Dear Yoshi & Team: About Current TT Tournament Model

[FrostyTV]

I'll probably be ripped apart for this, but here I go.

In discussion on point #2. Right now, there are a good amount of people who are working their asses off to abuse the system. But, it's not against the rules that the developer team put in place for the tournament, so they are earning these cards. It may not be by being good at triple triad, but they are putting a lot of work to one up other people who are trying to work the system as well. And while that work to the majority of the people who have a passion for the game(myself included), may seem disgusting and vile - it's still not against the rules. For the developers to completely void the efforts of the players who honestly believe they are working within the limits they were given, I can imagine that SE doesn't believe that's the right thing to do.

[Siyron]

I'll probably be ripped apart for this, but here I go.

In discussion on point #2. Right now, there are a good amount of people who are working their asses off to abuse the system. But, it's not against the rules that the developer team put in place for the tournament, so they are earning these cards. It may not be by being good at triple triad, but they are putting a lot of work to one up other people who are trying to work the system as well. And while that work to the majority of the people who have a passion for the game(myself included), may seem disgusting and vile - it's still not against the rules. For the developers to completely void the efforts of the players who honestly believe they are working within the limits they were given, I can imagine that SE doesn't believe that's the right thing to do.

Absolutely this.

[Aeyis]

Absolutely this.

Sometimes, on rare occasions...I feel these forums could do with a downvote option.

[Siyron]

Sometimes, on rare occasions...I feel these forums could do with a downvote option.

Go for it, better yet, put it in the suggestion area. Here you go, have a like as well.

[AryaSpark]

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Yes, we know it's not against the rules, and personally, I don't blame players for win buying/trading. But SE not doing anything when they've had two weeks and then saying they 'don't want to disappoint players that are trying to win cards (AKA the ppl that are gaming the system)' when they'll already let down 99% of the players already is laughable.

[eossylim]

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Ah hell, I'll get ripped apart with you.

I agree. I actually think expending time/gil to work the system should be rewarded instead winning 20 games under the random rule. The first takes passion and effort. The second is more about luck than anything. At least last week under Plus/Same, there was some strategy to the games. People just assume win-trading or buying wins is something you can just do without any effort. Yet, they don't want to spend the same amount of effort to work the tournament system despite the fact that the last tournament showed us that's what it takes to win. Everyone is given the same opportunity to "abuse" the system.

Calling the people who are winning based on the current game rules cheaters is counterproductive. The rules are clear and they're not breaking them. How many of you use the slope in T5 despite the devs saying that wasn't intended?

[EZ5902]

Remove pvp tournament matches and only have player vs npc, everyone has a fair chance then.

[Naoki_Yoshida]

Hello, everyone. Producer and Director Yoshida here. Thank you all for your feedback on the Triple Triad tournaments!

Let me start with an apology for the lack of adjustments thus far, and also for the delay in communicating our plans for upcoming changes. The team is currently neck-deep in development for Heavensward, even as they look to finalize content for Patch 2.55, and the timing has not been ideal for testing and implementing major fixes. So to keep the development schedule running smoothly, we’ve decided to implement adjustments for the Triple Triad tournaments over the course of several minor patches, beginning with Patch 2.55. We also considered putting the tournaments on hold until all the necessary changes had been made...but as there are no other means of acquiring certain rare cards, the competitions will continue as usual.

That said, I’d like to discuss some of the pressing issues and popular requests and explain how we plan on addressing them.

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)

Issue:　Loss of motivation to continue playing when there is little chance of placing in the top ranks

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.

We are, however, still debating whether or not these adjustments can be squeezed into Patch 2.55, and if their introduction is deemed too risky, we will delay implementation until a later patch (Patch 2.56 etc.).

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.

Taking these points into consideration, we have two main goals around which future adjustments and additions will be planned. The first goal is to build upon those measures already discussed, and develop a tournament system that is both fun and rewarding for all participants. 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. Unfortunately, however, the Duty Finder does not support one-on-one matching at this time. Should such a feature be integrated into the current system, it will also require us to introduce measures to combat a host of related issues such as increased server load, mid-match AFKing, and dropped connections. As you can imagine, this all takes time to test and perfect.

But our players have spoken, and we are looking into designing an improved tournament system (more tightly run competitions based upon match victories) that will make use of this matching feature. We plan to have something concrete ready not too long after the release of Heavensward, and so once more I ask for your understanding and patience.

These are our current goals, and, moving forward, we will continue to rely heavily upon player feedback when considering any changes that need to be made to the Triple Triad tournament system, rules, and rewards. This process of trial and error may continue for a while, but I look forward to hearing your thoughts and opinions on how we can make the game even better!

[Themis]

[Good things...]

Just knowing that serious thought is being put into the issues that arised around the tournaments to date is enough to restore faith that things will get better for those of who want to enjoy the game and not feel pressured to look for exploits in order to win.

The addition of platinum card packs as a reward for participants is a good step towards this. All that coming first will then do is give those who do win (via whatever means) a guaranteed card, but at least we all have some chance even if we don't come top 3.

Thanks for taking the time to address these issues and relay the current development plans and thoughts on this.

[Kiara]

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.

This process of trial and error may continue for a while, but I look forward to hearing your thoughts and opinions on how we can make the game even better!

To: Yoshi P and Dev Team,

First off "Thank You!" for these adjustments. It's a good start to alleviating some of the issues with the Triple Triad Tournament.

* Platinum Triad Card - Please make sure that *all* Rare Tournament Reward Cards are added to the Platinum grouping.

As long as that is the case, then I think it gives *all* Players hope that even if they can't place in the Top of the Tournament, that they can earn these Rare Cards one day.

Also, I know you want rarity, but learn from your mistakes: Don't set the Percentage % Drop Rate (RNG) of the Platinum Rare to be too low (look at the lack of motivation from your Original Nightmare Mount drop from Garuda / Titan / Ifrit... it was so low it was just a joke, and no one bothered until you started raising the Drop Rate).

Thanks!