Personally, I wonder how the other weeks rewards will go, now that the Super Duper Levelers have ground out all three factions to 44/44, and are done with it.
(Me, I just played at a casual pace. I played a bit each day, after getting through 1-10 quickly I've settled down to 2-4 missions a day. Currently around lv28, partway into Romulan arc.)
edit: honestly, I don't understand the feeling of "The tier 3 reward should have happened, .5xp has been stolen from me!" The idea that it would be too much of a grind to max out doesn't seem like a problem to me. (Tier 1, easily achievable; Tier 2, if they really work at it; Tier 3, only if lots of super dedicated people go completely nuts.... seems like a valid design to me, having it be guaranteed reachable feels... off, somehow.)
The problem with things like this bar is that unless it works, its bad. It means either the players failed, demonstrably, or else the devs failed.
The first week's thing should have been a blowout, since this is the week with the most participation.
I can't help but wonder if the bugs got just enough people to postpone their D-rec stuf to TRIBBLE us all
Expect Cryptic to still call this a success. They effectively have to, they'll go with the story that tier III was out reach. In fact they should have said that expected it not to be meet up front (when they almost certainly did expect it to be reached).
Keep in mind, if in truth they didn't expected us to hit the top goal- they wouldn't have capped it at tier III. Instead the event would have been open ended with each tier doubling or more the requirements of the one before. And they could brag that we got so far no matter how far we got.
As is, they set a goal post and failed to hit it.
When I explained the event to my wife (who has decades of experience in sales events and top level management), she immediately stated that if Tier III was not hit- it would be a failure in the eyes of both management and a large segment of the player base.
From my own PoV, it's a bit like a Kickstarter- the stated goal is the bare minimum to prevent the project from folding before it begins. But everyone knows the really successful ones hit all the stretch goal rewards.
STO will today be known as one that's still hanging in there, but not one of the really successful ones.
Such failures can be good things in the end, causing needed course adjustments.
Spec point grinders are typically people who want all the best stuff, and finishing delta recruit is required to have all the best stuff.
As someone who has all his spec stuff full and points banked for pilot, I finished DR pretty early. When the patch came through, i only had that one mission left for full completion.
It's just kind of lousy, I was really looking forward to that special extra xp.
And the indolent robbed me of it
As many are pointing out... you are still getting bonus XP, you know.
Don't get me wrong, I'm a little bummed, too (although the clock is still running). It's just kinda silly, though, to claim doom and failure when we're gonna miss T3 by about 20%.
Now, there is a flag on the field regarding the 4.5 hour maintenance this week... that was likely some valuable time lost. (However, I'm not calling conspiracy-theorist shenanigans beyond that.)
My Delta Recruit made it to level 12 before I decided I did not wish to do everything over again for a 20th time - especially for rewards I did not need. I am sorry I cost you guys the T3 bonus this week.
STO is about my Liberated Borg Federation Captain with his Breen 1st Officer, Jem'Hadar Tactical Officer, Liberated Borg Engineering Officer, Android Ops Officer, Photonic Science Officer, Gorn Science Officer, and Reman Medical Officer jumping into their Jem'Hadar Carrier and flying off to do missions for the new Romulan Empire. But for some players allowing a T5 Connie to be used breaks the canon in the game.
But what if you have all 3 Factions complete...my FED/KDF/ROM DR will be complete next week. And then? I'll have all rewards. Then progression to more than Tier II or III will be very hard the comming weeks.
And i swear, i'll never do the cardassian arc again...except there will be a revamp. And Collusseum...god forbid....never ever...NEVER AGAIN.....
It's called Cardassian Struggle for a reason. It's a struggle to play through those missions without wanting to hurt someone. That's where I parked my Fed DR. I just couldn't continue that awful arc. I did make a Rom and KDF one but the thrill was gone as BB King said. I just been blah about it after starting Cardassian Struggle.
_____
Lifetime no longer gives a forum title. That should be updated on the Lifetime page that mentions what you get. PMing the CSR doesn't work neither.
It's called Cardassian Struggle for a reason. It's a struggle to play through those missions without wanting to hurt someone. That's where I parked my Fed DR. I just couldn't continue that awful arc. I did make a Rom and KDF one but the thrill was gone as BB King said. I just been blah about it after starting Cardassian Struggle.
I'm stuck there also. Doing a couple of episodes from that arc a day. They just suck.
I agree about the cardies. I'm playing all missions with a friend. We're halfway through cardassian arc and it is pretty annoying. The missions are just too long and repetitive. I thought coliseum was annoying but there's a number of cardassian missions that are much worse.
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."
Now, there is a flag on the field regarding the 4.5 hour maintenance this week...
There's two flags on the field as far as I'm concerned, first, the early maintenance window this week, and second, the last minute (uncommunicated) change to the Delta upgrade kits being BoP instead of Bind to account.
I think that the latter caused a massive drop off in Delta Recruit grinding once it was clarified as WAI. Those people who were working up through the missions to get the best XP reward for grinding further Delta Recruits in the coming week purely for the Upgrade kits will have immediately stopped, seeing no further point in the system as it is easier to get upgrade kits (though unfortunately not Dil free ones) from other sources.
I was stuck with my toon at level 45, just before the Dominion FE because I ran out of gear upgrade techs to keep my ship viable.
Meanwhile I started a KDF toon and played through the tutorial and a couple of missions. But mostly this week I've been stuck at work having to do overtime. Could have contributed a bit more then. Sorry
My DR made it up to 40 last night, just starting the Cardie arc by 'rescuing' the young Riker. I admit I did lose steam as soon as I hit the Romulan arc, not to mention there was Easter and other obligations. Still, though, double XP for a week sure will be nice for her and for my Fed DR still in the tutorial.
There's two flags on the field as far as I'm concerned, first, the early maintenance window this week, and second, the last minute (uncommunicated) change to the Delta upgrade kits being BoP instead of Bind to account.
I think that the latter caused a massive drop off in Delta Recruit grinding once it was clarified as WAI. Those people who were working up through the missions to get the best XP reward for grinding further Delta Recruits in the coming week purely for the Upgrade kits will have immediately stopped, seeing no further point in the system as it is easier to get upgrade kits (though unfortunately not Dil free ones) from other sources.
The upgrade kit thing is annoying me. It's listed under the rewards for the delta recruit, no mention of it under the account unlock. Why on earth did people think it would be BoA? As it stands I knew we weren't going to make t3 when we ended Sunday night without making t2. The crushing majority of game time would have been Friday to Sunday.
Ignorance is an obstacle not an excuse
Let the stupid suffer
I think I'll skip over those Cardie missions and do them last. That way I see a prize at the end. My character is leveled up enough to just move on to the Borg front.
_____
Lifetime no longer gives a forum title. That should be updated on the Lifetime page that mentions what you get. PMing the CSR doesn't work neither.
I did, as soon as someone in chat pointed out that there are in fact extra account rewards for each faction's story arcs, even though the reward blog said there wasn't...:mad:
I've seen a few people say this and they've never said what the extra rewards are or if the rewards are for the DR or for the account.
This is my Risian Corvette. There are many like it, but this one is mine.
The upgrade kit thing is annoying me. It's listed under the rewards for the delta recruit, no mention of it under the account unlock. Why on earth did people think it would be BoA? As it stands I knew we weren't going to make t3 when we ended Sunday night without making t2. The crushing majority of game time would have been Friday to Sunday.
It was said in the Blogs in the lead up to the Delta Recruits that one of the end rewards would be 2 Delta upgrade kits that could be transferred to another character (not an account unlock, but one that could be transferred from your Delta Recruit to other characters). This was changed very much at the last minute. You can find BorticusCryptic's clarification in the following link.
I deeply apologize for not having updated our communication on this matter, but this is working as intended as it is currently on Holodeck.
It was determined very late in our testing that keeping these items BoA instead of BoC represented a significant risk for our overall reward structure, and might encourage aberrant behavior among players (Level multiple DRs to 50 utilizing potential XP Loopholes/Exploits, just to pass off the Upgrade Kits). Because of this risk, we decided to change them to Bind-to-character-on-Pickup.
Again, we should have updated our communication on this when the change was made, and we apologize for the miscommunication. We'll see about getting the Q&A updated, and the linked Dev Post will be edited to include a link back to THIS post.
I completely understand the reasoning behind the change, and "somewhat" agree with it... but that doesn't stop it being a very disappointing change for the fans, and the reactions of "Bait and switch" from some to be understandable, if IMO, wrong.
the last minute (uncommunicated) change to the Delta upgrade kits being BoP instead of Bind to account.
I think that the latter caused a massive drop off in Delta Recruit grinding once it was clarified as WAI. Those people who were working up through the missions to get the best XP reward for grinding further Delta Recruits in the coming week purely for the Upgrade kits will have immediately stopped, seeing no further point in the system as it is easier to get upgrade kits (though unfortunately not Dil free ones) from other sources.
I know this made a lot of people quit Recruit grinding. Some for the loss of BoA, others for the poor communication of the change. I don't think the next few week will hit T2 even, unless Cryptic drops the requirements to reach T2 or dangles a huge reward.
well theres been no down time today (to make up for Tuesdays I guess) so plenty of opportunity to finish the last 20% now outstanding but there has been no movement in some time, so I guess no one is levelling deltas at the moment.
sadly I cant really play much today but then my small contribution would not make much difference anyway.
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.
well theres been no down time today (to make up for Tuesdays I guess) so plenty of opportunity to finish the last 20% now outstanding but there has been no movement in some time, so I guess no one is levelling deltas at the moment.
sadly I cant really play much today but then my small contribution would not make much difference anyway.
Because depending in timezone, most people are at work, school or dreaming right now. Only the eastern hemisphere is sort of available for the most part.
Because depending in timezone, most people are at work, school or dreaming right now. Only the eastern hemisphere is sort of available for the most part.
I still see a lot more movement in the progress bar for the same time period yesterday so that's no excuse and yesterday was no different to today ie not a holiday or weekend.
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 still see a lot more movement in the progress bar for the same time period yesterday so that's no excuse.
Whatever the reason, there is no excuse necessary. Last I checked playing was not mandatory for anyone thankfully and no one owes anyone anything.
We either make the goal or not. If we do, cool, if we don't, almsot as cool since we got Tier 2 in the bag.
Am I the only one that thinks this isn't really a big deal?
No, but this would not be a gaming forum if someone did not think their "whatever" was a really big deal.
STO is about my Liberated Borg Federation Captain with his Breen 1st Officer, Jem'Hadar Tactical Officer, Liberated Borg Engineering Officer, Android Ops Officer, Photonic Science Officer, Gorn Science Officer, and Reman Medical Officer jumping into their Jem'Hadar Carrier and flying off to do missions for the new Romulan Empire. But for some players allowing a T5 Connie to be used breaks the canon in the game.
The lack of anyone saying what they are makes it look a lot like the space version of a rickroll.
Whatever it is it'd have to be better than a T6 ship as I'd need to burn three existing characters to find out.
The faction-specific rewards are for the story arcs. For the Delta Recruit, its EC, fleet marks and dilithium ore and for the account wide its fleet marks and dilithium ore. The amount depends on the length of the arc.
You don't need to delete existing characters for it, just make a Delta Recruit using your free slot, finish the story arcs unique to that faction (the temporal reward list for a non-Recruit shows the arcs and what factions can complete them), then delete it and make another one for the next faction.
But if you don't care about completing everything, you're not missing anything important by leaving it. Though the account dilithium ore does add up if you have lots of toons.
They have literally millions of toons leveled on their servers -- which translates to a ton of data about leveling (and the time it takes) , and I'm still supposed to believe that drivel .
I highly doubt they could predict the behavior of the players with regards to "first mission completion". Leveling data doesn't show anything with regards to how willing we are to actually rerun the content multiple times.
I had 8 characters before this event.
The only characters I played were 1 Fed and 1 Rom-Fed, I had 6 DOff recruiters sitting at the Academy. They never did more than the basic quests necessary to unlock DOffing.
When DR hit, I deleted the 6 DOffers and made 7 Delta Recruits. Within the first few days they're all at least level 12, now with one at 15 and two at 30. I certainly didn't expect myself to do that, I was always only planning on having the one new Delta Recruit.
Whilst I'd prefer it if we got to Tier3, purely because any extra XP is welcome, I do get frustrated at how many people complain or call foul play because they didn't get something. We were given a goal, with a progress bar... we didn't fill it to reach T3, what more is there to say?
There's enough people in this thread alone to give an indication of how many people levelled a single DR and then stopped, and went back to their main. That in itself is the reason we didn't make T3.
The question is, will the devs use that data to adjust next week's goals? I kinda hope they don't. There needs to be a challenge, otherwise what's the point in giving targets? They might as well just make them free gifts for logging in!
Whilst I'd prefer it if we got to Tier3, purely because any extra XP is welcome, I do get frustrated at how many people complain or call foul play because they didn't get something. We were given a goal, with a progress bar... we didn't fill it to reach T3, what more is there to say?
There's enough people in this thread alone to give an indication of how many people levelled a single DR and then stopped, and went back to their main. That in itself is the reason we didn't make T3.
The question is, will the devs use that data to adjust next week's goals? I kinda hope they don't. There needs to be a challenge, otherwise what's the point in giving targets? They might as well just make them free gifts for logging in!
Only thing I hated about the bar is it was a percentage. I'd rather see actual numbers of how many to complete for each tier.
_____
Lifetime no longer gives a forum title. That should be updated on the Lifetime page that mentions what you get. PMing the CSR doesn't work neither.
Whilst I'd prefer it if we got to Tier3, purely because any extra XP is welcome, I do get frustrated at how many people complain or call foul play because they didn't get something. We were given a goal, with a progress bar... we didn't fill it to reach T3, what more is there to say?
There's enough people in this thread alone to give an indication of how many people levelled a single DR and then stopped, and went back to their main. That in itself is the reason we didn't make T3.
The question is, will the devs use that data to adjust next week's goals? I kinda hope they don't. There needs to be a challenge, otherwise what's the point in giving targets? They might as well just make them free gifts for logging in!
no worry here, I will be grateful with whatever the outcome is.
it just amazes me that there are people on here complaining instead of playing and levelling.
sadly I cant play right now myself but im sure that's not the case for everyone.
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.
Come on guys, stop with the 'Generation Entitlement' mentality already. Not reaching T3 IS NOT FAILURE! You have extra XP, extra rewards and so on, yet you want more!? Hell, why not complain that you haven't been automatically levelled to max and been given Epic everything! The greed of the few in this game is getting seriously annoying now.
As for saying that you need an explanation from Cryptic as to why T3 wasn't reached....Get over yourselves, for God's sake!!!! Cryptic owes no explanation for anything here. The event, so far is a great success that's been enjoyed by way, way more than those who didn't or couldn't be bothered and it shows in game!
I've enjoyed playing through all the missions that I've not replayed in years, and I can see the improvements they've made. Great job Cryptic. Keep up the fantastic work on this, the best F2P MMORPG around!
"You don't want to patrol!? You don't want to escort!? You don't want to defend the Federation's Starbases!? Then why are you flying my Starships!? If you were a Klingon you'd be killed on the spot, but lucky for you.....you WERE in Starfleet. Let's see how New Zealand Penal Colony suits you." Adm A. Necheyev.
Comments
(Me, I just played at a casual pace. I played a bit each day, after getting through 1-10 quickly I've settled down to 2-4 missions a day. Currently around lv28, partway into Romulan arc.)
edit: honestly, I don't understand the feeling of "The tier 3 reward should have happened, .5xp has been stolen from me!" The idea that it would be too much of a grind to max out doesn't seem like a problem to me. (Tier 1, easily achievable; Tier 2, if they really work at it; Tier 3, only if lots of super dedicated people go completely nuts.... seems like a valid design to me, having it be guaranteed reachable feels... off, somehow.)
Expect Cryptic to still call this a success. They effectively have to, they'll go with the story that tier III was out reach. In fact they should have said that expected it not to be meet up front (when they almost certainly did expect it to be reached).
Keep in mind, if in truth they didn't expected us to hit the top goal- they wouldn't have capped it at tier III. Instead the event would have been open ended with each tier doubling or more the requirements of the one before. And they could brag that we got so far no matter how far we got.
As is, they set a goal post and failed to hit it.
When I explained the event to my wife (who has decades of experience in sales events and top level management), she immediately stated that if Tier III was not hit- it would be a failure in the eyes of both management and a large segment of the player base.
From my own PoV, it's a bit like a Kickstarter- the stated goal is the bare minimum to prevent the project from folding before it begins. But everyone knows the really successful ones hit all the stretch goal rewards.
STO will today be known as one that's still hanging in there, but not one of the really successful ones.
Such failures can be good things in the end, causing needed course adjustments.
As many are pointing out... you are still getting bonus XP, you know.
Don't get me wrong, I'm a little bummed, too (although the clock is still running). It's just kinda silly, though, to claim doom and failure when we're gonna miss T3 by about 20%.
Now, there is a flag on the field regarding the 4.5 hour maintenance this week... that was likely some valuable time lost. (However, I'm not calling conspiracy-theorist shenanigans beyond that.)
It's called Cardassian Struggle for a reason. It's a struggle to play through those missions without wanting to hurt someone. That's where I parked my Fed DR. I just couldn't continue that awful arc. I did make a Rom and KDF one but the thrill was gone as BB King said. I just been blah about it after starting Cardassian Struggle.
Lifetime no longer gives a forum title. That should be updated on the Lifetime page that mentions what you get. PMing the CSR doesn't work neither.
A week of running advanced queues over and over for spec points. Let the XP rain!
Still, it would have been awesome with the tier 3 bonus. Would have maxed out both toons since I hate the normal XP progression.
I'm stuck there also. Doing a couple of episodes from that arc a day. They just suck.
"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censured, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably."
There's two flags on the field as far as I'm concerned, first, the early maintenance window this week, and second, the last minute (uncommunicated) change to the Delta upgrade kits being BoP instead of Bind to account.
I think that the latter caused a massive drop off in Delta Recruit grinding once it was clarified as WAI. Those people who were working up through the missions to get the best XP reward for grinding further Delta Recruits in the coming week purely for the Upgrade kits will have immediately stopped, seeing no further point in the system as it is easier to get upgrade kits (though unfortunately not Dil free ones) from other sources.
Meanwhile I started a KDF toon and played through the tutorial and a couple of missions. But mostly this week I've been stuck at work having to do overtime. Could have contributed a bit more then. Sorry
The upgrade kit thing is annoying me. It's listed under the rewards for the delta recruit, no mention of it under the account unlock. Why on earth did people think it would be BoA? As it stands I knew we weren't going to make t3 when we ended Sunday night without making t2. The crushing majority of game time would have been Friday to Sunday.
Let the stupid suffer
Lifetime no longer gives a forum title. That should be updated on the Lifetime page that mentions what you get. PMing the CSR doesn't work neither.
I've seen a few people say this and they've never said what the extra rewards are or if the rewards are for the DR or for the account.
It was said in the Blogs in the lead up to the Delta Recruits that one of the end rewards would be 2 Delta upgrade kits that could be transferred to another character (not an account unlock, but one that could be transferred from your Delta Recruit to other characters). This was changed very much at the last minute. You can find BorticusCryptic's clarification in the following link.
http://sto-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?p=23247961#post23247961
I completely understand the reasoning behind the change, and "somewhat" agree with it... but that doesn't stop it being a very disappointing change for the fans, and the reactions of "Bait and switch" from some to be understandable, if IMO, wrong.
Go check out the temporal officer, he has boxes listed as Fed, fed/rom, klingon, klingon/rom
I know this made a lot of people quit Recruit grinding. Some for the loss of BoA, others for the poor communication of the change. I don't think the next few week will hit T2 even, unless Cryptic drops the requirements to reach T2 or dangles a huge reward.
sadly I cant really play much today but then my small contribution would not make much difference anyway.
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.
Because depending in timezone, most people are at work, school or dreaming right now. Only the eastern hemisphere is sort of available for the most part.
The lack of anyone saying what they are makes it look a lot like the space version of a rickroll.
Whatever it is it'd have to be better than a T6 ship as I'd need to burn three existing characters to find out.
I still see a lot more movement in the progress bar for the same time period yesterday so that's no excuse and yesterday was no different to today ie not a holiday or weekend.
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.
Whatever the reason, there is no excuse necessary. Last I checked playing was not mandatory for anyone thankfully and no one owes anyone anything.
We either make the goal or not. If we do, cool, if we don't, almsot as cool since we got Tier 2 in the bag.
You don't need to delete existing characters for it, just make a Delta Recruit using your free slot, finish the story arcs unique to that faction (the temporal reward list for a non-Recruit shows the arcs and what factions can complete them), then delete it and make another one for the next faction.
But if you don't care about completing everything, you're not missing anything important by leaving it. Though the account dilithium ore does add up if you have lots of toons.
I highly doubt they could predict the behavior of the players with regards to "first mission completion". Leveling data doesn't show anything with regards to how willing we are to actually rerun the content multiple times.
I had 8 characters before this event.
The only characters I played were 1 Fed and 1 Rom-Fed, I had 6 DOff recruiters sitting at the Academy. They never did more than the basic quests necessary to unlock DOffing.
When DR hit, I deleted the 6 DOffers and made 7 Delta Recruits. Within the first few days they're all at least level 12, now with one at 15 and two at 30. I certainly didn't expect myself to do that, I was always only planning on having the one new Delta Recruit.
There's enough people in this thread alone to give an indication of how many people levelled a single DR and then stopped, and went back to their main. That in itself is the reason we didn't make T3.
The question is, will the devs use that data to adjust next week's goals? I kinda hope they don't. There needs to be a challenge, otherwise what's the point in giving targets? They might as well just make them free gifts for logging in!
Only thing I hated about the bar is it was a percentage. I'd rather see actual numbers of how many to complete for each tier.
Lifetime no longer gives a forum title. That should be updated on the Lifetime page that mentions what you get. PMing the CSR doesn't work neither.
no worry here, I will be grateful with whatever the outcome is.
it just amazes me that there are people on here complaining instead of playing and levelling.
sadly I cant play right now myself but im sure that's not the case for everyone.
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.
As for saying that you need an explanation from Cryptic as to why T3 wasn't reached....Get over yourselves, for God's sake!!!! Cryptic owes no explanation for anything here. The event, so far is a great success that's been enjoyed by way, way more than those who didn't or couldn't be bothered and it shows in game!
I've enjoyed playing through all the missions that I've not replayed in years, and I can see the improvements they've made. Great job Cryptic. Keep up the fantastic work on this, the best F2P MMORPG around!