Idea for "competitive Fractals"

[maddoctor.2738]

Got an idea from this thread: 

 

 

That idea is about turning fractals into a seasonal mode, that resets progression every few months and requires players to finish 100 fractal levels fast. I don't like that idea, so I got my own "Version" here. Instead of a season, I propose a Fractal "competition". No I'm not asking to bring PVP in Fractals that would be silly, purely PVE, but an actual competition that rewards the "best", not the "first".

 

Details:

Each round (season) lasting 1 week and resets on Monday like all other things that reset on Monday.

 

Players need to beat a single fractal, or at most five fractals, that change every week. Think of how the recommended Fractal system works. This is important because it will accomodate the entire playerbase. They could pick 5 fractals of each tier (T1/T2/T3/T4) so players on the relevant personal level can participate in the content idea and not be left out. Think of everyone, not adding content ideas for the top only. Of course higher tiers has higher rewards as it's normal from regular Fractals too. They can also add a T5 for those that have reached personal level 100 and maybe got a few CM achievements, that ONLY uses CM Fractals, the T4 version won't include CMs.

 

And now the important part, HOW to reward players. Instead of rewarding the fastest, which is how those "seasons" work, reward the "best". How do we figure "best"? Simple, by comparing completion time. Add a leaderboard that resets every week, that contains CLEAR timers. Everyone can compete as many times they want during the week, and their BEST time will be recorded on the leaderboards (not the LAST, the BEST). On reset Monday, there will be a calculation and the developers will figure out which teams were the fastest on all 5 tiers (T1 through T5).

 

To make  things better, you won't reward the "top 100, or top 10" or anything like that. Instead, do in percentage brackets to accomodate any number of teams. The system can work with 10000 teams and 100 teams. If you add a fixed number to be rewarded it won't work, because you might get less participants than those you want to reward. So, players in the top 50% of the leaderboards will get something extra for their effort. Players in top 25% will get something more. Players in top 10% a bit more.

 

And players in top 0.5% will earn a unique title. This title will "last" a limited  time (next week?) and then the player(s) will lose it, they will need to "re-acquire" the title again. This is VERY important, so this title won't be used as a means to exclude players on the LFG, or teams asking for this title or whatever to form teams. It's gonna be temporary and be used EXCLUSIVELY to show off who was the best last week.

 

The only question here is wether to reward an individual player each week, regardless of how many teams they joined over the week, or reward the team itself. That's a bit hazy and I'm not exactly sure about it.

[Tails.9372]

59 minutes ago, maddoctor.2738 said:

Add a leaderboard that resets every week, that contains CLEAR timers.

If you really want to make things competitive then they should also add a leaderboard that doesn't reset and records the top 100 fastest clear times overall for the fractal in question with both time of entry and team composition.

[Infusion.7149]

They could just have a leaderboard like for adventures. The issue is probably technical and with instabilities I'm not sure how you would be able to normalize it unless it is T1 only.

The resources spent to implement such a thing would be better spent on filling out all scales such that you have 25 fractals per tier (we are currently at 21/25).

P.S. see https://www.speedrun.com/gw2/full_game#Fractals_of_the_Mist

Edited October 9, 2021 by Infusion.7149

[maddoctor.2738]

13 hours ago, Tails.9372 said:

If you really want to make things competitive then they should also add a leaderboard that doesn't reset and records the top 100 fastest clear times overall for the fractal in question with both time of entry and team composition.

 

That's a possibility, but different instabilities, changes to the meta, balances patches and of course new elite specs, would make an "overall" leaderboard a bit pointless. A tactic that works today when someone got an awesome time might not work in 1 year anymore, making the "competition" unfair. Although they could offer an overall time, the "weekly" results are gonna be way more accurate representation of player/team skill level as everyone will be fighting on equal footing, same skills, same items, same instabilities.

[maddoctor.2738]

13 hours ago, Infusion.7149 said:

They could just have a leaderboard like for adventures. The issue is probably technical and with instabilities I'm not sure how you would be able to normalize it unless it is T1 only.

 

As in my reply above this one, if the leaderboard is weekly you resolve most issues. Changes to instabilities, balance, new elite specs and even additions of new fractals won't affect the weekly leaderboards as everyone will be fighting under the same ruleset.

 

13 hours ago, Infusion.7149 said:

The resources spent to implement such a thing would be better spent on filling out all scales such that you have 25 fractals per tier (we are currently at 21/25).

 

Of course adding the last Fractals should be the highest priority. I'm not sure how resource intensive it's gonna be as most of the code and even UI elements is already used in Adventure leaderboards. I don't think the resources required for this are anything close to making an entirely new Fractal.

 

13 hours ago, Infusion.7149 said:

P.S. see https://www.speedrun.com/gw2/full_game#Fractals_of_the_Mist

 

I already expressed my extreme dislike over a global speedrun leaderboard for the various reasons I presented. But to re-iterate once more, a global speedrun leaderboard is simply unfair. A weekly one, as the one in my suggestion is fair, as everyone is using the same rules. Plus, that's outside the game, I'm talking about something inside the game that everyone can participate in, something that even offers a few more fractal rewards to incentivize players of all tiers to continue playing Fractals.

[zealex.9410]

I think you have a skewed view of seasonal arpgs, the bulk of the rewards come from milestones that arent speed related theres usually 1 or no reward for the fastest but having at least one creates a drive to make community events around that.