Please add a new Triple Triad Rule :- Fair Swap

Triple Triad appears to be the most popular minigame in FF14 and for good reason, its fun to play, has a fair amount of strategy and gives players a goal to collect multiple cards from NPCs.

The Current Problem

The current TTT tournament has the rule "Swap" in place. This rule is completely RNG based and makes the game frustrating to play. For example, 2 players both of whom have 1x ★★★★★ and 4x ★★★ cards can be swapped so that one player starts with 5x ★★★ and the other starts with 2x ★★★★★ and 3x ★★★. This makes me feel annoyed when my ★★★★★ card is taken and feeling sorry for my opponent if their ★★★★★ is given to me.


The Proposed Solution

I propose a new rule Fair Swap that does as it sounds, fairly swaps cards between players. Fair swap will only swap cards with the same ★ value, or if none exist will swap cards with the closest matching ★ values as possible.

Examples and further explanation below

Example 1:

Player A:
★★★
★★★
★★★
★★★
★★★★★

Player B:
★★★
★★★
★★★
★★★
★★★★★

Both players have top level decks. A card of ★★★ can be swapped with another card of ★★★ . Alternatively, both ★★★★★ cards are swapped.


Example 2:

Player A:
★★★
★★★
★★★
★★★
★★★★

Player B:
★★★
★★★
★★★
★★★
★★★★★

A card of ★★★ can be swapped with another card of ★★★ . But the ★★★★ card and ★★★★★ are of different values, and so are excluded from options to be swapped.

Example 3:

Player A:
★
★
★
★
★★

Player B:
★★★
★★★
★★★
★★★
★★★★★

No cards have a matching value in this example. However the cards that have the closest value are player a's ★ cards and player b's ★★★ cards, so these cards may be swapped. The other cards have a higher gap in their value so the ★★ and the ★★★★★ card will not be included in the swap.


Why do this at all?
Overall, it makes TTT tournaments more fair and promotes a new strategy. For example, if players know that cards will be swapped like for like, they may choose to play a ★★★★★ or a ★★★ card they would not usually play in case of a swap, all while still being fair as the cards being swapped are around the same strength.

Thanks for reading, feedback is welcomed.

Honestly, I feel like Swap shouldn't be in PvP matches. For NPCs, it's kind of the point to make it easier/harder for you. but in PvP your cards are probably going to be of identical rarity and it really just makes the tournament primarily RNG instead of skill (though tremendous skill gaps would still prevail).

Quote:

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Originally Posted by GunksFoy

Honestly, I feel like Swap shouldn't be in PvP matches. For NPCs, it's kind of the point to make it easier/harder for you. but in PvP your cards are probably going to be of identical rarity and it really just makes the tournament primarily RNG instead of skill (though tremendous skill gaps would still prevail).

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I agree, and i think swap would be fine if you were playing more matches as over time the RNG would just even out. But 20 matches is not enough to flatten out the variance. The reason i propose this rule as i like the idea of swap, it offer player a challenge to adapt how the play to something slightly unexpected, but doing it fairly would make leaps and bounds in solving the problem (or as you propose, removing the swap rule from PvP).

I would just as soon rip out Swap altogether from tournament play and replace it with Sudden Death. I don't see why RNG needs to be such a prominent factor in deciding who wins and loses.

Further, I don't see how this proposed solution really helps much of anything other than preventing a player from losing Lightning and getting back Gaelicat. Swap's just a gimmick; it offers no tangible benefits in competitive play. Any time during SP that I lost one of my 8s cards, I just got back another variant of it. It was boring. I found myself wondering why we don't just do Sudden Death instead. (Ties in a tournament. What a concept. Could you imagine the NFL playoffs with ties?)

My strategy for Swap the swap rule is to bring a low-level card or two along. In the Gold Saucer, there is a reason why the "Gambler" title is associated with it. There are gambles that come along with earning MGP for rewards, among other things.