Yeah, thanks for taking an OK special mission and make it horrible. It's bad enough that you have to ~50 non-collapsing ones to get 75 particles, but you toss in that 3/4 (being generous w/ that ratio) of the time it just collapses means you have to look at ~200 particles.
Do you guys sit around and brainstorm ways to add that extra layer of grind to everything? Can't you just make a mission/event that doesn't make players want to tear their hair out?
The particle collapsed should have been removed. It serves no purpose and it's more frustrating than waiting for Q to move around in gift boxes for a minute.
I agree as well. Did it once today to try for the purple, and honestly, it was the most
mind-numbing 45 minutes ever for a useless Conn officer. Chasing mini-Qs was a walk in
the...garden, next to this.
Over the past year, Cryptic's game design has gone downhill. The mantra of the year is
'repetition, repetition!' How many events have we had since Risa last year where you have to
repeat x daily over 2-4 weeks?
I like the surf hoverboards coming for this year's event, but when I think of how many dailies I'll
need to do...forget it. Instead of coming up with ways to reward us tokens doing things we
like, we just get to jump the same hoops on a daily basis ...and in the case of the academy
event, easily half of our time is wasted with collapsed particles. Are we supposed to somehow
feel a gambling thrill from 'oh is it going to collapse? or do I get something?!'. Actually, that just
reminded me of lockboxes. Never mind.
I'm just suffering from 'grind or gamble' fatigue.
used to end up with around 100-130 particles per run. but i stopped doing it because there was more easier ways of getting dilthium without the shallow grinding.
T6 Miranda Hero Ship FTW. Been around since Dec 2010 on STO and bought LTS in Apr 2013 for STO.
Personally, I rather enjoyed the fact that we no longer have a timer on the mission. I was able to gather about 20 Particles, spend a half hour on the phone talking with a friend, gather another 20 Particles, deal with fleet stuff, gather 20 more Particles, grab a snack, finish gathering Particles, and then turn in the mission. Those 2 hours it took was well worth being able to do this at my own leisure. And in the end, my reward duty officer was a Very Rare Aux->Battery Technician that sold for 12 million! I rather like this mission.
And tomorrow? Let's say I wanted to gather 50 Particles, then go grab a pizza for lunch, then come home and finish gathering Particles. I am perfectly free to do exactly that.
Personally, I rather enjoyed the fact that we no longer have a timer on the mission. I was able to gather about 20 Particles, spend a half hour on the phone talking with a friend, gather another 20 Particles, deal with fleet stuff, gather 20 more Particles, grab a snack, finish gathering Particles, and then turn in the mission. Those 2 hours it took was well worth being able to do this at my own leisure. And in the end, my reward duty officer was a Very Rare Aux->Battery Technician that sold for 12 million! I rather like this mission.
And tomorrow? Let's say I wanted to gather 50 Particles, then go grab a pizza for lunch, then come home and finish gathering Particles. I am perfectly free to do exactly that.
Or... you could spent that time (even less) doing doff missions around the sector space, such as Officer Exchange, Negotiate Prisoner Exchange, Caitian/Ferasan Flight Training, Instigate Defection, Asylum, Renown, Support and such to get yourself a bunch of doffs - including purple ones - as well as CXP (which can be exchanged for Fleet Marks) and other rewards.
Or you could spend two hours grinding for a single random purple doff. It may be a technician worth 12kk, or it can be a Flight Deck Officer worth 500k...
Or... you could spent that time (even less) doing doff missions around the sector space, such as Officer Exchange, Negotiate Prisoner Exchange, Caitian/Ferasan Flight Training, Instigate Defection, Asylum, Renown, Support and such to get yourself a bunch of doffs - including purple ones - as well as CXP (which can be exchanged for Fleet Marks) and other rewards.
Or you could spend two hours grinding for a single random purple doff. It may be a technician worth 12kk, or it can be a Flight Deck Officer worth 500k...
Your suggestions mostly require inputs. Officer exchange needs you to trade in a doff, what if you already have a full purple crew? Is it worth trading in one for *chance* to get another purple. For prisoner exchanges, you need a prisoner (so critting on that Strike against whatever for Feds, easier for the KDF). The flight training is tough to get a good officer unless you already have a bunch of flight deck officers. Asylums need a refugee. Reknown/Support would require you to travel to all 13 of those clusters with the hope that the mission is there. That sounds like a huge time sink as well. And Instigate defection is very rare. You could check every zone and not find it.
And the kicker, except for the flight training, there is no guarantee on what type of doff you get. At least the event breaks it into three groups to choose from.
However, my biggest issue with this event (besides the Romulan confusion) is that I lost all 75 of my particles/put on cooldown and got no doff because I backed out while talking to B'Tama. That was a frustrating 45 minutes to get those particles with nothing to show for it.
"They're crying, Jim! I don't know how it happened, but it's good to see." - Dr Leonard McCoy
Your suggestions mostly require inputs. Officer exchange needs you to trade in a doff, what if you already have a full purple crew? Is it worth trading in one for *chance* to get another purple. For prisoner exchanges, you need a prisoner (so critting on that Strike against whatever for Feds, easier for the KDF). The flight training is tough to get a good officer unless you already have a bunch of flight deck officers. Asylums need a refugee. Reknown/Support would require you to travel to all 13 of those clusters with the hope that the mission is there. That sounds like a huge time sink as well. And Instigate defection is very rare. You could check every zone and not find it.
It's worth it in the long run.
You can send a common or uncommon officer for the Officer Exchange mission and end up with a rare or a purple. If you're not lucky and end up with a common or uncommon anyway, then just repeat the mission next time you see it. It's not like you're losing a doff or anything. I've never sent a purple doff on the exchange mission, cause it's just not worth it.
Prisoners are easy to come by, especially for the KDF.
Support missions reward Refugees, and refugees can be used for the Asylum missions.
And even if the mission is not there, you can do a lot of other tasks on your way. I don't think it's as irritating as seeing:
Should there be no option like this, and the mission would only require us to scan 75 particles (with bonus 2 particles on successful scan type) then I wouldn't complain... that much. In the current state its just tedious and not really worth the effort. At least not for the majority of players who don't have much time to spare and could do other things instead.
So is anyone else completely not caring about any of this particle stuff?
I know I dont care. I might pick me up an exocomp or something, if those are still around, but the whole particle lottery doff thing?
lolno, better things to do.
I care, because such "grindy event missions" are becoming a trend in STO lately, which is a disturbing thing to see, especially when it's happening even on occasions such as the anniversary.
I don't really care about a purple doff in this case, but I honestly dislike such purposefully grindy content repeated for events with such frequency. Especially when it has little to do with your standard gameplay mechanics.
This is going to seem like a shocking notion, but have some of you considered perhaps this Particle Troll business isn't actually for you?
I mean, yes, the mission is horrible, inane, and an exercise in trolling, but consider: Some people don't have doffs. A purely doff-XP-only event would be of little use to those who don't have any doffs worth using. This is the other side of the event catering to those who have no doffs. Those who are new, and probably far less irritable and cranky than us older veterans, that, like children, can easily be distracted by the notion of running in circles and screaming. Children are such stupid creatures.
The rest of us can just go and doff. Complaining more about this particular side of the event is like complaining that the playground rides are too small and fundamentally inane. They aren't for us.
This is going to seem like a shocking notion, but have some of you considered perhaps this Particle Troll business isn't actually for you?
I mean, yes, the mission is horrible, inane, and an exercise in trolling, but consider: Some people don't have doffs. A purely doff-XP-only event would be of little use to those who don't have any doffs worth using. This is the other side of the event catering to those who have no doffs. Those who are new, and probably far less irritable and cranky than us older veterans, that, like children, can easily be distracted by the notion of running in circles and screaming. Children are such stupid creatures.
The rest of us can just go and doff. Complaining more about this particular side of the event is like complaining that the playground rides are too small and fundamentally inane. They aren't for us.
What makes you think the newer players want to deal with this either?
As far as I can tell, nobody's asking for the mission to be removed. Just for it to be made less of a frustrating pain in the TRIBBLE. If that happens, it benefits everyone, veterans and newbies alike. At the moment, it's frustrating for everyone.
Just because you're new and "need" the doff doesn't mean it's any less annoying getting a 10:1 ratio of Particle Collapsed to Anything Useful.
I am NikkoJT, Foundry author and terrible player. Follow me!
There used to be a picture here, but they changed signatures and I can't be bothered to replace it.
So is anyone else completely not caring about any of this particle stuff?
I know I dont care. I might pick me up an exocomp or something, if those are still around, but the whole particle lottery doff thing?
lolno, better things to do.
I dont, anymore. I did on 4 alts, and i had enough lol.
Honestly, 75 particles is way tooooo much for a single purple doff. Specially when so many people are around collecting em, and so many "particle collapsed" spots. At first, with my first 2 toons i was lucky, i completed in about 30 minutes 75 particles lol. But after that, i needed about 50 minutes! with my 3th alternate and more than 1 hour!!!!! with my last. :mad:
So, im done. Its not worthy anyways. I wonder if cryptic will make an event someday focused just in fun and nothing else. Can they make an event that grants you a worthy reward and at the same time, well - made and enjoyable?? hmmmpf... i think that is too much to ask. I guess.
Not only that. As a Reman-klingon and romulan-klingon player, i dont have access to the exocomp doff either due again, to another bug. Can we say "good job" cryptic already?
What makes you think the newer players want to deal with this either?
As far as I can tell, nobody's asking for the mission to be removed. Just for it to be made less of a frustrating pain in the TRIBBLE. If that happens, it benefits everyone, veterans and newbies alike. At the moment, it's frustrating for everyone.
Just because you're new and "need" the doff doesn't mean it's any less annoying getting a 10:1 ratio of Particle Collapsed to Anything Useful.
Pretty much what he said. I never thought I'd be favorably comparing the Mirror Invasion to anything after so many useless pugs, but Cryptic has managed to surpass my low expectations. At least I never came out of MIE with a literal ****ing headache. And that's despite getting a doff for my Lethean that's at least mildly useful (tractor beam officer I can use on "Disable X Freighter" assignments).
Frak your frakking grind, Craptic. I was going to try and do it on my Rom (currently lvl 21), but beating my head on a wall is a less time-consuming way to get a headache.
Who the frak came up with this Junior Officer Unappreciation Event and thought it was a good idea? Because whoever it was needs to be sacked immediately. All in favor?
"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"
Academy Event was always flawed, and this attempt to revive it really brings the problems it has to a much larger audience. The premise of it was actually pretty novel, but the collapse rate (and back when it was a daily, the dil reward) definitely needs to be adjusted.
Who the frak came up with this Junior Officer Unappreciation Event and thought it was a good idea? Because whoever it was needs to be sacked immediately. All in favor?
lol, if you think cryptic cares about who come with the idea or anything else.. lol. Cryptic will do it again, im sure of it. Just give em time. We have a lot of experience seeing these things. Cryptic does not even care how bad skillez are their workers, i dont think they will care to punish someone to have a terrible idea lol. Besides, i guess this is a team idea.. so. Well, actually this will make more sense, since it seems that the "team" of cryptic is full of bad ideas.
Academy Event was always flawed, and this attempt to revive it really brings the problems it has to a much larger audience. The premise of it was actually pretty novel, but the collapse rate (and back when it was a daily, the dil reward) definitely needs to be adjusted.
I loved the academy event. I always ended with more than 5000 dilithium for just 45 minutes - 1 hour. But i enjoyed it, for some reason, but this last event made me wonder again who had the terrible idea about removing the hourly events. Wait, it was a team idea...
Or... you could spent that time (even less) doing doff missions around the sector space, such as Officer Exchange, Negotiate Prisoner Exchange, Caitian/Ferasan Flight Training, Instigate Defection, Asylum, Renown, Support and such to get yourself a bunch of doffs - including purple ones - as well as CXP (which can be exchanged for Fleet Marks) and other rewards.
Or you could spend two hours grinding for a single random purple doff. It may be a technician worth 12kk, or it can be a Flight Deck Officer worth 500k...
Or a Federation Tractor Beam Officer worth ... absolutely nooothing (since Feds don't really get assignments requiring Tractor Beam Officers -and- they can get Gaavrin for free from the Arucanis Arm colonial chain). not that this happened to me or anything ;^)
In short, I spent about 45 minutes collecting the 75 particle traces. It was worth doing once, to see how efficient it might be. It's not very efficient. In those same 45 minutes, I could queue up multiple recruitment assignments on multiple characters; since most of those missions will have between 25% and 33% chance of a critical success, I'm pretty sure I'll get more than one purple duty officer as a result from the same amount of time (and less effort and annoyance).
On a different note, it sure would be nice if Cryptic would remove the particles from the bank areas of the academies. There are few things more annoying than trying to do inventory management with all the particle-related noises in the background (the loud whine of particle collection, as well as all the combat noises when the holograms are spawned).
Yup, as a klingon / romulan user, i can do dozens of recruitment assignments in about three days. And i end with more than 2 or 3 purple doffs every time. I mean, i dont see it.. i dont lol.
I dont know maybe I m slow but it took me an hour to get 75 particles. Reward a purple assault squad officer nothing special I think this counts as a dull running all around heavy brainless grid :rolleyes: Not to mention that I dc one time while grinding the particles had ~52 of them, and the thought that they might disappear from my inventory was horrible! :eek:
In all fairness to Cryptic, the event kinda sucked. Seriously, I appreciate the awards, but having 9/10 particles fail was just too frustrating. As others have said, event should be fun. I understand they didn't want us to be able to pick up the doff too fast; but they simply should have come up with a better way to filll up our time, is all.
You know, there are actual studies done as to what sort of waiting ppl find acceptable (like how much time ppl are willing to stand in front of a red light, before they get irritated, and such). Clearly Cryptic dropped the ball on that one.
Fake edit: Oh, that liberated Borg, will I be able to get it for my Rom any time soon?!
It takes 15 minutes to a half hour to get the 75 particles for a purp doff. If it's taking much longer than that you're either hunting in the wrong place or you aren't killing the holograms fast enough.
I never thought I would say that, but they successfully made a minigame worse than the mini Q box game. Keep going Cryptic !
And yes, it is similar to the old academy event, and I did it only once. Now, I remember why.
This is by far more different than the academy event. Only the mechanics are the same. I actually enjoyed the academy event. Maybe because i did it when i wanted, and it was an hourly event.
Comments
/signed
It is nothing else than a Grief-Event.
Agreed, both to your post and to your signature.
if I stop posting it doesn't make you right it. just means I don't have enough rum to continue interacting with you.
mind-numbing 45 minutes ever for a useless Conn officer. Chasing mini-Qs was a walk in
the...garden, next to this.
Over the past year, Cryptic's game design has gone downhill. The mantra of the year is
'repetition, repetition!' How many events have we had since Risa last year where you have to
repeat x daily over 2-4 weeks?
I like the surf hoverboards coming for this year's event, but when I think of how many dailies I'll
need to do...forget it. Instead of coming up with ways to reward us tokens doing things we
like, we just get to jump the same hoops on a daily basis ...and in the case of the academy
event, easily half of our time is wasted with collapsed particles. Are we supposed to somehow
feel a gambling thrill from 'oh is it going to collapse? or do I get something?!'. Actually, that just
reminded me of lockboxes. Never mind.
I'm just suffering from 'grind or gamble' fatigue.
Been around since Dec 2010 on STO and bought LTS in Apr 2013 for STO.
Oh gee, thank you Cryptic for such a "fuuuuuuuun" event mission.
And tomorrow? Let's say I wanted to gather 50 Particles, then go grab a pizza for lunch, then come home and finish gathering Particles. I am perfectly free to do exactly that.
My Ship Builds: USS Conqueror, HMS Victorious, HMS Concord, ISS Queen Elizabeth, Black Widow III
Click here to view my DeviantArt.
Or you could spend two hours grinding for a single random purple doff. It may be a technician worth 12kk, or it can be a Flight Deck Officer worth 500k...
Your suggestions mostly require inputs. Officer exchange needs you to trade in a doff, what if you already have a full purple crew? Is it worth trading in one for *chance* to get another purple. For prisoner exchanges, you need a prisoner (so critting on that Strike against whatever for Feds, easier for the KDF). The flight training is tough to get a good officer unless you already have a bunch of flight deck officers. Asylums need a refugee. Reknown/Support would require you to travel to all 13 of those clusters with the hope that the mission is there. That sounds like a huge time sink as well. And Instigate defection is very rare. You could check every zone and not find it.
And the kicker, except for the flight training, there is no guarantee on what type of doff you get. At least the event breaks it into three groups to choose from.
However, my biggest issue with this event (besides the Romulan confusion) is that I lost all 75 of my particles/put on cooldown and got no doff because I backed out while talking to B'Tama. That was a frustrating 45 minutes to get those particles with nothing to show for it.
My Ship Builds: USS Conqueror, HMS Victorious, HMS Concord, ISS Queen Elizabeth, Black Widow III
Click here to view my DeviantArt.
You can send a common or uncommon officer for the Officer Exchange mission and end up with a rare or a purple. If you're not lucky and end up with a common or uncommon anyway, then just repeat the mission next time you see it. It's not like you're losing a doff or anything. I've never sent a purple doff on the exchange mission, cause it's just not worth it.
Prisoners are easy to come by, especially for the KDF.
Support missions reward Refugees, and refugees can be used for the Asylum missions.
And even if the mission is not there, you can do a lot of other tasks on your way. I don't think it's as irritating as seeing:
[Mission] Particle collapsed. Keep searching!
[Mission] Particle collapsed. Keep searching!
[Mission] Particle collapsed. Keep searching!
[Mission] Particle collapsed. Keep searching!
[Mission] Particle collapsed. Keep searching!
[Mission] Particle collapsed. Keep searching!
[Mission] Particle collapsed. Keep searching!
[Mission] Particle collapsed. Keep searching!
[Mission] Particle collapsed. Keep searching!
over... and over... and over again...
Should there be no option like this, and the mission would only require us to scan 75 particles (with bonus 2 particles on successful scan type) then I wouldn't complain... that much. In the current state its just tedious and not really worth the effort. At least not for the majority of players who don't have much time to spare and could do other things instead.
I know I dont care. I might pick me up an exocomp or something, if those are still around, but the whole particle lottery doff thing?
lolno, better things to do.
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
I don't really care about a purple doff in this case, but I honestly dislike such purposefully grindy content repeated for events with such frequency. Especially when it has little to do with your standard gameplay mechanics.
I mean, yes, the mission is horrible, inane, and an exercise in trolling, but consider: Some people don't have doffs. A purely doff-XP-only event would be of little use to those who don't have any doffs worth using. This is the other side of the event catering to those who have no doffs. Those who are new, and probably far less irritable and cranky than us older veterans, that, like children, can easily be distracted by the notion of running in circles and screaming. Children are such stupid creatures.
The rest of us can just go and doff. Complaining more about this particular side of the event is like complaining that the playground rides are too small and fundamentally inane. They aren't for us.
What makes you think the newer players want to deal with this either?
As far as I can tell, nobody's asking for the mission to be removed. Just for it to be made less of a frustrating pain in the TRIBBLE. If that happens, it benefits everyone, veterans and newbies alike. At the moment, it's frustrating for everyone.
Just because you're new and "need" the doff doesn't mean it's any less annoying getting a 10:1 ratio of Particle Collapsed to Anything Useful.
There used to be a picture here, but they changed signatures and I can't be bothered to replace it.
1 hour chasing particles? Lolololol - yeah right! Heck buy some refugees cheap and send them off - better use of your time.
I dont, anymore. I did on 4 alts, and i had enough lol.
Honestly, 75 particles is way tooooo much for a single purple doff. Specially when so many people are around collecting em, and so many "particle collapsed" spots. At first, with my first 2 toons i was lucky, i completed in about 30 minutes 75 particles lol. But after that, i needed about 50 minutes!
So, im done. Its not worthy anyways. I wonder if cryptic will make an event someday focused just in fun and nothing else. Can they make an event that grants you a worthy reward and at the same time, well - made and enjoyable?? hmmmpf... i think that is too much to ask. I guess.
Not only that. As a Reman-klingon and romulan-klingon player, i dont have access to the exocomp doff either due again, to another bug. Can we say "good job" cryptic already?
Pretty much what he said. I never thought I'd be favorably comparing the Mirror Invasion to anything after so many useless pugs, but Cryptic has managed to surpass my low expectations. At least I never came out of MIE with a literal ****ing headache. And that's despite getting a doff for my Lethean that's at least mildly useful (tractor beam officer I can use on "Disable X Freighter" assignments).
Frak your frakking grind, Craptic. I was going to try and do it on my Rom (currently lvl 21), but beating my head on a wall is a less time-consuming way to get a headache.
Who the frak came up with this Junior Officer Unappreciation Event and thought it was a good idea? Because whoever it was needs to be sacked immediately. All in favor?
— Sabaton, "Great War"
Check out https://unitedfederationofpla.net/s/
lol, if you think cryptic cares about who come with the idea or anything else.. lol. Cryptic will do it again, im sure of it. Just give em time. We have a lot of experience seeing these things. Cryptic does not even care how bad skillez are their workers, i dont think they will care to punish someone to have a terrible idea lol. Besides, i guess this is a team idea.. so. Well, actually this will make more sense, since it seems that the "team" of cryptic is full of bad ideas.
I loved the academy event. I always ended with more than 5000 dilithium for just 45 minutes - 1 hour. But i enjoyed it, for some reason, but this last event made me wonder again who had the terrible idea about removing the hourly events. Wait, it was a team idea...
Or a Federation Tractor Beam Officer worth ... absolutely nooothing (since Feds don't really get assignments requiring Tractor Beam Officers -and- they can get Gaavrin for free from the Arucanis Arm colonial chain). not that this happened to me or anything ;^)
In short, I spent about 45 minutes collecting the 75 particle traces. It was worth doing once, to see how efficient it might be. It's not very efficient. In those same 45 minutes, I could queue up multiple recruitment assignments on multiple characters; since most of those missions will have between 25% and 33% chance of a critical success, I'm pretty sure I'll get more than one purple duty officer as a result from the same amount of time (and less effort and annoyance).
On a different note, it sure would be nice if Cryptic would remove the particles from the bank areas of the academies. There are few things more annoying than trying to do inventory management with all the particle-related noises in the background (the loud whine of particle collection, as well as all the combat noises when the holograms are spawned).
Because PWE, duuuh. :rolleyes:
You know, there are actual studies done as to what sort of waiting ppl find acceptable (like how much time ppl are willing to stand in front of a red light, before they get irritated, and such). Clearly Cryptic dropped the ball on that one.
Fake edit: Oh, that liberated Borg, will I be able to get it for my Rom any time soon?!
http://i.imgur.com/oyL72Gl.jpg
It takes 15 minutes to a half hour to get the 75 particles for a purp doff. If it's taking much longer than that you're either hunting in the wrong place or you aren't killing the holograms fast enough.
And yes, it is similar to the old academy event, and I did it only once. Now, I remember why.
This is by far more different than the academy event. Only the mechanics are the same. I actually enjoyed the academy event. Maybe because i did it when i wanted, and it was an hourly event.