Alert Rewards on Loss

Discussion in 'PlanetSide 2 Gameplay Discussion' started by Campagne, Nov 18, 2018.

  1. Campagne

    Now that even more rewards have been added to the continental alert pool, can we finally have a chance to receive an item on loss? I can't even remember the last time NC won a continent alert while I was around.

    Why can I play for the full time and then some and only get some paltry certs and ISO-4 while my enemies merely overpoped their way to unique and otherwise unobtainable items? The last thing I unlocked was the Vanguard Bruiser plating, I think. That was literally months ago, yet I've played through quite a few full alerts and got next to nothing out of them.

    Give players who played the full alert a chance to get a drop even if their faction lost. Don't punish player for playing the underdog or the losing faction.
    • Up x 3
  2. YellowJacketXV

    All for it.
    In return, you can no longer fourth faction, and you may only have one empire per account.

    Even trade.
    • Up x 2
  3. AgentRed

    or make it so if you log in to 1 faction during the alert have it disable the other characters on the server during the alert duration.
    • Up x 5
  4. YellowJacketXV

    I don't care so long as planetmen are forced into some form of loyalty.
    • Up x 1
  5. LordKrelas

    Those that 4th faction, aren't limited to one account.
    As well, it'd not prevent people profiting hard, by switching, It'd just screw everyone else, who wants to experience the other sides.
    You know, to help reduce Bias, as they can try the equipment their enemy uses, and see it's not as bad, or good as they think.

    So it's a lot better, if switching is limited only during Alerts.
    As right now, if you're on the losing side, you have no motive to not switch, as it Discourages loyalty entirely.
    Like, the new archer variant, a potent tool; That's a low chance item on winning.
    Add in ISO, the growing list of exclusives,
    The lack of support for being Loyal by staying on the losing side, Causes the mass switch,

    Aka, Yeah don't do that.
    AgentRed, has the right idea though.
    • Up x 1
  6. Talthos

    Better yet, make it so that you have better odds of getting good drops, based on long you've spent logged on the same character during a given alert.

    For instance, if you stay on the same character from start to finish of the alert, you get the best possible odds of good drops (and you get more certs or something). While if you switch in the middle of the alert, or even near the end, your odds get reset to a very, very low chance of drops. So if you tried to swap near the end to the winning faction, you get almost nothing.

    The odds should also take into account if an alert ends before its timer actually reaches 0, if total continent control is achieved before time's up. For instance, if a continent control alert has a duration of 60 minutes, but one faction conquers the entire continent in just 30 minutes, then the 'full duration' 60 minute drop odds, should apply for anyone who stayed logged on the same character for the 30 minutes it took to end the alert quickly.
    • Up x 3
  7. Jbeasty

    Now that they sped up the meltdown alert frequency, it's been better.

    But overall, I agree. There still needs to be incentive/reward for winning, but the base points, such as certs and ISO, shouldn't be so far apart. There definitely needs to be at least a meaningful chance on a loss to get some of the available cosmetic rewards and boosts etc. Or, you know, those damn weapons no one has, lol....

    In this pseudo dead game, it is just too easy to get a stacked faction, making winning for the other two pretty difficult. Not to mention certain factions have a HORRIBLE track record during prime time for instance, or outside of that. So if you only have certain time frames to play the game, you could be stuck with a faction that almost never wins when you are able to play. Few people have the time to farm the early morning (~12-9am) PvE alerts either, let alone actually WANT TO with so little going on in the game at those times.

    I remember for the longest time (before the recent alert revamp) NC on Emerald hardly ever triggered/won alerts outside of PvE hours.
    • Up x 2
  8. JobiWan

    I played in a very close alert last night. For the first time in ages I felt like I actually made a difference. The squad I was in (even ended up leading) just kept pushing VS even though we needed to take territory from NC. They refused to follow orders so I left and I jumped around from base to base, defending, attacking and picking up strays as I went and we won the alert by a few percent.

    My reward? 100 certs. With double XP I can get that in about 20 minutes of regular play.

    So not only should the runners-up get drops, the winners should get a guaranteed drop, because to me 100 certs, although welcome, is not really worth all the effort.
    • Up x 2
  9. Pacster3

    I feel you. It's so unfair to only get 350 certs(you forgot the other 250) and about 300 ISO(forgot them too) and another 75 certs(well, you get the picture) if you did well at the alert yourself....for 1:30h(or 45 minutes...as it seems like your fight wasn't around peek time) of playing....on top of whatever you got during the alert with the 20% cert gain bonus. I really feel you. /sarcasm

    Yes, the 100 certs is not the best bonus you can get depending on how much you play. It means 100 certs for doing nothing tho(or at least not more than many that lost the alert)...any of the boosters mean that you actually have to play to get more certs out of them. If you get the implant bonus then you likely only end up with 25(!!!) additional ISO...compared to that the 100 certs-bonus is WAY better.
    And then there are the one time cosmetic rewards and guns. You can only get them ONCE. Sooner or later you gonna have them all. So relax. Can't always get the reward you want most or they would have to make a "pick your favorit reward"-list.

    The only reward that is really crap is the implant one. Maybe they could up the 100 cert reward to 150 certs to bring it more in line with the boosters...but that's about it.
    What really sucks is that the difference between 2nd and 3rd place is equal to nothing (cause you anyway have all ugly decals within a short time. Maybe that's where the implant reward should go for all that already have the decals.) while the difference between first and second is quite huge.
  10. JobiWan


    No need for your sarcasm. I didn't forget anything, we're talking about the 'main' reward drop for winning the alert. And I said the 100 certs is welcome but should be better in my opinion, which I'm entitled to without you trying to score points.
    • Up x 2
  11. Rydenan

    Agreed. My main character is on NC. I play during primetime and can probably count on one hand the total number of winning alerts I've been in. It's been, what, over a year now?
    • Up x 1
  12. Liewec123

    because you should be 4th factioning and getting rewarded for it!
    how dare you play the underdog faction!
    /end_of_sarcasm

    but seriously, 4th factioning was an issue anyway, but showering 4th factioners with awards just compounds the issue!
    i agree that if you were good enough to stick around on a faction that obviously won't win
    instead of swapping to the winning faction for free rewards, you should get a chance at the items too.
    • Up x 2
  13. GroeneAppel

    4th factioning is to blame.
    On every server there's one faction that always get short end of the stick. Either due to pop, or due to politics between other factions. Either force players to one faction by limiting them to one faction per server, or drasticly alter the reward mechanic.
  14. Ge0mancer

    Every fifteen minutes you play in an Alert (or any portion of the final fifteen) you get a "tick" of participation. The winning side receives one additional Tick. At the end of the Alert, win or lose, you receive a random roll for rewards equal to the number of ticks you have squared. Obviously the rewards would have to be reworked a bit. :)

    Then you also incorporate a system to switch to the low pop faction (determined randomly and not forced) which allows you to keep your time played when you switch (and maybe gives you an extra tick and/or triggers a directive).
  15. DeadlyOmen

    Tears are very easy to see.
  16. Twin Suns

    4th faction is "No risk, all reward". The game rewards the Benedict Arnold's of the world.

    Meanwhile, loyalty to you're faction gives you absolutely nothing.


    "Why did you kick'em from the squad?"

    Faction hopping slurpies are not allowed son. Let that leech find another squad.
  17. Who Garou


    So here you go.
    The current system as I understand it.
    I'm playing NC. A continent alert starts. Vanu is winning.
    I switch to VANU. The VANU character I switch to doesn't get credit as being logged in for Alert wins for 45min-1hr.

    A continent alert lasts for 1 1/2 hours.
    If the reward cut-off is 45 minutes, then you might possibly be able to squeeze in the change over and still get a reward.
    Problem is that you are probably going to know after the previous mini-alert (Facility, amp, tech plant control) if you think you are going to want to switch to take advantage one faction being in a winning position. Now you have plenty of time to switch servers and still get well over an hour of unaffected playtime in before the end of the continent cap Alert.

    I'm not going to try to take advantage of it myself.
    I have bought additional slots, and I do have 2 characters for each of the three factions on one server.
    I have been caught by the mechanic by logging all my other characters and then playing my main. I just don't do that any more and play my main and then log all my alts before shutting down the game.
    Would be so much easier if they gave member log-in credit for all PS2 characters on your account if you log-in one of them a day, but the mechanic doesn't work that way.

    And, yeah, I'm for the loosing faction having a chance to win "specialty" items at a lower % chance, but I definitely think that everyone fighting for the length of the alert tends to be putting in as much effort as the winning faction (especially if you were the faction that was winning at the beginning of a continent capture!).
    Unfortunately, there will always be those that don't participate in the Alert (do nothing that has anything to do with winning or losing the alert), and, yet, still get rewards because they were logged in to the winning faction during the alert.
  18. Trigga

    Where's Demigan?
    Demi's (i think it was Demi) idea about an alert reward pool that you can grow to a full reward even with losses and part participation sounds the best option by far.
    Absolutely excellent suggestion, makes the players feel like they can still achieve something, even if they lose or cannot partake in the full alert.
    Example, yesterday i logged on with 25 mins left on a control alert, i knew id not receive the reward but i still helped my empire to resecure bases and attack large hexs. Would have been nice to get at least a few % towards my next win.

    Pool should be account wide, not per character. This would discourage empire swapping as youd be able to win as VS and claim as TR or NC for example.

    Below are just some random thoughts on how the pool would fill:
    Alert win with 90+% participation - 100% fill of reward pool (if you claim reward instantly, its the same as now)
    Alert loss with 90+% participation - 50% fill of reward pool filled
    Alert win with 50% participation - 50% fill of reward pool filled
    Alert loss with 50% participation - 25% of reward pool filled

    We'd not want it to take too long to fill the pool, even when losing, as long as you participate for a lot of each alert you should be able to get a decent % fill.

    Bonus:
    Could call it Ned's bonus box or something, and have Nanite Ned on the menu for it.

    Questions:
    Should it auto open once full? Or should we have to open it?
    What happens if youve filled it to 90% and your empire wins the alert?
    Possible loss of rewards.

    The way ISO and certs are distributed for time played and win/loss is a good example of how this system could work.
  19. Trigga

    Seems relevant.
    Out of 119 '357-IA' owners, 28 are NC 30 are TR and 61 are VS.
    More VS than both TR and NC put together, interesting.
    I draw no conclusions.
    • Up x 1
  20. Pacster3

    2 possible reasons:
    a) VS wins more alerts.
    b) VS has worse faction specific sidearms. Which means that more may try the NS-Underboss...which is the requirement to have the "357-IA" drop at all.

    119 owners seems pretty low to me....