Versus Mode, gating in MPQ and a suggestion

Khanwulf

Ok, Versus mode. I'll be frank: I've hated its implementation since the very first day of MPQ. Oh, I enjoy fighting a greater variety of teams; and there are a variety of reasons for why its structured as it is, so later on I'll make a focused suggestion on what I think is the core problem with Versus.

First, a short essay on "gating" in MPQ.

A "gate" in a game is any element of design that serves to restrict or impede participation in content/features unless the player has achieved a particular milestone. Gates can be hard (e.g. level restrictions, such as SCL 3 for access to Bonus Heroes), or "soft" (e.g. the number of covers you have or a hero's level in DDQ Crash).

MPQ has a lot of gates. Most games do, frankly. PVE has hard gates in terms of essential nodes--if you don't have an essential character you do not play the node or you must complete the overall event node before a daily slice opens. Soft PVE gates include the number of health packs you have, your roster depth (boosted and not) and level, how much time you have available vs. time taken to finish, and etc. You can add a soft gate for placement competition rewards if you wish, but I'm generally focused on player progression results.

Versus mode has all the soft gates of PVE, but adds more--and that is where it starts to get into trouble with its design. There are additional soft gates in terms of having the right, fastest heroes, in finding a suitable match and presenting a (much more restricted) team that may deter a response, and in reaching progression points while climbing continually higher against a headwind of players seeking you as a target.

It's that last bit that flips the design of Versus from "fun" to "un-fun". The point loss system represents a strong soft gating of Versus and players will reach a point where any further play represents a loss of progress even if they win their matches. This is incredibly demoralizing, made more painful by the design that if you wish to maintain standing (not even improve) the expectation is you spend a rare, paid resource to do so. Arguably this gate is the most important one in Versus, beyond depth of roster or healthpacks or play ability or anything else.

It's the soft gate of point loss that I wish to address:

1. Implement a "boss bar" on each Versus tournament--we'll label it "Morale" if you wish. Set the maximum health of the bar at some point relative to the tournament max progression points--say, 1200, or 2000 for Shield Sim.

2. If you are attacked, and lose, the points you would have previously lost from progression are subtracted from the Morale bar.

3. If your Morale bar is less than 100% filled, you advance at half your normal rate, splitting points from a win evenly between Morale and Progression until Morale is filled. If your Morale bar is less than 50%, new points go 75% to it and 25% to progression.

That's it. Done! Ok, there are some implications:

A. The point progression scales will probably need to be extended to accommodate what will be overall increases in player average score. This will not affect placement, as all boats will be floated upward. My recommendation is more ISO, token and/or CP rewards--keeping in mind that Versus does not give intercepts, so playing those matches *can* yield a lower ISO flow in particular.

B. Players will be now gated in their performance primarily on the depth of their rosters and overall time available to play. This will increase participation and play in Versus and lead to a larger number of players at higher point totals as targets for competitors. This addresses, then a longstanding problem regarding the rarity and difficulty of targets in higher-point Versus play.

C. Purchased shields may be less useful as they no longer directly affect placement (by maintaining point totals)--they would, however, help to maintain Morale for the next play session so digging out of "hole" is not needed. In addition, introduce a second Versus purchased item: Inspiration. The Inspiration item directly improves the Morale bar, effectively healing it by some number of points (perhaps 2:1 or 3:1 it's HP cost) and enabling the player to get back into full progression point acquisition, faster.

D. The most important implication is that players no longer log in to see a long string of defeats and that sinking feeling of "welp, I'm done". They can get to work playing the game they want to play, competing with fun, challenging team sets, and no longer feel forced to respond with speed combinations.

They are, in other words, liberated.

--Khanwulf