So Let's Make A Clear Point On Afk System

[Incunabulum]

I will say that no matter what - the AFK timer does need to be displayed.

[Incunabulum]

 

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.

 

 

Yet there's no other way to discourage this behavior.  People are vehemently against a kick vote system because they say it will be abused - except the only way it can be abused is if you run a PUG with a group of 3 people who have made a pre-game pact to troll.

[Tyrian3k]

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?

 

People play games for fun. You know what isn't fun? Being punished without any warning.

[Numbsky1]

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

Standing still, never use anything not even shooting or using a different power? Whoa never knew THAT was the way to play the game, pop bubble do nothing.....THAT is indeed ELITE gaming. Wait what happens if you turn around, move a step do you lose the game? Does your elaborate strategy falter if you move a muscle?

 

I don´t think so!  So try again to come up with a "strategy" that demands of you to stand perfectly still for any amount of time that is not pure bullcrap. 

 

The thing is what you guys call strategy means, pop bubble, alt tab, do something else, alt tab back, pop bubble again. and that strategy gets rightfully punished so do not give us any more ridiculous strategies as excuses. 

 

No strategy DEMANDS of you to stay 100% perfectly still, only afking demands that since you are occupied with something else. 

[Hatzeputt]

Almost 1300 hours in game, WF profile counter, not once I have been kicked by the afk system, wonder why that is.....

[(PSN)DesecratedFlame]

Standing still, never use anything not even shooting or using a different power? Whoa never knew THAT was the way to play the game, pop bubble do nothing.....THAT is indeed ELITE gaming. Wait what happens if you turn around, move a step do you lose the game? Does your elaborate strategy falter if you move a muscle?

 

I don´t think so!  So try again to come up with a "strategy" that demands of you to stand perfectly still for any amount of time that is not pure bullcrap. 

 

The thing is what you guys call strategy means, pop bubble, alt tab, do something else, alt tab back, pop bubble again. and that strategy gets rightfully punished so do not give us any more ridiculous strategies as excuses. 

 

No strategy DEMANDS of you to stay 100% perfectly still, only afking demands that since you are occupied with something else. 

Powers don't deactivate the AFK check.  Frost should be standing in one spot spamming globe every 3 to 4 seconds.

[Cloud]

Standing still, never use anything not even shooting or using a different power? Whoa never knew THAT was the way to play the game, pop bubble do nothing.....THAT is indeed ELITE gaming. Wait what happens if you turn around, move a step do you lose the game? Does your elaborate strategy falter if you move a muscle?

 

I don´t think so!  So try again to come up with a "strategy" that demands of you to stand perfectly still for any amount of time that is not pure bullcrap. 

 

The thing is what you guys call strategy means, pop bubble, alt tab, do something else, alt tab back, pop bubble again. and that strategy gets rightfully punished so do not give us any more ridiculous strategies as excuses. 

 

No strategy DEMANDS of you to stay 100% perfectly still, only afking demands that since you are occupied with something else. 

Man maybe you have not read my post , you get the status effect, even if u shoot, use ability or croach. If you stand still , no matter what you do you will trigger the afk status.

 

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?

1. I say one thing, you say that is not so. Prove me that i'm wrong.

2. A 60 minute run is not an "horrible slog" but certainly is an impegnative game. Especially if you're looking for a part in rotation c, I find not fair to punish me and deny my reward for a brief absence, which in most of the times is allowed by my teammates. And Above all, as Tyrian said, Being punished without any warning.

[Judgebanks]

I've yet to be affected by this AFK system, however from the way it sounds, it would make more sense to have a vote to punish prompt appear when a player would normally be flagged for AFK.

[Deejudanne]

awful system atm 

[DxAdder]

Yet there's no other way to discourage this behavior.  People are vehemently against a kick vote system because they say it will be abused - except the only way it can be abused is if you run a PUG with a group of 3 people who have made a pre-game pact to troll.

 

What is wrong with a vote kick system ?

 

If 3 out of 4 people say you got to go then so be it (host included). The AFK system as it barely discourages this behavior.

[AdunSaveMe]

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!

One of the biggest issues with this awful knee-jerk system is that it invalidates effort put into a mission. GG, DE

What is wrong with a vote kick system ?

So many things. Abuse, elitism, trolling etc.

 

There has yet to be a suggested vote kick system on these forums that couldn't be abused.

[(PSN)DesecratedFlame]

Yet there's no other way to discourage this behavior.  People are vehemently against a kick vote system because they say it will be abused - except the only way it can be abused is if you run a PUG with a group of 3 people who have made a pre-game pact to troll.

Protip: Remove the current penalties from the AFK system. Repurpose the system so when someone activates the AFK system it initiates a vote to kick option.

 

Problem fraggin solved.

[Eminem2420]

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.

This ^

[atom]

Standing still, never use anything not even shooting or using a different power? Whoa never knew THAT was the way to play the game, pop bubble do nothing.....THAT is indeed ELITE gaming. Wait what happens if you turn around, move a step do you lose the game? Does your elaborate strategy falter if you move a muscle?

 

I don´t think so!  So try again to come up with a "strategy" that demands of you to stand perfectly still for any amount of time that is not pure bullcrap. 

 

The thing is what you guys call strategy means, pop bubble, alt tab, do something else, alt tab back, pop bubble again. and that strategy gets rightfully punished so do not give us any more ridiculous strategies as excuses. 

 

No strategy DEMANDS of you to stay 100% perfectly still, only afking demands that since you are occupied with something else. 

i was tagged many times afk while using different powers and shooting guns but standing still. the only thing that counts for afk is movement. if i get tagged multiple times afk when i'm actually not afk and playing the game while leechers that have a script moving them every 30s get away from it there's a big problem. this system has impacted my gaming experience negatively on multiple occasions on missions that require you to defend an objective.

[Inquisitioner]

Remember in the old days when people predicted this very thing, an AFK system doing more harm to actual players than good, hah.

[Eminem2420]

Yet there's no other way to discourage this behavior.  People are vehemently against a kick vote system because they say it will be abused - except the only way it can be abused is if you run a PUG with a group of 3 people who have made a pre-game pact to troll.

There are plenty of other ways to abuse a kick system. Just go over to ME3 multiplayer. You'll see.

[Impact6]

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

 

If that's so it's obviously a bug cause it has happened many times to me.

 

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

 

True, it might exaggerated a bit, but the point is that suppose you did  a fair 25% of the whole mission, just for rushing to extraction you get punished. 

[Cloud]

I'll keep this alive for more discussion.

[Numbsky1]

Powers don't deactivate the AFK check.  Frost should be standing in one spot spamming globe every 3 to 4 seconds.

 

 

i was tagged many times afk while using different powers and shooting guns but standing still. the only thing that counts for afk is movement. if i get tagged multiple times afk when i'm actually not afk and playing the game while leechers that have a script moving them every 30s get away from it there's a big problem. this system has impacted my gaming experience negatively on multiple occasions on missions that require you to defend an objective.

Oh maybe if you KNOW that you have to physically move, you move 1 step? I am sure that does not ruin your oh so elaborate strategy? Does it?

Blame your fellow alt tabbers, it is not like you have to stay precisely on one spot you can move a step and as predicted you presented another half arsed excuse that can be boiled down to, no that is not part of the strategy. It is part of you being afk. PERIOD. Now sit in the corner and sulk since even your arguments are akin of the ones of a 9 year old for crying out loud. Not a single one of your arguments countermanded the current afk mechanics. Not one. Sorry if this is how you want to play it you lose, big time. AFK dudes!   

[Iydak]

A trinity, standing on top of the defense point, ensuring that her teammates get power.

A nekros, keeping up life support for his team

A frost, shooting from his bubble to hold an intercept point.

 

If any of the above tenno only care about their prime part and aren't paying attention? then they lose their reward. There has been many a time that I've been so focused on getting energy for my team, that I don't realize I've triggered the AFK timer until I suddenly realize I don't have any.

 

While I agree that we should avoid E-gate and the like, this isn't the way to do it. Hell, the solution has already been implemented! endless powers don't get energy from Trin, and G mag no longer pulls for teammates. If Draco is what you're trying to avoid... we've already got a solution to that too; nullifiers. Make it more efficent to get affinity from strong enemies than weak enemies, and make regulator drones start showing up in high level grineer missions. (and cut the infested some slack, give them nullifiers too!) Make us have to pay attention to the mission, don't make the best option to sit in place pressing one button, and then punish us when we do so.

[(PSN)DesecratedFlame]

Oh maybe if you KNOW that you have to physically move, you move 1 step? I am sure that does not ruin your oh so elaborate strategy? Does it?

Blame your fellow alt tabbers, it is not like you have to stay precisely on one spot you can move a step and as predicted you presented another half arsed excuse that can be boiled down to, no that is not part of the strategy. It is part of you being afk. PERIOD. Now sit in the corner and sulk since even your arguments are akin of the ones of a 9 year old for crying out loud. Not a single one of your arguments countermanded the current afk mechanics. Not one. Sorry if this is how you want to play it you lose, big time. AFK dudes!   

More like a yard or more.  Even if it was a foot, that doesn't make sense. Why should you have to make extraneous movements for no good reason just to avoid a half-thought out system that punishes actual players more than afkers. A real AFKer is just going to make a macro that moves them a requisite distance after a certain period of time. It doesn't punish the AFKers, and it makes real player less efficient.

[Tyrian3k]

Oh maybe if you KNOW that you have to physically move, you move 1 step? I am sure that does not ruin your oh so elaborate strategy? Does it?

Blame your fellow alt tabbers, it is not like you have to stay precisely on one spot you can move a step and as predicted you presented another half arsed excuse that can be boiled down to, no that is not part of the strategy. It is part of you being afk. PERIOD. Now sit in the corner and sulk since even your arguments are akin of the ones of a 9 year old for crying out loud. Not a single one of your arguments countermanded the current afk mechanics. Not one. Sorry if this is how you want to play it you lose, big time. AFK dudes!

Do you have any argument for why a player who is actually playing and kills enemies nonstop can be flagged as AFK? He's contributing to the mission, so I fail to see why a his teammates would have any kind of problem with that person. At the same time, a player running in circles doesn't contribute to anything and isn't considered AFK

Why is movement the only deciding factor for being AFK? Why not also damaging/killing enemies or completing the objective?

And don't give me that "It's easy to avoid" straw man. If it's that easy to avoid it won't get the actual malicious players anyways and is therefore a completely pointless system to have in the first place.

Can you also muster one sensible reason not to give the player somekind of warning before they are considered AFK so they can conciously avoid it?

The AFK mechanic only works the way it does because DE introduced badly designed abilities and mechanics that made killing while AFK with the simplest of macros as easy it gets (prime example is pre-fix Mesa) and they should fix those abilities and mechanics instead of applying bandaids that fix the symptoms of the actual problems.

[Iydak]

 applying bandaids that fix the symptoms of the actual problems.

 

Ah, thank you, that's the phrasing I was looking for.

 

As it stands, most of the current problems stem from Trinity's EV, which would imply that the easiest way to fix things would be to cut out the root of the problem by nerfing trinity. ...and yet, at the same time, that feels wrong. trinity is too ingrained into how the game works at this point, you can't really do that without alienating a good chunk of the core players.

 

hence the other option; buff the enemies. obviously not a flat buff if Phoenix Intercept is anything to go by, but give them new abilities that lets them avoid players who are just mashing buttons. Hell, you can even work it into the lore that they started developing anti-(whatever happens to be the problem at the time) tech, which spread to the other factions. or hell, have them both develop the tech, so that it works differently depending on which side you're fighting, to further distinguish between the factions. 

 

Even discounting nullifiers, there are other things that could be done to mix things up, here's a few quick thoughts:

enemies that have a weak point and are immune to AOE

enemies that become particularly strong or fast if they get within range of an EV target, scaled to how much energy they gain from it

enemies that can jump into the rift to avoid stuff, then jump back once near their target (a rift that applies to powers as well)

enemies that send players into the rift, where to get back you have to kill them or get far enough away.

 

Just so long as you don't go too far and start forcing teammates to help *looks pointedly at nervos* you can do all sorts of things that break up the grind, without a bandaid solution of "move a few feet once a minute or lose your reward". (which, as pointed out many times above, doesn't even work)

Edited October 16, 2015 by Iydak