It’s not a very big secret that longtime players, particularly those that have supported the game by purchasing HP and unlocking and leveling 3-star characters early, are starting to get bored, if not abandoning the game already. If this is a surprise to D3P, well, now you know.
I suggest an event/tourney to re-engage players with high-level characters/teams that turns their most commonly-played characters into a massive amalgamated Big Bad Boss, a la Onslaught from the 1996 Marvel storyline. No new art assets would necessarily be needed for the character–just have a big generic black silhouette representing that player’s top-level team with some random combination of that team’s abilities, scores, etc.
Mine that top player’s data to determine which characters at which level the players play the most. i.e. To make PolkioSlaught (just theoretically, I’m pulling numbers out of thin air here, so don’t shoot me, bud 
), D3P mines Polkio’s player data for, let’s say, the past month, to find that 54% of his total playtime, he has run C. Magneto at an average level of 115-130, 47% of his total playtime, he has run Spidey at an average level range of 130-140, 32% of his time, he has run Ragnarok at an average level range of 110-115. Create PolkioSlaught with a total HP that equals:
[ (Average health of his C. Magneto this past month) + (Average health of his Spidey this past month) + (Average health of his Ragnarok this past month) ] x 2
When this boss character appears in battle, it is treated as a level 240 version of PolkioSlaught. PolkioSlaught has 3 abilities, one chosen randomly from each of his characters. (Bonus points if the abilities change dynamically from battle to battle but that’s not required.)
I can see this event taking at least one of two forms:
- A hybrid PVP/PVE gauntlet-type event in which players compete with each other to earn XX progression points, which earns them a Gauntlet token at the highest progression level. While progression points can be taken away (if it’s preferable to keep the current matchmaking system, which it probably would be since it would take less work), the token, once earned, CANNOT be lost.
The Gauntlet token then unlocks a separate PVE event with nothing but amalgam bosses based on player teams. Players then slog their way through PolkioSlaught, TheLadderPocalypse, NemekSlaught, etc. until they reach the top (IceXSlaught?).
- Either after the above event, or instead of the above event, these player-based amalgam bosses simply have a random percentage chance (5% or so) of appearing INSTEAD OF a player’s next regularly scheduled battle. i.e. You’re about to do the next round of No Holds Barred or Double Shot or whatever, and instead, you get pop-up message that you’re going to be fighting a powerful raid boss instead, and get put up against one of these bosses. Beating the bosses should carry either a massive set reward (2K ISO, 250 HP, or whatever), or its own set of 4x desirable rewards (1K ISO, 150 HP, Hulk Red Cover, Rag Red Cover). This system, of course, is already used in “raid” events in various Japanese gatcha type games like Rage of Bahamut, so it hopefully wouldn’t be a hard sell for management to understand.
To incentivize the event for higher level players, their amalgamated boss selves would appear in the game IF and ONLY IF:
- They logged into the game within the last 48 hours
- They played an actual match within the last 72 hours
- They have at least 4x 3-star characters at level 110+
- They have placed in the top (winning) bracket for at least XX tourneys/events
Every time their amalgamated boss wins a player battle, they should passively gain ISO income, say to the tune of 50-100 ISO per victory.
