Week 2 update posponed until Monday. Happy Father's Day!
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Please join me in welcoming 5 new members this week to the SFCCL!
* Dadre87 (Pennsylvania) * DrPepper20 (Texas) * GuurenLagen (Canada) * Kenji1138 (New York) * TeamEmporerA (California) Only GuurenLagen has past experience in the SFCCL. In fact, his Makoto made the Final Four last season in Super Brawl III. I am never quite sure how new players hear about the SFCCL, but I remember inviting TeamEmporerA and DrPepper20 to join the SFCCL after a random online ranked match. I hope to earn and keep their commitment now that they are officially part of the league. Some players join by word of mouth from current members, so I am always appreciative when new players join. The biggest compliment you can pay the league is to recommend it to other players. I've said it many times in the past but it is worth saying again. Without the members of this league, the league does not exist. Period. All 5 members have beed added to the Season 4 division standings, schedules, and member database. All are now invited to play in the live online tournaments this season, including the STARDUST Tournament in just 3 short weeks. I will update the Player and Battle Points with the Friday weekly update to include these 5 new members. I've updated some of the pics around the site as well, including a new look to the member schedules. Send our newest members Friend Requests on the PSN and start battling it out! Just a reminder that all SFCCL regular mataches are best 2 out of 3 five-round matches. Report all results directly to me. Good luck! * SFCCL-SALONGHORN The day that I didn't think would arrive...has arrived. Season 4 of the SFCCL begins today! Back in January, I didn't think there would be a 4th season of the SFCCL simply because interest in SF4 was dying. I wasn't interested in expanding the SFCCL to the new flavor of the month, Street Fighter X Tekken. So, the future looked bleak. However, after a 4-month hiatus and time for members to sample the new flavor, the league is back and ready to rumble once again. We have a great mix of veterans from seasons past as well as brand new blood in the league. To begin the season, we have 22 members confirmed, half of which are brand new to the league although two (Jay19000 & King-Sun) have been in previous seasons. For the newcomers...welcome to the SFCCL! Over the past couple of days, I have received 3 more signups (2 brand new members), which will increase our numbers to 25 members by next week. There is at least a one-week waiting period before a new member can be added to the season. Hopefully, everyone will take the time to explore the newly updated SFCCL website. I've organized the past seasons into sub-categories for convenience. I plan to add more 'picture buttons' to help with the navigation of the site since the drop-down menus are a bit tricky. For the current season, all the vital data is located across the top of the webpage. I've also split the various bits of data from members into different pages for convenience, including member profiles, locations of members, most popular characters, Player and Battle Points of all members, member/fighters schedules, divisions standings, and live tournament events. These pages still need some improvement as I am seeing them for the first time live today. Prior, I was only seeing them from the design point. Please leave any feedback to better improve the website. Some of the 4th season pages are very heavy in terms of images loading. There is a strong reason for this. If you view the 3rd season fighter schedules on a mobile device (iPad, Kindle, tablet, mobile phone, etc.), the schedules are impossible to read. Weebly has done a lot of improvements to their webpages in the past 4 years that I've used it. However, when using mutiple columns to display data, mobile devices will not display the date correctly horizontally. Instead, the mobile versions of the pages stack the columns on top of each other, which makes them impossible to read correctly. Therefore, whenever possible, I will use images/graphics to display data (see Schedules). I hope everyone likes the new look to that page! Now that the season is officially underway, here are some tips for all the new members playing for the first time in the SFCCL. The "older" members already have an idea how the season works, but these tips may be of use to them as well: * Set up an Endless Lobby before inviting your opponent. Be sure to select "5" rounds when setting up your lobby. * All SFCCL matches are best 2 out of 3 five round matches. * Place all (or as many members) on your PSN Friends List. This makes meeting up online much easier and allows you to see who else is online at any given time. All members must keep SFCCL-SALONGHORN on their Friends List. * Send Friend Requests or PSN messages to members to setup times to play your matches. Don't wait to be contacted. If everyone is active, more matches will be played. * All members have 2 matches versus each other. One is with their Main Character, and the other is their Secondary Character. See the SCHEDULES page to see who each of your figthers play. Technically, you only have to meet up with 21 time with other members as you can play both of your matches back-to-back. Of course, you can choose to only play one of your matches per meeting. Just be sure to meet up again to play your other match at a later time. * This season, like season 3, is to be played at your own pace. Some members may play all of their matches in the first two weeks. Others may play a couple of matches each week. Some may play one of the character's matches first. And some members may want to wait a few weeks before starting their matches. All options are available, just as long as you plan to play ALL of your matches by the end of the season (November 18, 2012). Personally, I am contemplating about playing my secondary character's matches first, and then playing my Main. * Always be sure to save the REPLAYS of your league matches. These replays have proven important when trying to settle a disagreement between members. Feel free to upload replays to YouTube. Let me know and I can then add the videos to this website under the VIDEOS page. * As I receive results, I will update the DIVISION STANDINGS on a daily basis when possible. Remember, the top 8 figthers from each division with the most number of wins advance to the season-ending tournament known as SUPER BRAWL IV. Most number of wins are important, not best winning percentage. A fighter who is (8-8) will advance over a figther with a (6-0) record because of the number of wins. This also rewards the figther with 16 matches played versus the figther with only 6 matches played. * Please report ALL results directly to me via email ([email protected]), PSN message, SRK SFCCL Season 4 post (http://shoryuken.com/forum/index.php?threads/sfccl-4th-season-discussion-ps3-online-league.154935/), or SFCCL Group post on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/sfccl.salonghorn#!/groups/SFCCL/). With this first post of the 4th season, I wanted to give everyone a heads up on the first live tournament of the season, the STARDUST TOURNAMENT. The first event will be held 3 weeks from today on Monday, July 2nd @ 8 PM Central. This is a brand new event to the SFCCL. The name originates from the opening tournament designed for my offline league with friends and family earlier this year. That tournament was designed to generate the first rankings for the offline season. However, for purposes of the SFCCL, this new event will have the same intent......to give one member the opportunity to become the league's first "star" this season while making all other members turn to "dust". Get it? The event, similar to Super Brawl, is an invite-only event. Meaning, members will have to earn their right to participate. We begin the season with an invite-only event just like we end the season with an invite-only event. Two things makes the STARDUST Tournament unique. First, it is a 39-fighter single elimination tournament. Each of SSFIV:AE Ver 2012 characters are represented in the tournament just once. Who plays these specific characters? That is the second reason this event is unique. The characters will be played by the member who holds the #1 spot in Battle Points in the league (see current Battle points here: http://sfccl.weebly.com/player-points--battle-points.html). Whoever holds that top spot will automatically play the character in the tournament. This is how a member 'earns' their right to play in this event. We have 4 weeks until the event, so start raising your points for your favorite characters. The winner of the event will receive an additional win to each of their season characters. In a season where every win counts, this is a very valuable prize. Since this is a live event being held on Monday night, June 25th, any member who does not show up will give up their claim to a specific fighter. The next member on the Battle Points list for each character will then have the option of playing him/her. If no one is present from the list, any participating members can play the character. If no one wants to play that character, their match is forfeited. For example, I currently hold the #1 spot for in Battle Points for Ken, Bison, and Fei Long. If that remains the case for the event, I will be the only member playing Ken, Bison, and Fei Long in the STARDUST Tournament. Final point standings will be posted the Saturday prior to the event. This is the first time the league has used those independent number for an event. For this event, all matches will be 3 rounds max in a single elimination tournament. The character matches are already set. I used the random feature at Challonge.com to create the matches. So look for your favorite characters down below, and start practicing! Well that's all for now!
I plan to post weekly blog updates every Friday during the season as way to keep everyone updated in the standings and other league news. So check back weekly or stay updated by joining the SFCCL Facebook group. Be sure to check out the SFCCL Season 4 trailer in the blog post below. The trailers have become a suedo tradition every season and part of the advantage for signing up early! I do expect to make the following two changes soon: 1. With new members joining the league, more matches will be added to everyone's schedule. Currently, to begin the season, we all have 21 matches to play with each of our fighters. With 3 more members confirmed to join next week, that number will increase to 24 matches per fighter. For this season, it is not required to play all of your matches on your schedules. However, only the figthers with most number of wins will advance to SUPER BRAWL IV, so play as many as you can can to get as many wins as you can. 2. With more fighters playing, I do expect to make a change to the number of fighters who can qualify for the SUPER BRAWL IV tournament. With 25 figthers in each division, the number of spots to qualify will change from the top 8 to the top 12. The first 4 spots will receive a 1st round bye in the tournament and the remaiming fighters will fight to advance to the 2nd round to play the fighters with byes. Stay tuned for more info in the coming weeks on these slight changes. Let the games begin! Good luck! * SFCCL-SALonghorn The initial signup period for season 4 is now over. I am closing the signup period temporarily. This gives me the next week to finish the website and get it ready for launch next week to begin the 4th season. Any player wanting to play this season is still welcome to signup but will have to wait a few weeks to be added to the league officially. New members from this point forward willl have less than the standard 24 weeks to play all of their matches. More details will come this week with complete info about the upcoming season, including all members' names and the schedule of events. Expect a few surprises! In short, we have 22 members ready to start the season next Monday, including 11 brand new members. Of those 11 new members, 3 have played in the league previously, just not in season 3. Stay tuned... Invites for the upcoming 4th season have gone out and new players are joining. I have already received 14 members confirming their participation for the upcoming season, including 7 new members.
All players are welcomed to join the league. It's free to play, and free to join. Just click on the SIGN UP link above to submit your basic information and lock in your spot. Also join the SFCCL Facebook Group by clicking on the link below. 14 days to go... Invitations for the 4th season of the SFCCL have gone out. Did you get yours???
Perhaps some familiar names return to the league this season. Deadline to signup is Sunday, May 27th. Stay tuned for more details soon... Well, after several months off, I am ready for another season! How about you?! Actually, I’ve never stopped playing. I’ve been playing in an offline league with a few friends & family members. Sort of a throw-back to the roots of the league during the Super Nintendo days. The offline league offers a lot of different options for a season compared to playing online. Since we play all the weekly matches on one night, there are no matches that go unplayed nor do we have problems with no-shows. There is always a winner and loser, even if the CPU has to decide it. It also gives us a chance to play some crazy tournaments and events to give the season some variety. Over the past couple of weeks, I began thinking about another season of the SFCCL on the PSN. And I am proud to say that the 4th season of the SFCCL will begin on June 4, 2012. The regular season will run until Sunday, November 18, 2012 (24 weeks) with the end-of-season Super Brawl IV tournament beginning that following Monday. I hope to have at least 20 members to begin the season, but that number could grow with demand. The offline season I am playing uses the original Champions & Contenders ladder system used during the first and second seasons of the SFCCL. All fighters are ranked in various divisions and move up/down based on the result of their last match. This is a format I prefer since it is designed to sort fighters by skill level, and thus, give everyone a fighting chance to win each week. However, following the first two seasons of the SFCCL, using this format online causes many problems. Such as: 1. Members dropping out of the league: In the old format, when a member dropped out of the league (or was kicked out due to inactivity,) his 2 fighters were removed from the rankings. As a result, all fighters ranked below his fighters would move up to fill the vacant rankings. Even if you lost your last match, your fighter could end up ranked higher because of several vacancies. 2. Matches that were not played caused problems with the rankings: Every match results in a winner and a loser. Each match automatically creates the new rankings for the next week. When playing online, even after a two week time window, many matches still go unplayed. If the #2 and #3 fighters do not fight, who is the #1 Contender next week? Do the fighters ranked below them jump them since they did play? In the first two seasons, I had to "decide" who deserved the loss (or win), which I absolutely hated doing. And I won’t do again. 3. Fixed number of members/fighters: With the restrictions of 16 fighters per division, several divisions had to be created in order to rank all the fighters (Gold, Silver, Bronze, A, B, C, etc.) During season 2, I had to cap the number of members in the league because it was too much for this format to handle. We had 6 divisions in the Americas Region and 3 in the European Division. A Waiting List was created to keep track of the players waiting to get into the league. Compared to the format used in season 3, a schedule format allows players to join the league anytime without much interference. Adding a new member to the league means more matches for everyone. No one is required to play any specific number of matches, since the standings are based on total number of wins. Members will have to play (and win) matches to qualify for the Super Brawl tournament. If one or two members don’t play, they simply don’t advance. All other members will still have plenty of other matches to play despite these ‘bad apples.’ No rankings to worry about. 4. 2 matches every two weeks versus play-at-your-own-pace schedule: In our offline league, we play new matches every 7 days. During season one & two, I had a 14-day week in order to give all members two full weeks to play their 2 matches. That still didn’t seem to be enough. The 2-week format restricts everyone in their busy lives, and results in members being kicked out of the league for obvious inactivity. The feedback last season for the play-at-your-pace schedule was 100% positive. Some played throughout the 4 months while some played all of their matches within the first month. Others waited until the end of the season to play their matches. Members enjoyed getting online on a specific night and playing several league matches in a row. Also, with our busy lives, not playing for several weeks is no big deal. 5. Less number of matches during the season: As I mentioned above, in the Champions & Contenders format, each ‘week’ was actually 14 days long. With the 4th season beginning on June 4th and ending on November 18th, that would only give us 24 weeks to only play 12 matches. That isn’t many matches, and offers little opportunity to climb up the rankings. Compared to the open schedule format of season 3, each member can play as many matches as they choose. If we start with 20 members, each fighter could play as many as 19 matches over 24 weeks at their own pace. If more players join, more matches are possible. The fighters with the most wins will advance to Super Brawl. Numbers of wins would be the goal for all fighters, not number of matches or rankings. For the above reasons, I am choosing to stay with the season 3 open schedule format. Personally, I prefer the Champions & Contenders original ladder format, but the open schedule format is better suited for online play. The 4th season will have a few changes compared to the 3rd season. There will only be 2 divisions with an even number of main and secondary fighters in each division. Instead of being sorted by location, all members will have the chance to play all members with their fighters. With 20 members, each fighter will have 19 matches with each of their 2 fighters to play during the 24-week regular season. The top 8 fighters with the most wins in each division will advance to the Super Brawl IV tournament where the winning fighter will be crowned the Grand Champion of the SFCCL. I am actively recruiting new players to join the league with hopes of having more than 20 members playing this season. The more members, the more matches for everyone to play. For example, 30 members will result in 29 matches for each fighter. The emphasis will be on number of wins, not number of matches played. There will be 5 different live events throughout the season (season 3 only had 3 live events.) The live events will be open to all members in the league and offer a chance to earn additional ‘wins’ for their fighters. Events like War Games, 2vs2 Tournament, and Fall Brawl are scheduled as well as the return of the Survivor Series 4v4 tournament. A new event, the Stardust Tournament, will be the first event of the season. A new rule for season 4 will be that once a member wins a live event, he/she will not be allowed to play in any other events the rest of the season. This isn’t meant to punish a member, rather offer an opportunity for all the other members to win a live event. I will post the full schedule for season 4 next Monday. Full details on the format of the events will be given then. To fill the opening day roster of 20 members, members from the 3rd season will be asked first if they wish to play another season. If any spots remain, new players that have signed up since last season will be invited. If more than 20 players want to play, I will gladly expand the roster for the league. If necessary, I can also change the number of fighters advancing to the Super Brawl tournament if we enough fighters. All 3rd season members – be on the lookout for your invite for season 4. Your spots are guaranteed if you want to play. Invites will go out beginning next Monday, May 14th. With the prospect of new members, I decided against the idea of having a pay-for-play season since new members will most likely be hesitant to send money to a complete stranger. The cash prizes are something I am still considering for future seasons, possibly even putting up the prize money myself. I am not closing the book on this possability, but only time will tell if & how this transition occurs. Also, due to the European region failing to finish the season last year, season 4 will only be open to players from the Americas. Members can hail from outside of the United States, but must be in the Western Hemisphere due to time zone and lag problems. Finally, due to our resident artist SHIN now going professional, official SFCCL artwork will be done by yours truly. I am far from a graphics artist, but will do my best to give the league a new face for the upcoming season. If any readers would like to submit artwork for the league, just let me know. Well, there you have it. That is the 4th season of the SFCCL in a snapshot. It is shaping up to be another fun season of beating each other up online. We should all be better players by now. The new season will have more matches, more live events, and new challenges from old & new rivals. Don’t forget to join the SFCCL Facebook Group as it will be the easiest way to post videos and communicate with other members (link on the right side of this blog). Look for website updates between now and the start of the season. All former season pages will still be available under the "MORE" tab above. Stay tuned for blogs in the coming weeks listing members confirming their participation in season 4! Good luck! And the let the countdown begin... Full details of season 4 coming Monday, May 7th. Announcement posted no later than 5:00 PM Central Time.
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