WGTadmin2:
Thanks for your feedback. We are looking into the situation where a
player was bumped into a higher tier in the release and had no chance to
buy the equipment.
We are
gathering data and evaluating modifications to the determination of
tiers and levels. Please bear with us, your play and comments will help us tune the systems to be more fun.
Here are my own personal feelings on the update. First, I love the game. I do play it quite a bit, more than a lot, but less than a lot of people also. I started over a year ago and worked my way up to become, imo, a pretty decent player. I haven't put much money into this game overall ($10) because of nice additions like the Ready-Go's.
Second, I think what's happened to the players commenting on this thread is ridiculous - they shouldn't have been moved up a level w/out being allowed to purchase that tier's equipment. That needs to be remedied immediately, whether it's by rolling them back a tier, or simply gifting them master level clubs, because I think a whole segment of players will not play anymore. I really think this needs to be done in the next few days - it's something that just doesn't work.
Third, I understand the rationale behind the "Level" system but I think it's limited in practicality. There's 2 competing rationales - one, that you want players to work at getting the best stuff; I agree with that. The journey to Master (or now Legend) is one of the fun things about WGT.
Two, I think they want to allow players who aren't Legends or may never become Legends the chance to play with some of the top-line equipment.
Okay, I agree with all that in principle, but judging from the feedback and my own initial experiences, it simply will take too long to achieve higher levels. This is a golf game, not Final Fantasy, so we don't need to be playing around just to simply "level-up."
Personally, I think the "Tiered" system worked fine, except that there needed to be more striations between levels. I'm not sure this update has accomplished that either - not everyone in the game needs to be a Legend. That should be reserved for very best - for that matter, I am not sure I should be a Legend myself.
Do I have a solution that accomplishes all of WGT's goals? No. I can offer some personal suggestions that I think might help, but admit that most of them haven't been thought all the way through:
1) Roll-back this update, at least with respect to Tiers and Levels. I just don't think the site or the system was ready for it, and it's probably harmed more than it's helped.
2) For a future update, if that is desired, increase the strata between the top-5 levels. I think Legend should be for players that are consistently maintaining a sub-60 or 61 avg. Tour Master should be 61-64, Master 64-68, etc.
3) If the "level" thing is something that is important to implement (and I'm not sure it should be), I would tie it into metrics that are already counted in the game. For example, one simply way to calculate "levels" could be to use simply stats like:
a. Ranked rounds
b. Top-10 Tournament standings
c. # of HIO's, eagles, birdies, pars, bogeys, etc.
d. CTTH rounds
e. Matchplay wins, MPC wins.
f. Credits won.
or some other metric, and it should be implemented retroactively. Players who have over 1500 (or some odd) ranked rounds really shouldn't be required to "level-up." Frankly, I question whether that's even necessary, but if you want to the levels, it should be tied to something tangible
I understand that one of the main things the "level" system is meant to promote is more completed rounds; but honestly, I think the people that care about that complete most rounds, and the ones that don't simply quit. In the long run, based on the current system, there's not enough incentive to take the time to finish simply to level up - b/c it'll take forever anyway.
g. If that is truly the incentive, consider adding a metric for "rounds not completed." This would be for any reason - quitting, DC's, etc. Obviously some would be unfair, but over time it would probably even out. You could use this stat as something to decrease levels, or at least inform other players how often their opponent has quit.
4) In the end, it's all just a game, which should be fun, accessible, and allow people to advance in a timely manner. The current system, to me, seems incompatible with that goal and verges on golf simulation - this isn't a great way to attract and keep casual online golf fans from coming back.
Just my thoughts. Enjoy everyone,
C