Dear Yoshi & Team: About Current TT Tournament Model

[ZellosWilder]

Pretty simple design I'm sure the development team can make this where 64 players can enter from duty finder from all the servers from each datacenter, if they can do it for Frontlines PvP I'm sure it will work for Triple Triad Tournaments

[EZ5902]

"/shout Anyone with enough points for their Platinium pack with a few games left? I need a few wins to get mine."
This will be a thing.

Yup, this is why tournament pvp battles should just be removed, then possibly add more tournament NPCs.

[Snugglebutt]

The reality is the only way to reduce win trading dramatically is through the game matching up players and not the players picking their own opponents, while it would still be possible to /tell the person your playing against through random match up that you will pay them gil to let you win, at least through random matching the cheaters wont be guaranteed wins from each person they play against because many would refuse to be paid off.

Even though it is nice that they acknowledge the system is broken right now and people are cheating their way to the top in the tournaments, it still doesn't make me feel good about either the current state of the tournaments, the cheating going on or how long I will have to wait for them to even try addressing the issue. The suggestions mention by Yoshi will not reduce win trading or cheating of the system very much, what is especially annoying is the actual attempted fix for the tournament wont happen for many months if not going to happen till after the expansion...this leaves a very bitter taste in my mouth metaphorically speaking because it means between now and then unless I cheat I will not stand any chance of getting in the top 3 of any tournament during all those between now and then.

They are not even going to implement the MGP increase for a long time so I may as well not care much at all about tournaments until 3-4 months from now. Despite acknowledging that they have a lot on their plate right now with 2.55 and 3.0, all the testing and finding ways to stop people cheating should of been done before it was even introduced. It feels like they never bothered thinking it through prior to release. On the platinum pack aspect, until I see it in game and how many points are required, the % chance for rare cards from them plus what rare cards would be gained...I have no intention to jump for joy.

[Malakai]

The cheaters will always cheat because they can't play the game well enough to beat even the NPCs in the field (hence why you had to nerf the NPCs when they weren't "hard" in the first place) they just want cards w/out any effort. May as well throw the tourney winning cards up on the cash shop for them. Then you'll really see who the devoted TT players are because they will play for the enjoyment of winning and playing versus other people. Throwing up exclusive prizes to make everyone play without enforcing some strict rules is catering towards making people cheat to get the win. On top of it all if the tournament cards aren't part of the platinum booster pack there's no point in playing for the majority, regardless of how much MGP you add to the winnings. And if people find out per say you need to be on the top 20 board in order to get the booster pack then all people will do is continue to buy wins.

[KadenUlme]

I really like Yoshi-P, but it is important to remember what his job is and scrutinize his communication.

The tournament was a poor design. It might have been rushed in last minute or a key analyst was on vacation. It happens. The solutions proposed are mitigation tools. Why not something more? There isn't enough time.

The language he used deflected from a match finding solution not because he thinks it's a bad idea. In fact, I actually see where a queue system would engage more players as DF does for dungeon participation.

Bottom line, a broken design was released. There is no short term fix. Yoshi-P and the FFXIV team are not happy about it, but there isn't much they can do. I wasn't personally waiting excitedly for TT. I feel for those of you who were. Hopefully this experience will be educational and drive better design at the level we've come to expect for blitzball.

[kratier]

so your solution to the absolutely rigged win trading system in tournaments is to... reward them more when they win trade?

this reminds me of much of the systems in FFXIV, looks good on paper but implemented poorly

[kingmunchkin]

I just remember saving up for two gold packs, and i got the same card in both... I stopped playing then lol

[Malakai]

Issue: The effort required to build a competitive tournament deck

Acquiring Triple Triad cards is a demanding task, and this in turn discourages players from participating in tournaments─without at least thirty cards, it’s difficult to build effective decks. So to improve this situation, we will be looking into reducing the match difficulty for NPCs who reward cards, thus making it easier to reach that thirty-card threshold. (To be addressed in Patch 2.55)

In all honesty the NPC's weren't that hard they were just right in their challenges. The hard part was the time it took for RNG to favor you for a freak'n card drop in most cases. 100+ matches before seeing a certain card drop and the same with grinding dungeons for 50+ times and still not seeing the card. It's a sure fire way to burn yourself out all together and quit.The NPC difficulty does not need to change. You can easily get the 30 deck w/out challenging a majority of the harder level NPC's. Adjust the % of drops or make a card trade in system to the NPC you challenge or make a cap after x # of wins they fork the card over or you select the card out of the lot they have. There's other routes you can go asides from throwing everything behind RNG.

Issue:　Loss of motivation to continue playing when there is little chance of placing in the top ranks[INDENT]Participants often lose the desire to keep playing tournament matches once a place in the top ranks is no longer within reach. In response to this problem, we will be introducing a new feature wherein players are rewarded with a generous amount of MGP based on their final tournament score (regardless of rank). We intend to make other similar adjustments to provide greater incentives for participants to play through to the end of a tournament. In a similar fashion, players who accumulate a certain number of tournament points (again, regardless of rank) will be rewarded with a platinum Triad card─which has the possibility of yielding a rare card. By offering a means to earn rare cards other than placing in the higher ranks, we hope to encourage more players to take part in Triple Triad tournaments.

It's a tournament... not everyone is going to win, and the people that enter it should realize that. There is more desire not to play tho when you realize everyone is cheating for top spot than playing in an actual strict ruled elimination tournament. Why bother even playing if people will just cheat to the top? Increasing MGP and giving out more items isn't going to solve that problem. It's almost catering even more to people buying wins so people can get x # of points to get more MGP + the rare booster card chance. Yes it's nice to get another way to obtain a rare card but wouldn't it be better instead of doing it like that to just add the card to a booster pack you can already buy from NPC? That would prevent people from trying to sell even more wins.

Requests: Eliminating unfair collusion between players/Making it possible to challenge players without the need for discussion
As measures such as those previously described are implemented, we anticipate a significant drop in unsuitable tournament conduct (i.e. using multiple accounts to ensure victory, or throwing matches for payment). Naturally, we don’t believe that these unfair practices will be eliminated completely─unless the system is changed so that tournament rankings are strictly based on victories won through random matching, there will always be a way to cheat regardless of the measures we introduce. But supposing we did change the system to rely solely upon random matching, we would then run the risk of alienating all but the most dedicated Triple Triad players.

Isn't that the point of a tournament? To bring your A game? To be the best of the best? You don't see other game card tournaments where someone goes there with a starter deck then throws a tantrum because they didn't win first place. Or go around asking people to throw matches or stand there and shout they are selling wins. No because of the tournament rules and regulations. Those entering the tournament should be people who are dedicated triad players, who want to improve their game, who want to challenge other good players. People who enter tournaments have confidence in their skills and put forth effort into making their decks/improving themselves. You can't be a people pleaser in a situation like this. The only way to improve on a tournament situation to where everyone is included and be more fair would be to make brackets/divisions. There's 6 NPC's in the triad area you can play against, make more use of them. Make 3 separate brackets or divisions if you want everyone to play then?
Division 1: Players who have less than 30 cards and are only able to use 1 star + 1 higher star card. Optional 5 matches versus Jonas, Optional 5 matches versus Guthwint, can only play a random person two times.
Division 2: Players who have 30-59 cards that can make 2 star decks + 1 higher star card. Optional 5 matches versus Aurifort, Optional 5 matches versus Rhutwyda, can only play a random person two times.
Division 3: Players who have 60+ cards that can make 3 star decks + 1 higher star card. Optional 5 matches versus King, Optional 5 matches versus Triad Master (who's deck isn't going to be a start but a 3 star deck), can only play a random person two times.

GMs can monitor gameplay can't they? Can assign one to watch if a certain person is standing in a spot throwing matches. Anyone selling or buying wins is automatically disqualified from the tournament.

[Ultimasamune]

How does relying solely on random matching alienate anybody? If people are serious about getting a top spot, they will have at least 60 cards. It doesn't take that long to get that many—maybe two weeks if you take your time. Don't lamely excuse yourself for not following the one obvious solution and instituting a Duty Finder–style system. Just tell us you don't have time right now. As it is, you guys just seem confused.

[polyphonica]

Don't lamely excuse yourself for not following the one obvious solution and instituting a Duty Finder–style system. Just tell us you don't have time right now.

Honestly, that is basically what he said. "The second goal─implementing more strictly run tournaments─will require more time to achieve. I understand that many players are in favor of being able to use the Duty Finder to set up Triple Triad matches. [...] As you can imagine, this all takes time to test and perfect." The only thing about not alienating all but the most dedicated players was that they didn't feel it should rely solely on random matching. I don't think that was being used as an excuse to not do a matching system.