If Priscilla's army don't use some flags now, Clarine will keep the lead and win.

[Astellius]

1 minute ago, Lushen said:

Sakura > Elise I think.

Still, I don't know how IS could think someone winning this randomly is a good feature...

For non-multiplier hours, Elise would rake in about 75-125 million votes, compared with Sakura's 30-60 million votes, so that's about twice as popular. But, because of the multiplier, Sakura's now past Elise. So the most popular character in the gauntlet may very well lose the first round.

But I agree, the multiplier seems like a bad idea altogether, especially now that it really can (and likely will) tip the whole thing. Would much prefer them to put in people of comparable popularity, rather than this luck-based nonsense.

[XRay]

There is no way Sakura is more popular than Elise. With only about an hour left, Sakura may have a chance to beat Elise. I think the current mechanic is too unfair to popular characters. This a popularity contest and less popular characters are NOT supposed to win.

[Zeo]

Hm, this is gonna be close.

To be honest, it's bad design but I like it. Basically the multiplier turns it into a game of back and forth which in a way can be exciting but it's too tilted towards the loser. As the multiplier gets higher and higher it turns into a game of your turn my turn with the last multiplier spelling victory. It's rather exciting to watch, on the other hand popularity contents would obviously result in the most popular character winning.

Had the rules been the same as the mage gauntlet, Elise would have sweeped Sakura and probably this whole thing. But this is the result instead. They both have their downsides, the new way can make for upsets but it's less of a showcase of actual character popularity and more of a roulette with feather rewards. The old way on the other hand makes more sense, but the winner is typically obvious and it makes for a rather boring ride.

That being said, I'm a fan of the new way, but the old way is likely best.

Edited June 29, 2017 by Zeo

[Apples]

I'm still expecting Elise to take it, though it's a close call. If they maintain their steam from the last two hours though, then victory is assured for the Nohrian cinnamon roll. There were a lot of victories that came down to the last few hours due to the new system which is something that I quite like. It shows that IS took a concept and attempted to improve upon it. 

Though if people want the more popular pick to curbstomp their competition, then no multiplier was just fine. I imagine it would be hard to create fun, themed gauntlets with evenly matched competitors too. And you can't not include someone like Elise or Sakura on a cleric gauntlet or there'd be more protests than Genny not being represented. 

[Johann]

Uncontested victories are boring. Blue shells and lightning bolts all the way.

[Raven]

On the other side of the spectrum, Mist did so well during her bonus round, it put Lissa into a losing situation, giving Lissa the bonus for the final hour. The right healer won, but if I were in Mist's army right now, I'd be headdesking.

[Ice Dragon]

5 hours ago, Astellius said:

Would much prefer them to put in people of comparable popularity, rather than this luck-based nonsense.

The point of the multiplier to make it so that the results are not already determined before the tournament even starts.

Choosing characters of comparable popularity and having the matches end up close is also extremely difficult, especially with lower-ranking characters. Too low and everyone will be mostly ambivalent. Move even a bit higher, and you'll end up with groups of eight characters that might still end up with a clear winner after one round.

The study of voting behavior is enough for an entire chapter of an undergraduate economics textbook. The way votes split when you eliminate most people's first through fiftieth choices is hard to predict when you have fifty choices that rank higher on most voters' preference lists and nowhere near as many votes per voter.

 

5 hours ago, XRay said:

This a popularity contest and less popular characters are NOT supposed to win.

This is first and foremost a game mode and secondly a popularity contest.

If this were first and foremost a popularity contest, there wouldn't be battles, there wouldn't be flags, there wouldn't be come-back multipliers. It would just be a ballot and be done. And it would be the most boring game mode ever.

[Xenomata]

Wow, I only picked Priscilla because she is my MVP... not even healer, just unit in general.

[XRay]

14 minutes ago, Ice Dragon said:

This is first and foremost a game mode and secondly a popularity contest.

If this were first and foremost a popularity contest, there wouldn't be battles, there wouldn't be flags, there wouldn't be come-back multipliers. It would just be a ballot and be done. And it would be the most boring game mode ever.

I guess we just see it differently. I see it as a popularity contest with other features mixed in to make it more appealing and interactive. I do not find implementing features to annoy the more popular side of the player base a good idea in general.

[Cute Chao]

To be honest, this way feels boring. I don't feel as invested... I mean, as others have said, it will never feel like a Chrom and Ephraim situation, 'cos all of them are like it.

That being said, I didn't care about uncontested leads either, since I assumed they'd get them out the way in the first few gauntlets and then we'd go onto lesser known characters.

Oh well. I don't really care so much, so long as I get my feathers. I just wish the multipliers happened when I wasn't working xD

[NekoKnight]

People cite the Ephraim vs Chrom match as the reason they want no multiplier (and it was an exciting match) but they ignore that it was an irregular occurrence. Camilla and Lucina slaughtered the opposition, as would Tharja by an even larger margin if not for the multiplier. No matter how they choose the characters, there will always be a fan favorite among them that will be easy to predict as the winner. If people want the satisfaction of knowing their favorite characters are popular, look at the CYL Poll. Boom. Done. You "won". If you find that dissatisfying then I don't know why you'd enjoy a Voting Gauntlet that does the exact same thing.   

[Cute Chao]

3 hours ago, NekoKnight said:

People cite the Ephraim vs Chrom match as the reason they want no multiplier (and it was an exciting match) but they ignore that it was an irregular occurrence. Camilla and Lucina slaughtered the opposition, as would Tharja by an even larger margin if not for the multiplier. No matter how they choose the characters, there will always be a fan favorite among them that will be easy to predict as the winner. If people want the satisfaction of knowing their favorite characters are popular, look at the CYL Poll. Boom. Done. You "won". If you find that dissatisfying then I don't know why you'd enjoy a Voting Gauntlet that does the exact same thing.   

Subaki and Beruka was the same as well, which was exciting for me.

The CYL poll doesn't really tell anything when this divides things up into sets. All the multiplier does is just stop me caring about the results since it's a game of luck now rather than any sort of popularity. The votes don't really matter squat. I doubt you can organise any sort of tactics or anything with everyone voting, so it all just comes down to whether you get the multiplier last minute or not... It just takes away any excitement, in my opinion.

Should they get rid of the multiplier? I don't know. Depends whether it actually improves the experience for people or not. Everyone has different opinions and these are just my personal ones.

And, again, looking at the poll, Ephraim would have been beaten by Chrom, but he didn't. Opinions change and Heroes brings in new fans, so it'd be nice to see, even if they kept adding such clear winners. It wasn't about popular characters or winning or losing for me... it was just about feeling part of an actual fight, even a losing one, not just some random roulette of points, and now that feeling is gone.

[NekoKnight]

4 minutes ago, Cute Chao said:

Should they get rid of the multiplier? I don't know. Depends whether it actually improves the experience for people or not. Everyone has different opinions and these are just my personal ones.

And, again, looking at the poll, Ephraim would have been beaten by Chrom, but he didn't. Opinions change and Heroes brings in new fans, so it'd be nice to see, even if they kept adding such clear winners. It wasn't about popular characters or winning or losing for me... it was just about feeling part of an actual fight, even a losing one, not just some random roulette of points, and now that feeling is gone.

I understand the reasoning of people who want the multiplier gone, but I think it's just as misguided as how they think the system is now. *Some* matches are interesting, but they ultimately succumb to the juggernaut characters. Was Chrom x Ephraim fun. Sure was! Do you think anyone facing Camilla or Lucina was having a fun time? No, probably not.

Maybe the artificial close matches are less interesting, but the "predetermined victory" element of the first two gauntlets was also problematic. I think IS is going to have to do a lot of tinkering before they finally get it right. I appreciate it that they are trying out different systems.

 

 

[Cute Chao]

9 minutes ago, NekoKnight said:

I understand the reasoning of people who want the multiplier gone, but I think it's just as misguided as how they think the system is now. *Some* matches are interesting, but they ultimately succumb to the juggernaut characters. Was Chrom x Ephraim fun. Sure was! Do you think anyone facing Camilla or Lucina was having a fun time? No, probably not.

Maybe the artificial close matches are less interesting, but the "predetermined victory" element of the first two gauntlets was also problematic. I think IS is going to have to do a lot of tinkering before they finally get it right. I appreciate it that they are trying out different systems.

 

 

I was one of the people against both Camilla and Lucina, and I still felt more invested than I do now, but like I say, I'm most likely in the minority.

Hopefully they get it right. Either way, more feathers, and that's all I'm playing it for now anyway ^.^

[NekoKnight]

Just now, Cute Chao said:

I was one of the people against both Camilla and Lucina, and I still felt more invested than I do now, but like I say, I'm most likely in the minority.

Hopefully they get it right. Either way, more feathers, and that's all I'm playing it for now anyway ^.^

I was on team Ephraim and Minerva. The first gauntlet produced some fun memes and had its memorable moments, but the second gauntlet I found less interesting. Minerva's Round 1 and 2 were not landslide victories but we had comfortable leads, nothing at all like the nail-biting excitement of the Ephraim vs Chrom match. The Gauntlet is only 3 matches long, so at most you can follow your team for two matches and then the 3rd that might as well not even happen because the winner is all but decided. It's just really hard to get a match that's truly even. I consider it the exception to the mode, not the rule. 

We'll see what the devs can manage to do to evolve the mode.