I’m flitting between feeling these events are painstakingly tedious, but then being in a zen like trance where the efficiency of the tried and tested crew choices just rolls on and on. I’d like to see them more than they are currently being used.
Expedition events are the worst, and I never want to see another
Mark D. This is an unusual Expedition. Normally there are 2 4*, and one is in each. It really hurt that they did not put Victorian Pulaski back in this time.
Mark D. This is an unusual Expedition. Normally there are 2 4*, and one is in each. It really hurt that they did not put Victorian Pulaski back in this time.
Well according to the wiki the first 6 expeditions "The Game's Afoot" to "Merry Men" all had the same, then Quadrilateral 2 had different ones, and since then up until "The Game's Afoot 3" they have all been hybrids. So as 6 out of 7 non hybrids used this format I don't think that it could be called unusual.
Not sure why you mention Victorian Pulaski as she wasn't in either of the previous versions of "The Game's Afoot". It would however have been nice to have her as I have her at 3/4 so that would have allowed me to finish her. I already have Doctor La Forge as FFFE and I don't use him enough to warrant building a second.
I guess your love or hate for them depends on the depth of your crew.
One might think this, but one would be mistaken. I have a very deep roster (I regularly make 10-hour no-refill Voyages, for instance), and I abhor Expedition events. Several others in my fleet, also with very deep crew contingents, have a similar antipathy. On the flip side, I have fleetmates with very large rosters who love them (a member of my squad is currently in the top 25), and a handful of newbies in our sub-fleets who also seem to quite like them.
I understand that some people have the patience (or, as I like to call it, masochism ) to play them all weekend and rank highly. (Yes, I'm kind of joking here, because — strange as it sounds to my ears — I realize that there are players who actually enjoy everything about them.) I also understand that they may be the best event type for someone to rank well who happens to have limited resources and money, because it's more just a matter of grinding your way to the top, rather than spending chrons, boosts, or dilithium (though of course there's a little bit of the latter being done).
I've played STT for over 3 years, and I find myself despising the gameplay of Expeditions more and more, every time they show up. As a result, I play less and less each time. Last full Expedition, I stopped after clearing thresholds, but this time, I didn't even make it through the first ticket, and I'd already had it — remembering the grind from the last time, I knew I didn't want to put myself through that again.
So, it's a different mindset more than anything, I think. I couldn't actually pin down the exact reason for my distaste of them (I mean, other than not enjoying the type of gameplay in any way). Just the thought of them makes me cringe.
The only downside for me this weekend is I'd have loved to have gotten another star on Detective Data (just look at my avatar, lol), as well as a T'Pol to use next weekend — but I guess that means I'll just be buying event packs next week, because considering doing even just enough play to get into the top 1500 is still far too unpleasant a thought.
Could you please continue the petty bickering? I find it most intriguing. ~ Data, ST:TNG "Haven"
At the risk of being a downer, I just don’t understand the draw. As I said yesterday, the first ticket is neat because it’s fun to figure things out and the second ticket, when you can finally run in reverse order, is also fun when making tweaks to your crew usage. After that, it is a perfect storm of mindless thumb-wrecking and being completely hosed if you aren’t constantly paying rapt attention - one wrong step and you’ve completely wiped out a crew member, worse yet if it’s an event crew.
Skirmishes can be done while doing something else. Galaxy events require more attention but are at least flexible when it comes to pacing. As for Expeditions...let’s just say that I am at 416k VP and not entirely sure if I have it in me to grind to 475k for Data. Although I’ve made it this far, I hate Expeditions more with every ticket and am having trouble finding the will to keep going.
Getting back on topic, I don’t want to participate in a full Expedition ever again. If we get a couple hybrids a year I can do them like with Galaxy hybrids and just sit out the half I don’t like...also, please never have a Galaxy/Expedition hybrid.
This. Exactly this.
Skirmishes are long, grindy, and mindless, but I love them because I can do other things like watch movies or listen to technical podcasts while making progress equipping my crew and getting good rewards. One can also be very flexible with timing one's intel collecting and intel burning phases across the duration of the event.
There is a unique and somewhat entertaining challenge in working out the correct crew to use during the first two expedition tickets. But once crew selection is sorted and written down, it just becomes a different type of long, grindy and mindless. The interface for staffing mission spots have improved, I'll concede, but the process is still clunky, and has to be done up to twice each mission. Then comes selecting individual crew to run through individual nodes. The more I play, the more this process feels like one exquisitely-designed repetitive pain point of obligate micromanaging. One can't get into a rhythm because one has to wait for all the various and variable numbers of animations (trait bonuses, crit rolls, VP awarded), but even where possible, trying to speed through brings its own perils, one misplaced finger could wipe out an event crew for the rest of the ticket. There is also less timing flexibility during the event. If there is an ambition for a particular high threshold reward, or to finish top-1500, there is a potential added pressure to use up current tickets before each daily refresh, and to be mindful of when one claims threshold rewards, so as to not "lose out" on additional tickets.
There were comments elsewhere in the thread about enjoyment relative to crew depth. I was around for the last expedition hybrid (Christmas 2018) and didn't seem to dislike the format as much back then, even though I was doing 3-4 hour voyages then and am doing 9-10 hour voyages now. I think everyone is just wired differently. A small number of posters have commented their enjoyment or tolerance of the format decreases each time it resurfaces, and it would appear I am in that category too.
Please DB, if you are contemplating running expeditions more frequently than once every 13 months (insert screaming in horror emoji here), please do so as part of hybrids only.
One of my favorite things about Expeditions was using them as a barometer for my progress in the game. I wasn't capable of even unlocking missions 4 and 5 on Epic in my first Expedition. The next time, I could, but it took everyone I had. Honestly, if it hadn't been for Expeditions, I probably would have abandoned the game because I had no real sense of making any real progress with anything. Keep in mind, there were no collections or achievements at that time.
I have really enjoyed reading posts from newer players who have gotten into "The Game's Afoot", especially those who have observed the same things that those of us who have lamented their absence have said all along.
There are four months each year that have a fifth weekend. This year, those are March, May, August, and November. What if those were given to Expeditions?
I agree, and I like your idea for quarterly Expeditions. Maybe one full-on and three Hybrid not-Galaxy/Expeditions would strike a nice balance for varying the type of event more frequently. 🖖
"In the short run, the game defines the players. But in the long run, it's us players who define the game." — Nicky Case, The Evolution of Trust
I like the current frequency of one or two a year.
I would love 2 per year, but with the caveat that they be hybrid events. If they're always hybrids, then 4 per year wouldn't hurt my feelings. But please... No more 100% expeditions. Four days is too much.
I would love 2 per year, but with the caveat that they be hybrid events. If they're always hybrids, then 4 per year wouldn't hurt my feelings. But please... No more 100% expeditions. Four days is too much.
That's how I'd feel about skirmish events, if not for the secondary rewards (ie: honor, chrons and the odd single premium pull).
I wonder if DB could add secondary rewards to each completed expedition ticket?
Taking the skirmish comparison a step further, they could allow additional tickets to be earned by completing x number of away missions (or even replace tickets with intel, which is earned via away missions). You could choose which difficulty level to do each time, instead of doing all three levels at a time, which would mean needing to complete 10 missions instead of 30 (2x each mission to clear all nodes). That way expeditions would be to away missions what skirmishes are to space battles.
I did pick more, but there are stipulations - less mission 3 or 4 is OK like said before. 3 is better.
but I need it to stop freezing my computer when I am doing it, nothing else freezes my computer and I play games that are a LOT more resource requirements.
Give us a lot more expedition events, like one a month.
This is my favorite event in a long while.
It's an event where I feel like I really have to think, and skill matters. Skirmish and galaxy events are just mindless clicking. Faction events take minimal thought to set your crew, and then mindless repeats every 3 hours(or less).
With this event I need to figure out which crew to use when. Do I use Data or Moriarty for SCI? Do I use La Forge or Moriarty for ENG? If I use Data for a SEC node first, will I weaken him enough that he can't pass a SCI node? If I keep using Data for SCI, will I exhaust him too soon? Should I mix in La Forge for SEC here or there to balance the load.
Those are the decisions that can make the difference between a couple thousand points per ticket. And it's more fun to think your decisions determine your outcome instead of your grinding.
I would love to see the events made even harder. Make a consecutive row of stars across even more skills so you really need to think about which crew to use. Create more complex branching logic to force you to think about routes and multiple passes to minimize event crew fatigue. I'd even love to see locked nodes introduced so you need to factor in traits to unlock paths to stars.
Make the missions a puzzle that you have to solve for maximum VP.
I'd probably vote for fewer tickets at that point, but my idea is each ticket should make you think enough that you're spending 1.5 hours per ticket to crack the missions.
I think one every 3-4 months is ok. Breaks up the monotony of the other 3 event types. I agree with an earlier comment to just issue out all the tickets in one go so we can play at our own pace. Or at the very least issue tickets once every 24h to coincide with the event start time.
Also an additional *rant*...
Having the first ticket reissue happen after only 12h of the event start disproportionately disadvantages players in an asian time zone (+6 to +9h GMT) where most of the players are asleep during that 12h window. Case in point, when I woke up, there was 4 hours left to the reset and I had to not only clear 3 free tickets but also an additional 4 threshold tickets.... additionally tough as you are spending additional time in the early tickets to figure out an optimum path to clear VP nodes...
Lost 3 free tickets on day 1 which would have been an additional 210k VP which for an expedition event is significant.... Wouldn't be such a problem if it were a skirmish or galaxy event where you could just burn up chrons...
oh the other thing they need to do is allow tickets to roll over until the next day, and be able to use Monday's tickets on Sunday... lol I have no idea how I would be able to do Monday's if I had to be into work at the normal business time, which is most the people who probably play. Just a shame and unfair.
What would be great is - Thurs phase 1 galaxy, Friday, Saturday, Sunday = expedition and Monday phase 2 of galaxy
what would be really neat is to have both events run on the say day from Sunday Noon until Monday noon, but just allow 3 tickets for both days...
I know I know I know I am complicating matters... I just feel bad because Mondays are hard to do expeditions, I may not even get mine done... I am hoping I get the threshold done by tomorrow lol
I would love to see the events made even harder. Make a consecutive row of stars across even more skills so you really need to think about which crew to use. Create more complex branching logic to force you to think about routes and multiple passes to minimize event crew fatigue. I'd even love to see locked nodes introduced so you need to factor in traits to unlock paths to stars.
Considering I've never gotten this high on an event ever....
I'd say I'm a bit biased
Edit: this was last night but I figure I should be able to finish at this rank with less than 100 dil
Good luck. But keep in mind that folks can do 300k+ an hour, so better make sure ur around the final hours until event end. I expect a bloodbath For the final hours.
Rats I didn't think about that, I had planned on being there for the final hours so I may have to go over budget but it'll be worth it
Edit: it now seems everyone got the same idea and now everyone is trying for a good finish so it's gonna be more like 1000 crystals instead of 100... But is it still worth it?
Ok so update on this.....
GOD MAKE IT STOP PLEASE!!! I enjoy these kinds of events when I use 3 maybe 4 tickets a day... But having to do 8 to 12 tickets a days is horrible!!! And I've sunk so much I can't stop or I'd be wasting that Dil pretty much so... @Rowden idk how you are doing it bro... How is your brain not mush by now?
I think I'm enjoying them. Running tickets is quick, I don't have to live on the game's schedule like during factions, and they don't feel like a chore if I pace tickets correctly.
I like the current frequency of one or two a year.
There is one thing that makes me hate this event - every build process needs 4-6 taps to skip the animations that should have gotten a [x] do not show again switch 4 years ago.
Give us a lot more expedition events, like one a month.
To make this more fun I decided to go all in on voyages and different faction shuttles with 3 seats (without bonus crew though but I only use them in the event when inevitable). That way I have to figure out new crew with almost every attempt. So entertaining. I spent 3x 20 dil and am currently on rank 39. The rank 50 achievement would be the icing on the cake. But I am worried about tomorrow too, I have really no time at work to do this, even more with the Facebook client bugging on the event.
Wir, die Mirror Tribbles [MiT] haben freie Plätze zu vergeben. Kein Zwang und kein Stress, dafür aber Spaß, Discord und eine nette, hilfsbereite Gemeinschaft, incl. voll ausgebauter Starbase und täglich 700 ISM.
I like the current frequency of one or two a year.
I love the first run through is the "OK... What have we got here"
And the second run through is the "OK... How do I maximise my VP?"
Although I do admit from ticket 4 onwards it becomes a grind.
I disagree with the sentiment that it shouldn't be an event type because it requires too much thought. If games could be done easily, how is it a game?
I do agree with the sentiment that after ticket 4, it takes a lot of time and becomes boring.
But I remember when I was newbie: I loved expeditions. It gave me a chance to rank highly with the crew that I had. Now I'm in the endgame camp, I can understand the shift to the "ranking highly by putting minimal effort in", but I am also a believer in earning your rewards.
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 would love to see the events made even harder. Make a consecutive row of stars across even more skills so you really need to think about which crew to use. Create more complex branching logic to force you to think about routes and multiple passes to minimize event crew fatigue. I'd even love to see locked nodes introduced so you need to factor in traits to unlock paths to stars.
I can see the reasoning why this would be more exciting, but I have a grave concern: once you’ve added another hour or two to the strategizing portion of the event, you’ve likely as not made most players only able to maximize VP by playing every single ticket the exact same way without any possible deviations. That would turn both the mind-numbing boredom for the remainder of the event, and chance for failing an entire ticket, from about a 5 all the way up to 11.
Right now, if I make a mistake and wipe out Detective Data, The Professor can still clear some of the ENG or SCI nodes Data would have been used on...it would make things tougher and I would certainly need to use Scrooge or La Borge more often (losing maybe a couple thousand VP for the ticket) but it would still be worth it to clear the remaining nodes. If your carefully-crafted strategy for a deeply complex and trait-locked mission path is ruined with one missed tap, the entire ticket is a waste unless you enjoy losing many thousands of VP for the same (grindy) effort.
The only other way I can think of to increase the strategy side of the event without making it utterly unplayable would be to have multiple variations on mission formats. Each time you open a ticket, one of X number of different sets of missions is randomly selected and you have to figure out a crew usage plan for each set. You’d eventually figure out all of the missions and still be back at square one when it comes to ruining your thumbs for no reason, but the time spent thinking on crew management would increase. Of course, there is a zero percent chance that DB would triple/quadruple/etc. their workload on Expedition event design without being able to monetize better, so without a Skirmish-style loot drop I don’t think this will ever happen.
Really positive surprised that so far only 25% are against Expeditions.
If you read this weeks Event thread you could have the impression
(because of all the whining and complaining in advance) that 90% of players
hate Expeditions.
I like the current frequency of one or two a year.
I liked my first expedition (Merry Men) and have liked them less and less every time they come up. As I noted in the event thread, I am hating this one. My vote is based on supporting those of you that like them and because I do agree with the larger principle that event variety is a positive thing. But personally, I would prefer to never see them again.
This is the furst event I've entirely passed on (meaning I didn't even score a single victory point). I just couldn't bother at all. Mainly because the ranked reward was also the trashhold reward and I already had all three event crew immortalized (since it was a flashback, it was bound to happen that one or the other event will meet these criteria).
I did purrticipate heavily in the last Expedition (Christmas 2017) before my big break and it was okay, because I was alone in the office and couldn't go anywhere except holding my ground. But this time I had plenty of other stuff to do and nothing made me even a little bit eager to spend my good crew out of voyages or shuttles, so they stay where they are.
"Everything about the Jem'Hadar is lethal!" - Eris (ST-DS9 Episode 2x26 "The Jem'Hadar")
Expeditions will require some tweaks if done more often(or again for that matter). I think giving all tickets at the start of the event is the wrong direction. I rather suggest to remove the cap of the tickets and always give 3 tickets at reset. This makes that mistakes of claiming a threshold reward ticket and losing it at reset by not using it are avoided and also makes buying extra ticket easier on day 1 if you want to do so.
I like the idea of less missions and maybe increase the number star nodes in a mission to keep the value of fatigue(for event crew). This will make it beginner friendly by requiring less crew and reduce time repeating the moves, while maintaining the tactical/puzzle aspect.
Really positive surprised that so far only 25% are against Expeditions.
Or, maybe they realize that some others enjoy them and are just trying to be magnanimous. Or maybe they just want a weekend off every once in awhile.
But reading through the posts in this thread of the people who didn't vote for the "never again" option, it's also obvious that several of those really don't enjoy them, but still voted for the "once a year" or "once every few months" options.
Could you please continue the petty bickering? I find it most intriguing. ~ Data, ST:TNG "Haven"
Default sort event characters on top at all times would probably save me 80% of the time so that would be essential
edit ofcourse i could settle for a favorite function like the hearts suggested above
I’d like to see expeditions more regulary, like every 3 months or so.
But please allow to „heart“ most used crew, so u always see them on top, or show bonus crew general on top of sorting, no matter of fatigue and status.
Edit
But yeah, please limit Missions to 3 or 4 max.. 5 are too much imho.
Id like to see each tiket allow us to choose 10 crew, rather than having to trawl through all of my crew hoping to get to event crew and variants for each expedition. I've just posted it on the make it so board hopefully DB might listen.
Really positive surprised that so far only 25% are against Expeditions.
Or, maybe they realize that some others enjoy them and are just trying to be magnanimous. Or maybe they just want a weekend off every once in awhile.
But reading through the posts in this thread of the people who didn't vote for the "never again" option, it's also obvious that several of those really don't enjoy them, but still voted for the "once a year" or "once every few months" options.
This. Expeditions are the worst and deserve a fiery grave. BUT it's obvious that others like them, so I don't think it's unreasonable for them to be in the rotation rarely. I am likely going to rank in the top 1k despite not using all of my free tickets, so I don't think we can infer huge participation from the population at large.
Expedition events are the worst, and I never want to see another
My fleet has one person in the top 1500, and we are ranked at over 300 for the first time in months. And this is my worst event, maybe ever. I did one ticket and stopped. Remembered why I never liked Expeditions.
Comments
Well according to the wiki the first 6 expeditions "The Game's Afoot" to "Merry Men" all had the same, then Quadrilateral 2 had different ones, and since then up until "The Game's Afoot 3" they have all been hybrids. So as 6 out of 7 non hybrids used this format I don't think that it could be called unusual.
Not sure why you mention Victorian Pulaski as she wasn't in either of the previous versions of "The Game's Afoot". It would however have been nice to have her as I have her at 3/4 so that would have allowed me to finish her. I already have Doctor La Forge as FFFE and I don't use him enough to warrant building a second.
One might think this, but one would be mistaken. I have a very deep roster (I regularly make 10-hour no-refill Voyages, for instance), and I abhor Expedition events. Several others in my fleet, also with very deep crew contingents, have a similar antipathy. On the flip side, I have fleetmates with very large rosters who love them (a member of my squad is currently in the top 25), and a handful of newbies in our sub-fleets who also seem to quite like them.
I understand that some people have the patience (or, as I like to call it, masochism
I've played STT for over 3 years, and I find myself despising the gameplay of Expeditions more and more, every time they show up. As a result, I play less and less each time. Last full Expedition, I stopped after clearing thresholds, but this time, I didn't even make it through the first ticket, and I'd already had it — remembering the grind from the last time, I knew I didn't want to put myself through that again.
So, it's a different mindset more than anything, I think. I couldn't actually pin down the exact reason for my distaste of them (I mean, other than not enjoying the type of gameplay in any way). Just the thought of them makes me cringe.
The only downside for me this weekend is I'd have loved to have gotten another star on Detective Data (just look at my avatar, lol), as well as a T'Pol to use next weekend — but I guess that means I'll just be buying event packs next week, because considering doing even just enough play to get into the top 1500 is still far too unpleasant a thought.
Could you please continue the petty bickering? I find it most intriguing.
~ Data, ST:TNG "Haven"
This. Exactly this.
Skirmishes are long, grindy, and mindless, but I love them because I can do other things like watch movies or listen to technical podcasts while making progress equipping my crew and getting good rewards. One can also be very flexible with timing one's intel collecting and intel burning phases across the duration of the event.
There is a unique and somewhat entertaining challenge in working out the correct crew to use during the first two expedition tickets. But once crew selection is sorted and written down, it just becomes a different type of long, grindy and mindless. The interface for staffing mission spots have improved, I'll concede, but the process is still clunky, and has to be done up to twice each mission. Then comes selecting individual crew to run through individual nodes. The more I play, the more this process feels like one exquisitely-designed repetitive pain point of obligate micromanaging. One can't get into a rhythm because one has to wait for all the various and variable numbers of animations (trait bonuses, crit rolls, VP awarded), but even where possible, trying to speed through brings its own perils, one misplaced finger could wipe out an event crew for the rest of the ticket. There is also less timing flexibility during the event. If there is an ambition for a particular high threshold reward, or to finish top-1500, there is a potential added pressure to use up current tickets before each daily refresh, and to be mindful of when one claims threshold rewards, so as to not "lose out" on additional tickets.
There were comments elsewhere in the thread about enjoyment relative to crew depth. I was around for the last expedition hybrid (Christmas 2018) and didn't seem to dislike the format as much back then, even though I was doing 3-4 hour voyages then and am doing 9-10 hour voyages now. I think everyone is just wired differently. A small number of posters have commented their enjoyment or tolerance of the format decreases each time it resurfaces, and it would appear I am in that category too.
Please DB, if you are contemplating running expeditions more frequently than once every 13 months (insert screaming in horror emoji here), please do so as part of hybrids only.
I agree, and I like your idea for quarterly Expeditions. Maybe one full-on and three Hybrid not-Galaxy/Expeditions would strike a nice balance for varying the type of event more frequently. 🖖
That's how I'd feel about skirmish events, if not for the secondary rewards (ie: honor, chrons and the odd single premium pull).
I wonder if DB could add secondary rewards to each completed expedition ticket?
Taking the skirmish comparison a step further, they could allow additional tickets to be earned by completing x number of away missions (or even replace tickets with intel, which is earned via away missions). You could choose which difficulty level to do each time, instead of doing all three levels at a time, which would mean needing to complete 10 missions instead of 30 (2x each mission to clear all nodes). That way expeditions would be to away missions what skirmishes are to space battles.
but I need it to stop freezing my computer when I am doing it, nothing else freezes my computer and I play games that are a LOT more resource requirements.
It's an event where I feel like I really have to think, and skill matters. Skirmish and galaxy events are just mindless clicking. Faction events take minimal thought to set your crew, and then mindless repeats every 3 hours(or less).
With this event I need to figure out which crew to use when. Do I use Data or Moriarty for SCI? Do I use La Forge or Moriarty for ENG? If I use Data for a SEC node first, will I weaken him enough that he can't pass a SCI node? If I keep using Data for SCI, will I exhaust him too soon? Should I mix in La Forge for SEC here or there to balance the load.
Those are the decisions that can make the difference between a couple thousand points per ticket. And it's more fun to think your decisions determine your outcome instead of your grinding.
I would love to see the events made even harder. Make a consecutive row of stars across even more skills so you really need to think about which crew to use. Create more complex branching logic to force you to think about routes and multiple passes to minimize event crew fatigue. I'd even love to see locked nodes introduced so you need to factor in traits to unlock paths to stars.
Make the missions a puzzle that you have to solve for maximum VP.
I'd probably vote for fewer tickets at that point, but my idea is each ticket should make you think enough that you're spending 1.5 hours per ticket to crack the missions.
Also an additional *rant*...
Having the first ticket reissue happen after only 12h of the event start disproportionately disadvantages players in an asian time zone (+6 to +9h GMT) where most of the players are asleep during that 12h window. Case in point, when I woke up, there was 4 hours left to the reset and I had to not only clear 3 free tickets but also an additional 4 threshold tickets.... additionally tough as you are spending additional time in the early tickets to figure out an optimum path to clear VP nodes...
Lost 3 free tickets on day 1 which would have been an additional 210k VP which for an expedition event is significant.... Wouldn't be such a problem if it were a skirmish or galaxy event where you could just burn up chrons...
*/rant*
What would be great is - Thurs phase 1 galaxy, Friday, Saturday, Sunday = expedition and Monday phase 2 of galaxy
what would be really neat is to have both events run on the say day from Sunday Noon until Monday noon, but just allow 3 tickets for both days...
I know I know I know I am complicating matters... I just feel bad because Mondays are hard to do expeditions, I may not even get mine done... I am hoping I get the threshold done by tomorrow lol
More please...
Ok so update on this.....
GOD MAKE IT STOP PLEASE!!! I enjoy these kinds of events when I use 3 maybe 4 tickets a day... But having to do 8 to 12 tickets a days is horrible!!! And I've sunk so much I can't stop or I'd be wasting that Dil pretty much so... @Rowden idk how you are doing it bro... How is your brain not mush by now?
And the second run through is the "OK... How do I maximise my VP?"
Although I do admit from ticket 4 onwards it becomes a grind.
I disagree with the sentiment that it shouldn't be an event type because it requires too much thought. If games could be done easily, how is it a game?
I do agree with the sentiment that after ticket 4, it takes a lot of time and becomes boring.
But I remember when I was newbie: I loved expeditions. It gave me a chance to rank highly with the crew that I had. Now I'm in the endgame camp, I can understand the shift to the "ranking highly by putting minimal effort in", but I am also a believer in earning your rewards.
I can see the reasoning why this would be more exciting, but I have a grave concern: once you’ve added another hour or two to the strategizing portion of the event, you’ve likely as not made most players only able to maximize VP by playing every single ticket the exact same way without any possible deviations. That would turn both the mind-numbing boredom for the remainder of the event, and chance for failing an entire ticket, from about a 5 all the way up to 11.
Right now, if I make a mistake and wipe out Detective Data, The Professor can still clear some of the ENG or SCI nodes Data would have been used on...it would make things tougher and I would certainly need to use Scrooge or La Borge more often (losing maybe a couple thousand VP for the ticket) but it would still be worth it to clear the remaining nodes. If your carefully-crafted strategy for a deeply complex and trait-locked mission path is ruined with one missed tap, the entire ticket is a waste unless you enjoy losing many thousands of VP for the same (grindy) effort.
The only other way I can think of to increase the strategy side of the event without making it utterly unplayable would be to have multiple variations on mission formats. Each time you open a ticket, one of X number of different sets of missions is randomly selected and you have to figure out a crew usage plan for each set. You’d eventually figure out all of the missions and still be back at square one when it comes to ruining your thumbs for no reason, but the time spent thinking on crew management would increase. Of course, there is a zero percent chance that DB would triple/quadruple/etc. their workload on Expedition event design without being able to monetize better, so without a Skirmish-style loot drop I don’t think this will ever happen.
If you read this weeks Event thread you could have the impression
(because of all the whining and complaining in advance) that 90% of players
hate Expeditions.
I did purrticipate heavily in the last Expedition (Christmas 2017) before my big break and it was okay, because I was alone in the office and couldn't go anywhere except holding my ground. But this time I had plenty of other stuff to do and nothing made me even a little bit eager to spend my good crew out of voyages or shuttles, so they stay where they are.
I like the idea of less missions and maybe increase the number star nodes in a mission to keep the value of fatigue(for event crew). This will make it beginner friendly by requiring less crew and reduce time repeating the moves, while maintaining the tactical/puzzle aspect.
Or, maybe they realize that some others enjoy them and are just trying to be magnanimous. Or maybe they just want a weekend off every once in awhile.
But reading through the posts in this thread of the people who didn't vote for the "never again" option, it's also obvious that several of those really don't enjoy them, but still voted for the "once a year" or "once every few months" options.
Could you please continue the petty bickering? I find it most intriguing.
~ Data, ST:TNG "Haven"
edit ofcourse i could settle for a favorite function like the hearts suggested above
Id like to see each tiket allow us to choose 10 crew, rather than having to trawl through all of my crew hoping to get to event crew and variants for each expedition. I've just posted it on the make it so board hopefully DB might listen.
This. Expeditions are the worst and deserve a fiery grave. BUT it's obvious that others like them, so I don't think it's unreasonable for them to be in the rotation rarely. I am likely going to rank in the top 1k despite not using all of my free tickets, so I don't think we can infer huge participation from the population at large.