Ideas that PUI could consider for next year...

[Prof Clay]

Ratings system...overall good...needs more tweaking again next year. No it does not encourage play by players who have high ratings...but these players got those ratings by consistant play and winning at the right time. I hate to say it, but most complaints about the rating system come from those who perceive that they should be higher ranked than they are. There are only 25 spots...not everyone can get one of them...many great players are going to be left out...Part of the problem with ratings is that we have become victims of the success of the game...more players who can compete. Those who travel have more chances ..fair/unfair...it is what it is.

Gym Challenges...Great idea at 1st until we all figured out how to game the system...again rewarding those who could travel the most.

Invites to Worlds from regionals would be nice....but I know it would reduce the number of ranking invites significantly. thus creating more gripes.

More events do need to be run locally... this should be done by the local store owners and league leaders. Most of us PTO's have real jobs too and families we kinda of like. We cannot put these events into the ranking scheme though...If you look back a few years ago, before rankings carried any real weight, you can see how the system was truly manipulated by a few at local levels by running many many small tournaments to jack up the ratings of their local players.

PUI created a monster back in 2004 that they are trying to get back into its cage...that monster is Worlds. In the US we all now feel that we all belong there...my family included. The World Championships are not ours, it belongs to lots of different countries...We have been seriously spoiled and its hard to change perception about that event.

The Biggest thing I think that needs to change is this...
The US National Championships is ours and should be the event we all want to play in. It should be a FREE EVENT like all the others. I have always hated that we have to pay to get into a FREE EVENT and that we are not even top Billing at the site.

I actually do agree with many of you that the ranking system should be put on hold for this event in all countries to promote EVERYONE to play and try and win. This is where the grail is for players now..the INVITE AND PAID TRIP.

For those of us who are involved in the ratings race...Nationals can be a bountiful harvest for those who can shine thru. Having judged Masters last year, most of the players in the top cut were the right ones...they are there year after year in the upper echelons of the Pokemon World. Some will get left out again this year and to paraphrase Mr. Ballard....the grapes will be reallllly sour.

Good luck everyone

 

[Lawman]

I agree with many of Clay's points. Also, as Vince pointed out, 7 store level events in a year is a good number. The PTOs will run even more than that bc most of us service more than ONE city. Some even run events in more than 1 state! Bottom line, we cannot wear out the PTOs. They have lives, families and IRL jobs to do (jobs and work are both 4 letter words! :lol: )

I dont mind the idea of local LL and TOs being able to run some BRs and CCs. This already happens in some areas! It allows more events for an area.

I dont see the ranking points leaving us anytime soon. I believe PUI likes the idea of rewarding consistant play throughout the year. Yes, it promotes players going to multiple FREE events.

Gyms will not be coming back....too expensive. The game has grown sooooo much since PUI/Nintendo revived the game.

Keith

 

[burnpsy]

I agree with quite a few of you up there :grin:

I think they should increase the amount of tournaments to one every week/two weeks, even if they won't be worth much... it's still a chance to ACTUALLY play...

 

[Lawman]

I agree with quite a few of you up there :grin:

I think they should increase the amount of tournaments to one every week/two weeks, even if they won't be worth much... it's still a chance to ACTUALLY play...

Actually, you get that every week! Its called LEAGUE! The best place in the world to try out the strange new idea and not lose points.

Keith

 

[Blaziken 1111]

The thing is about having tornoments more often is there are always local tornoments. If there are more tornoments with ranking then that means more compotition because it's more chances to gain and lose points. There is always league and also local tornoments. I guess tornment organizers could be pressured more to run local tornoments though.

Also about the chess clocks. I think they should be used for the top 4 for the major tornoments because thats when a lot more is at stake so people should play games more fair.

 

[Kabutops141]

Gyms will not be coming back....too expensive. The game has grown sooooo much since PUI/Nintendo revived the game.

Keith

True, very true. But I'll still miss 'em.

 

[garchompx12]

i understand your points completely......at a tournament i recently attended someone CRIED over the loss of points, and im not referring to a 7 year old or anything

 

[armaldo_delta]

i understand your points completely......at a tournament i recently attended someone CRIED over the loss of points, and im not referring to a 7 year old or anything

I saw something like that too and the kid was 14.
If you ask me I say that the rating system should stay, but be changed so that losing a few games does not cost you that invite to worlds that you have been working to get all year.JMO

 

[Prof Clay]

I saw something like that too and the kid was 14.
If you ask me I say that the rating system should stay, but be changed so that losing a few games does not cost you that invite to worlds that you have been working to get all year.JMO

What would happen then is that the players who rarely lose would continue to dominate the rankings and no one could have a chance to catch up to them

 

[BANGINBOX]

Ok... Seems as if we are only touching on a few of the suggestions. I would also like to interject these suggestion as well....

Why cant PUI start charging for events again? I am sure that people would gladly submit 5-10 dollars for a chance to win possible thousands of dollars in prizes.

Also,

Why can we have more events with the current prizes spread around a little more? Example.... Instead of 1500 dollars for one regional, have 2 sets and cut it to half.....

I would rather have more chances to win something than 1 chance to win it all....

I will respond to some posts directly later this evening.

Jimmy

 

[Prime]

Gladly pay 5-10 dollars to win a battle road or city? I doubt it. States and up might be worth it, but even then, the casual players in the game make up the majority and I think the fee would deter many of them from attending. Why should they pay money to lose every round when they could go to the league and not have to pay anything?

 

[Prof Clay]

I thik Jimmy there are some areas that our friends at POP would love to see changed but their hands are tied by other circumstances:thumb:

 

[PokePop]

Open up an official forum or some way for us to offer up suggestions that would be viewed by PUI directly. This way we can see that people are hearing what is being said. Open discussions are good for the game and can grow the relationships between OP and the players. As of right now we are counting on Judges or the Gym to try and get some ideas thru to be heard. All major companies have a means of listening to their customer base, I would just like to see some suggestions addressed by PUI, whether it be good or bad, and Why. I know that a direct email can be sent, but then PUI will get hundreds of repeat suggestions. No need to take away too much time from them, they do have a game to run. Just thinking how successful we all were in creating the rules for team play back in the Wizards days. It all started in an open forum.

How is this not what they can do here?
The POP managers check out the Gym forums quite often and comment on things here as much as they would on any official forum.

As far as Jimmy's first point "open an official forum", I stand behind this 100%. It would improve communications, and could help the guys at POP figure out what to do to make the players more happy. In fact it could be a seperate section on the gym. There's no reason why 'Mom and 'Pop, Bulbasnore, BDS, et al couldn't moderate it. That way the POP guys can just check out that one forum, read and respond a bit, and then plan for the future.

We've already done the "official forum" thing back during WotC's time running the game.
We're very happy being independant.

 

[eriknance]

ratings do not encourage people to play. If they did, I wouldn't be able to 3-0 drop Nationals and get a Worlds invite and Ross and Kettler wouldn't be able to really not even play in the largest tournament in the World (Nats) and still gain an invite.

I agree. Speaking of which, I'm currently 10th in NA Masters (or close to it). How much should I play Nationals if I want to guarantee an invite? 1-0 drop? 2-0 drop?

I'd like to see chess clocks hit the game. Tired of my 2 min turns with Magsol against GG's 15 min turns.

Though I wish the same thing, the reality is that it costs a lot to get those clocks. Easier things could be done though, such as 30 minute + x number of turns. I kind of doubt it will happen though. Nothing's changed concerning this aspect of the game since I've been playing except for the speed at which I play. I probably wouldn't have won Regionals this year had I not sacrificed thoughtful playing for turns where I would attach and attack in less than 5 seconds. I dream of the day when I don't have to do that anymore. : (

Rankings Good (Encourages Consistant Play), Gym Challenges bad (LucksacKk thrive here)

Rankings has its flaws. I personally hate the system. Whichever way you look at it though, one thing that has been suggested time and time again has faced very little criticism, and that is the rewarding of Worlds invites through Regionals. Top 2 at Regionals should get invites. "Lucksacking" your way through a Regionals is not easy at all to do. And even if people travel out of their way to attend a smaller Regionals, it's still infinitely better than Gym Challenges.

Gladly pay 5-10 dollars to win a battle road or city? I doubt it. States and up might be worth it, but even then, the casual players in the game make up the majority and I think the fee would deter many of them from attending. Why should they pay money to lose every round when they could go to the league and not have to pay anything?

A dollar? 50 cents? I could say, "Anything to help out the prize situation with this game," but instead I'll ask a question here. Why should we be required to pay more for this game than we already do if it's growing so much? Just where is the money going? So many things have been cut over the past three years that it's not even funny. Do we get paid invites to Worlds this year or not? I can't even remember. However, if they need my dirty, wrinkled dollar to give Stephen Silvestro something for placing 3rd at this year's Regionals, I'll glady give it up! He deserved more than packs that he didn't need. : (

I thik Jimmy there are some areas that our friends at POP would love to see changed but their hands are tied by other circumstances:thumb:

Such as deciding to do away with the "high roll" practice in determing who goes first? Seriously...

____________________________________________

Here are some things I would like to see discussed/changed concerning this game. Bear in mind that I've mentioned these changes on more than one occasion, but I still see issues that could be easily resolved:

1. I think PUI/POP should strongly consider keeping more sets in the Modified format at a time from now on. This doesn't mean PK-on for three years, it only means that rotations should be less severe. Had Legend Maker been in this season, things would look very different (Mew ex to counter Absol, Banette ex to counter GG/Plox, Giant Stump/Cursed Stone to counter Mortar decks). To the people who complain about this idea, keep in mind I'm asking for it in moderation.

2. I think PUI/POP should make better decisions when it comes to releasing reprints/POP sets. Majestic Dawn was, in my opinion, another disappointing set for the fact that our reprints were nothing more than cards we already have in the modified format. Warp Point, Energy Search, Quick Ball, Dusk Ball... the list goes on. This being an opportunity for PUI/POP to help the format, they should have considered releasing cards that would have helped the current situation. Whether or not you like cards like Pokemon Reversal, Rainbow Energy, etc., they remain an integral part of this game that shouldn't be done away with for no reason. To those who say there is a reason, consider how the game continues to thrive in Japan where their format spans sets that I've completely forgotten about.

Oh yeah, and POP sets should be better. All of the stuff released in the last two or three POP sets could have been saved for Majestic Dawn, and reprints could have been worked into the format.

3. I think PUI/POP should look into catching our format up with Japan's. I know this is a controversial subject, but I'm sure things could be done to catch us (and the rest of the world) up with Japan. Translations could be done before a Japanese set is released so that we get our sets at the same time as Japan. I've seen card images for Japanese cards that haven't even been released yet, so there shouldn't be any problem with this.

4. I think PUI/POP should look into the process of translating Japanese cards into English. This season we have seen countless translation errors that have required corrections. A tournament organizer can't afford the time it takes to read off an entire page of erratas, and the translators for the PokeGym have made fewer errors than the "professionals," so I think that something is definitely wrong here.

5. I think PUI/POP should look into making theme decks better reflect the type of deck required to win a tournament. I won a theme deck at a PreRelease this past Saturday, and I don't even want to open it because it's so bad. That's not even the point though. Theme decks with such little creative force behind them provide beginning players with an unrealistic view of the game. Nobody's going to win a tournament with a 4-2-1 Torterra line amidst random Basics and bad Stage 1's. There are nine trainers in this theme deck, compared to the twenty-two trainers in last year's Worlds-winnin deck (which many would consider to be low). If the purpose of a theme deck is to provide beginners with a good starting point for the game, then it fails quite miserably.

These are just a few of my thoughts as I've been playing (and not playing) this season.

 

[drmario]

Ok... Seems as if we are only touching on a few of the suggestions. I would also like to interject these suggestion as well....

Why cant PUI start charging for events again? I am sure that people would gladly submit 5-10 dollars for a chance to win possible thousands of dollars in prizes.

Also,

Why can we have more events with the current prizes spread around a little more? Example.... Instead of 1500 dollars for one regional, have 2 sets and cut it to half.....

I would rather have more chances to win something than 1 chance to win it all....

I will respond to some posts directly later this evening.

Jimmy

Charging for them? I think charging for premier rated events would be a bad idea. How about charging for an event that gets you a worlds invite or something like that?

 

[KaMewie]

Well hey, I'm from Malaysia and I have few suggestions for to help my country's OP.

well, as for the ones Jimmy mentioned, I'll start from number 1.

1) Listen to the players…. We love this game and only want to see it strive for many years to come. Open up an official forum or some way for us to offer up suggestions that would be viewed by PUI directly. This way we can see that people are hearing what is being said. Open discussions are good for the game and can grow the relationships between OP and the players. As of right now we are counting on Judges or the Gym to try and get some ideas thru to be heard. All major companies have a means of listening to their customer base, I would just like to see some suggestions addressed by PUI, whether it be good or bad, and Why. I know that a direct email can be sent, but then PUI will get hundreds of repeat suggestions. No need to take away too much time from them, they do have a game to run. Just thinking how successful we all were in creating the rules for team play back in the Wizards days. It all started in an open forum.

It'll help if you guys (POP/PUI/PUSA) can open up a forum for every possible country that the Pokemon TCG is played in widespread. That way, you guys can see views from each and every of the players from that country and thus taking actions from what you guys think is right or not.

Well that's the only point he made that can help our country's OP.

Here are some other suggestions that can help my country's OP from my perspective.

1) Do not push all responsibilities towards our LD. Last year, after nationals, knowing that we do not have enough tournaments per year (1 Cities, 1 Nationals), Alex and Aaron Goh volunteered to host other events. They wanted to host cities for - Bangsar, Subang Jaya and Damansara. They also wanted to host states for Selangor and Kuala Lumpur and they also wanted to host a regional for Kuala Lumpur. With that, they tried to contact POP to see if they can organize these events. POP said that they have to ask our LD Comics Corner. Knowing that they will not be able to make a profit, they didn't allow them to hold these events. In the long run, new players are coming in to this game. They have been very rebellious with our LD and thus pushing them further into holding more tournaments this year. With that, they have added an extra Battle Road into our 07-08 season. With that we'd like you guys to take your appropriate action.

2) Players above the age of 18 here - thinks that if they become a professor, they will not be able to play. I have tried to convince them enough, but they seem to refuse every time I try to do so. Well, it isn't directly that way. Since we have about less that 5 professors living in Malaysia right now, if any new professors get their professorship, they will be forced to judge at events by our LD and players. With that, if they refuse, it'll be a BIG PROBLEM and they will get branded as selfish, etc. We'd like to see this problem looked into.

Well that's all that I know that can possibly help us. With that, thank you. Bye bye now : ).

:lol:

 

[Jaeger]

I'd like to see chess clocks hit the game. Tired of my 2 min turns with Magsol against GG's 15 min turns.

CoughNessCough

Jimmy you make some very good points and you put them in a very thought out article (Instead of the normal, I hate POP becuase ... ) I hope PUI really takes the time to read these. As a player I also hope they do away with rankings, for me personally it really has taken alot of fun out of the game. And I would also really like to see more events during the year.

Back to back posts merged. The following information has been added:

I agree. Speaking of which, I'm currently 10th in NA Masters (or close to it). How much should I play Nationals if I want to guarantee an invite? 1-0 drop? 2-0 drop?

Hey I don't either but when you find out let me know becuase I am right behind you.

 

[Prime]

I agree. Speaking of which, I'm currently 10th in NA Masters (or close to it). How much should I play Nationals if I want to guarantee an invite? 1-0 drop? 2-0 drop?

You mean, how little should you play, right?

5. I think PUI/POP should look into making theme decks better reflect the type of deck required to win a tournament. I won a theme deck at a PreRelease this past Saturday, and I don't even want to open it because it's so bad.

I totally agree. One of the main things that pulled me into Yu-gi-oh was how many good, competitively playable cards, came in the structure decks. I was able to build a pretty decent, competitive deck out of some structure decks, a few singles online, and a few packs from the first few sets. You just can't do that in Pokemon. It's impossible to pull all the good trainers from one set's theme deck, and the pokemon lines are awful (1 Glaceon, 1 Espeon, 4 Eevee?). Why not make a structure deck for Pokemon that is just the best cards from 3-4 sets of theme decks combined into one deck along with a decent strategy and a good line of rare (not foil) pokemon.

 

[Scizor]

Eric + Jay - I can't say 100% for sure but my educated guess would be that there is a 95%+ chance that you could both sit out U.S. Nationals and get an invite with your current rating.

To all the people saying ratings reward consistant play, go read my old topic. They're so flawed that I'd rather have Gym Challenges instead, but there are clearly better options.

Going to events aren't "free" if they're not divided fairly among the country, either. I hear gas costs a lot of money these days.

I still don't see how someone who wins a bunch of Battle Roads and Cities just because they have more in a closer proximity "deserves" an invite over someone who goes to less and has similar if not better results at States and Regional.

Win % with a minimum number of events/certain events you must attend > a system that rewards people going around to 30 events a year. The events are free, if they actually charged an entrance fee I would maybe agree with those players "deserving" more.

 

[Bolt]

This game has become so expensive to stay competitive in.

Increased gas prices across the country
Increased card prices (maybe, I dunno...I can't even afford to look at them)
Increased cost of LIVING across the country.

New Yorkers can back me up on this, the cost of public transportation has increased exponentially, it's getting costly to get to tournaments in THE CITY I LIVE IN.

Most of that, of course, is more of a personal issue, and one I'm sure others can relate to.

Win % with a minimum number of events/certain events you must attend > a system that rewards people going around to 30 events a year.

That's one of the best ideas I've heard. I'm still a fan, if at all possible, of limiting the amount of events one can get points for.