The concept of ship-specific BOFF specializations isn’t a bad one. The idea that there are Intel or Command ships requiring specialized officers is actually a good thing. It rings true in the real world adding another layer to the suspension of disbelief in the online gaming world.

But something is very wrong when common skills become ship specific. Piloting? Who is Cryptic kidding?

As identified in today’s blog, the new Piloting specializations will be limited to special seating, attached to shiny new ships. This is wrong and poorly thought out.

In my opinion, Piloting is a general skill, applicable to any ship. Spend enough time at the helm of a particular ship, you should by definition be a better pilot with that ship. That’s the foundation of the recently established Ship Mastery abilities. It’s grounded in reality, and for Star Trek – that’s a good thing.

A pilot-enhanced ship is overkill. It’s an overreach. It’s an insult to paying players. You may as well label these ships ‘Accounting Modified Starships’, because they are more of a cash grab than a positive addition to the game. You should be ashamed.

Here’s what I would recommend instead. I know this is late to the party, but it would go a LONG way to make the game something viable for current players, while attracting new gamers.

1. Make Pilot seats available to ANY starship automatically at Rank I for any seat.
2. Increase that on T5 starships to Rank II.
3. Increase that on a T5-U + T6 starships to Rank III.
4. Add a C-Store option at 500 Zen to add a Rank IV ‘Universal Hybrid’ seat to T6 ships, offering Rank IV piloting (or some similar mechanism).
5. Continue with the concept of releasing new ships, but add some universality to the hybrid seating – OR BETTER YET, allow hybrids to use more than one set at the same time. Ooohh baby…

Why?

• Current players will remain engaged, regardless of rank. While specializations are post-50, it still honors the concept that a qualified pilot will have some options regardless of the quality or tier rank of starship.  I like playing with older ships.  And apparently I’m not the only one…
• T5 and T5-U players who only recently updated their favorite ships in the past 6 months will have a sense that the company still regards them as valued customers.
• T6 Players will still buy MORE than the value of a single ship. I have 15-20 ships minimum per alt.  Heck, I just bought 20 ships from you starting with DR. Will I buy one per faction? yeah. Would I spend more to upgrade the ships I like to use? HELL YEAH.

This decision to squeeze us for even more cash to pay for something you’d assume we already have is terrible. It’s beneath the standard that we had hoped Salami_Inferno would have set.

Think about it.  Please.