Well this is all insightful it's already getting rather warm in here - I suspect that if the flaming does not die down soon this thread will need to be closed.
On the afk note - something either went wonky if it was just say a 2 min bathroom break or the person did not do much damage in the event AND the afk was longer than 2-3 min.
The system works for the majority of situations - but can't cover every possibility. Sometimes it catches someone who might not be deserving of the 2 hour ban - in the same net as the 98% who do deserve it.
I'm a little cooler now than earlier but I still view it as an excessive punishment. 1 hr would be fair as that is the same punishment for leaving the run.
As for my part in this, if it was me taking the penalty I'd be less upset about it. Further the only penalty I knew of was the leaver penalty which only impacts the qued event in question, not a 2hr cool-down on all team-ups. This was the first I knew of an AFK mechanic as it has done nothing to prevent near AFK level performance in STFs in my experience but did manager to penalize on a minor incursion during a Mirror Universe Run. For my part I don't even like running foundry for loot (have done so three times) much less getting rewards for being AFK.
It may be working as intended, but that doesn't mean it's a good mechanic. A 1 hr penalty would be more than enough considering it gets applied to all forms of matches, or at least the vast majority of them.
Edited Addition Below:
Newrom you are the first to address this directly in a polite way while still making your case. You raise a point to consider and I thank you for that. If the mechanic false positived due to low DPS and the brief leave, then while I still believe it is to harsh at least it's understandable the WHY of it. We, her, my other friend, I, and 2 randoms can generally run 8 - 10 Mirrors an hour, which means there is no way for any of us to be hitting AFK, but she was flying a ship she wasn't use to and it's possible she went well under the DPS margine.
I'm a little cooler now than earlier but I still view it as an excessive punishment. 1 hr would be fair as that is the same punishment for leaving the run.
You are missing the whole point. It is not meant to be a "fair" punishment. It is excessive by design to make it as unattractive as possible to afk a match.
Also, I think leaving a run is considered preferable to going afk, so the leaver penalty is shorter for that reason.
It's not myfault ifyoufeel trolledbymyDisco ball...Sorry'boutit.
1 hr would be fair as that is the same punishment for leaving the run.
Actually, a 1 hour penalty that could be incurred in a mission with a 1 hour duration (thus leading to maybe a 10-minute inconvenience) would be more than just a bit silly to begin with. It would be the sort of non-penalty that does nothing about the issue it's intended to address.
As for how much of one's gaming day 2 hours eats: I can't stress this enough, That's. The. Entire. Point. The goal isn't to keep people in constant half-hour playing, 2-hour cooldown cycles. It's to hammer them hard enough for them to learn, and never be hit with the penalty again.
This isn't the failure known as the US Legal System, where the likely-to-be-convicted get to negotiate so-called "punishments" intended to cause them no inconvenience whatsoever. (Which is probably why it gets such harsh reactions...because it's a real penalty and not a token publicity move.)
If the mechanic false positived due to low DPS and the brief leave, then while I still believe it is to harsh at least it's understandable the WHY of it.
The timer is based on AFK, not DPS. I've had awful, awful rounds and not been thrown out.
The way I see it, there's two possibilities here:
1. The game mechanics were fooled by your friend.
2. You were fooled by your friend.
I'm not saying #1 is impossible, and if it happened that's tragic. And hopefully it'll be fixed. But #2 seems a lot more likely to me, and if so it makes me smile that this is working the way it's described.
The timer is based on AFK, not DPS. I've had awful, awful rounds and not been thrown out.
The way I see it, there's two possibilities here:
1. The game mechanics were fooled by your friend.
2. You were fooled by your friend.
I'm not saying #1 is impossible, and if it happened that's tragic. And hopefully it'll be fixed. But #2 seems a lot more likely to me, and if so it makes me smile that this is working the way it's described.
2. The timer should only countdown while the player is logged in.
3. The penalty should double each time a player gets caught AFKing.
4. Accounts should get flags each time a player goes AFK and after "x" number of AFK flags in a predetermined time frame that persons account should suspended. 24 hours at first, then 48, 72, a week, culminating with a permanent account ban.
That's absurd. 2hrs is enough. That's just sadistic there.
2. The timer should only countdown while the player is logged in.
3. The penalty should double each time a player gets caught AFKing.
4. Accounts should get flags each time a player goes AFK and after "x" number of AFK flags in a predetermined time frame that persons account should suspended. 24 hours at first, then 48, 72, a week, culminating with a permanent account ban.
At bare minimum, I couldn't possibly agree any more with 1 and 2. 3 doesn't bother me, and 4...y'know, if you make "X" high enough that it would almost take a deliberate effort to reach the perma-ban stage...
Okay, I really agree with 1 and 2 and have no problem with 3 and 4.
The timer is based on AFK, not DPS. I've had awful, awful rounds and not been thrown out.
The way I see it, there's two possibilities here:
1. The game mechanics were fooled by your friend.
2. You were fooled by your friend.
I'm not saying #1 is impossible, and if it happened that's tragic. And hopefully it'll be fixed. But #2 seems a lot more likely to me, and if so it makes me smile that this is working the way it's described.
Where has it been confirmed by Cryptic that the penalty is solely based on someone not doing anything?? If it has not been confirmed, have you gone afk in every event to test what the criteria for the ban is?
If it was just afk, then someone could put a bobbing head over their keyboard - that would bypass the penalty under your idea. I highly doubt that cryptic did not take this into consideration. So again - where has cryptic published what they consider afk?? I don't think they have - or should - as it would let people try to get around it.
If it is just a simple afk for X amount of time as you claim - I certainly hope they give that a look over.
Cryptic hasn't really discussed how the system works, mostly to help keep people from narrowing down ways to exploit it. That being said, there have been people who have gotten the AFK penalty in Azure Rescue by doing the brain dead strategy of flying under the asteroid and just freeing the ships instead of shooting the tholians then freeing the ships.
In that instance they are marked as afk cause they didn't buff up or fire a weapon at a NPC
So it's not purely DPS based, but it is based upon a certain threshold of damage, what that is exactly remains unknown
Ultimately the penalty is too harsh IMHO, though there may be a way around it. I suppose if a person taskmaned and end-tasked the program it would simply perceive it as a disconnect and NOT flag an AFK status, not a leave match penalty, though I'm unsure of the mechanics.
As for a question of honesty on my part or my friends part is simply an effort to redirect the conversation away from the game mechanic by being hostile.
That said, I'm fully against the optional in STFs being Optional, it encourages poor playing decisions on the part of those participating. I don't however believe in excessive penalization based on that.
This is a failed game mechanic, multiple complaints exist on the forum from its introduction. I'm simply taking the time to voice my complaint in a rational, non-volatile, non-insulting manner. Some of the responses here have been decent while mostly others flame.
I do understand the nature of the forum is to be a bit elitist. After all the average user probably never partakes in the forum at all.
As for increasing the penalty in a way that may cause more players to leave the game, are you really sure you want this game to move to a lower member-base? I've had the misfortune of teaming with a fool in Cure who felt healing the Khang was sufficient to earn his place on the team. However, I would rather pug with a fool than see a poorly implemented mechanic ruin the enjoyment of the overall game.
It really is not well thought out in comparison to other game mechanics.
Further this begs the question why the AFK mechanic simply does not remove the player from the match once they reach whatever counts for "inactive" by the system? Would that not solve the problem equally well?
That's just the thing though, it is designed to BE hostile. Because people who AFK aren't being fair to others who are actually trying to -play- a game instead of having others play it for them.
Are there false positives? Sure. But I'd rather suck up the false positives than let the afkers continue to be able to mooch off players who are actually trying to play the game.
To clarify, my suggestion of a 1hr cool-down would be to implement that AFTER their return, for those making the point of some STF's taking (on the long side) of 30~ minutes.
I do see your point though Deniedex, I still feel it is a bit much, at the very least allow the person on cooldown to join privately organized events on invite. We've have been happy to run Mirror with just the 3 of us honestly.
Privates shouldn't follow the same rules as pugging cause they are private. You are able to select who you want and establish the rules of the game there.
That being said, i wouldn't expect cryptic to separate the code base for a private match vs pugging. it took them ages just to get what we have in game as it is, let alone them tweaking it any more
And as a aside, I don't believe you can start a private Mirror Invasion with only 3 players, could be wrong on that though, never tried tbh
Privates shouldn't follow the same rules as pugging cause they are private. You are able to select who you want and establish the rules of the game there.
That being said, i wouldn't expect cryptic to separate the code base for a private match vs pugging. it took them ages just to get what we have in game as it is, let alone them tweaking it any more
And as a aside, I don't believe you can start a private Mirror Invasion with only 3 players, could be wrong on that though, never tried tbh
Not 100% certain, but I believe fully private events are exempt - or should be. People create a 5 person infected space elite so that 1 guy can do it solo. That means the other 4 are just watching.
Not 100% certain, but I believe fully private events are exempt - or should be. People create a 5 person infected space elite so that 1 guy can do it solo. That means the other 4 are just watching.
It wasn't private. He had 2 friends, not 4, meaning they stiffed 2 puggers when they went afk.:rolleyes:
I can't believe with all the build testing I do and all the last minute tray fussin I'm forced to do, (thanks Cryptic), that I've never been hit with the penalty, not even once, and all I run is teamed missions now.
Don't team up for a teamed mission unless you're sure you're ready.
The system obviously can't tell the AFK leeches from the AFKers fer just a second :rolleyes: crowd.
If you are REALLY doing that bad performance wise, You've got bigger issues to worry about.
PVE in STO is generally considered, for the most part, to be VERY EASY. Maybe some just aren't ready for teamed missions ?
I suggest if this happens to you because of poor performance, check out the PVP build threads, they will get your builds on track quickly.
They've helped me a lot.
If you get hit with the ban, feel good that Cryptic is finally cracking down on THE AFKing leeches and ....switch toons. Lesson learned.
It wasn't private. He had 2 friends, not 4, meaning they stiffed 2 puggers when they went afk.
One of us went AFK. I'm sure you just made an honest mistake there though and didn't try to play with your understanding of the details so clearly laid out.
Further, if they would allow it I could probably take the Mirror Universe event Solo, that's not the point.
Just ran Mirror universe with 2 friends of mine. We que up for this any chance we get as I'm running a fairly geared character this gives us a chance to run something quick, easy, and fun with a lot of explosions. One of those friends went AFK for a moment, came back, and was hit with a 2 hour AFK penalty. This is completely ridiculous. I could understand a 20 minute penalty but this was just silly.
I purchased my lifetime membership a few months ago because I intended to invest time in this game PLAYING WITH MY FRIENDS. This however limits that capability as if they have anything come up our time gets robbed not just by a reasonable penalty marker but by a 2 hour long delay.
I really wish there was a refund department at this phase, seriously considering just leaving the game all together. I'm guessing this carries no weight with cryptic as they already have my money but I will NEVER suggest to anyone they purchase anything in this game so long as such an outrageous and unfair penalty exists. After all, the penalty in other online games is far lower or well balanced.
I get having a penalty, but this is just ridiculous. It isn't that hard to code the penalty to be 20 minutes from the time they leave the map for an AFK penalty.
Sincerely Your's
Disgruntled Paying Player
I don't think you're going to get what you came here for. You want us to be incensed because your friend got a penalty that, by the letter of the rules, he deserved. The penalty is, in principal, designed to penalize people for doing exactly what your friend did. He went AFK, and doing so for any period of time is utterly unacceptable. If you have to go AFK for anything beyond one minute (which I consider to be enough time to get up and grab something across the room), you are breaking the rules. Does the penalty some times get applied unfairly? Yes. Is this one of those cases? No, I don't believe so.
Now, if I'm reading this right, you want a 20 minute penalty for AFKing instead of the current punitive one that we have. My only response to you is this: How selfish are you? You aren't just wasting your time, you're wasting the time of every person in that instance with you. You're making them do all the work for you, expecting to receive a reward like you would normally. As previously stated, the reason for such a harsh penalty is because it is designed as a deterrent and a punishment in one.
In conclusion, you won't be getting my incensed rage at how your friend received a justly deserved AFK penalty. And to be blunt, as a Lifetime Subscriber, I am utterly disgusted by you. You flaunt that you are a "paying customer" like it allows you to break the rules and not suffer the consequences. And using the fact that you bought Lifetime as an excuse as to why you deserve better treatment than others is the exact reason that people sometimes look down on those of us with Lifetime. So first of all, accept that you are in the wrong. Second of all, think about the impression you are giving off, and stop making every Lifetime and subscriber look bad.
Not 100% certain, but I believe fully private events are exempt - or should be. People create a 5 person infected space elite so that 1 guy can do it solo. That means the other 4 are just watching.
They are not. This annoyance applies to private events also, which is why you see the latest "Solo ISE" videos featuring the 4 leaving, rather than spectating, so that they only get banned for an hour rather than two.
Well Orax that was certainly heartfelt on your part. If you notice though as the discussion, for those parts that this has been a discussion, has progressed I've relented to some degree. I agree a penalty need be measured, but I still disagree with the severity of it. Further currently a leave penalty only impacts the current event if I am correct and not ALL grouping event content.
I'll admit 20 minutes is far to little, but 2hrs is far too much. It's a silly penalty and an over-reaction because of a system that should have been thought out better. Had the mechanics involved removed rewards for AFKing, or simply booted AFKers then such a post event punishment need not be implemented.
Further, as such was implemented by people yelling too loudly, surely a well presented and thought out analysis should be able to impact things further. Lastly your probably right in that I shouldn't have mentioned my paid status. My point was that I enjoy the game enough to support its development further. In retrospect I've logged over 800hrs worth in this, I've got my moneys worth in that respect. That said the mechanic still is overly impacting.
A number of options are available to correct this game mechanic.
Had it allowed us to continue on and run even Azure Nebula as a group I would not have been nearly as incensed by the mechanic. There is no valid, good, or viable reason for it to impact MY experience because a handful of AFKers were causing problems. This should have been weighed more carefully on Tribble before it ever made it live.
There is no valid, good, or viable reason for it to impact MY experience because a handful of AFKers were causing problems.
I can tell you how to prevent such issues in the future, and it's incredibly easy: tell all your friends to be ready to play before queuing up. Make sure they understand that the way to not be penalized for going AFK is- wait for it- to not go AFK when your actions can impact others.
See, that's who caused you all this trauma- not Cryptic, but your AFKing friend. Dump your grief on her where it belongs, and realize your status as an LTS and "Disgruntled Paying Player" carry no weight and won't result in Cryptic adjusting things to suit you.
So the OP thinks he deserves special treatment because he has a paid membership, that the rules shouldn't apply to his buddy because he had a super-cereal good reason for being afk.
Just ran Mirror universe with 2 friends of mine. We que up for this any chance we get as I'm running a fairly geared character this gives us a chance to run something quick, easy, and fun with a lot of explosions. One of those friends went AFK for a moment, came back, and was hit with a 2 hour AFK penalty. This is completely ridiculous. I could understand a 20 minute penalty but this was just silly.
I purchased my lifetime membership a few months ago because I intended to invest time in this game PLAYING WITH MY FRIENDS. This however limits that capability as if they have anything come up our time gets robbed not just by a reasonable penalty marker but by a 2 hour long delay.
I really wish there was a refund department at this phase, seriously considering just leaving the game all together. I'm guessing this carries no weight with cryptic as they already have my money but I will NEVER suggest to anyone they purchase anything in this game so long as such an outrageous and unfair penalty exists. After all, the penalty in other online games is far lower or well balanced.
I get having a penalty, but this is just ridiculous. It isn't that hard to code the penalty to be 20 minutes from the time they leave the map for an AFK penalty.
Sincerely Your's
Disgruntled Paying Player
Gotta say it sounds like your friend was gone longer than a moment. Right now for me it can be hard to say I have a dedicated block to do a mission. Just a week and a half ago I had to get up in the middle of Infected and didn't make it back till after it was over. Perhaps my infected elite simply lasted longer than your mirror. I still may have to get up randomly when playing with my friends. I won't explain my life here but I can say in that infected elite I didn't deserve my prize and really should have gotten a two hour penalty. I could have potentially left a team high and dry. To me it sounds like your friend went AFK longer than you say and got the penalty for it. Sorry, but I think it's a fair system and will gladly take any penalty that I may incur. Sometimes life doesn't give you an option about getting up, but the penalty has been in place for a little while now. This should have been expected
They are not. This annoyance applies to private events also, which is why you see the latest "Solo ISE" videos featuring the 4 leaving, rather than spectating, so that they only get banned for an hour rather than two.
Except there isn't a leaver penalty in private matches, so.. no that made no sense, thanks for the effort though.
Except there isn't a leaver penalty in private matches, so.. no that made no sense, thanks for the effort though.
Again, even the allowance to continue private ques for the 3 of us would have been sufficient. It seems the ban extends to all team up content on the que.
Well, actually, cryptic could be a bit more intelligent with their penalty times.
Whatever the cooldown is for that map should be the penalty time. For example.. if the cooldown of an STF is 1 hour, then when the AFK penalty was enacted, it should have kicked the player and started the 1 hour countdown as if he had completed the mission, but with the difference of no rewards.
In the case of a PvP, then there should be a default minimum time.
This resolves the "big chuck of my night spent waiting on penalty expirations" but also sends a clear message to not be AFK
Just my 2 cents and what I would do if I were programming this game. Alas, I am not
I AM NOT A FAN OF PWE!!!!
MEMBER SINCE JANUARY 2010
Comments
On the afk note - something either went wonky if it was just say a 2 min bathroom break or the person did not do much damage in the event AND the afk was longer than 2-3 min.
The system works for the majority of situations - but can't cover every possibility. Sometimes it catches someone who might not be deserving of the 2 hour ban - in the same net as the 98% who do deserve it.
As for my part in this, if it was me taking the penalty I'd be less upset about it. Further the only penalty I knew of was the leaver penalty which only impacts the qued event in question, not a 2hr cool-down on all team-ups. This was the first I knew of an AFK mechanic as it has done nothing to prevent near AFK level performance in STFs in my experience but did manager to penalize on a minor incursion during a Mirror Universe Run. For my part I don't even like running foundry for loot (have done so three times) much less getting rewards for being AFK.
It may be working as intended, but that doesn't mean it's a good mechanic. A 1 hr penalty would be more than enough considering it gets applied to all forms of matches, or at least the vast majority of them.
Edited Addition Below:
Newrom you are the first to address this directly in a polite way while still making your case. You raise a point to consider and I thank you for that. If the mechanic false positived due to low DPS and the brief leave, then while I still believe it is to harsh at least it's understandable the WHY of it. We, her, my other friend, I, and 2 randoms can generally run 8 - 10 Mirrors an hour, which means there is no way for any of us to be hitting AFK, but she was flying a ship she wasn't use to and it's possible she went well under the DPS margine.
You are missing the whole point. It is not meant to be a "fair" punishment. It is excessive by design to make it as unattractive as possible to afk a match.
Also, I think leaving a run is considered preferable to going afk, so the leaver penalty is shorter for that reason.
R.I.P. Leonard Nimoy
Actually, a 1 hour penalty that could be incurred in a mission with a 1 hour duration (thus leading to maybe a 10-minute inconvenience) would be more than just a bit silly to begin with. It would be the sort of non-penalty that does nothing about the issue it's intended to address.
As for how much of one's gaming day 2 hours eats: I can't stress this enough, That's. The. Entire. Point. The goal isn't to keep people in constant half-hour playing, 2-hour cooldown cycles. It's to hammer them hard enough for them to learn, and never be hit with the penalty again.
This isn't the failure known as the US Legal System, where the likely-to-be-convicted get to negotiate so-called "punishments" intended to cause them no inconvenience whatsoever. (Which is probably why it gets such harsh reactions...because it's a real penalty and not a token publicity move.)
The timer is based on AFK, not DPS. I've had awful, awful rounds and not been thrown out.
The way I see it, there's two possibilities here:
1. The game mechanics were fooled by your friend.
2. You were fooled by your friend.
I'm not saying #1 is impossible, and if it happened that's tragic. And hopefully it'll be fixed. But #2 seems a lot more likely to me, and if so it makes me smile that this is working the way it's described.
3. He's trying to fool us, and failed.
That's absurd. 2hrs is enough. That's just sadistic there.
At bare minimum, I couldn't possibly agree any more with 1 and 2. 3 doesn't bother me, and 4...y'know, if you make "X" high enough that it would almost take a deliberate effort to reach the perma-ban stage...
Okay, I really agree with 1 and 2 and have no problem with 3 and 4.
Don't mind sopwithsnipe. He's been running a personal Jihad on afk'ers for a some time now.:rolleyes:
Love ya sop.;)
R.I.P. Leonard Nimoy
Where has it been confirmed by Cryptic that the penalty is solely based on someone not doing anything?? If it has not been confirmed, have you gone afk in every event to test what the criteria for the ban is?
If it was just afk, then someone could put a bobbing head over their keyboard - that would bypass the penalty under your idea. I highly doubt that cryptic did not take this into consideration. So again - where has cryptic published what they consider afk?? I don't think they have - or should - as it would let people try to get around it.
If it is just a simple afk for X amount of time as you claim - I certainly hope they give that a look over.
In that instance they are marked as afk cause they didn't buff up or fire a weapon at a NPC
So it's not purely DPS based, but it is based upon a certain threshold of damage, what that is exactly remains unknown
As for a question of honesty on my part or my friends part is simply an effort to redirect the conversation away from the game mechanic by being hostile.
That said, I'm fully against the optional in STFs being Optional, it encourages poor playing decisions on the part of those participating. I don't however believe in excessive penalization based on that.
This is a failed game mechanic, multiple complaints exist on the forum from its introduction. I'm simply taking the time to voice my complaint in a rational, non-volatile, non-insulting manner. Some of the responses here have been decent while mostly others flame.
I do understand the nature of the forum is to be a bit elitist. After all the average user probably never partakes in the forum at all.
As for increasing the penalty in a way that may cause more players to leave the game, are you really sure you want this game to move to a lower member-base? I've had the misfortune of teaming with a fool in Cure who felt healing the Khang was sufficient to earn his place on the team. However, I would rather pug with a fool than see a poorly implemented mechanic ruin the enjoyment of the overall game.
It really is not well thought out in comparison to other game mechanics.
Further this begs the question why the AFK mechanic simply does not remove the player from the match once they reach whatever counts for "inactive" by the system? Would that not solve the problem equally well?
Are there false positives? Sure. But I'd rather suck up the false positives than let the afkers continue to be able to mooch off players who are actually trying to play the game.
I do see your point though Deniedex, I still feel it is a bit much, at the very least allow the person on cooldown to join privately organized events on invite. We've have been happy to run Mirror with just the 3 of us honestly.
Is that much asking to much then?
That being said, i wouldn't expect cryptic to separate the code base for a private match vs pugging. it took them ages just to get what we have in game as it is, let alone them tweaking it any more
And as a aside, I don't believe you can start a private Mirror Invasion with only 3 players, could be wrong on that though, never tried tbh
Not 100% certain, but I believe fully private events are exempt - or should be. People create a 5 person infected space elite so that 1 guy can do it solo. That means the other 4 are just watching.
It wasn't private. He had 2 friends, not 4, meaning they stiffed 2 puggers when they went afk.:rolleyes:
Don't team up for a teamed mission unless you're sure you're ready.
The system obviously can't tell the AFK leeches from the AFKers fer just a second :rolleyes: crowd.
If you are REALLY doing that bad performance wise, You've got bigger issues to worry about.
PVE in STO is generally considered, for the most part, to be VERY EASY. Maybe some just aren't ready for teamed missions ?
I suggest if this happens to you because of poor performance, check out the PVP build threads, they will get your builds on track quickly.
They've helped me a lot.
If you get hit with the ban, feel good that Cryptic is finally cracking down on THE AFKing leeches and ....switch toons. Lesson learned.
One of us went AFK. I'm sure you just made an honest mistake there though and didn't try to play with your understanding of the details so clearly laid out.
Further, if they would allow it I could probably take the Mirror Universe event Solo, that's not the point.
I don't think you're going to get what you came here for. You want us to be incensed because your friend got a penalty that, by the letter of the rules, he deserved. The penalty is, in principal, designed to penalize people for doing exactly what your friend did. He went AFK, and doing so for any period of time is utterly unacceptable. If you have to go AFK for anything beyond one minute (which I consider to be enough time to get up and grab something across the room), you are breaking the rules. Does the penalty some times get applied unfairly? Yes. Is this one of those cases? No, I don't believe so.
Now, if I'm reading this right, you want a 20 minute penalty for AFKing instead of the current punitive one that we have. My only response to you is this: How selfish are you? You aren't just wasting your time, you're wasting the time of every person in that instance with you. You're making them do all the work for you, expecting to receive a reward like you would normally. As previously stated, the reason for such a harsh penalty is because it is designed as a deterrent and a punishment in one.
In conclusion, you won't be getting my incensed rage at how your friend received a justly deserved AFK penalty. And to be blunt, as a Lifetime Subscriber, I am utterly disgusted by you. You flaunt that you are a "paying customer" like it allows you to break the rules and not suffer the consequences. And using the fact that you bought Lifetime as an excuse as to why you deserve better treatment than others is the exact reason that people sometimes look down on those of us with Lifetime. So first of all, accept that you are in the wrong. Second of all, think about the impression you are giving off, and stop making every Lifetime and subscriber look bad.
I'll admit 20 minutes is far to little, but 2hrs is far too much. It's a silly penalty and an over-reaction because of a system that should have been thought out better. Had the mechanics involved removed rewards for AFKing, or simply booted AFKers then such a post event punishment need not be implemented.
Further, as such was implemented by people yelling too loudly, surely a well presented and thought out analysis should be able to impact things further. Lastly your probably right in that I shouldn't have mentioned my paid status. My point was that I enjoy the game enough to support its development further. In retrospect I've logged over 800hrs worth in this, I've got my moneys worth in that respect. That said the mechanic still is overly impacting.
A number of options are available to correct this game mechanic.
Had it allowed us to continue on and run even Azure Nebula as a group I would not have been nearly as incensed by the mechanic. There is no valid, good, or viable reason for it to impact MY experience because a handful of AFKers were causing problems. This should have been weighed more carefully on Tribble before it ever made it live.
I can tell you how to prevent such issues in the future, and it's incredibly easy: tell all your friends to be ready to play before queuing up. Make sure they understand that the way to not be penalized for going AFK is- wait for it- to not go AFK when your actions can impact others.
See, that's who caused you all this trauma- not Cryptic, but your AFKing friend. Dump your grief on her where it belongs, and realize your status as an LTS and "Disgruntled Paying Player" carry no weight and won't result in Cryptic adjusting things to suit you.
:rolleyes:
Gotta say it sounds like your friend was gone longer than a moment. Right now for me it can be hard to say I have a dedicated block to do a mission. Just a week and a half ago I had to get up in the middle of Infected and didn't make it back till after it was over. Perhaps my infected elite simply lasted longer than your mirror. I still may have to get up randomly when playing with my friends. I won't explain my life here but I can say in that infected elite I didn't deserve my prize and really should have gotten a two hour penalty. I could have potentially left a team high and dry. To me it sounds like your friend went AFK longer than you say and got the penalty for it. Sorry, but I think it's a fair system and will gladly take any penalty that I may incur. Sometimes life doesn't give you an option about getting up, but the penalty has been in place for a little while now. This should have been expected
Except there isn't a leaver penalty in private matches, so.. no that made no sense, thanks for the effort though.
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Again, even the allowance to continue private ques for the 3 of us would have been sufficient. It seems the ban extends to all team up content on the que.
Whatever the cooldown is for that map should be the penalty time. For example.. if the cooldown of an STF is 1 hour, then when the AFK penalty was enacted, it should have kicked the player and started the 1 hour countdown as if he had completed the mission, but with the difference of no rewards.
In the case of a PvP, then there should be a default minimum time.
This resolves the "big chuck of my night spent waiting on penalty expirations" but also sends a clear message to not be AFK
Just my 2 cents and what I would do if I were programming this game. Alas, I am not
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There is no leaver penalty for private queues correct, but the afk penalty is in full effect.
And the workaround for afk penalty is simple, just switch to an alt character.