Loose talk about Joker Tickets

[mtz 496]

I'd like to preface the post by saying that I don't want to push these suggestions - first and foremost, these are ideas that I'd like to put forward and hear some feedback, since, after all, discussing is what the forums are for. Perhaps I'm not seeing some issues and such. And obviously - this should go without saying - in no way do I consider this an urgent issue. It's one of those things that can wait with possible implementation/action for after the Engine Upgrade is out.

 

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Joker Tickets are kind of in a weird spot at the moment. They serve as a secondary currency (and as one of the three currencies in APB, the other two being APB$ and G1C, although the latter isn't exactly "in" the game), but they don't really see too much use. I can't remember the last time I saw someone use JT-tagged weapons or the timed leases of R195 items. The medium-sized resupply box sees even less use in my experience. This results in a situation where people get this currency but never really spend it on anything.

 

1) Review the item selection available through Joker Distribution.

The way I see it, there's not enough unique gear available through the distribution point in Breakwater Marina.

While the option to lease Armas-only gear to experiment with the guns before buying them is a nice idea, I feel like the investment is just not worth it.  Very often the guns differ in their performance depending on the mod setup - which requires the player to invest ~1000 JT and a couple of thousand APB$ for the slotted version of a gun and also actually have the mods they want to test. Granted, the mods will stay when the lease expires, but it's still a test run that requires you to grind tickets for several days in advance.

 

Orange mods suffer even further because of it, as they are still stuck behind the cooldown difference (premium cooldowns are 50% shorter) and aren't always useful.

Arguably, the cosmetic items aren't in such a bad spot - especially the customizable ones (High-Heeled Pumps and the roof billboard for Dolton Broadwing, although for some reason it's Crim-only). I like that model of distribution, though it almost makes me think why they're not just included in their respective stores/kiosks.

 

2) Review the role of the currency itself.

APB$ lets you purchase typical items - weaponry, vehicles, clothing, modifications.

G1C lets you purchase exclusive items of various kinds, which are mostly cosmetic.

 

How do Joker Tickets factor into this situation? What sets JTs apart from the other two? What makes them unique? What justifies their inclusion if we could just stick to two currencies?

It lets you buy... a lot of things and yet nothing that would fit anywhere else. Weapon skins, player creation spotlight items, character titles, vehicle kits, etc. This very lack of specialization could be used to the currency's advantage.

Once again, the ability to buy leases of items normally only available on Armas is a good idea - but very often it comes with the dilemma of whether we are comfortable with spending a hefty sum of tickets only attainable through grinding for literal days, on an item which we don't even know if we will be able to make good use of.

 

The relative difficulty in obtaining decent amounts of JTs segues into idea #3...

 

3) Allow for alternative methods of acquiring Joker Tickets.

I've had this idea of letting players obtain the tickets in a new way - connecting the mission scores with JT acquisition. This will allow players to acquire considerable amounts of JT without having to spend hours on playing the cluttered mess that is Fight Club.

 

I would like to propose two options of handling this idea:

Option A is to make every full 1000 points in a mission equal 1 Joker Ticket - this incentivizes good performance and teamwork, as negative behaviour in a mission takes away a player's score. Negative amounts of points would not drain JT from a player, to prevent griefers from forcing teamkills and further "punishing" players who actually put effort into the game.

Option B is to make every 1000 points in a mission count towards a JT reward - the difference from Option A is that this model would count much like a contact standing meter. In other words, under Model A, a player who gets (for example) 4905 points will get 4 Joker Tickets, the 905 leftover points not serving a purpose. Under Model B, the 905 leftover points will carry over, meaning that another Joker Ticket will be given to the player after 95 points are obtained in the next mission.

 

Of course, the 1000-score-for-1-JT part is just a rough estimate of what I think would be a fair amount. Perhaps there are people who think the exchange rate should be different - either higher or lower.

 

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I look forward to any feedback. I'd love to hear other people's opinions on the subject of Joker Tickets; I personally believe that the Tickets are in need of a couple of revisions, but I'm open to having my opinion change.

 

[_chain 176]

Oof.

 

1 ticket every 1k points is negligible, but 2-4 tickets every k points might be either going too easy on players, or just not making a single difference. Hard subject, but if you ask me, 2 JT should be the minimum, or at least be more rewarding after having a good carry mission completing objectives and having medals. If the reward was higher it could be capped, maybe 50-100 or so, max daily. 

[mtz 496]

1 hour ago, _chain said:

1 ticket every 1k points is negligible, but 2-4 tickets every k points might be either going too easy on players, or just not making a single difference.

That is precisely the problem I had encountered when I thought about the score-to-tickets thing - the uncertainty about how "valuable" score can be, or really is. The issue only gets complicated further when you compare this to Daily Activities, which involve a single task for an increment of 5 tickets.

 

Capping the amount of tickets that can be "squeezed" out of the system every day wouldn't be such a bad idea either. A cap of 100 JT sounds fairly reasonable, as it means a weekly cap of 700 JT. Compare it to Fight Club's total possible rewards and you have a fairly similar payout.

You could even fiddle around with the concept and perhaps set different caps for districts; perhaps this could entice people to play in the less populated Waterfront. Kind of like a "District Heat" or something like that - for example, playing exclusively in Financial lets you reach a cap of 100 JT per day, but additional 20 JT over the limit can be earned by playing in Waterfront. While admittedly a band-aid solution for Waterfront's issues (which need to be tackled at some point), it could help people level up the contacts in the persistently-unpopulated district.

 

As I've hinted in the original post, I'm not a fan of Fight Club, so I support anything that incentivizes gameplay in mission districts.

Edited January 10, 2019 by MartinPL

[yood 345]

written MartinPL no ! 

 

the item permanently in the shop requires replacement . spend JT on time bun I'll never .