HE makes it pretty easy to render Plasma builds irrelevant. Almost everybody's got it - so if somebody is attempting to focus a target with Plasma...well, the shields are reducing any Plasma Energy damage and HE's removing all the DoTs.

It's lolPlasma. Given the Borg being the primary enemy in the game - that's the way things are generally built to render the Borg useless. There should be a way to make Plasma viable, while also bumping up the Borg in a manner that does not flood the forums with tears.

I agree with engineering skills.

Regarding DEM, I can see where Beam users would like it buffed. But, quite frankly it's fine for cannon builds.

Regarding Beams, I'd like to see what the proc during FaW fixes do before addressing them.

Regarding APO, imo the issue is more w/AP or tech doffs greatly increasing its uptime. I'd rather see this addressed 1st. APO hasn't been touched in a long time, it's only w/the cooldown reductions have people been complaining about its effects.

Regarding Fleet MVAE, Defiant vs Bug. All 3 have 5 tac consoles. MVAE can have increase agility w/saucer sep. Defiant has cloak boost to Alpha. I'd like to have more time before buffing those Fleet ships, especially compared to KDF options. Keep in mind Steam runner has team boosting effect iirc. HEC can dump pets and has LT commander eng etc.

Ensign BOFFs:

Tac: 9 abilities. 3 groups for CDs.
Sci: 8 abilities. 7 groups for CDs.
Eng: 5 abilities. 2 groups for CDs (where 4 of the 5 are in the same group).

I hate the layout on the Negh'Var because of this. Because it's not just about the 3 Ensign Eng BOFF slots...it's also about what filling those means for the higher ranked slots.

Eng BOFFs definitely need more Ensign level abilities. Even if they were Ensign only level abilities...it would be great.

edit: Keep in mind the following though...offsetting costs. While Tac and Sci both have more abilities, there are offsetting costs. With Tac, you're looking at weapons mounted and Tac consoles used. With Sci, you're looking at skill build and Sci consoles used. Additional Eng BOFF abilities should have similar offsetting costs.

Do you think some folks run into an issue with DEM because of that jump between DEM2 and DEM3?

A lot of bad nerfing ideas in the thread in regards to some key abilities.

If you remove shield distribution from TT, what does it become? Basically a waste of an abilitiy. What becomes of the ships in PvP or PvE without it? Elite STFs in PvE one shot ships constantly, this will turn into even worse problems. PvP there is no amount of shield distributing that will let you survive an alpha strike. Its a fundamental defense ability that needs only a single ensign tac ability and some doffs, a slot with nearly no real offensive utility, much less a way to use 3 on many escorts.

EPtS doesn't seem to get the nerf bat calls, but we know everyone has it, its perhaps more important that TT1, because TT1 without EPtS fails spectacularly fast. Its a keystone ability requiring slots that every ship can use and afford, altering it will require rebalancing the whole game.

I think APO is a little broken, but if you remove the movement element from it we wind up with just polarize hull as tractor escapes? Tractors are already screwy, don't make those the new op.

Beam arrays and BFaW have been a mess for a while, though beam arrays aren't being addressed. Even with an EPtW running and overcapped power you drain into the 60s.. this alone could fix a lot of cruiser problems.

Aceton beam is broken, boarding parties is more likely to hurt yourself more than another player. It probably should be changed into a transporter boarding instead of a shuttle. Why its an engineering ability I still don't get.

Mask energy signature wouldn't be useful even if it was a power usuable out of combat. Photonic officer is terrible. In fact only power drain builds have any viability left in the science field, everything else is just utterly useless.

Tactically I see a lack luster target subsystems, fire at will and beam overload that are meant for cruisers? But only fire at will is a cruiser ability really.

I don't know if the problems are really in over powered abilities or that just so many don't seem to work or make any sense in theory as to their operation. If there were real legitimate alternatives to the abilities people use in every match, maybe they wouldn't be so dominant? Oddly I think things like CRF and CSV, THY and TS are probably some of the most balanced for trade off/utility in the game.

I'm guessing it's that DEM is dependent on weapon power level and Cruiser beam array builds can drain weapons power significantly.

Not really. APO offers so much benefit in one single BOFF ability alone, with NO downside. Its just nuts and I cant understand it. Can you find me one sci or eng skill in the Lt.cmnd/cmnd section which offers as much benefit with no downside? Exactly! You cant find a single one! And its purely in the tactical departments field. This coupled with high defense due to its correlation to speed which escorts regin supreme in, the best firepower, and the ability to tank as well as cruiser due to TT and other related skills, makes escorts the king of pvp hands down. Why bother with cruisers and sci ships when they can barely compete? This becomes even more evident in duels. APO is practicaly a get-out-jail card.

Most Boff abilities don't have a downside other than opportunity cost.

Extend Shields has a very high benefit w/or w/o doffs.

VM (sans human boff fix recently) has a very high benefit w/doffs.

Again, APO has been this way for a long time. The only recent change has been the ways to reduce it's cooldown, so 1 copy can be at maxed uptime. This means people can chain APO3 w/tech doffs or AP doffs.

Would definitely play a factor in it, no doubt.

I suppose I was just thinking of those folks more likely to slot EWP3 or Extend3 than a DEM3 - so they might be running DEM2 and just not getting the boost that the person who went DEM3 did. That's more of an opportunity cost, though - but something that would come up more with the SC builds than BA builds. But again, that comes down to the build.