Doubling Down on mistakes

QuiksilverHg

It's well known that the change from all cards being legal all the time to the bastardized 'standard' card rotation caused a hemorhaging of the player base. The developers are obviously aware of it, yet did not reverse their changes or do anything to offset the lost enjoyment from the players. The least they could have done was allow us for free to have multiple deck slots so we could at least have one saved for each 'standard' event rather than having to remake them very time

The player base that was left is unequivocally demoralized and less active, I know my guild certainly went from reliable top 75 to barely participating in most events.

After this new set changed free boosters from 3-card to 1-card there has already been an immediate outcry right on the heels of the previous player-base hemorhaging. Now the question is will the developers double-down and refuse to do anything about it, or will they actually try to retain some of their players.

It is impossible to realistically expect this change to actually result in a player getting more cards in one day. The suggested idea that the card 'packs' can stack is at best a band-aid, not an actual fix. Many players upset by this change will not be mollified by such a change.

Wizards of the Coast in the paper game has acknowledged making many mistakes the past year in their standard constructed development. They have done their best to fix them rather than ignore the mistakes as these develoeprs seem to be doing. If d3go would like to not see its player base drop again like it did after the last change a fix needs to come immediately.

My recommendations:

Eliminate the standard rotation, allow all cards to be legal all the time

The change to 2-hour packs was clearly meant to encourage people to log on more often.  Leave the 3-card packs as they were, but have them refresh every 3 or 4 hours. Doubling the amount of free cards is still going to amount to a pitiful amount of rares and mythics for most players given the low drop rates.

Do more critical thinking in the future about updates that are likely to upset players. Both of these moves angering the player base could have been easily foreseen. If they are reversed, and it becomes obvious that the developers are going to be more responsive to the player base, some of the players that have previously departed may come back.

Mainloop25

"It's well known that the change from all cards being legal all the time to the bastardized 'standard' card rotation caused a hemorhaging of the player base. The developers are obviously aware of it, yet did not reverse their changes or do anything to offset the lost enjoyment from the players."

I pretty much stopped reading right here. Exactly how sure are you of this? I personally love the standard/legacy thing but we do need more legacy events.

Laeuftbeidir

I see a lot of things turning from bad to worse.. Standard is none of them. Free boosters are mit of a joke anyway. Totally agree on the wish for the developers being responsive

Outersider

The change to standard isn't a bad idea, its the the way they have done it. Making the majority of the events standard. My recommendation would be to create a 4 day event that uses standard and giving decent rewards for participating/winning. ALL other events should be open to all cards.  

Ohboy

Currently the best value event is legacy. 

Terrors in the shadows. 

QuiksilverHg

@Mainloop25

I reach that comparison because of the participation of the guild I'm in which has dropped about 80% since that change. There was also similar rage on the forum at the time which you can see by looking back in posts such as this: https://forums.d3go.com/discussion/61025/not-another-dime/p1

I can also objectively say so because at the time it was common for me to place in the low-thousands when I scored low in an event. Currently events that I join and score zero points in (usually because they are the terrible-standard system) I have been known to place in the 200s.

There may not be as many people speaking up to their hatred of the 'standard' system now, but that may be because a lot of them that hated it have permanently quit and thus haven't even noticed the change

Mainloop25

Did you take into account the shrinking of brackets from 3000 to 1000?

DaddyO

The switch to standard events has been fine but improvements to deck management would help . The deck slots should allow for both a legacy deck and a standard deck. A lower price to purchase extra slots would be appreciated. There is no utility in the preconstructed slots. If there was a way other than random luck to complete them maybe they would serve some minor purpose but as it stands now they are worthless clutter. Even when I have all the cards they aren't optimal decks. 

Sorry you aren't having fun experimenting with new card combinations and working around inventory limitations. Some of us really like that part of the game. Winning with a solid common or uncommon makes me happier than winning with the automatic win powerhouse mythics for the umpteenth time. 

Pcell777

I love standard.

wickedwitch74

The switch to standard was a good thing. It completely revamped a stale meta-game, and (until cycling took over) forced players to scrutinize their collections and cook up some new ideas.

Kaladesh was mostly ignored, once it was discovered that Olivia, Pig, Deploy were still the bullies of the playground.

There are issues with the overall health of the game.

Yes, the deck slots should have been implemented with a free Standard and a free Legacy slot.

Also, they need to better support the legacy environment. The Planeswalker Arena was a great way to keep those older cards relevant.

People paid for their cards and should be able to use them.

Personally, I'd love to see some new events that are block or rarity specific. This would really add some great features to the game.

If they could implement these features into the Training Grounds, it would go a long way to restoring the good will that was lost by doing away with the Quick Battle feature. At the very least, there should be a toggle to enforce standard only decks vs. legacy.

TheDragonHermit

The only issue I have with standard is that it has spayed Arlinn Kord faster than Bob Barker would have. And there are other PW's that might get the same treatment in the near future.

DumasAG

I have to disagree with you, standard is an excellent and necessary change. As someone who has been playing from the beginning of the app and who has a solid enough collection to win nearly any game in any format, it is needed. Not only does it provide a change of pace, but it allows new players who do not have extensive collections to at least maintain an appearance of competitiveness. Also, coming into a new game and thinking you only need to get cards immediately from the last couple of sets is much less daunting than thinking you need to get cards from every set. 

Plus, INN and BFZ were ridiculously overpowered and ruined balance of cards. Standard curbs power creep.

Could they balance the events or have additional events with legacy running? Maybe. You could also argue that Trial of the Planes does allow you a daily competition for your legacy decks (I'm actually a little shocked they didn't lower the cost of entry back to 30 crystals with this update. That would be my main suggestion to them). 

It's healthy for the game and new players, and it's not changing back (nor, I would guess, do the majority of players WANT it to go away).

Making Training Grounds two-pronged, with legacy only and standard only, would be my second suggestion. How did this not happen with the update?