Alright bare with me here. Let’s all assume KOTH 4 v 4 is perfect and healthier, some may be fans and some may not. Stacks, crossing, lancers, whatever the issue with KOTH is, let’s assume it will stay as a 4 v 4 mode from now on.
We NEED a 5 v 5 mode. Some people have their 5 man group and wish to keep playing as a team, others maybe have a clan and like to tryhard/sweat/practice in ranked matches to climb. People enjoy infinite-lives modes more apparently, so Escalation 1.0 should be perfect for this!
Koth is a camp fest centered around 1 ring, making it easy for a 5 man to easily dominate once they get set up. Escalation is centered around 3 rings which forces players to rotate to capture at least 2 rings, if you stay in one place people can just flank and get your home ring and so on. Escalation 2.0 however failed and even though its the preferred mode for esports, that doesn’t matter if the playerbase didn’t like it.
Escalation 1.0 just works for 5 v 5 and in general, was more popular than 2.0 with the whole limited lives left. I would love to see the mode come back for all those players wanting a more competitive mode that lets 5 v 5 exist with far less issues than any other mode.
I’d be cool with this. They definitely said they were looking at ways to improve and bring escalation back, but that means in like 18 months they might have something. At any rate, 1.0 was way better than 2.0 for like a normal person to play.
Escalation 1.0 was a lot more easier on the eye, I will say. As a spectator, Gears 4 esports was actually fun to watch. I was never super into it, but I did watch (and play) Escalation quite a bit in Gears 4.
Escalation 2.0 is very complicated, especially for a first time viewer to Gears. A very deep mode, but very confusing, and infuriating to play in Ranked.
If Escalation 1.0 came back I would definitely play it. It probably wouldn’t play as well given that it was produced for a much faster game, but I would still give it a go.