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The Observatory Season 4 is scheduled to be in July. There are 5 Saturdays in July... the 1st, 8th, 15th, 22nd, and 29th.

Of note, the 22nd overlaps with the Cajun Country Descent LAN 3.

Needless to say, the opportunities that have presented themselves have been tantalizing, to say the least. I definitely want to do some form of Observatory from the LAN.

My initial thought was to run Season 4 with qualifiers on the 1st, 8th, and 15th, and finish up on the 22nd, broadcasting from the LAN. The thought is a number of participants would be at the LAN, and that would make for a great setting. However, there are some logistical questions that come up:

[*] What about people that go to the LAN and haven't played in the qualifiers, could they participate?
[*] Would a linear finals format - where only one match is going on at a time - be suitable for a LAN environment?
[*] Is the casual-minded format of the finals format suitable for a LAN?

So I'd like to get some feedback as to how we can do *something* at the LAN. Here are the options:

[*] My initial thought! Qualifiers 1st, 8th, and 15th, finals broadcast from the LAN. We'd have to answer the above logistical questions, however. My first thought is a 4th qualifier on Friday for LAN participants, and make the finals matches just regular matches, with a best of 1 in the quarters, and a best of 3 in the semis and finals.
[*] Qualifiers 8th, 15th, and 22nd at the LAN, finals 29th. Just do a qualifier at the LAN. It would take up less time (qualifiers generally run 2 1/2 hours), and still probably result in some awesome matches to broadcast.
[*] Qualifiers 1st, 8th, and 15th, finals 29th. We simply do something else for The Observatory at the LAN.

What could be done instead of a Season 4 episode? Well, every LAN has a tournament of some kind, we could broadcast matches from that event instead.

Thoughts?

Observatory doesn't have to be a tournament every season. You could just observe matches -- particularly matches leading up to the LAN, and then matches at the LAN.

Lothar brings up an interesting point....perhaps the observatory can be about broadcasting key matches occurring during the LAN Tournament. Of course, that limits participation to the few that will be going to the LAN but would still be something worth broadcasting and then would not be competing with the tournament that is sure to be held.

no matter what you decide, i'll likely participate in it though

Lothar, you haven't played in ANY seasons yet! And we've only had TWO!

It sounds like both of you guys are favoring the 2nd option, as in, don't do season matches at the LAN, just do LAN matches. I am very much okay with that. While it would be awesome to have two events coincide, you might have people that don't want to do such an event on LAN, or we might not have a format that makes the LAN fun.

Any other opinions on this?

I kind of agree with just broadcasting key matches from the LAN. The existing format of the tournament held there was pretty popular, and working the Observatory around that as opposed to vice-versa seems like a winner. You'd probably broadcast all the matches from the finals, of course.

Being able to do interviews in-person would also be pretty cool for the viewers. In years past people who couldn't make it haven't usually had much connection to the event, but this'd be an opportunity to fix that.

P.S. Tell the Revival dudes when it's on.