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What is the current meta?

daimon97daimon97 Member Posts: 368 Arc User
I use spiral wave disruptor DHC with dmg full gold rarity and all the disruptor set bonuses I can get. And go for scatter volley.
Post edited by baddmoonrizin on
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  • questeriusquesterius Member Posts: 8,295 Arc User
    The most common i see is altamid plasma and Phaser, but i never keep track of what is supposed to be the meta.
    This program, though reasonably normal at times, seems to have a strong affinity to classes belonging to the Cat 2.0 program. Questerius 2.7 will break down on occasion, resulting in garbage and nonsense messages whenever it occurs. Usually a hard reboot or pulling the plug solves the problem when that happens.
  • seaofsorrowsseaofsorrows Member Posts: 10,918 Arc User
    edited May 2020
    daimon97 wrote: »
    I use spiral wave disruptor DHC with dmg full gold rarity and all the disruptor set bonuses I can get. And go for scatter volley.

    That's pretty much it. That should be a highly effective combo.

    Phaser and Disruptor are still top of the heap, but any energy type is effective.
    Insert witty signature line here.
  • daimon97daimon97 Member Posts: 368 Arc User
    daimon97 wrote: »
    I use spiral wave disruptor DHC with dmg full gold rarity and all the disruptor set bonuses I can get. And go for scatter volley.

    That's pretty much it. That should be a highly effective combo.

    Phaser and Disruptor are still top of the heap, but any energy type is effective.

    Do you still play I barely see you online any more :D
  • foxrockssocksfoxrockssocks Member Posts: 2,482 Arc User
    There are a ton of viable options in the game and no need to chase the meta, even if you're going for extreme DPS, as far as I'm aware. So unless you want absolute maximum DPS it isn't important, and even then, you might do better with other options just based on your abilities to effectively use some builds over others.

    While that doesn't answer the question, I think it is important to state, because the game in the past had more importance on the meta. However between power creep and changes to various abilities, I think it has become much more evened out.
  • gaevsmangaevsman Member Posts: 3,190 Arc User
    Space barbie.. there is no other meta.. just space barbie :lol:
    The forces of darkness are upon us!
  • davefenestratordavefenestrator Member Posts: 10,498 Arc User
    edited May 2020
    gaevsman wrote: »
    Space barbie.. there is no other meta.. just space barbie :lol:

    Yes. Unless you are trying to reach the top of the DPS ladder or are one of the 10 remaining PVP players, Space Barbie is the real endgame.

    Anything at Mark XV is good enough for PVE content. I build ships and captains by theme. Fitting the theme and cosmetics like beam color are more important than procs. That and having fun with new mechanics like clicky consoles and specialist boff powers.

  • seaofsorrowsseaofsorrows Member Posts: 10,918 Arc User
    daimon97 wrote: »
    daimon97 wrote: »
    I use spiral wave disruptor DHC with dmg full gold rarity and all the disruptor set bonuses I can get. And go for scatter volley.

    That's pretty much it. That should be a highly effective combo.

    Phaser and Disruptor are still top of the heap, but any energy type is effective.

    Do you still play I barely see you online any more :D

    Not much, no.

    I got fed up with the unstable servers and the lag. Most of the people I play with are barely on anymore or gone so for the most part I have moved onto other things. I still do the daily event stuff but usually that's about it.

    Sometimes I get the desire to play, I log on.. fly around a bit to see if I am rubber banding and if so then I log out. :lol:
    Insert witty signature line here.
  • spiritbornspiritborn Member Posts: 4,242 Arc User
    I cannot speak for the rest of OCD but for my personal case it's a case of being too damn busy and not in a fun way either.
  • seaofsorrowsseaofsorrows Member Posts: 10,918 Arc User
    spiritborn wrote: »
    I cannot speak for the rest of OCD but for my personal case it's a case of being too damn busy and not in a fun way either.

    No one needs to offer any reasons.. it's perfectly understandable. People are busy and lets face it.. the game is stagnant and riddled with technical problems.

    No one owes me an explanation on why they're not currently playing. They are mostly the same reasons that I'm also not playing.

    All good! :smile:
    Insert witty signature line here.
  • fallenkezef#4581 fallenkezef Member Posts: 644 Arc User
    gaevsman wrote: »
    Space barbie.. there is no other meta.. just space barbie :lol:

    Yup, damn near bankrupted myself getting Disco sensor-locked disruptors for my Chargh and I have no regrets.
  • jonsillsjonsills Member Posts: 10,345 Arc User
    For me, the meta is having fun. Are you enjoying your time charging around the galaxy? Then you're playing the meta correctly. Are you not? Then look into what might make your time more entertaining. It might be changing up your playstyle, or trying a new ship or a new toon. It might not even be in this game at all, and that's okay too - the point is for you to have fun.

    I'm quite enjoying myself here, even though I have to put three separate accounts through the daily TFO grind. If you see Admiral Tovan Khev commanding AFS Tovan Khev XVII in the Pahvo space TFO, that's me having more fun. :smile:

    (Or Grunt and USS Mixalot; on my actual main account, I rotate among several, including Sanek and USS Panther Modern, and Sills and USS Lorna Wing.)
    Lorna-Wing-sig.png
  • redwren89redwren89 Member Posts: 257 Arc User
    I'm going to be cheeky now, and say that 'meta' simply depends on your preference of weapon type and then making the best of it, even if that is not the highest dps possible because the ultimate build, or meta, is the one you will enjoy most.
  • jamieblanchardjamieblanchard Member Posts: 556 Arc User
    jonsills wrote: »
    For me, the meta is having fun. Are you enjoying your time charging around the galaxy? Then you're playing the meta correctly. Are you not? Then look into what might make your time more entertaining. It might be changing up your playstyle, or trying a new ship or a new toon. It might not even be in this game at all, and that's okay too - the point is for you to have fun.

    I'm quite enjoying myself here, even though I have to put three separate accounts through the daily TFO grind. If you see Admiral Tovan Khev commanding AFS Tovan Khev XVII in the Pahvo space TFO, that's me having more fun. :smile:

    (Or Grunt and USS Mixalot; on my actual main account, I rotate among several, including Sanek and USS Panther Modern, and Sills and USS Lorna Wing.)

    This, 110%. Fun is the name of the game, no matter what you do.

    Resident TOS, G.I. Joe, Transformers and hair metal fangirl.

    And knowing is half the battle!

    21 'til I die!
  • fallenkezef#4581 fallenkezef Member Posts: 644 Arc User
    Like allot of folks I go for themes. I'm relatively new, started pretty much when the anniversary event started so bought Klingon starter pack and when I got the Khitomer switched to her and decided to go anti-proton since the console was set up that way with the ship.

    Several months later and lucking out getting a great fleet invite I have everything epic XV and fully kitted out Anti-proton build. Picked up the Chargh, fell in love with it and blew all my ec getting a full set of the Disco sensor-linked weapons so it'd look the same as the ship in the show.

    Gonna spend the lobi from the mega event on consoles and when the disruptor build is done will move onto the Khopesh plasma build and after that a polaron build for the jem hadar dread. By the time all that is done I'll probably be leveling alts.
  • seaofsorrowsseaofsorrows Member Posts: 10,918 Arc User
    edited May 2020
    I think we need to clarify a bit what "Meta" means.

    Meta.. is short for Most Effective Tactics Available. When someone wants the 'meta' they want to know the publicly excepted most effective way to build. This won't be the only way to do something, and in some peoples opinions might not even be the 'best.' It's just the generally accepted way.

    "Having Fun" is a great way to play the game.. there is nothing wrong with just doing what you want and enjoying yourself. No one that does that is wrong in any way, but when someone asks for the 'meta' they're talking about a specific thing and 'just play and have fun' is not the answer that poster is looking for.

    Again.. no one is 'wrong,' no one is saying the meta is the only way.. but when the OP asks for the meta he/she just wants the 'filthy DPS'er way.' :lol:
    Insert witty signature line here.
  • jonsillsjonsills Member Posts: 10,345 Arc User
    "Metagaming" is playing "the game beyond the game"; in tabletop it's making up excuses why your character knows things they shouldn't (because you read the Monster Manual, but of course they didn't), and in online gaming it's doing the things that make your character "better", which usually translates as "blowing things up more quickly while never learning any more about what NPCs want or need than is absolutely necessary". "The meta" for Trek has historically been about getting the most "effective" combinations of weapons, consoles, and defenses (with defenses definitely on the bottom of that list) to kill stuff fast. Many people pursue this until they lose sight of any tiny bit of enjoyment in just cruising around space playing at being Starfleet or KDF or Romulan Republic, then they start to complain about the game "not being fun any more" (little realizing it's just as fun as it ever was, they just forgot to relax and have any).

    You can make up backronyms to justify it to yourself until the stars grow cold, but I'm old enough to have watched the evolution of the term. (Ain't no geek like an old geek, 'cause an old geek's seen it all!)
    Lorna-Wing-sig.png
  • davefenestratordavefenestrator Member Posts: 10,498 Arc User
    Yes, meta is a word not a backronym.

    https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/meta
  • ltminnsltminns Member Posts: 12,569 Arc User
    'This Island Earth' - Metaluna.
    '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.'
    Lt. Philip J. Minns
  • seaofsorrowsseaofsorrows Member Posts: 10,918 Arc User
    edited May 2020
    jonsills wrote: »
    You can make up backronyms to justify it to yourself until the stars grow cold, but I'm old enough to have watched the evolution of the term. (Ain't no geek like an old geek, 'cause an old geek's seen it all!)

    I didn't make it up, it's been around in online gaming for a very long time. As a table top gamer, I am well aware of what 'Metagaming' is and they are not the same thing. You're talking out your backside because you think because you're older that you know everything. You don't.
    Yes, meta is a word not a backronym.

    https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/meta

    This forum is incredible. You can tell people the sky is blue and water is wet and someone will find a reason to try and claim you're wrong. Words have multiple meanings.. the OP was obviously refering to meta as it's used in online gaming. It's slang, but that should be frighteningly obvious given the context of how the word was used.
    Insert witty signature line here.
  • jslynjslyn Member Posts: 1,784 Arc User
    This forum is incredible. You can tell people the sky is blue and water is wet and someone will find a reason to try and claim you're wrong.


    But the sky isn't blue. It is transparent. The effect is caused by white light being reflected and scattered off of particles in the air. Blue is scattered more than other colors because it has smaller and shorter wavelengths.


    Wanna know something else fun about color? Magenta (or Fuchsia, if use the older name for it) does not have a physical wavelength of light associated with it. It is entirely a biological construct caused by your brain attempting to apply your eyes' Red and Blue color cones to an object while ignoring the mid-spectrum Green cone. Magenta is your brain saying that something is Not-Green.
  • davefenestratordavefenestrator Member Posts: 10,498 Arc User
    edited May 2020
    jonsills wrote: »
    You can make up backronyms to justify it to yourself until the stars grow cold, but I'm old enough to have watched the evolution of the term. (Ain't no geek like an old geek, 'cause an old geek's seen it all!)

    I didn't make it up, it's been around in online gaming for a very long time. As a table top gamer, I am well aware of what 'Metagaming' is and they are not the same thing. You're talking out your backside because you think because you're older that you know everything. You don't.
    Yes, meta is a word not a backronym.

    https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/meta

    This forum is incredible. You can tell people the sky is blue and water is wet and someone will find a reason to try and claim you're wrong. Words have multiple meanings.. the OP was obviously refering to meta as it's used in online gaming. It's slang, but that should be frighteningly obvious given the context of how the word was used.

    After doing a bit of Google searching there are (now) 2 different usages of meta in gaming. The one I've used for decades is as shorthand for "metagaming" as @jonsills mentioned above. Here is the wiki definition:

    ---
    Metagaming is a term used in role-playing games, which describes a player's use of real-life knowledge concerning the state of the game to determine their character's actions, when said character has no relevant knowledge or awareness under the circumstances. This can refer to plot information in the game such as secrets or events occurring away from the character, as well as facets of the game's mechanics such as abstract statistics or the precise limits of abilities. Metagaming is an example of "breaking character", as the character is making decisions based on information they couldn't know and thus would not make in reality.
    ---

    That word is based on the "regular" definition of meta not the META acronym which I'd never seen before this thread.
    Post edited by davefenestrator on
  • seaofsorrowsseaofsorrows Member Posts: 10,918 Arc User
    edited May 2020
    coldnapalm wrote: »
    So once again, your answer is not a proper answer to the question asked. Just like a DPS person telling somebody who wants advice on ship looks with well, that ship has terrible stats. I have no idea why the concept of answer the question with RELEVANT information to the question asked should be such a terrible concept. Seriously, the DPSer derangement syndrome in some people on this forum is mind boggling.

    Typical of the poster you quoted. Rarely helpful, always smug and thinking they're superior to everyone else. You're never going to get through, the wall of sheer arrogance is too thick to penetrate. :lol:
    That word is based on the "regular" definition of meta not the META acronym which I'd never seen before this thread.

    Just curious, do you play a lot of online games outside of this one? I have seen 'meta' used like the OP used it quite a bit in games where people share build advice.

    I also use the word 'meta' the way you think of it when playing tabletop with my friends. I use it both ways depending on the setting at the time.
    Insert witty signature line here.
  • tribbulatertribbulater Member Posts: 290 Arc User
    edited May 2020
    It's unfortunate the discussion had to devolve into hairsplitting about definitions. As someone who has been online gaming since long before there was a publicly accessible Internet (or even Windows), I can confirm that in my experience, which was quite international, 'meta' was used as the shortform for 'metagaming' for years if not decades before people started saying it meant "Most Efficient Tactics Available". It meant using knowledge about the game to achieve effects that weren't necessarily obvious from 'within' the game.

    That said, for MMOs it means the same thing no matter how it evolved or which particular set of words it's used as an acronym for (Most/Maximum, Efficient/Effective, Available/Achievable are all variations I've seen):

    "What combination of gear, build, buffs, tactics and strategy gives the most power to achieve X in the game?"

    The last decent writeup I've seen on the changing meta in STO is almost 2 years old now:
    https://www.reddit.com/r/stobuilds/comments/8ojjri/quick_recap_of_the_current_space_dps_meta/

    It's still useful, but you have to take into consideration the many weapon types and consoles that have been released since then. And as others have pointed out, while meta is what you need to take into account if you want to be in the top 3% of DPSers, nothing in the game requires that level of performance. Just get whatever you like to Mk XV and you're good.

    Real top performance has always been about your piloting ability anyway, more so than your build.

  • seaofsorrowsseaofsorrows Member Posts: 10,918 Arc User
    edited May 2020
    Yeah, that guide is mostly still valid, just change Disruptor to Phaser for the 'top' energy type. Though even that is negligible since the difference between Phaser and Disruptor is next to nothing. Spiral Wave is the 'go to' for Disruptor as the OP asked.

    Cannons over Beams, Aux2Bat for cooldown and power management, Colony Deflector, Competitive Rep Engines, Warp Core and shield is either Competitive Shield with a Fleet Plasma Core or 2 pc Shield/Core from the Discovery Rep.

    People still put all Locators in the Tactical Console slots, though the Lorca Console is another good choice there for the Critical Chance. Use consoles that boost your energy type as well as Weapon Haste, Critical Hit/Damage, and maybe one for survival depending on the ship.

    Some other helpful links for those needing this answer:

    DPS League Guides.
    Sample ship builds with skill trees.
    Guide to getting the most out of Hangar Pets.

    For those looking for information for something other then Energy Builds:

    Science Ships in the Current Century.


    Insert witty signature line here.
  • ltminnsltminns Member Posts: 12,569 Arc User
    You can simplify it all to one meaning:

    It's what all the cool kids are doing, the in-crowd, etc. :)
    '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.'
    Lt. Philip J. Minns
  • foxrockssocksfoxrockssocks Member Posts: 2,482 Arc User
    edited May 2020
    Metagaming has no use outside of a roleplay context where in character and out of character knowledge are supposed to be separate. But if you use "meta" in that context, it is just a literal abbreviation of metagaming.

    Meta, when used as a way to indicate best practices, is never an abbreviation for metagaming and has a different definition. Personally I've understood and used "meta" for many years, but never once seen it acronymized before this thread. Therefore I have to conclude it isn't actually an acronym, but pretending it is one is obviously very useful for easily explaining the meaning. Similarly, SOS, the distress call, is not an acronym, and in fact stems from its nature in Morse code, but may often be claimed to be an acronym for ease of understanding (save our ship/souls).


    I'd say meta likely derived from metagaming because if you go into an MMORPG dungeon cold and have no idea how to fight the monsters, you could instead "metagame" the knowledge, looking it up online in a forum, rather than learn by trial and error, and instantly learn not just how to fight them, but how best to fight them, as many have come before you with different approaches, and there is often a best one.

    Of course if that is how it is derived, it has since evolved further to the point where it really is a separate word because "metagaming" really has no relevance whatsoever when deciding to use beams or cannons in your build or which consoles to chase. There is no sensible way to consider anything IC or OOC knowledge there.
  • tribbulatertribbulater Member Posts: 290 Arc User
    Keep in mind that language isn't used by dictionary-perfect professors checking definitions. It's used and adapted by regular people who often heard or saw the word used in a similar context, didn't really understand why it was used but got the general idea, and then they re-use that word the next time they talk about something similar.

    In much the same way as 'literally' has come to mean everything from 'really' to 'actually' to 'honestly' to 'certainly', 'meta' in regards to gaming doesn't really mean 'meta' and you can't guess from the dictionary listing how it came to mean what it does in gaming circles.

    From my own circle of gamers (by which I don't mean my D&D group, I mean gamers around the world 'literally' going back to before PCs were invented and we gamed by mail), 'metagaming' started out meaning making use of information from beyond what should have been known to you in-game. Typically by RPG gamers who kept encountering players who had read every game manual there was, memorized most of it, and kept bringing outside knowledge of how the game mechanics worked into their game play.

    Example: "I quickly jump back to exactly 11 feet away from the ogre (outside his swing range), then cast my fireball at the point on the 16 foot high ceiling directly over his head so the 10 foot fire radius burns his head off but doesn't touch anyone in my party who are all shorter than the 8 foot tall ogre."

    When people started on-line gaming, they slowly started to transform that usage into something that roughly meant "using a lot of knowledge about how the game works to derive the most powerful possible build". For some people it also meant "gaming the game", which is closer to the actual meaning of 'meta': using knowledge and observations about how the game mechanics work and how the RNG cycles and how timers line up, to achieve maximum effects.

    For quite a while the most-used term I saw for what @ltminns referred to was "FOTM" or "flavor of the month" - 'what all the cool kids are doing'. FOTM was also generally the most recently popular build that was the most used and easiest/strongest to play with. Again, the 'literal' meaning of the terms weren't important, only what a body of players was using to indicate a certain group who followed the crowd and copied whatever was currently thought to be most powerful.

    From my recollection about 7 or so years ago, 'meta' started replacing 'FOTM' and 'cookie-cutter build' in many conversations as people came to use it as an easy shorthand for 'whatever is the most powerful combination'.

    Like 'literally', it no longer means 'knowledge about the game', or 'gaming the game', or even 'the strongest builds used by the most knowledgeable players' (which is close to the current definition). In practice it means whatever 10 million individual gamers think they're using it to mean, and often simply has to be guessed at by context.

    (Sorry for the aside, I'm just particularly interested in how language and usage evolves over time and effects communication.)
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