kumiko
formerly TDK
If we want to be ~objective~ the clear answer is to keep the 8 CG OU format. SS OU is a good tier, but not the greatest from a spectator perspective as the tier is filled with some not-so-fun Pokemon and teams usually end up featuring the same core with some different supporting members. The desire to want to change the format from this due to having simply too many of one slot leading to a less than entertaining tournament is very understandable, but most of the proposals here are very poor and simply biased towards what the individual wants.
3 CG OU + 7 Old Gens should not be an option. Why would we have WCoP be the exact same format as SPL? WCoP was made all CG OU to "justify" removing Lower Tiers from SPL in its entirety; SPL was made for Old Gens, SCL for Lower Tiers, and WCoP only for CG OU. This is the logic that was used to change the formats. Now people want to go back on that which is basically a giant middle finger to Lower Tier players simply because a bunch of people who prefer to play old gens are voting it in for their own sake. The tournament's focus should be CG OU, and as elodin said, anything less than half the slots being CG OU is a bad format and shouldn't be considered.
I don't see why people are so against the inclusion of Lower Tiers in this tournament. No ones campaigning to expand the tournament to be huge and add all of them. Personally, I'd like to piggyback off of elodin's idea; 5 CG OU, 1 of the other two STour Tiers, and 3 lower tiers. The vast majority of regions will be able to field players for tiers such as UU far easier than any old generation; the UU community is filled with great players and is easily accessible to non-mains. Just take a look at people like Poek and SoulWind having frequent success in UU Open and SCL in the tier. Old generation communities cannot do the same; old generation OUs do not have the same resources or accessibility for someone trying to pick the tier up that lower tiers have. And every WCoP, some non-main will pick up a tier to play it for their country / region, so this is a very important thing.
I believe this format has very easy "future proofing" that people believe to be important. Like SG said, lower tiers change at the start of the generation, but UU in particular is 100% going to be playable by summer time if the generation has a November release. I cannot speak the same for RU-PU, but tiers generally are much quicker to be ready than in the past. RU was in a pretty playable state during the Spring after SS release.
I do not like the idea of a rotating format. I think changing things up every year is really awkward and leads to no sense of team continuity, which is the biggest factor there is for WCoP, to me.
Having a format such as 5 SS OU / 1 SM OU / 1 ORAS OU / 1 UU / 1 RU / 1 NU would be an easy solution that can satisfy the desire to change while still giving a focus for CG OU. RU/NU could also be replaced if the fear of not being ready upon release of a new generation, but these 3 are very simple and the most "OU like" tiers there are. This format also doesn't give room for any kind of change to SPL format to re-include lower tiers, which were removed under the premise that WCoP was CG only, no old gens.
The options should be between keeping the tournament all CG OU, elodin's proposal (5 CG OU / 1 of each of 7-3 OUs), and 5 CG OU / 1 of the two other STour Tiers / 1 CG UU / 1 CG RU / 1 CG NU (with RU/NU subject to change).
3 CG OU + 7 Old Gens should not be an option. Why would we have WCoP be the exact same format as SPL? WCoP was made all CG OU to "justify" removing Lower Tiers from SPL in its entirety; SPL was made for Old Gens, SCL for Lower Tiers, and WCoP only for CG OU. This is the logic that was used to change the formats. Now people want to go back on that which is basically a giant middle finger to Lower Tier players simply because a bunch of people who prefer to play old gens are voting it in for their own sake. The tournament's focus should be CG OU, and as elodin said, anything less than half the slots being CG OU is a bad format and shouldn't be considered.
I don't see why people are so against the inclusion of Lower Tiers in this tournament. No ones campaigning to expand the tournament to be huge and add all of them. Personally, I'd like to piggyback off of elodin's idea; 5 CG OU, 1 of the other two STour Tiers, and 3 lower tiers. The vast majority of regions will be able to field players for tiers such as UU far easier than any old generation; the UU community is filled with great players and is easily accessible to non-mains. Just take a look at people like Poek and SoulWind having frequent success in UU Open and SCL in the tier. Old generation communities cannot do the same; old generation OUs do not have the same resources or accessibility for someone trying to pick the tier up that lower tiers have. And every WCoP, some non-main will pick up a tier to play it for their country / region, so this is a very important thing.
I believe this format has very easy "future proofing" that people believe to be important. Like SG said, lower tiers change at the start of the generation, but UU in particular is 100% going to be playable by summer time if the generation has a November release. I cannot speak the same for RU-PU, but tiers generally are much quicker to be ready than in the past. RU was in a pretty playable state during the Spring after SS release.
I do not like the idea of a rotating format. I think changing things up every year is really awkward and leads to no sense of team continuity, which is the biggest factor there is for WCoP, to me.
Having a format such as 5 SS OU / 1 SM OU / 1 ORAS OU / 1 UU / 1 RU / 1 NU would be an easy solution that can satisfy the desire to change while still giving a focus for CG OU. RU/NU could also be replaced if the fear of not being ready upon release of a new generation, but these 3 are very simple and the most "OU like" tiers there are. This format also doesn't give room for any kind of change to SPL format to re-include lower tiers, which were removed under the premise that WCoP was CG only, no old gens.
The options should be between keeping the tournament all CG OU, elodin's proposal (5 CG OU / 1 of each of 7-3 OUs), and 5 CG OU / 1 of the two other STour Tiers / 1 CG UU / 1 CG RU / 1 CG NU (with RU/NU subject to change).
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