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advanced combat mission rant
Sorry, could not find the old threat where this was talked about, I think it was a part of some other bug discussion, so I wanted to put it out there again: the advanced combat missions are insanely frustrating.
I initially thought that the constant switching between (in my case) drone IIs and sentries was a bug, but now it seems it is intentional. There seems to be no pattern to the switches, sometimes it switches after each kill, sometimes I get to kill several sentries and then several drone IIs, but always it switches at least once or twice before I can get my bonus.
Either way, completing the missions now takes incredible ammounts of time and is unbelievably boring, since in order to get the 500XP bonus I have to fly between 6 and 11 at least 2-3 times, wasting quite a bit of time in transit. As a result, I prefer to trade or just bot elsewhere, since given the ammount of time I waste just flying around looking for the bots or mesaging them to come out of station, the XP bonus is almost cancelled out.
Moreover, in the unlikely case that people actually do decide to try and complete the adv. combat missions instead of just botting in 17/18, this is going to have another negative impact on the game: it will crowd s6, the nearest source of drone IIs, and that is in turn going to make it difficult for the lower level NTs to complete their basic training, nicely spreading the frustration.
Now, having said that, I like the idea of switching between different versions of bots on a single mission, forces you to think carefully about the ship/weapons you are going to use. However, if in order to get this interesting twist on the mission you have to spend most of the time flying between sectors, the boredom of that neutralizes any possible benefits such switching might have. So please, please either limit the missions to one type of bot only, or to a specific bot combined with bots that can be found in any sector (assaults maybe?).
I initially thought that the constant switching between (in my case) drone IIs and sentries was a bug, but now it seems it is intentional. There seems to be no pattern to the switches, sometimes it switches after each kill, sometimes I get to kill several sentries and then several drone IIs, but always it switches at least once or twice before I can get my bonus.
Either way, completing the missions now takes incredible ammounts of time and is unbelievably boring, since in order to get the 500XP bonus I have to fly between 6 and 11 at least 2-3 times, wasting quite a bit of time in transit. As a result, I prefer to trade or just bot elsewhere, since given the ammount of time I waste just flying around looking for the bots or mesaging them to come out of station, the XP bonus is almost cancelled out.
Moreover, in the unlikely case that people actually do decide to try and complete the adv. combat missions instead of just botting in 17/18, this is going to have another negative impact on the game: it will crowd s6, the nearest source of drone IIs, and that is in turn going to make it difficult for the lower level NTs to complete their basic training, nicely spreading the frustration.
Now, having said that, I like the idea of switching between different versions of bots on a single mission, forces you to think carefully about the ship/weapons you are going to use. However, if in order to get this interesting twist on the mission you have to spend most of the time flying between sectors, the boredom of that neutralizes any possible benefits such switching might have. So please, please either limit the missions to one type of bot only, or to a specific bot combined with bots that can be found in any sector (assaults maybe?).
Old Threat? lol, nice way of putting it
I too however hate this jumping, it makes the mission 10x longer. I could manualy kill MK Is and IIs without a mission and still turn out a higher exp points than a pilot on a mission in the same amount of time.
If the bots were confined (MK Is on s13 chain, IIs on s5 Chain, and Recons held out at the old 250c Cluster) then perhaps the jumping would be acceptable but I've chased Recons and IIs INSANELY far away (30,000m is the current record) trying to Fox 2 them (Fox 2, Missile).
Please set it to a single bot group like this:
Early: Kill MK Is or IIs, every 5 kills gets a bonus!
ADvanced: Kill MK IIs, every 10 kills gets a bonus
At least then we would have set parameters and also not be getting away with murder, we'd have to work harder but not nessicarily go sailing across the system. (Assuming bots were confined as stated above)
I too however hate this jumping, it makes the mission 10x longer. I could manualy kill MK Is and IIs without a mission and still turn out a higher exp points than a pilot on a mission in the same amount of time.
If the bots were confined (MK Is on s13 chain, IIs on s5 Chain, and Recons held out at the old 250c Cluster) then perhaps the jumping would be acceptable but I've chased Recons and IIs INSANELY far away (30,000m is the current record) trying to Fox 2 them (Fox 2, Missile).
Please set it to a single bot group like this:
Early: Kill MK Is or IIs, every 5 kills gets a bonus!
ADvanced: Kill MK IIs, every 10 kills gets a bonus
At least then we would have set parameters and also not be getting away with murder, we'd have to work harder but not nessicarily go sailing across the system. (Assuming bots were confined as stated above)
Guys, guys guys.... there IS an advanced combat mission where you kill only II bots. You get a +300 +250 +250 for every 6 level II bot kills.
That's what I do. Just keep ending the mission until I get the one where it's Drone II hunting ONLY. I can't really say it's any less boring, sorry, but at least you don't have to jump between different sectors. Honestly, I really don't have a problem with getting experience points so slowly. I like the idea of having a slower progression, because it tends to get you more involved in the game and allows you to explore it much better.
While I'm thankful that a mission system even exists, I still feel that something more needs to be done to make it fun. Hunting thousands of bots nonstop isn't by any means the best approach to getting the player engaged with the game. I wouldn't say it tests the player's skill either. It's just... there as an obstacle to prevent you from getting everything in your inventory. And while most players are currently skillful in regular combat, they're still handicapped by these monotonous botting sessions.
I don't know what the ultimate solution is. I think part of it has to do with making the AI smarter, so that they can auto-adjust their skill with each player. And again, something like having an obstacle course to truly test skill. I don't want to sound like a broken record with the obstacle course idea, but here's a plausible method of making it work:
1. Player enters a station. Player selects a combat training module. Player accepts mission.
2. A temporary sector is created. Player is teleported into the sector with a temporary ship/weapon configuration. A tough bot (or waves of bots) are spawned with just this player in it.
3. If they complete the mission successfully, they are teleported back to the station for license eligibility. The license given would be determined by the configuration that was used during the test (emphasis on light ship or heavy ship? emphasis on light weapons or heavy weapons?).
4. The temporary sector (empty) is deleted because it is no longer in use. Everything that occurs in that temporary sector is not recorded into the player's stats (no score, bounty, kills, deaths, etc.). Think of it as a hologram area for training only.
And my last point... the trading missions actually seem to have some purpose to them, whereas the combat missions just involves hunting boring drones. Maybe a better way to prepare the player for combat would be to group a bunch of players together to take down an NPC controlled frigate. It not only provides enough variety to break the boredom, it also prepares the player for possible scenarios in their future career.
While I'm thankful that a mission system even exists, I still feel that something more needs to be done to make it fun. Hunting thousands of bots nonstop isn't by any means the best approach to getting the player engaged with the game. I wouldn't say it tests the player's skill either. It's just... there as an obstacle to prevent you from getting everything in your inventory. And while most players are currently skillful in regular combat, they're still handicapped by these monotonous botting sessions.
I don't know what the ultimate solution is. I think part of it has to do with making the AI smarter, so that they can auto-adjust their skill with each player. And again, something like having an obstacle course to truly test skill. I don't want to sound like a broken record with the obstacle course idea, but here's a plausible method of making it work:
1. Player enters a station. Player selects a combat training module. Player accepts mission.
2. A temporary sector is created. Player is teleported into the sector with a temporary ship/weapon configuration. A tough bot (or waves of bots) are spawned with just this player in it.
3. If they complete the mission successfully, they are teleported back to the station for license eligibility. The license given would be determined by the configuration that was used during the test (emphasis on light ship or heavy ship? emphasis on light weapons or heavy weapons?).
4. The temporary sector (empty) is deleted because it is no longer in use. Everything that occurs in that temporary sector is not recorded into the player's stats (no score, bounty, kills, deaths, etc.). Think of it as a hologram area for training only.
And my last point... the trading missions actually seem to have some purpose to them, whereas the combat missions just involves hunting boring drones. Maybe a better way to prepare the player for combat would be to group a bunch of players together to take down an NPC controlled frigate. It not only provides enough variety to break the boredom, it also prepares the player for possible scenarios in their future career.
And what makes your idea so great, Arolte, is that the solo training missions could be created entirely client-side; no need to strain the server with that. The sector and the bots in it can be created completely by the player's own game client, and only the outcome of the battle should be communicated with the server so it can update your licenses.
Not only that, it'll get rid of those pesky kill stealers.
=D
=D
phaser, those missions are only available ar lower levels, it will (or at least should) eventually take you to a mission which tells you to kill 8 DroneII / Sentry bots and at that point the bots you are sent to kill start switching.
Arolte, how many bots does it send you after? 6/7/8? If the number changes, how did you manage to make it change? Did you use /updatestation for that?
I used to be able to use /updatestation to go back from 8 changing bots to 7 DroneIIs (and lower bonuses), but I haven't tried lately. And even if it still works, I think that is an /updatestation bug rather then an actually intended feature.
Arolte, how many bots does it send you after? 6/7/8? If the number changes, how did you manage to make it change? Did you use /updatestation for that?
I used to be able to use /updatestation to go back from 8 changing bots to 7 DroneIIs (and lower bonuses), but I haven't tried lately. And even if it still works, I think that is an /updatestation bug rather then an actually intended feature.
Level 8 combat, and it makes me do 10. Including Guardians, sometimes, just to be bitchy.