PROLOGUE

I’ve only been playing TFW for about 10 days, but I’ve played a lot in that short period of time. I’ve been playing online TCG’s for over 10 years, so even though I’ve new to TFW, I’m no stranger to TCG’s. IMHO, this game is much better than any other MMOTCG out there, including MTG. Not many TCG’s have implemented a world map, which adds a lot more depth and strategy to the game.

I’ve played a lot of MMOTCG’s, and the one glaring thing that sticks out with this game is that there is a huge learning curve for noobs. Since the biggest issue right now (and only major one that I see) is a small player base. I know this isn’t news to anyone, but I really think you’re probably losing some potential players due to this.

Anyway, I just wanted to give a fresh perspective from a relative noob (relative in the sense that I’m new to FTW, but not online TCG’s). I realize some of these observations and suggestions have been made in the past, but I haven’t seen a lot of them brought up recently, so here goes.

STARTING RATING FOR NEW PLAYERS

I think 1300 (350) is too high. This might not seem like a huge issue, but you really don’t want a new player’s first experience to be getting steamrolled by someone they shouldn’t be playing against in the first place. They’re probably already going to be at a huge disadvantage from using an inferior deck to their opponent. The downside would be that they might actually be a great player who picks up the game real fast and smashes a weaker opponent, but this should be pretty infrequent to where it won’t be an issue.

Either start new players with a lower rating (0 – 1000), and/or give them a provisional rating for their first x games. I've included a few examples for a provisional ratings.

Possible Solutions:

All new players start with a much lower rating (0/500/750?)
New players won’t be offended with a low or 0 rating and will probably be more motivated to keep playing if they see it going up (ie – progress/accomplishment) instead of down. New players should lose next to nothing during their provisional period. If you're afraid that starting with low ratings would be a problem, just make it a hidden provisional rating.

Rating – (2 * Uncertainty)
A new player would essentially start with a 1350 (700). I’m not sure exactly how the system finds simulated games for players, but the factor doesn’t have to 2. For example, a factor of 1.5 would make a brand new player 1350 (525).

Rating – Uncertainty – (200 - Games Played * 10)
This system would gradually (in the span of 20 games for the formula above) move a player towards the current rating system so as to avoid the plateau between their 20th and 21st game marking the end of the provisional period.

I'm going to say one thing Psy, and it's that you are no noob - just an expert exploring a new section of the field.

I've been preaching this since I started playing this game. If it wasn't for 'anticpate' explaining ratings to me I would have quit day one.

Now as an older player I'm still saying it...There is no advantage (especially now with no ladder gold) and all disadvantage to new players starting with a ranking of 1300.

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I've been preaching this since I started playing this game. If it wasn't for 'anticpate' explaining ratings to me I would have quit day one.

Now as an older player I'm still saying it...There is no advantage (especially now with no ladder gold) and all disadvantage to new players starting with a ranking of 1300.

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I've been preaching this since I started playing this game. If it wasn't for 'anticpate' explaining ratings to me I would have quit day one.

Now as an older player I'm still saying it...There is no advantage (especially now with no ladder gold) and all disadvantage to new players starting with a ranking of 1300.

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Dude... isn't triple posting this a bit overreacting? T_T I agree though, 1300 is an okay rank in my opinion (believe me, no more ladder gold = leveled the entire ladder "playing field", at the cost of all that gold T_T). You eventually have to lose some matches though (and getting steamrolled by experts in your first vs human match is quite common). Most players should be able to mantain their rank around the starting 1300, give or take 300 rank.

I think almost all new players are going to have a tough time keeping the 1300 rating early on. There's a heckuva learning curve and card disadvantage to overcome.

You guys are saying this for the similar button right? Really what needs to change is who gets matched with who when they press similar. Or do you think the effect of watching your rating drop is demoralizing? I kind of feel like people don't even notice that number until it has already dropped.

I've posted about this before also. I also think starting at 1300 is too high.

I think people notice their rating right away, but do not immediately understand what it means. I know my experience is I dropped down to a bit less than 900 pretty quickly. Then my rating gradually built back up as I gained experience and cards. That seems to be the typical path for many players.
But that is kinda beside the point. It doesn't take a genius to know new players start at 1300 (350). Even if new players don't realize what their starting rating is when they start playing, they will figure out pretty quickly their rating generally has plummeted from when they started playing. Combine that with regularly getting thrashed by experienced players and, yeah, that can be pretty demoralizing.

Yes. I think the effect of watching your rating plummet is demoralizing for a lot of people. I personally didn't mind because I've seen this type of rating system many times before.

I think if you start players with a low rating rating, they can see their rating going up a lot if they win or barely dropping if they lose.