I would love to see this. Why don't you go prove it and put it up on youtube. And prove that your whole team does the same.
Sarcasm is right, but she's failing to mention one thing. It requires a ton of teamwork with almost perfect communication with a team you're very used to working with with almost perfect BOff builds and only in certain ships that basically make up for your lack of gear.
Basically it's not that you can't do it, it's Sarcasm's way of saying that you're a noob for puging and not using her custom 30k DPS channel and fleet that all the cool kids are using.
But the basic premise stands. You CAN do it, but it's pretty much impossible for anyone that has anything resembling a life and doesn't want to spend all their free time in front of datasheets and parsers trying to be cool in an online game.
I stand corrected on my previous comments. I did not realize that a Veteran toon of 4 months who just finished many of its rep systems cannot compete in an advanced stf! This is an Outrage!
I am sure that after 4 months you have exhausted all avenues leading to your toons improvement. That $200 must have bought many an outfit.
I want your toon as a teammate on my next ISA for sure.
If you can't see how silly your comment is with your timeline stated, then perhaps you can have some solace in this fact. You may have proof that even in the 25th century, humanity is sending Chimps into space. At least with $200 they can be well dressed.
LOL I never called myself a veteran. In fact I stated at one point that I do not expect to beat any of the ELITE STF's so lets pay attention buddy.
Point is, that any player who enjoys this game and invests money into it, has a right to expect to continue to enjoy the game and have the fun that they have come to expect. I never said that I should be able to be an uber player. So try to understand this. I never said that $200 should make me a great player or get me what I want simply by buying it. I said that I've made an investment into a game because I was having fun and the changes have crippled my enjoyment.
Any person who make an investment of time and/or money has the right to expect what they paid for. My investment and money was made prior to these changes that have greatly altered the enjoyment.
The other point I've been making is that although I'm not a great player, I am a decent player. The normal STF's are too easy. It is not absurd to ask that the next level be a challenge, yet still beatable by a PuG of decent players. I have not seen a PuG win in the last 8. And for all you snobs, you can have your Elite difficulty and ride around in a golden ship with XIV gear. I just want to be able to have access to reputation content so that I can play and have fun in the game I spent money and time on without grinding myself blind. Otherwise, I beat the missions and have nothing left if the reputation and STFs are not enjoyable.
Sarcasm is right, but she's failing to mention one thing. It requires a ton of teamwork with almost perfect communication with a team you're very used to working with with almost perfect BOff builds and only in certain ships that basically make up for your lack of gear.
Basically it's not that you can't do it, it's Sarcasm's way of saying that you're a noob for puging and not using her custom 30k DPS channel and fleet that all the cool kids are using.
But the basic premise stands. You CAN do it, but it's pretty much impossible for anyone that has anything resembling a life and doesn't want to spend all their free time in front of datasheets and parsers trying to be cool in an online game.
This can be done with normal gear from Episodes, and people from the 10k DPS channel.
I am currently (read:when server doesn't boot me) grabbing mission gear to do this when the server hopefully stabilizes tomorrow. Only because the only fresh 50 I have is DOFF levelled.
I am not a member of the 30k channel. I barely qualify for 20k channel. I am taking the first 4 people from the 10k channel who offer. Fair?
This can be done with normal gear from Episodes, and people from the 10k DPS channel.
I am currently (read:when server doesn't boot me) grabbing mission gear to do this when the server hopefully stabilizes tomorrow. Only because the only fresh 50 I have is DOFF levelled.
I am not a member of the 30k channel. I barely qualify for 20k channel. I am taking the first 4 people from the 10k channel who offer. Fair?
Fair enough, but my premise stands. You're inviting into a pre-made team a group of people with an indepth game knowledge far beyond the basic player who know how to communicate and will know their roles in any Advanced queue. They'll know which episode gear is worth while, and which totally to avoid. They'll know good BOff (if not perfect) builds, and they'll know which ships to use and which to avoid like the plague.
While it is kind of sad, the point stands, and all the teeth gnashing of the very small minority semi-elite isn't going to change it, that the majority doesn't know enough of the mechanics nor cares enough of the game mechanics to pull this off, and pull it off well.
So my point stands, you'll be able to do it from the 10k dps channel. Heck you can probably do it with your slightly above average fleet with players who actually were recruited and not just open fleet spammed to join.
But your average player won't.
Now that said it's totally off topic. Do I think Advanced still needs to be reduced in easiness. Absolutly not. The only change I'd like to see if the optionals in Normal to still be Optional is Advanced with a higher mark pay out for completing the optional, and a lower pay out for only completing the queue.
The difficulty isnt too bad, although like some of said...I usually roll them with premades but not all the time.
The real issue is the failure condition. Pug groups are a mixed bag and it doesnt take more than a couple of weak lines to fail the thing. I like that we have failure conditions in this...I like that it's a little more interesting than it used to be. The problem is normals are SO easy and its the only one you really cant fail.
I ran an advanced with a Tier5u avenger with level 12 AP weapons(cept 2 turrets which where phaser) and I did just fine with lvl 12 equipment.
I died once on infected at the end when I aggro'd the Tac Cube., but it bought enough time for my team to kill the gate then turn around and curbstomp the Cube.
So honestly, it's not that hard to play Advanced with level 12 equipment. If you can't sounds like operator error to me.
Star Trek Battles member. Want to roll with a good group of people regardless of fleets and not have to worry about DPS while doing STFs? Come join the channel and join in the fun!
wow citing BGO as a shining star? Some of those servers have maybe 10 people logged in at one time!
If you spend $10,000 you might have the 3rd best ship of the 10!!
Shoot them water asteroids - pew pew pew.
Yeah right, tell that the 100 fleet mob war every evening.. Its more about user skill, level and gear upgrades not ships at all. no pew pew either.. missiles, nukes, rockets and pure lead in a game that works. hell, i could site friggin solitaire as a shining example or perhaps calculator, you got notepad too. hahahaaa
So far all i see are paid trolls from this games company pretending to be regular folks on the forum. Real easy to tell the way they focus in on specifics in comments and some other blatant tell tale signs.
After reading the terms an conditions of this site ive come to the conclusion that everyone should of been banned long ago just by the wording of it. PWE and Cryptic fail epically at XIV ultra rare-epic-fleet-admiral failure level.
All there is existing in their little world is grind. They've got zero of anything else. Ill stick to carrier hunting with nukes thanks.
The difficulty isnt too bad, although like some of said...I usually roll them with premades but not all the time.
The real issue is the failure condition. Pug groups are a mixed bag and it doesnt take more than a couple of weak lines to fail the thing. I like that we have failure conditions in this...I like that it's a little more interesting than it used to be. The problem is normals are SO easy and its the only one you really cant fail.
Do we only make elite have failure conditions?
Or do we make normals not quite as easy...shrug.
In my opinion,
Normal is fine as it is. No changes needed. Sadly enough, I still see people get as close as they can to actually failing normals, so there are a ton of people that still need some work before they're ready for ADvanced.
Advanced needs to have the normal optionals made optional in Advanced, and that's about it. But the issue with Advanced is that right now it's too hard for those trying to get entry level into it with a PUG because Normal is too easy, but Advanced is too easy for those who are about ready for Elite. Your largest group is pretty much the advanced group, but it also covers the largest spread of skill and gear in the game.
Yeah right, tell that the 100 fleet mob war every evening.. Its more about user skill, level and gear upgrades not ships at all. no pew pew either.. missiles, nukes, rockets and pure lead in a game that works. hell, i could site friggin solitaire as a shining example or perhaps calculator, you got notepad too. hahahaaa
So far all i see are paid trolls from this games company pretending to be regular folks on the forum. Real easy to tell the way they focus in on specifics in comments and some other blatant tell tale signs.
After reading the terms an conditions of this site ive come to the conclusion that everyone should of been banned long ago just by the wording of it. PWE and Cryptic fail epically at XIV ultra rare-epic-fleet-admiral failure level.
All there is existing in their little world is grind. They've got zero of anything else. Ill stick to carrier hunting with nukes thanks.
I played BGO for about 2 years. A couple servers were still lively when I left but most are dead. Read the BGO forums re: server merges.
The gear upgrades are what cost the $$$$$$$$ I'd had enough at 10 and 11. Don't forget those cubit ammo and endless godmode cubit heals - 50 cents to a dollar a click with some troll battles lasting hours with hundreds and hundreds of clicks. Easily the most expensive and exploitive game I've ever seen. With zero story development. I mean zero. I played fanatically for quite a while but after a while of doing the exact same thing over and over you realize - you know it doesn't matter if the outpost blows up or not. It will be back in an hour.
Captain Jean-Luc Picard: "We think we've come so far. Torture of heretics, burning of witches, it's all ancient history. Then - before you can blink an eye - suddenly it threatens to start all over again."
"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censured, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably."
I played BGO for about 2 years. A couple servers were still lively when I left but most are dead. Read the BGO forums re: server merges.
The gear upgrades are what cost the $$$$$$$$ I'd had enough at 10 and 11. Don't forget those cubit ammo and endless godmode cubit heals - 50 cents to a dollar a click with some troll battles lasting hours with hundreds and hundreds of clicks. Easily the most expensive and exploitive game I've ever seen. With zero story development. I mean zero. I played fanatically for quite a while but after a while of doing the exact same thing over and over you realize - you know it doesn't matter if the outpost blows up or not. It will be back in an hour.
Yeah I am also a BGO survivor. What server? If you don't know I was on scorpia and I was Tal0n of Victor wing(once upon a time), then I went solo till I up and quit.
Game had such potential and BP pissed it away. Hell BP makes PWE looks like a bunch of freaking SAINTS.
Star Trek Battles member. Want to roll with a good group of people regardless of fleets and not have to worry about DPS while doing STFs? Come join the channel and join in the fun!
Yeah I am also a BGO survivor. What server? If you don't know I was on scorpia and I was Tal0n of Victor wing(once upon a time), then I went solo till I up and quit.
Game had such potential and BP pissed it away. Hell BP makes PWE looks like a bunch of freaking SAINTS.
I did Scorpia, Gemenon, Sagittaron, and Virgon. Hmm, I can't remember the names except for Artie on Virgon. He flew that football shaped escort. A real brute. Top 10 in kill/death ratio and kills per hour. I may try and logon so they don't delete my characters. I read that when they merge they will wipe inactives.
Captain Jean-Luc Picard: "We think we've come so far. Torture of heretics, burning of witches, it's all ancient history. Then - before you can blink an eye - suddenly it threatens to start all over again."
"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censured, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably."
If you do not have a desire to set your ships up to be functional...stick to normal!
If you have no desire to learn the tactics of the advanced stf...stick to normal!
Seek the information before ruining the PUG for the rest of your team and blame the DEVs for making these advanced queues too much for the average STO player!
Until then, be a team player or leave the advanced queues until you can contribute!
So what would be the "tactics" of advanced?
I never had any Problems with any STF before. On Missions it took me a while to adapt to the new Vaadwaur weapons (barrage) abut now they are as easy as it gets so i don´t think i can´t adapt. My skills are balanced between DPS and Survivability. I am so sorry if i broke a rule by doing that. But that would mean that Sci captains with Sci abilities skilled are totally wrong.
I have no problem with normal STfs, i even find them far too easy .
If the Advanced STFs are so easy to you then post your build.
And i would love if you could think about what "average" means. Average is Average. Most STO players are Average, Fun players are below that. So how come that many Players , who played STO for years, have Problems with Advanced? Is that the new Rule? Normal difficullty for everyone, from below average to the normal STO Player without a high chance to get good gear (yeah, yeah i know, Injections and Implnts from the Zones, but only IF yo are not playing alone there because that also no fun) and 2 STfs for "The Elite" the best of the best who probably already have anything the want and donßt even need that gear anymore?
you would say the same thing to a player new at level 50 and who want the assimilated console and the kcb; like you did when you were at level 50.
this was easy for us to grind all the stuff for the rep before DR, but now this is almost impossible for a new lvl 50 player to earn borg processors and this is wrose for those who use the ridiculous crafting system. how they can earn these mat if they can't finish the stfs?
exchange?
- argonite gas: the package -> more than 1 million ec
- craylon gas: the package -> at least 500k ec
- plekton particle: the package -> at least 400k ec
etc
if the advanced stfs are too easy for you --> elite stfs; and stop to be selfish
For crafting material, I recommend the exploratory missions. For the cost of a little time flying around, you can get your crafting materials free of charge.
I've been playing STO since season 4, and it's changed a lot since then. This game is not that difficult. If it were any easier, you'd be issued Mk XIV Epic gear at level 1. When they were new, the STF's were tough, but they haven't been updated to compensate for the new skills, gear and rep until now. Its nice to have a challenge again. The advanced and elite are fine as they are.
It's not vanity or elitism to say new VA shouldn't be in advanced/elite missions. A fresh 50 should be in normals, so that they can learn to use their chosen ship and career to it's potential *before* moving up, without getting blown up every 30 seconds, getting frustrated, and quitting. I'd tell any new VA to get your piloting skills down ,and tweak your skill and spec selection before worrying about gear. Shiny purple toys arent any good if your spec and skill selection is off. And for piloting skills, get some friends together and do some private PVP. NPC ships are predictable, you will learn what they're going to so , in what order. People are infinitely devious, and push you to your limit. If youre feeling particularly adventurous, head to Ker'rat...
I had my assimilated console long before level 50 by the way. Used to a reward for one of the Undine episodes
I have a great idea for all those that think Adv. Queues are too hard.
Why dont we just get the reward automatically when we queue up for the missions.
Then if we choose to leave the queue, that mission gets put on cooldown.
See, those that want to do the mission just wait until the queue pop and whala, everyone is happy.
That way we put an end to theses OMG Advance is TOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO hard threads.
FYI Team mission are to be played by team participation and not only that, but you actually have to think (yes, that means use your brain) and not just pound on the keyboard every 5th of a second.
Ill even give you an example of a thinking situation.
Azura Nebula Rescue:
You look off in the distance and see a Tholian Tarantula and by the time you reach the ship you noticed that you are the only one there. OMG what do you do?
A. Engage and try to destroy it solo, knowing very well your DPS is TRIBBLE.
B. Turn back and attack something else
C. Put your engine to full power and use tractor beam repulsors
To push the dame thing far enough away so you can just go
Back and rescue the ship, why, because you knew you were queuing
Up for this mission and planed ahead for it.
Not that hard, think, think,think. If you cant do that than just go on the internet and find a video of the mission and just study it and see how they did it, and if you cant do that, than I would suggest that you find a corner in the room youre in and start crying.
Seems to me a lot of back and forth with few acknowledging the actual problem.
Q: Why would someone who (arguably) should play normal que for advanced?
A: Rare mats that you cannot get anywhere else (Dentarium/ancient power cells or whatever)
MOST new players have no piles of EC to buy stuff on the exchange. Nor are they likely to have piles of dil to buy fleet stuff. Even if they did, some items (like ancient power cells) are not tradable.. so they try the advanced ques.
So, go ahead and argue back and forth all day about how advanced is either too hard or not hard at all. IT WON"T MATTER. Your only REAL choices are;
1: make advanced easier so new/inexperienced players can get those very rare items
OR
2: Make those items obtainable in some fashion that does NOT require them pugging an STF they are unprepared for. (can be rare drops in normals and/or some other mechanism.
The current system encourages those new/inexperienced players to try and try again. I don't care if you personally find it too hard or too easy. Choose option one and the 'elitists' will have to play elites only.. or choose option 2 and keep advanced how it is. Not sure which option works the best for the majority, but i am sure arguing about if it is or is not too hard for an experienced STO player is fairly meaningless.
Comments
I have a fresh Reman 50 (doffed!), with a T5 ship, and the weapons that came on it, and I would be open to joining this team.
Sarcasm is right, but she's failing to mention one thing. It requires a ton of teamwork with almost perfect communication with a team you're very used to working with with almost perfect BOff builds and only in certain ships that basically make up for your lack of gear.
Basically it's not that you can't do it, it's Sarcasm's way of saying that you're a noob for puging and not using her custom 30k DPS channel and fleet that all the cool kids are using.
But the basic premise stands. You CAN do it, but it's pretty much impossible for anyone that has anything resembling a life and doesn't want to spend all their free time in front of datasheets and parsers trying to be cool in an online game.
LOL I never called myself a veteran. In fact I stated at one point that I do not expect to beat any of the ELITE STF's so lets pay attention buddy.
Point is, that any player who enjoys this game and invests money into it, has a right to expect to continue to enjoy the game and have the fun that they have come to expect. I never said that I should be able to be an uber player. So try to understand this. I never said that $200 should make me a great player or get me what I want simply by buying it. I said that I've made an investment into a game because I was having fun and the changes have crippled my enjoyment.
Any person who make an investment of time and/or money has the right to expect what they paid for. My investment and money was made prior to these changes that have greatly altered the enjoyment.
The other point I've been making is that although I'm not a great player, I am a decent player. The normal STF's are too easy. It is not absurd to ask that the next level be a challenge, yet still beatable by a PuG of decent players. I have not seen a PuG win in the last 8. And for all you snobs, you can have your Elite difficulty and ride around in a golden ship with XIV gear. I just want to be able to have access to reputation content so that I can play and have fun in the game I spent money and time on without grinding myself blind. Otherwise, I beat the missions and have nothing left if the reputation and STFs are not enjoyable.
This can be done with normal gear from Episodes, and people from the 10k DPS channel.
I am currently (read:when server doesn't boot me) grabbing mission gear to do this when the server hopefully stabilizes tomorrow. Only because the only fresh 50 I have is DOFF levelled.
I am not a member of the 30k channel. I barely qualify for 20k channel. I am taking the first 4 people from the 10k channel who offer. Fair?
Fair enough, but my premise stands. You're inviting into a pre-made team a group of people with an indepth game knowledge far beyond the basic player who know how to communicate and will know their roles in any Advanced queue. They'll know which episode gear is worth while, and which totally to avoid. They'll know good BOff (if not perfect) builds, and they'll know which ships to use and which to avoid like the plague.
While it is kind of sad, the point stands, and all the teeth gnashing of the very small minority semi-elite isn't going to change it, that the majority doesn't know enough of the mechanics nor cares enough of the game mechanics to pull this off, and pull it off well.
So my point stands, you'll be able to do it from the 10k dps channel. Heck you can probably do it with your slightly above average fleet with players who actually were recruited and not just open fleet spammed to join.
But your average player won't.
Now that said it's totally off topic. Do I think Advanced still needs to be reduced in easiness. Absolutly not. The only change I'd like to see if the optionals in Normal to still be Optional is Advanced with a higher mark pay out for completing the optional, and a lower pay out for only completing the queue.
The real issue is the failure condition. Pug groups are a mixed bag and it doesnt take more than a couple of weak lines to fail the thing. I like that we have failure conditions in this...I like that it's a little more interesting than it used to be. The problem is normals are SO easy and its the only one you really cant fail.
Do we only make elite have failure conditions?
Or do we make normals not quite as easy...shrug.
Yes.
Good God no are trying to kill those too.
I died once on infected at the end when I aggro'd the Tac Cube., but it bought enough time for my team to kill the gate then turn around and curbstomp the Cube.
So honestly, it's not that hard to play Advanced with level 12 equipment. If you can't sounds like operator error to me.
Star Trek Battles member. Want to roll with a good group of people regardless of fleets and not have to worry about DPS while doing STFs? Come join the channel and join in the fun!
http://forum.arcgames.com/startrekonline/discussion/1145998/star-trek-battles-channel-got-canon/p1
Yeah right, tell that the 100 fleet mob war every evening.. Its more about user skill, level and gear upgrades not ships at all. no pew pew either.. missiles, nukes, rockets and pure lead in a game that works. hell, i could site friggin solitaire as a shining example or perhaps calculator, you got notepad too. hahahaaa
So far all i see are paid trolls from this games company pretending to be regular folks on the forum. Real easy to tell the way they focus in on specifics in comments and some other blatant tell tale signs.
After reading the terms an conditions of this site ive come to the conclusion that everyone should of been banned long ago just by the wording of it. PWE and Cryptic fail epically at XIV ultra rare-epic-fleet-admiral failure level.
All there is existing in their little world is grind. They've got zero of anything else. Ill stick to carrier hunting with nukes thanks.
In my opinion,
Normal is fine as it is. No changes needed. Sadly enough, I still see people get as close as they can to actually failing normals, so there are a ton of people that still need some work before they're ready for ADvanced.
Advanced needs to have the normal optionals made optional in Advanced, and that's about it. But the issue with Advanced is that right now it's too hard for those trying to get entry level into it with a PUG because Normal is too easy, but Advanced is too easy for those who are about ready for Elite. Your largest group is pretty much the advanced group, but it also covers the largest spread of skill and gear in the game.
I played BGO for about 2 years. A couple servers were still lively when I left but most are dead. Read the BGO forums re: server merges.
The gear upgrades are what cost the $$$$$$$$ I'd had enough at 10 and 11. Don't forget those cubit ammo and endless godmode cubit heals - 50 cents to a dollar a click with some troll battles lasting hours with hundreds and hundreds of clicks. Easily the most expensive and exploitive game I've ever seen. With zero story development. I mean zero. I played fanatically for quite a while but after a while of doing the exact same thing over and over you realize - you know it doesn't matter if the outpost blows up or not. It will be back in an hour.
"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censured, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably."
Yeah I am also a BGO survivor. What server? If you don't know I was on scorpia and I was Tal0n of Victor wing(once upon a time), then I went solo till I up and quit.
Game had such potential and BP pissed it away. Hell BP makes PWE looks like a bunch of freaking SAINTS.
Star Trek Battles member. Want to roll with a good group of people regardless of fleets and not have to worry about DPS while doing STFs? Come join the channel and join in the fun!
http://forum.arcgames.com/startrekonline/discussion/1145998/star-trek-battles-channel-got-canon/p1
I did Scorpia, Gemenon, Sagittaron, and Virgon. Hmm, I can't remember the names except for Artie on Virgon. He flew that football shaped escort. A real brute. Top 10 in kill/death ratio and kills per hour. I may try and logon so they don't delete my characters. I read that when they merge they will wipe inactives.
"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censured, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably."
So what would be the "tactics" of advanced?
I never had any Problems with any STF before. On Missions it took me a while to adapt to the new Vaadwaur weapons (barrage) abut now they are as easy as it gets so i don´t think i can´t adapt. My skills are balanced between DPS and Survivability. I am so sorry if i broke a rule by doing that. But that would mean that Sci captains with Sci abilities skilled are totally wrong.
I have no problem with normal STfs, i even find them far too easy .
If the Advanced STFs are so easy to you then post your build.
And i would love if you could think about what "average" means. Average is Average. Most STO players are Average, Fun players are below that. So how come that many Players , who played STO for years, have Problems with Advanced? Is that the new Rule? Normal difficullty for everyone, from below average to the normal STO Player without a high chance to get good gear (yeah, yeah i know, Injections and Implnts from the Zones, but only IF yo are not playing alone there because that also no fun) and 2 STfs for "The Elite" the best of the best who probably already have anything the want and donßt even need that gear anymore?
For crafting material, I recommend the exploratory missions. For the cost of a little time flying around, you can get your crafting materials free of charge.
I've been playing STO since season 4, and it's changed a lot since then. This game is not that difficult. If it were any easier, you'd be issued Mk XIV Epic gear at level 1. When they were new, the STF's were tough, but they haven't been updated to compensate for the new skills, gear and rep until now. Its nice to have a challenge again. The advanced and elite are fine as they are.
It's not vanity or elitism to say new VA shouldn't be in advanced/elite missions. A fresh 50 should be in normals, so that they can learn to use their chosen ship and career to it's potential *before* moving up, without getting blown up every 30 seconds, getting frustrated, and quitting. I'd tell any new VA to get your piloting skills down ,and tweak your skill and spec selection before worrying about gear. Shiny purple toys arent any good if your spec and skill selection is off. And for piloting skills, get some friends together and do some private PVP. NPC ships are predictable, you will learn what they're going to so , in what order. People are infinitely devious, and push you to your limit. If youre feeling particularly adventurous, head to Ker'rat...
I had my assimilated console long before level 50 by the way. Used to a reward for one of the Undine episodes
I have a great idea for all those that think Adv. Queues are too hard.
Why dont we just get the reward automatically when we queue up for the missions.
Then if we choose to leave the queue, that mission gets put on cooldown.
See, those that want to do the mission just wait until the queue pop and whala, everyone is happy.
That way we put an end to theses OMG Advance is TOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO hard threads.
FYI Team mission are to be played by team participation and not only that, but you actually have to think (yes, that means use your brain) and not just pound on the keyboard every 5th of a second.
Ill even give you an example of a thinking situation.
Azura Nebula Rescue:
You look off in the distance and see a Tholian Tarantula and by the time you reach the ship you noticed that you are the only one there. OMG what do you do?
A. Engage and try to destroy it solo, knowing very well your DPS is TRIBBLE.
B. Turn back and attack something else
C. Put your engine to full power and use tractor beam repulsors
To push the dame thing far enough away so you can just go
Back and rescue the ship, why, because you knew you were queuing
Up for this mission and planed ahead for it.
Not that hard, think, think,think. If you cant do that than just go on the internet and find a video of the mission and just study it and see how they did it, and if you cant do that, than I would suggest that you find a corner in the room youre in and start crying.
Q: Why would someone who (arguably) should play normal que for advanced?
A: Rare mats that you cannot get anywhere else (Dentarium/ancient power cells or whatever)
MOST new players have no piles of EC to buy stuff on the exchange. Nor are they likely to have piles of dil to buy fleet stuff. Even if they did, some items (like ancient power cells) are not tradable.. so they try the advanced ques.
So, go ahead and argue back and forth all day about how advanced is either too hard or not hard at all. IT WON"T MATTER. Your only REAL choices are;
1: make advanced easier so new/inexperienced players can get those very rare items
OR
2: Make those items obtainable in some fashion that does NOT require them pugging an STF they are unprepared for. (can be rare drops in normals and/or some other mechanism.
The current system encourages those new/inexperienced players to try and try again. I don't care if you personally find it too hard or too easy. Choose option one and the 'elitists' will have to play elites only.. or choose option 2 and keep advanced how it is. Not sure which option works the best for the majority, but i am sure arguing about if it is or is not too hard for an experienced STO player is fairly meaningless.