A Replacement For 'alerts'

[Xianyu]

So, alerts suck, basically.

 

I mean, the idea is good on paper. Random alerts pop up giving you a chance of something good. Except not really.

 

Time constraints, sleeping patterns, time zones, work, network issues. Everything and literally anything can happen to stop you from getting that one alert you want. For instance, I want the glaive, I didn't get the glaive in the single alert it has had so far.

 

Is it because I'm not diligent?

 

No.

 

I'm signed up to the group on steam, I've played over a hundred hours. I'm in the top 3000 for kills. I'm no slouch when it comes to warframing.

 

But the alert popped up at 3AM. When I was asleep.

 

The problem with alerts is that they reduce 'luck' down to 'timing'. Now, one might argue that timing is luck, but it isn't really, is it? The alert system excludes entire blocks of players based on that time zone. The alert system says 'right, anyone online in the next forty minutes can get this, guaranteed, if they do this alert'.

 

This is the equivalent of a store running a 30% off sale for exactly forty minutes at random times of day. It's just not... right. It's almost counter-intuitive. It reduces hard work, effort, and luck down to an arbitrary 'play at this time to get goodies, otherwise, F*** you'.

 

 

 

 

 

 

So, the solution: Get rid of alert-based blueprints. Get them away. Piss them off. Throw them in the bin. However you want to coin the phrase.

 

Now, give a player a random chance of getting a blueprint for ANY weapon, in a container. We find money, resources, health and energy in crates, why not blueprints? It gives people a reason to explore and not rush. It encourages exploration. And at a base value of, say, 1%, you need to open a hundred containers to get a single blueprint. This might seem excessive, but when you take into account the rarity of blueprints themselves - something like the glaive having a drop chance of 1% out of that original 1%, then you need to open around ten thousand containers to get a glaive blueprint.

 

Keep the alert system though, it's a good way to earn credits, and at the end, it could reward you with a single guaranteed RNG blueprint.

 

 

 

I think most people will agree that the current alert system just doesn't work for a multi-national game. And as the number of 'blueprint-only' weapons increases, this problem is going to get worse.

 

For instance, I want the glaive right now. What can I do to get it? I can sit here. And wait. And wait. And wait. And wait.

 

And check twitter to see how many times I missed it because I'm only human and I have to sleep, eat, and work like everyone else.

 

Or, with blueprints in containers, I can search, and search, and search, and search, and search. Over and over and over again.

 

 

 

And for you devs, if you read this, I ask you the most crucial question of all:

 

 

 

Which of these two options makes me play the game more?

[Huitzil]

Blueprints in containers would require them to be a vanishingly small chance of appearing from a given container, which ends up making it just as frustrating.

 

Alerts need to be overhauled like the overall missions system should be overhauled. You shouldn't pick a moon or region and "redo" that mission, you should pick planet > enemy > mission type and get a "new" mission of that type, and be matched to anyone playing a mission with those criteria instead of being pointlessly split up. A reward for picking "random enemy, random type" can replace the standard 2000cr alerts, and alert missions with larger rewards should spawn every 6 hours and be active for the next 24 hours.

[Hezekiah]

I personally like the complete randomness of alerts, they are fun, spawn randomly and are only there for a minute.  exactly what an alert is supposed to be.

[Namacyst]

*Yawn*

[Huitzil]

"What an alert is supposed to be" makes no sense in this context. Also, it's not fun to wake up and find out you missed a blueprint you really wanted because it was in an alert at 5 AM that lasted for only a half an hour (like there was this morning for an Orokin Catalyst).

 

Alerts being every half hour add a small amount of fun from unpredictability, but a huge amount of bad experience for people who miss the preposterously short windows for the rewards they want It also tells players "you should be playing this game constantly, because a cool alert could be just around the corner!" which leads to them getting burned out on how repetitive it is and quitting altogether.

[iexbrood]

I...disagree.

Yes, I missed the orokin cata alert but there can and will always be more in the future. You don't NEED it to play the game.

 

It sucks when you do miss something you really want but alerts are supposed to be "emergencies".

Makes more "sense" that it only pops up now and then as it's an ongoing war; S#&$ happens, you can't expect something to wait for you. Missions and Firefights will pop up and be resolved.

 

I also have a problem with the alert only rewards though.

[Dipstick]

I think less alerts that last longer would take some of peoples frustration. I started carying my laptop to class so I can lag my way through an alert if necessary

Edit: the alert Twitter is amazing if you are looking for certain items, like helmets, taters and glaives

Edited May 2, 2013 by Dipstick

[Zaxc]

Alers provide a constant influx of player logging in, which in turn stabilize server population and make sure there's always people to play with.