Season 4 sign up and Season 3 feedback

[id3nt1ty]

Provisionally, I will take a Necro team

[DaigaroOgami]

Sadly, it appears the Wu Tang Skinks have folded.

Old Dirty Kroxigor was announced dead after attending a party with Percy of the Ducklingz, his death attributed to mushroom overdose.

Without their powerful founding member, the rest of the clan have taken the difficult decision to disband the team, partly out of respect, mainly out of fear.

So, as a complete curveball, and wanting to try something different (which will most likely go horribly wrong) I declare that I will be playing Wood Elves. Terrible back story to follow

[Gandalf]

Sadly, it appears the Wu Tang Skinks have folded.

Old Dirty Kroxigor was announced dead after attending a party with Percy of the Ducklingz, his death attributed to mushroom overdose.

Without their powerful founding member, the rest of the clan have taken the difficult decision to disband the team, partly out of respect, mainly out of fear.

So, as a complete curveball, and wanting to try something different (which will most likely go horribly wrong) I declare that I will be playing Wood Elves. Terrible back story to follow

I might (and am leaning towards probably) be bringing back my wood elves. I thought priority went to the older team, so long as they had sat out the previous season?

Not that I mind there being two teams of the same race, but diversity is a good thing in general.

Time - If every team wants to play 2 games before the season, that's two playing weeks gone before we even start.

We usually have at least a week between seasons...

Fairness - realistically not all teams will benefit much from those two games. Elves can throw a lot of passes but the slow, bashy and low skill teams won't pick up many SPPs - for instance, I always saw the Khemri as a 2 to 3 season prospect, I never expected to be doing well this year (the fact that I am is nice, but was never the plan ).

That's going to be true in the regular season too though. Even one friendly game means you have a not-tiny chance of leveling someone up in the second game.

Risk - there's always the possibility that you come out worse off. If a key positional dies in a friendly, they're still dead when the league starts.

This is a risk that everyone faces in every game. If they are worried about the risk then they don't have to play friendlies. You could ban fouls to make it a bit friendlier.

I agree with Dio about the "not particularly disadvantaged" comment - the league this season is really full of new teams. In retrospect I definitely would've appreciated a friendly or two at the start. My 4-ogre line-up was pretty terrible (but required imo as I needed the rerolls), I did feel a bit powerless at the start (though still had a stonking game against the elves).

I therefore propose trying the pre-season friendly out at the lowest level possible and see what people think? The bottom two-thirds in terms of TV get 1 friendly only before the season starts?

[lawastooshort]

I wouldn't want to play a friendly in which fouls were banned: they are a viable tactic and entirely in the spirit of the game. It would be equivalent to asking the team that would most benefit from fouling to go easy on you, and as unfair to this pro-fouling team (and everyone else not in this friendly) as setting up a no-contact elf vs elf game where the two teams just handover and pass the ball all game to earn SPPs.

I've taken that example a little too far perhaps, but I hope you can see what I'm getting at: fouling is a means of respecting your opponent and future opponents, and if you'd want the league linked to these friendlies to be played in a spirit of hard but fair play, I believe those friendlies should be similarly played, i.e. to the death.

[Gandalf]

Well, whatever people want to do. It was just a minor suggestion if that was a true legitimate concern people had (and I have my doubts this is the case). I don't see it as a problem because you can lose players in any game. As another suggestion, if someone lost an important player for a new team in a pre-season friendly then I wouldn't mind if they just trashed the team and started a new one for the season proper.

[DaigaroOgami]

I might (and am leaning towards probably) be bringing back my wood elves. I thought priority went to the older team, so long as they had sat out the previous season?

I thought it was a 'first come first served' selection process for the season? I wasn't aware of any 'priority' selections as there were no 'selection rules' pointed out anywhere for Season 4 team selection. More than one elf team would fine, but more than one Wood Elf team might be a bit much.

I'm with La on the fouling - Out of respect to all teams friendly matches should be treated and played like a competitive league match.

[Gandalf]

You're right there are no rules listed - this includes "first come first served".

There is some discussion about it in the "year off for the winner?" thread back in June. At the end of season 2 we just-about sort-of decided the winners would have to sit out the next season. So the tentative plan for me since the end of season 2 was to bring back the Wood Elves for season 4. I've just been umming and aahing about whether to play with the ogres again or not.

[lawastooshort]

Well, whatever people want to do. It was just a minor suggestion if that was a true legitimate concern people had (and I have my doubts this is the case). I don't see it as a problem because you can lose players in any game. As another suggestion, if someone lost an important player for a new team in a pre-season friendly then I wouldn't mind if they just trashed the team and started a new one for the season proper.

I'd agree with this - it's meant to be a fun game and there's no point decreasing your chance of fun by playing with a mangled team from the start if you can fairly avoid it. Equally, you might play a first competitive game with a race and realise you'd picked dwarves you really don't enjoy playing them.

[Raveen]

Regarding the 2 Wood Elves -

I like the diversity of BB and, whilst I don't want to force anything on anyone, I think it's fun to play with and against different teams as often as possible.

I'm not too keen on having multiples of the same race - with 8 teams that's 25% of the whole competition being Wood Elves (or whatever). I hope we'd always be able to find an amicable solution to any arguments and the Commissioner's decision will be the final arbiter. I'm happy to leave that question open though and cross the bridge when we come to it.

I'm leaving it to Gandalf and Daigoro to come to some sort of amicable arrangement. If nothing is decided after next Sunday I'll flip a coin.

Options you could consider - Neither of you take the Woodies. Or you could dice for it, if RTBot is still alive. Or, you could play a match with rookie wood elf teams, winner takes the spot. I don't really want to set rules for this sort of stuff when it should be down to playing nicely with each other.

[DaigaroOgami]

I got an ST5 Black Orc last night.

Ducklingz are back next season fo' sheezy.

Wood Elves are all yours Gandalf.

(To be honest I was feeling very uneasy about the whole 'playing Elves' thing anyway, such a filthy thing.. blergh)

[Gandalf]

I got an ST5 Black Orc last night.

Ducklingz are back next season fo' sheezy.

Wood Elves are all yours Gandalf.

(To be honest I was feeling very uneasy about the whole 'playing Elves' thing anyway, such a filthy thing.. blergh)

It's lucky for him I'm going elves and not ogres again given what happened in our last match!

With the end of season 3 approaching I'm struggling to think of what to put down in the hall of fame as "this season will be remembered for...." any ideas? What exceptional or crazy things have occurred this season? All I can think of from my games is Rav's skeleton doing most of the KO's on his team.

[DaigaroOgami]

Well we'll see after Sunday, but I'd say the Outcast's domination of the League really...

And I know nobody else saw it, but Guru's Vs UnderCheesers will get my vote for match of the season, clever play and an amazing finale. The crowd were on the edge of their seat.

The stats sheet might reveal some stuff too...

[id3nt1ty]

The Amazons caught a bomb and then blasted a bunch of Orcs with it

[DaigaroOgami]

OOO yes that was hilarious.

And seeing a goblin on a pogo stick fly across a pitch.

[notjarvis]

With the end of season 3 approaching I'm struggling to think of what to put down in the hall of fame as "this season will be remembered for...." any ideas? What exceptional or crazy things have occurred this season? All I can think of from my games is Rav's skeleton doing most of the KO's on his team.

3 Stunty teams out of 9 is pretty interesting I guess.

The goblins "flying goblin" touchdowns have been pretty fun.

Rav's "March of the Undead" has been interesting - for Khemri to do this well in their first season is pretty extraordinary. I'll be surprised if they aren't there or thereabouts next season.

The Cangurus's extraordinary passing stats? 196 passing yards and 23 passes in 7 games is quite high.....

My chaos have managed to be solid, and powerful, without being absolutely spectacular or dramatic at any point.