Hello! I would like to suggest a new system for applying XP boosters in this game.
Problem :
Many players have a problem with their XP boosters being wasted due to no real fault of their own. In its current state, the matchmaking system has a number of problems and using boosters is almost purely a gamble. A newer player can often find themselves completely outmatched and at the mercy of very high level players by simply being unlucky. For these players if they got an XP booster before their match, they find that this booster was simply wasted because they didn’t get lucky enough to get put into a match that suited their level, and if they decide to play through the match, they are subjected to a 20 minute slog that they have no hope of winning, wherein their individual skill does not play a major role in the outcome of the match, which is incredibly demoralizing for these players.
Suggestion :
I heard there is an inventory system incoming to the game. My suggestion is for boosters to be applied after a match has been won, rather than before it has started.
This would obviously not solve all the problems of the matchmaking system, but of course to solve the matchmaking system would take a lot more development time and resources. Rather, this would decrease the annoyance and unfairness of the current system while a new one is being developed, as well as give newer players a real chance to make progress in campaigns even when frequently subjected to entirely unbalanced matches.
I like your thinking, because you want to reduce the frustration a lot of people feel about the booster situation. The potential counterargument, that we actually get boosters regularly, falls apart for those who can only play casually (such as weekends or evenings).
I would slightly modify the suggestion as follows (or at least this might be a compromise):
Your initial booster has a value (say, +100%). If you use it on the FIRST battle, you get +100%.
If you opt to NOT use it on the first battle, it “downgrades” to +75% for the second battle.
Then, if you don’t use it on the second battle, you get ONE LAST chance to use it, but at +50%.
That gives you three chances to use it, with a reasonable degradation of the booster if you opt to skip the current battle.
I disagree. This type of system would punish people in the same way as the current system, only just slightly less.
Let’s say you have a 100% bonus. It’s a weekend and it’s the only time you play during your week. You hop on, but your first game was unwinnable. Your team was made up of only bots and was being spawn camped the whole time. You are then out 25% XP bonus simply because you got unlucky. Then you get in your second game, and the same thing happens, your 100% booster is now only worth 50%, for no real fault of your own.
I think the system you propose would only serve to make those who play very little even more frustrated, because not only would they be subjected to frustrating games during the only times that they actually play the game, they would also be penalized for it.
I think instead, simply giving people the choice of when to use their booster would make the game far less frustrating for these people when they get a booster, and lessen the impact that bad games have on them, which is so important as they do not play as often.
What I mean is after a match is completed, the inventory screen is accessible and one is able to choose which booster they would like to apply to the finished match, or no booster at all if they like.