Feedback for Arena mode for 7 Wonders

[6element]

A solution which suits everyone might be - separate leagues for 3 player and 4 player, restoring old ELO-based ranking or giving players a choice to play 3 player or 4 player in Arena.

[DelegateX]

- Face selection much more reasonable than random selection, especially for competitive play, random can seriously affect the balance of the play.
- My guess is also that 3p is the preferred option for top players, it should be the most strategic (is there any analysis of this out there?). I wonder if it is worth considering having fewer players per table the higher a player gets in the ranking groups, if having 3p per table as a standard is not the popular option? Perhaps that would satisfy all parties.

[Gunslinger99]

I'm about to publish a massive, really massive guide on 3P games. I hope this will shift the balance as the guide will explain how to play in 3P, and why it's the only acceptable configuration for determining the top players.

I think it should be interresting to make a poll (3P/4P) with the best players at the end of the first arena season. And see if the percentages are different.

There is also an important point: BGA suggest to play a 4P game, so it influenced players to play a 4P game. If you suggested 3P, maybe the percentages would have been different.

[dschingis27]

Whereas 3P is certainly the most strategic variant of this game, I personally have the most fun with the 4Players-variant. I am a very competetive player, too. Maybe in the far future we will have a 3P Arena champion and a 4P Arena champion. I think the popularity of this game would allow to implement both simultaneously for competition. Probably at least one season a year should be played in 3P mode.

It is worth noting that the official real-life 7Wonders championships in Germany are played in the 4Players-variant while 3Players is only a backup mode. https://7wonders-turnier.de/

[Gunslinger99]

Lol, it's sad they choose 4P I promise you, you will never, never see a 4P-only gamer achieve the highest ELO places here. This mode is broken. You have one grey resource card of each type in Age 2. This alone can completely destroy your game and you cannot do anything about it. A strategic game is a game where, faced with difficulty, you can use your brain to win. 4P is just chaos and you can lose so many times, just because of strange hand distribution. I'm pretty sure Antoine Bauza said the "standard" more is 4P because you have someone in front of you who you don't interract with, while 3P is really, really brainy at high level. And what sells is fun

[dschingis27]

I promise you, you will never, never see a 4P-only gamer achieve the highest ELO places here.

A little off-topic but I am currently 5th place in ELO and I only play 4P-games. But generally it's true, I won't stay 5th place when I keep playing 4P because variance is too high in 4P. However it is far from being chaotic, just not as 'brainy" as 3P.

Edit: I just noticed that I was actually 23rd in ELO and confused it with my 5th place from in the new Arena ranking.

[Gunslinger99]

Nice

I guess we have the best of all worlds if 3P has its season on day It made sense to start with the most popular configuration to attract players

[CB Droege]

I disagree that the arena should have settings determined by "top players".

First: It's more interesting to force "top players" to learn to play in ways that are more fun and interesting for others (It's not always about choosing the variant with the most Elo growth (which will almost always be the settings with the least number of players))

Second: The rules and settings can change from season to season, so I hope many play settings will be represented over time. Personally I only really like to play 7 Wonders as a 7-player game, as I feel it's more interesting and balanced that way, like that's the # that they had in mind when designing the game. I certainly hope that one season some time in the future will be for 7-player games of 7 Wonders. But, you don't have to play that season if you don't want. Just as I wont be playing in any 3-player season of 7 Wonders, since I think it's boring. ;D

[Gunslinger99]

This game is so different with the number of players that Premiums members should be able to set the number of players for all arena games. And all rankings for 3p up to 7p should be available. Those ranking should be separated and there should not have a common Elo. I play Rocket league and I have a 2v2 grade that is much different than the 1v1 and 3v3. In all configuration, it's about driving your car and shooting the ball, but the games are so different.
In the end, this is the only acceptable solution as 100% of all players can play all the time.

Your post is great because you said you will SKIP seasons and not play, which is very sad. This is proof all configurations should be availble for Premium members, with, I repeat, a separate ELO ranking and grades.

[6element]

Yep, separate ranking for different player count would be the best long term solution. We don't have Olympics champions in "overall running", it is more specific than that. As a short term step toward the solution - giving players a choice regarding number of players would be greatly appreciated.