Most of my opinions are going to be structural rather than looking at rosters or individual matches.
Single Elimination
I just don't think this is a good format anymore. Ever noticed how the whining along the lines of "Link always wins" or whatever always gets much worse towards the end of a contest? Well...that's because Link has 3 matches in 7 days towards the end of every contest. Single elimination means there is always a "groaner" week like this.
Why not use a different format? I'm not talking about double elimination, which would have much of the same problems. I'm talking...what if we forget about crowning a champion, and just give every character, say, 3 matches. And sure, match people with equivalent records, so 0-2 characters face other 0-2 characters.
Battle Bracket
My feeling about this is the same as last year: the chain bonus is too high compared to banking. Let's say I have two in a row correct, and have absolutely no idea about a third match--it's a 50% coinflip. I'm better-off flipping a coin and guessing the third match than I am banking. And it gets even worse: if I want to beat Bacon, I should bank relatively frequently if there is any doubt in my mind. If I want to win the entire contest, I need to play entirely different--it's go big or go home. I have to play in a way that will lose to Bacon 80% of the time. There's also never, ever a point to banking twice in a row. I would suggest the following changes:
Failed chain: -100 Chain of length X: +100*X
This way, you might actually bank twice in a row (to avoid the -100; although you probably still won't if you're going for broke) and you don't need to play in an extremely risky way to get a respectable score--although you still probably won't get on the leaderboard if you take no risks.
Granted, this doesn't handle the number of perfect battle brackets we had this year, which would likely still happen regardless of point system--for that you might want to do percentage betting throughout the entire contest, or something like that.
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Cats land on their feet. Toast lands peanut butter side down. A cat with toast strapped to its back will hover above the ground in a state of quantum indecision
From: metroid composite | #001 I just don't think this is a good format anymore. Ever noticed how the whining along the lines of "Link always wins" or whatever always gets much worse towards the end of a contest? Well...that's because Link has 3 matches in 7 days towards the end of every contest. Single elimination means there is always a "groaner" week like this.
Why not use a different format? I'm not talking about double elimination, which would have much of the same problems. I'm talking...what if we forget about crowning a champion, and just give every character, say, 3 matches. And sure, match people with equivalent records, so 0-2 characters face other 0-2 characters.
Depends on your contest principle. You're approach is an attempt to make as many interesting matchups as possible and avoid boring inevitable grind of predictable results. This doesn't lend itself well to finding a "Best something" as is the goal set out by Allen. You're sort of suggesting the creation of some kind of league system I think, where characters of similiar strength face off which I'd certainly get behind but don't think Allen would be game for it. He likes contests with a simple objective.
My feeling about this is the same as last year: the chain bonus is too high compared to banking.
Definitely. Chain bonuses are fine when it carries a large risk which this contest just simply didn't present. Although I'd prefer increasing the risk than reducing the chain bonus. A betting system like we've got for the final would be nice throughout a contest. It would give more viability to banking since you could bank and then look to triple a small amount with a risky 1% bet to catch up with curve chaining straight picks. If it works you're there, if not you've still got a pool banked and you're ready to aim for a triple shot again. Theres plenty of strategy in there.
From: metroid composite | #001 I'm talking...what if we forget about crowning a champion, and just give every character, say, 3 matches. And sure, match people with equivalent records, so 0-2 characters face other 0-2 characters.
Ever noticed how the whining along the lines of "Link always wins" or whatever always gets much worse towards the end of a contest? Well...that's because Link has 3 matches in 7 days towards the end of every contest. Single elimination means there is always a "groaner" week like this.
This is specific to Link though. After this contest I think we can agree there's no certainty in the final rounds unless it's that Link will trash everybody. For others, "groaner" matches may be watching 0-2 fodder fight other 0-2 fodder.
I can see the appeal - you take these characters like Vincent and Yoshi who went 1-1 and set up a debated match. But you can still have these good matches in the NCAA-style bracket, provided you let someone who actually knows what they're doing construct the bracket.
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"Ovelia ... SPOILERS IN THE KEYWORDS WOOPS" - Vormav
shadosneko posted... That's just triple elimination. >_>
No, not unless you have a finals. The suggestion was less about the specifics, and more about "maybe we should cut the quarters/semis, and have effectively more early-round matches instead."
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Cats land on their feet. Toast lands peanut butter side down. A cat with toast strapped to its back will hover above the ground in a state of quantum indecision
Ever noticed how the whining along the lines of "Link always wins" or whatever always gets much worse towards the end of a contest? Well...that's because Link has 3 matches in 7 days towards the end of every contest. Single elimination means there is always a "groaner" week like this.
The funny thing is that we get FFVII always wins during each of their matches, despite the fact that they haven't won anything since 2005.
-- SuperNiceDog owned me in the Guru. Or do I have to stop using the word "owned" in order to not offend black people due to slavery?
Ultimaphazon posted... The funny thing is that we get FFVII always wins during each of their matches, despite the fact that they haven't won anything since 2005.
And we got plenty of "pokemon always wins" this year, even though pokemon has never won anything.
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Cats land on their feet. Toast lands peanut butter side down. A cat with toast strapped to its back will hover above the ground in a state of quantum indecision
From: metroid composite | #006 No, not unless you have a finals. The suggestion was less about the specifics, and more about "maybe we should cut the quarters/semis, and have effectively more early-round matches instead."
I don't think it'd really be possible to do this without having finals.