The new mirror is terribad. Talk about your standard Asian grind fest mission. No thanks... Ran it once and you couldn't pay me to do it again.
Don't forget, they've been revamping Terradome too. Word from Tribble is there's going to be an Undine-based event coming up too, which will probably revolve around a revamped Terradome which will be removed after three weeks, simply for the lulz.
So if you love a good grind you're in for a treat over the next few weeks.
You're just a machine. And machines can be broken.
I'm not sure you can really balance events like this on the assumption that people will have more than a couple of Alts. I mean I'm sure you recognise that 13 Alts is... excessive compared to the average?
Average of what? One person only making one character to the point where they refuse to even make a second...to the point they demand all kind of ways to change race, gender, and even faction?
A lot of people are like that so the people who like alts must suffer?
Can't have a honest conversation because of a white knight with power
"Critics who say that the optimistic utopia Star Trek depicted is now outmoded forget the cultural context that gave birth to it: Star Trek was not a manifestation of optimism when optimism was easy. Star Trek declared a hope for a future that nobody stuck in the present could believe in. For all our struggles today, we haven’t outgrown the need for stories like Star Trek. We need tales of optimism, of heroes, of courage and goodness now as much as we’ve ever needed them." -Thomas Marrone
After playing through this a couple of days now, I feel I've observed enough to make several comments:
- First of all, I have to mention that once again Cryptic managed to not suprise me with their complete lack of attention to details. I mean c'mon guys is it 'Plasma Lance' or a 'Phaser Lance'?!? >.> How the heck does something so obvious go past you, not to mention that you even did a 'double maintenece' specially for fixing the bugs in the initially released MU event.
- The event itself is ok and could be really fun if we weren't enticed to grind the living soul out of it for 3 weeks. Other than that it's a fun & chilled pew-pew instance withiut headaches, but the whole grind part kills the feeling. Time gating events is baaad Cryptic, m'kay?
- Although there are suposed roles ships need to do based on their ship class, I can't help it but agree with others that it's just another DPS fest at the end of the day. Because in order for me to close rifts or relay power from satelites I have to clear all the ship spam first anyway.
- Time gating. Seriously Cryptic, what is your problem? It's the 3-rd day of the event today and players are getting the hang of how to do things. What does that mean? It means that in every run I did today, on the 3-rd day, all my teams had the time to smoke a cigarette while waiting idle for Obisek to activate whatever he's activating.
I can't shake the feeling that they wanted us to play a certain amount of time regardless, I have the feeling it's their new startegy for STO. So if we happen to finish earlier than Cryptic planned, well....too bad for us, we'll have to wait anyway if we want to get the rewards. Time gating is bad Cryptic, m'kay?
To summarize, I can't shake the feeling that once again they managed to make an fun, easy going pew-pew instance only to ruin the impression with the lack of attention to details, time gating it and turning it into a limited time grind. What's even worse is that you can't finish the instance in the time your team can finish it, but rather in the time Cryptic wants you to finish it.
While it's always fun to blow up MU ships, I can't help it but feel a bit disenchanted by the direction the game seems to be taking. Artificial time gating is baaad Cryptic, m'mkay?
I love the time gate. It's Cryptic's way of saying "30k DPS? Why not dial that back a bit?" Instead of making enemies have more HPs and do more damage so that lower DPS people don't even tickle the enemy before getting two shot ... they keep things far more casual friendly.
The powercreep everyone complains about? Is gone. You're going to take just as long as everyone else.
I love the time gate. It's Cryptic's way of saying "30k DPS? Why not dial that back a bit?" Instead of making enemies have more HPs and do more damage so that lower DPS people don't even tickle the enemy before getting two shot ... they keep things far more casual friendly.
The powercreep everyone complains about? Is gone. You're going to take just as long as everyone else.
And 15 minutes is a breeze in MMO time.
You're completely missing the point. I don't have any issues with longer playtimes, heck, I'd love to have STFs like the old ones that took time to complete. But I'd actually want to play, do something in that time.
Taking long as anyone else by standing there idle and doing nothing? That's just poor game design.
You're completely missing the point. I don't have any issues with longer playtimes, heck, I'd love to have STFs like the old ones that took time to complete. But I'd actually want to play, do something in that time.
Taking long as anyone else by standing there idle and doing nothing? That's just poor game design.
Dial back your gear. And you can spend the entire time fighting the ships.
Rock a rainbow setup, with fore and aft projectiles. And you can spend the entire time fighting the ships.
Get a whole group of Nebulas instead of Scimitars, Bug ships and Defiants and you can spend the entire time fighting the ships.
Don't do 30K DPS, and you won't have time to take a smoke break during the event.
I definitely get the point. But I really don't have a ton of sympathy for the complaint.
Dial back your gear. And you can spend the entire time fighting the ships.
Rock a rainbow setup, with fore and aft projectiles. And you can spend the entire time fighting the ships.
Get a whole group of Nebulas instead of Scimitars, Bug ships and Defiants and you can spend the entire time fighting the ships.
Don't do 30K DPS, and you won't have time to take a smoke break during the event.
I definitely get the point. But I really don't have a ton of sympathy for the complaint.
LOL You're making it sound like being able to achieve 30k DPS is the players' falut and not the fault of the people who designed the game for it to be achieved.
And also just FYI, I ran the event with a pug, with 1 AFK-er, in an Excelsior with only crafted equipment by myself. Still ended up waiting for Obisek.
Yeah, I don't get how anyone can advocate dialing back their gear and purposely gimping yourself in response to a request of new and more challenging content.
I must be one of those types that want things that are harmful to the game.
I like this new event, and I also would like a return of the old style STF's.
It comes down to the meaning of content to you: are you doing it purely seeking a reward or are you looking to challenge the content a game offers just to enjoy it with friends. I tend toward the latter.
I haven't read every page here but from the first few pages it clear that that a lot of people are not working as a team and trying to close/xfer on their own. I've run this missions several times using PubElite and have never had an issue. The only time I did have an issue was once with a PUG and another time with a fleet run where everyone was in science ships.
The best strategy I've seen is science ships teaming up with tank cruisers. The cruiser uses draw fire and FAW while the science ship stays out of dodge, throws out heals closes portals and transfers power. As soon this is done the science ship jumps into battle and helps clear the remaining ships. The duo then moves to the next power relay and repeats. This has worked brilliantly for the groups I've run with. One team goes one way the other the opposite way. I've received over 70 marks nearly every time
LOL You're making it sound like being able to achieve 30k DPS is the players' falut and not the fault of the people who designed the game for it to be achieved.
And also just FYI, I ran the event with a pug, with 1 AFK-er, in an Excelsior with only crafted equipment by myself. Still ended up waiting for Obisek.
IT IS the players fault!! Why would you seek out upgrades for your ship and character!? Are you crazy? Our content is easy enough without it!!
Cryptic does no wrong and asking for them to improve is unreasonable.
Instead you should do less than the best you can do, because I understand that you enjoy challenge in content. But asking the developer to do that is asking too much. Instead, make the content challenging yourself.
And also just FYI, I ran the event with a pug, with 1 AFK-er, in an Excelsior with only crafted equipment by myself. Still ended up waiting for Obisek.
I've been pugging it since it went live. And have yet to encounter the problem you have encountered. I've pugged elite and normal and have not once run out of mirror ships to shoot at before it switches to the dreadnought phase.
I've been pugging it since it went live. And have yet to encounter the problem you have encountered. I've pugged elite and normal and have not once run out of mirror ships to shoot at before it switches to the dreadnought phase.
Or to put it in forum snark terms:
I don't have a sandwich. And yet I'm not hungry.
Bad luck is bad. I've had teams where there were more than 1 AFK-er or where people had no idea of what they're doing and refused to listen to advice.
Your ocassional bad luck doesn't justify that a good team should wait still and have nothing to do just because they happen to be good at the game they're playing.
Bad luck is bad. I've had teams where there were more than 1 AFK-er or where people had no idea of what they're doing and refused to listen to advice.
Your ocassional bad luck doesn't justify that a good team should wait still and have nothing to do just because they happen to be good at the game they're playing.
But it would seem that my luck is good. And your luck is bad.
My lack of a sandwich seems a-OK with me. I fly this mission to fight things, and I get to fight things.
You know you'd experience the same thing (in terms of time gate) in the Storming the Spire STF. Which has been around a bit longer than this event.
- First of all, I have to mention that once again Cryptic managed to not suprise me with their complete lack of attention to details. I mean c'mon guys is it 'Plasma Lance' or a 'Phaser Lance'?!? >.> How the heck does something so obvious go past you, not to mention that you even did a 'double maintenece' specially for fixing the bugs in the initially released MU event.
It sounds like a case of left hand, right hand. The Sound guys have had him record "Plasma Lance" while the FX guy has been told to do the coding for a phaser lance.
- Although there are suposed roles ships need to do based on their ship class, I can't help it but agree with others that it's just another DPS fest at the end of the day. Because in order for me to close rifts or relay power from satelites I have to clear all the ship spam first anyway.
Which requires DPS that most science and eng ships don't have.
Like someone else said, it'd be better if Sci ships could close rifts without being stopped by being shot at (but only Sci ships get that) and Eng ships get the same bonus when activating the power collectors.
You're just a machine. And machines can be broken.
I find it ironic Cryptic chose to name a boss ship the ISS Spock, since Emperor Spock's pacifist reforms enabled the Alliance to conquer it. Wouldn't the Empire view Spock as a traitor?
Also the ISS Kirk should be renamed the ISS Tiberius, in my opinion. When Kirk was Emperor, he was known as Emperor Tiberius.
Again, it's simply a case of there being two different counters (perhaps more).
You can easily find yourself sitting there for over a minute twiddling your thumbs and waiting for the Dread. You can also easily find yourself sitting there for 4-5 minutes or more waiting up to a minute or more for another rift to appear leading up to the Dread. It should realize - hey, we're done - let's move on...
That being said though, for every one where you're sitting there twiddling your thumbs trying to stay awake...how many do you find yourself in where the folks are proving what Geko said about the average player in PO158.5...eh? Meh...
As predicted more and more players are faking it. (Entering the event and watching tv for 15 minutes and getting all the rewards and at least 35 daily marks ) Playing the event and being successful gains about 75 daily marks. Did anyone listen when this under rewarding spawned non participation in the past? NO. If a non participant can gain 35 marks daily, why not design a reward scale from 35 to 350 marks daily to encourage participation? Because shared marks rewards do not work. If you get the same reward whether you participate or not the who is the better game player?
I'm big on informing GMs about AFKers. Don't know if anyone reads the reports but it does make me feel better. I know where the start and respawn points are, so if I see someone there for a while, they get reported.
Sometimes I think I play STO just to have something to complain about on the forums.
Thing is, they don't actually have to be afk not to contribute or to make things worse. Have seen folks without shields, have seen folks just fly into groups after triggering autofire but never using buffs until they die, etc, etc, etc...
The worst offenders aren't the AFKers but the soloers, the ones who fly off on their own just to shoot ships or who instead of closing a rift that someone drew aggro from shoot the ships instead and let them respawn.
The worst offenders aren't the AFKers but the soloers, the ones who fly off on their own just to shoot ships or who instead of closing a rift that someone drew aggro from shoot the ships instead and let them respawn.
There's no reason not to solo basically.
Five players, four substations...one player takes each and covers the rifts near it. The fifth player covers the station and lends a hand to any of the four corners that need help.
The people bunched up together are working as a team to make things more difficult than the folks that spread out and work as a team to cover the scenario.
i have only had the time for the first day when it came out, that was a normal PuG run, havent had the chance since even though i have been around a lot on the forums.
T6 Miranda Hero Ship FTW. Been around since Dec 2010 on STO and bought LTS in Apr 2013 for STO.
Five players, four substations...one player takes each and covers the rifts near it. The fifth player covers the station and lends a hand to any of the four corners that need help.
The people bunched up together are working as a team to make things more difficult than the folks that spread out and work as a team to cover the scenario.
THIS. Same tactic my fleet uses. 4 on each station to get the power relays up and then I fly around in my science vessel and shut down the rifts. Now my advantage is I use a vesta, so I have that damage immunity bubble every 3 minutes so while they're TRYING to damage me, it does not interrupt my rift closing. Also Yellowstone runabouts work great for crowd control. We usually have no issue.
As for the AFKer's. Cryptic KNEW this would happen and should have implimented something in the game to counter this. Anyone who would sit there and think people wouldn't try to take advantage of the system is seriously naive.
Defending The Galaxy By Breaking One Starfleet Regulation After The Next.
You think one person can close multiple rifts solo? Maybe if you're running a 10k+ DPS build in normal you can but it's more likely you will be quickly outnumbered from nearby rifts if you're in elite and can't dish out that DPS.
And you don't need to cover the station at all if you're closing the rifts fast enough. My most successful runs had everyone closing rifts as a team while one person handled the power, and the station wasn't even scratched.
Remember it's not about shooting ships, it's about closing rifts.
Bravo on attempting to make Science Ships and Cruisers useful on the new Mirror Universe event. I can see you gave some cursory thought to a mechanic that makes non-escorts feel necessary.
Unfortunately... it doesn't seem to have the effect you aimed for. I'll explain why: if there are ships near a rift (and there usually are), then you cannot close the rift until you destroy them, because they will break your channel ability. Being able to close the rift 5 seconds faster than an escort makes no difference when it takes you 20 seconds longer to clear the area of enemies. Same thing goes for the power stations. A lucky Tractor Repulsors may push the enemies away long enough to close the rift or activate the power station for the right class, but it's unreliable.
I know we're probably not going to get any changes to the event now that it's up and running, but I thought I'd throw some ideas for next time:
Let the named class (science for rifts, cruisers for stations) actually close the rift / power up the station while under fire, like the hanger doors in Breach. Now the classes you tried to encourage are actually better at doing the job than an escort.
Alternatively, allow certain ships to activate these rifts / power stations from further away, so that clever positioning lets them do it without drawing aggro. You could even do a mix of both, letting cruisers channel while under fire, and letting science ships activate from further away so they can use their maneuverability to their advantage.
Comments
i've seen Gal-X I.S.S Kirk too, now i'm curious how many names we can get.
they don't.
Don't forget, they've been revamping Terradome too. Word from Tribble is there's going to be an Undine-based event coming up too, which will probably revolve around a revamped Terradome which will be removed after three weeks, simply for the lulz.
So if you love a good grind you're in for a treat over the next few weeks.
Average of what? One person only making one character to the point where they refuse to even make a second...to the point they demand all kind of ways to change race, gender, and even faction?
A lot of people are like that so the people who like alts must suffer?
The Galaxy-X has a phaser lance. Haven't seen the Odyssey yet.
"Critics who say that the optimistic utopia Star Trek depicted is now outmoded forget the cultural context that gave birth to it: Star Trek was not a manifestation of optimism when optimism was easy. Star Trek declared a hope for a future that nobody stuck in the present could believe in. For all our struggles today, we haven’t outgrown the need for stories like Star Trek. We need tales of optimism, of heroes, of courage and goodness now as much as we’ve ever needed them."
-Thomas Marrone
- First of all, I have to mention that once again Cryptic managed to not suprise me with their complete lack of attention to details. I mean c'mon guys is it 'Plasma Lance' or a 'Phaser Lance'?!? >.> How the heck does something so obvious go past you, not to mention that you even did a 'double maintenece' specially for fixing the bugs in the initially released MU event.
- The event itself is ok and could be really fun if we weren't enticed to grind the living soul out of it for 3 weeks. Other than that it's a fun & chilled pew-pew instance withiut headaches, but the whole grind part kills the feeling. Time gating events is baaad Cryptic, m'kay?
- Although there are suposed roles ships need to do based on their ship class, I can't help it but agree with others that it's just another DPS fest at the end of the day. Because in order for me to close rifts or relay power from satelites I have to clear all the ship spam first anyway.
- Time gating. Seriously Cryptic, what is your problem? It's the 3-rd day of the event today and players are getting the hang of how to do things. What does that mean? It means that in every run I did today, on the 3-rd day, all my teams had the time to smoke a cigarette while waiting idle for Obisek to activate whatever he's activating.
I can't shake the feeling that they wanted us to play a certain amount of time regardless, I have the feeling it's their new startegy for STO. So if we happen to finish earlier than Cryptic planned, well....too bad for us, we'll have to wait anyway if we want to get the rewards. Time gating is bad Cryptic, m'kay?
To summarize, I can't shake the feeling that once again they managed to make an fun, easy going pew-pew instance only to ruin the impression with the lack of attention to details, time gating it and turning it into a limited time grind. What's even worse is that you can't finish the instance in the time your team can finish it, but rather in the time Cryptic wants you to finish it.
While it's always fun to blow up MU ships, I can't help it but feel a bit disenchanted by the direction the game seems to be taking. Artificial time gating is baaad Cryptic, m'mkay?
The powercreep everyone complains about? Is gone. You're going to take just as long as everyone else.
And 15 minutes is a breeze in MMO time.
You're completely missing the point. I don't have any issues with longer playtimes, heck, I'd love to have STFs like the old ones that took time to complete. But I'd actually want to play, do something in that time.
Taking long as anyone else by standing there idle and doing nothing? That's just poor game design.
Dial back your gear. And you can spend the entire time fighting the ships.
Rock a rainbow setup, with fore and aft projectiles. And you can spend the entire time fighting the ships.
Get a whole group of Nebulas instead of Scimitars, Bug ships and Defiants and you can spend the entire time fighting the ships.
Don't do 30K DPS, and you won't have time to take a smoke break during the event.
I definitely get the point. But I really don't have a ton of sympathy for the complaint.
LOL
And also just FYI, I ran the event with a pug, with 1 AFK-er, in an Excelsior with only crafted equipment by myself. Still ended up waiting for Obisek.
I must be one of those types that want things that are harmful to the game.
I like this new event, and I also would like a return of the old style STF's.
It comes down to the meaning of content to you: are you doing it purely seeking a reward or are you looking to challenge the content a game offers just to enjoy it with friends. I tend toward the latter.
The best strategy I've seen is science ships teaming up with tank cruisers. The cruiser uses draw fire and FAW while the science ship stays out of dodge, throws out heals closes portals and transfers power. As soon this is done the science ship jumps into battle and helps clear the remaining ships. The duo then moves to the next power relay and repeats. This has worked brilliantly for the groups I've run with. One team goes one way the other the opposite way. I've received over 70 marks nearly every time
IT IS the players fault!! Why would you seek out upgrades for your ship and character!? Are you crazy? Our content is easy enough without it!!
Cryptic does no wrong and asking for them to improve is unreasonable.
Instead you should do less than the best you can do, because I understand that you enjoy challenge in content. But asking the developer to do that is asking too much. Instead, make the content challenging yourself.
I've been pugging it since it went live. And have yet to encounter the problem you have encountered. I've pugged elite and normal and have not once run out of mirror ships to shoot at before it switches to the dreadnought phase.
Or to put it in forum snark terms:
I don't have a sandwich. And yet I'm not hungry.
Bad luck is bad. I've had teams where there were more than 1 AFK-er or where people had no idea of what they're doing and refused to listen to advice.
Your ocassional bad luck doesn't justify that a good team should wait still and have nothing to do just because they happen to be good at the game they're playing.
But it would seem that my luck is good. And your luck is bad.
My lack of a sandwich seems a-OK with me. I fly this mission to fight things, and I get to fight things.
You know you'd experience the same thing (in terms of time gate) in the Storming the Spire STF. Which has been around a bit longer than this event.
It sounds like a case of left hand, right hand. The Sound guys have had him record "Plasma Lance" while the FX guy has been told to do the coding for a phaser lance.
Which requires DPS that most science and eng ships don't have.
Like someone else said, it'd be better if Sci ships could close rifts without being stopped by being shot at (but only Sci ships get that) and Eng ships get the same bonus when activating the power collectors.
Also the ISS Kirk should be renamed the ISS Tiberius, in my opinion. When Kirk was Emperor, he was known as Emperor Tiberius.
Poor game design in one place doesn't justify poor game design in another place as well. It's still poor game design.
You can easily find yourself sitting there for over a minute twiddling your thumbs and waiting for the Dread. You can also easily find yourself sitting there for 4-5 minutes or more waiting up to a minute or more for another rift to appear leading up to the Dread. It should realize - hey, we're done - let's move on...
That being said though, for every one where you're sitting there twiddling your thumbs trying to stay awake...how many do you find yourself in where the folks are proving what Geko said about the average player in PO158.5...eh? Meh...
There's no reason not to solo basically.
Five players, four substations...one player takes each and covers the rifts near it. The fifth player covers the station and lends a hand to any of the four corners that need help.
The people bunched up together are working as a team to make things more difficult than the folks that spread out and work as a team to cover the scenario.
Been around since Dec 2010 on STO and bought LTS in Apr 2013 for STO.
THIS. Same tactic my fleet uses. 4 on each station to get the power relays up and then I fly around in my science vessel and shut down the rifts. Now my advantage is I use a vesta, so I have that damage immunity bubble every 3 minutes so while they're TRYING to damage me, it does not interrupt my rift closing. Also Yellowstone runabouts work great for crowd control. We usually have no issue.
As for the AFKer's. Cryptic KNEW this would happen and should have implimented something in the game to counter this. Anyone who would sit there and think people wouldn't try to take advantage of the system is seriously naive.
Defending The Galaxy By Breaking One Starfleet Regulation After The Next.
And you don't need to cover the station at all if you're closing the rifts fast enough. My most successful runs had everyone closing rifts as a team while one person handled the power, and the station wasn't even scratched.
Remember it's not about shooting ships, it's about closing rifts.
Bravo on attempting to make Science Ships and Cruisers useful on the new Mirror Universe event. I can see you gave some cursory thought to a mechanic that makes non-escorts feel necessary.
Unfortunately... it doesn't seem to have the effect you aimed for. I'll explain why: if there are ships near a rift (and there usually are), then you cannot close the rift until you destroy them, because they will break your channel ability. Being able to close the rift 5 seconds faster than an escort makes no difference when it takes you 20 seconds longer to clear the area of enemies. Same thing goes for the power stations. A lucky Tractor Repulsors may push the enemies away long enough to close the rift or activate the power station for the right class, but it's unreliable.
I know we're probably not going to get any changes to the event now that it's up and running, but I thought I'd throw some ideas for next time:
Let the named class (science for rifts, cruisers for stations) actually close the rift / power up the station while under fire, like the hanger doors in Breach. Now the classes you tried to encourage are actually better at doing the job than an escort.
Alternatively, allow certain ships to activate these rifts / power stations from further away, so that clever positioning lets them do it without drawing aggro. You could even do a mix of both, letting cruisers channel while under fire, and letting science ships activate from further away so they can use their maneuverability to their advantage.
Any thoughts?