This is actually a really key point that gives me an idea. Currently, journey battles have a small chance to give a small boost to a random(-ish, since it’s weighted against magic, clearly) skill. So, the stats CAN scale up as you progress through the event. The reason this isn’t particularly helpful is that the current system has two major flaws:
- The stat boosts aren’t common enough. Most battles give no boost at all, and when a battle does offer a stat boost, it often comes at the expense of miles - which are the main objective of battles, meaning the choice is largely unfair - so doesn’t get chosen.
- The stat boosts are too small. An extra +4 attack every single battle would still not match the scaling in enemy defence (life and armour) that happens after each battle, and an extra +6 life or armour would still not match the scaling in enemy attack that happens after every single battle, and if you ever get it, an extra +2 magic would still not match enemy scaling either. The enemy gets stronger faster than allied troops, even if allies were gaining boosts every time.
So the game forces you to choose between helping get more points to earn rewards for the guild or getting small bonuses to your stats in order to progress further in the event, which isn’t a bad system, except that the stat boosts are too small for the choice to pick stats over points to be viable, and the choice is too restricted.
I’d suggest that the best way to fix the event, as part of a re-design, would be to lean into the stat boost system. So, here’s my advice to the devs:
- Have every single battle give a stat boost when you win. That way, it doesn’t matter which battles you pick, you keep increasing in power and can progress further in the event even with enemy scaling.
- Make the stat boosts bigger, so that getting them allows you to keep up better with the enemy scaling. If the enemy troops are getting a boost to all four skills after every battle and we’re only getting a boost to one, the amounts being boosted can be similar, and we’ll still eventually be outmatched, but we get a better chance.
- Decide what the choice represents and lean into that. So, right now you choose between higher miles and faster scaling or less miles and less scaling, but there’s no real incentive to choose “less miles and less scaling”, because it just means more fights to get the same rewards, and we’re given hard limits to how many fights we can do (without buying more). Either the choice should be between
- less miles and bigger stat boosts (say 25% less miles gives 50% more of a stat boost) vs more miles and less stat boosts,
OR it should be between - less miles and better stat boosts (say the lower value choices give a 25% chance of life, 25% chance of armour, 25% chance of attack and 25% chance of magic) vs more miles and worse stat boosts (say 40% chance of life, 40% chance of armour, 10% chance of attack and 10% chance of magic).
And then the boss battles give double the rewards for higher enemy scaling. Picking the lower value of miles can still give less scaling, but there needs to be a better reward for picking that. This would give an actual incentive to pick lower value battles, but not so much that it becomes a better option than higher value battles - the key would be getting to a point were players feel that both are good options some of the time.
- Do NOT raise the values for reward tiers. As has been said, this mode should be fun and it’s actually a slog, so wait and see how far guilds actually get once you’ve re-designed the mode and what level of rewards they get compared to level of purchase in the shops. If players are doing too well, it can be adjusted a little, later on, but let them have some fun and feel rewarded in a mode for a bit, while you dial in the changes.
- Fix the pathfinder. Give it more damage to balance the riskiness of using it, or else change it’s third trait. You can already make it an “event captain” so that players get a bonus to scoring when using it, so just do that and make the third trait do something else during the event, more in line with godslayer and siegebreaker, in that they make the troop more powerful during their event. I’d love for them to generate more gems in their own event, but failing that how about having them gain 2x/2.5x/3x the stat boosts for any stat boost bonuses gained during the event. That way, they scale faster than the other troops we can use, making them far more usable the further into the event players progress. Instead of a bigger and bigger liability, like they are now.
- Make the changes and engage with players regarding how they feel about them, not just looking at the data of how many players spend in the event. If players feel frustrated by the mode, they’re more likely to stop spending later, and maybe even stop playing eventually (the mode, or even the whole game). Be aware what it feels like to play the thing you’re building.
- Communicate with players. Let them know what you’re doing and when it’s likely to happen, like with the PvP changes. Players who feel like they’re being listened to and spoken to with respect will be a lot happier and more willing to put up with small issues.
I really hope that helps, because right now Journey is ruined and needs major work. Without it, engagement with the mode is just going to keep getting worse.
