[VC] Battle Arena - The Road Ahead

Hey all,

Yesterday evening, I had a lengthy meeting with the developers where we discussed the recent changes to the Battle Arena and the next steps for that feature.

To say that our recent attempts to shake up the formula have been contentious would be putting it lightly. The original changes were made with the intention of improving this feature and the subsequent alterations were meant to hopefully address the problems posed by the first round to “find the fun”.

Unfortunately this did not happen so we are going to be moving ahead with further changes to the Battle Arena. While we will not be going back to the original formula at this time, we have made a serious attempt to turn the Arena into something resembling its old form while retaining the changes that people were happy with.

The next Battle Arena is still two weeks out and everything below is subject to change based on your feedback. Please give this a read and let us know how you feel. Also, it is helpful to know what you have liked during past Arenas; things you have experienced for yourself that were fun and enjoyable and you would like us to focus on retaining.

• The Battle Arena is now a 24-hour event

The Battle Arena was originally designed to last a full three days, however in the recent past it had been lasting a day or less (depending on your network). Players have told us that they like the excitement and skill of a focused event, so we’re going to try running a quicker Arena.

Because the Battle Arena will run for a shorter period of time, rewards at the end of the event will have to be reexamined to be appropriate for the new length. However, we can also now look at running the Battle Arena more often and on a more reliable schedule.

• Battle Arena is now focused on Sudden Death

The last 16 hours of the Battle Arena will be Sudden Death, where once players are out, they are out for good. The first eight hours of the Battle Arena will allow players to return if they are knocked out. We know reviving is an unpopular feature, however we are keeping this in mainly for the benefit of players in different time zones who might have trouble being on for the start of an Arena and this gives them a chance to participate if they are knocked out before they can get to their computer. We are removing the option to pay FP to return, and at the beginning of Sudden Death all competitors who are knocked out will resurrect. Players will not be revived during the first eight hours of the Arena if they do not choose to do so themselves.

• Score will remain

Based on feedback, Score seemed to be a reasonably well-received adjustment to the old Arena to help alleviate some of the problems with enforcing attack limits to be considered active. Score can be earned during both the opening part of the Arena and Sudden Death and you will still lose 5% of your score if you die in the first eight hours.

• Kill Rewards are returning

During the Sudden Death portion of the Arena, you will again receive Kill Rewards to Health for shuffling another competitor off their mortal coil.

 

Sounds good.
Stamina slider remains
And no names remain?

Hope that is a yes

 

i didnt even join this last one it was so bad the time before, hope it gets better

 

will this only be with vc or is it comming to the other games ??? please reply

 

I have been able to find a way to make it work for me no matter what has changed over this evolution. I do like the revive. Throw it at me. I will find a way. LOL

 

Which version will be in effect for upcoming FaceBook and Server 2 PC? This one or the one just played out on Vikings???? BTW trending in a more favorable direction.

 

I love it! I am usually not able to be there at the beginning of the arenas and are usually dead by the time I log in, so I seldom involve in it. These past arenas have been wonderful. The scoring really made a difference but I'm glad bonuses for killing are back.

 

ok I think that was a pretty reasonable meeting you had, might I suggest just as damage and xp are increased with the less players there are so is score?

 

If Arena stay like now i will not join again..... So boring..... i did not end up bad in this one--- But cold have be dang much better if i not got so bored. Around 350 kills (had easy got 500 kills) but got so bored and just had to leav it for is soooooooooo boring. No kill reward just my health that i started whit ( sucks) All time did spend there and all stamina used and not even good levels on it. For xp was so dang bad.. All most better to hit in Valhalla..

 

This is just for Viking Clan's next Battle Arena on all networks on December 19.

 

so, the arenas usually lasted under 24 hrs before and the rewards were crap compared to fps spent and its going to once again be a day and youre thinking about taking rewards away some? nobody wants the revive for 2 arenas in a row and you get 95% negative feedback about and yet again you decide "based upon our feedback" to leave it in anyway. unfuckinbelievable. i wont be joining, again, thanks for ruining what was once my favorite feature.

 

I am glad you listened to the feedback and are willing to implement changes. There will always be unhappy people cannot change that. I did not like the last format much but as you can see I did adjust.

 

"however we are keeping this in mainly for the benefit of players in different time zones who might have trouble being on for the start of an Arena and this gives them a chance to participate if they are knocked out before they can get to their computer"
Demonik I am sure you can budge on this one a bit, as for reducing rewards I dont see the sense in that either

 

thats cool, at least its just us vikings getting screwed in the poop shute...why not use other games to test this crap out on?

 

then let them give revive to people that dont have an attack in the arena? this shits getting crazy

 

if anyone should be mad Demonik its people like me, they still have nerfed any def with the points only system

 

honestly they should apply a mirror image of the att bonus to defense and do away with def mode if they want to do this

 

Demonic you may have missed my arena thoughts post: In my ADD mind of blabberings, I stumbled across a interesting notion. If % of skills allocated in att, def, and health symbolizes the training that viking has done in a particular area, then why does someone trained in attack have a infinite amount of energy to attack with? certainly a viking would tire more quickly hacking and chopping then he would say, blocking and ducking. This has all popped into my head with all the recent arena changes. "But we cant attack forever, we are limited by stamina, so nyah!" Right you are my furious attacking friend, but you can buy more, (insert evil laugh here) Should defensive stance not be based on stamina as well? Lose 1 stamina for every hit, when your out of stamina your defensive stance ends? I can hear the foul cries already, the thought of balance and equality boooo hisss, just a thought to those who would listen

 

I think my question is, has the Pirates Clan Arena but modified since it's last play out? If so, what version is it now?

 

To be clear, during the "sudden death" part of the arena - will there be XP and damage multipliers, but no "score" multipliers? If the answer is "yes" and "no", or "no" and "no", then all FPs rewards of the arena go to the players who spend the most stamina - does Kano feel that this is an appropriate outcome?

My view is that an arena is not an arena without giving the ultimate prize to the last viking standing. The way these arenas have been run, you give all the rewards to the players with the most stamina. While I've gotten FPs rewards in both of the last arenas, there's been no excitement - you simply know that you spend your stamina and you get your score.

Something else, what's the name of the game? Anonymous Whiner? Incognito Idiots? Why don't we fight under our real names - was there a "good" popular reason for making the Battle Arena anonymous?

Whoever heard of an arena where the winner is not the last one standing and to boot they're anonymous - I mean, come on, time to put the thinking cap back on and grow a back bone!