Most of you are probably aware of these recent updates, since you've already seen them in the game, but nevertheless we feel that it's important to let everyone know what we're up to in an official capacity. So here's what we've been up to in the past week since we released the new gameplay changes!
Updated Matchmaking Algorithm
Those of you who play regularly have hopefully noticed that you are getting matched with opponents closer to your own rating.
Initially when we released the game, the matchmaking algorithm was very simple and prioritized speed above all else. This means that it would match you up instantly with whoever was currently looking for a match in your same league. Since each league has a rating range of 900 points, this led to a lot of matches between players with vastly different ratings, which was a poor experience at both ends.
We have recently updated the matchmaking algorithm to be a little more patient, which may lead to slightly longer wait times, but with the benefit of more even matches. How it works is that if it can't find an opponent who is a close rating match right away, then it will wait and slowly expand the rating range it will match with as more time passes. After about 60 seconds the range will expand to include any available matches in the same league.
Ultimately, the quality of the matchmaking is determined by the number of active players, so keep referring your friends!
Cards to Next Level
It's good to know experience and how much experience cards have, but at the end of the day what's really important is "how many more cards do I need to level this one up?" Well, we're not getting rid of experience, the back end of the program is still measuring everything based on experience, but we've updated the user interface to show players the information that is most important to them.
We're now showing how many cards you need to reach the next level on both the collection and market sections of the site. To reiterate, this is just a UI change to make things easier for players when purchasing and combining cards. We're not changing any mechanic in the game because of it.
New Battlefield Design
The much anticipated tournament system is in the works and is expected to be released in January of 2019. One piece that we have implemented now is a new design for the battlefield which will allow us more space and options to add in new elements, such as tournament sponsor logos!
Many thanks to @nateaguila our lead designer for this and many other designs that you experience every day on the Steemmonsters.com website.
Alpha to Beta Conversion
The oneway Alpha to Beta edition card conversion option is now live in the game. We originally announced this feature in this post including the reasoning and player feedback behind it.
If you would like to convert Alpha edition cards to Beta edition, you can go to your collection, click on the card, and make sure you have Alpha edition selected. Then you can check the box next to one or more cards and click the "Convert to Beta" button.
As a reminder, this is a one way transfer. You're converting your Alpha edition card to the equivalent Beta edition card. After the conversion the card will be a regular Beta edition card just like any other and can be combined with other Beta edition cards of the same type. It will still be worth the same amount of experience as the original Alpha edition card, though, so you don't lose any of that initial benefit to having Alpha cards with more experience than the Betas.
Removed Reliance on Steemit, Inc
After the recent announcements we felt it was no longer prudent to rely on any services provided by Steemit, Inc. We are very happy to report that Steem Monsters now has no reliance on Steemit, Inc in any way. If they were to shut down all of their services right now, Steem Monsters will continue to run unaffected.
We were able to move off of the Steemit, Inc API node very quickly thanks to @anyx, who has done some amazing work over a very short time period to optimize and run an RPC node which offers performance exceeding any we've seen to date.
Gift Cards
It's the end of the year and everyone needs to send gifts. You could send crypto which your normie friends don't know how to use. You could send them gifts of stuff they don't need like that gelatin octopus arm you're holding now. Or you could send them what they really want... MONSTERS!
Good times to be had by all. You can now send gift cards with promo codes to your friends, family, strangers, lovers, pets, roomates, Steem Family, or strangers in the street.
Click buy, and in the top left you'll see a new icon for "gift cards." Everything you own in the game becomes more valuable as more players play, so give yourself a gift this year by giving your friends the gift of Steem Monsters!
Dadgroed and Babygroed!
This handsome buddy weighed in at 10 lbs and 9 ounces. We think that's 4.7kg. He's a huge baby and 22 inches long. Mom is recovering well. He's the newest addition/edition of the Aggroed Family. Please welcome Julius to the world!
Anyone feeling super inspired should feel free to send a pack to @trollbaby (He brought us to the hospital 3 times before he was finally born on the 4th trip. He was trolling us.) to start his collection.
Thank you for your continued support!
Steem Monsters Contact Info:
w00t hehe glad too see the card I made ended up in this post :D
First and most importantly. .....
Congrats on the baby !
.....
All great changes and updates. Keep up the great work everyone. Tournaments are taking a little longer then expected but you can't rush perfection !
Edit : I finally turned into a minnow and got that slider for vote percentages. I just noticed it while upvoting your post.
Congrats on making minnow!!! I pushed my slider all the way up for you :-)
Awesome .... thanks !
Keep on rocking me baby!!!
Nice teams you have!!!
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I am coming for you!!!! I'll flex the last 48 hrs of the season :-)
lol! Nice I love the enthusiasm!! This meme is about others, lol! Not us, haha!
Congrats on the new baby. At 4.7kg he is certainly a (steem) monster!
Congrats also on moving to @anyx's full node. Its an important development in the maturity of the Steem ecosystem that major apps are supporting alternative full nodes.
Hopefully it will encourage lots more people, especially witnesses and major apps to run (and own) them.
Tons of awesome updates 😀
Posted using Partiko iOS
I love these updates! Clean and simple, always full of good news! Keep up the good work SM
Lol gold dragon yeah!
Congrats aggroed! Changes to the game are going great.
Thank you for good information.
But I would like to make one suggestion for faster battle matching.
The current system, when I checked,
Matching is not easy in the upper league because the rules are different now.
Therefore, I would like to propose changing the mechanism
(There is no difference for the user who plays.)
Please add latest price on the card, when selling.
What would be the benefit of leaving your cards in Alpha?
Alpha only tournaments where Beta can't be played. Also you need less Alphas to fully upgrade.
Thank you for the official update.
This is great news! You guys are amazing!
Congratulations on the new addition to your family! @aggroed
I'm happy to hear Julius is healthy, and mother is recovering well! 😃
It would be truly epic to see "The Crushling" added to @steemmonsters, although I'm not sure these stats are high enough for such a monster!!!!
Great work, awesome progress. You guys have my support 100%
Now the only question is:
"How many packs to buy for monster Christmas presents?!"
Been playing for about 2 weeks super fun
Posted using Partiko iOS
Glad you are here! :-)
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These are all awesome changes. I really like the new design.
Fantastic updates, particularly that you are running your own node now.
I agree! They are fantastic! That was really fast too! :-)
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Holy moly
Congrats
So glad mom and sone doing good!!!
Great news and very useful updates! 100% resteemed
Posted using Partiko Android
Wow that a great collection of updated and congrats @aggroed.
Well Done @Aggroed & @Yabapmatt and many, many others on the various different aspects of SteemMONSTERS !!
Cheers 2 You, Your Family, Friends AND Everyone involved !!
PS--> Big KUDOS also to Mom... THAT'S a BIG BABY Boy !!
Great updates! Particularly using an own node. I‘m really looking foward to tournaments and the great looking new design.
Posted using Partiko iOS
What a nice baby, congratulations to the happy couple. Very good updates in the game.
Congrats on the child and all these changes. Always positive stuff! :)
Thanks to Steem Monsters, I've now powered up beyond 10,000 STEEM! :)
I'm a double dolphin now! (And still have 2 sets of max alpha cards in my possession)
Congratulations on all your success so far this year, and I hope to see it continue!
Hi, @steemmonsters!
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Congratulations!
Your teams are amazing!
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AWWWWWWWWWWWWWW Congratulations aggy!!! i'm really happy for you! such a beautiful and handsome boy!! <3 <3 <3 @aggroed
Wow! Congratulations on your new son! I am so happy everyone is doing great! Steem Monsters is an amazing game not just because it is so much fun and the rewards,etc. but the people who made it Matt, yabapmatt and aggroed have created a brilliant game right here on the best blockchain ever! Thank you and the whole Steem Monster team and also the entire community! It is because of you helping spread the word it is doing so great and continues to grow everyday!
Can we please take a moment to discuss how large this baby is? I was born 3 weeks late so I understand why I was such a fatty when I was born but DANG! Viking blood?
Congratulations and thanks for your efforts!!!
Enjoy it! They are out of the house before you know it!
Cheers,
Peter
Enjoy it! They are
Out of the house before you
Know it! Cheers, Peter
- fullcoverbetting
I'm a bot. I detect haiku.
Welcome to the world @trollbaby and congratulations to @aggroed!
Glad to know that nothing happened to steemit would disturb steemmonsters 😉 the latest update on the battle and background are so cool and now we can combine alpha and beta, that's super🤸 because my alphas only few cards and I can't keep it as collection if only 5 cards🙃 Thanks @steemmonsters!
Thanks for the updates, glad to learn we are not reliant on the steemit node and its strong and standalone. However most importantly Congrats on the Baby :)
Good stuff.
i'll just say that I don't understand the need for the matching change. Right now matching had some great diversity because you could be matched against anyone in the league... I'm worried it will begin to repeat itself too much are there precautions against that as well. Like don't play the same person twice if possible.
I don't know why people comlained so much about being matched against higher ranked people if they were in their same league. They were all on the same playing field given the same card limitations, they were likely gonna loose because the higher ranked person has shown they're likely better than others. I guess the exception is those who fall from a higher league with the ability to play the higher cards.
In any case I hope that every single game i play someone higher than me... it's a win-win for me. I go way up if i win and i barely drop if I loose.
CONGRATULATIONS!! amazing new addition to the team, welcome Julius!
You two have been doing a great job especially while also dealing with baby things. I look forward to watching where this grows, and a big shout out to all my steem monster friends!
❤ What a great post full of updates that I love @steemmonsters!
💁👹 Question to @yabapmatt @aggroed or @steemmonsters : When will I ever be able to see the Summoners that dont show up during battle on my Chromebook all I get is two black empty squares, but my son sees them on his computer!?
💁🍼 A big congratulations to @trollbaby baby Julius aka "The Crushling!" ! Baby Aggroed lol! So glad to hear mom and baby are doing well!
Congrats with the newest addition to the family :) enjoy!!!