**Mastery Loadouts**
Due to issues related to the release of Mastery Loadouts, the "free swap" period will be extended.
The new end date will be May 1st.
Due to issues related to the release of Mastery Loadouts, the "free swap" period will be extended.
The new end date will be May 1st.
Gates - a discussion (and not about Bill)
dot_ditto
Posts: 1,442 ★★★★
So I was thinking more about gates, and wanted to start a conversation on this.
The big question I kept asking myself was
"What is the purpose of Gates?" . or more pointedly "What should be the purpose of gates?"
Currently gates (IMHO) are being used semi-randomly, with no real rhyme or reason ..
"Oh hey, let's toss in a Science gate here"
"but, why?"
"Why not!!"
As we all saw in act 6, gates restricting Stars of champs can be "bad" as well ..
And specific champion gates, also seem a little .. "odd" every time they show up.
So I wanted to share my opinion and thoughts on these.
First off, I believe gates should be used to restrict team comps, not restrict player access.
Think about that for a sec, and let me restate, because it's kind of key to what I'm about to propose:
"Gates should restrict/alter the team composition choices that we make."
"Gates should not restrict player access simply because the player didn't get lucky."
Champion specific gates restrict access because you have to have gotten lucky to own that champion.
(and when Kabam offers a ridiculously over complicated method to acquire a simple 2* that requires a large investment of time/resources to acquire - that doesn't actually solve the problem ... )
Star gates (
) do the same thing (as they are currently being used to require a 5* or 6*) .. however, ironically a gate that restricted you to use ONLY 1, 2 or 3* wouldn't be a bad thing. It's when you restrict access to things (most) players don't have or have to get lucky to acquire, where it becomes a problem.
We all have 1, 2 and 3* champs (unless you sold them .. but that's a completely different issue, so not getting into that
)
So gates that restricted usage to 3* (at most) could be interesting .. as it would prevent usage of a face rolling 6* roster and require the player to rely on good team building and skilled play style
So some starred gates could be good - if used properly.
Again, I believe if it restricts player access - this is bad.
If it restricts team comps and forces to use alternative team comps, - that can be good.
Class gates I feel are fine .. mostly used at random, but they do restrict team comps, without restricting access, so I feel they're fine already.
Now for interesting bit ... Tags. I would LOVE to see gates requiring (or restricting) tags ...
So a gate requiring an Avenger in the team.
Or a gate banning X-men.
Or a gate banning "metal"
... etc.
Those could be very interesting in altering our ability to build team comps (again without restricting access).
Obviously, however, if you use a tag which only exists on 1 or 2 champs, then it slips back into the realm of restricting access .. so some care needs to be taken here.
For example, a gate Requiring a "Blind" tag or "Devilishly Handsome" would be bad .. as there are only 1 or 2 champs with those tags.
However, a gate BANNING the "blind" tag or "Devilishly Handsome" would be fine. Since the remaining pool of champs to be used is still reasonably large.
You have to look at how many champs you are still allowing through at any given time. You need to keep the pool reasonably large so people still have options. The smaller the pool, the more likely you restrict content due to RNG for some.
The smaller it is, the more people are affected by it.
But I would love to see more interesting gates using Tags, and such:
For example, A gate requiring 5x Metal champs followed by a fight vs Magneto
Could be very "annoying" yet challenging, and yet wouldn't be too restrictive (as there are currently 46 Metallic champs in the game.
So what do you think about gates .. as they are now .. and how they "should be" ?
The big question I kept asking myself was
"What is the purpose of Gates?" . or more pointedly "What should be the purpose of gates?"
Currently gates (IMHO) are being used semi-randomly, with no real rhyme or reason ..
"Oh hey, let's toss in a Science gate here"
"but, why?"
"Why not!!"
As we all saw in act 6, gates restricting Stars of champs can be "bad" as well ..
And specific champion gates, also seem a little .. "odd" every time they show up.
So I wanted to share my opinion and thoughts on these.
First off, I believe gates should be used to restrict team comps, not restrict player access.
Think about that for a sec, and let me restate, because it's kind of key to what I'm about to propose:
"Gates should restrict/alter the team composition choices that we make."
"Gates should not restrict player access simply because the player didn't get lucky."
Champion specific gates restrict access because you have to have gotten lucky to own that champion.
(and when Kabam offers a ridiculously over complicated method to acquire a simple 2* that requires a large investment of time/resources to acquire - that doesn't actually solve the problem ... )
Star gates (
) do the same thing (as they are currently being used to require a 5* or 6*) .. however, ironically a gate that restricted you to use ONLY 1, 2 or 3* wouldn't be a bad thing. It's when you restrict access to things (most) players don't have or have to get lucky to acquire, where it becomes a problem.We all have 1, 2 and 3* champs (unless you sold them .. but that's a completely different issue, so not getting into that
)So gates that restricted usage to 3* (at most) could be interesting .. as it would prevent usage of a face rolling 6* roster and require the player to rely on good team building and skilled play style
So some starred gates could be good - if used properly.
Again, I believe if it restricts player access - this is bad.
If it restricts team comps and forces to use alternative team comps, - that can be good.
Class gates I feel are fine .. mostly used at random, but they do restrict team comps, without restricting access, so I feel they're fine already.
Now for interesting bit ... Tags. I would LOVE to see gates requiring (or restricting) tags ...
So a gate requiring an Avenger in the team.
Or a gate banning X-men.
Or a gate banning "metal"
... etc.
Those could be very interesting in altering our ability to build team comps (again without restricting access).
Obviously, however, if you use a tag which only exists on 1 or 2 champs, then it slips back into the realm of restricting access .. so some care needs to be taken here.
For example, a gate Requiring a "Blind" tag or "Devilishly Handsome" would be bad .. as there are only 1 or 2 champs with those tags.
However, a gate BANNING the "blind" tag or "Devilishly Handsome" would be fine.
Since the remaining pool of champs to be used is still reasonably large.You have to look at how many champs you are still allowing through at any given time. You need to keep the pool reasonably large so people still have options. The smaller the pool, the more likely you restrict content due to RNG for some.
The smaller it is, the more people are affected by it.
But I would love to see more interesting gates using Tags, and such:
For example, A gate requiring 5x Metal champs followed by a fight vs Magneto
Could be very "annoying" yet challenging, and yet wouldn't be too restrictive (as there are currently 46 Metallic champs in the game.
So what do you think about gates .. as they are now .. and how they "should be" ?
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