This was
posted at WizPog, but the event was not handled right, in my case...
Most people had no problem with it, but I'm the one standing up for
my rights here...
I (Baboon) attended the SBZ in Exton, PA today, and I walked out 99%
frustrated and disappointed. To understand why, just read this email
that I just sent to Wizards.
To Whom it may Concern:
Hi. I just attended the Exton, Pennsylvania Super BattleZone today,
at the WotC store. I went in not really expecting the world, but
definitely was not ready for what would come. There were
approximately 26 participants, including myself. We finally began
round one, 20 minutes late. I just so happened to lose, but that was
alright. You can't control really bad luck. After another 20-some
minutes, round 2 started. I won that one in 2 turns. (Meaning, by
this time, I had 3 points.) After a half-hour "intermission" which
was quite unnecessary, they decided to begin round 3. I was put up
against a Master Professor, and after about 15 minutes, I won that
one, putting me at 2-1, or 6 points. Once round 3 finished, the man
in charge said that they'd just cut right to the Top 4 playoffs!
When I asked to see the ranking sheet with everyone's points, I
believe I saw that people only had these scores: 9, 7, 6, 3, and 0.
Considering the 26 players, quite a large number of us were tied at
certain scores. I believe seven other people also had 6 with me.
When I looked at the rankings, there was a person also with 6 points
in the Top 4! I immediately asked the guy in charge how they could
spread people with the SAME score out ranking all the way from #4
all the way through 11 or so, rather than all the same placing. From
what he said, the computer found the average difficulty of your
opponents and ranked that way, therefore placing me at #10. I did
challenge this, but basically, they didn't change or attempt to
change anything, and gave me 3 boosters and the 3 free Promos. After
this, I just took the packs and left, as I knew they wouldn't bother
to correct anything.
Here are my logical problems that occurred today.
#1. They began with three regular rounds, and immediately cut to Top
4 afterwards. According to the WotC Super BattleZone page on the
site, it stated that you play some rounds, and cut to
Single-Elimination Top 8. They cut to Top 4. Also, mathematically
speaking, due to the extremely low number of rounds they held, quite
a LOT of people were tied, and therefore, pushed out of the prizes
that they were due. Rather than play off the tied people at 6
points, they gave some a couple of packs, some nothing, and even
one, Top 4.
#2. The ranking occurred within the tied people via opponent's
difficulty level. How can you possibly rate someone by who they
faced? We had absolutely no choice who we played. The computer chose
our opponents. Basically, it didn't come down to skill. It came down
to whomever the computer chose for you, and if it would give you a
less-challenging opponent, you wouldn't rank high, even if you would
win!
#3. The prizes they gave were not up to what was listed on the web
page. Anyone below #8 just got the free Promos, which was correct. 5
through 8 only got like 2 or 3 packs, I believe. (Keep in mind 5-8
ALL had the same score, along with #4 and #9-11) I don't really know
how they handled the top 4, as I left afterwards, since there was no
point in staying. Even though I was ranked at #10, they did give me
3 boosters, only in the fact that they probably had some realization
that it wasn't fair. Personally, I think they should have played out
the tied people, and give the appropriate packs THAT way.
#4. The free Promos. Once again, I saw on the website, that Wizards
has sent enough Promos, etc to each store for 75 players. They
distributed one each of the 3 Promos to each player, following round
3. That leaves 49 extra sets of Promos that were either not
distributed, kept by the store, or otherwise, all given to the Top 4
players. Unless this number of 75 is inaccurate, we all should have
received at least another set of these Promos, as that would STILL
leave 23 sets or so for the Staff and Top 4.
Don't get me wrong. I did not only go to this SBZ to win. I went for
a good time, to possibly meet some people, and to get a bunch of
games in. In the end, I got to play 3 rounds, which lasted a grand
total of 20 minutes. I did see a few people I knew. I also had fun,
but only until they stopped the competition after 3 rounds.
Obviously, the event has now passed, and there's nothing I could do
about it. What I'm emailing you for is so that you may possibly
contact the store (it is a WotC store), and let them know how wrong
the event was handled. I know you can't go back in time, but this
was really not what it was made out to me, almost all by the people
in charge.
Thank you for your time, and if you could, please email me back with
your take on this subject.
~Chris Kerchner
Pokemon Professor
What's your point on this? I really know it was NOT worth being in
the car for 3 1/2 hours for the day... Didn't know we'd drive that
far to have it end after 3 rounds, otherwise, I prolly wouldn't have
gone...