Improving PvP Variety

[Mithran]

Speaking as a PC/Mobile player here, but as this is a problem that affects us, too:

@Lyya

I think the biggest problem with an approach like this is that there’s a fairly significant amount of server infrastructure and load required to support it.

Yeah, putting it up as a task would probably be out of the question, but what I’ve suggested multiple times is that all rewards for defense given a large multiplier (and perhaps even additional rewards that aren’t present) for using (and/or winning with) underused defense compositions. This reward structure would be only be affected when the defense team encounters an invading team, where the server has to be queried anyway. Outside of this, it would be pretty useless anyway - the whole point is that players actually encounter the variety. Changing your defense lineup when you are idling from PvP isn’t going to affect anyone one way or the other since you aren’t actualy getting invaded. General troop usage statistics are already tracked (we’ve seen the graphs), and the server has to be queried when a battle is initiated. Still quite a bit of dev time to actually get a tracking system up and running that can automatically make, say, daily modifications to a reward structure based on previous usage as well as find a way to get the relevant data to the player.

@LummoxJR

Instead of rewards for changing teams, why not go the opposite route and offer disincentives for playing with the same team for too long? But not just for teams–for whole characters.

Limiting teams or scouting in general is a bad idea. You are basically putting the burden on the player to make the game fun for everyone or be penalized, and instead of incentivizing them in some way for doing so, you are slapping them on the wrist for not doing so. I actually enjoy changing my defense team week to week, and this would simply kill it for me. Sometimes I like using weird teams. Sometimes I like using “OP” stuff. Sometimes I like to scout and counter, sometimes I’ll try and brute force. Taking options off the table is unnecessarily restrictive. Giving me additional rewards for going out of my way to be unique? Yes, please. Punishing me for using stuff I had to earn? No, thanks.

@TaliaParks

The biggest contributor to the lack of variety is the PvP leaderboard. Nobody wants to lose on Defence anymore.

Before the leaderboard, half of players lost on purpose.

Its mostly a psychological thing. To anyone not in the running for top 1000 that is also not in danger of falling below 1900 points (a huge amount of the playerbase, judging from my 17000th place currently at over 2700 points), points are literally worthless. Victory therefore is a smattering of gold and glory, both which are far eclipsed from taking revenge attacks. In short, its actually still more beneficial to take losses most of the time even for the chance at rolling revenges.

This is only half of the equation, though. The other half is being removed from matchmaking if you haven’t done PvP in a while (10 hours, I believe?). The people grinding away at PvP day in and day out are going to be encountered a lot more (and by a lot more people) than those that do their weekly grind to tier one and leave it sit for a week. Thus, those using “meta” teams are going to compound how much this team is seen.

As such, we should probably do a few things:

1. Remove any sort of point penalty from defense losses. It is pretty much non-existent anyway, and irrelevant to over 90% of the playerbase. This only factors into step 2, which…
2. Drastically increase the time a player stays in the matchmaking pool. Preferably the whole week, but them slowly drop out over time the current period, but don’t remove them completely. Without a loss of a few points here and there, those that are tier 1 and done will have absolutely no worry about just setting up one team a week without having nickel-and-dime losses take away their precious one glory a day after dropping reward tiers. This is mostly a revision for starting or early game players, for everyone else this is mostly a psychological thing, since the reward is very negligable. An ideal system would take about half to a third of the battles normally going to the more active players and splitting them up among the ones that are less active during the later part of the week.
3. Enact some sort of reward bonus (+ additional rewards) for using (more for winning) with underused troops. Said bonus is only to be given when the team is actually encountered.
   (bonus) More events? For offense AND defense? Please?
   (P.S. for PC/Mobile small tasks for PvP such as console already have as a draw to perform PvP on days other than Monday would also help a bit for the matchmaking stagnation)

Sure, copy paste defense teams will still be a thing, and permanent set and forget features will be as well, but the above maximizes the chance at both encountering a wider variety of teams AND a larger pool of opponents. It also ensures that the desire to win is still there, without having it be less of a mental blockade for creativity.