(05-17-2018, 09:58 AM)To12143 Wrote:This just isnt true. We were talking in gm chat as it happened and there was a lot of confusion about free agency start time and ifa rules. We all thought it started at midnight, and there was also thought that teams had time to re-sign IFAs, 24-48 hours. IfAs werent exactly the first thing on our minds either in philly last night qfter the ultimusYes, the GMs did think they had a longer window to re-sign IFAs. They also thought that FA started at midnight. Doesn't make either one true.
(1) HO posted a public schedule that listed FA starting right after the Ultimus. We may not agree with that start time, but it is the time that was publicly posted in an official announcement. A different start time was mentioned in the GM section, but that wasn't the start time that was posted publicly.
(2) There was a rule being voted on to give GMs 48 hours to resign their own IFAs. That rule had yet to pass at the end of the Ultimus, at which point FA officially began according to the official schedule.
The Wraiths took advantage of the confusion and utilized a legal loophole. A lot is to blame for that confusion, but regardless GMs had ample time to resign their IAs in advance of FA starting. We personally chose to sign ours in advance just in case the rule didn't pass in time (which it didn't look like it would) because we didn't want our guys getting sniped. People may not like what we did, but it was in line with the published schedule and the rules that were in place at the time. Several GMs weren't paying attention. We did suspect that a few others might be and chose to act before someone else took the two IAs we had our eye on.
This loophole was clearly a failure of the system and a sign that we need a better rules structure in place. Obviously, it's impossible to avoid all loopholes, but this was a big one that we all should have seen coming. Honestly, a team with more cap space than us could have sniped a whole lot of players with much higher TPE. We were quick in agreeing to give back the IAs, but the rules need to be structured better. GMs need to do a better job of paying attention to information and reach out to HO when they are confused. In turn, HO needs to do a better job of communicating, especially when conflicting data is posted in different areas of the forum. It's also important that we don't assume pending rules are passed... until they officially pass (and receive enough votes to pass). A lot of damage could have been done here, but the actual damage in comparison was minimal and un-done without a fight. However, we need to learn from this and do better as a league.
Thanks to Jangorhino for the sig.