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Mandatory 5 rounds in Somkaks arena..what gives?

so far today i have played 8 of 19 alts in sompaks arena (20 min), of those all where mandatory 5 turns as stated by other players, if a player or three refused the one or two players would simply go afk, when i told one he would be reported for being afk, he replied "im not afk i am doing admiralty". so far i have reported all and ignored all, but what irritates me is they justify it saying if i actually wanted to play i need to do it in the untimed event. last i looked it wasnt the 5 turn event but the 20 minute timed event, and i have actually gotten to level 31 in the 20 minute event with an awsome group. but these minimalists are ruining the event for me as well as others...and all the while they justify their inaction/quitting/going afk saying that they need to get all thier alts through...and? over all its just a dilitium grind for them, but now the newer players are thinking its correct...and now every match for me today has been the same.
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  • kodachikunokodachikuno Member Posts: 6,020 Arc User1
    Ive been lucky so far, and my runs have gone between 9-19 rounds, except for the first, that one we cleared 40. I get that going 40 rounds every time is impractical and boring as hell but, I also agree 5 and die is way worse, and far more boring.
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  • risian4risian4 Member Posts: 3,711 Arc User
    I do not like it when players deliberately die after five rounds in the unlimited version. For the 20 minutes version it is acceptable and logical though.

    It makes no sense to play the 20 minutes version if you want to get as far as possible. It will end anyway, so why bother trying to get as far as possible when you know in advance that you'll never get as far as you could have come if you had been playing the unlimited version of the map?

    If, for some reason, you just want to play for 10-20 minutes but not end up in an endless run that lasts for 40 minutes or so, you could still decide to just play the unlimited one and then stop after those 10-20 minutes.
  • redspecter23redspecter23 Member Posts: 26 Arc User
    I blame the extremely poor reward structure. Character unlocks combined with no reason to go beyond 5 rounds for the prize will mean a lot of players burning out and going afk. I'm not justifying the action but the prize structure doesn't do any favors to those that actually want to play the arena.

    My suggestion is to drop the timed version and instead switch to 5 round version where it stops immediately when you hit round 5 and your rewards are given. If you want to go the distance in the timed version it should award a Sompek token for every 10 rounds completed. If you go 140 rounds, you complete it in one shot. Combine this with an account unlock for the reward and you will minimize people bringing mules and undergeared alts in as well. I'm no dev, but that seems to make more sense to me.
  • jaguarskxjaguarskx Member Posts: 5,945 Arc User
    I have mostly queued up the limited version. The unlimited version is fun... but I don't have the time to run 11 characters on my primary account and 3 characters on my secondary account to play though what could potentially be 40 to 80 rounds per character.

    When I queue up the limited version, I simply ask "5 rounds, or all the way?". If at least other players say "5 rounds", then it's 5 rounds. Otherwise, I do not hold back and play as many rounds as possible within the time limit or until everyone is dead. Most of the time people have agreed to 5 rounds.
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  • rattler2rattler2 Member, Star Trek Online Moderator Posts: 58,671 Community Moderator
    I still want the Sompek Dance on my Romulan. Have YET to hit 21 rounds on her... made it to 20, but not the magic 21.
    db80k0m-89201ed8-eadb-45d3-830f-bb2f0d4c0fe7.png?token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWIiOiJ1cm46YXBwOjdlMGQxODg5ODIyNjQzNzNhNWYwZDQxNWVhMGQyNmUwIiwiaXNzIjoidXJuOmFwcDo3ZTBkMTg4OTgyMjY0MzczYTVmMGQ0MTVlYTBkMjZlMCIsIm9iaiI6W1t7InBhdGgiOiJcL2ZcL2ExOGQ4ZWM2LTUyZjQtNDdiMS05YTI1LTVlYmZkYmJkOGM3N1wvZGI4MGswbS04OTIwMWVkOC1lYWRiLTQ1ZDMtODMwZi1iYjJmMGQ0YzBmZTcucG5nIn1dXSwiYXVkIjpbInVybjpzZXJ2aWNlOmZpbGUuZG93bmxvYWQiXX0.8G-Pg35Qi8qxiKLjAofaKRH6fmNH3qAAEI628gW0eXc
    I can't take it anymore! Could everyone just chill out for two seconds before something CRAZY happens again?!
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  • jaguarskxjaguarskx Member Posts: 5,945 Arc User
    rattler2 wrote: »
    I still want the Sompek Dance on my Romulan. Have YET to hit 21 rounds on her... made it to 20, but not the magic 21.

    I recommend doing unlimited. I got the dance on all my characters within 3 days.
  • aspartan1aspartan1 Member Posts: 1,054 Arc User
    Doing that for the untimed version is epic asshattery but I can see it for the timed one frankly speaking.
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  • dracounguisdracounguis Member Posts: 5,358 Arc User
    As I said in another thread, the queues need to be renamed to 'suicide 5' and 'try our best' to avoid confusion. :D
  • angrytargangrytarg Member Posts: 11,008 Arc User
    If you could achieve more merits by lasting longer this allbwould make sense. The way it is, though, is typical for STO.
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  • anodynesanodynes Member Posts: 1,999 Arc User
    toddwr05 wrote: »
    so far today i have played 8 of 19 alts in sompaks arena (20 min), of those all where mandatory 5 turns as stated by other players, if a player or three refused the one or two players would simply go afk, when i told one he would be reported for being afk, he replied "im not afk i am doing admiralty". so far i have reported all and ignored all, but what irritates me is they justify it saying if i actually wanted to play i need to do it in the untimed event. last i looked it wasnt the 5 turn event but the 20 minute timed event, and i have actually gotten to level 31 in the 20 minute event with an awsome group. but these minimalists are ruining the event for me as well as others...and all the while they justify their inaction/quitting/going afk saying that they need to get all thier alts through...and? over all its just a dilitium grind for them, but now the newer players are thinking its correct...and now every match for me today has been the same.

    I prefer to die at 5 rounds and move on for my dailies. I do this in the timed version, of course. If the majority don't want to stop at round 5, then I keep playing. I may not give it my all, but I at least contribute. I have to admit that those of us who want to quit at 5 have the advantage in there if we're willing to be jerks about it, since we can just stop contributing anything to the run, making it harder on anyone who wants to keep going. I refuse to be the kind of person who will selfishly impose my will on others if the majority aren't going that way, so I bend to their will in those circumstances.
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  • kodachikunokodachikuno Member Posts: 6,020 Arc User1
    had one guy on the team tonight, still doing unlimited version, try and just stay dead after 5 rounds. No one else was doing that so on round 7 they actually contributed again. We still only hit like 13, partially because people like sitting in hazards or letting lightning hit them
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    tacofangs wrote: »
    STO isn't canon, and neither are any of the books.
  • seaofsorrowsseaofsorrows Member Posts: 10,919 Arc User
    toddwr05 wrote: »
    they justify it saying if i actually wanted to play i need to do it in the untimed event.

    And they're right.

    Just do the untimed event and calm down. If you want to blame someone.. blame Cryptic and their crappy reward structure. They did however, put in two different modes to help deal with the very problem you're having.

    People don't AFK nearly as much in the untimed.. just use that.
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  • questeriusquesterius Member Posts: 8,500 Arc User
    risian4 wrote: »
    I do not like it when players deliberately die after five rounds in the unlimited version. For the 20 minutes version it is acceptable and logical though.

    It makes no sense to play the 20 minutes version if you want to get as far as possible. It will end anyway, so why bother trying to get as far as possible when you know in advance that you'll never get as far as you could have come if you had been playing the unlimited version of the map?

    If, for some reason, you just want to play for 10-20 minutes but not end up in an endless run that lasts for 40 minutes or so, you could still decide to just play the unlimited one and then stop after those 10-20 minutes.

    I have had two runs today where people deliberately died in the 1st round and never respawned. Both queues failed in round 3 with lightning and hazard.

    Doing quick rounds is one thing, but this ventures into the realm of sabotage.
    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.
  • peterconnorfirstpeterconnorfirst Member Posts: 6,225 Arc User
    edited August 2017
    I think sick event structures bring out sick behaviors in peeps.

    With the DPS channels we have all means to run that map as we want without imposing our will onto others. I tend to those channels for my daily “Sompek 5” on two toons and tend to those channels for my acco runs too. Both types of matches are rather well supported there.

    There is no need to ruin pug matches for others either way!
    Post edited by peterconnorfirst on
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  • claudiusdkclaudiusdk Member Posts: 561 Arc User
    Okay so, there is no real right or wrong in this.
    Sure the mission is made to see how far people can get. BUT it also got that special reward after 5 rounds which is the goal of a lot of people.
    No one is breaking any rules by only wanting that 5 round mark. Unless they are AFK or trying to mess up the run for other players, then they are breaking the rules.

    Since we don't know whats unique about the Sompek Pulsewave reward, and but we know it is character unlocked and not account unlocked... I am farming on all my characters incase it would fit one of them. I don't wanna waste hours and hours doing daily special mark farm on all charactes when I can just do a 5 round run.

    So... Do what I do. Join one (or more) of the usermade team/help channels, and then ask around and find players for the type of run you want.
    Ask for a "5 round Sompek speedrun" and only get others that want the mark.
    Ask for a "Full Sompek run" and avoid any and all 5 rounders.

    Avoid random queues that you can't control the intend of other players.
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  • mephizton2092mephizton2092 Member Posts: 110 Arc User
    I am glad people just ask for 5 round runs.
    At least not all random runs have a 99% of just 5 round running players.
    The design for 1 char unlock leads to this kind of farming instead of playing the event.
    I don't mind a 14 day farm for an accountwide unlock, event without the dil. This version of Somptek i skip, just for the reason it's again an afk/5 round farm run. And not to have fun in general. I am not planning to run it at least 20x and 14 days long. Also when new factions or new chars are made in the future, they allready have missed out such items.
    So when S14 comes with maybe a new recruit event, that char allready had never chance to run the event, and that's why I dislike this version of Somptek.
    If good que's are turned into speed runs, just for the sake of rewards, then it fun of such que's are turned into something joy killing sign up.
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  • lopequillopequil Member Posts: 1,226 Arc User
    I feel your pain. Joining a public queue with the intention of playing a short game is bad form. Hopefully it will be better next time, given the massive backlash that the character reward business has brought about, but I'm holding judgement because we had the same complaints during Mirror Invasion.

    At the same time I'm a little saddened that so few people are playing Sompek for it to go the distance but I can't begrudge them that given the amount of time it takes. The reward scaling could use some adjustment with this in mind, perhaps even considering giving people more than one reward token if they reach a very high level; this would make it easier for alts and also incentivise people into playing the full version.

    In short, make the reward an account unlock, but keep it at 14 tokens while making it possible to earn more than one per day if the player puts a lot of time and effort in.
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  • seaofsorrowsseaofsorrows Member Posts: 10,919 Arc User
    I think sick event structures bring out sick behaviors in peeps.

    With the DPS channels we have all means to run that map as we want without imposing our will onto others. I tend to those channels for my daily “Sompek 5” on two toons and tend to those channels for my acco runs too. Both types of matches are rather well supported there.

    There is no need to ruin pug matches for others either way!

    Yep.. the horrible, evil and scary 'DPS People' are doing it in team runs so they don't ruin public matches. More examples of the DPS League just destroying this game. :)
    claudiusdk wrote: »
    Okay so, there is no real right or wrong in this...

    Perhaps you're right. The players that are doing this are not supposed to do it at all. Those that do it in untimed are just idiots.. plain and simple. When I see it in the timed one however, I'm far more excepting of it. It's not hard to understand why someone would want to get out of there as quickly as possible when trying to run 4, 5, 6 or more characters every day.

    I'm not sure who the genius was at Cryptic who decided that 'per character' was a good way to go with this event, but it's probably the same person that decided that the Queue UI needed to be updated.
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  • aftulusaftulus Member Posts: 668 Arc User
    edited August 2017
    Yea, as other have stated, the even bigger problem is that they are doing it in the untimed event... If it's not, they need to make this new item unlockable in the store like other items. they need to do this with all event items.

    BTW, if I unlock it on one character will the other have an option to buy it from the event store? It would only be fair with how the game is now. And to not intefere with normal gameplay. If anything make it cost dil for those characters that didn't unlock it themselves. Then the purpose of participating in the event afterwords is to not use dil later. As opposed to not ever getting the item.

    I personally really hate being made to grind to get access to something like this. Limited events are aweful unless unlocked account wide. What if I want this on a character one day I haven't created... As long as the game is based on mutli character grinding it should be based on account unlocked as well or what is the point of these items? I'm pretty picky in how I design my builds.. There isn't much room neccesarily in current characters, and future ones might be very interested in having the items. Not to mention this much grinding is insanely stressful and irritating. I absolutely can't stand it. Single character grinding isn't so bad though.
  • bubblegirl2015bubblegirl2015 Member Posts: 831 Arc User
    edited August 2017
    I ABHOR AFKers and it is a shame that DEVs and Cryptic are encouraging this activity by doing the 20 min event. They should do this right and leave AoS as it was once a weekend event and a FUN challenge NOT just another grind fest till your eyes bleed.

    I don't report AFKers but sick of the minimalists as the OP named them. They should make a chat channel called "Minimalists are US" of "Friends of Meh". At least that way they can separate the grinders from those of us who really want the challenge. They should make their own premades rather than asking in team "round 5 yeah?" sounds a bit imbecile IMO.



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  • warpangelwarpangel Member Posts: 9,427 Arc User
    1. The timed version is for speedruns. That Cryptic put the automatic cutoff at 20 minutes instead of wave 5 like it should be, isn't the players' problem
    2. If you actually want to get far, you play the unlimited version
    3. This is not the kind of game where reporting people for not playing your way does anything
  • ltminnsltminns Member Posts: 12,572 Arc User
    Are we going to do this again!!!

    Just insert Mirror Invasion for Sompek Arena and you will realize we have been here already. 'Groundhogs Day' for sure, but in this case we have made no progress as we rinse and repeat.

    Cryptic has done it again. They have us at each other's throats. Very clever. They take their cue from the Master.

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  • redvengeredvenge Member Posts: 1,425 Arc User
    warpangel wrote: »
    1. The timed version is for speedruns. That Cryptic put the automatic cutoff at 20 minutes instead of wave 5 like it should be, isn't the players' problem
    Except, that is how it is set-up, thus the expectation that the queue will last 20 minutes.
    warpangel wrote: »
    2. If you actually want to get far, you play the unlimited version
    I agree. If you just want to play the content for 20 minutes, there is a nice 20 minute queue.
    warpangel wrote: »
    3. This is not the kind of game where reporting people for not playing your way does anything
    You are half right. Reporting people does nothing, but your complaint is being forced to play. You are actually arguing for not doing the content, not that you are "playing it a different way".

    Maybe Cryptic will see the light and just give you 8,000 dilithium for logging in.
  • wideningxgyrewideningxgyre Member Posts: 710 Arc User
    There is no real reason to have a 20 minute version of this queue. Either you want to test yourself and see how far you can get or you want to do the daily and move on. Running the event for exactly 20 minutes doesn't seem to serve any purpose.

    If the queue was not set for 5-and-done, I wonder whether it's based on actual play time data - that, if you factor in new players and all the queue attempts, the 20 minute queue reflects the average length of time it takes to get to 5 rounds with a small buffer built in.
  • questeriusquesterius Member Posts: 8,500 Arc User
    Personally i would put the timed queue at 10 minutes and reward only when completing the full run.

    For the non timed run i would put the minimum rounds at 15 or 20 to actually encourage people to participate.
    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.
  • cbrjwrrcbrjwrr Member Posts: 2,782 Arc User
    As I said in another thread, the queues need to be renamed to 'suicide 5' and 'try our best' to avoid confusion. :D

    This.
  • warpangelwarpangel Member Posts: 9,427 Arc User
    redvenge wrote: »
    warpangel wrote: »
    1. The timed version is for speedruns. That Cryptic put the automatic cutoff at 20 minutes instead of wave 5 like it should be, isn't the players' problem
    Except, that is how it is set-up, thus the expectation that the queue will last 20 minutes.
    Your unrealistic expectations are nobody's problem but your own.
  • alexraptorralexraptorr Member Posts: 1,192 Arc User
    The reason people are 5 rounding the untimed version is because it is the most accessible. You don't even have to try to find it in the PvE queue, you just click the big event banner and the "queue" button which will instantly queue you for the untimed.
    "If you can't take a little bloody nose, maybe you ought to go back home and crawl under your bed. It's not safe out here. It's wondrous, with treasures to satiate desires both subtle and gross. But it's not for the timid." - Q
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