It feels like it is getting a little late in the season to kick off the events that will lead to the twentieth Alliance Tournament.  I mean last year things were already in motion in April, though the final events were in August, while this year the actual tournament will be at the end of October, so perhaps the timing is fine.  It just feels off.

All of which is an awkward intro to the fact that CCP has announced the timeline for Alliance Tournament XX.

Alliance Tournament XX is coming!

And the first date on the list, pre-season and signups for Thunderdome server access starts today and team registrations close on Friday, July 5th, less than two weeks from now.

This year the tournament will be sponsored by CONCORD so you can expect a more law & order theme I suppose and the yet to be announced prize ships could be variations on their hulls I suppose.  What would an AT prize ship based on the Monitor look like?  I mean, it features in the teaser trailer, right?

This also means that the Marshal, Enforcer, and Pacifier will be allowed in the tournament this year, probably with enticing point values to make them more attractive.  Also, the new Upwell ships will be available if you have some sort of hauler based cunning plan in mind I guess.

CCP is changing the point system, giving each team 200 points to spend, double the 100 point system used previously.  Ship values will be scaled up to match this new system, but there will be space for more granularity between hull types.

CCP is also going to host the tournament broadcasts back in Iceland this year which means that travel plans and short notice will probably make it awkward to get as many presenters.  We shall see.

Full details for the tournament will be released on June 27th, the far end of this week.  But yesterday’s dev blog about it does have the planned timeline of events:

• 22 June – Pre-season begins & signups for Thunderdome access open
• 27 June – Rules announced, team registrations open, Thunderdome opens
• 28 June – Recruitment for commentators/analysts begins
• 5 July – Team registrations close
• 9 July – Team roster (and mercenary) submissions open
• 19 July – Feeder tournament format announcement & team draw
• 1 August – Roster (and mercenary) lock concludes (ad submission deadline for the Feeders)
• 24 & 25 August – Feeders tournament broadcast weekend 1
• 31 August & 1 September – Feeder tournament broadcast weekend 2
• 4 September – Post feeder roster lock begins
• 17 September – Post feeder roster lock concludes & flagship submissions begin
• 24 September – Flagship lock deadline (ad submission deadline for the main tournament)
• 19 & 20 October – Alliance Tournament XX weekend 1
• 26 & 27 October – Alliance Tournament XX weekend 2

That is the plan.  CCP is also encouraging people to use the AT channels on their Discord server to look for teams or keep up to date.  You can find the EVE Online Discord server here.

Related:

• CCP – Announcing Alliance Tournament XX!