The Road to the EVE Online Alliance Tournament XVIII

The next EVE Online Alliance Tournament has been announced.  It returned last year after a three year hiatus, but it looks like CCP wants to carry on with the event.

Alliance Tournament 18

Signups for the tournament will kick off on August 9th, this coming Tuesday.  A list of official rules for entry into the tournament will be posted at that time.

Each Alliance Tournament has an in-game faction as a sponsor, and this year it is the Minmatar Republic.  The prize ships come from the sponsoring faction.  However, in order to keep the tournament “sustainable,” CCP will not be rolling up new ships for the prizes, but will be recycling past prize ships, the Freki and the Mimir, which are based off of the Rifter and Rupture ship models.  The ships won’t be direct copies of the original versions that were prizes in ATVII, but will be variations on that theme.

In addition, there will be some adjustments to the rules, which will include:

• The IGC thanks the Mordus Legion for their input in the last tournament! We will be adjusting their revised point values, while, simultaneously, making a few of the Minmatar vessels a little more favorable.
• The IGC has decided to retain the ‘Mercenary’ rule in Tournaments going forward, capping off at a maximum of 10 potential mercenaries per team.
• The hull limitation rule will be expanded further this year – in scenarios that feature a duplicate hull, the overall ship point value for that hull increases by 1 point.
• A rolling Conquest ban will be in effect during our Best-of-Three (Bo3) and Best-of-Five (Bo5) matches. Simply put, in Round 1 if Team A wins, it cannot bring that same winning comp in Round 2, but if it moves to Round 3, the comp that was banned out for Team A becomes available again.
• Penalties – Minor revision here to make it clear – repeat offenses in matches will result in increasing penalties incurred at the discretion of the referees.

In addition, in a follow on to CCP’s statement about player safety and responsibility during company sponsored events, rosters will be vetted and capsuleers that have been problematic may be removed from participation.  The text:

Given the recent policy update, Tournaments are now included under CCP-led initiatives that will review individuals’ account histories for Terms of Service violations. The roster for each team is now going to have a limit on the number of pilots able to fly in the Tournament. Whilst all pilots within an Alliance will be eligible to enter the Alliance Tournament, up until the Roster lock date, when it comes to that cut-off date, each team will be required to submit the names of up to 30 pilots (plus up to an additional 10 Mercs). Those pilots will each be checked that they are not in violation of the revised policies. Any individuals or teams suspected of trying to circumvent this policy will be subject to removal from the tournament and potentially additional CCP-supported initiatives.

As for the timeline, signups commence on Tuesday, with the main event running the second and third weekends of November.  CCP has finally figured out that the US has a major national holiday on the fourth weekend of November.

• 9 August – Signups open
• 23 August – Signups close
• 30 August – Roster (and Merc) lock / Thunderdome access
• 1/2 October – Trials Tournament Weekend 1
• 8/9 October – Trials Tournament Weekend 2
• 18 October – Flagship Lock (Schedule Release)
• 12/13 November – Alliance Tournament XVIII Weekend 1
• 19/20 November – Alliance Tournament XVIII Weekend 2

Related:

• CCP – Announcing Alliance Tournament XVIII
• CCP – Registration Rules [new]