It's Time For A Change To The Alert System.

[Cawkslapjones]

Right, so work is very slow for me during the winters, and I have tons of free time. I've got a 2 year old daughter and a wife who plays this with me, but during this time of the year I really have not much to do outside of the house. Being that I'm married to a gamer, she stoicly accepts my misstress: the computer.

We both have been watching for weeks for alerts to pop up, knocking them out the second we see them. There have been a few Catalysts and Reactors that came up, but mostly during times when we sleep or were at work. We read about them on the forums. It sucks, but that's the way it is. However today, we both had no work, and spent turns on the computer watching for alerts to pop up. The one... singular time throughout the entire day when neither of us were watching it, there was a catalyst BP alert. I don't know how long the alert was up, but it was certainly not one of the longer ones. In fact, in all the time that we both have been playing, there has only been one Catalyst we have successfully gotten.

I cannot tell you how annoyed we both are, because not only does it mean that this one slipped past us, but that it's gonna be a good week before another one even comes, and it's undoubtably going to be one that happens while we're in bed. I already spend far too much time at the computer as it is. Getting 3 Ember helmets in 2 days and the same artifacts over and over in the hope that we can get a SINGLE catalyst or reactor is a side issue.

Now, I am not opposed to spending money on games at all. In fact I routinely do during the summer months when work is plentiful. I've spent on HoN, LoL, BLC and a few others in recent history. But I refuse to pay for a "free" game that basically forces you to pay. The bullS#&$ "free to play" MMO systems like what SW:ToR and WAR have instantly turn me off, and I won't even play them. I love to spend my money on a game that doesn't demand that I do so.

I'm already struggling with how the limits on the frames and weapons are, having only a few before I have to sell off one, and I know the ball and chain feels the same way. We take the time to eat dinner, and actually spend a little time with our kid for less for than an hour, and now we are both angry about it due to this system being so broken.

I enjoy this game quite a bit, it's (IMO) the most beautiful free to play game out there. The graphics are truly stunning, and it's a pleasure to play. The fact that it takes several re-logs for us to see each other online is annoying, but we can deal with it. However ATM I'm feeling so disgusted that I'm wondering if it's not time to look for something else to play, and when the busy summer months come and I actually have money to spend... I don't know that I will be wanting to spend it simply because I feel I'm forced to do so. The difference between a supercharged weapon or frame is so enormous, it's crippling to play one that is not. There's tons of other free to play games that get by entirely by selling off cosmetics and playing on the impatience of a player who won't farm or grind to get what they want. Why can't this game do that too?

It's been brought up many times in the past, but to my knowledge DE hasn't even hinted at changing how the system works. League of Legends wouldn't be the huge cash cow that it is if they had adopted a similar strategy. It would be easy to implement something where doing alerts (even non ? ones) to give you a currency to buy things that normally only come from a single run. I don't think I'd be alone in saying that doing 10 alerts for enough currency to buy a single BP would be considered a blessing, if we could just get the ones we want.

As it stands, it's RNG on top of RNG, that depends entirely on you being RIGHT next to your computer at all times. Mod farming and all that can be frustrating, but at least you can just queue up and try again immediately after you just did a half hour mission for 2 whites and a green for a weapon you don't even own. How do you expect to expand the player base with the system as it currently is? The label "free to play" is highly deceptive. It's like WAR saying you can play for free as long as you want... so long as you never go over level 19 in a game where the cap is 50.

Is there any change in sight?

[[DE]Rebecca]

It's been brought up many times in the past, but to my knowledge DE hasn't even hinted at changing how the system works.

Please refer here for an Index of our responses: https://forums.warframe.com/index.php?/topic/8575-the-tenno-index-read-first-read-often/#entry67118

The topic poster summed up our replies with:

This is not a guarantee or promise that things will change, but they are aware of the concerns and it can be addressed in the future.

Thank you for creating this thread to let us know how you fit into the emerging issue.

[Bios]

TL;DR nah, joking :)

I agree 100 %, and not only because i'm the ball and chain aforementioned.

That alert system is already taking way too much of my time, this is borderline ridiculous.

And i like the idea of a special currency given by alerts.

:This is not a guarantee or promise that things will change, but they are aware of the concerns and it can be addressed in the future.

And that is precious :)

We might be aware (or not) that people may be or may not be complaining and that there might be an issue or may be not, but be sure that it could probaly be adressed or not, in the future or maybe never.

Thank you for your comprehension

Edited February 8, 2013 by Bios

[G3rman]

And that is precious :)

We might be aware (or not) that people may be or may not be complaining and that there might be an issue or may be not, but be sure that it could probaly be adressed or not, in the future or maybe never.

Thank you for your comprehension

She's a community manager, not a game dev. Don't hate on her. If you have played any game you should know that change with such a major part of the game does not come easily, or quickly.

[Bios]

She's a community manager, not a game dev. Don't hate on her. If you have played any game you should know that change with such a major part of the game does not come easily, or quickly.

I'm not hating, i'm stating that this sentence doesn't give any insight to wether or not something will be done.

[G3rman]

I'm not hating, i'm stating that this sentence doesn't give any insight to wether or not something will be done.

That's the point though, that is what they say when they don't have any current plans to change it. Same for any other game.

[Cawkslapjones]

Look, I understand that you guys are already getting feedback on the issue. And I know that you actually read the forums, or else I wouldn't bother posting.

I also don't want my frustration to turn into a backlash of sorts simply because you actually bothered to respond (which is nice, because in a lot of games, those in charge or who have insight into the pipline don't even bother. In HoN for example, they just have player Mods act as a Gestapo who almost instantly lock all threads that they don't like the look of...)

However, I will say that this is very much a non-answer that you have given. The thread, and the summation are not made by anyone who works at DE. And, the response given is basically to say "Yeah, we know some people don't like it." Further, I'm not sure I'd call it an "emerging issue" since the annoyance of not being able to supercharge anything goes back as far as the closed beta has been tossing out keys. It did lead to this slightly better system, but as my post is intending to show, I personally don't feel it's enough. I can't speak for more than myself and the 3 people I play with, but I do see threads like this, or complaints similar to mine on a fairly regular basis. What I have not seen, was an actual response from someone in the know. Quoting what another player has summed up doesn't really answer anything.

Obviously I can't "demand an answer" but I can say that it's getting to the breaking point for me, and I'm a pretty patient person who accepts that nothing is truly "free."

[Bios]

That's the point though, that is what they say when they don't have any current plans to change it. Same for any other game.

If they had no plan to change it, they wouldn't even acknowledge that there is a problem, "Like in any other game".

Now, a what and when would be great. Can you at least agree on that?

[[DE]Steve]

Hey guys - keep in mind this is the very first go at the alerts system. There will always be skinner boxes/RNG in games like this, but I agree its very frustrating.

Things we like about the Alerts:

-The small sense of 'life' it adds to the game. Missions are coming and going, even when you're offline. The sense of excitement when a new one pops up.

-One of the few 'one-time-only' items we track in the game, so we don't accidentally give 1 billion copies of item X that we are trying to sell for money to supporters of the game.

Things we do not like about Alerts and thus will be changing:

-How rare the cool stuff is.

-How there is a lack of anticipation (e.g. it would be nice to get some intel on upcoming alerts so you don't need to be ever-vigilant).

-How many are generated with lame rewards.

I get the frustration and I think we're defending the CONCEPT more than the shoddy, first-pass implementation. :)

Hang in there, we get the message, loud and clear!