal (if expensive) currency people will eventually start climbing the pyramid for an epic token ship the same way they do with keys in the exchange to build up funds for a lockbox ship. And that would sink a lot of dil if it caught on.
Before you either had to (be R&D level 15 for each type, craft, wait 15 minutes for 1-2) or spend 50 - 100,000 credits to buy Superiors off the exchange.
Now, if you get a promotion leveling up a new character you can spend some dil no matter where you are, and instantly have a tech upgrade even if you have 0 credits. New players need no credits, no R&D levels.
Or if you're at endgame and somewhere in sector space away from the exchange, no need to make 5 map transitions.
It's an impulse buy now. You get dil, you think "hmm, my dual beam bank is still mark XII..."
Anyway, "impulse buy" isn't significant. It's not even possible to just all of a sudden get all that much dil and ultimately a player who wants to upgrade their gear will do so even if it can't be done in the middle of nowhere. And players who don't want to upgrade aren't going to change their minds just 'cause it could be done in the middle of nowhere.
And it still won't really even be an impulse buy since the optimal remains "wait for the upgrade bonus weekends."
> (Quote)
> Except it doesn't, because it just replaces the original upgrade tokens with cheaper ones. In other words, standard upgrades were a bigger sink than phoenix upgrades.
>
> Phoenix was only a major dil sink in the beginning, when space-rich collectors were going for ships they'd missed (I got myself a Bulwark).
Actually id say it works better. Everyone I talked to during the double upgrade weekend spoke against upgrading without phoenix boxes.
I can see why. There is a psychological shame to feeling ripped off. And using any upgrade but the phoenix for many was just that. No one was using the upgrades except the very, very desperate. Because to most it was a waste of dil and creates the feeling of being ripped off.
When it comes to upgrades if its not phoenix or omega is just as well have not existed. People even said here in the forums only fools would use non phoenix or omega upgrades, even during double upgrade.
Thinking of ideas from lots of games for, dunno how long now.
When I heard this, I just about fell out of my chair, I had over 2,200 Pheonix upgrade bought that morning.
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One of the reasons why it worked so well for dropping the dilithium exchange so hard the first couple of times, was because there was no zen store sale to hamstring it. And because it was so fresh, with a sense of urgency attached to it being limited duration. It had its luster, it felt like a special treat to get for dessert. I don't see it dropping the ratio much below 450:1 for a sustained period of time. It certainly didn't drop it below that with this latest Phoenix event.
I think so as well but am not certain to 100%. The overall Dil consumption for upgrades is a whole lot less now not to mention easier to do. Then again it could also verry well be that the reduced costs will trigger a greater percentage of STO players to even bother with upgrades you know? That would make it a greater sink then.
The change makes a major, ongoing part of the crafting system completely uselss which is indeed a big price to pay for those who tended to the system. This is a bit sad but fits the picture I was getting as of late that everything in STO *must* get easier for some reason.
No idea why cuz *everything in game is awsome and great as it is anyway* but metrics seems to tell them so I guess.
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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.'
How do others feel? Personally I find Omega better but I am wondering if I should bother with Omega anymore with the mass supply of Phoenix I can get practically for free when ever I need an upgrade.
Its not going to kill off the Omega event, I still expect a mass of players to take part. But how many would have taken part wont any more, is what I was wondering.
The impact of that was because it no longer had a spike value I stopped doing trade-ins. Although we gained access all year around it lost its value.
I can sort of see the same with Phoenix. When the Phoenix was a rare event I used to drop large amounts of Dilitium in it if I needed upgrades or not. If I have access 24/7 all year around I wont be dropping mass amount of Dilitium in anymore only what I need when I need. The past 1million Dilitium I spent was only because its a spike event. If its a 24/7 I would only spend a tiny fraction of that.
The hard bit to work out is players like me who will now spend less against players who will dip in more often spending more.
ingame: @Felisean
Hm oki. If Omega is still top of the line a tuning of classic upgraders might be in order to keep the respective effort put into the crafting system valid.
Perhaps they change it later on. The way phoenix was changed all out of sudden feels more like a half assed hot fix than a thoroughly thought through plan. Let’s wait and see friends.
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Boxes have had nothing new added to them and likely won't going by event stuff ending up in muggs market. A tweaking of the drop rates is highly unlikely so the only thing coming from them is the upgrade tokens which has devalued the R&D system even more than the incessant deluge of materials thanks to the awful drop rate from endeavours favouring trash as rewards.
Without a big change in gearing requirements (such as hard caps on the number of consoles that can be stacked) the demands for upgrades isn't really that great and still relies on peer pressure to push folk into doing so as there is no content outside optional elites that demands anything above the bog standard mk12 gear the game gives out. A new rep gives a smattering of gear but beyond that, once someone has their gear done they don't need to go again.
Same here. Since there's never any benefit to trading in the marks now, I just sit on them and only trade a few if I happen to need a few spare points on the refining quota. Used to empty my stock on every dil bonus.
It it were me, I would've done it the exact opposite way. Made a dil weekend that applies ONLY to mark conversions, thus encouraging players to collect marks at all times and cash them all in on the bonus. As opposed to the current which doesn't encourage anything, just occasionally gives some extra on the side for going about business as usual.
In fact, all the bonus weekends are business as usual, except the upgrade weekend. Something I've always wondered why they don't make that "valuable all year round." But since upgrading is pretty frivolous to begin with I suppose they might believe making it a "speak now or forever for a few months hold your peace" -thing is the only way to get some people to do it at all.
I'm sure Cryptic has their statistics. Me, I spent a few million dil to get my Bulwark on the first run of the event, left the spare tokens unused because I don't need upgrades and since then have barely remembered to claim the daily freebies when they're up.
Thanks to Bort's forsight, the entire system is invalid now.
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For myself at least I am not sure its worth spending any time on the Omega event or EC buying Omega. As I can just buy a few extra Phoenix. I already have more dill coming in then I know what to do with. So there isn't really any benefit to spending resources on Omega anymore. The only reason I got Omega in the past is due to limited access to Phoenix.
That's ... a good point. I hadn't thought of it that way.
I only use dil for fleet contributions, re-engineering, and phoenix packs so I have plenty of dil too. I like the efficiency of Omegas but I'd have more fun just skipping the grinding this year.
"Mind blown" as my fellow kids say