People here have already covered how I'm feeling pretty well. I'm piling on in the hope that more feedback about this will mean something to the people upstairs. With that in mind:
I play STO for light, casual fun. RAs are a lot of what keeps me here during the long, dry spells between new story content because they're easily accessible: they pop all the time, they're fun and I can solo the whole encounter if my PUG needs that much help.
I do not want a random queue system. I don't use those in any MMO, and Trek is a particularly bad fit for the whole notion due to the vast disparity in difficulty between various missions. I'm never clicking that button, and if I had to guess, the majority of players will quickly come to see things my way if they don't already.
I also don't want to have to organize premades. I like logging in for an hour or so. I don't want to hop on Teamspeak and have to work out what everybody else wants to play. I just want to go shoot stuff. Immediately.
With this change, you're reducing me to BZs for the kind of experience that I want from STO most of the time. You are not encouraging me to go back and revitalize the queues, you're encouraging me to spend less time in here overall, and decreasing my interest in coming and doing Admiralty daily to prop up your metrics.
Anyway. Hope you reconsider this. I know it won't be soon. I'll still be around to check out Discovery story content, and I don't want to dump on the devs or the game generally. Just letting you know that you can't pressure players into content they don't enjoy, even if they are positive about the game generally.
"This is how it was done on consoles all along"
Tuff , consoles got the shaft so now PC gets it too?
Random Queues? You cannot change specializations or traits once you enter the combat zone , what good is commando in gateway to greythor , or pilot in bug hunt? I use different set ups depending on the enemy i plan to face , some require a more defensive set up while others can be all out damage.
You cannot force people to play instances they do not want to play , i see a lot of AFK penalties in the future.
I play STO for light, casual fun. RAs are a lot of what keeps me here during the long, dry spells between new story content because they're easily accessible: they pop all the time, they're fun and I can solo the whole encounter if my PUG needs that much help.
They also prevent other queues from popping by concentrating the population in a small set of highly reductive queues which fail to make use of STO gameplay mechanics to their full potential (they are way too uncomplicated). Folks like me have been asking Cryptic to nerf alerts for some time and I don't think it's fair to discussion to try to reframe this change as the community being maligned in any way.
Sorry it didn't break your way this time, but not every change made to a live video game will directly benefit your interest group.
I do not want a random queue system.
Then don't. The random queue system will match waiting players to any eligible queue you care to queue in for. It should be much easier after AOD to find immediate games even outside the narrow range of min-max grinding favorites. That said, you will have a new option for simple of choice-of-mark queuing with the Defense of Starbase One, shipping next week, and it seems likely (until there's a new reputation) that future DSC themed queues will also feature choice of marks (another one's been teased on Ten Forward Weekly.)
Bipedal mammal and senior Foundry author.
Notable missions: Apex [AEI], Gemini [SSF], Trident [AEI], Evolution's Smile [SSF], Transcendence
Looking for something new to play? I've started building Foundry missions again in visual novel form!
This is a good thing, why, tonight for a long time I wanted to play some PvE, Queued like a sat for 20 mins waiting for one to pop.
Yes, Yes, Yes I could have run the queues that pop all the time but I have played them to DEATH! and I am bored of always doing the same.
This will "I hope" bring back the ones that people do not play.
100% agree. I've seen a lot of entitled whining on this forum and reddit over this announcement. At this point, I'm convinced that anything the devs do will be poorly received by the players. The players have become so averse to change that they will hate anything new. Here's a suggestion for my fellow players. Why don't you try out the new content before you decide that you hate it?
When you see "TRIBBLE" in my posts, it's because I manually typed "TRIBBLE" and censored myself.
Formerly known as Armsman from June 2008 to June 20, 2012 PWE ARC Drone says: "Your STO forum community as you have known it is ended...Display names are irrelevant...Any further sense of community is irrelevant...Resistance is futile...You will be assimilated..."
People are complaining that this change to Red Alerts was being done without testing or notice. Just to be clear, this is the most we have ever heard about changes to Red Alerts in quite some time.
They changed the Red Alerts into Queues, got rid of the Temporal Maurauders Red Alert, modified the reward structure in Borg Red Alerts (no Omega Marks and Choice Marks to just Choice) WITHOUT A MENTION IN ANY PATCH NOTES. No warning at all.
They also nerfed them being XP Boost Zones without notice.
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.'
This is a good thing, why, tonight for a long time I wanted to play some PvE, Queued like a sat for 20 mins waiting for one to pop.
Yes, Yes, Yes I could have run the queues that pop all the time but I have played them to DEATH! and I am bored of always doing the same.
This will "I hope" bring back the ones that people do not play.
nope... I cant do a quick RA for 5min of fun real quick? Imma log out or switch to an alt that can run argala.. Im not gonna jump on another queue in any way. And until they separate the space and ground queues Im sure as hell not touching the random button.
Red alerts are, by far, THE most reliable way to obtain dilithium. Not everyone has weekends free. Tell me cryptic, where else are we supposed to get dilithium as reliably?
Nothing is impossible, merely extremely difficult.
"Hey, I think I'll go try/play >Insert on of the MANY other MMOs and Single Player Games Here< instead."
Yes, because when having to spend a few more minutes playing STO is so unholy that you couldn't possibly stand it, an elaborated single player experience and the typical raiding found in other MMO's will much better serve your interests.
This is like saying "well, my favorite coffee shop closed down. I think I'll get a burger." Other queues are the closest possible analog to what's being removed and it is worth noting that adding alerts to the queue system is a relatively recent change in STO history. Favorites can and do shift without apocalyptic consequences.
Bipedal mammal and senior Foundry author.
Notable missions: Apex [AEI], Gemini [SSF], Trident [AEI], Evolution's Smile [SSF], Transcendence
Looking for something new to play? I've started building Foundry missions again in visual novel form!
Red alerts are, by far, THE most reliable way to obtain dilithium.
Reliably terrible. Admiralty and doffing in combination is much much more consistent and fast. It's crazy easy to get 8,000 dil a day per character without ever beaming up to your ship or shooting anyone.
When you see "TRIBBLE" in my posts, it's because I manually typed "TRIBBLE" and censored myself.
Red alerts are, by far, THE most reliable way to obtain dilithium. Not everyone has weekends free. Tell me cryptic, where else are we supposed to get dilithium as reliably?
voth bz is still king for quick dil as far as I know, and you can do what needs to be done solo
Ugh... I relied on Borg and Tholian Red Alerts to level up my reputations. Quick and easy, could fit in a couple even on busy work days, minimal lag, great experience... Most of the battlezones and queues take too long, are far too finicky, and reward far too little experience and rewards for time and effort, especially if you are a player like me who will never be all that optimal... Oh well, c'est la vie I guess.
Ugh... I relied on Borg and Tholian Red Alerts to level up my reputations. Quick and easy, could fit in a couple even on busy work days, minimal lag, great experience... Most of the battlezones and queues take too long, are far too finicky, and reward far too little experience and rewards for time and effort, especially if you are a player like me who will never be all that optimal... Oh well, c'est la vie I guess.
Reminder: the Defense of Starbase One queue will offer choice of marks. You will have a direct alternative to alerts when AoD launches next week.
Bipedal mammal and senior Foundry author.
Notable missions: Apex [AEI], Gemini [SSF], Trident [AEI], Evolution's Smile [SSF], Transcendence
Looking for something new to play? I've started building Foundry missions again in visual novel form!
Removal of well-played content, or making it much more limited, is not necessarily the best way to encourage people to continue to play the game.
And effectively replacing it with a new queue, as others have implied here, doesn't necessarily promise that people will enjoy or want to play the new queue, either.
It often feels like whoever makes these decisions doesn't actively play the game they work on to see how their choices influence people's overall enjoyment of the game.
In my opinion, content that is least played is the content that needs to be worked on, fixed, and expanded on to encourage people to play it. Removing content people do play in the hopes they'll swap over to something old or new that players have not/may not care to do doesn't strike me as logical. If the devs wish players to play unplayed content, then perhaps that content should be examined most.
So unless these weekend Red Alerts are going to be happening fairly often and still have everything players want from them, I don't think this is the best idea.
Red alerts are, by far, THE most reliable way to obtain dilithium.
Reliably terrible. Admiralty and doffing in combination is much much more consistent and fast. It's crazy easy to get 8,000 dil a day per character without ever beaming up to your ship or shooting anyone.
I've never been able to get more than 2k Dil per day with admiralty, save for the rare occasion when I level up a tree.
[/quote]
voth bz is still king for quick dil as far as I know, and you can do what needs to be done solo
[/quote]
Really? That's good to know. I think I know where I'll be..
Ugh... I relied on Borg and Tholian Red Alerts to level up my reputations. Quick and easy, could fit in a couple even on busy work days, minimal lag, great experience... Most of the battlezones and queues take too long, are far too finicky, and reward far too little experience and rewards for time and effort, especially if you are a player like me who will never be all that optimal... Oh well, c'est la vie I guess.
Reminder: the Defense of Starbase One queue will offer choice of marks. You will have a direct alternative to alerts when AoD launches next week.
That's REALLY good to know. I actually feel a lot better knowing that.
Nothing is impossible, merely extremely difficult.
This is not going to end well. Something that game developers and the elitist tryhard types never seem to understand, regardless of the game in question, is that removing the path of least resistance doesn't magically make harder content more appealing to the players that weren't bothering with it. A combination of three things tend to happen:
1) Some casual players will just shrug and find the next easiest means of getting what they want. In STO's case, this will mean just waiting for events that offer mark bonuses or, depending on how badly a player needs marks, flying out to battlezones instead.
2) If there is a rise in the number of players in higher content, it will primarily be those sorts of players who put in the minimum amount of effort not to get slapped with an AFK penalty, and expect the tryhards to carry them.
3) Finally, some players will just stop bothering with queue content altogether. At the absolute worse, they may even decide to stop bothering with the game completely
To be fair, on it's own, this change is merely an annoyance, especially since there will still be easy means of getting marks, but it also comes at a time when a significant chunk of the player population is already annoyed at having to deal with the fact that the only upcoming content will be Discovery-themed. Again, it may reach a point that some more casual players may start wondering why they continue to bother logging in at all.
"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!"
Absolutely terrible idea for me. I don't want to have to spend a whole weekend repeating RAs to "catch up" on the marks grind OR have to queue for random TFOs for the off chance you get a half decent team that can actually complete said TF (in my experience not a common occurrence). If you happen to have real life stuff to do on the RA weekends then you're SoL there too.
Guess I too will not be logging in as much any more and certainly won't be buying any more ships. But you don't care right, you already have my money I already spent.
Yes I could grind ship traits in some of the missions but I kinda liked jumping into an RA just to have some content with other players, I don't want to grind the same mission over and over, jumping out and back to level up a ship.
At times, I feel like the feedback given is instead used as a list of what NOT to do. Because that's generally what happens. Suggestions are given for things that can help the overall health of the queues and Cryptic ends up doing the exact opposite.
At times, I feel like the feedback given is instead used as a list of what NOT to do. Because that's generally what happens. Suggestions are given for things that can help the overall health of the queues and Cryptic ends up doing the exact opposite.
The vast majority of player suggestions for queue improvement basically boil down to "increase rewards across the board." That by itself is not a solution to getting people to play more than the 3 queues that they already play. Removing RA's is a good start to revitalizing the queues. Adding the random option WITH the bonus rewards that people are begging for is another great step IMO.
When you see "TRIBBLE" in my posts, it's because I manually typed "TRIBBLE" and censored myself.
There's no waiting to start one, they don't take long to complete, and they're very straightforward. Jump in for a few minutes of all-out combat, blow up stuff, collect a decent reward, and walk away feeling like you accomplished something. They're the perfect "bite sized" content. Perfect for when I've had a long day and want to squeeze in a little STO before I crash.
So yeah, put me firmly in the "not happy with this change" category. When I'm looking for something short and sweet, getting rid of that option doesn't suddenly make longer wait times and more involved content more appealing to me. It just means I'll skip queues altogether on those days, do my DOFFs and log,
Comments
I play STO for light, casual fun. RAs are a lot of what keeps me here during the long, dry spells between new story content because they're easily accessible: they pop all the time, they're fun and I can solo the whole encounter if my PUG needs that much help.
I do not want a random queue system. I don't use those in any MMO, and Trek is a particularly bad fit for the whole notion due to the vast disparity in difficulty between various missions. I'm never clicking that button, and if I had to guess, the majority of players will quickly come to see things my way if they don't already.
I also don't want to have to organize premades. I like logging in for an hour or so. I don't want to hop on Teamspeak and have to work out what everybody else wants to play. I just want to go shoot stuff. Immediately.
With this change, you're reducing me to BZs for the kind of experience that I want from STO most of the time. You are not encouraging me to go back and revitalize the queues, you're encouraging me to spend less time in here overall, and decreasing my interest in coming and doing Admiralty daily to prop up your metrics.
Anyway. Hope you reconsider this. I know it won't be soon. I'll still be around to check out Discovery story content, and I don't want to dump on the devs or the game generally. Just letting you know that you can't pressure players into content they don't enjoy, even if they are positive about the game generally.
Yes, Yes, Yes I could have run the queues that pop all the time but I have played them to DEATH! and I am bored of always doing the same.
This will "I hope" bring back the ones that people do not play.
Tuff , consoles got the shaft so now PC gets it too?
Random Queues? You cannot change specializations or traits once you enter the combat zone , what good is commando in gateway to greythor , or pilot in bug hunt? I use different set ups depending on the enemy i plan to face , some require a more defensive set up while others can be all out damage.
You cannot force people to play instances they do not want to play , i see a lot of AFK penalties in the future.
They also prevent other queues from popping by concentrating the population in a small set of highly reductive queues which fail to make use of STO gameplay mechanics to their full potential (they are way too uncomplicated). Folks like me have been asking Cryptic to nerf alerts for some time and I don't think it's fair to discussion to try to reframe this change as the community being maligned in any way.
Sorry it didn't break your way this time, but not every change made to a live video game will directly benefit your interest group.
Then don't. The random queue system will match waiting players to any eligible queue you care to queue in for. It should be much easier after AOD to find immediate games even outside the narrow range of min-max grinding favorites. That said, you will have a new option for simple of choice-of-mark queuing with the Defense of Starbase One, shipping next week, and it seems likely (until there's a new reputation) that future DSC themed queues will also feature choice of marks (another one's been teased on Ten Forward Weekly.)
Notable missions: Apex [AEI], Gemini [SSF], Trident [AEI], Evolution's Smile [SSF], Transcendence
Looking for something new to play? I've started building Foundry missions again in visual novel form!
100% agree. I've seen a lot of entitled whining on this forum and reddit over this announcement. At this point, I'm convinced that anything the devs do will be poorly received by the players. The players have become so averse to change that they will hate anything new. Here's a suggestion for my fellow players. Why don't you try out the new content before you decide that you hate it?
PWE ARC Drone says: "Your STO forum community as you have known it is ended...Display names are irrelevant...Any further sense of community is irrelevant...Resistance is futile...You will be assimilated..."
They changed the Red Alerts into Queues, got rid of the Temporal Maurauders Red Alert, modified the reward structure in Borg Red Alerts (no Omega Marks and Choice Marks to just Choice) WITHOUT A MENTION IN ANY PATCH NOTES. No warning at all.
They also nerfed them being XP Boost Zones without notice.
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.'
nope... I cant do a quick RA for 5min of fun real quick? Imma log out or switch to an alt that can run argala.. Im not gonna jump on another queue in any way. And until they separate the space and ground queues Im sure as hell not touching the random button.
Yes, because when having to spend a few more minutes playing STO is so unholy that you couldn't possibly stand it, an elaborated single player experience and the typical raiding found in other MMO's will much better serve your interests.
This is like saying "well, my favorite coffee shop closed down. I think I'll get a burger." Other queues are the closest possible analog to what's being removed and it is worth noting that adding alerts to the queue system is a relatively recent change in STO history. Favorites can and do shift without apocalyptic consequences.
Notable missions: Apex [AEI], Gemini [SSF], Trident [AEI], Evolution's Smile [SSF], Transcendence
Looking for something new to play? I've started building Foundry missions again in visual novel form!
voth bz is still king for quick dil as far as I know, and you can do what needs to be done solo
Reminder: the Defense of Starbase One queue will offer choice of marks. You will have a direct alternative to alerts when AoD launches next week.
Notable missions: Apex [AEI], Gemini [SSF], Trident [AEI], Evolution's Smile [SSF], Transcendence
Looking for something new to play? I've started building Foundry missions again in visual novel form!
And effectively replacing it with a new queue, as others have implied here, doesn't necessarily promise that people will enjoy or want to play the new queue, either.
It often feels like whoever makes these decisions doesn't actively play the game they work on to see how their choices influence people's overall enjoyment of the game.
In my opinion, content that is least played is the content that needs to be worked on, fixed, and expanded on to encourage people to play it. Removing content people do play in the hopes they'll swap over to something old or new that players have not/may not care to do doesn't strike me as logical. If the devs wish players to play unplayed content, then perhaps that content should be examined most.
So unless these weekend Red Alerts are going to be happening fairly often and still have everything players want from them, I don't think this is the best idea.
I've never been able to get more than 2k Dil per day with admiralty, save for the rare occasion when I level up a tree.
[/quote]
voth bz is still king for quick dil as far as I know, and you can do what needs to be done solo
[/quote]
Really? That's good to know. I think I know where I'll be..
That's REALLY good to know. I actually feel a lot better knowing that.
1) Some casual players will just shrug and find the next easiest means of getting what they want. In STO's case, this will mean just waiting for events that offer mark bonuses or, depending on how badly a player needs marks, flying out to battlezones instead.
2) If there is a rise in the number of players in higher content, it will primarily be those sorts of players who put in the minimum amount of effort not to get slapped with an AFK penalty, and expect the tryhards to carry them.
3) Finally, some players will just stop bothering with queue content altogether. At the absolute worse, they may even decide to stop bothering with the game completely
To be fair, on it's own, this change is merely an annoyance, especially since there will still be easy means of getting marks, but it also comes at a time when a significant chunk of the player population is already annoyed at having to deal with the fact that the only upcoming content will be Discovery-themed. Again, it may reach a point that some more casual players may start wondering why they continue to bother logging in at all.
Guess I too will not be logging in as much any more and certainly won't be buying any more ships. But you don't care right, you already have my money I already spent.
Yes I could grind ship traits in some of the missions but I kinda liked jumping into an RA just to have some content with other players, I don't want to grind the same mission over and over, jumping out and back to level up a ship.
There's no waiting to start one, they don't take long to complete, and they're very straightforward. Jump in for a few minutes of all-out combat, blow up stuff, collect a decent reward, and walk away feeling like you accomplished something. They're the perfect "bite sized" content. Perfect for when I've had a long day and want to squeeze in a little STO before I crash.
So yeah, put me firmly in the "not happy with this change" category. When I'm looking for something short and sweet, getting rid of that option doesn't suddenly make longer wait times and more involved content more appealing to me. It just means I'll skip queues altogether on those days, do my DOFFs and log,