Sortie Rework (Repeatable "Endgame" Content)

[(PSN)Ozymandias-13-]

With the addition of Bounties, it's more clear that Sorties need to change. We've known this for a long time, and we've asked for it for a long time. But maybe DE has finally shown how it can be done.

Many of the complaints surrounding Sorties has always been:

1.  The most reasonable 'endgame' standard we have is Sorties (because Raids are a joke), but they are only doable once per day. And depending on the conditions, sometimes less often than even that.
2. The reward table is so diluted, and the rewards you actually want from it are nearly impossible to get.

I think reworking them with some of the framework of Bounties and Void Fissures in mind could make drastic improvements for the players. 

• Give a reward at each tier of the Sortie, similar to Bounties. The first mission will reward a random common reward from the reward table. The second one will award common or uncommon. For the third, honestly, I think common should be removed from the table, guaranteeing an uncommon reward at minimum. They can obviously adjust the reward quantities accordingly to control the flow of those resources.
• Make Sorties repeatable. It's the closest we have to actual endgame, so let us play it! This gives more sustainable content for long time players for the development time and money you've already spent on it. That's just cost efficiency.
• Make the mission objectives change at intervals like Void Fissures (independently?), while still keeping the same 'focus' of that day. Everyone has certain types of objectives or conditions they hate, and sometimes those objectives just aren't worth the effort for the Ayatan Sculpture you're going to get out of it. Yes...you're going to get the Ayatan Sculpture. It would be helpful to know that you can wait an hour and see if it turns into something other than a level 100 Lua Spy after you've finished the first two objectives.

 

[venon23]

i think they shoud be more like ostron bountys

[(XBOX)ultimategamerjr]

The only problem I can see is getting rewards too fast out of sorties. Because currently you can get things like sculptures worth 3.5k endo, and 6k kuva, which is fine once per day, but if you can get a squad and run it every 30m mins then you would be getting a lot more than the devs want you to get.

[(PSN)Ozymandias-13-]

5 minutes ago, (Xbox One)ultimategamerjr said:

The only problem I can see is getting rewards too fast out of sorties. Because currently you can get things like sculptures worth 3.5k endo, and 6k kuva, which is fine once per day, but if you can get a squad and run it every 30m mins then you would be getting a lot more than the devs want you to get.

Ya, I did think about that, which is why i mentioned reworking the reward table accordingly. Sculptures could become uncommon rewards. Remove Endo completely (please). And lower the amount of Kuva you can get from a single reward, among other things. Obviously this is just a start, but they would need to adjust other things for balance as necessary.

[(XBOX)BigLithuanian]

33 minutes ago, (PS4)Riko_113 said:

With the addition of Bounties, it's more clear that Sorties need to change. We've known this for a long time, and we've asked for it for a long time. But maybe DE has finally shown how it can be done.

Many of the complaints surrounding Sorties has always been:

1.  The most reasonable 'endgame' standard we have is Sorties (because Raids are a joke), but they are only doable once per day. And depending on the conditions, sometimes less often than even that.
2. The reward table is so diluted, and the rewards you actually want from it are nearly impossible to get.

I think reworking them with some of the framework of Bounties and Void Fissures in mind could make drastic improvements for the players. 

• Give a reward at each tier of the Sortie, similar to Bounties. The first mission will reward a random common reward from the reward table. The second one will award common or uncommon. For the third, honestly, I think common should be removed from the table, guaranteeing an uncommon reward at minimum. They can obviously adjust the reward quantities accordingly to control the flow of those resources.
• Make Sorties repeatable. It's the closest we have to actual endgame, so let us play it! This gives more sustainable content for long time players for the development time and money you've already spent on it. That's just cost efficiency.
• Make the mission objectives change at intervals like Void Fissures (independently?), while still keeping the same 'focus' of that day. Everyone has certain types of objectives or conditions they hate, and sometimes those objectives just aren't worth the effort for the Ayatan Sculpture you're going to get out of it. Yes...you're going to get the Ayatan Sculpture. It would be helpful to know that you can wait an hour and see if it turns into something other than a level 100 Lua Spy after you've finished the first two objectives.

 

I'm unsure if they would make them repeatable but they should definitely do Stage Rewards. 

[(XBOX)BigLithuanian]

21 minutes ago, (Xbox One)ultimategamerjr said:

The only problem I can see is getting rewards too fast out of sorties. Because currently you can get things like sculptures worth 3.5k endo, and 6k kuva, which is fine once per day, but if you can get a squad and run it every 30m mins then you would be getting a lot more than the devs want you to get.

That's why they shouldn't make it repeatable but the rest of it sounds good because sorties aren't really worth it.

[(PSN)BlitzKeir]

Sorties are already repeatable. You just can't get the rewards a second time. Best way to focus farm when eximus defense/survival/interception pops up.

I like the idea of breaking the rewards into stages. However, you can't borrow the Bounty method directly. Bounties balance their reward output out by pulling from the entire table for the b4, twice for b5. Sorties only have three stages. Personally, I don't want two more sortie stages. This would need careful consideration or else we'll end up showering in rivens.

I question whether flooding the playerbase with rivens is a good thing. It's the last way to make a meaningful amount of plat on console. It's hard to predict whether doubling the number of rivens in circulation would hurt their trade value because of the investment needed to make them worthwhile. It may be a good thing for sellers and buyers. But if enough players perceive that the increased riven/time ratio favors farming, it will have a negative impact on riven trading and we will see a huge depression.

I'd also like to point out that sortie rewards are balanced as averages. You have a 25% chance of getting a riven, which means an average of one riven per four days. I don't agree with a token system, because in order for the system to output rivens at the same rate, you would have to forego the rewards you'd normally get from RNG when you aren't getting a riven. Right now rivens are a closed system. The endo and kuva you need all comes from one place, and kuva farming isn't as important. This is good.

I believe there is a perfect system out there, somewhere in the collective unconscious. Just haven't seen it yet.

Edited December 18, 2017 by (PS4)BlitzKeir

[Worm4real]

I think your suggestions are pretty great. Cycling missions, more rewards those are both really great. However I think the core problem is just how well/unwell the game scales as they just pump up levels. Maybe I'm not at the point where the game feels "good" at 80/100, but it just feels like you reset to where you were at 40 when you get a high enough damage riven, and maybe sometimes you get oneshot.

I think making them repeatable isn't a great idea since it'd just become some soulless farm for people. Maybe some tiered reward tables where you have a different table for 1st 2nd and 3rd+ run of the day?

[(XBOX)BigLithuanian]

58 minutes ago, Worm4real said:

I think your suggestions are pretty great. Cycling missions, more rewards those are both really great. However I think the core problem is just how well/unwell the game scales as they just pump up levels. Maybe I'm not at the point where the game feels "good" at 80/100, but it just feels like you reset to where you were at 40 when you get a high enough damage riven, and maybe sometimes you get oneshot.

I think making them repeatable isn't a great idea since it'd just become some soulless farm for people. Maybe some tiered reward tables where you have a different table for 1st 2nd and 3rd+ run of the day?

I agree. We don't need repeatable sorties, we just need them to be treated like the Cetus Bounties. You get your reward and you wait till the next day. To be good against level 80/100 enemies you just need good weapons and Warframes. My combo is Arca Plasmor and Chroma which is kinda the Meta now but I played Chroma everyday for the last 3 years(or something around that). I was(and still am) a Chroma main long before PoE came out which is why I kinda hate the new meta because the frame I've been using for as long as I've had Warframe may get nerfed.

Edited December 18, 2017 by (XB1)BigLithuanian