Battle Grounds! 4 needed Changes!
SirSpectre
Member Posts: 6 ★
In MCOC, Battle Grounds are without a doubt the current flagship game mode. Popular in the community, this competitive PVP game mode offers a true challenge for players of all calibers. It allows players the opportunity to flex their deck, climb the ranks, and have a variety of fun fight matchups. You all at Kabam did a fantastic job creating this game mode.
However, It is my opinion that if Battle Grounds is to be cemented as the best possible game mode in MCOC, it should be updated as pertaining to its Solo event points structure, obtainable rewards in this game mode, and a quality of life update.
1. The first (but really the next two coincide with this matter) change I would make would actually address the BG's solo event point farming issue. This is where some larger accounts have taken advatage of smaller accounts by deliberately losing some matches in the victory track with energy in order to stay in the victory track for some easy wins with Elder's Marks. Thus racking up more points in the event. And while Banning accounts is definitely a viable solution, I believe this change would be better for everyone.
The change I would make would be to simply increase the amount of solo and alliance points earned from completing/winning a match in the Gladiators Circuit compared to the Victory Track. Currently, they both reward the same amount of points, but if players can get more solo and alliance event points from winning/completing a match in the GC compared to the VT, it would only make sense for players to continue to climb the ranks in the VT into the GC.
The following is what the current BG's solo event point system currently looks like in the Victory Track and Gladiators Circuit. It will then be compared to an updated point value (by multiplying the original value by 3x as a theoretical example) for the Gladiators Circuit. The Victory Track will remain the same. Repeated for each scenario pertaining to payment entry and win/loss.
NO CHANGE - VT/Elder's Marks/Win = 4,500 PTS
OLD - GC/Elder's Marks/Win = 4,500 PTS
NEW - GC/Elder's Marks/Win = 13,500 PTS
NO CHANGE - VT/Elder's Marks/Completion = 2,250 PTS
OLD - GC/Elder's Marks/Completion = 2,250
NEW - GC/Elder's Marks/Completion = 6,750 PTS
NO CHANGE - VT/Energy/Win = 750 PTS
OLD - GC/Energy/Win = 750 PTS
NEW - GC/Energy/Win = 2,250 PTS
NO CHANGE - VT/Energy/Completion = 375 PTS
OLD - GC/Energy/Completion = 375 PTS
NEW - GC/Energy/Completion = 1,125 PTS
However, this change may not be enough to incentivize players to progress out of the Victory Track as soon as possible. If so, then these next two suggestions will.
And while I know this would only really be a problem when the milestones are occasionally mega boosted in the solo and alliance event rewards, it actually leads me to my next suggestion.
2. Update the solo milestone rewards for BG's. Let's face it. For many end game players, a few 6 star shards isn't enticing enough in the BG solo event milestone rewards, and my first suggestion won't have much affect if the rewards aren't enticing.
These new BG's solo event milestone rewards should look something like the past special BG season's with the buffed solo event rewards but toned down.
Perhaps you can start with 6 star shards, and then make your way into 6 star sig stones, cavalier Crystal's, tier 1 primordial dust, tier 2 alpha, tier 5 basic, paragon crystals, 7 star shards, tier 6 basic, tier 3 alpha, paragon crystals, and eventually teir 2 primordial dust and Titan Shards.
This would be a healthy list of in game resources/items players should be progressively rewarded with all according to the strength of a players roster and how dedicated they are to playing BG's. The rewards at the end of the list are things larger accounts currently strive to get. They can be in somewhat smaller quantities to maintain a balance in rewards, but the milestone rewards shouldn't ALL be just 6 star shards.
To go along with this, I would also increase the point gap needed between milestone rewards the higher you get so it's harder for players in the Victory Track to obtain the higher milestone rewards. Bringing back the point that a Gladiator Circuit win will then be more impactful towards getting these rewards compared to a Victory Track win if the first suggestion is taken into account.
3. My third suggestion comes from my experience playing in the gladiators circuit and how in my opinion it's not currently worth putting in the time playing compared to the rewards you earn. That is unless you're a top player pushing towards a higher rank such as celstial.
In the Gladiator Circuit, the only reward you recieve is the ranked reward at the end of each season. When I played in the GC, I noticed the large amount of time and effort needed just to get from Uru 3 to Uru 2. That it could require around 10+ straight WINS. And if your losing occasional it requires much more. Now I know BG's is meant to be a competitive game mode especially in the GC, but when my only reward bump from pushing to Uru 2 from Uru 3 is only getting 2500 more BG's Trophy Tokens at the end of the season, I'm highly disinclined to play BG's in the Gladaitors Circuit. Compare that to the Victory track needing only 3-5 wins between brackets to be rewarded with more BG's Trophy Tokens plus other rewards then you know something is wrong here.
To ensure each Gladiator Circuit match is more meaningful beyond a bump in points towards better ranked rewards. Yet maintinaing the GC's competitive nature. I would create a new individualized rewards system for immediately winning (and possibly losing) a GC match.
Here me out.
With this new system implemented, at the end of a Gladiator Circuit match you are awarded with either a Winners Pot, a Consolation Pot, or no reward depending on the combination of a player using energy or Elder's Marks and if they win or lose a match. The winners Pot reward would be the selection and choice of a small meta relevant item or resource while the Consolation Pot rewards a selection and choice of more non-meta relevant items and resources.
Examples of the Winners Pot would award a choice of any ONE of the following :
• 5% of tier 6 basic and tier 3 alpha fragments.
• A 5% tier 6 class catalyst fragment crystal.
• 150 7* shards.
1 7* signature stone crystal. (Keep in mind, if this idea is implemented in the future these will become more common then).
• 5 tier 2 primordial dust fragments
• Possible amounts of Gold, Iso, potions/revives Etc.
Examples of the Consolation Pot would award a choice of any ONE of the following :
• 25% of tier 5 basic and tier 2 alpha fragments.
• A 10% tier 5 class catalyst fragment cyrstal.
• 500 6* shards
• 2 6* signature stone crystals.
• 5 tier 1 primordial dust.
• Possible amounts of Gold, Iso, potions/revives Etc.
After a Gladiators Circuit match is completed, the way the Winners Pot, Consolation Pot, or no reward would be awarded would look like one of the four following examples :
1. A player uses Elder's Mark to play a GC match and wins. That player is awarded the winners pot.
2. A player uses energy to play a GC match and wins. That player is awarded the consolation pot.
3. A players uses Elder's Mark to play a GC match and loses. That player is awarded the consolation pot.
4. A player uses energy to play a GC match and loses. That player gains no reward.
Notice the choice selection of the meta relevant rewards from the Winners Pot is only awarded to the player using Elder's Marks and proving their mettle by winning the match. This limits highly sought resources and items from flooding the game and becoming oversaturated.
Another idea I had for those getting the Winners Pot consecutively was for win streaks to reward more Winners Pot choices after a certain number of wins.
As a theoretical example, if you win 3 matches in a row you can choose two rewards from the winners Pot. After 5 consecutive wins you can choose three rewards from the Winners Pot. Resetting back to one choice after a loss.
Additionally, a player who lost a GC match using Energy could still be awarded with basic resources such as Gold and Iso instead of gaining nothing as a sort of consolation prize to the Consolation Pot.
If however being able to choose a specific reward from the Winners Pot/Consolation Pot is too OP, another idea I had was to gaurentee one specific reward (from among the Winners Pot/Consolation Pot) to cycle in and out every week throughout the season. Repeating each season. This would allow players to know which reward will be available to be won for playing in the GC that week.
With the three suggestions discussed so far implemented in the game, I have no doubt in my mind that players that can, will decide to progress onward out of the Victory Track and into the Gladiators Circuit. Leaving various forms of smaller accounts to be matched among each other; Uninterrupted by the deliberate pummeling of larger accounts.
4. The first part of my last suggestion isnt a new one. That being to allow Battle Grounds play in the off season. At least for friendly matches. If Alliance War already does this, why not BG's?
The second part to this BG's suggestion is to implement a sort of node customization for players to mess around with. The basic idea is that players would be able to invite friends to friendly matches customized with nodes of their choosing. And with so many possible node combinations to choose from, there would be no limit to the shenanigans that would ensue. Overall, this would make friendly matches and community BG tournaments more viable and fun. Resulting in a massive win for Kabam by increasing community happiness.
Battle Grounds is a great addition to MCOC and I only want to see it be improved. That being said, I firmly believe the ideas presented here will help the Battle Grounds game mode become the best it can be. I hope these suggestions will be taken into consideration for future updates to the game.
Thanks for your time in reading my lengthy post.
Thoughts and comments welcome.
However, It is my opinion that if Battle Grounds is to be cemented as the best possible game mode in MCOC, it should be updated as pertaining to its Solo event points structure, obtainable rewards in this game mode, and a quality of life update.
1. The first (but really the next two coincide with this matter) change I would make would actually address the BG's solo event point farming issue. This is where some larger accounts have taken advatage of smaller accounts by deliberately losing some matches in the victory track with energy in order to stay in the victory track for some easy wins with Elder's Marks. Thus racking up more points in the event. And while Banning accounts is definitely a viable solution, I believe this change would be better for everyone.
The change I would make would be to simply increase the amount of solo and alliance points earned from completing/winning a match in the Gladiators Circuit compared to the Victory Track. Currently, they both reward the same amount of points, but if players can get more solo and alliance event points from winning/completing a match in the GC compared to the VT, it would only make sense for players to continue to climb the ranks in the VT into the GC.
The following is what the current BG's solo event point system currently looks like in the Victory Track and Gladiators Circuit. It will then be compared to an updated point value (by multiplying the original value by 3x as a theoretical example) for the Gladiators Circuit. The Victory Track will remain the same. Repeated for each scenario pertaining to payment entry and win/loss.
NO CHANGE - VT/Elder's Marks/Win = 4,500 PTS
OLD - GC/Elder's Marks/Win = 4,500 PTS
NEW - GC/Elder's Marks/Win = 13,500 PTS
NO CHANGE - VT/Elder's Marks/Completion = 2,250 PTS
OLD - GC/Elder's Marks/Completion = 2,250
NEW - GC/Elder's Marks/Completion = 6,750 PTS
NO CHANGE - VT/Energy/Win = 750 PTS
OLD - GC/Energy/Win = 750 PTS
NEW - GC/Energy/Win = 2,250 PTS
NO CHANGE - VT/Energy/Completion = 375 PTS
OLD - GC/Energy/Completion = 375 PTS
NEW - GC/Energy/Completion = 1,125 PTS
However, this change may not be enough to incentivize players to progress out of the Victory Track as soon as possible. If so, then these next two suggestions will.
And while I know this would only really be a problem when the milestones are occasionally mega boosted in the solo and alliance event rewards, it actually leads me to my next suggestion.
2. Update the solo milestone rewards for BG's. Let's face it. For many end game players, a few 6 star shards isn't enticing enough in the BG solo event milestone rewards, and my first suggestion won't have much affect if the rewards aren't enticing.
These new BG's solo event milestone rewards should look something like the past special BG season's with the buffed solo event rewards but toned down.
Perhaps you can start with 6 star shards, and then make your way into 6 star sig stones, cavalier Crystal's, tier 1 primordial dust, tier 2 alpha, tier 5 basic, paragon crystals, 7 star shards, tier 6 basic, tier 3 alpha, paragon crystals, and eventually teir 2 primordial dust and Titan Shards.
This would be a healthy list of in game resources/items players should be progressively rewarded with all according to the strength of a players roster and how dedicated they are to playing BG's. The rewards at the end of the list are things larger accounts currently strive to get. They can be in somewhat smaller quantities to maintain a balance in rewards, but the milestone rewards shouldn't ALL be just 6 star shards.
To go along with this, I would also increase the point gap needed between milestone rewards the higher you get so it's harder for players in the Victory Track to obtain the higher milestone rewards. Bringing back the point that a Gladiator Circuit win will then be more impactful towards getting these rewards compared to a Victory Track win if the first suggestion is taken into account.
3. My third suggestion comes from my experience playing in the gladiators circuit and how in my opinion it's not currently worth putting in the time playing compared to the rewards you earn. That is unless you're a top player pushing towards a higher rank such as celstial.
In the Gladiator Circuit, the only reward you recieve is the ranked reward at the end of each season. When I played in the GC, I noticed the large amount of time and effort needed just to get from Uru 3 to Uru 2. That it could require around 10+ straight WINS. And if your losing occasional it requires much more. Now I know BG's is meant to be a competitive game mode especially in the GC, but when my only reward bump from pushing to Uru 2 from Uru 3 is only getting 2500 more BG's Trophy Tokens at the end of the season, I'm highly disinclined to play BG's in the Gladaitors Circuit. Compare that to the Victory track needing only 3-5 wins between brackets to be rewarded with more BG's Trophy Tokens plus other rewards then you know something is wrong here.
To ensure each Gladiator Circuit match is more meaningful beyond a bump in points towards better ranked rewards. Yet maintinaing the GC's competitive nature. I would create a new individualized rewards system for immediately winning (and possibly losing) a GC match.
Here me out.
With this new system implemented, at the end of a Gladiator Circuit match you are awarded with either a Winners Pot, a Consolation Pot, or no reward depending on the combination of a player using energy or Elder's Marks and if they win or lose a match. The winners Pot reward would be the selection and choice of a small meta relevant item or resource while the Consolation Pot rewards a selection and choice of more non-meta relevant items and resources.
Examples of the Winners Pot would award a choice of any ONE of the following :
• 5% of tier 6 basic and tier 3 alpha fragments.
• A 5% tier 6 class catalyst fragment crystal.
• 150 7* shards.
1 7* signature stone crystal. (Keep in mind, if this idea is implemented in the future these will become more common then).
• 5 tier 2 primordial dust fragments
• Possible amounts of Gold, Iso, potions/revives Etc.
Examples of the Consolation Pot would award a choice of any ONE of the following :
• 25% of tier 5 basic and tier 2 alpha fragments.
• A 10% tier 5 class catalyst fragment cyrstal.
• 500 6* shards
• 2 6* signature stone crystals.
• 5 tier 1 primordial dust.
• Possible amounts of Gold, Iso, potions/revives Etc.
After a Gladiators Circuit match is completed, the way the Winners Pot, Consolation Pot, or no reward would be awarded would look like one of the four following examples :
1. A player uses Elder's Mark to play a GC match and wins. That player is awarded the winners pot.
2. A player uses energy to play a GC match and wins. That player is awarded the consolation pot.
3. A players uses Elder's Mark to play a GC match and loses. That player is awarded the consolation pot.
4. A player uses energy to play a GC match and loses. That player gains no reward.
Notice the choice selection of the meta relevant rewards from the Winners Pot is only awarded to the player using Elder's Marks and proving their mettle by winning the match. This limits highly sought resources and items from flooding the game and becoming oversaturated.
Another idea I had for those getting the Winners Pot consecutively was for win streaks to reward more Winners Pot choices after a certain number of wins.
As a theoretical example, if you win 3 matches in a row you can choose two rewards from the winners Pot. After 5 consecutive wins you can choose three rewards from the Winners Pot. Resetting back to one choice after a loss.
Additionally, a player who lost a GC match using Energy could still be awarded with basic resources such as Gold and Iso instead of gaining nothing as a sort of consolation prize to the Consolation Pot.
If however being able to choose a specific reward from the Winners Pot/Consolation Pot is too OP, another idea I had was to gaurentee one specific reward (from among the Winners Pot/Consolation Pot) to cycle in and out every week throughout the season. Repeating each season. This would allow players to know which reward will be available to be won for playing in the GC that week.
With the three suggestions discussed so far implemented in the game, I have no doubt in my mind that players that can, will decide to progress onward out of the Victory Track and into the Gladiators Circuit. Leaving various forms of smaller accounts to be matched among each other; Uninterrupted by the deliberate pummeling of larger accounts.
4. The first part of my last suggestion isnt a new one. That being to allow Battle Grounds play in the off season. At least for friendly matches. If Alliance War already does this, why not BG's?
The second part to this BG's suggestion is to implement a sort of node customization for players to mess around with. The basic idea is that players would be able to invite friends to friendly matches customized with nodes of their choosing. And with so many possible node combinations to choose from, there would be no limit to the shenanigans that would ensue. Overall, this would make friendly matches and community BG tournaments more viable and fun. Resulting in a massive win for Kabam by increasing community happiness.
Battle Grounds is a great addition to MCOC and I only want to see it be improved. That being said, I firmly believe the ideas presented here will help the Battle Grounds game mode become the best it can be. I hope these suggestions will be taken into consideration for future updates to the game.
Thanks for your time in reading my lengthy post.
Thoughts and comments welcome.
4
Comments
I hope Kabam takes it to heart.