planeswalker points

[Roy Raftery]

Has anyone seen the change to the DCI ratings? It was showcased on daily mtg yesterday.

Basically you cant lose points, the more you play the more points you get and you get multipliers for playing in bigger events.

Coming top 16 at a GP no longer automatically gives you a place on the pro tour.

 

the main thing is it rewards people for playing and not sitting on their rating, or being afriad to play because of their rating. I'm not saying i agree with all the changes but i think something did need to be done. you need to read the whole article to get an understanding of it though. The whole 'planeswalker points' thing feels a bit childish but i guess its all in good fun and adds to the fantasy feel.

more importantly, thank you wizards for my new pick up line, hi, i'm a level 36 sorceror, fancy a drink?

[Ben Titmarsh]

also a lvl 36 sorceror!

[Simon Baldwin]

It's kind of exciting because it is new. I only ever really looked at my DCI rating as a passing interest more than anything (and stopped checking so often when they stopped player rewards), so I don't think I will be affected as much.I'd give it a few weeks for things to settle before passing a judgement either way on it though.

 

They mentioned you can get non-competative points for "casual" events, but did not explain what a casual event was - does it have to be at a store, or an event by anyone who is a TO, or can you report on games played at home with friends? (I doubt the latter, but it would be nice).

[Dave Robertshaw]

Aww, I am a lowly lvl 31 Invoker. I am such a scrub :)

[Dan Barrett]

me three

Ben Titmarsh said:

also a lvl 36 sorceror!

[Nick Thorpe]

As much as I like the idea that the new system doesn't discourage anyone from playing, there are a number of things I don't like.

A 3x multiplier means that FNM is disproportionately important in the new system, and punishes players whose stores can't (or won't) run it, and who can't play it week after week. One shop close to me has no problems running events on a Saturday afternoon, but has never managed to get FNM to fire since I've been visiting (even in situations where 8 players are present). The fact that points gained are no longer tied to the quality of your opponent is also not brilliant - in no universe is beating me a comparable achievement to beating the better players in Colchester. Combine these two issues and it becomes apparent that one of the most efficient ways for a player to level up is to find a weak FNM scene and crush everyone there week in, week out (and the leaderboards seem to back me up on this to some extent). Sounds like the right behaviour to encourage!

Also, not sure if this is what they're going for but discovering that I am a "Level 24 Spellshaper" didn't exactly make me feel like a badass with sick bragging rights (which are the only "rewards" we get, according to the FAQ). Sadface.

[Mark Walker]

lvl 37 baby... Man i have been playing so long....

[Amar Dattani]

wow I'm a level 41 Battlemage. I have no idea what that means though...

[Peter Dun]

level 41

 

these changes are STUPID and terribly thought out

I like the risk of losing rating... and the only people sitting on their rating risked losing it all with a bad pt performance

 

this system heavily devalues gps (if you do 2x number of gps, why not 1/2 number of invites.... top 8)

the worst thing of all though is the non invites to top 50 at a pro tour

this makes maintaining a pro status almost impossible for newcomers, once you fall off the train it is very hard to get back on without a couple of wins in a season (like dan r)

furthermore, the system heavily favours americans, who have twice the number of gps, the scg series and multiple fnms within close distance of each other... I would expect 50+ of the other 65 non-regionally aligned places to go to americans

[Thom Richardson]

Level 32

 

I'm not sure about the system overall, but it does seem extremely unfairly weighted in favour of US players. 

There are only 3 European GPs in season 1 next year. Its not impossible that a European could win Honululu and not be Q'd for the next PT if they can't get the time off to do the long distance trips to GPs.

[Kieran Symington]

I don't like this at all. I used to love it when I beat someone much better than me and shot up the ratings - with the new changes, it doesn't matter who I beat it will be worth the same. Also, I won't be able to ruin the rating of better players by beating them since they'll score 0 instead of -100. Plus you get loads more points if more people turn up for your event - not sure how a player playing at an event with 200 new players scores more than someone who plays 8-mans with all pros!

 

The worst thing by miles is the level and naming system, though. People already seem to think this is how the ratings work for the game and I've always been able to tell them "that's stupid, magic is a legitimate hobby with a proper world rankings system". Now I can't.

[ross miles]

n.b kieran's current ranking is level 12 - nob jockey

[Philip Dickinson]

i'm no longer going to be able to run the super-sporting comment of "...what's your rating again?" when i am losing to awful players

 

this change is going to force me to take my trash talk to another level