[Operation: Cornucopia] Add Resource Alerts (Parallel To "?"-Alerts).

[Ced23Ric]

Hey there,

 

this is part of the masterthread [Operation: Cornucopia] Fixing The Farming. Addressing the issue of alerts being "annoying" in their repetitive 2000 Credits reward nature while also dealing with the currently low rates of rare resources (neurodes, neural sensors, control modules, morphics, gallium, orokin cells), this proposal could patch up multiple sore spots. Already mentioned in the LiveStreams, entering this into the alert cycle would greatly benefit the game to feel more alive and also generate more stickyness. The deal is simple: Start an alert, with the usual parameters (faction, mission type, planet, difficulty) and at the end, instead of a mere credit reward or a ?, give the players a small, yet tangible amount of a rare resource.

 

3 Gallium. Or 4 Control Modules. It's more than the average run gives, it is more than before, and it is something reliable and definite. Instead of aimlessly, hopelessly grinding the Hyena, the players can now play where and what they like, with their friends, grab faction mats for their clan research or level their new frames in lower areas, and when such an alert pops, they can grab the rare materials. It would also mix up the current desert (3 week potato famine...) with something other than credit rewards and dampen the perceived uselessness of alerts, outside of blueprints.

 

/discuss

[ethics]

I like the idea a lot, i feel we've already surpassed the need for credits in rewards.

However i would like bundles of common resources too. This is purely my personal preference but i'm not a fan of grinding for these so i would like standard rewards to give standard resources (potentially a chance for rare too) and then ? gives the reward + a rare resource, perhaps more for the artifact ones since that is also a common cause for complaint; the occurrence of artifacts in ?.

[unmog]

I think everyone has been wanting this. It wouldnt be too hard to just put up an icon for a resource [could be anything, from a ton of ferrite to a few morphics] and a number on it. Maybe even have some normal missions with more than one resource you can get for completing it, say for instance rubedo and plastids or something. I think the numbers can always be adjusted, but it should be something like maybe 10-20 times what a normal drop is for common stuff, and like maybe 1 or 2 for rare stuff, and somewhere in between for uncommon. Could just base which rewards are offered on the resources that the alert is located in. Saturn for instance drops Plastids, Nano Spores, Orokin Cells and Detonite Ampules, so alerts in Saturn would offer some of those resources.

 

Examples would be the following. 

Ferrite drops in quantities between 50 and 150 and is common, so a reward for ferrite would be between 500-3000 

Rubedo drops in quantities of 10 and 50 and is uncommon, so a reward for Rubedo would be between 50 and 500.

Orokin Cells drop in quantities of 1 and are rare, so a reward for Orokin Cells would be either 1 or 2.

As far as research materials, I think between 5 and 10 of those is fair since they're not that hard to get. But who knows, maybe 10-20.

[PirateTrade]

I love this idea and I hate Hyena and his stupid drop rates (at least for me). This would definitely make me more excited about alerts as opposed to the current, "oh it's 3000 credits and another scavenger artifact"

+1

[Nakhoda]

yay!no more killing countless of hyenas for just one control module

[Ced23Ric]

This thread is more of a ... "writing it down again, so DE remembers" kind of deal. They said it. Most of us would want it. Now let's see them, too.

[Shwamp]

There is already 3 slots on the alert window for rewards.  First one is always credits, second is whatever item it may be, third could be the resource.

[MyXmaN]

I would definitely go to an alert mission that rewards a control module. It helps save the poor Hyena.

We really have too many 2000 credits alerts that nobody needs. Even new players ignore it most of the time.

[Azure_Kytia]

I think rare resources should be balanced very carefully; Getting 1000 rubedo at once would probably be a bit too much for the scarcity, for example. 

 

Ferrite : 1000

Salvage: 1000

Nano Spores: 2000

Rubedo : 250

Alloy Plate : 750

Circuits: 500

<Insert Boss Drop here except Morphics>: 2

Morphics: 5

Orokin Cell: 2

Clan Materials: 15

[unmog]

I think rare resources should be balanced very carefully; Getting 1000 rubedo at once would probably be a bit too much for the scarcity, for example. 

I think 10-20x a normal drop for common resources, 5-10x for uncommon resources, and 1-2 for rares is fair. For rubedo which drops between 10-50 that'd be anywhere between 50 and 500, depending on rng gods

[Ced23Ric]

Just to clarify the other half:

 

Why rare resources in alerts and no common/uncommon ones? Because alerts are rare, by nature. If you put common resources into alerts, they will feel like a wasted shot at getting some rare resources. Furthermore, I addressed the higher demand for common/uncommon resources, be it for clan dojo building or making weapons, in another post in this series - Missiontype: Acquistion.

 

As I said over there: Common source for common mats, rare source for rare mats. Should make sense. :)

[Mickey1779]

I like the idea, seeing as so many of the Alerts have names that have you wondering where is all that resource I just raided.

 

If Alerts are going to stay at roughly every 30 minutes though, I would think the rare resources would need to be singles and maybe the occasional two of a rare resource.

 

Otherwise what will happen is after a week or two of doing Alerts they will be back to the point they are now and people will have a stockpile of 20+ each rare resource and just be looking at the ?'s for the BPs they still need/want..

[Ced23Ric]

Clarification: This is not meant to be a replacement[/u9 of the existing alerts, but an alternative, running on it's own event "rail".

[Kravik]

Is the idea to give a resource multiplier whilst running alerts with something in place to prevent people from running multiple times to farm the materials something similar to the way that alert rewards can only be obtained once perhaps?

 

Or is the Idea to give a set resouce reward from completing the mission? I am a little confused on the matter.

[Ced23Ric]

Alerts can only be done once. Rushing an alert would only give the reward and what little you pick up running it - just like it is now. You cannot repeatedly run the same alert.

[Sumnus]

I don't see a problem with adding them to the queue. I think from an out-of-game perspective, adding a resource bonus to all alerts, while it'd give me a reason to run the credit alerts, wouldn't be a good idea, as it would lead to too high of an influx of resources. But if they took maybe 30-50% of the current credit-only alerts, and made them resource-only, that could be good if the numbers were worth it.

[Ced23Ric]

What I'm saying, yeah - an additional type of alert.

[Windbow]

Does anyone do the 2k credit only alerts any more? I used to, just for fun, but it's really just a waste of time. The alerts are harder than normal missions in that sector (thus require a bit more time) for no more reward than an easier "any other" mission on that planet. What's the use of alert missions that nobody plays? Better to have alerts that give better rewards than what you can just do elsewhere.

Materials in larger amounts would be good. Not just rares, imho. Rares, definitely, like a "?" alert but the (currently) 2k credit alerts should instead be like 500 alloy plates or some such. That would be something people would want to do, especially with dojo and stuff.

[unmog]

Materials in larger amounts would be good. Not just rares, imho. Rares, definitely, like a "?" alert but the (currently) 2k credit alerts should instead be like 500 alloy plates or some such. That would be something people would want to do, especially with dojo and stuff.

Yup! *high fives*

 

But nope, I ignore missions that just give credits, I wouldnt if they gave credits and SOME kind of resource award. Never know, might be useful later even if I dont need it now ya know? I just think the resource reward should have a picture of the resource, and a number, so everyone knows what it is the same way they do with the credits. In fact I think the ? block shouldnt be a ?, they tell you what it is on the twitter feed anyway, get rid of annoying in between steps that serve no point.

[Callback]

Yeah, it would have to be not just rares.  It would be great to get a noticeable chunk of resources from credit alerts, however.

 

Proposed quantities:

 

Nano Spores, Ferrite, Salvage: 1000

Circuits, polymer bundle: 200

Plastids, ALloy Plate, Rubedo: 150

Rare resource: 2

[Ced23Ric]

Saddling the horse from the other side, then.

 

Alerts dropping either 500 Alloy Plates, 250 Plastids or 2 Gallium would be fine with you guys? Even if that means that those three compete on the same spawn rail? Even if something like "Acquisition" exists, where you can get loot +750 Ferrite or +500 Alloy? You would want an alert to pay off roughly the same as a mission mode?

[Azure_Kytia]

I would be under the impression that Resource Alerts would drop more frequently than the ? Alerts, and if they provide an extra avenue to get a decent amount of x material quickly, then I think that's a good step to take, keeping them at around a mission's worth.

[Windbow]

Saddling the horse from the other side, then.

 

Alerts dropping either 500 Alloy Plates, 250 Plastids or 2 Gallium would be fine with you guys? Even if that means that those three compete on the same spawn rail? Even if something like "Acquisition" exists, where you can get loot +750 Ferrite or +500 Alloy? You would want an alert to pay off roughly the same as a mission mode?

I think this could still work. The alert resource reward should be something that's perhaps not otherwise available in that system. eg. Supply ship bringing resources. Temporary storage depot that just got a shipment of something (from another area). This is in addition to the credit reward, in my mind. Or, if you think that's not enough, perhaps more than one resource as an alert reward eg. 500 alloy plate + 500 circuits. The "Acquisition" normal mission should be 1 specific type.

So, as an alert, instead of [2000 credit][][], it's [2000 credit][500 alloy plates][]. Or [4000 credit][600 plastids][] or even [2500 credit][400 alloy plates][400 salvage] or some such. This would be a much more enticing "low paying" alert than just [2000 credit][][] that comes up so very often that nobody bothers with. The rares, eg. [2 Neurodes][][] alerts should come up about as often as ? alerts.

On that note, I think DE should just drop the [?] and just state what the reward is. Like someone pointed out, the mystery "?" is quickly posted anyway.

[Enot83]

Alternatively, giving players in a situation where it is raiding a transport ship the decision of what they are taking could be looked into, not sure the best way for implementation that is engaging...

 

Obviously a very simple way is at the end of the mission you would pick, from common, uncommon or rare materials as the reward, allowing anyone in the mission to take away what they need.

 

Another could be during the level, allowing for a "loot room" of sorts as the objective, where players could open 1 of 3 objectives to recieve common, uncommon or rare materials.

 

The above could be done in a way that perhaps promotes playing with a full squad in that, by having multiple members, you're able to open multiple containers within the small window.  As an example, the opening of one, causes a 2 second timer, positioning of lockers is such that there is no way to open more than 1 if you are alone.  Having more people allows for of course more lockers to be opened during the window.

 

Master thief could even be tied into this in some fashion...

 

So for the above, where having more allows you to get more materials, a solo player could still run an alert, but may get less of a reward, while the full party method the rewards are vastly improved, like the figures of 1000 for common, 500 uncommon, 2 rares.  Not that it would be exactly those, but it would be closer to that range, allowing for multiple commons, uncommons, or rares to be opened so players again are customizing what their rewards are.

 

Though this could lead to trolling as a person who runs to the end could open one and prevent additional lockers from being opened, so some more thought should go into this idea.  Essentially however, rather than relegating us to a specific reward, we decide from the pool what we want, and furthermore by having additional players (reinforcing the team aspect) our rewards are greatly increased.  Making alerts something of value to do with a team, but still more rewarding than your standard mission even running it solo.

 

Will need to look into re-running alerts with other people and being able to get large amounts of resources if the resources drop during the level rather than a reward at the end for completion, since with it at the end you can simply remove the person from being able to recieve it multiple times... during the level to recieve items however may require other methods to address this.

 

Edit:  What I'm getting at with this is that, just because a resource has the label "rare" does not actually mean for many that it is a rare and needed resource.  In the case of the "rare" morphics I'm sitting on close to 70+, control modules close to 20 I think, neurodes again, more than I will need, so on and so forth.

 

However, if you asked my clan mates and myself, if we would want 2 control modules, or 1000 polymer bundles for example, every single one of us would want the polymer bundles.  Especially if there is intent to modify (fix) the drops off of bosses in the works.  Recognizing though, that for new players, perhaps these rare materials are more difficult and less available, so from these missions, they would still be able to acquire them if that is what they wanted.  In my example as well, after we've completed research, our desire for what is now "rare" could change, so by allowing the player to decide, you allow for greater customization and a sense of fulfillment from alerts.

 

The amount of RNG in the game should not be increased at this point, at least with things like alerts for example, that can not just be run repeatedly if you don't get what you want out of it.  Likewise by making the reward static, we will be again in a similar position in another month, once everyone is flooded with rare materials, while starved on common/uncommon.

Edited June 18, 2013 by Enot83