Proposal to improve access to the new Tower mission

What content?

Which content?

Quick TLDR and suggestion from the problem people describe in this thread: give us better chances to get the box in order to experience the fight (or move the mission to the computer in Agartha), and in exchange, make the museum items as actual drops from the Tank Commander instead of being guaranteed in the red mission bag reward, so they stay more or less rare.

PS: the forums now have a “hide / mute” feature that you can use on someone. It’s not bad!

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I enjoy the “run it every once in a while” kind of nature of the drop. Knowing the odds are so small it is just a nice bonus from a green bag whenever it comes up, though I recognize this is speaking from someone who has actually seen it and done the fight once. That the mission happens so rarely also keeps a little bit of excitement and mystery about it, as even the most dedicated people opening green bags left and right could even possibly see the fight more than a few times a week.

For the TSW vets who refuse to do missions in SWL that they did in SWL in order to open the box, I don’t really know what to say. If you want some help or just someone to pal around with to help mop up champions and finish up those missions I’d be happy to volunteer, hit up Goonshine in game.

That is the downside to the RNG-based method, is there are players like @Nytha who could open thousands of bags and still never get a Peculiar Box. Since there is no other method for getting the box, this makes the content effectively locked for them. Considering SWL is a game that lives and dies on content, it seems kind of strange to gate a new mission in such a way.

To that end I propose if we are keeping the random drop method for getting the box, that going forward it would be nice if there was a mercy counter like we have with caches. Heck, make the box purchasable for 10,000,000 anima shards to give people something to blow their pile of playerbound currency on, as once an endgame player gets their museum filled out and weapons maxed up, there is no other real currency sink for shards except for leveling alternate items.

The other issue that gets brought up with people who have actually gotten the box is that they can’t do the fights because they are too frantic, but I guess whether or not to open up adjustable difficulty for this mission is another topic.

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It’s nice to hear a different side to the topic with some actual thought behind it.

My problem with the RNG system isn’t just that I’ve personally been really unlucky, it’s that it makes it much harder to know if I’m doing something wrong or there’s some sort of bug preventing the drop. So, I don’t know if I need to keep opening bags and hope to get lucky someday, or if there’s some random reason the box will never drop for me even if I do a million missions. Let’s remember, bugs do sometimes happen in this game, or so I’ve been told.

The other issue is that the RNG system and the requirement of players to go do unrelated content first are methods to artificially inflate playtime. New content should add to the game by being fun and rewarding. I’m okay with prerequisites if they are related and if the end goal is worth it. Take the NM raid system in TSW. It required a lot of grinding of MFA/MFB, but the process itself helped level the aegis gear and it helped improve understanding and expertise of the aegis system. Then at the end of the long grind, you got access to potential drops of game-changing talismans.

The fight being too hard is a problem that doesn’t bother me. In every other aspect of the game, people can overcome the challenge by just overgearing. There’s nothing that really pushes people to try new things and work on their build or approach to a fight. Then we end up with a bunch of people with high gear and low dps. But, that’s just my opinion. If enough people complain, I’m sure the fights will get nerfed, and that’s fine, too. I’d just like to experience it at least once before then.

I would be perfectly satisfied if mission had both selectable level AND lowered chance to drop loot. Like ‘select e10 - have 10% chance to get a drop’, e9 - 5% etc.

Edited: The only issue I see is that FC’s understanding of reasonable drop chance is somewhat unique.

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I like that idea. That would encourage people to do it on higher difficulty if they want a better chance at the museum item, but would allow those who just want to experience the content to do it at a level they’re comfortable with.

Thanks for the offer of help even if its not needed :slight_smile:
It is not that I refuse to do them, its just annoying to repeat some (long) missions that were not fun even the first time.
I guess I will take it slowly as I am in the same RNG boat with Nytha and still have to drop the box.

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Their settings for drop chance are based on the fact that content needs to last for a very long time while people are going to be running the missions over and over again. Getting to full 70 legendary equipment is such a crazy grind it is supposed to take years of regular play, but there are plenty of people who are already at that stage now yeah? Same with museum and its 8.5 million shard investment, or needing to take 3-6 weeks of daily work to farm up a single elaborate glyph through DA.

It is artificially creating something to do by making it scarce, sure, but that is what all mmos do yeah. The enforced scarcity is just a little more naked in SWL because there is not much new content to cover it up with.

I agree with @CrimsonRabbit that having a “do it at the autoscaled difficulty” button with normal rewards or “lower elite level” button with drastically lowered drop chance seems like a good solution for everyone. Not everyone has the reflexes or state of mind to deal with what is both an anxiety and carpal tunnel syndrome inducing fight.

I also see some sense in the argument that maybe its fine that some people will never beat the Tank Commander, just like some people will never tank or run an NM dungeon or do e5 NYR or get above wave 20 of OD. The game should have something that you just can’t beat by throwing better gear at it, and reward players who put in some time and effort fleshing out their weapon pages, collecting gadgets, equipping and leveling solid equipment, and spent time learning the fight and adjusting tactics.

Ultimately, I think I side with accessability over exclusivity though. If the main selling point of the game is story, it seems like a waste to take the time making something new but then gate it behind both RNG and difficulty.

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I don’t need help in killing any mobs, thank you very much. I just refuse to redo missions designed to be a stumbling block for players/induce a whiplash/express the developers’ disdain for their players. Dusty Dark, I am looking at you and saying f*** that noise.

It’s not so much any particular one, as that I have ~80 missions that I’ve done already and don’t feel particularly rewarded for doing again. In Kaidan’s case I’ve even done them in SWL, it just requires doing them x2 for the achievements.

Like, there’s a reason I completed the KM full regional and nowhere else, I just find the missions more compelling.

I am working through them whenever I need a bit more SP but I’m in no rush since the box hasn’t dropped for me. I think it started around 110-120 missions undone.

If you mean the story missions, the “Land of the Rising Sun” achievement doesn’t require you to do them twice.

I was looking at “Redeemer of Kaidan” where I only have the Bank Heist, Bustin’, and about half the Climbing the tower missions done. (I redid some of them for unseen achievements)

How the heck do you only have half the climbing missions? Don’t you need ALL of them to reach the penthouse? O_O

Not sure how you’ve managed that then but my alt has Redeemer of Kaidan and Land of the Rising Sun even though all the story missions still show up on the map because I didn’t complete them twice.

I know. It makes reading threads so much less frustrating :smiley:

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