This AFK'ing is indeed getting annoying. Just came from an STF where the AFK person was actually being annoying ("What is AFKer?" , "Report who?") and needing all blue and purple loot.
All I do at the current time is report these players and hope that the GMs temporarily suspend their account. If this would indeed be the case, then any suspension they receive later on should be increased in time!
Also, I am much in favor of a majority (3 out of 5) vote of removing these unwanted players. Or as an alternative add an option to 'report player AFK' so a GM can decide on what to do (assuming they follow this up with a temporary account suspension).
It's not nearly as big a problem as people make out. I can't remember ever having an afker in a stf and I've been playing nearly a year and a half now. It's a non-issue.
And anyway, vote to kick is too open to abuse.
It's not myfault ifyoufeel trolledbymyDisco ball...Sorry'boutit.
And I can counter by telling you about somebody who is a repeat offender. I told the whole team to report him as a leecher and did so.
We should be allowed to kite tactical cubes onto leechers.
"Great War! / And I cannot take more! / Great tour! / I keep on marching on / I play the great score / There will be no encore / Great War! / The War to End All Wars"
— Sabaton, "Great War"
one argument seems to be, how do we know someone didn't just disconnect, if someone disconnects their characters going to log off, the deliberate afker is like if your doing the colony invasion mission for fleet marks and from the starting spawn to the main area someone just stands there at the starting spawn, only leaving the mission when it's completed. That's the people that should be banned from the game. Unfortunately theres really no rule against it and the players are expected to just deal with it.
As far as that one statement that my previous comment was unfair I should remind you that this like a lot of other problems in the game are dumped to the side and forgotten because the only thing PWE and Cryptic care about is whatever is going to make them money and fixing game problems don't make them money, if it can't be put in the c shop or stuffed in a lock box they don't care.
Except for the fact that Cryptic has flat out stated (via their actions) that AFK is indeed against the rules. The whole AFK ban system screams that fact.
Just saying.
Fleet Admiral Rylana - Fed Tac - U.S.S Wild Card - Tactical Miracle Worker Cruiser
Lifetime Subscriber since 2012 == 17,200 Accolades = RIP PvP and Vice Squad
Chief of Starfleet Intelligence Service == Praise Cheesus
one argument seems to be, how do we know someone didn't just disconnect, if someone disconnects their characters going to log off, the deliberate afker is like if your doing the colony invasion mission for fleet marks and from the starting spawn to the main area someone just stands there at the starting spawn, only leaving the mission when it's completed. That's the people that should be banned from the game. Unfortunately theres really no rule against it and the players are expected to just deal with it.
As far as that one statement that my previous comment was unfair I should remind you that this like a lot of other problems in the game are dumped to the side and forgotten because the only thing PWE and Cryptic care about is whatever is going to make them money and fixing game problems don't make them money, if it can't be put in the c shop or stuffed in a lock box they don't care.
I'll give you an example from Mine Trap. I had a guy run into a corner so that he was AWAY from all of the objectives, THEN erect a cover shield so that the enemies couldn't attack him, from which position he rolled need on all loot.
Seriously, it's easy to tell if someone is not doing things due to connection issues, or not doing things because they're lazy. People with connection issues don't roll need incessantly.
You know, I haven't run into a single AFKer and I STF everyday.
Course, I play with my fleet mostly. No AFKers in my fleet.
What I have run into far more often than AFKers is people swearing in chat because someone doesn't follow their orders, or some other nonsense. There are a lot of PVE heros out there, who feel the need to take charge of missions.
I was in one STF where someone was swearing because me and my Fleetmates blew up one of the cubes in "The Cure"......on normal, (where it doesn't make a difference). We manged to make the optional despite this person ******** all the way through, because no one listened to his orders.:rolleyes:
Another time, I was in an STF where someone actually pm'd me afterward, complaining because I didn't do "enough damage".......in my controller sci build, in a normal STF, that we also made the optional in.....
I see this behavior FAR more than AFKers, maybe I'm just lucky....or unlucky?
These are the sort of ding-a-lings that would call for a vote kick, wasting everyone's time. At present, without it, they feel so overwhelmed that they must act in the only way they can ATM, ***** and swear in chat and PM insults. REGARDLESS if the mission was a success.
Cryptic is looking into AFKers, they are working on a solution that at present doesn't involve a vote kick, maybe they see the bigger picture, like all those PVE heros who don't play nice with others. Who's to say.
But they are working on a way of getting them banned.
One question I have is, are all these AFKers with fleets?
I ask because what I HAVE noticed is people leaving FLEET ALERT missions before the boss spawns to avoid the mission cool down.
Too bad I can't choose to never be teamed with THOSE pin heads, EVER again.
Except for the fact that Cryptic has flat out stated (via their actions) that AFK is indeed against the rules. The whole AFK ban system screams that fact.
Just saying.
I think they should just go ahead and make it a written rule. Right now it's more of a unofficial unspoken request that people don't so that so it's not taken seriously. It's their game so if they want to make it a punishable rule that, that sort of thing won't be tolerated than the ones doing it might be less incline to do it knowing they could get punished for it, and if a person does it multiple times they should be banned from the game for it. If anything they could get a warning the first time they do it, a couple of days to a month ban the second time they are reported, a permanent ban for the 3rd time, something like that.
I'll give you an example from Mine Trap. I had a guy run into a corner so that he was AWAY from all of the objectives, THEN erect a cover shield so that the enemies couldn't attack him, from which position he rolled need on all loot.
Seriously, it's easy to tell if someone is not doing things due to connection issues, or not doing things because they're lazy. People with connection issues don't roll need incessantly.
That's what I was referring to, people that do that or people that just park someplace and collect marks for doing nothing. The whole argument about connection issues is just their way of trying to defend it but the problem there is I myself have had connection issues before and I get disconnected at spawn before it starts, not after clicking need or collecting marks or anything so I don't see how their connection is good until they get what they want then it fails.
So, it's a long despised issue, and I dare say most Endgame players have seen it at some point or other - so let's talk about solutions!
The Problem
Various events - Fleet Activities, PVP Matches, STFs reward players for taking part in them. This reward is given out regardless of player participation so a player can queue up, sit at the Transwarp gate in PVP three times a day and get 1440 Dilithium.
Similarly in STFs, the player can come in, sit at spawn and do nothing, and as long as the match completes, get their two EDCs and 1100 dilithium.
Personal Rant: Played a Khitomer Accord Space Elite today with a PUG group (yes yes I know, don't PUG...but humour me) where I had two 'genius' level players. The first of which sat on spawn for the first five minutes, and when, out of pure spite, I pulled a Cube onto him RAN AWAY to the other side of the match and AFK'd there instead...and the second who came in and after a few minutes said 'what do I have to do?' and when asked if he'd done the normals said 'I didn't see the need, lesser rewards'.....geez!:rolleyes:
Anyway off the rant, let's find a solution - now as I see it we have too main issues here - PVP AFKing where there's a winner, and PVE where it's cooperative.
So take a moment, propose your own solution - one for the competitive PVP, and one for the PVE where it's cooperative...
Competitive PVP
I like a particular idea here, and it's something that tech wise should be relatively simple, introduce a new wrapper mission in addition to the current 'play 3' mission. A second wrapper 'Win 3 PVP Matches'.
This way players who are pretty casual can come in, play three matches have some fun and not worry about winning, get their 1440 and go home.
However it should motivate most players to try and win their matches so they can grab the extra 1440 - and if they only win one that day? That's fine, it can roll onto the next day, or they can play another match, and another...think how the Klingon 'Ship hunter' wrappers work I guess.
Cooperative PVE
This I find a bit harder, the optional objective is clearly designed to encourage players to take part - but as we've discovered in our fleet? The optional loot is generally pretty poor, to the stage where we all shrug if we don't get it and move on with no qualms.
I've got a few thoughts here - first of all introduce a small dilithium reward on the optional that ALL players get, 440 or whatever the 'small' dilithium containers contain. That said, I don't like this - it feels wrong. I think there needs to be some sort of scoring in STFs, perhaps invisible, but enough as to split the missions into 'parts' such as they already are, each player must 'score' a certain number of points in each part - nothing major, take down a couple of drones, resurrect a single player, heal X health points, don't take part in all parts? Don't earn at the end. Again messy - but an idea.
So STO community, let's see what you think - how do we deal with these guys without just hiding in private queues?
The fix is relatively easy, make the game recognize when someone is afking and have enemy units appear at a respawn point away from the normal ones and start chasing the person around. That way, they have to work at it just to stay alive wheither they want to or not....
I have said it before and I will say it again, WE NEED THE VOTE KICK SYSTEM !!!
I have no problem with grinding for fleet marks or anything else in the game but what I do have a problem with is the free loaders that do nothing or now the minimum required to note get banned.
Most other MMO'S have the vote kick and so should STO. Why should the rest of the team be forced to either leave and get a penalty or stay and drag the free loader threw it.:mad:
The AFK'ers are on the ground in the contested areas now. Nothing can be done about that. They're not grouped, and they just stand around and collect rewards. It is a very small minority that thinks they are the "cool kids" and showing everyone how cool they are by getting around a system in an entertainment venue.
Remember it is just a game. Don't stress over it. They don't get comms for it now anyway. Don't worry...Just be happy.
The AFK'ers are on the ground in the contested areas now. Nothing can be done about that. They're not grouped, and they just stand around and collect rewards. It is a very small minority that thinks they are the "cool kids" and showing everyone how cool they are by getting around a system in an entertainment venue.
Remember it is just a game. Don't stress over it. They don't get comms for it now anyway. Don't worry...Just be happy.
Had one of those following my team once. we ditched him when one of the low level raptor boss showed up. Easy to do, have a teammate go someplace else then once the time is right beam out then back down to finish capturing points without him.
OT:
Vote kick is the worst option possible. Cryptic has essentialy stated leeching and going AFK during events is against the rules by implementing the current AFK system. Since it is against the rules I would love to know they are taking action when someone gets reported. But report and move on should be the only thing other players can do. Vote kick simply invites griefers to make use of the tools provided.
Nothing like being in the final moments of an event and get kicked for no reason other than someone thinks it's funny.
Nothing like being the best member on the team and get kicked so others get a better place on the leader board.
Nothing like learning how the event is done and get kicked because you are not experianced in it.
Nothing like getting kicked because someone doesnt like the gear you use.
Nothing like getting kicked because someone doesnt like your name.
If the OP thinks people will not initiate a kick for those reasons and many more then he is naive or wants to kick for griefing reasons.
Join Date: Nobody cares.
"I'm drunk, whats your excuse for being an idiot?" - Unknown drunk man. :eek:
What they need to do is make it against the written rules so that reporting the stupid hatf**kers actually does some good.
"Great War! / And I cannot take more! / Great tour! / I keep on marching on / I play the great score / There will be no encore / Great War! / The War to End All Wars"
— Sabaton, "Great War"
What they need to do is make it against the written rules so that reporting the stupid hatf**kers actually does some good.
Which could also be abused. Hell, I'm pretty sure the report feature gets abused right now. Would you really want legitimate tickets being drowned under thousands of AFK accusation reports?
I wish something would be done about the Starbase Fleet Defense 5-man's as well. Getting rather old that people are either leaving halfway through it to get around the timer cooldown or just as the final wave shows up and there's not enough people to destroy the siege ship before the timer runs out. I've had someone leave halfway or at the end before the siege ship is destroyed in 8 out of the last 10 fleet defense missions I've done tonight.
"General Server Stability" means they are bolting the servers to the floor, right? Wouldn't you be upset if Branflakes were to go stumbling into the server room, knock a rack over, and bring the game down for a DAY? SO, they aren't scrwing it up, they are bolting it down.
I like the idea of making the Afker targetable to your own team if they leech or PvP that way they blow up when you for them and they shouldn't be able to respawn kinda like a Chaotic Evil option that was mentioned aeons ago on page 1 of this thread lol
Oh and CaptainPurple there's supposedly something in the works to stop that from some rumours I've been reading, however take that with a pinch of salt since not all you read is right lol
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
No Drama, No Fuss, Just good old fashioned pew pew!
Very frustrated, STF after STF there is at least one person who is leeching. Doesnt help in any way. Not always but sometimes they have massive ship injuries as well, making them completely useless if they would attempt to fight. And most of the time they arent even AFK, they will sit at the keyboard and click for loot. I honestly dont know how to express my thoughts about this.
I just wish Cryptic would do something about it. This new AFK system did nothing to fix the problem.
If then system recognize the people are leeching why doesn't it kick them out?
But nooo it leaves them be! They take the reward get the penalty, and switch to a another character:mad: This system is far from fer play!
another thing I hate is people NOT remodulating their weapons after the borg adapt to them and keep firing and wondering why we die so often and it takes so long
I can't belive that there are people in the game that don't know this!
just like people that fire energy weapons on asaton assimalators
CVN-65 U.S.S. Enterprise - A ship so badass it survived John McCain.
another thing I hate is people NOT remodulating their weapons after the borg adapt to them and keep firing and wondering why we die so often and it takes so long
I can't belive that there are people in the game that don't know this!
just like people that fire energy weapons on asaton assimalators
Yeah, that is why I only play ground mission on very rare occasions.
Another one of these threads? Pardon me while I find my tiny violin.
It's not as big a problem as people say. Get over it.
I tend to disagree, it is a problem. Leeching is annoying and ruins the experience also it makes a STF last for 45 min or longer, it's just disgraceful.
Although sadly these kinds of threads are not helping, there will always be douche-bags, but at least I meet them rarely.
Not particularly interested in the OP of this thread but I found it pretty amusing that it was derailed almost immediately by one of those elitist pve kinda people that assume everyone is as pro as they are.
js.
Fleet Admiral Rylana - Fed Tac - U.S.S Wild Card - Tactical Miracle Worker Cruiser
Lifetime Subscriber since 2012 == 17,200 Accolades = RIP PvP and Vice Squad
Chief of Starfleet Intelligence Service == Praise Cheesus
The only requirement in that channel, AFAIK, is that you know your STFs, including optionals. That's it. And really, that requirement is there for your own benefit. Don't you want to be playing with others that know what to do?
And no, it's not elitist to expect people to know the basics of STFs, and how to get the optionals; seeing how, if you don't know, all takes is a quick google search to find out.
Or you know, people could start trying to legitimately teach people instead of berating them mercilessly over 15 marks.
It's 100 marks and much dillithium. :P
But jokes aside, I really try to tell people when they are doing something wrong, like they should always kill off Nanite Orbs before anything, etc... But they never read the messages and I type them 3 or 4 times over and over again.
After those 3 or 4 I just give up on the optionals and try just to finish the STF as quick as possible, I never just leave.
How about preventing people from accessing Elite STFs until you have got the optional on the standard version of the mission, and/or Tier 1 of Omega Rep. That way, standard STFs become "practice" versions of ESTFs, and you have to learn how to do the mission well before you can move on to the Elite version. And since the ESTFs have enemies that are harder to defeat, they can be considered the "real" version of the mission - they are difficult to beat, just like in-universe Borg should be.
Comments
It's not nearly as big a problem as people make out. I can't remember ever having an afker in a stf and I've been playing nearly a year and a half now. It's a non-issue.
And anyway, vote to kick is too open to abuse.
R.I.P. Leonard Nimoy
We should be allowed to kite tactical cubes onto leechers.
— Sabaton, "Great War"
Check out https://unitedfederationofpla.net/s/
As far as that one statement that my previous comment was unfair I should remind you that this like a lot of other problems in the game are dumped to the side and forgotten because the only thing PWE and Cryptic care about is whatever is going to make them money and fixing game problems don't make them money, if it can't be put in the c shop or stuffed in a lock box they don't care.
Just saying.
Fleet Admiral Rylana - Fed Tac - U.S.S Wild Card - Tactical Miracle Worker Cruiser
Lifetime Subscriber since 2012 == 17,200 Accolades = RIP PvP and Vice Squad
Chief of Starfleet Intelligence Service == Praise Cheesus
Seriously, it's easy to tell if someone is not doing things due to connection issues, or not doing things because they're lazy. People with connection issues don't roll need incessantly.
My character Tsin'xing
Course, I play with my fleet mostly. No AFKers in my fleet.
What I have run into far more often than AFKers is people swearing in chat because someone doesn't follow their orders, or some other nonsense. There are a lot of PVE heros out there, who feel the need to take charge of missions.
I was in one STF where someone was swearing because me and my Fleetmates blew up one of the cubes in "The Cure"......on normal, (where it doesn't make a difference). We manged to make the optional despite this person ******** all the way through, because no one listened to his orders.:rolleyes:
Another time, I was in an STF where someone actually pm'd me afterward, complaining because I didn't do "enough damage".......in my controller sci build, in a normal STF, that we also made the optional in.....
I see this behavior FAR more than AFKers, maybe I'm just lucky....or unlucky?
These are the sort of ding-a-lings that would call for a vote kick, wasting everyone's time. At present, without it, they feel so overwhelmed that they must act in the only way they can ATM, ***** and swear in chat and PM insults. REGARDLESS if the mission was a success.
Cryptic is looking into AFKers, they are working on a solution that at present doesn't involve a vote kick, maybe they see the bigger picture, like all those PVE heros who don't play nice with others. Who's to say.
But they are working on a way of getting them banned.
One question I have is, are all these AFKers with fleets?
I ask because what I HAVE noticed is people leaving FLEET ALERT missions before the boss spawns to avoid the mission cool down.
Too bad I can't choose to never be teamed with THOSE pin heads, EVER again.
I think they should just go ahead and make it a written rule. Right now it's more of a unofficial unspoken request that people don't so that so it's not taken seriously. It's their game so if they want to make it a punishable rule that, that sort of thing won't be tolerated than the ones doing it might be less incline to do it knowing they could get punished for it, and if a person does it multiple times they should be banned from the game for it. If anything they could get a warning the first time they do it, a couple of days to a month ban the second time they are reported, a permanent ban for the 3rd time, something like that.
That's what I was referring to, people that do that or people that just park someplace and collect marks for doing nothing. The whole argument about connection issues is just their way of trying to defend it but the problem there is I myself have had connection issues before and I get disconnected at spawn before it starts, not after clicking need or collecting marks or anything so I don't see how their connection is good until they get what they want then it fails.
The fix is relatively easy, make the game recognize when someone is afking and have enemy units appear at a respawn point away from the normal ones and start chasing the person around. That way, they have to work at it just to stay alive wheither they want to or not....
I have no problem with grinding for fleet marks or anything else in the game but what I do have a problem with is the free loaders that do nothing or now the minimum required to note get banned.
Most other MMO'S have the vote kick and so should STO. Why should the rest of the team be forced to either leave and get a penalty or stay and drag the free loader threw it.:mad:
I Support Disco | Disco is Love | Disco is Life
dear gott, you actually kept count?!
anywho, they already have the anti AFK system in place. So... where does that leave us?
http://www.arcgames.com/en/games/star-trek-online/news/detail/10052253
Why are you not rejoicing?
I am Il Shadow and i approve these Shennanigans!
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
Remember it is just a game. Don't stress over it. They don't get comms for it now anyway. Don't worry...Just be happy.
Had one of those following my team once. we ditched him when one of the low level raptor boss showed up. Easy to do, have a teammate go someplace else then once the time is right beam out then back down to finish capturing points without him.
OT:
Vote kick is the worst option possible. Cryptic has essentialy stated leeching and going AFK during events is against the rules by implementing the current AFK system. Since it is against the rules I would love to know they are taking action when someone gets reported. But report and move on should be the only thing other players can do. Vote kick simply invites griefers to make use of the tools provided.
Nothing like being in the final moments of an event and get kicked for no reason other than someone thinks it's funny.
Nothing like being the best member on the team and get kicked so others get a better place on the leader board.
Nothing like learning how the event is done and get kicked because you are not experianced in it.
Nothing like getting kicked because someone doesnt like the gear you use.
Nothing like getting kicked because someone doesnt like your name.
If the OP thinks people will not initiate a kick for those reasons and many more then he is naive or wants to kick for griefing reasons.
"I'm drunk, whats your excuse for being an idiot?" - Unknown drunk man. :eek:
— Sabaton, "Great War"
Check out https://unitedfederationofpla.net/s/
Which could also be abused. Hell, I'm pretty sure the report feature gets abused right now. Would you really want legitimate tickets being drowned under thousands of AFK accusation reports?
Oh and CaptainPurple there's supposedly something in the works to stop that from some rumours I've been reading, however take that with a pinch of salt since not all you read is right lol
I just wish Cryptic would do something about it. This new AFK system did nothing to fix the problem.
Sorry, just very frustrated. :mad:
system Lord Baal is dead
Joining with 5+ injuries qualifies as griefing in my oppinion....
But nooo it leaves them be! They take the reward get the penalty, and switch to a another character:mad: This system is far from fer play!
I can't belive that there are people in the game that don't know this!
just like people that fire energy weapons on asaton assimalators
It's not as big a problem as people say. Get over it.
R.I.P. Leonard Nimoy
Yeah, that is why I only play ground mission on very rare occasions.
I tend to disagree, it is a problem. Leeching is annoying and ruins the experience also it makes a STF last for 45 min or longer, it's just disgraceful.
Although sadly these kinds of threads are not helping, there will always be douche-bags, but at least I meet them rarely.
js.
Fleet Admiral Rylana - Fed Tac - U.S.S Wild Card - Tactical Miracle Worker Cruiser
Lifetime Subscriber since 2012 == 17,200 Accolades = RIP PvP and Vice Squad
Chief of Starfleet Intelligence Service == Praise Cheesus
Really, it is as easy as typing:
/join PublicEliteSTF
The only requirement in that channel, AFAIK, is that you know your STFs, including optionals. That's it. And really, that requirement is there for your own benefit. Don't you want to be playing with others that know what to do?
And no, it's not elitist to expect people to know the basics of STFs, and how to get the optionals; seeing how, if you don't know, all takes is a quick google search to find out.
Fleet Admiral Rylana - Fed Tac - U.S.S Wild Card - Tactical Miracle Worker Cruiser
Lifetime Subscriber since 2012 == 17,200 Accolades = RIP PvP and Vice Squad
Chief of Starfleet Intelligence Service == Praise Cheesus
It's 100 marks and much dillithium. :P
But jokes aside, I really try to tell people when they are doing something wrong, like they should always kill off Nanite Orbs before anything, etc... But they never read the messages and I type them 3 or 4 times over and over again.
After those 3 or 4 I just give up on the optionals and try just to finish the STF as quick as possible, I never just leave.