RULES & SCHEDULE

[ixt]

the point of these leagues that is non-TWL is to keep the zone active and running as long as possible right? i don't see why not playoffs could be modified to fit 6 teams in with top 2 bye, just like last time's format. gives more incentive for players to stay somewhat active and play.

[Rab]

the point of these leagues that is non-TWL is to keep the zone active and running as long as possible right? i don't see why not playoffs could be modified to fit 6 teams in with top 2 bye, just like last time's format. gives more incentive for players to stay somewhat active and play.

Because the final would be when people are busy with Christmas.
The way to do it would be to eliminate teams which are mathematically unable to qualify as they become unable to qualify - then recalculate the schedule, but not even sure it's possible to gain a whole week that way. Once u have mathematically eliminated 2 teams u could start a 6-team single-elimination bracket immediately, although, if ur gonna have a quarter final, why not let it be 8 teams and start it now.... I really dislike making people skip a week because they have a bye.... and if ur gonna have an 8 team bracket, why have a season at all...

[Dreamwin]

Just throwing my 2 cents into the discussion:

I am usually strongly against any changes made after the season has started. Maybe this time around we should use common sense and just allow 6 teams in playoffs to avoid forfeits and giving up. Bottom 3 teams are still a large portion of the active player pool that we have. It's also very unlucky that the standings are so strung out. If there is any realistic solution schedule wise, I think it should be changed to 6 teams for the integrity and well-being of the current league.

PS. I am confident that Terrorist would make playoffs either way so I dont rly care for my team's sake. #TERRORIST2019

[Dabram]

With only top 4:
+ there's an intense race between top 5 who makes it into the playoffs and who doesn't, and with each team being very balanced in all leagues, it'll stay intense all the way in the games between these 5, as a win vs a competitor counts for 2.
- there's no competitive reason for the bottom 3 to play anymore, just pride, fun or w/e.

With top 6
+ bottom 3 have a competitive reason to play, which could improve the quality of some games
- top 5 teams are basically already qualified..
+/- a draft team who focused mostly on 1 league (like pure luck in javs) can still make it to playoffs quite easily and have a good shot at winning a league (can be a good or bad thing, w/e your perspective)
- twdt will continue to have captains who don't focus on a league at all (which leads to blow outs and then forfeits = less fun).

I'm not greatly opposed to 6 teams making it, if it means more people have fun playing, but only if we're sure no one has a problem with showing to the finals so close to the holiday season (22 dec). Would suck to have bad finals as a trade.. I suggest all captains should vote on it? I'm with Dreamwin, rules don't have to be set in stone on this.

[zidane]

Yes, I wanted 6 teams originally but did not think finals on December 22nd were feasible. Now with the standings the way they are, and for zone health, four team playoffs does not seem great. However, I generally do not believe rules should be changed during the season, especially something this big.

What it will take to expand to 6 team playoffs:

Captains of the top 5 teams: Power, Halo, Terrorist, Treyway, and Spider to vote on whether they would like to expand the playoffs to 6 teams. The bottom three will not have a vote as they are currently facing very long odds of making top 4. A majority would be needed and then a final decision by myself will be made. Captains should take into account whether their players can show on Dec 22nd if they were to theoretically make finals. Captains of these 5 teams, please let your vote be known here or to me in game. The top two teams would have a bye as usual.

Please note that even if a majority vote is received, it does not guarantee the playoff format to be changed, this is only the first step that would need to be met before it is seriously considered as these are the captains who would likely be impacted by a date change for the final. Any decision will have to be made before Week 5 starts.

[Tiny]

What it will take to expand to 6 team playoffs:

Captains of the top 5 teams: Power, Halo, Terrorist, Treyway, and Spider to vote on whether they would like to expand the playoffs to 6 teams.

dw already voiced for it
Halo aka assistant cap rough did too.
Positive commodo will too as hes in 5th.
morph doesnt do forums per trade posts..
Obviously all 3 lower caps are for it.

Zid?

[Skatarius]

atleast we got hackysack

[Rough]

dw already voiced for it
Halo aka assistant cap rough did too.
Positive commodo will too as hes in 5th.
morph doesnt do forums per trade posts..
Obviously all 3 lower caps are for it.

Zid?

I don't speak for Halo, I was speaking as a player and for the health of the zone and league. I do believe this is a right way of handling the situation of getting all the caps to take a vote. But let's be honest, Zidane can reject it regardless if any player from his team can't play on dec 22 lol... true facts.

[roro]

On the one hand - including more teams in the play-offs is obviously good for zone activity and keeping (atleast some of) the playerbase happy. On the second hand I don't even know why we are talking about it. If anything the top 4 format seems to be fitting for the current teams... There will be tough competition to see who gets the 4th spot.

Sure I get some squads are already out and that sucks for them... But that's sort of the point of this whole competition, for teams to not make it...?

Not to single out my buddy tiny cause he was pretty clear about not asking for this (until he started listing supporters for going 6-team playoffs LUL) but his team is a good example. He drafted a really nice jav lineup that has potential to win dt-j. He shit the bed in basing and wb and as such his jav gamble fell short.

I don't get the incentive of trying to play all leagues decently (which for me is one of the major points of DT) when you can just suck ass and stack one line and get a free pass to finals in the ship you care about.

That being said, it would be fun with more people engaged in the tourny and it's a DT in 2019, who cares.

Can people actually play on the 22nd of dec though? No idea what i'm doing that close to christmas. Can we if anything tighten the schedule somehow?

[zidane]

Rough I am trying to do what's good for zone but also do not want to punish the teams by having them play with half lines because of a Dec 22nd final (yes that includes me if power makes it). Having a shit final does not do the zone any good, also changing rules mid season isnt usually a great idea. DT is no longer a for fun league, it's a competitive league which is shown by the standings and amount of trades made.

An idea would be to theoretically give the caps the option to play the final on Dec 22nd if they both agree, but at the same time set a deadline in which the games would have to be played (Dec 29th, Jan 5th) before a team forfeits if the games arent played. This is the risk with changing rules, there's no easy solution with the schedule we have. Weeks of no games never do any good for the zone too, lot of factors that have to be considered. I'm just throwing ideas out there and nothing has been decided. The only reason it's being considered is because usually 6 teams do make it, but it did not seem possible this season.

[MHz]

In my opinion…

6 teams should qualify. Playoffs should be played in two weekends. Quarter finals and Semi finals in one weekend (Dec 8th), and the finals the following weekend (Dec 15th.)

The quarter finals (between teams 3, 4, 5 and 6) should be a sudden-death single round. Giving a mini-bye to teams 1 and 2, and something to fight for amongst the top teams.

Teams 1 & 2 could even have a scheduled ‘friendly’ match to warm up during the QF.

The Semi finals should be played as normal/best of 3 straight afterwards.

And then the finals played as normal on the weekend afterwards.

Obviously it would run another 30 minutes longer for each league, but we could mitigate this by starting earlier… 1pm EST or 2pm EST.

[Rab]

In my opinion…

6 teams should qualify. Playoffs should be played in two weekends. Quarter finals and Semi finals in one weekend (Dec 8th), and the finals the following weekend (Dec 15th.)

The quarter finals (between teams 3, 4, 5 and 6) should be a sudden-death single round. Giving a mini-bye to teams 1 and 2, and something to fight for amongst the top teams.

Teams 1 & 2 could even have a scheduled ‘friendly’ match to warm up during the QF.

The Semi finals should be played as normal/best of 3 straight afterwards.

And then the finals played as normal on the weekend afterwards.

Obviously it would run another 30 minutes longer for each league, but we could mitigate this by starting earlier… 1pm EST or 2pm EST.

Playoffs format is BO3, so it already has to start at 2PM.
No way we get two sets of that in the same day. Doubt anyone would want to play ss for that long a session anyway.

[zidane]

Bo1 is unacceptable for any win or go home game imo. Obviously it's better than not making the playoffs at all, but really brutal for 3rd/4th seed especially. Also highly doubt all those games could happen on one day. I'd make quarterfinals on a Saturday before doing bo1.

[Grasps]

What about bumping up the bottom 3 team's games up to 14 games to be tied up with Spider for 5th and let them fight the next few weeks for the top 4th spot? It wouldn't auto-entry the bottom 3 into the playoffs but would give them a fighting chance for a couple more weeks so that players won't just quit and games won't forfeit.

Or just allow all teams to go to the playoffs. Either way, I personally just want to see everyone be active over the coming weeks and hope we can find a good solution to achieve this without shitting the bed entirely.

[Majorcrisis2]

Rough I am trying to do what's good for zone but also do not want to punish the teams by having them play with half lines because of a Dec 22nd final (yes that includes me if power makes it). Having a shit final does not do the zone any good, also changing rules mid season isnt usually a great idea. DT is no longer a for fun league, it's a competitive league which is shown by the standings and amount of trades made.

An idea would be to theoretically give the caps the option to play the final on Dec 22nd if they both agree, but at the same time set a deadline in which the games would have to be played (Dec 29th, Jan 5th) before a team forfeits if the games arent played. This is the risk with changing rules, there's no easy solution with the schedule we have. Weeks of no games never do any good for the zone too, lot of factors that have to be considered. I'm just throwing ideas out there and nothing has been decided. The only reason it's being considered is because usually 6 teams do make it, but it did not seem possible this season.

I have to agree with this second part. Make it choosable when the finals are held. You could even make a poll or ask around in-game next sunday. I think it's needed to set some kind of a date, like we used with TWL schedule, let caps decide to play in either of these three weekends. I am pretty sure most will be enabled to play 5th january anyway.