I’ve had first-hand experience this past week and a half or so of getting a bunch of scoops just because I clicked “join raid” at the right time (more on that when I finally get around to writing up my latest travelogue entry). And people have complained about those who can gamble (or write bots to do so), raid, etc., when they don’t have the same ability. And from those who can’t play in the last few minutes when winners are really solidified.

I’ve come up with a way to possibly alleviate all that, to balance the game so you can compete no matter what your playing ability is, and possibly also take out the sense of frustration of people who can’t play in the last few minutes. So I’m going to throw it out to you guys who have done more analysis of Domination to see if it makes sense.

The idea is: non-static pods. Or rather, non-static placement in pods.

Redo the structure so the pod placements are based on scoops earned, starting with 4. So the lowest pod is 4-7 scoops, then 8-11, then 12-15, etc. As you earn scoops, you’re moved from pod to pod. Trading in scoops for cards doesn’t change your pod, nor does having scoops destroyed or stolen or created through Modest Improvement or other cards; it’s solely scoops earned that determine your placement. And yes, I split the pods on the number of cards you could potentially buy intentionally.

Then, award medals only when there’s a three-way tie or less, and only in pods which have at least five players. (Not sure of these numbers; those of you with more analysis will probably want to tweak them.) This is to prevent heavy raiders from putting themselves so far out that no one can catch them; they’d need to stay within the playing range to be rewarded. You’d also need to strategize at the lower levels in order to not tie.

Next, allow only one alt per raid. This would be to limit the higher-tiered pods so one couldn’t use their alts (a paid-for service) in a large-raid klan to give themselves huge advantages over those who didn’t spend money.

Also, allow raid members to drop out of raids whenever they like, but once out, they can’t come back in. This is to allow klans who raid to not have to compete only against themselves, but need to strategize who goes into which tiered pod as part of the play if they want to benefit multiple members.

Finally, disable raids and card-play against others immediately after the forum visits refresh on Wednesday. This is an effort to diminish the impact of people who can’t play right when the round ends, by giving a somewhat stable environment, as well as the ability to gain more, but not unlimited, scoops (and still allow movement from pod to pod right near the end, which could inadvertently allow someone else to medal in the pod you’re leaving!).

So — is this idea just full of holes? Or worth further discussion?