Having read this whole thread, I only see support from other Cobra Kai members - funny that :)
I would like to add my support to the change too. This game isn't just about a handful of players, nor is it about any one CC, it is here for everyone, and as has been said, it is the lesser players who actually keep WGT going as they are the ones who put money into it; it is highly unlikley the top players pay a single cent into the game. And xAmazingTrace - if you have 10,000 credits to put up for one game (which I'm sure you have as you will read further down), then you obviously don't pay any real money into it either, and calling yourself a 'mediocre player' was maybe just a little white lie :)
xAmazingTrace:
Ever since I started playing competitively
in 2020, I made it my goal to cash in the 2 big monthly's. The Tier Open
and the Monthly Multi Round.
Why is it so important to cash in these two? You said in a later post that you love this game, but it seems that might have been a little white lie too, it is clear that all you want is to win a huge amount of credits. And in the 3 and half days of this month so far you have already won nearly 9000 credits, and in 2022 just under 27,000. That is more than just a 'mediocre player'.
You and your clubmates say you all gift equipment to others in your CC; my question is, why would that be of any interest to WGT? If anything, I would suggest it's exactly what they don't want, they want those players to be paying real money for their equipment becuase you top players sure as hell aren't!
You still have your big tournaments - your eTour, and whatever other tournaments there are; I don't know what they are as they don't interest me, but there is definitely more than 1. Where there is limited prizes only a handful of players will enter, making them losses for WGT. Imagine on average 50 people (there were 39 in one and 87 in the other in January at TL tier) entering one of those monthly high-payout tournaments (the cost being credit-entry and ball hits) with only 3 prizes on offer, compared to probably 300+ players entering where there are 70 prizes - it's a no-brainer! If entering it now is not worth your time or effort, then simply find something that is! You can always create such tournaments in your CC, God knows you have enough credits between you all to have a huge credit party!
And just to clarify, the quote from WGTChampion below gives the reason back in 2018 for the payout change, and I suspect it will be the same this time (blame the likes of PrimerLance for it this time I reckon!):
WGTChampion:
Tier Opens will be changing the most. This
change is, for most tiers, because the number of people entering does
not justify the number of credits awarded to the top 3 players. For the
other tiers, this change represents our ongoing efforts to combat
players from restarting to win in lower tier tournaments.
DodgyPutter and Thunderbird - it seems neither of your maths is right. A ball of 2.5 durability has 120 hits, and this does NOT include putts. On average in a 9-hole round you will have expended 18 hits, and 36 hits in an 18-hole round. Using Dodgy's estimate of half the 50 games being 9-hole games and the other half being 18-hole games, that's (25*18) + (25*36) = 450 + 900 = 1350 hits. Then 1350/120 = 11.25, meaning you will have used 11 and a quarter balls. To make it easier, I'll round it up to 12, which is 4 sleeves. Now let's talk in credits, not dollars, because let's face it you (Thunderbird) don't pay a cent towads your balls let alone dollars! The level 87 Titleist balls cost 975cr, so 4 sleeves would cost 3900cr per week (which would be the equivalent of $39 per week, not $150, or even $43 as Dodgy said). I'll be generous and say it's a 5-week month, that means 19,500cr per month on ball use. In January Thunderbird earned 62,083cr, and even taking into account tournament entry fees, I still think he had plenty left over to buy a round of expensive WGT virtual beers for his CK clubmates!
Nico - I have to agree with Dodgy, although the forum is big and you may miss things, a lot of suggestions and gripes are put into the forum to get people's opinions, and it would be so much better if WGT would from time to time add a comment to the forum threads to 1) acknowledge you've seen it, and 2) something later on to say if any action will be taken.
And finally, just an observation, albeit a puzzling observation, but still just an observation, nothing more...
Although I have seen Karate Kid a couple of times before, it's not a film I've taken great interest in. So it was only a couple of weeks ago when I saw the last 10 minutes or so that I realised where the name Cobra Kai came from - the team of cheats who would do anything to win, breaking whatever rules they can. One has to wonder firstly why anyone would want to create a CC with this name seeing as to where it stemmed from, and secondly why anyone with any sense would want to be a member of a CC with a name of such background? Like I said, just a puzzling observation. However, if you regard that as mud-slinging and want to throw some back at the name of my CC, the background to it is that there is an online running club in the UK called Lonely Goat Running club, for runners who want the benefits of belonging to the governing body (in this case UK Athletics), but want to stay away from the drama and politics of actual running clubs. Yeah I know, a real mafia-type background to my CC name ;)