The current iteration of alerts has almost completely driven me from the game to be honest. As a TR main on emerald, in 10 days we've won 10 alerts where as NC have won 22 and vs have won 32. This honestly has nothing to do with factions being overpowered or anything like that. This is primarily due to 4th faction people who switch to the wining side of an alert, Platoon Leaders not looking at the maps or talking on command channel in order to defend territory. For example, today tr started an alert on hossin and 7 mins into the alert we had 47% of the continent and 40% of the continent population. By the last 15 mins of the alert we were down to 33% of the population and 28% of the alert with half our territories about to be cut off. Immediately following the alert the VS started an alert with 56% of the territory with vanu population still climbing. The majority of alerts are not won on high population continents and are ghost caps by those farming alerts for free iso and items. and those few alerts on high population continents are almost always won by the vanu. I feel as though alerts, while being nice to get free stuff, have absolutely destroyed what was fun about gameplay on emerald for TR. Problems with the new alert system. Hives: Building bases now have become necessary only to start an alert and since it is so difficult on the infantry side to win an alert, player made base fights have almost completely disappeared. Timing: initially these alerts were only 30 minutes long which was much too short for alerts that started due to suddenly having enough cortium (when the starting faction has well over 40% of the continent before cortium) but still was a good length for the alerts that were started because of reaching 40% of the continent. these 45 minute alerts have given rise to only two kinds of alerts, those that there is no way a faction can win (because they can only lose 4 territories to lose the alert) or the one typically starting right after, where a faction has pushed so much of the other faction so they have too much territory to be stopped. Lowpop: on the low pop times or low pop continents quite often pop is in extreme favor of one faction or another, this leads to everyone wanting to switch to that faction because the other two cannot possibly stop them. Major facilities and warpgate touches: capturing major facilities and warpgate touching have now become a thing of the past. Taking all 3 techplants biolabs or amp stations or touching an enemy warpgate leaves no benefit for the faction who does it leading to no one even bothering trying. Does anyone have any suggestions to fix these problems
I think I'd already post these suggestion month ago on the same kind of thread about alert system being a failure. Remove HIVE entirely, as the only purpose of HIVE are to create the illusion of useful PMB. Make PMB viable and useful by removing the weird limitation that ban PMB from the normal fights : Allow PMB to be build INSIDE permanent bases Allow Orbital Strike to be used INSIDE permanent base (balance it a bit as it would be a slaughter if a OS hit a bio lab in its current form) Allow Glaive IPC to be used INSIDE permanent base (and make it useful at something else than damaging skyshield). Cortium cost to build should be lowered so you can build defenses faster. Cortium cost for maintenance should be increased so embargo are relevant. Module are totally reworked / removed as repair module and skyshield currently ban ground vehicles and airplane from the fights. Since HIVE are removed, alert now trigger at 41% territory control everytime. So the timer can be lowered so alert are more realistics. The 30% bonus xp from alert only happens on the territory of the triggering faction and adjacent non-triggering faction territory. XP for capturing a defender base is quadrupled ISO reward are reworked (triggering faction are renamed "defender") : cosmetic + 200 ISO reward if the defender win the alert +25 ISO per additionnal % territory after 36% (if you finish with 40%, have more than 41% territory Defender can't get more than 400 ISO. If the defender hit the 400 ISO cap, they get TWO cosmetic instead of one. 50 ISO for participation +25 ISO per defender territory captured Attacker total ISO reward is cap to 300 ISO. Attacker that get more than 150 ISO get a cosmetic reward. ISO is now based on time played inside a defender territory or on a territory that is lattice-adjacent to defender territory. You must play at least 2/3 of the alert total duration these territory to get the full reward. It won't solve all the problems, but at least it offer something much better than the current system. Now the attacker faction can get more ISO from a alert they didn't triggered, switching faction is less relevant.
Alerts need loyalty rewards. Lower the win amount to 150 ISO, and bump up the alert loss amount to 75. Players get double rewards for being on that same faction for the hour prior to the alert, and triple that amount forbeing on 2 hours prior to the alert. Mush less faction swapping and playing the underdog doesn't hurt as much. There also needs to be a nanite generation penalty/reward to somewhat equalize the fighting ability of the 3 factions regardless of populations. There needs to be a better reason to stick with a faction that has no hope of winning an alert, and our pathetic under-pop XP bonus isn't near enough. I also think Hives need to go. As long as PMB canons were buffed then I think construction inside bases like Halkish suggested would be great. The counter argument was that some bases would become impossible to take, but that's what the Glaive and Orbital Strike are for. Removing hives from alerts would also make alert times much easier to balance. Sunderers should also be allowed to deploy absolutely anywhere.
@Halkesh: Great Ideas, I would absolutely love to see those changes. Only three points to add from my side: This could act like a double-edged sword. If the defender has the momentum and is pushing with all his forces a biolab, the best tactic to bind his forces would be to defend the biolab... but the biolab protectors would be punished hard for doing so and rewarded to simply avoid defenders forces and to cap unprotected bases. The defenders on the other side would be forced to defend only... I would even go further and equal the reward cap to those of the defenders. And let the cosmetic be the only advantage of the defenders. This would eliminate the "need" to switch the fraction to get the most of "progression". Lowered alert time combined with the 2/3 participation requirement for max reward would cause a lot pain thanks to the queue times. I play on Miller on my NC toon the most time. But from time to time I can not play him because of the queue of 70+. So I switch to VS because it is the low pop faction. But still, my main toon is NC... So if the Alert starts (no matter by whom) I switch to NC. So I land in the queue. Just now I still have over 20 min to join the party and get the max reward. But with the change (lets pretend 30 min Alerts and 2/3 min. participation), I only had 10 minutes for the queuetime... THIS would be frustrating...
You'd misread the part where I say that you also get that bonus on a area that is lattice-adjacent to defender territory. If VS have triggered the alert, all their territory grant the 30% bonus xp, NC and TR territory also grant the 30% bonus xp, but only if they have a direct lattice link to VS territory. (in other word : if VS can attack them, it grant the bonus. Even if the capture point are locked) On your example, if the defender push outside to capture a bio lab, then every belligerents in the bio lab will get the 30% xp bonus. For ISO, that's a fair point. I agree. For cosmetic, I don't understand completely. You want to make impossible for the attacker to get cosmetic, even if they hit the cap ? Or that the defender should get the cosmetic for starting the alert, no matter if the win or lose after that ? Or both of them ? What's your point of view on the defender getting 2 cosmetic crate if they did an excellent job ? Your frustration is understandable, but it's created by the queue system not the alert system, so I'll be clear : I can do nothing for you and do not plan to (not my job™). Don't forget that : Koltyr-VR is on PTS and will probably reduce the feeling of the purgatory while in queue. My system will probably reduce queue due to less disparity on the alert reward (probable 4th faction reduction) I only created the 2/3 proposition so people that are on the right continent at the right time but don't fight for the alert (attacking the wrong faction) won't get the ISO. Note that currently you need to spent the whole 45 min to get 100% of the ISO.
Well, thanks for the clarification. My fault My point was related to ISO only. As I understood your suggestion, you would reward defenders with 2 cosmetics if the do well, the attackers with maximum one of them. In my eyes its an advantage for the defenders. And this is ok how you suggested it. Good system would take its environment into account if it is not autonomous. Thats a simple point to me point. And a reduced Alert duration interacts much more with queue times. Koltyr would not change anything about lost alert time. As for "My system will probably reduce queue due to less disparity on the alert reward (probable 4th faction reduction)": Would be nice, but there is the evil word: probably... Still, great ideas
I'm on Emerald and you're conveniently leaving out how many alerts you guys won before this. How you'd get a massive (anywhere from 5-10% sometimes) overpop and face roll the entire server. It's not the alert itself, per se, but the fact that players who were on your side moved back to, or created, Vanu toons to have easy mode for easy wins. I play TR alt a lot and I observe TR actions..and you guys have won your fair share during east coast USA prime time. Furthermore, your faction is far more organized than the other two and are the one's that make or break the others' ability to win alerts.
IMO, defender still have to have a better reward, since they're supposed to fight in a 2 vs 1 situation, and that was after getting more territory than the enemy.
Lets be honest, the only way a person wins an alert is if the other faction chooses not to fight them during the alert. The 2 vs 1 with 45 minutes is way too long. Fact is: 1) any faction during primetime properly double teamed has no chance, excluding primetime players from rewards; and 2) another system need be established for implant energy (e.g. certs during alerts not implant energy). It shouldn't take until 1 or 4 am in the morning or be a kid who doesn't work or spend money (i.e. play during the day) that gets the implant energy. You should be able to login during primetime, play with your friends, and still receive more than 50 implant energy. For the average player, it is impossible to level or receive decent implants without dropping hundreds of dollars. It simply won't happen by playing the game when you want to, which will lose you more players than gain. Find a way other than alerts for implant energy, for example kills or ribbons (i.e. from combat ribbons rather than mining ore).
You cant win because you are playing the weakest faction in the game, its ******* simple as that. Worst ESF. Worst MBT. Worst MAX. Worst infantry weapons. Its simple as that, things happen for a reason. Ill be here waiting for idiot that gives dog a tool and doesnt understand why dog doenst know what to do with or guy that thinks that Anchor effects secondary weapons.
That would be fair, but when it comes down to it we NEED to stabilize populations and do so without resorting to purgatory. I'd give up extra ISO and settle for cosmetics if it limited faction swapping. I still think that basing alert rewards off of accumulated loyalty points over the two hours prior is the way to go. No matter what side you're on, if you fight for your own faction through thick and thin then you're rewarded.
Did you seriously call the Mossy the worst ESF and claim TR has the worst guns? Did you have your coffee today?
Oh yeah, you are the idiot that considers Mosquito OP, hilarious, lowest damage, shiftiest frame and worst hover is op to you, you must be one horrible player.
It's definitely not a lack of coffee. By that reply I'm thinking it's because you didn't get ice cream for dinner. Whatever, have fun with infantry because you surely don't spend any time flying.
Thermal was removed dummy, banshee is useless as other AI nose guns, but thanks for proving you know nothing about the game
Actually I had some ice cream that day, it still doesnt change the fact that you are clueless about the game
have you tried using your eyes? Like there is other ways of seeing the enemy than IRNV sights, you can just look for them.
You're in your own little world. I actually think you believe yourself. It's amazing to be honest. The PPA is hands down the best AI gun against infantry, but the Banshee still wrecks, es[especially at range, plus it's still decent against every other target. Or at least it was. Here are the patch notes going over the latest nerf against it, as it truly was the best AI gun, all things considered. But I wish they had buffed the other two against vehicles, even at an AI cost, not this nerf. https://forums.daybreakgames.com/ps2/index.php?threads/pc-hotfix-12-13.248013/
