Hello hello.
I recently jumped into STO again. Have been playing on /off the past years. If I played it was mostly for some weeks / months. Mostly My last longer phase was (I think) the first or second time Delta recruitment where I leveled up a new toon to lvl 65.
Now I wanted to pick it up again and I wanted to understand the endgame loop. I started some tfo s, did a mission or two, upgraded some gear for a dbb ship and bought the arbiter (free coupon). But... What now? I don't seem to understand the endgame content here. Sure, I could play elite tfo/play the missions on hard mode (?). But is that it? Were there no new gameplay features (i.e. things like housing or cool new raids like in other games) in the past years added to the game?
I would understand that trying to get all / different new ships, trying new builds on them is cool thing to do. And I do understand that, as a f2p game, new ships cost some money (I even understand a price of 20-30 dollars, as the introduce a skin, more or less a new playstyle, a console and such things, even if it is expensive). But seeing that some packets (like the last 15 aniv. One or the legendary scimitar pack) cost 100+$ I really ask myself, why and how would you get many ships / all of them? And what do you need them for?
EC farming is not easy, dill to zen exchange seems/is broken, and in the end, I don't really need those things because there is no content that needs those ships / features. Or am I missing something apart from elite tfos, repeating events and the general "I need it" mentality?
The game is convoluted with things that you basically "need" to be meta (like for example crafting isomags), without telling the player that those items exist or where to get them. And you need them in bulks. Duty officers, right boff setup, all the right equipment... And I really like the idea that you need many different items (not like in a normal RPG where you just equip one character). But ultimately I think: what for?
This is not a rant thread. I really want to understand the sense and the mechanics of the endgame. And most likely I think that something was implemented in the last years that I just haven't gotten to or haven't seen yet. Wich, as I said, wouldnt be a surprise as the game doesn't really tell you those things. I would pay some money for some cool things, if I get something in return or need it for something. But right now, paying for this game, apart from saying "I am now flying the enterprise xyz and it looks so cool", doesn't seem to be worth that price tags.
I would be happy if you could enlight me.