EU Plebmades

[Mesikämmen]

As most of you probably know, there has been some FFA premade games (plebmades) being arranged on fridays for some time now. They seem to be quite popular, as getting the games going has always worked out (eventually).

Now, the thing is, friday is the most popular, or at least one of the most popular nights that people que 19 bgs. The plebmades ALWAYS kill pops for the evening, and it takes at least an hour or more to even get one game going. Whenever I've been playing, it has been 2 games and we've called it ggs because some people had to leave. That's like one hour of arranging for every game played, and to be completely honest, the games haven't even been that much better than how some pug games can be. Chances are, that those +10 games that could have been played in the time that it took to arrange and play the plebmades, there would have been at least 2 quite competitive games. The plebmades, even though they have a much greater probability of being good, still aren't bound to be 100% competitive.

Now this is just my 2 cents, but IMO arranging these games in a way they are currently being arranged are just not worth it. I know at least a couple people who also agree with this. What I'd like to propose as at least a partial solution to the issue, is make a thread for every weeks plebmades, where people can sign up etc. This should make it less of a hassle to get the games going. Maybe get a poll going about it later on or something?

This is not a jab at anyone who have taken part on arranging these games, I really hope no-one is offended by this, and it doesn't mean I haven't enjoyed the plebmades I've participated in. It's just IMO not worth it to continue like this.

I'd like to hear everyones opinions and ideas and general discussion about the topic in this thread

 

[Denurd]

reply XD

 

[Mesikämmen]

THXD

 

[Sputnick]

Well said Mesi.

 

[Wound]

I agree.

Picture of me on my bike:
http://imgur.com/PSV42Cg

 

[Bàloo]

It's a difficult topic because plebmates are good for having people socialize with people they wouldn't otherwise and in that sense strengthen the community. On the other hand if we start too early we're excluding people ie. we have say 30 twinks total in queue and then 10 people can basically do jack shit for 2-3 hours depending on how long the plebmates take, and as mesi said often times it also ends up killing the pops because noone has any expectation of pops afterwards.

I don't have any instant solutions to this but it's a compromise and I think we should try to delay the plebmates to the point where we're not killing the pops but rather playing plebmades in extension of pops, I personally think that 00:00 would do.

In regards to the quality of the games it might just be me but it seems plebmates are extremely monotomous in that it's even worse of a back and forth play between graveyards where the team with stronger mid pressence will eventually triumph and while that can be fun i think the inconsistency and chaos of pug games isn't necessarily inferior in terms of enjoyment.

Anyways just my thoughts on the matter don't know if anyone can relate to this

 

[Balditron]

Lots of good points made so far. In my opinion, the plebmades are a good tool and give a different environment to try and let newer or less experienced players get a feel for more comptetive games. That said, it goes to show how fragile the bracket really is if removing 20 ppl from the queue kills pops on what is possibly our most active night on EU.

I'd second what Baloo has said about setting them up as an extension to pops, and would probably motion that moving plebs to a less active night would target two downfalls of the bracket - activity and competition. We all seen the quality of pugs on Friday before the plebs, and I'd argue that at least the last 3 games before the plebs would have been more entertaining to watch than the first few war games. Again, I know that pugging doesn't give people good experience using chat and properly targeting and making smart plays and positioning and the queue system can fuck the roles about sometimes. BUT pugging keeps the bracket alive, so community events which in essence handicap the community don't feel like a good idea in my book - until the two can exist simultaneously, we need to be careful and address some of the problems.

Disclaimer: I know that last night's plebs were to cater for Jaxel ironing out bugs in the add-on, so I'm not trying to have a go because obviously THAT is gonna majorly benefit us later down the line. Just trying to make some points about what effect plebs might have if we do em on Fridays (/even saturdays) instead of a quiet night to force people to come online nd get some games.