Serious tournament for serious players.
Let me introduce to you...
Veteran Clash!
The idea:
Part 1: I think Wilds need some event happening every now and then, which would force players to say 'I can't go out today, I already have something'. GC, I'm sure, had this effect, but due to a constant lack of players GC is currently out of a question, so we need something else. And possibly something taking place at least bit more often, to steadily increase the players base. (They will get used to stick around etc.)
Part 2: Also, we want players not only to register, but also to stay around. (Some kind of achievement, some goal to reach, many players like this.) And possibly also buy gold from jed, so Wilds can keep running and growing.
Part 3: I would like to see a tournament, where all (most of) the good to exceptional TFW players would compete. Almost no chance for this to happen in EC. I've tried to put all of this together in this idea.
Hope you will like it.
Entry requirements:
Number of won games: To be able to join, player must have at least 1000 victories. Possible less, if those against real players and AI will get separated. But I think the number should be big. Reasons: Firstly, it's veteran clash. Only those, who already are around for a long time should be able to join. By constant playing, you can get 1k wins in few months. Secondly: This would force players to stick with 1 account, which I think is helpful. Sub suggestion: Make option to transfer victories for some fee. Finally, 1k wins is just a cute number.
Real cash spent. As I have written, it's a serious clash for serious players. And there's no better way to prove it, and to support jed, thus whole Wilds. Let's say, only those who bought at least 1k gold can participate. Or starter pack and 500g, of course. Sub suggestion: Make this only for a given period of time. Say, you're allowed to enter 6 months after the last payment was made. Some kind of notification would be neat. Because, 20 bucks every 6 months still isn't that much. And we want Wilds to live, don't we?
Entry fee - if any, then just a low one. Really not sure about this, it's up on jed to decide, whether this would be necessary. I'd rather if it wasn't. The first too points should do the trick.
Format:
Constructed - obvious I think.
Owned cards only - same here.
Number of players - unlimited, everyone who fulfilled the requirements should be allowed to join. Should the tournament ever become too long, add it.
Single elimination - because of the previous rule, of course.
Frequency - we want it to be something special, and let the winner enjoy his victory (unlike ECs, there's a winner every 8 hours, so winning it is nothing one could be proud of.) So I think every 3 or 4 days would be the right frequency. Just, for all players' sake, don't do it always in the same time! Say, every 75 hours sounds promising. (Always 3 hrs later, so it'd be possible to count it by yourself.)
Rewards:
At last we're getting to the most interesting point
Fame - the winner must be seen, must feel that he really WON something. Change the color of player's card, so everyone can tell on the first look. Title attached to current holder's name - I'm sure Zblader or someone else can come up with something really noble.
In-game payments discount - I think this should be around 10%, depends on the exact entry requirements. So every bought pack would cost the winner 135g instead of 150g. And yeah, domain and KC would be 450g instead of 500g - and that's worthy, isn't it?? Happily welcomed by anyone, who really means it with Wilds and wants to play actively. At least those Clashes around domain start would be really crowdy. It would of course encourage the player - to spend more gold. And to actively seek players to enter KC with him and so on..
Chance to fight the best TWF players - because where else you could find all the names like CaveTroll, Altren, angelatheist, grug and so on together, playing their best decks, ready to smash you? (Or, get smashed by you.)
Make it big!
An email sent would look really cool. 'Dear Sir (Lady), we're happy to announce you fullfiling of all the entry requirements to a Veteran clashes. From now on, for the next X months, you can join the ranks of the TFW elite!'
Let everyone always see current winner and next time of Veteran Clash - I think (when player logs in) right under the Welcome to the Far Wilds could be a line with this info.
As it is now, I think there's 20-30 active or semi-active players with 1k+ wins. Not all of them bought gold, but I think this could push them to do so.
Comments welcomed, as some tweaking (frequency, discount percentage...) is for sure necessary, as always.
That should help jed out some, or at least slow down global warming... 