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cosmos missions are waste of time with useless rewards
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ggnoreTT
The Nordic Associates
Insidious.
#1 - 2013-01-01 04:14:23 UTC  |  Edited by: ggnoreTT
Ok, I have to speak my mind on current storyline missions. I recently did all cosmos for 3 factions, so I can give a feedback. Here's my opinion on them - It's BAD. It's really really bad, and I mean bad. It's not a big secret that PVE content is not exactly most exciting thing in this game, but more on the opposite site. When it comes to COSMOS and storyline missions, one would think it should be more engaging. Well it's not. They are annoying. Period. I don't even know where to start explaining how bad they are and why it's a huge waste of time, but here's the list:

*Specific loot hunting. Many of the missions asks specific items which can be found and farmed in specific complexes. Problem is that you normally need to find the "right"room,rat, know spawns inside out to get it. On top of that some items are very limited in spawns where you just have to wait for each spawn to get needed a mound of loot. for few sites I even timed it. I Had to wait 1.5 HOURS in several cases to get enough rat spawns. And that is only me at sites!! Just SIT there and WAIT. Epitome of mission running right there.
*Lack of information. There are only a few sources of information when it comes to cosmos. That would not bother me much, except that agents give very general info on what you need to do. In most cases you would literally have no idea what should be done and be flying like an idiot for days until you found your objective and probably by accident too.
*Rewards. I got bunch of storyline bpcs after I was finished. Excitment soon ended when I found out that almost all of them are useless, worse with stats than some mere dead space equalents. This is really stupid having in mind that cosmos are one time missions only. To top it off, to produce them you need heavy investment of skills in race technology and also to obtain materials for production which most important is to be farmed in some cosmos complex, god knows where. Couldn't even find any info on the net. Also have not seen those materials while actually running the sites. And again all that trouble for no good items. There is a reason of 0 qty traded in Jita. Get a clue, CCP. only very few have worthy rewards
*Walls of text. This might have been good for 2004. I would expect now to see an actual video of the person or at least a nice voice over for all text walls for such one-time missions. Nope. Here's 3 paragraphs of text. Enjoy your adventure.

All in all I did them with multi boxing 4, nice capital of isk to buy half of items from the market and I still found it to be a major pain in the arse. Took me long time and rewards are not adequate for difficulty, and time consumption on travelling and searching is beyond limit in my book. Plus, why the hell quantity of cosmos is so different for each faction? Someone got lazy and ran out of ideas for gallente?

tl;dr
Cosmos are waste of time for anything else than standing grind. It's also boring.
Byron Squared
FCI Solvents
#2 - 2013-01-01 04:46:13 UTC
I respectfully disagree. The guides are fine. Yes, some of the stuff is a real pain to find but it is ALL available on contract when you find something too annoying. I really like the push to fly something other than a BS (some of the missions have gates restricted to frigs, cruisers or BC and no, your T1 vexor will NOT be OK) and the thought/scanning/actually doing something other than pressing F1 was kind of fun. As for rewards, if you are willing to go through low sec (which is usually camped) there are a few billion isk implants at the end for at least amarr and caldari..........no, the isk per hour is not there. Yes, it takes a while. Yes, it was a nice change of pace for my brother and I.
PaNtHeeRa
Brutor Tribe
Minmatar Republic
#3 - 2013-01-01 05:23:17 UTC
Its ment to be a standings grind... and yes, they gave up on those back in '04 or '05, and have no intention of expanding on them.
Eternal Error
Doomheim
#4 - 2013-01-01 06:11:48 UTC
I didn't read your post, but you're wrong. They're intended to provide a faction standings grind, and they do their job pretty well.
DeMichael Crimson
Republic University
Minmatar Republic
#5 - 2013-01-01 06:29:24 UTC  |  Edited by: DeMichael Crimson
I agree on a few points in the OP, such as the amount and level's of Cosmos Agents available per faction needs to be equal. They could also be a bit more direct with information on where to get the required mission item. Also the materials for the BPC's need to be more available and easily accessed as well as require lower amounts. The Storyline modules definitely need to be rebalanced, both by increasing their attributes and lowering their fitting usage to reflect their actual Meta level.

Other than that, I liked the story plots in Cosmos. They are different and entertaining along with providing a challenge when compared to regular missions. Not to mention there used to be a lot of very excellent eye candy in the Deadspace mission areas (not sure if it's still the same since the graphics overhaul) such as :

Serpentis Science Lab
Lord Bastion
The Hyperbole Nexus
Lord Manel's Mansion
Guild Wars

Just a few of the Cosmos 'Eye Candy' mission areas.

One thing I don't like is how CCP has recently made Cosmos agents refuse to offer mission again after it's been declined. I'm not talking about fail, quit or letting the mission offer expire. Use to be able to decline the offer and when ready, go back later to do it. Then it wouldn't sit in journal with countdown timer going.

Anyway, the first and foremost reason to do Cosmos missions is for the Faction standing gain. The ISK, implants, BPC's, Faction ammo and storyline modules is secondary. I sincerely hope CCP includes Cosmos in their re-balancing work. Would be great to have that as expansion after the POS revamp.


DMC

'The Plan' | California Eve Players | Proposal - The Endless Battle
Crash Lander
Imperial Academy
Amarr Empire
#6 - 2013-01-01 06:32:10 UTC  |  Edited by: Crash Lander
I guess its my turn to disagree with the other posters. I did 2 of the factions before arriving at similar conclusions.
I think its the other way around, the standings rewards were meant to be a secondary bonus; but since the primary rewards are so worthless the standing reward has become the de-facto accepted reward.

From a cost benefit perspective and ignoring the fact that some of the requisite items are extremely time consuming to get, to manufacture the better ones you need an obscure skill trained to V which is ~30 days. => 1 Plex => ~550mil. Unless you have a specific need for that item that an equivalent faction/deadspace mod at a similar cost cannot provide; it seems extremely unlikely that you would recoup your time/isk invested back.

TLDR; EvE PvE sucks and Cosmos is right up there on the suckage scale.
Piugattuk
Litla Sundlaugin
#7 - 2013-01-01 06:38:28 UTC  |  Edited by: Piugattuk
I like doing cosmos missions, although dropped loot is sooo bad compared with loot from regular missions.
And the salvage is just as bad, but it is a change of pace from regular missions and I think more dangerous cause of bum rushing frig rats that ALWAYS scramble you and then the many cruisers start chewing on you.

Meta lvl on mods from there are comparable to tec 2 mods without the need for hi skills. And faction boost are cool too.Lol
Hulk Miner
Deep Core Mining Inc.
Caldari State
#8 - 2013-01-01 10:32:49 UTC
I disagree totally with the OP.

I have been based in Caldari cosmos are since I started playing many years ago and have some knowledge on this. Cosmos missions are based on goals you want to acheive.

1. Focus on a named faction and follow the story line of that faction through storyline missions.

This is good but not great in getting a better understanding of the faction wars. Mission guides have been available since the cosmos sites began and are very useful, google is your freind and they are not all walls of text.

2. Gain staing for the name faction

If you want to get a quick boost in faction standings this is the quickest rout in the game and leads to access to higher level agants and ability to drop a POS in high sec within half a day if done correctly.

3. Interest in technology from old races.

Many of the cosmos missions will reward you with a blueprint copy from an old race like Talocan for instance but not all times. These can be built by farming the parts from cans in treasure rooms in the same constellation the cosmos missions are. Note that this was nerfed when exploration came along and used to be very good ISK rewards for selling the parts, you can no longer get the more vital parts needed which as noted have been moved to exploration sites.

Although the change removed a niche I had for this in the market along with many other cosmos specialists for making a good amount of ISK I feel it was the right thing, although this topic is another thread on its own right.

4. ISK / hr

If your after ISK per hour or try and compare these mission sets to regular missions then these are not for you.



I am still based in the cosmos and will always be no doubt, either in Friggi, Nidupad or Kenobanala shooting pixels in my pimped ships. Drop by on day as most will help in these areas if they can.

And expect to die in these sites if you dont do some research beforehand.
Kira Kasumi
Prison Squad
#9 - 2013-01-01 13:58:14 UTC
You are very very wrong my friend.

Check all caldari cosmos missions (only cosmos I did - on 2 pilots) and come tell us again the rewards aren't wort it. The standing boost is awesome for trading and POS anchoring.

http://www.hb3.info/cosmos/
Fango Mango
University of Caille
Gallente Federation
#10 - 2013-01-01 16:06:15 UTC
Posting to agree with OP.

It is certainly NOT possible to make over 3.5 billion ISK with only 8 hours of game time running cosmos missions.

And you also do not get faction standing >7, and even if you did, that wouldn't be worth anything.

It's not worth your time, go back to level 4s

-FM
stoicfaux
#11 - 2013-01-01 17:27:47 UTC
I have to mostly agree with the OP after my experience with using the high-sec versions to grind up faction standings. They're a mindless and tedious grind, you don't do it for the rewards, and the BPCs... seriously, the BPCs need some loving.

Pon Farr Memorial: once every 7 years, all the carebears in high-sec must PvP or they will be temp-banned.
ggnoreTT
The Nordic Associates
Insidious.
#12 - 2013-01-01 17:57:51 UTC
Fango Mango wrote:
Posting to agree with OP.

It is certainly NOT possible to make over 3.5 billion ISK with only 8 hours of game time running cosmos missions.

And you also do not get faction standing >7, and even if you did, that wouldn't be worth anything.

It's not worth your time, go back to level 4s

-FM


the only 3.5 bil isk you can do in cosmos is probably running high end ones to get faction bpc, but to do them you need 8.5+ standing, which means after you finish ALL cosmos with datacenters and tutorials you have roughly 7.3 faction standing. Good luck grinding up the difference in your 8 hours to get loot that actually matters.

I don't argue that there aren't few cosmos that pays out well, but if you do from 0, there is no way that is useful for anything other than standing grind., which was the only reason i did them, but I sure expected something more than lvl 4s. While it's different in a way, all that time I wasted to complete some of them makes me want to puke just remembering. And I did bought most possible stuff from contracts. Otherwise I would still not be done with them.
Illest Insurrectionist
Sparta.
#13 - 2013-01-01 20:19:03 UTC
You are wrong.

Look up akemon. Look up zabonn michi.
Hulk Miner
Deep Core Mining Inc.
Caldari State
#14 - 2013-01-01 21:08:29 UTC
To the OP.


As you may have noticed cosmos areas seem to have been relagated to the side lines now so they are not as generous in the ISK as they once were but if you know how to play the cosmos areas you can still reap good rewards.

Most players use these missions 'just' for standings gains now and nothing else although areas are farmed constantly due to this higher volume of players interested in them who are willing to pay the price for a quick standings fix.


But..at least now you know the comsos is not for you. Next time do some background research into the subject and it may give you insight on what ships would be helpfull and save lots of time, save you thinking about puking up.
ggnoreTT
The Nordic Associates
Insidious.
#15 - 2013-01-01 21:19:48 UTC
Hulk Miner wrote:
To the OP.


As you may have noticed cosmos areas seem to have been relagated to the side lines now so they are not as generous in the ISK as they once were but if you know how to play the cosmos areas you can still reap good rewards.

Most players use these missions 'just' for standings gains now and nothing else although areas are farmed constantly due to this higher volume of players interested in them who are willing to pay the price for a quick standings fix.


But..at least now you know the comsos is not for you. Next time do some background research into the subject and it may give you insight on what ships would be helpfull and save lots of time, save you thinking about puking up.

I used 4 bs/hacs, it was very efficient. Where guy says in guide that couple missions took 5 hours to complete I done in under hour. Plus some items were not farmed, but simply not enough spawns in total when you need to wait. And I did read backgrounds and unfortunately there is no better faction standing gain than cosmos.

I'm sure everything can be farmed,but my general opinion of someone who did from beginning to the end, I did not enjoy it. I simply came here to express my opinion in hope that devs will read it. It's been handful of posts regarding pave in general and I think cosmos should be looked at as wel
Shinzhi Xadi
Doomheim
#16 - 2013-01-02 03:24:21 UTC  |  Edited by: Shinzhi Xadi
On my main, I did the entire high sec amarr cosmos series, including the 13 part king of the hill mission. Also did the datacenter agents and circle agents. Amarr faction standing ended up at 9.1. Some of that was normal missions of course, but most was cosmos. Don't forget too the three reward blueprints you get for having very high faction standing. Including a two run navy battleship print if you manage to hit 9.9 to your faction.

I had a good time. I enjoyed the story that was being told.

Now its not all happy and roses, I have a huge collection of nearly useless bpc's in a can just in case CCP ever gives storyline items some attention. The materials to build the amarr storyline items are from scan sites or two places in the amarr cosmos area. Farming them is a massive pain, the drop rates from the hacking cans are terrible. It could take 3-6 hours to get the materials to make for example, one 1600mm bailey plate, and that's if you have decent luck.

Regarding the 1600mm Bailey Plate, its very expensive. I used to laugh at the price, thinking 'what a ripoff'. Then, later, I learned to build them and get the materials to make one. I stopped complaining about the price! lol. If you know the pain and frustration it takes to farm its materials, you will agree its a justified price. I'm sure most/all the other battleship storyline modules are similar, in that they are hell to get the materials to build. I really think CCP needs to either make the materials a LOT easier to get since the modules are kinda sorta equal to meta 4's. Or, CCP needs to buff the modules, really give them a reason to use, make them a sort of elite module, then the crazy materials farming might be justified.

My only major complaint about cosmos missions, is the way you can only attempt to do them once. I say attempt, since if you fail any of the missions for any reason at all, your done. If you do them in the right order, the agents forward you to each other, so you can continue the mission series. If you break that chain by failing a mission for ANY reason, you are not allowed to ask for it again or reset it, you are permanently locked out of the rest of cosmos for that faction.

So, cosmos missions are about half research before you even begin. You have to know everything about the mission, items, area's, npc's so you will NOT fail it. For a long time, part of the amarr cosmos was broken, one of the missions where you scan down an item. I think it took CCP about a year of complaints to get around to fixing it. lol

And one last thing. I think the names for cosmos items are pretty stupid, like 'bailey'. Why not name them after the ancient faction they are made from?? "Takmahl 1600mm Plate". Cool

Anyways, just my 2 isk.

Mac Pro dual 6-core Xeon 3.06ghz, 24gig ecc ram, EVGA GTX 680 Mac Edition, Intel SSD, OS X Yosemite and Windows 8.1 Pro.
Fango Mango
University of Caille
Gallente Federation
#17 - 2013-01-02 18:27:37 UTC
ggnoreTT wrote:
Fango Mango wrote:
Posting to agree with OP.

It is certainly NOT possible to make over 3.5 billion ISK with only 8 hours of game time running cosmos missions.

And you also do not get faction standing >7, and even if you did, that wouldn't be worth anything.

It's not worth your time, go back to level 4s

-FM


the only 3.5 bil isk you can do in cosmos is probably running high end ones to get faction bpc, but to do them you need 8.5+ standing, which means after you finish ALL cosmos with datacenters and tutorials you have roughly 7.3 faction standing. Good luck grinding up the difference in your 8 hours to get loot that actually matters.

I don't argue that there aren't few cosmos that pays out well, but if you do from 0, there is no way that is useful for anything other than standing grind., which was the only reason i did them, but I sure expected something more than lvl 4s. While it's different in a way, all that time I wasted to complete some of them makes me want to puke just remembering. And I did bought most possible stuff from contracts. Otherwise I would still not be done with them.



Re-posting to further agree with OP.

It is indeed NOT possible to create a new char as a "cosmos-farmer" and make over 3 bil isk/char in 8 hours of gameplay per char.

I am also confirming that I DID NOT use this method to farm over 30 Billion last month.

-FM

Side Note : I am also confirming that the OP knows everything there is to know about COSMOS farming.