Hey Dragonwhale, thanks for posting this! I have a lot of thoughts on BSPL, and hopefully we can get a good amount of discussion on this, because my opinions, while voiced a lot, are still only n=1.
Number of slots: I want to talk about this first because it obviously directly affects the formats that are played. I think 6 probably makes the most sense, because although I expected to see an uptick in our playerbase after a new generation release, that simply hasn't happened. As a result, its most likely that we have to stay for this amount, simply because we want to have our BSPL as competitive as possible while still giving enough low-mid level players the chance to play. We had 84 signups and 50 players drafted. Ideally we have a 2:1 ratio of signups to draftees, so unless we outdo last year's number, with multiple generation representation, 6 is probably the most we can hold.
Format list: Much like the smogon formats have been emphasizing (with a lot of people pro only Gen 8 OU slots for WCOP), I think there needs to be a strong emphasis on the newest generation, at least for this BSPL while SwSh hype is still fresh. It's the most accessible, and if we want to get new players, it helps to have more slots in the new generation, with all due respect to outliers such as my bud TectonicDestroyer who prefers old generations but are also relatively new to our community. But I think its also important for everyone to be able to play their favorite old gens format in some capacity, as BSPL is the only real time to do this, which is why I am a strong proponent of the "BSS Classic" slot, where you play a best of 3 in old gens. As a result, I think the formats should look something like this, subject to change based on the number of signups from people depending on their format preference.
Option 1: Mostly newer players from Gen 8
Gen 8 BSS #1, Gen 8 BSS #2, Gen 8 BSS #3, BSS Classic, Gen 7 BSS (or BSS Classic #2), Gen 8 BSD
Option 2: Lot of Doubles Signups:
Gen 8 BSS #1, Gen 8 BSS #2, Gen 8 BSS #3 (or BSS Classic), BSS Classic (or Gen 7 BSS), Gen 8 BSD, Gen 8 (or 6 if enough interest) BSD
That being said, I hope the formats are locked in as late as possible, and everyone is polled on what formats they would be willing to play at the player signup, regardless of whether or not we decide to have their format or not. All official metas are options with this: Gen 8 BSS/D, Gen 7 BSS/D, Gen 6 BSS/D, Gen 5 GBU, and BSS Classic Gen 5/6/7. And based on community interest in specific formats we make the final decisions.
Manager pricing: Overall pricing of managers needs to go up, no matter what solution we choose. Whether thats through a wins formula or not, it absolutely has to happen to maintain competitive integrity.
Our managers are generally amongst our strongest players, which makes it a huge outlier when a manager comes in that isn't necessarily able to get as much value from a 10k pricetag (such as Ika) as, say, Greilmercenary. This upcoming year, I have Greil, Edu, and Marilli top 5 on my big board, with Charlotte and Chemcoop also there. There is absolutely no reason that one team last year should have been able to afford 3 of that top 5 while still being able field highly competitive slots in every other spot. This is mostly due to the fact that Greil, who is worth 30k+ and should be #1 on everyone's board, was purchased for 10k without anyone having any ability to fight back against this. This wasn't just clever drafting, this was having an unfair draft capital from the start. Even increasing the baseline manager cost to 15k makes Greil's purchase strategy last year basically unattainable. What I say below are mostly just ideas, but a fair method can be found somewhere here, or in combination.
Solution 1: Wins formula. Base price at 15k, +2k for each win ABOVE .500. In order to be fair, however, this needs to take into account 2 major exceptions. The first is a minimum games played: if someone goes 1-0 last BSPL, they shouldn't have to pay 2k more (while being a bench player), same as me, who went 3-2 (as a starter). I think a fair minimum games played is probably 4 games. The second is if you are managing but your format is no longer available (darkinium shouldn't be forced to pay 21k and not be able to play GBU). They would go back to baseline 15k.
Solution 2: Base price 15k.
Solution 3: Opposing managers and DW set the price anonymously, maxed at 20k or 25k, minimum 10k, rounded to the nearest thousand. Average out the total values, managers cannot set a price on themselves.
Solution 4: DW sets the prices, min 10k max 20 or 25k, and if any manager opposes, they can have it arbitrated by another independent party, tbd.
One last note: Managers should absolutely be able to play. Since they are amongst the strongest players, we want to showcase them playing. And also we simply don't have the luxury of enough top players or signups in general in order to make managers not play.
Teamlock - Agree with it. Not much more to say on this.
Retains - Don't think it makes sense for our community. Not much more else to say on this.
