Defence / Interception Mission Rewards - Reward Banking

[DarkStryder]

Id like to see a change in how Defence and Interception mission rewards are distributed.

 

In Survival missions all rewards up to extraction are awarded to all players. A 40 minute survival will give 8 rewards. This is especially great when the players are looking for different rewards. Example, my friend needs prime part X and i need prime part Y, we both want Forma bp.  Good use of time and overall worthwhile to run together. Also pug friendly, where as a group of friends that play together exclusively may all farm the same things simultaneously, randoms or casuals likely all need something different.

 

Compare this to defense missions that give only a single reward regardless of time invested. If my friend needs a 15 minute and up reward that i do not need... i am not very motivated to invest 30-40 mins a missions knowing i will get nothing for my time. If we need different items one of us will get screwed. This disparity widens for pugs. 3 people may want a single item but the Frost may decide he has what he wants and choose to extract, 3 other players lose out, unable to continue. 

 

The change I propose would be reward banking. When the first reward pops, that becomes the reward everyone would receive at extraction, when the second reward pops each player must decide if they want to keep the currently banked reward or choose the new one. This would repeat at each reward checkpoint. Upon extraction each player will receive the reward that they have banked. Each player will still only receive one reward per key but can feel confident they will get a useful reward while still helping the group. Example, I have Wyrm Prime built, but i could always use more forma so when my friend/recruit chat needs a Frost to run Tower 4 Interception I am motivated to help them out knowing i can just bank a reward that interests me.

 

in this new scenario everyone leaves together satisfied with the run and motivated to continue.  I could also argue this brings Defense and Interception rewards more in line with Survival as currently Survival is overwhelmingly a better bang for your buck.

 

The only argument i can see against this would be if DE really just wanted to maximize grindy frustration.. which i dont believe is the case.

 

[Phatose]

Survival and Defense/Interception are tuned for different results.  In survival the best rewards are in rotation C, which is 1 every 20 minutes - so if you need something from C and it doesn't pop up, you're looking at another 20 minutes for a second chance.

 

Defense and Intercept ramp up and level off - if you need a Wave 15 reward or a 3+ round reward and it doesn't drop, every additional 5 waves or round is going to be another shot at it.  Those typically take considerably less then 20 minutes.

 

It's not a bad suggestion for group cohesion, but it does mean less reason to find squadmates all looking for the same reward.

[DarkStryder]

Survival and Defense/Interception are tuned for different results.  In survival the best rewards are in rotation C, which is 1 every 20 minutes - so if you need something from C and it doesn't pop up, you're looking at another 20 minutes for a second chance.

 

Defense and Intercept ramp up and level off - if you need a Wave 15 reward or a 3+ round reward and it doesn't drop, every additional 5 waves or round is going to be another shot at it.  Those typically take considerably less then 20 minutes.

 

It's not a bad suggestion for group cohesion, but it does mean less reason to find squadmates all looking for the same reward.

The largest difference is that you can get 2-3 C rewards in a single key, along with all the other rewards. the longer you player its just gravy. Also, one of the players may not even care about the C rewards any more but help out anyway because of b rewards. there is no player conflict.

 

Although you are correct the top tier of reward do not rotate out in defense/interception, which is why i felt only one reward per key should be retained. the biggest thing i see currently is that someone doesnt need the same reward as you so they grab what they want and drop, screwing the group(pug situation) or just not wanting to run 20-30 min missions with zero reward for them bc its your key and you need a specific reward only.(friend/clan mate situation)  i realise im going with anecdotal/gut feeling here but i feel that although people would need to run less keys overall, they would end up wanting/willing to run more to balance it out.  also, if that still was overpowered.. perhaps the rotation could match survival with top tier starting at 20 waves instead of 15.. not sure if thats needed.

Edited July 11, 2014 by DarkStryder