TWDT 2016 Rules

[ogron]

Since you brought it up, if 9 teams are too many, but 8 teams are too few to where you still have many players that never get to play, then possibly there is something to be done there, no? If one team fails to show up consistently (this happens every year), while another has 50 players show up every week and 40 never see the light of day, what happens?

In my experience, on average, there tend to be 6 good teams every year, and 2 bad ones. Borrowing of low-star players has helped a lot, but ultimately you can't force top talent to show. There are just some things you can't control. You can pick the best available caps, create the best structure, do everything possible to avoid forfeits and promote as many people playing as possible, but you just have to accept that while 70% of the players are going to have a really good experience, 30% aren't. 25% for the people stuck on those two bad teams, and 5% for people on good teams who don't manage to get in.

In 2014, Rab MVP'd the Finals, in 2015 he got stuck on the bench. I had a similar experience between 2011 and 2012, it happens. Showrates aren't going to be distributed evenly, and some captains are going to draft better than others.

Mikkiz won 2013 and 2014, then got stuck on a bad team in 2015. I can't undo TJ Hazuki picking Welt 10th overall and hamstringing his team with bad early picks.

I try to analyze groups of players who were marginalized in the past season and give them better representation the next season. Ultimately, there are only so many spots, and they won't be distributed evenly because of varying showrates between teams. When I took over in 2013, I emphasized 6-stars and 5-stars. Last year I provided variability between 5/6/7, but I felt like the 5s were too weak and didn't show enough, and most people played 6/6 instead of 7/5 and 7s were hurt and on the bench too much, so I've dedicated a 7-star spot to them this year. I feel like there aren't enough active 5-stars to justify a dedicated spot, but of those that do show they will be affected negatively by this change, although I think I'm helping more 7s than I'm hurting 5s.

It doesn't matter which way you slice it, it's impossible to please everyone. I try to gather data and cater to the biggest groups and drive TWDT in a slightly different direction each year. This year is going to be slightly more competitive and geared a bit more towards veterans.

BTW, and you don't play this game yourself Claushouse. How much do you log into TW on a weekly basis? Should you not be taken seriously due to your inactivity as well? Think about that before using it to dismiss others.

lol... you got me there, man. I hope to someday be able to compete at the highest level!

[Exalt]

This year is going to be slightly more competitive and geared a bit more towards veterans.

Fair enough.