TOPIC: Proposed GT Class Lottery Approach

Not that I'm likely to get my hands on a GT at my buying level, but...

My issue if I did would be combat (strong preference) vs puzzle.

Though chances are I'd be so happy to get one I probably wouldn't care.

Raven wrote:

Matthew Hayward wrote: As it is, coming into it midway, the official-ness of the signup page caused me to interpret first come, first served as a rule - just like I'd never ask someone in front of line for me to change their order at a food truck if the chef announced they "got the last one" of something I'd been planning to order, I wouldn't ask someone who has been allocated a class to change.

Thanks for sharing your perspective on that Matthew.

Being around TD as long as I have & seeing the way things evolved, it never occurred to me that newer players would see it that way. Your food truck analogy is a good one, though, and I get how newer players would be reluctant to ask - or even assume it was possible - to switch classes around.

But - if the purpose of the signup is to encourage coordination for a smooth event, but also horse trading, simple wording to that effect would go a long way.

I do really appreciate Fiddy's system of listing 3-4 classes you're willing to play.

We're at a great point in the token life cycle here, where we can do something about this.

No one has a GT yet. No one has any right to expect that they'll get a specific class. Let's just add a line to the GT sign up page (do we have one for 2017 already?) saying something to the effect of:

Please sign up with a list of classes you are most interested in playing. (For example: Wizard > Elf Wizard > Bard.) Class selection will be sorted out once a group of 10 is full.

Raven, I'm far from a new player, and that was my impression of the Gold Ticket run as well.

I like something along the lines of what you're recommending. There might need to be a drop-dead date when you do class selection even if you're not at the full 10 people. Jeff did say that quite often a person or two doesn't ever turn in the Golden Ticket. Maybe something like:

Please sign up with a list of classes you are most interested in playing. (For example: Wizard > Elf Wizard > Bard.) These class listings are non-binding until class selection takes place. Class selection will be sorted out once a group of 10 is full, or at XXX date (whichever comes first).[/quote]

Harlax wrote: Not that I'm likely to get my hands on a GT at my buying level, but...

My issue if I did would be combat (strong preference) vs puzzle.

Though chances are I'd be so happy to get one I probably wouldn't care.

That raises the other issue of whether the people that turn in their Golden Tickets first should get first selection of whether to do Combat vs. Puzzle.

Raven wrote:

Matthew Hayward wrote: As it is, coming into it midway, the official-ness of the signup page caused me to interpret first come, first served as a rule - just like I'd never ask someone in front of line for me to change their order at a food truck if the chef announced they "got the last one" of something I'd been planning to order, I wouldn't ask someone who has been allocated a class to change.

Thanks for sharing your perspective on that Matthew.

Being around TD as long as I have & seeing the way things evolved, it never occurred to me that newer players would see it that way. Your food truck analogy is a good one, though, and I get how newer players would be reluctant to ask - or even assume it was possible - to switch classes around.

But - if the purpose of the signup is to encourage coordination for a smooth event, but also horse trading, simple wording to that effect would go a long way.

I do really appreciate Fiddy's system of listing 3-4 classes you're willing to play.

We're at a great point in the token life cycle here, where we can do something about this.

No one has a GT yet. No one has any right to expect that they'll get a specific class. Let's just add a line to the GT sign up page (do we have one for 2017 already?) saying something to the effect of:

Please sign up with a list of classes you are most interested in playing. (For example: Wizard > Elf Wizard > Bard.) Class selection will be sorted out once a group of 10 is full.

Great idea Raven. And I just saw Mike's post about puzzle vs. combat. Let the coin tossing begin....

Mike Steele wrote: Raven, I'm far from a new player, and that was my impression of the Gold Ticket run as well.

An excellent point, Mike. There's a lot of players who have been around for a very long time, but the first time they saw the GT sign up, it was already being done in a certain way.

(And now's the part where I 'fess up and say, "All you young whippersnappers are 'new' to me! Now get off my lawn!")

Mike Steele wrote:

Harlax wrote: Not that I'm likely to get my hands on a GT at my buying level, but...

My issue if I did would be combat (strong preference) vs puzzle.

Though chances are I'd be so happy to get one I probably wouldn't care.

That raises the other issue of whether the people that turn in their Golden Tickets first should get first selection of whether to do Combat vs. Puzzle.

Well, in this case, there's no precedent for how to sort it. People don't show up to normal dungeon runs with a time slot and then say, "I want to do the Combat version of Dungeon A!" and another guy says, "I'm only equipped to do a Puzzle run!"


There might be a solid argument to be made for leaving it the way it is.

The only thing which is clear, is that we still need full agreement to run at a non-Normal difficulty. So if you've got 10 people who all want to do Nightmare, they should really be in the same group.... which means that any attempt to randomize which group you are assigned to is unlikely to result in any groups being able to test out the dungeon on Nightmare mode.

EDIT to Add: You also need to have the runs sorted before Event Registration day, because some people base their ticket purchases on the knowledge that they have Dungeon A as a GT run, and only need to find tix for Dungeon B online, etc.

Raven wrote:

Mike Steele wrote:

Harlax wrote: Not that I'm likely to get my hands on a GT at my buying level, but...

My issue if I did would be combat (strong preference) vs puzzle.

Though chances are I'd be so happy to get one I probably wouldn't care.

That raises the other issue of whether the people that turn in their Golden Tickets first should get first selection of whether to do Combat vs. Puzzle.

Well, in this case, there's no precedent for how to sort it. People don't show up to normal dungeon runs with a time slot and then say, "I want to do the Combat version of Dungeon A!" and another guy says, "I'm only equipped to do a Puzzle run!"


There might be a solid argument to be made for leaving it the way it is.

The only thing which is clear, is that we still need full agreement to run at a non-Normal difficulty. So if you've got 10 people who all want to do Nightmare, they should really be in the same group.... which means that any attempt to randomize which group you are assigned to is unlikely to result in any groups being able to test out the dungeon on Nightmare mode.

EDIT to Add: You also need to have the runs sorted before Event Registration day, because some people base their ticket purchases on the knowledge that they have Dungeon A as a GT run, and only need to find tix for Dungeon B online, etc.

Raven, good points. And, isn't the fact that people can choose which group to run in kind of set up by Jeff, because he set up threads for the different groups and asked people to post their names in the ones they want (or maybe he had someone do that for him)? Is that how it's run? I'm not quite sure.

Would it be too much for the golden tickets to say
Puzzle or combat, run a or b on them?

How about going one step further and state the class... assuming one wizard and one fighter per group? Then let people trade around if they so desire? Remove all choice to try to be "fair" on a free gift event to pay back those who support the event?

Wade Schwendemann wrote: Would it be too much for the golden tickets to say
Puzzle or combat, run a or b on them?

I almost feel that, at that point you could also just put the class on a GT and let ppl trade their tokens if they're willing to play something else. Then it's completely random has no bias whatsoever (most consider that fair). Seems a little extreme to me, but it would definitely be interesting to try to find a way to do a dungeon with a class you are unfamiliar with.

Hard to believe this topic already has six pages!

A long time ago (in a Convention Hall, far away?) Jeff made a comment about the coaching room of True Dungeon. He called it The First Challenge.

The dungeon doesn't begin when you exit the training room, according to him. It starts when you sit down with a bunch of people you just met and work out a plan. Who plays which class? Will you share your tokens to make the best possible party? Can you establish good communication among your members?

I'd hate to take that away by assigning classes.

And (to some extent) I'd hate to randomly assign people to groups, or establish rules about who is allowed to pick which class in what order.


In a sense, all of us have met each other in a dark tavern, on the edge of town. We come in with our own back stories and skills and dreams, and we're thrown together into a motley party of adventurers who have to learn to work together on the forums and in the community.... or we'll succumb to the darkness and watch the life blood of our favorite game drain into the dirt.


So, I thank my compatriots for bringing up ideas to help us solve these riddles and navigate these treacherous waters. I appreciate it when people point out clues which I haven't seen (like, "some of us took it to mean GT runs were first come-first serve") or who spot pitfalls ("Ah, I misunderstood when you phrased it that way. Sorry - no offense was meant") or who brainstorm solutions to a puzzle. I don't always agree with your solutions, and sometimes - I'll be honest here - I just want to hack & slash my way to the final boss. But we don't always have to make things into a fight. Sometimes we can use Wit and Charm, and make the current system work out in our favour.


When it really comes down to it, though I trust that we'll have each other's backs, and that these challenges are very minor compared to joys shared on this great Quest.