How to approach Champion EXP and Upgrades (+Poll)

the old cp system also limited the amount of information you need to play a champ (you cant have everything with 200 cp), no champ had 9 active abilities and 13 passive abilities like the new champs... several times i face a champ with more abilities than fit the screens... WTF!!

 

^ there was a total limit yes and it was balanced "at least far more than todays standards" take for instance lich king, and dwarven king being top tier runes heh.

 

I voted remove, although I understand that this is not going to be a popular option.

Getting rid of the upgrade system would be a massive simplification, which is what Pox Nora is in dire need of. Not just would this reduce the amount of data a player has to absorb, and the number of abilities on the average champ, it would also make runes more predictable (you know immediately what you are up against when a rune is deployed, no need to scan the abilities first) and it would allow for various simplifications of the rune manager UI, since it would not be required to differentiate between multiple copies of a rune anymore.

While I don't hold out much hope that this will actually happen, it would severely impress me if the Owls had the guts for this.

 

If the whole CP/Token holdout is about money (and I am not entirely convinced that it is, honestly), then how about getting rid of CP and, instead, sell Taunts, reskins, rename tokens, and special animations for certain runes (including spells, etc.). This works very well for the F2P MOBAs. It reduces cost for new players who don't yet care about aesthetics, and it incentivizes veteran players to spend more, which presents a much lower retention risk.

As it stands, I will say again that CP and leveling is a huge grind, and -- when factored in with the complexity of PoxNora's 5,000,000,000 abilities and nuances -- the game in its current form is simply not friendly to new, buy-curious players. Until CP goes away, you will NOT see impressive new-player retention.

 

Remove levels completely. Each Champ has 4 optional abilties/stat upgrades, with only 2 being allowed to be activated at one time. Reprice tokens and make them a tradeable currency that can be used make those Nora Shards. win win

Edit: Runes could still have levels, but just to show how much they have been played throughout their circulation. No unfair advantages. Would simply give them a little more "history".

 

I vote remove the CP system, reduce the prices of token packs or I would also be fine with them adding tokens to rune forge. Plat tokens (50 nora shards), gold (25 shards), Silver tokens (10 shards) and bronze (5 shards)

 

Every time I see people mentioning cosmetics/taunts something dies deep inside me

 

His idea is sound. The owls need ways for us to throw money at them and aesthetics are a good for that. The game needs to move away from pay to win and move towards 'look at my fancy visual stuff'.
BTW - owls if you are reading this I would buy the Bane Shift out of new shrine skins for each of my theme bgs.

 

The easiest way to sell "cosmetics" with card games is to have collector's editions. Hearthstone has "golden" variations of most (or all?) cards, which are identical but have a golden border and some fancy animation. I don't think they are selling those separately, but stuff like that can really work. Which hardcore fan would not spend at least some money custom art or sprites for their favourite runes? Anything that makes you stand out as a supporter of the game.

 

I'd kill for a custom spider shrine "skin" for my UD spiders theme!

 

I want a firk FS shrine and would be willing to pay some buckies for that. Five, maybe, or ten if he also has different abilities.

 

I thought about it overnight and I've come to the conclusion it's a solid idea, as long as it doesn't set stability/bugs/gameplay etc etc behind.

 

well see young broodling, back in the day * rambles on about cp, multitudes of upgrades and nora costs*

 

I read that in the most redneck voice imaginable.

 

I support the idea of more Avatars.

 

I've put some more thought into it, and I decided I wouldn't want champions to level up to acquire cosmetics/taunts. I'd rather have these thing sold/be available in other ways. If champs are to level up (which I hope doesn't remain the case), I'd rather have them gain abilities, similar to the way they are now. I am still on the verge on whether I actually want champs to "show" time-played (something exp/levels somewhat show now), but I'd be really biased on this one as we intend to get a big collection but spend not-so-much time actually playing the game.

 

The old system worked great back when there were a hundred odd runes in the game.

Now there are a hell of a lot more (not going to count them) and having each one customisable like that would not only be incredibly confusing in-game but would also mean that a lot of runes become redundant as their roles are taken by better runes upgraded to fill different roles.

Personally I'm for getting rid of upgrades completely at this point.

 

I miss the old system, where you could keep a rune unleveled to save nora.

 

YOUR A DRUNK BADGER WHAT DO YOU KNOW!

 

While totally awesome, the old system is difficult to balance and adds more complication to an already incredibly complex game.