ToT Post Season Feedback

sayswhoto · September 2023

A lot of this feedback is toward competitive matches in the leaderboard ranking. And I'm not trying to promote a YouTube channel. The video is here just to reinforce the points (actually made the channel just to post this video).

I didn't end the season this high, but posting to show I made an attempt in competitive. Ironically, if I played less ToT, I would've been a lot closer to this rank at end of season.

Feedback & Examples:

This video shows how quickly a game can spiral out of control, and it's incredibly frustrating. In this video, I'm the fortunate receiver of all the good cards, but I've been in countless situations from the other side as well. You can see my opponents concedes and probably within the time limit the concede penalty would apply because it's just not worth playing out this game. Keep in mind this is ranked play and can lead to large drops in leaderboard standings just for something completely out of your control.

The only mistake my opponent made (if you can even call it a mistake) is revealing a Luxury Exports after buying a card for deck thinning, a reasonable move. However, a few turns later at the end of the video, I get a massive advantage. My opponent not making a writ out of the 1 power cards can't really be a fault for this game, although in general it may be. It would've required guessing the right 1 power card at the start (Red Eagle) to make a writ out of it in order to get the 8 gold at the very end.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJoyk3f9mqw

Once ranking is lost, it can take hours to recover the prior standing based on how games go. I've given it a try, and it's not a time commitment I'm willing to make.

General remarks:

Being punished for buying cards from the Tavern because a better card can replace it is not fun. It adds to the strategy and assessment of probabilities, but too much at the cost of having any fun. Passing turn after turn because neither player wants to buy a bad card and potentially reveal a good card is absurd.
The RNG in this game is very apparent. Towards the upper rankings, you tend to face the same player repeatedly when queuing. The games sometimes just go back and forth with one person crushing the other and vice versa. This could be due to the fact that the deciding factor is more luck of the draw than skill. If skill was more involved, I would've expected to see some closer games.

However, I do want to end on a positive note. Here are some things that I feel ToT did very well:

Even playing base. No need to buy cards packs. Everyone has access to the same cards. I know this contributes to some of my complaints above, but I feel this is a great and fair system from an access perspective.
The general art style aligns very well to the theme and atmosphere of the game.
The ToT story campaign was surprisingly good for having to be centered around battling people with a card game.

Personofsecrets · September 2023

Thank you for writing this analysis.

As you point out, the opponent could have done a couple of different things, but your general idea is still spot on.

There is alot of pressure to buy from the tavern, especially when the opponent is ahead. With a little bit of misfortune, a position quickly spirals out of control.

Rajhin games are notorious for this type of play. Especially now, players try to abuse the starting position to get Pounce and Profit or Grand Larceny without the opponent having a say in the matter. That is another line of play that directly leads to winning more by having enough gold to purchase House Marketplace on the next round.

We should take a long hard look at gold generators, and how they impact the longer game. The fact that Luxury Export increases economy over a coin by 2 and still allows one to increase their economy even further by making a Writ of Coin is toxic. Luxury Exports, bare minimum, should cost 4. (we wouldn't have to worry so muchabout the 2nd player buying it and writing so much because player 1 would have already had the chance to by the Exports in many cases)

We could examine the power of House Marketplace as well. As evident from this game, it isn't that hard to buy and when it is played, it can create a dibilitatingly exposive turn. It really does too much for it's cost and that is especially when looking at some of the cards in the game that cost more than Marketplace.

Ebony Mine and Kwama Egg too are sort of wacky fun house cards. They too should probably cost more. Presumable the whole reason the opponent purchased the Mine and inadvertantly revealed the House Marketplace was because they saw how many Delmene cards you already had and didn't want to risk the Mine providing extreme value on a future turn. I once had an opponent purchase a 10 cost Hlallu Councilor on their very first turn because of these cards. That's rediculous to say the least.

It's so easy to see when games are determined by the power level of the cards rather than relative difference in skill between the players. And yet you are right about the huge point losses still ocurring. Perhaps a game cannot have the wisdom to grant players score based on their skillful play, but that is exactly why designers should strive to make both cards and a ranking system that is as balanced as possible rather than swingy. That way the exceptional can rise to the top with fewer questions.

NoSoup · September 2023

That game was far from over and ended far too early to say you were going to go on with the win. Opponent still had plenty of opportunity to win it from there.

My take from this video is that your opponent either A had something better to do or B is just looking for a quick game to get the daily and not at all concerned about their leaderboard rank. I've gone on to win plenty of games from far worse positions than that and I doubt any player genuinely chasing leaderboard positions would have conceded so early.

sayswhoto · September 2023

Personofsecrets wrote: »

Thank you for writing this analysis.

We should take a long hard look at gold generators, and how they impact the longer game.

Agreed. Early game economy is a major indicator of whether a game will be a win or a loss. The examples you mentioned for Rajhin and Hlaalu need to be looked at from a game balance perspective, along with other gold generators.

Personofsecrets wrote: »

Thank you for writing this analysis.

Perhaps a game cannot have the wisdom to grant players score based on their skillful play, but that is exactly why designers should strive to make both cards and a ranking system that is as balanced as possible rather than swingy. That way the exceptional can rise to the top with fewer questions.

Definitely. Ranking system needs some adjustment.

NoSoup wrote: »

That game was far from over and ended far too early to say you were going to go on with the win. Opponent still had plenty of opportunity to win it from there.

I would agree if there was a patron like Crow in the game, which has more potential to regain advantage. However, the patrons in this game aren't really like that. It's possible I could've still lost but unlikely and probably not worth the time to find out.