Forum Discussion

pizzathehutt666's avatar
pizzathehutt666
Seasoned Novice
3 months ago

A better way to fix fleets, move crystals from Fleet Arena

Ultimately the problem isn't that Punishing One can beat Leviathan, but that Fleet arena is where the crystals are.  This is what makes people upset.  I think that we need to move those crystals away from fleet arena and in doing so it will open up fleets to more strategy and a wider design space just like characters.  I think this is important for the game moving forward.

This can be done by moving the crystals in two ways (I think both should be done):  

1.  Add another league above Kyber in GAC, Call it Beskar like I have heard Songeta mention.  Some added crystals to sweeten the deal and an elite level.  This would allow CG to open up Kyber to more players and create a new level that is meant to stay exclusive.  

2.  Create a league system for TW that awards guilds daily crystals based on their level and revamp the map. 

     I would suggest a planet layout kind of like the Gerbil mentioned before in a video.  There would be a map of interconnected planets like ROTE, and you would need to get through a zone of fleets, either outside the planet or in an asteroid belt.  That would then open up to a zone of characters on a planet surface. 

     This would make fleets valuable so that there would still be money to be made releasing new ships and fleets.  The ship marquee structure could be kept to keep new ships more like characters and make them more exclusive for whales and their guilds initially just like they go after characters for GAC/TW.  It would also allow for more interesting ship design/strategy moving forward and balance can be shifted around freely, even allowing datacrons for ships or mods for them.

     Making fleets a bigger part of the TW system would make it so that players would need to invest heavily in them to still get their crystals and keep a heavy focus on fleets in the game.  Players that already do well in fleet arena will find a home in a good TW guild and it would promote more engagement with that mode across the board.

    

  • Whatelse73's avatar
    Whatelse73
    Seasoned Veteran

    No.  Crystals in fleet keep people engaged and keep them working to spend crystals on other parts of the game.  Moving crystals out would be a bigger mistake than making Datacrons more important than characters in this game.

  • I get the concern and it is definitely a risk, but the game has a history of shifting crystals to a new game mode.  That is how Fleet and GAC got their crystal income in the first place.  People freaked and said everyone would leave the game when Squad arena lost its crystals.  Now GAC is the main reason many people keep playing.

     

    People will follow the crystals and if you got 150 crystals a day and 1000 crystals to win a TW in "TW Aurodium" then players will be engaged.  It is also why the game mode should be revamped if they do it, to help with the engagement.

     

    It would also help lower some of the burden I hear other players complaining about like the time investment of the raid and mirror matches making an hour long fleet climb a hassle.  I think removing the linearity and how monotonous fleet climbs can be will help retain players and lighten some of the load.

    • Rius_975518199's avatar
      Rius_975518199
      New Hotshot

      To be honest too much Crystal is already tied into GAC with poor matchmaking. To follow up with fleet Crystal moving into TW the matchmaking would have to be massively improved, becomes reliant on your guild performance and would not prioritise fleets enough.

      I also question how sound your claim is that GAC is the reason most play. I see a lot of lazy play where players wait out to do the one battle or least battles possible, have switched to a very passive game style of very heavy defence to do minimum on attack or miss multiple battles. This suggests that rather than being a main reason to play, players are participating mostly because they just want the rewards and tolerate the mode. Even in various guild chats those who are genuinely excited about GAC seem to be in a minority because of the time sink and matchmaking.

      Squad arena was a lot more straightforward shards were somewhat related to when you joined allowing new players to do well.  The currency got spread out and became determined somewhat on size of roster in comparison to having the latest meta squad. This meant many squad arena climbers lost out whilst those with bigger rosters gained. I don’t think moving crystals worked out well then. And think it will just be reducing income on players who have heavily invested in fleets for Crystal income to reward larger guilds (some players whom have very poor investment in fleets) with another boost based on length of play and size of roster.

      • pizzathehutt666's avatar
        pizzathehutt666
        Seasoned Novice

        I didn't say most people play the game for GAC, I said many.  That is a very different word and does not call out a majority.  There are communities within the game that follow streamers about GAC, so many people do care about GAC.

         You are right that the matchmaking would need to be improved.  Sandbagging for wins does not feel good for the people they get paired against.  I have no idea how I would go about fixing that.

         

  • scuba75's avatar
    scuba75
    Rising Traveler

    The *** ****** will complain about GAC and TW match ups with Levi so yes they will "fix" it, which is funny cause people complain all the time that CG doesn't listen to the players, yet here we go again....

  • MaxBane83's avatar
    MaxBane83
    Seasoned Novice

    I am one of those players who get 1st place fleet rewards daily and I'm playing this game for less than a year (so, my shard is relatively young). I know the struggle to climb to the top and, since the release of all those LSB, Fleet Arena has become even more frustrating to the point that F2P have almost no chances, not to see the top, but to get any crystals at all. Honestly, while I think that removing entirely crystals from fleet arena would be an error, some kind of rebalance would be benefical.

    Yet, concentrate even more crystals in GAC, as OP suggests in his first option, would lead to an even worse game state, as it would put even more crystals in the hands of those who already get plenty.

    Currently, there are two major source of crystals: GAC and Fleet Arena. The first depends on the whole player's roster, the second on a portion of it. So, I think that some reliable crystal rewards should be added to game modes that are not entirely dependent on the single player's roster. In that regard, RotE, Territory Wars (as OP suggests in option 2) or Territory Battles seem the best candidates as they require guild members collaboration. Also, an entirely new game mode would be much appreciate.