Tweet
TWL is in need of serious change to remain competitive and fun for everyone involved. A dwindling population presents several problems with the current league format; problems that in my mind can only be fixed through a severe limitation of the TWL roster.
A while back, TWL had 16 squads in each league with 8 or so squads capable of winning each respective league. Today, in LD/LJ, there are 10 squads with only 2 or 3 capable of winning. Despite this decrease in the amount of squads, roster sizes have remained the same for TWL. Why is this? With the player pool diminishing, it only makes sense to decrease roster sizes to spread out the competition.
Before these roster changes can be implemented however, TWL needs to add the option to postpone games. With smaller rosters squads are going to be relying more on fewer players, and if said players can't show it could potentially be devastating. I am tired of TWL being decided by who isn't able to show on each team. There are many examples of undeserving teams advancing in recent years because a player was missing. I suggest adding the ability to postpone 2 games during regular season, and 1 game during the playoffs for each league. Keep in mind there would be an extended regular season if a smaller roster cap was put into effect. Games would also need to be postponed prior to the Friday before TWL games so that the feature wouldn't be abused. Other zones and leagues have the option to postpone, so why doesn't the 'prestigious' TWL have the same luxury?
As for roster caps...I am in favor of extreme measures. I believe one league squads should be capped at 8 players, 2 league 14 players, and 3 league 20 players. This would reduce the amount of players benching on teams and further spread the talent around. Also note this would punish one league squads and somewhat force them to play in multiple leagues, which would help the zone reach competition seen in earlier leagues. (If you're currently raging because of inactive players, skip to the bottom of this post)
However, I would propose going beyond just an overall roster cap. Each squad would have 8 slots open for LD/LJ and 12 open for LB. Before the TWL season begins, captains would have to select players from their already capped rosters that would be able to play certain leagues. For example, if I was capping a squad I would choose 8 players for wb roster, 8 for jav roster, and 12 for basing roster. These would be the only players allowed to be added in each respective league throughout the entire season, and players would be able to play all 3 which would encourage players to practice and go beyond one shipping. This would also give players time to jump ships if they see they aren't able to play in their desired league, further spreading around the talent. NOTE: Could also add an additional roster spot when playoffs roll around.
While these changes seem extreme, they wouldn't really change around each squad's starting lineup too much. It would root out the benchers and allow them to be part of a squad where the skill gap wasn't as large. In Thunder, Sir Spider was on the TWL roster but was never going to receive any playing time. With this system in place, he could see my intentions before the season starts and see that I didn't place him on the LD roster, giving him sufficient time to join another squad and be part of their 8 man LD roster.
The last major point I'm sure you're all aware of that I haven't mentioned yet is inactive players. I suppose I should mention that I meant for these changes to extend to TWD as well. HOWEVER, so 1 league squads with 8 players on roster don't have a disadvantage when practicing during the season, I propose an INFINITE amount of inactive slots on TWD roster. These inactive slot players would be COMPLETELY unable to play in any TWL games but could log on and play the occasional TWD game with their team.
Let me know your thoughts and opinions please, thanks. Many ideas have been suggested in the past, but it's time we do something about this. As it stands with current rules and format, TWL is a complete joke.
TL;DR
Ability to postpone games
Roster Caps - 8 for 1 league, 14 for 2 leagues, 20 for 3 leagues
Player position caps - 8 for ld, 8 for lj, 12 for lb...players can be part of all 3 to encourage multi-shipping.
Roster cap extends to TWD, but infinite amount of inactive slots available. Inactive slots = can't play TWL.
EDIT: I guess I should also point out in regard to the player position cap...the benefit I meant was the satisfaction of being able to brag about potentially winning all 3 leagues if you were part of all 3. I realize that position caps can punish 3 league players that play together by reducing the amount of one league talent that can be brought in and affecting the squad even more if they can't show, but that's part of the trade-off.
A while back, TWL had 16 squads in each league with 8 or so squads capable of winning each respective league. Today, in LD/LJ, there are 10 squads with only 2 or 3 capable of winning. Despite this decrease in the amount of squads, roster sizes have remained the same for TWL. Why is this? With the player pool diminishing, it only makes sense to decrease roster sizes to spread out the competition.
Before these roster changes can be implemented however, TWL needs to add the option to postpone games. With smaller rosters squads are going to be relying more on fewer players, and if said players can't show it could potentially be devastating. I am tired of TWL being decided by who isn't able to show on each team. There are many examples of undeserving teams advancing in recent years because a player was missing. I suggest adding the ability to postpone 2 games during regular season, and 1 game during the playoffs for each league. Keep in mind there would be an extended regular season if a smaller roster cap was put into effect. Games would also need to be postponed prior to the Friday before TWL games so that the feature wouldn't be abused. Other zones and leagues have the option to postpone, so why doesn't the 'prestigious' TWL have the same luxury?
As for roster caps...I am in favor of extreme measures. I believe one league squads should be capped at 8 players, 2 league 14 players, and 3 league 20 players. This would reduce the amount of players benching on teams and further spread the talent around. Also note this would punish one league squads and somewhat force them to play in multiple leagues, which would help the zone reach competition seen in earlier leagues. (If you're currently raging because of inactive players, skip to the bottom of this post)
However, I would propose going beyond just an overall roster cap. Each squad would have 8 slots open for LD/LJ and 12 open for LB. Before the TWL season begins, captains would have to select players from their already capped rosters that would be able to play certain leagues. For example, if I was capping a squad I would choose 8 players for wb roster, 8 for jav roster, and 12 for basing roster. These would be the only players allowed to be added in each respective league throughout the entire season, and players would be able to play all 3 which would encourage players to practice and go beyond one shipping. This would also give players time to jump ships if they see they aren't able to play in their desired league, further spreading around the talent. NOTE: Could also add an additional roster spot when playoffs roll around.
While these changes seem extreme, they wouldn't really change around each squad's starting lineup too much. It would root out the benchers and allow them to be part of a squad where the skill gap wasn't as large. In Thunder, Sir Spider was on the TWL roster but was never going to receive any playing time. With this system in place, he could see my intentions before the season starts and see that I didn't place him on the LD roster, giving him sufficient time to join another squad and be part of their 8 man LD roster.
The last major point I'm sure you're all aware of that I haven't mentioned yet is inactive players. I suppose I should mention that I meant for these changes to extend to TWD as well. HOWEVER, so 1 league squads with 8 players on roster don't have a disadvantage when practicing during the season, I propose an INFINITE amount of inactive slots on TWD roster. These inactive slot players would be COMPLETELY unable to play in any TWL games but could log on and play the occasional TWD game with their team.
Let me know your thoughts and opinions please, thanks. Many ideas have been suggested in the past, but it's time we do something about this. As it stands with current rules and format, TWL is a complete joke.
TL;DR
Ability to postpone games
Roster Caps - 8 for 1 league, 14 for 2 leagues, 20 for 3 leagues
Player position caps - 8 for ld, 8 for lj, 12 for lb...players can be part of all 3 to encourage multi-shipping.
Roster cap extends to TWD, but infinite amount of inactive slots available. Inactive slots = can't play TWL.
EDIT: I guess I should also point out in regard to the player position cap...the benefit I meant was the satisfaction of being able to brag about potentially winning all 3 leagues if you were part of all 3. I realize that position caps can punish 3 league players that play together by reducing the amount of one league talent that can be brought in and affecting the squad even more if they can't show, but that's part of the trade-off.
Comment