U15 And Tower Iv Keys

[(PSN)Hiero_Glyph]

Am I reading the patch notes correctly in that Interception mission now only reward Tower IV keys on waves 3, 6, 9, ... ?

 

Either the chances of getting Tower IV keys need to be greatly increased to compensate or these will not be incredibly tedious to farm.  While you can still claim all of the rewards for the run, no one actually runs solar map Interceptions for anything other than Tower IV keys (or for clearing a node the first time).  Did DE just ninja-nerf the drop rate of Tower IV Keys?

 

Any confirmation of this would be appreciated.

[ensignvidiot]

No, its ALWAYS been on wave 3 of interception

 

now we have a reason to keep going beyond wave 3 if we are able. I welcome the opportunity to farm T4 Keys in bulk

[Kazzamo]

You can also buy T4 keys off the syndicates so there is that. Each one offers a different key.

[(PSN)Hiero_Glyph]

No, Interception rewarded T4 keys on waves 3+, so 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, ... until you extracted or failed.  The advantage was that if you didn't get one on wave 3, you could get one on wave 4 or any wave thereafter.  Now, according to what the patch notes state:  "The rewards now rotate through the reward tiers", it is only every 3rd rotation, meaning waves 3, 6, 9, ... .  Again, a confirmation of this would be appreciated.

[kuri99]

No, its ALWAYS been on wave 3 of interception

 

now we have a reason to keep going beyond wave 3 if we are able. I welcome the opportunity to farm T4 Keys in bulk

No it wasnt. It was rare but before there was always a chance you could get something like a natural talent instead of a key on wave 3. I even remember a run where we had to wait till wave 5.

 

I cant get into the game now since Im downloading the patch though I am curious do the Interceptions give cumunlative rewards like survival now? or is it still you get what you extract on?

[(PSN)Joshuaalt]

Looks like I know what I am going to be doing for the next month leading up to the release of U15 on the PS4.

[(PSN)Hiero_Glyph]

The rewards are cumulative but if they do indeed rotate then you net less keys as if you do not get one at wave 3, you need to wait until wave 6 or even 9.  Before if you did not get one at wave 3, you only needed to go until wave 5 to have 2 additional chances to get one.  Going to wave 6 provided 4 additional chances, whereas if they rotate you only have 2 chances to get one.  It only gets worse from there.

 

@ Joshuaalt:  Agreed.

Edited October 24, 2014 by (PS4)Hiero_Glyph

[(PSN)renosis]

Very little incentive to go past wave 3 if this is true now. Considering that you can just restart and really only miss out on the time it takes to exit and reload the mission. Not that it gets very hard between wave 3 to 6.

[(PSN)Hiero_Glyph]

Hopefully DE realizes how bad this is for the community and fixes it, or at least improves the chances of getting a Tower IV key as a reward.  If the reward rates are unchanged I can't imagine how long it would take to get a T4 MD/Ext/Cap key; I regularly go past wave 7 trying to get one (for any of them).

[NovusNova]

Hopefully DE realizes how bad this is for the community and fixes it, or at least improves the chances of getting a Tower IV key as a reward.  If the reward rates are unchanged I can't imagine how long it would take to get a T4 MD/Ext/Cap key; I regularly go past wave 7 trying to get one (for any of them).

 

But with U15 at least you get all the rewards up to and including that T4 key at Wave 7. But yes they probably need to raise the drop chance for them.

[Archistopheles]

Can anyone else confirm that rewards are now accumulative on Intercept missions?

Edit: Found it ■Defense and Interception Mission rewards now stack!

Edited October 24, 2014 by Archistopheles

[Kazzamo]

The patch notes confirm this, defense is the same way.

[Amazerath]

Can anyone else confirm that rewards are now accumulative on Intercept missions?

Edit: Found it ■Defense and Interception Mission rewards now stack!

 

They are, yes. But before U15 you would always (or almost always) get a T4 key at round 3. After U15 you get mods, mods, mods, mods and then more mods... And they're not even rare, mind you. So I'm still wondering if we should be happy about this whole cumulative rewards business. It feels more like cumulative grinding to me.

[(PSN)Hiero_Glyph]

That's because the reward tiers now rotate.  Since there are 3 tiers you only get a chance for a T4 key at waves 3, 6, 9, etc.  The same applies to Defense missions where you always had a chance to get a reward from the final rotation after wave 15.  Now you only get those rewards on waves 15, 30, 45, etc.  So yes, this is not strictly a good thing as if you want a reward from the third/C rotation you now have to grind a whole lot more.

 

EDIT:  In the end you just get more lower quality items.  It's quantity over quality at its best and players are loving it!  I doubt they understand what just happened.  Then again, the masses are often blind to the truth.

Edited October 24, 2014 by (PS4)Hiero_Glyph

[Archistopheles]

It feels more like cumulative grinding to me.

Oh it most definitely is, but at least now we don't have to quit and start again. DE took one step foward, and two steps backward.

[perfectStranger]

Yes but now rewards stack, so you can stay until round 9 and even get 3 keys + 6 other random drops, this looks better to me than before.

Ofc you could want a 100% to get a key at round 1 and restart. Eh...

[Archistopheles]

Yes but now rewards stack, so you can stay until round 9 and even get 3 keys + 6 other random drops, this looks better to me than before.

Unless round 3, 6, 9, etc only have a **Chance** to drop T4 keys. If that's the case, we got boned.

[perfectStranger]

Unless round 3, 6, 9, etc only have a **Chance** to drop T4 keys. If that's the case, we got boned.

 

You have less probability to get one key only, but at least a probability to get even more, and keep all what you "stubled upon" in the process of trying to get one.

Ofc if the probability to get a key is p then the probability to get at least one key at round n is = 1-(1-p)^(n/3), with previous system the probability ramped faster after 3 rounds being = 1-(1-p)^(n-2)

 

... if the probability is the same now as it was before

Edited October 25, 2014 by perfectStranger

[(PSN)Hiero_Glyph]

But again, keys are only available every 3 waves so in reality you have less chances to get a key.  Sure, you can possibly pull two keys by wave 6, but if you don't pull one by wave 3 you had better odds with the previous system.

[Archistopheles]

Right. It's not about getting a key, it's about getting as many keys as possible with the limited time we have.

[perfectStranger]

You also assume that previously since you also had a chance to get it at round 3+, that this chance was equal of that of getting it at round 3,6,9 and so... but maybe in the rounds in the middle the chance was less than that... so until we don't know what was the exact chance before, and the exact chance now, then time only will be able to tell which system is better

Edited October 25, 2014 by perfectStranger

[Archistopheles]

I can refute your theory, perfectStranger, so we'll just have to wait and see.

[Amazerath]

Unless round 3, 6, 9, etc only have a **Chance** to drop T4 keys. If that's the case, we got boned.

 

That's what I was talking about on my previous post. Pre U15 the drop chance was 100% or something very close to that. I'm also pretty sure this was stated during a devstream some time ago. Round 3 would always give you a T4 key. However, after U15 round 3 seem far more likely to reward you with mods.

 

It may be that on higher rounds, such as 6 or 9, the chance is 100%. But even if it is, it makes things worse then they were before.

 

 

... if the probability is the same now as it was before

 

I think it is safe to say that it is not the same. I was farming T3 and T4 keys this very week and the difference between U14 and U15 is very noticeable. I tried different planets (different enemy levels) but it didn't help. I just hope this was some random unintentional change.