Board Game Arena

ExaltedAngel wrote: ↑27 February 2025, 19:24 I don't know if it's 10x shorter or 8x or 15x or whatever, my perception when I was not premium was I had to wait forever for a match, while now that I'm premium I'm getting matched in a matter of seconds

If you are not premium, you have to wait for a premium player to join (and to be first in queue). If you are premium, any other player works.

I'm sure call center workers don't feel they have to wait ages until they can talk to a real person...

Jellby wrote: ↑27 February 2025, 19:29 If you are not premium, you have to wait for a premium player to join (and to be first in queue)

That's what I said in my first post

sure, you can choose game speed and level +/- difference.

ExaltedAngel wrote: ↑27 February 2025, 19:24 In arena you cannot set preferences. Also the top50 is a gigaflawed statistical sample, top players play a lot and are more inclined to get premium to reduce waiting time.

I don't know if it's 10x shorter or 8x or 15x or whatever, my perception when I was not premium was I had to wait forever for a match, while now that I'm premium I'm getting matched in a matter of seconds

You can choose game speed and level +/- difference.

it's the sample of people that are most likely to be matched against when playing Azul arena, so gigaflawed is a gross exaggeration.

I had a similar issue with being matched for a different game, and I've always been premium.

RicardoRix wrote: ↑27 February 2025, 20:47

ExaltedAngel wrote: ↑27 February 2025, 19:24 In arena you cannot set preferences. Also the top50 is a gigaflawed statistical sample, top players play a lot and are more inclined to get premium to reduce waiting time.

I don't know if it's 10x shorter or 8x or 15x or whatever, my perception when I was not premium was I had to wait forever for a match, while now that I'm premium I'm getting matched in a matter of seconds

You can choose game speed and level +/- difference.

it's the sample of people that are most likely to be matched against when playing Azul arena, so gigaflawed is a gross exaggeration.

I had a similar issue with being matched for a different game, and I've always been premium.

The sample of people most likely to be paired against when playing in Azul Arena is exactly the sort of sample that is majorly flawed for determining the percentage of users that have Premium. Highly active players would have a greater incentive for Premium usage. That you're checking users from a Premium game alone likely biases the sample in Premium's favor but throw in the top players on top of that and it only gets worse.

Ceaseless wrote: ↑27 February 2025, 23:56 The sample of people most likely to be paired against when playing in Azul Arena is exactly the sort of sample that is majorly flawed for determining the percentage of users that have Premium. Highly active players would have a greater incentive for Premium usage. That you're checking users from a Premium game alone likely biases the sample in Premium's favor but throw in the top players on top of that and it only gets worse.

The context of this thread is playing Azul in Arena.

I would say it's worth it. It costs relatively little and I get queue matches in seconds consistently. I get a lot of enjoyment from this site so I'm happy to support it, too.

RicardoRix wrote: ↑28 February 2025, 01:00

Ceaseless wrote: ↑27 February 2025, 23:56 The sample of people most likely to be paired against when playing in Azul Arena is exactly the sort of sample that is majorly flawed for determining the percentage of users that have Premium. Highly active players would have a greater incentive for Premium usage. That you're checking users from a Premium game alone likely biases the sample in Premium's favor but throw in the top players on top of that and it only gets worse.

The context of this thread is playing Azul in Arena.

Even narrowing it down to that group, the top 100 are going to be a biased sample. They are the ones playing actively and successfully and are going to be more likely to be inclined to get Premium than your average player.

Thanks for the input, everyone! I decided to subscribe for now, and matchmaking is definitely quicker.

But other board games still take over 10 minutes and at that point, I just give up. I mainly prefer playing Azul, but would like to learn different games

Girlfromnowhere wrote: ↑01 March 2025, 07:26 But other board games still take over 10 minutes and at that point, I just give up. I mainly prefer playing Azul, but would like to learn different games

What other games are you trying? Azul is extremely popular with 8988 games in progress as of the time I typed this. In contrast, one of my favorite games only has 198 games in progress right now and would possibly take 10 or more minutes to fill if I wanted to play real time. Some games just don't have many people playing them, and having Premium doesn't magically change that fact.