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Arena Commander, Kang+Bird Of Prey = NO CHOICE
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For months now, the captain rank of the arena has been dominated by 3* Kang and the Bird of Prey.
There is nothing that can compete with it.
To be clear, I have Kang FFFE, and Level 7 Bird of Prey, I *could* play this combination. But everyone plays it.
It's Boring.
I also have the 2* borg sphere and the 2* hirogen ship. For something that is limited time and dilithium only, they are quite under-powered.
They also don't have crew that really maximize their abilities (position and boarding respectively).
IMO, giving us new 3* crew that make these ships competitive would be the best solution.
But rebalancing them or others would work too.
DB, Please Do Something.
There is nothing that can compete with it.
To be clear, I have Kang FFFE, and Level 7 Bird of Prey, I *could* play this combination. But everyone plays it.
It's Boring.
I also have the 2* borg sphere and the 2* hirogen ship. For something that is limited time and dilithium only, they are quite under-powered.
They also don't have crew that really maximize their abilities (position and boarding respectively).
IMO, giving us new 3* crew that make these ships competitive would be the best solution.
But rebalancing them or others would work too.
DB, Please Do Something.
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Regarding where there is a choice, and a admittedly small bit of competitiveness coming into play, is with respect to who gets slotted into the second (i.e., Engineering) position in the Battle Stations; I see a lot of variety here, and there does not appear to be a single option predominantly used by most players.
It would be nice if it was different, but that's the game's MO. Even if they weaken Kang, it will still be the same ship/crews over and over. The game's mechanics, even in ship battles, almost precludes anything else.
You make a very good point ... I remember when there was a time where all you saw in this part of the Arena were Odo's everywhere ... players adapt and gravitate towards their best option.
"who is in the 2nd slot" is indeed a variable, but it's almost a meaningless one, cosmetic.
Look at the top of the other 2 divisions, and you will see a variety of ships. there is no single dominant strategy, and how you play is valid there. some people even have "offense" and "defense" builds for ships, to gain rank, and then hold it.
I do *not* recommend a nerf of Kang. Nerfs are not cool.
I'm a long time player, and a collector (as stated, "this is a collection game"). But my approach to STT is strategic, and I like my choices to matter. Please give me meaningful choice
Hold off on pops. Cloak before opponent pops Kang. Wait for the cloak to disengage. Pop Odo and O'Brien. Set phone down because the arena mechanic was not designed with the same level of care or attention that went into the graphics of said arena battles.
Join the eXo|plosion today!
I was just going to say this, you saved me some time.
I'm wary of a rebalance, as we used to have 2 viable ships and multiple crew combinations before they 'fixed' it with this current version.
Could you please continue the petty bickering? I find it most intriguing.
~ Data, ST:TNG "Haven"
That's the thing, nerf is how DB will handle complaints of this type. As they did with Boxer Chakotay, or when they did a lil 'rebalance' on some of the ship stats, didn't also Reed get a lil chop chop in the other divisions as well
Unless we get some new folks and better ships in--- course I agree on the Odo usage as well, though they are weaker on defense from my experience.
Based on the various ways they have been made available over time, I would think at this point that a good number of players possess both Odo and O'Brien. For these players, if they are using a different combo (i.e., the popular Kang/x one), then what you are implying is they are choosing to deploy a combo that is only a 35% winner, when they could instead be having a 65% winner. Does it make sense that so many players would be making that type of choice?
I changed out my Kang/Wildman combo for Odo/O'Brien on Thursday and won every matchup against the Kangs. Great, I thought. Then yesterday and Friday, I did the exact same thing and won only once. At this point I'm assuming it's random.
As with most things in this game, it comes down to RNG -- the ship that gets the most crits wins....
I know nerfs are unpopular, but at this point Kang needs it. He is head-and-shoulders above the competing options, and it is far healthier to nerf an outlier than try and buff multiple other units to his level and likely wind up overshooting on at least one of them.
When faced with "nerf the outlier" or "buff some number of others to make them not outliers" it's usually much easier (and less risky) to nerf the outlier rather than risk creating a new one.
That said...nerfing Kang will likely just mean a return to the Odo days. There is so little variation in the Commander division because most everyone has access to ANY other 3*, so it's very easy to play "the best one".
In the other divisions, it's a lot more of "play the best you have". Yes, there are some strategic variations like playing high evasion survival games vs. burst. Two character slots don't really allow for much diversity. You play your best +ATK and then either a EVA or ACUR and that's it.
There was a time when passive had no effect and it was all the skill bonus but no more. I use Kang plus Selar (+7 aim but no passive) and I really have to work to stay in 1% if at all. I'm stuck with Selar due to crew space issues.
However, I stopped caring since the rewards rotate faster than you can complete the ship anyway. So, why try?
Also, second division is also horribly unbalanced with borg sphere. If you didn't buy a sphere, you cannot stay in top 1%. And once again, the rewards rotate before you can complete and a half finished ship is worthless, so who cares.
Balance **tsk tsk**, I agree. But so do the rewards so very few people care.
I do 5 arena battles a day. I try to do at least one in each division so I don't get dropped off the leader board.
With voyages, I am beginning to question even that strategy. The 200 daily honor isn't as big a deal as it used to be, nor are the schematics to throw into the replicator.
The arena was pretty cool when I first started playing STT .... now it is just tedious.
I assume by 'staying' you don't mean with spending 0 tickets, as of course people below your rank are going to be fighting back, and the defender is at a disadvantage due to the simplistic AI.
There are 7 4★ ships, and db said they plan to do 1 rotation per month. You can also get packs of 600 schematics from voyages, though those are very rare.
We need new 3* crew who make boarding and position viable opposition to cloaking in the commander division. Please and thank you.
Agreed. A couple months ago I managed to max out the Jim'Hadar fighter to see if I could make boarding work and through extensive trial and error found that Odo+O'Brien was the only viable crew option. Could only occasionally crack the top 1000. I could beat a Bird of Prey with identical crew most of the time, but Kang just decimated me every time.
I understand it must work somehow, just need clarification on how to activate Kangs boost.
First, You select the cloak button. Then secondly you select Kang. Must be done in that order.
But as to the topic, either DB needs to nerf Khan, nerf the K"Vort or boost all the other ships in the commander division.
I doubt you get many complaints about 1* and 2* ships being improved.
And un-nerf Boxer Chakotay
You leave Khan alone... 😜
Great, thanks for the clarification!
He wouldn't. Kang's special ability only kicks in when he's on ships with cloaking capability. Without it he's fairly middling.