Based on everything stated in this preview, really, how is that any worse than it is now? There is very little functional difference between places 101 and 1000 per Sirrian’s table.
I’ll bullet out my main points here:
- Troop tokens instead of troop rewards, to choose what troop you want to develop. Troops are only useful in certain multiples, and getting, for example, 41 copies of a troop twice does you absolutely no good at all if that particular troop isn’t coming back around again.
- Troop tokens are buyable in limited quantities to generate revenue, and give everyone a chance to get ascensions.
- Brackets to maintain the illusion that there is some sort of competition going on. Although I really don’t have much interest in either, its pretty easy to see that vying for the top of your particular woodpile is a lot more interesting than vying for 142nd place vs 141. Rewards would be, overall, meted out similar to how is proposed.
- No gems rewards. Current gem payouts are small for almost everyone. Those competing for the top are essentially just gambling gems, and likely on a fairly safe bet.
- More reasonable sentinel costs. No recouping, so overall more gems are removed from the economy. If you want the bonus, its out of your own pocket (figuratively, as I still don’t think people will be buying gems with cash to put toward this)
Being able to opt out was more of an afterthought. If the brackets were automatic, guilds that field roughly the same amount of players week to week would settle into a given bracket over time. I’m okay with that, too.