Ready Check Cup 3!!! – October 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!

IT’S TIME GAMERS!!!

We need YOU to sign up for Ready Check Cup 3!!! Our last Ready Check Cup took place in April and we are ready for our next iteration. The showdown is unfolding on Sunday, October 29 at 15:00 UTC and it will be streamed live on Twitch.

If you have participated in Ready Check Cup previously make sure to check out the EVENT STRUCTURE & INFO section below as the tournament format has changed slightly from past tournaments.

Ready Check Cup is our entry level raid tournament. Our goal for the Ready Check Cup is to motivate the raiding scene to participate in community events, while introducing newer raiders to friendly competition. We want to keep this event running on a 3 to 6 month 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.

SUPPORT THE EVENT

Consider supporting us by using our referral links to buy Guild Wars 2, or getting our wicked merch to rock that guild badge IRL! Head over to links.hardstuck.gg!

The first line in supporting any of our events is taking part in them, although being part of the audience is just as important. Show up to cheer for the competing teams and in the meantime, spread the news, get your friends involved and people hyped. You can head over to our links page for a shortcut to all our social media platforms, as well as to our shop and Guild Wars 2 affiliate links. Additionally, you can donate to the in-game prize pool: contact Mightyteapot, Snebzor, or any of our Moderators.

HOW TO ENTER

Registration will close 1 day (October 28th) before tournament start time. Sign up early! The number of teams participating in the event can affect getting prizing from ArenaNet so the sooner teams sign up the better.

Entering Hardstuck events is incredibly easy with our sign-up tool! You can register directly on the event’s page —in this case, here. You must have a Hardstuck account for this to work. Only one member has to fill out the form for the whole team and 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.

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

Ready Check Cup will include wings 1-4 with NO challenge modes enabled. Each wing will be completed by all participating teams simultaneously.

SEEDING ROUNDS: All teams will complete each wing and score points per wing as described below in the scoring system. The top 8 teams by total points will move to the semi-final rounds.

SEMI-FINAL ROUNDS: Point totals reset. The qualifying teams will complete 3 random non-repeating wings and score points per wing as described below in the scoring system. The top 4 teams by total points will move to the final rounds.

FINAL ELIMINATION ROUNDS: The qualifying teams will complete 3* random non-repeating wings. The slowest team to complete each wing will be eliminated. The final wing will include 2 teams and the team who finishes first wins the tournament.

*if more than 4 teams move to the final elimination rounds (see tiebreakers below). More wings may be played or more than team may be eliminated per wing. Final decision will be made live on stream.

TIEBREAKERS
In the event that there is a tie the following shall occur:
Seeding/semi-final rounds: If multiple teams tie for the final qualification spot, all teams tied for the final spot will proceed to the next round.
Final round: If multiple teams tie for 1st place, a sudden death/winner take all round will be held between the teams who tied.

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 1275.
• 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.

** This player is rank protected. They will not gain/lose rank for participating and their number of games played will not change.

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

**** We cannot guarantee ArenaNet prizing for more than 12 players on a team. If you team consists of more than 12 players, all players (except 2 substitutes) are required to participate in the tournament and have semi-equal playing time. Signing extra players up who will not participate in order to circumnavigate the team rating average is considered abuse and will result in the immediate disqualification of the team and possible bans.

EXPLOITS, SKIPS & RELOGS

All rulings on specific cases will be posted in the  Hardstuck Competitive Discord. We reserve the right to disqualify players using exploits they did not ask about.

Relogging to change profession mid wing is ALLOWED, however, players need to remain the same throughout the entire wing.

Swapping players out between wings/matches is ALLOWED.

Wing 1
Allowed
– Opening W1 until you get the preferred blue-green-red spawn order.

Disallowed
– Spirit Run: Jumping puzzle to get OOB.
– Gorseval: Pulling spirits just as they spawn.

Wing 2
Allowed
– Bandit Trio: Gliding and jumping puzzle to get up top the cliff during bandit trio to pre-place portals.
– Pre-Matthias: Jumping puzzle near the Matthias room to get up on the cliff.

Wing 3
Allowed
– Escort: Skipping cave using jumping puzzle to get to tower mushroom.
– Twisted Castle: Using leaps and jumps to skip around, including the branch skip to get to the end.
– Skipping Xera Towers with abilities like Continuum Split or Spectral Walk.

Disallowed
– Escort: Dialogue skip at the start of the encounter (not the proximity-triggered dialogue but the dialogue you get after you talk to Glenna and hit start encounter).
– Keep Construct: Initial dialogue skip.

Wing 4
Allowed
 – Skipping Deimos Greens with abilities like Continuum Split or Spectral Walk.

General
Allowed
– W3 & W4: Skipping the initial proximity-based dialogue when you enter W3 and W4.

Disallowed
– Merging with your pet as untamed.
– Vindicator class bug
– Bookbender (Willbender with access to tomes)
– All racial skills

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

• At least one player from each team must be streaming and provide us with the Twitch 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 and team logos are welcome to be showcased. A Guild Wars 2 in-game chat window showing the Hardstuck competitive guild chat is required to be visible on the stream. Twitch VODs must be enabled.
• 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.
• Logs must be available for checking.

REWARDS

SPECIAL PRIZING

Prizes sponsored by ArenaNet are still in the works. Keep an eye on this page, as well as our socials for updates.

• 1st place: N/A
• 2nd place: N/A
• 3rd/4th place: N/A

Note: Prizing is contingent upon team participation, so please sign-up ASAP.

GOLD & ITEMS

The in-game gold pool starts at approximately 5000 gold, but with community support it can scale up. You can send donations to Mightyteapot, Snebzor, or any of our Moderators. With the exception of special prizing, all prizes will be “door prizes”; drawn for individual participants following the tournament. We anticipate prizes will be delivered within 30 days of the conclusion of the tournament.

INTERNET INFAMY

Get your team enshrined on the Hardstuck Raid Tournament Winners page.

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.