I'm going to put it out there.....
but this shouldn't be an event. it should be permanent. anything that could possibly encourage players to play more foundry missions would help. also I think the authors need to be rewarded more by the game than just hoping another player makes a max tip of 100 dilithium. I played some kdf foundry missions for the 1st time in ages today. I played 2 spotlight missions. one only rewarded 39 marks of my choice which left me baffled. because in this game I can easily get double that in less time. however I played another which rewarded 89 marks. that mission wasn't much longer but it was much much better and definitely worthy of spotlight imo. that mission was
hero of the empire by RogueEnterprise (you got the max tip and rating from me).
please devs give more to the foundry.
also while the foundry event is running another event is running. isn't that badly timed? you've over shadowed your event over the player created content event

and having played both events I wish your rep event things(multi multidimensional transporter devices in this instance)was rewarded once daily from foundry missions as well. at least spotlight foundry missions aren't boring rinse repeat. 14 days on 1 toon doing mirror invasion is not fun x2 toons or x3 or even x8 and it don't get any better!!! I'd much rather see big rewards for playing story content.
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Many people are zooming a spotlight on a daily basis to get bonus dilithium. So, if the first mission had a lot of dialogue but only a few fights, it's likely that players are just mashing f and then fighting to get the bonus dilithium. So, it's reward is lower than it should give how long it takes to actually play and read it.
I do hope they consider making this a permanent event. I don't like doing repetitive things every day. If there is a way to contribute to my fleet and rep projects in a way that lets me play Foundry, I'd prefer that, even if it's not the most efficient way to get things done.
Thanks for sharing your reactions. I know it's difficult to find a non-spotlight kdf mission when the lists are full of farms and don't even display 1% of what is really out there. Here's a list that might help: http://sto-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?t=286621
Hero of the Empire is a great mission. RogueEnterprise and Captain_Revo have a lot of great kdf missions.
one thing I would like to see because you mentioned captain_revo would be I saw a mission which believe was theirs. it was part of a story arc. in the write up it mentions the other parts. now it would be cool if there was a clicky link for them parts straight from the write up. to make it easier. so author inserts name of part and you can click on it and go straight to it. I must admit when I see a spotlight mission which is say part 3 it's pretty annoying having to search for part 1 and 2. quick links would make it much easier.
I've played some great foundry missions before but on this weekend it's was certainly time to come out and give worthy mentions and even run the risk of making yet another thread! as a non author is see the foundry as the games saviour during the great content drought. i feel the devs needs to be adding far more assets and giving far more rewards. i never thought I'd say this. as i would love to see new fresh end game, new playable factions(cardassians.. some how) 3 way pvp territory control. but i would consider an entire season dedicated to the foundry and story content as acceptable.
They've told us that campaign support and the ability to follow an author are coming to STO. According to Geko, somebody is actually working on that. It's the only set of Foundry relating things that they have on the schedule (that we know of and if it hasn't already been shelved like every other planned attempt to port something from NW).
The search UI is pretty terrible. Please check this proposal out and voice your support if you like it. IMO, it should be the number one priority. People can't find our stuff if it's not a spotlight or really high up on lists that are usually full of farms.
http://sto-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?t=943411
I'd trade that for a season focused on new Foundry tech. The only way that they'd devote a season to the Foundry is if it somehow made them $$$. Right now, it's completely disconnected from the F2P model, so it gets zero attention from programmers and art devs.
sad but true
Join The Space Invaders,..... Federation and KDF fleets.
Acutually the true intentions are probably to keep players from getting the rewards with too many alts.
No one forced you to use 10 toons. That was your choice. Plus, just because you have 10 toons doesn't mean that you HAVE to play the mirror invasion with all 10. Again you are choosing to do so. Personally I use 3 toons because I can't stand to play with any more than that. 1 Fed, 1 KDF, and 1 Rom. If you find that you don't enjoy what you're doing. Stop doing it instead of complaining about it.
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Marks are end game material. Once you hit the end game the only thing to do is grind away to get marks for the best gear. And Foundry missions, hell MOST of the content in the game, does NOT provide these marks.
I say add a daily limit like with EC/loot with how many marks you can get via foundry missions.
best of both worlds.
While I agree that some may just charge through the content to get the rewards, there is a good chance that by making the foundry an alternative to the regular grinds a larger segment of players will find more interesting missions to do.
I really enjoyed the starter missions, the first few times, and will be searching my way through the foundry when I can get time away from the regular newer player gear grinds.
I would definitely run more foundries if there were marks on offer as reward.
And yeah, I'm sure that section of the playerbase that abuses everything would abuse the Foundry for marks, too ... but I'm not sure that's something we could ever avoid.
Anyway, loved the event and I really enjoyed the missions I played. Some of you Foundry authors are seriously talented. If I had more time I'd play a couple every day just to see them.
Its always the same story,. Cryptic does not make the events designed for millions of alts. They only think in your main character, thats all. If you have 10 alts, its your problem, but that will never be an "excuse" to change some events, only because people want all the rewards in 20 alts (way of speak).
I hope someday people really understand this, and stop complaining about "i have 10 alts.. meh. ".
On a side note, i really agree with making this a permanent event. STO needs it.
And I'm sure the devs love it when we all just use our 3 free slots and not bother buying any more toon slots, which usually means more lockbox keys for the extra toons because lock box ships are toon locked, bigger banks for the extra stuff the extra toons need etc etc
Some poeple just can't see past the end of their nose.....
Join The Space Invaders,..... Federation and KDF fleets.
Dude, ok, 3-6 alts is fine. But ive seen people complaining about not having the opportunity to do the event for 16 alts, even some cases of 30+.. the events are not designed for that. About 5-6 alts is the right ammount, more than that.. its just too tedious.
Didn't they say that more then 2 years ago? I'm almost certain that was promised before f2p...
....which is why Mark rewards should be permanent.
....which is what I essentially promoted long before that event was announced^^
(Same for replays of the usual story missions)
Everyone enjoys the game in different ways.
You like stories, others like grinding (well, probably not grinding, but the results from the grind).
If the User Interface was fixed http://sto-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?t=943411, there wouldn't be this big fight to fit on the only 50 spaces available on the mission list. Grinders could grind and get their marks, and story people could enjoy that content and get rewarded for it.
I for one would love to see marks (and maybe other rewards) attached to playing Foundry content. But I can understand with the threat of it being exploited, that the Dev Team has to restrict it.
https://arcgames.com/en/forums/startrekonline#/discussion/1275673/my-improvement-polish-wish-list-for-sto
Now that they've closed a lot of loopholes and based mission rewards on length, I'd like to see fleet marks back. But I wouldn't expect choice of any marks, as it's more of a limited-time thing anywhere it shows up. If you could get any marks from the Foundry, people wouldn't play the rep-specific missions designed to give them out.
Conjoined, Re-emergence, and . . .
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
Easy solution.
Spotlight only. Daily cap regardless of marks chosen. Problem solved.
Foundry missions will never be directly equal to grinding rep-specific content. And they shouldn't be.
But the fact that the majority of the game's content doesn't give out relevant endgame rewards (except that first one as dil since i know someone will say it) is a bit silly and should be fixed.
Want to spam admiral bobo? Sure, go for it, but in terms of pure grind your time would be better spent raising epohhs/borg ESTFs/Voth Battlezone/etc.
Want to play a story mission? Sure, go for it. In terms of pure grind your time would be better spent elsewhere, but Still, at least you get to 'work' a little bit and inch closer to those rewards, while actually, yknow, enjoying yourself at the same time.
as the dilithium daily reward is already permanent and the only extra during the foundry event is the bonus marks package I cannot see the marks package enticing players if the dilithium reward does not.
as the purpose of the weekend events is to replace the hourly events I don't recall the hourly events ever being suspended while there was another event running.
players are free to choose, they can forgo the foundry event in favour of the mirror event, or if they feel they can miss a couple of mirror days they can play some foundry missions or time allowing they may be able to do both.
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.
If exploited would be the issue it wouldn't have the relatively high Dillithium rewards it has.
The rewards should be limited to the Spotlight missions, but there should be more of those...
So, if I want to play various types of characters in a variety of ships, I must... what, spend money additional to my LTS to do so?
I choose not to do so. I will continue to play MY way, and if the game makes me feel that is a less desirable way to play, I will complain about it. And remember, whether I suck or I am awesome, as much as I enjoy the game, Cryptic does benefit from my playing as well - I provide other players a person to play with, whether in teams, in fleets, or in PuGs. Doesn't make me 'special' - it shows that every player has value, whether a one-shipper or an 'altoholic.'
If you want to play one character with one ship and spend tons of RL cash to play multiple ships, that's aok with me. That's one way to play. My way is slightly different, just as valid, and better for me. Cryptic still got my LTS. And there are (apparently) plenty of other impatient players out there willing and able to fork over tons o' cash to 'havitall.' Different Strokes.
Create a good experience for your players, and you'll keep them. Make your players feel derided, taken advantage of, or disrespected, and you'll lose them. Grinding them down with more grind is, well, it's one business model. I personally don't think it will benefit them in the long run.
It seems the vast majority of your most active players (forum regulars) hate the idea... and while that's a small subset of the playerbase, I think it's an important constituency.
THE PLAYERS DO NOT WANT THIS.
The benefit of them being hourly is a lower compulsion to 'have to do them' on a time-constrained basis. "One will be along presently" as opposed to "OMG I'LL MISS IT!!"
And lo and behold, the grind of the big event regrettably caused me to not participate at all in the Foundry event because I was just tired of sitting at my keyboard. I'm just one person, but I'm also moderately hardcore for PC games, and even I was tired of playing.
Not really a model for success, as far as I can see.
It seems the vast majority of your most active players (forum regulars) hate the idea... and while that's a small subset of the playerbase, I think it's an important constituency.
THE PLAYERS DO NOT WANT THIS.
poor excuse, the mirror event was originally 21 days you needed 14 days for the mirror main reward leaving 7 days spare, even if you were really unlucky and missed out the 3 times the server went down that still left 4 days spare plenty of time to play a couple of foundry missions if you had really wanted to.
if you opted to miss the foundry and concentrate all you efforts on the mirror event that was your choice.
at least with the foundry event as a full long weekend event if you did miss doing it one day you could get it the next, with the hourly events you never knew from one day to the next what time anything was going to be on and you certainly could not plan on Monday what you would be doing on the following Friday, Saturday or Sunday.
I had no problem playing 4 foundry missions with each of my characters and still had time to do all of my mirror events every day.
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.
I just wish there was a good way to have the marks relate to the content of the mission.
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