Missions, raids and AE (rewards and rework ideas)

[Archangel62]

I'm going to start off by saying that this might be stupid, but I have been thinking about why AE can be such an issue but also in dealing with frustration some people get with missions and general XP. Part of why people tend to do AE is efficiency but I think it might also be that the way that the game is set up killing mobs ends up being higher value than completing a mission. Now there isn't necessarily anything wrong with that but the fact is that missions don't necessarily have anything that makes them better than the AE events.

 

I actually like the idea of AE but also understand some of the frustration that comes with someone basically hitting max level in a few days of it, not that there's anything wrong with farming as a means of leveling necessarily but I also see people wanting to be able to do the story missions and losing out the farms because they're faster.

 

What I am proposing is altering the incentive structure to make it so that there are valid reasons for doing either or both not just from a playstyle perspective but also for rewards.

 

1) Badges: Badges are earned for levels, tasks but also for completing certain mission chains. Some of them do offer at least a small bonus in game aside from bragging rights. I am suggesting we do a few more bonuses. The badges are gained from missions specifically can offer things like slightly faster recovery, HP bonuses, or any number of other things. They could also improve the chance of drops for items. Doing this adds an extra reward for missions that AE doesnt give.

 

2) Mission Rewards: For missions in game I would suggest increasing XP gained from completion of the mission as well as improving the rewards at the end. Not just on the field of more currency but like you get in DFB where each boss drops an origin specific enhancement for you. Or you get high end salvage or recipes. The missions themselves can give more specialized rewards. Doing this gives more reason to do missions as well as creating a divide idea, AE can offer more volume (in farm mode at least) where as standard missions offer more of what you want.

 

3) Incentivizing AE creators: This is going to a slightly different part of it. My first two looked at AE mostly in farm mode because that seems to be the big thing people are complaining about. But let's also recognize that nerfing rewards can make it so that the only reason people use AE IS to farm because a normal mission is suddenly just not worth it. That in turn can make people not wnat to create something because it may sit forever unused or untouched beneath the thousand farms. This idea is a little involved so here goes

    1) Check community votes and popularity for missions. Ones that are obviously total farms can probably be discarded (though arguable DFB is a farm itself depending on how you look at it). Look at the missions layout, story and ideas.

    2) If the idea looks good consider integrating it into the story, as a task force, mission, etc. The person who made it could get a special title or badge like worldbuilder. Players will still want to check them out because it can help bring in new content and new ideas

    3) If the mission is made into a real world mission give them a replacement slot for their AE creations.

 

I have a fourth idea I've been kicking around as well but each time I write it out I feel like it's not great so I am currently trying to polish it or see if it may just be a bad idea. Comments on these thoughts would help.

 

[VanValdenburg]

Great ideas but imo we just need a server without AE and without any character transfers.

 

[Razor Cure]

Totally agree with increasing mission rewards. Well, to some degree. Making say..scanner/paper mission rewards higher, with double xp or inf, could be a little insane. Increasing Story Arc rewards would be great, but also might work a bit against teaming, with people wanting to do 'their' story arc at expense of anything else.

I'd be much happier with missions, all door mission, giving an Origin matching enhancement, random or otherwise. I will repeat my story of getting my first lvl 50 Hero on the Live serves, and NOT having enough money to buy a full set of SO's. Given that, it must be even worse for new players, leading to them going around enhanced , which makes playing a bit of a chore.