Drop Esselles from FP queue rotation

[WranglerJeans]

Could we please have the Esselles FP removed from the rotation for vet mode? I have seen a number of players who will drop out (myself included) from running this FP because it is monotonous, long and has way too many cutscenes in it. This used to be the starter/orientation to FPs a while ago and it serves well in that manner but as a regular FP I'd rather run Hammer Station more than run this one once. It's a thought - thanks for "listening."

[ThanderSnB]

I think they should remove conversations in the group finder versions of the flashpoints unless it's a full premade group. It would probably take a lot of work to do this, but the conversations get boring after the first few runs. At the same time, make a story mode for every flashpoint, so those that want to see the story have an option.

[illgot]

I think they should remove conversations in the group finder versions of the flashpoints unless it's a full premade group. It would probably take a lot of work to do this, but the conversations get boring after the first few runs. At the same time, make a story mode for every flashpoint, so those that want to see the story have an option.

 

People have been making the suggestion to default skip conversations in Veteran flashpoints for years. The same people always show up saying "bbbbut what about the STORY!! This game is all about STORY and if people are allowed to skip they are ruining the STORY!!"

 

It doesn't matter that most of us have run the flashpoints hundreds of times, are not interested in the story, and people who are interested in the story should have access to the STORY MODE version of every flashpoint they can solo with a companion.

 

When the game first came out I think I clocked the conversation in Black Talon as lasting 23 minutes if no one skipped.

Edited September 16, 2022 by illgot

[Sarova]

and people who are interested in the story should have access to the STORY MODE version of every flashpoint they can solo with a companion.[/u][/b]

+1,000,000,000 infinity zeros for this please!

There are so many new players and I can understand them wanting to run the flashpoints that are only available via the group finder for their story content, HOWEVER, for the players who just want to get through the FP for the weekly, it does become a bit tedious waiting for the one person who wants to see it all. To solve this ALL flashpoints should have a a solo story version and all groupfinder flashpoints should have cut scenes removed. If they can do it during PTS for the story flashpoints to avoid spoilers, surely it can be done in the live game.

I space bar the cut scene conversations for group finder FPs even though I'd really like to watch them, so a solo version would be fantastic - it would add something new to the game for those of us who have never viewed some of these cut scenes.

 

EDITED TO ADD: I've made this a thread in the suggestions forums.

Please click this link to sign it if you want cut scenes removed from group finder FPs and/or a solo story mode for all flashpoints in the group finder (for those who want to see the cut scenes). The more people who comment for it in that suggestion post, the more likely the Devs may take it as a serious request for consideration, especially as this thread refers to just one flashpoint in the title.

Edited September 16, 2022 by Sarova

[EricMusco]

Could we please have the Esselles FP removed from the rotation for vet mode? I have seen a number of players who will drop out (myself included) from running this FP because it is monotonous, long and has way too many cutscenes in it. This used to be the starter/orientation to FPs a while ago and it serves well in that manner but as a regular FP I'd rather run Hammer Station more than run this one once. It's a thought - thanks for "listening."

 

Hey there,

 

As we are in progress of planning for future updates, I noted in this other thread here that we are seeking feedback on outliers in Flashpoints. In the other thread I spoke mostly about length or difficulty but you raise another valid concern here as well. Story Flashpoints without an explicit Story // Solo mode and the problems that presents in other difficulties. The tension of the "PLEASE SKIP CUTSCENES" for newer players, etc.

 

As I did in the other thread please pass on any Flashpoints where you see issues like this! On top of making note of specific Flashpoints, let us know what your core issue is as well as the ideal solve that would course correct that issue for you. This is not a guarantee that we can revamp a FP exactly to your resolution, but this helps us understand where the pain points are and how to focus on improving them.

 

Thanks!

 

-eric

[phalczen]

Well, since 7.0 removed social points from conversation choices, there seems to be very little in the way of gameplay that would prohibit just bypassing all the cutscenes from Ess/BT. There may be technical challenges though. Perhaps the most relevant sentences spoken by Amb Asara or the droid could simply play over the mission task updates?

 

I'm not sure how easy it is to make the conversion, especially if the intent is to keep the conversations for Story. We've already been deprived of fully voiced cutscenes in all the [HEROIC] missions, most of which are done solo these days and the assets for which are probably still on everyone's hard drives. However, I would note that in the flashpoints that have come out since 5.0 and the "Storytelling via Flashpoint" system Charles seemed to like so much, cutscenes can currently be ESC-out of and then re-triggered by a glowing blue clicky object. Thinking about Ruins of Nul, when you complete a boss, you automatically proceed into the cutscene but you can hit ESC to escape out, and loot/harvest the boss. To restart the cutscene there is an object you have to click on. That seems to imply that there is a compartmentalization or isolation of the fully voiced over once-and-done cutscenes that the developers have done to isolate out the STORY version of the flashpoint, from the SOLO/VETERAN/MASTER versions. This compartmentalization and the clicky object need to be applied to the story versions of all the older flashpoints, so that their Veteran and Master counterparts can be streamlined.

 

I would not support removing Ess/BT or any other FP from Activity Finder if it cannot be streamlined though. In other words, fix it "correctly" (correctly according to my view, which is to say, work like the newer flashpoints) or don't fix it at all.

[Ambrodel]

The tension of the "PLEASE SKIP CUTSCENES" for newer players, etc.

 

Cutscenes are awesome, the first few times. But when all we have to do is run the same old, years old, content over and over and over and over and over again, they get old extremely fast. So I'm in favor of having all of them removed from group finder content. If the cutscene doesn't have a gameplay purpose, cut it.

 

But Eric, I'm surprised that this isn't something you've already done internally. This isn't a new issue with LotS. It's been an issue for years. So why haven't you figured this out internally? It should be somewhat easy to split the devteam in groups of 4, go through all the FPs, note down your issues along the way and then deal with them. Seriously. It takes less than a day. And we're now 8 months into an expansion with very little new content. What are you doing with all your dev time?

Edited September 16, 2022 by Ambrodel

[Balameb]

Hey there,

 

As we are in progress of planning for future updates, I noted in this other thread here that we are seeking feedback on outliers in Flashpoints. In the other thread I spoke mostly about length or difficulty but you raise another valid concern here as well. Story Flashpoints without an explicit Story // Solo mode and the problems that presents in other difficulties. The tension of the "PLEASE SKIP CUTSCENES" for newer players, etc.

 

As I did in the other thread please pass on any Flashpoints where you see issues like this! On top of making note of specific Flashpoints, let us know what your core issue is as well as the ideal solve that would course correct that issue for you. This is not a guarantee that we can revamp a FP exactly to your resolution, but this helps us understand where the pain points are and how to focus on improving them.

 

Thanks!

 

-eric

Short Version:

1-Give Story Mode to all FP.

2-Remove cutscenes/choices from Vet/MM group finder FP.

 

Long Version:

1- In terms of new players. The game very eary offers you a series of FPs that look interesting but suddenly you find in content not meant for your level, at least not as a solo player and you need to group.

This happened to me around 6 years ago. In the middle of my story play a single side quest transported me to hammer station. Again, try to think as a new player, you are offered a mission by a main character of the CGI trailers, you want to do it. You just did BT/Esseles as a solo player and think "ok, now it will get better". But then you are like, "I'm getting destroyed, were is my extra companion droid to play this?" Then you realize it is group content with no option to play solo. Sure, by now i have soloed it and probably most veterans can solo Vet HS with one hand tied. But consider a lvl 15 noob with a couple skills at most.

Yes, there is an "introduction to group finder" mission, but a lot of people will wait for that and prefer to experience solo play first. And i see no reason to force new players into group content when the game was designed from the start to allow Solo playstyle of FP.

 

2- I see no point in reapeting cutscenes/choices over and over again. There are not even social points now.

And some FP just have too much cutscenes. A couple months ago i did Vet Esseles in an all stealth group (by chance) and still felt so so long.

You want story? play the story version as many time as you want.

You want to leave cutscenes playing in background while you go to the toilet? then play story. HS has only a small cutcene/choice but a lot of people (not new at all) still find it hilarious to go afk for a while during that segment.

[LordCamTheGreat]

As I did in the other thread please pass on any Flashpoints where you see issues like this! On top of making note of specific Flashpoints, let us know what your core issue is as well as the ideal solve that would course correct that issue for you. This is not a guarantee that we can revamp a FP exactly to your resolution, but this helps us understand where the pain points are and how to focus on improving them.

 

There are a few solutions I can think of right now.

 

 

Solution 1

Add a group finder variant of Esselles and Black Talon that doesn't have any conversations in it.

Problem solved.

 

Solution 2

Alternatively, set up an internal 4 player team / conscript some community groups to run through every flashpoint WITHOUT skipping any cutscenes.

Could have one "noob" group, one intermediate and one higher level for e.g.

 

Play out the flashpoints as they are supposed to be played without skipping any of the cutscenes and time how long it takes to complete.

 

Oh, this flashpoint takes 50% longer because cutscenes? Add 50% extra rewards to it.

The new player team is struggling on X boss and that makes it take longer?

Nerf the damage or add a screen indicator that tells the player what to do.

 

 

 

The issue with the above is that they don't address the primary issue with flashpoints.

You get groups where high skill min max players are paired with (primarily) solo story content players who want to sit through everything and don't know the min max routes.

 

Solution 3

Add a group finder toggle - story mode or rush mode.

 

If you sign up for story, you sign up for sitting through cutscenes and maybe even doing bonus missions and killing every mob you see because you don't care about time.

 

If you sign up for rush, you will be expected to skip everything and play more optimally.

Perhaps the above suggested variant with no conversations could be available in this rush mode.

 

 

This does split the pool of players queuing for flashpoints, but at least you will know whether you will be allowed to watch a cutscene or not when you join.

If the queue times get too long, add that solo mode combat droid as a summon to fill in the gaps.

[DarthArashi]

Hey there,

 

As we are in progress of planning for future updates, I noted in this other thread here that we are seeking feedback on outliers in Flashpoints. In the other thread I spoke mostly about length or difficulty but you raise another valid concern here as well. Story Flashpoints without an explicit Story // Solo mode and the problems that presents in other difficulties. The tension of the "PLEASE SKIP CUTSCENES" for newer players, etc.

 

As I did in the other thread please pass on any Flashpoints where you see issues like this! On top of making note of specific Flashpoints, let us know what your core issue is as well as the ideal solve that would course correct that issue for you. This is not a guarantee that we can revamp a FP exactly to your resolution, but this helps us understand where the pain points are and how to focus on improving them.

 

Thanks!

 

-eric

 

If we could have every FP be made solo-able (at least in story mode) that would alleviate some of the stress. Even as a veteran player, I DO sometimes want to see the cutscenes, but I don't want to hold up the party. There are also the ones that I'm late to the game on sometimes and by then (even a week after launch) everyone has already played through them and impatient to continue without waiting for people to watch, even though I'd like to see the story.

[Darthjantom]

I agree with some of the previous commenters to just have solo/story modes in the group finder solo tab for ALL flashpoints.

 

There is also a clear difference with 5.0+ flashpoints who have their cutscenes mostly disabled (except for a few transition cutscenes between areas) and the old flashpoints which are riddled with dialogues that often drag and ruin the pacing (even when a group spacebars through them) when you are doing the same flashpoint for the 20th+ time.

 

Ideally, for me personally, all flashpoints would get a solo/story mode, and then have their story heavy dialogues disabled in group finder veteran/master modes like the 5.0+ flashpoints.

[NeoBlakkrstal]

Hey there,

 

As we are in progress of planning for future updates, I noted in this other thread here that we are seeking feedback on outliers in Flashpoints. In the other thread I spoke mostly about length or difficulty but you raise another valid concern here as well. Story Flashpoints without an explicit Story // Solo mode and the problems that presents in other difficulties. The tension of the "PLEASE SKIP CUTSCENES" for newer players, etc.

 

As I did in the other thread please pass on any Flashpoints where you see issues like this! On top of making note of specific Flashpoints, let us know what your core issue is as well as the ideal solve that would course correct that issue for you. This is not a guarantee that we can revamp a FP exactly to your resolution, but this helps us understand where the pain points are and how to focus on improving them.

 

Thanks!

 

-eric

 

The issue as I see it is that you MUST queue for ALL FP's in order to advance the Weekly mission. This forces Vet Players to queue for Esseles/Black Talon which has a high probability of getting newbies because of its relative level. The problem you run into is when people just refuse to skip the cut scenes, either because they have never been there, and are unaware that there is a Solo/SM version of the FP they can do solo and watch the cut scenes to their hearts content, or because they are trolling and like to cause pain to other players by forcing them to go through said cut scene with them. Perhaps a way could be made to allow the group leader to skip through that cut scene for the entire group, thus avoiding both scenarios.

 

In addition, I would like to ask, once again, that Kuat Drive Yards be added back into the GF Rotation. I still have no idea why it was removed in the first place as the Devs haven't bothered to respond to the numerous threads regarding its removal. If this was unintended, please fix it. If it was intentional, perhaps an explanation as to why this was done would not go amiss. Thanks.

[sulsakan]

So, I want to focus a bit more on a particular aspect that hasn't been mentioned a lot in this and the other FP thread...rewards vs time invested...and even more specifically, with regards to Conquest points.

 

Frankly the game is all over the place with this...I can play GSF for an hour and get 200k-300k points, but a long FP or Kotfe/Kotet chapter can take an hour and it's like 7k CQ pts for SM, or something like 15k for VM (sorry I'm not in the game to check the exact numbers).

 

The reason why CQ pts is important to me (and I imagine other players as well) is that I don't have a lot of time to play, but I love the game and I would love to play all the different aspects, so time becomes an important factor. My wife and I have 8 toons each, and we can put in around 2 hrs, 5 days a week. We have come to develop a routine where obtaining CQ for the week is our goal per toon...kind of our measuring stick as to how long to dedicate to each toon. If we play smart, we can finish all 8 within approximately 10 hrs a week...but playing smart means not being able to do any FPs because they take too long for too few CQ points. Sure, there are some FPs that are mandatory for story progression, so we throw in a quick CZ or other quick daily and that helps make up the difference...but we shouldn't have to do this. The FPs don't have any kill 25 and 50 enemies like the planets do, no "purple mission" pts, etc. And if you like to do the bonuses like we do, well we don't get any extra CQ pts (well there is the one "bonus mission" CQ item, but that's only like 2k pts and only once a day across the whole legacy). So basically we rarely to FPs or chapters unless we have to for story progression...which is a shame because they are very fun...great content that never gets used.

 

Recommendations? Well maybe along the lines of what others have mentioned in these two threads, about creating several different tiers...by difficulty, as well as by time (rushed vs full story/bonus)...and just making sure that the longer version gets more CQ pts...especially if you're doing the bonus. You could also add the "kill 25 and 50 enemies" to FPs and chapters (not all chapters have skytroopers).

 

But also, why not bring Renown back, and the CQ pts? This would help tremendously not only with low CQ point activities, but also to give players incentive to do planetary missions that don't give anything anymore (all those extra green and exploratory missions on the planets that there's no reason to do anymore). There is so much content that there's just no reward for doing anymore...Renown would help solve this problem. You don't have to give money with Renown rewards, nor gear or anything like that...I would be happy with just the CQ pts. But here's a thought...Daily Resource Matrix is the one resource that a lot of people struggle with...why not have this as the main Renown reward? AND, this would really help solve another big problem...for players that like to focus on story progression, there is no way to get any of the new gear! My wife and I like to do the Heroic missions as they show up on the map, as we progress through an area...but having to do stacks of Heroics, FPs, OPs, etc to get gear means we have no time to progress our stories. If you add Renown (or call it whatever you want,, but same idea), and add Daily Resource Matrix, then players like us can gear up while running through the planets, progressing story, and staying immersed in this great SW universe.

 

Sorry for the long post...these things have been weighing on my mind for a bit hehe

[Kimplin]

Id rather it just be removed from que.

 

Its fun to have a few short cutscenes in FPs to see ur character in the 3rd person acting out. But this FP in particular takes too long to do with the cutscenes. If new players who dont know it or are not familiar with the spacebar method of skipping and just mounting up and running through large portions of the fp to aoe around a corner, then it can take up to 40 mins for a single FP which is WAY to much time to spend for such little reward.

 

So many trash mobs

 

FPs like hammer station are fun, short, and a cutscene to show off my outfit. Hammer Station really do be the best FP

 

I just wanna spam shortish FPs with a fun story and a few cutscenes, kill enemies, get rewards, repeat. All within 10 to 15 mins. More FPs like Hammer Station would be dope. Only other group pve is Ops and those are lame. Esselles being in the rotation really makes one of the best activities in the game a real GAMBLE when queing.

 

I disagree with the "remove cutscenes from vet fps" idea. A few per FPs are vital for the experience imo and its great to show off outfits

Edited September 17, 2022 by Kimplin

[SteveTheCynic]

Well, since 7.0 removed social points from conversation choices, there seems to be very little in the way of gameplay that would prohibit just bypassing all the cutscenes from Ess/BT. There may be technical challenges though.

The main oddment for *both* of them is that there is at least one conversation in each that causes a change in the narrative flow of the flashpoint. Example: in BT, do you

 

kill the captain and fight the sabotage droids that came in the boarding pods

 

or

 

work with the captain and fight the boarding party that came in the shuttle

 

 

It's not a *big* difference, but it *is* a difference. They'd have to pick one if there were no conversations, because you pick the path by a conversation choice.

[DarthSpekulatius]

Hey there,

 

As we are in progress of planning for future updates, I noted in this other thread here that we are seeking feedback on outliers in Flashpoints. In the other thread I spoke mostly about length or difficulty but you raise another valid concern here as well. Story Flashpoints without an explicit Story // Solo mode and the problems that presents in other difficulties. The tension of the "PLEASE SKIP CUTSCENES" for newer players, etc.

 

As I did in the other thread please pass on any Flashpoints where you see issues like this! On top of making note of specific Flashpoints, let us know what your core issue is as well as the ideal solve that would course correct that issue for you. This is not a guarantee that we can revamp a FP exactly to your resolution, but this helps us understand where the pain points are and how to focus on improving them.

 

Thanks!

 

-eric

when listing for FPs:

allow People to unselect 25% of the Flashpoints and still get all Bonuses.

 

allow people to select "skip story", "with story" or both. if all 4 Players selected "both" let them vote in between the time from spawning in to the first cutscene.

time each FP with all cutscenes skipped and with all cutscenes watched, give extra credit for the weekly depending on if it's a 10minute FP or a 40 minute FP, also throw in a little extra for really hard FPs.

(the Option Skip story means no cutscene will be played, with story means no cutscene can be skipped)

[NicoleMay]

I still think all FPs should be able to be in the queue. I love the variety they bring.

 

However, we need 2 separate queues. One for the quicker ones, and one for the longer ones. Make the rewards line up better, and not punishing people for filtering the longer FPs out.

 

And yes, every FP probably needs a story mode (I think this is very easy to achieve), and every VM/MM fp should have no more cutscenes than Hammer Station/Athiss/Mando Raiders/Red Reaper.

 

I absolutely loved that they started taking this into consideration with the Fractured Alliance arc. It's a perfect way to handle the SM/VM+MM difference. Now just gotta bring all the old fps up to speed.

 

Also, I would love to see Colicoid War Games level synced and re-added to the queue. (Again, probably the "long queue" like I said.)

Edited September 17, 2022 by NicoleMay

[DeannaVoyager]

So, I want to focus a bit more on a particular aspect that hasn't been mentioned a lot in this and the other FP thread...rewards vs time invested...and even more specifically, with regards to Conquest points.

 

Frankly the game is all over the place with this...I can play GSF for an hour and get 200k-300k points, but a long FP or Kotfe/Kotet chapter can take an hour and it's like 7k CQ pts for SM, or something like 15k for VM (sorry I'm not in the game to check the exact numbers).

 

This is one of the reasons why GF is dead, especially for MM FPs. They are not worth the time compared to brainless rampage in a guild group where you just have to follow the few people who kill stuff. They are not worth the time compared to GSF. They are not worth the time compared to PVP. As a "carrot?" there are a few specific fps every week where you get a higher cqp. Except that when you hit level 71+ you are not getting anything. After level 71 you are required to do the FP in MM, which is funny because you can't even enter MM FPs until level 80 through GF.

 

- Remove the level restrictions regarding conquest points from fps. Don't force under leveled people to do MM FPs for conquest. In fact, don't force the MM on it at all. No-one is enjoying when half of the group is incompetent or under geared or just plain clueless on the content they are entering.

 

- +1 for adding solo modes to all fps

 

- +1 for whoever said to remove cutscenes from GF fps completely

 

- If you can't remove cutscenes, change it so that if anyone in the group skips, the rest of the group is automatically skipping the convo too

[Malibbu]

i must add that if like me, you have Esseles given 8 times in one day, you are basically in rage, and just leave at drop when the 9 happens. Since that day, unfortunatly if i see two low levels in GF proposal I refuse)

 

And each of the 8 was made with all the cutscenes and dialogs with no spacebar.

 

When you are doing vet modes trying to collect mats for the gear, esseles is really no fun

[Setta]

For those saying that they want to remove 20-25% of the FP's and still getting credit for the runs, that's way to much in my opinion. 25% is 7 Flash Points (since there are 28 total atm per faction), even 20% would be 6 if we're rounding up. That means most of the new ones will be removed because they take more time, and have more mechanics, which people seem to hate. And while I realize that's perfectly fine with most people who want the most rewards for as little effort as possible (hence the 6.x hammer station spam) it's just a bad design. I would say removing 3 FPs seems a lot more reasonable.

 

In regards to space bars through the cut scenes. I played a different game that dealt with this problem quite well. They too had a 4 man group, and if 2 out of the 4 players skipped through the dialogue, everyone would be pushed through the cutscene. I would say this should be done here too, until you have to make a light side / dark side choice, for any convo. I don't know how difficult it would be for this team to do that, but overall, I think that would solve a lot of issues with most Flashpoints.

[HypSpec]

Great to see all the constructive ideas being put forward and I like many of them. However I am going to suggest a minimalist approach that I think would make things better but take the least in terms of development to execute.

 

VM FPs:

• Add KDY back in (it actually has some more mechanic-laden bosses that help developing players) to make the total FP number 29
  
• Keep BT/Esseles and no need to remove the cut scenes, or the cut scenes from any others
  
• Allow players to 'deselect' up to 3 FPs and still qualify for GF/weekly rewards
  
• Up CQ points for FP so that the minimum you get per run is 15-20K (and each time, not one daily)
  

 

MM FPs:

• Juice the rewards/drops so it is more compelling for lvl 80 players and the queue fills more quickly
  
• Increase tech frags (you can run DF or DP in about same time and get a lot more frags)
  
• Up CQ points for FP so that the minimum you get per run is 20-25K (and each time, not one daily)
  

[DarthSpekulatius]

For those saying that they want to remove 20-25% of the FP's and still getting credit for the runs, that's way to much in my opinion. 25% is 7 Flash Points (since there are 28 total atm per faction), even 20% would be 6 if we're rounding up. That means most of the new ones will be removed because they take more time, and have more mechanics, which people seem to hate. And while I realize that's perfectly fine with most people who want the most rewards for as little effort as possible (hence the 6.x hammer station spam) it's just a bad design. I would say removing 3 FPs seems a lot more reasonable.

for Veteran mode? sure whatever.

 

for Master Mode where you actually have to know and play Mechanics? how is only having 20 FPs too few?

 

if not a single "x" is ran the next 12 Months after the Change, create a HM2 Quest with extra reward for it, or fix the obviously broken **** that would have to be inside to cause that.

don't force players into taking an unfun FP or a 15 minute lockout.

[Setta]

for Veteran mode? sure whatever.

 

for Master Mode where you actually have to know and play Mechanics? how is only having 20 FPs too few?

 

if not a single "x" is ran the next 12 Months after the Change, create a HM2 Quest with extra reward for it, or fix the obviously broken **** that would have to be inside to cause that.

don't force players into taking an unfun FP or a 15 minute lockout.

 

Sorry mate, but if you are fine with this concept for VM, but have an issue with it for MM, then that's less to do with the concept and more to do with the idea that you find MM to challenging and don't want to put yourself through those Fps. Idk if it's a gear issue, skill issue, (this seems to be more of a thing, since you complained about knowing more than 20 FP mechanics) but clearly there's something about being challenged that you're not for, and just want it to be easier on you, while still getting credit for the weekly. I'm not even knocking you, we all had to start somewhere, but doing them is the only real way to get better.

 

Now I know not everyone falls into that category. Some people like the OP for instance don't want to sit through FPs with long cut scenes because the time vs. reward isn't worth it. I completely understand and agree. I don't bother with Fps anymore, because they're not worth the rewards. The same principle applies to some of the later Fps as well. They may not have long cutscenes but they take longer than necessary for the rewards provided, but generally nothing to do with them being too difficult. Which is why I'm going to agree with most of HypSpec said. Better rewards would go a long way. Especially more tech frags & conquest points.

[DarthSpekulatius]

I'm not even knocking you, we all had to start somewhere, but doing them is the only real way to get better.

 

you literally put your finger on why I want the random que to exist (for myself so I don't get bored) but have as little as possible to do with Gearing & Rewards, (for new players, who don't know every FP blind).

To me the rewards don't matter at all, I get my gear from OPS (and GSF), it's the principle of the matter that's the issue.

if someone is manipulated to run Duxun today, Dread Palace next week and ToS the week after, how would they ever learn how to play even one of them right, by the time it comes around again you'll have forgotten everything about it.

-> nerfs happen. The OPS got absolutely trashed!

 

I like challenging content and you can't make challenging content if you RNG people into drastically different types of it.

I see two Options: make all FPs the same same hi ... EZGG and keep the RNG.

or make FPs of varying difficulty and give Players the choice what they feel capable of doing / are in the mood to do.

 

 

I want! Hard content -> players need the ability to choose not to be put into the FPs I want otherwise the FPs I want will get absolutely trashed exactly like SM OPS have been.

[Setta]

 

if someone is manipulated to run Duxun today, Dread Palace next week and ToS the week after, how would they ever learn how to play even one of them right, by the time it comes around again you'll have forgotten everything about it.

 

I get that I don't speak for everyone, but honestly, when I learned Dread Fortress / Dread Palace / ToS, and others we usually swapped from Op to Op quite a bit. Usually it took me about 2 or 3 runs to fully comprehend almost all the boss mechanics in an OP and remember them for next time that I ended up doing them. There are really only a few mechanics per boss that you have to recall. The rest aren't necessarily all that punishing unless you're in some high end game content.

 

Even if it is, even if you wipe just say oh sorry I forgot about that part, or my bad only did this a few times, will remember that for the next encounter, and usually it's all good (usually). Or if you don't remember the fight cause you've only done it a couple of times, just say, hey it's been a while what did I have to watch out for again? Generally people are pretty good about working with you. Speed runs probably being the one exception as then you're expected to know what you're doing.

 

That said I would recommend a couple of things. A helpful guild that runs these things, and if you find one, and you guys use Discord that's an even bigger plus. There are a lot out there. Usually they're bigger guilds, who do all sorts of runs. Ops, FPs, Uprisings, PvP, GSF and other things. If you get into a guild like that join a group that's running FPs, and just have them give you a quick rundown if you're worried. Guilds also have the added benefit of not being toxic like some players can be, so if you mess up you won't have angry Joe screaming at you for being a noob, and not pulling 30k dps or w/e, although even that is rare if you just communicate with people ahead of time. I did a bonus boss a few weeks back that I haven't done since 4.x or so, because someone in the group wanted it. Asked the guys what the mechanic was for that fight since it's been forever since I did it, they explained them I vaguely recalled them, and we one shoted it np. Communication is key.

 

The second thing I recommend, is just take a couple of min to look up mechanics online if you're having problems, feeling anxious, or just not in a guild that's in a position to help, or don't want to be in that sort of guild. It's not for everyone I get it. Then once you look up the mechanics, just que for that specific dungeon run it once or twice with the understanding of the mechanics at hand, and you'll have a much easier time remembering what to do for next time.

 

I will say honestly while mechanics are important, it's not like you need to do every single one of them perfectly. There are things you can get away with not doing. Hell there are things I purposely don't do, because I know I can just pop a defensive or two, especially if it has reactive damage attached to it. Then I'll purposely get hit and continue dpsing rather than backing out of stupid not taking said damage.