UKTC V Feedback Thread

[Pipey]

Hi all

Any feedback about any aspect of the tournament please share. So we can learn from any positives / less positives for next time.

Themes already raised include:
-availability of drinks and food in proximity
-data submission systems, mostly positive but some glitches
-lots of positives about how the reffing team kept the schedule on track

Look forward to hearing from you.

Some spoke in person, please expand and share here too.

Thanks
Bren

[Chinos]

Hi Bren,

Venue very good, I agree about the lack of food/drink options first thing. Having the cafe open for an hour or until the bar opened would be good - the bottle of water idea on arrival is good but I needed a coffee.

The results system worked well - some initial confusion over the "approved" square as it looked like a button to tick when in reality all we needed to do was click Submit. I'd recommend making it the responsibility of the Home Captain to enter the data and then the Away captain logs in to approve. When both captains were logged in it didn't let you approve.

It would also be useful to have Race included on the match screen so not having to flick into the other website to check races - a nice to have but by no means essential.

Timings worked really well, and the packed lunches were really good - a simple solution that allowed people to eat easily without having to rush.

[Pipey]

Thanks, Chris.

Part of the issue with availability of snacks/breakfast, drinks was the change of hall. We were on the other side of the lake before the change. Noted for next year. The café could be opened up.

Lots of people contacted me about buying a pitch; unfortunately they weren't for sale as we'll be using them next time. Who's interested? I can put you in touch with the graphics guy for a reprint run.

[Joemanji]

Thought the event was great! Feedback:

* I really liked the layout of tables. There was always plenty of room to squeeze in or out of your seat, which is not that common at a Blood Bowl tournament!
* I loved the 2h30m round times. Such a relaxed atmosphere, I never had to worry about time and could chat to my opponents at will. Doesn't matter if we finished early as that allowed more time to spectate games or chat with people. Lunch could easily be squeezed down to 45 minutes if desired, as a consequence of the longer round time was a staggered ending of games.
* Loved the clock on the big screen telling us how long was left in the round. Very helpful.
* Pitches were great.
* App / website worked great once you figured it out, which was pretty easy. Finding the draw for the next round and your opponents was the easiest I've experienced at a large event like this.
* The trophies looked amazing! Well jealous and really hope I'm in with a chance to win one next year.
* I really appreciated the chance to practice using the World Cup rules. I'm not a fan of them at all though, so I hope that the event does not continue with them for future years.
* The ref team ran everything like clockwork and communication was perfect. Well done Schmee, Leon and Alex!

[Purplegoo]

Nothing but positivity about all things from me, Joe covers all of the bases above. While it was probably the least effort of the things on the list, I agree the decision about round length was a fantastic success. The difference between 2/2:15 and 2:30 at an event of this sort of size (most events, to be honest) feels huge. You get so much more time to speak to people and games are relaxed and fun rather than in any way rushed if there is a wait at the bar or a Riot, or whatever. A little thing, but it really enhances the experience to never feel under time pressure, and with 240 people to speak to, there was zero 'dead' time.

Anyway. More of this sort of thing. Thumbs up emoji. Also, someone convince Leon to do BB commentary on a stream, somewhere? I would love to hear his withering analysis.

[sann0638]

It would also be useful to have Race included on the match screen so not having to flick into the other website to check races - a nice to have but by no means essential.

Yes, plus table numbers?

Also, once all the numbers were filled in (and the other captain was approving) it didn't say which was TD and which was Cas any more, I don't think.

Finally, the error messages were disconcerting - I got the impression that you couldn't submit any results until all results were in, because of them. A message saying "game 2 successfully submitted" would have been better.

Minor things, generally v impressed with it!

[Wulfyn]

- Venue was excellent. Spacious that you could move around, good view of the ref area, and nice and light. Being able to open the doors as well for some fresh air was great.
- Related to above but worth noting by itself: having us all in one room was really nice.
- Refs ran the event so well. Everything was very smooth; grats to Schmee and Leon in support!

- Submitting results online was so good it makes you wonder why it has taken us so long.
- The system for entering was perfect - nice and simple to enter and verify.
- There were some cookie issues with the website preventing logging in, solved by clearing cookies or going incognito.
- As a nice to have if the fields could automatically enter the input to be a number field that would be sweet (I'm so lazy!).
- Last two points are really just because feedback is being requested, and are not complaints. The system was great!

- I liked the skill pack as it made you think a lot more about the builds and racial picks, and allowed you to see a wider range of teams being played.
- That said it was clear that there were specific winners and losers in that system.


The only thing I didn't like was the tiebreaker being on the tier selection of the teams picked as opposed to strength of schedule or some other tiebreaker combination. Given the lack of granularity in the points system (with 60 teams you are going to get a lot in each final point tally) there needs to be a good way to create a tiebreaker to split those teams. This was most apparent in the 2nd - 4th place range where all teams were on the same number of points. Team Wales missed out despite playing on the top tables against the front runners all weekend. And tho it pains me to say it because I have so many friends on the team it felt like Doggy Bag All Stars didn't really deserve it as much as Team Wales or Alfea.

Tiering feels like a bad way to do it because the lower tiers are already getting a bonus to attempt to equalise them. And looking at the top 20 or so places that seems to bear out with around 5 tier 1, 5 tier 2, and 10 tier 3 doing that well. Stretching to top 50 we do see tier 1 places coming back (about 20 / 10 / 15 ish teams of each tier) but it seems clear that taking some tier 2 (necromantic / humans) or tier 3 (chaos / nurgle / underworld) is a better option that a lower tier 1 team (highest chaos dwarves were 73rd, highest orc was 112th). Why should a team finish higher than another because they took Chaos (7 teams in the top 20)? Just doesn't make any sense to me.

[RoterSternHochdahl]

Fantastic event! Superb venue,. Access to drinks before bar opens was really the only small downside there. Loved the space to sit down between games. Thanks to everyone who contributed and to Joe and Phil taking us out on the Saturday!

[Anacron]

Excellent venue, and tournament overall, thanks Bren & team! Looking foward to the next one already (if I'm not on the wrong side of the world again like 2018).

Pitches: I think in every single game I played, we had a short chat about the pitches. Which always went along the lines of this extra dashed line in front of the sideline and again in front of the endzone is so confusing, right? And the squares around the UKTC logo in the middle are bit confusing too right? Right!

So yeah the pitches could have been clearer. I realise they are already manufactured (and frankly they're otherwise awesome) so it's a bit late now. Also I missed the last UKTC so everyone may have had this conversation already last year!

[Itchen Masack]

Team Events are the best, and this was best of those, even surpassing the magnificent effort of eurobowl! A huge thanks for running it for us. Near perfect. Most of the small irritations have been mentioned. Centre pitch logo made it hard to see at times but even that is stretching things to be a real gripe.

Lovely space to play in against 6 friendly opponents and that 4th hand dryer...without one powerful blast of air, but rather lots of little ones...felt a little too personal, almost like my hands were being molested with air. Where can I buy one of those?!

Will endeavour to be back next year. Fully content coach right here

[deeferdan]

The only thing I didn't like was the tiebreaker being on the tier selection of the teams picked as opposed to strength of schedule or some other tiebreaker combination. Given the lack of granularity in the points system (with 60 teams you are going to get a lot in each final point tally) there needs to be a good way to create a tiebreaker to split those teams. This was most apparent in the 2nd - 4th place range where all teams were on the same number of points. Team Wales missed out despite playing on the top tables against the front runners all weekend. And tho it pains me to say it because I have so many friends on the team it felt like Doggy Bag All Stars didn't really deserve it as much as Team Wales or Alfea.

Tiering feels like a bad way to do it because the lower tiers are already getting a bonus to attempt to equalise them. And looking at the top 20 or so places that seems to bear out with around 5 tier 1, 5 tier 2, and 10 tier 3 doing that well. Stretching to top 50 we do see tier 1 places coming back (about 20 / 10 / 15 ish teams of each tier) but it seems clear that taking some tier 2 (necromantic / humans) or tier 3 (chaos / nurgle / underworld) is a better option that a lower tier 1 team (highest chaos dwarves were 73rd, highest orc was 112th). Why should a team finish higher than another because they took Chaos (7 teams in the top 20)? Just doesn't make any sense to me.

Strongly agree with this. And after some disconcertion last week when the change for the world cup was announced I'm now very pleased this is the decision that has been taken.
Perhaps combined individual scores of all coaches would be an effective way of tie breaking, or good 'ol strength of schedule of course.

Also strongly agree that the reason this event surpassed Eurobowl is simply because of the round timings, 2.5 hours is king.

Additionally - The lunch food (particularly sandwiches) was a bit naff... i would happily pay £5 more for my ticket if there was a higher quality food option. Though I know this is probably out of your hands.

Thanks for the event Bren and the gang, thanks for teaching me Mexico City and Conan the Librarian Schmee, and thanks for the games oppos (event the chaos dwarf ones )

[Verbal_HM]

Excellent venue, and tournament overall, thanks Bren & team! Looking foward to the next one already (if I'm not on the wrong side of the world again like 2018).

Pitches: I think in every single game I played, we had a short chat about the pitches. Which always went along the lines of this extra dashed line in front of the sideline and again in front of the endzone is so confusing, right? And the squares around the UKTC logo in the middle are bit confusing too right? Right!

So yeah the pitches could have been clearer. I realise they are already manufactured (and frankly they're otherwise awesome) so it's a bit late now. Also I missed the last UKTC so everyone may have had this conversation already last year!

This. Honestly respect to the whole admin team for running such a smooth show, with such large numbers.

I found the black crosses on the UKTC logo around the middle of the pitch a bit of a nightmare. Lot of action around that part of the pitch at the start of the drive, and it was really hard to make out the spaces. Example would be myself vs Lycos round 2, T2 I realised we had two players in the same square. It's not like either of us are new to this game?

Bar and food have already been raised. The local shop was a pain to find. That said, there was actually a licensed bar on site, so still an upgrade from the last venue.

I'm not being critical, I honestly had a blast this weekend.

Only other statement would be about the final round tie breaker, it wasn't used all tourney for obvious reasons, so to drop it in for the final standings felt a little rude? The Dragons finished above a team who beat us in a previous round, and then consistently had to play harder match ups. We topped them on the table because I took Halflings, that doesn't feel proper to me? I already had an insane buff during team creation, to get another buff in the final standings due to avoiding Tier 1 races doesn't seem fair? I did finally manage to work out why we had such an abundance of Chaos rosters...

Just my 2 pence, again, thanks for putting this event on. It's honestly one of my favourite tournaments, and it keeps getting better year on year!

[cornish]

Everybody has said everything I think but to add votes;

- pitch could be slightly clearer but not huge issue, just something to consider if ever reprinted. Minor issue.

- lunch not great, but understand practicalities of sandwiches.

- venue ace, not least the affordability and convenience of staying on site.

- I love the idea of cramming in games and it works for single tournaments when I don’t get away to play as much as i’d like. Equally these 1dayers are often local to many so you can stretch the times a bit and start earlier or finish later. I have therefore always wished for more games in 2 dayers but can honestly say this was, well perfect. 2.5hours was just enough. Sure some games we finished in 2 (or under), but mostly we enjoyed the time to chat, grab a beer mid game or spend more time on those crucial scoring turns. I think The timings worked so well because there was so little waiting between games. There was just enough time to have the usual banter and moan about dice, but it wasn’t long before we were back off finding tables again.

- website result site was excellent. It can be refined/ improved with races and table numbers but we should have had something like this this year’s ago. I would just love it to be rolled out for all NAF tournaments. If it could be an app too... i’d Pay more membership for that. If it could link to rosters and offer non-captains access it really would be a perfect thing. It felt like the Lucca WC app and the Dorbirn WC app need to have a perfectly formed offspring.

So all in all one of my most enjoyable, well run events that I have been to. I think the scheduling off the back of the app made it for me.

Finally full applause to Brendan and his team of volunteers for giving up their weekend of rolling dice so that my friends and I could. The Stuffers will be back...

[gcoleman76]

I can only echo what Cornish has stated, shame there isn't more food outlets on site, but perhaps if the Cafe could be open in the morning that would help with the masses who want water/coffee.

A shout out to all my opponents you were all great.

Special mention & Apologies to Geggster & Arioso who suffered the patches of the tournament when my dice got very very hot and they took it with good grace, I'm never sure if I should say something when I get good dice in those situations So sorry if my non comments were the wrong thing to do, my game vs purplechest I had a reversal of fortunes and I was punished for my good luck for the whole weekend all in one game.

Thanks to Purplechest, Cornish, Jimbo & Twyllenimor for the games and the bants.

The UKBBL will be back and who knows more teams in future, all the guys really enjoyed it as usual.

[Tojurub]

- website result site was excellent. It can be refined/ improved with races and table numbers but we should have had something like this this year’s ago. I would just love it to be rolled out for all NAF tournaments. If it could be an app too... i’d Pay more membership for that. If it could link to rosters and offer non-captains access it really would be a perfect thing. It felt like the Lucca WC app and the Dorbirn WC app need to have a perfectly formed offspring.

Since it was brought up a second time now, but the table numbers were there: They were in the center column between the two squad members, basically right of the Home CAS and left of the Away CoachID.

By the way, it was always the plan to give the app to either all or selected tourneys after the World Cup, so far I have gotten requests from Spain and two German tourneys to use them this year. If you are interested, write me an email to give you the requirements, which are needed to use it.

By the way: There was already a non-captain-access to this, but we were afraid to give the info out to not overload the system.

Adding the races is on the To-Do list, and maybe adding a link to the rosters (if technical feasible)


In general: any kind of feedback, positive as negative (probably even more useful), is appreciated, no matter how minor you think that might be. It's all in the details