"Quality" upgrades...

toddjohnson100 · July 18

What kind of tech upgrades provide the best chances of getting a "Quality" upgrade? I'm looking to increase
the quality of a science console from "Very Rare" to "Epic".

davefenestrator · July 18

If the science console is a crafted Mark 2 you might use a Superior Experimental Science Tech Upgrade from the exchange or crafted with R&D level 15 in science.

If it's already Mark 12 or higher, Phoenix tokens are probably the best choice since they are cheap if you buy 10-packs of the boxes, which usually get you 15-20 tokens. If possible wait for an Upgrade Weekend so tech points are doubled.

You can also use an Ultimate Tech Upgrade to jump directly to Epic but those cost money except for ones you get from 2-week Red Alert events and from one of the Recruit reputations.

https://sto.fandom.com/wiki/Gear_Upgrade_System

https://sto.fandom.com/wiki/Phoenix_Universal_Tech_Upgrade

toddjohnson100 · July 18

Thank you.

proteus · July 18

There is another way of guaranteeing a quality increase (on a low mark item) besides the Ultimate Tech Upgrade.

Namely the Omega Tech Upgrades (Quality), which are crafted with the Omega materials only available by playing the anniversary event mini-game. Applying one of these to any low mark item during an upgrade event will completely fill the Research points bar, thus guaranteeing the jump in quality. If the item is at a Mark level that is too high for one of these upgrades to fill the Research bar on it's own, it can sometimes still be achieved by also adding a 1.5x or 2x Research Accelerator.

If you don't have any Omega upgrades, then as has been said your best option is the experimental upgrades on a Mark II item or the Phoenix Upgrades on a high mark item. To make most efficient use of your Phoenix Upgrades on high mark items, I'd recommend also adding a Research Accelerator each time you apply one. This will increase the chances of the quality jump happening more quickly than using Phoenix upgrades alone, making your perhaps limited supply of Phoenix Upgrades go further.

nixie50 · July 18

there are research boost that can increase your chances too

rattler2 · July 18

proteus#8097 wrote: »

There is another way of guaranteeing a quality increase (on a low mark item) besides the Ultimate Tech Upgrade.

Namely the Omega Tech Upgrades (Quality), which are crafted with the Omega materials only available by playing the anniversary event mini-game. Applying one of these to any low mark item during an upgrade event will completely fill the Research points bar, thus guaranteeing the jump in quality. If the item is at a Mark level that is too high for one of these upgrades to fill the Research bar on it's own, it can sometimes still be achieved by also adding a 1.5x or 2x Research Accelerator.

The problem with the Omega Upgrades is that they are a limited commodity these days. People used to farm Omega Particles back in the day and sell them on the Exchange. When Cryptic made them bind on pickup the farming died off so the only way you can get them anymore is to farm them yourself and make the upgrades during the Anniversary. I know of no other way to obtain Omega Upgrades.

Honestly I don't think most people would have the patience and foresight to stockpile Omegas for an upgrade weekend somewhere later in the year when Phoenix Upgrades are so much more easily obtainable.

baddmoonrizin · July 18

thread /moved

davefenestrator · July 18

proteus#8097 wrote: »

To make most efficient use of your Phoenix Upgrades on high mark items, I'd recommend also adding a Research Accelerator each time you apply one. This will increase the chances of the quality jump happening more quickly than using Phoenix upgrades alone, making your perhaps limited supply of Phoenix Upgrades go further.

Right. I left those out because they come in the 200 zen R&D packs, and those are not a good deal. You're probably better off waiting until a key ring bundle sale that includes an ultimate tech upgrade along with some lock box keys.

The dil for 200 zen gets you a couple of 10 packs of Phoenix boxes, which will be 30+ phoenix upgrade tokens.

If someone happens to have research accelerators from gambling on the promo version of R&D packs then they might as well use them, if not then it's wasting money.

toddjohnson100 · July 20

Thanks to everybody for the input. That's pretty much what I figured, too. That's
O.K. Most of my ships consoles and kit modules are already Epic, so I'm happy with
what I've got.

proteus · July 20

rattler2 wrote: »

The problem with the Omega Upgrades is that they are a limited commodity these days. People used to farm Omega Particles back in the day and sell them on the Exchange. When Cryptic made them bind on pickup the farming died off so the only way you can get them anymore is to farm them yourself and make the upgrades during the Anniversary. I know of no other way to obtain Omega Upgrades.

Honestly I don't think most people would have the patience and foresight to stockpile Omegas for an upgrade weekend somewhere later in the year when Phoenix Upgrades are so much more easily obtainable.

Yeah of course Omega materials are a once a year thing, and only if you have the time and patience, since you can't buy or sell the materials anymore. While you have to farm the materials during the Anniversary, you can do the crafting of the upgrades at anytime afterwards. I focus on just the Omega quality upgrades because of how trying to go from Very Rare To Epic can really eat into your supply of other kinds of upgrades like Phoenix.

Phoenix upgrades are great for tech points, but only have a standard quality increase chance, so you're often left throwing a lot of them at an item, even when it's already MK XV, in order to get a quality jump.
The Omega quality upgrades offer only +1 tech point but have a base 8x quality increase, doubled to 16x during an upgrade weekend.
I think a combination of the two is the most efficient way of upgrading a low mark item outside of an Ultimate Upgrade. Only if you can stomach the Anniversary mini-game though. Maybe I'm a glutton for punishment, but I feel it's not much worse than the dilithium grind for Zen really.☺️ Any other method you're trusting to luck to some degree.

With low mark items, two Omegas will guarantee going from a Very Rare to Epic quality item consistently and will only require enough Phoenix upgrades to reach MK XV. No need to throw umpteen Phoenix upgrades at a MK XV item to try and improve the quality, as the item will be Epic long before you hit MK XV. Compare that to using Phoenix alone, which if you're unlucky you can easily burn through 15+ upgrade tokens on a single quality increase.

proteus · July 20

davefenestrator wrote: »

Right. I left those out because they come in the 200 zen R&D packs, and those are not a good deal. You're probably better off waiting until a key ring bundle sale that includes an ultimate tech upgrade along with some lock box keys.

The dil for 200 zen gets you a couple of 10 packs of Phoenix boxes, which will be 30+ phoenix upgrade tokens.

If someone happens to have research accelerators from gambling on the promo version of R&D packs then they might as well use them, if not then it's wasting money.

You're right, accelerators do only come from the R&D packs and I agree they're not worth buying from the Zen Store. I never have, except when looking to sell on the promotional version.

You can also buy the accelerators directly from the Exchange though. And also the R&D packs, which give you a random selection of four accelerators among other R&D materials. Like everything else, the going rate on the Exchange fluctuates. You can sometimes pick up a large stash of them cheaply outside of an Upgrade weekend.

phoenixc · July 23

proteus#8097 wrote: »

rattler2 wrote: »

The problem with the Omega Upgrades is that they are a limited commodity these days. People used to farm Omega Particles back in the day and sell them on the Exchange. When Cryptic made them bind on pickup the farming died off so the only way you can get them anymore is to farm them yourself and make the upgrades during the Anniversary. I know of no other way to obtain Omega Upgrades.

Honestly I don't think most people would have the patience and foresight to stockpile Omegas for an upgrade weekend somewhere later in the year when Phoenix Upgrades are so much more easily obtainable.

Yeah of course Omega materials are a once a year thing, and only if you have the time and patience, since you can't buy or sell the materials anymore. While you have to farm the materials during the Anniversary, you can do the crafting of the upgrades at anytime afterwards. I focus on just the Omega quality upgrades because of how trying to go from Very Rare To Epic can really eat into your supply of other kinds of upgrades like Phoenix.

Phoenix upgrades are great for tech points, but only have a standard quality increase chance, so you're often left throwing a lot of them at an item, even when it's already MK XV, in order to get a quality jump.
The Omega quality upgrades offer only +1 tech point but have a base 8x quality increase, doubled to 16x during an upgrade weekend.
I think a combination of the two is the most efficient way of upgrading a low mark item outside of an Ultimate Upgrade. Only if you can stomach the Anniversary mini-game though. Maybe I'm a glutton for punishment, but I feel it's not much worse than the dilithium grind for Zen really.☺️ Any other method you're trusting to luck to some degree.

With low mark items, two Omegas will guarantee going from a Very Rare to Epic quality item consistently and will only require enough Phoenix upgrades to reach MK XV. No need to throw umpteen Phoenix upgrades at a MK XV item to try and improve the quality, as the item will be Epic long before you hit MK XV. Compare that to using Phoenix alone, which if you're unlucky you can easily burn through 15+ upgrade tokens on a single quality increase.

When the Omega grind gets too much, I just start the minigame and let it go while I do something offline (often read a book) and collect it after the minigame runs its course. You only get one fragment or whatever when doing that, but that is better than the nothing you get from avoiding the minigame altogether, and it avoids burnout.

proteus · July 23

phoenixc#0738 wrote: »

When the Omega grind gets too much, I just start the minigame and let it go while I do something offline (often read a book) and collect it after the minigame runs its course. You only get one fragment or whatever when doing that, but that is better than the nothing you get from avoiding the minigame altogether, and it avoids burnout.

I have a similar way. I do play the mini-game but I'll listen to a podcast, a Youtube video or old film while I do it. Amazing how many you can rack up over a few hours without really concentrating that much. I managed enough for 500 upgrades during this year's anniversary.

Now seems like a good time for a step-by-step guide to what I think is the best method for upgrading low mark items using Omega Quality Upgrades. For anyone who might have some, or might decide to give the Omega grind a whirl in the future...

So you have a typical weapon from a lockbox weapon pack, opened on a low level character. For most weapon packs this will typically come as a Very Rare MK II item. And this upgrading is done only during an Upgrade Weekend to get the doubling effect.

Step 1 - Apply one Omega Quality Upgrade to your Very Rare MK II item - this will completely fill the Research progress bar to 100%, guaranteeing the jump from VR to UR upon the next MK increase.

Step 2 - Now apply a single basic green upgrade token with the accelerator box blank. This will cost you 700 dilithium to use (but it's worth it) and will push it to MK III (gaining Ultra Rare in the process) and probably finish at around MK V or VI. Using a low level upgrade token here is most important, because if you used a Phoenix upgrade instead it would rocket the MK level up to around MK XI or XII - and you don't want that just yet. Purposely keeping the MK level low at this stage is key.

Step 3 - With your UR MK V item, apply your second Omega Quality Upgrade. Because it's still a relatively low mark item, again the Research progress bar will fill to 100%, guaranteeing the jump from UR to Epic upon the next MK increase. If you did the same on the aformentioned MK XI or XII item it would be a much lower percentage, and you'd be largely trusting to luck for the quality increase.

Step 4 - With the progress bar at 100% a second time and knowing for certain it'll go from UR to Epic at MK VI, you can use a Phoenix upgrade and whatever accelerator you have to hand to get the most out of it. This will likely take you to around MK XI - MK XIII, but more importantly it'll now be Epic.

Step 5 - From here you can finish off the MK level at your leisure. Probably only taking two or three further Phoenix upgrades + accelerators to take your already Epic item to MK XV.

This way prevents you from having to throw too many Phoenix upgrades at MK XV items in the attempt to improve the quality, which can take a while and is a huge waste of tech points.

I hope this helps somebody.🙂

"Quality" upgrades...

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