"Your gravity wells still work and will still deal their damage, only now the pull portion of the gravity well will not effect the shards. Science builds and science captains will still be a very valid choice for the queue, only now you actually have to avoid the shards and can't just suck them up into one space."
Compared to a tac captain in an escort, science trades away dps to gain other powers. One of those other powers is crowd control. Science captains can protect themselves and other teammates by trapping the shards. This change is taking that away, and making the mission pure dps.
Since when is a STF/TFO/whatever about anything other than pure DPS? Actually, I'll be honest, this map was tilted way too far in the direction of Science - Entity itself "immune" to energy weapons, so the Sci's favored Exotics and Torps are how you kill the monster, sufficient CtrlX trivialized the entire shard aspect of the mission by trapping and killing shards before they could affect the player, and sufficient levels of said exotic/kinetic damage could level the creature in literally seconds. As I review this change and get over the whole "they gimped an aspect of my build", I take solace knowing that the BFaWer in the random PUGs now has a purpose - covering me by blasting shards while I still take out the main target...
Detecting big-time "anti-old-school" bias here. NX? Lobi. TOS/TMP Connie? Super-promotion-box. (aka the two hardest ways to get ships) Excelsior & all 3 TNG "big hero" ships? C-Store. Please Equalize...
To rob a line: [quote: Mariemaia Kushrenada] Forum Posting is much like an endless waltz. The three beats of war, peace and revolution continue on forever. However, opinions will change upon the reading of my post.[/quote]
The Crystalline Catastrophe Task Force Operation has undergone some improvements! Our goal was to provide a deeper experience when taking on the Entity. The mechanics in place had the potential to do this, but weren’t able to shine.
There is now a 30 second mission briefing time before the queue begins. This allows players time to join the queue and read the briefing if necessary, before taking on the Entity.
...HUH!?
Waiting longer to do an STF that practically EVERYONE knows how to do at this point is an IMPROVEMENT!? Even if it's your first time, it's straight forward: "You see the giant evil crystal thing? SHOOT IT!" That's all anyone needs to know!
The Entity is now entirely Immune to damage while in its Absorption Phase. We wanted this phase to be about avoiding the Energy Release and preventing the shards from buffing the attack.
Takes even longer now. And there's no changes I see about getting more rewards. Lovely. More reason to not bother.
I can assure you it does not take longer to finish the mission. I did the event version last time that had all those changes.
The only reason the PvE queue version MAY take longer is because people are clicking on Random TFOs for the extra reward box...and 10-player queues are NOT in the Random TFO system.
"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
I did like the improved CE during the event. While not a total 'fix' to massive DPS, its better than everyone just soaking all the aoe damage and just pew pewing w/o any regard to the mechanics.
Nothing has really changed the only difference is when you get knocked back you have to spend a few seconds flying back into position. We still just soak up the AOE, ignore all the mechanics and just pew pew. Well I guess the other change is you have the now boring short AFK period half way though where you cannot do anything but watch a short timer go by. Hardly an improvement.
Now THIS is one of the biggest issues with CCA! Tunnel vision. This idea that the Entity is the only target on the map.
"Cannot do anything but watch a short timer go by". Untrue; actually, there are plenty of Tholian ships to shoot at, and even the occasional Terran ship.
Heck, I've often found the Tholian's MUCH more interesting to fight against in CCA - in numbers they actually present as the threat that the Entity itself (sadly) doesn't.
Tunnel visions doesn’t really apply to my build in that way. I have a mine layer carrier meaning my pets and main weapons are all indirect and independent from my targeting. Technically I don't even need to target anything, the only reason I have a target is because auto target it turned on.
Speak for yourself, the only reason people use to play it was BECAUSE it was a short queue that offered a lot of Nukara points. But it doesn't matter now after the TFO update, it's practically dead. Hell, it won't even pop up during Random TFOs either.
So, despite all these changes, almost nobody will ever see it, and I blame that on the fact that queue requirements are too high. 10 people is a bit much, especially when the Entity can be downed by only 2 or 3 people. And the fact that you can't see how many people are in that queue(or any queue), also hurts it.
Speak for yourself, the only reason people use to play it was BECAUSE it was a short queue that offered a lot of Nukara points. But it doesn't matter now after the TFO update, it's practically dead. Hell, it won't even pop up during Random TFOs either.
So, despite all these changes, almost nobody will ever see it, and I blame that on the fact that queue requirements are too high. 10 people is a bit much, especially when the Entity can be downed by only 2 or 3 people. And the fact that you can't see how many people are in that queue(or any queue), also hurts it.
Even if we take the DOOOOOOOOOM! at face value, the loss of a non-entity (something that was only played for quick resources) isn't exactly a problem worth lamentation (as in the zero sum game of what people do with their time this promotes any number of alternatives which might have more redeeming features to them.)
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I don't like this change to the regular CCA at all. It's actually killed the queue for me personally. Turning the regular CCA into the event version which this update is doing plus the new additions in immunity to damage and control effects serve as a massive shutdown of Sci powers/Sci DPS. CCA in it's old form served as a decent bar for Sci power/DPS that has officially been destroyed with this update.
The only thing I would say was welcome (not to me because I don't like waiting) but understandably was necessary for other players who load maps slowly was the timer, although 20 seconds should be enough not 30. Aside from that, every other change is unwelcome for someone who is into competitive Sci DPS. My build that I worked extremely hard on and put so many resources into has been neutered into uselessness in this queue.
I don't like this change at all. The only thing I can agree with is the timer for those who load maps slowly, but 20 seconds should be ample for that. All the other additions are completely unwelcome for me. CCA in it's regular form served as a decent bar for Sci DPS and turning it into the event version and then adding Sci DPS neutering control immunity and damage immunity has destroyed any meaningful form of competitive Sci DPS in this queue. Having spent so much time perfecting a build in which a vast amount of resources were put into, suddenly become useless overnight and not only that, but also having the competitive element of Sci DPS this queue provided destroyed as well has essentially ruined this queue for me, and I imagine others.
Definitely not as fun now. I always liked fighting the Tholians and now they get blow up by the Entity's blast.
+1 from me. The starting countdown is better but the overall feel is less fun with the pointless AFK bit and the bouncing your ship around. It’s not any harder or more challenging just 2 frustrating bits have been added. Another queue to write off the worth playing list with no suitable fun alternatives to replace it with
I don't like this change at all. The only thing I can agree with is the timer for those who load maps slowly, but 20 seconds should be ample for that. All the other additions are completely unwelcome for me. CCA in it's regular form served as a decent bar for Sci DPS and turning it into the event version and then adding Sci DPS neutering control immunity and damage immunity has destroyed any meaningful form of competitive Sci DPS in this queue. Having spent so much time perfecting a build in which a vast amount of resources were put into, suddenly become useless overnight and not only that, but also having the competitive element of Sci DPS this queue provided destroyed as well has essentially ruined this queue for me, and I imagine others.
Not cool at all.
Providing a one dimensional DPS bar for a given class of build isn't exactly in Cryptic's primary remit as game developer. IMO the changes make the entity much more engaging as a PVE as it requires something other than alpha striking and spamming powers at a single target without effective defenses (given the nullification of mechanics by sci.) As someone who uses sci on a regular basis, that quite frankly doesn't register on my experience playing STO and for everything I did to optimize along that non-experience to maximize the frequency of top prize finishes (which can be done with any performance based activity regardless of its intrinsic value for constructive satisfaction or entertainment, or indeed how the process can overshoot the mark and eat into both of the above to the point where I'm optimizing against time alone as any other bare sensory input has been reduced to the point of becoming trivial,) I appreciate Cryptic pulling that skinner box structure out of the queue in favor of something else. Ie. a more defined set of challenges and dynamics which forces me to do more than execute a routine which I could just as well macro.
I may have done a lot to optimize that routine, but it's still a routine and, as an aside, one should never expect any given build to remain competitive in anything with evolving gameplay design (video game, card game, whatever). Changes like this can and do happen and you should always be aware of that when choosing to invest time and potentially money in that game (though I think it's overstating the problem by a long way to say that resources put into sci builds have been wasted because of what Cryptic's done to a single queue or can't be tweaked to still perform well in spite of no longer invalidating the shards.)
This is darn cool and I hope very sincerely that any further changes to CCA (and other queues) are more along these lines. Ie. induce new player behavior through well telegraphed mechanics and non-standard combat units (ie the updated shards) which is rather basic to MMO-RPG gameplay design at higher player levels (and something STO's let slide for quite some time) as they can do a lot to differentiate combat and maintain some sense of conscious perception in gameplay (even with long repetition.) Ie. serve as the basis of fun and/or satisfying combat, provide new routes of optimization, and give new facets for TFO design. Ie. make for a better game.
Post edited by duncanidaho11 on
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I don't like this change at all. The only thing I can agree with is the timer for those who load maps slowly, but 20 seconds should be ample for that. All the other additions are completely unwelcome for me. CCA in it's regular form served as a decent bar for Sci DPS and turning it into the event version and then adding Sci DPS neutering control immunity and damage immunity has destroyed any meaningful form of competitive Sci DPS in this queue. Having spent so much time perfecting a build in which a vast amount of resources were put into, suddenly become useless overnight and not only that, but also having the competitive element of Sci DPS this queue provided destroyed as well has essentially ruined this queue for me, and I imagine others.
Not cool at all.
Providing a one dimensional DPS bar for a given class of build isn't exactly in Cryptic's primary remit as game developer. IMO the changes make the entity much more engaging as a PVE as it requires something other than alpha striking and spamming powers at a single target without effective defenses (given the nullification of mechanics by sci.) As someone who uses sci on a regular basis, that quite frankly doesn't register on my experience playing STO and for everything I did to optimize along that non-experience to maximize the frequency of top prize finishes (which can be done with any performance based activity regardless of its intrinsic value for constructive satisfaction or entertainment, or indeed how the process can overshoot the mark and eat into both of the above to the point where I'm optimizing against time alone as any other bare sensory input has been reduced to the point of becoming trivial,) I appreciate Cryptic pulling that skinner box structure out of the queue in favor of something else. Ie. a more defined set of challenges and dynamics which forces me to do more than execute a routine which I could just as well macro.
I may have done a lot to optimize that routine, but it's still a routine and, as an aside, one should never expect any given build to remain competitive in anything with evolving gameplay design (video game, card game, whatever). Changes like this can and do happen and you should always be aware of that when choosing to invest time and potentially money in that game (though I think it's overstating the problem by a long way to say that resources put into sci builds have been wasted because of what Cryptic's done to a single queue or can't be tweaked to still perform well in spite of no longer invalidating the shards.)
This is darn cool and I hope very sincerely that any further changes to CCA (and other queues) are more along these lines. Ie. induce new player behavior through well telegraphed mechanics and non-standard combat units (ie the updated shards) which is rather basic to MMO-RPG gameplay design at higher player levels (and something STO's let slide for quite some time) as they can do a lot to differentiate combat and maintain some sense of conscious perception in gameplay (even with long repetition.) Ie. serve as the basis of fun and/or satisfying combat, provide new routes of optimization, and give new facets for TFO design. Ie. make for a better game.
Your opinion is the opposite of what I am getting from most people I have spoke to.
Making something less fun and more frustrating is not making for a better game. For me little has changed apart from I have to sit AFK at one stage which is boring and pointless and my ship gets bounced around the map which is never a fun experience. Lastly I no longer have to think about which weapon to fire at which point in time and no longer have to think about when to time each bridge officer power as they dumbed the mission down so that no longer matters. I just sit still and pointlessly shoot now because there is nothing else worthwhile to do. Apart from that the rest of the changes are unnoticeable and have zero impact on me.
No new routes of optimisation have been opened only some removed. It is not more engaging in fact due to the enforced sitting AFK and various tactics being stripped out of the mission it is now less engaging and just turned into a over simple sit still and shoot mission without thinking. Combat and the mission is now overall less satisfying. I do not see any positive new facets in TFO design in this apart from the starting timer which was a good move.
Like the others I am going to go with this is not cool. CE was one of my top played most fun queues, now I am going to abandon it as all the fun has been sucked out.
Like the others I am going to go with this is not cool. CE was one of my top played most fun queues, now I am going to abandon it as all the fun has been sucked out.
Good, if your personal definition of fun is (contrary to our previous conversations regarding elite TFO's being your thing) a 30 second queue (in total length) where you park yourself at a single target and are so bereft of other sensory and strategic inputs that the greatest concern you have is weapon firing order (and absolute low point in any STO activity and condemnation for the state the old CCA was in.)
(Hey, you wanted another go in replying to me despite my comment being directed at another user.)
If you now can't concentrate on precise firing cycles because something else is drawing your attention away (in direct contradiction of your tid-for-tat point that these changes are actually reductive), then the update is doing the bare minimum of what it should do to bring CCA up to the level of a gameplay activity which registers in basic human experience (ex. having to look up from your macro routines at your environment.) However, in my playtime it's doing considerably better than that. Skirmishing can be a lot of fun (in the original sense of the word, not neurochemical feedback dependence) in trying to maximize damage to other targets while working between sieging phases. If you're AFK'ing , well for one take care of business before queuing [see. away from keyboard, your literal words] and secondly I think you're simply showing inflexibility in still maintaining single target fixation despite the new design. Ie. you're inflicting a considerable amount of frustration upon yourself and for no evident reason that the new CCA not maintaining a precise balance of factors the old TFO had irrespective of how those created a one-dimensional skinner box.
It wasn't a good queue, the principle popularity of old CCA was most likely the rewards/effort ratio, and the changes Cryptic has made have had an improvement with respect to basic gameplay design (elevating itself, at the very least, from non-reactive DPS benchmark.) They, furthermore, differentiate CCA from other functional queues by promoting a rhythmic pattern of gameplay where optimization between skirmishing and sieging can occur both through build choices and playstyle (with direct interactions between them), increasing the strategic depth to CCA by an order of magnitude. (3 to 1 with full factorial on the simple facets here, ignoring how other builds can also play into these new dynamics, the less restrictive nature of skirmishing, and the relative extent of "sieging" builds under regimes of single-point maximization versus subjective optimization inclusive of another factor. The actual expansion of gameplay space is likely much greater.)
Post edited by duncanidaho11 on
Bipedal mammal and senior Foundry author.
Notable missions: Apex [AEI], Gemini [SSF], Trident [AEI], Evolution's Smile [SSF], Transcendence
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The queue has been normalized with respect to time / reward payout and restructured to fit new corporate TFO game design parameters, among other things.
I remain neutral... I still play it and hope that it continues to be as popular with players as it was previously.
Certainly. To take the most extreme portrayal of old CCA to illustrate the point, even a one dimensional skinner box can be liked by those engaged with it and illustrating how that fails to meet specified criteria for game design (or best practices in working with human pscyhology) doesn't change that fact. But if you're going to bring an argument to an open forum listing reasons why the new CCA is bad (with implicit or explicit advocacy that it be changed back) folks are also allow the chance to rebuttal and bring critical reasons to do so since that can serve as the foundation for constructive discussion (capable of bridging preference and opinion and coming to commonly appreciable points that can be helpful in evaluating the current TFO.) Folks are allowed to like it too and put forward a case for why it shouldn't be reverted.
That's basic and if someone doesn't want to engage with critical discussion and simply give their two cents then all they need to do is not reply to that discussion or any attempts at initiation. That's actively seeking participation. Someone else on the internet ranting at your post (to take the most typological view here for illustration, but do note that the first post I quoted wasn't Pottsey's) doesn't detract from its value as a datapoint of feedback on a developer-curated forum (though folks can still treat discussion as an evolving thing subject for mutual review if they so choose.)
"Your gravity wells still work and will still deal their damage, only now the pull portion of the gravity well will not effect the shards. Science builds and science captains will still be a very valid choice for the queue, only now you actually have to avoid the shards and can't just suck them up into one space."
Compared to a tac captain in an escort, science trades away dps to gain other powers. One of those other powers is crowd control. Science captains can protect themselves and other teammates by trapping the shards. This change is taking that away, and making the mission pure dps.
In that case, use crowd control more efficently. As said in my previous post - still plenty of Tholian ships to focus on.
In fact, more often than not when I bother playing CCA you're more liable to see me being a massive thorn in the Tholians side; this carries the added benefit that, since so many players can't think past 'shoot the entity', I'm actually keeping the Tholians from causing them too many problems.
Oh and I did want to give a "here here" to this. My favorite approach for my KDF ENG in the early days of old CCA was to run interference with the Tholians, hold threat, and make a sizable dent in their population to help other players in the team. And I should note that it still did well in terms of the ranking indices though for me the VR gear was never much of a consideration. Now that dedicated skirmishing approach is more valid again because of the shards (most prominently) and the absorption phase forcing players to move out of an optimal siege position and potentially into more Tholians (even if you've avoided them once there's now more of a chance of entering into firing range when repositioning.) Clearing those out helps give players more safe are to move and if folks are having any trouble with the minor NPC's I would simply recommend trying a build that specifically focuses on them.
You'll get some payback, a change of pace, and you might find some strategies that can help with your entity sieging builds (on my FED TAC I'm balancing the two styles between each phase and that's a very engaging way to play the new CCA.)
Post edited by duncanidaho11 on
Bipedal mammal and senior Foundry author.
Notable missions: Apex [AEI], Gemini [SSF], Trident [AEI], Evolution's Smile [SSF], Transcendence
Looking for something new to play? I've started building Foundry missions again in visual novel form!
I don't like this change at all. The only thing I can agree with is the timer for those who load maps slowly, but 20 seconds should be ample for that. All the other additions are completely unwelcome for me. CCA in it's regular form served as a decent bar for Sci DPS and turning it into the event version and then adding Sci DPS neutering control immunity and damage immunity has destroyed any meaningful form of competitive Sci DPS in this queue. Having spent so much time perfecting a build in which a vast amount of resources were put into, suddenly become useless overnight and not only that, but also having the competitive element of Sci DPS this queue provided destroyed as well has essentially ruined this queue for me, and I imagine others.
Not cool at all.
Providing a one dimensional DPS bar for a given class of build isn't exactly in Cryptic's primary remit as game developer. IMO the changes make the entity much more engaging as a PVE as it requires something other than alpha striking and spamming powers at a single target without effective defenses (given the nullification of mechanics by sci.) As someone who uses sci on a regular basis, that quite frankly doesn't register on my experience playing STO and for everything I did to optimize along that non-experience to maximize the frequency of top prize finishes (which can be done with any performance based activity regardless of its intrinsic value for constructive satisfaction or entertainment, or indeed how the process can overshoot the mark and eat into both of the above to the point where I'm optimizing against time alone as any other bare sensory input has been reduced to the point of becoming trivial,) I appreciate Cryptic pulling that skinner box structure out of the queue in favor of something else. Ie. a more defined set of challenges and dynamics which forces me to do more than execute a routine which I could just as well macro.
I may have done a lot to optimize that routine, but it's still a routine and, as an aside, one should never expect any given build to remain competitive in anything with evolving gameplay design (video game, card game, whatever). Changes like this can and do happen and you should always be aware of that when choosing to invest time and potentially money in that game (though I think it's overstating the problem by a long way to say that resources put into sci builds have been wasted because of what Cryptic's done to a single queue or can't be tweaked to still perform well in spite of no longer invalidating the shards.)
This is darn cool and I hope very sincerely that any further changes to CCA (and other queues) are more along these lines. Ie. induce new player behavior through well telegraphed mechanics and non-standard combat units (ie the updated shards) which is rather basic to MMO-RPG gameplay design at higher player levels (and something STO's let slide for quite some time) as they can do a lot to differentiate combat and maintain some sense of conscious perception in gameplay (even with long repetition.) Ie. serve as the basis of fun and/or satisfying combat, provide new routes of optimization, and give new facets for TFO design. Ie. make for a better game.
Your opinion is the opposite of what I am getting from most people I have spoke to.
Making something less fun and more frustrating is not making for a better game. For me little has changed apart from I have to sit AFK at one stage which is boring and pointless and my ship gets bounced around the map which is never a fun experience. Lastly I no longer have to think about which weapon to fire at which point in time and no longer have to think about when to time each bridge officer power as they dumbed the mission down so that no longer matters. I just sit still and pointlessly shoot now because there is nothing else worthwhile to do. Apart from that the rest of the changes are unnoticeable and have zero impact on me.
No new routes of optimisation have been opened only some removed. It is not more engaging in fact due to the enforced sitting AFK and various tactics being stripped out of the mission it is now less engaging and just turned into a over simple sit still and shoot mission without thinking. Combat and the mission is now overall less satisfying. I do not see any positive new facets in TFO design in this apart from the starting timer which was a good move.
Like the others I am going to go with this is not cool. CE was one of my top played most fun queues, now I am going to abandon it as all the fun has been sucked out.
While I'm sure some people might like this new change, it has unfortunately turned me off of this queue like it has for you and a lot of others I know, and I'll no longer be playing it as well as it offers me nothing new from what I was getting from it before and has actually subtracted from the experience significantly for me.
The queue was great fun as for a lot of us it had a DPS competitive element which we would compete against each other through with a leaderboard via parsers, it was fun and exciting coming up with builds and putting new ones through trial runs and seeing were we landed. Intelligent ship building/theory crafting was an immersive and very fun part of this and has sadly been eliminated from this queue with the new changes.
I know that one guy in the thread didn't like the queue because for him it was too "one dimensional", but for many of us there was quite a lot more to it than that. Anyways, another change and another queue removed from my rotation.
I don't like this change at all. The only thing I can agree with is the timer for those who load maps slowly, but 20 seconds should be ample for that. All the other additions are completely unwelcome for me. CCA in it's regular form served as a decent bar for Sci DPS and turning it into the event version and then adding Sci DPS neutering control immunity and damage immunity has destroyed any meaningful form of competitive Sci DPS in this queue. Having spent so much time perfecting a build in which a vast amount of resources were put into, suddenly become useless overnight and not only that, but also having the competitive element of Sci DPS this queue provided destroyed as well has essentially ruined this queue for me, and I imagine others.
Not cool at all.
Providing a one dimensional DPS bar for a given class of build isn't exactly in Cryptic's primary remit as game developer. IMO the changes make the entity much more engaging as a PVE as it requires something other than alpha striking and spamming powers at a single target without effective defenses (given the nullification of mechanics by sci.) As someone who uses sci on a regular basis, that quite frankly doesn't register on my experience playing STO and for everything I did to optimize along that non-experience to maximize the frequency of top prize finishes (which can be done with any performance based activity regardless of its intrinsic value for constructive satisfaction or entertainment, or indeed how the process can overshoot the mark and eat into both of the above to the point where I'm optimizing against time alone as any other bare sensory input has been reduced to the point of becoming trivial,) I appreciate Cryptic pulling that skinner box structure out of the queue in favor of something else. Ie. a more defined set of challenges and dynamics which forces me to do more than execute a routine which I could just as well macro.
I may have done a lot to optimize that routine, but it's still a routine and, as an aside, one should never expect any given build to remain competitive in anything with evolving gameplay design (video game, card game, whatever). Changes like this can and do happen and you should always be aware of that when choosing to invest time and potentially money in that game (though I think it's overstating the problem by a long way to say that resources put into sci builds have been wasted because of what Cryptic's done to a single queue or can't be tweaked to still perform well in spite of no longer invalidating the shards.)
This is darn cool and I hope very sincerely that any further changes to CCA (and other queues) are more along these lines. Ie. induce new player behavior through well telegraphed mechanics and non-standard combat units (ie the updated shards) which is rather basic to MMO-RPG gameplay design at higher player levels (and something STO's let slide for quite some time) as they can do a lot to differentiate combat and maintain some sense of conscious perception in gameplay (even with long repetition.) Ie. serve as the basis of fun and/or satisfying combat, provide new routes of optimization, and give new facets for TFO design. Ie. make for a better game.
Your opinion is the opposite of what I am getting from most people I have spoke to.
Making something less fun and more frustrating is not making for a better game. For me little has changed apart from I have to sit AFK at one stage which is boring and pointless and my ship gets bounced around the map which is never a fun experience. Lastly I no longer have to think about which weapon to fire at which point in time and no longer have to think about when to time each bridge officer power as they dumbed the mission down so that no longer matters. I just sit still and pointlessly shoot now because there is nothing else worthwhile to do. Apart from that the rest of the changes are unnoticeable and have zero impact on me.
No new routes of optimisation have been opened only some removed. It is not more engaging in fact due to the enforced sitting AFK and various tactics being stripped out of the mission it is now less engaging and just turned into a over simple sit still and shoot mission without thinking. Combat and the mission is now overall less satisfying. I do not see any positive new facets in TFO design in this apart from the starting timer which was a good move.
Like the others I am going to go with this is not cool. CE was one of my top played most fun queues, now I am going to abandon it as all the fun has been sucked out.
Agreed, most people I've been talking to have also been disappointed in the changes. While some people might like the new changes, for me the changes have resulted in a massive negative impact to the experience without actually adding anything in return.
The competitive element was really fun, it was great theory crafting and testing new builds and putting them in action and seeing where they ended up, there was a whole competitive element with a leader board via parser and that has now been ruined completely with the new changes. I know that guy in here ragged on the original version for being in his opinion "one dimensional" but to a lot of us there was more to it than there was to him.
Anyway, another queue changed, another one removed from my play rotation.
[I'm confused. This is in response to changes to CCA??
'Competetive'? about it - it rarely lasted more than 20 seconds on average and often as little as ten seconds. The only 'competetive' element was racing to get into firing range in the hope of getting a shot in before the useless thing died!
Yeah, the design of the queue did not readily support competitive gameplay. The entity, shards, and Tholians were non-factors to most runs. When the only thing there is to activity is the leaderboard then you know that you've reached a nadir of game design since any functional activity should be able to provide more than a bare means of scoring players. That's the minimum requirement.
Again, folks may have enjoyed this aspect (for its own sake, though IMO running with a DPS parser on is a far more elegant solution to having competitive leaderboards in STO than maintaining CCA in its old form) but that very personal reaction doesn't automatically outweigh the enormous functional deficiencies this queue had which were addressed, at least in part, by the update. Those problems (ie. minimal gameplay, disproportionate rewards) place significant constraints on reverting the TFO back to a simple DPS benchmark test and (for those in the nay camp) it might be worth considering how else that principle could be applied to other activities. A benchmark patrol with a daily leaderboard (for example) may be more conducive to competitive interests than trying to force a TFO to fit that mold (and it should be worth noting that groups like SRS Fleet already have this in a form through purpose built Foundry missions and managed leaderboards.)
Post edited by duncanidaho11 on
Bipedal mammal and senior Foundry author.
Notable missions: Apex [AEI], Gemini [SSF], Trident [AEI], Evolution's Smile [SSF], Transcendence
Looking for something new to play? I've started building Foundry missions again in visual novel form!
How about we all agree here to stop using "most", "some", "all", "everyone", etc.? You don't speak for anyone other than yourself. You don't like it or the change? Fine. YOU don't like it. Don't speak for some unprovable "majority" of people. You love it and the changes? Great! But you also don't speak for some unknown quantity. Keep your opinions, YOUR opinions. Thanks. Carry on.
Star Trek Online Volunteer Community Moderator and Resident She-Wolf
Community Moderators are Unpaid Volunteers and NOT Employees of Gearbox/Cryptic
Views and Opinions May Not Reflect the Views and Opinions of Gearbox/Cryptic
“As has been said, can't help but think that it's an advantage in a mission that it was (at least in it's current form) possible to complete in three seconds.”
I don’t mind missions being made longer but I don’t think this is a positive way to do it as I do not see how it’s an advantage to artificially extend a mission by what is it around 30% of the total time mission being a wait timer? Granted I like the starting timer which I find on average is only about 15seconds which to me is perfect. When that first timer came out in the event I was worried, but I was wrong it’s great. But the 2nd and 3rd waiting timers don’t do anything positive towards the mission for me. I found those stages with bouncing my ship around the map are less fun to play.
“Good, if your personal definition of fun is (contrary to our previous conversations regarding elite TFO's being your thing) a 30 second queue (in total length) where you park yourself at a single target and are so bereft of other sensory and strategic inputs that the greatest concern you have is weapon firing order (and absolute low point in any STO activity and condemnation for the state the old CCA was in.)”
Not everything is either/or there is nothing contrary to our previous conversations. Yes Elites are my thing but that doesn’t mean I don’t take part in anything unless it’s Elite. I used to run CCA every single day for years but no longer and my greatest concern is not weapon firing order. My greatest concern is environment positioning and piloting. That matters more than anything else for my build.
Can you please follow the mods advice? You have made a lot of false sweeping statements that might apply to you but not apply to all of us. Things like “park yourself at a single target and are so bereft of other sensory and strategic inputs”, “greatest concern you have is weapon firing order” or “something that was only played for quick resources” which are all incorrect for me.
“If you now can't concentrate on precise firing cycles because something else is drawing your attention away (in direct contradiction of your tid-for-tat point that these changes are actually reductive), then the update is doing the bare minimum of what it should do to bring CCA up to the level of a gameplay activity which registers in basic human experience (ex. having to look up from your macro routines at your environment.)” !
It is not a direct contraction as you have it wrong . I am not failing to concentrate on precise firing cycles because something else is drawing my attention away. I am not bothering to pay attention to firing cycles anymore in CCA as it no longer matters as the mission has been made simpler so there is no benefit in thinking about what I am doing anymore. Same for bridge officer powers there is for the most part no longer a benefit for thinking about when I active X power which combined with the weapons no longer mattering anymore has made the mission gameplay space much smaller. For me its turned into a over simple fly to a spot, park and leave everything on auto fire. I found the old version more fun and more engaging where paying attention to weapons firing, bridge officer timings mattered and offered a benefit. That was better gameplay as in involved player interaction, now I just fly forward, park and leave everything on auto fire because the mission is so basic now. For me the old one had a much higher level of gameplay activity.
With my builds the more I look at the new mission the more I find it has minimal gameplay with less player interaction and less strategic inputs. Gameplay activity has been reduced to the point where it doesn’t feel fun running anymore . Gameplay activity has falling below the point where it registers as a positive human experience for me which is why I am dropping running it.
“I think you're simply showing inflexibility in still maintaining single target fixation despite the new design. Ie. you're inflicting a considerable amount of frustration upon yourself and for no evident reason that the new CCA not maintaining a precise balance of factors the old TFO had irrespective of how those created a one-dimensional skinner box.” !
Why would you think that when I already explained my build isn’t built around target fixation and doesn’t even use the target function? I am not putting considerable frustration upon myself and target fixation doesn't apply to my build as my ship weapons and bridge powers for the most part are independent of targeting.
“It wasn't a good queue, the principle popularity of old CCA was most likely the rewards/effort ratio,” !
Not for me. A lot of us didn’t care about the rewards/effort ratio as the rewards are worthless to us, so are a none factor. Sure some play for the reward but not all. Then there was the group that used it as a popular league map which was one reason why it was popular. Before the changes and last time I looked it was in the top 3 most popular maps to use in the leagues. Which was one of the reason I played it not to compete against other players but to compete against myself in the league. But for me the changes have put a stop to all that.
Guys if things can't be kept civil I will not hesitate to bust out the mod sword and no one wants that. At this point perhaps it's best to agree to disagree.
"Someone once told me that time was a predator that stalked us all our lives. I rather believe that time is a companion who goes with us on the journey and reminds us to cherish every moment, because it will never come again." - Jean Luc Picard in Star Trek Generations
Certainly. To take the most extreme portrayal of old CCA to illustrate the point, even a one dimensional skinner box can be liked by those engaged with it and illustrating how that fails to meet specified criteria for game design (or best practices in working with human pscyhology) doesn't change that fact. But if you're going to bring an argument to an open forum listing reasons why the new CCA is bad (with implicit or explicit advocacy that it be changed back) folks are also allow the chance to rebuttal and bring critical reasons to do so since that can serve as the foundation for constructive discussion (capable of bridging preference and opinion and coming to commonly appreciable points that can be helpful in evaluating the current TFO.) Folks are allowed to like it too and put forward a case for why it shouldn't be reverted.
That's basic and if someone doesn't want to engage with critical discussion and simply give their two cents then all they need to do is not reply to that discussion or any attempts at initiation. That's actively seeking participation. Someone else on the internet ranting at your post (to take the most typological view here for illustration, but do note that the first post I quoted wasn't Pottsey's) doesn't detract from its value as a datapoint of feedback on a developer-curated forum (though folks can still treat discussion as an evolving thing subject for mutual review if they so choose.) <snip>
I don't like this change at all. The only thing I can agree with is the timer for those who load maps slowly, but 20 seconds should be ample for that. All the other additions are completely unwelcome for me. CCA in it's regular form served as a decent bar for Sci DPS and turning it into the event version and then adding Sci DPS neutering control immunity and damage immunity has destroyed any meaningful form of competitive Sci DPS in this queue. Having spent so much time perfecting a build in which a vast amount of resources were put into, suddenly become useless overnight and not only that, but also having the competitive element of Sci DPS this queue provided destroyed as well has essentially ruined this queue for me, and I imagine others.
Not cool at all.
Providing a one dimensional DPS bar for a given class of build isn't exactly in Cryptic's primary remit as game developer. IMO the changes make the entity much more engaging as a PVE as it requires something other than alpha striking and spamming powers at a single target without effective defenses (given the nullification of mechanics by sci.) As someone who uses sci on a regular basis, that quite frankly doesn't register on my experience playing STO and for everything I did to optimize along that non-experience to maximize the frequency of top prize finishes (which can be done with any performance based activity regardless of its intrinsic value for constructive satisfaction or entertainment, or indeed how the process can overshoot the mark and eat into both of the above to the point where I'm optimizing against time alone as any other bare sensory input has been reduced to the point of becoming trivial,) I appreciate Cryptic pulling that skinner box structure out of the queue in favor of something else. Ie. a more defined set of challenges and dynamics which forces me to do more than execute a routine which I could just as well macro.
I may have done a lot to optimize that routine, but it's still a routine and, as an aside, one should never expect any given build to remain competitive in anything with evolving gameplay design (video game, card game, whatever). Changes like this can and do happen and you should always be aware of that when choosing to invest time and potentially money in that game (though I think it's overstating the problem by a long way to say that resources put into sci builds have been wasted because of what Cryptic's done to a single queue or can't be tweaked to still perform well in spite of no longer invalidating the shards.)
This is darn cool and I hope very sincerely that any further changes to CCA (and other queues) are more along these lines. Ie. induce new player behavior through well telegraphed mechanics and non-standard combat units (ie the updated shards) which is rather basic to MMO-RPG gameplay design at higher player levels (and something STO's let slide for quite some time) as they can do a lot to differentiate combat and maintain some sense of conscious perception in gameplay (even with long repetition.) Ie. serve as the basis of fun and/or satisfying combat, provide new routes of optimization, and give new facets for TFO design. Ie. make for a better game.
Your opinion is the opposite of what I am getting from most people I have spoke to.
Making something less fun and more frustrating is not making for a better game. For me little has changed apart from I have to sit AFK at one stage which is boring and pointless and my ship gets bounced around the map which is never a fun experience. Lastly I no longer have to think about which weapon to fire at which point in time and no longer have to think about when to time each bridge officer power as they dumbed the mission down so that no longer matters. I just sit still and pointlessly shoot now because there is nothing else worthwhile to do. Apart from that the rest of the changes are unnoticeable and have zero impact on me.
No new routes of optimisation have been opened only some removed. It is not more engaging in fact due to the enforced sitting AFK and various tactics being stripped out of the mission it is now less engaging and just turned into a over simple sit still and shoot mission without thinking. Combat and the mission is now overall less satisfying. I do not see any positive new facets in TFO design in this apart from the starting timer which was a good move.
Like the others I am going to go with this is not cool. CE was one of my top played most fun queues, now I am going to abandon it as all the fun has been sucked out.
Agreed, most people I've been talking to have also been disappointed in the changes. While some people might like the new changes, for me the changes have resulted in a massive negative impact to the experience without actually adding anything in return.
The competitive element was really fun, it was great theory crafting and testing new builds and putting them in action and seeing where they ended up, there was a whole competitive element with a leader board via parser and that has now been ruined completely with the new changes. I know that guy in here ragged on the original version for being in his opinion "one dimensional" but to a lot of us there was more to it than there was to him.
Anyway, another queue changed, another one removed from my play rotation.
I sympathize with you. I'm in the exact same boat now.
I think with all the negativity surrounding this change, it would have been a better idea to leave the old version in place as it was and add this new updated version along side it so players could have a choice between the two.
The game could really use more new content. It would be better for everyone if the designers focus more on adding new queues, rather than changing already established well liked ones.
I think with all the negativity surrounding this change, it would have been a better idea to leave the old version in place as it was and add this new updated version along side it so players could have a choice between the two.
The game could really use more new content. It would be better for everyone if the designers focus more on adding new queues, rather than changing already established well liked ones.
Because that would split the CC population and given the pretty monumental imbalance in reward/effort ratio (see. most discussions RE. CCA . Note that feedback didn't start with these changes and that the voices here by no means represents the interests of the population as expressed variously over time [both explicitly and implicitly through statistics]) that would have disproportionately favor the old version to the point of absolutely undermining the changes which addressed (among other things) that reward imbalance (a rather easily quantifiable aspect that fails the standards we can assume Cryptic has for queue design) given standard grinding tendencies.
Ie. having both would have been a hobbled half-step that would have only favored one camp. It wouldn't have been an equitable compromise. See. previous suggestion of DPS benchmark patrols over advanced TFO's for a more consistent example of what a compromise would probably look like (ie. have something in the game that could fulfill the role that CCA had for some people but without the unbalancing impacts it had on the TFO system, specifically, and quantifiably lacking gameplay for its class of activity [see. <1 minute runs. At that level it's a fairly binary case of "it needed more."])
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Comments
IIRC, this was the first that was "ruined" with a mandatory full minute "timeout" - I mean briefing - so halving it is a step in the right direction.
Since when is a STF/TFO/whatever about anything other than pure DPS?
To rob a line: [quote: Mariemaia Kushrenada] Forum Posting is much like an endless waltz. The three beats of war, peace and revolution continue on forever. However, opinions will change upon the reading of my post.[/quote]
...HUH!?
Waiting longer to do an STF that practically EVERYONE knows how to do at this point is an IMPROVEMENT!? Even if it's your first time, it's straight forward: "You see the giant evil crystal thing? SHOOT IT!" That's all anyone needs to know!
Takes even longer now. And there's no changes I see about getting more rewards. Lovely. More reason to not bother.
I can assure you it does not take longer to finish the mission. I did the event version last time that had all those changes.
The only reason the PvE queue version MAY take longer is because people are clicking on Random TFOs for the extra reward box...and 10-player queues are NOT in the Random TFO system.
“Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.” -- Benjamin Franklin
So, despite all these changes, almost nobody will ever see it, and I blame that on the fact that queue requirements are too high. 10 people is a bit much, especially when the Entity can be downed by only 2 or 3 people. And the fact that you can't see how many people are in that queue(or any queue), also hurts it.
Hmmm....maybe that is the "challenge" that is needed, these days. Change it into a 5-man queue.
“Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.” -- Benjamin Franklin
Vice Admiral Volmack ISS Thundermole
Brigadier General Jokag IKS Gorkan
Centurion Kares RRW Tomalak
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
Even if we take the DOOOOOOOOOM! at face value, the loss of a non-entity (something that was only played for quick resources) isn't exactly a problem worth lamentation (as in the zero sum game of what people do with their time this promotes any number of alternatives which might have more redeeming features to them.)
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The only thing I would say was welcome (not to me because I don't like waiting) but understandably was necessary for other players who load maps slowly was the timer, although 20 seconds should be enough not 30. Aside from that, every other change is unwelcome for someone who is into competitive Sci DPS. My build that I worked extremely hard on and put so many resources into has been neutered into uselessness in this queue.
Not cool.
Not cool at all.
Providing a one dimensional DPS bar for a given class of build isn't exactly in Cryptic's primary remit as game developer. IMO the changes make the entity much more engaging as a PVE as it requires something other than alpha striking and spamming powers at a single target without effective defenses (given the nullification of mechanics by sci.) As someone who uses sci on a regular basis, that quite frankly doesn't register on my experience playing STO and for everything I did to optimize along that non-experience to maximize the frequency of top prize finishes (which can be done with any performance based activity regardless of its intrinsic value for constructive satisfaction or entertainment, or indeed how the process can overshoot the mark and eat into both of the above to the point where I'm optimizing against time alone as any other bare sensory input has been reduced to the point of becoming trivial,) I appreciate Cryptic pulling that skinner box structure out of the queue in favor of something else. Ie. a more defined set of challenges and dynamics which forces me to do more than execute a routine which I could just as well macro.
I may have done a lot to optimize that routine, but it's still a routine and, as an aside, one should never expect any given build to remain competitive in anything with evolving gameplay design (video game, card game, whatever). Changes like this can and do happen and you should always be aware of that when choosing to invest time and potentially money in that game (though I think it's overstating the problem by a long way to say that resources put into sci builds have been wasted because of what Cryptic's done to a single queue or can't be tweaked to still perform well in spite of no longer invalidating the shards.)
This is darn cool and I hope very sincerely that any further changes to CCA (and other queues) are more along these lines. Ie. induce new player behavior through well telegraphed mechanics and non-standard combat units (ie the updated shards) which is rather basic to MMO-RPG gameplay design at higher player levels (and something STO's let slide for quite some time) as they can do a lot to differentiate combat and maintain some sense of conscious perception in gameplay (even with long repetition.) Ie. serve as the basis of fun and/or satisfying combat, provide new routes of optimization, and give new facets for TFO design. Ie. make for a better game.
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Making something less fun and more frustrating is not making for a better game. For me little has changed apart from I have to sit AFK at one stage which is boring and pointless and my ship gets bounced around the map which is never a fun experience. Lastly I no longer have to think about which weapon to fire at which point in time and no longer have to think about when to time each bridge officer power as they dumbed the mission down so that no longer matters. I just sit still and pointlessly shoot now because there is nothing else worthwhile to do. Apart from that the rest of the changes are unnoticeable and have zero impact on me.
No new routes of optimisation have been opened only some removed. It is not more engaging in fact due to the enforced sitting AFK and various tactics being stripped out of the mission it is now less engaging and just turned into a over simple sit still and shoot mission without thinking. Combat and the mission is now overall less satisfying. I do not see any positive new facets in TFO design in this apart from the starting timer which was a good move.
Like the others I am going to go with this is not cool. CE was one of my top played most fun queues, now I am going to abandon it as all the fun has been sucked out.
Good, if your personal definition of fun is (contrary to our previous conversations regarding elite TFO's being your thing) a 30 second queue (in total length) where you park yourself at a single target and are so bereft of other sensory and strategic inputs that the greatest concern you have is weapon firing order (and absolute low point in any STO activity and condemnation for the state the old CCA was in.)
(Hey, you wanted another go in replying to me despite my comment being directed at another user.)
If you now can't concentrate on precise firing cycles because something else is drawing your attention away (in direct contradiction of your tid-for-tat point that these changes are actually reductive), then the update is doing the bare minimum of what it should do to bring CCA up to the level of a gameplay activity which registers in basic human experience (ex. having to look up from your macro routines at your environment.) However, in my playtime it's doing considerably better than that. Skirmishing can be a lot of fun (in the original sense of the word, not neurochemical feedback dependence) in trying to maximize damage to other targets while working between sieging phases. If you're AFK'ing , well for one take care of business before queuing [see. away from keyboard, your literal words] and secondly I think you're simply showing inflexibility in still maintaining single target fixation despite the new design. Ie. you're inflicting a considerable amount of frustration upon yourself and for no evident reason that the new CCA not maintaining a precise balance of factors the old TFO had irrespective of how those created a one-dimensional skinner box.
It wasn't a good queue, the principle popularity of old CCA was most likely the rewards/effort ratio, and the changes Cryptic has made have had an improvement with respect to basic gameplay design (elevating itself, at the very least, from non-reactive DPS benchmark.) They, furthermore, differentiate CCA from other functional queues by promoting a rhythmic pattern of gameplay where optimization between skirmishing and sieging can occur both through build choices and playstyle (with direct interactions between them), increasing the strategic depth to CCA by an order of magnitude. (3 to 1 with full factorial on the simple facets here, ignoring how other builds can also play into these new dynamics, the less restrictive nature of skirmishing, and the relative extent of "sieging" builds under regimes of single-point maximization versus subjective optimization inclusive of another factor. The actual expansion of gameplay space is likely much greater.)
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I remain neutral... I still play it and hope that it continues to be as popular with players as it was previously.
Are others allowed to not like the new version?
Certainly. To take the most extreme portrayal of old CCA to illustrate the point, even a one dimensional skinner box can be liked by those engaged with it and illustrating how that fails to meet specified criteria for game design (or best practices in working with human pscyhology) doesn't change that fact. But if you're going to bring an argument to an open forum listing reasons why the new CCA is bad (with implicit or explicit advocacy that it be changed back) folks are also allow the chance to rebuttal and bring critical reasons to do so since that can serve as the foundation for constructive discussion (capable of bridging preference and opinion and coming to commonly appreciable points that can be helpful in evaluating the current TFO.) Folks are allowed to like it too and put forward a case for why it shouldn't be reverted.
That's basic and if someone doesn't want to engage with critical discussion and simply give their two cents then all they need to do is not reply to that discussion or any attempts at initiation. That's actively seeking participation. Someone else on the internet ranting at your post (to take the most typological view here for illustration, but do note that the first post I quoted wasn't Pottsey's) doesn't detract from its value as a datapoint of feedback on a developer-curated forum (though folks can still treat discussion as an evolving thing subject for mutual review if they so choose.)
Oh and I did want to give a "here here" to this. My favorite approach for my KDF ENG in the early days of old CCA was to run interference with the Tholians, hold threat, and make a sizable dent in their population to help other players in the team. And I should note that it still did well in terms of the ranking indices though for me the VR gear was never much of a consideration. Now that dedicated skirmishing approach is more valid again because of the shards (most prominently) and the absorption phase forcing players to move out of an optimal siege position and potentially into more Tholians (even if you've avoided them once there's now more of a chance of entering into firing range when repositioning.) Clearing those out helps give players more safe are to move and if folks are having any trouble with the minor NPC's I would simply recommend trying a build that specifically focuses on them.
You'll get some payback, a change of pace, and you might find some strategies that can help with your entity sieging builds (on my FED TAC I'm balancing the two styles between each phase and that's a very engaging way to play the new CCA.)
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While I'm sure some people might like this new change, it has unfortunately turned me off of this queue like it has for you and a lot of others I know, and I'll no longer be playing it as well as it offers me nothing new from what I was getting from it before and has actually subtracted from the experience significantly for me.
The queue was great fun as for a lot of us it had a DPS competitive element which we would compete against each other through with a leaderboard via parsers, it was fun and exciting coming up with builds and putting new ones through trial runs and seeing were we landed. Intelligent ship building/theory crafting was an immersive and very fun part of this and has sadly been eliminated from this queue with the new changes.
I know that one guy in the thread didn't like the queue because for him it was too "one dimensional", but for many of us there was quite a lot more to it than that. Anyways, another change and another queue removed from my rotation.
Agreed, most people I've been talking to have also been disappointed in the changes. While some people might like the new changes, for me the changes have resulted in a massive negative impact to the experience without actually adding anything in return.
The competitive element was really fun, it was great theory crafting and testing new builds and putting them in action and seeing where they ended up, there was a whole competitive element with a leader board via parser and that has now been ruined completely with the new changes. I know that guy in here ragged on the original version for being in his opinion "one dimensional" but to a lot of us there was more to it than there was to him.
Anyway, another queue changed, another one removed from my play rotation.
Yeah, the design of the queue did not readily support competitive gameplay. The entity, shards, and Tholians were non-factors to most runs. When the only thing there is to activity is the leaderboard then you know that you've reached a nadir of game design since any functional activity should be able to provide more than a bare means of scoring players. That's the minimum requirement.
Again, folks may have enjoyed this aspect (for its own sake, though IMO running with a DPS parser on is a far more elegant solution to having competitive leaderboards in STO than maintaining CCA in its old form) but that very personal reaction doesn't automatically outweigh the enormous functional deficiencies this queue had which were addressed, at least in part, by the update. Those problems (ie. minimal gameplay, disproportionate rewards) place significant constraints on reverting the TFO back to a simple DPS benchmark test and (for those in the nay camp) it might be worth considering how else that principle could be applied to other activities. A benchmark patrol with a daily leaderboard (for example) may be more conducive to competitive interests than trying to force a TFO to fit that mold (and it should be worth noting that groups like SRS Fleet already have this in a form through purpose built Foundry missions and managed leaderboards.)
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Not everything is either/or there is nothing contrary to our previous conversations. Yes Elites are my thing but that doesn’t mean I don’t take part in anything unless it’s Elite. I used to run CCA every single day for years but no longer and my greatest concern is not weapon firing order. My greatest concern is environment positioning and piloting. That matters more than anything else for my build.
Can you please follow the mods advice? You have made a lot of false sweeping statements that might apply to you but not apply to all of us. Things like “park yourself at a single target and are so bereft of other sensory and strategic inputs”, “greatest concern you have is weapon firing order” or “something that was only played for quick resources” which are all incorrect for me.
It is not a direct contraction as you have it wrong . I am not failing to concentrate on precise firing cycles because something else is drawing my attention away. I am not bothering to pay attention to firing cycles anymore in CCA as it no longer matters as the mission has been made simpler so there is no benefit in thinking about what I am doing anymore. Same for bridge officer powers there is for the most part no longer a benefit for thinking about when I active X power which combined with the weapons no longer mattering anymore has made the mission gameplay space much smaller. For me its turned into a over simple fly to a spot, park and leave everything on auto fire. I found the old version more fun and more engaging where paying attention to weapons firing, bridge officer timings mattered and offered a benefit. That was better gameplay as in involved player interaction, now I just fly forward, park and leave everything on auto fire because the mission is so basic now. For me the old one had a much higher level of gameplay activity.
With my builds the more I look at the new mission the more I find it has minimal gameplay with less player interaction and less strategic inputs. Gameplay activity has been reduced to the point where it doesn’t feel fun running anymore . Gameplay activity has falling below the point where it registers as a positive human experience for me which is why I am dropping running it.
Why would you think that when I already explained my build isn’t built around target fixation and doesn’t even use the target function? I am not putting considerable frustration upon myself and target fixation doesn't apply to my build as my ship weapons and bridge powers for the most part are independent of targeting.
Not for me. A lot of us didn’t care about the rewards/effort ratio as the rewards are worthless to us, so are a none factor. Sure some play for the reward but not all. Then there was the group that used it as a popular league map which was one reason why it was popular. Before the changes and last time I looked it was in the top 3 most popular maps to use in the leagues. Which was one of the reason I played it not to compete against other players but to compete against myself in the league. But for me the changes have put a stop to all that.
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I sympathize with you. I'm in the exact same boat now.
The game could really use more new content. It would be better for everyone if the designers focus more on adding new queues, rather than changing already established well liked ones.
Because that would split the CC population and given the pretty monumental imbalance in reward/effort ratio (see. most discussions RE. CCA . Note that feedback didn't start with these changes and that the voices here by no means represents the interests of the population as expressed variously over time [both explicitly and implicitly through statistics]) that would have disproportionately favor the old version to the point of absolutely undermining the changes which addressed (among other things) that reward imbalance (a rather easily quantifiable aspect that fails the standards we can assume Cryptic has for queue design) given standard grinding tendencies.
Ie. having both would have been a hobbled half-step that would have only favored one camp. It wouldn't have been an equitable compromise. See. previous suggestion of DPS benchmark patrols over advanced TFO's for a more consistent example of what a compromise would probably look like (ie. have something in the game that could fulfill the role that CCA had for some people but without the unbalancing impacts it had on the TFO system, specifically, and quantifiably lacking gameplay for its class of activity [see. <1 minute runs. At that level it's a fairly binary case of "it needed more."])
Notable missions: Apex [AEI], Gemini [SSF], Trident [AEI], Evolution's Smile [SSF], Transcendence
Looking for something new to play? I've started building Foundry missions again in visual novel form!