Update on Grand Arena and Territory Wars [MEGA]

"ArthurDent;c-1788581" wrote:

"CG_SBCrumb;d-196719" wrote:

updated rewards to compensate for the increased number of events

Not happy about this, for a slightly different reason than others have stated.

Grand Arena is vastly more fun than normal Arena. Normal Arena is boring, it's the exact same slog for months at a time. It doesn't work for people who have families, or people who work later, or people who just want to eat and be sociable when it's a good time of day for people to eat and be sociable. Basically, normal Arena is a toxic thing, a detriment to people's lives. I put up with it because other parts of the game are actually fun, but I hate how it makes me feel.

Grand Arena has none of those problems; it's a good challenge, it's flexible for people's schedules, and there's a lot more potential for it to change from one to the next and stay fresh.

CG_Carrie mentioned a long time ago that she understood the inherent hostility of the Arena's payouts and reward structures to people's real lives and was eager to find an alternative. I was so happy to hear that. My hope these last few months has been that GA could be the solution she was looking for: with the right incentives, we'd have no less pressure to chase the meta and stay on top, but without disrupting people's daily lives. Since launch, GA rewards have not been commensurate with the effort required relative to the other arenas, but that made sense -- it takes a while for a new thing to settle in. But three months later, the rewards are shrinking rather than expanding. Such a great opportunity to deprecate the original Arena and finally change the core of this game for the better, and we're squandering it, which is as clear a signal as we could possibly get that whatever Carrie was hoping for will never happen, and that's the real point here.

I'm not complaining about the loss of a few stun guns over a week, because with the extra GA I'll make them back the next week, even though it feels bad to work just as hard as before for less payout per unit of effort. GA is still fun.

I'm complaining because we all put up with a lot of nonsense to get to the fun parts of this game, and some of that nonsense is required to develop a game in this decade I guess (like inciting people to gamble and impulse spend), but some of it isn't. And it just feels bad to know that whoever's running the show doesn't care enough to fix the seriously toxic things that aren't even required by their business model. I guess we're all still here because either we think the fun outweighs the nonsense, or we're unwilling to admit our sunk cost fallacy. I think I'm the former.

The change to arena was to address the issue you mentioned of having to play at a time that’s bad for you by allowing you to change your payout time to whenever you like.

"ottomaddux;c-1788597" wrote:
You obviously aren't listening too closely if you are adding more Grand Arena Events every month. The one saving grace of this Mode is that at least half of my opponents set defenses and leave it at that. Never attacking. It makes for a much more enjoyable experience. can't wait for auto deploy to be done with it.

A lot of people requested more frequent GA events. Not everybody will agree about any particular issue. Listening to the community doesn’t mean listening to *you* specifically.

I disagree with having more GA. It's far too tedious for the amount of effort needed (e.g. current 3v3 demands sourcing 22+ viable leaders), and far too monotonous (always the same teams each time). Running multiple events at the same time is a bad thing, it is burning people out, and overwhelming to the point players can no longer fully participate in everything, or even keep track of them. I'm sure you (CG) have the data on the percentage of players who failed to join TW and/or GA, maybe even see percentage of players who missed raids during TW/GA vs non-event days, and then on top of that players who fail to set teams on defence or have 0 attacks. I'm not asking for you to share these numbers, but to see for yourselves if there is any statistical significance in that, and not just rely on the opinions on the vocal portion of the players.

I also disagree with having no more banned characters. Monotony is a bad thing (even more so now with a higher frequency of events), and the TW/GA meta is extremely resistant to strategy change, which means that we are currently facing the same teams since the first days of TW, and we'll face the same teams a year from now. A bonus here and there won't change much if 3/4 of the board remains the same. Ban the entire LS or DS. Ban all leaders. Double the amount of fleets needed on defence. Change as many things as you can think of, just make every TW/GA feel completely different. Or just have less of it so that we don't have to face the same teams every other day (and double on weekends).

All I read was „rebalancing of rewards“. More game time for the same return... Thanks - I guess...

Thank you for saying you will never do bans again! It was the worst, so again thank you.

While I enjoy the gameplay of Grand Arena and am happy to hear that it will be more frequent, the idea of the rewards being less than what they are for the week of battles sounds disappointing. Being able to use more teams in a setting like Grand Arena is fantastic and allows me to play some non-meta teams, which I am thrilled with, but they are also resource intensive and to reduce rewards means that I am less likely to work on non-meta team progress.

I actually agree with a rewards change up. The idea of helping someone do better the next time they enter GA will, I believe, make for more fun overall. For instance, as it is now, the first place winner gets 3 zetas, and the person in eighth gets zero. RNG could've allowed for an easier (or equally harder) path to that outcome, so I think it's a fair change up if they decide to water down the rewards.

"CG_SBCrumb;c-1788398" wrote:

"Droideka;c-1788341" wrote:
Can you please stop counting ship GP in GA when there are no ship territories? It is creating huge imbalances in some cases.

Yes! It's something we are still working on. I'll remind the team that it's still a big community concern

It would have been really nice if you would have told us ahead of this current GA that you couldn't remove Ship GP. You stated it would not be included.

"CG_SBCrumb;d-196719" wrote:
However, we will continue to explore ways to encourage more “alternative” squad formations on the map.

How about temporary leadership abilities for different characters?
The same way like with Mace Windu boost, but only if that character is in leader spot. And of course he gives bonuses to every member of that squad, not just himself. Doesn't really need to have 'leader' unique.
This could be fun.
Just imagine leader c3po giving bonuses to ewoks and leader veteran Han solo boosting resistance or smugglers

"DK_Raid_Violator;c-1788691" wrote:
Most of this is good news. Listening to (the constructive part of) the community is excellent (and a bit new if I may say so).

GA is my favourite game mode, it is all Squad arena isn't (I really should sit down and write a "everything wrong with Squad Arena" post, but there is just SO much wrong... B) ), but the rewards are a bit lackluster in the first place, if the rewards from 2 event is to be spread out on 4 events.... :(

I would recommend better rewards, maybe with a reward crate that can give some really nice stuff (gear, zeta, omega, currency). This will make GA more important for players like me => we will invest more in the toons needed => profit for GC.

A few ideas for special rules for TW (mostly) and GA:

• No leader abilities. This will really shake things up and let us mix and match toons among the fractions
  
• Teams with 2 leader abilities (like when you borrow allies in LS/DS battles)
  
• All leader abilities are activated. This is likely broken like nothing else, but at least it is fun to think about a team with all the leaderships from Traya, DN, Maul, Vader and Palpatine :p , Or Rex, Cody, GK or Cls, Jyn, Wedge, Leia and AA
  
• 6 toon squads. Feel the might of the complete Phoenix squad, 6 ewoks, all the Tuskens etc.
  
• Single toon "squads" (GA).
  
• Toons may not share a fraction with more than 1 other toon (that should mix it up!)
  
• Jawa's share their unique abilities
  
• Toons cannot regain protection
  
• All toons start with buff immunity for 2 turns (cannot be dispelled)
  
• All tanks gain +200 speed (makes them both better and worse)
  
• Droids start with 1 bonus turn, GG with 2... o:)
  
• No TM gain
  
• No TM removal
  
• No protection & no crits
  
• Only lightside / darkside on defence
  
• The same toon can be used on both offence and defence
  

How about:
“Crew members can only be used once”, meaning either a crew member is on ground or in his ship.
So for example setting Chimaera on defense would mean that Thrawn isn’t available as a ground troop, or using Zolo on offense means that the falcon is not available.

How about you develop features that encourage us to play together and to build our rosters without fear of GP bloat? Rather than pushing GA harder, making it feel down right mandatory with its rewards and pushing it on us more often so we don't get a break from it.

I'm sure it may be the best thing ever at middle of the road GP levels, but at the high end it's the same toxicity and same game as arena. The only difference is, instead of a competition for who gets to hit last it's who squeaks by with a hand full more points. I mean, is it really that fun when you are clearing both boards and the only deciding factor is who took slightly more damage in one round?

Why don't we fully address the the fact that at higher tiers it's a grueling game of hyper mod management and a playing field where outdated characters server only to boost you into brackets with leaner rosters that are newer and fresher? Or maybe change it so even those who sign up get decent rewards so they feel encouraged to set something out and participate?

Is it really going to unbalance the game to give everyone who participates in 3v3 a zeta?

So please fix something that needs fixing, make a new cooperative mode, don't make our lives more tedious.