First off, I am a huge Dcity fan.
I bought my first cards when the game just started, but fool that I was, failed to get enthusiastic, didn't really get it and left my city untouched for several months. I could have been slowly growing my city organically the past months. Meaning I would not have to invest as heavily, in order to catch up with the top players, as I have been doing for the last month.
But that's all water under the bridge.
Over the past weeks, I have learned to appreciate the game dynamics, gained understanding about the different possible strategies on building a city and am eagerly awaiting the 3rd edition cards, which will give even more buildings, options and factors to take into consideration.
At the same time, i have developed some very specific ideas on how the game can be improved. For a big part, the changes I would like to see are about the reward structure, so i thought i'd wait sharing them until I took the 1st position. After all, on 1st position I'd be affected most by my own proposed changes and my comments would less likely be seen as petty jealousy towards the top players.
So what's my concern?
I believe the Hive reward pool is a very important part of the game. It motivates existing players to battle for position and is a powerful asset to attract new players to the game. In its current form, the Hive reward pool has a few flaws, as far as I am concerned.
The daily pay out is 1.5% of the pool. I believe that a daily pay out of 1% would be better. It would mean that the pool would grow, and a larger pool means more value to the game and more incentive for players. A lower pay out percentage does not mean players will be paid less, it only means that the pay outs are stretched over a longer period. Besides when the reward pool grows, the amount will soon catch up to what we are used to. After all, 1% of a 225k reward pool is just as much Hive as 1.5% of the current 150k pool.
I believe the top players (so me most of all) could do with a slightly smaller reward. If the top 10 bleeds a little, all other players would benefit. I don't suggest any drastic cuts, but even a modest reduction could mean a significant improvement in smaller player rewards.
Right now all rewards except for the top 10, are divided in levels. So 11th - 15th place receive the same reward. 16th - 25th place all get the same. 26th - 40th likewise, etc etc. I think it would be great for the game if each position had its own reward. It would mean more battling for position and would keep players on their toes at all times.
I have some other idea's on the game as well, but on these I have either not figured out the pro's and con's enough yet, or have not yet formed a real opinion on. So i will keep these to myself for now. I am curious to hear how other players feel about the above suggestions.
I realise that @gerber is miles ahead on me and it could very well be that I am missing some crucial reasons why my proposed changes would not work/be counterproductive or unimplentable. But for now these are my 5 cents.
