Alert System - Constructive Feedback Megathread!

[Stu_Alpha]

What he said. If I want to buy something it'll be on my own agency, and because I like the game, not because I'm being pressured into paying because of the mechanics. I paid 20 bucks into this game because I loved the game, being unique in an era of copycat shooters, not because I was being cajoled via aggressive and shady business tactics.

 

I would like the 'intel' system but I understand DE needs to be paid and I would gladly compromise. They'll toss a 12h alert just to calm the crowd down but I would rather they change the system like how they changed the skill trees, because it'll happen again with the next weapon, and so on, and so on. The alerts need to encourage people to log in and play for a while, not jump in for 5 minutes because they were following Twitter.

Edited May 1, 2013 by Stu_Alpha

[vats3]

my personal solution 

 

 

First i would change the fixed drops to random drops that could be given at any alert mission to move from people just watching for the drop they want all the time to people going out and doing the alert missions themself, and place them on all alert missions but have a chance of getting nothing. Second I would have some way to replace/exchange/sell extra artifacts you get, face it everyone hates to get an artifact you already own. third I would move the glaive into the shop and out of alert missions, as it stands the glaive is one of a kind, I would like to see a glaive skin or different kind of glaive in alert missions (or the glaive be able to be gotten from a boss drop, just i dont believe that the alert system is where it belongs) 

[Argoms]

Personally, I think every alert should have a reward randomly generated for the group at the end. The chance of a glaive or potato doesn't have to be very high- even 1% would be better than not living in the right time zone and literally never getting the chance to get one.

[Zylli]

The problem is, that the alerts are globally, meaning: you go to work, someone on the other side of the world gets home from work and thinks: Yay just in time for an awesome alert.

I would have a suggestion on how to make the alerts more userfriendly or at least not so frustrating.

The suggestion would be, that an alert appears, lasts for his duration of probably half an hour and then ends. Only that it would reappear 12 hours later, but you could only participate in the reapperance of the alert if you didnt take part in the first appearance.

Example:

Today at 09:00 AM EDT a Glaive-Alert happens. In Germany it would be 03:00 pm, most people would be working. They see the twitter and think: Damn there goes my Glaive. F***. Only that they would have the chance to do it again at 03:00 am (not a good time, but you could do it) and still get the Glaive. 2 Chances for everything, if you happen to miss the first you should be able to make it to the second one. At least most of the time.

I understand the alerts are for everyone, but every time I have seen rejuvenation or energy siphon on Twitter, it has been during my work or sleeping hours.

 

As someone else pointed out, the issue is that alerts are based on real-time and only last a very short duration, relatively speaking.  An easy fix would be to make alerts last 6 hours or more, and make sure the same item appears for people who have different time zones.

 

I think the real problem is the entire alert system.  Items which are used for anything other than cosmetics should not be earned through a bad RNG or time-based system that only a small percentage of players can participate in.  Alerts should only give credits and a good chance for a rare resource.

[Bukethead]

"Having problems with blind luck? Try throwing money at it!"

 

I honestly don't understand the concept of opposing a company charging money for a product. If charities and non-profits made video games, then I could understand the criticism, but since they don't I fail to see how charging money for something is evil.

[PhiZero]

The alert system is a neat idea, but a RNG within a RNG within another RNG for mostly cosmetics helmets and weapons would have been fine, but now that they're considering adding unique weapons such as the Glaive, it doesn't seem like such a good idea anymore.

 

Three steps that occur randomly determine whether or not a Mystery Alert happens.

 

Step 1 - Use the RNG to determine if a alert should appear.

 

Step 2 - Use the RNG to determine whether the alert is a normal alert of mystery alert.

 

Step 3 - Use the RNG to determine the credit reward, use the RNG once again to determine the mystery alert reward if eligible.

 

This system is nice for getting alt helmets and variants of melee weapons that can be purchased in the store for both credits and platinum, but when you put a unique weapon into the reward pool, the chances of getting it are just to low. Increasing the amount of unique weapons could offset it, but as it stands now with approximately 38 different rewards, it just doesn't make sense. If you want a unique weapon such as the Glaive, you would only have a 2.5% chance of a mystery alert being it, which is lowered even further by steps 1 and 2. 95% of the time, it will only give you alternate helmets, artifacts, and alternate weapons that don't offer new play styles.

 

Personally, I think it's "ok" that the Glaive is in the current alert pool despite it appearing to be a mistake judging by the forums. It might be a good move if they're considering adding more weapons with unique play styles, since it would increase the chance of a unique weapon from ~2.5% to ~5.2% and increasing with each new one...as long as they don't introduce more non-unique items.

 

Do I want to see every new weapon that offers a new way of playing the game only be alert or platinum only? no. Do I want to see some unique weapons that are alert exclusive (Not elegible for platinum purchases, like the Plasma Sword.) and others with market blueprints (A standerd weapon, such as the Hek. Can be purchased with platinum or crafted with the market blueprint.) while still having the platinum purchase option? Yes.

Edited May 2, 2013 by SagamiYusuke

[Argoms]

I honestly don't understand the concept of opposing a company charging money for a product. If charities and non-profits made video games, then I could understand the criticism, but since they don't I fail to see how charging money for something is evil.

(Note that the following post is my opinion based on observations I've made so far)

The anger behind this seems to be more to do with the symbolism than the actual product. I'm pretty sure there wouldn't have been this sort of backlash if it were any other weapon, unique in its characteristics or not.

 

See, the glaive is a weapon (you could say, "the" weapon) from Dark Sector (released 5 years ago), which is the game that was meant to be Warframe until the publishers f***ed with the concept. Now that we have Warframe breaking its record for concurrent users weekly (28k as of the week of livestream #4), in a way, it's a symbolic "I f****ing told you so" to the publishers of Dark Sector. Warframe is self-published, allowing there to be much less of a communication barrier between the actual developers and the game's community (as opposed to the common idea of the publisher appointing a "community manager" who often fails to relay information correctly, or is just plain misinformed/kept in the dark about things). 

 

Introducing the glaive into the game fully acknowledged its connection to Dark Sector, and to many of us, could be a way to say something along the lines of "See, we don't need publishers deciding how we price things, we'll be nice to the community, and they'll stick with us." And until the day of release, it seemed so.  Then on day one, it was released for $10, or alternatively available through a completely random event (which many people missed) that didn't happen for a few days, and is not likely to happen again for a while.

 

Any other weapon would've been fine (see- dark sword, heat dagger, jaw sword, dark dagger etc.) with most of us, but doing this to the glaive, a symbol of not giving up and selling out on your original idea, just seems like betrayal.

Edited May 2, 2013 by Argoms

[Loswaith]

Personally I think the alerts are a nice idea, though as others have mentioned could use work.

 

When i first saw an alert I was "ohh nice", then looked at it and it gave only credits, gave it a try and thought that was disapointing, its exactly a mission, so why bother.  The second one I saw had the '?' for the loot and again I thought "ohh nice, some random award", later to find out it wasnt random at all and again being disapointed.  There is no point in having a blind award if its not going to be blind (especially now with twitter just telling you what it is).

 

Ideally all alerts would have the blind card award and an increased difficulity.  The blind award being completly random (as others have mentioned too) every time (not pre determined) for each group that does it like normal mission awards, even if it has it's own pool of loot to draw from as well, as that feels more like it is implied it was with the '?'. Even if alerts dont always have the blind award having them random still avoids the "oh i missed x, y, or z" due to not being able to play when the alert happened (ignorance is bliss in this case, just look at how many people run boss missions not knowing if they will get their loot, with few complaints about it). 

 

While the difficulity is increased (maybe a tad more than they are now) they should still be based on the core planets the alert is on, so while an alert on Saturn is harder than normal Saturn missions it's still not the level of say a normal Pluto mission. Sure the saturn alert will be easy for a player with warframes that can handle pluto, but they are overpowered for saturn anyway, and if it was as difficuilt for a warframe that can handle Pluto it would be impossible for warframes that do find saturn a challenge, thus out of reach for those that have just gotten past the area.

 

Personally I think the uproar has nothing to do with it being a unique weapon in the slightest and everything to do with it being The Glaive (even if it was just a fancy dagger skin the result likely would of been the same).  As Argoms mentioned I too think its 'the' weapon, basically the cornerstone of the DE influence and warframe existance.  It is a 'cool' looking weapon with style and history with DE.  Had it been a pink feather duster that lets you tickle the enemies to death, few people would of cared (as shown by the lack of comments on every other alert item added prior to the glaive).

Edited May 2, 2013 by Loswaith

[Caernarvon]

I'm fine with the alert system. Makes the game interesting and keeps me hooked in the long run, since I'll be checking the game in the background constantly even when not in the mood to play. Rarer items should certainly be more common though (or randomization should have a limit, ie. can't have more than X number of money only alerts in a row), we've had days of nothing but crap at times. Alerts netting only dosh should always net at least ~4000 too, 2000 is nothing.

[PlebbyMilliner]

I too would like to see multiple times of alerts missions. Keep the 30/60 minute alerts. They turn things into a social event, grabbing friends, or strangers online to go get the rewards.

 

But, for the rest of us working schlubs, I'd love to see special one day only/one time only missions that show up when we get home. The chance to drop could be relatively random, but at least we got the opportunity. Have it a single use only so that you can't farm it. This would keep me playing at least once a day. Rewards could be anything really, even down to a rare resource. But by all means, there MUST be the Orokin Reactors/Catalyst blueprints in these. 

 

Realistically, just like TF2, the different warframes, weapons, etc. are sidegrades which promote different play styles. Except for these items. These literally double the effect power of the warframe, making accessing top-level content difficult without. 

 

At the end of the day though, I want to play the game because it's fun. I played Left 4 Dead for many many hours because of the mechanics and not levelling/random drops.  What interests me about Warframe are the varied styles of play. After I'm "finished" with my Excalibur, I want to try another frame and level it up. This is what keeps the gameplay fresh for me. And then, when I've collected all the warframes and weapons (and paid DE for the slots), I'll randomize them to non-optimal builds to throw things for a loop. It's part of the reason why Diablo 2 was played for so long.  It's why TF2 is still being played.

 

That said, I would still like the opportunity/chance to grab some cool, flashy stuff from an Alert.

[Loswaith]

I was under the impression all alerts can only be done once (atleast as normal operation), unless you join someone else doing it.