Oh, I've had all of that happen. I haven't noticed anyone staying out of the fighting, but I have noticed a lack of rift-closing, which brings in a flood of MU ships and loses the station penalty. I do my best to try to close rifts and power up the satellites to at least try to get some kind of bonus because I do need marks since my toons are repping.
I can count on one hand the times that PUGs I've been in actually beat the timer by several minutes and we all flew around with nothing to do until the pulse goes off. I wish I could do that more times, it's a whole lot more fun than getting surrounded and blown up and the station going offline at least twice before the pulse goes off.
because you can look busy while doing nothing.
again the issue is that that it takes X amount of time to complete. Participation does nothing but add some perceived "bonus" to the junk you get at the end.
Now if you could earn more of the junk needed for the rep then more people would participate.
But whether ever one gives 300% or everyone just sits around doing bong hits, the outcome is the same.
If you want to be all gung ho them maybe you need to play on advanced or elite
I'm running this across nine chars, so I see AFKers at least once a day in MU. I just report them and move on. The marks from the event are nothing to me. It's just a chance to shoot things and get some dilithium at the end for my starbases.
I've been PUG'ing this on 5 toons, and I always concentrate on closing rifts. Generally I'm pretty decent at it, even on my Feds that have limited options - it is hard to close rifts with no one to take the aggro, no cloak, no magic singularity abilities, but it *is* possible.
Yet a couple of times, I've ended up being 'that guy' at the edge of the map. In my case, this is usually due to severe spousal aggro. Trust me, I'd far rather be contributing.
So don't be too harsh. Granted, most leechers probably are exactly that. But maybe his 2 year old just toddled in and spewed half-digested Cheerios across his desk.
"You Iconians just hung a vacancy sign on your asses and my foot's looking for a room!"
--Red Annorax
All I want is the transponder, I don't care about the marks.
I just fly out of the fray sat a timer for 8 min and come back for the boss at the end. I have no problem doing this, (particularly because I am running the event on multiple toons.)
During the last time the event ran I used to inform my team mates what I was gonna do and advise them to leave if they were unhappy about it.
This time though I've not bothered with that due to the abuse I got last time. Most people don't even seem to notice I've been doing it.
p.s. for the record I would normally not condone afking, but in this event I would encourage people to do it.
Too bad Cryptic doesn't read their own forums. If perchance they do, I hope you get banned. There is no mechanism more accurate for detecting AFK-ing than people confessing to such in public.
Too bad Cryptic doesn't read their own forums. If perchance they do, I hope you get banned. There is no mechanism more accurate for detecting AFK-ing than people confessing to such in public.
my MO for the Crystal entitity is to fly in and die and then go get some frozen yogurt, people don't see you so they don't clue in you are just sitting there,
In a science ship I can go for the whole first phase without firing a shot, however i would close most of the rifts.
Most of the time I find that if *all* I do is close rifts, the station goes down. Unless the rest of the team is really good. Usually I'll close 7 or 8 rifts, then cross thru the middle near the station and clear out some MUs, then get behind them and start closing rifts again. Or if I'm on my Fed in a Nebula, clear out MUs until I get blown up, then respawn behind them and start closing rifts
"You Iconians just hung a vacancy sign on your asses and my foot's looking for a room!"
--Red Annorax
1st warning: 24h suspension
2nd warning: 72h suspension
3rd warning; 2 week ban and full reset of account. All characters wiped and put to level 1.
that would never work and be abused big time. hell id be willing to do it to any person i seen using a lockbox ship to a mark in their tally especially fed players who i really dislike.
i think the only real fix for afk is if all the active players click a report on a player the game does a activity check and if that person is indeed inactive that event ends right then and there and people go again with no leaver penalty or anything. so at that point the afk person gets no reward. but i comes down to the active people to decide is the time invested worth more to them than making sure the leech gets nothing.
its put up or shut up. like people who want to end war but are unwilling to stop the bad guys themselves.
the bad guys are not going to stop doing what they do, most (like a couple in this thread even ) do not think they are doing anything wrong at all. or that it is some how justified due some other injustice they perceive as affecting them. so only way to show them its not the proper way to act is to preform a sacrifice fly for the team.
Trophies for killing FEDS ahh those were the days.
I have been working on four of my toons for the last three day at this event like any event i put the time in a help the team out.
But!! more and more players in the event are going to the side of the map and not take part in the event and they are giving rewards for others work at.
In my book this is a exploiting the game and the event
player play the events to get the rewards they put their time in playing the event and get the rewards for it.
the player exploiting the event should lose all the rewards from their exploit :mad:
Ranting about this will cause Cryptic do something like... have enemies spawn in the re-spawn area then implement an XP loss and the ability to level down. Since they can't discern between an "AFK" and active play death, XP loss for everyone!
my MO for the Crystal entitity is to fly in and die and then go get some frozen yogurt, people don't see you so they don't clue in you are just sitting there,
Ah, so you're one of those guys that stay grayed out for the entire game because you're not re-spawning.
again the issue is that that it takes X amount of time to complete. Participation does nothing but add some perceived "bonus" to the junk you get at the end.
Now if you could earn more of the junk needed for the rep then more people would participate.
But whether ever one gives 300% or everyone just sits around doing bong hits, the outcome is the same.
If you want to be all gung ho them maybe you need to play on advanced or elite
Just because I'd like to see more people actually trying to do the mission as intended rather than just sitting around does not make me gung-ho. And if I could afford the builds that would allow me to do advanced or elite then I would give them a go. But I'm one of the unfortunate ones who has very limited funds who does the best she can with what she has. There is no excuse for not trying even in the normal queues.
Now a LTS and loving it.
Just because you spend money on this game, it does not entitle you to be a jerk if things don't go your way.
I have come to the conclusion that I have a memory like Etch-A-Sketch. I shake my head and forget everything.
Yeah all these 15XP Kills really add up to ... wait ... ahem still nothing ... :P
but.. they do add up. certainly more than sitting around doing nothing for 6 minutes. I didn't build an afk focused ship though, so maybe you know something I dont
Players who close rifts during the first 5 minutes should be kicked out and replaced with people who actually want xp
Players tend to go down the path of least resistance if they want something. That something is the Multidimensional Transporter Device. I would admit that if I flew around in 15K+ DPS ships I would play the advanced version of the Mirror Event for the thrill of the challenge initially. But after that new experience wears off I would simply play the normal version for a less stressful experience especially if I have multiple toons. I would just pew, pew, pew... then wait for the final battle while I browse the internet on the laptop next to me.
I much rather play the event with other players flying 15K+ DPS ships killing things than having an AFK'er in the event being nothing more than a parasite.
Players tend to go down the path of least resistance if they want something. That something is the Multidimensional Transporter Device. I would admit that if I flew around in 15K+ DPS ships I would play the advanced version of the Mirror Event for the thrill of the challenge initially. But after that new experience wears off I would simply play the normal version for a less stressful experience especially if I have multiple toons. I would just pew, pew, pew... then wait for the final battle while I browse the internet on the laptop next to me.
I much rather play the event with other players flying 15K+ DPS ships killing things than having an AFK'er in the event being nothing more than a parasite.
It takes the exact same amount of time to do normal either way. Killing a lot of ships or sitting around doing nothing, its the same time invested. Surely you don't fly your ship to NOT shoot things though. Why even play the game if you queue for STFs to literally not do anything? XP aside, its certainly a lot more interesting to get hundreds of explosions going than it is to sort through your mailbox.
During the first mirror invasion event last year I would rage at the afkers and reported every one. Try to tell my team how to run the event. Explain it, ask for cooperation, even rage a bit sometimes.... With about as much success as herding cats.
Maybe I gave up. Or maybe I realized its just a game and its not worth stressing out about. I mean if i want stress i got real life for that.
So now i play mirror different ways depending on my team. Not only is it less stressful it actually makes the event someone different (for me at least) each time i play it.
Good cooperative team; i pair up with another and we take out rifts rapidly.
Strong players but non-cooperative team (they either don't talk or don't want to work with you) IF i am on a stong character I might solo a few rifts, but i mainly try to snipe rifts.. either those with no mobs and/or the ones with mobs distracted by another player. Sniping rifts seems to work better with a cloaking ship.
Weak players not cooperating; this depends on the ship i am on, strong defensive build, i find the biggest cluster of mobs, fly into it and see how many i can kill before i go boom. Get some ship exp and some fun and pay ZERO attention to the fact that the event is going bad. IF on a high dps (glass cannon) i will take out small groups and/or solo rifts. IF on a poorly equiped ship (i have lots of alts and many are on ships equipped mainly with quest junk) Then I fly around powering up satelites. Dodging mobs as i go.
Note - NOT saying anyone else should do as I do, I am no longer 'that guy.' Play the game as you see fit, although I might PREFER you do it in such a way as not to inconvenience my gaming experience. At the end of the day its still a game and its really NOT worth getting upset about how some random dude you never met and are unlikely ever to meet is playing his game.
I don't think MU has an AFK or a leaver penalty, too much work for a seasonal event if I remember right.
I don't think Crystalline has one either.
I fail to see how its too much work to add such penalties simply because its a seasonal event.
If they can take the time and effort to add it to all the others, then one more will not make much if any difference.
It frankly makes it sound like pure laziness to me, if thats the only/best reason they have.
I have been working on four of my toons for the last three day at this event like any event i put the time in a help the team out.
But!! more and more players in the event are going to the side of the map and not take part in the event and they are giving rewards for others work at.
In my book this is a exploiting the game and the event
player play the events to get the rewards they put their time in playing the event and get the rewards for it.
the player exploiting the event should lose all the rewards from their exploit :mad:
Amazing! Think of how selfish and lazy it is to do this. How sad...quite pathetic really.
Players tend to go down the path of least resistance if they want something. That something is the Multidimensional Transporter Device. I would admit that if I flew around in 15K+ DPS ships I would play the advanced version of the Mirror Event for the thrill of the challenge initially. But after that new experience wears off I would simply play the normal version for a less stressful experience especially if I have multiple toons. I would just pew, pew, pew... then wait for the final battle while I browse the internet on the laptop next to me.
I much rather play the event with other players flying 15K+ DPS ships killing things than having an AFK'er in the event being nothing more than a parasite.
Your attitude is the reason people are complaining. If you are the event and not actively participating, then you are in the wrong. YOU are wrecking the experience for everyone else.
There does seem to be more than average amount of players that do not want to participate in the event than other stfs in the past. Sometimes I wonder why they feel the need to actually log on, but I know its often compulsive behaviour that drives many. Many dont go afk, they sit and watch, still click on need for loot and respawn immediately. I think those are the worst kind. I dont agree with any punishment however.
It is just my opinion but I feel it is more noticeable now because there is alot of toxicity in this game and in the player community. Many people are not happy and this might lead to a negative playstyle. 'I just don't care anymore' mentality or that people just arent having fun. So fun needs to return or these players need to leave I guess.
It takes the exact same amount of time to do normal either way. Killing a lot of ships or sitting around doing nothing, its the same time invested. Surely you don't fly your ship to NOT shoot things though. Why even play the game if you queue for STFs to literally not do anything? XP aside, its certainly a lot more interesting to get hundreds of explosions going than it is to sort through your mailbox.
True, the amount of time between the start of the mission and the point when the final battle takes place is fixed. However, as stated, players tend to take the path of least resistance especially if this is done repeatedly on multiple toons if the only goal is to get the transporter device.
If on the other hand the player wants extra marks that Advanced provides (10 - 15 marks???) and the advanced R&D box, then those players would choose to play Advanced rather than just Normal.
If I had the choice between playing a normal STF with other players flying high DPS ships vs. AFK'ers, then I will always choose to play with the high DSP'ers since they are not being parasites by simply waiting around for everyone else to do the work so that s/he can simply sit back and do nothing yet still collect the same reward.
but.. they do add up. certainly more than sitting around doing nothing for 6 minutes. I didn't build an afk focused ship though, so maybe you know something I dont
This. The 15 exp kills do add up if people go in there and kill. Keep them busy while someone else gets in there and closes the door they're using to get in and then move on.
Boy, SF/KDF/RR would be real proud of all those AFKers who go into MI and don't do a blessed thing to help the starbase.
Now a LTS and loving it.
Just because you spend money on this game, it does not entitle you to be a jerk if things don't go your way.
I have come to the conclusion that I have a memory like Etch-A-Sketch. I shake my head and forget everything.
I've done this mission a whole bunch of times (once a day with nine or so characters). I've noticed a few people hanging out at the edges not doing anything, but mostly I've seen a lot of people trying to do a lot of work to do the best they can. I haven't seen a lot of people exploiting the system, as the OP tends to give the impression may be happening.
I've sometimes wondered if people thought I was doing something like that because a few of my characters are cloaking types that often sneak through and hit the engineering job or randomly closes rifts that the ships have gotten too far away from to stop me. But it's a lot of fun to do, and whenever those characters close a rift, they'll jump in on a fight that someone else is having, heal that person and start firing at everything in the area as well.
Personally, I like the event as it's sometimes a lot of fun. A couple of times you end up waiting a very long time for the second cut scene to start up as we've cleared everything and we're just waiting down the timer. Other times, it comes out of nowhere, and you're kind of surprised that the timer hit.
What it has really done for me is allow me to experiment with all sorts of different play styles, which is extremely educational in a game like this where sometimes you have to learn on the fly.
Fleet Admiral Duane Gundrum, U.S.S. Merrimack
Fleet Admiral Ventaxa Proxmire, U.S.S. Shaka Walls Fell
Blog: http://www.sarbonn.com/?page_id=1990
Foundry series: Bob From Accounting & For the Sake of the Empire
Too bad Cryptic doesn't read their own forums. If perchance they do, I hope you get banned. There is no mechanism more accurate for detecting AFK-ing than people confessing to such in public.
For the record, I only duck out during the first ten min section. Once the dreadnought shows up I am all in.
I know that probably wouldn't satisfy you, but as far as I am concerned I genuinely feel I am pulling my weight for the reward I am looking for.
p.s. during any other group mission I would never afk and would actively report people who do, but due to the poor design of this mission (at least in regards to the event it is connected to) I make an exception.
It's not myfault ifyoufeel trolledbymyDisco ball...Sorry'boutit.
Your attitude is the reason people are complaining. If you are the event and not actively participating, then you are in the wrong. YOU are wrecking the experience for everyone else.
Uhhh...i think he is talking about doing a normal MI event with an overpowered ship (or even group) and getting so far ahead that ALL OF YOU end up having to sit around for 3-5 minutes not doing anything and just waiting for the last boss. I dont think jaguar is talking about doing a normal mode hitting a few ships and then AFKing while the other 4 people do all the work. I've done a ton of groups where we hit defense level 5. 27-35 portals closed and 4-5 minutes left on the timer. Nothing spawns at all so i just alt tab and watch lolcats.
Your attitude is the reason people are complaining. If you are the event and not actively participating, then you are in the wrong. YOU are wrecking the experience for everyone else.
Who said I would not be actively participating?
I stated that if I am flying a 15k+ DPS I would likely "pew, pew, pew..." then wait. This is assuming I fly a 15K+ DPS ship which I do not. The ships I fly are basically 4k to 6k DPS depending on the toon. Additionally, I have stated that if the goal is to only get the transporter device, then players in general would take the path of least resistance and that path is the normal queue.
Comments
because you can look busy while doing nothing.
again the issue is that that it takes X amount of time to complete. Participation does nothing but add some perceived "bonus" to the junk you get at the end.
Now if you could earn more of the junk needed for the rep then more people would participate.
But whether ever one gives 300% or everyone just sits around doing bong hits, the outcome is the same.
If you want to be all gung ho them maybe you need to play on advanced or elite
Yet a couple of times, I've ended up being 'that guy' at the edge of the map. In my case, this is usually due to severe spousal aggro. Trust me, I'd far rather be contributing.
So don't be too harsh. Granted, most leechers probably are exactly that. But maybe his 2 year old just toddled in and spewed half-digested Cheerios across his desk.
--Red Annorax
Too bad Cryptic doesn't read their own forums. If perchance they do, I hope you get banned. There is no mechanism more accurate for detecting AFK-ing than people confessing to such in public.
ie: person A flies in and grabs all the aggro. person B sneaks in below the radar and closes the rifts
In a science ship I can go for the whole first phase without firing a shot, however i would close most of the rifts.
my MO for the Crystal entitity is to fly in and die and then go get some frozen yogurt, people don't see you so they don't clue in you are just sitting there,
--Red Annorax
that would never work and be abused big time. hell id be willing to do it to any person i seen using a lockbox ship to a mark in their tally especially fed players who i really dislike.
i think the only real fix for afk is if all the active players click a report on a player the game does a activity check and if that person is indeed inactive that event ends right then and there and people go again with no leaver penalty or anything. so at that point the afk person gets no reward. but i comes down to the active people to decide is the time invested worth more to them than making sure the leech gets nothing.
its put up or shut up. like people who want to end war but are unwilling to stop the bad guys themselves.
the bad guys are not going to stop doing what they do, most (like a couple in this thread even ) do not think they are doing anything wrong at all. or that it is some how justified due some other injustice they perceive as affecting them. so only way to show them its not the proper way to act is to preform a sacrifice fly for the team.
Ranting about this will cause Cryptic do something like... have enemies spawn in the re-spawn area then implement an XP loss and the ability to level down. Since they can't discern between an "AFK" and active play death, XP loss for everyone!
Romulan Institute
D'Galan - Engineer
Ah, so you're one of those guys that stay grayed out for the entire game because you're not re-spawning.
Romulan Institute
D'Galan - Engineer
Yeah all these 15XP Kills really add up to ... wait ... ahem still nothing ... :P
but.. they do add up. certainly more than sitting around doing nothing for 6 minutes. I didn't build an afk focused ship though, so maybe you know something I dont
Players tend to go down the path of least resistance if they want something. That something is the Multidimensional Transporter Device. I would admit that if I flew around in 15K+ DPS ships I would play the advanced version of the Mirror Event for the thrill of the challenge initially. But after that new experience wears off I would simply play the normal version for a less stressful experience especially if I have multiple toons. I would just pew, pew, pew... then wait for the final battle while I browse the internet on the laptop next to me.
I much rather play the event with other players flying 15K+ DPS ships killing things than having an AFK'er in the event being nothing more than a parasite.
It takes the exact same amount of time to do normal either way. Killing a lot of ships or sitting around doing nothing, its the same time invested. Surely you don't fly your ship to NOT shoot things though. Why even play the game if you queue for STFs to literally not do anything? XP aside, its certainly a lot more interesting to get hundreds of explosions going than it is to sort through your mailbox.
Maybe I gave up. Or maybe I realized its just a game and its not worth stressing out about. I mean if i want stress i got real life for that.
So now i play mirror different ways depending on my team. Not only is it less stressful it actually makes the event someone different (for me at least) each time i play it.
Good cooperative team; i pair up with another and we take out rifts rapidly.
Strong players but non-cooperative team (they either don't talk or don't want to work with you) IF i am on a stong character I might solo a few rifts, but i mainly try to snipe rifts.. either those with no mobs and/or the ones with mobs distracted by another player. Sniping rifts seems to work better with a cloaking ship.
Weak players not cooperating; this depends on the ship i am on, strong defensive build, i find the biggest cluster of mobs, fly into it and see how many i can kill before i go boom. Get some ship exp and some fun and pay ZERO attention to the fact that the event is going bad. IF on a high dps (glass cannon) i will take out small groups and/or solo rifts. IF on a poorly equiped ship (i have lots of alts and many are on ships equipped mainly with quest junk) Then I fly around powering up satelites. Dodging mobs as i go.
Note - NOT saying anyone else should do as I do, I am no longer 'that guy.' Play the game as you see fit, although I might PREFER you do it in such a way as not to inconvenience my gaming experience. At the end of the day its still a game and its really NOT worth getting upset about how some random dude you never met and are unlikely ever to meet is playing his game.
If they can take the time and effort to add it to all the others, then one more will not make much if any difference.
It frankly makes it sound like pure laziness to me, if thats the only/best reason they have.
Amazing! Think of how selfish and lazy it is to do this. How sad...quite pathetic really.
Your attitude is the reason people are complaining. If you are the event and not actively participating, then you are in the wrong. YOU are wrecking the experience for everyone else.
It is just my opinion but I feel it is more noticeable now because there is alot of toxicity in this game and in the player community. Many people are not happy and this might lead to a negative playstyle. 'I just don't care anymore' mentality or that people just arent having fun. So fun needs to return or these players need to leave I guess.
True, the amount of time between the start of the mission and the point when the final battle takes place is fixed. However, as stated, players tend to take the path of least resistance especially if this is done repeatedly on multiple toons if the only goal is to get the transporter device.
If on the other hand the player wants extra marks that Advanced provides (10 - 15 marks???) and the advanced R&D box, then those players would choose to play Advanced rather than just Normal.
If I had the choice between playing a normal STF with other players flying high DPS ships vs. AFK'ers, then I will always choose to play with the high DSP'ers since they are not being parasites by simply waiting around for everyone else to do the work so that s/he can simply sit back and do nothing yet still collect the same reward.
Boy, SF/KDF/RR would be real proud of all those AFKers who go into MI and don't do a blessed thing to help the starbase.
I've sometimes wondered if people thought I was doing something like that because a few of my characters are cloaking types that often sneak through and hit the engineering job or randomly closes rifts that the ships have gotten too far away from to stop me. But it's a lot of fun to do, and whenever those characters close a rift, they'll jump in on a fight that someone else is having, heal that person and start firing at everything in the area as well.
Personally, I like the event as it's sometimes a lot of fun. A couple of times you end up waiting a very long time for the second cut scene to start up as we've cleared everything and we're just waiting down the timer. Other times, it comes out of nowhere, and you're kind of surprised that the timer hit.
What it has really done for me is allow me to experiment with all sorts of different play styles, which is extremely educational in a game like this where sometimes you have to learn on the fly.
Fleet Admiral Ventaxa Proxmire, U.S.S. Shaka Walls Fell
Blog: http://www.sarbonn.com/?page_id=1990
Foundry series: Bob From Accounting & For the Sake of the Empire
Interaction prevent you from being afk. So if you only close rifts, you still arent afk for the game and get your rewards.
For the record, I only duck out during the first ten min section. Once the dreadnought shows up I am all in.
I know that probably wouldn't satisfy you, but as far as I am concerned I genuinely feel I am pulling my weight for the reward I am looking for.
p.s. during any other group mission I would never afk and would actively report people who do, but due to the poor design of this mission (at least in regards to the event it is connected to) I make an exception.
R.I.P. Leonard Nimoy
Uhhh...i think he is talking about doing a normal MI event with an overpowered ship (or even group) and getting so far ahead that ALL OF YOU end up having to sit around for 3-5 minutes not doing anything and just waiting for the last boss. I dont think jaguar is talking about doing a normal mode hitting a few ships and then AFKing while the other 4 people do all the work. I've done a ton of groups where we hit defense level 5. 27-35 portals closed and 4-5 minutes left on the timer. Nothing spawns at all so i just alt tab and watch lolcats.
Who said I would not be actively participating?
I stated that if I am flying a 15k+ DPS I would likely "pew, pew, pew..." then wait. This is assuming I fly a 15K+ DPS ship which I do not. The ships I fly are basically 4k to 6k DPS depending on the toon. Additionally, I have stated that if the goal is to only get the transporter device, then players in general would take the path of least resistance and that path is the normal queue.
Although the level of incompetence displayed by the average player is disturbing.