Messages In This Thread

Samura| · 09-24-2012, 05:08 PM

(09-24-2012 04:41 AM)Ravernoth Wrote: Here's a post from Alex last month which shows that reducing FTA is a low priority:

(08-02-2012 03:42 AM)onealexleft Wrote:
(07-31-2012 01:20 AM)ArtNJ Wrote: Alex,

So the community can more intelligently talk about the first turn advantage, can we get some data? Specifically:

1. Are you able to look at the % of time player 1 wins the game across all League games?

In beta yes, right now in production no. But our analysis tools need to be re-worked as the scale of data is huge and none of our current tools work. I'm really hoping to get back to this, but with more pressing issues of crashes, non-expiring games, and league matches not counting, it's at the bottom of the list right now.

Odds are high that the findings of OML could differ substantially from our own experience. As someone who's been working his way (very slowly) up the league from Fluffy league, I can say that the FTA has not been noticeable. Many people working their way up the league in my position could attain winning streaks of 20 or even 30+ games (even with 75-80% of games as P2), therefore a clear sign that for the vast part of the league, FTA may not have a material effect. I think FTA may only become material once you get to a good Masters league level, and at Super Titan. So my guess is that OML's league-wide average of P1 vs P2 wins would not be as heavily skewed as our World Cup tournament suggests if, as should be the case, there's a long tail of matches played with skill levels of Gifted or lower. So I think if OML performs this analysis, it needs to be done for games at the highest level only to get a true reflection of the advantages of FTA.

At the moment, I quite enjoy the challenge of playing as P2, but in the higher leagues it would seem unfair to award points evenly when P2 appears to be at a clear disadvantage that's much more difficult to overcome as games become more competitive. This unfairness is what incentives match queuing for people trying to work their way up the league. So that's one area that seems to need addressing.

I'm inclined to tinker less, but agree that there's a P1 advantage. Would suggest perhaps 7 wit rather than the mathematically 'fair' number of 8, to err on the side of caution with regards to how much this could change gameplay, given there's also the significant flexibility advantage to P2 of having more wit at its disposal in a single early turn, vs P1 starting with 5 of which at least 1-2 are almost 'pre-determined' (eg to gain wit spaces).