Operation Arid Fear Observations

[Razorfire]

Once again, here I am to critique a DE event.

 

I did this with the Fomorian event and was met with mixed reviews, some quite abusive. 

 

Oh well, some opinions are just not all that noteworthy, let's move along, shall we?

 

I liked the idea of introducing a new planet (moon really) to the system map in an objective oriented way that required as many players as possible, however, the means has it's pros and cons. 

 

Gathering components to build a void key had it's appeal, especially when keeping the Void Key requirements low, but it could be done solo mode, easily. The same could be said for the Void missions that followed. In this event, haste was the key in all the missions, and Volts were wildly popular for it. Some missions could be completed in seconds, rather than minutes, never mind minutes instead of tens of minutes. Keyword: RUSH!

 

I admit it, I'm guilty of it. But when the natives solemnly rub blue mud in their belly buttons, I will do so just as solemnly.

 

I sort of get the idea of random point awards for the void missions, but I don't think it was all that effective in terms of cooperative play. All that was needed to get the max points possible was to just show up and hang around until the objective was completed.

 

I also noted the uncommon and rare material drops from containers and lockers... didn't even slow teams down. If the drop wasn't in the player's rush path, it was ignored, except for blue orbs, and those were candy for the Volts. The Void Storms were a HUGE bonus as well.

 

Some problems technically were a bit confusing. A couple of prominent ones were the Scouts turning invisible, getting stuck in walls, floors. The waypoint system was a bit... odd. In some cases, Lotus would encourage the hunt to go on in one breath and in the next direct us to extraction.

 

Perhaps having some players do some alpha testing as an acid test? Say, random invites to very active players that also report bugs to 'smoke test' before a major deployment? There were some bugs that should have been obvious, identified and fixed quickly.  

 

The event seemed to only encourage usery and begging, rather than cooperative play, and Region chat was flooded with team requests and was a constant battle to shove those people into Recruiting.

 

And I hate to say it, I could come up with ideas to game the standings system for high scores, especially for clans. Sorry guys, I don't buy those high scores. I don't buy those scores by the top players. Statistically, they're just not possible in the short amount of time and should be examined to hunt down bugs and exploits.

 

But that's just me. I guess looking for sources of data for root cause analysis is in my blood.

 

Overall, I'd give this event moderate scores, with low scores in terms of encouraging cooperative play.

 

Here's what I would have done...

 

Missions for the event should have assigned separate objectives for each player while ALL objectives for team must be completed to declare success, with the exception of players dropping out unexpectedly. At the end of the mission, objectives must match the number of players present. This allows for solo play as well as team play. This will have a significant impact on game play and will eliminate some issues regarding the simply AMAZING high scores for clans and individuals. It will also encourage cooperative play significantly. 

 

The point system should encourage racking up kills and the number of drops picked up, say... 25% to 35% of the points should be influenced by kills and drops, as a group. This will encourage cooperative play as well as cutting down on the potential rushes significantly. The size of the team, of course, should influence the number of points awarded.

 

Well, those are my thoughts. 

 

Good hunting, Tenno!

[Archistopheles]

This will encourage cooperative play as well as cutting down on the potential rushes significantly.

 

 

I asked someone else making the same suggestion this same question:

 

Everything DE has added has favored rushers, with the exception of secret rooms, which then had their drop rates lowered. What exactly makes you think that DE is against rushing when everything they've added encourages it?

[Razorfire]

I asked someone else making the same suggestion this same question:

 

Everything DE has added has favored rushers, with the exception of secret rooms, which then had their drop rates lowered. What exactly makes you think that DE is against rushing when everything they've added encourages it?

 

Well, you don't know until you try things out. I think DE devs are experimenting and frankly, Steve has said that cooperative play is their priority. So, why not make the suggestions? Only the squeaky wheel gets the grease...

[Marabitos]

Look at the frames being added as well. We arent seeing any real fatties anymore. Everyone is built to run for the most part. The majority view it as "hurry up and get done" while I tend to see it more as intense fast gameplay. I tend to kill everything in sight as Im normally leveling something up. But most people just run through.