Hey,
so this isn't about actually complaining about the missions, the point that those needs work has been hammered home sufficiently.
It is actually about fundamentally how the billboard should work. Right now, there 2 connected problems:
-People don't see the mission they want to carry out
-People Modeswitch until they get the mission(s) they want
Okay, so modeswitching is not only not very elegant, it is currently a way that pretty much anyone uses to "cheat" the game by going around its ruleset. I think this is so common practice though, that this should be seen as a genuine desire from players (to get the missions they want to do). And lets face it, its actually great that this is possible. Lets imagine modeswitching wouldnt work. Imagine you went to Robigo only to find no available mission or not one you actually want to carry out. So the trip was either a complete waste or the player has to wait doing nothing until the billboard refreshes. Yes, he could do something productive while waiting, but its essentially forcing the player to do something he never necessarily even wanted to do, not good design.
Heres my suggestion on how the billboard should look:
Instead of random missions to chose from, first show a list of mission types the player can select from, e.g. Bounty Hunting, Pirating, Trade, Smuggle, mine, etc.
It might make sense to make this 2 layers deep though, since there is a plethora of missions.
Layer 1 Layer 2 Layer 3
Combat -> BountyHunting/Pirating/Marauding/etc -> Actual missions
Trade -> Rare Trade/Standard Trade/Smuggle/etc(?) -> Actual missions
Explore -> Information Run/etc. (needs more) -> Actual missions
The actual missions displayed to the player should not be limited as they are now, if the player wants to take on several missions, let him. But the mission offer needs to be balanced out a bit.
This can be achieved by offering a limited amount of the highest payout missions available (Highest mission requirements) followed be more of the next stage, followed by even more of the next stage.
So if I am trade rank BROKER and want to smuggle stuff, I get 1 or 2 broker level smuggling missions, 2 or 3 of the next lower level, 4 or 5 of the next lower levels and so on.
Furthermore, your REP with the local faction should also decide about what missions you get. So in my example I should only get BROKER missions when I am above 75% maybe.
I think this explains it pretty thoroughly. Players get the missions they want without mode switching, but in a controlled and balancable manner.
What do you think?
so this isn't about actually complaining about the missions, the point that those needs work has been hammered home sufficiently.
It is actually about fundamentally how the billboard should work. Right now, there 2 connected problems:
-People don't see the mission they want to carry out
-People Modeswitch until they get the mission(s) they want
Okay, so modeswitching is not only not very elegant, it is currently a way that pretty much anyone uses to "cheat" the game by going around its ruleset. I think this is so common practice though, that this should be seen as a genuine desire from players (to get the missions they want to do). And lets face it, its actually great that this is possible. Lets imagine modeswitching wouldnt work. Imagine you went to Robigo only to find no available mission or not one you actually want to carry out. So the trip was either a complete waste or the player has to wait doing nothing until the billboard refreshes. Yes, he could do something productive while waiting, but its essentially forcing the player to do something he never necessarily even wanted to do, not good design.
Heres my suggestion on how the billboard should look:
Instead of random missions to chose from, first show a list of mission types the player can select from, e.g. Bounty Hunting, Pirating, Trade, Smuggle, mine, etc.
It might make sense to make this 2 layers deep though, since there is a plethora of missions.
Layer 1 Layer 2 Layer 3
Combat -> BountyHunting/Pirating/Marauding/etc -> Actual missions
Trade -> Rare Trade/Standard Trade/Smuggle/etc(?) -> Actual missions
Explore -> Information Run/etc. (needs more) -> Actual missions
The actual missions displayed to the player should not be limited as they are now, if the player wants to take on several missions, let him. But the mission offer needs to be balanced out a bit.
This can be achieved by offering a limited amount of the highest payout missions available (Highest mission requirements) followed be more of the next stage, followed by even more of the next stage.
So if I am trade rank BROKER and want to smuggle stuff, I get 1 or 2 broker level smuggling missions, 2 or 3 of the next lower level, 4 or 5 of the next lower levels and so on.
Furthermore, your REP with the local faction should also decide about what missions you get. So in my example I should only get BROKER missions when I am above 75% maybe.
I think this explains it pretty thoroughly. Players get the missions they want without mode switching, but in a controlled and balancable manner.
What do you think?
