**WINTER OF WOE - BONUS OBJECTIVE POINT**
As previously announced, the team will be distributing an additional point toward milestones to anyone who completed the Absorbing Man fight in the first step of the Winter of Woe.
This point will be distributed at a later time as it requires the team to pull and analyze data.
The timeline has not been set, but work has started.
There is currently an issue where some Alliances are are unable to find a match in Alliance Wars, or are receiving Byes without getting the benefits of the Win. We will be adjusting the Season Points of the Alliances that are affected within the coming weeks, and will be working to compensate them for their missed Per War rewards as well.

Additionally, we are working to address an issue where new Members of an Alliance are unable to place Defenders for the next War after joining. We are working to address this, but it will require a future update.

In-Fight Arena Hazards

Wicket329Wicket329 Posts: 2,903 ★★★★★
edited July 2021 in General Discussion
In another discussion today, I was reminded of something that was mentioned a long time ago in a Dev Diary: Arena Hazards. The idea here was that there would be some kind of obstacle or hazard in the fight arena for the player to contend with. It seems like a really cool idea to me and I wanted to see what the community's take on it would be. An easy to imagine version of this would be Wall Spikes.

I imagine it would work something like: the back wall on either side of the arena is spiked. When either champion is backed into or knocked against their wall, they suffer a burst of X% of the opponent's attack as physical damage. This would incentivize aggressive gameplay and heavy chaining against the wall for huge damage payoffs. In turn, it would disincentivize more passive or defensive playstyles such as Quake's. It would additionally serve as a Quake counter node that does not necessarily harm other evade-reliant champions such as Spider-Ham or Elsa Bloodstone.

There are plenty of other forms this idea could take as well. There could be a kind of Tug-of-War mechanic where different buffs or debuffs activate depending on which side of the center line the combatants are on. There could be a Spotlight on a certain section of the arena negating Miss effects while in that zone. Combine that with Tunnel Vision as a node and that could be a fun interaction. There's really no limit to what a clever designer could come up with when using this kind of mechanic.

So, what do y'all think? Would you want to see something like this in-game? Do you have other ideas of how you'd implement it? I'm personally super excited by the idea and would love to see it explored.

Comments

  • Wicket329Wicket329 Posts: 2,903 ★★★★★
    DNA3000 said:

    The typical example of this sort of thing is the area of effect or patch effect. The basic idea being that a champion could create a small area on the map where standing in this area would affect champions in certain ways. Think about the incinerate damage you take if you stand too close to Mephisto with his aura up. Imagine his aura centered on a spot on the floor instead of following him around.

    I'm a bit skeptical about this kind of thing in MCOC, specifically because our computer AI might not be able to handle it. If Kabam doesn't improve the AI to deal with these kinds of effects, they become too powerful to hand to us to use. Instead they become a weapon to be used against us exclusively. I'm not fond of game mechanics that are handed only to the AI and never to the players.

    I suppose I’m conceiving of this as more of a node than a champion ability. It is just a feature of certain fights, not something at the player’s disposal in all circumstances. Just a new style of node that applies to the arena rather than either champion directly.

    However, the Mephisto’s aura comparison is interesting. As of right now, the AI doesn’t care if your champion has an aura active and it does not result in overpowered abilities. As long as the damage is scaled to your attack as compared to the opponent’s health, I don’t think it would be overly powerful. But then again, it’s impossible to know for sure without seeing some kind of iteration of it.
  • ErcarretErcarret Posts: 2,673 ★★★★★
    I wouldn't like this in the arena system as it is now since running into some weird node could very well spell a deathmatch in the same way an overpowered opponent can do.

    That said, if you could see the node beforehand and could then bring in specific champions to counter/have fun with it, maybe. Then again, checking it out before every fight seems pretty monotonous and time-consuming, so I don't know if I necessarily like that idea.

    What would be the payoff? Just some flavor to the fight or actual improved rewards somehow?
  • The_Sentry06The_Sentry06 Posts: 7,779 ★★★★★
    edited July 2021
    It's hard to imagine how it is going to be without seeing it in action first. Not many of us can control a fight's spacing well either but if it's a fair challenge, most of us will be willing to adapt to it.

    Hopefully they first introduce as a test or something like the root mechanic. This could add another dimension of challenges and help design harder content or add something new to future story content and the like.
  • ChikelChikel Posts: 2,056 ★★★★
    Wicket329 said:

    DNA3000 said:

    The typical example of this sort of thing is the area of effect or patch effect. The basic idea being that a champion could create a small area on the map where standing in this area would affect champions in certain ways. Think about the incinerate damage you take if you stand too close to Mephisto with his aura up. Imagine his aura centered on a spot on the floor instead of following him around.

    I'm a bit skeptical about this kind of thing in MCOC, specifically because our computer AI might not be able to handle it. If Kabam doesn't improve the AI to deal with these kinds of effects, they become too powerful to hand to us to use. Instead they become a weapon to be used against us exclusively. I'm not fond of game mechanics that are handed only to the AI and never to the players.

    I suppose I’m conceiving of this as more of a node than a champion ability. It is just a feature of certain fights, not something at the player’s disposal in all circumstances. Just a new style of node that applies to the arena rather than either champion directly.

    However, the Mephisto’s aura comparison is interesting. As of right now, the AI doesn’t care if your champion has an aura active and it does not result in overpowered abilities. As long as the damage is scaled to your attack as compared to the opponent’s health, I don’t think it would be overly powerful. But then again, it’s impossible to know for sure without seeing some kind of iteration of it.
    Remember the weird arena AI that shows up sometimes? Walks towards you, doesn't attack or block, you attack it backdrafts or parries and comboes you to death, you dash back, it walks towards you and back you into a wall. We need improved AI before this system can be implemented, else someone like Colossus with parry in his base kit of Blade with the bleed or even OR with the death field can back you into a wall and the combination will eat away your health quickly.
    Besides defensive nodes and oscillate, the current AI doesn't care which nodes are active and will do anything
  • Kill_GreyKill_Grey Posts: 8,666 ★★★★★
    Arena is meant to be a mindless grind and it should stay that way. Just improve the AI at lower streaks, make it more consistent across the board, and call it a day. I wouldn't like to see any nodes or complicated effects in there, ever.
  • Raichu626Raichu626 Posts: 934 ★★★★
    Kill_Grey said:

    Arena is meant to be a mindless grind and it should stay that way. Just improve the AI at lower streaks, make it more consistent across the board, and call it a day. I wouldn't like to see any nodes or complicated effects in there, ever.

    This isn't about arena the gamemode. It's about the fighting arena, the arena your champions are in during a fight.
  • Wicket329Wicket329 Posts: 2,903 ★★★★★
    @Ercarret @Kill_Grey I mean arena as in the map in which your fight takes place, not the game mode. This definitely would not have any place in the arena game mode. I’m thinking more along the lines of Act 8 and beyond with this concept.

    @Chikel I’m imagining this in late game content, after players have demonstrated proficiency with so many other mechanics already. And not every space-based interaction would result in direct damage to either you or your opponent. In fact, I’d think that very few would. I’d rather see something like different buffs applying to the combatants depending on where they are or Miss not working within a certain chunk of the battlefield. Things that alter who you choose and how you fight.

    Maybe there’s a Line of Fire. Crossing that line inflicts incinerate on whoever crosses it. You could choose to fight in such a way as to never cross the line, so you could use anybody. You could just pick an incinerate immune champ who can ignore it completely, or you could pick somebody like Red Hulk, Human Torch, Sunspot, Silver Surfer, or Mephisto who would actively benefit from dancing all over that line.

    Using specific placements on the map of the fight for effects to occur just opens up a whole new realm of mechanics to be explored and could add a ton of depth and new challenges.
  • Kill_GreyKill_Grey Posts: 8,666 ★★★★★
    Raichu626 said:

    Kill_Grey said:

    Arena is meant to be a mindless grind and it should stay that way. Just improve the AI at lower streaks, make it more consistent across the board, and call it a day. I wouldn't like to see any nodes or complicated effects in there, ever.

    This isn't about arena the gamemode. It's about the fighting arena, the arena your champions are in during a fight.
    Oh seems I misunderstood lol. My apologies then. Although I would still like to see an improvement to the actual arena AI :D
  • ErcarretErcarret Posts: 2,673 ★★★★★
    Wicket329 said:

    @Ercarret @Kill_Grey I mean arena as in the map in which your fight takes place, not the game mode. This definitely would not have any place in the arena game mode. I’m thinking more along the lines of Act 8 and beyond with this concept.

    Ah, okay. That changes things drastically. I don't know if this sounds drastically different from anything that can already be done by a new node, but I'm not opposed to it. I'm all for new nodes that focus more on being fun than being punishing. A system where both champions can be rewarded by utilizing a certain playstyle could be fun.

    It's sounds a bit reminiscent of that "if you're close to the opponent at the end of the timer, they get a regen or unstoppable buff. If you're far away, you get one" node, whatever it's called. I always liked that one.
  • Wicket329Wicket329 Posts: 2,903 ★★★★★
    Ercarret said:

    Wicket329 said:

    @Ercarret @Kill_Grey I mean arena as in the map in which your fight takes place, not the game mode. This definitely would not have any place in the arena game mode. I’m thinking more along the lines of Act 8 and beyond with this concept.

    Ah, okay. That changes things drastically. I don't know if this sounds drastically different from anything that can already be done by a new node, but I'm not opposed to it. I'm all for new nodes that focus more on being fun than being punishing. A system where both champions can be rewarded by utilizing a certain playstyle could be fun.

    It's sounds a bit reminiscent of that "if you're close to the opponent at the end of the timer, they get a regen or unstoppable buff. If you're far away, you get one" node, whatever it's called. I always liked that one.
    Yeah, the Heal or Hide node would be a good comparison. Just rather than it based around proximity to the enemy, you could have a line on your half of the arena and a line on the opponent’s half. When you cross into the opponent’s side, you get the regen. When they cross into yours, they get it. As long as you/they hold that space, the regen continues.

    The biggest thing I like about this is that there are just so many ways to do it. We’re only scratching the surface here, I’m sure there are tons of cool interactions that a Dev could come up with. And this whole thing could just be done with nodes, but we don’t have many nodes (exceptions would be like backboard brawler) that play off of where the fight is in the arena.
  • Wicket329Wicket329 Posts: 2,903 ★★★★★
    edited July 2021
    SlumpGod said:

    I wouldn’t like it in arena unless there’s a reward buff. Which there doesn’t need to be IMO, and arena doesn’t need to be harder, it’s already a grind.

    Again, arena is referring to the space in which the fight takes place, not the game mode Arena. This is not an idea for the Arena game mode, but for future content such as Act 8 and beyond.
  • Wicket329Wicket329 Posts: 2,903 ★★★★★
    No worries, I’d change the title of this post if I could
Sign In or Register to comment.