Big Problem Coming for Adding SS Arcanes

[moondog548]

So they wanted to hold off adding the rarest high-demand Aracanes for trade until they could analyse the currency accrual and balance their cost accordingly.  This is very understandable as they don't want to "flood the market" on the most in-demand items in game.

And they couldn't even start collecting that data to analyse because the game mode has been bugged all to hell and the scoring data to date is useless.   Folks complain about the costs, but until it actually functions as designed, DE can't do anything productive about altering that design- at least in terms of raw quantities.

But the quantities are not the primary problem with the design (hell they might not be a problem at all, WE CAN'T KNOW!).  The real problem with the event is the scoring system where 67% of your total rewards are totally based on making sure you only play AT AN OPTIMAL TIME, ON AN OPTIMAL FLOTILLA, FOR AN OPTIMAL LENGTH OF TIME, WITH AN OPTIMAL SQUAD, AND GETTING LUCKY.

All of that adds up to the players who always break the curve going all out to optimize their play around rewards being virtually the only ones earning rewards.

DE perfectly designed this system to separate the average player from those that wreck data curves by nature.

And that means the scoring data they will have available on rate of currency acquisition is likewise absurdly skewed to the very population they were trying to design around.

So if they price the "good" arcanes to be a slow gain for the top end achievers (good luck in the first place), they're going to be even more astronomically out of reach for the regular players.

And whether the curve-breakers get a few of those arcanes or a lot (spoilers: they'll get a lot no matter what), the economy will still be borked by that amount because the design drove it in the exact direction you were trying to avoid.

The 100/100 and 2x scoring structure tied to it simply have to go (as everyone has been saying).

In addition to stomping all over player/customer enjoyment, it's not even serving any goals that I can see on the backend for DE's management of the event and its rewards.

EDIT (4/2):

  

2 hours ago, moondog548 said:

OK! So new changes are coming this week and they look like they will improve things somewhat!

Base rewards for participating in the mission are doubled.  That's nice, but it's not a lot.  ~67% of rewards are still gated by playing the wiki, having the good luck to play at an optimal time in relation to the waves, and having good luck to have your flotilla finish the 100/100 in that time.   And the tied-in problem (for DE more than players) of the curve-breakers getting the highest-ever reward differential from the average player has been mitigated a bit by the 10k bonus payout cap that I assume is still in effect.  

Those fundamental problems remain.

EDIT2: Nevermind! The reward boost for actually playing the missions was barely increased.  And they can't even do the math to report how much it was.

Edited April 2, 2020 by moondog548

[Kierlak]

58 minutes ago, moondog548 said:

DE perfectly designed this system to separate the average player from those that wreck data curves by nature.

This can't be overstated. There are players with more than half a million credits, with some closer to a million. This is so far removed from what a normal player is able to get that it's very existence ruins any calculation it is a part of.

[DrBorris]

I think you are overstating how difficult it is to get the 3x bonus. The only time you lose out on any bonus points is if you either...

• Join a Flotilla that does not reach 100/100
• Do more than 5000 points on a single Flotilla.

The first problem doesn't really affect one player more than another player. Casual players can group with hardcore players in a Flotilla and vice versa, most Flotillas do reach 100/100 by the end of the three hours. This is a problem that I do think should be alliviated, but I don't think it is as pressing of an issue on its own.

The second case you lose bonus points (only lose the bonus for points gained after the 5000) only applies to those hardcore grinding groups.

Keep in mind that if one Flotilla finishes, you are free to join another Flotilla and get another victory bonus. You are not locked to one flotilla per three hour rotation.

 

You don't need to play at an optimal time, if you join a Flotilla at 90/100 you will still get your 3x (if it gets to 100/100). A Flotilla does not need to be "Optimal" to get the bonus, an optimal squad can finish a Flotilla in an hour... you have three hours. Most Flotillas will get the bonus. An optimal individual squad has very little impact on if you get the bonus, but of course you get more points per minute at base.

 

Should changes be made? Of course, personally I would like to see the three hour timer straight up removed. But the individual issue you are addressing is not as massive of an issue as you make it out to be.

 

Edit: If your issue is less optimal players being screwed out of rewards, I would shift your focus on the extreme score ramp up in both space and ground missions. You should not be required to face level 100+ enemies just to get a minimum acceptable reward for your time. The score distribution should be redistributed so the early rotations for both modes give a fair-feeling amount of points. Rewards should still scale up as enemies scale up, but imo the 17th Condrix should only be giving twice what the first Condrix gives.

Edited April 1, 2020 by DrBorris

[moondog548]

13 minutes ago, DrBorris said:

I think you are overstating how difficult it is to get the 3x bonus.

That may well be true.  I appreciate the points you make here.  I do have still reason to believe that even if the worst-case-scenario perspective I've presented isn't the best representation of the situation in extent, it unfortunately very much still is in principle.

 

16 minutes ago, DrBorris said:

You don't need to play at an optimal time,

This is the one point I disagree with you on.   30min until end of wave, and all the Flotillas are either finished or 14/100.   I only had an hour to play.   By pure bad luck I can only get 1/3 of the progress the event is designed to reward.

Now sure, the odds are such that you are more likely to have enough time to get the majority of intended points, but they're not skewed very far in the right direction, and anyway there's absolutely no justification for them to be less than 100% anyway.

Plus, in practical terms, you cannot join the 90/100 flotilla.  Or if you make it in, you will be solo in the mission (since everyone else is long gone), so good luck completing the mission for any reward at all before the flotilla closes, booting you into a brand new one, population: you alone (with the wave ending soon).  Those 90 Scarlet Credits I earned were the last ones I ever will.

23 minutes ago, DrBorris said:

Edit: If your issue is less optimal players being screwed out of rewards, I would sift your focus on the extreme score ramp up in both space and ground missions. You should not be required to face level 100+ enemies just to get a minimum acceptable reward for your time. The score distribution should be redistributed so the early rotations for both modes give a fair-feeling amount of points. Rewards should still scale up as enemies scale up, but imo the 17th Condrix should only be giving twice what the first Condrix gives.

On everything else, we agree, especially the above!

[moondog548]

OK! So new changes are coming this week and they look like they will improve things somewhat!

Base rewards for participating in the mission are doubled.  That's nice, but it's not a lot.  ~67% of rewards are still gated by playing the wiki, having the good luck to play at an optimal time in relation to the waves, and having good luck to have your flotilla finish the 100/100 in that time.   And the tied-in problem (for DE more than players) of the curve-breakers getting the highest-ever reward differential from the average player has been mitigated a bit by the 10k bonus payout cap that I assume is still in effect.  

Those fundamental problems remain.

Edited April 2, 2020 by moondog548

[moondog548]

Nevermind! The reward boost for actually playing the missions was barely increased.  And they can't even do the math to report how much it was.