Zeras
03-22-2007, 01:25 AM
This is a very long and detailed explanation of a major change about to happen. We would like for you to read it thoroughly and also give the new concept a chance before complaining that it is different. If you really open your mind you will see that this change is absolutely wonderful and will take this game to a level above other games like this one.
We are about to implement a major change to the ranking system.
Let me start by saying that our goal in creating a new EverWars (will call it EW2 for simplicity) type of game was to eliminate all of the flaws and shortcomings in the original game (EW1). For the most part, this has worked out very well. In fact, it has worked out much better than I ever expected or even hoped it would.
During the beta testing process, one thing has been a painful reminder of one of the major flaws not only in EW1 but just about every EW1 type of game ever created. That flaw is in the ranking system. Ignoring the fact that the item database has yet to be adjusted since beta began, the rankings have still turned into a race. In a race, the strategy is simple .. start fast, get a lead and get conservative.
I cannot stand that. Not to mention, EW2 will not have monthly resets. Instead, it will use a 30-day revolving battle system. Basically, this means that every day, the previous 31st day's battle logs and all wins/loses/etc. gained on that day will be deleted. So, after 30-60 days, you will find that the leaders have hit a virtual wall and many other players will catch them and at that point, the top of the rankings will be saturated with a large number of players all tied for the lead. The only way to lose the lead would be to miss one or more battle credits or to quit the game.
Of course, I could also simply reset the battle logs completely each month and leave all characters, items, skills, etc. However, then we would be back to the "race is on" situation.
Another concern is that with the current rankings system, the battles are for the most part one-way. Meaning, when you beat someone, it has no effect (positive or negative) on the player you beat. As far as they are concerned, the battle never happened. This makes the game less of a PVP game and more like a PVE game where all other players are turned into NPC's (non-playable characters) for you to battle. One of the things in EW1 that I loved was the ability to taunt players into attacking you because you could actually benefit from being attacked and winning the battle.
Therefore, we have decided to make a major concept change in the rankings. The new concept is a great idea if i do say so myself but I also understand change is often feared and at times misunderstood. Many of you have commented on how much fun EW2 is to play .. well, IMO, the new ranking system makes the game even more fun.
The New Ranking System
The new ranking system will be what is currently referred to as the PVP Ranking system albeit with a few adjustments. For those of you not familiar with the PVP Ranking system, this is an overview of how it works.
NOTE: In the following area, I am using the word "trophy" but it is only a word chosen to make the example easier to follow.
First, each battle combination of players is worth one trophy. So, for example, Zeras attacks Gil and wins .. Zeras wins the Zeras-vs-Gil trophy. Zeras's overall trophy record is 1-0 while Gil's is 0-1. Later, Gil sees that he lost a Trophy to Zeras so he attacks Zeras and Gil wins this time. Now, Gil has the Zeras-vs-Gil trophy so Zeras's record becomes 0-1 while Gil's becomes 1-0.
Now, before you start asking why didn't both records become 1-1, remember what I said .. EACH battle combination of players is worth ONE trophy. So, basically, whoever wins a battle between two players last, owns the rights to the trophy .. that one single trophy.
Since we are eliminating the experience-based race-for-your-life ranking system, we need a way to rank players. Of course, the first logical way would simply be to rank the players based on the total trophies you possess. However, this would create a race and conservative fighting situation all over again. For example, let's say I beat 10 players and go 10-0. Now, three of them get stronger and beat me so they get their trophies back dropping me to 7-3. Now, what would you do? Try to get those trophies back from those players who are much stronger now or go after lowbies who are easy targets? Each option will provide one trophy per win. You take the path of least resistance of course and farm the lowbies/newbies.
So, I came up with a very creative idea. The new rankings will be based on Status (PVP) Points. The formula for status points is:
For positive (winning) records:status_points = trophies_won + (trophies_won - trophies_lost)
For negative (losing) records:status_points = trophies_won
If your record is 20-13, your status points would be calculated like this:
status_points = 20 + (20 - 13) = 20 + 7 = 27
Here is the fun part. Let's say Zeras and Gil are both 20-13 .. Zeras then attacks Gil and wins. Zeras's record goes to 21-13 with a status point total of 29. Gil's record goes to 20-14 with a status point total of 26. That one win yielded a 3 point net gain for Zeras over Gil. Now, Gil sees that he lost to Zeras and wants his trophy back. He attacks Zeras and wins. Now, Zeras's record goes to 20-14 with 26 status points while Gil goes to 21-13 with 29 status points.
Now, you may be wondering .. why do this? It sounds complicated? It is not really. I explained it in a lot more detail with a lot more examples so everyone would understand it more quickly. The basic information is this:
Fight a new player and win, you gain 2 status points (only 1 if you have a losing record)
Fight a new player and lose, you lose 1 status point (none if you have a losing record)
Fight a previous player you lost to and win, you gain 3 status points (only 1 if you have a losing record)The bottom line: The reason for this is that it forces players to win back battles (trophies) they lost rather than farm lowbie players.
For example, let's say you just joined EverWars today and started playing. Well, what are you going to do? Most likely attack the players at the bottom of the rankings hoping to get lucky until you win some items or gold to buy items. Let's say you beat 15 players today. Those 15 players now have incentive to not only battle you again, but also beat you to gain a net of up to 3 points per battle since you previously beat them.
So, when you go to bed, you may be in first place on the rankings. When you wake up, you very well may have dropped off the first page of rankings if there are enough players playing.
This new concept creates a much more dynamically changing ranking system and makes battles with specific players mean a lot more. It also allows players to organise and go after the leaders to cause them to lose status points which lowers their ranking. It's not just about catching the leaders, it is also about causing the leaders to drop back down toward you as well.
This will put the game's real focus on player-vs-player and will make player rankings mean a lot more to you and every other player.
We need your comments on this. While this change is already being implemented, we really want to hear your complaints, compliments, suggestions, concerns, etc.
-Zeras
We are about to implement a major change to the ranking system.
Let me start by saying that our goal in creating a new EverWars (will call it EW2 for simplicity) type of game was to eliminate all of the flaws and shortcomings in the original game (EW1). For the most part, this has worked out very well. In fact, it has worked out much better than I ever expected or even hoped it would.
During the beta testing process, one thing has been a painful reminder of one of the major flaws not only in EW1 but just about every EW1 type of game ever created. That flaw is in the ranking system. Ignoring the fact that the item database has yet to be adjusted since beta began, the rankings have still turned into a race. In a race, the strategy is simple .. start fast, get a lead and get conservative.
I cannot stand that. Not to mention, EW2 will not have monthly resets. Instead, it will use a 30-day revolving battle system. Basically, this means that every day, the previous 31st day's battle logs and all wins/loses/etc. gained on that day will be deleted. So, after 30-60 days, you will find that the leaders have hit a virtual wall and many other players will catch them and at that point, the top of the rankings will be saturated with a large number of players all tied for the lead. The only way to lose the lead would be to miss one or more battle credits or to quit the game.
Of course, I could also simply reset the battle logs completely each month and leave all characters, items, skills, etc. However, then we would be back to the "race is on" situation.
Another concern is that with the current rankings system, the battles are for the most part one-way. Meaning, when you beat someone, it has no effect (positive or negative) on the player you beat. As far as they are concerned, the battle never happened. This makes the game less of a PVP game and more like a PVE game where all other players are turned into NPC's (non-playable characters) for you to battle. One of the things in EW1 that I loved was the ability to taunt players into attacking you because you could actually benefit from being attacked and winning the battle.
Therefore, we have decided to make a major concept change in the rankings. The new concept is a great idea if i do say so myself but I also understand change is often feared and at times misunderstood. Many of you have commented on how much fun EW2 is to play .. well, IMO, the new ranking system makes the game even more fun.
The New Ranking System
The new ranking system will be what is currently referred to as the PVP Ranking system albeit with a few adjustments. For those of you not familiar with the PVP Ranking system, this is an overview of how it works.
NOTE: In the following area, I am using the word "trophy" but it is only a word chosen to make the example easier to follow.
First, each battle combination of players is worth one trophy. So, for example, Zeras attacks Gil and wins .. Zeras wins the Zeras-vs-Gil trophy. Zeras's overall trophy record is 1-0 while Gil's is 0-1. Later, Gil sees that he lost a Trophy to Zeras so he attacks Zeras and Gil wins this time. Now, Gil has the Zeras-vs-Gil trophy so Zeras's record becomes 0-1 while Gil's becomes 1-0.
Now, before you start asking why didn't both records become 1-1, remember what I said .. EACH battle combination of players is worth ONE trophy. So, basically, whoever wins a battle between two players last, owns the rights to the trophy .. that one single trophy.
Since we are eliminating the experience-based race-for-your-life ranking system, we need a way to rank players. Of course, the first logical way would simply be to rank the players based on the total trophies you possess. However, this would create a race and conservative fighting situation all over again. For example, let's say I beat 10 players and go 10-0. Now, three of them get stronger and beat me so they get their trophies back dropping me to 7-3. Now, what would you do? Try to get those trophies back from those players who are much stronger now or go after lowbies who are easy targets? Each option will provide one trophy per win. You take the path of least resistance of course and farm the lowbies/newbies.
So, I came up with a very creative idea. The new rankings will be based on Status (PVP) Points. The formula for status points is:
For positive (winning) records:status_points = trophies_won + (trophies_won - trophies_lost)
For negative (losing) records:status_points = trophies_won
If your record is 20-13, your status points would be calculated like this:
status_points = 20 + (20 - 13) = 20 + 7 = 27
Here is the fun part. Let's say Zeras and Gil are both 20-13 .. Zeras then attacks Gil and wins. Zeras's record goes to 21-13 with a status point total of 29. Gil's record goes to 20-14 with a status point total of 26. That one win yielded a 3 point net gain for Zeras over Gil. Now, Gil sees that he lost to Zeras and wants his trophy back. He attacks Zeras and wins. Now, Zeras's record goes to 20-14 with 26 status points while Gil goes to 21-13 with 29 status points.
Now, you may be wondering .. why do this? It sounds complicated? It is not really. I explained it in a lot more detail with a lot more examples so everyone would understand it more quickly. The basic information is this:
Fight a new player and win, you gain 2 status points (only 1 if you have a losing record)
Fight a new player and lose, you lose 1 status point (none if you have a losing record)
Fight a previous player you lost to and win, you gain 3 status points (only 1 if you have a losing record)The bottom line: The reason for this is that it forces players to win back battles (trophies) they lost rather than farm lowbie players.
For example, let's say you just joined EverWars today and started playing. Well, what are you going to do? Most likely attack the players at the bottom of the rankings hoping to get lucky until you win some items or gold to buy items. Let's say you beat 15 players today. Those 15 players now have incentive to not only battle you again, but also beat you to gain a net of up to 3 points per battle since you previously beat them.
So, when you go to bed, you may be in first place on the rankings. When you wake up, you very well may have dropped off the first page of rankings if there are enough players playing.
This new concept creates a much more dynamically changing ranking system and makes battles with specific players mean a lot more. It also allows players to organise and go after the leaders to cause them to lose status points which lowers their ranking. It's not just about catching the leaders, it is also about causing the leaders to drop back down toward you as well.
This will put the game's real focus on player-vs-player and will make player rankings mean a lot more to you and every other player.
We need your comments on this. While this change is already being implemented, we really want to hear your complaints, compliments, suggestions, concerns, etc.
-Zeras