Player Organized Blood God Teams

[Nate]

Greetings Pit Masters!

We're going to try something different for Season 7. I'm going to let you self organize the teams this time. Here is how it will work. First, if you are interested in being a team captain you should say so in this thread. I will choose 5-7 team captains based on how many respond. If we have a larger turnout then I will select the top ranking Masters based off their stable rankings. Once captains are chosen you will then have some time to talk to the other players here in the forum, in PMs or in-game chat, etc and organize your teams. For gladiators who aren't picked for a team for whatever reason they will be assigned by me to fill the gaps.

Masters who wish to be a team captain please respond by the end of Feb. 26th PST. A simple "I volunteer to be a captain" message and a listing of your teams or the name of a gladiator you control (so I know who you are in case I don't already know) will suffice.

Once captains are picked there will be about 5 days time to organize your teams.

Each team will have 10-15 gladiators to start based on how many captains are picked.

Good luck in the Pit!

-Nate-

[crow]

Not sure if I want to be the captain, but I would love to team with Cyn for season 7.

[Alba Kebab]

First obvious question: is this going to be anyone we wanna team with regardless of power or on condition that the teams still need to be somewhat balanced?

[Adoede]

That means there will be 5-7 teams to spread the BGP prizes among each week...effectively less BGP's for less stables over the course of the season.

Since you're trying something new with the setup, why not something new with the BGP prizes too?

I suggest BGP's be distributed by placement each week, like so:
1st place - 1000
2nd place - 800
3rd place - 600
4th place - 500
5th place - 400
6th place - 300
7th place - 200

Also, I'm sure other managers are thinking this too, but won't the same dominant team win every week? Now, I don't mind being on the losing team every week so long as I can still get access to the best gear so that eventually my glads can be competitive (hence the tiered BGP's I suggested). But choosing our own teams might end up with some grossly unbalanced matchups, no?

Instead, what if we put that whole discussion we just had about styles to the test?

So glads would be grouped together by their fighting style (guild). Each week, the winning team will be by best percentage win/loss versus the other styles (eliminates advantage of having more fights pump up your score). This can be done broadly by pitting Rage vs. War vs. Theatrics. Or more specifically by pitting Power Rage / Speed Rage / Offensive War / Defensive War / Offensive Theatrics / Defensive Theatrics. That might be fun to see what the actual percentages end up being of the actual glads in Blood gods. You can track how each style does overall and how each style does against each other style.

And regarding Blood Games - How about we add an iteration where it is purely kill-based. A true blood games. So whichever gladiator has the most kills at the end of the month is the winner (tie-breaker is record).

[Apoca1ypse]

instead of getting nate to change everything, lets just try out what he's offering first :)

I wont have enough time in the next 2 weeks to organise a team/be a captain, but I am excited to give this a try :)

[Kreegan]

Sounds nice but it will probably be the most unbalanced configuration of all to date. It will be good to try it though.


So glads would be grouped together by their fighting style (guild). Each week, the winning team will be by best percentage win/loss versus the other styles (eliminates advantage of having more fights pump up your score). This can be done broadly by pitting Rage vs. War vs. Theatrics. Or more specifically by pitting Power Rage / Speed Rage / Offensive War / Defensive War / Offensive Theatrics / Defensive Theatrics. That might be fun to see what the actual percentages end up being of the actual glads in Blood gods. You can track how each style does overall and how each style does against each other style.Wow, hang in there! In a better world where all of these styles could fight against each other and have a chance to win that would be quite nice but in this one, the speed Theatrics will simply smash all other groups in Blood Gods, even just by sheer numbers.

[Prinny]

I will volunteer on being a captain, im picking the Kyuuketsuki and Prinny Squad stables so that's 10 glads already. Who wants to be my third wheel? :D

[CryBabyBedWetters]

does this have to do with the blood games, or just blood gods, i still don't have a glad in blood gods, and i still don't understand the difference from primus to blood gods, nor do i understand how to get bgp's to get those badass orange items

[Alba Kebab]

I will volunteer on being a captain, im picking the Kyuuketsuki and Prinny Squad stables so that's 10 glads already. Who wants to be my third wheel? :D

Me, I'll join the prinny team.;)
I will probably only have 3 glads in BG at the start of next season.

[Cynaidh]

Not sure if I want to be the captain, but I would love to team with Cyn for season 7.

That sounds fun Crow! My guys aren't really competitive at the moment and i am trying to be more laid back with my play this time, but if someone wants to pick us up and lead us (Or if its Sotc, he can drag us :P) to victory I'd be game for sure!

[Cynaidh]

does this have to do with the blood games, or just blood gods, i still don't have a glad in blood gods, and i still don't understand the difference from primus to blood gods, nor do i understand how to get bgp's to get those badass orange items

This is for Blood Gods.

Blood Gods is the bracket above Primus, to get in you have to be one of the top glads in Primus and have above a certain ranking points value (I believe its 360-370k somewhere in there) on a Monday night during the week (I believe that's the night glads are promoted to Blood Gods, its the same night we get BGP points in Blood Gods also).

As for Legendary Orange Items, once your in Blood Gods every Monday night you get BGP points, the higher your rank/rating the more you get, so 1st place gets a lot more then last place. Also a new area opens up in the Blacksmith called "Chamber of Power" it has both improved Epic Purple items (better then you can get from the regular blacksmith area) and Legendary Orange Items. The improved Epic Purples can be bought as soon as you have enough BGP points saved up, the Legendary Orange Items have a minimum rating required of 1000 for armor (top 45 glads as of right now), and weapons take a minimum of 2000 rating (top 32 glads as of right now). Also you can get these Legendary Orange Items (armor only) and Improved Epic Purple items by running the gauntlet or conquests on Nightmare difficulty.

[Adoede]

The cut-off for promotion to blood gods is actually 340,000 ranking points as of 2:00 am (PST) tuesday morning.

If you plan your challenges strategically, you can get into blood gods pretty quickly. But once you get to blood gods, you'd better have all your skills maxed and most of your stats boosted and have pretty good gear...otherwise you'll get destroyed and it would be better to stay in Primus developing your glad for a while longer. (Seraph Zodak had an 85% overall win ratio up til he got to blood gods...now he's somewhere in the 40% range - because he's still not fully developed and got promoted too soon.)

[Adoede]

Kreegen,

I thought you'd like the suggestion - if the speed glads are that dominant, that set-up will show it clearly and Nate will be more inclined to make a change.

[Kreegan]

I think Nate is quite convinced that the current system works well (it's not like the end game is dominated by Agility-spammers since yesterday) so the only thing that grouping gladiators in accordance with their class could achieve will be to kick most of the non-speed gladiators - and all which can't fight against such properly - out of Blood Gods in a few months. Nobody likes to manage losers for long.

[Narol]

Player organized teams is something many of us wanted for some time, so it's a cool news !

I don't feel too like been captain, but I want to be with my friend Cyn to kick some ass ! Come on, Cyn, lead us !

[Nate]

First obvious question: is this going to be anyone we wanna team with regardless of power or on condition that the teams still need to be somewhat balanced?

Choose teams according to what you want, I'll handle the rest. ;)



I will volunteer on being a captain, im picking the Kyuuketsuki and Prinny Squad stables so that's 10 glads already. Who wants to be my third wheel?

Thanks Prinny! All hail our first and only captain so far! :cool:



Player organized teams is something many of us wanted for some time

Apparently not judging by the anemic level of participation. I must admit I'm a bit disappointed in the turnout thus far given the amount of disgruntled noise some have made in the past about Blood God teams. For those of you who are/were dissatisfied with the previous season's Blood Gods' team play I'll need you to let me know what it is you were hoping for if this is not it. Thanks!

Good luck in the Pit!

-Nate-

P.S. Aside from being the starting point for team formation I don't see being a captain much more work than talking to other players over the next week and trying to put a team together that will increase your enjoyment of the game. This isn't a traditional MMO clan with officers, politics and raids to organize. If we don't end up with enough captains then I'll simply assign the remaining gladiators to teams like before. :)

[Apoca1ypse]

Well if it's just calling for people to team up, hell, I'll give it a go. I feel like aiming to make a superteam would be the most detrimental thing, so who's keen to just have some fun?



Just need Caine and Cyn to resurrect team rage? :P hehehehe (probably a bad idea though)


EDIT: Oedi, your inbox is full

[Ahhnold]

Crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and hear the lamentation of the women

[Pit Lord]

I will volunteer on being a captain, im picking the Kyuuketsuki and Prinny Squad stables so that's 10 glads already. Who wants to be my third wheel? :D

If you accept casual stables (won't be very active in next seasons) I will join.

[Adoede]

I'd volunteer to captain a team, but I'm just finishing my first full season in blood gods and all my glads are still very much works in progress - many in the middle of re-training skills at the moment. I don't know that anyone would want to team with me knowing that. But if you need another manager to make the thing work, I'll give it a go.

[Prinny]

If you accept casual stables (won't be very active in next seasons) I will join.

Sure, only Bloody Lady is in blood gods right now right? ifso that sets the current team with me, alba and you at exactly 15 gladiators~

Nate my team is ready :p

Kyuuketsuki - 5 glads
Prinny Squad - 5 glads
Albakebab - 3 glads
Crowdpleasers - 1 glad

Total: 3 players, 4 stables, 14 gladiators

We shall fight for the current underdog (and my first patron bloodgod) Tagro-Zuls victory :D

[Nate]

Thus far we have three brave Masters who have answered the call to be a captain and form a force of destruction!

Prinny

Apoc

Adoede

Who else will honor the Blood Gods and become forever immortalized in the Great Realm as the first to step forward when others would not?

[Sotc]

Just got back from my trip!

As I've told Cyn, I'd like to join his team as a member. I did a rough headcount and I think that might make too many glads on that team. If someone could verify that's the case, I'll join a different team.

Regards,
Sotc

[Apoca1ypse]

Hey nate, is it possible to make a popup appear when you receive a PM? right now you need to be mindful to check the notifications in the top right, and i think a popup would be rather helpful, especially in things like this.

[Nate]

Hey nate, is it possible to make a popup appear when you receive a PM? right now you need to be mindful to check the notifications in the top right, and i think a popup would be rather helpful, especially in things like this.

Sure, every so often pop your head up to the top right and see if there is a number larger than 0 to the right of the "Notifications" label. ;)

EDIT: If you click on Settings at the top right and then click on General Settings on the left and scroll down you'll see a section for Private Messages. There is a option to have popups when you receive PMs.

Good luck in the Pit!

-Nate-

[Apoca1ypse]

Sure, every so often pop your head up to the top right and see if there is a number larger than 0 to the right of the "Notifications" label. ;)


:P I know, but not everyone does that :P

I was hoping that it'd be a simple checkbox on a forum setting on your end (or ours)

[Nate]

please see the edit I made above.

[Cynaidh]

Meanwhile at the Hall of Legends the never ending party continued, legends from the arena sat, drank, and told stories of their days of glory in the pits. The mood was jovial and all the former gladiators where happy and content in their retirement, all except for in one back corner that was shroud in darkness where four of the gladiators sat wearing heavy hooded cloaks. There was no happiness at this table, no drinks were being consumed, and they simply sat in silence. Other legends of the pit occasionally came over to banter with these former foes, but they never quite made it to the table. The closer you came to the corner where they sat you could feel in the air more and more the hate, the rage, the pain coming off these four figures. They had been sent to the hall too soon, they still craved battle, and blood-lust still flowed through their veins. Their songs of victory and courage where not yet complete, the Halls of Legends was not their final resting place, it was their prison.

Outside the front doors of the hall a mountain of a man stood, 12 feet tall and over a ton of muscle, bone and steel, he had no name he simply called The Behemoth. He had been standing at the closed door for hours, clearly pondering if he was doing the right thing. Suddenly he struck out hitting the door of the Halls of Legends three times with the flat of his axe and a sound not unlike thunder rolled through the hall with each blow. By the third blow there was nothing but silence in the hall and a great voice was heard from threw the door “Your time of rest is done, alliances are being broken, new teams are being formed, and you are needed once again.”

The four hooded figures all stood at once back in their corner of the hall, throwing off their cloaks exposing the armor and weapons they still yet wore. Armor that was gold in color for these where the blood god gladiators of AB Gold, they strode through the hall and kicked open the front door. Not stopping to say a single word they broke in to a run, heading straight for the pits, the arena where their blood and the blood of their foes would soon be flowing again. The Behemoth looked over at a group of children who had been hoping to get a glimpse of some of their favorite gladiators, throwing a single gold coin to the largest of the boys he said “Take a message to Lord Crow and to the House of Narol, tell them the Gold Alliance is re-forged, and the time for battle is almost upon us.”

[Apoca1ypse]

please see the edit I made above.

ermagerd how did i never see that option?

[Apoca1ypse]

Meanwhile at the Hall of Legends the never ending party continued, legends from the arena sat, drank, and told stories of their days of glory in the pits. The mood was jovial and all the former gladiators where happy and content in their retirement, all except for in one back corner that was shroud in darkness where four of the gladiators sat wearing heavy hooded cloaks. There was no happiness at this table, no drinks were being consumed, and they simply sat in silence. Other legends of the pit occasionally came over to banter with these former foes, but they never quite made it to the table. The closer you came to the corner where they sat you could feel in the air more and more the hate, the rage, the pain coming off these four figures. They had been sent to the hall too soon, they still craved battle, and blood-lust still flowed through their veins. Their songs of victory and courage where not yet complete, the Halls of Legends was not their final resting place, it was their prison.

Outside the front doors of the hall a mountain of a man stood, 12 feet tall and over a ton of muscle, bone and steel, he had no name he simply called The Behemoth. He had been standing at the closed door for hours, clearly pondering if he was doing the right thing. Suddenly he struck out hitting the door of the Halls of Legends three times with the flat of his axe and a sound not unlike thunder rolled through the hall with each blow. By the third blow there was nothing but silence in the hall and a great voice was heard from threw the door “Your time of rest is done, alliances are being broken, new teams are being formed, and you are needed once again.”

The four hooded figures all stood at once back in their corner of the hall, throwing off their cloaks exposing the armor and weapons they still yet wore. Armor that was gold in color for these where the blood god gladiators of AB Gold, they strode through the hall and kicked open the front door. Not stopping to say a single word they broke in to a run, heading straight for the pits, the arena where their blood and the blood of their foes would soon be flowing again. The Behemoth looked over at a group of children who had been hoping to get a glimpse of some of their favorite gladiators, throwing a single gold coin to the largest of the boys he said “Take a message to Lord Crow and to the House of Narol, tell them the Gold Alliance is re-forged, and the time for battle is almost upon us.”

This is fairly epic :D I am greatly pleased by them leaving retirement.

I'd make some crazy story in response, but i lack the time to do so :(

[crow]

Nate,
I will captain a team with my stables Lil Ludis & Alpha Team. I will be battling side by side with Cyn & Narol and their bands of killers. If there is room add my 2 glads from Presidents stable as well. If there is not, oh well.

[Sotc]

Looks like I'll be joining Apoc's team, then. Good luck friends!

[Ahhnold]

Looks like I'll be joining Apoc's team, then. Good luck friends!

I will velcome you to the elite section of skulls gym when it begins. We will be verking owt twice as hard. Feel de puuuump!

[Adoede]

Nate, since it seems most of the veteran managers are already teamed up, you can go ahead and stick anybody on my team. We'll be a team of Underdogs:)

And by the way, Seraph Mursi will be retiring after this bloodgames is over so he won't be participating in this next seasons. That leaves me with 6 in Blood Gods for now...only 2-3 of whom are close to competitive at ~50% at the moment. The other 3 are at 44%, 36% and 32%...(womp womp)

[Apoca1ypse]

For the sake of balance, I believe that taking on board some of the lower ranked stables onto my team would be a good idea. BTW, totally dibsing Drajaka-Zul (as Krom is not an option :P)

[Nate]

Nate, since it seems most of the veteran managers are already teamed up, you can go ahead and stick anybody on my team.

While this might be what happens, I'd appreciate it if you still made an effort to build the team since that is the purpose of this format. I think you'd enjoy it more as well knowing you helped build the team. :)

Good luck in the Pit!

-Nate-

[Nate]

For the sake of balance, I believe that taking on board some of the lower ranked stables onto my team would be a good idea.

That is up to you. If that is what you would like to do then reach out to those Masters.

Good luck in the Pit!

-Nate-

[Nate]

Five Masters have answered the call so far. If a captain has indicated they would like to fight under a certain Blood God I have noted that. If more than one captain wants to represent the same Blood God then we'll have to figure something out to determine who gets to do it. Captains please let me know which Blood God you want to represent if you haven't already done so.

Prinny (Tagro-Zul)
Apoca1ypse (Drajaka-Zul)
Cynaidh
Adoede
Oedi

Given the current numbers each team will have around 15 gladiators. I say around because if a team wants a few more or a few less that is fine.

Good luck in the Pit!

-Nate-

[Adoede]

Nate,

Didn't realize you were going to let us totally determine our own teams like that. In that case, I think it's best that I step out as a captain since I just started on the forums a few weeks ago (a mere stable servant) and hardly know anyone yet. Rather let the veterans duke it out - even if that means only 4 teams.

And I think I'll keep Seraph Mursi for a bit longer...

Anyone need 7 glads on their team? (Apoc?:) If you're willing to take on a lowly beginner...)

[Apoca1ypse]

Personally, I'm fine with whoever :) Not sure about SOTC (no hard feelings if you jump ship)

In saying that, there is nothing wrong with being new and at least giving it a go. there are only so many veterans (many of us wanting to team up finally) so new blood needs to fill the gaps :)

Current team is:
-Team Win
-SOTC
-Flashhammer

Currently waiting to hear back from Rhinocervs and Ogrerulez. Thats 15 glads.

Edit: I wonder what Dain has to say about everything...

[Adoede]

Thanks Apoc anyway. Looks like you've got quite a formidable team there already with 6 of the current top 10!

Since this season is shaping up to be a battle royale amongst the "old school" veteran managers, I think I'll just let Nate distribute my glads among the teams as he sees fit. That way you can all share in their current mediocrity! But once my boys are fully grown, we'll have another go at this, yeah -

[Cynaidh]

So we are at:

Prinny - Kyuuketsuki, Prinny Squad, Albakebab, Crowdpleasers
Apoc - Team Win, SOTC, Flashhammer
Crow - Lil Ludis, Alpha Team, Ba Gold, Bloody Tigers, (Presidents if they fit)
Oedi - Imperial Guards, Motu, Subjects

Filling in where needed:
Adoede, Tevrosin, Ab Gold (so under-geared they wont be competitive at all just spread them out :P),

Seems like we are still missing a lot of teams.

[Narol]

Thanks Cyn, nice to share a team with you and Crow ! And so cool to see your old legends out of retirement to give a go to younger full orange glads !!

[Narol]

Missing teams :

Pirate Booty
Trebecs
Hive
Decato
Vertigo
Ogrerulez
Circus Maximus
Rhinocervs
Tokersjokers
Preachers

Indeed that's a lot, people express yourselves and choose your side !!! Player-made teams are a great addition to the game, take advantage of it !

[Adoede]

So we are at:

Prinny - Kyuuketsuki, Prinny Squad, Albakebab, Crowdpleasers
Apoc - Team Win, SOTC, Flashhammer
Crow - Lil Ludis, Alpha Team, Ba Gold, Bloody Tigers, (Presidents if they fit)
Oedi - Imperial Guards, Motu, Subjects

Filling in where needed:
Adoede, Tevrosin, Ba Gold (so under-geared they wont be competitive at all just spread them out :P),

Seems like we are still missing a lot of teams.

Aaah - Now this looks interesting...and reasonably balanced. (Oedi by himself is a force...as is Prinny) A lot depends on the nature of Nate's game modifications buffing defensive builds...

[Cynaidh]

Ya looking like this will be a lot of fun, my money is on Team Apoc though i think. :)

I should have un-retired Ab Gold sooner so they could have had some gear already :(

[Apoca1ypse]

Ya looking like this will be a lot of fun, my money is on Team Apoc though i think. :)

I intend to get some more of the weaker glads to compensate. I want to crush skulls, but I also want it to be somewhat fair. If we instead were doing a team version of blood games, then I'd be much more cutthroat :P.

[Cynaidh]

You know there is so many possibilities for these weekly bonuses for the teams.

Having the winner get bonus BGP almost seems backwards to me (they probably have the best gear so why give them more?)

So what if there where achievements for 1st - 3rd place, like there is for the other parts of the game, of course the numbers to unlock them would be higher since this is weekly (like the first achievement would be for 5 first place weekly finishes, or 5 3rd place weekly finishes, the 2nd tier at 15 of each type and so on and so forth).

And then the BGP bonus points are spread out to the lowest ranked 3 teams, so last place would get 60% of the weekly bonus BGP, next to last 25%, and third to last 15%.

This way we get more strategy in what achievements you use once you unlock them (lets be honest we almost all use the exact same ones) and the under-preforming teams get a boost to getting their gear caught up.

[Prinny]

I like the idea cyn but I would like to add something, the #1 team should in my opinion still get some bonus bgp. However I would change the bgp earned by the top teams to the old version of consecutive wins eg: 1 win = 100 bgp 2 wins = 200 and so on, 8 wins in a row being 2k or so.

[Cynaidh]

Ya it would only work if the achievements where good enough to make them worth going for. The problem with bonus BGP's for the top team is eventually they are worthless, your glad will have the gear you want them to have, so unless your constantly changing your spec and wanting different gear, it eventually becomes a useless prize.

Something exciting but at the same time nice long term goals like (i am sure my numbers are off this is just a random thought of how they would be):

1st place 5 times: 50 crit rank
2nd place 5 times: 50 damage rank
3rd place 5 times: 50 armor penitration rank
1st place 15 times: 85 extra armor rank
2nd place 15 times: 85 crit protection rank
3rd place 15 times: 85 block rank
1st place 25 times: 125 bleed rank
2nd place 25 times: 125 armor pentration rank
3rd place 25 times: 125 damage rank
1st place 75 times: 250 life
2nd place 75 times: 250 life
3rd place 75 times: 250 life
1st place 125 times: 200 armor pentration rank
2nd place 125 times: 200 crit rank
3rd place 125 times: 200 bleed rank
1st place 225 times: 250 block rank
2nd place 225 times: 250 armor rank
3rd place 225 times: 250 bleed protection rank
1st place 350 times: 300 damage rank
2nd place 350 times: 400 bleed rank
3rd place 350 times: 300 crit rank
1st place 500 times: 500 crit protection rank
2nd place 500 times: 500 block rank
3rd place 500 times: 500 armor rank
1st place 750 times: 500 life
2nd place 750 times: 500 life
3rd place 750 times: 500 life

[Nate]

You crazy kids are at it again! I've said this numerous times, but I'll say it again and maybe it will finally sink in. ;) The bonus BGP for teams is not the focus nor should it be. It is a pretty small prize in the grand scheme of things and it is meant to be.

Bragging rights, team competition and camaraderie and the knowledge that you have the crowd's love is the real prize of the Patron Blood God teams. :cool:

One day maybe special access to a hidden conquest or something will be rewarded, but promoting a fun and healthy team competition and adding a nice social aspect is really the goal here. BGP as a bonus prize was the easiest thing to do when Patron Blood God teams were introduced.

Good luck in the Pit!

-Nate-

[Nate]

Didn't realize you were going to let us totally determine our own teams like that. In that case, I think it's best that I step out as a captain

The choice is yours, please give me a definitive yay or nay by the deadline tonight. While many captains have jumped the gun and started recruiting, the recruiting window really starts tomorrow once captains have been selected.

Remember you can also use the in-game messaging system to contact players. Historically many of the vets use the forum's PM system because an in-game messaging system didn't exist for the first few years. You might even find it easier since not all the players use the forums or check them every day and many just lurk.

Good luck in the Pit!

-Nate-

[Nate]

I intend to get some more of the weaker glads to compensate. I want to crush skulls, but I also want it to be somewhat fair. If we instead were doing a team version of blood games, then I'd be much more cutthroat :P.

Choose the teams you want, leave the rest to me.

Good luck in the Pit!

-Nate-

[Adoede]

Nate,

That's a definitive out for me this time around. I'll let the old vets have their fun duking it out with one another amongst the four current teams. Thanks!

And I'll likely retire Seraph Mursi after all...after a week or so of wild experimentation - in case that factors into your glad distributions and team balancing goals.

[Cynaidh]

You crazy kids are at it again!

Yes but driving you crazy with bazillions of feature requests is our job here! :)

[Prinny]

I intend to get some more of the weaker glads to compensate. I want to crush skulls, but I also want it to be somewhat fair. If we instead were doing a team version of blood games, then I'd be much more cutthroat :P.

If so I would've asked Sotc straight away xD
Im happy with Alba and Pit Lord though, we should do well :D


Ya looking like this will be a lot of fun, my money is on Team Apoc though i think. :)

All I can say is don't look down on Tagro-Zul Cyn, crunch your numbers and be you might suprised :)

[Cynaidh]

All I can say is don't look down on Tagro-Zul Cyn, crunch your numbers and be you might suprised :)

Hehe I hear ya, got to wait till Tuesday to see what the full teams look like, then we can throw down the bets. :)

[Nate]

Blood God Pit Masters! I give to you your four captains for season 7:

Prinny
Apoc
Crow
Oedi

Captains, spend the next week building your teams and post your final roster no later than the end of the day on the 3rd of March. Try and keep your team size around 15 gladiators give or take a few. Gladiators not on a team by the end of March 3rd will be placed on a 5th team. If you run multiple stables try and place all your gladiators onto the same team at first and then report back to me so I can look at the numbers. As long as it is withing reason it shouldn't be a problem, if it is way off then we'll cross that bridge.

If you have a preference of which Patron Blood God you wish to represent now is the time to let me know. You can do so by replying to this thread. If more than one captain wants the same Blood God we'll have a dance off or something to decide who gets it. ;)

When posting your final roster please provide a list of all the gladiators names.

Good luck in the Pit!

-Nate-

[Prinny]

Patron god: Tagro-Zul

Stables: Kyuuketsuki, Prinny Squad, Albakebab, Crowdpleasers

Gladiators:

Wars: Asatsuo, Belca Noctircus, Mid Boss, Etna, Hubba Gubba

Theatrics: Yukimaru Almaz, Amon Djinn, Neera, Mr Pete, Crown Clown, Bloody Lady

Rages: Mr Champloo, Vyers, Flonne

Total amount of gladiators: 14

Currently the average winrate sits at roughly 62.2%
Crowdpleasers will be casually playing so Bloody Lady will yield the team less points.
With the balancing pass and both Alba and me toying around with our glads in mind the winrates are subject to change~

No expectations of any extra gladiators of the stables to reach blood gods~

Nate, feel free to pm me about how reasonable the team is and I will try to make adjustments if necessary~

[oedi]

Captain: Oedi
Will fight for any God ;)
Currently 12 gladiators i Blood Gods. Two glads fighting in top primus and are expected to be promoted early next season.
2 managers:
Oedi, Frede
6 teams:
Theatrics - Ranolva
MOTU - Razael, Lord Brutish, Lady Devious
subjects - sbjctthrtyseven
Imperial Guards - onefortyone, eleventwentytwo, onezeronine
Circus Maximus - Marcus Attilus, Veerus, Pricus, Tetraites
Foodforlions - Currently no blood gods gladiators, but will probably get 1 glad into Blood gods during next season.

[Pit Lord]

Its Tagro-Zul not Tagro-Zul ;).

[Adoede]

Friends, it has just dawned on me that Nate has no intention of even pretending to try and balance this upcoming season. Rather than suggest that this is unfair, I assume he's shifted the game to include the political dimension of making alliances here in the forums so you don't get left on the "leftover" team with no hope of even sniffing the winner's circle.

SO...since nobody needs all 7 (soon 9) of my glads, and I don't want to be stuck on the leftover team, I would like to offer my glads individually to the various teams to fill out your rosters.

I actively manage all of them daily and run conquests about every day or two - so you can be assured they will all be improving steadily throughout the course of the season. (And they're all HOL glads)

Here's how I'd like to distribute them if you guys don't mind: (taking into consideration how many glads each team currently has)

Prinny's team (currently 14 glads) - Seraph Zivre
Crow's team (not sure how many glads) - Seraph Movran, Seraph Zodak, Seraph Zurell (likely promoted in 2-3 weeks - Hybrid defensive war build)
Oedi's team (currently 12 glads) - Seraph Mithros, Seraph Madigant, Seraph Zeta (about to be promoted primus champ - Full war tree tank with 5 out of 6 legendary armor pieces)
Apoc's team (currently 13-15 glads) - Seraph Mertrell

Anyone can claim:
Seraph Mursi (may retire, but if not he's currently set up for a potentially significant increase next season)


If you captains are willing to accept these recruits, please reply and confirm. Thanks!

[Cynaidh]

Can't blame you on that one Adoede.

I didn't even realize there would be a 5th team of "Undeclared" glads until Nate's last post, i just figured it would be 4 and Nate would be filling the rest in as needed to the teams with leaders in an effort to balance it out some.

[Prinny]

Although I don't mind you getting a glad on my team I don't think the leftover team would be without a chance, there's 26 ungrouped gladiators currently out there assuming my team has 14, crow has 15, oedi has 12 and apoc has 15.

Although the winrates are lower that's a solid 10-11 glads more that can earn the team points which might make up for the lower overall winrate.

And Pit Lord, Thank you for pointing that out, I had hoped somebody would as I made it that colour on purpose :)

[Apoca1ypse]

This is what it currently looks like for me

Patron god: Drajaka-Zul

Stables: Team Win, SOTC, Flashhammer, Rhinocervs

Total amount of gladiators: 12 (so far)

Rage - 6: Arghpirate, Bruce Iee, Ahhnold, The Rapture, Honourless Lion, Vicious Hyena

War - 2: Arrrrrpirate, Bruce Willis,

Theatrics - 4: Arrrrrghpirate, Shichibukai Law, Arrrrrgpirate, Mad Queen


Currently waiting to hear back from Hive and Ogrerulez. Thats another 5 gladiators.


I need more wars. Adoedo, would you be interested in having Seraph Movran and Seraph Zeta join the team?



Also, Cyn, do you want your ba gold guys to jump on?

[Alba Kebab]

I know it looks like the ungrouped seems disadvantaged at present, but I would have imagined Nate would have left the balancing part in game, ie. in the form of either bonuses or handicaps to the different teams if there is a real gap somewhere.
And you know, he likes not telling us beforehand.:p

[Nate]

Form teams as you will but try and get all your gladiators onto the same team. Breaking them up opens things up to foul play (not that anyone here would ever do such a thing...) and diminishes the bond to a particular Patron Blood God. Before the season starts if some last minute shuffling needs to happen we'll deal with it then. I think we'll be fine and I already have something in mind to keep the next season interesting.

Adoede, even though you backed out of being captain it looks like you'll be the unofficial one for the 5th team based simply on numbers of gladiators unless someone is able to make room for all of them. ;)

Good luck in the Pit!

-Nate-

[Adoede]

Adoede, even though you backed out of being captain it looks like you'll be the unofficial one for the 5th team based simply on numbers of gladiators unless someone is able to make room for all of them. ;)

Good luck in the Pit!

-Nate-

Sooo...the gods have spoken and it seems destiny cannot be avoided. Thanks Prinny & Apoc for being open to my earlier suggestion anyway.

I may as well captain the fifth team officially then. We'll fight under Xaal-Zul because I like gold...AND because the righteousness of our cause shines pure like the sun...errr...like GOLD! Beware all who bring injustice upon the poor and the weak of this world! Darkness cannot escape the coming of the dawn -

[crow]

Here is what the Team of Crow, Cynaidh, Narol is looking like

1st thing is we will fight for Kagon-Zul
Captain : Crow

Our team will consist of glads from stables:
Lil Ludis : Rhine, Zircon, Erupt, Zultanite
BA Gold : DeepCutter, The Behemoth, BladeSlinger
Bloody Tigers : Siam, Slim Shadow, Ty Rex, Sonja Tygarion
Alpha Team : Zeta II, Delta Jr, Foxtrot II, Alpha IV
AB Gold : Belwraith, Beltank, Belgarth, (looks like he retired Mini-bel)
Presidents : Nicholas II, Vasilisa

This gives us 20 glads.

[Nate]

This gives us 15 glads, if you allow Nate we would love to include AB Gold stable as well. But if that is too many then no problem.

Go ahead and place all the gladiators owned by the three of you onto your team and let's see how it looks. If I'm correct that would be your Presidents stable and AB Gold.

Good luck in the Pit!

-Nate-

[Nate]

I need your final roster Crow. Paperwork, you know how it is, not even the Great Realm can escape it! ;)

Good luck in the Pit!

-Nate-

[crow]

I need your final roster Crow. Paperwork, you know how it is, not even the Great Realm can escape it! ;)

Good luck in the Pit!

-Nate-

I'm guessing the signatures are really written in blood here in the great realm.


Here is what the Team of Crow, Cynaidh, Narol is looking like

1st thing is we will fight for Kagon-Zul
Captain : Crow

Our team will consist of glads from stables:
Lil Ludis : Rhine, Zircon, Erupt, Zultanite
BA Gold : DeepCutter, The Behemoth, BladeSlinger
Bloody Tigers : Siam, Slim Shadow, Ty Rex, Sonja Tygarion
Alpha Team : Zeta II, Delta Jr, Foxtrot II, Alpha IV
AB Gold : Belwraith, Beltank, Belgarth, (looks like he retired Mini-bel)
Presidents : Nicholas II, Vasilisa

This gives us 20 glads.

[Apoca1ypse]

Team Apoc and friends is at 15 gladiators and fighting for the glorious Drajaka-Zul

Team Win - Bruce Iee, Ahhnold, Bruce Willis
SOTC - Arrrrrghpirate, Arrrrrpirate, Arghpirate, Arrrrrgpirate, Arrrrr Pirate
Flashhammer - Shichibukai Law, Mad Queen, The Rapture
Hive - Vaargus, Steel Curtain
Rhinocervs - Honourlass Lion, Vicious Hyena


We're going to have a good w/l but being 5 glads down on team Crow&Co will be interesting. Our severe lack of wars will also be a problem, but its hard when Oedi and Prinny have nearly all the wars between their stables :P


Also, It looks like 61 of the current 80 gladiators in Blood Gods are spoken for. Adoede will be at the head of 19 gladiators (maybe a few more) so I think he has a good chance, despite having no veteran stables. Good luck mate :) (edit, you'll have dain :P )

[Prinny]

We are down 6...:p

[Adoede]

All I gots to say is if our team beats any of your teams, Imma gonna brag for a long time.

[Cynaidh]

Just wanted to say good luck everyone, looks like there will be a decent amount of competition! Lets see how it goes!

[Adoede]

I'm looking forward to how Nate is going to balance the teams to make them fair considering Arrrrrghpirate's rating alone exceeds the bottom 30 glads combined...most of whom will be on my team :)

[Vertigo]

lol blue team gz with victory, much balance wow

[Apoca1ypse]

Wait a full week before passing judgement. not all managers have done their arena fights yet, yet all followers of Drajaka-Zul (blue team) have done their 8 fights (or more).

also, it will take about 65 fights for a gladiator to fight everyone once. there will be good matchups, and bad matchups. I'm expecting Oedi's wars to be a real wall of pain.



Edit: We also have tiered BGP distribution, so now everyone gets a slice of the pie :)

[Adoede]

Hrm....looks like this will be a painful three months. I think the game should be all other teams combined vs. Drajaka-zul.

And while I'm complaining...I just spent all my BGP's on new gear to accommodate the balancing pass and shifted a lot of my skills too...but the changes are not as noticeable as I expected. Should've stuck with my claws.

But at least I have the #1 killer in the arena right now!!! Ahahahahahaaaaa! Be afraid! Be very afraid!

[Adoede]

And what is this tiered BGP distribution you talk of? How did you hear of it?

I don't mind being the punching bag so long as I can still gear up - and one day beat all those bullies down :)

[Vertigo]

you did, but we're far behind, it's pure shiberu.

p.s. check season 7 info

This Week's Top Team BGP Bonus: 1st = 500, 2nd = 250, 3rd = 125

[Apoca1ypse]

Hrm....looks like this will be a painful three months. I think the game should be all other teams combined vs. Drajaka-zul.

I must say, the w/l I expected is way higher than I anticipated. Based off last seasons results it was looking like it was going to be 55%, not 68% :S I guess I didnt adjust enough for SOTCs glads all being on the 1 team this time around.

We'll see how this pans out a week or 2 in. Some managers are already starting to swap things around a lot in light of the balance pass.

[Cynaidh]

I think we'll be fine and I already have something in mind to keep the next season interesting.-

Wondering if that "Favor" column is what is going to keep it interesting for the other teams, maybe its going to be some kinda buff that's stronger based on the previous weeks results for the lower ranked teams. Guess we wont know till Nate tells what it is. :)

[Adoede]

That tiered system doesn't do much for the cellar-dwellers - made up of the teams that could most benefit from some bgp's.

Nate, I'm putting my faith in you that you have something in mind to balance this better. All the managers in blood gods have put too much of their time and resources into building their teams to be subjected to something so starkly unbalanced.

I'm going to give this week a pass to see what you have in mind to address the concerns about this format. I believe in you, Nate!

[Vertigo]

can't say I'm enjoying fighting against top contenders everyday

[Prinny]

can't say I'm enjoying fighting against top contenders everyday

DIXEVIL hits the sweet spot on ASATSUO's head and drops him! (-Knockout-)

You must have enjoyed that though, that's Asatsuo's third loss :p

But ya I can imagine it isn't very fun to be teamed up with most of the gladiators that you do infact have a better chance of winning against~

[Adoede]

I didn't even realize that yet...

So, not only am I on a team with the lowest ranked glads in the arena, but I also don't get to fight against them since they're on my team - lowering my winrate since those are glads I can actually compete against. On top of that, the top teams don't have to go against the top competition on their own teams. No wonder my winrate is so much lower than last season.

And this is going to make it harder for the low ranked glads on our team to even get to 30 wins for the week...giving them less bgp's and making things even more unfair again.

[Cynaidh]

I'll wait til next week to see if anything changes.

I think we are all interested in seeing if there are any other changes to the season, like what "Favor" is and if it will be a balancing tool for the teams or if its just a count for how many weekly wins your team has. It would be nice if Nate could let us know if there is going to be some form of a balancing mechanism going in or if its just going to be two months of watching team Drajaka-Zul dominate the team rankings.

I didn't expect to do well myself as i am moving skills around on several glads and re-rolling half my teams again (my normal :P ) but really the only fun part of this so far is watching to see if Asatsuo can hold off the dark blue army from getting 1st place. :) So I can see how your aggravated about the situation for the filler team Xaal-Zul since they really got the shaft on who they get to fight.

[Vertigo]

Knockout is my only hope and scoring one the top glad made my day :P by the way Dixevil is my first glad so his stats are not that good, anyway I've decided to keep him.

Adoede don't be so harsh on refunds as it's not about personal gain, but more about supporting the game, which by the way you stated on your previous messages :)

I've myself thew like 50$ and starting to regret it, as if it continues this way it'll be a total waste..

[Narol]

Vertigo and Adoebe, I understand your frustration with the current teams unbalance but you need to understand that player-organized teams in Seasons is a new thing and a work in progress...

I'm sure Nate is watching carefully how things work out to make it better next time and maybe put a quick fix in place if it really goes astray...

Personnally my feeling is that putting all the remaining teams in a 5th team was a mistake and that it would have been better to split them between the 4 "vet teams" to equilibrate the odds.

My suggestion for next seasons would be to automatically design as captains the 5 players with the most glads in Top 25 so that you don't have 2 or 3 top dogs in the same team !

You probably should both have asked to join one of the existing teams during the formation period to avoid to be in your current situation, but like us you didn't know how things would turn out so noone can blame you for not having expressed yourself that way then...

PS : Btw What about transferring immediately Sotc to team 5 and put Adoebe and/or Vertigo instead in team Apoc, with retro-effectiveness, Nate ? Season 7 just started so it's still time to fix the blatant unbalance and maybe that could do the trick ! (Sorry Sotc, but I don't see any other solution and I'm sure you are sport enough to accept the challenge...)

[Adoede]

Good thoughts Narol. Though to set the record straight, I did try to join other teams many times, but being new here I found all the vets had already filled their teams with other vets by then. I even asked to have my glads split between the other teams and was told by Nate that this was not allowed. So, I did do everything I could to not be in the situation I'm in now.

The biggest indignity is that we have both the least developed glads and the highest level of difficulty in our opponents of all the teams. So, yes, I expect things to change or there will be a lot of venting on the forums these next few weeks.

[Vertigo]

on the other side, not everyone reads forums. There were no notification in game, letting you know that you have to go to forums so you wouldn't be screwed.

+ what Adoede wrote - nobody wants newcomers anyway. This type of arena format punishes new players hard.

[Prinny]

I did try to join other teams many times, but being new here I found all the vets had already filled their teams with other vets by then.

To be fair, I simply put both my stables together and asked who wanted to be on it on the forums, Alba reacted first and basicly got the spot that way as the team would be fairly balanced (No offence but I would've declined ya for the sake of balance Sotc :p)
If you or vertigo had been able to react sooner Tagro-Zuls team would look different now~

We all pretty much expected that the teams would get balanced out if it was really unfair and I do believe that Narols suggestion would be the most effective from a balancing point of view.

If my team performs overly more potent with that change than placing Dain's Thunder Lips, Tokerjokers Ganja King or Preachers Jeeves on my team might be an option to balance things out, they're the only glads of the stables in Blood Gods and the winrate is lower compared to the current average winrate. Although idd prefer old man Dain :p

[Narol]

Good point Vertigo, the lack of an in-game notifications indeed didn't helped to prevent an imbalance to occur,as vets tends to read the forum more frequently than younger managers...

However, I insist again that we must be very indulgent with Nate about that situation, he's a one-man team who already handle a hell of a huge work all by himself and he can't anticipate all the problems by advance !

The best we can do is think by ourselves about what solutions could help fix the mess, and then let him pick what works optimally in his opinion as he knows the game better than any of us.

[Nate]

Sorry for the delay, I've been off gathering firewood and rounding up pitchforks but then I found out not everyone wanted pitchforks and some people didn't like the pinewood I brought so I went back and got some rakes instead and a different kind of wood (Oak this time). Thinking we were ready to go burn us a villain, the pitchfork folks said they didn't want rakes, they wanted good old fashion pitchforks (hey, they worked for Grandpa! Besides, who uses rakes anyway) but they were happy with the oakwood. At this point the rakes started arguing with the pitchforks and the pinewood with the oakwood...it got messy but I managed to calm them down and eventually everyone agreed they wanted a burning. Smiling and thinking about the huge fire we were going to build our precarious unity was broken when a voice cried out and said:

"Hey, let's have a hanging instead!"

"Oooh, yeah, a hanging this time! We could even pick out our own tree and rope!" another voice joined in.

"A hanging? That's boring...besides it isn't fair to the people in the back, it's hard for them to see! Only the people in the front will enjoy it."

"Wait! Why don't we feed him to the lions!" a voice in the darkness suggested.

"Lions? Now THAT wouldn't be fair! If you had said SHARKS though! Now that is something I could support, especially if they have torches tied to their heads!"

"WHOOOOOOAAAAAA!" the excited mob exhaled in unison.

"Sharks with frickin' torches on their heads...it'll be epic!"

Awesome! Everyone was once again back on track and an execution was eminent.

"What kind of sharks are we going to use?"

"Great White sharks of course!"

"Why not Tiger Sharks? I think it should be tiger sharks since it was my idea to use lions in the first place and tigers are almost like lions...they're really just lions with stripes and no beard so it makes perfect sense."

....Silence...

...Crickets chirping...

"So how about that burning?"

Traditionally, we hold burnings at the center of town but due to a scheduling conflict (apparently there is Trug cosplay convention going on where they dress up as their favorite heroes and even have mock battles with padded weapons) we're going to have to hold it near the Black Market. Don't worry, Jimmy gave us a good price so long as he could sell tickets to the burning, however, he made us promise it would last at least a few hour so we'll need to drag it out a bit. I told him it shouldn't be a problem.

.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.

What's that? What ever happened to the pitchforks, rakes, pinewood and oak? That's a good question. We agreed to use some pitchforks, some rakes, some pinewood and some oakwood of course. We're planning to tie the villain to the stake (made from birch wood) with the (free trade organic hemp) rope we were going to use in the hanging and we've used some shovels (some people wanted to use them instead of rakes and pitchforks) to dig a moat around the stake where we'll place both Great White and Tiger sharks with torches tied to their head. Left over farming tools (things like hoes and picks that a few people wanted to use) are being used to build two fences around the moat where we'll be placing lions, tigers and bears (last minute suggestion) OH MY! It should be an AMAZING execution!

Is everyone happy you ask?

"You can please some of the people some of the time, all of the people some of the time, some of the people all of the time, but, you can never please all of the people all of the time." :)

This message was paid for by the Nurturing Arena Trugs & Elaarans society a proud member of the Great Realm alliance and Jimmy the Squid a proud sponsor of the Season 7 games!



Stay tuned for part 2 of this exciting story where we went undercover and found out the answers to questions like "What is favor?", "Did the balancing pass go live", and "Who really did frame Roger Rabbit?"

[Narol]

Nate, making fun of the concerns of your player base is a commercial suicide in my book and I feel personally offended by your answer to them (and I mean it seriously).

I tried to defend you here and to suggest solutions that could work, but so far it feels like a slap in the face !

Most of the managers here see player-made teams as a great improvement to the Seasons game that we had been waiting for long, but that doesn't mean that the way it has been done cannot be corrected to remove major imbalances.

There has obviously been a lot of improvision on both your side and ours about the way teams should be built, and afterthoughts at the lights of the first results are legitimate.

A quick fix seems possible, especially if Sotc has the niceness to accept a team change, please take the time to consider calmly the situation and to understand how the younger managers who have been all dumped in the 5th team can rightly feel at the present time...

[Cynaidh]

Stay tuned for part 2 of this exciting story where we went undercover and found out the answers to questions like "What is favor?", "Did the balancing pass go live", and "Who really did frame Roger Rabbit?"

Well since you got this nice fire going, someone bust out the hotdogs while we wait for part 2. :)


BTW:

Btw What about transferring immediately Sotc to team 5

Looking at the points, if Sotc was up for it, that would make the teams MUCH more balanced, 1st and 2nd would be very close to each other, and the other 3 would be less then 125 points apart.

[Apoca1ypse]

Nate, that big post made me giggle :3

As for the team structure, I was honestly not expecting things to be so lopsided. I'm totally ok with SOTC jumping onto Xaal-Zul and sending someone over to Drajaka-Zul to fill his place.

In saying that, Tagro-Zul has almost the same win rate (61%) so I think a big part in the rating differences is that Drajaka-Zul has 80 more fights. It will be interesting to see how dominant they become if/when teams get swapped a little.

[Apoca1ypse]

Most managers believed that you were going to introduce some form of balancing between teams this season after they had their fun creating their teams. Especially since unassigned glads got dumped into a fifth team composed of mostly new managers. No one dreamed that you would actually allow such an unfair iteration to happen and then turn a deaf ear to the universal outcry of your player base about it. Perhaps you do have a balancing surprise up your sleeve. I sure hope so, because if not, you risk alienating the very people who actually want to help you to succeed.

I wasnt expecting a gladiator distribution to compensate, but I also was not expecting things to be so lop sided. I didnt factor in how having all the new gladiators on 1 team would skew things.

Also, dont take things out on Nate too badly. This was an experiment, and Nate will fix things in 1 way or another. He always has and always will. I sympathise with him as he keeps trying to deliver what we've been asking for only to be met with more whinging in 1 form or another each time. As I said though, he does his best to try and right things. Just give it some time as he is 1 man, and has a life too.



My suggestion on how to fix the season would be to:
1) Simply eliminate team 5 and distribute the glads among the other teams to balance them better. Then you preserve the mainly player-created teams the vets want but you don't eviscerate the new teams and managers in the process. And...
2) Have all glads fight all glads, even ones on the same team. Then the level of competition is truly even between all the teams. To make that more interesting, you could have prizes for a glad's ranking within their own team - to justify their fighting one another.

I've been a fan of option #2 since the get-go. I'd love gladiators to see how they go against the whole field for ranking purposes, and to stop that feeling when teams change and your w/l spikes up or down. As for Team ratings, I'm sure that something could be done so that they dont go all screwy in a format where everyone fights everyone.

[Adoede]

Also, dont take things out on Nate too badly. This was an experiment, and Nate will fix things in 1 way or another. He always has and always will.

That was my nice statement :)

I also believe Nate is trustworthy to fix things when he thinks there is a problem...but his response to our concerns left me feeling like he didn't think there was a problem...and that is a problem. I just wanted to make that clear. IF he realizes it is a problem I'm sure he will address it like he always does.

[Apoca1ypse]

there will never be a perfect solution.

[Nate]

I apologize to anyone that was offended by my humorous antidote, text is a terrible medium for conveying emotion. I find humor to be the best way to approach situations such as these as it helps many take a step back, laugh, and have a second look (not to mention creative writing is a great break from coding)! I think my style has been pretty consistent in that regard over the years and I fear my sense of humor is an incurable condition. ;) I am not and never have been dismissive of player feedback, quite the opposite in fact as I'm sure many who have been around for some time will attest to. Nevertheless, please accept my apology.

For those of you new to Blood Gods the start of a new season generally fills the forums up with the same kind of posts as you have seen in this thread. Some people don't like it, some people do like it, most are fine and say nothing. Those who don't like it are very vocal and this is simply true of Humans regardless of the context. Suggestions are then made and if I make a post that even remotely smells like a change might happen the people who used to be happy are now not happy and become vocal and so on and so forth. This is par for the course and I'm neither bothered by it nor surprised and I'm certainly not angry or upset. I appreciate those of you who understand the situation and have faith that all will be well. Here at Great Realm Central I believe there is a great track record for that sort of thing. :)

If I don't seem to be concerned, you are correct, I'm not. And it isn't because I don't care or secretly wish frustration and ill-will on the player base! :p It is because I, unlike some EXPECTED the team records to be lopsided and everything is playing out exactly as I thought it would. It is the very reason I didn't allow it for the previous six seasons even though it was repeatedly asked for. Until something was in place to mitigate the issue, I simply didn't allow it. Why? Because I actually care about game balance and making sure everyone has a good time. This season something is in place and for the observant ones out there you will have noticed a new column called "Favor". There lies your great equalizer, but, you'll have to be patient to see it work.

Seasons is only a few days in and most gladiators are just now making their way back to the front of their round robin fight queue. For those out there familiar with statistics you know that a sample size of 1 is not something you want to hang your hat on. There is a lot of noise and until the sample size is larger the accuracy is low. For those who hate math, the phrase "jumping the gun" would be à propos. I sympathize with many of your concerns and I understand it is natural to react quickly to perceived transgressions and ask for immediate change. Please keep in mind that it takes time before any meaningful data can be collected and while simple observation can yield results it also is very fallible and more so the less time spent observing. We could certainly dismantle the teams and re-organize them, we could try and just move a few gladiators around and hope maybe that would work, or we can have faith and trust that mechanisms are in place. My vote is for the third option as I'd like to think over the past three years I've earned enough respect and trust to deserve a little faith! :p

Now, I'd like to talk about expectations because I think defining them and setting them realistically is important. A round robin tournament means 50% will have over a 50% record and 50% will have less. That's right, half the field will be "losers". When a new gladiator makes it into Blood Gods they have a hill to climb (a much smaller one now that the gauntlet and conquests are implemented) and finishing a season around 30% is great, finishing around 50% is amazing. This is a normal and realistic benchmark to compare your gladiator to. Looking at the top gladiators is great for inspiration but keep in mind those gladiators are owned by the best of the best in the game and have everything very tuned. One day your newbie Blood God will be there too, but probably not their first season. Also, keep in mind the team you are on will only move the needle so much in either direction, there are so many factors at play and that is only one. I encourage everyone to take advantage of the Gauntlet and Conquests (especially new gladiators and Primus gladiators) as the amount of gear one can get is many times greater than the few pieces BGP will buy you in an 8 week period.

Where to go from here? I leave it up to you and by "you" I mean everyone. If you are that unhappy with the team you are on and want to move to another one contact that captain and if he/she is willing to take your gladiators then we'll move them to that team. This is a one time thing as once the Season starts we're generally hands off until the next one. So, take some time, re-read this post (and my previous one, it really is funny and not poking fun at anyone in particular) and decide what you want to do. If you decide you'd like to make a move contact the captain and then have both the captain and you send me a PM indicating the transfer. Same rules apply, all gladiators owned by a player stay together. Please let me know no later than Sunday night. Cheers, and free drinks at the tavern for everyone tonight. Yay!

Good luck in the Pit!

-Nate-

[crow]

Nate,
I for one have known you long enough to know that was a very good attempt at humor to quell the emotions. Personally I laughed my ass off. Also i know that you have never implemented anything in this game with out a good thought out plan.

Everyone,
So to those who are very frustrated or worried, please trust this fella knows what he is doing. For those of you taking a royal ass kicking so far this season, take notice that every other manager also has glads that are also. Except SOTC but he is the lone exception, and even his boys are not as dominant so far. Be patient and lets see how this looks in a month.

[Apoca1ypse]

Awesome response Nate. I also had a good chuckle at the creative writing :)

I'm not a statistician of a hardcore data analyst, but I agree that we need a larger sample range; ie more fights are needed to see how things finally rank up and even out. It will still be lopsided, but I really am curious to see how favor works/plays out to adjust that.


take notice that every other manager also has glads that are also. Except SOTC but he is the lone exception, and even his boys are not as dominant so far.

QFE

Also, take note of how many fights teams have had. I know i have had my guys burn the candle from both ends and do a good 30 extra fights while I tested some stuff/try to stay at the pointy end.

[Adoede]

Nate,

Thanks for listening and acknowledging our concerns. As I'd hoped and come to expect, you're quite responsive to this community.

[Sotc]

I would recommend redistributing team 5 to make the matchups more fair for the greener glads and seeing how favor plays out in evening out the ranking scores. BG team rules have changed from season to season from the start, so there's no point to panic until we have more information on how this system works re: favor.

[Nate]

I would recommend redistributing team 5

We won't be redistributing team 5, however, anyone on any team who is not happy with their current team may ask another captain to transfer.

Good luck in the Pit!

-Nate-

[oedi]

some people do like it, and say nothing.
im one of those.

Suggestions are then made and if I make a post that even remotely smells like a change might happen the people who used to be happy are now not happy and become vocal and so on and so forth.
but can easily become one of these ;)

Im not gonna make a long post just state the fact that this is what Ive been waiting for in several seasons now. My vaneing interest for the game is gone and that Ive started playing the game activly again.

[Vertigo]

team 5 is owning everything, not :cool:

[Pit Lord]

I'm against any team changes during season. Let the developer have time to work on the game and stop crying like a baby. We don't even know how the new system works. And if someone is aiming at RANK 1 he will do what he have to do.

[Prinny]

Apoc, Prinny, Crow, Oedi
Any of you mind if I join my 7 glads to yours? First one to claim them gets them (and their nice 5-36 records too). I don't really much care which team it is...just not team 5.

My current answer would be no, why you ask?
Look at Nate's post~


If you are that unhappy with the team you are on and want to move to another one contact that captain and if he/she is willing to take your gladiators then we'll move them to that team.

If you decide you'd like to make a move contact the captain and then have both the captain and you send me a PM indicating the transfer. Same rules apply, all gladiators owned by a player stay together. Please let me know no later than Sunday night.

Technically speaking you are the captain for team 5 aka Xaal-Zul, this means there is another option namely: Looking at Sotc with puppy eyes and asking him if he is willing to make the move, have Vertigo do the same with apoc~

Besides this option there is also favor in play, none of us knows what in the name of Tagro-Zul it does but I imagine it balances things out.

[Narol]

Thanks for your apologies and offering a solution to those feeling disadvantaged, Nate.

If Crow the captain of our team agrees, I would be happy to take Adoebe or Vertigo with us so that they feel less doomed.

[Vertigo]

I'm sorry but losing all fights 3rd day in a row seems like having good time and fun, screw this.

[Adoede]

Vertigo, why don't you switch to Crow's team with Narol. In case you missed the announcement, Nate just said if you want to switch teams you just need to ask another captain and both of you need to send him a private message about the team switch.

I'm waiting on an answer from Nate about something before I decide whether to switch teams or not. Good luck.

[Cynaidh]

This season something is in place and for the observant ones out there you will have noticed a new column called "Favor". There lies your great equalizer, but, you'll have to be patient to see it work.

I completely understand if people want to move glads around, and since there is a soft deadline of Sunday to do it I guess you have to do it now or not do it, but I'd really like to see what "Favor" does before we changed stuff too much. Since we have no idea what it will do its really hard to say if your better off changing teams or just staying where you are.

[Vertigo]

First of all I want to compete fairly. Last season my glads got 33-42% win rate. Which I consider pretty good and they were and are still under geared. This season so far it's 15-32% - it pretty much says it all. I don't want any "favors" like boosting stats ect as it's not going to be same winning.

[Alba Kebab]

Just throwing it out there, since I saw it mentioned.
I always disliked fighting against my own glads, because my own guys tend to have counter strats to each other and kill each other more often than usual. Nothing hurts the purse more than death caused by your own. :(

I agree people need to be patient and not jump up and down immediately, Nate always needs enough time to collect enough data to analyse it across the board, so let's not force him to "fix" things after just a few days. You know he's heard you, but he needs the hard data to back up the story and can't just rely on our opinions(because we always have managers who hold opposing views), gathering and crunching enough real fight data to have an accurate picture will take some time.
I'm guessing balancing pass is in test also, but hasn't been finalized and still needs more tuning. So again, we need to give Nate some time to do his work in an accurate manner.

[Alba Kebab]

This season so far it's 15-32% - it pretty much says it all.
Prinny already said it once, it takes at least 2 weeks for things to settle into any sort of pattern, you need a few weeks before you can be certain what your real w/l is.

[Cynaidh]

Prinny already said it once, it takes at least 2 weeks for things to settle into any sort of pattern, you need a few weeks before you can be certain what your real w/l is.

Not sure how it was for other teams, but it seemed like my guys all started up again the dark blue team to start also, so my first day was brutal.

[Adoede]

I've got a good idea.

How about we stop all the talk about glads moving teams and just do this 1 thing for fairness:

Just have every team have the same difficulty fight queue. Then I don't mind just staying on team 5 and letting favor do it's thing because everyone will have the same level of competition and it will be fair.

So how about it, Nate? How about just having all the glads fight all the glads and be done with it there. That will make everything fair and everyone will be happy.

[oedi]

When we got this option to be captain of a blood god team, I was very pleased, because this is something ive waited for a long time.
1) I wanted a small team so i could fight as many other glads as possible, which was the reason for only inviting my RL friend Frede.
2) ofcourse I wanted all my glads on the same team, i just hate fighting my own glads.
3) i didnt want any other veteran manager on my team.
In my eyes I made the perfect team, and is currently very happy with my situation, but since so many are unhappy Ive decided to invite Vertigo over to my team to shift some of the new BG glads in the rotation.


Any of you managers who would have been put in our shoes would do the same if all your glads were still young and developing.
Weve all been there with young and developing glads, even the few of us thatve played since the beginning. Took me the better part of a year from the beginning until I had a glad that could compete with the best. The hill might be a little higer and steeper now, but basically its always been a long road to get to the top.

[oedi]

That will make everything fair and everyone will be happy.
I will not be happy about that.

Tip for success try to change things withing the framework, rather than try to change the framework itself.

[Adoede]

Oedi, what exactly don't you like about having all teams have the same degree of difficulty of fight queue? I am trying my best to find a way to make this seasons fair for everyone within the framework we have. What would be your suggestion for making things fair?

[Nate]

I've got a good idea.

How about we stop all the talk about glads moving teams and just do this 1 thing for fairness:

Just have every team have the same difficulty fight queue. Then I don't mind just staying on team 5 and letting favor do it's thing because everyone will have the same level of competition and it will be fair.

So how about it, Nate? How about just having all the glads fight all the glads and be done with it there. That will make everything fair and everyone will be happy.

Hi Adoede. Thanks for the suggestions. Nothing will be changing regarding the format for this season except whatever transfers may happen by Sunday.

Good luck in the Pit!

-Nate-

[Vertigo]

I'd like to transfer my 3 glads to any other team, please.

[oedi]

Oedi, what exactly don't you like about having all teams have the same degree of difficulty of fight queue? I am trying my best to find a way to make this seasons fair for everyone within the framework we have. What would be your suggestion for making things fair?
we can all agree upon that we want fairness and equal oppurtuneties, its when were gonna decide whats fair and equal the problems start.

Maybe its fair that Im happy about the way things are gonne be this season, after being angry and miserable for the last 4 seasons about how things was set up :)

[Adoede]

I finally understand that this whole fuss about fairness is really about the fight queue.

It's not a big deal that all the low-ranked glads got put on the same team. What is a big deal and quite unfair is that this results in grossly unbalanced fight queues.

For argument's sake:
Apoc's team has a relative degree of difficulty in their fight queue of 30/100.
Prinny's team is relatively the same, say 35/100.
Crow's team's degree of difficulty of fight queue is, say 45/100.
Oedi's team's degree of difficulty of fight queue is 55/100.
Adoede's team's degree of difficulty of fight queue is 75/100.

This is what makes the teams unfair - but fear not, it is easily remedied.

Two options:
1) True Rank option: Have every glad fight every glad so everyone has the same fight queue and thus the same degree of difficulty. (Truly fair)
2) Relatively True Rank option: Have every glad fight every glad except their own stablemates. (Not teammates...stablemates). I just put this out there since some people expressed they don't like fighting their own glads. Personally, I don't mind it because it allows you to see how your glads truly rank in blood gods versus all competition.

If this is put in place, I have no doubt that Nate's "favor" metric will take care of all the other balancing issues that might arise.

I would love to stay on team 5 and fight on fair terms against all the other teams. In fact, I far prefer that to switching teams. I'll proudly stand alone if I have to on team 5. All I ask is that the degree of difficulty of fight queues gets equalized so each team is fighting on fair terms.

If there are managers who don't like the idea of fair and equal fight queues for each team, please let us know what you would suggest instead. I believe my suggestion introduces the least amount of change while addressing the fundamental concern about fairness. I would gladly meet any other manager on the field of combat eye to eye. But if you need to insist on unfair competitive advantage, I say you're better than that. Meet me eye to eye and we'll shake hands in mutual respect regardless the outcome.

[Cynaidh]

Crow, like Narol, I am fine with anyone joining our team if they wish to do so to make this season more enjoyable.

[Pit Lord]

For argument's sake:
Apoc's team has a relative degree of difficulty in their fight queue of 30/100.
Prinny's team is relatively the same, say 35/100.
Crow's team's degree of difficulty of fight queue is, say 45/100.
Oedi's team's degree of difficulty of fight queue is 55/100.
Adoede's team's degree of difficulty of fight queue is 75/100.


I wonder how you got these numbers and what exactly they mean :confused:

[Adoede]

Hey Pit Lord,

I made those numbers up just to exaggerate a point about the difference in difficulty of opponents each team has to face (since you don't fight people from your own team). Since team 5 doesn't fight team 5's "squishy" glads, they have a much higher average difficulty compared to the other teams. Hence the claim this is unfair.

[crow]

What say you, Crow? Shall I join your team?

Or Apoc, how about we put Nate's theory to the test that being on the top team won't make much of a difference in my winrate than staying on team 5?

No need to worry about fairness because "favor" will balance that between teams.

As incentive, I'll share my Luck spreadsheet and calculators with the team that picks me up.

Don't know how many glads that will leave the 5th team, but I'll take Adoede's boys and Apoc can you take Vertigo's boys?

[Prinny]

Hey Pit Lord,

I made those numbers up just to exaggerate a point about the difference in difficulty of opponents each team has to face (since you don't fight people from your own team). Since team 5 doesn't fight team 5's "squishy" glads, they have a much higher average difficulty compared to the other teams. Hence the claim this is unfair.

You do realise your "squishy" glads have more oranges than most of my glads have carried throughout nearly all seasons and some even carry more than some of mine? Don't get me started on the "this season is unfair stuff" Gurren Lagann had been running for 3 full "fair" seasons and hadn't even been able to touch a rating above 1k hence he had 0 oranges, his winrate had gotten so low that it was not even possible for me to retire him for a long time untill the requirements got lowered yet again, he is finally retired now.

Seasons have been up and running for about a year now, I would like to believe that it is only right for some glads to actually walk around with more oranges albeit "unfair".

^ That is the clean version of what I originally wrote.

A slightly aggitated Prinny~

[Dainoji]

Holy shitballs! I'm away on holiday for three weeks with minimal internet and this is what I come back to? Jesus, where do I even start with this mess? I feel like I'm drowning in a sea of tears. Tears from laughing at Nate's story. Tears from all the crying in this thread. Tears from seeing private messages posted publicly. Who does that? They're called private messages for a reason!

Nate, as the manger at a large company I loved your little comedic story. I see it in practice all the time.

I'll take over as captain of Xaal-Zul. I look forward to leading this small rag tag band of underdogs and welcome the favor of the blood gods! We may be outnumbered. We may be outclassed. We may get slaughtered to the very last. But, we have our dignity!

Adoebe. It was cool to watch you make an effort at cracking the luck nut and I was impressed with how you handled criticism rationally and welcomed it. The formula makes too many assumptions and has too many unknown variables to be taken seriously but I commend you for trying. At first I thought to myself, here is a player that will add value to the community. Then you self destructed and lost any street cred you had gained and managed to go into the negative which is where you now live. At the bottom of a very deep hole dug with your own mouth and tears. I'm amazed at the restraint everyone has shown you. Reading this thread in one sitting without having lived it in real time paints a picture of managers gently offering you advice, and you continually ignoring it. Did it ever occur to you that maybe the people who have been playing the game for years might know what they are talking about? Did it ever occur to you that the man who made the game might know what he's talking about? Your hubris is only outdone by your disrespect.

You are a competitive player. That's awesome. Judging from your writing ability you are also intelligent. The fact that you are very active on the forums shows you are passionate about the game. All great qualities and welcomed here. Your constant desire to change everything to "correct" things you think are wrong in your opinion while annoying is also ok to a point since that is one of the purposes of the forums. You need to learn when enough is enough. For example, now is a great time to stop. Stop what you are doing to seasons. Stop sucking all the fun out of it. You are killing it. You are pissing on its barely moving corpse. Nate has already made concessions and gently said in so many words the conversation is over. But once again you march on crying out to anyone who will listen. You have single handedly created this so called drama as you put it and tried to drag everyone down with you. In so doing you have made yourself the #1 contender for most annoying actor. In the span of reading the last three weeks of posts you went from "cool new guy" to "dear God make him stop!"

You see yourself as a victim and you will no doubt doubly think that by the time you reach this sentence. Just stop. Please. If you continue down this path I promise you, you will ostracize yourself. It's not too late though. Many here including myself have had their less than flattering moments and everyone moved on. Think about it. Don't reply to me. Don't reply to this thread. Just think about it. You said your piece. Concessions were made. It's over. Done.

Personally I hope you take this to heart and act upon it. You have many qualities that will be an asset here but they are currently being overshadowed by your current behavior. This game and community are easily one of the best I've found on online. Nate and the players on this forum have been nothing short of amazing. Even the ones I consistently disagree with. They know who they are :) yet we all still have a good time and enjoy each others company, even when it gets a little heated. If you have suggestions place them in the appropriate forum. If it is a good idea I'm sure Nate will get to it when he can. Talking louder and longer won't change that. Best of luck to you this season.

[Adoede]

Good to meet you Dainoji. I can always respect a man who speaks their mind and backs it up with thoughtful input. And being a veteran you've earned the right to say it however you want. I understand those dynamics well, so kudos to you.

Looking forward to some lively back and forth with you in the future, but for the moment, I actually think you're right and I'll just stop talking for a bit...good Lord, even I'm tired of reading my own posts!

I'll just say this: Thanks again to Apoc and Cynaidh for being the first to welcome me to the community. I'll not forget it.

My apologies if my advocating for Xaal-zul grated on anyone else these last few days and if what Dainoji pointed out is true and I did brush aside your attempts to advise me. I don't ever intend to disrespect anyone like that.

And thanks for your support and your patience during this contentious start to the seasons and I'll see you all again after I've had a few glasses of wine and gotten out to see the sun again. ;)

[Alba Kebab]

Not sure how it was for other teams, but it seemed like my guys all started up again the dark blue team to start also, so my first day was brutal.
I've had a brutal start as well, had many losses day 1, and Neera is still in a hole w/l wise.
I'm not having an easy time either, but I know that's kinda normal at the start of any season.

[Narol]

Dain, please don't put the blame on Adoebe, I would have reacted the same way if I had been in his situation... The imbalance that team 5 is suffering from is just abysmal.

Your choice to stay in it despise that added difficulty honors you, and I wish you good luck and the favors of the overlord, you're gonna need some when facing the monster builds of all the other vets all day long !

Adoebe and Vertigo have found nice teams to welcome them so now let's end this debate and focus on the arena fighting, that's what we are here for.

Kudos to Nate for having made possible to find a solution for those desperates of a situation they had been thrown in without much advance warning.

[Vertigo]

nice "favor" we got :)

[Pit Lord]

So after the first week all teams have equal chance for 1st place. I'm glad Tagro-Zul won the first "non-favor" week :). Lets see if we can beat Drajaka-Zul again ;).

[Cynaidh]

Ahh one of my many guesses was right, its like a handicap in golf. :)

[Adoede]

Yes the team game is quite up for grabs - and the unexpected side benefit of moving 2 teams out of Xaal-zul is that the fight queues are more even all around (even for Xaal-zul!). I know the remaining glads in Xaal-zul are taking their share of victories from my glads, so glad my stables could help.

[Cynaidh]

Welcome to the team btw Adoede :)

[Adoede]

Hey thanks, Cynaidh. Looks like it will be an interesting seasons with the handicaps in place.

By the way, that dual sword war experiment we set out to try a while back...Prinny was right. They suck. I'm transitioning Seraph Zurell to full war (though it will be a long and painful transition with lots of losses along the way...)

[Prinny]

Ya could try 80-20 theatrics tree with it, I haven't done that yet~

[Sotc]

Based on last week's BG team standings I calc'd the team rating equation to be:

Rating = 7.75*wins - 2.41*losses + 22.2*kills + 1.0161*favor

will need more data for accuracy. Anyone want to check if the equation holds up?

[Adoede]

I can always appreciate a fellow number cruncher ;)

Ratings perplex me.

When my mid-tier glads win they get ~4 ratings points.
When my really low ranked glad eeks out a win he gets 1 rating point.
When my glads lose sometimes they lose 1 rating point...sometimes 2.

Seems like the formula is a bit complex. But I have noticed that higher ranked glads get more ratings points per win than lower ranked ones. Win percentage may play a part in that...

[Prinny]

Actually Adoede that is something I figured out in the 2nd season :p

It basicly is a parabola, when you have low rating points you gain less and you lose less for wins, as you go along you start earning/losing more and more points and at some point these go down again.

This basicly comes down to the fact that when you are high up there at the end of the season at 8k+ or so points if I remember correctly ya are only gaining 2 points for a win and lose 1 for a loss :p

[Adoede]

Well, that explains why you're a legendary master and I'm just aspiring.

I've never had a glad ranked high enough to notice the other side of the parabola...so I guess that's one more thing to watch for to mark my slow progress :p