Thoughts:
- The game has so many troops now, and I’m ignoring most of them. I’d like to see a mode that requires me to use unconventional troops, one that doesn’t overstay its welcome like Invasion or Raid Boss.
- Discussing team builds and strategies within the guild is fun. Delves are quite good for that, except that once you’ve found a working build there’s no reason to ever adapt again.
- I like numbers. Growing numbers. Class levels for instance. Numbers getting bigger over a long time feel good. Troop level numbers stop at 20. Boring.
- Collecting things is nice. Weapons and pets, even cosmetic ones, qualify. Many old weapons and event pets aren’t obtainable any longer, which isn’t nice.
Conclusion:
New game mode, Legacy Brawl. I’m sure it would work for me, maybe it would also work for others. Details as follows.
Daily mode
Essentially like Dungeon, something you can do in between. Resets each day.
Chained matches
Essentially like Pet Rescue, with opponents starting out weak and growing stronger as you progress through matches. You only get one shot, if you win you progress to the next, more difficult match, of you get defeated you are out. Add a shop to purchase further attempts that let you continue.
Random opponents
Random pre-generated opponents each day, for each stage, with every player encountering the same teams. Teams should be generated by a two-phase die roll, first roll for rarity, second roll for a troop within that rarity pool. The rarity distribution should adapt to the stage, with lower stages favoring lower rarities and higher stages favoring higher rarities. Due to the randomness involved, some teams will be easy to beat, some outright brutal. That’s intentional and adds variety, everyone is getting the same daily deal, try to see how well you can cope.
Ramdom restricted troop selection
Randomly pre-pricked each day, with every player getting the same pre-picks. One mythic troop, two legendary troops, three epic troops, four ultra-rare troops, five rare troops, six common troops, all picked at random. These troops are available to all players, even if they don’t own them, for this mode only. All troops are level 1, untraited, even if you do own them.
Legacy bonus
The game currently tracks how often troops have been used, to display the “favorite” troop in the profile. Apply this number to the daily troop selection, similar to how champion levels work. A troop already used once over the whole course of the game (not just this mode) will be bumped to level 2, another two usages will bump it to level 3, another three usages to level 4 and so on. Also activate traits at certain thresholds, e.g. level 10 for the first, level 20 for the second, level 30 for the third. Troops you have been using frequently (e.g. Yao Guai, Infernus) may grow amazingly strong within this mode, they are also unlikely to show up in the Pick of The Day for higher rarities due to the smaller number of picks.
Loot
New currency: Mementos. Awarded based on how far you managed to progress through the chained matches, with the early ones awarding small amounts, the later ones awarding progressively higher amounts. Mementos are used in the Soul Forge to craft legacy content, like old event weapons or event pets, which should see a rotation for this purpose. Crafting may require additional resources, like souls (lots) and diamonds (some). Possibly add at least one permanently available carrot to hunt that takes a huge amount Mementos to craft.
Target audience
Every player, no matter the level. Low level players will be excited to try out those legendary and mythic troops they keep hearing about, even though they will start out at level 1. High level players will be excited to get their hand on all the legacy content they missed. Although the troop selection is fixed each day, the effectiveness of those troops will vastly differ based on what each player has been using throughout their GoW career. Some quest epics (e.g. Tyri) or strong common/rare troops (e.g. Ranger) may get a huge boost for newer players, while veterans who have been focusing on rarer troops may end up with a poor selection if the mythic pick turns out to be Gargantaur.
Disclaimer
I release this idea into the wild, to whichever developer may find it.