Player access to reward timers

[Hedgefund]

Please provide some means of giving players access to reward cooldown timers. 

 

One question I've seen repeatedly in help channel is "How do I tell if I've done the WST for a week already?" and the answer I have to give is "write it down when you do it".  I'm sure there are some more effective ways than literally writing it down, regardless it's still a manual task performed by the player.  I'm requesting for the game to provide the answer to that question (and others) on demand.

 

Currently if you run a WST after you've already received the rewards for the week on that character, there's no warning, you just don't get the bonus merits, the PAPs or the NotW.  

 

Let's also look at the Lord Recluse Strike Force as another example.  If you run one at 9pm on Tuesday, select the SHO and then run it again on the next day at noon, the SHO will not be selectable.  Now this, to me at least, isn't as egregious, I know if I ran the LRSF the night before and even if I do get this I can leave the reward menu up for a period of time and select the SHO later.  Still, this is an example of having the cooldown data available would allow the player to make a more informed decision.  Other similar cases that I, personally, am less likely to remember is an SSA, which has a 1 week cooldown for the max reward of 20 merits.  Another would be the DA repeatable missions (Ephram Sha and Maharaj) which have a 20 hour cooldown but unlike an LRSF these don't stick in my memory.

 

Let's get hypothetical and say certain GMs get a cooldown associated with them.  For this purpose let's just use Kronos Titan as an example.  Speaking for myself, when I see a call for GM team and I have time and proximity, I'll go give it a punch.  These aren't memorable encounters (to me) so no way will I remember in an evening session that I fought a Titan in the morning.  Yet in this hypothetical I'll only know when I fight the Titan a second time within the cooldown window when I see no merits rewarded.  

Now currently there's one example, that I can think of at least, where a player can see exactly when a cooldown expires.  That's for autocompleting missions.  Here's what you see when you attempt to autocomplete while the cooldown is in effect:

 

 

 

So I'm proposing something that lets the player see all current cooldowns in effect.  Note - I suck at crafting mockups so ignore the aesthetics, but this is the data a player should have access to in order to make more informed decisions about what content to run:

 

 

Just to propose a "where" I'll suggest another line item from "Menu", call it "Currently on Cooldown".  Or whatever, I'll kick that can down the road, for now I just want to request access for players.

[Zect]

With the exception of requests for costumes/power customization, this forum is often filled with munchkin whines thinly veiled as suggestions, with little concern for such things as variety, diversity, balance, choice, replayability, or even fun, you know, the alleged point of a game in the first place. "Let me take weave without picking boxing first!" cries one baby. "X doesn't do enough damage! Buff it!" wails another. One hopes Homecoming team don't listen to feedback; that would be disastrous for the game.

 

This, however, this takes the cake. What we have here is a reasonable suggestion with clear benefits for all players regardless of playstyle, with well-illustrated examples and some thought given to what implementation would look like. This is the rarest of purple drops: a post on an MMO suggestion forum that is not stupid.

[Akisan]

OP - your suggestion's long overdue.  Several other MMOs I've played have that information readily available to the player.  I would, however, suggest multiple places for the cooldown to be noted: In its own window (as you stated), as a highlight & tooltip detail on the LFG window, a(n OOC) reminder on the contact dialogue when starting the content (if any.  I know Hami doesn't ask if you're sure you want to beat him up), and in detail on the (locked!) reward screen.

 

@Zect - it's great that you wholeheartedly agree with the OP's suggestion, but calling everyone else childish is a rather, um, childish behavior.  I get that some suggestions can't be implented without breaking game balance, but stuff like requesting a buff for underperforming sets is pretty reasonable - especially since some of us, myself included, would be equally happy with everything else getting nerfed.  Case in point - I'd love for Archery to get some of its identity back by way of all other sets getting crashes added back to their nukes.  But, well, that ship has sailed, so I must instead ask for the set to be buffed to stay competitive.

Edited August 25, 2023 by Akisan
Correction - Hami does not, in fact, ask to be beaten up.

[srmalloy]

2 hours ago, Akisan said:

Case in point - I'd love for Archery to get some of its identity back by way of all other sets getting crashes added back to their nukes. 

Assault Rifle, the grandfather of the 'crashless nuke' powersets, would raise an issue with "all other sets". And if you want to go back to the crash-based nukes, I should point out the delay that Rain of Arrows originally had between when the animation completed and when the arrows actually landed; that was something that drove me up the wall back on Live, where groups of mobs would aggro out of the beaten zone of my Rain of Arrows before it hit, wasting the T9.

[Jiro Ito]

7 hours ago, Hedgefund said:

 

 

Just to propose a "where" I'll suggest another line item from "Menu", call it "Currently on Cooldown".  Or whatever, I'll kick that can down the road, for now I just want to request access for players.

 

This would be super helpful to know, as someone who rotates through my roster and can't always remember on Friday which toon did the TF on Monday.  Perhaps if the info showed right in the LFG window?

 

 

Edited August 25, 2023 by Jiro Ito
speling is hard

[Akisan]

4 hours ago, srmalloy said:

Assault Rifle, the grandfather of the 'crashless nuke' powersets, would raise an issue with "all other sets". And if you want to go back to the crash-based nukes, I should point out the delay that Rain of Arrows originally had between when the animation completed and when the arrows actually landed; that was something that drove me up the wall back on Live, where groups of mobs would aggro out of the beaten zone of my Rain of Arrows before it hit, wasting the T9.

 

Yep, Full Auto'd was the only other crashless.  Also, IIRC, RoA also had its cooldown reduced when the others became crashless.

 

As for that activation delay - I learned to never open with it.  It was much more efficient to snipe the boss in the group, then RoA where the mobs are going to be, that way it hits and you don't lose out on your snipe (plus, RoA's too weak to one-shot said boss...)

[Zect]

I call a spade a spade; if I think suggestions are bad, I say they are bad. I am straight-talking and blunt, as many will attest. You're more than welcome to speak to me in the same way, and say the same things about my suggestions.

 

Crashless nukes have never been subject to a balance pass and are long overdue for one. They are one of the more egregious issues with the current game and there being far too much dps, especially aoe dps, flying around.

 

Right now, the "classic", i.e. formerly crashing, nukes occupy a local maxima of performance where they can be used every spawn and deal enough damage to wipe all non-bosses. Among other balance fixes, I would like their damage and rech increased so that it is pushed far, far out of the 145s sweet spot, and a mild crash of -30 to -50 end added (immune to endredux slotting). This would make nukes more rarely and more thoughtfully used, but far more impactful when used, as befits a T9 power. AR and archery should be the only sets allowed to have truly crashless, low-recharge nukes.

 

But that's a topic for another day. For now, we can all leave aside such odious matters as the oppressive, unfun blaster meta, and applaud the OP's suggestion.

Edited August 26, 2023 by Zect

[nihilii]

7 hours ago, Zect said:

I am straight-talking and blunt, as many will attest.

TBH from your posting history I would argue you have a disability. I will say that because I share that same disability. It took me years to ween myself off, and I'm still pretty bad at it.

Look at your reply objectively, as if it were written by another person. That person brings up something completely unrelated to the whole topic. It brings nothing to the discussion. It's just being negative for the sake of being negative.

Most of the reply is fluff, and conveys no information. We could strip it down to "this takes the cake. What we have here is a reasonable suggestion with clear benefits for all players regardless of playstyle, with well-illustrated examples and some thought given to what implementation would look like.", and we'd significantly increase the signal-to-noise ratio.

 

It's possible to pretend the negativity creates the necessary contrast for the praise to be that much more meaningful and therefore adds information, but we all know it is just that - a pretence.

An image of bluntness is almost always a coping strategy, rationalisation for being a poor communicator. Especially in intelligent people, which you obviously are. "it's just the way I am, deal with it" - the ultimate excuse to refuse growth, for a mind to slow down to a stand still.

 

We put so much effort into telling lies to ourselves, which is irrational, as that same effort could be expanded into simply being a better speaker. Quite often the answer boils down to subtraction. Take all the unwarranted nastiness out of the post, it emerges stronger for it.

 

There's probably a way to strip this very post to 1/3 of the size and convey the same message much more efficiently, too.

[Saiyajinzoningen]

Great Idea OP, you got my vote

2 hours ago, nihilii said:

An image of bluntness is almost always a coping strategy, rationalisation for being a poor communicator. Especially in intelligent people, which you obviously are. "it's just the way I am, deal with it" - the ultimate excuse to refuse growth, for a mind to slow down to a stand still.

 

 

Gonna hafta agree to disagree with you here. I've actually found that most intelligent people appreciate bluntness and candor as it wastes less time. 

Time is a non-renewable resource. 

When emotion gets involved that's when things get nasty. 

We all grow in different ways and directions. It's a bit condescending to imply that if a person does not sugar coat things they aren't growing.

To be fair I've found, how you say something matters far more than what is said. (it's almost like humans are animals or something 🤣)

The charming ones are the ones most likely to backstab you. 

[SwitchFade]

Yes vote 

[Akisan]

2 hours ago, Saiyajinzoningen said:

Great Idea OP, you got my vote

 

Gonna hafta agree to disagree with you here. I've actually found that most intelligent people appreciate bluntness and candor as it wastes less time. 

Time is a non-renewable resource. 

When emotion gets involved that's when things get nasty. 

We all grow in different ways and directions. It's a bit condescending to imply that if a person does not sugar coat things they aren't growing.

To be fair I've found, how you say something matters far more than what is said. (it's almost like humans are animals or something 🤣)

The charming ones are the ones most likely to backstab you. 

 

Some of us are both intelligent and pretty emotional, and thus value stuff for being polite and concise.  Being blunt and to the point isn't always a good thing - if you offend the person you're trying to convince, your job just became that much harder.  (The bit about how something is said is very true though - oftentimes, it's not what you say, it's how they feel about it!)

 

19 hours ago, Jiro Ito said:

 

This would be super helpful to know, as someone who rotates through my roster and can't always remember on Friday which toon did the TF on Monday.  Perhaps if the info showed right in the LFG window?

 

 

 

This is pretty much exactly what I had in mind for copying the info into the LFG window too, though I'd probably also highlight the on-cooldown TFs (orange/yellow?).