I have been playing this game for almost a month now, and despite I like it , there’s something that is completely killing the fun out of the game.
This is what people refer to in discord as smurfing (aka high ranked God league players playing new accounts). I’m pretty sure players do this because they are bored etc, or because they got everything and want to start afresh, but the result is that new players get discouraged to keep playing the game.
And it’s not a game or two that I play against smurfs, it’s one… after another…after another… and once they hit God rank they create a new account and rinse and repeat. It’s not fun constantly losing vs people who are supposed to be around your level, and your same level of skill, cards etc , but instead losiong miserable in a onesided match that is only fun for the smurfer.
Nobody seems to care about this. Mods on discord are ok about this. So smurf is actually encouraged , and I don’t understand.
I realize the game has been around for a while, and people wants new content and resorts to this, but this is actually ruining the game for new players, and a game without an influx of new players dies soon. I’m very sure it’s fun to “pwn” new players but if smurf doesn’t stop you will end up being the core top 100 playing against each other endlessly since every new player gets discouraged as someone rank 20 overpowers them completely every game.
The sole reason I bother explaining is because I like the game and I feel player feedback is listened to.
I think after having played a month I’m going to take a break and see if it has changed when I come back. I have no idea how to fix the smurfing, but basically making it a 5 second ordeal to make a new account doesn’t help.
I’m sorry to hear that @Jebo1976 I don’t know if I have ever played against a smurf. I wouldn’t even know how to tell. The community is small but growing which is probably what contributes to the overlap in players of various skill levels. As the game continues to get new players and grow hopefully people will not feel like they are playing against smurfs, but players that are their skill level.
I understand but basicly it’s people that don’t make a single mistake, they run the best meta decks without any subsitutes, they are never on the discord chat (under that name) and in a few occasions I have seen the boasting about it on the discord chat.
I guess as you say it’s a direct consequence of the playerbase being so small. We will see, I love the community in general in this game and they have been very helpful to me to get me started, but smurfing is frowned upon in every other game I see, except here. Even top players make videos and stream how they are doing with their smurfs, which I find shocking.
Anyways, keep up the good job, you got lots of good things here, organize events and found a way to get people engaged (by giving perks etc). Those things are steps in the right direction and build a solid community. Let’s hope one day this smurf phase goes away. And at the end of the day, it’s just my opinion, but thanks for hearing me out.
Anyone who quits because they lose to a far better player multiple times is hardly that invested in the game to begin with. Anyways, how do you know that the people you consistently lose to are smurfs of “God Ranked Players”? There are a lot of assumptions made in your post that keep me from taking you seriously. Examples include:
“If smurf doesn’t stop you will end up with the top 100 players endlessly playing against each other”
“Every new player gets discouraged as someone rank 20 overpowers them every game” and the thing I previously mentioned about you assuming that a lot of the people you lose to are god rank smurfs.
As a sidenote, I know how condescending my post may seem, and it’s not intentional. Either way though, you seem to be very calm about your complaints, which is nice to see.
There isn’t and nor will there ever be any way to prevent smurfs, so you’re going to have to deal with it in any competitive game that you play.
Given that the community is so small that low ranked players are already matched against high ranked players, it doesn’t make a lot of difference anyway. You could say it’s a slight improvement, since smurf accounts are less likely to have a full collection.
Remember that the more the game grows, the more likely you are to be matched against equal opponents, since high smurf population and poor matchmaking results are both symptoms of a game which needs more players.
If you don’t like the competitive modes at the moment, be sure to check out the new solo Pandora!
@cynic thanks for replying. I’m completely ok with being beaten by a far better player, and at the end of the day learn and adapt. What I’m not ok with is playing someone who is well out of my league because smurfing it’s so extended here, condoned and accepted. I would post examples in the discord chat, but I don’t want to shame anyone. I just feel it is a problem and it should be addressed that is all.
I tried my best to tell this in a constructive manner, but at the end of the day it’s correct, those are merely my opinions and my point of view as a new player.
Even the players who steamroll you might not be smurfs. I haven’t been playing that long, and I’ve mostly been playing solo and pandora, not much in the battle mode. After finishing solo I’ve finally started trying to build a proper competitive deck(without outside guides or anything, no meta knowledge), and my first mono-blue control deck has been steamrolling most opponents(it does struggle with burn decks and some finely-tuned fatty/board control decks).
I think it may be a matter of perspective. I understand no one likes losing and it’s not fun in games where you felt under the pump all game. But at the same time, it’s a great privilege and learning experience to be able to play the very best players in the game. There is a reason god rank exists, so that those top players don’t have to waste their time playing casual players. In chess, an amateur would need to pay a lot of money and have some connections to be able to play top grandmasters.
We can always play casual if we want a less stressful and relaxing game.
I completely agree with xploring. This weird matchmaking made me play against a god twice at rank 8, and even though i got crushed i got to see some sweet decks and land positioning. You should start looking for value in defeat, since thats when you best see your mistakes and what differentiates you from the very best.
Loosing is not fun. Lets be frank and honest here, and drop that “you’re privilaged!” thing. Its great to be able to do so once in a while, but saying it’s great to loose all the time is streaching it a bit thin.
OP came here because he feels bad about loosing. Lets not be these guys and tell him he needs to learn to have fun the right way…
