The corner stone to a motivating battle royale experience is a well thoughtout risk-reward-system. Simply put, in a game where every step can be your last, players need to know they can trust certain signs that signal them where valuable loot is likely to be hidden and where it’s not. Naraka Bladepoint however too often confuses it’s item drops with surprise boxes of chocolate, and as a wise man used to say – with those, you never know what you might get.
Simply put, in a game where every step can be your last, players need to know they can trust certain signs that signal where valuable loot is likely to be hidden and where it’s not.
For example, there are three sorts of loot piles – yes, piles – scattered throughout the map. Colored blue, green and gold and their rarity significantly reducing towards the latter, it is easy for the players to understand what quality of loot they can expect from opening one of them and thus decide on when it is worth the risk of making their move. At least, in theory. Practically speaking, chances are that players find nothing but mid-grade armour and weaponary in even the rarest of treasures. Also, investing experience points into the luck trade of your character greatly mixes up the probability of rare items being dropped for you, making it impossible to know if your enemy is relient on finding golden piles or valuable treasure chests (they drop every now and then), or if their well developed, luck luster character can easily find whatever they need to succeed in the basic blue piles, that can be found all over the place.
It’s a death sentence to its’ battle royale fitness to undermine the risk-reward mechanic with such flawed sign posting and expectation management.
Same applies to the different types of settlements. Some are marked with a golden border, signalling that there is more valuable loot to be expected. In reality however, it comes down to there simply being a larger number of the same unexciting loot piles, rather than ones that are guaranteed to be filled with better stuff. In a game that is built around fast paced, deadly combat, asking it’s players to proceed tactically and with caution, it’s a death sentence to its’ battle royale fitness to undermine the fundamental risk-reward mechanic with such flawed sign posting and expectation management.
