Disclaimer
As it stands now I have almost no interest in the Cyber Showdown rewards nor in the Capstone Challenges rewards that came and went in the past ten weeks. Sorry if I will end up beating a dead horse but I think everyone should give their feedback. Also sorry if this is going to be a wall of text.
The FOMO inducing aspect of the game
I was wondering how the current system is designed to not create FOMO. For all we know (and if I am wrong please let me know) the Capstone Challenge rewards are gone if one cannot complete the challenge on time. Same thing will happen if we cannot complete the event specific challenges.
So basically this means that some backdrops, nameplates, coatings, visors, emblems, stances and armor customization parts will be lost forever for anyone who did not participated in a specific event.
I think this is the exact opposite of “not creating FOMO” because if you miss an event (for whatever reason) you miss all the rewards forever. I also think this to be almost insulting for all the people who took time and effort creating the rewards only for them to be missable forever after just a week with the item not even appearing in the customization menu (at least I could not find them).
A possible solution
So I was wondering what a possibile solution could be and, as 343 asked to keep the feedback coming, I am going to suggest to not care about the “Single Reward Vector” (form now on SRV) for the event specific rewards and the Capstone Challenges rewards.
I know that SRV was a big part of the pre release coverage but as basically every other aspect discussed in the Inside Infinite articles was a blatant lie (millions of customisation options at launch, epic BTB battles, progress just by playing, no FOMO inducing time limited aspects) I think we can just ignore the SRV too.
Revamping the Challenge system should also be a priority. As it stands now the Challenge System forces players to play gametypes they do not like. I, and I know I may well be in the minority here, do not like Attrition at all but for the last two weeks I had no way of progressing the Challenges without playgint Attrition. This has led me to not wanting to play the game at all (I mainly play BTB and with that not working I saw no reason to play a gametype I hate).
I think a better challenge system should reward players for playing the game. I think something like:
- Score X cumulative points in any matchmede games
- Score X cumulative points in any Objective games
- Score X cumulative points in any PVP games
- Get X kills with any TYPE weapon
- Get X PVP kills with any TYPE weapon
where TYPE should be a class of weapons could allow anyone to progress every challenge by playing the gametypes they like (I got the idea from another thread and from Halo MCC Challenges).
For the time specific Events allow players to progress them by simpley playing one match per day (like it was during the Winter Contingency Event) while also allowing progress with Event Specific Challenges so that a dedicated player could unlock everything at their own pace. For example we could have a Attrition specific challenge list like:
- Score X cumulative points in Attrition
- Get X kills with any TYPE weapon in Attrition
that will also progresso the normal challenge but not the other way around (a progress in the weekly wuold not progress the event specific challenge).
Again this just makes things more player friendly but is not a solution for the FOMO inducing aspect of the game and does not requires the removal of SRV. So here the final point of this system: allow players who missed out on a particular item to buy it directly from the customisation menu unlocking the option six months after the challenge has expired.
Dedicated players will unlock the item for free at least six months before anyone else; players who could not unlock an item they like will be able to use it after some time by spending real money; the people who created the items won’t have wasted time and effort for nothing.
Bonus idea
Following the possibility to buy items directly from the customisation meny I suggest to leave the Shop as a Fetured Bundle Showcase menu and allow everyone to buy every single item directly form the customisation menu.
Also the rarity could be revamped by being indicative of the real rarity of an item. When a new item is released it is classified as a common item with cost being the lowest. After two weeks the number of purchased items should be evaluated and the rarity and price (I would prefer no price adjustment but it is a F2P game so a middle ground must be struck) could be adjusted. I think the following prices for common items could be a good middle ground:
- main armor elements (helmets, shoulders, gloves, knees): 300 cR
- armor attachements (head, chest, wrist, legs): 200 cR
- coatings (armor, weapons, vehicles): 150 cR
- wepon mods (charms and models): 100 cR
- emblems, backdrops and nameplates: 50 cR
The price cna then be adjusted to reflect real world rarity after two weeks. Players will want to buy an item they like as soon as it is available so they can buy it at the lowest possible price.
If you read everything up to this point, thank you for your time. Have a nice day.