STF's are dead...?

kar1972

Like the ttile says, STF's are dead. Thank you so much PW for TRIBBLE up one of the most cool and rewarding systems of the game.

With all the tholian craziness no one is making STF's anymore, or at least I never see anyone making games on the EliteStf channel. Of course the pugs are still there, but when playing with noobs on pugs and explain them to not blow up the genies is a hard job, it is kinda sad that PW never thought to include the Borg STF's in the fleet mark system.

I'm sure they will add this in the future, but by introducing new stuff, new bugs, and new content, the rest just stay behind.

More and more, this game is getting worst. The older bugs and TRIBBLE ups get older and older and there are no fixes for it.

I saw the patch notes this time, right, it is important some graphical changes and tooltips then fix the dam lag, and the big TRIBBLE up in the graphic engine that someone TRIBBLE in the coming of season 6.

Good job PW.

starhound

Im not toooo sure why you are complaining.

Its kinda natural that players will flock to the new content and new content is...new content. It also hasn't been out long. [Also as many of us have grinded those Borg STF's to death, we are happy for something new to do]

It will probably sort itself out soon.

sdkraust

You can only run around and shoot redshirts down for so long before the grind turns you into a cranky person.

Eventually they'll move on. Right now I'm there ~3-4 hours a day and I can'r stomach any more of it because I've opened hundreds of blue tholian reward packs and I've seen it all.

ashkrik23

starhound wrote: »

Im not toooo sure why you are complaining.

Its kinda natural that players will flock to the new content and new content is...new content. It also hasn't been out long. [Also as many of us have grinded those Borg STF's to death, we are happy for something new to do]

It will probably sort itself out soon.

Agreed, just give it some time. A lot are probably going to tire of the Fleet mark grind once fleets get into the higher tiers eventually and then move on to other things. I still see quite a few games being made in channels like Elitestf.

drmox

People are moving from one Grind to the next thats all; ontop of the Starbase Construction frenzy, the new STFs are now the Fleet Merits Grinds for more Phat Lewts!

Get with the time ol' timer before you get too grizzled and grumpy...the Railroad just arrived...:D

Live Long and Grind!

Cause at the rate this game is going you'll definitely need another life to get anywhere with it...:rolleyes:

kar1972

starhound wrote: »

Im not toooo sure why you are complaining.

Its kinda natural that players will flock to the new content and new content is...new content. It also hasn't been out long. [Also as many of us have grinded those Borg STF's to death, we are happy for something new to do]

It will probably sort itself out soon.

I am complaining because even if the tholian content is cool, and of course more BS lock boxes and new ships, I have to be honest in some aspects of the new content:

The new fleet task forces, sux. Probably the most cool ones are colony invasion and Fleet Alert, they are fast and fun to do it, even if they are a bit over powered in terms of damage, still that might change after more people have gear from the starbases.

The fleet event is only good on Nukara. In averange in 2 hours we can farm around 500 fleet marks, while doing the task forces you probably need to grind them all day. So this is something related to rewarding vs time.

The loot is all TRIBBLE! Period. Only the lock boxes might have some worth to get the new ships, and even so, I prefer to buy one in the exchange then spend my own money.

I do understand that we (the so call "end players" or "stf veterans" were a bit tired of griding. The thing is that many of us have many characters that do not have even full sets.

With months and months of griding I manage to have only 2 toons with both sets MK XII maco set, ground and space... here comes the "bound BS" thing again.

If there is time to get new paint jobs on ships, and fix tooltips, there should be time to add more more different STF's. 3 space and 3 ground are hardly motivating to grind. Also, the fleet mark system should be implemented in STF's. People are running to the new content because of the starbases or / and the tholian ships, since the rest is TRIBBLE.

Come on, Fleet task forces in space dropping white gear? Is this a joke?

Ok, I am getting a bit out of topic and maybe I am showing to much anger to keep talking about this.

The thing is, that the fleet marks should be a thing that people should get by doing other things. I understand that they (PW) want people doing the new content, and the fleet mark reward is a big motivation, but TRIBBLE up the old content kinda sux.

For what I have seen in my fleet while building the starbase, and mind you all, we lost like 2 hours figuring out on tribble, we started building the starbase right in the same day. We never stopped since then and if a project is on hold for like 1 hour is too long and hardly happens. Starbases will take a lot of time to build up, until then other content will be empty.

I do understand people were tired of the borg on STF's, many of us could do those with our eyes closed, I'm just saying it could reward fleet marks also.

Not to mention, STF's gridding was my main way of getting dilithium, which btw, we will need.

thecosmic1

Let's see...

*It's summer, so more people are spending time outside rather then in front of a computer playing a game. Check
*The STFs are incredibly boring; especially for a fan-base that has done them hundreds of times. Check
*People are in a rush to get their bases going, so they're doing those missions rather then STFs. Check

All of the above seems like very common MMO issues, both for this time of year and for when new content is released by a game.

ikenstein1

Repeating the same tiny arena over and over and over and over gets boring pretty quick. New STFs are needed. Maybe some that are not killing borgs. Also STFs were a lot more interesting when they took longer than 20 minutes. Some full length STFs that are actually difficult would be good.

Trouble is you can't sell STFs in the cash shop. That's why the that were included at launch are still the only ones in the game. Don't expect to see any added any time soon.

thefastone21

give us new stuff and it might motivate me to leave the kids outside while I do a STF or two.

thecosmic1

ikenstein1 wrote: »

Trouble is you can't sell STFs in the cash shop. That's why the that were included at launch are still the only ones in the game. Don't expect to see any added any time soon.

Actually you can sell STFs in a cashshop. LotRO sells Quest Packs in their store and have descent success with them. I'd happily pay for access to Star Packs for STO.

rdm1958

i seem to see plenty of activity in STFs, especially ISE. right after season 6 i think they did slow down a little, but now it seems to be back to normal.

i took several days off work recently and no matter what time of day it was the STFs were fully queued.

i don't think they are even close to being dead and as people start getting fleet ships and want extra shields and weapons i think the STFs will be more active than ever.

i find the STFs a refreshing grind from the fleet mark grind.

sdkraust

rdm1958 wrote: »

i seem to see plenty of activity in STFs, especially ISE. right after season 6 i think they did slow down a little, but now it seems to be back to normal.

i took several days off work recently and no matter what time of day it was the STFs were fully queued.

i don't think they are even close to being dead and as people start getting fleet ships and want extra shields and weapons i think the STFs will be more active than ever.

i find the STFs a refreshing grind from the fleet mark grind.

This is because ISE is the easiest STF to grind post-season 6 launch.

tangolight

thefastone21 wrote: »

give us new stuff and it might motivate me to leave the kids outside while I do a STF or two.

That's the whole point, they did just give us a bunch of new stuff. Which is why STFs aren't as heavily played as before right now.

kar1972

rdm1958 wrote: »

i seem to see plenty of activity in STFs, especially ISE. right after season 6 i think they did slow down a little, but now it seems to be back to normal.

i took several days off work recently and no matter what time of day it was the STFs were fully queued.

i don't think they are even close to being dead and as people start getting fleet ships and want extra shields and weapons i think the STFs will be more active than ever.

i find the STFs a refreshing grind from the fleet mark grind.

I am not talking of the pugs queues, those get filled, but most of the times (like 95%) is with people that do not know what their doing.

I am talking about for example the EliteSTF channel, I hardly have see anyone doing games there. It is a bit frustrating that all the players move to nukara.

New STF's would be cool of course, be that against borg or other enemies, like tholians for example. In any case, all STF's new or old or future ones should reward fleet marks.

rdm1958

sdkraust wrote: »

This is because ISE is the easiest STF to grind post-season 6 launch.

yes easiest with players that do it right. i'm amazed at how often a rainbow boat turns it into an hour grind, but i digress.

i figured the ISE was so popular for the prototype borg tech - maco 12 shields. that is why i have played it so much.

CSE is always a challenge, but i have done it at times where it seemed simple, very few times.

thoroon

rdm1958 wrote: »

i find the STFs a refreshing grind from the fleet mark grind.

Absolutely correct. Variety is what changes a grind from "annoying" to "okay".

And to OP:
Blowing Gens early isn't the worst thing to happen. Being aware and just blowing the spawning nanite helps, costs hardly any time ... and then again, its just the optional ...
depending on setup it actually can be the better (read: time efficient) tactic.

thedoctorbluebox

Cryptic killed the STFs a long time ago, when they split them up for F2P and made them grind fests for EDCs, THAT's when they killed STFs. The storyline of the STFs is now lost. I bet people playing today have no idea how KA wraps around and explains the tutorial mission. They blasted the great storyline out of the STFs. So the STFs have been dead for a long while now, all they are are grind fests that the goal is to complete as fast as possible, horrible horrible horrible.

azurianstar

Yeah, before F2P people got burnt out of the STFs. But since Season 6 went live, there has been such a massive drop, even the STF channels are dry. Especially the hardcore channels.

This is partly why I want Cryptic to add Fleet Marks to the STF reward pool (even if you can trade Salvage for Fleet Marks). This way people would play STFs again and help those poor souls who still have yet get MK12 sets or at least reach that crazy 300 STF mark for the accoaldes.

rdm1958

thedoctorbluebox wrote: »

Cryptic killed the STFs a long time ago, when they split them up for F2P and made them grind fests for EDCs, THAT's when they killed STFs. The storyline of the STFs is now lost. I bet people playing today have no idea how KA wraps around and explains the tutorial mission. They blasted the great storyline out of the STFs. So the STFs have been dead for a long while now, all they are are grind fests that the goal is to complete as fast as possible, horrible horrible horrible.

you are correct i had no idea.

btw, i am a big fan of the doctor. your avatar shows the most popular dr., but i think the new ones have done very well in the role.

sollvax

See i agree with you

STFs should be where admirals get fleet marks

perhaps

per mission 15-20
Paired mission (ground and space) a straight 50

Then they could stay out of the Incursion ground mission

aveldra

Yea no thanks, after getting full MK12s for all my toons and still having only that to do and nothing else I say good. I'm sick of seeing robo zombies and their cube they rode in on. Thank the gods we finally see something else to kill now.

hfmudd

From the OP's follow-up post, it sounds like he's upset that everyone (who've already done the STFs a thousand times) has run off and left him with half-complete sets, right when he needs them to help him finish. :rolleyes:

c0nd1t10nr3d

kar1972 wrote: »

I never see anyone making games on the EliteStf channel.

Lolwut? I'm a regular on the EliteSTF channel and I'm always able to either a) find someone who's created a game of which I want to join, or, b) create a game myself of which I have no problem in finding a bunch of folk willing to join. And that's even after the season 6 release and to date.

Sorry, but I just find that small part of your statement a little unfair to the EliteSTF channel.

arcademaster

I have to say, I'm still having fun doing STFs while I'm already burnt out on the FM grinds. If I'm not the only one who feels this way things will sort themselves out after the initial rush is over.

The reward situation is really a bit bad at the moment.

- STFs still have tons of desirable gear and huge amounts of dilithium
- The fleet stuff only drops FMs and white garbage that's not even worth 1000EC in the grinder

Nukura drops fun stuff too, but I finished the set on the very first day but it wasn't even designed as fleet event, so that explains that. The balance of reward vs fun and effort is just way off on many fronts. They still have some tweaking to do.

centersolace

Cool and rewarding? Cool and Rewarding? Did I just hear those words off your lips in a serious manner?

-_-

Right. I am so sick of STF's, the whining, the moaning, the instant deaths, the complaining about n00bs from n00bs, how "Optional" means the same thing as "Mandatory" to some people, the instant deaths, the compounding respawn timer, the endless stream of killing the same thing over and over again, the camping to protect the Kang or the Gate, people blowing the matches on purpose, the blasted instant deaths...

...I don't miss STF's one itty-bitty-bit. Sure, starbases are a grind, but I don't have to spent 30+ minutes trying to keep half the team from tearing each other to shreds after we blow the optional, and lose anyway, because someone threw the match because someone was using blue phasers with orange phasers (Yes, it has happened).

Moral of the story? STF's SUCK.

phantomeight

If STF's at least awarded fleet marks during the fleet mark event... I think that would be cool.

dashuk2381

I don't see the rage of the Tholian missions at all, unless you are doing it for fleet marks, it's horribly boring and the requisition items you get are complete BS. It's just a constant stream of EVA suits as rewards and honestly the 3-piece Tholian set you can get isn't that great for the amount of time it takes to grind it.

skurf

Essentially, you're complaining that there is new content and that people are playing the new content. I've never seen so many people complain about any-and-everything that a game offers. The STFs already have their own robust reward system so I don't see the point in adding even more rewards on top of what they already offer, which include some of the best weapons in the game, as well as the best shields and sets in the game. One thing I might could see happening is adding Fleet Marks to the STF store so you can buy them with EDC.

azurianstar

skurf wrote: »

Essentially, you're complaining that there is new content and that people are playing the new content. I've never seen so many people complain about any-and-everything that a game offers. The STFs already have their own robust reward system so I don't see the point in adding even more rewards on top of what they already offer, which include some of the best weapons in the game, as well as the best shields and sets in the game. One thing I might could see happening is adding Fleet Marks to the STF store so you can buy them with EDC.

Why people are complaining is that many people are still struggling after those MK12 sets and still far from completing those 300 STF accolades, which requires a team. And on top of it, Cryptic throwing the new missions for Mark grinding. So it's easier to combine Mark Grinding, STF Grinding, and Dilithum Grinding all in the same spot and keeps STFs viable for play.

BTW, STF gear is not necessarily the best anymore with the introduction of Fleet gear. STF gear is only best against the Borg.

centersolace

phantomeight wrote: »

If STF's at least awarded fleet marks during the fleet mark event... I think that would be cool.

I think they should do that.