Not too fussed about the rewards myself, I just like different gameplay, but that's just me.
One opinion I have which you've actually *requested* is race types:
- Headhunter. Always Headhunter.
- Also, more alt-start races, ideally combined with other mods.
Last edited by MafCallow on Jun 22, 2016, 8:48:36 AM
Disclaimer: Most of the opinions are voiced from a "competitive racer's perspective" as one of the more experienced racers, that really enjoys competitive scenarion in the racing!
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Have you guys given a thought on trying out a one race type that really tries to mitigate most of the RNG?
We have signature races, that have no nemesis/bloodlines etc and a fixed seed, but they are missing one of the most important things what we had in the alternative alt start (act2/act3) races: Starter gear, 10% MS as the #1 thing. Maybe as far as only having normal type monsters. I'm pretty much open to anything, and don't see it being a bad thing to test 5-15 races during a season to see how people like it.
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A pretty big step for healthier (= more competitive) racing, while not being huge thing to implement I assume, would be adding quaranteed items to vendors after your character reaches X level. lapis/jade/amber amulet and heavy belt as couple examples. Not getting these items before your gems hit stat requirements to level up will in a bad case destroy your run completely unless you sacrifice multiple passive points in getting couple stat nodes, which will lead you to deal considerably less damage than the people who were not unlucky. Maybe a vendor recipe to acquire them?
It really puts you down if you don't have the basic gear to have even the possibility to compete for the top spots.
---
Asynchronous races, obviously. You know this already, and are hopefully working on it too, so I will just leave it be like this.
---
Small tweaks to lenght of some races, mainly Descent Champions. As of now (or last season) it lasted 40 minutes which in my opinion was atleast 10 minutes too long. The more experienced players could full clear all zones since over half the race and were still having extra couple minutes after killing the last boss, practically making the race for demi 100% depentant on the mob RNG in the later zones. If it was shorter, you would have to rush for the last zones a bit more and not completely fully clear 80% of the zones in the race.
---
Descent's layout/mob density variation is huge. Sometimes you get multiple levels in the same zone where another player gets barely 1-1,5 while both fully clearing it. Really, really hurts the competition in the higher skill levels. The time itself for this race (30 minutes) was pretty spot on, making it a must to somewhat rush for the later zones while trying to reach the minimum levels for having proper experience gain.
---
Corrupted zones. You guys removed master spawns, but have not touched CZs. They sometimes alter your layout with such a great impact that it completely changes the way the layout goes, not to mention about the chance of getting a huge gem like Vaal ice nova, vaal haste or such. They are okay to have in signature races, where everyone have the same layout in my opinion, however.
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Boss kill races are in my opinion one of the most amazing race types we have currently, great job on those! I like how the seed is the same for everyone, but it is not fixed, leaving room for layout knowledge. There are some cases where you can't really benefit from knowing the layouts, having corrupted zones for example. This is where they should not spawn, in my opinion. Unless you add breadcrumbs to help players navigate even when there is corrupted zones. Warehouse disctrict's dead soldiers are a great example of how amazing breadcrumbs can be!
---
And for the most important feedback I can give is something you guys previously told you would be improving, is the communication on racing-related stuff. I guess this does fall into that category, but from a company like GGG I am expecting more, especially when you look at the communication you do on the other things.
So much about RNG yet it seems like the same top racers are always on top. So how is RNG really effecting them? If RNG was so big why do people like Goratha always get top spots. Seems like people just need to get good.
Last edited by tonic317 on Jun 22, 2016, 10:20:38 AM
Disclaimer: Most of the opinions are voiced from a "competitive racer's perspective" as one of the more experienced racers, that really enjoys competitive scenarion in the racing!
---
Have you guys given a thought on trying out a one race type that really tries to mitigate most of the RNG?
We have signature races, that have no nemesis/bloodlines etc and a fixed seed, but they are missing one of the most important things what we had in the alternative alt start (act2/act3) races: Starter gear, 10% MS as the #1 thing. Maybe as far as only having normal type monsters. I'm pretty much open to anything, and don't see it being a bad thing to test 5-15 races during a season to see how people like it.
---
A pretty big step for healthier (= more competitive) racing, while not being huge thing to implement I assume, would be adding quaranteed items to vendors after your character reaches X level. lapis/jade/amber amulet and heavy belt as couple examples. Not getting these items before your gems hit stat requirements to level up will in a bad case destroy your run completely unless you sacrifice multiple passive points in getting couple stat nodes, which will lead you to deal considerably less damage than the people who were not unlucky. Maybe a vendor recipe to acquire them?
It really puts you down if you don't have the basic gear to have even the possibility to compete for the top spots.
---
Asynchronous races, obviously. You know this already, and are hopefully working on it too, so I will just leave it be like this.
---
Small tweaks to lenght of some races, mainly Descent Champions. As of now (or last season) it lasted 40 minutes which in my opinion was atleast 10 minutes too long. The more experienced players could full clear all zones since over half the race and were still having extra couple minutes after killing the last boss, practically making the race for demi 100% depentant on the mob RNG in the later zones. If it was shorter, you would have to rush for the last zones a bit more and not completely fully clear 80% of the zones in the race.
---
Descent's layout/mob density variation is huge. Sometimes you get multiple levels in the same zone where another player gets barely 1-1,5 while both fully clearing it. Really, really hurts the competition in the higher skill levels. The time itself for this race (30 minutes) was pretty spot on, making it a must to somewhat rush for the later zones while trying to reach the minimum levels for having proper experience gain.
---
Corrupted zones. You guys removed master spawns, but have not touched CZs. They sometimes alter your layout with such a great impact that it completely changes the way the layout goes, not to mention about the chance of getting a huge gem like Vaal ice nova, vaal haste or such. They are okay to have in signature races, where everyone have the same layout in my opinion, however.
---
Boss kill races are in my opinion one of the most amazing race types we have currently, great job on those! I like how the seed is the same for everyone, but it is not fixed, leaving room for layout knowledge. There are some cases where you can't really benefit from knowing the layouts, having corrupted zones for example. This is where they should not spawn, in my opinion. Unless you add breadcrumbs to help players navigate even when there is corrupted zones. Warehouse disctrict's dead soldiers are a great example of how amazing breadcrumbs can be!
---
And for the most important feedback I can give is something you guys previously told you would be improving, is the communication on racing-related stuff. I guess this does fall into that category, but from a company like GGG I am expecting more, especially when you look at the communication you do on the other things.
So much about RNG yet it seems like the same top racers are always on top. So how is RNG really effecting them? If RNG was so big why do people like Goratha always get top spots. Seems like people just need to get good.
I 100% agree with tonic, this other guy wants to remove seemingly all layout disparity/things that actually make a race different/more about thought on the go IE real racing, to change it to more of "I've been racing longer than you therefore I should always take a top spot, and the fact everyone in front of me is getting better RNG means RNG should totally disappear or go hide in the basement like someone's ugly cousin."
I completely disagree with that, I used to race quite heavily now I don't find myself wanting to participate because the events I actually like to do are shortened or non-existent in race seasons of the recent past.
If I like something I want more of it, not less of it over more times lol
I love descent champions I used to enjoy descent but not as much keep it longer or at 40 mins I know it's usually an hour long and I liked that, heck just the chance at playing with the low level uniques once I got done racing to the point threshold I liked made it a fun event for me and my roomies. Having the time to actually race then go back and have a bit of fun was what made that race my favorite and the most fun for me...
I can't throw away a full descent champions race to dick around with my friends if it's sub 30 mins or 30 mins I love how people always get a certain pattern down say they can finish around 20-25 mins then they want to shorten a race bc they no longer want/need that time.
GGG this is where you usually buckle and agree with these people, further making your racing seasons less and less interesting.
Headhunter was very fun, but very singular in the way you presented it, let's get some party headhunters so even within your own group you're "racing" to that next rare, hell if you want to make it even more interesting make it so in a party your party gets "bloodline" style retention of blue packs even if it's 1 or 2 per zone.
Just make things more varied more rewarding because for someone who has been playing and racing as long as I have, there are less and less reasons to pop into a race season meaning less reasons to play altogether.
Races are meant to break up the monotony of a new league or a permanent league if that's all you play, (btw stop leaving permanent players in the dust, what is that about?) catering more and more to the top racers means you get less people racing for fun, competition is all well and fine but if you listen to him and fine tune it to his instructions I can almost guarantee lower retention of races.
I'll end with this quote from Ziggy on Reddit
"
In today's podcast we discussed racing quite a bit and I mentioned how I feel that the potential amount of people that could enjoy racing is way higher* than the people currently participating.
And it's like that because the rewards suck enough(I mean really what am I going to do with an alt art Whispering Ice let alone 7 of them), and no I don't think the rewards need to be boosted because I'm a realist about these things, rewards should stay pretty neutral to mediocre because racing should be about fun and pride of being first, but the races shouldn't suck on top of rewards sucking as well, give us SOME incentive to actually play.
Remember, we should want to play... not storm Reddit with pitchforks and insults about how the game "sucks" and you guys don't "listen".
I'm not in this world to live up to your expectations and you're not in this world to live up to mine.
