Idea to add incentive to non-Meta/netdecking usage

[Cardzilla]

Idea to add incentive to non-Meta/netdecking usage

i'm too new a player to give specifics and actual percentages, so hopefully someone that knows that stuff more can expand onto my theory a little more.

figure out what is a baseline netdeck (will be multiples obviously), then figure out some percentage of change from it. people that are using such decks changed enough get an extra keg or 2 a day dropped if meet some daily activity requirement. for the super experienced people who don't care about a keg drop as much, figure out an equivalent of meteorite dust instead of kegs so as they can pimp out their cards more if they want.

something like that will make it so people play different things a little more, as well as reward people trying new things. and when those people are rewarded, it is more likely they'll advance upwards in the ranks.

 

[4RM3D]

Besides that it's a pain in the ass to calculate, there is no way to create transparency. As such you cannot incentivize players to use other decks. Then it has the issue that users playing ranked only care about what's strong. And another issue that there are still a lot of players that actually created their own version, which so happens to be a net-deck (or close to it) because of the lack of choice. In the end, this is not the way to deal with net-decking.

There are some short term solutions to counter net-decking, but long term, it's difficult. One of the short term solutions can be that the least popular faction gets a 10% bonus on rewards (xp, rank, scraps, etc.). That faction will be marked with a flag or something, so that everyone knows which faction is the least popular, currently. Then this can be changed weekly, to allow for some greater diversity. It still doesn't prevent net-decking, but at least it creates some more variation.

 

[Cardzilla]

considering all the smart people at CDPR and all the things they track, i'm sure they could figure out a way to do something like i mentioned with figuring a baseline of what is a meta/netdeck, who all are too similar to it, and whatever other things. heck, i bet they track things we don't even know about that could play a part.

regarding transparency, you'd see it in whatever bonuses. you either get them or you don't.

i also love your idea about bonus rewards. make GG always ore. then split GG bonuses up based on popularity tiers. the most popular five leaders used get 5 ore. the next five leaders in popularity get 10. the bottom five get 15. in level rewards, 15/20/25 of whatever is already in place.

while simplicity sake, the popularity leader thing works, combining it somehow with my non meta deck bit would probably seriously boost individuality and diversity of play. if someone wants to get both bonuses, they'll adjust their playstyle and evolve it along the way which will also make the people playing against notice all the different things playing against better.

 

[HoneyVadger]

Well the first assumption you are making is that neckdecking is bad and that it is something that needs to be stopped. Neckdecking is simply a normal and natural progression of any meta; people who want to win will play the deck which they think is the strongest, even if it is only slightly stronger, and whether or not it is actually is the best deck.
The reason for this is likely because mmr is important to people, and you only have 1 overall rank which determines your rewards and end of season rewards which are important, especially for F2P players.

If your goal is to create a varied meta, I would suggest a similar idea to what I once read in a LifeCoach interview. If CDPR implement some kind of system where you have a different mmr/rank for each faction, people could play each faction without worrying what their main mmr will be, especially if you are incentivised to rank up with each faction. Although another option is perhaps they could change the reward system to be more complex and rewarding for levelling up, and reduce the amount of rewards given for ranked to make playing more rewarding than ranking (therefore minimising the importance of only ranked rewards).
This suggestion isn't perfect, but perhaps with separate mmr for each faction at least players would not hesitate to practice other factions if they want to in ranked without worrying about 'ruining' their main mmr.

In terms of neckdecking, you are also assuming that people don't already change their decks according to the factions they are vsing. If you want to be a player who can climb into the higher mmr levels, ~4300/4400+, it is definitely an advantage to be able to adjust your deck, not only to be better in a particular match-up, but if you play a known deck people will know what cards you probably aren't running which means they can be greedy by not playing around igni, ignoring scorch, or play around any strong cards seen in your deck. By changing your deck you can potentially punish these mistakes. You are already incentivised to not play an exact replica of a netdeck because people would know exactly what cards you are running.

 

[Cardzilla]

i never said it needed to be stopped. i just see a bunch of people talking about losing interest because they see the same things over and over. i was just trying to offer a suggestion to maybe help combat that.

another idea, these bonuses for doing stuff different (my complicated idea + 4RM3D's more simple one i modified a little), only in ranked play since that is where people apparently are the most frustrated about seeing the same thing over and over.