AD2009: Round 11 with post-game feedback & suggestions

[dunno001]

It's been a great year for the draft this year, from record enrollment to keeping a tight game even toward the end. However, drafts don't get better on their own; they require constant tweaking and input. So, it's customary every year to ask- what do you think should change? And what should stay? This will be the official solicitation thread for new ideas, as well as an extra little poll that's also customary...

Also, for the record, while it was posted in round 10's thread, I will officialize the final scores now:
153 EmperorBrandon
147 Nosredna
143.5 Spirit of the Stage
138 Laputa
136.5 Buster Blader 126
131 Lumberjack
117.5 TnAdct1
113 Westlo
110.5 martialstax
108.5 Fudce
105.5 bluesilo
101.5 Foxfossil
101 AdyHart
94.5 Azumangaman
87.5 RedCorvus
82 Jimmie M
81.5 ancar
63 Victor Lewandowski
58.5 bctaris
26.5 Helschadenfreude

Congratulations to EB for winning the draft, and I hope to see all of the players again next year for AD2010! ^_^

[The Great Bear]

I have a suggestion, something that might make the choice of characters a little more challenging in each round.

Themes.

Instead of people just drafting anyone, each round would have a theme. I think this would provide some interesting match ups every round, as we would be comparing apples with apples instead of apples with oranges.

[something]

Themes.
Instead of people just drafting anyone, each round would have a theme. I think this would provide some interesting match ups every round, as we would be comparing apples with apples instead of apples with oranges.
I much prefer the freedom of choice an open draft gives.

We already have some themed tourneys, so AD's strength is that you don't have to worry about such a thing. Makes more sense to let the drafters create their own themes if they so choose, but imposing one each round doesn't seem desirable to me.

Edit: Uh, btw, what's the criteria for this 11th round? Highest scoring character from each round (didn't we have ties? is that why 15?) or each drafter's highest scoring character (but that should be more than 15?). Anyway, since Nagisa and Haruhi aren't here, I guess my vote goes to Alice.

[Buster Blader 126]

Uh, btw, what's the criteria for this 11th round? Highest scoring character from each round (didn't we have ties? is that why 15?)

I believe that this was the case last year, so my assumption would be that this is indeed the case this year.

As for The Great Bear's idea, it sounds rather intriguing, to say the least.

[Nosredna]

I like The Great Bear's idea of themes. It will make the rounds a bit more interesting and it will be fun to see how people react to the different themes and what type of strategy they would take.

[Spirit Of The Stage]

Along with the idea of themes (which I definitely approve of), a couple of other ideas;

1) Increase the draft from 10 rounds to 12 - this may be a bit much but from a coaches stand point, a lot of the fun comes from the drafting itself, rather than the voting - it's just a fun game after all, and shouldn't be taking seriously, and with the banter between a number of coaches adding to the fun, it just feels like it could go on another couple of rounds.
2) Votes increases - Maybe from 2 to 3 - mainly from a coaches stand point I must admit, that with a lot of great characters that, unless the coach has a heart of gold, they usually vote for their own character, and then one other. If it went up to 3 votes overall for example, that would help and give people as well who always struggle with their second vote another vote.
3) Coaches vote: I believe if a coach votes for their own character, they MUST use their second (or second and third votes if the idea comes) on another character. If they only vote for their own character, I believe that vote should become invalid unless they vote for someone else. Nothing personal, but if you are taking the draft as SERIOUS BUSINESS then you seriously don't see the point of the game - it's fun. Nothing more, nothing less. There are characters in each round you must like aside from your own, so use your vote(s), being selfish is just silly.

[populuxe]

I like The Great Bear's idea of themes. It could really be a lot of fun. I think Spirit Of The Stage has three good ideas, too. They're worth considering, anyway.

[Buckeye]

Seeing how Laputa has an incredible sense of timing in being the first to submit their pick and snag Haruhi Suzumiya, I suggest that in order for the other players to have their chance with Haruhi, I say that your first round pick cannot be someone you took in the previous draft. This applies only to the first round and does not affect the rest of the draft. With the explosion of anime series that I support the idea of making the draft 12 rounds as well.

[dunno001]

Uh, btw, what's the criteria for this 11th round? Highest scoring character from each round (didn't we have ties? is that why 15?)

I believe that this was the case last year, so my assumption would be that this is indeed the case this year.

As for The Great Bear's idea, it sounds rather intriguing, to say the least.

I can confirm this is the case. The winner(s) of each round were pulled together into this poll.

[dunno001]

Seeing how Laputa has an incredible sense of timing in being the first to submit their pick and snag Haruhi Suzumiya, I suggest that in order for the other players to have their turn with that character, I say that your first round pick cannot be someone you took in the previous draft. This applies only to the first round and does not affect the rest of the draft. With the explosion of anime series that I support the idea of making the draft 12 rounds as well.

Actually, this ties in closer to what I was going to propose- each draft sees a ton of the same characters in round 1 each year. I was going to (and am proposing) that the characters picked in round 1 should be locked out from next year's draft.

[something]

Actually, this ties in closer to what I was going to propose- each draft sees a ton of the same characters in round 1 each year. I was going to (and am proposing) that the characters picked in round 1 should be locked out from next year's draft.
Too harsh. I'd say only to lock them out if they were first round picks two years in a row, and even then it's iffy. I mean, should Nagisa, for example, really be locked out after one draft? And someone going for a theme or joke draft could draft a very not-round-one type of character - locking that out wouldn't be what you're going for at all. Bermanism's idea is far better and more fair.

[something]

2) Votes increases - Maybe from 2 to 3 - mainly from a coaches stand point I must admit, that with a lot of great characters that, unless the coach has a heart of gold, they usually vote for their own character, and then one other. If it went up to 3 votes overall for example, that would help and give people as well who always struggle with their second vote another vote.
Definitely, especially with, what, 20+ drafters now? Support increasing votes to 3.

[Buckeye]

Actually, this ties in closer to what I was going to propose- each draft sees a ton of the same characters in round 1 each year. I was going to (and am proposing) that the characters picked in round 1 should be locked out from next year's draft.
Too harsh. I'd say only to lock them out if they were first round picks two years in a row, and even then it's iffy. I mean, should Nagisa, for example, really be locked out after one draft? And someone going for a theme or joke draft could draft a very not-round-one type of character - locking that out wouldn't be what you're going for at all. Bermanism's idea is far better and more fair.
Another idea is to lock all characters drafted in the first round from this year's draft for the first round only. They can be picked from round 2 onwards, but nobody can select them with their first round pick.

[something]

Since people seem to support it, what kind of "themes" are we talking about? It would really need to be utterly unambiguous ("Characters named Sakura", "Characters with red hair"), or you're going to get maaaaaajor "rule bending" to justify a character fitting the theme. Also, who decides if a character fits, Dunno? What if he's not very familiar with the character?

[EmperorBrandon]

Another idea is to lock all characters drafted in the first round from this year's draft for the first round only. They can be picked from round 2 onwards, but nobody can select them with their first round pick.

I've seen this suggested before, and I'd be more comfortable with that. If Nagisa is locked out of next year's draft, I won't be participating. :P (NOTE: I'm being jokingly fanboyish there, but I still disagree with locking out characters entirely.)

My only suggestion: Increase series lockout to 6 or 7 characters, or do away with it. The limit only allowing a drafter one character per series already keeps a popular series from getting overused by one player anyway.

[EmperorBrandon]

Geez... Round 11 is tough to decide between Ushio, Akari, and Alice (if Nagisa were here this would be easy...). I think Ushio has a slight edge, though, and picking between Akari and Alice is torture as it is (they're just so awesome, in different ways).

[Buckeye]

As for my final vote, it's going to be between one of these since I voted for them in their respective round:

Hayate
Akari
Edward
Eri
Nodoka
Nanoha
Saber
Konata

And of course once I made my pick, I can leave the studio.

[Buster Blader 126]

The Great Bear: A question about your proposed idea just popped into my head: in terms of themes, are we talking the entire draft, or just specific rounds?

Whether the draft is themed or not doesn't really matter to me in the grand scheme of things, though I would still like to be able to pick 2-3 characters on my own terms, personally speaking. May I propose that if we do roll with the idea of using themes, that we have at least 3-4 rounds that allow drafters to pick anybody they wish?



1) Increase the draft from 10 rounds to 12 - this may be a bit much but from a coaches stand point, a lot of the fun comes from the drafting itself, rather than the voting - it's just a fun game after all, and shouldn't be taking seriously, and with the banter between a number of coaches adding to the fun, it just feels like it could go on another couple of rounds.

I certainly wouldn't mind this - I remember RedCorvus mentioning in one of the threads that he can draft for rounds on end, so to speak. I think I could, as well. :sweat: :)


2) Votes increases - Maybe from 2 to 3 - mainly from a coaches stand point I must admit, that with a lot of great characters that, unless the coach has a heart of gold, they usually vote for their own character, and then one other. If it went up to 3 votes overall for example, that would help and give people as well who always struggle with their second vote another vote.

I don't particularly mind this, either. The reasoning behind it is sound, I think. For example, I hated leaving Hina out in the cold for Asa in Round 2. Picking between the two of them was very, very hard.


3) Coaches vote: I believe if a coach votes for their own character, they MUST use their second (or second and third votes if the idea comes) on another character. If they only vote for their own character, I believe that vote should become invalid unless they vote for someone else. Nothing personal, but if you are taking the draft as SERIOUS BUSINESS then you seriously don't see the point of the game - it's fun. Nothing more, nothing less. There are characters in each round you must like aside from your own, so use your vote(s), being selfish is just silly.

I don't see anything objectionable with this either, if only because it'd be extremely unlikely to have a person dislike/not familiar with every other character in the draft, me thinks.

Seeing how Laputa has an incredible sense of timing in being the first to submit their pick and snag Haruhi Suzumiya, I suggest that in order for the other players to have their turn with that character, I say that your first round pick cannot be someone you took in the previous draft.

I actually didn't know what to make of this idea, at first. =/

I actually don't oppose this idea one bit, but I'm going to play devil's advocate here for a bit.

One can argue that grabbing a certain desired character should be fair game to anybody. In a sense, it's only fair that the "first come first serve" mentality should apply.


Another idea is to lock all characters drafted in the first round from this year's draft for the first round only. They can be picked from round 2 onwards, but nobody can select them with their first round pick.

A fair proposal, though if you think about it, I can see the possibility of the regular participants of Rounds 2-3 and 1 simply switching places, if anything. That's the only potential issue I see in regards to your idea.


Actually, this ties in closer to what I was going to propose - each draft sees a ton of the same characters in round 1 each year. I was going to (and am proposing) that the characters picked in round 1 should be locked out from next year's draft.

I have to agree with something on this one. However, combined with Bermanism's idea above, perhaps barring the Top 10 vote getters of Round 1 for a few rounds is a better alternative? Granted, this idea has the same (IMO) potential issues as the latter of Bermanism's ideas.

[Zeether]

I think themes would be a great idea.

[populuxe]

I think the original version of Bermanism's idea is best. No one is allowed to draft their first round pick from the previous draft in the first round of the next draft. It means every returning player has only one character they can't draft in the first round. If they're still available in the second round, then go for it. For example I drafted Nenene Sumiregawa of R.O.D the TV in the first round. I can't draft her in the first round of the next draft. Other people can draft her if they like. If she's still available in the second round, I can draft her if I want. That way no character is really locked out of the draft, not even in the first round.

[The Great Bear]

Since people seem to support it, what kind of "themes" are we talking about? It would really need to be utterly unambiguous ("Characters named Sakura", "Characters with red hair"), or you're going to get maaaaaajor "rule bending" to justify a character fitting the theme. Also, who decides if a character fits, Dunno? What if he's not very familiar with the character?

The Great Bear: A question about your proposed idea just popped into my head: in terms of themes, are we talking the entire draft, or just specific rounds?

The idea was basically for the rounds after Round 1.

So, what would it all look like?

Assuming, for the moment, that Bermanism's idea of locking out Round 1 picks from being used by the same person in Round 1 next year (which I also support), Round 1 would otherwise be the same. You send in your list to dunno and the voting in Round 1 determines the voting order for Round 2.

But from that point, the idea would be that every round have a theme.

And yes, the themes would be fairly specific. Similar to how the Avatar Draft worked last year. So, it would have to be specific enough that people could agree that it fits a category.

But it also adds an extra dimension to the contest. In themed rounds, people don't have to vote based simply on how much they like a particular character. They could vote based upon how much a person's draftee fits the theme. If someone deliberately drafts a character that is unsuitable to the theme, they can be punished at the polls by people not voting for the character, since they don't fit the theme.

[something]

Whether the draft is themed or not doesn't really matter to me in the grand scheme of things, though I would still like to be able to pick 2-3 characters on my own terms, personally speaking. May I propose that if we do roll with the idea of using themes, that we have at least 3-4 rounds that allow drafters to pick anybody they wish?
There definitely ought to be "free" rounds. If you restrict everything to themes, the themes have to be incredibly broad (while simultaneously being very clear cut so there's minimal ambiguity over a character's eligibility), or else you're going to have drafters who just aren't allowed to draft very many of the characters they like. Especially if the themes wind up skewing (even unintentionally) towards/away from certain genres or time periods etc.

[The Great Bear]

Whether the draft is themed or not doesn't really matter to me in the grand scheme of things, though I would still like to be able to pick 2-3 characters on my own terms, personally speaking. May I propose that if we do roll with the idea of using themes, that we have at least 3-4 rounds that allow drafters to pick anybody they wish?
There definitely ought to be "free" rounds. If you restrict everything to themes, the themes have to be incredibly broad (while simultaneously being very clear cut so there's minimal ambiguity over a character's eligibility), or else you're going to have drafters who just aren't allowed to draft very many of the characters they like. Especially if the themes wind up skewing (even unintentionally) towards/away from certain genres or time periods etc.

One way of avoiding that would be to have the themes decided in advance of the drafting. Allow people to propose the themes and then have an open vote as to which themes would be used for the draft. So, if there were any skewing, it would be because of the will of the voters, not for any other reason.

[Nosredna]

3) Coaches vote: I believe if a coach votes for their own character, they MUST use their second (or second and third votes if the idea comes) on another character. If they only vote for their own character, I believe that vote should become invalid unless they vote for someone else. Nothing personal, but if you are taking the draft as SERIOUS BUSINESS then you seriously don't see the point of the game - it's fun. Nothing more, nothing less. There are characters in each round you must like aside from your own, so use your vote(s), being selfish is just silly.

I don't see anything objectionable with this either, if only because it'd be extremely unlikely to have a person dislike/not familiar with every other character in the draft, me thinks.


But then you are forcing a coach to vote for one (or two) characters just for the sake of voting and not if they like the character(s). For example, I may not know five of the characters, dislike five of the characters, but what if I'm indifferent towards the other nine? It is possible.

[something]

One way of avoiding that would be to have the themes decided in advance of the drafting. Allow people to propose the themes and then have an open vote as to which themes would be used for the draft. So, if there were any skewing, it would be because of the will of the voters, not for any other reason.
I think the issue is that that's still the will of the majority of the voters, not necessarily the will of the individual drafter picking the characters. If people are okay with that, then alright, but I still think drafters (and voters) with more marginal tastes will suffer somewhat. I can support the idea of theming, say, half the rounds, but the idea of doing them all isn't what I'd choose. At any rate, I'll defer to whatever the drafters decide as I have no plans to participate myself, so most of this doesn't directly affect me.

[Jimmie M]

Another idea is to lock all characters drafted in the first round from this year's draft for the first round only. They can be picked from round 2 onwards, but nobody can select them with their first round pick.

This sounds like a good idea. Essentially those characters would still be available for drafting but only after the first round. Seems fair to me. I also like the idea of themed rounds but not for the entire Draft-Maybe for 3 or 4 selected rounds but not for the whole thing.

My final vote:
Lafiel (Crest/Banner Of The Stars)

[Helschadenfreude]

I like the idea of a theme, but yeah maybe restrict it to half the rounds or something. I wouldn't want to wreck my own theme just because say the theme was, "someone with red hair" and my theme was everyone with black hair.

Second about the locked characters thing, I don't agree with it. I agree that Laputa really has a good sense of timing to get Haruhi how many drafts in a row, but it's mainly because he used a proxy isn't it? I would suggest that coaches must send in their picks themselves. I guess it's not really a problem if the top scoring people are locked out or the round 1 people are locked out because I don't use the same people anyway....

I would agree with the increasing the votes to 3, since it's by rank anyway. There were times where I didn't vote for my own character(ahahah).

I love the idea of adding two more rounds. I couldn't use Xellos or Hiruma this year because they didn't quite fit in the theme and I had only had 10 slots to use...

[Randall Flagg]

Yuki Azuma gets my vote here.

[Betenoire]

First-I really like the idea of additional votes.

Second-I'm of two minds on the theme. While it could be interesting it could wind up with a whole lot of characters from the same series in that round-Like a school round that then gets inundated with Key and School Rumble characters. Plus that would lose some flow with the idea you try not to pick your favorite character and save them for the theme round only to see them go in a non theme round, or have to draft someone you like don't really like because they are as close to the theme as you are familiar with. Maybe if the rounds are expanded and the themes go to underrepresented character types like mascots or villains (though you run a spoiler risk with some of these). Plus a theme round may limit voters who don't care for shows that fit the theme from participating.

Third-I like the idea of locking the first round draft picks to give some others chance at those characters but there is some natural fluidity to a draft. With someone who loves a character and drafted them this year I'm not sure limiting them is the best way to do this. After all for those who are doing this more for fun and that might limit their enjoyment, where as those who are a little more competitive are more likely to abandon their this year choice (if not as well performing) and go for a character who racked up big votes in later rounds like Eri on their own.

Fourth-When I first saw the thread the idea occurred to me was to have maybe a separate round specific thread for the drafters to campaign for their choice. As for some of the characters it has been years since I saw the series and maybe a passionate reasoning could remind me of the character. Though the down side is it could get very spoilerish in a hurry.

[malazar]

Lafiel was an amazingly easy choice in this poll.

[Buster Blader 126]

But then you are forcing a coach to vote for one (or two) characters just for the sake of voting and not if they like the character(s). For example, I may not know five of the characters, dislike five of the characters, but what if I'm indifferent towards the other nine? It is possible.

What you typed out did cross my mind when I typed out my own response for that, which is why I wrote the "if only because it'd be extremely unlikely" part of my sentence, because I still kept in mind that it was possible for such a scenario to happen.

That suggestion wouldn't really affect me in the long run though, since I always tend to fine another character to vote for anyways, which is why I was impartial towards the idea. =/

In terms of the final poll, I voted for the lovely Horo, who managed to edge out Kyon, Konata, Nodoka and Eri. I don't think I've wanted a series licensed this badly since the days I was hoping for When they Cry to get picked up.

[Suwako Moriya]

Instead of people just drafting anyone, each round would have a theme. I think this would provide some interesting match ups every round, as we would be comparing apples with apples instead of apples with oranges.

The idea of themes is certainly interesting, but these are the following issues that will have to be addressed before it can really work. Ok, perhaps there are more than these, but these ones come to mind first.

First is is the issue of specific vs general. You need it general enough to allow some creative freedom, but specific enough to have actual guidelines. You don't want a case of "She must have pink hair, twin tails, be wearing a blue hat, have red eyes". Yet you don't want "Anything is fine so long as it breathes air".

Second is the whole "definition" debate. Where people argue back and forth over whether or not a specific avatar actually falls into the said theme. Granted I guess this means you'd want themes that leave as little room for debate as possible.

Third is of course taking into account that not everyone watches the same type of shows. So one of themes may involve something a person is not familiar with. Then again you could argue that the risk of having to work out side the comfort zone would be part of the challenge.

Fourth is the issue of how much if any the voters should take the theme of the round into account. Imagine if you willl a round where everyone is an Oujo-sama. Is it better to vote with the mindset of "Which one is my favorite in terms of being an Oujo-sama?" or "Which one is my favorite regardless of the Oujo-sama factor?"

I suppose the former would be more into the spirit of the idea of a theme based draft. However I can see many voting more based on the latter. Heck depending on the theme, some might find it much easier to do so. Since while some might be heavily into characters of a said theme, others might be more like "He or she just happens to fall under that theme" than anything else.

I guess my point is that while the idea of themes sounds like it has some potential, we need to make sure to deal with any possible problems that could come ahead of time. That way the potential doesn't end up getting destroyed before it can even be fulfilled.

[bci110]

My vote went to the George Mason of the Anime Draft - Yuki Azuma :P.

[AdyHart]

Okay the first thing

1) Increasing number of rounds from 10 - I agree with this, the best part of the draft is the drafting so a higher number of rounds would be great (not sure how many Id go to but more than 15 is too many)

2) Increase votes - I kind of agree to this but possibly only for the coaches themselves. I say this because I found myself stuck for votes (after voting for my own) It would also reduce "tactical" voting by over-serious coaches, but only if they where forced to use all their votes (although I didnt notice anyone doing this anyway but I wasnt looking for it)

3) Locking out Round 1 picks - Locking them out all together wouldnt be a great idea but locking them till round 2 or even round 10 wouldnt be bad as it would mean you wouldnt have the usual Sakura Kinomoto, Haruhi Suzumiya dominance every year.


Now Ive had a few ideas for this draft but I dont want to add a load of crazy ideas so Ill make some reasonable suggestions.

Themed Rounds - As has already been suggested themed rounds could be a good idea but not all draft. If the number of rounds was increased to 10+ for example rounds 11 could be a themed round such as a doubles round where you have a tag team of two characters. Rounds 1-10 would stay the same or even a wildcard randomly picked character from a list created from a open suggestion thread.

Series Lock - In increase in number of characters before lock or using rounds 10+ as open rounds where a series that was locked re-opens 1 character for the series.

As for this round my vote went to the awesome Konata

[Suwako Moriya]

Makes more sense to let the drafters create their own themes if they so choose, but imposing one each round doesn't seem desirable to me.

One that note, Fudce's food girl theme would not have worked if he was forced to say draft male characters in one or more rounds. I wonder if it would be better to run a "Theme Based" draft as a separate thing in order to give it a test run.

Granted the problem would be finding time for it and people do need to recover. I still think the idea of a theme based draft has potential if done right. It's just a matter of whether or not it should be part of the Anime Draft or separate.

[Suwako Moriya]

1) Increase the draft from 10 rounds to 12

Two more rounds would give two more chances for the "almost made it" characters to actually get in. In some ways it was depressing to reading how someone was going to draft a character I love, but weren't able to because there were no rounds left.

2) Votes increases - Maybe from 2 to 3

I can easily approve of the idea of more votes. Especially since often I found myself down to three characters competing for two spots. With three votes, I could have voted for Vanilla in the same round as Nagi and Alice. Or maybe voted for Kagami in addition to Ayumu and Ayu.

[Suwako Moriya]

Too harsh.

A simple phrase, but perfect for what I'm about to say. While it's nice to adjust the rules for the draft to make things more interesting. I do NOT want a case where we're essentially trying to turn the draft from a fun event into a stuffy event.

Part of the fun of the draft is being able to see which characters each coach wants on his or her team. If the drafting becomes too forced then this "fun" aspect will be removed. It will be more like the coaches are drafting based more on trying to obey the law than having fun deciding wh o they wanted on their teams.

[Suwako Moriya]

Longer List

Yagami Hayate (Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha)
Ushio (Clannad)
Mizunashi Akari (Aria)
Horo (Spice and Wolf)
Takamachi Nanoha (Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha)
Alice Carroll (Aria)
Konata Izumi (Lucky Star)

Shorter List
Yagami Hayate (Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha)
Alice Carroll (Aria)
Konata Izumi (Lucky Star)

The Winner
???? (Yes, I have not decided between the final three yet)

[ape2020]

Okay the first thing

1) Increasing number of rounds from 10 - Maybe but no more then two extra seeing the draft already takes a better part of two to three months as it is.

2) Increase votes - Nah I would leave it at two so people have to make some hard choices. Increasing just reduces the value of ones vote.

3) Forcing Coaches Use All Votes - No way! Why can't a coach have some tactical control and why restrict their rights compared to non-coaches who might only want to vote one character?

4) Locking out Round 1 picks - Wouldn't mind this as I tend to go even further in locking out all the round winners too completely next draft. But I understand this tends to put some off so blowing them back to at least the second round or better last round would be okay.

5) Themed rounds - Would tend to derail my tendencies to create themed teams. It could lead to obvious choices being snatched up, leaving the rest of the drafters to getting non-competitive choices. Kind of goes against the spirit of the Anime Draft in being an easy strictly popularity contest. Especially when there was plenty of other games that had themes already. They couldn't be too focused or too general but who can really decide that? Hate to see some of the ranting and raving by coaches and voters alike about who does and doesn't fit the theme. Hell I remember some of the flame wars going on in the Moe contest. Personelly I would just leave themes out.

6) Series lock outs - Not really nessarity if coaches can only select only one character from a series univerese.

7) Number of Coaches - Maybe better then adding rounds we add say five more coaches to bring it up to 25. That would likely bring in more diversity of characters selected then extra rounds would.

-ape2020

[something]

2) Increase votes - Nah I would leave it at two so people have to make some hard choices. Increasing just reduces the value of ones vote.
That depends on how many characters you like. A lot of us already need to make hard choices to vote for 2, and 3 wouldn't be much easier. If you're not familiar with a lot of characters, then certainly it'd be easier... but you wouldnt be required to use all 3 either. With so many characters each round, 3 looks like a much better number.

6) Series lock outs - Not really nessarity if coaches can only select only one character from a series univerese.
Agree, I really think series lockouts should be abolished.

7) Number of Coaches - Maybe better then adding rounds we add say five more coaches to bring it up to 25. That would likely bring in more diversity of characters selected then extra rounds would.
Whether or not we add more rounds, adding more coaches seems desirable. Although drafting does take forever and a day already.

[njchobitsfan]

Man, tough round...went with Horo, cause she's foxy...:bigsmile:

[Classical]

Kind of a tough round. Lots of good characters, like Saber, Hayate, Nodoka, Horo, and Sousuke. However, in the end, I had to go with Nodoka.

[Lumberjack]

I think the original version of Bermanism's idea is best. No one is allowed to draft their first round pick from the previous draft in the first round of the next draft. It means every returning player has only one character they can't draft in the first round. If they're still available in the second round, then go for it. For example I drafted Nenene Sumiregawa of R.O.D the TV in the first round. I can't draft her in the first round of the next draft. Other people can draft her if they like. If she's still available in the second round, I can draft her if I want. That way no character is really locked out of the draft, not even in the first round.

I like this idea as well.

[Lumberjack]

Whether the draft is themed or not doesn't really matter to me in the grand scheme of things, though I would still like to be able to pick 2-3 characters on my own terms, personally speaking. May I propose that if we do roll with the idea of using themes, that we have at least 3-4 rounds that allow drafters to pick anybody they wish?
There definitely ought to be "free" rounds. If you restrict everything to themes, the themes have to be incredibly broad (while simultaneously being very clear cut so there's minimal ambiguity over a character's eligibility), or else you're going to have drafters who just aren't allowed to draft very many of the characters they like. Especially if the themes wind up skewing (even unintentionally) towards/away from certain genres or time periods etc.

My main problem with theme drafting is it would restrict which characters you can select and, for me, one of the main things I enjoy about the draft is the freedom to draft characters which I like. If we move over to theme drafting, I can't help but think I would be cornered into drafting characters either I don't like or am not familiar with.

[Lumberjack]

I'll throw out a suggestion based on something that martialstax suggested earlier in another one of the draft threads:

If the average drafting time of a coach is greater than 12 hours, that coach is disqualified from participating in next year's draft. I feel that if each coach is making an effort to draft in a timely manner (i.e. keeping an eye on the forum, using a good proxy, etc), then this shouldn't be an issue and, ideally, speed the drafting process up.

[AdyHart]

I'll throw out a suggestion based on something that martialstax suggested earlier in another one of the draft threads:

If the average drafting time of a coach is greater than 12 hours, that coach is disqualified from participating in next year's draft. I feel that if each coach is making an effort to draft in a timely manner (i.e. keeping an eye on the forum, using a good proxy, etc), then this shouldn't be an issue and, ideally, speed the drafting process up.

If the average total for all the rounds is over 12 then I can maybe agree with this. If you know you are only 2 or 3 picks away from drafting you could monitor the drafting thread or if you are 1) Working 2) Sleeping 3) Studying then that was the point of proxies so keeping your time low isnt too hard .
I say this because myself and other non-american coaches such as Fudce, SOTS and Westlo all managed to get our picks in well below this even with the time difference and studies/work.

On the other hand disqualifying may be a little harsh so a penalty of some sort could be a better choice, like seriously reducing their allowed drafting time in the next draft.

[Mr. Nail Bat]

2) Increase votes - Nah I would leave it at two so people have to make some hard choices. Increasing just reduces the value of ones vote.

How about this: a voter gets to cast a total of twenty votes throughout the voting period. They could use two at a time, like currently; they could use all twenty in the first round if they desired, or they can save them up until later... as long as they cast no more than twenty total votes in the ten rounds.

The major drawback is it would make verifying the score a bit more of a chore.

[Buckeye]

2) Increase votes - Nah I would leave it at two so people have to make some hard choices. Increasing just reduces the value of ones vote.

How about this: a voter gets to cast a total of twenty votes throughout the voting period. They could use two at a time, like currently; they could use all twenty in the first round if they desired, or they can save them up until later... as long as they cast no more than twenty total votes in the ten rounds.

The major drawback is it would make verifying the score a bit more of a chore.
Certainly an interesting idea worth discussing, but that would mean a ton of extra work for dunno making sure which votes are valid and which are not.

[something]

Certainly an interesting idea worth discussing, but that would mean a ton of extra work for dunno making sure which votes are valid and which are not.
That's definitely verification hell, and I guarantee a large number of the violations would be completely unintentional because people just accidentally lose count. VB isn't set up for making that kind of voting viable.

[ape2020]

2) Increase votes - Nah I would leave it at two so people have to make some hard choices. Increasing just reduces the value of ones vote.

How about this: a voter gets to cast a total of twenty votes throughout the voting period. They could use two at a time, like currently; they could use all twenty in the first round if they desired, or they can save them up until later... as long as they cast no more than twenty total votes in the ten rounds.

The major drawback is it would make verifying the score a bit more of a chore.

That is a disaster waiting to happen if we tried to implemented. As something said VB as it stands here now is crap and not setup fancy polling games. Its the reason I killed both the BOS and GTSC tourneys. Hell Dunno already has to monitor over voting in in some polls since VB here has so very few options.

Plus I believe most voters come to each poll and look who is available and chose who is their favorite. I don't think they follow the whole thing and see who is up for coming later rounds.

Lets keep it simple and allow two votes per round. If you have to chose among your favorites, well thats the agony of competition. Hell I had to do it a few round myself.

-ape2020

[dunno001]

2) Increase votes - Nah I would leave it at two so people have to make some hard choices. Increasing just reduces the value of ones vote.

How about this: a voter gets to cast a total of twenty votes throughout the voting period. They could use two at a time, like currently; they could use all twenty in the first round if they desired, or they can save them up until later... as long as they cast no more than twenty total votes in the ten rounds.

The major drawback is it would make verifying the score a bit more of a chore.

A bit more of a chore? Normally, I'm willing to float ideas out to poll, but as the vote verifier, I will have to flat out veto this, sorry.

As for the blocking of picks on all aspects, some of those rules have been in for a while, and I see the reason for them being so. The limit on a series is to prevent a new "hot" series from dominating the draft. In 2006, FMA closed out very early in round 6. How many more characters would have gone from that show? Not to mention both ends of the viewing spectrum- it would be overwhelming for those who've not seein the show, and the fanboys (gender neutral) would only pick those characters, leaving less skill in things, and also less debating over the votes for some.

Regarding the new character blockages, here's how I see this- I think it's unfair to block one person from taking a character; if Laputa were told he couldn't have Haruhi, so be it, but everyone else would be fighting for that character. If the picks were only disallowed for round 1, then we would see the same round 1 matchups that have been going for years just being delayed a round. (Haruhi, Sakura, etc would go early in round 2.) I personally was hoping to see a pseudo-retirement for a few characters, but this case will go up to vote either way.

On the themes front, yes, I'm still learning a few things on that. My foray into the avatar contest was an example of that. (And on that note, be sure to watch for the spring/summer edition coming soon!) I can make more generic themes for the draft should people choose to go this route. However, should we only do partial themes (which seems to be the popular option thus far), would people prefer it alternated (even rounds are themed), all front loaded, back loaded, or something else? And what type of a split from free/themed rounds? The ones I gave there assumed 50%, but even that's not set in anything.

[Fudce]

Looking the the suggestions so far:

1) Increasing number of rounds from 10 - Only if tied in to another idea I'll get to later...

2) Increase votes - We had a lot of ties this year, increasing votes will allow for more scope of avoiding ties. I'd go with 3 votes.

3) Forcing Coaches Use All Votes - In theory I don't see why we need to force them, but it is really arrogant of someone to only vote for themselves all of the time and not really in keeping with the "fun" aspect of the draft. (It's a game, not a competition)

4) Locking out Round 1 picks - I don't really think it's needed. If you lock the round one characters out, you'll just have them in round two instead. The popular characters like Sakura, Haruhi, etc, will always go as soon as they are available, but locking them out completely just doesn't sit right with me.

5) Themed rounds - It would hurt people's ability to do their own themes, but I like the idea. One possibilty would be to do a second Anime Draft, the "Themed" draft.

6) Series lock outs - I don't see any problem with the way it is now. Without the lockouts, the draft would just be a fight between the popular series.

7) Number of Coaches - The draft could fit with more participants, but like the increase in rounds, only in conjunction with the shortening of the time taken to draft.


Anyway, moving on...

The draft has seemed to have dragged on now for quite a while, with the voting being a distant stage from the drafting itself, so why not start the voting half way through the draft? Once round 6 starts, begin voting for round 1, continue onwards so that the voting for round 6 starts once we've finished drafting, etc... That way an increase in participants or rounds wouldn't make the draft unworkably long.

I'd also like better clarification of the timing rules. I agree that some people need time to make their picks, but when people have several days between their picks and then seem to take forever to make their pick despite being online throughout the day, either they are taking the piss or taking things too seriously.

One more thing is round one. The start time of Midnight eastern time is horrible! I know it is a logical start time since the majority of participants are American, but it makes the start time for us UK folks 5am, and if we are left with the choice of either staying awake until 5am, or losing the chance of getting the good names in round one. I propose moving the start time from midnight eastern to midnight UK. As long as we start at midnight on sunday morning (Saturday night for Americans) we can still start at a reasononable time for Americans (between 7pm and 4pm for Americans) and also allow people on the other side of the world to join us (midnight UK would be 9am Australia).

And finally, clarification on proxies.. there was some confusion on how many proxies you could have, more of a beurocratic thing, but there need to be firm guidelines on asking for a proxy and the role of that proxy. I don't see the need to limit the number of people you ask, as long as the proxies have the same list, they should all make the same pick. Also, I can't remember why I started thinking about this, but what is the status of proxies in round one? I can't see it in the rules that it's against the rules to ask for a proxy in round one, but it should be there. It does seem a little strange considering that people have a huge amount of time to PM their entry.

[EmperorBrandon]

6) Series lock outs - I don't see any problem with the way it is now. Without the lockouts, the draft would just be a fight between the popular series

The restriction limiting each drafter to one character from series already takes care of this in my mind though. I doubt everyone who is drafting is going to be interested in the same particular series, so it kind of limits thing naturally.

[William K]

This was the first year that I voted in this and it was fun seeing how my tastes matches up with the community's. Anyway, here are a couple of suggestions, mainly to make the coaches think even more :) Feel free to shoot them down as you see fit

1. Each coach gets a double-down card. After the drafting has been completed, a coach can choose to give one of his/her characters the double-down card. Whatever points that the character gets from the voting is doubled. Only the coach and the draft admin would know which character of course.

2. Each coach can do a single swap of their characters if they choose before Rd 1 voting begins. Don't like your character in Rd X going up against Saber/Hayate/Alice? Swap that character with one from another round. Every coach notifies the draft admin who then announces all the swaps in the big board before voting starts.

3. Super sub char round. Similar to 2, but another round of drafting is done and the char from the substitute round can be swapped with one from earlier rounds.

Oh, and for the themed round idea, I would suggest a mascot/familiar/pokemon/pet/etc round :) Would love to see a Mokona vs Pikachu vs President Aria vs Botan deathmatch...

[something]

6) Series lock outs - I don't see any problem with the way it is now. Without the lockouts, the draft would just be a fight between the popular series.
But going by the numbers, how do you figure that's true at all?

20 drafters (maybe more next year). 10 rounds (maybe more next year). An absolute minimum of 200 characters drafted, and if we did a 25/12, 300 characters. What series or even small group of series could possibly dominate with such a large field, and thousands of shows to choose from? Then accounting for different tastes among drafters and each drafter being limited to one character from a show anyway, I see no good argument anymore for keeping series lockouts in the draft.

[The Great Bear]

One more thing is round one. The start time of Midnight eastern time is horrible! I know it is a logical start time since the majority of participants are American, but it makes the start time for us UK folks 5am, and if we are left with the choice of either staying awake until 5am, or losing the chance of getting the good names in round one.

There is another method of dealing with the Time Zone problem:

Lottery.

Instead of it being whoever gets their entry in first gets first crack at a character, all prospective coaches submit a list (at least four or five to be safe) and once the entry period has closed, dunno simply picks names out of a hat and gives people their highest choice available. If their entire list is taken, dunno PMs that person to ask for a new list, revealing who has already been taken. I think this is far more fair than just rewarding someone for their ability to stay up late. This also would remove the "proxy" strategy of having someone else stay up late to get the entry in right at midnight.

[ape2020]

One more thing is round one. The start time of Midnight eastern time is horrible! I know it is a logical start time since the majority of participants are American, but it makes the start time for us UK folks 5am, and if we are left with the choice of either staying awake until 5am, or losing the chance of getting the good names in round one.

There is another method of dealing with the Time Zone problem:

Lottery.

Instead of it being whoever gets their entry in first gets first crack at a character, all prospective coaches submit a list (at least four or five to be safe) and once the entry period has closed, dunno simply picks names out of a hat and gives people their highest choice available. If their entire list is taken, dunno PMs that person to ask for a new list, revealing who has already been taken. I think this is far more fair than just rewarding someone for their ability to stay up late. This also would remove the "proxy" strategy of having someone else stay up late to get the entry in right at midnight.

Sorta like that idea and since dunno has been organizer for the past few drafts the trust issue is mostly gone. Plus it would negate the need to ban characters from certain rounds or ever (still like to ban round winners). But it would involve more work for Dunno unless there is a randomizer program out there where you just have to pop the names in and a random list of names came out.

-ape2020

[dunno001]

But it would involve more work for Dunno unless there is a randomizer program out there where you just have to pop the names in and a random list of names came out.

I'd like to hope the trust issue is gone, but there's a lingering part of my mind that still isn't a big fan of making me seemingly arbitrarily assigning who gets first pick. However, who needs a randomizing program? I'm a DM who likes to collect weird dice! (Off the top of my head, I have a fractional die, d3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 12, 16, 20, 24, 30, 100, a set that lets me roll d10000, and what I like to call my dNied.) Most likely if we go that route, entrant 1 would get 1 on the dX, where X is equal to the total number of players, incrementing upward. But we'll see...

Regarding other recent things, if I recall correctly, we've had varying start times; I believe that 2008 was 7 PM EST. Admittingly, the times that I start things are times that I can probably be around fairly quickly to start confirming things. I was considering (tentatively) on 8:30 PM for next year, but that's not decided yet.

As for the double-down idea, I think that sounds interesting! Since I already keep the scores in Excel, all I need to do is change the shade of the score box for each player's pick. We'll have to vote on that also...

[AdyHart]

3) Forcing Coaches Use All Votes - In theory I don't see why we need to force them, but it is really arrogant of someone to only vote for themselves all of the time and not really in keeping with the "fun" aspect of the draft. (It's a game, not a competition)

I didnt see any of this myself but was this a common thing?
Really when it comes down to it, if people do only vote for their own character and not vote for another just because they dont want to give them an extra vote, it just shows they are playing for all the wrong reasons. So forcing them, even though it would make it a more fair game, doesnt really fix their motives so they may influence it another way.


6) Series lock outs - I don't see any problem with the way it is now. Without the lockouts, the draft would just be a fight between the popular series.

I agree that series lock outs should stay. Although as I suggested before reopening the locked series for only one character per series for only one later round or a random unlock of one or two series in one round could work too. Removing the series lock all together isnt a good idea as because of the series lock a larger variety of character get taken instead of a huge chunk of two or three series.


One more thing is round one. The start time of Midnight eastern time is horrible! I know it is a logical start time since the majority of participants are American, but it makes the start time for us UK folks 5am, and if we are left with the choice of either staying awake until 5am, or losing the chance of getting the good names in round one. I propose moving the start time from midnight eastern to midnight UK. As long as we start at midnight on sunday morning (Saturday night for Americans) we can still start at a reasononable time for Americans (between 7pm and 4pm for Americans) and also allow people on the other side of the world to join us (midnight UK would be 9am Australia).

The late night posting wasnt easy so some way to make it a more reasonable time would be cool but it will be hard to accommodate everyone.

[Betenoire]

I'd like to hope the trust issue is gone, but there's a lingering part of my mind that still isn't a big fan of making me seemingly arbitrarily assigning who gets first pick. However, who needs a randomizing program? I'm a DM who likes to collect weird dice! (Off the top of my head, I have a fractional die, d3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 12, 16, 20, 24, 30, 100, a set that lets me roll d10000, and what I like to call my dNied.) Most likely if we go that route, entrant 1 would get 1 on the dX, where X is equal to the total number of players, incrementing upward. But we'll see...

I'm reminded of an old internet posting I saw about how to tell if your a gamer:

One of the tests involved the idea that losing you dice bag would be a major financial loss.

[something]

Removing the series lock all together isnt a good idea as because of the series lock a larger variety of character get taken instead of a huge chunk of two or three series.
You're the second person to say that, but again (http://www.mania.com/aodvb/showpost.php?p=1573471&postcount=55), how do you support that mathematically? What series could realistically have such dominance when each drafter can only choose from a show once and not all drafters share the same tastes or have seen the same shows? The most popular characters will get drafted early still, and looking at the series that locked this year, I don't think there are too many characters beyond the ones chosen who would be likely to show up, or likely to do well if they did. And if one series did flood the draft, it'd only work against the show and the drafters responsible because the chance of conflicts and vote splits would raise significantly. And of course just being in the same series doesn't mean characters are necessarily similar either. I just can't see where the arguments for a lock benefit the draft.

[EmperorBrandon]

And of course just being in the same series doesn't mean characters are necessarily similar either. I just can't see where the arguments for a lock benefit the draft.

It really works to the detriment of series where there's a variety of interesting characters, like Azumanga Daioh. If you want one of your favorite characters from the a series like it, you have to rush for them at the start. That's not very fun in my opinion - it's rather frustrating. But others opinions will differ on that. If the series lockout must be kept, I'd be for extending it to 7 at least to help prevent that kind of situation from happening.

[Buckeye]

I certainly would be for increasing the limit of characters per series to 6 or 7 before lockout. I don't like the idea of a complete lift on the series lockouts, but at least Chiyo and Tomo should not have to suffer because of such limits.

[dunno001]

I'd like to hope the trust issue is gone, but there's a lingering part of my mind that still isn't a big fan of making me seemingly arbitrarily assigning who gets first pick. However, who needs a randomizing program? I'm a DM who likes to collect weird dice! (Off the top of my head, I have a fractional die, d3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 12, 16, 20, 24, 30, 100, a set that lets me roll d10000, and what I like to call my dNied.) Most likely if we go that route, entrant 1 would get 1 on the dX, where X is equal to the total number of players, incrementing upward. But we'll see...

I'm reminded of an old internet posting I saw about how to tell if your a gamer:

One of the tests involved the idea that losing you dice bag would be a major financial loss.

*laughs* I call one of my roommate's dice bag sad because when you set it down, it has a limp from not being full. However, I don't have a dice "bag", because it's too impractical. I have a tackle box instead!

[Buckeye]

Me: Now that I have made my decision on who is the ultimate champion, it is time to bid farewell to the studio, Nagi, and Haruka.
Nagi: I guess this is really it now. It has been a blast here sitting in the studio with you.
Haruka: I had a wonderful time as well.
Me: As for the hint about who I voted for as the ultimate champion, here it is. I will let Nagi read it.
Nagi: Alright, here it is. Instead of building TBDOITL around me, the chosen one was the person to build it around.
Haruka: Well, I believe you said it so many times already during our time here, so that hint should be pretty obvious.
Me: Alright, time to head on out.
Haruka: Nanami has prepared our family's private jet for you to get on.
Nanami: Come on everybody, it's time now to leave. Great work everybody and now it is time to resume your daily lives.
(The three of us leave the studio and enter the private jet in the nearby air base. Joining us on the trip back are Haruka's maids Nanami and Hazuki and Nagi's maid Maria.)
Maria: It's time to leave Bristol. First stop will be Columbus where you will be dropped off.
Hazuki: With the speed of this baby, we will be there in no time.
Nanami: Hang on tight, cuz we are off now.
(30 minutes later, we arrive in Columbus and hop onto a stowaway vehicle in the jet)
Nanami: Everybody, get in. We are taking you home.
Nagi: Well, I must say, you better build this organization next year and include the two of us in it.
Me: I will try. But it seems like too many hurdles might prevent that from happening next year. The commish is thinking about tweaking the rules and playing with themes from what I heard from him.
Haruka: If that is the case, then there is not much we can do.
Nanami: We will see about that. In the meantime, we are heading on out.
(15 minutes later, I arrive at my apartment ready to resume life.)
Me: Well, this is where I get off. Take care everybody.
Haruka: Bye, bye. You were the one person I could easily express my hobbies with. I will have to hide everything again, but at least, I believe that I should be more honest with myself. See you again, maybe next year if the stars align.
Me: Bye Haruka. Bye Nagi. It was nice meeting you.
Nagi: Well, you know what? I am actually going to stay here.
Me: What! Don't you have your mansion to go back to back in Tokyo?
Nagi: I am going to be an exchange student at a high school in Columbus, so that means I am not quite ready to head on home.
Nagi: But don't you have Hayate to attend to? How will you fend for yourself against the mafia?
Nagi: I have hired a certain someone to be my bodyguard here. Believe it or not, I have a fellow classmate from school who happens to be a black belt martial artist. He is also an exchange student this year.
Me: Well, in that case, I will try and see you throughout the year here. But why come to Columbus for an exchange program?
Nagi: My father went to The Ohio State University for graduate school. I want to follow in his footsteps, so I hope to get into that school and carry on the family name.
Me: Well then, it is time I get going. I'm beat after all that we went through in Bristol.
Nagi: Alright, see you later.
Haruka: I'm off now. Take care everybody.
(And with that, my time as a booth reporter has officially come to an end. I already have a plan set out to create an awesome club next year, but in the meantime, it is time to recouperate and call this the end of a job.)

[Suwako Moriya]

I'm running out of time to decide, so I'm just going to go ahead and vote for Yagami Hayate from the Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha series. I'm probably better off not saying part of what influenced my decision.

[Betenoire]

I went with a character I didn't vote for the first time around:Konata Izumi (Lucky Star).

Maybe partially influenced by the fact I just saw Lucky Star 6 is on reserved status at TRSI.

[Suwako Moriya]

I see that Lafiel is all powerful in this 11th round. Also it seems that only two of us are worthy of Yagami Hayate.

[Fudce]

I see that Lafiel is all powerful in this 11th round. Also it seems that only two of us are worthy of Yagami Hayate.

And of course that the orange girl is very much loved. Also only one person loves Ushio :cry:

[Suwako Moriya]

Also only one person loves Ushio :cry:

Poor girl, I feel a bit sorry for her.

[Nosredna]

Wow Yuki got more votes than Ushio :sd:. When the thread was started I was afraid she wouldn't get any votes. Thanks to everyone who voted for Lafiel, Saber and Yuki! Once again I'd like to thank dunno and Fudce for all their hard work during the draft and with a final round victory, I'm officially retiring as a participant :). Thanks everyone who participated and voted!

[The Great Bear]

That voting was truly brutal.

I voted for Akari, but I guess Orange Girl was just one vote more popular.

[Suwako Moriya]

That voting was truly brutal.

Lies. The voting was the sweetest thing ever. It was like a bunch of fluffy animals with dangerous weapons dancing through a field of poisonous flowers.

I voted for Akari, but I guess Orange Girl was just one vote more popular.

Not to take anything away from the Orange Girl name as I realize the reason for it. However part of me feels that "green" should be included in there somewhere.

[populuxe]

It's awesome that Lafiel got the win. Especially considering she's the oldest character (in terms of how long she's been around, not character age) in the final round.

[EmperorBrandon]

And of course that the orange girl is very much loved. Also only one person loves Ushio :cry:

That would be me...

[EmperorBrandon]

I voted for Akari, but I guess Orange Girl was just one vote more popular.

If I had voted for one of the Aria girls, I may have picked Akari over Alice. It's very close, but maybe she nudges ahead among my favorites now.

[Spirit Of The Stage]

That voting was truly brutal.

I voted for Akari, but I guess Orange Girl was just one vote more popular.

Alice was my vote so could have been my vote technically, but something tells me I should really check out Crest Of The Stars...

[something]

but something tells me I should really check out Crest Of The Stars...
And so will Something. Though it's been quite awhile since I've seen the franchise.

Glad Alice got second, even with Akari in there for some splitting.

[dunno001]

Okay, folks, I've not forgotten about this, rather, I've been getting things dealt with for moving my site away from Geocities. If all goes well, I should be able to end this year with the rule voting polls for 2010's changes. As of now, the proposed possible changes are:

-Introduce themes to the draft (Yes/No/Some rounds)
-Number of drafting rounds (10/12/15)
-Votes per voter (2/3)
-Require coaches to use all their applicable votes (Yes/No)
-First round lockout (None/Own pick only/Round 1 only/Whole draft)
-Number of characters allowed from a series (5/6/7/Unlimited)
-Drafting time allotment (Change/Leave alone) {Ideas for time lengths should this vote to change will be needed}
-Ability to double the value of points for 1 round before voting starts (Yes/No)
-Ability to make 1 character flip-flop (Yes/No)
-Round 1 draft procedures (FIFO/Daily lottery/Entire lottery)

If there are any more suggestions, please post them. This will all go to vote after Otakon, and once voting starts, no other changes will be proposable.

NOTE: There are a few of the smaller rules that I am changing. As was the case with this year, I will italicize them when I do the final change.

[dunno001]

Well, with no new ideas, I'm going to go ahead and start the poll for rule changes, and lock this up.