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Getting rid of daily/hourly events was a HUGE MISTAKE - Game Dying Fast
alfiedono
Member Posts: 122 Arc User
First of all this is not a troll post.
Just want to provide some constructive feedback on the impact of recent changes made to the game, based on actual experience.
We are noticing a large drop in the number of experienced players in game recently. For example, during the last month or so it's been extremely hard to get a team together for ISE (even in the DPS channels if you can believe it). Based on feedback from talking to people, it seems everyone is just losing interest.
To some extent this seems to be attributable to the removal of hourly events.
When daily/hourly events were still around:
- You could expect a decent volume of players to be on and playing EVERY DAY, particularly during the MARKS EVENT. People had the opportunity to group and play together - it was fun.
With the revised event calendar:
- There is no particular time when players can expect others to be playing STFs or other mark events. So it is very hard for people to find other players on any given day (particularly on weekdays when no events occur). Over time this fustration has caused many people to do other things (such as playing other games and not coming back at all in some instances).
- The lack of bonus marks removes any impetus to do a run on a week day or on weekends with no bonus.
- People generally only care about bonus marks and dilithium - these are looking to be quarterly, or god-forbid even longer, cycled weekend events... No one is around on weekends now, expecially when there is no event going on.
- Getting an STF together with people in the fleet or on the channels is becoming a fruitless exercise.
Honestly, we're seeing the early signs of a game dying an inevitable death. An other troubling sign that supports this view is that trading on exchange has slowed quite a bit for ship equipment. Prices are also becoming inflated as there are no people selling drops from STFs.
The usual end of season drag is also compounding this, a number of experienced and veteran players have already given up on this game or have expressed a serious view to do so very soon...please don't let this game die.
Something needs to be done about player base retention - FAST.
.....................................................
Just want to provide some constructive feedback on the impact of recent changes made to the game, based on actual experience.
We are noticing a large drop in the number of experienced players in game recently. For example, during the last month or so it's been extremely hard to get a team together for ISE (even in the DPS channels if you can believe it). Based on feedback from talking to people, it seems everyone is just losing interest.
To some extent this seems to be attributable to the removal of hourly events.
When daily/hourly events were still around:
- You could expect a decent volume of players to be on and playing EVERY DAY, particularly during the MARKS EVENT. People had the opportunity to group and play together - it was fun.
With the revised event calendar:
- There is no particular time when players can expect others to be playing STFs or other mark events. So it is very hard for people to find other players on any given day (particularly on weekdays when no events occur). Over time this fustration has caused many people to do other things (such as playing other games and not coming back at all in some instances).
- The lack of bonus marks removes any impetus to do a run on a week day or on weekends with no bonus.
- People generally only care about bonus marks and dilithium - these are looking to be quarterly, or god-forbid even longer, cycled weekend events... No one is around on weekends now, expecially when there is no event going on.
- Getting an STF together with people in the fleet or on the channels is becoming a fruitless exercise.
Honestly, we're seeing the early signs of a game dying an inevitable death. An other troubling sign that supports this view is that trading on exchange has slowed quite a bit for ship equipment. Prices are also becoming inflated as there are no people selling drops from STFs.
The usual end of season drag is also compounding this, a number of experienced and veteran players have already given up on this game or have expressed a serious view to do so very soon...please don't let this game die.
Something needs to be done about player base retention - FAST.
.....................................................
it's not about the extra marks, it's about the daily events "co-ordinating" players to play together
The other problem with weekend events or even the week long events, is that it rail-roads interested players into doing a single thing all weekend or all week. Leaving the other players totally out in the cold with no one to play with.
Experience week is a prime example, a good chunk of the playerbase goes off training alts, meanwhile all the STFs go dead and players who have fully trained toons have absolutely nothing to do and no one to play with.
Here is where the hourly event system really shined, events were quickly rotated so there was a playerbase in most areas of the game throughout the day.
Post edited by alfiedono on
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Combined with the lack of challenging content and the reputation nerf (See latest tribble notes) there just isn't any reason left to play this game. I have more or less left already, and don't see any real reason to return for S9 as of yet.
I agree, the hourly event system was by far better than the new 'weekend' calendar system and I for one would like to see it return in S9. Most of the week there is literally nothing going on and that actually lowers people's interest to login. Then the weekends that there are 'bonus' events, its like super grinding to the max.
I ran three ISEs today. PUG runs. I took my Scimitar because I figured it'd be a n00b parade.
First one we missed the optional because it WAS a n00b parade, but I carried the match and we finished without too much chaos.
Second run I screwed up and hit the thalaron gun on my Scimitar (in Foundry mission mode because I felt like a challenge) when I meant to hit the secondary shields, and I got popped by the cube. Still got optional, still finished strong.
Third run, we went into beast mode and dropped the transformer before the spheres even got close. Finished in 5 minutes.
So I have to disagree with the OP. Decent teams are still relatively easy to get together, even in PUG. Admittedly, IGE PUGs are invariably awful, but that's always been the case.
I have to agree I am really missing the hourly events. It sort of gave me something to go by. Now I sometimes find myself in ESD doing nothing.
Let's just say that if I had to pug to get an ISE done I'm not going to play at all....and 5mins is well....slow.....
Not to mention, getting a team together is only part of the objective. This is a MMO game, the reason I log in is because there are social networks between people I play and interact with. Pugging does not provide this sort of gaming experience.
.. and co-signed.
Lots of time I find myself in TS just chatting instead of playing. At least with the hourly events there was something to look forward to almost on a daily basis and you could always chat as you played.
Same here. I use to look at the hourly calendar and plan out my play time so that I could get the maximum reward, or if I needed to craft something I'd wait for the event so I could craft for less..etc. Now I find myself waiting for a good weekend event. Only logging on during the week to refine my backlog of dilithium.
I used to support the game, buying Zen when I could to keep the lights on so to speak, but I don't anymore and don't even really care anymore. Cryptic had made some disappointing choices lately and I don't like the direction they seem to be taking the game...which is sad because I use to love it. :-(
Fine. Be that way if you wish. I'll be happy to run PUGs and show the newbies how it's done. And I give exactly jack about how long it takes. If it's less than 20 minutes per STF, I'm surpassing my minimum grinding needs by 35%.
And if I want social stuff, I'll get together with my fleet and swap crazy stories, or take a couple of the other officers into a challenge and happily die repeatedly to our resident PVP guys, or get a few of the elite PVE dudes together and do beast runs of ISE just for fun. My fleet's not even elite; we're mostly casual dudes.
Seriously, you guys are kind of making a mountain out of a molehill here. I personally feel that the weekend events are good enough, especially now that they seem to be weekly, and I really like that they offer more variety (EG Foundry Marks weekend).
-Spells
| Dues Ex Mechina |
Fleet Leader
Regardless of whether the new event structure is good enough for some people or not, the fact remains that players are gone/going - this result is the mountain so to speak, we aren't debating whether the new events are enjoyble or not.
What keeps people playing this game is a constant playerbase community, not a flood of people doing super grinds on a weekend.
some pve content (most kdf side) now is hard to play becouse no one queue... As kdf to grind fleetmarks I need to play only cross faction events.
Playing STO spamming FAW is like playing chess using always the computer's suggested moves
I agree with you in principle, but I have yet to see it in practice.
My fleet still has the same amount of active guys. My fleet boss is still taking newbies through STFs to show them the ropes. One of my fellow officers is still kicking massive rear in PVP and showing anybody who wants to see how to win in PVP via tactics and really nasty consoles (the Alpha Deception Field is OP on a sci ship...).
So while I understand the point made in your second paragraph and agree with you on that point, I have yet to personally see reduced player numbers.
All of the queues have been a bit empty lately because of the Mirror Event. There's only a few days left of it and people are making a mad dash to finish it on any remaining alts they have. There's plenty of people in game, just wait for Mirror to end and the queues will be back to what they've always been. On top of that we have S9 coming in a few weeks which will bring back old players to check out the new Undine content.
Mine Trap Supporter
Well in contrast, my fleet leader is so bored with the game right now, he's thinkig of selling the fleet...
Re: mirror, my comments stand true notwithstanding the effects of mirror - in fact it's getting to the point where calling a team for mirror also takes some effort.
Huh. In that case, I suggest soloing Foundry missions like the Purity series on Elite difficulty. That is a real challenge, with a fun plot to back it up.
With Mirror, just PUG it, grit your teeth, and prepare to die a lot. And don't worry about the marks, the transporters are the important bit.
I mean, the Foundry is always there if you're bored. And Battlezone. And Nukara Prime, borked as it can be.
Just my 2 cents.
OR...just play another game - sadly. Elder Scrolls anyone?
MWO.
But +1 for the OP.
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The OP said it all.
DOTA 2 and Kerbal have the bulk of my interest at the moment.
I reserve the right to have a completely different standpoint depending on my mood.
Actually yes. We were cracking the 60 second barrier for ISE (current record is 61 seconds); and now, it's hard to get a decent group together to run it. So a 5 minute pug run is intolerable.
What is concerning is that we are losing the TOP players of the game--both in DPS and PvP community. The recent "improvements" to the game have killed the social aspect of this game. And the new "adjustments" to the rep system is simply idiotic. There is now almost no reason to rep out the new Undine system as the 4 traits will be: Omega 2, Romulan 2, Dyson 2, and Nukara 4. So why bother grinding out Undine as their space traits suck? And now you are going time-gate a time-gated rep system?!?!?! WTF?
Furthermore, nerfing the NWS per wave grind in secret was a terrible mistake too. But this has already been discussed in other threads. All you have done is hurt the casual player and the training of them too.
Anyway, Cryptic, this is a plea--you are killing the game for the top players. If this is your intent, then well done, you did it. But, I find it hard to log in and play any stf''s anymore. We are getting so bored with the game that we are doing stupid things like 3-manning NWS, etc. Add more content, please. And stop with this silly time-gated end content--it is painful and no one wants to do them.
DPS Channels / League Info (STO Forums)
Ever thought of simply playing a single player game? This is a MMO after all, or has that also been changed? :eek:
To each their own, but all I can say is that you haven't played the stf's with the dps channel players; because without a doubt, they are infinitely more fun. But, to say that you don't want to help the "older players," is really immature and selfish. Your logic is, "Well I don't like team play, so go ahead and nerf it." Let's not cater to a section of the game that I don't participate in. Only take care of me. How about taking the approach of improving the content and gameplay for EVERYONE. Because once they nerf team play/social play, how do you think single player will fair? You will be next. And you will be alone in that as the other half of the community is now gone.
Bring back the daily events--it gave reason to play during the week. This, "once is a great while we'll offer you a grind" weekend approach is simply not working. It is having the opposite affect--it is chasing players away.
DPS Channels / League Info (STO Forums)
you shouldn't make the mistake of thinking your opinion is that of 'the average player'.
I will assume that 'the average player' of a massively multilayer online role-play game would like to take part in mutliplayer events. this may or may not be my opinion on the point, but i think it's a realistic assumption.
I reserve the right to have a completely different standpoint depending on my mood.
As for me, I like being able to do things without having to reply on a group of people I know to be around, but it's also nice to have a group of people to so things with.