I actually find this conversation quite interesting and I would like to throw another angle on it.

At the moment, the players at the top have a huge advantage because they typically fight inactives in the early rounds.

That makes it very hard for newer players to compete - because they have to work on a strat not only to beat the computer, but also beat better players - or at least players who are trying.

Theres mention of duplicate accounts - I find it interesting that theres always so many inactives each round - who does it benefit? the better players already at the top of the table. No Im not saying the top players are creating those accounts - Im just saying it ruins the balance.


Fundamentally I dont have a problem with people "sleeping" and giving it a shot to knock someone higher off the table, those higher players are now having to deal with a real fight - just like those in the middle/lower end of the table.
What I have a problem with is the easy beats that give some people free rides while the rest have to fight. That seriously unbalances the whole thing.
Sleeping should be a valid tactic - why? because it means that you now have a higher variable in the oponent you are fighting - they on the other hand have sacrificed a lot of cash to be able to do it.



Ive actually been thinking about this for a few months so heres a couple of solutions:

1. Have 2 arenas - one for new players and one for more experienced - the account has to play in the new arena for say 3 months (or to get to a certain rank) to progress to the experienced. This cuts down on the chaff, so you should be fighting people that are both active and have some experience.

This would likely make it easier to detect duplicates as well as being the only system I can see that should be seriously effective.


2. Scrap or change the ranking system. Make it so the fight vs computer part does not have such a profound impact on the end result (who you fight initially). I havent yet figured out a way to do this.

3. Any inactive account is removed prior to the vs player part. - this may help but it isnt going to solve the problem totally (and removes the sleeper tactic option).


my 2c