Forums » Suggestions
Remove the "player must damage" requirement for NPC cargo drops
I'm not even sure why this is an issue, since the cargo stockpiles into one big crate.
Or at least only have this requirement in super high traffic sectors such as the levi sector.
Or at least only have this requirement in super high traffic sectors such as the levi sector.
Might cause a lot of lag issues in hive/daneb skirms where thousands of bots are being destroyed.
Or at least only have this requirement in super high traffic sectors such as the levi sector.
Did you miss that part?
Did you miss that part?
-1 Kierky
+1 no freebies.
+1 no freebies.
Since you seem to have forgotten, this was implemented as a fix for the SSS farming method of sitting in a sector with a Critical Hive Skirmish and just letting the NPCs kill themselves. The cargo would drop and stockpile and someone could come in later and just scoop thousands of ore and SSS and other items. I don't agree that it was necessarily the best way to fix the problem, but it was a quick fix that got at the heart of the exploit.
If you can suggest a viable alternative that doesn't reintroduce this problem, then Incarnate may give the suggestion some thought.
If you can suggest a viable alternative that doesn't reintroduce this problem, then Incarnate may give the suggestion some thought.
I think exploit is too strong a word.
Riiight. So when I go to the aftermath of a battle, I should expect to see no scrap metal, and no drops whatsoever? That's absurd.
The mechanics of this don't make sense. You need over 10,000 SSS (40,000 cu or 200 XC loads) for a Trident. (I actually calculated this at over 16 HOURS of just continuous XC runs back and forth, assuming that there is always a full load to pick up, and each run back and forth takes 5 minutes)
That's one hell of a lot. Scavenging is not an exploit, yet a way to make money, or find rare drops. Even with the so-called "exploit", it's a huge pain in the ass to even move all this SSS to the place it needs to be.
When I first built my Trident, I nearly quit the game because of how difficult this was solo. Even with the so-called "exploit". There's a point where collecting things and grinding for something that should be simpler just ceases to be fun. Instead it puts on the opposite of reactions in people you'd like to see in a game, which is massive frustration.
The mechanics of this don't make sense. You need over 10,000 SSS (40,000 cu or 200 XC loads) for a Trident. (I actually calculated this at over 16 HOURS of just continuous XC runs back and forth, assuming that there is always a full load to pick up, and each run back and forth takes 5 minutes)
That's one hell of a lot. Scavenging is not an exploit, yet a way to make money, or find rare drops. Even with the so-called "exploit", it's a huge pain in the ass to even move all this SSS to the place it needs to be.
When I first built my Trident, I nearly quit the game because of how difficult this was solo. Even with the so-called "exploit". There's a point where collecting things and grinding for something that should be simpler just ceases to be fun. Instead it puts on the opposite of reactions in people you'd like to see in a game, which is massive frustration.
so when do we call the whaambulance?
-1 to freebies
-1 to freebies
darth ender, why don't you like freebies?
Building a trident isn't supposed to be easy to do solo. Building the other capships when they're available and stations should likely be harder. It's supposed to be a group effort (guild or otherwise) to accomplish in any reasonable timeframe. The whole point of the time sinks and materials that need to be collected is to try and bring players together in one way or another. Is the current implementation optimal? Perhaps not.
Kierky said:
Riiight. So when I go to the aftermath of a battle, I should expect to see no scrap metal, and no drops whatsoever?
I agree, there should be wreckage of some sort, something that could be scavenged. However, the way things were before was basically exploitative considering the new content.
An idea I just thought of that might be a decent compromise, but unfortunately may not be as simple as I'd like to implement.
Have the %drop_chance of all possible drops reduced unless a player has inflicted damage to the NPC.
Slightly more complex would be to have certain common drops always drop at the same rate, but uncommon and more rare drops drop at the reduced rate unless damaged by a player.
Kierky said:
Riiight. So when I go to the aftermath of a battle, I should expect to see no scrap metal, and no drops whatsoever?
I agree, there should be wreckage of some sort, something that could be scavenged. However, the way things were before was basically exploitative considering the new content.
An idea I just thought of that might be a decent compromise, but unfortunately may not be as simple as I'd like to implement.
Have the %drop_chance of all possible drops reduced unless a player has inflicted damage to the NPC.
Slightly more complex would be to have certain common drops always drop at the same rate, but uncommon and more rare drops drop at the reduced rate unless damaged by a player.
Actually, this was a fix to farming ctc xith, and the skirmishes were just a casualty of war.
People were complaining that the border blockades were leaving ctc xith just laying there to pick up and there was no reason to fight for it.
People were complaining that the border blockades were leaving ctc xith just laying there to pick up and there was no reason to fight for it.
No, it was done to stop people from farming Synthetic Silksteel in hive skirmishes like Kierky pointed out.
CtC was a casualty of this "fix" since one of the facets of that gameplay was jump into storms to try and recover xith from convoys that died at the hands of the hive. Now I make a point of tagging them with a shot in advance otherwise the cargo is always a total loss if they die.
The war convoys really aren't all that great at killing the CtC convoys. Particularly the later-week ones.
CtC was a casualty of this "fix" since one of the facets of that gameplay was jump into storms to try and recover xith from convoys that died at the hands of the hive. Now I make a point of tagging them with a shot in advance otherwise the cargo is always a total loss if they die.
The war convoys really aren't all that great at killing the CtC convoys. Particularly the later-week ones.
+1 to putting it back. When this change happened, the scavenger playstyle was severely nerfed. Skirmishes used to be a glorious wonderland of interesting loot for a scavenger to collect. They were a great and risky way for newbies (and the combat-averse) to amass wealth.
If I remember right, the real problem with SSS farming wasn't so much that it made building Tridents easier, but rather that people would go AFK inside the skirmish sector (but out of range so they were safe) and thereby keep the battle alive for hours on end. The devs don't like it when people keep things alive like that.
Either way, it needs to be solved in a way that doesn't nearly remove an entire playstyle from the game. Adding maximum durations to skirmishes, for example, so that if they're kept alive for too long without the hive being defeated, the faction fighting the hive stops resetting after their next loss; they should just throw their hands up and leave the hive alone for the next four hours or so, or until a player kills a few bots on his own. Meanwhile, the simulation's intensity could be reduced since there wouldn't be anymore fighting, and loot wouldn't be accumulating anymore either.
If I remember right, the real problem with SSS farming wasn't so much that it made building Tridents easier, but rather that people would go AFK inside the skirmish sector (but out of range so they were safe) and thereby keep the battle alive for hours on end. The devs don't like it when people keep things alive like that.
Either way, it needs to be solved in a way that doesn't nearly remove an entire playstyle from the game. Adding maximum durations to skirmishes, for example, so that if they're kept alive for too long without the hive being defeated, the faction fighting the hive stops resetting after their next loss; they should just throw their hands up and leave the hive alone for the next four hours or so, or until a player kills a few bots on his own. Meanwhile, the simulation's intensity could be reduced since there wouldn't be anymore fighting, and loot wouldn't be accumulating anymore either.
The devs don't like it when people keep things alive like that.
Neither did players. It was wasting a ton of server resources and it made the hive skirmish sectors lag like hell from all of the cargo cluttering the sector.
Neither did players. It was wasting a ton of server resources and it made the hive skirmish sectors lag like hell from all of the cargo cluttering the sector.
For the new folks or older ones with fading memory, here's the news post when this change was originally made:
http://www.vendetta-online.com/h/news_25570.html
http://www.vendetta-online.com/h/news_25570.html