Hey everyone, Not long ago we mentioned that we were beginning to really focus on Season 5 and were considering making some pretty big changes to what actually makes a Season. We've got a proposal of how we see this working ready and wanted to run it by you to see what you think. We want to know what interests you, what doesn't, what works, and what you could see being abused. Read over the entire proposal below in detail and share your thoughts in this thread. We've also got a few extra surprises in store for you so keep on reading ^^ Season 5 Proposal With our past seasons, regardless of what matchup or balancing changes we've made, players were quick to find whatever methods they can to gain an upperhand. So with Season 5 we're looking at scrapping the matchup system altogether in exchange for a round robin style tournament to encourage true competitive play. Major Changes: (Read the full post to understand how these come into play) Round Robin format (No automated war matchups) Fixed teams of up to 30 people (rosters are 20 - 25) Fixed match up schedule Max CS cap placed on rosters Single winning clan No hit restrictions (see max CS section below) Rounds will be Round War format, 2 Hours Long, with 2 Regens allowed Season 5 will consist of three main parts: Preseason Playoffs Season 5 War Finals War Company - 30 people Each clan will have 30 people in their War Company. Only 20 to 25 of those people can war in a single Season Skirmish. These 20 to 25 people are called the War Squad. Anyone who is not in the War Company and tries to sign up will get an error message. War Squad (roster) - 20 to 25 people The 20 to 25 people in a War Squad can vary from war to war, but these 20 to 25 people MUST be members of the War Company. If at least 20 people do not cast for war, the team forfeits. If more than 25 people try to cast for war, the 26th person will get an error message. They won’t be able to cast unless some else deactivates the spell and removes themselves from the War Squad. If any person would put the War Squad over the Max CS cap, they will get an error message. More on Max CS below. MAX CS Every roster (not team) will have a max combined stats including BFA and BFE. Players will have to manage their own rosters. If a player would put the War Squad over the Max CS the they will not be able to sign up. A War Company must therefore be composed in such a way as to not exceed the Max CS while still allowing for 20 to 25 players to War. There will be no hit restrictions so teams cannot use them to compose a War Squad that is unhittable. Season Structure Preseason: War Company is open to changes War Squads can change between wars using players from War Company Wars are 2 Hours in duration 2 Regen Maximum per war No hit restrictions War Rewards consist of consumables (xtals, mith etc) Season Skirmishes are scheduled Randomly Clans that forfeit more than 1 game are banned from rest of Season Clans who appear to throw Season Skirmishes intentionally will be disbanded War Companies will be in effect during the Preseason but players can opt out, which means the War Company is open to changes before Playoffs. During Playoffs, the War Company cannot be changed but the War Squad can. Once playoffs start War Companies are locked and it’s up to each team to make sure they have the right 20 - 25 people signed up. Playoffs: All War Companies play each other. Top 16 teams will advance based on wins. If tied for wins, then total plunder. War Company is locked and cannot be changed War Squads can change between wars using players from War Company Wars are 2 Hours in duration 2 Regen maximum per war No hit restrictions War Rewards consist of consumables (xtals, SODs, mith etc) Each team plays each team at least once Season Skirmishes are scheduled Randomly in a random time zone (surprise, you may have to war in a bad timezone. Deal with it.) Clans that forfeit more than 1 game are banned from rest of Season Clans who appear to throw Season Skirmishes intentionally will be punished, repeated offences will result in the clan being disbanded Finals: War Company is locked and cannot be changed War Squads can change between wars using players from War Company Wars are 2 Hours in duration 2 Regen maximum per war No hit restrictions Rewards will be based on season position in the bracket Finals are scheduled based on bracket First Seeded team chooses timezone Clans that forfeit more than 1 game are banned from rest of Season Clans who throw Season Skirmishes intentionally will be disbanded (yes you read that right) Only players who have fought (and performed a minimum # of actions) in at least 5 playoff Wars are eligible to play in the finals. Any player who has not met this quota will be removed from the War Company at their own team’s loss. These players cannot be replaced. Players must play in at least 1 round (and performed a minimum # of actions) in the Finals to receive rewards. Season 5 Beta Testing In order to make this work we want your feedback. Once we've consulted with the community we'll work to get the system built and start beta testing it. The beta test will not be open to everyone, it will be a closed beta, and will use a different build of the game. We will also provide a method for these players who participate to offer feedback. We’ll be using our current beta testers and selecting a few additional people who war and participate in a constructive manner in the discussion on this post. Better War Rewards We want to make warring more rewarding. For the next few weeks we're adding better rewards to off-season wars. For now, you'll have a chance to earn back health crystals if you use one, and we'll be adding more rewards in the coming weeks. When each war ends, players who have used a Health Crystal during that specific war will have a chance at receiving the Health Crystal used back. Players on the winning side of a war will have a higher chance at receiving their crystals back, those on the losing side will a lower chance at getting a crystal back. 2015 All Star Wars While it's going to take us some time to work with you all and get Season 5 to a point where we're ready to release it to the masses we know many of you are itching for some good old fashioned PvP, and so we're excited to announce the return of this year's 2015 All Star Wars! We've tentatively scheduled this for the weekend of July 17th - 19th, with more information coming in the near future. ------------ UPDATE Gone through your feedback so far. Let's cover a few common bits of feedback. The reason for this system is to have wars be truly compentitive. Everyone will face everyone and the best of the best will come out. They'll be many wars along the way for everyone to take part in. Individual Wars will not be a part of Season 5. They were implemented to make wars more accessible to all and they work quite well for that. However they don't make sense in a Season where it's all about warring with a specific group over the entire season. We're going back to Round Wars for this because we see a season as a time to break out the big guns. Bring those awesome pieces of equipment you've earned and help your war company win! Remember, there's no matchup system, and everyone faces everyone. We've also got a Max CS cap for the entire War Roster, and we can look into the possibility of having a Min CS cap as well. War Company size seems to be of some concern and there's a general concensus that it should be larger. We'll look into making that happen. With beta testing we may make further refinements as well to things such as war duration. We will look into the possibility of having existing (off-season) wars scheduled in between these Season Wars for those who may want them, but no promises just yet. Keep in mind this is just a proposal at this time. Things may change but we wanted to open a dialogue here. We understand there are many of you who love being competitive and so we've designed this system with that in mind.
Brilliant post and I love the way that it will work I personally think that the wars should be shorter in the qualifying rounds (1 hour) however in the final rounds of the season they should increase to the longer duration (2 hours) This will allow those who want to war more casually a chance to do well and those who want to war more seriously (will generally do better) will have a better time with the longer wars.
Re: An Update on Season 5 Wars! Are the companys locked for the entire season? The same 30 warriors to promote clan loyalty? And then 20-25 of them get to war at one time? Can it be extended to 40 maybe
Re: An Update on Season 5 Wars! Not locked until the playoffs start to allow players to experiment with there War Company setup. But otherwise you're dead on. There's also a balance between numbers to ensure there's enough to fill wars but not too many to allow free rides. The numbers provided aren't 100% final, and we hope to fine tune things with the beta testing portion of this. Again, nothing here is 100% final. We'll make tweaks both based on feedback and our beta testing of the system Glad to see the positive responses so far though!
Re: An Update on Season 5 Wars! "Rounds will be Round War format, 2 Hours Long, with 2 Regens allowed"
Re: An Update on Season 5 Wars This looks cool - will sort the issues bfa bfe with maxing - great job, and ty for listening....,i look fed to the beta. Great work ATA
Re: An Update on Season 5 Wars! Yep, each war you choose the 20-25 from those in your War Company. (Not sure why quote here is broken, but won't fix itself)