I think there is a monumental gap between rewards for Plat 1 and 2, and then a miniscule gap between Plat 2 and 3. And I think this disparity and gradient in rewards really enforces the wrong attitude for players.
For context, here are Plat 1 through 3 rewards
Ignoring the T5B and T2A (identical across brackets), the t5cc (which decreases reasonably) and the 5* Nexus, You'll see that:
Plat 3 get 15k 6* shards
Plat 2 get's 17.5k 6* shards
Plat 1 gets 20k 6* shards and a 6* Nexus
That is an extremely dramatic leap. Plat 3 to 2 gets an increase of 2.5k 6* shards and 10% T5CC, Plat 2 to 1 get's the same increase of 6* shards and T5CC
and a 6* Nexus.
I think that jump is genuinely ridiculous. Losing out on plat 1 by a few spots would hurt immensely, you've lost out on 2.5k 6* shards, 10% T5cc, and an entire 6* Nexus. Obviously the main thing here is the Nexus, the other two items are fair and just increments. And an alliance mid table in plat 2 feels immense pressure to step things up and push for that 6* Nexus because... it's a 6* Nexus, it's an entire other champ plus 2.5k 6* shards. I think that's an unhealthy and unenjoyable amount of pressure for plat 2 alliances.
But a player in plat 3 who misses out on plat 2 just shrugs their shoulders, in the grand scheme of things, 2.5k 6* shards and 10% T5CCC won't be hard to make up. And an alliance mid plat 3 has almost no incentive to push for plat 2, that's a hell of a lot of extra revives, items and boosts to push for only 2.5k 6* shards, plat 1 feels too far out of reach so why bother pushing through two tiers of season bracket which could take the best part of a year, by which time the rewards will have hopefully been buffed.
The push for plat 1 is artificially and unhealthily high, and the push for plat 2 is artificially and unhealthily low. That's what has happened by this huge gap in the incremental rewards from tier to tier.
I think Plat 2 rewards should get a bump so the step up between plat 3 and 1 isn't so lopsided. I'm trying to write this post unbiased, and for transparency's sake I am in plat 3 at the moment, but the reason I write this post is because I feel 0 desire to spend 12 wars sweating, bursting blood vessels,
crying, and otherwise putting effort into pushing for 2.5k 6* shards and 10% T5CC, when I see players in plat 2 and 1 fighting for that and an entire Nexus. I do think the units, items and stress required to get that extra 2.5k 6* shards are worth it.
But I look to lower tiers and think the same, the difference there in tiers steps down the same, 2.5k 6* shards and 10% T5CC less from plat 3 to plat 4, then the same again minus a bit of T5B for gold 1, then 2k 6* shards, a bit of T5B and 10% T5CC less for gold 2 and so on.
But I know that 2.5k 6* shards to a player in Gold 3 is much more valuable than it is to me, so (and feel free to correct me if you disagree), I don't feel like the issue is as prevalent there. I mean a player in gold 3 may want to push to gold 2 for an extra 2k 6* shards. You tell me.
However, my point of this thread is to propose a smoothing out of tiers. Instead of a dramatic drop off that promotes attitudes of both extremes (too much pressure and desire to push, and not enough), this is what I suggest
as an example. Catalyst amounts, 5* Nexus and T5CC remain unchanged. I'm just talking about 6* Shards here.
Plat 1 remains the same: 1 Nexus, 20k 6* Shards
Plat 2 from 17.5k --> 25k 6* shards
Plat 3 from 15k --> 17.5k 6* shards
Plat 4 remains the same: 12.5k 6* shards
Obviously this part is more open to interpretation and discussion and I'm not saying this is the right answer. I wanted to keep Plat 1 6* shards and Nexus the same, because I'm not looking for a nerf of any rewards. But to make Plat 2 and 3 more smoothed out you have to add
some 6* shards to them. I feel like this is a pretty happy medium. Plat 4 is 800 alliances compared to P1: 50, P2: 100 and P3: 300, so I feel that's a good place to draw the line to stop increasing 6* shards, as that's 800 extra alliances getting shards, compare to the 100 and 300 of P2 and 3 respectively.
If you think I'm selfishly drawing the line after my tier for AW seasons, know that I'd be equally happy if only Plat 2 6* shards were increased and P3 remained the same. I thought personally that 1 Nexus +20k 6* shards -> 25k shards -> 17.5k shards -> 12.5k Shards made more sense than 1 Nexus +20k 6* shards -> 25k shards -> 15k shards -> 12.5k Shards.
Another option is to extend the smoothing further, and bump up gold 1 and plat 4 rewards, but I feel like as I said before, adding extra 6* shards to 800 in Plat 4 and 1500 in Gold 1 could be too much for the economy in Kabams eyes.
But if you disagree that's absolutely fair, this thread isn't supposed to be a debate around how to smooth the brackets, more just to raise the issue with Kabam about how these bracket structures make players in P2 and P3 feel.
So anyone in P1-3 please drop your feelings on how the brackets and the reward decrease affects your enjoyment of Seasons, and anyone else with their thoughts please share too.
