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Reimagine the Gauntlet

The gauntlet is the one section of the game that seems to still have the most problems; as far as most of the player base seemed to be concerned. While these are by no means a perfect suggestion on how to fix the problem, they may be worth exploring to reduce player fatigues and frustrations.

1.) Remove criticals:
The critical system is by far one of the most broken aspects of the gauntlet. From heavily weighted match-ups (where only 1 character runs away with a 65% chance) to these traits meaning nothing when a 45% chance character scores no crits against a 5% chance, the critical system is broken.

We can fix this by removing the critical system entirely and instead changing the way exhaustion works.

2.) Change how exhaustion works:

Instead of a critical percentage, tie trait matching to a reduction in fatigue characters experience. Set a defined rate of 20% fatigue per match when a character is used. (Ex.] A character with a range of 350 - 600 would experience a reduction of 20%, knocking their proficiency rolls to 280 - 480 the next time they are used; then 224 - 384 on the third use, and so and so on until they zero out.)

Matching traits reduces the overall fatigue a character would experience, instead of giving them a critical chance. Give a 5% reduction for each matched trait, meaning a character who matches all 3 traits in a gauntlet would experience fatigue at 5% instead of the normal 20% due to a 15% reduction. (Ex.] A character with a range of 350 - 600 would experience a reduction of 5%, knocking their proficiency rolls to 332 - 570 the next time they are used; then 315 - 541 on the third use, and so on and so on until they zero out.)

So the emphasis on matching traits becomes greater since you can't randomly hope to score an epic critical role; it would make matching traits be of greater importance, rather than just sending out lower crit characters and hoping to balance the field with critical roles.

3.) Revamp rewards:

The problem now is a lack of critical choice with rewards; so more should be done to allow players to have some impact on their rewards.

Keep the win-streak system, but modify the rewards to allow for some choice:

When a player hits a win streak box (3, 6, 9, etc.) present them with 3 randomly weighted options:

A.) Trainer Box - A box that contains a random amount of trainers of a random level.
B.) Item Box - A box that contains 2 - 3 items/components/equipment of a random level
C.) Honour Box - A box that contains a random amount of honour
D.) Character Box - A box that is effectively a behold that will contain 3 Gauntlet exclusive characters to be chosen from

So, like a behold, the player is presented with 3 options from the above list and then makes a selection based on what they want from as a reward from the box. This at least allows them to have some impact on what they are receiving, minimizing the feeling that a streak reward wasn't worth the effort to the achieve the streak.

Like I said, this is hardly the be-all-end-all of ways to fix the gauntlet; but I think it's a solid place to start on how to repair it.



Comments

  • love your idea
    “What's a knockout like you doing in a computer-generated gin joint like this?”

    Proud member of Patterns of Force
    Captain Level 99
    Played since January 2017

    TP: Do better!!!
  • great idea
  • JhamelJhamel ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited September 2020
    I like the BeGold idea if you get the "jackpot", in case one is immortal. Since there are only five characters in there, the choice would be pretty good when you can pick one of three.

    Also, why not increase the trait number? How about 5 or even 7 traits that would decrease fatigue by 5 purrcent? Then we would also see other crew than Locutus, Guinan, Armus, Gary, Boothby, Ari and Caretaker. The basics in this idea of the OP are excellent.
    "Everything about the Jem'Hadar is lethal!" - Eris (ST-DS9 Episode 2x26 "The Jem'Hadar")
  • I also support the BeGold idea. The concept of traits decreasing fatigue is fascinating!
  • +1 on all of this :)
  • Improving on the gauntlet would go a long way towards player experience. Char matchups and rewards improvements have my full support. Both would help make gauntlet less frustrating, and more enjoyable, as it ideally should be.
  • Prime LorcaPrime Lorca ✭✭✭✭✭
    This is definitely an interesting idea. But there are two bigger issues that I have with gauntlet. First is the walls. When you get into about the top 30 of a gauntlet, everyone is using an almost identical line-up. That's annoying. And for a new player, it takes a long time to overcome that. For a veteran player, you run into my second issue: mirror matches. When you run into the inevitable wall of Caretakers, your only option is to use your own Caretaker. But it seems like 70% of the time, you lose.

    Losing is frustrating. Why not give the attacker a slight edge in mirror matches? (I'm not sure how to accomplish this, but please hear me out.) So the defender loses - what are the consequences? The defender doesn't see it, so that part of the frustration is eliminated. The defender loses a small amount of trophies, but has an opportunity to win them back (plus some) in a mirror match. I played another mobile game where the attacker had the advantage in most cases. It worked out pretty well.
    Farewell 🖖
  • DittoDitto ✭✭✭
    the walls could be fixed by better logic choosing opponents ..

    6 opponents:
    1) 200 pts - very strong target - maxed out large dbl stats
    2) 150 pts - strong target - maxed out single stats - avg 1500s
    3) 100 pts - strong target - avg 1000s
    4) 60 pts - average target - avg 600s
    5) 30 pts - weak target - avg 300s rolls
    6) 10 pts - very weak target - avg 100s rolls

    .. or something like that.
    but regardless, two points:

    1) points awarded should be based on the estimated difficulty of the opponent ... stronger opponent = more points. Weather you start with the points, then find the opponent .. or find the opponent and calculate the points . either way would work.
    2) force/choose varrying different points. If you end up with multiple HUGE targets ... than you reroll or keep looking until you find a better range of opponents. If you start with the points .. it shouldn't be too hard to find an opponent to work with. Remember than choosing a champ that's "off skill" will naturally result in a smaller/weaker opponent ... so there's plenty to choose from ..
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