Problems With TWDT

[Summa]

As the creator of the majority of the rule system in place, I will explain to you why this doesn't work and what has changed in the 2 seasons of TWDT since I stopped running it.

Why an overall cap vs. a match cap:
The primary concern here is that EG, as successful as their league has been, has a simpler league to run. They do not have 3 separate forms of competition to deal with, so they can afford to have that. With 3 separate leagues in play it is more difficult to use a match cap than to just have an overall cap and have supplementing rules. For example, when I was running the league, outside of playoffs there was a 2 league maximum per player rule and the 5* rule which forced you to play both a variety of players and lower level players (the overall ratings were significantly lower during my tenure, and I will explain that later).

However, what I discovered very quickly from jaa (cap of top5squad and most abusive captain I ever dealt with) is that unlike EG where dropping/adding/trading is more seldom, TW captains were going to be more aggressive with their trading/adding/dropping, so there had to be measures to regulate and penalize for just dropping players and re-drafting them at lower costs and other such practices. The easiest way to reconcile this problem is by establishing an overall cap and levying penalties for dirty practices. With a match-cap if you levied such penalties I feel it would be far too severe and also not long-reaching enough. Dropping x player means you play 1* down in match for 1 wk doesn't have the gravity of you permanently lose X*s from your maximum.

However, when we did extend the rating system to rating all 3 leagues, we were contemplating doing a match cap at the time, but that much rating turned out to just be too burdensome and I did not have the time. But I would say that you would have to extend the rating system to a league by league basis if you wanted match caps...and who is going to do that work? I did it for 3-4 yrs, and Aura seems a bit worn out after his first rodeo. Are you going to do it?

Why are ratings so high:

Simply put, someone changed the rating scale and it has caused inflation. What used to qualify you as a 10* in the system I ran doesn't exist in the current rating system. What qualified you as a 9* is now a 10*, what qualified you as an 8* doesn't exist, what qualified you as a 7* is now somewhere btwn an 8 and a 9* in this system. So what you're seeing is there is a 1-1.5 pt avg inflation between when i ran the league and its current state. I don't know who changed the rating system or when it was changed, but the current system generates both an issue and a solution. You already addressed the issue that it raises, so I won't cover that, what I will cover is the solution it generates that you don't seem to realize. If the goal of the league is to mix newer players in with veterans to gain them experience/interest in high lvl play/give vitality to player base/create new stars, then inflation actually helps that. If you inflate the rating of all of the veterans/high rated players, then you force captains to add even lower level players than they used to when ratings were lower. It generates more activity and more playing time for players that were not going to play had the ratings not been inflated. It's an interesting trade, and one which I honestly can't say which is better. For me it would depend entirely on activity. If these lower level players aren't active and don't contribute and consequently don't continue to play, then we should not bend over backwards to try and get them involved; but if they do, then stick with the system that inflates ppls ratings as to get more of them involved.

Do you have any other gripes? I can address them too from a league management and rule creation point of view, since you don't seem to have one.

[Shaddowknight]

overall, the * system needs revised
also, remove the rule where using someone in multi league only uses their star rating once. this is also easier to manage if you go back to the individual league rtings

[Shaddowknight]

I agree the cap rating and cap is dumb

draL had like 59 stars left for the week after javs and warbirds to put into basing

having the cap so high means newbies will NEVER get played
specially, as stated above, with many good/decent players having low overall ratings

sure, you could play them, or you could play the better players in all three leagues, add a newbie or two, and have spent like 30 stars all week

[Pressure]

I was just speaking with Aura and he told me to make a thread so that these issue can be resolved for next season.

First of all, for those of you who don't know, the * system was incorporated into TWDT to encourage newer players to play. It was adopted from EG's draft league. The idea is that if there is a *-cap (in EG, the cap is 54 per game; 8v8) then in order to add elite players, you'll need to add newer players to reach your cap. For example, in a basing match if a team were to add 6 players who were rated 7*, that's 42*. Therefore, if the cap is 54*, you have 12* to spare for the match. Say you have a player who is rated 10*, a true legend that who you need in game. In order to add this player, you'll need to add a 2* player to meet the cap. Thus, to add a great player, you need to add a newb. Not only does this give new players a chance to play with better players, it opens the doors to caps actively training their bad players so that if the case arises that you actually need to utilize the bad player, they can perform up to par. IMO this season shouldn't even use a * cap, there are too many good players at 5* and 6*. The rating system should just be considered a guide for drafting, and the cap should be abolished. In EG, 5* and lower are considered low ratings. In that league, these low ratings are the most valuable players because in order to add high rated players, you need to balance it out with low rated players. If you need to cover 21 * points with 3 players, you can either add 2 9*s and a 3*, or you can add 3 7*s. With the way the league is now, there is no room for newbies, since there are good players with newbie ratings.

Another problem is the "average * rating." Many players were rightfully complaining about there being too few 7*/8* players in this league. I 100% agree with the complaint. If you have players who have played for 10+ years at a 5*, the captain is obviously going to add them over someone who is an actual newb at 5*. If a newb and a vet are the same rating, the vet is getting added.

In EG, 6*-9* is considered a vet player: 6* is a vet player who hasn't gotten better, 7* is a good vet who is adaptable and would fit well into any lineup, 8* is an elite and has always adapted to the skill curve and improved accordingly, 9* is a legend, a machine that doesn't rust.

5* and down are the newbs: 1*-3* are really bad, new players, 4* show potential, and 5* are active players that can keep up with the good players but aren't that great on their own. In this league, an average rating for all 3 leagues drastically reduces the *rating of good players who may own in one league and suck in the other 2 leagues. This is why we have a bunch of great players at 5* and 6*. So here is my suggested remedy this problem:

Use the player's highest league * rating as their overall rating. If someone sucks at dueling/basing, but are an 8* in jav, then they are an 8*, period. This induces a substantial amount of strategy into drafting, because you may want the elite jav at 8*, but if he sucks at other leagues is he really worth 8* for you to use in just one out of 3 leagues? Are you focusing that much on jav that you are willing to let your other leagues suffer? Of course, each player would be given a raitng for every league, so a draft list would look something like this:

xmen1231323 - 9* (jav-9* / wb 7* / base 4*) <--- good jav/wb, not great at basing
eatmyass123123 - 7* (jav-6* / wb-6* / base-7*) <--- decent and experienced jav/wb, good baser, good all around

Say you draft xmen1231323. You drafted him at 9* probably for javs, and as a jav he would be credited to the *-cap as a 9*. But, the player could also be added to basing at 4* since that's what he's rated in basing. Thus, for the cap in basing, a better player can be added alongside him since he has a really low rating, but in javs a newb would have to be added to balance out his 9*.

My point is that if you draft someone who is a pro at javs, you're not thinking of using him for basing or wb, you're going to only be using them for javs. If you weren't even considering them as a baser or wb, then why would their basing or wb *rating be averaged into the equation? This would just drag their jav rating down. This just makes better javs (and respective basers/wb) cheaper; it's an unfair advantage to be a pro 1-leaguer because your shittyness in other leagues dumbs your rating down.

There also shouldn't be a cumulative, weekly cap, and there shouldn't be a limit to how often a player can play. A player should be allowed to play in any league that their captain wants to add them in. There should be a different * cap per league - probably something like.. 32 for jav/wb (since its 5v5), 52-54 for basing (since its 8v8).

In my opinion, the primary reason this league is flawed is because you have very good players with very low ratings. This league is using the * system to introduce new players into the game, but why would any captain add a newb who sucks at a low * if they can add a great player for the same low *? This is not a newb-friendly league this season, which is disappointing, but it can definitely be resolved by next season.

I have some more ideas but this is all I can come up with right now, thoughts?