Black Belt vs White Belt!

[ZenPaladin]

So I've been reading some of the posts lately and of course the old end of Leaf Blower post and thinkinga bout the issues at hand.

Something that occoured to me is that 40K has become so ballanced now that true skill is begining to emerge as the deciding factor rather than say raw luck or army choice. And suprisingly this very ballance is becoming an issue!

If to people play and one person has been playing for 10 years and the other guy picked up his army yesterday who would likely win? The 10 year vet of course! If the 10 year vet brings his A game the newbie is obviously going to be resoundingly thumped. So what happens after that? If the Vet is a normal guy he shrugs and moves on. If the vet is a jack *** he gloats and cackles with glee. And if he's a decent sort he might take a moment and try to help the newbie understand what went wrong.

Now on the newbie's side what's he going to do? Well if hes a normal guy he might shrug it off and play another game withsomeone else. If hes a competitive sort with lots of fighting spirit he's probibly going to go look for a way to win.. (like say a popular and well suported internet list?) And if he's very new or a bit of a waffler he might just decide this isnt the game for him.

What we have here is White Belts vs Black Belts. Now in the dojo that happens but in the tournaments? We don't have that becuse we don't let new people compete with masters and we dont let 100 pound boxers fight 250 pounders!

Does anyeone else think that having some sort of viable skill ranking system allowing people to know what they were getting into might help? Not saying its particularly fesable just a diffrent way at looking at alot of the problems we are seeing these days.

[Necrosis]

A very interesting point you have come up with. I've never really though of it that way. Yet keeping track of everyone would be pretty hard.

[BuFFo]

Does anyeone else think that having some sort of viable skill ranking system allowing people to know what they were getting into might help?

No, because 40k was never designed to be a 'sport' or at the very least, a tournament game. It is a hobby.

Now if you were talking about Warmachine, well....


Not saying its particularly fesable just a diffrent way at looking at alot of the problems we are seeing these days.

No offense, but the problems people online see in this hobby are self inflicted. Part of the problem is being a portion of the minority (people who play tournaments, people who read online forums) and think that 'their' 'problems' affect the hobby as a whole. While the 10 people in my area play at a 'masters' level, the other 200 people, I am sure, couldn't care less.

And just fyi, I am pretty sure just about all sports mix amateurs and pros when competing...

[ZenPaladin]

Yeah my analogy is probibly pretty bad.

And I dig that the silent majority of casual players probibly don't care to much. But is it really much a do about nothing?

I mean there are 40K tourny's out there. Regardless of weather or not there should be or weather or not the game was ment to be played that way. People are spending thousands of dollars and hundreds of man hours on this. Surely the massive number of identical or mostly identical lists at Adepticon means that the internet and its ideas have quite a bit of influance wouldnt you say?

[Melissia]

... so why do we have four threads about leafblower lists now?

[ZenPaladin]

It's just the flavor of the day. ;)

It will go back to being Blood Angel whining by tomorrow.

[The AKH]

I think anyone entering a tournament, especially if they're a less experienced player, has a good idea of "what they're getting into". People enter tournaments to be competitive, and be challenged by the competition. What separates those who will stay inexperienced and less skilled from those who will go on to become veterans is whether they can take the experience of being smashed into the ground in their first tournament and learn something from it.

[ZenPaladin]

So would you say its no loss to the hobby if a great many people just give up after that smashing? Would you say it purges the weak and the worthless? ;)

I'm sugesting that if these first comers had a chance to play people more at their own range then the hobby would be better off. And they would be less likely to be drawn to cookie cutter lists as a quick way to victory to boot.

[addamsfamily36]

At my local Gw we have a vets night and a beginners sunday and staurdays are welcome one and all. now they arent strict so if your new then sure come down to vets night, and all of the older vets will be more than willing to help if that new player is struggling.

Ranking system i dont think would work, ive been playing for years as have two other players i know we all enjoy the hobby play tactically and lose more times than win. not because we are bad players, we make mistakes i'll admit that, but theres 3 of us and we have been nicknamed the cursed company. why? our luck lol and i joke you not if i could show you i would some of the games i have seen have been ridiculous. needless to say when anyone of us is playing it always draws a crowd because people know its going to be a fun/hilarious game as *i pick up 30 dice and roll 25 1's and 2's* :)

so yeh a lucky beginner would kick my *** lol.

but i do agree ive seen too many new people put off by being beaten to pulp by an unsupportive veteran. if im playing a begginer and it becomes apparent that they either aren't fully aware of the rules or that their army won't last i'll tone down my play or hold back and remind them of rules, or make to odd suggestion hoping that they either beat me hands down or atleast enjoyed the game.

[DarkLink]

No offense, but the problems people online see in this hobby are self inflicted. Part of the problem is being a portion of the minority (people who play tournaments, people who read online forums) and think that 'their' 'problems' affect the hobby as a whole. While the 10 people in my area play at a 'masters' level, the other 200 people, I am sure, couldn't care less.


I have to agree. I mean, my local gaming group has a single guard player, and he only just started his guard army recently (finished it for adepticon). We could care less about leafblower lists, because no one has one. Someone might think that the leafblower has ruined the game, but I've never actually seen a leafblower list in person, let alone played one.