Some quick and simple ideas to make Siege better

    • Some quick and simple ideas to make Siege better

      I want siege to be a fun mode. I still think it can be one. I'm not on the "this format sucks" train. I think Siege can be great with a few twists. Some were already suggested, some others don't. Let's do this:

      The whole idea: Start to shift towards a system where Siege Sacks are the main chase item and not plat/gold. Allowing to create a nice experience for new users, and having the chance for old users to enjoy this.

      Short term (and I suspect: not so complex to implement).

      - Allow to create "free" (1 gold entry) sieges. With this kind of sieges, the idea is just to have a "free" constant way for players to play different PvE contents. This will also encourage defenders to create different kind of sieges. As Siege Sacks are being harvested, the fact that you'll have little gold on it, it's really not an issue. Also, this leave "paid" sieges for hardcore users, which I'm ok with AS LONG as there are free versions around.

      - Allow PvE / Immortal cards and equip for attackers. Obvious one. The disbalance between the AI and player will have to be adjusted from other side. But for me, having a to play with Standard cards against PvE cards is unfun. And more if I have to pay for it. I just don't want to. Maybe a different way to fix this advantage if by letting sieges have passive powers and cards from the beginning (this will also create a nice secondary market), but this is for the long term list. And an active ban list for 0 turn kills for attackers.

      - Give siege sacks for winning 1 or 2 encounters. This idea was given by @NicoSharp. I'll just copy it here. Remove the bad feeling of winning 2 encounters and losing the third one. Give some partial siege sacks for it. Siege sacks are not tradeable, siege packs and content are not tradeable. You have people creating sieges with shards to farm them. Let's change this by the positive.

      Long term:

      - "Custom" sieges with passive powers and cards. Imagine that through siege sacks or platinum you can buy passive power champions for your sieges, or slots for cards, or even more slots for other decks. There you have a good way to monetize this game. This will also help the imbalance between attackers and defenders.

      - HXE created sieges with this in mind. Having the chance to use passive powers and cards, maybe Hex could create Sieges with different tematics sides that people can challenge in. Allowing new players to try easy sieges (PS4 players included) and with more complex sieges for experienced users. It's like having the chance of having a quick way to post mini-dungeons...

      - Allow users to use their Campaign Characters for attack. This is a difficult one, because most of the 0 turn kills use the skills of the champions. But it's a good way for people to have a sense of progression with their characters. Again, use bans and nerf if necessary, but I would start from a higher point (PvE cards) instead of a lower one (only standard).
      Twitter: @Plotynus

    • I think most of us that talk about Siege like the idea behind the potential sandbox it could become. Some solid ideas.
      I think if we are going the route of 1 gold entry, we should just consider 0 gold entry.

      If HEX needs to pocket an administrative fee to feel validated in making this mode, they could charge people a 1 time fee perhaps to have their content up, permanently for a week or something.

      There are several cool things they could do with this. The closer it gets to Mario Maker, the cooler I think it would become. Ways to allow people to appreciate the players effort put into the content, and not so much frustration with their inability to progress, and lost resources attempting.

      There are also plenty of ways they could promote spending, like using cosmetics, like Sleeves, Battleboards, Mercenaries, Passives, etc. to be purchased that buff a defenses.

      They could mimic this on the attacker side, once gambling isn't a central focus, by allowing attackers to have 3+ decks as well, and more room to succeed with their attacks (like mercenary teams with passives/etc.) So much room here for sandbox expansion.

    • For the longest time I couldn't figure out why people were complaining about siege, or saying that nobody wanted it. It was pretty much exactly as I envisioned from the Kickstarter keep defenses. Today I realized that it's because Keep Defense was an inherently competitive mode, and most of the outcry has been from people looking for more casual or PvE-oriented gameplay. We wanted less competition and more fun ways to engage with the game. I don't think Siege needs to be scrapped to salvage it into a very useful component of Hex, but I do think it needs a few key changes:

      1) Allow free keeps. In fact, make it the default. This has been suggested repeatedly since sieges came out, and I think it's the biggest problem keeps have right now. Make them free, and let them stay up as long as people want. No more reposting sieges after one player takes it down. Everyone can create a little bit of content. Lots of people will show off with their best decks, but a lot of people will just make some wacky thematic stuff. Important thing is it will be set-and-forget, so a lot of keeps go up and stay up, and not all of them will be high-stakes deck stompers.
      2) Allow selective challenging, but also make a mode where you select 1 of 3 randomly chosen keeps to battle. If you win against that random keep, you get 25 siege sacks. This way you can't guarantee yourself to find a 60-shard deck for easy wins, but you won't necessarily have to battle the top decks to get sacks. Make this also have no entry, and select only from free keeps.
      3) Change the view so that you have some information before heading into a keep besides just win rate and cost to attack. Something like which champions the defense uses, maybe which shards are included, or let each player set a brief description or title line.

      Sieges would be great content if it weren't a competitive environment. I also want to see people make top-tier impossible-to-defeat sieges, but I don't want that to be the norm or standard for this content. But it will be as long as costs are associated with it. When Siege first launched we had a lot of people hosting thematic and fun sieges with tons of enthusiasm, but eventually they got tired of throwing away gold and manually reposting their siege. Doing a lot of work to throw away your own money is not going to keep anyone engaged.
      Old username: Aradon | Collector backer | Starting a guild for Newbies -- "The Cerulean Acadamy" -- Taking applications once guilds are implemented