As far as I know, the NSL has never opened up a feedback thread for previous contests or seasons. With Season 4 pending, I'd like to hear your thoughts on the NSL and particularly Season 3.

Points to consider for Season 4 (may require separate threads):

1) Custom HUD Mod by Mendasp will be included. This is a done deal. I included it in the World Championship (not an NSL sponsored event) and it was met with glee and zero drawbacks. It's also already a part of the AusNS2 (Australian) league.

2) NSL Mod by Dragon. The pause function will work or is working and will be implemented during next season for disconnects. The question is, how many times per round(onece?) or match are you able to use one and how long should the pause last?

3) NO Clean Up Week or reschedules past the allotted time. My vision for the NSL is to have an active league with active teams. I'd like teams to play matches on a weekly basis and not delay matches and have marathon sessions at the end of the season. This is unfair to other teams that want to and are able to play weekly. The rules will reflect this sentiment and allow teams to schedule a match over two possible weekends or forfeit.

4) How do we handle situations where 2 teams can't agree to a time to play? I really don't have a good idea for this one. Suggestions would be helpful.

5) Possible change in merc rule from 2 mercs allowed per match down to 1. To go along with the league value of active teams, I was adamant about allowing only 1 merc per round/match, but considering the state of the competitive community this may not be feasible and it may be better to just allow teams a chance to play. This would be rather disappointing though, because if a team is active, it should be able to field 5 players, especially if it's a confirmed match.

6) Roster changes with locked rosters 2 weeks before the end of the season. This isn't to bar players from joining teams, but keeping the environment fair. Last season, we saw players from teams who had no chance for the playoffs stack teams that were in contention. Also, we saw teams that had complete roster turn overs in the last weeks AND during the playoffs. This is just plain silly.

7) Add ns2_nsl_eclipse into the map rotation for Season 4? I'm kind of lukewarm towards jambi (the community has always been split on it) and hoping to add more maps into the rotation. Please direct your thoughts towards this thread: http://www.ensl.org/topics/1005

8.) Reducing the size of the premier division. Let's be honest, there's really only 5 or 6 teams that are able to compete in it.

I decided to open up a thread to gather your thoughts. This is your chance to shape our league. Your feedback is important, especially if you have grievances and participated in the last few seasons. Criticism against me or the league is fine, but please keep this constructive and cordial. It will be shut down otherwise.

#BlameZefram

Hey Zefram,

Regarding #2. Pauses are fine and all but I think there should be a maximum time limit for pauses. It would be annoying to have to wait 30 minutes for someone to come back regardless of whatever the excuse is. I know power surges, your ferret chewing on your cable, heart attacks and a litany of other reasons for someone to disconnect/drop are possible but there should be a 5-10 minute limit on a pause (maybe less?). If that's the case where someone cannot return I think a merc or a stand by team member should be allowed to enter so the match may be finished. As long as both teams agree on the merc before hand.

I definitely agree with #3. If the matches can't be played, there should be no make up week. Try to keep things on schedule as best you can and finish the season on time.

As for #7, I think the community will always be split on ns2_nsl_eclipse and Jambi. As for eclipse, we should probably give it a go this season just to see what people think of it and how games play out. A lot of play testing was done for balancing, but we need a full season to play the map and figure out whether it's competitive or not; instead of teams leaving it on the back burner of maps they never want to play.

As a caveat to #7, some may love eclipse, some may hate it, but it's better than constantly playing Veil, Tram, Biodome, Descent (rarely) and Summit. We might as well mix it up a bit.

My only suggestion for #4 would be if teams can't decide on a match time to play, it should count on their score as a tie. I know that this could be used as a strategy for some teams to write off playing a stronger/better team, but if they don't play then they'll have to make it up which is what I think you're trying to avoid. Just a suggestion, take it or leave it.

jambi needs to stay, we already got such a limited amount of maps that we cant kick a playable map out.

I think your thoughts on items are well founded. My thoughts are like previous comments the pause should have a maximum time and there should be a limit to how many times it can be used in a round. I'd personally love to see eclipse played. Its small, aggressive and different so it brings something new. NSL Mod, Minimal HUD great great. Scheduling, I agree there should be no play laters, teams should have up till the next week of scheduled play to complete their match. This essentially gives them in all reality two weeks to play since they can schedule it any time. As far as two teams not being able to schedule a time, that is very hard but really an admin would most likely step in if it hadnt been scheduled and work with the teams to either find a time that can work or give them a TIE in points like what was previously posted.

Australian teams love Jambi, we think its a fantastic map. I would not swap it out for Eclipse, but instead have both... assuming Eclipse isn't hopelessly unbalanced.

Is Caged being played for NSL S4? We also love that map in Australia..

Jambi is easily the best map in NS2. Who's split on it. Show yourself. =(

Nice post Zefram, I agree with everything you've said here. My biggest problem with the NSL and how it has been run previously is how lapse the rules are on scheduling matches. The dates really have just been completely disregarded in the past with no real risk of forfeits.

How do we handle situations where 2 teams can't agree to a time to play? I really don't have a good idea for this one. Suggestions would be helpful.

Tricky with how dead NS2 is and needing the mix up various timezones.

It should go to whichever team puts effort into getting the game played. Compromising on lineup or offering a large window on the weekend or something.

set a default time for each possible region? like one for:
eu v eu
eu v na
eu v aus
na v na
na v aus
aus v aus

kinda sloppy, but i don't see how anything else is fair or enforceable

Lowering the teams in prem will lower the overall skill of the community, some div1 teams could improve alot if they played decent competition. Being prem opens some pcw opportunities, even if i dont think they are the best way to train but thats another topic.

Agreed with the reschedule, tired of bullshitters who cant find 1h to play their match in the weekend, joining the season means you will have to make room in your schedule for ns2. Same for the matches starting 30minutes after time it just becomes a pain to wait for the streams to start.

Default time should favor EU teams. The most skill is in EU, the most teams taking part are in EU.

Pauses should definitely be no more than 10 minutes. Maybe more like 5. 5 minutes should be more than enough time to get any dropped players back in, even if they play on a potato.

As for clean up weeks - Maybe have one clean up week? Perhaps always force default, only allow reschedules if both teams agree to it + it gets confirmed by an admin?

My team had to push one match because the one weekend wasn't good for us (I was out of town) and the next wasn't good for the Aus team (their comm had exams or something). If we only had Sunday --> Saturday to play, it would have screwed us. So maybe if both teams can't play, give a double forfeit unless it gets finished? But only if both teams request to push it? I completely disagree with shit like DN did, pushing almost every match in the season until the last weekend. However, people do unfortunately have lives. I don't want to have to pad my roster in case I have two guys out of town on the same weekend.

Kaneh

set a default time for each possible region? like one for:
eu v eu
eu v na
eu v aus
na v na
na v aus
aus v aus

kinda sloppy, but i don't see how anything else is fair or enforceable

I kind of like this idea. It kind of sucks because there's not one single default time to remember, but it fixes the problem of default not being friendly to all teams. Might be a pain for Zefram to create all the match times come season 4.


Jambi - What's the balance on that map compared to the balance on Eclipse? I don't think it's a big deal to remove it if we're replacing it with 1 or 2 other maps. We're pretty used to only having a handful of maps anyway...


Locked rosters pre-finals should have happened AGES ago. Thank goodness.

Ban the use of whips -> more pvp less pve.

#4 - Teams organise your games and if it doesn't get played no one gets points. Stop harassing Zefram with hearsay and have proof you attempted to organise something. If both teams attempt to organize the game and you still can't get your shit together then bad luck.

As far as I know, the NSL has never opened up a feedback thread for previous contests or seasons. With Season 4 pending, I'd like to hear your thoughts on the NSL and particularly Season 3.

Points to consider for Season 4 (may require separate threads):

1) Agree. Awesome.

2) I think a 10 minute pause time should be the limit. I know a lot of players spend about 8 minutes just precaching to join a game so just one disconnect from that player could be fatal to a team.

3) I think what Wasabi said about having the week scheduled and the following week to play a game sounds like a good idea.
So for example a game scheduled for this weekend 12/01/14 or for Americans and other alien countries 01/12/14. Teams have the week leading up to the game and the week after to play that match. Essentially the maximum any team can play in one week is 2 games.

4) If both teams can not play within the 2 weeks given to play any one match then it is a double forfeit no matter what. This can not be played at a later date and no points will be given to either team for that week.
To explain the reasoning to the nay sayers. You have 14 days to schedule and play a game that will take a maximum of 2 hours out of your time. If you sign up to the season you need to be prepared to make the time to play. If teams know they will have players away then you have 2 options, get 2 mercs (as is the current limit) or add a couple more guys to your roster to allow for this.

5) Not sure if I agree with this one. At the end of the day, the competitive community is still pretty small and we all just want to see games played. I don't care if a team wants to get 2 mercs or they want to add a couple of guys to their roster but for the sake of keeping this community active, lets not make it too hard to get games played (I know this sounds contradictory to my previous point but that is a necessary change to keep the games flowing).

6) I actually quite like this idea.

7) While I am not too fond of eclipse and it does seem to be somewhat alien favoured at first glance, I think that given time good teams will develop some strats that can shift the favour towards marines and then low and behold everyone is copying that strat whether they understand it or not. So I would not mind seeing it in competitive play. I also would not mind leaving it out either :P Also please leave Jambi in, I like it and as has been previously mentioned we don't want to be playing tram, summit and veil etc ALL the time. This is another reason I would quite like to see eclipse in the map rotation.

8.) In my opinion the top 2 teams from division 1 can hold their own in Prem division given the will to succeed and the practice. Their is little to no skill difference in the players, it is just down to game knowledge and decision making in the matches that really let these teams down.

I think however it is much more fun watching an underdog struggle and succeed than it is to watch the teams you know do what you expect of them.

Oh I also forgot to mention ascension who I think had some really good games in the NS2WC.

#3 you need fixed times for both teams and for EU VS any other timezone

if both (or one) team cannot play on the default time, they can agree on a time to replay the match within 1 week. This time must be confirment by both teams and the admins before the first default time is over.
reschedule after the first default time is not allowed.

If one of the teams does not show up on the new set time, the other team gets a forefeit win. You need six players on an offical NSL Server on the set time.

If both teams cannot play on the agreed second time, both teams will get forefeit lose.
_______________________________________________________________________________________

I think this rule change would allow teams to reschedule and it would be less work for the admins to clean it up. Think about one of the most important rounds in the season and your commander is not avaible for 5-6 days.

You could also add: Teams are only allowed to reschedule once. (Means if Sauna ask Radical for a reschedule, radical still can ask Godar for a reschedule the next week. Saunaman would not be able to reschedule against Snails.)

Don't make rescheduling matchs a pain in the ass. Keep the clean up week, and let teams reschedule their match even if it's three weeks after the one they should have played. I too wish this community was active enough, but it is not. Having too many ties/forfeits isn't a good idea. Especially if the match could have been played later.

Now of course, if one of the team was able to play and don't want to reschudle it's fine. You can enforce rules and all. But if both teams want to play, just let them.

"2) NSL Mod by Dragon. The pause function will work or is working and will be implemented during next season for disconnects. The question is, how many times per round(once?) or match are you able to use one and how long should the pause last?"

I guess the pause-function is only for the purpose of trouble-shooting (e.g. reconnecting) - and not for taking a "time-out"? Under this premise, the length of the pause needs to be long enough to solve the problem, which triggered it. However, one can easily argue that reconnecting can take rather long (PC crash, reboot, setting ts, starting steam, starting ns2, precaching... 5 minutes? 10 minutes? 15 minutes?). It makes it quite easy to abuse for a hidden "timeout", similarly to the rematch by "crashing" in the first 2 minutes. I'm not saying that this is day-to-day business, just saying, that this exploit exists.

Personally I would be much happier, if there would exist an easy and quick way to get a substitute in. By quick I'm talking about an interval of second to half a minute, similar to a substitution in other teamsports. This would solve fake-crashes, hidden timeouts and such. For such a quick substitute the substituting player obviously would need to connect to the server right from the start. They could stay in RR (hell boring though) to not get information, which would be normally hidden to them, if they would be on the field. In a perfect setup, the substitutes would be able to spec, but only see what their commander could see. This would demand a mod, however, which is probably not possible until end of February.

To not substitute 20 pres into the game there would be mod needed whatsoever. The substitute should get the some amount of pres as the player who gets substituted, so the team can neither get an advantage out of it, nor gets punished (onos saver crashes with 57 pres? not nice...). To avoid stupid things like substituting the good fade player with the aimbot-player each round, the number of overall substitution should be limited by a rather small number. 2-4 subs seems plausible for me. So, if teams really want to adapt, they can, but risk not being able to substitute, when one of their players crashes (similar to teamsports, where you have a limited number of substitutions, too.).

I'd prefer such a substituting system over any combination of pause-reconnecting-scheme. I think it can be quicker and fairer. However, it needs a mod (although not a very complicated one, I guess?) obviously. So this idea might have to pend until S5, maybe.

"3) NO Clean Up Week or reschedules past the allotted time. My vision for the NSL is to have an active league with active teams. I'd like teams to play matches on a weekly basis and not delay matches and have marathon sessions at the end of the season. This is unfair to other teams that want to and are able to play weekly. The rules will reflect this sentiment and allow teams to schedule a match over two possible weekends or forfeit."

I agree.

"4) How do we handle situations where 2 teams can't agree to a time to play? I really don't have a good idea for this one. Suggestions would be helpful."

The table of default times for the 3 regions seems a good idea to me. By the rules of "fair play" both teams should of course make a reasonable effort for scheduling the match. However life can get in the way and of course there is again the possibility to exploit, by blocking off any suggested date by the opponent. Having a default time as a last resort is certainly helping. If one team decides to block any suggestions (by whatever reasons) default time it must be then. If one team can't make it to that time, it means no points for that team. If both teams can't make it, it's no points for any team(?). I don't see another possibility. Having the reasonable default times, makes it clear to any participant, when they need to play weeks in advance, so they can start organising life/opponent around it or live with the point loss.

But: Both teams SHOULD make a reasonable effort for rescheduling, if one team wishes to do so. Just ignoring rescheduling requests can't be a way to win matches. Referees are needed here.

"5) Possible change in merc rule from 2 mercs allowed per match down to 1. To go along with the league value of active teams, I was adamant about allowing only 1 merc per round/match, but considering the state of the competitive community this may not be feasible and it may be better to just allow teams a chance to play. This would be rather disappointing though, because if a team is active, it should be able to field 5 players, especially if it's a confirmed match."

How about a specific number of merc-usages through the entire season equal to the number of matches you are about to play (but no more than 2 per match)? So, when sh*t hits the fan you can get that extra-merc, but your possibilities to get mercs into your team decreases for future games. I agree on the point that an active team should be able to post 6 players for a confirmed match. Teams might consider increasing their sizes, if they run into trouble at this point often.

The question I have about this topic is: What if a team has 5 players and no merc at hand (or no more merc-usages left that season, assuming the proposed system)? Are they allowed to play a 5 vs. 6, or do they have to concede? I would vote for the 5 vs. 6.

"6) Roster changes with locked rosters 2 weeks before the end of the season. This isn't to bar players from joining teams, but keeping the environment fair. Last season, we saw players from teams who had no chance for the playoffs stack teams that were in contention. Also, we saw teams that had complete roster turn overs in the last weeks AND during the playoffs. This is just plain silly."

I agree.

"8.) Reducing the size of the premier division. Let's be honest, there's really only 5 or 6 teams that are able to compete in it."

I strongly disagree. If there would be more teams around, I would even go into the opposite direction of increasing division sizes. I like the experience to play against the "big guys", it's a good opportunity to improve on your game and sometimes to growth beyond your previous performance - not only as a single player, but also as a team. Why would you take away the possibility of a surprising win for a div1 team? The top six not only have to beat their direct opponents in their struggle for the trophy, but also have to watch out, not to trip over a "minor". Since that might make the difference in the end. This factor makes a lot of leagues throughout a large variety of sports exciting. I see little reason why to relinquish on this.

Greets,

tudy

double post, sigh.

season2

Most of the smaller teams and most of the top teams did not want to have so many unbalanced games in a season. They consider it a waste of time. Think about a div1 team lossing all games 0-4.

The top teams just play a 30minute game and have to wait another week for some good games.

I rather have a short season with intense games, then a 12 weeks season with half of the games being a waste of time.

I remember a lot of talk about a ladder some time ago, is that off the table then? (not arguing for or against it, just asking)

The pause currently lasts for a maximum of 120 seconds in PCWs, and 90 in officials. Each team is also restricted to a maximum of 3 pauses per round. I can switch the pause feature to being enabled again by default.

This

Kaneh

set a default time for each possible region? like one for:
eu v eu
eu v na
eu v aus
na v na
na v aus
aus v aus

And definitely not this:

herakles

Default time should favor EU teams. The most skill is in EU, the most teams taking part are in EU.

Unbelievably silly.

Zefram, feedback to make this a better season: Have an admin team. Makes use of some of the community members that would be willing to help you out from different regions. Having more than one admin means you don't have to be stressed out about stuff, and gives other people to bounce decisions off of. The AusNS2 League wouldn't be running without our admin team as a whole, whom I trust completely, and our league is smaller than this, and local.

Not gonna play against some baddies at 3am with a 200 shitty ping when i could play decent euros at 20h.

Pretty sure that if any AU teams participate they're aware that they pretty much are only going to play in the morning AU time on a weekend and this would need to be the default time for the match.

AU teams are the minority and this is predominately an EU league so I don't see the problem. Just the fact of the situation.

Herakles needs his beauty sleep.

Z1) Custom HUD Mod by Mendasp will be included.....

1)I hope this is the same like the lightning in nsl maps? As in that the client can use nsl or vanilla? I deeply dislike any changes to looks I dont make myself.

Z2) NSL Mod by Dragon. The pause function will work or is working and will be implemented during next season for disconnects. The question is, how many times per round(onece?) or match are you able to use one and how long should the pause last?

2) I would say the average of time needed to reconnect would be fine. I can not say what that average would be. To long and folk may lose the feel for the match I assume.

Z3) NO Clean Up Week or reschedules past the allotted time...

3) I read this as 2 weeks time? That should be fine.

Z4) How do we handle situations where 2 teams can't agree to a time to play? I really don't have a good idea for this one. Suggestions would be helpful.

4) equally clueless but interested.

Z5) Possible change in merc rule from 2 mercs allowed per match down to 1. To go along with the league value of active teams...

5) I like the idea of max mercs per season, but would in any case voice strong opinion about letting the other team allow mercs still. (without any peer pressure to 'allow'.

Z6) Roster changes with locked rosters 2 weeks before the end of the season.

6) fair nuff.

Z7) Add ns2_nsl_eclipse into the map rotation for Season 4? I'm kind of lukewarm towards jambi...

7) to few maps as is. Definitely for!

Z8.) Reducing the size of the premier division. Let's be honest, there's really only 5 or 6 teams that are able to compete in it.

8. Im still at the point in ns2 where I think fighting better teams or much better teams is all fun. I dont mind them being big. Also allows for more chance of different finalists I hope.

1. Good.

2. I like the idea of a time-limit (maybe 15 - 20 mins, for people with slow computers?), with only 1 or 2 pauses allowed per team per match.

3 & 4. Why not allow teams to just play 1 or 2 matches in the clean-up week (to stop teams cramming all their matches in after lots of practice), but still allow teams which cannot schedule a match to play? I'd rather have a few late matches, than none at all, and I'd be really surprised if every team was able to schedule every game for a decent time throughout the whole season.

5. I like Tudy's idea for mercs - you're allowed so many mercs for the entire season, so can have 2 - 3 in desperate situations, but can't consistently rely on mercs.

6. Can't see any real problems.

7. Why not put eclipse into the custom map cup? If it would mean too many maps, just take jambi out, as I can't see any reason to take it out of the season rotation now.

8. I'd let the teams who would be lower in the premiere division decide, tbh. It'll only really affect them anyway, and could make for some surprising games.

What about handling pauses much like "Time Outs" in American football? Only the captain of the team can call for one (since it will be their players timing out or crashing) and you only get so many per map, so they must be used wisely. No need to pause a game automatically if the team captain deems it unnecessary.

A standard time limit should be used and the ready function used after. Say a 5-10 minute pause and a 1 minute timer for "Ready up" to resume. A limit of 2 pauses per map, per team would be sufficient.

RisingSun

What about handling pauses much like "Time Outs" in American football? Only the captain of the team can call for one (since it will be their players timing out or crashing) and you only get so many per map, so they must be used wisely. No need to pause a game automatically if the team captain deems it unnecessary.

This is unnecessary. Sometimes the captains are the ones dropping. Anybody on the team should be able to call for a pause. It is your team's own responsibility to work it out as to whether or not it's necessary to call for one.

I don't like the idea of timeouts. NS2 is fast paced and (a big) part of its excitement is, that decissions need to be done in real time.

Calling for timeouts destroys something, what I think lies on the very basis of the game. Which is, why I see it as an exploit to let a player "crash", so you have the reconnecting-timeout.

1) CUSTOM HUD
Agreed. No issues here.


2) TIME-OUT/PAUSE
——— Each team possesses one PAUSE per map played.
* Excessive PAUSING may result in a disqualification/forfeit of that round (at the referee's discretion).

——— The PAUSE function must be requested by a player from either team [from SC2 lingo: "pp" is a request for PAUSE], supplied with a reason in all-chat (e.g. pp Zefram disconnected; pp Jaivol crashed; etc.), and performed by the referee.
* If no referee is present, a player must supply a reason prior to performing the PAUSE action him/herself. He/she does NOT need approval from the other team to pause the game——only to alert the other team of his/her intent to PAUSE.

——— The PAUSE function may ONLY be used for a) disconnects, and b) excessive lag for more than one player (regardless of which team they are on) [A.K.A. server heart attacks].
* In the case of excessive server lag, teams may elect to wait out the lagstorm or move to a new server. This determination will hinge upon how much time has elapsed in the current round, but as has always been the case with NSL, it should come down to a gentleman's agreement between the two teams' captains. If the captains cannot agree, the referee has the discretion to render a decision: PAUSE and wait for the lag to subside; award a win based on ABSOLUTELY DECISIVE map/round control (only if the match has exceeded ~25 minutes in length) and move to a new server; or restart the round on a new server.
* Bugs are NOT a valid reason for PAUSING and should instead be resolved by the referee; in the absence of a referee, the other team must agree to restart the match (only applies to games that are < 2:00 into the round as per the existing rule pertaining to round restarts).

——— No PAUSE duration may exceed 5 minutes in length [not sure if it exists, but perhaps a timer can be added to the HUD when a pause is executed; teams can screenshot/Fraps/etc. for proof in the absence of a referee/caster].


3) CLEAN-UP WEEK
At first, I was in agreement with getting rid of it, but after thinking about it and reading some of the other replies, I thought that Clean-Up Week should stay... but now I'm changing my mind again. I think that Clean-Up week should be gotten rid of, and instead, a new rule should be added:

"ALL matches MUST be played either the week OF, or the week AFTER they are scheduled to be played."

In other words, Week 1 matches must be played by the Saturday of Week 2 (or Sunday of Week 3, depending on time zones). Fourteen days are a suitable time frame within which both teams can agree on a schedule AND play the match. This will also avoid the debacle of the incredibly hectic Clean-Up we've all come to know and love. With this rule, teams will be playing at MOST two matches a week, instead of cramming five into one weekend before the post-season.

But obviously, there's the issue of...


4) DISAGREEMENTS OVER SCHEDULING
This is a touchy subject, but I think there's a consensus that it has to be resolved, and penalties must be substantial in order to encourage teams to play the games rather than dodge the better teams for a 0-0 result. As others have said, I believe that Kaneh's suggestion of default times for every different combination of regional play is the best route to take. Zefram, like you said, you want an active league with active teams. When teams sign up to play, they are making a commitment to NSL. Therefore, the onus of responsibility falls upon the teams and players to show up at default times (you can create polls on the forums to determine the most comfortable times for each region and ask all clan leaders to participate... a lot of work, surely, but necessary if the season is to progress without hiccups). If you take this approach, I also think that adapting CAL's Counter-Strike rulebook for NSL might be a good idea (I'm not sure if it was the same for CAL NS1).

Let's say that the default time for NA vs. NA matches will be set for Sundays @ 9PM EST.

Example Rule:
"Teams are NOT obligated to play at the default time IF and ONLY IF they mutually agree to another time within the two week time frame (See: CLEAN-UP WEEK proposal above).

If...:
——— no alternative time can be agreed upon, the team that produces more players at the default time will be given a 4-0 forfeit win. [You might also consider giving forfeit wins of this nature a lower point value, e.g. a 1-0 forfeit win, or a 2-0 forfeit win in order to discourage match-dodging. Though there are obvious issues with this, I'll address those in a second.]

——— a team has a history of match-dodging (i.e. a series of forfeit losses, meaning they cannot make the default time), they may be deactivated and disqualified from the season at the league admin's discretion.

Like I mentioned before, of course, there are noticeable issues and loopholes in this rule: you can still conceivably match-dodge your way to the top by disagreeing to all times proposed and then suddenly showing up with 6 at the default time (especially as a way to get a 'win' over a superior team), but let's take a look at the facts: the teams that are serious about NSL will make sure that they have a sufficient number of members who are able to play at the default time (whatever it may be set to), therefore encouraging punctuality, quality of play (through sheer commitment to play the game), and better competition as a result. So if you try to dodge a better team and show up with 6 players at the default time, it's very likely that your opponent will as well, and just stomp you.

I think that we're being too forgiving with the rules. Of course, you want it to be fair to all teams, but there has to be some semblance of order and structure with defined consequences, otherwise chaos (A.K.A. Season 3) will reign.

And I think to avoid drama, the rule should be changed so that ALL communication pertaining to scheduling MUST be posted on the NSL website on the appropriate match page. Any chat logs used from Steam/etc. conversations will NOT permissible during admin adjudication. If Player 1 attempts to schedule over Steam, Player 2 may confirm or deny, but should respond with something like: "Post it on NSL." Or Player 2 may be proactive and post him/herself: "So-and-so proposed __________ as a date for the match, and I agreed," which will ONLY be confirmed as the match date if/when responded to by Player 1.


5) I agree with you here, Zef. If the league is, indeed, active, one approved ringer should be the limit. This shouldn't be a problem, though, as #3 and #4 should weed out the less active teams.


6) Agreed. The clan-hopping at the end of Season 3 was pretty funny.
Perhaps you could introduce a rule:

"Each player may only change clans once per season."
-
OR
-
"If a player leaves one team for another, that player may not rejoin the original team for the duration of the season and its related post-season."


7) Like some of the others (*cough*Aussies*cough*<3) have said, Jambi should stay. It's a staple of competitive NS2 by this point. I also think that Eclipse should be introduced into the rotation. Perhaps make it a Week 1 map so that it can be tested; if it's found to be imba, at least it won't have AS big of an effect on teams' post-season seedings/hopes compared to a Week 6 or 7 Eclipse. If it's found to be SUPER-imba during the scrims leading up to Week 1, of course you could remove it from the rotation as was done with ns2_nsl_turtle (I think?) in Season 3.


8) Naturally, there will be a much smaller number of Premiere teams, relative to the other divisions. I'm not sure reducing the amount would be the best approach, although to be honest, I've kind of been out of the loop so I'm not sure who's still active for Season 4. Though, I think you have enough familiarity to know which teams belong where and to seed them properly.


And if anything goes wrong this season, just #BlameZefram and we can all sleep easy.

Agree with most of the stuff posted in comments. My other thoughts:

Timeout function -- I'd say 3 min max, 10min completely disrupts the flow of the game and if a key event is happening, I can see the system being abused so that teams can get a tactical timeout to regroup.

eclipse -- I don't think it's quite ready to be a comp map yet - haven't seen enough scrims on it to see if it would be viable, but first impressions aren't favourable.

Would like to hear people's thoughts on caged too.

And lol herakles i dont think any aus teams have actually played snails at all, let alone making you guys play at 3am. As Jekt said, most aus teams entering NSL understand that EU timezones are usually default, so that means playing on weekends for us around the middle of the day which isn't a hassle :)

It's hard to build hype and make the frenchies seen as the badboys to beat when even aussies are polite. WTF