BETA: Arena mode (Season 0 - BETA)

[Forevergm]

Would it be possible to change the default players for the game “For Sale” to 5 players instead of 4 players given 5 players is the recommended way to play the game as per the system instructions? I think this way there will be many more games played via arena. Right now the liquidity is pretty thin because many players do not like to play 4 player games. Thanks.

[Mattan]

just wonder - what happen if you get less than 1 dot?
(for example: if all players are in the same level and you play 5 players game,
and get the 2nd place
so you get +9=3X3 dots for win 3 players -3=3X1 for lose to one so you get total of 1.5=(9-3)/4
)

[rlees]

Suggestions:
1. We really must be able to see available tables, especially in turn-based. Seeing what's available and how many more players are needed often affects what games I click on to play, and I think a lot more tables will get filled that way.
2. Arena games should not affect ELO at all. It should be a totally separate tournament-ish style of play.
3. When Simple real-time mode shows that players are available in arena mode, does that include turn-based arena? If so, that is the reason players click over to Arena and still can't get a game. It should only refer to real-time arena mode.
4. Regarding leaderboard issues in regular play, can't you simply delete from the leaderboards players who have been inactive on the website for a year or so? That is simpler than what others are suggesting and may still give more movement on the leaderboards.

[sesselfussel]

Generally I think it is a nice feature having now the choice between "normal" and "arena" mode. I tried it a couple of times. What makes me now stay away from it, is the very uncomfortable "handling' when in between playing "normal' mode. I do not always have the time to play arena or the mood so I switch often between the two modes. But any time I'm going back to normal mode all things that I have adjusted for example in my display options is gone. So I have to assort any time again all the games that I want to play actually and what I don't want to play. As I know a lot of games this always takes time. so I stopped playing arena mode although I would and stayed with the normal mode.

I think it would be much wiser to keep the "old" system of displaying and make there a marker or some kind of button or whatever to indicate arena games. Or make a separate arena listing in addition to the normal one. So one can more easily switch between the two playing systems. As arena is actually the same like turn based playing you could still keep this kind of listing and just modify or emphasize the arena games. Right now it is no fun in switching at least for me ... Generally thanks a lot for the new feature and for the really nice and good work. Big thank you at this point for all of your work!

[asd123321]

Because I can't see what the players would be for Arena and all game conditions, Tobago is the only game I would do.

[sprockitz]

Because I can't see what the players would be for Arena and all game conditions, Tobago is the only game I would do.

you can see the game conditions. click on settings

[dschingis27]

I just discovered that my matchmaking settings from simple automatic mode are copied to Arena mode and vice versa. I hope it is intended for the future that you can have Arena settings and distinct simple mode settings for each game.

I am ok with "+/-1" opponents in simple mode but I try to get opponents of my league for Arena mode. Also because ELO and league system are very different, the setting "+/-1" has very different meaning in simple and Arena mode.

[Marphod]

My feedback. Probably repetitive of others, but still relevant.

• Wait times for real-time games are brutal. My settings aren't level filtered, but games that were starting in a few minutes in standard mode almost never get started in arena. Popular games take at least 3 times as long to start (roll for the galaxy, japuir); less popular games never happen (Quantum hasn't ever had a realtime arena game yet.)
• There is no verification that players are live in realtime games before game start. I've gotten distracted and auto started at least 3 arena games which were subsequently DOA (kicked or abandoned). Another dozen times someone else was inactive when the game started, and only a few of those noticed within the time limit. Given the wait times, this means a bad experience becomes a terrible experience.
• I'm surprised ELO wasn't used for an initial league seeding (100-> bronze, 300 -> silver, 500 -> gold). that would make the initial distribution more fair.
• I understand why you can't select your opponents in arena play, but there really needs to be more transparency into the number of players actively looking for a game. (
• There needs to be an invite to play mechanism. A button that will invite a random, available player to join. The invitee would get a message like "you've been invited to join a game of Foo in arena mode".
• As long as the real time game start is automatic, you have to pro-rate points gained and lost on games that end prematurely
• (added/edited)I don't know why the system is trying to hide who you are being matched with in arena mode, when you can open https://boardgamearena.com/gameinprogress and see the game listings

I've no idea what is actually happening with the user base, but since arena mode went live, I've gone from finding a game in under 3 minutes to needing more than 5. And it is getting worse.

[SirLoin027]

Is it common to be matched against a top 10 player in your first game in arena mode? This has happened to me twice in a row in 2 separate games.

[sprockitz]

Is it common to be matched against a top 10 player in your first game in arena mode? This has happened to me twice in a row in 2 separate games.

depends how many people are in the game. for those two games probably not. though your opponents were 10th and 58th respectively by Elo.