Reputation And Reputation Gain-The Problem And A Proposal For A Solution

[Evanescent]

Oh hey there! First let me say something interesting.

 

Saber is my waifu, And Suda's voice is amazing.

 

 

Hahaha alright. 

 

 

Hi there. In this topic I'd like to talk about some issues I've seen being fought about and debated, arise and manifest.

 

First of all, I THINK SYNDICATES ARE A BRILLIANT ADDITION TO THE GAME. 

 

But it has a couple of problems.

 

The Grind: Right now syndicates are extremely grindy, but for Veterans in particular.

 

I think the principle this system is based on is pretty sound. Play the game to advance-I like that. For new players, this is really nice. They have a sense of progression as they advance through the game's content, and by the time they've reached MR 10 or so they'll have maxed out their syndicates. Now, here's the problem for the veterans. The Syndicate grind is asking us to do the same things all over again from square one. Which is why Viver arose. Because Veterans don't want to have to work through the entire game again to reach their goal. New players are enjoying new content, gaining power and rep through the things they usually do. But Veterans, having already experienced said content, begin to get wearied by having to rerun through it again. They want to try the new mods, test the new mechanics they bring, but then they run smack into this wall saying 'Oh you've done everything? Now go and do those again.' Which, unfortunately, is not good for the game. Old players have found things they enjoy, and prefer to do those things instead of tiresome grind. 

 

At first I felt: 'It's end-game, of course it will take some time. I'll just do these regular missions, and rank up slowly'.

Then it hit me. It's slow. If I were to do as I first thought, it would take me many, many months. This would not be an issue had I been a new player. But knowing that there's this good chunk of new content out there, these awesome mods i want for my warframe, behind this HUGE grindwall, kind of gave me a shock.

 

It can be a viable endgame. But right now it's just grind.

 

While I agree endgame should not be done in a day, I would like to ask you:

 

I've done the things it involves countless times already. It's not offering anything new. Why should I take the limited time I have and spend it doing those things slowly, like it's my first time? This is why Viver is farmed.

 

Because I don't want to do things I have already done over, and over and over. It makes me bitter, and makes me hate them.

 

Now, here comes another problem.

 

THE MECHANICS: THEY  DON'T MAKE SENSE.

 

1) Reputation tied to xp:  Why would an organisation consider it a favor to rank myself up?  Me gaining    experience might make sense, ONLY IF IT WAS TIED TO THINGS THAT BENEFITED THEM. Let's think for a  moment. Would an organisation favor you if you helped them in their tasks, or went around doing random things and  gaining experience?

 

2)Reputation disappearing on rank up: Why on earth would advancing in an organisations ranks remove any debts  they have to me? If anything, it should put me more in favor of earning their goodwill. You do not promote an employee who did service to your company, take tribute from them, and consider your debt paid,

 

 

What to do?

It's quite simple, really.

Helping an organisation in its goals earns us more favor. So we do precisely that/

 

 

Enter Reputation missions 2.0:

 

The missions right now offer too little for their work. So we rework them.

 

Syndicates now offer missions based on their themes: 

 

1) Arbiters of Hexis: Missions are defense, survival.

  The Arbiters wish to break the limits of the Tenno. What better way to do that, than pit yourself against impossible      odds and see how far you can go?

 

2)Cephalon Suda: Missions are spy, interception, mobile defense, capture

  Suda is interested in obtaining information. what better way, then intercepting transmissions and stealing data?

 

3) Perrin Sequence: Missions are excavation, raid (yes! chance to bring it back!)

 Profit. Obtaining wealth. Greedy Milk. Need I say more? Reclaim your wealth from your foes. Gather more wealth.

 

4)Red Veil: Missions are assassinations, exterminations, capture

  Purging corruption, destroying evil and bringing justice as they see fit on the condemned.

 

5)New Loka: Missions are exterminations, rescue, toxin sabotage

  Cleansing the unclean and restoring the pure to their ranks, restoring earth.

 

6)Steel Meridian: Sabotage, Rescue(tweaked to rescue colonies), assassinations

 Stopping the means of oppression and rescuing the oppressed.

 

Missions become more difficult as more are completed, scaling in enemy level and complexity. Additional objectives offer multipliers (capped to a max) to current reputation gain. These appear right from initiation. Reputation can ONLY be earned though these.

 

This makes sense because: 1) you're helping them, placing them in your debt;

                                                 2)doing the job in the way they want is going to please them more 

 

Bonus objectives can range from regular challenges to tougher ones, example asking you to use all your weapons to execute x number of enemies, complete missions with stealth, finish it in a time limit, etc.

 

Also, opposing factions will appear throughout the mission, trying to thwart or race you to the objective, like capturing the same target. you may choose to destroy or avoid them, but alerting them will cause them to bring special units unique to each faction in to assist them. This spices up missions, and makes it more exciting knowing that you could fail against them.

 

Special PVPVE missions can appear, where teams of two from opposing factions race each other for the objective. They may fight together if they choose, or try to leave each other in the dust.

 

NOTE: THIS IS NOT PvP. THIS IS MORE LIKE A RACE TO SEE WHO CAN DO THEIR MISSION FASTER OR    BETTER.

 

Gaining favor with a faction will let you call them in for assistance. You may also see allies from the factions or their operatives fighting alongside you to help you reach their goal. you may back them up or lessen their work, or ignore them as you please.

.

Occasionally Special SIEGE missions will appear where you try to breach the enemies defenses to destroy their cargo. it may be valuable loot or a VIP. You will have to parkour across their defenses, taking out targets and making it easier for you allies to charge through.

 

NOTORIETY:

 

This introduces a new way in which enemies treat your threat level:

 

Because you are operating against a faction over a long time, they will begin to know of your presence and single you out as a threat. In addition to sending assassins after you, they will also inform the troops of your presence and advise them to be alert of your presence.

The more you advance in your syndicate's ranks, the more notorious you become for the opposed factions. If enemies are alerted to your presence and manage to set off the alarms, they will be able to begin calling in more and more reinforcements that will be tougher and more numerous based on your notoriety. This way, people can go speed-running, and make things harder for them faster, On the other hand, Veterans will find this more engaging: they will feel that they are posing a threat and the enemy units will begin to challenge them too. The level scaling will have a cap, at about...say around lvl 60. After that they will change in complexity and behavior.

 

Reputation missions will appear continuously. 

 

 

After reaching maximum rank, you will be able to guide your faction to a degree. Quests can be introduced to learn the truth and lore behind each, and players will set off on a journey to discover what it means to truly be a part of their chosen sides. This will allow for the introduction of deeper layers into Warframe's Universe, and reveal the true scope of the universe to a tenno, and how people react to them.

 

 

New: All syndicates now have inter-syndicate missions to grant reputation simultaneously among allied factions.. Players are sent to disrupt enemy syndicate operations and protect allied syndicate's interests. Eg: Red Veil sends you to rescue and protect Steel meridian's operative. You gain reputation for Red Veil and Steel Meridian but lose reputation for the opposed factions. Similarly, Red Veil sends you to exterminate and clean out the Arbiter's Base. This creates a sense of hostility and conflict amongst the Syndicates. [Credit: Renegade343]

 

 

If you have read this far, you have my sincere gratitude. I hope this has addressed some of the issues, and I welcome  constructive criticism and feedback. 

 

Once again, thank you for reading. 

 

 

 

Seriously, who did Suda's voice? I'm in love!  \(>_<)/

 

 

 

 

Jesus, I just realized this is a WALL of text o.0

 

Edit: I meant that the missions types mentioned here would be featured the most often in the syndicate missions. Other missions would show up, but more rarely. The reasoning behind it is that the faction employs you to do their primary tasks, and only when they require other missions do they send you on them.

                                                          [Thanks to IIIDevoidIII for pointing this out]

 

Edit(2): Added Notoriety! Be careful, Tenno-fame is not always a blessing! *Evil laughter*

Edited November 13, 2014 by Evanescent

[H3dsh0t]

all my yes after reading this +1 from me!

[Flamingfighter]

You've hit the nail on the head on how I feel regarding syndicates and have offered solutions that on paper seem really fun and enjoyable. +1.

[Evanescent]

Thank you so much ^_^

[Rockaxis]

I really hope the ideas and staments explained in this post recieve the attention they deserve.

In particular the: "2)Reputation disappearing on rank up"

Nice post, mate.

[---RNGesus---]

 +1. This is a must for syndicates

Edited November 12, 2014 by ---RNGesus---

[H3dsh0t]

I hope that the Lotus notices this post and takes a look, its too damn good to be forgotten!

[Volkovyi]

Very well said, a good logical reasoning.

Redoing how the reputation is gained will naturally fix the recent obsession with Viver.

 

I do hope the Lotus sees this post as well.

[H3dsh0t]

I love these threads that are popping up, and one of the reasons I love this community. There are always going to be the "NERF THIS", "BUFF THIS" crowd, but a few have actually looked at the problem behind it, and not scream on the forums for a kneejerk reaction, but for a proper solution.

[TrinityPrime]

[Void_Vis_Vires]

This is a really well constructed post.  I can get behind all the ideas mentioned here and I think this type of rework to the syndicate system would make things really enjoyable for new and old players alike!

[Magnar21]

Very good post, addressed my primary concerns with the game and (lack of) endgame. Challenging missions, with mechanics that require player skill (not simply arbitrary conclave restraints), will go a long way to improving the endgame, especially if DE intends to make Syndicates "endgame".

 

+1 from me.

[Jeigo]

Best solutions I have read so far. I particularly like the idea of bonus objectives (for bonus rep right?) and the mission types associated with each faction make sense. Opens up a method for introducing lore and rival factions which can only be great. Good job sir, devs should take note.

[RahuHordika]

At last a thread that adresses the actual problem rather than saying 'Viver is eeeeevil!!!11!'.

This is definitely an improvement over the Syndicates systems and pretty much what I expected instead of the current 'just play regular with a little stamp on' idea.

John Prodman gives +1. This is a must for syndicates

That's Derf Anyo mate, lrnurcorpus.

[Seraphyx]

I like your idea for missions and what you posted definitely makes a whole lot more sense than what we currently have with the ranks.

 

I don't think I have much else to say, it's a great idea and I hope they end up doing something like this.

[WanderoftheAether]

[Evanescent]

Thank you so much for all you upvotes and support!

 

 

*sobs*

[Evanescent]

Best solutions I have read so far. I particularly like the idea of bonus objectives (for bonus rep right?) and the mission types associated with each faction make sense. Opens up a method for introducing lore and rival factions which can only be great. Good job sir, devs should take note.

Yes, for bonus rep multiplier: They will either impose it on the total rep gained after mission, or on the rep gained by killing enemies. I'd prefer the former.

[Perserve]

Thank you for this post. I would love to see these ideas implemented instead of "lets all farm Viver by railroading ourselves to 3/4 frames and farming guys over and over".

[(PSN)IIIDevoidIII]

Honestly, great feedback and ideas, and I agree to near all the points. 
My only gripe is to limit mission types. Surely, there are times when all Syndicates will find themselves in a predicament where they are forced to carry out one of these "unpreferred" mission types to protect themselves or expand their influence.

 

Moved to more appropriate section.

[DJ_Redwire]

Reputation can ONLY be earned through [reputation missions].

 

If DE takes away nothing else from this post, let them at least see this one sentence here and act accordingly. +1 to everything OP

[Renegade343]

Actually, why not an expansion? 

 

Each Syndicate can have a few missions that would send the player to disrupt the opposing Syndicate's operations (for instance, Red Veil hates Cephalon Suda, so a player allied with the Red Veil could be sent on a Sabotage mission to disrupt Cephalon Suda's operations. Doing so will gain a good sum of reputation for Red Veil, but would vastly decrease Cephalon Suda's standing [and decrease a bit of standing for Cephalon Suda's ally]). 

 

Another one would be that the Syndicate could send a player to help defend or protect an ally Syndicate's operations (for instance, Red Veil is allied with Steel Meridian, so a player allied with the Red Veil could be sent on a Defence mission to protect Steel Meridian's wares against its enemies. Doing so will gain a good sum of reputation for Red Veil and Steel Meridian, but will decrease the standing from opponents of Steel Meridian). 

 

That way, there would be a feeling that Syndicates are actually helping out allies and trying to destroy their opponents. 

[Evanescent]

I see the point about limiting missions.

 

I meant that the Syndicate missions for that factions would mostly spawn the mentioned ones. Other mission types would occur, but more rarely.

[Evanescent]

Honestly, great feedback and ideas, and I agree to near all the points. 

My only gripe is to limit mission types. Surely, there are times when all Syndicates will find themselves in a predicament where they are forced to carry out one of these "unpreferred" mission types to protect themselves or expand their influence.

 

Moved to more appropriate section.

Thank you very much for the appropriate shift! I wasn't really sure where to post this.

[JDP04]

+1

yes yes yes..

hopefully if DE will not screw this idea when implement it.