Announcing Alliance Tournament XXI
Arena enjoying Capsuleers,
Leaders and organizers of alliances, big and small, the time to gather your best fighters, ingenious researchers, theory crafters and spreadsheet wizards is fast approaching! The next season of competitive arena battles and broadcasts is just around the corner with the 21st Alliance Tournament on the horizon. Do you have what it takes to play under pressure on a team? Do you consider yourself a meme machine, or do you love making rhyming chants for your favorite team on Twitch chat? Then keep reading!
Alliance Tournament 21 (AT21) registrations will soon open; this season's full list of key dates can be found below. Once registrations open, leaders can gather their most intrepid combatants to battle it out ten vs ten in the arena for glory and unique prizes. Matches will feature on the CCP Twitch channel, with the EVE community cheering teams to victory.
KEY Dates:
The goal of today's article is primarily to get you all informed of the important dates for this tournament, so let's get those out of the way:
11 July – Tournament announcement and signups for Thunderdome start, talent applications open
17 July – Main Tournament rules announced, team registrations open, Thunderdome opens for existing accounts, and the first invite wave goes out.
21 July – Talent application deadline
25 July – Team registration closes
28 July – Talent interview starts
29 July – Tournament Teams announced
30 July – Roster submission 1 opens & Merc Registration begins
1 August – Feeder format announcement & Live Draw
8 August – Talent Team announced
21 August – Roster (and mercenary) submission 1 closes, and ad submission deadline for the Feeders
26 August – Team Rosters announced
30 August & 31 August – Feeder tournament broadcast weekend 1
6 September & 7 September – Feeder tournament broadcast weekend 2
11 September – Roster submission 2 opens
25 September – Roster submission 2 concludes & flagship submissions begin
29 September – Revised Team Rosters announced
2 October – Flagship lock deadline (ad submission deadline for the main tournament)
3 October – Flagships Announced
24, 25 & 26 October – Alliance Tournament XXI Main Broadcast
TALENT RECRUITMENT
We'll be opening up applications in a search for experienced individuals from the community to join us as analysts and commentators to help break down the tournament content for viewers and (hopefully) dole out helpful advice on who to put their channel points on to win even more prizes.
As we strive to improve the viewing experience, for the first time ever, we'll also be formally opening up applications for "Observers" from the community to join us – for those unfamiliar with the lingo, more commonly known as in-game "camera operators". Got a steady hand and an eye for a good shot? Know the difference between a Bhaalgorn and a Barghest and a good play from a bad one? Show us some of your previous handiwork, and you might be joining the staff for the broadcast.
The tournament will be broadcast live from CCP's headquarters in Reykjavik, Iceland. Community talent will be invited, in a paid role, to join CCP staff to broadcast the event live as the main tournament matches happen. We've created a form with all the details here. Check it out!
PRE-SEASON & SIGNUPS
For the last few tournaments, a pre-season registration method has been used, with individual team members responsible for requesting a tournament account and access to the Thunderdome server rather than the captain exclusively. For those unfamiliar with the Thunderdome server, it's our dedicated tournament server, separate from Tranquility. It has different rules and additional publicly available tools to help teams practice competitive play with extra ease and extra security to encourage a more level playing field. The feeder tournament (the tournament to decide who gets to play in the main tournament) also takes place on Thunderdome, whilst the main AT matches take place on Tranquility. This means that any teams participating in the feeder tournament, outside of the entry fee and the time commitment, won't have any additional associated costs with ship loss. But when it comes to the main tournament, teams will have to prepare themselves for matches over on Tranquility, where they'll be brought directly to tournament systems before returning to where they were stationed.
The pre-season and access cycle to Thunderdome has established itself as the new standard. It will continue again this year, so once the rules are published, Thunderdome access will open up, and anyone interested in participating can start practicing on Thunderdome. This will allow individuals to begin tournament practice right from the moment the rules drop.
If you have participated in prior tournaments, access couldn't be easier: the login details previously supplied when you requested access will work as before, and you'll get instant access; you do not have to re-request access.
If you haven't ventured onto the Thunderdome server before, fear not; you can request access using this form. The process isn't automatic; invites are usually sent out once a week, with the first wave set to go out on 17 July alongside the team signups in the rules post. Remember to poke your alliance executors to remind them to register your team on time.
Updates throughout the tournament will also be communicated via the official EVE Online Discord:
#at-announcements for important tournament updates.
#tournament-questions or #tournament-general channel for any questions.
#at-dates-and-info will track key dates and where the current tournament server invite waves progress.
#thunderdome-status for any known issues or downtime for the tournament server.
SPONSORSHIP & PRIZES
After the chaos surrounding Alliance Tournament XX, the IGC opted to return to a degree of normality and stability this year. The main empire factions of New Eden bring that feeling back. The IGC is proud to announce that the sponsor for Alliance Tournament XXI will be the Caldari State!
As with previous Alliance Tournaments, a prize blog will announce more information about the prizes available closer to the tournament start.
TOURNAMENT UPDATES AND CHANGES FROM ATXX
As last year, the entry format for the main tournament is double-elimination 10v10 team battles, where ships have specific point values. The rules for the event will be refreshed to ensure that the tournament remains diverse and fun to watch, emphasizing pilot skill and team knowledge.
We’ve been happy with the quality over the last few Alliance Tournaments. The feeder tournament allows teams to earn their way into the main tournament while keeping the cost and barrier of entry low for new groups. As such, we'll be maintaining this as the standard going forward. The price of admission will remain at 4,000 PLEX. Watch for further details about the submission process in the rules and format post next week!
One of the most significant changes for Alliance Tournament XXI is switching from a two-weekend, two-day format to a three-day, single-weekend event, which intensifies the action into three days of carnage.
Here are some of the rule changes you can look forward to this year:
In Alliance Tournament XX, a team's total points were increased from 100 to 200, and many ship values were adjusted. The number of ships with unique point values has been increased again.
During the process of increasing the maximum point value, multiple ships saw an overall increase in point value compared to before. This has been further adjusted, and the point cost of many more ships has been reduced.
The Babaroga, Tholos and Cenotaph will be allowed in this tournament.
As the Caldari are this year's sponsor, a selection of Caldari ships will receive an additional point discount.
Duplicate hulls being fielded, resulting in what was known as the "point inflation rule," will be suppressed this tournament. The Caldari don't like inflation.
The maximum number of ships of a given hull size that a team can field has been adjusted from 4 to 3.
A new alternating ban system will be used.
Additional changes have been made to the Flagship system. Last year, some of the previous Alliance Tournament prize ships were allowed. Point costs and a few of the constraints around these ships have been adjusted again. The Caldari have also opted to re-allow their flagship Black Ops battleship, the Widow, to the list of available flagships.
Should anything change and any of these details require adjusting, keep an eye out in the EVE Online Discord, where we will keep you apprised.
We look forward to seeing you in the arena!
