Skip to CR 250

THIS IS IMPORTANT BECAUSE IT DEALS WITH REAL MONEY THAT PLAYERS SPEND ON THE GAME


Now that Metal II is 99% prepared and your attention turns toward the Anti-versary, this is a good time to review the problems with the annual gift: Skip to 250. (I’m guessing it will be 250 since the skip has raised in CR each year from 170 to 210 to whatever it will be this year. For the purpose of this discussion I’m going to assume it’s CR 250)


The problem with the skip is twofold; 1. it does not give the character everything necessary to play at CR 250, and 2. It allows players to enter near-end game content without knowing how to play.


As said above, players have to pay almost $50 for the skip (other than the free anniversary skip), and with such a high price (for $10 more, a player could buy Modern Warfare), the skip should give the player everything necessary to play at CR 250. Following is a list of everything that the toon needs to have to be combat effective, the most critical of which is SKILL POINTS. The skip is essentially substituting for the time it would take a player to raise a toon from Level 1 to CR 250, and during that play time all the items would be earned by the player, so they should automatically be given to the skip character.

1. Skill Points. The skip only gives the character ~80 SP. At CR 250 you need 300 SP to be effective. Most long-term players would rightly disagree with just giving players SP they haven’t earned. The solution is this: skip to CR 250 automatically unlocks all the feats already on the player’s account which have been earned on other characters. That way the new toon isn’t given anything the player hasn’t earned and the player doesn’t have to spend a couple hundred dollars on replay badges in order to play CR 250 content. (this is related to the other major problem – new unskilled players, see below)

2. Gear. The toon needs two full sets of gear, one for DPS, one for support role.

3. Generator Mods. If the player is just starting CR 250 Content (Atlantis), he should have 12 Generator Mods from the previous episode – Judas Contract.

4. Origin Augments. If the player is just starting CR 250 Content (Atlantis), he should have 8 Origin Augments, each at the max from the previous episode – Judas Contract, which I believe was Rank 217.

5. Adaptive Augments. If the player is just starting CR 250 Content (Atlantis), he should have 4 Origin Augments (2 DPS, 2 support role) at Rank 23 each from the previous episode – Judas Contract.

6. Artifacts. By the time a player reaches CR 250, he’s got at least 6 Artifacts (3 DPS, 3 support role) each at Rank 120 or higher. The player should be able to select from all the Artifacts released up to Judas Contract.

7. Base Dispenser. By the time a player reaches CR 250 he’s earned enough Source Marks to have Tactical Mods, Orbital Strike, Supply Drop and Back-Up / Sidekick. The skip toon should be given enough SM to buy all of those things.



The other thing that needs to be fixed is the level at which a player can use a skip. According to the PlayStaton Store, ‘Must have at least one level 4 character to use.’ It should be quite obvious that level 4 players don’t have the skill to play at CR 250. Not in DPS role. Not in support role. Not even if they have all the items listed above. Even skipping at Level/CR 30 is too low because the 1-30 missions don’t teach a player how to use a support role. The way it should work is this: You cannot use a skip to CR 250 without having at least one character at CR 250. In other words, the player raises his toon from Level 1 to CR 250 the hard way (which allows him to learn how tanks, heals & trolls support the team in Alerts & Raids, and also allows him to build up his SP by gaining some Feats). Then he can use the skip to move a new alternate toon from Level 1 to CR 250.


Again, the cost for a skip is very high, almost as much as some full brand new games, so the player needs to be given everything they need to actually play at the skip CR. It’s extremely misleading to imply that the skip will allow a new player to play content that high without giving them the right equipment & without ensuring they have the appropriate knowledge and skill. Without that (as seen in previous years) you end up with a lot of frustration & anger from both the players who use the skip & from senior players when the skip toons are incapable of supporting the team in multiplayer content.

Seems a steep price to be handicapped at end game, if you aren't buying feats for an alt; perfect. (insert evil laugh)
Agreed. It may be too early to fear Skip to 250. Maybe Skip to T9 is more realistic.

Also If i am not Mistaken Members (Monthly Subs) did NOT get a FREE CR Skip Last Year

You are mistaken.

I think one thing to keep in mind is that a player who might use the skip may not necessarily have full access to the game. They may be Premium or even FTP, and since a lot of game assets can be (and usually are) tied to specific episodes just handing out Artifacts to a certain episode may not be viable.

That limited access is also probably why the number of SP handed out are so limited. Those points are pretty much related to the base/core game. That allows ANY player, from FTP to Legendary, to use it if they see fit. It covers the core game, and anything else is up to the player.

Which brings me to my last point: the skip option is simply a CR skip. It's never been advertised as anything but and has never promised a player will get a fully fleshed, top-of-the-line-for-that-CR character. All the other stuff, from learning your character to getting SP up to a desired level, is on the player.

I won't deny that some changes could be made to ease the punch a bit. But it has never been and really shouldn't be a "POOF! You got a fully formed character now!" kind of thing.

Awww H E to the quadruple hockey sticks NO!

We do not need another CR skip at this point; a CR 250 CR skip is only 40 CR higher than the last one, and 40 CR is quite easy to get these days. I think this game should not offer another CR skip; in fact, I think the max CR should be 300. There is no rhyme or reason for a player character CR to be higher than that. The CR 210 skip is high enough for players who do not want to have much to do with the older content yet still low enough that players will still have to work on their gear and artifacts.

What is the point of having another CR skip when it is difficult to get players to run older content to complete feats for those much needed skill points? I would rather have the devs work on a solution to attract more players to revisit older content; that would extend the life and value of this game.

"Flips a coin."

However, if the devs have planned another CR skip, then it should be an Elite, straight-edged hardcore one. Offer only the CR skip and nothing else; no skill points, no free content access or gifts. A CR 250 skip should be for players who already have a main character that has a healthy amount of skill points (300+) and want to quickly level an alt without the need to run old content for feats/skill points. Just my opinion, of course.
"Opens up her Penguin-inspired umbrella due to the tomatoes about to fly her way."

https://www.dcuniverseonline.com/news/dcuo-anniversary-gifts-open-episodes-2019

One. The year before was two, I think.

Got to say, it's heavily implied by DCUO that poof you will have a fully formed character. But regardless of whether they could legally worm their way out of that bit of fraud, players will treat the skip as exactly that. So unless changes are made, here's what will happen:

On Jan 11 the skip goes live.
New players take the skip & immediately queue up for Crown of Thorns, etc.
They're incapable of playing a support role & their stats are too low to do any significant damage.
For the next month or so skippers take up several slots on each team, making T9, T8 & some of T7 raids (and some alerts) unplayable.
In that case teams fail to beat bosses & have to disband, or kick the skippers, or players just leave the instance. Either way it's time-wasting & frustrating.
And of course skippers will continue to increase in CR (even without getting through those raids & alerts), which means their CR will continue to outpace their SP & gear, affecting even higher instances.

How can I make these claims? Because it's exactly what happened for the last two years. So plan to form teams on LFG only (no queue) for content up to whatever the skip CR happens to be from Jan 11 to ~Feb 1.

Shrug, I'm okay with it - I have five alts who could use a CR skip, and three of them already have over 200 SP so...

The flip side of this argument is that it will add more players who are queuing older content. Realistically if i'm a 280 running T7 and T8 raids, there can be a few 'less than good' skippers in the group and things can still get done...let's face it, when those runs were current you had some runs where you had to carry a few people even without the skips. Sometimes the biggest challenge in getting into anything further back than the last 3 DLCs is just not enough bodies. I'm not talking about Elite runs, I'm only talking reg, and you can run T7 and T8 reg runs with a few skipper fillers...you cannot run T7 or T8 raids with only 6 people, cause you wont' get in.

As far as your suggestions, I doubt many will happen. They might insert a few more SP, but there is no way they will auto unlock 300 or 400 SP you've earned on your main for the very reason you mention....100's of dollars of RB to bring them up via unlocking. I'd think a more likely scenario is they could give us X amount of RB to unlock 'SOME' feats you have already done, so you could pinpoint some hard to complete or time consuming ones vs just blanket completing any. Maybe a 350 pack? That's 70 50 pointers or 350 10 pointers, for 35 more SP and you wouldn't run the risk of angering the community over 'giving out' SP. It also alleviates the issue of Free/premium players NOT being able to get SP from content they don't own. You can forget giving out 300 SP...not going to happen.

I could see getting some augment/artifact XP, which could be tied to the toon you used the upgrade on...that way it couldn't be used elsewhere...maybe enough for 1 160 arti or 3 120s and some unstable seals to get the job done...again, locking it down to a single toon that opened the boost.

The one I think you are most likely to see is the SM to unlock your base stuff. After the 210 I had posted something about that and Mepps replied it was something they could do and it made sense. Enough to at least open the ranks 1 and 2 and you'd be responsible for the 7-35 marks for the 'bonus' slots.
https://forums.daybreakgames.com/dc...on-on-the-level-to-jumps.300557/#post-4207388

A 2nd set of gear is not a guarantee. You don't need to play a role, or ...if you play role...dps, to be effective. Besides, with event always open, you could get a 2nd set put together in a few days.

Of course we all want something for nothing...so yeah, whatever is given I will also enjoy using, but as the 210 was like $45 and did not come with any of that stuff, I'd think a 250 wont either, or if it does it will cost a prohibitive amount and would only be used for giving out as a free gift...and remember, they are trying to run a business....so anything they do will at some point be designed to boost revenue.

Reinheld

Ha ha. I think this just points to one of the biggest problems the game currently has... which is for a property that is 9 years old (and that's quite a feat in itself)... how do you retain your current members while making the game equally attractive to new members? Not as easy as one might think, but both are crucial in order for the game to survive.

And for clarification "equally attractive to new players" means... make it so that they feel they can jump on board without feeling too intimidated by the learning curve and the "catch up" ahead of them.

man... I was just about to make a thread on this but then I saw it at the top of the list..
I just switched my main back troll from being tank & was hoping to make a tank with the credit skip... I mean yea I could just stick to the event versions and be fine or even feat unlock... but yo at first I was thinking about just dropping the money and buying a booster until I saw that you get no sp...

almost 10 years of playing 1 character and just bouncing it from role to role, one of these days I'll have a already that I actually like and stick with.. the last boosters we got I wasted on a munitions and celestial.. Wasn't a fan

Why should

Why should a player be supported so well if they skip to that CR if anything they should charge more if they add what you want added.

skip or just power level, no real difference the end product is the same. this is a moot argument.

While I agree that taking the time to round out the character is much better approach it is still quite nice and makes one truly feel "SUPER POWERED" to get that boost and then go back and plow the fields of those lower level mission areas.

Personally I like the instant boost. It gives you another character to collect mats and other game items with. to complete bonus content and then pass those items to your main toons.

More concerned with the aspects that detract from the game play, cash sellers or other content manipulations that puts too much outside the realm of possibility for normal players.

While I may disagree with a number of management objects in this game they do have enough right that keeps the game compelling.

Never the less, if these boosting tokens are not to your liking and you do not wish to play with those that use them then it is within your ability to limit your play from both using those tokens and ignoring players whose equipment/skill points/and play knowledge doesn't meet what you feel it should be.

Enjoy the game in any means that you like, but do not expect all others to play by the same set of values.

Well, it turned out to be CR 255 instead of CR 250 (so close). Let's see how close the rest of the predictions are.
Have fun trying to do JLD raids with a team full of skippers!

Not only is it only 85 SP (no change), but they didn't give us 4 damaging golden exobytes & 4 supporting. You only get 4 total.

A few minor nuances that I would point out, just by way of providing information. Skill Points have a heavily diminishing return. Each new Episode increases the hardcap for your stat by 10, allowing you to spend a little bit more. You can consider 100 to be a softcap though. Early skill points increase the stat by a static amount AND include a percentage increase at certain milestones. At 100 skill points invested in the stat, that percentage reaches it's cap at 10% bonus. For example, with Restoration one skill point will give you a few static points of resto. At CR291, I have 38566 restoration. The first 100 skill points nets about 1000 points of restoration, but it also includes that 10% bonus resto across all sources including gear. At my level, that 10% is netting around 3600 restoration (which is more than the static bonus for 255, which is only 2733.) Look at that math for a moment and allow it to soak in. Just the flat percentage bonus for putting 100 points in is worth more than the static bonus for putting in 255. In a nutshell, the skill points are frontloaded and have a diminishing return. The first 100 points are worth about 75% of the total amount, and the next 155 are worth barely 25% of the total, seeing seriously reduced benefit.

Yes, they are all good. Yes, they are all beneficial. But as far as being "required", hitting that 100 skill point threshold accomplishes most of the benefit. The CR skip lands you in the 90 skill point range. You'll have to do a little bit of work, shoring up a few more to cover crits and weapon combos and whatnot, but having 200+ skill points is like having rank 200 artifacts: nice, but entirely unnecessary. Hit the necessary thresholds and you are fine.

Here’s a thought for people sh***ing on the CR skip: It’s free. It’s optional. If you don’t like it? Don’t use it. Plenty of us like it, will use it, and appreciate it. As for things like support gear and skill points? Both are easy to get. You absolutely don’t need 300 skill points to be effective.
How do I know all this? I did a CR 210 skip, and have had zero issues getting support role gear and feats and getting caught up. It’s a CR skip, not an everything skip.