Space missions: almost completely worthless now

[Syphenus]

Dear BioWare,

 

I don't know what you have against space missions, but you keep nerfing them. Why? They didn't give out a gratuitous amount of credits before, and 14 elite comms a week is not game-breaking in the slightest. 3 basic comms and 10k credits for a heroic space mission is an absolute joke reward for how much Grade 7 ship parts cost. There is almost no incentive to complete the heroic space missions now.

 

Space missions have been one of my favorite parts of this game ever since I started playing, so it saddens me to see that I'm essentially wasting my time (read: I could be doing pretty much anything else to be more productive in getting comms and credits for my character) by doing an activity that I love in this game.

 

Not enough people did the space missions as it was before you nerfed the rewards to oblivion. Why give them even less incentive? Do you not want people to do the space missions? I can't possibly see how they were being abused before.

 

The one saving grace space missions have going for them now is that they provide good experience for characters under level 55. But as of now, basic comms and credits are so easy to get through Makeb and Section X dailies that there is absolutely no point in doing space missions outside of rep (which I've already had maxed for three or four weeks now). The three basic comms you get from the mission are not enough of an incentive for people to do them any longer.

 

Please, I am asking you to reconsider this nerf in space mission rewards, because as of now, I fear I am going to be forced to just forget about them altogether.

 

Sincerely,

A concerned and avid SWTOR pilot.

Edited April 25, 2013 by Syphenus

[branmakmuffin]

Now? I think they've always been worthless (but I can't speak to what they may have been like before I started playing).

 

If lack of commendations/credits is enough to get you to stop doing them, then you must not really love them that much. If there were an aspect of a game I found to be truly awesome, I'd have no problems doing it simply for the sake of doing it.

Edited April 25, 2013 by branmakmuffin

[Shingara]

Now i maybe far seeing with this but the only reason i think they would do this is if there is something else space wise that is going to replace the rewards that these used to give which makes these inline with other lvl 50 stuff.

[Akash]

Now i maybe far seeing with this but the only reason i think they would do this is if there is something else space wise that is going to replace the rewards that these used to give which makes these inline with other lvl 50 stuff.

 

I would hope if they don't replace Starfox altogether, they add in something more along the lines of X-wing vs Tie Fighter. Now THAT was a game that knew how to do Star Wars space missions.

[tortcat]

In all of the threads on this..I find it of note that not a single Bioware staff member has come forward to give an explanation as to "why" this was done.

 

That speaks volumes to me. And I also agree that it was a poor move.

[Shingara]

In all of the threads on this..I find it of note that not a single Bioware staff member has come forward to give an explanation as to "why" this was done.

 

That speaks volumes to me. And I also agree that it was a poor move.

 

Now you see i see it another way, bioware is great at telling us stuff they want to know, things we are interested in and they think could go into the game they state is on the wall of crazy. But if something is coming they dont want us to know about they shut up totally or go look over there no seriously dont look here look there.

[Gyronamics]

In all of the threads on this..I find it of note that not a single Bioware staff member has come forward to give an explanation as to "why" this was done.

 

That speaks volumes to me. And I also agree that it was a poor move.

 

They never discuss changes to counter massive macro scripting abuse of any game reward system.

[Darevsool]

They never discuss changes to counter massive macro scripting abuse of any game reward system.

 

Even IF this is true, and the actual reason behind the recent changes, they took the lazy way out.

 

They could have made the credit rewards occur only once per mission per day.

They could have slightly randomized the entry position of the ship at the start of the mission (this would be annoying for a player at the keyboard, but something that (at least I) could live with).

 

 

Now, specifically regarding the elite comm removal...I see no reason for this. They were rewarded once per day, period. Even IF people were using some 3rd party program to run the space missions, no matter how many times you ran them, you only got 2. that's 14 per week, plus and extra 2 for Sunday...so 16 a week.

 

I did it every day on 5 toons, primarily for those comms. manually.

I bought the grade 7 ship parts from the cartel market too.

Eventually I was going to do the same thing for my last 3 toons.

 

Now...that's money that Bioware lost.

[Toat]

They were gamebreaking, and now nerfed back to the nich area of gameplay they were intended to be.

[Beddlam]

/signed

[Andryah]

If lack of commendations/credits is enough to get you to stop doing them, then you must not really love them that much. If there were an aspect of a game I found to be truly awesome, I'd have no problems doing it simply for the sake of doing it.

 

Quoted for truth.

 

OP... I don't believe you loved the space missions. I believe you loved farming them. There is a difference.

[Beddlam]

They were gamebreaking, and now nerfed back to the nich area of gameplay they were intended to be.

 

lol, 16 elite comms a week were gamebreaking? you can earn around 20 for running one HM55 flashpoint through groupfinder. This idea that somehow 2 comms a day was a problem, even if people could use bots and not actually run it themselves is a complete joke.

[Andryah]

lol, 16 elite comms a week were gamebreaking? you can earn around 20 for running one HM55 flashpoint through groupfinder. This idea that somehow 2 comms a day was a problem, even if people could use bots and not actually run it themselves is a complete joke.

 

1) you cannot run an HM55 solo, afk, or while watching TV.

 

2) it's not 16 per week. It's 16 per character per week, and you can have 22 characters per server.

[Darevsool]

1) you cannot run an HM55 solo, afk, or while watching TV.

 

2) it's not 16 per week. It's 16 per character per week, and you can have 22 characters per server.

 

I don't see that as a problem.

 

Also, as someone who manually did this for 5 toons every day since before the space reputation system was introduced, it takes longer than you think. Doing this for just 5 toons every day is easily a 60-90 minute gaming session. Trying to do it for 22 different toons...I would go insane even trying (5 was bad enough some times).

 

Again, fix the problem instead of getting rid of the reward.

[Tromador]

2) it's not 16 per week. It's 16 per character per week, and you can have 22 characters per server.

 

So? It's not like you can trade them around characters. That's over a month just to get an elite belt/bracers let alone anything more useful.

 

This idea that space combat missions should be a completely separate niche from the rest of the game is a bit short sighted. It's far from being a complete standalone space combat game in its own right and can only be relevant with context in the main game.

 

If the rewards are so poor that one might as well use the time spent for other activities, then there is no point it being there at all and one might as well go and give money to CCP for Eve, or X3 or something similar.

 

Really it doesn't need to have high rewards, perhaps a decent weekly or something. Just enough to keep paying customers in SWTOR when they want a break from skill rotations and killing mobs, rather than going to play something different.

[Facime]

Yes, I simply cant fathom the logic used to remove the reward.

 

First of all lets compare to pre 2.0 standards. The daily elite space missions prior to 2.0 gave 2 black hole comms. BH comms were the highest level of commendation available, however, it didnt purchace the highest tier of gear available. In post 2.0 eilte comms are not EVEN the highest level of comm, nor is it the higest level of gear availble for comms. In terms of the gear tiers, pre 2.0 Black hole gear is roughly equivilant to 2.0 Black Market gear which can be purchased with elite comms.

 

Removing the elite comms from elite space missions is a big nerf. Assuming its to stop botters doesnt explain the timing and the lack of anything being done pre 2.0. There are already better ways to farm elite comms and its my belief that BW is trying to steer us players away from solo type play towards more social forms (thus the whole "join a guild, you'll get more XP" push). I for one dont like being pushed out of my comfort zone and I find this change unacceptable.

[Tachenko_Yuri]

I don't think they wanted to do this nth nerf to the space missions.

 

But bots will be bots. And the president has chosen to nuke an infected city rather than to heal it

 

Horrible, but gets the job done,and, like always, at honest player's expense.

[tortcat]

Would be nice to see bioware make a comment as to this nerf. The comment made trying to make ti seem like someone with a lot of charecters could farm spac e is just silly as pointed out. You cannot trade the comms and this is a very very VERY poor method for someone taking the huge risk of running a bot to get some elites every week.

 

As as working mom I can really only play thurs-sat nights. Not all of us, whether adult or child, can afford the time to run ops and flashpoints 7 days a week. Space missions were a small but nice supplement, plus this is the way it has been since the Heroic Space missions were introduced.

 

And this is Star Wars. Space missions should be an active integral part and there is simply no way possible that the amount of elites one could earn could be game affecting. EVEN is someone did bot them..who really cares? it is self limiting. It would take weeks of doing the space missions to even get anything months to gear up if that is your only source...there simpyl is no benefit to it.

 

 

However, I and many other simply I think would like to hear from Bioware.

 

WHY was it done? That's my big question and their big silence?

 

And form a time perspective btw for the "farming" comment?

 

As a healer I can run a hm flash and get 5 times the comms and get thru it it well under 30-45 mins or less depending upon the group of course etc.

 

a space mission can take form 4 mins to about 7 depending upon the mission ( with no mistakes of course) for 2.

 

Seems about on a par to me. But again, self limiting as they only allow one per day except for the weekly

[Andryah]

I don't see that as a problem.

 

Also, as someone who manually did this for 5 toons every day since before the space reputation system was introduced, it takes longer than you think. Doing this for just 5 toons every day is easily a 60-90 minute gaming session. Trying to do it for 22 different toons...I would go insane even trying (5 was bad enough some times).

 

Again, fix the problem instead of getting rid of the reward.

 

Bots.... Bots are bad. If you cannot grasp that people have been exploiting the on-rails play with space missions using bots... then there is not point in discussing this further with you.

 

Now.. Bioware is bad for making any content that can be botted... but that's a mistake I think they have learned.

[Andryah]

This idea that space combat missions should be a completely separate niche from the rest of the game is a bit short sighted.

 

It's a single player arcade game inside an MMO. It is what it is.

[Lung_Tien_Lien]

Quoted for truth.

 

OP... I don't believe you loved the space missions. I believe you loved farming them. There is a difference.

 

Oh yeah, people would totally run OPs and FPs multiple times if there was no reward at all. No XP, no credits, no loot, but... they totally would. I can see it. Absolutely.

 

(Please don't point out now that space mission still do have a reward - your point appears to be that people would do things because they are fun even without a [sufficient] reward, or at least you quoted someone who stated that.)

 

Besides, the problem is that a heroic space mission now basically acts as a regular daily such as the ones on Makeb. Except you need to invest credits/CC to get the necessary ship parts first (or craft them, which also takes a lot of time/credits) AND you need to acquire the necessary skill. Are the missions very difficult? No, but you do have to learn how to do them.

 

Normal dailies, which now have a very similar reward? You already have the gear necessary if you got to that point, as well as the skill. No investment of any sort needed.

 

I know they also give you Fleet comms, but there's nothing you can buy with them that's particularly useful or appealing, especially in comparison to... oh, all other kinds of comms.

[Beddlam]

1) you cannot run an HM55 solo, afk, or while watching TV.

 

2) it's not 16 per week. It's 16 per character per week, and you can have 22 characters per server.

 

Still not gamebreaking: so you can set up a bot that lets each of your characters get 1 peice of 2nd tier gear in a month. These comms cannot be traded between characters, and the item modifications can be crafted from patterns creafters get from their trainers. Botters are only a problem if their behavior negatively impacts the game as a whole, 16 elite comms/week/character just doesn't. All those comms were was a little incentive so the people who do enjoy the space missions don't feel like they are totally wasting their time relative to overall progression.

Edited April 25, 2013 by Beddlam
misspelling

[Tromador]

It's a single player arcade game inside an MMO. It is what it is.

 

It wouldn't be something that could be released separately, it cannot exist alone, so must exist within the context of the larger game and be connected to it in a meaningful way, or might as well not exist at all.

 

(is what the rest of my post said)

[Tromador]

If you cannot grasp that people have been exploiting the on-rails play with space missions using bots...

 

Citation needed.

[branmakmuffin]

OP... I don't believe you loved the space missions. I believe you loved farming them. There is a difference.

I didn't hit on that part. Agreed.