Reinstating the Smogon Tour

Aeolus

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I'm going to hold a practice tour or two... gauge the interest and decide from there. If the draw is too high, either the number will have to increase from 32 to 48/64 or we'll have to limit people to one of two days. That we'll have to be decided later though.
 

Havak

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I'd be glad to help out in any way I can. I'm GMT so Sunday's at 7pm will be fine for me, it's very unlikely I'll ever be busy then. I can't always say the same for Saturdays, but I have no problems staying on until after 1am on Saturday nights, providing I'm at home.
 

obi

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Rather than forcing you to use your forum nicknames, could you just make it a requirement to post what nick you will be battling on in your sign-up post if it's different from your forum nick?
 

Aeolus

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not to go against you chaos, but there is a reason we put that rule into place to begin with. it really is so much easier on the hosts if all participants use their forum nickname... or at least something recognizeable. The hosts already have enough to do without having to read everyone's sign up posts to find out their name of the week and answer pm's from retards who can't figure the alias out on shoddy battle. The other reason is that it makes it quite difficult to keep track of points from week to week if people aren't forced to use the same name consistently.

Week 1: Obi scores 7 points when Aeolus is hosting
Week 2: Graviton scores 2 points when Sonuis is hosting:

Leaderboard after two weeks:
Obi - 7
Graviton - 2

Angry PM to Aeolus - YOU MORON, YOU DIDN'T ADD MY POINTS TOGETHER!
Or worse yet, I don't get a PM and then the standings are incorrect...

If someone has abandoned their forum nickname and has adopted a new one they use frequently on shoddy battle, I'd be more than happy to grant them a forum name change... all they have to do is post in the stickied thread in congregation. It is just that attempting to accommodate casual name variations in the tour is more trouble than it is worth... it isn't that much of a hardship to use your forum nickname for 45 minutes a week.
 

JabbaTheGriffin

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Isn't the tour supposed to be a test of skill spanning all the generations? I mean that's really what gives the tour it's allure. Playing across all those generations week in and week out is really what makes the tour fun and original. Starting up the tour before we're capable of that and sticking to a sole generation for one season just doesn't seem like much fun to me.

I don't know maybe it's just me :/
 

Stallion

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I'd love to help, as I am free most weekends. Also I agree that 32 players is way too small, it should be 64 in my opinion. I don't like the suggested timezones however, as they mean that people that aren't American such as me, EW, junior and plenty others won't be able to make the times suggested. A much better system is needed then this.
 

JabbaTheGriffin

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There's numerous problems with using NB as a simulator, Jabba, and it's almost as inefficient to make all the new DP players learn the 3 older generations as to force them to use IRC to do so, and there's the problem of having 4 generations to play, an even number (maybe DP could be counted twice or something...?)
I know, that's why I didn't mention NB in my post :/

I'm just saying maybe we should wait until Shoddy implements more generations (probably unlikely for the near future) or just wait until Competitor is released, no matter how far away that day may be. I just think limiting the Tour to one generation takes away from what makes the Tour what it is.
 

Havak

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I know, that's why I didn't mention NB in my post :/

I'm just saying maybe we should wait until Shoddy implements more generations (probably unlikely for the near future) or just wait until Competitor is released, no matter how far away that day may be. I just think limiting the Tour to one generation takes away from what makes the Tour what it is.
Yeah, I kind of agree with Jabba here. Playing across all generations is what makes it the Tour, but I'd imagine a lot of players will be far too impatient as it could be years before we're able to play all generations on one simulator.

The only thing I can think of is playing three different D/P metagames, although it would get a bit repetitive, it's still different. However, we'd still have to wait until UU is stable. (As well as Ubers and OU to be honest).

Unless there's enough interest in the likes of Baby Cup, NU, NFE etc, then that's the best we can do if the Tour has to happen in the near future. It could get complicated for some players with those kind of rule sets, though.
 

Taylor

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I see where you're coming from, guys, but I don't understand why it's such a big deal. A Smogon Tour was generally for all generations as such - RBY / GSC / RSE - now we have DP, but none of the others. Fortunately, all of us who are good enough at DP OU, have nearly an equal chance of winning. I'm intrigued to see how everyone fairs in one generation alone, instead of having to have a basic understanding of all the generations - which limits the number of players in the entire event who actually have a chance of winning it all. But, like you said, maybe that's the best thing about them.

Regardless I want this to continue, no matter what the set-backs and flaws we may encounter.
 

Havak

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Yeah, Taylor, never for one minute did I not want the Tour to take place, I'm really looking forward to it and still support it happening as soon as everyone wants. It'll still be a great tournament no matter what, playing Ubers, OU and UU would be fine by me. (Or even just OU straight through if that's the way it goes).
 

Aeolus

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I'd love to help, as I am free most weekends. Also I agree that 32 players is way too small, it should be 64 in my opinion. I don't like the suggested timezones however, as they mean that people that aren't American such as me, EW, junior and plenty others won't be able to make the times suggested. A much better system is needed then this.
How is that you are volunteering to help out with a tournament that occurs, as you say in your post, at a time you won't be able to make?

I hear you live in Australia, and granted, these times were NOT selected with you in mind. Can you imagine, though, if I did select a time that works for Australians? There would be a laughable level of participation. This is one of those cases where not everyone can be accommodated.

As for the rest of the discussion about it not being multi-gen... that was one of my major concerns since it is a huge part of the Smogon Tour. I talked it over with the staff in #insidescoop and the opinion was that it would be better to push forward with what we have now and add the other generations as they become available. It won't be quite the same, but adapting to the environment we are presented with is just fine.

I'd like to hear other people's thoughts on a UU/OU/Uber format.
 

JabbaTheGriffin

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The only thing I can think of is playing three different D/P metagames, although it would get a bit repetitive, it's still different. However, we'd still have to wait until UU is stable. (As well as Ubers and OU to be honest).
I think that as a temporary solution to the inability to play the other generations, what Havak brought up (alternating between OU, Ubers and UU) should be discussed. While it may not be the optimal solution I believe it's the only option we have that keeps the spirit of the Tour in tact.

I was discussing this with Aeolus and he thought it'd be best to see what others thought about the idea. So any thoughts?
 
In response to the timezone accomodation thing: I am fine with the times really, I guess I will have to wake up at 4AM if I want to participate on some mornings though.

However I would personally prefer that the times were not forced back any earlier than what was initially stated.

Playing a number of tiers in DP sounds like a reasonably good idea until the other generations can be included I suppose.
 

Taylor

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I'd much rather play DP OU on its own, but if the majority prefer a mix of metagames in the Tour, then that's fine with me also. But I'm not so sure about adding RBY/GSC/RSE half-way through the Tour - if we even get the other generations on a simulator we use at the time of the Tour - which would lead us to getting rid of the metagames we have added. Maybe it's best if we keep it at DP OU and, if need be, add the previous generations once they have been implemented onto a simulator.
 

Jackal

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i personally wouldnt be so thrilled about adding ubers to the tour as I have no idea how to play it, but i think in the spirit of the tour (being the best all around battler), it is a good idea for now. UU is always cool ;)
 

IggyBot

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I agree with the suggestion of adding different tiers to the tour until previous metagames are released. I never had a chance to participate in the Tour before, but from what it sounds like, it tested the skills of players as an overall, instead of just one metagame. This is what sets it apart from other tournaments in my opinion, because you're not just playing in a OU, UU or Uber tournament (or GSC, RBY, ADV, whatever), it's a combination of everything. I believe this will also allow players to discover new things, and promote growth in areas such as UU, which has a lot of potential in my opinion.
 

Roy

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chiming in to show my appreciation for this. i hope this brings older users into the game, we all know vil will be here for sure.

i would love to host etc.
 

Havak

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Yeh, I still support my suggestion of adding different metagames. It's the only way to add variation to the Tour at this moment in time, though we really should be sorting out our "finalised" OU, Uber and UU Tiers before we start the Tour. I myself have barely touched Ubers and UU in D/P, I know that will most likely hinder my performance in the Tour if I get the chance to play, but I still think it's the best thing to do. Though, I'm all for hosting / assisting with hosting etc.
 

Aeolus

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Ok, below is how I plan to go forward with the Smogon Tour. Once the practice tours are under our belt and I can gauge the level of interest we'll make decision on whether 32 is the right number of participants and if people will be allowed to play both days.

Times are final... there were mutterings about moving them an hour one way or the other... but the positive difference that makes for one person is offset by the negative difference for someone else on the other side of the world; therefore these are final unless some other issue presents itself.

I'm working on getting the Smogon Tour section of the site back into shape, hopefully tonight that will happen. Once it is ready, I'll post a forum annoucement about this and link to it in the Shoddy server's welcome message.

Groudon80 and Sonuis are the only designated hosts at this time... but I'll be contacting 2 people to give them a chance at the practice tours.

Smogon Tour: UU/OU/UBER

Saturdays: 8:00pm EST
Sundays: 2:00pm EST

Point System:

32 man
R1 - 1
R2 - 2
R3 - 3
R4 - 5
R5 - 7

24 man
R1 - 1
R2 - 2
Round Robin Finals
Finalists - 4
Winner - 6


Practice Tours:

Saturday July 12th - UU
Sunday July 13th - Uber

Regular Season:

Week 1
Saturday July 19th - OU
Sunday July 20th - OU

Week 2
Saturday July 26th - UU
Sunday July 27th - UU

Week 3
Saturday August 2 - Uber
Sunday August 3 - Uber

Week 4
Saturday August 9 - OU
Sunday August 10 - OU

Week 5
Saturday August 16 - UU
Sunday August 17 - UU

Week 6
Saturday August 23 - Uber
Sunday August 24 - Uber

Week 7
Saturday August 30 - OU
Sunday August 31 - OU

Week 8
Saturday September 6 - UU
Sunday September 7 - UU

Week 9
Saturday September 6 - Uber
Sunday September 7 - Uber

General Rules:
  • You MUST battle with your Forum nickname
  • There are no subs after Round One. Host discretion before then.
  • If you have won, you must PM the host of the tournament that you have won
  • No complaining during the tour about any rules or having bad luck
  • No hassling the hosts
  • If you join you must stay until the tour is over or until you lose
  • You must sign up on the forums
  • There is a 15 minute time limit per round. A host will enforce this rule, if you go past the limit the host will award the win to the person they think has the best advantage.
  • Breaking ANY rule is grounds for instant disqualification. Be sure to follow ALL rules. They are here for you to see, there are no excuses. If you break ANY of these rules you will be awarded -3 points for the week and you will not be allowed to join another tour for that week. If you break another rule you will lose 3 more points and you will be banned from entering the tour the following week.
  • No OHKO moves
  • No Evasion moves
  • Sleep Clause
  • Species Clause
  • Freeze Clause
DP Specific Rules:
  • Abide by the Smogon Tier list
 

maddog

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Are we going to have set tier lists for the tour? I know the UU tier changes pretty often and Garchomp could be banned or other things could be unbanned for OU... Are the tier list going to be set in stone for the tour from the beginning? Or will the changes that added to the tier lists during the time that the tour is taking place have effect on the future rounds?
 

Taylor

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I was actually looking forward to OverUsed being the singular metagame throughout the tour, but I guess that UU and Ubers are now a part of the event also.

Regardless I am glad to see that there's two practice tours this weekend. It's great to be able to begin shortly!
 

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