Rewards, multi-day and multi-node

tfg76

As we all know, in recent months the prize drops have been reduced significantly for events. 

The most obvious is the move from handing out "Big boxes" and mythics to at most a rare, some crystals and a booster. This was argued as being a way to reduce prizes because of smaller brackets. While this could be a fine reason for reducing prizes somewhat in each bracket (maybe to 1/3rd in each), I don't recognize that that is the case. A mythic is worth more than 3 rares, a big box certainly more than 3 boosters.

The second move was to add more days to the events. Previously, we could do well in 15 games to claim one of the top spots (which is actually a lot in 24 hours unless you're a total addict!). Yes, the tiebreaking was broken, and I'll give credit to d3go for fixing that. After this change, we played 24 games for the same prizes. It was then said that this was to be addressed, which it was, by watering out the existing prizes over more progression points. Leaderboard prizes: the same.

Finally, we now have more nodes in the event, so now we have 40 games. Again for the same prizes.

To me, these prize changes basically remove the whole competitive aspect of the game. Trying to win a tournament should be exciting and hard, not a mindless grind through endless matches for a petty prize.

All that being said, I love the change to standard and salute similar changes that mix up the game and make it varied and challenging. Just try to avoid all the crashes and freeze-ups while making them! I even like the hard boss battles and standard-ness of Trial of Zeal!

Laeuftbeidir

I fully agree with you.
To add from my perspective :
Progression in ToZ should be lowered for the lower tiers , and the prices for that grind should be higher.
A basic booster in platinum. No need to add something.

A change from AER rares to full - kld set rares would also be very kind.

UweTellkampf

I really dislike the fact that we have four nodes to grind through in the PVP events. This combined with the extra day before the completion of the events seems again to be a measure to lower the amount of prizes in comparison to the amount of time spent playing. Three nodes seemed manageable and without having to many people with the same score on the top, so why change this? What many wanted is the alteration in colors for the pvp events, and not adding another color. 

babar3355

The sad thing is it is clearly working. 

We are the proverbial frog in the pot of water.  They heat it up slowly and we just keep getting hotter and hotter and never jump out.  If there wallet was really being negatively affected, they would return to better prizes.

Instead they are clearly positively impacting their bottom line by continued austerity.  Oddly, they probably think they are providing content by increasing the games from 15 to 40 for virtually the same prizes.

KingEliuk

I dont mind changes and limited decks to events but then also offer SOI/Origin only events as well so all the work we have done buidling our decks based on those other cards are not a total waste of time now

Dropspot

The changes made to EO and FIRF is just too much. First they made them to 48hs now they added a new node. Really? 

32 battles to make 60 gold (if you place high enough) and some boosters?

Not complaining about trial o ambition cause it is a coallition event, but the regular ones lasting so much is just too much. 

The grind is becoming excessive and I am not sure the players will keep playing at this pace.

Infested

A 2 day event really does call for an improvement in rewards. the extra node should as well. I just think that D3 is having a difficult time applying rewards. They don't want to give a super pack because then you are opening more than someone else. They fear giving mythics out because they want people to chase them and do not want a power gap.

They have also seen that most people spend their money when a new set comes out and content is not stale. So, they are going to start releasing sets in waves to slow down hording and keep people spending money. It is a smart idea; however I believe that their player base right now is taking a hit and they are pushing stuff out as fast as they are able to (see obvious bugs like skills for PvE events).

Players do need something to reach for. Dupe mythics were annoying when you got them, but you would always try for them. I would happily consider some weekly ranking system where if you are in the top 20 people for the week you get to pick from a mythic only booster (you can pick the set). Top 20-50 get a rare only booster. This would have people trying to win and not just kinda logging in.

Dropspot

They really need to rethink their reward system, if they keep like that I am going away. I am sure I am not the only one. 

I am seeing recruiting threads from top 10 coalition all over the place. % avg for the last coallition events was all time low.

This means A LOT of players are leaving the game. And this is happening in top 10 coalitions where the most active players are, I am sure in the less organized ones things are a lot worst.

I starting to feel really afraid they choose the wrong path, and not listening to the players is not a smart decision. 

It is really dificult to say if this game is sinking not knowing their KPIs, but I am sure it is a lot easier to try to keep a player base than build a new one.

I can only hope for the best.

hawkyh1

they can make time limited rewards that are fun,
powerful and usually sought after. eg top 1-5
could be a time limited use of the new nissa at
level 60 for maybe a week. winners could try
before they buy. more people trying the new
planeswalkers and cards means bugs are found
more quickly. players can risk using the new
cards in competitive events to get an advantage
but risk losses due to bugs. this way they are
winning something nice but won't impact the
game by much.

HH

Ohboy

hawkyh1 said:

they can make time limited rewards that are fun,
powerful and usually sought after. eg top 1-5
could be a time limited use of the new nissa at
level 60 for maybe a week. winners could try
before they buy. more people trying the new
planeswalkers and cards means bugs are found
more quickly. players can risk using the new
cards in competitive events to get an advantage
but risk losses due to bugs. this way they are
winning something nice but won't impact the
game by much.

HH

I really like this idea.

Phase

The event length is ridiculous for the prizes. They added more than double the matches and kept the event rewards the same, and added what, 25 xtals and a pack to compensate for that? If you push progression to 120 anyway?

@Brigby please pass on to the devs that the event length changes are largely negative and we expect twice the rewards for twice the time commitment. I haven't finished EO or FirF maybe more than one time since the event structure changes and I'm sure I'm not the only one.

jetnoctis

Phase said:

The event length is ridiculous for the prizes. They added more than double the matches and kept the event rewards the same, and added what, 25 xtals and a pack to compensate for that? If you push progression to 120 anyway?

@Brigby please pass on to the devs that the event length changes are largely negative and we expect twice the rewards for twice the time commitment. I haven't finished EO or FirF maybe more than one time since the event structure changes and I'm sure I'm not the only one.

@Brigby I would like to second what @phase said and I strongly urge you to please convey that it's not fair: we're  putting in double the work (unfortunately, that's what playing 4 nodes over 2 days feels like and is) for the same meagre prizes. It takes hours and hours to play such events as FiRF and EO and there's nothing even good to look forward to from what you put in. 

Gilesclone

I just finished what will probably be my last game in this weekend's ToZ.  I managed to beat 3.2 after a very long painful slog.  I got lucky with my cast-outs and eventually won.  With this annoying victory I ended the event with 385 points.  That gives me 750 runes, 25 crystals and a basic booster.  Compare that to one day of Training Grounds.  Not good.  I can't imagine wasting my time on ToZ again.

I'll never be in a top 10 coalition.  I expect to get 10 more crystals and a purple for coalition reward.  Wow!  Why do they think I want to do this?

Hefty

We are having problems motivating our newer players for ToZ, too.
It looks like most of them can reach 200 points maybe 300.
For the Time spent it´s really not worth their time.
This will cost us the rare this time, as some clearly stopped playing (the event atleast).
And i can´t blame them. They are way better off playing training grounds ( or story), which is a shame.

Theros

I could not keep up with the grind and that is why I left. It ain't worth my time 

Whammaster

The game is starting to feel like a job I have to keep up with in order to progressive rather then something I can pop on for an hr or two and have fun.

You know something is wrong when I jump on and I'm faced with 32 games to play between 2-3 events.

julianus

I've noticed this in my coalition too, we're certainly seeing attrition. We're not a top group, generally somewhere between 25-50 in coalition events, but reasonably competitive. We have two players that have not participated in the last three events (so probably dropped out), and two more players this weekend who said they'll likely either drop out or only play occasionally.

That's 20% of our total, in less than a month. And unlike a few months ago, we don't have any potential members waiting for a spot, so far as I know. I think a few allied coalitions are facing similar situations.