Difficult of WOTM series

[Aborigen]

Which level of difficultness WOTM should be?

 

[Lexad]

Volatile. See no point in this poll, frankly, that's an established GOTM staff policy.

 

[wwassme]

There is a long discussion of this issue with respect to the GOTMs at http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=183494&highlight=GOTM+difficulty

Since everyone plays at different levels and 100% of the players can't be made happy 100% of the time, a mix of levels over time, tending towards the middle levels with occasional forays into higher and lower levels, is the best way. In my opinion, the mods do an excellent job of cycling through the difficulty levels and making most of the players happy most of the time.

 

[Ramzes XIII]

I can not vote for a sole difficulty level. It would be optimal to cycle through the levels from Noble to Immortal and only in special cases to play Deity. Such a princip will let the rookies to get started much easier and attract new players. BTW I think the same level on archipelago is simpler than on Terra or Pangea. I lost the WOTM for Aztecs on Pangea map shamefully , because I underestimated the Prince difficulty with an agressive AI in the tight world.

 

[The Navy Seal]

I think prince is the best one.

 

[Infantry#14]

for me, prince is pushover, monarch and higher is challenging

 

[Thrallia]

I put monarch because that is the highest level I can play on and expect to win, but I agree completely with the way the GOTM staff cycles through difficulty levels. They do a great job of going through them in a way that allows novice/rookie players to get involved, then learn and grow in their skills.

If not for the cycling through, I'd still be a mediocre noble player, one who won most of the time, but didn't expect to win at that difficulty level. Because of the cycling, I've improved my game vastly, and have won on considerably higher difficulties(netted a win on immortal long ago in the GOTM)...that said, I've still submitted more losses than wins to the XOTM, but thanks to my improvements in my play, I'm submitting more wins than losses lately.

 

[da_Vinci]

The question is not what difficulty the series should be, but given that we cycle it, what should be the central tendency (the mean or median) of the difficulty distribution. For that I voted monarch and the current poll results seem to be generating a more or less normal distribution centered on monarch .

dV

 

[Ramzes XIII]

One mistake on prince level can turn it into immortal, and one smart decision on emperor in right time can turn it into noble. The catch of the mastership is to find that smart decision before the right time didn't pass

 

[Capt Buttkick]

The question is not what difficulty the series should be, but given that we cycle it, what should be the central tendency (the mean or median) of the difficulty distribution. For that I voted monarch and the current poll results seem to be generating a more or less normal distribution centered on monarch .

dV

I agree, those results (at the time I'm posting) gives an almost scaringly bell-ish (?) distribution

 

[Munro]

Agree with Thrallia and others on this one - month to month variation is best. It gives more scope for improvement across a range of different scenarios. Since we are competing against each other, even on the easier levels you are still getting nailed by the obermot's and cactus pete's of the world and learning something in the process...

Plus it opens up the game to a wider range of players who might not get involved if the difficulty was consistently out of our reach.

(And there's always challenger... )

That given, somewhere around emperor would be a good place (for me) to see this "bell curve" centred, as this presents a good level of challenge for me (i.e. I have never consistently won at this level.. )

 

[da_Vinci]

That given, somewhere around emperor would be a good place (for me) to see this "bell curve" centred, as this presents a good level of challenge for me (i.e. I have never consistently won at this level.. )

Not to be confused with my experience at emperor, which is that I have consistently never won at that level!

Word order really does make a difference in English!

dV

 

[The Navy Seal]

I hope they don't listen to the pole we'll be playing monarch!

 

[vixafox]

I think the staff have got it right in the way that they vary the difficulty level. I don't win many of the higher level games, but I do learn a lot from playing outside my normal comfort zone. Then again I don't like losing all the time, so the lower level GOTMs come as a nice relief.

 

[LowtherCastle]

I think conducting this survey every so often is useful to gauge where people are at in terms of comfort level. It may be interesting to the Staff to note that Warlord or lighter is, so far, not preferred by anyone. Useful infrormation. A better survey, though, might be formulated to determine exactly which of the lower levels are no longer desirable (although for some weird reason, this survey seems to accomplish that).

The WOTM staff monitor this and will probably raise the bar gradually as we all improve. That's how it happened in CivIII.

What's "right" is what pleases the most members. Since we have all sorts of members, we please the most by having a variety so everyone gets a chance to enjoy. When the game's too easy for some, they are challenged to make it more enjoyable for themselves or pass. When it's too hard for some, they are challenged to try something they otherwise might not do and then read the spoilers and hopefully raise the level of their game.

 

[Harbourboy]

The problem with the poll is that you have to choose only one. What it doesn't show is the level you DON'T want to play. Every level can be good, because you are competing against other people, not the computer, so the challenge is the same, no matter what level is used.

 

[DaviddesJ]

Every level can be good, because you are competing against other people, not the computer

Maybe you are, but I'm not.

 

[LowtherCastle]

Maybe you are, but I'm not.

Isabella resents that and has vowed to teach you a lesson...

 

[ungy]

I'd like to put in a plug for challenger games that run the AI on easier than noble difficulty.

This was tried in one of the WOTM but the AI on settler was too much for the players (was a monarch game if I remember correctly). So maybe try it again with the AI on regent or warlord to give a better mix of difficulties for the same game.

 

[The Navy Seal]

Oh man 4 days 'till the next can't wait to see if it's a 18 civ duel.