Playerbase level: critical. Override shutdown?

So we had last tourneys — free to participate unlimited times, 1-2 exos and stuff for just playing couple of matches.
Idk about american timezones, but in european one I was able to get enough participants exactly once both times, after about an hour of waiting.

We used to spam a hell out of 9t drafts, getting 1 exo in 8 tries average.
Or free tourneys with 4k gold prizes and onetime participation limit.

Ranked isn't better.

Ongoing event, which was supposed to bring more diversity and fun, was "noticed" by like halfdozen of players, everyone else just continue playing same boring crap.

"Top" players, after farming rank once, have been just sitting there for the whole day observing/training/etc, being afraid to q because of xp gain/loss difference, and only playing each other few times a day or few more times in case they gained a "buffer".

Other old players have absolutely no motivation to spend money or time here, we just jump in for a short period of time when have "nogamez", and leave as soon as it ends.

New players now don't have anything like Sep's videos to learn how to play.

Without mw and few other trolls forums would have been almost completely dead.

If it isn't a sign that devs should already stop pretending everything is ok, I don't even know what is.

 

God damn! Joaquin Phoenix himself couldnt have said it better!

 

I wanted to play the tourney and earn some runes but there were simply no players.
8 players is a lot for pox in the current state,it would be much better if the tournament was 4 player format.

 

Was pox better off as more pay to win?

 

60 people online right now....

I'm sure the devs will continue to plug their ears and say everything is fine and that pox is going at a high rate or some BS like that. Truth is there is more people leaving every day than joining.

GIVE THE Firking BASE SET FOR FREE

 

It would be a nail in the coffin as it would chase off any new or poorer players which currently play.

This would reduce the grind,give everyone something to work/play/experiment with.This would be a really good move for the players,but it would earn the DOG no money,so i doubt it will ever happen.

 

I dunno about giving the whole base set for free, but I think completing the tutorials should at least give you a free deck to start playing and trading and upgrading.

 

Get a sponsor, run a tournament for actual money, and see the players come back.

 

Core set for free. New player can't play without spend money in this game.

 

All of what you guys are saying is nice and all, but let me put this straight for you, again, in case you didn't understand: balance is the most important thing in a competitive game. The. Most. Important. Thing.
And yet, Pox has had its balance on the toilet since Geddens f*cked up revamp. A lot has been done on that regard, but lets be frank here, it just isnt enough.
Gedden managed to get a well balanced game, which just wasnt being developed properly, to make it a "total crap on the balance aspect" game, that is being developed properly.
I think it was a poor exchange.
If he wanted to cut down on powercreep and whatnot, he could have done that in a thousand better ways than what he did. However, he gathered 9 players, with almost ALL of them with ZERO experience on balance, and said to them "here, remake the runes as you see fit". There, I said it - this is the main BS why I quit the council long ago. That crap blew my mind and I didnt want to be a part of it.
With that behind us, what can be done: BALANCE THE FREAKING GAME.
And yet, Sok just cant do it properly, because he needs to work on expansions, which bring revenue to the game. However, there is no revenue if nobody is playing.
So, what did they do: Sok started training Moles and Wraith to balance the game, but I do not think that will work at all. There are too many people behind those two telling them what to do.
So we are stuck in a vicious cycle, where we need balance to play, but DOG also needs revenue to keep running. So we bring unbalanced runes to the environment, which then leads to more unbalanced bs. Unfortunately, I dont think theres a way to break that cycle.
I'm not touching Pox again until I think balance is being closely taken care of, but that cant be done if the lead dev is working on new expansion.

TL;DR: the last person to exit the room turn the lights off, please.

 

The problem at this point is that the game never picked up enough momentum in terms of playerbase but sets kept getting released so it would be impossible for a new player to get anywhere without spending a decent amount of cash. I have no problem with that aince this at its ore is a tcg, but when players try it for the first time, they may not give it the second chance it deserves, much less spend money on it. And I will say that the acidic nature of the forums makes it seem like everyone hates each other which certainly isnt helping. Will free coreset fix that? Doubtful. Not sure anything will, I think its just us for the duration guys, so everyone please be a little nice to each other

 

Pede, you are right. Thank you for repeating yourself for the 20th time. However, you are looking at this matter from the wrong perspective. EVERY game has some sort of balance issues. Yes, we have a lot as you so aptly put it so many freaking times over. But some of our runes have balance. We have enough in each faction to create a 30 piece BG and compete head to head. Stop looking at Pox as a whole all the time and "totalizing" (Yes, this is a word. Look it up here.) it as worthless. A head to head competition with rune exceptions and limitations to keep out the unbalanced ones (like most games do) for $1,000 ($400 for second and $100 for third and an LEG or LE for every competitor) between BP, Karm, DMR, and even you would be fun to watch. A $1,500 total investment is nothing to a sponsor, but it would be a lot to players. This would drive viewership and interest and down the road--money. EVERY SINGLE FREAKING GAME that succeeds does this in some extent, whether it is a massive online group experience or competitive gaming.

 

For tournaments the problem for me is the chance of winning I play an underpowered theme and I'm not that good. last time I entered one I was placed against tiny as my first opponent and I lost fairly badly. Other tournaments I've entered have had similar pairings and results. I don't see much value in playing in a tourny for someone else to get runes.

 

Players like you and I do not enter tournaments. We watch and learn. Tournament players play for money and fans and grow the player base interest. When money starts to grow player base, runes become cheaper and more accessible so that the players gain more access to those runes and practice. It takes a long time and practice to get good enough to compete. We would be just fans watching until that time occurs.

 

NO SUGGESTIONS?! COME ON MOLES!

 

>No Suggestions
>Multiple People Suggesting Base Set for Free

 

I recently tried hearthstone (well, the phone version) and they had exactly the same NUX model i have been suggesting:

You complete the tutorial for a character class, and get a free deck linked to that class. Then as you gain achievements (3 ranked victories, 10 games played etc.) you get free cards which you can then augment your deck with.

In pox you would complete the faction tutorial and get a free deck of that faction. Then as you complete the achievements of the tutorial system you get free runes which you can use in the free decks.

This has got to be better than having new players have to somehow obtain 30 runes of a particular faction and then having to work out how to make a deck from scratch.

 

Join us, you will not regret it.