Matt, with all due respect because I have the greatest admiration for you, the argument that you have to charge people or else we get 8000 people in the tourneys is ridiculous. Everyone has an elo rating, why not let the diamond guys enter the diamond tourneys and the silver guys enter the silver tourneys. I don't think that is a stretch and would have many benefits (not counting stopping the destruction that this will bring in the number of players that will leave). You said "wait til we hit 100k entries" and I hope to hell that happens. But right now we have to deal with things as they are and they are at less than 500 at most (and shrinking if you are honest about it). I would suggest that they make policies for close to where they are and not where they hope to be, otherwise they will destroy even more confidence if it doesn't materialize.
And thanks for the advice on the cards, I think you mean it. I have admired your strength in holding through the ups and downs and I am very much like you. So you have my total respect and appreciation for your advice! :)
Thanks Dave, for your kind words. Its so easy when we disagree on something, to start flaming the person instead of addressing their argument.
This is an excellent example of the kind of quality conversations and people that are drawn to this place.
Imagine getting to that point with free tournaments, then starting to charge.
They can always reduce or remove that fee down the road; and nobody's going to complain.
I agree about the quality conversation, and thank you too Matt :)
I will be the first guy to be happy for everyone (despite my criticisms here today) if that happens. My concern is that we don't get there if the promises keep being broken. I overlooked many many of the other promises broken and felt they were just a learning curve and gave them the benefit of the doubt. From the KS last minute "80% off" sale that directly benefited Aggy's hand picked insiders (while I spent $1000 to get 50 accts and 50 gold Runts as my perk because I wasn't in the insider club), to the point at which he assured me that they would match the demand and the supply of these Reward cards (then they went 5x over).
I can overlook all that. But charging me to get something that I was already promised (paying to enter a tourney that I PARTIALLY FUNDED to have a chance at the prize), is something that is hard for me to get past. (it feels like part of my money is given away since I will refuse to pay to get something I already paid for). And on top of that, to say that somehow I'm not "serious" if I don't want to pay a fee, is insulting. Remember Matt, not everyone has the time or desire to play all the games everyday, so if I entered the tourney with my gold cards I would probably lose. I don't mind losing, but I sure am not paying to do so (AGAIN).
One last thing, this really screws up the value of the cards, particularly for golds. It has the opposite incentive than they had mentioned in the past. I guess at this point I don't mind that they go lower since they're so cheap, but there will be many that will leave as a result of this (see my feed if you don't believe me).
Obviously its not my decision to make, so we will have to see how it plays out. I will be rooting for you and the guys/gals I've come to know for sure. I have tremendous respect for many in the community and it saddens me that they have taken this turn. But I'll keep my eyes open and be the first one to say great job if they get that viral liftoff :)