AC XI

[Daze]

Lag hit within the last hour and I finished with 11 yyb games from rank 4.

Still waiting for results. Roos went down in all 4 games against Brightvale. Did not expect that.


Roos play Meridell in Round 2.

[Siniri]

One of the ASGs joined Brightvale this year, Daze. And the cheaters are on Maraqua and Kreludor (looks like JS did a great job stopping them, doesn't it? Hopefully there are more measures to come...). You guys drew a terrible bracket. At least you're getting it out of the way first.

I actually triple-maxed (YYB, SlSl, and SOSD) yesterday just to see if I could, ending the day on rank 5 (15% of the way to All Star). I obviously can't do that every day, but it was nice to find out I could do it (and they were real 5-goal SOSD games, too). I'm mostly enjoying the new caps, but they really should have lowered SlSl's and maybe not cut SOSD's quite so much...

[Daze]

No wonder Roos lost! Congrats on the triple max, Siniri. What team do you go with this year?

I managed to max out on SoSD and MSN but I wont be doing that everyday. Finished day 2 at Rank 7.

Trying to get a little a head as I do drop off towards the end of the month.

UPDATE:

The caps/minimum scores:
Yooyuball: 46 wins
Make Some Noise: 401 games - 3000 2700 points
Shootout Showdown: 401 games - 1 goal
Slushie Slinger: 86 games - 285 270 points

I have tested all these and they are right (I only do the minimum these days).


ETA: YYB is bonus game today.


Roo Island
Game 2: Won all 4 games against Meridell
Game 3: Playing against Kreludor

[Siniri]

I joined Tyrannia this year. They've actually done really well in all four games for the last several years, so they've got a strong, consistent core team.

I finished yesterday at rank 8, maxing YYB and SOSD (with 71 games of SlSl). Time to start playing today. These lower caps are dangerous, because they actually make me play more (I think "Why stop there when you're so close to maxing?").

You guys are playing the smaller cheating group today, so maybe you can give them a run for their money... It'll be tough, but I know the Rooligans can pull together and work hard when they've got a tough opponent. (And who knows, maybe TNT will stop the cheaters sooner than later... )

How's everyone else doing in the AC?

[Daze]

Roo Island
Game 3: Lost all 4 games against Kreludor
Game 4: Playing against Maraqua

No surprise losing to Kreludor.

Wonders what JS put in place to stop cheating

[Siniri]

BV's scores have steadily gone up; they won 3/4 against the biggest cheating group. It's hard to believe that a legitimate team could pull that off, especially with the smaller caps, even if it does have an ASG.

No idea what's going on, but I have no confidence at all in these scores.

But yesterday in the editorial, TNT confirmed that you should send the highest scores you can in all games to help your team the most, and that sending the minimums hurts your team.

Basically gave enough info for the cheaters to tweak their programs (and legitimate players their own playing strategies, but let's face it -- playing all games to their highest value takes significantly extra time -- and more hand power for MSN -- for real players, but doesn't have any effect on score senders, as long as they're smart enough to increase the time between their score sends, which I presume they are).

[Daze]

Staff Tournament

Staff tournament is open for picking a team.


The whole affair with cheaters and all-star groups in the AC does not induce me to do more for my team, as we are going to lose against the bulked up teams. I basically play for my trophy and what ever points I can get for the prize shop. Having said that, the only minimum score I send is for SoSd, all other games are played as normal.

Although AC is a team sport, all the team gets is bragging rights, there is no extra prize and the trophy isn't anything grand. Until cheaters can be stopped auto-sending scores/multi-account playing (or whatever they do), the AC is about personal ranking more than what team has done more to win.

[Blue]

I have already played more YYB this year than I did last year for the entire AC X. I may actually go for Rank 1 or 2 this year instead of playing exactly 1 game of each like I did last year. I chuckled when I just reviewed my stats from last year.

Staff Tourney! Looks like a lot of newcomers, so I more or less made some random choices this time. Lawyerbot, while still the same is most likely a different lawyer inside the box.

[Pickles]

Between move + baby, I've had little free time, but that being said, I've managed to max out on SOSD each day so far (though admittedly, mostly with minimum scores - I'm trying to get some "real" scores in when I have a bit more time). It doesn't take a lot of time to max out on SOSD, thank goodness, and it's been a nice chance to get my mind off things. It's amazing what a little monotony can do for the brain when you spend the rest of your time running around like crazy. That, and it's kinda peaceful, oddly enough, for the rare occasion, like now, where all 3 children are sleeping...sigh...

That all being said, I'm solidly in Rank 5 (closer to rank 6). *IF* I can keep it up, I should be able to all-star, but I'm not counting on it, as we'll have company for at least two of the upcoming weeks. I guess we'll see what happens.

For staff tourney, I went with Senor Malo and DJ Skellington (gotta stick with the old TNT members!), Country Queen, Dark Lord, and Ehlo Froyo, based on last year's scores.

[Siniri]

Thanks for the info, Pickles! I'll copy your picks.

Rank 5 is impressive considering all that you have going on.

It turns out that the biggest ACG has split into two factions: Maraqua and Brightvale. And even split in two, they're crushing everyone else. If I were in your guys' bracket, I'd be motivated to send minimum scores, too, but since I'm not, I'm trying to strike a balance between sending better scores vs. optimizing my own points (and having time for other things, of course...). I multi-play several games at once, so there's little difference for me between sending a higher score vs. a lower score.

[Blue]

In the Staff Tourney, I went with Laywerbot, Señor Malo, Country Queen, Kikocat, and Ehlo Froyo.

Similar thought to go mostly with old TNT. I just love Laywerbot. It still cracks me up to this day. It was a tossup between Kikocat and Dark Lord, but since Kikocat has Poogle Power, I chose her.

[Daze]

Roo Island
Day 4: Lost all 4 games against Maraqua (no surprise)
Day 5: Playing against Terror Mountain

Start today at Rank 11.

I will probably now just try for 1 rank a day.

ETA:

Roo Island

Day 5: Two wins and 2 loses against Terror Mountain
Day 6: BYE Day

[Pickles]

This was posted a while ago:

The Altador Cup Rules Committee has been keeping a careful eye on player performance this year, and it has come to their attention that a disease has been spreading among some participants. Symptoms include multiple personality disorder and temporary feeling of supernatural or magical performance in the games. In order to stop the spread of this plague, we have quarantined the affected players (and their scores), which have initially caused a dramatic upheaval to some overall team scores. We do expect these to stabilize as we move forward and remove quarantined players from the tournament. We will also continue to monitor other teams closely to make sure that all others stay healthy and unaffected by this plague. No other changes have been made to how the results are tallied, so uninfected players can and should keep playing normally for their teams.

In other news, now that round 1 has come to a close, we are excited to announce a new ending to this year's Cup. Round 5, instead of being another round of regular gameplay, will be a Finals Bracket! The top 6 teams will be placed into one bracket to battle it out for the top spot, teams ranked 7-12 in the next bracket, and 13-18 in the final bracket. The stakes are higher than ever to make sure your team performs well throughout the next few rounds. Each bracket will be worth different amounts, so winning the top bracket will earn more bracket points than the top spot in the second bracket, which will earn more than the last.

Game on, Neopians! This is shaping up to be one of the most dramatic Altador Cups yet!

I haven't followed the exact scores, but apparently they've been tweaked?

I played minimums today, and maxed out on SOSD. Between that, and the handful of SS games I've played solely because I like the game (even if it's long), I just barely made it to rank 8. My goal is to get to rank 13 at least, as I hate the Rank 9-12 trophies.

[Siniri]

Posted: 6 Jun 2016 - 2:19 pm

The Altador Cup Rules Committee has been keeping a careful eye on player performance this year, and it has come to their attention that a disease has been spreading among some participants. Symptoms include multiple account disorder and temporary feeling of supernatural or magical performance in the games. In order to stop the spread of this plague, we have quarantined the affected players (and their scores), which have initially caused a dramatic upheaval to some overall team scores. We do expect these to stabilize as we move forward and remove quarantined players from the tournament. We will also continue to monitor other teams closely to make sure that all others stay healthy and unaffected by this plague. No other changes have been made to how the results are tallied, so uninfected players can and should keep playing normally for their teams.

In other news, now that round 1 has come to a close, we are excited to announce a new ending to this year's Cup. Round 5, instead of being another round of regular gameplay, will be a Finals Bracket! The top 6 teams will be placed into one bracket to battle it out for the top spot, teams ranked 7-12 in the next bracket, and 13-18 in the final bracket. The stakes are higher than ever to make sure your team performs well throughout the next few rounds. Each bracket will be worth different amounts, so winning the top bracket will earn more bracket points than the top spot in the second bracket, which will earn more than the last.

Game on, Neopians! This is shaping up to be one of the most dramatic Altador Cups yet!

Check out the latest scores in your bracket, guys! Brightvale is still problematic, but seriously... check out Kreludor and Maraqua! And with the above-mentioned rule changes, the legitimate players on those teams -- and the rest of your bracket -- have a chance to progress to the top 6 going forward, with a shot for the Cup in the finals bracket.

Let's just hope the cheaters don't have too many additional accounts already signed up for a team. I have no idea how JS did it, but I'm impressed. And hopeful. And a teensy bit excited about the AC for the first time in two years (when the combined 3 biggest ASGs couldn't take down the biggest ACG, only winning 1 or 2 side games from them).

[Daze]

I spent most of the day in bed with a really bad back, but I managed to max out on SoSd with 8 seconds to spare!! LOL.

I have no idea how JS did it, but I'm impressed.

Me too Siniri!


Roo Island

Day 6: BYE Day
Day 7: Play against Darigan Citadel