New Update 10/15/2014: New Blood Gods Seasons Format!

[Nate]

Season 11 - War of the Ancients

I'm really excited about this update and hope many of you enjoy it. This update sees a lot of changes to the Blood Gods bracket and the Seasons tournament. This is the first big step on the new road map for PoW bringing it back towards its roots and focusing on quality over quantity. This is going to happen in steps and sometimes we might be out of phase with one update implemented and the next not ready yet, making the current environment less than ideal but I'll do my best to work as fast as I can. I still have a couple of wrinkles to iron out (such as the daily rewards), however, in the meantime please see below for more details:

Note, the below only pertains to Blood Gods, Seasons and Primus gladiators who will soon be promoted.

Now, without further ado:

* Seasons are now 4 weeks long instead of 8.
* Blood God gladiators automatically fight (and are resurrected if needed at their owner's expense) once per day at 2pm PST.
* XP and Training Points awarded per fight has been increased in response to fighting less, however, only slightly. A slower pace is intentional. Additional ways to speed up XP for Blood Gods may be introduced later.
* No more patron blood god teams.
* There are two leader boards. Weekly and overall. The weekly leader board resets each week.
* Similar to how the lower brackets work, how well a gladiator does in a fight affects their rating, not just their record.
* Match making is no longer a round robin and is instead based on a gladiator's rating from the overall leader board.
* A gladiator's next opponent is unknown and pulled from a pool of similarly rated gladiators.
* Gladiators can fight teammates if they are closely rated.
* BGP are awarded weekly to all gladiators based on their rating from the overall leader board.
* Bonus BGP are awarded at the end of the season to the top 3 gladiators in each category on the overall leader board.
* Bonus BGP are awarded daily and weekly to the top 3 gladiators in each category on the weekly leader board.
* In the event there are an odd number of gladiators in the Season, the Arena officials will provide an opponent to whoever doesn't get matched up.

With the change to the match making algorithm and the inclusion of a weekly leader board that resets, all gladiators will have a good chance of competing for top spots on it and the Blood God bracket will be far more hospitable for the uninitiated. Promotions from Primus will continue to happen once per week, and as there will be a weekly leader board they'll be able to jump right into the competition. Later a much more interesting and extensive reward system will come online.

Additionally, with the slower pace in Blood Gods of one fight per day instead of 8+, I'm offering anyone who is interested in re-recruiting any of their Hall of Legends gladiators who were once Blood Gods free of charge for a limited time, provided there is room in their stable. If you would like to take me up on this offer, send me a PM ASAP and let me know the names of those HoL gladiators you would like to re-recruit.

As I mentioned above, I'm still tying up some loose ends, if you think you found something strange please let me know. Thanks!

Good luck in the Pit!

-Nate-

[Sotc]

Wins This Week:
1/30
Fights Initiated:
0/55

Are these going to be adjusted? Its no longer possible to meet either of these conditions

[Adoede]

Training points for fights has gone from 32 for eight fights down to 8 for 1 fight (and that's with the stable membership boosts). At that rate it is going to take a loooooong time to re-train my glads to try out different skills and builds. I'd almost rather retire them and start up someone new. Any chance this gets boosted a bit more to give younger managers who are still experimenting with builds a better chance at learning the nuances of the game?

[Rokchewer]

Well. This should be interesting. I do have a few concerns. First, once I get 5 guys in blood gods what is the plan to keep me logging in each day? Logging in once a day to see 1 random fight per guy is not really gonna be very exciting. Hopefully something else in planned as well. I know i can do gauntlet and conquests but neither one of those is something that most managers do for fun. My second concern is for Nate. If I have 5 guys in bloodgods then what is my incentive to turn on any of the memberships? I dont need tokens, I dont need training points (at least not often) Only need energy if I feel like doing pit fights, which is almost impossible to win with a new lvl 50ish guy, 100 energy vs 50 not big deal either or energy refresh rate. My third concern is for the health of the game. You need warriors in all classes for a variety of guys to fight and to keep the game looking alive. There really should be some incentive to make more guys and keep the ranks full. Since guys in blood gods are only sorta running maybe a reward of getting a guy there is another barrack slot so you can make a new guy to level up and keep the shields flowing and the arenas full and fun.

[Kreegan]

I somewhat agree that training point awards need some boost at this point, but this is only if there are no plans to earn them from elsewhere AND if the requirements to get promoted from Primus to Blood Gods stay the same (meaning they don't get increased).

The above (including the ifs) applies to the gold awards, they are minuscule at the moment and the Gauntlet + largely the Conquests will quickly become unaffordable without gold mules in the lower brackets.

I don't think that the players who currently pay cash to maintain the performance of their gladiators will stop doing so. Memberships are relatively cheap and can be maintained to a large extent by the daily trophy drops and the Arena Challenges. Most of the trophies go for activating the 3-6 achievement slots and quickly re-equipping the gladiator (Argh Pirate for example got full legendary outfit literally a few days after ascending from Primus, that's achievable only with heavy trophy spending) so this is likely to remain the same.

That said, I think 2 fights per day will fit the format better. 28 fights per season don't seem much and may lead to awkward positioning depending on the opponents which will not necessarily reflect the given gladiator's real abilities, which in turn might lead to awards going in pretty much random direction. Still, it is premature to pass judgement about this before the first such "season" ends so I'm just putting that here of now.

The rest of the changes are more than welcome.

[Apoca1ypse]

Additionally, the slower pace in Blood Gods of one fight per day instead of 8+, I'm offering anyone who is interested in re-recruiting any of their Hall of Legends gladiators who were once Blood Gods free of charge for a limited time, provided there is room in their stable. If you would like to take me up on this offer, send me a PM ASAP and let me know the names of those HoL gladiators you would like to re-recruit.

HOLYSHIT!!! THIS!!!! There is a PM coming your way right now!

[Dainoji]

Nicely done Nate! I like the idea of the multiple leaderboards, should provide a lot of fun. Being one of the old timers of PoW I remember the days or yore and this new (or rather old) format suites me just fine. Moving up and down the ranks will have a lot more meaning now and the reduced fight frequency already has me looking forward to today's fights with a lot more anticipation than the last few years. Having to wait for something you want and are excited about makes it all the better once you get it. I'll probably start up some new glads as well. I look forward to seeing what's next!

[Dainoji]

My third concern is for the health of the game. You need warriors in all classes for a variety of guys to fight and to keep the game looking alive. There really should be some incentive to make more guys and keep the ranks full. Since guys in blood gods are only sorta running maybe a reward of getting a guy there is another barrack slot so you can make a new guy to level up and keep the shields flowing and the arenas full and fun.

I don't really see this as an issue. Players always retire glads and start up new ones and if you want more to do start a second or third or fourth team. This was what many of us old timers did in the early days of PoW when it was 2 fights per day and 5 tavern runs. Nate has an unofficial official policy of allowing players to start new teams if they already have 5 glads on their previous team (is this still the case Nate?). Some managers had 4 or 5 teams at one point. Same idea applies to your concern Adoede, if you want more to do to learn the nuances of the game sooner, pack your stables to 5 and expand your empire by opening another one.

I can understand those who were not around in the early days of PoW to be apprehensive about the new format for seasons, but take my word for it, it's going to be great. I'm confident many of the old timers still around will say the same thing as we've already been here once and loved it. It takes everything great about PoW and then distills it down and magnifies it into a delicious focused shot of awesome sauce! :cool:

[Dainoji]

28 fights per season don't seem much and may lead to awkward positioning depending on the opponents which will not necessarily reflect the given gladiator's real abilities, which in turn might lead to awards going in pretty much random direction

Would you say the same thing about the Blood Games which is only 2 or 3 more fights and pretty consistently returns a champion that most would agree deserves it.

Fewer fights in my opinion is better. 28 or so fights is enough to determine who is a top glad and still allow for variance. Most professional sports tournaments regardless of the sport determine a winner in 10 or less matches in many cases and less than 30 in the case multiple "best of" series are used. This is generally enough to allow the "best" teams to come out on top but still allow for drama when an upset happens. This is a good thing.

[Prinny]

HOLYSHIT!!! THIS!!!! There is a PM coming your way right now!

Belca and Champloo have already been dusted off...slower fight paces and so on reduce the costs of running the glads by alot and I've always liked those two :)

[Kreegan]

Would you say the same thing about the Blood Games which is only 2 or 3 more fights and pretty consistently returns a champion that most would agree deserves it. In the Blood Games you know the opponent in advance. That doesn't always help as there are builds which you are very likely to lose against with your own no matter what you do but there are also opponents against which changing your strategy (and sometimes even gear) beforehand could make the difference between winning and losing. In Blood Gods we don't have that.

Then there is the chance. Lucky wins or unlucky losses didn't play an incredibly big part in the previous format because the number of fights allowed you to largely compensate for them and score some on your own. Now the seasons are more than 16 times smaller and each fight weights much more. Think KOs for example.

Like I said above, it is premature to pass judgement just yet. Depending on the results though, I think this should be taken into consideration.

[Nate]

Daily/Weekly/End of Season bonus BGP are now implemented.

The previous requirements of needing to win a certain number of fights and initiating a certain number fights has been removed. Bonuses are instead awarded to the top 3 gladiators on each leaderboard based on the type of bonus (daily, weekly, end of season). It is possible for a gladiator to get multiple bonuses for holding multiple top positions (e.g. #2 ranked, #1 rage and #3 Dunder, etc.).

Daily and Weekly bonuses are based off the Weekly leaderboards and the End of Season bonuses are based off of the Overall leaderboards.

Top Movers and Losers leaderboards are only used for the daily bonuses.

Good luck in the Pit!

-Nate-

[Nate]

EDIT: This is now done.

I'm in the process of retroactively awarding the daily BGP bonuses for the first six days of the Season. You won't get any notification as I have to do this manually, you'll just find extra BGP in your gladiators' accounts if they received a bonus. Sorry I didn't have this ready for you all at the start of the Season. I shall kneel down on rock salt for one hour as punishment...

Moving forward, in-game messages will be sent out when BGP are earned.

Good luck in the Pit!

-Nate-

[Nate]

EDIT: This has been fixed.

Looks like there is an issue with the movement data today. Perhaps it got reset a day early. I'll take a look and see what happened.

Good luck in the Pit!

-Nate-

[Nate]

There was a small hiccup today with the matchups. I had a bug in the code where it treated the start of the new week like the start of a new season which caused the matchups to be random instead of based on a gladiator's position on the overall leaderboard. Not the end of the world, however, if you noticed your gladiator was matched up versus another gladiator much higher or lower ranked that is why. This has been fixed.

Good luck in the Pit!

-Nate-

[riggen]

Hey Nate, I was wondering if you had any plans to make retiring blood gods gladiators more convenient. The new system kinda means that even a gladiator with a bit above 900 fights will take ages to get to the point where he can retire.

Wouldn't being part of blood gods pretty much be enough of a requirement for retirement? I mean, besides all the others. Like an extra requirement, that could maybe cancel out the number of fights necesary?

[Apoca1ypse]

That sounds like a good suggestion :)

[Adoede]

These last fights of the season look to be quite interesting. Five glads with a shot at taking the top spot...Looking forward to how it all shakes out.

Unholy Guardian 19 - 8 - 70.4% 2,066
Ahhnold 18 - 9 - 66.7% 1,995
Duke Nukem 18 - 9 - 66.7% 1,989
Seraph Zeta 18 - 9 - 66.7% 1,979
Thornwall 18 - 9 - 66.7% 1,923

[Dainoji]

I was noticing that as well. I've got my money on Unholy Guardian unless he fights Duke and then I'll give the nod to Mr. Nukem! :) This is just one of the many reasons I love the new seasons format!

[Adoede]

Impressive win, Ahhhnold. I thought you'd have trouble against Thornwall. Looking forward to next season already.

[Apoca1ypse]

Commiserations go out to Flashhammer and Unholy Guardian, who was looking solid all season, only to end up 4th. Prettyu sure Seraph Zeta will be on his hit list for a while :P

I got lucky with all my final pairings not leading to a faceoff between Duke and Ahhnold (Arnie would have won) so that I could snare a 1-2 finish. Super tight finish with the final points.

Really happy with Ahhnold's 7-0 this week. Less so about Bruce, who went 3-4 :'(

[Kreegan]

Ahhnold got lucky with disarms (twice) and last minute Rampage against Thornwall (you know that he would have lost otherwise :p) but considering that he was stick in the middle of the bracket most of the season - nicely done.

[Apoca1ypse]

Well if we're pointing out where Ahhnold had a lucky break, Thornwall had some good ones too.

Round 2: Thornwall knocked down, gets back up
Round 6: Ahhnold knocked down, gets back up
Round 8: Thornwall disarmed, picks up generic maul. Thornwall at 20% life, Ahhnold at 85% life.
Round 9: Thornwall gains 950hp from Never say Die, back to 33% life
Round 10: Ahhnold knocked down, gets back up
Round 12: Ahhnold gets disarmed, picks up generic great axe. Thornwall at 25% life, Ahhnold at 40% life.
Round 15: Ahhnold rampages for the win, still over 25% life.

Saying Ahhnold got lucky and that he would have lost without that rampage is a bit of a stretch. The enforcer could have ended it as early as round 8.

[Kreegan]

His got more lucky with the previous fight when Thornwall had to fight with a dagger. And Grim Determination is there so the Enforcer doesn't end the fight after a few bruises. :p

Still, like I said, the brute did very well this week despite his earlier performance and deserves the crown of the season.

[Apoca1ypse]

In that fight, Thornwall was down to 25%hp (Ahhnold at 70%) before he was disarmed. Not having Never Say Die trigger sucked for Thornwall.

It would have been close, but I think Ahhnold would still have been favoured if NSD had triggered and the disarm hadnt occurred.



Tomorrow starts the rematches I suppose :)

[Adoede]

I'm just happy because I discovered Seraph Zeta finished in the top 1-3% and earned my stable a premium slave :cool: (For the noobs out there, that means I can run all 5 HOL glads in my stable and still check the slave market for a new HOL glad everyday in case something amazing turns up.)

[oedi]

remember that the slave market will change if you retire a glad, so that amazing glad will disappear :(, or at least thats how I remember it.

[Adoede]

Really? Well, that makes the prize essentially worthless for stables with 5 HOL glads. Can anyone else confirm that's what happens? I'd rather know that before I retire someone needlessly only to lose the opportunity to buy the HOL slave I thought I was trading for.

[Dainoji]

Oedi is right. When you retire a glad the slave market refreshes automatically to show the HoL slaves. I wouldn't say that prize is useless if you have 5 HoL slaves already though. You are now in a position where you can have a false start with a glad and sell them before retirement and still have access to HoL slaves.

[Dainoji]

Congrats Apoc! You had a good week with Ahhnold winning the season and Duke winning the blood games!

[Adoede]

Hey Oedi, I just realized that if you SELL your old HOL glad instead of retiring them, you might still be able to buy that amazing HOL prospect you saw without it refreshing.