Fixing Alerts 101

[Arsonide]

Okay so right now, the game is moving towards making everything harder to acquire, and a big part of that is the alert system. Developers, ponder the alert system for one moment.

 

1: Every time you add an item, the chances of getting any particular item drop. This means that the alert system has a built in expiration date. At some point it will be unsustainable, or unusable, with things being so rare that people simply won't care anymore.

 

2: Another big problem with it, that causes a significant amount of community outrage, is the random nature of it. I can't go take a shower and eat dinner without fear that I'm going to lose out on something.

 

There is a really simple way to solve both of these issues in one swoop. Make alerts drop tokens, or badges, or Orokin waffles. Just some new form of currency. These tokens will drop at the same frequency of the current ? alerts, and items will be available on the market that you can buy with them. The cost of the item in tokens could be directly proportional to the rarity you guys have it dropping at now.

 

I'd like to reiterate that point: things would not be easy to acquire by any means. This would not make it easy to play for free, as you are still a business after all. The Glaive for instance, might cost 15-20 of these tokens. This would just allow players to direct their play time more productively.

This solves both problems. It removes the RNG aspect, and allows players to actually earn what they want incrementally by actually participating in the game on their own schedules. It also allows you, as the developer, to add as many items as you want into the alert system without making older items harder to acquire. It removes the expiration date.

 

Just give it some consideration, because as it is, I'd like to see your server logs when a Glaive pops up just for the giant spike in player activity. Once they get the blueprint, they set it to build, and log off. These players are not actually playing the game, they're just waiting for random entropy to swing in their favor. You want them to play your game, right?

Edited May 17, 2013 by Arsonide

[AgentXiri]

YESSS

[nullCassielle]

This is an EXCELLENT solution to the poopy alert system without completely replacing it.

[yam240499]

Dude im with u on this one. Please read this  DE .

[modded]

Best idea I've heard in a while. +1

[alchemistjkt]

not a bad suggestion actually, thats kinda rare these days lol.

+1 good sir.

[GraalOhOtonami]

I said this before and nobody saw it...

[Korevas]

+1. It has been suggested before, and really, anything they do to the alert system would make it better. Right now, I have almost anything I would ever bother with from alerts, and since you never need duplicates of anything, 9/10 alerts might as well not exist at all for me, and there really is no way to "work towards" something that I could actually use.

[Nediak]

I'd like to see that happen and also i would like to say the it is true 4 months ago played warframe all day like every time i had a few free minutes i went on warframe but now i dont do anything else then just wait for a random alert that has something that i want and also i only start playeing warframe when new content comes out and even then i just sit around for a few days and then meh log out for another month or so but that is a whole other thing yes i like this solutione and yes they should do it

[escape123]

Good call. +1

[Spinner187]

Brilliant Idea! Surprised I didn't come up with this :)

You got my +1

[BabyInTheGlovebox]

I like it the way it is. I don't want to have to farm for 9 hours a day to get a blue-print or rather bad artifact, thanks though.

[Worex]

Awsome idea:)

 

+1

[Arsonide]

I like it the way it is. I don't want to have to farm for 9 hours a day to get a blue-print or rather bad artifact, thanks though.

The point is that you could choose how to invest your time played on things that are important to you. Alerts are random now, so right now, you RANDOMLY get "a blue-print or rather bad artifact". You could avoid those things with a system such as this.

[Worira]

Yes make less bad please

[PappyBruns]

excellent idea
 

any way to get a stickied thread for ideas for a currency name?

 

personally I think potato chips sounds good

[GraalOhOtonami]

1 alert credit = Fully random

15 alert credits = Specify TYPE of reward (Artifact/weapon BP/Warframe or helmet BP)

100 alert credits = Specify the exact reward

Just an example

[Edit:] That way, you still have the community banding together at alerts in order to progress towards their own and other peoples' goals as well!

Edited May 17, 2013 by GraalOhOtonami

[Ashmomo]

Solid plan*. Clearly something needs to be done.

*The pedant in me would like to point out that's not a proper use of the word entropy.

[PappyBruns]

also DE could then add resources to rewards as has been discussed without further dilution of the alert reward pool

[Gekker]

Unknown924 already came up with a similar approach for the Alert Potatoe rewards.

And I used that and came up with an Ressource Based approach to solve this problem which is the same as this one, it just needs less work.

 

Here is the thread of Unknown924, we both put quite a lot of work into it to explain it in detail.

https://forums.warframe.com/index.php?/topic/45104-the-all-or-nothing-nature-of-alerts-is-a-problem-that-needs-to-be-addressed/

 

 

Seems like Arsonide finally got people to like it :)

 

So DE, can we get an real statement on this? Please?

 

EDIT: I really wanna make sure people read this because there are many that are strongly against any change regarding the Alert Reward System. I wrote this so we all can be on the same level of information when discussing this.

 

 

First of all thank you for mentioning my suggestion.
Unfortunately my topic derailed into unpleasant accusations towards players that decided not to buy platin or just don't like to buy game content as it eleminates the sense of accomblishment when unlocking content through gameplay (or for whatever reason).

 

Nevertheless, I am not done giving feedback regarding this topic.

 

 

 

Anyway, since I learned a lot from my topic let me point out a few things so we do not have to explain why the Alert Reward system is so important and why it is flawed and also, so no one tells others that "its so much easier to just buy platin".

 

 

1) A free to play game is funded by a minority of the actual playerbase.

When Planetside 2 hit the 1 Million marker, the devs mentioned that only 10% actually bought stuff with real money (which is enough). Its not going to be much of a difference with Warframe.

This tells us that the majority are not able to play the game without the minority that pay.

Additinally this means that the minority is not able to play the game without the majority that keep the game alive (no players, no multiplayer).

This is the reason why there needs to be a balance between offering stuff to sell to the paying playerbase to enhance their game experience and motivating players that play for free to keep playing the game (and eventually to start buying stuff).

In case of Warframe players motivation lies in unlocking new content (experiencing something new).

 

2) In a modern F2P game, every single player needs access to game content that has an impact on game balance such as warframes, weapons, sentinels, mods etc.

Because if this is not the case, the majority will not be motivated to play the game because they will never enjoy the game at its fullest.

 

3) The Alert Reward system is the only way to gain access to an increasing amount of game content that is otherwise only available with platin (as well as some that are not).

Due to 1) and 2). If this system is flawed, the balance between the paying playerbase and those who play for free is broken.

 

4) The chance to unlock new content through the Alert Rewar system is decreasing with every addition to the reward pool and every item you unlock at an exponentially rate.

This is one problem the current implementation of the Alert Reward system has. Because players will get less and less motivated to keep playing the game. This is actually the point for many to start buying platin. But there is more to that.

 

5) Progressing (unlocking new content) through the Alert Reward system is not linear.

Gaining access to new content is only influenced by chance. You have to be at the right place at the right time. And this many many times. That chance is also decreasing exponentially as mentioned in 4).

Players have no control over RNG, thus they will blame the game and not themselves. And this is what is happening right now.

Its an frustrating element that only promotes disappointment. They may be happy once because they were lucky but the negative part is overwhelming in this case.

 

6) Unlocking content with platin is destroying the sense of accomplishment that you have when unlocking them through gameplay instead.

For many this is not a huge problem. But for others it is.

Personally I would really like to see what is sells well and what not.

 

 

 

So what if we change a parameter? What if we manage to change the Alert Reward system's progression-by-chance into linear-progression?

 

That is exactely what the suggestions in the first post of this topic are trying to accomplish.

More occurences of Alert Rewards that contribute towards unlocking new content is linear progression and stops the exponentially dropping chance rate.

And this without having an impact on the rarity of an item.

 

In the end you will unlock new content like this:

You see an item you like in the store. You buy the blueprint and notice a manufacturing requirement that you do not have.

That requirement is occasionally rewarded through Alert Missions. So everytime you happen to play such a mission you get closer to your goal to build your item of desire.

The important thing to note here is that those Alert Missions that reward those ressources / Orokin fragment occure a lot more often. The disappointment won't be so overwhelming anymore as it is right now because you will have another chance in 1 or 2 hours. Its not like right now that when you miss a rare Banshee Helmet BP reward (as many did today) you will have to wait a few weeks for another chance that you may miss again. Instead you are slowly collecting pieces of ressources or fragments for a week or so one after another until you can start bulding your Helmet.

 

 

 

All right, that should be all right now :)

I hope I was able to convince everyone that this is in fact an idea that improves a lot. Because I am really getting tiered of typing. I am trying to convince people that the current implementation of the Alert Reward system is flawed for weeks now.

 

If there is a part that I failed to explain correctly, if there is something you don't understand or if there is a flaw in my logic (which may prove my theory wrong) . Please quote the part (so I get a notification)  and let me know. I will reply.

Edited May 18, 2013 by Gekker

[GraalOhOtonami]

also DE could then add resources to rewards as has been discussed without further dilution of the alert reward pool

Gathering the resources is all part of the fun! If all I had to do to get a control module was do an easy alert in mercury, Jupiter or Saturn, I'd not even bother to challenge myself by going 1v1 with the Hyena.

[Caliocerion]

Solid plan*. Clearly something needs to be done.

*The pedant in me would like to point out that's not a proper use of the word entropy.

The student in me immediately thought "If that guy was in my Chem class, he would have been part of the 60% that failed the Finals."

[PappyBruns]

Gathering the resources is all part of the fun! If all I had to do to get a control module was do an easy alert in mercury, Jupiter or Saturn, I'd not even bother to challenge myself by going 1v1 with the Hyena.

was already discussed in a livestream that resources could become part of alerts, and if I had to guess the resources available would be more along the lines of alloy plate, rubedo, or other resources that are used a couple thousand at a time

[ThePresident777]

I agree, using the alert system to distribute rare content is bad, it's trolling the players, like ME3's goddamn troll store.

 

But, replacing stuff with tokens is not much better as you'll still starve and stink waiting for tokens.

[SoaringEagle]

But, replacing stuff with tokens is not much better as you'll still starve and stink waiting for tokens.

The main idea is to remove the Time RNG. If you have a better solution this is a good thread to post it in.

Also, I would recommend we be required to select an item to progress towards. By forcing us to select first, we won't be allowed to store up tokens for any new item releases.

Course, if they don't want us to select exactly what we want, I'd be happy if they just made the "? Alerts" reward random items.

Whatever fits their vision in removing the "Time RNG" aspect that is ruining the Alerts system I'd go along with it. Item RNG is fine, Time RNG needs to be eliminated.