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A new use of XP - Champion Experience Levels
Colonaut123
Posts: 3,091 ★★★★★
Arguably, XP is one of the least developed portions of the game. Nobody finds the wisdom or intelligence masteries worth any point. Once you reach summoner level 60, you no longer get any XP. XP boosts are for those players a nuisance. With the release of Act 6 in sight, that portion of the game is of no consequence.
The obvious suggestion would be to increase the level cap. But Kabam has stated often enough that there are no plans for that. This is mostly because summoner levels are tied to energy and mastery points and Kabam don't want to disrupt the current balance. And even if they did do that, it would not fix anything. Players will reach that end level to and the same problem arises.
The only solution is to find a new use for XP. I present: CHAMPION EXPERIENCE LEVELS!
So as a champion fights, the champion becomes more skilled and thus gains experience levels. The amount gained is equal to the current XP given after a fight, which will transfer both to the summoner and to the individual champion who did the KO (to keep it simple for now, maybe Kabam can weight the contribution of each champion to the KO). Fights who don't give XP (arena, AQ and AW) should ideally give XP to, or XP is given based on existing parameters like arena points.
What rewards will experience levels give? Nodes. It will work like this: when you're about to start a fight, a node tab will be available on the left corner of your champion, opposite of the node tab of the opponent. You can either load a preset (later more about that) or open the full list of nodes. This list will contain almost all available nodes in the game (except ISO-infusion). Every node takes (an amount of) node slots (more about that later) which you can activate every fight: quests, AQ or AW offence (not defence). It is Kabam's choice which nodes should be available, keeping game balance in mind.
To access a node, you need to earn XP. The higher your level, the more nodes you've access to. Node strength also increases: at let's say lvl 1 you've access a Regeneration LV1 node, that heals 25% more health, while you need an almost max level to gain access to a Regeneration LV4 node that heals 150% more health. Nodes can be generic, like a generic 10% to gain Fury or a Pessimist node, or can be specific like drinking a potion makes Diablo go Unstoppable (like the node in the EQ of a few months ago). Potency should keep game balance in mind.
Some nodes can have extra requirements, like having completed certain content (ROL, LOL, Act 5 and 6,...). Certain nodes have restrictions, for instant can only be active on one champion at a time, or need to cooldown for a certain amount of time. It can possibly be that some nodes are unavailable for certain champions (+40% bleed damage might be OP for Blade, but perfectly fine for Ultron). It is Kabam's choice which nodes should have which accesibility, keeping game balance in mind.
You can order the list of nodes per category (like grouping all buffs,, debuffs, offensive, defensive, unique, per level required,...). As I assume there are many nodes and it is not the intention to frustrate the player by long loading screens. Maybe a short list of most used can be added, as well as presets. Every champion can have three presets. Presets can be arranged in the champion tab. This way, you can easily load the same nodes every fight without having the hassle to find them again. You can name the preset like "questing 1" or "anti-Korg".
You cannot have an infinite number of nodes active, you need slots. The current summoner level gives every 10 levels an extra node slot, up to 6 at level 60. Some nodes take one slot, others take multiple slots. Some nodes can be active with other nodes, others don't. It is Kabam's choice what is most appropriate for the game balance.
Experience is champion-specific. So you'll need to start from scratch every time you get a champion. It is Kabam's choice to make it transferable between stars (so the levels earned by a 2* Storm will transfer to a 6* Storm) or not. Anyway, as there are so many champions, this will give an endless supply of ways to earn XP. XP boosts will get a second life.
Most importantly, it expends the game enormously. While I don't believe god tier champions will go fully away, certain nodes can change champion performance completely. Champions that are considered thrash, might become god tier once you have access to certain nodes. This gives incentive to not use the same champions every fight, but to diversify your team. If you work hard enough, any champion can become viable. Via unique nodes, champions can be buffed without requiring complete reworks.
I'm open to suggestions, comments or discussion. Just keep it civil and constructive.
The obvious suggestion would be to increase the level cap. But Kabam has stated often enough that there are no plans for that. This is mostly because summoner levels are tied to energy and mastery points and Kabam don't want to disrupt the current balance. And even if they did do that, it would not fix anything. Players will reach that end level to and the same problem arises.
The only solution is to find a new use for XP. I present: CHAMPION EXPERIENCE LEVELS!
So as a champion fights, the champion becomes more skilled and thus gains experience levels. The amount gained is equal to the current XP given after a fight, which will transfer both to the summoner and to the individual champion who did the KO (to keep it simple for now, maybe Kabam can weight the contribution of each champion to the KO). Fights who don't give XP (arena, AQ and AW) should ideally give XP to, or XP is given based on existing parameters like arena points.
What rewards will experience levels give? Nodes. It will work like this: when you're about to start a fight, a node tab will be available on the left corner of your champion, opposite of the node tab of the opponent. You can either load a preset (later more about that) or open the full list of nodes. This list will contain almost all available nodes in the game (except ISO-infusion). Every node takes (an amount of) node slots (more about that later) which you can activate every fight: quests, AQ or AW offence (not defence). It is Kabam's choice which nodes should be available, keeping game balance in mind.
To access a node, you need to earn XP. The higher your level, the more nodes you've access to. Node strength also increases: at let's say lvl 1 you've access a Regeneration LV1 node, that heals 25% more health, while you need an almost max level to gain access to a Regeneration LV4 node that heals 150% more health. Nodes can be generic, like a generic 10% to gain Fury or a Pessimist node, or can be specific like drinking a potion makes Diablo go Unstoppable (like the node in the EQ of a few months ago). Potency should keep game balance in mind.
Some nodes can have extra requirements, like having completed certain content (ROL, LOL, Act 5 and 6,...). Certain nodes have restrictions, for instant can only be active on one champion at a time, or need to cooldown for a certain amount of time. It can possibly be that some nodes are unavailable for certain champions (+40% bleed damage might be OP for Blade, but perfectly fine for Ultron). It is Kabam's choice which nodes should have which accesibility, keeping game balance in mind.
You can order the list of nodes per category (like grouping all buffs,, debuffs, offensive, defensive, unique, per level required,...). As I assume there are many nodes and it is not the intention to frustrate the player by long loading screens. Maybe a short list of most used can be added, as well as presets. Every champion can have three presets. Presets can be arranged in the champion tab. This way, you can easily load the same nodes every fight without having the hassle to find them again. You can name the preset like "questing 1" or "anti-Korg".
You cannot have an infinite number of nodes active, you need slots. The current summoner level gives every 10 levels an extra node slot, up to 6 at level 60. Some nodes take one slot, others take multiple slots. Some nodes can be active with other nodes, others don't. It is Kabam's choice what is most appropriate for the game balance.
Experience is champion-specific. So you'll need to start from scratch every time you get a champion. It is Kabam's choice to make it transferable between stars (so the levels earned by a 2* Storm will transfer to a 6* Storm) or not. Anyway, as there are so many champions, this will give an endless supply of ways to earn XP. XP boosts will get a second life.
Most importantly, it expends the game enormously. While I don't believe god tier champions will go fully away, certain nodes can change champion performance completely. Champions that are considered thrash, might become god tier once you have access to certain nodes. This gives incentive to not use the same champions every fight, but to diversify your team. If you work hard enough, any champion can become viable. Via unique nodes, champions can be buffed without requiring complete reworks.
I'm open to suggestions, comments or discussion. Just keep it civil and constructive.
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