Changes to the B101 Pairing System, Schedule, and More [ON BREAK TILL JAN 2]

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We are breaking early with the release of Pokemon Sun and Moon on November 18.

But before we break in the next couple of rounds, the B101 Staff has decided that the next 'rounds' will be a trial period in which we shift from a rounds-based pairing system to a queue. Here's how the queue system will work.

  • There will no longer be a schedule of when rounds will open. There will now be large threads that open and close depending on how many tutees are left unpaired.
  • We will now have three different threads open next round, each catering to the Americas, Europe, and Oceania / Asia respectively. You will only be allowed to post in ONE of these threads, based on your time zone or hours of availability.
    • The Americas thread will close after 40 posts have been made and reopen after there are 20 posts left;
    • The Europe thread will close after 20 posts have been made and reopen after there are 10 posts left;
    • The Oceania/Asia thread will close after 10 posts have been made and reopen after there are 5 posts left;

  • If you request a tutor and they have agreed to tutor you, you will get that tutor after two conditions:
    • There are no more unpaired tutees before your sign-up post;
    • The tutor is available to tutor;

  • You are now responsible for pairings. You must put a 'yes' in the tutor activity spreadsheet PMs if you want a tutee starting next round. From then on out, there will be a thread in Tutor Talk where you will be able to request additional tutees after the requirements below have been met.
  • If a tutee has requested you as a tutor, they will get you as a tutor as long as there are no unpaired tutees before them.
  • You must tutor each tutee for a minimum of 3 weeks AND 5-8 hours. Once you feel sufficient that you have completed a round's worth of tutoring, have your tutee fill out the evaluation form (which we will provide in Tutor Talk). Then, you may request another tutee from the thread when you feel fit. This system means that there will no longer be any tutor availability spreadsheets after next round's start.
  • To maintain the tutor badge, you must tutor at least one tutee every 4 months.


If after the first week of tutoring you feel your tutor or tutee is doing a poor job of being available or is generally a terrible tutor/tutee, you may request to drop them immediately by posting in either Tutee Talk or Tutor Talk and tagging the B101 mods with evidence. Then, you will be paired with another person from the queue as soon as possible.

---

The queue threads will open on September 3, 7:00 PM EDT. Please remember you are only allowed to post in one of these threads, and your time zone MUST match the specified time zone in the thread.

Remember that this is just a trial test-run for what could potentially be the future of B101. If it flops, so be it: we'll revert back to the rounds system if this format doesn't work out.

If you have any questions feel free to ask them here or talk to me in private with any of the other B101 mods.

Leftiez Shiba IronBullet Jio
 

IronBullet

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Just clarifying a few things that I was asked about the new system:
  • The stats in the OP regarding how many signup posts per thread are just an estimate for now; they don't reflect the actual proportion of tutors in each timezone. We'll be calculating and finalising those numbers soon.
  • For tutors who are flexible and willing to teach tutees in other regions - if we don't have enough tutors in a particular timezone and a surplus in yours, then you can request to take a tutee from that timezone on. The priority though will always be to first assign you a tutee in your own region unless someone has requested you as a tutor, but in this case it will have to fulfil the conditions in the OP.
  • If you want to learn a tier but there aren't enough tutors for it in a particular region, we will do our best to assign you a tutor from another timezone. There is no guarantee though, but with the way the queue works it is a fluid, rotating system and you hopefully won't have to wait for too long anyway.
 

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I'll be posting weekly updates here about B101 until the end of October. All of the changes that we are proposing can be found in the B101 Discord thread where a bunch of tutors and I discussed changes to the schedule and system for Sun and Moon, but I'll be posting reminders here weekly so you don't play yourself.

We are closing all signup threads regardless of open spots on October 28th, and will be on break until January 2nd.
  • Tutors who want to take a tutee should post before that date so we can finish grading everything before the beginning of Sun and Moon.
    • If tutors want to take a tutee but there are no available tutees, they can find a friend to tutor, consider it a Christmas gift from Santa B101.
    • We will do a badge activity sweep during the break. Don't flip out, you can re-earn your badge easily.
  • We have not forgotten about the unpaired tutees, and will check with tutors who want to tutor during break on a consistent basis. When the program resumes on Jan 2nd, you will obviously have first dibs for whatever available tutees are around as long as you're active. Major key: active.
 

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Changes to the pairing system revisited
  • After our experimental queue system that started last September, the B101 Staff has decided to retain the queue system over the rounds system for pairing. However...there is one major key alert that needs to be addressed.
Tutee Signup Threads will now be created for each tier instead of Signups for each timezone.
  • What this means is that there will be a thread for OU, a thread for UU, and so forth. The B101 Staff will monitor these threads based on timezones and available tutors just like we are doing it currently.
  • Remember that beginning Jan 2nd, we will only offer old gens OU, SM OU, SM Ubers, SM Doubles, SM VGC, and SM LC to begin with. For UU/RU/NU/PU, tier leaders must contact me beforehand in order for their tier to be offered in B101.
Another update next week. And another one. Another one.

Another one.
 

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B101 is officially on break until Jan 2nd, 2017. But that doesn't mean we'll be completely gone.

  • There are two DOU spots in Asia and RU/Ubers in Europe. Take them before they're gone.
  • B101 Basics is coming back for Sun and Moon. The series will be revamped and will feature more relevant examples in a more recent OU setting, while keeping core concepts as applicable as possible to other Smogon Metagames such as risk / reward, win conditions, entry hazards analysis, and team preview analysis.
  • After SuMo's release on PS!, we will also be hosting monthly interviews with OU players about their thoughts on the SuMo metagame, current trends, and things to look out for. This will hopefully give newer players a good foundation to get their feet wet in a new metagame before we re-open in Jan 2017.
  • If any established player or tutor would like to start projects for B101, shoot me a message and we'll try to set something up.






 
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