It occurs to me that with The Professor involved, this is technically "The Game's Afoot 2" Flashback. It also occurs to me to offer a quick primer for players who have never done an Expedition.
Expeditions are basically Skirmishes for crew instead of ships. (Or, rather, Skirmishes are Expeditions for ships instead of crew.) The most notable difference is that you cannot use a crew member in the event if they are assigned to a shuttle or a Voyage, so plan accordingly. My personal strategy is to complete a ticket, then send out shuttles. Leave the game alone until the shuttles return, then complete another ticket. This helps me stave off event burnout, too.
Your crew will fatigue after each use, as they do in the Gauntlet. Featured and Bonus crew (The Professor, Data & La Forge variants) will fatigue ten percent per node. Everyone else will fatigue at twice that pace. Ergo, you can use Featured & Bonus crew twenty times per ticket and everyone else just ten times.
As they fatigue, their stats will decrease, both base and proficiency. So too will the value of trait bonuses per node.
You have to complete the first mission to unlock the next, and on each difficulty to unlock the next highest. Once you have unlocked a mission/difficulty, it will remain unlocked for the duration of the event, so you only have to start from the bottom once. The best approach is to unlock everything with your first ticket, and on subsequent tickets, start with Mission 5 on Epic and work your way backward. That way as your crew fatigues, they're facing less difficult node skill levels.
You must crit a node in order to earn VP; just clearing it is insufficient. During the original run of this event, only Featured Crew were guaranteed VP for crits. Bonus crew had a higher chance of earning VP. In subsequent Expeditions, all crits were guaranteed VP. It remains to be seen which rules will be in place for this Flashback.
Just going through each ticket once for the max VP was usually sufficient to clear thresholds. However, that was before threshold rewards were expanded. It remains to be seen what the rewards table will look like. If the current schema is used, you will almost certainly have to grind it out for additional VP per ticket, or purchase additional tickets.
Most importantly, you will fatigue along with your crew! Pace yourself! Expeditions are the most accessible events for players to chase rank because a lot of players hate the format and will bail early. The key to competing is to repeat missions once you've claimed the maximum VP and grind it out to earn lesser VP per node. Most players are unwilling to do that, giving the advantage to those who will.
Those are all the rules from the last expedition events. When this event first ran nodes relocked after each ticket. There was a RNG check before the star was given even if you rolled high enough. There was a timer for how long you had per ticket. This particular event had vastly different VP in threshold.
We don't know how this flashback will work. And DB has apparently not told Shan yet either.
This is based on my understanding that the inclusion of The Professor establishes this as "The Game's Afoot 2", rather than the original run. That would also explain skipping "Holograms Are Forever" and "Ribbon of Joy", which were played under the original, harsher, conditions. From Shan's post in the old forum:
The Game’s Afoot is a rerun of the first Expedition Event. Since it ran, we have made two significant changes:
- This event will run under the newest Expedition Event ticketing system (1 hour of play from the redemption of a ticket, with three free tickets per day).
- New for this event: once an Elite or Epic Event Away Team Mission is unlocked, it will remain so for the remainder of the event, not just the duration of the ticket.
Featured characters have a 100% chance to earn rare rewards on Event Away Team Missions
- Doctor La Forge
- The Professor
- Detective Data (only available in the event pack in your Time Portal)
Using other versions of The Professor, Data or La Forge will provide a bonus to earning rare rewards on Event Away Team Missions.
Thanks. They changed expedition events so many times I lost track of what was in this version.
If they keep this version, that does mean a timed 1 hour ticket vs unlimited time.
No VP doubler for rare rewards.
Event crew have 100% crit chance, but other crew do not. So if there is a CMD node and you use a different data you may have to repeat the node multiple times to receive the star. But on the positive side, you will get the same VP always.
Ranked grouping may be tight, yes, but is it really vastly different from skirmishes each rewarding 6000 VP and some bonus here and there? I get the limited pay to play nature of the tickets is rankling to many, but it’s ok to not get to top 1500 every event too. Those that want it will find the time, or find a way. I can’t tell you how many galaxies I’ve looked at and walked away from for similar reasons (time, money, time to stockpile resources to avoid money) but it’s honestly most of them. That said, a lot of folks really like galaxy events so they must be doing something right. I will be curious, should this not become a dumpster fire of old meets new systems and rules, to see how people feel with the larger crew pools and buffed up cards. Tickets are something we can appeal to Shan to take to the devs if the event type is more palatable now in other ways, perhaps asking it to be changed to intel gained by away missions and handled like Skirmishes. I’d be happy to see the wrinkles ironed out and more diverse event typing in 2020.
Actually, it is completely different. In a skirmish, you can play as many times as you like as long as you have the chrons to support intel gathering. In an expedition, you get a limited number of tickets each day (+ a few in thresholds). So, unless you buy extra tickets with dilithium, everyone has an equal number of chances to earn the same number of points.
Yes, hence my saying if all the other pain points are gone, we lobby DB to replace ticketing with away team intel similar to skirmishes. As the current rules apply, tickets are still unlimited if you want to buy them and rank higher. I don’t like it, you don’t like it, but that it doesn’t change the fact they can be obtained in any quantity a play wants for currency so to infer the tickets are truly limited is skewing the truth a little. To be perfectly clear, I’m not in favor of the current system, but I’d love to see it reworked and based on ingame currency like skirms and not on cash tickets as it sits. I believe the other pain points in expeditions may be alleviated with QoL changes to Timelines over the last 2 years, so maybe after this run the community may feel more collectively positive about fighting for that change and embracing this event style more so than in the past.
Don’t put “we” in your idea cause that “we” certainly does not include “me” if your idea is to make expeditions more like skirmishes where players can easily get unlimited tickets. Expeditions would become even more a nightmare. As the current system is almost all players do not buy extra tickets so point numbers are limited and the event playing is also limited. Few buy extra tickets so we do not have to buy extra tickets to compete for top 1500. If the buying process was made cheaper then all that would happen is the point numbers needed would go up exponentially as would the amount of time players would have to put in to be competitive at any level.
My favorite event and event type! Sherlock Data was my 2nd 5/5. And I had him at 4/5 long long before anyone else through this event. Good memories thanks.
Jean-Luc Picard: "We think we've come so far. Torture of heretics, burning of witches, is all ancient history. Then, before you can blink an eye, suddenly, it threatens to start all over again."
I think what's obvious is that even if it's "The Game's Afoot 2" as I interpret, this event structure is so old that it makes no sense to run it as a Flashback instead of a Rerun, with modifications.
For those curious, here are the evolving conditions of the format:
Changes that will be evident in “Quadrilateral” to those who played the first Expedition Event will include:
-Reduced Normal difficulty: Missions in “Normal” mode should be easier to complete.
-Attempt Tickets are now 1 hour, instead of 2 hours.
-Players will receive 3 event tickets per day. Additional tickets will be available for extended play, on a sliding scale of premium currency.
-There will be more threshold rewards, and greater aspirational rewards for top players.
-The “Failure” penalty on nodes will be greater. This addresses the use of 0 skill crew to get through a mission and encourages a better mix of crew for mission success.
-The VP value of Critical Success on a node is dramatically greater.
The 3 featured characters are:
Waitress Ezri
Jazz Musician Odo
Bashir, Julian Bashir
Those 3 featured characters have a 100% to crit the event nodes, and will always earn the rare VP rewards when used successfully on those nodes. Other versions of featured crew will have a higher than normal chance to crit these nodes, and will earn rare VP rewards at a higher rate than non-event crew.
PHASES: The expedition event will now have three phases. In the early phase, players will only be able to access the earliest missions. At the start of each phase, missions requiring an even higher level of mastery to complete will unlock. The first two phases last 48 hours each. The final phase lasts 24 hours.
SQUADRONS: Squadron rewards will now include new Replicator Fuel.
CUMULATIVE REWARDS: Rank Rewards will continue to be additive.
Ranked grouping may be tight, yes, but is it really vastly different from skirmishes each rewarding 6000 VP and some bonus here and there? I get the limited pay to play nature of the tickets is rankling to many, but it’s ok to not get to top 1500 every event too. Those that want it will find the time, or find a way. I can’t tell you how many galaxies I’ve looked at and walked away from for similar reasons (time, money, time to stockpile resources to avoid money) but it’s honestly most of them. That said, a lot of folks really like galaxy events so they must be doing something right. I will be curious, should this not become a dumpster fire of old meets new systems and rules, to see how people feel with the larger crew pools and buffed up cards. Tickets are something we can appeal to Shan to take to the devs if the event type is more palatable now in other ways, perhaps asking it to be changed to intel gained by away missions and handled like Skirmishes. I’d be happy to see the wrinkles ironed out and more diverse event typing in 2020.
Actually, it is completely different. In a skirmish, you can play as many times as you like as long as you have the chrons to support intel gathering. In an expedition, you get a limited number of tickets each day (+ a few in thresholds). So, unless you buy extra tickets with dilithium, everyone has an equal number of chances to earn the same number of points.
Yes, hence my saying if all the other pain points are gone, we lobby DB to replace ticketing with away team intel similar to skirmishes. As the current rules apply, tickets are still unlimited if you want to buy them and rank higher. I don’t like it, you don’t like it, but that it doesn’t change the fact they can be obtained in any quantity a play wants for currency so to infer the tickets are truly limited is skewing the truth a little. To be perfectly clear, I’m not in favor of the current system, but I’d love to see it reworked and based on ingame currency like skirms and not on cash tickets as it sits. I believe the other pain points in expeditions may be alleviated with QoL changes to Timelines over the last 2 years, so maybe after this run the community may feel more collectively positive about fighting for that change and embracing this event style more so than in the past.
Don’t put “we” in your idea cause that “we” certainly does not include “me” if your idea is to make expeditions more like skirmishes where players can easily get unlimited tickets. Expeditions would become even more a nightmare. As the current system is almost all players do not buy extra tickets so point numbers are limited and the event playing is also limited. Few buy extra tickets so we do not have to buy extra tickets to compete for top 1500. If the buying process was made cheaper then all that would happen is the point numbers needed would go up exponentially as would the amount of time players would have to put in to be competitive at any level.
Interesting that it’s alright, even accepted, for players (just players, not saying “you” specifically) to spend dozens of hours on a galaxy event or skirmish, but not an expedition. I fail to see the difference at all. I feel the same way this response describes, but about galaxies and galaxy hybrids, and therefore skip them. If a player felt that way about any type of game play, I would expect them to skip those aspects of the game and enjoy time off. Hopefully my pronouns here were less objectionable, I by no means assume every player feels similarly to myself, but rather was fishing for other supporters or feedback beyond “grah expeditions bad” which feels like the overwhelming response. I’ll drop the topic, lest any radical idea’s seep into the game. I might, however, suggest not lumping one’s self into every use of “we” or plural pronoun on a written word forum, it seems like it could be a fairly stressful behavior.
If I had a vote, I'd vote against shifting from tickets to intel, if only because one of the perks of the Expedition format is that it's a weekend where the only chronitons I have to spend are to complete the threshold 4* if they're new, and to meet my daily mission requirements. Next week's event coming after a Galaxy and Skirmish back to back illustrates the value of this, I think.
Besides, only a tiny fraction of players bother with additional tickets. They're not necessary. I've never bought any. Other than the earlier ones when I was still developing my crew, I've had no problem ranking high enough for the 5*. Which reminds me, The Professor was the very first 5* I earned from an event. I'll always have a soft spot for him. It's cool to get a chance to earn another star for him this week, and I'm excited to actually let him come out to play next week!
So this expedition flashback will follow the same rules that applied the last time we ran an expedition event (hybrid event Auld Lang Syne) - meaning no timer on a ticket and no RNG when criting a VP node.
As for the rewards structure, this flashback was adapted to be in line with what has been done in events recently.
Detective Data will not be part of the rewards however.
Nice to see someone else is actually geeked about this T’Pol
I like Enterprise. I never really liked T'Pol. I suspect her character was poorly and inconsistently written. I felt she was a bad Vulcan, what with being extremely emotional and condescending. I think that was the writing, too. Truth told, she did shine in a few episodes. Also, I liked the actress during her Stargate role.
Nice to see someone else is actually geeked about this T’Pol
I like Enterprise. I never really liked T'Pol. I suspect her character was poorly and inconsistently written. I felt she was a bad Vulcan, what with being extremely emotional and condescending. I think that was the writing, too. Truth told, she did shine in a few episodes. Also, I liked the actress during her Stargate role.
But the beauty of her is that she developed that way over time with her human crew. She certainly started out as a full Vulcan. After being part of a human crew for that time she grew to like them, particularly her respect and admiration for Archer. It shaped her into being ok with emotions and being who you want to be versus what’s expected of you. I thought the development of her character was the greatest in the franchise. She accepted where she was, then she found it interesting, then she found it engaging, then she found it to be a way of life to be proud of and to be part of
So this expedition flashback will follow the same rules that applied the last time we ran an expedition event (hybrid event Auld Lang Syne) - meaning no timer on a ticket and no RNG when criting a VP node.
As for the rewards structure, this flashback was adapted to be in line with what has been done in events recently.
Detective Data will not be part of the rewards however.
yay thanks for clarifying Shan but why did you guys decrease the difficulty for everyone who's never played one before, they won't get the full frustrating grinding away at nodes with EVERYONE ON YOUR ROSTER experience
two serious questions for everyone else who's looking forward to this:
- did we even have voyages the last time we had an expedition?
So this expedition flashback will follow the same rules that applied the last time we ran an expedition event (hybrid event Auld Lang Syne) - meaning no timer on a ticket and no RNG when criting a VP node.
As for the rewards structure, this flashback was adapted to be in line with what has been done in events recently.
Detective Data will not be part of the rewards however.
Thank you for taking the time to ask around to enlighten us, now we can prepare.
I'm interested in giving this a try, I'm happy it's not a faction event again anyway.
It occurs to me that with The Professor involved, this is technically "The Game's Afoot 2" Flashback. It also occurs to me to offer a quick primer for players who have never done an Expedition.
Expeditions are basically Skirmishes for crew instead of ships. (Or, rather, Skirmishes are Expeditions for ships instead of crew.) The most notable difference is that you cannot use a crew member in the event if they are assigned to a shuttle or a Voyage, so plan accordingly. My personal strategy is to complete a ticket, then send out shuttles. Leave the game alone until the shuttles return, then complete another ticket. This helps me stave off event burnout, too.
Your crew will fatigue after each use, as they do in the Gauntlet. Featured and Bonus crew (The Professor, Data & La Forge variants) will fatigue ten percent per node. Everyone else will fatigue at twice that pace. Ergo, you can use Featured & Bonus crew twenty times per ticket and everyone else just ten times.
As they fatigue, their stats will decrease, both base and proficiency. So too will the value of trait bonuses per node.
You have to complete the first mission to unlock the next, and on each difficulty to unlock the next highest. Once you have unlocked a mission/difficulty, it will remain unlocked for the duration of the event, so you only have to start from the bottom once. The best approach is to unlock everything with your first ticket, and on subsequent tickets, start with Mission 5 on Epic and work your way backward. That way as your crew fatigues, they're facing less difficult node skill levels.
You must crit a node in order to earn VP; just clearing it is insufficient. During the original run of this event, only Featured Crew were guaranteed VP for crits. Bonus crew had a higher chance of earning VP. In subsequent Expeditions, all crits were guaranteed VP. It remains to be seen which rules will be in place for this Flashback.
Just going through each ticket once for the max VP was usually sufficient to clear thresholds. However, that was before threshold rewards were expanded. It remains to be seen what the rewards table will look like. If the current schema is used, you will almost certainly have to grind it out for additional VP per ticket, or purchase additional tickets.
Most importantly, you will fatigue along with your crew! Pace yourself! Expeditions are the most accessible events for players to chase rank because a lot of players hate the format and will bail early. The key to competing is to repeat missions once you've claimed the maximum VP and grind it out to earn lesser VP per node. Most players are unwilling to do that, giving the advantage to those who will.
I have not read though all the messages yet this might have been mentioned. But it looks the bonus crew fatigue is 5% not the 10% you mentioned. Everything else you said on fatigue seems right👍
Edit: all you need to do is change ten percent to five percent and everything else is right
Nice to see someone else is actually geeked about this T’Pol
I like Enterprise. I never really liked T'Pol. I suspect her character was poorly and inconsistently written. I felt she was a bad Vulcan, what with being extremely emotional and condescending. I think that was the writing, too. Truth told, she did shine in a few episodes. Also, I liked the actress during her Stargate role.
The thing that is missed in Enterpise Vulcans, is that they are not practicing Surak's teachings. They are not in control of their emotions as we are use to seeing. And, T'Pol's character loses any semblance of control because of the trellium-D abuse. It is in "enterprise" that the true teaching's are discovered. And, it is then that T'Pol gets control over her emotions due to her reading of Surak's teachings. It had been mentioned earlier in other episodes that she would never get control of her emotions. But, with her studying of Surak's teachings she does.
So this expedition flashback will follow the same rules that applied the last time we ran an expedition event (hybrid event Auld Lang Syne) - meaning no timer on a ticket and no RNG when criting a VP node.
As for the rewards structure, this flashback was adapted to be in line with what has been done in events recently.
Detective Data will not be part of the rewards however.
So not really a flashback, more like a rerun from before the new rerun rewards structure came out and without any new crew.
Even with knowing we won’t be suffering under the old Hardcore Mode rules, this might be the first event in years where I don’t bother to clear the 130k VP threshold. I know it won’t be worth it to buy tickets to chase the top 1500 - I might as well save those resources to spend on event packs the following week - and I strongly doubt the free tickets would get me to any of the higher reward tiers. I don’t need a second Dr. La Forge and don’t feel that hours of grinding for a few hundred honor. How far I go depends on the rest of the threshold rewards - if it’s worth power-leveling Scrooge Data and thawing the likes of Dr. La Forge or if o should ignore the event completely.
I was looking forward to playing seven bells out if this on my VIP0 for a 4th star on Detective Data. Not sure I'll even bother with the free tickets given the lack of any meaningful reward.
This flashback business is becoming annoying. Not sure why DB is so hell bent in promoting them instead of reruns. Especially in this case where they anyways have to spend significant developer resources to adapt.
If it’s a way to avoid giving out the legendary as a threshold reward, it’s rather silly of them. Most of these decrepit legendaries are useless at 1/5 for veteran players and even relatively newer ones. But the best thing abt reruns was the hope that some of the older players could potentially immortalize and freeze the decrypt legendaries without too much trouble or having to rank.
I love expedition events, but probably will just not bother with this flashback.
I've literally never done this before, but I'm like 50/50 right now on posting a score of 0 for this event. I normally preach for people to get threshold no matter what because the benefits are worth it, but a 4 day expedition is testing the limits of that philosophy. I'll wait and see and make this a gametime decision Thursday, but right now just thinking about doing an expedition is making me feel like Michael Scott when Toby came back from Costa Rica.
Comments
Thanks. They changed expedition events so many times I lost track of what was in this version.
If they keep this version, that does mean a timed 1 hour ticket vs unlimited time.
No VP doubler for rare rewards.
Event crew have 100% crit chance, but other crew do not. So if there is a CMD node and you use a different data you may have to repeat the node multiple times to receive the star. But on the positive side, you will get the same VP always.
Don’t put “we” in your idea cause that “we” certainly does not include “me” if your idea is to make expeditions more like skirmishes where players can easily get unlimited tickets. Expeditions would become even more a nightmare. As the current system is almost all players do not buy extra tickets so point numbers are limited and the event playing is also limited. Few buy extra tickets so we do not have to buy extra tickets to compete for top 1500. If the buying process was made cheaper then all that would happen is the point numbers needed would go up exponentially as would the amount of time players would have to put in to be competitive at any level.
Helping newbies is the most important function of the forum. I benefited when I was one, and I'm happy to recirculate when I can!
Nice to see someone else is actually geeked about this T’Pol
Join the eXo|plosion today!
For those curious, here are the evolving conditions of the format:
10/5/16 "Holograms Are Forever"
12/22/16 "Merry Men":
Interesting that it’s alright, even accepted, for players (just players, not saying “you” specifically) to spend dozens of hours on a galaxy event or skirmish, but not an expedition. I fail to see the difference at all. I feel the same way this response describes, but about galaxies and galaxy hybrids, and therefore skip them. If a player felt that way about any type of game play, I would expect them to skip those aspects of the game and enjoy time off. Hopefully my pronouns here were less objectionable, I by no means assume every player feels similarly to myself, but rather was fishing for other supporters or feedback beyond “grah expeditions bad” which feels like the overwhelming response. I’ll drop the topic, lest any radical idea’s seep into the game. I might, however, suggest not lumping one’s self into every use of “we” or plural pronoun on a written word forum, it seems like it could be a fairly stressful behavior.
Besides, only a tiny fraction of players bother with additional tickets. They're not necessary. I've never bought any. Other than the earlier ones when I was still developing my crew, I've had no problem ranking high enough for the 5*. Which reminds me, The Professor was the very first 5* I earned from an event. I'll always have a soft spot for him. It's cool to get a chance to earn another star for him this week, and I'm excited to actually let him come out to play next week!
also yay!
Zero? 😕
So this expedition flashback will follow the same rules that applied the last time we ran an expedition event (hybrid event Auld Lang Syne) - meaning no timer on a ticket and no RNG when criting a VP node.
As for the rewards structure, this flashback was adapted to be in line with what has been done in events recently.
Detective Data will not be part of the rewards however.
I like Enterprise. I never really liked T'Pol. I suspect her character was poorly and inconsistently written. I felt she was a bad Vulcan, what with being extremely emotional and condescending. I think that was the writing, too. Truth told, she did shine in a few episodes. Also, I liked the actress during her Stargate role.
But the beauty of her is that she developed that way over time with her human crew. She certainly started out as a full Vulcan. After being part of a human crew for that time she grew to like them, particularly her respect and admiration for Archer. It shaped her into being ok with emotions and being who you want to be versus what’s expected of you. I thought the development of her character was the greatest in the franchise. She accepted where she was, then she found it interesting, then she found it engaging, then she found it to be a way of life to be proud of and to be part of
yay thanks for clarifying Shan but why did you guys decrease the difficulty for everyone who's never played one before, they won't get the full frustrating grinding away at nodes with EVERYONE ON YOUR ROSTER experience
two serious questions for everyone else who's looking forward to this:
- did we even have voyages the last time we had an expedition?
- who else has the 6 inbox tickets left?
Does that mean we're getting more than one purple also, or still Doc La Forge in thresholds and rank?
Proud Former Officer of The Gluten Empire
Retired 12-14-20. So long, and thanks for all the cat pics!
Thank you for taking the time to ask around to enlighten us, now we can prepare.
I'm interested in giving this a try, I'm happy it's not a faction event again anyway.
I have not read though all the messages yet this might have been mentioned. But it looks the bonus crew fatigue is 5% not the 10% you mentioned. Everything else you said on fatigue seems right👍
Edit: all you need to do is change ten percent to five percent and everything else is right
The thing that is missed in Enterpise Vulcans, is that they are not practicing Surak's teachings. They are not in control of their emotions as we are use to seeing. And, T'Pol's character loses any semblance of control because of the trellium-D abuse. It is in "enterprise" that the true teaching's are discovered. And, it is then that T'Pol gets control over her emotions due to her reading of Surak's teachings. It had been mentioned earlier in other episodes that she would never get control of her emotions. But, with her studying of Surak's teachings she does.
You realise you just airlocked Data, don't you?
You do realise that, surely?
I don't know how you live with yourself...
So not really a flashback, more like a rerun from before the new rerun rewards structure came out and without any new crew.
If it’s a way to avoid giving out the legendary as a threshold reward, it’s rather silly of them. Most of these decrepit legendaries are useless at 1/5 for veteran players and even relatively newer ones. But the best thing abt reruns was the hope that some of the older players could potentially immortalize and freeze the decrypt legendaries without too much trouble or having to rank.
I love expedition events, but probably will just not bother with this flashback.
I was thinking the same thing about myself