Death Of (Normal) Alerts: Hidden Items In Normal Missions

[(PSN)WiiConquered]

The alert system, to me, seems to be a waste of items. Instead of integrating them in the game in interesting ways, they're only accessible if the right alert appears at the right time. And most of the alerts that appear are only for insignificant amounts of credits.

 

At the same time, players constantly complain that lockers and hidden rooms are worthless. These apparently do not have anything to make them worthwhile.

 

So I'm suggesting that some of the Alert rewards--cosmetics, and Auras, as well as Tower Keys (including T4s) and increased Credit drops (up to 20,000 but generally between 2K-10K), be placed in normal tilesets with a tiny chance of being found, with the hidden rooms having a 50% chance of dropping a Weapon skin, Cosmetic, Aura, and a 100% chance of dropping a set of 3-5 rare resources. The items would depend on the tileset and planet being played on. Orokin Reactors and Catalysts should appear in Tactical Alerts (once those are revamped), and maybe, considering the feedback about them, the new Grineer Caches.

 

For weapon blueprints, Formae, Vauban parts, and maybe the Orokin Reactors and Catalysts, the hidden rooms (100% of the time) and occasionally normal lockers would drop "blueprint parts". These parts would not need to be built in the foundry, but would prevent the blueprint from being accessible until enough parts were found. The number of parts necessary could range from 10 to 25 (maybe more) depending on the item. The items available would again be dependent on the planet, with Orokin Reactor and Catalyst parts only being available from normal lockers and the places mentioned above. This decreases the RNG for normal items, while keeping the items from being too easy and quick to get. 

 

This rewards looters, because now there would be an incentive to search for items instead of rushing through missions. It would also encourage new players, who might find improvements to their MK-1 weapons in a locker, or an Aura that increases their mod space. New weapons and mods that are of more interest to older players can be added, and would be found on later planets.

 

The loss is that players would no longer be encouraged to stay on the game for as long as possible, or to rush back to it when the app notification appears. The gain would be that players are encouraged to play more and search levels more to find better item drops.

Edited September 21, 2014 by (PS4)WiiConquered

[Azawarau]

Then itd all be too easy to obtain

[(PSN)WiiConquered]

Then itd all be too easy to obtain

 

Depends on the chance of getting each item.

[Zoracraft]

The alert system, to me, seems to be a waste of items. Instead of integrating them in the game in interesting ways, they're only accessible if the right alert appears at the right time. And most of the alerts that appear are only for insignificant amounts of credits.

 

At the same time, players constantly complain that lockers and hidden rooms are worthless. These apparently do not have anything to make them worthwhile.

 

So I'm suggesting that most of the Alert rewards--weapons, cosmetics, Aura's, Vauban parts, and Formae, as well as Tower Keys (including T4s) and increased Credit drops (up to 20,000 but generally between 2K-10K), be placed in normal tilesets with a tiny chance of being found, with the hidden rooms having a 100% chance of dropping a Forma, Weapon part, Cosmetic, Aura, Vauban part, or set of 5 rare resources. The items would depend on the tileset and planet being played on. Orokin Reactors and Catalysts should appear in Tactical Alerts (once those are revamped), and maybe, considering the feedback about them, the new Grineer Caches. 

 

This rewards looters, because now there would be an incentive to search for items instead of rushing through missions. It would also encourage new players, who might find improvements to their MK-1 weapons in a locker, or an Aura that increases their mod space. New weapons and mods that are of more interest to older players can be added, and would be found on later planets.

 

The loss is that players would no longer be encouraged to stay on the game for as long as possible, or to rush back to it when the app notification appears. The gain would be that players are encouraged to play more and search levels more to find better item drops.

I really like this Idea. This way, people who can only play during specific times can still get the stuff that people who did alerts got. It would also encourage people to stick around when everything is leveled, which is something warframe currently lacks.

[Owlrrex]

Either it would be too easy, or everyone would complain about 'too much RNGesus' (justified or not).

[Escantell]

100% chance wouldn't work, but adding this stuff to the drop tables for lockers, with a very small chance, might be nice. The problem is, this also adds more RNGesus to the game. 

[(PSN)WiiConquered]

Either it would be too easy, or everyone would complain about 'too much RNGesus' (justified or not).

 

 

100% chance wouldn't work, but adding this stuff to the drop tables for lockers, with a very small chance, might be nice. The problem is, this also adds more RNGesus to the game. 

 

What if players got blueprint pieces, with a 100% chance of appearing somewhere in the secret rooms. It could take 5-25 of these pieces to use the competed blueprint, and that way it's not RNG based, but not too easy to get. This could work for Formae, skins, Vauban parts, and Weapon blueprints.

 

I personally think the Aura's and other stuff would be okay as high percentage drops.

[Rexlars]

I'm down for the idea but keep alerts & leave them the way they are except with a boost in the amount credits given. Also, no 100% chance of any of that stuff. Maybe 30% at the most. This idea can just be a way to alleviate some of the alert RNG, albeit with more RNG.

[(PSN)WiiConquered]

I'm down for the idea but keep alerts & leave them the way they are except with a boost in the amount credits given. Also, no 100% chance of any of that stuff. Maybe 30% at the most. This idea can just be a way to alleviate some of the alert RNG, albeit with more RNG.

 

I realized the fixing RNG with more RNG issue I had, and have changed my post with the suggestion above. Do blueprint parts fix the issues for you (even if you think they do not include enough items)?

[NoggDog117]

I like the idea of alerts, but this sounds nice too. Making things possible to obtain through loot containers at a small chance, or an alert that'll give it for sure. Helmets should stay alerts, though. But the alert weapons and Vauban parts, definitely. Maybe a VERY (0.00002%) small chance of a potato.

[Thyriell]

100% chance wouldn't work, but adding this stuff to the drop tables for lockers, with a very small chance, might be nice. The problem is, this also adds more RNGesus to the game. 

 

Either it would be too easy, or everyone would complain about 'too much RNGesus' (justified or not).

 

RNGesus or not, there is no downside to implementing a way to make looting lockers worthwhile. There are ROOMS dedicated to lockers in Corpus tilesets, hidden rooms (that aren't in void mind you) and rare mods, a Kubrow skill for opening them.. But they give S#&$. 

It's not "too easy" if it isn't killing a steady flow of mobs. Hell, to older players, any mission can be made easy mode (Aside from the fabled t4 survival and defense), should they choose. Difficulty isn't an issue in Warframe. It really, really isn't. 

 

As for the lower level players going from locker to locker looking for loot, sure. If they prefer that to the grind, and given the undoubtedly low chance DE would put on rare items, should the player decide to take the time to explore a mission instead of rushing to objective and back, then that should be encouraged.

 

The goal is to make better use of the alert system, and increase the possible reward for taking the time to do the low credit/low reward alerts.

Edited September 21, 2014 by Raybie

[Rexlars]

I realized the fixing RNG with more RNG issue I had, and have changed my post with the suggestion above. Do blueprint parts fix the issues for you (even if you think they do not include enough items)?

Hmm. So it just becomes a grind for blueprint parts then?

I just don't think that there should be a 100% chance for drops.

[(PSN)NearlyDedicated]

snip

I really like this idea too. I'm at mastery 11, transfered from PC to PS4, own every Warframe...and I'm running out of things to do. It'd be cool to feel a little like Lara Croft / Indiana Jones, wouldn't it? Treasure hunting? Sure, the vaults drop some mods, but only a few, and when you have them all, you don't need to be a tomb tower raider anymore...

[taiiat]

i'm all for encouraging players to explore, so absolutely.

 

 

but the rarity numbers would certainly be much lower to be worth rolling the dice for but not usurping the rest of the game.

[(PSN)WiiConquered]

i'm all for encouraging players to explore, so absolutely.

 

 

but the rarity numbers would certainly be much lower to be worth rolling the dice for but not usurping the rest of the game.

 

My thinking was that there are usually only 1-2 secret rooms per level. They take time to look for. I wanted to make it generally faster to search a mission for its hidden areas, and get resources that way, than to rush through them over and over. As for the rarity numbers, I wanted them to be common enough that people know they'll get something. That way, they're encouraged to play the missions and gather the blueprint parts over time. Think of the hidden rooms almost like Orokin Vaults, without the hassle of keys but also without rewards of the same value within them.

 

The reason I think it's okay for the skins/cosmetics to have a 100% chance of being found is that finding a skin or cosmetic isn't really the same as finding a weapon; You can't use the cosmetic unless you already possess the weapon. Besides, the cosmetics for the most part don't offer stat boosts or any real advantage to gameplay.

 

The ones I didn't think through very hard were the Auras. I can certainly see the argument that they should only have a 10% or less chance of dropping. I just didn't want the game to turn into a grindfest for people looking for one specific Aura.

[DSpite]

Depends on the chance of getting each item.

 

If DE did something like this it would not be in standard Solar missions.

[(PSN)WiiConquered]

If DE did something like this it would not be in standard Solar missions.

 

I think you're right honestly, but then whatever they did wouldn't solve the problem of meaningless loot.

[Thyriell]

Meaningless loot is a feature of online games that will likely not be removed. 

It's either you get no loot instead of those extra alloy plates/a common mod/ammo, which doesn't solve the grind but makes it less worthwhile.

Or it gets replaced by better loot and a higher chance for drops you seek. Now that, as many argue would make the game too easy or rather too quick, which would lead to boredom. Aaand we're back to point zero. 

[Xennocide420]

I never do credit-only alerts.

[Macdermott]

Why not both?

[grillv20]

I hope everybody realizes that you're talking about "too much rng" for weapons that come from a system that is literally RNG based + has a timer attached to it. If anything they should take Aura mods out of the alert pool and put them places for people to farm them or something. 

[OnnaJReverT]

the caches could randokmly be added to normal missions (without lotus telling us) and could have all the alert stuff

[HuzzelMuzzel]

The most Alerts are just crap. A change would be welcome. But it should be not more rng based, but based on skill. There is already enough grinding in this game.