Tier rewards - I think I’m done. | Forums

[MikeWeeks]

Yeah the "Private Jet" is funny.

Ghost Mode is a lot of fun. The perma-death thing adds an element of excitement. The limitations on changing gear makes you pre-plan every mission, and make due when that doesn't work.

I believe that except for the mag ammo penalty, the other features of Ghost Mode can be duplicated in normal play by one's own in-game rules. Or at least very close; i.e. just carry that super shorty as that secondary weapon. Or, if you die, delete your character's slot and start again as another example.
In any event I should review the specifics of GM to double check the other features.

[UbiInsulin]

My biggest complaint is that I think Tier Mode really missed the mark... in enjoyment, rewards, sense of accomplishment or satisfaction, and being somewhat achievable without ridiculous amounts of repetition.

Tier 1 is definitely tough, and we've let the team know that it can be quite a grind for players. How would you set up rewards for the mode? Is it just a matter of not finding the rewards we have appealing enough?

[poku123]

Tier 1 is definitely tough, and we've let the team know that it can be quite a grind for players. How would you set up rewards for the mode? Is it just a matter of not finding the rewards we have appealing enough?

Making it any easier now would be such a bummer for all the players including myself who were grinding countless hours for it. Should stay the same way it is now, afterall it's a choice and an achievement not a must do.
And having to repeat missions only makes sense as skill comes from repetition.

[Hugo-FOU]

Tier 1 is definitely tough, and we've let the team know that it can be quite a grind for players. How would you set up rewards for the mode? Is it just a matter of not finding the rewards we have appealing enough?

There’s a lot of ground to cover between meaningful rewards. Some special unique items more often would add incentive. Plus rather than altering the journey, which would upset the players who have already been through it, these rewards could be granted to all players based on thier current Tier.

The sort of items that could be added from my POV are,

Vehicles - Nothing crazy but maybe some of the currently available vehicles in a unique colour. Maybe more military In appearance.
Weapon sights - Lower level sniper or dual scopes for assault rifles.
Abilities - Something like Fallen Ghosts fast reload, maybe Fallen Ghosts knife or something similar.

I’m sure others could come up with many more ideas.

[AI BLUEFOX]

You have to be careful with rewards. Some players simply can't earn them and it can lead to frustration for them.

Overall I'm happy if rewards are relatively bland and the point of playing is to enjoy playing.

[Virtual-Chris]

Tier 1 is definitely tough, and we've let the team know that it can be quite a grind for players. How would you set up rewards for the mode? Is it just a matter of not finding the rewards we have appealing enough?

I think Tier 1 was a missed opportunity the way it was implemented. I think the original intent was to offer advanced players, an extra level of difficulty and additional advancement beyond the original 30 levels. What it ended up doing, was not being difficult at all really, but forcing play that actually sours the games experience (explosive drones, helicopter gunships, and drone sync shots). In effect, you can reach Tier 1 without ever firing a shot yourself, and that's how most people do it.

There's three problems I have with Tier Mode:
1. The enemies become super human. We all want a challenge, but getting sniped by an uzi-wielding thug from a moving vehicle is just too much.
2. The number of tier points required is the equivalent of playing through the campaign about 7 times - that's too much.
3. The rewards are meh. Anything from Prestige crates offer similar appeal.

The first two force a play style that I believe is to the detriment of the game and it's lasting impression on your hard core gamers. What happens is you have smart gamers who realize if they play the high point missions that are fast, and figure out a way to do them quickly, they can reduce the grind. They just do these missions hundreds of times. It becomes about the goal, and not the journey. You have everyone using an explosive drone wherever possible to complete a mission. That's a total failure of the objective of this mode. Players are not putting themselves into harms way at all, so don't enjoy the added difficulty.

So what would I change? (Not now, but for a future game mode like this)

1. I think increasing enemy awareness and aim is good, but not to god-like levels. Most people agree that after Tier 25 it's just ridiculous. Other ways to increase difficulty would be to increase the range at which they detect you (during the day) and have them recognize where a dead body is (even if the game engine removes it) or add more bad guys. Fallen Ghosts is a great example of how to make it more difficult without aim-bots.
2. Make it so that you can complete the goal after one more play through of the game. Any more than that is going to inspire ways to cheat and spoil the whole thing.

As for the rewards... I think this was a huge missed opportunity. With a little bit of thought, a set of rewards that had a theme based on real-world Tier 1 operators would have been more appreciated. I would have picked something for Tier 1 like a custom Blackhawk with low noise profile, and for lower tiers maybe a custom motorbike or other vehicle, and then a special plate carrier and helmet with NVG, and a new weapon, but one that can be customized - another 7.62 AR like the HK417 would have been an awesome choice.

Consider Ghost Mode in comparison to Tier Mode: I believe the objectives were similar - offer advanced players a real challenge - but Ghost Mode achieves it's goal while Tier Mode does not. How does it do this?
1. It adds constraints that make it more difficult rather than turning enemies into aim bots and lets players choose the difficulty
2. It only takes one play through of the campaign to achieve
3. The rewards have a theme, are unique, and don't look like random items out of loot crates (although I wasn't a fan of that suit, I could appreciate the effort that was invested, and the thinking behind it).
4. Progression was tied to the story, and not just collecting points.

[Ghost-Ami]

Tier One? That's that thing where you just spam the same dozen high XP missions over and over for a few hours to get all the rewards, then turn it off forever and go back to just playing extreme HUDless Ghost Mode, right?

Right??

[MikeWeeks]

Tier One? That's that thing where you just spam the same dozen high XP missions over and over for a few hours to get all the rewards, then turn it off forever and go back to just playing extreme HUDless Ghost Mode, right?

Right??

Actually no, for the first part. But yes for the second ...

[MikeWeeks]

I think Tier 1 was a missed opportunity the way it was implemented. ...

Some very good points, and suggestions for a future release.

Unfortunately unless Ubisoft were to provide some public answers, we can only guess as to what they intended as well as what was tested prior to release of the Tier One mode.

I know as an older single-player I'm not the target for how the company wishes to provide not only content nowadays, but also how to continue to make money off that content. That's especially true with this progression of the GR theme now tied (somehow) to R6.

For me, and I assume some others, it makes no difference what Nomad and the AI are seen "wearing", since it makes no difference in game play.

So at this point, what some would consider grinding. is for me still fun playing in the game-world - given I've only had the game since June. And when a totally useless piece of cosmetic fluff is the "reward", well, it's just a roll of the eyes, and we continue on to the next Tier.

At least now I have three new missions ...

[Bone_Frog]

The first two force a play style that I believe is to the detriment of the game and it's lasting impression on your hard core gamers. What happens is you have smart gamers who realize if they play the high point missions that are fast, and figure out a way to do them quickly, they can reduce the grind. They just do these missions hundreds of times. It becomes about the goal, and not the journey. You have everyone using an explosive drone wherever possible to complete a mission. That's a total failure of the objective of this mode. Players are not putting themselves into harms way at all, so don't enjoy the added difficulty.

I really don't think this is the case. For people who just want to reach Tier 1 perhaps. For others though, not necessarily. Darkdally(you can find his videos on YouTube) managed to get Tier 1 by playing loud, alerting enemies and having limited fire fights. He doesn't even use suppressors. While some grinders put up videos and how to guides on how to get to Tier 1 "quickly" It doesn't mean that they are correct.

Sure there are high XP missions, but then enemy kills can often account for more XP than the mission. Train Cemetery and The Undertakers in Koani are both missions that I typically get over 10k XP for doing while the missions only reward 3600. I go complete CQC in both those missions and the XP really stacks up. Another I throw in the mix is El Polito's Sports car. I can CQC everyone in that area, and then make off with the car for the cherry on top. There are 30 enemies spread out around El Politos Car. Each one gives 284 xp for a stealth CQC kill. That is 8520xp. Sure it is a slower way to get to Tier 1, which is why I'm not there yet, but I'm not on a hamster wheel playing high xp missions in arcade mode and only switching to Tier 1 for mission completions as I saw one guide suggest.