Streaks, and breaking them.

[Silverr]

The addition of elite streaks in the game has been great! You can level up much faster, people always want to do quests on elite... But therein lies the problem. No one will do quests on a lower difficulty because it breaks their streak. And if it comes to a choice between breaking the streak and not doing the quest, no one will do the quest.

This was particularly brought to my attention today, when we did an elite von5 with the intention of doing an elite von6. However, right after we finished von5, one of the healers recalled out and dropped the group. Now, that instantly put elite von6 out of the question. One of the people in the group pointed out we could do it on normal or hard instead, but that would break everyones streaks, so everyone in the group dropped out and we didn't do von6. This is a pain. I personally don't care about streaks, but nearly everyone else does, and people don't want to break their streaks.

So, my suggestion is this:

Get rid of the 'breaking' mechanism for streaks. Have it the same way, so that if you've done it on a different difficulty before you aren't eligible for streak bonuses, but please remove the 'breaking' mechanism. It's harmful to parties and results in a lot of people not doing a quest because they don't want to break their streak.

[arminius]

But then it wouldn't be a streak?

[Uska]

Sorry but that is kind of the idea behind a streak with your way lets just give everyone the max bonus

[SardaofChaos]

Somebody brought up the idea that instead of breaking a streak, the streak would be lowered by an arbitrary number such as 5, possibly modified by the severity of the break (casual instead of normal, for instance).

[Uska]

Somebody brought up the idea that instead of breaking a streak, the streak would be lowered by an arbitrary number such as 5, possibly modified by the severity of the break (casual instead of normal, for instance).

That would have nearly zero effect on some as their streak is over a hundred so unless they hit it with a 95-99% reduction then it would pointless

[voodoogroves]

The addition of elite streaks in the game has been great! You can level up much faster, people always want to do quests on elite... But therein lies the problem. No one will do quests on a lower difficulty because it breaks their streak. And if it comes to a choice between breaking the streak and not doing the quest, no one will do the quest.

This is not true.

What is impacted though is that folks tend to farm one quest at a time ... Elite, Hard, Normal xSomething.

This isn't always the case though, esp. Gianthold on. In fact, tonight I plan on pugging out "Gianthold side quests on hard" followed by a round of "GH side quests on normal".

[voodoogroves]

That would have nearly zero effect on some as their streak is over a hundred so unless they hit it with a 95-99% reduction then it would pointless

On my streaker where I've tried to hit everything for streak at the right level I've not missed much. I've missed Chronoscope and the Titan bits, plus I think I hit Kobold Assault late. I'm near 200 and working on the last of the 14s.

The only problem I've had is hitting quests earlier than I'd have liked (like doing 14 elites while I'm still 15). I think that's mostly a phantom though, as I've still got all of GH and Orchard on N/H and I'm banking 16.

Would I mind missing one or two? Sure. But if you're good on your streak you hit the elites early and in this range any XP is generally good.

I'm still hitting Cursed Crypt, for instance, mostly for a shot at a DoD and Anathema.

[SardaofChaos]

That would have nearly zero effect on some as their streak is over a hundred so unless they hit it with a 95-99% reduction then it would pointless

Alternate solution would be to have a break instead drop it down to where max bonus is applied unless the streak was already below a certain number but above max bonus, in which case the streak is dropped down to 1, and if at any point the streak is at the point where max bonus is applied or below any break will drop it to 0.

Thus, two streak breakers in a row drop it to 0 no matter what.

When I speak of a certain number I am thinking 10 under the assumption that max bonus is applied at 5 and above. As I do not have a streak on any character, being premium and having only a single second life tr, I have not bothered to look up the exact numbers.

[Bacab]

Long story short...

Sorry you did not get to do Elite VoN6.

Elite/Hard Streak is one of the best things to happen to this game in a very long time. It does not need to be changed.

[toaf]

why not just ask them to start you ar lv 20... . ... .

[axel15810]

I like the idea of some kind of penalty. Perhaps something like a reduced xp bonus for your next 2 quests if you break your streak? That would be better than having to start from scratch...

[Habreno]

No, it's fine as it is now. Not a streak if it doesn't go away after you fail to fufill the requirements for it to keep existing.

[Rheebus]

Why wasn't the transition to elite VON6 discussed clearly before beginning VON5? Seems like if you had everyone on board when you started VON5, then it's on the cleric who recalled out instead of transitioning to VON6. I am not sure why the Elite streak is to blame for a party with a missing healer missing out on an elite dragon.

[sirgog]

VON6 is one of the very, very few quests in the game where if you can't beat it on Elite, doing Normal or Hard is less XP than what your streak would have been worth, because its base XP is abnormally low for quests of its level.

There are not many of these quests at all. The pre-quests for VON3 and Xorian Cypher come to mind, as does Protect Coyle.

Always makes me chuckle to see some fool say 'not doing VOD hard, I'll lose my streak' when the difference in streak bonus over the next five quests might have been 7000xp total, and the VOD would have been worth 20k XP. Then they hit 20 and run VOD for no XP to try to get loot.

[voodoogroves]

And honestly, if you want the favor, do VON5 elite ... then dont' do VON6. Wait for one of the dozens of VoN5/normal, VoN6 elite for loot LFMs.

[Quetzacoala]

I believe that doing a raid should not break streak, no matter what difficulty it is run on.

[Bacab]

Hmmm...after thinking a while on this...

What Elite Streak really means to people (me included) is...

E-Peen

No one wants a "small number".

Heck, if Streak was available in MyDDO I would do a better job not breaking it at level 18...especially since it carries over to the next life now.

[NortheOfThelanis]

Hmmm...after thinking a while on this...

What Elite Streak really means to people (me included) is...

E-Peen

No one wants a "small number".

Heck, if Streak was available in MyDDO I would do a better job not breaking it at level 18...especially since it carries over to the next life now.

Agreed. For me, moreso than the bonuses, I illogically disregard scenarios like Sirgog mentioned earlier because I would hate to see that huge number become a small number. Something deep within me wishes to drudge through quests for a much lower xp/min ratio just to keep that pointless number ever growing. We need help.

[jjflanigan]

One way around this, and one that I'm fairly certain Turbine intended, is that if you have someone in the party more than two levels above the base quest level it will not break your streak -- conveniently you can use Turbine Store hirelings that are up to two levels higher than you.

If it comes down to it, you can always whip out the wallet and pick up a higher level hireling to summon into the quest so that the streak will not be broken (you don't get the bonus, of course, but you don't lose your streak either).

-JJ

[dragonofsteel]

VON6 is one of the very, very few quests in the game where if you can't beat it on Elite, doing Normal or Hard is less XP than what your streak would have been worth, because its base XP is abnormally low for quests of its level.

There are not many of these quests at all. The pre-quests for VON3 and Xorian Cypher come to mind, as does Protect Coyle.

Always makes me chuckle to see some fool say 'not doing VOD hard, I'll lose my streak' when the difference in streak bonus over the next five quests might have been 7000xp total, and the VOD would have been worth 20k XP. Then they hit 20 and run VOD for no XP to try to get loot.

When did hard Vod become the best xp at these levels? Yeah might only lose 7k for next so many quest, but I can get that xp just as fast or faster grinding refuge or IQ. So your right we are all fools. I really need to do another VOD and ruin my streak. Which I had more fun getting up then running the dumb VOD on hard yet again.

How much xp you will lose greatly depends on how close you are from cap, what elites you might still have to run and what xp pot you are running. Reality if it caps you, the lose will be less then 7k. Your next 2 runs lose 25% then 20%, 10% and back on streak. Running a level 1 quest I don't really think would add up to 7k, running 9k base quest it could go over 7k. The most you will lose is about 10k, the less would be around 1k for your streak bonus. I understand this, but still will not ruin my streak. I am just to foolish. 622 and still going.