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Delving into the WWE world
The WWE Performance Center as your “Home”
Here Comes The Pain had a fixed 2D Locker Room design with the option to visit backstage areas. SVR2006 and SVR2007 games had a 3D Locker Room you could roam around, with a computer, a desk, etc. SVR2009 and SVR2010 had a Private Jet. SVR2011 had a full Backstage Area that you could free roam. Now we just have… a Menu.
The point I’m trying to make here is that in previous games there was the feeling of being part of something “real” with a visually much more interactive “Home” away from the ring
With real WWE being equipped with his own awesome Performance Center, this is the perfect environment to use and fully take advantage of it as your Home/Hub during the days when you’re not taking part in a show.
The Performance Center should be designed in 3D replicating the real one, and you should be able to roam it freely in 3rd person ala SVR 2011 RTWM, with several possibilities:
- Around the PC, you can see NXT Superstars (some could also be randomly generated CAWS with a Performance Center shirt on) and you can ask them for a sparring match. You CAN’T talk trash or pick actual fights here, this is a non-kayfabe world, so you can just hang around and train.
- The Ring: This is where you can do a practice match whenever you want. You changed something in your moveset? Want to try out a new Skill you just equipped? You can do it here with a Sparring Partner, and it doesn’t need to be an entire match, you would be free to hop in and out of the ring whenever without loading screens. Doing a practice match earns you SP. There should also be other people practicing in the other rings to give a sense of realism.
- Gym: This is where you can use actual gym machines and benches to train and gain extra SP (that you can then use to increase attributes). There should probably be a weekly cap of SP per day that you can earn in the gym.
- Doctor Office: This is where you are able to check out your health report, fatigue, treat injuries, etc. (similar to SVR2008 24/7 Mode)
- Entertainment Area: This is where you could check the Shows Calendar, check WWE. com, Title Rankings, check out your Superstar Info, Statistics, History, go to WWE Shop (more later), Options, etc.
- Phone: Borrowing from previous SmackDown vs. Raw games, your Superstar should have a phone where you could receive messages from trainers, the GM, other superstars…
- Around the Performance Center you can meet and interact with coaches, officials and backstage personnel, like Triple H, Matt Bloom, William Regal, Sara Del Rey, or even guest trainers/legends like Steve Austin or HBK. They can give you advices or special challenges for your next match (replacing “The Authority objectives”), which allow you to gain more SP. It could easily be made text-based if needed, nothing wrong with that.
- Etc… There are of course infinite more possibilities that could be added in the future, including wrestling drills, and more “off days” activity similar to SVR2008 24/7 Mode.
- All of this is entirely optional and you can of course skip directly to the next show in which you’re booked to appear. The Performance Center essentially acts like a “Menu”, so you can also just ignore everything and skip to the next show.
Backstage Roaming on Show Day
With Backstage Areas making a return in WWE 2K17, it’s only fitting to be able to roam and explore them in 3rd person when “on the road” (during the day of the Show):
- Throughout the backstage areas you would encounter other Superstars and you could interact with them, therefore giving players new ways to forge or break alliances/tag teams, or start rivalries by interrupting interviews of other superstars, talking trash and initiating Backstage Brawls.
- Locker Room: You can go to your Locker Room to change your attire if you have multiple ones.
- GM Room: You can also go to the office of the General Manager of your show, where you can try to ask for Title Shots (maybe an option to buy them with VC to skip ahead of Title Rankings?) or ask to be drafted to the other show if you don’t have a title or you’re not currently involved in a storyline (similar to HCTP). You could suck up to the GM to try and make him your ally, or defy him. It would be ideal if Raw had a heel GM (Stephanie?) and SmackDown had a face GM (Shane?) so that the two brands would provide different experiences from this point of view.
