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Give us back the exploration clusters (the lone map anyways)
tylermaxwell
Member Posts: 184 Arc User
Note that I'm not advocating for reinstating the Genesis exploration cluster missions: I get it, those were relatively underused, and if removing 3500 maps worth of outdated content helps the game in some way by reducing install sizes or something, then so be it. What I object to is the removal of the exploration cluster maps themselves, meaning the lone blank maps that players went to for grabbing Duty Officer assignments only available in those clusters. 16 maps (14 clusters + 2 Lvl. 50 clusters) shouldn't really bloat the game that much. Certainly those could be left in the game without issue, right? Because the new 'Cluster-in-a-Tab' system just makes it harder for players to get the assignments they want, or even access the clusters in the first place.
Checking out the new way that clusters work on Tribble, I can only see it as an inferior solution compared to what we have currently for getting assignments that we need. Usually in the current cluster maps I have the opportunity to grab well over a dozen assignments, from chain assignments to get those coveted Purple quality Duty Officers, to assignments that grant higher amounts of Commendation XP in the harder-to-complete specializations. And that's not even including assignments that are easier to find, or only available with your Department Heads. It's not a guarantee to be able to find all of the assignments I want, but with both a large list of assignments and the Department Heads, I have a pretty good selection of things to choose from.
With the new 'Cluster-in-a-Tab' system however, I'm averaging 3-7 available assignments. 3 to 7. That's just sad.
Worse, none of the assignments that are coming up are the ones that I usually run, including those chain assignments for the Purple quality Duty Officers. Now normally if the chain assignment doesn't show up in the 'Current Sector' tab in the cluster I could just check one of my Department Heads for a second chance a finding it. But not with the new system: with the Cluster assignments now relegated to a lone tab instead of a dedicated separate map, Department Heads no longer show those assignments. Nor can you call up a friend who has the assignment you've been hunting for days, and have them invite you to their ship's bridge when they're in the cluster for quicker access; the one chance with the 'Cluster-in-a-Tab' is all you get, so if it doesn't show up there, you're screwed. So not only is the number of assignments available at any one time reduced, but the removal of those assignments from Department Heads and players' bridges means that your effective chances of finding the assignments you want are drastically reduced as well.
Another issue is that the 'Cluster-in-a-Tab' system threatens to exacerbate an existing problem in Sector Space: overcrowding around sector interact points. Take a look at the ridiculous number of ships stacked around the Sol system point and other major social zones, and you'll see what I'm talking about. It's an obnoxious task trying to manually weave your ship through that maze of idle player ships just to get to reach the popup dialog to go to ESD or Risa, right? (Especially if a lot of those ships are the larger warbirds or Scimitars. GOOD LUCK with that.) That problem will happen with Cluster interacts now. It's already an issue with the Arucanis Arm and Hromi Clusters, which had their interacts changed from the edge of the map to a tiny interact point with the addition of the Tau Dewa sector block. Trying to get into those clusters suddenly became a bigger annoyance, trying to maneuver your ship to the exact point where the interact would pop up, especially if someone in a Scimitar decides to be obnoxious and parks their ship in that exact spot. (I did notice that the Hromi Cluster interact range was increased on Tribble, from ~0.001 to 0.35 lightyears, so that's nice. It's still not large enough though.) But at least once you got to that popup you could move into the cluster map and peruse the Duty Officer assignments for as long as you wanted.
And let's not forget about everyone's favorite longstanding bug, the Mudd Trading Company ship. Every so often, the malicious rogue named Phinneas Q. Mudd blasts a message to everyone in the sector block that he is leaving :mad:. (It's a bug that was supposedly fixed at least twice in patches, yet still occurs on a regular basis). Which conveniently interrupts any interactions that players have going on, from mission dialogue prompts, to Bank/Exchange/Mail access, and likely even 'Cluster-in-a-Tab' tasks. So you could feasibly fight your way through a cloud of Scimitars around the Delta Volanis cluster point one minute before sector update time, finally find the assignment that you've been looking for days for out of the pitiful 3-7 assignment list, when all of a sudden the Mudd Trader screams his departure over all of subspace, closing your Cluster tab and ruining your chance of getting the one assignment that you wanted.
There maybe a number of different fixes that could be applied to alleviate all of these really obnoxious issues and shortfalls individually, but probably the simplest is this: Just give us the exploration clusters maps back, please. Thank you.
Checking out the new way that clusters work on Tribble, I can only see it as an inferior solution compared to what we have currently for getting assignments that we need. Usually in the current cluster maps I have the opportunity to grab well over a dozen assignments, from chain assignments to get those coveted Purple quality Duty Officers, to assignments that grant higher amounts of Commendation XP in the harder-to-complete specializations. And that's not even including assignments that are easier to find, or only available with your Department Heads. It's not a guarantee to be able to find all of the assignments I want, but with both a large list of assignments and the Department Heads, I have a pretty good selection of things to choose from.
With the new 'Cluster-in-a-Tab' system however, I'm averaging 3-7 available assignments. 3 to 7. That's just sad.
Worse, none of the assignments that are coming up are the ones that I usually run, including those chain assignments for the Purple quality Duty Officers. Now normally if the chain assignment doesn't show up in the 'Current Sector' tab in the cluster I could just check one of my Department Heads for a second chance a finding it. But not with the new system: with the Cluster assignments now relegated to a lone tab instead of a dedicated separate map, Department Heads no longer show those assignments. Nor can you call up a friend who has the assignment you've been hunting for days, and have them invite you to their ship's bridge when they're in the cluster for quicker access; the one chance with the 'Cluster-in-a-Tab' is all you get, so if it doesn't show up there, you're screwed. So not only is the number of assignments available at any one time reduced, but the removal of those assignments from Department Heads and players' bridges means that your effective chances of finding the assignments you want are drastically reduced as well.Another issue is that the 'Cluster-in-a-Tab' system threatens to exacerbate an existing problem in Sector Space: overcrowding around sector interact points. Take a look at the ridiculous number of ships stacked around the Sol system point and other major social zones, and you'll see what I'm talking about. It's an obnoxious task trying to manually weave your ship through that maze of idle player ships just to get to reach the popup dialog to go to ESD or Risa, right? (Especially if a lot of those ships are the larger warbirds or Scimitars. GOOD LUCK with that.) That problem will happen with Cluster interacts now. It's already an issue with the Arucanis Arm and Hromi Clusters, which had their interacts changed from the edge of the map to a tiny interact point with the addition of the Tau Dewa sector block. Trying to get into those clusters suddenly became a bigger annoyance, trying to maneuver your ship to the exact point where the interact would pop up, especially if someone in a Scimitar decides to be obnoxious and parks their ship in that exact spot. (I did notice that the Hromi Cluster interact range was increased on Tribble, from ~0.001 to 0.35 lightyears, so that's nice. It's still not large enough though.) But at least once you got to that popup you could move into the cluster map and peruse the Duty Officer assignments for as long as you wanted.
And let's not forget about everyone's favorite longstanding bug, the Mudd Trading Company ship. Every so often, the malicious rogue named Phinneas Q. Mudd blasts a message to everyone in the sector block that he is leaving :mad:. (It's a bug that was supposedly fixed at least twice in patches, yet still occurs on a regular basis). Which conveniently interrupts any interactions that players have going on, from mission dialogue prompts, to Bank/Exchange/Mail access, and likely even 'Cluster-in-a-Tab' tasks. So you could feasibly fight your way through a cloud of Scimitars around the Delta Volanis cluster point one minute before sector update time, finally find the assignment that you've been looking for days for out of the pitiful 3-7 assignment list, when all of a sudden the Mudd Trader screams his departure over all of subspace, closing your Cluster tab and ruining your chance of getting the one assignment that you wanted.
There maybe a number of different fixes that could be applied to alleviate all of these really obnoxious issues and shortfalls individually, but probably the simplest is this: Just give us the exploration clusters maps back, please. Thank you.
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
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