So yeah. Campaigns. Wow. I applaud the devs for their effort, but they kind missed the mark on this one. The goal was noble if you consider it. Encourage community interaction. Encourage players to do more than just spam their meta team all day. But wow did it fall short. However, I believe there is potential here.
So how do we fix this?
First the TL;DR version:
1 - Artifact is now global, not personal.
2 - Better rewards that actually make it worth buying higher tier package without being p2w
3 - Better tasks that encourage community engagement, not just spamming level 1 explores
4 - Add a lasting effect that all can enjoy
5 - QOL fixes
So on with the long version:
Iâm going to admit up front that I donât know the GoW backend so of course what Iâm about to propose may be technically impossible. Theyâve already stated that saving medals to teams is not feasible given how the game is currently programmed, so obviously something that might be conceptually simple may not work.
Step 1) The artifact should be a global effect that everyone contributes to. They can fudge the numbers on how many stars are globally required (IE: If weâre smashing it out by tuesday, require more. IF we donât finish, require less). The ideal goal should be for the community to finish on Saturday or so.
Why?
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This immediately solves the âGuild warsâ problem that campaigns cause and has numerous end gamers concerned.
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Thereâs really no point to do campaigns if you canât 100% it with at least the elite path (or youâre in a top 100 guild doing guild wars). This solves that since all contributions help.
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It creates a unique community bonding event, something that we donât have right now. Weâll want everyone to help out so we can get our effects each week.
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On stream Salty talked about how people would create teams specifically to help other people get their tasks. Whatâs the incentive for that really? Why would I want to help out OTHER guilds be more competitive against mine? If we make this a global thing, that incentive is actually there.
Step 2) For personal incentive, the reward each week for completing all tasks should be a minor (free track), major (elite track) 2x major (elite+ track) orb. Completing all tasks all 10 weeks gets you a legendary (free track), 6x legendary + mythic (elite track), 6x legendary + mythic + weapon (elite+ track). All players get a reward mailed to them when each artifact stage is completed (gems, gold, souls, stones, whatever) regardless of their contribution.
Step 3) Tasks need to be re-evaluated and should add something new to the game, not just be a regurgitation of the adventure path we all started with. A good example would be the following:
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1 gold task each week. This is a unique battle that needs to be won in under X turns and requires maybe one or two possible solutions that shouldnât be immediately obvious. All players have access to the same battle. You only get 1 shot at it per day (no limit on Sunday maybe?). Bring the concept âpuzzleâ back to what is the successor to Puzzle Quest. The community can then get together to try to figure it out each week.
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2 silver tasks each week. These tasks require solving a riddle. A quick and dirty example: âGold and blood, skulls in sand, we marched by threes to take the land.â The solution is to use a team with only yellow and red mana and win a fight in drifting sands by only matching skulls. Just some goofy fun to be had as the community figures them out.
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5 bronze tasks each week. These can just be your standard âGrind some stuffâ tasks so people can contribute without needing to really think. Can match the kingdom theme of the week.
Step 4) Once the campaign event finishes, that faction retains the artifact bonuses whenever you do explores/delves for that faction. That faction gets on itâs home screen a button for the campaign so players that missed it in the past can check out the riddles, the lore, the âgold puzzlesâ etcâŚ
Step 5) UI and QOL fixes for step five. Completing a task just automatically completes it so we donât have to go back to the UI to click on accept new tasks or anything silly. The default tab when clicking on campaign should be tasks, not overview. The artifact bonus now lasts through Towers of Doom week if we complete the artifact.
So there you have it. I believe this would -greatly- increase player interest in the events, encourage players to reward the development team for their hard work with our hard earned cash, foster a community that comes together to enjoy an event rather than deride it and just in general showcase that Gems of War isnât just about pushing low effort âgive us moneyâ events and is interested in quality content.
Thank you for your time.