Old School Contacts?

[Phanto]

Do you do the old school contacts, or do you skip them entirely?

 

As a completionist, I feel some obligation to do them, but completing them all would be extremely time consuming. 

 

Is there any advantage to doing old school contacts instead of relying totally on Flashbacks?

[Snarky]

If you do the old school non-ouro stuff there is a lot more content

[Phanto]

4 minutes ago, Snarky said:

If you do the old school non-ouro stuff there is a lot more content

 

Is any of it worth doing? Are there any actual story arcs in the non-Ouro stuff? It seems to be a lot of filler and hunt missions.

 

Do you think there's a chance this stuff will be added to Ouro later?

Edited August 6, 2021 by Phanto

[ZorkNemesis]

Most old contacts offer story arcs though most won't offer them immediately and some of the older arcs won't be labeled as such in the mission window when you get it (unless that was changed).  Arcs from older contacts are generally longer than newer arcs and may not have the best writing, they may also have some annoying missions like street hunts or Defeat Alls.  They're still worth running though, many older arcs award a considerable number of merits and of course souvenirs all count for a badge if you keep collecting them.  Also lots of good old lore peppered in, like how we originally learned about the Rikti rather than the anti-climactic optional lore dump in RWZ.

[Snarky]

5 hours ago, Phanto said:

 

Is any of it worth doing? Are there any actual story arcs in the non-Ouro stuff? It seems to be a lot of filler and hunt missions.

 

Do you think there's a chance this stuff will be added to Ouro later?

There is no chance this stuff will be added to ouro.  Okay nearly none.  Filler?   Hmmmm.  That is hard to quantify since the entire game is a time sink lol.  I enjoy Redside so much i take a character once a year and do it all, stopping experience to complete every contact (even the hunts and “side” missions. 

[cranebump]

9 hours ago, Phanto said:

 

Is any of it worth doing? Are there any actual story arcs in the non-Ouro stuff? It seems to be a lot of filler and hunt missions.

 

Do you think there's a chance this stuff will be added to Ouro later?

 

Some merits out there. For example, Willy Starbuck is 23. I only know that because I’ve been running a character primarily focused on pool powers and have been soloing old contacts. They do have a lot of Hunt mishes, but they don’t take too long, unless I happen to be slightly under leveled. If that’s the case, I grind up or do radios. Pick up explore tips and so on. 

[ZemX]

A contact has to have at least one story arc or I don't bother with them.  I can get random filler from the scanner/paper if I want that.  However if I do pick up a contact for a story arc, then I tend to finish their side filler too just to clear them off my list right away.

[Beef Ninja]

Those old contacts are the worst part of the game, poorly designed missions with no story, it's one of the reasons I didn't play for very long back in the day.

Even radio missions are better because at least they won't send you to a ton of different zones before quick travel can recharge.

Edited August 6, 2021 by Beef Ninja
spelling

[Metatheory]

For me radios are the worst designed part of the game, unless you want progression optimized at the cost of everything else, and it seems like many people do want that, which is fine. That's blueside, of course... on red you have to run radios to get some contacts in each level band, which is super annoying when it goes up to 5 radios to unlock the bank job.

 

The old contacts have their main story arcs which can be accessed via Ouro, there can be quite a lot of other content worth playing if you have any interest in the story aspect of the game. I don't believe there are any merits available which can't be accessed by Flashback, but there are other advantages, including:

• Every mission has some of kind of story element, more than the radio missions.
• Mini-story arcs which are chains of related missions.
• A hell of a lot of lore, e.g. you might learn something about Spirit Thorns, Nictus & the Council, etc.
• Mixed mob types in missions, sometimes as many as 4 factions in a single mission, so there is a sense of the different enemy groups interacting.
• Some foreshadowing of later events, e.g. the earliest you can encounter Nemesis blueside is the mission 'Find out who is supplying the Freakshow with weapons' from the level 30-34 tech contacts.

So for me the old contacts are a nice option to have, with some good variation in the missions, plus, you feel like you are building up a network of contacts while leveling up which I enjoy.

 

People have mentioned the writing quality; I quite like most of it, and much of it has the advantage of being concise and to the point, as opposed to some of the wall of text stuff in later missions. The hunts are usually OK too. They aren't that common outside of the story arcs and you don't have to take them. Within the story arcs themselves, where the hunts are required for progression, again they are usually pretty quick and easy and you can always pick up a badge or two while looking for the mobs. It is, however, possible to get defeta 45 Rikti and 45 Carnies at level 40 which is pretty nasty as low level Carnies are very thin on the ground in PI.