ITST adopts new set of rules

[jayl0ve]

Instant Rocket/Poisoned Slices

[Rob ITST]

Maybe I'm just wrongfully assuming that the coach calculator has all the coaches, but I don't see any with those two skills.

FWIW: I noticed one has reach swings expert and passing shot sniper, with +10 fh/bh and +15 speed/reflexes.... damn, that would be a bitch to serve and volley against.

[SlicerITST]

PS = passing shot with that coach.

[pt916]

Hello everyone,

I'm just new around here. I just want to ask, is this for a certain tournament only? Or does this apply to all upcoming tourneys?

Thanks.

[djarvik]

It applies to all tournaments running right now.

[Saarbrigga]

ITST team, in my opinion it s time for a new rule.

I just played a WS match, the opponent had power 100. You can nothing do against it, really nothing.

What s bout power maximum 90 for ITST MS and WS?

[fedfan]

ITST team, in my opinion it s time for a new rule.

I just played a WS match, the opponent had power 100. You can nothing do against it, really nothing.

What s bout power maximum 90 for ITST MS and WS?

I think it makes sense, no one trying to play the game even moderatly fairly would be looking to hit 100 on power, 90 is more than enough.

[Saarbrigga]

In TS3 we had 90-40, i guess this is not necesarry, but 90-30 would be a good thing.

I mean just for WS and MS. Doubles is different, there can be used ANY setup becaus it makes it more interesting.
You can t rule with Volley 100 or Power 100 because you have a partner and 4 guys are on the field.

[Indiantonike]

In TS3 we had 90-40, i guess this is not necesarry, but 90-30 would be a good thing.

I mean just for WS and MS. Doubles is different, there can be used ANY setup becaus it makes it more interesting.
You can t rule with Volley 100 or Power 100 because you have a partner and 4 guys are on the field.

I totally agrre with you, but I didn't really play TS3 for a long time, so could you say me what do you mean by "90-40" ? I guess 90 is for the max power, but 40 ... ?

[Saarbrigga]

90-40 means: No ability higher as 90, no ability lower as 40.

This was good for TS3 because you can split the abilitys how you want. This is not possible in TS4, so any ability more as 40 would be very difficult to create

[o Sinna o]

As you may or may not know we at ITST are proud of the fact that fair play is one of our top priorities. We are a community of people that like to win games but not when there is absolutely no fun to be had while doing it. Over the years this has meant we adopted several rules for all of our tours. Mostly to counteract some bugs but sometimes also to steer the tour in the way that we think would increase the popularity and fun factor.

Top Spin 4 is the newest addition to the Top Spin series. Personally i love the game and seeing the sign up numbers of the tour there are a lot of people out there that share this opinion. Of course it has proven not to be for everyone and some regular TS3 members left which is unfortunate but was to be expected. Overall this game is loved and appreciated.

The problem is that in the last few weeks this community has built up a bit of a love/hate relationship with the game. We want to be pro-active in this matter and this is why we have decided the following.
Starting at Roland Garros you will no longer be allowed to use any coach that has the Monster Defense skill. On top of that you will not be allowed to use Peto Chesire as a coach and his Top Spin Invasion / Poisoned Slice skill set.

The coaches that fall into this category are:

Peto Chesire
Jon Samala
Pei Jinq Quah
Aja Golakov

We know 2K Sports will release more balancing updates in the nearby future but as i said we want to be pro-active and give our members the best playing experience out there. Once new balancing updates are released we will review the exclusion of these coaches of course.

I am sure we will see a storm of positive and negative reactions from within the community. In the end you have to realise though that at the moment playing against someone with such a coach is just no fun and takes out any creativity and potential this game has to offer.

There are more Coaches which give you a Skill like Top Spin Invasion than these four.

Confusing Rules Guys.

[SlicerITST]

Its not the Top Spin Invasion skill we are after. It is the Monster Defense skill. To remove your confusion ill just quote Djarvik's post on this matter. Even if it is terrible for his ego...

I want to get a point across, as some seem to not understand the intent of these rules, or any rules ITST introduces.

Let me first clarify for you how the game works and how it treats "Skills", so you can better understand where I am coming from.

It is important to understand the concept of what exactly Skills do. These are not magical abilities, these are not something additional that other players don't have or are incapable of. Skills are merely increased timing windows. When you have a TSI skill, that doesn't mean your to spin shots are somehow better then other players, they are exactly the same. What is different is the timing window to achieve the "perfect" timing on these skills. In this example, Top Spin shot benefit from increased timing window, hence they are easier to hit with "perfect" timing and hence they are more consistent at producing angles. In addition, this timing window starts at a slightly larger size then normal and increases with every top spin shot to a maximum size, then stops. Same goes for every skill out there more or less. All Skills do is increase timing on a situation or shot basis. I'll be happy to explain each skill and what it does and how it does it, just ask.

Every player is capable of producing same angles, same power, same precision assuming similar FH or BH rating. Certain skill make certain timing windows for certain shots or situations larger.

So to whoever say "I can still hit the same angles" - of course you can! Why shouldn't you ? ...but now it is just a tad harder to hit them, especially so on the run and especially so to so it consistently. If you see no difference whatsoever - then you are likely a great player and hit your timing window every-time spot on. In this case Skills are rendered useless to you and only stats on your strokes, speed, power etc matters.

The notion that rules are somehow aimed towards Top players and now they are"going down" is beyond naive. If anything, this will allow Top players to be even more dominant. But it will also prevent weaker player from getting an easy win over similar level player not using those Skills to help "perfect " his otherwise not so perfect shots. This yields closer matches, more competition.

Now to the part of why we make the rules. We make the rules, in general, to somewhat protect the integrity of the game from extreme repetitiveness, loopholes, exploits and alike. We make the rules to make the game fun to play for "majority" of our tour. We carefully consider both, Forum feedback and private feedback.

The rules for TS4 were made with all the above in mind. A game that heavily depends on short cross and is generally consists of excessive short cross top spin rallies doesn't need help via TSI + high stroke stats.

MD makes all your timing windows larger as soon as you are behind in the point in any given game. The skill makes you better when you are NOT better. This is a skill that needs to originate from the user (you), you either work under pressure or you don't. Should it just affect one timing window, we would allow it. But since this one affects all shots - its gone.

The coach with TSI/PS is addressed in much of what I said above. Add to that the PS, which is a skill that keeps your Slice timing window too large. I am sure you are aware of the fact that Slice is overpowered in this game, and in all TS games. This setup brings you very close to a full time MD. Basically you have large timing windows on two out of 3 baseline shots...in addition to a relatively high strokes.

To address the Power "problem". Is there one? ...likely. There is one in ATP as well. So for now, we are not addressing it yet. We are once again back to "feedback collection" mode so we can better serve our community. I may not be a top player, but I do offer my personal know-how and help to anyone who wishes, just ask.

Here, you have a glimpse into my mind, into a bit of information that helped us make decisions that we make. Once again, this is a small part of a decision making process. Hopefully it will satisfy some of you, and yet some - nothing will.

[o Sinna o]

Hm thx Slicer, thanks for caring about me.

Man they changed the Service Timings. It's really hard to hit the lines now but I only played with Federer against Nadal CPU. ^^

[dsavbeast012]

Well the fear of power taking over the tour seems to be happening. I played a guy tonight falzone 1st round of AEGON, 100 power, 91 FH 91 serve, 61 BH but not enough of a weakness due to UEs being absent in this game. 40 speed but of course he still can run down shots like Nadal b/c speed doesn't matter on this game, it just doesn't.

If that wasn't enough, he used exploits like the slow serve (slow serves being harder to return than fast ones http://www.intertopspintour.net/forum/v ... hp?t=14953) and the deep return that moves you back w/o you controlling your player http://www.intertopspintour.net/forum/v ... hp?t=14961. I used my Ivo clone b/c that's the only way to stand a chance against this type of player.

I guess 0/20/0 is the way to go, since speed and volley are worthless if you can just bash the ball on every shot. I lost 0-6, 3-6. It's not fun to play like this though, all power. Takes no thought, we might as well call this the WTAITST if we're gonna just be ball bashing. I only created my Ivo guy b/c my 'sim' character just won't cut it against all the guys w/ multiple stats above 90. I say max of one stat over 90 and max of one other stat +85, this would make the game a bit more sim, which is what I thought ITST was for.

[SBR Ironik]

I played a guy with that kind of setup (80+ / 70+ backhand forehand, 96 pow) and I have to say that I have no clue how to beat them... despite my setup which seems perfect to counter them.

Maybe it's just that I'm not good enough