My main question is “WHY?”… It may have been asked many times already, but I’d really like to know what you good people think.
I come to you as more of a pokemon “fan”, rather than a player anymore. Due to my workload, unfortunately I don’t have the time to enjoy the game we love. I haven’t been to a tourney in a couple of years, but it doesn’t stop me from playing at home and following the gameplay and tournament results of the friends I’ve made across the USA and other countries over the years (especially the players from STL and the Classy “OldPokes” Veterans) .
I played the game pretty hard from 2007 through 2010, went to as many tournaments as my daughter and I could, including nationals each of those years, from Columbus to STL to Indy. AWESOME ENTERTAINMENT!!!! We played the game for “together time” and to hang out with some real nice people. The Poke Community -- from the parents, the players, and especially the people that bust their buns to set the events up, brought us into their group and treated us like family. It didn’t matter if we were even any good at the game, we still got shown the respect that everyone else got. I even soaked up enough knowledge to luck out in a couple tournaments and get my place in the sun.
US NATIONALS --- the Meca of Pokemon Tournaments. You can say Worlds to me (never been), but to see the pure volume of players in one place to play a card game, I still get a “WOW” feeling when I look at some of the pics I’ve taken in the past. In this one single tournament you get the following ---
You get to say you were part of the biggest tournament of the year, possibly the biggest EVER.
You get to face to face chat with some people that you only get to see at Nats every year.
You get to actually see the Big Names in the game that you never would otherwise, even better if you get to play against one, unreal feeling if the stars align and you can actually beat one.
You get to see the top tier judges and organizers do their thing so the rest of us can enjoy.
You get the swag (shirts/pins/cards) that your kids can flash to their friends.
You have unique side tournaments with great prizes, including Prof Cup, that you don’t get anywhere else.
Maybe my view towards this tournament is different than some of yours…. Maybe it’s not… I know once you get a taste of Nats --- you’re hooked for good!
Been reading a lot on here how the casual player, the relatively new player, and the player without many tournaments in their area don’t have enough participation points needed to play in this prestigious event. Rules are rules, and I understand the requirement was set in place way ahead of time, but it leaves me scratching my head…. They are leaving people that are willing to spend the money to get to the bash out of the big show. It’s not easy in today’s world to set aside the money required to get this kind of entertainment. Look at the recent poll entitled “Why Not Attend Nats?”… Cash is the biggest hang up. Has the tourney become too large that it needed to be reduced? Has the tourney tried to get rid of the lesser/casual player that does silly things like drop out of the tournament and ruins chances for others that got paired against them? I’m curious…. Simply put…
MY MAIN QUESTION IS ------WHY STOP THE OPEN DOOR TO ALL THAT WANT IN THE GREATEST TOURNEY OF THE YEAR?
Delete this post if it becomes an issue, it’s not intended for that... I’m an outsider looking in at this point, but I still love the game and plan a comeback next season… It's too late for a post like this to do any good now, but my heart goes out to some of these people that want to "PLAY!" this weekend...
I come to you as more of a pokemon “fan”, rather than a player anymore. Due to my workload, unfortunately I don’t have the time to enjoy the game we love. I haven’t been to a tourney in a couple of years, but it doesn’t stop me from playing at home and following the gameplay and tournament results of the friends I’ve made across the USA and other countries over the years (especially the players from STL and the Classy “OldPokes” Veterans) .
I played the game pretty hard from 2007 through 2010, went to as many tournaments as my daughter and I could, including nationals each of those years, from Columbus to STL to Indy. AWESOME ENTERTAINMENT!!!! We played the game for “together time” and to hang out with some real nice people. The Poke Community -- from the parents, the players, and especially the people that bust their buns to set the events up, brought us into their group and treated us like family. It didn’t matter if we were even any good at the game, we still got shown the respect that everyone else got. I even soaked up enough knowledge to luck out in a couple tournaments and get my place in the sun.
US NATIONALS --- the Meca of Pokemon Tournaments. You can say Worlds to me (never been), but to see the pure volume of players in one place to play a card game, I still get a “WOW” feeling when I look at some of the pics I’ve taken in the past. In this one single tournament you get the following ---
You get to say you were part of the biggest tournament of the year, possibly the biggest EVER.
You get to face to face chat with some people that you only get to see at Nats every year.
You get to actually see the Big Names in the game that you never would otherwise, even better if you get to play against one, unreal feeling if the stars align and you can actually beat one.
You get to see the top tier judges and organizers do their thing so the rest of us can enjoy.
You get the swag (shirts/pins/cards) that your kids can flash to their friends.
You have unique side tournaments with great prizes, including Prof Cup, that you don’t get anywhere else.
Maybe my view towards this tournament is different than some of yours…. Maybe it’s not… I know once you get a taste of Nats --- you’re hooked for good!
Been reading a lot on here how the casual player, the relatively new player, and the player without many tournaments in their area don’t have enough participation points needed to play in this prestigious event. Rules are rules, and I understand the requirement was set in place way ahead of time, but it leaves me scratching my head…. They are leaving people that are willing to spend the money to get to the bash out of the big show. It’s not easy in today’s world to set aside the money required to get this kind of entertainment. Look at the recent poll entitled “Why Not Attend Nats?”… Cash is the biggest hang up. Has the tourney become too large that it needed to be reduced? Has the tourney tried to get rid of the lesser/casual player that does silly things like drop out of the tournament and ruins chances for others that got paired against them? I’m curious…. Simply put…
MY MAIN QUESTION IS ------WHY STOP THE OPEN DOOR TO ALL THAT WANT IN THE GREATEST TOURNEY OF THE YEAR?
Delete this post if it becomes an issue, it’s not intended for that... I’m an outsider looking in at this point, but I still love the game and plan a comeback next season… It's too late for a post like this to do any good now, but my heart goes out to some of these people that want to "PLAY!" this weekend...