VF Circuit: Season 1 Summary Thread

VF Circuit Blog

This thread will be used to summarize and discussed about the VF Circuit.

Upcoming Events:
PS3 League Round Robin #3 September 10th Deadline to register is Sunday, September 9th, Midnight (UTC -6), check the thread

PS3 League September Major September 15th Deadline to register is Friday, September 14th, Midnight (UTC -6), check the thread

360 League September Major September 16thDeadline to register is Sunday, September 15th, Midnight (UTC -6), check the thread

 

This is a summary of the feedback provided by the people after the first Round Robin event. The most common comments were the need for better communication. A 7-person bracket room that was efficiently run took just over 1 hour, but one that was not efficiently run could take close to 2 hours. I will try to make things clearer to those participating in the events, but the best way for these events to go smoothly is each person taking an active role.

Communication before and during the Event
One of the reasons the Circuit requires a VFDC account is everyone will have one place to discuss and communicate about matches and any problems that may occur through the shout box and PMs (with the new update to the website we will have to figure out some solution).

Participants should check into VFDC to get the most-up-to-date info on your group bracket. I noticed in both leagues a couple people never read or looked at the Group PM before the event started. Before each event, participants should get two messages. The first one is the challonge bracket email (the email that each person gave me when registering for the VF Circuit for the first time). If you do not have a challonge account, the email is the method to allow you to edit your match results. So check it out! The second message (PM on VFDC), a Group PM is sent usually several hours before your event.

The rooms are coordinated a lot more efficiently if people have headsets/mics. I know some people do not have them, so these people really should pay attention to what game is being played and who is up next. The VFDC shoutbox is another venue used to help coordinate these events, so if you do not listen by a headset, at least be on VFDC during the event.

Countdown timers are set-up so people who might be participating in the same bracket but are in different time zones, have a clear understood time. If people show up earlier before the event start time – or posting about your status, it makes it more efficient.

Host Issues
It was brought to my attention that the host of a room can possibly cause bad connections to others in the room. Everyone had a 1 bar connection display when I hosted a European bracket. If the issue is likely due to the host, another person in the room can volunteer to host and see if that improves the connection of all the players. This should be done before the event begins.

In another bracket, one player supposedly had 0 bar connection to the host, but 2-3 bar with other players. This apparently led to the player constantly getting disconnected. In such a circumstance-since it is related to just one player-all matches proceed as normal. After all the other players finish their matches, a new room can be made with a different host to finish the matches.

Consistent Connection Issues and Guidelines
Sometimes the connection issues are related to the PSN or XBL, but sometimes it can be fixed by the player’s end. The linked page has some general guidelines to make sure you have the best connection as possible. While we are trying to make this not be a major factor in these events, it will always be there.

The linked page is from PDF I made before the Circuit began with some minor edits. It provides some rules and guidelines related to the match. I will update this as needed and if anyone thinks something else is required, let me know.

Number of Matches
Several people wanted matches to be longer between players. While future events in the league may have different tounrmanet format and rules, there are two reasons why I prefer to keep it a single match per person in a round robin and likely in other events in the league:

First, for regular occurring events I want these events to not take a lot of time. For players in a round robin bracket, the wait time between 2 out of 3 matches to just one match is drastically increased and makes players wait longer for their matches.

Second, is related to a post made a while back by Myke when I was looking for feedback to making the Circuit: A post about single matches.

Schedule of Events
I tried to schedule events to meet majority of people's schedules. So far a bit over 50% of we the weekend seems to be the best time. Weekends are bad for some people, so I would like to try weeknights also. The third round robin will be on a Monday night.

Streaming
A lot of people have been asking about this for the VF Circuit. I would like the events on the Circuit to be streamed, only if the person streaming is not participating. The connection between players for the most part has been fairly good, but you never know if streaming can add more variables. This has not been my top priority, but if people that can stream would like to give their opinion that would be great.

Playing online is better than watching others play the game online.

Can you make the Brackets Earlier?
I don’t have the time to make the brackets earlier. If you play in the league long enough, you should get familiar with the players (when you are not playing in the room, watch their matches).

 

Did not get as much time to elaborate on other aspects of the circuit - but here are some other things to make note of:

Playing offline is better than playing online
I would prefer people go to offline events than play online. If there is a conflict with the online events with an offline event, show proof of some sort that you attended some tournament and you will still get a point in the circuit.

Tiered Brackets
If enough participate in an event, there will be brackets made based on your "ranking" (still working on it)

The normal bracket (basically round robin #1 brackets)
Z Bracket (aka "The Z Team" 360 round robin #2 bracket 3)
S Bracket (aka "The "Saiyans")


Training Sessions
Feel lost when playing the game? Want to improve? At my best, I am an intermediate level player, but I am fairly knowledgeable on the game system. 1 on 1 or several people in a room with the single purpose to train for a couple hours. This is geared toward those that finished in the bottom third of their brackets. Send direct message or something and we can set a date and time to train.

Prizes
I hope to be able to have registration for the major events up soon with the type of prizes available soon.

 

Added the current standings and results to the blog.

PS3 League Standings, Results, and Event Confirmation

360 League Standings, Results, and Event Confirmation

 

Corrected some errors in the standings. If anyone notice something wrong with them, let me know.

 

I'm posting replies to a PM on here as it likely will answer questions other people will have about the Circuit.

Just to make things clear. The R, Z, and S bracket and status is separated from the points system used for some of prizes given at the end of the season. In special events (aka the the current Round Robins), everyone get the same amount of points--1 point for participation. The the major events are where people will get different amount of points based on their placement. The two leagues will be partitioned into divisions before the first major event.

The Z or S status is separated from the points system used for awarding prizes at the end of the season. If enough people with the Z or S status is playing in a special event, I will put them together in the same bracket. The idea is to put people of similar level to play against each other. Basically, to qualify for the Z bracket and get first priority, the person needs to finish top 2 in their R bracket and have a record of > .500 in that bracket.

People participating in the Z bracket: Top 2 qualifies to the S bracket. Those in the middle with .500 or better record are still qualified to play in future Z brackets. Those finished at the bottom with < .500 record plays in R brackets again.

Those with Z status, but did not get to play in a Z bracket, are still qualified to play in a future Z bracket (just need more people to play in the events to get more Z brackets!).

8PM +/- 1 hour your local time. Unless there are some unusual circumstances (a message will be sent to people).

 

Chibiaya - stream if there is a bracket with 7 or less people. What times are you free to stream events? Since you are living in the eastern USA...the European brackets so far starts around 2PM or 3PM EST. North American brackets starts 8PM EST or up to 11PM EST.

Let me know what your schedule is like.

I know many others have indicated they wanted to stream stuff in the past - Dipstick, Blackstar, Johoseph, Tricky, Brisal, etc. If you guys are still interested (and streaming a bracket you are not playing in), we can talk about it here.

Thanks.

 

ok Chibiaya - sounds great for 360.

anybody on PS3 that want to volunteer to stream?

 

PS3 Round Robin #2 is over. Kind of late, but I will try to elaborate more

The more feedback (even if negative) the better. It will allow me to fine tuned these online tournaments to be playable for majority of the people. If people are shy and don't want to offend others, you can privately send the feedback to me (as was intended and written in the PDF before the Circuit started).

Disconnects and/or Desynchs.
I will post in more detail later, but I want to bring up the main issue experienced with Round Robin #2: In at least 3 brackets, there were multiple issues of disconnects or desynchs (something I don't think we can fix on our end, but is related to PSN and the game). What is the best way to deal with this issue? I will think about it more before posting again.

Again, thanks for everyone that participated, those hosting rooms and helping with the running of these brackets.

 

Thanks for the feedback, I will try to address most of them, but just want to say that the Rules and Guidelines section of the VF Circuit will be updated soon.

 

Rules and Guidelines have been updated. I put the two rules with the changes listed below (bold italicized the new stuff). Let me know if this makes sense and people agree with these new rules. In addition, you will notice that rule 4 can only be effectively done if everyone in the bracket communicates with each other. Thus, I strongly encourage everyone to be on VFDC shoutbox during your match.

An example on how to deal with the sync issues:
Player 1 states that he/she saw:
Round 1: P1 Win
Round 2: P1 Win
Round 3: P2 Win
Round 4: P1 Win
Round 5: -
Player 1 wins (3-1)

Player 2 states that he/she saw:
Round 1: P1 Win
Round 2: P1 Win
Round 3: P2 Win
Round 4: P2 Win
Round 5: P2 Win
Player 2 wins (3-2)

The agreement between the two players is three rounds played, with Player 1 leading 2-1. Thus, when the match is replayed, it will start off in the fourth round with Player 1 leading 2-1.