4Game

Since I figured that Reddit would be all over today’s top 16 fiasco, I figured I could comment on it in a different way: I think that CDPR is understaffed. It’s readily apparent, and today’s events are only further evidence of it.

Tournament Platform

– This is simply first on the list because of recency bias considering the evens of earlier today. Its also worth noting though that the Tournament Platform hasn’t been updated or fixed since its release, despite consistent bug reports from players who regularly use it. Anyone else remember the complete disgrace that was Wild Hunt? And it wasn’t the organizers fault… just throwing that out there.

Ladder

– Okay, what even is this ladder? When I click ladder, and I’m in pro rank, why does it take me to the Non-Pro Rank Ladder? For one thing, no ladder is relevant at all besides the Pro Rank Ladder. It’s not like there are Top 16 or Top 64 Tournaments for Rank 1 and lower, meaning that MMR is a completely useless number outside of Pro Rank. For another thing, why does it take me to a ladder that I’m not even in? That just doesn’t make logical sense. Then, when I actually do look at the Non-Pro Rank Ladder… it’s not even in order? The whole ladder just needs to be looked at because frankly.

Draft Mode

– Draft Mode has been out for a while. It was interesting for about a week, and then it died. There is no reward system related to it, when this would be a perfect system to help out New Players learn deckbuilding, as well as helping them grind the materials that they need in order to get the full collection. There is simply so much potential here in this mode for New Players that is being wasted because it’s a pure waste of time without any reward.

– Also… if this is the intended final form of Draft Mode… can we please at least remove “Early Access”? And then, if this isn’t the final form… what is taking so long to “finish” it?

Syndicate Starter Decks

– Why aren’t these a thing? New Players don’t touch Syndicate most of the time until Pro Rank because they are too scared of the Coin Mechanic. Well, with the Jackpot “rework” where they can worry a bit less about overprofit, this would be the perfect time to introduce better guides to help players learn about Syndicate more so that it isn’t so foreign to them when they finally make Pro Rank.

Economy

– Okay, simply put, the entire Economy system is screwed up. There are a lot of people who have enough Ore and Scrap to craft all of the cards released for the next few years without playing a single game or even logging in. We see it now all the time with people coming back from Open Beta with the ability to craft everything and immediately catch right up… and then still have enough ore to spare. Then, once you have the full collection, there is absolutely nothing that you can do with them. There is no reason to unlock anything in the Reward Book, unless there is a new skin introduced (like the Francesca one recently).

– This in itself wouldn’t be a problem if this second part wasn’t a thing: Expansion Packages with Vanities. There are Expansion Passes that grant premium versions of all of the cards with other really solid vanities bundled at an appropriate price… for people who don’t have the cards. But what of the people who do have the cards? Remember, a lot of the players in Pro Rank can simply craft all of the cards for the next few years without any fear of running out of material. This means that these solid vanities are locked behind insane pricebars. Do you really think I’m going to play $60 for one coin? Absolutely not. That’s utterly irrational an overpriced. And yet, CDPR seems to think that it’s unfair to release those vanities for lower prices because they are rewards for spending money as an “extra gift from them.” I’d spend money for that coin specifically… but the standard price, not the bundle price, and the only players that are being punished for this are the ones who have an excess of resources that they can’t use in any other way. Like okay, don’t take my money.

Deckbuilder

– Then of course, we have the Deckbuilder. There are so many quality of life features that would be insanely useful here. For instance, a Deck Filter? There is so much you can filter: decks of a certain faction, decks of a certain leader, maybe even decks with a certain card.

– Another quality of life improvement is some way to let us know how many decks that we have. A simply counter at the top telling us that we have 30/40 decks in our builder will help us know when we need to clean it out without suddenly getting the notification that you have to many decks in your deckbuilder.

– And on the same vein, another feature would be the ability to Mass Delete decks. It’d be a really nice convenience to enter some sort of Deck Select feature where I can select a specific amount of decks in order to mass delete them. Just another quality of life feature that would be really nice to see.

TL;DR There is so much to be improved or fixed in the game that hasn’t been done. Thus, the only logical conclusions is that they have to be understaffed because there is so much that needs to get done but hasn’t been done. And frankly, if they aren’t understaffed, like they like to claim, then what other conclusions are we to draw? That they don’t care? It’s one or the other, and I’d like to think that it’s the former.