Euzebe - Monday 23/03/2009, 08:52
Imperator - The Saiyans
Hello all !
Veterans are well aware that we have always wanted the ELO to be both a highly strategic and very open game mode. Our desire to have as many strategic options as possible has lead us to revise the ELO mode rules several times. First of all, we created the list of banned characters gathering those who appeared to be most abused. This list enabled us to solve the main balance issues.
Next, however, the metagame gradually crystallized around the two or three dominant clans at the time. In order to prevent the metagame from stagnating, we then introduced a ban on the clan having dominated the previous week. Unfortunately, this course of action did not work as well as we had hoped. Though it provided a certain variety among the clans used to play, it mostly led up to a very negative feature: the "cycling" phenomenon that we are currently experiencing between Roots and Sentinel (and also All Stars for good measure). In addition, the ban of an entire clan is too drastic an initiative.
Suggestion:
(3 types of bans)
staff ban
popularity ban
voted ban
(Staff Ban)
stay as it is
(Popularity Ban)
Most used card in 1400 above: Mandatory ban for 3 weeks.
2nd Most used card in 1400 above: Mandatory ban for 2 weeks.
3rd Most used card in 1400 above: Mandatory ban for 1 week.
A card that was on the Popularity Ban list in the previous week will not be listed in the ban voting poll during the current week.
The Popularity Ban list is shown at the voting page with message like "NAME is banned for the next 2 weeks/1 week" as a reminder so that players can vote strategically.
(Voted Ban)
Similar to the current voting system with some changes as follow...
Cards voted for ban and with more than 10% votes: Ban for 2 weeks.
Cards voted for ban and with 5%-10% votes: Ban for 1 week.
A card that was on the Voted Ban list in the previous week will not be listed in the ban voting poll during the current week. [Having a card voted ban week after week is stale and beats the reason not to permanently ban it in the first place.]
Imagine Zatman on 3 week ban, Dorian on 2 week ban. Dorian will be unbanned earlier with no Zatman to help. Uppers will not be dominant. Dorian could be rebanned when Zatman is back. And by the time maybe Hawk is no longer banned, thus Uppers do not dominate. Many interesting things could happen...
Criticise at will...
Aasha - Sunday 19/04/2009, 05:37
Master - White Lightning Guild
Eh. To be honest I still think each person should get one single vote and the voting status should be hidden. Though I'm kind of intrigued with the varying ban times.
I think the voting system works fine, the main problem is the power of last minute voting. How about things stay about the same but people would receive their votes gradually (i mean someone who would get 7 votes a week would receive 1 every day). If you don't use it on that day, too bad, it's lost. Maybe we need to increase the number of votes everyone gets to a multiple of seven, but this would diminish the effectiveness of last minute voting. I am really happy about this system, but i am pissed too to see Zatman and Dorian in close to every deck over the 1300s.
Aasha - Sunday 19/04/2009, 11:06
Master - White Lightning Guild
X3 Well pretty much everyone is waving torches and pitchforks about Zatman not only surviving but Dorian coming into play as well this week.
Slight topic change though... is it just me or is the competition rougher on the weekends? I mean it makes sense...
The suggestion of popularity ban has 2 purpose.
1)Putting varying ban times on the top 3 most popular cards will break the current dominant cards combination. Players have to try new combinations, thus avoid repetitive combinations week after week.
2)The most dominant clan at the current week will lose their card to mandatory ban. This is to shun last minute voting. The same card combination can only appear 3 weeks later and even that is not 100% sure because the Card A with 3 week ban got out, Card B with a 2 week ban may just be banned again. Maybe some will argue last minute voting will be used to safe Card B, but since the clan Card A and B belongs to are not dominant in the previous week, they do not have as many votes to manipulate the ban as they do now.
Aasha - Sunday 19/04/2009, 12:47
Master - White Lightning Guild
Sounds like that made sense but I'm sorta tired and couldn't follow it honestly.
But in my sleepy state that did sound like a doable plan.
A couple of things
Skills is important, not just luck, i won too many battles where for the 2 last rounds, if my opponent played perfectly he should win, but he make a mistake and for that reason i won the battle (that thing does not happen with ELO players over 1350)
I think the most played card should be banned and the most played card of the most played clan should be banned both for a week or something like that.