255 CR skip and why it was a mistake.

I can't believe I'm having to do another thread like this where I have to point out daybreaks mistakes YET again.

So I took a small break from the game to go back to irl business, coming back, I had a message from my friend saying there was a 255 cr skip, to my first initial reaction it was: "Great! I can level up my character super fast without a grind, everything will be tippity tip top notch."
But I had missed it, which I wasn't too disappointed at cause I already have some of my main accounts over 240 cr already.

Then...now playing, I'm starting to realize these small issues are coming up.

Been in recent high tier raids where people try to trick the system into thinking that we're gonna get a troller, and then boom, they are actually a DPS, and both of their troll and dps is weak af and don't do much help, once asking them if they did the cr skip, they answered yes.
and this is not the first time this has happened, it's happened several time where people now think that cr skip 255 is a grant access to tougher missions and they can do it without any fuss, this is gonna be a current problem.

Another thing that I dont understand, why the 255 cr skip for people that haven't even reached it yet? and WHY 255?! There's really no reason for it, I get that the devs wants to give back to the players, but there's really no need for it, this game is grind-based for a reason.

I would have understood the 255 cr skip if SKILL POINTS wasn't needed, if this was before the SP update, I would have understood it cause back then it was very easy to defeat bosses (which it should be in my opinion, another mistake that daybreak did.)
I am in no means perfect with my SP, i got 164 and still struggling to get all the feats that I CAN get, the SP feats and all that are no fun to do at all, it's boring, takes forever to do, and most of the time you don't even get it.
So again, daybreak did another huge mistake, and they will forever to keep doing these mistakes.
I get that daybreak devs acts before thinking, which will hammer the last nail into the coffin in the end.

People queuing in as DPS and role even though they can't play the role is not a new thing..

Thank you captain obvious.

Here is something not obvious to you: The cr skips, worth critiquing though they are, does serve the purpose of getting players at the end-game range, which is where the bulk of the players are at. It is a calculated business decision to not just keep new players hooked, but also avoid them to suffer from low participation in older content.

Conversations were held but if we're being honest here, your co-called feedback is but a smokescreen, just yet another thread of yours to sneakily complain how this game is bad and dying.

I can't with this slacktivist response.
It does not serve a purpose cause this game is suppose to be for grinding, just imagine the people who missed the cr skip and who already passed 255, they feel so stupid and felt all their effort was waste of time when the devs gave a cr skip to these new players.
This game is not about getting to the "end game range" where everyone is, if that's the case for you, then this game must be REALLY boring for you, god bless sis.

And smokescreen? Psh, No, it's obvious facts and opinions, never heard of critcism have you?

I know a couple of people who could rock even current level elite stuff with a toon like that one... but they are few and far between. Why? Because they have some rather intimate knowledge and skill of the game and how to do things... and if you have that skill level it will beat out just about anything else.

I do agree that the "Skip to ..." should take you either to 255 or the highest CR character on your account, whichever is lower. Yes, I know that the older content necessary to level up a character is not as frequently played. Yeah, a lot of people are going to say, "Find a league to help you." But just from observations, how many people are failing current stuff because of mechanics they never learned from earlier instances? How many are failing simply because they're too new to the game and have no idea what it means to be a DPS, Tank, Healer, or Controller, but are more than happy to select both boxes "because they can" only to find themselves kicked out of an instance because they have no idea how to run as the role? A lot of the failings here are because there is little incentive to go back and run older content... unlike the PanE and ZooE very rare drops on last boss.

That aside... because the vast majority of players do not fall within that specialized group... the lower your SP, the higher your artifacts and augments need to be if you want to have a fighting chance... not a guarantee... to succeed. The higher the artifacts are the more benefits you can derive from them... but if you're trying to deal with your role as well as DPS, plan on either investing a lot of money (whether in-game cash or real world), or running any and all content for hours and hours in order to get to that magic artifact level of 160 so they get most of the benefits. If you want to buy your way up, you will need 9 of the "Perfected Nth Metal" items from the marketplace (75k each, need around 679k XP to get to 160)... for a single artifact.

You obviously have not engaged with my post or any of my links.

If you want to control the make up of your group, then you can and should use LFG.

The CR skip even if it was free, it comes very incomplete.
It shoulda include the base ammenities unlocked, some source marks, more skill points and so on.
Cant imagine paying good money for it...

I completely agree with this statement. I like the fact it comes with an episode..but it should also include the lair system, marks to unlock the boosts and maybe some gen mods. I know it may be asking too much, but I think it's a better set up.

Edit:
Especially if you're paying money for it. It may be too much for the free skip..but I think maybe, just maybe it should be all inclusive for members.

Except that you're wrong. Anyone who has played this game long enough has seen various permutations of tactics Devs use to get players advanced as quickly as possible without giving it all away instantly. From walk-ins and tradeable higher gear to attunable scaling gear and cr Skip tokens.

People have actually asked the Devs to slow things down because even without trying (and in some cases, actively fighting against it) people have been able to progress rapidly in the game...all part of the Devs designs to push people along to end game (where friends and spending are at). These CR skips are just the newest way they accomplish what they've been doing for a long time already.

These CR skips do not negate the grind, in fact, it pushes players to where the real grind is at...artifacts, Adaptive/Origin Augments and Gear (regular and elite). It's not realistic or good for business to expect or want new players grinding 9 years of game for anywhere close to that amount of time.

https://forums.daybreakgames.com/dcuo/index.php?threads/skip-to-cr-250.305558/#post-4275224

Too bad someone didn't bring this up to the devs back in Nov when they could have done something about it. Oh wait...

And they did see it- moved from one thread to another. So they have no interest in changing.

So... I've got two characters that skipped (one from the last go-round, one from this year) and a number I've tried to bring up through the ranks. The latest is at cr 85 right now.

The problem with bringing up a character through the ranks is that when I queue for various duos, 4-man teams, and raids... I get nothin'. When I do get in a group, it's CR200+ players trying to speed through the mission, so I'm not even *contributing* anything. What's the point?

All the cr skips have been a huge mistake imo, they should have been solely for those who have at least 1 character that level or above. Not brand new players. Brand new players NEED to learn the game from ground up as we all have. Not be slingshot to end game with nearly no SP and no clue how to use their powers.

Except that they are going to have to regardless if they want decent ro high SP to even be competent in end game with having no issues.

This right here is exactly the reason why the CR skip is good. Those lower levels don't regularly pop. Why on earth would new players stay if they have to spend the majority of their time sitting around the Watchtower, unable to run anything while they wait for the queues that never pop?

When things do pop, they get carried through by high level players, so they learn nothing and the run is failure-proof. There is no reason to learn their role, or polish their rotation. There is no way to know if they're doing well or not. All it consists of is weeks of establishing what is in all reality bad habits.

The CR skip bumps a character up to a few Episodes short of the endgame. This is the perfect chance to start learning, because high level characters will no longer be able to mindlessly blitz through with you doing nothing. Your contributions will actually matter. It's low enough still that you can have some extra help, but it's high enough that you cannot do your job wrong. This creates the conditions where you can observe mistakes and shortcomings, and start to make corrective behaviors. The game has no tutorial and really does a crap job of teaching people how to play, but playing through hours upon hours of getting carried by high level players does not do anyone any favors.

Personally, I don't think level-skipping is as big a problem as, say, trying to figure out that stupid card game in the last Metal II mission. Trying to play a robin card has done more damage to team sanity than any overeager/under-provisioned 255 I've met in game.

Of course, as an overeager, underprovisioned 255 myself I'm sure my opinion is suspect. :-D Still, that !@#$% card game...

What, don't you do the round that has Wonder Woman in the left column, middle row, Robin in the right column, middle row, and two others in middle column top and bottom rows such that Wonder Woman and Robin beat themselves? Robin may be the weakest card in a head-to-head match... but it's the little puns that make it fun.

I don't even slightly understand how that game works. I just stand around fighting Dark Robins until some other player screws it up and the two other players who know how the game works shout at the first one until Batman dies and we do it all over again.

The CR 255 skip is there for a reason so people aren't stuck forever in older content and have a reasonable chance to play catch up.

You call it a mistake now? Where were you when they did all the other CR skips: CR 100, CR 170, CR 210?

All those CR Skips served the same functionality and goal as this one does, nothing is different.

Your griping to the developers that this was a mistake because all the players you run into are just DPSing/Pew Pew in the newer content and are getting their butts handed to them.


That's not a developer issue nor is it a fault of the CR 255 skip.

That's a player issue, players in the game need to learn the mechanics of the content, and likewise people like you(If this bothers you so much) ought to teach them what to avoid, how they can die less(EG blocking) and so on.

Also:
There's ZERO requirement in any DCUO content for people to que up as a support role. Anybody, and I do mean Anybody can que as a Vanilia dime a dozen DPS.


People CR skipping isn't the issue here.

It's the lack of knowledge that's the issue.

For instance: You mentioned the Controller and DPS output in the raids were Weak, but did you ask what kind of powerset they were using? and what abilities did they have?

No. You only asked them if they cr skipped so you could make another propaganda thread like this, claiming it's the CR Skip at fault; when it's clearly the players you run into that are at fault.


The CR skip has nothing to do with any of this stuff your mentioning, the CR skip is only guilty of doing what it's intended to do: At the end of the day, Newbies are still going to be Newbies unless they get more involved and get better. And likewise; DCUO needs to do better with tutorials.

And No.
Old Content doesn't fix this either, No piece of old content tells you how to play a support role at all.