The very idea that this would work as an "incentive" to make people "play harder" on a damn pay-2-win fest like this game makes me laugh. The only hard thing here is the idea, to me. to burn money buying boots and dilithium to go for this nonsense.
People using words like "effort" when all you have to do or is buy your way to the top shows me how delusional players of this kind of game are. No wonder the state of the gaming industry nowadays is ridiculous. Look what Bethesda is doing. And every other major company. Some people really want to be mocked and pay for it.
Sorry, but "pay-2-win fest" is patently false. You can get at least 260K VP with a 50% success rate crew, just for kickstarting and playing every shuttle cycle, with 4 shuttles. (That excludes anything you earned in the kickstart). Is it fun, no, but it is doable.
After that, you need 66 time doublers to close the gap to 400K. Or skill boosts, or better mission selection strategy, or better crew, or a better squad leader / shared crew, or better fleet base skill points, or whatever way you choose to close the gap.
Even if you went the time doubler route, you could easily earn 66 time doublers by free ad-doubled Thursday cadet missions for a month, one ticket only.
None of that involves spending a penny, and assumes weak 50% success crew to boot. And since the threshold is fixed, no one is "out-competing" you by spending. If you want in the top 25, that's a different story. And if you've figured out the ways to close the 260K->300K gap, or 260K->400K gap, you're well on your way to having a fair shot at the top 1000, regardless of spending.
So, some who toss out words like "pay-2-win fest" might equally be thought of as delusional, or at least, overly casual in their assertions.
400k is a total joke.
People using words like "effort" when all you have to do is buy your way to the top shows me how delusional players of this kind of game are. No wonder the state of the gaming industry nowadays is ridiculous. Look what Bethesda is doing. And every other major company. Some people really want to be mocked and pay for it.
I haven't spent a cent on this event, I'm just using the crew that I have built over two years and a ton of 3* time boosts and 3* and 4* skill boosts that I have accumulated over months to get into 1k. This means that I have to log in to the game every 90 minutes (except at night) and pay attention to which characters I put on which shuttle missions and which missions are best left to expire, to have the highest chance of success with a limited choice of bonus crew. I do this about once every two months and I would say that it requires some effort and planning.
This doesn't change anything about the fact that, in my opinion, it was not a good idea to put the existing legendary at 400k or that it was, also in my opinion, a nice idea to expand threshold rewards in general.
The very idea that this would work as an "incentive" to make people "play harder" on a damn pay-2-win fest like this game makes me laugh. The only hard thing here is the idea, to me, to burn money buying boots and dilithium to go for this nonsense.
People using words like "effort" when all you have to do is buy your way to the top shows me how delusional players of this kind of game are. No wonder the state of the gaming industry nowadays is ridiculous. Look what Bethesda is doing. And every other major company. Some people really want to be mocked and pay for it.
I don't want you to feel like you're getting dogpiled, but I haven't spent anything on this event and I'm on pace to clear thresholds and win a Spock.
Don't get me wrong, I detest that they put Troi at 400k. It's a slimy move that hopefully gets rectified by the next rerun. I just want to state that you don't have to spend money to do well in this event or any event for that matter. Just look at the VIP0 fleet.
noooo!!
Why did that stupid shuttle fail!! Now I'm at 398K points.. blaeh... 22.5 hours to go... I might have over done it with those speed boosts a bit. Oh well, theres still 30 of them left.
Captain Lvl 99; Vip0; 552 Unique Immortals; Fleet: Omega Molecules; Base Lvl 134 (MAX); Playing Since March 2016.
Yes, unless you have been saving time boosts for more than the last 2-3 weeks, you should expect to have to pay about $10 for the GoE legendary, if you've got the time and willpower to slog it through.
If you want to compete successfully in the rankings without buying boosters, stockpiling over a longer period is essential. As a result, you cannot compete every time for the top 1,000. I remember the times (I started maybe in May of the first year) where competition wasn't as hard, where I could successfully reach the top 1,000 in Galaxy events with crew only level 60 (or 50?); until the times where the voyages feature was released. And as I already mentioned: I rather save my Faction event boosters for new rare crew. And the chronitons for leveling up my massive size crew; only my common are level 100, legendaries are 90 and most of the rest is still 80.
I would say at least every one hitting VIP level 14 one time. As buying the biggest dilithium package for €105 gets you 5,000 VIP points, you at least pay €1,000 for hitting VIP level 14. This I absolutely consider a whale status. It's an insane amount of money compared to the €50 full price PC games I normally buy. And Timelines is the first F2P game I played and payed for.
Sorry I disagree, I would not say that just because you are vip 14 that automatically makes you a whale? depends how long you've been playing, if its spread over a long period of time.
I'm rank 14, and I do not consider myself even close to a whale. Whales as they are called, can drop hundreds or dare I say thousand in a single event, and have vip 14 like 20 times over.
Also saying that being rank 14 is an insane amount of money is kind of a judgement call, and is relative to the person, whos to say what is a crazy amount of money to spend on a hobby/game.
Whale is a subjective term. We've even had threads on it. Defined here in a game is hard to do, because many folks as cited earlier in this thread have a hard time swallowing anyone spending $1,000 on a game. There are plenty of players and readers here that use this game and community as a get-away from the drudges of real life, where they have to roll the dice each month on being late on a bill or putting gas in the car. To them, $50 is a big deal. It's all about perspective.
Perhaps the most agreeable term isn't centered around a specific VIP level, but rather a generic "Person who plays and regularly spends above the average player".
Whale is a subjective term. We've even had threads on it. Defined here in a game is hard to do, because many folks as cited earlier in this thread have a hard time swallowing anyone spending $1,000 on a game. There are plenty of players and readers here that use this game and community as a get-away from the drudges of real life, where they have to roll the dice each month on being late on a bill or putting gas in the car. To them, $50 is a big deal. It's all about perspective.
Perhaps the most agreeable term isn't centered around a specific VIP level, but rather a generic "Person who plays and regularly spends above the average player".
that's the word I was looking for, subjective;) or relative, to each person's unique experience.
Doubling up using ads would be a great strategy for these reruns and for those that don’t get the white screen of death and no rewards every single time. Now I’m even getting it with the Dabo free spins. Tickets only get you the canned sorry we are working on it. I really wish they would spend some time getting things fixed but unfortunately I don’t think anything except feeding the greed train is a priority and has been for quite some time. Very odd how the other games I play I have zero issues with the same ads, just this one.
I haven't bought any extra boosts, and I'm currently top 300. However, I do have an okay selection of bonus crew (all FE, and all but the golds FF):
5 Deannas, including two Legendaries (though not GoE... until just this morning)
5 Kirks, including two Legendaries
Apollo
Layna
Yet I still ended up using non-bonus crew a fair amount, since they were still better choices much of the time. Leo and Mirror Bev and Ilia and Ru'afo each did their time helping out.
I only had about fifteen of the 3* speed-up boosts — and after I plowed through those, I used up all the new 2x boosts I'd acquired (not bought), having not used any in the earlier Faction events. Did the 9-hour shuttles overnight, and last night, just for a lark, I decided to run 3 extra shuttles using the new tokens (which I also hadn't used at all in the prior Faction events). But I hit the final threshold even before those extra 3 shuttles were completed.
I will say that it also helps immensely to be a squad leader of a decent group of players (though only one of the others is currently in the top 1000). Squad leadership is no doubt why I'm as high as I am, but I think I'd still be top 1000 without it. And if I'd used more of the bonus shuttle tokens, I think I could've also easily hit the final threshold without it.
So you don't have to spend anything. But it does help to have a strong roster, and it definitely helps to lead a squad of players who are all actively playing the event as best they can. On top of that, I've been getting 3/4 or 4/4 from my shuttle rounds pretty consistently this weekend, so a little luck never hurts, either.
Could you please continue the petty bickering? I find it most intriguing. ~ Data, ST:TNG "Haven"
I also haven't spent anything, but I think I have a damn good shot at threshold. I don't think I'll rank top 1K, but 400K VP is in sights!
Whether you like having GoE in 400K or not, you can't deny that it's exciting for us who are just trying to get there! Look at how many posts are just of people updating us where we currently are, whether we'll make it, will those unlucky shuttles plague us, will we run out of timeboosts...?
Like it or no, if you've engaged with the event... It's exciting isn't it!?
Fleet Admiral of NCC UK Midlands."Leave any bigotry in your quarters. There's no room for it on the bridge." - J.T. Kirk, 2266
I also haven't spent anything, but I think I have a damn good shot at threshold. I don't think I'll rank top 1K, but 400K VP is in sights!
Whether you like having GoE in 400K or not, you can't deny that it's exciting for us who are just trying to get there! Look at how many posts are just of people updating us where we currently are, whether we'll make it, will those unlucky shuttles plague us, will we run out of timeboosts...?
Like it or no, if you've engaged with the event... It's exciting isn't it!?
While I can agree with you that some are definitely more invested, I still think putting the rerun 5* at 400k was a terrible decision.
In my humble opinion I am neither a blue whale (the biggest) nor a porpoise (the smallest). Maybe an orca. It doesn't really matter, what type of a toothed whale I am, but I am definitely not one of the plentiful herrings.
€4,000 is definitely insane compared to a normal full price PC game and what fun I can get out of the "tiny" €50. But I am a big Star Trek fan, and I allow myself the luxury of investing this phantasmagorial amount of money.
The thing this time is: porpoises may not generate the amount of money a blue whale does, but there are considerably more of them than blue whales. So if a lot of these smaller whales are spending less money, DB will notice it. Smaller whales are only able to use the double-your-crew-offers, if they are able to get the older legendaries.
I don't use these offers every time (my money is limited), but I did use them a lot, because they are a good way to fuse my legendaries (in addition to the hard way via honor points).
Maybe re-runs don't attract as much people as a new event, but this time the participation is worse than normal, when I look at the lesser difficulty for ranking good.
I just hit "Threshold Classic" with the gold toga. I have four shuttles, but wasn't super attentive and didn't use any time saving boosts until the very last run (in case I had bad luck and fell a few points short).
Given that I'd initially planned to skip this event, I'm perfectly satisfied with completing the new character and getting their Lvl 90 equipment. 400k does feel overwhelming, although that's exacerbated by the fact VP rewards slowly creep up. 150k seemed nearly impossible half way through, but I knew I was mostly on track.
Six degrees in Inter-species Veterinary Medicine. Treating all manner of critters, from Tribbles to Humans.
This is my first time writing in this forum; before I was only a silent reader. I already hit VIP level 14 over four times and may not be one of Disruptor Beam's best whales, but this is nevertheless an insane amount of money, when I am comparing it to the normal full price games (€50) I play on PC.
The new threshold rewards table was at first a decent deal. The 150k VP were a good, reachable point for players playing the game a longer time, for players already paid a decent amount of money for a decent game. But if you have the maximum amount of shuttle and crew slots, 400k VP are just insane!
Long story short: momentarily the threshold VP level needed for an old legendary crew isn't friendly enough for players paying a decent amount of money.
400k VP are that high above the stars, only the biggest whales of all whales are reaching them (and do these whales actually need the old legendaries?). Definitely think about it, Disruptor Beam. Definitely think about your good paying customers.
And as far I am watching the event rankings at this time (and I'm not using any boosters this time), I am ranking really good, meaning many players are sick. Just my two cents.
Edit:
If Disruptor Beam wants to reward the biggest whales of all whales with a legendary crew, I would suggest one of the new legendaries at 500k VP. 150k VP for an old legendary (like last time) would be appropriate for the smaller whales. That would be best for all paying customers and DB's income situation.
Hi, VIP3 here. Spent $0 on this event. Also had a period where I didn't play. I still passed 400k. It's reachable for non whales if you put in the effort.
And honestly, I was going for Spock. I didn't care that much about Troi. If you want to criticize 400k because it's going to people ranked under 1k, that's reasonable (but I also think that was DB's intention), but this is not a whale only rank.
I always wonder how people in their right mind can think that ranking high in a galaxy/skirmish event (which actually requires you to pump hours of mindless clicking into the game) is easier or less of a p.i.t.a. than sending out 4 shuttles every 3 hours for 4 days (which takes about a minute every 3 hours?). You can easily reach 400k VP without spending any money and without using shuttle tokens - with the usage of ads you get a lot of boosts every week, which should pump your success rate to a decent amount + the time boosts for the easier shuttles. Obviously not everyone is supposed to reach the top threshold.
I always wonder how people in their right mind can think that ranking high in a galaxy/skirmish event (which actually requires you to pump hours of mindless clicking into the game) is easier or less of a p.i.t.a. than sending out 4 shuttles every 3 hours for 4 days (which takes about a minute every 3 hours?). You can easily reach 400k VP without spending any money and without using shuttle tokens - with the usage of ads you get a lot of boosts every week, which should pump your success rate to a decent amount + the time boosts for the easier shuttles. Obviously not everyone is supposed to reach the top threshold.
You still need a decent base crew which equates to either time if a FTP player or VIP if you bought crew and crew slots. . While FTP can compete they are always going to be at a disadvantage to those pumping cash into the game.
I always wonder how people in their right mind can think that ranking high in a galaxy/skirmish event (which actually requires you to pump hours of mindless clicking into the game) is easier or less of a p.i.t.a. than sending out 4 shuttles every 3 hours for 4 days (which takes about a minute every 3 hours?). You can easily reach 400k VP without spending any money and without using shuttle tokens - with the usage of ads you get a lot of boosts every week, which should pump your success rate to a decent amount + the time boosts for the easier shuttles. Obviously not everyone is supposed to reach the top threshold.
I can only answer part of this skirmishes is a doddle I can hit all thresholds in an evening while binging a movie or series or whatever, you can do it on your terms at any time over the entire weekend.
Shuttles however requires consistent turnaround over the entire weekend and then some (now it's using a lot more 3* time boosts as well so that's every 1.5 hours not 3) so say you are going out travelling or spending time with the family if DB are going to ask me to choose between family or a mindless game then forget it. Real life takes precedence.
I don't mind them setting thresholds I won't be able to achieve, far from it, but milking the chance to get an old legendary then putting them at a distant height against previous rerun trends that's the issue, especially this close to the holidays well then sorry think I will have a nice time off over Xmas mega event who needs it. - If this was what DB wanted to achieve about increasing participation well they've just failed or just not understood who plays this game - and I know a whole load of fleetmates who would agree with this.
[was on Sabbatical/Hiatus] Currently a trialist at Galaxy SquadronSTAY SAFE and KBO
Hi, VIP3 here. Spent $0 on this event. Also had a period where I didn't play. I still passed 400k. It's reachable for non whales if you put in the effort.
Like I wrote before: if you're stockpiling your free boosts. But for this to work you have to stop using them for some time. And I do not think, it was DB's intent enticing people to stockpile their boosts.
DB should better see their new shuttle offers as an additional choice for people (and hence not enforce them too much) and shouldn't underestimate the double-your-crew-mechanic, if people can get the older legendaries more easily. If you reward your players, they will reward you.
Gambling may be popular to many people, but if there is too much of it, many people could be disgusted and stop p(l)aying.
Hi, VIP3 here. Spent $0 on this event. Also had a period where I didn't play. I still passed 400k. It's reachable for non whales if you put in the effort.
Like I wrote before: if you're stockpiling your free boosts. But for this to work you have to stop using them for some time. And I do not think, it was DB's intent enticing people to stockpile their boosts.
DB should better see their new shuttle offers as an additional choice for people (and hence not enforce them too much) and shouldn't underestimate the double-your-crew-mechanic, if people can get the older legendaries more easily. If you reward your players, they will reward you.
Gambling may be popular to many people, but if there is too much of it, many people could be disgusted and stop p(l)aying.
While I agree that the 400k threshold is ridiculous and you need to have a deep crew to reach it, you do not need to spend money or stockpile for weeks.
I finished a bit above 500k - used 15 3* and 2 4* speed boosts. The 3* boosts required no stockpiling and were all drops from the Thursday cadet challenge. The 2 4*, I don't recall, but I have a good stockpile of those, again from the cadet challenges. I have 4-shuttles and been playing for nearly 2 years so have a deep crew. I also used up a bunch of 3* skill boosts - but again all of them were from cadet challenges.
As @AviTrek points out, it is possible to reach without boosts. That being said, I got Goddess Troi on Sunday and by that time, I did not bother leveling her for the event. I will most likely airlock her as she will not add much to my crew and I do not want to waste a slot with another 1/5. Perhaps some day I will be lucky enough to have an opportunity to add stars from a rerun.
i guess DB expects all their players to have no lives and nothing else to to do ever, with the amount of time they expect people to have to put in on events, some being fare more time dependent than others, and now compiled with an apparent P2W mind set. i believe DB will push a lot of their player base away. i know i am not happy, i would some times buy the occasional crew, but now i'm not even going to bother with this months daily card. i really see no point in it.
i predict, for all the peeps that can tag the top ranks, good for you, yo u paid for it. but you wont have as much competition for long so you wont have to spend as much to be king of the mountain.
putting that much money and effort into some thing that is not even a tangible reality, is far from being worth it.
this coming Mega, sure i would like to have the new 5* crew, but if i have to kill myself to get it, then i'm not even going to bother.
DB needs to fire the Ferrengi and higher more Engineers, Rom doesn't count. [FSC] Peace Keepers
Gryphon [****] Adm
My problem is that having GoE Troi at 400K means I cannot double Spock. I was considering it, but now I cannot. DB potentially lost money on that.
Assuming you already claimed Troi and triggered DYS you can of course wait to claim Spock. The 24 hour cool down, vs when it was 72 hours, makes that easier.
I always wonder how people in their right mind can think that ranking high in a galaxy/skirmish event (which actually requires you to pump hours of mindless clicking into the game) is easier or less of a p.i.t.a. than sending out 4 shuttles every 3 hours for 4 days (which takes about a minute every 3 hours?). You can easily reach 400k VP without spending any money and without using shuttle tokens - with the usage of ads you get a lot of boosts every week, which should pump your success rate to a decent amount + the time boosts for the easier shuttles. Obviously not everyone is supposed to reach the top threshold.
Maybe it's because you arent in your right mind to see the whole picture.
Faction events take a lot of time of preparation.
First you have to check forum/discord/whatever for bonus crew and than unfreeze them which takes time and merits. Merits you will also have to get to be able to open all eventmissions every 12 hours to even come close to the 1 minute for 4 shuttles you stated.
Second you have to figure out which crew to send on which mission and do the kickstart.
Third the boosts also take time to acquire. Takes at least 1 minute for 2 pulls = 2 timeboosts.
Fourth waking up at night once or twice meaning being sleepy=slow plus opening all missions every 12 hours and/or looking for the missions/crew you want to run puts one round of 4 shuttles closer to 2-3 mins per run and not the one minute you stated.
So 2 hours of preparation and sending the shuttles (i think it actually takes more time) will net you 400-450k VP.
To get that in a skirmish you need 2 mins preparation and 2 1/2 hours of playtime which you can take during the 96 hours whenever you want without being forced to get into the game every 3 or 1 1/2 hours and getting chrons/honor/credits all the way.
My problem is that having GoE Troi at 400K means I cannot double Spock. I was considering it, but now I cannot. DB potentially lost money on that.
Heh, good call. DB shot themselves, again, in the foot with that.
Best case scenario, DB is now encouraging players not to claim event rewards if they want to sell DYCs on the ranked 5*.
The lack of foresight in this company is just dumbfounding.
i guess DB expects all their players to have no lives and nothing else to to do ever, with the amount of time they expect people to have to put in on events, some being fare more time dependent than others, and now compiled with an apparent P2W mind set. i believe DB will push a lot of their player base away. i know i am not happy, i would some times buy the occasional crew, but now i'm not even going to bother with this months daily card. i really see no point in it.
i predict, for all the peeps that can tag the top ranks, good for you, yo u paid for it. but you wont have as much competition for long so you wont have to spend as much to be king of the mountain.
putting that much money and effort into some thing that is not even a tangible reality, is far from being worth it.
this coming Mega, sure i would like to have the new 5* crew, but if i have to kill myself to get it, then i'm not even going to bother.
So we shouldn’t have P2W events and we shouldn’t have time drain events. What exactly is left?
i guess DB expects all their players to have no lives and nothing else to to do ever, with the amount of time they expect people to have to put in on events, some being fare more time dependent than others, and now compiled with an apparent P2W mind set. i believe DB will push a lot of their player base away. i know i am not happy, i would some times buy the occasional crew, but now i'm not even going to bother with this months daily card. i really see no point in it.
i predict, for all the peeps that can tag the top ranks, good for you, yo u paid for it. but you wont have as much competition for long so you wont have to spend as much to be king of the mountain.
putting that much money and effort into some thing that is not even a tangible reality, is far from being worth it.
this coming Mega, sure i would like to have the new 5* crew, but if i have to kill myself to get it, then i'm not even going to bother.
So we shouldn’t have P2W events and we shouldn’t have time drain events. What exactly is left?
My problem is that having GoE Troi at 400K means I cannot double Spock. I was considering it, but now I cannot. DB potentially lost money on that.
Assuming you already claimed Troi and triggered DYS you can of course wait to claim Spock. The 24 hour cool down, vs when it was 72 hours, makes that easier.
Yikes, good to know but boy is that nuanced. I cleared GoE late Sunday morning but would have totally blown it on this one had it been any later...
Comments
Sorry, but "pay-2-win fest" is patently false. You can get at least 260K VP with a 50% success rate crew, just for kickstarting and playing every shuttle cycle, with 4 shuttles. (That excludes anything you earned in the kickstart). Is it fun, no, but it is doable.
After that, you need 66 time doublers to close the gap to 400K. Or skill boosts, or better mission selection strategy, or better crew, or a better squad leader / shared crew, or better fleet base skill points, or whatever way you choose to close the gap.
Even if you went the time doubler route, you could easily earn 66 time doublers by free ad-doubled Thursday cadet missions for a month, one ticket only.
None of that involves spending a penny, and assumes weak 50% success crew to boot. And since the threshold is fixed, no one is "out-competing" you by spending. If you want in the top 25, that's a different story. And if you've figured out the ways to close the 260K->300K gap, or 260K->400K gap, you're well on your way to having a fair shot at the top 1000, regardless of spending.
So, some who toss out words like "pay-2-win fest" might equally be thought of as delusional, or at least, overly casual in their assertions.
I haven't spent a cent on this event, I'm just using the crew that I have built over two years and a ton of 3* time boosts and 3* and 4* skill boosts that I have accumulated over months to get into 1k. This means that I have to log in to the game every 90 minutes (except at night) and pay attention to which characters I put on which shuttle missions and which missions are best left to expire, to have the highest chance of success with a limited choice of bonus crew. I do this about once every two months and I would say that it requires some effort and planning.
This doesn't change anything about the fact that, in my opinion, it was not a good idea to put the existing legendary at 400k or that it was, also in my opinion, a nice idea to expand threshold rewards in general.
I don't want you to feel like you're getting dogpiled, but I haven't spent anything on this event and I'm on pace to clear thresholds and win a Spock.
Don't get me wrong, I detest that they put Troi at 400k. It's a slimy move that hopefully gets rectified by the next rerun. I just want to state that you don't have to spend money to do well in this event or any event for that matter. Just look at the VIP0 fleet.
Why did that stupid shuttle fail!! Now I'm at 398K points.. blaeh... 22.5 hours to go... I might have over done it with those speed boosts a bit. Oh well, theres still 30 of them left.
Sorry I disagree, I would not say that just because you are vip 14 that automatically makes you a whale? depends how long you've been playing, if its spread over a long period of time.
I'm rank 14, and I do not consider myself even close to a whale. Whales as they are called, can drop hundreds or dare I say thousand in a single event, and have vip 14 like 20 times over.
Also saying that being rank 14 is an insane amount of money is kind of a judgement call, and is relative to the person, whos to say what is a crazy amount of money to spend on a hobby/game.
Perhaps the most agreeable term isn't centered around a specific VIP level, but rather a generic "Person who plays and regularly spends above the average player".
that's the word I was looking for, subjective;) or relative, to each person's unique experience.
5 Deannas, including two Legendaries (though not GoE... until just this morning)
5 Kirks, including two Legendaries
Apollo
Layna
Yet I still ended up using non-bonus crew a fair amount, since they were still better choices much of the time. Leo and Mirror Bev and Ilia and Ru'afo each did their time helping out.
I only had about fifteen of the 3* speed-up boosts — and after I plowed through those, I used up all the new 2x boosts I'd acquired (not bought), having not used any in the earlier Faction events. Did the 9-hour shuttles overnight, and last night, just for a lark, I decided to run 3 extra shuttles using the new tokens (which I also hadn't used at all in the prior Faction events). But I hit the final threshold even before those extra 3 shuttles were completed.
I will say that it also helps immensely to be a squad leader of a decent group of players (though only one of the others is currently in the top 1000). Squad leadership is no doubt why I'm as high as I am, but I think I'd still be top 1000 without it. And if I'd used more of the bonus shuttle tokens, I think I could've also easily hit the final threshold without it.
So you don't have to spend anything. But it does help to have a strong roster, and it definitely helps to lead a squad of players who are all actively playing the event as best they can. On top of that, I've been getting 3/4 or 4/4 from my shuttle rounds pretty consistently this weekend, so a little luck never hurts, either.
Could you please continue the petty bickering? I find it most intriguing.
~ Data, ST:TNG "Haven"
Whether you like having GoE in 400K or not, you can't deny that it's exciting for us who are just trying to get there! Look at how many posts are just of people updating us where we currently are, whether we'll make it, will those unlucky shuttles plague us, will we run out of timeboosts...?
Like it or no, if you've engaged with the event... It's exciting isn't it!?
While I can agree with you that some are definitely more invested, I still think putting the rerun 5* at 400k was a terrible decision.
In my humble opinion I am neither a blue whale (the biggest) nor a porpoise (the smallest). Maybe an orca. It doesn't really matter, what type of a toothed whale I am, but I am definitely not one of the plentiful herrings.
€4,000 is definitely insane compared to a normal full price PC game and what fun I can get out of the "tiny" €50. But I am a big Star Trek fan, and I allow myself the luxury of investing this phantasmagorial amount of money.
The thing this time is: porpoises may not generate the amount of money a blue whale does, but there are considerably more of them than blue whales. So if a lot of these smaller whales are spending less money, DB will notice it. Smaller whales are only able to use the double-your-crew-offers, if they are able to get the older legendaries.
I don't use these offers every time (my money is limited), but I did use them a lot, because they are a good way to fuse my legendaries (in addition to the hard way via honor points).
Maybe re-runs don't attract as much people as a new event, but this time the participation is worse than normal, when I look at the lesser difficulty for ranking good.
Hence: many a mickle makes a muckle.
Given that I'd initially planned to skip this event, I'm perfectly satisfied with completing the new character and getting their Lvl 90 equipment. 400k does feel overwhelming, although that's exacerbated by the fact VP rewards slowly creep up. 150k seemed nearly impossible half way through, but I knew I was mostly on track.
Starport
Hi, VIP3 here. Spent $0 on this event. Also had a period where I didn't play. I still passed 400k. It's reachable for non whales if you put in the effort.
And honestly, I was going for Spock. I didn't care that much about Troi. If you want to criticize 400k because it's going to people ranked under 1k, that's reasonable (but I also think that was DB's intention), but this is not a whale only rank.
Jim
I can only answer part of this skirmishes is a doddle I can hit all thresholds in an evening while binging a movie or series or whatever, you can do it on your terms at any time over the entire weekend.
Shuttles however requires consistent turnaround over the entire weekend and then some (now it's using a lot more 3* time boosts as well so that's every 1.5 hours not 3) so say you are going out travelling or spending time with the family if DB are going to ask me to choose between family or a mindless game then forget it. Real life takes precedence.
I don't mind them setting thresholds I won't be able to achieve, far from it, but milking the chance to get an old legendary then putting them at a distant height against previous rerun trends that's the issue, especially this close to the holidays well then sorry think I will have a nice time off over Xmas mega event who needs it. - If this was what DB wanted to achieve about increasing participation well they've just failed or just not understood who plays this game - and I know a whole load of fleetmates who would agree with this.
DB should better see their new shuttle offers as an additional choice for people (and hence not enforce them too much) and shouldn't underestimate the double-your-crew-mechanic, if people can get the older legendaries more easily. If you reward your players, they will reward you.
Gambling may be popular to many people, but if there is too much of it, many people could be disgusted and stop p(l)aying.
While I agree that the 400k threshold is ridiculous and you need to have a deep crew to reach it, you do not need to spend money or stockpile for weeks.
I finished a bit above 500k - used 15 3* and 2 4* speed boosts. The 3* boosts required no stockpiling and were all drops from the Thursday cadet challenge. The 2 4*, I don't recall, but I have a good stockpile of those, again from the cadet challenges. I have 4-shuttles and been playing for nearly 2 years so have a deep crew. I also used up a bunch of 3* skill boosts - but again all of them were from cadet challenges.
As @AviTrek points out, it is possible to reach without boosts. That being said, I got Goddess Troi on Sunday and by that time, I did not bother leveling her for the event. I will most likely airlock her as she will not add much to my crew and I do not want to waste a slot with another 1/5. Perhaps some day I will be lucky enough to have an opportunity to add stars from a rerun.
i predict, for all the peeps that can tag the top ranks, good for you, yo u paid for it. but you wont have as much competition for long so you wont have to spend as much to be king of the mountain.
putting that much money and effort into some thing that is not even a tangible reality, is far from being worth it.
this coming Mega, sure i would like to have the new 5* crew, but if i have to kill myself to get it, then i'm not even going to bother.
[FSC] Peace Keepers
Gryphon [****] Adm
Assuming you already claimed Troi and triggered DYS you can of course wait to claim Spock. The 24 hour cool down, vs when it was 72 hours, makes that easier.
Sorry, that was a typo. Means it is possible to reach 400k without spending dil or real money.
Maybe it's because you arent in your right mind to see the whole picture.
Faction events take a lot of time of preparation.
First you have to check forum/discord/whatever for bonus crew and than unfreeze them which takes time and merits. Merits you will also have to get to be able to open all eventmissions every 12 hours to even come close to the 1 minute for 4 shuttles you stated.
Second you have to figure out which crew to send on which mission and do the kickstart.
Third the boosts also take time to acquire. Takes at least 1 minute for 2 pulls = 2 timeboosts.
Fourth waking up at night once or twice meaning being sleepy=slow plus opening all missions every 12 hours and/or looking for the missions/crew you want to run puts one round of 4 shuttles closer to 2-3 mins per run and not the one minute you stated.
So 2 hours of preparation and sending the shuttles (i think it actually takes more time) will net you 400-450k VP.
To get that in a skirmish you need 2 mins preparation and 2 1/2 hours of playtime which you can take during the 96 hours whenever you want without being forced to get into the game every 3 or 1 1/2 hours and getting chrons/honor/credits all the way.
Heh, good call. DB shot themselves, again, in the foot with that.
Best case scenario, DB is now encouraging players not to claim event rewards if they want to sell DYCs on the ranked 5*.
The lack of foresight in this company is just dumbfounding.
So we shouldn’t have P2W events and we shouldn’t have time drain events. What exactly is left?
Outside lol.
Yikes, good to know but boy is that nuanced. I cleared GoE late Sunday morning but would have totally blown it on this one had it been any later...