Other Rift & Catalyst balance suggestion

[TonyPartridge30]

I mostly like the reworks made to several Catalysts in the Rift mode. I think the occasional rework is a decent way to keep the mode fresh and encourage diversity. For example, the update to Cripple Decker has made it go from seeing little-to-no use to being a very potent catalyst. But a side effect of making some catalysts much more effective is that some people are putting a Cripple Decker on every single node, or a Frost Armor, etc. I get that some people get lucky in what catalysts they obtain, but I think more can be done to promote diverse usage of catalysts and avoidance of a “meta” defense. Just like how Rift map was changed so that using repeat fighters gave a deficiency to those nodes, I think something similar should be done for repeat catalysts. It’s not very fun to attack Rift map when every node has Cripple Decker or some other repeated catalyst. But rather than nerfing those catalysts that are prone to repeated use, let’s just limit how many times a catalyst can be used on a Rift base to 1. This would encourage more diverse utilization of catalysts. For catalysts that have character-specific variants, I think it’d be fair for each character variant to count as a unique instance of that catalyst, meaning a Rift base could have one node with a global Cripple Decker, one node with a Valentine Cripple Decker, one with a Fukua Cripple Decker, etc. However, I don’t think a Rift map should be able to have multiple instances of the same catalyst; at the very least, not without some penalty like when using repeat fighters.

 

[digdugprophetie]

This would mess with me so hard! If they did this, they should also allow a transfer of coin investment from one catalyst to another as a small compensation.

 

[Maximus_David045]

I mostly like the reworks made to several Catalysts in the Rift mode. I think the occasional rework is a decent way to keep the mode fresh and encourage diversity. For example, the update to Cripple Decker has made it go from seeing little-to-no use to being a very potent catalyst. But a side effect of making some catalysts much more effective is that some people are putting a Cripple Decker on every single node, or a Frost Armor, etc. I get that some people get lucky in what catalysts they obtain, but I think more can be done to promote diverse usage of catalysts and avoidance of a “meta” defense. Just like how Rift map was changed so that using repeat fighters gave a deficiency to those nodes, I think something similar should be done for repeat catalysts. It’s not very fun to attack Rift map when every node has Cripple Decker or some other repeated catalyst. But rather than nerfing those catalysts that are prone to repeated use, let’s just limit how many times a catalyst can be used on a Rift base to 1. This would encourage more diverse utilization of catalysts. For catalysts that have character-specific variants, I think it’d be fair for each character variant to count as a unique instance of that catalyst, meaning a Rift base could have one node with a global Cripple Decker, one node with a Valentine Cripple Decker, one with a Fukua Cripple Decker, etc. However, I don’t think a Rift map should be able to have multiple instances of the same catalyst; at the very least, not without some penalty like when using repeat fighters.

I don't know. Same character usage penality is more considerable, since the game offers more than 200 different variants to use and just a few nodes to pass. But when it comes to catalysts, I feel like they're very limited in their uniqueness.

You can use more than one character/variant to remove buffs, clean debuffs, deal a chunky damage, etc, but there are not many efficient catalysts to induce the same immunity necessity as Cripple Decker, nor a catalyst that discourage players that want to deal too much damage as Don't Poke The Buer.

If it were to apply limitations to their uses, they'll need to be milder less punitive than the facsimiles one, since many defensive variants would benefit a lot from the same catalysts than others. I mean, if you were to choose in which node to put Frost Armor without getting, would you put for a node where is Corrosive Agent, Model Leader and Heavy Metal or Biting Cold, Plot Twisted and Megalomaniac? Would you like to put it in both? Would you like to put it in one more node?

Of course it all depends on how this penality would work, but I think to avoid this problem, there could be a bigger variety of catalysts. More of them to help defenders survive more, deal more passive damage, resist more debuffs, etc. Maybe, if there were more of them, people would be more encouraged to use different strategies aside "Cripple Decker Mayhem".

It's just an idea.

 

[Dusty00]

Maybe assign values to catalysts like BB1, 2 and 3 have different values. Like a character can’t have over 25 for the 5 moves, a base can’t have catalysts that go over a certain value. Similarly, unique catalysts should be like BBs that you can only have one on base, but common/uncommon ones you can have multiple like Special moves.

Point is, why invent something new when we already have something viable in the game to replicate?

 

[TonyPartridge30]

This would mess with me so hard! If they did this, they should also allow a transfer of coin investment from one catalyst to another as a small compensation.View attachment 22450

Messing with that sort of collection is kind of the point.
But I’d be totally fine if you could get back 100% of your coin investment; that doesn’t bother me at all.

I don't know. Same character usage penality is more considerable, since the game offers more than 200 different variants to use and just a few nodes to pass. But when it comes to catalysts, I feel like they're very limited in their uniqueness.

You can use more than one character/variant to remove buffs, clean debuffs, deal a chunky damage, etc, but there are not many efficient catalysts to induce the same immunity necessity as Cripple Decker, nor a catalyst that discourage players that want to deal too much damage as Don't Poke The Buer.

If it were to apply limitations to their uses, they'll need to be milder less punitive than the facsimiles one, since many defensive variants would benefit a lot from the same catalysts than others. I mean, if you were to choose in which node to put Frost Armor without getting, would you put for a node where is Corrosive Agent, Model Leader and Heavy Metal or Biting Cold, Plot Twisted and Megalomaniac? Would you like to put it in both? Would you like to put it in one more node?

Of course it all depends on how this penality would work, but I think to avoid this problem, there could be a bigger variety of catalysts. More of them to help defenders survive more, deal more passive damage, resist more debuffs, etc. Maybe, if there were more of them, people would be more encouraged to use different strategies aside "Cripple Decker Mayhem".

It's just an idea.

I’m all for more catalysts, but I don’t think that will change much. Inevitably the community will fall back upon a selection of several catalysts that will comprise a meta, and most players will use nothing but those, and some will even use nothing but several repeats of those. The unfortunate truth is that breaking up metas has to be forced, or at least heavily encouraged. And that’s what I want: to break up metas. Not everyone is a fan of that but doesn’t mean I can’t suggest it.