I haven't watched Discovery much but isn't this a loosing battle? Historically speaking it would be like a simulation of the Alamo. They should do a Featured TFO of Operation: Return from the Dominion war.
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rattler2Member, Star Trek Online ModeratorPosts: 58,586Community Moderator
The records of that battle are spotty at best. So its not an entirely accurate simulation... as mentioned in the STF.
The new event map is alright in my opinion. Beautiful stage visuals and fun to see how my NX transformed to a Shepard class.
Gameplay is mono directional but for an event map better suited than Breach and especially Mirror.
As for the timers I noticed that many (if not all?) terminate prematurely when the respective tasks are in fact completed prematurely in the respective phases. Confusing a bit that there are multiples given one after the other (kill 20, then 40, then 60 ships e.g.) but ok, fair compromise. Timers just seem to be around for those teams who can’t make it in time so that the next phase triggers in any case. In short to AFK through there might not be the fastest way to complete it.
Sadly only Normal mode available but all in all a C+ rating for the map from me; could be better but could have also been much worse.
Rest assured that the 800 zen 10 tay buy out option feels a lot less tempting than during last Breach.
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Those audio clips from the show are pretty cringe inducing. "When we're fighting, it means we're not talking" is presumably meant to be deliberately awful, but even so, it's more parody than satire. And T'Kuma's speech (and enunciation) sounds like something from a tacky 1950s movie.
No advanced version? Probably testing the waters. As for the "threat level"...
I haven't played it myself yet but I'm not gonna just brush off the NPCs because of one variable... Player Power Creep. If there's only a Normal level... most players are going to curbstomp it even without DPS builds. Get some decent crowd control and watch the fireworks.
Was looking for an advanced version as well (dare i say elite...)
It's a shame that only the last rounds give XP otherwise this queue would have been a nice mastery spot.
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.
Having run this a few times on different characters.
It's OK, some XP from the first half would be nice. So far it's only being earned after the corny Admiral gets blown up.
One sad, pathetic thing though. It's less than 24 hours old and people are already leeching by going AFK.
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Something I don't understand at all... why do they keep making heavily timegated maps like this? I think I might just try to AFK it next time, MIA style.
To pad play-time metrics.
Players doing anything in the mission is not a measurable quantity, but the time they spend in it is. So that's what they're going for.
Or because player DPS generally outstretches NPC survivability to such a margin that if you simply have kill objectives the entire match can be more or less perfunctory. See. ISA, CCA, Argala. Time gates effectively calibrate how many enemies you face to actual performance. So, those on the side of "vaporize everything" can still have a round with some meat to it (through sheer volume of enemies) without putting a huge kill-objective requirement to roadblock lower level players.
Waiting out a timer I wouldn't call " a round with some meat to it." For anyone.
Putting up optional respawning enemies to shoot to no end while waiting is just a pointless distraction. No different from the optional toy rocket construction in First Contact Day.
PS. Cryptic doesn't gain anything by "padding out their metrics" with respect to per-match playtime. If folks spend as much time overall with shorter matches then that's no objective problem for their bottom line, looking only at primary interactions. See. the long regime of RA/CCA/ISA grinding.
Cryptic is required by their corporate overlords to show their new content releases and events are "successful." The way to do this is to show that people are playing them a lot. And since Cryptic is, for whatever reason, unwilling to require players to play events more than once per day, the only way to increase play-time is to make sure they spend more time per run.
People grinding CCA does not contribute to an event's play-time, except when the event is CCA.
I haven't watched Discovery much but isn't this a loosing battle? Historically speaking it would be like a simulation of the Alamo. They should do a Featured TFO of Operation: Return from the Dominion war.
It's draw, while UFP isn't able to hold the system the klingon forces are damaged enough that survivors from the battle are able to be rescued (though not all survivors as the klingons capture some). It's a case of both sides abbandoning the system as unviable to position strategically.
only sarcophagus ship and wrecks of those ships destroyed remains since it they were unable to leave[/spoiler}
Those audio clips from the show are pretty cringe inducing. "When we're fighting, it means we're not talking" is presumably meant to be deliberately awful, but even so, it's more parody than satire. And T'Kuma's speech (and enunciation) sounds like something from a tacky 1950s movie.
T'kuvma is suppose to be bad at English (he's not using the universal translator but actually talking in English), since a) he's a fanatic b)Klingons of this era haven't had much training in English anyway, c)He has a bit of thearetical personality as well, so he's playing for the "audience" in-universe.
Waiting out a timer I wouldn't call " a round with some meat to it." For anyone.
Perhaps not but that requires the omission of what's taking place during that time period. Ie. gameplay.
Consider priorities, if you're looking for a speed run for completion's sake (never mind this game what we're ostensibly playing) then time gates are a problem. If you're looking to play something, they do have advantages in TFO design. Overperforming players don't strip the combat out, their impact is buffered.
Cryptic is required by their corporate overlords to show their new content releases and events are "successful." The way to do this is to show that people are playing them a lot. And since Cryptic is, for whatever reason, unwilling to require players to play events more than once per day, the only way to increase play-time is to make sure they spend more time per run.
This makes no sense. From what plane did you pull the notion that the senior folks at PWE/Cryptic/Illuminati care most about the duration of TFO's? Cryptic could go to FAR greater extremes in design to maximize this parameter if it was the all and all. Just take the old STF structure. We're no where near that level of padding and yet we're supposed to be living under the regime of corporate overlords who hold precisely that quality as supreme? (not, say, anything that has a material impact on their financial success? Again, it doesn't matter how long someone plays an event TFO provided they're playing them consistently and that isn't having a knock-on effect on player engagement with STO as a whole and microtransactions in particular [per the reductionist corporate view of game design]. And under those circumstances a popcorn queue like Borg RA is easier to justify. It isn't actively challenging the player to take part in gameplay, just participate with the skinner box of minimal effort (repeated) -> reward.)
Hell, just compare Battle at Binary to Mirror Invasion. The timegating is less severe and overt despite the possible escalation that could have taken place. Why? Because Cryptic's improving gameplay design. Here we have 3 stages, mixed objectives, scaling optionals, and an added focal point (the Sarco and Shenzou) which you can strategize around (science magic the sarco away, DPS it to sleep, or focus on objectives that aren't near it.) They are getting better at using time gates as a buffer to scale gameplay difficulty (in a very immediate and non-exclusionary way) while providing a variety of other objectives and foci.
Should the next TFO be another space-based killing pit? No, even a good TFO doesn't stand to be repeated ad infinitum but for the Battle at Binary the design is very appropriate and Cryptic has done quite a lot to make it more interesting than the minimum of "Argala but with DSC Klingons."
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What is not underwhelming is the amount of Discovery ships Cryptic has already put in the game for these missions. Was very pleased to see the new Klingon ships added. I haven't played Starbase One again yet, i wonder if the new models have been added there as well. They definitely deserve to.
Now these ships need to be made playable as soon as possible. Preferably in a manner similar to the Nimitz/Europa - a DSC era variant, and a STO era variant. (I am not very optimistic it will be that awesome.)
Star Trek Online Advancement: You start with lowbie gear, you end with Lobi gear.
Perhaps you could toss in some boarding parties that gives you the option of praying your Doff's can repel them or switching to your ship interior and repelling them yourself and praying your Doff's can handle the space scene.
Just imagine the look on the players face when they lose control and their ship starts blasting all their buddies...muhahahahahahha!!!
Now that I think about it, would have been much more fun if it had been a PvP map with pre-configured ships! Actually opening up for the possibility of fed players getting stomped by the Klingons.
"If you can't take a little bloody nose, maybe you ought to go back home and crawl under your bed. It's not safe out here. It's wondrous, with treasures to satiate desires both subtle and gross. But it's not for the timid." - Q
Now that I think about it, would have been much more fun if it had been a PvP map with pre-configured ships! Actually opening up for the possibility of fed players getting stomped by the Klingons.
Then that would put people off, enforced PVP is a big no
"The meaning of victory is not to merely defeat your enemy but to destroy him, to completely eradicate him from living memory, to leave no remnant of his endeavours, to crush utterly his achievement and remove from all record his every trace of existence. From that defeat no enemy can ever recover. That is the meaning of victory."
-Lord Commander Solar Macharius
Actually, I have to agree. Making it a PvP battle might've been pretty cool. FED protecting the Shenzhou, KDF protecting the Sarcophagus, and everyone shooting at each other.
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Views and Opinions May Not Reflect the Views and Opinions of Gearbox/Cryptic
Now that I think about it, would have been much more fun if it had been a PvP map with pre-configured ships! Actually opening up for the possibility of fed players getting stomped by the Klingons.
Then that would put people off, enforced PVP is a big no
Why? Pre-loaded ships would be perfectly fair and balanced, and the only difference between shooting other players over NPC's is the fact that players can actually defend themselves and provide a genuine challenge.
"If you can't take a little bloody nose, maybe you ought to go back home and crawl under your bed. It's not safe out here. It's wondrous, with treasures to satiate desires both subtle and gross. But it's not for the timid." - Q
Now that I think about it, would have been much more fun if it had been a PvP map with pre-configured ships! Actually opening up for the possibility of fed players getting stomped by the Klingons.
Then that would put people off, enforced PVP is a big no
Why? Pre-loaded ships would be perfectly fair and balanced, and the only difference between shooting other players over NPC's is the fact that players can actually defend themselves and provide a genuine challenge.
not everyone likes or enjoys PVP
"The meaning of victory is not to merely defeat your enemy but to destroy him, to completely eradicate him from living memory, to leave no remnant of his endeavours, to crush utterly his achievement and remove from all record his every trace of existence. From that defeat no enemy can ever recover. That is the meaning of victory."
-Lord Commander Solar Macharius
Now that I think about it, would have been much more fun if it had been a PvP map with pre-configured ships! Actually opening up for the possibility of fed players getting stomped by the Klingons.
Then that would put people off, enforced PVP is a big no
Why? Pre-loaded ships would be perfectly fair and balanced, and the only difference between shooting other players over NPC's is the fact that players can actually defend themselves and provide a genuine challenge.
not everyone likes or enjoys PVP
People like shooting things and blowing things up. What difference does it make if it's NPC's or other Players?
"If you can't take a little bloody nose, maybe you ought to go back home and crawl under your bed. It's not safe out here. It's wondrous, with treasures to satiate desires both subtle and gross. But it's not for the timid." - Q
I haven't read to much on this, but I have some thoughts on the event.
It's not the worst, but I feel it could be better. I mean it's pretty much a blow everything up event, and I dont' mind those. But one part in particular rubs me the wrong way, and it's a combination of how it's implemented, and how people try(or rather, complete lack of trying) to play it.
The rescue pods part.
I am slowly getting annoyed at it, both because the circle is especially small which severely limits escorts abilities to defend themselves(and I primarily play escorts and birds of pray/raptors, I like agile ships), and it seems to make it a little harder for a first timer to see them. I didn't have any difficulty thankfully, though my very first run I admit, I didn't realize you could rescue the pods.
But then theres players playing it. I appreciate the teams that try. I really do. Because I'm seeing here and there, teams which brush it off and ignore the whole thing. I can't stand it. I can't stand it because A: It means i'm doing it by myself. B: I'm getting blown up because being in an escort/BoP I'm severely limited in my survivability when I have to slow down to rescue the pods.
It doesn't help me much when I'm the only one rescueing a set of pods while everyone rushes another likewise, and it sometimes annoys me to. Best I can do is try to kill birds of pray as fast as possible, since I'll have no time to rescue them with to many enemy ships around. It's not as bad as when they don't even try at least.
It kind of annoys me that, I have to tell everyone how to do that part. I can at least try to make it sound nice, though one time I failed to do so, came off as a stupid stop having fun guy(SHFG), triggered one of the players. I apologized for my slightly aggressive dimeaner in the text(thankfully it wasn't the worst I'd seen that was SHFG-like), but, I feel the damage was done. People INTENTIONALLY ignored the rescue pods except maybe me and one other person.
And the part completely failed in that run. I kept quiet and added the suspect scrub to ignore(I at least apologized for my bad behavior but spitefulness is still spitefulness and I admit, I despise scrubs even more then SHFGs). But the perfectionistic side of me was shaking his head. I felt annoyed at myself.
The part is otherwise easy when people at least try.
It's otherwise fun, but that second part just triggers my pet peves. Particularly, when people won't even try to do something. I don't expect perfection, just, try know? I don't really say anything or complain when I see it get less than 10 marks on the part, kind of rude to. But I just cannot help but feel annoyed at how people play that part. It's like camping in multiplayer games to me, not the smartest strat due to being easily countered, won't really win the match, gives up the initiative, and considered rather dishonorable way of playing.
Rescue pods are people, people . And it's dishonrable to let them be captured by racist psychotic 23c klingons who lack honor! So...rescue them .
Thinking of ideas from lots of games for, dunno how long now.
Actually, I have to agree. Making it a PvP battle might've been pretty cool. FED protecting the Shenzhou, KDF protecting the Sarcophagus, and everyone shooting at each other.
it would never pop. There aren't enough KDF players left who even KNOW HOW to PvP to make that viable, and it's doubtful you'd be able to get enough KDF players at any given time to get it to pop in the first place. (our numbers are A LOT smaller than they were in 2012, even adding in KDF-Romulans).
The devs want it to succeed, ergo, it is fed-focused PvE.
If the ships are premade and balanced for the era players don't have to know how to PvP, and who gets assigned to which team doesn't even have to actually be faction based, its a simulation after all.
"If you can't take a little bloody nose, maybe you ought to go back home and crawl under your bed. It's not safe out here. It's wondrous, with treasures to satiate desires both subtle and gross. But it's not for the timid." - Q
It's pretty boring TBH. Basically blow up 100 Klingon ships (just like in the show right?) then save some escape pods. Blow up another 100 ships and then officially lose the battle. Meh.
When you see "TRIBBLE" in my posts, it's because I manually typed "TRIBBLE" and censored myself.
the 3 bonus spec boxes are only awarded if you finish the assignment... ie turn in 14 event marks... and it's once per account.
at least with featured episode you get it up front once a week by doing the episode.
now you need to grind it out for 14 days to get 3 spec boxes.
since the summon support device all share a cool down with other summon support devices... no just no. I'll wait for the winter event. if this is a taste of things to come for more grinding of task force ques... cant wait till you guys get a new EP to change course from this.
the 3 bonus spec boxes are only awarded if you finish the assignment... ie turn in 14 event marks... and it's once per account.
at least with featured episode you get it up front once a week by doing the episode.
now you need to grind it out for 14 days to get 3 spec boxes.
since the summon support device all share a cool down with other summon support devices... no just no. I'll wait for the winter event. if this is a taste of things to come for more grinding of task force ques... cant wait till you guys get a new EP to change course from this.
It's an event like the crystaline catastrophe or the recent Breach event immediately after.
Thinking of ideas from lots of games for, dunno how long now.
Comments
Gameplay is mono directional but for an event map better suited than Breach and especially Mirror.
As for the timers I noticed that many (if not all?) terminate prematurely when the respective tasks are in fact completed prematurely in the respective phases. Confusing a bit that there are multiples given one after the other (kill 20, then 40, then 60 ships e.g.) but ok, fair compromise. Timers just seem to be around for those teams who can’t make it in time so that the next phase triggers in any case. In short to AFK through there might not be the fastest way to complete it.
Sadly only Normal mode available but all in all a C+ rating for the map from me; could be better but could have also been much worse.
Rest assured that the 800 zen 10 tay buy out option feels a lot less tempting than during last Breach.
Looking for a fun PvE fleet? Join us at Omega Combat Division today.
Was looking for an advanced version as well (dare i say elite...)
It's a shame that only the last rounds give XP otherwise this queue would have been a nice mastery spot.
It's OK, some XP from the first half would be nice. So far it's only being earned after the corny Admiral gets blown up.
One sad, pathetic thing though. It's less than 24 hours old and people are already leeching by going AFK.
Putting up optional respawning enemies to shoot to no end while waiting is just a pointless distraction. No different from the optional toy rocket construction in First Contact Day.
Cryptic is required by their corporate overlords to show their new content releases and events are "successful." The way to do this is to show that people are playing them a lot. And since Cryptic is, for whatever reason, unwilling to require players to play events more than once per day, the only way to increase play-time is to make sure they spend more time per run.
People grinding CCA does not contribute to an event's play-time, except when the event is CCA.
T'kuvma is suppose to be bad at English (he's not using the universal translator but actually talking in English), since a) he's a fanatic b)Klingons of this era haven't had much training in English anyway, c)He has a bit of thearetical personality as well, so he's playing for the "audience" in-universe.
Perhaps not but that requires the omission of what's taking place during that time period. Ie. gameplay.
Consider priorities, if you're looking for a speed run for completion's sake (never mind this game what we're ostensibly playing) then time gates are a problem. If you're looking to play something, they do have advantages in TFO design. Overperforming players don't strip the combat out, their impact is buffered.
This makes no sense. From what plane did you pull the notion that the senior folks at PWE/Cryptic/Illuminati care most about the duration of TFO's? Cryptic could go to FAR greater extremes in design to maximize this parameter if it was the all and all. Just take the old STF structure. We're no where near that level of padding and yet we're supposed to be living under the regime of corporate overlords who hold precisely that quality as supreme? (not, say, anything that has a material impact on their financial success? Again, it doesn't matter how long someone plays an event TFO provided they're playing them consistently and that isn't having a knock-on effect on player engagement with STO as a whole and microtransactions in particular [per the reductionist corporate view of game design]. And under those circumstances a popcorn queue like Borg RA is easier to justify. It isn't actively challenging the player to take part in gameplay, just participate with the skinner box of minimal effort (repeated) -> reward.)
Hell, just compare Battle at Binary to Mirror Invasion. The timegating is less severe and overt despite the possible escalation that could have taken place. Why? Because Cryptic's improving gameplay design. Here we have 3 stages, mixed objectives, scaling optionals, and an added focal point (the Sarco and Shenzou) which you can strategize around (science magic the sarco away, DPS it to sleep, or focus on objectives that aren't near it.) They are getting better at using time gates as a buffer to scale gameplay difficulty (in a very immediate and non-exclusionary way) while providing a variety of other objectives and foci.
Should the next TFO be another space-based killing pit? No, even a good TFO doesn't stand to be repeated ad infinitum but for the Battle at Binary the design is very appropriate and Cryptic has done quite a lot to make it more interesting than the minimum of "Argala but with DSC Klingons."
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!
Now these ships need to be made playable as soon as possible. Preferably in a manner similar to the Nimitz/Europa - a DSC era variant, and a STO era variant. (I am not very optimistic it will be that awesome.)
Just imagine the look on the players face when they lose control and their ship starts blasting all their buddies...muhahahahahahha!!!
Then that would put people off, enforced PVP is a big no
-Lord Commander Solar Macharius
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Why? Pre-loaded ships would be perfectly fair and balanced, and the only difference between shooting other players over NPC's is the fact that players can actually defend themselves and provide a genuine challenge.
not everyone likes or enjoys PVP
-Lord Commander Solar Macharius
People like shooting things and blowing things up. What difference does it make if it's NPC's or other Players?
It's not the worst, but I feel it could be better. I mean it's pretty much a blow everything up event, and I dont' mind those. But one part in particular rubs me the wrong way, and it's a combination of how it's implemented, and how people try(or rather, complete lack of trying) to play it.
The rescue pods part.
I am slowly getting annoyed at it, both because the circle is especially small which severely limits escorts abilities to defend themselves(and I primarily play escorts and birds of pray/raptors, I like agile ships), and it seems to make it a little harder for a first timer to see them. I didn't have any difficulty thankfully, though my very first run I admit, I didn't realize you could rescue the pods.
But then theres players playing it. I appreciate the teams that try. I really do. Because I'm seeing here and there, teams which brush it off and ignore the whole thing. I can't stand it. I can't stand it because A: It means i'm doing it by myself. B: I'm getting blown up because being in an escort/BoP I'm severely limited in my survivability when I have to slow down to rescue the pods.
It doesn't help me much when I'm the only one rescueing a set of pods while everyone rushes another likewise, and it sometimes annoys me to. Best I can do is try to kill birds of pray as fast as possible, since I'll have no time to rescue them with to many enemy ships around. It's not as bad as when they don't even try at least.
It kind of annoys me that, I have to tell everyone how to do that part. I can at least try to make it sound nice, though one time I failed to do so, came off as a stupid stop having fun guy(SHFG), triggered one of the players. I apologized for my slightly aggressive dimeaner in the text(thankfully it wasn't the worst I'd seen that was SHFG-like), but, I feel the damage was done. People INTENTIONALLY ignored the rescue pods except maybe me and one other person.
And the part completely failed in that run. I kept quiet and added the suspect scrub to ignore(I at least apologized for my bad behavior but spitefulness is still spitefulness and I admit, I despise scrubs even more then SHFGs). But the perfectionistic side of me was shaking his head. I felt annoyed at myself.
The part is otherwise easy when people at least try.
It's otherwise fun, but that second part just triggers my pet peves. Particularly, when people won't even try to do something. I don't expect perfection, just, try know? I don't really say anything or complain when I see it get less than 10 marks on the part, kind of rude to. But I just cannot help but feel annoyed at how people play that part. It's like camping in multiplayer games to me, not the smartest strat due to being easily countered, won't really win the match, gives up the initiative, and considered rather dishonorable way of playing.
Rescue pods are people, people
Thinking of ideas from lots of games for, dunno how long now.
If the ships are premade and balanced for the era players don't have to know how to PvP, and who gets assigned to which team doesn't even have to actually be faction based, its a simulation after all.
the 3 bonus spec boxes are only awarded if you finish the assignment... ie turn in 14 event marks... and it's once per account.
at least with featured episode you get it up front once a week by doing the episode.
now you need to grind it out for 14 days to get 3 spec boxes.
since the summon support device all share a cool down with other summon support devices... no just no. I'll wait for the winter event. if this is a taste of things to come for more grinding of task force ques... cant wait till you guys get a new EP to change course from this.
It's an event like the crystaline catastrophe or the recent Breach event immediately after.
Thinking of ideas from lots of games for, dunno how long now.