18 Jun 2008 at 00:22 - 86
I'm a PvX player, and I really appreciated the double tournament rewards weekend. I also appreciated the double fame weekend, too. My guild, too, is a PvX guild, but with strong PvE roots. Recently, we've been eying tournament play, but anyone who's played an Automated Daily Tournament knows that the ADT attracts teams primarily in the top 200-300, with outliers that might be in the top 500. The winners are always in the top 100.
Now, I don't dispute that the top guilds should win their tournaments, of course, but the point is that if you're just starting to get involved in tournaments, you're looking at the strong possibility of five straight defeats.
Part of this is due to low participation. If only top teams enter, then only top teams play, and other teams are de facto squeezed out of this kind of competition. This situation isn't good for GvG. GvG needs more players enthusiastic about playing this kind of competitive venue more often.
Our first ADT was demoralizing for most of the players. The second tournament was the rawr cup, with players who'd had some GvG experience moving into our tournament guild. They practiced, played, and had a much better tournament experience because they were matched up against similar teams. This last tournament weekend was a blast for our players. One guy registered the guild for the tournament, we had to field the players for our build, and we ended up having to rotate people in and out so as to keep the team of 8. We played against some top guilds, true, but we also played against guilds closer to our own rating because there were more guilds participating in the tournament.
I'd do more tournaments if they could be more like the ones that take place on Double Tournament Rewards weekends. The increased numbers of guilds playing mean better matches for those of us who aren't playing anywhere near Top 500 GvG. But when we do play against a top team, it's easy to see just why that team is so good, and it provides a great example of the kind of skill it takes to play at that level. Since you only have to play maybe one of those matches, it's easy to stay upbeat, especially since you know you're going to be playing a team closer to your own level in the next round.
Save for the community sponsored events like the guru tournament and rawr cup, there's not a lot of incentive for the more PvX guild to play tournaments. Thus, I was very excited by the Double Tournament Rewards. No, I'm not going to acquire a whole lot of tournament rewards, but at least there's a lot of excitement about playing GvG and trying to take that play to a different level.
If only we could find a way to keep that same level of participation without the carrot of the rewards!
At any rate, we had a great time, and a big thanks to AN for the weekend!
--ceolstan
