Sorry, I accidentally posted this in General Discussion so it's meant to be here. So I just copied it over. I don't know how to delete a thread so I guess there's two versions, sorry about that...
Hello everyone, I know this is a hot take so please hear my out. I will get into the subject right now.
Deathmatch Needs a Testing Ground
Everyone these days plays Dominion, Breach, and Duels. This is not only bad for potential new (and old) players to be locked to these gamemodes, but it's also bad for competitive play, locks content behind closed doors, and the biodiversity For Honor needs to stay alive and flourish lacks. So I will suggest some changes that can be made to the Deathmatch gamemodes to allow more player variety, and in the long run have better competitive championships and newer players.
Skirmish:
Issue: Snowball effect for winning team
Potential Solution: Add a way for a team to lose points. Whether that be by revives, denying executions, or killing enemy captains. If there is a way to subtract the points from the enemy team then it allows for a less of a snowball effect, and allows for more intense gameplay. Also, remove buffs.
Elimination: (huge potential for championships)
Issue: Gank-fest that is made worse with buffs
Potential Solution: Remove buffs. Give a revenge equation to a survivor that multiplies revenge input depending if they are being ganked by multiple people or not.
Tribute: (huge potential for championships)
Issue: Even if a team is initially dominating, they can lose if the enemies take the flags at the last minute. Also a snowball effect.
Potential Solution: Allow for three buff types. However there is only 1 flag now. If a team captures a flag at a specific buff area, they get 1 point and have that buff until they die. If they capture another flag, the previous buff goes away in favor of the new one.
Why Testing Grounds for Deathmatch?
There are many reasons as to why its a good idea to have Deathmatch in a TG, even if it isn't the changes seen in this post. For Honor thrives on a sort of "biodiversity" in its game. This can be seen with Year 4 and 5, where in Year 4 there were two knights which nearly killed the game. However, this year there's a Samurai, and people are returning in droves. It shows that this game succeeds from a variety of content rather than being limited to just one type. This is also the case for gamemodes. People regularly express their exhaust from the game because they are limited to Dominion, Breach, and Duels. However, this can change if the Deathmatch gamemodes have a TG. People will get less burnt-out by the game, and will thus play it in longer intervals, and it will attract old and new players alike. This is also great for championships, as something akin to Elimination and Tribute can bring a great competitive edge to For Honor, which in turn gives it a longer lifespan, and brings in new players. Of course, Dominion will still dominate over other gamemodes, it's just natural for every single video game. There is always one gamemode that stands above the rest either due to player culture or with its good execution. Upon talking with many players they usually express their reason for playing only Dominion is because of how poorly Deathmatch is executed, and if it were better they would play that too. In this sense, it becomes really easy to see why a TG for all Deathmatch gamemodes is a great idea. It brings in new players, it brings that much needed 'biodiversity', it keeps current players from burning out quicker, and even though it will still dwarf from Dominion, the other gamemodes can have its culture of players as well. In this, the Deathmatch Testing Grounds is a beneficial thing to spend time on.
Thank you for reading, and I hope you have a good rest of your day or night!