First, I don't have a problem if a 13-year old opens 5/2 and beats me and thinks he's better than me. Good for him. My main point I am raising here is that while I understand random luck is an element of Dominion, I would rather mitigate as much of that luck as possible and make it more skill intensive.
Playing lots of games totally evens out the luck. Look at the league.
It's a game with a significant luck element. I think playing more games is the only good approach for isolating skill. The online ones go fast. And they're fun, you're playing Dominion.
But, usually that's because of my opponent getting bad shuffle luck or not playing well. Assuming the opponent is of similar skill to me, pretty much they would have to get bad shuffle luck.
In conversations about luck and skill, it frequently comes up that someone says something like this, and then someone else steps up and says "if you and your opponent are of equal skill, what's left to determine who wins besides luck?" Sometimes I am that person.
Maybe you're thinking, you want it to be that, you are equally skilled, but you played better this game. But I mean. For the period of time we're interested in, you were more skilled (or luckier, or didn't win, or it was a draw).
I love your game, by the way. Otherwise, I wouldn't have even started this poll. I'm not trying to ruin or change your game, but make it more enjoyable for those who feel the same way about starting hands as I do. I know that you play Magic but remember, as well, that EDH/Commander was created by fans of the game that wanted to create their own variant. Now, EDH is insanely popular and makes a ton of money for Wizards of the Coast. Obviously, players having whatever hands they want to start won't make more money for you, but it isn't as big of a change as creating EDH either.
Thanks, I am fond of it myself.
It's fair to say that providing popular options in the online version might increase its popularity and ultimately make me money. Money isn't really relevant; the money is unlikely to make a difference, so I would just be pushing for those options to be friendly.
And I do. I push for options that I think will improve the game for some people. Soon I will start yelling at them about the VP counter matchmaking business; so far I have just stated my opinion in a calm speaking voice. I don't need a VP counter personally, though I'd probably use it against bots. It's not for me. My feeling is though, that the VP counter makes some people have more fun, and is not a negative for them. They just totally come out ahead if it's provided, and have less fun when it isn't.
The identical starting hands thing, that makes the game worse, so I don't want it. If there are a few people who actually totally have more fun that way, well there will be more people who use the option but are actually having less fun. That's what Donald X. actually thinks.
I can see being friendly to people who want to run tournaments with it though, I know it's been a thing in the past. I wouldn't go any farther, because the more it's being used, the more joy it's removing.
Dominion actually had more luck day one. If you had to draw 3 cards and there were 2 left, you shuffled first, shuffling in those 2. It was a concern, when taking that out, that there be enough luck left. There was! It all worked out. So I mean, you dodged a bullet there.