Most players with a high ELO are the laziest and worst out there.

[MotherMyrtle]

I hate to play with most players who have a 300-400 ELO because they are NOT good players. They win because they pick the shortest routes possible, usually with very small points and spend their entire game ruining the routes of their opponents. You can’t even really get back at them by doing the same, because they often only have routes that need two or three very small connecting pieces.

It’s the laziest way to play the game and it reminds me of the school yard bully who punts the basketball over the fence because he is not a good player and no one likes him. Those people really make it hard to enjoy a nice, quick game of any kind. I wish there was a way to avoid them permanently, as apparently unsportsmanlike behavior is not an offense worth reporting.
Is it the ELO that they want? Do they need the internets recognition on their “skill” at a board game advertised for 8 years old and up? Do they brag to their friends about who they kick ass at this online game and have a super awesome ELO?

But wait – before you all bash me because blocking is a real strategy – read the paragraphs above again and remember that the objective of the game is to complete the most routes and try to have the longest continuous path. Nothing about the players I described above even remotely resembles the way the game was intended to play. Blocking a route, either accidental or intentional, IS part of the game. Players that are good, adapt and find alternative routes. Lazy players collect cards just to mess with their opponent and it is not fun to play with someone like that.

[thg0724]

But wait – before you all bash me because blocking is a real strategy – read the paragraphs above again and remember that the objective of the game is to complete the most routes and try to have the longest continuous path.

From the game rules:

OBJECT OF THE GAME
The object of the game is to score the highest number of total points.

The section goes on to describe how points can be won and lost.

There are two ways to score more points than your opponents: score points yourself; or have your opponents not score points (or lose points).

[dschingis27]

I wish there was a way to avoid them permanently,

Actually you can do that easily. In the new lobby, right to the player count setting, there is a door icon. Click on it and you can disable to get matched against strong, expert and master players. This may lead to longer wait times in the queue, but I guess for TTR you will always find players.

Actually you can filter opponents for skill level on BGA for a long time, basically since BGA exists. Seems a lot like what you are looking for.

[Remkar]

Funny you keep mentioning bullying...

Which sounds like more like a bully?

Person 1 - playing a game by the rules
Or
Person 2 - verbally assaulting and making fun of person 1 who plays by the rules and trying to force them to play the game differently?


Since you tried to steal my basketball analogy from the other thread but framed it incorrectly, I'll help you out.

You're the person who has basketball hoop in their backyard, and shoots around with friends and you guys have become really good shooters.

You guys then go to a local park and jump into a game against another group, but you can't win because everyone there plays defense, blocks your shots, steals your passes, etc , and you guys get mad because it's "not fair" and "they're mean." You try to get them to stop their "unsportsmanlike play" as you call it, but everything they're doing is legal, and it's the way they learned the game and how they have fun, so they don't stop.

They describe the rules to you, tell you their reasons for playing that way, give you advice on getting better, but you refuse and just proceed to call them names.

They say you and your friends can have one of the courts to play H-O-R-S-E on if you prefer to just have a shooting game instead of playing basketball.

You call them more names and say they're bullies and try to convince them they're not having fun and they're bad people.

[ChiefPointThief]

Thanks all for the laughs

[MotherMyrtle]

Funny you keep mentioning bullying...

Which sounds like more like a bully?

Person 1 - playing a game by the rules
Or
Person 2 - verbally assaulting and making fun of person 1 who plays by the rules and trying to force them to play the game differently?


Since you tried to steal my basketball analogy from the other thread but framed it incorrectly, I'll help you out.

You're the person who has basketball hoop in their backyard, and shoots around with friends and you guys have become really good shooters.

You guys then go to a local park and jump into a game against another group, but you can't win because everyone there plays defense, blocks your shots, steals your passes, etc , and you guys get mad because it's "not fair" and "they're mean." You try to get them to stop their "unsportsmanlike play" as you call it, but everything they're doing is legal, and it's the way they learned the game and how they have fun, so they don't stop.

They describe the rules to you, tell you their reasons for playing that way, give you advice on getting better, but you refuse and just proceed to call them names.

They say you and your friends can have one of the courts to play H-O-R-S-E on if you prefer to just have a shooting game instead of playing basketball.

You call them more names and say they're bullies and try to convince them they're not having fun and they're bad people.

In your "correct" analogy, as in response to my post, would assume that the defensive players are actively trying to not score points. How does that even make sense? If you had read my post you would see where I use defense as a reasonable, understandable and many times unavoidable reason to block. Blocking every alternative route while neglecting to even try and complete your own is just lazy playing. Perhaps you, and the players I'm describing, like to win by default - which is the easiest possible way to win at anything. I prefer to succeed by planning and trying to adapt to situations that change when a route is taken by someone else who needed it. I don't enjoy working with lazy people who provide the smallest effort while throwing their coworkers under the bus and I don't enjoy playing with unskilled and lazy players who apparently get joy out of messing with other people. Those are not individuals I would ever chose to spend my time with, online or otherwise.

[MotherMyrtle]

I wish there was a way to avoid them permanently,

Actually you can do that easily. In the new lobby, right to the player count setting, there is a door icon. Click on it and you can disable to get matched against strong, expert and master players. This may lead to longer wait times in the queue, but I guess for TTR you will always find players.

Actually you can filter opponents for skill level on BGA for a long time, basically since BGA exists. Seems a lot like what you are looking for.

Thank you, I'm rather new to BGA and I have figured out how to filter by using the thumb up or thumb down as well as their karma. The only problem with this is that not all players with high elo are jerks, just a lot of them.

[Jellby]

If they play by the rules, and they win, perhaps they've found a winning strategy? Just use the same strategy, or find a way to counter theirs. You don't like that game? Then you don't like Ticket to Ride, play something else.

[dschingis27]

I just noticed that you play a lot of Arena games. So you really come across as a sore loser. There is no problem in favouring certain playstyles or having more fun if games are played certain ways. But then by all means don't play the competitive mode.

Also blocking the opponent is of course very effective in 2p games and for some reason you play these a lot. It seems you would have more fun playing higher player counts where blocking is not as prominent.

[Remkar]

Perhaps you, and the players I'm describing.

I have barely played Ticket to Ride (7 games on here and about the same in real life), and I've never employed a blocking strategy.

So I'm not one of the people you are calling lazy or mean.

I just don't see any reason to get so angry with and bully people who are playing by the rules, and find that kind of response confusing.

This game has been out for about 2 decades now. The game designer and publisher are well aware of tournament play and know about blocking strategies. Have they done anything about it? Even said anything negative about it?

Not that I've ever seen, and if that's the case after this long, I'm pretty sure they see this as an expected part of the game. It would be super easy for them to issue a statement, make some errata, publish an official variant, etc. if they felt otherwise.


Like others have said as well, it sounds like you don't actually like Ticket to Ride. You like a game that is *almost* Ticket to Ride.

Not really much else to say, I think, but I truly hope you find some people you can play with that don't block so that you don't feel compelled to call your opponents names and feel like you need to bully them into playing your house rule version of Ticket to Ride.