Story arc rewards

[Ukase]

This is a minor thing, but my life seems to be filled with the pursuit of marginal gains. 

 I finished an arc in Mercy today. Well, I actually finished it last week, I just logged the character in, noticed I needed to call the contact to get the next mission - and <fanfare> I leveled up from 4 to 5. Story arc bonus pushed me from 4 to 5. I have 2xp buff going, and a full 10 bars of patrol xp, so not a terrible surprise. 

Apparently I was level 3 when I started that last mission of the arc, and dinged in the mission. And logged off without training. So, suddenly, I'm an untrained level 5. And my reward was a level 3 SO. 

So, yeah, I can still use it. But why isn't it at least a level 5 to match my level? Because I'm untrained, I suppose. 
I mean, it's just an SO, but it seems like it should have matched my level at worst, or been 3 levels higher, at best. 

Just kind of feels like I robbed a bank and got 5 bucks instead of 5 gazillion dollars, which no normal bank would keep on hand, but they all certainly have more than 5 bucks. If I'm going to risk making little rocks out of big ones for 10 to 20 years, I ought to get something more out of it. 

Jus' sayin'. 

[Rudra]

It was a level 3 SO because the mission was a level 3 mission.

[Sunsette]

It is minor but it would assist with the fact that there is insufficient player income without the AH to keep your enhancements relevant, while quest arcs are expected to be the best way of gearing for a low level character in many games. I think this is a good proposal that would improve the new player experience. 

[Hedgefund]

For suggestions, I always ask myself "If I were HC's CTO would I want a dev to spend time on this?"  OP says they're looking to improve marginal gains but marginal gains have marginal costs and the marginal cost here is dev time, which further has an opportunity cost.  Whether it's 1 hour, or 10, or 100 I don't know, but having someone spend any time on some edge case where an SO dropped at level 3 to a level 5 is not what I want them working on. 

 

And the metaphor shouldn't be 5 bucks instead of a gazillion, it's 5 bucks instead of 8.

 

Vote: Nay

[FupDup]

Someone did a comparison and found that overall, redside story arcs result in fewer merits than blueside ones. This is largely due to many redside arcs being a bit shorter, which could in theory mean more merits per hour at the end, but in practice I feel like my villains have to work a bit harder to earn money than my heroes. 

[Yomo Kimyata]

It would have been a lvl 5 SO if you had been playing at +2…

[Ukase]

1 hour ago, Hedgefund said:

For suggestions, I always ask myself "If I were HC's CTO would I want a dev to spend time on this?"  OP says they're looking to improve marginal gains but marginal gains have marginal costs and the marginal cost here is dev time, which further has an opportunity cost.  Whether it's 1 hour, or 10, or 100 I don't know, but having someone spend any time on some edge case where an SO dropped at level 3 to a level 5 is not what I want them working on. 

 

And the metaphor shouldn't be 5 bucks instead of a gazillion, it's 5 bucks instead of 8.

 

Vote: Nay

In a sense, I agree. But that's not the way I decide on if I should make a suggestion or not. To me, dev time is irrelevant. I'm here to make a suggestion. That's all. It could take 2 minutes or 2 years. 
A more important question is would it add value to a player's adventure? But that's just me. I get it, volunteer staff, and lord knows there are much more important things. 
But, there were more important things than the lrtp, too. Yet it found its way into the game.