Pros:
The great part about this, imo, is that even if a guild drops several Brackets for whatever reason,
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It should be just as easy to climb back up for doing well or for hard work
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They should still be in a section of the Brackets that largely corresponds with their level of play
The proposal would mean that a more even distribution of scores amongst GW Brackets would more quickly be reached than what is currently in place.
At the moment – without full access to Bracket data, of course – we still have lower-scoring guilds mixed in with higher-scoring guilds in the upper Brackets, and vice-versa in the lower; and I don’t even know if we’re halfway towards reaching a rough ‘equilibrium’, so to speak, following the changes to Bracket calculations that allowed for jumping several at once (also at bottom of post!).
Counters:
The main explanation I’ve seen for why progression remains slow is as follows:
Understanding this post does require a bit of context, though, so I recommend checking out the entire thread.
Nonetheless:
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The time taken to rise up the Brackets for PC/Mobile is well beyond 6-10 months
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I’d really like to see some examples of these top guilds that had to spend even 1 year entirely in uncompetitive Brackets with rewards akin to Brackets 100+
- This isn’t intended to be inflammatory or divisive – if examples exist, the perspective would be much appreciated
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Things don’t always have to be the way they were. We’ve seen this in many forms already:
- The game shifting in directions that some veteran players don’t always like
- Acknowledging that the class change fee was no longer necessary or beneficial to the game
- Gems being sold for less $/Gem in a Gem Sale than the week before
If a better way of doing something comes along, I think we should jump aboard.
Potential for Bracket gaming:
The only other problem or counterpoint that I can see at the moment is the increased potential to game Brackets for the newly introduced 50 Gem reward for winning a Bracket – however this is really only feasible between Brackets 99 and 100, and I think the level of reward for the effort required, and the number of additional guilds it might affect (beyond those currently able to do so) is so marginal it’s barely worth considering, realistically. If the possibility was wanted to be removed entirely, the reward could be adjusted to a meagre 15 Gems for winning any Bracket in the 100+ region (as 10+15 gives the same reward as the tier above). I’d only suggest or be okay with this if progression from Bracket ~400 to Bracket 100 was much quicker.
The Bracket Victory reward; personal thoughts
On the subject of the newly-introduced reward for winning a Bracket, I appreciate it as a gesture of good will, and I’m hoping it’s a temporary offering to appease us while they work on a more permanent solution – because while appreciated, I really don’t think it addresses all of the concerns that have been raised with regards to GW progression.
I think it’s hard to know what the devs’ thoughts are here – all they’ve said in the patch notes is:
Engagement on the subject is critical, imo. I believe active listening should include confirming with the other party that you’ve understood.
We do however know that Sirrian historically wanted something like this:
Suggested reading for GW Brackets:
- Guild Wars and Rankings (Original introduction of GW Brackets)
- Guild Wars Bracket System - Has it been addressed in 3.3? (GW changed to every 3 weeks, community concern over climbing brackets)
- Climbing up Guild Wars brackets - Case example: Gems of Thr0nes (PS4)
@ChunkyMono I appreciate your continued efforts here.