Look, I know this discussion is ages old, and it's been had before. But it's also been ignored for ages and no action or response has happened.
I've been platinum for a few months, which is great because I can try out new cards all the time without worrying about levelling up, I get to play against more interesting and tougher decks, and there are marginally better rewards.
However there are still hundreds of cards I don't own, and of course most of those are the legacy power cards. I just had my face pummelled by yet another Omniscience/BZT/Stitch in Time/blah/blah/blah deck. At one point my opponent had 10 - yes TEN - extra swaps built up (reader, they didn't need them). This was in Training Grounds so no damage done, but this stuff also happens in tournaments. Ball Lightning? Hour Of Devastation? Thousand -Year Storm? Emrakul? I go and make a drink when I see those come out. And the reality for most players who have played less than a few years and aren't VIP is that we'll never own them, MP cards especially are completely out of reach.
My proposal is that a new level, Diamond, is created with some entry requirements beyond simple mastery points. Entry to Diamond would require mastery points (of course), VIP membership (so it's a benefit for those who pay to play) and perhaps something around cards owned and/or time served. Benefits could include exclusive events, exclusive art cards, early access to new sets (to buy but not play outside of Diamond of course). Maybe even an exclusive planeswalker or two? There are benefits for Diamond-level players, plus less risk of platinum players getting wiped out in an event node where you don't get a second chance.
What are your thoughts? Is it about time, or am I whining up the wrong tree? I'd love to hear if it's just me!
Thanks for reading,
Xucachris (TheHunter)
I like everything about this except the VIP requirement. There are a lot of free-to-play (or almost free-to-play) players who have very similar collections to VIP players (I personally am missing a lot of MPs, but have every Pre-M20 mythic and lower, and can Omni-HUF-Rashmi loop with the best of them)
But yeah, we've needed a new tier above Platinum for about 2 years now. I will always support a proposal to implement one.
I agree with @Mburn7 in that these are great ideas except the VIP part. Many players don't even use VIP anymore because the number of unresolved problems that still exist with it.
Diamond level is a good idea overall though. Maybe even a few levels above that too (Cosmic, and Lotus levels?) :)
I might be wrong but weren’t they looking at doing matchmaking based on player level in some way or another.... you know back in the days when we had all the player experience problems.....
OK backsies on the VIP idea then, but everything else is positive. How do we make this happen? I'm willing to go to Brazil for the meetings!
I was happy with pushing past 6000, in all my mastery lol. I think it's an awesome idea. I don't think it should require vip. Alot of players are ftp.
I'm not averse, but keep in mind that many people will simply sandbag and remain in a lower tier deliberately.
It's a good point, but people are already doing that keeping below platinum - I clung on for ages. Some of my coalition are on the first level still, happy to compete with a more limited card stock and happy with that. Which is great, because first and foremost this is a game to be enjoyed.
That's why Diamond has to have positive benefits for top level players, as well as the benefit to newer platinum players of not getting your face smashed in by cards you'll never own. Case in point: I just lost a Terror in the Shadows node to someone who's deck had zero to do with the objectives but had a stack of legacy power cards. Diamond won't stop someone ignoring the objectives, but it will give players a better chance of competing on a more level playing field. Come on Oktagon, let's do Diamond!
Do you believe they will add a higher level adding better rewards without lowering at the same time the overall event rewards? Wishful thinking otherwise, but I'm fine playing against lower level decks for the same rewards. The addition of more MP cards in the set is a fine example of their tactics or the lowering of crystal rewards with the addition of multiple training grounds. One hand gives, the other takes. I know my intentions may be misunderstood but don't shoot the messenger.
Other than the VIP thing, I do like the idea.
It makes sense to promote people to Diamond or Plat+ based on number of cards owned. Most people get all the high tier mythics & MPs by crafting rare- cards and opening non dupe packs. So a requirement of 2000+ or 2500+ cards will catch all of them with all the OP legacy mythics without much chance of sandbagging.
FWIW...
Just for reference regarding the collection size idea- I am missing about 80 legacy mythics and I have only 16/75 of the legacy masterpieces. My total library consists of 3,052 cards. I would not want to be placed in a higher tier just yet. Since the "elite" players have complete, or near complete, collections, that threshold should be closer to 95% (currently about 3,350 cards).
The issue is, though, that whatever number is chosen now will become less and less high with every set released. When Platinum first came out it required a very large percentage of the cards in the game to be mastered. Now its barely anything. I personally think 95% is a bit higher than necessary anyway, but even if it was at 100% people would eventually reach it with significantly less cards than that and feel "not ready"
There is an in-game threshold for a new tier already, though at the moment reaching it does absolutely nothing. It's pretty hard to get to as well (can't remember the exact number, though). Why not just use that?
My guess is that the devs like the fact that newbies get crushed by veterans in games pretty soon after they start playing, because it encourages whales to spend, and it encourages players who will never spend to leave and not take up server time.
I really hope that isn't the case, since that is an objectively horrible way to run a game. Especially since players that normally would spend money might not, since they don't see the point if they're getting crushed all the time anyway. But with Oktagon I don't discount any possibility.