You want *my* honest opinion on the Summer Event? Okay, you asked for it.
Up until this year, the Summer Event was a time for me to take time off from the game, without leaving the game. I used to park my alts on Risa and simply enjoy the events. Horga'hn Hunts, Dance Offs, Powerboard racing, and of course Flying High to get the event ship.
When I first saw the "new" Risa Event map those many years ago, I thought it was an absolute thing of beauty. That first year I think I spent as much time exploring the island as I did doing the events. It was fun. Of course, by the time the event rolled around the second time, I'd done all the exploring I wanted, but the events were still just as fun so I continued to enjoy myself.
Over the years new things have been added, some fun (Sand Castles) others not so much (Artifact Scavenger Hunt). Of course we always get new swim/beach apparel along with new colors/patterns for the floaters and powerboards as well as new non-combat pets. Add in the kit modules, and this year the training manuals, and that opens up a lot of fun possibilities as well.
Now, about this years Summer event, it went from my favorite event all year to not even bothering and doing anything but the event. What went wrong?
1. The day/night cycle being thrown away due to the upgrade to Lighting 2.0. You know what, it's not that big a deal to me. Sure, I miss Risa at night and would love to see it come back, but this is the smallest problem I have with this years event. It's still an issue but the one that has the least amount of impact on my enjoyment of the event.
2. Getting the Accolades, especially Master Relaxer, is a complete joke right now. With the day/night cycle gone, there is no way to easily tell what time of day the event clock says it is. Sure, look for torches to be lit, or lights in the huts. The thing is, I can see no difference when I look in the huts, to see if the lights are "on". Of course, I don't have Lighting 2.0 enabled due to how crappy it looks (IMO) and also how it bogs down my machine. Perhaps that is why I can't tell, perhaps it's that in combination with other settings I have, I don't know.
Put a clock in the event window telling what time of "day" it is. Let us know it's "night" time and to look for those night related events like the Klingon/Trill argument or Fireworks. Also, having the Mokbara Klingons only showing up every couple of hours for 10-15 seconds? Good luck with that.
3. No Competitive marks for bird/monkey trade ins. This right here is the beginning of the major issues I have with this years event. The Competitive Reputation is introduced and about a month later the queues are dead as door nails, at least during the times I'm able to play. I haven't been able to get a Comp queue to start in about a month and I gave up even trying a couple weeks ago after sitting in a queue for almost an hour and never seeing it get closer than 6/10 players. Mirror Invasion was a big part of what happened to the Comp queues, and now the Risa even is having an effect as well.
I started the blasted rep, I'm going to finish it. Even if it means I run the Red Alerts to get one measly mark plus the daily 55 bonus. That will take quite a while, but there is no other way to get the marks in anything remotely close to a reasonable manner. Adding Comp marks to the bird/monkey trade ins seemed like a no-brainer so imagine my surprise when I go to trade in a Monkey only to find that there are no Comp marks available. I figured that it was an oversight and would be fixed in today's patch. Guess not.
4. What has always been a bad thing is the COST of these event items. 1500 Favors for a top level powerboard, 1000 Favors for a top level floater. Hundreds of Favors for costume pieces that can't be worn off Risa (usually) or by BOffs. Hundreds of Favors for the kit mods, training modules and DOffs. These prices should be a LOT lower than they are, and it was recognized a few years back that the cost may be too high and rewards for events was increased to at least partially make up for the discrepancy.
And now this year you take some of the best events that also payout a reasonable amount of Favors and put them on a schedule that makes no sense. Up until this year, I could count on being able to do a certain event at a set time, meaning no matter when I logged in, or for how long, I could do something FUN and earn Favors. Now, I log in, look at the list of events and see that I just missed one of the good payout events and it won't be back for 90-ish minutes. No thanks.
I mentioned in another thread that a "simple" solution to this would be to take some events off the timer altogether. Have the Dance Off and Horga'hn Hunt up all the time. You talk to the individual contacts to start the missions and then dance or collect until the mission is complete. Put them on a 60 minute cool down and they function almost exactly how they used to.
Sure, folks with lots of alts could run these back to back for as long as the feel they want, but if they feel they need to do that then something is wrong with either the rewards being too low, or what the rewards are used for, i.e. the event items that cost too much. Some folks need to run alts to get enough Favors on multiple alts just so ONE of those alts can get things. If a single character can't get enough Favors in a reasonable amount of time to buy 1 item, let alone multiple, again, something is wrong.
5. And on the subject of the Summer event items, how about fixing all the clipping issues with the various summer outfits. I have been buggin the clipping issues for the last several YEARS and have yet to see these issues fixed. There was one year, I believe it was the second Risa event, where the clipping issues were taken care of and fixed. Then when Risa rolled around the next year the clipping was back and has been ever since. You want players to spend their time getting these items only to get them in a broken state and never fixed. And you wonder why *I* think the price for the items is too high?
I suppose I could complain about the Biathlon and my always getting DQ'd, I haven't completed a single race and have since given up entirely on it. I'm sure that's more to do with me than the game. My reflexes are not that great anymore so I will chalk it up to that.
That's about it for me on the event this year. As a result of all these issues, I have all but given up on Risa this year. If I could run the events I like on an hourly schedule like in years past, I'd be there now doing that instead of posting "War and Peace" on the forums. I have one alt on Risa running Flying High for the ship, and that is all I'm doing since I can't reliably do anything else. I want some of the Event items, like the kit mods and manuals, but I can't earn enough Favors to make that feasible. So instead of getting frustrated and taking it out on the rest of the game, I'll just skip it. I don't want to, but it is what it is.
Hello. My name is iamynaught and I am an altaholic.
Costs of items, as I've repeatedly said, are way, way too high. With the cost of the Training Manuals, 3,000 Favors for one Boff for all levels of the available Skills, we are in the realm of the absurd. Costs should be cut drastically to conform with Winter Event Costs, AND all of these Manuals should be craftable by the Character on acquire, for that Characters Boffs only.
In fact, ALL Training Manuals obtained from Events AND Lockboxes should be craftable by the Character for their own Boffs (only) once acquired. And they should be a pack of all three levels, just like the Manuals you obtain from Mission rewards.
'But to be logical is not to be right', and 'nothing' on God's earth could ever 'make it' right!'
Judge Dan Haywood
'As l speak now, the words are forming in my head.
l don't know.
l really don't know what l'm about to say, except l have a feeling about it.
That l must repeat the words that come without my knowledge.'
Costs of items, as I've repeatedly said, are way, way too high. With the cost of the Training Manuals, 3,000 Favors for one Boff for all levels of the available Skills, we are in the realm of the absurd. Costs should be cut drastically to conform with Winter Event Costs, AND all of these Manuals should be craftable by the Character on acquire, for that Characters Boffs only.
In fact, ALL Training Manuals obtained from Events AND Lockboxes should be craftable by the Character for their own Boffs (only) once acquired. And they should be a pack of all three levels, just like the Manuals you obtain from Mission rewards.
^^THIS^^
That is striking the metal spike upon it's crown to such a degree, I'm at a loss for, umm, things.
On a side note... would it be too much to ask that if prices are kept at the level they are for the outfits, that they should become account unlocks? That way their cost isn't so ridiculous and you don't end up grinding forever to get everything.
Hello. My name is iamynaught and I am an altaholic.
Personally, I would like a clear response from the devs: "Will the Competitive Wargames reputation marks be added to the bird/monkey trade in?" So far, people have said it and I've not seen a response. So, Cryptic, will you give us an answer?
You are just not getting it. Complaint is the comparison of costs between the Summer and Winter.
Right now, Favors on the Exchange are, at last look earlier today, 7,000 each, down from 10,000 at the Start of the Event. So one Boffs worth of one Skill (all three levels) at the cost of 1,500 Favors would be 10.5 Million EC. You can't buy or sell the Training Manuals directly.
You have to juggle multiple Characters through Horga'hn Hunt per each time that it does show up for about 100 Favors each Character. Dance is 100 no multiple Characters, Castles 20 every 15 minutes if you are so inclined per Character. The not as well liked Artifact Hunt 50.
PvP stuff some people will just not do. The Winter has Doff Assignments that award decent Dilitium and the Winter Ornaments. Summer has no equivalent.
'But to be logical is not to be right', and 'nothing' on God's earth could ever 'make it' right!'
Judge Dan Haywood
'As l speak now, the words are forming in my head.
l don't know.
l really don't know what l'm about to say, except l have a feeling about it.
That l must repeat the words that come without my knowledge.'
I have no idea what you are talking about. Not caring if I don't intend to stay? Who ever said I didn't stay? I am doing Powerboard, Horga'hn Hunts, Sand Castles, Flying High, and Dance Off.
Cosmetic or for fun? All of my 14 Characters have at least two swimwear. All have a minimum of Enhanced Floaters, and all have the Future Flyer. I don't need or want some of the 'fun' stuff.
Non 'fun' stuff like Training Manuals, Kit Modules, and Doffs you can't directly buy with EC. That is what I am talking about for comparisons with the Winter Event Store prices (minus Doffs which Winter doesn't have).
So farm all the Favors you want, I have a decent stockpile already and will likely keep picking up about 1-2k or more per day. If I think I need to buy Favors, I will... after it crashes to 2,000 or less EC per.
I'm pretty sure I'm not the only person that wants Training Manual and Kit Module prices brought into line with those of the Winter Event.
Why would I care or make it my business?
'Business! Mankind was my business. The common welfare was my business...[They] were but a drop of water in the comprehensive ocean of my business!' (Thanks to Jacob Marley for the quote).
'But to be logical is not to be right', and 'nothing' on God's earth could ever 'make it' right!'
Judge Dan Haywood
'As l speak now, the words are forming in my head.
l don't know.
l really don't know what l'm about to say, except l have a feeling about it.
That l must repeat the words that come without my knowledge.'
I get the price comparison between events, but honestly I have to say that maybe, just maybe the sole existence of something in STO doesn't mean one has to own it on every boff and alt. Pick and choose instead of hoard, maybe?
^ Memory Alpha.org is not canon. It's a open wiki with arbitrary rules. Only what can be cited from an episode is. ^
"No. Men do not roar. Women roar. Then they hurl heavy objects... and claw at you." -Worf, son of Mogh
"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
"That pig smelled horrid. A sweet-sour, extremely pungent odor. I showered and showered, and it took me a week to get rid of it!" - Robert Justman, appreciating Emmy-Lou
Not saying get it on all, though all my Characters have the Kit Modules, the Training Manuals would only go on two or three Boffs of the Away Team. And that on those of just three or so Characters.
I have a Character that I started leveling up around the Winter Event. In my Account Bank I probably have between 1,000 to 1,600 of each of the Ornament Types. I was able to get a Snow Gun, Kit Modules, and Training Manuals for that Character and three Boffs and it made not much of a dent in that stash of Ornaments. For this to get a similar loadout I would deplete all the Favors in the Account Bank.
That 'new' Character is this years designated Character to unlock the ship, was the one to do the Master Relaxer both pre-season and during to be able to post about the problems with Risa before the Event.
'But to be logical is not to be right', and 'nothing' on God's earth could ever 'make it' right!'
Judge Dan Haywood
'As l speak now, the words are forming in my head.
l don't know.
l really don't know what l'm about to say, except l have a feeling about it.
That l must repeat the words that come without my knowledge.'
The powerboard race and biathlon occur way too often. While I enjoy both of them, their major reward is the tropical tags, and you can only spend so many in a day. I'm only running one character through the event this year, and she has on the order of 80 tags. At this rate, I can just park her in front of the monkey vendor to do turn ins for the next two years.
I think that there are enough events that you could run more than one at a time, depending on what people are interested in, lie have both the races at the same time as the artifact hunt. That'd let people do stuff for what they want better.
I'm OK with the prices.
I agree that the Summer Store item prices seem more expensive when compared to the Winter Store. Winter favors also seem easier to come by than the Summer favors. Winter having DOFF missions may be part of that.
It was suggested that some of the Summer activities be taken out of rotation entirely and allowed to be queued at the player's discretion. I think that the Dance Party, Hor'gahn Hunt, and Artifact Hunt could all be taken out of rotation and done whenever the player chooses with a cooldown period afterwards. As with Flying High, those events are all a race against the clock, not other players, so having everyone participate at the same time isn't absolutely necessary, other than to have "organized fun".
The Powerboard Race and Biathalon could be left in rotation, taking turns at 15 minute intervals, allowing two of each race per hour.
Star Trek Online Volunteer Community Moderator and Resident She-Wolf
Community Moderators are Unpaid Volunteers and NOT Employees of Gearbox/Cryptic
Views and Opinions May Not Reflect the Views and Opinions of Gearbox/Cryptic
Also, you can't hit the first ring of the biathlon on your hoverboard. Dropping it a couple of feet would do wonders for the event. (It's hard enough hitting the ramp as it is. Being able to hit the ramp at speed, go through the ring and then switch to your floater would be awesome.)
got burnt out grinding, now I just buy the risa marks off the EXT and get what I want that way I only grind for EC. why is there 1500 RM boards but not floaters? is changing a value that hard? but like I was saying, I spend around 20 minutes a day now to go through the DOFF missions for my 5 toons plus the daly for the ship. then play other games the Mass amount of grinding got old. thanks for the 500z a month...
Also, you can't hit the first ring of the biathlon on your hoverboard. Dropping it a couple of feet would do wonders for the event. (It's hard enough hitting the ramp as it is. Being able to hit the ramp at speed, go through the ring and then switch to your floater would be awesome.)
What I eventually figured out was to bail before hitting the ramp, hit the ramp, then hit the floater and boost up to the ring.
I could have sworn an earlier patch note said we'd be able to repurchase things like Risian DOFFs that had been lost. But I tried to replace the purple Risian conn officer DOFF that got eaten by a loadout bug (I think) last year and it still says "Already Purchased".
@Venture-1. @Venture from City of Heroes if you remember that. Yes, that Venture. Yes, I probably trashed your MA arc. You'll have to be specific; for me it was Tuesday.
Love the events, but not a fan of the 1.5 hours between the dance parties. That blows like the north wind. Please correct this for next year and down the artifact hunt. It is still as fuzzy as it has always been and I hate that event because of its imprecise nature.
The artifact scanner is still a right ( F-Bomb ) pain.........ooooh.......it's easier to find Sulu while wearing a blindfold then it is to use this thing.
The artifact scanner is a less precise tricorder. While the tricorder points directly at an item, the artifact scanner gives you a pie slice shaped general direction. Once you understand that and look down for the lines when using it, it gets easy.
Better control on the boards, ever try to turn at the last part of the biathlon race only to shoot out of the lane and get DQ? Why is there a speed boost there anyways? It's as logical as Gordon Ramsey eating at McDonald's.
Try shooter mode. Use the cross hair reticle to steer. To slow down/stop for turns, aim the cross hair reticle down towards your board. It takes a little practice, but is totally masterable. I do think the animation for the boards needs a lot less "wobble" though. I also agree, get rid of the speed boosts, or, keep one at the last ramp.
And someone keeps stealing my sandcastles.
When I go back after a while, their been nicked. I think it's the trees. They stand awfully close to where it was...the ocean looks guilty too.
I asked the monkeys, they just shrugged then flung poo at me. Clearly they are as puzzled as me.....a mystery indeed if these intelligent creatures who wear one of the 50,000 Sherlock Holmes hats I gave them to look cuter don't know either.....then we are all doomed.
I just sick my own monkey on them. That usually keeps them in line for a little while.
"Go play with your DPS in the corner, I don't care how big it is." ~ Me "There... are... four... lights!" ~Jean Luc Picard
1. The day/night cycle being thrown away due to the upgrade to Lighting 2.0. You know what, it's not that big a deal to me. Sure, I miss Risa at night and would love to see it come back, but this is the smallest problem I have with this years event. It's still an issue but the one that has the least amount of impact on my enjoyment of the event.
Watch the resort windows. When they light up, its night time.
2. Getting the Accolades, especially Master Relaxer, is a complete joke right now. With the day/night cycle gone, there is no way to easily tell what time of day the event clock says it is. Sure, look for torches to be lit, or lights in the huts. The thing is, I can see no difference when I look in the huts, to see if the lights are "on". Of course, I don't have Lighting 2.0 enabled due to how crappy it looks (IMO) and also how it bogs down my machine. Perhaps that is why I can't tell, perhaps it's that in combination with other settings I have, I don't know.
Put a clock in the event window telling what time of "day" it is. Let us know it's "night" time and to look for those night related events like the Klingon/Trill argument or Fireworks. Also, having the Mokbara Klingons only showing up every couple of hours for 10-15 seconds? Good luck with that.
I've gotten Master Relaxer on 10 characters this year. Fireworks are at the top of every odd hour (PST), Dax/Worf and the Mok'bara Klingons 30 minutes after that. Simple. Be at the floater vendor at the top of an odd hour and get the Fireworks, come back in 30 minutes to get Dax/Worf, Go to the first arch east of the resort 2 hours later for Mok'bara. Everything else is the same. Talk to Pavyl on the beach and then go chase him down 4 times,..
The artifact scanner is still a right ( F-Bomb ) pain.........ooooh.......it's easier to find Sulu while wearing a blindfold then it is to use this thing.
The artifact scanner is a less precise tricorder. While the tricorder points directly at an item, the artifact scanner gives you a pie slice shaped general direction. Once you understand that and look down for the lines when using it, it gets easy.
I’m really fine with Risa this year. It’s a cool mix of enough new stuff and not too much new stuff to do/get.
Only thing that annoys a bit is that a lot of the beachwear stuff heavily clips on some of my toon’s shoulders. Hope that gets fixed. Also a bit disappointed in the lost day/night cycle but I think the devs already know that.
Other than that, successful event imo.
Looking for a fun PvE fleet? Join us at Omega Combat Division today.
I love the new event rotation system. It makes all the events of equal importance, rather than just the floater event. I love how you fixed the horrible black "shadow" graphic between the legs of characters. Great job! It looked like...TRIBBLE...
The only thing I hate? How the new Gold, Silver, Bronze Hoverboards are not epic quality. Why did you waist money on making new items that are 2nd best? You made 10 new options of 2nd best boards last year. Only 2 boards are the best (Elite). So out of all those options, you can only work your way up to 2? That gets boring after a while. It reminds me of the old days when NPC's looked better than we did with the tailor limitations. We still can't mix and match shirts and bathing suites. Why do you love lack of options?
The fan dance is from Nimbus. Dance at the bar there to unlock it after some tries.
TOIVA, Toi Vaxx, Toia Vix, Toveg, T'vritha, To Vrax: Bring in the Allegiance class. Toi'Va, Ti'vath, Toivia, Ty'Vris, Tia Vex, Toi'Virth: Add Tier 6 KDF Carrier and Raider. Tae'Va, T'Vaya, To'Var, Tevra, T'Vira, To'Vrak: Give us Asylums for Romulans.
Yes, they are a bit on the high side. However, pushing them down to winter level would be too cheap IMO - I like winter and play it, but I have everything (I want) on every toon and am just collecting favors I don't really need. Yes, I can always sell them, I know.
But let's assume we have a new player, no alts to help out, who wants "everything":
Floater: 1000
Board: 1500
Costume: 1 piece of swimwear (1500), bottom and top beachwear (750+600=1350), could be less, could be more if you want options
Three kit modules: 3000
Training manuals: 3000 (as somebody stated, I haven't checked the prices myself yet)
Pets: 900 (8 Caracals, 1 Sand Castle - did I miss one?)
Comes to 12250. 42 days, so about 300 each day. That's easily doable in one 90 minute cycle: 100 each for dance party and horga'hn hunt, 2*50 for artifact collector, 30 for the races (non placing), 20 for sand castles. Could do way more sand castles. Could also do more artifact hunts while waiting during horga'hn. Even if you throw in the doffs (another 3600), still doable.
Yes, 90 minutes per day, each and every day, is a pretty dedicated schedule. And having more than one toon to achieve that for all toons will more or less double the time needed (you can do artifact and horga'hn up to five times in a cycle, but not the others, and doing more hunts takes time away from sandcastles and so on.
But then, getting everything from nothing is also a pretty ambitious goal. And once you reached it, next year will only be maybe 3000 max for new pets, modules, manuals. Also you can easily shave off a couple thousand since you probably don't need all of the latter.
Yes, it is somewhat non-relaxing trying to get everything for everybody. But then again, you don't need it. And spread it out, save some stuff for next year, and you get within the "while I'm here I'll collect the favors anyway". And yes, your normal "daily routine" may suffer, slowing you down in getting dil, marks, whathaveyou, but then again, time on Risa is supposed to be some time off your daily routine.
So IMO: prices could be a bit lower, but they're not really out of this world. Unless one wants everything (I do), wants it now (I more or less do), hasn't anything from the last years (I have a lot already) and additionally wants to play everything else like they do outside of events (I don't). At the third summer event the latest you should be good and only need new stuff, and that was already a slow schedule before. Unless again you make 6 new alts each year, then it may get time consuming.
My mother was an epohh and my father smelled of tulaberries
The lighting change I wouldn't even have noticed. Yes, it was very nice, and I am missing it, but it doesn't take away from gameplay as such.
The fixed schedule Klink/Trill argument, fireworks and Mokbara: fireworks is fine, argument as well, Mokbara could use more opportunities (from an in game logic point of view). Also the latter two need more time to be on but I understand that is a bug.
New clothing: I don't really need new clothing but the Rash Guards look really great and have a nice selection of colors. I just think the female shorts don't really combine well with them, too short, maybe next year give some more protective female bottoms?
New pets: Meh. I love caracals, but now there's really a lot of them. If at least they would auto load up until I got into battle.
New kit module: whatever. Haven't tried it out yet, but since I usually don't really need that many ground things and don't optimie there, I am not really looking for these rewards during the events. Being a completionists means I'll get them, but...
Training manuals: great idea, though a "crafting unlock" - even if for account or even character bound items only - would be very welcome. Since I got my ground teams set up and probably not gonna change them a lot unless they get nerfed ridiculously as they are, I won't use them though.
Biathlon: great fun event, great addition. Accolades for 2nd and 3rd are somewhat meh - or should fill as well if you do better. Also unlike the powerboard race, there is no skill leading up to the first speed boost (with the powerboard race there is at least minimal skill in getting the turn to the ramp correct), so it is very random who gets it, and if said boosted player knows what they are doing, the race is over. Still, if it stays as it is, it is a great and welcome addition.
90 minutes schedule: not a fan. I get that the 60 minutes aren't sustainable with more and more events added, but would prefer a 120 minute schedule then, just to get the minutes "after the hour" the same. But if the 90 minutes are kept, I would prefer to get rid of the double artifact hunt, it seems to be less liked than dancing and especially horga'hn (the latter of course profits from the payout), so probably it would be better to double them - or bring the arenologist back in the mix. Yes, I know, you could pre-complete sand castles and then reward spam during his 15 minutes - but I take it that's the same with the archeology hunt.
But all in all the above sounds to negative. I enjoyed the event last year, there's even more variety with the new and (by me) well liked biathlon, so I am enjoying this one.
My mother was an epohh and my father smelled of tulaberries
1. Missing night-cycle. Sad that this is gone. Big BOO to Cryptic on this one, no matter the excuse.
2. The powerboard/biathlon are both 'lotteries'. After running these events countless times, the 'powerups' make no sense and are completely random. Keeping track of when I hit ramps/waterpads, doesn't matter if there are people in front of me, behind me, doesn't matter if I am first to hit them, or last, or in between. Doesn't matter if someone is 'just' in front of me or not. Doesn't matter 'how' I've hit the ramp. The 'powerup' is random, as far as I can tell. Someone in-game tried to tell me that lag can make it LOOK like I hit a ramp/water pad first, when in fact someone else actually does and that 'kills' the power up for a second or two. Even if that's the case, thanks to 'lag', it's still a lottery.
3. That being said, I still run them because the events are short, and you've still got a decent chance at a good number of tags. Tags=Marks.
4. Competitive Marks not being on the monkey/bird turn-ins: don't hold your breath. If they haven't added them by now for this cycle, I don't think they will. Just a guess, though. I hope I am wrong.
5. Those who fret about 'beginner' boards/floaters and not being able to win events: don't give up. I won 1st, 2nd, 3rd, several times with 'rental' gear because of few competitors in some instances, and often they'd DQ themselves. Sure, I still lost MOST of the time, but it wasn't always a 4th or worse finish. Persistence.
6. Those complaining about lohlunat costs for items: it really doesn't take long to get enough to get what you want. I play a few hours a night. I've collected over a dozen full stacks pretty easily since the event launched - and there's like 4 weeks left in the event. The goal is NOT to get you to show up, play for 10 minutes, get everything you want and move on. That's just not how this game/event works. If you don't want to actually play the events and get them, and instead want to buy them on the Exchange and are complaining about the price - sorry I don't feel too much sympathy for you. Deal with it - or come play the events.
7. Artifact hunt - hate it. Annoying. I did it a few times, but haven't bothered since. Better ways to spend my time.
8. Sandcastles - see #7, though it's not nearly as annoying as the artefact hunt.
9. Dance Off - I usually do it and hang around for the first 50 lohlunats, but then skip out on the last 50.
10. 'Flying High' - not a bad event - short, sweet, to the point. Repeatable in a very short time.
11. The Hunt - My favorite event. Figuring out a good path was fun. Doing it with 5 characters in 15 min is also fun, for a quick and easy ~500 favors. If you don't have multiple characters, then it's not so good, of course.
12. Drop rate on Eggs - Seems awful low. I can run characters through the Hunt multiple times a night and not get a single one. I know it's trying to encourage you to burn favors to buy them from the vendor, so your mileage may vary.
2. The powerboard/biathlon are both 'lotteries'. After running these events countless times, the 'powerups' make no sense and are completely random. Keeping track of when I hit ramps/waterpads, doesn't matter if there are people in front of me, behind me, doesn't matter if I am first to hit them, or last, or in between. Doesn't matter if someone is 'just' in front of me or not. Doesn't matter 'how' I've hit the ramp. The 'powerup' is random, as far as I can tell. Someone in-game tried to tell me that lag can make it LOOK like I hit a ramp/water pad first, when in fact someone else actually does and that 'kills' the power up for a second or two. Even if that's the case, thanks to 'lag', it's still a lottery.
In a way it is - if two people of same skill (and same board level) are approaching one, it is kind of a lottery who gets there first (biathlon even more since there is less driving time and thus less time to make mistakes before the first power up). However it is as people tell you: first to get to a power up place will get the power up, then it will be deactivated for a short time until it starts over (and then shuts down again, and so on). If you're in the lead, you will see how you will reap each single one.
However due to latency issues you are correct that you cannot be sure whether you are first to get to a point. If somebody else is in view behind you, it is almost certain that they will actually be in front of you, which may be a small help (and possibly reason to skip a jump in favor of a faster route if no powerup will come). But even if you see no one on the main screen, people may be close behind you.
I still would suggest that you invest 2500 lols into top level board and floater. Even if you're not going for the win, you'll get a better placement now and then and thus slowly make your money back while having more relaxed gameplay (especially with a floater the difference is staggering)
My mother was an epohh and my father smelled of tulaberries
Comments
Up until this year, the Summer Event was a time for me to take time off from the game, without leaving the game. I used to park my alts on Risa and simply enjoy the events. Horga'hn Hunts, Dance Offs, Powerboard racing, and of course Flying High to get the event ship.
When I first saw the "new" Risa Event map those many years ago, I thought it was an absolute thing of beauty. That first year I think I spent as much time exploring the island as I did doing the events. It was fun. Of course, by the time the event rolled around the second time, I'd done all the exploring I wanted, but the events were still just as fun so I continued to enjoy myself.
Over the years new things have been added, some fun (Sand Castles) others not so much (Artifact Scavenger Hunt). Of course we always get new swim/beach apparel along with new colors/patterns for the floaters and powerboards as well as new non-combat pets. Add in the kit modules, and this year the training manuals, and that opens up a lot of fun possibilities as well.
Now, about this years Summer event, it went from my favorite event all year to not even bothering and doing anything but the event. What went wrong?
1. The day/night cycle being thrown away due to the upgrade to Lighting 2.0. You know what, it's not that big a deal to me. Sure, I miss Risa at night and would love to see it come back, but this is the smallest problem I have with this years event. It's still an issue but the one that has the least amount of impact on my enjoyment of the event.
2. Getting the Accolades, especially Master Relaxer, is a complete joke right now. With the day/night cycle gone, there is no way to easily tell what time of day the event clock says it is. Sure, look for torches to be lit, or lights in the huts. The thing is, I can see no difference when I look in the huts, to see if the lights are "on". Of course, I don't have Lighting 2.0 enabled due to how crappy it looks (IMO) and also how it bogs down my machine. Perhaps that is why I can't tell, perhaps it's that in combination with other settings I have, I don't know.
Put a clock in the event window telling what time of "day" it is. Let us know it's "night" time and to look for those night related events like the Klingon/Trill argument or Fireworks. Also, having the Mokbara Klingons only showing up every couple of hours for 10-15 seconds? Good luck with that.
3. No Competitive marks for bird/monkey trade ins. This right here is the beginning of the major issues I have with this years event. The Competitive Reputation is introduced and about a month later the queues are dead as door nails, at least during the times I'm able to play. I haven't been able to get a Comp queue to start in about a month and I gave up even trying a couple weeks ago after sitting in a queue for almost an hour and never seeing it get closer than 6/10 players. Mirror Invasion was a big part of what happened to the Comp queues, and now the Risa even is having an effect as well.
I started the blasted rep, I'm going to finish it. Even if it means I run the Red Alerts to get one measly mark plus the daily 55 bonus. That will take quite a while, but there is no other way to get the marks in anything remotely close to a reasonable manner. Adding Comp marks to the bird/monkey trade ins seemed like a no-brainer so imagine my surprise when I go to trade in a Monkey only to find that there are no Comp marks available. I figured that it was an oversight and would be fixed in today's patch. Guess not.
4. What has always been a bad thing is the COST of these event items. 1500 Favors for a top level powerboard, 1000 Favors for a top level floater. Hundreds of Favors for costume pieces that can't be worn off Risa (usually) or by BOffs. Hundreds of Favors for the kit mods, training modules and DOffs. These prices should be a LOT lower than they are, and it was recognized a few years back that the cost may be too high and rewards for events was increased to at least partially make up for the discrepancy.
And now this year you take some of the best events that also payout a reasonable amount of Favors and put them on a schedule that makes no sense. Up until this year, I could count on being able to do a certain event at a set time, meaning no matter when I logged in, or for how long, I could do something FUN and earn Favors. Now, I log in, look at the list of events and see that I just missed one of the good payout events and it won't be back for 90-ish minutes. No thanks.
I mentioned in another thread that a "simple" solution to this would be to take some events off the timer altogether. Have the Dance Off and Horga'hn Hunt up all the time. You talk to the individual contacts to start the missions and then dance or collect until the mission is complete. Put them on a 60 minute cool down and they function almost exactly how they used to.
Sure, folks with lots of alts could run these back to back for as long as the feel they want, but if they feel they need to do that then something is wrong with either the rewards being too low, or what the rewards are used for, i.e. the event items that cost too much. Some folks need to run alts to get enough Favors on multiple alts just so ONE of those alts can get things. If a single character can't get enough Favors in a reasonable amount of time to buy 1 item, let alone multiple, again, something is wrong.
5. And on the subject of the Summer event items, how about fixing all the clipping issues with the various summer outfits. I have been buggin the clipping issues for the last several YEARS and have yet to see these issues fixed. There was one year, I believe it was the second Risa event, where the clipping issues were taken care of and fixed. Then when Risa rolled around the next year the clipping was back and has been ever since. You want players to spend their time getting these items only to get them in a broken state and never fixed. And you wonder why *I* think the price for the items is too high?
I suppose I could complain about the Biathlon and my always getting DQ'd, I haven't completed a single race and have since given up entirely on it. I'm sure that's more to do with me than the game. My reflexes are not that great anymore so I will chalk it up to that.
That's about it for me on the event this year. As a result of all these issues, I have all but given up on Risa this year. If I could run the events I like on an hourly schedule like in years past, I'd be there now doing that instead of posting "War and Peace" on the forums. I have one alt on Risa running Flying High for the ship, and that is all I'm doing since I can't reliably do anything else. I want some of the Event items, like the kit mods and manuals, but I can't earn enough Favors to make that feasible. So instead of getting frustrated and taking it out on the rest of the game, I'll just skip it. I don't want to, but it is what it is.
Losing faith in humanity, one person at a time.
Costs of items, as I've repeatedly said, are way, way too high. With the cost of the Training Manuals, 3,000 Favors for one Boff for all levels of the available Skills, we are in the realm of the absurd. Costs should be cut drastically to conform with Winter Event Costs, AND all of these Manuals should be craftable by the Character on acquire, for that Characters Boffs only.
In fact, ALL Training Manuals obtained from Events AND Lockboxes should be craftable by the Character for their own Boffs (only) once acquired. And they should be a pack of all three levels, just like the Manuals you obtain from Mission rewards.
l don't know.
l really don't know what l'm about to say, except l have a feeling about it.
That l must repeat the words that come without my knowledge.'
^^THIS^^
That is striking the metal spike upon it's crown to such a degree, I'm at a loss for, umm, things.
On a side note... would it be too much to ask that if prices are kept at the level they are for the outfits, that they should become account unlocks? That way their cost isn't so ridiculous and you don't end up grinding forever to get everything.
Losing faith in humanity, one person at a time.
Right now, Favors on the Exchange are, at last look earlier today, 7,000 each, down from 10,000 at the Start of the Event. So one Boffs worth of one Skill (all three levels) at the cost of 1,500 Favors would be 10.5 Million EC. You can't buy or sell the Training Manuals directly.
You have to juggle multiple Characters through Horga'hn Hunt per each time that it does show up for about 100 Favors each Character. Dance is 100 no multiple Characters, Castles 20 every 15 minutes if you are so inclined per Character. The not as well liked Artifact Hunt 50.
PvP stuff some people will just not do. The Winter has Doff Assignments that award decent Dilitium and the Winter Ornaments. Summer has no equivalent.
l don't know.
l really don't know what l'm about to say, except l have a feeling about it.
That l must repeat the words that come without my knowledge.'
Cosmetic or for fun? All of my 14 Characters have at least two swimwear. All have a minimum of Enhanced Floaters, and all have the Future Flyer. I don't need or want some of the 'fun' stuff.
Non 'fun' stuff like Training Manuals, Kit Modules, and Doffs you can't directly buy with EC. That is what I am talking about for comparisons with the Winter Event Store prices (minus Doffs which Winter doesn't have).
So farm all the Favors you want, I have a decent stockpile already and will likely keep picking up about 1-2k or more per day. If I think I need to buy Favors, I will... after it crashes to 2,000 or less EC per.
I'm pretty sure I'm not the only person that wants Training Manual and Kit Module prices brought into line with those of the Winter Event.
Why would I care or make it my business?
'Business! Mankind was my business. The common welfare was my business...[They] were but a drop of water in the comprehensive ocean of my business!' (Thanks to Jacob Marley for the quote).
l don't know.
l really don't know what l'm about to say, except l have a feeling about it.
That l must repeat the words that come without my knowledge.'
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I have a Character that I started leveling up around the Winter Event. In my Account Bank I probably have between 1,000 to 1,600 of each of the Ornament Types. I was able to get a Snow Gun, Kit Modules, and Training Manuals for that Character and three Boffs and it made not much of a dent in that stash of Ornaments. For this to get a similar loadout I would deplete all the Favors in the Account Bank.
That 'new' Character is this years designated Character to unlock the ship, was the one to do the Master Relaxer both pre-season and during to be able to post about the problems with Risa before the Event.
l don't know.
l really don't know what l'm about to say, except l have a feeling about it.
That l must repeat the words that come without my knowledge.'
I think that there are enough events that you could run more than one at a time, depending on what people are interested in, lie have both the races at the same time as the artifact hunt. That'd let people do stuff for what they want better.
I'm OK with the prices.
It was suggested that some of the Summer activities be taken out of rotation entirely and allowed to be queued at the player's discretion. I think that the Dance Party, Hor'gahn Hunt, and Artifact Hunt could all be taken out of rotation and done whenever the player chooses with a cooldown period afterwards. As with Flying High, those events are all a race against the clock, not other players, so having everyone participate at the same time isn't absolutely necessary, other than to have "organized fun".
The Powerboard Race and Biathalon could be left in rotation, taking turns at 15 minute intervals, allowing two of each race per hour.
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My character Tsin'xing
The artifact scanner is a less precise tricorder. While the tricorder points directly at an item, the artifact scanner gives you a pie slice shaped general direction. Once you understand that and look down for the lines when using it, it gets easy.
Try shooter mode. Use the cross hair reticle to steer. To slow down/stop for turns, aim the cross hair reticle down towards your board. It takes a little practice, but is totally masterable. I do think the animation for the boards needs a lot less "wobble" though. I also agree, get rid of the speed boosts, or, keep one at the last ramp.
I just sick my own monkey on them. That usually keeps them in line for a little while.
"There... are... four... lights!" ~Jean Luc Picard
Watch the resort windows. When they light up, its night time.
I've gotten Master Relaxer on 10 characters this year. Fireworks are at the top of every odd hour (PST), Dax/Worf and the Mok'bara Klingons 30 minutes after that. Simple. Be at the floater vendor at the top of an odd hour and get the Fireworks, come back in 30 minutes to get Dax/Worf, Go to the first arch east of the resort 2 hours later for Mok'bara. Everything else is the same. Talk to Pavyl on the beach and then go chase him down 4 times,..
"There... are... four... lights!" ~Jean Luc Picard
My character Tsin'xing
Only thing that annoys a bit is that a lot of the beachwear stuff heavily clips on some of my toon’s shoulders. Hope that gets fixed. Also a bit disappointed in the lost day/night cycle but I think the devs already know that.
Other than that, successful event imo.
Looking for a fun PvE fleet? Join us at Omega Combat Division today.
The only thing I hate? How the new Gold, Silver, Bronze Hoverboards are not epic quality. Why did you waist money on making new items that are 2nd best? You made 10 new options of 2nd best boards last year. Only 2 boards are the best (Elite). So out of all those options, you can only work your way up to 2? That gets boring after a while. It reminds me of the old days when NPC's looked better than we did with the tailor limitations. We still can't mix and match shirts and bathing suites. Why do you love lack of options?
The fan dance is from Nimbus. Dance at the bar there to unlock it after some tries.
Toi'Va, Ti'vath, Toivia, Ty'Vris, Tia Vex, Toi'Virth: Add Tier 6 KDF Carrier and Raider.
Tae'Va, T'Vaya, To'Var, Tevra, T'Vira, To'Vrak: Give us Asylums for Romulans.
Don't make ARC mandatory! Keep it optional only!
Yes, they are a bit on the high side. However, pushing them down to winter level would be too cheap IMO - I like winter and play it, but I have everything (I want) on every toon and am just collecting favors I don't really need. Yes, I can always sell them, I know.
But let's assume we have a new player, no alts to help out, who wants "everything":
Floater: 1000
Board: 1500
Costume: 1 piece of swimwear (1500), bottom and top beachwear (750+600=1350), could be less, could be more if you want options
Three kit modules: 3000
Training manuals: 3000 (as somebody stated, I haven't checked the prices myself yet)
Pets: 900 (8 Caracals, 1 Sand Castle - did I miss one?)
Comes to 12250. 42 days, so about 300 each day. That's easily doable in one 90 minute cycle: 100 each for dance party and horga'hn hunt, 2*50 for artifact collector, 30 for the races (non placing), 20 for sand castles. Could do way more sand castles. Could also do more artifact hunts while waiting during horga'hn. Even if you throw in the doffs (another 3600), still doable.
Yes, 90 minutes per day, each and every day, is a pretty dedicated schedule. And having more than one toon to achieve that for all toons will more or less double the time needed (you can do artifact and horga'hn up to five times in a cycle, but not the others, and doing more hunts takes time away from sandcastles and so on.
But then, getting everything from nothing is also a pretty ambitious goal. And once you reached it, next year will only be maybe 3000 max for new pets, modules, manuals. Also you can easily shave off a couple thousand since you probably don't need all of the latter.
Yes, it is somewhat non-relaxing trying to get everything for everybody. But then again, you don't need it. And spread it out, save some stuff for next year, and you get within the "while I'm here I'll collect the favors anyway". And yes, your normal "daily routine" may suffer, slowing you down in getting dil, marks, whathaveyou, but then again, time on Risa is supposed to be some time off your daily routine.
So IMO: prices could be a bit lower, but they're not really out of this world. Unless one wants everything (I do), wants it now (I more or less do), hasn't anything from the last years (I have a lot already) and additionally wants to play everything else like they do outside of events (I don't). At the third summer event the latest you should be good and only need new stuff, and that was already a slow schedule before. Unless again you make 6 new alts each year, then it may get time consuming.
The lighting change I wouldn't even have noticed. Yes, it was very nice, and I am missing it, but it doesn't take away from gameplay as such.
The fixed schedule Klink/Trill argument, fireworks and Mokbara: fireworks is fine, argument as well, Mokbara could use more opportunities (from an in game logic point of view). Also the latter two need more time to be on but I understand that is a bug.
New clothing: I don't really need new clothing but the Rash Guards look really great and have a nice selection of colors. I just think the female shorts don't really combine well with them, too short, maybe next year give some more protective female bottoms?
New pets: Meh. I love caracals, but now there's really a lot of them. If at least they would auto load up until I got into battle.
New kit module: whatever. Haven't tried it out yet, but since I usually don't really need that many ground things and don't optimie there, I am not really looking for these rewards during the events. Being a completionists means I'll get them, but...
Training manuals: great idea, though a "crafting unlock" - even if for account or even character bound items only - would be very welcome. Since I got my ground teams set up and probably not gonna change them a lot unless they get nerfed ridiculously as they are, I won't use them though.
Biathlon: great fun event, great addition. Accolades for 2nd and 3rd are somewhat meh - or should fill as well if you do better. Also unlike the powerboard race, there is no skill leading up to the first speed boost (with the powerboard race there is at least minimal skill in getting the turn to the ramp correct), so it is very random who gets it, and if said boosted player knows what they are doing, the race is over. Still, if it stays as it is, it is a great and welcome addition.
90 minutes schedule: not a fan. I get that the 60 minutes aren't sustainable with more and more events added, but would prefer a 120 minute schedule then, just to get the minutes "after the hour" the same. But if the 90 minutes are kept, I would prefer to get rid of the double artifact hunt, it seems to be less liked than dancing and especially horga'hn (the latter of course profits from the payout), so probably it would be better to double them - or bring the arenologist back in the mix. Yes, I know, you could pre-complete sand castles and then reward spam during his 15 minutes - but I take it that's the same with the archeology hunt.
But all in all the above sounds to negative. I enjoyed the event last year, there's even more variety with the new and (by me) well liked biathlon, so I am enjoying this one.
1. Missing night-cycle. Sad that this is gone. Big BOO to Cryptic on this one, no matter the excuse.
2. The powerboard/biathlon are both 'lotteries'. After running these events countless times, the 'powerups' make no sense and are completely random. Keeping track of when I hit ramps/waterpads, doesn't matter if there are people in front of me, behind me, doesn't matter if I am first to hit them, or last, or in between. Doesn't matter if someone is 'just' in front of me or not. Doesn't matter 'how' I've hit the ramp. The 'powerup' is random, as far as I can tell. Someone in-game tried to tell me that lag can make it LOOK like I hit a ramp/water pad first, when in fact someone else actually does and that 'kills' the power up for a second or two. Even if that's the case, thanks to 'lag', it's still a lottery.
3. That being said, I still run them because the events are short, and you've still got a decent chance at a good number of tags. Tags=Marks.
4. Competitive Marks not being on the monkey/bird turn-ins: don't hold your breath. If they haven't added them by now for this cycle, I don't think they will. Just a guess, though. I hope I am wrong.
5. Those who fret about 'beginner' boards/floaters and not being able to win events: don't give up. I won 1st, 2nd, 3rd, several times with 'rental' gear because of few competitors in some instances, and often they'd DQ themselves. Sure, I still lost MOST of the time, but it wasn't always a 4th or worse finish. Persistence.
6. Those complaining about lohlunat costs for items: it really doesn't take long to get enough to get what you want. I play a few hours a night. I've collected over a dozen full stacks pretty easily since the event launched - and there's like 4 weeks left in the event. The goal is NOT to get you to show up, play for 10 minutes, get everything you want and move on. That's just not how this game/event works. If you don't want to actually play the events and get them, and instead want to buy them on the Exchange and are complaining about the price - sorry I don't feel too much sympathy for you. Deal with it - or come play the events.
7. Artifact hunt - hate it. Annoying. I did it a few times, but haven't bothered since. Better ways to spend my time.
8. Sandcastles - see #7, though it's not nearly as annoying as the artefact hunt.
9. Dance Off - I usually do it and hang around for the first 50 lohlunats, but then skip out on the last 50.
10. 'Flying High' - not a bad event - short, sweet, to the point. Repeatable in a very short time.
11. The Hunt - My favorite event. Figuring out a good path was fun. Doing it with 5 characters in 15 min is also fun, for a quick and easy ~500 favors. If you don't have multiple characters, then it's not so good, of course.
12. Drop rate on Eggs - Seems awful low. I can run characters through the Hunt multiple times a night and not get a single one. I know it's trying to encourage you to burn favors to buy them from the vendor, so your mileage may vary.
Just my personal observations.
In a way it is - if two people of same skill (and same board level) are approaching one, it is kind of a lottery who gets there first (biathlon even more since there is less driving time and thus less time to make mistakes before the first power up). However it is as people tell you: first to get to a power up place will get the power up, then it will be deactivated for a short time until it starts over (and then shuts down again, and so on). If you're in the lead, you will see how you will reap each single one.
However due to latency issues you are correct that you cannot be sure whether you are first to get to a point. If somebody else is in view behind you, it is almost certain that they will actually be in front of you, which may be a small help (and possibly reason to skip a jump in favor of a faster route if no powerup will come). But even if you see no one on the main screen, people may be close behind you.
I still would suggest that you invest 2500 lols into top level board and floater. Even if you're not going for the win, you'll get a better placement now and then and thus slowly make your money back while having more relaxed gameplay (especially with a floater the difference is staggering)