I am saying that giving access to solo oriented versions of end game content is going to hurt the ques an group content as a whole.
If people choose not to play a certain way, then the content isn't appealing enough to draw them. Limiting their options instead of improving and diversifying the content is exactly the wrong way to go, in my humble opinion. Regardless, it's a poor way to rationalize forcing people to play the way YOU want them to play.
as that would combat the players just evacuating into the solo versions an further leaving ques even worse off.
Why must that be "combatted"? Why is free will your enemy? The popularity of those queues should be driven by their merits alone, not by someone arbitrarily restricting their options.
but on the whole the players will opt to do the easiest method of getting those same rewards.
So what? Are you arguing that they should opt for the most difficult method, simply because it is more difficult?
Your opponent here is free will.
The issue with wanting to play the game how you want is that you are basically saying you want a pizza for dinner, even though you walked into a sushi restaurant an expect the chief to accommodate you by making you a pizza, just like you want to get the rewards an progress of the group content without dealing with the other players in the group content.
False. It's more like going to a restaurant and not wanting to wait for four strangers to place their orders before you get to eat. Sometimes people want company, sometimes they don't. Neither case is subject to your approval.
The stfs were created as group content that in spirit is supposed to be done thru interactions with other players for better or worse, though sadly with the power-creep an changes this spirit of the content is less relevant at times, but there should always be content that is only doable thru groups just like having some content that is done solo (like story missions).
So people should forgo enjoyment, in favor of the "spirit" of a queued mission? Ridiculous.
You are basically arguing that rigid adherence to a singular vision of how something "should" be played, takes precedence over what amount to free market forces within the game. I don't accept that. We're not in this game to prove our worthiness by performing the right rituals in the right way, to service someone's "intent" as it existed when a mission was created weeks/months/years ago. Things change. We're there to have fun as we see fit, and content that ignores this fact will be less popular. Yes, the multiplayer nature of it implies some social interaction, but it also requires you to tolerate the accommodation of differing points of view.
Can you be more specific? What are other players doing that prevent you from earning any marks at all? I know there are those who will collect all the magic rainbow pony fairy coins that drop from the sky in the Dyson BG without ever helping to capture a point, but that's not preventing you from earning any marks there.
And if you don't get to kill all three planet killers, you lose out on a lot of marks that way. And I have such a limited time to play most nights that I don't have the time to search through everything to min/max the players on a map. If you are saying that the only way to play the game is to min/max every aspect of the game then the game is designed wrong, because not every player is a min/maxer.
Well for starters, you're still earning marks for destroying one planet killer, so you're not losing out on anything. You also don't need to be present the entire time to destroy a planet killer. All that's required is doing some damage to it. Same went for the Dinos of dooooom! in the Dyson BG.
Content completed before you get there. Content being completed by people who like to min/max their ships so that I don't get hardly any shots in, being prevented from clicking on the things because people block the view. And these thing do prevent me from earning the most from the content, which is needed to be done if you are trying to get through the grind as quickly as possible. Getting 5 or so marks is not the worth the pain and suffering of dealing with others to get it.
As for gaining marks from one planet killer doesn't make up for gaining it from three. And the distance involved is manageable for planet killers, if you are aware of how fast the others are going down. Dinos is another story all together as I find those maps difficult to maneuver at the best of times. And for some reason the layout just doesn't make sense to me (which is another reason why I don't go there if I can help it).
Though i would give the option to make private groups for any of the available ques, but i would also give some kind of reward for doing the public ques. This could range from bonus marks, unique boff, tailoring options, outfits, ship parts/materials.
That's in a way rewarding anti-social behavior. If you can't be bothered to socialize with others in the game, then it should be more difficult for you to do content intended for groups IMO.
I'm lost on this logic. Can't see how it's anti-social to join a group.
Making the rewards better is not the answer either.
But a combination of increasing rewards, specialty rewards and soloable content would be a better answer overall.
You already have several methods of earning various marks through solo play in the game. The problem as I'm reading is that people don't play the way you want them to.
Problem is that the content you think is solo play, is not solo at all. You can play it without being in a group, but there are others still there. And that is not Solo play by any definition I have ever seen.
And you are reading something I have not written. I am not saying that they not playing they way I want them too, I am saying that I am not getting to play they way I want to. And that is a limitation of the game, as it stands, that exist ONLY with end game content. Leveling and playing the stories allow you to either play solo or with others. Nothing at end games allows that. That's what I would like to see changed. More content that can be played with out having to make a group or interact with other players at end game.
I'm lost on this logic. Can't see how it's anti-social to join a group.
How is clicking on a button to join a queue "socializing"? Do you need to interact with anyone to join a public queue? There is far more socializing involved with joining a fleet, making friends, communicating with each other to set up matches etc.
I can click to join a public queue without ever communicating with another player or interacting with them in any way.
Most of my interactions with others in this game comes through PUG's. As we say hi and maybe say a thing or two about what we are going to do. General chat I don't tend to join in on because of the nature of that channel. Not much there for me to want to interact with it. And the times I play tends to me during the dead times of my fleet and Armada.
Problem is that the content you think is solo play, is not solo at all. You can play it without being in a group, but there are others still there. And that is not Solo play by any definition I have ever seen.
If you're not on a team, you're solo.
False. Those other people don't stop existing just because they don't see your Team Chat messages. The question is whether they are able to affect your game play at all.
Problem is that the content you think is solo play, is not solo at all. You can play it without being in a group, but there are others still there. And that is not Solo play by any definition I have ever seen.
If you're not on a team, you're solo.
Wrong. If your in the instance alone your Solo. If your running a BG and one other player is there you are doing group content.
Solo means it's all on you to get it done. If others can come in and do the content and help progress towards the goal then this is a group effort. It's not all on you.
False. Those other people don't stop existing just because they don't see your Team Chat messages. The question is whether they are able to affect your game play at all.
I disagree. I personally don't have any issues with other players impacting my gameplay in a battlezone, whether I'm on a team or not. I just don't see how it's so detrimental to have other people playing the game when you're still able to obtain marks by yourself without ever needing to team up.
It's detrimental in the fact that what ever they complete, you can't and there fore loose out on those rewards.
It's detrimental in the fact that what ever they complete, you can't and there fore loose out on those rewards.
But you don't lose out on anything. If you participated, you earn marks. You can always run it again when the zone resets after 2 minutes as well.
If they complete something on a part of the map you are not at, then you loose out on those marks. And running it again is not always an immediate option. And running it again still means that people will complete content in portions of the map you are not at and there fore loose out on the rewards.
And if I was truly running this solo, then there would be no need to "run it again" because I didn't miss out on anything. Maximum fun and reward.
Game designers want people to socialize in their game because they know people are more inclined to stick with said game if they are part of a social group. They want you to talk to people, play together, form teams and the like.
Public queues don't require any kind of social interaction anymore to find friends or other like-minded players.
I'm lost on this logic. Can't see how it's anti-social to join a group.
How is clicking on a button to join a queue "socializing"? Do you need to interact with anyone to join a public queue? There is far more socializing involved with joining a fleet, making friends, communicating with each other to set up matches etc.
I can click to join a public queue without ever communicating with another player or interacting with them in any way.
Yeah using the chatting manner of getting into a group by spamming chats/fleets "looking for a group" might be more social, while clicking the join on a public que is less social yet is quicker, yet both are tools to get into groups to do group content with pros an cons to each that lead to socializing. As such adding a bonus into the public que that entices players into group content can lead to more socializing as they are more likely to meet players they might want to play with again, though the barrier to socializing is not the lfg system, but is the fact that content is so short an easy to complete without much teamwork or socializing that players just don't see a need or desire to do such.
Some of my closest gamer friends i meet thru the lfg system using it to complete dungeons an meeting interesting players, which I kept in touch with that i might not have meet otherwise on the server, and which than lead to making guilds an socializing more with these additional people. THe first thing that it all stemmed from is getting into a group with people an doing the content that needed socializing an contact, which than moves forwards into the other areas, which is why anything that pushes for easier group making is good so long as the content is made in a way to make socializing part of the content an a needed aspect of it. When socializing in the stfs is not needed the other players even if you joined them via channels can begin to look like obstacles an a means to an end to get what you are after.
Issue with all of those more social things you listed is that they all can stem from getting into groups with people, that could be from a public que or from a looking for group message/channel. But also when you do instance/dungeons/stfs from fleets or friends you are only socializing in a known group, while a public que can lead to new friends an fleets or intereactions outside that group leading to more socializing.
There's already enough solo content with the story missions.
This is an MMO.
There is such thing as too much choice. At the moment the number of queues is causing too much choice. Cull the queue list to condense players into specific queues. Rotate the queues every patch (a week).
make the stf's solo play or open up marks for more solo play options, or make all marks possible rewards after all endgame as a selectable award. I found one of the more annoying parts of completing a lot of the rep system was I just didn't enjoy every endgame mission and would rather not play them but have to to get the marks I need.
No there is enough ways of getting rep marks in the game that are solo-abl. I would rather see them institute a rotating que listing of stfs, which would be a list of 5-8 ques that rotates on a weekly or bi-weekly schedule. There is a thing of having too many choices that can paralyses people's ability to make a choice, and so giving them a limited set of choices that change weekly/bi-weekly you increase their ability to make that choice.
There are zones where you can earn every mark doing the solo missions. Are they the best way of gaining those marks? Sometimes and sometimes other players can slow you down (but in my experience they're usually helpful when they're not stealing your command credits), but they do all exist if that's your bag. On the other hand, if you want to group, dead queues stop that completely.
I would much rather Cryptic focus on revitalising the queues for those who want to group and not neuter them further by introducing solo versions of them. This is an MMO and while I like soloing, the game should be encouraging team play.
My alt army: K'ymara, Orion Engineer. Caedera of Borg, Liberated Borg Tactical, Elyza Vix, Joined Trill Scientist. Christina Bellona, Augmented Human Tactical. T'Lana, Vulcan Scientist. Arbol, Martian Tactical. Ayzer Bryn, Joined Trill Engineer. Hawke, Betazoid Scientist. Karna Valkras, Klingon Engineer. Beth Parker, Human Tactical Sarel, Romulan Engineer (Federation). Yazuri, Reman Scientist (KDF)
Having been through the whole debate i could support adding various marks to the featured episode rewards.
With the exception that the daily bonus should not apply to the rewards.
Some (former) featured episodes are quite lengthy (1+ hour) and could be set to provide 20-30 marks. Tiny episodes such as Tom Paris his "fly through the obstacle course" should also be excluded.
Adding marks to those episodes would solely be aimed at getting people to replay them and not as something to replace queued content or battlezones.
This program, though reasonably normal at times, seems to have a strong affinity to classes belonging to the Cat 2.0 program. Questerius 2.7 will break down on occasion, resulting in garbage and nonsense messages whenever it occurs. Usually a hard reboot or pulling the plug solves the problem when that happens.
As a long time player I can tell you what the problem is. First off the days where these were called fleet actions you could get 1st place and win an engine battery for your reward which is why a lot of us said need much better carrot. So what happened was over time with these queues and reps they kept it a constant roll back nerf new rep grind for gear grinding. So carrot isn't the answer to keep the game alive.
Think about the areas of gameplay you find on most of your other productive mmorpgs you have your basic pve, pvp(does not exist in sto), social zones(so scattered due to so many out there), end game(the queues), and then world content or in case of STO quadrant content(almost absolutely zero). Even if they did have all the worlds to visit that we've seen in Star Trek the problem people like myself have is there is nothing to do at these places, motivation goes way down when having to go thru so many loading screens, and the immersion does not exist because you basically are going from box to box to box with loading screens in between.
So along with the way they make their money they really need to first off make the game more fluid between sector space to where you are wanting to go. Then PvP and Quadrant/Sector content both need to get something going because these 2 areas of the game have so much potential but yet very little is ever done to capitalize on them. Being that its a skeleton crew working on this game its doomed to fail if they don't make the necessary steps to re-vitalize this game.
Greifing occurs a lot in the battle zones. And if you don't get to kill all three planet killers, you lose out on a lot of marks that way.
Wrong! You actually gain MORE marks that way. Yes, that's right, the rewarded marks are actually higher if you only kill ONE PK.
Not my experience, if I kill all three planet killers I ended up with more than in those runs were I only killed one. Direct experience over 30 to 40 runs that I was actually checking it on. I didn't keep the recorded data because I got my answer.
There was a bug last year, where you did get more for killing less than the three. I believe they fixed that in a Patch.
'But to be logical is not to be right', and 'nothing' on God's earth could ever 'make it' right!'
Judge Dan Haywood
'As l speak now, the words are forming in my head.
l don't know.
l really don't know what l'm about to say, except l have a feeling about it.
That l must repeat the words that come without my knowledge.'
If they complete something on a part of the map you are not at, then you loose out on those marks. And running it again is not always an immediate option. And running it again still means that people will complete content in portions of the map you are not at and there fore loose out on the rewards.
This doesn't make any sense. People are completing content on the maps when you're not online too. Are you losing out on all those marks?
It does makes sense. Your extremist reactions to it do not. When you aren't online then you aren't playing, there not loosing out. If you are playing and you are in an area that takes a group effort, if you are rewarded on individual effort and not group effort, you are loosing out on whatever you didn't get to be a part of.
Which triggers me to think that maybe instead of rewarding people on what they did individually that everyone gets the same rewards for all the content in the BG when they are on the map. And not considered AFK. Other MMO's actually do that. This one could too. That way splitting up and doing things in different parts of the map doesn't mean you loose out on the all of the possible awards. And then, to me, the presence of others are not an hindrance but a boon.
Still, I ask that you try and remain at least reasonable in your assumption on my statements.
To be honest I'm getting pretty fed up with peoples attitudes in most stfs. Constant calling people noobs or saying their DPS ain't good enough.
I would very much like it if you could have space "boffs". Ships that you can configure and control like you do with ground boffs.
It wouldn't be perfect but I would never have to interact with another player again! It would be glorious!
Try playing Star Trek Armada or Bridge Commander. You'll be much happier. This is an MMO, so you're going to have to deal with other players if you want to do content designed for groups.
You say this, yet in other MMO's I can play solo and do quite well. Those games have group content too and when I use their queue systems to run PUG's I interact with people quite a bit. But then the content there generally requires some level of interactions and that people take on certain roles or responsibilities so that a specific tactic can succeed. This game went away from roles, and has really catered to one style of play more so than any other. Which limits their audience for the game severely really. And the content really doesn't seem to be designed to discover a tactic but to kill fast and keep moving. The designers did this to the game. And if they want to keep with that particular model on no roles then they should try and expand the game to allow people who don't want to, for whatever reason, to be part of that one particular play style. And solo content is the only way to really pull that off, because then each person can approach the content in the manner they choose, and not be hindered by those who choose to only kill fast.
"It's an MMO" is not an argument! The multi-player content is in the minority in this game. If your only objection to single-player STF queues is "Umm, it's called like 'massively multiplayer' for a reason, or whatever" then you fail.
You say this, yet in other MMO's I can play solo and do quite well.
You can do quite well here too.
Up till end content, then you can suck hard because there is no end game solo content. Everything at the end involves other people either by grouping or running open content that allows others to come in and take objectives away from you.
When there is truly end content that is soloable then I can do quite well. Currently I succeed under duress and with more time spent than is reasonable.
As a long time player I can tell you what the problem is. First off the days where these were called fleet actions you could get 1st place and win an engine battery for your reward which is why a lot of us said need much better carrot. So what happened was over time with these queues and reps they kept it a constant roll back nerf new rep grind for gear grinding. So carrot isn't the answer to keep the game alive.
Think about the areas of gameplay you find on most of your other productive mmorpgs you have your basic pve, pvp(does not exist in sto), social zones(so scattered due to so many out there), end game(the queues), and then world content or in case of STO quadrant content(almost absolutely zero). Even if they did have all the worlds to visit that we've seen in Star Trek the problem people like myself have is there is nothing to do at these places, motivation goes way down when having to go thru so many loading screens, and the immersion does not exist because you basically are going from box to box to box with loading screens in between.
So along with the way they make their money they really need to first off make the game more fluid between sector space to where you are wanting to go. Then PvP and Quadrant/Sector content both need to get something going because these 2 areas of the game have so much potential but yet very little is ever done to capitalize on them. Being that its a skeleton crew working on this game its doomed to fail if they don't make the necessary steps to re-vitalize this game.
I remember those days. I hate it when games use RNG to control gearing. But so many MMO's use it that I know it's more of a standard than not. So usually I say nothing. When they went to getting marks to get it from reputations I was ecstatic. But when the queues started dying because it requires people to play and you can't run it alone, that's when I started saying something and trying to suggest things that could work.
Having PVP and Sector based content could help, it would definitely add variety to the games which is never a bad thing. And I think it has the potential to open the game up to more play styles that way.
To be honest I'm getting pretty fed up with peoples attitudes in most stfs. Constant calling people noobs or saying their DPS ain't good enough.
I would very much like it if you could have space "boffs". Ships that you can configure and control like you do with ground boffs.
It wouldn't be perfect but I would never have to interact with another player again! It would be glorious!
Try playing Star Trek Armada or Bridge Commander. You'll be much happier. This is an MMO, so you're going to have to deal with other players if you want to do content designed for groups.
I played those two to death when they were first released. Believe me I'd love nothing better than to move to a single player Star trek game but Star Trek Online is the only modern Star Trek game.
Your assumption that I can't deal with other players is both arrogant and wrong. I've been playing online multiplayer games since quake 1 was released. I've seen all the trolling, all the trash talk, exploiting and downright cheating there is. I want STO to have decent PVP, I want STFs to require team play like they used to before queues even existed.
The way STFs are at the moment you might as well play by yourself. There's no need any real cooperation or team play. DPS is king. So why not go one step further? Allow us to play STFs with some NPCs and be done with it.
Or you know balance the game so team play is a requirement.
Simple solution of the dead some queues. Increase the rewards to actually corresponded to the time spent on the mission. I still do not understand why cryptic prevented this. Make three cathegories for the rewards : quick, medium, long. F.e. IS, CC, CS Rh'Ihho , Nukara T.- quick- 500 dil ; Infiltration , Viscous, Bug hunt, Counterpoint, Vortex, Disco - medium - 1000 dil ; Undine Assault, Hive, H. Sphere, Storming, the Breach, and all 20 players missions - long- 1500 dil.
I agree with the others that to bring back featured queues with better rewards while they're featured and to rotate them out rather than having all of them available all the time. I think this would work better than adding in solo content.
I've been the recipient of trolls calling me names and dissing my DPS/weapon choice before. Since I hardly look at the chat while playing, I didn't see it until after the fact. And it only amused me. It sounded like some teen who was more interested in showing off than in actually doing the mission (it was when the MI was going on). In those, as I said, I don't pay much attention to the chatbox because things tend to get hairy in there very quickly. All I did was to do my best, try not to explode too much and get back out.
So yeah, I'm up for making several FEs for a set amount of time and then rotating them out for others.
Now a LTS and loving it.
Just because you spend money on this game, it does not entitle you to be a jerk if things don't go your way.
I have come to the conclusion that I have a memory like Etch-A-Sketch. I shake my head and forget everything.
Up till end content, then you can suck hard because there is no end game solo content. Everything at the end involves other people either by grouping or running open content that allows others to come in and take objectives away from you.
When there is truly end content that is soloable then I can do quite well. Currently I succeed under duress and with more time spent than is reasonable.
This has everything to do with you personally and nothing to do with the game. You're wanting a single player RPG in an MMO.
No, not with me personally. With this game specifically. Other MMO's I play in I don't have this problem. Others players do not control my ability to progress in the game. I find that this game is rather unique in that and is really down to how they created the content and make it accessible. The fact that they don't open the end game content so that people can travel more than one path to success is the real issue.
Because of how the game is designed, others do control what queues are played or what content is there to play for gaining the end game materials, marks and gear. And strictly because the game is designed that you have to deal with other players to get that gear from playing the game. The ONLY other option is to spend your way out of the issue. But even that is limited, because you can't buy marks.
So this is not a personal issue, it's a design flaw. One that they could rectify and make available for all kinds and levels of players so that people can play the way they want to. Which is the biggest thing lacking in this game, diversity of supported play styles.
Comments
If people choose not to play a certain way, then the content isn't appealing enough to draw them. Limiting their options instead of improving and diversifying the content is exactly the wrong way to go, in my humble opinion. Regardless, it's a poor way to rationalize forcing people to play the way YOU want them to play.
Why must that be "combatted"? Why is free will your enemy? The popularity of those queues should be driven by their merits alone, not by someone arbitrarily restricting their options.
So what? Are you arguing that they should opt for the most difficult method, simply because it is more difficult?
Your opponent here is free will.
False. It's more like going to a restaurant and not wanting to wait for four strangers to place their orders before you get to eat. Sometimes people want company, sometimes they don't. Neither case is subject to your approval.
So people should forgo enjoyment, in favor of the "spirit" of a queued mission? Ridiculous.
You are basically arguing that rigid adherence to a singular vision of how something "should" be played, takes precedence over what amount to free market forces within the game. I don't accept that. We're not in this game to prove our worthiness by performing the right rituals in the right way, to service someone's "intent" as it existed when a mission was created weeks/months/years ago. Things change. We're there to have fun as we see fit, and content that ignores this fact will be less popular. Yes, the multiplayer nature of it implies some social interaction, but it also requires you to tolerate the accommodation of differing points of view.
Content completed before you get there. Content being completed by people who like to min/max their ships so that I don't get hardly any shots in, being prevented from clicking on the things because people block the view. And these thing do prevent me from earning the most from the content, which is needed to be done if you are trying to get through the grind as quickly as possible. Getting 5 or so marks is not the worth the pain and suffering of dealing with others to get it.
As for gaining marks from one planet killer doesn't make up for gaining it from three. And the distance involved is manageable for planet killers, if you are aware of how fast the others are going down. Dinos is another story all together as I find those maps difficult to maneuver at the best of times. And for some reason the layout just doesn't make sense to me (which is another reason why I don't go there if I can help it).
KDF: Dahar Master Kan (Borg Klingon Tactical)::Dahar Master Torc (Alien Science)::Dahar Master Sisteric (Gorn Engineer)
RR-Fed: Citizen Sirroc (Romulan Science)::Fleet Admiral Grell (Alien Engineer)
RR-KDF: Fleet Admiral Zemo (Reman Tactical)::Fleet Admiral Xinatek (Reman Science)::Fleet Admiral Bel (Alien Engineer)
TOS-Fed: Fleet Admiral Katem (Andorian Tactical)::Lieutenant Commander Straad (Vulcan Engineer)
Dom-Fed: Dan'Tar (Jem'Hadar Science)
Dom-KDF: Kamtana'Solan (Jem'Hadar Science)
CoHost of Tribbles in Ecstasy (Zombee)
I'm lost on this logic. Can't see how it's anti-social to join a group.
KDF: Dahar Master Kan (Borg Klingon Tactical)::Dahar Master Torc (Alien Science)::Dahar Master Sisteric (Gorn Engineer)
RR-Fed: Citizen Sirroc (Romulan Science)::Fleet Admiral Grell (Alien Engineer)
RR-KDF: Fleet Admiral Zemo (Reman Tactical)::Fleet Admiral Xinatek (Reman Science)::Fleet Admiral Bel (Alien Engineer)
TOS-Fed: Fleet Admiral Katem (Andorian Tactical)::Lieutenant Commander Straad (Vulcan Engineer)
Dom-Fed: Dan'Tar (Jem'Hadar Science)
Dom-KDF: Kamtana'Solan (Jem'Hadar Science)
CoHost of Tribbles in Ecstasy (Zombee)
Problem is that the content you think is solo play, is not solo at all. You can play it without being in a group, but there are others still there. And that is not Solo play by any definition I have ever seen.
And you are reading something I have not written. I am not saying that they not playing they way I want them too, I am saying that I am not getting to play they way I want to. And that is a limitation of the game, as it stands, that exist ONLY with end game content. Leveling and playing the stories allow you to either play solo or with others. Nothing at end games allows that. That's what I would like to see changed. More content that can be played with out having to make a group or interact with other players at end game.
KDF: Dahar Master Kan (Borg Klingon Tactical)::Dahar Master Torc (Alien Science)::Dahar Master Sisteric (Gorn Engineer)
RR-Fed: Citizen Sirroc (Romulan Science)::Fleet Admiral Grell (Alien Engineer)
RR-KDF: Fleet Admiral Zemo (Reman Tactical)::Fleet Admiral Xinatek (Reman Science)::Fleet Admiral Bel (Alien Engineer)
TOS-Fed: Fleet Admiral Katem (Andorian Tactical)::Lieutenant Commander Straad (Vulcan Engineer)
Dom-Fed: Dan'Tar (Jem'Hadar Science)
Dom-KDF: Kamtana'Solan (Jem'Hadar Science)
CoHost of Tribbles in Ecstasy (Zombee)
Most of my interactions with others in this game comes through PUG's. As we say hi and maybe say a thing or two about what we are going to do. General chat I don't tend to join in on because of the nature of that channel. Not much there for me to want to interact with it. And the times I play tends to me during the dead times of my fleet and Armada.
KDF: Dahar Master Kan (Borg Klingon Tactical)::Dahar Master Torc (Alien Science)::Dahar Master Sisteric (Gorn Engineer)
RR-Fed: Citizen Sirroc (Romulan Science)::Fleet Admiral Grell (Alien Engineer)
RR-KDF: Fleet Admiral Zemo (Reman Tactical)::Fleet Admiral Xinatek (Reman Science)::Fleet Admiral Bel (Alien Engineer)
TOS-Fed: Fleet Admiral Katem (Andorian Tactical)::Lieutenant Commander Straad (Vulcan Engineer)
Dom-Fed: Dan'Tar (Jem'Hadar Science)
Dom-KDF: Kamtana'Solan (Jem'Hadar Science)
CoHost of Tribbles in Ecstasy (Zombee)
False. Those other people don't stop existing just because they don't see your Team Chat messages. The question is whether they are able to affect your game play at all.
Solo means it's all on you to get it done. If others can come in and do the content and help progress towards the goal then this is a group effort. It's not all on you.
KDF: Dahar Master Kan (Borg Klingon Tactical)::Dahar Master Torc (Alien Science)::Dahar Master Sisteric (Gorn Engineer)
RR-Fed: Citizen Sirroc (Romulan Science)::Fleet Admiral Grell (Alien Engineer)
RR-KDF: Fleet Admiral Zemo (Reman Tactical)::Fleet Admiral Xinatek (Reman Science)::Fleet Admiral Bel (Alien Engineer)
TOS-Fed: Fleet Admiral Katem (Andorian Tactical)::Lieutenant Commander Straad (Vulcan Engineer)
Dom-Fed: Dan'Tar (Jem'Hadar Science)
Dom-KDF: Kamtana'Solan (Jem'Hadar Science)
CoHost of Tribbles in Ecstasy (Zombee)
It's detrimental in the fact that what ever they complete, you can't and there fore loose out on those rewards.
KDF: Dahar Master Kan (Borg Klingon Tactical)::Dahar Master Torc (Alien Science)::Dahar Master Sisteric (Gorn Engineer)
RR-Fed: Citizen Sirroc (Romulan Science)::Fleet Admiral Grell (Alien Engineer)
RR-KDF: Fleet Admiral Zemo (Reman Tactical)::Fleet Admiral Xinatek (Reman Science)::Fleet Admiral Bel (Alien Engineer)
TOS-Fed: Fleet Admiral Katem (Andorian Tactical)::Lieutenant Commander Straad (Vulcan Engineer)
Dom-Fed: Dan'Tar (Jem'Hadar Science)
Dom-KDF: Kamtana'Solan (Jem'Hadar Science)
CoHost of Tribbles in Ecstasy (Zombee)
If they complete something on a part of the map you are not at, then you loose out on those marks. And running it again is not always an immediate option. And running it again still means that people will complete content in portions of the map you are not at and there fore loose out on the rewards.
And if I was truly running this solo, then there would be no need to "run it again" because I didn't miss out on anything. Maximum fun and reward.
KDF: Dahar Master Kan (Borg Klingon Tactical)::Dahar Master Torc (Alien Science)::Dahar Master Sisteric (Gorn Engineer)
RR-Fed: Citizen Sirroc (Romulan Science)::Fleet Admiral Grell (Alien Engineer)
RR-KDF: Fleet Admiral Zemo (Reman Tactical)::Fleet Admiral Xinatek (Reman Science)::Fleet Admiral Bel (Alien Engineer)
TOS-Fed: Fleet Admiral Katem (Andorian Tactical)::Lieutenant Commander Straad (Vulcan Engineer)
Dom-Fed: Dan'Tar (Jem'Hadar Science)
Dom-KDF: Kamtana'Solan (Jem'Hadar Science)
CoHost of Tribbles in Ecstasy (Zombee)
Yeah using the chatting manner of getting into a group by spamming chats/fleets "looking for a group" might be more social, while clicking the join on a public que is less social yet is quicker, yet both are tools to get into groups to do group content with pros an cons to each that lead to socializing. As such adding a bonus into the public que that entices players into group content can lead to more socializing as they are more likely to meet players they might want to play with again, though the barrier to socializing is not the lfg system, but is the fact that content is so short an easy to complete without much teamwork or socializing that players just don't see a need or desire to do such.
Some of my closest gamer friends i meet thru the lfg system using it to complete dungeons an meeting interesting players, which I kept in touch with that i might not have meet otherwise on the server, and which than lead to making guilds an socializing more with these additional people. THe first thing that it all stemmed from is getting into a group with people an doing the content that needed socializing an contact, which than moves forwards into the other areas, which is why anything that pushes for easier group making is good so long as the content is made in a way to make socializing part of the content an a needed aspect of it. When socializing in the stfs is not needed the other players even if you joined them via channels can begin to look like obstacles an a means to an end to get what you are after.
Issue with all of those more social things you listed is that they all can stem from getting into groups with people, that could be from a public que or from a looking for group message/channel. But also when you do instance/dungeons/stfs from fleets or friends you are only socializing in a known group, while a public que can lead to new friends an fleets or intereactions outside that group leading to more socializing.
This is an MMO.
There is such thing as too much choice. At the moment the number of queues is causing too much choice. Cull the queue list to condense players into specific queues. Rotate the queues every patch (a week).
This.
I would much rather Cryptic focus on revitalising the queues for those who want to group and not neuter them further by introducing solo versions of them. This is an MMO and while I like soloing, the game should be encouraging team play.
K'ymara, Orion Engineer. Caedera of Borg, Liberated Borg Tactical, Elyza Vix, Joined Trill Scientist. Christina Bellona, Augmented Human Tactical.
T'Lana, Vulcan Scientist. Arbol, Martian Tactical. Ayzer Bryn, Joined Trill Engineer. Hawke, Betazoid Scientist. Karna Valkras, Klingon Engineer. Beth Parker, Human Tactical
Sarel, Romulan Engineer (Federation). Yazuri, Reman Scientist (KDF)
I would very much like it if you could have space "boffs". Ships that you can configure and control like you do with ground boffs.
It wouldn't be perfect but I would never have to interact with another player again! It would be glorious!
With the exception that the daily bonus should not apply to the rewards.
Some (former) featured episodes are quite lengthy (1+ hour) and could be set to provide 20-30 marks. Tiny episodes such as Tom Paris his "fly through the obstacle course" should also be excluded.
Adding marks to those episodes would solely be aimed at getting people to replay them and not as something to replace queued content or battlezones.
Think about the areas of gameplay you find on most of your other productive mmorpgs you have your basic pve, pvp(does not exist in sto), social zones(so scattered due to so many out there), end game(the queues), and then world content or in case of STO quadrant content(almost absolutely zero). Even if they did have all the worlds to visit that we've seen in Star Trek the problem people like myself have is there is nothing to do at these places, motivation goes way down when having to go thru so many loading screens, and the immersion does not exist because you basically are going from box to box to box with loading screens in between.
So along with the way they make their money they really need to first off make the game more fluid between sector space to where you are wanting to go. Then PvP and Quadrant/Sector content both need to get something going because these 2 areas of the game have so much potential but yet very little is ever done to capitalize on them. Being that its a skeleton crew working on this game its doomed to fail if they don't make the necessary steps to re-vitalize this game.
KDF: Dahar Master Kan (Borg Klingon Tactical)::Dahar Master Torc (Alien Science)::Dahar Master Sisteric (Gorn Engineer)
RR-Fed: Citizen Sirroc (Romulan Science)::Fleet Admiral Grell (Alien Engineer)
RR-KDF: Fleet Admiral Zemo (Reman Tactical)::Fleet Admiral Xinatek (Reman Science)::Fleet Admiral Bel (Alien Engineer)
TOS-Fed: Fleet Admiral Katem (Andorian Tactical)::Lieutenant Commander Straad (Vulcan Engineer)
Dom-Fed: Dan'Tar (Jem'Hadar Science)
Dom-KDF: Kamtana'Solan (Jem'Hadar Science)
CoHost of Tribbles in Ecstasy (Zombee)
l don't know.
l really don't know what l'm about to say, except l have a feeling about it.
That l must repeat the words that come without my knowledge.'
It does makes sense. Your extremist reactions to it do not. When you aren't online then you aren't playing, there not loosing out. If you are playing and you are in an area that takes a group effort, if you are rewarded on individual effort and not group effort, you are loosing out on whatever you didn't get to be a part of.
Which triggers me to think that maybe instead of rewarding people on what they did individually that everyone gets the same rewards for all the content in the BG when they are on the map. And not considered AFK. Other MMO's actually do that. This one could too. That way splitting up and doing things in different parts of the map doesn't mean you loose out on the all of the possible awards. And then, to me, the presence of others are not an hindrance but a boon.
Still, I ask that you try and remain at least reasonable in your assumption on my statements.
KDF: Dahar Master Kan (Borg Klingon Tactical)::Dahar Master Torc (Alien Science)::Dahar Master Sisteric (Gorn Engineer)
RR-Fed: Citizen Sirroc (Romulan Science)::Fleet Admiral Grell (Alien Engineer)
RR-KDF: Fleet Admiral Zemo (Reman Tactical)::Fleet Admiral Xinatek (Reman Science)::Fleet Admiral Bel (Alien Engineer)
TOS-Fed: Fleet Admiral Katem (Andorian Tactical)::Lieutenant Commander Straad (Vulcan Engineer)
Dom-Fed: Dan'Tar (Jem'Hadar Science)
Dom-KDF: Kamtana'Solan (Jem'Hadar Science)
CoHost of Tribbles in Ecstasy (Zombee)
You say this, yet in other MMO's I can play solo and do quite well. Those games have group content too and when I use their queue systems to run PUG's I interact with people quite a bit. But then the content there generally requires some level of interactions and that people take on certain roles or responsibilities so that a specific tactic can succeed. This game went away from roles, and has really catered to one style of play more so than any other. Which limits their audience for the game severely really. And the content really doesn't seem to be designed to discover a tactic but to kill fast and keep moving. The designers did this to the game. And if they want to keep with that particular model on no roles then they should try and expand the game to allow people who don't want to, for whatever reason, to be part of that one particular play style. And solo content is the only way to really pull that off, because then each person can approach the content in the manner they choose, and not be hindered by those who choose to only kill fast.
KDF: Dahar Master Kan (Borg Klingon Tactical)::Dahar Master Torc (Alien Science)::Dahar Master Sisteric (Gorn Engineer)
RR-Fed: Citizen Sirroc (Romulan Science)::Fleet Admiral Grell (Alien Engineer)
RR-KDF: Fleet Admiral Zemo (Reman Tactical)::Fleet Admiral Xinatek (Reman Science)::Fleet Admiral Bel (Alien Engineer)
TOS-Fed: Fleet Admiral Katem (Andorian Tactical)::Lieutenant Commander Straad (Vulcan Engineer)
Dom-Fed: Dan'Tar (Jem'Hadar Science)
Dom-KDF: Kamtana'Solan (Jem'Hadar Science)
CoHost of Tribbles in Ecstasy (Zombee)
Up till end content, then you can suck hard because there is no end game solo content. Everything at the end involves other people either by grouping or running open content that allows others to come in and take objectives away from you.
When there is truly end content that is soloable then I can do quite well. Currently I succeed under duress and with more time spent than is reasonable.
KDF: Dahar Master Kan (Borg Klingon Tactical)::Dahar Master Torc (Alien Science)::Dahar Master Sisteric (Gorn Engineer)
RR-Fed: Citizen Sirroc (Romulan Science)::Fleet Admiral Grell (Alien Engineer)
RR-KDF: Fleet Admiral Zemo (Reman Tactical)::Fleet Admiral Xinatek (Reman Science)::Fleet Admiral Bel (Alien Engineer)
TOS-Fed: Fleet Admiral Katem (Andorian Tactical)::Lieutenant Commander Straad (Vulcan Engineer)
Dom-Fed: Dan'Tar (Jem'Hadar Science)
Dom-KDF: Kamtana'Solan (Jem'Hadar Science)
CoHost of Tribbles in Ecstasy (Zombee)
I remember those days. I hate it when games use RNG to control gearing. But so many MMO's use it that I know it's more of a standard than not. So usually I say nothing. When they went to getting marks to get it from reputations I was ecstatic. But when the queues started dying because it requires people to play and you can't run it alone, that's when I started saying something and trying to suggest things that could work.
Having PVP and Sector based content could help, it would definitely add variety to the games which is never a bad thing. And I think it has the potential to open the game up to more play styles that way.
KDF: Dahar Master Kan (Borg Klingon Tactical)::Dahar Master Torc (Alien Science)::Dahar Master Sisteric (Gorn Engineer)
RR-Fed: Citizen Sirroc (Romulan Science)::Fleet Admiral Grell (Alien Engineer)
RR-KDF: Fleet Admiral Zemo (Reman Tactical)::Fleet Admiral Xinatek (Reman Science)::Fleet Admiral Bel (Alien Engineer)
TOS-Fed: Fleet Admiral Katem (Andorian Tactical)::Lieutenant Commander Straad (Vulcan Engineer)
Dom-Fed: Dan'Tar (Jem'Hadar Science)
Dom-KDF: Kamtana'Solan (Jem'Hadar Science)
CoHost of Tribbles in Ecstasy (Zombee)
I played those two to death when they were first released. Believe me I'd love nothing better than to move to a single player Star trek game but Star Trek Online is the only modern Star Trek game.
Your assumption that I can't deal with other players is both arrogant and wrong. I've been playing online multiplayer games since quake 1 was released. I've seen all the trolling, all the trash talk, exploiting and downright cheating there is. I want STO to have decent PVP, I want STFs to require team play like they used to before queues even existed.
The way STFs are at the moment you might as well play by yourself. There's no need any real cooperation or team play. DPS is king. So why not go one step further? Allow us to play STFs with some NPCs and be done with it.
Or you know balance the game so team play is a requirement.
I agree with the others that to bring back featured queues with better rewards while they're featured and to rotate them out rather than having all of them available all the time. I think this would work better than adding in solo content.
I've been the recipient of trolls calling me names and dissing my DPS/weapon choice before. Since I hardly look at the chat while playing, I didn't see it until after the fact. And it only amused me. It sounded like some teen who was more interested in showing off than in actually doing the mission (it was when the MI was going on). In those, as I said, I don't pay much attention to the chatbox because things tend to get hairy in there very quickly. All I did was to do my best, try not to explode too much and get back out.
So yeah, I'm up for making several FEs for a set amount of time and then rotating them out for others.
No, not with me personally. With this game specifically. Other MMO's I play in I don't have this problem. Others players do not control my ability to progress in the game. I find that this game is rather unique in that and is really down to how they created the content and make it accessible. The fact that they don't open the end game content so that people can travel more than one path to success is the real issue.
Because of how the game is designed, others do control what queues are played or what content is there to play for gaining the end game materials, marks and gear. And strictly because the game is designed that you have to deal with other players to get that gear from playing the game. The ONLY other option is to spend your way out of the issue. But even that is limited, because you can't buy marks.
So this is not a personal issue, it's a design flaw. One that they could rectify and make available for all kinds and levels of players so that people can play the way they want to. Which is the biggest thing lacking in this game, diversity of supported play styles.
KDF: Dahar Master Kan (Borg Klingon Tactical)::Dahar Master Torc (Alien Science)::Dahar Master Sisteric (Gorn Engineer)
RR-Fed: Citizen Sirroc (Romulan Science)::Fleet Admiral Grell (Alien Engineer)
RR-KDF: Fleet Admiral Zemo (Reman Tactical)::Fleet Admiral Xinatek (Reman Science)::Fleet Admiral Bel (Alien Engineer)
TOS-Fed: Fleet Admiral Katem (Andorian Tactical)::Lieutenant Commander Straad (Vulcan Engineer)
Dom-Fed: Dan'Tar (Jem'Hadar Science)
Dom-KDF: Kamtana'Solan (Jem'Hadar Science)
CoHost of Tribbles in Ecstasy (Zombee)
Whether you acknowledge it or not, that IS basically what we have.