JE deadlock

[Tyran]

So I've been playing a JE for a couple of weeks and something very similar to live has occurred. I don't like it because it is not how it was meant to be.

I'm now around L85 (explore level 28), using a L6 reactor, L6 devices and prospect skill is L5.

Since L80 I was able to pull L9 roids (3 of them with full reactor). Add an Antlia and you are pulling 6 L9 ores in short succession.

Nothing wrong so far you'd think...

But

It's now over for my JE, at this point you are so near the peak of the JE's performance as a miner that there is not enough incentive to carry on leveling. Sure you can level to 150 and gain a few advantages like wormhole to endriago (very rarely used) and carpenter (two gates from SE weft), extra navigate to boost warp capabilities, and the ability to pull more ores in one go.

But those are very minor advantages, the big milestone of pulling a L9 roid is behind you already. From here on the gains are little.

Or are the [b]build skills[/b] why you should keep leveling? For a builder maybe, but not myself as a miner.

Combat obviously is not a reason to keep on leveling as the JE is so inefficient at combat that a same CL mob is a struggle to beat. I'd leave combat for my warrior alts.

[b]Group stealth[/b] and enhanced [b]support abilities[/b] like better jumpstart and better devices, are those a reason to keep leveling? For the die hard JE support player perhaps, but not me as a...miner.

And don't say [b]shields [/b]and [b]engines[/b] are worth leveling for because 4-5k warp is attainable already and cloak pretty well negates the use for shields.

Or perhaps [b]scan[/b] is the reason to keep leveling? For that too I see no decisive reason as knowledge of the location of ore fields is all you need. And your scan range at L5 scan is more than sufficient for clearing the largest of fields.

So...

Now what? I feel pretty maxed out at L80. There is no incentive to keep grinding jobs or getting field clear bonuses.

It would be nice if the miner part was given more reason to keep leveling. Sure a grandmaster will always be a better miner, but the difference is minimal. Unlike a L80 PW and L150 PW which are in completely different leagues when it comes to what they do best: damage output.

Maybe some of the following could create incentive to continue leveling...

* You could increase the mining curve so only at the far end of leveling do you have access to L9 ores.

* Change fields in such a way that grandmasters and not lowbies can get the best fields. This probably involves ore guardians that are more closely guarding roids.

* Remove the mining interrupt on hit (which I don't recall was in live) as this makes tanking while mining possible - a reason to actually have a shield on a JE miner.

* Make dud roids not be so blatantly obvious. They contain lots of ores now of which you can get at least one, and are coloured too obviously. A dud roid is more welcome than a normal roid at the moment...

* Add see cloaked to certain ore field guardians (RD's or other advanced mobs maybe?) Could help pressure lower levels who rely on cloak so much.

* Add the old pop roid mobs. This will help increase the risk to lower levels, especially if the mob fires once immediately after it appears.

* Add some L135 skills that noticably add to mining.

There are probably a lot of other ways to make maxing a JE advantageous for mining...

But bottom line is I'm L80-ish and as a miner I'm just leveling to level up now. Not leveling to become better. Fix this.

Also suggestions what I'm supposed to do now as a JE are welcome...

[Lot]

Prospect was interrupted in live if hit by a mob.

May be roids should be locked to prospect skill unaffected by equipment. If you're in combat you can't even hit far higher level mobs due to some magical defense higher level mobs have that cause accuracy to be really terrible causing all your shots to miss. If combat is that retarded then mining should also be that retarded: fair is fair.

I guess Tyran it's down to motivation at the end of the day.

Other players are more motivated to get to the next level, get new shiny toys, opening up abilities to their fullest, etc. They want to mine more than three L9 ores and don't think that's the pinnacle of mining and probably laughed when you said that. To them, the pinnacle is stripping clean every field between Cooper and Glenn without breaking a sweat and doing it day after day and oddly finding enjoyment doing it.

[Terrell [BT]]

Prospect also affects refining, it works the same way that build skills work. You cannot refine over your Prospect level except for L6 and L7. I don't think prospect level lock is needed. Mining is more time/energy efficent with higher prospect and better reactors. This efficiency is beneficial if the orefield is guarded.

In Live the Mars Construction Project took various refined ores and allowed you to earn better equipment. This was a very good thing for explorers in terms of content. When this mission comes back, at the apropriate point in the stroyline, some new equipment needs to be introduced to it so that Terran Scouts can also be rewarded for this mission the way JE and PE were. Zet threader could be a new piece of equipment for Scouts, since PEs had an Archos Threader, and JE had the Gaze of Amah. There was also a L8 beam that was usable by all explorers, but I forget it's name right now. Terran Reinforcer devices, comparable to the Progen & Jenquai reinforcers could be other rewards added for Scouts doing the MCP.

There was also the Balm Run. Both JE & PE could do the mission but JE had a big advantage, since it required you to fly from Paren Station to the Mondara Maelstrom in Tarsis and back. The Endriago wh was very useful for this repeatable mission. Empty Balm injectors stacked, full ones did not. You could then take your empty balm injectors to the councillor in Prasad Station for various rewards, some devices, some weapons, & some recipes. This mission required you to mine, refine, build devices, and travel. 1 balm run was worth 2% of an EL overding.

Lyle McDonald in GOH was another NPC from live that had work for Explorers & Sentinels. His rewards were more than worthwhile for the effort. Smaller missions like the Balm Run, medium ones like Lyle's and bigger ones like the MCP would be good motivation for explorers to mine. There should always be NPCs that want particular ores for some purpose, and willing to reward explorers for bringing said ores.

[Dalgot]

As for combat my JE is 38/50/50 and I take out lvl 45 mobs fairly quick considering I only have 3 beams.

[Amethyst]

There are some great hulk fields inside groups of L50-53 mobs. A high-spec explorer can whip in and out like a ninja without being killed. Its not just about mining L9 roids.

Plus a good explorer still has a role in combat and once you start maxing out past 150 and get more of the good kit you can do more and more. Being able to take out a L45 mob is fine, but there are L54s and more!!
See cloak. Scan range. Nav. There is a lot to look forwards to.

I've returned after 15mths away and there has been a great improvement in explorer gameplay. Hulks are far better. The new skills are interesting. There is more variety and more to see and do, although I still feel the explorer-classes are the cinderalla when it comes to gameplay.