I'm hoping this is a thread of constructive criticism because I really like the idea of helping people out and this system isn't a terrible start. The problems, as I see them, are as follows:
1. The time it takes to receive a call for help is really long. I decided to play casually today and just answer the calls while doing supply crate runs and control points, and I only received one call for help in the 2 hours I was on. I know that it's perhaps difficult to create a system where people need to call for help for the system to work.....but if I WANT to help people and get Shepherd ranks, it seems so infrequent. Maybe create an alternate advancement system where you gain rank for ASKING for help too so that people want to do both?
2. Together with number 1, it seems the Shepherd rank resets after 10 weeks? If it's so infrequent that I can answer a call, and it takes so many positive votes to level up my rank, it would be a bit more practical to NOT reset my Shepherd rank. Either that, or find a way to gain shepherd ranks through matchmaking including answering the call for help. I guess the point is that nobody is going to go for the commendation if it's almost impossible to rank that high given the activity levels.
3. The experience necessary to get to the voting stage is sometimes fine, but sometimes strange. I helped someone with a level 4 control point, and I still had to convince the guy to do a bounty to complete the experience. A level 1 or 2 control point should require more work. A level 4 should not.
4. The Shepherd points should be automatic. If someone joins my group after I ask for help and he's terrible, I kick him from the group. I shouldn't have to endure him and then vote him down. No system should be in place such that it's a waste of both person's time if it's a bad experience. When the exp bar reaches max, it gives a point. If you're kicked before that, then no point. Trolling, IMO, will be less frequent and you don't have to educate people on your intentions as much when you join them.
5. If the group works great, maybe allow more points to be earned, but at an increasingly punishing scale? If one lvl 4 CTRL point gives 1 point, perhaps doing 2 more earns another. It is really beyond unreasonable to continue a good thing if the match is right? I don't think so.
Anyway, just my 2 cents. Your thoughts appreciated.
I’ve can be wondering around collecting materials, doing inventory & builds for very long periods without hearing it once. But Ive found it pretty much cues as soon as I’m starting a mission, activity or Bounty. Pretty much a sure fire way to get the call for help call.
When trying diff gear pieces for builds I’ll get bored and hear a call, I’ll guickly equip my loadout and open the map go.
I did it yesterday without a thought, tap tap outfit change heading swoosh open map and took off. Just reminded me of Superman movies when hearing someone crying out Help. Was perfect match cause when I dropped in the player was on the ground, killed the two NPCs standing over him and revived him. Was perfect right up to the point were he left session in the middle of the bounty. What ever, it was a good experience.
People disconnecting so the host changes making you lose all the XP also feels like a punch in the gut, had a bar with 89% xp still just in the middle of the mission, he loses connection and only comes back when we kill the boss, so the bar jsut gives me the XP from completing the mission and sends the bar back to 60%. The moment it ended the host who came back wanted to kick us, so yeah system is extremely flawed
I put out a call cause doing reg mission for a project and playing in groups can switch it up. But not this time, was running Space Admin and sent the call. Player joins & all’s well till realigning the 3 say dish. He proceedes to activate each one just enough to spawn a horde. Smh Made it thru & continued on next area I’m busy dropping bad guys when I noticed I don’t hear gun fire from his direction so I stop and look his way, he’s as far as he can get from spwn point and just sitting behind a wall doing nothing. Run over not one dead NPC... it sucks but I had to kick em, all he was set out to make it harder for other players. Didn’t work cause I only called to play with other people Not because I needed help. Equipped stronger AR and handled it.
Kicking option should remain as is but any points earned should automatically be applied to the shepherds. It’s all in the hands of one player we all know what happens. Give Man Power & Watch you know the rest.
I've had the same experience as you lot. Jump in help finish the mission. Get kicked. Cap multiple cp4's and get to lvl 2 xp. No recognition. It was good fun helping out a less well equipped party with seeker build and pistol/shield build. But ultimately unrewarding.
Upvote to scrap the current host dependant reward system, or have the host vote apply a xp bonus to the shepherd (on top of the xp earned) and themselves. If the sheep get no reward for voting why would most of them vote in the first place.
The shepherd system is so flawed at the moment, personally I just disabled calls and never gonna bother again, I helped people with lv4 control points, heroic bounties, heroic missions, and the reward I got was a "kicked from group". How difficult is it to implement a system where I get the reward whenever I actually bother to help someone rather than wait for him to actually reward me? Some people are trolls, they will simply get you to help them and then kick you just after they laugh at you. Also another thing, the vast majority of people are already maxed out on gear that they hardly need help from others, I can solo lvl 4 cps, heroic bounties, I don't really need to call for help, hence you get like 1 call every hour, and to make things worse you leave it up to the individual to reward you and hope he is not a troll looking to laugh at you.
Good idea. When you earn XP, by helping to kill, then you automatically earn Shepherd XP as well at some ratio. The host can add to your Shepherd XP kind of like a tip; you play well or was very nice, you get the bonus.Originally Posted by Nunkey Go to original post
They should never have put the rewarding for answering a call in the hands of the people calling for help. Just keep the XP system as is now and every time it levels up you go up 1 level. And the XP carries over between calls so if you don't complete a level during one call you pick up where you left off on the next. Just like every other XP system in this game.
Might it be exploited by people who just answer calls and then leech XP? Sure. But then it's up to the person calling for help to recognize a leecher and get rid of them. The system as is leaves me feeling the same way as I did before about calls for help.....sorry but I've got other places I can get rewards still. I'd rather run DZ solo than answer calls right now.