Hello racers!
No unfortunately it's not time just yet to restart the Torn Racing League though I hope everyone enjoyed the first season as much as me. It was a lot more work than I expected at first but thankfully I'm working on this together with Prezze so it was good I had someone to rely on when I couldn't spare enough time during the day and of course he does most of the spreadsheet work.
Since inevitably TRL turned into a faction race kind of thing there were bound to be some problems, what happens when I change factions, what happens when my partner changes factions, what if we change together, etc. just to name a few. One thing that has personally bothered me the most was that we didn't have a system in place to rank new teams that will register after our first season according to their actual performance without them going through years and years of racing, to end up where they should belong. Obviously I wouldn't want that for anybody, I want everyone to have fun and have exciting races, no matter the skill level of the team. This is where the new system comes in and before you vote, please let me explain it, read it fully, read my reasoning after why I think that this should be implemented immediately already until we find a better solution and if there are questions left ask those first before voting. This won't be an easy decision. So let's not waste anymore time and introduce our "solution":
The Wildcard System
Yes, nothing new entirely but we tried it out and it seems to work, kinda. They way it works is that new teams that register will be eligible to fill wildcard spots in a league if their performance matches other teams in that league which we will mostly base on time, like during the first season. That means if you're a superfast new team and you're crushing racers left and right and you're even quicker than let's say half of the first league, chances are high that you will fill one of those wildcard spots, that means next season you would join that league completely. Sounds good so far, doesn't it? Now comes the part which some people might find controversial, though as I said later I will explain again why it might be good to accept this downside.
Obviously since our leagues are structed for 20 teams that means if another team joins, leagues will have to be balanced out again. So one more Team (two if two wildcard spots are filled) will have to be demoted during the following season when the wildcard team(s) enters the league. Also doesn't sound too bad yet, I know but following up now, given the amount of leagues we have this would mean that if all wildcard spots are filled after roughly 7 leagues starting from the top an entire League would be "demoted" except those that earned their promotion place. This demotion would technically not be a demotion, just another league being opened in the lower middle so to say.
Another question that might come up: "What if more than 2 teams qualify for a leagues wildcard spots" - For this we simply decided the 2 fastest will earn the place, the third fastest earns the wildcard spot one league below then and so on. This supports the growth of leagues to the point of an entire league being demoted even more but I do think it is still a fair approach. Here you can see a picture to visualize a bit of what I mean:
[image: cdn.discordapp.com]
Now to my explanation why I think this is actually a good solution even if not perfect. I will explain from multiple standpoints:
Organizer (Me): One thing I won't like is that it will give Prezze and me more work, yes but it shouldn't decide the integrity of the tournament. Though as an Organizer it is obviously the goal to encourage as many people to join as possible, this solution will greatly improve encouragement for new teams to join, existing players to change factions and rejoin without looking at the daunting task of years and years of racing to climb up.
The average racer: He wouldn't like being demoted just because there are so many new fast guys, he wants to climb higher and not lower for doing alright. I agree with it, I wouldn't enjoy it either but keep in mind, prizes will remain roughly similar or maybe even the same throughout the leagues (we still need to work out the details but we don't have tens of billions to play around with, so as I said you wouldn't be losing out really) and if you're on the lower end of the leagues it will just give you fairer competition and racing, the chance to be the winner of your league. What use would it be if there is a steady stream of super fast racers that keep stealing your promotion (and maybe even your prize money) away? In my opinion this should make your entire experience more enjoyable even if instead of remaining in league 8 you could race in league 9 for example.
The new racer: As mentioned in the previous point, this system would be there to greatly increase the fairness of your competition, yes you're new to racing but let's be honest - that doesn't mean you want to finish the race when all the spectators have already left, right? Why not have exciting races with teams that are in your shoes? You will have plenty of room to grow still then.
The experienced racer: You can race at the top with the other top racers where you think you belong, even if Torn politics force you to join a different faction or your goals and focuses have changed, now the faction change won't impact your placement in the TRL anymore, you can quickly start with a new team, one season of proving your time and you can be racing right back up at the top. It sounds a lot better than taking years of climbing through the ranks for a simple faction change.
With my points now all explained, I have nothing left to say. If there are still questions before you vote, feel free to ask them in the thread here or chat me on discord in The Pitstop or through a DM.
Thank you for taking the time to read this and I'll hopefully see you on the racetrack.
No unfortunately it's not time just yet to restart the Torn Racing League though I hope everyone enjoyed the first season as much as me. It was a lot more work than I expected at first but thankfully I'm working on this together with Prezze so it was good I had someone to rely on when I couldn't spare enough time during the day and of course he does most of the spreadsheet work.
Since inevitably TRL turned into a faction race kind of thing there were bound to be some problems, what happens when I change factions, what happens when my partner changes factions, what if we change together, etc. just to name a few. One thing that has personally bothered me the most was that we didn't have a system in place to rank new teams that will register after our first season according to their actual performance without them going through years and years of racing, to end up where they should belong. Obviously I wouldn't want that for anybody, I want everyone to have fun and have exciting races, no matter the skill level of the team. This is where the new system comes in and before you vote, please let me explain it, read it fully, read my reasoning after why I think that this should be implemented immediately already until we find a better solution and if there are questions left ask those first before voting. This won't be an easy decision. So let's not waste anymore time and introduce our "solution":
The Wildcard System
Yes, nothing new entirely but we tried it out and it seems to work, kinda. They way it works is that new teams that register will be eligible to fill wildcard spots in a league if their performance matches other teams in that league which we will mostly base on time, like during the first season. That means if you're a superfast new team and you're crushing racers left and right and you're even quicker than let's say half of the first league, chances are high that you will fill one of those wildcard spots, that means next season you would join that league completely. Sounds good so far, doesn't it? Now comes the part which some people might find controversial, though as I said later I will explain again why it might be good to accept this downside.
Obviously since our leagues are structed for 20 teams that means if another team joins, leagues will have to be balanced out again. So one more Team (two if two wildcard spots are filled) will have to be demoted during the following season when the wildcard team(s) enters the league. Also doesn't sound too bad yet, I know but following up now, given the amount of leagues we have this would mean that if all wildcard spots are filled after roughly 7 leagues starting from the top an entire League would be "demoted" except those that earned their promotion place. This demotion would technically not be a demotion, just another league being opened in the lower middle so to say.
Another question that might come up: "What if more than 2 teams qualify for a leagues wildcard spots" - For this we simply decided the 2 fastest will earn the place, the third fastest earns the wildcard spot one league below then and so on. This supports the growth of leagues to the point of an entire league being demoted even more but I do think it is still a fair approach. Here you can see a picture to visualize a bit of what I mean:
[image: cdn.discordapp.com]
![[image: cdn.discordapp.com]](https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/741610721959477298/936805471279530024/Unbenannt.PNG){kind=link}
Now to my explanation why I think this is actually a good solution even if not perfect. I will explain from multiple standpoints:
Organizer (Me): One thing I won't like is that it will give Prezze and me more work, yes but it shouldn't decide the integrity of the tournament. Though as an Organizer it is obviously the goal to encourage as many people to join as possible, this solution will greatly improve encouragement for new teams to join, existing players to change factions and rejoin without looking at the daunting task of years and years of racing to climb up.
The average racer: He wouldn't like being demoted just because there are so many new fast guys, he wants to climb higher and not lower for doing alright. I agree with it, I wouldn't enjoy it either but keep in mind, prizes will remain roughly similar or maybe even the same throughout the leagues (we still need to work out the details but we don't have tens of billions to play around with, so as I said you wouldn't be losing out really) and if you're on the lower end of the leagues it will just give you fairer competition and racing, the chance to be the winner of your league. What use would it be if there is a steady stream of super fast racers that keep stealing your promotion (and maybe even your prize money) away? In my opinion this should make your entire experience more enjoyable even if instead of remaining in league 8 you could race in league 9 for example.
The new racer: As mentioned in the previous point, this system would be there to greatly increase the fairness of your competition, yes you're new to racing but let's be honest - that doesn't mean you want to finish the race when all the spectators have already left, right? Why not have exciting races with teams that are in your shoes? You will have plenty of room to grow still then.
The experienced racer: You can race at the top with the other top racers where you think you belong, even if Torn politics force you to join a different faction or your goals and focuses have changed, now the faction change won't impact your placement in the TRL anymore, you can quickly start with a new team, one season of proving your time and you can be racing right back up at the top. It sounds a lot better than taking years of climbing through the ranks for a simple faction change.
With my points now all explained, I have nothing left to say. If there are still questions before you vote, feel free to ask them in the thread here or chat me on discord in The Pitstop or through a DM.
Thank you for taking the time to read this and I'll hopefully see you on the racetrack.