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Who Broke Crystalline Catastrophe?
lordatrocities
Member Posts: 462 Arc User
Who Broke Crystalline Catastrophe?
This is a rant, a wall of text aimed at Cryptic but not meant to be mean. Enjoy
Now I am all for a challenge and admit that change is sometimes painful but Jesus Cryptic, WTF?
I am sorry but I must know whom at Cryptic decided to take what was truly one of the better PvE missions, Crystalline Catastrophe (Advanced/Elite) and bend it over the Cryptic **** table and then proceed to bork the hell out of it with with batlith?
Normally CC can be ran in advanced/elite and provides a fun, fast, enjoyable challenge that players seemingly loved to play since it was one of the few queues that populated rapidly and thus had a short wait time to join.
But now, now its as broken as the other PvE missions and I don't understand why it had to be broke? Is this Cryptic's new motto "If Its Fun And Players Like It, BREAK IT! BREAK IT BREAK IT" Seriously what kind of business model is that? I don't get it. I really don't. Who is calling the shot at Perfect World; Q?
Joking aside and in all seriously, did you all just sit around the conference room table and laugh at the players when you decided to make these changes? I don't know but it sure seems like this is an April fools joke come early. Or perhaps its a Q thing, I don't know but I don't like. And I am NOT alone.
Today I saw many things that I haven't seen before in this mission. Veteran players giving up in frustration. The change to the timer is understandable given that in Advanced the Entity can be taken down by a solid PUG team in under 8 minutes, but lowering to 5 is just cruel and almost impossible for average DPS players to do. Even with DPS hammers its a tough run so I can bet average players won't be any more happy about it than Veterans appear to be.
Normally the Crystalline Entity can be taken down withing 5 to 6 minutes with a good DPS PUG, a bad one, about 9 to 10 minutes. But today, even with average Veteran players packing solid DPS hammers, we couldn't take down the Crystalline Entity in the reduced time, with the increase damage bonus it has, and the increased number of impossible to kill (GOD LIKE) Tholian defenders. (I'd love to have the shields those orange TRIBBLE have on my ship.)
I am sure tactics will change and the new time limit will eventfully not matter but right now, right now its an extreme challenge to say the least. I am sure it can and is often done, but not by your everyday run of the mill free to play or new subscriber types for sure. (not that any of them play Advanced or Elite - oh no.... /sarcasm)
Now I am all for fight and a good challenge but this, this is just not right. In the matches where people did hang around and fight it out we took upwards of 10 minutes to kill the it. Which is fine, but damn, its not right. And those Tholian defenders with their IDDQD codes!!!.... Jesus.... (Google it)
In all seriousness PW and Cryptic please just stop taking what little remains to be fun with the game and breaking it. Please just stop doing that.
I ask, no I implore you, please UNBORK Crystalline Catastrophe. Please just undo your latest fix. It wasn't broken and it didn't need to be broke.
Thank you - OBTW, No More RW Cash for you guys for a while... this **** just isn't worth it any more.
This is a rant, a wall of text aimed at Cryptic but not meant to be mean. Enjoy
Now I am all for a challenge and admit that change is sometimes painful but Jesus Cryptic, WTF?
I am sorry but I must know whom at Cryptic decided to take what was truly one of the better PvE missions, Crystalline Catastrophe (Advanced/Elite) and bend it over the Cryptic **** table and then proceed to bork the hell out of it with with batlith?
Normally CC can be ran in advanced/elite and provides a fun, fast, enjoyable challenge that players seemingly loved to play since it was one of the few queues that populated rapidly and thus had a short wait time to join.
But now, now its as broken as the other PvE missions and I don't understand why it had to be broke? Is this Cryptic's new motto "If Its Fun And Players Like It, BREAK IT! BREAK IT BREAK IT" Seriously what kind of business model is that? I don't get it. I really don't. Who is calling the shot at Perfect World; Q?
Joking aside and in all seriously, did you all just sit around the conference room table and laugh at the players when you decided to make these changes? I don't know but it sure seems like this is an April fools joke come early. Or perhaps its a Q thing, I don't know but I don't like. And I am NOT alone.
Today I saw many things that I haven't seen before in this mission. Veteran players giving up in frustration. The change to the timer is understandable given that in Advanced the Entity can be taken down by a solid PUG team in under 8 minutes, but lowering to 5 is just cruel and almost impossible for average DPS players to do. Even with DPS hammers its a tough run so I can bet average players won't be any more happy about it than Veterans appear to be.
Normally the Crystalline Entity can be taken down withing 5 to 6 minutes with a good DPS PUG, a bad one, about 9 to 10 minutes. But today, even with average Veteran players packing solid DPS hammers, we couldn't take down the Crystalline Entity in the reduced time, with the increase damage bonus it has, and the increased number of impossible to kill (GOD LIKE) Tholian defenders. (I'd love to have the shields those orange TRIBBLE have on my ship.)
I am sure tactics will change and the new time limit will eventfully not matter but right now, right now its an extreme challenge to say the least. I am sure it can and is often done, but not by your everyday run of the mill free to play or new subscriber types for sure. (not that any of them play Advanced or Elite - oh no.... /sarcasm)
Now I am all for fight and a good challenge but this, this is just not right. In the matches where people did hang around and fight it out we took upwards of 10 minutes to kill the it. Which is fine, but damn, its not right. And those Tholian defenders with their IDDQD codes!!!.... Jesus.... (Google it)
In all seriousness PW and Cryptic please just stop taking what little remains to be fun with the game and breaking it. Please just stop doing that.
I ask, no I implore you, please UNBORK Crystalline Catastrophe. Please just undo your latest fix. It wasn't broken and it didn't need to be broke.
Thank you - OBTW, No More RW Cash for you guys for a while... this **** just isn't worth it any more.
What happened to those unique forum ranks I paid for?
Post edited by Unknown User on
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Comments
Different strokes for different folks I guess.
Oh I like the challenge, but the issue is, most people who play are average players who don't have DPS hammers. Thus even with players that can dish out the DPS, the mission takes on a whole new level of difficulty.
Right now I am in the camp that believes the change is a bit extreme and needs to be drawn back a bit. Perhaps increase the time for Advanced to 6 minutes and keep Elite at new setting of 3 or perhaps bump it to 4 minutes. Its a challenge that I hope becomes fun again soon.
And I really really want those IDDQD shields that the Tholians have.
CE requires captains to use stuff like tachyon beam to control the CE buff stacking. It's not "press spacebar to win". Still doable. You should have tried it back in the day when it was damn near impossible.
This is the best advice...
But tbh this PvE is still very much doable.... Even in a pug group...
A "good" PUG could do it in 3-4 minutes.
An "average" PUG could do it in 4-6 minutes.
A "bad" PUG could do it in 8-10 minutes.
Some PUGs were doing it in 2-3 minutes...not channel pugs, those could do it in 1-2 minutes.
With the Optional previously set at 10 minutes...the issue is obvious. Setting it to 5 minutes and guess what that does?
An "average" group may or may not be able to get it...it's an Optional. The "good" group should be able to get it without issue, it's just Advanced and they're a "good" group. The "bad" group will not get it...it's an Optional.
Or do you really believe that "bad" groups should be getting the Optional as well? Cause, I mean...that's what you've said there, but I thought it best to check.
Tis very good advice and most DPS players do this. However, a lot of guys, and even myself today, discovered that with the changes, you can't really ignore the fodder any more. Which I like. Adds some challenge to the game. But with weaker DPS PUG players defeating the Entity with the new lower time limit and increase damage / damage range makes it very difficult.
Not impossible, just more difficult and thus frustrating. And when something becomes frustrating, it no longer is enjoyable. Which is a shame because CC was a really fun mission to run. Not so much fun now. But perhaps as tactics change and people upgrade gear it might regain what it has set aside.
I hope so any ways.
In complete agreement with Virusdancer.
CCA was and continues to be a fairly simple STF, if you understand the basics. The major difference now is that the safe zones during the antiproton wave no longer exist.
You can still drain the potential damage of that wave prior to it's firing.
I was about to bring this up. Old CE was a nightmare.
The problem though is we're all at the mercy of the pug. Some people can't find their TRIBBLE with both hands let alone use the correct abilities or make sure their weapon is not in the MK II-MK VIII range. Greens.
Ever done Bug Hunt much? Even on elite there are these complete muppets with a woundlist as long as a necktie and when you tell them politely to heal or they will die a lot you get either silence or some fresh f.u. remark. Though a few have said 'how do I heal?' which almost made me cry. Almost. Don't get me started on resists......
So this promotes pre-mades, which I am all for in a sense but for those without a fleet or those for some reason not able or willing to do pre-mades are at the mercy of the pug.
Thanks, but to be honest, I have ran CC so many times that I lost track of how long it was taking us to take down the Entity. But I do know it sure as hell was't coming in under 3 minutes on a regular basis. In fact I'd wager a rich Dilithium Mine that the average time was about 4.5 to 5.5 minutes with a good PUG. (Excellent PUG, under 4 minutes easily but most PUG's are average)
But each run is different so you gotta go with the number you have.
As to bad pugs getting the optional, never going to happen. If they can't pull it together to win, then the game doesn't reward them.
What I like about CC is how the rewards work. If you get into the fight and duke it out, you have a chance to gain gear. I average 1st in most cases but thats just me. Even with the new settings I am still placing in the top 3 and I hope to do better.
I just cannot help but feel that CC wasn't broken and now it is. And from what I have seen with people who actually play it, in game chat and what not, many many others do as well. Oh well.
Tis how it is now.
Those folks taking unnecessary hits from shards? More damage to heal without having to worry about running into any overhealing issues...tada...better chance at 1st.
Even with the inner safety area there previously...sometimes it was simply better to take the hit that couldn't kill you and heal that damage...wheee, 1st here I come!
It's a gimmick instance that favors gaming the system to rank higher.
Without Cryptic doing some sort of gating system for Advanced/Elite content that mirrors what folks do by going private, as long as players continue to stumble in to content they're not ready for, or those that are AFKing, leeching, etc...yes, every time I hit a public queue it's going to be a gamble (I only public pug though, I watch various channels to see how others are doing - but I just public pug) - but it also means there are more opportunities for a challenge. Had an ISA yesterday where we had a 60k+ guy that I swear was trolling, it was obvious with the group that if he popped that first Gen on each side before three of the folks had even gotten halfway there...only to fly off and do other stuff...that he was trolling. But it actually kind of made it fun, a challenge for the boat I was dorking around in at the time - so it was the Grav Well those guys, R-TBR these guys that got through, and even Assimilated Tractor that lead Sphere cause for some odd reason they don't fly around (you can just part in front of one and they all stop)...and it was kind of fun, imho.
But yeah, public queues...that's the risk one takes. Sure, I wish more folks were closer to some kind of minimum requirement for the content; but even there usually with 1-2 it's not going to be much of an issue cause there's going to be more than enough from the rest to get it done cause the stuff is just that easy, meh. When you get 3-4 though, okay, when I get 3-4...I'm screwed, cause I'm no DPS powerhouse and I can't carry a group. But that's the risk...and...it's also one of the reasons that I rarely run the queues. To me, they can be fun - wish they were harder - but they can be fun all the same...not for any rewards, still don't see the point of running them for rewards...but just for the fun of running them, doing something different. But yeah, other players...heh, I've joked that there's more PvP in PvE than in PvP because of the public queues; AFKing, leeching, unprepared, trolling, etc, etc, etc.
Can't let the rabble out gun us now can we?
If ever...... But, the path of least resistance. People will rejoin pug after pug hoping they get a team with dps. If not and they fail, they try again with another toon or wait out the time.
In The Secret World you have a Gatekeeper you have to beat to enter elite dungeons. And you have to do it solo. If you can not handle this then you're so out of luck. Now, if other games would do something like that......
It's where I can be a bit of an "Elitist" even though I'm nowhere near "Elite"...heh. I don't think folks should be able to pug "Elite". I don't think I should be able to grab one of my goofball builds and hook up with four other random people to wipe the floor in "Elite" content. It doesn't strike me as being something "Elite" if that is possible. To me, it should be those folks up there in the clouds upon the mountains etc; that with their carefully crafted team will hit it up and fail until they start having a chance at it - then work into some of the optionals - etc, etc, etc.
Me, I think I should be there finding a challenge of the same sort in doing Advanced - not the difficulty of that "Elite" there; but something that's going to challenge. Not something where it's wham, bam, and done in the blink of an eye (give or take a few minutes, and well below the optional time). Something that makes me feel like I've accomplished something, not that the accomplishment is found in lobbing grenades into a barrel faster and faster on some treadmill to nowhere.
Even with Normal, I think that should provide a challenge compared just to having run mission content - it's a team thing, it shouldn't be the equivalent of five folks running an episode but something that's a Normal-level challenge for a team.
But all of that tends to get into the "oh Hell noes" replies from folks...where their "enjoyable challenge" is a fast 'n fun monster farm that's over and done faster than this post will be.
I honestly believe if the game was less of a monster farm, that it would actually get into folks being able to play more than just DPS. Folks could go at it with DPS if they want, but they could also get into other things - it's a difficult juggling act to try to balance things. Part of the reason I believe we've ended up with the DPS race...it's just easier and TRIBBLE worrying about any balance. And well, it's apparently fun for a lot of folks for it to be that way.
The best defense is more offense...just blow up everything and you don't have to worry about CDs/durations on any non-DPS stuff and you don't have to worry about healing as much. Wham, bam, done!
But in the end, it's all going to come down to what folks like and different folks like different things. I can do Gerren in 90s and earn SP at a faster rate than running Argala...but it's over and over and over, so it's tedious to me. Even Argala on Normal is tedious since it's over and over pretty quick. Change it to Elite, and I might have some fun getting SNB/VM spammed by the Hirogen...heh. But the Patrol reward at the end is the same whether it's Normal/Advanced/Elite; so running Normal is more efficient for me. Sometimes, I'm just not in the mood for efficient - I want to have fun. Hell, it's why I started flying a T5 Mirror Heavy Cruiser in CCAs and ISAs...weaker shields, weaker hull...it can be a bit of a challenge at times playing the tank and trying to grab all the aggro compared to the flying around in circles while watching Netflix in some FT6 boat.
What's fun for me isn't going to be fun for the next guy or gal...simple as that. I just tend to get hung up in the words...thinking that Advanced should mean something and that Elite should mean something. That folks shouldn't have to create challenges for themselves because the content is not challenging...whether it's the challenge of seeing just how fast they can run it, just how much DPS they can do, or how subpar a build they can run.
Meh, damn...I started rambling.
Every player has a different skill level, some people will find content too easy others too hard. What Delta Rising has brought us is content not suited to casual players the game is gearing very much to the hardcore lives/breathes/dies for this game
In fact PvE is becoming Elitist in the sense that you have to have specific builds all catered around dps. And the casual player is being driven out of these queues because they either cannot understand how to make a dps ship, or want to play a certain role, healer/tank.
On the flip side they are also driven into these queues because purchasing reputation gear requires certain items which can only be obtained via the Advanced or Elite queues, then you are going to get people not ready or capable of the challenge Advanced or Elite gives.
Maybe a solution might be to offer in the rep system a trade of marks for BNP, Ancient Alien Power Cells ect. 75-100 marks for 1 BNP or APC. This would allow grinding of normal queues and allow the casual player to obtain rep gear without jumping into shark infested waters.
I do think in general since DR the whole original PvE lineup has been totally screwed up in terms of balance. Such as CSA BOP's being harder to blow up than Raptors or Negh'vars and even the Boss ship.
Although a lot of people were curb stomping the original borg stf's at least in terms of the NPC's they were balance more against each other. Cryptic have ripped the heart out of those.
or at the very least launch some danubes and then just hit spacebar.
Huh??........
Are the Tholians giving you problems? The defenses that work against them are the same as they have been for a long time.
Do not park in close range of a Recluse. It does a PBAOE aura that drains your shields.
Are you tractored by the Tholians? Break free from it or get pummeled.
Going alone against a bunch of angry Tholians? Unless you know what you're doing, don't: They can **** you up.
Shards are bad far you.
Drain abilities like Energy Siphon help against the Entity by stripping down some of those Damage Buffs it gains.
Shards are bad for you.
That's it. It's simple. A lot of that stuff above should be obvious. These aren't secrets jealously kept by the Illuminati.
Of all the queued space instances, CCA is still the easiest one to do. CCA is a Guaranteed Win, Guaranteed Dil, Guaranted Nukara Marks, Guaranteed Advanced R&D Pack.
Never, ever try to rationalize with and persuade fools. Just enjoy the show.
Nope, they're not missing that. They've got Normal, Advanced, and Elite.
Um...what?
The content requirements are damn low compared to the potential players can do. And there are Normal, Advanced, and Elite for much of the content there.
Yes, that certain of the items (outside of RNG with boxes) can only be acquired from the content...should tell you that the gear is not required for the content.
They've talked about offering Elite Marks via single-player missions.
There are some definite quirks out there regarding some of the NPCs. The usual one that comes up is Spheres vs. Cubes...it's damn trippy. But there are all sorts of balance issues out there with NPCs. There are things that were apparently tweaked outside of the normal scaling, and thus they're either harder or easier than they should be. Kind of trippy the more you start delving into it and seeing what's there.
But anyway, getting back to the rest.
Yes, players coming to the game are going to be playing at different skill levels. Cryptic has attempted to provide content at different levels for that. It is the players ignoring that and jumping into content they're not ready for...for whatever reason.
As for the Rep Gear...
Neither New Rom nor Nukara require any Elite Marks. Those also tend to be the common pieces out there seen on builds (Rom Engines, Nukara Deflector, Nukara Shield). Another one seen would be Nukara Engines/Shields with Counter-Command Deflector. Both the Dyson and Counter-Command Elite Marks are available from mob play, hitting up their respective Battlezones. Which leaves the Elite Marks from Omega and Delta, which outside of RNG with boxes (some have luck, some have no luck) folks are going to need to hit up Advanced/Elite queues to get, right?
What are they hitting them up in? Did they maybe grab Breen, Jem'Hadar, Solanae? Did they see there's also going to be the Kobali? All missions sets. Did they look at what other mission gear might help them? Did they post on the forums that they're looking at running Advanced/Elite and were looking for some pointers on doing that?
Or do they just close their eyes and hope they get carried through?
There are all sorts of resources available to players of varying skills to help them try to get what they want...
...it's nobody but the players fault themselves if they ignore all of that.
I just spam BFAW. Yeah, I'm one of those people. YOU WANNA FIGHT ABOUT IT?
I'm still flying around going wheee in goofball builds...just like I was three years ago. The difficulty of the game has not kept up with the powercreep in the least. The requirements for content are laughable compared to the potential out there. But yes, people that generally played more will not have noticed (imho) as much of a change as folks that rarely played. Cause those players (imho) were playing anyway, so getting additional rewards for something they were doing is pretty nifty...while those that stopped by once in a blue moon (imho) are likely to notice that they need to do more than they used to have to do. In that sense, it's become a more rewarding MMO and less of a Facebook game with nothing to do.
Hardcore players spam FAW with 8x Turrets!
I have to say, well said.
Lol, yeah, apparently there were a couple. There was a 10.5 minute timer (now 5 minutes) and a player death thing of no more than 5 (now 3) deaths. Had no idea that either was there, lol...cause I don't remember anywhere near 5 folks dying since they nerfed it into the ground and never had a CCA take anywhere near that long after they nerfed it into the ground.
But even your goofball builds (I've read a few) still have a dedicated purpose and all your experience at using it. When I mean Wheeee players, I don't know about you but I'd never played an MMO before STO, and so I built my ship according to what I'd seen on the show not any minmax theory. Weapons were selected to match cannon as close as I could Emergency Power To X powers were for emergencies, carried all three -Team skills because Jean-Luc Picard had all three at his disposal, ran Aceton Field 3 in my Cmdr slot because A2SIF3 was redundant with ET and Boarding Party 3 seemed like a Zapp Brannigan tactic, and all my power settings at 50 because a proper flagship should be a well-balanced machine.
I had no clue what I was doing, but I was enjoying myself anyways because I was the Captain Elizabeth Shaw of the Federation Starship Callisto *adjusts shirt* and the nemesis of B'Vat and Kar'Ukan and thats all that mattered. And when I started doing STFs against the dreaded Borg it was a squeeze in Normal and for Elite I had to learn things like changing power settings and 'you can use two copies of the same power???' and dropping two of my torpedoes for more beam arrays. I wasn't gonna take on a Cube by myself but I could handle Kang duty or probes on a side of KASE and at least let the more experienced players focus on teardown. If you took that same supergreen player from 3 years ago (and everyone is that green at some point) and dropped them in the game today, they wouldn't really have that ignorance-is-bliss enjoyment phase, but instead will get their aft shot off unless they hit fleet chats and wikis and forums straight in short order and become a Gamer about it.
You pride yourself on odd layouts and laid back piloting, and I'm pretty much intentionally lazy in my own piloting style (keybinds? hotkeys? too much work), but we are both a HELL of a lot more knowledgeable than a truly casual player. For an actual casual, with no knowledge no gaming experience just a love of some cheesy old TV shows, STO as it is today is not particularly welcoming to them; they're expected to either become Gamers or to get lost, and personally I'm sorry to see that change.