Thursday, April 16, 2020

Making the most of the rivals event [suggestion]

Let me start by saying the rivals event had its issues and criticisms, and this isn't related to any of that or the results. That is dealt with elsewhere, and keep this discussion relevant.

One thing that was great to see was the Bingo format and varied requirements of the players broke up the gameplay from a pure formula or meta game style for success as seen with Code Red. Some of the contestants spoke after on stream about enjoying the varied challenge and energy of it plus forcing them to think their strategy through a lot more than a money stacking formula. I watched a streamer take a bitcoin out of their gamma for a hot rod, none does that in normal gameplay. I didn't watch every team, so I can't comment for everyone but a lot that I watched enjoyed the format and the change of pace, and I did too.

My suggestion would be to offer the Bingo card to the player base from now until the wipe as a quest to help liven up the game for people bored, so we can all try our hand at it too, especially the armchair strategists. Accepting the quest would give a million roubles and a labs card. Will that break the economy? This late in the wipe, probably not. Labs cards have been trending upwards but still hold good value.

My thought would be a series of quests that can be accepted from Fence, that cover the horizontal, vertical and diagonal lines of the card (NA or EU card as people see fit), so completing tasks will tick off on all quests simultaneously, then on completion of a bingo line the prize would be a nominal sum of money e.g. USD 1800(higher, lower, whatever) to cover at least the insurance costs on the lost gear and a chunk of XP. Completing all nets a decent amount of cash, but not absurdly OP and worthwhile attempting for fun without crippling a player's economy to complete (I'm looking at you reap m1a task).

Completion of all of the Bingo lines opens a final quest to do something menial to complete e.g. level 1 with all core traders that anyone can pass. This final quest earns a big xp bonus, a unique outfit from Ragman as well as a cosmetic item with high resale value to traders to incentivise completion and recoups cost of attempting. Having an outfit means people get something that can't be taken away from them or lost in raid until wipe, and something physical to use as they wish. The XP should mean newer players go for it as well as a major leg up to levelling traders or towards getting flea market open rather than it being purely end game players that go for it. E.g. enough xp to instantly get a level 1 account to level 10.

You could also drop a random common item for every subtask completed, so we can all get our fix of toilet paper and crackers, and a rare or legendary for a bingo to spice up with some RNG. Or you make it community based, you and everyone on your friends list in the messenger gets a common drop if you complete a square, and vice versa. That way it doesn't punish solo players, but encourages community and making friends overall. Also encourages you to purge your messenger list of players you added to flame.

Participation is optional and doesn't feel mandatory to stay in line with the curve, completing it gains you no significant advantage over other players this late in the wipe, but helps break the boredom and gets people in raid doing non linear actions like going for AGS kills etc which may liven things up a bit for people who are sick of running marked rooms and shoreline and seeing the same things raid after raid. Plus a square was killing hatchlings, so you get something back for your money spent on bullets and gets people hunting them more actively which is always good.

When the next rivals event happens, remove these quests and replace with the new ones the day after the event finishes. My guess is rivals events won't happen early in any wipe, so you can sport your achievements for a period of the patch.

Is it cheesable? Somewhat. Can some of the tasks be gamed to achieve? Yes. Will some people take the opening cash and labs card and never try a single task? Possibly. Will it be something fun? Hopefully.

About the only thing it will break will be the cost of vodka, mayo etc, but right now they are not used beyond square placeholders for roubles in a bag while looting.


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