Thinking back to when I first started, and where the game is now, it's easy to see things as they are; This game right now sucks a lot.
Before I go any further I'd like to encourage you to read on before taking this thread as another 'game bashing' one, God knows we've had plenty of them.
This post is simply a view on the game from a players perspective, I'm not calling for change or hounding wulven for answers, but simply trying to create an open discussion about various aspects which I feel the need to talk about.
Firstly, the big elephant in the room for me is the world championships.
Even though the game is small, the WC up until this point has represented prestige, and has been the main drive for a large amount of players playing the game. Things have changed this year, however, and this year's world championship is being run by the players. Why is this a bad thing? Impartiality.
A worlds level event (including any tournaments preceeding it offering spots for the finals) is a big deal. The trouble begins to arise when you have people running something to this scale, who are part of communities that have a vested interest in winning the events. I am not making accusations or pointing fingers, but I'm simply making a point that, as humans, we automatically favour people we are close to in situations that call for a choice to be made, which brings into question any and all TO's and Judges who are running world level events and are part of the communities that are competing. Not only does it open up the possibility of corruption, but it means that people cannot compete without the thought that corruption can happen, which doesn't make for a great tournament which it should be.
Plain and simple, a world tournament should be organised and run by third party members of the company or organisation that owns the game, not by players who want to win it.
The next thing I want to talk about is the game itself and where I would like to see it go.
The first thing I would like to see is the addition of a rotating format along side the current format. The reasoning behind it is simple; to allow for less time balancing the cards, which is only going to become an increasingly larger task as the playable card pool increases.
Opting for a format consisting of the core set (call of the crystals) and the 2 most recent blocks (the current format would be cotc, SF, and LL) would allow for a more rapid approach to card design, and also allow for balancing to happen naturally with newer cards being introduced.
This brings me to how I would like to see future set releases.
I would like to see 2 themed blocks of 2 sets per year, each block consisting of a large set (80-100 cards) and a smaller set (30-50 cards). When set 2 of a block is released, the oldest block in the rotating cycle (excluding cotc) would rotate out of the format, and then be playable only in the current/legacy SE format.
I would also like the introduction of a paid version of meltdown alongside the current one, in which players get to play for higher rewards, and also keep the cards they draft. Making meltdown a worthwhile activity and enticing people to spend money on it could be a good way of increasing revenue for wulven and aid development moving forward, this idea is based on the knowledge that draft formats are very popular in the top ccgs.
As we all know, a lot of focus is being put on the single player campaign, and the more I think about it, the less it makes sense. Yes it was one of the things that was meant to be in the game for a while and yes the community voted for it, but the focus of shadow era is multiplayer and the community based on that multilpayer. I think a better option would be to include an option to fight against a randomly generated Ai deck with varying degrees of difficulty for a small reward, and then introduce challenges or daily quests that span across multilayer and single player modes allowing players to get more rewards. This to me would be a better way of moving the game forward and give players a reason to play that's not solely focused on the newer player (which is what the single player campaign seems like, and can be introduced at a later date)
If you're still with me you're either very bored or have no concept of entertainment!
I'll finish by saying that shadow era as a whole is great, but a lot of things can be improved, and in doing so, the game can once again shine in all the right places, and become one of the best digital ccg platforms on the market. I encourage you all to voice your opinions here, but please keep it constructive!
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