Battlezone command credit small change request

grtiggy

i would like to propose that the way that the battlezone command credits are distributed be changed.

Rather than having them drop randomly in the area including in impossible to reach places like the top of doors on on some surfaces you cant get onto the top of please make it so that it deposits the credits into your inventory like the zone reward stuff does for dill and marks, this will also prevent folks coming in after someone has soloed an area for the past 5 mins to have somoene else run in just after you've completed it and taking almost everything before you get a chance to claim any. also making sure they are all reachable rather than dropping them like mario coins ( im sure im not the only person who plays the coin pickup sound in there head every time they pick one up lol)

ijimithy

+1 to this lol and I had the Sonic noise in my head and every time a voth/dino shot me i kept thinking oh no not my battle credits! lol

lan451

+2 from me.

Took me 2 days to complete the mission where you call in reinforcements because I had to fight with every other player on the map for the credit drops.

"Mission is ending, get ready to run like a chicken with your head cut off to get ALL the credits! Whaaaaaaat!! Damn, that small potato looking alien guy over there was faster and got them. Bah, maybe next point."

That was me last night. It really needs to stop lol.

futurepastnow

Yeah, that reinforcements mission took me a while.

I want to not be a bad player, so I tend to use crouch+aim a lot, especially at the end when the bosses come in. Which leaves me in slow mode when the credits rain down. Thanks for rewarding good ground play.

otowi

I agree. This mission is not very well designed, as it really gets the old "ninja looting" mentality back.

I completed one of the transporter sites, and lo and behold, some guy comes runnig in , and claims about 85-90% of the credits. I did see him standing there, just shooting down a swarmer, then running in, and taking almost everything. Not cool.

So, yes, please change this, so that everyone gets a set number of the damned things, making this much smoother to complete.

First time round it took me 2 days aswell, since i was almost allways short on command credits...

dongemaharu

Really, this is the first thing they need to fix. People have come in after I've held a point almost the entire time and take half the credits. I complained about it but was told to stop crying. Well, that's zone chat for ya. But unless the purpose of this system is for players to start hating each other, change the damn thing.

Not only that but it's hard to tell if you picked one up. There's no sound or anything. Yeah, it's just a pain.

methos71

Finally explored the Dyson sphere stuff last night and this was one of the many bits that left me cluelessly confused. How do you use these Battlezone Command Credits?

I'm pretty sure I soloed a field clearing with my BOFFs (someone else swooped in briefly) and then these things popped up all over the place. Made me think of Mario Brothers. So, I just ran into as many as I could. And I ended up with 22 of these things, but had no idea how to use 'em, so I just discarded them all before signing off for the night.

And I do apologize if I inadvertently honed in on anyone's allotment of these things last night. Not cool at all that these things can be sniped, instead of rightfully earned.

lan451

methos71 wrote: »

Finally explored the Dyson sphere stuff last night and this was one of the many bits that left me cluelessly confused. How do you use these Battlezone Command Credits?

I'm pretty sure I soloed a field clearing with my BOFFs (someone else swooped in briefly) and then these things popped up all over the place. Made me think of Mario Brothers. So, I just ran into as many as I could. And I ended up with 22 of these things, but had no idea how to use 'em, so I just discarded them all before signing off for the night.

And I do apologize if I inadvertently honed in on anyone's allotment of these things last night. Not cool at all that these things can be sniped, instead of rightfully earned.

Once you secure a point, a pop up option will appear on your sidebar (or wherever you have your low priority alerts) that says "call reinforcements" or something close to that. You can use that to spend the credits to call in NPC backup to defend that point from the Voth while you move to other points.

The catch is that those credits expire after 2 hours. So after the 2 hour mark, they delete themselves from your inventory. That means that we can't save them up over long periods of time like rep marks. So the end result of the poor pick up mechanic and the time limit is that people fight over them even more.

quadraxis666

Another +1 for this, and I do believe I speak for my entire fleet also, as they've all made similar complaints about this mechanic.

Command credits should be distributed along with dil & marks at the end of capture directly into your inventory not thrown all over the floor, this isnt a spyro/crash bandicoot/mario/sonic collect-athon platform game, and the ninja looting doesn't help matters either.

Credits need to be either equally shared to every player who participates in a capture, or done by weighting amount of targets defeated to the amount of credits earned per player, but in either case they need to be awarded directly to players inventories, not thrown all over the place.

xiaoping88

+1

I am at a loss why they were ever implemented like they were. Devs should have known better.

shadowfirefly00

They're a good idea, but their implementation needs serious tuning. I for one approve of quadraxis666's suggestion (ninja-looting has no place here - and I think the whole need/greed/pass loot model is long overdue for banishment in favor of instanced loot, but that's a discussion for another thread) and would further suggest the following:

• make them a non-inventory item, like marks or dilithium, while retaining their fixed lifetime; and
• the battlezone status display needs to have added to it a counter tracking your stock of the things

Also, why not have them usable in attack support? Examples:

• artillery strike - these can be annoying when trying to capture the 'standard' zones (the V-Rexes and some mechs spawn these too); now you get to return the favor. Comes in three flavors (level 1 - 1 shell; level 2 - 3 shells; level 3 - 5 shells) and is only available as long as at least one artillery zone is under DJC control;
• deployables (turrets, cover shields, generators);
• smoke cover - similar to artillery strike, but generates a large smoke cloud centered on the target. Has the same prerequisite, but only one level

Mechanically, these would be abilities (complete with activation times and cooldowns) slottable into your hotbar that exist as long as you have BCCs. Note that the each of the multiple levels of AS are their own ability, with escalating costs and a shared cooldown.

sandormen123

I don't see a problem. I get some, others get some. No reason to get a tantrumfit. They are a plenty for everyone.

crusty8mac

I'm with the OP. The Nimbus III system is better. Racing for the rewards is aggravating.

zorbane

crusty8mac wrote: »

I'm with the OP. The Nimbus III system is better. Racing for the rewards is aggravating.

What do they do at Nimbus III

burstorion

I have to agree... command credits ought to go in the inventory directly (or more accurately, every player in that zone ought to get credits if they did something towards that areas capture)

even if they lowered the amount per zone, it'd be a lot fairer than a mad dash to get them (or as I've seen, purposely holding back in the hope of your assisting allies dying)

lucho80

Maybe it's because I play on weekdays, but I never fought for those. It does suck that some drop in unreachable spots.

dongemaharu

methos71 wrote: »

Finally explored the Dyson sphere stuff last night and this was one of the many bits that left me cluelessly confused. How do you use these Battlezone Command Credits?

I'm pretty sure I soloed a field clearing with my BOFFs (someone else swooped in briefly) and then these things popped up all over the place. Made me think of Mario Brothers. So, I just ran into as many as I could. And I ended up with 22 of these things, but had no idea how to use 'em, so I just discarded them all before signing off for the night.

And I do apologize if I inadvertently honed in on anyone's allotment of these things last night. Not cool at all that these things can be sniped, instead of rightfully earned.

It's typically convoluted gameplay by Cryptic, so it's easy to misunderstand. In fact, I probably did the same thing the first day or two, without even knowing it. People are still working out the..manners, I guess, on it. Today I captured a point by myself and someone came along coincidentally at the end but chose not to take any credits. People are starting to figure it out, I think.

daqhegh

I think the point of this was to spread the credits out (in the assumption that between 1 and 3 people are capturing the given point). It makes sense in theory, but I think we should get our loot all at once when the window pops up. This would prevent us from missing credits due to objects, and also prevent leeches/ninja looters from stealing the rewards.

It might have been put in to add to the graphically detailed and colorful background, but it just doesn't work in any practical sense. It would work better if there was designed like regular loot drops -- the player's loot is lit up while the others see it as greyed out. Something similar to that would help retain the visual effect without opening up the door the loot stealing.

sonnikku

I saw them drop on top of shuttles and all other kinds of places players couldn't get to. Please deposit in inventory.

tyriniusss

+1 from me.
The current system is bad and makes no sense whatsoever. On the one side I am supposed to teamplay with others in the zone and then after being successful I have to do a PvP race against my allies.
I can't count how often I soloed a Capture Point and hardly got any Command Credits because someone came just before finishing it. I can even understand it, maybe the same just happened to them and they think "well, we are obviously supposed to behave like that".

Please fix it, I don't want to be forced into PvP...

mimey2

Agreed as well.

It's twice as bad if you are trying to get them on a non-tac.

And I know by making this post, I'm sure it will get worse, but maybe if it gets worse, it'll get fixed faster, who knows.

What I mean is, a tac can equip a kit with Motion Accelerator. Especially if they are specced into it. Then they can add in a tac BOFF adding in an MA (I think BOFFs can get taught MA, right?), along with Winter Boots and go stupid fast.

Seriously, it's a bit insane just how quick they are. The first person I saw doing this was a Tellerite Tac who had MA 3, Winter Boots, and both of the speed boosts (normal one, and the rare one) on himself, and managed to pick up half the credits almost immediately after I managed to cap a zone. I don't know if he was just waiting on purpose, or if it was purely timing, but he zipped in at an incredible speed (and knew how to handle running with the Winter Boots I might add), and picked up easily half the credits before I managed to get to one.

Yes yes, there are some things you can do, but you cannot match the speed boost a tac can get on the ground, without being a tac, or having a tac buddy player with you.

capnshadow27

mimey2 wrote: »

Agreed as well.

It's twice as bad if you are trying to get them on a non-tac.

And I know by making this post, I'm sure it will get worse, but maybe if it gets worse, it'll get fixed faster, who knows.

What I mean is, a tac can equip a kit with Motion Accelerator. Especially if they are specced into it. Then they can add in a tac BOFF adding in an MA (I think BOFFs can get taught MA, right?), along with Winter Boots and go stupid fast.

Seriously, it's a bit insane just how quick they are. The first person I saw doing this was a Tellerite Tac who had MA 3, Winter Boots, and both of the speed boosts (normal one, and the rare one) on himself, and managed to pick up half the credits almost immediately after I managed to cap a zone. I don't know if he was just waiting on purpose, or if it was purely timing, but he zipped in at an incredible speed (and knew how to handle running with the Winter Boots I might add), and picked up easily half the credits before I managed to get to one.

Yes yes, there are some things you can do, but you cannot match the speed boost a tac can get on the ground, without being a tac, or having a tac buddy player with you.

I'll be honest, i agree. But more often than not i seem to be the only one in an area (by area i mean park, city or outskirts). But they drop in obnoxious places. I feel like sonic died everytime they pop up.

On a side note, if you dont have frost boots, it takes too damn long to get around the map. You know how many times i have run to an area to prevent it from being lost in a corner onlt to have the V-Rex show up and you have to high-tail it back, let alone trying to go somewhere else to help after your V-Rex is downed....

tigerblade66

Actually, I don't really care who grabs them as long as they Reinforce the damn point after I've taken it... Geez:mad:

elvnswords

Agreed, please fix.

This FEELS like a beta, make-do solution.

It's entirely ninja'd by other players, some of which don't even mean too, and even if you got help, you might not have noticed in the melee, and see someone else plucking up the hard earned credits and accuse them. All in all it isn't good for any of the player's moral... Fix please.

ladymyajha

Agreed.

It's frustrating to take a point, and look up at an Artillery piece, and see three or four just laying where you can't reach them

And it's doubly frustrating to take a point solo, someone rushes in just as you're beating down the last boss/mobs what have you, and steals all your commendations

Please change.

onyxheart1

+1 to this

i always have a hard time getting the commendations when i'm fighting, i can be killing off one of the final enemies, the commedations spray out like confetti and i'm stuck with like 10 or 12 cause people come in and take em all

i fully support a flat rate of them per zone capture you participate in. it would make gathering them a lot less painful and frustrating, as well as mitigating the bad feelings coming from knowing or unknowing ninja looting.

Also as stated above, i support getting some offensive bonuses (and maybe some more defensive bonuses too)

Offensive ones first:
- beam in phaser/disruptor/plasma turrets (depending on your faction; can also be defensive)
- beam in security reinforcements (a mixed security team of security, combat engineer, and medic)
- beam in MACO/Honor Guard Strike Team (as stated, beams in a small team of powerful MACO's or Honor Guard warriors...maybe someday Romulans will get a strike theam of their own to add to it :rolleyes:)
- Artillery strikes
- Shuttle flyover (phasers and mini-photons sweep across the battlefield)

Defensive:
- hack sphere network (calls swarmers to defend the area by hacking the dyson sphere's security network)
- Squad shield dome/shield generator/medical generator (large version of the engineer power centered on the capture point)

i'm sure i could think of others, but i've already digressed more than i meant to

zysalian

Agreed. Since that battle zone is supposed to be about co-operation, the whole "rush and grab all the command creds you can"- aspect feels simply out of place. A small annoyance yet still an annoyance.

jetwtf

Nothing like soloing a location and seeing someone briefly enter the point then a few minutes later see them waiting on a walkway 20meters outside watching, then pop you took it and that special someone runs in and starts grabbing them.

But then again Nothing like running into a blue capture point and pink tears all over waiting to be picked up and not a player around...

It need to be locked to who was in the point capturing first, then after say 3 minutes of not being picked up available to anyone if it will remain drops you have to collect.

Myself I would prefer them to be drops inside the loot pills requiring you to collect them white pills give 4-8, green 8-16 blue 16-34, but since they are in the loot pills it means you have to actualy earn them. If they just pop into inventory then that is one more thing a leech can stand about letting you work for that they get. You get no loot pills unless you participate and kill something.

Yes i know it can be annoying on Nukar Prime to be killing a tholian and some smacktard helps and get the pill you should have earned, so make it most damage over time to earn it and not last shot. So you fight it for 30 seconds and someone does equal damage but in 3 seconds you still get the pill and who cares who had the kill shot.

BTW wtf are those pill shaped things loot is in called? loot pills works for me.

suaveks

Totally agree.

The current method of obtaining credits is just wrong, with examples of people coming and "stealing" everything around with motion accelerator and frosted boots after you've just wasted several minutes claiming the zone by yourself.

If possible the credits should be rewarded based on player participation. If it's not possible then a player should be rewarded at least some amount of credits (let's say 10) automatically with other rewards, once they claim the zone, with ADDITIONAL credits being dropped around if they want to collect them. This way we would end up with at least SOME credits, without risking that some other player who just arrived gathers everything.

The battlezone should reward teamplay, yet the credit system totally disregards that and favors speed and greed. This really needs to be changed, because otherwise the Battlezone is one of my favourite new content yet.

nicha0

I really can't stand them, on a map where you need to run all over, we need to spend how much time running just chasing pink icons on the ground? Not to mention the nasty people that run around thinking they own everything because of it.

The rest of the zone has its own issues, the console don't operate clearly, very confusing.

The dinos are a gimmic, it feels very cheap

The whole zone is just more mindless pew pew. Stand here and shoot, move this bullet into a tunnel by pressing a console is mindless, deactivating the artillery is mindless. The game play is just so.. basic.

The power ups littered around make this feel like some generic console game, not realistic, futurist, and the zone is already way too easy.

crusty8mac

zorbane wrote: »

What do they do at Nimbus III

At the boss fights, everyone that participates gets the reward. Not sure what criteria is used to determine participation, but it is probably a certain amount of DPS.

I had an instance last night at the spire where I held a zone well through the two-thirds mark by myself, and near the end two other people joined. I ended up with less than a third of the rewards. I don't begrudge them a reward, but doing 80% of the work and getting 33% of the reward is aggravating.