I've had this idea for a while but wasn't sure about how to implement it until recently.

Players can receive bonus XP for achieving certain kills similarly to the killing spree system.

We can have generic sprees accessible by everyone - kill 10 Kralls and get bonus XP, or kill 10 Skaarj and get bonus XP, etc. Make 100 or so kills with a certain weapon and get bonus XP.

We can do things that are a bit more challenging too- kill 5 vampire gnats with a lightning gun or sniper rifle, get bonus XP. Kill 3 monsters that have been resurrected by a Sorcerer, and get bonus XP. Kill a Phantom while it is corporeal(possible with things like lightning rod), and get bonus XP. So on and so forth.

We can do things that are class-specific too. Get 50 kills with a type of sentinel, pet, or artifact, or WM-exclusive weapon, and get bonus XP for those.

We could also do a "mission" type objective where you have to achieve the first mission before moving onto the next one. So the first mission could be something like killing 10 Kralls, after which will unlock a higher-XP mission like killing 10 Brutes. A game within a game as I like to frame it.

Each time you achieve a reward, there can be a trophy icon at the bottom of your screen so you can keep track of what you've achieved in a match.

This can be something players buy into, like Nali Call and Lucky Strike, or this can be given to everyone as a standard like the bonus spree system currently is.

This concept will probably be for 207, but we can start brainstorming ideas here and coming up with sprees, missions, and rewards. There are a lot of possibilities.

Some ideas for missions:

Weapon based rewards: Make x kills with a weapon.
Telefragster: Make x kills with Translocator.
Monster based rewards: Kill x monsters of a type.
Class-based rewards: Make x kills with a sentinel/turret/pet/artifact.
Magic-based rewards: Burn x amount, freeze x amount, null x amount, etc.
Wizardy: Receive x magic affects applied to you simultaneously.
Sharp Shot Fly: Kill x gnats with lightning gun or sniper rifle.
Rabbit/Monster Hop: Kill a bunny/monster by crushing it (using a sturdy or heavy guard weapon).
Cow Care: Protect your pet cow, get XP per wave that is alive.
Zombie Slayer: Kill x monsters resurrected by a Sorcerer.
Phantom Slayer: Kill x Phantoms while it is non-corporeal.
Knock-Off: Kill x monsters in lava/kill volume.
Night Crawler: traverse/teleport x amount UU distance within a time frame.
Aqua: remain x amount seconds underwater.
Superman: remain x amount seconds airborne.

I think I'll be making these missions accessible to everyone, as long as a class is bought. So this will not be a system you buy into, but which you can use to level yourself up or just to have fun with. Please post ideas for more missions!

Good news, I've started on 207 with missions!

For those of you interested in reading about my thought process:

Original Design
Originally, the mission system was going to be a passive, behind-the-scenes thing that players can choose to pursue. My main focus was to not interrupt game play; all missions would be available to you with no effort. If you killed x amount of monsters or made x amount of kills with a weapon, you would complete a mission and receive XP. No harm, no foul. There also would've been tougher missions for players who wanted to actively play the system.

However, the disadvantage to this approach is that it's not interactive. Yes, you could go through and complete missions, but it's just as if you're playing the game normally anyway, and you're getting XP rewarded on top of what you're already getting for making certain kills.

Active Design
Another approach would've been to allow players to select a mission via a menu. Letting players select and choose a mission makes the system more interactive and fun, as opposed to having a passive, background system. It makes players feel like they're actually pursing a mission.

The disadvantage is two-fold here: 1) it's hard to make a menu(for me), and even harder to link that menu to data that most likely would have to be replicated(what missions are complete/incomplete); and 2) it interrupts game play. I see menus as a big deal if you have to interact with it to play the game. It's slow, it's not fluid, it doesn't flow. UT is fast-paced, and most players don't even look at their stats menu unless they're in a base, at wave end, or dead.

My goal here is to make a system that's interactive, but that doesn't interfere with game play. But of course, player interaction and game play correlate.

Hybrid Design
I'm most likely pursuing this design, where monsters(and maybe Nali) will drop missions via artifacts. What are the benefits of this design over the others?
1) It balances player interaction and smooth game-play. No heavy user interfaces for selecting a mission. Here, players can choose which missions they want to activate, and they can exchange or toss missions for others as well. Artifacts aren't new, so I'm just using an existing method in a new way.
2) It adds an element of randomness. There is a % chance for a mission to drop, and it could be any type of mission. This makes things fun.

The only major disadvantage I can think of is artifact clutter, which was the primary reason I moved the BONUS letter system from artifact to pick-up inventory. I just have to scale the missions appropriately; nothing too small that creates 20+ missions, nothing too large that makes missions impossible to complete. I'll also most likely allow 2-3 missions to be active simultaneously.

Anyhow, this approach makes the mission system more exciting and rewarding than the original design, but game play is still intact - kill and survive.

A look at how the mission system will appear:



Here is a larger view.

Mission artifacts will give the name, description, and reward(and of course, the icon will change when I get textures for them). Activating it will remove the artifact from your inventory and adds the mission into the slots above. You can track the progress of each of your missions there as well. Up to 3 missions can be held at a time. You can forfeit a mission any time using command lines. If all goes well with online testing and replication, then hopefully this is what the final product will look like.

Notice that the BONUS letters have a new look too.

Looking good so far Hollon, I'm sure it'll be great fun to play.

Here are some mission ideas for you:

Missions:

Slaughter: Kill x Monsters with a singular Redeemer/IonPainter explosion.
Hexed: Put a "Negative Booster" hex on yourself that lasts x seconds/minutes. Survive the hex to complete the mission.
WomboCombo: Achieve 'Flak Monkey', 'Combo Whore' and 'Head Hunter' in 1 match.
Bingo: Have at least 1 x of DoubleKill, MultiKill, MegaKill, UltraKill, MonsterKill, Ludicrous Kill, Holy Shit.
Disarmer: Destroy x Monster Projectiles (All TechMines and Ice/Fire Warlord RedeemerShots)
Deflector: Reflect x amount of Monster Projectiles by using the ShieldGun or a Reflecting/HeavyGuard weapon.
BreakThrough: Hit at least 2 Monsters with a Penetrating/Gorgon weapon x number of times. Non-Rapidfire weapons only, so Minigun/AssaultRifle is disallowed.
Critical Strike: Be under the influence of DoubleDamage/TripleDamage for a total of x minutes.
Better Safe than Sorry: Be under the influence of Invulnerabity for a total of x minutes.
Clingy: Walk on other surfaces using the ElectroMagnet for x minutes. (Alternatively, Kill x Monsters whilst under the effect of the ElectroMagnet)
Hoarder: Collect x XP-Gems
Artillery Fire: Make an arched shot be airborne for at least x seconds. Arched meaning projectiles affected by gravity.
Heavy Hitter: Deal at least xxx Damage with a single Weaponshot. SuperWeapons and Ultima excluded.
Prized Collector: Have at least 3x of the same Magic Affix on your weapons. (E.g. 3 Freezing Weapons)
Eagle Eye: Hit at least xx shots in a row without missing, with any Non-Rapidfire weapon.
ThunderGod: Have the LightningRod Adrenaline Combo AND the LightningRod Artifact both activated at the same time for a total of x seconds (not in a single go).
Death Race 2000: Get at least x Road Rages using any Vehicle.