267 replies to this topic

[Chr1701]

it said "error redeeming items" after the 3rd challenge-completion. I dont have the four-leave-clouver in my inventory either. The profile says 100% completed though (via the circle). As a side note, i dont see the 3rd challenge in my profile in the table, either as completed or with the red "x", it just is not in the list. Anyone else got that problem?

[Kodyn]

Nikolai Lubkiewicz, on 12 October 2014 - 07:48 PM, said:

Only pixels and developers were injured in the making of these Rabbit's Feet, which were otherwise harvested ethically from the Dire Bunnies of Caerbannog.

So which Dev did the wishbone come from then?

[Hannibal Chow]

Whoever eats the most space chikkin i suppose?

Edited by Jaz 249, 12 October 2014 - 08:22 PM.

[Modo44]

Nikolai Lubkiewicz, on 12 October 2014 - 08:42 PM, said:

Premium Time subscriptions won from challenges shouldn't be activated until you Redeem them in-game.
If you intend to take a sleep/work break, it's a good idea to shut down the game and only hit the Redeem Gifts button the next time you intend to be active and login instead.

I think you are confused about your UI. The items activate automatically as soon as you log in/come back from a match. There is no button that you could just ignore -- you have to literally exit the game on the last match that finishes a challenge, and not log in at all until you want the rewards activated.

[Redshift2k5]

Nikolai Lubkiewicz, on 12 October 2014 - 09:55 PM, said:

Strange, last I had checked, there was a prompt. Will get that double-checked. In either case. I know at the core, a few people are hinting that they want these awards to become Banked Premium Time instead. We really want to restrict the use of the Banked system to it's original target of pre-orders. If we use it more, we start to break apart the purpose of having an unlimited-use subscription system in the first place, which is to give incentives to players who come back frequently. The pay-as-you go and other models some players would like to see doesn't do that and often needs to be off-set with greatly increased prices (and, in our case, fewer free prizes.)

There is a redeem items box (which does not say what you are redeeming) but you cannot skip the box if you wish to continue playing. You have to redeem it.

I was only able to play the first challenge day, and after completing the challenge I wanted to play a couple more matches, so I had to redeem the whole day of premium time (or I would have had to alt-F4 and go to bed without playing a few more matches)

The banked premium time was much better (except for the players who still have oodles of banked time unused, of course)

[Thorqemada]

Yeah, its a forced redeeming...

[Tarogato]

I can confirm - we get a prompt to Redeem awards, but the only option is to click Redeem or to Alt-F4 the game to save the reward for later. We're not looking to "bank" the time per se, just to have a "Postpone" button for rewards, if you will, so that rewards (such as premium time) can be ready when we want to use it. I guess it's the same thing, effectively, but it's driving us nuts that we have a dialog box we can't make a choice with.

[Deathlike]

Nikolai Lubkiewicz, on 12 October 2014 - 10:27 PM, said:

That said, we have also seen a number of those with large Premium Time hordes also purchasing active MC Premium Time in smaller amounts. We hope that our recent introduction of 30-day activation from the profile page provides some incentive to start using their banked time in manageable doses!

It needs to have smaller chunked options, with some sort of pseudo-incentive to activate them in larger quantities.

3-day weekends

7-day weeks

14-day 2 weeks/half-month

For instance, if activating premium time in a 30-day chunk gave 1m C-bills per day not played, then it would "make up" for days people aren't able to play.

It's not that hard to improve the system... it requires some thought on PGI's part to incentivize them properly.

[Big Tin Man]

Nikolai Lubkiewicz, on 12 October 2014 - 10:54 PM, said:

It's fair feedback. I'll add the concern as well as a couple of ideas on how to address it to the list of things we should look at reviewing. (If you have ideas, feel free to suggest them.) Since any change in that regard involves UI, I feel hesitant to promise anything right away with the focus being on CW. I'd also figure Mechlab optimizations are ahead of further changes to the PT system at this time, all things considered.

It would be really nice to get an option to redeem the item or quit. I've completed games and then found out that I get to redeem an item right when I'm going to bed. I'd rather go to sleep and activate my PT prize the next time I log on, instead of activating it when I hit the sack.

[Postumus]

Nikolai Lubkiewicz, on 12 October 2014 - 10:27 PM, said:

Premium Time 'hoarding' by active players was an unintended consequence of the banked premium time system. I should note the original intent of the bank was to quickly and easily address the concern raised by several Closed Beta Founders. who had indicated they would be on tour / at camp / on duty / on vacation or otherwise taking extended away time from gaming on the original delivery date. This significantly pre-dated the redemption system brought in with UI 2.0 when we could provide such prizes and activate them when we know the player is generally active in-game.

What we have found in the wake of adding the banked system is a paradoxical situation where we have many players purchasing Premium Time for MC without issue or major complaint about the rewards and perks, while the most scathing criticisms of Premium Time and it's benefits have often come from either those sitting on significant amounts of banked time or those receiving it from challenges.

That said, we have also seen a number of those with large Premium Time hordes also purchasing active MC Premium Time in smaller amounts. We hope that our recent introduction of 30-day activation from the profile page provides some incentive to start using their banked time in manageable doses!

I'm one of those players who is sitting on months of premium time, in my case from the closed beta founders pack. I can say for myself the reason that I haven't activated it is that I have been waiting for community warfare to come out, so that I have an incentive to play the game more than an hour here and there. I think when some of the most anticipated, and in my opinion, worthwhile features of the game finally start to come out, you will see people start to activate their premium time. In my case, it's hard to commit to spending the time when you can't work up a lot of enthusiasm about the game, especially when it has been in its same state (give or take some mechs and a couple maps) for so long.

Also, letting people bank challenge time is an excellent idea. I generally play in the evening, and what happens is I'll earn the reward, but then log off, essentially wasting 12 hours of free premium time. That said, you should be able to redeem the awards independently, apart from any other banked time.

Edited by Postumus, 12 October 2014 - 11:05 PM.

[Rushin Roulette]

Nikolai Lubkiewicz, on 12 October 2014 - 10:27 PM, said:

Premium Time 'hoarding' by active players was an unintended consequence of the banked premium time system.

[ImperialKnight]

Nikolai Lubkiewicz, on 12 October 2014 - 08:42 PM, said:

Premium Time subscriptions won from challenges shouldn't be activated until you Redeem them in-game.
If you intend to take a sleep/work break, it's a good idea to shut down the game and only hit the Redeem Gifts button the next time you intend to be active and login instead.

That's not what happened for me. I never clicked "Redeem", the dialog never even showed up. I had no premium time active when I shut down my game last night. When I logged in today, I only have 5 hours left. Which meant it activated without "consent"

[Tarogato]

knightsljx, on 13 October 2014 - 12:05 AM, said:

That's not what happened for me. I never clicked "Redeem", the dialog never even showed up. I had no premium time active when I shut down my game last night. When I logged in today, I only have 5 hours left. Which meant it activated without "consent"

Now that I think about it, you're right. We get a brief busy window/message that says "Redeeming rewards" or something to that effect, and it happens automatically/sans clic. (see I put it in French for the Canadians!) I'd have to see what it does when I finish the Skirmish challenge, but I'm pretty sure you're right on this one, because I met somebody in game that didn't know about the challenge and asked "did anybody else get "redeeming awards" for something?"

[ColonelProctor]

I clicked redeem rewards without knowing not to click it if you didn't want the premium time started. That would of been good to know. Oh well I will use what I can Monday when I have time.

[NewGandhi]

It's not just that the premium time started immediatly, it also killed existing premium time. I completed two of the weekend challenges. The first completion granted me my 24 hours of premium time. Fine. I did that rather at the end of the challenge time. So i was able to tackle the second challenge only a few hours later. Again the premium time was redeemed immediatly. Strange thing is...the counter of "premium time left" then showed 23h and 59m....where have my other hours gone?

[Dajomas]

I was lucky that my price for the first challenge came just after the PT I bought with MC finished. That way I had PT active when I went for the second challenge. Unfortunately, I never planned for PT being active when I went for the second challenge. Thus loosing about 17 hours of PT because I was unable to play any longer due to life getting in the way. (I did finish the second challenge though). Now I really have to plan my next MWO session so that the PT, that I apparently must redeem the next time I log on, is used effectively. A shame because that means I won't be playing short sessions until I can put in a couple of hours within a 24H timeframe.

[Modo44]

Niko, the automatic activation is expected. Your description of it is misleading. It just activates, the dialog is basically a "you got served" message without an actual choice to make. Literally the only way to not redeem challenge rewards is to kill the client before it returns to the mechlab after the last challenge match.

Edited by Modo44, 13 October 2014 - 04:54 AM.

[jackal404]

Well, for me as a new player, I seem to be earning a number of rewards each match. There isn't a dialog that tells me what I've earned (that I remember), just that I've earned something.

My problem with premium time is that it continues to run when I am not logged in. I'm sure all games which use some type of this feature do the same thing, but my schedule doesn't allow me to play every evening (or any time for that matter) - so I got a day reward that I'm only able to take 2 or 3 hours advantage of. That's kind of frustrating.

I'd prefer to see it only count down when I'm logged in. Maybe instead of earning 1 day, that could be reduced to 6 hours of active play - I'd be happy with that.

[That Dawg]

NewGandhi, on 13 October 2014 - 03:36 AM, said:

It's not just that the premium time started immediatly, it also killed existing premium time. Again the premium time was redeemed immediatly. Strange thing is...the counter of "premium time left" then showed 23h and 59m....where have my other hours gone?

Same thing happened to me. I had 14 hours left on day one when I won day two, it reset to 24 hours.
Then sunday, I had about 8-9 hours left when I won, it reset to 24 hours, well, 23 hours 59 minutes actually.

Would have been nicer if I could click redeem for a day at at time, but such is a the working life of an adult, you play when you can. Real life prioritizes.
Still enjoyed the challenge. Love to see more. Won my hanging things and they were needed in the drab interiors of my IS mechs

[Tiger Dad]

I didn't have a missing hours of premium time issue. It actually stacked for me. My second challenge finished and automatically kicked in my 24 hours (which consequently really gives me no choice BUT to redeem it asap.) I tried to be slick and shut off the application and restart it. The hours for the challenge had kicked in like I accepted it.
Nevertheless, I had to go to bed to wake up early for the kids so basically I wasted 20 hours premium time. So next day skirmish challenge (or challange as it's called) comes up, I have 2+ hours left. I finish the 3rd challenge and I get 1 day and 2+ hours.
So I liked that, I just don't like it that I can't hold the premium time to kick in when I feel like it.

But I hope there's an option in the works.