I have been playing X-Wing for quite a few years now, collecting much longer than I have been playing. Casual player to be sure, but one that enjoys playing the game. Never placed top in anything other than a few local events, nothing official like a Store Championship or Regionals. I have attempted to secure a spot in past Worlds X-Wing but for various reasons I was unable to do so. This year with the completely (supposedly) random drawing I finally got my chance to play at a Worlds. Will I win? No. Will I play something I enjoy playing and have been playing for quite some time (Wedge, Fenn, Nora), yes. I won't be playing such OP crap that drew such a stalemate at HOTH that the players walked away for 15 mins.

What ticks me off is that I have finally had the time to catch up on the various podcasts and their complaints about Worlds and how they gave out tickets. The vast majority of them complained that Worlds would no longer be "the best of the best" but who got lucky to get a ticket. I hate to tell you all, but in Worlds past it wasn't a guaranteed "best of the best", it was those who could hit refresh the fastest and input their information the quickest. Yes, some well known names didn't get in this year. Guess what? Some well known names didn't make it in last year, or any year prior.

So, because I play what I enjoy and play TO enjoy the game I am not worthy enough to go to Worlds? To take part what I have been told is a decently run event with great players in a fun filled weekend? You all have started to turn into Elitist Jerks in the same like as those that play 40K or Magic. This isn't the Fly Casual attitude that the community has tried in the past to foster, which seems to have fallen by the wayside. You should be congratulating those that were lucky enough to earn or win a spot and then complain to FFG and not the public at large about how "unfair" it was this year. This game is for EVERYONE, casual, competitive, and hardcore alike, each and everyone a fan of the game. Quit disparaging and putting down people that you think don't deserve to go to Worlds.

7 minutes ago, emmjay said:

I have been playing X-Wing for quite a few years now, collecting much longer than I have been playing. Casual player to be sure, but one that enjoys playing the game. Never placed top in anything other than a few local events, nothing official like a Store Championship or Regionals. I have attempted to secure a spot in past Worlds X-Wing but for various reasons I was unable to do so. This year with the completely (supposedly) random drawing I finally got my chance to play at a Worlds. Will I win? No. Will I play something I enjoy playing and have been playing for quite some time (Wedge, Fenn, Nora), yes. I won't be playing such OP crap that drew such a stalemate at HOTH that the players walked away for 15 mins.

What ticks me off is that I have finally had the time to catch up on the various podcasts and their complaints about Worlds and how they gave out tickets. The vast majority of them complained that Worlds would no longer be "the best of the best" but who got lucky to get a ticket. I hate to tell you all, but in Worlds past it wasn't a guaranteed "best of the best", it was those who could hit refresh the fastest and input their information the quickest. Yes, some well known names didn't get in this year. Guess what? Some well known names didn't make it in last year, or any year prior.

So, because I play what I enjoy and play TO enjoy the game I am not worthy enough to go to Worlds? To take part what I have been told is a decently run event with great players in a fun filled weekend? You all have started to turn into Elitist Jerks in the same like as those that play 40K or Magic. This isn't the Fly Casual attitude that the community has tried in the past to foster, which seems to have fallen by the wayside. You should be congratulating those that were lucky enough to earn or win a spot and then complain to FFG and not the public at large about how "unfair" it was this year. This game is for EVERYONE, casual, competitive, and hardcore alike, each and everyone a fan of the game. Quit disparaging and putting down people that you think don't deserve to go to Worlds.

I think you are putting some words into other people's mouths here.

6 hours ago, hawk32 said:

I think you are putting some words into other people's mouths here.

Actually, that's a pretty sound extrapolation when (some of) those people talk about having an "asterisk" appended to the achievement for winning the event because certain players aren't in attendance. Or when there are lengthy rants about how it's completely wrong that an open event that has always been an open event is now suddenly not what they wanted, even though it was never a huge issue until now, when certain players didn't get in.

Are there things that suck about the timing being critically narrow (and thus prohibitively costly) to foreign players? absolutely, and FFG / FFGOP deserves to be taken to task for their lack of long-term planning.

Here's a news flash for a lot of folks: FFG is a small game company with big game company properties. Here's a few examples (paraphrased, but not much) that I have heard on various podcasts as suggestions for how to 'fix' the problem:

"Have the event in a big enough space that everyone can go"
"Have it in a different part of the world/country"
"Call Worlds 'FFG con' and have a different event for all the People Who Deserve To Play In It and call THAT event 'Worlds'"

Literally zero of those suggestions are remotely financially feasible (or within the realm of what they are willing to make feasible) for FFG to devote to this game / these games. A few years ago, there was a great podcast or two that featured major tournament organizers who ran Magic Grand Prix events, and they went into pretty good detail about the costs and timelines just to organize and house a single 3-day event for 800-1500 players. For a lone company selling and hosting their own product, the costs are simply not realistic. FFG has the space they have, and they can / are willing to afford to host their big event at that space. The other option isn't a bigger venue in a different city - it's to not have an event at all.

"Have more invites reserved for the 'top' players"

Should FFG be called out for doling out tickets via lottery rather than who can refresh the page faster? No. They wanted an open field, and that's the fair way to make it happen. It's also the overwhelmingly loudest suggestion from the (vocal) community at large for the last 2 years. You can gripe about exploits all you like, but it's functionally no different than people using friends to try to get more chances for tickets by F5'ing harder.

Are the number of invites given out too few? I think that based on the number of invites given, FFG has made it pretty clear that their intent isn't for World's to be only (or even mostly) the best players in the world. They want Jane Everywoman to have a shot at coming in and competing at the top of the event. If you want an invite, you have to win that Regional or that Open, and everyone willing to try for that invite has a chance at it. That's the bar they set, and it's not an accident that it doesn't automatically include Player X or Y whose name you know / who has a podcast / who top 8'd 2 regional events instead of spiking 1.

Should there be an invite-only event that is like World's but not that, and like the actual invitational (Coruscant) but also not that? If there's enough demand for it and the money works (it probably doesn't), then sure. Is whining about not getting into World's the right way to ask for that event? absolutely not - it makes you sound reactionary and petulant, and doesn't provide any convincing arguments to FFG why such an event would be warranted.

*deep breath*

Here's the net result: World's is still precisely what FFG has always held it as, and what it always actually has been - an event for a number of their games to have a big tournament with some invites reserve for the top players throughout the year, and a centralized event to come meet folks from all over the world and share the love of one or more of those games. That has not changed at all, and based on what people always seem to say when talking about World's in the past, that is absolutely the most integral factor in what makes up the event.

Now the call to action:

If a significant portion of the competitive community wants a big invitational, then we should start making one.

We could set up a system to register players by name, with a way to track W/L records across all connected events and assign some kind of tournament points based on that tracking. Issue invites to quarterly or yearly major events based on top finishes and/or accumulated tournament points over the course of a season.

While we're at it, we should come up with a comprehensive Infraction Procedure Guide (AKA 'floor rules'), and a proper judge program complete with mentoring and training.

Does this sound exactly like what Magic does for the Pro Tour? yes it does - it's a system that works.

Prize support? This community is already making amazing, awesome-as-heck alt-art cards, mats, tokens, and templates. Divert some of that production and talent into making some prize support orders for a series of events.

All of that will take real, hard work (as well as time and money) to make it happen, but if there's one thing that I know is a stone-cold fact about literally every community that grows around a game like this, it's that we are passionate as heck about our love for the game and for the community we share it with, and if there's a half of a chance that people can give back to that community, there's usually a line around the block of people who want to step up.

7 hours ago, emmjay said:

I hate to tell you all, but in Worlds past it wasn't a guaranteed "best of the best", it was those who could hit refresh the fastest and input their information the quickest. Yes, some well known names didn't get in this year.

I think it's unfortunate that you don't feel as excited because of this. However, keep in mind that the podcasts are hosted, almost exclusively, by competitive players and this reflects both their mindset and what they think World's should be (and frankly is advertised as). In addition, and this gets to the part that I quoted, there's actually some good data that this year a lot of top Xwing players currently don't have tickets when compared with last year, even though it was a click-fest. That's not to say it was perfect, but it seemed to work better than this year for, again, the idea that it is a competitive event and not a con.

Either way, I hope you enjoy yourself and have a good time. I'm in your shoes, just in a different game (Armada) since I didn't get tickets for Xwing.

39 minutes ago, AlexW said:

However, keep in mind that the podcasts are hosted, almost exclusively, by competitive players and this reflects both their mindset and what they think World's should be (and frankly is advertised as).

I would also add that many of the American podcasts (can't speak to the international ones) are in frequent communication with each other.

It's very easy for the sodium levels to rise on all of them as they gripe to each other about whatever situation. I don't think they're intentionally "elitist" as the OP suggests, but incestuousness of their collective voice can often give that vibe.