New content pitch: Express Battlegrounds

Frumpy_geezer

I enjoy BGs enough and like the rewards. The thing that I don't like is that I have to severely grind the last weekend because I don't often have time to spend an hour playing 3 or 4 matches. I am the kind of person who gets a few minutes every now and then to use my AQ or AW energy, play a fight or two in EQ or SQ, or do an arena match or two. So, battlegrounds don't work out well for me. I'm also constantly having to pause (stupid kids needing things and food and stuff). This gave me the idea for an express version....

Details:
Very similar set up to battlegrounds. I would think that it could be tested as a small week or two event to iron out some of the ideas, like if there should be a meta or not, or just buffed up defenders.
You would build a deck, but smaller (I'm thinking 15). You would also have a set ban of 3-4 (must be from your roster so if you don't have serpent you can't ban him).

Then you hit the play button and it's the same options but less (30 Elder's marks or 5 energy). And it then matches you like always.

HERE'S THE DIFFERENCE
It then selects one of your roster and one of the opponents at random (blocking from your and your opponents bans and not duplicating) and you both do one fight with that set up. Example: your pick is Doom and your opponents pick is Dock Ock. You fight Dock Ock with Doom and your opponent fights Doom with Dock Ock. 1 fight winner takes all. Super RNG but I think it could be fun and definitely worth a test. You would have to know your roster well and not rely on meta defenders that are unbeatable. Less than 5 minutes and you're done. Another twist I like is you can build multiple decks but only allow certain star ratings in the deck (4* deck, 5* deck, etc.), this would lessen the gap between those who are just getting 7* and those who are almost finished duping all of them. You could simply just go for the 6 star round and avoid 7 star decks completely. (rewards would increase based on the star rating deck you use, similar to points in arenas).

Squidopus

This mode would incentivize bringing in tough defenders way more than regular bgs, it just weeds out some of the champs that only pull defense duty like Korg. With a smaller roster and the lack of control, you’d need to make sure every champ in your deck had some defensive value. Believe it or not, I’m not inclined to bring in a champ like Archangel into this version of bgs where any time I use him I let the opponent basically win for free because AA is a pushover defender for the opponent, I’ll bring in champs like Red Skull and Onslaught who I can use well on offense while also making my opponent’s life hard.

I also think you’re perhaps underestimating the offensive merit of a lot of meta defenders. Champs like Serpent, Bullseye, and Enchantress aren’t great bgs attackers by any means, but they can pull enough weight to close out fights. Won’t be good scores, but it’s definitely enough when your opponent has to fight them with a random bozo who probably doesn’t counter them at all. The solution to “extremely tough defenders who put victory in the hands of the draft” isn’t “now you don’t get to choose who to use at all, have fun fighting Serpent with Kate lmao”.

Frumpy_geezer

That's the part I actually like though, because Kate vs. Serpent to me is just about the same as Serpent vs. Kate in a 2 minute match. But there are more factors also, if you are only using a 5* roster because you have a better 5* deck than you do a 7*, you will pick those you know better and that are dual threats. You won't use Archangel or Shang Chi. It would also not replace BGs it would be BG Lite. And you could still earn Trophy tokens paired with your wins like the Battle chips won in arenas (the ones at the end of the match not milestones).

Squidopus

Frumpy_geezer said:

That's the part I actually like though, because Kate vs. Serpent to me is just about the same as Serpent vs. Kate in a 2 minute match. But there are more factors also, if you are only using a 5* roster because you have a better 5* deck than you do a 7*, you will pick those you know better and that are dual threats. You won't use Archangel or Shang Chi. It would also not replace BGs it would be BG Lite. And you could still earn Trophy tokens paired with your wins like the Battle chips won in arenas (the ones at the end of the match not milestones).

Have you actually done Kate vs. Serpent? I assure you Kate vs. Serpent is not at all equivalent to Serpent vs. Kate because Serpent is coldsnap immune and ignores her evade with true focus. My Serpent can kill ROL fights in 90 seconds, he’d have no trouble killing Kate in less. I’d be surprised if Kate could even survive against a Serpent, let alone get a kill.

Lower rarity bgs modes have also been suggested many times and it just doesn’t seem very viable. This game is all about chasing roster growth and bgs is perhaps one of the biggest motivators for that. Kabam probably isn’t interested in killing that cash cow. You’ve at least suggested some compromises like making this a separate concurrent mode that scores less, but regardless I don’t think it’s likely.