Let's first talk about the mechanism of upgrade acceleration. In the past, games about cultivating immortals often involved thousands of years of seclusion and meditation, and the pace of the game was so slow that it could make people fall asleep. Xiaoyao directly maximizes the cultivation efficiency, which is actually very smart. It is equivalent to greatly shortening the "development period" in traditional simulation management, allowing players to enter the resource competition and confrontation stage faster. From a competitive perspective, this is particularly similar to the design idea in MOBA games of reducing the laning period and teaming up in advance. The pace becomes faster and the density of the game increases. Effective decisions in each round are much more important than grinding values.
Let's talk about the collection of prehistoric artifact parts in the original gameplay. At first glance, this setting may seem like a boon to players with obsessive-compulsive collection, but upon closer inspection, it's actually a snowballing mechanism in disguise. Artifact parts are scattered in different secret realms. Working together as a team is naturally more efficient than working alone. This leads to a problem - the formation speed of fixed fleets will be much faster than that of individual players, and it is easy to form a head monopoly on the server echelon. However, the game adds random entries and a recasting system to these drops, which means that the proportion of luck is included. To a certain extent, it gives weak teams a chance to make a comeback. It is a subtle balancing method.
Of course, the most worth talking about is the gameplay of teaming up to enter the ancient secret realm. To be honest, this game has made PVE into a semi-PVP confrontation logic. The number of Dao soldiers in the secret realm, BOSS refresh time, and treasure chest competition are all limited resources. In other words, you and your teammates not only have to fight monsters, but you also have to prevent other teams from intercepting them. This mode will test the team's on-field execution and on-the-spot command. A team that knows how to interrupt and grab the output window can still gain an advantage in encounters even if its equipment rating is a bit behind. The depth of competition is actually more demanding than many mobile games that advertise as MOBA.
In terms of version balance, Xiaoyao Xiuzhen's current update pace is quite fast. Every adjustment will change the basic value of the skill or the output efficiency of the secret realm. The official is obviously trying to control those super model schools. For example, the success rate of the thunder method in the previous version was too impressive, and the pace of clearing monsters was directly raised to a higher level. Later, this version was cut a round, and the water method was improved a lot. This kind of change idea is very common in e-sports events. It prevents one lineup from overwhelming the version and forces players to constantly develop new BD ideas. But it is not without problems, especially the difference in the progress of land reclamation between the new area and the old area, which results in the impact of the balance patch on players at different levels being completely different. Once this problem is not handled well, it is easy to dissuade middle-level players.
As for the free charging model of the game, to be honest, without the card threshold, the numerical difference can be controlled within a certain range, and it will not completely turn into krypton gold to crush the whole game. This is considered rare among similar products. In addition, the acceleration of upgrades reduces the level of enthusiasm, allowing ordinary players to catch up with the version echelon in a limited time. This is a critical link in the construction of a competitive environment. After all, the premise of e-sports is that there must be enough people standing on the starting line not far apart.
In general, although Xiaoyao Cultivation seems to be a simulation cultivation game with a strong stand-alone feel, its competitiveness is hidden in the version mechanism of secret realm robbery, artifact recasting and rapid iteration. For players who like to study version trends and analyze optimal strategies, the upper limit of this game is far higher than imagined. I hope that the official will continue to maintain this back-and-forth rhythm in the future balance adjustments. This game definitely has the potential to become an "atypical" long-term competitive dark horse. 😏