I have returned!
 

Yeah, yeah, I know that no one remembers me. I wasn't very big on these forums outside of the (now gone?) Tactical Officer discussion section. But regardless; After a few long months of financial issues, I have managed to resub.


Anyone care to sum up in a few words what has happened here in the past 6 - 8 months? Are Sci ships still the awkward child of the three? Escorts still glass cannons? These forums still cool, or have I descended into a lair of trolls?

The answer is yes...

Oy, are you in for a smorgasbord of snark and villainy. Expect half the answers to be 'Everything sucks now' and the other half saying how much the first half are losers.

Let me explain... no, it will take too much time, let me sum up: Little or no content since about April. FE got postponed, and postponed, and postponed. The Ent-F contest came and went and had it's own little drama. This was the Great Content Drought of 2011. Apparently, during this time Crytpic was in such dire financial straits that there were no cups in the kitchen (whatever that means) and they may have lost some employees. About three-four months ago Atari sold Cryptic off to Perfect World and at about the same time Cryptic announced STO was going Free To Play. F2P is going live in early January (though Holodeck is already set up for F2P), the next FE is coming 'sometime after February' and by now all your emblems, badges, medals, marks, and kitchen sinks have been converted into Dilithium, a new currency that can be exchanged with other players for CPs. Mission progression has been set in stone -- it's all linear, though you can skip missions (albeit in order.)

Oh, and the KDF experience has been, depending on whom you ask, 'tightened up' or 'cut off at the legs.' All KDF start at Commander rank in order to give them as much content as possible. Word on the Dev Tracker is that they are dedicated to making a full KDF experience, by decree of their new Perfect World overlords, and that eventually KDF will be made into their own fully-realized faction.

Hmm... that's pretty much the high points. Have I missed anything, ForumCollective?

Naturally. I'd expect nothing less from any MMO forum, irregardless of the game.

This was exactly the sort of reply I was hoping to get- answered a lot of my questions. Thanks a ton for going to the trouble of writing it out, I appreciate it. I am admittedly sad to hear that the FEs are on backburner, since they seemed really neat back when I last played, but I think I'll still give Cryptic another shot. I'm subbed in for the next 6 months at any rate. :)

Check out the Academy zones and Remastered Episodes, which produced much drama when Gozer defined them as "content."

The Doomsday Device really is a wholly new mission.

Also, STFs got split into ground and space and have normal and elite versions you can queue for. They're dramatically easier and can be pugged on Normal mode but unless you get the oprional objectives or are lucky with rolls, expect about 49 runs oer meaningful gear upgrade. This is great or awful depending on who you ask.

Additionally, crafting costs dilithium as well but the dilithium created components can be traded for at least.

Here's another quick question; Is crafting worth more in practical terms now? I can recall having maxed it out pretty easy on my old character and had felt underwhelmed with the stuff I could create.

Sorry if I'm being random and chatty- Just wanted to catch up on all this while my client patches for the next few hours.

When did you leave? Crafting is better than it was a year ago but the dilithium really challenges its value.

A few C-Points can buy a lot of dilithium. So it's not insurmountable.

But for 40% more dilithium, you can flat out buy equal or better gear.

The one place where it may be worth it is KDF side where you can get Har'peng Torpedos. Feds get them through playing The Doomsday Device but KDF has to craft them.

I -think- it was about March when my sub ended. But thanks for the info! Honestly, not quite sure I'm ready to condemn the dilithium system just yet. (Though discussing the pros and cons of Dilithium is not a subject for this thread I suppose.)


Okay, so next question: Roleplay. Yes, yes, call me a dork. I do indeed like to get in a smidge of roleplay every now and then. Does the community still consider roleplaying, so long as it is left outside of missions/STFs, acceptable? Or will I be mocked endlessly?

Dork,

You will be mocked endlessly.

Kidding - I think a lot of the roleplayers use Drozana in Eta Erandi as an RP hub.

Welcome back.

How could you guys totally forget to mention the new Doff system that went live last week?

You can now collect NPC doffs (duty officers) - not to be confused with youboffs (bridge officers). Doffs are your "nameless" minions that fix hull damage, load torpedoes or whatever else keeps the ship running.

Now you can "collect" them and assign them to do side missions while you're off on your main mission. You can assign them to do maintenance on the weapons arrays, check the sensor logs for anomalies, entertain a diplomat while he waits, guard prisoners... etc. The assignment then runs on a timer at the end of which you discover their level of success or failure. If they successfully complete their task you earn skill points, dilithium, credits, and/or other stuff - depending on the mission they're given.

Not all doffs are created equal, some have traits that adjust the chance of success or reward on certain types of missions. Hence the "collect" statement above.

As you can prolly tell I'm a fan of the new system. Heck, right now it's my favorite part of the game. :D