Although I am not opposed to any redesigns to incursion (particularly if it makes incursion better), I do not see the need to make major changes for the sake of comeback potential. Much like many other players, I too have encountered quite a few situations, in which a “ridiculous” comeback was made as it is. The reasons why such comebacks can happen is because this game is not just a test of physical skills, but a test of wit. By understanding the opponent’s strategies, you can come up with counters, and combined with proper communication and coordination, players can pull off some “ridiculous” plays.
I have never felt that I lost a game when my opponents were weaker than my team, and happened to win due to “cheap” tactics or “comeback” mechanics. I hope that any such changes made to incursion do not change this.
Furthermore, I would like to mention that many players who do quit or surrender, do so because of reasons that fair comeback mechanics won’t change. Players who are lacking in some area to perform well, continuously choose to quit when faced with bad situations as opposed to using such experiences to allow them to improve. Players who do surrender or quit prematurely need to understand that those who stick it out to the end, are able to get better practice as a whole (especially since they get practice of the end game which is very different than the early game) and learn more, thus are able to become better players. More “better players” allow for more “better games.” Also, such players who quit and abandon their team, make it more difficult for those other players to get better.
It is the understanding of this, that players need in order to allow players on both sides to have more fun by completing their matches. Obviously good matchmaking is still an important factor among other things, but this is the major thing that I personally happen to see alot (players prematurely quitting when they could have gotten a lot out of the match).
Having said this, I do believe that some minor changes can be made that will allow the losing team to not be losing as badly when they are losing. Here are just some of my thoughts in terms of possible changes:
- Buildables no longer explode when the 1st sentry goes down.
Reasoning: Having buildables explode when the 1st sentry goes down, only makes it easier for the winning team to win, when it is not at all necessary. This also gives incentive for players to build buildables to help protect the area when the Sentry is about to go down.
- All buildables (except for the shock turret but including the Super Minion) give more EXP. I think something along the lines of this would be OK:
Thumper, and Stinger turret match the EXP gain of the Shock turret.
Accelerators, and Supply Stations give double EXP of what they currently give.
Super Minion gives 200 EXP.
Reasoning: As has been mentioned in a previous post, there are times when melee characters who need EXP to be able to make their comebacks just cannot gain enough EXP when their team is consistently pinned down. Yes, having less shards is a factor, but this is easily rectified with a shard generator and a buildable reduction gear. What remains to hinder this however is when the other buildables give hardly any EXP in comparison to the shock turret (which would usually be in control of the winning team on overgrowth).
Players who are losing aren’t going to be giving the winning players more EXP through buildables since they can’t get to them, and players who are losing will be able to constantly build buildables, since they will be constantly destroyed. This should help close the gap of gaining EXP for the losing team, especially since the losing team is likely not getting as much EXP in kills as the winning team.
- Grant the ability to repair lvl 3 turrets. The repair would function the same as upgrading a lvl (for example going from lvl 2 to lvl 3) where the turret recovers full HP and shield after a few second startup. EXP given is proportional to how much HP and shield is recovered. To prevent abuse, this new function would have a cooldown similar to the cooldown when a buildable is destroyed.
Reasoning: This would not only help with leveling up, since players could be gaining more EXP for the amount of shards being used, but it would also make the buildables more useful in general.
- Every Thrall kill now give players a 1/3 of the exp needed to reach the next level rather than a fixed amount. Capturing a Thrall also gives a 1/3 of the EXP needed to reach the next level. Players who assist in both killing a thrall, or capturing also gain 1/6 of the exp needed to reach the next level, while players who get the kill still get a 1/3 of the exp needed. However, EXP is only given to the team that deals the killing blow.
Reasoning: Although this also affects the winning team, it gives thralls significantly more value, which is a good thing. It makes it much more important to capture which will force teams to split up if they want to take advantage of the thralls (or prevent the opponents from taking advantage of them). This will allow for more strategy for taking control of the center area, which is generally necessary for making comebacks.
- Can only deploy the super minion when the 1st sentry is down.
Reasoning: Players who are winning, don’t need to use the Super Minion to continue to win. Furthermore, granting players a new “function” to apply after losing the first sentry will give incentive to attempt to use it in some way to try and make a comeback. Super Minions would also give alot of EXP (to the player who bought it), and maybe could use some extra feature that makes it better for comebacks if still deemed necessary. For example, the Super Minion could explode on death and deal damage in a fixed radius, or create a status effect field on death for a few seconds, etc.
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