Board Thread:Game Discussion/@comment-149.254.120.140-20130626094926/@comment-10214922-20130626105646

I've been thinking about these suggestions.

First attack battle cube.

The problem with first attack battle cube is that it's even more dangerous to a boss kill than a last attack battle cube. Last attack ensures that players are scoping for a kill. First attack just means more seeding, but with no guaranteed kill there is no cube so players will naturally hesitate with seeding. It's riskier to seed when the finishing reward is worse than the seeding reward.

MVP battle cube.

MVP 50% bonus bounty has a nice interplay with finishing, meaning where a player might wait for a snipe of 100% attack damage to get 100% points for 0 cubes, they may be willing to spend 1 cube to do 250% attack damage to get 150% points (MVP finisher). This is a great incentive for mid and big hitters to finish of bosses especially in the stage of the game (midway) where MVP brings over 20K bounty, because this is often more efficient bounty per cube than at end game where players need to spend upward of 3 cubes for the L6 bosses to die. Personally, this is my favorite mechanic and key strategy for reaching top 100 ranking.

Consideration.

It's important to note not everyone wants cubes all the time. Cubes are only valuable when spent to gain points, so players sniping now still expect to spend them later to get points. What we need is a mechanic to get bosses over the hump. There is a big psychological factor when players think about engaging a boss and that is whether it is over or under 50%. Over is uncertain, under means there is strong momentum to ensure a kill.

My idea.

Therefore I think an extra reward of a battle cube should be awarded for the 'Heart Strike' to borrow a term from World of Warcraft. The player that deals the damage that takes out the heart of the bosses, i.e. the mid-point/50% mark.

This means big hitters can help get the boss under 50% with no loss of cubes, or two cube it to midway for what would be 1 cube cost (assuming it dies). This would be important on the largest bosses that even pose difficulty for the biggest hitters to take down. For the players only contributing a small amount of damage, the will be more willing to engage just to get their tag and bounty, as they can see serious initial damage being done, or knowing that the big hitter will come in to get the boss over the hump. Of course, this adds another facet of competition for MVP bounty, as the Heart Striker could possible steal the MVP for 1 less cube over the player waiting to 3 or 2 cube it for a finisher.

This would also allow all players to farm more cubes (2 cubes per boss) at the beginning of the event, the overall effect would be nil because cube gain is relative between players. Those who can farm twice as long will still have twice as many cubes. On the early bosses it would effectively be a 'first attack' cube as long as the initial damage is over 50%. Where previously a player would hit a boss they could no longer farm, it feels like a dead end on the first day. However they could still farm continue to farm points after this as long as they do 50% and share for the kill, or even two cube for 250% damage and getting the 2 cubes back for Heart Strike and finisher.

If everyone has more cubes, and everyone can score more points, it feels more fun for everyone, even though it doesn't really affect the outcome of the ranks as ranks depend on deck power and time spent.