[Dev Update] Automated Tournament System Improvements

[Gaile]

As posted on the Guild Wars Wiki last night: In monitoring and assessing the ATS over the last few days, the dev team identified specific potential improvements to the system. These improvements did not require a "Live Build," therefore there was no in-game notification and no Update Notes were published. However, we do want you to be aware of these system improvements, which were effective at approximately 7:30 PM Pacific Time on Friday, May 11th. The changes are as follows:
The top 25% of all players who participate in each tournament instance will receive Tournament Reward points, rather than just the top 8 players.
Guilds and players will no longer receive Qualifier Points or Tournament Rewards Points if they forfeit on the first round.
Teams in GvG Tournaments will no longer be required to retain 6 out of the 8 original players throughout the entire tournament.
Players will now get their Tournament Tokens refunded when withdrawing from a tournament.We will continue to monitor and appraise the ATS, and will of course be reading your feedback in looking at other changes, updates, and improvements in the future.

[Tiyuri]

Gaile perhaps you could pass this on to someone.

Right now there is a rule where by a player must be a member of a guild for 14 days in order to enter an AT. This rule is good in that it helps curb abuse of the system.

However because of this rule those of us who PuG GvG on the ladder for fun have been completely shafted, we're unable to pug as ladder play (which now has no real bearing on the ladder) requires 4 Guild members as well as 4 guests to enter a GVG. Players are reluctant to leave their guilds to come and temporarily member for the pug guild due to the 14 day restriction on ATs.

Now a very simple way to solve this problem would be to change the rule slightly.

Rather than the restriction being imposed on Guild membership, it should be imposed on the last played AT. So if you have played an AT with another guild in the last 14 days, you may not play in an AT with a different guild.

This means smurf and pug guilds stay out of the ATs (as they should) but players can pug and can still play on the ladder without worrying about ruining their guilds ability to play in the ATs.

Many of us outside the game without the time to dedicate to a full time guild rely on pug groups to get our fill of GVG. With the new changes to the rating system allowing pug guilds to play on the ladder has no real effect on improper guild ranking.

I hope I explained this problem in full, if not please let me know.

Here's hoping you pass on this concern to a dev, as it's a big one - as PuG GVG is the only way I play the game right now and it'd be a huge shame for me to see that die.

Cheers

[yawgmoth]

The top 25% of all players who participate in each tournament instance will receive Tournament Reward points, rather than just the top 8 players.
Most tournament instances are smaller than 32 teams as 32 is the maximum size for Daily GvG tourneys. They're more often around 20-28 teams. So this update is in fact a 'nerf' and means that less players will get the Reward Points, true?
25% of 24 teams is only top 6... whats the point of such a change?

___
There's still a more important issue about ATs unsolved - their starting times.
It seems that Central Europe zone (GMT+2) got forgotten, as in most days we get to play either early afternoon or after midnight. Are 1v1 tournaments considered more important than GvG so they get better starting times?

The original schedule (http://www.guildwars.com/competitive/articles/stateofthegame/20070405-futureofcompetitive2.php ) was much much better for us, why change it?

Weekend days (Saturday, Sunday) are free of duties like work/school so there's more room for time flexibility. Thats why the worst times in the week should happen duruing weekends, but now some of the best are - this way some weekdays get the most horrible starting hours. There are now 3 days completely out of range.

[Cacheelma]

Most tournament instances are smaller than 32 teams as 32 is the maximum size for Daily GvG tourneys. They're more often around 20-28 teams. So this update is in fact a 'nerf' and means that less players will get the Reward Points, true?
25% of 24 teams is only top 6... whats the point of such a change?


I don't know if I understand you (and Gaile's post) correctly and since I don't GvG so I don't really know. But from what I read here, the reward points used to be given out to only the top 8 PLAYERS. But now it's going to be given out to top 25% of the players who participate in the tournament. So from your calculation, 25% of 24 teams = 6 teams = 48 players. Isn't that an improvement?

[bellissima]

There's still a more important issue about ATs unsolved - their starting times.
It seems that Central Europe zone (GMT+2) got forgotten, as in most days we get to play either early afternoon or after midnight. Are 1v1 tournaments considered more important than GvG so they get better starting times?

The original schedule (http://www.guildwars.com/competitive/articles/stateofthegame/20070405-futureofcompetitive2.php ) was much much better for us, why change it?

Weekend days (Saturday, Sunday) are free of duties like work/school so there's more room for time flexibility. Thats why the worst times in the week should happen duruing weekends, but now some of the best are - this way some weekdays get the most horrible starting hours. There are now 3 days completely out of range.

On the old schedule the US timezones got crummy times basically the same way you described. I'm not sure it's possible to make a schedule where there's a good time for everyone most days per week without adding a lot more tournament instances overall... :undecided:

[unknown entity]

I don't know if I understand you (and Gaile's post) correctly and since I don't GvG so I don't really know. But from what I read here, the reward points used to be given out to only the top 8 PLAYERS. But now it's going to be given out to top 25% of the players who participate in the tournament. So from your calculation, 25% of 24 teams = 6 teams = 48 players. Isn't that an improvement?

Aside from Winning RP gain (1 for 1v1 and 3 for GvG), extra RP was given to top 16 for 1v1 and top8 for GvG.
# for GvG, all participants in top8 teams gain RP

As long as max. registrants are existed for a group, the # of ppl gaining those extras wouldn't change. But if the number is lower than that, entitled individuals/teams are decreased as yawgmoth described.

If there were only 8 or less registrants, all teams would get extra RP regardless of their final standing. Now, if there're only 8, top2 will get extra RP.
IMO, this scaling isn't that bad alteration. # of RP given itself might be needed to be scaled down, though.

eg.
In case top8 gain 24-10RP according to their final standing, only 12,10 is given to top 1,2 in the above 8 registrants example.

[Miss Velvetine]

GvG Tournament is too easy to farm with Defenseway builds