Logain wrote:It's the typical 'problem' of mixing a persistent MMORPG-ish idea with a session based MOBA-ish idea.
You can not offer 'in-game' boosts, because that would ruin the balance for the session based MOBA part, where you must have everybody start on equal terms. But players get bored of leaderboards fast and want a reward for their effort to motivate them.
Fairytale Distillery went with granting people Fame which can later be traded for visual customization in-game (or potentially might grant access/customization of servers).
I agree through, the communication of the benefits is a little lacking right now. Which server are you playing no and what time of the day? Maybe we should create a little explanation video of the Exiled basics?
Leaderboards alone are indeed boring, and create an artificial-ness to the experience if that is the only clear motivation. Fame giving visual customization is great, but there is a lot of potential in terms of gameplay customization/specialization too. With regards to 'in-game' boosts, I think something soft like another side-grade system (both an upgrade and a downgrade, like how we craft weapons and armour) for character customization works to preserve the essence of the game, which doesn't require grind but requires winning events or leaderboards, and thus creating conflict and motivation, because customization options are fun. These side-grades, importantly, can be lost and transferred on death, are generated rarely through actual contests, and only have a limited lifetime to preserve scarcity, which promotes conflict over a scarce resource.
I propose something like a Highlander/Rune system.
Runes are rare and generated through incentives in the game.
They always have at least one positive effect and one negative effect (much like how we have to balance weapons and armour already). Perhaps an event is hidden on the map periodically, like a treasure hunt. Finding this location activates an event which can be contested, with the location advertised for a duration (much like the resource capture, but you or your clan are rewarded some runes). Happens perhaps every Saturday night (causes a focused event, like Battlecup on Saturday in Dota 2).
Runes have
a high chance to be transferred to players directly and instantly (not looted) on a successful gank/kill (one random rune maximum transferred per gank/kill). The transfer-on-death rate increases with death until you lose a rune, then the chances reset lower. The rune is not automatically equipped, it goes to the rune inventory. It can be equipped at a dojo. Importantly, the transfer-on-death rate does not decrease with time like weapons and armour, so you can’t just stay offline for it to recover (which the weapon/armour system currently promotes, if you want to keep that gear).
The rune inventory has unlimited size and is a separate system. The number of runes stored on a character are displayed above the character, like a trophy/progression, like the present star system. Your equipped rune can be changed every hour at the dojo, to give customization options. It’s “bragging rights” beyond the star and respect system, on an individual level, with gameplay effects, but not unbalanced (much like how weapons and armours can be customized through balance). It’s also a “high value” target system, since there is more reward for killing them, with an indicator (a rune number) on them.
You can only have one rune equipped and active at a time, and it changes the title above the player name (e.g. Friendly Transporter). This allows players to quickly identify what rune others have active.
For “winning” on the leaderboards, the clan leader and 2 (or more) appointed generals (future feature?) of the respect winner (i.e. zerg clan winner) gets 1 random rune at the start of the next season. If the clan members believe that the leader and generals don’t deserve to win these guaranteed starting options, then players will choose to start their own clan since they would feel no justice in helping those they don’t like.
Elegance and efficiency winners get 1 random rune for every player in that clan. This makes it so you can be a part of a winning clan in respect purely through score (much like now), but it doesn’t reward these starting rune bonuses to those who work for them beyond a certain amount (only the leaders and generals).
But efficiency and elegance are rewarded by giving a benefit to having quality clans, and limits the runes at server start. It also creates conflict, since now having a big clan which works together with everyone isn’t automatically the complete “winner”, and there is the potential for conflict as things settle. These rewards should be made clearer (including the cosmetic and vanity options), so players have a clear purpose to “why” winning on the leaderboards means anything.
Runes expire after 1 month or so. This is so that the runes always have some form of rarity and are coveted, causing some conflict. Also, you need to be somewhat active to have a decent rune/highlander score.
So what are the runes like? They are mostly interesting side-grades that allow specialization of a character, so a form of (interesting) character customization. Examples:
Transporter - Your rate of inventory transfer and move speed are increased, but your damage is decreased
Bard - You have a persistent bonus health regeneration aura to all clan members (yourself inclusive) near you, but your speed is reduced (causing you to become an important teammate, but vulnerable target in a fight).
Focuser - Your damage is increased, but your vision range is reduced
Destroyer - All characters and monsters around you take periodic damage (including players in your clan) [could be great for solo players]
Oracle - You can see players on your screen even if hidden by brush or fog of war. You cannot use invisibility spells.
Just some ideas. Other cool negatives and positive effects to be mixed and matched:
* You cannot be healed by other players
* You explode (causing damage and leaving a fire patch) on death
* You have access to a powerful new ability (takes a slot on your ability bar)
Possibilities are limitless, and would add a lot of fun to the game!
. Also, you "farm" settlements through sieges, or resource control points with your clan, so you can get higher on the leaderboards.