What's next for F13 Bloodbowl?

[IainC]

The end of Season 6 has just wrapped up and I think it's maybe time to take a look at what we want to do for the future. Here are some questions that I'd like people to consider:

Are you up for a season 7?
Would you want future leagues to use the Chaos Edition rather than the LE (I'm assuming most of us already have CE anyway).
We didn't get 32 players last season and this caused some organisational headaches. Would you like to see us recruit players from other venues (such as Qt3 or Brokenforum) who might not be f13ers and might not want to participate in the forums otherwise?
What do you want to do regarding new teams, TV limits etc?

I'm absolutely not looking to start up a new league right away but I'd like to get opinions on what rules we should be using and whether the kind of leagues we ran before are still viable.

[luckton]

- I would be up for a season 7.  My Norse team just finished cutting it's teeth at the end of season 6, and never got to curb-stomp faces in the Failoffs.

- Since CE is reverse compatible with LE, I don't see why not.  More variety = good thing, IMO.

- I think branching out to other niche forums is a great idea, and the two you mentioned seem like-minded to us.  We also have the possibility of advertising applicants through our Steam Community group, if we really didn't care that much about just how cynically-minded the person is 

- For the rules, I think the current iteration works.  Maybe if we get a really active season 7 from branching out and have some more participation we may need to revisit them, but I'm cool with what we've got for now.

[eldaec]

Definitely up for s7.

Adding extra people via another forum sounds good.

Current rules are fine. Relaxing the TV limit also fine.

Not planning to run a d&m or similar right now unless people shout that they want it. Seems like the break is doing good. Do plan to shout at the masters people to finish that off.

[Ruvaldt]

I am all over a season 7.  Even if the numbers are reduced, we're a great community, and there is absolutely no reason to stop.  Hell, season 1 only had around 12 or 14, I think.  I'm fine with a smaller group to destroy.

I'm all for advertising the league to bring in new people.  I also think the TV limit should be done away with.  We should also use the Chaos edition.  There is no reason not to.

We should be more strict on games not being played to keep things moving along though.  I also think that championship teams should be required to retire.

Can't wait for season 7.

[eldaec]

One s6 innovation I think we should repeat is running the groups independent of the playoffs so we can accept any even number of players.

Qualification round is all well and good - but not as good as letting everyone play. If the groups have to be different sizes or playoffs need to be constructed separately in order to fit in all applicants then I give no fucks.

[Llyse]

I'm chomping at the bit for the next season.

More people is better just not sure about forum logistics... but more blood bowlll

More strictness around game deadlines is good

No more TV limit's cool

Definitely Chaos Edition since it's backward compatible

[satael]

I'm all for season 7 if someone will do the organizing (and keeping people within the time limit within which to get the games played)

[lamaros]

I'm up for s7.

[ezrast]

Count me in. I'm already looking forward to making a new team again, getting smashed again, and vowing never to stray from my lizards again, again.

No real preference on group size. A quiet mention on other fora couldn't hurt but I'd be cool with keeping it to just us as well.

I'm all for tight restrictions on feeder promotions, but that's because I almost never play feeder league games. I'd rather not have to grind out purples in battlegrounds before being competitive against the catasses in arenas.

[Megrim]

Definitely in for next season. As far as the other changes go, the only one I'm truly unsure about, is the dropping of TV caps for Feeder League teams. It could lead to some, abuse, to be honest. Now I don't think that there would be a great deal of that sort of thing with our player base, but it does make me hesitate. There might be some sense in looking at Spiralling Expenses however, if enough people feel that high TV teams are an issue.

If we want to bring in other forums/communities into our league, I think that it would be fine, but we just have to be careful not to over-rely on outside players to make up the numbers. Partly I feel, this is because BB is an unforgiving game, and from what I've seen of some of the other forum leagues, well, to put it politely, I suspect that there may be a lot of tears if they end up being exposed to (just as an example purely) an equivalent of Ruvaldt's Chaos team. We can keep in mind that we don't absolutely have to go for 32 players again, and that we can do with lower numbers, should the case be such.

[Modern Angel]

I'm game with all of that.

One caveat, which I found out the hard way running a league recently: not only do you need an even number of teams overall, but you need an even number of teams in each division. I can't remember if that was known or not, but we have 14 teams in two leagues of 7 and it is FUCKED. Everyone has a bye week, of course, but there are several people who play each other twice but other division members not at all. No bueno.

[Paelos]

I won't be able to do it again. Partly it's because my schedule won't allow it in the winter and tax season. The other part is that things simply drug on far too long this time. One issue that we can't seem to resolve is that we're an incredibly international bunch, and while that's not a problem in the traditional sense, it did make scheduling a problem for many of my games.

I will say that I did get what I hoped to get out of it, a win, and a trip to the playoffs. It was fun.

[lamaros]

Going with what Megrim said: I'm happier with fewer numbers if it means less drama from non-f13 people. I would be happy with an 8 or 12 person league really - I don't care overly how big it is.

I do hope we can get back to Falc like "9 days or it's a forfeit" scheduling, things dragging out can really kill momentum and enthusiasm.

[avaia]

7 day schedule!  It's certain to cause problems, but it would be consistent and keep things moving.

[eldaec]

If anything I'd bump it to 10 or 11 days but make it stricter.

I guarantee I and others will go away somewhere and be inaccessible for over a week at some point. Only missing 1 game falls under 'shit happens' wheras having people who will unavoidably miss multiple games will encourage leniency.

[Celer]

I sat out S6 but I hope to return in S7, with a new chaos-y team (unless my superelf is still alive, I have forgotten).

I think a strict 8-days seems about right.  A full week plus a day of slop for administrative tasks.  Too long and you start to forget there's a season going on, and constantly slipping the days makes it hard to schedule the next week's games.

[Ruvaldt]

I would shoot for 10 or 11.  We have a pretty international crowd here and seven to nine days could make those games harder to get done.

[Llyse]

I would shoot for 10 or 11.  We have a pretty international crowd here and seven to nine days could make those games harder to get done.

I'm obviously one of the beneficiaries of that but 9 days worked pretty well before as well

[Ingmar]

I like 8-9. 10-11 just encourages our slowpokes.

If we combine with BF the biggest hurdle will be getting them on the same page re: a wide range of TVs in the league. They seem really concerned about having a wide difference in their own leagues.

[Ulysees]

Am in for season 7 and as has been said multiple times think we just need to get back to the strict deadlines and things will work out fine from there as I think the playoffs took almost as long as the regular season to get done and the less said about the fail offs this year the better. I don't mind if we have people from outside the f13 community joining in as long as they realise it is played by our rules and time schedules. I also now no longer see the point of limiting TV from feeder league teams, I'd rather face stronger starting teams and less inducement randomness tbh since I will be playing my Lizards for their 4th outing.

[eldaec]

Suspect I'll get shouted down, but I don't even have a problem with pairings who worked out by day 2 of a fixture cycle that the first slot they can both play is day 11 of 9 at 1900 GMT or whatever. What we need zero tolerance on is nothing happening till day nine then a week of 'I'll look out for you on steam'.

So long as people arrange actual times I'm good.

[Ruvaldt]

My thoughts exactly.  The important thing is that a definite time has been arranged.  I'll wait a little longer as long as there is a plan.

[ezrast]

Yeah, I think 9 was fine with 1-2 day extensions if and only if the coaches confirm that a specific game time has been scheduled.

[avaia]

Playing nurgle for season 7.  There, now we have a signup thread!

[Teleku]

I'm happy to play again.  However, I will be moving to Poland around mid January, and then it might be awhile before I'm able to get internet setup at home.  So starting anytime before the end of January probably wont work out so great for me.

[HaemishM]

I'd be up for season 7, but I do have an issue with too tight a restriction of number of days for each game day. With all the varying international time zones we have, often weekends are the ONLY time I can get a game in with non-US players (especially those down under). As it stands, my weekends are split between my wife and my writing with football on Sundays. It's easier when the NFL isn't in season because Sundays are then mostly open, but if I have to play someone 14 hours ahead of me? I can't do that during the week.

I would say that we definitely need to set a time limit on game days that is hard, and those who don't schedule the games within like a 3-day grace period get forfeited. I just want the window to be wider than 10 days.

[IainC]

A couple of things.

Firstly as far as I'm concerned this is still Falc's gig and if he wants to step back in to take charge for S7 then that's his right. He's been pretty quiet recently for various reasons so I'm pre-empting him a little here but I'm not trying to steal his thunder.

Secondly if I do take the reigns again for S7 then we definitely won't kick off until we're well into the new year. I'm thinking mid February or so to give people time to get enthused again and for us to maybe recruit some new blood.

The points about deadlines are well made. I was far too lax in S6 but I'm conscious that some people do have legitimate scheduling issues and I generally come down on the side of not being a dick just for the sake of it. There will be less latitude given in S7 though. If games aren't at least scheduled by the deadline then they will be forfeited.

[drogg]

i'm down for another season.  CE for sure, and i'd be happy with whatever team arrangement feels the healthiest to the organizers.

i've been considering swapping out my trusty lizards for a couple seasons but given how entrenched some of the bigger TV teams are i feel anxious stepping in again from square one, handicaps notwithstanding --  my gaming time is a little constrained of late so i'm not certain i'd be able to put a team through its initial workouts in the feeder league to get things up to a competitive level. i'd prefer some way of gently easing some of the mega teams out to pasture but i can understand wanting to preserve monsters like ruvaldt's team if you're coaching them.  just scary for poor baby drogg's prospective new teams 

[Ruvaldt]

You should definitely play your lizards, Drogg.  I'd say you're one of the top three contenders to go all the way if you played them another season.  They're seriously scary in a way similar to my Presidents.

Championship teams should be forced to retire; that would fix some of that problem you mentioned.  It did this season with Andydavo's insanely good dark elves absent.  The Presidents won't be in next season as I'm choosing to abide by that sentiment voluntarily.  Instead you'll get to contend with their wives, The First Ladies.

[rk47]

Not really getting much games with my elves on Feeder league.
I've been trying out new teams n stuff, doubtful I'd end up with a 1200 TV even.
We'll see. I foresee great fails for the High Elves played like Dark Elves.

I'm kinda divided between playing feeder and non-feeder with my casual friends. If the latter team is allowed to join, I might just slot in my TV 1350 Humans on next season. If not, I'll just throw in the High Elves to the slaughter.
And fuck Pro-Elves. AV7 is a joke.

[satael]

Not really getting much games with my elves on Feeder league.
I've been trying out new teams n stuff, doubtful I'd end up with a 1200 TV even.
We'll see. I foresee great fails for the High Elves played like Dark Elves.

I'm kinda divided between playing feeder and non-feeder with my casual friends. If the latter team is allowed to join, I might just slot in my TV 1350 Humans on next season. If not, I'll just throw in the High Elves to the slaughter.
And fuck Pro-Elves. AV7 is a joke.

Feel free to hit me for feeder games whenever i'm on steam.
Fresh team into the season can be brutal especially if you go against a high-value bash team right at the start (my fresh TV1000 skaven team in season 6 taught me the error of my ways)

[rk47]

yea i was teaching my newbie friends how to play, so they end up taking a looong time per turn. it ate my BB time.
we started at 10 pm and finished at 11.30 

[Ingmar]

You should definitely play your lizards, Drogg.  I'd say you're one of the top three contenders to go all the way if you played them another season.  They're seriously scary in a way similar to my Presidents.

Championship teams should be forced to retire; that would fix some of that problem you mentioned.  It did this season with Andydavo's insanely good dark elves absent.  The Presidents won't be in next season as I'm choosing to abide by that sentiment voluntarily.  Instead you'll get to contend with their wives, The First Ladies.

Now you've got me waffling about putting the dwarves on ice. 

[Sjofn]

The Mutiny is willing to make its glorious return, unless I suddenly have an urge to get my ass beat as The Fantasticks.

[Modern Angel]

I'm definitely playing Chaos Dwarves