So Let's Make A Clear Point On Afk System

[Cloud]

It seems that people either forgot or don't care about the afk system, it was always said both on the forum and on reddit how this system is extremely broken and ineffective in its function, as easy to circumvent/swindle.

From what I've understood this system works in this way:

- If you do not move for a period (It seems far less than 1 min, some times it hits 30 sec), the system is activated giving the afk status.

- It does not matter if you're using skill, or shooting, or crouching to stay in a safe spot, if you do not move you are afk.

- While in afk status you will not get affinity, cannot collect resources or energy, and if the team achieve a wave reward, you will not.

- If you die , you will enter in afk status after 60 sec.

- To get the active status back, not only you have to move, but have to take a certain distance in meters (which for example, if you're a frost in a defense, could jeopardize your defense strategy)

- There is no a thread that explicitly listed what counts as AFK and what exactly it does to you, but there are only some notes spread on the forum that are not sufficiently explanatory.

- Afk status affects endless mission, even if in the note of update 15.9 De Rebecca clarification states:

 

Players will now be disqualified from end-of-mission rewards if they've been dead or AFK for over a minute. 

 

Pool 1) Survival, Defense, Interception, etc rewards are revealed during the mission and accumulate without penalty.

 

Pool 2) Exterminate, Sabotage, Capture, and essentially anything else that isn't endless have end-of-mission reward items (Blueprints from bosses, etc).

 

Pool 2 items are all that is affected by this change at this time.

So the afk status should not even exist in endless missions!

 

-The timer is not displayed in the UI. This is another problem. You can realize that the afk status affects you only when it is activated.

 

This system, for those who really are leechers is easy to circumvent:

if I just want the rewards, I will just stay afk all the time, take a look at the game every now and regain active status when I'm about to take the reward and then go around the map to take the entire drop.

Instead it penalizes those who play strategically giving strong handicap and forcing people to stay in constant motion even when it is not necessary or required.

 

Not to mention the problem of emergencies, if I have to go away for any reason from the PC for a few minutes I am heavily penalized. We are people who have a life, we are not robots, if my mother or my sister need help, or if I have a sudden illness can not say: "wait, I need to take the reward first."

 

edit: added some crucial points to the list.

Edited October 15, 2015 by LordCloud00

[AdunSaveMe]

It basically craps on normal players without solving any problems. Needs to go.

[Husla]

Not to mention the problem of emergencies, if I have to go away for any reason from the PC for a few minutes I am heavily penalized. We are people who have a life, we are not robots, if my mother or my sister are in trouble, or if I have a sudden illness can not say: "wait, I need to take the reward first."

 

Priority should come first. Forget about the game do what is needed. This shouldn't even be an excuse.

 

As for the rest, frames that made this changed have been altered to the point, I think this afk system should be removed. Also this afk detection seems to sometimes apply in endless missions, which is downright silly and DE have yet to fix this.

[Incunabulum]

1.  The AFK timer is not 30 seconds - its at least one minute.  Personally, I've never been caught by it, even after dying.  The only *players* its been catching are old-style Mesa's and Draco farmers.  *Any* movement will count it, even only a foot - I farm Infested DS and sit on top of a box shooting rockets into a pod while the Infested attack it, all I have to do is twitch from side to side every minute or so and *bam*!  no AFK timer.  Yes, if you're (successfully) using abilities - ie not auto-hotkeying #1 even after out of energy - then that should count as a 'playing'.

 

2.  If you have an *emergency* - then leave the game.  If your mother or sister are on trouble - leave the game.  If you have a sudden illness - leave the game.  if real life intervenes - leave the game.  You don't need to 'take the reward first' - its just a game.

[Kostadin]

if i remember it's 2 mins but that was when it came out

[Impact6]

Also , if you're the first at extraction, found all the caches yourself, did 90% damage, but your teammates are slow as hell whilst searching for seeds/medaillons/marks , you do NOT get your rewards if you stand still while waiting. Ridiculous!

[atom]

like above posters pointed out the system doesn't work for it's intended purpose, leechers can easily circumvent it, instead in only serves to punish legit players and strategies. it definitely needs to go or at least be made into a toggle accessible to the host.

[Lostara]

There's an AFK timer? I had no clue, never seen it. Is there even a visual for this?

[Husla]

Also , if you're the first at extraction, found all the caches yourself, did 90% damage, but your teammates are slow as hell whilst searching for seeds/medaillons/marks , you do NOT get your rewards if you stand still while waiting. Ridiculous!

False, standing at extraction makes you immune to the afk system.

[(PSN)Onyxflamegod]

Also , if you're the first at extraction, found all the caches yourself, did 90% damage, but your teammates are slow as hell whilst searching for seeds/medaillons/marks , you do NOT get your rewards if you stand still while waiting. Ridiculous!

To be fair, if you're doing that much of the work anyhow, then you're probably better off soloing...

[gkuoni]

They need to have a reporting system for AFK (with that a kicking system, but if someone kicks multiple times for no reason then they will get stripped from the ability to kick

[CrazyCatLad]

There's an AFK timer? I had no clue, never seen it. Is there even a visual for this?

[Cloud]

1.  The AFK timer is not 30 seconds - its at least one minute.  Personally, I've never been caught by it, even after dying.  The only *players* its been catching are old-style Mesa's and Draco farmers.  *Any* movement will count it, even only a foot - I farm Infested DS and sit on top of a box shooting rockets into a pod while the Infested attack it, all I have to do is twitch from side to side every minute or so and *bam*!  no AFK timer.  Yes, if you're (successfully) using abilities - ie not auto-hotkeying #1 even after out of energy - then that should count as a 'playing'.

 

2.  If you have an *emergency* - then leave the game.  If your mother or sister are on trouble - leave the game.  If you have a sudden illness - leave the game.  if real life intervenes - leave the game.  You don't need to 'take the reward first' - its just a game.

1. I'm not an old-style Mesa /Draco Player. I have my phase and my gameplay style , which in some situation are based on movements, in others on standing still in strategic spot. I'm sure you need to travel "x meters" to disable the afk status, I can guarantee it. Probably you're confusing between what is necessary to not get the afk status and what is needed to disable it.

 

2. yes you're right, Warframe is just a game. But it is a game in which I invest many hours and effort, if after a 60 minutes surv, or a defense of 60 waves I'm away for few minutes, I should not be penalized so much. Also my teammates should be the only able to decide whether or not to punish me, they are those in trouble for my absence (albeit brief),  not the algorithms of a broken system.

 

 There's an AFK timer? I had no clue, never seen it. Is there even a visual for this? 

 

The timer is not displayed in the UI. This is another problem. You can realize that the afk status affects you only when it is activated.

Edited October 15, 2015 by LordCloud00

[Hypernaut1]

I dong like the fact that it forces you to waste a revive at the end of a mission. Unless your positive that your team members will extract within 60 sec, you need to revive or risk losing the reward.

It should take into account your contribution to mission before removing your rewards.

[Tyrian3k]

The only time I've been caught by this system was when I was playing a defense with a pre-change Mesa quite a while ago. There was literally nothing to do for me outside of running in circles like a dog chasing its tail. In theory we could have done the mission with all four players flagged as AFK.

 

The problems I see are that you get no warning of being AFK and that there is no real way to find out exactly how things work, since the mechanics have been changed in some patches so that the information is spread across several threads.

 

It's also not easy to dig up the relevant threads since AFK is not a valid search term on the forums, probably due to its short length. Not that it tells me that explicitly, but any search for AFK will yield no results.

 

Using google will just yield a haystack of complaints for you to find the needles in, even if you search for updates and only on the warframe forums.

 

I could only find the notes in U15.9 and those in Hotfix 15.16.2. There was definitely no trace of the note explaining what caused me to not get a wave reward in the defense mentioned above, since it explicitly says that those shouldn't be affected in the U15.9 notes.

 

It would really be nice to have a thread that explicitly listed what counts as AFK and what exactly it does to you, if you are AFK.

[styxonfire]

Well, I'm mixed about it. TBH, there comes a time that I'm SOOOO burnt out (happens 70% of the time in missions that isn't Survival) in certain endless missions that I just wanna AFK, tab out, and watch some videos on YouTube to pass the time. I feel that I should be punished. Then again, there was a friend of mine who was suffering from LBM and had to go to the S#&$ter and spend like 10 minutes taking a S#&$. Like... there has to be some kind of allowance or something.

That said, I don't think I really have a say in this. But I'm interested in the topic, so there's that.

[(PSN)DesecratedFlame]

It's there to make you buy plat, so DE won't remove it.

[styxonfire]

It's there to make you buy plat, so DE won't remove it.

Could you please elaborate? I don't see how plat relates to the AFK system. No, I really don't see how it does relate.

[DogManDan]

LMAO!

 

If it is an emergency as stated then log off the game and handle your business as you have no reason to be on the computer or console during an emergency and it would not be your priority no matter how long of a mission you have been in. Any other reason for walking away should be considered AFK and you lose the right to your rewards regardless. 

 

You have to leave at 60 minutes because you need a break tell you team and they can all go without you because damn if you up an go and I am the key holder on a T4 I will hit my menu and leave the game resetting it for everyone. I will rather loose a key than let any AFK'er get rewarded for free!

[(PSN)DesecratedFlame]

Could you please elaborate? I don't see how plat relates to the AFK system. No, I really don't see how it does relate.

They want you to buy the Affinity Boosters or items for plat rather than camping on Draco or in Survival for hours.

 

The AFK system, the nerfs to Mag, the LS change they tried to pull in Survival, and so on all show this to be the case.

[Numbsky1]

I am curious, which strategy demands it that you stay perfectly still for at least a full minute or even 2? Please elaborate! 

[(PSN)DesecratedFlame]

I am curious, which strategy demands it that you stay perfectly still for at least a full minute or even 2? Please elaborate! 

You realize that the game modes and warframe powers promote standing still right.  Example: Frost + all the defense mission variants, including interception.

[Incunabulum]

Also , if you're the first at extraction, found all the caches yourself, did 90% damage, but your teammates are slow as hell whilst searching for seeds/medaillons/marks , you do NOT get your rewards if you stand still while waiting. Ridiculous!

 

So, don't stand still.

[Incunabulum]

1. I'm not an old-style Mesa /Draco Player. I have my phase and my gameplay style , which in some situation are based on movements, in others on standing still in strategic spot. I'm sure you need to travel "x meters" to disable the afk status, I can guarantee it. Probably you're confusing between what is necessary to not get the afk status and what is needed to disable it.

 

2. yes you're right, Warframe is just a game. But it is a game in which I invest many hours and effort, if after a 60 minutes surv, or a defense of 60 waves I'm away for few minutes, I should not be penalized so much. Also my teammates should be the only able to decide whether or not to punish me, they are those in trouble for my absence (albeit brief),  not the algorithms of a broken system.

 

 

 

 

The timer is not displayed in the UI. This is another problem. You can realize that the afk status affects you only when it is activated.

 

1.  No, I'm not confused.  It only takes about a *foot* of movement to ensure you don't get tagged AFK.  That's not going to put you outside Frost's bubble or anything like that.

 

2.  Yes, yes you should.  Its just a game.  You're acting like a 60 minute run is some ohrrible slog you don't want to have to repeat - in which case, why play in the first place?

[Cloud]

LMAO!

 

If it is an emergency as stated then log off the game and handle your business as you have no reason to be on the computer or console during an emergency and it would not be your priority no matter how long of a mission you have been in. Any other reason for walking away should be considered AFK and you lose the right to your rewards regardless. 

 

You have to leave at 60 minutes because you need a break tell you team and they can all go without you because damn if you up an go and I am the key holder on a T4 I will hit my menu and leave the game resetting it for everyone. I will rather loose a key than let any AFK'er get rewarded for free!

 

2. yes you're right, Warframe is just a game. But it is a game in which I invest many hours and effort, if after a 60 minutes surv, or a defense of 60 waves I'm away for few minutes, I should not be penalized so much. Also my teammates should be the only able to decide whether or not to punish me, they are those in trouble for my absence (albeit brief),  not the algorithms of a broken system.

Not to mention that with my friends sometimes when someone is experiencing fatigue, he takes a break of 2 min and the others look at his back. And we can make turns to restore us 1 by 1, keeping the game.

Btw, I am also against those who leech and exploit the work of others to grab rewards, but I find really stupid to abort a long mission to punish a leecher, because in this way you punish the leecher, but at the same time you punish also the rest of the team, wich instead have worked. Doing something like that make no difference between you and the leecher, even if u are the host, cause both of you have stolen other players time and work.