Season 6 is underway! Players, please check your tournament invites. Here are the links to all 8 Round Robins:

Group A: http://warlight.net/MultiPlayer?TournamentID=3500
Group B: http://warlight.net/MultiPlayer?TournamentID=3501
Group C: http://warlight.net/MultiPlayer?TournamentID=3502
Group D: http://warlight.net/MultiPlayer?TournamentID=3503
Group E: http://warlight.net/MultiPlayer?TournamentID=3504
Group F: http://warlight.net/MultiPlayer?TournamentID=3505
Group G: http://warlight.net/MultiPlayer?TournamentID=3506
Group H: http://warlight.net/MultiPlayer?TournamentID=3507

Concept

The Promotion/Relegation League is a seasonal group of round-robin Warlight tournaments, always on the classic “strategic middle earth” map and settings. Players are grouped into small groups (6 on average). At the end of each season, the top players of each group are promoted to the next group above. Bottom players are relegated to the next group below. Middle players remain in the same group.

The league is meant to appeal to players who want to see, over the course of several seasons, where their natural level of competition might take them. For new, skilled participants, this means patience in getting to the levels where they will be challenged. Hopefully, that is part of the fun. The idea is to see how quickly you can progress, how long you can stay high, or how long it takes to stop a skid.

Rules

The league is run with a balance of predictability and flexibility. Final decisions are made by the league administrator (currently Chokecherry) with an attempt to consider input of league players.

Currently, the model is to typically have the top two promote and the bottom two relegate but there are exceptions. Where there is default – a player becoming inactive or asking to bow out of the league – there can be more promotions to fill in the vacancy. Where this happens in several groups there can be a lot of shuffling. The principle, though, is to usually have at least one player relegated. Several retirements mean fewer relegations and more super-promotions to keep the groups filled.

Any player inactive in the last three games of any tournament is deemed to be out of the league and can only return as a new player in an expansion or bottom group.

Placements in a round-robin are determined by number of wins. In the event of a tie, placements are determined by head-to-head results among the tied. Occasionally, there are loops of ties that cannot be resolved by the head-to-head rule. A tie-breaking tournament then takes place unless all the players involved agree to otherwise settle the tie. Where a tie-breaking tournament would delay the league too much, average turn-speed is rewarded to resolve such ties.

Anyone can join the league, members and non-members alike, simply by request in the most recent “Promotion/Relegation League” forum thread. New players begin in the bottom group or in an expansion group. Promotions from expansion groups depend on numbers within the new groups.

Before the beginning of each season, a summary of the movements will be announced to allow for questions or corrections. The league works most smoothly if those who wish to bow out of it let the administrator know before the new season begins instead of simply declining to play after the groups have been determined and tournaments begun.

For the curious, here is a link to the season 5 thread

http://warlight.net/Forum/Thread?ThreadID=4655&Offset=0

This contains links to previous season threads which in turn provide all links to previous tournaments and development of the idea.

New settings for Season 7?

Season 6 is underway with a good start with 49 active participants.

The suggestion has been made that it is time to change settings and/or the map.

I am OK with this suggestion, but only if there is strong support for the idea. I am conscious of the fact that the league has always been advertised as always using the strategic medium earth map and settings. So before making changes I would like to hear from players, particularly if they object to change. Do you support the idea of changing maps or settings season by season? I am going to listen particularly to the long-term players on this.

Would you quit the league if there were changes?

If there were teams I would say yes. Then you could use Roman map and/or Europe. Not sure in 1v1 that you should though.

i will join if there are team games. i will exit from 1vs1 next season because of my horrible performance.

Team promotion/relegation leagues (2v2 and 3v3) are already hosted by Lolowut. If you want to play in one you should look there. This should stay 1v1, otherwise the promotion/relegation system will be broken.

As for varying the settings, it is an interesting idea although it has some downsides. For one, it might cause some unwanted shuffling between groups as some players are better on some maps and worse at others. They would be going up and down season-to-season as the settings are changing. On the other hand it might help to rate players based on their all-round skill, assuming a player won't drop too far on a season with a "bad" map if he keeps solid performance most of the time. And it will help to fight boredom, so... i'm don't know if I'm for or against this :)

I'm against the change. I like the Strategic 1v1 template and I will probably quit if we change it every season.

I'd prefer to keep it the way it is.

I'm happy with the format and map as is. But I'm not against a change. I think that if you do change maps, it should be used for a minimum of 3 seasons. I'm against changing maps every season.

After the famouse warlighters tournament it is reveled that changing to a roman map causing biasty.

Could you try that sentence again? Not to be a dick or anything, but I genuinely have no idea what you meant there Skunk.

Also on the topic of map changing: I like the idea of keeping it fresh, but it could potentially screw some people because they have to play on a map they either don't like or suck on. I think it would be nearly impossible to keep every participant satisfied with a new map.

Skunk's post translated into Proper English:

Well I do interject, good sirs, that it has become apparent to me after hosting the 'Famous Warlighter's Tournament' that changing to the 'Roman' maps causes an unbalance! Nay, I also say that it may be completely biased to certain players who have more experience on aforementioned maps. Thereby, it is of my opinion that the next template shall have none of this 'Roman' map shenanigans.

I won't mind playing on a different map, but honestly, I think this will mess up the whole league, especially if you change the settings too often.


But if people what to play different settings, why not host a side event? Like a direct elimination tournament for the players of the Promotion/Relegation League, played on different settings and map. Called it a "league cup" if you want.

The league cup idea might make more sense.

Thanks for the input. I'll continue to consider views, but it doesn't seem like we have the strong consensus to make changes. So unless there is a new avalanche of demand, I think we keep things as they are.

Aper's idea of a side tournament sounds like a good idea, but I would look for a different volunteer to set that up. It's enough for me to keep up with running the original concept.

UPDATE

There are a handful of games left to play out but we already know the group winners.

Congrat's to Frankdeslimste who wins elite Group A tournament against formidable competition. Congrat's also to Noobschool, Dreuj, Dodo Commander, Z-Dog, Tenshi, It's Cool Man (Fridge) and Mirror - winners respectively of groups B,C,D,E,F,G and H.

As usual, a preview of group movements will be posted here for comment before the start of next season, as soon as the final results are known (maybe within a week or so).

Participants, please let us know now if you do not want to be included next season.

When is the next season? I hope there is a little delay because I already have a ton of games going on.

can i get an invite for season 7 please :)

Me too please :)