I never know how much time I have to play the game at any given time.
Playing solo makes it easier, considering I don't have to worry about leaving teammates in a lurch. I do play when I can in Task Forces, like Red Alerts (which is now being transitioned to Weekend Events, which means I'll mostly end up skipping that, since I don't have much time on the weekends...) when I can, but....
I keep away from Fleets (tried it once on Tribble when testing for AoY, helping the fleet power through the testing before the Expansion Test deletion), since they tend to be high maintenance. I was in a Super Group in City of Heroes, and in a Player City in Star Wars Galaxies. I had enough of internal politics that happens in those kinds of content/situations.
Seeing a lack of players queuing puts me off doing so myself.
I can get rewards easier elsewhere (RA's, Admiralty, DOFFS)
Rewards are not worth the time/effort/investment required to get them.
Rewards are too small full stop.
varies from queue to queue as to the reason
Pretty much exactly this. Any queue/task force type system is inherently repetitive. If it is repetitive, then over time, I will note which ones are too challenging for some PUGs, which ones can fail due to poor design, which ones bug out and waste your time.
Seeing too few in a queue means I will have to wait to long for it, then it will tend to pop at 'exactly the wrong time' while I am busy at something else, and I will have to decline it.
In general, I am 'ok' with reward levels, but it is true that the math is pretty simple - if I can get more and better rewards, more reliably, doing something else, then the lower-reward queues will drop off the list.
"New content" is something you play for fun/exploration/challenge. "Repeat this older content over and over again for rewards to advance your character" is, by definition, grind. Nobody plays a queue 300 times because it is 'fun' after 300 times. The best you can hope for is that it is at least not totally boring and painful by then.
I play Borg and Tholian RA fairly often, for instance, because they are reliably quick - if I have just 15 minutes at the computer, I know I can be in and out, and get some Doffing/Admiralty in. They are also just slightly variable enough (due to random team makeup and mob behaviour) that so long as I am only doing a couple a day, they don't feel exactly the same.
I'm in a similar boat, although I always queue for starbase fleet defense, big dig and breaking the planet, too, when I'm sure I have at least an hour to play.
Although I don't agree with the "New content." ISA, for example, is still fun to me, although I may have played it more than 300 times. It's well designed, and as a low to mediocre dps player playing pugs, it's still challenging sometimes, depending on the group. That's why Omega Force together with Nukara (because CCA is fast) are usually the first reps to finish on new chars.
I forgot... theres one other reason I dont play certain queues... the HYPER dps crowd that smokes everything in the time it takes me to get to the target(s)... thats SO much fun/sarcasm
I forgot... theres one other reason I dont play certain queues... the HYPER dps crowd that smokes everything in the time it takes me to get to the target(s)... thats SO much fun/sarcasm
I sometimes solve that by looking at the direction they're headed and hitting a different objective.
I forgot... theres one other reason I dont play certain queues... the HYPER dps crowd that smokes everything in the time it takes me to get to the target(s)... thats SO much fun/sarcasm
Though annoying, this is really a problem because of a lack of decent high end content for those players. So they end up in the ISA runs where someone vapes the map, or in other places like CCA where it can be over before you get into range.
Those guys really only have HSE, Fez and a few other decent elite maps to run and some of those have questionable rewards, so it's no wonder they end up in pug runs with low ability players and dominate the place.
returned after 5 years, went to do the borg STF's that are still active in my characters journal only to find out the missions had been dismembered and theres no ingame guidance on how the story flows and which ones I should do. I loved those missions but now I have no idea whats what
Well, for the most part, the only reason I was even doing most of the reps, was the completionist/OCD itch. And that was ONLY because the old RA's awarded the dailies, and I could rotate which reps got the marks every couple of days. As it stands now, I wont even bother on my alts, and will probably only get T6 on my main, just ... because.
Very few of the Rep sets are even valid any more, with C-Store/LB/Mission rewards being so common now, most of my toons/builds don't even need them, and add to that, the fact that several of the rep sets are far, FAR too expensive in time/Dil cost to even consider (looking at YOU Adapted MACO).
There might be one specific rep I'll go for (such as the 8472 space set for an alt who flies a Dromiass, but that will be it for her). Maybe I'll grind out a rep ground set eventually for the costume unlock, but even that is questionable, as you can't generally "mix n match" those costumes with other pieces, so it needs to be a standout design and really fit what I want that toon to look like for me to bother.
RN Jeezus play more of a role in the game than any Trek character, so even the various traits are really only important to those that chase every single possible 0.0001% of DPS, and again, many of those (or similar) can be found elsewhere.
So unless the "rep grind" is kinda fun, such as "Swarm" for Gamma marks, or good for a bit of plain old pew, pew with good rewards, such as the Voth Ground BZ, I wont even bother any more.
The problem is not the queues... it is the queue system [...] Until they fix the queue system and show accurate players in line for each queue then nothing will change.
The player count has been removed from the queue user interface on the current Tribble test server build.
Although subject to change, this means that as of the release of AoD next week, the number of players queued will no longer be visible.
My comment about the number of players being displayed via highlighting the queue is incorrect. Any number displayed in the upper left "queued" area is the number of TFO's you are queued for, not the number of players.
I was quite surprised at the time that many of the players providing excellent feedback in the suggestion thread I linked within my Tribble feedback post weren't aware of the change.
Most of your answers are summed up with my vote. From mechanics, to story, to reward its all bad. To much copy and paste with new skins passing as new content.
Bugs are expected, but do turn a lot of players off(not that we can ever expect them to fix them.)
Lack of players doing them, also falls within bad design. Granted, as others have stated, there are various other reasons for this.
Once you complete a reputation, have the trait, and any equipment you want from that reputation, there's no point in bothering with it. There's nothing special to gain from doing them.
In the long run, it's better to use the weekend events and such to farm any marks you need and completely ignore the fact that the STF's exist. Less headache and hassle. Again, bad design on the overall, especially on the rewards here.
between the penaties for not producing when you get the uber dps guys to the people telling you you don't play wello enough for thier standards I refuse to play the queues. I will grind nucara romulus delta and the sphere, because i don't have to listen to the haters that way. if i cannopt get it done by myself, i won't waste my time. if those ways of getting rep go away so do I. the game pulls my from my daughter enough as it is on weekends. oh, and with all the power creep, there are some content that they could easily reduce the number of players from 15 to 7 or 10 to 5 or in the case of defera, eliminate the need for a team to do the hards.. I know i can solo the temple, and prbably the city. not sure I could the power plant.. might be fun
it's simple. i play what i want, not what some dev tries to force me to play. removing the red alerts is just shortening my time on the game. I MIGHT do a mission to progress an alt, more likely just log in to go admiralty and doffs.
> @lordsteve1 said: > Those guys really only have HSE, Fez and a few other decent elite maps to run and some of those have questionable rewards, so it's no wonder they end up in pug runs with low ability players and dominate the place.
Not me (and many others) That's how nerf happens (and still happens).
I have come face to face with the realities of bad rewards in this game. And this is so sad to me....
He can not get better gear just by playing the queues and does not enjoy the clicky "economy" side of the gear equation (upgrade, rep, specialization, etc....). There isn't enough time, anyways. And without better gear, he has dropped doing Advanced and Elite queues.
Coupled with the constant stream of Events and Featured Episodes, he has to drop normals. I suppose, FEs and Events is where one can get new gear by playing instead of clicking. And by the time all the gear is collected on all the characters, the burnout on this game is real.
So, here is someone who enjoys the video game part of the game....the exact type of people NEEDED to revitalize the Queues....but isn't using them.
In other words....they have made the acquisition of improved gear so dependent and intertwined with the clicky part of the game.
And, if players being in the queues is so important, I don't know why it has been set up this way.
"Spend your life doing strange things with weird people." -- UNK
“Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.” -- Benjamin Franklin
On the other hand...I don't mind the clicky part of the game. And I use it to pile things up in "collections" I have set up in various storage facilities. And I am happy with playing the game this way.
The video game part of the game is a novelty. I practice, but it isn't my main line. I do missions because they are there and I should finish them, right? It has become another completion thing. I am not interested in queues at all. There is no point in attempting to move me into doing them.....by giving me access to more "gear" via clickies.
I don't even care that all these "bars" that I fill is actually unlocking "better" traits or "gear" for me....I am filling them for the sake of filling them. And buying any of this gear is just taking away from my collections...so I won't do that, either.
It is like two different types of players they are trying to appease by combining this stuff, and I am not sure it works. It may work for a small subset of players...but it doesn't work for many.
The time we have...we want to do what we like.
The video game players want their time used to do queues or Red Alerts....not clicking and upgrading.
"Spend your life doing strange things with weird people." -- UNK
“Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.” -- Benjamin Franklin
Annemarie, the problem here, is that your reaction isn't typical, and may not be productive. (Boycotts don't work with Cryptic, they've been tried before, nor does threatening to quit/reduce your involvement. If they worked, PvP would have gotten the development that it hasn't since launch.)
It's not just her (?) and it's not about being productive or changing something... that's impossible with the current Devs.
It's simply to voice displeasure and disagreement and a Statement.
I know I won't change anything, no matter how much I argue... Venting my Frustration however helps immensely.
I have never ragequit any mission in the entire time i have been playing STO, not once, I do not AFK & I do not quit, even if I'm the only one who doesn't.
Heh, I don't personally care if things that are actually optionals fail. I don't leave unless the mission is actually impossible to complete.
I'm another who plays what I want. If I want to do a queue because I need marks, I play a queue. If I want to run around Tau Dewa, I do that. If I want to do a mission or play with a seldom-played alt, I do that. Moving PvEs around won't really affect me in the least.
I don't play them very much at all and if I have to wait till the weekends to play RAs when I need marks for content I'm not sure about or it doesn't pop, then that's what I'll do.
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.
I've been a bit curious about trying Neverwinter. I might one day. Right now I'm busy with Dragon Age and STO. Want to make a world state to do DAI with.
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.
So, I don't really run a lot of queues in general - I only need enough marks to complete the reps (I don't actually buy rep stuff in general), and I get those mostly from various events.
In the spirit of checking out "Why I play (or don't play) RAs and/or queues", I ran:
-2 Borg RAs. Worked as expected, fairly quick and successful runs, decent XP.
-2 Tholian RAs. Worked as expected, fairly quick, successful, decent XP.
-2 Azure Nebula Rescues. First run, 1 spawn point never generated any ships at all. Worked, but failed the optionals "Rescue 10 points quickly" because it just didn't generate ship spawns fast enough.
2nd run - now 2 spawn points/asteroids didn't generate ships (although 1 of them started with a ship, but then generated no more). In that run we didn't even get 7 ships done in one run. Calling this one 'bugged'.
-2 Infected Conduit Advanced. First one worked as expected, rapid progress through the STF. 2nd one, apparently filled with people who have never done it before... ships in all directions, grav wells pulling Nanite spheres *towards* the generators, barely enough DPS to complete it at all. Calling this one "Pugs are a really mixed bag".
-4 runs of Swarm. The first one worked OK, didn't take too long, paid decent Gamma marks. The next 3 in a row all bugged out on the "Destroy remaining H'urq ships" part of either Phase 1 (power up ships) or Phase 2 (Repair Satellites). 3 quits, 3 half hour leaver penalties for a critical, only-queue-for-Gamma-marks run that has been reported bugged for months.
So yeah, 12 runs, only 6 of which I consider "success, worth my time", 4 of the 6 were Borg or Tholian RA.
I remember now why I stopped running STFs.
Cryptic, if you're going to code new ways to prevent us from running the content we actually choose to run, at least fix the months and years old bugs in the content you are forcing us into.
I've been a bit curious about trying Neverwinter. I might one day. Right now I'm busy with Dragon Age and STO. Want to make a world state to do DAI with.
The only reason I bother with NW is tinkering with the Foundry.
Comments
Playing solo makes it easier, considering I don't have to worry about leaving teammates in a lurch. I do play when I can in Task Forces, like Red Alerts (which is now being transitioned to Weekend Events, which means I'll mostly end up skipping that, since I don't have much time on the weekends...) when I can, but....
I keep away from Fleets (tried it once on Tribble when testing for AoY, helping the fleet power through the testing before the Expansion Test deletion), since they tend to be high maintenance. I was in a Super Group in City of Heroes, and in a Player City in Star Wars Galaxies. I had enough of internal politics that happens in those kinds of content/situations.
I'm in a similar boat, although I always queue for starbase fleet defense, big dig and breaking the planet, too, when I'm sure I have at least an hour to play.
Although I don't agree with the "New content." ISA, for example, is still fun to me, although I may have played it more than 300 times. It's well designed, and as a low to mediocre dps player playing pugs, it's still challenging sometimes, depending on the group. That's why Omega Force together with Nukara (because CCA is fast) are usually the first reps to finish on new chars.
My character Tsin'xing
Though annoying, this is really a problem because of a lack of decent high end content for those players. So they end up in the ISA runs where someone vapes the map, or in other places like CCA where it can be over before you get into range.
Those guys really only have HSE, Fez and a few other decent elite maps to run and some of those have questionable rewards, so it's no wonder they end up in pug runs with low ability players and dominate the place.
Very few of the Rep sets are even valid any more, with C-Store/LB/Mission rewards being so common now, most of my toons/builds don't even need them, and add to that, the fact that several of the rep sets are far, FAR too expensive in time/Dil cost to even consider (looking at YOU Adapted MACO).
There might be one specific rep I'll go for (such as the 8472 space set for an alt who flies a Dromiass, but that will be it for her). Maybe I'll grind out a rep ground set eventually for the costume unlock, but even that is questionable, as you can't generally "mix n match" those costumes with other pieces, so it needs to be a standout design and really fit what I want that toon to look like for me to bother.
RN Jeezus play more of a role in the game than any Trek character, so even the various traits are really only important to those that chase every single possible 0.0001% of DPS, and again, many of those (or similar) can be found elsewhere.
So unless the "rep grind" is kinda fun, such as "Swarm" for Gamma marks, or good for a bit of plain old pew, pew with good rewards, such as the Voth Ground BZ, I wont even bother any more.
Although subject to change, this means that as of the release of AoD next week, the number of players queued will no longer be visible.
There is a photo of the new queue interface posted in this Tribble feedback thread.
My comment about the number of players being displayed via highlighting the queue is incorrect. Any number displayed in the upper left "queued" area is the number of TFO's you are queued for, not the number of players.
I was quite surprised at the time that many of the players providing excellent feedback in the suggestion thread I linked within my Tribble feedback post weren't aware of the change.
you are spitting in the wind. they are the ones who ragequit when they fail the optional. it's play thier way of stay off the server
Bugs are expected, but do turn a lot of players off(not that we can ever expect them to fix them.)
Lack of players doing them, also falls within bad design. Granted, as others have stated, there are various other reasons for this.
Once you complete a reputation, have the trait, and any equipment you want from that reputation, there's no point in bothering with it. There's nothing special to gain from doing them.
In the long run, it's better to use the weekend events and such to farm any marks you need and completely ignore the fact that the STF's exist. Less headache and hassle. Again, bad design on the overall, especially on the rewards here.
We come in peace, SHOOT TO KILL!
> Those guys really only have HSE, Fez and a few other decent elite maps to run and some of those have questionable rewards, so it's no wonder they end up in pug runs with low ability players and dominate the place.
Not me (and many others) That's how nerf happens (and still happens).
He can not get better gear just by playing the queues and does not enjoy the clicky "economy" side of the gear equation (upgrade, rep, specialization, etc....). There isn't enough time, anyways. And without better gear, he has dropped doing Advanced and Elite queues.
Coupled with the constant stream of Events and Featured Episodes, he has to drop normals. I suppose, FEs and Events is where one can get new gear by playing instead of clicking. And by the time all the gear is collected on all the characters, the burnout on this game is real.
So, here is someone who enjoys the video game part of the game....the exact type of people NEEDED to revitalize the Queues....but isn't using them.
In other words....they have made the acquisition of improved gear so dependent and intertwined with the clicky part of the game.
And, if players being in the queues is so important, I don't know why it has been set up this way.
“Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.” -- Benjamin Franklin
The video game part of the game is a novelty. I practice, but it isn't my main line. I do missions because they are there and I should finish them, right? It has become another completion thing. I am not interested in queues at all. There is no point in attempting to move me into doing them.....by giving me access to more "gear" via clickies.
I don't even care that all these "bars" that I fill is actually unlocking "better" traits or "gear" for me....I am filling them for the sake of filling them. And buying any of this gear is just taking away from my collections...so I won't do that, either.
It is like two different types of players they are trying to appease by combining this stuff, and I am not sure it works. It may work for a small subset of players...but it doesn't work for many.
The time we have...we want to do what we like.
The video game players want their time used to do queues or Red Alerts....not clicking and upgrading.
“Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.” -- Benjamin Franklin
It's not just her (?) and it's not about being productive or changing something... that's impossible with the current Devs.
It's simply to voice displeasure and disagreement and a Statement.
I know I won't change anything, no matter how much I argue... Venting my Frustration however helps immensely.
My character Tsin'xing
I don't play them very much at all and if I have to wait till the weekends to play RAs when I need marks for content I'm not sure about or it doesn't pop, then that's what I'll do.
In the spirit of checking out "Why I play (or don't play) RAs and/or queues", I ran:
-2 Borg RAs. Worked as expected, fairly quick and successful runs, decent XP.
-2 Tholian RAs. Worked as expected, fairly quick, successful, decent XP.
-2 Azure Nebula Rescues. First run, 1 spawn point never generated any ships at all. Worked, but failed the optionals "Rescue 10 points quickly" because it just didn't generate ship spawns fast enough.
2nd run - now 2 spawn points/asteroids didn't generate ships (although 1 of them started with a ship, but then generated no more). In that run we didn't even get 7 ships done in one run. Calling this one 'bugged'.
-2 Infected Conduit Advanced. First one worked as expected, rapid progress through the STF. 2nd one, apparently filled with people who have never done it before... ships in all directions, grav wells pulling Nanite spheres *towards* the generators, barely enough DPS to complete it at all. Calling this one "Pugs are a really mixed bag".
-4 runs of Swarm. The first one worked OK, didn't take too long, paid decent Gamma marks. The next 3 in a row all bugged out on the "Destroy remaining H'urq ships" part of either Phase 1 (power up ships) or Phase 2 (Repair Satellites). 3 quits, 3 half hour leaver penalties for a critical, only-queue-for-Gamma-marks run that has been reported bugged for months.
So yeah, 12 runs, only 6 of which I consider "success, worth my time", 4 of the 6 were Borg or Tholian RA.
I remember now why I stopped running STFs.
Cryptic, if you're going to code new ways to prevent us from running the content we actually choose to run, at least fix the months and years old bugs in the content you are forcing us into.
My character Tsin'xing