Star Trek Online Discussion Thread (now free to play!)

[Timelord_Victorious]

Yes, people like that combination... There is a reason for nearly everybody using it... one of the reasons it's so damn difficult to kill an escort these days.
So everyone needs to fly escorts because no other ships combines survivability so neatly with damage output.

Escorts: Damage + Survivability
Cruiser: Damage (over time) or Survivability (resistance or healing)
Science: Exotic Damage (not so much these days) or Debuffs or Survivability

Notice something?

This change is one source of those symptoms taken care of and that can only be good.

BTS, the new set versions will have endgame variations...meaning Mk XII. the old one was really only Mk X despite of the OP procs.

[Ruaidhri]

I'm in favor of this change. I was reading through the official game forums a little and found one paragraph that pretty much mirrors my opinion.

....remember that the whole purpose of these various sets is to actually have players make choices, instead of encouraging "cookie cutter" builds, such as the nigh-universally recommended 3 Piece Borg / MACO/KHG MK XII shield, or 2 piece Borg / 2 piece Omega/JH/Breen builds for weapon proc & hull regen.

When everybody uses the same thing, what's the point? This break-up of the Borg set will force players to find something that will best fit their play style, ship type and career. It might also mean that sets like the Jem Hadar and Breen may actually get used more often, too. I mothballed them a long time ago, but they should be viable with the right build. More so when Season 7 hits.

[syberghost]

The other thing is, it's not good for the game if you can do one activity over and over again and get everything you need from it. You will inevitably burn out, and when you burn out, you stop giving PWE money. Since developers stubbornly insist on things like "eating food" and "paying mortgages", that doesn't work out.

That's why an STF can't reward you with massive amounts of gear, Dilithium, Fleet Marks, and rep for a single faction that has all the best gear; it results in everybody just picking the easiest STF and running that all day.

I really, really like the system in WoW, where you can build up your gear through many different grinds of your choice, including combining several, to get your gear up to the point where you can do one raid; which gets your gear up to where you can do the next one. etc. You've always got something different to do, and at most points you can decide "this is boring, I want to go grind some other rep for a while, and get their chest piece". That's where STO has to get.

Since we've already learned of two different faction reps going in (Omega Fleet and some piece of the Romulans), it sounds like they're making a start.

[intrinsical]

I seriously doubt we will get anything like what WoW offers. Remember, this is Cryptic and until STO they've never done any serious end game content. Even Dan Stahl has said Season 7 is the last of the end game content for the short term and Season 8 will seek to bring in new gamers.

Still, it is getting clear that S7 will see the introduction of "weapon sets" for the general population, kind of like the Ferengi and Temporal sets found in the lobi store.

[Hanover Fiste]

Timelord_Victorious wrote:

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This change is one source of those symptoms taken care of and that can only be good.

It might have been good, if the new console + cutting beam + plasma torpedo set were at all desirable. Now I have to compromise with my tactical consoles or adopt whole new weapon loadouts to get a set bonus from the console I already have? Not only that, but you must now run that stupid Borg Regenerative Shield to get the multi-regenerative shield set bonus, so I've lost that entirely.

All to placate whiny cruiser captains with DPS envy.

[Timelord_Victorious]

Then stop using the Borg set if it doesn't suit you. That set is not primarily designed for escorts but for cruisers.
Aegis was more suited for them in spirit what with the fast engines and the hard shield.
Science got their flavour a little later with the Breen set which has been a little on the underpowered side though, because it was so easy to get.
If you want an efficient escort build it fast, build it resilient. But I think escorts are now whining more that they lose a bit of their supremcacy than cruiser captains whine that they can't kill stuff as fast.
But no one of the whiners from both sides acknowleges that the true power comes from cooperation.
An escort doesn't need to tank if there is a powerful cruiser around and vice versa a cruiser doesn't need to kill things fast when all it has to do is keep the escort alive to do that.

Sure, everyone wants to be Captain Kirk and blow up stuff, but deal with the fact, that this comes with a trade-off.
If any ship was supposed to be a master at everything there would be no need for a skill point cap either. Just let us fill up every skill to the max, let us be practically indestructible, one-shorting deathmachines without any difference whatsoever.

Rant over.

[TheRoyalFamily]

What is the best engine for Tour the Universe? I'd have thought the Borg sub-transwarp engines would be good (warp 20-21), but I still see people zipping by me without that (lack of green trail gives it away). I guess there's some skills involved; which ones?

Relatedly, are the transwarp gate thingys you can get in the dil store any good for this event?

[Hartzilla2007]

TheRoyalFamily wrote:

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What is the best engine for Tour the Universe? I'd have thought the Borg sub-transwarp engines would be good (warp 20-21), but I still see people zipping by me without that (lack of green trail gives it away). I guess there's some skills involved; which ones?

They could just be using the sub warp engine with the visuals turned off.

[Ruaidhri]

I always turn off the Borg set visuals. Ugly as hell.

[J. Allen]

^ Ye gods, no kidding. I hate the Borg visuals. I love the sweeping, curving lines of Federation ships. Jagged, twisted hunks of metal need not apply. So those visuals stay off.

Anyhoo, I use the Borg STF set on my Sovvy, and I have to say it always holds up fairly well. I don't have to be all powerful. I like being a part of a group, and so when I'm playing Cure (space), it's nice to jump in and get the heat off of the Escort who's pounding away at the nanospheres.

[Timelord_Victorious]

You can put points into Driver Coils to be faster in sector space.

It's making the MACO engine nearly as fast as the Borg engine, and the Borg engine approach almost as fast as slipstream.

I think with a fully maxed driver coil and Borg engine equiped you can get her to Transwarp 30 almost during Slipstream.

[TheRoyalFamily]

I like the borg visuals My favorite part of "The Scorpion" was that two-second shot of Borged-up Voyager.

Also, am I doing it right?

[Hanover Fiste]

Timelord_Victorious wrote:

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Then stop using the Borg set if it doesn't suit you. That set is not primarily designed for escorts but for cruisers.

It's "designed" for whatever the hell the player wants to use it for.

If you want an efficient escort build it fast, build it resilient.

Hmm. Fast and resilient. Like, for example, an equipment sent that includes a subtranswarp engine and set bonuses that heal both hull and shields?

But I think escorts are now whining more that they lose a bit of their supremcacy than cruiser captains whine that they can't kill stuff as fast.

Supremacy. If you can't kill an escort with your cruiser without having the escort's equipment nerfed to death, the problem is you and your tactics.

But no one of the whiners from both sides acknowleges that the true power comes from cooperation.
An escort doesn't need to tank if there is a powerful cruiser around and vice versa a cruiser doesn't need to kill things fast when all it has to do is keep the escort alive to do that.

I still play the single-player missions, as well as STF "PUGS" where I can't depend on any of the other players having the faintest clue what they're doing. By necessity, I build to be as self-reliant as possible.

Sure, everyone wants to be Captain Kirk and blow up stuff, but deal with the fact, that this comes with a trade-off. If any ship was supposed to be a master at everything there would be no need for a skill point cap either. Just let us fill up every skill to the max, let us be practically indestructible, one-shorting deathmachines without any difference whatsoever.

The existing retro Borg set did not leave me nearly as durable as any well-built cruiser. This is 100% about sniveling cruiser captains wanting the turn rates and DPS of escorts. They are the ones who don't want to make compromises based on hull class and career path.

[Timelord_Victorious]

Ok, this is the point where I will stop arguing, since the discussion is taking a wrong turn.

Let's just agree to disagree, ok?

[syberghost]

Timelord_Victorious wrote:

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You can put points into Driver Coils to be faster in sector space.

It's making the MACO engine nearly as fast as the Borg engine, and the Borg engine approach almost as fast as slipstream.

I think with a fully maxed driver coil and Borg engine equiped you can get her to Transwarp 30 almost during Slipstream.

Also, the new Chimera is just naturally faster in sector space. When combined with the above, it's really fast.