Why a large number of people only play in casual mode?

[vultusprime]

Once I was play-testing some deck ideas in casual. After one game, which I lost, out of curiosity I looked up my opponent . His current rank was 25 and I though "great I just lost against some total beginner, good job!"
When I glanced at his highest rank, it was still 25 and that's when I saw he had over 5000 wins. This person has been playing all these years only in casual, but why?

Everyone is free to play in whichever way they choose. But I don't understand how you can get any real satisfaction from playing only in casual mode. Here you'll end up playing against people of very different ranks, who could be much lower that yourself. Where's the challenge in that?

 

[Draconifors]

Draft and seasonal also count towards wins. Arena did, too.

It's entirely possible that someone does like playing casual only; people have different tastes, and not everyone may want to climb the ladder.
Besides, casual at rank 25 is more challenging than ranked because so many people run meta decks in casual.

You seem to assume everyone wants the same things as you do, which certainly is not true.

PS. If wins carried over from beta -- I don't know if they did -- it's also possible the person was a beta player and just getting started with the release version.

 

[vultusprime]

It's entirely possible that someone does like playing casual only; people have different tastes, and not everyone may want to climb the ladder.

You seem to assume everyone wants the same things as you do, which certainly is not true.

First of all I have said in my post that people are free to play in any way they like. I 'm not judging them.

Besides, casual at rank 25 is more challenging than ranked because so many people run meta decks in casual.

This is not necessarily true in this instance. When someone plays only on casual and has 5000/6000 wins under his belt, yes technically they're still at rank 25 but it's not a true rank. in reality they will have the skillset and experience of pro rank, and will also have all the cards at their disposal.
In casual they end up playing against players who, possibly, are really at rank 25, with all the limitations in skillset and cards availability.

The problem is that in casual mode there's no rank system, but there should be, maybe based on the number of wins. As it is, all players are placed at the same level, for no reason. It's Mike Tyson against the kid next door.
Winning a game in ranked or perhaps pro ladder, we feel rewarded because it was a real victory. On the other hand winning in casual does not give any real sense of achievement.

I'm not criticizing anyone, but rather pointing out that casual mode is inherently unfair and perhaps should be changed.

 

[Draconifors]

in reality they will have the skillset and experience of pro rank

You are still assuming they don't play draft or seasonal.

Winning a game in ranked or perhaps pro ladder, we feel rewarded because it was a real victory. On the other hand winning in casual does not give any real sense of achievement.

Here you are presenting subjective opinions as objective facts. Again, not everyone shares your views.

I'm not criticizing anyone, but rather point out that casual mode is inherently unfair and perhaps should be changed.

Doesn't seem like it to me. Why not focus on the latter part instead of on how some random person plays the game?

 

[quintivarium]

I can only speak for myself, but I play almost exclusively on unranked. My reasons for doing so are as follows:

1. I don’t like the feeling of competitive play. I place too much emphasis for myself on winning and start to lose the sense of fun which is the real reason for playing in the first place.
2. I am almost always playing with distractions or with potential for distractions. While I don’t like to have to forfeit or abandon any match, it is a background possibility with my life situation — even if I am playing at 5:00 AM.
3. Unranked tends to provide better variety of decks and opponents.
4. Because I choose to build my card holdings almost exclusively through kegs and not crafting (crafting is less efficient in using resources until you can get a complete collection, which I can’t quite do yet), my card collection is not nearly as good as might be expected from my experience level.
5. Because I have very limited play time, I don’t play enough for rank to reflect my ability anyway: unranked is actually more challenging in most cases.
6. In my first month of play, I stupidly followed the advice that new players should play ranked because they meet players of their own level. I rose quickly to a level where my starter deck just could not win against meta decks played with a modicum of skill. Until I am willing and able to commit the time to become a truly expert player, the ranked system simply advanced me until I reach a level where I cannot compete. I don’t want that stress.

 

[Jurus331]

Less meta. Plain and simple.

I don't know what the situation is now, I quit the game a while ago, but back in the day casual was filled with non-meta decks. And you could actually win with fun non-meta decks.

 

[DRK3]

I am also a player that spends more time in casual/unranked/training/ "whatever it is the kids are calling the mode these days" than ranked, despite my experience.

One of the main reasons is i got a short fuse, get enraged in most matches just from looking at the leader and knowing what im gonna face for the 500th time, so a lot of times i instaforfeit. Those forfeits stack up, on ranked i probably wouldnt be so trigger happy on the ESC, its easier to not care on casual, so i do it for the little sanity i got left.

Also, what you find on low pro rank or top ranks 1-7 is not much different from what you find on casual, you can find tryharding pros, you can find meme players or you can find terrible players who started a few weeks ago, being carried by their metadecks.

What i would really like is a full, official description how the matchmaking system works for every mode other thank ranked. Since these other modes "dont matter", they dont have to worry with wintrading or whatever, so i dont see any setback.
Also, since they changed the system so you dont see the opponents level i really have little clue what it is - i dont bother checking their profile - and understanding the algorhytm is harder.

 

[duracell1955]

There is a disincentive to play on ranked if you're not going to win many matches against better players or better decks - I used to play exclusively on ranked, in the days when I always made my own decks and had some success with them. I got to rank 1 that way but as the game has developed, becoming ever more complex and with more powerful cards I've found it harder and harder to get any successes. This season I haven't won a single game on ranked with five out of six factions so why continue? I'll go for a seasonal game if it looks good to me (I loved Patience is a virtue - my win rate climbed to almost 50%), I'll play casual occasionally as well.

 

[jed9653]

I usually only play ranked ladder, but I can see the appeal of just playing casual. Sure, a lot of people play casual with Meta decks to farm wins, but casual gives you a much better chance of running into new and unique decks. It's also a place that doesn't have as much pressure to win necessarily like ladder does, and you can forfeit or pass without the negative aspects of doing so like losing a mosaic piece.