Fist Report #10

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Fist Report #10

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Message from the Fist

We’re less than one month away from the Twelfth Great Jedi War! There’s a LOT of work going on behind the scenes as we prepare for the first major Club-level event in over two years. I think we have a great event in store for all of you, and I’m looking forward to seeing everyone come out and compete!

No major changes this month. Fully aware I mentioned possible PoBs for Heroes of the Storm last month. That hasn’t materialized yet because I’m not comfortable with the current concept. I don’t want something that is too fast (like Diablo 3) or too long (like the original method Star Conflict) for earning pendants. I’m going to table that until after the GJW.

This report will cover a few key points for gaming in the upcoming GJW and the plans for what comes after the war is over, as well as the normal list of pendants for our PvP gamers, and the 2nd Quarter GMRG results!

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On Pazaak and the Great Jedi War

Planning for the gaming events continues. I have three events locked in, with at least four others planned. As I have said before, I want to give you all something a little bit different this go around to prevent using the same “earn clusters, spam pazaak, win novae” formula. I think we’ve got it right, but the only way to know for sure is from your feedback after the war is over. So once everything kicks off, think about what you like and what you didn’t like about the format. Provide candid feedback. That’s how we (the Fist staff and the rest of the DC) get better.

So. Pazaak. There has been one common discussion thread since I became Fist: Should Pazaak be a path to gaming victory in a club-wide event? I have struggled with this for a while. You all remember the issues that “Turbo” Pazaak brought to light. If not, you can refresh your memory here and here. With the RNG leaving much to be desired, and this game being less about skill and more about match spamming, I am not comfortable with it being a path to GJW Novae as it has been in the past.

That said, there still isn’t a great free option out there that truly gives everyone a chance for some gaming credit without having to be MLG-good at video games.

So for this GJW, Pazaak WILL be an option for participation and crescents. Yes, you are reading that correctly. Crescents, not Novae. You will still earn event participation for your clans to further their potential victory in the GJW, but you will not be able to earn a Novae from Pazaak.

This year’s set of events should allow for a level playing field and go away from the setup we have become so comfortable with.

Thank you for your understanding!

New Magistrate Hired

Ranarr’s six-month tour on the Fist staff has come to a close. Ranar was an absolutely phenomenal magistrate, and was awarded a Grand Cross for his efforts. You can view his full list of accolades here. Thanks again, Ranarr!

I was really surprised by the high number of quality applications I received for this M:Fist rotation. I would have liked to bring all of the applicants on staff, but unfortunately I can’t get away with having 10 magistrates. In the end, I have decided to bring Zednich on staff to replace Ranarr. Zednich’s application focused on testing for Destiny 2, which I expect to have a great deal of support for across the club. Thanks to all who applied, and don’t forget that I’ll be looking for TWO magistrates three months from now.

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GMRG 2nd Quarter 2017 Results

The GMRG Leaderboard Results are in! Congratulations to the following individuals on their placement in the top 10 for this quarter! The new quarter has already started, so get to it!

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GJW Event: The Wargame

Clan leaders: Keep an eye out for a pre-GJW competition that ties into the Wargame. I teased this last month, but you need to have your fleets finalized soon. Since this is our first run at an event of this nature, we are going to focus solely on the space warfare aspect of a wargame. If this event is successful, we’ll take a run at ground warfare in a future event.

I will do a separate post explaining the requirements detailing how the event will work in the coming week.

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FIST Sponsored Gaming Competitions

After the conclusion of the GJW, there are going to be some changes to how the Fist office runs the “Gaming for Glory” event. I’ve had a lot of very candid feedback on how we could (and should) move away from cluster races as the go-to method for determining gaming excellence, and I wholeheartedly agree. While cluster races are easiest for me and my staff to manage, they really aren’t giving you guys and gals anything worth doing...you just play normally and get competition credit.

We’ll still have them for those of you who don’t want to take part in the additional events, but moving forward these special events will roll into the quarterly Gaming For Glory event.

To give you an idea of what I’m thinking for the special events, I’ll tease my plan for Diablo III-focused competitions. After the GJW, I will establish individual competitions that focus on a specific character in the game (Necromancer, Wizard, Barbarian, etc.) and give a specific goal. You will then be required to show your skills on that specific character to meet the outlined objective.

To keep things simple and to gauge interest, the first type of competition will be based on the highest solo greater rift with a specific character class. I will keep the character selected for the competition secret until the event goes live, so you won’t know which toon you have to play before the event starts! You might be unstoppable as a Crusader...but what happens when you are forced to play a Barbarian?

There will be events like this for the other games, and the Fist staff will spend most of August figuring out how to run events like these for all the other games we support. Well..that and trying to help their clans win the GJW!

[FIST]1st Annual Flash Gaming

[FIST] 2nd Annual Mobile Gaming

[FIST] GMRG Gorefest 2017

[FIST] Quarterly Gaming Challenge Q2 2017 This event will now include July. With the suspension of all non-GJW competitions, there will be no mobile, flash, or gaming for glory events in August. The final “quarter” will begin on 1 September and go through the end of the year.

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June Weekly and Saturday Pendant of Blood Awardees

Congratulations to the following individuals on earning Pendants of Blood for the highest overall PvP score for the weeks/Saturdays listed!

Weekly PoBs

Saturday PoBs

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TL;DR

1) Pazaak and the GJW. Some changes.

2) New Magistrate and GMRG 2nd Quarter Results!

3) Planned updates to the Gaming for Glory series!

4) Wargame Reminder.

5) No normal comps in August. GJW Hype!

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It’s full steam ahead to the GJW. I sincerely hope you all enjoy the events we have planned for you. The absolute best part of serving on the DC is the ability to provide all of you new and exciting ways to be part of the Star Wars universe.

Battlefront 2 (the 2017 version) is coming soon! I’m sure it’ll be better than the last one.

-Drac

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Thanks for the update Drac!

Potential use of fleets? Moving away from cluster races? This is sick!

Excitement and fun rolling forward! Great thanks to the FIST staff and DC for what you all do to help keep the club rolling, as well.

Huzah! Nice report as usual, Drac. Congrats Zed!

Congrats Zed! I'm excited for my first GJW, and the fact we can't just spam pazaak makes me happy!

So for this GJW, Pazaak WILL be an option for participation and crescents. Yes, you are reading that correctly. Crescents, not Novae. You will still earn event participation for your clans to further their potential victory in the GJW, but you will not be able to earn a Novae from Pazaak.

For clarification: are these crescents in addition to the novae or replacing them? For example, let's say the top two scorers were Pazaak spammers and the third place wasn't. Would we see the comp award a Diamond Crescent, a Ruby Crescent, and a Bronze Nova? Or are paz and other gaming being tracked separately?

Through my knowledge, a GJW always awarded Novae. To treat any activity as essentially as not "worthy" of being awarded the same as every other event cheapens things in general. If there's an activity that you truly feel does not deserve the same consideration as other events, then perhaps its best that it is just removed.

All activities should be treated equally when it comes to placements and awards. Otherwise, don't run that activity. But also remember that the primary purpose of leaders in this club is to encourage activity. Telling people that a certain activity is not worth it in the long run is a bit of a slap in the face to those that put in the time and effort, regardless of what people personally think of that activity

There is of course also the issue that Pazaak is at least TRYING to be Star Wars.

Say what you want about the non-SW games. I'll admit myself that I've quite enjoyed playing HotS, certainly more than Pazaak and its rigged RNG.

But the DB is supposed to be a Star Wars club. With the Star Wars games being older, this just means they're cheaper and far more accessible than overpriced modern games.

At the end of the day, the FIST and staff is working on making the gaming portion of the GJW (and DJB) as fair as possible. Say what you want about Pazaak. Yes, the age old argument is that it is a Star Wars game. Everyone gets that and we're probably tired of hearing it, to be honest. But with this "turbo" mode, it is broken and it creates an unfair scenario when it comes to every other game out there that we use and that does not work in a competitive environment. We should be happy that it is not being removed completely from the War. I, for one, am satisfied that the FIST and staff has been able to create a compromise that is fair for everyone. I'm sure a lot of thought was put into this decision.

Great job, FIST staff!

I'm tired of hearing the silly assertion that turbo is 'broken'.

If you want Pazaak played the way it was intended to be played, that is with full decks, not basic OR turbo.

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