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Optional - Worth the effort?

januhulljanuhull Member Posts: 154 Arc User
edited July 2012 in Feature Episodes, Events and PvE Content
In the last few days, I've noticed a trend in the thinking of the people I've PUG'd with in elite STFs. A lot (although not ALL) of them haven't been all that hyper about securing the optionals. They use all the proper tactics, certainly no one is upset when we get the optional, but all but the occassional individual screamer has lost their cool when the optional fails.

The best explanation, and one I happen to agree with, is that most optional rewards amount to a pile of blue garbage that hits the recycler the moment I leave system.

Honestly, is there any real point to securing the optional? My first Prototype Borg tech came out of a KASE where the Optional was blown in the first round of probes...so it doesn't seem to affect the likelihood of seeing one drop.


Thoughts?
Post edited by januhull on

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    skhcskhc Member Posts: 355 Arc User
    edited June 2012
    You get a fair few salvage drops from it (if nothing else, you can convert it to dil) and every once in a while something really valuable, like a purple Mk XII weapon with Accx3, for example, but you have at best a 1/5 chance of getting it when it drops.

    So no, the optionals aren't worth fretting over for the loot.

    That said, I like doing them for the pride of accomplishment, and there's no reason why any decent, experienced, team should fail the optionals for Infected Space, KA Space, KA Ground and probably Cure Ground too (although it's a bit more marginal).
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    thoroonthoroon Member Posts: 409 Arc User
    edited June 2012
    They are worth it. Trying the optionals mean two things to me:
    1. STFs are done faster
    2. STFs are done faster

    (I play STFs for dili only atm, so I only care for time savings.)
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    defalusdefalus Member Posts: 4 Arc User
    edited June 2012
    Getting all optionals on Elite STFs will unlock extra costume options on the MK XII sets but apart from that, they arn't really worth worrying about.
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    crusty8maccrusty8mac Member Posts: 1,381 Arc User
    edited June 2012
    The optionals are a nice bonus, but nothing to get worked up over.
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    mandrake45mandrake45 Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited June 2012
    Stress over them once, if you want the accolade, then forget about them and take them as they come.
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    beezle23beezle23 Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited June 2012
    crusty8mac wrote: »
    The optionals are a nice bonus, but nothing to get worked up over.

    And definitely not something to rage-quit out of the STF over.
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    zektorilzektoril Member Posts: 27 Arc User
    edited June 2012
    I usually get pretty annoyed when we fail the optional, but not because we failed the optional, it is only because when we fail the optional, you get some confused player that thinks there is no reason to finish and leaves when the optional fails, like the loot from the optional is the only loot available.
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    mikewendellmikewendell Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited June 2012
    skhc wrote: »
    You get a fair few salvage drops from it (if nothing else, you can convert it to dil) and every once in a while something really valuable, like a purple Mk XII weapon with Accx3, for example, but you have at best a 1/5 chance of getting it when it drops.

    That's what it is for me. I don't worry about the mark x and xi stuff coming down although I still throw in a need for it normally.
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    bohiapbohiap Member Posts: 535
    edited June 2012
    zektoril wrote: »
    I usually get pretty annoyed when we fail the optional, but not because we failed the optional, it is only because when we fail the optional, you get some confused player that thinks there is no reason to finish and leaves when the optional fails, like the loot from the optional is the only loot available.

    QFT. I can't stand it when I'm in a STF run and I see, "We failed the optional should we start over?" A couple of times I've left the group and just done another run with somebody else. But, usually the group will say, "keep going."
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    zzomb1zzomb1 Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited June 2012
    Personaly all my ship mk 12 gear, and my ground mk 11 gear come from end game reward rather then completed optional. True its good because then it means we are fast at doing it but nothing else, good drops are ultra rare, and chances are prety slim that you get it.

    Side note:
    Hate it when ppl quit after they see optional failed. Its the easiest way to reach the achivment : getting on ppls ignore list imo
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    januhulljanuhull Member Posts: 154 Arc User
    edited June 2012
    The reason I bring this up is that I've run into people who are absolutely militant about getting the optional, because they believe failing it ruins their chances for a Prototype drop.
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    dood98998dood98998 Member Posts: 389
    edited June 2012
    januhull wrote: »
    The reason I bring this up is that I've run into people who are absolutely militant about getting the optional, because they believe failing it ruins their chances for a Prototype drop.

    Honestly? The odds of anyhting good being in an opt loot bag are slim, and then its a 1/5 shot at said good item. yes the optional is worth it, but the loot bag is not. if u loose the optional, u still have a shot at getting two good items in ur end drop. there are people who choose to gripe about loosing the optional, and u know what? thats life. not everything can go perfectly every time :(
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    skhcskhc Member Posts: 355 Arc User
    edited June 2012
    januhull wrote: »
    The reason I bring this up is that I've run into people who are absolutely militant about getting the optional, because they believe failing it ruins their chances for a Prototype drop.

    If they think failing the optional ruins their chances at Proto Tech from the main drop, they're just wrong. Plain and simple. Now, Proto drops are listed for a change for Season 7, I think, so it may change then. But at the moment it has no impact.

    I could understand people getting annoyed over certain optional losses, because things like not doing 10% on ISE or letting probes through on KASE are signs that people aren't paying attention or aren't communicating, but honestly, I'd stick with it for the end drop anyway.
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    beezle23beezle23 Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited June 2012
    skhc wrote: »
    If they think failing the optional ruins their chances at Proto Tech from the main drop, they're just wrong. Plain and simple. Now, Proto drops are listed for a change for Season 7, I think, so it may change then. But at the moment it has no impact.

    I could understand people getting annoyed over certain optional losses, because things like not doing 10% on ISE or letting probes through on KASE are signs that people aren't paying attention or aren't communicating, but honestly, I'd stick with it for the end drop anyway.

    I'm there to farm EDC. Everything else is gravy.
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    mikewendellmikewendell Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited June 2012
    beezle23 wrote: »
    I'm there to farm EDC. Everything else is gravy.

    Seconded even though I've already said so.

    I noticed a couple of days ago that those MACO sets equate into accolades. Wasn;t planning on dealing with any of that but now I guess I should.
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    elchup47elchup47 Member Posts: 50 Arc User
    edited June 2012
    The devs have confirmed that Tech only drops at the end of the mission, not in the optional. So really the optional is just about an extra bit of loot, maybe some salvage and the Team Commander accolade. Once I got the accolade I stopped bothering about the optionals. That's not to say that I don't help those who want it, but if I think I'm on a team that can beat the mission despite failing the optional, then that's good enough for me. My last remaining prototype tech is on Cure Space Elite, and the chances of beating that are slim when pugging, let alone getting the optional.
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    quiscustodietquiscustodiet Member Posts: 350
    edited June 2012
    Regardless of what you do the STFs for (I only do them for Dilithium&EC these days), attempting the optional isn't detrimental to your success in the main objective, so why not attempt it?
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    fraghul2000fraghul2000 Member Posts: 1,590 Arc User
    edited June 2012
    Imho it is definately worth to attempt the optional. Usually the attempt is also the best way to make sure it does not fail completely.

    For example in ISE, a sure way you don?t get swarmed with probes/spheres which will constantly heal the transformer, is the common "optional" strategy.

    Same thing goes for KA and The Cure. You have to prevent the Raptors/BoPs from reaching the Kang (or the probes from reaching the gate) in order not to fail the event in the first place, so you pretty much should have half of the optional covered already. So the effort to reach the optional is usually consistent with the effort to succeed in the STF at all.

    Imho the only thing which should prevent anyone from reaching the optional is the time limit, which sometimes can be hard to achieve when getting certain bad ship class/career combos.

    As far as I have observed, STFs and optionals usually fail when people, who probably know better, are trying to pull some BS and don?t follow the normal standard procedure which is being followed by everyone else in 98% of STFs. For example people trying to solo the right generator first in Infected Space just to show how cool or "1337" they are, or going for the middle space dock/cube first in The Cure, simply because their fleet is following some obscure and exotic strategy.
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    maelwy5maelwy5 Member Posts: 593 Arc User
    edited June 2012
    januhull wrote: »
    Honestly, is there any real point to securing the optional?

    Nope.

    (Doesn't mean the team shouldn't try for it, but if we fail it I'm not going to be bothered in the slightest. Failing the STF, well, that's another story...)
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    shimmerlessshimmerless Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited June 2012
    The optional is really overrated, especially considering that it's a kind of Nash game in that the low odds of successfully rolling for the extremely rare mega-valuable stuff make it too difficult for any one player to feel invested. It's nice to have but I don't freak out if a rainbow boat blows it or whatever. It's just a distant aunt's stocking filler to the mission loot's presents under the tree.
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    januhulljanuhull Member Posts: 154 Arc User
    edited June 2012
    quiscustodiet wrote: »
    Regardless of what you do the STFs for (I only do them for Dilithium&EC these days), attempting the optional isn't detrimental to your success in the main objective, so why not attempt it?

    I would definitely attempt it, the strategies that go for the optional pretty much guarantee a win in the end.

    My point is, don't blow a damned gasket because someone slips and the optional is blown. Finish the STF, keep your comments to yourself and get on with it.
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    markhawkmanmarkhawkman Member Posts: 35,231 Arc User
    edited June 2012
    well, a team that is good at the optional is guaranteed victory pretty much. So yeah, try it.
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    firefox3178firefox3178 Member Posts: 112 Arc User
    edited July 2012
    januhull wrote: »
    I would definitely attempt it, the strategies that go for the optional pretty much guarantee a win in the end.

    My point is, don't blow a damned gasket because someone slips and the optional is blown. Finish the STF, keep your comments to yourself and get on with it.

    Exactly. I have been in STFs where when the optional was blown, some of the team raged so hard I could almost imagine them foaming at the mouth. It's good to strive to make it, but life does go on if you don't. I was afraid to do STFs at first because I was so worried I would slip up and blow it.
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    red01999red01999 Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited July 2012
    firefox3178 wrote: »
    Exactly. I have been in STFs where when the optional was blown, some of the team raged so hard I could almost imagine them foaming at the mouth. It's good to strive to make it, but life does go on if you don't. I was afraid to do STFs at first because I was so worried I would slip up and blow it.

    This is a major reason why, four months after starting them and several hundred successful runs of KASN and CSN, I rarely, if ever, touch Infected, or any Elite STF.

    I really don't want to be yelled at over a bag of loot that may or may not be very good, and that quite frankly I'm not too likely to get anything I need from (while I've seen plenty of tetryon weapons and the like from these things, phasers and antiprotons are pretty hard to find in there...), especially if it's an accident involving the Infected Space transformers. Which somehow seem to always end up in my auto-target, requiring me to disable auto-target, reducing efficiency... agh, it's a mess.
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    abcde123123abcde123123 Member Posts: 342 Arc User
    edited July 2012
    well... I always say 20 deflectors == 1 million ec :) so, yes optionals are worth it.

    not too mention that if you consistently doing space with 7 - 9 mins of optional timer then yeah, why not get the optional too...
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    goldy666goldy666 Member Posts: 59 Arc User
    edited July 2012
    In any STF I do, elite or normal, ground or space, I alway want to get the optional and always try to make sure we do. You can get some decent stuff out the drop (with a bit of luck).

    If we don't get the optional, or we do but I don't get any of the loot, then I'm not fussed. The main loot is at the end, and I do STF's to have a laugh with mates and play a game I enjoy :D
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