Edit Through my discussions with players on this thread I have come to realize that having a pure individual exp system would create unfix-able problems. As a result, I have come up with what I consider to be a compromise which would still achieve the goal of better games without leading to unfix-able problems.
I put this edit in for posterity sake and to give context to some of the discussions which have taken place already on this thread.
I will now edit my original post to reflect this change in idea.
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People have been calling for individual reward in this game for a really long time. A lot of people thought that PBMM was going to fix things, but its not even going to make it into game in an impactful way now. All of the clamoring for individual reward based on personal contribution comes from a place of frustration on the part of players who do play vastly better than their teammates at times and are tired of these lopsided matches which have become a normal occurrence. PBMM might have no real effect, but individual contribution can still be felt with an alteration to shared experience.
What is the current effect of shared exp in HotS?
Pure shared experience allows for a mismatch of players with regard to game knowledge and skill.
It creates a dysfunctional system where you have feeders, those who dont soak, those with bad map awareness, those who go to objectives at all times without exceptions no matter what is going on on the map or what lvls the teams are…and it joins these players with those who do soak, dont feed, and do know when to do an objective and when to give it up.
How does pure shared exp group these players?
The bad player is kept from sliding down by the good players efforts. The good player is kept from advancing by the bad player. Thus you continue to have a slow moving system which keeps the better and worse players grouped together with each other.
There is a systemic problem with pure shared experience because it keeps these good and bad players grouped up in the same ranks together. Both players keeping each other from either sinking or rising.
The idea: Dynamic Shared Experience
With dynamic shared experience a player would not gain any experience as long as they were dead. With one exception listed below.
Example:
Your team is level 3 and you die while trying to get that globe for your quest. When you are dead your team levels up to level 4. At the time that you spawn you will still be level 3. Now that you are alive you will once again be able to gain from shared experience.
Exception: Gaining exp while dead
There would be one situation where you could gain experience when dead. If you died during a fight where you had participated in doing damage (or healed those who did damage) in a fight which resulted in killing the enemy.
I know that Blizz already has the ability to track such statistics. They already know who was the “team scrapper”, “clutch healer”, etc.
Dynamic shared experience would work to encourage personal accountability.
How would it do this?
1. It would encourage more tactical engages. If you knew that you could kill the enemy (especially with a roaming ganker), then you could weigh the likelihood of securing the kill or back out if you knew you could not trade into the enemy. Higher personal cost for dying. Higher reward for killing them.
2. If you noticed that you were constantly the lowest leveled player on your team then you might make adjustments to your gameplay so that you didnt die as often. This would result in a better playerbase.
3. Map awareness among players should increase if they begin to feel the sting of their own neglect. No one to give you exp while your waiting to spawn. With this increased map awareness should come better pings and communication among teammates who are now becoming aware of the larger picture.
Shared exp encourages people to play more recklessly because there is no personal consequence for doing so. This leaves players who do play responsibly to pick up the slack for their failing teammates. And at some point, you need to pay too much of a price for others bad choices and not gain a personal advantage for doing so. It has the affect of lowering overall player moral. And it also allows a breeding ground for bad personal gameplay.
Implementing a change like this would have a short term unsettling consequence for the players. However, it would result in long term health because it would eventually move players of differing skill into higher or lower ranks based on their repeated gameplay at a sharper rate.
The players who die more often would lose more often and no one could carry them to an undeserving win. As a result the worse players would fall in ranks faster than they currently do.
I hope that Blizz realizes that players like me and those who wanted PBMM actually enjoy this game a lot and want to see it do well. This is why we want a healthier game that rewards those who do well and penalizes those who do not do well (including ourselves when we fail).
A lot of us are tired of lopsided wins and losses. When I get a lopsided win and it asks me to rate how much fun I had during that game I always put 1 star. I dont have fun stomping a lesser skilled team. This happens so often that it has become the expected “norm” for HotS games. Its a great game, but has a deadly flaw.
The goal of socialism:
Equality of outcome.
The effect of shared exp:
Equal outcomes. No matter if Im a good player or a bad player I get a win or a loss just the same.
Look on Twitch. HotS has a pitiful amount of viewers when compared to other MOBA’s. Its not because HotS is less interesting. In fact, HotS is far more interesting…there must be some other problem.
HotS has different maps which alter strategies for playing. It has objectives which work to collide the teams together all throughout the game. It has instant power gains through talents instead of needing to hearth every 3 minutes to buy another item.
HotS is a superior game…with an Achilles heel (bad matchmaking which is caused by shared experience).