Winter League - What do you think so far?

[Genestealer]

So two weeks are almost in the books. What does everyone think of the league so far? Pros/Cons?

[Zuldjin 'Nor]

I have had a great time in the league so far. I think that the sportsmanship has been very very good as well. The biggest thing I have seen is that there are those that say "I need to play more games!" and they are normally the ones that have played twice as many as anyone else anyway. An those that are only able to play once or twice a week are feeling overwhelmed by the fact that they will never catch up. A middle ground would be nice. There are also some people that have signed up for the league and have not played a game yet. Of course I am a firm believer in real life first and know people are busy, though if their schedule was going to be that hecktic they maybe should have rethought the league given that it is a team event as well. Of course over the next few weeks they may play 8 games more than anyone else and none of this will matter. That is my two cents and I hope it was helpful.
Rob

[YourHero]

Pros...

I get to play alot of games with alot of people

The scenarios actually dont always boil down to kill the caster

Cons...

Quantity of games seems to matter, more than quality.

Like Rob said those that have fewer games in may be overwhelmed by the fact that they need to play alot of games to catch up.

[Genestealer]

I love the work PP has down on the website for each week. Very nice and easy to get around the one page.

It will be interesting to see how it all plays out at the end. Like Rob said some team members have yet to play a game. Is that going to hose their team or will they make it up at the end? Woud a maximum number of games per week help find that middle ground?

Would week one be a good week not to have ladder points? Let people get games in and sort the ladder and then start week two with the points available for higher challenges?

What else?

[Rorschach]

Quantity can get you places, but only if you Win. So Quality *does* matter. I've only played 4 games, with 1 loss, and I think I was in the top 10. For those who haven't played yet, catching up might be more easy than they think - a half dozen well planned wins and you can have 40+ points. While those who've been off to a rocket start may not be able to keep the pace. I think this is why they have a Team Structure - few can keep up the pace, so Team Members carry one another as needed.

The only thing that might worry me is skilled players picking on new players more for a bucket of easy wins. New Players: Feel free to reject a challenge if you feel you're being "sniped".

When this really gets tricky is the final week...

Rob F. also has an automated Leader Board I'm looking into, to make the reporting simpler and less math heavy. But it requires a Computer Logon for every game, so I need to make sure the resources would be available.

[YourHero]

Quantity can get you places, but only if you Win. So Quality *does* matter. I've only played 4 games, with 1 loss, and I think I was in the top 10.

I agree, quality does matter though I dont think as much. Also, I think the bottom ten have yet to play a game or only have one down.

Ray brings up a good point about week one ladder bonus points. That is pretty silly, it is totally random where you are to start. Though on the converse of that you can only really get latter points once, before you are in the top ten. Though I think the league will come down to a few points.

[Blackraine]

It's definitely too many games. I'd be a lot happier if it was only 2 games per week or something. The way it's set up right now, I feel *compelled* to play as many games as possible, otherwise I'm letting my team down.

I also think that team scores should be an average score. Right now, a 3 man team has a good 50% advantage over a 2 man team in team score, all other things being equal. It's putting significant pressure on me to take challenges I wouldn't normally take, and play more games than I'd normally play to make up for the lack of a third team member.

As much as I love warmachine, I wonder how much longer I can play in the league before getting severely burned out.


All that being said, the scenarios are awesome. I love the weather effects (even when they screw me over like the Howling Winds did vs. Denegra). Being very interested in the RPG side of Iron Kingdoms as well, it's nice to see some good fluffy storylines and such going on (even if it is all in the Apotheosis book).

[YourHero]

Black makes a really good point. How do we recognize teams without a third player??

We could drop the lowest score from all teams with a third member?

Take an average of the lowest point score from every 3 person team and add that to teams with only two members? As some teams have players without any games?

Take a team average like Black suggested?
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Another note, about the playing the same guy twice in a row thing. Can we change that to only twice in a row in the same day?
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Also, I have heard from a couple of people that they think the teams are unbalanced. Maybe we could randomize teams, not within factions but everyone? The only thing that could limit is bounties, but with scheduling I have found it hard to get matches with my bounty factions (except Cygnar who appears to have the most people).

[ColGreeley]

Well, our team FUBAR, has 2 Merc players and a Cygnar player. Thus we have to be Cygnar because Mercs are not a real faction.

[Rorschach]

The Team thing was kind of a necessity. Folks had a few weeks pre-League Day to arrange their 3-man Teams, and we're told to allow free team forming. On the kickoff day though, I have to nail down teams so play can start, and I have to group same factions - so we end up with 2 man teams. I can't take 4 Menoth players and tell the 4th guy "Tough, you're out".

I'll see what's being said on re-arranging Teams mid League, but I doubt it, as with any rules change mid-game.
All feedback will be given to TPTB to see how they propose changes in the next League Season though.

[YourHero]

The Team thing was kind of a necessity. Folks had a few weeks pre-League Day to arrange their 3-man Teams, and we're told to allow free team forming. On the kickoff day though, I have to nail down teams so play can start, and I have to group same factions - so we end up with 2 man teams. I can't take 4 Menoth players and tell the 4th guy "Tough, you're out".


I understand. I am not talking about making team changes mid-season. I am more thinking for future seasons. After this season is over, you PG types can reflect on what happened to make the next season better for us here locally.

The only one that would be nice to have now is the 2 man teams situation. It would be nice to give them something to compensate for the lack of a 3rd person.

[eldanesh69]

I think that the WM league has been a very good learning tool. I have been able to learn a lot and I have been very lucky so far. Of course if I start playing the far more experienced players I will learn more but most likely lose more.
As to the subject of teams with only two players, I think the only fair thing is to take the final total team scores of the three man teams and reduce it by one third and compare that to two man total team scores. That way two man teams and three man teams can be relatively on an equal footing scores wise.
Oh by the way anyone up for a league game? What time does Castle close?
mike T

[Genestealer]

It will be interesting to see if PP changes anything before the next season. Dale or Ryan is there anything going on in the forumns you get to read?

[Zuldjin 'Nor]

If anything the team scores should be averaged. That will place them on equal ground.

[woody]

Not that I'm playing in the Gamer's Haven league, but I'm enjoying it, despite my having to drive an hour each way to play. Mostly it's been a great way to get in a lot more games than I usually manage. I do wonder about burnout as we progress through the seasons -- I won't be able to play in all of them due to my schedule, but I don't know if I would even if I could.