I wanted our second truth series post to be about role play but the STOC council asked me to speak about nerfs.

The truth and fact of the matter is that nerfs are bad for the game - period - no question and no contest. Furthermore, we at the council believe that nerfs happen because players whine and developers are lazy.

In every multiplayer game there has ever been, people have complained about balance; this race is more powerful than that race or this skill is more powerful than that skill. Star Trek Online has been no different. People have complained about science ships being too powerful and they have been nerfed and nerfed and nerfed and now they are useless lumps of metal unworthy to play. I have never once played a multi player game where anybody admitted that they lost because of skill. People lose because somebody elses equipment is too powerful which is unfair. Here it was first sci ships and then later on it was reverse shield polarity and now both have been nerfed down to where sci and engy are less fun; and we are down to one ship class worth playing which is tactical. Yes there are a few players who can still make engys sing but even the best of the best need established teams to make the engineer class worth playing with the rsp nerf.

If you value diversity in a game then you are going to have balance issues. If you want perfect balance then have one ship class, one kind of ship, one kind of bridge officers and put the same weapons on every ship. Have everybody go out and fight with exactly the same kind of equipment and let skill decide. Otherwise, if you value diversity in game play and experience, then have different kind of officers, different ships, different skills and let people customize their builds however they want. We feel that if you lose or feel inferior because you have inferior equipment or skills then buy some cryptic points, make a new character and rebuild your character in a manner you feel can compete with the current state of the art skils, abilities, and equipment. Demanding nerfs on other peoples builds to achieve "balance" hurts the game badly.

Many people have spent time, money, and effort to build their equipment to the best of their ability and when it gets nerfed and made useless they get upset. Lets not forget that for most people time and effort means real world money. The person that spent $45 for 3 months of subscription payments only to watch her ship being nerfed to the junkyard is going to feel more upset with good cause than they would if subscriptions were free. Players have invested in their builds.

The lazy way to address balance issues is to nerf things. The proper way to address balance issues is to constantly build and improve the game and balance things out with future improvements. If science ships were overpowered then build new and improved areas, with tough bosses to fight, that drop high quality equipment that favors tactical and engineer but not science. Tactical and Engineer classes get improved and raised up to where they can compete with science. The science captain is happy because his build is still relevant and tactical and engineers are happy because they are facing new challenges to get new things that help them more. Raising the bar for weak classes and skills just makes so much more sense than constantly trying to lower the bar for strong ones until they exist no longer and you get to ground level and the limbo game aint fun anymore.

Sadly, the other major reason for nerfs is to make the game harder so it will take people longer to play and they will keep paying fees. People are all the time complaining that this game is too easy and there is nothing to do. Im sorry but I disagree. Theres plenty to do but people dont want to work to do it: help new players, make a fleet, advise people, etc.... There will always be an element of people that power level through any game and claim boredom. If Cryptic were to make the game hard enough and challenging enough to challenge the most active power player then they would lose many of the broad audience that prefer normal rated challenges because they cant arrange their lives around an online game 24/7 just so they can hero a character in 2 weeks.

If you are building new areas and dropping new items then balance can slowly be adjusted with a minimum of complaint. Nobody gets hurt; and nobodys time was wasted; The players want and expect Cryptic to improve and for new equipment to come out and be released. The player that saves up for 2 weeks for the MK X Beam Array on the exchange selling for 2 million isnt going to buy it and then watch Beam Overload 3 get nerfed the next day and end up angry. Nerfs just cause anger for everyone because one day your build is relevant and the next day it isnt. New builds and drops are good for everybody. I supported Cryptic in the skill cap limits because I thought it gave them room to expand in the future. In fact, I would like to see new skill trees added.

Build, build, build, and balance through building. If sci consoles are overpowered then build new and better engy and tactical consoles to compete. Make them hard to get and where you have to do one 2 hour mission for a special anomaly and another for the base material used for the build. Let people custom design their flags and items. You want a beam array with 2X accuracy then find these items and craft it. If you want 2 flags of crit dam then find different items and craft it that way.

The truth about nerfs is that if you want to keep players happy then you give them new toys to play with and if you want them unhappy then you take away their old toys. Nerfs are just a lazy way to try to balance the game and make it harder for the people who power level their characters. Building new areas, enemies, instances, challenges and variety of drops, rewards, and possibilities allows the same skill balancing and keeps the power players active and happy at the same time; with the added benefit of not offending those who have worked hard for what they have.

Cryptic, please heed our warning and suggestion and start balancing characters, characters, and classes by adding to competing skills rather than nerfing the ones people have already worked hard to find, achieve, and obtain. Addition in this case is better than subtraction and you can equalize balance just as easily. Instead of frustration at your taking things away we have worked and paid to achieve, we prefer you give us more things to find, get, develop and achieve. And you can balance the game through added content as well as keeping those hard core power level players happy at the same time.

Those of us who have worked hard to build fleets and your player base would politely ask that you quit doing things that drive our players away and that instead you give our players new reasons to keep playing.

Balance is not the problem. Add a bit here and buff that up there and everybody gets better and is happy. Frustration is a big problem. You take away peoples builds and nerf their skills and we lose players and everybody is unhappy. In my own fleet, Im offended if I lose even a single player to renouncement. I try hard to keep everyone happy and represent their interests on these forums and in the game. Rather than tearing down equipment collections, builds, and skills, lets keep the game growing and moving forward as new builds and expansions offer new opportunities of challenge, balance, and fun.

Happy Prosperity All,



Bugshu

i do wish you would stop using the word truth, its an opinion, one that some will disagree with. if you use the word truth all the time, people (like me) are just going to diagree with you.

its your opinion. one i happen to disagree with, some things should not be nerfed but some things are overpowered creating a very unfair game style. some things get nerfed when they should be left as they are, but you cant say a sweeping statement as if its a cast iron certainty over such a large issue

Again: who the heck is the OP and who is this 'council' he/she/it deigns to speak for?

Also, buffing the other is not always the answer. Sometimes, even frequently, something sticks out to make you go "what the ****ing ****?" and boosting everything to compensate would take the game into insaneo mode. For example - 30 second holds with Viral Matrix.

A shadow organization. The Section 31 of Section 31.

Stop asking questions or you'll stop asking questions permanently, if you know what I mean.

The silence is defeaning, and now a long winded ramble of a post that asks rather than demands. That cautions rather than threatens. Council of Ineptitude.

Bah, whats the point, Cyrptic has its hand so far up your rectum, you may as well be a puppet.

Double Post.

What a load of ill thought out rubbish. How can a post about nerfs not contain the phrase emergent gameplay. This is the reason that skills and abilities get a nerf. Not because the skill or ability in itself is overpowered but because we, the players, find ways to combine them to make them overpowered.

The good players adapt to the changes, the bad players whine on the forums. Whining that the changes are bad for the game while claiming that they alone know the truth.

wall of text one shots you for infinity damage to the infinity power infinitely squared.

Q ressurects you so it can do it again.

if you want anyone to read that mess keep it to 1 paragraph!

I agree. There is no such thing as perfect balance without making all of the ships the same. If tacs are beating a cruiser to death, give the cruiser a defense or some more hull, don't remove the tac advantage. Science ships are meant to shut down enemies. Watch any Star Trek episode. "Let's modify the deflector array to create a subspace anomaly that fixes our plot complication." Trek is not about balance, it's about ingenuity and coming up with solutions to compensate for imbalance.
Resore what you made to begin with ... these nerfs are not only unfair, they are unfun. I want to play a Science ship that doesn't have the tactical advantage and damage an Escort or a BOP has ... but I also want the ability to shut that advantage down and hope that there isn't another one waiting to get me when I do it. That's fun ... it's dangerous and daring and so much more than beating on a persons shields for 20 minutes hoping you can break through for that killing blow.
All the ships are the same? Why not make all cruisers? Just change the look to be escorts and science ships ... cause honestly ... that' what I see happening with these nerfs. I have seen powers nerfed in games before and normally I agreed ... but the drastic nature to which things have been crippled here is devastating. Take a few seconds off of Viral Matrix but don't CHANGE THE STINKIN Power! Make Rapid Fire Cannon less accurate but don't nerf the damage on a ship whose only advantage is damage. I mean c'mon ... really? THat was the best solution you could come up with.

I love this game and that's a lot considering I am not a Trek fan. But I am finding myself agreeing with the people who are upset with the heavy handed nerfs. You guys need to learn moderation and to appreciate what a middle ground is.

I read the first two lines,, well,, as far as the line "The truth and fact of the matter is that nerfs are bad for the game". I won't disagree with that,, save for saying it's truth, it's not, it's an opinion, one I share but still an opinion.

I'm going to guess that everything written after that line about nerfs is unnecessary.