Due to the recent patch, I added something that would make it more easier on players with the grinding of the new tree. Hopefully one of these ideas would be heard and applied to the game, the more support, the more likely it can get done. Thanks for it.
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Edit 4/26/13
In light of the recent patch, the new ship tech tree is known to be, messy, forcible, expensive, time consuming. I am certain one player if not many would have chosen one of those words to describe this new tree. What I would add to this list is to branch off the roles in the tree, Near the end this can be seen but some people do not wish to purchase a role of ship in order to get to the next one that gets within the way.
As such a branching role system for the tree would make it less forcing, expensive, and time consuming on the players who wish to work for that specific role of ship. It would make it less linear as well as grant a player the ability to focus on that role of ship class.
In all honesty when I saw the 0.8 tech tree changes the very first thing I noticed (from a game mechanic point of view) is that the tech tree was re arranged to be MORE costly to progress along one path. I indeed thought the tech tree did need better branches but this rearrangement is a bit ridiculous since the ENTIRE tree emphasizes “how do we make you spend more in game currency”.
Pre 0.8 patch I was able to do the following paths in each ship class
Lynx -> Lynx-M -> Fox -> Silent Fox -> Fox-M -> Wolf-M*
*pre 0.7 you could bypass Tier 7 and 8 Fighters and go straight to Wolf-M if you had Fox-M in tier 6
Swift -> Swift-M -> Hawk -> Hawk-M -> Kite-M**
**Post 0.8 Kite-M is now Tier 10
Raptor -> Raptor-M -> Alligator-C -> Alligator-M -> Anaconda -> Anaconda-M
NOW to get to the same Tier ships (I’m T9 in Fed btw) you need to buy more ships so the cost is much higher. Comparisons below
Fighter
Pre 0.8 patch 8,400,000 (Silent Fox was part of the tree to reach T9)
Post Patch 11,550,000 (Silent Fox not required, but Wolf now is required for T9)
Interceptor
Pre 0.8 Patch 7,791,000
Post Patch 10,416,000 (+2 ship required in tree to reach T9)
Frigate
Pre 0.8 Patch 9,345,000
Post Patch 12,590,000 (+2 ship required in tree to reach T9)
Remember these prices are based on the same ships required to get to T9 and their current 0.8 costs, but the pre 0.8 cost should be a few million less since a majority of my ships were cheaper because they were in a lower tier.
The second problem with the tech tree is that it leads to ‘dead ends’ if you choose to ‘try out’ a different ship role, thereby increasing the cost to progress. No branch should lead to dead ends on a tech tree in this game especially since everything ‘progresses’ linearly where the next ship / tier is better than the previous (especially true when comparing T2 ships to T3 ships, not to mention that most T2 ships should try to just spit on a T3 ship to deal damage)
Personally I think the tech tree should be filled with more choices that are side grades with different roles / specials that can progress a branch instead of it being a dead end. The extra ship can simply be a 2nd version of the ‘base’ ship for example there’s a Hawk, Hawk-M and Hawk Eye, the 4th ship that can fill in the gaps in the tech tree can be called Red Tail Hawk or some such ship name. It would have the same base texture that’s slightly different maybe but nothing like the sub faction textures.
I just think that they made a mess with 0.8 personally, I also don’t like the roles too much especially how it practically guts Federation Fighters. Seriously pre 0.8 I was having fun in my Wolf-M cuz I could stealth and set up an ambush on frigates. Now. . . I can’t even get as close to unload like before, and the paper thin hull / shields make the wolf a pretty weak gunship compared to the command ships Empire and Jericho get that have higher survivability odds.
Well the tree is just too linear, and there are factors such as implants, and there being a limited verity of ships. Course this could be solved with the suggestion I put in by mixing the premium ships in with the tree to give out a more wider selection of vessels for those that grind. However any ship can be bought at max synergy and granted free repair cost to those that pay.
That is how a pay or play model works really. You either spend time, or buy it. I can understand what you and quite a few people go through… The tree at its current state is a pure grind, people will get bored if they lack choices, and bored players stop playing the game. I myself am already bored and it has not been that long. This really isn’t a tree, its more like a branch the way it is and it forces people to have to go through every ship just to reach one they wish to use.
This also makes end game content less and less popular, tech 4’s are rarely played or used in favor of lower tech levels. The introduction of tech 5’s will only gain interest of a few for about 2 weeks. The choice of two roles per faction does not give much choices for the player. Really it does not take much resources to add ‘choice’ to the game. There are ship models that can be used and the stats of the ship can be easily altered to reflect on what the ship is going to do.
Well the thing is that overall the grind time isn’t what I mind its more the cost increase and not enough credits to be earned to buy ships. When I was maxed out in tier 2 and moving into Tier 3 I wanted to save enough money to buy all 3 of my tier 3 ship types at once (interceptor, fighter, frig) now I started saving at Rank 6- I did a mix of PvP and PvE. At rank 9 I still did not have enough money to buy my interceptor, fighter, frigate in one fell swoop after playing about 6-8 hours per day for 7 days and that was with a premium license.
Still want more ships to fill the tech tree though for all races / trees. . . with more roles / different specials than what is currently available.
I too find ships are quite expensive considering:
a) How many creds are rewarded after PVP matches or PVE runs.
b) The fact that you have to buy all the preceding ships to the ship you want to buy.
I find it especially frustrating when I’m a tier 2 (rank 5) Fed Fighter pilot but want to try out some Frigs. I haven’t bought a Frig since Tier 1 (rank 2) so I’m forced to buy all the ships between rank 2 and 6 if I want to buy a Frig the next time I level up!
I too find ships are quite expensive considering:
a) How many creds are rewarded after PVP matches or PVE runs.
b) The fact that you have to buy all the preceding ships to the ship you want to buy.
I find it especially frustrating when I’m a tier 2 (rank 5) Fed Fighter pilot but want to try out some Frigs. I haven’t bought a Frig since Tier 1 (rank 2) so I’m forced to buy all the ships between rank 2 and 6 if I want to buy a Frig the next time I level up!
^ This +100
This is an open beta phase, I would expect the devs to make the game more accessible for people to test / try out things and give feed back. Honestly they can always properly adjust the credit gain / prices later or after they fix core gameplay mechanics and decide to move onto balancing the economy of the game.
Yup, I agree. Prices need to go down or increase rewqrds
I don’t know what the problem with credit farming, with t2 i usually get 2,5 mil per evening (ca 4 hours of play) in t3 its close to 3.5. Just don’t get blown up and use cheaper missiles if you feel that the income is to low. Game is skill oriented - if you have skill you can make money without paying, if you don’t, then you better have a wallet to compensate, if you want to keep up the pace. This is no brainer and many F2P games use this tactic - people with poor skill or understanding in game mechanics feel that its pay to win. Game company should make money to keep up the game you love to play. And i love the game. Been playing since closed beta and seen many changes that i might not like at first but as the game evolves things tic into place and start to make more sense. As a working person who can afford i plan to support them once game reaches its 1.0 version and comes out of beta.
The thing i agree with is that i also want to buy ships without that crap installed on them.
There isn’t a problem with credit farming, its just boring. This post is about giving players choices, not lessen the prices or increase the rewards. Though if you had the option to buy a ship without gear it would be cheaper.
Credit farming is reletivly easy if your a good player. Though the way the ship tree is, you cant get the ships you want nor with the amount of farming required. I mean 10 mill for a ship with mk1 items? I rather pay 7 mill to have it NAKED with nothing on it.
Please allow to purchase only the hull. Hull + Modules makes only sense when getting first ship of next tier so its not useless. Every ship that doesnt advance you into next tier should give option for a blank(and therefore cheaper) purchase.
hahaha
oh my
let me put this bluntly:
NEVER. GONNA. HAPPEN.
I’m sure many would disagree, even in the Russian forums they are suggesting of a system like this.
Pricing is fine. We people in our corp with 80m+ credits.
what needs to happen is people need to stop wasting it.
let me put this bluntly:
NEVER. GONNA. HAPPEN.
H.A.T.E.R
imma give Devs the benefit of the doubt and assume they fell behind schedule on one of their milestones and raised the cost of progression as a means to buy themselves time dropping it back down once they hit 1.0
Pricing is fine. We people in our corp with 80m+ credits.
what needs to happen is people need to stop wasting it.
Translation: “You guys shouldn’t experiment. You guys should spend 20 hours comparing stuff in excel. I want this game to be just like eve. Fun is not allowed.”
Translation: “You guys shouldn’t experiment. You guys should spend 20 hours comparing stuff in excel. I want this game to be just like eve. Fun is not allowed.”
Yeah. This is not eve nor will EVER be. this is for those EVE players to get the dogfight out of there system
+1 One of my top 3 issues with the game right now
Pricing is fine. We people in our corp with 80m+ credits.
what needs to happen is people need to stop wasting it.
Pricing isn’t the problem, its the options given to us. Money isn’t that hard to acquire but its also very easy to spend it all on one new ship, more so than it has to be.
Pricing is fine. We people in our corp with 80m+ credits.
what needs to happen is people need to stop wasting it.
yeah…good for you…I haven’t even reached 80m in total yet in this game…so go find a tree and xxxx it.