Thinking of Returning to STO

Our Fleet Forums Public Lounge Main Deck Thinking of Returning to STO

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  • #424141
    Admiral_AH1
    Fleet Member

    Hello fleetmates,

    I hope some of you still remember me, I was active in the 44th for about five years before taking an extended leave of absence in 2016 (I went back to school, and recently graduated).  I know I’ve been removed from the fleet for inactivity and can rejoin if I return to active duty, but before I take that step I want to see how big the learning curve is for a returning player.  When I last played, it was the end of the Iconian Wars, T6 ships had just been introduced, and the Fleet Admiral rank (but not the fleet system) had been introduced.  A lot has changed since then.  I’d appreciate some conversation on what I’d need to learn/re-learn and just hear from some old friends as well.

    #424143
    Stone Gold
    Fleet Member
    Team Player

    Hey AH1. I remember you. Congratulations on your graduation. A good bit has changed with the game. Let me try to fill you in a bit with the changes.

    1. You now progress to Admiral Level 65. A couple of nice perks with that.

    2. We now have 6 more Reputations to level and all Reputations can be leveled to 6 instead of 5 now.

    3. Not sure if Specializations on Skill Tree menu were introduced but we have that now with 6 different Specializations.

    4. More ships out the yin-yang than you can count with Starship Traits to boot.

    5. Not sure if this was introduced when you were last here but we have an Admirality System now to where you gain an Admirality Card for each ship you get or receive and use the system like the doffing system to complete Campaigns.

    6. Many more STF’s that are now called TFO’s (Task Force Operations). Needed for the marks required for the new Reputations.

    7. We also have an Armada System. Kind of like “Peace Treaties” with other Fleets. The system also allows you to help them out with their fleets by contributing to them to acquire more fleet credits.

    8. I think the Delta fleet was starting or started when you took a leave of absence but we also have another fleet called the Gamma Fleet, due to the Gamma Quadrant missions and TFO’s.

    9. There is also an Endeavor system now. What this is is a system that gives you tasks to complete for rewards. You get 1 Universal Endeavor like every 48 or 72 hours (not sure which) which is assigned to everyone game wide to complete and you get 3 Personal Endeavors daily to complete for rewards also. These personal ones are different for everyone. Rewards range from dilithium, to EC, to MATS, to Marks, and/or to Specialization points. (I think I covered all those maybe Special Items are in there too, don’t remember)

    10. We also now have a Fleet Help Folder with help files on Google Docs to help members and new members with the game. The website for it is https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1NzvWHwFBKlmkEL6FqeFFei_bnJfFAV1P?usp=sharing. You can also find the link in the main forum addressing the new site. I recommend reviewing this website, especially the Endeavors List, because you will see all the endeavors available with tips on how to complete them fast and easy.

    That is about all I think I can cover or remember. Went through the UI/HUD system to list all that. If I missed anything I am sure someone else will fill you in on it (I am sure I forgot something). I am glad to see you are thinking of coming back. Hope this helps and I hope to see you back in the Fleet and In-game.

    Your friendly brother in arms,

    Stone Gold

    #424145
    Marcase
    Admiral (Retired)
    Founder 44th Delta FleetFleet Shindig Risa 2019Team Player

    Stone, an EXCELLENT summary – very well done sir !

    Heya AH1 ! Yes we remember you 🙂

    Congratulations on your graduation, you’ve done us proud !

    Stone listed everything already, so let me just add that at its core STO is pretty much the same – everyone still loves space pew-pew and mostly dislikes ground. The further you progress the storylines the better the game(play) gets due to new tweaks to the game-engine. Such so that it’s really painful to see the earlier introductory storylines for Fed and KDF (Rom, and Jem’Hadar are still pretty good).

    Yes, the Dominion has its own faction now with its own ships and storyline and a playable Jem’Hadar (complete with Ketracel addiction) and will start at level 60 and move to level 65 (!)

    You can also play an official Cardassian now (zen store unlock) but they don’t have their own faction/storyline unfortunately. Oh and the vaunted Spiral Waves can now more easily be unlocked by buying zen Cardie ships too. Remember the days all of us were after the Galor like crazed tribbles…

    The 44th Fleet is alive and kicking (and ever growing) so there’s always someone around to join with, timezones permitting, but there are some downtimes since there’s so much to do (leveling, episodes etc).

    The best advice I can give you is to just jump in game and look around – I think you will like what you see 😉


    "Boldly bashing Borg to bits since 2012..."

    #424153
    Damix
    Vice-Admiral
    Team Player

    Hey AdmiralAH 🙂

    You can still complete any content with 2016 year ships. I mean, I still use the Iconian 2pc space set so don’t worry about having outdated gear.

    It will probably be overwhelming to see all the new reps, admiralty system, endeavor system – but take is easy. Try the new story missions first. Enjoy the game and don’t worry about the grind.

    #424156
    Phoenix
    Fleet Admiral
    Fleet Shindig Risa 2019Team Player

    Hi AH1. Welcome back!  Lots of good info posted above, and the rest of the website also.  As Damix said, take your time and try some of the new story missions to ease back in.  As always, feel free to ask any questions in the 44th-diplo chat or Discord as well.  Everyone here is just as friendly and helpful as ever. Most importantly, have fun! See you in game!

    aka @phoenix#6622

    #424169
    Akula2045
    Fleet Admiral
    Team Player

    Heya good captain.  Stone pretty much said it all.  lol  And congrats on your graduation and welcome back.  🙂

    aka @akula2045, @hadron3000#5120

    #424184
    Admiral_AH1
    Fleet Member

    Well, I’m not quite back yet.  I’m still quite busy.  But yeah, the overwhelming factor and having to relearn builds and what not is what is keeping me from jumping back in.

    A few questions, I noticed that there is now a TOS Starfleet and a DIS Starfleet.  I know there are now stories in those eras, but are they only accessible by those characters?  Same with the Dominion–is it only for Dominion characters?

    I have a T6 Heavy Escort Carrier, I used to be able to solo some high end game content in it.  Although I imagine the power creep has kept on creeping.

    #424185
    Phoenix
    Fleet Admiral
    Fleet Shindig Risa 2019Team Player

    To be honest, crafting and building to maximize dps has never been something that I found fun enough to spend a lot of time on.  I prefer to use ships and builds that fit my “head canon” for that character. That’s much more fun to me.  Our very own Paradoxical has several great build guides for ships and which items boost damage types and pretty much everything you need to know to have fun (thanks  Para!) They are in the forums on this site.  One cool thing now, is that T6 ships can be used on new alts and level up with you. Some might still be faction specific, but that is changing too.

    Once you hit T6 and level 60+, power creep hasn’t been much of an issue for me.  Unless you are into PvP, then it can be a time sink to get the right build to just survive.  But, in story mode and Task Force Operations, you can survive and pew pew to your hearts content with mk XII  gear VR and above.  Some stuff works better than others, of course. I usually put something together that I like, then join a TFO to see how it goes.  Post in the 44th-diplo, and someone is almost always willing to help also.  If your ship goes boom, just swap out a few items and try again. The Fleet spire does have Tac consoles to boost your preferred damage type that are worth using almost universally.  Not an absolute necessity though if you can’t get them at first.  As far as I know, there are not any “must have” items. I use many different setups across all of my alts.

    As you noticed, there are some additional Fed factions.  Most of that content is limited to some opening story missions, then the story is the same for all fed characters.  Same for dominion, but they are a bit like the Romulans in that you choose a side (fed or kdf) after the beginning missions.  There are some elements of story for each of those factions that were incorporated into arcs for the regular Fed and KDF alts as well.

    There is a lot of content now, but not much is absolutely required to play.  You can kind of pick and choose what you like to do, and ignore some other parts that you don’t like so much.

    aka @phoenix#6622

    #424188
    SgtKen60
    Fleet Member

    I prefer to use ships and builds that fit my “head canon” for that character.

    WoW someone like me!!! 🙂

     

    And Admiral AH1, well we have not met, but I hope you do find your way back to the Fleet. 07

    aka @sgtken60 "AKA Grumpy Old Klingon/Andorian

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