Do we really need to invest more in the tournament system - which was barely played even when the game population was healthy? I'd rather see NUX improvements, graphics improvements, bug fixes, visual-log indicators for spells, more streamlining.
If there are plans to use the tourny system in a way that will encourage participation, then sure, but i think that in some ways it is better to have no tournaments than a lobby that is always empty - just looks bad.
you could always remove the lobby (and lobby chat). Anyone who would miss it is probably on permanent observer mode or a trade shark. Replace the launchpad and room lobbies with an interactive world map where you can select your game mode. And simply don't display the players on line. This will remove the demotivating effect of a low player base as well as stop all the verbal abuse that goes on. The world map could also be used to expand DoW. Assuming there is enough dev time of course.
Along with removing the forums, this is a fool proof way to ruin the game. This game is surviving on the cult like gatherings of the veterans who enjoy a chat, let's not ruin that.
Well, there could always be guild chats and conversation through PMs. I'd like to see general chat lobby removed too.
I couldn't agree more dow is awesome and i haven't seen something like it in any other tcg, they really need to expand on this. I remember when i first started playing years ago i got a ton of points for dow and i got like 4k gold after like 4 months or something, that ended pvp for me basically . Also make guilds useful which will help grow the community a little.
That's because buying tickets was overly expensive under soe, however if they implemented winning tickets for participating in things such as dow and pvp this would increase people doing tournaments. More people doing tournaments creates a more competitive environment and a more interesting way to earn runes.
I have to agree with @badgerale : what kind of player participates in tournaments? Do we see new players getting a shot at acquiring runes or just the same old people getting richer by playing heinous trick BG's? Improving the stuff new players actually make an use of seems to be the best bet IMHO.
1) That was pretty necessary 2) It's debatable whether faction bonuses have been good or made the game worse a lot of people would argue it made it worse. 3) This was good 4) Not in the game anymore 5) Not in the game anymore 6) Still to this day many years later gives Bane Shift rewards for at least 20 minutes of computer deploying 5 runes a turn. 7) Not in the game anymore 8) This was good 9) Gone unless you include poxbox 10) Avatars were really good and i think theme avatars would be an awesome addition to pox, also a lot of people would like to be able to pick their avatar abilities. 11) Spectator mode is nice helps new players a good deal 12) 2vs2 well we know what this is like... Would be nice if this was actually looked at , a good start would be banning game breaking runes only in 2vs2 and changing surge around. 13) Revamp 1 wasn't so bad 14) This is pretty much a must in tcg's nowadays or some sort of system to allow f2p 15) Split runes might have been the most game breaking thing that was ever introduced to pox. So many broken combinations and overpowered split bg's, at one point almost every split theme was overpowered or broken, some still are. Another reason i would love to see the split faction bonus be removed entirely and to increase the use of full faction bg's. 16) Tournament system is still broken 17) Draft system i believe this is also broken still haven't really checked in a while 18) Revamp number 2 was nice and simplified a lot for new players, however i still see a lot of bland upgrade paths and some units with only one upgrade per path. Also let's not forget the ranks of rend and combo:attack rend . 19) Daily achievement system A+ awesome way to get extra gold and i believe is what kept some of the new players that we have now. 20) This was also a very good implementation and helped new players and veterans get some runes that they might have been misising in their collection. 21) Rune forge is great especially since i'll be able to get rid of my 22 corgi knigt's i have soon. However almost half the list is either unavailable or broken and in close to 8 years 21 things and almost half not working isn't great but i guess acceptable. Here is a couple things i think need a little work. 1) Expand on dow system i have yet to see a tcg that has something like this and it really should be looked at to give better rewards and maybe 10 people from each faction instead of the current 5. 2) Improved a.i. right now playing against the a.i. only creates bad habits in pvp and some people enjoy just playing a difficult bot now and then. 3) 2vs2 against bots, this could be lumped in with improved a.i. because that needs to happen before 2vs2 against bots happens. 4) Alternate game modes 5) Faction packs and less expansions per bundle 6) All Doombringers and older runes such as harbies and fan faires need to have a legendary version, whether veterans want it or not. I have almost every harbie in the game and i have all dooms, fan faire and many other runes most people don't have. It's time to make them available again, the limited edition ones will still retain their value just as the limited edition angels did. 7) Increase campaign rewards 8) Mass forge button everyone wants this
A solution to this could be only allowing certain ranks or certain win to loss ratios in each tournament.
Drafts absolutely are important. They are one of the most enjoyable aspects of any tcg type game. Aside from whatever gambling hang up there is they simply need to be changed to round Robin from single elimination.
Im probably just being optimistic but i hope that DOG have some future plans to improve guilds and DOW, the rewards are far too insignificant, thats for sure.
"8 years" is the key words in the debate. ANY game has difficulty keeping the attention and motivation of a player for that length of time. It's not always the game's fault that someone is bored with it.
Problem is people aren't getting bored of the original game concept or design, they are bored with the lack of improvement in aspects of the game that have been around for 8 years. Example could be the computer a.i., dow system, guild system things that started but never really made it much further than the drawing board.