A suggestion for Crystal Scar(Dominion)

Ale non è male·Oct 26, 2014·2 votes·689 views

Why don't give to every conquer point in Crystal Scar a different kind of buff like what happens with blue/red buff in SR and with altars in TT? Something like:

Windmill gives cooldown reduction
Drill gives armor/magic pen
Boneyard gives a reduction in respawn timers
Quarry gives bonus health and mana(with an health multiplier for manaless champs)
Refinery gives life steal/spell vamp

This would make what should be the most strategic game mode(because of his nature of capture and hold the point map) even more strategic, beause according to your team and enemy team comp and the situation of the game, the teams could target certain points more than others and thus open up to more dynamics in the game, as in a certain moment it would be more important to control a certain point more than another And this would also make more valuable the Greater Relic Buffs, as they would become a more appealing target for teams which are behind, which would target them to get the buffs and being able to fight back to reconquer points and win fights - while right now most people ignore these buffs because they see their conquer as a waste of time, time that they could better spend going towards points to conquer or to join fights, and that's one of the reason why few people like Dominion, as they find boring to walk up in the middle of the map without doing nothing -

11 Comments

Ale non è maleOct 26, 20141 votes

Any thoughts?

Behold the VoidOct 27, 20141 votes

It'd be extremely hard to balance since the buffs would be spread oddly depending on which side you end up on. I'd say it wouldn't do much good for the game mode. I'm definitely an advocate of adding some contestable objectives to the map but that's unfortunately not likely the way to do it.

Ale non è maleOct 27, 20141 votes

I understand your thought, but I don't think Crystal Scar needs to necessarily be a balanced map like the others, because the way the game develops is different from the other maps/modes In the other maps, you got to destroy the nexus by destroying lane towers then inhibitors then nexus towers and then the nexus itself, and the direction in which you go is forced by the fact you got to go towards enemy nexus, so both sides of the map must(should) be equal to give the same chances to win to both teams In Dominion you destroy the nexus in a different way, by capturing and controlling points, and you got to move across all the map to get them, you don't even have guaranteed structures to start with (if not at the very start where you'll likely conquer the 2 points closer to your starting platofrm). So balanced map is not mandatory, as your paths and objectives don't go in a unique direction

Something more appealing at the center of the map is the most important thing to find to revive a bit Dominion, but I don't know what could be done(an altar/tower protected by monsters that if destroyed subtracts points to the enmy nexus maybe? - or it would be too predominant as objective in late game? - )

Behold the VoidOct 28, 20141 votes

Here's the problem. Both sides do require parity in the fact that each side "owns" two of the points. Yes, they can be taken, but in a standard game that doesn't tend to stick, they're the easiest to hold and the easiest to retake. I heartily disagree with your assessment that you aren't guaranteed to take two, you are. The first two points in any game outside of the very very entry MMR in Dominion will be taken by the team that starts on that side, barring backcap shenanigans. The points NEED to be balanced under the assumption that a large majority of the game you will control a specific two.

You could potentially give a buff for the windmill, but that also gives an edge to whoever holds it which is problematic with Dominion's design state of everyone being roughly equal throughout the course of the game. At the end of the day I don't think Dominion really needs a mechanic tied to the main win conditions that give more of an edge to the team that's ahead, one of the major reasons I play Dominion is because it's not about getting a few good picks early and snowballing to victory, it's about playing consistently well and managing your power spikes effectively throughout the course of the game.

Ale non è maleOct 28, 20141 votes

Dominion is all about having a team that knows what to do, people often wander around without knowing it so(in Ascension was even worse where you found the guys that usually play only on SR and only focused on the Ascended and didn't go for Relics of Shurima that most of the time won balanced games) And in Dominion there are the quests that although at the moment boring and always of the same type, force fights on points you don't usually control

The overall design of champs is not balanced for any map other than SR, so you have yet unbalance from champ select. I think Dominion needs more specific objectives to focus about through the flow of the game, not just vanilla points to conquer. Maybe give buffs to the capture points is not the solution, but the objectives in Crystal Scar must become more peculiar and meaningful to fight around, more than just "whoever have the smartest guys that conquer points uncontested without being caught wins" which is just as bad as design as "who get the early picks and snowball wins"

Behold the VoidOct 28, 20141 votes

I agree there should be more than just point capture, but I don't think making the "vanilla points" as you call them is the answer. There are better ways to do it. One of the big issues the higher MMR players have is flowing down proper gameplay strategies to the lower MMR, and I think more jungle objectives is the way to go, change the Storm Shield and perhaps add a few other things around the Speed Relics which are incredibly important.

You mention the game mode being about capturing uncontested points, and that's really not the case. I see a lot of people come into Dominion with Shaco and just focus on backcapping but once you're past a certain point that really stops being viable outside of comps specifically designed to support it (and often not even then, I see Janna being better at it than Shaco as well which is something a lot of players haven't picked up on). Backcapping strategies are not hard to counter, it's finding ways to teach players to control the jungle to make those strategies less prevalent that will take away that larger "unhealthy mode" perception. And while yes champions are balanced to SR, we have been able to achieve several map-specific changes to Champions in Dominion, it's still a work in progress but I'd argue the mode is very well balanced right now. If we had access to picks and bans with reliability it'd probably be an even greater boon.

Ale non è maleOct 28, 20141 votes

Ehm, there has been a misunderstanding here, I used the term "vanilla points" to describe the actual capture points because they are neutral

Anyway, it was just a suggestion because I don't see many way points where Dominion map could be changed Speed Relics are already fine, the only point of the map where something could be done to create interest is the center of the map, but it probably wouldn't be enough to add interesting scenarios to extend the range of strategies and counter strategies that can be adopeted in Dominion mode

Behold the VoidOct 29, 20141 votes

I think Ascension had a good idea with putting mini objectives on the speed shrine, that'd be a step in the right direction. The center point can be a big objective and the smaller objectives emphasize the need to control them and the jungle areas they are in. I think my personal thought was have a Storm Shield Buff (possibly powered down a bit) on each one of the speed shrines that can be captured by any team, and changing the middle objective into a giant boss battle or something. A Giant Sandwyrm that blocks vision of the outer ring of the map for the other team for a bit was my thought. Emphasize the jungle and vision control importance.

Ale non è maleOct 29, 20141 votes

Not bad as ideas, even though there aren't really much jungle points that needs to be controlled in Dominion so that the buff this battle fight at the center of the map should do must be bigger, imho

Behold the VoidOct 30, 20141 votes

Jungle control isn't about just controlling areas. In higher MMRs most of the fighting actually occurs in the jungle because people know it's a useless waste to just crash into a captured top point and lose. Players who just sit on top are just asking to be backcapped so the high level strategies revolve around making sure you have vision and control over the jungle area. The speed shrines are particularly important for the mobility they give.

The center objective certainly could have more to it though, but my personal design sensibility hedges against huge stat buffs, I don't find it all that interesting since the counterplay tends to be "don't engage and wait it out" which I hate. Vision control is actually a pretty big deal though in Dominion, especially at the higher levels which is where that idea came from.

Ale non è maleOct 27, 20141 votes

Bump