**Mastery Loadouts**
Due to issues related to the release of Mastery Loadouts, the "free swap" period will be extended.
The new end date will be May 1st.
Due to issues related to the release of Mastery Loadouts, the "free swap" period will be extended.
The new end date will be May 1st.
New game mode: unlockable progressive difficulty duels
Quick Summary: allow players to unlock duel targets that they can then fight in a single player dungeons-like progression for rewards and special titles. Duel targets unlock by satisfying some accomplishment, like facing and defeating a particular champion a certain number of times or completing certain special content.
Details
So I've been thinking about a way to replace the duel target alliance event, and also considering a way to create a single player variation on the progressive difficulty idea behind dungeons. I'd like to propose a new game mode that combines three features: the notion of "dueling," accomplishment "trophies," and single player progressive difficulty challenges. None of this requires technology that doesn't already exist in the game, and none of it requires features likely to affect game stability as they are almost all client-side executing.
First, we introduce the idea of the progressive duel target. We allow the player to fight a particular opponent, say Juggernaut, at progressively higher difficulty with intermediate rewards for each defeat. Say, 1*, 2*, 3*, 4*, 5*, 6*, and then buffed with increasingly stronger nodes. You don't have to beat every incarnation all at once, in fact the presumption is most players will at some point be unable to defeat the target and will have to come back later. You can exit and come back, and your champions are not locked into the content. But you must attack with a single champion like a duel fight and win or lose that champion will go into duel cooldown.
Once "unlocked" (more later) the player can come back as often as they want to and try again. They can fight at any difficulty they want, but they only get the rewards for each difficulty level once. So rather than have to search out duel targets with Google, the player could over time build up their own "library" of duel targets to fight.
Next, we create a "dueling accomplishment" system where these duel targets are unlocked by the player. For a regular champion, I envision something like "Earn 1000 defeat points against this champion." Defeating the champion as a 1* earns one point, as 2* earns 5 points, as 3* earns 10 points, as 4* earns 25 points, as 5* earns 50 points, and as 6* earns 100 points. That sort of thing. Defeat that champion enough times, and they get unlocked and you can duel them in the progressive dueling event.
We can also put in "special" targets in there. Say, Infinity Thanos and Ice Phoenix could have been unlocked by completing the monthly quests with them in it, and for those kinds of one-off targets Kabam could periodically introduce a way to earn the unlock for them in the future. There might have to be safeguards for certain kinds of targets. You might not want players to be able to practice against the Collector before defeating him, so maybe he gets unlocked after full exploration of Act 5.2 (if at all).
In effect, we give players something new to collect - duel targets - and we create a way for players to get some of the progressive difficulty experience of dungeons in a single player situation. And we create a new kind of content players can share, similar to dungeons: the "how high can I go against this champion" content. There's no reason the difficulty couldn't increase without limit, although the rewards could not reasonably scale beyond a certain point. Beyond, say, ten levels of pre-designed difficulty and rewards, all levels higher would probably grant some token reward: it would exist mostly for players that want the pure challenge (or bragging rights).
You would need to store more data per player (an array of unlocked duel targets and the maximum completed level) but that seems manageable to me (it is a couple hundred bytes per player, a couple gigabytes across the entire account database). And you wouldn't need any extra synchronization or communications between client and server beyond what's already involved to fight a duel when in combat, and a refresh of the unlocked duel targets that is comparable to showing the player his or her current roster. From a software engineering perspective, this seems much "safer" than, say, the dungeons game mode itself.
The sky is the limit on how far you could take a system like this. You could introduce "duel target currency" you earn in this content, which you could use to buy other duel targets you want to a certain degree (think loyalty buying unstoppable colossus). You could add "meta" accomplishments like "complete difficulty level 10 for ten champions" which would then unlock even more content. You could even add special rewards for reaching specific goals on specific champions. Say, complete difficulty level ten on Iceman, and get a special potion that makes you immune to bleed, poison, and incinerate for three minutes.
We'd basically be adding a new collecting component to the game separate from roster collection, and unlike titles this form of collection unlocks more things to do in the game. And the system would be expandable in a relatively easy way that would allow the developers to add more things to do in the game with less effort and less game overhaul.
Thoughts, comments, critique welcome.
Details
So I've been thinking about a way to replace the duel target alliance event, and also considering a way to create a single player variation on the progressive difficulty idea behind dungeons. I'd like to propose a new game mode that combines three features: the notion of "dueling," accomplishment "trophies," and single player progressive difficulty challenges. None of this requires technology that doesn't already exist in the game, and none of it requires features likely to affect game stability as they are almost all client-side executing.
First, we introduce the idea of the progressive duel target. We allow the player to fight a particular opponent, say Juggernaut, at progressively higher difficulty with intermediate rewards for each defeat. Say, 1*, 2*, 3*, 4*, 5*, 6*, and then buffed with increasingly stronger nodes. You don't have to beat every incarnation all at once, in fact the presumption is most players will at some point be unable to defeat the target and will have to come back later. You can exit and come back, and your champions are not locked into the content. But you must attack with a single champion like a duel fight and win or lose that champion will go into duel cooldown.
Once "unlocked" (more later) the player can come back as often as they want to and try again. They can fight at any difficulty they want, but they only get the rewards for each difficulty level once. So rather than have to search out duel targets with Google, the player could over time build up their own "library" of duel targets to fight.
Next, we create a "dueling accomplishment" system where these duel targets are unlocked by the player. For a regular champion, I envision something like "Earn 1000 defeat points against this champion." Defeating the champion as a 1* earns one point, as 2* earns 5 points, as 3* earns 10 points, as 4* earns 25 points, as 5* earns 50 points, and as 6* earns 100 points. That sort of thing. Defeat that champion enough times, and they get unlocked and you can duel them in the progressive dueling event.
We can also put in "special" targets in there. Say, Infinity Thanos and Ice Phoenix could have been unlocked by completing the monthly quests with them in it, and for those kinds of one-off targets Kabam could periodically introduce a way to earn the unlock for them in the future. There might have to be safeguards for certain kinds of targets. You might not want players to be able to practice against the Collector before defeating him, so maybe he gets unlocked after full exploration of Act 5.2 (if at all).
In effect, we give players something new to collect - duel targets - and we create a way for players to get some of the progressive difficulty experience of dungeons in a single player situation. And we create a new kind of content players can share, similar to dungeons: the "how high can I go against this champion" content. There's no reason the difficulty couldn't increase without limit, although the rewards could not reasonably scale beyond a certain point. Beyond, say, ten levels of pre-designed difficulty and rewards, all levels higher would probably grant some token reward: it would exist mostly for players that want the pure challenge (or bragging rights).
You would need to store more data per player (an array of unlocked duel targets and the maximum completed level) but that seems manageable to me (it is a couple hundred bytes per player, a couple gigabytes across the entire account database). And you wouldn't need any extra synchronization or communications between client and server beyond what's already involved to fight a duel when in combat, and a refresh of the unlocked duel targets that is comparable to showing the player his or her current roster. From a software engineering perspective, this seems much "safer" than, say, the dungeons game mode itself.
The sky is the limit on how far you could take a system like this. You could introduce "duel target currency" you earn in this content, which you could use to buy other duel targets you want to a certain degree (think loyalty buying unstoppable colossus). You could add "meta" accomplishments like "complete difficulty level 10 for ten champions" which would then unlock even more content. You could even add special rewards for reaching specific goals on specific champions. Say, complete difficulty level ten on Iceman, and get a special potion that makes you immune to bleed, poison, and incinerate for three minutes.
We'd basically be adding a new collecting component to the game separate from roster collection, and unlike titles this form of collection unlocks more things to do in the game. And the system would be expandable in a relatively easy way that would allow the developers to add more things to do in the game with less effort and less game overhaul.
Thoughts, comments, critique welcome.
5
Comments
Dear Lord. If this were to happen, with maybe "chase characters" from the old school from Marvel history who aren't likely going to be officially added to the game like, say...Hank Pym as Giant-Man. Jim Hammond, the original Human Torch. Wonder Man...my goodness. If something like this mode were introduced with those kinds of rewards, I might never stop playing this game
Hmm, a side benefit I didn't consider is that if the developers want to add new combat mechanics to the game, they could add them to a prestige duel target first and use player duels as a kind of beta test for them. I don't exactly know how a real Giant Man fight would go, but a special duel target would be a great way to find out before putting something like that in more important content.
similar to somethings i have thought before.
i would also suggest that as a way to make it more like what you might fight in a war that they have progressive levels of buffs from nodes but also "mirror" your mastery setup.
so whatever masteries you have set your opponent will also have them....
want to fight a Dorm with max MD, no problem turn on your own MD,