Ready Check Cup returns April 29

Sign up to the tournament here. You will need to create a Hardstuck account to register. It only takes a minute and all instructions are on the Team Signup page!

READY UP, GAMERS!

The Ready Check Cup debuted last December, along with a fundraiser for Cure Rare Diseases that reached over $5,000.00 in donations! This enabled some fun and engaging milestones, like the “ScuffedCraft” Starcraft II tournament, which a niche of our community had been requesting for a while. The sequel has been in the works for the past four months and now we are finally ready to announce the date. Reinforce your armors and prepare your battle plans: the showdown is unfolding on Saturday, April 29 at 17:00 UTC and it will be streamed live on Twitch.
Designed to be the entry point for raid speed-running in our community, the Ready Check Cup means to invigorate the raiding scene, while introducing newer raiders to some sweaty-but-friendly competition. We want to keep this event running on a 3 to 6 months schedule, along with a high-end, invitational bracket that will debut later this year. Read below to find out if you qualify, how to enter and how the event is structured.

WHAT’S NEW?

A revamped branding and a rating system, in short. Shout-out to Setius for the incredible logo, and to Willster for creating the player rating system! The latter will allow us to deliver a more fair and balanced experience to all our tournament participants. If this is your first time participating to a Hardstuck event (this includes a couple, pre-Hardstuck events as well), your rating will start at a baseline of 1200. For more details on how the system works, it is probably best to contact the mastermind, Willster, directly; maths is not our columnist’s strongest suit.

SUPPORT THE EVENT

The first line in supporting any of our events is taking part in them. Without your participation, we could not continue our mission of providing the community with great entertainment! If you prefer being part of the audience, that role is just as important when it comes to live events. Just show up to cheer for the competing teams and in the meantime, spread the news, get your friends involved and people hyped. Head over to our links page for a shortcut to all our social media platforms. Additionally, you can donate to the in-game prize pool: contact Mightyteapot, Snebzor, or any of our Moderators.

HOW TO ENTER

Our basement-bound developers have delivered and entering Hardstuck events is now easier than ever, thanks to our new sign-up tool. Head over to this page to register –alternatively, you can find “Team Signup” in the “Community” menu. You must have a Hardstuck account for this to work. Only one member has to fill out the form for the whole team. Everyone on the team will have to give this “leader” their Guild Wars 2 API token. Upon submitting your team’s keys, our tool will calculate your rating; more on rating requirements below. If you have any problems signing up, you can contact our Moderators on Discord. Registration will close 24 hours before tournament start time.

DON’T HAVE A TEAM?
If you’re a “free agent” looking to participate and have some fun, there will be channels within the Hardstuck and Skein Gang Discord servers to organize teams!

SPIRIT OF THE GAME

Our goal with this tournament is to inspire more participation and excitement among the raiding scene. To achieve these goals, we need a healthy scene at all levels. Teams and their members must show good sportsmanship. Respect each other and treat others how you would want to be treated. Should problems arise, speak with the admins politely. Do not harass the admins. Do not flame, insult, rage, or otherwise show a lack of sportsmanship. Poor behaviour will result in potential disqualification and bans from future competitions.

EVENT STRUCTURE & INFO

Players will compete in all wings from 1-4, with each full wing counting as one round. The tournament will have a total of seven rounds, with the initial four serving as a seeding phase, followed by the quarter-finals, semi-finals and finals. During rounds 1-4, teams will be evaluated using a scoring system that goes from 0 to 15 points (see below). Everyone will compete in the seeding phase. Access to the quarter-finals is based on the total score teams have achieved throughout rounds 1-4, with only the best eight teams moving forward. From the quarterfinals to the finals, two teams will be eliminated every round based on the fastest time.

ROUNDS & WINGS

1. SEEDING: Teams will be assigned a score from 0 to 15 based on their performance. Everyone competes.
2. QUARTER-FINALS: Only for the top 8 teams. Teams with the fastest time will move forward.
3. SEMI-FINALS: Only for the top 6 teams. Teams with the fastest time will move forward.
4. FINALS: Only for the top 4 teams. The team with the fastest time will seize the cup.

1. Round 1: Spirit Vale (W1)
   
2. Round 2: Salvation Pass (W2)
   
3. Round 3: Stronghold of the Faithful (W3)
   
4. Round 4: Bastion of the Penitent (W4)
   
5. Round 5: Spirit Vale (W1)
   
6. Round 6: Bastion of the Penitent (W4)
   
7. Round 7: Salvation Pass (W2)

SCORING SYSTEM

• 1st: 15 points
• 2nd: 12 points
• 3rd: 10 points
• 4th: 9 points
• 5th: 8 points
• 6th: 7 points
• 7th: 6 points
• 8th: 5 points
• 9th: 4 points
• 10th: 3 points
• 11th: 2 points
• 12th: 1 points
• 13th: 0 points

QUALIFICATION & REQUIREMENTS

We reserve the right to ban players who do not meet the spirit of this competition.

• New players will receive a starting rating of 1200.*
• Only one player per team can be rated greater than or equal to 1400.
• Your team rating average must be less than or equal to 1200.
• You cannot hold the Community Hero title.**
• Each team should have a maximum of 12 on the roster. Two players are substitutes.

* You can find your rating here. If you are an inactive player (haven’t participated in over two years) you will no longer show up in the raid rankings list but your rating is still stored in the database.

** Some exceptions apply. Griffon Tournament and Low-intensity Build Competition.

EXPLOITS, SKIPS & RELOGS

No exploits! Before considering using any questionable skip or tactic, you should ask if it is permissible. To make this event more entry level friendly, all dialog skips are not allowed. Additionally, reloading an instance to skip dialog is not allowed either.
Players should remain the same throughout the entire match, although you are allowed to swap players out between matches or rounds. Relogging to change profession is also allowed.

STREAMING REQUIREMENTS

• A minimum of one player from each team must be streaming and provide us with the link prior to the event, so it can potentially be showcased. The quality of the stream must be set to a minimum of 720p, preferably 1080p. The team name must be displayed on stream. Team logos are also welcome to be showcased.
• A team leader must (temporarily) be in the Hardstuck Competitive guild. Guild chat will be used for a countdown and to signal teams to start by saying “GO!”.
• Team members must play on the account they signed up with. Team members must have included their account API key. Failure to do so will result in immediate disqualification.

REWARDS

SPECIAL PRIZING

Prizes sponsored by ArenaNet.

• 1st place: Community Hero title – 800 gems/player – x1 Community Chest
• 2nd place: Community Hero title – 400 gems/player
• 3rd/4th place: 400 gems/player

GOLD

The in-game gold pool starts at min. 10000 gold, with 2500 gold of the prize pool reserved to be randomly awarded (via raffle) to players who participated in the qualification rounds.

• 1st place: 40% of gold prize pool
• 2nd place: 20% of gold prize pool
• 3rd/4th place 10% of gold prize pool
• 5 through 8th: 5% of gold prize pool

STARTING PROCEDURE

To ensure fairness, players must remain in the starting position, i.e. loading and not moving. If you move, you can /gg, respawn and stay still.

1. Spirit Vale
   Teams can spawn the guardians in whatever order they wish. After that, the team must /gg, respawn and wait for the start signal without moving.
2. Salvation Pass
   Teams load into the instance and wait for the start signal without moving.
3. Stronghold Of The Faithful
   Teams can have Glenna in the ready state, such that upon talking to her, she will have the option to immediately start the escort event. This is achieved by moving near her, triggering her dialogue and then typing /gg, respawning and waiting for the start signal without moving.
4. Bastion Of The Penitent
   Teams can have Glenna in the ready state, such that upon talking to her, she will have the option to immediately start her movement to spawn Cairn. This is achieved by moving near her, triggering her dialogue and then typing /gg, respawning and waiting for the start signal without moving.