@NianticBrian what about using the new drone layer to mark drone unique visits and adding a badge for it, encouraging the exploring aspect? It's been highly requested since the drone was added! ☺️
I'm relatively ok with having a "team/frenemy" view of all deployed drones, so long as you don't repeat the Guardian badge fiasco. Even though you're tracking the stats, PLEASE don't create badges for either: returned drones, or distance flown.
I've already managed to get my drone to fly its currently-maximum possible distance from my home city (a relatively paltry 25km). In order to get any farther from here, we'd literally have to create more portals, and that's taking into account the "key jumping" trick. And those spots where there are un-droneable gaps, there currently isn't anything to submit.
I love this new feature. keep up the good work! ... just an idea to add something, wouldn't it be nice that if you try to send your drone to a full portal (if i understand correctly each portal can accomodate up to 8 drones) instead of the action not being completed and getting an error, one of the drones that already are at that portal (random, maybe opposite faction first) gets knocked down and sent back to the owner? .. I think it would be a nice way to add to the "drones returned" stat. 😁
Even in areas with high turnover, there are nearby patches that are left alone - either persistently neutral because they are out of the way, or hard defending by the owning faction.
My drone has spent quite a bit of time around London, and for long periods, by being careful where it travels. Central London as we come out of lockdown? I would probably avoid except during an event with 10 minute cooldown. But given how long I owned a poorly shielded portal a couple of years ago, even central has its slow spots.
By that logic, do you want Explorer and Pioneer badges taken out of the game?
As the world comes out of lockdown, there will be few people who never visit a portal dense city. Virtually everyone will get their chance to get drone visits eventually. Except Niantic have also created a situation which doesn't look much different to Guardian Hunting. People might not know whose drone they returned - but that doesn't matter to people with that mindset.
No, I don't, but I don't see a problem with trying to be a bit more inclusive with this badge. There is still the possibility of introducing a unique drone visits badge, you never know. And just to forestall any comments, it's not VG foreshadowing. We don't know if Niantic will introduce it or not.
Regarding the Guardian Hunting, there are significant differences though... you can't scrape drone data. You don't know who the drones belong to, and you can't track 'em if you're not a) in the area, b) have a drone in the same location or c) have a key to view it.
Adding a unique visit medal, which I'd like, will only be tougher now with this ability to send them home much easier. Same with a drone distance medal. I'm glad I did a lengthy flight early on, will be much more difficult now
If your Drone gets returned back to you, then you'll see a Drone Returned update on Map Screen next to the Main Menu button:
Tapping Drone Returned opens the ALERTS tab, which tells you who returned your Drone back to you. For example:
In this case, @GPC2C doesn't know whose Drone they returned. They only know the Faction of the Drone that was returned when they changed the alignment of the Portal the Drone was deployed to (by neutralizing, capturing, or flipping the Portal).
Drones are only visible when they're deployed on a Portal. If your Drone is returned to you, it isn't visible to other Agents, and your physical location is not visible to other Agents. Before you deploy your Drone to a Portal, your own Drone is only visible to you.
I personally could take a ~40km drive to another city and launch my drone, and from there somebody's already worked out a 100km+ path. And I've got all my badges needed for L16 regardless, and I've managed to do that by the time I got to L11, and that was WITHOUT the toxic Guardian badge.
Read back to the bit about the "Guardian Badge" fiasco. Basically, ANY badge which allows a member of the frenemy team to deny their opponents a badge? Somebody will go out of their way to do that. And that creates a toxic environment for all players.
Heck, for several years in my local area, NO frenemy player would ever deploy more than a single resonator while playing in "hostile" territory -- because THAT would allow players on my team to tick up their "resonators destroyed" stat and thus deny us a badge.
Now, if a Drone badge merely used an "aggregate" distance instead of an "total distance", that might work without the toxicity.
That makes sense. I'm still really hoping for a distance medal, but this new visibility deal is absolutely going to make it much tougher.
Maybe the Mark II drone can have an exploration option, that once enabled, can't be seen, but can't hack and still have the same cooldown/movement options we have now. It can't be switched back on to hacking unless recalled.
I do not like the choices Niantic have made - and I have to wonder whether they listened to opinions from agents who are interested in drones for more than gear acquisition before launching this.
I have loved being able to explore with my drone. In the UK, we have had opportunities to travel further from home between lockdowns, or for specific reasons, and this has given me the chance to leave my drone in cities I have passed, and explore them at leisure. Through my drone I have been to corners of London I will probably never visit in person, and through my drone I have interacted with portals, read descriptions, and learnt about interesting features I will never see in real life.
Truthfully, even if I did pass through these places in life, I would probably be rushing from A to B, looking at my phone to get caps or around me to avoid lamp posts - and I would not take the time to see any of the portal information, or the feature itself, even though I passed right next to it.
I have been strategic with my drone - planning routes to visit as many portals as possible for the visits stat while watching for portals near decay, and considering the types of play in the area - will a portal stay neutral for a while, or should I pick a portal of a specific alignment because it is more likely to last.
As coronavirus levels drop, and it becomes safer to wander for non-essential reason, I plan to play Ingress as I did before. The drone will not replace the pleasure I get from micro-fielding a local town. It will not replace the feeling of satisfaction, achievement and teamwork from a bigger fielding op. But I expected challenges with the drone to continue, without having a new worry of someone actively seeking opportunities to prevent others from making long journeys, or exploring distant areas.
Now? It feels like drone adventures and normal play will become a choice rather than co-exist. If my drone is somewhere interesting, or trying to complete a long journey, should I give up normal Ingress play to allow me to babysit it (i.e. watch intel for any signs of nearby players) more effectively? Is this what Niantic want, or did no-one with these type of interests get asked their opinion?
But, time for some balance:
It is great to see the drones get some sort of love. I've been interested to see how they might develop, and it was about time they were acknowledged with a badge, not just numbers in the stats.
So - thank you for developing the drones further, Niantic.
Any simpleton can go directly to a portal and ki11 it or flip it and there goes somebody's 100km flight or a drone that someone purposely left far from home in another state, country, or continent. Should have not made these visible. Make hunters use their intuition and critical thinking skills. Then when they go ki11 a level 8 farm with 8 drones on it, you can send them an alert that they forced 8 drones to be recalled.
I like the new stat with"drones sent home". That has potential. Maybe even a streak for days without the drone to be sent home. You could even give it a badge... Let's say 150 days for black... 😂
I love this bit I'm about to make some suggestions. First please make the Dron's color less like the field"a colors. Add red or orange or pinkish highlights to create some contrasts.
Second, how about adding Flair to portals you've already had unique drone visits to?
And lastly, I feel like the stats page would appear less cluttered if all drone related stats were moved under a Drone Ops section so they are all together.
Comments
OK, I kinda see the point.
@NianticBrian what about using the new drone layer to mark drone unique visits and adding a badge for it, encouraging the exploring aspect? It's been highly requested since the drone was added! ☺️
@NianticBrian
I'm relatively ok with having a "team/frenemy" view of all deployed drones, so long as you don't repeat the Guardian badge fiasco. Even though you're tracking the stats, PLEASE don't create badges for either: returned drones, or distance flown.
I've already managed to get my drone to fly its currently-maximum possible distance from my home city (a relatively paltry 25km). In order to get any farther from here, we'd literally have to create more portals, and that's taking into account the "key jumping" trick. And those spots where there are un-droneable gaps, there currently isn't anything to submit.
I love this new feature. keep up the good work! ... just an idea to add something, wouldn't it be nice that if you try to send your drone to a full portal (if i understand correctly each portal can accomodate up to 8 drones) instead of the action not being completed and getting an error, one of the drones that already are at that portal (random, maybe opposite faction first) gets knocked down and sent back to the owner? .. I think it would be a nice way to add to the "drones returned" stat. 😁
@NianticBrian
Even in areas with high turnover, there are nearby patches that are left alone - either persistently neutral because they are out of the way, or hard defending by the owning faction.
My drone has spent quite a bit of time around London, and for long periods, by being careful where it travels. Central London as we come out of lockdown? I would probably avoid except during an event with 10 minute cooldown. But given how long I owned a poorly shielded portal a couple of years ago, even central has its slow spots.
Why should a distance medal not be released? I'm reading it as you don't want one because you're limited to 25km...
I like this new feature, and while I think this can be real fun, I also think is true that it will end the exploration part that we had with drones.
Also, I'm a little bit disappointed that the new layer is not to see which portals you have already visited/hacked with the drone.
Finally drone medal was comes out :D
By that logic, do you want Explorer and Pioneer badges taken out of the game?
As the world comes out of lockdown, there will be few people who never visit a portal dense city. Virtually everyone will get their chance to get drone visits eventually. Except Niantic have also created a situation which doesn't look much different to Guardian Hunting. People might not know whose drone they returned - but that doesn't matter to people with that mindset.
NIA should have waited a day before releasing it. A Star Wars Day (May 4th) release would have been awesome.
"These aren't the drones you're looking for."
Hope Niantic relese we can see unique drone prorals.
It's the 4th in APAC already ;P
No, I don't, but I don't see a problem with trying to be a bit more inclusive with this badge. There is still the possibility of introducing a unique drone visits badge, you never know. And just to forestall any comments, it's not VG foreshadowing. We don't know if Niantic will introduce it or not.
Regarding the Guardian Hunting, there are significant differences though... you can't scrape drone data. You don't know who the drones belong to, and you can't track 'em if you're not a) in the area, b) have a drone in the same location or c) have a key to view it.
Adding a unique visit medal, which I'd like, will only be tougher now with this ability to send them home much easier. Same with a drone distance medal. I'm glad I did a lengthy flight early on, will be much more difficult now
In New Zealand, it is May 4th.
Happy Star Wars Day
If your Drone gets returned back to you, then you'll see a
Drone Returned
update on Map Screen next to the Main Menu button:Tapping
Drone Returned
opens the ALERTS tab, which tells you who returned your Drone back to you. For example:In this case, @GPC2C doesn't know whose Drone they returned. They only know the Faction of the Drone that was returned when they changed the alignment of the Portal the Drone was deployed to (by neutralizing, capturing, or flipping the Portal).
Drones are only visible when they're deployed on a Portal. If your Drone is returned to you, it isn't visible to other Agents, and your physical location is not visible to other Agents. Before you deploy your Drone to a Portal, your own Drone is only visible to you.
I personally could take a ~40km drive to another city and launch my drone, and from there somebody's already worked out a 100km+ path. And I've got all my badges needed for L16 regardless, and I've managed to do that by the time I got to L11, and that was WITHOUT the toxic Guardian badge.
Read back to the bit about the "Guardian Badge" fiasco. Basically, ANY badge which allows a member of the frenemy team to deny their opponents a badge? Somebody will go out of their way to do that. And that creates a toxic environment for all players.
Heck, for several years in my local area, NO frenemy player would ever deploy more than a single resonator while playing in "hostile" territory -- because THAT would allow players on my team to tick up their "resonators destroyed" stat and thus deny us a badge.
Now, if a Drone badge merely used an "aggregate" distance instead of an "total distance", that might work without the toxicity.
Medal came in after i did move n hack 9mins ago.
Samsung Galaxy S20, Andriod 11
That makes sense. I'm still really hoping for a distance medal, but this new visibility deal is absolutely going to make it much tougher.
Maybe the Mark II drone can have an exploration option, that once enabled, can't be seen, but can't hack and still have the same cooldown/movement options we have now. It can't be switched back on to hacking unless recalled.
I would like the possibility of launching the drone from any key in the inventory.
I do not like the choices Niantic have made - and I have to wonder whether they listened to opinions from agents who are interested in drones for more than gear acquisition before launching this.
I have loved being able to explore with my drone. In the UK, we have had opportunities to travel further from home between lockdowns, or for specific reasons, and this has given me the chance to leave my drone in cities I have passed, and explore them at leisure. Through my drone I have been to corners of London I will probably never visit in person, and through my drone I have interacted with portals, read descriptions, and learnt about interesting features I will never see in real life.
Truthfully, even if I did pass through these places in life, I would probably be rushing from A to B, looking at my phone to get caps or around me to avoid lamp posts - and I would not take the time to see any of the portal information, or the feature itself, even though I passed right next to it.
I have been strategic with my drone - planning routes to visit as many portals as possible for the visits stat while watching for portals near decay, and considering the types of play in the area - will a portal stay neutral for a while, or should I pick a portal of a specific alignment because it is more likely to last.
As coronavirus levels drop, and it becomes safer to wander for non-essential reason, I plan to play Ingress as I did before. The drone will not replace the pleasure I get from micro-fielding a local town. It will not replace the feeling of satisfaction, achievement and teamwork from a bigger fielding op. But I expected challenges with the drone to continue, without having a new worry of someone actively seeking opportunities to prevent others from making long journeys, or exploring distant areas.
Now? It feels like drone adventures and normal play will become a choice rather than co-exist. If my drone is somewhere interesting, or trying to complete a long journey, should I give up normal Ingress play to allow me to babysit it (i.e. watch intel for any signs of nearby players) more effectively? Is this what Niantic want, or did no-one with these type of interests get asked their opinion?
But, time for some balance:
It is great to see the drones get some sort of love. I've been interested to see how they might develop, and it was about time they were acknowledged with a badge, not just numbers in the stats.
So - thank you for developing the drones further, Niantic.
Any simpleton can go directly to a portal and ki11 it or flip it and there goes somebody's 100km flight or a drone that someone purposely left far from home in another state, country, or continent. Should have not made these visible. Make hunters use their intuition and critical thinking skills. Then when they go ki11 a level 8 farm with 8 drones on it, you can send them an alert that they forced 8 drones to be recalled.
I like the new stat with"drones sent home". That has potential. Maybe even a streak for days without the drone to be sent home. You could even give it a badge... Let's say 150 days for black... 😂
I think Mark II have lower cooldown and we see more far away.
This is the Mark II and it has a 1 hour cooldown.
What are the different? I only see new design. Same range and same cooldown.
I was hoping for it to be unique portal visited by drone. It feels more like a challenge rather than just hacking the same farms over and over again.
Still can happen in the future though, still hoping for it.
Also, loved the new design. Also like th idea of change it like the avatars.
@NianticBrian the animated ornaments are lovely, please don't change them.
I love this bit I'm about to make some suggestions. First please make the Dron's color less like the field"a colors. Add red or orange or pinkish highlights to create some contrasts.
Second, how about adding Flair to portals you've already had unique drone visits to?
And lastly, I feel like the stats page would appear less cluttered if all drone related stats were moved under a Drone Ops section so they are all together.
Wohooo almost half of the Onyx badge