A consumable to help PVE players who are short on time or feel like PVE can be a chore sometimes.

hammajama

The idea is one I saw in one of MPQ's surveys a long time ago and have seen implemented in other mobile games: create a type of consumable token to skip repeat plays of pve nodes under certain conditions.

I play PVE almost exclusively and have a decent enough roster to place for decent rewards when I put forth the effort. Unfortunately, there are instances where time doesn't allow me to both perform the 4 clears of each node AND the repeat clears needed in order to place high, especially in the longer events (I know there are players that don't like this system but this isn't a post meant to change it, just to improve the system we have).  Also, there isn't a single time slice that's ideal for me as they all begin while I'm at work, on the road to/from work or fast asleep so I have pick different slices depending on my free time at the moment.

So here is the idea for the token (let's call them "SHIELD Assists"): make it almost identical to the health pack in terms of how it is obtained in-game (purchased with HP, obtainable in taco vaults. Also, maybe give it a refresh timer like health packs but not necessarily.) It's conditions for use however should have two limitations. In order to use a SHIELD Assist on a PVE node the player:

1. Must have completed the node at least once and
2. the node must be at full points

• This will bring time spent on PVE much more in line with PVP (I don't play much PVP but the times I have played it has taken between 20-30 matches to reach the 4 star cover over a 3-day PVP event meanwhile 36 matches are needed just to perform 4 clears on a 1-day PVE sub-event.)
• It will allow PVE players to focus more time on the final replays of the nodes needed for competitive placement(when enemies are toughest), thus still letting good rosters shine.
  
• It will make it easier for busier players or players for whom "something came up" to still stay invested/competitive in longer events (looking at you Enemy of the State. Being competitive for 3 days and then having difficulty maintaining that level of play because of real-life events is very discouraging)
• It would reduce the feeling of monotony of replaying the same node several times

 So that's it. I would love to hear people's feedback/improvements.

ThaRoadWarrior

Would this be a "pay for placement" consumable, or would it only help you get to progression?

hammajama

ThaRoadWarrior said:

Would this be a "pay for placement" consumable, or would it only help you get to progression?

It’s solely meant to reduce the time spent on the 3 repeat clears for each node. After that, any progression/placement would be based on matches played. I think making them refresh like health packs might reduce pay for placement concerns

Smart80

So you clear a node once and simply “pay” for the other 3 times, to get the timers running quicker? To be honest, i think that sounds horrible and making the game all the more “pay for success”..
If you dont have the time, either drop a couple of clearance levels or give up on placement and just focus on progression rewards..

And for your pve/pvp comparisson, you forgot that the trivial pve matches hardly take any time compared to pvp matches usually..

If needed at all, you could perhaps try to get the ammount of clears reduced from 4 to 3 maybe?

hammajama

Smart80 said:

So you clear a node once and simply “pay” for the other 3 times, to get the timers running quicker? To be honest, i think that sounds horrible and making the game all the more “pay for success”..
If you dont have the time, either drop a couple of clearance levels or give up on placement and just focus on progression rewards..

And for your pve/pvp comparisson, you forgot that the trivial pve matches hardly take any time compared to pvp matches usually..

If needed at all, you could perhaps try to get the ammount of clears reduced from 4 to 3 maybe?

I'm not sure how it's pay to success when just clearing each node only 4 times for an event will only get you to about the 200-300 bracket if that. You would still have to play matches to place for a worthwhile reward.

Completely removing the 3 "easy" nodes in pve sub events still leaves you with 72+ matches to play over a 3 day period compared to pvp. The numbers as they are now aren't close for 3-day events. I play in the max clearance level and difficulty is not the issue.

Part of the issue is I'd rather not spend the little time I have playing the exact same enemies 4 times in a row and then repeating that process for 8-9 more nodes after that. If you were talking about 18 or so nodes with 1 or two repeats of unique enemies then a thread like this one might not exist as it's about making things more fun. That was the other idea I had was to combine some of the rewards from the clears and reduce the number of clears as well as the progression numbers.

Smart80

hammajama said:

I'm not sure how it's pay to success when just clearing each node only 4 times for an event will only get you to about the 200-300 bracket if that. You would still have to play matches to place for a worthwhile reward.

Top ranks are reached by speed. You want to speed up clears by paying a fee, hence pay for success. Maybe you dont plan to use it to gain an advantage, but other will. Either way, you want top progression awards for just single clears.. thats not how it works, or should work..

hammajama said:

Completely removing the 3 "easy" nodes in pve sub events still leaves you with 72+ matches to play over a 3 day period compared to pvp. The numbers as they are now aren't close for 3-day events. I play in the max clearance level and difficulty is not the issue.

Did you also compare rewards per time played between pve and pvp? Whole lot more in pve to win.. And not talking about difficulty being the problem. Lower CL is usually killed quicker, which is what you are looking for.. Especially cl9 can take quite a bit longer than cl8

hammajama said:

Part of the issue is I'd rather not spend the little time I have playing the exact same enemies 4 times in a row and then repeating that process for 8-9 more nodes after that. If you were talking about 18 or so nodes with 1 or two repeats of unique enemies then a thread like this one might not exist as it's about making things more fun. That was the other idea I had was to combine some of the rewards from the clears and reduce the number of clears as well as the progression numbers.

I know it can get tedious, but as enemies grow stronger the first 4 times you hit them, its not completely the same challenge each clear. Also a reason you cant simply pay to skip the others after first clear..
If you want twice the nodes, you might as well ask for a new stories altogether, which would make more sense to me.

And wonder why you ignored my idea for 3 instead of 4 clears to get timers going.. it saves almost 25% time and is much easier and realistic i think...