rC league

[yopa]

 

Some of you might have heard rumours that vanquish and me were considering running a tournament in the near future, and here we are. We are hosting a one-day tournament, which will happen either at the end of January or at the start of February (we've added a poll so that you guys can choose which date works best for you). The tournament will be played in 2v2, and the teams will be seeded into groups, where according to the seeding determined by the groups, the final rounds (semifinals + final) will be played as single elimination. We are putting a limit to eight teams for this time, but might extend it for another time if the event becomes successful.
 
Signing up:

Spoiler

Signups will happen at the same day as the tournament takes place. It opens at 12pm, and ends at 1:45. I suggest that you are as early as possible, since the first eight teams to sign up will get the spots. This means that if you sign up as number 9, you will most likely not be able to play.

We highly support the conscription of clans and clan-like teams, however mixed teams are also welcome to participate. Clans will be preferred before mixed teams. This means that in case eight teams are already signed up, let us say five clans and three mixed teams, you will get one of the mixed teams’ spots if you sign your clan up.

Substitutes are not required, but we recommend to have at least one. This is for the reason that the teams are not required to stop if a player disconnects.

Not all players can sign up however. If you have cheated in this version (1.2), you will be disallowed to sign up.

 
The actual tournament:

Spoiler

When the signups are closed, the teams will be seeded into two groups of four. The games will start at 2pm. The group stages are taking place in round robin format and according to the seeding determined by the groups, the semi-final and final will just be single elimination.

In the group stage, every team will play a total of three matches. A match will consist of two 10 minute long games, on each side of a pre-selected map. Why not just go for two normal 15 minute rounds? Just to save time, and it might get a bit boring to play/watch the same map for 30 minutes. The flags will be totalled, and the winner is awarded two points, and the loser gets none. In case of a tie, both teams will be awarded one point.

As for the semi-finals, the best team from group A will play #2 from group B, #2 from group A will play the best team from group B. The matches will be played on one map from both sides, this time 15 minutes. The maps are again pre-selected, and in case of a tie, another pre-selected tiebreaker map will be played. The winners proceed to the final, while the losers will play a match for the third place.

The bronze final and the grand final will be played just as the semi-finals. The matches will be played on both sides of a pre-selected map. In case of a tie, a tiebreaker will be played.

 
 
The maps:

Spoiler

We have made a map pool out of the most playable maps in 2v2’s. The pool will then be used to randomly assign maps to the matches. We will make sure that no team plays the same map twice.

The map pool consists of: ac_cavern1.2*, ac_desert3, ac_elevation, ac_gothic, ac_ingress, ac_mines, ac_shine, ac_sunset and ac_werk
 
* ac_cavern is an official map, but since the 1.2 version is way more playable, and it has only gotten positive feedback, we are adding that one instead.

 

Servers:

Spoiler

The matches can happen on any server that both teams agree to play on, but if they can’t come to an agreement, a referee will decide which server will be played on. We do have a list of official servers though, and if you want your servers to be added, talk to either me or vanquish.

se-rc.tk 1111/2222/3333
us-rc.tk 1111/2222/3333
 
We have an irc channel set up for the event:

#rc-league at gamesurge.net
 
Teamspeak servers:

ts-rc.tk
se-rc.tk
us-rc.tk

 

Website:

Spoiler

This website is still WIP, but I’ll put it here anyways. On the website you can find the bracket, the teams, a hall of fame, rules and much more. The forum is still under construction, and is as of now not usable. We’ll try and fix that as soon as possible.
www.rc-league.tk

 
If there are any questions or anything that is unclear, please ask below and we’ll answer as fast as possible. You can always find us on ts-rc.tk, or just pm us here.

[ExodusS]

Is the new cavern ready to play?

[EndGame]

February 7th please. I'll be in Mexico by the 31th unable to play.

Also, consider the possibility that many people might want to play the league due to AC Chrismas cup success. Also, competivive scene has got a bit active again. Because it's only 2v2, many teams might appear. Don't limit yourselves to two groups since they can be easily 3 or even 4. Look at Christmas cup.

FD* will have people participating for sure and if you need any help, count on us ;-).

[Marti]

rC league yet vanquish isnt in rC :D

If anyone wants to win, put me in your team


I can play both days

[Undead]

Is the new cavern ready to play?

it was always ready to play

everyone knows the price that must be payed to fix it perfectly though.

also, don't limit the amount of teams that can play, just have preliminary rounds if you get an uneven number of participants.

[Vanquish]

Is the new cavern ready to play?

We've seen nothing that seems to suggest that it's not.
When Undead "released" the map, he and various other competitive players from different teams (including myself and yopa) played several games on it to test the quality of the map and the flow of the gameplay in both 2v2 and 3v3 scenarios. The significant majority of the feedback on this map was incredibly positive, so much so that there was even a petition for Larry to add the map to the AC Christmas Cup's map pool. Larry refused to do so on the grounds that the map is technically not official in 1202 (only in SVN iirc), although we're more relaxed on such matters.

Also, competivive scene has got a bit active again. Because it's only 2v2, many teams might appear. Don't limit yourselves to two groups since they can be easily 3 or even 4. Look at Christmas cup.

We're also glad to see that the competitive scene is picking up with some more activity again. We've considered the possibility that many teams may wish to participate, and this is something we're more than ready to cater for in future events. This first league is simply to try and keep the competitive spirit going semi-frequently and to act as an incentive for teams to train and participate actively in community-led events. It's also somewhat of a gauge on community activity - with as sporadical as it's been in the past we simply didn't feel comfortable setting the first league we're running at an incredibly high limit of teams.
We're happy to see that you'll be participating, and your interest/help is much appreciated. :)

rC league yet vanquish isnt in rC :D

I used to be, plus we needed a name for the league. Our original working title, while brilliant in its own way, probably wasn't the best thing to name a competitive tournament. :p

[Orynge]

Will follow. c:

[Mise"]

Is there any possibility that the the league can be held earlier? I don't know about others but "IB" final year students all around the world have "mocks" starting on Feb 1st D:
Anyways, the tournament seems great! Looking forward to it. Well done.

[Roflcopter]

Is the new cavern ready to play?

We've seen nothing that seems to suggest that it's not.
When Undead "released" the map, he and various other competitive players from different teams (including myself and yopa) played several games on it to test the quality of the map and the flow of the gameplay in both 2v2 and 3v3 scenarios. The significant majority of the feedback on this map was incredibly positive, so much so that there was even a petition for Larry to add the map to the AC Christmas Cup's map pool. Larry refused to do so on the grounds that the map is technically not official in 1202 (only in SVN iirc), although we're more relaxed on such matters.

My argument is a bit more complicated than that. There's no metagame developed for cavern1.2 whether it would be a good map or not.

[Undead]

My argument is a bit more complicated than that. There's no metagame developed for cavern1.2 whether it would be a good map or not.

there is more of a metagame on cavern1.2 than on lainio, so R.I.P. that argument.

[Marti]

Cavern1.2 is more fun than lainio. Even tho the lainio games was pretty intense, i feel on cavern1.2 you can have multiple strategies while on lainio you cant.



Edit: just realised, is that the fckin world cup in the logo? :p

[Honor]

I guess 2/3 of players will be european and only 3 servers ?

[Vanquish]

I guess 2/3 of players will be european and only 3 servers ?

Players from all locations are welcome to sign up. As it says in the "server" section, people can choose to play on whatever servers they want. Official servers are merely encouraged since we can easily set up admin passwords, change slots, fetch demos, and check logs as and when needed in case something goes wrong or somebody wants to file a complaint, etc.

However we accept that for geographical reasons and so on, players (for example australians would probably prefer to play on servers like gibbed.me, etc) may not wish to use the servers we've provided. We're both students so we're not in a position to rent 63 VPS servers all in different locations just to run a few one-day tournaments, however we're not gonna restrict anyone to playing on the servers we're offering. All we ask is that the server chosen to play on offers (roughly) equal ping to everyone playing, and preferably also that a referee be present, although the latter pre-requisite isn't as paramount.

[ExodusS]

Is the new cavern ready to play?

We've seen nothing that seems to suggest that it's not.
When Undead "released" the map, he and various other competitive players from different teams (including myself and yopa) played several games on it to test the quality of the map and the flow of the gameplay in both 2v2 and 3v3 scenarios. The significant majority of the feedback on this map was incredibly positive, so much so that there was even a petition for Larry to add the map to the AC Christmas Cup's map pool.

Sorry, my question was not clear enough, the map is kinda ready to play but what I wanted to ask was more about what Undead stated, the map isn't finished yet because there are still many little fixes to apply before it's theorically perfect. Apparently it isn't finished.

---

My argument is a bit more complicated than that. There's no metagame developed for cavern1.2 whether it would be a good map or not.

I would really know what a "metagame" is for you. The map has been tested my the competitive scene itself and it was also aproved and tagged as "ready to play in a competitive league". I know it's the first time it appears in AC history but there are first times to everything. I also think you shaked more the competitive scene of this game than nobody will ever be able to do. The following words aren't mine:

I perfectly remembered how the matches were in 1.04, and most of all, i remember the spirit of the game as very different from now. Also, i agree with you about blaming jason and larry. Me and Panda were among the first to face epic, and we were since the first days extremely disappointed by their attitude. Their depot games looked more tsurv than ctf. It was because of them that Panda left ac. We were playing BC, MCMMN, MA in funny and competitive games full of challenging situations and so on, playing vs epic/legacy became so bad that we decided to stop accepting clanwars. problems for mys arrived when jason and larry teached to @cid how to win a game and al mys were forced to play accordingly to this gamestyle. This is the reason why i left MyS.

So it would be good this time that you stop ignoring what I say and at least give a little interest to what I am trying to tell you, I know the truth is hard to accept in your little world, but believe it or not, your meta is based on the common acceptance of the competitive scene to apply a filter on official CTF maps and official CTF maps only, this is broken for two reasons because 1. it is not accepting a map accordingly to it's playability in 3vs3 matches as the unique factor and 2. devs are not officializing maps accordingly to it's playability in 3vs3 matches. This ends with only a very few playable and mostly biased/unfair maps in matches, plus, maps who were intentionally made for matches does not always fit devs' requirements to add these maps in the official packages.

You should seriously stop with your stucked meta and try to have a more open thoughts toward future events.

[Lozi*]

Could you change it to 3v3 instead of 2v2, would be better. Something like a summer cup would be cool and would have more room for other players who are starting in the competitive or even wanting to increase their skills... 2v2 is boring.

It's boring since, if 2 players with a very  low level.. register before and reserve your place early in the tournament and they play against two high-level players, and get defeated ... How will this be fun to them?
in a 3v3 some of these low level players can have any chance or not?!

[Roflcopter]

I don't think many people know what "metagame" means. The metagame for a particular map is the kind of status quo of how its played. It's kind of how decent but very ordinary competitive players would play the map.

People are giving my opinions on official vs other maps too much consideration. I won't be playing and for the record I don't think it's an awful decision to include non-official maps. But it does have negatives that shouldn't be forgotten.

[Artemis]

So to develop the "metagame" - it has to be played? Whats the problem then?

[ExodusS]

So to develop the "metagame" - it has to be played? Whats the problem then?

The way he describes it is just disabling the entry of new maps in the meta. Only official maps are allowed to be in it, so the only way to enter is to be selected by devs as a new official content and to be playable in CTF matches. Non-official maps can't be in because it's an excuse to a competitive player to don't know the map as the player might not know "all non-official maps".

[Marti]

in a 3v3 some of these low level players can have any chance or not?!

Christmas cup had some mad defeats in 3v3 tho

[Jason]

how do i participate when i've been banned from your teamspeaks for no reason?

[Marti]

how do i participate when i've been banned from your teamspeaks for no reason?

you pm them :D

[Artemis]

So to develop the "metagame" - it has to be played? Whats the problem then?

The way he describes it is just disabling the entry of new maps in the meta. Only official maps are allowed to be in it, so the only way to enter is to be selected by devs as a new official content and to be playable in CTF matches. Non-official maps can't be in because it's an excuse to a competitive player to don't know the map as the player might not know "all non-official maps".

But surely, being able to adapt, is a quality all good teams should possess? I wouldn't expect a good team to lose to a low skill team just because the low skill team practiced a map like industrial or something a lot.

[ExodusS]

Yes, a good team is supposed to be able to adapt, but adapt to what? If they don't know the map-list they are supposed to know because there is no "competition map list", how are they responsive for not knowing the map? I don't think a clan will complain if one day, the competitive community decides to write a competition map list, it's to the meta to change and adopt a map-listing system with probably a few representants of the best clans testing and voting for custom maps. Or IDK, maybe I'm speculating too mutch but I'm sure something could be etablished, something that could help to impose common rules that are here to add more possibilities instead of restrictive rules.

[Artemis]

Ye, but what I don't is why he didn't include cavern1.2 and his reasoning is flawed - it is present on the maplist just that its an old version.

[Vanquish]

how do i participate when i've been banned from your teamspeaks for no reason?

You've only been banned from one of the three listed teamspeak servers. We're working to resolve this issue, but in the meantime feel free to use another teamspeak, the IRC channel (embedded in the website if you don't have a client), AC forum/rC forum and the official league forum (when some bugs have been ironed out on it and it becomes usable, hopefully done in the next few days). You can even message us on facebook if you want :D

Could you change it to 3v3 instead of 2v2, would be better. Something like a summer cup would be cool and would have more room for other players who are starting in the competitive or even wanting to increase their skills... 2v2 is boring.

"2v2 being boring" is subjective and entirely down to one's own opinion. The reason we're using this layout is merely as a gauge of community activity and interests in such events, and also because we feel as though the standard 3v3 single elimination format of countless previous tournaments has been overdone and that 2v2 would be an interesting change since it's still yet to fully be seen how well it plays out in a "real" competitive scenario in this version. That's not to say that we're against 3v3 tournaments entirely, we are definitely up for running some of the future events in this format.


As for those expressing concern about the team limit, we currently believe that 8 teams is a reasonable amount, although we're considering expanding it to 12 teams (which would then leave the format as 3 groups of four teams each, rather than 2 groups of four) if there is actually enough interest. After some discussion we've decided that hosting a playoff for a certain spot is a good idea although would not work over a one-day tournament due to the time constraints which would face people in awkward timezones such as AEST, for example. As I recall, Sveark had to play the final of the Christmas Cup at 4am his time, and a playoff would add an additional hour or two of time on top of that, so it's not something we'd consider with the current format we're using atm (although we have some ideas in the works that could alleviate this problem somewhat).


We'd also politely ask that this thread be kept for date discussion and questions about the tournament's format, with external discussion about map quality taking place elsewhere. We're of the opinion that a good team should be able to adapt to any map which has good gameplay, a decent flow and not too much bias. We've selected the map pool with these thoughts in mind - we have seven years of competitive experience in this game between us and it's our prerogative to make sure that the event is competitive whilst still also retaining some degree of fun, hence our reasoning for picking some maps may be different than the way previous tournaments have selected maps in the past.

[Vermi]

2v2 is cool ill play if i can finally get me some telstra nets

[Robtics]

I like the idea of x2 for a change .. Hopefully I can get a reliable mouse in time, if so I'd merc for a mixed 

[Luc@s]

I'm not going to split the thread (one for questions about the tournament organization, one for debating its rules) because most posts are mixing both aspects.
But if you want to further discuss the choice of 2vs2 or custom maps, please make another thread.

[Alien]

i will try mixed team again. This time smg. I will be better i promise. :P

[MorganKell]

Excellent idea. Can't hate. Now up up your game and learn some fking skills. Clan match style is you pick map we pick mode or we pick mode you pick map. Get sum. The tournament looks sexy but it sounds like you all need to chill on it and play some real AC. Oh wait... what's that?!?! Yeah... learn learn yo skills ya hurp.