Changes to Mission Difficulty

kobu

It's a change in the right direction, but I'd much rather see it reduced further to 5 total, starting the timer after 3 clears. It's still a ridiculous amount of time needed to play to hit 4 clears, then 2 or 3 plus 4 new clears when the next sub opens.

The scaling calculation also needs to be looked at for newer players. I'm not easily scared off of a challenge, but facing level 223 enemies with 140 to 178 boosted, mostly 1 to 5ish cover heroes is not fun. I have to assume my three covers in 5* heroes are skewing things, but it's not like they do much for me anymore aside from 5* Jean who I can sometimes use to pull off a win with Phoenix Force. It's a stupidly boring strategy though that ends most of the time in frustration.

Xzasxz

I do not like a new format at all. And what bothers me is, that a lot of people do like it. I would gladly see something completely opposite to what is happening now. The general idea would be:
- no limits at all. Play when you want, as many times as you want, always get full points and always get a reward (at least some ISO)
- scaling never stops. Difficulty is the limit, you stop playing, hwen unable to beat the enemy
Details are to be discussed and precised, not to make this solution absurd grind easy nodes, but wouldn't you like it more? People rewarded not for when they play, how fast they play etc, but how well they play. Wouldn't it be more fair than current system?

hodayathink

Xzasxz wrote:

I do not like a new format at all. And what bothers me is, that a lot of people do like it. I would gladly see something completely opposite to what is happening now. The general idea would be:
- no limits at all. Play when you want, as many times as you want, always get full points and always get a reward (at least some ISO)
- scaling never stops. Difficulty is the limit, you stop playing, hwen unable to beat the enemy
Details are to be discussed and precised, not to make this solution absurd grind easy nodes, but wouldn't you like it more? People rewarded not for when they play, how fast they play etc, but how well they play. Wouldn't it be more fair than current system?

You do realize that they still get "you're supposed to lose" thrown back at them negatively on a nearly daily basis at this point? People don't want it to be that way because they don't want to feel like they're supposed to lose at any point, not the first time playing the node or the 18th.

kobu

Xzasxz wrote:

I do not like a new format at all. And what bothers me is, that a lot of people do like it. I would gladly see something completely opposite to what is happening now. The general idea would be:
- no limits at all. Play when you want, as many times as you want, always get full points and always get a reward (at least some ISO)
- scaling never stops. Difficulty is the limit, you stop playing, hwen unable to beat the enemy
Details are to be discussed and precised, not to make this solution absurd grind easy nodes, but wouldn't you like it more? People rewarded not for when they play, how fast they play etc, but how well they play. Wouldn't it be more fair than current system?

It's a recipe for mass frustration. Those competing for top spots would be forced to keep hitting their head against a wall hoping for sheer dumb luck to clear boards. It feels good to win when the teams are even or you're at a disadvantage and manage to win with superior strategy. Knowing you won only by luck doesn't feel as good, and losing by luck or a completely unfair disadvantage feels terrible. With endless scaling, there would be many, many more matches that end with players not feeling real good about how the match went. And if that happens every node, I can't see people sticking with this game for long.

I think the most equitable way of changing things would be to stop top loading the placement rewards. Move the covers to progression. Let the placement awards be Iso, CP, HP, and small amounts of tokens. Players should be able to look at their rank and have an easy decision to spend more time with family, go outside, or even catch up on a TV show, rather than feeling the need to grind so they can eek into the T10 and get that last cover they need.

simonsez

Xzasxz wrote:

- no limits at all. Play when you want, as many times as you want, always get full points and always get a reward (at least some ISO)
- scaling never stops. Difficulty is the limit, you stop playing, hwen unable to beat the enemy

Thanks for demonstrating that as much as we complain about PvE, it could be way, way worse...

Calnexin

I like the changes. The limit on the 2* node is easy for top-tier players, but does provide a modicum of access to developing rosters. Shutting down the nodes at 3 clears past max has been good for me, but I don't know about the community at large. I'd guess it's a net positive - those willing to put in a certain amount of grind can get good placement, but the hardcore can still optimize and grind 1 pt nodes ad infinitum, if they so choose.

Bowgentle

I'd like to see the 3* node brought down in levels a bit.
My buffed to 300 DD isn't doing a whole lot against an Ares that does 5K damage minimum on Onslaught.
One purple match at the wrong time and he loses half of his 16k health.

Polares

Xzasxz wrote:

I do not like a new format at all. And what bothers me is, that a lot of people do like it. I would gladly see something completely opposite to what is happening now. The general idea would be:
- no limits at all. Play when you want, as many times as you want, always get full points and always get a reward (at least some ISO)
- scaling never stops. Difficulty is the limit, you stop playing, hwen unable to beat the enemy
Details are to be discussed and precised, not to make this solution absurd grind easy nodes, but wouldn't you like it more? People rewarded not for when they play, how fast they play etc, but how well they play. Wouldn't it be more fair than current system?

Mmm I think what you are describing it already exists, and is called Gauntlet

The only problem Gauntlet has right now are the rewards, that are much much worse than a normal PvE. This is why I think that Gauntlet should not be a PvE, it should be another completely different mode of play, with iso rewards for every node beaten and with even more iso for progression rewards (no covers here, just iso). Of course this Gauntlet would work in parallel to any other PvE, and you would have a week or two to complete it. You can say it is the sim of the PvP but in PvE.

Vladdy

I know it's cool what they did to the 2* essential level wise. Nevertheless, I thought about 2*, 3* and 4* only (or less) essentials with appropriate scaling.

With a veteran roster like mine, those essential characters don't matter (well, you have to own a 1 cover one at least and Wolverine'ish nodes do suck if you love your OML).

Hmm...

amusingfoo1

I couldn't tell what the scaling change was when I replied before, but now I checked. My top node before was 453, and it's now down to 436. Doesn't look like much, but that has been a significant reduction in clear time.

zodiac339

Hey all. Just another "no more crit boost" post. This was a perfect opportunity to eliminate them. Number of prizes dropped to six. I though, "Hey! Maybe they cut out the seventh prize entirely! Maybe the crit boost is gone. That would have been the simplest thing." Is it that not enough people have complained? Has nobody provided suggestions? Why are they still there?
Oh, I got it! Remove out-of-combat damage, remove health packs (since out-of-combat healing wouldn't be necessary) freeing up system memory from having to remember health levels, regent time, and health pack inventory, and move crit boosts to the one-hour recharge. Please. Really, please! No more crit rewards!

mckauhu

Xzasxz wrote:

I do not like a new format at all. And what bothers me is, that a lot of people do like it. I would gladly see something completely opposite to what is happening now. The general idea would be:
- no limits at all. Play when you want, as many times as you want, always get full points and always get a reward (at least some ISO)
- scaling never stops. Difficulty is the limit, you stop playing, hwen unable to beat the enemy
Details are to be discussed and precised, not to make this solution absurd grind easy nodes, but wouldn't you like it more? People rewarded not for when they play, how fast they play etc, but how well they play. Wouldn't it be more fair than current system?

This is exactly what I have been saying too. Not insane grinding but skills that matters really.

Nick441234

Well the first limited roster event is on the horizon. Lets see how that works out under the new format.

Kjeldbjerg

As a mostly progression player, I'm loving the new format.

Joined Hulk yesterday, and will hit progression with 4 clears of each sub. And since I am only hitting 4 times and no end grind, I can actually play exactly when I want in the 24h period.

Alsmir

Kjeldbjerg wrote:

As a mostly progression player, I'm loving the new format.

Joined Hulk yesterday, and will hit progression with 4 clears of each sub. And since I am only hitting 4 times and no end grind, I can actually play exactly when I want in the 24h period.

I'm not sure about others, but for me "play when you want" paired with "in 24hr period" makes no sense. Event lasts one week, but I need to play every day or I'm screwed. That's not "play when you want", because I want to play when I have free time in rl (like weekend) and not adjust my rl according to event's schedule.

DTStump

Alsmir wrote:

Kjeldbjerg wrote:

As a mostly progression player, I'm loving the new format.

Joined Hulk yesterday, and will hit progression with 4 clears of each sub. And since I am only hitting 4 times and no end grind, I can actually play exactly when I want in the 24h period.

I'm not sure about others, but for me "play when you want" paired with "in 24hr period" makes no sense. Event lasts one week, but I need to play every day or I'm screwed. That's not "play when you want", because I want to play when I have free time in rl (like weekend) and not adjust my rl according to event's schedule.

Ahahaha, that's like a reductio ad absurdum of what people used to say under the old system to argue that they couldn't play whenever they wanted.

Next thing you know, they eliminate 24h subs and make everything 48h. Then people complain that they have to play within 48h. Then they eliminate subs altogether. Then people complain that they actually have to play in an event at all to get rewards.

Alsmir

No subs would be ideal. What's wrong with that idea?
Instead of playing 1hr/day for 4 days, someone plays 4 hrs in one day.

Jabrony_Geoff

Kjeldbjerg wrote:

As a mostly progression player, I'm loving the new format.

Joined Hulk yesterday, and will hit progression with 4 clears of each sub. And since I am only hitting 4 times and no end grind, I can actually play exactly when I want in the 24h period.

I dont understand.
What do you mean you joined Hulk yesterday?
You joined a 7 day event on day 5 ?
When you speak of progression are you talking about 25cp?

DTStump

Alsmir wrote:

No subs would be ideal. What's wrong with that idea?
Instead of playing 1hr/day for 4 days, someone plays 4 hrs in one day.

Following that logic, why not 1-month long events? I mean, not everybody can play every 4 days...

thanos8587

Jabrony Geoff wrote:

Kjeldbjerg wrote:

As a mostly progression player, I'm loving the new format.

Joined Hulk yesterday, and will hit progression with 4 clears of each sub. And since I am only hitting 4 times and no end grind, I can actually play exactly when I want in the 24h period.

I dont understand.
What do you mean you joined Hulk yesterday?
You joined a 7 day event on day 5 ?
When you speak of progression are you talking about 25cp?

many people join several days into an event to find a non-competitive bracket and to snipe placement awards. progression does typically refer to getting the 25 cp and with the new system progression is easily achievable in less than half the running time for the event.