Should the FFR Official Tournament Only Use New Files?

[psychoangel691]

Originally Posted by ilikexd

I understand the reasoning as a reaction to the current problems of oversaturation and difficulty in gathering content

These problems have affected things before, they are affecting things now since the structure of the official is being suggested to be changed (and it is not the structure itself that is the issue), and they will continue to affect things in the future: future officials and even a regular SOTW.

The fact of that matter is this: the current judgement process is not compatible with the current level of work that can be put into it. It's pessimistic, but I don't think this will be fully or even mostly solved by new judges, although it will help. With no system by which stepcharts are removed or segregated/unraked, the pool of available charts will grow ad infinitum, which clutters the game and makes completionism unattractive. But at the same time new content, especially for the officials, is a driving force of interest and activity and something a game like this can't live without.

The fact that this thread's question exists is a symptom of these problems and they need to be dealt with. Again, sorry for the tangent, but I feel this absolutely needs to be pointed out. Maybe it's a discussion better suited for another time/thread.

Please don't take me for rude but I have no control over that end of things, so I'm just trying to cover my bases for events. I'd rather avoid discussions about the current batch/judgement system in this thread. I'm going to try to get with game management to see where things are with is as I don't really know what progress has been made as of now. I just know that things are behind.

[choof]

Originally Posted by Wayward Vagabond

I much rather prefer playing old files with only the last two rounds being the only rounds with new songs. The game is over saturated with files that receive very little plays because of all the songs that the game currently has already.

this is a flawed argument

"1,917,755 members and growing!
286 users currently using FFR.
2,148,877 arrows hit today"

[gold stinger]

"90% of those members are bots or alt accounts" - Someone

Chipping in my voice though I like the idea of maybe the first couple rounds of the tournament using older songs as a way of "preliminary" or "pre-finals" rounds, and then using new songs nearing the final rounds of the tournament, where people can't rely on previous practice to save themselves.

[choof]

Originally Posted by gold stinger

"90% of those members are bots or alt accounts" - Someone

"172597 real members and growing!
286 users currently using FFR.
2,148,877 arrows hit today"

[psychoangel691]

So I just realized there aren't even enough files in queue to keep with sotw releases until July when the tournament would likely be. Things are in pretty dire straights right now.

I'm going to do the best I can but I ask that you guys please be patient with me and help me find the best solution that will be agreeable to the majority here.

[PhantomPuppy]

woah hot damn, the tourney is gonna be in july this year? awesome. umm, my thoughts on this is as long as there is no preview for rounds that are using songs that are already in the game, then we should be fine. or maybe for the first 4 rounds we use old songs, and the rest of the tourney use new ones? or only for the top 16 use new ones? idk.

[blanky!]

Really, there shouldn't even be divisions in the first place, aside from encouraging competition between players of similar skill levels. That's a very different story, though.
If the tournament does end up using older files, my only suggestion would be to change up the patterns in those songs to prevent previous practice/mindblocks (in case one gets lucky/unlucky with song choice), but in a way so that the steps still follow the music accurately. Just my opinion.

[reuben_tate]

I voted that a "Mix of new and old would be cool"; however, the "cool" is more of an "ok". I know that I tend to have the most free time during the summer so Iʻd be willing to sacrifice my desire to have all new files if it means that the official occurs at a time that is most convenient for me.

I do like Toshʻs suggestion about flip-flopping the new/old files between the odd/even divisions every round. It would be "fair" for each division and the majority of the participants will have the joy of at least playing one new file for the tournament.

Another suggestion, which may be horrible but has yet to be brought up, is to perhaps consider reducing the number of rounds in the tournament in order to reduce the amount of files needed. I wouldnʻt recommend making the cutoffs stricter in the earlier rounds though because those rounds tend to be the most active for the official (people tend to be slightly less interested in the tournament after theyʻve been eliminated). I know that the official has been using the 16->8->5->3->1 cutoff structure for the final rounds causing a large portion of the tournament to be geared towards only a few amount of players so perhaps one of those cutoffs could be eliminated without affecting the overall hype/activity the official brings in.

[Wayward Vagabond]

For those of you that weren't here when tourneys use to consist of old files. The round songs weren't given put until the day of so there was no way of knowing what songs to practice

[psychoangel691]

Yeah no one would know what files were coming up if files in game were used. The good thing with in game files too is it makes it easier to pick files that stress different things each round. When going with all new I'm limited to what people have submitted and so much of it tends to be jumpstream haha.

[Kawaii025]

I hope this makes sense, but in my opinion, I think that the first round should be a new song to give participants a chance to play something that's never been seen before. After that, in-game files up until Top 8.

Top 8 and forward should have new files...but with a slight modification to the elimination structure. It should go from Top 8 to Top 3 (unless top 5 gets something that 6-8 doesn't?). This way only 3 rounds would need new files.

[gold stinger]

Originally Posted by choof

"172597 real members and growing!
286 users currently using FFR.
2,148,877 arrows hit today"

That sounds reasonable and about right.

[lurker]

mix of old and new because given the state of the judging process at the moment gathering up 56 acceptable files that fit a very particular difficulty sequence will either take way too long or require a ridiculous amount of effort

[lurker]

everyone saying that it should just be new files is either being optimistic, ungrateful, or doesn't want an official this year

[TheSaxRunner05]

Originally Posted by psychoangel691

I'd say probably the best option would be to use files in game up until the prize rounds. Then use all new files for the prize rounds of the tournament. That would make it half and half. (this may still be pretty difficult with the higher files that would be needed, but would be more likely than all new for the whole thing).

I'd be up for this.

Edit:// I agree with Ben, an 8 round tournament is a bit long. Maybe instead of going 8-5-3-1 it could just go 8-4-1 and end in 6 rounds

From two months to six weeks

[psychoangel691]

The officials used to be 10 weeks long so I'd feel a little bad cutting it down again but if that's something a lot of people could agree on I wouldn't mind I guess. It would kill a lot of people off really fast though.

[lurker]

Originally Posted by Kawaii025

Top 8 and forward should have new files...but with a slight modification to the elimination structure. It should go from Top 8 to Top 3 (unless top 5 gets something that 6-8 doesn't?). This way only 3 rounds would need new files.

i like this but i don't get the idea of skipping F5, 8->3 is a really sharp cutoff (although obviously we've seen it get pretty bad in d7 much earlier than F8)
also i'm going to predict that there will be too few beginner/inepxerienced players to justify keeping d1 and d2 separate (and i kinda think that was the case with 10th official anyway with all of the no shows in d1) so that could ease the file requirements very slightly

[TheSaxRunner05]

Originally Posted by psychoangel691

The officials used to be 10 weeks long so I'd feel a little bad cutting it down again but if that's something a lot of people could agree on I wouldn't mind I guess. It would kill a lot of people off really fast though.

I don't suggest knocking people out sooner early on, just in the last two rounds. The last month of the official always just drags on, in the beginning, people are dropping 10-15 people at a time per round and then they start eliminating 3 or two people per round? The vast majority are eliminated in the first 4 weeks in the current structure anyways.

[badman7772]

Let's try to do a cumulative official this time around to keep interest for more people. This would mean everyone that completes the tournament gets a prize, but it would be more interesting to not only watch the 1st place battle, but last round snipes for a vRofl token (or taking it away from someone to be a dick.)

That or the entire first half of the tournament can be cumulative and the second half can be the playoffs. They'll be rewarded the right to play new songs for more prizes. Would be cool there.

[TheSaxRunner05]

Originally Posted by badman7772

That or the entire first half of the tournament can be cumulative and the second half can be the playoffs.

Tiebreakers and AAA-fests would make this very difficult, think about D7 especially.