Triple Triad next steps

With tournaments, finally, largely fixed, I hope SE tends to other matters in Triple Triad that really need addressing.

First, deckbuilding. Problem 1 - right now there's no reason to ever play a 1, 2 or 4 star card. Problem 2 - the 'tiers' you need to unlock before you're allowed to have a competent deck are kind of unnecessary and only serve to keep people new to TT from dipping their toes in the water.

There are a number of ways to do this, but I think the most elegant fix is to change the deckbuilding rule to a point total restriction - that is, you're allowed to have up to 16 "star points" worth of cards in your deck, and how you get there is up to you. 15 may be a better number, maaaybe 17 but I like 16 overall.

And then ideally abolish the tiers outright. But, if SE really wanted to, they could have the max point total scale per tier to retain the system, i.e. 10-13-16 or some such.

Secondly, drop rates are still a problem. TT is, ultimately, a fun side endeavor. Tournaments now give some non-collector's incentive to gather cards, but the grind time required doesn't line up with the nature of the reward - there are relic steps that take less time than getting some 5-stars to drop does.

As a consequence, people are again driven away from the game for little actual benefit. It is likely intended to make sure collecting isn't just a temporary process. But the number of people seriously grinding cards out, is a drop in the pan compared to the number who might do it if the drop rates weren't awful, but instead just don't bother.

What value is elongating a process few people bother with? I figure drop rates should be 10-30% depending on star level, as opposed to the 2-10% they seem to be now. With the tournaments being in a better spot, SE shouldn't have to worry about people running out of TT stuff to do.

Agreed. Just moving to a points system would be fantastic, as it not only makes all cards relevant, and adds choice to deck composition (e.g. 2x5★ + 3x2★ vs. 3x4★ + 3★ + 1★), but it would also allow tournaments and special challenges to be varied by points total... e.g. NPCs that allow you to verse them with all 5★'s, and others that force you to verse them will only a 7 point total, etc.

As for the collection method, they should make it so that flipping the card gives it a significantly higher chance to drop, e.g. if you win without flipping the card it may have a 5% chance to drop (so you can still get it, but it's unlikely), but if you win with flipping the card it has a 50% chance to drop. This not only makes it less of a grind (which as you pointed out, is a major turnoff for non-collectors) but adds an additional element of strategy, as winning in a certain way becomes far more optimal than just winning.

Another thing that I would like to see added is a UI option to make NPCs retain the TT card icon even after defeating them for the first time (or allows the icon be turned off completely if you aren't interesting in TT). The main reason I mention this is that I often find myself not challenging NPCs because if I win, but don't get their card(s), it is easy to forget that they are even challengeable, let alone when.

Yeah, honestly, the deck building limitations and artificial difficulty of certain gametypes are really holding TT back from being as fun as it could be.

But... I honestly don't see it getting changed anytime soon.

Oh well.