1vs1 Super tour

[piranha]

How players are matched in the losers bracket may be something that we should change so you wont face the same player.
But the other thing that games are started as quickly as possible is because you don't know which games are going to complete fast and which are going to drag on so in terms of completing a tournament as fast as possible it must be better that games are always started as fast as possible. Otherwise you will create waiting that didn't have to happen and these tournaments take quite a lot of time as it is.
The scenario of being on vacation could happen if the game is started when all games are completed just as likely and in fact you are probably more likely to be aware of a new game just after your other game completed rather than after a couple of months.

[KGB]

But the other thing that games are started as quickly as possible is because you don't know which games are going to complete fast and which are going to drag on so in terms of completing a tournament as fast as possible it must be better that games are always started as fast as possible. Otherwise you will create waiting that didn't have to happen and these tournaments take quite a lot of time as it is.

This can't be true. The tournament *must* by definition only complete as fast as the slowest game. That's because at SOME point all games will be dependent on the slowest game since it's not possible to have a final winner until only 1 player remains (ie the tourney is not a race).

I'd personally much rather have multiple breaks of 2-3 weeks waiting for the last game in each round to complete as opposed to potentially waiting months for my next game to start if I happen to end up completing 2-3 games ahead of my next challenger. That is exactly what's going to happen right now as a 4th round game is already started and the winner of that is going to play someone who is still in their first round game and so it may be months before they play again which makes it hard to maintain interest.

The scenario of being on vacation could happen if the game is started when all games are completed just as likely and in fact you are probably more likely to be aware of a new game just after your other game completed rather than after a couple of months.

At least in prior tourneys I played in, you got an announcement from the tourney organizer that a new round was beginning and you had to join your games. Thus you actively had to join for the game to start. Now it seems you are auto-joined (and started). There is no way for the site to know if you are currently available to play and thus you may be timed out. If you are going to auto-start game it would be nice to add a feature to the site for players to click 'away' when they know they are going to be away for a few days and that the auto-start feature would check this and not auto-start games when players are away (if someone is away a check can be done once a day to see if all players are available).

KGB

[piranha]

Take round 1, you have 12 games going 4 of them finish in 5 days the rest take 15 days. You can either wait 15 days before the next round is started or let matches that are ready start right away. Lets say the games that could be started after 5 days take 15 days to complete but the games that took 15 days in round 1 just takes 5 day to complete in round 2.
If you waited for the whole round to complete it would have taken 30 days to start round 3 but if you start games right away round 3 could be started after 20 days. There is potentially a lot of time saved by having games start as quickly as possible.

The thing that I'm suspecting will drag out is that loser brackets have more games to play, perhaps something could be done there to speed things up.

We can add that you get a message when your round X game starts, it should be the same as if its started at the same time as other games are started and you get a message.

[Chazar]

Starting games as soon as possible reduces waiting time: only the players who reach the finals have to wait for the slowest games. Those who drop out earlier wait less then. Since it is likely the veterans that reach finals, I think it is very good to reduce waiting times for those who are new and play their first tournament.

However, I agree with KGB that starting games right away without advance notice is comfortable, but troublesome, especially since aways cannot be used on the first turn. So how about a few extra days for the very first turn only?

[KGB]

If you waited for the whole round to complete it would have taken 30 days to start round 3 but if you start games right away round 3 could be started after 20 days. There is potentially a lot of time saved by having games start as quickly as possible.

The thing that I'm suspecting will drag out is that loser brackets have more games to play, perhaps something could be done there to speed things up.

You are correct that there is a theoretical time saving *if* games complete in the example you showed. But the downside and far more likely outcome is:
Player A completes 3 games in 30 days
Player B completes 3 games in 90 days
Player A then has to wait 60 days for his next game against Player B.

This is almost certainly going to happen based on how fast some players are speeding through their games and it may end up worse based on loser brackets having lots more rounds to complete. It's a huge buzz killer to wait months between games and if you think you'll lose newbie players by waiting a week, you'll really lose them if they speed through 2 rounds and have to wait a month for their 3rd game.

I don't think you have to wait till every game in a round is complete before moving on but just have set start dates for rounds. Ie round 2 games can begin after 15 days, round 3 after 30 days, round 4 after 45 days. If all games are completed and ready before the start date then you can of course start early. This has the added advantage of players having set start dates for games rather than it being random as it is now.

KGB

P.S. What happens to 'free' players if they are currently playing their 3 game limit and the next tourney game is supposed to start? Do they get to play 4 games then or are they locked out?

[piranha]

Tournament games can be started for free players even if they already have 3 games going, but they wont be able to start new games by themselves until they are back at 2 games going. We have a setting to toggle tournaments for only premium or free players but with the limited amount of players so far the tournaments have been open for everyone.

It's not only how fast a player make their turns, it's also the number of turns before the game is completed. Sometimes you have a even game that take long time and sometimes it's decided early. Also the slow player in your example may lose and the next round is completed much faster. Then a player may also face a month with limited amount of time to play or more time than normal. What I mean is that there ar many factors that come into play.

If aways can't be used on the first turn then I think we should change that for tournament games and the problem should be solved? We could add a extra 2 days of time on the first turn as well.

[whitelord]

Can one still join the tournament?

[piranha]

This tournament is already going but we will start another one after the summer.

[Chazar]

I suppose that there is no mercy for holiday-makers?

I am in Round 6 and my game will automatically start as soon as a certain single game in Round 5 is finished. Since aways cannot be used in the first turn and since I will be offline for 14 days, someone else has to play the crucial first turns, right?

There once was a discussion with extra time on the first turn, because of automatic game starts. Was there any change implemented?

[piranha]

Try to ask snotling if he can make a change so aways can be used from turn 1 in tournamentgames