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It's also pretty quick to max Basic, and not even all that much to get one variant done with Elite. Once done, there's little left to do. I tested it by getting my Jenner from nothing to Master in less than two weeks, having never played the game before and starting from scratch.
Here's my suggestion:
1. Decrease the amount of benefit each basic unlock gives you by roughly 1/3.
ie, if Coolrun currently gives you a 7.5% bonus, cut it to a 5% bonus. Cut others accordingly.
2. Decrease the amount of benefit each Elite unlock gives you by roughly 1/2.
ie if Fast Fire currently gives you a 5% bonus, cut it to a 2.5% bonus. Cut others accordingly.
3. Increase the experience needed to finish the tiers.
Right now it takes 14,250 for Basic, and 21,500 for each Elite and Master for a total of 57,250 to max (of course, since you need 3 variants at Basic and Elite to get one to master, another way to see it is you need a grand total of 128,750 xp across 3 variants to get one variant its Master rating).
I'd suggest rebalancing the unlocks to require 15,000 for Basic, 30,000 for Elite, and 55,000 for Master, which makes it an even 100,000 to max (which is 190,000 xp across 3 variants to get one variant its Master rating).
4. At each tier add the previous tier's bonuses again.
ie right now when you hit Elite your Basic rewards double. I suggest that that it also happens when you achieve Master. Your Basic rewards go to x3, and your Elite rewards go to x2. Because of the lowering of their individual values under 1 and 2 above, the final improvement amount remains almost unchanged.
5. Add additional benefits at Master level. I would suggest one or more of the following:
a. Increase Cbills with that mech by a percentage (5-25%).
b. Decrease repair/reload/purchase costs with that mech by a percentage (5-25%). Note, this one shouldn't be used with 'a' above...it should be one or the other.
c. Increase GXP earning by a small percentage with that mech (5-10%).
d. Increase experience earning by a percentage with that mech (5-25%). Note, this one shouldn't be used with 'c' above...it should be one or the other.
e. Offer a decorative reward, such as a logo on the mech visible to others, a custom skin/color/pattern, or something in your cockpit.
f. Offer a tier rank affixed to your pilot name for those viewing your info in the field (nothing, Basic Mechwarrior, Elite Mechwarrior, Master Mechwarrior), or (nothing, Basic Jenner Jockey, Elite Jenner Jockey, Master Jenner Jockey) or similar.
g. Grant a custom sign-on, or kill shot message, or the ability to macro chat messages. Ideally all of this would happen, a bit more at each tier (ie Basic gives you a sign-on announcement at the start of a match, Elite gives you a custom kill shot message, Master gives you the ability to program in game chat macros).
Yeah, that's all a lot of work, but look at the benefit. Suddenly achieving Master actually MEANS something, and would encourage people to get it for many different mechs. That means more $ being spent on MC to have the mech bays and variants needed.
Just as a 'super goal' it would be really cool if you made something awesome for anyone who achieves Master on every mech variant for a chassis, something stupendous for anyone who masters an entire weight class, and something RIDICULOUS for any masochistic fool who achieves Master rating on EVERY mech in the game.
Edited by Phoenix182, 28 November 2012 - 05:11 PM.
