I agree with Eemes on what he’s said this page and think he’s made some valid points.
#69 I think his metaphor of politics is perfectly valid, just because the context is different it doesn’t devalue his point at all. ETF2L, by going forward with the change despite the majority voting against it, are managing their league undemocratically. Their decision represents the smaller group of people. In a situation like this, where the change to the game is so massive, a larger majority should be required. If the amount of people who want the change is anything but an overwhelming majority then why would you ever go through with the change? I understand that more testing is required but the vote itself determined that more people than not didn’t want to have it tested in a season. Also, as Eemes stated, some people who are so strongly against the change will not play seasons with the plugin enabled whereas the people who voted for the plugins’ implementation, I’m sure, would continue to play without it. Also your argument about “people not wanting change skewing the vote” could easily be applied inversely to the players of the old meta who want to revive that so I don’t think it's a fair criticism. (Edit: In hindsight I guess you could say, for example, a majority of 55>45 for the change (hypothetical) would suffice as a majority too and not making the change based on that could also be considered undemocratic, I think the point I'm trying to make is that the change is so drastic and it's not as if theres a demand that change NEEDS to happen, it's that the proposition of this plugin holds so much weight that the level required for it to replace something as steadfast and integral as a metagame should be higher compared to not changing it.)
(I, for one, would not play the season with the plugin active and I’m not the only one of people I know.)
It’s definitely not trivial, and yes it is reversible. However I think having this season with the unpopular plugins implemented would be so harmful for Europe’s playerbase, it would deter people from playing even if reversed and disenchant people with ETF2L, who already don’t have the best track record for popular changes. People’s motivation for playing based on the league’s competency and ability to represent their desires is a huge deal. It’s not as if I don’t agree the change should be tested if 45% of players would like to see it tested, I just don’t agree that a season is the correct or healthiest platform for it when 55% of players don’t want that. I don’t think you should be arguing “how many people will quit permanently because of this test season?” but instead consider the impact of carrying out a decision that 55% of the players don’t want and how that could harm people’s motivation to continue playing in a league that carries out the opposite of what they’ve voiced.
#70, #74 Sure, unifying 70-80% of this continent’s playerbase might be a bit unrealistic but when the proposed change is a monumental meta shift the bar for making change NEEDS to be high and ESPECIALLY when the change is so divisive. At the very least though 45% is not a majority. I also don’t see how his logic is warped.
#71 I really don’t think it’s getting blown out of proportion and I don’t think the points you make about game developers or other games with bigger changes really hold much value. It might be a trivial change in comparison but that doesn’t make it trivial for us? This is huge. And without this being an affront to your skill level but I think it’s a problem that people in general aren’t great at grasping what potential the medic attach speed brings so if a team, or an unorganised mix team like in your situation, does a poor job at playing with the medic's base toolset then I doubt you would notice much of a difference.
#72 I think people were opposed to the change at first but they grew to realise that it brought value to the game. People have adapted since and now play effectively and happily with it, look at a team like FROYO. Yes the possibility of a plugin was a fairly recent revelation, though I don’t think the outcry for the change has been there as long as you’re making out. The plugin just met the needs of a subset of players who had a feeling it would fix some of their problems with the meta, which as I’ve argued previously I don’t agree with in the first place.
#76 I agree with both you and Olgha that this plugin would disallow so much interesting team/medic aggression and reduce general medic play/positioning to more holding. The plugin limits a team’s ability to fight for space both offensively and defensively because the heals have to position themselves so much more conservatively and can’t move as quickly.