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Changes to the Advanced R+D Reward Boxes From Elite STF's
colonelsanderz
Member Posts: 64 Arc User
There are a few changes to the Advanced R+D reward boxes I am sure the majority of the player population would support.
1. The chances of Very Rare crafting materials being rewarded to players who complete Elite STF's should be increased. I would, at minimum, make it so that you get at least one of the VR materials guaranteed. The rest of the "possible" VR materials should be kept as a % chance. I have run a lot of Elite STF's (ground and space), and through my own personal testing, the VR material reward rate currently is at about 5%. If I will absolutely get one neural processor/cybernetic implant/isomorphic injection from running one... why not a single VR crafting material?
2. The types of VR materials rewarded from each of the Elite queues need to be redistributed for balance or made completely random. I understand the intent with limiting certain VR materials to certain queues is to get players to play all the different types of STF's, which I applaud. However there are some grave imbalances. With the current distribution there is only one outlet to get Dentarium and Radiogenic Particles. It also has the Voth space queues rewarding the same material as the Borg space queues. Why not the best of both worlds... assigned materials and random materials? Have space queue Advanced R+D reward boxes have a 34% chance to contain Trellium-K, 33% for Argonite Gas, and 33% for Radiogenic Particles. The same change could be made for the ground queues with Plekton, Craylon Gas, and Dentarium respectively.
These two simple changes would probably alleviate a lot of the issues currently faced with the current VR material distribution.
Space
The Cure Found = Trellium-K
Infected: The Conduit = Trellium-K
Hive Onslaught = Trellium-K
Khitomer Vortex = Trellium-K
The Breach = Trellium-K
Storming the Spire = Trellium-K
Undine Assault = Argonite Gas
Viscous Cycle = Argonite Gas
Crystalline Catastrophe = Radiogenic Particle
Ground
The Cure Applied = Plekton
Infected: Manus = Plekton
Into the Hive = Plekton
Khitomer in Stasis = Plekton
Undine Infiltration = Dentarium
Nukara Prime: Self Destructive Tendencies = Craylon Gas
Nukara Prime: Transdimensional Tactics = Craylon Gas
Defend Rh'lhho Station = Craylon Gas
1. The chances of Very Rare crafting materials being rewarded to players who complete Elite STF's should be increased. I would, at minimum, make it so that you get at least one of the VR materials guaranteed. The rest of the "possible" VR materials should be kept as a % chance. I have run a lot of Elite STF's (ground and space), and through my own personal testing, the VR material reward rate currently is at about 5%. If I will absolutely get one neural processor/cybernetic implant/isomorphic injection from running one... why not a single VR crafting material?
2. The types of VR materials rewarded from each of the Elite queues need to be redistributed for balance or made completely random. I understand the intent with limiting certain VR materials to certain queues is to get players to play all the different types of STF's, which I applaud. However there are some grave imbalances. With the current distribution there is only one outlet to get Dentarium and Radiogenic Particles. It also has the Voth space queues rewarding the same material as the Borg space queues. Why not the best of both worlds... assigned materials and random materials? Have space queue Advanced R+D reward boxes have a 34% chance to contain Trellium-K, 33% for Argonite Gas, and 33% for Radiogenic Particles. The same change could be made for the ground queues with Plekton, Craylon Gas, and Dentarium respectively.
These two simple changes would probably alleviate a lot of the issues currently faced with the current VR material distribution.
Space
The Cure Found = Trellium-K
Infected: The Conduit = Trellium-K
Hive Onslaught = Trellium-K
Khitomer Vortex = Trellium-K
The Breach = Trellium-K
Storming the Spire = Trellium-K
Undine Assault = Argonite Gas
Viscous Cycle = Argonite Gas
Crystalline Catastrophe = Radiogenic Particle
Ground
The Cure Applied = Plekton
Infected: Manus = Plekton
Into the Hive = Plekton
Khitomer in Stasis = Plekton
Undine Infiltration = Dentarium
Nukara Prime: Self Destructive Tendencies = Craylon Gas
Nukara Prime: Transdimensional Tactics = Craylon Gas
Defend Rh'lhho Station = Craylon Gas
?
Post edited by colonelsanderz on
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Comments
The second request I'm personally not so sure about. If we'd get at least 1 guaranteed VR material than we don't need them to be randomized. I quite like the fact that people play more than just Conduit and Vortex now. I'm running all the ground elite play on a regular basis and quite a bit of the space elites too. This wouldn't be possible if we go to a system that randomly rewards materials, since people are then less inclined to play the other queues too.
It would still have you running space and ground STFs for materials as the space queues would only give you trellium/argonite/radiogenic and the ground queues would reward plekton/craylon/dentarium.
I agree strongly that we should be getting at least one VR mat though, when the box itself is labeled with that mat.
I thought I did something wrong, since all three of the Elites I did today gave me an Advanced R&D box, but No Advanced R&D item.
(my first forays into the newest additions of the Elite queue system)
There's something inherently wrong with labeling something as containing an Advanced Item, but then putting it behind a very small random chance of getting it...
Without including THAT in the description!
I feel like I'm being given the finger by the designers of this particular aspect of the game.
Looks like the new R&D is becoming more and more UNAPPEALING the more I find about it!!
Way to go Folks.
:rolleyes:
I Was A Trekkie Before It Was Cool ... Sept. 8th, 1966 ... Not To Mention Before Most Folks Around Here Were Born!
Forever a STO Veteran-Minion
The crafting system is currently plagued by two instance of random chance which is a major turn off for players to bother with it. The first as mentioned in this thread is the chance to actually get the materials you need to craft with. As stated one very material should be awarded at a minimum for completing the elite instance with the chance to gain additional units. Second part of the chance system is the quality of the item being crafted. Now taken into account how hard it is to get the very materials needed and there is a chance you may not get the high quality item and it becomes a major turn off.
To review lets look at the gates that have been put in place on the crafting system:
1. Only Elites missions award very rare materials
2. Certain Elite missions are must be completed to obtain certain very rare materials
3. There is only a chance upon completing said Elite mission of being award said very rare material
4. The Elite missions have a cool down timer which prevents replay for at least 30mins regardless of successes or failure
5. Crafted items will require multiple and different very rare materials
6. Crafting only has chance of yielding top quality (desired) item
I wont take into account that specific type of duty officer is required to actually craft a particular item or that there is timer for the material to be created or the dilithium cost also associated with the items creation. These could be considered gates as well.
This seems like overkill for the crafting system especially when compared to the reputation system.
Problem so far is i did 3 missions (defend a station against elachi's) cause i need Craylon gas and got 0.
To upgrade 1 weapon from mk 12 to 14 i need +/- 18, got 7 weapons = 118 total for just my weapons.
This system is even worse then the proto-type system, a chance and then need to pay dilitium !!
Proto-tech was a chance and you got your stuff !!
However, the boxes should definitely have at least one VR material. Most of them have none and that's just absurd.
I do have to agree with that 2nd poster on leaving the rewards where they are, and maybe either increasing the chance of VR drops or guaranteeing them on completion. The thing is, if you do it the way you're suggesting, people will just go to the easiest or shortest PvEs they can do like before.
I fully agree with this and cannot express the frustration I feel when opening one of the Advanced R&D Packs claiming to have the Very Rare components that I need for crafting. I have participated in and opened 10 Advanced R&D Pack (Dentarium) and each of the ten times I was awarded no Dentarium. The scarcity of the award and the vast amount of Dentarium needed to craft the components for the Omni-Directional Beam, as an example, make it more economical (and much less frustrating) for me to sell the packs on the Exchange until I save up enough to buy the Omni-Directional beam outright.
If you are going to make a single STF the only method of obtaining this very rare material, then you should be guaranteed at least one upon opening the pack or completing the STF. It is frustrating to the point that I want to abandon the crafting system altogether. If the pack says "Dentarium" in the name, you should expect it to award SOME Dentarium. Same with Craylon Gas, etc.
The random element of this reward and indeed in the crafting system as a whole makes crafting a chore rather than an enjoyable, rewarding experience. I seriously feel like I have wasted my time every time I complete Undine Infiltration or similar STF due to the need for a specific material and don't receive the reward that is promised in the pack. It is maddening that I could run this STF 10 times, receive the Advanced R&D Pack (Dentarium) 10 times, and earn a reward of 0 Dentarium as a result.
I'm going to run it one more time. If I don't receive a Dentarium from the next pack, I'm going to abandon crafting entirely until it is changed and just run EC Farms to earn enough to buy what I want on the Exchange. The Revamp needs a Revamp, and if you want crafting to be an enjoyable player experience where I feel like my time and effort were justly rewarded, rather than a repetitive frustrating grind that essentially leaves your reward to the flip of a coin, then remove the randomness from this system so that people feel like their time invested was justified.
Or you could do what sooooo many ppl claim they do (but you know they lie) and just grind out everything over the next decade. who has the patience for that?
Praetor of the -RTS- Romulan Tal Shiar fleet!
Agreed. So let me put forth some solutions.
1) Put the random boxes in the normal queue. Believe it or not there are people like me who like to "fly casual" and aren't built for the elite queues, let alone all the various types of different queues. Especially since loadouts only work in space. I'd be less frustrated by playing a normal queue for a chance than failing an elite queue for a definite.
2) Make the elite queue a guaranteed material. If someone can pull off an elite, there shouldn't be a guess as to whether or not they're going to get the material. With the forthcoming advanced/elite split. Keep the guaranteed in advanced and make elite a guaranteed plus where you get the guaranteed material and a random other rare material.
3) Give us a non-queue way to get materials. You used to be able to get particle traces (and as far as I know any of them) from Science/Exploration Doff missions. Why wouldn't a critical success there give us ANY rare/vary rare material.
I don't have a major problem with the randomness of crafting (it's science... weird stuff happens in the lab). My problem is the randomness of simply being able to craft in the first place.
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
Want cheap commodities? Yeah you do. Commodity Cheat Sheet (includes food and data samples)
Want to make the game better? Might I suggest this form
It is a BAD idea to force people to fly a single mission or two to get a very rare R&D box type that may not give you jack squat in the end. This is not only punitive, but restrictive. Most people would rather do WITHOUT a particular R&D box, or give up crafting altogether, if they were forced to run TBE ad nauseum. Many people like ONE aspect of the game over another. Forcing a space lover into ground combat which they hate will only spawn discontent and again make people stop doing it.
In short, as bad and buggy and stupid as the current waste-of-time crafting system is, the materials allocation is what is killing it.
My suggestion is that:
Every mission allow you a choice of box, consisting of at least 2 types. This would look like CCE when you can choose nukara marks or fleet marks, but instead you choose your reward box.
You should have the option to get any given sub-type of R&D box from at least 2 different space and 2 different ground missions. That way if you're space or ground partial, you'll at least have a choice of how you get it.
Because... let's face it. Cryptic forcing us to play unbalanced content? Most of us would rather stop playing than be forced into a playmode we hate. R&D mats are gated behind these missions, but you can at least retain a modicum of choice and flexibility as to WHICH missions to play.