DPS for FP Queue is horrible

[lironBD]

truly... I'm leveling some alts and tried to benefit from normal FP and not tactical KDY (filled with trolls and bad players). so at any rate each one of my 3 DPS that I've played this week had to wait for something like total of 4-5 hours to get a pop into FP.

 

Then I've made a test... marked my DPS as tank. BANG insta pop. :X

 

seriously either remove KDY to l55s when no xp is needed or make all the normal FP tactical so we won't have to suffer this horrible queue.

 

And don't let me start on LFG at the fleet\planets as I instantly being gang banged by 2000000 whispers of "use GF"

 

My tank had no FP quests on his loogbook my DPS got loads of quests for those. in fact half of my DPS loogbook is filled with 1 time quests of FP :x

[arunav]

truly... I'm leveling some alts and tried to benefit from normal FP and not tactical KDY (filled with trolls and bad players). so at any rate each one of my 3 DPS that I've played this week had to wait for something like total of 4-5 hours to get a pop into FP.

 

Then I've made a test... marked my DPS as tank. BANG insta pop. :X

 

seriously either remove KDY to l55s when no xp is needed or make all the normal FP tactical so we won't have to suffer this horrible queue.

 

And don't let me start on LFG at the fleet\planets as I instantly being gang banged by 2000000 whispers of "use GF"

 

My tank had no FP quests on his loogbook my DPS got loads of quests for those. in fact half of my DPS loogbook is filled with 1 time quests of FP :x

 

It might be your server or the time you play. On my east coast server, while leveling, I find I usually get a FP with GF for everything through Red Reaper within an hour. That may sound like a long time to wait, but if you simply leave GF on while questing, it's not that bad.

 

KDY made the time to get in a leveling FP worse. I think BW should make the XP gain found in KDY equivalent for regular FPs. Then players might queue for these at the same rate, or at least at a better rate than is currently in place..

 

To me, the story is much better in the regular FPs, even after 2.5 years and knowing what they are. Newer players are really missing out if everyone is being funneled into KDY, especially the 4 mid-30s level FPs (2 republic, 2 imperial) and the 2 Ilum FPs. Directive 7 is really well made, too.

Edited May 26, 2014 by arunav

[MidichIorian]

I've had KDY'es with four tanks, myself being one of them of course, so I don't think there's a shortage of tanks, it's certainly not worse than before. I blame two things, which really are the same thing:

 

* EXP/time in KDY is better

*The inability to skip convos in normal flashpoints. This is the main reason to why I prefer KDY. A lot, if not most, lowbies are alts, belonging to players who have already been through the FP'es a ton of times, yet we're forced to sit through the convos just because sometimes only one person persists on it. I think that it should be enough that one person skipped for it to be skipped for everyone. Those who want to experience the story element can do that in closed groups with likeminded (On another note, just how many times do you have to watch the same thing?) . I'm aware that you can flip this around and argue that speedruns should be done in groups but I'm willing to bet that "convo'less" version of the current FP'es would be much more popular, for GF specifically.

Edited May 26, 2014 by MidichIorian

[grrrly]

truly... I'm leveling some alts and tried to benefit from normal FP and not tactical KDY (filled with trolls and bad players). so at any rate each one of my 3 DPS that I've played this week had to wait for something like total of 4-5 hours to get a pop into FP.

 

 

Yeah, I find it annoying too. Of course, queue times for dps have never been great, but when I'm leveling toons now I don't get the chance to see much of those normal flashpoints anymore. They're a lot of fun, and really help you learn to play your class. Even my lowbie healers can wait a long time for the queue to pop for those. I try to get around it by queuing with a friend or two, this speeds it up a bit.

[Damask_Rose]

I've had KDY'es with four tanks, myself being one of them of course, so I don't think there's a shortage of tanks, it's certainly not worse than before. I blame two things, which really are the same thing:

 

* EXP/time in KDY is better

*The inability to skip convos in normal flashpoints. This is the main reason to why I prefer KDY. A lot, if not most, lowbies are alts, belonging to players who have already been through the FP'es a ton of times, yet we're forced to sit through the convos just because sometimes only one person persists on it. I think that it should be enough that one person skipped for it to be skipped for everyone. Those who want to experience the story element can do that in closed groups with likeminded (On another note, just how many times do you have to watch the same thing?) . I'm aware that you can flip this around and argue that speedruns should be done in groups but I'm willing to bet that "convo'less" version of the current FP'es would be much more popular, for GF specifically.

 

I don't think you should expect people to skip in low level FP. When I have an alt on a starter planet, I see a very large number of people that don't have more than one buff, which indicates they are pretty new. Every time I've run Essels or BT, it has had at least one person who had never done it before. Perhaps by the later level FP the newer players have quit, but by then the FP have very little in the way of conversations.

[Warlocc]

Level 29 tank tonight. Been waiting in queue for 4 hours. I'm starting to think that non tactical FPs are simply being phased out.

[Warrgames]

truly... I'm leveling some alts and tried to benefit from normal FP and not tactical KDY (filled with trolls and bad players). so at any rate each one of my 3 DPS that I've played this week had to wait for something like total of 4-5 hours to get a pop into FP.

 

Then I've made a test... marked my DPS as tank. BANG insta pop. :X

 

seriously either remove KDY to l55s when no xp is needed or make all the normal FP tactical so we won't have to suffer this horrible queue.

 

And don't let me start on LFG at the fleet\planets as I instantly being gang banged by 2000000 whispers of "use GF"

 

My tank had no FP quests on his loogbook my DPS got loads of quests for those. in fact half of my DPS loogbook is filled with 1 time quests of FP :x

You don't want to do the tactical because they are filled with trolls and baddies. Yet you want the normal FP changed to tactical?

 

Every game suffer on low level instances because people care more about getting to max level.

Edited May 27, 2014 by Warrgames

[Maqeurious]

Last night (for me, about 6-7pm) I hopped on my Merc to finish my weekly tacts (5/5) and weekly HMs (3/3) as well as the daily 50hm before weekly reset. That's 9 flashpoints. It's around 2am or so in the states at that time. When I logged on there were 35 people on the fleet. I play on JC btw.

 

I managed to do all 9 of them, as well as my dailies on Makeb/CZ plus weekly and the staged weekly before midnight. That's 6 hours, give or take, in the queue, in the US downtime on a server that has few aussie players. I think that's pretty good for a dps.

 

I don't know, I guess I realized when I chose to make a dps character, I was prepared for long wait times. I'm in a guild, but no one ever wants to do fps when I do, at least the 5-7 people who are on at my time. so I am dependent on the gf. I'm not complaining, I knew what I was getting into when I made my merc, so while I queue, I have to keep myself occupied with other tasks.

[annabethchase]

I've had KDY'es with four tanks, myself being one of them of course, so I don't think there's a shortage of tanks, it's certainly not worse than before. I blame two things, which really are the same thing:

 

* EXP/time in KDY is better

*The inability to skip convos in normal flashpoints. This is the main reason to why I prefer KDY. A lot, if not most, lowbies are alts, belonging to players who have already been through the FP'es a ton of times, yet we're forced to sit through the convos just because sometimes only one person persists on it. I think that it should be enough that one person skipped for it to be skipped for everyone. Those who want to experience the story element can do that in closed groups with likeminded (On another note, just how many times do you have to watch the same thing?) . I'm aware that you can flip this around and argue that speedruns should be done in groups but I'm willing to bet that "convo'less" version of the current FP'es would be much more popular, for GF specifically.

 

To turn this around, a big part of the reason I don't que for any lowbie FP's anymore is because of people rushing through them like they are 55 hm's. One, I didn't sign up for a lowbie to rush anything. I want the bonuses because they actually benefit the character at that level. Two, I can't stand for someone to say skip in a lowbie, knowing they are likely bullying at least one new player.

 

If we want to retain new players for the long term, let them experience the game the way it was meant to be with all the cutscene greatness. I still enjoy watching them 2.5 years later, but even if you don't can you at least be courteous to those that might want to watch maybe even for the 1st time?

 

I can see your argument at 55 HM's, but I'm just not buying it for SM's.

[SW_display_name]

I think that it should be enough that one person skipped for it to be skipped for everyone.

Absolutely not, that's outright robbing the story element from someone that wants to watch it and in most FPs adds maybe 60 seconds total to the FP time.

 

There are some major exceptions — such as BP / Foundry and Directive 7 — but those are also some of the most valuable for new people to see the whole spectacle of. I've put up with Revan's speeches enough times to bore a hole through my skull and I don't bully anyone to skip because invariably there's someone who wants to watch it and I'm not going to deny them that (especially since many new players don't see the FP more than once, especially if they're DPS).

 

And yes, the onus is definitely on you as an experienced player to put together special groups for "not seeing" content, not the new players that content is intended for and who aren't as familiar or connected to form "seeing content" groups while leveling.

 

but I'm willing to bet that "convo'less" version of the current FP'es would be much more popular, for GF specifically.

Sometimes you have to save gamers from themselves. FPs that could not kill you and rewarded a constant stream of XP just for running from beginning to end would also be "popular". So would deleting leveling FPs and replacing them with a "Go to 55" button.

 

I kind of have to ask what kind of schedule you're keeping inside this game if you're this bothered by not being able to skip story scenes when someone else wants to watch it.

 

Like worst-case scenario just switch to Twitter on your phone or something until you hear lightsaber noises again.

[Warrgames]

Those cut scenes are why I don't do SM or HM FP. I would rather play WoW than watch them for the billionth time. If I do feel like tanking a lowbie FP and someone start spamming spacebar. I watch every last sec of the cut scene and wait till the last sec to make my chat choice. If its a HM FP and someone wants to watch a cut scene I'll drop group.

 

GF needs an op to ignore cut scenes, watch or doesn't matter.

[PorsaLindahl]

DPS queues have always been long when there's a GF. Most people prefer to play a DPS class. Some like to heal, and a few like to tank. It's always been that way, even in other games.

 

As far as cinematics go, I tend to skip them as a courtesy to the group, whether I've seen it through or not. But if someone wants to watch them, I don't say anything about it. If someone starts spamming "SPACE BAR" then guess what? I start letting cinematics play through.

[Clarian]

To turn this around, a big part of the reason I don't que for any lowbie FP's anymore is because of people rushing through them like they are 55 hm's. One, I didn't sign up for a lowbie to rush anything. I want the bonuses because they actually benefit the character at that level. Two, I can't stand for someone to say skip in a lowbie, knowing they are likely bullying at least one new player.

Yeah...I'm definitely not a rusher, and that's the main thing I don't enjoy about groups. I haven't had too many group-finder horror stories myself, as far as people being extreme jerks or anything. Usually everything goes pretty smoothly. But even in the best cases, it's rush, rush, rush.

I'm willing to bet that "convo'less" version of the current FP'es would be much more popular, for GF specifically.

I'm afraid you're right. And based on my experiences with group-finder and how most people want to skip...I also think you're right.

 

Grouping and story just don't seem to go together. And though grouping is fun, I'm really here for the story.

 

It's not just that people want to skip the cutscenes all the time. Even when they don't, you end up with four random people, making incoherent choices at every turn. Story-wise, it doesn't add up. I remember the first time I out-leveled Black Talon and ran it solo. Just my character, making consistently motivated choices the whole way through. It really brought out who the character was in a way that a group run never could.

 

Since then, I'm actually glad to spacebar cutscenes in groups (though I NEVER pressure other people to do so), because I don't want to spoil the story for my eventual solo run.

[MidichIorian]

I should add that while I'm all for the ability to skip convos for the entire group I'm defintely against skipping mobs like some (most?) groups do. So while I'm not particulary intersted in watching the same convo for the X'ed time I'm actually here to play and sneaking by half the mobs defeats that purpose - and robs me on XP. The only thing I hate more is when people do it in Operations because not only do you not get to play but someone is usually dying so that the whole thing takes five times longer than it would have if you had just killed them instead.

 

The worst one though is definitely when people want to totally skip Gharj on EV. To me that's the exact same thing as saying that Arena in the normal queue is good because the games are short. If you think faster (in this context I'm only refering to the times when you actually play) is better then you're only interested in the comms at the end and might aswell not play at all.

 

On another note, I'm never calling out "spacebar" in convos and I think it's extremely annoying when other people do it. I do however "spacebar" on my own screen and think to myself that I wish it would fast forward. I also think that BW are somewhat responsible for creating impatience because there are a good deal of sequences in the convos that there's no need for, someone plonking on a keyboard for 10 secs etc. If it had just been the convo and not the other stuff it would have been a fairly quick process, regardless of whether or not people spammed spacebar.

Edited May 27, 2014 by MidichIorian

[SW_display_name]

The best solution to cutscenes is group content is probably to just allow 1 spacebar to skip the entire thing for people and then allow that person to tab out or something instead of being forced to sit around clicking 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 when they stopped caring a long time ago and have no Affection to grind and so are just going through the motions.

 

I agree that's not adding anything to the veteran's gameplay or game experience, but taking away the experience for new players isn't a viable solution IMO.

[TUXs]

...normal FP and not tactical KDY (filled with trolls and bad players).

LOL! If you were actually good, you'd be able to carry 3 bad players in KDY. I'm guessing it might be YOU, not them who is the issue.

[Superman_AZ]

Problem: Too many DPS

 

Answer: Roll a Tank or Healer

 

You're welcome.

[Savej]

You don't have to be remotely "good" to do well in KDY or any leveling FP - not sure what you're running into other than an intolerance issue. Out of several dozen kdys, i've only had big issues with other players in two of them.

 

KDY is good for the game - there should be more leveling fps like it. The original ones could do with an xp boost.

[TUXs]

KDY is good for the game - there should be more leveling fps like it. The original ones could do with an xp boost.

Agreed! I'd love to see them revisit the originals and convert them to Tactical 1-54 types.

[Warlocc]

Problem: Too many DPS

 

Answer: Roll a Tank or Healer

 

You're welcome.

 

That isn't really the problem or the solution. Even my tank waits around forever for queues.

[Leafy_Bug]

Welcome to SWTOR has been like this for 2 years. Enjoy!

[Tsillah]

* EXP/time in KDY is better

 

This is so true. Just think of it. KDY has crap loot, basically no loot, but it has XP. So for leveling that's the best deal around.

 

Traditional FP's do give loot, but guess what...it's crappy loot so who cares? Especially at higher levels there is no reason to play FP's. When I get to level 50 I buy full 25 mods with planetary comms. At level 53 I get full 28 gear and at 55 I start augmenting. With the 28 (156 rating) gear I can go straight into Operations. I don't need to do FP's because the gear is crap compared to Ops and SM Ops are easy enough to find groups for.

 

So I had to laugh to see that there are so many 55s still in crap gear when it's so easy to gear up, but hey we will get bolsters for the GF ops groups. Laughable but there you are.

 

But FPs? Useless, except KDY because fo the Exp...it's a great alternative, next to warzones to level and skip those planet and side quests that are non class specific. Those have gotten boring so I only really do the class stories anymore. I even skip most of Makeb because there are no class stories.

 

So yeh BW do need to have a look at their content and find ways to make a lot of content relevant again for a majority of people.

[Warrgames]

Welcome to SWTOR has been like this for 2 years. Enjoy!

 

Welcome to MMO has been like this forever.

 

Every MMO is like this.

[Kourage]

I don't want to tank for you and nothing you wrote will change that.

[Superman_AZ]

That isn't really the problem or the solution. Even my tank waits around forever for queues.

 

OP claims tanking was instant. Tanking is his obvious solution.