Regarding Domination:

This is the crux. A large portion of players do want to be able to play on a competitive level without putting in enough time to plan their visits to get pistachios. I think that is pretty asinine. I’m really thinking these would be the players who swear horribly at some of my friends who play WoW with “twinking” characters. (OMG, how unfair of you to be beating me because you took the time to get the best possible equipment and go into the pvp arena with it, how dare you?)

I’ve mentioned it before, and will say again, I have no sympathy for those players. They will lose the vast majority of the time whether klan vanilla exists or not. If you don’t have time to run visits, if you don’t take the time to plan for pistachio, if you don’t bother to gamble for antifreeze – duh. You will lose unless you get into one of those uber slack brackets, and you will deserve to lose. You are a casual player. Casual. Play for fun. Real casual players generally do not expect to reap some sort of reward from their play. When it happens it’s a cool thing, but when the true casual player gets in a bracket with serious players they tend to just plod along and not worry about it because next week will come.

I can guarantee that the “casual” players who complain about klan vanilla would be just as unhappy about things if klan vanilla was eliminated. Feel free. Turn off klan vanilla completely for a couple of months. I’m willing to bet the majority of players who are willing to do what is necessary to raid, still end up in the cutthroat brackets because they are willing to plan and play. Removing klan vanilla could be a big boost for Forumbuildr as those who are looking to maximize scoops would likely start using all their submissions in an attempt at chocolate scoops.

Now what we have in Domination is actually a bunch of e-peen/medal whores who insist they want to play “casually”, yet they fully expect to be able to win medals/peens. Winning medals/peens/trophies whatever is not playing casually.

It is those who are doing everything they can as a solo player, including playing for solo vanilla, that I would like to see a change happen for. They bust their bum, and sometimes they manage to overcome the klan players. They are hardcore and impressive. They deserve to have a better level of balance brought to Domination. A better balance would also make the majority of klan players happy, since it would up the competition level.

The suggestion to split solo vs klan players is a really old one. I don’t know how it would work. I think people would be surprised at how many “klan” players chose the solo option. I’d certainly be game to see it played out.

Malaise, you should consider posting on Flamebate more. You are a decent subtle troll. Unfortunately I’m not interested. Play hard or don’t expect a reward. As I keep saying, I don’t give a crap about the so called casual players, they aren’t actually playing, imo. I feel for those like Pluvius, Amasius, stopstaring – they play hard and because of it are stuck in brackets with all the klan jackbumes. I understand fully what you have been saying, but I never asked for anyone to make the game more enjoyable for me. Of course I would like to enjoy it more, I miss the pvp based game, but my e-peen whore side is simply stronger than my pvp side. I want the medal, so I can get the peen. Until peens were attached I pretty much played exclusively to grief. Most fun I ever had was in one of the top 2 or 3 brackets with Natalie and MySpaceTom. We just kept that board clean. No scoops for anyone. I like nothing better than to see the whole bracket with zero scoops. Anyone who has played for awhile probably got into a bracket with me and knows that yes, I would steal their only scoop when there was no good reason to do so. Hell, I was extra aggressive with my alt called War and people started warning players when I showed up in a bracket. That was outstanding. Log in to see images! I stopped when they attached e-peens. Overall, I really don’t think what makes me happy Dom wise will make anyone else happy. I’m not looking for a fix that accommodates my play preference, I’m looking for a change that makes things more fun for more people with a reasonable, but not insurmountable advantage to those willing to put in the work.

The idea for more players to try raiding is suggested because people are unhappy about losing to raiding klans. I didn’t offer to teach people for my health, I offered because there is a huge misconception that raiding needs to be a second job. Anyway, splitting up raiding klans might make for more active competition for the raiders, but would still leave every other player unhappy. I posted asking for opinions because I look through most of the brackets each week. I see the stall posts of players who are frustrated and annoyed, some have no idea at all how so many scoops could be achieved. It would be nice if some of those isolated players also started coming to Flamebate, making some connections. Pure solo players will rarely stick with a game. If there is no community connection AND they feel like they can’t win, are they going to stick around?

Very simply, I would like a game based solution rather than a player based solution.