Any other MMO I've played, you can fail a fight, but the game doesn't kick you out and spit in your face. No, you respawn, regroup, go over what went wrong, and go back to try again. Sometimes you determine you don't have what it takes and the group disbands. That is okay.
STO doesn't allow that, so it has no business having easy fail conditions. That many fail conditions are utterly illogical and arbitrary does not help at all. Why does ISA fail because a nanite sphere healed the thing? Why can't we kill it and keep going? Now, it makes complete sense to fail GtG if the transports don't make it, that is the whole reason for the STF.
Yet something like ISA can be easily failed but is also easy to adjust to if you had a clue about your team's capabilities beforehand. If the fight simply reset and we could identify where the problem was, it wouldn't be such a big issue. But to immediately disband the team and give a cooldown is just assinine.
Any other MMO I've played, you can fail a fight, but the game doesn't kick you out and spit in your face. No, you respawn, regroup, go over what went wrong, and go back to try again. Sometimes you determine you don't have what it takes and the group disbands. That is okay.
STO doesn't allow that, so it has no business having easy fail conditions. That many fail conditions are utterly illogical and arbitrary does not help at all. Why does ISA fail because a nanite sphere healed the thing? Why can't we kill it and keep going? Now, it makes complete sense to fail GtG if the transports don't make it, that is the whole reason for the STF.
Yet something like ISA can be easily failed but is also easy to adjust to if you had a clue about your team's capabilities beforehand. If the fight simply reset and we could identify where the problem was, it wouldn't be such a big issue. But to immediately disband the team and give a cooldown is just asinine.
I have to agree completely with this. In STO PuGs nobody talks. At most you'll get a "gg", sometimes someone will scream about teh noobehs if things didn't go right, rarely you'll get a thanks for healing or reviving someone, and very rarely you'll get a more detailed "here's what you did wrong" from someone if things fail, assuming you don't click out instantly. But nobody calls tactics, much less actually can be bothered to worry about roles. The insta-queue system, and the fact that people expect to leap right in and start mashing spacebar, doesn't allow for it.
Sometimes I'm not even sure what we did to succeed, much less what happened when we fail.
I have to agree completely with this. In STO PuGs nobody talks. At most you'll get a "gg", sometimes someone will scream about teh noobehs if things didn't go right, rarely you'll get a thanks for healing or reviving someone, and very rarely you'll get a more detailed "here's what you did wrong" from someone if things fail, assuming you don't click out instantly. But nobody calls tactics, much less actually can be bothered to worry about roles. The insta-queue system, and the fact that people expect to leap right in and start mashing spacebar, doesn't allow for it.
Sometimes I'm not even sure what we did to succeed, much less what happened when we fail.
This depends really for me. Not many do actually talk in STFS. But one of the main problems here is the constraints of a time limit. Its not very good for communication. Well not with the auto-fail optional. Take those out and you have 30 minutes to complete every stf.
In the old STFS it used to be... ok we failed the optional. Lets take a minute to review where we screwed up. Then move on with the board. This way, everyone gets a chance to learn where the everything went wrong.
The lack of communication is even getting to be a problem in the battle zones. The only one with any communication is Defara. And that just we're starting a x and moving to x.
Infected;Manus has some communication. Mainly for the optional and consoles.
Khit In Stasis has some as well. Again, mainly keeping people focused on killing nodes.
Brotherhood I'm always spouting out, Optionals starting now. Focus on Optionals before device.
So its not like you really need communication. 1 or 2 people directing traffic usually works.
Though I'd like to see more communication in them. I would mind seeing the auto-fail removed. So that we can a minute to diagnose for others where things went wrong. For brotherhood.. this will have to wait until the end of stage 4, as you still are on that 3 minute timer until then.
I'd also like to see some episodes that are team oriented. You know some team oriented ones. YOu need 5 players to clear out a area of space, needing to disable 5 satellites at the same time. And ground missions that require 5 captains without bridge crews to do.
Also some more Episodes like What Lies Beneath... just because the game could use some more Bonnie-kins.
OP, for Brotherhood of the Sword wait until Thursday for fix. Come thursday the side missions will become truly optional. For this mission again, unless that Orion is the chancellor's brother-in-law, there's no logical reason for the whole thing to fail if he dies. We are there to disable the devices. That is the mission and to kill that Herald at the end. Come Thursday this and Gateway to Grethor will become very good missions. Today and tomorrow run bug hunt or Kobali zone.
This is stupid to make Advanced 50\50 random task equalNormal Optionals.
Brotherhood of the Sword are easy even on Elite difficulty, only Optionals make a difference between Normal, Advanced and Elite...
If they make this change, then Normal can be completely removed from the game...
This is stupid to make Advanced 50\50 random task equalNormal Optionals.
Brotherhood of the Sword are easy even on Elite difficulty, only Optionals make a difference between Normal, Advanced and Elite...
If they make this change, then Normal can be completely removed from the game...
Where would the elitists tell casuals to go play without getting any worthwhile reward without normal?
This is my Risian Corvette. There are many like it, but this one is mine.
Admiral Douche Nozzle: What a waste of time. You guys have no idea what you're doing do you? Your builds suck. If they didn't, you guys still do.
Captain Clueless: *******!
General Lee Bored: So.../yawn...we going to finish this or not?
General Lee Warps: has left the team
Admiral F. K.: (still silent)
* * * * *
And you know what, perhaps Admiral Douche Nozzle could have put it another way; but in the end it holds true doesn't it?
Some mix of that would be in play...cause it's an Advanced Queue.
Showing up without a clue what to do...showing up in a garbage build...showing up with the near inability even to fly between the objectives....etc, etc, etc...
People keep talking about Advanced (and even Elite) as if it were Normal. Let's all figure out what needs to be done over a cup of tea and some biscuits. /facepalm
Admiral Douche Nozzle: What a waste of time. You guys have no idea what you're doing do you? Your builds suck. If they didn't, you guys still do.
Captain Clueless: *******!
General Lee Bored: So.../yawn...we going to finish this or not?
General Lee Warps: has left the team
Admiral F. K.: (still silent)
* * * * *
And you know what, perhaps Admiral Douche Nozzle could have put it another way; but in the end it holds true doesn't it?
Some mix of that would be in play...cause it's an Advanced Queue.
Showing up without a clue what to do...showing up in a garbage build...showing up with the near inability even to fly between the objectives....etc, etc, etc...
People keep talking about Advanced (and even Elite) as if it were Normal. Let's all figure out what needs to be done over a cup of tea and some biscuits. /facepalm
Basically this ^^
I've cussed some people out before in Elite STF's but then I found EliteSTF chat group and all my problems were solved.
This is stupid to make Advanced 50\50 random task equalNormal Optionals.
Brotherhood of the Sword are easy even on Elite difficulty, only Optionals make a difference between Normal, Advanced and Elite...
If they make this change, then Normal can be completely removed from the game...
hmm, there may not be so much difference on ground but for space missions the amount of HP the enemies have is a wee bit higher in advanced. Some also attack you a bit more - the difference between borg normal and advanced probably stands out the most. Whereas the Heralds normal and advanced seem about the same to me in terms of their offense.
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've cussed some people out before in Elite STF's but then I found EliteSTF chat group and all my problems were solved.
Hrmm, I've never said anything to anybody in a run...it's one of those things that just kind of seethes beneath the surface over the years, tempered by the fact that it's a case of having done the pug run in the first place...so I'm the one that played that Russian Roulette.
Hell, even my six posts in the Worst STF thread are four complaints about bugs...one about a guy trolling...and one about getting dropped into a run ~10 seconds before it failed.
I'd rather folks be prepared in some fashion than to vent any frustration on individuals...cause odds are that's not going to make anything better in the long run.
A failed run tends not to bother me, but a run that never stood a chance in the first place is just annoying. And I'm not into farming things, so guaranteed channel runs wouldn't be my thing.
A good way to fix this is to use the rep system and old style gear grind.
Tier 1 Open MkX gear and Normals.
Tier 2 MkXI gear
Tier 3 MkXII gear and Advanced ques
Tier 4 Mk XIII gear
Tier 5 MkXIV gear and Elites.
And you have to have to corresponding lower Mk gear before you can move up a mark. special items like Neural Processors and such are not needed until Tier 3.
A good way to fix this is to use the rep system and old style gear grind.
Tier 1 Open MkX gear and Normals.
Tier 2 MkXI gear
Tier 3 MkXII gear and Advanced ques
Tier 4 Mk XIII gear
Tier 5 MkXIV gear and Elites.
And you have to have to corresponding lower Mk gear before you can move up a mark. special items like Neural Processors and such are not needed until Tier 3.
Thing is...one doesn't have to step into a single queue to T5 any Rep and have all the gear from it...it wouldn't be any sign of the person having any clue what to do in Normal, Advanced, nor Elite.
It's another of the plethora of reasons why the queues are in the state they are...one simply doesn't need to run them for anything.
sorry, what im about to say is not going to make many happy:(
but, you guys need a little fail
call it strong medicine
this is an mmo, that is YES we can do random content with random people... THATS totally cool we can do that, sometimes you got 30 minutes to kill, just want to log in quick, hammer something out.. then log off
thats what the pug cues are for, folks short on time... that and anti-social people LOL
cause honestly, not one of you OR anyone in this game could say "well, if I get 4 friends to help me do this, we are still going to fail.."
cause then at that point... its not the game, its your builds.. its your teamwork AND THATS THE POINT of the challenge
to create a good team, a good build
I strongly believe that the reason this games pve content is so easy and mindless, that the gear we get now from the c-store/lockboxes are so over the top overpowered, and that character classes DONT even matter in this game is because of folks like the op
just gimmi- gimmi- gimmi LOL without any work, without any thought
you know,
you all rob yourself of the greater reward when you play a stf that is so mindlessly easy with random folks you dont even know while flying a ship that suffers no penalty for dying WHILE also able to funtion with the most jacked build possible....
you rob yourself of the sweet reward of overcoming a challenge... and knowing that you over came it with your intelligence, your teamwork, and skill operating it
if that doesnt sound like "fun" to you? then either the normal stfs are for your playstyle and I say stick to them and just BUY off the exchange that what you need crafting-wise OR dont play mmo's in the first place cause you cant enter a cheat code into them LOL
really people, this is a mmo, your suppose to work with other people, your suppose to make friends (and not just 3 LOL)
you know, when I pug cause I got an hour to kill, buddies not on yet or busy doing other content, I accept that when I pug... THE SECOND I click join, that this thing might fail.... not might LOL probably will! and thats the price I am willing to pay to watch tv, flying my pvp build that could slaughter my team in seconds if only allowed to fire on them for just 1 minute... that I am probably going to be stuck with some nugget that will blind faw before the teams over there in infected and POP something that causes us to fail... LOL I accept that b.s. cause I get to watch tv while doing this MINDLESS content, SIMPLE objectives, that if folks only spent 10 minutes of their game time looking up how to do it properly online...
LOL anyways,
goodluck all with playing an mmo that you dont make friends in LOL!!!
I could almost take offense to this. aside from teh fact that all my characters are still using whaat the game gives you.
Fed Tac - Token patrol Escort
Fed Sci - Mirror Recon
KDF Tac - Qin Heavy Raptor
KDF Sci - Craptasitc cruiser you get at lvl 40.
The only thing any of my characters have from the Z-store is a couple 100 doff expansion on my Fed chars. That's it. I have a few rep sets scatter about among them. But that's it. no Universal consoles. No click consoles. Nothing at all from the z-store.
So when you say you like to overcome a challenge. Is that with or without your T6 or T5-U zen ship with all the consoles to go with it?
And PvP build. Oh you mean the Click console spam build. Right?
So yeah.. when you overcome a challenge without everything that makes challenges disapppear in this game. Then, you can laugh at others like I do when they get killed. Especially in ADV/Elite space ques where teh big bad Zen ship with all the consoles and challenge removing gear piles in to the center of the mobs, in some instances they make it through, but most of the time... its rather enjoyable just to click cloak and watch them get popped like a zit.
As far as failures go in STFs. Meh.. no challenge is the bigest fail of all.
You can say whatever you want, but the obvious thing is if you are willing to join public queues, you are engaging in social activity. You cannot bend this truth in one way or another to fit your opinion based perspective. This is what I meant by you blowing things out of proportion, there are no abstract mathematical complexities here.
You misunderstand and assume too much from what I have stated previously. I have never denied the existence of social anxiety. I am not willing to baby this topic either. That would be a greater offense, imho. So, here we go with cold hard truths.
Social anxiety is a very real thing for many (most likely myself included, trust me there are signs). I was merely suggesting simple alternatives and immediate solutions to pick up groups failings. Circumstances in pick up groups are the ones inconveniencing individuals for whom you are advocating. The reality is very simple:
pugging=excruciating missions.
private matches=rewarding with extremely minimal social responsibility.
Let me be clear, the choice is always in your camp. That being said, ultimately, there is no valid cause to complain about pick up groups. Failure in such instances are to be expected.
I want to say, possibly a bit on the harsh side, this universe we live in is not very nice or considerate of our personal attributes or needs. You gotta meet people halfway, sorry! If you can't, you try. On the plus side, thus far, you have been able to carry this conversation very nicely, yet you find yourself incapable of typing during calls for private teaming "x" or "ready" to communicate your availability (remember my little scenario)?
I strongly and completely disagree. Pick up groups are chaotic, prone to attract trolls, leechers and AFKers.
As far as private matches are concerned, there is only initial process if you are the one starting a team in private channels. That's still a very grey area that this type of initial process could overwhelm a socially anxious person. Again, let me remind you that you do not have to make friends or ask your teammates how their day is going.
Except the section about the worry of perception and judgement by others, this part of your post is filled with preconceptions and uninformed judgements of what goes on in private teaming.
Not to say difficult people don't exist in private teaming, but these types are very easily weeded out of the private herd. Can't say the same about public queues.
i find your interpretation of social interaction quite strange, at its very core there is a process of communicating and/or a physical proximity to other people. being in an instance with other players does not constitute an actual physical proximity, and without direct communication those other players are basically just npcs, this does not, in any way, constitute a social interaction or require an 'on the spot' initiation of communication. however, grouping up as part of a fleet or via a dps channel does require an initial communication and the expectations upon the individual are greater.
the idea that it is simply about the quality or the personality of other group members is so wide of the mark, broaching that initial point of communication has nothing to do with quality, it is just about broaching that initial point of communication, and the self imposed pressure that individuals pace upon that interaction. you seem pretty intent on misrepresenting and trivialising this condition, and as such those who suffer from it. now im an old stick, so dont really care what fools think about me, but your lack of understanding and empathy are the kind of thing that perpetuates the stigma around social anxiety and can easily make it worse for those who suffer from it.
i'm nearly 50, a father of 2, served as a medic in the military, where amongst other things i spent some time walking around northern ireland with a big target on my back, and experienced being target practice in some other locations. i spent 3 years looking after the administration, account auditing and i.t. for ~40 business locations, and carried out onsite training for anyone from warehouse staff up to regional directors. i also studied mechanical engineering at university. yet after all that, unless it is my direct family or my doctor, i wont answer a phone call unless it is expected and i have the number saved in my phone, i dont even screen, it automatically kills the call. i never answer my door unless its pre arranged, that goes for friends too, no text no answer and if they just turn up.. i'm not in.
the main thing all those environments had in common was my need to be there, and the level of predictability, order and routine. the order and routine were great for my aspergers, and the predictability allowed me to plan for pretty much every situation and workplace interaction. even social interaction was governed, as being a workplace, there were certain rules and conventions in place. so that helped keep the social anxiety under control, and there was always the ability to set my phone ringer off at the simple push of a button it needed.. you end up having to learn small tricks to help avoid certain interactions, tricks to deal with those you cant avoid and escape plans for when it all gets too much.
4 years ago i developed a neurological condition, progressively over the past 2 years the list of symptoms have become very diverse and lengthy, needless to say im a bit of a useless bugger nowadays. i can no longer work, so aside from the odd trip to the shop, routine visits to my doctor and visits from my daughters, im pretty much stuck in a bubble. the things that gave me a need to interact and the confidence that i got from that, and the environments and situations that provided safe zones for my social anxiety are gone, i am now a shadow of my former self and pretty much a prisoner in my own home through social anxiety. so you see, i feel pretty qualified in explaining what social anxiety is, and conversely what it isn't, along with how it can and does manifest itself.
for me, as with many others, social anxiety is most prevalent in non-essential situations. i can talk to the girl behind the counter in my local shop, say hi, smile, thank her for help and wish her a good day as i leave the shop, we both have an essential reason to be there, we both have our own function within that interaction, it is a safe interaction free of pressure or expectation. but if i met her in the street and she tried to stop me for a conversation, id maybe be able to smile then id be on my toes.
so necessity can help provide a catalyst to interact with others, and good manners can help fill it out a little. in the work place most people tend to have confidence in their skill set or roll, for someone with social anxiety that may mean actually being over qualified for the position they hold, its far easier to maintain a comfort zone in a lesser role than it is to progress and expose yourself to the possibility of making a mistake that may draw attention to yourself or disappoint your colleagues and make them think less of you. even in predictable routine situations there is always the chance for an interaction that triggers the anxiety.
by and large, it is the social for 'social sake' that causes the greatest issues. we all expect some form of criticism for the work we do, but as long as we know we are doing it right, it doesn't matter, and as far as work ability goes that is a quantifiable thing. criticism for who you are though, nobody likes getting that, and when you have low self esteem or lack confidence in your self, you are generally the one doing the criticising, and you firmly believe everyone else agrees with you.
luckily i joined my fleet before my social anxiety got the stage it is currently at, i wouldn't be able to approach a fleet now, feeling able to actively contribute is a big thing for me, and i dont just mean fleet projects, i mean helping others out, doing runs etc, that takes a level of confidence and is actually more stressful than a pug, these are my fleet mates, the expectation is so much greater, worrying that you will be unable to uphold your end of the job, what will they say? what will they think? that self enforced expectation alone can be almost debilitating, just typing it out has me shallow breathing and feeling a rise in my throat, you really have no idea. i used to be able to run instances with my fleet mates, and use the dps channels, but i no longer can.
so regardless of what you think you know, your understanding of the condition is very superficial, and misguided, it is a far cry from as simplistic an issue to correct as you seem to think it is, if that were the case it wouldn't be a problem now would it?
oh, and just to clarify, ive been playing STO for 4yrs so not a new player with a lack of understanding or experiance. you argue that the pug system is fine, yet you dont actually do pug groups so how can you qualify saying that? and my initial comment was that the current change in the advanced system means that whole pug groups are being penalised on the action of a single inexperienced player, farmer or troll, and that if they cant implement a proper system to allow us to deal with those kinds of players in pugs, they should remove the non-optional optionals from advanced queues, so as to allow those who have always pugged, or prefer to pug, to continue doing so.
Comments
STO doesn't allow that, so it has no business having easy fail conditions. That many fail conditions are utterly illogical and arbitrary does not help at all. Why does ISA fail because a nanite sphere healed the thing? Why can't we kill it and keep going? Now, it makes complete sense to fail GtG if the transports don't make it, that is the whole reason for the STF.
Yet something like ISA can be easily failed but is also easy to adjust to if you had a clue about your team's capabilities beforehand. If the fight simply reset and we could identify where the problem was, it wouldn't be such a big issue. But to immediately disband the team and give a cooldown is just assinine.
I have to agree completely with this. In STO PuGs nobody talks. At most you'll get a "gg", sometimes someone will scream about teh noobehs if things didn't go right, rarely you'll get a thanks for healing or reviving someone, and very rarely you'll get a more detailed "here's what you did wrong" from someone if things fail, assuming you don't click out instantly. But nobody calls tactics, much less actually can be bothered to worry about roles. The insta-queue system, and the fact that people expect to leap right in and start mashing spacebar, doesn't allow for it.
Sometimes I'm not even sure what we did to succeed, much less what happened when we fail.
This depends really for me. Not many do actually talk in STFS. But one of the main problems here is the constraints of a time limit. Its not very good for communication. Well not with the auto-fail optional. Take those out and you have 30 minutes to complete every stf.
In the old STFS it used to be... ok we failed the optional. Lets take a minute to review where we screwed up. Then move on with the board. This way, everyone gets a chance to learn where the everything went wrong.
The lack of communication is even getting to be a problem in the battle zones. The only one with any communication is Defara. And that just we're starting a x and moving to x.
Infected;Manus has some communication. Mainly for the optional and consoles.
Khit In Stasis has some as well. Again, mainly keeping people focused on killing nodes.
Brotherhood I'm always spouting out, Optionals starting now. Focus on Optionals before device.
So its not like you really need communication. 1 or 2 people directing traffic usually works.
Though I'd like to see more communication in them. I would mind seeing the auto-fail removed. So that we can a minute to diagnose for others where things went wrong. For brotherhood.. this will have to wait until the end of stage 4, as you still are on that 3 minute timer until then.
I'd also like to see some episodes that are team oriented. You know some team oriented ones. YOu need 5 players to clear out a area of space, needing to disable 5 satellites at the same time. And ground missions that require 5 captains without bridge crews to do.
Also some more Episodes like What Lies Beneath... just because the game could use some more Bonnie-kins.
The new pilot ship is not a Tier 6 Defiant thank goodness.
This is stupid to make Advanced 50\50 random task equal Normal Optionals.
Brotherhood of the Sword are easy even on Elite difficulty, only Optionals make a difference between Normal, Advanced and Elite...
If they make this change, then Normal can be completely removed from the game...
Where would the elitists tell casuals to go play without getting any worthwhile reward without normal?
Admiral Douche Nozzle: What a waste of time. You guys have no idea what you're doing do you? Your builds suck. If they didn't, you guys still do.
Captain Clueless: *******!
General Lee Bored: So.../yawn...we going to finish this or not?
General Lee Warps: has left the team
Admiral F. K.: (still silent)
* * * * *
And you know what, perhaps Admiral Douche Nozzle could have put it another way; but in the end it holds true doesn't it?
Advanced Queue?
Advanced knowledge.
Advanced build.
Advanced ability.
Some mix of that would be in play...cause it's an Advanced Queue.
Showing up without a clue what to do...showing up in a garbage build...showing up with the near inability even to fly between the objectives....etc, etc, etc...
People keep talking about Advanced (and even Elite) as if it were Normal. Let's all figure out what needs to be done over a cup of tea and some biscuits. /facepalm
Basically this ^^
I've cussed some people out before in Elite STF's
hmm, there may not be so much difference on ground but for space missions the amount of HP the enemies have is a wee bit higher in advanced. Some also attack you a bit more - the difference between borg normal and advanced probably stands out the most. Whereas the Heralds normal and advanced seem about the same to me in terms of their offense.
"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censured, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably."
Hrmm, I've never said anything to anybody in a run...it's one of those things that just kind of seethes beneath the surface over the years, tempered by the fact that it's a case of having done the pug run in the first place...so I'm the one that played that Russian Roulette.
Hell, even my six posts in the Worst STF thread are four complaints about bugs...one about a guy trolling...and one about getting dropped into a run ~10 seconds before it failed.
I'd rather folks be prepared in some fashion than to vent any frustration on individuals...cause odds are that's not going to make anything better in the long run.
A failed run tends not to bother me, but a run that never stood a chance in the first place is just annoying. And I'm not into farming things, so guaranteed channel runs wouldn't be my thing.
Tier 1 Open MkX gear and Normals.
Tier 2 MkXI gear
Tier 3 MkXII gear and Advanced ques
Tier 4 Mk XIII gear
Tier 5 MkXIV gear and Elites.
And you have to have to corresponding lower Mk gear before you can move up a mark. special items like Neural Processors and such are not needed until Tier 3.
Thing is...one doesn't have to step into a single queue to T5 any Rep and have all the gear from it...it wouldn't be any sign of the person having any clue what to do in Normal, Advanced, nor Elite.
It's another of the plethora of reasons why the queues are in the state they are...one simply doesn't need to run them for anything.
I could almost take offense to this. aside from teh fact that all my characters are still using whaat the game gives you.
Fed Tac - Token patrol Escort
Fed Sci - Mirror Recon
KDF Tac - Qin Heavy Raptor
KDF Sci - Craptasitc cruiser you get at lvl 40.
The only thing any of my characters have from the Z-store is a couple 100 doff expansion on my Fed chars. That's it. I have a few rep sets scatter about among them. But that's it. no Universal consoles. No click consoles. Nothing at all from the z-store.
So when you say you like to overcome a challenge. Is that with or without your T6 or T5-U zen ship with all the consoles to go with it?
And PvP build. Oh you mean the Click console spam build. Right?
So yeah.. when you overcome a challenge without everything that makes challenges disapppear in this game. Then, you can laugh at others like I do when they get killed. Especially in ADV/Elite space ques where teh big bad Zen ship with all the consoles and challenge removing gear piles in to the center of the mobs, in some instances they make it through, but most of the time... its rather enjoyable just to click cloak and watch them get popped like a zit.
As far as failures go in STFs. Meh.. no challenge is the bigest fail of all.
Remember.
Games Don't Fail.
Only Developers do.
i find your interpretation of social interaction quite strange, at its very core there is a process of communicating and/or a physical proximity to other people. being in an instance with other players does not constitute an actual physical proximity, and without direct communication those other players are basically just npcs, this does not, in any way, constitute a social interaction or require an 'on the spot' initiation of communication. however, grouping up as part of a fleet or via a dps channel does require an initial communication and the expectations upon the individual are greater.
the idea that it is simply about the quality or the personality of other group members is so wide of the mark, broaching that initial point of communication has nothing to do with quality, it is just about broaching that initial point of communication, and the self imposed pressure that individuals pace upon that interaction. you seem pretty intent on misrepresenting and trivialising this condition, and as such those who suffer from it. now im an old stick, so dont really care what fools think about me, but your lack of understanding and empathy are the kind of thing that perpetuates the stigma around social anxiety and can easily make it worse for those who suffer from it.
i'm nearly 50, a father of 2, served as a medic in the military, where amongst other things i spent some time walking around northern ireland with a big target on my back, and experienced being target practice in some other locations. i spent 3 years looking after the administration, account auditing and i.t. for ~40 business locations, and carried out onsite training for anyone from warehouse staff up to regional directors. i also studied mechanical engineering at university. yet after all that, unless it is my direct family or my doctor, i wont answer a phone call unless it is expected and i have the number saved in my phone, i dont even screen, it automatically kills the call. i never answer my door unless its pre arranged, that goes for friends too, no text no answer and if they just turn up.. i'm not in.
the main thing all those environments had in common was my need to be there, and the level of predictability, order and routine. the order and routine were great for my aspergers, and the predictability allowed me to plan for pretty much every situation and workplace interaction. even social interaction was governed, as being a workplace, there were certain rules and conventions in place. so that helped keep the social anxiety under control, and there was always the ability to set my phone ringer off at the simple push of a button it needed.. you end up having to learn small tricks to help avoid certain interactions, tricks to deal with those you cant avoid and escape plans for when it all gets too much.
4 years ago i developed a neurological condition, progressively over the past 2 years the list of symptoms have become very diverse and lengthy, needless to say im a bit of a useless bugger nowadays. i can no longer work, so aside from the odd trip to the shop, routine visits to my doctor and visits from my daughters, im pretty much stuck in a bubble. the things that gave me a need to interact and the confidence that i got from that, and the environments and situations that provided safe zones for my social anxiety are gone, i am now a shadow of my former self and pretty much a prisoner in my own home through social anxiety. so you see, i feel pretty qualified in explaining what social anxiety is, and conversely what it isn't, along with how it can and does manifest itself.
for me, as with many others, social anxiety is most prevalent in non-essential situations. i can talk to the girl behind the counter in my local shop, say hi, smile, thank her for help and wish her a good day as i leave the shop, we both have an essential reason to be there, we both have our own function within that interaction, it is a safe interaction free of pressure or expectation. but if i met her in the street and she tried to stop me for a conversation, id maybe be able to smile then id be on my toes.
so necessity can help provide a catalyst to interact with others, and good manners can help fill it out a little. in the work place most people tend to have confidence in their skill set or roll, for someone with social anxiety that may mean actually being over qualified for the position they hold, its far easier to maintain a comfort zone in a lesser role than it is to progress and expose yourself to the possibility of making a mistake that may draw attention to yourself or disappoint your colleagues and make them think less of you. even in predictable routine situations there is always the chance for an interaction that triggers the anxiety.
by and large, it is the social for 'social sake' that causes the greatest issues. we all expect some form of criticism for the work we do, but as long as we know we are doing it right, it doesn't matter, and as far as work ability goes that is a quantifiable thing. criticism for who you are though, nobody likes getting that, and when you have low self esteem or lack confidence in your self, you are generally the one doing the criticising, and you firmly believe everyone else agrees with you.
luckily i joined my fleet before my social anxiety got the stage it is currently at, i wouldn't be able to approach a fleet now, feeling able to actively contribute is a big thing for me, and i dont just mean fleet projects, i mean helping others out, doing runs etc, that takes a level of confidence and is actually more stressful than a pug, these are my fleet mates, the expectation is so much greater, worrying that you will be unable to uphold your end of the job, what will they say? what will they think? that self enforced expectation alone can be almost debilitating, just typing it out has me shallow breathing and feeling a rise in my throat, you really have no idea. i used to be able to run instances with my fleet mates, and use the dps channels, but i no longer can.
so regardless of what you think you know, your understanding of the condition is very superficial, and misguided, it is a far cry from as simplistic an issue to correct as you seem to think it is, if that were the case it wouldn't be a problem now would it?
oh, and just to clarify, ive been playing STO for 4yrs so not a new player with a lack of understanding or experiance. you argue that the pug system is fine, yet you dont actually do pug groups so how can you qualify saying that? and my initial comment was that the current change in the advanced system means that whole pug groups are being penalised on the action of a single inexperienced player, farmer or troll, and that if they cant implement a proper system to allow us to deal with those kinds of players in pugs, they should remove the non-optional optionals from advanced queues, so as to allow those who have always pugged, or prefer to pug, to continue doing so.