Crucible and SR before Endgame - Loot and XP is underwhelming

Hopefully, in light of the new crucible arenas being added, crucible (and SR) could be a bit more rewarding before endgame. I just want to say they are really great fun (especially in multiplayer), and overall pretty well balanced at lower levels, good job on that front.

However from my experience the underwhelming rewards and xp in combination with 0 faction reputation gain are a significant let down. Considering that the vast majority of players do not reach endgame, crucible often ends up being relegated to easy early devotions but little else.

As for the results of my low-level experience:

  • At lvl 26 I did aspirant crucible and cleared 1-150, the loot was on par with a single monster totem. I think more rare gear is needed to compensate for the long periods of fighting. As for xp I ended up at lvl 35.8, which was a little underwhelming for the 1hr:40 min or so that it took.

  • I then cleared SR shards 50-51 (hefty crafting cost had to be overcome using shared stash, though I don’t think anything could be done about that?) at level 40, the loot was bad relative to monster totems, far too much yellow loot for the significant challenge it was. I gained ~2.5 levels in ~18 minutes. Again, a little underwhelming.

  • Later on I tried to revisit crucible in Challenger at level ~55. I completed wave 100 to unlock gladiator, however I stopped because the xp was abysmal. Again, for loot I think there should definitely be more greens (at the very least). The scaling must not be right, I gained approx 0.3 of one level, considering xp typically ramps up from wave 40 and onward, this was very small xp for the significant challenge increase over the main campaign.

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I don’t know about loot, but gaining 1 level for ~12 minutes of playing (from your 1st example) seems OK to me. But I’m playing Crucible for the challenge, so I don’t care if it beams up the levels or equips me head to toes fast.

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Depends how fast you play, but achieving the same in the MC would have been faster for me as I would be rushing quests in Elite at that level. Though you are right that Crucible is clearly most comparable at lower levels.

For more explanation, from wave 40 the xp begins to grow significantly, however this seemingly plateaus around wave 100/110. Why not reward players that go deeper?

As for SR, I did try doing SR shard 10-11, xp was much worse. SR 50 at that level was a bit extreme in the small boss room. Guess I may see which shards are affordable without shared stash, or shards which may be best for xp.

I do like the challenge, I just felt like it should be rewarded. The lack of reputation for doing crucible is enough of a penalty imo.

Idk. For me crucible kinda feels on a fair spot, because it’s implemented in a way, where you still can level / grind on it, crucible is also a good way to get proper gear if you’re undergeared in the Campaign and stuff, but not too much in terms of reward, that it makes the campaign obsolete / unimportant. I understand the Idea of people want to focus purely on this modes… but IMHO this Modes are meant as an addition / extra and not to replace the Campaign. But well, maybe it’s only me.

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Thats definitely not just you, man. I am right there with you. Its an extra gaming element that can be enjoyed if MC gets boring or stale, and if SR is too much running around. Crucible is also a gameplay enabler, and is so interesting in a multiplayer environment that it can be used as means of experimenting with builds that may not make sense or be worth playing in the MC and vice versa. The two modes are so different, that one could not possibly replace the other.

I personally think of Crucible as a playground for testing tactical multiplayer squads and roleplay, like in the Last Stand from Dawn of War 2. What an awesome game mode! But certainly not a replacement for the main campaign.

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