Alert Timers - Working As Intended?

[Lulzes]

I always assumed that the Alert timers indicated the time in which you had to accept the mission to be rewarded, an assumption that was reinforced when I read about Alerts on the (admittedly unofficial) Wiki. I didn't see any in-game notice that would contradict this idea. The Wiki seems well-informed and used by a lot of people, so I thought that (like many Wikis) any errors would be quickly corrected.

 

However, I recently took an Alert mission but wasn't rewarded. I filed a ticket and was told that I hadn't completed it before the timer expired, and that the Alert timers indicate the time in which the mission must be completed, not the time within which it must be accepted.

 

Is the general player base aware of this? For example, a defense mission with a 40-odd minute timer and 15 waves is quite common, and many people who take this Alert mission with only 15-20 minutes left on the timer must not be able to complete it in time. However the Wiki admins don't seem aware of this, and I can't find any other reference to Alert timers here on the forums.

 

Personally I find it more logical that the timers would indicate the mission acceptance limit. In addition, 15-wave defense missions don't seem to have longer timers than other missions (such as Raid or Capture) that can take only a few minutes.

[Angius]

What? I've always thought, that it wass all about the time when you can accept the mission... I started some alerts when there was like 2-5 minutes till the end, I did it multiple times, and I always got my reward...
Either someone from the team answering our tickets is lying, or there is something weird going on...

Edited August 6, 2013 by Angius

[Paradoxbomb]

That's strange, I've accepted missions at the last minute and it still registered as completed. Perhaps this was a bug? Either way it's worth mentioning to DE.

[Vaskadar]

That's strange, I've accepted missions at the last minute and it still registered as completed. Perhaps this was a bug? Either way it's worth mentioning to DE.

Yeah, it worked for me when there was a control module alert going on before. I was in solo and had paused the game.

[Lulzes]

That's strange, I've accepted missions at the last minute and it still registered as completed. Perhaps this was a bug? Either way it's worth mentioning to DE.

 

I did mention it do DE, I ticketed it through the Support page. It was the GM who told me this.

[Lulzes]

I asked the GM for permission to quote him to a Wiki admin so that the admin could change the Wiki page, but he refused. I asked him for an official source for this information and he said there is none. In fact he's been pretty unhelpful throughout the course of the ticket, and keeps setting it at "resolved".

 

Is there any way to escalate a ticket so that someone else looks at it? Or another way to contact DE to get official confirmation? I'm starting to wonder whether this particular GM just can't be bothered to go through the paperwork to grant me the reward I deserve from completing the Alert.

[Angius]

Send PM to any of the team members: Rebecca, Steve...

And - just to be sure - take screenshots of those answers. Nobody know, what will happen...

Edited August 7, 2013 by Angius

[direcyphre]

It's always been a timer until you could no longer accept the mission. Played enough alerts to have witnessed it myself, unless it was recently changed without notification. However, I've run into bugs where if someone else was playing that particular node for the first time or had already completed the Alert it would revert to a regular mission and not give a reward.

[kevbob]

i've run out of alert time several times and not gotten the reward.  i assumed it was working as counter-intuitively designed.

[Angius]

There is a bug with not receiving rewards from alerts. It's caused by non-engolish language version.

[Lulzes]

There is a bug with not receiving rewards from alerts. It's caused by non-engolish language version.

 

Well, I'm running the EN version.

[Tsukinoki]

@Lulzes

Take screen shots of the discussion between you and the GM and ask DE_Steve about it. I've done far too many alerts that I accept in the last minute and it takes me 5 to 10 minutes to finish the mission and I always get the rewards. That GM might need to be reported to DE_Steve so that they can straighten things out.

Especially with how shady that guy seems, not allowing you to quote him or stating where he got that info. I seriously think he's being a bit malicious here.

Also DE_Steve might be able to grant you that item that you missed out on.

Edited August 8, 2013 by Tsukinoki

[Lulzes]

@Lulzes

Take screen shots of the discussion between you and the GM and ask DE_Steve about it. I've done far too many alerts that I accept in the last minute and it takes me 5 to 10 minutes to finish the mission and I always get the rewards. That GM might need to be reported to DE_Steve so that they can straighten things out.

Especially with how shady that guy seems, not allowing you to quote him or stating where he got that info. I seriously think he's being a bit malicious here.

Also DE_Steve might be able to grant you that item that you missed out on.

 

You know, I thought maybe I'd rubbed him up the wrong way or said something to offend him, but his replies have all been very unhelpful, if not combative, and I'm starting to wonder whether you're right, although I can't imagine a reason for him to be malicious except that he doesn't want to go through the hassle of awarding me the reward. I've PMed Steve about it in the hopes of clearing it up.

 

To be honest, I can't even remember what the reward was, and I'm more interested in clearing up how this mechanic works than in getting a reward.

 

And yes, I've taken screenshots. I am also planning to test the mechanic myself - I'll wait until an Alert only has 2 minutes left, and then I'll take the mission and see whether I get the reward or not. I'm pretty sure I've taken Alerts late in the timer myself and been rewarded, and the experiences of the posters in this thread seem to back that up.

[Tsukinoki]

@Lulzes

The only thing that the alert timer expiring prevents you from doing is inviting other people to join you in the mission. Once that timer is up no one else can come in and help you. So thats really the only reason you would want to take an alert mission with more time on it, more time for allies/friends to hop in.

Beyond that the alert timer doesn't affect anything. Otherwise there would be a huge outcry from the people who jump into a defense alert of 15 waves with only 1 or 2 minutes left on the clock. And the lack of those threads is rather telling.

[Flynns]

I have experienced this same bug before with a vauban blueprint. By any chance did it make you join anothers lobby, either waiting to start, or mid game?

[Lulzes]

I have experienced this same bug before with a vauban blueprint. By any chance did it make you join anothers lobby, either waiting to start, or mid game?

 

No, as the timer was ending soon I decided to go it alone. No-one else joined the game, so I finished it alone.

[direcyphre]

Pretty sure it has nothing to do with the timer. There are other things that could happen to prevent you from receiving an Alert reward, from not having the node unlocked, to overlapping Alerts (that I've seen more than once), and just a generic alert bug where it didn't give a reward. Usually if you're are in chat you'll hear people chime in about it, as it usually happens to a lot of people. Doesn't happen often, but it does happen and there isn't much to be done about it.

 

Also bear in mind that the way in which you phrase a question is equally important in getting the answer you are after when it comes to support tickets.

[magusat999]

I've had that happen a few times, where an alert suddenly turns into a normal mission and I'm like "Where is my Alert prize???". I never thought it might be a bug, but it seems like it is because 99.99% of the time even if I accept at the last minute I play as a normal alert. I would definitely follow up on clearing this issue as sugested by the other posters.

[Lulzes]

Pretty sure it has nothing to do with the timer. There are other things that could happen to prevent you from receiving an Alert reward, from not having the node unlocked, to overlapping Alerts (that I've seen more than once), and just a generic alert bug where it didn't give a reward. Usually if you're are in chat you'll hear people chime in about it, as it usually happens to a lot of people. Doesn't happen often, but it does happen and there isn't much to be done about it.

 

Also bear in mind that the way in which you phrase a question is equally important in getting the answer you are after when it comes to support tickets.

 

 

I've had that happen a few times, where an alert suddenly turns into a normal mission and I'm like "Where is my Alert prize???". I never thought it might be a bug, but it seems like it is because 99.99% of the time even if I accept at the last minute I play as a normal alert. I would definitely follow up on clearing this issue as sugested by the other posters.

 

The problem is that the GM is not saying it's a bug, he's saying it's working as intended, which goes against most players' expectations and information on the Wiki. I know the Wiki is unofficial (as the GM pointed out to me) but it's indicative of most players' concept of how Alert timers work.

[Tsukinoki]

@Lulzes

Further, while the wiki may have slightly incorrect information it rarely has blatantly wrong information, especially about something like alert missions which is tested pretty much all the time.

Hopefully DE_Steve gets back to you soon and this can get resolved.

[Lulzes]

Well, I tested it last night with the Trinity helmet Alert as I already had that item so I could afford to not win it. Joined the alert with 3m to go, and it was a 15 wave defense mission. 25m later and I got the reward. Took screenshots and attached them to my ticket.