But... as long as BNPs are gated behind ADvanced... that honestly the majority of players have been struggling to get into and conquere... people who aren't ready for them will queue for them and ruin your e-peen stroking stroke fest.
The problem here is the assumption that majority of players dont get BNPs. its just like spewing a few months ago the majority of players dislike or that, playerbase is this and that without these posters any actual information what majority players/playerbase really want. The basis of these posters would be posts in the forums and their friends/those they encounter in game which isnt majority of the playerbase because the official stats of STO is 2.5M accounts and 3.8 toons last Feb.
If you look at the PuG population vs the private queue, your statement that majority of players dont get BNP is false.
There is also the rationality that veteran and competent players have already gotten BNPs. So whats left are incompetent players.
New Players doesnt mean spoiled, self entitled, incompetent players. The recent changes to the game means that new players attracted wont be spoiled/self entitled/incompetent players like some veterans.
Why.... again... why does it matter so much to you that you spill all kinds of vitrole and nastiness on how someone else wants the game to be played for them.... but expect everyone to just simply bow to your infinite wisdom and expect everyone to play the game how you want it to be played.
on how someone else wants the game to be played for them
That's how it was years ago. It was awful. It always fell to 1-2 of the 5 to do 95% of the work making sure objectives and optional objectives were completed. AFKers became an increasingly problematic issue.
honestly, have you ever considered that maybe... just maybe... you're the minority here?
We're all minorities here. Just making it to the forums at all puts you in the minority. No player or opinion here is representative of the majority, including you and yours.
I mean I honestly think with a proper team and proper gear elite is kind of easy myself.
It no doubt is. But isn't that part of the problem here? That players at different points on the gear curve have different opinions of how difficult the content is?
But... as long as BNPs are gated behind ADvanced... that honestly the majority of players have been struggling to get into and conquere... people who aren't ready for them will queue for them and ruin your e-peen stroking stroke fest.
They're not gated behind advanced. By the sound of it, it's easier for the average player to farm them from the ground missions than from STF content. So much so that if I ever needed 5-10 BNPs, that's probably where I'd turn to get them.
Yeah, the game does a poor job in leading you to believe that rep gear is worthwhile (in most cases it isn't), and an even poorer job of highlighting that everything from the rep system can be gained without engaging in a single advanced or elite STF.
Or is it simply YOU want to feel like a special snowflake and be one of the "elite" and have the only access to special gear.
I am not elite. Not everyone outside the hardcore DPS community shares your opinion that faceroll easy was the way to go, simply because it's a source for elite marks.
"Tolerance and apathy are the last virtues of a dying society." - Aristotle
Yeah, the game does a poor job in leading you to believe that rep gear is worthwhile (in most cases it isn't), and an even poorer job of highlighting that everything from the rep system can be gained without engaging in a single advanced or elite STF.
This is the basic problem facing almost the entire conversation. Cryptic does a poor job of doing just about everything when it comes to people understanding how the whole system works. Honestly I think they simply don't know... or in the case of rep gear they want them to seem really cool to increase the grind and their blessed metrics
As to "go to ground" being the answer... that really shouldn't be the answer to be honest. Advanced ground should be just as hard as advanced space to do... and yet it's not. Which is part of the problem.
As easy really are battle grounds (both space and ground) and ground queues compared to space queues? Pretty much you've already given the answer out... much easier.
Which shouldn't be the case but it is.... and that's a different story.
And as you said those of us who come to the forums are the minority.
So how many people see the term advanced... do ADvanced Bug Hunt... then decide because it was that easy Advanced queues must be just as easy... then fail... or worse get into a group of really good players... see them steam roll it... and think that they honestly contributed to the mission... when in fact they did the exact opposite.
Yes BNPs can be gotten from other means... absolutly... you and I know that... paxdawn knows that... pretty much anyone and everyone whose having this conversation knows that.
But the common player... they don't know jack.... and it's not about improving... because I agree with Virus that everyone wants to improve their builds... even slowly...
But it's about that they either don't know that they need to... or how to... or that there are other avenues because Cryptic does such a horrible job of showing them other avenues.
Or the other avenues absolutly such. Want Delta BNPs that don't involve advanced queues... you can get what... two a day from Kobali Battleground... when you can get what... 2 in an hour and a half from any advanced queue if you get lucky to get drug along.
Then lets take the travesty of how easy normals are. Here I disagree with Virus that the optionals should remain optional... then suddenly become mandatory... because lets be honest that's setting people up to fail.... and fail hard.
So people coming in claiming they want things easier... they just want easier access to BNPs... and sending them to clutter up someone elses ground and be forced to drag them through a ground mission is kind of wrong too... especially since a lot of players HATE STO ground... myself included.
So what needs to happen is consistancy. If I can get Undine BNPs through a space battleground... I should be able to get them all through a space battleground. If I can get delta from a ground battleground... I should be able to get them all from a ground battleground.
And that's not always the case. I want Omega BNPs... what are my options... ADvanced queues or a hard ground battle ground that requires a team pretty much... another pug...
Or wait decades and hope that the RNG gods look favorably upon you.
Want Delta BNPs that don't involve advanced queues... you can get what... two a day from Kobali Battleground... when you can get what... 2 in an hour and a half from any advanced queue if you get lucky to get drug along.
I saw BNP, and went off on that...Delta "BNPs" are APCs.
I wasn't aware you can get only two from Kobali per day. I've heard you can get more than two BNPs per day from Defera.
You can get APCs from BHA; you can gear up for BHA with just Nukara marks. That's the type of progression Cryptic needs to highlight.
As easy really are battle grounds (both space and ground) and ground queues compared to space queues? Pretty much you've already given the answer out... much easier.
Which shouldn't be the case but it is.... and that's a different story.
The battlezones need to be easier, in terms of contribution per player. That type of content needs to be completable even during periods of low traffic. Unless it has a robust mechanic for scaling to the current level of traffic, which is almost never the case in any MMO that employs this type of content, it just becomes problematic.
If I can get Undine BNPs through a space battleground... I should be able to get them all through a space battleground. If I can get delta from a ground battleground... I should be able to get them all from a ground battleground.
Too many battlegrounds will leave most/all of them too poorly populated.
This is the basic problem facing almost the entire conversation. Cryptic does a poor job of doing just about everything when it comes to people understanding how the whole system works.
I'm willing to leave the conversation at that if you are.
It's most likely to lead to Cryptic responding if we all just get behind it.
because I agree with Virus that everyone wants to improve their builds... even slowly...
I'm starting to think you've confused the two of us for being the other.
That would actually explain alot.
Because, without going to review everything Virus contributed to this thread, I said almost word for word what you're referencing here, and he's the one who, for some reason, chose to go off on someone earlier in the thread.
"Tolerance and apathy are the last virtues of a dying society." - Aristotle
its entirely possible.
its the person that killed a nanite generator early.
and/or
its the person that TBRd a nanite sphere to the transformer.
and/or
its the people who where ill equipped for the contend and shouldnt have been there becaue the do less than the mechanically required dps when no outside forces change the travel time of the spheres.
you could even quantify the time gained from someone doing zero dps but kept the NS away from the transformer with gravwell/tykens/EWP/TBR while the rest of the team bee-sting it to death.
even the time gained thanks to someone debuffing the transformer is quantifiable.
I was going to elaborate on each of these points, but I've realized I'm not thinking clearly enough at this point.
Better to let you describe how you think Cryptic could track all of that, as perhaps you're seeing something I'm not.
I'll say this though; the last item, measuring the value of a debuff, is quantifiable.
"Tolerance and apathy are the last virtues of a dying society." - Aristotle
I'm starting to think you've confused the two of us for being the other.
That would actually explain alot.
Because, without going to review everything Virus contributed to this thread, I said almost word for word what you're referencing here, and he's the one who, for some reason, chose to go off on someone earlier in the thread.
Not sure why you felt the need to turn away from your own uneditted post and just leave it alone... but you decided you just HAD to edit it and add this.
Not sure why you felt the need to turn away from your own uneditted post and just leave it alone... but you decided you just HAD to edit it and add this.
Sometimes I reply piecemeal. You deserved a fair hearing for what was a relatively lengthy post, so I felt compelled to rectify my rush to reply by going back and continuing on through your post.
As for that particular line, it wasn't until sometime later that I made the connection that you might be confusing the two of us.
I'm also prone to rambling on well past the point I should have stopped.
And I've now had a drink, my first of 2015, so that only makes it worse.
Well, the statement stands. Sucks that I'd have to continue dragging Virus through the mud for what was no doubt a lapse in judgment, as I've always seen him as coming across level headed.
You've attributed my quote(s) to Virus, though I want to say I was responding to his like minded sentiment, and accused me of committing his crime. At least, I assume that's where you got the idea that I've been spouting, what was it... vitriol, hatred and stupidity?
"Tolerance and apathy are the last virtues of a dying society." - Aristotle
I'm starting to think you've confused the two of us for being the other.
That would actually explain alot.
Because, without going to review everything Virus contributed to this thread, I said almost word for word what you're referencing here, and he's the one who, for some reason, chose to go off on someone earlier in the thread.
Look. I've seen both you and Virus all over the place. One of you is occasionally just sane enough to not seem a troll, and one person has been literally the most helpful player I've ever seen on the forums. And if you can't picture yourself as the latter, that's not exactly my fault.
SCM - Crystal C. (S) - [00:12] DMG(DPS) - @jarvisandalfred: 8.63M(713.16K) - Fed Sci
Look. I've seen both you and Virus all over the place. One of you is occasionally just sane enough to not seem a troll, and one person has been literally the most helpful player I've ever seen on the forums. And if you can't picture yourself as the latter, that's not exactly my fault.
It's pretty obvious you agree I'm definitely the former.
Still doesn't explain what happened several pages back.
I'm just going to take your own words and leave it all be.. and let bygones be bygones and all that...
We agree that the game needs to better communicate the demands higher level content places on players, why and how players are failing higher level content, and that a better path for progression from leveling to normals to advanced to elite would be of great benefit to the game.
That's something we could get the devs behind, as well.
"Tolerance and apathy are the last virtues of a dying society." - Aristotle
I think the new hyper borg shield drain is simply to make the new command cruisers viable (at least the trait all hands on deck). If lots of peeps complain about higher and higher DPS cryptic have to create situations that are more viable for other sorts of builds. its just basic mmo 101 on how sustain income. Or the drain thing is a bit broken and cryptic are going to adjust it later.
Just a thought maybe they should add the autofai to Normal aswell, Might actually be more education and helpful on normal than on advanced. Meaning easy NPC's to kill but learning and having to complete the optional would be a better training and stepping stone into advanced, that way all STF'S are the same the only thing that changes is the hitpoints of the NPC's in most cases.
So that idea just got blown out the water.
Im curious as well about normal STF mode. According to queue list it often appears to be even more desolate than advanced or elite setting. Compared to elite the reward is indeed a joke but compared to the fail criteria and reward in advanced (500 more dil and a craftig mat?) why isnt anybody running normal?
My interpretation is rather that it is so INSULTINGLY EASY that everybody who knows where to put mk11 green tac console can steamroll it without any feeling of accomplishment.
After three years of STO I really think the biggest mistake I have ever encountered was that cryptic simply patched out the pre DR elite setting (right along with its reward). They should have integrating it as reasonable normal mode for players of all standing and background to build upon and that out of a familiar atmosphere and setting.
Looking for a fun PvE fleet? Join us at Omega Combat Division today.
My interpretation is rather that it is so INSULTINGLY EASY that everybody who knows where to put mk11 green tac console can steamroll it without any feeling of accomplishment.
After three years of STO I really think the biggest mistake I have ever encountered was that cryptic simply patched out the pre DR elite setting (right along with its reward).
I've heard it said that Cryptic claimed that Advanced would be the old Elite.
I have no clue when they chose to ignore that completely. Possibly when they decided no one would bother with upgrades because advanced provided sufficient rewards.
"Tolerance and apathy are the last virtues of a dying society." - Aristotle
this is the only multi-player game i play that is so far appeasing [REDACTED], that it doesnt have a way to tell the cause of the failure, that they where the cause.
even if the method of communicating that, is through a scoreboard that shows the fail cause in question their position at the bottom with zero points.
its also the only one that puts you on a lockout timer on account of another person, like its some miserly old teacher handing out detentions.
racing games have track positions as well as points for speed, good lines and showmanship.
fps have scoreboards and skill stats.
sports games have league tables, scoreboards and other rankings.
rpg's, need to get with the times.
MMORPG's most often require people, to actually use their brain to learn and, figure things out on their own or, do some research/ask other's/etc...
But, on this game, I mostly see [REDACTED] unwilling to do such things and, compared to my first MMORPG, this game has tons of these kinds of people.
Just a thought maybe they should add the autofai to Normal aswell, Might actually be more education and helpful on normal than on advanced. Meaning easy NPC's to kill but learning and having to complete the optional would be a better training and stepping stone into advanced, that way all STF'S are the same the only thing that changes is the hitpoints of the NPC's in most cases.
But then i think of 14 years experience of dealing with the public in my old job
So that idea just got blown out the water.
Exactly, there is tons of information at their disposal, tons of research data, tons of people willing to offer advise, people willing to help but, do you think they bother to use it?
Hell no, they would prefer the game get dumbed down, instead of them making the effort to get better.
How is a person supposed to get the entry level borg gear that requires borg neural processors?
Seriously man this is pathetic. 2 out of 7 runs ICA where the (required) optionals (is there even such an animal, only in STO) were not failedl.... got the BNPs. Of course this is on characters that already have all the borg gear but was seeing what I could do in the queue.
Khitomer Vortex, umm slightly better but still probes have way too much health.
So hows an up and coming young captain supposed to even get the Borg Gear, to say nothing of soon to come Delta Recruits. Borg ground, forget it TRIBBLE.... So what other option is there for borg nerual processors? I guess I could play the lottery and pray I get one as a rep project reward.
Damn man before Delta Rising this game was fun. Now it's painful. There is no fun in failing due to (required) optionals.
Make at least sure to end all events get all important consoles as voth and borg consoles so your shields are reacting a lot faster and your weapons deal lot more critical hits the romulan event. Keep this in mind and you make a good chance to hold your ship together during an advanced battle.
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
"Coffee: the finest organic suspension ever devised. It's got me through the worst of the last three years. I beat the Borg with it."
I only realized tonight just how much 2x attack patterns and 3pts in pilot was compensating for the borg shield drain.
Temporary hitpoints are where it's at.
Is the drain issue more of a problem for tactical characters?
The Shield drain had never been that big of an issue for me on my engineer. Maybe it's the attack patterns, or skill points. At the initial patrol even if I hit no EPtS, RSP, RSF, ST, etc... I still only see my shields offline for a few seconds and maybe 40% of my hull hit if I fly straight down their gullet, in either the FA or the Presidio. If I chain my shield buffs and come in on a flank I can keep them near 100% the whole time.
Yesterday I dusted off my science 53 I haven't played seriously in years and put him in a Pathfinder. Did the whole run with his shields at 100%, actually I don't think any of the NPCs took a shot at him, he was around 3k dps, weapons power at 65%, just spamming GWs and TRs.
Is the drain issue more of a problem for tactical characters?
The Shield drain had never been that big of an issue for me on my engineer. Maybe it's the attack patterns, or skill points. At the initial patrol even if I hit no EPtS, RSP, RSF, ST, etc... I still only see my shields offline for a few seconds and maybe 40% of my hull hit if I fly straight down their gullet, in either the FA or the Presidio. If I chain my shield buffs and come in on a flank I can keep them near 100% the whole time.
Yesterday I dusted off my science 53 I haven't played seriously in years and put him in a Pathfinder. Did the whole run with his shields at 100%, actually I don't think any of the NPCs took a shot at him, he was around 3k dps, weapons power at 65%, just spamming GWs and TRs.
This kind of explains why, they most likely never shot at him!
This kind of explains why, they most likely never shot at him!
Probably, seemed like run took an eternity compared to blazing though everything with a DPS ship, but by golly no nanite thingy made it anywhere near the transformers.
I only realized tonight just how much 2x attack patterns and 3pts in pilot was compensating for the borg shield drain.
Temporary hitpoints are where it's at.
Actually gets into a question I'd been meaning to ask the devs...with Temporary Hitpoints being created as Secondary Shielding, does Tachyon Beam drain them?
Probably, seemed like run took an eternity compared to blazing though everything with a DPS ship, but by golly no nanite thingy made it anywhere near the transformers.
Well, low dps or not, a competent captain with their head on str8, can accomplish a lot with so little.
Actually gets into a question I'd been meaning to ask the devs...with Temporary Hitpoints being created as Secondary Shielding, does Tachyon Beam drain them?
I do believe so Virus, from my own personal experience, it appears so anyways.
Those new players have trouble because that those basic runs does not teach how to run the STFs. Then when they tries something of higher differculty they get hit in the head with a sledge of mission condition the easier STF do not have. It is as simple as that, and it is all on Cryptics lap.
That being said I really would like some more tactical people when I do a PUGs, like in the old days, but it was the power creep that destroyed that. They should rework entire game mechanism to reduce difference in damage between min and max. I feel silly for saying it but IT WAS BETTER IN THE OLD DAYS. :P
Perhaps it is time to abandon the model of DPS that the community currently has. With people having trouble with the Borg's new tach beam ability we may want to rethink how we determine player worth. Instead of focusing on DPS as a whole we should probably focus on Time To Kill (TTK). These 2 metrics while similar are not the same. For example, in the current meta spamming FAW nets you 24k DPS across 6 targets. That means per target you're only dealing 4k, which is pretty subpar (if someone came in and pulled 4k using only single target attacks they would be ridiculed). Now, if people were to focus DPS (single target a sphere) and pull (random number ) 8k or more, the spheres would die much faster (individually, not necessarily as a whole), which in turn leads to less people getting hit by tach beam which leads to less deaths in general. The queues would last a little longer but the failure rate would drop as well.
Ignorance is an obstacle not an excuse
Let the stupid suffer
Perhaps it is time to abandon the model of DPS that the community currently has. With people having trouble with the Borg's new tach beam ability we may want to rethink how we determine player worth. Instead of focusing on DPS as a whole we should probably focus on Time To Kill (TTK). These 2 metrics while similar are not the same. For example, in the current meta spamming FAW nets you 24k DPS across 6 targets. That means per target you're only dealing 4k, which is pretty subpar (if someone came in and pulled 4k using only single target attacks they would be ridiculed). Now, if people were to focus DPS (single target a sphere) and pull (random number ) 8k or more, the spheres would die much faster (individually, not necessarily as a whole), which in turn leads to less people getting hit by tach beam which leads to less deaths in general. The queues would last a little longer but the failure rate would drop as well.
Thing is, it doesn't quite work that way. FAW will actually outperform taking out individual targets. FAW isn't an inefficient application of DPS, it's a hyper-efficient manner of applying DPS.
Have you people any idea how f-ing annoyingly you sounds, like f-ing 6 year old little bullies.
Bla bla bla I am so uber, bla bla bla other suck that is not as uber, bla bla bla I want only us to have access to content so I feel special.
You sounds special all right but not in the way you people wants. :rolleyes:
Those new players have trouble because that those f-ing basic runs does not teach how to run the STFs. Then when they tries something of higher differculty they get hit in the head with a sledge of mission condition the easier STF do not have. It is as simple as that, and it is all on Cryptics lap.
That being said I really would like some more tactical people when I do a PUGs, like in the old days, but it was the power creep that destroyed that. They should rework entire game mechanism to reduce difference in damage between min and max. I feel silly for saying it but IT WAS BETTER IN THE OLD DAYS. :P
There is nothing uber about it.
If said people, can accomplish driving in a nail on normal with a rubber mallet, than they jump into advanced requiring an actual steel hammer and, they are still using that rubber mallet and, fail without ever realizing a steel hammer would do the trick.
Well, than they need get up to snuff with getting the steel hammer and, not asking for the difficulty be accomplished via rubber mallet.
Simple trial and error, should tell them this and, not expecting a game to lead them by the hand, like some 1yr old baby.
There is everything at their disposal, to accomplish obtaining the steel hammer but, many refuse to obtain it and/or, even bother using it.
Thing is, it doesn't quite work that way. FAW will actually outperform taking out individual targets. FAW isn't an inefficient application of DPS, it's a hyper-efficient manner of applying DPS.
If using FAW you're doing 24k dps and you are using 6 beam arrays in a target rich environment (like after you blow the generators in ISA) that 24k will be spread across 6 targets meaning each target is only taking 4k dps. If using cannon rapid fire or surgical strikes puts your single target dps at even 5k you are now doing more damage to that particular target than FAW. Meaning that single target will die faster and therefore not be able to put out as many tach beams than if you just used FAW. FAW's random target selection is a liability when you are trying to actually kill things. The spread of the dps allows the shields of the borg to regenerate much easier than a focused barrage.
It's kind of like attacking a gateway while the transformers are up. It doesn't matter if you're doing 100k dps since the damage is instantly healed back.
Ignorance is an obstacle not an excuse
Let the stupid suffer
If using FAW you're doing 24k dps and you are using 6 beam arrays in a target rich environment (like after you blow the generators in ISA) that 24k will be spread across 6 targets meaning each target is only taking 4k dps. If using cannon rapid fire or surgical strikes puts your single target dps at even 5k you are now doing more damage to that particular target than FAW. Meaning that single target will die faster and therefore not be able to put out as many tach beams than if you just used FAW. FAW's random target selection is a liability when you are trying to actually kill things. The spread of the dps allows the shields of the borg to regenerate much easier than a focused barrage.
It's kind of like attacking a gateway while the transformers are up. It doesn't matter if you're doing 100k dps since the damage is instantly healed back.
FAW doesn't work like that. Say you're broadside with those six arrays. You have a target selected. 24k...12k is going to that one target. The remaining 12k can end up being split across those 5 other targets via the random target selection. You still did 12k to the first target. So not only would your single target damage need to be at least 12k to match the damage to that one target, but you'd also have to account for the damage done to the other targets as well as the time it takes to line up each of the targets...while taking into account that whatever buffs you're using are of a limited duration.
That's with just one person. Let's move to five folks doing that against those six targets, eh? Each one picks a separate target, so they're each putting out the 12k into that target while also putting 12k out spread across the remaining five targets...where the remaining four players are doing the same thing. Everything dies...
Comments
The problem here is the assumption that majority of players dont get BNPs. its just like spewing a few months ago the majority of players dislike or that, playerbase is this and that without these posters any actual information what majority players/playerbase really want. The basis of these posters would be posts in the forums and their friends/those they encounter in game which isnt majority of the playerbase because the official stats of STO is 2.5M accounts and 3.8 toons last Feb.
If you look at the PuG population vs the private queue, your statement that majority of players dont get BNP is false.
There is also the rationality that veteran and competent players have already gotten BNPs. So whats left are incompetent players.
New Players doesnt mean spoiled, self entitled, incompetent players. The recent changes to the game means that new players attracted wont be spoiled/self entitled/incompetent players like some veterans.
That's how it was years ago. It was awful. It always fell to 1-2 of the 5 to do 95% of the work making sure objectives and optional objectives were completed. AFKers became an increasingly problematic issue.
We're all minorities here. Just making it to the forums at all puts you in the minority. No player or opinion here is representative of the majority, including you and yours.
It no doubt is. But isn't that part of the problem here? That players at different points on the gear curve have different opinions of how difficult the content is?
They're not gated behind advanced. By the sound of it, it's easier for the average player to farm them from the ground missions than from STF content. So much so that if I ever needed 5-10 BNPs, that's probably where I'd turn to get them.
Yeah, the game does a poor job in leading you to believe that rep gear is worthwhile (in most cases it isn't), and an even poorer job of highlighting that everything from the rep system can be gained without engaging in a single advanced or elite STF.
Again, citations. I'd love to see what you consider "vitrole" [sic], "hatred," and "stupidity."
It already has been done.
I am not elite. Not everyone outside the hardcore DPS community shares your opinion that faceroll easy was the way to go, simply because it's a source for elite marks.
This is the basic problem facing almost the entire conversation. Cryptic does a poor job of doing just about everything when it comes to people understanding how the whole system works. Honestly I think they simply don't know... or in the case of rep gear they want them to seem really cool to increase the grind and their blessed metrics
As to "go to ground" being the answer... that really shouldn't be the answer to be honest. Advanced ground should be just as hard as advanced space to do... and yet it's not. Which is part of the problem.
As easy really are battle grounds (both space and ground) and ground queues compared to space queues? Pretty much you've already given the answer out... much easier.
Which shouldn't be the case but it is.... and that's a different story.
And as you said those of us who come to the forums are the minority.
So how many people see the term advanced... do ADvanced Bug Hunt... then decide because it was that easy Advanced queues must be just as easy... then fail... or worse get into a group of really good players... see them steam roll it... and think that they honestly contributed to the mission... when in fact they did the exact opposite.
Yes BNPs can be gotten from other means... absolutly... you and I know that... paxdawn knows that... pretty much anyone and everyone whose having this conversation knows that.
But the common player... they don't know jack.... and it's not about improving... because I agree with Virus that everyone wants to improve their builds... even slowly...
But it's about that they either don't know that they need to... or how to... or that there are other avenues because Cryptic does such a horrible job of showing them other avenues.
Or the other avenues absolutly such. Want Delta BNPs that don't involve advanced queues... you can get what... two a day from Kobali Battleground... when you can get what... 2 in an hour and a half from any advanced queue if you get lucky to get drug along.
Then lets take the travesty of how easy normals are. Here I disagree with Virus that the optionals should remain optional... then suddenly become mandatory... because lets be honest that's setting people up to fail.... and fail hard.
So people coming in claiming they want things easier... they just want easier access to BNPs... and sending them to clutter up someone elses ground and be forced to drag them through a ground mission is kind of wrong too... especially since a lot of players HATE STO ground... myself included.
So what needs to happen is consistancy. If I can get Undine BNPs through a space battleground... I should be able to get them all through a space battleground. If I can get delta from a ground battleground... I should be able to get them all from a ground battleground.
And that's not always the case. I want Omega BNPs... what are my options... ADvanced queues or a hard ground battle ground that requires a team pretty much... another pug...
Or wait decades and hope that the RNG gods look favorably upon you.
I wasn't aware you can get only two from Kobali per day. I've heard you can get more than two BNPs per day from Defera.
You can get APCs from BHA; you can gear up for BHA with just Nukara marks. That's the type of progression Cryptic needs to highlight.
The battlezones need to be easier, in terms of contribution per player. That type of content needs to be completable even during periods of low traffic. Unless it has a robust mechanic for scaling to the current level of traffic, which is almost never the case in any MMO that employs this type of content, it just becomes problematic.
Too many battlegrounds will leave most/all of them too poorly populated.
Is the Defera stuff that difficult? I assumed it was solo content based on the payout.
I'm willing to leave the conversation at that if you are.
It's most likely to lead to Cryptic responding if we all just get behind it.
I'm starting to think you've confused the two of us for being the other.
That would actually explain alot.
Because, without going to review everything Virus contributed to this thread, I said almost word for word what you're referencing here, and he's the one who, for some reason, chose to go off on someone earlier in the thread.
Better to let you describe how you think Cryptic could track all of that, as perhaps you're seeing something I'm not.
I'll say this though; the last item, measuring the value of a debuff, is quantifiable.
Not sure why you felt the need to turn away from your own uneditted post and just leave it alone... but you decided you just HAD to edit it and add this.
But no I was definatly responding to you.
As for that particular line, it wasn't until sometime later that I made the connection that you might be confusing the two of us.
I'm also prone to rambling on well past the point I should have stopped.
And I've now had a drink, my first of 2015, so that only makes it worse.
Well, the statement stands. Sucks that I'd have to continue dragging Virus through the mud for what was no doubt a lapse in judgment, as I've always seen him as coming across level headed.
You've attributed my quote(s) to Virus, though I want to say I was responding to his like minded sentiment, and accused me of committing his crime. At least, I assume that's where you got the idea that I've been spouting, what was it... vitriol, hatred and stupidity?
Look. I've seen both you and Virus all over the place. One of you is occasionally just sane enough to not seem a troll, and one person has been literally the most helpful player I've ever seen on the forums. And if you can't picture yourself as the latter, that's not exactly my fault.
SCM - Hive (S) - [02:31] DMG(DPS) - @jarvisandalfred: 30.62M(204.66K) - Fed Sci
Tacs are overrated.
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I'm just going to take your own words and leave it all be.. and let bygones be bygones and all that...
Still doesn't explain what happened several pages back.
Or why I'm possibly being blamed for it.
The request for citations went unanswered.
We agree that the game needs to better communicate the demands higher level content places on players, why and how players are failing higher level content, and that a better path for progression from leveling to normals to advanced to elite would be of great benefit to the game.
That's something we could get the devs behind, as well.
Im curious as well about normal STF mode. According to queue list it often appears to be even more desolate than advanced or elite setting. Compared to elite the reward is indeed a joke but compared to the fail criteria and reward in advanced (500 more dil and a craftig mat?) why isnt anybody running normal?
My interpretation is rather that it is so INSULTINGLY EASY that everybody who knows where to put mk11 green tac console can steamroll it without any feeling of accomplishment.
After three years of STO I really think the biggest mistake I have ever encountered was that cryptic simply patched out the pre DR elite setting (right along with its reward). They should have integrating it as reasonable normal mode for players of all standing and background to build upon and that out of a familiar atmosphere and setting.
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I've heard it said that Cryptic claimed that Advanced would be the old Elite.
I have no clue when they chose to ignore that completely. Possibly when they decided no one would bother with upgrades because advanced provided sufficient rewards.
MMORPG's most often require people, to actually use their brain to learn and, figure things out on their own or, do some research/ask other's/etc...
But, on this game, I mostly see [REDACTED] unwilling to do such things and, compared to my first MMORPG, this game has tons of these kinds of people.
Exactly, there is tons of information at their disposal, tons of research data, tons of people willing to offer advise, people willing to help but, do you think they bother to use it?
Hell no, they would prefer the game get dumbed down, instead of them making the effort to get better.
Praetor of the -RTS- Romulan Tal Shiar fleet!
Make at least sure to end all events get all important consoles as voth and borg consoles so your shields are reacting a lot faster and your weapons deal lot more critical hits the romulan event. Keep this in mind and you make a good chance to hold your ship together during an advanced battle.
"Coffee: the finest organic suspension ever devised. It's got me through the worst of the last three years. I beat the Borg with it."
Temporary hitpoints are where it's at.
Defending The Galaxy By Breaking One Starfleet Regulation After The Next.
Is the drain issue more of a problem for tactical characters?
The Shield drain had never been that big of an issue for me on my engineer. Maybe it's the attack patterns, or skill points. At the initial patrol even if I hit no EPtS, RSP, RSF, ST, etc... I still only see my shields offline for a few seconds and maybe 40% of my hull hit if I fly straight down their gullet, in either the FA or the Presidio. If I chain my shield buffs and come in on a flank I can keep them near 100% the whole time.
Yesterday I dusted off my science 53 I haven't played seriously in years and put him in a Pathfinder. Did the whole run with his shields at 100%, actually I don't think any of the NPCs took a shot at him, he was around 3k dps, weapons power at 65%, just spamming GWs and TRs.
This kind of explains why, they most likely never shot at him!
Praetor of the -RTS- Romulan Tal Shiar fleet!
Probably, seemed like run took an eternity compared to blazing though everything with a DPS ship, but by golly no nanite thingy made it anywhere near the transformers.
Actually gets into a question I'd been meaning to ask the devs...with Temporary Hitpoints being created as Secondary Shielding, does Tachyon Beam drain them?
Well, low dps or not, a competent captain with their head on str8, can accomplish a lot with so little.
I do believe so Virus, from my own personal experience, it appears so anyways.
Praetor of the -RTS- Romulan Tal Shiar fleet!
Those new players have trouble because that those basic runs does not teach how to run the STFs. Then when they tries something of higher differculty they get hit in the head with a sledge of mission condition the easier STF do not have. It is as simple as that, and it is all on Cryptics lap.
That being said I really would like some more tactical people when I do a PUGs, like in the old days, but it was the power creep that destroyed that. They should rework entire game mechanism to reduce difference in damage between min and max. I feel silly for saying it but IT WAS BETTER IN THE OLD DAYS. :P
This post has been edited to remove content which violates the Perfect World Entertainment Community Rules and Policies . ~Bluegeek
A test server is supposed to be used to properly test patches before patching anything....
Let the stupid suffer
Thing is, it doesn't quite work that way. FAW will actually outperform taking out individual targets. FAW isn't an inefficient application of DPS, it's a hyper-efficient manner of applying DPS.
There is nothing uber about it.
If said people, can accomplish driving in a nail on normal with a rubber mallet, than they jump into advanced requiring an actual steel hammer and, they are still using that rubber mallet and, fail without ever realizing a steel hammer would do the trick.
Well, than they need get up to snuff with getting the steel hammer and, not asking for the difficulty be accomplished via rubber mallet.
Simple trial and error, should tell them this and, not expecting a game to lead them by the hand, like some 1yr old baby.
There is everything at their disposal, to accomplish obtaining the steel hammer but, many refuse to obtain it and/or, even bother using it.
Praetor of the -RTS- Romulan Tal Shiar fleet!
If using FAW you're doing 24k dps and you are using 6 beam arrays in a target rich environment (like after you blow the generators in ISA) that 24k will be spread across 6 targets meaning each target is only taking 4k dps. If using cannon rapid fire or surgical strikes puts your single target dps at even 5k you are now doing more damage to that particular target than FAW. Meaning that single target will die faster and therefore not be able to put out as many tach beams than if you just used FAW. FAW's random target selection is a liability when you are trying to actually kill things. The spread of the dps allows the shields of the borg to regenerate much easier than a focused barrage.
It's kind of like attacking a gateway while the transformers are up. It doesn't matter if you're doing 100k dps since the damage is instantly healed back.
Let the stupid suffer
FAW doesn't work like that. Say you're broadside with those six arrays. You have a target selected. 24k...12k is going to that one target. The remaining 12k can end up being split across those 5 other targets via the random target selection. You still did 12k to the first target. So not only would your single target damage need to be at least 12k to match the damage to that one target, but you'd also have to account for the damage done to the other targets as well as the time it takes to line up each of the targets...while taking into account that whatever buffs you're using are of a limited duration.
That's with just one person. Let's move to five folks doing that against those six targets, eh? Each one picks a separate target, so they're each putting out the 12k into that target while also putting 12k out spread across the remaining five targets...where the remaining four players are doing the same thing. Everything dies...