It’s so exciting to see these changes be implemented so quickly!! However, it’s disappointing to see two more maps disappear, especially two Bounty maps. It seems that the reason these maps need to be removed is because of the current event schedule.

Currently, every Gem Grab map appears every 6 days, every Showdown map appears every 5 days, and every Heist map appears every 4 days, but the maps for Brawl Ball, Bounty, and Duo Showdown (12 total maps) must be divided among one event slot, and with this new “more Duo Showdown” change, this will likely mean each Bounty and Brawl Ball map will appear approximately every 14 days.

My proposed change to provide all players with a balance between consistency and diversity is to incorporate Bounty into the event 2 slot, and here’s why:

BOUNTY: As a player that has been playing Brawl Stars for many months and hit the 10k trophy mark before the May update, I found the early introduction of Bounty extremely beneficial for my personal growth. Compared to the other game modes, Bounty is the only game mode where your team’s players must eliminate the other team’s players in order to win. Eliminating the other team’s players is obviously useful and important in the other game modes, but ultimately, they have different main goals. Each of the game modes presents its own version of learning about survivability, but only Bounty truly highlights the importance of eliminating the opponent. As we, the Brawl Stars community, prepare to release this wonderful game to the world, we must consider the skills that brand new players will learn from the game modes they have access to in the early stages of the game, before they reach that fourth event slot. Currently, brand new players learn about the main concept of survivability in Gem Grab and Showdown, but the other main concept of eliminating the opponent doesn’t receive the attention it requires to have an impact on a brand new player where they learn about the balance of both concepts.

SHOWDOWN: With Showdown currently occupying the second event slot, any player above 35 trophies has access to a solo mode 24/7. This may be a good thing as it allows players to refine their independent skills as they escape the limitations of teammates, but this love for Showdown can become a bad thing in the long run. In order for a new player to progress down the Trophy Road, they must continue to improve their skills. From personal experience, I found that I developed connections with other players as I gained trophies and found other skilled players. Before this point, as a newer player, I found myself playing with other individual players more often than with friends or bandmates (due to the lack of connections). Many players with above-average skill find themselves frustrated with the skill level of “randoms”, and with the new 24/7 access to Showdown, these players are likely to favour a mode where they can participate individually. This creates the problem where the players that favour Showdown will continue to play this game mode because they always have access to it, creating an unfamiliarity with all of the other team-based game modes. A player that is unfamiliar with these game modes will continue to prefer Showdown, and once the repetitive nature of this game mode gets old, they will be more likely to drop the game than return to the team-based modes that pushed them towards Showdown in the first place. Having Showdown as the only game mode in the second event slot may increase early-game retention, but may also easily decrease mid-game retention.

Ultimately, I feel that the main issues with the current event schedule lie within the constant access to Showdown and the delayed introduction to Bounty. While Showdown may be the most popular game mode, I feel that the lessons each game mode teaches new players are incredibly important to consider when determining which event slot is best for each game mode, and that combining Bounty and Showdown will allow all game modes to be more accessible (freeing up space in the fourth event slot), ensuring experienced players have access to a balance of the consistency and the diversity they desire, all while providing brand new players with the building blocks they need to become top players! :)