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[PC] The Crystalline Entity Re-materializes

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  • starfallarmadastarfallarmada Member Posts: 51 Arc User
    My feeling on this is mixed/positive. On one hand I've liked how quick this event was in the past, so I could do the project on several characters, but if they make it more interesting that might make up for it. I'm not exactly a fan of the time gates. The one at the beginning sounds necessary, even if its a little annoying. I could get used to it though. The shards being immune to control effect does not make me happy though. Kind of just a big FU to sci captains/builds, as this just reduces it to a DPS fest, which is boring. My official verdict is a trepidatios "we'll see"
  • rimmarierimmarie Member Posts: 418 Arc User


    ilithyn wrote: »
    Oh and thanks for making sci ships useless in this queue. You really don't want people to play anything but tac do you?

    Useless? How so?
    wait until AFTER the event starts before you come to such conclusions jeez. :/


  • nightkennightken Member Posts: 2,824 Arc User
    hmm, any chance of the various Crystalline items becoming a set?

    if I stop posting it doesn't make you right it. just means I don't have enough rum to continue interacting with you.
  • crm14916crm14916 Member Posts: 1,516 Arc User
    LOVE this one! It’s an event I can run on a handful of toons and not kill the evening doing it!

    :)
    CM
    "Equipped with his five senses, man explores the universe around him and calls the adventure science." - Edwin Hubble
  • ltminnsltminns Member Posts: 12,569 Arc User
    Finish reading the News Blog people. These changes will NOT affect the regular CC Queues at this time. These are Event only changes for now.
    '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.'
    Lt. Philip J. Minns
  • tilartatilarta Member Posts: 1,798 Arc User
    galatt wrote: »
    "The Entity is now entirely Immune to damage while in its Absorption Phase. We wanted this phase to be about avoiding the Energy Release and preventing the shards from buffing the attack. "
    First, FINALLY!
    Second, Is it wrong that I look forward to ships popping like fireworks because they didn't read?

    I'm also glad to see this implemented, because I was so tired of ships exploding and ruining an optional because they simply didn't think to "get out of Dodge".
    I'm hoping this change gets applied to the standard version as well, to encourage players to move away from the CE when it starts absorbing.

    My personal tactic is to stay at 9km distance, then as soon as the CE starts absorbing, hit Emergency Impulse and get as far as I can before the radial explosion.

    And no, it' s not wrong to laugh at the misfortune of those who self-inflict destruction because they couldn't be bothered playing smart!

    Bees like honey, they don't like vinegar.
    Everytime someone makes a character that is an copy of an existing superhuman, Creativity is sad :'(
  • darkbladejkdarkbladejk Member Posts: 3,698 Community Moderator
    I'm alright with making the entity queue last longer, but not through time gates where you can do literally no damage to the thing.

    I'm hoping the energy weapons at least end up being cool. Unique event weapons have always had interesting stats, so ImI hoping this one continues the trend. Maybe with more haste pls?

    If you've played alot of the Crystalline mission currently, that's virtually the only way they could make sure it didn't get nuked in under 20 seconds. Although I've been in plenty of runs where it happens, I've never liked the fact that the crystal can be nuked through the absorption shield. An additional 30 seconds of time spent in the mission isn't going to kill anyone. personally I'm just glad it got a much needed revamp.
    ilithyn wrote: »
    This. Seriously guys? Why? These kinds of briefings are annoying BEYOND belief. I hate them in every single queue they exist and one of the reason I ever ran CC was just that it is fast, but I can avoid this nonsense.
    Seriously stop. And with the unskippable cutscenes too. They're completely unnecessary and really a drain on the fun in the game having to sit through again and again and again.
    Guess I'll be doing no more CC queues from now on.

    Oh and thanks for making sci ships useless in this queue. You really don't want people to play anything but tac do you?

    I don't like the briefings either 99% of the time, but in this case I'm glad it's there and hope it makes it to the regular version of the queue. The briefing in this case is to allow people who may slow load or less powerful rigs to get into the game and be able to participate. Without if someone slow loads through no fault of their own, or their rig hiccups for a half second, they can be flipped the finger by the system and get an AFK penalty because the queue ended in 15 seconds, when it took them 20 to load into the map.

    Far as the unskippable stuff, that I 100% agree with after your first playthrough of the mission.

    Far as sci builds go, they're NOT and I repeat are NOT killing off sci builds. It just means now folks can't hit a grav well to pull everything together and spam spacebar the entire time without a second thought. Now it will require folks to actually be fully awake at their keyboards and aware of their surroundings. I don't exactly see how requiring someone to be conscious and aware of their surroundings is such a bad thing. Sci will still be viable, only now it won't be as easy.
    "Someone once told me that time was a predator that stalked us all our lives. I rather believe that time is a companion who goes with us on the journey and reminds us to cherish every moment, because it will never come again." - Jean Luc Picard in Star Trek Generations

    Star Trek Online volunteer Community Moderator
  • pottsey5gpottsey5g Member Posts: 4,164 Arc User
    edited August 2018
    rimmarie wrote: »
    szim wrote: »
    There is now a 30 second mission briefing time before the queue begins.
    Why do you have to slap these annoying timers on everything?
    iamynaught wrote: »
    ...And though I normally detest mandatory time sinks, like "briefings" at the beginning of queues, this one needs it since some matches can be over and done in 30 seconds leaving slow loaders SOL and with a penalty.

    This^

    30 seconds isn't going to kill your fun ;)

    It does in a way as all the 30 seconds add up. Between waiting to get into CE which in my playtime takes 3 to 5 mins, waiting for the load screen, and then waiting another 30sec, then waiting as my ship fly’s into range. None are bad by themselves but added together it can build up to frustration. Very often I spend more time waiting then it takes to play CE. With an added 30 sec wait I will be spending 300% to 500% more time waiting then then the time it takes to play.

    "•Small Shards will no longer buff the Entity’s damage for the entire queue. Instead, they will give the entity buff stacks towards a more powerful Energy Release after its Absorption Phase. "
    That seems like an odd change to me that will make the CE easier to deal with. So the Entity’s will do much less DPS over the queue making it easier tank. The blast I just ignore it like always by sitting still and trigger the right buff as its about to hit.

    But still I am glad to see this event back, its in my top 3.
  • questeriusquesterius Member Posts: 8,301 Arc User
    Not too fond of the forced time gates since it feels like a cheap solution.
    Also sad that the gamma marks are not included. Was hoping for enough marks to finally get that rep started.

    Anyway, let's get some temporal, torpedo and mine builds ready to do CE smashing.
    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.
  • ilithynilithyn Member Posts: 903 Arc User
    rimmarie wrote: »
    szim wrote: »
    There is now a 30 second mission briefing time before the queue begins.
    Why do you have to slap these annoying timers on everything?
    iamynaught wrote: »
    ...And though I normally detest mandatory time sinks, like "briefings" at the beginning of queues, this one needs it since some matches can be over and done in 30 seconds leaving slow loaders SOL and with a penalty.

    This^

    30 seconds isn't going to kill your fun ;)


    Errrr. 1) CC does not have an AFK penalty. Never had I believe. Exactly because of the speed of this queue. And aren't these changes instituted so the queue is going to take more than 30 seconds? So really, both your arguments are invalid.
    2) There's an easy way around this. Make it so the queue starts either after 30 seconds or after everyone closes the briefing window. You know, an adaption of what their sister game Neverwinter is doing minimize these kinds of enforced waits. It allows slow loaders as well as new comers to see/read the briefing while it allows a team of experienced players with no slow loarders to just get on with stuff.
    In fact the Neverwinter devs have been changing very old content, like from nearly the beginning of the game old, to this new standard. Making cut scenes and briefings there were not skippable before now be skippable and making it so the team van get on with stuff right after the last person in the team is done with the scene/briefing regardless of whether this entails watching/reading the whole thing or skipping it. It should not be beyond the capabilities of the devs here to do the same. Instead they're going in the opposite direction.

    And no 30 seconds on their own isn't ruining it. But 30 seconds enforced sitting around for absolutely no purpose whatsoever, repeatedly over several days and possibly several toons? Yes it will. I stopped playing most queues exactly because of this, because I got tired of a team fully formed and loaded be forced to stand around doing jack all because the devs on this game are either incompetent or without any kind of imagination.

    Oh and while we're on "stuff that Neverwinter does a ton better" how about instituting a "new player in queue" fly in for when there's you know, a new player in the queue. To give people some way to tell the difference between "confused newcomer" and "troll"/"general TRIBBLE".
    Logic is the beginning of wisdom, not the end of it.
  • postagepaidpostagepaid Member Posts: 2,899 Arc User
    On an average day I load in with 15-20 secs of the prematch timer remaining. If the phantom autopatcher decides to drag things out or the load screen simply pause for breath that can be closer to zero. So the briefing is kind of useful in that regard even if most folk tend to ignore the moments when the game gives you info.

    Not all carriers get the rapid deployment mastery and some frigates simply have a longer cooldown time so even with power levels adjusted to suit getting the wings out can be painfully long. One of the many reasons I like the t'laru is the drones having such a good cooldown.

    For those complaining, maybe you could use the wait to break with tradition and say hello to your fellow group members.
  • questeriusquesterius Member Posts: 8,301 Arc User
    On an average day I load in with 15-20 secs of the prematch timer remaining. If the phantom autopatcher decides to drag things out or the load screen simply pause for breath that can be closer to zero. So the briefing is kind of useful in that regard even if most folk tend to ignore the moments when the game gives you info.

    Not all carriers get the rapid deployment mastery and some frigates simply have a longer cooldown time so even with power levels adjusted to suit getting the wings out can be painfully long. One of the many reasons I like the t'laru is the drones having such a good cooldown.

    For those complaining, maybe you could use the wait to break with tradition and say hello to your fellow group members.

    Tried that, but i am usually met with silence.
    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.
  • rimmarierimmarie Member Posts: 418 Arc User



    ilithyn wrote: »
    And no 30 seconds on their own isn't ruining it. But 30 seconds enforced sitting around for absolutely no purpose whatsoever, repeatedly over several days and possibly several toons? Yes it will. I stopped playing most queues exactly because of this, because I got tired of a team fully formed and loaded be forced to stand around doing jack all because the devs on this game are either incompetent or without any kind of imagination.

    'forced to stand around doing jack' FOR 30 SECONDS!
    if it were a minute, maybe. but it's just 30 SECONDS

    whatever. Some folks can wait 30 secs, some can't
    calling the devs 'incompetent or without any kind of imagination.' just because they are making you wait 30 secs is a bit much though

    maybe if they lowered it to 15 secs..
    ilithyn wrote: »
    In fact the Neverwinter devs have been changing very old content, like from nearly the beginning of the game old, to this new standard. Making cut scenes and briefings there were not skippable before now be skippable and making it so the team van get on with stuff right after the last person in the team is done with the scene/briefing regardless of whether this entails watching/reading the whole thing or skipping it. It should not be beyond the capabilities of the devs here to do the same. Instead they're going in the opposite direction.

    You can't assume it will work in STO just because it works in Neverwinter.
    It could be that it is more difficult to implement in the older version of the engine. Sorta like a foundry in Champions.
    or the devs wanted a quick fix to the problem of people loading in slow.

    or who knows, maybe they will see your post and go 'OOHH YEAAAH I guess we could do that...but we should still make ilithyn wait 30 secs. just because ;) '
  • mez83mez83 Member Posts: 255 Arc User
    I would like to know why gamma marks are being excluded. The gamma battlezone will be all but dead with everyone doing cc.
  • where2r1where2r1 Member Posts: 6,054 Arc User
    Dang...it has been so long since I have done this....I forgot the wording "Absorption Phase".
    I will have to review it up on You Tube, I suppose. But may be in one or two to see how different it is, now.

    No Gamma marks and all my new characters at level 11 (and I don't want them to level up fast, anyways)...no point in doing this for other than my curiosity.
    "Spend your life doing strange things with weird people." -- UNK

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  • tobiashirttobiashirt Member Posts: 630 Arc User
    edited August 2018
    Pretty much every comment I see that's a variation on "I don't like timers" makes me think of the bad old days in the mirror event where you could finish so early you would be sitting around and doing nothing for as much as 5 minutes. The whole event took about 15m per character, multiplied by several characters, meant I could be spending 2 hours each day for [i]character-bound[/i] items.

    With this queue/event, I go from 2 hours each day to 2 minutes. So what if the queue goes from 30s to 2 minutes? On one hand, it's a 400% increase...on the other hand, it's still one of the shortest queues around.
  • tobiashirttobiashirt Member Posts: 630 Arc User
    edited August 2018
    And while I'm thinking about it, what about queues like GtGA/E which has a whole minute briefing which does only an okay job of laying out what to do, and which gets read/explained so rarely that pretty much every run I do has at least one person yelling at somebody else in team chat about what to do?

    The new briefing on CC is hardly the worst offender for folks opposed on principle, and it's one of the few cases where a briefing serves a needed game mechanics purpose.
  • tilartatilarta Member Posts: 1,798 Arc User
    Maybe you could use the wait to break with tradition and say hello to your fellow group members.

    I used to do that, but after a while, I stopped because it was just making it too easy for the "not my fault" player to send abusive PMs.
    I'm sure you know the kind of player that is, the one who when problems occurs, blames everyone else in their team for the failures they are causing directly.

    So as a result of several of those experiences, I don't type anything in team chat anymore, not unless I get a sense the team is easygoing enough to accept casual banter while playing.
    And that's another chat danger point, there are players who will scream abuse at the team for trying to be friendly, because the only thing that should be discussed is gameplay.

    Bees like honey, they don't like vinegar.
    Everytime someone makes a character that is an copy of an existing superhuman, Creativity is sad :'(
  • ak255ak255 Member Posts: 317 Arc User
    edited August 2018
    (Flaming/Trolling comments moderated out. - BMR)
    Post edited by baddmoonrizin on
  • tigerariestigeraries Member Posts: 3,492 Arc User
    why not turret? I have found that I can suck at positioning. 45° is too narrow for me at 3rd person perspective. would be nice if you can have a wide 1st person perspective and you have the area of fire highlighted... and turn off all other fx.
  • ffttfftt Member Posts: 715 Arc User
    I've always thought that if Cryptic were going to tweak CC they'd make the Tholian groups as part of the optionals. There's very little incentive to actually take the time to do anything about them and I just ignore them except as mop up after the mission is mechanically completed. Taking out all the Tholians before defeating the entity in five minutes could be a bigger challenge than simply making it immune during the absorption phase. But since the intention is to be about avoiding the energy release Cryptic can consider it objective accomplished as far as I'm concerned. There's now no longer a reason to be in shooting range during those phases.
  • zuigje010zuigje010 Member Posts: 42 Arc User
    Hopefully it won't be a 15 min. boring encounter like the Mirror invasion.
  • darkbladejkdarkbladejk Member Posts: 3,698 Community Moderator
    ilithyn wrote: »
    Errrr. 1) CC does not have an AFK penalty. Never had I believe. Exactly because of the speed of this queue. And aren't these changes instituted so the queue is going to take more than 30 seconds? So really, both your arguments are invalid.

    It absolutely has an afk penalty though it's much harder to trigger than the others. Assuming you get a queue that's done in 25 seconds, which is entirely possible, and you load in after 30 seconds, then boom afk penalty. If you get "that guy" that just nukes everything before anyone can so much as fire more than 3-4 shots, then boom afk penalty. If all of the tholians and the crystal itself decide they hate you at once and you get nuked after only firing a couple shots, and the queue ends before you can respawn, boom afk penalty. There are ways to trigger a penalty and it does in fact exist. I've had the penalty on very rare occasions that I've slow loaded and I know others that have had the penalty as well.
    ilithyn wrote: »
    2) There's an easy way around this. Make it so the queue starts either after 30 seconds or after everyone closes the briefing window. You know, an adaption of what their sister game Neverwinter is doing minimize these kinds of enforced waits. It allows slow loaders as well as new comers to see/read the briefing while it allows a team of experienced players with no slow loarders to just get on with stuff.
    In fact the Neverwinter devs have been changing very old content, like from nearly the beginning of the game old, to this new standard. Making cut scenes and briefings there were not skippable before now be skippable and making it so the team van get on with stuff right after the last person in the team is done with the scene/briefing regardless of whether this entails watching/reading the whole thing or skipping it. It should not be beyond the capabilities of the devs here to do the same. Instead they're going in the opposite direction.

    And no 30 seconds on their own isn't ruining it. But 30 seconds enforced sitting around for absolutely no purpose whatsoever, repeatedly over several days and possibly several toons? Yes it will. I stopped playing most queues exactly because of this, because I got tired of a team fully formed and loaded be forced to stand around doing jack all because the devs on this game are either incompetent or without any kind of imagination.

    Oh and while we're on "stuff that Neverwinter does a ton better" how about instituting a "new player in queue" fly in for when there's you know, a new player in the queue. To give people some way to tell the difference between "confused newcomer" and "troll"/"general ****".

    With the Crystalline queue being able to be completed as fast as it could normally be, this was about the only way that could be done to guarantee everyone is given ample time to load in and be ready. This also gives time for carrier players to get their pets out so they can go in with their full arsenal deployed. Currently unless folks agree to wait on pets in an organized run, this is impossible for carriers to do in the average run. This also gives plenty of time for folks like myself to give a quick run down for my new members on voice comms.

    That very brief wait time is not going to make or break anyone. There's far worse things I can think of that could ruin a queue, and a minor 30 second briefing window is not one of them.
    "Someone once told me that time was a predator that stalked us all our lives. I rather believe that time is a companion who goes with us on the journey and reminds us to cherish every moment, because it will never come again." - Jean Luc Picard in Star Trek Generations

    Star Trek Online volunteer Community Moderator
  • starswordcstarswordc Member Posts: 10,963 Arc User
    On an average day I load in with 15-20 secs of the prematch timer remaining. If the phantom autopatcher decides to drag things out or the load screen simply pause for breath that can be closer to zero. So the briefing is kind of useful in that regard even if most folk tend to ignore the moments when the game gives you info.

    Not all carriers get the rapid deployment mastery and some frigates simply have a longer cooldown time so even with power levels adjusted to suit getting the wings out can be painfully long. One of the many reasons I like the t'laru is the drones having such a good cooldown.

    For those complaining, maybe you could use the wait to break with tradition and say hello to your fellow group members.

    You know you can just go into the game launcher options and disable on-demand patching, right? Uncheck it and the launcher will download everything it could possibly need before you get to character selection.
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  • anodynesanodynes Member Posts: 1,999 Arc User
    starswordc wrote: »
    On an average day I load in with 15-20 secs of the prematch timer remaining. If the phantom autopatcher decides to drag things out or the load screen simply pause for breath that can be closer to zero. So the briefing is kind of useful in that regard even if most folk tend to ignore the moments when the game gives you info.

    Not all carriers get the rapid deployment mastery and some frigates simply have a longer cooldown time so even with power levels adjusted to suit getting the wings out can be painfully long. One of the many reasons I like the t'laru is the drones having such a good cooldown.

    For those complaining, maybe you could use the wait to break with tradition and say hello to your fellow group members.

    You know you can just go into the game launcher options and disable on-demand patching, right? Uncheck it and the launcher will download everything it could possibly need before you get to character selection.

    Recently, the game decides to download files on demand even if you have the thing turned off. It happens on loading screens quite often. It's usually so quick that I have my doubts that it's really downloading anything, but sometimes it gives you a hang-up of a noticeable length.
    This is an MMO, not a Star Trek episode simulator. That would make for a terrible game.
  • grumpyowl#1151 grumpyowl Member Posts: 96 Arc User
    It would be great if these new AP weapons established a set bonus with the Crystalline Energy Torpedo. Can't wait to see the stats.
  • tilartatilarta Member Posts: 1,798 Arc User
    I am wondering, why would anyone want to use hanger bay pets in this queue?
    I tried it once and as soon as the radial pulse went off, my pet count went from six to zero instantly.

    That is why I don't use hanger bay pets in this queue, because it just means wasted time redeploying them and the second radial wave will just remove them again.

    Bees like honey, they don't like vinegar.
    Everytime someone makes a character that is an copy of an existing superhuman, Creativity is sad :'(
  • ltminnsltminns Member Posts: 12,569 Arc User
    edited August 2018
    Gamma Marks are excluded from any aspect of this Queue. My initial thoughts were incorrect.
    Post edited by ltminns on
    '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.'
    Lt. Philip J. Minns
  • protoneousprotoneous Member Posts: 2,950 Arc User
    [...]I don't exactly see how requiring someone to be conscious and aware of their surroundings is such a bad thing.
    This is asking quite a lot of players during an event.

  • postagepaidpostagepaid Member Posts: 2,899 Arc User
    starswordc wrote: »
    On an average day I load in with 15-20 secs of the prematch timer remaining. If the phantom autopatcher decides to drag things out or the load screen simply pause for breath that can be closer to zero. So the briefing is kind of useful in that regard even if most folk tend to ignore the moments when the game gives you info.

    Not all carriers get the rapid deployment mastery and some frigates simply have a longer cooldown time so even with power levels adjusted to suit getting the wings out can be painfully long. One of the many reasons I like the t'laru is the drones having such a good cooldown.

    For those complaining, maybe you could use the wait to break with tradition and say hello to your fellow group members.

    You know you can just go into the game launcher options and disable on-demand patching, right? Uncheck it and the launcher will download everything it could possibly need before you get to character selection.

    Its been an undocumented feature of the game since one of the patches before victory is waiting arrived. Usually it flickers up but there are times it will pause for breathe.
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