Struggling to get out of diamond league this season, and I'm not encouraged!
There's four days left of this current Splinterlands season and by this point I'm usually well into C3 and cruising to C2.
For the last few seasons I've been able to play my daily quests and win most of them and that's it - around 10 battles a day (because some rule sets really don't suit the quest splinter) and I win 7-8 of them and I'm cruising on up.
But not this season, I'm stuck with a 55% win rate:
I want to tell myself this is a 'good thing' because it means more middling players are buying cards and levelling up - but I honestly don't think it is - I think it's more higher level players lurking back down in Diamond League and just sitting there refusing to go up for the sake of 10 fucking BETA packs, with maxed out decks who just play enough to keep themselves sitting on top.
And there's a few names I recognise alongside me who would usually be up in C3/ C2 stuck down here, in the same boat, having a bit of a shit time thanks to the lameness of a few people who really SHOULD be advancing to Champions with 2 million power decks!
It could of course just be bad luck with the times I play, but I'm frequently coming up against maxed decks, which I don't have, so I cannot win - if you've got even half an idea of what you're doing, having L10 compared to L9 cards times 6 means you're nearly always going to come out on top.
There's also the fact that I've been a bit more impatient than usual this season, and struggled a bit with the latest Splinterlands challenge - the Death Elemental (I lost A LOT of battles with that!).
But even factoring all of that in, it's still a bit shit. If I could just get up to C3 I'm sure it would be easier, it's just a matter of getting there.
It's not great, this game really needs to work on equality or it's going to remain stagnant like it has done for the entire back end of 2020.
I'm really bored with the game TBH, I'm hoping LAND is going to be a bit more interesting - but the way this optional moving up is working out, it's just a bit crap.
And if I'm saying that as someone with a deck worth $3.5K, literally 95% of the players must be having a MORE shit time than me.
This game badly needs land for staking
In a nutshell - at the moment this game is rewarding lower standard players with maxed decks who can't compete at the top by allowing them to lurk in lower leagues where they can't fail to win.
NB - this then means I'm stuck down here and come up against people with even lower powered decks who I can't fail to beat, but I'm prevented from moving up because of the lame asses with maxed decks who I keep coming up against! I'm involuntarily roped into this sub-optimal situation.
This is rewarding based on investment not skill - which is why we need land - which will hopefully take some of these lower standard lurkers out of the game play when they stake their decks for returns on land.
Assuming the rewards for land are going to be more than 10 BETA packs.
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I agree with you totally and it’s just stupid untamed packs, not even beta those players are trying to gain as its worth like $1.2 a pack. Worse off it’s making the game unplayable for people who are suited for the league they are in.
I tried fighting through this by spending what I have in max summoners and monsters over the past month because I still feel like playing the game. Yet I am still where I am from a month ago. Barely diamond 3 and feel less motivated playing since the upgrade. Getting less hope that game is playable for smaller fishes.
I don’t even expect to earn top 100 ranking in diamond but there has to be some improvements in gameplay. I am just pondering since the developers can adjust power limits on tournaments I wonder if they can do something similar in season ending rewards? For example if a player’s deck is over 1 million in power points but let say plays in gold league. They automatically earn less untamed packs if they finish in top 10. The more power in their deck the less insensitive to stay in lower leagues. This has got to be resolved or we are going to lose players even with land coming up.
The whole game is based on battles as the big theme. We collect cards to improve our own outcomes. When this is difficult or impossible to do for most it’s not a playable game. Even with land improvements I foresee big fishes cornering those features too making the game even less playable. Turning this all into one big money pit. Just frustrating.
That's a good idea with the higher power lower reward.
Although if i saw a 15 year old winning a sprint against a field of 12 year olds I'd be more inclined to reward him with a turd on a string rather than any kind of medal.
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I think the whole land expansion at this point is nothing else but a way to milk our cryptos into the hands of the founders, shortly before the probably largest crypto bull run of all time. This was a very successful scheme and to achieve that they delayed the guild tournaments and boss battles - something I put a lot of money for on the table over two years ago and still wait for this feature. At the same time we have a card game that gets more and more boring by the day. I really should lower my investment into the game at this point. 18k is certainly way too much for someone who gets aggroed more and more frequently these days by everything that happens in the ecosystem. On the other hand, I still believe this technology is revolutionary and I am continuing collecting cards just for the lolz of it.
Monster Upvote SPT (Splintertalk.io)
Delegate SPT to @Monster-Curator with LeoDEX or Hive Engine and earn daily SPT payouts.100% agree
Splinterlands mostly feels like a boring pay2win experience and grind right now acting as a money milking scheme for the owners but also the players. I also deliberately stay in lower leagues not so much for the pack rewards but to get the daily quests over with quickly (as they still are the most rewarding when completing them daily).
It's such a shame because Splinterlands has so much potential.
** Thanks for the SPT refund by the way @flauwy!
I usually close down the Splinterlands window shortly after I get bored of hearing myself say 'God, I'm so fucking bored.'
Honestly, I only have one thing in my life which bores me so much, and that's marking assignments.
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The only reason I'm sticking around is because it's the most visible game in blockchain and you know crypto - things can go crazy and fast.
$18K is a lot to have invested in NFTs!
Land might change things - if players take out decks to stake to craft things - meaning fewer players.
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Are you kidding me? your collection is awesome, you should be in top 10 Diamond with some effort.
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But he wants to be in Champions League, as far as I got it... And so do others. Plus, by staying in Diamond longer, the really Diamond level players have a really bad experience.
The problem is that there isn't a limit to play in every league, you aren't forced to go upper, and the rewards aren't enough to prefer Champions over Diamond if you won't have packs in Champions, but imo Revise's collection is more suited for Diamond than for Champions. There are also Diamond players that should be playing Champions too, I agree with him in this.
Yes, I know one can fight for packs in Diamond League. Personally I prefer to advance to CL2 for 120 reward cards, but this season might not get there after all.
I have cruised to C2 usually - just not this season.
It might be because we're pared with people with similar power levels - and so many with higher power have stayed down?
I've noticed @slobberchops is next to me in the league tables, much lower power but I hardly ever get paired up with him, but frequently with the same old people in the top ten who have maxed decks.
I'm sure once I break into C3 it'll get easier, that's what normally happens.
I've also been trying to 'style it out' a little too, which means I often lose!
I picked up new Llama mage for example and I've been trying to get some funny wins with last stand, which means having a spare monster to trigger last stand, a few of those haven't gone well.
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Yup, totally agree. This isn't working if higher level players prefer to lag behind. It ruins the gaming experience both for those who want to advance and for those who are in Diamond league because that's the max level they can achieve with their cards and skill.
It's worrying - doesn't bode well for onboarding new people.
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this seasons been tough all round. usually in champ one by now, sitting at 4379. only 10 players above 4700. kept my alt account @toejam in diamond for the first time to see what comp is like there.
need both in champ, maybe needs some work done on diamond level. i do like how they made champ tourneys cost more for those in diamond. i noticed one exceptional player that moved back to champ this season. not sure if this was the reason, but seems likely.
Daimond 1 needs some work - it was kind of working to get me appropriate opponents, but that seems to have broken down now.
Maybe it's just this season, need another one to compare!
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I have a lot of thoughts on this matter so I'm going to compile them into one comment (instead of replying individually to several different comments).
#1. What is the point of Diamond league?
@jacekw and I are still a bit puzzled regarding what the point of Diamond league is to begin with, since Diamond league has the same league limits as Champion league. It would make more sense if the summoner limits for Diamond were halfway between that of Gold league and Max level (like Level 9 Common, Level 7 Rare, Level 5 Epic, and Level 3 Legendary summoners). Otherwise, Diamond league just feels like it's for players who can't make it to Champion or who are maximizing their rewards for easy Top X prizes.
Nonetheless, looking at the current Diamond leaderboard, I can see one account (who finished in Top 5 of Champion last season) who I am surprised is still in Diamond league right now.
#2. Season to Season variation
As @michealb alluded to, some seasons are laxer than others and some seasons are more competitive than others. It feels like this season is a bit slower, which is actually understandable given the holidays. If you look at the final rankings for season by season, you'll notice that some seasons everyone is scoring lower and other seasons everyone is scoring higher.
#3. Tournament Fees
michealb also mentioned how the new tournament fee structure may also influence people's decisions. Now that there is a separation between Diamond league and Champion league tournaments, it is expensive to enter Champion league events if you are only Diamond league. And although some Champion players have been complaining about it, I am happy to see that some of the Diamond tournaments are intended for Diamond league players and are more expensive for Champion players.
#4. Power
Frankly I still find it strange that people still don't seem to understand what power really means and what it does not mean. You and @mawit07 seem to think players should advance based on power but power factors in duplicate cards and has a multiplier for gold foil. It mainly measures total investment amount and does NOT measure the playability of a deck.
Your accounts are mainly regular foil so when you evaluate the power level of a gold foil deck, you really have to adjust your metrics.
Probably the best example is @goldmatters, who has a gold foil collection worth 10.7 million power but since all his cards are 1 BCX (except for the mystery prize cards), they are effectively bronze or silver level cards, despite his high power.
#5. Diametrically Opposed Forces
Part of the problem is we have two diametrically opposed models of play.
Some players (I'll call them Group A) want to advance as high as possible (often to maximize their loot chest rewards). Before power score, we had level 1 accounts reaching diamond and sometimes champion. Even now with power score, we have bronze and silver level accounts reaching diamond. Because Splinterlands doesn't use pure ELO and the ratings are not zero sum, if you get a critical mass of weak accounts they can all push each other up.
On the other hand, some players want to optimize their decks for a specific league limit (I'll call them Group B) and then play in that league (this sometimes optimizes their Top X leaderboard prizes). These players are then accused of "clubbing baby seals" by choosing not to advance.
The Group A players get frustrated at Group B players because they seem them as camping out in lower leagues for easy prizes. Group B players get frustrated at Group A because they distort the environment and are the cause of less competition (because the weak accounts enter a league they probably shouldn't be in).
@revise.leo said "Although if i saw a 15 year old winning a sprint against a field of 12 year olds." What is really happening is that the 12 year olds are entering competitions for the 15 year olds and are complaining when they actually compete against genuine 15 year olds. And then asking why the 15 year olds aren't entering the 18 year old divisions instead.
My two personal accounts are both gold league accounts, which is why they are...surprise surprise...in gold league. Since they are gold foil decks they will have much higher power scores (13-15 million) than regular foil decks. But what is important is that the card levels are gold league level. Yet people complain why I don't advance to diamond.
@revise.leo said "I'm frequently coming up against maxed decks, which I don't have, so I cannot win - if you've got even half an idea of what you're doing, having L10 compared to L9 cards times 6 means you're nearly always going to come out on top."
Yet people keep asking why I don't advance my gold league accounts to Diamond league so I can face max level cards....
#6. Deck Analysis
Speaking of @revisesociology's deck, I think you are lacking on the legendary summoner front. Other than Valnamor, you lack the 5 mana Beta summoners, of which Rennyn and Plado are most useful. You're also missing Dice Summoners, of which Mylor and Lorna are most important. You have some of the 7 mana Untamed summoners, but your Level 3 Yodin Zaku is rented out so you're working with only a Level 1 copy instead.
A lot of your legendary cards are only Level 3 (gold level), such as Angel of Light, Lord Arianthus, Ruler of the Seas, Corrupted Pegasus, Phantom of the Abyss, Kron, and Cornealus. A few (Spirit Miner, Chain Golem) are only Level 2 (silver level).
Some other low level cards that stand out include:
Level 3 Darkest Mage
Level 7 Shieldbearer
Level 1 Light Elemental
Level 6 Failed Summoner
Level 4 Child of the Forest
Level 6 Mantoid
I would strongly recommend you prioritize leveling up Shieldbearer first to get Return Fire. Right now, with no Yodin Zaku, no Rennyn, no Level 8 Shieldbearer, and no Lir, you're going to get walloped by all the ranged decks out there (Yodin Zaku, Rennyn, and Selenia).
Thanks for the explanation, that all makes total sense to me, and the recommendations.
I would like a Prince Renn, I'd just rather keep my Bitcoin ATM, maybe one day!
I do have enough cards to max a Yodin, but no real Fire deck to speak of - I kind of sacrificed that to build the other decks.
And most of my cards are at their 'price optimum' level.
Shieldbearer is next on my list to max out as it happens.
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I usually place 30th - 40th or so each season ending in Champion and it's a battling grind as I battle too much at times, lose so much it's crazy! I'm thinking of going to Diamond to try to place better than I always do in Champion but we will see what happens. On the last day of the season, I battled in Diamond on my fiance's account while I was parking clove71 at 4740 and it was so much fun! It was not stressful like the Champion league is and in 6 months I have not gotten higher than placing 30th. I tied! It's hard! An upvote from Splinterlands is on the way!
I can only imagine how frustrating it must be at the top! And only tiny gains for a win as I understand it.
I've just had a much more enjoyable time at the beginning of this season, I guess it varies a lot!
I find about 30-40 minutes is about the optimal time.
The thing I find most annoying is when it takes a minute to find you an opponent and you get the 'lost all abilities rule set' - that one just seems more about gambling than skill.
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Happy New Year! ~@clove71
Yup, quite frustrating! The new reward system is a penalty for mid range players. Lot of strong players are staying in lower leagues, for the few booster packs... killing the game experience for most of us.
Once I FINALLY got out of Diamond 1 I just cruised in Champions 3, it was so much easier! I could have easily made C2 I think, but I'd just had enough by that final day of the season.
So it's been really bad this season. I guess it just depends on what time of day you play and luck who goes up and when!
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You would not believe how I try to battle the last day or 2 of them season-ending. I put on relaxing meditating music and then I also take a big piece of paper and block out who I am playing so I just battle without seeing who I am battling, I try to look sometimes at their battles. Then, I make my team, put it in, and try not to see if I won or not by starting a new battle really fast, LOL! It works for me though...well to be in the top 50 but not place high that is LOL!! I went to check out your battles and could not find you, what is your Splinterlands name?
So you don't get annoyed at them I bet! Surely you have to look at them to see what they like playing - I managed to win once by playing no melee monsters when I noticed someone loved that thorned Earth summoner.
Although when I used to be higher up before the changes I do remember a lot of very top players play the game like poker - if the rule set suggests an obvious strategy and there's an obvious counter, they play a deck to counter to the counter.
Now THAT's a painful way to lose.
https://peakmonsters.com/@revisesociology/battlechain
This is my leo alt account.
I'm pretty happy about this - my favourite win yesterday, my favourite in a long time!
https://splinterlands.com/?p=battle&id=a45b934a177479f21eaa11a3a4c3538039f4a8f1
I was a bit more up for it yesterday so I was playing better, that helps!
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You are a great player! Nice battle! That player is so good, he is always up in the top Champion players! I just went into the Champion League the other day! I can't seem to not go, so it will be another crazy season-ending, lol!
I'm not that good, but I have beaten Kazarakh 2/2! I know him from Exode, we'er both big fans of that too.
Have tried changing your time of day? I've just switched to mornings and its much easier than evenings.
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Hey thanks for the present BTW! I tend to get notifications a day late on the site, much appreciated!
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