IFL Rule Adjustments

[Devils Advocate]

I mentioned that we'd be making a couple small changes to IFL rankings this season before going away on vacation last week, so now that I'm back I figured I should share the details. They are relatively small changes which I don't anticipate anyone having issue with, but I am open to feedback and discussion on these or any of the other IFL rules if you would like to comment.

Both changes come from the individual rankings section of the rules. Change 1 is already listed in there, change 2 I still need to work on the wording for.

Change 1
Traditional IFL ranking comes strictly from IFL performance. The exception to this was the very first season and again last year, where we needed some basis to not rank the majority of the population as trainee.

The old rule, which would normally come into play this year, was that if you had never fought in IFL before then you would come in ranked at Trainee (0 mods). Harris pinged me a while back to suggest we take a look at this low ranking and reconsider in cases where someone does have DoF experience.

As such, this rule is being modified as follows: Fighters new to the league will enter as Trainee unless they have ranked up to Ruby or higher in the Outback. Those who have achieved Ruby+ will enter the league as FlyWeights (2 mods).

Change 2
Another long standing rule has been that around rank advancement during the course of the season. Fighers who start the season as Trainee's advance to FlyWeight after their first win. Fighters who begin the season ranked as Fly, Middle or Heavy Weight are awared a 1 rank advancement if they tally a number of wins equal to half as many weeks as there are in the season. (last year, with a 7 week season, that meant 3 wins). A given fighter could gain 1 rank increase per season.

The change for this season will be to allow those who begin as Trainee to gain 2 ranks during the season. To do so they will need to qualify under both headings, which means if you start as a Trainee you become a FlyWeight after 1 win. If you manage 3 more wins (assuming a 7 week season) you will then be promoted to MiddleWeight. So, 4 wins total during a 7 week season. More if the season is longer, but it amounts to (#weeks in season / 2)+1.

I don't expect a lot of people to qualify for this, but for those rookie all stars who do, it's a well earned bump for the playoffs.

That's it as far as changes for this year. Questions / Comments / Suggestions are welcome. I'll post ranks for returning fighters in the next few days so captains can plan out their recruiting

[Blue]

Those who have achieved Ruby+ will enter the league as FlyWeights (1 mod).

Is the 1 mod for FlyWeight a change or a typo?

[Devils Advocate]

Those who have achieved Ruby+ will enter the league as FlyWeights (1 mod).

Is the 1 mod for FlyWeight a change or a typo?

A typo, sorry about that. I've corrected it above.

[Devils Advocate]

Here are the rank breakdowns going into the 2014 season

55 fighters, adjusted down 3 after removing Kiowa Belt and Trainee fighters, so 52 to work from.

PowerHouse = 15% = 7.8, rounded up to 8
HeavyWeight = 35% = 18.2, rounded to 18 (19 due to tie)
MiddleWeight = 35% = 18.2, rounded to 18 (17 to account for above tie)
FlyWeight = 15% = 7.8, rounded to 8

=======================================

Kiowa Belt
Jake Thrash

PowerHouses
Blondie Eastwood
Darik Warchild
Dean Reighland
Harris D'Artainian
Kheldar Drasinia
Lilly Hyde
Napoleon Bonarat
Vanion Shadowcast

HeavyWeights
Bane
Charles Blackstone
Dizzy Flores
Dust Cameron
Elaine Aqua
Fang Hoi Mei
Gren Blockman
Jin Sin
Keo Tim
Lena Choi
Minam Go
Morgan Chae
Queen
Rachael Douglas
Rakeesh Sah Tarna
Rena A Cronin
Shadow
Vincent Smith
Xanth Van Bokkelen

MiddleWeight
Aenlyn Hollow
Candy Hart
Claire Farron
Gaius of the Cassii
Joku Ruko Shoyia
Juliane Smith
Kelten Tarkenstone
Khoom Helston
Kimone Kidd
Koyliak VanDuran-Simon
Kruger
Melanie Rostol
Onyx Solare
Sartan
Seirichi
Tex Wellington
Zack Alcar

FlyWeight
Chris Graziano (adjusted up based on DoF Emerald ranking)
Corlanthis
Gothrak
Jonas Drava
Kalamere Ar'Din
Matthew Algiers Simon
Rand al'Tan
Tarl Cabot

Trainees
Jewell Ravenlock
Rand al'Tan

[JewellRavenlock]

Change 1
Traditional IFL ranking comes strictly from IFL performance. The exception to this was the very first season and again last year, where we needed some basis to not rank the majority of the population as trainee.

The old rule, which would normally come into play this year, was that if you had never fought in IFL before then you would come in ranked at Trainee (0 mods). Harris pinged me a while back to suggest we take a look at this low ranking and reconsider in cases where someone does have DoF experience.

As such, this rule is being modified as follows: Fighters new to the league will enter as Trainee unless they have ranked up to Ruby or higher in the Outback. Those who have achieved Ruby+ will enter the league as FlyWeights (2 mods).

Coming back to this a few months later. I realize the old rule was adjusted for those new to IFL but who are currently ranked in DoF. What about those who are not new to IFL?

The old rules say: "Only fighters who did not compete in the previous season and who have minimal experience in seasons prior will be ranked as Trainee."

Doesn't that mean that Rand and I would not be ranked trainee because we did compete last season?

ETA: I also noticed I was Flyweight in 2007 and 2013. I don't know if that means anything?

[Doc Raye]

Unless there is some confusion between Jenai Ravenlock and Jewell Ravenlock as Jenai is not listed at all.

[Jenai Ravenlock]

I don't think it is that, as several of the new new folks aren't listed.

[Harris]

Change 1
Traditional IFL ranking comes strictly from IFL performance. The exception to this was the very first season and again last year, where we needed some basis to not rank the majority of the population as trainee.

The old rule, which would normally come into play this year, was that if you had never fought in IFL before then you would come in ranked at Trainee (0 mods). Harris pinged me a while back to suggest we take a look at this low ranking and reconsider in cases where someone does have DoF experience.

As such, this rule is being modified as follows: Fighters new to the league will enter as Trainee unless they have ranked up to Ruby or higher in the Outback. Those who have achieved Ruby+ will enter the league as FlyWeights (2 mods).

Coming back to this a few months later. I realize the old rule was adjusted for those new to IFL but who are currently ranked in DoF. What about those who are not new to IFL?

The old rules say: "Only fighters who did not compete in the previous season and who have minimal experience in seasons prior will be ranked as Trainee."

Doesn't that mean that Rand and I would not be ranked trainee because we did compete last season?

ETA: I also noticed I was Flyweight in 2007 and 2013. I don't know if that means anything?

Here's the clause you might want to take a gander at in the rules.

"Determining ranks between seasons: Fighters are ordered from best PDPB to worst from their regular season performance (post season numbers do not count). The minimum number of fights to qualify will be half of the possible fights divided by two, rounded down. (eg: 3 for a 7 week season, 4 for an 8 week season, etc.). Fighters who do not achieve the minimum fight level will have a 5-1 Push bout loss added to their record as an adjustment, for each fight they lack. Fighters with only a single bout or two bouts but no wins will be ranked as Trainees."

Jewell and Rand both had 2 duels last season and no wins. Since neither have the current DoF rank of Ruby or above, they default to Trainee. Chris also had only 2 duels, but by virtue of his status on the retired list as an Emerald he would come back at Flyweight.

[JewellRavenlock]

Thanks Harris :)

ETA: That's what I get when I stop reading once the topic changes to Rank Advancements I guess.

[Kalamere]

What Harris said.

Starting next year I think we'll adjust that though. Once ranked above Trainee it doesn't make sense to drop someone back down to that level. We may also begin working in a lifetime ranking system like TDL had.

[JewellRavenlock]

What Harris said.

Starting next year I think we'll adjust that though. Once ranked above Trainee it doesn't make sense to drop someone back down to that level. We may also begin working in a lifetime ranking system like TDL had.

It's cool :) I don't need Fancies to kick butt!

[Kalamere]

Week 1 matches are on the site (some of you might have gotten them in email. That, however, is very hit or miss especially if AOL is your mail provider). You should all also have access to the shared IFL calendar, so please go ahead and post your match times once you have them set up.

One last piece of administrivia:

As with last season there are 3 people who will be handling dispute resolution:

* I will handle most cases, as the league admin.
* Harris will pick up cases where I am on one of the teams involved in the dispute.
* Claire Farron will pick up any dispute that involves both one of my character's teams and one of Harris'.

My thanks to both Harris and Claire for volunteering to take up these duties. Avoiding the appearence of bias is something I've always considered to be important when both playing and admining a game, so without you guys stepping up I'd be on the sidelines just watching.

Good luck to all, I hope this season is as much fun as last year's.

~Kal

[Kalamere]

It's been pointed out that I have posted a rule differently between the forums here and the IFL site. I'm going in to correct this now, but want to address it so people know what it is actually supposed to be.

Fighters who hold at least the rank of Ruby in DoF at the start of the season will be listed at FlyWeight if they have no previous IFL experience that would otherwise give them something higher.

I have mistakenly said Sapphire, rather than Ruby, in some of the things I've written. One would think that the DoF standings keeper would know better, but I occasionally forget which is the higher rank! To alleviate any doubt, I intend this to be the rank earned at 5 WoL.

Sorry for any confusion caused by this.

~Kal