New Story Method/Shard

XandorXerxes

My biggest problem with the game has been burnout - clearing PvE/Story 4-5 times, even for just a few nodes for the 4* cover, is extremely boring. I really hate to grind out the same content over and over against the same enemy team - it's why I stopped doing PvP entirely. Here's a proposed solution to help those like me:

     1. Add a new shard - gauntlet (my old favorite PvE) style. It's a 1-clear event, with the difficulty scaled way up. I don't even mind a little "You're supposed to lose" - within reason. Gauntlet-style.
     2. There are NO PLACEMENT REWARDS. Progression ONLY. Unique shard to keep people out of placement accounting, and because time doesn't matter at that point. This is the 'penalty' for only having to clear once for rewards. How this factors in with alliances would be tricky, but most alliances aren't going for top placement and those that are going for placement aren't burned out / the target audience of this suggestion.
     3. Make it the same nodes/enemies as the original PvE. No content changes necessary.
     4. Reiterate - rewards are trimmed down - no going through multiple times to get multiple rewards. One and done (I do ask that you keep the best rewards on those nodes, but honestly I'll take anything).
     5. I'd prefer the 5* required node not be mandatory to hit the final progression, but still offer an extra bonus to those who complete it (like it is currently). 4* node I think is reasonable, because the people needing CP the most are the people going from 4*-5* and should already have a robust 4* roster.
     6. Alliance events do not have this system.


Why is this balanced or should otherwise be considered:

     1. Helps burned out people like me keep playing or those short on time to keep progressing.
     2. I'd argue it actually tampers down on the resource economy instead of explodes it - no more things like small ISO rewards or standard tokens after 2 clears that would add up over time. Yes, ISO is already starved and the difficulty is adjusted higher than normal - but it's a concession I'm willing to make to bring me back into the game.


Other considerations not addressed:

     1. Proportion of players who keep doing normal placement mode will get higher rewards - this shouldn't affect top placers, but someone who would have previously placed #500 might place #400 instead. Also only really affects the last shard - people who register early would still join shards as normal and have similar player distributions.
     2. Unknown how many people would use this method, so there may actually be more people hitting the 4* cover (for example) which might actually make the more 'scarce' resource that people don't hit due to required grinding more common. I don't know that this would have any significant impact on any in-game economy, since in theory those people all have the opportunity to earn those rewards now and just don't.
     3. Hopefully this pulls more people in to play more often, which means more purchases and profitability.