It's a pity PUGs queues are abandoned. For me who is in a VERY small fleet PUGs where the only comfortable way to do STFs. I know there are channels, but...
PUGs where fast, you didn't had any drama with finding a group, just queue up and start.
It was nice and uncomplicated and i did a LOT of them only very few where total catastrophic, unlike some on this forum want us to belive!
All now gone now, great devs, just because some few ppl where whining the STFs where too easy.
You can't even do Starbase 24 anymore (i loved just to pew pew masses of enemies and to test a ships tankyness.). It would have been a great way to earn Ship XP imo.
It's a shame we can't start such missions on our own, without any other ppl.
Now allmost all queues are dried out, only some ongoing reputation ones are populated, but older ones, completely abandoned. As i said great idea Devs!!!
Idk what ppl do outside repeating story missions or patroling tbh.
But on the other side i really don't want to do something together with ppl. who where ultimately killing this game.
"...'With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censured...the first thought forbidden...the first freedom denied--chains us all irrevocably.' ... The first time any man's freedom is trodden on, we're all damaged. I fear that today--"
- (TNG) Picard, quoting Judge Aaron Satie
You are assuming everyone currently playing this game has done so for years. You really should not think that way. This is a FTP game which, like all FTP games, has a huge player turnover. Do not confuse the forum "regulars" with the thousands who have never been to the forum.
The point is that normal is not a training ground for elite because players ACTUALLY CAN just DPS through it on Normal even with bad gear. You literally will not learn the 10% Rule on Normal because you don't need it.
Normal is a completely different experience. That's a fact.
The artist formerly known as PlanetofHats.
Actual join date: Open beta, 2009ish.
The point is that normal is not a training ground for elite because players ACTUALLY CAN just DPS through it on Normal even with bad gear. You literally will not learn the 10% Rule on Normal because you don't need it.
Normal is a completely different experience. That's a fact.
Does Normal show the Objectives? Yes...
Are the Objectives (not the Optional/Mandatory bit, but the basic Objectives) the same in Advanced? Yes...
So somebody doing a queue on Normal should know what the Objectives in Advanced are? Yes...
Even if they didn't, Advanced still shows the Objectives? Yes...
Normal missions, patrols, episodes allow one to set Normal, Advanced, Elite difficulty? Yes...
So players would know that Advanced and Elite mobs are more difficult than Normal mobs? Yes...
Hovering over the target window for a mob shows the enemy's hull health? Yes...
* * * * *
You gave the example of the optional 10% rule for ISA and how somebody doesn't need to bother with that generally in ISN (folks can still fail that Optional Objective in ISN)...but let's see, in having run ISN they would know that they have to destroy the Transformer before the Nanites get there not to fail that Objective, right? They would know that they had to destroy the Generators before they could destroy the Transformer, right? So knowing that the Nanites spawn when the first Generator is destroyed...that they have to destroy the other three Generators before they can destroy that Transformer before those Nanites get there...while knowing that mobs (including entities like the Generators and Transformers) will have higher health...how do they not conclude that in order to have the best chance of avoiding the Nanites getting to the Transformer before the Generators and the Transformer are destroyed would be to drop the Generators as close as possible...ie...that optional 10% rule?
The point is that normal is not a training ground for elite because players ACTUALLY CAN just DPS through it on Normal even with bad gear. You literally will not learn the 10% Rule on Normal because you don't need it.
Normal is a completely different experience. That's a fact.
For those of use that have done it a million times. Yeah it's a different experience. Because we know what to do. This is where we have to step up. Guiding a group is not hard and doesn't take much. Just keep popping up with short little messages to keep them focused. For this I really wish they'd make the chat open all the time in STFs.
To help this out. They could make the selection the moment you que if you're willng to be the Team Captian. And then give the ability to have a center screen popup like in, ugh, WoW. You know a Commander's Channel. /com "Alright, focus on _____" and it pops up in big yellow letters in teh center of the screen. This way the team leader can keep the team focused on a particular part of the stf.Which will let them see when, where, and how things work.
I don't know how everyone has all these horrific experiences. At the height of whinging about idlers I only experienced one. While I don't jump on to elites, because I know I would need carrying, I would happily do advanced and would happily do it with those who don't know what they're doing, especially if they make it clear they're not confident with it. Normal doesn't teach you half of what you need for the higher difficulties, it gets you used to the map and that's about it. I think the bigger issue is the cooldown on failure rather than failure itself.
I was also with a DPS person earlier today and they popped one generator before the cube was down and the mission failed before people even realized it had been done.
whatever idiot is teaching popping a gen before the cube goes needs to have his character executed. then he needs to be banned from the game.
For those of use that have done it a million times. Yeah it's a different experience. Because we know what to do. This is where we have to step up. Guiding a group is not hard and doesn't take much. Just keep popping up with short little messages to keep them focused. For this I really wish they'd make the chat open all the time in STFs.
To help this out. They could make the selection the moment you que if you're willng to be the Team Captian. And then give the ability to have a center screen popup like in, ugh, WoW. You know a Commander's Channel. /com "Alright, focus on _____" and it pops up in big yellow letters in teh center of the screen. This way the team leader can keep the team focused on a particular part of the stf.Which will let them see when, where, and how things work.
Wow that would be annoying. Especially if someone is barking orders at people all the time.
That's a 100% fun killer to me.
I'm too old for this kind of s**t, lol.
I was hoping that people could find out for themselves how to play a game, without being holding their hands by other players.The more i play this game the more i see that independent thinking is not a requirement for doing something anymore. Just do what other people say to you and if this doesn't work just follow the herd without even trying to find out yourself what to do.
That's what ppl. today consider fun?
"...'With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censured...the first thought forbidden...the first freedom denied--chains us all irrevocably.' ... The first time any man's freedom is trodden on, we're all damaged. I fear that today--"
- (TNG) Picard, quoting Judge Aaron Satie
ive done normal with lower end toons. u cant learn there. honestly enough in there its possible to kill the nanite probes and spheres coming through the gate still.
in advanced attacking the nanite spheres coming through the gate would be mistake #1 that causes the fail.
you get the basics down in normal, but it teaches nothing about advanced.
Actually, yes you can, it's how I learned, it's how many other's have learned and still do so, what are other people's excuse?
Normal is too easy. It doesn't actually teach how to do the optionals on Advanced, because it just gets steamrolled. The skills necessary to finishing Advanced? They barely matter on Normal.
Umm, yes it does, how else would people have learned and, still do learn doing these? It's just some refuse or, don't have the dare I say common knowledge to learn!
And that's the basic gist of it which is overlooked. I'm wondering how many of these folks walking in to the women's restroom instead of the men's cause they don't bother with signs...
Advanced <--- a sign
So...some Advanced knowledge of the queue gained from playing Normal. Some Advanced piloting ability from having played the game. Some Advanced familiarity with builds from having played the game.
Instead they just blunder on in and complain about the missing urinals.
As usual VD, we waste our breath on many who just cannot get it.
The problem that i see is the insta fails are just too easy to cause.
I have seen people try to gravwell enemies in ISA to stop them from getting to the generator but instead of targetting the farthest back one they targetted the farthest forward enemy and sucked them into range to repair the transform and instant fail.
I have been with others that where using tractor beam repulsors and their ship was just a little out of position and send repair ship straight to the transform and another instant fail.
Too many abilities require that the game be nearly lag free and require that your target doesn't change and this game does not have that.
I was also with a DPS person earlier today and they popped one generator before the cube was down and the mission failed before people even realized it had been done.
The missions are too easy to troll and too easy to accidentally fail through small errors, lag or glitches.
The thing is, I know how to do them on Normal, and for some of them, Advanced is not the same. On Normal, players often just ignore the optional. On Advanced, you can't. For ex, on ISN, it's easy to just sail around and vape the nodes one by one and then bomb the transformers without ever having to grav well the spheres. You can't do that in ISA.
I know the 10% rule. I know to crowd control the nanites. I've played through this mission a million times.
Trouble is, half the time I PUG it, someone else in the mission doesn't know what to do. That's despite the mission having existed for years and years. And when they do know what to do, half the time I'm with a group that can't do enough damage to clean up the spheres.
"Play it on normal" is a fallacy. It just does not adequately prepare you.
It does but, people don't actually figure it out and, continuously cause the issue when tons of information, on how to do it right is at their disposal, heck even player's offering to advise them as well, is thru one ear and out the other or falls on deaf ears.
Normal doesn't teach anything becasuse its not the same
Its so much weaker than advanced a new player learns nothing to very little
imo
Normal should be the same as advanced with no fails
Advanced should have no fails but give bonuses and increased optional rewards
Elite should have fails increased rewards and bonuses
however all 3 should be the same otherwise , Having to increase the mobs hull and shields only shows a Fail on cryptics part for out of control dps but that's there money maker...........
So elite has to be increased hp and shields to counter
If normal was exactly like advanced, than tons of normal would be failed just as easily.
If people cannot grasp the strategy behind normal, than they most definitely will not grasp it in advanced and, this is the biggest part of the failures besides trolling!
An actual advanced player, should be able to recite the most tried and true strategy, like the back of their hand, if they don't know this much, than they need go back and learn from normal!
Everyone wants to be able to earn the rep gear. That means you need the Neural Processors, Ancient Powercells and so forth.
Since those items cannot be attained by playing "Normal" STFs, they're forced to try the "Advanced" STFs.
As some of us said before, what was needed wasn't a change to the victory conditions. We needed a way to get the special rep items in a "Normal" difficulty mode. Personally, I suggested completion of Normal should yield 1 item, 2 items for Advanced and 3 for Elite.
But, they never listen to things like this, and their hubris is having the predicted results.
Um no, they can be obtained elsewhere besides STF queues alone and, even marks can be converted to those now!
This is not an excuse anymore but, one people still try to use!
Um no, they can be obtained elsewhere besides STF queues alone and, even marks can be converted to those now!
This is not an excuse anymore but, one people still try to use!
It is odd, eh? The release notes are there for everybody to read - the forums are there to ask about the ways - Hell, a search will turn up many posts from folks discussing all the ways to get things without having to hit up Advanced/Elite...yet, there are still so many folks operating under the belief that they have to go that route because there is no other option, eh?
Everyone wants to be able to earn the rep gear. That means you need the Neural Processors, Ancient Powercells and so forth.
Since those items cannot be attained by playing "Normal" STFs, they're forced to try the "Advanced" STFs.
As some of us said before, what was needed wasn't a change to the victory conditions. We needed a way to get the special rep items in a "Normal" difficulty mode. Personally, I suggested completion of Normal should yield 1 item, 2 items for Advanced and 3 for Elite.
But, they never listen to things like this, and their hubris is having the predicted results.
Neural Processors can be earned doing the Defara hards daily.
Nukara is the same, hards on Nukara Prime.
Voth Items, just do Voth Battlezone.
Ancient Power cells can be gotten from redoing the quests on Kobali.
Dataprobe core, think you can get these as the other choice item from some of the kobali quests.
So in reality. If they want the marks and reputation. They don't have to step foot in to a STF at all to get it. What it has done, by removing the autofail from it, has turned the Adv's in a item farm. It wasn't to make life easier on teh player. It was to keep their metrics up to continue to look good on a spread sheet. Brass tacks of all this is. Not a single bit of it is for the players sake. It is all for Cryptics spread sheets.
So those of us that actually enjoy the difficulty of these have to just suck up the fact. The more trained monkies that they can get to fire a gun in a STF, the better their numbers look on a spread sheet.
When was this any different? The fails are with the questions and orbs. The boss there does need a buff. He is easily soloable.
that's kinda the point I was making the underground part is simply a matter of wiping out the enemies one after another.. oh and clicking a few buttons. Unless you stink at fighting undine there's no challenge, or even a reason to care how many times you respawn.
I am not a grammar TRIBBLE. Read your post out loud. See the mistakes. It needs editing. Most people are not going to read around the errors to get the message you want to convey.
Strategy is a bigger part of dealing with failure conditions then it was ever before.If you want to be a Dps-tard, and not do the right thing. OK, then be ready to pay the price. You are just not gonna blow threw six to seven million points of hit-points before the conditions for failure are met. Knowing how to apply the correct solution to the situation is far more important then damage.
I am not a grammar TRIBBLE. Read your post out loud. See the mistakes. It needs editing. Most people are not going to read around the errors to get the message you want to convey.
Strategy is a bigger part of dealing with failure conditions then it was ever before.If you want to be a Dps-tard, and not do the right thing. OK, then be ready to pay the price. You are just not gonna blow threw six to seven million points of hit-points before the conditions for failure are met. Knowing how to apply the correct solution to the situation is far more important then damage.
Thats the problem. With all the changes people have gotten use to not having to think their way through situations. I ran in to this ealier. Got a group in Brotherhood Adv. Two people knew what to do for the device, myself and one other. The other got glitched up in a device and couldn't activate it. I'm at the second device. Telling the other three that are standing there, "Hey, get that device." and the timer runs out. This is one of those situations that makes you wonder if people really are that blatantly ignorant, or if they're using a botting program. Well no, wouldn't be a bot. A bot actually knows how to progress through a board.
Wow that would be annoying. Especially if someone is barking orders at people all the time.
That's a 100% fun killer to me.
I'm too old for this kind of s**t, lol.
I was hoping that people could find out for themselves how to play a game, without being holding their hands by other players.The more i play this game the more i see that independent thinking is not a requirement for doing something anymore. Just do what other people say to you and if this doesn't work just follow the herd without even trying to find out yourself what to do.
That's what ppl. today consider fun?
You forget one thing about a lot of people: They looooove following orders. Makes life a lot easier
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"A filthy, mangy beast, but in its bony breast beat the heart of a warrior" - "faithful" (...) "but ever-ready to follow the call of the wild." - Martok, about a Targ
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Neural Processors can be earned doing the Defara hards daily.
Nukara is the same, hards on Nukara Prime.
Voth Items, just do Voth Battlezone.
Ancient Power cells can be gotten from redoing the quests on Kobali.
Dataprobe core, think you can get these as the other choice item from some of the kobali quests.
So in reality. If they want the marks and reputation. They don't have to step foot in to a STF at all to get it. What it has done, by removing the autofail from it, has turned the Adv's in a item farm. It wasn't to make life easier on teh player. It was to keep their metrics up to continue to look good on a spread sheet. Brass tacks of all this is. Not a single bit of it is for the players sake. It is all for Cryptics spread sheets.
So those of us that actually enjoy the difficulty of these have to just suck up the fact. The more trained monkies that they can get to fire a gun in a STF, the better their numbers look on a spread sheet.
To obtain the Processors you also need a Team and its easier to pug than to find a good Team on Defera
Nukara is the Same
Voth, okay, those are very easy to obtain unless you are on a map with lazy players and ned to spend like forever there until the V-Rex show up
APC. redoing the quests on Kobali is a good way if you don't have to do it all alone or have to run across the whole map, through groups and more groups of Vaadwaur every time
And to convert marks to items is also a very slow option because you can do it only once a day.
Since the removed the fail Conditions in Brotherhood that mission is much more fun, we still try to get the optionals, usually do get them but don't lose because of some lag or minor mistake and i get one Datacore each time.
If they did the same to the Optionals in the Borg and otherSTFs i think we would see far more players doing those again.
To obtain the Processors you also need a Team and its easier to pug than to find a good Team on Defera
Nukara is the Same
Voth, okay, those are very easy to obtain unless you are on a map with lazy players and ned to spend like forever there until the V-Rex show up
APC. redoing the quests on Kobali is a good way if you don't have to do it all alone or have to run across the whole map, through groups and more groups of Vaadwaur every time
And to convert marks to items is also a very slow option because you can do it only once a day.
Since the removed the fail Conditions in Brotherhood that mission is much more fun, we still try to get the optionals, usually do get them but don't lose because of some lag or minor mistake and i get one Datacore each time.
If they did the same to the Optionals in the Borg and otherSTFs i think we would see far more players doing those again.
Nah as I said in some of my earlier posts. The fastest way to fill the ques again. Make it to where you can only get dil via mining, battlezones, doffing, and STFing. If you remove the ease with which people get dil. People will go to where it is. Removing the fail conditions, is a good way to get more people in to STFs, because hey, I don't have to worry about doing anything now. Hell, its hard enough to get people to remodulate in Borg STFs, imagine if the fail condition was removed. Sure you can get you processor at the end... but just think of how long that's going to take. Oh wait, right space, hell with the right setup, those are soloable, oh wait, fail conditions removed, yep... borg stfs are going to be real fun now. NOT!
To obtain the Processors you also need a Team and its easier to pug than to find a good Team on Defera
Nukara is the Same
Voth, okay, those are very easy to obtain unless you are on a map with lazy players and ned to spend like forever there until the V-Rex show up
APC. redoing the quests on Kobali is a good way if you don't have to do it all alone or have to run across the whole map, through groups and more groups of Vaadwaur every time
And to convert marks to items is also a very slow option because you can do it only once a day.
Since the removed the fail Conditions in Brotherhood that mission is much more fun, we still try to get the optionals, usually do get them but don't lose because of some lag or minor mistake and i get one Datacore each time.
If they did the same to the Optionals in the Borg and otherSTFs i think we would see far more players doing those again.
Defara can be done solo on hard, you just need know what to do and, how to get it done well!
If normal was exactly like advanced, than tons of normal would be failed just as easily.
If people cannot grasp the strategy behind normal, than they most definitely will not grasp it in advanced and, this is the biggest part of the failures besides trolling!
An actual advanced player, should be able to recite the most tried and true strategy, like the back of their hand, if they don't know this much, than they need go back and learn from normal!
Normal would not have Fail condititions nor would Advanced ...Read what was posted again
Without a Fail conditition it cannot Fail
It seems you made a Fail right here.................................................
And like I said....there isn't anything a player lears in normal............Because its not the same...you missed that too.............its so easy and FAST a new player doesn't even grasp whats going on before its over
maybe go try a normal yourself ? there is NO strategy because everything is so weak no strategy besides pew pew is needed
You assume normal teach's new players how to do advanced....That is your Fail
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Normal would not have Fail condititions nor would Advanced ...Read what was posted again
Without a Fail conditition it cannot Fail
It seems you made a Fail right here.................................................
And like I said....there isn't anything a player lears in normal............Because its not the same...you missed that too.............its so easy and FAST a new player doesn't even grasp whats going on before its over
maybe go try a normal yourself ? there is NO strategy because everything is so weak no strategy besides pew pew is needed
You assume normal teach's new players how to do advanced....That is your Fail
Funny how playing the new queues on normal helped me to understand what to do on advanced....
Advanced has to be harder than normal or it would not be a higher difficulty. And if queues on higher difficulties could not fail, what is the point of playing anyway. There has to be some sort of challenge in higher difficulties or we might as well get the rewards handed out at the start of a mission and playing it is optional. Where is the feeling of accomplishment for finishing a mission if there is no risk of failure as well?
It is odd, eh? The release notes are there for everybody to read - the forums are there to ask about the ways - Hell, a search will turn up many posts from folks discussing all the ways to get things without having to hit up Advanced/Elite...yet, there are still so many folks operating under the belief that they have to go that route because there is no other option, eh?
its not the BNP anymore. its the marks. you can get BNP, Power Cells, ETC in other places. I ran defera a lot here lately and you know what realized....you can earn quite a few fleet marks, but the omega mark payout is C R A P. normal queues are slightly better.
the issue is impatience. ill admit that's why I was trying advanced with my newer toon. I was sick and tired of grinding for the gear I was after and simply want to move on to something else.
Normal would not have Fail condititions nor would Advanced ...Read what was posted again
Without a Fail conditition it cannot Fail
It seems you made a Fail right here.................................................
And like I said....there isn't anything a player lears in normal............Because its not the same...you missed that too.............its so easy and FAST a new player doesn't even grasp whats going on before its over
maybe go try a normal yourself ? there is NO strategy because everything is so weak no strategy besides pew pew is needed
You assume normal teach's new players how to do advanced....That is your Fail
If new player's didn't grasp what's going on, than how do they actually learn?
Hmm, because there are those who do and, move on!
I mean I learned from normal and, so has many others so, what's your excuse?
there is a strategy, because it is the exact same for advanced and, granted it is easier to accomplish in normal while some different ones work as well, it still has a strategy involved.
Otherwise, just like so many people I have seen in normal, just mess up not getting the optional and, than use the same wrong strategy in advanced.
I see it constantly.
Same wrong pattern in both.
ISA, kill cube and spheres, go for spheres [normal] cube + sphere [advanced], take all 4 generators down [here is where they 90% of the time TRIBBLE it up], take transformer down, kill off mob of spheres, rinse repeat other side, than either take out gate or tac cube or, both at the same time, done!!!!!
What goes wrong often in this mission?
When done with first tac cube + spheres, either some troll goes for the generators immediately before others are prepared for it, that or goes off to kirk the other side solo while unable to even kill the cube/spheres on their own.
Now provided no one has done the above, it instead falls flat when the first generator is down and, a few spheres show up viola people all of a sudden feel the need to kill those first, instead of continuing to eliminate the rest of the generators.
And, more so when all the generators are gone and, more sphere show up including the mob of nanite sphere + regular spheres come pouring out of the gate, 3 or 4 of the 5 players, seem to think the spheres need be eliminated instead of the transformer, leading to a fail 99% of the time due to their ineffective dps capabilities, despite trying to hold them off with a GW, for which it seems sometimes 2 - 3 players fight over who get to do this part, making even less effort focused on the transformer.
Heck, I have even see people go so far, as to get past this mess and, than all of a sudden, completely go stupid on the next side, like they all of a sudden forgot what worked on the first side, causing a fail here as well.
Because seeing people posting dps levels of 1.5k and under in a tier 4-6 starship, is inexcusable, heck even a shuttle/fighter can surpass that!!!
It means either their dmg output [sustained and/or spike] sucks badly and/or, their engagements are very few and short, which leads to either they aren't engaging enemies hardly at all if ever and/or, their dmg output [sustained and/or spike] needs a serious looking into!!!
its not the BNP anymore. its the marks. you can get BNP, Power Cells, ETC in other places. I ran defera a lot here lately and you know what realized....you can earn quite a few fleet marks, but the omega mark payout is C R A P. normal queues are slightly better.
the issue is impatience. ill admit that's why I was trying advanced with my newer toon. I was sick and tired of grinding for the gear I was after and simply want to move on to something else.
Can't remember which thread it was, but I asked if they'd do E-Mark to Mark conversions like they did Mark to E-Mark conversions...cause the way some are done, it's going to be the other problem.
40 Iconian projects to T5, right? 30 Marks a project, that's 1200 Marks.
The two missions on Kobali provide 67 Marks (including the Daily Bonus) and 2 E-Marks.
40 days? 2680 Marks and 80 E-Marks. Oh yeah, 1200 Marks required for the projects.
1480 Marks and 80 E-Marks.
It's just kind of...lol, "Hey Cryptic, can we trade E-Marks for Marks too?"
Hell, I was asleep when I went to slot the second piece for Meena...bam, dropped 595 Omega Marks into the Shields instead of Deflector. Normally I wouldn't care about the pace at which I'm going to be earning those Marks (I'm a it happens when it happens kind of guy), but know that I goofed and that the when it happens is going to be that much longer...meh.
Funny how playing the new queues on normal helped me to understand what to do on advanced....
Advanced has to be harder than normal or it would not be a higher difficulty. And if queues on higher difficulties could not fail, what is the point of playing anyway. There has to be some sort of challenge in higher difficulties or we might as well get the rewards handed out at the start of a mission and playing it is optional. Where is the feeling of accomplishment for finishing a mission if there is no risk of failure as well?
Did time not exist before October 13 2014?
I think there's something to the idea that the Iconian missions are a bit closer in difficulty between normal and advanced - especially brotherhood. I played normal before last Thursday some along with advanced and saw really no difference. The Heralds are a little harder on normal on the ground. Though are there any other ground normal missions? I never played any.
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."
Hell, I was asleep when I went to slot the second piece for Meena...bam, dropped 595 Omega Marks into the Shields instead of Deflector. Normally I wouldn't care about the pace at which I'm going to be earning those Marks (I'm a it happens when it happens kind of guy), but know that I goofed and that the when it happens is going to be that much longer...meh.
done that b4. lesson learned. I double check every project before I even put in the ec for it. that has saved me a couple times.
It seems to me the step most commonly missed is people learning to do them on Normal.
Everyone wants to jump into Advanced - mostly with the hope that the others there can carry them - so they can get the BNPs, or whatever, and so never really learn. Whereas the players doing the Advanced are there to earn rather then just play.
It is why I have not done a PUG in years. If I am going to teach I am going to do it with Fleetmates rather then some stranger I will never see again.
It's like this...though I'd say in most cases people don't even want to learn...they just want pre-DR back where they can be carried through elites.
People don't want to do better and instead they complain and or quit...
Perfect example in pugs that 95% of the time team chat is ignored...even if you're trying to explain it nicely and not be a jerk like some people...
Comments
PUGs where fast, you didn't had any drama with finding a group, just queue up and start.
It was nice and uncomplicated and i did a LOT of them only very few where total catastrophic, unlike some on this forum want us to belive!
All now gone now, great devs, just because some few ppl where whining the STFs where too easy.
You can't even do Starbase 24 anymore (i loved just to pew pew masses of enemies and to test a ships tankyness.). It would have been a great way to earn Ship XP imo.
It's a shame we can't start such missions on our own, without any other ppl.
Now allmost all queues are dried out, only some ongoing reputation ones are populated, but older ones, completely abandoned. As i said great idea Devs!!!
Idk what ppl do outside repeating story missions or patroling tbh.
But on the other side i really don't want to do something together with ppl. who where ultimately killing this game.
The point is that normal is not a training ground for elite because players ACTUALLY CAN just DPS through it on Normal even with bad gear. You literally will not learn the 10% Rule on Normal because you don't need it.
Normal is a completely different experience. That's a fact.
Actual join date: Open beta, 2009ish.
Does Normal show the Objectives? Yes...
Are the Objectives (not the Optional/Mandatory bit, but the basic Objectives) the same in Advanced? Yes...
So somebody doing a queue on Normal should know what the Objectives in Advanced are? Yes...
Even if they didn't, Advanced still shows the Objectives? Yes...
Normal missions, patrols, episodes allow one to set Normal, Advanced, Elite difficulty? Yes...
So players would know that Advanced and Elite mobs are more difficult than Normal mobs? Yes...
Hovering over the target window for a mob shows the enemy's hull health? Yes...
* * * * *
You gave the example of the optional 10% rule for ISA and how somebody doesn't need to bother with that generally in ISN (folks can still fail that Optional Objective in ISN)...but let's see, in having run ISN they would know that they have to destroy the Transformer before the Nanites get there not to fail that Objective, right? They would know that they had to destroy the Generators before they could destroy the Transformer, right? So knowing that the Nanites spawn when the first Generator is destroyed...that they have to destroy the other three Generators before they can destroy that Transformer before those Nanites get there...while knowing that mobs (including entities like the Generators and Transformers) will have higher health...how do they not conclude that in order to have the best chance of avoiding the Nanites getting to the Transformer before the Generators and the Transformer are destroyed would be to drop the Generators as close as possible...ie...that optional 10% rule?
It's not that the game doesn't teach people...
...it's that people do not read and do not think.
For those of use that have done it a million times. Yeah it's a different experience. Because we know what to do. This is where we have to step up. Guiding a group is not hard and doesn't take much. Just keep popping up with short little messages to keep them focused. For this I really wish they'd make the chat open all the time in STFs.
To help this out. They could make the selection the moment you que if you're willng to be the Team Captian. And then give the ability to have a center screen popup like in, ugh, WoW. You know a Commander's Channel. /com "Alright, focus on _____" and it pops up in big yellow letters in teh center of the screen. This way the team leader can keep the team focused on a particular part of the stf.Which will let them see when, where, and how things work.
whatever idiot is teaching popping a gen before the cube goes needs to have his character executed. then he needs to be banned from the game.
That's a 100% fun killer to me.
I'm too old for this kind of s**t, lol.
I was hoping that people could find out for themselves how to play a game, without being holding their hands by other players.The more i play this game the more i see that independent thinking is not a requirement for doing something anymore. Just do what other people say to you and if this doesn't work just follow the herd without even trying to find out yourself what to do.
That's what ppl. today consider fun?
Actually, yes you can, it's how I learned, it's how many other's have learned and still do so, what are other people's excuse?
Umm, yes it does, how else would people have learned and, still do learn doing these? It's just some refuse or, don't have the dare I say common knowledge to learn!
As usual VD, we waste our breath on many who just cannot get it.
Praetor of the -RTS- Romulan Tal Shiar fleet!
Pretty much in agreement here.
It does but, people don't actually figure it out and, continuously cause the issue when tons of information, on how to do it right is at their disposal, heck even player's offering to advise them as well, is thru one ear and out the other or falls on deaf ears.
If normal was exactly like advanced, than tons of normal would be failed just as easily.
If people cannot grasp the strategy behind normal, than they most definitely will not grasp it in advanced and, this is the biggest part of the failures besides trolling!
An actual advanced player, should be able to recite the most tried and true strategy, like the back of their hand, if they don't know this much, than they need go back and learn from normal!
Praetor of the -RTS- Romulan Tal Shiar fleet!
Um no, they can be obtained elsewhere besides STF queues alone and, even marks can be converted to those now!
This is not an excuse anymore but, one people still try to use!
Praetor of the -RTS- Romulan Tal Shiar fleet!
It is odd, eh? The release notes are there for everybody to read - the forums are there to ask about the ways - Hell, a search will turn up many posts from folks discussing all the ways to get things without having to hit up Advanced/Elite...yet, there are still so many folks operating under the belief that they have to go that route because there is no other option, eh?
Neural Processors can be earned doing the Defara hards daily.
Nukara is the same, hards on Nukara Prime.
Voth Items, just do Voth Battlezone.
Ancient Power cells can be gotten from redoing the quests on Kobali.
Dataprobe core, think you can get these as the other choice item from some of the kobali quests.
So in reality. If they want the marks and reputation. They don't have to step foot in to a STF at all to get it. What it has done, by removing the autofail from it, has turned the Adv's in a item farm. It wasn't to make life easier on teh player. It was to keep their metrics up to continue to look good on a spread sheet. Brass tacks of all this is. Not a single bit of it is for the players sake. It is all for Cryptics spread sheets.
So those of us that actually enjoy the difficulty of these have to just suck up the fact. The more trained monkies that they can get to fire a gun in a STF, the better their numbers look on a spread sheet.
My character Tsin'xing
Strategy is a bigger part of dealing with failure conditions then it was ever before.If you want to be a Dps-tard, and not do the right thing. OK, then be ready to pay the price. You are just not gonna blow threw six to seven million points of hit-points before the conditions for failure are met. Knowing how to apply the correct solution to the situation is far more important then damage.
Thats the problem. With all the changes people have gotten use to not having to think their way through situations. I ran in to this ealier. Got a group in Brotherhood Adv. Two people knew what to do for the device, myself and one other. The other got glitched up in a device and couldn't activate it. I'm at the second device. Telling the other three that are standing there, "Hey, get that device." and the timer runs out. This is one of those situations that makes you wonder if people really are that blatantly ignorant, or if they're using a botting program. Well no, wouldn't be a bot. A bot actually knows how to progress through a board.
You forget one thing about a lot of people: They looooove following orders. Makes life a lot easier
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To obtain the Processors you also need a Team and its easier to pug than to find a good Team on Defera
Nukara is the Same
Voth, okay, those are very easy to obtain unless you are on a map with lazy players and ned to spend like forever there until the V-Rex show up
APC. redoing the quests on Kobali is a good way if you don't have to do it all alone or have to run across the whole map, through groups and more groups of Vaadwaur every time
And to convert marks to items is also a very slow option because you can do it only once a day.
Since the removed the fail Conditions in Brotherhood that mission is much more fun, we still try to get the optionals, usually do get them but don't lose because of some lag or minor mistake and i get one Datacore each time.
If they did the same to the Optionals in the Borg and otherSTFs i think we would see far more players doing those again.
Nah as I said in some of my earlier posts. The fastest way to fill the ques again. Make it to where you can only get dil via mining, battlezones, doffing, and STFing. If you remove the ease with which people get dil. People will go to where it is. Removing the fail conditions, is a good way to get more people in to STFs, because hey, I don't have to worry about doing anything now. Hell, its hard enough to get people to remodulate in Borg STFs, imagine if the fail condition was removed. Sure you can get you processor at the end... but just think of how long that's going to take. Oh wait, right space, hell with the right setup, those are soloable, oh wait, fail conditions removed, yep... borg stfs are going to be real fun now. NOT!
Defara can be done solo on hard, you just need know what to do and, how to get it done well!
Praetor of the -RTS- Romulan Tal Shiar fleet!
Normal would not have Fail condititions nor would Advanced ...Read what was posted again
Without a Fail conditition it cannot Fail
It seems you made a Fail right here.................................................
And like I said....there isn't anything a player lears in normal............Because its not the same...you missed that too.............its so easy and FAST a new player doesn't even grasp whats going on before its over
maybe go try a normal yourself ? there is NO strategy because everything is so weak no strategy besides pew pew is needed
You assume normal teach's new players how to do advanced....That is your Fail
Saphire.. Science ground......Ko'el Romulan space Tac
Leva........Tactical ground.....Koj Romulan space Eng
JJ-Verse will never be Canon or considered Lore...It will always be JJ-Verse
Funny how playing the new queues on normal helped me to understand what to do on advanced....
Advanced has to be harder than normal or it would not be a higher difficulty. And if queues on higher difficulties could not fail, what is the point of playing anyway. There has to be some sort of challenge in higher difficulties or we might as well get the rewards handed out at the start of a mission and playing it is optional. Where is the feeling of accomplishment for finishing a mission if there is no risk of failure as well?
its not the BNP anymore. its the marks. you can get BNP, Power Cells, ETC in other places. I ran defera a lot here lately and you know what realized....you can earn quite a few fleet marks, but the omega mark payout is C R A P. normal queues are slightly better.
the issue is impatience. ill admit that's why I was trying advanced with my newer toon. I was sick and tired of grinding for the gear I was after and simply want to move on to something else.
no it cant. the defera hards are teamlocked. go in with less than three people and it will tell you to come back with more people.
If new player's didn't grasp what's going on, than how do they actually learn?
Hmm, because there are those who do and, move on!
I mean I learned from normal and, so has many others so, what's your excuse?
there is a strategy, because it is the exact same for advanced and, granted it is easier to accomplish in normal while some different ones work as well, it still has a strategy involved.
Otherwise, just like so many people I have seen in normal, just mess up not getting the optional and, than use the same wrong strategy in advanced.
I see it constantly.
Same wrong pattern in both.
ISA, kill cube and spheres, go for spheres [normal] cube + sphere [advanced], take all 4 generators down [here is where they 90% of the time TRIBBLE it up], take transformer down, kill off mob of spheres, rinse repeat other side, than either take out gate or tac cube or, both at the same time, done!!!!!
What goes wrong often in this mission?
When done with first tac cube + spheres, either some troll goes for the generators immediately before others are prepared for it, that or goes off to kirk the other side solo while unable to even kill the cube/spheres on their own.
Now provided no one has done the above, it instead falls flat when the first generator is down and, a few spheres show up viola people all of a sudden feel the need to kill those first, instead of continuing to eliminate the rest of the generators.
And, more so when all the generators are gone and, more sphere show up including the mob of nanite sphere + regular spheres come pouring out of the gate, 3 or 4 of the 5 players, seem to think the spheres need be eliminated instead of the transformer, leading to a fail 99% of the time due to their ineffective dps capabilities, despite trying to hold them off with a GW, for which it seems sometimes 2 - 3 players fight over who get to do this part, making even less effort focused on the transformer.
Heck, I have even see people go so far, as to get past this mess and, than all of a sudden, completely go stupid on the next side, like they all of a sudden forgot what worked on the first side, causing a fail here as well.
Because seeing people posting dps levels of 1.5k and under in a tier 4-6 starship, is inexcusable, heck even a shuttle/fighter can surpass that!!!
It means either their dmg output [sustained and/or spike] sucks badly and/or, their engagements are very few and short, which leads to either they aren't engaging enemies hardly at all if ever and/or, their dmg output [sustained and/or spike] needs a serious looking into!!!
Praetor of the -RTS- Romulan Tal Shiar fleet!
Can't remember which thread it was, but I asked if they'd do E-Mark to Mark conversions like they did Mark to E-Mark conversions...cause the way some are done, it's going to be the other problem.
40 Iconian projects to T5, right? 30 Marks a project, that's 1200 Marks.
The two missions on Kobali provide 67 Marks (including the Daily Bonus) and 2 E-Marks.
40 days? 2680 Marks and 80 E-Marks. Oh yeah, 1200 Marks required for the projects.
1480 Marks and 80 E-Marks.
It's just kind of...lol, "Hey Cryptic, can we trade E-Marks for Marks too?"
Hell, I was asleep when I went to slot the second piece for Meena...bam, dropped 595 Omega Marks into the Shields instead of Deflector. Normally I wouldn't care about the pace at which I'm going to be earning those Marks (I'm a it happens when it happens kind of guy), but know that I goofed and that the when it happens is going to be that much longer...meh.
Did time not exist before October 13 2014?
I think there's something to the idea that the Iconian missions are a bit closer in difficulty between normal and advanced - especially brotherhood. I played normal before last Thursday some along with advanced and saw really no difference. The Heralds are a little harder on normal on the ground. Though are there any other ground normal missions? I never played any.
"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censured, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably."
done that b4. lesson learned. I double check every project before I even put in the ec for it. that has saved me a couple times.
It's like this...though I'd say in most cases people don't even want to learn...they just want pre-DR back where they can be carried through elites.
People don't want to do better and instead they complain and or quit...
Perfect example in pugs that 95% of the time team chat is ignored...even if you're trying to explain it nicely and not be a jerk like some people...