we are now at 10 signups, and due to very generous sponsorships, our prize pol has grown further!

oh and I swear to god if you put "Ninizar" in the merc category instead of "Razinon" i am getting Gladias to DDOS you ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

might as well smash that sorc dps in here as well. in an arena

lmao i never knew this was a thread til I posted for the FOTM Open (be sure to sign up here today ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) ) anyway highest DPS in an arena as the man's spec: IO merc

we're a little more than a week out - make sure you sign up before the deadline folks!

we're a little more than a week out - make sure you sign up before the deadline folks!

sorry brother, the whole thing with the FOTM Open is that only one class is allowed to enter, and this time that's mercenary/commando. I'd be happy to add you to the tourney if you wanna bring one of those classes though!

thanks. added!

8 competitors confirmed so far with 2 "maybes." this bodes well for the Summer 2017 FOTM Open!

8 competitors confirmed so far with 2 "maybes." this bodes well for the Summer 2017 FOTM Open!

got another sign-up in-game. welcome to the competition Kaera!

lol, are you "moist"? I'll need entry fee payment to confirm! also, we've got another sign up through in-game mail: Kaera!

in-game mail confirms another contestant has put his hat in the ring. welcome not blazetorch to the first ever FOTM Open!

in-game mail confirms another contestant has put his hat in the ring. welcome not blazetorch to the first ever FOTM Open!

appreciate the kind words. sorry to hear you won't be participating! the only way the Summer 2017 FOTM Open doesn't happen is if this one in Spring doesn't have enough participation. if the community wants it, and enough people sign up, I will absolutely continue hosting these tournaments every season

Snave's tournament is wildly popular and successful for a reason. it's good stuff and it's obviously loads of fun, so there's no need for someone else to host another dueling tournament with similar rules/format. that's why I've opted to do something quite a bit different. plenty of room in SWTOR for both!

cheers. welcome aboard!

cheers! hoping to get a good showing!

noted and thank you. he has been added to the roster

The Spring 2017 FOTM Open Dueling Tournament The FOTM Open was conceived in such a way as to eliminate all variables except for one: player skill. The setting, rules, and format were meticulously laid down to achieve this end, ensuring that the best duelist in the tournament is guaranteed victory. It is here where the re-roll filth will be separated from the true masters of their class. I understand that this is a long post. The important bits have been highlighted in red for your convenience. Background: My name is Razinon. I've been involved in SW:TOR PvP for years now, principally solo and team ranked, but I never fancied myself much of a duelist. Part of the reason for my opposition to dueling, and the tournaments concerning them, was how vehemently I disagreed with their formats. Frankly, I think a dueling tournament in which all classes are allowed to participate is little more than a rock-paper-scissors simulator. In these formats, seeding is almost as important as the duels themselves. If your class happens to be favored against your opponent's, you're far more likely to move on; not by virtue of your skill as a duelist, but by mere luck of the draw. The difficulty of creating a truly fair and equitable tournament is only compounded by adding the stealth mechanic to the mix. Ought stealth classes be allowed to combat stealth, sap, and regenerate while their opponent stands helplessly mesmerized? Well, that seems unfair. But if sapping is banned, then the non-stealth classes are allowed the use of all their abilities, but not the stealth classes. That seems unfair too! The thread at which I'm picking is this: it is impossible to create a truly fair dueling tournament if you allow different classes to duel against one another. While these more eclectic formats allow for interesting match-ups, upsets, and other fun dynamics for the viewers to witness, they detract from, what I think, is the true spirit of a duel: a competition in which one person pits their skills against another to see who the supreme competitor is. This conclusion led me to consider how to proceed with creating a dueling tournament that would be both wholly fair and realistically serviceable. If the only proper duel is a 'mirror match,' how would I structure a tournament? Surely it would be absurd to have 8 different brackets - one for each class - so which classes should be allowed? And on what basis? A perfunctory look at the PvP landscape led me to what seemed an incredibly obvious solution to my problem: take the most popular DPS class (or "FOTM," as in, "Flavor Of The Month") and allow that class, and only that class, entry. Taking the most populous class at any one time maximizes the number of eligible participants for the tournament while simultaneously eliminating the problems of unbalance inherent in allowing multiple classes into the competition. It is, in my view, the perfect solution to the problems I have with other tournaments. As an aside, this diatribe isn't meant to be taken as a slight against other dueling tournaments or their organizers. I think allowing all classes into a tournament makes for a more enjoyable viewing experience: there is far more variety, and it allows for the maximum number of participants. From a community perspective, it actually makes quite a bit more sense, and restricting a tournament to just 1 class, as I am proposing, comes with significant drawbacks. With that said, I have no desire to add to the number of unrestricted dueling tournaments; there are enough of them already. Instead, I've constructed a more niche format for those who crave the purist of dueling competitions. A format in which all luck has been stripped from the equation, leaving only duelist performance as the determining factor in who will reign supreme. At the FOTM Open, one thing is assured: the re-roll filth will be separated from the true masters of their class. Time: Saturday, April 8th, 2:00 P.M. P.S.T. Location: The Harbinger server, at Arkaellekk's Tatooine Stronghold. Specifically, here. Duels will be initiated with both competitors standing inside the hut shown. Once the request has been sent, players can (and should) move out of the hut as they see fit. This location has been carefully thought out, and will serve as the best place for a duel for a few reasons. First and foremost, that hut is not a stronghold decoration, so there will be no finicky line of sight issues. It is an actual structure in game which will provide reliable line of sight just like in an arena match. Here, you won't lose to a Rail Shot going through the wall. Secondly, there is a set of stairs leading a story or so down on the side of the hut that is similar to the Tatooine Canyon arena map. Between going in and out of the hut itself, the rock pictured in the upper right of the attached screenshot, and the stairs leading down, this location provides line of sight, a wide open area, and reliable Z-axis manipulation. It has everything the skilled duelist needs to manipulate the surroundings to his or her advantage. Format: For the Spring 2017 FOTM Open, Mercenary/Commando is the decisive candidate for "FOTM" DPS class. As such, participants are only allowed entry on their Mercenary or Commando, and only as 1 of the 2 DPS specializations (in other words: no healing specialization allowed). The tournament will be a double elimination best of 3. The seeding will be randomly generated on Friday, April 7th. Rules: 1. Act in accordance with the spirit of the tournament. It will be impossible for me to conjure up every possible scenario such that I will enumerate all the rules that I will go on to enforce. If you find a loophole that obviously exploits the tournament but doesn't technically break a rule, you'll be warned to stop doing whatever you're doing. A reset of the round, forfeit of the duel, or disqualification from the tournament will be enacted at my discretion depending on the nature of the offense. 2. No companions, legacy abilities, heroic moments, grenades, adrenals, or medpacs are allowed. Additionally, Supercharged Celerity, the 'raid buff' ability for Mercenaries and Commandos, is banned. The use of any of these will result in the round being forfeit. Stimulants, however, will be allowed. 3. Out of combat healing, or regenerating, is allowed. The strategic use of regenerating versus gaining a superior position, casting your heals, or pressing your advantage is an integral aspect of dueling that will be encouraged at the FOTM Open. 4. With that said, there will be a soft 5 minute time limit per round. If a duel is clearly reaching a finishing point, such that both competitors are actively engaged in trying to win the match, the duel will not be abruptly brought to an end at the end of 5 minutes. However, if there are numerous points at which both competitors opt to line of sight and regenerate to essentially reset the duel, this time limit will be more strictly enforced. Allowing your opponent to regenerate while you do the same because you know you have an advantage on your ability cooldowns, for example, is something that will be accounted for and encouraged. But repeated resets that indicate this is not the case will result in the time limit coming into effect. If this rule is invoked, I will announce in spatial chat that the competitor with the most remaining health at the end of the last remaining 60 seconds will be declared the winner of the round. 5. There will be exactly enough time between rounds for ability cooldows to reset for both competitors. Re-specializing between rounds will be allowed - both talents and actual specialization. Gear may also be changed at will. The caveat is that you will not be allotted additional time to do this; once ability cooldowns are all completed, the next duel will commence whether or not you are prepared. 6. Leaving the dueling perimeter or being knocked out of the perimeter by your opponent will result in the loss of the round. With that said, purposeful baiting of your opponent to the edge of the perimeter with the aim of exploiting this rule will result in your loss of the round. 7. All competitors must be ready to duel promptly at the beginning of the event. If a competitor is absent when his or her time is called, he or she has exactly 2 minutes to contact myself to inform me that he or she is immediately en route. After this contact, the competitor will have another 5 minutes before he or she forfeits the match. 7. Spectators must give ample space to the competitors. Moving around to get a good angle on the action is encouraged, but getting within 20 meters of the competitors at any time is strictly prohibited. 8. All visitors to the FOTM Open, spectator and competitor alike, are absolutely prohibited from over-using animations, and from the rapid summoning of mounts, with the aim of disrupting or annoying fellow players. I will immediately permanently ban any offenders with no warning whatsoever from both this tournament and all subsequent ones. 9. 'Trash talk' is both allowed and deeply encouraged. Here at the FOTM Open, we recognize and value the role that psychological factors play in the outcome of a duel, and will never attempt to suppress competitors' freedom to exploit this fact to their advantage. Spectators are also encouraged to express their input on the competition and be as critical of competitors as they desire with no fear of censorship. With that said, all such talk must be relegated strictly to the game. Racism, sexism, or personal attacks that have no bearing on the game are prohibited, and will be dealt with appropriately at my discretion. Prizes: Due to overwhelming sponsorship support, the prize pool has increased substantially from its original. If you would like to sponsor the Spring 2017 FOTM Open, please contact me through any medium you wish. All sponsorship contributions will now be funneled directly into the prize pool. 1st place: 350 million credits 2nd place: 100 million credits 3rd place: 75 million credits Entering The Tournament: The entry fee for the Spring 2017 FOTM Open is 500 thousand credits - all of which will go toward the prizes for the top 3 contestants at the end of the tournament. The steps you need to take to enter are as follows: 1. Post in this thread with the in game name of the character you will be entering the tournament with (including any alt-codes) and the faction of your character. If you are not subscribed and can't post here, then I will also accept in-game mail sent to "Razinon," on the Imperial faction on Harbinger. 2. Send your 500 thousand credit entry fee through in-game mail to "Razinon," on the Imperial faction on Harbinger. The deadline for both your entry and your payment is Thursday, April 6th at 11:59 P.M. P.S.T. No late entries will be accepted. Watching The Tournament: The tournament will be open in-game to any and all players who wish to come and watch it live. Additionally, viewers and competitors alike are encouraged to join me here on Twitch as I stream the entire event with live commentary for each and every duel. Contact Information And Current Competitors: Please feel free to contact me through any medium you desire with any questions or concerns you may have. Posting in this thread, talking to me live while I stream, or messaging me on Twitter are your best ways to get in touch with me. Please avoid using Twitch's messaging platform - their notifications are terrible and I likely won't know you sent it. For the complete list of current competitors, check the roster here. Special Thanks To Our Sponsors: 1. Far and away our biggest sponsor, Astinac has fronted a massive 500 million credits in support of the Spring 2017 FOTM Open - single-handedly giving this tournament the biggest prize pool in SW:TOR history. 2. Arkaellekk is a proud sponsor of the Spring 2017 FOTM Open, fronting a whopping 35 million credits to the prize pool as well as supplying the venue! 3. Swift is another sponsor of the Spring 2017 FOTM Open, contributing a generous 20 million credits to the tournament. 4. Valek has sponsored the tournament with a contribution of 10 million credits. 5. Digouts has also sponsored the tournament with a 10 million credit contribution.

The Spring 2017 FOTM Open Dueling Tournament The FOTM Open was conceived in such a way as to eliminate all variables except for one: player skill. The setting, rules, and format were meticulously laid down to achieve this end, ensuring that the best duelist in the tournament is guaranteed victory. It is here where the re-roll filth will be separated from the true masters of their class. I understand that this is a long post. The important bits have been highlighted in red for your convenience. Background: My name is Razinon. I've been involved in SW:TOR PvP for years now, principally solo and team ranked, but I never fancied myself much of a duelist. Part of the reason for my opposition to dueling, and the tournaments concerning them, was how vehemently I disagreed with their formats. Frankly, I think a dueling tournament in which all classes are allowed to participate is little more than a rock-paper-scissors simulator. In these formats, seeding is almost as important as the duels themselves. If your class happens to be favored against your opponent's, you're far more likely to move on; not by virtue of your skill as a duelist, but by mere luck of the draw. The difficulty of creating a truly fair and equitable tournament is only compounded by adding the stealth mechanic to the mix. Ought stealth classes be allowed to combat stealth, sap, and regenerate while their opponent stands helplessly mesmerized? Well, that seems unfair. But if sapping is banned, then the non-stealth classes are allowed the use of all their abilities, but not the stealth classes. That seems unfair too! The thread at which I'm picking is this: it is impossible to create a truly fair dueling tournament if you allow different classes to duel against one another. While these more eclectic formats allow for interesting match-ups, upsets, and other fun dynamics for the viewers to witness, they detract from, what I think, is the true spirit of a duel: a competition in which one person pits their skills against another to see who the supreme competitor is. This conclusion led me to consider how to proceed with creating a dueling tournament that would be both wholly fair and realistically serviceable. If the only proper duel is a 'mirror match,' how would I structure a tournament? Surely it would be absurd to have 8 different brackets - one for each class - so which classes should be allowed? And on what basis? A perfunctory look at the PvP landscape led me to what seemed an incredibly obvious solution to my problem: take the most popular DPS class (or "FOTM," as in, "Flavor Of The Month") and allow that class, and only that class, entry. Taking the most populous class at any one time maximizes the number of eligible participants for the tournament while simultaneously eliminating the problems of unbalance inherent in allowing multiple classes into the competition. It is, in my view, the perfect solution to the problems I have with other tournaments. As an aside, this diatribe isn't meant to be taken as a slight against other dueling tournaments or their organizers. I think allowing all classes into a tournament makes for a more enjoyable viewing experience: there is far more variety, and it allows for the maximum number of participants. From a community perspective, it actually makes quite a bit more sense, and restricting a tournament to just 1 class, as I am proposing, comes with significant drawbacks. With that said, I have no desire to add to the number of unrestricted dueling tournaments; there are enough of them already. Instead, I've constructed a more niche format for those who crave the purist of dueling competitions. A format in which all luck has been stripped from the equation, leaving only duelist performance as the determining factor in who will reign supreme. At the FOTM Open, one thing is assured: the re-roll filth will be separated from the true masters of their class. Time: Saturday, April 8th, 2:00 P.M. P.S.T. Location: The Harbinger server, at Arkaellekk's Tatooine Stronghold. Specifically, here. Duels will be initiated with both competitors standing inside the hut shown. Once the request has been sent, players can (and should) move out of the hut as they see fit. This location has been carefully thought out, and will serve as the best place for a duel for a few reasons. First and foremost, that hut is not a stronghold decoration, so there will be no finicky line of sight issues. It is an actual structure in game which will provide reliable line of sight just like in an arena match. Here, you won't lose to a Rail Shot going through the wall. Secondly, there is a set of stairs leading a story or so down on the side of the hut that is similar to the Tatooine Canyon arena map. Between going in and out of the hut itself, the rock pictured in the upper right of the attached screenshot, and the stairs leading down, this location provides line of sight, a wide open area, and reliable Z-axis manipulation. It has everything the skilled duelist needs to manipulate the surroundings to his or her advantage. Format: For the Spring 2017 FOTM Open, Mercenary/Commando is the decisive candidate for "FOTM" DPS class. As such, participants are only allowed entry on their Mercenary or Commando, and only as 1 of the 2 DPS specializations (in other words: no healing specialization allowed). The tournament will be a double elimination best of 3. The seeding will be randomly generated on Friday, April 7th. Rules: 1. Act in accordance with the spirit of the tournament. It will be impossible for me to conjure up every possible scenario such that I will enumerate all the rules that I will go on to enforce. If you find a loophole that obviously exploits the tournament but doesn't technically break a rule, you'll be warned to stop doing whatever you're doing. A reset of the round, forfeit of the duel, or disqualification from the tournament will be enacted at my discretion depending on the nature of the offense. 2. No companions, legacy abilities, heroic moments, grenades, adrenals, or medpacs are allowed. Additionally, Supercharged Celerity, the 'raid buff' ability for Mercenaries and Commandos, is banned. The use of any of these will result in the round being forfeit. Stimulants, however, will be allowed. 3. Out of combat healing, or regenerating, is allowed. The strategic use of regenerating versus gaining a superior position, casting your heals, or pressing your advantage is an integral aspect of dueling that will be encouraged at the FOTM Open. 4. With that said, there will be a soft 5 minute time limit per round. If a duel is clearly reaching a finishing point, such that both competitors are actively engaged in trying to win the match, the duel will not be abruptly brought to an end at the end of 5 minutes. However, if there are numerous points at which both competitors opt to line of sight and regenerate to essentially reset the duel, this time limit will be more strictly enforced. Allowing your opponent to regenerate while you do the same because you know you have an advantage on your ability cooldowns, for example, is something that will be accounted for and encouraged. But repeated resets that indicate this is not the case will result in the time limit coming into effect. If this rule is invoked, I will announce in spatial chat that the competitor with the most remaining health at the end of the last remaining 60 seconds will be declared the winner of the round. 5. There will be exactly enough time between rounds for ability cooldows to reset for both competitors. Re-specializing between rounds will be allowed - both talents and actual specialization. Gear may also be changed at will. The caveat is that you will not be allotted additional time to do this; once ability cooldowns are all completed, the next duel will commence whether or not you are prepared. 6. Leaving the dueling perimeter or being knocked out of the perimeter by your opponent will result in the loss of the round. With that said, purposeful baiting of your opponent to the edge of the perimeter with the aim of exploiting this rule will result in your loss of the round. 7. All competitors must be ready to duel promptly at the beginning of the event. If a competitor is absent when his or her time is called, he or she has exactly 2 minutes to contact myself to inform me that he or she is immediately en route. After this contact, the competitor will have another 5 minutes before he or she forfeits the match. 7. Spectators must give ample space to the competitors. Moving around to get a good angle on the action is encouraged, but getting within 20 meters of the competitors at any time is strictly prohibited. 8. All visitors to the FOTM Open, spectator and competitor alike, are absolutely prohibited from over-using animations, and from the rapid summoning of mounts, with the aim of disrupting or annoying fellow players. I will immediately permanently ban any offenders with no warning whatsoever from both this tournament and all subsequent ones. 9. 'Trash talk' is both allowed and deeply encouraged. Here at the FOTM Open, we recognize and value the role that psychological factors play in the outcome of a duel, and will never attempt to suppress competitors' freedom to exploit this fact to their advantage. Spectators are also encouraged to express their input on the competition and be as critical of competitors as they desire with no fear of censorship. With that said, all such talk must be relegated strictly to the game. Racism, sexism, or personal attacks that have no bearing on the game are prohibited, and will be dealt with appropriately at my discretion. Prizes: Due to overwhelming sponsorship support, the prize pool has increased substantially from its original. If you would like to sponsor the Spring 2017 FOTM Open, please contact me through any medium you wish. All sponsorship contributions will now be funneled directly into the prize pool. 1st place: 350 million credits 2nd place: 100 million credits 3rd place: 75 million credits Entering The Tournament: The entry fee for the Spring 2017 FOTM Open is 500 thousand credits - all of which will go toward the prizes for the top 3 contestants at the end of the tournament. The steps you need to take to enter are as follows: 1. Post in this thread with the in game name of the character you will be entering the tournament with (including any alt-codes) and the faction of your character. If you are not subscribed and can't post here, then I will also accept in-game mail sent to "Razinon," on the Imperial faction on Harbinger. 2. Send your 500 thousand credit entry fee through in-game mail to "Razinon," on the Imperial faction on Harbinger. The deadline for both your entry and your payment is Thursday, April 6th at 11:59 P.M. P.S.T. No late entries will be accepted. Watching The Tournament: The tournament will be open in-game to any and all players who wish to come and watch it live. Additionally, viewers and competitors alike are encouraged to join me here on Twitch as I stream the entire event with live commentary for each and every duel. Contact Information And Current Competitors: Please feel free to contact me through any medium you desire with any questions or concerns you may have. Posting in this thread, talking to me live while I stream, or messaging me on Twitter are your best ways to get in touch with me. Please avoid using Twitch's messaging platform - their notifications are terrible and I likely won't know you sent it. For the complete list of current competitors, check the roster here. Special Thanks To Our Sponsors: 1. Far and away our biggest sponsor, Astinac has fronted a massive 500 million credits in support of the Spring 2017 FOTM Open - single-handedly giving this tournament the biggest prize pool in SW:TOR history. 2. Arkaellekk is a proud sponsor of the Spring 2017 FOTM Open, fronting a whopping 35 million credits to the prize pool as well as supplying the venue! 3. Swift is another sponsor of the Spring 2017 FOTM Open, contributing a generous 20 million credits to the tournament. 4. Valek has sponsored the tournament with a contribution of 10 million credits. 5. Digouts has also sponsored the tournament with a 10 million credit contribution.

^^^^^

^^^^^

http://imgur.com/8vasYW0 A message from Koality: "Koality'merc 8v8 reg arena 6002.48 HPS P.S. Cynosure + no augs = too strong Hottie is bad"

http://imgur.com/8vasYW0 A message from Koality: "Koality'merc 8v8 reg arena 6002.48 HPS P.S. Cynosure + no augs = too strong Hottie is bad"