New Idea: Practice Baal/Cerb Feature to tune/optimize formations

[RiverBummer]

Squeezing out the optimum performance from our hero card-set and equipment runes in the World Events can be a tedious process having to wait every day to experiment in live-play during Baal and Cerb play.

It would be extremely helpful if we had a new "Practice Word Event" feature where we could enter a practice room to combat baal/cerb in private play to make the heuristic for optimizing our formations and set ups easier. Since some of us have radically different set ups for PvP vs Heroics vs World Events and Deployed Card Space and Rune Tray space is so frugally given us to swap cards in and out from the Inn this could really also help us optimize what cards we wants to hold in our working deployed set. This also has the advantage for top-players of not holding the realm hostage to your toon's formation tinkering during live-play in cases where everyone is relying on you to be the main hitter to complete the larger baal/cerbs on time. It also helps to know what your cycle times are to help in determining the best refresh-browser mechanics for those that can hold a world boss in long sessions before dying.

I'd recommend options for setting up baal/cerb HP size too with a radio button for all the legal HP sizes he comes in so strong players can rehearse the longer duration plays and/or get better statistical results for the subtle tweeks that do not show up except during long period play.

Thoughts?

[kaisim_2492829]

this has been suggested many times before you have and i dont think you will find a lot of "allies" on this one

[RiverBummer]

this has been suggested many times before you have and i dont think you will find a lot of "allies" on this one

Oh? Never saw it suggested on here before. But I have not been as active lately so may have missed it.

I suppose I can see why lack of advocacy might arise with some old players who have already spent inordinate life-time to develop their formations piece-wise by active tinkering every-day to get it "just right". There's often a generally prevailing "sweat-equity debt comeuppance" mentality/attitude in these genre of online games as well as a paranoia about loss of "edge" to newer players who didn't work as hard (and walk to school in the freezing snow) like they did.

Oh well...

[g346007_1906957]

Oh? Never saw it suggested on here before. But I have not been as active lately so may have missed it.

I suppose I can see why lack of advocacy might arise with some old players who have already spent inordinate life-time to develop their formations piece-wise by active tinkering every-day to get it "just right". There's often a generally prevailing "sweat-equity debt comeuppance" mentality/attitude in these genre of online games as well as a paranoia about loss of "edge" to newer players who didn't work as hard (and walk to school in the freezing snow) like they did.

Oh well...

Think I remember this suggested a few moments after they introduced practice-fights against players. Honestly, I support this suggestion... though I prob won't use it much.

[ChickenWing]

Oh? Never saw it suggested on here before. But I have not been as active lately so may have missed it.

I suppose I can see why lack of advocacy might arise with some old players who have already spent inordinate life-time to develop their formations piece-wise by active tinkering every-day to get it "just right". There's often a generally prevailing "sweat-equity debt comeuppance" mentality/attitude in these genre of online games as well as a paranoia about loss of "edge" to newer players who didn't work as hard (and walk to school in the freezing snow) like they did.

Oh well...

I suggested it in the past. I think it's a great idea, but for some reason some people think you should practice this while you are at work.

[RiverBummer]

Technically it should be a wash and fairly trivial to implement. The code is already developed server-side. They just need a new link to it from user's client and a flag to indicate its a simulation...

[vandekop_693725]

I suggested it in the past. I think it's a great idea, but for some reason some people think you should practice this while you are at work.

On the Job Training, baby!
Honestly, giving people who don't understand the mechanics of Banish events a practice arena will not help them at all. They need to interact with players who do well, study those forms, then unplug and use their brains to try and figure out why top players approach it the way they do. Once they understand that, practice is moot. It's back to OJT.

As for practice fights vs other players...that took some of the fun and mystery out of the game. I'm not a fan.

[kaisim_2492829]

i just dont think there is practice needed. all you need to know is you cant dodge his attacks and they will 1 hit your hero in the sequence as the game would allow. once you acknowledged that you have to figure out the bast way how to keep the bosses morale down and/or try stunning him. after that you need to figure out how to maximize your damage.
ok i get it that you would argue that is exactly what you need the practice boss for. most of it is theory tho and if you put your mind to it, you can even figure it out with pen and paper. after that its only fine trimming and tweaking to get the most damage out of your possible rounds with the gear/runes you have.

trial by fire.
at the end, where is the fun of the practice round when everyone can figure it out in a day by doing enough practice runs and then never use the feature again?

[MisChief]

I don't think it's a bad idea. What better way for peeps to try out diff stuff to see what works best. But I don't see UCool working on anything for this game. I agree the practice in rankings has good and bad points to it.
Besides, we do need other things before we need this implemented, if they are ever going to continue this game.

[ChickenWing]

The practice in rankings ruined PvP battles a lot. There is no way you can hide your form now. Sinking someone on the sea used to be a lot harder for instance. Beating someone in the arena required that you fight first, then adjust. But by then, the other person's form could have changed. The same goes for revenges, which were a lot harder before.

Practicing banish is different in my opinion. As MisChief said, it would be an incentive fr people to try new forms, find the best for THEMSELVES instead of using what everyone uses. For my part, I am never there during banish. SOmeone else puts me in. So I go by the logic of what should work best.