Upcoming Reactor Challenges

[Jackal]

This is a post in response to the new update and my general thoughts about the game right now.

Since the introduction of the Cortex Asura (the first highly valuable cortex in the game with a 14-day rotation) people were talking about how difficult is to install it in several ships, even squads that keep top scores every time can only obtain 26 cortex per year.
The size of the hangar of many players far exceeds 100 ships, this leaves you with a 4-8 years of continuous winning to gain all the cortex you want. Now imagine being part of others squads that rarely get the 1st or 2nd place, and usually only receive parts for positions 3rd/4th... they will need between 3 to 4 times more rotations to accomplish the same rewards as the first example.

Obviously people don't need to install cortex in all ships, that's correct, but it is an important part of the customization options you have as a player to make a ship your own, focusing on a specific playstyle (like the new eagle eye for example).
This affects new accounts even more because other players will have already done so many reactors before even these new accounts were created, making it really hard to keep up against veterans.

Right now reactor challenges are done twice a month for every reactor you want, usually Asura and occasionally Nephilim cortex are demanded so that's like 2-4 reactor a month, not that bad, but now with the introduction of the new update, this will double the amount of reactors we would want to do and not only that, now eagle eye is useful so you have to add another rotation into the mix.

The final result is that now we would want to do 8-12 reactors a month from 2-4, and yes obviously we are not forced to do this amount of reactors but I don't see the point of boring some players to death till the point they don't play reactors, I don't think that's a good idea, specially considering that competition was the main point behind them.
And yes, the parts you can get will be increased by 20%, having 30 parts instead of 25 every 2 weeks, but for twice the effort.

I prefer to do reactors in a montly basis or two-week basis because it's better for the players to have more time to organize themselves (in the end 5 players are needed), and it's a pitty this new system will alter what it used to be just perfect.
This change will hurt even more if more cortex types are added, since the week only has 7 days to fit all the reactor runs you will want to do.

There will always be two types of players, players who want to compete in these modes and players who don't, the latter can be for many reasons like no interest, no friends to do it, poor results leading to discouragement thinking they will never get any parts, etc. I think it's better to promote the content we already have, giving more rewards to everyone, like twice the amount of parts to significantly reduce the amount of time needed to install those cortex to your favorite ships, giving enough rewards even for squads in low positions. This will also encourage players to try new cortex if the old ones are being reworked or they just want to try new things.

In summary, reactors should give a reward that allows you to customize your ship to its fullest extent (Asura is not fun in my opinion, but that's another topic) in a reasonable amount of time, so making this option available to accounts of all types is healthy for the game in the long run.
Giving more generous rewards and increasing the maximum amount of parts you can have stored will give players more incentives to compete and enough flexibility to install them when they want.

PS: Please, take this post as a community thought, I'm not crying about doing the reactors twice as much as before, I'm in a privileged position because I have enough friends with compatible schedules to do these reactors and I have already installed plenty of them (50+ Asuras for example), but I'm worried about other players, even new ones could simply give in to the idea of getting parts, since this system can be really overwhelming for them.

 

[sergi211]

You don't need cortex asura on every ship, just be mindfull on wich ships you install it on?

 

[Redthorne]

This change will hurt even more if more cortex types are added, since the week only has 7 days to fit all the reactor runs you will want to do.

Or, you could choose which cortex you want to prioritize. Meanwhile, other players might want to do the ones you didn't choose for an easier competition.
Overall I feel the update distributes more cortexes (+20%) but it'll harder to keep the monopoly on all of them, so what's the issue?
I just hope Phobos and Arkon get reworked so that a reactor run doesn't need 6h to complete.

 

[GOTIL0N]

Or, you could choose which cortex you want to prioritize. Meanwhile, other players might want to do the ones you didn't choose for an easier competition.
Overall I feel the update distributes more cortexes (+20%) but it'll harder to keep the monopoly on all of them, so what's the issue?
I just hope Phobos and Arkon get reworked so that a reactor run doesn't need 6h to complete.

Having the Cortex every two weeks allows players with complicated schedules to organize themselves to do it. If you do it every week, the one who had the possibility of getting 25/19/17/15/13 parts safely each month, now they won't be able to because they won't be able to organize themselves for each week, so that 20% is artificial and only applies to those who can be there every week. And I think most of us who play aren't teenagers who have the time and desire to make a reactor that on average takes 3 hours every week, spending gravitons for 5 more parts instead of 25

The excuse of choosing the ship better doesn't seem like the best of all to me. It's the best Cortex in the game and it's known, but having one is like having a holy cruciform. It should be relatively easy content to obtain for everyone, so you can enjoy the Cortex on the ship you want, not under the conditions the game FORCES you

 

[GOTIL0N]

Btw, you have an 8-hour job, now you'll work twice as long and get a 20% raise, who wouldn't like that deal?

 

[Jackal]

Or, you could choose which cortex you want to prioritize. Meanwhile, other players might want to do the ones you didn't choose for an easier competition.
Overall I feel the update distributes more cortexes (+20%) but it'll harder to keep the monopoly on all of them, so what's the issue?
I just hope Phobos and Arkon get reworked so that a reactor run doesn't need 6h to complete.

People already prioritize which cortex they want to fight for the ships they love the most.
The issue is that takes too long to get an upgrade everyone wants to have in all the ships they can, it's an option to customize your playstyle even further than bps and drones if done properly.
- Eagle eye and Ifrit are good examples of cortex done correctly.
- Asura and Nephilim are on the other hand boring upgrades that don't change the playstyle at all, it's just a flat upgrade.
That's why I'm not a fan of having that artificial scarcity applied to cortex, therefore the significant increase in rewards I said.

I loved the idea of having 2 weeks to properly organize with your friends, although we can do it weekly, many many players couldn't even in a 2-week rotation, imagine now.
Most players see the reactors as too hard to compete and time consuming, its easy to just give up and don't bother at all with them.

I was trying to make reactors more appealing, specially for less experienced players in competitive enviroments like Gaia.
You play in Trantor and maybe you are used to be the only player doing reactors, but in other servers is not that easy, and people don't want to risk wasting their time, so many players just try to do reactors in the last moment, this update will make these situations even more common, and that's hardly a competition, is just free rewards for the players that have the time to "camp" each reset.

 

[Redthorne]

Having the Cortex every two weeks allows players with complicated schedules to organize themselves to do it. If you do it every week, the one who had the possibility of getting 25/19/17/15/13 parts safely each month, now they won't be able to because they won't be able to organize themselves for each week

The design goal of this whole update is obviously to make the game's rhythm "weekly". If you can't play every week, well that is too bad but you can still have an equal chance at it on the weeks you do play.
I'm not sure I agree with only giving 15 parts, I think they could have left it at 25 parts.

And I think most of us who play aren't teenagers who have the time and desire to make a reactor that on average takes 3 hours every week, spending gravitons for 5 more parts instead of 25

I'm not either, and tbh I sometimes skip reactors because I just don't feel like doing it. But then it's just normal that I don't get rewarded. Also, how does it take you 3h? Armene takes around 2h to beat W15, Raven challenge rarely lasts more than 1h. Only Phobos and Arkon are problematic because they are endurance runs that can last way too long, way past 3h but I already said that's an issue. Spending gravs is a normal part of gameplay though? You also get enough of them daily from drops and CQs.

The excuse of choosing the ship better doesn't seem like the best of all to me. It's the best Cortex in the game and it's known, but having one is like having a holy cruciform. It should be relatively easy content to obtain for everyone, so you can enjoy the Cortex on the ship you want, not under the conditions the game FORCES you

I can't agree with it being both broken and easy to get. Either you make it very good but equally rare or you give it to everyone but make it mid. sergi211's reply kinda missed the topic but it's true that as 1-time use items there should be a decision involved. It's greedy to want one for every single ship.

If anything, making challenges weekly just offers more opportunities to get fragments of a cortex for those that can't win the competition.

people don't want to risk wasting their time

I think it should always reward at least a minimum amount of fragments so that no one 100% wastes their time trying to compete. Not much so that competition is still the way to go, but enough that over time you can piece together a cortex to enjoy.

 

[Razzorkill]

This will result in less cortex part for people like me who works 9hours+ every day and can only do 1 asura run every other weekend. Rather change amounts given on rewards on the already scheduled 14 day timer than making it 1week.

 

[Jackal]

We have several players with shift changes, one week in the morning the next in the evening, making it really hard to organize anything with them in a weekly basis... a shame now this will force us to not count with them to do the content we want.

 

[GOTIL0N]

The design goal of this whole update is obviously to make the game's rhythm "weekly". If you can't play every week, well that is too bad but you can still have an equal chance at it on the weeks you do play.
I'm not sure I agree with only giving 15 parts, I think they could have left it at 25 parts.



I'm not either, and tbh I sometimes skip reactors because I just don't feel like doing it. But then it's just normal that I don't get rewarded. Also, how does it take you 3h? Armene takes around 2h to beat W15, Raven challenge rarely lasts more than 1h. Only Phobos and Arkon are problematic because they are endurance runs that can last way too long, way past 3h but I already said that's an issue. Spending gravs is a normal part of gameplay though? You also get enough of them daily from drops and CQs.



I can't agree with it being both broken and easy to get. Either you make it very good but equally rare or you give it to everyone but make it mid. sergi211's reply kinda missed the topic but it's true that as 1-time use items there should be a decision involved. It's greedy to want one for every single ship.

If anything, making challenges weekly just offers more opportunities to get fragments of a cortex for those that can't win the competition.



I think it should always reward at least a minimum amount of fragments so that no one 100% wastes their time trying to compete. Not much so that competition is still the way to go, but enough that over time you can piece together a cortex to enjoy.

By doing the weekly competition you're not giving more parts to other players, you're simply eliminating competition. The competitive nature of the game is very small and you want to eliminate it, but yes, I agree that at least if it were 25 parts each week it would still be a little better. However, a scheme with a challenge every two weeks and the prizes being more parts and more GUARANTEED winners, not depending on whether there are 1 or 7321 registered squads, is still better (is it illegal to get, for example, 50 parts instead of 25? I mean, even a sentry can drop 2 BP, why can't a reactor give double the reward?).

And regarding the 3-hour reactor, during the reactor there are waiting times, unforeseen events, someone has to get up to go to the bathroom, has to look at the food, I don't know, these are things that usually happen to me and not just my squad, because I've done reactors in both Aurora and Gaia with different people and the average is always 3 hours.

Another thing, although the cortex is the best, doesn't mean that getting it has to be an odyssey, also, you say that people should choose better the ships to put cortex on, correct me if I'm wrong, but, don't people do that anymore? I mean, my first cortex I meditated, thought, dreamed, made an economic life plan around that cortex, I SUPPOSE that everyone does the same, so that answer seems quite XD

 

[Redthorne]

By doing the weekly competition you're not giving more parts to other players, you're simply eliminating competition. The competitive nature of the game is very small and you want to eliminate it

I do not wish to eliminate competition, very far from it, I'm all for encouraging it. So I don't understand how you came to that conclusion.

And regarding the 3-hour reactor, during the reactor there are waiting times, unforeseen events, someone has to get up to go to the bathroom, has to look at the food, I don't know, these are things that usually happen to me and not just my squad, because I've done reactors in both Aurora and Gaia with different people and the average is always 3 hours.

From my experience of all the runs I did and still do, it's always a 1h30-2h adventure all included. I don't understand how it can be double that? But okay I get your point.

Another thing, although the cortex is the best, doesn't mean that getting it has to be an odyssey, also, you say that people should choose better the ships to put cortex on, correct me if I'm wrong, but, don't people do that anymore? I mean, my first cortex I meditated, thought, dreamed, made an economic life plan around that cortex, I SUPPOSE that everyone does the same, so that answer seems quite XD

I might have gotten the wrong point across. It's not so much about the act of choosing which ship to equip with your shiny cortex, it's more about the expectation of equiping all your ships. In my view it is awfully greedy to expect to equip all ships with it. What I was trying to say is that I believe it should be a special item that you dedicate to ships that are special to you. I don't care if you decide to equip your phoenix S in the end.


When reading these replies it feels like those of you who could play every other week will somehow not be able to play at all because the timer is now 1 week. That does not change your ability to do a run every 2 weeks. If the parts stay at 15 for 1st place, okay that's less on average for you. But it's more for those that take the time and effort to do these every week, which is competitiveness at its core.
I'm trying not to compare to what we had before, but to evaluate the current situation by itself in all fairness.

I hope devs have something in mind to make sure all participants get at least a minimum reward (like 5 parts or something) for reaching a certain score (could be W13 for example) so that nobody wastes 2-3h of their time for absolutely nothing, that I feel is definitely wrong.

 

[GOTIL0N]

I do not wish to eliminate competition, very far from it, I'm all for encouraging it. So I don't understand how you came to that conclusion.

If you're adding more weeks to make asura, it becomes more complicated for people to do it every week, you're not encouraging everyone to be able to get parts, you're making it less competitive, so the competition isn't about skill, but about who has more free time (just like the current skulls)

I might have gotten the wrong point across. It's not so much about the act of choosing which ship to equip with your shiny cortex, it's more about the expectation of equiping all your ships. In my view it is awfully greedy to expect to equip all ships with it. What I was trying to say is that I believe it should be a special item that you dedicate to ships that are special to you. I don't care if you decide to equip your phoenix S in the end.


When reading these replies it feels like those of you who could play every other week will somehow not be able to play at all because the timer is now 1 week. That does not change your ability to do a run every 2 weeks. If the parts stay at 15 for 1st place, okay that's less on average for you. But it's more for those that take the time and effort to do these every week, which is competitiveness at its core.
I'm trying not to compare to what we had before, but to evaluate the current situation by itself in all fairness.

I hope devs have something in mind to make sure all participants get at least a minimum reward (like 5 parts or something) for reaching a certain score (could be W13 for example) so that nobody wastes 2-3h of their time for absolutely nothing, that I feel is definitely wrong.

What's so greedy about having the best cortex in the entire game on all ships, if you make it a slightly easier cortex to get or making getting parts a little more consistent, but without having to do double shifts, then there's nothing wrong, on my server we're maybe 10 people with more than 40 asura cortex, so we're 10 people who can use them in any system on any ship we want, what's the problem if instead of 10 it's the entire server that has the possibilities of building the ships they want with the cortex they want, because if we talk about justice it's precisely less fair that it's an elite of players who have those asuras, but that it is something that works well for everyone, every two weeks, easier to organize, more squads get guaranteed prizes and more parts in a single challenge, everyone wins, everyone wins more parts, there are more squads taking parts, and the entire server has access to the best cortex in the game, is that illegal? It is no excuse that because it is something rare then an elite must have it, the flying fox and the gorilla are rare, but practically anyone has them, or can have them

 

[Redthorne]

So, let me get this straight. You're one of those 10 or so people with 40+ asuras right?
If the current system is so fair for everyone, how come after 3 years of that 2 week system there's still only 10 of you with all the cortexes?

 

[GOTIL0N]

I'm not saying the current one is fair, I'm talking about the fact that you can keep the current scheme of every two weeks but give more parts and more prizes to the squads, which I already mentioned, instead of 25 parts, give 40 parts, or 50 parts, to the second place 35 parts, and so on, and something that you said in one of your posts was a very good idea, if you pass wave 13 it guarantees that you get parts, so if there are 5 squads listed that passed the 13th then they all get parts, and that way nobody is left out having lost 2 or 3 hours of their day

 

[Vesperion]

I'm not saying the current one is fair, I'm talking about the fact that you can keep the current scheme of every two weeks but give more parts and more prizes to the squads, which I already mentioned, instead of 25 parts, give 40 parts, or 50 parts, to the second place 35 parts, and so on, and something that you said in one of your posts was a very good idea, if you pass wave 13 it guarantees that you get parts, so if there are 5 squads listed that passed the 13th then they all get parts, and that way nobody is left out having lost 2 or 3 hours of their day

Something like this was suggested plenty of times already so that even if a squad should get a placement with no rewards at all not all the time would be wasted cus there was nothing more annoying then doing a cort run for hours just to get "voided" when you squad was pushed back to a place were you did leave empty handed.

In the end i only did go for the eagle eye cort for 3 or 4 of my ranged ships and then never again cus imo it was never worth the effort if your invested time was just voided aka not respected for doing a cort run.

 

[Jackal]

Or, you could choose which cortex you want to prioritize. Meanwhile, other players might want to do the ones you didn't choose for an easier competition.

I do feel competition is being removed, instead of incentivizing more players to fight for it with better rewards. The game is moving to the opposite direction, if you remove the competition, the other team will get the rewards.
This only works in low population servers btw, in Gaia good luck with that there are usually too many squads.

Anyways, this post was creating with the sole purpose of spreading the thoughts of some members of the community, you can fight against it, you can say we are wrong, but this is our opinion nonetheless.

 

[Meruem]

Could any developer explain the advantages of the latest and ‘wonderful’ reactor update?
For starters, it is well known that there is a low density of players on most servers, with the exception of Gaia.
Given this, why, instead of trying to make the game more attractive or slow down the loss of players, do the developers come up with these kinds of ideas?
For example, I am from the Aurora server, which has a low player population, and there are those who have more than 40 cortexes of all types, especially asuras. If you ask why, the answer is simple: they have more time and are more competitive than the rest, among other things. Apart from that, there are few players who do the reactor (among whom I currently include myself), because the Erebos missions require time and a minimum number of players to carry them out, as well as reflexes in the case of some players who are already quite old. All of that is a challenge on my server.
Now they come and tell us that the few of us who dare to do the reactor, which for years was monopolised by 10 players, and who rarely finish 2º, usually 3º or 4º, if we are lucky, because there is usually no prize for 4º place as there are not enough squads, we are going to receive even fewer pieces (8 pieces for 3º place before your new update), or if one day we manage to come 1º with effort and dedication, we will not be able to get a complete cortex.
Instead of encouraging what little enthusiasm remains among the few players left, they demotivate us and bury us...

 

[Meruem]

How difficult was it to leave the same system in place or encourage squads by awarding cortex pieces from a minimum wave of 13, for example?
Or just implement it on a weekly basis and that's it.
Obviously, the first place would be 1 full cortex, no more, as I saw some players propose...

 

[Sebasti0n]

How difficult was it to leave the same system in place or encourage squads by awarding cortex pieces from a minimum wave of 13, for example?
Or just implement it on a weekly basis and that's it.
Obviously, the first place would be 1 full cortex, no more, as I saw some players propose...

We have the same issue on Askone.....
Apart from Gaia the other server activity is pretty low. Which means that the reactor is dominated by certain pilots / Clans giving new pilots zero chance to earn parts. Adding milestones encourages new pilots to participate more as they know that their effort is not wasted
I think changing the format, so you attain parts once you have achieved a certain amount of waves is a good idea in my opinion. and gives the rest of the Askone community a chance to get some Azure parts.

 

[Vesperion]

We have the same issue on Askone.....
Apart from Gaia the other server activity is pretty low. Which means that the reactor is dominated by certain pilots / Clans giving new pilots zero chance to earn parts. Adding milestones encourages new pilots to participate more as they know that their effort is not wasted
I think changing the format, so you attain parts once you have achieved a certain amount of waves is a good idea in my opinion. and gives the rest of the Askone community a chance to get some Azure parts.

I think something like this was suggested a number of time to give rewards at certain waves and/or milestones to get at least something out of Cort runs while those who really compete get the placing rewards as bonus and so could install cortex items quicker.

I would be one of those players who rather prefers to get some parts from beating waves until the reset happens rather then spending hours upon hours with the fear to not win anything cus the squad may be pushed into a "non rewarded place"