The arena in World of Arseria is divided into 1vs1, 3vs3, and 6vs6.
Among them, 3vs3 is like an event game mode without a ranking system, comparable to ‘Aram’ in League of Legends, while the solo rank for one-on-one matches and the arena rank for six-on-six battles garnered the most attention.
However, the arena system of Wagal didn’t start all players’ characters with the same stats and potential, unlike Legacy of Legends or the now-defunct Heroes of the Storm 2.
The minimum requirement for participating in the arena is a combat power of 10,000.
This means that the combat power of the characters you train in story mode must reach at least 10,000 to join the arena.
Taking Silver 2, which is the median of the arena rank’s upper 50%, as an example:
Players in this tier typically start the game with characters holding combat power between 20,000 and 25,000.
While the detailed stats vary from person to person, this combat power provided a rational indicator for predicting the expected win rates in one-on-one situations.
Even among the same class of warriors, some are born with an attack power of 1,000 while others with 1,150, making it like they’re gripping an extra sword.
Assuming both characters grow equally, the gap widens more and more with each level-up.
Of course, the developers introduced several features to prevent players from feeling exhausted by only focusing on character development.
A prime example is a system where achieving consecutive victories or outstanding performances in ranked games automatically boosts a character’s combat power.
Additionally, there was a considerate system that adjusted scores based on whether certain popular or essential job classes were placed in lower or higher ranks to balance team compositions.
Despite this, limitations existed.
Let’s assume a player with exceptional physical and mental capabilities breaks through to the top 10% platinum tier with a character boasting 20,000 combat power.
This player would then have to face off against monsters with combat power of 40,000.
Here, players naturally found themselves drawn to story mode to create a new character.
After all, they already had sufficient potential to be placed in platinum rank with 20,000 combat power.
Physical skills honed in PVP allow for easier progression through the story, leading to the creation of a character with higher combat power than before.
Then, when testing the new character’s abilities in the arena,
the previously stagnant rank points would skyrocket again.
[Streaming Starts: 0:00:01 – NoName]
Surely, Wagal seemed like a game that accurately grasped the weaknesses of AOS games and the human tendency toward bias and craving for rewards.
People enjoy fair competition and the victories built upon them, but the truth is often different.
What people truly like is a game that “appears fair.”
The reason AOS games can become popular is that everyone starts at the same line with the same resources, all at the same time.
Unlike MMORPGs where, after creating a character, you might end up facing a whale decked out in a full set of pay-to-win gear worth millions.
But what if you invade right from the start, and if you score a ‘pentakill’ and start your lane with 1,600 gold?
Your mouth would be grinning from ear to ear.
Because the game is recognized as fair from the get-go.
[Broadcasting Time – 0:02:14]
[Number of Viewers – 147]
The asymmetrical effects brought by combat power had more implications.
When losing a game, players could easily transfer the stress onto external factors.
Games like Go, Chess, or StarCraft are perfect one-on-one skill tests.
If you lose in those games, it solely reflects your skill, which can induce significant stress, especially for competitive players.
However, since AOS is a team game, blaming others becomes easy, which helps individuals shake off their frustration and encourages them to dive back into the next game.
But what if players could also blame their combat power?
Winning would be attributed to skill, while losing could be pinned on low combat power.
[Broadcast Time – 0:03:58]
[Number of Viewers – 189]
Lastly, there’s the potential for gradual rank improvement.
Surprisingly, in AOS, it’s difficult to perceive advancement based on tier.
A game you think is Bronze might actually be a match for Diamonds, and the reverse could also be true.
However, in Wagal, each tier is clearly defined, and due to the inherent limitation of combat power, people couldn’t rapidly ascend the ranks.
In other words, as long as you create a character stronger than before in story mode,
your tier increase would be a guaranteed promise.
People tend to be more susceptible to periodic, overwhelming gratification rather than continuous rewards.
Like gambling.
Surely, competing against League of Legends—which has retained its top position for decades—would be impossible without a meticulously crafted system.
Now that I’ve laid out my analysis, just how fun is Resonance, anyway?
I’d heard it was just some shooting game with an aura, which didn’t really seem like my cup of tea.
After all, it was a sluggish Sunday afternoon.
Today was meant to be a time to casually learn about Wagal.
Sub-quests with Laura might be enjoyable from a player’s perspective, but the viewer experience could be completely different.
[Broadcast Time – 0:06:45]
[Number of Viewers – 412]
[Welcome to the chat room! (The chat will unfreeze due to inactivity.)]
-1111
-1111111111
-1
-Hi, long time no see
-This person always freezes the chat when they come in.
-You haven’t been streaming lately, so all the viewers dropped out, huh?
“Nice to meet you.”
[Would you like to connect to World of Arseria?]
[The current broadcast has been ongoing for 0:07:13. Do you wish to continue?]
[May the World Tree’s blessings be upon you.]
–Wagal?
-You said you weren’t going to play?
-Is this for real? How long has it been?
-Let’s change the tag to attract more viewers.
[‘Daehagwonsaengsalryeo’ donated 1,000 won!]
-Wow, NoName it’s been a while!! Are you really going to play Wagal today?
“Yes, I decided to start today.”
And I didn’t forget to change the tag.
The moment ‘World of Arseria’ was added to the previously always just chatting stream title, the viewers’ reactions were heated.
–League is garbage, lol
-You’re not playing League anymore? I set alarms to watch Asteria.
-Can someone who has only played League for a lifetime adapt to a fantasy game?
-Newbie, lol.
-I’m already drooling at the thought of giving unsolicited advice.
-What class are you going with?
-Assassin? Tank?
-The core is still a hero or a wizard.
“Today, I’m just going to sample it. Plus, I’ve already cleared the prologue.”
I’d have to check if it was possible to switch to solo mode in between after entering the game.
As this was before advancing the main storyline, it might be fine?
[‘Daehagwonsaengsalryeo’ donated 10,000 won!]
-Thanks to NoName, the arena meta just got chaotic. There are so many Paladins, for real.
“Huh? What do you mean by that?”
A message came through that neither I nor the viewers understood.
And a flurry of question marks flooded the chat.
-Oh, I used to be a Wagal user and wrote a guide for Paladins before.
–NoName once shared the dimensional downgrade method during a stream.
-If you have just that, anyone can boost by one circle and cast spells.
-Combat power gets massively inflated across all classes, and now even Healer classes have become usable.
-The arena is a complete mess, with 6 tanks against 6 healers sometimes.
-I thought it would naturally get blocked, but it seems they haven’t even done an emergency patch.
Following the link the viewer shared, I entered.
[New Meta for World of Arseria: I Alone Am the Paladin (Serious/Long-read)]
As he said, there was an unfinished scroll displaying a dimensional downgrade formula similar to what I had previously cast during a stream.
The download count was already in the hundreds of thousands.
-Wait, this was out?
-What were you doing while tens of thousands were downloading this? lol.
-No wonder even though I’m in Wagal silver, I feel like combat power in the arena is always super high.
-For real, I thought I unlocked the new story too.
-No one has properly played Wagal, all that’s left are League players, lol.
Suddenly curious, I hopped onto a match history search site and linked it to the viewer’s nickname.
[Search: Daehagwonsaengsalryeo]
[Daehagwonsaengsalryeo Challenger / Arena Ranking 70th / Top 0.00074%]
“You’re doing great. I hope you can help me a lot when I’m playing the game.”
Having a skilled player in my room felt like winning the jackpot with a free teaching assistant.
From now on, if I had any questions while playing, I’d definitely keep asking that person.
-Challenger???
-You’re jumping right into searching stats, that’s creepy.
–Twish needs to get rid of this feature ASAP; the flavor of chatting is lost when everyone immediately checks each other’s ranks.
-That’s just because you’re Bronze/Silver. ^^
-What if the Bronze/Silver chat is also frozen?
“But can you use the scrolls in-game?”
Wouldn’t that be too OP?
-In the first place, you can only carry one, and there’s a cooldown.
-Still, just boosting by one circle means even if you have to memorize other spells, you’d use it, right?
-Those little kids who can’t study will have to force themselves to learn magic instead of just spamming Blink every game, lol.
-For real, this game is finally doing it right.
The scroll slot was fixed at one from the start.
After all, who has the time to draw magic circles in the middle of battle?
Games should be taken as games.
The original intent of the developer was to include spells to create variables at each save point, but players had already figured out the utility of the spell ‘Blink’ in League, so they filled it with that first circle spell.
It’s saying something when most people have started referring to it not as ‘scroll slot’, but as ‘Blink slot.’
In reality, Blink boasted extreme efficiency among the first circle spells in-game, hence many players would still keep their slots despite having up to three Laurels.
[Releasing Duo: ‘HeroAurora’]
[Warning: You will not be able to reassemble your party once you enter the main story. Do you still wish to disband your party?]
[The party has been disbanded.]
[This character can now be used in ranked matches.]
What were viewers more interested in, the story or the arena?
I guess I wouldn’t know until I tried. I couldn’t predict everything.
[‘Daehagwonsaengsalryeo’ donated 10,000 won!]
–NoName, what difficulty did you set for your first game?
“Can we set difficulty separately?”
I had never seen that option.
Due to having to forcefully close the game before, I found myself waking up at the checkpoint accommodation.
As I opened the slightly creaky old door, the people of Abyss stared at me in unison.
[Nightmare: Magic 10/Exploration 10/Infamy 10 · Solo]
[Bonus bestowed.]
[Prologue: Child of the Prophecy END]
[Part 1: Academy Invasion Operation]
