i think a way to solve this would be.

1 ranked tournament on the hour, 1 friendly on the 30 mins slot.

rest are micros which is invisible to the naked eye (can use tournament on homepage to join) which micros as nick had an idea could be continuous that way, those who want to enter micro can and people won't be as bothered as it will be on forum and not the game where you enter.

plus they don't show on results either.

one way it will feel like more and perhaps it will be but if people don't see on the server enter micro every 15-30 minutes it might cut it down a bit.

There are too many different game types now to just have one tourney an hour.
If you log on and there is not a tournament you want to play for 3 hours you aren't going to stay online. If it keeps happening you won't bother with the site.

thats why micros is there and continuous but hidden on the game and enter on tournament page.

perhaps a drop down menu like this.

Tournaments (top as normal)

- Results
- Upcoming Tournaments
- Micro Tournaments

then you select Micro and a list comes up rotating in game types.

and maybe only say micro announcement started on the game server if you are involved.

But there's too many tournaments, if you don't play in tournaments, you really see the ranked games (especially in 8US) have taken a massive hit and there are plenty of times recently where I've come on and seen no ranked games being played in at least one game type. The games are too thinly spread and so I certainly agree tournaments need to be cut somewhat.

The rolling tournaments took away the 3 hour wait happening a continuously too. But I think it might be worth at least trialing the silent Micros, as that may have an effect-it's quite a nice idea.

Micros keep the interest for a little while but if there is only an 8 ball tourney every 7/8 hours(as it would be if they went back to hourly with arcade included) then the chances of getting to play them would be pretty slim.
Why take away choice from people?

If you lower the amount of choices, it means that those who want to play tournaments will be more concentrated in the hourly ones so numbers will be better, rather than them being spread thinly across 4/5 different game types.

I agree, I really don't like the Arcade games (and I'm crap at Straight so don't play it), so it would annoy me a bit if I came on and the next tournament on the hour was one of those, but if the spread was done well (so if the newer types were between the classics) it is much less likely to have more than an hour wait for a tournament people like-even more so if the Friendly ones on the half hour were different to the ranked.

Also there may be a few more people playing normal ranked games so you could still play the type you want if there were less tournaments.

And then, if you're still not happy, you could still have dgen's silent Micros idea.

I thought the arcade should have been at half past along with the friendlies but nick is determined they are just as worthy as the classics so the great tournaments like the classic marathons are shunted and ruined instead.
Knowing that Nick won't budge from all the game types getting equal slots if they were hourly you would get...
8 ball
8 ball arcade
9 ball
9 ball arcade
8 UK
straight
random

No doubt about it you would be waiting 8 hours for your favourite tourney to come round, they have to be half hourly really.

its only fair that killer players get some form of tourny

If you have a 4 hour shift with friendlies at half past, the most you'd be waiting is 3.5 hours for your favorite game type. (Spoiler.)

The more you can not have ranked tournaments overlap, the better imo, as you'd get a higher percentage of people playing per tournament, making them more competitive.

I also think friendly tournaments should count towards Newbie games, but that's a separate issue.

Half hour slots:


Currently, Killer tournaments can't be implemented (unless things have changed that I've not read), that's why they're being overlooked.

micro's are a joke as the saying goes if it's not broke dont fix it - alot of the better players have left already because of the way it's heading and i'm aware loads are still thinking of leaving to.

if you really sit there waiting for 1 tourny type then your rather sad. Yes people have their fav tournys for me its UK8 but i dont sit around moaning waiting for ages for them to come around. Take adam as an example he never used to play a ranked game and only came online every 3hours wen the tourny of his choice was on.

Same can still happen now yes it might be a longer wait for just 1 tourny your after but if your only on here for 1 tourny in the first place well thats your choice....

Still think there needs to be cut back in tournys so normal ranked games become back in fashion.

There isn't any interest in playing friendly tournaments for most of the people on here though. I started a thread on it before and the numbers still haven't changed these are todays figures.
Friendlies
8 ball -7.30 pm (peak time) 3 games
9 ball arcade-6.30 pm (peak time) 4 games
8 ball arcade-3.30 pm 4 games
random-2.30 pm 7 games
8 UK-11.30 am 7 games
straight-7.30 am 1 game

One 9 ball speed tourney at 5.30 pm had nearly as many entries as these 6 tourneys so friendlies just aren't popular enough to fill any spaces.
Only 2/7 friendly tournaments even filled up as much as a micro, nobody bothers with them.

I think if you're going to keep TournaPoints, having micros could still be important, but certainly not the number we currently have.

I know there are some issues over Friendly tournaments (some people dislike them-but they are important for Newbies with so little ranked games), what if Micros were to be played hourly but alongside the Friendly tournaments on the half hour using something similar to my above schedule? And you could change the schedule so that each hour you have three different types to choose from still (normal ranked on the hour, then friendly/micro all being different). That still gives people choice, but definitely reduces the number of tournaments and may mean the games are more popular.

maybe include friendly tournaments in my silent idea, just an announcement every few hours saying.

If you wish to enter Micro or Friendly Tournaments hover over tournaments on the homepage and just have a ranked every hour (or 30 mins if you desire)

Why hide micros? They're popular, they normally fill in seconds.
The_only_ego is right 'as the saying goes if it's not broke dont fix it'

You're supposed to give people what they want so why hide micros that are popular to try and boost ranked games that aren't?
People don't bother with ranked because you can boost your ranks so much quicker in tourneys and win a tourney too unless you're mad about your percentages or can really only play one game type whats the point in them?

just thinking if they will be continuous why show them?

will just be spam like it is now, every 2-5 mins will be TOURNAMENT: Micro Available to join and personally i wouldn't like it.

im just getting used to the news one about facebook which crops up every few hours.

Personally don't see the need to change things.
The tourneys get good numbers, multiplying tourney points by frames as nick has agreed will be happening will give tournaments like marathons a much needed boost again.
Micro's are popular so leave them as they are.
People get choice at the moment, if game types aren't popular like ranked that's because people prefer tourneys so why not keep giving people what they want?

tournys are too easy to win because there are far too many,less tornys mean more competitive games and more players for killer and other game types which arent filling now.

reason why there are 2 many tourneys is cos rankings have been reduced in normal games

my personal view is that there are too many tournaments on here and the schedule needs looking at.

i wouldn't know what to take out as people like potalot like micros, i do too in a sense as i have won 4 out of 5 of US only micros i have entered which also micro tends up fill up quickly and also friendlies can give newbies experience.

one thing i noticed about micro though say there is 1 US micro, then 1 UK and 1 9 Ball.

whichever come up first would get filled straight away, 2nd would only just get filled and 3rd would hardly be filled at all.

about killer i just play once in a while and i normally see 2 or 3 rooms when i do.

*Seconds that.*

Also newbies need normal ranked games, so it is vital for new players on the site. There was a time where tournaments would regularly have a lot more players than what you get now, although they get played, they only have one round before the QF now, so numbers aren't anywhere near what they used to be.