Meltdown, Ratings and the Value of your Time

Hoi,
So, I’ve been thinking for a while about how to formulate this post and where to put it, but didn’t really find a good solution, so I just decided to make this threat and I have to warn you that this might get a little onto the rambling side of things. You have been warned ;)

I wanted to chip in on the general discussion surrounding the new rating system and also a personal pet peeve of mine which is Meltdown. To steal a line from TB (who brought quite a few of us into the game I suspect) “this game does not respect your time”. I don’t think anybody could argue with this assessment, considering the new rating system. And while I could get over the fact that I’ll never be able to play in tournaments or see myself on the ladder, this really spoils all enjoyment for me when it comes to Meltdown.
I think Meltdown would be a great way for new players (or those with severe time constraints, like myself) to learn all the cards and to hone their skills, but one look into the mechanics of it immediately kills any hopes of ever getting anywhere with it. I mean really, to even apply I’d need some 10000-20000 Gold, a week off from work and the will to suffer through hours of "play", just to be sure to break even. This excludes new players (provided they visited the forums and found the tremendously detailed posts about Meltdown mechanics) and locks veterans in an endurance contest until the last drop of joy is squeezed out of the game and they ask themselves WTF am I doing with my life. Well, excuse my hyperbole but I read many posts from veterans complaining that they have more Gold than they know what to do with it and here I sit grinding out my days to farm enough gold to even make it feasible to enter the game mode I was so excited about a couple of weeks ago. I think this shows that the organization is fundamentally flawed.
I really don’t see how Wulven gain anything by keeping us all lock in this perpetual abusive relationship. The goal should be appealing to new players and retention of the old ones, no? So why exclude the former and bore the latter? When your players feel they have to work not play something is inherently wrong with your game. And it also kills the joy of watching the Worldcup and all the big tournaments, because all I can think of is: “Those are not necessary the best players but those without a job or a social life”. Again I am overstating my point slightly, no offence meant, but I doubt I am the only one feeling this way.
I feel especially meltdown could be fixed, very easily. You could limit the games per day per account. Implement a league system or different divisions which play out over a longer time elimination style, or best out of three. Or if wulven really feel it necessary to keep the format, add a free variant in which you aren’t eligible for any rewards. Or at least have players buy in with Shadow Crystals to prevent the horrible gold inflation amongst veterans. I mean there are so many ways to improve upon the formula and I for one would find meltdown tournaments, like this way more exciting to watch.
Similar things could and should be done to fix the overall rating system. Take a look at LoL or Starcraft and the systems they implemented. I think it would be so much more gratifying to reach a higher rating based on skill and not purely by spamming QM. And please, please count DC as an auto-loss! With our without Jasmine! A system in a competitive cardgame which punishes you for playing fair needs to be abolished ASAP. Sure we would all complain about losing points due to crappy connectivity, but this would be far less damaging to the culture of the community.
I am sorry for the rambling and somewhat whiny post. It wasn’t my intention to mimic iClipse’s epic (and sadly still relevant) threat on the state of Shadow Era, but I really do care about the game. This might not be apparent by my lack of posts over the two years I have been playing, but I really wish I would be able to spend more time with this game without bouncing off of it due to those easily fixable issues. I love the game for it’s incredibly fair business model and I even love the updates in wulven time ;), because then I at least can hope to collect and learn all the cards and don’t have to be afraid that all my purchases will be invalidated in a few months or feel like forever chasing the carrot on a stick.
Again sorry for the rambling. Just use the amount of words as a sign of affection :D
And please bring back State of the Era / Shadow Era Radio.

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Originally Posted by gnodab

I mean really, to even apply I’d need some 10000-20000 Gold, a week off from work and the will to suffer through hours of "play", just to be sure to break even.

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These numbers are to get a lucrative reward. To break even safely is like 15 games (3000 gold) with mediocre winrate.

tl;dr: The Design Team should learn how to setup a competition without players going berserk.

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Originally Posted by msaf

These numbers are to get a lucrative reward. To break even safely is like 15 games (3000 gold) with mediocre winrate.

tl;dr: The Design Team should learn how to setup a competition without players going berserk.

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very well put, Sir!

Actually if I had to choose I would leave meltdown for grinders but quick game rankings less related to the amount of play. While I think meltdown is an important facet of this game, quick games are the basics of Shadow Era and they should be enticing and rewarding for everyone. You can avoid meltdown if you feel you don't have time or gold, you shoulnd't avoid standard games.
That said I understand your concerns. Your post could have been summarized with a "Bring the fun back into this game!", haha. But the wall of text could explain it better :D

...maybe i just haven't noticed, but i would realy welcome some sort of a Official SE League (on top of current Top100 ladder) where people can compete to see who's The Best player here

Thanks for sharing your thoughts gnobgab

Hopefully when the expansion comes out and we reach our kick starter goals ... SE will provide more for the casual gamer or the time constrained gamer like yourself

NB: Meltdown tier 5 is currently paying out around 9 to 10 gold per meltdown point with a median score of around 100.... so if your win rate is above 50% you really only need to spend around 1000 gold to play 6 games in 7 days to at least break even. So to be fair... your 10-20K gold requirement estimate to break even is a bit of an over exaggeration

Quote:

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Originally Posted by msaf

These numbers are to get a lucrative reward. To break even safely is like 15 games (3000 gold) with mediocre winrate.

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Oh, nice to know! I guess I got paranoid and misunderstood the calculations.
And I'd back 4Ak Idea to implement an official SE League. This would hopefully also help stop people from quitting out of QM.

I just don't understand how casual gamers expect to be on the top of gaming ladders. I just don't get it. If you're casual, why do you care? If you really care, why do you hate playing multiple games? Why would you want to be on the top of the ladder for a game you hate playing a lot of? I don't get it.

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Originally Posted by Sprinkles

I just don't understand how casual gamers expect to be on the top of gaming ladders. I just don't get it. If you're casual, why do you care? If you really care, why do you hate playing multiple games? Why would you want to be on the top of the ladder for a game you hate playing a lot of? I don't get it.

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I don't get how you got the impression that I hated the game. Maybe I formulated my points poorly or they got lost in the rambling wall of text, but I'll try to reformulate. I neither expect nor desire to be on top of the ladder, given that I only have time for a couple of games a week (and at the moment can't play QM at all, presumably because I just got back into the game and have no rating and therefore can't find an opponent). My two main concerns are:

1) That the current rating system prioritizes quantity over quality. This hampers even the former top players and makes watching the WC/the ladder less engaging. The fact that it is detrimental to your rating to complete games you are losing while there is no drawback to simply disconnecting compounds the problem and might lead to a deterioration on the "player culture". Maybe I am getting a false impression, since I am in no way playing the game competitively or on a high level, but those are just my concern after reading the forums.

2) Regarding Meltdown I think it should be feasible even for players, which you might call "casual", to compete or at least participate. Given that this is a weekly recurring competition, which does not depend on your card base, but rather on creativity and utilization of limited resources, it could be a great equalizer. I admit I think this would be desirable. It would allow new players to get into the meat of the game, to actually feel like they are part of the community and able to compete way before they grinded out Solo or the rather anonymous QM to get a full set of cards. And this could only be a good thing in the long run, the earlier you engage new players, the more likely they'll stay to contribute.
Inflating the gold and time commitment to the current degree (even though I overstated it) defeats the purpose and precludes meltdown from serving this function.

I hope I made myself a little clearer this time around (I even used bullet points ;)) and maybe you can see some validity in the concerns I brought up. On the other hands maybe my impressions are false, since I can't afford to put as much time into the game as I'd wish, I appreciate feedback from more seasoned players.

I didn't say you hated to play the game, I meant that you seem to hate to play a lot of it.

Anyways, I'll just disagree that meltdown is for beginners because I don't think it is. I think it's for more experienced players to be honest. I mean how could you compose a meltdown deck without memorizing what all the heroes and other cards are for first?

Second, once again, why are you watching the ratings and rankings when you only play 1-2 a WEEK.I mean 1-2 games a week, that means an average of 40minute a week if each game goes a bit long? And you're watching the ranking and ratings for some reason that I don't understand.

I mean I consider myself casual as well. Which is why I couldn't give one flying flip about who's rated and ranked at meltdown or anything else. But that's just me. You be you. I just won't understand it.