Is there enough incentive to play ranked?

left this game for 5-6 years ago because it was silly unbalanced, and i think its even worse state now?
playing ranked is too much about finding the new meta rune/comboes instead of playing the actual fights. so i stick to single play and do 1-2 training/pvp per day to get some gold.
cant see the point for any new player to start play this game, so not bothering recommending it around even if i really like some parts.

so imo the problem is not the rewards, its the structure of balance and too many obscure skills/runes/abilities/comboes in ranked play
maybe it helps with the temporary ban of runes in ranked, but it sounds like a quick fix
//Hiero

 

The problem with ranked for me, and most of the people I try and get to play, isn't the rewards.

Its straight up the balance of the game. One faction or another is usually wildly broken in some theme, and odds are you'll see that theme 3 out of 5 games. You can't have faction loyalty in this game and win. At least not as a new or more casual player.

And with how LONG it takes starting players to get their own runes, much less build a real deck...well lets just say of the half dozen friends I've convinced to play for any real length of time, none of them do anymore.

Heck, I hardly do more than swing through every few years to see if my prefered faction is the current OP

 

The game is far more balanced/toned down/even/less broken/competitive than it has ever been imo. You could pick up any faction and more or less any theme and be competitive in top tier play with them. There are less broken abilities, more streamline and less complex effects, less draw win/auto win mechanics or combos and about 1000% more diversification. I have hardly seen any 1 BG or faction be super dominant since DOG took over with very few exceptions, patches were very frequent for the most part up until this last one.

All players are being listened too more than ever and kept more informed on the inner works of the game from design or balance issues, see Sokolovs cactus crate or patch preview threads.

Honestly I don't know how you have come up with anything you just said.

 

pox will always be chasing the balance dragon,, like all ccg's. its more the nature of the genre then poxnora,
(have a look at mtgo forums, nothings different). and theres definitely a couple things that need tweeking,,
,, but as an octopi/sony/dog customer,,, pox is better now then ever...by far.

 

Tbh I think that this may be the closest pox ever gets to complete balance.

 

New to ranked player input forthcoming...

I lose. A lot. I've only won once and it's because the guy disconnected (I did win mid-font, which is when he discoed!). I like the rewards actually. I completed the first tier, made a bunch of gold and some tokens. I'm good with that. So, yeah I think the incentive is more than fair actually.

I don't think it takes a grueling amount of time to get runes that can compete. It takes far more time learning how to put those runes together in a BG thats fluid and will let you be competitive in most of your games. I've got a lot of good runes, but right now I don't really know how to get the most out of them. I'm willing to stick it out and take my lumps, put the time in and learn from trial and error.

I don't know enough about balance to really complain. I do recall that the last time I was playing, wrath was crushing protectorate, seems some things never change. Whats the reason for it? I can't say at this time. Perhaps protectorate won their share while I was away. I do know that looking into the recent war FW was dominant, and I hear quite a lot of grumbling about them. Personal experience for me has been getting promptly smoked by any of the wrath factions I face. That being said I've only faced 1 FF protectorate BG in ranked (ST) and he clobbered me as well. My one win did come vs an ST/FW BG though, but he quit before he got any FW stuff deployed.

 

yea ,, lot of lumps learning pox,,,, especially against so many players who know the runes so well... but youll be kicking **** in no time,, if I can get better,, anyone can.

and getting the most out of your cards can be a challenge, ,,,, many runes I overlooked when bg building,,,, they didnt jump at me,,, but then watching other players play , and seeing them effectively use cards that I deemed weak, made me take a second look at how I see the game,

yea peeps seem to like the darker side of pox.

and yea ,, I agree getting a competitive bg or 2 out of a faction doesnt take as long as some may think. dont need the whole checklist or even complete fac to have fun or be competitive in pox.

 

What's up with your usage of comas in such an awkward manner?

 

nothing,,,, why,,,,,?

 

Dunno,,,, it just seems,,,, kinda strange,,,,,,,,,,, Almost like your ke,,,,,,,,,y is stuck,,,,?

 

forglar swamp is pretty good, especially on 1 font maps,

 

I've got the makings for a decent Firk BG but I've been hopping from faction to faction on the protectorate side and am finally settling in with learning IS structs for the new season. I'm determined to win with them or die trying!

 

Was thinking that you were a sensible bloke until that ENTIRELY unnecessary hopping comment. You should join the dark side, take a walk on the wild side, embrace your inner demons, etc. and play wrath.

 

Maybe its balanced between factions, but ranked game is dead (atm 1 pvp match online). my point is that its too many special abilities, comboes, damagetypes for a new player to play ranked. And when SoE did buy the game it did get crazy with new runes, powercreeps, abilities. Good to hear its getting better.
With no new players, the game is going idle. Atm i dont think a new player would enjoy ranked.
I have no doubt you could pick up any faction/theme and do good. Even with start runes.

the topic was find reasons to play ranked, and only reason should be to fight other players and have fun.

 

id probably argue that most games,, at least the ones thats cost a substantial effort of $ and time to develop need that "carrot on a stick"(unlike chess and checkers) quality to maintain long term interest.
Imagine an MMO with no levels,, u just kill stuff with nothing to achieve, before long it would be like, um ok.
Or even a shooter,,, unlocking weapons as you gain exp,,,, keeps u coming back.
For a casual player(like myself) a few games here and there is fine, but there are many competitive players and without that competitive environment this game wont fair well at all, fun or competive its important.

 

Everyone is waiting for the Xpac. Even I am inactive. Whenever I was online, I'd see 8-9 matches playing at the same time as people wouldn't be too anxious about the Xpac. This is, statistically, normal.

 

I do that quite a bit but unranked.

 

I'm currently online and witnessing 10 ranked PvP battles going on at once.

 

battleanalysing/statistics is also useally fun in ranking games.
which runes/abilties/races/themes/factions are used the most
damage done vs taken, healed, dodged, blocked
guess some of the stats are saved since we get to see our own champs after each fight, but for a whole war/season

 

For reference, right now, there are 28 people in PVP, and there are... 9 pvp battles, one is Create Game, one is 2v2.

Yeah, I may or may not be playing when most people are. So... Yup.