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- Apr 28, 2020
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There are many amazing things in this year’s road map, and potential rift changes with defender diversity possibly coming back is one of them. I’m sure this would be a much anticipated change for anyone who knows what the top bases have been turning into over the past year. However, I’m afraid that not much is going to improve if attacker diversity is not introduced as well.
What I mean by attacker diversity is a penalty for using multiple copies of the same variant per rift base. When you’re just starting out in Rifts, the game explicitly tells you that you can’t use one fighter on attack more than once. What the game doesn’t tell you is that you can bypass this restriction by investing into a duplicate of the same fighter. You can make as many copies of the same variant (provided you have them) to use them multiple times per Rift battle. All you need is one good move set that you can rotate between them.
This loophole has been in the game from the very beginning, and one could say that right now it is counterbalanced by the absence of defender diversity. The problem is, some variants are just better than others at countering specific defenders and catalysts, and some are capable of getting the highest score in the safest way possible. When you have the resources to use only the best options, there’s pretty much no need to use other variants if you're aiming for the highest score possible. Initially, there weren’t that many people who used dupes on attack, but it was still pretty frustrating to get matched with them and see your base get obliterated by an army of dupes. Now, as more duplicate defenders began to appear, people adapted to it by making more duplicate attackers. It seems pretty fair, after all – if a base is designed with multiple nodes requiring a very specific counter, which in some cases might be limited to just one or two variants (e.g., two solo nodes with Blue Screens and Frost Armor that are best countered by Silent Kill), it will lower your score unless you have the right answer. But the real problem might come later with the return of defender diversity. With dupes on attack now being common, it’s going to be very difficult, if not impossible, to make a challenging base. If everyone has an army of dupes for all occasions, and bases are no longer as challenging, then offense becomes overpowered, and there’s no longer an incentive to improve your base, because it’s bound to get obliterated no matter what you do.
Here are the main reasons why I believe dupes on offense should not be a thing:
1) They arguably go against what the game actively incentivizes you to do (via Prize Fights, Accolades, Deployments, Dailies, Story mode and in-game economy in general) - making a diverse collection of various characters and their variants.
2) The fact that you can’t have dupes on defense but are welcome to use them on attack doesn’t seem fair and consistent in general.
3) A meta revolving around dupes gives a disproportionally big advantage to older players. It takes a lot of time to collect precious resources like essences, keys, fodder and skill points, not to mention multiple copies of specific natural diamond ‘meta’ variants.
4) I believe that there should be an accessible theoretical ceiling that everyone can reach and stay at in order to compete at the highest level (e.g., all the ‘good’ attackers and defenders for Rifts at lvl 60 with perfectly optimized full lvl 15 sets etc.). Dupes increase this ceiling many times over which, again, can be very frustrating for newer players. I myself have experienced this back in Rifts 1.0 when I was fighting for my life in diamond ranks only to get matched with a top 3 player and get destroyed by dupes. Essentially, the way things are right now, you will always be at a disadvantage unless you have a few extra copies of the ‘top tier’ variants for any extra node you might need them on.
5) As mentioned before, some variants are just better than others when it comes to particular niches. Some variants are so strong that they are practically unstoppable and can be used on many different nodes to get a very high score safely (e.g., Neuromancer, X-bot and a few others). If you can invest in a few dupes that are the best at what they do, why invest into anything else, even if it’s the second best thing? With multiple dupes like these for all occasions, no base will be able to stop you because you will always have the best counter for any situation.
6) Making dupes requires a lot of additional and often times unenjoyable effort to set up. Sometimes you feel like you’d rather spend your resources on something else but still feel obliged to do the ‘optimal’ thing. If you want to stay competitive, you'll be slowing yourself down unless you do it. And I’m sure that it’s discouraging for many people.
7) This has already been touched upon, but here a couple more points. Dupes discourage creativity and arguably make defense obsolete. If you have a ready solution for any occasion, there’s no more strategy left, just a flowchart. There’re no such interesting elements as counterplay or designing your base to force out counters – no matter what base you make, it will not be good enough. This might be especially discouraging to players who enjoy designing their bases the most.
8) Dupes are at odds with Prestige abilities. They have been a fun addition that adds another layer to the gameplay and collection aspects of the game, but when it comes to dupes, as much as you might want this nice border and extra ability, you are better off making a copy instead.
In conclusion, I believe that Rift battles could only benefit from attacker diversity. It would make it more fun for veterans, less hopeless for newer players and more nuanced in general, as opposed to a game of ‘who has more copies of the ‘strongest variants’. I believe that this would be a step towards making Rifts more accessible, enjoyable and fitting into the overall flow of the game.
TL; DR: without attacker diversity offense will become overpowered, it goes against what the game incentivizes you to do in all other modes, doesn’t make sense to exist with defender diversity, is not fun for anyone except for those competing for the top by any means necessary, frustrating for newer players, discourages creativity, makes defense obsolete and conflicts with Prestige abilities.
P.S. If you disagree with my post and/or have voted for options #2, #3 or #4 in the poll, please let me and others know why in the comments! Any feedback will be greatly appreciated! I'm just proposing the changes I believe would make Rifts more fun and fair, and if my opinion turns out to be unpopular, then it can't be helped.
What I mean by attacker diversity is a penalty for using multiple copies of the same variant per rift base. When you’re just starting out in Rifts, the game explicitly tells you that you can’t use one fighter on attack more than once. What the game doesn’t tell you is that you can bypass this restriction by investing into a duplicate of the same fighter. You can make as many copies of the same variant (provided you have them) to use them multiple times per Rift battle. All you need is one good move set that you can rotate between them.
This loophole has been in the game from the very beginning, and one could say that right now it is counterbalanced by the absence of defender diversity. The problem is, some variants are just better than others at countering specific defenders and catalysts, and some are capable of getting the highest score in the safest way possible. When you have the resources to use only the best options, there’s pretty much no need to use other variants if you're aiming for the highest score possible. Initially, there weren’t that many people who used dupes on attack, but it was still pretty frustrating to get matched with them and see your base get obliterated by an army of dupes. Now, as more duplicate defenders began to appear, people adapted to it by making more duplicate attackers. It seems pretty fair, after all – if a base is designed with multiple nodes requiring a very specific counter, which in some cases might be limited to just one or two variants (e.g., two solo nodes with Blue Screens and Frost Armor that are best countered by Silent Kill), it will lower your score unless you have the right answer. But the real problem might come later with the return of defender diversity. With dupes on attack now being common, it’s going to be very difficult, if not impossible, to make a challenging base. If everyone has an army of dupes for all occasions, and bases are no longer as challenging, then offense becomes overpowered, and there’s no longer an incentive to improve your base, because it’s bound to get obliterated no matter what you do.
Here are the main reasons why I believe dupes on offense should not be a thing:
1) They arguably go against what the game actively incentivizes you to do (via Prize Fights, Accolades, Deployments, Dailies, Story mode and in-game economy in general) - making a diverse collection of various characters and their variants.
2) The fact that you can’t have dupes on defense but are welcome to use them on attack doesn’t seem fair and consistent in general.
3) A meta revolving around dupes gives a disproportionally big advantage to older players. It takes a lot of time to collect precious resources like essences, keys, fodder and skill points, not to mention multiple copies of specific natural diamond ‘meta’ variants.
4) I believe that there should be an accessible theoretical ceiling that everyone can reach and stay at in order to compete at the highest level (e.g., all the ‘good’ attackers and defenders for Rifts at lvl 60 with perfectly optimized full lvl 15 sets etc.). Dupes increase this ceiling many times over which, again, can be very frustrating for newer players. I myself have experienced this back in Rifts 1.0 when I was fighting for my life in diamond ranks only to get matched with a top 3 player and get destroyed by dupes. Essentially, the way things are right now, you will always be at a disadvantage unless you have a few extra copies of the ‘top tier’ variants for any extra node you might need them on.
5) As mentioned before, some variants are just better than others when it comes to particular niches. Some variants are so strong that they are practically unstoppable and can be used on many different nodes to get a very high score safely (e.g., Neuromancer, X-bot and a few others). If you can invest in a few dupes that are the best at what they do, why invest into anything else, even if it’s the second best thing? With multiple dupes like these for all occasions, no base will be able to stop you because you will always have the best counter for any situation.
6) Making dupes requires a lot of additional and often times unenjoyable effort to set up. Sometimes you feel like you’d rather spend your resources on something else but still feel obliged to do the ‘optimal’ thing. If you want to stay competitive, you'll be slowing yourself down unless you do it. And I’m sure that it’s discouraging for many people.
7) This has already been touched upon, but here a couple more points. Dupes discourage creativity and arguably make defense obsolete. If you have a ready solution for any occasion, there’s no more strategy left, just a flowchart. There’re no such interesting elements as counterplay or designing your base to force out counters – no matter what base you make, it will not be good enough. This might be especially discouraging to players who enjoy designing their bases the most.
8) Dupes are at odds with Prestige abilities. They have been a fun addition that adds another layer to the gameplay and collection aspects of the game, but when it comes to dupes, as much as you might want this nice border and extra ability, you are better off making a copy instead.
In conclusion, I believe that Rift battles could only benefit from attacker diversity. It would make it more fun for veterans, less hopeless for newer players and more nuanced in general, as opposed to a game of ‘who has more copies of the ‘strongest variants’. I believe that this would be a step towards making Rifts more accessible, enjoyable and fitting into the overall flow of the game.
TL; DR: without attacker diversity offense will become overpowered, it goes against what the game incentivizes you to do in all other modes, doesn’t make sense to exist with defender diversity, is not fun for anyone except for those competing for the top by any means necessary, frustrating for newer players, discourages creativity, makes defense obsolete and conflicts with Prestige abilities.
P.S. If you disagree with my post and/or have voted for options #2, #3 or #4 in the poll, please let me and others know why in the comments! Any feedback will be greatly appreciated! I'm just proposing the changes I believe would make Rifts more fun and fair, and if my opinion turns out to be unpopular, then it can't be helped.
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I stopped all dupe investments about a year ago but I'm still likely going to lose tons of resources because of all the stuff I'd made earlier. No complaints though, I think it's only fair.
In fact, I was also planning to post a gigantic overview of the current meta and all catalysts with some buff suggestions (already wrote it), but now I'll have to wait and see how the new changes play out first.