Results of Book 2 Act 1 Chapter 1 Beta Test
Kabam Welker
Member, Moderator Moderator › Posts: 44 ★★
Hello, again folks!
I’d like to start by thanking everyone here for giving us a chance and providing feedback that is likely going to reshape the face of content still to come. This Beta Test has taught us a lot.
What’s required after this Beta is more than just replacing some problematic defenders, and retuning some Attack values. There is work to be done.
I’d like to share some important takeaways from this Beta that we’re going to embrace going forward as we craft this Chapter and the future of the Contest.
1. We’re eager to start designing more nodes and encounters that don’t punish players for not bringing in the “perfect counter” and do more to reward the optimal play. We also acknowledge that “optimal play” shouldn’t mean “bring 1 of these 5 specific champs”, or “I hope you like intercepting”, except for in very specific situations. That isn’t to say that there won’t be some content that requires some narrow counters, but it shouldn’t be entire Chapters of an Act. We want to use more positive feedback loops, like buffs that deliver on a satisfying damage spike when the right moves are made. We also want to be more forgiving/informative in less commonly used negative feedback loops, similar to the combo of Spiked Armor with Dulled.
2. We’re going to be more mindful and deliberate with our counterplay and encounter design. Even the most enjoyable buff node combinations can be utterly ruined with the wrong Defender. Even then, viable champions use is more complex than “do they have access to X buff?” or “how consistently can they apply Y debuff?”. Attack and health values are an integral axis of design that should be deliberately examined and set, rather than tuned based on legacy or perceived necessary challenge.
3. You have invested, or want to invest, in more than just “God-Tier” or “Beyond God-Tier” Champions. While we can’t promise Story Content that’ll give you a reason to dust off your 2-Stars, or a better reason to chase X-Force Deadpool, we know that it gets stale only using the same 3-5 answers for everything. We want to do a better job designing content so that players are able to take in the best Champions they have on hand and feel like they stand a solid chance, while still maintaining that RPG knowledge and skill are an important factor. We respect the investments players have made in their Robots, and their Bleed Champions and their Buff-centric Cosmic Champions, and don’t want them to feel like a waste of resources. We’re going to revisit old designs and come up with new ways to reuse them in future content that adds value to the solutions you all found the first time you overcame them.
There’s a lot more than that as well, but we’re still poring over the awesome mountain of feedback we’ve been getting. There is a lot of information to absorb and work to be done. You may not hear back from us on this for a little while, but don’t take that as a bad sign! We’re taking a step back so we can re-evaluate the long term vision for this Chapter, and Book 2 Act 1 as a whole! This also is not meant to address feedback on other areas of the game that we have received recently, but only about the new Act content.
We want to thank you all again, and let you know that your concerns, your questions, and your comments are being heard. They are what we’re going to use to make this next saga of the Contest better.
I’d like to start by thanking everyone here for giving us a chance and providing feedback that is likely going to reshape the face of content still to come. This Beta Test has taught us a lot.
What’s required after this Beta is more than just replacing some problematic defenders, and retuning some Attack values. There is work to be done.
I’d like to share some important takeaways from this Beta that we’re going to embrace going forward as we craft this Chapter and the future of the Contest.
1. We’re eager to start designing more nodes and encounters that don’t punish players for not bringing in the “perfect counter” and do more to reward the optimal play. We also acknowledge that “optimal play” shouldn’t mean “bring 1 of these 5 specific champs”, or “I hope you like intercepting”, except for in very specific situations. That isn’t to say that there won’t be some content that requires some narrow counters, but it shouldn’t be entire Chapters of an Act. We want to use more positive feedback loops, like buffs that deliver on a satisfying damage spike when the right moves are made. We also want to be more forgiving/informative in less commonly used negative feedback loops, similar to the combo of Spiked Armor with Dulled.
2. We’re going to be more mindful and deliberate with our counterplay and encounter design. Even the most enjoyable buff node combinations can be utterly ruined with the wrong Defender. Even then, viable champions use is more complex than “do they have access to X buff?” or “how consistently can they apply Y debuff?”. Attack and health values are an integral axis of design that should be deliberately examined and set, rather than tuned based on legacy or perceived necessary challenge.
3. You have invested, or want to invest, in more than just “God-Tier” or “Beyond God-Tier” Champions. While we can’t promise Story Content that’ll give you a reason to dust off your 2-Stars, or a better reason to chase X-Force Deadpool, we know that it gets stale only using the same 3-5 answers for everything. We want to do a better job designing content so that players are able to take in the best Champions they have on hand and feel like they stand a solid chance, while still maintaining that RPG knowledge and skill are an important factor. We respect the investments players have made in their Robots, and their Bleed Champions and their Buff-centric Cosmic Champions, and don’t want them to feel like a waste of resources. We’re going to revisit old designs and come up with new ways to reuse them in future content that adds value to the solutions you all found the first time you overcame them.
There’s a lot more than that as well, but we’re still poring over the awesome mountain of feedback we’ve been getting. There is a lot of information to absorb and work to be done. You may not hear back from us on this for a little while, but don’t take that as a bad sign! We’re taking a step back so we can re-evaluate the long term vision for this Chapter, and Book 2 Act 1 as a whole! This also is not meant to address feedback on other areas of the game that we have received recently, but only about the new Act content.
We want to thank you all again, and let you know that your concerns, your questions, and your comments are being heard. They are what we’re going to use to make this next saga of the Contest better.
176