I don't think cutting clan sizes will make any difference I think we should really need to maybe cut down the league games to 6 games a fixture that way the teams core can play 5/6 games and leaves a number of subs rather than 1 or two players also the cup should be 5 then theres a winner what ever happens

Good point - What's there to gain from cutting clan sizes? As Eri has stated (and I think most will agree) cutting the size won't magically lead too 1 or 2 new clans.

If there is a current strain on clans then why are we considering reducing the number of games & clans but retaining the same kind of ratio of games to players?

It would make much more sense to reduce the number of matches needed to play.

Cut the killer and 1 mixed match. From what I have seen the killer seems to be more of a burden on clans now with most letting whoever play it whenever the opportunity arises instead of arranging set times with specific players (as it should be and once was).

Coming to my suggestions;

A

League Matches
1 Arcade (6 frames)
1 Regular (6 frames)
1 Original (6 frames)
1 Power (3 frames counting double)
1 Carom (6 frames)
1 Mixed (2 frames of Arcade, Regular & Original)

Cup Matches
5 Individual matches of 1 frame of Arcade, Regular, Original, Power & Carom.

B

League Matches
1 Arcade (6 frames)
1 Regular (6 frames)
1 Original (6 frames)
1 Power (3 frames counting double)
1 Carom (6 frames)
1 Mixed (1 frame of Arcade, Regular, Original, Carom, Power)

Cup Matches
5 Individual matches of 1 frame of Arcade, Regular, Original, Power & Carom.

I prefer B because I believe the changed mixed format leads to a much nicer balance of frames.

Numbers wise, an average league set would be cut from 18 games to 12 games. That would be a big enough reduction.

Additionally - Am I the only one who thinks the season lasts far too long? Could there not be something done about this?

i dont think it was any longer than the past seasons i dont think im not sure tho

The issue with changing the mixed game is it becomes less valuable than the others. So you won't see the top players 'wasted' on this game as the number of points they can win for their team is less than if they played any of the other games

By that logic, it doesnt matter how big clan sizes are. As long as 6 games have to be played, you only need 6 active players.
Wouldn't 4 subs be enough in that case? I think clans at 10 would be a bit tidier- we would also avoid a clan having 10-12 active players that could be spread out to other teams.
I'd prefer 10 because reducing clan sizes last time also brought a positive effect. But I'm not too passionate about it if most of you prefer 12 players.

In your formats pirate, I would heavily prefer Option A with the one game of the current mixed format. Carom and Power tend to be specialty games where the result tends to go towards the stronger player in most games, whereas the arc/reg/orig gives more even results.
The other mixed format would remain solely in the Cup. Reducing cup to 5 games also seems like the way to go and avoids ties.

Killer- I'm fine with whatever people prefer. It's nice in the league because it has a unique team element, but it is a hassle now.

Good point! Another reason I'd prefer Option A.

Since the reduction in clan sizes, we have had 7 solid clans each season. Playing each other once is not enough so we did double round robin- 12 league games plus cup.
It's 7 fixture sets plus the transfer window of 1 week, which takes just over 3 months. We are currently playing 3-4 seasons per calendar year.

I prefer option A too, but with unchanged clan sizes and killer not to be removed.

Agreed

I like the ideas but clans will still have to choose between quality and quantity
the top clans will have 12 top reliable players, the rest will either try and get through with 7 or 8 good reliable players which will be hard if the top clans have 30-35 of the top reliable players with so few around now. the alternative is you try and get 12 players who are unreliable in the hope you can get 6 on for matches (which was the problem we and other clans had at the end of last season)
by reducing the number of players in each clan it increases the number of reliable players in each clan across the board meaning a more competitive league and fewer defaults as the top 35 players rather than splitting themselves between 2-3 clans would be split between 4-5 clans meaning fewer of the clans would struggle.
I think keeping it at 12 in a team isn't the way forward. a team with 7 reliable players is more likely to complete the fixture than a team with 4 reliable and 8 unreliable as proven last season.

Seven clans playing each other twice is twelve games and six fixture sets not seven? I know you're only knocking two weeks off the season length but thats a start.

I know it's 3-4 seasons per year but I just thought the last couple of seasons have really dragged on. 3 months is just too long in terms of funky for everybody to stay interested (my opinion anyway).

How about a replica of the current FCL format over on Pool where the season splits after halfway into two separate competitions?

But with that logic the clans have more of a buffer zone with a reduced number of games.

I just think that people are being presuming that a reduction in roster size will lead to an increase in clans or a fairer split of the site ability. Just because it worked last time doesn't mean it will work this time. Besides, last time we had a reduction in games and a reduction in clan sizes meaning that we can't solely attribute the increased reliability to the roster reduction

Yeah but unless you're giving teams double games in a single fixture set to avoid byes, you'll end up with 14 fixtures. That would be an extra burden on teams.

This season did drag on, because clans were struggling to get games done at the end and the two cup final teams didn't really make it a priority to finish it off.
Last season was a sharp finish with 4 teams fighting for the title.
What sort of season length are you thinking of? I'm not sure splitting into groups makes much sense when there will only be 3 clans in one group.

True, but what the suggestion here is to again reduce both the clan size by 2 and the fixture number by 1. When clans only need to get 6 games done, 4 subs doesnt seem so bad?

No the two teams with the byes in each fixture set just play each other. Always works with an odd number of teams and two fixtures per team per two week period.

Clans were struggling to get games completed because the obvious reason is there's too many players per clan and not enough of them are active, maybe not for the stronger clans but especially for the clans who pushed through their first season like sharpshooters. I think 10 members per clan is perfect because IF it's 6 games that only leaves 4 subs which, I think is more than enough. Quantity and quality are both irrelevent if the constant issue is reliability, since each clan has atleast 6 or 7 reliable players then clearly reducing clan sizes IS the answer and tweaking the cup I'm sure. It doesn't matter about past seasons because, as so many seem to point out, it's dead on here a lot of the time and a lot of members are disappearing and returning sporadically, so maybe the focus should be based on what's best for what there is to deal with at this moment in time rather than how it was in the past.

Im afraid this discussion is going nowhere...

Maybe we should all agree on the problem first before we agree on a solution.
Correct me if I'm wrong but I thought the problem we're discussing here is the lack of reliable players which caused a lot of trouble for some clans last season.
If this is indeed the case then the obvious and only solution is smaller clans and subsequently fewer games.
Of course the new number of players/games could be discussed but i see some people come up with very complicated formulas and ideas, which is fine if you want a complete rethink for the league but in my opinion is way off track here.

One more thing...some people suggested not to touch or even up the maximum number of players per clan...that would be a very bad idea because more players would leave their clan for a better clan, that would be a hell for the lesser clans and there would be no competition whatsoever.