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Challenges in general in a multiplayer game have always been a pain in the ass. Usually because challenges are exactly that, challenging, not in the way that one has to tackle a difficult goal but because they are usually uninspired and force the player to go out of their way to do things they otherwise would not want to do, and in some cases not even enjoy. So when you mixed generic challenges like, play X game mode X number of times, play X character X number of times, kill X things X number of times. Along with a multiplayer team based shooter it can and probably is currently causing a variety of problems.

One, your players are being forced to do things to progress instead of playing the game the way they wanna play and see clear progression through the means of XP gain.

2, your players are being forced to player characters they might not even like, or are generally bad with. That means everyone else in their team has to put up with it or they themselves might stack that character messing up a possibly good comp, I dont know since you cant choose your character after locking in for queue not before...

C, The challenges can easily take president over the team, I mean why would I care if we win it doesn't do anything to help complete my challenges, unless winning is the challenge...

and finally IV, besides everything listed above when it comes to this particular challenge system. The dailys dont go away but they stack, meaning instead of having a set of all new dailys I cant avoid the challenges I just rather not do in general, eventually im going to be left with three daily challenges that wont go away for things I dont wanna do. Like my current 2 out of three challenges, Win heard of the hive 2 times. I dont even like playing that game mode, at least not until i get some in game comms cuz f*ck discord damn it! Anyways theres my miniature rant about why I need to start tacking my anti depression medication again.

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almost 4 years ago - /u/BSVino - Direct link

Thanks for this feedback. We definitely don't want challenges to overly impact gameplay. My intention was to set the numbers low enough so that almost all players will obtain the challenge through normal play by the end of the season. We're keeping an eye on this one and we'll update our challenges if we see degenerate player behavior.

Remember that you have all season to complete any weekly challenge. Also, you can swap out a daily once per day. Press the arrows button on the daily.

almost 4 years ago - /u/BSVino - Direct link

Originally posted by erasethenoise

I think the fact that the challenges can be completed all season makes it a (mostly) non issue. I don’t think the challenges so far have deviated from anything you’d do in normal gameplay (i.e. capturing harvesters and boosters, winning/placing top 4, etc.). Probably the “worst” one is the tree corer but even that isn’t that bad and I actually stumbled upon it by accident just playing.

I did have something to ask though since you’re here. The week one challenge for wins is 40 and the seasonal is 80. Is that because the philosophy is an average player should be able to get 40 wins throughout the season and 80 is for the hardcore? At first I thought the 40 was intended to be earned in a week which made it seem like the seasonal should be 200 or something.

Thanks for asking. I built those challenges so I can talk about them a little more in depth.

Seasonal challenges are partly there to give players something to work towards after all of their weeklies are done, especially if they play more than the average player. But they shouldn't be set so high as to seem unobtainable. If someone plays 20 games a week (I estimate 10 hours worth of Hives games) at a win rate of 50% they would hit 80 after 8 weeks. We didn't have data on playing times before launch so this is an estimate that we're going to dial in based on data and feedback for next season. 40 is a bit on the high end and is intended to be obtainable by week 4 for the median player.

almost 4 years ago - /u/BSVino - Direct link

Originally posted by SharpZCat

Since you are already here I have a thing to ask about Challenges.

When you are basically done with the Challenges you get in the Weekly there is not much progression you can do for the Battlepass. You can't get any progression from playing normals you just have to wait, this basically halts the progression of the battle pass.

It's like running a marathon and suddenly there is a big wall infront of you with a timer on it.

Another thing I feel is that finishing a week feels unsatisfying. Not a bonus BP level nothing just done. It is not a huge problem but just small things that can give people the excitement or satisfcation.

My idea for the problem with the sudden halt is, either give players after a match 2 Stars, or after each prestige level 2 Stars. This still feels rewarding to play the game and does not make you stop instantly and forces you to wait.

On the other hand this can also make people play more of the roster instead of maining a single Character. They can think I can play Sazan and I would level up in the Battlepass.

But I would already be happy about any other way to level when Im done with the daily and weekly.

Thanks for writing out all of this feedback. I can't promise anything in this moment but I'm definitely going to be taking this and similar feedback I've heard into account while designing future battle passes.

almost 4 years ago - /u/BSVino - Direct link

Originally posted by -A_V-

An infinite repeatable challenge would go a long way. Just nothing that can be AFK'd (like matches played) or botted and more efficient to do off objective (collect essence).

Maybe something like 1 tick per 3-5 wins (after other dailies are completed). I haven't maxed the BP yet, but what happens to completed challenges once it is maxed? If nothing, then maybe they could grant a character XP bonus so there is still progression tied to them.

It's still early and I know the team is busy but for the long term, additional unlocks could also go a long way. Consider separating player icons and banners into individual things, adding titles and stat trackers so players can create "player cards". These could be displayed on death, "Killed by: <show player card>" so people can show them off.

Now you've got meaningful character progression, battle pass progression and player progression. Art team could go nuts with banners and icons and there is enormous creative room for titles and trackers.

All wonderful ideas, thank you!!