WOGL Seasonal De-Brief

[Brandon]

Well, it's been a great ride so far everyone, and I hope you are all enjoying this crazy ride as much as I am with WOGL. It's been a hectic few weeks here, as all of our staff members have been trying to handle all of this madness known as "Playoffs Time". Yes that's right, the CrossFire tournament has just ended, Combat Arms Playoffs have just begun, and Alliance of Valiant Arms Playoffs begin in the upcoming weeks. Along with this, comes the drama and stress that team leaders face, and the hardships of teams that didn't make it. Many teams have put in hours of practice just to get ready for this, and others, not so much. Whatever tactic teams decide to use can ultimately affect how they do.

The introduction of the Premium Memberships was implemented this season. You can find the benefits here. I would like to take this time to stress that we really do appreciate your generosity and willingness to help us keep going. We could not keep this up without all of you, and we are grateful for all of the newcomers, and old-timers as well, for the donations and premium memberships. You guys are what makes doing all of this worth it. We aren't out here to make money, we're here to make a good place for all of you to play. One of the benefits you receive with these is the monthly premium membership drawings. These drawings give you a chance to receive a piece of gaming equipment, or something valuable just for supporting us. Our first two drawings have been successful, with PANDAmonium- winning a Razer DeathAdder gaming mouse, and then s.a. winning a Creative Xtreme Gamer Sound Card. The next drawing will be April 26, 2010, for a Plantronics GameComm 377 Headset. Good luck!

Speaking of our members, i would also like to congratulate the community on surpassing 13,000 members. It seems like we are growing exponentially, which I guess you could say we are. It was just a few weeks ago that we were at 10,000. The additions of Modern Warfare 2, and the CrossFire tournament have really helped in gaining a legitimate place to play, in many different games. If anyone has a suggestion for how we can make your time here easier, or more worth while, please post a thread in the site suggestions forum, and we will gladly take a close look at it.

Another point of interest is the drafts. WOGL usually runs CrossFire drafts every Friday night at 9 PM Eastern, and Combat Arms drafts Saturdays, at 8 PM Eastern. I know a lot of people have been eager to find out when they will be back. Right now, all I can tell you is that, they will be back as soon as we can bring them to you. We are currently working on our voice servers, and making some decisions. We know that you all enjoy them, and we are working our hardest to bring them back to you as soon as possible. Again, if you have any suggestions for the drafts, please put up a thread in the site suggestions forum. We always strive to make things better for our public, especially for events like these.


Now on to the Combat Arms League update. I sat down with Jason, the Combat Arms League Director, to find out some of the answers to the questions you've been asking. First off, when asked about the new map, Short Fuze, he replied with "I will be paying close attention to the map and its needed strats and camping spots. Basically, I want to see its competitive nature and see if it is a map worth adding to the rotations." As always, check out the site suggestions forum for discussion about this map. I also talked to him about season four, and what changes would he thought would be implemented. He basically told me that with each patch, comes new ideas and things we need to change. We could see new rules, equipment, maps, and of course, new teams.

One question I know a lot of you are very curious about is how we plan on combating the problem with so many teams forfeiting next season. Of course, we don't just want to disqualify them. A lot of teams have problems getting their guys on, and ready, and we understand that. Jason thinks that we need to review the current drop rates for forfeiting teams, and decide on what we want to do with the rules. We can consider changing the dropping of a team after fewer forfeits. One thing he can tell you all though, is that if you can't participate for some reason, please just let us know, as there are teams on a waiting list, that would kill for your teams spot. We want as many of you to participate as possible, so please just communicate.


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At this time, I would like to announce each divisional winner.


Search and Destroy-WOGL-O

Alpha
Eternal Gaming | 7 Wins | 0 Losses | 59pts

Bravo
Team Rando | 7 Wins | 0 Losses | 56pts

Charlie
inFluence II | 7 Wins | 0 Losses | 54pts

Delta
VerTu Girls | 7 Wins | 0 Losses | 58pts

Echo
BEB II | 7 Wins | 0 losses | 58pts

Foxtrot
Is an elephant | 6 wins | 1 loss | 64pts

Golf
Fatal Reaction | 6 wins | 1 loss | 53pts


Capture the Flag

Alpha
Dawn Raid Squad | 7 Wins | 0 Losses | 58pts

Bravo
Anxiety | 7 wins | 0 losses | 54 pts

Charlie
VerTu | 7 wins | 0 Losses | 47pts

Echo
Pro(ore - Pro | 7 Wins | 0 Losses | 57 pts

Search and Destroy-WOGL P

VerTu | 5 Wins | 2 Losses | 60pts


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And now, on to an update from our Alliance of Valiant Arms Director, Jared. AVA is currently nearing the end of its first season in WOGL, and overall was a success. I got an overall update on the league as well as some updates on teams. As I said, it was overall a success, but as Jared stated, "A lot of teams have died and are inactive so there are a lot of forfeits." As always, in the next season we will try to cut down on these, and make some rules to prevent it, but it is mostly up to you guys. Other than that, he told me that DefkoN, lOwnedByl and V9 are the only undefeated teams in Demolition. So there is some stiff competition here, and he told me that his prediction was that Defkon or OwnedBy will take it all. Surprisingly, he also told me that it will be one of those teams who wins the escort tournament as well.

So make sure you guys check out that game, as I know a lot of you have.

And now, one of WOGL's newest additions, CrossFire. The CrossFire Launch tournament was a huge success for everyone. This gave the staff a chance to settle in and get the rules right, and also the players and teams a chance to get use to competitive play. LifeLine came out on top, after overcoming 128 other teams. Also, a congratulations to Klan Kaos on second, and ™-[sX]-sEx-™ on third place. Each team will receive their prizes that Z8 Games provided for the tournament. I sat down with the two teams in the finals, LifeLine and Klan Kaos.


Lifeline

Brandon: Hey, thanks for taking some time for me Roth. First of all, Lifeline pretty much dominated the entire tournament, what do you think your toughest match was?

Roth: Well, the toughest opponent so far would have to be Devious. We were under prepared for the match and didn't get a chance to scrim that week. They played great in Factory and had good teamwork and tactics which made it more difficult than what we expected. However, throughout the match we stuck with it and we were able to swing the momentum in our favor.

Brandon: Yeah that's what you have to do, just get that momentum in your favor. Alright and did you predict you would make it this far, and who did you think you would be playing in the finals?

Roth: I had a lot of confidence in my team and we worked hard to be at the level we are at. Having past league experience with a few members definitely gave us an edge. I feel that it was either between Trio or Klan Kaos, both teams are strong and deserve kudos to what they have accomplished in this tournament so far.

Brandon: Okay, and what type of things did LL have to change when WOGL came about?

Roth: Some of the things we had to change was our outlook on this game since the competitive side of the community hasn't seen much action. We were just glad to see something get going. As far as other teams are concerned, we do what we do best.

Brandon: And you certainly do it well. Alright and finally, do you have any shout outs to anyone?

Roth: First and foremost, my team, you guys have done a great job and there is no one I would rather play with than you guys. Malte = Consistantcy. Doop - Has every tool in the toolbox. Minty - 1 deag more. Be sure to catch Drens upcoming community montage featuring CF's best by P Studios. And last but not least, thanks to WOGL for making things possible. LifeLine and the community look forward to a entertaining future. And of course thanks to Bloodyfire for stepping up to help make things possible and the rest of the WOGL guys for running a competitive league for Cross Fire.

Brandon: Alright again, thanks for your time.



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Klan Kaos

Brandon: Hey Cypher, again, thanks for taking the time. So 2K had to face some tough opponents to get this far in the tournament, who was your toughest match against?

Cypher: Liebe was the only clan that really got up 2 or 3 rounds on us. None of the other clans had done that on us so far in the tournament. People were whispering me in-game asking what the score was and it was frustrating telling them that Liebe was in the lead.

Brandon: It always is when you're behind. Alright and what sort of things do you think you will need to do or change for future tournaments or leagues?

Cypher: As a team, we have good shots but we need to practice our nades and flashes. Also our rotates could use some work too. We don't normally play some of the top teams out there so doing that will definitely pay off in the long run.

Brandon: You knocked out your rivals from the Autumn Assault Tournament, Trio, in the semi finals. Describe your relationship with them.

Cypher: Trio is one of the few clans we don't have a terrible relationship with. We do bash on them every now and then but it isn't bad. They are good competition and help us learn from our mistakes.

Brandon: Okay, and finally here, do you think there is anything rules wise that we might need to change in the future?

Cypher: There could be quite a few things that could be changed. Some things that could be changed are things like a seperate league from the European teams out there, the sponsorship between Z8 and WOGL has to deal with certain ZP weapons being used when we don't think they should be. Derrick says that he dissagrees with the default time due to real life things the next day like school or work.

Brandon: Alright thanks for your time. Do you have any last shoutouts?

Cypher: Sneeze and apex for leaving other teams for us, Liebe for being great players with great sportsmanship, WOGL staff for doing a good job with the ACS to ensure fair play and can actually keep the banned players from playing.


So there you have it, those were the two finalists in the WOGL CrossFire Launch Tournament. Hopefully both teams had fun, and look forward to seeing them in the future.


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And finally, I spoke with Sandy, one of the Operations Directors here at WOGL, about what happend on the night of Sunday March 28th, 2010. This was the night of the WOGL.tv CrossFire cast. His response is as follows:

Originally Posted by Sandy

The web servers were attacked by a malicious group or individual. It is very difficult to track specific attacks, however we have taken serious and costly measures to prevent this from happening in the future. In addition to this, our partnership with Edgecast should be great asset in providing our users with live streaming video through their CDN services.

Our Staff here would like to point you towards the newest contest, the "Machinima Contest". Basically, this contest requires you to submit a commercial for us, that includes all of WOGL's supported games, as well as utilizes voice overs from WOGL.TV broadcasts. The winner of this contest will receive 50$ cash, and second place will receive a three month premium membership. For more information, please visit this announcement. Good luck!

Special thanks goes out to the ScrimSpot staff, for all of their hard work, and to all of our members for their continued support.

Don't forget to check WOGL.TV daily for cast announcements and updates as we try to bring you the conclusion of Combat Arms Season 3 playoffs.

Thanks for taking to time to read this WOGL Season Debrief!