Stock crystals feel weak.
This may be because they split the amount between teammates, or because they can get sniped relatively easily, but generally they do not feel powerful enough to defend or attack.
I had a few ideas for changing them that may be good or may be bad. These changes can all be put in separately, but I like all of them.
What if they gave stock over time and continued to do so until destroyed instead of giving stock at the end of its duration? I'm thinking of something like 1 stock per 30 sec to each team member (The same rate over 2.5 minutes as there is currently), but I'm not sure about what number would be good. If this were the case, they'd become a much more important objective without becoming too much more powerful, and in addition, there would not be as big of a snowball effect from sniping one stock crystal, as it wouldn't become a 15 stock difference in the teams right away.
Secondly, what if camps nearer to the enemy side of the map gave more stock? Now, this would lead to the snowball effect, but it would also lead to some interesting gameplay due to higher amounts of risk/reward. Killing an enemy medium camp wouldn't just be about the scrap it gives, but also defending it as long as possible to get as much stock as possible. Meanwhile, it would be imperative for the enemy team to come and either counterattack or defend as soon as possible. Since most camps are relatively hard to defend, this could lead to some interesting fights.
Third, what if harder camps gave more stock? The stock crystals for the middle hard camps are essentially useless because they're the same amount as easy camp stock and ten times as vulnerable. This may be solved by the second point, but I think giving more incentive to defend stock crystals that are hard to defend is a good idea.
Comments
As we discussed on Discord, I think these are all wonderful ideas - in particular, the first and third points are exactly along the lines of what we've been discussing internally. The second suggestion is also interesting, although the particulars of the implementation seem muddier to me.
Love this sort of feedback! <3
I'm 100% behind the 1st idea in particular, since it is what you would logically assume is happening based on the graphical cues given. In fact, I assumed this was how they functioned until I read otherwise, and I imagine most new players would as well. Seems like an elegant solution to a number of problems while reinforcing player expectations, to me at least.