It's about time to talk about the mission/ClickSaver problem...
I'd really like to hear something from FC about that issue.
Not about whether CS is an exploit or not, or whether they tolerate it or not, but if they are conscious that clicksaver's success is an obvious sign that something is wrong with the mission reward system...
We have to extremes currently:
- don't use clicksaver, and you can almost not find some items, or it takes ages.
- use clicksaver, and choose exactly the reward you want.
Both of those are wrong. If we have to use a wrong system, of course we prefer the later one, at least most of us.
It's the usual camping problem: an item has to be hard to obtain because it's powerful, so you just make it spawn rarely, or with a long period. Problem is, it's the easy way of doing it for the game designer, and it ends up with camping. The skill required to obtain the item is accepting to wait for ages to get the item.
Well, when I play a game, usually what I want is just that, playing. And having fun. Waiting for hours in front of my monitor isn't my idea of fun.
If an item has to be long, or hard, to obtain, at least it should be long/hard gameplay, not long wait.
Something is starting to annoy me a lot lately, it's the fact that FC acts like they don't care about clicksaver. However, since CS significantly changes a part of the gameplay that they designed, how could they not care ? And it even have an influence on their game evolution, since they have put the interesting items as boss loot (although one could also argue that it's only to promote team missions, as they were a bit neglected by players until now).
It makes me think that they are conscious that there's a problem, and regard CS as a temporary solution that let them take their time to come up with something.
And I really think that the 2s delay between mission is there to reduce the strength of CS, for it to be less a cheat and more a temporary, and accepted distortion of their flawed gameplay.
Because of that, (maybe I'm just paranoid), but I feel a little used, especially when I have to spend hours to do a new version of clicksaver each time a new patch is out, instead of playing...
I think it's about time that they do something.
You'd think that they would have revamped the mission system and forbidden/banned/permanently broken clicksaver already, because they would hate that people would depend on a 3rd party gameplay modification...
But no, the situation hasn't evolved and it's rotting now...
I'd like to hear at least that they plan to do something in the near future...
Now the suggestions part.
Well, if you look at the current system, from a role play perspective, it looks very retarded.
So, this guy who wants you to go hundred miles away breaking the hell out in some terrorist hideout to assassinate their leader isn't able to come up with a suitable reward and expects the job to be done ?
It would be logical that you would negociate with that guy, and settle with a reward that motivates you enough so that you do the job.
Of course, the guy wouldn't want to give you a very good, or rare stuff for a simple job.
Also, it would be logical that a long, or very long mission, has more chance in giving you a better reward.
So, you could add a mission size setting. Larger mission = better reward (I'll explain what better means later, it's not just the QL)
Harder mission = better reward.
Of course, you'd need to make it so harder also means "harder to blitz", otherwise it would be way too easy to get interesting items. Make rooters root you more often if you're running, for instance.
Maybe more far away mission = better reward too, but that might be a bad idea, because "far away" doesn't means much in a world whith extensive teleportation services, and personnal aircrafts.
And now: how to rank the items ?
Well, why not doing statistics ? Items that most people gets as mission reward, or that most people buys from shops, could go automatically up in value (and rareness).
This way, interesting items for the players would always be the hardest to get...
Amen Trendor
