TWL SCHEDULE / LAST MINUTE REMINDERS / POLL FOR EASTER WEEK

[Dwopple]

EDIT: TWL Matches start this Sunday at 2:00 PM EST. The TWL site match times have been fixed, and are displaying correctly.

THE MOMENT YOU’VE ALL BEEN WAITING FOR IS FINALLY HERE (hype)! Everyone is allowed (and encouraged) to give Vys a hard time for the delay with posting this.

This Sunday we kick off the first week of TWL 24 [RIP KOBE] using our new division match format of TWLJ > TWLB > TWLD.

The full TWL 24 Schedule can be found here. Zoom out in your browser to see the full schedule.

Each division will follow a double round-robin format, so each squad plays everyone twice. All squad names and rounds were randomized for each division’s schedule (no seeding).
For this season’s schedule we prioritized playing (roughly) the same number of matches each week and having all divisional semifinals and finals being played the same week. This scheduling prioritization affects the start time of each division starting in the middle of the season, so review the schedule carefully. I’ve posted the full season ahead of time for awareness and to give all players enough of time to plan for this.

EASTER SUNDAY BREAK POLL
We will be taking a PLAYER VOTE (below) on whether we take a break in observance of Easter, Sunday April 4^th. Please submit your preference using the poll below. Should players prefer a break for Easter, week 6 and subsequent matches will be moved back one week and 5/23/2021 will be this season’s new end-date.

3/22/21 - Poll Update:
As Exalt has already pointed out, the Easter poll tells us there is a high probability of forfeitures if we try to force playing on Easter. I've already adjusted the schedule to remove Wolf from TWLD, which removes all TWLD BYE weeks for all squads starting Week 6 (April 11th) when we resume play after the Easter break. This schedule change also aligns the start of all Divisional Playoffs and leaves the original end-date of the Season unchanged (May 16th).

ALL TWL CAPTAIN / PLAYERS REMINDER-
Week 1 TWL Roster freeze will go into effect tomorrow Saturday, Feb 27th 11:59 PM EST. All subsequent weekly freezes will go into effect every Friday 11:59 PM EST. You must be on a TWL Roster by tomorrow, Saturday Feb 27th 11:59 PM EST to participate in Week 1 matches. TWL Rosters will unfreeze Sunday 11:59 PM EST.

UPDATE REGARDING 1-WEEK WAITING PERIOD FOR ROSTER CHANGES
Based on player feedback and this season's tight roster limits, vys and I have decided to REMOVE Section 4.04 - Waiting Period from this season's rules. This means all players are allowed to join or change TWL rosters freely outside of the weekend freeze periods, and immediately be eligible to play that week's matches for the first 3 weeks of the regular season, at which point the Hard Lock goes into effect (Section 4.05 of TWL Rules).

FUTURE SCHEDULE CHANGES / TWL SITE MATCH TIMES
Please note any schedule changes will 1) be communicated here on the forums for all players and the in-game MessageBot for all TWL Captains, and 2) be reflected on the spreadsheet linked above before being reflected on the TWL Site.

PLAYOFFS
The top 6 teams for TWLJ and TWLB, and the top 8 teams for TWLD will advance to each respective Divisional Playoffs. All playoff rounds will be bo3. A decision has not yet been made for determining playoff matchups (top seed selects opponent or standard tournament seeding).


VOTE BELOW ON YOUR PREFERENCE FOR EASTER WEEK (April 4th)!!!! The poll will close Monday, March 15th.

LET'S FUCKIN' GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

[Vys]

HYPE

[Dreamwin]

Question: why are we having 1 extra week for wb while we could fit those games into 5pm timeslots like the last 4 or 5 sundays? Is this biased or what is the logic? Super frustrating to log in just for 1 league and lengthen the season

[a2m+]

I vote to play through Easter only because the season is already incredibly long. Further adding to my vote is that I have a vacation scheduled from May 22 to May 30, so if Silence makes finals in any league that they plan to start me in, we’d be screwed if the schedule was delayed a week (and would make me reconsider having a competitive squad aiming to make finals rely on me).

[Dwopple]

Question: why are we having 1 extra week for wb while we could fit those games into 5pm timeslots like the last 4 or 5 sundays? Is this biased or what is the logic? Super frustrating to log in just for 1 league and lengthen the season

Uhhhh I'm confused? The schedule is setup so there are no week(s) where a squad logs in to only play one league, unless you are on Divine, Rocket, or Wolf. There's 5-6 matches per week up until Quarterfinals. Playoffs are bo3.

Edit: If you're asking about the scheduling for Week 7 & 8, I mentioned the exact details in my original post what we prioritized with scheduling.

[a2m+]

Maybe you can move the “off” weeks from the end of the regular season in twlb and twlj to Easter weekend instead of delaying the whole schedule by a week?

[Dreamwin]

Uhhhh I'm confused? The schedule is setup so there are no week(s) where a squad logs in to only play one league, unless you are on Divine, Rocket, or Wolf. There's 5-6 matches per week up until Quarterfinals. Playoffs are bo3.

Edit: If you're asking about the scheduling for Week 7 & 8, I mentioned the exact details in my original post what we prioritized with scheduling.

Week 9: 1x quarters and 3 wb timeslots. Why not move the wbs to week 3,4,5 to mimic the schedule for rest of the season. Start playoffs at once with quarters in 3 leagues. More logic more hype

[Dwopple]

Week 9: 1x quarters and 3 wb timeslots. Why not move the wbs to week 3,4,5 to mimic the schedule for rest of the season. Start playoffs at once with quarters in 3 leagues. More logic more hype

Ah, I see what you're saying now. I did consider that, but I opted not to since that would mean 4 straight weeks of 7 matches (at least 4 hours) instead of the 1 long week, and we'd only cut down the season by 1 week. I'm open to more feedback, but my gut right now thinks we should at least see how the timing of week 1 matches play out with the new division format.

[Dwopple]

Update the original post, and TWL Rules regarding section 4.04 - Waiting Period. I will also send this update out using the in-game MessageBot to TWL Captains.

UPDATE REGARDING 1-WEEK WAITING PERIOD FOR ROSTER CHANGES
Based on player feedback and this season's tight Roster Limits, vys and I have decided to REMOVE Section 4.04 - Waiting Period from this season's rules. This means all players are allowed to join or change TWL rosters freely outside of the weekend freeze periods, and immediately be eligible to play that week's matches for the first 3 weeks of the regular season, at which point the Hard Lock goes into effect (Section 4.05 of TWL Rules).

[Dwopple]

Week 1 matches have been added to the TWL Site. There's a time zone conversion bug right now, so the times on the site are off and I've messaged Wirah about it. If you notice anything else that seems "off", please post here, or message me in-game and we can deal with it. Huge thanks to both Wirah and BIET for getting the site and matchbots ready for this season. I really think you all will appreciate all of the hard work thus far from these guys.

Please note, the TWL site Standings & Stats page may or may not be completely ready immediately following week 1 matches. Rest assured, all of the data is being captured correctly and these tabs will be fixed if anything is off. 8.6.1

[Kings]

hmm. what about the playoffs? TWLB & TWLJ; The 6 better ranked teams get in quaterfinals and they face each other and we then have 3 teams in semis? I don't get it. Is there a freepass for the 1st ranked team during season in semis? How does that work out?

[Dwopple]

hmm. what about the playoffs? TWLB & TWLJ; The 6 better ranked teams get in quaterfinals and they face each other and we then have 3 teams in semis? I don't get it. Is there a freepass for the 1st ranked team during season in semis? How does that work out?

Fixed this! Thanks for pointing it out. It now shows the top 2 teams have a BYE in the quarterfinals for LJ and LB.

[BIET]

The top two teams in LD/LJ of the regular season qualify directly for a spot in the semi-finals. The numbers 3 through 6 play for the remaining two spots in the semis.

[Spectacular]

If the goal is to have as many players show on Sundays as possible, then the following should be considered. If most or all of the people voting to not have games on Easter Sunday wouldn't be able to show on Easter Sunday, then I'm not sure that "Do not play matches on Easter Sunday" should have to beat out the opposition in order to win the poll. I'm betting that having games on Easter Sunday would have a greater show rate reduction than not having games on Easter Sunday.

[Geio]

Personally I would 100% not be there I can’t speak for most of the guys on here but it’s a pretty big deal. Going to spend the day with Family and take my son to pick some Easter eggs.