Race of the Day - a simple solution to race accessibility

I really enjoy racing in PoE. There's just one problem - I have a job and a new baby and so my free time to play is completely unpredictable. It may line up with a race time, it may not. The longest I can usually invest is a half hour to an hour, so that further limits what races I'll be able to join. I average about 4 points per race, so at best I'm probably looking at a 30 point season - barely worth taking the time from playing the new leagues.

I understand that races should favor those who invest more time. It should also favor the better players. However, I think a simple change will open up a reasonable level of race rewards to a wider player base without unbalancing the system. I give you, Race of the Day!

Each day, GGG designates one race as Race of the Day. This event is not tied to a scheduled start time. Once your account joins the instance, a local timer is started for the duration of the race. This way all of us race lovers who aren't hardcore gamers have a chance to participate more. There are 44 days of racing this season and 160 races total. So in the next 2 months, I could possibly play 25-30 races instead of 7-10. This probably won't get me the 135+ point rewards, but it might be enough to get me to the 80 point rewards. This wouldn't add events to the calendar, and the hardcore gamers shooting for the top rewards would play these events anyway, so it doesn't overly benefit them. Making 25% of races accessible to the entire player base, independent of time zone, is far to everyone and would not overly inflate the rewards. It's also a small enough number of events, that those with multiple accounts don't have a great enough incentive to play on each account.

Since joining PoE in open beta, the main request I see regarding races is more races at more times. I think this is the best solution yet. Any 1-2 hour solo race event could be designated Race of the Day - 1 hr solo, 2 hr BLAMT, endless ledge - anything except cut throat and the signature race events. It would be good for all players without breaking the race reward system, and it would be good for GGG by encouraging more play time and race participation.

If you agree, give me a bump and add your thoughts. Let's get GGG's attention!

That sounds really good! I think it is subtle enough that GGG could actually implement the system, and it would also open up racing for a lot of individuals who are just getting into playing races and want to do them on their own time.

The big problem is that allowing players to do the race at any time of the day means people can just make multiple accounts and run a race multiple times for multiple prizes.

Do you have a solution for this issue? If there's a way to fix this then I think having a race available on your own time would be a nice option for those of us with unpredictable schedules.

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Nuro wrote:

The big problem is that allowing players to do the race at any time of the day means people can just make multiple accounts and run a race multiple times for multiple prizes.

Do you have a solution for this issue? If there's a way to fix this then I think having a race available on your own time would be a nice option for those of us with unpredictable schedules.

I think balancing the number of Race of the Day races or the point rewards would be the solution. It would take a considerable time investment to get any of the top 5 rewards on multiple accounts, even using this strategy. If people want to get multiple copies of the bottom tier rewards, they're going to be able to manage that anyway. I don't think the game economy is damaged if there are some extra unique Fairgraves floating around. It's only a problem if its the top rewards and GGG can balance that out.

GGG will have to disable the random prizes on these races, but that's only fair. People should be encouraged to race according the schedule whenever possible.

You could limit participation in "race of the day" events to people who have at least a level X character in whatever league, where X is whatever is deemed appropriate. Sort of like people can't trade until level 25.

I very much support this idea. Looking at the first 5 races, there is maybe 1 I can participate in, and since the rewards go to the new leagues, I actually have a desire to race this season.

this is a brilliant idea and i would definitely play much much more of these races than i (can) at the moment!

I like the suggestion but the only way it can work is if trade is disabled and the timer is account wide. Otherwise you can mule over items/gems from other characters/accounts and maximize the potential of a single character in the allotted time. The account wide timer would prevent players with more time from mitigating RNG by rerolling.

This seems like a pretty good idea at its core. I wouldn't mind seeing it implemented as I miss quite a few races due to work.

As long as they're solo and short-ish duration (only 1-2 hours?), I'd definitely be able to fit races like this into a daily schedule.

With respect to the multiple-account issue, I don't think it is one. You simply say it isn't allowed, and add a modicum of detection. There obviously has to be a fair amount of code in place to combat botting and RMTing. Casual players aren't going to bother. High-end players want the acclaim. Can you imagine Kripp or Helmann streaming "Well, trying endless ledge on account #2" when it's explicitly against the rules? For that matter, they're loaded in game, so the only reason to even bother would be more shots at a demigod's item; and then would they really want to risk getting both accounts banned?

I think it's just a non-issue.

And here's why it doesn't matter: no matter what the .1% or .01% would/might do, races are fun that I'm guess 98% of us don't find very accessible. I love them. I don't mind that I'm a 3-5 point reward player usually right now. I feel like I'm perpetually going, "Damn, if only..." about race times, and this from someone who is still playing 40+ hours a week right now like a maniac. I'm clearly a prime target for racing fun, but the timing tends to be awful. I think conservatively 10x people would participate in races if this adjustment was made, probably more. That makes it worthwhile.

(And there's no reason it should be limited to a race-of-the-day.)

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mattw wrote:

races are fun that I'm guess 98% of us don't find very accessible. I love them. I don't mind that I'm a 3-5 point reward player usually right now. I feel like I'm perpetually going, "Damn, if only..." about race times

That's definitely how I feel. When I realized the race times didn't line up for me last season, I played just enough to get the first reward. I could have played more races, but since it wasn't likely I'd be able to move up the reward ladder, it just didn't make sense. Might as well play my Anarchy character instead.

In the end, I just missed racing.