Bring back the merits for Tip missions

[Vanden]

Yesterday's change to the reward merits for Tip missions is the first thing the Homecoming team has done that I really don't agree with. Before yesterday, reinforcing your alignment as a Hero or Villain gave 50 Reward Merits; now it gives 20. This is a huge nerf.

 

Now I understand that setting your difficulty to the lowest level and buying tips with the supergroup base computer would allow you to grind out merits extremely quickly, and maybe for that, 50 merits (40 if you buy all your tips) was too much. But for players like me who liked to run tips at a leisurely pace, this is a huge disservice. Tips allowed us to work for a good reward at a leisurely pace without having to commit to teams or locking us into a TF. It seems likely to me that the real concern here was the aforementioned lowest-difficulty tip-speedrunning method, so limiting alignment missions to one per day, or removing the ability to buy tips so players had to clear more enemies to get them drop, is a much better option. It would curb the highest-payout methods of doing tips without punishing the more deliberate methods players like myself used.

[Generator]

I like your "limit Alignment missions to 1/day" idea.

 

TBH I hadn't even known about buying tips (when we say Tips, do we mean "buying a mission to be completed for the 10/10 bar", or do we mean "directly buying progress on the bar"?).

[Vanden]

You're just buying the tip, you still need to do the mission.

[Dr. Gemini]

I'd rather see a solution other than limiting how often you can run the mission. As someone who can usually only play once a week, I never like 1/day limitations.

[Jaguaratron]

I think live only gave you 5 tips a day so you could only get an alignment mission once every 2 days, theres no restriction here and some of the tip missions are farcically short (some are not). Something had to be done because it was just that efficient.

[Dr. Gemini]

Also, things are much cheaper than they were in the old days. I don't remember after all this time but is this really a nerf when compared to the buying power reward merits have now over what hero/villain merits had back then?

[Generator]

Also, things are much cheaper than they were in the old days. I don't remember after all this time but is this really a nerf when compared to the buying power reward merits have now over what hero/villain merits had back then?

 

With the cost reductions you mentioned, it felt to me like 50 merits kept pace with the purchasing power tip missions had in the old days, but 20 merits puts us behind where we were.

 

If I can go back to the point raised earlier about buying tip missions, I don't get how that's any sort of advantage. Maybe I don't have the proper speed gaming mindset, but what's the point? I always seem to get my next tip while I'm in the current tip mission, the only time I'm not ahead of the game like that is right after an alignment mission when the whole thing resets. What am I missing?

[Vanden]

Also, things are much cheaper than they were in the old days. I don't remember after all this time but is this really a nerf when compared to the buying power reward merits have now over what hero/villain merits had back then?

With the cost reductions you mentioned, it felt to me like 50 merits kept pace with the purchasing power tip missions had in the old days, but 20 merits puts us behind where we were.

That's pretty much exactly what the 50 merits per alignment mission did. On Live, one alignment merit would get you most rare recipes. Some, like LotG +Recharges and uniques were two, and PvP and Purples were more expensive, but for the most part 50 merits/alignment mission was keeping pace.

 

If I can go back to the point raised earlier about buying tip missions, I don't get how that's any sort of advantage. Maybe I don't have the proper speed gaming mindset, but what's the point? I always seem to get my next tip while I'm in the current tip mission, the only time I'm not ahead of the game like that is right after an alignment mission when the whole thing resets. What am I missing?

If you were to skip past as much of the tip missions as possible, only defeating the mobs you had to (especially at -1, x1, no bosses), it was pretty likely you'd run out of tips. That's where buying them would come in.

[Dr. Gemini]

With the cost reductions you mentioned, it felt to me like 50 merits kept pace with the purchasing power tip missions had in the old days, but 20 merits puts us behind where we were.

That's pretty much exactly what the 50 merits per alignment mission did. On Live, one alignment merit would get you most rare recipes. Some, like LotG +Recharges and uniques were two, and PvP and Purples were more expensive, but for the most part 50 merits/alignment mission was keeping pace.

 

I thought it was more than 2 for those rarer ones (but I'm old, so I'm sure you're right). I do think 50 sounds like too much, though, given that purples cost 100, and, given what you pointed out, 20 is too little. Still, I don't see much reason to reduce the rewards given that this is not a commercial game. Grinding for gear is not what this game is about. I know for me, getting certain IO sets is not about the thrill of acquiring good gear (like in most games), but about being able to play in a manner I enjoy, which is being able to survive setting myself as worth multiple heroes and getting larger mobs. I always find it far more fun (and comic book appropriate) to be fighting large groups of foes, not tiny ones.

[Generator]

If you were to skip past as much of the tip missions as possible, only defeating the mobs you had to (especially at -1, x1, no bosses), it was pretty likely you'd run out of tips. That's where buying them would come in.

 

I was right, I definitely do not have the right mindset.  I'm more of a "clean your plate, lick the spoon, and suck up all the crumbs off the table cloth" kind of guy.  :)

[Vanden]

If you were to skip past as much of the tip missions as possible, only defeating the mobs you had to (especially at -1, x1, no bosses), it was pretty likely you'd run out of tips. That's where buying them would come in.

I was right, I definitely do not have the right mindset.  I'm more of a "clean your plate, lick the spoon, and suck up all the crumbs off the table cloth" kind of guy.  :)

You and me both. We're the kind of player that this change hurts the most.

[Auranyte]

Its been quite a long time since I messed with tips.  Its 10 tip missions then a morality mission correct?  If so, how about increasing the tip cost from the mission computer to 5 merits each and returning the old reward back to 50 merits.  By doing this it would mean if someone "bought" all their tips they break even on merits.  It would still allow someone to buy a tip here or there to finish their stack and earn some merits.  It would also encourage doing normal missions to earn tips.

 

If 5 is really too many, then make it 3 per tip.  That would work out to 30 merits for the 10 missions if bought completely, and if the reward is 50 merits it mean they only gained 20 merits total. (similar to the current 20 merit reward)

 

It would "punish" those that buy all of their tips, while allowing those that earn tips naturally get the full amount.

 

Just my thoughts on it, anyway.

[Placta]

With the nerf, I don't really see a point to running tips beyond seeing the missions once and getting the badges. I'm pretty sure I can get merits faster via flashbacks (the old Psyche TF looks encouraging), and Null the Gull can change alignment... hrm.

[Vanden]

With the nerf, I don't really see a point to running tips beyond seeing the missions once and getting the badges. I'm pretty sure I can get merits faster via flashbacks (the old Psyche TF looks encouraging), and Null the Gull can change alignment... hrm.

Yeah, this change makes tip missions pretty pointless. Still better than newspaper missions if you've gotten the Mayhem/Safeguard temp power for your level range, but there's very little reason to do them now.

[Generator]

If you were to skip past as much of the tip missions as possible, only defeating the mobs you had to (especially at -1, x1, no bosses), it was pretty likely you'd run out of tips. That's where buying them would come in.

I was right, I definitely do not have the right mindset.  I'm more of a "clean your plate, lick the spoon, and suck up all the crumbs off the table cloth" kind of guy.  :)

You and me both. We're the kind of player that this change hurts the most.

 

(eyes up Vanden's plate)

You gonna finish that?

(reaches over with fork...)