How to lose Gwent's remaining NA Community in 10 minutes

[altaybek]

How to lose Gwent's remaining NA Community in 10 minutes

Briefly:

• Our lovely CDPR management just managed to pull another Leeroy and scheduled their first Challenger qualifier on the same days(24-25 Feb.) with The Wild Hunt Tournament in NA.
• The Wild Hunt Tournament is a 64 player tournament which would include top NA players as well as other international competitive players.
• The tournament date was set in late December and many players already bought their tickets, booked their hotels etc.
• TWH Organisation team told that they were in communication with CDPR all along and CDPR knew exactly when it's going to take place. Rafal Jaki (CDPR dev) and Vladimir Torstov (Esports Manager of CDPR) even promoted the tournament via tweet a few days ago.

Some comments from organizators and participants via Reddit:


NoControlGG ( the tournament director for Wild Hunt)

I wanted to make something special for the people of NA to enjoy. Me and Joesn0w along with NSG devised a plan that would have the prize pool probably be around 5k, a respectable number, with crowd funding that was previously ok with other events top deck ran.

When we initially submitted the paperwork to cdpr, they asked us why we were submitting paperwork for a community tournament when in their rule set it specifically says if you are not following the guidelines you have to submit paperwork. I had to point out their own rules to them showing we were following them. That should of been the first sign we were in for a long ride.

After putting up the initial tournament, cdpr going "well, that's not what we said" and employees of cdpr unprofessionally putting people on blast on Twitter, we came to an agreement of a 50/50 split between production and prize pool (this is a far cry from what was initially planned).

Cdpr knew probably about 2 months ago this was getting planned. Then they just schedule right on top of it. This is a disgrace that they treat their community like this. I'm sure happy we rebranded.


jm22151 (JoeSn0w)

This decision really troubles me. I am both a caster for this event (this is JoeSn0w btw) and a competitive Gwent player. The challenger qualifiers is one of the most important events for players like me. Last season I finished in the top 35 on pro ladder and I look forward to more rewarding events that are not exclusive to being within the top 8. The Wild Hunt tournament date has been well known for a very long time. If this was an oversight I believe it is a very large one. I am beside myself atm. This event has taken a lot of time and work to put together. This is basically a catastrophe for the people who wish to play in the event, be part of the event in other ways (such as casting/staffing/hosting etc) while simultaneously going to be a direct "competitor" as far a viewership goes. I truly hope this can be changed.

Snow_Regalia (vishra)

So my two cents, and I'll try to keep this as civil as possible even though I'm feeling a lot of emotions at this point.

I've spent weeks watching as the people organizing the Wild Hunt tournament have worked to make sure everything is up to the standards set forth by CDPR. At times it feels as if the tournament has to go through hoops no other region or event has been subjected to, and they've done every single thing asked of them. The date for this event has been set in stone for weeks now. I bought a plane ticket several weeks ago, and have planned to fly home from halfway across the planet to participate.

This announcement offends me on so many levels. As a fan of Gwent, it disturbs me how little respect is giving to the NA scene and an event that should promote Gwent for both casual and competitive players alike. As a streamer who is making the trip, I'm mad that I now have to choose between this and a qualifier that seems to be given the date randomly. As someone who has grinded the pro ladder relentlessly this season (currently sitting at #11), I'm even more offended, because now I have to choose. Do I do the qualifier I have poured dozens of hours into qualifying for for the mere chance at a spot in another Challenger event? If I do I have to either eat the cost of a plane ticket and miss seeing friends and family, or I have to be at a distinct disadvantage to my peers, who get an additional chance to qualify.

I want to say that I'm simply mad; at the moment though all I'm feeling is an overwhelming sense of disappointment for how little respect the Gwent tournament scene is being given by CDPR.

~vishra

Hercules_Gwent (r/gwent moderator)

As someone from NA who wants to see the NA scene grow, I was looking forward to watching this tournament and seeing the tournament succeed. CDPR's disregard for community tournaments is disgusting and shocking, the Wild Hunt organizers painstakingly set up a great venue and had a meeting with CDPR to ensure that they were no issues with the event, CDPR never stated that a challenger qualifier was going to be on the same day as the Wild Hunt event during that meeting. Lots of people already booked flights+hotel, many of these competitive players deserved a chance to not have to forgo 1/2 challenger qualifiers due to lack of CDPR communication and their total disregard for community tournaments.


Rafal_Jaki_CDPR

I’m at work it’s hard to be on reddit . I’m also not trying to avoid anything - I’m trying to be as transparent as possible. There was no ill will on our end - we plan our own stuff in the Gwent master (so licensed tournaments and CDPR events) structure because we can control this. We deliberately don’t want to control community driven tournaments because it is hard to keep track and know everything. We will not move the dates but let me check what can be done for pros that might be affected. Please bear in mind that we have 2 qualifications instead of one with clear tiebreakers so we can avoid the mistakes from the past. I understand that anger is the natural response when you think we don’t care or even worse we deliberately sabotage community effort but that is not the case here.

 

[dragoonzen]

Ouch

 

[Lyserus]

Hmmmm have to say I know too little on the matter to pick sides...as someone who does not visit twitter I never even heard of this event

Also looked into a bit I do believe qualifiers is not even a twitch event? if the complain is about twht players not able to join in qualifiers, I think unofficial tournament winners also have a chance to be invited in next tournament（if all paperwork are already in place before details are planned, that is）

 

[altaybek]

Hmmmm have to say I know too little on the matter to pick sides...as someone who does not visit twitter I never even heard of this event

Well you don't have to know them to pick sides. It's irrelevant. I don't give a flying damn about the tournament. I'm not in NA, I'm not a pro or streamer-following guy but this attitude is disgusting.

This just opposes anything CDPR said about their good will and so-called "we care for our community" PR acts. They shot themselves in the foot again.

1. It's not a local internet cafe tournament someone would have with buddies. It's a tournament with the best players of NA
2. Some of the tournament participants (and organizators) are also pro players that will participate in Challenger
3. The date has been set for a while and CDPR were informed.
4. Challenger date is announced today
5. Dev team only said "sorry for that guys we will have other qualifier match anyway " (no exaggeration)

This is one of the most questionable things CDPR did lately.

 

[fo3nixz]

ouch

 

[Lyserus]

Well you don't have to know them to pick sides. It's irrelevant. I don't give a flying damn about the tournament. I'm not in NA, I'm not a pro or streamer-following guy but this attitude is disgusting.

This just opposes anything CDPR said about their good will and so-called "we care for our community" PR acts. They shot themselves in the foot again.

1. It's not a local internet cafe tournament someone would have with buddies. It's a tournament with the best players of NA
2. Some of the tournament participants (and organizators) are also pro players that will participate in Challenger
3. The date has been set for a while and CDPR were informed.
4. Challenger date is announced today
5. Dev team only said "sorry for that guys we will have other qualifier match anyway " (no exaggeration)

This is one of the most questionable things CDPR did lately.

so if you don't give a damn about tournament, why do you post this? How do you post about the matter if you don't know about what's going on?

1.CDPR doesn't have to cooperate with unofficial tournaments date if it's not certified like gwent slam. I do not know if TWHT has it, but it seems you don't neither.
2.follow point 1, if TWHT planned the details before fully communicate with CDPR, it is at their fault.
3.Qualifier is not a twitch event,（I don't believe so since CDPR twitch doesn't have previous qualifier videos） I don't see why it upsets TWHT team so much.
4.Even Gwent Slam had some issues when the unofficial group and official groups communicate the first time, I don't see Lifecoach jump to conclusion about how bad CDPR is then tho.

Like I said I know less than what I need for a conclusion, but your attitude and ignorance makes me trust in CDPR a bit more

 

[oOxhaosOo]

This enrage overreaction from some community parts every time, could swear i am in the OW forum, they act also like every thing happens burns there world down.

Sad for the people who try to organize that but realy this enrage here, on twitter, in gwent streams is more annoying then helpfull.
Maybe give the company sometimes to react or try to stop enraging about anything.

 

[Kegtron9000]

I don't see why both CDPR and TWHT Team can't come together for a solution that benefits both sides. Whining is when there's a problem and no one wants to act to resolve that problem , instead they just add fuel to the fire.:hmm:

 

[Riven-Twain]

Moderator: A few posts deleted. Please, treat one another with respect, regardless of differences of opinion.

 

[Gwentlique]

Not gonna jump on this pile here, but just wanted to add to the discussion that it'd be really cool if people showed some support for our NA brothers and sisters by tuning in to the Wild Hunt Tournament when it's on.

If the NA pros are going to miss out on a qualifier chance to be there, let's at least make sure they're getting all the community support they can get.

To CDRP: Given the situation, it'd be nice if you could do something to help promote the event. Maybe a news link in the client a day or two leading up to it? If the qualifier isn't being streamed anyway, it's not going to compete with your own event for viewership.

 

[Kegtron9000]

To CDRP: Given the situation, it'd be nice if you could do something to help promote the event. Maybe a news link in the client a day or two leading up to it? If the qualifier isn't being streamed anyway, it's not going to compete with your own event for viewership.

This is a great suggestion :cheers::hatsoff:

 

[Void_Singer]

Ladder tournament or not, it is sponsored, so I can see why people would be pissed...

it puts a hard chill on others sponsoring tournaments, since organizers won't want to sucker-punch either their own invitees or themselves over conflicting dates.

 

[Therealmorkvarg]

Oh wow this is icing on the cake, why would they do this! Cd projekt red have contradicted there word many times the past month this is horrific! I feel sorry for those who brought tickets for flights/hotel, why couldnt cdpr reschedule! Or at the least offer those who are missing out some crown points as compensation. ( i played against you last night vishra haha )

 

[altaybek]

so if you don't give a damn about tournament, why do you post this? How do you post about the matter if you don't know about what's going on?

1.CDPR doesn't have to cooperate with unofficial tournaments date if it's not certified like gwent slam. I do not know if TWHT has it, but it seems you don't neither.
2.follow point 1, if TWHT planned the details before fully communicate with CDPR, it is at their fault.
3.Qualifier is not a twitch event,（I don't believe so since CDPR twitch doesn't have previous qualifier videos） I don't see why it upsets TWHT team so much.
4.Even Gwent Slam had some issues when the unofficial group and official groups communicate the first time, I don't see Lifecoach jump to conclusion about how bad CDPR is then tho.

Like I said I know less than what I need for a conclusion, but your attitude and ignorance makes me trust in CDPR a bit more

OK I will try to be more civil this time.

1. and 2. What part of "TWH Organisation team told that they were in communication with CDPR all along and CDPR knew exactly when it's going to take place. Rafal Jaki (CDPR dev) and Vladimir Torstov (Esports Manager of CDPR) even promoted the tournament via tweet a few days ago [25th Jan]." you don't understand?

3. It's not about streaming it's about the participants. Please elaborate the part I mentioned "stream". You can't.
4. They have been adressed too and response was "oh no it wasn't like that you misunderstand"

My attitude is irrelevant. Being "a person that enjoys the game to a certain extend that he would start to defend the game sometimes too much, even ignoring some obvious problems with the game." is clouding your common sense and you fail to see the problem here. Check out the official Reddit sub where Devs are actively answering unlike abandoned official forums.

 

[4RM3D]

Just a quick update: CDPR is looking into this matter. I would expect a (re)solution coming soon.

 

[Philologus]

Just a quick update: CDPR is looking into this matter. I would expect a (re)solution coming soon.

That's great for the participants in TWHT, but I just don't understand how this happened. Those organizers for TWHT were in constant communication with CDPR, and CDPR made assurances, after which they made the qualifiers the same date(s)? How/Why?

 

[iamthedave]

That's great for the participants in TWHT, but I just don't understand how this happened. Those organizers for TWHT were in constant communication with CDPR, and CDPR made assurances, after which they made the qualifiers the same date(s)? How/Why?

Impossible to answer without CDPR tuning in, but it's entirely possible that though they announced the date for the qualifiers shortly after they'd inked in the dates well in advance. Why they didn't say that out the gate though... no idea. It doesn't strike me as malfeascance, as many are going to assume. Many companies - especially on flagship products - have their entire year schedule written in advance internally, so they can plan out development and planning accordingly. Maybe they weren't allowed to share that in external communications by CDPR rules, maybe there was a miscommunication and somebody wasn't told, maybe they meant to and forgot.

'tis a screw up for sure, and I hope they find a good workaround.

 

[Philologus]

Impossible to answer without CDPR tuning in, but it's entirely possible that though they announced the date for the qualifiers shortly after they'd inked in the dates well in advance. Why they didn't say that out the gate though... no idea. It doesn't strike me as malfeascance, as many are going to assume. Many companies - especially on flagship products - have their entire year schedule written in advance internally, so they can plan out development and planning accordingly. Maybe they weren't allowed to share that in external communications by CDPR rules, maybe there was a miscommunication and somebody wasn't told, maybe they meant to and forgot.

'tis a screw up for sure, and I hope they find a good workaround.

I dunno man.. that seems like a major case of mass retrograde amnesia. They were communicating with TWHT organizers on a consistent basis, from what they say. How could they conveniently forget, or be confused, and then just happen to schedule The Challenger tourney on the exact same dates??!? It just seems improbable, but at least they're working to fix it. It's a good thing that CDPR publicly announced as much, too, because if they didn't fix it, it would create a schism.

edited to add: Yeah, I am far more skeptical, I know.

 

[theturkishbadger]

 

[iamthedave]

I dunno man.. that seems like a major case of mass retrograde amnesia. They were communicating with TWHT organizers on a consistent basis, from what they say. How could they conveniently forget, or be confused, and then just happen to schedule The Challenger tourney on the exact same dates??!? It just seems improbable, but at least they're working to fix it. It's a good thing that CDPR publicly announced as much, too, because if they didn't fix it, it would create a schism.

edited to add: Yeah, I am far more skeptical, I know.

Skepticism's fine, but I've followed the industry a very long time, and it's amazing how many mistakes ostensibly professional companies make. Square Enix - for example - are a legendary shitshow when people have to work with them. Nintendo's supposedly nightmarish as well. CDPR strikes me as one of the less well organised companies out there, more artistically driven than a proper corporate affair like EA. Add that to an obvious lack of experience in dealing with these sorts of community interactions, and this seems exactly the sort of screw up I can see them making completely by accident.

The fact they've said they want to work with them so quick suggests to me a lot of backstage scrambling and people shouting 'how did this happen???' at each other a lot. Most companies who end up in this situation (Blizzard, for example) normally do it deliberately and don't care, and just throw out a random neutral PR statement.