Yep, duplicate accounts could be a problem. If we see that happening a lot we'll obviously need to do something about it and increasing the entry fees could be part of that. Or, we could look at other solutions that involve the pod/prize structure. The 50 gold price is deliberately set VERY low to try to get people to play. It likely won't stay that low forever.
I've decided to add an additional rule to the gold league prize payout. I doubt this will affect anyone, but it's important to know. If you haven't won any games in these leagues, you will always come last. Previously you wouldn't get a prize at all if you hadn't won a game. Now you'll get a prize, but it will always be the prize you get for coming last. This means that, for example, it's not a winning strategy for everyone in the pod to collude to play no games and split first place.
Running a few more test leagues if you feel like checking them out (and helping test). These are the times in GMT (local times on the server): Graveyard Gambol: Wed 21 May 8am Death March: Wed 21 May 12pm Graveyard Gambol: Wed 21 May 4pm Death March: Wed 21 May 8pm Graveyard Gambol: Thu 22 May 12am
That's a tiny precaution, but worth it. Just making sure as many loopholes are being fixed as possible. Also (and forgive me if I'm suggesting anything you guys might be doing already), can't you use analytics in order to pinpoint potential cheaters? I'm thinking watching games with lots of suspect colluded matches (early resigns, or unusually swift wins), multiple players in a pod sharing the same IP address, etc. It goes without saying data-mining does indeed suffer from false-positives and can't give you all the answers, but that might at least help you identify fishy behaviors promptly with more ease.
I played in Death March just now. I did not particularly want to. The map seems like a high-variance bad idea to me, honestly—a crapshoot of whirlwinds and priority-stealing and walls. I did fine—2 and 2—and got 3rd place in my pod. I would have been happy with 4th, or even 5th. 50 gold is nothing for me, and I basically entered just to turn that 50 gold into chests. I played for a lark. I don't think I'll play Death March again. I'll probably join again so long as simply joining guarantees the transformation of 50 of my gold pieces into some number of magnificent chests. I'll probably join as many times as I am conscious during sign-ups. I don't know if the rewards should be worse, or the entry fee steeper. I'm sure I don't need to love Death March—not every player should (or can!) like every aspect of a game. I'm not going to even pretend to organize my thoughts. It's a million o'clock right now and I'm going to crash momentarily.
I think if Cleansing Burst and similar terrain removal cards could remove Wall of Stone then it might be an okay map. Basically it comes down to Wall of Stone and WW to counter it.
The most obvious problem with that approach is that it calls for a substantial rebalancing of quite a few cards on the basis of one fairly obviously experimental map. Devs can't be expected to return to the drawing board every time a map throws up a situational constraint. Death March is a fun experiment, calling for a deck type that isn't that viable in more traditional maps, and I hope it is an indication of how the devs plan to proceed with the gold league environment.
To contribute a little bit - as everyone has stated, the prizes are much better than they need to be. I really want to put up gold or pizza for the experience of playing a league, not for the sake of prizes. Otherwise, if there's a prize I really want and can't get any other way, I feel like I'm being dragged through the mud to get it. A couple of gold chests, a bit of gold... prizes should mostly be a pat on the back for doing well. If I don't like the current league, I'll just wait for the next rotation.
People complained about WoS being OP long before this league showed up. And even if cleanses worked on stone, you'd need two bursts or three rays/presences to fully clear a wall on this map, since you can't target past the first (though Smoke Bomb might be made to work).
I was running firestorm, actually, but when everyone's running whirls to counter walls it's still a giant slot machine. Anyway I'm not trying to get the devs to change the map, just saying that I don't enjoy it, and that despite that I'm going to enter pods just to convert my currency.
I don't think it would require substantial rebalancing for a single map. There have been many complaints about Wall of Stone for a very long time. I'd really enjoy if certain League maps had restrictions on cards you could bring... it would really make it more dynamic and interesting without having to "rebalance" things. Of course that's more dev work and such, so it is just another pipe dream.
Like basically every other fixed deck League, the Graveyard Gambol has way too much variance and luck in it. Getting Good For Us combined with Demonic Power on the first turn or two basically means +6 card advantage over the enemy. Similarly, getting Flash Of Arrows with your Skeletons having Only Bones and the enemy not drawing it is a huge leg up. Really wish the fixed deck Leagues didn't have some super amazing combos or cards that were just far better than others. It takes away from the strategy and interesting decisions and boils down to "whoever draws the super OP card first and plays the same as their opponent wins." EDIT: Mob cards and the Jump, Soldier! card are also extremely strong if you get them.
Here is a gold/epic chest giveaway and people are talking about it like they think it is unfair. I would gladly pay the 50 gold even if I only had time to play 1 or 2 games as 5th place as currently structured is a deal! I do wish these leagues were better times for me personally but my schedule is no one's problem. Too many times it has started an hour or 2 later than I can play. If there was one at around 9-10pm ET (east coast US) I would be thrilled.
Something I realised when I noticed that leagues often started when LF spawned, and that kinda goes with doog37 post. League was first scheduled every 5 hours, which was great caus over time it covered all the possible hours, making it fair for all time zones. Now it's every 10 hours and the problem with an even number in the rotation is that it nows covers only half of the possible hours of a day, the even ones. So imo better make it every 9 or 11 hours.
I dont think it is unfair for BM... Yes they are less likely to have people buy pizza to buy treasure chests, but I doubt (or I hope) that their revenue stream is dependant on people buying pizza to acquire premium chests. I sure people do buy them but my assumption is the club membership is the biggest income generator. With that said the value of gold and purple chests are devalued, but since it is a limited time opportunity (approximately 2 windows of 1.5 hours to sign-up for a league) the reduction in value is not going to be realized by the typical person. But what it does do is work as an advertisement, giving players an incentive to sign in to see when the next tourney is and when they win feeling more positively about the game, which in theory should make people feel more comfortable spending real money since they like the game (and by extention Blue Manchu) and should be a net revenue generator, since they are not giving away anything real, only digital prizes. I do hope CH is sustainable long term as I am a big fan and I even paid for the AotA expansion despite having no interest in the items at the end of the treasure hunts.
The problem is spending gold in-game doesn't really make people more comfortable about spending pizza. The economies are different and don't work together. The 50 pizza cost Leagues felt fair (although I'd probably reduce them to 25 cost and reduce the pizza given out accordingly), but gold leagues are a no braining for players. They really are just too good. Their revenue stream isn't dependent on people buying pizza for premium chests -- almost no one does that. The Starter Bundle is really the only way they make any decent money. The problem is they don't have someone with marketing experience and digital currency experience planning out their economy so it is pretty horrible. Like who would spend 150 pizza on a purple chest? Apparently next to no one. I have a marketing degree and I've written to Jon about good ways to change the price structure and how to better market the game, but Jon's only one person and he has a million other things on his plate. Just hope it works out in the end, but right now it seems overly problematic. The gold Leagues really should cost 100 gold or more for the prizes they give. The amount of stuff Blue Manchu gains from running gold leagues with such good prizes with essentially no cost does more harm than good. Since the leagues I've acquired nearly every Epic item in the game and I'm up to like 40% of Legendaries with 750 pizza left from winning them in pizza Leagues... what motivation do I have to continue to support outside of "the goodness of my heart"? For people to spend money on a game in today's market it has to stand apart and offer something that makes the players feel like it is "worth" something. I know countless people who want to throw money at Blue Manchu, but they don't feel they are getting their "worth" and it feels like it would just be wasted. That's a *HUGE* problem.
