I really wish the RNG element in seasonal themes would get reduced (should still be there as it’s just a function of such a game) and a progression element existed for the entire season.
An example of this is the EN’s this season. People grinded the hell out of it because it was the best paragon leveller by far.
But there was literally 0 incentive to get past Tier 150, which could be done very easily very early on in the season. Why was there absolutely no effort into providing some incentive to get people try to go for more experience or rewards, when all that getting to 150 really required was that players survive (in group play, more skill required in solo play), as the 0 to 100 Tiers are just running around and making sure the constructs are killed when spawned. With the Power, Speed & Channeling pylons (depending on group damage are hit anywhere between 0 to 100) providing the damage / survivability required to last until 120+ and then the Conduit Pylon does all the work until 150.
Sure, the rewards in Experience gain & Gem Augments were very worthwhile early on (and the Experience continues well into higher paragon levels). But it’s so boring (repetitive and the only variability is whether you get the easier map, or the slightly harder map because of mild obstacles in mobs having to path towards the middle) because ultimately it had been cleared, but had to be run out of necessity for efficient paragon levelling.
It feels like the Angelic Crucibles will run into a similar problem this season, with the fact that it’s heavily RNG based, i.e. a player could get their optimal stats / skill on their first roll and it’s also theoretically possible (in a probability sense) that a player could never get their optimal stats / skill, even after using every Angelic Crucible they get.
- How does this provide any longevity to the first player? They will hit their cap way earlier at some stage, and then have to make the decision to grind paragons to climb higher.
- The second player is artificially given longevity, because they still have incentive to continue the grind.
- The difference created by the RNG nature here creates a gap between the two players, and there really is no other mechanism (assuming both play equal time & similar skill level, obviously someone who puts more effort in has a higher chance of progressing) for a player that has bad luck with RNG to close the gap in any other way).
All you need to do is look at the Leaderboards for this season. The number of 150 solo clears is dismally low, across all classes. This could be a factor of the Immortal release, but it really seems like the Season was not balanced correctly, and there was no longevity incentive to grind away for the Paragons required to clear 150 solo (it’s a ridiculous amount of Paragons & it seems like the only way to get there is botting?).
Players enjoy fun games and no one is asking for a casual, smooth-fest, easy time game. The new rewards this season are repetitive, the new required grind is dull and there was nothing to keep people playing throughout the season.
This season was so depletive for a lot of my own clan mates that they seem very optimistic about the next season, but personally I think the shine will wear off fairly quickly once they realise it’s not so different from the current season.