This is just kinda gonna be a 'general feedback' on Season 7 and everything we're getting today. It isn't about any single topic or anything, but just a large, umbrella for EVERYTHING in the big release today. So I am not even gonna post my thoughts, because I haven't truly played it yet (Tribble is fun, but it is still a test server).

You don't have to follow this 'guide' though, but here's kinda what I am meaning:

The Good: Pretty much what you honestly DO like. Be it the Embassy, or new STFs, or rep system, or anything else.

The Bad: The opposite of the above, what you DON'T like about season 7.

The Ugly: Anything that didn't fit above. Not necessarily things you like or don't like, but things that just kinda bug you about season 7, or perhaps something you were hoping would happen, etc. An example for me might be...I'd be rather annoyed if later, they still hadn't fixed the operational asset bug.

The good: Not a great deal that I don't like about it in truth. I guess I can see where those who are upset about the increased grinding issues are coming from, but it's not something that bothers me, personally, all that much. I, for one, am rather looking forward to the new content and am particularly looking forward to the Vesta class.

The Bad: Minor points really - I was hoping for the Iconian storyline to be expanded upon, since it's been (basically) untouched. I guess one could assume that 'New Romulus' could lead into something involving the Iconians, but that would really be little more than conjecture.

The ugly: Just a few questions that haven't really been addressed, such as:

1: Will the Vesta class have a dedicated/unique bridge

2: If the Vesta class doesn't have a dedicated/unique bridge, are there any plans to introduce one?

3: Is an update pertaining to the 29th century uniforms ETA available?

The Good:

• Lots of interesting space missions in Tau Dewa.
• The reputation system that will allow my captains and ships to be more individualized beyond their classes, and will replace random drops with something that can be planned.
• Romulan-themed content that might actually make a Romulan Faction workable within the game's existing endgame mission structure.
• The ability to switch toons without logging off and on again!
• Reduced Doff requirements for fleet projects will be helpful.

The Bad and the Ugly:
Honestly, I have yet to see stuff I really don't like. Some things may be a bit inconvenient, such as the Dilithium costs, but it is not as if that was anywhere near important for me.

I like the principles of the rep system and how it could be used in the future...I do not like the associated grind.

There is little in the realm of what I don't like...

Dil cost for gear we could get easily for free from the STF store I suppose (the non-set stuff specifically that I used to get with salvage when rolling new toons into the STF system). Now you go in pretty much completely barefoot for a while when getting new toons in the STF system whereas before just a couple STFs would net you some OK borg gear (specifically referring to ground equipment here however, space is whatever). And the new embassy/rep (3 in effect) grind systems are going to be a LITTLE tedious I think, but as long as they are balanced reasonably (Removing dil from rep XP assignments- thanks for that), I think it'll be alright and much less of an issue alot of people are making it out to be, and makes it feel like grinding STFs is moving you along a little bit, instead of crossing your fingers hoping for that random drop (*Disclaimer: I may be a wee bit biased cuz my two main toons do already have all the mk xii sets.. but even before that I would have been happy to see this, just a little bummed that I'd have to start over)

New fleet actions: LOVE 'em
New STFs: Long time coming, LOVE 'em
New Gear sets to look forward to: Bring on the V'Ger torps!!
New Sector and Adv. Zone: Looking forward to new accolades and hopefully some interesting DOFF assignments to go with them.

Various "fixes": "Fixing" requirements for fleet assignemnts (*COUGH bartender and chef *COUGH) I'm very glad that listened to feedback on these as well as others like the doff requirements and such.

Overall I feel it's a win, and "feels" like more of an expansion than S6, which at the end of the day was just a new planet and a new UI system.

But the #1 Feature I'm happy to see..

~*Being able to switch toons without entering my password umpteenmillion times*~

srsly.. thanks for that!

The good:

1. New Content - yeah, it may not be a FE or even a traditional mission, but if the few things I caught on Tribble are an indication, there will be cutscenes and storyline advancement.
2. New Sector - 'nuff said
3. Reputation - the additional customization and end to randomness on drops.

The Bad:

1. No more clear progression on certain dailies, especially in new sector - while the concept of a "time & difficulty based" progression on dailies is appealing, only earning 15% from gunning through frigate squadrons with a CC-oriented Sci ship and 20% from "epic battles" of low DPS Sci vs. high HP solo cruisers - and potentially the inverse in a high-burst anti-cruiser escort that has a bit of a challenge keeping scattered frigates in Dualie/Quad arc kinda mitigates that feeling of "boy, I have a niche" and makes me feel somewhat "penalized" for being able to fight battles according to my class style...
2. This should be a "good", but while there is a "massive" economic "normalization" going on, it seems half-arsed, in that there is a reduction in "abuses" of the Dilithium for time/activity pay-rates, and spreading out somewhat of the places to earn dilithium, but the prices (especially for the S6 and S7 content) still seem based on the floods of dilithium created via these "abuses", and the fact that there is a bit of "conversion" of dilithium into the "new" rewards - from 1440 Dil from an E-STF to 960+Marks+BNP...

The Ugly:
So far, nothing has really ticked me off enough to be classified as "ugly"...

i like the new embasy. looks much nicer than the starbase interiors i think.

Good:

new sector
new gear

bad:
conversion rate

The good:
- New Romulus and the new %-based missions with several objectives.
- Embassy sounds nice, but I haven't been able to test it on Tribble.
- The new space missions, like Azure Nebula, they are quite fun!
- The reputation system (with the exception of having to pay to unlock the ability to pay..)
- Foundry spotlight with rewards - I always liked doing Foundry missions, now I get a little
something for doing so, so that's a win-win for me
- The ability to change character without logging out!
- The ability to double-click items to put them in or retrieve them from the bank!

The bad:
- New dilithium doff grinder costs (just switched main char and have to start all over,
the grinder was excellent for building up a new team ).
- Removal/nerfing of ways to earn dilithium, combined with higher demand
- No new story-driven mission arcs (not thinking of FE's, but rather standard missions like
"The Doomsday Machine" etc).

The ugly:
- The fact that starbase progression in out little fleet will likely come to a grinding halt
The costs, combined with the removal of easy ways to get a fair amount of fleet marks
and dilithium, means that we will no longer be able to progress at a fair pace. At this
point it feels like the rewards for building a starbase is negligible, so it will be better to
refocus our efforts and resources elsewhere.
- The fact that a lot of HIGHLY unpopular changes have been forced upon the playerbase
with no explanation whatsoever, and that feedback on these things are ignored.
I'm thinking about the doff grinder costs and the b'tran cluster, first and foremost.

---

Now, at first I too was outraged. This game seems to be turning into a grind. But, then
I stopped and thought about it for a little while, and I figured it isn't really (not for me,
anyway).

Let me explain: I could grind in order to fill every project in our embassy, our starbase
and the personal rep system. I would grind fleet actions, New Romulus, dailies, STF's etc
etc. But what is the point really? All the starbase, embassy and rep will give me
(besides some convenience stuff) is basically slightly upgraded equipment. With
said equipment I could then go and do.. all the stuff I've already done a hundred times
in order to grind for the equipment!

My point is, there is no challenging end-game PVE content (I'm no PVP'er) that requires
me to have this equipment (not that I know of, anyway). All this equipment helps me do
is breeze through previous content a little easier, and that's not really incentive enough
for me to grind it out.

In other words, I am just going to lay back and progress slowly. I'll play those things that
I think is fun, and not because I have too. This means no grind for me, and possibly also
that I can enjoy the game longer

Storm

The Good: I've got a lot more free time now! Thanks Cryptic!