What the new PvE format shows us.

rkd80

As a vet player (just under 2 years) I still do PvE regularly. I like the format for it allows me a bit more roster diversity and shield hopping can get dull after a while.

I think D3 did a fantastic job with one aspect of PvE that I personally always loathed. No other mobile game did this to such an extent as MPQ, but the idea of playing on a schedule always drove me nuts. Being on the east coast I was pretty much limited to S4 and knowing that it was either going to be MPQ or an evening of socializing definitely left a bad taste.

The new format completely eliminates the schedule and for the first time in a long time I no longer feel that PvE is on a schedule. In fact if one uses shields for PvP the schedule obligation has been largely lifted. Kudos D3, an amazing accomplishment.

However it is becoming increasingly clear through this PvE (and for many of you long before) that the only real solution to the entire PvE conundrum is to simply transform all sub-nodes and main-nodes reward structure away from current format to the Gauntlet style awards. It is obvious that D3 is recognizing the impossibility of binding people down to a schedule as the players hate. Remember 2.5 hour refresh? Then it was 8 hour refresh. Clearly the move is away from MPQ telling you when to play and to return that choice to the player.

However the last sub will still govern placement and even if you did everything right the first 6 days and was the first to finish, it can all go up and smoke on the last day. So while we have achieved the perfection of eliminating the obligation of schedule based play, the last day still shows shades of an outdated thought process.

The best and only way is to transform all of PvE into gauntlet style rewards. If you put the time in and struggle through some of the last nodes then be rewarded. Nice and simple!

Thanks!

P.S. Please remove the last of the critical boosts, nobody wants them/needs them in PvE.

rkd80

Been meaning to update the conclusion of this. So I was determined to finish well and decided to sacrifice some of my life.
As suspected the end grind was rather horrible.

The total time to finish first place, was 3 hours and 45 minutes. There was no other option to do it as SOON as the sub flipped because others were clearly looking to finish t5.

That is a nauseating amount of time that was required only for the purpose of finishing t1.

So this test has shown me the following:

All days except the last were fantastic and allowed for flexibility, assuming you didnt much care about the sub placement awards.
Last day was worse than any other experiment.

THe final conclusion is that all PvE *must* turn into gauntlet style awards, I fail to see any other option. Players must be released from the schedule.

I did finish first, but I would never do it again.

Jarvind

Did anyone else read this like a Malcolm Gladwell book title?

Tiles and Time: What Moonstone's Abs Can Tell Us About the Age of the Universe