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New Tiers, Levels ratings and Club Purchases

• Seekerb 651 Posts

  Wed, Sep 1 2010 7:26 PM

  I sent this as an e mail to Wgt

  I am speechless about the new system and as the realisation dawns, I think I will actually be very angry about it.  I have been playing this game since April 2010.  I have actually spent quite a lot money on the game.  I have played in ready Go’s, with average or below average success.  I have bought clubs and most of all I have bought balls.  I think I have played my part in contributing to the development of WGT Golfing Community.  With the new system I received the usual congrats you are now a Tour Master L30.  I look at the pro shop expecting that there might be new clubs with the upgrade and find that I am not even able to purchase the clubs that I used at lower Tiers.  At the time of the upgrade I rented the Master Putter 156 credits.  This is the second time I have rented it hence an expenditure of 300+ credits.  I now find I cannot purchase it.  Basically you have taken money under false pretences. 

  But more generally, Yes you are right in real golf I can go in and purchase clubs that are better than my ability, but I doubt whether I can purchase the clubs the top players use.  Certainly in cricket, I can purchase a top cricket bat for $700+(AUS) but it will not be what the test players use.  By chance I was able to get my son a test quality bat thought his cricket coach but that is aside.  The point is I cannot purchase according to my tier. I have to build up level experience which has nothing to do with my ability.  In other words I can’t buy with my level of experience the clubs that in some way even match my ability.  Yes it is great that you can buy good clubs although you might not have reached the ability level but not the converse. You have gone too far the other way. 

  One thing I have enjoyed about WGT is experimenting with different clubs.  So far I have spent too much time on Wgt and can’t maintain it.  I spent the time so I could reach a level where I could enjoy the game with good clubs and fit it around my professional commitments.  I don’t necessarily have the time like some people do to earn experience ratings so I can once more access the good clubs.  Don’t get me wrong.  I love playing with other people, I love playing in Tournaments but like most of us I have to work.  I want to be able to purchase clubs that at least match the ability I have developed so I can ultimately enjoy the game as a game.  I doubt whether I will have the time to keep playing in several events etc a day or even a week. 

  What you have done is now quite unreasonable in the opposite direction.  If you don’t rectify it, I doubt whether I will be around Wgt for much longer. I cannot sustain the hype and the expenditure to keep going through illogical hoops to enjoy what is a game.  In the past I have accepted the fact that it costs money for you to run the site.  It is a business.  I even suspect that what you are doing now with this change, is contrary to fair trade practices, but that might not be in the USA.  The only reason I did not buy the ping i15 Masters irons in the sale was because I thought there might be new clubs coming out.  Now although at the second top tier I can’t buy them or even pro raptures.  If rectified yes I will keep buying balls, loosing them in the rough and the water where I cannot even go and look for them, I will put up with some odd glitches,  play in ready go’s and building up the credits of the top players, yes I will experiment with clubs and will have several sets because I enjoy experimenting.  But if you don’t………  You can see the anger is mounting at how unreasonable this modification is.   Don’t misunderstand me I think this is a fundamental and as far as I am concerned possibly fatal blunder. 

  P.S. Changes seem good except for this problem as well as some about greens, tournaments etc that  have already been mentioned.

   

• 1,417 Posts

  Wed, Sep 1 2010 7:43 PM

  I'm in a somewhat similar situation to you.  I started playing about the same time, and reached the master level fairly quickly, and while I probably haven't spent as much money, I too, am confounded at the 'tour master' level.  I recently started playing the ready-go tourneys, with a decent amount of success.  Now I'm at this new level, and  I've spent my share of money upgrading my equipment, I"m playing like a beginner because the greens are all of a sudden lightning quick, and the tee boxes are another 50 years back.  And when I look to upgrade my clubs, everything is locked.  I have a driver that goes 275 and my irons are the G-10s that served me well until my status changed.  I guess I don't understand what happened.  I went from shooting mid-to-low 60's to not being able to break par, playing the same courses with the same equipment.    I'm a working stiff who plays this game for relaxation with a few beers at night.  I don't really have the time to try to figure out what WGT has done here. I don't get it.  I, too, will get very frustrated and lose interest.

• Seekerb 651 Posts

  Wed, Sep 1 2010 8:06 PM

  Thanks for joining in on this.  I actually am Normal 0 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 embarrassed about what it has cost me but I put it in to drive the point home.  I am a person who likes to do things well or not at all.  So went for clubs and all that so I could enjoy playing well.  Even prepared to pay for balls and not use freebies and they alone keep adding up.  But like you i cant be Wgt junkie but want to enjoy what is a great game>  If I did'nt already have the clubs and I have G10's as you do I would be really angry

  Sorry I cant get out the computer language out but it is sort of funny given what ie explorer does to some games

• andyson 6,415 Posts

  Wed, Sep 1 2010 10:01 PM

  Well stated Seekerb and CMcCartney727!  

  
  

• Seekerb 651 Posts

  Thu, Sep 2 2010 1:04 AM

  Some further comments.  Having played a bit with the new system and seen how long to takes to go from level 30 to 31, this new approach to clubs is even more outrageous.  It is probably OK for new members but for many who have been supporting this game it is so unfair.  Surely by the time yo are a tour master most if not all clubs should be available to you and the same I think for everyone who has been working through the tiers on the old system. climbed mount everest once but dont feel like doing it again

• Grummangy 7 Posts

  Thu, Sep 2 2010 1:59 AM

  Excellent Post.

  The other thing I've noticed is that the meter is now constantly jerky. It's almost impossible to hit it straight. I could cope with it happening now and then but this latest upgrade seems to have loaded the system down even more.

  I just put $40 into my account here but I'm thinking of asking for it back as I do not like the new WGT since the upgrade or whatever they want to call it. Also wanted to gift a fellow club member with a club, but I see that is now out as well. What happened to simple freedom of choice. You reach a rank  IE Pro / Master and you select the clubs u want for that rank. This new level requirement further complicates the game and takes quite a lot of enjoyment from it.

  Well done WGT.

• Partsman41953 341 Posts

  Thu, Sep 2 2010 3:35 AM

  I agree with everyone on this post. I have been playing this game for about a year now and was just getting ready to make it to the master tier but was holding off until I had enough credits to purchase new clubs as financially I was not able to afford to purchase them. All of a sudden I am at the master tier and after playing one round of golf I did not do bad but I played Kiawah which is one of the easiest courses. Wait until I try to play one of the other courses with heavy wind and things will get real frustrating again. I have also seen posts from members in our club and they are upset as well. I understand that WGT thinks that this new system will try to generate more interest in players not quitting in the middle of rounds, which is a good thing, but give the ones of us who are not as skilled as others lose the opportunity to compete by unlocking the equipment we need in order to play the game at the level they are at. Also, what about some players who just made it to a different level and were able to purchase the equipment they needed before the clubs were locked out. I feel they have an unfair advantage now. How do you expect the ones of us who are actually Pro turned Master and have Pro equipment to compete against players who are Masters with Masters equipment. IT IS NOT FAIR!!! I feel that a lot of people are going to be losing interest in playing real quick. At least I know I will not be playing as much. 

• 1,417 Posts

  Thu, Sep 2 2010 5:09 AM

  As I stated earlier, I was a master before this change, and I do have master clubs.  I'm not sure if it's the level I'm at or what, but now every round I play (practice, tournament, match-play, etc), I'm playing from tees that are 40+ yards farther than before, there's always a 20+ MPH wind, and, most importantly, the green speeds have changed.  Putting has always been the most challenging part of this game for me, and just when I get to the point where I know what I'm doing, the green speeds have changed and now I"m starting over.  I've only played a few rounds since the upgrade, and I've 3-putted more times in one day than I have in the last month!  Not sure what the point of that is.   Since the object of this change seems to be to have people play (and complete) more rounds, I'm wondering if the putting (i.e. green speeds) will ever go back to what we've all been playing for the last year, or will it always be like putting on the hood of my car?  Is it like what happens when you buy new balls, where if I buy an expensive putter, the green speeds will slow down?  The putting is by far the most frustrating of all these changes for me.

• YankeeJim 25,827 Posts

  Thu, Sep 2 2010 5:19 AM

  You all are very right and reading your objections made me think that maybe, just maybe, this was the brainchild of the Chief Financial Officer. Jam everybody up by putting them in tiers they should be in BUT lock the equipment they need to be competitive. Then, after everybody is up in arms about it, unlock the equipment long enough to let them buy what they need/want. Bingo, instant cash infusion.

  That is the only way I can rationalize such a dramatic change. It certainly isn't fair.

• 1,417 Posts

  Thu, Sep 2 2010 5:26 AM

  YankeeJim, good point.  I would not be surprised if what you're hinting at becomes a reality.  I'm certainly not going to spend any more of my credits entering tournaments, and since I can't buy clubs, they won't be getting much of my money, unless you count the one ball I use for every 2 rounds or so.

  As an application support guy, I have two words for WGT... BACK OUT.  This change blows.  And while I'm reading that we should have seen this coming, I don't spend much time reading these forums, unless I"m looking for some playing tips.  I thought the tier change and the 400 point bonus was because I'd been playing well in the ready-go's recently.  Surprise!  I'm a master with master clubs who's gone back to being a hacker, basically.