Lore meets gameplay: faction battles?

[tsevech]

I would not call this an idea, but more an idea sketch. I think still it may lead to fun discussions on the forum, so I like to post it.

I think that lore is a very fascinating aspect of the game and developers seem to push it by releasing new codex entries. I was wondering whether it would be cool to have a game mode or an event which integrates deeply with the game lore.

In particular, we know that all factions are fighting to get precious resources from a tree, with the goal of protecting the continent where the faction lives. What about a game mode / event where players choose a faction to main and only play with it? Players would be guaranteed to only play against other factions. Victories would award points to the player’s faction and rewards would be granted to all players of the faction with most points at the end of the event.

Alternatively, one could think about tournaments where the winning player would make all the other players of the same faction get some benefit. This would push faction identities even further, I think it can be fun.

How would you see something like this? Also, please contribute with your own ideas on this line!

[dewize]

Totally agreed !
I think that everytime a faction wins a “Faction War” they should get a new card.

[thefirstgokun]

Cool idea, but imbalancing the factions like that sounds like a bad idea. Things must be symmetrical!

I think during the faction war, victories should be used to unlock additional cards for your faction members (even exclusively claiming certain neutral cards as a massive reward) to grant an advantage during the event, and then at the end of the event you gain rewards based on which faction you were in PLUS additional bonuses for individual performance.

Faction Wars could also be an extended length tournament format, wherein a story is written and played out by the competitors and winning or losing influences where the narrative goes and which faction has access to which cards.

[zerafut]

Sounds like a very cool idea.
However, Vet and Songhaï would insta-win imho xD
Just because they are such loved factions in the community (from what I could observe)

[tsevech]

I think your proposal summarises more or less what I had in mind. I don’t know about the specific rewards, but I’m totally with you on at least two points:

1. make the reward depend on the faction and the individual performance

2. give the event an extended length, with the possibility of making the storyline evolve

[raqyee]

I don’t like the idea of the whole new game type and maining a faction. I’d much prefer if they just implemented it in the current ranked/gauntlet system.

Just like your idea, make people choose their factions and from then on every win they score with it counts in some global ranking system. I’m not sure how the ranking system would exactly work (it counting only wins, winrates, or some more elaborate algorithm), but it should be presented in an interesting way. First thing that came to my head is having a map with all faction’s territories on it and each of them expanding or decreasing based on the ranking points. I’m not sure does it work with the lore in mind but you do get the idea.

Rewards should be minor so people don’t feel cheated for picking a wrong faction. The entire idea behind it isn’t to get rewards anyway but to add a bit of flavor to the game.

I don’t think it’s a good idea to overdo it. It should be nice and simple so everyone can participate by playing as they always do without needless complications.

[elPatoPoderoso]

Then you would have people playing games as a faction they didn’t choose and conceding to the faction they did choose. Not sure how often it would happen, probably proportional to the quality of the rewards.

[tsevech]

I see your point and I agree there is no need to add much complexity. I
think two formulas might work:

1. tournament. We already have it and it’s well known to players. Adding a
   few constraints on factions would not change that much in terms of
   gameplay, but would add to the flavour

2. ladder integration. One could choose a main faction in her profile and,
   when laddering with that faction, she could be randomly matched for a
   "faction war" as discussed above every now and then (maybe on win streaks?)

I think I like more the epic scale of the first proposal, but also the
second one would add value to the game. Also, I believe rewards should be
minor, cosmetic or lore related. There is no need to further exacerbate the
discussions on the strength of the different factions.

To sum up: we have an excellent lore and cool factions, let’s exploit them
more!

[mmf]

Although I’d find it awesome if more cards were added it seems a bit unreasonable. With their monthly cards plus (assuming that faction wars is every month or so) that would mean that they would be coming up with at least 4 new cards each month, not including any expansions they come out with). Instead i’d do something where if a faction wins a faction wars they can earn more gold for a limited time afterwards. Still, even if faction wars did isn’t give any benefits I would be excited since I’d give more gameplay options (especially if they attach some sort of lore to it)

[gabriek]

Ok, I think Ive came up with a pretty good idea as far as reward go. Maybe if a faction wins, everyone in that faction could vote on their “favourite” infaction card and whichever card wins can get a new skin. And that skin would be handed out to the people in that faction. Maybe not everyone in that faction though, it might be best to have a win threshold so you have to put in some effort to get it.

As for individual rewards, I think it’d be gold/ spirit maybe chest keys. And you shouldn’t get much more of those compared to the people in the losing factions. Maybe 10-20% more?

[oranos]

My first thought was similar to raqyees. Put up a huge map and fight over territory. But instead of getting new cards in the faction, you fight over which faction gets to use each neutral card. If you control this place, your faction gets that card. For example only 1 faction can use spelljammers.
And deck building is done before each match so you have to try constructing interesting new decks in a hybrid draft-constructed way.

It might be better as a single player mode, but I think it would be fun.

[niccolomachiavelli]

I would love faction wars, but it would probably be best as it’s own game mode, such as the gauntlet, then the actual game.

[thefirstgokun]

I can imagine the map working amazingly. All the factions join together to block SongHai from reaching Spelljammer territory. Magmar and Lyonar battle viciously over Blistering Skorn turf. Starhorn sneaks into Decimus land and starts a glorious revolution.