Suggestions: a beta player's perspective on the update 4.2

Greetings Rovio!

Happy new year!!!

First off, i'd like to say that the new update looks promising and the new battle mode (shipyard battle) is very intriguing and brings a fresh take on deathmatches. i've played a few and i personally find it enjoyable.

to get to the point, with this new year comes my updated wish list of suggestions on what i believe will help everybody in the battelbay community have a more enjoyable gaming experience. please note that several suggestions here have already been mentioned before not just by me but by countless other players who care enough about this game to take time to post their opinions. the fact that i mentioned them again is simply because i strongly believe these are necessary to improve the game - for all types of gamers - big spenders, moderate spenders, casual gamers, die-hard hardcore grinders, etc.

1. SHIPYARD BATTLE MODE (multiple ship lineups)

• This is definitely a very fun mode for me, HOWEVER,from what i've seen, majority of the players don't have enough properly upgraded items to fully maximize 2 ships let alone 3 or more ships. Main concern here are the blue and yellow items. the previous meta encouraged players to scrap for parts/pieces/power cells any extra yellow and blue items they get (for others, that includes green and red items). with the limited battles i've played in the new mode i've already seen many players having 2nd and 3rd boats without strong shields and turbos leaving them very vulnerable (once the best boats are down, it's a quick sweep from there, most of the battles i've played have big score gaps around 10-4, 10-3). being a beta player, running 2.5 years now playing this game, i've had the benefit of being one of the early birds plus i do spend moderately on this game as well, so i have basically a complete max epic set of all weapons with the exception of napalm, swift torp and long range mortar. but as with most players, i never thought of building a 2nd max epic set of big shields, small shields, turbos, overboosts, nitros, tesla shields, tesla bolt, frost bolt and frost launcher... it just wasn't practical in the previous meta. This new battle mode changes all that, i had to resort to buying a rare turbo at the shop for my 3rd ship, my first alternate doesn't even have a turbo but luckily i had a spare overboost which i had mentally queued for scrapping if my inventory got full.
• having mentioned all that (above), this new game mode can be good but it will definitely deflate the enthusiasm of many f2p players as well as the budgeted spenders. The way item building is right now, it will literally take months for the average player to acquire multiple sets of blues and yellows for it to be effective in battles (especially the higher leagues).
• my personal opinion is this mode should not be used for ranked matches... for now
• with that, here are my suggestions to allow all players, with "moderate" grinding, to be able to catch up and maximize the new battle mode
  • ACCELERATE ITEM BUILD TIME - as it is, this game requires players to grind countless hours/days/weeks just to complete 1 item because item acquisition depends so much on luck
    • revamp shop mechanics
      • allow purchases for duplicates with escalating costs, up to epic or at least rare items. epics should now be obtainable with gold (this can be restricted with gold capacity based on captain or league level), players who have the money to spend can still get ahead with their epic builds by using pearls to override the gold caps).
      • allow items to be purchased via sugar as well or a combination of both (gold can be valued as 2x of sugar or vice versa)
      • all 5 color item pieces of rarities up to epic (at least) should be available at the shop ALL THE TIME, for a price (gold/sugar) maybe put a daily limit (limit is upgradeable depending on captain level and or vip status) on how many you can buy in a day but players should not keep on waiting for shop to refresh and pray it will offer an item piece of a specific color.
    • allow resource recycling or conversion
      • honestly, up to now, i still don't see any sense in the inclusion of power cells for item upgrades; parts and pieces are already hard to come by as it is. scrap those power cells please if not... then
      • allow power cells to be converted to parts/pieces or other rarity levels
      • allow players to convert parts/pieces to different colors/rarities with diminishing returns if need be.
      • allow gold conversion to sugar and vice versa with conversion penalties/taxes if need be.
    • more generous rewards
      • daily quests should be revamped and have better reward scales depending on captain level or league level
      • guild quest/rivalry should be upgraded as well, better rewards, who wants uncommon perks/parts they are easily obtainable at the shop, minimum reward should be rares
    • re-combining restrictions
      • allow players the ability to re-combine items, with the introduction of new items comes with it the decreasing possibility of acquiring your desired items, this can only done during the actual combining of pieces. limit it probably to 3 times (1st should be free, 2nd for gold/sugar, 3rd for pearls) OR re-combine chances should depend on how many items there for each color (this is assuming devs will keep on churning out new items per color) (i.e. 1 chance for every 4 items available for that color, thus, player has the most chances to re-combine for red items) once the player closes the combine window, that player can no longer re-combine that item (so be sure to add a prompt for players to confirm if they are done with attempting to recombine the item). ALTERNATIVELY, devs may consider adding pieces for re-combination (ex. player combines 10 red epic pieces and gets a sniper cannon, player can re-combine but must add 1 red epic item piece to recombine, 2 for a 2nd attempt and so on for successive attempts) OR simply require more gold (so many ways to do this, just allow it already and give the players some love)
    • add item (up to legendary) achievements for blue, yellow, teal items.
      • this is long overdue, if you can give red and green legendaries for free why not include the other colors?
      • some examples on how to do this:
        • turbo/overboost/nitro - total distance traveled with a turbo equipped and/or overboost/nitro activated
        • shields/tesla shield - total damage absorbed
        • stun / frost - total duration
        • bolster armor - total damaged absorbed with bolster armor activated
    • greatly increase daily stars limit (bring it back to 150 for starters) and add star box rarity levels, higher probability for better boxes as player increases captain level, league level, and/or infamy level.
      • the uncommon star box will remain readily available at all times but rare/epic and maybe legendary star boxes appear at random at the shop with improving probabilities as mentioned above.
      • include star acquisition in event matches as well.
    • greatly increase gold and sugar capacity (give the grinders a little love)
    • and please, please, please remove the coin expiry after every event, OR reduce the coin requirement to get the top reward for each event. OR extend the duration events. any of these will do... with the latest event mechanics, it's like devs want players who don't and can't spend to play the whole day just to earn those event rewards... come on, devs, not many have the luxury of time to grind more than 3 hours a day on the game, we have jobs in the real world too. maybe put a limit, but please allow carry overs again. the community will love you for it
• if this shipyard battle mode will be adapted to ranked matches as you said in the 4.2 video teaser here are some options i would like the devs to consider.
  • OPTION 1:
    • add a staging area where players can fit their ships with their best items with each ship having access to all the player's current inventory (it's like the player has a duplicate of each item for each ship he/she has unlocked. this option is the best for everyone and does not disrupt the current meta for item building. This staging area is exclusive to the shipyard battle mode only.
  • OPTION 2:
    • incorporate all the suggestions i've mentioned on accelerating build time and item development so players can have an easier and faster time to build up duplicate.
  • OPTION 3:
    • stick with the meta now but offer more specific discount packages on a daily basis and include more specific packages that can be bought for pearls/gold/sugar. ofcourse, those packages that need real money to be bought should be better, but don't neglect the F2P players as well by offering packages that can be acquired by grindable in-game currencies.

Notice i have suggested nothing to change the mechanics on acquiring legendaries, that remains a privilege of those who have the money to spend and those who have the skills to always excel in their respective leagues and maximize legendary acquisition opportunities. as i much as i enjoy sinking whales, i do respect their financial success and their ability to spend loads of cash on the game their support is vital for the longevity of this game thus it is, in my opinion, essential to protect their advantage in the game.

....

 

2. BRING BACK THE CREW - where is bhurt and the rest of the gang? here are some things devs might want to consider for them to do.

• limited/restricted item customization
  • to add more individuality for each player and add specific nuances to customization that will better fit a player's play style
  • each crew member, as before, has certain items designated as their specialties, thus players can, by upgrading crew levels (separate from skill tree), players can now do the following:
    • tweak item parameters - increase/reduce item parameters in exchange for other parameters (e.g. projectile speed, effect duration, effect chances, base damage, range, etc)
      • example: increase sniper range but reduce damage or crit chance, increase chance but reduce base damage or crit damage, perks will still be useful as they add specific stats for each weapon, this customization will add a more unique flavor for each player and more strategic depth for the hardcore players
    • crew members now have ship affinity (have their favorite ships, 1-2) , example: bhurt's affinity is for shooter and interceptor, player can choose up to 2 crew members as their 1st mate and 2nd mate thus:
      • crew members provide bonuses for a specific boat (trainable/ unlockable skills)
      • example: bhurt provides 5% damage boost for shooter as 1st mate, 2.5% damage boost as 2nd mate.
      • unlike the previous iteration, this crew abilities can't be unlock via sugar or other in-game currencies, they can only be unlock by achieving certain battle achievements like win X battles on shooter, or maybe playing x number of minutes using a specific ship.
      • i think some of my ideas here conflict with some current game meta but i think more can be done to develop this.

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So, what do you think guys? put a like if you support this thread and leave a comment if you want to add or debate the discussion points.

Cheers!!!

 

Thanks, some great points made here, someone get this to discord!

 

A lot of your ideas I like. in particular I’d love the staging area idea as it is, there’s no point me playing the ship yard mode and not only would I need to find enough copies of many items just to build a second one but I still need to improve my first one
New game features feel pointless if you can’t enjoy them apparently there are 3 new boats and several items that have been introduced in previous updates too? I wouldn’t know lol

 

I think they should make single version of powercells for all items or remove it at all . because this is one of the main think stopping us to evolve item when we have copies of items but no powercells and they are not even available in market to buy for gold.

 

I on the other hand find that I have too many power cells
we need the black market...and fast

 

I wish you were a developer of this game, it would be an amazing game if you were. I support you and these ideas. Please Rovio hire this man to at least be a consultant before you wreck this game completely