[Elusory]

GPDL Season 2 has been rather successful. By that, I mean it has suffered from very little hiccups and was able to proceed smoothly till the very end. Season 3 will definitely see some changes and they will be listed later on. There are some areas of discussion which I would like to hear opinions from the community (especially those who will be participating in Season 3).

Changes

• Limit of prize pool

This season had generous donations from breadfan ($60, kickstarted Highest Gold player initiative) and Apoc ($50, just being a baller). This allowed the prize pool to hit $150, with the champion walking away with $90 after an estimated 6-7 weeks of slow paced playing. Probably more than what some of the decent players have earned. Nope, not gonna name names or fire shots.

Next season onwards, I'll be limiting the prize pool to $50. It's gonna be quite measly for a 6-7 weeks tournament. To begin with, the point of this tournament wasn't about the money anyway. Any money from donations will be used to fund a new initiative which I will be talking about later. If there is extra left at the end of the season, the remaining money will be used for the next season.

• Removal of "Highest Gold player" incentive

The "Highest Gold player" is supposed to be a prestigious and highly sought after award for any Gold leagued player who finishes highest. In this season, the highest placed Gold player was actually highest placed because he had the most number of walkovers. After this season, since it was the first time Round Robin was conducted, I did not foresee a larger amount of walkovers. I know some people might say, why not give it to the Gold player with the highest number of wins?

Well, then come the next part. The money was put there to encourage Gold players to play their best and achieve the highest placing they can. After giving it some thought, I don't think the motivation should come from money, but rather just the desire to improve oneself and do good in the tournament. Also, some of the Golds can just be Platinum from last season but didn't ladder hard enough. It's just too hard to draw a line of "Ok, you're Gold and you will be eligible for this reward".

• New initiative: Attaining Masters

The old has gone, and the new has come. One of the objectives I had for GPDL was to encourage players to play more and hopefully each season can see at least one person being promoted to Masters by practising for their matches. Season 1 saw Enak rising to Masters (albeit finishing 8th, losing to the eventual champion). Perhaps Season 2 will see (insert name here) promote!

A small incentive of $10 will be given to any player who attains Masters on any server except SEA. Eligible receivers of the incentive applies only to people who have not yet attained Masters before on any server except SEA. Count it as a graduation-cum-farewell gift from GPD-related activities! (inb4 "huehuehue you said cum"

Pending changes

• RIP of live games with stream

This season saw the 3rd place and finals not casted due to various reasons, mainly because there were no interested casters. I thought this could be a platform for aspiring casters to be noticed, but perhaps there are no more aspiring casters.

Also, even for those games that were streamed, I am pretty sure the viewer count never went past 10. I don't know how many people (from SC2SEA) would be interested in watching a GPD tournament, but that isn't the point. I feel a low viewer count isn't doing justice to the time and effort a caster has to put in to cast a Bo5 or a Bo7. Out of the ~10, there are probably 50% - 60% of people who are watching because of obligation.

Without a fixed schedule for players to play, seasons can finish much faster (playoffs can probably just be done in a week) and I don't have to worry about finding a caster. On the other hand, if there are no streams, players won't be given the exposure. The only exposure they are getting is their results shown on Liquipedia. But then again, not like anyone really watches. Thoughts?

• Eligibility of Ex-Masters

The most debated topic of all GPD-related activities.

How many times Masters maximum should players be allowed to have? Can players who are Masters last season but Diamond this season be allowed to play in S3? Can Masters players play with their off-race?

This part is so subjective and broad that I'll just allow any form of discussion on this topic. General guideline is to answer the above questions, or you may bring up new points. Bear in mind the fact that ladder is hard these days.

• Any other suggestions / feedback?

Title says it all.

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To close off Season 2, I'd just like to thank every single participant for making the effort to finish their games in time. Even though you didn't and it allowed me to have some frustrating moments here and there, I still appreciate all of you for making this tournament another fun one for yourselves. A very big appreciation shout-out to my donators for this season as well. breadfan and Apoc, I hope you see this! Here's to a more fun-filled and competitive Season 3. Cheers!

TL;DR: Just read "Pending changes" section and give your thoughts

P.S. This format (apart from the prize pool) is so suitable to host a WCS SEA or something equivalent. However, I'm just not confident of organising something like that. I just somehow feel it isn't gonna be as interesting as many people would think, and not as many people would be interested to participate.

+ [Personal thoughts after S2] +

Another season has finished. The busiest period is always the group stage period, where I have to coordinate with 8 groups and push everyone to finish their games. After the deadline, then comes the hardest part of choosing who to walkover who if the games aren't finish. Once it hit the playoffs stage, it was smooth sailing all the way to the finals. Just written was, in a nutshell, how running a GPDL is like. No worries, I don't think I need admins for this because I think it's important that I know what's happening in every group.

Of course, apart from that, there are other factors that make GPDL so worthwhile to host and organise. One of my biggest takeaway this season is, how this tournament felt like a Courage tournament. I wouldn't say that the following people were picked up solely because of their performance in GPDL, but I'd like to think GPDL probably had some impact. We saw MrLando and coolbeans get picked up by eCKo eSports Academy. Who knows where will Namakaye go next (assuming he's keen on joining a team)?

Maybe Season 3 will bring back more old flames. Maybe Season 3 will create more opportunities for unrefined ores to become diamonds. I don't know what will Season 3 bring us, but I just know that I will continue doing it for one reason: to make the GPD lads happier with a fun and well-organised league.

[SLCN.Wally]

I am former masters could I play

[Matt93]

Get me NBN and I'll cast. I'll also make people watch, they won't have a say in the matter. If they try to resist.. well...

[syfChadMann]

Hey mate, everything went super smooth imo!

However, few adjustments I'd make.

1) Shorten the finals, they dragged on a bit.

2) Limit ex-masters. There are a few people in that tournament that could very easily be masters if they actually laddered. Its not a Masters tournament, its GPD. Run a Masters only tournament for these guys.

[x5_Namakaye]

Originally Posted by TtSYF.Elusory

Who knows where will Namakaye go next (assuming he's keen on joining a team)?

Maybe if someone offered me a spot somewhere ;;

[MrLando]

Less protoss & more casters; preferably not protoss casters. lol jks.

Quick Comments

syfChadMann:

Agreed, too many protoss

[eCKoa`ProzeR]

I was satisfied.

[Eddie]

Really enjoyed season 2, great format for GPD players!

[syfIce]

if i had better net i would cast but i cant NBN not till next year

[eCKoa'coolbeans]

Had a blast with the GPDL I think it's really hard to limit ex masters. I feel many people would think I shouldn't be eligible for this tournament, despite laddering hard on KR and not making masters still. It is a difficult situation. I think it is a good incentive for people to reach masters during the tournament though.

I also believe the highest ranked gold player is very hard to achieve fairly. It depends so much on luck and getting a good group first round with a good number of walkovers etc, not so much on #dedication. Gold to diamond is a pretty big jump these days.

Maybe we could look at having an 'GPDL All stars' tournament?? 'See where they are now!' :P

I would thoroughly recommend playing in the GPDL to anyone who was interested. It was so interesting to play in a different format to usual GPDs. This included some pretty intense mind games between Eddie and I, planning for a best of series, and generally having more focused practice.

I hope I can participate in something similar again

[eCKoa'coolbeans]

Also a big thank you must go to Elusory, he did a great job as admin.

[syfSoundwave]

If you allowed off-race, I'd love to take a crack and see how good my Protoss really is (I lose to Golds and Plats on SEA so it's not great :P)

Quick Comments

	syfChadMann:	There are enough protoss, thanks.
	Pox:	can i play with my zerg? I lose to chadmann

[Sc2Clare]

The format is great. All i can say is gj to elusory for hosting this, ill join again in the next one

[ToRsupapower]

wow money cap but no protoss cap? gg

[SLCN.CautioN]

so like... can i play in this>?

Quick Comments

Infected:

Maybe if your retarded ass read it instead of flooding the forum with brainless posts you would know

[Chiddiru]

I'll agree on the casting side of things, I was going to cast then my net died, but even prior to that 3 games into a bo5 semi finals we had about 6 viewers, but that's probably because I was casting. xD

Good luck with the next season