#1 - The time-consuming Trooper grind

[Mariner-1212]

Todays’ Discussion:
Cutting down the daily Trooper grind.
One of the biggest priorities identified is how long it takes to complete all Troopers for the day. This thread is to discuss potential solutions to this problem (and only this problem).


Proposed Solutions:
(Will be summarized here after the day’s discussion)


General Guidelines:

For all solutions, please keep these things in mind:
1. NF needs to make money.
2. There needs to be a ‘free play’ aspect to whatever solution is proposed; it shouldn’t be something that completely excludes those who don’t pay.
3. It should fit into the current structure of the game as easily as possible to avoid lengthy structure revisions.
4. It needs to maintain the balance between being rewarding, and keeping player motivation




What this is:
An open discussion to arrive at one or several proposed solutions for a single issue.
For my business, we try to tackle one issue at a time and not move on to discussing anything else until we’ve arrived at a solution for that one issue. So in that spirit, this thread is meant to isolate one exact topic and debate solutions for it, which will conclude after one day where the solutions will be summarized in this starting post.

[Mariner-1212]

One proposed solution comes from a hybrid of ideas from Slauki, Zerynx and a couple others.

==> Have an item in the store for $5/month (can be a subscription) that lets you bring 2 troopers into battle with you.

This cuts the grind in half, and eliminates the need to raise SOT. It also generates a consistent stream of income to NF from those players wishing to pay. Those that do not wish to pay can still grind out with one Trooper per run.

It can also be implemented into the exact current structure without the need to add slots. More than two Troopers would mean needing to make 3 slots for non-eddie characters and would require overhauling all current worlds, unfortunately.



==> Another solution comes from Rain88, and that is to allow you to 'instant clear' a level that you've just completed so long as you don't change any of your team (other than an Eddie Trooper).

This solution would eat up the same amount of SOT as a manual run, so you'd run out of it much faster - but the end result would be arrived at in minutes.

How it would work - you'd set up your team and have an Eddie Trooper included but NOT the main Eddie, and you couldn't switch to him during your run. If he was the main Eddie, the next run would be a change of team and therefore require another manual run.
You'd complete your run and be given the option to replay like normal. If no changes to your team, you'll see a "speed play" button next to the play button that would allow you to instant-clear that level. Making any changes to the team would make that option disappear.

This solution would obviously not work with Troopers that are not Eddies, as it would always dictate a change in team.

[kkkreg5]

Another forum member had this idea: 1 click badges sent to all your Troopers. All your Troopers receive their badges, but you must still play the Trooper's character to receive your badges. You are now responsible for your own badges. No guilt over not playing Troopers and letting them down.

[Amarthir]

I've been casually playing Marvel Future Fight and it gave me a generous idea about trooper points and grinding. MFF has "clear tickets" and you use one to instantly clear a mission, using "energy" and also giving you the rewards you would normally get had you played the mission manually. So I imagine that if LotB had something similar, we could pick our trooper, and then use one clear ticket and 4 SoT and the level would instantly be finished and we would still get the same rewards. Clear tickets could be bought with Iron Coins, (Example could be 25 tickets for 100 IC) Which would encourage someone to play PvP more often and spend ironite on refills.
Could be a once a day purchase, so you still need to grind the other 25 troopers.

[MisterEly]

I'm going to build on the idea that kkkreg brought up. I think you should be to pay an amount of Ironite to send badges to all your troopers, and get your 1250 badges for the day. It essentially allows you earn and send all your badges in a few seconds (effectively just playing all of your troopers for you).

Just an idea.

[slauki]

i was a fan of the "skip level option" for a long time, but this would kill the spirit of the game i feel. and for grinding events like this one, it would provide a huge pay to win scenario. imagine someone throws in 500 bucks and he could refill and gain endless 666souls/immortal souls or whatever.

this doesn't feel right to me. so i opt for the two troopers per round option. cuttung the time needed by 50%.

kkkregs idea is also very good.

just one half offtopic comment: time for troopers is one thing, but pvp is another huge time sink. but it would be prolly better, to discuss this in another thread

EDIT: the limited ticket option would work. like you get 5 tickets for free every day and they can add up to 50 for example. so you can play when you have time and burn them fast when you are busy. making them available in store is also a nice idea as long as it is limited in some way.

[Askora]

Not sure, but kkreg5's suggestion sounds similar to something I'd proposed (and possibly others as well).

My idea on how it would work is:
1) Click a button and your badges for all troopers are sent.
2) Play whatever you feel like, knowing your trooper obligations are taken care of.
3) Claiming badges is where you have to work for it. To claim badges from each trooper, you have to actually take their champion into battle (not any different than now).
4) Sending badges gives you happy troopers, but 0 badges. Playing a trooper, but not sending badges gives you 25. Playing a trooper and sending badges gives you 50.

It would make it a lot easier for people taking a break or focusing on PvP (any reason really) to do, without risking the loss of troopers. It also means still having to work for the badges.

Several other good suggestions here as well that I think would work great. Even better might be a combination of some of the ideas.

[kkkreg5]

Not sure, but kkreg5's suggestion sounds similar to something I'd proposed (and possibly others as well).

My idea on how it would work is:
1) Click a button and your badges for all troopers are sent.
2) Play whatever you feel like, knowing your trooper obligations are taken care of.
3) Claiming badges is where you have to work for it. To claim badges from each trooper, you have to actually take their champion into battle (not any different than now).
4) Sending badges gives you happy troopers, but 0 badges. Playing a trooper, but not sending badges gives you 25. Playing a trooper and sending badges gives you 50.

It would make it a lot easier for people taking a break or focusing on PvP (any reason really) to do, without risking the loss of troopers. It also means still having to work for the badges.

Several other good suggestions here as well that I think would work great. Even better might be a combination of some of the ideas.

Please don't mistake me. By no means am I trying to take credit for this idea. I recall Lulero bringing up "1 click" badges in another thread. The question is the amount of programming envolved...

[Ian]

Surely just changing the trooper limit from 1 to 2 (or even 6) per battle, would be easiest to implement? Only make this available to players who have completed the campaign so it doesn't remove the challenge/game balance.

I'd be back to daily play if that was introduced

[Yup]

Just allow multiple trooper eddies.. that's enough. Cuts the time in half or in thirds....