(EXPERIMENTATION ENDED) Arena mode upgrade

[agila13]

! game every 12 hours? I don't think it makes sense. Besides, I am playin turn-based and the web says I am playing real-time: then you go to the game and I am in turn-based mode... this is crazy. I think it was much better before: I played more games (no matter if I could not control the players I was playing with). A pity....

[alextingle]

Tried the new system once so far (Puerto Rico), and it instantly matched me with two fairly reasonable ELO opponents. That's a huge improvement: My previous experience was that I'd wait ages to be matched with hopeless opponents, or I'd set my opponent level restrictions tighter and NEVER play a game.

On the down side: I was matched with a player to whom I'd previously given a red thumb. Presumably that's a bug??

I hope it's a bug, because red thumbs ought to be honoured without question. If Arena mode is going to ignore red thumbs, then I'm going to have to give IT the red thumb

[lavic]

I was skeptical at first, but love the new setup. I get matched with my own level, so no more +2 if cards are random or I get a lucky draw, -36 if a bronze gets a lucky draw.

[sprockitz]

the turn based arena matches are all showing up as real time and screwing up everything...I can't step through the games like in turn based mode so I have to open every single game just to see if it is my turn! This is a huge pain to the point of making them unplayable.

[Surfman]

the turn based arena matches are all showing up as real time and screwing up everything...I can't step through the games like in turn based mode so I have to open every single game just to see if it is my turn! This is a huge pain to the point of making them unplayable.

I'd also like to report experiencing this. By the time I realized what was going on I had 10 real-time games (all of which, fortunately, have timers on the scale of turn-based games), and I cannot tell if it is my turn on any of those games without entering into each one individually from my list of games. I can't comment on the effectiveness of any of the intended changes, because this particular change is throwing everything for an unexpected loop (though I doubt I would notice anyway since I play more turn-based than real-time).

[Mongströn]

For Hive it's not working. Before I can match and play games sometimes, but now I can't find any opponent.

[psrv]

the turn based arena matches are all showing up as real time and screwing up everything...I can't step through the games like in turn based mode so I have to open every single game just to see if it is my turn! This is a huge pain to the point of making them unplayable.

I have the same problem.

[julegrey]

Feedback on the new upgrade - I'm not a fan, because you wind up waiting X minutes for a game (say, 2-3 minutes) - and then it automatically starts, but your opponent seems to be not paying attention. So then you play your first turn and with Y minutes for your opponent's first turn, and they never show up, and you skip their turn and leave.

The end result is that you've waited X + Y minutes to confirm that someone else isn't there and now you have to wait still longer to match for another game - and that game may or may not happen...

[ripwaxmaster]

My premium membership is up for renewal but this Arena mode lark is too draconian. "No you can't play that game right now. Come back 10 minutes",
Anybody have other board/card game sites that I should try out? Message me

[PastorPew]

I'm disappointed in the new arena upgrade.

I enjoy playing games when I can, and don't mind waiting 3-4 minutes for a player to match (as in the old arena), however the game I play the most only has games every half hour in the new system! For a game that can be played in 10 minutes, it's extremely restrictive. It also means that unless I'm available at exactly that time, I can't play.

I just had the experience of NOT being matched in the lobby window time, so now I have to wait another half hour before I have a chance to play (assuming other people are keen enough to get on at that time)?

Perhaps a compromise - have both live arena and lobby arena. Give a slightly different weight to the live games and the lobby games (live games worth less, assuming more often mismatched players) - so you still have an incentive to lobby, but for people like me who like playing a bunch when I can, and then am not available at certain times it means we can still play.

As is, I'm likely to go back to casual mode.

edit: another bad situation - I decided to play a quick game of something while waiting for the time slot of the game I really wanted to play - however due to a couple of slow players I then missed the lobby time, so now have to wait half an hour again for the game I really want to play... Very frustrating.