(Margie originally wrote this as a comment down in this thread, but it was a big enough effort to warrant its own post.)
As the recent tweet dump confirms, my main solo Stilt Walker hit 35 over the weekend. I would like to get her to 40 before I say goodbye. I am a completionist that way. I hope it’s not a grind.
One of the funny differences between CO and CoX that I recently noticed. With CoX, a ding means more, especially if it is a power level. With CO, after about 20, I might have 2-3 level-up sitting there waiting for me to hit the powerhouse. I think there are 3 reasons for that.
First, it takes a long time to decide what power or attribute to take. The matrix powers are a blessing and a curse. There are too many choices and it’s too hard to figure out what X really does, much less if X is better than Y. At the end of a session, I can easily spend hours leveling, selling, and crafting. And I don’t take any of those too seriously.
Second slots, after you have slotted your block and slotted passives, you are left with mostly attacks or junk. I want a well rounded character. Slotting a character for Aggressive, Defensive and Balanced builds doesn’t work for me. I don’t want to spend the extra power pick and I know that I am unlikely to switch between builds effectively. Don’t even get me started on having different enhancements in each build.
Finally it’s hard to feel good about your selection. You are always worried that you made a bad choice. With respecs being as rare as hen’s teeth or a paid commodity, it is easy to second-guess yourself and also feel that each level choice is a major commitment.
All of the above make CO less friendly to the casual gamer.
I’ve also grown to appreciate CoX enhancement slots. When I slot an enhancement I know exactly what it’s doing and how it is improving that power and my overall character. I hate trying to decide what widget is best for each of my 6 slots. If I take X it will improve Y but drop Z. Is cool thing A really worth dropping stats B and C. I think that CoX has struck an interesting balance with the crafting system. You can slot just your drops or just SOs and have a useful character. Or you can dig into the details and find the sets that tweak your toon just the way you want it.
And finally, I always have and always will hate having one bag for all my crap. Mission stuff should not take up space. I dislike having to wade through crafting, mission and devices to find my new enhancements.
It is the housekeeping that frustrates me. Having to break off your cluster of missions deep in the zone to find someone to sell your crap to. (I know you can just drop it, but that’s wasteful.) Having a crafting system that doesn’t give you anything much of value other than consumables. You can find better stuff cheaper in the auction house. That is, if you are willing to spend the time and brain drain to use the auction house – YUCK. That is after you go across 3 zones to get to the auction house (I’m talking to you, Lemuria).
Why can’t you sell stuff to more NPCs?
Why do you have to physically touch a contact to end a mission or get a new one?
Why do some areas have more missions than you can have at one time?
Why does it take so long for the last mcguffin to drop from the mob you have been farming for an hour?
I will be curious to see how STO handles some of this. How much of these issues are a management decision to make it take longer to get to level 40 and how much was a team or system decision?