New Club Finals Format Has Decimated The Population
November 20, 2020 5:46AM
edited November 2020
In just three days of the new Club Finals format finding a game has gone from a normal wait time to almost impossible. We waited an hour to find a game tonight. The Club Finals format NEEDS to go soon or it will literally kill EASHL just a month into release. Here's why:
- You're forced to play it. For TWENTY DAYS. And generally people think the format is terrible because.....
- Most players/clubs want the "win or go home" experience of a playoff scenario. A real playoff format, ie: a bracket
- We'd rather get knocked out of a playoff bracket and not win a single playoff game just for the fun feeling of a true playoff experience rather than getting these same ol' regular season wins and be in the top 35% on a leaderboard and get a "participation banner"
- There is ZERO playoff immersion for the gamer
- Most people don't have the time to play enough games to remain relevant on a leaderboard so why bother? It's already showing as people are skipping it altogether (ie: not playing at all because there is no other choice). Yet we ALL have time to try a bracket once in awhile
- Poor matchmaking (because the Division format is completely flawed). We're drawing teams where every player is Diamond/5-6k higher CR than our silver/golds, then next game we're each 3k higher than our low silver opponent).
- Regardless of bracket format or this terrible new leaderboard format, it's a video game "championship". It's not real, it's pretend. It doesn't mean anything in reality if you win. So why go with a format the alienates a ton of the gamer base AND doesn't feel like a playoff at all? Makes zero sense.
Overall, it just sucks. And we've still got 17 more days of this to go AND more seasons of it. And you can't even skip it if you want. In a week you may not find a game at all. For what it's worth this is coming from a guy who's club will probably finish in the top 35%. Who cares. If it were up to me EASHL playoffs would be like this:
- EVERY WEEKEND is playoffs. Brackets. Non-stop, just tourney after tourney if you want. The same basic format as 3's Eliminator and One's.
- BUT... The first 3 weekends of each month the playoffs don't reward you with any banners (just like 3's Elim and One's). They're just placement tourneys. How much you win or lose over those 3 weekends is tracked and your club generates a "club playoff RP".
- Then, the LAST weekend of the month is the playoffs where you compete for a banner just like the old format. You only get two attempts like before.
- But now, if you're a club that lost a lot on the previous three weekends you've got a lower "club playoff RP" competing for a lower level banner with other teams that didn't fare well either.
- And if you won multiple tourneys over the first 3 weekends you're competing for a legendary Cup against other teams that fared very well over those weekends as well. There'd be four levels of banners like before.
- It wouldn't be mandatory to participate. You would not be forced to play it.
It would be the best of all worlds. You'd get a regular fun dose of a real playoff "win or go home" atmosphere, the window is short (weekends) to get it done. And only one weekend is for a banner against similar skilled clubs so it remains a true challenge to get one.
Would love to hear what you think. In the meantime, get rid of Club Finals quick and give us back a real playoff if you want this mode to survive. Please?
- You're forced to play it. For TWENTY DAYS. And generally people think the format is terrible because.....
- Most players/clubs want the "win or go home" experience of a playoff scenario. A real playoff format, ie: a bracket
- We'd rather get knocked out of a playoff bracket and not win a single playoff game just for the fun feeling of a true playoff experience rather than getting these same ol' regular season wins and be in the top 35% on a leaderboard and get a "participation banner"
- There is ZERO playoff immersion for the gamer
- Most people don't have the time to play enough games to remain relevant on a leaderboard so why bother? It's already showing as people are skipping it altogether (ie: not playing at all because there is no other choice). Yet we ALL have time to try a bracket once in awhile
- Poor matchmaking (because the Division format is completely flawed). We're drawing teams where every player is Diamond/5-6k higher CR than our silver/golds, then next game we're each 3k higher than our low silver opponent).
- Regardless of bracket format or this terrible new leaderboard format, it's a video game "championship". It's not real, it's pretend. It doesn't mean anything in reality if you win. So why go with a format the alienates a ton of the gamer base AND doesn't feel like a playoff at all? Makes zero sense.
Overall, it just sucks. And we've still got 17 more days of this to go AND more seasons of it. And you can't even skip it if you want. In a week you may not find a game at all. For what it's worth this is coming from a guy who's club will probably finish in the top 35%. Who cares. If it were up to me EASHL playoffs would be like this:
- EVERY WEEKEND is playoffs. Brackets. Non-stop, just tourney after tourney if you want. The same basic format as 3's Eliminator and One's.
- BUT... The first 3 weekends of each month the playoffs don't reward you with any banners (just like 3's Elim and One's). They're just placement tourneys. How much you win or lose over those 3 weekends is tracked and your club generates a "club playoff RP".
- Then, the LAST weekend of the month is the playoffs where you compete for a banner just like the old format. You only get two attempts like before.
- But now, if you're a club that lost a lot on the previous three weekends you've got a lower "club playoff RP" competing for a lower level banner with other teams that didn't fare well either.
- And if you won multiple tourneys over the first 3 weekends you're competing for a legendary Cup against other teams that fared very well over those weekends as well. There'd be four levels of banners like before.
- It wouldn't be mandatory to participate. You would not be forced to play it.
It would be the best of all worlds. You'd get a regular fun dose of a real playoff "win or go home" atmosphere, the window is short (weekends) to get it done. And only one weekend is for a banner against similar skilled clubs so it remains a true challenge to get one.
Would love to hear what you think. In the meantime, get rid of Club Finals quick and give us back a real playoff if you want this mode to survive. Please?
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Replies
So you don't get exp or update your stats, but they rather have that than this forced game format. That's how much dislike there's around for finals in its current form.
This whole playoff system is absolutely terrible
Hating this playoff format and the way teams aren't rewarded for good hockey plays please change it.
I feel for you. What a mess. Best of luck.
I understand your frustration but I highly doubt they expended money/dev cycles on a mode just to make it unpopular so they could pull it. They would just pull the plug on it. They have done it before. It's much more likely this was one of the many "it seemed like a good idea on paper" things.
It seemed like a good idea to who? Who is making these decisions? Forcing ODR and clown gear for drop-in was bad enough. Now they are trying to completely ruin Club as well.
I never seen developers so out of touch with what the community actually wants. The community has been dying off the last few years and they keep introducing terrible ideas to further kill off remaining players while not generating any interest from new players. EASHL needs to go back to its roots and needs cross play so you can actually find a match. Once the game stops being a lobby simulator, then people will come back to the game and recommend it to others. Nobody wants to be wasting so much time trying to find a game. The reality is this series has built a reputation as a lobby simulator and people don't even bother with it anymore.
They don’t have the passion to create a good product as long as it somewhat sells. Simple as that. Harsh reality
You have people that would put more effort into this game for free since they love hockey and want to grow the sport in a positive way
TBH The playoff thing sounded cool when I read but it sounds like in reality, not so much.
I am not well versed on this but would this have been alleviated at all if there was actually you know, like, an actual vibrant player base/community?
Oh boy. Never thought of it that way. Great post, could be (sad but) true.
This is not true whatsoever.
Good. But why is there no word on the obvious situation? A clear "No, we do not change a thing" or "We see what's going on and do something about it"
There are so many complaints and suggestions and that is good as it shows the interest of people playing the game, but zero answers.
If any changes are coming to the finals format, we'll make an announcement. We're definitely aware of the feedback we've received so far.