Arena - Season Zero [BETA]

[sourisdudesert]

Starting from less than a month ago, you have had the possibility to enjoy on BGA a new playing mode: the Arena.

This new competitive mode has been a real success: a lot of you are competing to win the trophies for this first Arena Season, and it has increased the number of games played on BGA by +20%. We'd like to thank you a lot for making this feature such a success!

If you want to read more about what is the Arena, how it works, and why we developed it, please read the following FAQ:
viewtopic.php?f=3&t=13890


For now, Arena remains a BETA

Despite this success, the Arena is still not perfect. We still consider it a BETA, and you may have seen that we are changing/testing things from time to time.

We know that these changes may be painful, but we to do it in order to find the best way to make this competitive mode work.

During the last 24 hours, we have experimented an alternative lobby for the Arena, described here, in order to decrease the waiting time, to increase the chances to meet opponents from the same leagues, and to try to make the less popular games more popular. Unfortunately, it didn't met our expectations, so we decided to put an end to this experiment.

The good news is that we're done now with the major updates. The Arena is going to remain in its current shape, with minor changes, for the rest of Season 0.

We know that there is still room for improvements. In particular, we'd like to improve the waiting phase, and the "confirmation before playing" phase. However, a lot of you are enjoying the Arena like it is now so there is no reason not to let you play!

Season Zero is now official

Considering all of this, we decided to make Season Zero an official season for BGA rankings.

It means that at the end of the Season, Arena champions will be the first official Arena champions on Board Game Arena, and will be the first to put their names on the winners list for each game.

The end of the Season is planned around April 9th 2020 (this date may still be adjusted).

In conclusion

Our ambition stays the same: make the Arena an enjoyable permanent competition, and allow you to win the most prestigious BGA achievements with it.

This is not an easy task, and it may take a lot of back and forth to reach this objective, but we intend to work on it until we reach that point.

We wish good luck to you all for this Season!

[ppsantos]

Great job!

Why not make each season's end coincide with the year's end, in December? That way, each season's winner is also that year's winner.

[meteorician]

Great work people.
Onwards and upwards.

[Hirakoba]

Great job!

Why not make each season's end coincide with the year's end, in December? That way, each season's winner is also that year's winner.

A whole year is way too long.

[rhetscholar42]

Looks awesome! Is there a set mode for games like Hive that have multiple options like the tournament open rule or expansion bugs?

[sourisdudesert]

Is there a set mode for games like Hive that have multiple options like the tournament open rule or expansion bugs?

All games has a fixed configuration for a given season.

Details are in the faq (look for "competion configuration"):
viewtopic.php?f=3&t=13890

[viermaaldomi]

I'm disappointed that you didn't keep the fixed timing, it was a huge and much needed improvement. Now it's back to randomness and the arena mode can't be taken seriously really...

[sourisdudesert]

Now it's back to randomness and the arena mode can't be taken seriously really...

According to our stats, randomness is significantly more efficient to find opponents, even for the less popular games. You can also check the forum thread about this experiment (almost 70 feedbacks, almost all negatives).

[viermaaldomi]

Maybe you can find games quicker because of the randomness, but it surely won't help determining who's the best player. And the reactions I just read (most importantly the one by Sprockitz, the gaming legend) weren't negative at all. You really need to find a way to make sure the best players play each other, this isn't happening right now.

And of course the weaker players weren't happy with this change, it ruins their chances of getting a high place in the elite league...

If you're going to keep it this way, at the very least a playoff system is required at the end of the season where the best 8 players or so play for the cup.

[viermaaldomi]

I just reread my posts and they sound too negative. I think the arena concept is great, but right now it feels like the players that spend the most time on it will win, rather than the best players. So keep up the good work, and I'm looking forward to the improved version that will allow the best players to face off, I'm sure you'll manage to find a way to make this happen!