TFO Difficulty Level Selection Error

theboxisred

Charactername@handle - Radioactive Murdercat@theboxisred
Last map you were in (if applicable) - Assorted TFO Maps
Map you were going to (if applicable) - N/A (to my knowledge)
What the issue is - When selecting Normal Difficulty Level for Random TFO's I, and others, have been "dumped" into higher difficulty levels.
What steps you already tried when attempting to resolve your issue (if applicable) - I have varied the difficulty setting for both the TFO's I choose and for the TFO's the get displayed in the User Interface, the result of which is that I still get "dumped" into a different difficulty level.

Thus far this has occurred mostly from a Normal setting to an Advanced TFO, but on at least one occasion I was "dumped" into an Elite level TFO judging by the reward I received (rewards have been appropriate to the level that I played). I have discovered that others have experienced this and this also happened when I teamed up with another player.

Additional Info: I began investigating this as a result of reading a thread in General Gameplay titled, People are purposely sabotaging Elite TFOs, and there may be more relevant details to find in that thread.

Please feel free to contact me via DM here if there are any questions.

Thank you!

darkbladejk

I've let some folks know about this. If you have any documentation to go along with it such as screenshots, video etc to further demonstrate the issue then by all means please post.

theboxisred

Thank you darkbladejk.

I hope these prove useful:

Image 1 indicates my selected settings for Random TFO's.


Image 2 shows that I received an award for a higher difficulty level than selected in Image 1.


In this case I was randomly placed into Conqueror Exterior.

In other cases I remember being randomly placed into higher difficulties for Storm Chasers and Miner Instabilities. There have been others as well, but I cannot recall which at this time.

I will continue to play Random TFO's at the settings as seen in image 1 and will continue to list the map names as the condition occurs.

If there are specific screenshots that would be of use please let me know and I will try to get them. Video would be trouble on my system and I'm not sure what other documentation I could provide.

theboxisred

By the way, I can confirm that it's not merely rewarding at a higher level than I am playing because my ship received damage that I had to repair at the ESD Shipyard.

krisxr400

I have had this happen as well. I don't have any video or screenshot footage. Hitting the random button has put me on advanced v'ger exterior, and v'ger ground tfo's. I know it has happened to me before on other maps but i can't remember exactly which ones. Sorry it's not much to go on but I can confirm it is happening.

theboxisred

UPDATE: a Normal to Advanced level jump just occured in Iuppiter Iratus.

darkbladejk

In order to help document this and show something is happening there's some stuff that will need to be seen.

First there needs to be a way to verify you clicked the normal mode option. There also needs to be a way to then verify the reward at the end (assuming the TFO clears) was a reward from a higher difficulty. Screenshots can be good for this, but video especially is even better. If it's video the team can see what you see/saw and can perhaps pick up on things you might not have noticed at the time. At the very least it's clear documentation. While I can believe an issue is occurring, it has to be able to be reproduced with enough regularity to identify the problem so it can be fixed. Saying one is also experiencing the issue can let the team know potentially how widespread it is. However documentation showing it occurring is still going to be needed to identify the issue for a fix. If you folks have video I encourage posting it. I will make sure the proper people see it.

neverland

The same problem, unfortunately.
The whole game is run on the normal difficulty. As for the TFOs, I've always used the normal difficulty and when I press "Join Random", I always have "Only Selected Difficulty" setting enabled.
This problem began for me in the second part of January, 2024. And happens nearly every day.

Also looks like some TFOs (e.x. "Tzenkethi Front", "Storm Chasers", "Leviathan", "Jupiter Iratus" and may be some other ones) which were previously played on the normal difficulty, were removed from the normal difficulty to the higher ones. It's from my experience only and I may surely be wrong.

There was also a case when I was thrown into a higher difficulty "Leviathan" and after it ended without a successful completion, I was "lucky" enough to still receive my normal lvl box

theboxisred

darkbladejk wrote: »

In order to help document this and show something is happening there's some stuff that will need to be seen.

First there needs to be a way to verify you clicked the normal mode option. There also needs to be a way to then verify the reward at the end (assuming the TFO clears) was a reward from a higher difficulty. Screenshots can be good for this, but video especially is even better. If it's video the team can see what you see/saw and can perhaps pick up on things you might not have noticed at the time. At the very least it's clear documentation. While I can believe an issue is occurring, it has to be able to be reproduced with enough regularity to identify the problem so it can be fixed. Saying one is also experiencing the issue can let the team know potentially how widespread it is. However documentation showing it occurring is still going to be needed to identify the issue for a fix. If you folks have video I encourage posting it. I will make sure the proper people see it.

Well, I caught it on video.

I even clipped out the irrelevant events before and after the bug reared it's head and eliminated the audio because that has proprietary value in the form of my commentary and review.

Interestingly, while you ask for video evidence, video files cannot be uploaded to the forum.

I will search for other options.

darkbladejk

@theboxisred dropped you a PM for the video bit.

phoenixc

Also, there is the usual upload to YouTube and link that route (though I don't know the details of how it is done and how much of a pain in the aftquarters it might be to do for just a short clip to illustrate a problem).

theboxisred

phoenixc#0738 wrote: »

Also, there is the usual upload to YouTube and link that route (though I don't know the details of how it is done and how much of a pain in the aftquarters it might be to do for just a short clip to illustrate a problem).

I'm searching for a more anonymous method. I'll probably end up using Dropbox at this point.

The reason I'm looking for something not tied to my video channels is that a good amount of my content involves sociopolitical analysis in addition to my game streams. I don't want to mix those things here.

sthe91

theboxisred wrote: »

phoenixc#0738 wrote: »

Also, there is the usual upload to YouTube and link that route (though I don't know the details of how it is done and how much of a pain in the aftquarters it might be to do for just a short clip to illustrate a problem).

I'm searching for a more anonymous method. I'll probably end up using Dropbox at this point.

The reason I'm looking for something not tied to my video channels is that a good amount of my content involves sociopolitical analysis in addition to my game streams. I don't want to mix those things here.

I know that you can set the Youtube videos showing a bug to private.

Edit: It was unlisted not private. I was wrong. Oops.

inferiority

sthe91 wrote: »

I know that you can set the Youtube videos showing a bug to private.

Any video set to 'Private' on YouTube means only the uploader can see it.
The option needed is 'Unlisted' which means the video won't show on a channel, but can still be viewed by anyone with the link.
For example, here's my video I posted a while back which demonstrates the Yellowstone Runabout not showing up in the Z-Store on consoles:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TyIsgPknRWQ

But you won't see it anywhere listed on my channel.

Here is a video from when I started playing Assassin's Creed: Unity but it's set to private, so you won't be able to view it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-uFL2Tpg3eQ

darkbladejk

Just set it to unlisted, drop me the links in PM or here and i'll grab it and make sure folks see it

sthe91

inferiority wrote: »

sthe91 wrote: »

I know that you can set the Youtube videos showing a bug to private.

Any video set to 'Private' on YouTube means only the uploader can see it.
The option needed is 'Unlisted' which means the video won't show on a channel, but can still be viewed by anyone with the link.
For example, here's my video I posted a while back which demonstrates the Yellowstone Runabout not showing up in the Z-Store on consoles:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TyIsgPknRWQ

But you won't see it anywhere listed on my channel.

Here is a video from when I started playing Assassin's Creed: Unity but it's set to private, so you won't be able to view it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-uFL2Tpg3eQ

Thanks for the correction, inferiority.

drycraeft

It started when they put in more Elite TFOs including when choosing Randoms but those currently don't work properly so i don't think it's quite ready yet.

I started seeing TFOs stuck on Normal for a while now though like before xmas TFOs suddenly got too easy, and didn't know if they just set it to easy at random like they normally do and they might make it harder randomly too but noop... maybe they just stuck them all on Normal until they fix it i don't know.

FYI it does give a reward even when the Elite TFOs stop early on or half way through but i think because you didn't get all way through it just rewards the R&D package.

neverland

I faced a new problem about half an hour ago. It was NOT a RANDOM TFO this time. I queued specifically for Operation Wolf and Bird Cage TFOs to get the Personal Endeavor Rewards and I had the option "Only Selected Difficulty" enabled at that. As always. But I know that I was thrown into the higher difficulty variant of Operation Wolf because a character of one of my teammates got an injury after his respawn. Fortunately I managed to receive the Endeavor Rewards.
As usual, I left immediately only after I noticed one of my teammates get his injury because I don't want to be thrown into smth against my will in a game. "Only Selected Difficulty" is an official part of this game and it should work.
I'd like to point out that it doesn't seem pleasant to switch between characters only to be able to overcome the 30-minutes penalty, complete TFOs on my Normal Difficulty and get the rewards (in this last sentence I mean random TFOs).

darkbladejk

neverland#6511 wrote: »

I faced a new problem about half an hour ago. It was NOT a RANDOM TFO this time. I queued specifically for Operation Wolf and Bird Cage TFOs to get Personal Endeavor Rewards and I had the option "Only Selected Difficulty" enabled at that. As always. But I know that I was thrown into the higher difficulty variant of Operation Wolf because a character of one of my teammates got an injury after his respawn. Fortunately I managed to receive the Endeavor Rewards.
As usual, I left immediately only after I noticed one of my teammates getting his injury because I don't want to be thrown into smth against my will in a game. "Only Selected Difficulty" is an official part of this game and it should work.
I'd like to point out that it doesn't seem pleasant to switch between characters only to be able to overcome the 30-minutes penalty, complete TFOs on my Normal Difficulty and get the rewards (in this last sentence I mean random TFOs).

Were you trying to queue for advanced or normal?

neverland

darkbladejk wrote: »

neverland#6511 wrote: »

I faced a new problem about half an hour ago. It was NOT a RANDOM TFO this time. I queued specifically for Operation Wolf and Bird Cage TFOs to get Personal Endeavor Rewards and I had the option "Only Selected Difficulty" enabled at that. As always. But I know that I was thrown into the higher difficulty variant of Operation Wolf because a character of one of my teammates got an injury after his respawn. Fortunately I managed to receive the Endeavor Rewards.
As usual, I left immediately only after I noticed one of my teammates getting his injury because I don't want to be thrown into smth against my will in a game. "Only Selected Difficulty" is an official part of this game and it should work.
I'd like to point out that it doesn't seem pleasant to switch between characters only to be able to overcome the 30-minutes penalty, complete TFOs on my Normal Difficulty and get the rewards (in this last sentence I mean random TFOs).

Were you trying to queue for advanced or normal?

No, I've never tried to queue for an advanced or elite TFO. Random or "usual".
As I have the option "Only Selected Difficulty" enabled, I don't even see the advanced and elite versions in the list.

darkbladejk

You're normally not supposed to get an injury on normal mode but there is an extremely low chance for it to happen. If you can get something more concrete to demonstrate an issue I'll happily forward it along. Not that I don't believe people when they say they're seeing something, it's that I need to have something to show the team so they can reproduce the issue and fix it.

v3tt1k

I've encountered the same issue a number of times in the last several weeks. I know it's been encountered on Bird Cage, Iuppiter Iratus, Dranuur Gauntlet, Khitomer Vortex, and I believe Forged in Fire once. I know it's occurred more often in Space TFOs because of all the ship repairs I'd had to do. I've never set Random to anything other than Normal, and it's gotten to the point that before I start doing Randoms I'll doublecheck the difficulty dropdown and select it to Normal just to be sure. I have confirmed multiple times the rewards box did say "Advanced" and an Elite Mark.

azrael

I've completed quite a few normal-difficulty TFOs (which I could tell were normal-difficulty by how easily I was able to take out the enemies)...and got advanced and even elite rewards. Maybe those are just RNG-related...?