I have the Sompek Dance unlocked on that Character but I have never made it past Round 28. Been only doing the Timed.
Getting to round 28 in Sompek Timed is pretty good. I typically cap out at round 20 - 25 depending on the pug. But in unlimited Sompek going beyond 30 is pretty much the norm.
Instead, I lay the blame squarely where it lies. Cryptic. They've known this was a problem, they knew this was going to be a problem going into this, and they went forward with it anyway. I have no problems holding other players accountable, but in this particular case it's Cryptic for a half-baked idea.
Cryptic can always adjust it up to 10 rounds in order to get the Merit of Sompek in future Arena of Sompek Events. They could also shorten the length to two weeks and only require 7 merits to get the grand prize. That kinda breaks Cryptic's tradition of allowing the event to run 1.5x the number of daily voucher needed to collect the prize, but it should not be a big deal. The amount of Dil rewarded for turning in the mission could be reduced to 25k or 30k to reflect a shortened event.
I could easily give you the same "solution". If you don't want to be with people who just want to rush all their alts through this, then just don't do any Sompek queues.
This really comes down to whose version of "playing the game" is more important. I could say that my perspective of how to play the game is the correct one, but I'd be wrong. I could say that yours is, and I'd still be wrong.
I could say that forcing your fellow players to last the entire 20 minutes despite them just wanting a quick 5 rounds is unkind to inconsiderate, but I won't.
I'm not going to tell you that you're right or wrong, because I've always been of the opinion that both player experiences hold equal value and merit. You aren't wrong for wanting a long game, and I'm not wrong for wanting a short game. The problem is there is no third option in the system. That option being "Just play till 5 rounds and the game ends automatically".
You are all over the place here.
In your original post, you stated you were only going to do five rounds to "stick it to Cryptic" and if your fellow players did not like it, they could kick rocks because Cryptic sucks.
The point of my response was "Cryptic is motivated by metrics". You logging in and participating was feeding those metrics. At BEST, your half-baked boycott would get Cryptic to move the reward from "beat round 4" to "beat round 10". At worst, being a lump would just ruin the fun of your fellow players.
You respond with some "I'm not playing it wrong!" non sequitur that completely misses the point. If you want Cryptic to change, you need to play into their metrics. That means, don't participate in the event or don't log in at all.
Instead, I lay the blame squarely where it lies. Cryptic. They've known this was a problem, they knew this was going to be a problem going into this, and they went forward with it anyway. I have no problems holding other players accountable, but in this particular case it's Cryptic for a half-baked idea.
Cryptic hears that some players don't like the event. Then, lots of players log in and take part in the event. Confusion occurs. If so many people have a problem with the event, why are so many participating? Perhaps, it is just a vocal minority. No need to change anything.
I am not advocating this series of events, I am relaying it. As long as people log in and play, what motivates Cryptic to change anything?
I could easily give you the same "solution". If you don't want to be with people who just want to rush all their alts through this, then just don't do any Sompek queues.
This really comes down to whose version of "playing the game" is more important. I could say that my perspective of how to play the game is the correct one, but I'd be wrong. I could say that yours is, and I'd still be wrong.
I could say that forcing your fellow players to last the entire 20 minutes despite them just wanting a quick 5 rounds is unkind to inconsiderate, but I won't.
I'm not going to tell you that you're right or wrong, because I've always been of the opinion that both player experiences hold equal value and merit. You aren't wrong for wanting a long game, and I'm not wrong for wanting a short game. The problem is there is no third option in the system. That option being "Just play till 5 rounds and the game ends automatically".
You are all over the place here.
In your original post, you stated you were only going to do five rounds to "stick it to Cryptic" and if your fellow players did not like it, they could kick rocks because Cryptic sucks.
The point of my response was "Cryptic is motivated by metrics". You logging in and participating was feeding those metrics. At BEST, your half-baked boycott would get Cryptic to move the reward from "beat round 4" to "beat round 10". At worst, being a lump would just ruin the fun of your fellow players.
You respond with some "I'm not playing it wrong!" non sequitur that completely misses the point. If you want Cryptic to change, you need to play into their metrics. That means, don't participate in the event or don't log in at all.
Instead, I lay the blame squarely where it lies. Cryptic. They've known this was a problem, they knew this was going to be a problem going into this, and they went forward with it anyway. I have no problems holding other players accountable, but in this particular case it's Cryptic for a half-baked idea.
Cryptic hears that some players don't like the event. Then, lots of players log in and take part in the event. Confusion occurs. If so many people have a problem with the event, why are so many participating? Perhaps, it is just a vocal minority. No need to change anything.
I am not advocating this series of events, I am relaying it. As long as people log in and play, what motivates Cryptic to change anything?
I think we have a bit of a misunderstanding, I'll try to clear it up. My original post was not about 'sticking it to Cryptic', so much as making peace with the idea that there are going to be players who believe I am playing the game wrong, and will report me. It's based off of indifference rather than malice.
I also don't do boycotts. If I want to boycott a video game, I simply stop playing the game and doing business with the company.
I'm also not under any impression that simply not logging in and participating is the only viable kind of feedback to convey to Cryptic to state my disappointment. I believe in a wide spectrum of feedback at different points in my customer experience in order to paint a bigger picture to Cryptic. I believe strongly in giving developers ample opportunity to improve the game, and part of that is by playing the game my own way and allowing them to glean whatever information they think is most valuable from it.
For example, it isn't enough that Cryptic sees how many people are participating in an event, they need to see how players are playing the event. If they see a large number of players stopping at wave 5, that sends a more detailed message to them than if those players had never played at all. That gives them an option for future adjustments to the event, and events like them.
If they see players reporting each other for "playing the event wrong", that is also a valid form of feedback. I'm willing to guess that Cryptic does not want players wasting the time of their GM team based on their own mistakes with game design, rather than punishing players for not playing the game "the right way", as we've seen Cryptic attempt to punish players for their own development mistakes in the past, and it has never ended in Cryptic's favor. In doing so, these forms of communication may seem unorthodox, but when we've given Cryptic this feedback for the last few years on the forums, on social media, etc., and there's still no change to be made, I'm willing to advocate taking it one step further and simply let the players do what they want, for better or for worse, as long as the message is gotten across loud and clear.
My patience for change has worn thin, but I still hold out some hope that Cryptic will make the right decision sooner rather than later.
If they see a large number of players stopping at wave 5, that sends a more detailed message to them than if those players had never played at all.
We'll have to agree to disagree here. People logging in is all Cryptic needs. If players are not staying in the event long enough, they can just move the Sompek token to round 10.
If the event has low participation numbers, that will get Cryptic's attention.
That gives them an option for future adjustments to the event, and events like them.
Logging out at round 4 could mean the players are upset with the content or they are lazy and want easy rewards. They don't really have much info to work with other than "people are doing the bare minimum for maximum return".
If they see players reporting each other for "playing the event wrong", that is also a valid form of feedback. I'm willing to guess that Cryptic does not want players wasting the time of their GM team based on their own mistakes with game design, rather than punishing players for not playing the game "the right way",
You mean, like the last two Mirror Invasion Events? Player outrage has yet to get Cryptic to address the design flaws and AFK issues with that event. Why are you expecting it to work with this event?
simply let the players do what they want, for better or for worse, as long as the message is gotten across loud and clear.
As I said your message is lost because it is difficult to discern the intent behind all the "5 and done" participants. Some players just flat out hate the event, some players just want the dilithium, Some players are "protesting" that the weapon is not account unlock, some players just like trolling, etc.
Cryptic has no meaningful way to parse why players are "5 and done". Ultimately, I doubt it matters. As I said, if players are not playing long enough, Cryptic can just move the token to round 10.
If they see a large number of players stopping at wave 5, that sends a more detailed message to them than if those players had never played at all.
We'll have to agree to disagree here. People logging in is all Cryptic needs. If players are not staying in the event long enough, they can just move the Sompek token to round 10.
If the event has low participation numbers, that will get Cryptic's attention.
That gives them an option for future adjustments to the event, and events like them.
Logging out at round 4 could mean the players are upset with the content or they are lazy and want easy rewards. They don't really have much info to work with other than "people are doing the bare minimum for maximum return".
If they see players reporting each other for "playing the event wrong", that is also a valid form of feedback. I'm willing to guess that Cryptic does not want players wasting the time of their GM team based on their own mistakes with game design, rather than punishing players for not playing the game "the right way",
You mean, like the last two Mirror Invasion Events? Player outrage has yet to get Cryptic to address the design flaws and AFK issues with that event. Why are you expecting it to work with this event?
simply let the players do what they want, for better or for worse, as long as the message is gotten across loud and clear.
As I said your message is lost because it is difficult to discern the intent behind all the "5 and done" participants. Some players just flat out hate the event, some players just want the dilithium, Some players are "protesting" that the weapon is not account unlock, some players just like trolling, etc.
Cryptic has no meaningful way to parse why players are "5 and done". Ultimately, I doubt it matters. As I said, if players are not playing long enough, Cryptic can just move the token to round 10.
They aren't going to move it to round 10. That would make more people sit the event out.
Everybody knows people want maximum gain for minimum effort. That's called efficiency and any rational player would seek it. The only difference is what each player wants out of the mission. The event token, the dil/marks, the emote, the accolades and/or the challenge of seeing how far they can get. Cryptic's only failure is unsuccessfully trying to provide players with incompatible goals with their own queues (because they didn't make the short queue end as soon as it qualifies for the event token).
And Cryptic did address the player outrage about the design flaws of Mirror...in so far as the player outrage was about the design flaws. We got more rifts for the busybodies to close so they don't get bored waiting for the real mission to start. Obviously, they can't do much about players complaining that others don't play it their way. Just like they can't do much about it in Sompek, besides provide a separate queue for the players who just want short event token runs.
They don't change these Tokens. This is a new Token for this new 21-day Event. The other Sompek was a Weekend Event - different animal.
'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.'
The weekend event token was a mistake on their part and will likely get tweaked for the next one to prevent folk getting the item around run 1 because they had spares.
Showed a lack of foresight about the potential apathy that these bums on seats style events generate.
The weekend event token was a mistake on their part and will likely get tweaked for the next one to prevent folk getting the item around run 1 because they had spares.
Showed a lack of foresight about the potential apathy that these bums on seats style events generate.
It's no mistake. Old players have been getting the reward for CC event, etc day 1 every time for years. They don't care, because people still have to play the event to refill their stock for next time.
Only time spare tokens ever became a problem was with the winter/summer events when they made the silly mistake of unlocking the ships account-wide but leaving players to still accumulate tokens on every toon, thus resulting in many players grinding enough tokens across multiple toons it would last them the next decade of winter/summer events without playing at all.
The weekend event tokens are how they really should've handled that...like the reward, the token is also once-per-account so players can't produce excess.
If I didn't have up to 3hrs worth of 'work' doffing/admiralty every day (if I go for the full alt load) then I might be more amendable to a long Sompek run. But Cryptic's made too much 'busy work' with doffing, and now Endeavor, to make anyone want to spend 15-120 minutes on one event that has a crappy payout.
Comments
Getting to round 28 in Sompek Timed is pretty good. I typically cap out at round 20 - 25 depending on the pug. But in unlimited Sompek going beyond 30 is pretty much the norm.
Cryptic can always adjust it up to 10 rounds in order to get the Merit of Sompek in future Arena of Sompek Events. They could also shorten the length to two weeks and only require 7 merits to get the grand prize. That kinda breaks Cryptic's tradition of allowing the event to run 1.5x the number of daily voucher needed to collect the prize, but it should not be a big deal. The amount of Dil rewarded for turning in the mission could be reduced to 25k or 30k to reflect a shortened event.
In your original post, you stated you were only going to do five rounds to "stick it to Cryptic" and if your fellow players did not like it, they could kick rocks because Cryptic sucks.
The point of my response was "Cryptic is motivated by metrics". You logging in and participating was feeding those metrics. At BEST, your half-baked boycott would get Cryptic to move the reward from "beat round 4" to "beat round 10". At worst, being a lump would just ruin the fun of your fellow players.
You respond with some "I'm not playing it wrong!" non sequitur that completely misses the point. If you want Cryptic to change, you need to play into their metrics. That means, don't participate in the event or don't log in at all.
Cryptic hears that some players don't like the event. Then, lots of players log in and take part in the event. Confusion occurs. If so many people have a problem with the event, why are so many participating? Perhaps, it is just a vocal minority. No need to change anything.
I am not advocating this series of events, I am relaying it. As long as people log in and play, what motivates Cryptic to change anything?
I think we have a bit of a misunderstanding, I'll try to clear it up. My original post was not about 'sticking it to Cryptic', so much as making peace with the idea that there are going to be players who believe I am playing the game wrong, and will report me. It's based off of indifference rather than malice.
I also don't do boycotts. If I want to boycott a video game, I simply stop playing the game and doing business with the company.
I'm also not under any impression that simply not logging in and participating is the only viable kind of feedback to convey to Cryptic to state my disappointment. I believe in a wide spectrum of feedback at different points in my customer experience in order to paint a bigger picture to Cryptic. I believe strongly in giving developers ample opportunity to improve the game, and part of that is by playing the game my own way and allowing them to glean whatever information they think is most valuable from it.
For example, it isn't enough that Cryptic sees how many people are participating in an event, they need to see how players are playing the event. If they see a large number of players stopping at wave 5, that sends a more detailed message to them than if those players had never played at all. That gives them an option for future adjustments to the event, and events like them.
If they see players reporting each other for "playing the event wrong", that is also a valid form of feedback. I'm willing to guess that Cryptic does not want players wasting the time of their GM team based on their own mistakes with game design, rather than punishing players for not playing the game "the right way", as we've seen Cryptic attempt to punish players for their own development mistakes in the past, and it has never ended in Cryptic's favor. In doing so, these forms of communication may seem unorthodox, but when we've given Cryptic this feedback for the last few years on the forums, on social media, etc., and there's still no change to be made, I'm willing to advocate taking it one step further and simply let the players do what they want, for better or for worse, as long as the message is gotten across loud and clear.
My patience for change has worn thin, but I still hold out some hope that Cryptic will make the right decision sooner rather than later.
If the event has low participation numbers, that will get Cryptic's attention. Logging out at round 4 could mean the players are upset with the content or they are lazy and want easy rewards. They don't really have much info to work with other than "people are doing the bare minimum for maximum return". You mean, like the last two Mirror Invasion Events? Player outrage has yet to get Cryptic to address the design flaws and AFK issues with that event. Why are you expecting it to work with this event? As I said your message is lost because it is difficult to discern the intent behind all the "5 and done" participants. Some players just flat out hate the event, some players just want the dilithium, Some players are "protesting" that the weapon is not account unlock, some players just like trolling, etc.
Cryptic has no meaningful way to parse why players are "5 and done". Ultimately, I doubt it matters. As I said, if players are not playing long enough, Cryptic can just move the token to round 10.
My character Tsin'xing
Everybody knows people want maximum gain for minimum effort. That's called efficiency and any rational player would seek it. The only difference is what each player wants out of the mission. The event token, the dil/marks, the emote, the accolades and/or the challenge of seeing how far they can get. Cryptic's only failure is unsuccessfully trying to provide players with incompatible goals with their own queues (because they didn't make the short queue end as soon as it qualifies for the event token).
And Cryptic did address the player outrage about the design flaws of Mirror...in so far as the player outrage was about the design flaws. We got more rifts for the busybodies to close so they don't get bored waiting for the real mission to start. Obviously, they can't do much about players complaining that others don't play it their way. Just like they can't do much about it in Sompek, besides provide a separate queue for the players who just want short event token runs.
No doubt... I still have a couple toons with nearly finished Mirror events... I keep waiting and hoping they dont change the token...
ingame: @.Spartan
Original Cryptic Forum Name: Spartan (member #124)
The Glorious, Kirk’s Protegè
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.'
Showed a lack of foresight about the potential apathy that these bums on seats style events generate.
Only time spare tokens ever became a problem was with the winter/summer events when they made the silly mistake of unlocking the ships account-wide but leaving players to still accumulate tokens on every toon, thus resulting in many players grinding enough tokens across multiple toons it would last them the next decade of winter/summer events without playing at all.
The weekend event tokens are how they really should've handled that...like the reward, the token is also once-per-account so players can't produce excess.