Hi David/Leo,
I have to say I am utterly dissappointed in the new UK schedule. It seems like there were just some changes done without overthinking it at all and it seems like a complete mess. It looks like another thing were the Unibet Poker team is just changing/doing things without thinking it through. Another example is the big freeroll on a Sunday evening which caused server problems. This was not the first time a big freeroll caused issues, and if thinked through, you would not try it again, and definitely not on the 'big' Sunday evening.
From a company like Unibet, although I understand you have a small team, I expect that when there are major things changed, like the UK tour qualifiers now, atleast some people have given their thoughts about it. It seems like this hasn't happened (Maybe because everyone is busy, but then you shouldn't do major changes right now).
I get the fact that overlays are mostly a waste of money for Unibet and you don't want them. Therefore I understand that GTD's in UK tour tournaments have been cut. But the major problem lies in the fact now every qualifier is a rebuy/add-on. Personally I would really like qualifiers to have a freezeout format, but besides this, this format makes playing them annoying. I will show two screenshots, which hopefully make the basic problem clear:
https://gyazo.com/1eadbeb4e27fa1b5e61916542ece8296
I ended up winning this one, I didn't have to rebuy but took the add-on. Imagine I would end 3rd. I would only get a 4MTT ticket back while having spent €8 and therefore make a loss. I think it is better to just award the rest of the prizemoney to number 3. Another important thing is by awarding MTT tickets, money will get out of the UK tour system and therefore the UK tour qualifiers would suffer from it. Best solution to both problems: Just make the qualifier a freezeout again(Then it wouldn't hurt to get my €4 back), and instead of giving back MTT tickets you should award people with UK tour tickets, so the money stays in the system.
Second screenshot:
https://gyazo.com/3c0b809cf8a0b30690bc33aebebf508f
In this case, the most important thing is the rebuy/add-on. What if I had to Rebuy and have taken the add-on. I would then have spent €75 to win €100 That seems silly as well. Easiest solution: remove the R/A and make it a freezeout.
As said, it looks like no one thought this through beforehand, and it is a real disappointment for me. However I really like the live events, especially because it is great to see all the Unibet regs and the Unibet team, I don't know if I want to grind satties this way. Also the fact there is now only one final on Saturday, is a big setback IMO. If people have to work regularly that evening, they never/barely get a chance to play a final.
Although I have faith in the direction you guys want to take, it seems like you don't really thought this through. This might be, because you are all very busy, but if that is the case, you shouldn't do any major changes until you have time to think about them.
For next time I hope with these kind of changes you contact some regular players beforehand, as I am sure all regulars ITT or on the community site, are really happy to share their thoughts and help with new ideas, to make the UK tour or other things more succesfull. After that, you could always decide to neglect our opinions, but I think good things could come from it.
For anyone that wants to copy/paste my post in the relevant community thread, feel free to do so and put my name under it. I really hope there will be a future for the UK tour, and I really hope the comment I saw in the community thread, ''I was wrong when I said it was cost control, they are trying to kill it'', is not true. However that seems ridiculous, I can understand that thought when a player sees this happening.
I hope there is a future for the tour,
Remk_95
Last edited by RK_95; 12-11-2017 at 07:12 PM.