Something needs to be done about unlocks

Too Long; Won't Read: Unlocking all modules takes around 420 games or 140 hours. That's too much.


I just happened to calculate what is needed to unlock all commanders and modules.
39'400 XP

Then calculated how much I get per game, on average.
78 XP

I know that 1v1s and winning against pros gets you more xp, so I checked rANDY.
117 XP

Then I calculated how much we need to play.
337 to 505 games

I guess games last around 20 minutes each, so I continued.
112 to 168 hours

That does not include waiting times, crashes, singleplayer or games that failed to be recorded.


There has been some talk lately about pros not starting with ZK because of unlocks. There's also been some comments about fairness ever since unlocks were introduced. I just answered a question on ZK's greenlight page and was going to say "It's okay though, you will unlock these things in no time!", but after doing the math myself I couldn't.

Some might say "not all modules are required!", but new players don't know what's useful so they rely on trial and error. "but they can just copy an experienced players comms!", look at the top 10 players' commanders, they are very different and many of them use 8x +dmg or 8x +range, so all players have different playstyles or preferences and many of them DO require (almost) all eight unlocks of one specific module. "but you only need to design comms up to level 1 or 3!", that is opinion-based, there are very good players who frequently defeat enemies with high level commanders.

IMO unlocks shouldn't exist. ZK is a competitive game and it should be an even field for all players.

You can lock customization for certain time, but offer "prebuilt" commanders with modules, so newb wont make nonsenses like best jump com setup, best bombardment com setup and so on.

And noone of above are competitive as dota

quote: Teams: all welcome, we need agressive unlocks here Want competitive game? - go play 1v1 without unlocks.

All welcome.
ALL WELCOME
ALL WELCOME!
"All" includes people who morph coms and build singus in the wrong places. Platinum is there for a reason!

you only need 1 unlock to be competetive in 1v1 : the eco com

lvl 1 eco com +laser > all other commander builds in 1v1 [this is a fact]

But wait... if you just have an support com with just a laser and nothing else... then your level upgrades will be faster and cheaper, and your buildpower will increase, so you can build things which are more important, and...

I think you might be on to something.

:P do you want to even try arguing that any other com build is actualy a valid choice 1v1? with the exception of cheese strategies

both of those die to a single zeus or 2 ravagers...

I find myself using eco com 99% of the time nowdays. You build mexes and solars 1 second aster on average, and the extra build range means you save even more time by not having to move the comm.


What I may do differently than kubey is that I keep it in base to build energy and only move out at very begging to take surrounding mexes. The big advantage of this is that I never e stall and never excess metal, and have some extra dps against run-bys.


Recon and Eco seems like the only logical coms to use. Recon for mobility, and eco for everything else.
Heavy Strike and Bombard's bonuses are not good/usefull enough to make people pick them(exept rocket battle comm is sometimes used).