Who is looking out for her best interests? ... I guess it doesn't matter how exploitive a concept is as long as the "W" is added to the correct column.
Don't be bitter. We're not that bad off.
The goal of the Epics is to craft an environment where strong players will be challenged: where the game can be lost, where there's something at stake, where players have to apply themselves creatively to problems and situations for which they don't have pat answers.
That's easy to do for the short term, much harder to maintain over the long haul.
If a game allows for pat answers, formulaic strategy, or a single clear best path to victory, players can reach a point of having "solved the puzzle", after which replay value drops.
If we want to get more out of a game we've "solved", we need to find ways to compensate for the game's weak points, to change the balance or limit options to remove some of the certainty and sameness, to inject the game with renewed uncertainty and new challenges.
There can be multiple solutions and multiple degrees. Allowing for varied standards works OK in the SG environment, not so well in the tournament environment. The value of the tournament drops, the meaning of the competition drops, if players are playing by different rules, different standards.
A lot of things have changed since the last time the tournament rules were modified. The game has changed. The tactics have evolved. The community has evolved. The culture has shifted a bit. Care will have to be taken.
Take heart. The gears are in motion.
- Sirian
