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

[Timelord79 (he/him)]

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.

 

[Timelord79 (he/him)]

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 ._.

 

[Timelord79 (he/him)]

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]

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.

 

[matthunter]

I try and keep a certain level of realism to my toons - Sierra uniform seems like a logical "future" outfit and I mainly go for late 24th/early 25th Century ship designs when possible (Luna, Prometheus, Intrepid, Sovvie). And disable armour and ship visuals - hanging out with a ship that looks like it's nearly full-on Borg assimilation or wearing the "plastic pyjama" body armour doesn't do it for me.

 

[Ayelbourne]

^For me, that depends on the character i play. My science captain would never turn his Luna class explorer into an abomination using Borg technology.

My engineer, on the other hand, is very enthusiastic about his work. So he flys an old Excelsior because it was an engineering marvel and he pimped it with Borg tech.
He also has a hologramm of those romulan borgified Mogai in his messhall simply because he respects the level of engineering skill that was put into it.

On the matter of the new STF grind:
I'm glad I already got all the equipment months ago. Even my Boffs are decked out in Omega and KHG gear, two of them even MK XII.

 

[Nerys Ghemor]

And disable armour and ship visuals - hanging out with a ship that looks like it's nearly full-on Borg assimilation or wearing the "plastic pyjama" body armour doesn't do it for me.

I hate hearing that crap on another player's ship. It makes sector space so bloody LOUD. And those Mugato pets. I want a button to be able to mute the audio on those damned things. I don't care about seeing it so much, but I do not want to hear it.

 

[syberghost]

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

And that is why.

 

[Hartzilla2007]

Meh, I'm only slightly annoyed by the B'Tran nerf. Of course this is mostly because I'm thinking of starting a new charater and the dilithium price tag and price increases on Doffs is kind of annoying, I mean if revenue is so important why not just offer better Doffs in the Zen Store, I mean they do know thats there to offer stuff we want to buy right.

 

[Amaris]

I think they should rename it STO:Farmville In Space.

 

[Scout101]

Anyone got a good breakdown of how much STF loot (tech, salvage, EDC) to hold onto vice change for DIL to get a good balance without too much diminishing return?

Or better yet, a link to the rumored charts on the STO forum?

having a hard time figuring out what to do with mine (i.e. how much to hold onto), need to plan it out a little by tomorrow...

 

[intrinsical]

20 EDCs seems to be a good value, that's equivalent to 10 elite STF runs and will net you 1,500 Omega Marks, 8 Borg Neural Processors and 1,000 Dilithium. Under the new system, 10 elite STF will net you around 1100 Omega Marks and 10 Borg Neural Processors, so its just a little under the break-even point.

 

[Scout101]

worth keeping any tech or salvage, or are they screwing us on those badly enough to just burn them all for DIL?

 

[Bird of Prey]

Just wonderful ... 2 days before the release of season 7 and my video card died !! Argh !!! Since its under warranty, I should get a free replacement... But it won't be soon enough to enjoy season 7's release.