One thing I'd change is to take out the insta-kill stuff and replace it with warping you to the respawn point. It makes more sense in the context anyways.
Speaking as someone who AFKs at times, they're not the biggest problem. AFKers are simply absent team members. The real issue are the 'griefers'. Those who deliberately don't do what the mission requires and instead focus on shooting foes. They avoid the possibility of an AFK penalty, but also guarantee a loss for the team unless you have someone who can solo carry.
AFK are problems. I had 2 of them in Binary(Elite) so cannot do the invisible path. One raise cover shield and hide behind it and started autofire and the other just stayed in the starting room. The whole team got stuff up and did not get any rewards. If you need to AFK to go to washroom or something urgent it ok but make sure you do not stuff up your team from getting any rewards.
For the first puzzle, kit mods which illuminate the path such as medical generators are a bit cheap. Using the "Psionic command aura" kit mod is somewhere between awesome strategy and playing dirty. I don't mind these issues as it adds a level of tactics and each team can take equal advantage of it. 3/5 stars from me and I am a tough grader so that's a decent rating.
First run. Confusing. How about a blog post explaining the mechanics of both these events? Don't need all the details, just the basics. Once people run this a few times I'm sure this will be like all the other STFs. Players will blow through it once they memorize the mazes. I'd bet someone already knows the invisible floor route by heart now and doesn't even need them turned visible anymore!
Sometimes I think I play STO just to have something to complain about on the forums.
First run. Confusing. How about a blog post explaining the mechanics of both these events? Don't need all the details, just the basics. Once people run this a few times I'm sure this will be like all the other STFs. Players will blow through it once they memorize the mazes. I'd bet someone already knows the invisible floor route by heart now and doesn't even need them turned visible anymore!
Except they change every time. Also, the space queue give explanations for every possible mini-game in the briefing.
Just noticed on the queuing screen... Does running on Advanced not give you the Assessed Stratagems tokens like every other Advanced queue gives their Mk2 Marks? If not, I have no reason to run this vs Core.
Sometimes I think I play STO just to have something to complain about on the forums.
Except they change every time. Also, the space queue give explanations for every possible mini-game in the briefing.
There is so little time to read them all, and even after I got a chance to read them all, I still don't understand how the combination lock works. I just shoot things and hope the other people know.
Speaking as someone who AFKs at times, they're not the biggest problem. AFKers are simply absent team members. The real issue are the 'griefers'. Those who deliberately don't do what the mission requires and instead focus on shooting foes. They avoid the possibility of an AFK penalty, but also guarantee a loss for the team unless you have someone who can solo carry.
It may not seem like a big deal to you but you are part of the problem, 1st we have to deal with the AFKers, then we have to deal with the grievers, and then finally we have to deal with the, "I have no clue what I'm doing but I joined Elite anyways." players, and each and every time we queue for a mission we have to deal with 1 or more of these players. which in my opinion, takes the fun out of it.
It did good, but now I have been running into the, "I have no idea what to do" players in Adv and Elite. To me its not worth waiting 15+ min only to have it end in disaster and to wait for the 30min cooldown just to be ready to wait another 10-15+min for the next run.
Oh, by the way, before, I used to do other stuff around my house and would set the volume on high and wait for the beep to let me know that its ready for me to join, but now it fails to make the sound most of the time or it just skips the pop up window and just throws me in and I don't realize it until I hear the voice of the character that's explaining the rules, so, I think someone should work on that.
Use engineer to drop mines turret bombs generator etc on the invisible path. Saved me a couple times from cloase calls
Nice trick.
This program, though reasonably normal at times, seems to have a strong affinity to classes belonging to the Cat 2.0 program. Questerius 2.7 will break down on occasion, resulting in garbage and nonsense messages whenever it occurs. Usually a hard reboot or pulling the plug solves the problem when that happens.
Anyone else had a run glitch? Played red team and the door after the pathway never opened. Had to just wait for blue team to win.
Uh, you have to hit a console to make the path appear. did anyone hit the console?
They actually don't need killing at all. Hitting the consoles at the end clears any remaining enemies from at least the first 2 rooms, probably all 3. I haven't run into the glitch that you described, thankfully.
This is an MMO, not a Star Trek episode simulator. That would make for a terrible game.
I come from an FPS background, plus it's way easier to build a decent ground game than space, so I absolutely love it. Especially on my Caitian, who has an admittedly unfair advantage being able to jump over two squares in the first part. (since running is disabled) It's nice to actually be able to solo carry in Shooter Mode as if I were playing TF2, though not without challenges like memorization in part 1. Yeah, there are bugs and I filed a couple reports in the bug forums, but I absolutely want to see more like it.
Overall, as far as competitive goes, I hope that competitive marks can never be gained by any other means. Keep making more great obstacle courses and keep them populated.
The only part I still find problematic is the little "maze" with the floating balls of death. Even if one is doing that part correctly, it can still be slow going depending on how those things decide to drift about. I feel like, if you have two teams of relatively equal skill and gear, the winning team will almost always be the one that manages to luck out with the maze section.
Otherwise, I actually like the cooperative element of the first obstacle (even if it can suck for people who get PUGs with afkers, trolls, or ignorant folk in them) and I have to admit I'm still not 100% sure what the challenge of the third obstacle is supposed to be, since most of the groups I've been in have run in and gotten it solved before I can even so much as look at one of the consoles. Likewise, with the boss rush at the end, I've ended up with groups putting out enough dps that they tend to get butchered before they really do much of anything. And that's on both Normal and Elite.
I'm also a big enough person to admit that, despite my concerns over this whole "Competitive PVP" thing, I have yet to encounter any of the problems I was concerned about...and least in this one. The enemy team might as well just be a static timer for all the interaction one has with them, and again, I've been lucky enough to get groups that know what they are doing, so no one has been snarking at each other, even in the rare few I've been in where we've lost.
That being said, I'm still going to be staying far away from the gankfest that the is end section of Core Assault. Now more than even, I consider myself fortunate that I actually somewhat prefer ground queues to space queues anyway.
"There will never be enough blood to wash away my need for vengeance! A single world...I could destroy a million worlds and it would not be enough! Your existence is an insult to the memory of my people! I will continue my fight, even if I must fight alone!"
The only thing I don't really like is the maze, because it seems to be more about luck than skill. I've had runs where the layout was just right and the plasma orbs were timed in such a way that I've been able to run straight through to the end, and other runs where I and my team are stuck waiting for the orbs to clear so we can get through. There's also very little teamwork involved in the maze, you just need one person to make it through to the end.
Other than that, I'm more or less satisfied with the queue.
agreed, I realy do like the map and will keep it in my 'ground queue rotation'
good rewards, fleet marks are very welcome
only thing I do dislike is the maze, but that is more due to my low reaction time and 'old pc issues'
Except they change every time. Also, the space queue give explanations for every possible mini-game in the briefing.
There is so little time to read them all, and even after I got a chance to read them all, I still don't understand how the combination lock works. I just shoot things and hope the other people know.
Pick up the symbols floatin in the room, in the order shown on the door. How hard can that be to understand?
I still don't really get the maze. I usually play tail end charlie - sit on the first console to get everyone across, then maybe go Borg and try to harass the enemy team if they haven't gotten 3 men across so I miss some of the maze 'fun'. As I understand it you have to cross section 1 then cross to a section 2 alcove to switch off the section 1 death globes, then dodge the section 2 death globes to find the gap to section 3 and repeat right? The tube is pretty easy, and after that it's just a matter of shooting stuff.
Never had a troll - most people never talk at all. Clueless folk are probably the most irritating of all. Had a match earlier where the other team took roughly 5 minutes to win, and we had an epic fail. As I said I play tail end charlie, but nobody was crossing, so I ended up going first with a fragile toon - MK VI shields and armour as I recall. Whoever was on the button was a tad slow but I eventually got to the second console, and sat there for a couple of minutes waiting for someone to join me. When someone eventually did I started towards the third console but they were a tad slow on the button and when I was halfway around it seemed like someone on the enemy side popped off what I think was a Solar Gateway. For reference it looked like this:
Not sure if I twitched or it clobbered me - I don't see how anyone could have summoned one at that location but I'm pretty sure I was taking damage and unable to evade. Regardless I ended up taking the long drop. Think that's about the time we had a team member quit, though text kept popping up onscreen saying they were joining\leaving. I did try sitting on the first console for a bit to get someone else across, and to be fair another person did eventually make it to the 2nd console, but they were so clueless that I eventually went back in to our spawn area and waited out the 60 seconds or so it took the other team to win. We got a whole 5 marks for that mission.
Excessive DPS doesn't seem to be an issue with the groups I've played with, at least the ones that made it to the end. On at least one of my toons I'm not sure if they're damaging the enemy or healing the Tholians, and end fights usually take several minutes of crazy frenetic button mashing.
Oh as you say, the enemy team really don't exist, unless they go Borg which is usually a trivial annoyance, and could largely be replaced by a timer. Perhaps future competitive maps could be timed rather than "team on team"?
The only part I still find problematic is the little "maze" with the floating balls of death. Even if one is doing that part correctly, it can still be slow going depending on how those things decide to drift about. I feel like, if you have two teams of relatively equal skill and gear, the winning team will almost always be the one that manages to luck out with the maze section.
Otherwise, I actually like the cooperative element of the first obstacle (even if it can suck for people who get PUGs with afkers, trolls, or ignorant folk in them) and I have to admit I'm still not 100% sure what the challenge of the third obstacle is supposed to be, since most of the groups I've been in have run in and gotten it solved before I can even so much as look at one of the consoles. Likewise, with the boss rush at the end, I've ended up with groups putting out enough dps that they tend to get butchered before they really do much of anything. And that's on both Normal and Elite.
I'm also a big enough person to admit that, despite my concerns over this whole "Competitive PVP" thing, I have yet to encounter any of the problems I was concerned about...and least in this one. The enemy team might as well just be a static timer for all the interaction one has with them, and again, I've been lucky enough to get groups that know what they are doing, so no one has been snarking at each other, even in the rare few I've been in where we've lost.
That being said, I'm still going to be staying far away from the gankfest that the is end section of Core Assault. Now more than even, I consider myself fortunate that I actually somewhat prefer ground queues to space queues anyway.
Except they change every time. Also, the space queue give explanations for every possible mini-game in the briefing.
There is so little time to read them all, and even after I got a chance to read them all, I still don't understand how the combination lock works. I just shoot things and hope the other people know.
Pick up the symbols floatin in the room, in the order shown on the door. How hard can that be to understand?
Wrong queue. You're thinking of Core Assault.
The combination in Binary Circuit is simple. Four cylinders, the console closest to each cylinder rotates that cylinder. All cylinders are always in the wrong position to begin with. Rotate each cylinder so the colors line up with the entrance and exit of the full cylinder. Once they all line up properly, players can advance.
Despite AI enemies spawning to mess up your work, most players who know how it works can solo it.
I think it's yellow on the left, blue on the right, but check the entrance when doing it. Soloing it seems a tad hard given the Borg spawns, but duo should be possible.
yeah, the borg medics are tough enough you have to hit them more than once. Keeping both sides clear would take most of your time. A full team who knows how to do it right? heh, cake.
Except they change every time. Also, the space queue give explanations for every possible mini-game in the briefing.
There is so little time to read them all, and even after I got a chance to read them all, I still don't understand how the combination lock works. I just shoot things and hope the other people know.
Pick up the symbols floatin in the room, in the order shown on the door. How hard can that be to understand?
Wrong queue. You're thinking of Core Assault.
Yes, the people I was answering were talking about Core Assault.
yeah, the borg medics are tough enough you have to hit them more than once. Keeping both sides clear would take most of your time. A full team who knows how to do it right? heh, cake.
No...you don't need to bother with them at all. I speedrun BC on a routine basis and just flat out ignore the monsters. I play in shooter mode, run in between the two switches on one side, strafe back and forth hitting instant-activate switches until they're aligned, run over to the other side and repeat.
Admittedly I have a +Run weapon in one of my slots, and the OP Na'Khul Shield, but I frankly don't think either are necessary. The NPCs are slow...it's people on your team mindlessly pressing buttons that are the real threat.
Except they change every time. Also, the space queue give explanations for every possible mini-game in the briefing.
There is so little time to read them all, and even after I got a chance to read them all, I still don't understand how the combination lock works. I just shoot things and hope the other people know.
Pick up the symbols floatin in the room, in the order shown on the door. How hard can that be to understand?
Wrong queue. You're thinking of Core Assault.
Yes, the people I was answering were talking about Core Assault.
Combination locks are a funny thing to call them, but the part 3 locks of Binary Circuit seemed to be what they were referring to.
yeah, the borg medics are tough enough you have to hit them more than once. Keeping both sides clear would take most of your time. A full team who knows how to do it right? heh, cake.
No...you don't need to bother with them at all. I speedrun BC on a routine basis and just flat out ignore the monsters. I play in shooter mode, run in between the two switches on one side, strafe back and forth hitting instant-activate switches until they're aligned, run over to the other side and repeat.
Admittedly I have a +Run weapon in one of my slots, and the OP Na'Khul Shield, but I frankly don't think either are necessary. The NPCs are slow...it's people on your team mindlessly pressing buttons that are the real threat.
ah, speed blitz, you mean to solve the puzzle before the enemies can stop you.
The combination in Binary Circuit is simple. Four cylinders, the console closest to each cylinder rotates that cylinder. All cylinders are always in the wrong position to begin with. Rotate each cylinder so the colors line up with the entrance and exit of the full cylinder. Once they all line up properly, players can advance.
Despite AI enemies spawning to mess up your work, most players who know how it works can solo it.
It is simply amazing how many people don't pick up on which color goes on which side, especially since the sides are always the same. Blue on the left, yellow on the right. I'm at the point where I call out which side is which color when we get to that part of the run.
Comments
My character Tsin'xing
AFK are problems. I had 2 of them in Binary(Elite) so cannot do the invisible path. One raise cover shield and hide behind it and started autofire and the other just stayed in the starting room. The whole team got stuff up and did not get any rewards. If you need to AFK to go to washroom or something urgent it ok but make sure you do not stuff up your team from getting any rewards.
My character Tsin'xing
My character Tsin'xing
There is so little time to read them all, and even after I got a chance to read them all, I still don't understand how the combination lock works. I just shoot things and hope the other people know.
It may not seem like a big deal to you but you are part of the problem, 1st we have to deal with the AFKers, then we have to deal with the grievers, and then finally we have to deal with the, "I have no clue what I'm doing but I joined Elite anyways." players, and each and every time we queue for a mission we have to deal with 1 or more of these players. which in my opinion, takes the fun out of it.
It did good, but now I have been running into the, "I have no idea what to do" players in Adv and Elite. To me its not worth waiting 15+ min only to have it end in disaster and to wait for the 30min cooldown just to be ready to wait another 10-15+min for the next run.
Oh, by the way, before, I used to do other stuff around my house and would set the volume on high and wait for the beep to let me know that its ready for me to join, but now it fails to make the sound most of the time or it just skips the pop up window and just throws me in and I don't realize it until I hear the voice of the character that's explaining the rules, so, I think someone should work on that.
Nice trick.
They actually don't need killing at all. Hitting the consoles at the end clears any remaining enemies from at least the first 2 rooms, probably all 3. I haven't run into the glitch that you described, thankfully.
My character Tsin'xing
Overall, as far as competitive goes, I hope that competitive marks can never be gained by any other means. Keep making more great obstacle courses and keep them populated.
Otherwise, I actually like the cooperative element of the first obstacle (even if it can suck for people who get PUGs with afkers, trolls, or ignorant folk in them) and I have to admit I'm still not 100% sure what the challenge of the third obstacle is supposed to be, since most of the groups I've been in have run in and gotten it solved before I can even so much as look at one of the consoles.
I'm also a big enough person to admit that, despite my concerns over this whole "Competitive PVP" thing, I have yet to encounter any of the problems I was concerned about...and least in this one. The enemy team might as well just be a static timer for all the interaction one has with them, and again, I've been lucky enough to get groups that know what they are doing, so no one has been snarking at each other, even in the rare few I've been in where we've lost.
That being said, I'm still going to be staying far away from the gankfest that the is end section of Core Assault. Now more than even, I consider myself fortunate that I actually somewhat prefer ground queues to space queues anyway.
Best map in a long, long time. Well designed and really motivating. Perfect effort/reward ratio.
My friends and I will keep on running it long after the new reput is done.
Thanks for this cool map Cryptic.
Looking for a fun PvE fleet? Join us at Omega Combat Division today.
Other than that, I'm more or less satisfied with the queue.
good rewards, fleet marks are very welcome
only thing I do dislike is the maze, but that is more due to my low reaction time and 'old pc issues'
Agree. Also, to be honest I suck at mazes mostly because I don't want to be good at them. Boring things IMO.
But even so, this isn't a bad way of getting the marks for the Rep. Not the best, but playable.
Never had a troll - most people never talk at all. Clueless folk are probably the most irritating of all. Had a match earlier where the other team took roughly 5 minutes to win, and we had an epic fail. As I said I play tail end charlie, but nobody was crossing, so I ended up going first with a fragile toon - MK VI shields and armour as I recall. Whoever was on the button was a tad slow but I eventually got to the second console, and sat there for a couple of minutes waiting for someone to join me. When someone eventually did I started towards the third console but they were a tad slow on the button and when I was halfway around it seemed like someone on the enemy side popped off what I think was a Solar Gateway. For reference it looked like this:
Not sure if I twitched or it clobbered me - I don't see how anyone could have summoned one at that location but I'm pretty sure I was taking damage and unable to evade. Regardless I ended up taking the long drop. Think that's about the time we had a team member quit, though text kept popping up onscreen saying they were joining\leaving. I did try sitting on the first console for a bit to get someone else across, and to be fair another person did eventually make it to the 2nd console, but they were so clueless that I eventually went back in to our spawn area and waited out the 60 seconds or so it took the other team to win. We got a whole 5 marks for that mission.
Excessive DPS doesn't seem to be an issue with the groups I've played with, at least the ones that made it to the end. On at least one of my toons I'm not sure if they're damaging the enemy or healing the Tholians, and end fights usually take several minutes of crazy frenetic button mashing.
Oh as you say, the enemy team really don't exist, unless they go Borg which is usually a trivial annoyance, and could largely be replaced by a timer. Perhaps future competitive maps could be timed rather than "team on team"?
Wrong queue.
The combination in Binary Circuit is simple. Four cylinders, the console closest to each cylinder rotates that cylinder. All cylinders are always in the wrong position to begin with. Rotate each cylinder so the colors line up with the entrance and exit of the full cylinder. Once they all line up properly, players can advance.
Despite AI enemies spawning to mess up your work, most players who know how it works can solo it.
My character Tsin'xing
No...you don't need to bother with them at all. I speedrun BC on a routine basis and just flat out ignore the monsters. I play in shooter mode, run in between the two switches on one side, strafe back and forth hitting instant-activate switches until they're aligned, run over to the other side and repeat.
Admittedly I have a +Run weapon in one of my slots, and the OP Na'Khul Shield, but I frankly don't think either are necessary. The NPCs are slow...it's people on your team mindlessly pressing buttons that are the real threat.
Combination locks are a funny thing to call them, but the part 3 locks of Binary Circuit seemed to be what they were referring to.
My character Tsin'xing