As I understand it, and to be perfectly honest this may not be accurate, they've done it this way because - due to the vagaries of connecting people and servers across nearly every continent - what you see on your screen and what the server sees aren't necessarily the same thing. You may think you're leading the race, but you might be lagging a bit and according to the server, someone else is in the lead. Having the interact flag prevents a situation where you think you've crossed the line first but the game awards first place to someone else. Obviously the interact has its own issues, but there is a reason it's there.
As I understand it, and to be perfectly honest this may not be accurate, they've done it this way because - due to the vagaries of connecting people and servers across nearly every continent - what you see on your screen and what the server sees aren't necessarily the same thing. You may think you're leading the race, but you might be lagging a bit and according to the server, someone else is in the lead. Having the interact flag prevents a situation where you think you've crossed the line first but the game awards first place to someone else. Obviously the interact has its own issues, but there is a reason it's there.
theres no difference, even if you and one other had raced each other hard and both tried to claim at that exact moment in first place, someone else a little closer to los gatos in california just behind you two in the race can steal 1st because of that MS delay from around the planet. i cant see the difference between a direct first across the line or the flag pick up, all it does is create a situation where the rightful winner is left to pick up an "also ran" flag when he or she gets swamped out despite leading.
T6 Miranda Hero Ship FTW. Been around since Dec 2010 on STO and bought LTS in Apr 2013 for STO.
I'd be happy enough if the flags all stayed in the same place. when you run for first place with someone and miss, you pretty much TRIBBLE yourself out of second and third. at least if they were all in the same position. (or remove the flag itself and have that whole finish area be clikable) then that would help a lot.
Helpful tip: after You cross the finish line get off from the board, easier to get the flag.
I dont see any problem with it because same rules apply to everyone and personally I like the variation with the flag, makes it more exciting. If someone manages to catch the first flag being in the 2nd place through the race only means he has better reflexes. If you dont like it, don`t run it there`ll be plenty of people that will gladly race and take the extra Favors of your hands.
Two different races using the exact same mechanic to determine finishing order...makes me question if the engine is even capable of determining who got somewhere first without a crutch of a mechanic like this.
it seems that this is the standard method with regards to a multiplayer race in sto its the same thing in the winter race Mission: The Fast and The Flurrious.
if it is the best way to handle it due to server, lag and such is matter of opinion, the fact is its what cryptic has chosen and I cant see them changing it just because a few people kick up a fuss.
the most important thing in my eyes is at least you don't have to win to get the accolade, you just need to run the race 20 times to qualify.
I am not very good anyway so its all I can do just to get round the thing without going out of bounds, I have won once and got the accolade early, it was a two player race so that made it easier but it was my 19 run with that character so I didn't save much.
When I think about everything we've been through together,
maybe it's not the destination that matters, maybe it's the journey,
and if that journey takes a little longer,
so we can do something we all believe in,
I can't think of any place I'd rather be or any people I'd rather be with.
I have no idea why Cryptic even put it in, when tons of people expressed their dislike of the flag thing at the end of the PVP race in the second Winter Event. It's a bad mechanic and really does punish people with bad connections or unable to react fast enough (I.E. Handicapped players).
They should've given alternatives to getting tags, then nobody would be upset.
Two different races using the exact same mechanic to determine finishing order...makes me question if the engine is even capable of determining who got somewhere first without a crutch of a mechanic like this.
I highly doubt it is.
The race is treated like a "mission", and the flags are programmed to both signal end of mission, grant the activator the reward, and then despawn.
I'm convinced that this is the ONLY way PvP races are even possible in this game.
I'd be happy enough if the flags all stayed in the same place. when you run for first place with someone and miss, you pretty much TRIBBLE yourself out of second and third. at least if they were all in the same position. (or remove the flag itself and have that whole finish area be clikable) then that would help a lot.
This would help a lot.
When you're actually battling with someone (at least seemingly) close for first place, you currently have 2 options: 1) Pray you actually manage to grab the flag before he does. If you don't manage, here are your 2 tags... 2) Abandon 1st place and pray the other person doesn't TRIBBLE up and gets the flag. You position yourself directly for 2nd place flag. If the other person screws up, again you have a choice:
-> a) Try to get 1st place flag before he (or someone else) gets back for it.
-> b) Keep waiting on 2nd place spot till someone does get 1st place flag.
2)b) would be the rational choice in those cases, however you're deliberately loosing a possibility of 6 more tags. Also, I never manage to stay rational in the race, meaning I'm typically screwed up (because, damn, I rarely manage to get that 1st place flag if anyone else is closeby).
TOIVA, Toi Vaxx, Toia Vix, Toveg, T'vritha, To Vrax: Bring in the Allegiance class. Toi'Va, Ti'vath, Toivia, Ty'Vris, Tia Vex, Toi'Virth: Add Tier 6 KDF Carrier and Raider. Tae'Va, T'Vaya, To'Var, Tevra, T'Vira, To'Vrak: Give us Asylums for Romulans.
The flag/finish system doesn't deserve a compliment. No matter what people are telllng here. When we would have a simple straight forward finish, fastest time wins, second time is second, etc. nobody would complain and nobody would come to the forum to suggest another mechanic.
Now since we have to deal with this flag/finish mechanic I am wondering and also suggesting that all four flags should be present on arrival. Not just one flag and that grabbing that one spawns the next one.
Fast and slow boards. At first it seems nice and everybody can get the fastest boards and sure there will be someone with a lower board that sometime beats someone with faster one. At the end of the day there is no fun in beating slow guys with your fast board.
I was in a race with only one adversary. Someone with a faster board and he won easily. Then I was in a race with a group fast boarders and a group with slow boarders. We the slow ones had our own race, which was fun. I suppose the fast goers had the same experience. So the fast ones don't need the slow goers and vice versa. Don't mix up different classes into one competition.
Lag and bugs. When there are a lot of competitors part of the scenery and track does not load up fast enough into my system. Only in the second part of the race, when the field is spreaded out, I can race normally.
The race is kind of lame.
The flag ending, ya.. it stinks, its worse than the winter event because of the wild turns and speeds of the boards. If you are clearly in first, its easy to get the flag, but if its a tight race, or you are in 2nd, that 2nd place flag is far easier to miss if you go by it. Dumb mechanic that shouldn't exist.
The race itself is boring. Once you've done it 2-3 times you know the tricks and route. Sad part is, I've seen people cut massive corners of the race and not get DQed, thought we learned from that mistake? Now if the devs would have thought a little bit, they could have made a pretty neat course, with fast, sharp turns and tight gateways that would separate the first placers from people bouncing off the edge and slowing down. It'd have actually been fun, but now its an endurance test of boredom.
I'm scratching my head in confusion. WHY? That makes no sense. No one in the rational world grabs a flag at the END of a race. So why would they make someone loosely navigate on an unresponsive wobbly hoverboard to a flag they missed that only appears RIGHT AFTER the finish line.
Then I drink in the delicious tears of the 5 people who got there before me and headed off to the forums to QQ about it instead of pressing "F."
It's only "unfair" (Oh, how I've come to loathe that word) if different players have different mechanics in play, and the race finish is the same for everyone.
As I understand it, and to be perfectly honest this may not be accurate, they've done it this way because - due to the vagaries of connecting people and servers across nearly every continent - what you see on your screen and what the server sees aren't necessarily the same thing. You may think you're leading the race, but you might be lagging a bit and according to the server, someone else is in the lead. Having the interact flag prevents a situation where you think you've crossed the line first but the game awards first place to someone else. Obviously the interact has its own issues, but there is a reason it's there.
Indeed, in fact that effect can be seen DURING the race with the arrows and ramps. They only give boosts to one player at a time, if one watches closely one can many times see they appear to jump the ramp firt, but the boost gets rewarded to the one who looks like they are behind.
Indeed, in fact that effect can be seen DURING the race with the arrows and ramps. They only give boosts to one player at a time, if one watches closely one can many times see they appear to jump the ramp firt, but the boost gets rewarded to the one who looks like they are behind.
It's not random, per se, except for the placement of the speed boost you get from going under a set of streamers overhead. If you watch, an arrow pops up, and you get the boost if you ride under that arrow. Then with that boost, you make leaps and pick up speed (designated by the white halo that flashes around your body). The boost has a timer, so you can hit a couple of ramps and stack the speed bonuses.
When someone gets the boost (designated by the activation sound), the arrow shifts to another random spot, for the next person. It pops up for everyone, but moves around, so if you aim for it but another person beats you to that spot, you might miss it because it shifted to the far left or far right of you. Here's the thing. If you miss that arrow, you might as well go around the ramps, as you won't get the speed boost from leaping over the ramp and you might actually get slowed down (designated by the red impact that shows under the board).
And for goodness sake, don't try to click that button with your mouse for the flag at the finish, especially if you're on a powerboard, because technically your powerboard has entered and exited the object's range before you actually click the button. Spam the F key right as you approach the finish line, even before the button pops up, and the object will receive your activation command.
I've raced on a 50-favor standard board against powerboards, and came up on a finish line with the 1st place flag still in play, but the powerboards zig zagging all around, picked up the 1st place flag and watched chat suddenly fill up with F-bombs. Recently, however, folks have figured it out, and that hasn't happened in a while, but it was fun while it lasted.
I just wish the flags all appeared in the same spot so that if two people are racing neck and neck for the win, the 2nd place guy doesn't go sliding past, and give the 3rd place guy a chance to grab 2nd out from under them.
I should have come in first three times and in each of those races where people with the superior boards. It does involve skill not just the board you use. The main problem is the whole button mash contest at the end of the race. When the fifth guy over the finish line is the one to pick up first place you have a problem with your game and need to fix it.
Yeah, kill and common sene play a part in the race too. Many times I get a slight lead just at the start; the reason being is that I do not push against the gate before start, I sit a board's length back and guague slightly before the go to accellerate... so what happens is when the gate drops I'm moving at full speed and pass the gate, the people pushing against the gate still need to accellerate... and I catch a slight lead. And of course things can cost people the lead by not anticipating obstacles past the jumps, over compensating in turns and sticking on teh side or a rock, or disq'ing themselves. The board is an edge.... but it takes more than the board to win against other players.
That is incorrect. P2W means people who pay real money have an advantage and beat the people who didnt play real money. Currently it is impossible to win against someone who has paid real money almost forceing anyone who want to take part to pay to stand a chance. Hence Pay 2 win.
P2W is about putting players in a situation where they have to pay real money to stand a chance.
The thing is you cannot grind and win the boards via the race as you cannot win due to the P2W people.
I have 4 toons with 4 uberboards that were all ground for. You can in fact grind for the boards. Favors are free to get and fairly easy. I pull 150-200 per hour just from the hunt, another 50 from the dance...... It only takes about 4-5 gameplay hours to get enough favors for a board.
Yeah, that doesn't put people with alts at a disadvantage at all.:rolleyes:
The problem is everybody does that.
The Risa summer event is now officially the troll fest. Moar disco balls, a doff that allows an AoE DoT to root the targets (which smart people just did with Electro-Gravitic Field before the Exothermic Induction), the flag-grabbing on a surface that is even more slippery than in the winter event and the sand-castle building with not enough spots and some that are placed so badly that if it you suddenly need sticks for your sandcastle you need a superior floater to have a chance of getting them before the castle collapses. Seems my summer event will be reduced to doing the Horga'hn hunt for eggs.
Alts are an advantage...... as you can pool favors quicker.
I was racing some guy who had me beat, but he abandoned his board at the finish line, and tried to run up to the flag on foot. I saw this, and knew it was a great opportunity to steal, so I bombed right at the flag and clicked it out from under him... haha.
When he PM'd me expressing displeasure, I simply replied "You shouldn't have abandoned your board!"
As far as I'm concerned, it was a head's up move on my part, and if someone else did it to me, it would be good on them.
I don't know how you say I didn't have fun. Which I did during the race. I didn't care for the rewards as I can get far more by doing the other events. To me it was just for fun. I didn't get paid for any of it, and didn't do the race to do so. So what reward I got was nice.
Being totally optional, they didn't dangle a carrot in front of me to get me to do it either. For me it was only just for fun to see what it was like. I thought it was fun and will do it again.
Lastly I already have the stuff I want from the Summer Event. So now its all fun and RP. Doing the race was part of my RP experience to enjoy the Risa summer fun.
Indeed, I quite enjoy the race too.... wish they would leave the ramps up really so I can run around it when the race isn't going on. IT's just fun to find spot to jump the board. But alas, this is what makes it so different between you and I and some of hte others...... we do the race because we have fun doing, and we can get tags out of.... they are doing only because they want tags. Ultimately nothing will appease them because they are not doing it for fun, they are doing it for grind; and therefore their problem isn't the race, but their own attitude.
Comments
p.s. I apologize to any little girls reading this
if I stop posting it doesn't make you right it. just means I don't have enough rum to continue interacting with you.
Because we all know that you can be in first place by a mile but make a miss click and miss the flag and now you don't even place.
Stupid mechanic is stupid.
theres no difference, even if you and one other had raced each other hard and both tried to claim at that exact moment in first place, someone else a little closer to los gatos in california just behind you two in the race can steal 1st because of that MS delay from around the planet. i cant see the difference between a direct first across the line or the flag pick up, all it does is create a situation where the rightful winner is left to pick up an "also ran" flag when he or she gets swamped out despite leading.
Been around since Dec 2010 on STO and bought LTS in Apr 2013 for STO.
I dont see any problem with it because same rules apply to everyone and personally I like the variation with the flag, makes it more exciting. If someone manages to catch the first flag being in the 2nd place through the race only means he has better reflexes. If you dont like it, don`t run it there`ll be plenty of people that will gladly race and take the extra Favors of your hands.
if it is the best way to handle it due to server, lag and such is matter of opinion, the fact is its what cryptic has chosen and I cant see them changing it just because a few people kick up a fuss.
the most important thing in my eyes is at least you don't have to win to get the accolade, you just need to run the race 20 times to qualify.
I am not very good anyway so its all I can do just to get round the thing without going out of bounds, I have won once and got the accolade early, it was a two player race so that made it easier but it was my 19 run with that character so I didn't save much.
When I think about everything we've been through together,
maybe it's not the destination that matters, maybe it's the journey,
and if that journey takes a little longer,
so we can do something we all believe in,
I can't think of any place I'd rather be or any people I'd rather be with.
They should've given alternatives to getting tags, then nobody would be upset.
Here you go (granted not at the END, but it's the same principle involved) :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Relay_race
I highly doubt it is.
The race is treated like a "mission", and the flags are programmed to both signal end of mission, grant the activator the reward, and then despawn.
I'm convinced that this is the ONLY way PvP races are even possible in this game.
This would help a lot.
When you're actually battling with someone (at least seemingly) close for first place, you currently have 2 options:
1) Pray you actually manage to grab the flag before he does. If you don't manage, here are your 2 tags...
2) Abandon 1st place and pray the other person doesn't TRIBBLE up and gets the flag. You position yourself directly for 2nd place flag. If the other person screws up, again you have a choice:
-> a) Try to get 1st place flag before he (or someone else) gets back for it.
-> b) Keep waiting on 2nd place spot till someone does get 1st place flag.
2)b) would be the rational choice in those cases, however you're deliberately loosing a possibility of 6 more tags. Also, I never manage to stay rational in the race, meaning I'm typically screwed up (because, damn, I rarely manage to get that 1st place flag if anyone else is closeby).
Toi'Va, Ti'vath, Toivia, Ty'Vris, Tia Vex, Toi'Virth: Add Tier 6 KDF Carrier and Raider.
Tae'Va, T'Vaya, To'Var, Tevra, T'Vira, To'Vrak: Give us Asylums for Romulans.
Don't make ARC mandatory! Keep it optional only!
Now since we have to deal with this flag/finish mechanic I am wondering and also suggesting that all four flags should be present on arrival. Not just one flag and that grabbing that one spawns the next one.
Fast and slow boards. At first it seems nice and everybody can get the fastest boards and sure there will be someone with a lower board that sometime beats someone with faster one. At the end of the day there is no fun in beating slow guys with your fast board.
I was in a race with only one adversary. Someone with a faster board and he won easily. Then I was in a race with a group fast boarders and a group with slow boarders. We the slow ones had our own race, which was fun. I suppose the fast goers had the same experience. So the fast ones don't need the slow goers and vice versa. Don't mix up different classes into one competition.
Lag and bugs. When there are a lot of competitors part of the scenery and track does not load up fast enough into my system. Only in the second part of the race, when the field is spreaded out, I can race normally.
The flag ending, ya.. it stinks, its worse than the winter event because of the wild turns and speeds of the boards. If you are clearly in first, its easy to get the flag, but if its a tight race, or you are in 2nd, that 2nd place flag is far easier to miss if you go by it. Dumb mechanic that shouldn't exist.
The race itself is boring. Once you've done it 2-3 times you know the tricks and route. Sad part is, I've seen people cut massive corners of the race and not get DQed, thought we learned from that mistake? Now if the devs would have thought a little bit, they could have made a pretty neat course, with fast, sharp turns and tight gateways that would separate the first placers from people bouncing off the edge and slowing down. It'd have actually been fun, but now its an endurance test of boredom.
Completed Starbase, Embassy, Mine, Spire and No Win Scenario
Nothing to do anymore.
http://dtfleet.com/
Visit our Youtube channel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fp_DtuMFVxM
Me playing UT2k4 (red guy) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wz0DnP7wXnU
I do.
Then I drink in the delicious tears of the 5 people who got there before me and headed off to the forums to QQ about it instead of pressing "F."
It's only "unfair" (Oh, how I've come to loathe that word) if different players have different mechanics in play, and the race finish is the same for everyone.
Indeed, in fact that effect can be seen DURING the race with the arrows and ramps. They only give boosts to one player at a time, if one watches closely one can many times see they appear to jump the ramp firt, but the boost gets rewarded to the one who looks like they are behind.
It's not random, per se, except for the placement of the speed boost you get from going under a set of streamers overhead. If you watch, an arrow pops up, and you get the boost if you ride under that arrow. Then with that boost, you make leaps and pick up speed (designated by the white halo that flashes around your body). The boost has a timer, so you can hit a couple of ramps and stack the speed bonuses.
When someone gets the boost (designated by the activation sound), the arrow shifts to another random spot, for the next person. It pops up for everyone, but moves around, so if you aim for it but another person beats you to that spot, you might miss it because it shifted to the far left or far right of you. Here's the thing. If you miss that arrow, you might as well go around the ramps, as you won't get the speed boost from leaping over the ramp and you might actually get slowed down (designated by the red impact that shows under the board).
And for goodness sake, don't try to click that button with your mouse for the flag at the finish, especially if you're on a powerboard, because technically your powerboard has entered and exited the object's range before you actually click the button. Spam the F key right as you approach the finish line, even before the button pops up, and the object will receive your activation command.
I've raced on a 50-favor standard board against powerboards, and came up on a finish line with the 1st place flag still in play, but the powerboards zig zagging all around, picked up the 1st place flag and watched chat suddenly fill up with F-bombs. Recently, however, folks have figured it out, and that hasn't happened in a while, but it was fun while it lasted.
I have 4 toons with 4 uberboards that were all ground for. You can in fact grind for the boards. Favors are free to get and fairly easy. I pull 150-200 per hour just from the hunt, another 50 from the dance...... It only takes about 4-5 gameplay hours to get enough favors for a board.
Alts are an advantage...... as you can pool favors quicker.
Sounds fair to me, you got to the flag first.
Indeed, I quite enjoy the race too.... wish they would leave the ramps up really so I can run around it when the race isn't going on. IT's just fun to find spot to jump the board. But alas, this is what makes it so different between you and I and some of hte others...... we do the race because we have fun doing, and we can get tags out of.... they are doing only because they want tags. Ultimately nothing will appease them because they are not doing it for fun, they are doing it for grind; and therefore their problem isn't the race, but their own attitude.