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Mini-golem Battlebots
User	Guild Wars 3 perhaps
Categories	World Player interaction

Mini-golem Battlebots

Go here to see a list of my other GW2 suggestions and discussion contributions.

As I understand it there is going to be the equivalent of a gladiator ring for players' Mini Pets to fight one another. I don't know the details of how this will work, how much control players will have over their Mini Pets, or even what skills (if any) the Mini Pets may have. Regardless, I think it's a neat idea but one which falls short of its full potential.

My suggestion is - in addition to the Mini Pet gladiator ring - to add a Mini-golem Battlebot Arena. This will differ from the Mini Pet gladiator ring in the following ways:

• Players are given a set amount of credits (whatever you want to call them) with which to build a Mini-golem. The starting credit amount is the same for everyone. Maybe the credits can even be a reward for having completed a Renown Heart quest or a Dynamic Event; save the Mini-golem Battlebot Laboratory from attack, for example.

• Players can then build a Mini-golem. This is done by first choosing a base chassis. Each chassis is purely cosmetic and confers no bonus unto itself.

• Each chassis will have mounting points for attaching weapons, armor, engines, and auxillary items. The number of mounting points will be identical for each chassis. If you want to make a tie-in of a chosen chassis with a particular flavor of Mini-golem, the mounting points can be distributed differently according to offense, defense, speed, and/or auxillary items. For example:

• A defensive chassis has 4 mounting points for armor, 3 mounting points for weapons, 2 mounting points for an engine, and 1 auxillary mounting point.

• An offensive chassis has 3 mounting points for armor, 4 mounting points for weapons, 2 mounting points for an engine, and 1 auxillary mounting point.

• A speed chassis has 2 mounting points for armor, 2 mounting points for weapons, 4 mounting points for an engine, and 2 auxillary mounting points.

• You get the idea. Of course, breaking it up like this may cause balance problems; so it might be better to just give the same number of generic mounting points for every chassis. Players then customize their Mini-golem Battlebots into a defensive, offensive, or speed configuration based on the items they mount on it.

• Players then choose from menus what weapons, armor, engines, and auxillary items to attach to their base chassis within the limits of their available credits and the number of mounting points available on their chassis.

Once a Mini-golem Battlebot has been built by a player, they enter it into the Battlebot Arena. Their Mini-golem Battlebot dukes it out with other players' Mini-golem Battlebots. The actual combat could be accomplished a couple different ways:

• All Mini-golem Battlebots are on autopilot once placed into the Battlebot Arena. Might be easier to program but is kind of boring for the players.

• Once standing ringside in a Battlebot match, a player's movement keys no longer move their character but now move their Mini-Golem Battlebot instead. Also, the player's weapon and utility skills are replaced by the Mini-golem Battlebot's weapon and utility skills (the utility skills coming from whatever auxillary items have been mounted on the Mini-golem Battlebot).

Two players enter their Mini-golem Battlebots into the Battlebot Arena to fight to the death. Last Mini-golem Battlebot standing wins. I suggest only two players being permitted to enter a match at a time to prevent a situation in a three person match where two of the players could gang up on the third player. Of course, if there's still two players left in the match, they still have to battle one another. But if they're friends or guild mates, they may agree in advance to take turns being the loser in the round after having ganged up on the third hapless player. I realize only two players per match would create quite a bottleneck if this becomes a popular mini-game; simply build multiple arenas. Could also add variations such as 2v2, 3v3, 4v4, 2v2v2v2, 3v3v3v3, etc.; just so long as the number of combatants remains balanced on each team and the number of teams is an even number to prevent two teams from ganging up on a single team.

The winner of a round is awarded credits. The loser of the round may be awarded some lesser amount of credits, too, if you want to avoid turning players off to the mini-game. As Mini-golem Battlebots will take damage during the matches, a constant influx of credits will be needed to repair and re-arm the Mini-golem Battlebots. If a player is completely out of credits, all is not lost. They can use gold to purchase additional credits from the Asura Mini-golem Battlebots Master or Mini-golem Battlebots Laboratory.

To prevent a pay-to-win scenario, a player can buy all the credits they want but, since a chassis has a limited number of mounting points and a limited selection of items to choose from to place on those mounting points, a player with 1,000,000 credits will not be able to build a Mini-golem Battlebot that's any better than the player with only 1,000 credits (assuming they're at the same ladder level and 1,000 credits is enough to fully outfit a Mini-golem Battlebot at that level, of course). The only advantages the player with the greater number of credits has is they will be able to repair and upgrade their Mini-golem Battlebot multiple times before having to earn or buy more credits and they'll be able to fully outfit their Mini-golem Battlebot as soon as they've unlocked the next higer ladder level (more on that below). Credits could also be purchased from the Gem Shop using real money; creating another potential revenue stream for ArenaNet.

As players win rounds in the Battlebot Arena, they increase their rank in the Battlebot Tournament ladder. With a sufficient number of wins, the player advances to the next level of the ladder. A player can not use credits to buy their way into a higher ladder level; it has to be earned through wins at lower ladder levels. Advancing to the next level carries one advantage and one restriction:

• The advantage is the player will now have access to new Mini-golem Battlebot chassis which will have additional mounting points for more armor, weapons, engines, and auxillary items. They will also gain access to new and more powerful armor, weapons, engines, and auxillary items which were otherwise wholly unavailable to them at the lower ladder levels or which simply would not have fit on the smaller chassis used in the lower ladder levels.

• The restriction is that, once a player advances to a higher ladder level, they are inelligible to participate in the lower ladder matches using their higher ladder Mini-golem Battlebot chassis and items. This prevents someone who has access to a Mini-golem Battlebot with 5 weapon slots, 20 armor slots, 10 engine slots, and 5 auxillary slots from massacring a player who can only build a starting level Mini-golem Battlebot.

Alternately, a player can continue to battle at the lower ladder levels for as long as they like; but they will be restricted to the same chassis size, weapons, armor, engines, and auxillary items associated with that level. Players could even build a stable of Mini-golem Battlebots (if they have enough credits) in which each is designed to be used at different levels of the tournament ladder; a small beginner Mini-golem Battlebot, a mid-sized Mini-golem Battlebot, a large Mini-golem Battlebot, and a giant (relatively speaking) Uber Pro Tournament Mini-golem Battlebot.

The other advantage that winning a match, a certain number of matches, or an unbroken string of matches will confer is the ability to use a Mini-golem Battlebot as a Mini-pet that will follow you around just like a regular Mini Pet. The difference being that the Mini-golem Battlebot will take on the appearance of whatever customizations have been added to it in the Mini-golem Battlebot Laboratory.

Without intending to type an exhaustive list of all the possible armor, weapons, engines, and auxillary items that can be placed on a Mini-golem Battlebot, here are some general ideas for the mechanics of the Mini-golem Battlebots:

• Assuming a scenario in which players will have direct control over their Mini-golem Battlebot, a weapon added to a mounting point will become a weapon skill on a player's skill bar. Adding multiples of the exact same weapon does not add additional weapon skills to the bar. Instead, it increases the damage, range, or special abilities of the weapon associated with that skill.

For example, let's assume there's a level 1 weapon called "Mini-laser" that does 10 damage on a hit. Adding a Mini-laser to a Mini-golem Battlebot replaces weapon skill slot #1 with the Mini-laser. Adding a second Mini-laser to the Mini-golem Battlebot does not replace skill slot #1 and skill slot #2 with Mini-laser weapons. Instead, weapon slot #1 causes both Mini-lasers to fire in tandem for a combined hit of 20 damage.

The player then decides to add the weapon "Mini-sniper rifle (range 50)" to their Mini-golem Battlebot. This weapon now replaces weapon skill slot #2 on the player's bar. The player then decides to add a second Mini-sniper rifle to their Mini-golem Battlebot. Since it's identical to the previous Mini-sniper rifle, this additional Mini-sniper rifle does not add a second Mini-sniper rifle which now occupies weapon slot #3. Instead, the Mini-sniper rifle in slot #2 has its range increased from 50 to 100.

Lastly the player adds a "Mini-flamethrower (causes burning for 2 seconds)" to their Mini-golem Battlebot. This weapon now replaces weapon skill slot #3 on the player's bar. The player then decides to add a second Mini-flamethrower to their Mini-golem Battlebot. Since it's identical to the previous Mini-flamethrower, this additional Mini-flamethrower does not add a second Mini-flamethrower which now occupies weapon slot #4. Instead, the Mini-flamethrower in slot #3 has its burning duration increased from 2 seconds to 4 seconds.

This system permits ever-larger Mini-golem Battlebots to have more weapon mounting points than there are weapon skill slots available while maintaining the effectiveness of their weapons and giving players greater freedom in customizing their Mini-golem Battlebot loadout.

• Every chassis has a crystalline flux matrix core which is the "heart" of the Mini-golem Battlebot. It is this core that must be destroyed to win a match. At first, this would appear to mean a player must damage everything outside the core before being able to damage the core directly. However, this isn't necessarily the case. Weapons and auxillary items, for example, do not have to be destroyed to reach the core; only the armor (and perhaps the engine) need be breached to deal damage to the core. There may even be weapons or items at higher ladder levels capable of bypassing armor (to a degree) to deal direct damage to the core; an Ion Cannon, for example. Likewise, there would be auxillary items to defend against such weapons; Core Magnetic Shielding, perhaps.

• Mini-golem Battlebots should be able to dodge just like players' characters and using the same mechanics and key activation.

• Auxillary items will fill the utility slots of a player's skill bar. Unlike the weapon scheme proposed above, there is no stacking or cumulative effect of auxillary items. A Mini-golem Battlebot can have, at most, 5 auxillary items (assuming they have enough mounting points to hold them, enough credits to buy them, and have reached a high enough ladder level to unlock them) and each one will occupy a single utility skill slot. I'm undecided on whether or not Mini-golem Battlebots should have the dedicated healing slot given over to a dedicated self-repair auxillary item. The same goes for the elite slot; undecided as to whether or not Mini-golem Battlebots should have an elite auxillary item. Even if a self-repair and an elite are not options for Mini-golem Battlebots, then these slots should at least be given over to permitting auxillary items.

I envision auxillary items being less like the current utility skills which - for the most part - cause damage and instead be items which have a multitude of non-damage related effects:

• Oil Slick to cause an enemy Mini-golem Battlebot to spin out of control for a second or two,

• a Liquid Nitrogen Gun to freeze or slow an enemy Mini-golem Battlebot,

• Core Magnetic Shielding like mentioned previously,

• Booster Unit to grant a Swiftness boon,

• Weapon Multiplexer to grant a Might boon,

• Cloaking Device to grant Stealth for a few seconds or until the next attack,

• Radiant Gem Array to cause Blindness,

• Reactive Armor Coating to reduce damage taken from kinetic weapons (or perhaps this is an option in the "armor" panel),

• Reflective Armor Coating to reduce damage taken from energy weapons (or perhaps this is an option in the "armor" panel),

• Ablative Armor Coating to reduce damage taken from explosive weapons (or perhaps this is an option in the "armor" panel),

• Fire Extinguisher to negate the Burning condition,

• Telescoping Fists to launch or knockback an enemy Mini-golem Battlebot,

• Alpha Strike in which all weapons are fired simultaneously (even if already on cool down) and maybe with a guaranteed crit or improved crit chance; but at the cost of all weapons being put into cool down and having those cool downs extended beyond their normal length. Maybe this would be an idea for a Mini-golem Battlebot elite skill.

• you get the idea. The developers could go absolutely wild with creative ideas for weapons and auxillary items while still keeping them balanced and consistent with the current damage types, durations, cool downs, boons, conditions, effects, etc. And they'd all be miniaturized; how cute and cool is that?!?!

• Mini-golem Battlebots should show damage to their chassis as weapons, armor, auxillary items, and engines are damaged. For example, if a weapon is destroyed, make the weapon on the mounting point smoke, spark, and/or appear all mangled and twisted. As engines are damaged, the Mini-golem Battlebot will start to move slower. Damaged armor will expose the underlying structure of the Mini-golem Battlebot.

• Repairing a weapon, auxillary item, or engine will never cost as much as the original purchase price; even if the item in question has been completely destroyed in battle. For example, let's assume a Mini-laser costs 100 credits. It takes 100% damage in the next match. The owner can repair it for 90 or 95 credits rather than having to pay the 100 credit cost of a whole new Mini-laser. This acknowledges the fact that - though the item is destroyed - there's still some material left to work with rather than having to start completely from scratch. However, if the owner decides to remove the Mini-laser and replace it with a Mini-flamethrower, they pay full price for the Mini-flamethrower.

• Refunding. Depending on how much of a gold sink the devs want to make this mini-game, removing an item from a Mini-golem Battlebot will either refund the entire purchase cost of the item (assuming it's not damaged) or will only refund a percentage of the original purchase cost. Most games that implement this use a 50% reduction in the refund compared to the original cost. I've always found that to be a bit steep and would prefer a lesser percent; maybe a 25% reduction. But that's up to the devs.

• While in build mode in the Mini-golem Battlebot Laboratory, items can be added and removed at will without incurring any cost. The purchase price of items will be displayed and the player's credit balance will change as items are added and removed to their Mini-golem Battlebot. But the changes do not take effect and the credits are not deducted from their balance until they click a final confirmation button and exit the Mini-golem Battlebot Laboratory.

• Mini-golem Battlebots can be dyed using whatever dyes a player has unlocked for the character account that owns the Mini-golem Battlebot.

I could keep going on and on and on forever on this topic (some of you are probably thinking, "You already have!") with all the ideas for items and mechanics swimming through my head. But I think I've thrown out enough ideas now to get the creative process started if ArenaNet decides to implement this suggestion.

Thank you for reading.

Guild Wars 3 perhaps 18:17, 21 June 2012 (UTC)

Update #1:

To give ArenaNet yet another item to add to the cash shop, they could offer Mini-golem Battlebots chassis and cosmetic accessories with which to decorate said chassis. Everyone would have access to the base chassis at each level of the ladder progression as per my original suggestion; but those so inclined could purchase additional chassis. These chassis would be cosmetic only; they would not have any additional mounting points nor any other bonuses when compared to the free chassis of the same level.

Furthermore, any chassis purchased in the shop would still be subject to the same restrictions as the free chassis. That is to say, a player can only use that chassis in a Battlebot match for which they've earned the right to compete. For example, a player who is just starting in the Battlebot Tournament is limited to a beginner/small chassis. If they buy a larger chassis that can only be used at the next higher level in the tournament ladder progression, they won't be able to use it until they've won the requisite number of matches to advance to that ladder level. Until then, they will be restricted to using the free beginner/small chassis available to everyone (or buying a beginner/small chassis from the shop).

It then becomes debatable whether or not to allow this player to customize the chassis they purchased, even though they haven't yet advanced to the appropriate ladder level to grant them access to the next larger chassis model. Since armor, engines, weapons, and auxillary items also scale with increasing ladder level, are not merely cosmetic, can not be purchased from the shop, and only unlock when a player has won enough matches to advance to the next ladder level, I would argue in favor of not permitting players to customize their purchased chassis with armor, engines, weapons, and auxillary items they haven't yet earned. Also, purchasing these items from the shop should never be allowed as this would represent a "pay-to-win" scenario (though I make an exception in the next paragraph). However, I'd have no problem with allowing players who purchase additional chassis to customize them with dyes and cosmetic-only accessories (hats, costumes, different gem sets, blinking lights, different "skin" textures, etc.).

The exception/compromise would be to permit players to purchase armor, engines, weapons, and auxillary items from the shop which they have already unlocked through the normal ladder progression. For example, a level 1 Battlebotter could purchase level 1 armor, engines, weapons, and auxillary items. Again, these are cosmetic only; they are no different from the free versions of these items in terms of damage, range, recharge, special abilities, etc. All they will do is grant a Mini-golem Battlebot a unique look; nothing more.

Thank you for reading.

Guild Wars 3 perhaps 17:01, 23 June 2012 (UTC)

Update #2:

Veteran Class

In my original suggestion I had recommended permitting players to continue participating in lower level matches; even if they had earned the right to advance to the next higher ladder level in the Mini-golem Battlebot Tournament (but with the restriction that they are limited to using the chassis size associated with the lower ladder level).

On reflection, this may not work out too well in practice. A veteran Battlebotter would still likely dominate against less experienced players; restricted to the same chassis size as the competition notwithstanding. This could become frustrating for lower level players by preventing them from ever advancing in the Battlebot Tournament Ladder.

My solution is to create a Veteran Class. As soon as a player has earned enough wins to qualify to move up to the next higher ladder level, they are now classified as veterans of their previous ladder level. If they return to fight in the lower ladder level, they will be paired against other veteran Battlebotters.

Multiple Arenas

I stated in my original suggestion that additional Battlebot Tournament Rings could be built to avoid a bottleneck effect. What I failed to make clear is that these arenas are not instanced; they are part of the persistent world. Players not involved in the combat can still stand at ringside and observe the match.

Naturally, to accommodate both the spectators as well as the multiple combatants, there would need to be multiple arenas right from the start. So my original suggestion should not be construed to imply that the arenas were to be instanced; with additional instances added as interest in this mini-game increases. To the contrary, there should be multiple arenas built right next to one another. Furthermore, if the fanbase demonstrates sufficient interest in this mini-game, arenas should be built all throughout the major cities of Tyria rather than limited to just Rata Sum.

As it's my intent these arenas, like their combatants, are relatively small, they won't take up so much real estate that building multiple arenas would intrude upon existing areas of the game. A single ring should probably be 20 feet or less in diameter (whatever units of in-game measurement that translates into).

Arena Maps

Instead of basing all of the Battlebot Arenas on a single empty, open, flat template or even one with some obstacles, I'm suggesting the creation of a variety of Battlebot Arenas. Though an open, empty, flat arena could certainly be built, it would be nice to see the devs get creative with the arenas:

• Build some with static obstacles. Mini-pylons and mini-monoliths behind which Mini-golem Battlebots can seek cover from enemy fire.

• Another may have tiers or an extra level or two added which are accessible via mini-lifts, ladders, blocks to jump up or down, staircases, bridges, catwalks, arches, and teleporters. It would still be open-air enough to permit easy viewing of the action in the arena.

• A third version could have obstacles like the first variant, but now the obstacles shift or raise up from and lower into the ground (maybe even due to a Mini-golem Battlebot walking over a pressure pad to activate a shift or a raising/lowering). This would add some interesting strategy as the block a Mini-golem was taking cover behind now starts to lower into the ground, exposing them to enemy fire.

• The last variant could be a maze arena. Again, open-air enough to view the action such as having no roof/ceiling over the maze.

• Another variant is an arena with traps or simply add traps to the arenas mentioned above. The traps could be split between autonomous traps which are always active versus traps which are remotely activated by a Mini-golem Battlebot walking over a pressure pad. This second variety would permit Mini-golem Battlebots to spring traps on their opponents.

By mixing up the types of arenas, it also adds a challenge to players progressing up the Battlebot Tournament Ladder. I had stated previously that progression up the ladder results from winning a certain number of matches at a lower level. Now, with the different arena types, players must not only win a certain set number of matches but must also have won at least once in each of the different arenas before earning their next ladder level.

I would suggest having all of the arena variants built next to one another. A player shouldn't have to travel half a world away just to play in a different arena. For example, let's say there is a 4x4 grid of arenas - sixteen total - built in Rata Sum. Four would be the empty, open, flat variety; four would be the maze type; four would be the multi-level variant; four would be the obstacle kind. Then, within each of these sets of four, each one would be slightly different than its cousins (with the exception of the empty, flat, open variety, of course; unless you give those type some rolling mini-hills or bonzai trees, for example). Traps could then be thrown in to mix things up from arena to arena.

Lastly, for added strategic depth and just plain fun, give the arenas partially destructible environments. I'm not suggesting everything in an arena can be destroyed; a trap, for example, will persist regardless of how many times it is shot (unless shooting a trap is a means to activate/deactivate it for those type that can be controlled by the players, of course). However, some of the obstacles, pylons, mini-monoliths, walls, barriers, etc. could be destroyed after receiving sufficient damage. For example, that barrier a Mini-golem Battlebot is turtling behind will eventually be reduced to rubble after an opponent shoots it enough times.

To ramp up the tension level, show the destruction in stages; as an obstacle takes damage, it has more and more of its structure blown away. This way the turtle can see the damage progressing and knows they only have a couple shots worth of protection left before the barrier is turned to dust. This contrasts with a barrier which shows no signs of damage one moment and then, when its "health" has been reduced to zero, it just suddenly and unexpectedly dissapears. It's much more fun to watch it slowly eaten away by enemy fire (as well as how doing so will impact players' strategic and tactical decisions) !

Match Queueing

If this mini-game becomes popular enough, it may lead to a situation in which players must wait for an arena to become available before they can play a match (remember, I'm suggesting this mini-game exist in the persistent world rather than be instanced). To address this, I suggest the player(s) who have been playing in an arena the longest are automatically kicked out of the arena when their current match ends to make room for other players currently in queue.

For example, let's say there are 16 arenas in Rata Sum and all 16 are occupied by players in matches; but there are no other players currently in the queue. The players currently in those arenas can continue playing match after match for as long as they like. Now along comes a new player who wants to play a match; they are put into the queue. As soon as the match of the player who has been playing the longest/most matches comes to an end, they are kicked from the arena and the player who was in queue now gets to play their match. Players who are kicked from the arena to make room for a player in queue are then placed at the bottom of the queue of players presently waiting their turn to play a match.

Though nobody likes to be kicked out of something, it's the only way to be fair to other players who are waiting their turn. The only other solution would be to make the arenas instanced so everyone can play anytime they want for as long as they want. However, since I believe there is greater value in making the Mini-golem Battlebot Tournament a spectator sport in the persistent world, I don't want to see this mini-game put into an instance. Thus the only solution to allow everyone a fair chance to play is to implement a queueing scheme. That, or build plenty of arenas; even going so far as to set aside sufficient unoccupied real estate for potential future expansion of the arenas.

Thank you for reading.

Guild Wars 3 perhaps 00:35, 27 June 2012 (UTC)

Update #3

My original intent was combatants in the Mini-golem Battlebot Tournament would stand ring-side, viewing the entire arena while controlling their Mini-golem Battlebot. However, there may be utility in permitting combatants to change their camera angle. Options would include:

• Full view as described above. If in this mode and a combatant's Mini-golem Battlebot moves behind an obstacle which blocks them from view, they will appear as an outline through the obstacle; but only to their owner.

• Chase camera similar to the perspective used for the characters in the game.

• First-person perspective, viewing the tournament through the eyes of the Mini-golem Battlebot. Players standing ring-side would appear as giants towering over the arena.

A key press or icon on the UI would permit rapid toggling through these camera options.

Thank you for reading.

Guild Wars 3 perhaps 17:37, 12 July 2012 (UTC)

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