Combat Arms Dev Blog (5/16/13)

Attention Soldiers,

I am Desperado, Planner for the Combat Arms team.

I think this is the first time I've been able to send my greetings to you all this year. I think the last time I talked to you all was about weapons last November.

It has been 6 months since, and at this time I want to talk to you about rewards, a subject just as sensitive as weapons. You will see a change in the reward systems after the May patch. The new reward systems will be outside the framework of the original, and feature a completely new design.

I'd like to be very frank about the reward rebalance.

I am sure you will remember the past rewards in Combat Arms, if you have been playing for a long time. (We have had patches that increased the overall rewards in the past, and I also remember that we had patches to readjust rewards for some modes.)

So, we've analyzed data for a long period of time to better understand the fundamental issues, and discovered some patterns that suggest that some users play on the modes that offer more rewards, rather than playing on them because they are fun. This pattern of play was not what we intended, so we started our discussions to change them.

The Combat Arms team used the data to have a more in-depth discussion, and made an internal decision to go forward with the reward rebalance with the following direction in mind:

"Adjust the rewards to be as even as they can be across all modes so that users can be rewarded for playing the modes they enjoy."

With this direction in mind, we started looking into various plans. We had long review period and many meetings over whether to overhaul the existing rewards system, or to change it completely to another format. In the end, we knew that changing a system that had been in place for several years would be dangerous, but came to the understanding that a new reward system would be more beneficial in the long run.

So, what will the changed reward system hold?

First, we added the notion of play time. Points were given based on what users did in the old version, and those points were calculated at the end of the game. But the method of giving out set reward points, while accurate for most situations, struggled in cases where scores were very high or very low.

The new rewards system will utilize user play time to determine compensation. What the user does in the game will be calculated as a points value, but how long the user's play time in reaching those points will be considered. With the changes, rewards will be more appropriate in for thoseabove or below the normal range of scores.

Secondly, we have expanded the rewards for each mode. Before, all game modes relied upon the standard gameplay values such as Kills, Deaths, Missions and such, but we believe there are many steps in reaching the goals of different modes. For example, only kill, death, flag capture, flag recovery were accounted for in CTF mode, but we believe that not all kills are the same. A kill on someone who is holding the flag should be more valuable than just a kill on non-flag holder, because it coincides with what the purpose of the mode. So, we created a category called Support Points. This category will be differentiated from normal kills and included in the rewards calculations separately.

Thus, the existing system has been enhanced by separating and compensating those actions that coincide with the goal and characteristics of each mode, compared to the previously uninformed accounting system listed above. These new checks will include Assists, previously-mentioned Support Points, and Survival Time in Quarantine Mode.

Third, the basic rewards have been improved. A "Basic Reward" might be something that is not clear for most users. Users only see values for rewards that have already been calculated, so it may be a value that no one really knows. A Basic Reward, as it is plainly stated, means a reward that is earned for participating in the game.

Before, points were given as Basic Rewards when a round ended properly. But, if the game play runs long, the reward given would be the same amount, so it doesn't really fit the idea of rewarding users for playing the game. Therefore, we have made changes mentioned in point one above which will make it based on play time. If play time is dragged out with overtime, or if playing in a room with a long, drawn-out goal, the Basic Reward will be enhanced according to the length of play.

Also in the prior reward method, if there were a lot of deaths, it would affect the Basic Rewards, giving a comparatively low reward. Changes have been made so that it does not affect the rewards in the new Basic Reward.

I have given you an overview of the reward rebalance. I don't know if I was clear enough to deliver what Combat Arms intended.

Maybe you are curious as to whether or not the reward rebalance will make prior rewards higher or lower. To sum it up, the rewards you will receive will be similar to rewards you have received before. Modes that received less than average rewards before will now get rewards at the same level as other modes.

And finally, we will continue to monitor the data after the reward rebalance and make adjustments so that it will ultimately meet the goals of the reward rebalance itself.

Well, I guess I will stop there. If there are still more questions after the patch is released, I will try to provide another opportunity to have them addressed.

Thank you.