RavenDynamics & Cortex Challenge feedback

[Poland]

Hello everyone!
I would like to start the new thread in the Feedback section, as current Dev Shack is not really the place for such a feedback not connected with existing Tau Ceti #3 & incoming Conquest Rework update. I don't post much in the forum, because I am trying to spend my words talking to microphone for the Pirates' Voice series, but I think I will make the video later on and now I will focus to explain the problem in the forums to let you read it and answer fast about the topic.

THE ISSUE

The thing started on the DevShack forums. The problem is connected with Cortex Challenge instance planets and RavenDynamics event. I am referring here to the Ifrit Cortex Challenge. The thing is, the evaluations are frequent (a lot more than regular Cortex Instances) but in the same time a lot less cortex parts players are gaining for the Top 10% players score. When low amount of players are participating then only one squad is able to gain the cortex, considering low populated servers.

I must agree with the thing that this is the problem of the servers that have lower amount of people playing than on some server like Gaia that is the most populated server right now in my opinion, guessing it by looking at their cortex scoreboard for the event.

If one squad is only getting huge rewards for the event, rest of people gets demotivated. Competition is ok in this case but efforts of all squads are not compensated well. Cortex instance takes a lot of time to finish, if we go for ifrits. So the time spent on the challenge isn't worth at all, if we gain basically nothing from it excepting the Raven Signets in the event that for most of people are now useless when they have reached the cap for this event season.

SOLUTION

Connecting all the ideas of people that was putting few of their words inside the topic before me, I would suggest something that will bring even more rewards for the winning team and in the same time, compensating the time that other squads would spend for the cortex instance. I don't really know if the thing is easy or not to implement, but the RavenDynamics Cortex Instance itself could give 2 Ifrit parts for accomplishing the 10th wave, and then each 5th wave after this one, again next 2 ifrit parts. That could bring some more competition in trying to get to 15th wave or highers for additional cortex parts and meanwhile, it wouldn't touch the ranking criterias.

Now, it comes with the problem - but Ifrit Cortex would be obsolete now as everyone will be able to achieve it. NO because:

1. Some people don't care at all about cortexes on their ship. They prefer just to buy ship for gold and 'cya'.
2. It is still not that easy sometimes to get to 10th wave. And to get the cortex parts we would need to pass 10th wave, that for RavenDynamics event environment - spawns double boss, so some groups are still not able to get to the wave. BUT if the problem could be this part, criteria for additional Ifrit Cortex parts could be a higher wave passing, i.e. 12-13th wave.
3. The RavenDynamics event could offer more cortexes than only Ifrit Cortex in the future. Like some:
a) speed cortex (Flash Cortex* - if we are constantly flying, increases speed by 'x'%, turns off when stunned),
b) defence cortex (Hercules Cortex* - increases defense by 'x'% if we are on high % of HP; reverse of the ifrit cortex) or
c) energy cortex (Sapphire Cortex* - if we are at 'x'% of energy cap for 'y' time, the energy usage by the items are decreased for 'z'%).

Summaring, all of these aspects could be a good addition to the event. It would compensate the effort of less skilled squads with few cortex parts and in the same time, the most skilled ones would achieve their goals even faster than before. I am waiting for your feedback about the idea and basically, about whole feedback on the issue.

* - names are examples and they don't need to look like this in the future

 

[katana88]

First of all, thank you for your attention, RavenPL.
Now to topic, I dont mind idea about giving 2 parts on 10th wave beaten, however I would not like barrier going up to 12th or 13th waves, sometimes boss pattern is very bad and even ''every time winner squad'' cannot go over 12th wave.
Also wave 13 would be hard for most of people including me.
I still like idea about making it 20% or 30% top scores, or as ben1982 suggested, make it ifrits come according to signets earned.
Also I agree 100% that ifrit is not so much huge advantage to make it nearly impossible to obtain.
Most of PvE friends I have prefer Eagle eye, ifrit is mostly loved by PvP players and we have already few who does PvP anyway and even on that background , everyone who is decent in PvP says that ifrit will not make anyone OP and its not big problem to counter it.
So no point of making ifrit so hard to get, its just extra amount of fun to have it.
About other cortex I agree also, because why not

 

[Vesperion]

Oh boy... Feedback about RDX and Reactor fun... from me... this can only go wrong lol

Fact Number 1:
People who only wanna go for Signets and not a Cortex will do the famous "Signet Rush" aka "4 Wave Rush" when RDX Starts to unlock Mission A asap to do this then over and over again to unlock Mission B asap and already with Mission A those Pilots never will visit the Reactor again (if they not help others and are willing to do so).

Signet Rushs base mechanic is doing Wave 1-4 and after wave 4 reset the Challenge to start the next Signet Rush cus it´s the best "Signet over time income" so if a Pilot only wants to go for Signets he will never achive Wave 10 or higher at all so that in the end only those who wanna go for the Cortex will benefit from the 10th wave and each 5th Wave afterwards.

Imo each 5th completed Wave should give 1-2 Cortex Parts so that even the non competitors would have a "reason" to complete at least the 5th Wave of the RDX Reactor instead of trashing it directly after Wave 4 to start again but still having a chance to obtain the parts + i would extend this to all other Reactor Planets BUT for the "non event Reactor Planets" (Phobos and Arkon) i would make it so that it is limited to obtain only 10 (maybe even 15) parts per week considering that they are always available in compare to the RDX Planet + if you did invest your 1-2 hours to achive a "top Score" but another Squad beats you so that you leave empty handed afterwards anyways.

Fact Number 2:
A big mistake the RDX Event always makes is that for most Pilots 2/3 of the Event are (more or less) pointless. Sure the rewards with the small E-Pack, the 5 and 25 Grav pack are nice but the rest like patterns and the RDX Drone is "useless" if you obtained them at the previous RDX Event already so the give no benefit for those Pilots.

In theory Pilots would need to "Skip 1 RDX Event entirely to participate in the next RDX where in theory the Reward for Mission B is then the Mission A reward and Mission B then gives an new RDX ship" and even then 1/2 of the Event would still be pointless (patterns and RDX drone).

My suggestion:
If my absolute honest opinion/suggestion/whatever you wanna call it would be required i would go back to my suggested idea how the Event could be changed to "improve" it with some additions this time around.

1. Reactor Challenge is complete optional and should serve to get the Cortex parts and some extra Signets

2. Mission A and Mission B should be available from the start BUT with a change
2.1. instead of going to do 1 mission over and over again to earn the Signets just to unlock the next mission make it so that the Event takes place in the Systems Vega - Sol
2.2. Similar to the "Artifact" make it so that with the Missions in each System Pilots receive "1 part of the RDX Event ship" and when obtained all 5 parts the ship is unlocked and ready for purchase (engine, wings, thrusters, cockpit and Systems)
2.3. In order not to "rush through the Missions" and to be done at day 1 make it so that it takes some days (for example every 3 days) before the next mission is available to obtain the next part

3. Change the system of Signets so that they not serve as "unlockers" and rather are an "Event currency" that can be used to buy things in the shop
3.1. Excluded Items should be boosters and memberships and i would stay with the E-Pack and Grav packs
3.2. For Gravs the following should count 5 Grav Pack = 250 Signets and 25 Grav Pack = 750 Signets
3.3. For E-Packs the following should count Smallest E-Pack = 250 Signets each following E-Pack +75 Signets more (don´t have them all in my memory right now)
3.4. In order to stay balanced in a certain way changes for Reactor and Missions are in need as well
3.4.1. In Reactor each completed Wave gives 2 Signets. After each 5th wave 2 more signets will be obtained for completing the Waves (2 until Wave 5, 4 until Wave 10, 6 until Wave 15 and so on)
3.4.2. For the Mission completing the Mission for the 1st time yields 100 Signets and each recompletion afterwards yields 25-50 Signets rndmly

4. Please remove those TC units from the RDX Event... sure the new RDX ships use TC Tech BUT this tech is not available until TC and every tech below TC is only available by gold purchase or another Event that will drop it so it makes no sense to spawn TC units that "feel" way to sturdy in compare

As always numbers are rndmly picked by me so feel free to rant about them lol.

Regards - Vesperion

 

[destroier6]

Sometimes boss pattern is very bad and even ''every time winner squad'' cannot go over 12th wave.

Fyi, and sadly, the reason why many times we dont go "over 12th wave" its not because we die there, but just because we let the reactor die when we know that we already won since not many people is up to compete.

 

[katana88]

Fyi, and sadly, the reason why many times we dont go "over 12th wave" its not because we die there, but just because we let the reactor die when we know that we already won since not many people is up to compete.

I was told and I accept your correction mate. If i was able to edit post, I would have done.
However right now it is not main problem you do 12th or 18th wave, problem is other thing and I got nothing against your squad going in higher waves.

 

[-Decimator-]

The idea sounds good and will add more competition to the reactor as how I see it. Because when more reward slots open up faster, more squads will do good times.

Together with the above, perhaps as extra solution is to increase the time for each challenge run, from 4 hours to 8 hours as example (adjust Cortex amount accordingly). So now there is more time between a challenge run, the more squads can compete which results in more rewards on more places also.

Or just aim completely on the reactor abit like Vesperion wrote and change the gain of signets, increase them on the reactor and decrease them on missions so doing reactor is more efficient for signet gain then missions, so more players will keep doing reactor too. But this certainly hits signet gain balance so will see.

 

[katana88]

I really would love changes happen this event also..
I doubt it will happen tho..

 

[Chrys]

Hmm...

Well idc really about event reac def, but if those changes would be introduced, they would not only touch planetary body(ies), but also Phobos and Akron. Since those 2 planets are not so populated like event reac def, that could really make nephilim/Eagle eye cortex completion time way longer, since those 2 planets refresh weekly afaik. Imo all planets including event one would need to get same refresh time.

Anyways I kinda like the idea to male some changes in this topic

 

[Vesperion]

Hmm...

Well idc really about event reac def, but if those changes would be introduced, they would not only touch planetary body(ies), but also Phobos and Akron. Since those 2 planets are not so populated like event reac def, that could really make nephilim/Eagle eye cortex completion time way longer, since those 2 planets refresh weekly afaik. Imo all planets including event one would need to get same refresh time.

Anyways I kinda like the idea to male some changes in this topic

Main Difference between RDX Reactor Challenge and Phobos/Arkon is simply their "availability". Issue with Phobos is it has a Cortex that is basicly the most "useless" one in compare to Ifrit and Eagle Eye and i think in the ranking Eagle Eye is the most prefered one, Ifrit is the "nice to have it" and Nephilim is the "who cares" one due of their effects.

If i would now have to list the most seen Cortex Eagle Eye is place 1 followed by Ifrit while i never have seen anyone with the Nephilim Cortex running around.

Most of the time you only see Pilots at Arkon if they wanna make 1 Reactor run on the day before the round ends for highest score and then simply wait until the rewards are given out or not bother with it at all if a sq already has a pretty high score set. Don´t know about Phobos though but i guess it´s even less visited then Arkon already.

Sure Eagle eye only works if standing still BUT considering that in PvE moving around brings not really any benefit most of the time aside from maybe moving out of an OS or CC + PvE Units have already an sligthly longer range then Players already (except the turrets) i still not really understand why some Pilots move all the time like crazy... maybe this urban legend that moving increases the chances to not get hit or something around that

 

[hektor.barbossa]

ALL TIME

1st place - 5 parts
2 - 3 parts
3 - 2 parts
4 to 10 - 1 parts

Every 2 hour reset.

"Problem solved"


Make problems,no problems again

 

[katana88]

Hey Hector

'' 1st place - 5 parts
2 - 3 parts
3 - 2 parts
4 to 10 - 1 parts ''
It is already like this. nothing new.

''Every 2 hour reset.''
This will make problem worse.
Problem is only 2-3 squads doing reactor.
No many squads > no more places, only first place.
We need longer phase duration instead of less, so more squads will manage to make scores, so more places, more rewards.

 

[Jaax]

Raven is right, this system is just frankly bad.

 

[hektor.barbossa]

Hey Hector

'' 1st place - 5 parts
2 - 3 parts
3 - 2 parts
4 to 10 - 1 parts ''
It is already like this. nothing new.

''Every 2 hour reset.''
This will make problem worse.
Problem is only 2-3 squads doing reactor.
No many squads > no more places, only first place.
We need longer phase duration instead of less, so more squads will manage to make scores, so more places, more rewards.

Where on that way see problem ? 3 sq so they get parts ...
If all first 10 sq get parts,you will be happy see only 3 becouse no matter what score you have,on 3nd places grab 2 parts cortex ... If you sq get 1st places then 5 parts,next in 2h ...

So best sq in 5 resets have cortex done.

 

[Vesperion]

ALL TIME

1st place - 5 parts
2 - 3 parts
3 - 2 parts
4 to 10 - 1 parts

Every 2 hour reset.

"Problem solved"

Make problems,no problems again

This will make problem worse.
Problem is only 2-3 squads doing reactor.
No many squads > no more places, only first place.
We need longer phase duration instead of less, so more squads will manage to make scores, so more places, more rewards.

I think what barba meant with this model is that regardless of the number of sq who participate that the places 1-4 are always rewarded with cortex parts if the round is over.

Meaning if 6 squads participated the places 1-4 get the parts the other 2 go empty handed.
If 3 Squads participated places 1-3 are rewarded place 4 has no sq so no reward there.

 

[hektor.barbossa]

I think what barba meant with this model is that regardless of the number of sq who participate that the places 1-4 are always rewarded with cortex parts if the round is over.

Meaning if 6 squads participated the places 1-4 get the parts the other 2 go empty handed.
If 3 Squads participated places 1-3 are rewarded place 4 has no sq so no reward there.

nop first 10 places get parts ^^
Depend of position earn more or less parts ^^

So if be only 1 sq earn 5 parts
3 different sq - 1 place 5 parts, 2 place 3 parts and go on to 10.
You will always get some parts if you ar on 1st 10 place on score board, simple.

You can go even solo,if not be there more sq, you on 1st place get 5 parts ...

 

[Chrys]

i never have seen anyone with the Nephilim Cortex running around.

So you never saw me then XD

Don´t know about Phobos though

Same like with Akron. Just do a 2h max run last day before refresh and u get free nephilim
Somehow usefull while grinding harvs that actually need to be tanked using rd.

 

[destroier6]

Main Difference between RDX Reactor Challenge and Phobos/Arkon is simply their "availability". Issue with Phobos is it has a Cortex that is basicly the most "useless" one in compare to Ifrit and Eagle Eye and i think in the ranking Eagle Eye is the most prefered one, Ifrit is the "nice to have it" and Nephilim is the "who cares" one due of their effects.

If i would now have to list the most seen Cortex Eagle Eye is place 1 followed by Ifrit while i never have seen anyone

Nephilim is actually a lot more OP than Eagle eye, to get the beneffit from it its really easy and u can use it consistently in grinding both in harvs and sirius, meanwhile the eagle eye its just useful for the blaster when u are standing... (it doesnt effect other items). The fact that people dont realize how good is Nephilim cortex actually doesnt make it worse at all

If u look at the effect of the eagle and the effect of the nephilim and the situations and moments that they will be active, u see nephilim is a lot more useful, its even good for TC missions where u have a lot of multiple spawns

 

[Rajaa]

I think we are forgetting the topic of this thread.
This thread is made for purpose of suggesting a change of rdx event mechanics regarding Reactor challenge.
As mentioned before, only 1 squad winning parts is not competition for squads. For 2 or 3 reward squads, there would be up to 10 squads participating constantly for rewards. That is the difference of called "Event" that makes real event or just called Event to just be there and no one plays the Reactor challenge almost.
Giving more rewards will make more players participate instead of just do Mission A or B for ships and then just leave the rest of event and go to Sirius or Tau Ceti.
Approx event time that players play is 5-10 days of event. Rest of days, the players are playing normally in Sirius (while 1 or 2 squads only do Reactor).
We aim for improvement of game and event, so I hope there will be a change regarding this, so we can have more competition and fun in event.

 

[katana88]

Askone

Reached 13th wave.
Other squadron did more scores, well gg honestly.
But for us ?
Wasted time, wasted nerves
That is RDX for you on Askone.

Just because only two squads doing challenge..

 

[Vesperion]

Reactor during RDX at Day 1 and maybe even day 2 has a lot more sq only cus all pilots need to unlock the missions. As i mentioned already instead of just making Signets an "tracking and unlocking" mechanic make them a currency for the Event that in return can be spend on stuff in the "Reactor Shop".

In terms of signet gains i made a suggestion as well and if we would now talk about adding the cortex as well in the "signet shop" just make it maybe with those prices:
10 SIgnets = 1 Cortex
40 Signets = 5 Cortex
70 Signets = 10 Cortex
100 Signets = 15 Cortex
130 Signets = 20 Cortex
160 Signets = 25 Cortex

In combination with the Signet gains if Missions and Reactor rewards/wave would be changed it could be pretty decend to "motivate" Pilots trying to go for higher waves knowing that even if they may not reach top scores they still can get the Cortex parts simply by spending the Signets that pile up like the Logfiles at the current point. I mean alone due of RDX V Event a lot of pilots have already more then 10k of Signets just cus they totaly broke the income.

Only change i would make here is to reset the Signet Counter with the End of this RDX event cus otherwise a bunch of Pilots would simply drown in the Cortex for their ships due of that fact.

Extend this as i mentioned again to the other Reactor planets that they give some sort of "Currency" that can be exchanged for Cortex parts throw an limit/week behind this and i assume it would give a lot more pilots who would go for reactor challenges to reach higher waves for the higher rewards but also with the knowledge that they still can gain something even if not placed in the rewarding position. In the end nothing is more demotivating then doing something and knowing that if you lose you wasted precious time and effort into it for nothing.

This thread is made for purpose of suggesting a change of rdx event mechanics regarding Reactor challenge.

In it´s core yes this thread is mainly for the RDX Reactor part but imo the "normal" reactor planets should get some love as well for that matter even if they are available the whole year.