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[Kirian]

So, despite the timing setbacks, I think this round of IsoDom was successful.  Next time around we'll do better with setting time limits, which I think will end up being longer than a week so that we don't end up backed up (or I will use something other than Challonge to determine pairings, instead of just dropping people).

However... all this assumes that IsoDom can continue.

I'm reluctant to start another IsoDom at this time.  Let's assume the next one will take about three months.  That means we run into the holidays, which is not a problem in itself, but I have a hard time believing Goko will not re-launch before the end of the year.  Early indications are suggesting launch near Essen, so mid-October.  Hopefully their second launch will go more smoothly, though I still consider what they have to be an early-beta product, not late-beta.

Dominion on Goko is only partially tournament-ready.  Random matches are available, which is great.  However, only about two-thirds of the cards are available--something which everyone knows I consider a gigantic flaw.  Of course, there is no timeline for when they will be added; I frankly don't expect them before the end of the year.  I am loath to run a tournament without Alchemy, Cornucopia, or Hinterlands available.  And even then there's no guarantee everyone will have all the expansions, though the hardcore tournament-style players likely will.

So it feels to me as though IsoDom will be going on hiatus until well after the Goko launch.  I hope that, once Goko is running, has all the cards, and is stable, I will go ahead and start a GokoDom tournament series, if people are still interested at that time.

[Robz888]

A wise plan, Kirian. (And a good example of how Goko is hurting Dominion.)

[DG]

And even then there's no guarantee everyone will have all the expansions, though the hardcore tournament-style players likely will.

I wouldn't even assume that. Plenty of players will be unwilling to spend a lot of money.

[Fabian]

Yeah I agree with DG and think that assumption will just not hold true at all. Time will tell I suppose.

[HiveMindEmulator]

It depends on your definition of "hardcore tournament-style players". You could even define "hardcore" as "willing to buy all the sets", in which case this statement is trivially true. It is very likely that not all previous IsoDom participants will buy all the sets, but it is also very likely that there will be some set of players who buy all the sets that will be large enough to have some sort of tournament among only these players.

Anyway, if everyone doesn't have all the sets, it might be possible to have tournaments that allow vetoing of full sets, so that if you're just a set or two short you can still play.

[-Stef-]

Another option - just speculating - is that someone at Goko implements "tournaments".
You'd have to pay a little bit for joining a tournament, don't actually get any sets, but are allowed to play with all sets for tournament games.

Sure sounds great to me.

[Turambar]

Well, I think there are quite few level 40+ players on Isotropic, who will not be buying all the sets at Goko (none of the good players in Norway are planning to as far as I know), so if hardcore players are defined as being among the top players in the world, then definitely not all hardcore players will have all sets.

[RisingJaguar]

Well, I think there are quite few level 40+ players on Isotropic, who will not be buying all the sets at Goko (none of the good players in Norway are planning to as far as I know), so if hardcore players are defined as being among the top players in the world, then definitely not all hardcore players will have all sets.

Yeah I'm still debating this decision as well.  The three wonders of Iso are:

1. The speed I can get through actions/games, the animations aren't doing anything for me.  It's just cute
2. The fact that it is free
3. The level of competition that is constantly there. 

I haven't seen much of this (obviously not the second) at Goko yet.

For what it is worth, I would be down to enter weekend 1-day tournaments though.  Missing out on both Isodom 5 and BGG Store tournament has made me worse at the game and I am craving for games that matter again. 

[Insomniac]

Another option - just speculating - is that someone at Goko implements "tournaments".
You'd have to pay a little bit for joining a tournament, don't actually get any sets, but are allowed to play with all sets for tournament games.

Sure sounds great to me.

It'd be nice if you already had all the sets that thats free though otherwise its a reason to not purchase all the sets.

[Kirian]

(And a good example of how Goko is hurting Dominion.)

Yes.  The apparent inability to mix sets from two different people when they play together is a bit disheartening; it makes tournaments that aren't put together by Goko difficult.  And I frankly don't trust them to set up a useful tournament, because even after 18 months this community still has difficulty with it!

Well, I think there are quite few level 40+ players on Isotropic, who will not be buying all the sets at Goko (none of the good players in Norway are planning to as far as I know), so if hardcore players are defined as being among the top players in the world, then definitely not all hardcore players will have all sets.

I'm sorry to hear that, though I imagine it will depend on the final cost.  I hope that people would be willing to pay ~$50 at least for Goko once all the problems are smoothed out.  Obviously there are lots of concerns still though.

Yeah I'm still debating this decision as well.  The three wonders of Iso are:

1. The speed I can get through actions/games, the animations aren't doing anything for me.  It's just cute
2. The fact that it is free
3. The level of competition that is constantly there. 

As much as I'm down on Goko:

1.  The "Very Fast" animation speed is already basically "Off."  It's fast enough that it's silly to even have it; they need to just create an "Off" setting.
2.  Well, yeah.
3.  That's due to the lack of players and the fact that it's so hard to get a match because there are usually fewer than 4 people on.  When everyone migrates (or doesn't), that problem should go away.

[Robz888]

(And a good example of how Goko is hurting Dominion.)

Yes.  The apparent inability to mix sets from two different people when they play together is a bit disheartening; it makes tournaments that aren't put together by Goko difficult.  And I frankly don't trust them to set up a useful tournament, because even after 18 months this community still has difficulty with it!

It's sad, but for me at least, it's true. Goko's issues, and the coming end of Isotropic, have made me less interested in playing Dominion. This truly is strange, because there's a new set out! When Hinterlands came out, I became even more Dominion crazy than before! But that's because I could play it on Isotropic, I got hooked, and then I immediately went out and bought it. Now I don't know when/whether I'll buy Dark Ages, when/whether I'll come aboard Goko. So I think no matter what happens now, something's gotten lost in translation, at least for me.

I'm not like, done with Dominion or anything, I still love Dominion. But it might no longer be enough of on obsession for me to pay to play it online. We'll see, I guess.

[RisingJaguar]

Yeah I'm still debating this decision as well.  The three wonders of Iso are:

1. The speed I can get through actions/games, the animations aren't doing anything for me.  It's just cute
2. The fact that it is free
3. The level of competition that is constantly there. 

As much as I'm down on Goko:

1.  The "Very Fast" animation speed is already basically "Off."  It's fast enough that it's silly to even have it; they need to just create an "Off" setting.
2.  Well, yeah.
3.  That's due to the lack of players and the fact that it's so hard to get a match because there are usually fewer than 4 people on.  When everyone migrates (or doesn't), that problem should go away.

Yeah even very fast doesn't do it for me.  The speed at which you can play turns (Ie. play cards) is really slow.  Maybe I just need to get used to it with the discarding and trashing... but I am not the biggest fan at the moment. 

But back to the general discussion.  Since any tournament lasting a month might not finish, I would be very interested in having day or weekend long tournaments.  They don't have to be large either, like 16 just to make sure it finishes. 

[Kirian]

Yeah I'm still debating this decision as well.  The three wonders of Iso are:

1. The speed I can get through actions/games, the animations aren't doing anything for me.  It's just cute
2. The fact that it is free
3. The level of competition that is constantly there. 

As much as I'm down on Goko:

1.  The "Very Fast" animation speed is already basically "Off."  It's fast enough that it's silly to even have it; they need to just create an "Off" setting.
2.  Well, yeah.
3.  That's due to the lack of players and the fact that it's so hard to get a match because there are usually fewer than 4 people on.  When everyone migrates (or doesn't), that problem should go away.

Yeah even very fast doesn't do it for me.  The speed at which you can play turns (Ie. play cards) is really slow.  Maybe I just need to get used to it with the discarding and trashing... but I am not the biggest fan at the moment. 

But back to the general discussion.  Since any tournament lasting a month might not finish, I would be very interested in having day or weekend long tournaments.  They don't have to be large either, like 16 just to make sure it finishes. 

Alas, as a father of two under age four, I can't run a weekend tournament... and that wouldn't really be "IsoDom" would it?  I think it was... Rabid? running the one-day tourneys recently.

[Fabian]

Very fast isn't near good enough. There's still delays, and there's still the whole "since we want all these nice sweet awesome animations, you can click+drag your cards at all times, and any time you try and play a card, it's like 50/50 if you're actually playing it or if the game thinks you're trying to drag it somewhere before letting go of it almost immediately" thing.

Just turn the animations off and let us click the damn cards =/

[GendoIkari]

Very fast isn't near good enough. There's still delays, and there's still the whole "since we want all these nice sweet awesome animations, you can click+drag your cards at all times, and any time you try and play a card, it's like 50/50 if you're actually playing it or if the game thinks you're trying to drag it somewhere before letting go of it almost immediately" thing.

Just turn the animations off and let us click the damn cards =/

Very fast has 2 major problems:

1. As mentioned, it's still slow in certain ways. Try buying 10 Copper with 10 Goons in play.

2. You have no idea what your opponent is doing. You have to click to open the text log; at which point you can't play the game until you close it. Why should you have to open and close it every turn?

[Ozle]

Wait, i've been away, whats happenening to Isotropic?