Arena season 13: Here We Go!

[Daredard]

I hate the guru selection system too.

There is a tendency to reduce the number of players in arena for speed's sake, but it can make it awful.
for reference, I'm a wingspan player. A 2 players setting is just unbalanced.

There are other games I play less now because of those settings, meaning my opinion has less chance to be heard in future votes.

Maybe try a vote by all players of a given season rather than just the gurus just to see how it turns out ?

[JamesWolfpacker]

Arena games that are not finished before the end of the season should be turned into normal ranked games and maintain the speed settings.

Every end of season is very frustrating with our effort turning into nothing (training mode).

This reason here is one reason why I STOPPED playing arena.

The other reason is that you have to play too many games to even be considered. In nearly every arena game and season I competed in, I had by far, the fewest number of completed games in the Elite league in the top 10 or top 20. Some of you might say, it's proof that I don't need to play that many games, but it really is not. If I had the time to play as many games as the other players around me, I probably would have won as I had faced players in the top 5 and beaten them enough of the time.

[leaomatheus]

It seems like the Guru system is not appreciated by everyone. I would suggest that, after the first few days (or maybe in the first arena match for a new season), the end of match feedback system asks people how do they like the latest configuration change for the current arena (thumbs up/thumbs down), so you can at least collect this data at scale. At this point it seems like you can't justify why the Guru system is a good decision (which, IMHO, it is not).

Is BGA open source or could we contribute to features? This should be a small change and as a developer (non affiliated with BGA) I would be willing myself to help with that.

[Swarioz]

The methodology for determining a "game guru" is significantly flawed. Just because you have the time to play A LOT doesn't mean that you have the ability to make a good decision regarding a competitive game format.

The player count and options for many of these games are terrible. Some of the changes above are better and some are worse. Some other games aren't having changes, like Catan remaining at a 3p count. Catan should be at 4p count for competitive play. The "gurus" who choose a 3p count for Catan need to be barred from ever becoming a guru for anything as that decision is immensely horrid.

Agree on the flaws, Catan is not my cup of tea though.

Currently, the gurus decide the settings for the upcoming arena season. People who dislike these settings will play less and therefore they are unlikely to become gurus and change the game settings. Potentially, radical choices in the arena settings can lead to perpetual gurus as few other players will join them.

Now this is an extreme example, but I believe it is worth discussing. I do not really have any answer to that, but maybe implementing a poll among all the elite players will give a better overview of the player base preferences?

[Doubleshoe]

Arena games that are not finished before the end of the season should be turned into normal ranked games and maintain the speed settings.

Every end of season is very frustrating with our effort turning into nothing (training mode).

My friend, I got 2nd in Scopa Arena thanks to an unfair agreement between 2 other players one of wich gave victory (abandoned) to the one who then overtook me to become first in the standings at 2.13 p.m.
AT 2.00 PM ARENA SHOULD END! unfinished games should not count

I would like to second that unfinished games should just NOT count for arena. Especially the way "the player who used the most time" is considered the loser. If someone has 4 hours per move, and spends 3h30m per move on average through the game, they are NOT anywhere near running out. Plus, if you know that you've spent ~10 hours less total than whoever spent the least time, you can wait out a losing game using your own timer to avoid losing arena ELO.

To take an example: this season of Railways of the World I had around 100 ranking points advantage over second place, but because I prioritized leveraging arena having my personal favorite settings for the game to get more games with settings I like, I had 7 or 8 games I "lost" on time due to spending all of my thinking time. I personally don't value winning the arena as much as getting 10 extra tables of a relatively little played game using my favorite settings, but if the arena is supposed to find the best player of the season, I should have won, instead of losing about 200 arena ranking points to land in 6th.

[Aramoro]

It seems like the Guru system is not appreciated by everyone. I would suggest that, after the first few days (or maybe in the first arena match for a new season), the end of match feedback system asks people how do they like the latest configuration change for the current arena (thumbs up/thumbs down), so you can at least collect this data at scale. At this point it seems like you can't justify why the Guru system is a good decision (which, IMHO, it is not).

Is BGA open source or could we contribute to features? This should be a small change and as a developer (non affiliated with BGA) I would be willing myself to help with that.

The problem with this is the same as the problem with the Guru system. A lot of folk simply are not going to want to play 2 player Wingspan or Ticket to Ride or Coloretto so they just wont participate in the season and thus not vote in any poll about if they liked it or not. Right now the top Wingspan player on the site has played 70 games of Wingspan in the last 3 days. They will undoubtedly be a Guru by the end of the season and I assume love 2 player games of Wingspan. People who love 3 player Wingspan are just not going to play that many games.

Coloretto isn't even a game at 2 players, Beyond the Sun is terrible 2 player game. But that doesn't matter because of the broken Guru system.

[wontaketoomuchtime]

Hello people. I recently start looking what 'arena 'mode' is, and I find a possible loop hole, please someone tell me if I am wrong.

Once player reached Elite level, they start with 1500 arena points.

For each game onwards, arena points gained are base on their OVERALL elo, not arena elo. <----- please can someone clarify this?

This means, player can benefit by losing in normal mode, like restore their elo to 100 on purpose, then make it easier to climb rank in arena. Is this right? Or am I overthinking?

[Ez0ah]

Once player reached Elite level, they start with 1500 arena points.

No, you start the season with 1500 AES, but it’s hidden as long as you haven’t reached Elite.

For each game onwards, arena points gained are base on their OVERALL elo, not arena elo

No, the AES gain/loss is based on the difference between the players Arena points.
However, you do also gain/loose normal ELO points, like a normal game, but the 2 calculations are separate.

[QueenSquid]

The methodology for determining a "game guru" is significantly flawed. Just because you have the time to play A LOT doesn't mean that you have the ability to make a good decision regarding a competitive game format.

The player count and options for many of these games are terrible. Some of the changes above are better and some are worse. Some other games aren't having changes, like Catan remaining at a 3p count. Catan should be at 4p count for competitive play. The "gurus" who choose a 3p count for Catan need to be barred from ever becoming a guru for anything as that decision is immensely horrid.

Seconded. I’ve been arguing for this since the game went live last year. 3p Catan is an imbalanced luckfest, completely unsuited to competitive play. New gurus, please!

Echoing what other folks here have said, the guru system is backwards and doesn't appropriately represent a game's players. Please replace the guru system with a democratic system that allows any ranked player from the previous season a voice!

[wontaketoomuchtime]

Once player reached Elite level, they start with 1500 arena points.

No, you start the season with 1500 AES, but it’s hidden as long as you haven’t reached Elite.

For each game onwards, arena points gained are base on their OVERALL elo, not arena elo

No, the AES gain/loss is based on the difference between the players Arena points.
However, you do also gain/loose normal ELO points, like a normal game, but the 2 calculations are separate.

thank you.