I play the same amount, or possibly slightly more, though that's not particularly due to 8.5. I never payed much attention to hourlys. Most of them were either fluff, or ridiculously unbalanced (Mirror Universe rewards). I prefer to earn whatever I'm going for ingame, rather than being given them on a platter
My first character was happily earning rep marks here and there for the rep 'grind', earning enough so that I rarely fell short, and when I did, I was forced to <GASP!> play the game. Then we had the winter event and Eppohh raising, and quite stupidly (in retrospect) I gathered more than enough to swan through all remaining tiers. With the need to gather marks gone, I played a lot less of the content, and lost a lot of interest. Fortunately, my other two characters didn't partake in the festival, and so need to earn their marks, and its a whole lot more satisfying.
As for 8.5... Other than it making me put a bit more time and 'effort' into levelling up my Romulan her last few levels in the run up. (I decided to level her solely through the plot. No side-quests, no DOFF assignments (Except some recruitment ones, as on my main, that seems the hardest to find missions for), no nothing. Now she's level 50 and making up for lost time).
How are you playing with the release of season 8.5? Playing More? Playing Less?
I'm asking because I'm pretty much doing just the q-mmendation on a few toons and running the FE once on my toons for the q-mmendations. Not really staying on the game much. (Well my game might be running while I surf the web, but I'm not playing.)
With the recent changes to the calendar and lack of events (anniversary aside), I really have found myself hardly online and finding other things to do. I've probably played the game far less this weekend than I have in months. I don't want to start reps right now knowing I'll run out of XP and I have all my marks accumulated for the reps from Winter Epohhs.
Just curious what everyone else is up to.
not more or less just differently.
just shelved one of the missions I often run In favour of the FE, although I have run it with my toons I have been rerunning it to get the extra gear and accolades.
that's about it really.
but question, how can you run out of XP?
I`ve got all my toons to lv5 of all reps + donated loads to fleet projects and I still have XP in fact my fed who granted I use slightly the most has 10,984,325 XP but all my toons are into 6 figures at least.
if you are low on XP the best thing you could do is forget surfing the web that wont get you XP and forget the calendar and start playing some missions that yield high levels of XP.
I find doing all the deferi missions like "aiding the deferi" is a good place to start, lots of XP and a nice load of dilithium as well.
A little less. I keep the game running on a second PC and login periodically for stuff, doing it less often now.
Personally its the lack of hourly events. I can't schedule when I know other people are going to be on doing things (try getting KDF Defera and Fleet Actions off-peak). Instead of waiting 10 minutes for a queue to pop I am doing other RL things.
who gives two monkeys about hourly events, try just playing the game theres loads of stuff to do try rerunning a few old missions, click on the available tab and select something from there like the aforementioned deferi missions, click on the pve tab and do select 3 missions that have a few already queuing like an stf or one that rewards fleet marks and while your waiting for one to start set up some doff missions, if no joy after 10 minutes go to one of the zones like dyson or even nimbus 3 and do some stuff there.
I cant say there is a time I have been logged into sto and haven't been able to find something to play.
I'm also playing other games at the minute. Losing faith in this game, but I'm not leaving. Tired of STO feeling like a super job with no breaks. I'm currently skipping this grind event going on. I wanna have something called 'fun'... Seems STO is trying too hard to get me to play. Anyway, break time!
so you don't want to do the event so whats the problem that's no reason to play less, there is nothing stopping you bypassing the event and just playing the stuff you have fun with.
Less. I played a lot on the weekends particularly The Mirror Invasion Event. I would typically plan my gaming weekend around it so I would do other things like doffs or episodes in game before the event. Now with no bonus marks, there is no incentive really to play. I now play if I feel like it or I'm bored. I am doing the Qmmentations to get the anniversary ship and have started the Solonase Reputation so maybe that will keep me busy for awhile. What a dumbass motive on Cryptic's part to end the event calendar and bonus marks. This is going to be Cryptic's downfall. Who gives advice to this guys anyway?
More actually. I want to have the dyson ship complete in all three factions and replay the revamped fed content.
Add in that the qmendations can sit in a bank and be used later? Good times. It means either in winter (I am hoping qmendations and photos get combined.) or next Anniversary I will be much further along for the new reward than any of them are now. better still. If I get to the full 1000 but do not buy the ship it is a full price waiting in the bank for me to get one more appropriate (I hope)
Originally Posted by pwlaughingtrendy
Network engineers are not ship designers.
Nor should they be. Their ships would look weird.
I didn't like the fact they took out the hourly events and changed to weekend...
Its even worse, its every 14 days a event...
I play so much less, even don't grind for the free ship, did the mission and 3 times the event and that will be it for me.
Eh, I guess I play less as well.
I usually have the same free time availible to me as allways, but in between the graphical issues that date from S8 launch, the grindathlon, messing up the doffs and removing of the hourly events I guess enjoyment starts to fade. You can only deal with so much silly issues at a given time before it becomes annoying and not enjoyable.
1. PvP
2. Battlezone for dilithium
3. Doff for money/expertise/more dilithium/fleetmarks
Other than that, no reason to be on.
Sure I do the daily for the new ships on a couple toons, occasionally run a DPS STF, and generally hang out with my fleetmates/buddies, but this game is starting to wear thin for me and has for a while.
I find myself playing an awful lot of Civ 5 lately, moreso than usual. I also am on hold until April 4th when ESO launches. That will be the real tell, whether this game lasts for me or not. Having beta tested ESO, I have a strong suspicion this game will fall to number 2 gaming priority, meaning i might play it only when I am bored of ESO.
It all depends on what the fearsome foursome (my pvp mates) are up to. If they wanna play some STO, hey i will, but I know most of us are going to ESO when it launches.
Fleet Admiral Rylana - Fed Tac - U.S.S Wild Card - Tactical Miracle Worker Cruiser
Lifetime Subscriber since 2012 == 17,200 Accolades = RIP PvP and Vice Squad
Chief of Starfleet Intelligence Service == Praise Cheesus
I think this is the intended effect. I would be excited if it was bonus mark hour - I would try to milk those three hours on toons that needed the marks. Now? i log in, cycle a mission or two per toon, do some doff misions, manage my stuff on the exchange and am done with it.
I don't like being told WHEN to play and WHAT to play in the efforts to more easily garner metrics from us. I particularly don't like being peed on and then being told that it's just rain.
Taking away the hourly events was a bad call. Instead of removing them, they simply should have removed the lame ones. Lower the thresholds for Breaking The Planet and Big Dig (Big Dig should really offer Rom Mrks as it is a Romulan mission...). Bring back Elachi Alert.
1. PvP
2. Battlezone for dilithium
3. Doff for money/expertise/more dilithium/fleetmarks
Other than that, no reason to be on.
Sure I do the daily for the new ships on a couple toons, occasionally run a DPS STF, and generally hang out with my fleetmates/buddies, but this game is starting to wear thin for me and has for a while.
I find myself playing an awful lot of Civ 5 lately, moreso than usual. I also am on hold until April 4th when ESO launches. That will be the real tell, whether this game lasts for me or not. Having beta tested ESO, I have a strong suspicion this game will fall to number 2 gaming priority, meaning i might play it only when I am bored of ESO.
It all depends on what the fearsome foursome (my pvp mates) are up to. If they wanna play some STO, hey i will, but I know most of us are going to ESO when it launches.
Fearsome Foursome? Are you referring to Me, Sisko and Zetto and Saphy? lol and I'm always up for PvP I'm just stuck in the darn grind to finish my Rommy.
Since 8.5 and the loss of MU I have been running low on XP and I know you can get it via doing missions, STF's all that jazz but I'd rather get XP efficiently not just dribs and drabs but I guess that world is no longer and its the new horizon to look "forward" to.
So yea after the spiel I'm playing a lot less and like Rylana Ima holding out for ESO, I'll always come back to STO but a little change never harmed anyone.
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
No Drama, No Fuss, Just good old fashioned pew pew!
Fearsome Foursome? Are you referring to Me, Sisko and Zetto and Saphy? lol and I'm always up for PvP I'm just stuck in the darn grind to finish my Rommy.
Since 8.5 and the loss of MU I have been running low on XP and I know you can get it via doing missions, STF's all that jazz but I'd rather get XP efficiently not just dribs and drabs but I guess that world is no longer and its the new horizon to look "forward" to.
So yea after the spiel I'm playing a lot less and like Rylana Ima holding out for ESO, I'll always come back to STO but a little change never harmed anyone.
Thats the four. I was gonna say the A-team, but I am the real A list player XD
No seriously, youre like the face and im BA baracus, I PITY DA FOO.
Fleet Admiral Rylana - Fed Tac - U.S.S Wild Card - Tactical Miracle Worker Cruiser
Lifetime Subscriber since 2012 == 17,200 Accolades = RIP PvP and Vice Squad
Chief of Starfleet Intelligence Service == Praise Cheesus
This new drawn out system of having to do these stupid repeat Q find a box games is ridiculous, I literally almost have no point in playing.
Its a game. There's not meant to be a point. If you find yourself not having fun, then don't play. When I get bored of this game - Which I'm sure I will eventually, I'll go play something else. I might come back, I might not. What I won't do, is stick around moaning and complaining and otherwise getting everybody down.
Definitely less. Was ready for a nice break from "daily drill and duty" play after the Winter Wonderland, and instead got hit with another round of it. With the loss of the hourly events (aka "my favorite semi-random variety break generator") on top of it, no less.
I'm actually about ready just to stop playing entirely. This week alone due to bugs, I can't buy Zen with steam wallet, I can't see anything in my inventory or my Doff's portraits, I have lost Doffs who have mysteriously disappeared, and now the lag is sooooo terrible in this game that fighting 1 Voth ship is impossible because the game fails to tell me what my shields/defenses are doing. It's ridiculous!
How are you playing with the release of season 8.5? Playing More? Playing Less?
I'm asking because I'm pretty much doing just the q-mmendation on a few toons and running the FE once on my toons for the q-mmendations. Not really staying on the game much. (Well my game might be running while I surf the web, but I'm not playing.)
With the recent changes to the calendar and lack of events (anniversary aside), I really have found myself hardly online and finding other things to do. I've probably played the game far less this weekend than I have in months. I don't want to start reps right now knowing I'll run out of XP and I have all my marks accumulated for the reps from Winter Epohhs.
Fearsome Foursome? Are you referring to Me, Sisko and Zetto and Saphy? lol and I'm always up for PvP I'm just stuck in the darn grind to finish my Rommy.
Since 8.5 and the loss of MU I have been running low on XP and I know you can get it via doing missions, STF's all that jazz but I'd rather get XP efficiently not just dribs and drabs but I guess that world is no longer and its the new horizon to look "forward" to.
So yea after the spiel I'm playing a lot less and like Rylana Ima holding out for ESO, I'll always come back to STO but a little change never harmed anyone.
I don't know what amount of XP you normally get and what you class as a drib or a drab but I just run the deferi missions "aiding the deferi" ect. on easy and netted over 17k of XP in 30 minutes of good fun and got a heap of dilithium and a few drops that I will recycle for EC to boot.
I think that was 30 minutes well spent.
When I think about everything we've been through together,
maybe it's not the destination that matters, maybe it's the journey,
and if that journey takes a little longer,
so we can do something we all believe in,
I can't think of any place I'd rather be or any people I'd rather be with.
Seems like I've been playing non-stop since December. With the Winter event I was able to get almost 60,000 marks across 13 characters. Almost every character is now T5 in something, sometimes multiple somethings, except for the one who wasn't 50 yet during the event. Personally I don't consider something a "grind" if it is fun and/or easy, and I found the Fast and Flurrious race quite fun. Did plenty of other winter event stuff as well.
Since then I've been playing missions to get expertise for some of my newer alts, running STFs for neuroprocessors, running the Dyson Battlezone for Voth rep and playing Foundry missions for review on my podcast. I've also started a new Foundry mission, a historical account of the Romulan War. I'm now working on getting three anniversary ships, one for each faction, and considering doing the event on more characters and saving the Qmendations for next year (on a hunch that they may do a similar event). Doesn't feel like a grind cause its easy as heck.
AND on Saturday I got a Hirogen ship out of a lockbox, so I decided to create a new character, a KDF-Rom Alien made up to look like a Hirogen, with a crew full of similar Hirogen. Over the past two days I've gotten him from 0 to 31.
There's a lot to do in this game and a lot of fun to be had. You just gotten get out there and do it.
Not playing at all here...since mid-November. I logged in briefly to take a look at the new KDF ship, found I wasn't impressed, zoned back to system space and lost the textures again. Just that fast. So nope not touching STO or any Cryptic involved game until I get my STO back. Until they acknowledge the problems and actually start doing something about them they can smile and say nothing's wrong, raise a thumb, and sit and spin for all I care.
I don't know what amount of XP you normally get and what you class as a drib or a drab but I just run the deferi missions "aiding the deferi" ect. on easy and netted over 17k of XP in 30 minutes of good fun and got a heap of dilithium and a few drops that I will recycle for EC to boot.
I think that was 30 minutes well spent.
Mirror Universe could have gotten that in 4 minutes. Also, as cake could of made 8k in that time. Roughly, 8k dilithum, 64k+ XP, 300k+ plus economy.
This is what players mean Cryptic is dangling the new ship, space set, and grind like a carrot stick. While they strip the real goodies.
Generally less, but that was already happening before this. Don't feel like grinding rep on alts, so I tend not to play them. The new FE is fun, but it's not going to keep me in forever. Since the only rep I need on my main is nukara (which I can get enough marks for with a CE run if I need more), don't feel the need to chain STFs. Still do some for fleet marks, but that's about it.
Playing ME3 and DA:O as well, and those are more fun at the moment.
While strictly speaking, I'm around as much as I always am, my level of engagement is definitely falling. Instead of actively performing something requiring a high level of attention, such as an STF, since the marks have been cut off for the next two weeks, I'm instead simply camping the exchange or doing some other AFK-ish activity. The next impending round of nerfs has also disengaged me from the pursuit of ship and character-building, since all of it will be likely worthless. I don't have infinite money to burn replacing things that I'm going to have throw out as trash soon, and besides, why bother doing it all just to undo it later?
So I wait.
I'm building a new computer for STO, but it ain't because I'm more engaged. It's because I want my main terminal back, and lower-spec computer built from frankenparts is all I need for camping.
Playing? As in doing missions, grabbing marks and stuff? Not a lot, slowly been losing interest in the game to be honest. If you have half a clue about the game you're already stomping everything into the dirt fast. Balance between classes is at an all time low, or maybe it's all time high if you count all DPS for all things balanced.
Generally the grind is increasing and rather than skill being the limiting factor a lot of the time it's either your wallet or artificial time gates. Sure it's a blast if you remove your brain and go into magpie mode but it's becoming more of an iPhone game than anything.
I spend more time in game chatting to people than doing stuff, it might as well be a glorified chat client.
Mirror Universe could have gotten that in 4 minutes. Also, as cake could of made 8k in that time. Roughly, 8k dilithum, 64k+ XP, 300k+ plus economy.
... Which is completely unbalanced and idiotic. Logging in for 4 minutes to get a days worth of rewards isn't playing the game, its the equivalent of punching in a cheat code.
Comments
My first character was happily earning rep marks here and there for the rep 'grind', earning enough so that I rarely fell short, and when I did, I was forced to <GASP!> play the game. Then we had the winter event and Eppohh raising, and quite stupidly (in retrospect) I gathered more than enough to swan through all remaining tiers. With the need to gather marks gone, I played a lot less of the content, and lost a lot of interest. Fortunately, my other two characters didn't partake in the festival, and so need to earn their marks, and its a whole lot more satisfying.
As for 8.5... Other than it making me put a bit more time and 'effort' into levelling up my Romulan her last few levels in the run up. (I decided to level her solely through the plot. No side-quests, no DOFF assignments (Except some recruitment ones, as on my main, that seems the hardest to find missions for), no nothing. Now she's level 50 and making up for lost time).
not more or less just differently.
just shelved one of the missions I often run In favour of the FE, although I have run it with my toons I have been rerunning it to get the extra gear and accolades.
that's about it really.
but question, how can you run out of XP?
I`ve got all my toons to lv5 of all reps + donated loads to fleet projects and I still have XP in fact my fed who granted I use slightly the most has 10,984,325 XP but all my toons are into 6 figures at least.
if you are low on XP the best thing you could do is forget surfing the web that wont get you XP and forget the calendar and start playing some missions that yield high levels of XP.
I find doing all the deferi missions like "aiding the deferi" is a good place to start, lots of XP and a nice load of dilithium as well.
who gives two monkeys about hourly events, try just playing the game theres loads of stuff to do try rerunning a few old missions, click on the available tab and select something from there like the aforementioned deferi missions, click on the pve tab and do select 3 missions that have a few already queuing like an stf or one that rewards fleet marks and while your waiting for one to start set up some doff missions, if no joy after 10 minutes go to one of the zones like dyson or even nimbus 3 and do some stuff there.
I cant say there is a time I have been logged into sto and haven't been able to find something to play.
so you don't want to do the event so whats the problem that's no reason to play less, there is nothing stopping you bypassing the event and just playing the stuff you have fun with.
yaaay! we have a winner.
When I think about everything we've been through together,
maybe it's not the destination that matters, maybe it's the journey,
and if that journey takes a little longer,
so we can do something we all believe in,
I can't think of any place I'd rather be or any people I'd rather be with.
Add in that the qmendations can sit in a bank and be used later? Good times. It means either in winter (I am hoping qmendations and photos get combined.) or next Anniversary I will be much further along for the new reward than any of them are now. better still. If I get to the full 1000 but do not buy the ship it is a full price waiting in the bank for me to get one more appropriate (I hope)
Originally Posted by pwlaughingtrendy
Network engineers are not ship designers.
Nor should they be. Their ships would look weird.
Its even worse, its every 14 days a event...
I play so much less, even don't grind for the free ship, did the mission and 3 times the event and that will be it for me.
So true...
I usually have the same free time availible to me as allways, but in between the graphical issues that date from S8 launch, the grindathlon, messing up the doffs and removing of the hourly events I guess enjoyment starts to fade. You can only deal with so much silly issues at a given time before it becomes annoying and not enjoyable.
I had been running a lot of Foundry missions, Borg STFs, and occasional episode reruns. The grind is taking up most of my time now, though.
1. PvP
2. Battlezone for dilithium
3. Doff for money/expertise/more dilithium/fleetmarks
Other than that, no reason to be on.
Sure I do the daily for the new ships on a couple toons, occasionally run a DPS STF, and generally hang out with my fleetmates/buddies, but this game is starting to wear thin for me and has for a while.
I find myself playing an awful lot of Civ 5 lately, moreso than usual. I also am on hold until April 4th when ESO launches. That will be the real tell, whether this game lasts for me or not. Having beta tested ESO, I have a strong suspicion this game will fall to number 2 gaming priority, meaning i might play it only when I am bored of ESO.
It all depends on what the fearsome foursome (my pvp mates) are up to. If they wanna play some STO, hey i will, but I know most of us are going to ESO when it launches.
Fleet Admiral Rylana - Fed Tac - U.S.S Wild Card - Tactical Miracle Worker Cruiser
Lifetime Subscriber since 2012 == 17,200 Accolades = RIP PvP and Vice Squad
Chief of Starfleet Intelligence Service == Praise Cheesus
Mine Trap Supporter
I think this is the intended effect. I would be excited if it was bonus mark hour - I would try to milk those three hours on toons that needed the marks. Now? i log in, cycle a mission or two per toon, do some doff misions, manage my stuff on the exchange and am done with it.
I don't like being told WHEN to play and WHAT to play in the efforts to more easily garner metrics from us. I particularly don't like being peed on and then being told that it's just rain.
Taking away the hourly events was a bad call. Instead of removing them, they simply should have removed the lame ones. Lower the thresholds for Breaking The Planet and Big Dig (Big Dig should really offer Rom Mrks as it is a Romulan mission...). Bring back Elachi Alert.
It isn't that hard.
Fearsome Foursome? Are you referring to Me, Sisko and Zetto and Saphy? lol and I'm always up for PvP I'm just stuck in the darn grind to finish my Rommy.
Since 8.5 and the loss of MU I have been running low on XP and I know you can get it via doing missions, STF's all that jazz but I'd rather get XP efficiently not just dribs and drabs but I guess that world is no longer and its the new horizon to look "forward" to.
So yea after the spiel I'm playing a lot less and like Rylana Ima holding out for ESO, I'll always come back to STO but a little change never harmed anyone.
Thats the four. I was gonna say the A-team, but I am the real A list player XD
No seriously, youre like the face and im BA baracus, I PITY DA FOO.
Fleet Admiral Rylana - Fed Tac - U.S.S Wild Card - Tactical Miracle Worker Cruiser
Lifetime Subscriber since 2012 == 17,200 Accolades = RIP PvP and Vice Squad
Chief of Starfleet Intelligence Service == Praise Cheesus
Ah fair enough lol, I wonder who is hannibal... Sisko or Zetto xD but yea I'll stop before i derail this into oblivion xD
Its a game. There's not meant to be a point. If you find yourself not having fun, then don't play. When I get bored of this game - Which I'm sure I will eventually, I'll go play something else. I might come back, I might not. What I won't do, is stick around moaning and complaining and otherwise getting everybody down.
STO 2014- now with less fun and more "Dance, Monkeys, Dance!"
- I opted out of the Winter Ship Grind .
- I opted out of the Anniversary Ship Grind .
- And due to the removal of the Bonus Marks , I'm opting out of a lot of the usual Grind for Fleet Assets and Reputation Grind .
It looks like this will be my new 'play style' .
Thanks Cryptic !
I don't know what amount of XP you normally get and what you class as a drib or a drab but I just run the deferi missions "aiding the deferi" ect. on easy and netted over 17k of XP in 30 minutes of good fun and got a heap of dilithium and a few drops that I will recycle for EC to boot.
I think that was 30 minutes well spent.
When I think about everything we've been through together,
maybe it's not the destination that matters, maybe it's the journey,
and if that journey takes a little longer,
so we can do something we all believe in,
I can't think of any place I'd rather be or any people I'd rather be with.
Since then I've been playing missions to get expertise for some of my newer alts, running STFs for neuroprocessors, running the Dyson Battlezone for Voth rep and playing Foundry missions for review on my podcast. I've also started a new Foundry mission, a historical account of the Romulan War. I'm now working on getting three anniversary ships, one for each faction, and considering doing the event on more characters and saving the Qmendations for next year (on a hunch that they may do a similar event). Doesn't feel like a grind cause its easy as heck.
AND on Saturday I got a Hirogen ship out of a lockbox, so I decided to create a new character, a KDF-Rom Alien made up to look like a Hirogen, with a crew full of similar Hirogen. Over the past two days I've gotten him from 0 to 31.
There's a lot to do in this game and a lot of fun to be had. You just gotten get out there and do it.
Mirror Universe could have gotten that in 4 minutes. Also, as cake could of made 8k in that time. Roughly, 8k dilithum, 64k+ XP, 300k+ plus economy.
This is what players mean Cryptic is dangling the new ship, space set, and grind like a carrot stick. While they strip the real goodies.
Playing ME3 and DA:O as well, and those are more fun at the moment.
So I wait.
I'm building a new computer for STO, but it ain't because I'm more engaged. It's because I want my main terminal back, and lower-spec computer built from frankenparts is all I need for camping.
Generally the grind is increasing and rather than skill being the limiting factor a lot of the time it's either your wallet or artificial time gates. Sure it's a blast if you remove your brain and go into magpie mode but it's becoming more of an iPhone game than anything.
I spend more time in game chatting to people than doing stuff, it might as well be a glorified chat client.
It is through repetition that we learn our weakness.
A master with a stone is better than a novice with a sword.
Has damage got out of control?
This is the last thing I will post.
... Which is completely unbalanced and idiotic. Logging in for 4 minutes to get a days worth of rewards isn't playing the game, its the equivalent of punching in a cheat code.