Honestly, I don't know why you guys bother with shuttle events. They must be sooooo boring, and being able to see where the VP is all the way? Nightmare.
If this were a real life running race, we'd only be able to see who's ahead, not behind. Let's do it that way. Or let's just do away with the leaderboard altogether, that way it will be even more exciting still. After all, what's the point of it if we don't know what other people have hidden up their sleeve?
Now you just had the idea that would make DB stoooopid money and I would actually enjoy....
...an event with NO leaderboard. Or an obscured leaderboard. Me likey.
When you turn them in is strategy. I also use them as a barometer as to where I am and insurance for the end of the event. If i am at the rank I want when I go to bed and havent turned in my extras yet I know that I will be able to do it before event ends and keep my place. It also allows me to get some extra points quickly before event ends when I do not have a lot of time.
When you turn them in is strategy. I also use them as a barometer as to where I am and insurance for the end of the event. If i am at the rank I want when I go to bed and havent turned in my extras yet I know that I will be able to do it before event ends and keep my place. It also allows me to get some extra points quickly before event ends when I do not have a lot of time.
But that is not fair to other people!!!!!!!!!!!
Scott
"The truth is like a lion; you don't have to defend it. Let it loose; it will defend itself."
Now you just had the idea that would make DB stoooopid money and I would actually enjoy....
...an event with NO leaderboard. Or an obscured leaderboard. Me likey.
Where the top 250 players get a fully fused copy of Surak and no-one else gets anything. Nothing. Nadal. Zilch. And it runs for 7 days.
I would say no, because it has already been an established strategy. While I rarely partake in a Galaxy event, I occasionally do, and I do use that strategy - and that's why I like my copy of Zhiantara Odo so much. Such a great DS9 character. Albeit so last year... SHUT UP!
After this event, (yes, I was one of the may who just missed out on the 1000's) I was very "grr, grr" and very anti stockpiling till the end. There have been some really good points made though, eg. @Travis S McClain and @eXo | Frank, and there are definite downsides to any changes. But I still think it will need to change in some way, and here's why: The best argument I can see for how it is now is it adds a degree of strategy and intrigue. The player base keeps on expanding though, which is why this tactic is getting a bit more attention. What happens when you get 1000 people hitting the last threshold reward without cashing in their super rates? I suspect it will stop being poker, and start being slots.
Oh, and @DScottHewitt, you've brought up several times how once you couldn't cash in your super rares. That is something you have control over, where you couldn't play as well as you'd of like because your circumstance changed (we all have horror stories of some sort like this, and no we don't always jump on the forums and complain). This is about a game structure that is systematically bad for people who can't log on at a certain time (timezoning will not solve this issue for many players).
Choosing a different event is not really an option; factions require game time at the start and end of the event, and um lets see... expeditions, that's right, we had one of them again, I think there were some problems...
In all seriousness though, more variety in events, or an occasional change in start/end times could help, but I think this is a problem that's building as the player base expands.
Btw, if galaxies are suppose to be new user friendly, how friendly is it to be doing well on the leaderboard, and then suddenly be nowhere in the rankings at the end? Yes if they're in a good fleet people can tell them what happened, but if that happened to me 2 weeks in a row with no explanation I'd stop engaging.
And pray that there's intelligent life somewhere out in space, because there's bugger all down here on Earth.
-Monty Python, The Meaning of Life
I get people are upset that someone can pass them in the last half hour, by crafting their Super Rares. Is it that it is less upsetting if they pass you earlier, since that way it is not a surprise? I'm kind of missing the point, I guess. If someone cranks out 3000 Super Rares, and I get 300, I am most likely going to finish lower than them, regardless of when they turn in their Super Rares......
Scott
"The truth is like a lion; you don't have to defend it. Let it loose; it will defend itself."
I completely appreciate and understand the discussion based around timezone and real-life schedules with the ends of events. For me, events always end at the lunch hour, so I am lucky and those pitfalls don't impact me. I think the majority of mobile games are based somewhere in the US and have that same timezone setup (daily reset, etc). Other properties use GMT as the base. From a logistics standpoint, you'd want the event to end when your company, tech and developer teams were awake, in the office and at the ready if the server pooped the bed like we just experienced it. It's something that has been ingrained in the mobile game industry for years, and since everyone does what the next game developer does, we aren't likely to see that pattern change anytime soon.
That said, this becomes a slippery slope conversation over the SR turn-ins. It has been established that a glut of players feverishly turning in at the last minute *did not* contribute to the server crash. This could have well happened at the end of a shuttle event or even on an odd-Wednesday afternoon where there is no event running. It was nothing more than really unfortunate timing. What it did produce is the platform for people who have sat on a feeling or general disdain for how an event is ran and brought them to the forefront to air their thoughts. I'm glad for that, because I don't feel we, as a community, get to spitball and discuss things like this enough. We usually are too busy trying to stab each other with a very dull butter knife.
Putting it bluntly, changing the way people play existing events is dangerous because it opens up cans of worms that can't be undone, and carries with it the potential to lose players and revenue. If you were able to change the format of galaxies where there was no Ph1/Ph2 and all SR items were immediately auto-claimed upon earning that threshold, you wouldn't have a galaxy event anymore, nor would you have any intrigue. The top of the leaderboards won't be dominated by the "whales" who can afford to buy chrons by the thousands, nor save them and hoard from Voyages. Whales likely wouldn't take well to that type of change and see no return on their investment to burn straight chrons for immediate VP and have no gamesmanship. They, most likely, would just buy the event cards and move on with their day. What you're left with is a mish-mash of players who will be playing up to the last second, sending voyages for chrons, buying 50 chrons for 150 DIL, whatever they have to do. And when the event is over, and that person realizes all the resources and time they just spent to be beaten by the next guy who simply outspent them, well, that person likely won't play again.
You see, as some don't like the hoarding of SR items, other players thrive on it - it has become a go-to strategy for events and the end becomes a giant poker game and people trying to out-bluff the next. That description at least sounds appealing to me and has some intrigue, but just a bunch of players straight trading chrons and items with no last second drama? Boring.
Here's where the slippery slope kicks in - you can't just toy with Galaxy Events - you have to level the playing field everywhere. You would have to also endure and accept the camp of people that would emerge and say that the shuttle kick-start method is an exploit and not fair - you should only be able to open as many shuttle missions as you have shuttles and go at the same pace as the next guy so everyone has a fighting chance. The problem is, they don't have a fighting chance - because I'll just spend $800 and speed up every shuttle I have to jump on top of that leaderboard - so then you have to disqualify the use of DIL and only allow boosts - then it's not fair because a big spender can spend $200 on the premium boost portal and amass 75 of the 5* time reduction boosts, where a FTP player may have 3 total.
The rare Expedition event? No extra ticket purchases - what you have is what you get - but then only the spenders who previously bought and leveled the event crew will get more VP than the F2P player who uses variants - and once again we are back at square one.
The point to all of this is - you can't change the already existing model - because it isn't broken. No matter what you do, how you change it or how you try to 'improve' it, the 'Pay to Win' scenario will always, always exist. There will always be someone who is perfectly happy spending $500 or more that weekend to top an event and there is nothing that can make that "level" or "fair to all".
This reminds me that part of the reason P2W frustration exists is because of the stagnant reward structure. Paying players have increased (though many are threatening to become F2P lately) and the reward scale is not adequate because of that IMO.
A possible (very) long-term strategy (that has potential to fail) would be to save all of your super rares so when the event replays, you have a huge starting advantage.
I'd be really interested to know if anyone found they had some super rares at the start of a repeated event. No way I'd save a bank of them that long, but I don't feed them to the replicator either (can't be bothered searching through that stupidly long list)
And pray that there's intelligent life somewhere out in space, because there's bugger all down here on Earth.
-Monty Python, The Meaning of Life
I logged in (finally) and just poked my head into the event to see some fresh faces on the leaderboard. Wouldn't you know it, I had 9 SR gimmicks just sitting there, left over from a year ago.
Not sure if this technically breaks my "I'm sitting out" pledge, but i got a chuckle and redeemed two. So I have VP officially. But now I'm done for real this time.
There are some events, from memory, that don't carry over or start you with what you had last repeat, but this one did.
I'm not in favor of forcing auto redemption of super rares.
To me, the super rares are something I've earned. Period. Of course their function is to be turned in for points in that event..
It's not an exploit waiting to turn them in,
No where ever has it said anywhere "must be turned in with in (insert random short time period) .
They designed it in this way for a reason.
If we were meant to have an automatic bonus go right in to the VP points bank they could have easily set the game to just give the super rare points at the same time as a formula build.
RNG the odds of a bonus formula, bonus characters function in the role of the shuttle skill boost and away ya go.
Beyond that,
I don't like the idea that something earned, no matter what it may be is auto used.
The same logic for auto super rare redemption would suggest that the best available shuttle boost be used every time we launch a shuttle..
(Or built a formula in Galaxy)
I pre-farmed fairly effectively for the hybrid event. At the phase split I was inside the top 300 and I cashed out the super rares as I got them. I was leading the scoreboard among my fleet keeping around the 200-300 range and using short voyages as supplemental income. When one of my fleet buddies disclosed what he was holding hoping to break into the top 1000 at the end, I realized that I might not keep top spot in the fleet and had an epiphany about how there was so much late scoreboard movement in galaxy events.
I don’t think holding secret super rares adds much to the game frankly, but I don’t really mind how it works. Keep it or change it and I’ll adapt to play based on the game and the behavior of other players. I had a 500 chron shuttle come in 45 minutes before the end and I kept my fleet lead (226). Just - Jose kept it close with 400+ turn-ins near the end. It was fun, though not necessarily more so than openly trading spots on a leaderboard would have been.
I feel for the people who lost out on a late turn in. One possible compensation that could apply directly to those who lost out - simply make the saved super-rares match the next galaxy or hybrid event.
Comments
If this were a real life running race, we'd only be able to see who's ahead, not behind. Let's do it that way. Or let's just do away with the leaderboard altogether, that way it will be even more exciting still. After all, what's the point of it if we don't know what other people have hidden up their sleeve?
Check out our website to find out more:
https://wiki.tenforwardloungers.com/
...an event with NO leaderboard. Or an obscured leaderboard. Me likey.
But that is not fair to other people!!!!!!!!!!!
Scott
Where the top 250 players get a fully fused copy of Surak and no-one else gets anything. Nothing. Nadal. Zilch. And it runs for 7 days.
Check out our website to find out more:
https://wiki.tenforwardloungers.com/
No wait, top 250 get Surak and everyone else gets Shinzon.
Let me move the goal posts further...
How about having the reward like the Gauntlet?
Where the captain with 2vp wins the jackpot prize
Oh, and @DScottHewitt, you've brought up several times how once you couldn't cash in your super rares. That is something you have control over, where you couldn't play as well as you'd of like because your circumstance changed (we all have horror stories of some sort like this, and no we don't always jump on the forums and complain). This is about a game structure that is systematically bad for people who can't log on at a certain time (timezoning will not solve this issue for many players).
Choosing a different event is not really an option; factions require game time at the start and end of the event, and um lets see... expeditions, that's right, we had one of them again, I think there were some problems...
In all seriousness though, more variety in events, or an occasional change in start/end times could help, but I think this is a problem that's building as the player base expands.
Btw, if galaxies are suppose to be new user friendly, how friendly is it to be doing well on the leaderboard, and then suddenly be nowhere in the rankings at the end? Yes if they're in a good fleet people can tell them what happened, but if that happened to me 2 weeks in a row with no explanation I'd stop engaging.
-Monty Python, The Meaning of Life
Scott
Dominion Janeway? With bad art?
Check out our website to find out more:
https://wiki.tenforwardloungers.com/
Dominion Pirate Janeway with Geordi's Shaft Glasses........
And generic 'Mirror Universe' boots
Check out our website to find out more:
https://wiki.tenforwardloungers.com/
And Will Scarlet's "Staff" that looks suspiciously like a SWORD
This reminds me that part of the reason P2W frustration exists is because of the stagnant reward structure. Paying players have increased (though many are threatening to become F2P lately) and the reward scale is not adequate because of that IMO.
I'd be really interested to know if anyone found they had some super rares at the start of a repeated event. No way I'd save a bank of them that long, but I don't feed them to the replicator either (can't be bothered searching through that stupidly long list)
-Monty Python, The Meaning of Life
Not sure if this technically breaks my "I'm sitting out" pledge, but i got a chuckle and redeemed two. So I have VP officially. But now I'm done for real this time.
There are some events, from memory, that don't carry over or start you with what you had last repeat, but this one did.
To me, the super rares are something I've earned. Period. Of course their function is to be turned in for points in that event..
It's not an exploit waiting to turn them in,
No where ever has it said anywhere "must be turned in with in (insert random short time period) .
They designed it in this way for a reason.
If we were meant to have an automatic bonus go right in to the VP points bank they could have easily set the game to just give the super rare points at the same time as a formula build.
RNG the odds of a bonus formula, bonus characters function in the role of the shuttle skill boost and away ya go.
Beyond that,
I don't like the idea that something earned, no matter what it may be is auto used.
The same logic for auto super rare redemption would suggest that the best available shuttle boost be used every time we launch a shuttle..
(Or built a formula in Galaxy)
I don’t think holding secret super rares adds much to the game frankly, but I don’t really mind how it works. Keep it or change it and I’ll adapt to play based on the game and the behavior of other players. I had a 500 chron shuttle come in 45 minutes before the end and I kept my fleet lead (226). Just - Jose kept it close with 400+ turn-ins near the end. It was fun, though not necessarily more so than openly trading spots on a leaderboard would have been.
I feel for the people who lost out on a late turn in. One possible compensation that could apply directly to those who lost out - simply make the saved super-rares match the next galaxy or hybrid event.
Check out our website to find out more:
http://tenforwardloungers.freecluster.eu