Season 7 Dev Blog #16
By PWE_BranFlakes @ November 7, 2012 at 12:00pm
PvE Queue Improvements
With the launch of Season 6, players were challenged with a variety of new missions that required large teams to work together to defend fleet starbases, protect distant colonies or escort friendly freighters through a blockade. This type of group gameplay isn't new to Star Trek Online, but it has become an important part of the equation for players desiring to make their mark on the galaxy and earn high-end weapons and equipment.
Season 7 will feature even more of these group missions that require you to work together with other captains against a threat or towards a common objective. Whether it's defending Romulan colonists against Salt Vampires or assaulting the Borg Unimatrix itself, you need to organize if you want to tackle the toughest challenges and reap the biggest rewards that Star Trek Online has to offer.
To that end, you can use a window called the "PvE Queue" to sign up for these collaborative missions. When you "queue" for a mission, you are telling the game that you are looking for other people who also want to play that mission. When the required number of players has queued, they are all notified to launch the mission. Using the PvE Queue is the fastest way to team up with other captains and enjoy STO's group content.
To access the PvE queue, click on the PvE Queue button on the minimap, or the "PvE" button on the Mission Journal Overview page.
1. The "PvE" button on the journal Overview page will bring up the PvE Queue window.
2. You can also access the PvE Queue from this button on the minimap.
Along with the new group missions featured in Season 7 come new types of rewards. Romulan and Omega Marks are used in the new Captain Reputation system. Other rewards available include high-end gear, Dilithium and Fleet Marks. As the Star Trek Online team took stock of all the new missions and rewards we were adding with Season 7, it was clear that the PvE Queue needed to be redesigned to make it easier for players to understand critical information about each group mission. With the old PvE Queue window, it was very difficult to tell what the rewards of a group mission were, how many players it required to complete, or how challenging it was.
In Season 7, all the critical information about each mission in the PvE Queue is front and center in the mission list. The difficulty of the mission, its required group size, whether it is in space or on the ground and the reward it gives are all listed on the new PvE Queue design.
3. The new PvE Queue Window
Additionally, you can sort or filter the missions by any of these categories to find exactly which mission your captain needs to play. And finally, we've removed the separate "Details" window from the old queue and put all the information and a descriptive image into a permanent pane on the right side of the queue. This should make it very easy to browse all the group content in Star Trek Online and find the missions you're most excited to play.
To join the queue for a mission, simply click the "Join" button below the mission's information on the right. You will be added to the queue and when enough players have joined, you will be prompted to begin the mission.
In the new PvE Queue window you can see very clearly which queues you have joined, as any queue you've joined will have a row highlighted in green, like so:
If, for some reason, you don't qualify for a mission, the row will be highlighted in red. Rollover the icon in the status column to see which of the mission's requirements you do not meet.
If you've queued for a mission that you no longer wish to play, you can click on that missing and then click on the "Leave" button to remove yourself from the queue.
The PvE Queue offers some of the most exciting social gameplay in Star Trek Online, and with the launch of Season 7 is the gateway to some of the best rewards in the game. Many missions offer the reputation marks you need to access high-level Romulan and Task Force Omega gear, as well as the Fleet Marks you need to improve your Fleet's Starbase or Embassy. The updated PvE Queue window makes it easy to find and sort the available missions by a variety of important categories, and the new information pane helps you get a feel for the mission at a glance. Most importantly though, it still only takes a couple clicks to find the mission you want and queue up for it, keeping the process simple and fast.
The release of Season 7 promises the addition of a lot of great content for Star Trek Online, and we're excited to be able to improve the experience of how you find and play that content with the new PvE Queue window.
We’ll see you in-game!
Thomas "TheCrypticCat" Marrone
UI Artist
Star Trek Online
sabre1942 @ Jan 2nd, 2013 12:22PM
what i want is to be able to join a in progress STF because all the time when im playing elite stf's ppl just leave and then its impossible to finish them with one or two ppl so then you have to leave and you can't join back for an hour
picard58 @ Nov 16th, 2012 10:36AM
Hi about the PVE queues I am able to join them and go to the map but then i get a message saying that i will be removed from the map in 10 seconds which I subsequently am and it's happened at least a dozen times has this happened for anyone else?
karllen @ Nov 11th, 2012 4:16PM
I would have to concur with the majority on this one improvements look fantastic, but the user count is something I find very useful when I just have 20 or 30 minutes to play and want to jump into an STF.
yakumosmith @ Nov 8th, 2012 7:15PM
While I understand the intention of hiding the number in the queue, it will simply discourage me from bothering to join a queue. You'll encourage players to organise their own private teams which will hurt the casual players looking for a PUG. Making it harder for newer players means less retention.
vinru821 @ Nov 8th, 2012 12:09PM
Should have left it so that we could see how many were already queued up. Now we have to wonder when they will start. ... other than that very important detail.. looks good!
maxcoolkid2
Ya, they should add that to the players section instead of just saying how many players are needed, they already siad how many are needed it the information section.
captinjacksparow
Agree!! When I'm queued up for an STF or other PvE mission, I always join 2 or 3 different missions because I don't know which one will be ready first. They should show how many people are waiting to play a given mission.
endafresh @ Nov 8th, 2012 10:13AM
Would be nice if the 'challenge' ratings were expanded a bit to a '5 stripe' rating instead of the current '3 stripe' rating. Why? New players doing PvE queues at StarBase 24 and getting manhandled and mauled to death by the near-endless swarm of Klingon battleships. Do the PvE events scale with the number of players? Do the enemy spawns/type/difficulty scale as well? Does anyone realize that 'leveling up' a low-ranked newbie to level 50 doesn't automatically make them capable of surviving a 20-ship fleet action? I'd love for there to be a tutorial created for newbies that goes over every StarBase 24 PvE queue and lets you participate in it (just by yourself) in a practice mode that teaches you how to play. How to face your shields towards the enemy, when to break off pursuit if the enemy is going into a crowd, etc. Many MMO players playing this game as their first MMO. A lot of newbies are discouraged by the sheer difficulty of StarBase 24 queues. It really shouldn't be so gear-dependant that players get swarmed and nuked so easily. So it might help to teach newbies how to play. The starting tutorial is great but there needs to be more to get new players into the game and STAY in the game. It might also help to make a 'newbies only' queue at SB24 with a max rank/level that anyone higher gets scaled down to that level. Level scaling is nice but it should also either add or subtract a direct % of damage dealt and damage taken. Lower levels already have typically poor gear and just wanna have fun so giving them a bit of damage absorption (not a ton but just 50% or so) lets them last just a bit longer than insta-dying from attracting too much unwanted attention. Boosting damage output by 50% (or even 200% to double it) would help newbie players feel they're contributing instead of getting in the way. Do what needs to be done, these are mere random silly suggestions, from a newbie (not 'noob') perspective.
devguy1 @ Nov 8th, 2012 9:33AM
The removal of "Number of players wating" feature is a excellent choice. Why!!!? I hear the majority cry here. Simple, jumping on a "queue" thats nearly full is an anti-social thing to do. Being able to determine that you will wait less time that the poor captains who joined early means that there are some left waiting far longer than others. If everyone behaved like this no one would join an empty queue and no actions would happen. Using an average wait time and indeed deliberately hiding any other "useful" information makes the system fairer to everyone. Each can make an informed decision as to how long they are prepared to wait. Over time each captain will have put in his or her fair share of waiting. If anything is actually missing from the UI its the Stdev of waiting time (the probable max waiting time).
thehatch @ Nov 8th, 2012 7:45AM
It sure looks awesome, great work! … and because we can no longer see how many players are queued up at any point, I am sure Cryptic will add inter-faction teaming with Season 7 as well, so we can get KDF _and_ FED players in the same game, should they want to play together. Oh?
captrod71 @ Nov 8th, 2012 7:13AM
love the way the new missions and maps look over on tribble. also the interface for PVE/PVP is awesome, there is no missed interpretations there. these new additions are exactly what STO needs and will keep me online alot(till tax season, lol). cant wait to play them through with my main charachter. KEEP THOSE GREAT IDEAS COMING!!
raynehan @ Nov 8th, 2012 5:12AM
I liked all the changes I saw over on Tribble. Season 7 is going to rock! I, like others though, would like you to bring back the # of people waiting to start a queue. I appreciate knowing that there are 17 out of 20 people in queue so I can decide whether joining that queue would be worth the wait. Without it, for all we know we could be joining a queue with only 1 person in it and be waiting for a while. Please reinstate the queue # :) Other than that, great job!
foxwater @ Nov 8th, 2012 4:19AM
As everyone else has said, please add the wait times back in.
zerobang @ Nov 8th, 2012 3:49AM
The information on the right should really be an optional pop out window. The UI bloat will get annoying fast. Also we NEED to see how many players are inside the queue waiting. The 20 player missions will probably never pop like that because nobody is joining those. I also wouldn't mind a quickmatch button that just throws you into ANY match that is starting next.
theultimatex @ Nov 8th, 2012 2:49AM
Please change 'Status' to Wait or Wait Time so those of wanting the queue players can better understand the new system.
zerobang
look at the UI, the green clock icon only appears when you are queued up. it does not display before that, and i have yet to see it show something else than the icon that you see above, which says to me 1 player, if it even stands for that. the number on the right only says how many players are needed to start this map.
theultimatex @ Nov 8th, 2012 2:37AM
The new system still lacks a way to see how many players are waiuting for that que/how many people need to join before it starts. I would hate to join a queue where there is only me and one other person who has queued up. Also, the rewards suck since Dil has been placed with the missions that most players DO NOT ply any longer. I guess this was intended and working as designed, which sucks for the regular players of STRO.
lordrevan35 @ Nov 8th, 2012 1:39AM
I loved it on the tribble test server. And when season seven is launched I'll love it even more. And the best part is now I know which STF missions will give me some usefull items and which ones I can farm dilithium on. Now if you guys can add the PVE foundry missions to the queue that would make my day. :)
keeny75 @ Nov 8th, 2012 1:09AM
Bloody iOS prospective text. I'll type it again. It's a brilliant improvement and easy on the eye. However it's hard to plan my time in game without looking at a waiting Que list. Please can we have our que list back before launch. Lol
keeny75 @ Nov 8th, 2012 1:06AM
It's a brilliant improvement and very easy on the eye. However it's hard to plan my time inflame without having a waiting quest list. Please put this back before launch.
jackal1701apw @ Nov 8th, 2012 1:05AM
This is part improvement and part step backwards... please reinstate av. wait time and # of people in the Q with you.
maddog0000doom @ Nov 8th, 2012 12:04AM
i lkike billions of others would like to see how many players in the que for those that would like to quickly jummp into some action
baudl @ Nov 7th, 2012 11:40PM
as many other already stated...the only valid information was taken out and lots of useless one was added. thats not to be considered an improvement actually. more colors is not an improved UI.
chivalrybean
Knowing the rewards and the average wait time is not useless information. It is exactly the type of info that is helpful.
badname834854 @ Nov 7th, 2012 11:02PM
Looks prettier but the only new info you get is clarification on the type of loot. Otherwise, without the Amount of players cued shown, it's a big "FAIL". As per usual with Cryptic, if something is too hard to fix, they simply remove it. It seems like they couldn't get the cue counters to work right...I thought they were more than fine.
chivalrybean
It fails so much then it wrapped around and got better. The average wait time is far more useful than an enigmatic number of people in the queue.
bludagger
actually incorrect chivalrybean, when I see a queue of 3 people in a 15 person instance, I join and instantly tossed into that instance, it tells me immediately that it possibly is bugged. an average wait time will not tell me that. That is just a recent example of how what badname is seeing it vs how you are seeing it. Each person will view it their own way. Just how it is. To you its a great thing, to them it is not. *shrug* personally myself I like the new interface.
pottsey5g @ Nov 7th, 2012 10:57PM
Not sure I would call that an improvement. I lose the information I need and gain no new info that I need. For me and it sounds like many others the new UI is a step backwards. A bit like the new forums.
bolawon @ Nov 7th, 2012 10:38PM
Hello Mr UI Person. Why dont you get off your ass and make the UI colour changeable thus preventing the brain rage that comes over me when playing KDF for 30 mins or more?? Please? with a cherry on the top?
chivalrybean
There is no need to be rude to Thomas. He is a real person and not a 'Mr. UI Person'. Have some respect.
bludagger
hmm, yeah probably not the best way to get your voice heard there neighbor... good luck with that.
aesica @ Nov 7th, 2012 10:07PM
I can't really call the new queue UI an improvement until the number of people currently in the queue is made visible again. This was very useful for seeing which queues were active and which weren't at a given time. Why exactly was this aspect removed, anyway?
chivalrybean
http://sto-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?p=6449531#post6449531 <-that. In short, the average time to wait is more accurate than a fluctuating number of people in the queue. It's better now, or that's the theory. 4 people in the queue may mean 5 minutes, or 17, but 12 minute average time means 12 minute average wait time. That is why.
prynnce
Thats the point so you don't choose queues base on wait time and everyone follows you and therefore the queue doesnt get ignored.
kinkypinkie666 @ Nov 7th, 2012 8:15PM
with all the different way to make tokens to buy anything in the game is it to much for us all to do now. when we get to season7 there will be more way to scam us into getting all the token for what more crap items. when we are all trying you're best to get all the best to get the items to find there craps in the game why not give us what we all one new playable romulan player who work for the new romulan home world and not craps give us the locked boxes ships in zen store so we all have a chance to get them the locked boes are just a scam to get money of people all the time and ill have to pay as well to get rare and very rare ship as well not far on us all thankyou so much for doing a wonderfull job
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