So looking at my Alpha’s ship tree I have to wonder… Why is Alpha ship Mastery all over the place? You have some at Mastery 1, some at 2, and a few at 0.
Is Mastery an actual measuring stick for skills? If so then why isn’t each Alpha able to hit Master 2 for all their available ship? And if Mastery is not a good system then can we fix Mastery (& Alpha skills) so it is?
Mastery is a carry-over from the old certificate system that suggested skills you would generally want when flying a ship.
That said, it means very little. As for why alphas can’t reach 2s in all ships, skill limitations. For example, a cruiser may require more drone skills which an alpha can’t train. Allowing the alpha to train them would great too powerful of a character for free use, which is not What CCP wants.
You also have to remember, this game is old. Mastery came long before alphas and was based on something older. So to expect mastery to conform to alphas is a bit off.
Seeing as Mastery takes up quite a bit of visual space I don’t think it’s unreasonable to want for the Mastery system to feel relevant.
As for Alpha’s skill limitations that’s definitely up for debate seeing as we have ship Alphas can use, but can’t cause some skills are racially locked, such as Amarr and Missiles.
To be clear I’m not saying buff Alphas to get to Mastery 2, it would be up to CCP to choose that, or rewrite/lower the Mastery requirements.
I understand your point and it has merit. I was more trying to cover history here. Mastery came first then alphas. This is why the two systems did not mesh well.
As for why it was not fixed with the introduction of alphas to better match your suggestion, resource constraints. With unlimited resource I bet it would have been changed. But CCP has limited resources so minor things like mastery take a back seat.
All fair points, on the other hand perhaps these two topics (skill & mastery) should of been addressed first before they hit up balance on alpha ships.
You dont need to get some fake mastery notification in a game to fly this Merlin like a true Caldari Master Race capsuleer.
Rule of thumb is you aim for level 3 mastery for ships you fly frequently. The certificates are generic so “core spaceship operation” level III is the same for all ships.
When deciding which skills you need to fly a ship, the requirements tab on the info sheet will tell you what’s needed to sit in the ship. The mastery tab will tell you what certificates are recommended to fly it well. Aim for level 3. As an Alpha, you won’t make it but get as close as you can.
Bear in mind that Alpha is basically an extended trial account. If you enjoy the game and want capability beyond what you get free - you can always subscribe.
Yes I understand that, what I’m asking is why not make the Mastery and actual tool that lines up and shows players where they are, and where they should be.
For example for a Caldari Alpha why is the missile destroyer Mastery 1, and the rail boar 2? I know its not an exact science, but I find it very off that the missile race is a lower mastery than the other option.
The light missile certificate level II requires missile projection skill at level 3 - Alphas can only train it to level 2. On the other hand they gave you missile bombardment at level 4. The skills are roughly equivalent - both increase range, one by increasing speed, the other by increasing flight time.
I suspect this was a balance decision - let the missiles fly longer at lower speed. The fact that it prevents Alphas from achieving mastery 2 probably wasn’t considered by the balance team.
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