Fixing Alerts 101

[Paper_Rabbit]

+1, bumping, signed, etc etc.

 

IMHO, this is a very sensible approach to address the random nature of the RNG. Ultimately, DE is more likely to earn more plat the longer a player spend time on Warframe. (Not going to address the plat cost here, that's for a different topic) Grinding for the alert currency beats playing the waiting/camping/praying game for twitter. People do have a life outside of Warframe. We do not want to punish the casual or busy players who do not have the time or energy for twitter camping. God forbid that players should leave their precious computer to attend to matters such as personal hygiene, eating, sleeping or kids. (There ARE parents or other working adults who play this game after all) Players should be able to have the option to control what they can obtain through effort, not leave it to the whim of a dice throw. As pointed out before, current system is susceptible to a diluted item pool caused by new items being added. People can argue about the grinding killing players' motivations for the game, but there's the option for plat items such as the potatoes and Glaive if they really detest grinding. I honestly think that pissing people off with the random nature of the RNG is more likely to kill the game for a player. RNG almost always increases player frustration, especially if you add the time variable into the equation. 

[rhoenix]

I had an idea for it to even help DE with platinum purchases, and remove the need for another form of currency altogether.

Basically, make a new area in the interface next to the Foundry, called Research. One can select a Research Project as being "active", which would mean that it would actively receive Research Points from Alerts. As an Alert is completed, that Research Project would receive a certain number of points toward completion. A player would also have the option to spend 10 or 20 Platinum if they wish to reduce the number of points required by half.

As an example, let's say someone selects the Vauban Helmet Schematic as a Research Project, which would require (arbitrarily) 100,000 Research Points to unlock. If an Alert mission gives 1/10th the number of research points that it does credits each time, then per Alert, you'd get about 200-1000 Research Points toward unlocking the Vauban Helmet. A player could spend 20 Platinum at this point to reduce the total number of Research Points needed down to 50,000, making it easier if they're willing to devote the Platinum toward getting it.

Edited May 19, 2013 by rhoenix

[Argoms]

How would it make a dozen feel worse?

I'm asking honestly here, because the Alert Token system proposed was meant to be equitable for players who only have a few hours per day, without adversely affecting players who can play more often or more flexibly.

That was a response to a person who argued that the current system is better because every now and then, someone gets something that they didn't expect to pop up.

[rhoenix]

That was a response to a person who argued that the current system is better because every now and then, someone gets something that they didn't expect to pop up.

Ah - fair enough then.

Also - the more I think about it, the more I think a Research Point-based system might be more viable than an Alert Token-based system. It solves the problems just as well, and requires the fewest number of changes to achieve the desired effect.

[Arsonide]

I had an idea for it to even help DE with platinum purchases, and remove the need for another form of currency altogether.

Basically, make a new area in the interface next to the Foundry, called Research. One can select a Research Project as being "active", which would mean that it would actively receive Research Points from Alerts. As an Alert is completed, that Research Project would receive a certain number of points toward completion. A player would also have the option to spend 10 or 20 Platinum if they wish to reduce the number of points required by half.

This is a cleverly disguised new form of currency, but integrating this into the research system is a bit more elegant than collecting Orokin Waffles, so I'll back this up.