Mission Failure Imminent timer is inappropriate for Solo mode.

[notlamprey]

I'm going to try my best to remain calm and polite here, because I just had about an hour of play time go down the toiler and I'm not exactly pleased about it.

Why on earth do we have an absolute upper limit on mission elapsed time even when in solo mode?

Today's Sortie included a third leg of Lua Spy, and I wanted to take my time in Solo mode for various reasons. Doing it by myself means that no failure of mine can possibly inconvenience any other players, and I can spend as much time learning the rooms as is needed to be sure that I don't set off any alarms - or so I thought.

Apparently, there is a hidden timer counting down somewhere that decided to fail my mission as I was in the middle of solving my third console - the music puzzle room. Excuse me for wanting to solve the actual puzzle by myself.

I'm left sitting in a barrel of salt with nothing to show for my time and efforts except one question: why does this timer exist in solo mode?

[_Mozzy_]

Exact same thing happened to me last time it was Lua Spy in sorties and I didn't complete them in time before the reset as a result. 

And I totally agree (unsurprisingly) that it has no place in solo mode 

Edited February 22, 2017 by _Mozzy_

[(PSN)LeBlingKing]

I believe it was a timer designed to prevent idling, or something like that. I read on a similar problem where on an Exterminate mission, some friends were playing Hide and Seek in the tileset and the Mission failed suddenly. Apparently, if you don't exterminate at least one enemy before a certain time, the mission will fail.

 

It has happened to me before where I would use the Void Defense tileset for gun syncs, but then the Defense point would start itself up. Same goes with the Survival mission terminal. Goes off after a certain time. Annoying as hell.

[notlamprey]

Just now, _Mozzy_ said:

Exact same thing happened to me last time it was Lua Spy in sorties and I didn't complete them in time before the reset as a result.

I can understand why such a timer might be deemed necessary for very specific situations, perhaps to prevent edge cases of griefing, but it's so unwelcome and unhelpful almost everywhere else.

Why is it there?

My game client is regularly checking in with content servers or... some kind of server, isn't it? Isn't that what "Network Not Responding" errors are all about, when that system of regular check-ins isn't functioning correctly? When I'm in Solo Matchmaking, what other timer could you possibly need to be keeping tabs on me?

2 minutes ago, (PS4)LeBlingKing69 said:

I believe it was a timer designed to prevent idling, or something like that. I read on a similar problem where on an Exterminate mission, some friends were playing Hide and Seek in the tileset and the Mission failed suddenly. Apparently, if you don't exterminate at least one enemy before a certain time, the mission will fail.

It has happened to me before where I would use the Void Defense tileset for gun syncs, but then the Defense point would start itself up. Same goes with the Survival mission terminal. Goes off after a certain time. Annoying as hell.

If killing an enemy resets the timer, why is that the condition for resetting the timer? We already have that weird little "AFK detection" timer, unless it was changed or removed at some point. This all seems so pointlessly bothersome for the player.

In my case tonight, I killed quite a few enemies on the way from console B to console C. Console C contained the "music puzzle," which you'll have to solve unless you take a shortcut (at least, I think there's a shortcut). Either way, I wanted to solve that puzzle on my own and it was taking a while because I was just struggling to get used to the concept. That'll happen when you only do these missions once ever several months, I guess.

If it's taking me forever and a day to complete a mission in Solo mode, let me take forever and a day to complete a mission in Solo mode. I'm not putting anyone else out by doing this, and you're ruining my ability to appreciate all the sweet art / sound / animation in this game when you call time on me like that.

Does DE want us to stop and appreciate all the hard work and neat stuff that goes into this game, or do they not? Where and when are we supposed to be able to stop and smell the roses?

[Valiant]

I don't take that long in missions when solo but I can completely see how this ruins those who choose to do so. I also do not see why such a feature exists.

15 minutes ago, (PS4)LeBlingKing69 said:

 I read on a similar problem where on an Exterminate mission, some friends were playing Hide and Seek in the tileset

Hah, that sounds sort of fun.

[AdunSaveMe]

25 minutes ago, (PS4)LeBlingKing69 said:

I believe it was a timer designed to prevent idling, or something like that. I read on a similar problem where on an Exterminate mission, some friends were playing Hide and Seek in the tileset and the Mission failed suddenly. Apparently, if you don't exterminate at least one enemy before a certain time, the mission will fail.

Another example of systems that fail to detect genuine idling. First not moving means you're AFK, now not killing something means you don't exist.

But aside from that, why it has to prevent idling in solo missions is beyond me. They're not hosted by the server, they're hosted by you. You could be offline once you enter the mission and it would play exactly the same until you got to the end, where you need to be connected. I've done it multiple times.

So you're not taking up server load compared to squads of 4 who sit in survival for three hours. You're not harming other players' experience by not killing enemies. You're not cheating. You're not failing the objective. What's the issue?

Edited February 22, 2017 by AdunSaveMe