FREE AGENCY #2 Sign-up & Details thread (July 10th)

[Dwopple]

Free Agency #2 Draft will be taking place July 10th at 1pm EST. Cutoffs to signup are July 9th at 11:59pm EST and will be strictly enforced. Please post here, ?message myself or RaCka in game, or register with the TWDTbot to officially sign up.

RATINGS (these may change up until the draft takes place)

PICK ORDER:

1. Orcas
2. Win or Die
3. sunshine pushirs
4. Power
5. r1p1t1
6. Dadbods

Randomization Proof

Draft Details:

Free Agents drafted in this draft will immediately be eligible to play in TWDT matches. Like the first draft, the draft order will be randomized after signups close and before the FA draft begins. Click here for the full TWDT schedule.

Free Agent signup #2:
1. Zizu
2. Clark Kentaro (rusty and might not even show at all)
3. Stringfello (BurnZinger)
4. aprix
5. hulk
6. LF
7. rojo
8. LaG KilleR
9. eel
10. bike
11. Burnt
12. TPZ
13. SpookedOne

[Dwopple]

REMINDER 6 DAYS REMAINING UNTIL SIGNUPS CLOSE FOR FA DRAFT #2

[Dwopple]

REMINDER 4-ISH DAYS REMAINING.

[LaG KiLLeR]

Put me in

[RageRitual]

5. hulk

HUGE

[Tiny]

Could we get tentative ratings before midnight? Would like the opportunity to trade and/or plan before the draft.

[Dwopple]

Updated OP w/ pick order and link to ratings

[Exalt]

Why are there two free agency periods when you have too few teams with a * cap that is too low as it is? 80% of the playerbase sits in spec right now every Sunday from what I've seen. The only people that are playing in these games are 10*s and 6*s with almost nobody in-between, ignoring the fact that the vast majority of the playerbase is somewhere in-between those ranges.

This is honestly one of the worst seasons I've ever seen for this and I've heard a lot of complaints. Names that log in everyday during the week to keep this game alive don't get a chance to play in TWDT now, when they were staples of TWDT for years and years in the past. This is really bad. At this point, you will have nobody bothering to log in anymore. Great job guys!

[Dwopple]

Why are there two free agency periods when you have too few teams with a * cap that is too low as it is? 80% of the playerbase sits in spec right now every Sunday from what I've seen. The only people that are playing in these games are 10*s and 6*s with almost nobody in-between, ignoring the fact that the vast majority of the playerbase is somewhere in-between those ranges.

This is honestly one of the worst seasons I've ever seen for this and I've heard a lot of complaints. Names that log in everyday during the week to keep this game alive don't get a chance to play in TWDT now, when they were staples of TWDT for years and years in the past. This is really bad. At this point, you will have nobody bothering to log in anymore. Great job guys!

https://forums.trenchwars.com/twdt/1...rules-sign-ups

https://forums.trenchwars.com/twdt/1...-agency-update

and

https://forums.trenchwars.com/twdt/1...80#post1359380 as to why it was kept at 6. Captains voted against a re-draft & expansion to 8 teams (would have been nice to start, but the thread is full of explanations of what happened)

Thanks for reading!

[viop11]

wut u mean, u didnt push for a re draft, u r the 1 who makes decisions. could jus applegize to all the playirs like exalt who dun get 2 play becuz we dont have enough teams n say u possibly fkd up

ty 4 ur wirk but am sure ppl who r getting fkd ofir might appreci8 an applegy n that it wont b like this again even though i know u try 2 explain this is short seasin

[Dwopple]

wut u mean, u didnt push for a re draft, u r the 1 who makes decisions. could jus applegize to all the playirs like exalt who dun get 2 play becuz we dont have enough teams n say u possibly fkd up

ty 4 ur wirk but am sure ppl who r getting fkd ofir might appreci8 an applegy n that it wont b like this again even though i know u try 2 explain this is short seasin

I made the decision to respect the majority of volunteers who stepped up to captain. I'm not going to disclose who voted how, but I respect every captain for volunteering. That was what I decided.

Again, I only captained this season because of the low number of volunteers. There was 1 other person who volunteered but we selected riverside instead.

Look, I understand there's many who are sitting games (myself included), but this is the reality given the various factors that played into this.

I'm sure many are aware, but we are running extremely low on volunteers to continue capping and running leagues and made the decision to respect the majority of this group's opinion.

We're always looking for volunteers, captains, developers and league ops alike. Sorry to those who are the odd ones out this season. Orcas has been able to get a decent rotation in with 1 or 2 getting shafted.

I cannot guarantee it won't be like this again under my watch especially with how diligently we communicated for months. Players who were on top of their sign-ups would have been shafted if they made plans around the season dates. If course, at the time we had 116 signed up there we didn't have enough volunteers for 8 teams and the other person who offered has been dragged through the mud this season alongside the crying about River's team. Again, more teams would have impacted the season length as well.

More volunteers will help in the future.

[Exalt]

https://forums.trenchwars.com/twdt/1...rules-sign-ups

https://forums.trenchwars.com/twdt/1...-agency-update

and

https://forums.trenchwars.com/twdt/1...80#post1359380 as to why it was kept at 6. Captains voted against a re-draft & expansion to 8 teams (would have been nice to start, but the thread is full of explanations of what happened)

Thanks for reading!

I completely understand why you guys did it as you did, but at a certain point it feels like you should just ignore what the captains wanted for the good of the overall community. I know you and Racka both see how many names are in spec in these games because they can't fit the * cap.

[Dwopple]

I completely understand why you guys did it as you did, but at a certain point it feels like you should just ignore what the captains wanted for the good of the overall community. I know you and Racka both see how many names are in spec in these games because they can't fit the * cap.

When consistent, reliable volunteers and quality captains are already a scarcity, I respectfully disagree with you. That said I understand yours and others frustrations, I really do.

3 weeks left.

Who knew SS wasn't really dead.

[Riverside]

When consistent, reliable volunteers and quality captains are already a scarcity, I respectfully disagree with you. That said I understand yours and others frustrations, I really do.

3 weeks left.

Who knew SS wasn't really dead.

Population activity has been lower in most summers in recent memory, early and late into the season.

The choice to have TWDT instead of TWL was impactful, imo. TWDT is the league with rules that generally enable a spreading of high impact players throughout all/most teams.

Last week, or right about now into a TWL season (summer, fall, winter or spring) is when we would see activity decline DRASTICALLY for the zone, playoffs or not. TW's active population today is solid, but may not be able to maintain as much back in the day, when certain squads would stack 12 9.5+* showing players in a league where only 5 can play while as Captain(s), continuing to claim its because those players wanted to join (sup Sk8/Thunder). To hear higher skilled players complaining about the line-ups that they play with is consistent with what's happened before (shoutout to Ease who still notes the quality of his team in blue chat ie yday when I vs her for having sum1 drop a 23 piece on his noggin in a wb regular season game, a few hours after losing).

This TWDT has been a (relative & overall) success, imo, with some Operators volunteer achievements to point to:

• 150+ players in a "summer league": thats not a little, relative to what was happening before TWDT 1.5 months ago (nothing)
• Opinion: we're seeing a handful of players come back, and existing players trying new ships in TWD to practice for TWDT. Both are positive for the short and long term health of the zones activity imo. Players trying out new ships is a more likely activity solution than recruiting new subspace players through platforms like Steam. I look at some basers who are now solid at 3 Leagues after, imo, getting competitive games in TWDT
• None of the existing 6 teams are mathematically eliminated in the final week of regular season. This is a metric that could reflect the competitive landscape of a league: last place is 4 games behind 3rd/4th, with 9 TWDT games remaining. 3 teams tied for 3rd. Teams have playoff contention or seeding to play for, every week.
• The intentional separation between competition and participation, from Dwopple: to add a Trade Commissioner in Willby, who has a mini trade council to consult for each trade. I try to avoid doubting anyone's intentions. With that said: subconscious bias is natural (including and especially for me). Having intentional, balanced and thought out guidelines with the support of teams in different functions of a project helps to limit that bias.

Where we could do better in the future:

• Transparency (even moar):
• I dont know many situations where a private vote is more beneficial than a public vote. When we do decide that theres a Captain vote (which i would prefer to avoid for league-changing decisions, ie this Seasons decisions of a re-draft or changing the cap limit after choosing players), I'd ask for Captains votes to be public.
• The decision-making process on what league is next; who, how and why
• Engaging the community in the decision itself.
• The want / need for quality captains wasn't publically announced until the after the Draft already happened: instead, low numbers were cited as the recurring reason given (multiple times on forums) for 6 teams instead of 8.

-----------

• Continuing to improve the temporary rating system: until the MMR one is fine on its own (which may take another season or five to build out, then receive enough current games data)
• No bot built with a diverse range of human biases will do what we want, the way we want it to, all the time. An MMR + human insight for ratings combo is ideal imo. So, improving the human insights piece (aka rating players without bots) is helpful for the next league, and 5 leagues from now
• I'm grateful for the rating volunteers who put 5+ hours every season, esp this last one when there were little to no TWDs for a few weeks (aka limited HYPE). With that said:
• Using past seasons as a minor factor, not THE primary factor: if an initial rating from x seasons ago off by 0.5 or 1*, they can continue to be misrated for later, if not compoundedly misrated (I look at some examples in Rages thread, along with a few others that come to mind)
• Split the rating process (and people rating) into 3. 1 for each league. This could more accurately reflect the skills of volunteers. It diversifies the type of volunteers, as opposed to limiting the Rating Committee to 2/3 leaguers. It also reduces the need for one 4 hour session of rating people.
• Add 2 ratings in basing for each player: spider, shark & terr. 3 ratings for base + 1 for jav + 1 for wb
• Have a set number of player for each star slot (ie 7-12 players rated 10* for each ship, 30 players rated 8*, 7-12 6s/6.5s, etc)
• In the future: transparency in who is rating each league, and how (ie what criteria). I'd appreciate if the community was engaged on selecting the Rating Committee. I personally would recommend remaining with a similar committee (who have done a great job imo), along with the addition of 7*, 8* or 9* players as raters in each league, and some 1 leaguers. This could also help give a better sense of the * rating of the lower * players, as opposed to how unintentional it feels now.
• Ratings announced earlier than the night before the draft(s). This allows for community feedback for anything that the Rating Committee may have missed (they're human: it happins).

[With Ease]

To hear higher skilled players complaining about the line-ups that they play with is consistent with what's happened before (sup Ease who still speaks about the quality of his team in blue chat after losses ie yday when I vs her for having sum1 drop a 23 piece on his noggin in wb).

You're legitimately too stupid to even type to anymore. Saying someone drops 23 kills every time there's a star cap and that I don't adjust how I play is not complaining about the line that I play with. The only person I complain about playing with is claus in jav (a true 1*).