Steel path alerts aren't quite balanced for coop

[32768]

There is not enough mobs in exterminate missions for stalker's whatever to come when playing in squad (e.g. PUG). All mobs are killed faster than in 5 minutes and that dude (dudess) doesn't come, so 2 steel essence is gone. Ideally each alert would yield 3+2 essence, 3 for alert and 2 for stalker's whatever, so it's 5x5=25 essence for all daily steel path alerts. If there is no +2 bonus essence, mission has to be aborted and redone solo.

Another issue is that mobs don't spawn when mission objective is complete, so there is no point to wait for invader and this kills bonus essence if another player is rushing objectives. I find this quite anti-coop.

Another example is rescue which is usually completed quite fast. I'm not sure about defenses, they might or might not(?) spawn invader i presume. There is not always enough time in mobile defenses too. Interceptions seems OK i guess. Disruptions are usually done after first round - not enough time too.

Perhaps it would be better if invader could always spawn closer to the extraction regardless if objective is complete or mobs are being killed or not.

[Myscho]

Same for Fissure exterminate when players go hurr durr and running like mad men

[VisionAndVoice]

The point of alerts is to give you essence just for completing a level without having to deal with an acolyte if you don't want to, plus potentially give you a quicker way to get to further Steel Path regions. And they accomplish that. 

If you want to grind acolytes just run regular SP levels.

[taiiat]

the same can be said about any non Endless Mission in Steel Path? if the Players are well equipped they can complete the Mission before the Timer rolls over.
 

[Katinka]

4 hours ago, 32768 said:

If there is no +2 bonus essence, mission has to be aborted and redone solo.

Why abort when you could complete the mission, collect your 3 Essence, and then play any other Steel Path mission to get an Acolyte?  Either way you have played one co-op mission and one solo mission and gained 5 Essence.

[32768]

33 minutes ago, Katinka said:

Why abort when you could complete the mission, collect your 3 Essence, and then play any other Steel Path mission to get an Acolyte?  Either way you have played one co-op mission and one solo mission and gained 5 Essence.

Because it's boring to play missions solo. I don't do steel path missions, i do steel path alerts to collect essence. I would rather prefer to get 20-25 essence and be done with it than collect 12-15 essence and then do some other missions later, maybe the other day.

Right now it's more beneficial to switch to solo than jump into PUG. The worst is when i forget to switch from public and i'm the host, then i'm forcing host migration for other peeps.

[Katinka]

3 minutes ago, 32768 said:

Because it's boring to play missions solo.

Fair enough, but that doesn't really answer my question. 

You proposed aborting and replaying solo.  I suggested not aborting and playing a different mission solo (or even the same mission just not as an alert if you want).

I'm not asking about why you don't want to play solo.  I'm asking why you would abort a mission with a completed objective just to run it again solo when you could get the same result by completing the mission and running another one solo.

[kyori]

I don't think acolytes are meant to spawn before a certain amount of time in the mission. So if it is a short mission then the acolytes won't get to spawn. 

[32768]

11 minutes ago, Katinka said:

I'm not asking about why you don't want to play solo.  I'm asking why you would abort a mission with a completed objective just to run it again solo when you could get the same result by completing the mission and running another one solo.

Because i don't do steel path missions, or rather rarely do them, i do steel path alerts and i prefer to extract with 5 essence.

Here is the maths: if i abort 1 time then do 4 alerts solo killing every acolyte, i get 20 essence. This is still more essence than if i do 5 missions in PUG and get 3 essence for each of them because 3x5=15. I get +5 extra essence if i abort the mission. 5 extra essence is like 30% bonus if we're speaking about daily alerts exclusively. It's a good chunk.