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

[intrinsical]

To be fair, it is also clear from comments over the past month that everyone here expected a loss in the conversion process.

The fact that people are commenting about the degree of loss now indicates many of us didn't expect this much of a loss in the conversion process. Even I myself feel that the conversion rate is *extremely* low. And honestly, what else is there to play at end-game? Cryptic's worry about players not having a reason to play STFs under the new reputation system is totally unfounded. In fact, my belief is that a better conversion rate would actually incentivize players to play more as players will feel they have gained a significant leg up towards getting those new Mk XII items. Having such a low conversion rate is in fact very demoralizing to the playerbase. I have heard several regular players saying they are seriously considering not playing STO anymore due to feeling like their past STF achievements have been tossed out the window.

[Timelord_Victorious]

Iconverted my stuff into dilithium now, well most of it. Still got a shot at a ground and a space set with only one missign piece each for a shuttle and a boff.

After the launch I will just play my STFs like always and get enough marks and BNPs to pretty much start new projects the moment the old one comes of cooldown.

I saved up enough dilithium and EC to fill up everything almost instantly. So the only thing keeping me from reaching T5 is the time gate.

I don't even have to grind dilithium ore for two weeks now.

Everything I make in addition can go to starbase/embassy.

[Scout101]

Yeah, obviously not going to be a 1 for 1. But when I tested my conversion, i traded in (roughly):

60 Rare Salvage
60 Proto Salvage
300 EDC
10 Rare Tech
5 Proto Tech

Turns out that's enough now for about 1.5 set pieces. Kinda looks like I've got enough for 15 set pieces, full Mk XII weapon loadout of every rainbow color for all my ships, and 20 full Retro Borg 3-piece sets.

Doesn't QUITE translate to even ballpark value, does it? Seems like a little more buying power now, when it'll get me 1.5 space pieces or 2 ground pieces after.

Oh, and then gotta grind out another couple hundred of these things to get back to the point where i can buy a piece even if I WAS given the goods to buy it with. They doubled the trade-in value and it still doesn't seem fair. Not sure how you can really defend another POV on that issue...

Now i just gotta pull up the spreadsheet, find a good jumping off point, and trash the rest for DIL. And then decide whether to bother grinding more STFs in the first place. At least my main toon has both sets of ground and space, and the BOFFs have my old Mk XI gear sets, so really don't need more there. My alts are another sad story, but just not sure I can stomach grinding this system from scratch multiple times. Would be nice if there was a 'fast track' for your alts, so if you maxed the system on one character, the next one can move through faster. Frustrating as hell having my main toon all geared out, and when I started focusing on another alt (KDF), I don't even have enough to get the remodulator, so I gotta run Elite STFs with the damned 5-second remodulation. More than enough chips/tech on the other toon, can't even spend it, and no way to help out my other ones...

[intrinsical]

Basically convert all Rare and Prototype Borg Salvage into dilithium, keep either 10 or 30 EDCs for conversion.

With 10 EDCs, you get 1000 Omega Marks and 5 Borg Neural Processors, or...
With 30 EDCs, you get 1500 Omega Marks, 7 Borg Neural Processors and 1000 dilithium

[syberghost]

Scout101 wrote:

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Oh, and then gotta grind out another couple hundred of these things to get back to the point where i can buy a piece even if I WAS given the goods to buy it with.

Exactly. That was the goal.

If this new system launched and everybody just turned around and bought gear, there'd be no point to a new system.

[Timelord_Victorious]

The Hive: Onslaught got the nerf hammer. I wouldn't go so far as to call the Queen Ship a push over now, but once everyone knows her litle tricks and how to get around them she won't be that much harder to beat than Donatra with a devent team.

I see this with a mixed feelings.

They again nerfed something the most laziest way. Instead of building in a mechanic to anticipate and avoid the one hit kills, they are no longer one hit kills, so everyone can complete it now without extraordinary efforts. (well, except maybe the rainbox boat pug squad)

[Scout101]

^Realistically what you're saying was that the goal was to basically make it so that it appears that there's something new to do (grind) without having to go through all the pesky work of actually making something.

Not everyone is sitting on a horde of gear, but for those that have, it kinda means they've run these once or twice. to essentially have to restart like it's your first run is fairly obnoxious/insulting. Obviously they don't want everyone pegged on day one, but again, is the goal to fix how the system works, or to create the illusion of new content? If we've run enough STFs to be sitting on that much loot, haven't we kinda already completed it anyway?

Want to avoid this problem, release some new damned STFs (as in, a whole new set) like they said they intended to, rather that just keep warming over and reserving this moldy leftover. This is what, the 3rd time they've presented these same missions to us, and given a new path to grind them, rather than making new stuff? How about expanding the Terradome mission into a series, for example, and make new loot?

As infuriating as the RNG was for loot drops, at least there was a chance you wouldn't have to regrind 300 MORE runs of this thing to be able to get gear for your alt. Now, I suppose, you at least know you'll get it eventually, but it WILL be the 300 runs or whatever. Per alt. I just don't see myself able to stomach that. Why isn't there some sort of account-level acknowledgement that you've ground this damned thing to death already, at least reduce the time/cost on the alt runs...

Edit: Timelord, we've long known that's how they work. Just lazy shit. And when they want to make something harder, they just up the shield power and give them super-weapons. Not change the numbers of ships, or timing, introduce waves, no strategy, just tweak the damage settings up or down. As mindless as it gets.

[TheRoyalFamily]

The more I hear about the changes, the less and less I want to play in the future. Now getting rid of the quick Foundry rewards? That's part of why I play. As it is, the rewards are just barely enough to make up for the grind for me. But to get worse?

The new content better be damned good to make up for all the rest of the crap. But I seriously doubt it will be. I find fleet actions and STF's a bore (only play them for the loot, because I like loot, and even then it's pretty rare), and that's what most of the new stuff sounds like.

I guess I do have several long RPG's I haven't even started yet. And there are a couple Steam sales coming up...but damn, I love Trek, and I love medium-paced space shooter games, and STO does both.

[Timelord_Victorious]

Just posted this over on the STO Forum:

I am with Cryptic on this one regarding the console clickys, and I say that as someone who uses those "missiosn" frequently for the sheer convenience. But i would not one minute forget that it is an obvious exploit.

I run 6 alts through them every 3 days on average and that is some dilithium that is very welcome.

But I will most definitely play more serious Foundry missions once the farming is out of the way.

It is so easy to farm atm, that most of us forget to play.

The Fleet Starbases are really something that should happen sort of by itself while you are playing.

Now I also read some suggestions that would help without being exploits.

We could use a Report to Duty mission on the starbase that rewards some dilithium, maybe 480. That would not be much, but better than nothing, not so exploitable and puts actual traffic on the base.
Either add a second mission to the Officer of the Watch or combine it with the existing daily.

The existing daily reward should receive another 0. So 50 instead of 5 Fleet marks.

[Awesonne]

Ugh, I really don't feel like reading 182 pages (nor I have the time >.<), can someone tell me if the game is... accurate in respect to the canon ST universe? Thank you in advance and sorry for the silly question ._.

[Timelord_Victorious]

Um...

Accurate...

Well...

Er...


Yes, if you don't mind Federation starship captains flying Galors, Jem'hadar ships, future time ships, Tholian (!) ships, Ferengi ships, crewed by Remans, Borg, Breen and Romulans around every planet...


It is a Star Trek theme park game, where you can make the most of canon yourself, but you shouldn't really mind the more gaming centric population if you want to have fun.

It is fun for the most part.

[Jim Gamma]

^And not to mention the silly "uniforms" of all different hues, types and designs, strange "body armour" images that hide the uniform, and every planet (seemingly) having "ice rings" or "rock rings" around it.

Oh, and weaponry not being faction-specific (except for non-player ships).

[Awesonne]

Not very comforting; idk why but I kinda care about accuracy right now Still, I'll give it a try. And thanks!

[Hartzilla2007]

Awesonne wrote:

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Not very comforting; idk why but I kinda care about accuracy right now Still, I'll give it a try. And thanks!

Well you can stay accurate if you don't get to concerned about what everyone else is doing and stay to the canon uniforms, ships, and weapons.

[TheRoyalFamily]

Keep in mind that the story takes place almost 30 years after Nemesis, so things are going to change (especially uniforms, which seemed to change every few years...though I don't think Starfleet would include lime green as a base).

I think that actual storyline, though, is pretty close to canon, at least as a decent extension of it to get to where they wanted the game to be. It has a lot of the "characters that we know are important" to it, but that's almost to be expected. I'd say the writing in general is on the level of a low-tier DS9 ep, or a mid-tier Voy or Ent. Some of it is drek, some of it is decent, but it's mostly just satisfactory for a MMO.

If you want to RP "real" Trek, you can. If you want to fly around in your crazy frankenship, or an old-style Connie in 2409, you can do that too.

The main issue is not canon- or story-related, but the fact that it's a pretty bad MMO. Leveling is way too fast, and then the end-game content is pretty non-existent, and very grindy. The story parts are fun - and there are player-created scenarios that are really good, and very Trekish - but they are entirely unnecessary to even touch (I got an alt to max level only playing the first two missions), and don't give the best rewards.

Honestly, if it wasn't Trek, I'd advise against getting too invested in the game, at least at the moment. Playing it, that's a different story. I found it almost perfectly hit an empty spot in my gaming life. If they can fix some major issues (mainly the grind), I could whole-heartedly endorse the game. But I can't. I can only put half a heart into it.