Hey all, just some announcements and overall viewpoint of the league from what I've seen so far in comparison to the last 2 seasons.
First of all, Heaven (TWEL Op) has decided to match my $100 and bring the total pot to $200 to be spread around all leagues for the winners. I'm still deciding on the best way to divide the money since I'm not sure how much in total will be donated. Also, Amnesti has reached out to me to clarify his donation proposal. I told him $300 was far too much and tried to bring him down to $50 or $100, but he wants to donate $150 specifically to the winner of TWEL-J. Last update, Wicket <ER> (God Event Referee) has been added as a TWEL Op and so far has been our best bet for breathing life into the league. He's been hosting Trivia in the arena and hosting it when he can. He's the best.
As of right now, 2 weeks in, we have 477 recorded duels. This might sound pretty good, but two years ago when I ran this for the first time, we hit 500 duels in the very first day of qualifying. Last season, we had around 250 on the first day. This year started off rough with site issues, but thankfully we have Milosh and Qan who have been working with me and fixing/updating every issue and every request as soon as possible.
I hosted this league because for one, I'm on a personal mission to bring 1v1 solo play back to the game. Nobody posted more than me about how to fix elim when the threads came up years ago. It wasn't until maybe 4 or 5 years ago that this game became a team-only game. We wait all day for squad matches and do nothing inbetween because that's just how it is anymore. If you're not squad dueling, the game is dead. That's not how it always was. You could make a name for yourself based on your skill as an individual player by ranking in elim or dueling, and with that came respect. Half the guys who are successful today don't have the same roots that the old generation does of learning how to play the game as an individual who can then bring their skills to team play. That's why when you put a good squad dueler in a 1v1 situation, a lot of them have no idea what the hell to do. It's not their fault really, it's a skill they almost never use. But back in the day when they weren't winning 5v5 titles, you could not deny that Vys or RaCka were not some of the most elite solo players of all time.
So, how do I fix it? I face the same troubles with my league that Kim faces with elim, and Kim has done an unbelievable job. As a playerbase, we don't value solo play as much as team play anymore. When I used to logon from 2002-2006, elim felt like THE most important arena in the game. I could see who was becoming better, who was a top player in the zone because of their play as an elim player. I'd spec them and try to play against them to see how I measured up, always improving and working on my individual game. Too many players hide behind others in squad duels and are afraid of representing themselves with only their individual skill. Just the other day I saw someone in ?go duel say they didn't want to play because they didn't want to lose. That's the kind of lack of competitiveness that explains why nobody is getting good anymore. Every elite player today once had to put the thousand hours needed to become good. With that came with losing and learning how to win.
Went off on an unexpected tangent, but here's my point:
The league can't thrive unless people participate. It's harder to get ?go duel from 3 people to 5 people than it is to get it from 10 people to 40 people. The game is full of followers and it's up to the players to decide which leagues we give importance to. And more than anyone, the GREAT players decide. When Turban/Stayon/24/Kim are jav dueling, the arena explodes. When myself, Iron, RaCka, Kentaro etc. play warbird, the arena explodes. Dueling comes in bunches and we've had some good moments this season already with 30+ people in the arena, but we need more. I need more great players to set the example.
If us a playerbase decides that this is a team only game, then that's what we decide, but when I think of this game now compared to its peak, I think we've moved away from what built and sustained this game for so long and most importantly, what made a lot of the great players learn how to become great. You only need a few people to play a fun game of elim and you only need 1 other person in the whole zone to play a duel. No matter how many people quit, we should always have some sort of arena to compete in.
?GO DUEL
?GO ELIM
There's still plenty of time left to qualify. Please comment here or message me with ways we could make this league better or why you haven't been participating. I'll appreciate all info.
First of all, Heaven (TWEL Op) has decided to match my $100 and bring the total pot to $200 to be spread around all leagues for the winners. I'm still deciding on the best way to divide the money since I'm not sure how much in total will be donated. Also, Amnesti has reached out to me to clarify his donation proposal. I told him $300 was far too much and tried to bring him down to $50 or $100, but he wants to donate $150 specifically to the winner of TWEL-J. Last update, Wicket <ER> (God Event Referee) has been added as a TWEL Op and so far has been our best bet for breathing life into the league. He's been hosting Trivia in the arena and hosting it when he can. He's the best.
As of right now, 2 weeks in, we have 477 recorded duels. This might sound pretty good, but two years ago when I ran this for the first time, we hit 500 duels in the very first day of qualifying. Last season, we had around 250 on the first day. This year started off rough with site issues, but thankfully we have Milosh and Qan who have been working with me and fixing/updating every issue and every request as soon as possible.
I hosted this league because for one, I'm on a personal mission to bring 1v1 solo play back to the game. Nobody posted more than me about how to fix elim when the threads came up years ago. It wasn't until maybe 4 or 5 years ago that this game became a team-only game. We wait all day for squad matches and do nothing inbetween because that's just how it is anymore. If you're not squad dueling, the game is dead. That's not how it always was. You could make a name for yourself based on your skill as an individual player by ranking in elim or dueling, and with that came respect. Half the guys who are successful today don't have the same roots that the old generation does of learning how to play the game as an individual who can then bring their skills to team play. That's why when you put a good squad dueler in a 1v1 situation, a lot of them have no idea what the hell to do. It's not their fault really, it's a skill they almost never use. But back in the day when they weren't winning 5v5 titles, you could not deny that Vys or RaCka were not some of the most elite solo players of all time.
So, how do I fix it? I face the same troubles with my league that Kim faces with elim, and Kim has done an unbelievable job. As a playerbase, we don't value solo play as much as team play anymore. When I used to logon from 2002-2006, elim felt like THE most important arena in the game. I could see who was becoming better, who was a top player in the zone because of their play as an elim player. I'd spec them and try to play against them to see how I measured up, always improving and working on my individual game. Too many players hide behind others in squad duels and are afraid of representing themselves with only their individual skill. Just the other day I saw someone in ?go duel say they didn't want to play because they didn't want to lose. That's the kind of lack of competitiveness that explains why nobody is getting good anymore. Every elite player today once had to put the thousand hours needed to become good. With that came with losing and learning how to win.
Went off on an unexpected tangent, but here's my point:
The league can't thrive unless people participate. It's harder to get ?go duel from 3 people to 5 people than it is to get it from 10 people to 40 people. The game is full of followers and it's up to the players to decide which leagues we give importance to. And more than anyone, the GREAT players decide. When Turban/Stayon/24/Kim are jav dueling, the arena explodes. When myself, Iron, RaCka, Kentaro etc. play warbird, the arena explodes. Dueling comes in bunches and we've had some good moments this season already with 30+ people in the arena, but we need more. I need more great players to set the example.
If us a playerbase decides that this is a team only game, then that's what we decide, but when I think of this game now compared to its peak, I think we've moved away from what built and sustained this game for so long and most importantly, what made a lot of the great players learn how to become great. You only need a few people to play a fun game of elim and you only need 1 other person in the whole zone to play a duel. No matter how many people quit, we should always have some sort of arena to compete in.
?GO DUEL
?GO ELIM
There's still plenty of time left to qualify. Please comment here or message me with ways we could make this league better or why you haven't been participating. I'll appreciate all info.
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