User:Gaile Gray/Support FAQs/Xunlai Tournament House

The Xunlai Tournament House
'''Note: The Xunlai Tournament House is currently closed for remodeling. Check the official website for future information about the the XTH.'''

General Info

 * The ArenaNet QA Team conducts pre-release and post-release testing on point distributions to assure that all is functioning as it should.
 * The number of support reports is fairly static from month to month; this is passive assurance that the system doesn't have a bug or glitch, because if it did the number of tickets would rise substantially.
 * Each month a few participants mistakenly believe they earned points, yet they did not make an accurate prediction that would qualify them to receive points. It would be very helpful if players would submit tickets only when they are certain that they qualified for points. (The prediction requirements are here.)
 * Occasionally a participant does not vote correctly; this can involve anything from using the wrong account name to not saving the predictions on the Xunlai Tournament House page. In such cases, points will not be rewarded.
 * Support will research all tickets that they receive, so participants are welcome to contact with issues. Tickets should include: the Guild Wars game user/log-in name, the XTH account name, and the name of the character designated as the in-game point retriever.
 * It may take a few days for the team to respond to a XTH ticket. In some cases it takes a bit longer -- and sometimes an exchange of emails with the player -- to straighten out whether, and on which account, a participant earned points. We ask for your patience while Support continues to work on these issues until they reach the appropriate resolution.
 * On a few occasions, the XTH rewards system developed a glitch where some players did not receive their points or where they received less than earned. When such a situation arises, we update players via the fan forums and wiki and we respond to their support tickets to let them know what has happened. In instances in the spring and summer, we were able to restore the data in order to reward the points in a subsequent rewards distribution. In the issue related to the October 9th distribution, we will be making amends with replacement points for those who were shorted in the November build. Here are a few details on previous issues:
 * An very minor issue involving points in Spring 2008 prevented about 15 participants from receiving their points. Support researched, verified, and rectified each case, and the points were given in a subsequent distribution. (One player was claiming on an inaccurate user name, but we got that sorted, too.)
 * During the distribution on September 10, 2008, a portion of XTH users were inadvertently missed from the database. The points were not lost, but simply were not awarded at that time. The points (for predictions during the August MAT) were added to the points that those players may have earned for September MAT predictions and were awarded on October 9.
 * In the October 9, 2008 distribution, some participants did not get the full amount of points they had earned, due to a database error. Again, the list was preserved and all those who were shorted points (usually in the range of 25 or 50 points, seldom more) will be given those points in the distribution that takes place during the first half of November. The server used for the point tables has been switched and it would be highly unlikely for this issue to repeat itself.
 * Following a problem in June 2009 that resulted in inaccurate point distributions for some players, the Xunlai Tournament House entered "construction mode." The dev team is investigating the issues and will rectify point errors to ensure May XTH predictors get the proper number of points. Predictions for June's tournaments are suspended, to allow the team to make improvements to the system.
 * In any case in which make-up points are given in the next month, the XTH participant is not required to make a new prediction to retrieve his points. For example, if you missed points in August and didn't vote in September, you will still be able to pick up your missing August points that next month. After that month, though, the missing points will expire, as they are overwritten each month with the newest distribution.

Tips

 * When the points are added to the game, there can be a bit of a delay before the player can pick them up. In September, we began telling players to wait at least 15 minutes after downloading a Live Build before trying to pick up points. Before sending a Support ticket, you may wish to wait at least 15 minutes, log out completely, log back in, and then talk to Kun Shao, the Xunlai Tournament Agent.
 * If a player does not receive his points when he tries to retrieve them with his registered character, we recommend trying to pick up the points with a second character on the same account. Occasionally this works and the points are awarded through that second character.
 * Support receives quite a few requests to reset XTH passwords, but there is a mechanism to do that on the XTH page, so we ask that players please take advantage of that tool.
 * Making predictions after the deadline will (obviously) not result in points being awarded. Be sure that you register in plenty of time and that you make and save your predictions well before the monthly deadline.
 * Points are overwritten with each month's distribution. So if you do not pick up your points when they are distributed in August, you will lose them when the September distribution is made. You do not need to hurry to claim your points -- they will last until the next distribution -- but they will not accumulate beyond a single month. Make-up points for any issues in the server will remain in place for that month in which they are distributed, so again, do claim those points sometime in the few weeks between builds.
 * For players who may have trouble getting their points to "stick" in position: Sometimes, especially near the bottom of a page, you may find that you cannot place the guild or player name box over the prediction space. The workaround here is to make a placement by clicking the cursor over the prediction space, rather than the entire guild or player name box. When you click, the name box will slide into the prediction space.

Prediction Timing

 * Predictions usually open about mid-month, a week or so after the monthly point distribution is made. Don't worry, you will have plenty of time to vote.
 * Since many guilds and players swoop onto the predictions list late, and since positions change substantially immediately prior to the Monthly Automated Tournaments, savvy predictors say that voting later in the month -- during the week immediately preceding each tournament -- is your wisest choice. You can find a schedule of the MATs near the bottom of the XTH page.
 * However, players who wait until the last minute may find a forgotten or misspelled log-in name means they cannot access their account, meaning they are not able to vote. We strongly encourage players to not wait until the last minute to vote, because while Support works quickly to resolve individual issues, they naturally cannot resolve tickets received just hours before the end of the prediction period.

Rewards
Many players misunderstand how they get points. It's not a simple right/wrong system, as you can see on the XTH Rules Page. In a nutshell, you don't have to be exact, but the more exact you are, the more points you get. And of course, if your choice doesn't make the winners list at all, you won't get any points for that prediction. Here are some details:

Here's an example (looking just at guild predictions, to try to keep this simple):

You make predictions for eight guilds.
 * Two of your predictions are exactly right. 5 x 2 = 10 Prediction Points.
 * Two of the guilds are within one place of where you predicted they would be. 2 x 3 = 6 Prediction Points.
 * Three predictions are off by 3 or more places. 1 x 3 = 3 Prediction Points.
 * One of your choices did not make the list at all. 0 points for that selection.
 * As you can see, you ended up with 19 Prediction Points. If you check the Prize section of the Rules List, you will note that 19 points will earn you 100 Tournament Reward Points. You're given 5 Tournament Reward Points for participation, so for the guild-versus-guild predictions, you will receive 105 Tournament Reward Points.

Good luck!
The Xunlai Tournament House is a fun way to participate in the Monthly Automated Tournaments, whether you're a PvPer, an observer, or both. Participation is free, the system is fun, and the rewards are great! Best of luck!