Some of the new missions have some parts where player action can speed up progress a little. While player action having a little effect is obviously better than no effect at all, it remains entirely optional and the missions still win themselves automatically almost as fast even if players do nothing.
I do much prefer content like the STFs, where player action actually decides the outcome, rather than just making the inevitable automatic win come a bit earlier.
Here is the thing folks...Som is saying the dev's current method of time gating things because it is what the devs are doing now for the most part. The newer missions are starting to move away from that. If the devs keep this up and we suddenly have a bunch of new queues where player interactions speeds things up, we will suddenly see him change his tune and say how wonder that design philosophy is. He doesn't care about what is good for the game. He cares to make cryptic look as good as possible no matter what they do. I believe the term is shill if they paid or white knight if they are not. But it should be rather clear at this point that his goal on the forum isn't to discuss what would make the game better. Best to just ignore him honestly.
You're absolutely right and I'll be taking your advice.
That isn't true. The purification takes longer if you can't place all the crystals and keep them in place.
That isn't speeding up the process however, that's preventing it from being slowed down. The crystal purification takes a set minimum amount of time regardless. The timer can only go up from this minimum, never down. The exact opposite of something like the proposed changes to Mirror Invasion, where people want to use the power generators to close all the portals faster then normal.
The Discovery TFO are no less time gated then older TFOs, Cryptic just generally got better at hiding the gates.
Like in the Operation Riposte TFO, the first part of it requires you to transport people into the stations to capture them. The time it takes to transport one team is pre-set, and can't be reduced. Ultimately, it doesn't matter if everyone gangs up on one station, or you split the team up to try to take all three at once, the amount of time it takes to transport all 9 or 10 groups onto the stations to capture them is the same. The only thing the player can affect is the means by which you split up this division of time.
This sort of time gating that isn't an actual clock based time gate is present in Pahvo Dissension, due to how the Crystal purification works, Battle of the Binary Stars with how long it takes to tractor the escape pods, and in Defense of Starbase One, due to the way enemies wave in and how the TFO wont end until all 4 escape ships are either destroyed or escape.
OFC, since many of these sections don't have a hard timer on them, or, if they do, the timer represents how long until you fail said objective instead of how long until you win said objective, most people think their actions are reducing the amount of time on the gate, when they really aren't.
There are hard timers on all of them, they aren't hidden at all, they do represent winning the mission and doing the optionals does make some of the missions finish faster than waiting out the timer. No amount of wordplay can change these facts.
Here is the thing folks...Som is saying the dev's current method of time gating things because it is what the devs are doing now for the most part. The newer missions are starting to move away from that. If the devs keep this up and we suddenly have a bunch of new queues where player interactions speeds things up, we will suddenly see him change his tune and say how wonder that design philosophy is. He doesn't care about what is good for the game. He cares to make cryptic look as good as possible no matter what they do. I believe the term is shill if they paid or white knight if they are not. But it should be rather clear at this point that his goal on the forum isn't to discuss what would make the game better. Best to just ignore him honestly.
You're absolutely right and I'll be taking your advice.
Thanks.
Same. I should have known better. Must also be the reason why he can't take part in this poll... he simply can't.
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Gonna be honest, for me and a few others I've discussed this with, a lot of older stfs and the borg stfs are just... not enjoyable anymore. They're too outdated and look bad in comparison to newer missions and the adaptation mechanic is more annoying than difficult. The ground ones are just flat out unenjoyable nowadays for the people I've talked to them about it, the space ones can kind of be fun but they're still more boring than newer stfs tend to be.
In the literally over 100 times I've played Mirror invasion I've seen maybe 5 AFKers. I don't know where you got this mentality that people only play games if they are forced too, but most people play games simply to enjoy playing them. They will do so regardless of if they "have" to or not.
I do. But I have had during the last runs I participated in the Mirror events an average of over 1 AFK per run. So maybe I was unlucky, you were lucky, but I can see where Sea of Sorrows comes from here.
As for "no speeding up" I think you're mostly using very technical terms. If my team tackles three lanes on Dissension at the same time we'll be through quicker than if we only tackle one. If you call it "speeding up", "not slowing down", or "running multiple timers at once" I do not care, it is the result that matters.
As for it sometimes making sense from a story point that certain actions will take a certain amount of time no matter what you do, I will agree. But there is a thing between story and gameplay and overdoing it makes for an unsatisfying experience. I am fine with defending somebody for two minutes while he does X during a mission or TFO. But if all of gameplay features that, it gets tedious. Luckily on ground missions my boffs are more than capable of doing it, in TFOs less so of course. But in Dissension, which I really like, you at least have to do something to get and keep the process going, in this respect it is not a timer just going down while you are in the kitchen making coffee. And at least for me that is a very different experience.
My mother was an epohh and my father smelled of tulaberries
Battle of Procyon V don't just remove it, delete the code and set fire to the recycle bin so it can never ever come back.
The 3rd stage can be a complete nightmare trying to close portals as multiple spams of NPC's come through and any hit disrupts and stops you closing them.
Hello rubber banding my old friend, time to bounce around the battlezone again, where are all my bug reports going?, out of love with this game I am falling, As Cryptic fail to acknowledge a problem exists, Shakes an angry fist, And from Support all I'm hearing are the sounds of silence.
Battle of Procyon V don't just remove it, delete the code and set fire to the recycle bin so it can never ever come back.
The 3rd stage can be a complete nightmare trying to close portals as multiple spams of NPC's come through and any hit disrupts and stops you closing them.
Hehe, this map is definitely in the top 3 of my most disliked maps. Think doing the same stuff 3 times in a row is just too much of a turnoff here but it’s a personal thingy for me and not everybody I know hates it.
Looking for a fun PvE fleet? Join us at Omega Combat Division today.
Battle of Procyon V don't just remove it, delete the code and set fire to the recycle bin so it can never ever come back.
The 3rd stage can be a complete nightmare trying to close portals as multiple spams of NPC's come through and any hit disrupts and stops you closing them.
The map is fine...they just need to change that get hit and you stop doing what you were doing mechanic to begin with as this isn't the only map that this causes problems for.
It's an obstacle to be overcome. It's actually not that big a deal if you know how.
One example of how to deal with it: Both Pilot and Miracle worker spec have gimmicks that give you a temporary HP pool. As long as you have temp HP you won't get interrupted.
It's an obstacle to be overcome. It's actually not that big a deal if you know how.
Pretty much.
Most MMOs I have played have the same, or a similar, feature. If are you are trying to do some sort of complex action, and someone comes up and hits you with a massive warhammer, there is a pretty good chance you are going to get whatever you are doing interrupted because you aren't just going to sit there and tank a warhammer like its nothing. The same would be true of Star Trek and getting a high energy particle beam of some kind to the face. Same with ships and how EPS conduits seem to explode at the slightest jostle.
Right. Or considered from the game mechanics side, an interruption mechanic is needed precisely because players really could sit there and tank the attacks like it's nothing. Without interrupts, players would ignore the enemies completely, close the portals in seconds and the mission would be over, no contest.
While I agree that it makes sense from a gameplay perspective, it is IMO somewhat illogical. On Pahvo on foot I can set up crystals under fire, but my engineering boff cannot continue his work because the tactical boff fires?
My mother was an epohh and my father smelled of tulaberries
Battle of Procyon V don't just remove it, delete the code and set fire to the recycle bin so it can never ever come back.
The 3rd stage can be a complete nightmare trying to close portals as multiple spams of NPC's come through and any hit disrupts and stops you closing them.
The map is fine...they just need to change that get hit and you stop doing what you were doing mechanic to begin with as this isn't the only map that this causes problems for.
It's an obstacle to be overcome. It's actually not that big a deal if you know how.
Much like defeating Rebecca Simmons in IGA hu?
Looking for a fun PvE fleet? Join us at Omega Combat Division today.
While I agree that it makes sense from a gameplay perspective, it is IMO somewhat illogical. On Pahvo on foot I can set up crystals under fire, but my engineering boff cannot continue his work because the tactical boff fires?
I agree, the stop-interaction mechanic in some of the maps is just annoying to put it mildly (Sure it can be overcome hence why I did not use the word difficult). It just literally gets embarrassing if it is the only thing a map has to "offer" gameplay sided. If there is more to do like in Tznekethi front im ok with it. I'm certain cryptic got that message by now as newer maps begin to move away from it. And yep, pahvo ground is just great.
Looking for a fun PvE fleet? Join us at Omega Combat Division today.
While I agree that it makes sense from a gameplay perspective, it is IMO somewhat illogical. On Pahvo on foot I can set up crystals under fire, but my engineering boff cannot continue his work because the tactical boff fires?
I agree, the stop-interaction mechanic in some of the maps is just annoying to put it mildly (Sure it can be overcome hence why I did not use the word difficult). It just literally gets embarrassing if it is the only thing a map has to "offer" gameplay sided. If there is more to do like in Tznekethi front im ok with it. I'm certain cryptic got that message by now as newer maps begin to move away from it. And yep, pahvo ground is just great.
That's true. It would indeed be far more realistic if the enemies were capable of interrupting players who ignore them by killing them. However, Cryptic is not willing to make the enemies that dangerous, so they must be capable of interrupting players by lesser means instead.
In Riposte, beaming boarding parties to the stations is not interrupted by damage, but it does drop your shields. They likely have intended that to encourage players to clear the enemies first for safety, but it's not enough. The enemies are still weak enough to just be ignored.
Battle of Procyon V don't just remove it, delete the code and set fire to the recycle bin so it can never ever come back.
The 3rd stage can be a complete nightmare trying to close portals as multiple spams of NPC's come through and any hit disrupts and stops you closing them.
The map is fine...they just need to change that get hit and you stop doing what you were doing mechanic to begin with as this isn't the only map that this causes problems for.
It's an obstacle to be overcome. It's actually not that big a deal if you know how.
Much like defeating Rebecca Simmons in IGA hu?
Heh, most runs I've been in didn't get that far. The console puzzle is where people always get stuck. The army of Elite Tactical Drones? speedbumps, the miniboss? I don't even know what his attack pattern is because he dies too fast. Becky? I've only once seen her actually KO a team that got to her.
Comments
I do much prefer content like the STFs, where player action actually decides the outcome, rather than just making the inevitable automatic win come a bit earlier.
You're absolutely right and I'll be taking your advice.
Thanks.
Same. I should have known better. Must also be the reason why he can't take part in this poll... he simply can't.
Looking for a fun PvE fleet? Join us at Omega Combat Division today.
NCIS, Abby and McGee. Agreed, that was somewhat unrealistic.
Apart from that I have to mostly disagree.
I do. But I have had during the last runs I participated in the Mirror events an average of over 1 AFK per run. So maybe I was unlucky, you were lucky, but I can see where Sea of Sorrows comes from here.
As for "no speeding up" I think you're mostly using very technical terms. If my team tackles three lanes on Dissension at the same time we'll be through quicker than if we only tackle one. If you call it "speeding up", "not slowing down", or "running multiple timers at once" I do not care, it is the result that matters.
As for it sometimes making sense from a story point that certain actions will take a certain amount of time no matter what you do, I will agree. But there is a thing between story and gameplay and overdoing it makes for an unsatisfying experience. I am fine with defending somebody for two minutes while he does X during a mission or TFO. But if all of gameplay features that, it gets tedious. Luckily on ground missions my boffs are more than capable of doing it, in TFOs less so of course. But in Dissension, which I really like, you at least have to do something to get and keep the process going, in this respect it is not a timer just going down while you are in the kitchen making coffee. And at least for me that is a very different experience.
The 3rd stage can be a complete nightmare trying to close portals as multiple spams of NPC's come through and any hit disrupts and stops you closing them.
Hello rubber banding my old friend, time to bounce around the battlezone again, where are all my bug reports going?, out of love with this game I am falling, As Cryptic fail to acknowledge a problem exists, Shakes an angry fist, And from Support all I'm hearing are the sounds of silence.
Hehe, this map is definitely in the top 3 of my most disliked maps. Think doing the same stuff 3 times in a row is just too much of a turnoff here but it’s a personal thingy for me and not everybody I know hates it.
Looking for a fun PvE fleet? Join us at Omega Combat Division today.
One example of how to deal with it: Both Pilot and Miracle worker spec have gimmicks that give you a temporary HP pool. As long as you have temp HP you won't get interrupted.
My character Tsin'xing
Much like defeating Rebecca Simmons in IGA hu?
Looking for a fun PvE fleet? Join us at Omega Combat Division today.
I agree, the stop-interaction mechanic in some of the maps is just annoying to put it mildly (Sure it can be overcome hence why I did not use the word difficult). It just literally gets embarrassing if it is the only thing a map has to "offer" gameplay sided. If there is more to do like in Tznekethi front im ok with it. I'm certain cryptic got that message by now as newer maps begin to move away from it. And yep, pahvo ground is just great.
Looking for a fun PvE fleet? Join us at Omega Combat Division today.
In Riposte, beaming boarding parties to the stations is not interrupted by damage, but it does drop your shields. They likely have intended that to encourage players to clear the enemies first for safety, but it's not enough. The enemies are still weak enough to just be ignored.
My character Tsin'xing