Perusing the forums here, it seems to be the general consensus that one of the perceived issues with hourglass is that the player base has dwindled to just a dedicated subset of pirates. The issues contributing to this have been discussed ad nauseum (lack of rewards, a tedious grind, the running meta, cheaters, etc.) and I'll say up front I don't want to touch on those in this post. I do acknowledge that for hourglass to really thrive it needs a lot of attention.
I would like to discuss that with guilds being introduced to the sandbox, we've seen the unintentional effect of hourglass matches granting much more guild rep than PvE equivalent activities, acknowledged by Rare themselves. The current debate is centering around how parity should be achieved; should hourglass be brought down to match other PvE related adventures, or should PvE be elevated therefore making guilds less of a grind?
I'd like to suggest a third alternative that would help with accruing guild rep faster, while potentially giving hourglass a (small) shot in the arm........what if PvE and hourglass rep gain were buffed? This would help the PvE experience while attracting people to hourglass who may not have previously considered it, expanding the player pool.
It's purely anecdotal, but this was my personal experience last night. I hadn't touched hourglass since season 8, with Servants at 4 and Guardians at 11. I'd been reluctant to hop back in after reading all the negativity surrounding the mode on these forums, but decided to give it a go to help in getting my guild to 15.
I had about 8 battles solo, had a really good time, and plan on coming back. I wonder how many other people have had my experience?
