Elements PvP Tournament - Suggestions and Feedback

[Solaris]

You're exactly right, non-speedbuilding tournaments don't force anyone to speedbuild, but those who are short on time (whether it be to IRL or other forums happenings), may be more inclined to speedbuild their decks, due to having less time beforehand. The TOs figured that War would spread this effect greatly among the community, and thus, we defaulted to speedbuilding. We could have ran non-speedbuilding ones, however, this may cause an "unfair"  setting, as those in War will have less time to analyze tourney meta when faced with non-speedbuilding, due to the aforementioned time constraints of War. By forcing speedbuilding, we put everyone on a "level" playing field, as far as deckbuilding time is concerned, as rules aren't predetermined.

Some individual opinions may vary between TOs, but the core sentiment should be the same. Apologies for fragmented ideas, phone at 1% and I'm not home.

[TheonlyrealBeef]

As sad as I find it to be, getting even 8 participants is really hard these days unless both 'murica and europeans alike join (a few hours or so around 20:00 GMT). And even then the turnout is far from spectacular, with tournaments postponed to these times barely hitting the minimum. Restricting certain times hasn't really helped since the die-hard tournament fans show up at almost any time of day, whereas the casuals are... wait, where are they? Nowhere.

I understand rules were already made more flexible to allow more new people to join... but it seems that they mostly stay away from tournaments regardless. Since I really haven't seen any new faces during the tournaments I've been in recently at all.

What's next? I've received some suggestions that would certainly increase the number of matches played, but there would still be the problem of handing out reward codes too easily. One option would be to introduce another kind of tournament like round robin when there are fewer participants. Codes would obviously have to be scaled regardless. What kinds of codes are we talking about, then? There is a high chance a Mark/Nymph code will not be included for such tournaments, which might defeat the point of joining for some. What should be the true minimum number of players? If not 8. Since if we stick this to 8, I'm not sure we can keep up much of a rotation. Or tournaments altogether.

Of course, this also introduces additional questions: I scrapped a part of the rotation since these times don't really seem to work for our current TOs combined with a low turnout, but they could be re-instated if people really felt like it and if a solid plan is made to ensure tournaments can always start, regardless of turnout. But they will not be the tournaments we have known thus far.

So to sum it all up: what do you feel is needed to increase the number of participants (another way to put this to non-participants: why won't you currently join?), what should a tournament look like if the turnout is not "enough" regardless and when should these tournaments take place? (the current flexible versus a more rigid rotation)

This is a public discussion, so all input -especially from (potential) participants- is valued.

[Submachine]

I didn't check tournaments lately, so I'm not sure if this is recurring, but I saw that the banlist in the rules is only text, and there's only an additional "deck" of them in the second post. I'd like to suggest the opposite: Replace the text-based banlist with the deck of banned cards in the OP, and only put the written form as a minor sidenote for those who can't view decks.

Also use BBCode to give the bandeck a title, e.g: Banned Cards, Banlist. These banlists shouldn't be in Spoilers either.

[deuce22]

I can't participate in at least 2/3 of the tournaments purely because of a rotating schedule. Kind of miss the Eastern/Western tourneys back in the old days. But even then, RL is fairly busy for me, so can't even guarantee I participate if at a decent time.

As far as overall participation, it's more due to the game than the tourneys themselves. The community gets smaller each year, and since the game isn't changing, players lose interest.

[theelkspeaks]

I used to play tournaments semi-regularly, but having moved to China recently and working 11 hour days on Saturday and Sunday, many of the slots in the rotation don't work for me.  I still want to play when I can, and I know I'd be disappointed if any of the times I actually can make got removed from the rotation.

[Ryli]

I tend to be out all day Saturday, available on Sundays, I'm sure there's a handful of players in the same position.

I can make early mornings on Saturday, but staying up for a 3-4am start, then having to postpone as we did last on last week's early start just really sucks.

[DANIEELA]

I work in turns,so im rotating with on-line time.
I suggest pool where interested participants can post their available times for that Saturday (or few days).
Then TO can organize Tournament time.

[Lunaris]

I've found that its very difficult for me to participate in tournaments because:

• A lot of the time they end up on Friday nights, and I take AP and college courses at school, so I have a lot of homework.
• The ones with times I can actually make are upgraded.
• Being much newer to the game than those who usually compete, I get feelings of self-doubt and that kind of "I'm never going to win so what's the point" sort of feeling
• I'm horrible at speedbuilding.
• I get confused by the special rules easily and don't want to inconvenience the TOs with my avalanche of questions.

Most of it is the time factor, but I just thought I'd leave this here in case any of it is helpful in anyway.
Which it probably isn't

[CactusKing]

If it's new faces you need I will happily participate in the next round (assuming i'm awake).

[killsdazombies]

The fact that its on saturday means 2/3rds if not all times dont work for me :/

[TheonlyrealBeef]

Hmm, I'm seeing diverse reasons as for why. Several boil down to "just rotate over all times, and some times will eventually work". However, as the past has proven: certain times will almost never have enough participants using the current system. Therefore, instead of making people show up for a tournament that will end up postponed anyway, is it not better to not even try to plan it on those times to begin with?
Including not just Saturday, but Sunday as well into the rotation is not something I wish to dismiss without thought, but will not be considered until solving the problem at hand: not getting enough total players per tournament. I would love more input on this part specifically:

what should a tournament look like if the turnout is not "enough" regardless

We cannot currently keep up a full rotation because some times consistently lack people. Although GMT 04:00-09:00 were already omitted, GMT 10:00+ (several hours) are also times with the same problem, as today has made clear. It may mean certain people never get a chance to join which is something we dis-prefer seeing as well, of course. But I must stress the fact that each tournament currently requires at least 8 people to show up. The direct reason for this topic is that not having enough people show up is no longer an exception, but a structural problem. One that I would dis-prefer "patching up" with a rotation over just a few hours (excluding one hour after another for each time a tournament is postponed on such a time).

A problem that may require tournaments not just being held at different times, but a different solution altogether, like changing from single elimination to something else to allow for fewer players. What this something else is, how this will effect rewards and what the "new minimum" will be are topics on which ideas are more than welcome. Already, I feel like 3 wins to victory in single-elimination with 8-15 players is a very low amount for a Mark/Nymph code. But adding more games with the same amount of people will not actually lower your rather high chances of winning.

If it's new faces you need I will happily participate in the next round (assuming i'm awake).

I encourage everyone: old and new alike, to join tournaments to have fun. It's what we organize them for!

[Linkcat]

After this many years of running tournaments the same way, there's no harm in trying changes to things for a climate that's so different from when they were instituted. There's no way to know for sure if a new idea works or doesn't work until you try it, and if it doesn't then you can just change it back with no harm done.