the Pros & Cons of a Prestige System- A Community discussion

[liamtranzig]

I think (limited) Prestige Ranks are a good idea.

A small system of reward and limited ranks would encourage players to continue playing while trivializing the "grind map" abuse to achieve more ranks (& farm rewards) ASAP.

I'd purpose a system, similiar to most Prestige systems, where your Ranks/Levels are set once again to 0 along with their accompanying skills and bonuses upon Confirmation of accepting a Prestige Rank.

The reward could be something like a cosmetic key or exceptional material and a small Horzine colored rank badge precoursing the playertag (like the Steam badge Horzine officer symbols) or easily a rank colored class symbol (via KF1). There could be 3-5 Prestige Ranks for each class (Bronze, Silver, Gold, - Platinum, Diamond).


Pros:
-If brought out at Full-Release, I think we'd see a lot of players prestiging & starting classes fresh in a more balanced complete game atmosphere.

-Replayability

-Small inclusion of market incentives

-Small re-inclusion of a KF1 element


Cons:
-SuperPerkTrainerPlus will inevitably be abused to farm the limited reawrds as quick as possible. The desire for a Whitelist will again be called for- but - TWI has already stated a disinterested stance on Whitelisting.

-Unhappy plebs.

-Misappropriation of Prestige Rank as indicator to player skill.

 

[Rocker Fox]

Ehh, never was a big fan of prestige systems in games, always felt like a cheap way to milk more play time out of people when the game is realistically already done.

Yeah, it's starts out kinda unique and novel but overall don't see many bonuses to it.

Pros:

-more playtime for some people

-Neat hats for those willing to go though the prestige process

Cons:

-E-peen measuring

-As stated misinterpretation of high prestige as high skill and no/low prestige as no skill

-More focus on getting levels and gaining xp vs playing to win a match

-Further abuse of the xp systems leading to prestige eventually being meaningless (eg super perk training)

-Time spent to make the system and populate it with rewards

-envy kicking because of prestige

-Many people not likely bothering with it since some perks are a pain in the *** to level (see demo)

 

[TheTCREngineer]

I would love to play the game more and I bet others will after a Prestige system, that's the only reason. I don't care about rewards or whatever, I just want to relevel my perk an unlimited amount of times.

 

[C_Gibby]

I think prestige systems are a little poisonous for a (now primarily) co-op game.

I would like to see the option to reset a single perk after it's maxed out, however. Some people just enjoy levelling.

 

[infntnub]

I'd be ok with it as long as the passive gains on the perk are not lost when the level resets to the next color/variation of prestige.

If I just got done grinding a perk the last thing I want to see is myself back to square 1 - that would be deflating as hell.

Maybe that's not a concern with a prestige system? I've never played a game that used one.

 

[TheTCREngineer]

I'd be ok with it as long as the passive gains on the perk are not lost when the level resets to the next color/variation of prestige.

If I just got done grinding a perk the last thing I want to see is myself back to square 1 - that would be deflating as hell.

Maybe that's not a concern with a prestige system? I've never played a game that used one.

They'll all be lost, you're back to level 0 with no 'skills' and passives. You have to level up yourself back to 25 to get going again.

 

[liamtranzig]

I haven't tried the PVP.

I spent some of my boring work hours contemplating a good statistic or Prestige system for KF2. I am firmly under the opinion that, without Whitelisting & good cheat protection, a complicated statistics, Prestige, and/or medal/ribbon system is pointless (especially in a co-op game).

However, I think the ability to reset your classes should be a thing -after- EA. I think a Prestige system invites those indecisive to reset a Perk to do just so and re-experience the game as it is fully actualized.

I think the key is keeping the system minimalistic- no COD Backgroung player plaques, no gaudy name-borders, no endless grind gear reward...

I think KF1 did a small respectable prestige-like thing having players spawn with Class-gear at 5th level & a golden class icon at 6th.

 

[Gladius]

My experience with Payday 2 was that this whole prestige thing was more cause of trouble then it did any good. It's only a meaningless e-peen indication anyways. Some people confuse it with an indication for skill or experience. But that's a delusion.


I would rather like to see the option to reset a single perk.


And at level 25 it would be nice to freely select the level. At KF1 I enjoy playing zerk as level 3. At level 5 it's just boringly overpowered. So that option would be nice to have.

 

[Rocker Fox]

Yeah, reset single perk i can agree with since it's just a simple thing there for people who want it and those who don't want to relevel everything can just choose not to do it.

Select a level option is interesting, i guess it would be nice for some perks that downright require certain skills to operate or if you want to play before a certain skill just to see how it feels.

Would be a hell of a thing for testing viability of perks at different levels imo.

 

[M1_Account]

I wouldn't be interested much but I'd be okay with it, since it would be optional.

If I were to ever use it, it would need to only affect the singular selected perk, since I pretty much just play HoE I couldn't let everything go back down to 0.
Like infntnub mentioned, it could also just be a number and leave the perk bonuses intact.

There are also some of the cons Rocker Fox mentioned, which I'm not too concerned about since they basically have to do with player perception rather than the reality of the game. I wouldn't be scared of players thinking I wasn't as good because I chose to not use the prestige system, because such players wouldn't be good enough for me to want to play with in the first place. It could be a big practical problem for the average player, though. I understand not everyone wants to pre-make a HoE team, some people want to just hop in a server and if this attitude were pervasive that could be a lot harder.

Either way, I don't think it's something TW ought to spend resources implementing at the moment, and I doubt they would be interested in doing so.

 

[liamtranzig]

They'll all be lost, you're back to level 0 with no 'skills' and passives. You have to level up yourself back to 25 to get going again.

Not necessarily. They could model it like Dice's Battlefield where Prestige is achieved at the experience thereholds of double, triple, quadrupel... etc etc the maximum rank/level exp cap. It was seemless & your only real reward outside of a small decorative icon was a dogtag customization. Your level stayed max rank along with all your guns, secondary tertiary, attachments & skins staying unlocked.

 

[RaZDaZ]

Until the trainingperk maps are blacklisted or are unable to provide XP, a prestige system already has a significant flaw in that the prestige cosmetic/achievement is watered down significantly.

The map training perks are pretty common as well. I like the concept but its neutered with these training maps. It's already getting to the point where level 25s on hard difficulty have no idea what they are doing or what their role is.

 

[PurpleFanta]

I would much rather have post level 25 rewards for leveling up than prestige.
I was hurt by the payday2 prestige as well. After you've reset you feel like you're in a different game and its just a grind fest again.

I would love for there to be milestones for experience that give you unlocks of some sort but not actual level ups when you hit 25. It adds alot of incentive to play a perk you've maxed and I absolutely loved unlocking stuff in KF1, even though it was from achievements. I wouldnt even care if I got like a Medic arm band for getting x experience as a level 25 medic. Even if I never wore it, it would feel good to have unlocked it.

But I think having actual rewards from milestone levelups would be best to come into the game post release due to obvious reasons.

 

[breadtruck]

I never prestige in games. A silly icon next to my name is never worth it.

That said, if you like to do that sort of thing, and it prolongs the game for fans, go for it.

 

[VastSpartan]

Give me my golden letters

 

[DMN666]

Resetting your perk gives you a new perk symbol. You can reset up to 3 times?

... thats it. Should you expect something for resetting? Not really, but i guess a skin or achievement could be tide to them, but this will give people a reason to farm them, then all these faux III-25 will be running around HoE.

 

[notshiro]

The wide availability of perk leveling and farming makes prestige systems pointless. Something like a gold perk symbol at level 25 similar to gold perk symbol at level 6 is fine though.

Max perk level feels less of an achievement and more about increased utility/firepower than anything else IMO. Once you have it the only reason to reset was for the fun of playing higher difficulties with lower level perks rather than achievement of perk level.

 

[Jelan]

I really dislike leveling in KF simply because it is an unneeded barrier of entry in my opinion, so even if a prestige system is implemented I would not use it personally. However, the idea of collecting xp after reaching max level could be an alternative. On reaching lvl 25 one could refill the progress bar with the same amount of xp it takes to get the perk from 0-25 and then get a reward. You still "prestiged", but you didn't have to throw away your progress, which is a very positive thing seeing how slow leveling is and the incentive for leveling maps would be lower since you don't have grind like a madman to be back at near max level to play again on higher difficulties.
This is pretty much a win-win in my opinion.

 

[nejcooo]

Prestige system sux. It's cheap *** mechanic for console games. I pray to god it never hits KF2, even though deep down inside I think it will happen.

 

[Shambler]

Endless progression systems are cheap hook, if really want them then you should go play a clicker game.

I think maybe a better incentive to keep players playing is to make the game fun.