Shield Cooldowns make play frustrating, another option?

esoxnepa

After playing with the shield cooldowns this season, I am finding they make playing the game much more frustrating.

I find the cooldowns force me to:
Set specific times to play.
Set timers outside the game to track cooldowns
Reduce the flexibility of being able to play a mobile game on the go and when I want.

I do not find the cooldown method to:
Reduce outside game communication and coordination.
Make top scores more reachable, only the appearance of less separation.

I am OK with not finishing top 10, etc. What I miss is the ability to pick up MPQ and play a couple matches without having to worry about if doing so will screw up my shield cooldown rotation. I often have to plan my PvP play 2 days out, which is so against mobile gaming.

Consider an alternate solution:

Instead of cooldown timers, add a counter and increase HP cost for each additional shield used, across all shields.

Shield 1 is 75, 150, or 300.
Shield 2 is 100, 175, or 325. (base + 1 x 25).
...
Shield 10 is 300, 375, 525 (Base + 9 x 25)

(I would drop the cost of the first shields by 25 HP, because I feel like 3 shield usages should be the same cost as 3 under the current system. ( 75 x 3 = 50 + 75 + 100 for 3 x 3 hr, etc., and so it would be base + shield # x 25. The example below doesn't include this drop.)

It seems like many of the shield hoppers are using the 3,8,3 rotation, and using around 6 shields? 75 x 3 + 150 x 3 = 600. Under the proposed system the minimal new cost for 5 shields would be ( 75 x 5 + 25 + 50 + 75 + 100 + 150 ) = 775. So multiple hops become even more costly, but shields could be used any time and in any combination.

This returns the ability of people to use any combination of shields in a flexible manner. It encourages people to be able to play the game when they want, and places a steeper cost of multiple hops.

FaustianDeal

There is logic to this. I appreciate that I could drop a 24-hour shield and "be done" with an event for 75HP.
What if you had a hybrid style approach. The shield costs escalate by 75HP with each use, but every 8 hours the cost drops by 75HP?

Another evolution on the idea - eliminate the concept of 'durations' on shields altogether. At any point you can buy a shield which is good "till the end". At any point you can elect to break this shield and play, but the price goes up to shield again. (I know it sounds funky, but there have been events where I have only been able to play for the first 6-12 hours and there is no available shield option to protect me till the end.)