New Arena System
Posted: 02 September 2021, 17:19
Recently, the BGA team tried an experiment to increase the number of games between players from the same league in Arena Mode.
https://boardgamearena.com/forum/viewto ... =3&t=22297
In my opinion, if we really wanted to significantly increase Arena games between players of similar skill, the Arena system needs to change more fundamentally.
My suggestion to give some inspiration:
- Only 2-4 leagues per game (2 leagues for unpopular games, 3 leagures for mid-popular games, 4 leagues for very popular games)
- Make it actually hard to switch between leagues (e.g. by increasing the number of points needed to promote to 20 or 30 or give less points per win [depending on game length])
- Make some kind of meaningful pre-seeding into the leagues at season start based on past merits in Arena Mode.
Advantage:
- More games between players of similar skill right from the start of the season and the leagues are already meaningfully populated and stay populated. And the leagues do actually mean something.
This system without any additional change would wipe out a lot of the appeal of the current Arena system, namely the good feeling you get from collecting points amd achieving mini-goals when rushing through the leauges. That's why I would also introduce an independent progression system based on levels (everyone starts at level 1 at season start) and collecting Arena XP. Every time you won a certain amount of games, you level up and get some minor benefit in the league (like 1 extra point or you cannot fall below X points in the league anymore). You never loose XP or a level during one season. People who really like to grind and show off their amount of wins could try to reach a high level. But they wouldn't necessarily end up in the Elite leagues so easily.
The basic idea is to disentangle competition and progression. Use the leagues to carry out the matchmaking and let people compete at their skill level. At the same time, satisfy the desire for progress and mini-goals with an independent reward system.
Here you can upvote if you like the idea:
https://boardgamearena.com/bug?id=47659
https://boardgamearena.com/forum/viewto ... =3&t=22297
In my opinion, if we really wanted to significantly increase Arena games between players of similar skill, the Arena system needs to change more fundamentally.
My suggestion to give some inspiration:
- Only 2-4 leagues per game (2 leagues for unpopular games, 3 leagures for mid-popular games, 4 leagues for very popular games)
- Make it actually hard to switch between leagues (e.g. by increasing the number of points needed to promote to 20 or 30 or give less points per win [depending on game length])
- Make some kind of meaningful pre-seeding into the leagues at season start based on past merits in Arena Mode.
Advantage:
- More games between players of similar skill right from the start of the season and the leagues are already meaningfully populated and stay populated. And the leagues do actually mean something.
This system without any additional change would wipe out a lot of the appeal of the current Arena system, namely the good feeling you get from collecting points amd achieving mini-goals when rushing through the leauges. That's why I would also introduce an independent progression system based on levels (everyone starts at level 1 at season start) and collecting Arena XP. Every time you won a certain amount of games, you level up and get some minor benefit in the league (like 1 extra point or you cannot fall below X points in the league anymore). You never loose XP or a level during one season. People who really like to grind and show off their amount of wins could try to reach a high level. But they wouldn't necessarily end up in the Elite leagues so easily.
The basic idea is to disentangle competition and progression. Use the leagues to carry out the matchmaking and let people compete at their skill level. At the same time, satisfy the desire for progress and mini-goals with an independent reward system.
Here you can upvote if you like the idea:
https://boardgamearena.com/bug?id=47659