2016 Alamaze Championship!

[IMPERIAL_TARK]

I will take R10 for purpose of moving things along but completely disagree with 2nd option where kingdom selection is forced based on the status points of a "single" game. It truly screws over Atuan, who holds 4 1st place finishes and yet, if he wanted to play the WA in the championship game, he cannot have them. Similarly, myself and Canticar both hold two first place finishes each and yet the kingdoms we really want to play could end up going to someone else with only a single third place finish. So not only are overall status points being disregarded but so also is the number of wins and podium finishes in the qualifying games. JF who has 4 podium finishes could theoretically not even be allowed play in the Championship game if it were not Atuan in front of him in two places (and a person in front of JF chose to play in all 4 places he was listed as second or third).

[gkmetty]

I will take R10 for purpose of moving things along but completely disagree with 2nd option where kingdom selection is forced based on the status points of a "single" game.  It truly screws over Atuan, who holds 4 1st place finishes and yet, if he wanted to play the WA in the championship game, he cannot have them. Similarly, myself and Canticar both hold two first place finishes each and yet the kingdoms we really want to play could end up going to someone else with only a single third place finish. So not only are status points being disregarded but so also is the number of wins in the qualifying games.  JF who has 4 podium finishes could theoretically not even play in the Championship game if it were not Atuan in front of him in two places (and a person in front of JF chose to play in all 4 places he was listed as second or third).

HI Imperial Tark,

Your preference is noted, and so far the open draft is the favorite.

 I think you may be assuming something that may not be true.  The option is to have an open draft, randomly selected.  There is no guarantee that Atuan will have the option to chose any specific kingdom.  In fact he may be FORCED to choose one of the Distributed positions if he gets one of the last two selections.  In the regional kingdom process Atuan has the most options to choose from because he has excelled with so many kingdoms.  The players who do well with multiple kingdoms have more options.  Those that excel in one play style probably have fewer options.

While you and Atuan seem to have strong feelings against the regional kingdom option, you have the most to lose from an open draft.

The Kingdom leader process has been used for the last three or four years because it pits the best players with each kingdom against each other.  You would be playing a kingdom that you have experience with and probably know how to play well.

In the open draft option you could be FORCING someone to play a kingdom that does not suit their play style and they might not even like.

[VballMichael]

All good points on the various sides. But total status points is just an accumulation of games, not wins or podiums. So we could use % wins or % on podium, with a certain minimum games played. Or even status points per game. The random draft is probably the fairest method once you choose the top 12, but gives no reward for previous winning % or podium percentage.

The biggest challenge though is getting a good championship game. If we give the top finisher (probably Atuan under any of the scenarios) the top pick, and so on, then we will have trouble filling the last few spots and the game is further unbalanced with top player getting top pick. A random draft is the worst outcome for the top players who could end of picking 12th.

There is no perfect answer, which is why I like the way it has been done for the past 3 years as the default scenario. No self interest here. I am limited to one choice in this format, though I would likely choose 2nd under any of the above picking criteria. So I would be personally better off with a draft under any scenario except total accumulated status points as I simply don't play as many games as some others.

[Drogo]

Drogo, you had already voiced your preference so I did not send a private message.  We still have not decided on the kingdom selection process.  The draft still leads 3 votes to 2.

Acererak, I believe you have a very good chance of being included if you are interested.  Looking at region 10.  the Two players ahead of you both have other options. Please post your preference of Kingdom selection process, open draft, or play the kingdom of your choice from  the region in which you have qualified.

I don't think I did express a kingdom or region preference.

[gkmetty]

Drogo, you had already voiced your preference so I did not send a private message.  We still have not decided on the kingdom selection process.  The draft still leads 3 votes to 2.

Acererak, I believe you have a very good chance of being included if you are interested.  Looking at region 10.  the Two players ahead of you both have other options. Please post your preference of Kingdom selection process, open draft, or play the kingdom of your choice from  the region in which you have qualified.

I don't think I did express a kingdom or region preference.

On tab #3 you voiced a preference for option 3, the open draft.  We have not decided on the kingdom selection format yet, although the open draft has 5 votes to 2.

[IMPERIAL_TARK]

Yes, lots of ways to pick who should be in Championship game.

For future (2017 Championship game), I would propose that for all qualifying games (games where you play a non-team single kingdom with a minimum of 10 total players at the start of the game), that a first place finish nets you 7 points, a second place finish nets you 3 points, and a third place finish nets you 1 point. Then you simply sum up the points for all the podium finishers in the qualifying games and take the top 12 (who agree to play) with top place getting to pick first in the draft and so on down the list.

[Atuan]

I dislike the regional option mostly due to it lending the better players to only playing wizard kingdoms as I believe they have the most power and when you break it down to a non diplomacy game, this rings true even more.

Would I like to have first pick, yes but a random draft is fair for everyone. Should you need a kingdom selection from me, I will choose region 4. But I prefer draft and likely I will end up picking near the end and be frustrated.

I don't believe pure status points is a good choice to select who is first pick. I would be open to average per game in steel games and having a pick order there.

That list looks as follows for the top 20.

1 Lord Diamond 19,790
2 Atuan 18,331
3 Vball Michael 17,299
4 Hawk 17,299
5 Imperial Tark 16,340
6 Frost Lord 16,230
7 Acererak 14,659
8 Son of Conan 14,245
9 Rogal 13,919
10 Jumpingfist 13,532
11 Canticar 13,356
12 Wookie Panz 12,959
13 The Wise One 12,015
14 Drogo 11,979
15 Cloud 11,949
16 Netstrider 10,510
17 Lojjin 10,404
18 Damelon 9,778
19 DuPont 9,459
20 Devildog 8,136

[gkmetty]

I dislike the regional option mostly due to it lending the better players to only playing wizard kingdoms as I believe they have the most power and when you break it down to a non diplomacy game, this rings true even more.

Would I like to have first pick, yes but a random draft is fair for everyone.  Should you need a kingdom selection from me, I will choose region 4. But I prefer draft and likely I will end up picking near the end and be frustrated.

I don't believe pure status points is a good choice to select who is first pick.  I would be open to average per game in steel games and having a pick order there.

That list looks as follows for the top 20.

1 Lord Diamond 19,790
2 Atuan 18,331
3 Vball Michael 17,299
4 Hawk 17,299
5 Imperial Tark 16,340
6 Frost Lord 16,230
7 Acererak 14,659
8 Son of Conan 14,245
9 Rogal 13,919
10 Jumpingfist 13,532
11 Canticar 13,356
12 Wookie Panz 12,959
13 The Wise One 12,015
14 Drogo 11,979
15 Cloud 11,949
16 Netstrider 10,510
17 Lojjin 10,404
18 Damelon 9,778
19 DuPont 9,459
20 Devildog 8,136

Thanks Atuan,  It does look like the draft will prevail.  Your region selection is merely to determine who qualifies to participate.  Region 4 is now locked and your name will be removed from the other regions.

[gkmetty]

I will choose Region 9. I would have taken the DA if it came to that option.

[gkmetty]

Yes, lots of ways to pick who should be in Championship game.

For future (2017 Championship game), I would propose that for all qualifying games (games where you play a non-team single kingdom with a minimum of 10 total players at the start of the game), that a first place finish nets you 7 points, a second place finish nets you 3 points, and a third place finish nets you 1 point.  Then you simply sum up the points for all the podium finishers in the qualifying games and take the top 12 (who agree to play) with top place getting to pick first in the draft and so on down the list.

The thought differences still hold true with this option, quantity over quality.  Is a player who plays in 9 games with three third place finishes better then a player who plays in 3 games and finishes 1st in one of them?  Should a player be penalized because they cant spend as much money on gaming as another player?

While determining the player who did the best with each kingdom is not perfect this method is agreed upon and has been used in years past.