I read a lot of posts complaining about the present state of estoc wars. I have seen a lot of arguing going both ways, and I honestly don't know enough about the estoc system to contribute an intelligent conversation concerning all the technical information, so I'll leave that part to the others who DO have some idea about it. What I am interested in is what those who feel the system is faulty is doing about it. A lot of players very early on didn't like being lab rats for the devs, but still signed up for test wars every weekend. Nobody is forced into this. You have a choice. Not many choices. Just two, but that is enough to meet the criteria for free will. This makes test war fighters volunteer lab rats. Now comes along Dragons Sanctuary, and it seems they believe the system is not effective. Again, I am not going to discuss the technicalities of estoc. DS has decided to act on what they believe and I have to applaud that. They've taken some criticism and had some support as well. One complaint...well, that is really disingenuous... one observation is that it will do no good. This is probably true, if DS is the only clan that does this. But if the kaw community who believes the system is broken were to come together and do something similar, it might let the devs know they will have to do or try something else. A criticism DS and Stary_Night took was that he should also boycott wars that put his clan in considerable favor over their opponent. It should be understood that, though this would be magnanimous of Stary_Night and his clan council, first and formost, his responsibility is to his clan. He will and should look out for Dragons Sanctuary first. You don't see Stary_Night complaining when they boycotted war 6, that the other side didn't agree to boycott because DS was not a good match to their strength. But, to Stary_Nights credit, he did say he would look into it. Finally, if you think the system that the devs are developing, you should do something. No one clan is going to do it. As I have been watching war results, it seems we have 35-45 clans signing up for weekend wars on average. If these numbers of participants were to start dropping to 30 signers, then 20 signers, this should send a clear message to the devs that their activities are causing a loss of confidence in the estoc community. I don't know how much of the estoc community believes the system is broken, and how many of them would would be willing to do something like a boycott. However, this weekend will be the last before the season starts, if the devs are on track. If there is any chance for those who believe the system is broken, this weekend would be the time.
I agree with OP, devs sadly will not notice them not participate. I fear EE will always be a flawed system due to everything that has to be taken into consideration. Good job on the whole though OP
The devs will care because estoc is a product they are selling. If the product is profitable but suddenly starts losing money, they will need to replace or repair the product. Boycotting or something like it will hit the devs in their pocket book. Estoc is a sure fire way of making money threw xtals.
Nobody is saying that, Bazarro. You think the devs are less interested in estoc continuing than you are? Come on, think about this. You war, you buy xtals. You buy xtals, you pay them. They won't shut down estoc if 90% of all clans boycott wars this weekend. They'll try and replace or repair. This is a game to you but to them its a business and their income.
People seem to forget these are "test" wars. Who knows what the devs are doing? There have been great matchups and awful matchups. Boycotting these test wars means the devs lose a data point. The expectation is that with each week, we should be seeing increasingly better matchups. When in fact the devs may be adjusting numbers on either side of the optimal matchup algorithm. Perturbing it to see the effects. "Test wars" are test wars. Period. Yes they are using us as guinea pigs. Look upon that how you will. As I see it, complaints are illegitimate until S2 starts. Then cry havoc and let loose the dogs of discontent!
The only thing flawed about the system is basically required xtal use. If xtals were not required ALOT more would play due to very low risk and high reward. If more clans played matches would be alot closer. But, if devs did that they would lose a huge income source.
Unicorn, people have a limit. They will only put up with test wars for so long if they feel like they are losing to much from them. I don't think the devs are simply wasting time and twiddling fingers, or anything, but the devs will have to consider the frustration of the community vs. collecting more data. You can't say complaints are illegitimate when people are spending money for the sake of data collection. It's the estoc community footing the bill for research.
As I told the previous poster. Players are only going to tolerate so much of the test wars if they feel they are losing to much. Especially when the players are financing all the research. You think if every estoc player boycotted the test wars (very unlikely) next weekend, the devs would simply throw away that cash cow? Or do you think they would attempt some kind consultation, maybe free xtals during test wars... or something, if they really need to collect more data? Estoc is a steady, constant source of money for them. If they need the data that much, they'll find a way to quell the disgruntled players to get that income source back up.
I don't think peeps realize these are not "test wars." If they truly were test wars and the purpose was to collect data, we shouldn't have to be buying xtals to participate. Rather, the devs should be paying us xtals for offering our time so they can collect data.
I've already tried to 1 star KaW, think we got it down to 2 or 2 in a half. Openly boycotting or trying to riot against the product is a bannable offense. You can't walk into a grocery store and boycott their use of meat. In fact, you can't even do it on their property, since they have reign over the parking lot...