Monday Poll: NPPL cuts cros-division games, good idea?

[Beaker]

NPPL cuts cros-division games, good idea?

Based on this from the NPPL:

Prelims for Semi Pro, Division I, II and III
For the first time in NPPL history, these teams will no longer play against teams outside of their Division. Instead, we will be capping each division and scheduling inner-division play only. Semi Professional, Division I, II & III teams will be split into groups of 9 where they will play 8 games round robin during the prelims over Friday and Saturday. Games will be split into a morning bracket and an afternoon bracket. The top 16 teams from each division will advance to Sunday’s Quarter Finals.

What do you think, is it a good idea, or do you only play these events for the 30 second crack at a team above you?

 

[Mario]

214 views and only 50 votes.

Beakers got em running scared.

Personally i go with the fish any day.

 

[Chicago]

Or maybe many viewers don't play NPPL and thus arn't voting?

Or Beaker has viewed the results 80 times?

 

[Mario]

you always have to ruin my boredom relievers dont you?

I had a whole little story going on in my head and you ruined it. well thanks. thanks a lot.

 

[Alien_Balliztix]

 

[Gyroscope]

I can't see any reason that a semi-pro team would want to play lower division teams. If they win, then there is the possiblity that body count will screw them out of Sunday, if they lose then they are even more screwed.

On the other hand, it is the only chance a lot of us have to go toe to toe with the best teams in paintball, and that is something I enjoy, personally. Beating the semi-pro draw is always sweet, too, espescially when everything else goes wrong.

I'd rather play everyone. I can see how helpful this scheme is for the NPPL folks, though. I will go anyway.

 

[Twizz ECI]

I think that, Semi-Pro and Div 1 Teams should play against each other but other than that i think that the rest should play Teams in there own Division, as these Teams pay a lot of money to play and its not much fun to play say 2 of those 8 Games you get and get beaten in 30 seconds, which in my book doesn't benifit any of those teams.

 

[Beaker]

This is my first view - honest

I much prefer keeping it in the division - then you are the best team in your division, not the best team that got screwed out of it by getting a fcuked up draw.

Now, draws (if they are properly seeded) should be a LOT fairer spread of the quality of teams you play.

 

[JONZO]

I think it makes more sense to run the event this way. If you remember, one of the reasons the NPPL gave for locking the Pro division was, "Tired of watching teams like Dynasty steamroll D1 and D2 teams? Watch them play against only the best!!" Things really didn't change much (they're still mowing all of us), but atleast most of the games last longer than thirty seconds. The thing is, the NPPL was right to do it to the Pro division. The format became more exciting when you could go to an event and see your favorite Pro teams lace into one another, and not some weekend warriors who found enough for an entrance fee and decided to make a weekend out of it.

So what this does, in my mind, for all of the divisions is that it helps determine with more certainty who the best teams in each division are. While it doesn't do it as well as the Xball format does, teams who very well should be in the D2 Quarterfinals won't be watching on Sunday because they couldn't beat Dynasty Dynamics or A-team. I mean, better teams will still find ways to lose to worse teams, but atleast the better team can't use the excuse that they lost because the team they played was in a higher division.

Gyro brings up the only positive about playing upper echelon teams - the experience. Given you might get rolled in thirty seconds, you can go home and tell Mom & Dad you played against Dynasty....and to some people, that's as good as an NPPL medal. I always cherished going out on the field and playing higher ranked teams when I played D2 & D3....and luckily for me my team was fortunate enough to actually come out on top 90% of the time. Off topic, I remember in San Diego 04 (my first NPPL) my D3 team played a top 5 ranked team D1 team. Right when we walked on the field one of their players said, "Lets mop these fags up and go to Tijuana." We beat them in 45 seconds...ended up going 7-1 in the prelims where we posted a score in the 730's. We did the same thing to Colorado Shooters in Vegas 04...ended up winning that event. That's what I'm talking about....that's why it is good to let D3 teams play Semipro, D1, & D2 teams because if they should happen to pull out a win, those kids/guys/girls are gonna have more fun and more drive to play than they ever have before. It can either give your team the power to go out there and steamroll everyone you play, or it can break your event into pieces. I don't care to speak of the latter though...it happened a couple times this year (we were in the SemiPro division), and the lower division teams we lost to all went to either win the event, or place in the top 5.

 

[Robinsucks]

Sometimes you lose to those lower division teams and you remember them.

Back when I played on Farside, we showed up late to a game because the schedule we were given was actually the final one. We weren't worried about playing a field we had never finished walking or finalized a plan on because it was a team we'd never heard of before.

We rushed out and got smashed by a little-known team called Trauma. By the end of the year, they had a few Pros and everyone in paintball knew who they were.