plk Posted:

If raiding only gave you a slight competitive edge, even fewer people would do it.

Fewer than the 7 to 10 players currently raiding? This isn’t going to be the winning argument. As a whole the other several hundred players are going to say – awesome! As far as I can see, since Brainfreeze stopped raiding, Domination as an end game is down to a core of 7 raiding E2B players and a few E2B who might make the raid, but might not.

Either a serious adjustment needs to be made or the option just needs to go. It’s like a restaurant that keeps offering haggis as the main attraction because the owner and chef really ****ing love haggis. Cool, enjoy your haggis, but the rest of your customers are going next door for a burger or a nice chicken Kiev. It doesn’t mean the guys who love haggis are wrong, it just means no one is going to sit down to dinner with them.

The point in making some changes is that it’s a better idea to sacrifice the way a very, very small percent of the players, myself included, have been playing to ensure that the overwhelming majority have fun. More competition and more interaction will encourage more players to get into the game, and in the long run that is going to be more fun than what is going on. If the dedicated raiders can’t have fun with changes, if they can’t find new ways to work together without needing 3 times the scoops other players get then frankly they weren’t very good in the first place. Honestly, given the overwhelming numbers, if E2B or any group that has a serious body advantage, can’t take 2 of the 3 medals in one of the top brackets without any klan vanilla it’s pretty freaking sad.

The way I see it each aspect of the game gives a certain scoop advantage:

Speeding forums - average of 80 scoops
Doing pistachio loops - 30 - 70 scoops
Gambling - 35 scoops
Forumbuildr - unlimited, but realistically 0 - 100 max
INCIT (when it was active) - unlimited, but realistically 0 - 100 max
Solo vanilla (depending on whether it's worth 1 scoop or 8) - 25 - 200 scoops
Klan vanilla (depending on whether a player can attend 2 or 3 raids) - 500 - 750 scoops

One of these things is not like the others. A klan player who attends one good raid and uses 12 visits earns more scoops than a solo player can earn using 36 visits. Over the course of a week a klan player should get a benefit, but taking the time to raid should offer an edge, not allow a group to predetermine winners before scoops are even earned. I can see a really reasonable raiding benefit being an extra 100 scoops a week. That is 25 extra cards or scoops to absorb attacks or to kill competitors scoops. A clear and worthwhile advantage, but not so overwhelming that it literally shuts out 98% of those playing the game. Maybe a theme week returning klan vanilla to it’s previous state of 12-12-12, so it’s less of a commitment, but putting a hard cap on it, so once the scoops are earned there is no need to make the sacrifice to raid again that week. I’ve been opposed to a hard cap for a long time, but if solo vanilla stays at 8 and we see a few new Dom cards a hard cap might not be a bad thing.