main/invite

[stealthlol]

They should never have to worry about actually improving their skillset to remain competitive. They should be able to do what makes them have fun while feeling warm and fuzzy on the inside
...
Teams used to WANT to be moved up--and were excited to get the opportunity. Part of the fun of dod was proving you belonged. Once this "push" is gone for the community as a whole it's gone for good. It's unfixable by FORCING people to play where they don't want to--what ever their reason is.

Peopled "used" to want to be moved up because teams would practice and get better. Now everybody just 12mans and teams don't improve. Meanwhile, the teams that dominate upper are the ones that have been playing together for seasons. Everyone else probably want to play in middle so that they can "have fun and compete." My guess is that people don't want to play and lose, so they have a chance in main.

[nunz]

That doesn't work because the lowest teams in the league will drop out from getting destroyed on a weekly basis. Happened before when the main/lower teams were in one division. Teams like BAW, 475th, KS, etc. can only look forward to a couple weeks out of a season where they'll actually compete for a win. Every other week is a blowout.

I dont mean the open teams. The Main and invite players essentially 12 man against eachother daily, I wouldnt mind a game against thunder early in the season. But I am biased to my recent post.

Maybe have one big division, 18 teams start the season, if you have a 16 team playoff where the first round will decide the Invite and Main brackets (or call them something completely different ex. GOLD SILVER playoffs). Using the 1 vs 16 format, all the winners of the first round would make it to the Gold playoffs and all the losers would move down to the Silver playoffs. Then you would have 8 in each bracket to compete for the titles. At the end of the season your gonna have only 2 teams not making the playoffs and with the 1 v 16 there is a chance to have upsets. It also creates extra opportunity to the teams that lose in the first round.

I dont really care if I get shit stomped in 1 or 2 weeks aslong as people play the matches its always fun. It will also help with meeting players you have never played with/against. Lastly I think it will make for a very very interesting final week of the season, so many seeds would shift around and have people on the TPG site waiting to see who they will play in the first round.

2cents.

I think this could work, it is how they run a lot of minor hockey league tournaments I played in when I was a kid and it always gave the weaker teams a shot of competing with the best.

[Rob]

Maybe have one big division, 18 teams start the season, if you have a 16 team playoff where the first round will decide the Invite and Main brackets (or call them something completely different ex. GOLD SILVER playoffs). Using the 1 vs 16 format, all the winners of the first round would make it to the Gold playoffs and all the losers would move down to the Silver playoffs. Then you would have 8 in each bracket to compete for the titles. At the end of the season your gonna have only 2 teams not making the playoffs and with the 1 v 16 there is a chance to have upsets. It also creates extra opportunity to the teams that lose in the first round.

I dont really care if I get shit stomped in 1 or 2 weeks aslong as people play the matches its always fun. It will also help with meeting players you have never played with/against. Lastly I think it will make for a very very interesting final week of the season, so many seeds would shift around and have people on the TPG site waiting to see who they will play in the first round.

2cents.

I think this could work, it is how they run a lot of minor hockey league tournaments I played in when I was a kid and it always gave the weaker teams a shot of competing with the best.

Glad you like your own ideas =P

[Rob]

Plus Will Ward. Hell, if you have any chance of getting moved down, it will be Will Ward.

I'm considering starting Will on rifle, heavy, and sniper, simultaneously.

[rehpyc]

is thunder the best team every season? realistically yes, we lost a couple seasons back, and still lose 1 or 2 matches every season. but this just shows how the community has changed over the years. even back in 08/09, there were teams that wanted to beat us simply because we are a challenge to play against. but for some reason now everybody would rather show up and stomp people in lower divisions, just so they don't have to lose against us.

Don't pull a muscle patting yourself on the back.

In regards to the bolded, you're accusing them of exactly what you're doing. You'd rather show up with your "stacked" team and stomp people at lower skill levels then you, just so you don't have to lose. If you're so against this mentality, why don't you split up to challenge youself and create parity?

Only half of our team (jaggon, ryanemo, & tox) actually play the game regularly. The other half has gone through various shifts between each season. Over the past seasons, the other 3 spots have been filled by me, pat, dorito, hudson, dyelife, jgale, & riveroyster.. rebirth and scorch for one or two matches. There may have been others, since there was a season or 2 in which I wasn't really ever around to see how things were going. If the team was to be split in half, the 3 variable spots being filled by regularly active players, it'd just be worse for the community. You'd probably see THUNDER scrim time to time, leading to even better team chemistry than what's already displayed in matches now. It's not simply a matter of winning or losing; it's having fun playing with the group of players this team has. I show up once a week during the season, am pretty washed up and considerably slower/worse than I already was when active, could be easily replaced by a more active sniper, and still the team likes it when I will play. Heck, I was quick to admit to the team that part of the loss to DRUGS on rr2 and the match with Alex's shitty team being close were largely my fault, but instead of replacing me or others who aren't active, the team chooses to sacrifice "stomping" every team and play with those who they have most fun with.

tl;dr THUNDER has changed the team around season to season of semi-active players because everyone has fun regardless of winning or losing by any margin, so it's a different situation than teams sandbagging lower divisions because they don't want to put effort into the game and cry if they're going to lose

[BrentMusburger]

Only half of our team (jaggon, ryanemo, & tox) actually play the game regularly. The other half has gone through various shifts between each season. Over the past seasons, the other 3 spots have been filled by me, pat, dorito, hudson, dyelife, jgale, & riveroyster.. rebirth and scorch for one or two matches. There may have been others, since there was a season or 2 in which I wasn't really ever around to see how things were going. If the team was to be split in half, the 3 variable spots being filled by regularly active players, it'd just be worse for the community. You'd probably see THUNDER scrim time to time, leading to even better team chemistry than what's already displayed in matches now. It's not simply a matter of winning or losing; it's having fun playing with the group of players this team has. I show up once a week during the season, am pretty washed up and considerably slower/worse than I already was when active, could be easily replaced by a more active sniper, and still the team likes it when I will play. Heck, I was quick to admit to the team that part of the loss to DRUGS on rr2 and the match with Alex's shitty team being close were largely my fault, but instead of replacing me or others who aren't active, the team chooses to sacrifice "stomping" every team and play with those who they have most fun with.

tl;dr THUNDER has changed the team around season to season of semi-active players because everyone has fun regardless of winning or losing by any margin, so it's a different situation than teams sandbagging lower divisions because they don't want to put effort into the game and cry if they're going to lose

All that I'm saying is that the majority of Thunder is/was made up of former REAL invite/main level players--and some of the best players are their positions to boot. Regardless of how inactive you are, the expirence and positioning smarts alone gives you a tremendous advantage. Something tells me that Dorito still knows how to play long on Harrington or that you never forgot how to sniper Donner. It's just like a hall of fame player in sports. Your 80% or 70% at age 40 is still better than a large number of players 100% in the league and sometimes there's still flashes of greatness.

I agree with you dod isn't worth playing unless it's with people that you enjoy playing with. So, I'd never tell you or anywho who to play with. I was just asking.

And also that you're not sandbagging in the true sense because it's not really your fault per say that people can't catch up when you're already at the top. However, I don't think it's an accident the caliber of players that you've always had. Whether it's because you've wanted to win easily, or as veterans, you've simply built relationships with other players that you had played with/against in the higher divisions, or more likely a combination of both.

My question was just in regards to the complaining of how it's such a "burden" that no one can compete with you and I was just simply asking why there was never an attempt to split thunder and create more competition. You gave reasons of inactivity, but what team hasn't had inactivity issues the last 5 years? Sometimes taking some of your friends and beating your other friends can be equally satisfying.

[ryanemo]

we actually did try creating 2 thunder teams and the 1 ended up dying, we work better as a revolving door for our roster i guess you could say. it's not a burden, still have fun playing the game, i pretty much do the same as sean now and just show up on match nights. regardless of winning or losing we have fun, i was just saying im surprised people aren't just sick of us winning all the time lol

[stealthlol]

because they don't want to put effort into the game and cry if they're going to lose

This sentence alone summarizes why people complain about move ups.

My question was just in regards to the complaining of how it's such a "burden" that no one can compete with you

From what I've seen of the THUNDER players posting on here, they have plenty of competition still. Though they may still win every time, I've read several times about them having close matches. Isn't that what competition is? Even if you win every time. I'm looking forward to playing them this season. Last time I got to was with whatever team we had that skipped along to the finals and then had no intention to try and win.

[Swiss]

From what I've seen of the THUNDER players posting on here, they have plenty of competition still. Though they may still win every time, I've read several times about them having close matches. Isn't that what competition is? Even if you win every time. I'm looking forward to playing them this season. Last time I got to was with whatever team we had that skipped along to the finals and then had no intention to try and win.

cough we beat them twice cough. that was two seasons ago but the roster was basically the same. and i was terrible in that finals match on harrington. just sayin

[stealthlol]

I didn't mean to say that they win EVERY game...my mistake. In my defense, I don't think I played that season when iwa beat them. Since I started playing again over the last year and a half, I think thunder has won their division every time.