ME - Constructive Feedback.....I hope!

[Tiger 88]

First off - let me start this by stating up front that in NO WAY am I trying to put this game down!  My goals are this:

1.  Let Jason and Team know how several of us Blitz members feel
2.  Have our voices be heard
3.  Provide constructive feedback

So lets just say that I have been around the Blitz for a long time...have played many (maybe too many) scenarios, and have jumped into the ME Game since it's release and patches.  I also have played a few games with Jason, as well as supported the ME Tourney.

I do not know off the top of my head how many games I have played, but it is relevant and there have been several games that I and my opponent have totally enjoyed, but there are many, let me stress many that we have not enjoyed due to predominately one sided advantages.

I also have played many scenarios where the games were NOT reported - truly due to a lack of interest as the story goes..."here's another one that is un-playable".  I will be the 1st to say shame on me for not posting or commenting or providing the feedback necessary back to Jason as I am sure he and several of his team monitor the actions on the ME scenario board.  I due take responsibility for my in-actions!

Case in hand....only current ME game that I have going and we now are just calling it a draw due to the severe in-balance of one side vs the other...this is a 60 turn scenario and we are calling it around 16 or 17.  It is called "Sharon's Quagmire (Israel the attacker and Egypt the defender) - I am playing as the defender...the force mix is so out of control - Tank vs Tank and foot vs foot, but I guess the thought was to give the Egyptians some AT guns and of course ground forces that can kill a tank (RPg's etc) to overcome the onslaught.  I do have the terrain as my advantage but at the end of the day the game is fuitle from my perspective.  

Please read this excerpt from my opponent on the game after he and I decided this one should be wrapped up:

"Steve: We have played allot of ME scenarios & while some were fun (Shlomo , Hot Knife & Centurions, hmmm...) some like this one are lopsided. The Israelis have another two para brigade with tanks coming & while you have shredded the two on the board now, two more may tip things right over. Lets go ahead & call this one a draw. Another guy that I have played - well we started playing ME when it first came out & we found the scenarios were very lopsided (especially Israeli Shermans against most Arab 50s tanks). But due to this imbalance and other issues, He has since  stopped playing ME altogether. I hung on as I'm an old time AH Arab-Israeli Wars player who spend many years finding ways for the Arabs to win in that lopsided game. To me, the real problem is like you say: who ever play tested these scenarios were not very good players or play tested them in haste."

For me and my buddies who love the game and units and all that you offer - the H2H scenarios are not well tested from our perspective.

In looking at the ME games played I offer this:

Scenarios played at least once:

Rankings from 1 to 6 = 24 or 44%
Ranked as a 7 (neutral for me) = 11  or 20% (7 to 7.49 = 5, 7.5 to 7.99 = 6)
Rankings from 8 to 10 = 20 or 36%
Total Reported Games = 55

Now let me do a little more math if I include the games ranked as a 7 - those that are ranked 7 to 7.49 get placed in the 1-6 ranking section bringing the total there to 29 or now 53% of all games reported as basically un-playable.  Putting the other 6 into the 8 to 10 bucket, the total goes to 26 or now 47% of all games reported are playable.

Jason and team - I truly love the game and units and maps - but the games thus far are just not playable.

IMO - there is only one way to fix this and that is to make sure that ALL games H2H are play-tested to the nth degree.  Grant you some of the games reported I am sure are not the stock scenarios - but my gut says the majority are from the ME game we all purchased.

Thanks for reading and let me know if there is anything I can do to help make this game greater!!

Steve...aka Tiger 88