The Furious Angels
FA Discussion => General => Topic started by: Anonymous on April 18, 2005, 09:44:52 am
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quote from Kiwwa on the main forums,
The mission system is now dependant on amount of time spent in the mission area, for example; If I spend 10 minutes standing still in a mission area, I get about 110,000 xp and 78,000info, where-as if I rush through it using some spy abilities, I get about 20,000-30,000xp and about 10,000 info.
http://mxoboards.warnerbros.com/forums1/thread.jspa?threadID=3474&tstart=0
seems they did reduce xp a lot, with this latest patch. it may now be more exp/info to farm mobs of your level around districts... which mean more bumping into reds... which makes enum even more hostile.
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So it would make more sense to stand in the mission area for an extra 3 minutes, rather than run another mission taking 5 minutes with long distances perhaps.
Well, need to get the calculator out to make sure.
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horray for the devs! :(
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funny. the way they seem to fix all the problems with the mission system is to make you not want to do a mission.
just tested that out for myself, and it is indeed true. ran a retrieval mission that would net me at least 200k exp, 140k info. got 93k exp, and 40k info. did another mission with the same settings and spent an extra 3 mins in each mission area before completing the objectives. i got 178k exp, and 77k info.
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I hate doing missions as it is....but there isn't much else to do in the game. I was up until 5am this morning just trying to reach my goal of lvl 36. What a freakin' pain!
There needs to be a more fulfilling method of gaining exp than just grinding mission after mission after mission after mission after......well, you get the idea. I know that this is a problem with most MMO's, but I know there has to be a way around this.
If I had hair, it'd be enough to make me pull it out. Maybe I'll grow my hair just so I can pull it out....jeez.
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Yep. You get full xp and info if you spend enough time in the mission area.
So... the worse you are at the game and the longer it takes you to complete missions, the more payoff you get.
I know that I personally reward inefficiency in the people I hire every chance I get... I mean hell, if it takes a plumber a month to fix my sink, I usually toss him an extra G or two.
Seriously though, it's not a good fix, but it does at least attempt to address the leeching and doing missions too fast issues - I mean that they recognize a problem for once is a bonus, right? Oh well. Sucks for everyone (yes including level 50's. We're poor. I have 482 info on me. And now we need to stand around to get unpoor. Seems like they want everyone to stand around acting like a prostitute. Maybe they'll implement street corner xp next. Wootie woot!)
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gah... The devs made a huge mistake.... With a ton of level 50's around now, this is going to make the game no fun...
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Which reminds me.
They did fix the mission npc names that they broke last patch.
You can trade things in your hotbar. Like swap location 3 and 4.
It seems that the lag issues with the hardline whoyah (you either know what I mean or you don't) has been fixed - having said that, I know I just doomed myself to experience it for the rest of the day.
Mission NPCs seem slightly more alert, but slightly easier to defeat.
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you know, i actually liked the broken npc tags. it made things a bit more interesting. you went into a mission, and didn't know what you were up against. so when i attacked the first one i saw, there was a hacker attacking me in the background that i should of taken out first. needless to say, i died because i couldn't figure out which one was the hacker.
the swap location on the hotbar worked for me before this patch, but the npc's do seem a bit more alert. before i could walk by them without aggro'ing for some reason. not the case with the few mission ive ran this morning.
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NOOOOOO I was so close now getting to 50 will take a week. Im 48 and a half damn i should have done an all nighter to atleast hit 49. *crys*
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Leave it to the devs to "fix" a problem in the worst possible way. I swear they like making our lives a living hell. Isn't a game supposed to be fun? I've already got a full-time job. I'm not looking for something for nothing, but damn.....
Seeing as there isn't much to do besides PvP and there are so many high levels out there, it kinda sux that they are making it even more difficult for lower levels to compete by making it more difficult for them to catch up to be able to hold their own in PvP.
I would never condone it, but this is the reason some players actually look for and use exploits. No one likes "the grind".
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Well, I spent quite a bit of time in the Sakura construct yesterday and the boss was giving 60k xp (I'm level 40). There were about 4 of us killing him about every 5 minutes...so this might be an alternate way to get xp, but the info is not nearly as good. Just make sure you have atleast one hacker and you'll cycle through the kills pretty fast.
Seems like the thing to do now may be Assassination missions with some tanks, and do alot of mission item hunting. Unfortunately for us spies Deadly Aim is an info drainer, so its hard to level secondary loadouts like tanks. Looks like I might have to permanently switch to karate for a while to run missions :(
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sigh............the nerfed to much and definlty to late..........i wish all of us around 30 goodluck getting to 50. Ive played enough to be lvl 50 but i could never find teams before. Now i will never have mission teams.
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Well yay about the hotbar, but it would be nice if I did not have to reset it(and my passive abilities for that matter) every time I jacked in or adjusted loadouts.
Meh about the mission xp fix, at least they gave it a go. You can not be to critical of the short bus kids when they do their best. Looks like kill missions will be the way to go from here on out.
Anyone know if it is per person or per team though? What I mean is, if one member of a team sits in mission area for 5 minutes, does everyone get the xp bonus?
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Sucks for everyone that isn't 50. Suck for everyone that is 50 and wants to persue many classes.
As far as the mission time crap well its just that crap. But like it was said, it was a fix none the less. But when you figure it in, it is probably the same xp if you do 3 missions in 3 mins or stay in one mission for 3 mins. I guess we should run some trials maybe.
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*Sob
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Yeah, testing sounds in order.
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I can't dig up exactly where I read this quote (in quite a few places actually) but they said one of their biggest goals was to allow for a player to jack in for at least half an hour to an hour and within that time period feel like they've done something.
With this new patch, I can understand what the devs were trying to do.... but boy did they do it the wrong way. All interest in missions has flown out the building for me, and honestly that was a great aspect of enjoyment while I was jacked into the game.
This nerf isn't enough to make me cancel my account, but I am sorely dissappointed and if things keep going downhill like this (I mean the fun factor of the game in general) then I may just do that. After all, it is pointless (and kinda dumb) to pay for a game that you don't even enjoy anymore.
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yeah lithium hit it......of course no on ewho is lvl 50 will hve much complaining unless there trying to get info. NOw for us mid lvls we will look like fools taking up to 2-3 momths trying to get to 50.
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After listening in TS i noticed what i knew would happen. Lvl 45-50 saying that this needed to be done for the long run. Which i totally agree with but they went about this way wrong anyone to say other wise is lieing to themselves. I played near 4hours for 1bar thats rediculas tedious boring lvling that didnt in my eyes add any content to this game. A gamne that has a ton of content already. I think the events add enough content along with the evrday stuff. If not for putting hours and hours into events i would already be close to 50. All those times peopel said dont run missions collect play the event. Now we pay for it and i have toi sit in teamspeak....while lvl 50's tell us this should have been done.
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Myth, I think we all agree that it was to easy to get to lvl 50 and something did indeed need to be done. We have been saying that since the first week of release. However I also think most of us agree that this was the wrong way to fix things. It is easier for the higher lvls to look at it in a positive light since they have alot of the grind behind them and it does not effect them quite as much. With all the bugs, problems, and "sploitz" we have had to deal with lately, it is to be expected that those who can put a positive spin on a half-ass fix will do just that. It at least shows the devs are trying, which is reassuring to many of us. Everyone who is now 50 worked hard to get where they are, so there is no need to feel negativity towards them. They are still on your side after all.
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petition time....
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this is enough that I may quit the game.
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After reviewing posts made by AntiVirus in the Broadcast Depth forum on the Official Boards, this actually is not what it seems to be. Hard Missions are not a consistent 30 minute wait. Certain objectives in the mission are assigned an allotted time, so each objective has its own timeframe. So it won't always be 30 minutes. Could be 25, 18, whatever.
Also, assuming that you complete a Hard Assassination Mission that pays out 300,000 xp when you do it in 30 minutes, then if you do the same mission in 3 minutes, you get 30,000 xp...however, if you continue to run missions at 3 minutes a pop, you will end up with the same 300k xp no matter what. However, I think there is a screw up in my math, as someone on the forums pointed out that if you sit there and grind the Be-Jesus out of missions, you actually end up with more experiencing by completing the missions as quickly as humanly possible for 30 minutes.
Anyway, check out the post made by AntiVirus in Broadcast Depth, it clears up a lot of things. This was rather needed, as far as adjustments go. However, I think that they could have done a better job at designing it, but all things considered, not too bad.
And before you assume it's because I'm high level, I'm actually only level 29, so I'm feelin ya', Dawgz.
Peace Out
"Vires of Vehemens Angelus"
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Ok, I sat in each part of a three part mission at 10 minutes apiece for a total mission time of 30 minutes Total Given EXP = 280 000, At 2 blips filled it would take me 20 hours to complete level 42 at that rate.
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ohhhhh poop....
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ummmm proffesor i think you have me wrong....im not putting down lvl 50's ...all i was tryign to say is you arent goign to see how bad it is till you try it it takes near 4-6 hours per lvl at lvl 27.........
"i drop it forget i said n-e-thing about it, this is why i stay quiet becuase i cant make a comment about the game without someone turning it into an attack...adn yes ive played alot to i havent got in as many groups and did a lot of solo work"
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*takes a spork and stabs his hand*
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mmm hand.... meh, i'm glad they did something about the exp,this coming from someone mid/low level (27ish). I was afraid this game was becoming what all MMO's are... Grind fests. I hate the grind always have, always will. At least now hopefully people will go and actually kill things and have fun doing there missions rather than just doing it braindead style going from one mission area to the next hauling ass.
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Can I just get 3 more levels so im 20 then ill get the mother coat...look like Neo....get made fun of.....praise how I look....get made fun of....and be a happy Neo wannabe?
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No... bad neo wannabe... bad.
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Know yourself....be yourself.
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Only one outburst is sufficent for this atrocity:
BALLS!!!!
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AntiVirus, a dev, started a thread on Broadcast Depth about this. They've been paying close attention. Here is my feedback:
"If you are trying to correct the "sweetspot" exploit, I would suggest creating a penalty for declining a mission. Maybe if you decline two in a row you get reputation and XP taken away from you. This would keep people from re-rolling missions. As for them spawning in the same building, you just need to code it so that can't happen. I can't tell you how to do that, but I'm assuming it would be something similar to disabling that building from being a target location for that group once a mission has spawned there once.
If you think that people can fly through missions too fast using shortcuts, you need to add more objectives. For instance, you could add the objective "Search for potential clues" or something like that that makes you search a certain number of desks. Or "Kill any witnesses" after you have to search a computer. Other than that, all you can do is cut out the spy tree, the speed clothing, and anything else that you consider a "shortcut". I assume that if they are in the game, they are there to help. You are currently punishing people for earning the speed clothing or mastering the spy tree.
The problem with the new system is that time does NOT equal quality. Now you're just telling me that I should complete the mission objective and sit down for a cup of tea after I'm done until my time is up. AntiVirus, I would suggest grouping up with a team of players to get a REAL feel for how much time is needed. In a team of 6, I can kill everyone and search everything at a very quick pace. Of course, the problem is that you are FORCING me to do this when it is not a mission objective. If you want to require us to search every desk and kill every mob, find a way to make it an objective for every mission.
Personally, I think standard missions should be done away with anyway. The true flaw is that you have missions there at everyone's fingertips. Of course, that's a pretty drastic change. Add objectives, create penalties for declining, fix the coding of mission spawning, but don't put everything on a timer. It's like stealing from the rich and giving to the poor. Reward the slow gamers and punish the fast ones. Do this, and people lose the motivation to play. Why improve when I earn less the better I get? I can kill mobs quicker! Oh wait, I'll earn less XP if I do that. I can turn invisible and bypass my enemies in Infiltrator missions! Oh wait, I'll earn less XP for that. I can run faster now! Oh wait, I'll earn less XP for that. My hard work has paid off and I can run missions twice as fast as I could when I was weak. Oh wait, I'm still getting the same amount of XP. Improvement doesn't exist. Wow...now that I think about it, the Matrix has turned to communism!"
http://mxoboards.warnerbros.com/forums1/thread.jspa?threadID=3569&start=0&tstart=0
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sounds good in theory....
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> Tbone why are you even posting here, you have been
> level 50 since the first or second week.
I just hit lvl 47 yesterday, so either you are thinking of a different Tbone or you are making things up to try to prove some point that has no validation. What level are you, EvilMonkey?
pwned
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hahha pwnedzord
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Now you're just telling me that I should complete the mission objective and sit down for a cup of tea after I'm done until my time is up.
Hahahha. We did that yesterday..
Remember our little tea parties? Unforgiven, Vonce, Khronik? =P
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OK boys (ohyeah and girls).
This is my opinion on the matter... ready or not.
Do I agree with the nerf? Yes. *gasp* *rabble-rabble* *yelliing* *bullshit!*
OK ok... quiet quiet. This is the thing. Do I agree witht their timing? Hell no.
Yesterday, when I learned about the nerf I went ahead to try some missions. Solo, tiny, hard, and I went through the missions one by one. Starting with assasination.
Each one I got full XP and money. Why? Here's the trick. Turn off download mission map for one! I think that stupid thing needs to be nerfed anyway. Takes most of the challenge out of missions. Each mission I made sure to search each room for loot which at the end of the day I sold for a lot of money to vendors. I killed everything that came in my path which also gave me experience and loot and actually read the mission logs and tried to follow the "story" as repetative as it will eventually get. I rather enjoyed myself. I noticed lots of cool things I didn't before. And I got a crapload of usefull stuff. Tons of guns to be sold at the vendor, in one mission I got 5 health pill 5.0's which I gave to tivod cause needed them. Everyone once in a while you'll get nice enhanced items too.
Does it slow my experience? Yes. BUT IT SHOULD! We should not have level 50's in two weeks guys. I know it sucks some FA are already there ..... I wish I were there... but that's how the cookie crumbles. You should not be getting a level an hour let alone a level a day unless you are cracnking for 8-16 hours. I know this pisses some of you off but you have to realize that this game would not be fun if everyone were level 50.
The fact of the matter is... lith and warner did not have 3 years to beta test this game. We have to understand this because of marketing. In three years most people would would not have remembered what the matrix was. We are paying for that and enjoying this at the same time.
What does this whole mission thing mean? It means get your collective asses out of the mission areas. lol. GO PLAY and STOP WORKING.
Yesterday... I went around to a construct which was very awesome. Got me a cool manson rifle (that cool electric rifle from zero one)... Me and ProfessorL dueled and learned how to allow him to kick my ass undefeted for a while... (bastard) ran around having fun with some pvp... went and hunted collector items to get me a new set of collector dual subs which also gave me experience and money and loot which I can sell for a lot of money....
See... a lot of you feel that the only way to level is through missions. While this is the most efficient way to level... try some of the other ways. For those of you with a level 20 character without any of the cool uber dungeon loot or haven't even gone to any of the constructs... don't bother with level 50 obsession. My advice to you is play the game.
I know it sounds wierd comign from me. Am I level 50? no. I made level 41 yesterday. That's right... in all that not mission running I did gain experience.
My point in all this unorganized thought should be 1. let them to finally attempt to balance the game. It sucks but better late then never. and 2. enjoy the damn game. Take your time. Read everything play with everything... look for stuff enjoy stuff. If you rush through... you'll realize that you've missed a lot. I was so obsessed with getting level 50 that I didn't even get to see Yuki. :(
That makes me sad. I wish I had gone slower.
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Woah....
I think likwid actually just said something that meant something.
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But this is the only MMO that does this cheaply. Missions based on Time??? come on. 30 min ??? you gotta be kidding me!
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i said it before i'll say it again, i'm glad they did this. Now people will try to do everything when in missions not just the objectives but everything else Missions have to offer. Albeit this will take some time to get used to (hell even i'm not used to it but hell i think it was right) but all in all everything will be fine. I remember how fucking bored i was as a level 50. I don't want that to happen again.
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You don't have to do everything in the mission. You just have to go brain dead for 25 minutes after taking 5 minutes to complete and loot a mission.
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Missions were already monotonous and boring. Now they're monotonous, boring and a waste of valuable time.
What is needed is a truely interesting way to gain xp other than grinding missions. If you're going to "force" people to do something they hate, just to progress in-game, you're damned straight they're gonna find any way possible to either legitimately or otherwise do it the fastest way possible. I think the devs tend to forget that thought you should have to earn your progress, it should be fun as well.
What do you call a game that isn't fun......let hope the answer isn't MxO.
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You don't have to do everything in the mission. You just have to go brain dead for 25 minutes after taking 5 minutes to complete and loot a mission.
HAHA to the point where you are staring at the screen and drooling on your keyboard.
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Walrus posted up at statement, Althought not once did they say they were working quickly to fix it.
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humm are we allowed to post there, voice our opinions? or is the blackout still in effect, even for this particular matter?
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I love this response regarding the mission changes found in this thread: http://mxoboards.warnerbros.com/forums1/thread.jspa?threadID=3827&tstart=0
Not to mention you are totallay negating skill that you hav put into the game. The download map is pointless, hacker (as to being able to hack into computers), and basacally the entire spy skill tree.
I was just thinking about how this whole situation would work in real life. Hi, I would like to hire you to assassinate this individual. Yes he is located here. Once you get there I want you to go though ever single rooom and check out the entire house. Then I want ever one in the house killed. Once that is done you can kill the objective. The problem is if you finish before a certain time frame we will pay you less, but if it takes you over yada yada time we will pay you the full amount. So if you finish early I want you to sit around the house maybe make a sandwich or watch some TV.
Yeah right get real devs the point odf assassination is to kill and get out as quick as possible to aviod detection. Yeah I can see Marine Corps sniper objectives, this is you target. Once you kill your target sit around for 30 mins then leave. LMAO
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You aren't to post in Enumerator: General. The other forums are ok, just be wary that your post will inevitably be followed by a flame.
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For the standard missions I feel the devs should have done something a little more dynamic with the missions. Assassination missions should be either a kill everyone mission for less XP or a stealthy kill only the main NPC for more XP. Then fixing the infiltrator missions so that if you aren't seen at all, you get a bonus of xp or info. If not these, then at least something along the lines of what phienyx was saying, for the different missions and different styles of gameplay the rewards should be reflective of the mission objectives.
This really isn't a big deal when you think about it, but the devs should have put a little more thought into the implementation of the xp nerf or at least the mission system.
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lol no offense orien but your lvl 48 dude....suck it up lol
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For those of you who may have already read this particular post regardng the issue at hand, I apologize. For those that haven't, I though this was one of the better (if lengthy) posts on the subject. Please bear with the author's long windedness.
I am reposting this here, as well as in the releveant Broadcast Depth thread, because I honestly feel that everybody needs to read it. I will also be posting it on several other MxO forums over the next day or so.
To read the original post to which this is a reply, please see http://mxoboards.warnerbros.com/forums1/thread.jspa?threadID=3800&tstart=0
My post follows, unedited by myself.
Dear William Westwater,
Thank you for attempting to clarify the reasoning behind this patch. However, perhaps some of us have not noticed this, perhaps you yourself have not realized, that your response has simply danced a neat circle around the issue at hand: exploits. Percieved exploits, actual exploits, the differences between them, and their seeming confusion with another hotly debated topic, powerlevelling.
To be perfectly honest, I feel that your actions and your response at the top of this thread are terrible ways to do business, both in an online game and in the real economic world.
> Investigating the reports, we
> discovered that missions were rewarding players
> regardless of the effort required. Short missions
> (less than two minutes) were giving as much XP as
> long missions (twenty minutes).
I believe you have been confused here; The truth is, Hard missions done quickly are (were) giving as much XP as Hard missions done slowly. Easy missions, regardless of time, would consistently give less XP than Hard missions assuming that comparable actions were taken by the player (clearing the mission area of NPCs, searching for loot in containers, etc.)
Given that Hard missions gave out Hard XP regardless of time, what is your reasoning behind forcing players to take longer? If a player can finish a mission with 100% goals completed, and manage to eradicate any extra targets in the area, why should it matter how long they take? By your reasoning, I should be earning 150% the XP points for a mission if it happens to take me longer than the prescribed timer. Why isn't this happening?
> Stepping back, we looked at the goals of the system.
>
> 1) Fair rewards for the risk involved.
> 2) Plenty of room for better players to earn XP
> faster without the game feeling too easy.
These two points make sense. I don't want the risk of multiple deaths and loss of code/$Information for taking a Hard mission if I can receive identical rewards for doing an Easy mission. At the same time, I would like to feel like I am accomplishing something; that I have done something of some relevance, that I have earned my rewards (items, $Info and XP).
But your actions in the controversial Monday Patch don't really seem to address these issues, do they? Is there any player among us who feels they are getting a fair return for their investment, if their playtime is suddenly depreciated in value by a factor of 15 (which is the current best estimate by players, as seen on these very forums)? Sunday I could jack in, do a mission, and get a certain amount of XP (an amount, I might add, which always seemed proportional to the risk involved). If I were to do the same now, I would suddenly be receiving far less XP for my risk; this does not make sense, as I am still doing things the same, I am still clearing the mission area of NPCs, yet I am suddenly rewarded far less? The reward hardly seems worth the risk now.
And you may have noticed, that in the entire preceding paragraph, I did not mention time.
This is because time was never an issue with missions; the dev team (and perhaps yourself, Mr. Westwater, I do not know how involved you are with the patch planning) seems to think that people aren't taking long enough for the missions they are assigned. I can only assume that the Dev Team does not actually play the game for which they provide support; Dev Antivirus posted time estimates for a mission that are remarkably unrealistic and flawed (and in fact, seemed to me to have been made up to fit with the timing guidelines implemented in the Monday Patch). Many players quickly posted their own timed results, showing a consistent average far below that demonstrated by Antivirus.
Now I say that time was never an issue, because we (the players) never had any timer of any sort for missions. It didn't matter how long we took, we could be stuck on a difficult mission for an hour and we would still receive the same amount of XP at the end. Due to this system, the system as it was in Beta and as it existed until the Monday patch, players were encouraged to find better ways to complete missions; Spies were given reason to use their skills to avoid combat, Warriors were given reason to practice their combat skills to be more effective killing machines. And most importantly, players were trained (by your system!) that missions should be completed quickly and cleanly for the best return on their investment, the XP rewarded for the time they invested (aha! a mention of time!)
In essence, what you have done with the Monday Patch is destroy any sense of fulfillment from completing a mission successfully. 'Quality vs. Quantity' (or a job done right instead of a job done quickly, if you will) was one of the reasons given for the change; the ingame Operators and Mission Contacts expected a quality job done by their subordinates, the Players.
What I fail to see is how a job cannot be done in such a quality manner. Missions are quite simple really; I will explain it from a players perspective for you.
I make contact with my mission providor; I choose the type of mission I would like, and I am given a mission outline with the option to accept or decline. Barring a mission that is two kilometres of distance, I typically accept. At this point I am breifed on the situation, and given my mission objectives . The mission then commences; I have to complete my objectives in order to finish the mission. If I fail to complete my objectives, the mission is considered a failure, and I receive no reward.
To sum it up: EVERY operator expects a quality mission. And EVERY operator gets that quality; if they do not, the player does not receive the reward. Therefore, since quality must be provided by the player before reward is received, every player has always provided a quality mission. Why now does quality translate to playtime?
> As a stop-gap, we rolled out a system on Monday that
> tracked the amount of time players were taking to
> complete missions and adjusted the exp rewards
> accordingly. Along with providing a greater challenge
> on short missions, this has provided invaluable data
> for further efforts to correct the imbalance and
> provide more equitable environment for all players.
This quote I will dissect a little more indepth (sorry to the folks who don't like to read, but bear with me here)
As a stop-gap
I take this to mean you are acknowledging the fleeting nature of the Monday Patch, as a temporary measure instated under special circumstances. Of course, it could also be taken as meaning the Dev Team didn't know what to do, and therefore took the (perceived) safe route of 'nerfing' the problem.
A system...that tracked the amount of time players were taking to complete missions and adjusted the exp rewards accordingly
By this statement, are you stating that the system implemented was designed and intended to reduce the amount of XP given based on the amount of ingame time invested by the players? This is the only possible conclusion I could reach; the Dev Team (or perhaps Monolith in general) is creating a system that will require players to invest more paid game-time (roughly 15 times more) into the gameworld in order to receive the same rewards they were getting previously. In no way shape or form would such a system actually benefit the players; regardless of your perspective, players are being punished for being skilled in the system you gave them, both in pre-release beta and in the full released version of the game.
Along with providing a greater challenge on short missions,
Pardon my ignorance, but how precisely does this provide a greater challenge on short missions? I have observed that in fact the complete opposite is true ; a shorter mission now provides less XP for the same challenge as a longer mission.
...this has provided invaluable data for further efforts to correct the imbalance and provide more equitable environment for all players.
I can only hope that your further efforts to correct the imbalance do not involve complete and utter ignorance of the imbalance in the first place: the exploit and the players who chose to use it to their advantage as it went unfixed, to this very day.
This exploit of fast mission running (please note that many MANY players do not see running missions quickly as an exploit, but rather as a viable source of XP stemming from understanding the gameworld and knowing how to play the missions they are given) has been documented since the beta test; since the beta test there have been petitions sent, complaints filed, and angry forum threads all dealing with this topic. However, the first effort to fix the problem seems to ignore the problem entirely; this time-based mission theory is punishing players for doing what they do best: playing the game, and playing it well. Meanwhile, those players that chose to use the decline-mission exploit (a true exploit that needed, and still needs, to be fixed) are sitting pretty at level 50, and this halfhearted attempt to (metaphor if I may) fix a broken ceramic doll with pliers and duct tape does not seem to affect them in any way, shape or form. How can this be called an equitable environment for all players?
We will be adjusting the current timers as the changes have impacted far more players than we intended.
By this do you mean to say that your system-wide, server-spanning patch 'was not intended for most players?' Who was it intended for, if not for everybody? A game client patch affects any and everybody who uses the game, you cannot selectively pick and choose whom you wish to apply the patch to. From a programmers perspective it would be a nightmare of code, which would easily cause more problems than it would solve. From an ethical standpoint it would be seen as unfair treatment, and every player would be fearful of getting chosen for the patch.
In the long term, we are investigating better ties between what you do in a mission and the rewards that you get as well as improved systems for rewarding casual gaming.
I noticed one thing missing in this statement; there seems to be no mention whatsoever that time taken to complete a mission will impact the XP reward given. Curious, no?
To sum up the questions I now have in response to your statement, Mr. Westwater:
Question 1: What is your reasoning behind forcing players to take longer to complete a mission?
Question 2: Why is the reward given for completing a mission now suddenly far less than it was prior to the patch?
Question 3: Why has there been a complete turnaround in the 'value system' in the game (completing missions faster results in more reward, therefore missions should be done more efficiently)?
Question 4: Why is 'mission quality' cited as reason for this patch when there was already an all-or-nothing quality system in place? A system, I might add, that was working beautifully.
Question 5: Why now does this 'mission quality' suddenly mean playtime invested, rather than the completion of mission objectives?
Question 6: How can you state (in paragraph 5 of your original post, second sentence) blatantly obvious falsehoods regarding a game that YOU support, in a forum populated entirely by players who will know that this statement is untrue?
Final question: The impression is given that players are not investing enough time in the game; what are your expectations for players regarding this? Are we expected to sit and wait for 80% of our mission time in order to feel rewarded? Are we expected to sit and wait for 80% of the next fiscal year in order to feel wanted as players?
I thank you for taking the time to give us your reply originally. I also thank you for taking the time to read my reply. Furthermore I thank you for taking the time to reply honestly to my questions, in order to allay the fears of myself and many others who, until recently, were happy players.
Thank you for the hard work you provide for this project. I personally have never seen anything this ambitious, this grand in spectacle executed so well (in fact, working much better than I had anticipated). Please don't destroy the wonderful thing you have created.
Please don't force its destruction by complete and utter alienation of its strongest support: the players. Your customers. Us.
DocGonzo@thematrixonline.com
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From what im reading on the forums it sounds like they changed or are changing it to 2min per objective. That makes alot more sense and am glad they listened to the million petition, cancel, you suck, i hate this game, who wants to play Guild wars, threads.
PS Some have checked this method and are still getting warped xp so can anyone confirm if this is good, bad, dear god burn Monolith down?
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Still have two hours before they implement the new system.
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jesus sweet mother of god thats a lot of post, as for me i sit back relax and count the days until i get home, then spend another few days patching the game =(