Another reason ISA is so popular is because its so easy you can just faceroll the keyboard for all intents and purposes.
I have nothing against easy, I just do get tired of fighting the same Borg over the same Starbase so often. Probably why I haven't done random for a while. That and a minor case of Event Fatigue.
Also I tend to panic a bit when I see a Vaadwaur Juggernaught in ISA. Most of the time things might die before I even get a shot off so I'm scrambling to at least do some damage before I get slapped with an AFK penalty due to sheer damage output.
Imagine Juggers with the extra console from upgrade now
Actually just finished an ISA instance (queued for Random, got ISA). Suited me initally as had an endeavour to destroy five Borg ships. And I struggled do so thanks to an OP Juggernaught that CSV'ed the map into oblivion in what was a 25 second instance.
I imagine T6X Tzen-tar dreads are also as effective too, potentially 7 tac consoles and 2 hangars - got one from the lobi pack from the coupon or lobi choice event but I havent used or upgraded yet
> @lordmerc22 said: > (Quote) > > I imagine T6X Tzen-tar dreads are also as effective too, potentially 7 tac consoles and 2 hangars - got one from the lobi pack from the coupon or lobi choice event but I havent used or upgraded yet > > https://sto.gamepedia.com/Tzenkethi_Tzen-tar_Dreadnought_Carrier > > there are a few ships that are very OP now
Yea both ships perform more OP now than they ever did before. 😎
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Cryptic really hasn't trained people to chase the DPS dragon, since DPS isn't really that necessary in most TFOs in the game, and hasn't been for awhile. Not to mention neither story missions, patrols, or battlezones, require particularly good DPS either.
When elite versions of the borg queues became available more recently, I quickly found out most my builds could not complete it as they are pure DPS measuring sticks with timers.
Elite queues don't pop and I really don't like sitting around half an hour for a DPS channel or whatever to organize a pre-made team with a billion DPS ships erasing any gameplay or challenge out of existence for you.
Advanced content is too easy even if I'm carrying the whole team, so I was disappointed to see their elite variants out of reach from all except my T6 Scimitar with elachi DHC parsing at 100K on Rom-Tac.
I don't chase DPS, don't get a chance to experiment enough or care to chase the ever-changing meta, which is watching previously expensive hard to earn stuff get nerfed and replaced by newer stuff. I do efficient grinds to try to keep up a ton of well-equipped toons and switch games cause STO after so many years is a mechanically/gameplay/teamplay-wise worthless game save for nice visuals and Star Trek-like when the visuals and screen flashes don't blind it completely.
My challenge in STO is trying to keep it fun and avoid hitting the uninstall button. That means polishing my own builds of ships I enjoy for various reasons, and applying them in elite patrols solo.
This too is getting stale as the gameplay still revolves around 'more DPS to get more self-heals from dmg dealt to prevent monstrous incoming damage that will wear down even zombie cruisers while lengthening the patrol endlessly.'
Story missions are boring. I'd rather watch a good movie or series.
Battlezones if not broken are watching paint dry with boring objectives and truly easy-mode stupid AI NPCs.
STO to me feels like it's been trapped for years in this limbo, so I reduce my play time accordingly and so far managed to avoid uninstalling.
Devs: Provide the option to Turn OFF full screen flashes from enemy ship explosions
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> Advanced content is too easy even if I'm carrying the whole team, so I was disappointed to see their elite variants out of reach from all except my T6 Scimitar with elachi DHC parsing at 100K on Rom-Tac.
That is some valid concern.
I also think that cryptic went a bit overboard with the demands. I mean advanced Infected Space requires like 12k per player or so. For ISE the start fail timer requires to bring 110kish per player. That’s just a huge level step to have us be ten times as powerful to stand a chance.
I suspect they just expect us to become more powerful over time via perks, t6x and such mad releases as the trait of the new Terran Warship.
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I usually do not leave, because even tho I hate these queues, it wouldn't be fair to the other members of my team - of course, from time to time it happens that 3 people leave and at that point there's really no point in trying to finish it.
What seems clear here is that, once again, people see time-gated, repetitive and infinite-wave queues as having "mechanics" and think that having a "DPS check" equals dining with the evil incarnate. When in reality, neither of those things are true.
These people should go do some serious raiding in any of the many MMORPGs that actually *have* raids. They'd learn a thing or two, but I guess it's easy to just go into every thread and TRIBBLE on people that think TRIBBLE like "Defense of Starbase 1" is actually a queue that requires team work... and that's just one example of MANY.
Hell, this new STF is just more time-gated afking drivel.
The problem though is that when there is something with actual mechanics... some just see enemy mobs and go "we just need to pew pew and win". I once took part in the ground competetive queue, and got stuck over the FIRST mechanic because the rest of my team was content to just shoot the infinitely spawning enemies on the other side of the chasm as if it would solve everything. I even tried to tell them to push the button so I could cross... but nope. Kill all the things and leave me standing on an invisible path with no way to cheese the system myself. Suffice to say... my team never even beat the FIRST puzzle that run. And it was the classic invisible floor puzzle too! Apparently no one knew how to push a button!
Its probably easier sometimes to see this in Core Assault or Twin Tribulations, where some may elect to just fight rather than do the mechanic in order to progress.
One of the more baffling moments for me recently was queuing for Pahvo Dissension . Needed the marks and it's a pretty easy one with even okay ground builds while still rewarding very nicely. Clearly not everyone agrees with me on that because two people bailed immediately. At least it did backfill after a couple of minutes. Another run had two people saying how much they hated it in Team chat, but at least they stayed.
But on the subject of Lukari, it took me a few tries to realize what to do on Tzenkethi Front, but I did. Since I have several different alts with different styles, I try to play to that particular strength, such as when I'm on something like Tank builds, I like to screen the runners. Things like that are nice to me because I feel like that variety actually works and is still valuable to play. Can't random into Dranuur Beach because it's a 10 person queue, but I wouldn't mind if that ever happened, even though I still don't know it as well. Grav Kills I'm still on the fence on. It really should award way more marks for the trouble, same with Tzen Front. But I did end up RATFO into Grav Kills with a PUG that had 4 people running particles, and we hit all optionals. I was shocked and pleasantly surprised. It actually felt fun, which I think it was always intended to. That made me reevaluate my feelings on that particular TFO.
I feel similarly about Synth Wave. I've had plenty of non-bugged runs lately after Thursday, and each one's gotten better. One in particular had all 5 of us well spread out, prioritizing beaming up and filling outer ships, then transports, and keeping things moving inward as needed. It rewards extremely well for the effort, too, and I enjoy that. I'm really looking forward to a possible Advanced or Elite version of it. And I hope they never get rid of that music - I got a deep laugh out of the pun.
Call me "El," she/her only. I love my wife and I don't care who knows it!
The penalties are basically nothing if someone wants to avoid a queue, despite that makes it harder for everyone else who stays. Give them a 2h leavers penalty and problem is solved. Random queue is expected to be mostly random, if someone wants a specific one, he/she can queue for a specific one. That is my opinion
I also play GW2, bought it back when it wasn't F2P, got a Mesmer that I enjoy more than my Elemental now. It is a nice game, the open world aspect, and not hard to run into trouble by having too many enemies gather and chase you down. Just don't get around to actually playing it very much at all as time is limited.
Good points about the game design, some of the newer TFOs are really cool, Pahvo ground, Tzenkethi front, and a bunch of others too. The Borg TFOs I still enjoy as they require a tiny bit of that, keep the probes from entering the portals, or keep nanites from repairing, but the elite variants being DPS dependent forces me into certain ships and all-offense oriented builds which to me is not interesting.
Devs: Provide the option to Turn OFF full screen flashes from enemy ship explosions
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If you don't want to risk getting a queue you don't like from randoms, then don't use the random system to queue for a TFO. Specific queue for what you want and go from there. Leaving a queue just because it's one you don't like is a jerk move to the other people who will still be in there and are now going to have a much harder time completing the queue because you left. When you press the random button you are telling the game and people in the queue by extension that you are willing to play whatever comes up. In exchange for that risk of getting a queue you might not like, they reward you with extra marks and payout. You're not entitled to the extra rewards if you're not willing to do the extra work. Also I can think of far worse things the devs need to be focused on right now instead of this.
As long as it's a space map I'm fine, I'll play it np. If it's a ground queue that pops though I'm gonna peace out every time and eat the leaver penalty cause no thanks.
I'm sorry but I hate this kind of attitude as it just stinks of wanting the extra rewards, but for no extra work to get them. If it were up to me, this kind of attitude is why the leaver penalty would jump to a minimum of 4+ hours. I would also scale the leaver penalty up to a maximum of 8 hours depending on how often people leave queues. I would also give people the ability to exclude 2 TFOs from the list of randoms that can pop up in exchange for reduced bonus marks proportional to whether they have only 1 tfo removed or 2. This would reduce the amount of bonus marks by 50% and 75% respectively instead of outright removing bonus marks like some games would do.
That's because the DPSers use it as a means to parse their DPS.
I had hopes that when they announced they were revamping Infect Space that they would change it to where that was no longer possible, but, alas, it didn't come to pass.
If it's not ISA it would just become a different map. If folks have no way of measuring where they are they have no way of knowing what they need to improve, or if they're good where they are. Without a way to measure where one is, there is no way to know if a console is good or bad for what that person is wanting to do. They have no way of knowing if they're pulling 2k or 200k. Simply because you don't like it doesn't mean they should be denied the ability to parse their stats properly. No DPS isn't the end all be all of the game, but it definitely has its place. In fact there are some queues with DPS checks, like the start of Korfez where you're required to pull a certain amount of damage or fail. If you can't meet those minimums you're not ready for the content yet.
"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
it just stinks of wanting the extra rewards, but for no extra work to get them.
For me at least it has nothing to do with the rewards, that's not why I personally run the occasional random queue. I run them because there's almost nothing else to do in this game except play through the same story missions I've already ran countless times before, and I'd rather have a little randomness involved rather than just picking the same handful of queues to run.
Difficulty also isn't a concern of mine (I highly doubt any of my builds would rank high on the DPS charts), I just don't find the ground gameplay of STO enjoyable at all, and I never have. Even if the easiest queue in the game was a ground one I would still instantly leave because ground combat just is not fun imo. The only thing that keeps me coming back to STO is the space combat, I'd rather log out and play a different game altogether than do a ground queue.
I would like to note though that I've only actually had the random queue give me a ground one once, and though I left right away I was not the first one to leave as two others had already left before I even finished loading in. If I had the option to queue for a random space only queue I would just do that, even if it meant no bonus rewards at all. That's not an option though (and I completely understand why, this is not a request that it be added), so I use the limited tools that are available to me.
Ground queues are so easy nowadays with the impossible power creep I don't know why anyone would leave them.
I'm pretty sure some of my mediocre Mk12 gear toons could solo most ground Elite queues
Because it is BORING as all hell. Ground queues are why I don't do random. They really should have a random ground and random space option...but I understand why they don't since that would mean the death of ground queues.
The lack of ability to separate Space and Ground is probably the biggest flaw in the Random System. I believe that Cryptic feels that adding this feature would just cause everyone to queue for space only making ground maps empty, but I honestly disagree. Yes, the sub set of people queuing for ground would be fewer, but at least those would be the people that actually WANT to play ground and are probably set up for it. It might take longer for ground queues to pop, but the overall experience would be better for everyone.
Personally, I like ground maps and I would queue for them in random sometimes. I like the idea that the people I would get matched with are people that want to do ground and not people that were hoping for a space map and now were pulled in here against their objection. I honestly believe that separating the two would do more to help ground queues then it would do them harm.
It's not helping them right now because every time a ground map pops, everyone leaves.
The only times I've ever done Random is when the Universal Endeavor calls for it. I don't find the Bonus Rewards very enticing at all.
As far as people parsing snd/overpowering Borg TFOs, I had a Hard Endeavor last night to destroy 5 Dreadnoughts. I normally go to the Undine BZ, but decided to do Advanced Borg TFOs instead. I would normally get 2 in ISA but only got one. Seems going left then right is out and both simultaneously are in fashion. I had my Legendary Intrepid so I threw a Mega Grav Well in the center to suck up all the incoming, dealt with that and started Left. All gone. Turned right and that was gone too. Got a few shots off at the Gate and more at the Tac Cube. Only got credit for one Dreadnoughts. I thought the Gate counted too.l
Did Vortex Advanced and only picked up two more. Had to then do Hive Advanced and finished off the Endeavor. Someone must have been parsing because at the end I saw a comment in my Team Tab about 'useless sci'. Checked the normal Chat Tab and saw some comment about Feedback Pulse. Don't know what he was on about
'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.'
> @coldnapalm said: > (Quote) > > Useless sci? I love me some control or drain sci ships when I parse DPS...they are great force multipliers. If anyone says that, it's not the sci ship's fault...it's the "DPSer" has utter TRIBBLE DPS that does nothing when multiplied.
I think that was aimed directly at me. I threw a number of Feedback Pulses (in addition to Mega Grav Wells, Delayed Overload Cascade, etc). The Chat comment was directed at what the Sci should be doing after the Pulse. My ship has three Torps up front, a Mine, KCB, and Omni in the rear, so I am not directing Energy Weapons at those targets.
'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.'
They should separate ground and space rTFOs, or maybe create a separate random ground and space category with even more marks than the specific random. Often I want to test or level my ships, which is tedious and time-consuming when you have so many on so many alts and figuring out a build takes a while. Yes patrols level the quickest but I don't want to be limited to those as it makes the end-game that much smaller.
Forcing ground in the random TFO only leads me to have less time to play, less enjoyment, and I lose patience with it and switch games instead of playing more.
I'm happy to play any space as any of those help test and level ships, but queuing for specific space ones still takes many minutes to pop, something which shouldn't happen if more used the rTFO option with specific ground and space categories.
Devs: Provide the option to Turn OFF full screen flashes from enemy ship explosions
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The only times I've ever done Random is when the Universal Endeavor calls for it. I don't find the Bonus Rewards very enticing at all.
As far as people parsing snd/overpowering Borg TFOs, I had a Hard Endeavor last night to destroy 5 Dreadnoughts. I normally go to the Undine BZ, but decided to do Advanced Borg TFOs instead. I would normally get 2 in ISA but only got one. Seems going left then right is out and both simultaneously are in fashion. I had my Legendary Intrepid so I threw a Mega Grav Well in the center to suck up all the incoming, dealt with that and started Left. All gone. Turned right and that was gone too. Got a few shots off at the Gate and more at the Tac Cube. Only got credit for one Dreadnoughts. I thought the Gate counted too.l
Did Vortex Advanced and only picked up two more. Had to then do Hive Advanced and finished off the Endeavor. Someone must have been parsing because at the end I saw a comment in my Team Tab about 'useless sci'. Checked the normal Chat Tab and saw some comment about Feedback Pulse. Don't know what he was on about
If it was hive advanced, and you are a sci toon, with the mention of feedback pulse, I'm guessing he probably died to feedback pulse, and the main advantage of a sci toon on that tfo is to use sub nuke on the diamond to stop it using feedback pulse.
Cryptic really hasn't trained people to chase the DPS dragon, since DPS isn't really that necessary in most TFOs in the game, and hasn't been for awhile. Not to mention neither story missions, patrols, or battlezones, require particularly good DPS either.
When elite versions of the borg queues became available more recently, I quickly found out most my builds could not complete it as they are pure DPS measuring sticks with timers.
Elite queues don't pop and I really don't like sitting around half an hour for a DPS channel or whatever to organize a pre-made team with a billion DPS ships erasing any gameplay or challenge out of existence for you.
Advanced content is too easy even if I'm carrying the whole team, so I was disappointed to see their elite variants out of reach from all except my T6 Scimitar with elachi DHC parsing at 100K on Rom-Tac.
I don't chase DPS, don't get a chance to experiment enough or care to chase the ever-changing meta, which is watching previously expensive hard to earn stuff get nerfed and replaced by newer stuff. I do efficient grinds to try to keep up a ton of well-equipped toons and switch games cause STO after so many years is a mechanically/gameplay/teamplay-wise worthless game save for nice visuals and Star Trek-like when the visuals and screen flashes don't blind it completely.
My challenge in STO is trying to keep it fun and avoid hitting the uninstall button. That means polishing my own builds of ships I enjoy for various reasons, and applying them in elite patrols solo.
This too is getting stale as the gameplay still revolves around 'more DPS to get more self-heals from dmg dealt to prevent monstrous incoming damage that will wear down even zombie cruisers while lengthening the patrol endlessly.'
Story missions are boring. I'd rather watch a good movie or series.
Battlezones if not broken are watching paint dry with boring objectives and truly easy-mode stupid AI NPCs.
STO to me feels like it's been trapped for years in this limbo, so I reduce my play time accordingly and so far managed to avoid uninstalling.
You and I are in the same boat.
I have no desire to chase the meta.
At this point, all I do is log in once a week, play one or two random TFOs on my favorite characters, and log out. There is nothing to challenge me or keep me interested in the game.
> @pet1e86 said: > (Quote) > > If it was hive advanced, and you are a sci toon, with the mention of feedback pulse, I'm guessing he probably died to feedback pulse, and the main advantage of a sci toon on that tfo is to use sub nuke on the diamond to stop it using feedback pulse.
Hive Advanced was the last TFO I did that night for the Endeavor. I don't recall anyone dying in it. Stuff was going down very quickly. I was only able to participate in the takedown of one of the Command Pickles. By the time I made it to the Diamond there was 10 or so seconds left.
'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.'
If it's not ISA it would just become a different map. If folks have no way of measuring where they are they have no way of knowing what they need to improve, or if they're good where they are. Without a way to measure where one is, there is no way to know if a console is good or bad for what that person is wanting to do. They have no way of knowing if they're pulling 2k or 200k. Simply because you don't like it doesn't mean they should be denied the ability to parse their stats properly. No DPS isn't the end all be all of the game, but it definitely has its place. In fact there are some queues with DPS checks, like the start of Korfez where you're required to pull a certain amount of damage or fail. If you can't meet those minimums you're not ready for the content yet.
Come on now. ISA is an awful way to measure personal DPS. Team matters greatly, whether they are heavy on team buffs/debuffs, whether they are getting there before you and wiping it all out or whether you don't have to compete as much to just do damage. It also seems to reward FAW spam against a number of targets that won't even shoot back. ISA has a silly amount of variables to the point that you can't reliably learn anything from a run where you parse say 40000 versus a run where you parse 70000.
If they did fundamentally change ISA to make it a timegated mass-wave thing like all the new ones then they would have to select another one of the old style TFOs to base their DPS runs on.
I would rather Cryptic find a way to exclude enemies killed/damage dealt in the Starbase 234 DPs parser on Tribble from the endeavor system, so they can bring it to holodeck, so we can people to stop using TFOs for DPS parsing in the first place.
Then revamp all the old TFOs so it isn't possible in the first place, by making them actually fun/adding in real mechanics.
You really get off on spoiling people's fun, don't you?
I'm happy to play any space as any of those help test and level ships, but queuing for specific space ones still takes many minutes to pop, something which shouldn't happen if more used the rTFO option with specific ground and space categories.
Removing ground TFOs from the RTFO list, or making a separate Ground/Space TFO system, wouldn't speed up the rate on which either gets filled. Having them separate would just mean LESS people in each system, and thus, longer wait times for both.
Maybe so, though if there's more like me who don't rTFO queue very often I doubt it. If space rTFOs existed I'd actually queue more. The former has 1 less player, the latter 1 more player.
Not a big deal. I'd rather be using time in games I actually really enjoy that revolve around actually playing the game instead of grinding stuff and pointless mini-game clickies.
Devs: Provide the option to Turn OFF full screen flashes from enemy ship explosions
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Comments
I imagine T6X Tzen-tar dreads are also as effective too, potentially 7 tac consoles and 2 hangars - got one from the lobi pack from the coupon or lobi choice event but I havent used or upgraded yet
https://sto.gamepedia.com/Tzenkethi_Tzen-tar_Dreadnought_Carrier
there are a few ships that are very OP now
> (Quote)
>
> I imagine T6X Tzen-tar dreads are also as effective too, potentially 7 tac consoles and 2 hangars - got one from the lobi pack from the coupon or lobi choice event but I havent used or upgraded yet
>
> https://sto.gamepedia.com/Tzenkethi_Tzen-tar_Dreadnought_Carrier
>
> there are a few ships that are very OP now
Yea both ships perform more OP now than they ever did before. 😎
Looking for a fun PvE fleet? Join us at Omega Combat Division today.
When elite versions of the borg queues became available more recently, I quickly found out most my builds could not complete it as they are pure DPS measuring sticks with timers.
Elite queues don't pop and I really don't like sitting around half an hour for a DPS channel or whatever to organize a pre-made team with a billion DPS ships erasing any gameplay or challenge out of existence for you.
Advanced content is too easy even if I'm carrying the whole team, so I was disappointed to see their elite variants out of reach from all except my T6 Scimitar with elachi DHC parsing at 100K on Rom-Tac.
I don't chase DPS, don't get a chance to experiment enough or care to chase the ever-changing meta, which is watching previously expensive hard to earn stuff get nerfed and replaced by newer stuff. I do efficient grinds to try to keep up a ton of well-equipped toons and switch games cause STO after so many years is a mechanically/gameplay/teamplay-wise worthless game save for nice visuals and Star Trek-like when the visuals and screen flashes don't blind it completely.
My challenge in STO is trying to keep it fun and avoid hitting the uninstall button. That means polishing my own builds of ships I enjoy for various reasons, and applying them in elite patrols solo.
This too is getting stale as the gameplay still revolves around 'more DPS to get more self-heals from dmg dealt to prevent monstrous incoming damage that will wear down even zombie cruisers while lengthening the patrol endlessly.'
Story missions are boring. I'd rather watch a good movie or series.
Battlezones if not broken are watching paint dry with boring objectives and truly easy-mode stupid AI NPCs.
STO to me feels like it's been trapped for years in this limbo, so I reduce my play time accordingly and so far managed to avoid uninstalling.
> (Quote)
> Advanced content is too easy even if I'm carrying the whole team, so I was disappointed to see their elite variants out of reach from all except my T6 Scimitar with elachi DHC parsing at 100K on Rom-Tac.
That is some valid concern.
I also think that cryptic went a bit overboard with the demands. I mean advanced Infected Space requires like 12k per player or so. For ISE the start fail timer requires to bring 110kish per player. That’s just a huge level step to have us be ten times as powerful to stand a chance.
I suspect they just expect us to become more powerful over time via perks, t6x and such mad releases as the trait of the new Terran Warship.
Looking for a fun PvE fleet? Join us at Omega Combat Division today.
The problem though is that when there is something with actual mechanics... some just see enemy mobs and go "we just need to pew pew and win". I once took part in the ground competetive queue, and got stuck over the FIRST mechanic because the rest of my team was content to just shoot the infinitely spawning enemies on the other side of the chasm as if it would solve everything. I even tried to tell them to push the button so I could cross... but nope. Kill all the things and leave me standing on an invisible path with no way to cheese the system myself. Suffice to say... my team never even beat the FIRST puzzle that run. And it was the classic invisible floor puzzle too! Apparently no one knew how to push a button!
Its probably easier sometimes to see this in Core Assault or Twin Tribulations, where some may elect to just fight rather than do the mechanic in order to progress.
But on the subject of Lukari, it took me a few tries to realize what to do on Tzenkethi Front, but I did. Since I have several different alts with different styles, I try to play to that particular strength, such as when I'm on something like Tank builds, I like to screen the runners. Things like that are nice to me because I feel like that variety actually works and is still valuable to play. Can't random into Dranuur Beach because it's a 10 person queue, but I wouldn't mind if that ever happened, even though I still don't know it as well. Grav Kills I'm still on the fence on. It really should award way more marks for the trouble, same with Tzen Front. But I did end up RATFO into Grav Kills with a PUG that had 4 people running particles, and we hit all optionals. I was shocked and pleasantly surprised. It actually felt fun, which I think it was always intended to. That made me reevaluate my feelings on that particular TFO.
I feel similarly about Synth Wave. I've had plenty of non-bugged runs lately after Thursday, and each one's gotten better. One in particular had all 5 of us well spread out, prioritizing beaming up and filling outer ships, then transports, and keeping things moving inward as needed. It rewards extremely well for the effort, too, and I enjoy that. I'm really looking forward to a possible Advanced or Elite version of it. And I hope they never get rid of that music - I got a deep laugh out of the pun.
Good points about the game design, some of the newer TFOs are really cool, Pahvo ground, Tzenkethi front, and a bunch of others too. The Borg TFOs I still enjoy as they require a tiny bit of that, keep the probes from entering the portals, or keep nanites from repairing, but the elite variants being DPS dependent forces me into certain ships and all-offense oriented builds which to me is not interesting.
I'm sorry but I hate this kind of attitude as it just stinks of wanting the extra rewards, but for no extra work to get them. If it were up to me, this kind of attitude is why the leaver penalty would jump to a minimum of 4+ hours. I would also scale the leaver penalty up to a maximum of 8 hours depending on how often people leave queues. I would also give people the ability to exclude 2 TFOs from the list of randoms that can pop up in exchange for reduced bonus marks proportional to whether they have only 1 tfo removed or 2. This would reduce the amount of bonus marks by 50% and 75% respectively instead of outright removing bonus marks like some games would do.
If it's not ISA it would just become a different map. If folks have no way of measuring where they are they have no way of knowing what they need to improve, or if they're good where they are. Without a way to measure where one is, there is no way to know if a console is good or bad for what that person is wanting to do. They have no way of knowing if they're pulling 2k or 200k. Simply because you don't like it doesn't mean they should be denied the ability to parse their stats properly. No DPS isn't the end all be all of the game, but it definitely has its place. In fact there are some queues with DPS checks, like the start of Korfez where you're required to pull a certain amount of damage or fail. If you can't meet those minimums you're not ready for the content yet.
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For me at least it has nothing to do with the rewards, that's not why I personally run the occasional random queue. I run them because there's almost nothing else to do in this game except play through the same story missions I've already ran countless times before, and I'd rather have a little randomness involved rather than just picking the same handful of queues to run.
Difficulty also isn't a concern of mine (I highly doubt any of my builds would rank high on the DPS charts), I just don't find the ground gameplay of STO enjoyable at all, and I never have. Even if the easiest queue in the game was a ground one I would still instantly leave because ground combat just is not fun imo. The only thing that keeps me coming back to STO is the space combat, I'd rather log out and play a different game altogether than do a ground queue.
I would like to note though that I've only actually had the random queue give me a ground one once, and though I left right away I was not the first one to leave as two others had already left before I even finished loading in. If I had the option to queue for a random space only queue I would just do that, even if it meant no bonus rewards at all. That's not an option though (and I completely understand why, this is not a request that it be added), so I use the limited tools that are available to me.
I'm pretty sure some of my mediocre Mk12 gear toons could solo most ground Elite queues
The lack of ability to separate Space and Ground is probably the biggest flaw in the Random System. I believe that Cryptic feels that adding this feature would just cause everyone to queue for space only making ground maps empty, but I honestly disagree. Yes, the sub set of people queuing for ground would be fewer, but at least those would be the people that actually WANT to play ground and are probably set up for it. It might take longer for ground queues to pop, but the overall experience would be better for everyone.
Personally, I like ground maps and I would queue for them in random sometimes. I like the idea that the people I would get matched with are people that want to do ground and not people that were hoping for a space map and now were pulled in here against their objection. I honestly believe that separating the two would do more to help ground queues then it would do them harm.
It's not helping them right now because every time a ground map pops, everyone leaves.
As far as people parsing snd/overpowering Borg TFOs, I had a Hard Endeavor last night to destroy 5 Dreadnoughts. I normally go to the Undine BZ, but decided to do Advanced Borg TFOs instead. I would normally get 2 in ISA but only got one. Seems going left then right is out and both simultaneously are in fashion. I had my Legendary Intrepid so I threw a Mega Grav Well in the center to suck up all the incoming, dealt with that and started Left. All gone. Turned right and that was gone too. Got a few shots off at the Gate and more at the Tac Cube. Only got credit for one Dreadnoughts. I thought the Gate counted too.l
Did Vortex Advanced and only picked up two more. Had to then do Hive Advanced and finished off the Endeavor. Someone must have been parsing because at the end I saw a comment in my Team Tab about 'useless sci'. Checked the normal Chat Tab and saw some comment about Feedback Pulse. Don't know what he was on about
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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> Useless sci? I love me some control or drain sci ships when I parse DPS...they are great force multipliers. If anyone says that, it's not the sci ship's fault...it's the "DPSer" has utter TRIBBLE DPS that does nothing when multiplied.
I think that was aimed directly at me. I threw a number of Feedback Pulses (in addition to Mega Grav Wells, Delayed Overload Cascade, etc). The Chat comment was directed at what the Sci should be doing after the Pulse. My ship has three Torps up front, a Mine, KCB, and Omni in the rear, so I am not directing Energy Weapons at those targets.
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.'
Forcing ground in the random TFO only leads me to have less time to play, less enjoyment, and I lose patience with it and switch games instead of playing more.
I'm happy to play any space as any of those help test and level ships, but queuing for specific space ones still takes many minutes to pop, something which shouldn't happen if more used the rTFO option with specific ground and space categories.
If it was hive advanced, and you are a sci toon, with the mention of feedback pulse, I'm guessing he probably died to feedback pulse, and the main advantage of a sci toon on that tfo is to use sub nuke on the diamond to stop it using feedback pulse.
You and I are in the same boat.
I have no desire to chase the meta.
At this point, all I do is log in once a week, play one or two random TFOs on my favorite characters, and log out. There is nothing to challenge me or keep me interested in the game.
> (Quote)
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> If it was hive advanced, and you are a sci toon, with the mention of feedback pulse, I'm guessing he probably died to feedback pulse, and the main advantage of a sci toon on that tfo is to use sub nuke on the diamond to stop it using feedback pulse.
Hive Advanced was the last TFO I did that night for the Endeavor. I don't recall anyone dying in it. Stuff was going down very quickly. I was only able to participate in the takedown of one of the Command Pickles. By the time I made it to the Diamond there was 10 or so seconds left.
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.'
Come on now. ISA is an awful way to measure personal DPS. Team matters greatly, whether they are heavy on team buffs/debuffs, whether they are getting there before you and wiping it all out or whether you don't have to compete as much to just do damage. It also seems to reward FAW spam against a number of targets that won't even shoot back. ISA has a silly amount of variables to the point that you can't reliably learn anything from a run where you parse say 40000 versus a run where you parse 70000.
You really get off on spoiling people's fun, don't you?
Maybe so, though if there's more like me who don't rTFO queue very often I doubt it. If space rTFOs existed I'd actually queue more. The former has 1 less player, the latter 1 more player.
Not a big deal. I'd rather be using time in games I actually really enjoy that revolve around actually playing the game instead of grinding stuff and pointless mini-game clickies.