When does hassle trump efficiency?

Discussion in 'Gotham City (General Gameplay)' started by Reinheld, Mar 30, 2020.

  1. Reinheld Devil's Advocate

    So I had an alt account I wanted to get Starro done on. Got into a phase with a good amount of people and we were knocking them out. He spawns every 5 min and there were no other phases active to phase hop. I suggested going to PVP as it's dead(even offered to leave another toon there to make sure he was spawning every 5 min), and alternate trips back and forth and was pretty much poo-poo'd by everyone as it's a hassle (portal to WT...phase shift...portal to Starro, kill, portal to WT, phase shift, portal to Starro, kill) Personally I'd rather zip back and forth and be done 2x as fast (105 kllls x 5 min respawns is 8.75 hours, 105 kills at 2.5 min is...well half that). Yeah, you can do it while staring at TV, or maybe you are just chatting, but for someone who is 'working' on it, I'd think the efficiency outweighs the hassle...but I guess I'm in the minority.

    BTW...I finished my 54 (only needed 12 for that 50 point feat) and went on to other things. Ran through a bunch of stuff, hopped accounts, ran my M1 and 2 alerts and some solo stuff on my main and a few others and could still see one of the guys who poo-poo'd me shouting in LFG 4 hours later for Starro spam. See, now to me...that's a hassle.
    • Like x 2
  2. Balistical Ice Loyal Player

    I was thinking more along the lines of having Mepps log in in the Watchtower and spawn a few Starros at a time, and each kill grants one point towards the feat. Just a more simple way of doing things while also making it fun for the players and community. Wishful thinking Id assume though
    • Like x 1
  3. Reinheld Devil's Advocate

    Well if they wanted to really help us, they could set the respawn to something like a min or 90 seconds. Much more in line with the other open world bounties. Starro is the only one (well not counting Abra and Zoom) who take so long to respawn and it makes farming the 105 a hassle either way. I was just talking about working within the current situation.
  4. Chia Death Well-Known Player

    Are you just talking about old content bounties? Because if you want to talk about bad spawn times the nth metal golem (and by extension onimarr syn) comes to mind...
  5. Brit Loyal Player

    If I have a goal, then I concern myself with efficiency.

    If I'm just killing time, then I care more about hassle.

    By Saturday every week I am lootlocked for basically everything I need to run. That stuff I care about running efficiently. But after that, it's mostly just me killing time while I'm also halfway watching a movie. That stuff is just about me avoiding hassle. I might run some lowbie stuff hunting for furniture, or farming prestige for the League, but I'm not jumping through a bunch of hoops.

    I left an Elite Starro this afternoon because by the time we had rescued Aquaman, the guy who queued as Controller still was trying to play as a DPS and leave the raid with no Controller. Efficiency would have had me build the proper group in advance, but I didn't actually need anything there. I was just doing it for the chance at the last piece of Conqueror style. I random queued because I didn't really care if I did it or not. And when everybody else wanted to start some annoying argument about demanding some guy actually play as the role he queued for, I realized that I didn't care enough to fight with somebody about it. Too much hassle when there was a perfectly good exit portal right there.

    Efficiency only matters to me if what I'm doing actually matters to me. I find, the majority of stuff I do is just an attempt to kill time, and that is definitely more about avoiding hassle.
    • Like x 1
  6. TheLorax 15000 Post Club

    Considering the game crashes at random during warp, I'd rather just wait the 5 minutes for Starro.
    • Like x 1
  7. Reinheld Devil's Advocate

    Yes, but as those are current bounties there are plentiful phases to bounce to, especially when people are still farming them. DD respawns in like 30 seconds, Giant robot and the iconics on Titans island take about a minute max, Brine hulk is less than 1 minute, Manbat is less than 2. The 2 Iconics in Earth 3 are up constantly and only flip flop which 2 are active, so you can get who you want by triggering another and running away. All these places do not have multiple phases (maybe Metal 1 does...as it's recent) so phase hopping is not an option. In the case of Starro, that means a 5 minute wait for each one x 105 max. I'll have to check but I think even Oni and Nth metal spawn faster than that (each one I mean...not to spawn and knock both out), but yeah...sharing a spawn makes it longer to get the one you want. In 6 months to a year I'd guess getting 77 Nth done will be a nightmare, probably worse than starro even.

    BTW...I'm not suggesting making it easier or nerfing the count. Just saying they can ratchet down the respawn timer to 2 min vs 5 to bring it in line with most of the others. 105 kills when there were multiple phases was not an issue...it is now. Honestly I wasn't even asking for that, only adding it now that it's been brought up. Either way I'm likely as done as I'll get on the alt account. I mainly was asking people's opinion on would they sit for 8+ hours or ping pong back to PVP to speed it up by 2x. My group the other day chose wait, as I'm sure many(or most) would...I just don't think that way. As it was I was going back and forth to Metal Gotham, Chaos Gotham and Thanagar to do my dailies in between...got them all done (including Shogg, Pod and Golem) and made it back each time at about 4:50 seconds for the Starro kill. A bit dizzying for sure, but I can't abide sitting still.
  8. Reinheld Devil's Advocate

  9. Tabby Belle Well-Known Player

    When I did the Starro Conqueror grind, I had to do it over a couple days due to the respawn and lack of people running it. I wouldn't have done the warp, phase shift, re-enter, and repeat at the time, because I was being chatty and doing the Starro stomping feat as well. Even if I did it today with that group you were in, I would have sided with them, because having the five minute wait makes it more casual and relaxed, and I can just chat or watch something on my phone to kill the time.
  10. HurricaneErrl Dedicated Player

    If something is a hassle, then it's not very efficient. They should have a PvP phase warp with all the others in the map tab. But you're right, Starro should be spawning a lot quicker than it does currently
  11. HurricaneErrl Dedicated Player

    Back when the event first came out there was a few times where they spawned like 4 or 5 Starros at the same time but you only got credit for the 1. It was pretty cool though
    • Like x 1
  12. dresserball Dedicated Player

    Not everyone can warp and change phases in that short amount of time. Also most people can't keep their attention for 4 hours to keep hoping.
  13. Reinheld Devil's Advocate

    That's my point. My attention for 8 hours of sitting staring at the open Helo pad is way worse than 4 hours of actually doing something...even if it is tedious warping and returning. I'd guess by the 20th or 25th one I'd nod off. To each their own though...was just asking for a consensus...I've got it. I'm the weirdo.

    BTW... I did do it one time, to make sure I'd be able to do it quick enough and get back. Took about 90 seconds to do the whole process and return + figure a minute for 8 people to kill Starro (more if everyone down there went...there were probably 20-25 there), you'd still have 2 min of sitting and staring left if your travel took a bit longer. I did try soloing him....it did not work out.
  14. dresserball Dedicated Player

    The warping issue really is that some people can't physically warp to and from within that time frame.

    The other issue would be can you kill Starro in that short amount of time?
  15. Illumin411 Loyal Player

    I was once helping a leaguemate of mine do Starro ( I already had the feats myself) and offered to the group via Shout chat to be the “other phase” contact. I not only spelled out in detail WHAT to do but also WHY it was faster, more efficient. There were about 15-20 people there. Tell me why no more than three ever phased to me.

    Granted, this mentality provides entertainment to me during seasonals when I “steal” a spawn from a camper. When they come back from being AFK right as I finish, that’s the best! Lol
  16. Reinheld Devil's Advocate

    I guess I don't understand why one person couldn't warp in that amount of time (barring disconnects). We all have the same 'warp to' menu or the portal, and the phase shifter is in the same place just a few seconds away either the WT warp point, or the starro portal. Not saying anyone else would want to do it....but if they did they should have the same ability to...unless they are on dialup or something. I guess if you are saying someone has a physical impediment that they can't work the remote/kb as fast as others...sure, but I'd guess that number is very small and likely didn't apply to anyone in my group....I could be wrong though, I didn't do a survey.

    And yes, a group of 8 OP people (which our group was even before others arrived) could take him down in either phase in less than 60 seconds. That's why I tested the theory before even suggested it. Travel time + kill should be less than 3 min....leaving 2 min slush time to get back to PVE for the respawn. Now...if you want to argue the danger of being in the PVP phase and some opponents coming over to F with us while we worked on it? Sure...that's a possibility, but I had a toon standing there in PVP for probably 20 min...making sure Starro spawned (he did....5 min after I arrived) and as far as I saw there was not a single other body down in that area.
  17. dresserball Dedicated Player

    I'm not talking about physical limitations. It is known that people can get long load times from warping. This is made more apparent when going to the watchtower.
    • Like x 1
  18. Reinheld Devil's Advocate

    Yes....I suppose that's possible, and maybe there was someone in the group who had that issue (or someone responding to this thread). I myself didn't see an issue on the PS4, a good PC and a not good laptop where I had all 3 running, but obviously experiences may vary. I'd doubt they would vary more than 15-20 seconds per WT entry, so that should still leave enough time, but you could be right. BTW...if it takes you a min to warp to WT, I'd guess something is wrong on your internet or system. That's a pretty long time.
  19. Chia Death Well-Known Player

    I totally get what you're saying as far as current bounties being less of an issue because people are still doing them, I was just pointing out that the spawn times for the metal 2 bounties were just as bad- and unfortunately while it would make sense for them to speed up respawns for the bounties (especially for old content like deluge) it looms like they're moving toward longer respawns instead of shorter with new bounties and there's no indication that this will change.

    As for hopping to PvP phase and back for farming them- yeah, probably way more efficient time-wise, but I guess the general consensus is that it's more hassle than it's worth.
    • Like x 1
  20. dresserball Dedicated Player

    I guess you have never experienced a glitch in this game? Also things like latency and internet connection plays a part. I know that some people take longer to load into raids and other areas.
    • Like x 1