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No More AFKers

Captain's Blog Stardate 91369.66

AFKers be gone! Have you ever had the problem where you enter a PvE zone and someone on the team just sits at the entrance point and doesn't help the team at all, then leaves with the rewards? As Peter Griffin from Family Guy would say, that really grinds my gears.

I've had this happen multiple times and each time I wish there was a friendly fire option, or a way for the team to collectively kick someone out. Well Cryptic has come up with the next best thing, an AFKer penalty -- and it's severe. If you go AFK in a match then you won't receive any rewards and not be allowed to queue for another one for 2 hours! What do you think about this? I feel that it's about time. This is a Massive Multiplayer Online Game not a Massive AFKer Online Game. If I wanted to see people who were AFK then I would go outside.

In other news, Starfleet Academy now has a Mark valentine Memorial. For those who don't know, he was a member of the STO team at Cryptic who recently passed away. Cryptic released this memorial by the water at Starfleet Academy in honor of everyone they lost during STO. I went to pay my respects in my Fleet Admiral uniform and was happy to see others that came to view it as well. I'm the one on the left if you're curious.

Mark Valentine Memorial

Lastly, Season 8 officially has a name and is called Season 8: The Sphere! I think this is going to be a really great season especially since it has a space adventure zone inside a Dyson sphere. That's something unique and I'm looking forward to it.

Written by Attilio on October 06, 2013 at 10:17 pm

Comments

ThatGreenGuy (Guest) said...
October 09, 2013 at 02:13 pm

Well, it's about time!, btw where do they mention this? also hope the mechanic is not as simple as a timer for AFK since I've been in STF where the AFK is actually active, just not doing anything to help the mission, some even go cloak and park to take photos!!! last time I lured a cube to the AFKer and at least he/she opted to fire at it instead of going cloak

Reply to ThatGreenGuy
Attilio (Owner) replied...
October 09, 2013 at 03:58 pm

It was in the patch notes for the RedShirt test server.

My guess (and what I feel is logical) is that it would measure the distance traveled, damage done, abilities activated, etc. as compared to the rest of the team. They didn't give specifics and I don't blame them. People are probably going to try finding loopholes and knowing how it works would just help.

Reply to Attilio
Warburton1881 (Member) said...
October 10, 2013 at 10:37 am

I was soured on PvP after my first experience with it. Of my five man team, only two of us were doing anything. The other three were just sitting where they initially came in and doing nothing. Needless to say it was a massive victory for our opponents, a KDF team, all of whom were attacking us five-on-two and ignoring our so called "teammates." It was many months before I did another PvP and I still don't do them very often.

I would have loved for those three idiots in my first mission to have been penalized for their total lack of effort to help their team.

Reply to Warburton1881
tc10b (Member) said...
October 12, 2013 at 06:11 am

Like all other forms of exploits, the people that really want to do nothing will figure out a way to exploit it.

Personally I think it would be better if the GMs had taken a more active role in this, as many people have reported AFKers to no avail.

An automated inflexible system probably isn't the answer but it's better than nothing.

Reply to tc10b
Bron (Guest) said...
November 10, 2013 at 12:34 pm

This is going to hit me hard in some cases. 2 hour penalty! I have this problem where I get hit by lag about half way through the group mission, and it prevents me from helping. Of course to other people it's going to look like I'm AFK since I can't move.

I hope they keep it that if you hit at least once you get rewards, cause that's all I seem to be able to do sometimes.

Reply to Bron
Aaron (Guest) said...
February 03, 2014 at 02:05 am

This is stupid! There are times you need to pop out of the room for a few seconds and yet they penalize you. It is a joke!

Reply to Aaron
Attilio (Owner) replied...
February 03, 2014 at 07:33 am

If it's for a second then it shouldn't be a problem. I've left in the middle of a match to do something quickly but came back asap to continue helping and never got penalized for it.

This is for people who literally sit at the spawn point (or someplace out of danger) for the majority of the match instead of helping the team just to get the rewards, which is wrong. If someone won't put in the effort then they shouldn't enjoy the rewards.

Reply to Attilio
Philip Nico (Guest) said...
May 19, 2014 at 05:49 am

I blame that on lag I get a penalty when the screen loads so slow that my team members are already halfway though the game and when the load screen gets finnished it lags

Reply to Philip Nico
Burg (Guest) said...
June 12, 2014 at 01:27 pm

What the...??!?

I've been bashing my spacebar to the brink of extinction in a fleet action just now, and yet i still got a 2 hour AFK- penalty. 2 Hours??!? There goes my evening of play... :(
I hate AFK-ers and leechers just as much as the next captain and it's good that something is being done, however, this option that Cryptic chose doesn't work.
Fortunatly, there is a fierce competition in F2P MMO's

Reply to Burg
Mo (Guest) replied...
January 16, 2016 at 02:19 am

I just had the same experience. My toon was 17th level, and if I was being compared to the 50's on the team, my damage output is not going to impress anyone; perhaps it failed to impress the AFK engine? I agree - I hate to see people sitting tight and collecting team bonuses for contemplating belly button lint. I just worked my butt off in a Fleet Action raid and got blocked from joining another queue. Not diggin' the deployment, but I love the idea of nerfing AFKers.

Reply to Mo
guy on sto (Guest) said...
June 14, 2015 at 05:14 pm

this afk system is so stupid i went away from enemy's to heal and then the mission failed and i got a random 2 hour pentley WHAT THE FUCK

Reply to guy on sto
Davis (Guest) said...
June 21, 2015 at 04:30 am

I was in an advanced mission. I was following the team and fighting and halfway through the mission I got the AFK notice and was the. Given a timer countdown and the mission ended. How is an all determined?
Why was I penalized when I was participating in the mission.

Reply to Davis
Capt Picard (Guest) said...
July 11, 2015 at 04:03 am

This 'solution' is retarded. It is not specific enough.

Just now I was a full 3 seconds slow to start a team-mission, simply helped out the rest of the mission, ended it, and still received the 2 hour penalty.

This does not work. It needs serious tweaking.

Reply to Capt Picard
Dusta (Guest) said...
September 12, 2015 at 11:06 am

I entered a PvE and the dialog box about the mission would not go away, I could not move and just sat at the spawn point not being able to exit and was given a 2 hour AFK FOR A BUG IN THE GAME, They should atleast ask people what happened so they could let them know

Reply to Dusta
Ryan Ebel (Guest) said...
November 16, 2015 at 09:50 pm

The AFK Penalty has a severe bug which needs to be reviewed with the latest update. I did not even know of this until a week ago. I have played this game for over 5 years. I have only had it happen with one of my seven characters. I find it arbitrary and insulting to be considered AFK especially when in general I have exploded and am waiting to respawn.

Reply to Ryan Ebel
Nuclear Winter (Guest) said...
December 07, 2015 at 11:35 am

I have been AFK 2hr banned at least twice now. I was involved with all fights. I think there is a serious bug/iusse with the AFK programming. Please look into this. Sucks when you go play a multiplayer game and then get banned for 2hr, just for playing it.

Reply to Nuclear Winter
Nuclear Winter (Guest) said...
December 07, 2015 at 11:36 am

Last AFK ban was Federation Fleet Alert. If that helps at all. PvE

Reply to Nuclear Winter
AoSponges (Guest) said...
December 08, 2015 at 09:50 am

Got slapped with an AFK ban for... what I can only assume is 'not dealing sufficient damage'. Started a PvE match and was flying around, shooting at things, but one guy must've been way over powered because everything was crumbling at his whim like he was blowing over a house of cards. I didn't die, I wasn't terribly laggy, and I had no other issues except that I was lucky to get maybe two or three shots in on -anything- before everything was obliterated in this one guy's wake.

In short, OP guy comes in, wrecks shop, and I get hit with an AFK ban?! WHAT THE CRAP???????

Reply to AoSponges
Wilfredo (Guest) said...
December 16, 2015 at 11:12 pm

Just got penaltized because the higher lvls killed everything before I could get to... thanks...

Reply to Wilfredo
Abukoff (Guest) said...
January 10, 2016 at 02:47 am

Well good... I thought I was wrong. I do the same thing, in a light escort and between a bit of lag and lots of overpowered allies I get a two hour ban. Frustrating,

Reply to Abukoff
RandomGuy (Guest) said...
January 30, 2016 at 10:13 pm

I just got hit with the AFK ban because due to a shitty server, my ship kept rubber-banding and I couldn't deal that much damage nor control my ship very well.

Reply to RandomGuy
Mark (Guest) said...
March 01, 2016 at 01:27 am

The 2-hour AFK ban is starting to annoy me. I'm using a Science vessel and my Bridge Officer Skills are all geared towards support/repair. I follow my teammates around healing those who need it while having my weapons set to fire auto on whoever they are fighting. I've already been AFK banned several times! o_O

It's ridiculous how a determinant for "active participation" is damage output. They SERIOUSLY needto tweak their AFK penalty code.

Reply to Mark
hh2news (Guest) said...
March 21, 2016 at 02:27 pm

Yeah I just got AFK banned despite the fact that I was obviously making inputs, doing damage, and flying all over the dang map.

Reply to hh2news
Pabby (Guest) said...
March 26, 2016 at 03:11 am

I dont like this because i was actually playing and fighting and i still got AFK penalty WHEN I WAS NEVER AFK AND I WAS MOVING AROUND AND DESTROYING ENIMES im so mad right now

Reply to Pabby
Pabby (Guest) replied...
March 26, 2016 at 03:19 am

and sense we are allowed to curse WHAT THE ACTUAL F**K I MEAN COME ON I BASH MY SPACEBAR TO EXTINCTION AND FROM WHAT I CAN MAKE OUT FROM IT I KEPT DIEING AND ENDED UP GETTING AFK BANNED WHAT THE F**K A DE F**K THIS PEACE OF S**T IS SO F**KED UP! (also could you tell im mad im saving up for a new ship)

Reply to Pabby
Greg (Guest) said...
May 13, 2017 at 03:01 pm

This is bull. I was playing "crystalline cataclysm". I wasn't AFK. The mission took like 2 minutes. It's a special event on xbox so it was laggy as hell. So I was staying 9.5km from the structure. I'm in an advanced lobby with a t5 ship loaded with antiproton beams and consoles. But I get no prize and a 2hr BAN? ARE YOU F'N KIDDING ME? I WASN'T AFK!!!!! DID SOME LOSER REPORT ME???? 2 HRS???? F OFF!! Perhaps at 9.5km I might have hit alternative targets off primary. But I was not AFK and I am angry as hell. Mission lasted 2 minutes. How do I challenge this?

Reply to Greg
Paying player (Guest) said...
July 10, 2017 at 06:21 am

Hey, if STO wanna play %$*%^(*k, whaddya think about simply disputing the charges to pay for the Zen and subscription, citing failure by STO to fulfill their responsibilities?

Reply to Paying player
Karma (Guest) said...
August 29, 2017 at 12:19 am

I just got a two hour ban (AFK) even though I destroyed enemies and helped out and was only placed in for two minutes. It's an extremely dodgy system that kind of needs to be pushed through with a Law Suit,or some form of punishment towards the DEVS for allowing it.

Reply to Karma
JS (Guest) said...
December 31, 2017 at 02:59 am

Time for this crap to be reported as a bug in the game if people are AFK unfairly. To get an AFK after killing the boss of a level, plus playing it as it should be by mission requirments is annoying and certainly the result of faulty programming. All unfair AFK should be reported as an in game bug.

Reply to JS
Naranek (Guest) said...
January 19, 2018 at 01:39 am

I got the penalty just now because I experienced lag while joining CCA and the other players killed the entity before I zoned in.

Reply to Naranek
Reaper (Guest) said...
April 05, 2019 at 09:48 pm

I would tend to agree. I got an AFK for Azure Nebula. I had a stealth cruiser with an EPIC XV stealth module and cloaking device. Personally freed 9 ships and got an AFK? For playing the mission wisely? Doo Doo!

Reply to Reaper

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