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View Full Version : PSUJP Update 11/1: Birth of Guardians' Boost Road



Lyrise
Oct 26, 2007, 10:15 AM
Info page here (http://phantasystaruniverse.jp/news/wis/?mode=view&id=509)

Boost Road main site here (http://phantasystaruniverse.jp/news/gbr/)

Guess Sonic Team decided to address the fact that nobody was going to find out about the new drop table if everyone's running new missions and/or just v2 missions; also to address the ever growing concern of the "no charge" party. So with that comes the birth of a new ingame system, Guardians' Boost Road.

The simplest way to describe this is, for a set period of time, ST will designate a set of missions, and put them in boosted condition. The boosted bonus could be anything, some example conditions:

Boosted drop rates
Boosted EXP
Boosted Mission points

The boost system works as follows: The designated missions will have conditions set for them that affect the level of bonus they designate. Repeatedly running a mission will up the boosting rate. Also, the boosting rate goes up with the number of actual players in your part (much like the expansions' meseta system).

The first invoking of GBR will be held over the 5 v1 missions.These missions are:
Raffon field 1/Mad Creatures
Raffon 2 De Ragon/Plains Overlord
Lakeside/Mad beasts
Endrum Base
Denes Relics

The bonus: drop rates.

Duration: 11/1 - 11/29

Personally, I think this is going to help eliminate the "hotspot or bust" situation a little bit, as well as educating players the new drop table changes. Also, since this is a system change, and not just an event, GBR in the future might surprise us with a few more unexpected bonuses, outside of the ones we know will come.

AxelgearVII
Oct 26, 2007, 10:31 AM
Glad to see ST giving people a reason to do the V1 missions. Seems like every other day though we're getting some of kind premium on EXP and droprates. lol This will actually make multiple "hotspots" if the mission drops are on par enough with one another.

Also, if the boost could be anything, what else could it be besides EXP, Mission points, or droprates? ;o



<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: AxelgearVII on 2007-10-26 08:33 ]</font>

Lyrise
Oct 26, 2007, 10:36 AM
Rare rates up (drop rates and rare rates aren't the same).
Meseta rates up (like we need this, but it could still happen)
Boosted Stats (This has been hinted at before)
Boosting Certain types of drop.

It's really up to ST to decide.

Inazuma
Oct 26, 2007, 11:36 AM
On 2007-10-26 08:15, Lyrise wrote:
Guess Sonic Team decided to address the fact that nobody was going to find out about the new drop table if everyone's running new missions and/or just v2 missions; also to address the ever growing concern of the "no charge" party. So with that comes the birth of a new ingame system, Guardians' Boost Road.

The boost system works as follows: The designated missions will have conditions set for them that affect the level of bonus they designate. Repeatedly running a mission will up the boosting rate. Also, the boosting rate goes up with the number of actual players in your part (much like the expansions' meseta system).


i really hate the "no charge" thing too b/c it makes solo so much better than party, its just absurd. sure, i solo almost all the time but thats only b/c its better than party play. i would much rather play w/ others, but not if it means making much less meseta.

lyrise, you said ST is addressing the issue but then you said that more members will further increase the boosting rate, like how the meseta boost system works. sounds to me like this whole GBR idea is only gonna encourage solo more -_-;;

i love the idea of the boosts increasing w/ more party members, but it shouldnt work when party members are in town.

Xaeris
Oct 26, 2007, 11:41 AM
Pardon moi, but...what's a "no charge" party?

Lyrise
Oct 26, 2007, 11:46 AM
Remember, its just to drag people to other areas. Even if people were to sit in the lobbies and encourage soloing, remember what made no-charge popular in the first place: The mission was easy to run and it was profitable. Most v1 missions don't even follow both, and are pretty much excluded from the meseta rule, due to v1 plays still existant.

While no-charge will always exist I don't think its going to encourage it any more than the norm. Even to this day, no-charge makes up maybe 10% of the available games. If you aren't able to find a party to play in, you're not looking in the right place.


On 2007-10-26 09:41, Xaeris wrote:
Pardon moi, but...what's a "no charge" party?



No-charge party is a translated term from the Japanese, as in no-charge to afk level you; a.k.a. the mooch party.

The basis of this is due to the new meseta system; with more actual people in party, the meseta count goes UP. So what happens now is players will start a no-charge party, and get people to join them, asking them to go back to the town or outpost they were in. While underhanded, its rather a win-win situation. The player gets to solo the mission for well over 5x the meseta he would normally get soloing by himself, and the rest get to reap rewards PA Frgs if its S, and free class experience.



<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Lyrise on 2007-10-26 09:52 ]</font>

beatrixkiddo
Oct 26, 2007, 11:49 AM
On 2007-10-26 09:41, Xaeris wrote:
Pardon moi, but...what's a "no charge" party?



Person A starts up a party, calls it "No Charge party A/B/C/S/etc"

He then begins to solo the mission.

Other people join and stay in the lobby while they AFK. They get the MP reward at the end of the mission, and the "payment" they give is in the form of boosted meseta drops in the mission. But since they're outside, they don't get any of that meseta, so they're "paying" for the MP, in a sense. It's madly popular on the JP servers, especially for short easy missions (most AoI ones).

Xaeris
Oct 26, 2007, 11:56 AM
And this has become a popular convention? Everyone on the JP server sees "no charge" in the title and knows what it means? My, you have to be impressed at just how much organization random strangers are capable of when it comes to finding ways to do less work.

Thanks.

beatrixkiddo
Oct 26, 2007, 12:03 PM
That's what the party comment is for, for the people who don't know what it means yet.

Lyrise
Oct 26, 2007, 05:08 PM
On 2007-10-26 09:49, beatrixkiddo wrote:
Other people join and stay in the lobby while they AFK. They get the MP reward at the end of the mission, and the "payment" they give is in the form of boosted meseta drops in the mission. But since they're outside, they don't get any of that meseta, so they're "paying" for the MP, in a sense. It's madly popular on the JP servers, especially for short easy missions (most AoI ones).



It's popular in the sense that whenever you createa game like that, it WILL fill up in less than 30 seconds, no need for guarantees. Starting one isn't that hard but running it might suck a little if you don't have great equipment. Of course, most people in their party comments will give an estimated time of run completion, allowing people to decide if this is the one they want to sit in (see? Even moochers have choice.)

That said, there is a declining number of no-charge parties lately on the Japanese servers. Probably due to new areas, general loss of interest, etc. It may just pick up again later, but as of now, there's clearly less.

Back on topic though, Boost Road should be interesting in that its pretty obvious ST designed it to spread out the population over as many areas as possible, without turning the affected areas into the next hotspot (other than rare rate up, but that's an entirely different story).

I mean, the first Boost Road is for Drop Rate. Meaning if you needed materials, or some low end S rank, you can get it. Since it doesn't affect rare rate, it won't quite attract people looking for boss drops and whatnot.

Soukosa
Oct 26, 2007, 05:15 PM
Incentive is needed for playing the version 1 missions? I think they already started on that http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_razz.gif
http://www.mithra.to/~psu/uploader/src/psu8629.jpg

I bet alot of people will be spamming that mission when this comes into effect (that's The Mad Beasts S2, BTW).

Golto
Oct 26, 2007, 11:27 PM
On 2007-10-26 15:15, Soukosa wrote:
Incentive is needed for playing the version 1 missions? I think they already started on that http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_razz.gif
http://www.mithra.to/~psu/uploader/src/psu8629.jpg

I bet alot of people will be spamming that mission when this comes into effect (that's The Mad Beasts S2, BTW).



which resist unit is that,stun?

beatrixkiddo
Oct 26, 2007, 11:39 PM
Yes.

Arika
Oct 27, 2007, 12:56 AM
what is the "meaning of no charge party"? I saw them a lot, but no idea
EDIT: I know it now OMG, I need frags!! <_<


But.... what does this system help on preventing no charge party?


<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Arika on 2007-10-26 23:11 ]</font>

Mystil
Oct 27, 2007, 01:05 AM
Another term for AFK runs.

They are sorta long gone on the US servers...

Arika
Oct 27, 2007, 01:14 AM
Repeatedly running a mission will up the boosting rate.

>>> why they want people to spam the same misison ? http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_frown.gif

Lyrise
Oct 27, 2007, 02:58 AM
They want people to do it in a designated mission, most likely one that hasn't been run by anyone in ages. Example, how many of you reading this are running a mission like Bruce's Dungeon right now or have run it in the past 48 hours?

Mewn
Oct 27, 2007, 03:22 AM
This sounds like a great way to get people to run the old missions, and keep interest up. Looking forward to seeing how this works out.

Noblewine
Oct 27, 2007, 03:59 AM
I hope it fixes the problem of moochers in a party though it only happens in the JP server. It be interesting if people started using Lab Recovery a bit more since it skips Ruler of the Plains.

Arika
Oct 27, 2007, 05:03 AM
Okay, I see the point now, but they say they want to prevent the increasing of no charge party right?
This only make people to do the no charge party in the old mission, instead of new mission

Clunker
Oct 27, 2007, 12:36 PM
Pardon, but what is this "No-Charge Party" thing I've seen in this thread? Do ppl have to pay to get into a mostly-full party or somesuch in AotI? Or can leaders set a 'join price' to parties? I have been reviewing AotI info half-hazardly, but I've not come across what this means... could someone point me to a link, or explain it fully? Thanks!

Xaeris
Oct 27, 2007, 12:47 PM
I asked earlier and it was explained.


Person A starts up a party, calls it "No Charge party A/B/C/S/etc"

He then begins to solo the mission.

Other people join and stay in the lobby while they AFK. They get the MP reward at the end of the mission, and the "payment" they give is in the form of boosted meseta drops in the mission. But since they're outside, they don't get any of that meseta, so they're "paying" for the MP, in a sense. It's madly popular on the JP servers, especially for short easy missions (most AoI ones).

Clunker
Oct 27, 2007, 05:43 PM
Thank you - and apolgies to all in-thread; normally I read the entire thread, but somehow didn't think to do so this time before asking. *Headdesk* Again, sorry for bad netmanners.

Mystil
Oct 27, 2007, 07:58 PM
On 2007-10-27 00:58, Lyrise wrote:
They want people to do it in a designated mission, most likely one that hasn't been run by anyone in ages. Example, how many of you reading this are running a mission like Bruce's Dungeon right now or have run it in the past 48 hours?


Heh.. off the top of my head.

1 year since last partied in Agata Relics
5 months since last partied in GoF
4-5 months since doing Bruces
The day Mad Beast S2 came out was the only day I ran it..

Its going on a year for Endrum Renmants.

Yep. When the US gets this, it'll be a great update.

-Asheth-
Oct 27, 2007, 09:00 PM
Ok I understand the more party members the more meseta that promotes teamwork.

I understand the boosted road adds replay to the old mission great idea IMO as long as there are rares there that people want.

What I dont understand is why they just dont take the MP and the meseta reward that comes at the end of the missions and make them a little more equal the drops in certain sections should be extra incentive enough to encourage variety if the MP and the Meseta rewards were say a 1k difference or 2k difference across the board. So for example if you take the Dulk Fakis mission because of difficulty the the MP and Money is of course is higher but the problem with these missions is some are harder then others and the drops may be known to be great in said mission but why run it if I can spam the money mission to buy it because someone else will do the hard work. If they all had atleast close to equal rewards for Mission completion i think this would eliminate alot of "Dead Mission"

Reipard
Oct 27, 2007, 09:29 PM
Well, I think the goal of this overall is to gain more control of the hotspots and make it easier to find people. So this way, places like Bruce's Dungeon won't be completely dead forever after their time.

Personally, I think the rewards system should be rebalanced overall to be more like what we see in 1up. If you just run the mission and fulfill the conditions, you get an A. Fulfill conditions in x time, you get an S. If you fail to fulfill the conditions and just get to the end, you get a B or C.

That'd help reduce the 'No Charge' BS in a hurry. But it wouldn't eliminate the problem for those that are willing to accept A ranks.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Reipard on 2007-10-27 19:30 ]</font>

-Asheth-
Oct 27, 2007, 09:31 PM
On 2007-10-27 19:29, Reipard wrote:
Well, I think the goal of this overall is to gain more control of the hotspots and make it easier to find people. So this way, places like Bruce's Dungeon won't be completely dead forever after their time.

Personally, I think the rewards system should be rebalanced overall to be more like what we see in 1up. If you just run the mission and fulfill the conditions, you get an A. Fulfill conditions in x time, you get an S. If you fail to fulfill the conditions and just get to the end, you get a B or C.



Thats a really good idea

Lyrise
Oct 27, 2007, 10:46 PM
On 2007-10-27 19:00, -Asheth- wrote:
Ok I understand the more party members the more meseta that promotes teamwork.

I understand the boosted road adds replay to the old mission great idea IMO as long as there are rares there that people want.

What I dont understand is why they just dont take the MP and the meseta reward that comes at the end of the missions and make them a little more equal the drops in certain sections should be extra incentive enough to encourage variety if the MP and the Meseta rewards were say a 1k difference or 2k difference across the board. So for example if you take the Dulk Fakis mission because of difficulty the the MP and Money is of course is higher but the problem with these missions is some are harder then others and the drops may be known to be great in said mission but why run it if I can spam the money mission to buy it because someone else will do the hard work. If they all had atleast close to equal rewards for Mission completion i think this would eliminate alot of "Dead Mission"



This doesn't work, due to something you already addressed - The difficulty. If you make easier/shorter misisons have rewards similar to that of the higher paying ones, then what's to stop me from spamming it for large amounts of cash over the long run? The flipside to this is that because everyone's so busy running the money mission, few are actually hunting the rares people want to buy. This allows them to charge whatever they want, artificially inflating the item value.

Arika
Oct 27, 2007, 10:55 PM
About the increase member will increase more drop rate on the guardian boost missions.
this support no charge party again?


or all need to stay on the mission?
but that way, the leader can "give finder" and let everyone afk on mission lol


<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Arika on 2007-10-27 20:56 ]</font>

Dark_Heal_v2
Nov 2, 2007, 12:24 PM
Does anyone know how the forumla of the drop rates increase is yet?

beatrixkiddo
Nov 2, 2007, 12:31 PM
On 2007-10-27 20:55, Arika wrote:
About the increase member will increase more drop rate on the guardian boost missions.
this support no charge party again?


or all need to stay on the mission?
but that way, the leader can "give finder" and let everyone afk on mission lol


<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Arika on 2007-10-27 20:56 ]</font>


The boost only adds up when you're inside. If you solo it with people outside you only get your own boost. Having the boost of others combine with yours is the true benefit of this.

Inazuma
Nov 2, 2007, 02:15 PM
i tried this out yesterday and it does have the potential to be better than solo! it adds up everyone's individual boosts and displays the party's total % on the screen so you know exactly what it is. and like others have said, it doesnt count for members in town. the meseta boost still counts for members who are in town, unfortunately. so if you arent gonna do gbr missions, you are still much better off soloing -_-

you get a max of 5 pts for clearing a mission. it doesnt matter what rank you get, or when you joined either. everyone starts off w/ no boost but keep playing and you will gradually be increasing it.

does anyone know what the max personal boost is? i have heard 100% and 200% from various players. i wanna play in a party w/ a total boost of at least 400% so it beats out solo play.

Ceresa
Nov 2, 2007, 03:05 PM
Droprate increase seems damn worthless to me. Especially triple double so for the current crop of missions.

While GBR suckers are competing for a 1/6 chance for a balkarin you will have to sell for 2k(maybe less now!), the ambitious people will be off raping AoI missions for 2k-6k straight meseta drops from enemies and rare drops that aren't Rapier and Two Headed Ass. And if you should want the boss units, someone farming meseta/drops in AoI is far more likely to get the money to buy one then you are to see it drop and have it go to you. Double Agito? Better off spamming Foran without the boost.

Seriously look at it. Every 6 mobs needs to drop 12k worth of meseta/items to beat out 1 in 6 mobs dropping 2k meseta solo. How often do you clear 6 enemies without getting a meseta drop even on lvl 1 luck now? Yeah damn rare to get nothing from 6. If you get 2 drops...GBR dropboost just got owned. I wonder if any party can even clear 6x faster then my solo time to make the ebon/walna box drops come to me at an equal rate? 2 minute Goldova runs? Go go go brave heroes, don't let the boundaries of time and space hold you back!

But hey, it's all about the fun and teamwork right? fun. Fun. FUN.

The fun of repeating missions with shit rewards that have been ignored for a reason.

The fun of never getting what you want.

The fun of never even seeing what you want drop.

And when it's all over, mourning the complete lack of getting anything worthwhile as a team.

Through all that, I'm not particulary opposed to partying in general, despite my meticulous attention to the money-grubbing details of solo income vs party income generation in this era of PSU. It's nice to play with friends from time to time and such.

But for the love of god don't play with them on these shitty missions because of some droprate increase on zero value items when you can play with them AND get good drops in so many other missions.

Could be a decent system if they pick non-retarded missions for the drop boosts in future months. And it's a bit hard to screw up the months they decide to make XP get the boost.

Inazuma
Nov 2, 2007, 04:12 PM
sigh, i prob should give up on gbr but i really want it to work out and beat solo...
ceresa you make a good point about how all the items are near worthless. especially if so many are dropping now, they will quickly have no value. even pwand board will have no value in a few days. and the drop rate boost doesnt even help for the 2 items i do want: katei power and katei hit. soloing ep2 for money would be faster indeed -_- sigh

but this is only the first gbr. it still has the potential to beat out solo if they have it for better missions. also it sux how you would have to play for days to get your boost up high enough to start making a little money. i did a total of 15 gbr missions (3 full runs) yesterday which took nearly 3 hours and i think i made only about 200k meseta plus some worthless items.

Mysterious-G
Nov 2, 2007, 04:16 PM
I think it's a nice thing for those, who don't have AoI. http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_razz.gif

beatrixkiddo
Nov 2, 2007, 07:14 PM
Yeah all 5 of them.

Pengfishh
Nov 2, 2007, 07:47 PM
On 2007-10-26 09:56, Xaeris wrote:
And this has become a popular convention? Everyone on the JP server sees "no charge" in the title and knows what it means? My, you have to be impressed at just how much organization random strangers are capable of when it comes to finding ways to do less work.

Thanks.



Word up to that.

Pengfishh
Nov 2, 2007, 07:54 PM
Also, all this economic speculation is kinda silly. This isn't really a predictable market, nor is it much of a market worth predicting. Call your hellfire all day if you must. Just seems a waste of breath.