Congratulations to all of the winners of Season 6!

Better matchmaking experiment

During season 6, we did a 2 week experiment to try matching you with opponents from the same league (or not so far off).

There is no magic here: having better opponents always means waiting longer, so it created longer waiting delays.

The objective was successful in that the vast majority of the tables gathered people from the same league. We got some very interesting feedback from you during these weeks. It seems that the longer delay discouraged a lot of you, and that this experiment had to stop. Since then, the Arena has been just like it was before.

However, we are still not satisfied with the Arena matchmaking, and we plan to do another experiment during a future Arena season. Again, there is no magic: it will mean that you will be able to play less games, but with more appropriate opponents. However, contrary to this experiment and following your feedback, we will try to make sure the waiting time is predictable, so that the wait is less painful.

(to be continued...)

Arena Formats & Gurus

At the beginning of the latest season, we introduced a new way to handle the Arena formats (the settings for each Arena game).

Now Arena formats are decided by a group of experimented players for each games: the Gurus.

This is a great success and we would like to thank all Gurus for their participation, suggestions, and votes!

With over 333 games in the Arena, the Gurus chose:

• to keep the current arena format for 235 games.

• to set a new format for 82 games.

The 11 other games unfortunately have invalid winning suggestions.

Important: Arena suggestions must clearly write which game options must be set (ex: "Expansion X: Yes"), and they must be options that already exist. Otherwise we are forced to set the suggestion as "invalid" and the current format will be kept for the next Season. If a suggestion is not clear enough, we recommend all Gurus to downvote it so it is not selected.

If the format changes for your game, you should see it in your newsfeed soon.

Thanks to the Gurus, we wish that the new Arena settings will be appreciated by most of you!

Arena Reputation Limit

A lot of you suggested that we limit the Arena to players with a good reputation to avoid "quitters" n the Arena.

This is an excellent suggestion, as in the Arena you cannot choose your opponents.

Starting this season, Arena is reserved to players with a Karma higher than 60.

We hope that this will contribute to making the Arena more enjoyable for everyone.

Important Reminder: Recent Games Are Not Included in the End of This Season.

All games published (= out of Beta) less than 1 month before the end of a season are not included in the end of the season (no trophies, no relegations).

** Season 7 is NOW Launched. **

The new Arena is going to be opened in a few hours.

Some Explanation About: Relegations

At the end of each season, after winners have been awarded, you are relegated.

Some custom relegation rules may have been applied to a game for some reason (ex: we decided to reduce the number of leagues), but in general here is what happens:

• For games with 6 or 5 different leagues, all players are decreased by 3 leagues.

• For games with 4 different leagues, all players are decreased by 2 leagues.

• For games with 2 or 3 different leagues, all players are decreased by 1 league.

• For all games and all leagues, your number of Arena points is reset to 1, and your AES ("Arena Elo") is reset to 1500.

** It's up to you to find the way to the elite!

**

May the odds be ever in your favor!