New Dyson Doff Missions in detail.

abcde123123 · November 2013

Let's talk about sphere doff missions in moar details...

So I went to the sphere looking for much promised dyson marks missions for the new dyson doffs useless as they are.

Found a few:

Advanced Scouting Party (Subspace Fields) 20h
+ Eidelic, Resolve, Free Thinker
- Emo, Peaceful

1 x Tactical, Security
1 x Eng, Ops
3 x Sci

Advanced Scouting Party (Residential District) 20h
+ Resolve, Telepatic, Free Thinker
- Emo, Peaceful

1 x Tac, Sec
1 x Eng, Ops
3 x Sci

Perform Atmospheric Analysis of Ion Stream Region
+ Peaceful, Res, Free Thinker
- Cold Blooded, Telekinetic

2 x Botanist, Geo
2 x Sci

Deliver Lost Letters 4h
+ Cun, Tactful, Free Thinker
- Aggressive, Emo

1 x Adv, Trader
1 x Any

Assist With Stabilization
+ Eff, Resilient, Free Thinker
- Peaceful

1 x Explosive Expert
2 x Ops
Success: Explosive

Then I gathered purple 2 traiters and tested it out:

Collected rewards for assignment "Deliver Lost Letters From Home to Dyson Joint Command Troops".
You received 490 Energy Credits
You received 680 Expertise
You received 595 Expertise
You received 863 Trade XP
You received 10 Dilithium Ore
You received 1 Dyson Sphere Marks

Collected rewards for assignment "Advanced Scouting Party - Allied Frontier (Subspace Fields)".
You received 490 Energy Credits
You received 726 Expertise
You received 634 Expertise
You received 916 Exploration XP
You received 10 Dilithium Ore
You received 1 Dyson Sphere Marks

Collected rewards for assignment "Advanced Scouting Party - Allied Frontier (Residential District)".
You received 980 Energy Credits
You received 1,980 Expertise
You received 1,729 Expertise
You received 2,794 Exploration XP
You received 150 Dilithium Ore
You received 5 Dyson Sphere Marks

Now I have to ask: IS THIS A JOKE or an honest mistake? Considering the pain required to get to the location as those missions are area specific, the crit yield with all purple doffs is just too small.

My expectations, given that cryptic is usually a bit stingy when it comes to new marks, were for 4hrs 5 marks success/20 marks on crit, and for 20hr success 20 marks / 35 marks on crit.

But seriously 1 mark on success and 5 marks on crit is not funny at all, not to mention not worthy of bother of getting to pickup location.

Can we up the rewards, can we? After all doffs are part of lockboxes and the better they are the better is value for lock boxes

galadiman · November 2013

So I was hoping for a comprehensive list of these missions, locations, etc. Silly me. Perhaps next time title it, "Why I hate the new DOFF missions."

As for your comments, meh. Yours are the only complaints I've seen so far. No one has responded to these so far. I think they're probably not out of line, and I have read elsewhere that they're a great place to get Recruitment and Exploration (iirc) comm rep. So sounds like there are some unique benefits here.

farseeridranel · November 2013

abcde123123 wrote: »

You received 2,794 Exploration XP

Well, that's the nice part about the new missions. Lots of CXP that are usually quite hard to get.

ursusmorologus · November 2013

Yeah the XP rewards are the true value.

borticuscryptic · November 2013

We're looking at the availability of Doff assignments in the Sphere AZ, and may consider increasing the frequency of their popping up.

An additional reward for Crit Success on any Dyson Doff Assignment is story/lore. We put a good amount of effort into telling more of the story of the Sphere through these assignments. But you'll have to put some effort into uncovering it all.

We're also looking at adding Accolades for discovering said background story. Probably not until after the Voth-Controlled Adventure Zone is released (no timeframe, sorry).

suaveks · November 2013

I agree that when it comes to dilithium and dyson mark rewards these new missions are rather worthless. I was hoping we'd at least get a Voth duty officer or something along those lines for a Crit Success. As it is it's just not worth looking for these missions on purpose.

While at it, aside from the Lock Box and Spire Holding, is there any way to obtain a doff with Free Thinker trait? Any special doff mission or new assignment chain?

zorbane · November 2013

Put me on the list of people who like these doff missions. So much cxp!

If you're looking for dilithium or marks head to the battlezone. I swear those omega molecule silos leak dilithum

dontdrunkimshoot · November 2013

borticuscryptic wrote: »

We're also looking at adding Accolades for discovering said background story. Probably not until after the Voth-Controlled Adventure Zone is released (no timeframe, sorry).

oh so there is going to be one? was sorta disappointed that i couldn't go beyond the contested zone like they can. hopefully is will finally be pve too hard for the typical casual player, at least unless you go in with a team.

papertoasty · November 2013

ive crit'ed a few of the new sphere doff assignments and yea, the cxp is worth it
dil and marks . . . no so much

i got over 5k dev cxp on one, thats not including the bonus pool cxp that i have

im seeing a way to get lots of cxp to turn into fleet marks . . .

markhawkman · November 2013

here's a few I made logs of:
-=-scan for stuff:
Scan Delta Solanae star for particle samples: Success; 5 particle samples
Survey Alpha Quadrant Gateway for Material Samples: Success; 5 mineral samples
Sweep Alpha Quadrant Gateway for Technological Salvage: success; 5 tech samples
Sweep nearby Spire for Technological salvage: Crit; 10 tech samples, 2 rare traces
Sweep subspace distortions for technological salvage: Success; 5 tech samples

none gives much dil or cxp.

-=-Engineering crew:
Assign engineering crew to reinforce the power transfer systems of a surface station: Crit; meh
Assign engineering crew to reinforce the sensor grid of a nearby spire: Success; meh
Assign engineering crew to reinforce the sensor grid of a surface station: Success; meh

no special rewards here either.

These were relatively quick, but the rewards are feeble.

borticuscryptic · November 2013

markhawkman wrote: »

here's a few I made logs of:

These are just standard Doff assignments from elsewhere in the Galaxy, cloned off and given a thematic flavor to match the Dyson Sphere.

The unique rewards (mentioned above) are only given by the assignments you pick up from Contact volumes scattered around the Adventure Zones.

lordhavelock · November 2013

I haven't actively sought out any of the new Dyson DOff missions, but I grab every one I come across while traveling around the Sphere, which over the last couple of days amounts to about two dozen or so on my one character that has visited the Sphere. I haven't used any Free Thinkers, just whatever DOffs I have on hand (which happen to be 99% purples).

At first I was a little disappointed with the 1DM (5DM on Crit) until I thought about it:

* There are all kinds of "Found Missions" around the Sphere that only award 1-3 DM, and they take 2-5mins of active play to complete, whereas a DOff assignments may fill up a slot for a couple hours, but it only takes 30s to fill and start. So effort/reward seems on par.

* A basic success rewards 10 instead of the usual 5 Dil. That's nice.

* The CXP rewards on these missions are AMAZING. Seriously, they are incredibly generous, which makes RP sense... Our crew is off exploring places "no one has gone before," they're gonna get mucho experience, the best experience of any lifetime.

* There aren't any other DOff missions that I can think of (epohh farming assignments notwithstanding) that reward Reputation Marks, so the fact that I get any DM is all bonus to me. If I really want DM, I'm going to get it from actively playing missions and adventuring, ie blowin' up stuffz!

I'll say further that even before reading Bort's post, I did notice the exceptional lore that these DOff missions contain, and I'm really enjoying reading the stories that are unfolding around my crew. So personally, I consider these assignments as "worth it" regardless of the rewards.

borticuscryptic wrote: »

...may consider increasing the frequency of their popping up.... We're also looking at adding Accolades...

I would love more Sphere DOff Assignments, and more Accolades! :cool:

markhawkman · November 2013

borticuscryptic wrote: »

These are just standard Doff assignments from elsewhere in the Galaxy, cloned off and given a thematic flavor to match the Dyson Sphere.

The unique rewards (mentioned above) are only given by the assignments you pick up from Contact volumes scattered around the Adventure Zones.

I figured as much, some of the other cloned missions do give a bit more than those.

mrspidey2 · November 2013

Count me in on those loving these themed assignments.

I dusted off my science fed for Season 8, so now he's roaming these zones, sending out his crew on various exploration assignments and slowly uncovers the history of the sphere and the purpose of the sphere's technology.
For example, did you know that the purpose of the Ion Stream is to tweak solar winds from the central star?

I really feel like an explorer when i'm playing that character. That alone is awesome. Rewards ar just an added bonus. And you don't really need Voth Doffs to crit this stuff.

redsnake721 · November 2013

I rely on the Commendation rewards on my starbase as the main source of Fleet marks. I'm in a small fleet and Fleet marks are the only thing we are always in need of. Having all my Commendations at 100,000 I can bring in over 1000 marks each time I get them all to 110,000. I found the zone as a great place to get all my catagories to 110,000 rather quickly. I for one love it. I can get 8000 Dil in about an hour in the ground battle zone and about 400 Dyson Sphere marks. So to the OP: if you are going to rely on Doff missions to gain Dil and Dyson marks your missing out. There are much faster and easier ways to make them other than these Doff missions. They seem to be made for EXP and CXP rather than Dil and Marks. So use them for what they are for and gain Dil and marks in the battlezone. You'll come out much richer.

fraghul2000 · November 2013

I thought it was rather strange, that the Voth Doffs from the lockbox packs aren't too great for the special doff missions in the sphere.

I've seen one so far where their traits and professions were perfectly tailored, but for most of them the "free thinker" crit trait was the only thing that fit for both "success" and "crit". Usually your average Saurian, Cardassian or Vorta will do better...

Considering the were advertised as being great for those missions, they turn out to be rather average...

lucho80 · November 2013

borticuscryptic wrote: »

An additional reward for Crit Success on any Dyson Doff Assignment is story/lore. We put a good amount of effort into telling more of the story of the Sphere through these assignments. But you'll have to put some effort into uncovering it all.

Damn it, and me not reading what the assignments say.

ursusmorologus · November 2013

Fly around to all the landmarks, and watch for DOFF Assignment button in the low-priority message tray (on the right by default). Those will be VR assignments and will give big crit rewards.

mrspidey2 · November 2013

lucho80 wrote: »

Damn it, and me not reading what the assignments say.

You could just go through the assignment log.

suaveks · November 2013

borticuscryptic wrote: »

An additional reward for Crit Success on any Dyson Doff Assignment is story/lore. We put a good amount of effort into telling more of the story of the Sphere through these assignments. But you'll have to put some effort into uncovering it all.

Errr... I've just read a couple of those with both success and a critical success and didn't find anything story-related. It's the same old "Supply Depot can't deal with all the workload -> Oh your crew was so awesome they've dealt with the problem" or other kind of "congratulations, you've found the voth saboteur" and such. And I'm talking about the found missions, not the generic ones, so I really don't see any actual lore value here. As such, I'll just stick to the unlockable reputation tier cut-scenes...

Also, I still think some new assignment chain would be nice. Something that would reward a Voth doff at the end with an unlockable repeatable assignment for getting more of them (similar to the Caitian/Ferasan assignment chain). Any chances for that in the future?

borticuscryptic · November 2013

suaveks wrote: »

Errr... I've just read a couple of those with both success and a critical success and didn't find anything story-related. It's the same old "Supply Depot can't deal with all the workload -> Oh your crew was so awesome they've dealt with the problem" or other kind of "congratulations, you've found the voth saboteur" and such. And I'm talking about the found missions, not the generic ones, so I really don't see any actual lore value here. As such, I'll just stick to the unlockable reputation tier cut-scenes...

Some are still fairly generic, that's true. Not every assignment is a lore trove.

But even the "Supply depot can't handle the workload" assignment helps flesh out the world's backstory. It helps sell the size and scope of operations within this megalithic structure, and how important it is that the players passing thru take the time to assist in even the most mundane tasks.

suaveks wrote: »

Also, I still think some new assignment chain would be nice. Something that would reward a Voth doff at the end with an unlockable repeatable assignment for getting more of them (similar to the Caitian/Ferasan assignment chain). Any chances for that in the future?

We had a couple of Chains and Accolades planned out for this system, but they had to take a back burner when the third AZ (Voth-Controlled) got postponed. Hopefully, if/when that zone gets released, we'll have time to revisit those plans.

perfectcryptic · November 2013

borticuscryptic wrote: »

We had a couple of Chains and Accolades planned out for this system, but they had to take a back burner when the third AZ (Voth-Controlled) got postponed. Hopefully, if/when that zone gets released, we'll have time to revisit those plans.

If? Hmm....

derbeelzebot · November 2013

Just got a crit on "Advanced Scouting Party - Allied Frontier (Subspace Fields)", it reads

Astonishing readings appear to indicate that the subspace distortions seen in this region are evidence of a massive amount of transdimensional travel. It appears as though thousands of vessels - possibly even more - passed into subspace near this location a very long time ago.

So it seems that some of the Iconians subspace-dwelling minions aren't native there.

mrspidey2 · November 2013

derbeelzebot wrote: »

So it seems that some of the Iconians subspace-dwelling minions aren't native there.

This fits with other lore snippets

SPOILER:
about the Solanae's physiology changing and rendering them incapable of living in "regular space".
That mass of ships passing into subspace was probably the mass exodus of the Solanae that left the Sphere effectively deserted.

END SPOILER

abcde123123 · November 2013

borticuscryptic wrote: »

Some are still fairly generic, that's true. Not every assignment is a lore trove.

But even the "Supply depot can't handle the workload" assignment helps flesh out the world's backstory. It helps sell the size and scope of operations within this megalithic structure, and how important it is that the players passing thru take the time to assist in even the most mundane tasks.

We had a couple of Chains and Accolades planned out for this system, but they had to take a back burner when the third AZ (Voth-Controlled) got postponed. Hopefully, if/when that zone gets released, we'll have time to revisit those plans.

This horse ain't dead dead yet, so let's kick it some more.

Dear Borticus,

We all love you as much as we can, but please consider this: this is MMO, we all know that, and aside from some portion of crafters and roleplayers, the rest of us are doing stuff here for rewards. I did paid special attention to the little piece of non essential text coming out of doff missions in question, and they are ALL generic. I.e. your brave doffs have overcome the difficulties and succedeed in their assignment.

Great!

Now to the rewards. Some ppl are disagreeing with me, but I consider dyson marks yet another form of currency. I.e. the thing that have no use on its own and with a sole purpose to be exchanged for other things. Minimal quant of said currency is 20 units, so one can run a small rep project.

And from where Im sitting it would make a great deal of sense if critical success on those doff missions will actually yield that minimal quant of currency. Wouldn't you agree?

As to flesh out the real story of the world, the world is pretty real and I actually like it. Great job. I even enjoyed The Breach for first dozen runs, then the Fortress speed buff/debuff started to make me mad, and I stopped doing it.

And on a side note, you have mentioned that you're going to make alt toons life easier, and with 2x rep it is, but now all new content is gated by some missions, which are fine, but they REALLY do grow old after 2 time or so. Doing them 12 times is not making alt's life easier at all.

And on a second side note: great idea on random loot boxes from rep projects, but again can we make blue items account bound instead of toon bound? So that they actually get some use apart from being replicator trashed?

New Dyson Doff Missions in detail.

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