Premium Website: Two More Features Unveiled

by Chris Lobban, Chief Programmer

1st December 2008

If you haven't read the first three articles about the upcoming Premium Website, I would suggest you start with them. My first article discussed some of the basic facts about the new Premium Website, and the second article talked about the pricing scheme, while the previous article told you about the perks of getting a full year membership. Plus, each introduced you to one of the new features that will be included. This week, we talk about two more features being covered, and since it's now officially the holiday season, we'll also deliver a special present!

Although I said at the beginning that one of the core values in this project was to make sure we weren't taking anything away from the current website, that's not entirely true. We did make one small exception to this rule, and that's with regards to the badge system that we use here on site. Because most of us have some collector blood in us, the ability to collect badges was one that we integrated long ago. You get badges for volunteering, donating, or contributing in some way to the website. You get badges for placing well in major tournaments. You can find a complete list of badges here, and none of this will change. However, the one change that we will be making hearkens back to the original days of Star Trek:CCG, when the Premiere set was released. Those of us that've been around since then will remember the power that a simple border could command... a white border Jean-Luc Picard was pretty, sure... but the black-bordered version was the holy grail of collecting, just because of that border colour. So now we're introducing black-bordered badges as well. All current badges will be replaced with a white-bordered image, and only Premium Members will be able to keep the rarer (and snazzier-looking) black-bordered version.

There is also one other feature, and it's a last-minute addition. All Premium Members with tournament activity will be able to get a fully-detailed account of their head-to-head records against other players. You can see which tournaments you beat them at, and which ones you lost. You can also see which of your decks won and which ones lost. This extra functionality gives you a good chance to track your favourite rivalry with other players so that you can see on a week-to-week basis how you're doing against that player... and what affiliations you're most likely to beat them with!

But it doesn't end there! You can also get a complete breakdown of your personal affiliation records. How often did your Borg deck win? Which affiliations was it most effective against? All of these stats are available at your fingertips with this new tool.

Finally, since the holiday season is starting, The Continuing Committee would like to give a 'thank you' present to all of the members that helped us to survive our first year, and made this such a great community. Every member that made any form of donation, any time during the past year, will be getting one free month of Premium Membership, starting today. Plus, anybody that currently volunteers as a writer or playtester will get free Premium membership for as long as they remain active in their chosen volunteer area. I welcome you to go and explore the site, see what the membership gets you, and take full advantage of it all month long. Then, if you like what you see, you'll be able to purchase your own membership in January. If you have any comments or concerns about any of the features, or any ideas for future premium features that you think you'd enjoy, please feel free to let me know on this thread.