Apparently double credits wasn’t enough to get people to play Ranked a sufficient amount. Queue times in my region are the maximum “more than 30 minutes” even during peak hours. Any amount of boosted credits isn’t going to mean anything if matchmaking times are this long, because waiting half an hour for twenty minutes of double credits doesn’t pay off. (Really, you probably don’t even have to do the math.)
One problem is that the Ranked credit rewards are not advertised in-game. The only source of this information has come from patch notes and one-time announcements. That’s hardly a sufficient source of information. A simple change to make Ranked more appealing is to make the rewards pop out to the average player, like so:
Informational pop-up when hovering over the “Ranked Match” button
Actual In-Game Screenshot
Special Ranked-exclusive case rewards, which are elaborated on below.
So that’s the first (actually, second) part of the title. On to the second (er, first, I guess).
Guaranteed Equipment Case drops for enduring through the matchmaking process and playing a Ranked game to the end without leaving would be a much more substantial incentive to attract Ranked players. More players means more accurate ranks and more tolerable queue times.
Dirty Bomb is advertised as a tough competitive game. Rewarding tough competitive gameplay should be more of a priority. That said, onto the more interesting and lucrative part of my Ranked Case Rewards Master Plan.
A chance to pick up unique Ranked-exclusive cases to further reward playing competitive Ranked games. Replacing the standard Equipment Case drop chance in normal pub matches would be a new Specialist Case Ticket, which can be traded in at the store for one of five Specialist Equipment Case variants in a special section in the Store.
(Leveling up could reward a Specialist Case Ticket as well. A normal Equipment Case per level is, needless to say, a garbage level-up reward that you probably never even notice.)
At the end of a Ranked Season, special variants of the Specialist Case Tickets are awarded based on the player’s end rank. Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Cobalt Specialist Case Tickets could be traded in for Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Cobalt Specialist Cases, which guarentee a Bronze, Silver, Gold, or Cobalt loadout card, respectively. This could also include special exclusive Elite Operative cases and skins for Elite Operative ranked players.
What is a Specialist Equipment Case, you ask? (I mentioned them quite a bit without explanation, didn’t I?) It is an Equipment Case that yields a Lead+ loadout card for one of four mercs, depending on what Case you decide to trade your ticket in for.
The five Specialist Case variants correspond with the five merc roles as follows:
- Assault (yields a Fragger, Nader, Thunder, or Rhino card)
- Fire Support (yields a Skyhammer, Arty, Stoker, or Kira card)
- Engineer (yields a Fletcher, Proxy, Bushwhacker, or Turtle card)
- Medic (yields a Aura, Sawbonez, Phoenix, or Sparks card)
- Recon (yields a Vassili, Aimee, RedEye, or Phantom card)
And that’s the long and short of it. Guaranteed Equipment Case drops for finishing a Ranked match. Randomly dropped Specialist Case Tickets that lead to a Lead+ loadout card for one of four mercs. Special end-of-season case rewards that yield better rarity cards at better ranks. It gives you reason to invest time in Ranked matches, and compromises between your desire for selection and the RNG demons that posses the Splash Damage developers. Whatever. You get it.
Comments are appreciated. What do you guys think?
