Veteran-Flashpoints "Black Talon/ Esseless"

[SteveTheCynic]

1 minute ago, Char_Ell said:

As far as I can tell the game selects the character with the highest level as the group leader.  If there is more than 1 character with the same highest level (e.g. 2-4 level 80 characters) I'm not sure how the game selects which one becomes the group leader.

So the answer to the actual question is "No, there isn't any way to ensure that."

[JediQuaker]

Let me clarify. 

I realize that going through GF will not ensure the lead, so you would basically need to form a group outside of GF. The main purpose of this group would be to view the cutscenes and it doesn't need to be a 'full' group - that is, it can be player(s) + companion(s). If it's not 'full', you can enter the FP 'manually'. If it is 'full' (4 players), you can still go through GF to get any bonuses etc.

This of course is only applicable if they changed FPs to allow the lead to skip. As it is now though, you can form a group as above, that agrees in advance to skip cutscenes.

 

Edited March 5, 2023 by JediQuaker

[FishyScales]

On 3/4/2023 at 5:02 PM, JediQuaker said:

Often times the 'low level' character is a new alt of an experienced player and is actually better than some ill-equipped 'high-level' doing their first FP (and not using their spacebar). 

The problem with Esseles is not low-level players - it's those dam cutscenes that people don't spacebar. I think a good solution might be to enable the group leader to skip cutscenes.

I think they meant you don't accept pops with low-level players because there is a very high chance it will be Ess/BT, so you decline rather than risk getting locked out for leaving the FP once you're in if someone isn't skipping. 

[DeannaVoyager]

1 hour ago, FishyScales said:

I think they meant you don't accept pops with low-level players because there is a very high chance it will be Ess/BT, so you decline rather than risk getting locked out for leaving the FP once you're in if someone isn't skipping. 

Yes, exactly. The low levels have only Esseles/BT and HS, and to avoid those I decline everything with lowbies in the suggested group.

[DawnAskham]

6 hours ago, DeannaVoyager said:

Yes, exactly. The low levels have only Esseles/BT and HS, and to avoid those I decline everything with lowbies in the suggested group.

Pretty much what I've started doing and it works pretty well, haven't gotten BT / Esseles more than once or twice (which again for Bioware - why the heck are a group of level 75+ players getting a level 10 FP that can be solo'd?) 

[AJediKnight]

On 11/24/2022 at 11:08 AM, Sylvannai said:

We know that the PTS phase is ongoing and the team is focused on the fixes and improvements.

And the Subject of Black Talon and Esseless was also brought up a few Weeks ago.

But goodness gracious, isn't it possible to just take those Flashpoints off the activity stream when it comes to Veteran?.

It can't be that four 80's characters from 28 Flashpoints get this (*censored*) Fp of all things (Black Talon/Imp).

Most of the time, these FPs are not even entered, but understandably people leave the group in advance and accept the ban because nobody wants to run these Flashpoints in Veteran.

I automatically leave any of these FPs. It's a complete no-brainer. Same thing goes for the Revan ones - they're just too long. I'd rather wait out my activity cooldown than spend more than about 15 minutes in an individual flashpoint.

[HypSpec]

This has been suggested many times and worth repeating here:

Allow players to deselect BT/Esseles and still qualify for weekly. And while you are at it, add KDY back in. 27 of 28 or 28 of 29 and still get weekly. If you have BT/Esseles checked, you are aware cutscenes may not be skipped. All problems solved.

[JediQuaker]

2 minutes ago, HypSpec said:

Allow players to deselect BT/Esseles and still qualify for weekly. And while you are at it, add KDY back in. 27 of 28 or 28 of 29 and still get weekly. If you have BT/Esseles checked, you are aware cutscenes may not be skipped. All problems solved.

It would also help if the ability to select/deselect FPs was a bit more obvious than just a tiny "28/28" box. I've encountered many players who didn't even know they could select/deselect individual FPs. 🤔

[Sundown]

Nothing beats being queued for Vet and MM, getting a full 80 trinity pop and joining BT Vet.

 

Please, Bioware, get rid of those, or at least make all convos in group finder groups auto complete (yes, I know, there are different bosses/paths based on choice, make those random). My space bar is broken already.

[DawnAskham]

Well even with all 50+ characters, I've gotten BT three times in the past few days - first one had at least one who would not skip, so dropped after first annoyingly long convo, others I dropped as soon as I saw BT and will continue to do so - never running this thing again.

These two FPs need to be SOLO ONLY for story, if in queues set as auto skip, or just drop the stupid 'random' requirement from things like conquest and weeklies so players can just uncheck this garbage.

Also got Foundry twice and everyone skipped so not too bad BUT, HK bugged both times - like seriously, this FP has been around for over ten years and you still can't keep this boss getting stuck inside his doodad (boss not targetable, boss doing enraged damage, no things to click to release)?

Lastly, I have done a lot of FPs since returning - yet even with higher levels, BT / Esseles has come up more often than anything other than Hammer Station, while I've had exactly one FP come up that was added post-SoR (the one on Dantooine).

 

Edited March 7, 2023 by DawnAskham

[Shayddow]

On 3/7/2023 at 11:52 AM, DawnAskham said:

like seriously, this FP has been around for over ten years and you still can't keep this boss getting stuck inside his doodad (boss not targetable, boss doing enraged damage, no things to click to release)?

they can't fix the flashpoint, yet, they eliminated the special dialogue you got if you brought along HK-51 in the story version of this flashpoint. That part still angers me.

Bring back HK-51's dialogue!