Seriously. I want you to consider a situation:

Adam's total rating is 2765, Billy's is 2490, and Clara's is 2405. They've heard that the only way to qualify for the Pro Circuit is to have a rating of 2500+ if you attend a City Championship, or 2750 otherwise. What might motivate them to play?

Adam's total is enough that if he avoids sanctioned tournaments entirely, he's clear. Without a combination of low risk and high reward, he'll have no reason to play in events, and therefore keeps out. This is a double-edged sword, since it makes it at once easier for lesser ranked players to move up, but it's harder for them since he and most other highly ranked players will avoid tournaments when possible.

Clara is down enough that she basically must attend a CC to have any hope of getting into the PC. She obviously has more incentive to play in sanctioned events, but at the same time, she has a goal other than fun or the rewards intrinsic to the events. As such, she'll be focusing a lot less on enjoying herself at the Hobby Leagues than getting those points she needs. If she does well, she'll have likely 'sharked' her way into the PC. If she doesn't, she's S.O.L. of the next event and will have to work twice as hard to even consider attending the next event.

Billy is really close to the line. He's obviously much better off attending the CC than not. Assuming he does well at the CC, he falls into Adam's position of wanting to protect his space. In that regard, he's worse off than Adam, because Adam could go to the CC, break even, and suddenly have a several-hundred point buffer. Should he not do well, he ends up in Clara's position. He'll be safer from a major drain, but even so, it means if he is playing competitively, he'll still be distracted from pure enjoyment.

While PCQs as designed before weren't working well, it's still important to have an outlet for the purely competitive to gain entry into the PCs. PCQs in this area have always been a hybrid of fun-seekers and spot-seekers, and have done decently well for how infrequently we've had them. I'd fear making Hobby Leagues (the presumed casual event) into a hybrid one, since it's easier to scare off a new player from severe beats with little sympathy than both competitive players with some easy wins. If not City Championships, then a roving tournament series would be a great way to allow competitive players a better chance at gaining entry. I'd love to see the 10K events take this role, making the PC Point distribution far deeper down the standings, and using them as regional events every few months. Even with a lower prize payout, the shift to a major PC entry tournament rather than a mini-PC of its own will make it cheaper to run them and yet likely easier to get more people to them.

I totally agree this rating invite system for Indy is quite akward. Some sort of work around would be nice.

Rep'd for truth. If there's no other way to qualify for the PC, HL is no better off now than it was before. Just give us no cash PCQ's and call them regionals.

exactly how i feel.

I agree with this as well.

"You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to canamrock again."

Totally agree! I assume points will be in the New/Not-PCQ format Jeff Donais announced today. But just so it's on the record...

UDE, please give points out at the New/Not-PCQs!

-Mike

EDIT: Oh yeah, gotta spread the rep still too.

Dang,
You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to canamrock again.

I was thinking bout this exact subject today at work, bravo to getting it out first.

OMG... everyone agreeing? Truly, this is a sign of the Metalocalypse... err... apocalypse.

I agee totally

My concern is gonna come when I am running the events. I have my PC points, but no major rating to speak of. If I continue to be one of the only local TO's, I cannot possibly play enough to bump my numbers. My only recourse would be to travel to PCQs in the surrounding area. With those being eliminated, I have no place to earn my way in. Now, I know that the easy answer is "train more TO's". Unfortunately, it takes a certain mindset to willingly give up playing for any amount of time, let alone long enough to allow someone else to "rank-up". Am I the only one in this situation?

Add my "agree" to the list.

Lack of PC points also creates the problem caused in magic.

You win 2 games and drop.

Why? Because you got your rating up high enough from those last two games, so why even risk playing the rest?

How can you ever run a Jank deck in an sanctioned game? Not very well.