Scheduling and Player Burnout

Travis S McClain

Burnout has been a consistent concern of, and problem for, the player base at least since I started playing four months after its launch. When I found the old forum, there were more threads about players quitting than there were about the game. It used to be largely attributed to how many bottlenecks were built into game play that impeded being able to make meaningful progress, but these days it seems it's more about how demanding the game is on our own real life time. I think the biggest problem is scheduling. Consider:

Voyage dilemmas - Every two hours
Shuttles - Every three hours
Gauntlet refresh - Every four hours

Even if players ignore the Gauntlet, Voyages and shuttles are all but mandatory for getting anywhere with this game, and, of course, shuttles are mandatory for participating in Faction Events. I thought maybe it would be helpful for DB to get a clearer sense of what we, the player base, would they could adjust on their end just with scheduling these parts of game play that might help alleviate that burnout.

Data1001

Dilemmas, Shuttles, and Gauntlet every three hours. (The Shuttle schedule.)

I voted for the 3-hour schedule, but having the same time refresh for all 3, no matter how long that was, would be nice... however, it would still get messed up because Gauntlets have a specific start time, so unless you waited until the start of a Gauntlet to send out shuttles and a new Voyage, you'd probably still have to check in more frequently.

12345678 of 123456789

Dilemmas and Shuttles every two hours, Gauntlet every four hours.

Making time between dilemmas longer is a non-starter for me, unless anti-matter is scaled accordingly, and even then...

I see more of a case for shortening shuttles to match the dilemma schedule, since shuttle payouts are kind of weak and it'd be easier to coordinate voyages and shuttles.

Gauntlet doesn't tie up crew like voyages and shuttles, so I can see leaving this alone. If it was a two hour refresh, seems like it'd be more difficult to do well while playing casually and/or with lesser crew. Also, gauntlet odds are already terrible; I don't need to experience that on a more regular basis.

[TFA] Commodore Wizzlestix

I don't have any concerns about this, so just leave it alone.

From the thread title I thought this was about events, not daily aspects of the game.

Voyages, shuttles and the Gauntlet are fine as is. We're all free to play or not, as time or mood allow. Events are the real cause of burn out.

[QH] He-Who-Meows

Dilemmas, Shuttles, and Gauntlet every four hours. (The Gauntlet schedule.)

What can I say? I’m just lazy, but still want the loot...

DavideBooks

Dilemmas every two hours, Shuttles and Gauntlet every three hours.

I suppose you could drop gauntlet to 3 hours.

But the reality is that for dilemmas and shuttles it works nicely. I send out out shuttle missions and then a voyage. After the dilemma, I recall the voyage and start them all fresh after everything returns. When I am not focused on shuttles and send out focused voyages, the time between dilemmas and then the time to recall the voyage means it will never match up with shuttles or gauntlet anyway, except for the first dilemma and recall.

Zombie Squirrel

I don't have any concerns about this, so just leave it alone.

I don t mind at all. Leave it as it is. Nobodys forced to set alerts for everything.

(CSF) Jesus Is Lord [••••]

Dilemmas and Shuttles every two hours, Gauntlet every four hours.

It would also help if maybe events ended when the daily refresh occured, same with dabo.

PenguinJim

I don't have any concerns about this, so just leave it alone.

Shuttle mission options would be nice. For example, an easy, low-reward mission for one hour, medium difficulty for two hours, difficult, high-reward mission for three hours. It would also help us to pick up "easy" items that are currently rather challenging to acquire!

Otherwise, I don't have a problem with the scheduling. As others point out, it's optional. If you feel compelled to set alarms and orient your schedule and your life around a game, that's your decision.

Odo Marmarosa

I don't have any concerns about this, so just leave it alone.

I don't try to hit any of them as soon as they are availble outside of faction events. If I have to leave the game unattended for five hours on a workday. There's no pressure. Voyages pause for dilemmas, the shuttles and the gauntlet will be there for me when I have time to attend to them.

Eerie Koi

I'm completely with Wizzlestix on this one. I feel the events are what break down my drive to play. They take up most of the week every week, either in actual run time or getting crew ready for the event.

I know DB won't stop weekly events because I get that's the big money driver, but how about alternating "all new" character events with existing character events. At least then some of us could get some rest without feeling like we are missing out on the game community. I say fewer new characters.

Banjo1012

Eerie Koi wrote: »

I'm completely with Wizzlestix on this one. I feel the events are what break down my drive to play. They take up most of the week every week, either in actual run time or getting crew ready for the event.

I know DB won't stop weekly events because I get that's the big money driver, but how about alternating "all new" character events with existing character events. At least then some of us could get some rest without feeling like we are missing out on the game community. I say fewer new characters.

I totally agree. I would like to see recurring crew for those legendaries with 1-4 stars.

Magisse

I don't have any concerns about this, so just leave it alone.

[TFA] Commodore Wizzlestix wrote: »

We're all free to play or not, as time or mood allow. Events are the real cause of burn out.

This. Events, and the continued release of new crew with no space to put them.

Grant77

I don't have any concerns about this, so just leave it alone.

I don't get a few of the options. There is nothing stopping you from doing shuttles every 4 hours or dilemmas every 3 hours.

If you feel the need to play this game every hour of every day then you probably shouldn't be playing.

FutureImperfecta

Other (described in post below).

Nothing that gives them an excuse to bugger and nerf Voyages worse then they already have.
If I could get a dilemma every 30 minutes I would so long as it was as strong a reward as they currently are lol, but I know im likely in the minority on this one.

Shuttles every 2 hours would be good (and this vote is for events too)

And -$#&$a; ! Please make a new event type.
If anything is contributing to burn out, it's this.
(Especially with the likely buggered state faction events will be in starting Thursday)

We need 4 or 5 event tyoes to keep it fresh.


You can only do the same level of Mario kart battle mode so many times before you just want to turn it off and hide in the freezer.

Shuttles
Galaxy
Expedition
Ship battle based event (posted ideas before)
Gauntlet based event (posted ideas before)
Voyages based event (don't know how that could work well, but I know someone here has an idea or two)

Then hybrid these too
Gauntlet/ faction
Ship battles / Expedition
Voyages / Galaxy
(Remix)
Gauntlet / Galaxy
Voyages/ Faction
Ect

Run some on dusl mode (same time both types)
Make it fresh and rewarding.
Update & upgrade the event rewards break down for existing events.
(Percentage based down scale)

SpyOne

I didn't vote, but to offer a perspective from a player near the beginning: I can't get a voyage to reach the second dilemma without spending dilithium, and I don't have dilithium to spare, so my voyages only go to the first dilemma.

Thus, they ARE on the same schedule as my shuttles. I launch my shuttles then launch a voyage, in two hours handle the dilemma and recall, and an hour after that do it all again.

Banjo1012

FutureImperfecta wrote: »

Nothing that gives them an excuse to bugger and nerf Voyages worse then they already have.
If I could get a dilemma every 30 minutes I would so long as it was as strong a reward as they currently are lol, but I know im likely in the minority on this one.

Shuttles every 2 hours would be good (and this vote is for events too)

And -$#&$a; ! Please make a new event type.
If anything is contributing to burn out, it's this.
(Especially with the likely buggered state faction events will be in starting Thursday)

We need 4 or 5 event tyoes to keep it fresh.


You can only do the same level of Mario kart battle mode so many times before you just want to turn it off and hide in the freezer.

Shuttles
Galaxy
Expedition
Ship battle based event (posted ideas before)
Gauntlet based event (posted ideas before)
Voyages based event (don't know how that could work well, but I know someone here has an idea or two)

Then hybrid these too
Gauntlet/ faction
Ship battles / Expedition
Voyages / Galaxy
(Remix)
Gauntlet / Galaxy
Voyages/ Faction
Ect

Run some on dusl mode (same time both types)
Make it fresh and rewarding.
Update & upgrade the event rewards break down for existing events.
(Percentage based down scale)

https://forum.disruptorbeam.com/stt/discussion/2961/voyage-event-idea#latest

None

What I would like to see is the double rewards shuttle boost be actually useful during events. As it stands now, you gain the ability to sleep, but you lose out on points if you try to use it. It would be nice if they gave the same amount of points as if you ran shuttles for the same amount of time. That would be helpful to keep me from burning out.

Banjo1012

None wrote: »

What I would like to see is the double rewards shuttle boost be actually useful during events. As it stands now, you gain the ability to sleep, but you lose out on points if you try to use it. It would be nice if they gave the same amount of points as if you ran shuttles for the same amount of time. That would be helpful to keep me from burning out.

I agree. Triple the time yet double the rewards. I wake up alot randomly at night so I set the three hour variety and chance it. Sometimes I get up enough to benefit, sometimes I don’t

Jim Steele

Other (described in post below).

Scheduling of shuttles/voyages and gauntlet don't bother me; what really is leading to burnout is the constant churning out of new characters, the resource drain needed to level said characters, along side the same laborious galaxy events.

Faction events are better, but having finished just outside the top 1000 (due to 4 shuttle fails (all >90% btw)) and just getting a couple of single premium pulls for my efforts has started to make me think "why bother".

Jim

·§ë· For the Many

Dilemmas, Shuttles, and Gauntlet every four hours. (The Gauntlet schedule.)

Looks like the vast majority would like for them all to be on the same schedule, or at least to match up (2 hours for some things, 4 hours for others).

I'd like for voyages, instead of failing, to simply ask when out of antimatter if you'd like to recall or extend it instead of holding it hostage. I don't need to be told about DB and making money. This would simply make it a better game, more fun, and to me more ethical.

Otherwise, I guess I'd go for 2h for Dilemmas, and 4h for gauntlet and shuttles.

For 4h shuttles, the shuttle time boosts being updated to make sense with this (i.e. 3* boosts = 2h, etc).

[RotP]Ran Airen

Other (described in post below).

I am really mixed on this. Would it be nice if everything were on one schedule? Sure but consider the following...
-Two hours for everything I think is just too frequent for shuttles and gauntlet
-I wouldn't want dilemmas to be more than every two hours (in fact I would vote for dilemmas every hour)
-I don't know that 4 hours vs. 3 hours makes a big difference for shuttles/gauntlet.
--The only qualifier here would be that if shuttles were made 4 hours than we would need a complete overhaul of shuttle boosts

So I think that kind of nets me out at just leave it alone at this point

Dralix

DB:DB For The Many ·§ë· wrote: »

Looks like the vast majority ...

The vast majority of the 59 people who voted so far?

Hungry Dog DDM

Dilemmas, Shuttles, and Gauntlet every two hours. (The Dilemma schedule.)

I know I picked every 2 hours. But really, it makes no difference to me.

<TGE> Clifford

Dilemmas every two hours, Shuttles and Gauntlet every three hours.

Dilemmas are where you get some of the best rewards on voyages, so I wouldn’t want them to be less frequent, especially for those of us who aren’t refreshing with dil and don’t even have deep enough rosters to hit 8 hours without dil.

It’s also a built in safety.

I don’t think we’ll ever get 2 hour shuttles, so I tried to vote more practically...

NivenFres

Other (described in post below).

Events are where I feel the most burnout. More frequent replays or even just an event every other week would be nice. It gives more breathing room and time to level.

Althea Biermont

I don't have any concerns about this, so just leave it alone.

Dilemmas longer than 2 hours would be a deal breaker so I'm happy to see the leader in the poll is to just leave things like they are.

If something were going to change voyage related, I'd want dilemmas to be every hour.

Monolithix

Dilemmas and Shuttles every two hours, Gauntlet every four hours.

Jim Steele wrote: »

Scheduling of shuttles/voyages and gauntlet don't bother me; what really is leading to burnout is the constant churning out of new characters, the resource drain needed to level said characters, along side the same laborious galaxy events.

Faction events are better, but having finished just outside the top 1000 (due to 4 shuttle fails (all >90% btw)) and just getting a couple of single premium pulls for my efforts has started to make me think "why bother".

Jim

Why bother indeed. 5-day events are a pain, but I’d even take a Wed-Sun schedule over the current Thu-Mon.

Why bother dumping all the effort into an event over the weekend that finishes in (the middle of) a working day, when it’s wholly impractical to put the effort in for the final push? I’m happy to fight for my rank, but I want the opportunity to do so.

Speckles the Destroyer of Worlds

So much of this could just be automated.

It is funny that in a time when technology reigns supreme, many of the tasks that we repetitively run are menial and tedious. While the response we get from each action is wildly different and based upon RNG, none of the reactions are anything that really requires input from the player since we aren't in any real danger.

Think of how much burnout there would be if there was no warp 1 or warp 10 option in the game to speed up missions. Now imagine how the game could be streamlined if warp-10 types of design philosophies are added elsewhere, so we could just play the fun things rather than build tap the exact same cycles 10,000 times over a weekend.

Hungry Dog DDM

Dilemmas, Shuttles, and Gauntlet every two hours. (The Dilemma schedule.)

I quite agree about the events. They are what's really pushing me away from the game. I really wish they were much shorter and repeats were more often. And aside from the nice 4/5 star character, I could do without megas entirely. Two new events a month, one repeat, and one off weekend would be ideal. Also shorten the events to fri-sun, and I'll really be in this for the long haul.

bluehawk1976

Other (described in post below).

Usually I have no problems with the small fry - shuttles, voyages and gauntlet - it's the events that are making me weary.
Before this new Mega event I only participated in the last two once - just to log in an "event participation", then I used my time and resources to upgrade my characters.
Even with that I still have something like over 40 characters below lvl 40.

If we had 2 events a month and a mega event once a quarter that would be great.
Also, the fact that an "event" takes actually more play time then "normal" during a week is a joke, but reducing the frequency of them should solve that in my opinion.