I realize I'm not on the testing, I have a few thoughts.
- If you want to roll out this kind of change, I recommend leading with the why. What are you really trying to accomplish? This allows for more open suggestions on how to edit things to achieve your goals.
- I've watched 2 videos (Arnald and Scrybe) to see what their saying. This is clearly too dramatic a change. By in large R5s can no longer beat R9s, probably not R8s. In fact, these R5's are now a liability. Conceptually, I can see why a bit more differentiation between relic levels makes sense. I suggest small changes can make a big difference (i.e. 5% / relic level, max 20%) is a lot, especially when you are adjusting both offense and defense. It gives them an edge without completely eliminating counters out of my playbook because I only have them R5 at the moment.
- With my real $ investment, this crushes my excitement for the game. I'm just getting into Kyber 2, trying to address my deficiencies to earn Kyber 1 and I'm pretty sure this will knock me at least back to Kyber 3, maybe Kyber 4. And it's something that isn't happening because I slowed investment in datacrons, characters, or playing skill development etc... It's happening because the gaming company told me i can't play here anymore, I haven't been playing steady for 10 years so I can't play in this space. It feels like I'm being excluded from end game PVP based on game longevity which in turn suggests I shouldn't try to get to end game. I am no where near top 500, why would you kick your patrons in the teeth. I realie this is harsh given I haven't seen it, maybe it won't be so bad since a number of people are in the same boat as me.
- As a player the biggest issue I hear about is TW needs work, in the late game TW quickly became my least favorite game mode. There are things people are unhappy about in hell week, GAC, absurdly hard ROTE missions, etc... The big update doesn't address our those complaints (at least not that I can see how they would). My guess is this stems from trying to provide seme separation for the top 500 players in the game. I'm sure they deserve a tweak to the system. I suggest an alternative that helps the top 500 without rebalancing everyone.
- Maybe I'm blind, I see no reason why I as a player want to embrace this change. If it's not giving us players something we are interested in (addressing an issue, opening up new fun tools for the future) then it feels like you are spending a ton of development effort on something other than great game stuff players can get excited about. It probably addresses something for 500 of your bazillion players, congrats for them.
- The changes don't affect all teams equally, so it totally twists team rankings. Suddenly, some of our investments are worth more and some are worth less. Some people it will help more than others and some hurt more than others. Previously a person was rewarded in some ways for a fairly broad roster, going forward that strategy is heavily muted and those who went for focused rosters gain an edge. This change dramatically rebalances roster strategy.
- Compare this to how we got to Era battles. You started with trying to limit (mainly reduce older ones) assault battles. That really upset the talent pipeline as they are such great resources for growth. To better address you created Era battles. While flawed (often you can't get full rewards until half the initial cycle is over), this did some similar things in line with your goals without hurting the new player pipeline. If this is truly something primarily for the top 500, you only need this to be a differentiator up to 3 relic levels at 5% a level (this multiplies with the existing stat boosts on relic levels). The margins of victory in the top players seem tight (from watching Tassenix videos).
- I feel like if you want top end toon differentiation, add a new growth mechanic after relics or even Relic 10. Make the stat boosts more meaningful.. Require R9 to start on the new boost, providing a big advantage to the top 500 with lots of R9s. If you want a little more reach, allow it to apply to R8 characters in a limited way (like you get get certain relic levels with a 5 star toon). In fact, let the new boosts also scale with level of datacron applied.
Just my thoughts as someone who hasn't seen the actual game play.
Capital Games Team