Next TWL...

[Ivf]

A checklist for what is needed for the next TWL (if there is one)

An experience host - let's face it, kado couldn't handle the heat after 1 week and markmwr has no experience whatsoever in twl, never mind running the league.
We need someone who can dedicate their full time to the league, who will be online during the games to make decisions when needed. Ogron would be my first candidate, as his TWDT is such a success and well organised.

Scheduling - I think we need to drop dedicating one day out the week to a full day of gaming. We aren't all 15 anymore, a lot of us have children, wifes and some have work commitments. We used to be able to have a choice between Saturday and Sunday. If anything we should have more choice to schedule games.

I propose that we schedule the games from Friday - Sunday. This way it gives squads the opportunity of fielding their best line.

TWL host to give a full list of all the days which would not be able to play.
For example this Sunday players want laboratory day Sunday off this weekend. But the host organising it could cancel the Sunday, but players still have the option of playing Friday and Saturday.

Changing the playoff bracket This current system is a joke. I beat force already out of regular season and then get knocked by them. There's actually no point in having a regular season if every squad advances to the playoffs bracket and can get knocked out and still win.
Go back to how it used to be, players would need to win week in and week out in order to get top 6 finish.

Seed 1 and 2 make semi finals

Quarter finals
(B1)Seed 3 vs Seed 6 ( winner faces Seed 1)
(B2)Seed 4 vs Seed 5 (winner faces Seed 2)

Semi finals
(B3)Seed 1 vs (winner of B1)
(B4)Seed 2 vs (winner of B2)

Final
Winner of B3 vs winner of B4

3rd and 4th position
Loser of B3 vs loser of B4

[Ricko]

Agree with all of this, OR we need to shorten the regular season so it's only 1 game vs each squad.

Also having TWL over Summer was not a good idea, it needs to be an Autumn/Winter league if we want any activity and good numbers. Not sure how this can be resolved now as it would mean the next TWL would be a year away (or start it in January).

[Attacks]

Im not entirely sure that twl is the future, look how it killed twd while it was on.

[Shadowmere]

I do agree.

Most of the issues can be put on the urgency of starting up TWL. We needed to have something on-going in the zone, and TWL was next in line.
We were lacking a leader, and a few declining, kado stepped up. Unfortunately despite having support he managed to do very little and Markmrw ended up being the default replacement with a week or two to go before start.

Mark is committed long-term to running TWL and the experience and feedback from this TWL will be invaluable for the future.
With TWDT coming up next he and his team will have plenty of time to revamp for next season.

[Ivf]

Thunder shouldn't of been forced to play force. Force had a clear advantage after coming out of a close 3 round match with cobra and I had left work to be online for 3:15 EST match, for it to be running 45 minutes behind. I told my work colleague id be back for 4 EST, but the match didn't start until then. I tried speaking to major crisis to reschedule the game but I was told he had no power to that and that markmwr was on vacation. There should be someone deputising him when he's away and everyone should be aware of the person in charge for the weekend, so that they can go to them if problems occur. The host was doing arena messages urging team to hurry up and ready. Everything was rushed, it didn't even feel like a twl game. This is because we are trying to jam-pack everything into 1 day. Look at chaos zone. My team are in the pro finals and they do best out of 3 games. But will only play 1 game per week.

[Shadowmere]

There are a few fail safes, but only a limited amount.

If Markmrw isn't there, then M_M God is the next one to ask. He however was involved (as he's Thunder), so other sysops Beasty and Qan would be the next in line. Both of them were probably not there, so options ran out.
A qualified smod could be the next one to ask, but one wasn't around/appointed/didn't step up.

With that said, Mark still has the ability to make decisions and changes if he deems necessary and finds a good solution.

[Turban]

in regards to scheduling the teams have been allowed to reschedule their matches to happen on any day of the week this year. unfortunately the hard fact is that most teams do not want to play on a Saturday.

we have offered the option to play on other days in the past seasons and let me enlighten you about something -- there has not been a single team in the history of TWL who has seriously considered playing their games on a Saturday evening. As a matter of fact, merely a season ago, I had outright written on these forums that Saturday games were an option and that the teams were encouraged to take advantage of it to lighten the hosting burden .. and yet, not a single team even attempted to negotiate a Saturday match.

.. so yeah, there's that. I feel that the community might be a bit stubborn in that regard, and thus outright refuse to play league matches on any other day.

now as far as TWL goes we all know it is not the healthiest for the zone and the reason for that is the fact that the seasons tend to be too long which leads into players being stuck on a squad for prolonged amounts of times. the lack of player movement is ultimately what kills TWD in my eyes, and that is due to the fact that TWL and TWD are still attached to one another. the goal has been for years to detach these two from one another but so far to no avail.

[Stayon]

LOL next TWL...you funny mans.

[Crescent Seal]

Thunder shouldn't of been forced to play force. Force had a clear advantage after coming out of a close 3 round match with cobra and I had left work to be online for 3:15 EST match, for it to be running 45 minutes behind. I told my work colleague id be back for 4 EST, but the match didn't start until then. I tried speaking to major crisis to reschedule the game but I was told he had no power to that and that markmwr was on vacation. There should be someone deputising him when he's away and everyone should be aware of the person in charge for the weekend, so that they can go to them if problems occur. The host was doing arena messages urging team to hurry up and ready. Everything was rushed, it didn't even feel like a twl game. This is because we are trying to jam-pack everything into 1 day. Look at chaos zone. My team are in the pro finals and they do best out of 3 games. But will only play 1 game per week.

its common knowledge that if your squad is involved in other leagues that delays always happen especially if a match enters 3 rounds. cobra had a lj game before hand so it was expected that the LD game against force might start a bit later and it only had a delay about 15-20 minutes relax. stop being a fkin newbie this has been the case every year of twl.

[Markmrw]

I like this thread, all feedback is appreciated.

If there is a next season, I have offered to run it again. Running the league has been a massive challenge as I have no experience running TWL, I have had to draw on the knowledge of other staffers and players, Turban, Ogron, M_M God, Shadow, Major (just to name a few) even though none of them really wanted to be responsible for TWL they have been a huge help.

This is a community game and the league (IMO) should be run as such. Where possible I had tried to use the collective brain of our community to help me make decisions, and on more than one occasion the community has overruled my original decision, which i believe is a good thing.

It has been a huge learning experience for me and I have actually enjoyed it. If we are all still here in a few months or a year and we do want to have another go at TWL, i will happily run it again (assuming the community will let me). There will be some big differences to the league structure and schedule to come more inline with what our beloved game can actually achieve based on the feedback from this season.

I would like to give a heartfelt thank you to everyone that has helped make this season happen, Staffers (and non staffers) hosting games, people posting opinons/advice on the forums, captains and players for encouraging their squads to turn up on Sundays, content creators for keeping us amused pre & post games.

In turban fashion here's a TL;DR version
1- Opinions/Feedback = Good
2- Love to do another TWL
3- Thanks you sexy people

Many loves TW,
Mark

[Crescent Seal]

your inexperience shows but its a very positive sign that you take responsibility for your mistakes and are willing to work with the community throughout the process. you have no mall cop ego like the other fgts.

+1

[Pressure]

I like this thread, all feedback is appreciated.

If there is a next season, I have offered to run it again. Running the league has been a massive challenge as I have no experience running TWL, I have had to draw on the knowledge of other staffers and players, Turban, Ogron, M_M God, Shadow, Major (just to name a few) even though none of them really wanted to be responsible for TWL they have been a huge help.

This is a community game and the league (IMO) should be run as such. Where possible I had tried to use the collective brain of our community to help me make decisions, and on more than one occasion the community has overruled my original decision, which i believe is a good thing.

It has been a huge learning experience for me and I have actually enjoyed it. If we are all still here in a few months or a year and we do want to have another go at TWL, i will happily run it again (assuming the community will let me). There will be some big differences to the league structure and schedule to come more inline with what our beloved game can actually achieve based on the feedback from this season.

I would like to give a heartfelt thank you to everyone that has helped make this season happen, Staffers (and non staffers) hosting games, people posting opinons/advice on the forums, captains and players for encouraging their squads to turn up on Sundays, content creators for keeping us amused pre & post games.

In turban fashion here's a TL;DR version
1- Opinions/Feedback = Good
2- Love to do another TWL
3- Thanks you sexy people

Many loves TW,
Mark

The more you acclimate to the environment of TW/TWL the more you will learn that if there is something to complain about, people will complain, and if there isn't something to complain about, people will find something to complain about. From my standpoint, you've done a good job (obviously with some help from Turb) and if you didn't tell others it was your first season as TWL Op I'm sure they wouldn't have had a clue. Glad to hear you're open to hosting again!

[Omega Red]

Thanks for hosting Mark, not a lot of people are willing to take the time to help due to the negativity of some (but very few) players involved. I see a similar situation in EG where the negativity and drama has caused multiple league ops to call it quits.

Stay positive and thanks again Mark

[RiiStar]

Replace that terrible TWL website :laugh:

[Ricko]

Replace that terrible TWL website :laugh:

You're hired!