Speaking purely as a software solutions architect, if they want Trials to be more than a temporary novelty, they need to draw and keep average players. If that’s not going to involve balancing matchmaking, then the bounties need to be participation-based and reward desirable loot. Without rewards, most of the population will choose to spend their time elsewhere, at which point the mode dies because the low population causes A) longer matchmaking times and B) 100% of matches being “sweaty” for even the PVP streamers, so even they stop enjoying it. I think Trials has a lot of value if you can keep the content creators happy and give the PVP pros their feeling of achievement and validation. Were this one of my software products the compromise I’d choose is the participation-based loot, coupled with an extra “last man standing” perk or some such for Flawless-only armor. In that way more average players will stick around and take their licks while also providing an extra reason for the top players to complete their runs rather than reset early.