Global rankings for gauntlet
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[KM] WOLF 359
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in The Bridge
I've been thinking lately that something that would be really fun to see would be global rankings for various things in the game other than events. We all know where we rank each week in an event, but how good are you at the gauntlet? The gauntlet is the only other part of the game you compete against other players, but outside of competing against those 200 players every 48 hours, you have no idea how 'good' you are.
Assuming there is no issue with publishing user identities, I think it would be really fun to see:
I'm sure there are other interesting rankings. For example, I have won 2 gauntlets this week and many in the past. Where do I rank in total victories among the base? No idea. If I was near the top, I can tell you I'd play that much more competitively.
To further extend this, why not have running totals in the gauntlet, so that your total points are added and at the end of the month, there is a global ranking and perhaps guaranteed special crew for the highest ranks.
Assuming there is no issue with publishing user identities, I think it would be really fun to see:
- Number of #1 rankings
- Best overall gauntlet ranking
- Number of crew won
- Percentage of battles won/lost
- Highest score
I'm sure there are other interesting rankings. For example, I have won 2 gauntlets this week and many in the past. Where do I rank in total victories among the base? No idea. If I was near the top, I can tell you I'd play that much more competitively.
To further extend this, why not have running totals in the gauntlet, so that your total points are added and at the end of the month, there is a global ranking and perhaps guaranteed special crew for the highest ranks.
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Comments
1. I have at least 50 top finishes.
2. #1
3. 11 Locutus (one from 20k achievement), 11 Guinan, 7 Caretaker, 15 Armus.
4. No clue
5. No clue
6. Number of #1 rankings without spending dilithium
7. Best overall gauntlet ranking without spending dilithium
8. Number of crew won without spending dilithium
Could you please continue the petty bickering? I find it most intriguing.
~ Data, ST:TNG "Haven"
He burned more dilithium than anyone to get those scores. Most of us don't drop dil on gauntlet, it's a foolish endeavor.
I don't think DB keeps a database of previous gauntlet wins. There's too much data there for them to just hang onto.
1. We've had gauntlet for 3 years now? I show my first gauntlet screenshot from Feb 2nd, 2017. Probably have 250-300+ wins by now
2. see above
3. 11 locutus, 12 armus, 6 guinan, 16 caretakers
4. never kept track
5. never kept track.
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2. I can tell you when I was in the height of quest chasing my first Locutus I was going so nuts in there I had people on this forum starting threads asking for sympathy for my "victims"
3. 6 Locutus, 6 Guinan, 8 Caretaker, 7 Armus
4. No idea
5. No idea
Regarding spending, I play to have fun. So when the mood grabs me I spend in Gauntlet, because I enjoy occasionally chasing big streaks, it is pretty exciting *shrug* Currently though I'm just chilling.
Never kept track, but for about two years I've been getting multiple firsts each week, so it's probably in the 200-400 range.
Best overall gauntlet ranking
First!
Number of crew won
Yikes... I wish I'd kept better track of this. The Gauntlet legendaries are easy - 10 + 1 Locutuses (the +1 from the achievement), 9 Guinans, 14 Caretakers, 24 Armuses. And then all the extras from Gauntlet portals, like FO Burnham, Revolutionary Damar, Leonardo... I got another AF Bashir a couple of weeks ago, and think his first star came from Gauntlet, too. I'd guess about five others, as well.
Post %-boost-update, the direct drops have been 10 Locutuses, 8 Guinans, 8 Caretakers and 21/22 Armuses, so the distribution does seem to work out okay over time. (That 10th Locutus was a couple days ago - it looked better on Tuesday!)
Percentage of battles won/lost
Red-shirting is sure to kajink this number a lot!
Highest score
In a single match, Guinan and Kahless have had several 6000+es. I've got a screeny here of Guinan getting 6,630. I'm not sure if that's my best, though.
In a 48-hour Gauntlet, my total points have gone over 4,000 a couple times. I have a screenshot here of me getting 4,751, which I think is my personal best. Although I do find it embarrassing to be 1500+ points ahead of #2, because I worry it makes me look like I've spent dilithium to get there! It's just a random convergence of beatable match-ups awarding big points. I usually end around 3,000.
Total merits spent: must be over 100,000.
Total dilithium spent: zero.
Would love to see all sorts of stats-tracking in the game, not just Gauntlet, but these are some great specific ideas. Simply extending the achievements would at least let us track our rounds played - just put Guinan, Caretaker, Armus, then Locutus, Guinan, Caretaker, Armus, Locutus etc on for every 5K rounds played after 20,000 all the way up to 100,000 at least!
It happens, there doesn't have to be a prize for getting top spot twenty five times in a row. Some people will do it just to say they did, like F2M. We aren't talking a top 1500, it's a top 20.
As a newer player trying to get even a first gauntlet exclusive to FF, I would rather not see the gauntlet bombed by players with 10 of each (yes, I am exaggerating, I hope) who are only playing for vanity stats. It's difficult enough hoping for lucky rolls against a wall of the same character with a range of stats, and though I can only speak for myself, I wouldn't want to see that wall all at fully maxed skills.
I certainly would love for there to be an activity that encourages and keeps the interest of players of all levels. I hope it's there some day when I get bored collecting cards from the gauntlet. But as some one who has only recently cracked into the higher rank boxes, I would hate to see them crowded out for "bragging rights." I do not want to see the gauntlet revitalized forcing new players to compete against those with 3 years and maxed "new challenger" collection behind them. I do not want to see the gauntlet partitioned by creating low level sections that don't drop 5* cards or drop them at a comparatively worse rate. Maybe I'd have, and will have, a different view if I've been playing for 3+ years. But I'm not there yet so I can't realistically speak for that perspective.
I don'tknow
Best overall gauntlet ranking
1st
Number of crew won
lots
Percentage of battles won/lost
no idea
Highest score
I have a screenshot somewhere. Pats pockets while looking wildy around the room
I fancy myself a pretty good gauntlet player but it depends very much on what time of day I join, who is in with me and what my RNG is like that day. I personally wouldn't like a gauntlet leaderboard type thing, I'd get ridiculously competitive when the reason I quite like gauntlet is because it's fun and frivolous.
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That being said:
1) I once stayed up until reset and spent some dilithium to make sure I would actually rank #1, so that I could clear the achievement. I think it happend a second time, because I was awake and had nothing to do. Since it wasn't planned, I probably used dilithium on that occasion too, to recover my crew before the 4 hours were over.
2) Without dilithium and without staying up late, #2.
3) I have 6 copies of Armus, 6 of Locutus, 5 of Guinan and 4 of the Caretaker (5, because I immortalized him with a citation so that I could stop bothering with the gauntlet altogether).
4) No idea.
5) Also, no idea.
Here is something to keep in mind @Exanimus, if you will allow me a metaphor, Gauntlet players mimic nature: some are flora, some are crickets, some are frogs, some are snakes, and a handful are eagles. Eagles basically feast on everyone, the snakes feast on the frogs who feast on the crickets who feast on the flora, you get the idea.
Armus has been the feature Gauntlet crew for over a year, and the eagles have long since had their fill and gone to roost in their rooks. Most of the snakes are sated and just maintaining, making the frogs the de facto apex Gauntlet predator as a result. When a new feature legend is introduced to the Gauntlet someday, it is going to be an absolute bloodbath as the eagles and snakes are going to return in full force, which will definitely destabilize the leaderboards and ability for newer players to do well.
I really don't understand why they won't make gauntlet brackets end every hour. So whenever you choose to start, your gauntlet would end in just under 48 hours. Give everyone a chance.
I would like to see leagues. Get similarly skilled players together. If it weren't for the legendary crew available, I wouldn't bother. The only fun I have is when I can get my fleet in the same gaunlet.
That said... If they made a leader board as suggested above, it would probably pay for itself and then some. It would be a bit frustrating if I ended up in the wrong gauntlet. Can't say if that will make me stop participating in gauntlet or not. If it happens, then we'll find out.
I thought about organizing a tournament like that. Not sure if I can do all that and accommodate all those schedules, though.
Yeah, TP would need to give admirals the ability to enter their whole fleet to make it feasible.
Something similar with arena battles could be fun too.
Rather than dropping tracking on the gauntlet, I think something else should be introduced. I like the gauntlet for what it does now and for the most part how it works now.
If people are interested in tracking or additional ranking info I would suggest TP introduce something like the gauntlet in play mechanics, but intended and designed more for players to graduate into.
For instance. A "war game" between starbases mutually agreed or randomly paired based on level of base and members. Very much like the gauntlet, but from a pool of opponents limited to a team (could be starbase as team, or some new guild thing, or any number of other ways to make teams). Perhaps WarGame Wednesdays for a rank day with the other days as practice. The same stats could be tracked without forcing newest and oldest players to compete for the same rewards while they do it.
Or perhaps some form of token based PvP dual, one vs one system.
IMO, win/lose tracking would benefit the game and community better if it was something you moved on to once you practiced in the free for all gauntlet. Even just thinking about it from my own perspective, I don't want the gauntlet to be the only thing I have to look forward to. I don't see the wins and losses in the gauntlet as a reasonable metric of skill (personal view, not a judgement). Wins and Losses against such a wide array of characters doesn't appeal to me. Losing against a wall of Caretakers is hardly a choice. Winning against cadet Nog with Locutus hardly seems noteworthy. I would want a more level playing field to graduate to.
If you intro tracked stats into the gauntlet it could also have a large impact on how people play it. If you want to maintain a perfect or high win record will you try to only combat against really low stat characters? I'm the sort of nut who's mind goes quickly to how people will game the system. As long as people can refresh with merits, what does a high win stat mean? The free for all environment and merit limited refresh lend themselves too well to curated or gamed stats.
I think I would probably like the gauntlet a lot better if they did this, but I guess it would take them resources to implement it and it wouldn't increase their returns in any way. So I don't expect it to happen.
Also, the number of players in central Europe and Asia is probably not significant enough for them to care about it.
Timelines seems to have a pretty nice group, whereas in some games, the more whale-y fleets/alliances are inclined to bully and use their additional resources to purposefully block other groups for childish reasons, rather than simply competing.
I would hope no one here would do that, but I'm a bit wary of unintended consequences.
If there's one rule in gaming, is that there is always at least one person or group who will display to all why we can't have nice things.
Why would TP introduce something that discourages spendings? I would not if I was in their place.
I agree, it will probably never happen. But I do think it would increase spending. If everyone had a chance to complete, time wise, I would expect at least some of them to spend to win. Or at least push the current spenders hard enough they have to spend more. I'm in the USA, but still hate the end time, because it is the end of my work day, and I almost never get the chance to make a final push. Two hours later, and I could really compete.
Also, DB created dedicated German forums for a reason. Not sure how many of our fellow players are international, but I'd guess 15-20% are outside North America.
There are a lot of players outside of the US, but how many of them are dedicated players that care about this aspect? How many of them are active in the forums and voice their concerns? How much do they spend?
My guess is that DB/TP would have already adressed this at some point if they thought it was worth the effort. And given how long it took to fix the issue with fleet rewards, where it wasn't possible to claim them after reset, my guess is that players outside of the US are not a priority for the company, probably because they don't have that much weight in their revenue.
This is just an assumption and I'd be happy to be wrong. I'd definitely like the gauntlet a lot more if there were a few different start and reset times for it. If they added some sort of decent rewards to it, besides the featured legendaries, it could even become one of my favorite parts of the game.
I have always said that our profile is a great place to put that information, and that the player can either 'show' or 'not show'. In fact there is so much room in the profile that it can also show officer status, or admiral, or event rankings.....
According to the former STT game director on Facebook, he said they knew gauntlet was in need of an update but they never had the time to address it. What exactly they would’ve liked to fix is anybody’s guess.
Well, that sounds good! Whatever change they should decide to make, it can only get better
If there should be some significant improvement, it would make the time zone issue even more annoying though.
I think even sharing data like fleet leaderboards would spark competition.
To answer my own question.
Number of #1 rankings - if gauntlet is 3 years old at least 100?
Best overall gauntlet ranking - I meant average ranking to account for consistency.
Number of crew won - 7 Locutus, 9 Guinan, 9 Caretaker, and I'm going to say 20 Armus.
Percentage of battles won/lost
Highest score - 7377 (single battle)