Core Level Discussion - Mid 2016

[Drakona]

Ok, it's that time again: selecting core levels for the next season!

To remind you on how this is done, we start with statistics and discuss marginal cases. To make core, we are looking for a level to be broadly popular, which means it makes the top 10 by four different measures of popularity: total matches played, total players, total pilots who play it twice, and unique pairs of pilots who have played it. Modifiers are all combined -- so Vamped, Vamped NYDP, Vamped x5, all count as the same thing. Usually if the version of a level with a modifier is the most popular version of the level, that's the one that should be under discussion for core; I haven't done that with Wrath here, as Wrath and Wrath x4 are similarly popular, with x4 having the edge but also being the weirder level. More on that below.

Levels which are in the top ten in one or two categories and are otherwise close are considered "marginal" and we as a community can decide whether to include or exclude them. We also exclude any levels which don't showcase the full game (missing weapons, missing areas which permit a substantial tactic like dogfighting), or which seem generally inappropriate as a high stakes match in a promo challenge.

Also compiled is a list of extended core levels. These make the top 20 in all four categories.

Here are the raw statistics:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/ ... sp=sharing

The levels which are core are the same as last season, with one exception:

D1 Logic
D1 Flea
D1 Lurk
D1 Mindrix
D1 Ascend
D1 Crimson
D1 Athena
D1 Vamped
D1 Fuzed
D1 Wrath

. . . Wrath technically makes the cut, landing in the top 10 in all four categories. Not that that automatically makes it in, though -- we excluded it last time for being x4, a reasonable position to take. Also, its position may be an artifact of how things are counted, so I think it's fairer to treat Wrath as marginal. More on that in a minute.

We also have a genuine marginal level: Salute. Top 10 in unique players, and spot #11 in the other categories.

Extended core looks like this:

D1 Nysa
D1 Black Rose
D1 Forte
D1 RIP
D1 Neptune
D1 Wyndham
D1 Savage
D1 Ugh

. . . and it would also inherit Wrath and Salute if we exclude them from core.

Finally, the way Wrath made it into the top 10 is weird, if you look at the breakdown. Here's level popularity if you break apart the modifiers. Wrath is highlighted:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/ ... sp=sharing

Wrath x4 gets significantly more play than vanilla Wrath does, though Wrath alone does well enough for extended core. Combining the two gets Wrath up into the top 10 and qualifying for core, but this is weird -- it would be in its more popular x4 variant, which we've decided in the past isn't allowed in core -- and counting the x4s as a vote for the straight version, while it's normally something we do, seems weird in this case since that's where the popularity is coming from.

For both those reasons, we'll degrade Wrath to marginal.

So, topics for community discussion:

- Does Wrath belong in core or extended core based on these numbers? And if it's in extended core, should it be as the more popular x4 version?

- Does Salute belong in core?

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And by the way -- we have to cut off the stats so we can have a discussion. So even with two or three days left in the season, don't be trying to game the stats and move a level up a couple spots. Doesn't work that way.

As always, feedback from people who play counts the most. So while I have opinions, I'm treating them lightly this time around . . . I have not been out in the mines a lot. But to register them, here they are: I don't have a strong opinion on whether Wrath or Wrath x4 makes the list - I could see an argument either way -- but I definitely don't think it belongs in core. And I think the ladder would be a better place with Salute in the core than out, so I'd vote for that.

[LotharBot]

My thoughts:

(1) there are 9 levels that clearly make it into core. Logic, Flea, Lurk, Mindtrix, Ascend, Crimson, Athena, Vamped, Fuzed

(2) I don't like Wrath in core, simply because I think it presents a limited, though still intense and fun, version of Descent. Move Wrath to extended. [EDIT: particularly since Wrath gets played more in its x4 variant than straight -- clearly a subgame.]

(3) With Wrath out, Salute becomes top 10 in all four categories, and therefore I say it should be included in core.

(4) Extended core: Wrath, NYSA, black rose, Forte, RIP, Neptune, Wyndham, Savage, Ugh. I see no reason to list a multiplier with Wrath (or a preferred missile setting for Forte); players can negotiate those settings either before or after rolling those levels.

[Mark392]

I agree with Lothar on all counts!

[Cyrus]

No thanks on wrath. Salute please.

[b2af]

I Agree with Lothar!

[Jediluke]

if wrath x4 isn't core...then i don't know what is!

[Morfod]

NO TAKE2?!?!!

NOT EVEN IN EXTENDED?

BLASPHEMY.

THE PRECIOUS FEW THINGS I <3 ABOUT THIS GAME ARE DYING.
I'M RETIRING. I CAN'T SUFFER THIS.

[Sirius]

[roncli]

Agree with Lothar. Salute in core, Wrath in extended, no modifiers in either set.

[Drakona]