Meltdown: Finale might NOT be bad

Battleborn Battleborn General Discussion
#1

Hello everyone, I just watched the livestream on the winter update, and found that the New update to meltdown was getting ‘Shredded’ (because minREC’s recycalers shred minions. Its a pun.) Anyways most people are bashing the change, and I wanted to look at Meltdown Finale from an objective POV, and then the reasons why I think it might be an upgrade.

Meltdown: Finale will be Split into 2 phases, one 20 minute session for the regular Meltdown gameplay, and one Finale for the last bot parade. The biggest complaints are the shorter gameplay and the intro being non important since anyone can win the finale. I personally haven’t had a 30 minute meldown game since the beginning, and nowadays you either steamroll or get steamrolled. (from the games I have played.)

Anyway, Finale looks like it will offer a more TDM ending, where killing the enemy team will be a priority, and might improve Meltdown alot. However, it could also make the begining feel bot important, and we will get teams just anoying each other for 20 minutes.
In my oppinion, before any playtesting happens, this is a benefit (For the reasons listed below.)

(Side note) * I am a level 58 Deande/S&A main, so don’t look at this and think I am a new player. However, I think matchmaking is a major problem, as a Level 58 will not often be put with a level 90-100, and back when we could see the ranks, I often was put with level 20’s or less. Thus, maybe I am just not having decent teams, and this feels like an individual can carry a team and I don’t have to worry about jerks prematurally Disconnecting and losing my team the game*

First off, Meltdown: Clasic (M:C) Never had a place for anyone without AoE. It made the longer TDM mode of battleborn very dull and inclusive, so I personally wasn’t a huge fan as a Deande / S&A Main. However, With Meltdown: Finale (M:F) Assassins and non AoE characters can be usefull in a final teamwipe and pile on the Final Bot.

Secondly, M:C seemed to always benefit the team of more skilled/Non Disconnecting players. This was fine when Battleborns Playerbase was alot bigger, but now its a tad small and often I get teams that don’t know what there supposed to do and afk Or disconnect, leaving it in a you lose no matter what sennario. M:F will probalbly suffer this too, but the final push might offer noobies a chance to win, which will in turn make it more fun, and it won’t feel like Rookie on the team can’t kill a small minion which in turn loses us the game.

Finally, I can’t even count the times that in a game I am being pummeled, we get to halfway, with a screaming comeback as our team of usually 4 pushes back, and then a minion enters the gate on our side and DEFEAT plagues the screen as you realise people on your team overcommited one side. It sucks, and M:F will hopefully make this sucky sennario happen less, since our team of 4 will be able to fight tooth and nail to hold off defeat.

Oh yeah, Finale is kind of like how Overtime works in Overwatch, and hopefully some Badass plays come out of it.

Thanks, Neb.

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#2

Some great thoughts here but I would challenge pne thing. :slight_smile:

I mainly play as Deande and Pendles and I find them to be very effective in Meltdown. Most Battleborn that offer exception AoE (I.E. Oriende) can be taken down by non-AoE characters easily while they’re distracted with bots. Sure, this might help provide the diversity in characters chosen.

I think the solution to this comes with communication and experience. If I understand M:F correctly, I think this could still be an issue though as you will have to worry about the big bots + team whipe.

I’m glad to see some positive POV towards M:F. I don’t know how to feel about it yet personally.

#3

This is similar to Jythri’s reason for introducing the Ultra Minion mechanic, but it’s also my biggest point of dissent. You can see the minion wave marked on the mini-map (maybe too many people don’t realise to swap from the radar to the map?) You shouldn’t ever be surprised when Defeat flashes up. This is like being surprised when you lose because back Sentry goes down - it’s not a fault of the game mode, it’s the result of serious inattention.

If you commit four to one lane, then of course you’ll lose waves on the other. If you have to commit four to a lane to stand a chance, then they’re playing better than you, and they deserve the win - it’s not the fault of some stray mystery minion.

All this needs the caveat that I usually play Meltdown with a team. That said, my team has dispersed, so no doubt I’ll be experiencing the other side soon enough.

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#4

@Beatrix @EdenSophia Yeah communication is a big thing I should use more often, and as for playing with a team, I finnally got into the discord today. However, I am stating that In general, meltdown felt kind of broken due to premature disconnetors. A 5v4 always hurt in battleborn, and it hurts a lot more in Meltdown.(Whoops, Typo!) Again, the main problem is solo queing, and I think that with an actual team with mics, Battleborn becomes a heck of alot more fun and balenced. That said, anyone not with a team will suffer, and that so happened to be me for the last 6 months. Now, I agree that if we have to have all 4 on one side, we do NOT deserve to win, but if my team can’t cordinate and they overcommit or can’t hold a side, it gets annoying really fast.

As for increasing a team wipe chance, I feel that is a viable stratagy in the end game, and might not be bad.

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#5

This is arguably one of the main reasons why I’m not too favourable of the idea. As it is in regular Meltdown (and the first part in Finale) you can move pretty freely across the map, which usually tends to be vital in good games as well if you want to succeed. With this change, you seemingly (emphasising seemingly as we’ll have to wait and see) have to dedicate yourself a lot more to one particular lane so it’s almost as if though there are two independent TDMs going on.
Furthermore, due to the gamemode being stripped of regular minions in the finale and replaced by the ultra, I wouldn’t be surprised if it turned into a TDM for the winning team as they know they got the stronger minion. All they need to do is kill opponents, the losing team. The losing team however has to handle an opposing team who is killing them while trying to kill a strong minion as well. It’s almost as if though the winning team gets an easier time farming kills rather than necessarily having to play the objective. Just make sure the opposing players aren’t touching it. And depending on how much the winning team has lead by, they might be a couple of levels higher as well as the losing team haven’t cleared waves to get exp.
But once again, we’ll have to see how the finale turns out. I certainly hope it’ll work!

While that’s partially true, I’d say that it’s alao alightly misleading. There are few characters who are truly without AoE, Reyna being such a character. Others like Montana and Marquis certainly doesn’t focus on it, but both have it nevertheless and one can choose helix options to focus more on AoEs. In fact both Deande and Shayne & Aurox are pretty decent at clearing minions, you just need to spec for it. Certainly for Deande. Typically speaking it’s good to have a wave clearer on each side and an assassin on each side to harass opposing players. So they certainly have a spot in Meltdown, but a central part to them is often to disrupt enemies, not necessarily wave clear. [quote=“ninjaneb01, post:1, topic:1552113”]
but the final push might offer noobies a chance to win
[/quote]

While it certainly offers them a chance, one can say they already had a chance to begin with. And due to the factors I mentioned above, one can wonder what that chance will be worth and how much they have to pay for it. I can quite eqaily see people playing the entire first section, gets stomped on during the finale and they decide to leave then due to the stomp.

But once again, this is obviously just all speculation. Hopefully I’m wrong!

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Meltdown Finale Tactics
#6

I don’t use mics or join teams and I’m fine. I still feel as though I’m an asset to any team I’m on. Sometimes my teammates suck and that’s okay, I’ll just be the MVP and hope I get a better team next time. I win the majority of my matches so I must be doing something right.

1 Like
#7

@SirWalrusCrow You raised a few really good points, and I guess that in the end the TDM feel could negatively impact the mode, yet I also feel it would open up more spots for characters based solely for single target damage. Deande And S&A can play Meltdown if I spec them, But it often requires a Sheild heavy DoT S&A and a Calculated Risk heavy melee Deande. I haven’t touched the tank Shayne And Aurox, and I also haven’t felt at home with Calculated risk Deande, since it can hurt a lot more with the Rath based Meta.

However, I agree that giving the noobies a chance may not be nessacary, but As long as The Finale becomes super intense, it might be awesome!

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#8

Bring the max back up to 500, time back to 30, and save the finale for tie breakers or if neither team hits 500.

I’d like that, personally.

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#9

If neither team reaches 500, then a two-man sack race will be held on consecutive Sundays until a winner can be crowned.

3 Likes
#10

Mmm. I don’t want this to sound argumentative, so please take it as a friendly comment: I feel like Meltdown already accommodates a great variety of build types (including every imaginable variant of Shayne & Aurox and Deande, who are both great Meltdown picks.)

For example, the main target in each lane is the Shepherd (and, intermittently, the Elite Bot.) Because shepherds absolutely melt under crits, high-precision characters like Marquis, Caldarius, and Whiskey Foxtrot can be just as useful in lane as wave-clear champions like Orendi, Ernest and Galilea.

There’s also room for lots of interesting match-ups and counters. If you put say an Ernest, Orendi, and Ambra in a lane, there’s no question that’s a nightmare for the minions - but a Mellka, Deande, and Attikus enemy trio could quite easily wipe them and then have the lane to themselves. That enemy trio isn’t nearly as good at wave clear on paper, but in practice, they’ll run that particular lane.

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#11

Fair enough. I guess that I haven’t played enough to see this come around, and I do see the fun in these characters. I think (if I can queue soon) I will try some meltdown with most characters today. I also think that the large AoE characters will lose importance after this update, meaning your team won’t feel crapped on because some rank 5 noobie picked Orendi and doesn’t know how to use them, and your team has picked thinking the Orendi can carry minion destruction lame one with a protector, and a OM with someone can do the same lane 2. (Or any of the major AoE characters. Ernest, OM, Benedict, S&A, or Deande, or Rath.).

My point is, since the AoE nerf, this is a nice way to make the gane feel less impacted by those still with AoE.

Oh, and I would like to point out, characters not nerfed last time for AoE are much stronger than high precision characters, due to dot effects.(at least in wave clearing of weaker bots. Shepards help balance it, but not enough)

BTW, I have just got the gear to try a calculated risk Deande. I might feel different about her use after testing.

#12

Actually, I like that. It might have to stay at 25 or something to allow time for Finale, but I think that would be a really good way to crank the intensity to 11, and let the begging feel as important as before. I really like this idea, and can agree it should have been done. Again, I am trying to be positive about this made update, and hopefully the change (somehow) improves the gamemode.

1 Like
#13

So, I have made this point on the other big post, but I will make it here too. Although this has potential and I will give it a chance.

My problem with this changing how the match ends, is it negates the rest of the match. Imagine in incursion when the second sentry is destroyed, the game still goes for 5 minutes and allows the other team to destroy some objective. Or in faceoff that you have to kill/defend the big guy once your team scores 500. Or even in capture when your team scores 1000, you have to hold point A for another minute before you win.

I just don’t want the first part of the match to mean less than another part of a match.

Also, @ninjaneb01, one of the great things about meltdown is every character has a role/strength and you actually need a lot more balance as a team than you do in the other modes.

#14

That’s a nice compromise if Finale failnale

1 Like
#15

I can agree that this system makes the begining of the game super useless, and to be fair, it isn’t nessacary unless there is a tie, like @timtoborne stated. I think that this is like gearbox making an overtime to combat overwatch as opposed to balancing the modes snowball effect. Which begs the question, why meltdown? Incursion has a much LARGER snowball effect, so why hit meltdown? Granted, this mode still heavily benefits the winning team, and that might not be bad.

The only thing about characters is that due to matchmaking, as a rank 61, I often get put with level 5’s-15, so never truely get great team comps as they barely have half the characters, or the knowledge of what the team needs till rank 27ish. Hopefully this update removing the unlock progression changes that.