Reviving the Bay - a list of suggestions!

It is no surprise to anyone that the active users in this game is in a sharp decline, and I think a lot of it is due to the dramatic shift that the game has recently underwent from being a very experience-oriented game into a money-making machine.

In my opinion, if things continue as they are now the game is really on its last months.

Personally, I do love this game, have invested quite a lot in it and believe it has everything it takes to become a timeless masterpiece.. but the devs have to realise that there has to be a right mix between hard work/achievement and spending. Needless to say, the more people are engaged with the game (and the bigger the player base) the more money will come in anyway, without the current big shift towards milking the remaining players.
From my end, here is a list of suggestions which I believe could help revive the game somewhat and enable all game modes to once again be more active.

RANKED MODE
Currently almost dead due to the fact that people hit 5k and stop playing altogether. And who can blame them as there is no incentive to play, unless you are an extremely skilled player and think you have a chance at top 10, just sit at 5k and enjoy the rewards!

Suggestions:
1. Leader boards!
At the end of each season, there should be a leader boards list for each league containing the highest-achievers in different categories (obviously other than top infamy which is covered by standard season standings). For example, Highest Damage, Most games played, Most Kills, Highest fixes, Biggest infamy gain, etc etc. At least 10-15 different categories. Anyone who makes the leader boards should be given a small reward, maybe 1 legendary piece, or 20 legendary parts, or a legendary perk of their choice etc. Also, when you click on the profile of someone who has made it to the leader board the previous season, to the left of the infamy the category should be mentioned.. For example "Highest Damage - Nightmare 1!" or similar.
2. Forcing ranked activity!
Two different ways this can be done. Either making everyone in the higher NM league reset to 4999 instead of 5000, or mandating 2 games (average 1 game per season week) to be eligible to receive rewards at the end of the season.


CASUAL MODE
Currently perhaps the most played game mode. But what's the point when its exactly the same as ranked but without any benefit? In my opinion, there should be a clear distinction between casual mode and ranked mode. It cannot be "just the same" with no infamy consequences. It loses its meaning and people very quickly can become very bored of the game entirely.

Suggestions:
1. Fleet Sizes!
In Casual mode, fleet size should be increased to 3 players. This will make it more interesting and will serve a clear distinct difference from Ranked - you can fleet with more of your buddies! And the fear of being unbalanced should not matter as there is no infamy anyway. More fun with more friends on the same team!
2. Team sizes!
Casual mode should be restricted in terms of team sizes to less than 5v5, which should be exclusively for ranked mode. Two team sizes should be available, perhaps 2v2 and 3v3 would be ideal but also possibly 4v4. Once again, paired with the larger fleet sizes, this could make for some very interesting games with different setups!
3. Maps!
Since team sizes are smaller, the smaller maps which are sometimes used for Events can be used in casual now. If the devs decide for a 4v4, then perhaps the full size maps can be used. But if its 2v2 and 3v3, the smaller maps can be used all the time, meaning the bigger maps are exclusively for Ranked mode!

EVENTS
Events popularity also seems to have dropped, and motivation for it as well. Getting 800 coins within 2 days is a difficult feat for anyone but the most hardcore gamers. Coins do not carry over (I understand, to force non hardcore players to spend for perks), and that paired with the fact that the events don't last long, epic perks are literally impossible to get, as well as the fact that usually most of the perks on offer are mediocre and not very interesting, makes for a perfect motivation-killing storm. Either you pay up and risk getting mostly crap perks and very maybe that 1-2 perks that you want, or playing hardcore for hours and hours for those 2 days only to get to the same outcome. Making events more frequent does NOT solve the issue!

Suggestions:
1. Coins Carry Over!
However, to a limited extent. Similar to guild quest tokens, there should be a limit to how many coins can be carried over. For arguments sake, lets assume 2000 as that is the equivalent of a 100$ spend. That would make players who cannot afford 3-4+ hours a day of gaming to still be interested in events, whilst at the same time avoid people hoarding coins and splashing them all in 1 go when the odd event comes along with more good perks than bad ones. The actual spending meter though should obviously reset (reference to suggestion #4)
2. Epic perks!
Lets be honest, the big problem with the old events system was the guaranteed legendary item piece every 10 buys, which really devalued legendary items. However, the 'fix' was too severe, really a knee jerk reaction. I suggest bringing back the guaranteed epic perk every 10 rolls, and removing the % chance for epic perks. That would mean 1 epic perk every 600 coins spent which is not unreasonable at all. I would even say 1 epic should be every 6 rolls, so you can guarantee 2 epic perks by the time you get your legendary perk. Again, with many perks being undesirable, this would be a great compromise, and also ensure people go for that "1 or 2" extra boxes just to get the guaranteed epic. More motivation to play.
3. Parts!
Adding this to the mix could be great as well. 1000 green, 400 blue, 50 epic or 5 legendary with various % rates and some sort of guarantee every x amount of buys, similar to epic perks. Currently there is no way to get legendary parts except from the season reward or guild quest raffles. This could be another way!
4. Perk Roll @ 1600 Coins!
As it stands now, when you hit 800 coins spent, you get a chance to randomly get one of the 10 or 12 or however many perks are up for grabs during that specific event. Another option, in my opinion, should be added. If you don't want to spend the 800 coins for a random perk, you can choose NOT to 'claim' the 800 reward and keep using coins. Once you reach 1600 on the meter, you can claim a "Perk Roll" reward. You get to choose 3 (or 4 or 5) of your favorite perks from the ones available during the event, and roll between those only. Since the coins spent meter resets between each event, and you can only save up to 2000, you will only be able to use this perk roll once if you have already maxed out your carry over coins bank. The rest.. You will have to spend!! And this will be great motivation for someone who only wants 1-2 perks from the list of 10-12 highly undesirable ones (or if he has most of the others already).


I am sure there are many different ways apart from what I have suggested which could revive the game.. Those are just a few points that I thought of today thinking about it for under an hour.

Ultimately, the more people there are playing the game, and the more active and engaged they are, the more they will spend and the more the company/devs will make money. Trying to turn a fantastic game into a purely money making machine whilst killing the playability of it is not the way to go.

 

These are all good options.. I think they should open up the fleet sizes to 3 ppl .. like you said it's more fun when u can play with more of ur buddies .. I also think they should do different categories for rank like 2v2 or 3v3 rank modes everyone can start at 0 and work their way up like they did in the regular divisions

You have a lot of good ideas but Rovio never listens to the players .. I have no motivation to play events anymore because like you said most the perks are crap and dont want them .. and why would I spend my money or time trying to complete the event only to get shit on and get a perk I don't want so the roll of the perk (like raffle) is good idea .. but what I really love is the guarantee of getting that leg piece or epic perk .. when they took that away and gave us only 2 days to try and finish the event I quit playing for 4 months .. there wasnt anything for me to try and get ..

Legendarie items is what ppl want and if you cant get any pieces or buy the materials you need what's the point .. you have to wait every 2 weeks just to get 30 or 40 leg material which is letting you level that leg item 1 time .. so it takes you 3 months to level an item after you get to t2 since they decided to raise the amount of leg material you need to level that item ..

Rovio/ Devs you are ruining this wonderful great game .. have you even checked lately at how many GREAT players have stopped playing ? I've been playing for almost 3 years and I'm disappointed in how many of my friends have stopped playing because of the things you have done to this game .. I look through my friends list and see so many great players that have stopped .. you need to open ur mind up and listen to some of the remaining players you do have left .. or your gonna risk losing alot of the best players in this game ..

 

The ideas are good, but none of them are enough to get players back in the game.

I don't see a specific issue with players sitting at 5k and not playing ranked... that's happening at all Infamies. The action is to address the reason(s) players aren't playing ranked... and the reasons why players are leaving the game, and the reasons why new players are not joining the game.

 

That's exactly what I addressed. The reason people are not playing ranked, and leaving the game. There is no more incentive or motivation to play. Why play ranked when I can sit at 5k and enjoy the rewards without risking anything? I risk my rewards but gain what? Why play casual at all? Why play event when it's impossible to collect 800 in 2 days and even if I do I end up with a insignificant perk? The suggestions I posted won't by any means bring the whole gang back but I think it would be a step in the right direction

 

I don't play ranked because matchmaking is too broad, makes no sense, and RNG matchmaking makes this one level removed from being a skill based game.

I play casual because I can play with under-leveled gear and boats, better contribute to guild quests, and thus it's more interesting overall.

I play events if they are fun and can be rewarding (like 3x gold). I don't worry about the perk because as the last 3 legendary perks have proven, it's far more likely than not to get something useless as your "reward."

So I have actually proposed that Infamy/Ranked/Leagues are removed from the game.... because it's the mode that adds the least value. The key to getting players re-invigorated may be in fixing Infamy/Ranked/Leagues so that players can again feel some sort of skill progression. Battle Bay has stalled out on progression now that Infamy is no longer the primary progression metric, just items/boats.

 

Brilliant suggestions! Every single one of them makes perfect sense.
The Perk Roll system might require longer events, so that people can actually get at least some coins. We can already see how unpopular something is when the only possible way to get it is from spending money.

 

I know that some people sit at 5k. They barely form 70 players which is not the reason why ranked is dead. Most of them sit there in my opinion because there is no competition. Game is unbalanced. It's way hard for me (as a non-meta user) to go up while any meta fixer can easily go up. Balancements will bring back the competition to the top.

I like your ideas. It's all about showing the competition in ranked.

It's a no. I'm against forcing players to play ranked. Two battles won't form any difference.
Instead of this, I would go for nerfing the rewards (let's make it 1 legendary piece and more parts or powercells) for all excluding top10. Why not top10? To keep the competition at the top because some players just play for the rewards. If you want better rewards, you will need to push for top10.
Again forcing players to play is not optional.

I already have some ideas in mind to make ranked significantly more appealing than casual.
I will mention for example giving players ×2 bonus in addition to the default bonus for specific guild quests like dominator.. win machine.. star hoarder in ranked. Why not dmg quests? To avoid spammers. Win machine quests will add more ships variety to ranked.

I don't see it happening. The problem is ranked not casual. You don't want casual to be more appealing.
Instead of this, I would go for a new system that limit casual rewards after specific number of Battles.
In general, there is no problem in casual. Maybe changing game mode every week will be enough.

Regarding events in general, removing guaranteed legendary perk and adding a chance for a legendary perk in perks box in addition to scaling box prive or drop rates based on cpt lvl will solve events problem.
Everyone will get valuable rewards.
In addition, I would go for limiting event perks to the specific event, so grenade event only offer grenade perks..
Coins carry over is not optional, but at the same time I don't disagree with coins storage. Coins storage will be up to 500, if you buy coins your coins won't disappear. It should just add up to 3000 for example. However, if you play for coins, it won't go above 500.

Hopefully, you got my points. If there is anything unclear let me know.

 

Is that you WarHawk lol.
At this point almost any changes would be welcome. The game is fun but becomes stale and quite boring when playing for extended periods of time.
There is no point in pushing infamy when it isn't a true reflection of your personal abilities unless you are able to carry your team 90% of the time.
I disagree with buffed rewards for top 10 only because it would mean faster gear progression for them and isolate the competition and after a while give a huge advantage to those select players making it near impossible for any up and comers to have a chance.

Rewards should be scaled with Captain level across the board (Game modes, crates, calendar). I don't need free uncommons every day when it is instant scrap with next to no chance of giving me anything useful.
That being said, battle rewards and infamy should scale with your level according to other participants. If a level 45 boat does just as well as level 50s that player should receive a boost to their progression so they can actually play at a level they belong at.

 

More rewards for top10 will barely form a difference. Most ppl at the top are already maxed out. It will just bring a meaning for the competition. I don't mind diving nml on groups of 100 players tho.

 

That might actually help a lot. If more people feel they have a chance at winning 1st place there would be a lot more competition not only at the top but for players nearing NM as well.
I'm sure there are players who look at the top 10 and say "I'll never be able to compete with that so why even try" then they just chill and reap their rewards.

 

I propose all of the above amazing changes

I feel i have a chance of winning top season every time. And I will be like 2 wins from clenching it. And then I suffer 4 losses in a row. Goodbye top spot.

Having a leaderboard with different categories will give others a chance to shine.

I'd also support a free epic perk at the halfway point. Why does it have to be all or nothing? What if an epic is good enough for most?

 

While it is one thing to get top 10 in the world, getting top 10 in your league generally means you sandbagged to get into a lower league then worked up to top 10 on your way back up to your legitimate league. To fix that top 10 should never give more rewards than what players in the next higher league get.

 

Hi to the community..

I ve had many ideas about it, in general POISON has covered me with everything he said.

Before starting, I d like to thank POISON for all the time he invested in thinking those ideas, discussing them, creating the post
and giving all the other people the chance to comment about what we are all thinking and talking in private, but not in public.

One of my first ideas, was to force players to play ranked games but, true be told, you can't force anyone to do something,
it's a game after all.

Motivations can be given though.

My last idea, was to remove the legendary parts as rewards of the leagues and, depending on the league each player belongs to,
to be giving legendary parts per gained infamy. At least be given a standard of few legendary parts per league and then, as followed.

For example, per 1000 infamy points gained per season, 30 legendary parts (so If some player is making +24, -21, + 25, -23, + 22,
he would gain a total of 71 infamy points). This would give a different ammount of parts per gained infamy, depending on the league
each player belongs (for example 30 for NM1, 20 for NM2, 15 for Ace1 etc)

Let's be honest, using the NM 1 league position having been earned already, most players are out of motivation to play for more.

They don't have the time or the abilities to get first 10 places, they can earn gold and sugar from events and casual, by completing
quests as well, risk free.

In addition, I believe that NM 1 and maybe NM2 leagues could be divided in sub - groups, for example NM1 a, NM2 b etc, it's easier
now, since there is already inflation at the infamy of the players as a whole and so people who were ACE 1 or barely NM before, can
be good NM 2 or NM1 players, so there is more infamy in the game, let's say.

This would give better prizes for more people and could also be used as an anti-cheating measure, since there have been accusations
(not proofs, of course) for players who are throwing games in favor of players of their guilds, if those accused players are playing in
another group, fighting for first prizes, where their guild mates do not belong, i believe they would not throw games. It's just a theory
on my head but i prefered to share it, it could be a good one theory, combined with the fact that more prizes in some groups, could
be a good motivation for people who feel the are "victims" of lack of incentive.

Finally, about the perks, my suggestion is that the events should be more rare, compared to today, giving the chance to the players to
play a lot or pay money, for a smaller quantity of perks.

For example, having an event based on grenade damage, giving only 4 grenade perks and not a carronade or duct tape one.

My personal opinion and not only is that, it's better to have to play a lot more or harder, for something you really want, rather than to
try so much for nothing.

A random epic and legendary perk, could be given for every games a player has won each season, new season/new countdown, for exa-
mple, for every 50 won games 1 epic perk, for every 150 won games 1 legendary perk, all random.

Personally I have my business and life as well, Iike all people in here, I can't overdo it with battle bay events anymore - officially declared.

I ve shared some ideas I have had, which would help the game to be played more and more, combining all in one:

a) many ranked games played to get leg parts, without the parts your pieces and items are really useless

b) more interesting events, targetting on something you really want and need, without the guarantee you ll get it (you may need only 1
out of 4 perks, for example)

c) people who are suspicious that other players are cheating, will see the chances of cheating minimized, with so many players online
at the bay and without the possibility to choose, whom to play against - it really can happen in high infamy games, pretty easily -.

I believe my suggestions can bring only improvements and I d please the developers to take them into consideration.

I hope more people will be active in this conversation, I m thankful to POISON once again for his start to make the post.

Talking each other that the game is no more interesting and not strengthening our voices, is NOT a solution. I like this game so much, for
so many reasons and I m afraid that if more people stop playing it (i believe i won't stand for long time more, this is not at all a kind of
threat), the game will be less and less interesting as the difference between the top and the newer players coming, would be prohibitive
for the new players to join the game more seriously.

Thanks in advance to all who have had the patience to read my post.

Sincerely yours,
Emmanielo

 

Edit: You are already aware of the problems, so I'm just going to post my opinion on how to fix them.

Why should we avoid forcing players to play ranked?
Forcing players to play the game to get the rewards is not good in my opinion. I don't see players not playing because of the rewards in inverse I see players trying hard to push in infamy to get a chance for better rewards. Forcing players to play specific number of battles or whatever in my opinion won't solve anything. Couple battles per season won't make ranked feel alive again. Instead of forcing players to play, I prefer giving them a mode with acceptable risks. Balancements, fast queue time.. which will allow for more tweaks to improve matchmaking.. Players should voluntarily play the mode. The best things you can do is limiting all reasons that make this mode unappealing like the feel of unbalanced teams due to 4.0 update.. Like multi-fixers teams due to the overuse of this ship.. Like long queue time for top players.
How to fix long queue time in ranked?
All solo 5k+ players are counted as 5k. The problem is that a minority of 5k+ players and nightmare players in general play solo. Most of players prefer playing fleeted. For 5k+ players, fleeting will significantly affect queue time, but it will significantly increase the chances to win. I don't see any harm in counting all 5k+ players fleeted or not as 5k infamy in matchmaking formula. This will allow players to fleet without feeling punished with long queue time. It will be better to count all of them as 4k too instead of 5k to give significantly faster matchmaking. At the same time, you can reduce gained infamy and increase lost infamy based on total infamy difference between both team. This will allow more tweaks in matchmaker to give more balanced matches if necessary without worrying about it significantly affecting top players.
How to bring back the competition to ranked?
There is no competition in ranked. Balancements are necessary to provide a fair competition. However, in addition to balancements counting all 5k+ players as 5k no matter if fleeted or not will promote duos in ranked. We already have duos competing at the top, but due to the long queue time some of them give up too soon. Counting all 5k+ as 5k (or all 4k+ as 4k) will remove one of the main reasons in my opinion that kill the competition at the top. Casual players will be able to compete in ranked instead of feeling like a waste of time because they don't have the time to wait for each match. Keep in mind that queue time for fleeted players at the top is 10mins+ and sometimes longer. Efficient balancements to give all players with different ships and loadouts fair chances to win in addition to significantly reduce matching time by counting all as 5k or 4k will make ranked so competitive at the top.
Why is the current infamy system not accurate?
In my opinion, current infamy system is not accurate because players can easily go up and down in infamy within a short duration. As a 5k player, it will take me less than couple hours to go back to zero infamy. I believe that putting 24 infamy on the risk every battle make ranked mode unappealing. I recommend going down to 12 instead of 24 for ranked mode. With 24 infamy on the risk players feel like they dropped too much after 4 losses. With 12 infamy on the risk players won't feel like it's a big loss. In inverse, infamy will feel way more accurate. I recommend scaling infamy gain/loss based on individuals infamy. For example, a 5k player will have ±12 and a 1k infamy will have ±24 per match. Why? To keep the feel of progression in infamy. The more you go up the less infamy you gain/loss. Granular infamy in general wasn't a bad idea, but it can be simplified to do the work that was intended to it in a way all players will accept it. I recommend using the following formula: every ~500 infamy gained/lost individually will go down by 1 like ±(25 - Infamy/500). It can be adjusted to give a more effective system, but in general it's simple and easy to understand by players in inverse to granular infamy which was rejected by the community because it felt complicated and unexplainable. This way a 5k player will not feel. like risking too much infamy because he will have ±15.. and a new player won't feel that it's a long way up because he will have ±25.
How to make all game modes fairly appealing?
Keep in mind that players don't risk anything in other game modes like in casual and events. In my opinion, there should be a risk factor in all modes. It's full infamy in ranked mode. Other game modes shouldn't have full infamy because they are significantly more easier, so players will just move from ranked to events because it's way easier to win an event match. Team Elimination game mode in ranked in my opinion is the only strategy based game mode where all ships/loadouts can have fair odds to win (we need balancements). In team deathmatch, it's more about shooters and fixers.. Capture the flag is for speeders.. My recommendation is counting every 5 events battles as one ranked battle. For a player who gain/lose ±25 infamy in ranked, events will give/take ±5 per battle. For a player who gain/lose ±15 infamy in ranked, events will give/take ±3 per battle. In this way, events will become "risky", so ranked will feel "less risky" than now. Again, it's now high risks in ranked with no risks in events. If you add some risks to events, and if you reduce the risks in ranked as mentioned above. Ranked will have normal/acceptable risks. In addition, all players won't leave ranked for easier wins in events because ranked will be ×5 more significant than events. If you want to go up, ranked will be the only option because it will take forever to gain the infamy in events. This will require more balanced matches in events. I already mentioned a very efficient way to give balanced events matches previously. Since players gain coins in events, I recommended using a virtual gear score in matchmaker which will reflect wins/losses in events using coins.
On the other hand, casual needs to be limited. Give players bonus for completing specific guild quests like win machine in ranked. Make casual consume tickets or tokens.
How to take advantage of events to make ranked more appealing?
Guaranteed perk makes it feel like players need to stick to events queue whenever events are on. I recommend removing guaranteed perk and add a chance for legendary perk in perks box. Drop rates for ship pieces boxes and price/drop rates of perks box should scale with capitain level or leagues. A lvl20 player might be satisfied with uncommon perks, but a lvl50 player needs at least epic perks. In this way, all players will feel like they have fair chances for valuable perks not just players who can reach 800 coins. In addition, I recommend making every event limited to the special weapon for example grenade event will offer 50% grenade perks, so 4 out of 8 perks should be grenade perks.. In this way, if players don't need the perks they can stay in ranked queue, and if players get useful perks than they will move to ranked queue instead of playing for 800 coins. If you think that players might stop spending to buy coins for the perks, in my opinion it's totally the inverse. Players will spend money to get "guaranteed" perks for their favorite weapon. People who tend to spend money to complete the 800 coins progress actually are way less than players who will spend money for the valuable epic perks if drop rates are significantly increased based on capitain level or leagues. People who currently spend once to complete the 800 coins progress barely have 2/8 chances for a useful legendary perk. If drop rates are scaled on capitain level, they won't just spend money once for a 2/8 chances. They will spend money for like 4/8 chances to get a useful perk not once, it's two, three, and four times if epic and legendary chances are significantly increased (or reducing box price). Instead of a guaranteed rarity (legendary) which mostly end up as a useless perk, they will get a "guaranteed" useful for their favorite weapon with significantly higher chances for a good rarity. Keep in mind that people who spend money are mostly with high capitain level or league. The perks box will become worth the money.

 

How about eliminating Fleet in ranked? We all know the way to game the ranking system is to fleet with others, sometimes artificially inflating your own ranking because of it. Disallowing fleets returns Infamy to a more Individual level (Infamy IS an individual rating) and shortens queue time... well individual in the context of being 1 of 10

I know most players answer is they'd rather be able to fleet, but everyone does have to acknowledge that as a flaw in ranked matches.

Also Event/Casual matchmaking also calculates fleets incorrectly.... whenever I see a 5k fleet in my matches, that side always OP relative to Gear Score, as if it discounts the second fleetmate.

 

@Nicolas For the record, you are saying that you are about to suggest solutions to fix the problems
but, in your first paragraph, you are mentioning "why we should avoid forcing players"

This is not a solution a solution but a conclusion, of course players should not be forced into something,
it's just a game after all, we adore it but it's just a game.

What you suggested does not solve the main problem - why would someone quest through ranked
mode, why would he risk playing at all, when he is about to get the same rewards if 5100, 5200, or even
lose his NM1 rewards?

No one is that stupid - oh wait, that are few "stupid" ones that keep playing and risk.

You can not force anyone on it but you can give motivations, as by legendary parts per games, as I mentioned.

Someone can sit on 5k and make for relatively short period few legendary items and, if lucky enough, get items
for t4 leg or more but, without the parts, those items are really useless.

So, allow me to repeat please that, my suggestion is solving the problem.

Motivates a player to keep playing rank mode, so he/she gets more and more parts, accepting the risk of drop-
ping infamy in favor or earning legendary parts, the problem of throwing games or not playing seriously is alrea-
dy solved, as by not playing your best for win you lose serious time to earn parts, minimizes the chances of thro-
wing games, as the real competition will be between all, who plays more and wins more, wins the most, first pla-
ces would only give some more legendary pieces.

Your suggestion is really going to keep the 5000 players at the exactly same point, you can not force them to play
but you can not either motivate them, to risk for something good.

I ve talked to lot of them, having a balanced game and getting it fast, won't make them move their ass from 5k, be-
cause simply they ll get the same rewards.

Their role in the game, right now, is just decorative. Nothing more or less.

Are they wrong? Probably not, they are doing what common logic commands.

So, like in life you gotta get out and work to get more, so in the game, go in ranked and play if you want to be rewarded.

Do it and do it constantly. Right now, there are people who do nothing and get rewarded and there are people who drop-
ped league to NM2 and lost their rewards.

It is totally unfair, people who play should be rewarded, people who do not should have limited rewards.

 

If there is a 3000 Infamy spread in a match, then it's no longer a proper match. Ensuring ranked matches are matches of equals is the first problem to solve before adding enticements. Nothing you do beyond that holds any value without addressing the core problem. If that core problem can't be fixed, then ranked is dead, and should be deleted from the game.

 

@envylife tbh, I had a discussion with some experts regarding fleeting in ranked. I believe that limiting long queue time and promoting duos will bring back the competition to the top. Instead of long queue time, they can gain less and lose more based. For example, if two 5k+ infamy players are fleeted instead of waiting 10mins+ in queue to find a good match, they can get way faster matches, but if the infamy difference is high between both teams. They will gain way less if they win like +15 instead of +24. If they lose, it can go down to -33 instead of -24. (Keep in mind the significantly faster match ups like 30s instead of 10mins+).
All above is one part regarding fleeting at the very top. Now to the next part regarding fleeting in general: you can't limit fleeting, but instead of that I was thinking about some penalties for fleeted players like gaining and losing less by 30%, so fleeted players gain +16 and lose -16 instead of +24 and -24. It can go down more. It will be faster to gain if solo.
If you combine all above together in addition to the scaled infamy mentioned above, you can get a pretty solid system with way less risks and way more accurate infamy.

 

@emmanielo tbh, although I have a solution to solve the camping problem in all leagues not just at 5k infamy, but instead of directly heading to a penalty system which might hurt way more than healing, I want all reasons which make ranked unappealing or "risky" or whatever to be removed. If some players continue to camp, then we will have way less number to deal with. We can form a way more efficient, not harmful method to deal with them in specific.
The way your system is, it will just promote infamy tankers. Players will drop then gain to get the parts. They can drop at the end of the season and gain infamy in the next season which make it really hard to detect them and it will just lead to a very unhealthy bay. Not to mention the gap that will happen between casual and non-life players.
In summary, what I'm saying is that first we need to remove all reasons that make ranked less appealing. Every time, we can remove part of campers.. When there is no valid reasons to camp, then the number of campers will be way less. We can easily detect why they are camping, and they can get penalized.

 

@Nicolas

I get what you mean but I already thought about it. Your maths is not correct, no insult taken please but read this.

If the number of parts per ranked games is smaller per league, depending where you are playing, no player will drop
league, because simply in the next season, he ll be playing for higher amount of leg parts per same ranked won ga-
mes.

So, on the one hand, you have players playing for leg parts, as it's the only way to improve leg items some day, which
are the reason they camp in NM1, on the other hand, for the same reasons, same players would do their best to be
playing for parts in NM 1 and to remain NM1 players.

For the exactly same reason, people would do their best, so that NM2 players will try with all their efforts to become
NM1, Ace1 to become NM2 etc etc.

So about throwing games to drop infamy, firstly, throwing a game doesn't guarantee you are actually losing a game,
secondly you wouldn't risk dropping a league, as you would win less leg parts for the same number of won games,
thirdly you would need so so so many games to come back to your infamy / league that really, calculate please, how
many games would you need to actually earn the leg parts? Is it really worthy to throw games?

It's a sneaky thought but not a smart one.

if you need, let's say, 100 wins to get some normal parts, why would you start throwing games and lose, let's say,
30 games? it makes no sense. I believe you d need like 180 games to have the number of 100 wins and get the
parts.

This would make no sense at all.

And in the end, if some drop so many games, ROVIO could start punishing players seriously.

It's fact that so far we ve seen players throwing games,only because the motivation was for first places and few of
them, seemed to make the favor to their friends, against others. What we know for sure is, that this kind of cheating
CAN NOT be proved and punished.

In my way, we are facing a marathon of winning streaks, to get what you want to be yours.

All I m asking, is to be considered. If there is a better way, I m a total supporter, of course.

By the way, in your first post on this thread, you mentioned that you are against forcing players to play ranked, although,
by using camp punishment, forcing is exactly what we would have. If I understood correctly, you asked penalties, is that
right?

We want the same thing but we offer different ways. You ask penalties, I ask motivations. Give them reason to play, they
can make 10 leg items but they would be useless without the parts.

Also, the devs could consider of "destroying" the casual, which seems to be very... viral, at the moment.

Total random of players, so it would be less and less used for questing. Some times I play with players of 700-800 infamy
and I say, "what the f**k"?

After all, the casual mode is supposed to be testing only.

The last one sounds as too extreme idea but, it's an idea.

My main suggestion is, give motivations for players to play mostly ranked.

If they don't support rank in an efficient way, many players, including me, will camp. And i don't mean that I ll camp to get
rewards, I mean that the game will start losing it's sens, frankly, it already started to many players, including me.

This is the reason why this post was created