Discussions about Quests

BettyJoBebo · #1 Dec 11 2014, 07:20 AM

It's not just that quests require FT cash. I have all but 28 facilities - that's a lot, including ones that require FT cash. But 4 of my regular quests are ones that I can't work on, and 2 of the Co-Op quests. 3 of them are from the same facility, and 2 are the exact same item from the same facility. It seems to me like the "randomness" is being altered to make it include more of the FT cash, especially ones people are less likely to have (as in more recent ones). The algorithm is biased towards spending real money. I realize that they'd like people to do that, but when you are rewarding FT cash for completed quests, if you make them all quests that require cash, then there is no point.

Eradani · #2 Dec 11 2014, 08:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BettyJoBebo

It's not just that quests require FT cash. I have all but 28 facilities - that's a lot, including ones that require FT cash. But 4 of my regular quests are ones that I can't work on, and 2 of the Co-Op quests. 3 of them are from the same facility, and 2 are the exact same item from the same facility. It seems to me like the "randomness" is being altered to make it include more of the FT cash, especially ones people are less likely to have (as in more recent ones). The algorithm is biased towards spending real money. I realize that they'd like people to do that, but when you are rewarding FT cash for completed quests, if you make them all quests that require cash, then there is no point.

random number generators sometimes produce streaks of similar numbers. sometimes, they also produce similar random numbers for certain users.

looks like you've hit a "bad patch" of random numbers. don't worry, it'll get better and you may get "good random numbers" for quite a while after this.

if you want to learn more about random numbers, i found some accessible youtube videos on the subject

"The Random Coin Flipper" by theshoal12. in this video there's 2 numbers to pay attention to: "Heads streak" at the top of the right column and "Tails streak" near the bottom.

"Random vs. Pseudorandom Number Generators" by Art of the Problem. details on how computers pick numbers that are kind of, sort of, as close to being random as computers can get.

"Random Events Often Happen in Streaks" by what appears to be a motivational speaker Patrick S

sometimes the only thing i've found that helps with "bad" random numbers is to stop and type in chat "I shake my fist at the RNG!!!" RNG being the Random Number Generator.

BettyJoBebo · #3 Dec 11 2014, 08:46 AM

Than you for your reply. I am a programmer. I know all about random number generators. There is no such thing as a true random number generator, as you saw by your link on pseudo random numbers.

This is a sudden change, reported by multiple people, that belies the idea of it just being "randomness". Every random number generator is seeded. There are algorithms that can be used to choose both the seed and the array of choices to choose from. It could well be that the random numbers are being seeded in such a way to make them fairly random, but what is happening is that the pool to select from has been narrowed. Or some weight is given to some items more than others, which is more likely what is happening

Eradani · #4 Dec 11 2014, 09:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BettyJoBebo

Than you for your reply. I am a programmer. I know all about random number generators. There is no such thing as a true random number generator, as you saw by your link on pseudo random numbers.

This is a sudden change, reported by multiple people, that belies the idea of it just being "randomness". Every random number generator is seeded. There are algorithms that can be used to choose both the seed and the array of choices to choose from. It could well be that the random numbers are being seeded in such a way to make them fairly random, but what is happening is that the pool to select from has been narrowed. Or some weight is given to some items more than others, which is more likely what is happening

if you're a programmer, as i also am, then you know that sometimes the RNG does seem to be weighted, ie: streaky.

and you are right - they "could" be weighting so that more FC facilities are coming up but i really don't think it's warranted to attribute this kind of underhandness to Raul et al. if this were a game run by Sony or FB, my innate paranoia would go there, but i've never seen that kind of behavior from this game.