Suggestions on how to improve existing game modes

Feature Requests and Game feedback
1

I thought I would just dump a large collection of ideas I’ve had about how to improve existing game modes.

Arena:

  • At present the main purpose of arena seems to be to allow new players to acquire a large amount of souls at a low level while competing on an even playing field, allowing them to level up their first few teams. For this reason the gold cost should be removed.

  • It also seems that at present, in terms of resource acquisition, there is simply no reason for high levels players to compete in arena instead of pvp. They can more reliably farm souls in pvp with a Valkyrie team while eliminating all of the rng of drafting and simultaneously getting significantly more of every other resource. To address this issue I think the win cap should simply be removed all together, allowing players to see just how far they can take they’re streak while continually getting greater rewards the farther they go. A leader-board could also be established showing the best runs and the teams they were accomplished with. There could also be weekly rewards, maybe even troops specific to just these rewards, for top arena runners. This would certainly bring in higher level players looking for new challenges, proving grounds, and rewards

  • Another issue I feel is holding back arena is the limited troop selection resulting in fairly stale team building. One possible change would be to allow Epics and Legendaries to have low a chance of being drafted in arena. Then to prevent arena from being a lottery of who drafted the higher rarity cards, all arena cards could be of legendary ascension and an equal level (15 maybe). This would make both teams and drafting much more diverse.

  • Another issue is the lack of banners. It seems strange since theyre a part of all other battle modes. One option could be to allow players to pick any banner they want in arena regardless of what kingdoms they have unlocked. This would keep gameplay more in-line with the rest of the game modes while retaining an even playing field.

Challenges

  • Challenges aren’t challenges, they’re just random fights. Make challenges put the player in control of a specific team vs another specific team. Design these battles to show players both how to utilize and counter troops from the kingdom the challenges are in. Possibly also grant a 2nd copy of that kingdoms quest-troop card or a new weapon upon completion of all challenges too. This would make challenges more immersive and less of a bland grind.

  • Lastly, reset everyone’s challenges. Given people who’ve already completed the challenges likely have other reliable means of already farming souls, it isn’t giving them an unfair advantage but rather just motivating them to experience the new content.

Maps

  • At present maps seem to be a great source of glory and trait-stones. I don’t think they need much work, but adding a leader-board might be nice. Much like was suggested with arena, this board could also have weekly rewards for top mappers, with some rewards again being specific to just this.

  • Adding an auto-complete feature that almost always performs fairly poorly isn’t out of the question either but Im on the fence about the idea.

Exploration

  • At present its just random fights. Have an exploration consist of some dialogue explaining an event followed by several fights with additional rewards upon completing all the fights. Basically make it a quest. But with large pool of different exploration events and semi-random teams for each kingdom (eg: the same event doesn’t have the exact same team every-time, just a general composition). This fleshes out the lore and makes for more immersion. Probably also allow players several free skips each day with additional skips costing a gem just to prevent them from getting stuck on something they can’t finish.

  • The above feature opens up some more possibilities. There, again could be leader-boards associated with explorations completed per kingdom each week. And again these could give some nice rewards. Even better yet though, there could be weekly events in kingdoms that result in a new exploration event, or set of exploration events, in that kingdom as well as some new rewards to go with it for the week.

  • Building even father on this, there could be altered rewards for completing explorations with specific team compositions. For example, defending forest of thorns with an all elven & fey team, or invading it with all daemons. These conditions could be always present, tied to weekly events, or a combination of both.

That’s all the suggestions I’ve got for now. I may build on this topic later on.

6 Likes
2

I really like this idea. Challenges and Exploring are very similar right now, and while they serve two different functions, it would be nice if the two were more varied. This mode would also allow new players to have an experience playing with a specially built team that they may not have access to yet, not just randomly drafted picks in Arena.

3 Likes
3

I’m level 1001 (yes, that’s possible). I play arena just because I like it. Beware your assumptions.:sunglasses:

5 Likes
4

I think what I was getting at is, from a cost-benefit perspective, there is simply no reason too choose arena over pvp. Meaning youre objectively going to get less resources over time than grinding pvp. Playing arena for sheer joy or preference is a different story. Ill edit my post to be more specific as to what I meant.

You likely have way more experience with it than me though so feel free to correct me if Im wrong.

5

Not arguing your cost/benefit analysis, just the “no reason” part. Sometimes we play games just for fun, ya know?

6

Replace the gold cost with another cost (maps please, then make tyri make more maps)

The challenges are actually not that random, they are based on battles done during story mode. Resetting the challenges would give a benefit for everyone who beat them.

Leaderboards would bring in those that would claim cheating or some sort is going on. The reward at end of week idea is not bad, but it would make maps less valuable if there is an auto complete feature that only the elites would enjoy.[quote=“Frost, post:1, topic:11181”]
Exploration

At present its just random fights. Have an exploration consist of some dialogue explaining an event followed by several fights with additional rewards upon completing all the fights. Basically make it a quest. But with large pool of different exploration events and semi-random teams for each kingdom (eg: the same event doesn’t have the exact same team every-time, just a general composition). This fleshes out the lore and makes for more immersion. Probably also allow players several free skips each day with additional skips costing a gem just to prevent them from getting stuck on something they can’t finish.
The above feature opens up some more possibilities. There, again could be leader-boards associated with explorations completed per kingdom each week. And again these could give some nice rewards. Even better yet though, there could be weekly events in kingdoms that result in a new exploration event, or set of exploration events, in that kingdom as well as some new rewards to go with it for the week.
Building even father on this, there could be altered rewards for completing explorations with specific team compositions. For example, defending forest of thorns with an all elven & fey team, or invading it with all daemons. These conditions could be always present, tied to weekly events, or a combination of both.
[/quote]

It is supposed to break up the monotony of doing the same fight over and over again just to get trait stones and also made stones more easily obtainable. The events are not bad but the programming nightmare would be insane as it would be like adding a new kingdom full of stories. Leaderboard for exploration would be nice with end week rewards however that would make people want to play a game mode till boredom just like pvp.

7

I love arena too! It could use some love, however, I would love to see traits added to troops. The winnings could use a bump as well, but maybe that could be offset with a higher entrance fee or something similar. Arena is my go to when I am bored to tears of endless Exploration or PVP.

8

I definitely do not want them to add traits to Arena. The whole point of Arena is that it’s an even playing field (except for weapon choice, I know). To me, that’s the best part of Arena. I think they could improve Arena by allowing all 9 cards to be on the selection screen at once. If they did that, they would allow people to really use their team building/synergy skills. As it is, you are picking in the dark for most of the process.

7 Likes
9

This is an absolutely AMAZING idea… As an end game player, In such a situation I would actually consider playing arena over pvp for fun. The reason I don’t play arena at all anymore is because of that exact issue.

2 Likes
10

So true. Some of what Frost suggests I agree with, but making Arena and the other diversions more competitive would spoil the game for me. I used to play Arena to try new weapons, teams, fighting styles, etc. (as Frost says) before joining a guild. Once I joined and saw even my fun practice would be seen and judged, I stopped playing. Seldom do I see others in my guild play it either, and we are all low-level players.

Mini games should be challenging, and provide a break from the continual PvP grind. In the minourity am I, perhaps, but my life contains enough leaderboards with which to deal; leave the leaderboards where they are, but keep some areas for training, earning resources, and the like stress free.

11

I agree, it’s frustrating to (say) pick a green Common, and then see two really good green Raresvin the next screen…

12

QFT

I really liked the idea of Arena and played it a lot at one point. But, I kept getting frustrated by the blind selection process. My favorite activity in this game is team building with a myriad of various troops (not just top tier ones). Arena gives a player the biggest opportunity for that. But, that opportunity hasn’t reached its fullest potential.

So, I rarely play Arena now.

13

Ive added some more points to arena.

14

I’ll only focus on Arena. Well, there’s one idea I quite like. :slight_smile:
I’ll post that first:

[quote=“Frost, post:1, topic:11181”]
I think the win cap should simply be removed all together, allowing players to see just how far they can take they’re streak while continually getting greater rewards the farther they go. A leader-board could also be established showing the best runs and the teams they were accomplished with. There could also be weekly rewards (…)* for top arena runners. This would certainly bring in higher level players looking for new challenges, proving grounds, and rewards[/quote]
Sure! This sounds great, actually. I support it. :+1:

Here’s my take on your other suggestions, though. Please take it with a pinch of salt. To each their own, and mine is the Arena, so I can get a bit defensive when I feel it’s attacked. ^^

[quote=“Frost, post:1, topic:11181”]

  • maybe even troops specific to just these rewards,[/quote]
    NO! :-1:
    The game already evolved in that direction for far too many aspects, which I for one truly despise. I absolutely don’t want them to make that kind of move to Arena. I don’t want that game mode to attract the type of players who “casually” post their all-Mythic defense teams just to show that they have them. I don’t want the Arena to be about the rewards. That braggy nonsense belongs in constructed mode.

[quote=“Frost, post:1, topic:11181”]
Arena:
the gold cost should be removed.[/quote]
No, it shouldn’t. :money_mouth:

1K gold for a run, in this game’s economy, is a really low price. Once you’ve leveled up all your kingdoms, gold is hardly needed for anything else, except for when they release a new kingdom (just keep a 150K reserve, and you’re done), and even if you’re not in a Santa Klaus “top” guild of PVP grinders, you still get several thousands in gold daily from just tributes and/or whatever game mode you happen to play. The game is very generous with gold. Also, unless you’re an abysmal player, most GoW Arena runs result in a net benefit gold wise.

Sure, really recent and/or low-level players need to be careful in spending their gold, as they need a lot of it for their kingdoms, but it’s still affordable.

Compare this to any other card game and it’s the only one I know of in which the arena-like mode is actually sustainable without needing to either get insanely lucky, grind like a madman, or spend a lot of real money.

In HearthStone, a run costs 150 gold, which in that game’s economy represents at least a whole day’s worth of grinding and/or quests (which are super limited, too). And if you’re super lucky and extremely good, and actually reach 7 wins, you merely get your fee back at the end of the run. Otherwise, you get anywhere between 0 and some gold. Even at 6 wins, you can very well end up with a plain card and some dust instead, as a “reward”…

In SolForge, a run costs 3 tickets, of which you get one per day with daily quests, and that’s it. Even a full 4-0 run won’t win you any ticket back, so even if you’re super good and/or lucky, there is just no way to play their version of Arena (Draft Tournaments) regularly, unless you spend cash on more tickets…

They already removed the gold fee for all other battle modes. I don’t think they need to remove the Arena entry fee.

[quote=“Frost, post:1, topic:11181”]
Another issue I feel is holding back arena is the limited troop selection resulting in fairly stale team building. One possible change would be to allow Epics and Legendaries to have low a chance of being drafted in arena.[/quote]
NO! :-1:
Half of the appeal of the game mode is that it is a limited pool, and that gives the troops that are in the pool much more value there. Introducing Epics and Legendaries would utterly ruin that and make the gameplay and potential strategies much closer to PVP. That’s no fun and no no no, thank you very much.

NO! :-1:
It’s THE ARENA. You don’t get 40+ to every stat by default, and you need to play with (relatively) low-level, often also low-value troops and make the best of it. That’s the whole point. Banners, Traits, Hero Class bonuses, Ascensions and any other degenerate stuff that utterly ruins the game, can stay in PVP and other grind modes and well away from the Arena, thanks a million! =)

Edit:
About Arena rewards, one thing I really wish they would reconsider is the gem price for buying your line-up at the end of the run. Multiplying that cost by freaking 20 as they did a couple patches ago completely robbed Arena players of that relatively small but very cool perk, and I’m still salty about that. I wish they either returned to the 1 gem cost, or introduced another, realistically affordable price.

3 Likes
15

arena - lol certainly not wanna make arena with legendaries, and making them all legendaries that is a TOTALLY DIFFERENT game mode then the current arena so maybe design a different minigame, man

i like the current arena for supporting new ppl, letting them explore the early game troops, allowing older players to dive in the early game content once again for fun, and all the units are set up so the game is actually a fair challenge i like it all

the only thing id add there is the flags, option to see all 9 troops to choose from, maybe endless mode (with extra gold cost for another 8 games each time) and the ranking to the endless mode :slight_smile:

explore make it a quest - no no please certainly not, reading story line is slowing the whole fight down and explore is made for farming purposes, man, plus all the unnecessary programming, let it be

challenges - big yes, i love the idea of a fixed team fights that needs to be beat, learning tactics (the troops you use to beat the challenge is chosen for you but it could have levels and traits depending on that actuall troop yu posses if you have it, how is that?), that would certainly feel like a challenge and something to work on

edit:

treasure hunt - making the game auto play it self - a huge no! i do not want gems of war ever evolve into that direction. but i would like to see some way to spend more maps in same time with slight more rewards in comparison to spending one map - while playign that minigame, the maps hoarding feels like a waste of resource