Constructive Feedback Regarding New Afk System

[Omni_Omega]

Let's be honest here, there have been a lot of mixed opinions on this new system.

While I fully admit myself, I am not fond of the idea, being a person who is frequently called away from my computer and have... well, frequent bathroom trips to keep things simple, however I am willing to compromise for the sake of benefitting those hurt by purposeful afk'ers.

So, here are my prepositions. If anyone has anything to add, I implore you to.

THINGS TO CHANGE:

Interceptions- Are they not much different from defenses? If the afk timer has not been exempt from these missions already, it should. After all, if someone is kicked during a round after the first, it is not like anyone else can take their place, so effectively they are not causing any harm.

Unless you plan to allow people to join later, otherwise Interception should be like survival and defense.

Death Penalty- It's a bit steep, but I see the point. Some people will purposefully die and stay dead in a mission, I get that. But for those of us who may be simply having trouble, perhaps we could compromise with this;

If we are out of revives, the penalty does not count unless the mission was begun without them. So, if someone exhausts 3 revives in a mission, they still can benefit, but if an afk'er specifically wastes revives and spends the next hour jumping in missions and sitting there, they won't benefit.

This one is a tough situation, honestly. If anyone has a better idea please do share it.

AFK Timer- Is VERY short. I don't know many people who can go to the bathroom in less than a minute. I know I certainly cannot. Perhaps extending it a small portion would be nice, perhaps 3 minutes would be more suitable.

Stationary players/Channelled abilities- As I remember, the requirements for the penalty include people remaining still spamming abilities. So, what of Nyx and Banshee? Or Mesa even? Sometimes player strategy involves players holding still for some time, and players who use these tactics will be punished. It is tough to think of a solution for this, but it is a bit of a problem.

Not to mention, what of people who become stuck in a mission, or experience the ever problematic bug of falling through the map? These are out of player control, and they become punished as a result.

THINGS TO ADD:

Friends Only/Invite Only Exceptions- This is a big one. A VERY big one. When playing with friends, my friends understand when I have to take 5 to answer a call or take my dog outside, and they understand. It is hard to take advantage of a friend by afk'ing, as they could easily then remove you and no longer have to experience the problem. Not to mention, many of my friends have poor connection speeds, and we understand this. So my preposition is this;

Remove the timer when playing Friends Only.

This will benefit those of us who play together and will protect those of us who may be ruined by a potential real life hiccup. After all, friends should understand, yes?

As for invite only, extend the timer a bit further. Invited people may be not friends, so they could be taken well advantage of. Although, they did sign up for the mission, so give the people a bit more room to have a breather in that scenario.

Void Key Safety- If you are hosting a void key and are kicked, it feels wrong to then waste the key if the host had to respond to something like a phone call or slight emergency.

This is a rough concept, and people could abuse it. More ideas for this would be appreciated.

So, there you have it. If anyone has any comments/concerns feel free to add to this thread. And if you have any ideas to add, the more the merrier.

Edited January 9, 2015 by Omni_Omega

[Hybridon]

My main problem is sometimes you are in a high survival, hit 36 mins and a person dies and doesnt have a revive... so because he doesnt have any revives, but the team wants to go up to 40 he loses out all credits?

 

And one of these days I had a squad go up to 20, the host went to a spot mobs couldnt go, afked there for 19 mins, played the last minute and when I asked him why he was doing that, he said he didnt have to do nothing cause he can have other people do his work for him.

 

The problem is we need a better system so this stuff doesnt happen, and a fairer way of doing so.

[[DE]Grzegorz]

I think that the simplest solution to death penalty is... You keep everything you got while alive, including revives. Anything beyond that is out of reach.

Either this or vote afk on some players, which would be lifted whenever they do something useful (supporting, killing an enemy, capping a flag, whatever), as using movement/shooting as a "active" state would lead us to macros.

After these anti-afk punishments I think that we were better of with leechers than game mechanics effectively taking rewards away from us.

Edited January 9, 2015 by Mofixil

[Cyborger1]

My main problem is sometimes you are in a high survival, hit 36 mins and a person dies and doesnt have a revive... so because he doesnt have any revives, but the team wants to go up to 40 he loses out all credits?

 

The AFK timer only applies to non-endless mission types.

[Octoknightx]

These new anti-afk things do nothing but hurt innocent players since any leecher worth their name will have a macro or something to keep moving.

[Letter13]

From what I understand, the AFK timer (including death) will not be applying to Survival, Interception and Defense mission types. 

 

Additionally, the AFK timer is literally an AFK timer, as in it kicks in if there is no actual input by the user. As long as the user is doing something (even if standing still) like using abilities, navigating the menu, etc, the timer will not kick in.

 

Basically all of the "things to change" you listed aren't really things that need to be changed, because they're not in effect. 

[s7n7a7k7e]

....

THINGS TO ADD:

Friends Only / Invite Only Exceptions - This is a big one. A VERY big one. When playing with friends, my friends understand when I have to take 5 to answer a call or take my dog outside, and they understand. It is hard to take advantage of a friend by afk'ing, as they could easily then remove you and no longer have to experience the problem. Not to mention, many of my friends have poor connection speeds, and we understand this. So my preposition is this;

 

** Remove the timer when playing Friends Only. **

 

This will benefit those of us who play together and will protect those of us who may be ruined by a potential real life hiccup. After all, friends should understand, yes?

As for invite only, extend the timer a bit further. Invited people may be not friends, so they could be taken well advantage of. Although, they did sign up for the mission, so give the people a bit more room to have a breather in that scenario.

....

 

 

^ ^ ^ ^ YES TO THIS.

 

Will the Devs listen? More than likely not.

Edited January 9, 2015 by s7n7a7k7e

[TheErebus.]

Will the Devs listen? More than likely not.

I don't think you have the right to say that when they've implemented a system that gets rid of AFKers. You know, the thing that nearly everyone has been begging DE to do?

[s7n7a7k7e]

I don't think you have the right to say that when they've implemented a system that gets rid of AFKers. You know, the thing that nearly everyone has been begging DE to do?

 

I have a right to say that when nearly every legitimate thing people have asked for gets ignored.

Edited January 9, 2015 by s7n7a7k7e

[TheErebus.]

I have a right to say that when nearly everything else people have asked for gets ignored.

You assume they get ignored. You don't know if they're just flatout ignoring it or if the devs are trying their best to think of a way to solve it 

[Omni_Omega]

From what I understand, the AFK timer (including death) will not be applying to Survival, Interception and Defense mission types.

Additionally, the AFK timer is literally an AFK timer, as in it kicks in if there is no actual input by the user. As long as the user is doing something (even if standing still) like using abilities, navigating the menu, etc, the timer will not kick in.

Basically all of the "things to change" you listed aren't really things that need to be changed, because they're not in effect.

Well, taking to account that is the case, that does solve the interception and ability problem. However, did they not add in the the fact that standing still spamming abilities counts as afk, to hinder the excalibur-interception spamming?

I still believe the death penalty and timer need some looking into though.

Edited January 9, 2015 by Omni_Omega

[s7n7a7k7e]

You assume they get ignored. You don't know if they're just flatout ignoring it or if the devs are trying their best to think of a way to solve it

Regardless the result is the same. I can understand when the requests from people are exorbitant and unrealistic. But there are many things people have asked for that should not be hard to implement, yet nothing ever happens or they come with a catch. I feel the OP's suggestion is a fair a legitimate request. Do I think it will happen? I will believe it when I see it. Until then, no.

Edited January 9, 2015 by s7n7a7k7e