It would be nice if there was a counter showing how many players are in the queue. Then if I see it's just 1 I'd assume it's that same player again and I won't bother.

Sometimes waiting 3 to 5 minutes can reduce the chance of getting same opponent in the next match. Since it’s 2 players match once 2nd players enters the queue you get match so if both you queue right way after the last match it increases the odds you get paired again

I think it depends on the time you are playing. I find a greater variety of players when I'm playing earlier during the day. From my experience I actually noticed more new names lately.

Well I played earlier than usual a couple of times and got different opponents. But the time I like to play before logging off for the night appears that many aren't playing then. I'll just adjust my play time for now. I don't play every day, anyway.

I've not encountered many players running the clock down - I feel I've encountered players that could be using external tools - as they wait before placing even just gold cards - but they dont run the clock to the limit and make their moves fast once they start.

Kappachi wrote: »

Northwold wrote: »

valenwood_vegan wrote: »

I've heard this complaint from others in my guild before - I get the feeling that the pool of people playing ToT through the queue has grown quite small. And perhaps the number of people doing unranked is even smaller. Just going with my own thinking on this, but if I was more into ToT and comfortable enough to be up for playing random strangers at all, I feel like I'd be willing to enter the ranked queue at that point.

A slight tangent but I stopped playing against other players, effectively permanently, because I got so sick of players deliberately running down the clock as a game tactic. It ruined the game and I wish ZOS had done something about it. I assume (though no idea) I'm not the only one.

Running the clock down is a legitimate strategy in that you are thinking out all of your moves. there was a guy in Hearthstone nicknamed Rope Coach because he'd always be planning ahead, thinking of his next moves. in ToT you can see the remaining cards in your deck, the potential cards you could grab next turn, your opponents remaining deck cards... I'm not saying that's what these players are doing but if I've ever roped someone in ToT it's been because I'm considering all the potentialities, usually just once or twice during a very long game though to plan my next plan more effectively.

It's definitely not what the majority of people I've experienced this with are doing, unfortunately. They're leaving it until just before the hourglass turns in many cases to do anything at all, trying to get you to concede so they get their win.

@ZOS_JessicaFolsom

A guildy today wrote that they were considering giving up on ToT because they played against the number 1 ranked player in casual mode close to 30 times in a row.

I've brought the issue of casual mode causing such bad experiences and the issue hasn't been addressed. This was probably years ago when I first pointed it out.

ToT doesn't have to be something that so many players dislike. There are so many ways that it could be better and instead of such changes, the most recent patch for ToT involved a really nich mechanic that has little to no practical impact on what is probably like 99% of games.

I don't get it.

Personofsecrets wrote: »

@ZOS_JessicaFolsom

A guildy today wrote that they were considering giving up on ToT because they played against the number 1 ranked player in casual mode close to 30 times in a row.

I've brought the issue of casual mode causing such bad experiences and the issue hasn't been addressed. This was probably years ago when I first pointed it out.

ToT doesn't have to be something that so many players dislike. There are so many ways that it could be better and instead of such changes, the most recent patch for ToT involved a really nich mechanic that has little to no practical impact on what is probably like 99% of games.

I don't get it.

Yes, that's been happening lately. Since I do not care about ranking, when I'm matched in casual against #1, I concede immediately, switch toons and go to play ranked mode where I normally stay below rank 100. So, matching against top players does not happen there.

SilverBride wrote: »

I get more than one opponent now but they all repeat. It's the same handful of players over and over. I don't know if they are on the leaderboard but I will start writing down their names and check.

I think the pool of players is really small at this point.

edit: at least on PCNA

ZOS_JessicaFolsom wrote: »

Hey all, just wanted to note that we see this discussion and are sharing it with the Systems team. Thank you for sharing your experiences (and challenges) with us.

Thank you for writing. A few of my observations over the years are as follows.

While I don't play much casual mode currently, mid 2024, I had recorded 2000 games in the casual mode and recorded a 90% win rate. I had played more games previous to starting the data recording. This was quite literally an experience that I did due to my frustrations with different parts of ranked mode that I felt were going unadressed by development.

The reason that some ranked players go to casual mode is multifaceted.

1.) There is a large point loss for losing once once has established oneself on the ladder.

2.) Along with that fact, the game has punishing random elements with little to no counterplay. So for some high ranking players, there isn't enough incentive to keep playing ranked due to the risk of lost points on games that were determined more by factors of chance than agency. It also seems like the developers are not able to solve the RNG seeding issue that seems inherent to ESO as a whole and causes some of these gameplay problems.

3.) And the issue of randomness is conjoined with the issue of poor balance on some key cards. I've talked about a number of overly strong cards over the years. Currently, the gamestates forced by the Alessia Patron ability and some Mora cards, especially Voracious Tomeshell, make games more of a lottery than a game that is worthy of a ranked play mode.

4.) Additionally, this issue seems less bad for some reason now, but I had documented that problems with the que for ranked games taking too long was also pushing me to the casual mode. I noted that I thought merging the game modes would be a solution to the que timer issue, but some other players didn't like that idea.

I'm sure that I've written more about all of these issues, but these ideas should be good enough to get the point accross about some of ToTs pain points which have helped create the kind of environment that exists today.

Overall, philosophies that are popular in card game design such as "stop worrying and play the card" or "try to make players feel strongly, not good," should be thrown in the trash. I'm a little bit worried that the ToT designers are of these philosophical design schools.

Unless ToT is made appealing to the vast majority of players who neither enjoy nor engage with it, repeat opponents will continue to rise.

The only time new players appear is when an endeavor or golden pursuit requires it, and even then, they participate reluctantly.

Personofsecrets wrote: »

SummersetCitizen wrote: »

Unless ToT is made appealing to the vast majority of players who neither enjoy nor engage with it, repeat opponents will continue to rise.

The only time new players appear is when an endeavor or golden pursuit requires it, and even then, they participate reluctantly.

Quite honestly, people should be made to engage with ToT in such a way.

ESO is all about helping players into content that they may not otherwise participate in. I would play ToT to get antiquities if I could. Me having to go out into the open world and get them that way instead is good for the game.

Players should not be made to engage with ToT, or any activities they have no interest in. Every player isn't going to be interested in everything the game offers and that's ok.

I remember trying for a music box lead that took me about 60 games before I got it. That didn't encourage me to play but felt more like torture.