Outwitters WORLD CUP Winner - Alvendor (SWEDEN)

[Samura|]

As we're now approaching the knockout stages, just a couple of considerations before we kick off. The key issue is how the ongoing beta test affects the knockout games (I think a fair number of players in the knockout stages are involved in the beta). Points to consider:

1) there are a few bugs resulting from changes in the beta server which are 'leaking' over to the live servers (as posted by ArtNJ) - it looks like the latest patch has fixed the 2 most pertinent ones, but not sure if anything else could pop up

2) I'm not sure how much of a distraction for players involved, who'll be switching back and forth between servers, playing the game with altered game dynamics... plus obviously trying to contribute to the beta test for the next week or two (I'd say there would be some distraction but overall manageable)

3) the beta changes are likely to go live by the end of this month:
a) new team (as mentioned earlier in this thread) - this is something we can easily exclude for the remainder of the tourney
b) FTA fix - this will affect all new games started and therefore if the tourney continues before the live update, we need to be careful to ensure all games are started properly before the fix, so we don't end up with some games being affected and others not (I suppose it should be fine to start a new round with everyone equally affected)
c) the trial extra wit for kill (as mentioned in ArtNJ's post about bugs) - let's not discuss any details and merits/cons here, it's only a trial feature and we should leave that discussion to the beta forum. The important thing for the purposes of this thread is that if it is implemented, there could be profound implications for the tourney as we could be mid-way through games when suddenly the mechanics of the game changes dramatically. Changes that affect how you would have played the game to that point.

I think the last point 3© is my biggest concern. One option might be to postpone the start of the knockout stages until we know what beta changes will make it into the live server.