I was reading through the older suggestions and saw that one thing hasn't been touched on by itself: the ability to go to the next division up. This is what has happened to me...

I start winning in division 2 (or at least almost winning) then I get bumped up to division one this season and, quoting someone from another post, now I am "scratching and clawing" just to make finals.

It is too easy to get to division one from two and from 3 to 2. Maybe sometime we could have a "behind the scenes" score that nobody sees until their first competition. For example, in order to be in division 2, your score will have to be at least 65.00. And Division 1 you'd need a 75. And maybe even create a division 4! So then the minimum score to be in division 3 would be like a 55.00. This would evenly distribute users. Then there'd also be the curve on it based on how much you reahearsed. Ex: you need-
x amount of energy used to be in division 1
x energy for 2
and x amount of energy for 3.

I feel like this would isolate different "families" within the divisions we have now. (top 5 in d1, 6-12 in d1 etc...)

What do you think? I feel like this would give people a better chance to be competitive without inflating the scores/energy cap further. Personnaly, I'm happier with 10 d2 golds than i am with >9000 d1 finals appearances without a single medal...

Personally I think it's fine the way it is. I wanted to be bumped up into division 1 as soon as possible when I entered the circuit.

That is the mentality of someone who can achieve that :)

Someone who truly wants to get to d1 will get there eventually if they have the drive. But it is more fun to be competitive within your division than be in a division that you can hardly make finals in...

Not trying to be mean:
You are already in the top 5 in d1. This wouldn't effect you :P so naturally you won't think there is a problem. You have reached the best competition for your groups :)

Yeah but in every division there are going to be groups that don't score as well as others. If you took your Div 1 groups back down to Div 2, you would be competitive, but you would also make other groups a little less competitive. If you were to bump groups back down to Div 2 then what would you have, like 10 groups in Div 1? That doesn't make sense to me. There should be a prelims, semifinals, and finals that matter in every division. Even in DCI there are "families" of groups in World Class.

This is true. It's a double edged sword. just like raising the point cap to 500. It might sound like a good idea, but it's going to make things harder for 99% of everyone in the long run.

There would be a 4th division so people wouldn't just be moving down from d1. They'd be moving down from the other divisions as well. This would help about 60% of people because while some people would become less competitive, others who are also moving down who have never been competitive are now in the top 12 of their division or higher. That way people who never even reach a 70 aren't competing with people who are getting closer to a perfect score. I was thinking about that as I wrote it. The minimum scores can change. They could be lowered 5 to 7 points and it would still be effective.

There is no way to make a system that will make it fair for everyone, so I'm suggesting something that will help a lot of users. Maybe if we got some feedback from some lower level groups we'd see not how just the upper tier groups like this, but a majority of the population in this community.

If something like that were to be implemented I think a relegation system based on scores from the previous season would work better. I feel like it would be pretty easy to abuse a cut off point even if we didn't know what it was.

Not necessarily saying I like or don't like the idea, just that inside the idea I like relegation better.

Personally I like it the way it is. Most of my groups promoted when they placed in the top 5 of div. 3. If I were to have this cap then that would automatically drop them back to 3. Plus have other groups that were better than mine. That could then drop me out of finals in div 3. Which still makes me not very competitive, plus being in the lowest div.

I think it's fine as well. There can only be one winner (well, not including ties). If you want to place higher, be more competitive, you need to put in the time and effort. That is how competitions work.

Yes maybe the relegation idea could work. For an example, my high school marching band dropped a class because we were not doing so well in past seasons. Now that we have dropped a class, we won a championship last year. lol yet we tied for last place in the class above us. Just because we won we aren't going to jump a class however... This is what I meant in my origional post.

Alright... the main point of what I'm trying to say is that maybe there should be some kind of requirement. Maybe it's that you need a medal! Something to standardize the classes.

Maybe cut the divisions in half! My marching band circuit has large school division 1-3 and small school division 1-3. You don't need 30 groups in a division to be competitive.

But then again, there is that problem with the finals events...

My personal opinion is that division 1 is the ultimate goal, while I do like competing in division 3 finals I do not want to stay there forever. Sure it may take forever to make division 1 finals and earn a medal, but in the long run isn't that what makes the entire game worth it?

^great point

It's a competition, not a handout for those who aren't "good enough". Letting a group drop in division just because they can't win - and then win 1st in the lower division is not fair at all. If that happens, that group needs to be bumped back up.

Anyone remember Magic?

Also, Alex already does have standards in place for when you move up and when you don't, you don't just move up when you win. I know this because there were a couple seasons I won Div II and Alex did not bump me up. I really think there is a good even balance between Divisions in this game. Now, maybe there are ways Alex could make it easier to move up for groups (I'm sure if someone started a group now it would be really hard to ever be competitive with the very top groups), but I don't think this should mean changing the divisions.

You all bring up good points. Idk I just was looking at how recently have been wanting to be more competitive so I brought this up! Just thought it might've been a good idea. Solid support and logic tells me I was wrong! xD

marimba its all about putting in the time and effort. You could come in half way through a season in Div 3, put in the time and effort and with the right strategy, you could win Div 3 or at least make the top 5. To be competitive in Div 1 is also possible, even now.. but it will take time, strategy and effort. The top 12 changes every season so there is no reason why someone couldn't break through in a few seasons

It took me about 5 or 6 seasons to be competitive in Div 1 after starting in season 13 (season 14 for drumline and guard) and I had to work really hard...I'm sure you could still do the same thing if you were just starting a group now, but it would be REALLY hard and time consuming and I'm not sure there is a lot of incentive to wanting to stick with this game for a long time to see that all through. If I wasn't very driven myself and hadn't been very active in the original FMB I'm not even sure I would still be here (I got a friend into the game in season 15 or so and he worked hard but got tired of it and stopped playing).

Don't get me wrong, I think the game does a really good job of being realistic by making it take a long time to build up your groups, and is probably more valuable to people in real life by educating them that it DOES take a lot of time and effort to be great/make a group great, it takes persistence for a long period of time and not just a little bit of excitement and push for a little bit, but I also think that we would have a more active community if there was a way you could be competitive with the top groups sooner. Then again, it is more realistic and I think we do have a pretty good community, so maybe it is fine the way it is.

^there it is lol

I suggested a DCA type division before, where it would be a "weekend only" group.. basically for those members who want to play but can't play that often.. the scores would be adjusted and it would have to have a different point system, maybe max points at 5000 instead of 600