New Testingstan

timmy wrote:I've got a few characters but you're most likely to find me playing as josie@timmystyle31 at the moment.

"User not found"

timmy wrote:I've got a few characters but you're most likely to find me playing as josie@timmystyle31 at the moment.

Is your ship called the USS Pussycats

Sadly, no.

Try Josie@timmystyler31

But I won't be online for a bit

So Season 7 Tribble Test Weekend is a thing. Looks like they're adding a whole new Sector Block place and throwing in a bunch of end-game content or some shit. And of course if you played an hour you'll get some little reward or something.

So I fired it up. Except my Tribble characters are both Feddie LT-1s so I can't actually access any of the content apparently. Maybe a social zone if they made one (not sure on that) but nothing else. And I didn't feel like going through all the story missions yet again. Even though it's probably been the better part of a year since I last did any.

So I'm not sure if I actually messed around enough to qualify as an hour of playtime. Oh well, guess I'll find out whenever it launches and see what happens.

Anyone else still playing?

Hell yeah. Stofsk is too. Between us we're feeding a dozen characters.

Fleet starbase on the edge of going to tier III, and my original character has maxed on Mk XII items(excepting consoles)

Looking forward to S7 with a bit of trepidation.

Why? What're you worried they'll mess up? Just general launch woes of bugginess or more?

More the changes to STFs. Combined with the distinct vibe of profiteering on the part of the publisher creeping in - I get that there's a business model to follow, and I'm happy to keep spending my money with them... But everytime they nerf something, or make it a store only item, the agenda isn't gameplay balance... And then there's this whole fleet ships thing. You can buy one with fleet credits... And up to four modules, which winds up costing about $20 real world bucks. Not how it appeared to have been sold initially - that you could earn those ships by contributing to your fleet.

I'll still keep playing obviously, but it's an uncertain future as to how the publisher treats the game.

Ah. Yeah, that doesn't sound good. I would say that sounds like pay-to-win but most of it is stuff that wouldn't matter except to high-level players anyway, and nobody gives much of a shit about PVP so...

Though supposedly that "area control" gimmick will show up. Eventually. Maybe.

I kinda like the sound of them simplifying the STF rewards and marks and stuff, though not sure what that really means in terms of getting MACO/KHG and Omega gear. Also I don't recall seeing what you're supposed to get for those Romulan marks either, but they're there.

They're going to go towards your fleet embassy on New Romulus.

As for what THAT does for you, not really sure...

timmy wrote:More the changes to STFs. Combined with the distinct vibe of profiteering on the part of the publisher creeping in - I get that there's a business model to follow, and I'm happy to keep spending my money with them... But everytime they nerf something, or make it a store only item, the agenda isn't gameplay balance... And then there's this whole fleet ships thing. You can buy one with fleet credits... And up to four modules, which winds up costing about $20 real world bucks. Not how it appeared to have been sold initially - that you could earn those ships by contributing to your fleet.

Just an aside, those fleet modules don't have to be bought with real dollars and cents. You can buy them off the exchange with energy credits. At current prices it looks to about 5 million per unit.

Also, given that a single module costs 500 zen, and zen is now dirt cheap thanks to the dilithium market plunging, you can get enough dilithium in like a couple days assuming you max out on the daily refining and have enough characters. Then buy zen with that, and you're laughing.

Buying zen with real money is the short cut people who have money can take. The problem with going the dilithium route is it takes longer, and puts you in the 'obsessive gamer' category rather than casual player most people fall under. But you could pretty much get everything you want in this game without spending a cent.

EXCEPT HAVE FUN

What the fuck is zen?

It's the 'game currency you buy with real money and/or in-game grind' in Perfect World Entertainment games (like STO).

I thought those were C-credits or something? They changed the name?

They did, they used to be called -C-points IIRC but when they switched over to PWE they changed the name to zen.

So, they've done the whole Tribble/Redshirt split again. Guess that means major content incoming. Checking Tribble patch notes, and I see this:

STO wrote:Many Federation episodes have been revamped to improve the quality and pacing.
These changes apply to the following missions:
Stranded in Space
Diplomatic Orders
Hide and Sneak
Stop the Signal
Researcher Rescue
The Kuvagh'Magh
Treasure Trading Station
Secret Orders
Task Force Hippocrates
The Ultimate Klingon
City on the Edge of Never
Past Imperfect
The mission "War is Good for Business" has been removed.
Captains who have already completed these episodes will not be required to replay any but do have the option to as has always been the case.

Aw yeah! About damn time Federation missions get a revamp. Hopefully the rest will also be rolled out. At least make the climb up to 40 (or whatever the level is for the Cardassian Front missions which are universal to all the factions now) less tedious.

Also Stahl has once again stepped aside as EP and that Stephen D'Angelo guy is back. Cryptic is apparently making a new game, or some other "top secret project" according to BranFlakes.

I guess it's time to make a new character then!

why don't you just replay the missions with your existing characters

Can you replay missions in STO? In most MMO's once you complete a quest it's gone, unless its a group thing.

And even if he could, he's probably so high in level that it wouldn't be any challenge whatsoever.

Yes, they have a mission replay function. And the enemies will scale with your level, so they'll maintain a consistent challenge whenever you play the mission. Also handy for avoiding over-leveling situations.

For the flack STO gets, and it does deserve some of it, they do have some pretty good ideas in there, which is why I keep playing.

I mean, don't get me wrong: when I fly in my kitted Fleet Battle Cruiser with four DHCs and pop off TS3 with quantums and then CRF2 while popping off all my Tactical VA abilities on some unlucky Klingon BoP I will hilariously roflstomp the crap out of it, no question. But that's just because there's a difference between my FBC and full ability tray versus when I was flying a Light Cruiser with a couple beam arrays and a torp launcher with only a bare handful of abilities. Those Frigate mobs will die pretty quick to that.

But Cruiser, Battleship and Dreadnought (aka Tough, Elite and Boss mobs as a rough comparison) will still pose a challenge no matter my level because they match up to me. It's not like in TOR where you go against an Elite enemy of equal level and get wtfpwned in about five seconds but then come back in 10 levels and can sit there while laughing off its pitiful attacks.

if you want a challenge play on elite difficulty, even then it's not much of a challenge

if you don't play on easy normal

Stofsk wrote:why don't you just replay the missions with your existing characters

Because I like having new stuff

And I'm going to name my next Fed character Christine Svitovsky

Alright

Your move

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