Arena season 13: Here We Go!

[frogstar_A]

Arena games that are not finished before the end of the season should be turned into normal ranked games and maintain the speed settings.

Every end of season is very frustrating with our effort turning into nothing (training mode).

My friend, I got 2nd in Scopa Arena thanks to an unfair agreement between 2 other players one of wich gave victory (abandoned) to the one who then overtook me to become first in the standings at 2.13 p.m.
AT 2.00 PM ARENA SHOULD END! unfinished games should not count

I would like to second that unfinished games should just NOT count for arena. Especially the way "the player who used the most time" is considered the loser. If someone has 4 hours per move, and spends 3h30m per move on average through the game, they are NOT anywhere near running out. Plus, if you know that you've spent ~10 hours less total than whoever spent the least time, you can wait out a losing game using your own timer to avoid losing arena ELO.

To take an example: this season of Railways of the World I had around 100 ranking points advantage over second place, but because I prioritized leveraging arena having my personal favorite settings for the game to get more games with settings I like, I had 7 or 8 games I "lost" on time due to spending all of my thinking time. I personally don't value winning the arena as much as getting 10 extra tables of a relatively little played game using my favorite settings, but if the arena is supposed to find the best player of the season, I should have won, instead of losing about 200 arena ranking points to land in 6th.

Without that rule people can cheat unfortunately.

For example, in the last week of the Arena I could play very slowly in games I'm losing to make sure they are unfinished and don't lower my rating.

It's fair that unfinished games are counted somehow to avoid that.

[frogstar_A]

Lucky Numbers Bruno's variant? I don't like it, I like the regular variant. Can I set regular as MY default?

In the arena you have to play their rules but if you start or join a normal non arena game you can choose what variants to play

[Vogliovincere]

Let me say Arena Gurus should not exist BUT, BUT, the correct rules of a game should be applied, avoiding people get changes to rules that have stated the story of the game. Majority cannot change rules of a game! a Game hase its rules, they must be respected and applied. no majority should have the right to change them

[Tisaac]

Let me say Arena Gurus should not exist BUT, BUT, the correct rules of a game should be applied, avoiding people get changes to rules that have stated the story of the game. Majority cannot change rules of a game! a Game hase its rules, they must be respected and applied. no majority should have the right to change them

That's already the case. Guru vote is valid only if a corresponding gameoption exist. And a gameoption can only exists if it's in the rulebook OR if the publisher/game designer gave its green light.
So all in all, a game is always played competitively as it was meant to be played.

[ExaltedAngel]

Please replace the guru system with a democratic system that allows any ranked player from the previous season a voice!

Democracy sucks, I don't want settings to be decided by everyone, including people who are bad at the game and don't fully understand it. Don't get me wrong: anyone is free to play as they wish, but there are simple games for that. This is Arena, the competitive environment and decisions should be taken by competitive players, namely the ones with higher Elo rating and/or better results in the previous season.

[Patrick of the Isles]

Let me say Arena Gurus should not exist BUT, BUT, the correct rules of a game should be applied, avoiding people get changes to rules that have stated the story of the game. Majority cannot change rules of a game! a Game hase its rules, they must be respected and applied. no majority should have the right to change them

Tisaac is right that for games under copyright, before a variant is implemented on BGA it seems to be run by the publisher to make sure they don't have any objection to it. That's understandable for commercial reasons. However, as a fundamental point I want to say that competitive players who play a game thousands of times are often in a better position than the designer or publisher to find variants that improve competitive play and make for more interesting decisions. I think it is very much to the credit of publishers that they usually allow competitive variants.

The rules of traditonal games like Chess, Rummy, or Cribbage developed over the centuries based on what people enjoyed. As they tried new things, most didn't stick, but the best ones did. That's why there are several different scoring options for some traditional card games like Oh Hell. We see a form of that on a much smaller scale with euro games, where variants are proposed from time to time by the competitive community and tried out, and a few of the best ones may end up becoming commonly used.

I would go so far as to say I personally find it a bit distasteful for a a publisher to refuse assent to implement on BGA a variant that is widely used by competitive players. Thankfully that is fairly uncommon. My point is that while "the rules" are important so that we have a shared reference, it's not historically accurate to say that rules for games never change over time.

[silentProtest]

Hey not sure, if that is the right spot to post this, but maybe I can reach here some more players and maybe some mods or admins.

Just to point out how the guru system is flawed (in one more way):

There are some games, that have expansions that make it a different game all together, as if they were different games.
Some ad hoc examples - Catan vs the newer Catan expansions with totally new rules. More relevant for competitive play: Catan vs Catan Knights & Cities; 7wonders duel vs 7wonders duel Agora/both expansions; Durak vs Durak with passing the attack - Ive got only those examples because I actually am good at those and know what I am talking about. But Im sure there are more, that specialist and expert players in those game could post here.

The problem at those games is that, as soon one mode of the game is played in arena, it most likely wont change, because the gurus are chosen by most arena games played, as I understood. And, if one is not playing one version, for reasons of complexity, lack of complexity, bad balance, etc., which is often the case with those very distinct game modes/expansions -> they dont become guru -> they never decide for the alternative game - and this forever.

If needed I could go into details how that is bad, and specifically how that is bad in 7wd, but most things were pointed out in that subforum YEARS back.

Edit: PS: since its addressed to people who could fix/change that, and those people have the knowledge of how and when it works, it didnt seem relevant. But for the rest, think an "for/if the selection rule, exclusive arena players, applies" , this effect will materialise.

[T72on1]

Hey not sure, if that is the right spot to post this, but maybe I can reach here some more players and maybe some mods or admins.

Just to point out how the guru system is flawed (in one more way):

There are some games, that have expansions that make it a different game all together, as if they were different games.
Some ad hoc examples - Catan vs the newer Catan expansions with totally new rules. More relevant for competitive play: Catan vs Catan Knights & Cities; 7wonders duel vs 7wonders duel Agora/both expansions; Durak vs Durak with passing the attack - Ive got only those examples because I actually am good at those and know what I am talking about. But Im sure there are more, that specialist and expert players in those game could post here.

The problem at those games is that, as soon one mode of the game is played in arena, it most likely wont change, because the gurus are chosen by most arena games played, as I understood. And, if one is not playing one version, for reasons of complexity, lack of complexity, bad balance, etc., which is often the case with those very distinct game modes/expansions -> they dont become guru -> they never decide for the alternative game - and this forever.

If needed I could go into details how that is bad, and specifically how that is bad in 7wd, but most things were pointed out in that subforum YEARS back.

I'm quit esure gurus are chosen by most games played. Not only arena games, but also non-arena ones.

[silentProtest]

I'm quit esure gurus are chosen by most games played. Not only arena games, but also non-arena ones.

Maybe only in games with low activity or low players base.
In 7 wonders duel, Im as sure as one just playing can be, that is not the case, likely in Catan neither. Which will become a problem, IF K&C comes out for it, because either K&C never comes to arena or never leaves it.

[T72on1]

I'm quit esure gurus are chosen by most games played. Not only arena games, but also non-arena ones.

Maybe only in games with low activity or low players base.
In 7 wonders duel, Im as sure as one just playing can be, that is not the case, likely in Catan neither. Which will become a problem, IF K&C comes out for it, because either K&C never comes to arena or never leaves it.

That is not how I read the info in the faq about gurus.

Then again it's a Dutch translation, so some info might have gone lost there.