Sorrrryyy, people - Apologies - (Blueboi - qualifiers are not still going on, as far as I am aware - they concluded last night.) Bronycon had the bad timing of being this weekend; specifically when all this league stuff is going on. Cyclone, about the battles, ahhhh you can blame that on me. In not wanting to be too overbearing, aggressive, or pushy with people, I kinda didn't spread the word fast and far enough to let everyone know what we were doing, and when it would end. This initial series of battles isn't meant to be extremely competitive or universally involving though - it's just to gauge people against one another for the purpose of seeing where we'd all fit best in a league. There isn't a specific prize for winning or anything, besides what would've been the Champion position - which, has been turned down and is now up for discussion of wether it should just begin as empty. I'm sorry the deadline of Thursday night kinda came and went very inconveniently for a few people though (Poor GreyBidoof too, and even myself caught in limbo against Fokko). That does suck, but again - we kind of have to stick to our guns, because as disorganized as this may seem right now, if we start going back on our words and deadlines... it could get worse in a hurry. :/ It is worth noting though - it has been mentioned previously that the gym leader and elite positions will be dynamic, and based on success and activity they WILL swap out based on quality challengers to the league itself. So (and I'm not saying you won't) if you don't initially get a gym spot, or anyone for that matter - it's STILL possible down the line, given your success as a challenger. So nobody freak out, I won't either if I don't - if you don't get in at first. There's still chances.
Hi, I'll try to throw my two cents in about possible details for the league...I've organized a similar league on another forum so I can share my experience and try to help out. :)
- Rematches: Set up a clear procedure on how to handle rematches so gym leaders don't get flooded with challengers after just beating them.
- Disconnections: Unfortunate but they happen, so a procedure on how to handle the outcome would be good. It gets kinda iffy when blame gets assigned due to DCs so we worked it out by assigning the win to the gym leader but that persistent DCs will be addressed. We wanted to keep the focus on the challenger and their adventure so we tackled it that way so that every win they get would be significant and not just a result of faulty internet.
- I'm not sure if it was addressed but what about the idea of having more than 8 gyms? Challengers can still be required to get (a minimum of) 8 badges but more gyms can give them more variety and spreads the burden of maintaining gyms to other members.
- Lay out the rules for both PS/wifi. Smogon OU has some extra rules (like a limit on Baton Pass and a ban on Swagger) but it might help if the rules between the two formats are kept as similar as possible. I think PS allows you to run battles under your own rules (or no rules) so you can do it that way, but make sure challengers are still following the rules you lay out.
- Have a private area/forum where those involved in the league can discuss issues. It helps if those participating have a private forum where they can talk about things regarding the league (rules, suggestions, new features, etc.) or just get feedback on their teams. You can also use that private area to monitor challengers' teams and replays to make sure they're sticking to the rules.
- Replayability: This was an issue that we addressed early on: what is there to do for people after they beat the league? I ended up breaking down the league in periods (or seasons) where a new season would have challengers start again, giving them a time limit as well as something new to do. A new season can also mean a rotation of gym leaders, Elite 4, Champion, and lets you try out new ideas.
- Be clear about how the gyms are set up. Our league opted to stay pure monotype but allowed gym leaders to change their teams without prior notice, we mentioned that this is to keep challengers on their toes as well as prevent the gym leaders from getting bored. Possible that counter-teaming might get brought up but you guys look like a friendly bunch who just want to set up a fun event for everyone so it shouldn't be a concern ;)
Really awesome you guys are working on this and I'm looking forward to trying it out!
Thank you verrrry much for sharing that. Those are all really good things to set in place. I'm gonna toss out some purely suggestive answers to those, hopefully someone / a few people can toss some opinions and possibly better solutions out too.
[*]
Rematches: Set up a clear procedure on how to handle rematches so gym leaders don't get flooded with challengers after just beating them.
I'm going to guess - having at least 24 hour grace period between challenges would be best.
[*]
Disconnections: Unfortunate but they happen, so a procedure on how to handle the outcome would be good. It gets kinda iffy when blame gets assigned due to DCs so we worked it out by assigning the win to the gym leader but that persistent DCs will be addressed. We wanted to keep the focus on the challenger and their adventure so we tackled it that way so that every win they get would be significant and not just a result of faulty internet.
How about, a DC past a certain point in a match counts for something, and a certain number of that significance of DC's in one challenge forces a restart on that leader, or the challenge altogether? I'm not describing this one that well hahah. Hangon; let's say, so and so has a shaky connection. They drop literally as both leads come out. "Whatever, lets just both agree to use the same leads, no harm no foul." But the connection later drops again, when the challenger is down 3 pokemon to the leader only having lost 1. That counts as *one* official DC during the challenge. They may have to restart on that leader alone, go back a leader, or restart the whole challenge if they have another DC on any other gym leader.
[*] I'm not sure if it was addressed but what about the idea of having more than 8 gyms? Challengers can still be required to get (a minimum of) 8 badges but more gyms can give them more variety and spreads the burden of maintaining gyms to other members.
That should be something to consider; but we don't want to force challengers from either side onto the other, since they may legitimately be incapable (like myself with Showdown, or anyone who doesn't own a 3ds). More gyms could work - but if anything we'd have to do 5 badges to challenge elites with 10 gyms, or 6 with 12, etc.
[*] Lay out the rules for both PS/wifi. Smogon OU has some extra rules (like a limit on Baton Pass and a ban on Swagger) but it might help if the rules between the two formats are kept as similar as possible. I think PS allows you to run battles under your own rules (or no rules) so you can do it that way, but make sure challengers are still following the rules you lay out.
This, yes we should elaborate on heavily. Set up our own additional rules for any areas that need it such as clauses, specific rules for different types of challenges, formats, etc.
[*] Have a private area/forum where those involved in the league can discuss issues. It helps if those participating have a private forum where they can talk about things regarding the league (rules, suggestions, new features, etc.) or just get feedback on their teams. You can also use that private area to monitor challengers' teams and replays to make sure they're sticking to the rules.
I think we can actually do that within a public thread, that way we can combine league members discussing balance and rule issues along with taking feedback and opinions from challengers. It might be better that way, so there's a better feeling of contact and cooperation between challengers and the league itself.
[*]
Replayability: This was an issue that we addressed early on: what is there to do for people after they beat the league? I ended up breaking down the league in periods (or seasons) where a new season would have challengers start again, giving them a time limit as well as something new to do. A new season can also mean a rotation of gym leaders, Elite 4, Champion, and lets you try out new ideas.
Heyyyy, that sounds pretty cool. I could dig it. We could offer special rewards of some sort for completing the league with certain challenges, or specific circumstances. We could do rewards of very specially bred pokemon for cartridge, or something more forum based for Showdown league-goers. Having seasons sounds like a neat idea too. I'm not entirely sure how holding these tryouts for spots on the league would go multiple times though, it would certainly have to be a great deal of time between seasons.... like, 6 months to a year. Since I can't imagine many people want to go through the ordeal we've faced in the last week or two with these qualification matches multiple times, every few weeks or so.
[*]Be clear about how the gyms are set up. Our league opted to stay pure monotype but allowed gym leaders to change their teams without prior notice, we mentioned that this is to keep challengers on their toes as well as prevent the gym leaders from getting bored. Possible that counter-teaming might get brought up but you guys look like a friendly bunch who just want to set up a fun event for everyone so it shouldn't be a concern ;)
I personally hope it goes like that :3 But we seem to be mostly, as a group - going for the dual-typed gym leader bit. I am also all for gym leaders being able to change their teams before facing any challenger without notice though; and I would hope that since each leader would only have 2 types, and we don't want to be dicks - that counter-picking too often or too harshly wouldn't occur. Obviously for some things, you would be a fool not to do, such as if you had a fire - steel gym, and you knew the challenger was bringing a ferrothorn and scizor, that can't be helped. That's an advantage for your gym regardless of a counter pick, and should encourage challengers to put a lot of thought into teams, with a very fair amount of consideration to balance and typing.
This post is already a wall of text, soooo Zekrom that Pseudo-OP looks great, I don't think we need a private forum, I mentioned above keeping communication very open and easygoing between the league and challengers, and as for increasing league spots open, I'm all for it presuming we have the amount of people, as well as the quality of people for it.
