With the lack of challengers in 2022 and our BA team being reduced to one, I think a fun fix for 2023's challengers to be a reset of a handful of existing challengers. No - not a complete reset like the couple we've had in the past.

An existing challenger or two can be chosen each month to be reset, given new loot, and maybe a tweak to what the opponent does (Stats, Weapons, Scrolls, Freeze/Heal/Blessing disabled etc.)

This gives users a small reset since it's been requested over and over again, but in a controlled/sustainable way. It doesn't require an artist's time to create a brand new challenger and the BA already get a headstart on the challengers mechanics each month. (aw I keep typing BA's at first).

It also gives the opportunity to repost any stories that were done for the nostalgia factor when it's rereleased for the older challengers so less time needed coming up with that fun stuff. Like General Error being the mastermind behind all the SQL Squirrel invasions :p. (ty and your post for bringing that back up xD )

Supporting this! I really would like to see Easy opponents reworked to be more inviting and rewarding for newbie battlers. At the current moment, we have very few Easy opponents for Normal/Secret categories, and the ones we do have give very little EXP for a new battler to profit spending EXP on. Yes those T1-3 egg stat boosters exist, but a newbie battler will only really be able to get one of each because the others that can give them are Medium+ difficulty. And having recently started raising a new battle pet, there is no reason to battle when your pet is only T1-3 basically. You really can only train, battle the few easy opponents you get, do 5 BQs daily and then just wait until your pet is T4+ to get access to better weapons and have the strength to handle tougher opponents.

I would even go as far to say let these Easy opponents drop a mage amulet at special loot drop 5 and a tome at 10, to reward and reinforce the use of stat boosters, because this primes the new battler to go do GY quests to get mage amulets and see the Mage to get potential tomes to use to boost their pet's stats. You can further prime a player to learn to go past 10 wins by having a special weapon drop at say, 25 for an Easy opponent. A weapon that they will be able to use at their current tier, and has mod slots to also teach them about modding weapons. So also have the crystals drop too past 10 wins.

It is vital we get new battlers past the entry barrier, because too many times I have seen or heard new battlers give up before their pet gets far enough along to really begin to shine. We cannot just let veteran battlers be catered to, we need new battlers to join in and stay as well.

battle

Sorry to ping but it is relevant!

Ooh, this is a really good idea! Both to get newbies into battling, and to give oldies something to do without taxing the admins too much.

(Let's not have a repeat of previous years, where almost every news post gets derailed by the same people constantly asking what's going on with the challengers and demanding a schedule that never existed...)

Thanks for the ping! I agree. New battlers are the lifeblood of the community and we need to do all we can to attract players. I am always training pets, so I hear you.

I also agree that the oldest users have been catered to since, well... always. That just discourages everyone else. It's no coincidence that our numbers thinned when the godlys were reintro'd. A new player who had just joined to battle ended up leaving because she was so overwhelmed by everything, but especially the prices. I gave her weapons and promised to support her as she got going, but it was too much. She felt there was no way she could make any meaningful progress in a realistic time frame -- even though it is much easier now than it used to be. I told her she didn't need the most expensive weapons to be competitive, but it didn't take her long to see that everything she was doing on the site was to make money to save up for battling.

I keep bouncing between whether or not I want to battle because of prices too, not going to lie. I also barely participate in the battle community at large because it just doesn't feel like I belong with a T8 pet and a budget set.

At any rate, I would like the chance to fight against opponents that I haven't fought before. I didn't have a pet that could fight when Throwback Challengers were a thing and that ship has sailed. It's kinda sad when I think about it...

Thank you for posting! Your voice is EXACTLY the voice that needs to be heard!

Please don't be afraid to speak up when you feel frustrated or there are things/changes you'd like to see. You ARE a part of the community -- just as much as anyone else is. Most people are happy to lend weapons or scrolls and we're all full of advice. (Yeah -- let's call it advice that we're full of. LOL)

Love these ideas, full support.

As someone that is trying to train up a few fresh battle pets from T1, it would be great to have some of the easy opponents reworked so that they were more inviting to low tier pets. It seems like most of the opponents that are introduced nowadays are mega-tough, to cater to the longtime battlers. Nothing wrong with giving a little bit of attention to the new battlers and lower tier pets too!

And mini-resets that entertain the battling community + make less work for artists and the admins sounds like a win-win.

Mini-resets seem an economical and fun way to keep battle interesting. Support.

I am in favor of doing a staggered opponent reset. Maybe a couple of easy, medium, hard, and one very hard and extremely hard and impossible at one time. There is still work that goes into weapon stats and art needed for new loot drops so I feel like the next group of opponents reset would be at least a few months out. Maybe it is even done sporadically in between holidays or battle events.

I am not in favor of changing how farming works. An easy opponent doesn't need to drop boosters because a beginner battler does not need boosters. In the low tiers, you gain stats fast enough through battling and training your pet. How it works now with dropping a tome at 150 wins and amulets at 50 and 100 wins is fine. Your pet only needs to be about T5 anyway to get those wins if you really want boosters. Boosters don't help newbie battlers understand how battling works, fighting an opponent to x number of wins while taking y losses is more beneficial to understanding how battling works. The challengers also have those egg drops that can only be used on pets up to, but not including, T4. I would be in favor of keeping those on the easy challengers and adding them as 5th win drop on all easy challengers so that you don't need to memorize which opponent drops booster eggs when you're still learning how to battle.

I liked having TBT to reuse old challenger art and would also be in favor of bringing those back in between holidays and battle events.

if you want to weigh in

Everyone is welcomed, no matter what! We're all on our own battle journeys and everyone has to start somewhere.

I feel like battling is kind of either your only hobby on here or well, not, cause of how expensive it is. I do not do any beanbag or plushie collecting for example, because that would take away from saving up for training or weapons or books and everything else with battling. I do think we could use more new weapons that are good and budget friendly. The mid tiers such as T7 are generally pretty barren.

Staggered reset could be fun! A pretty low key way to bring back some interest into battling without a massive wave of interested that then dissipates soon after. (also throwing my hat into the 'bring back throwback challengers' pool!)

I love this idea! A small-scale staggered reset would be great. I would be excited about currently available opponents being reset with new loot, and/or sometimes just bringing back the Throwback opponents we had a few years ago (with the same loot potentially, and occasional new items). My main pet wasn't big enough to fight some of them when they were re-released then, and I'd love a chance for another go at them now.

Full support for a mix of different difficulties if this happens - make sure newer and older battlers have something they can fight. This could be a great way to (re)introduce some easy 'intro' opponents to help entice new battlers as well.

I support this idea. I've got a low level battling pet who has run out of challengers and just doing a few battle quests a day is tedious. It would be more fun if there were resets with new loot etc .

I think this is quite smart at solving a handful of "problems" all at once

Fully support this!

this would be so great! where do i sign?

This is a great idea!

Good ideas! I'd love to see a return of Throwlback challengers - all those "wasted" beautiful folks, that only made one appearance ever here on Subeta.

I know back when I started battling 15+ years ago there was not auto training. Heck there wasn't even an event when your pet was finished with the training time in the TC. There was no Quinten tossing out amulets like they were Oprah. There was not free battle eggs boosters. There was no BQ's/ EXP.

I think things have come a long ways since those days. With all they have added and all the new challengers. I never quite understand the "older battlers have been catered to" saying. That saying makes me sad. :( As we were all new battles at some point. Things used to be a lot harder in terms of training a pet and how long it took. I try to remember that newer battlers didn't see those dark days, so maybe that has something to do with it.

Sorry maybe I am just in a mood in RL lately. I am not trying to step on toes, everyone is entitled to their opinion, but it makes me sad that the changes don't ever seem to be acknowledged. :( I for one am grateful for auto-training, BQ's, battles eggs, Quinten and alerts when pets are finished training.

I would love to see more people get into battling! My internet social skills suck, because I am always so scared I am going to offend someone. I spent 6 hrs the other day trying to answer questions and help a new battler out. Even though I know I suck at explaining things. Anytime someone comments me about battling I try to explain things to them. Heck I am still trying to figure things out at times myself, so I get it that things can get overwhelming quick for newer battles.

Maybe some buddy system thread would be nice. Where a new battler gets paired with an older one and they can ask questions through comments or something like that.

Anyways as Cara said