I'm not sure I understand. If you're queueing for Advanced content...you don't want to see advanced players? Shouldn't that be expected? How do you think the DPS channel CCAs go? They're silly.
I'm under 30k DPS (far less on some of my alts), and I've never received an AFK penalty.
Do you think that one deserves to receive rewards for doing under 2k DPS? I don't want to use DPS DPS DPS to show usefulness, but under 2000 is unbelievably low...a science captain can best that using nothing but gravity well and Photonic Fleet, with no weapons slotted.
You mention that you're using an unfinished "farming alt." I'm not sure why you are surprised that you join Advanced content, get (unfortunately) thrown in late, and don't do as well as others...then decide that it's all the fault of other players.
My thoughts exactly, work on either your playing skill and/or, you actual build as well!
Because moving to a tier6 vessel, doesn't mean you are going to perform better!
You didn't read my post AT ALL, did you? What part of I do this mission all the damned time with no issues 99% of the time did you not understand? I can do enough DPS to place more often than not if I have time to, when mega-DPS beasts aren't killing everything faster than I get a chance.
The difference between the two runs in question and all the other times I've run the thing which is surely in the hundreds by now is that there were very heavy DPS monsters killing the holy living ***** out of everything too fast for anyone else to get more than a shot or two in.
How many times do I have to say the same thing before people comprehend? Am I not speaking English here, or do you not understand it?
How are you measuring your DPS? Because placing 1st, 2nd, or 3rd factors heals into it, as well. I've placed 1st many times on ridiculously low DPS science ships.
"I place third all the time" says nothing about your DPS. It's why no one bothers to address it.
How are you measuring your DPS? Because placing 1st, 2nd, or 3rd factors heals into it, as well. I've placed 1st many times on ridiculously low DPS science ships.
"I place third all the time" says nothing about your DPS. It's why no one bothers to address it.
With CCE you could get first without taking a single offensive action, just flying around overhealing folks (as long as there wasn't a ValScim overhealing via damage). Not sure that's still possible or not with CCA since they nerfed it into the ground and it's done in 2-4 minutes.
I'm working on a wee bit longer post on the side, but I'll work in the damage/heals ranking bit into it as well...hrmm, yeah looking at it is kind of odd. Not sure they're using the same formula they were for CCE with CCA there...interesting.
With CCE you could get first without taking a single offensive action, just flying around overhealing folks (as long as there wasn't a ValScim overhealing via damage). Not sure that's still possible or not with CCA since they nerfed it into the ground and it's done in 2-4 minutes.
I'm working on a wee bit longer post on the side, but I'll work in the damage/heals ranking bit into it as well...hrmm.
I don't know about doing NO damage, but setting healing drones from a Varanus, or popping the rep heal almost guarantees at least 3rd place (from what I've experienced, anyway).
I don't know about doing NO damage, but setting healing drones from a Varanus, or popping the rep heal almost guarantees at least 3rd place (from what I've experienced, anyway).
Heh, the guy I'd do it with would be putting out 3-5 times the heals other folks were. He was literally built as a healer...two copies of ExS, TSS, ST, ET, AtS, HE...while also popping EPtS and MW...and using 3pc Borg. The only time he didn't get first back in CCE was when there was a decent ValScim pilot.
Think everybody agreed that from normal/orbital space was the worst, but from there some folks have said its faster for them from ground and others have said from sector space. For me, ground is even slower than normal/orbital space while sector space usually gets me in there before most of the others have shown up...and I'm playing on a toaster with two cans and a string internet.
But tell me, oh mighty god kings of STO, how much do you think you could get accomplished in 101 seconds from go with a slow load screen?
Atleast 1% of the damage dealt by 10 players for the match.
You cannot fix the problem (bad build) by ignoring the problem (saying you take 3rd rank at times). Only be examing the build and improving it will a solution be found.
PS: I've taken 1st place before by turning on auto attack and alt-tabbing out to read a forum post. When I looked back I was exploded and took first. Passive auto overhealing FTW!!
I do employ team heals as well on that character when I actually have time to do so, as I have the Varanus console and keep as many drones as I can deployed to help the team. I'm not an idiot.
But tell me, oh mighty god kings of STO, how much do you think you could get accomplished in 101 seconds from go with a slow load screen?
Dropping repair drones is about as mindlessly healing as is possible. Trust me, it's the only way I heal (unless its some kind of emergency). I play Sci to debuff and toy with stuff, not to heal.
Dropping Varanus repair drones will almost guarantee you 3rd place, for clicking something once in a while. It has nothing to do with your performance. You aren't even healing people proactively. It's all automatic if someone goes near a console.
I got dropped into a CCA the other day halfway through, and still placed first. Without heals. Is that what you mean?
No offense, but barring any evidence (like a DPS parse, which also counts heals), I kind of don't believe you're as effective as you say.
EDIT: Meh, thread was merged...this was not in reply to the OP of the the thread as it stands - it was a reply to the second thread that had been created by another poster.
Here, I decided to do five runs to see what it showed - keeping in mind it's just a miniscule sample.
Yes, those are [Acc]x2[Over] arrays...said I was testing stuff. :P
Speaking of testing various things, I'll breakdown some of mine at the end of each. For the "Pets" that's going to be the EC Delta Flyers, Tyken's Rifts, and Photonic Fleet. Please note the note in each for the TS3 Neutronic.
I'll also mention what the top player did.
Crystalline 3:21 minutes (201 seconds)
Player A: 4,092,550 (20,566 DPS) 199s / 0 deaths
Player B: 1,942,784 (9,912 DPS) 196s / 0 deaths
Player C: 1,661,171 (8,265 DPS) 201s / 1 death
Player 1,593,704 (7,969 DPS) 200s / 1 death
Player E: 1,347,904 (7,702 DPS) 175s / 0 deaths
Player F: 930,565 (4,822 DPS) 193s / 0 deaths
Player G: 829,246 (4,126 DPS) 201s / 0 deaths
Player H: 613,188 (4,288 DPS) 143s / 0 deaths
Player I: 601,111 (3,051 DPS) 197s / 0 deaths
Player J: 101,620 (1,954 DPS) 52s / 1 death
My DPS: 9,912
"Pets": 3,114 (31.3% of my DPS) (outDPS'd two of my fellow players)
TS3 Neutronic: 4,737 (47.7% of my DPS) (outDPS'd four of my fellow players) w/o the broken TS3: 5175 40.9% of Player F's damage came from TS3 Neutronic.
Player A: Tempest using Phasers/Biomatter Phasers/Bio-Molecular Phasers w/ BO3, FAW2, CSV2/3. Nadion Saturation Bomb/Nad Rad & Nukara Pirates did 15.5% (3193 DPS) of the player's damage and outDPS'd two of the other players.
Crystalline 3:33 minutes (213 seconds)
Player A: 2,907,891 (13,913 DPS) 209s / 0 deaths
Player B: 2,057,723 (10,773 DPS) 191s / 1 death
Player C: 2,027,403 (9,700 DPS) 209s / 0 deaths
Player 1,345,430 (6,317 DPS) 213s / 0 deaths
Player E: 1,335,481 (8,963 DPS) 149s / 1 death
Player F: 1,075,005 (5,270 DPS) 204s / 1 death
Player G: 974,445 (4,730 DPS) 206s / 0 deaths
Player H: 759,666 (3,936 DPS) 193s / 0 deaths
Player I: 582,994 (2,844 DPS) 205s / 0 deaths
Player J: 279,101 (1,403 DPS) 199s / 1 death
My DPS: 13,913
"Pets": 3,796 (27.2% of my DPS) (outDPS'd two of my fellow players)
TS3 Neutronic: 8110 (58.2% of my DPS) (outDPS'd five of my fellow players) w/o the broken TS3: 5803 No other players used TS3 Neutronic.
Player A: Meh, I was Player A...bah.
Crystalline 2:48 minutes (168 seconds)
Player A: 2,871,462 (17,092 DPS) 168s / 0 deaths
Player B: 2,005,617 (12,614 DPS) 159s / 0 deaths
Player C: 1,950,939 (12,193 DPS) 160s / 0 deaths
Player 1,296,108 (7,808 DPS) 166s / 0 deaths
Player E: 1,042,002 (6,553 DPS) 159s / 0 deaths
Player F: 1,016,717 (6,689 DPS) 152s / 1 death
Player G: 846,122 (5,355 DPS) 158s / 0 deaths
Player H: 845,707 (6,041 DPS) 140s / 0 deaths
Player I: 818,965 (4,904 DPS) 167s / 0 deaths
Player J: 682,131 (4,672 DPS) 145s / 0 deaths
My DPS: 12,193
"Pets": 3,917 (32.1% of my DPS) (outDPS'd zero of my fellow players)
TS3 Neutronic: 5595 (45.8% of my DPS) (outDPS'd two of my fellow players) w/o the broken TS3: 6598 No other players used TS3 Neutronic.
Player A: AP Arrays, FAW2, and Embassy [Pla] consoles. No pets.
Crystalline 3:50 minutes (230 seconds)
Player A: 3,996,136 (17,375 DPS) 230s / 0 deaths
Player B: 2,508,065 (10,952 DPS) 229s / 0 deaths
Player C: 2,345,622 (10,425 DPS) 225s / 0 deaths
Player 1,654,470 (7,804 DPS) 212s / 0 deaths
Player E: 909,089 (4,170 DPS) 218s / 1 death
Player F: 402,315 (1,854 DPS) 217s / 1 death
Player G: 379,560 (1,687 DPS) 225s / 0 deaths
Player H: 360,645 (1,701 DPS) 212s / 0 deaths
Player I: 344,348 (12,298 DPS) 28s / 0 deaths
Player J: 296,894 (2,434 DPS) 122s / 0 deaths
My DPS: 10,424
"Pets": 3137 (30.1% of my DPS) (outDPS'd five of my fellow players)
TS3 Neutronic: 4983 (47.7% of my DPS) (outDPS'd six of my fellow players) w/o the broken TS3: 5441 No other players used TS3 Neutronic.
Player A: Voth/Fluidic AP DHCs/Turrets w/ CRF1/CSV1 and a likely OD AP Array w/ BO3. 12.7% (2204 DPS) from pets - Elite Scorps; outDPSing five of the other players. Note, neither the Voth nor Fluidic AP have the innate CrtD you normally see with AP, they trade it for another proc. But they still did what they did.
Crystalline 3:04 minutes (184 seconds)
Player A: 3,194,489 (17,361 DPS) 184s / 0 deaths
Player B: 2,313,215 (12,996 DPS) 178s / 0 deaths
Player C: 2,076,390 (11,472 DPS) 181s / 0 deaths
Player 1,269,063 (7,252 DPS) 175s / 0 deaths
Player E: 1,253,853 (7,788 DPS) 161s / 0 deaths
Player F: 1,106,033 (6,468 DPS) 171s / 0 deaths
Player G: 991,878 (5,510 DPS) 180s / 0 deaths
Player H: 819,655 (4,528 DPS) 181s / 0 deaths
Player I: 736,936 (4,335 DPS) 170s / 0 deaths
Player J: 369,212 (2,198 DPS) 168s / 1 death
My DPS: 11,472
"Pets": 3,162 (29% of my DPS) (outDPS'd one of my fellow players)
TS3 Neutronic: 5,767 (52.9% of my DPS) (outDPS'd four of my fellow players) w/o the broken TS3: 5705 30.9% of Player A's damage came from TS3 Neutronic.
Player A: 30.9% (5357 DPS, outDPSing for of the their fellows) from TS3 Neutronic. CRF3/CSV1 with AP DHCs/DCs/Turrets mainly for the rest. Though, er, they were also doing TS1 Neutronics...hrmm, er...yeah.
So...
...you can see I'm not some DPS guy. Showed how much came from the broken TS3 Neutronic, how much came from pets, the goofball testing build I was running...so it's not a case of speaking from some DPS point of view where I've got the complaint with the original post.
It was a laundry list of things that were wrong, this, that, this, that...and then turning around saying that it was because of potentially having some "Wizards" in there. Just comes off as a baseless attack against them. If you had some parses/numbers of what you normally did on that build, didn't have the laundry list of other issues you had, and then had that happen...well, that still wouldn't be a reason to go off attacking other players and telling them not to play, eh? It would be something to "attack" Cryptic on with some suggestions about things they could provide for those players...cause stuff like that got brought up and was something Cryptic was supposed to be doing with Delta Rising. But as it stands now, with that original post...just doesn't make sense, imho.
EDIT2: lol, noob that I am - I just realized as I went to do something else that I hadn't changed the keybind before doing those tests. I was doing FireTorps instead of FireAll, so unless I was in the 90 arc to start shooting - I wasn't firing the arrays. Heh, another reason why I'm not one of the DPS guys...I goof up/oopsie so many thing while I'm dorking around doing the things I do.../facepalm(lol).
And not one of those runs is a miniscule 101 seconds with three players doing massive DPS. Did you read sarcasmdetector's parse of the run in question? Hell have you read ANYTHING? Because you haven't comprehended a good godsdamned thing and you just stick to the same talking points over and over and over.
I noted in that post that I did not run into any of the "Wizards". I do not recall you saying that Sarc's parse was actually the run you were involved in.
Today I joined a Crystalline Catastrophe Advanced queue, and I got in there as normal and started shooting Tholians on the way to the Entity. I got overwhelmed while trying to sort out some of the controls on my new ship and blew up. Ok, no big deal. I fly back in with my issue sorted (getting Tactical mode selected on my new Dyson destroyer) and re-engaged the Tholian I had been fighting. While I was doing that, the screen goes purple and I get the reward message pop up. I was confused, thinking that was really fast, but I check it and move on.
Only later, after waiting out the normal cooldown, do I realize I have been assessed an AFK penalty. I can only imagine it was because I wasn't able to do enough damage in the short time I was in. I find it hard to imagine even high DPS guys could have vaped the Entity that quickly, so I probably got tossed in the mission while it was already running.
So why does the game put us into missions that are already going when we have no time to do much and then hit us with an AFK penalty for it? I didn't choose to join an already running instance, the game did that to me all on it's own.
Has this ever happened to anyone else?
Let's take a look at what you said there, eh?
So you got in and started shooting at the Tholians on the way to the Entity. So the Tholians were still there? Just how late did you get in there, eh?
You got overwhelmed by the Tholians because you hadn't previously sorted out things on your new ship and got blown up. So wait, you didn't set things up before joining the queue?
So you get back in there to fight those Tholians, and while you were doing that - the reward message popped up letting you know that it was finished. So uh, you hadn't noticed at any point during this what the status of the Entity had been or where any of the other players might have been?
Later on, having expected the cooldown to have completed, you went to queue again and noticed that you were eating an AFK penalty...
...so obviously it was because you had gotten tossed in with some of the extreme DPS folks, tossed in with them late at that, because that's the only possible thing you could have imagined that would have caused you to have the AFK penalty.
One last time. I do NOT have problems on that mission 99 times out of 100. There is ONLY an issue when extreme DPS minimaxers come in and vape everything in sight in barely over a minute and a half. What part of that do you fail to understand?
You have not provided any proof whatsoever that you do not have any problems on that mission.
You have not provided any proof whatsoever that you do have a problem when the extreme DPS minmaxers come in.
The proof you have provided was the following:
You don't pay any attention to what is going on around you.
You show up in new ships without even attempting to set them up.
Of course my ship and build could improve, what the f#ck do you think I'm grinding for? Unless you're going to pay for my gear, then you can shove your opinion up your TRIBBLE$. I'm getting the stuff as fast as I can.
Oh poor you...if Cryptic would let me buy ZEN to buy you a clue, I'd mail you one.
Seriously, they should have just locked your blameathon thread instead of merging it into this thread which was actually a constructive thread until your nonsense was merged with it.
"I joined a CCA, nobody else was at the spawn, as I flew over toward some Tholians, I saw the Entity was almost done for...wham, bam, it was done - I got an AFK penalty."
"I joined a CCA, some of the folks zipped over and obliterated the Entity before I could do much of anything - I got an AFK penalty."
"I joined a CCA, nobody else was at the spawn, as I flew over toward some Tholians, I saw folks were tackling the Entity...but then wham, bam, it was done - I got an AFK penalty."
Examples of things that folks might support Cryptic doing something about those having an issue getting in late or looking at stuff because of having some extreme DPS folks blowing everything up in that blink of an eye.
"I joined a CCA, I flew over to some Tholians, I got blown up because I hadn't set the new ship up, I respawned and flew back there, and while fighting the Tholians it ended and the reward window popped up. I don't know where anybody else was, I don't know what state the Entity was in, but in checking half an hour later I had an AFK penalty, so it must have been because of some extreme DPS folks, and I don't think they should queue."
And not one of those runs is a miniscule 101 seconds with three players doing massive DPS. Did you read sarcasmdetector's parse of the run in question? Hell have you read ANYTHING? Because you haven't comprehended a good godsdamned thing and you just stick to the same talking points over and over and over.
One last time. I do NOT have problems on that mission 99 times out of 100. There is ONLY an issue when extreme DPS minimaxers come in and vape everything in sight in barely over a minute and a half. What part of that do you fail to understand?
Of course my ship and build could improve, what the f#ck do you think I'm grinding for? Unless you're going to pay for my gear, then you can shove your opinion up your TRIBBLE$. I'm getting the stuff as fast as I can.
Getting hit with a two hour cooldown when I'm just doing what the game tells me to do (grind missions to earn points for better gear) sure as f#ck isn't helping me earn it any faster.
1. Is there anything, other than you flailing with accusations, to prove that was your run?
2. I honestly don't believe you at this point. What you're saying is that 1+1=3. Going by your story, it doesn't seem like you really know what you're doing. Which is fine. But don't make like you do, and then throw blame and insults at everyone else for your ineptitude.
3. You are completely missing the point of anything constructive. You are not listening to anyone who doesn't pat your head and tell you it's all the bad DPS people and they are meanypants.
4. The more you talk about it, the more it sounds like you normally do the bare minimum for rewards, and finally caught the AFK penalty doing it.
I noted in that post that I did not run into any of the "Wizards". I do not recall you saying that Sarc's parse was actually the run you were involved in.
This was your OP...
Let's take a look at what you said there, eh?
So you got in and started shooting at the Tholians on the way to the Entity. So the Tholians were still there? Just how late did you get in there, eh?
You got overwhelmed by the Tholians because you hadn't previously sorted out things on your new ship and got blown up. So wait, you didn't set things up before joining the queue?
So you get back in there to fight those Tholians, and while you were doing that - the reward message popped up letting you know that it was finished. So uh, you hadn't noticed at any point during this what the status of the Entity had been or where any of the other players might have been?
Later on, having expected the cooldown to have completed, you went to queue again and noticed that you were eating an AFK penalty...
...so obviously it was because you had gotten tossed in with some of the extreme DPS folks, tossed in with them late at that, because that's the only possible thing you could have imagined that would have caused you to have the AFK penalty.
Uh huh.../cough.
You have not provided any proof whatsoever that you do not have any problems on that mission.
You have not provided any proof whatsoever that you do have a problem when the extreme DPS minmaxers come in.
The proof you have provided was the following:
You don't pay any attention to what is going on around you.
You show up in new ships without even attempting to set them up.
Oh poor you...if Cryptic would let me buy ZEN to buy you a clue, I'd mail you one.
Seriously, they should have just locked your blameathon thread instead of merging it into this thread which was actually a constructive thread until your nonsense was merged with it.
"I joined a CCA, nobody else was at the spawn, as I flew over toward some Tholians, I saw the Entity was almost done for...wham, bam, it was done - I got an AFK penalty."
"I joined a CCA, some of the folks zipped over and obliterated the Entity before I could do much of anything - I got an AFK penalty."
"I joined a CCA, nobody else was at the spawn, as I flew over toward some Tholians, I saw folks were tackling the Entity...but then wham, bam, it was done - I got an AFK penalty."
Examples of things that folks might support Cryptic doing something about those having an issue getting in late or looking at stuff because of having some extreme DPS folks blowing everything up in that blink of an eye.
"I joined a CCA, I flew over to some Tholians, I got blown up because I hadn't set the new ship up, I respawned and flew back there, and while fighting the Tholians it ended and the reward window popped up. I don't know where anybody else was, I don't know what state the Entity was in, but in checking half an hour later I had an AFK penalty, so it must have been because of some extreme DPS folks, and I don't think they should queue."
Of course my ship and build could improve, what the f#ck do you think I'm grinding for? Unless you're going to pay for my gear, then you can shove your opinion up your TRIBBLE$. I'm getting the stuff as fast as I can.
Build has nothing to do with Gear. You can't grind Build, unless there's essential DOffs you're missing.
Performance is Gear multiplied by Build multiplied by Piloting. Of those, Gear is the smallest factor.
You seriously don't know how to comprehend what you read do you?
In my OP I was making my best guess as to what happened as it all went down very, very quickly. Subsequently, sarcasmdetector posted a parse of a run that happened at the correct time and had the correct parameters as to time of completion and presence of very high DPS players. He surmised that it was a very high probability that I was one of the two in that run that got AFK penalized, and I believe he is correct. His parse of the run is in his post. Did you read that at all? I've only referenced it three or four times now, would maybe repeating it a few more make it sink in? Here we go:
SEE SARCASMDETECTOR'S POST FOR A PARSE OF THE RUN IN QUESTION.
SEE SARCASMDETECTOR'S POST FOR A PARSE OF THE RUN IN QUESTION.
SEE SARCASMDETECTOR'S POST FOR A PARSE OF THE RUN IN QUESTION.
SEE SARCASMDETECTOR'S POST FOR A PARSE OF THE RUN IN QUESTION.
There, does that help?
I also gave a rundown in a post not long thereafter of exactly what I did during the 101 seconds of that run, including a mistake that caused me to end up swarmed over by Tholians and destroyed. Oops. Stuff happens, the only perfect human on this planet has been and gone and we nailed him to a tree. If you're claiming perfection, would you like to be next?
All the information is there for you to read, if you can't digest the facts then there is no hope for you. At this point I'm done feeding your troll.
Did you read everyone elses post about how there are multiple 3rd places ? And the part that it cannot be verified that it was you in the parse ? Or about how you gave us nothing of your build and performance on other runs ? Because it seems that you are the one deliberately ignoring the numbers people are posting and trying to troll
After two serious post I come to the conclusion that this case is finished. Being a third-rate player, there are possibilities to help, but being a ignorant and third-rated mind, the OP is simply doomed.
about the problem of DPS and AFK mentioned earlier in this topic, I did a very small test on a mission foundry but very eloquent, with a single weapon and here is the result:
I do not understand how to do less damage than 1 k but admit, doing little damage is one thing but the worst is to see an untold number of pickup which join advanced queues and that spoils the pleasure of the other players.
Of course it must not fall into the elitism but I think that PWE should act faced with this unpleasant situation AFK/Damages in advanced queues.
about the problem of DPS and AFK mentioned earlier in this topic, I did a very small test on a mission foundry but very eloquent, with a single weapon and here is the result:
I do not understand how to do less damage than 1 k but admit, doing little damage is one thing but the worst is to see an untold number of pickup which join advanced queues and that spoils the pleasure of the other players.
Of course it must not fall into the elitism but I think that PWE should act faced with this unpleasant situation AFK/Damages in advanced queues.
If you're doing less than 2k DPS, you're either
1. Trolling
2. AFK, or
3. Having some kind of horrendous network issues.
Even a brand new player, in a queue for which they've never played, is capable of doing more than that. If it's in anything called "Advanced" or "Elite," and you're in danger of getting close to that number, you flat-out shouldn't be there.
There is no way someone should expect rewards in something called "Advanced" content doing under 2k DPS. It's that simple. You're contributing next to nothing.
Just speaking for myself here, but I wasn't in an Advanced queue.
____________
Though my run was bad even for me, I was about 5-10 seconds behind my team mates and I didn't want to full boost (full impulse?) because I've read your pets might not even catch you up (bug) but even just being behind that small amount, the cubes were dead by the time I got there, and there was only a few spheres to shoot.
The Scripted part then happened and I was able to attack the 'cigar' shaped Borg for a bit but then got 1 hitted, respawned, then got a few shots on the queen (diamond shaped Borg), at a guess I'd say my match last about 1 minute (or at least seemed to be that short).
Because these two threads have now been merged I feel the need to explain what happened in my match (and to separate myself from the other OP). I really don't think I did anything wrong, it was my first time doing that match and sorry, but I'm not gonna rush headlong into an enemy in a match where I'm not sure what to do, so I follow other peoples lead, what they attack I then attack.
I do think an AFK penalty is needed, to stop people from receiving rewards for doing nothing, but the way they have it now seems broken IMO.
Never do strafing runs, park in front of your target(s) in close range. When one is about to die, activate impulse to move in to the next. Try to fly so that you can fire without pause (minimize pause).
The plus-sides of DHCs are (indeed) high damage in limited arc, which means you draw less aggro, and the targeted enemies die fast. The down-side is again limited arc, this being the lesser uptime if you have to move, which can however being cut short by adaptive piloting. Due to higher damage in the arc enemies tend to die faster than with beams (though >40k dps this is indeed negliceable).
Especially for new players/characters, DHC-Escorts are a good choice as normally decent piloting can be learned quickly, damage is quite good, but defense is lacking, so the less enemies fire on you, the better.
Cool, thank you for taking the time to explain this to me
This puts me in a bit of a dilemma as I really enjoy cannons and would like to draw slightly less aggro, but I am now seeing (some of) the advantages to Beam Banks.
I had started out typing a pretty long list of all the ways one could impede or negatively impact their DPS, but I got bored as I realized that they were all pretty much the basics one might assume somebody would have picked up even as a new player while playing through that level 1-50 or 1-60.
They're all those little things that some players take for granted, don't even think about, because they did pick it up while leveling the toon. But the way leveling is set up, the way the missions are set up, it's entirely possible for somebody to go through and not pick any of it up.
There really isn't any kind of feedback on most of it to let that player know what their performance is like. So later, when they get into something where performance actually matter - they may end up wildly out of place.
Say there's Random Mission X, and it takes the average new player 10 minutes to do it. Then we have another new player that it takes that player 45 minutes to do it. Say we have a bunch of missions like that and while most folks are moving along at a certain pace, the one player is moving along at a crawl. I'm not talking about somebody that's off exploring every nook and cranny of the map, RPing through it, or anything like that - talking about somebody that's trying to engage targets in an active manner just like our average group, but is taking three to five times as long to do it. What kind of feedback are they getting to let them know something might just be off? As things continue that way, would there be any reason for them not to assume that is the way it is?
Course, there will be some players that feel like things are taking too long and hit up the forums to complain about how long missions take - having no idea that it's not taking anywhere near that long for the majority of players out there. That can oft go badly depending on how the news is broken to them.
As we get later into a game's life, this generally becomes more of a problem as the leveling speed is increased so that new players can get to the endgame faster with their friends. This not only leads to less time spent picking up the basics, but it also means that certain aspects of the game might be missed along the way. PvE queues aren't only at endgame, there are tests of performance all along the way through the leveling process. But with that rush to the endgame, the lack of bodies for those queues, many players simply are never introduced to that aspect of the game until they reach endgame.
The game when some of us were first players is vastly different compared to what it is no, eh?
This may be the first game for some or the players may have very limited gaming experience. Cryptic has stated this themselves. Folks with a wee bit of gaming experience can tell this is a very casual game, and it has been developed that way. But has it been developed too much that way at the start for what might be expected of players later on?
Sure, not every player is going to have the same goals once they reach endgame - but imho, isn't there more harm in not providing knowledge that might be needed rather than providing knowledge that might not be needed? Shouldn't Cryptic provide that knowledge and let the player decide rather than not providing it while throwing the players to the wolves so to speak?
STO is a very curious game, imho, when it comes to endgame. There is no progression. Oh sure, there is all sorts of gear progression, trait progression, the specialization progression, and so forth - but there is no actual progression. Unlike many MMOs which have their run Dungeon A so you can run Dungeon B so you can run Dungeon C so you can run Raid 1 so you can run Raid 2 so you can run Raid 3, STO basically just provides run Dungeon A so you can run Dungeon A faster so you can run Dungeon A faster so you can run Dungeon A faster...etc, etc, etc.
Admittedly though, it helps them avoid the issue that exists for the lower level queues in endgame (despite all the issues taking place with the endgame queues otherwise). It avoids the situation of folks not being able to get to a later run because there aren't any folks to do the earlier runs. Though, honestly imho, that gets into the fleet system and having friends - folks that would those runs with that player. This is a MMO after all. Of course mind you, that would lead to all the rants from single players about not being able to get a particular shiny without having to acknowledge that there are other players in the game.
But with it being a run Dungeon A to run Dungeon A faster scenario, that does mean that you're going to have the folks hitting up that Dungeon A for the first time playing alongside those folks that not only have passed Raid 3, but are doing Dungeon A from an expansion or two down the road (A -> B -> C -> 1 -> 2 -> 3 -> Expansion -> A -> B -> C -> 1 -> 2 -> 3 -> Expansion -> A sort of thing). How healthy of an environment is that when one takes into consideration the potential failure of the leveling experience to have taught that new player the basics that the more experienced player may have learned and is currently taking for granted?
Which also ties into that odd paradox of the endgame gearing, where Cryptic has told folks you do not need Item-X, but damn if you don't really want Item-X. So players have a desire for some shiny, that will not help them progress to any other content but rather will simply allowing them to run the same content faster so perhaps they try to get the next shiny? It's a treadmill to nowhere with the hopes that players shell out some cash. Meh...
Without scrolling back up or doing a preview, I'm guessing this post has already past the TLDR status for the forums, lol. So I guess I'll stop here. Cryptic no doubt, imho, attempted to avoid certain issues and introduced other consequences because of that...and...perhaps they need to reevaluate everything for the overall enjoyment of its playerbase, eh? Or well, things will continue to get worse...as they have continued to get worse, imho.
Just speaking for myself here, but I wasn't in an Advanced queue.
Case you missed it, they actually merged another thread with your thread. Your thread was a pretty damn constructive thread, mostly moving along at a positive pace, and what I personally considered a healthy and helpful thread. The thread that was merged with your thread...yeah, not so much. So some of the replies mentioning an OP or just some of the replies may seem wildly out of place to your thread, but the reason for that is because of the thread merge.
Case you missed it, they actually merged another thread with your thread. Your thread was a pretty damn constructive thread, mostly moving along at a positive pace, and what I personally considered a healthy and helpful thread. The thread that was merged with your thread...yeah, not so much. So some of the replies mentioning an OP or just some of the replies may seem wildly out of place to your thread, but the reason for that is because of the thread merge.
Yeah, I noticed that's why I mentioned separating myself from the other OP lol.
Comments
My thoughts exactly, work on either your playing skill and/or, you actual build as well!
Because moving to a tier6 vessel, doesn't mean you are going to perform better!
Praetor of the -RTS- Romulan Tal Shiar fleet!
How are you measuring your DPS? Because placing 1st, 2nd, or 3rd factors heals into it, as well. I've placed 1st many times on ridiculously low DPS science ships.
"I place third all the time" says nothing about your DPS. It's why no one bothers to address it.
With CCE you could get first without taking a single offensive action, just flying around overhealing folks (as long as there wasn't a ValScim overhealing via damage). Not sure that's still possible or not with CCA since they nerfed it into the ground and it's done in 2-4 minutes.
I'm working on a wee bit longer post on the side, but I'll work in the damage/heals ranking bit into it as well...hrmm, yeah looking at it is kind of odd. Not sure they're using the same formula they were for CCE with CCA there...interesting.
I don't know about doing NO damage, but setting healing drones from a Varanus, or popping the rep heal almost guarantees at least 3rd place (from what I've experienced, anyway).
Heh, the guy I'd do it with would be putting out 3-5 times the heals other folks were. He was literally built as a healer...two copies of ExS, TSS, ST, ET, AtS, HE...while also popping EPtS and MW...and using 3pc Borg. The only time he didn't get first back in CCE was when there was a decent ValScim pilot.
Where are you joining the queue from?
Think everybody agreed that from normal/orbital space was the worst, but from there some folks have said its faster for them from ground and others have said from sector space. For me, ground is even slower than normal/orbital space while sector space usually gets me in there before most of the others have shown up...and I'm playing on a toaster with two cans and a string internet.
Atleast 1% of the damage dealt by 10 players for the match.
You cannot fix the problem (bad build) by ignoring the problem (saying you take 3rd rank at times). Only be examing the build and improving it will a solution be found.
PS: I've taken 1st place before by turning on auto attack and alt-tabbing out to read a forum post. When I looked back I was exploded and took first. Passive auto overhealing FTW!!
PPS: I'm not a DPS king.
Dropping repair drones is about as mindlessly healing as is possible. Trust me, it's the only way I heal (unless its some kind of emergency). I play Sci to debuff and toy with stuff, not to heal.
Dropping Varanus repair drones will almost guarantee you 3rd place, for clicking something once in a while. It has nothing to do with your performance. You aren't even healing people proactively. It's all automatic if someone goes near a console.
I got dropped into a CCA the other day halfway through, and still placed first. Without heals. Is that what you mean?
No offense, but barring any evidence (like a DPS parse, which also counts heals), I kind of don't believe you're as effective as you say.
Here, I decided to do five runs to see what it showed - keeping in mind it's just a miniscule sample.
This is the goofball build that I was flying (I'm in the process of testing various things and didn't feel like changing it): http://skillplanner.stoacademy.com/?build=sarrwheee_5343
Yes, those are [Acc]x2[Over] arrays...said I was testing stuff. :P
Speaking of testing various things, I'll breakdown some of mine at the end of each. For the "Pets" that's going to be the EC Delta Flyers, Tyken's Rifts, and Photonic Fleet. Please note the note in each for the TS3 Neutronic.
I'll also mention what the top player did.
Crystalline 3:21 minutes (201 seconds)
Player A: 4,092,550 (20,566 DPS) 199s / 0 deaths
Player B: 1,942,784 (9,912 DPS) 196s / 0 deaths
Player C: 1,661,171 (8,265 DPS) 201s / 1 death
Player
Player E: 1,347,904 (7,702 DPS) 175s / 0 deaths
Player F: 930,565 (4,822 DPS) 193s / 0 deaths
Player G: 829,246 (4,126 DPS) 201s / 0 deaths
Player H: 613,188 (4,288 DPS) 143s / 0 deaths
Player I: 601,111 (3,051 DPS) 197s / 0 deaths
Player J: 101,620 (1,954 DPS) 52s / 1 death
My DPS: 9,912
"Pets": 3,114 (31.3% of my DPS) (outDPS'd two of my fellow players)
TS3 Neutronic: 4,737 (47.7% of my DPS) (outDPS'd four of my fellow players)
w/o the broken TS3: 5175
40.9% of Player F's damage came from TS3 Neutronic.
Player A: Tempest using Phasers/Biomatter Phasers/Bio-Molecular Phasers w/ BO3, FAW2, CSV2/3. Nadion Saturation Bomb/Nad Rad & Nukara Pirates did 15.5% (3193 DPS) of the player's damage and outDPS'd two of the other players.
Crystalline 3:33 minutes (213 seconds)
Player A: 2,907,891 (13,913 DPS) 209s / 0 deaths
Player B: 2,057,723 (10,773 DPS) 191s / 1 death
Player C: 2,027,403 (9,700 DPS) 209s / 0 deaths
Player
Player E: 1,335,481 (8,963 DPS) 149s / 1 death
Player F: 1,075,005 (5,270 DPS) 204s / 1 death
Player G: 974,445 (4,730 DPS) 206s / 0 deaths
Player H: 759,666 (3,936 DPS) 193s / 0 deaths
Player I: 582,994 (2,844 DPS) 205s / 0 deaths
Player J: 279,101 (1,403 DPS) 199s / 1 death
My DPS: 13,913
"Pets": 3,796 (27.2% of my DPS) (outDPS'd two of my fellow players)
TS3 Neutronic: 8110 (58.2% of my DPS) (outDPS'd five of my fellow players)
w/o the broken TS3: 5803
No other players used TS3 Neutronic.
Player A: Meh, I was Player A...bah.
Crystalline 2:48 minutes (168 seconds)
Player A: 2,871,462 (17,092 DPS) 168s / 0 deaths
Player B: 2,005,617 (12,614 DPS) 159s / 0 deaths
Player C: 1,950,939 (12,193 DPS) 160s / 0 deaths
Player
Player E: 1,042,002 (6,553 DPS) 159s / 0 deaths
Player F: 1,016,717 (6,689 DPS) 152s / 1 death
Player G: 846,122 (5,355 DPS) 158s / 0 deaths
Player H: 845,707 (6,041 DPS) 140s / 0 deaths
Player I: 818,965 (4,904 DPS) 167s / 0 deaths
Player J: 682,131 (4,672 DPS) 145s / 0 deaths
My DPS: 12,193
"Pets": 3,917 (32.1% of my DPS) (outDPS'd zero of my fellow players)
TS3 Neutronic: 5595 (45.8% of my DPS) (outDPS'd two of my fellow players)
w/o the broken TS3: 6598
No other players used TS3 Neutronic.
Player A: AP Arrays, FAW2, and Embassy [Pla] consoles. No pets.
Crystalline 3:50 minutes (230 seconds)
Player A: 3,996,136 (17,375 DPS) 230s / 0 deaths
Player B: 2,508,065 (10,952 DPS) 229s / 0 deaths
Player C: 2,345,622 (10,425 DPS) 225s / 0 deaths
Player
Player E: 909,089 (4,170 DPS) 218s / 1 death
Player F: 402,315 (1,854 DPS) 217s / 1 death
Player G: 379,560 (1,687 DPS) 225s / 0 deaths
Player H: 360,645 (1,701 DPS) 212s / 0 deaths
Player I: 344,348 (12,298 DPS) 28s / 0 deaths
Player J: 296,894 (2,434 DPS) 122s / 0 deaths
My DPS: 10,424
"Pets": 3137 (30.1% of my DPS) (outDPS'd five of my fellow players)
TS3 Neutronic: 4983 (47.7% of my DPS) (outDPS'd six of my fellow players)
w/o the broken TS3: 5441
No other players used TS3 Neutronic.
Player A: Voth/Fluidic AP DHCs/Turrets w/ CRF1/CSV1 and a likely OD AP Array w/ BO3. 12.7% (2204 DPS) from pets - Elite Scorps; outDPSing five of the other players. Note, neither the Voth nor Fluidic AP have the innate CrtD you normally see with AP, they trade it for another proc. But they still did what they did.
Crystalline 3:04 minutes (184 seconds)
Player A: 3,194,489 (17,361 DPS) 184s / 0 deaths
Player B: 2,313,215 (12,996 DPS) 178s / 0 deaths
Player C: 2,076,390 (11,472 DPS) 181s / 0 deaths
Player
Player E: 1,253,853 (7,788 DPS) 161s / 0 deaths
Player F: 1,106,033 (6,468 DPS) 171s / 0 deaths
Player G: 991,878 (5,510 DPS) 180s / 0 deaths
Player H: 819,655 (4,528 DPS) 181s / 0 deaths
Player I: 736,936 (4,335 DPS) 170s / 0 deaths
Player J: 369,212 (2,198 DPS) 168s / 1 death
My DPS: 11,472
"Pets": 3,162 (29% of my DPS) (outDPS'd one of my fellow players)
TS3 Neutronic: 5,767 (52.9% of my DPS) (outDPS'd four of my fellow players)
w/o the broken TS3: 5705
30.9% of Player A's damage came from TS3 Neutronic.
Player A: 30.9% (5357 DPS, outDPSing for of the their fellows) from TS3 Neutronic. CRF3/CSV1 with AP DHCs/DCs/Turrets mainly for the rest. Though, er, they were also doing TS1 Neutronics...hrmm, er...yeah.
So...
...you can see I'm not some DPS guy. Showed how much came from the broken TS3 Neutronic, how much came from pets, the goofball testing build I was running...so it's not a case of speaking from some DPS point of view where I've got the complaint with the original post.
It was a laundry list of things that were wrong, this, that, this, that...and then turning around saying that it was because of potentially having some "Wizards" in there. Just comes off as a baseless attack against them. If you had some parses/numbers of what you normally did on that build, didn't have the laundry list of other issues you had, and then had that happen...well, that still wouldn't be a reason to go off attacking other players and telling them not to play, eh? It would be something to "attack" Cryptic on with some suggestions about things they could provide for those players...cause stuff like that got brought up and was something Cryptic was supposed to be doing with Delta Rising. But as it stands now, with that original post...just doesn't make sense, imho.
EDIT2: lol, noob that I am - I just realized as I went to do something else that I hadn't changed the keybind before doing those tests. I was doing FireTorps instead of FireAll, so unless I was in the 90 arc to start shooting - I wasn't firing the arrays. Heh, another reason why I'm not one of the DPS guys...I goof up/oopsie so many thing while I'm dorking around doing the things I do.../facepalm(lol).
I read that as "/endthread." Holy testing...that's how you demonstrate fact.
I noted in that post that I did not run into any of the "Wizards". I do not recall you saying that Sarc's parse was actually the run you were involved in.
This was your OP...
Let's take a look at what you said there, eh?
So you got in and started shooting at the Tholians on the way to the Entity. So the Tholians were still there? Just how late did you get in there, eh?
You got overwhelmed by the Tholians because you hadn't previously sorted out things on your new ship and got blown up. So wait, you didn't set things up before joining the queue?
So you get back in there to fight those Tholians, and while you were doing that - the reward message popped up letting you know that it was finished. So uh, you hadn't noticed at any point during this what the status of the Entity had been or where any of the other players might have been?
Later on, having expected the cooldown to have completed, you went to queue again and noticed that you were eating an AFK penalty...
...so obviously it was because you had gotten tossed in with some of the extreme DPS folks, tossed in with them late at that, because that's the only possible thing you could have imagined that would have caused you to have the AFK penalty.
Uh huh.../cough.
You have not provided any proof whatsoever that you do not have any problems on that mission.
You have not provided any proof whatsoever that you do have a problem when the extreme DPS minmaxers come in.
The proof you have provided was the following:
Oh poor you...if Cryptic would let me buy ZEN to buy you a clue, I'd mail you one.
Seriously, they should have just locked your blameathon thread instead of merging it into this thread which was actually a constructive thread until your nonsense was merged with it.
"I joined a CCA, nobody else was at the spawn, as I flew over toward some Tholians, I saw the Entity was almost done for...wham, bam, it was done - I got an AFK penalty."
"I joined a CCA, some of the folks zipped over and obliterated the Entity before I could do much of anything - I got an AFK penalty."
"I joined a CCA, nobody else was at the spawn, as I flew over toward some Tholians, I saw folks were tackling the Entity...but then wham, bam, it was done - I got an AFK penalty."
Examples of things that folks might support Cryptic doing something about those having an issue getting in late or looking at stuff because of having some extreme DPS folks blowing everything up in that blink of an eye.
"I joined a CCA, I flew over to some Tholians, I got blown up because I hadn't set the new ship up, I respawned and flew back there, and while fighting the Tholians it ended and the reward window popped up. I don't know where anybody else was, I don't know what state the Entity was in, but in checking half an hour later I had an AFK penalty, so it must have been because of some extreme DPS folks, and I don't think they should queue."
Lolwut?
1. Is there anything, other than you flailing with accusations, to prove that was your run?
2. I honestly don't believe you at this point. What you're saying is that 1+1=3. Going by your story, it doesn't seem like you really know what you're doing. Which is fine. But don't make like you do, and then throw blame and insults at everyone else for your ineptitude.
3. You are completely missing the point of anything constructive. You are not listening to anyone who doesn't pat your head and tell you it's all the bad DPS people and they are meanypants.
4. The more you talk about it, the more it sounds like you normally do the bare minimum for rewards, and finally caught the AFK penalty doing it.
You said it much better than did I.
I vividly recall multiple people being in "3rd place", is that no longer true?
Build has nothing to do with Gear. You can't grind Build, unless there's essential DOffs you're missing.
Performance is Gear multiplied by Build multiplied by Piloting. Of those, Gear is the smallest factor.
Pretty sure it's each team.
Team A: 1st-3rd, Did Not Place, Did Not Place
Team B: 1st-3rd, Did Not Place, Did Not Place
I could be wrong though.
I DNP'd in at least one of those CCAs I mentioned earlier.
It's true. I only learned of it recently (due to a team+PUG), but apparently, there are/can be multiple 3rd place finishes.
Did you read everyone elses post about how there are multiple 3rd places ? And the part that it cannot be verified that it was you in the parse ? Or about how you gave us nothing of your build and performance on other runs ? Because it seems that you are the one deliberately ignoring the numbers people are posting and trying to troll
about the problem of DPS and AFK mentioned earlier in this topic, I did a very small test on a mission foundry but very eloquent, with a single weapon and here is the result:
http://imagesia.com/capture2_sw8l
http://imagesia.com/capture3_sw8m
I do not understand how to do less damage than 1 k but admit, doing little damage is one thing but the worst is to see an untold number of pickup which join advanced queues and that spoils the pleasure of the other players.
Of course it must not fall into the elitism but I think that PWE should act faced with this unpleasant situation AFK/Damages in advanced queues.
If you're doing less than 2k DPS, you're either
1. Trolling
2. AFK, or
3. Having some kind of horrendous network issues.
Even a brand new player, in a queue for which they've never played, is capable of doing more than that. If it's in anything called "Advanced" or "Elite," and you're in danger of getting close to that number, you flat-out shouldn't be there.
Just speaking for myself here, but I wasn't in an Advanced queue.
____________
Though my run was bad even for me, I was about 5-10 seconds behind my team mates and I didn't want to full boost (full impulse?) because I've read your pets might not even catch you up (bug) but even just being behind that small amount, the cubes were dead by the time I got there, and there was only a few spheres to shoot.
The Scripted part then happened and I was able to attack the 'cigar' shaped Borg for a bit but then got 1 hitted, respawned, then got a few shots on the queen (diamond shaped Borg), at a guess I'd say my match last about 1 minute (or at least seemed to be that short).
Because these two threads have now been merged I feel the need to explain what happened in my match (and to separate myself from the other OP). I really don't think I did anything wrong, it was my first time doing that match and sorry, but I'm not gonna rush headlong into an enemy in a match where I'm not sure what to do, so I follow other peoples lead, what they attack I then attack.
I do think an AFK penalty is needed, to stop people from receiving rewards for doing nothing, but the way they have it now seems broken IMO.
Cool, thank you for taking the time to explain this to me
This puts me in a bit of a dilemma as I really enjoy cannons and would like to draw slightly less aggro, but I am now seeing (some of) the advantages to Beam Banks.
They're all those little things that some players take for granted, don't even think about, because they did pick it up while leveling the toon. But the way leveling is set up, the way the missions are set up, it's entirely possible for somebody to go through and not pick any of it up.
There really isn't any kind of feedback on most of it to let that player know what their performance is like. So later, when they get into something where performance actually matter - they may end up wildly out of place.
Say there's Random Mission X, and it takes the average new player 10 minutes to do it. Then we have another new player that it takes that player 45 minutes to do it. Say we have a bunch of missions like that and while most folks are moving along at a certain pace, the one player is moving along at a crawl. I'm not talking about somebody that's off exploring every nook and cranny of the map, RPing through it, or anything like that - talking about somebody that's trying to engage targets in an active manner just like our average group, but is taking three to five times as long to do it. What kind of feedback are they getting to let them know something might just be off? As things continue that way, would there be any reason for them not to assume that is the way it is?
Course, there will be some players that feel like things are taking too long and hit up the forums to complain about how long missions take - having no idea that it's not taking anywhere near that long for the majority of players out there. That can oft go badly depending on how the news is broken to them.
As we get later into a game's life, this generally becomes more of a problem as the leveling speed is increased so that new players can get to the endgame faster with their friends. This not only leads to less time spent picking up the basics, but it also means that certain aspects of the game might be missed along the way. PvE queues aren't only at endgame, there are tests of performance all along the way through the leveling process. But with that rush to the endgame, the lack of bodies for those queues, many players simply are never introduced to that aspect of the game until they reach endgame.
The game when some of us were first players is vastly different compared to what it is no, eh?
This may be the first game for some or the players may have very limited gaming experience. Cryptic has stated this themselves. Folks with a wee bit of gaming experience can tell this is a very casual game, and it has been developed that way. But has it been developed too much that way at the start for what might be expected of players later on?
Sure, not every player is going to have the same goals once they reach endgame - but imho, isn't there more harm in not providing knowledge that might be needed rather than providing knowledge that might not be needed? Shouldn't Cryptic provide that knowledge and let the player decide rather than not providing it while throwing the players to the wolves so to speak?
STO is a very curious game, imho, when it comes to endgame. There is no progression. Oh sure, there is all sorts of gear progression, trait progression, the specialization progression, and so forth - but there is no actual progression. Unlike many MMOs which have their run Dungeon A so you can run Dungeon B so you can run Dungeon C so you can run Raid 1 so you can run Raid 2 so you can run Raid 3, STO basically just provides run Dungeon A so you can run Dungeon A faster so you can run Dungeon A faster so you can run Dungeon A faster...etc, etc, etc.
Admittedly though, it helps them avoid the issue that exists for the lower level queues in endgame (despite all the issues taking place with the endgame queues otherwise). It avoids the situation of folks not being able to get to a later run because there aren't any folks to do the earlier runs. Though, honestly imho, that gets into the fleet system and having friends - folks that would those runs with that player. This is a MMO after all. Of course mind you, that would lead to all the rants from single players about not being able to get a particular shiny without having to acknowledge that there are other players in the game.
But with it being a run Dungeon A to run Dungeon A faster scenario, that does mean that you're going to have the folks hitting up that Dungeon A for the first time playing alongside those folks that not only have passed Raid 3, but are doing Dungeon A from an expansion or two down the road (A -> B -> C -> 1 -> 2 -> 3 -> Expansion -> A -> B -> C -> 1 -> 2 -> 3 -> Expansion -> A sort of thing). How healthy of an environment is that when one takes into consideration the potential failure of the leveling experience to have taught that new player the basics that the more experienced player may have learned and is currently taking for granted?
Which also ties into that odd paradox of the endgame gearing, where Cryptic has told folks you do not need Item-X, but damn if you don't really want Item-X. So players have a desire for some shiny, that will not help them progress to any other content but rather will simply allowing them to run the same content faster so perhaps they try to get the next shiny? It's a treadmill to nowhere with the hopes that players shell out some cash. Meh...
Without scrolling back up or doing a preview, I'm guessing this post has already past the TLDR status for the forums, lol. So I guess I'll stop here. Cryptic no doubt, imho, attempted to avoid certain issues and introduced other consequences because of that...and...perhaps they need to reevaluate everything for the overall enjoyment of its playerbase, eh? Or well, things will continue to get worse...as they have continued to get worse, imho.
Case you missed it, they actually merged another thread with your thread. Your thread was a pretty damn constructive thread, mostly moving along at a positive pace, and what I personally considered a healthy and helpful thread. The thread that was merged with your thread...yeah, not so much. So some of the replies mentioning an OP or just some of the replies may seem wildly out of place to your thread, but the reason for that is because of the thread merge.
Yeah, I noticed