4PC Streamers no longer streaming

Since the merger, my favorite 4PC streamers are no longer streaming, @Radon4pc was streaming almost daily and hasn't streamed since April 1st, @ChuckMoulton also publicly stated he will no longer be streaming 4PC due to the changes.  If this isn't an indication of how this merger and updates have driven players away I don't know what will.  

Tuning in to Twitch streams like ChaChaChess, Radon4PC, Grathieben's, and others is what helped me and others improve in 4PC the fastest. 

If so many high-rated players including 4PC streamers are no longer playing this game, isn't that a cause to re-evaluate the changes that have been implemented?

What is it going to take for admins to take notice that these changes have driven so many players away?  What changes if any are going to be made to keep existing players from walking away?  I'm on the verge of quitting as well because I just don't see the point in playing 4PC in the long term anymore. 

How will 4PC grow, if it can't retain its existing player base?

Like it or not, 4PC streamers brought in new players, I initially found 4PC through watching @GothamChess & @IMEricRosen playing on YouTube.   I had no idea that 4PC existed prior to this video, and they're not even regular 4PC streamers. 

I'm willing to bet that a video with over 2 Million views introduced 4PC to a lot of new players like myself:

https://youtu.be/p0uHcGk8EPg?t=370 

Resistance to change is always a thing in life. People get use to something and habits are hard to change. I'm not sure I understand everything in this debate.  The Omatamix setup is much more balance in my opinion than the previous one in team at least. Sure people spend time learning openings, but ultimately the better players will remain the best with the new setup after a couple of initial ajustements. Do we need to keep an unbanlanced position just because it was there first? Well, I didn't liked the new position at first, but now I love it. I don't want to go back.

For the FFA vs Solo, I can't talk much. I'm not a fan of these. Maybe they should have kept the regular FFA even for high rated game. I don't know... Do people just play for rating and don't want to lose it? Maybe FFA is much more fun than solo, I don't know I'm not a specialist.

Honestly, I'm not sure I understand everything. Why did the top FFA players quit? To keep their rating? Because FFA is much more interesting than solo?

Yes the Omotamix position is more balanced, but it's so much harder to be creative with it. You are usually stuck to the same boring openings game after game.

It’s hard to comment against the opinion of one of the best players. Maybe the possibilities are more limited with the new Omatamix setup. I still think that, in the old setup, the red and yellow dictated the game a lot. Blue and green had to follow narrow paths to keep a good position in team. The opening were often the same too with the old setup. At lot were awkward for blue/green.  I respect the opinion. It is as valid as mine.

It seems to me they changed FFA and also the piece placement and together we have lost a lot of people. The possibke theoretical advantages of Solo and Omatamix over the old way seems irrelevant since so many have left or are about to leave because of the changes that they don't like.

I think the issue with Omatamix is that although it's more balanced, it has too many forcing moves in the opening, that lead to repetitive boring games. 
The bsrti setup is more balanced than Omatamix according to the engine, it's way more fun and interesting to play, and doesn't completely throw old theory out the window. 
As far as the SFA debate, who REALLY wanted this change?  It wasn't the FFA Community that's for sure.  FFA was the perfect Hybrid between Teams and Solo.  SFA has driven a lot of FFA players away, which was the bread and butter of 4PC for me and many others.
Solo has way too many flaws like players unable to maintain the balance in the 3 player stage, or players throwing games, sacing and quitting. 
In FFA, when players targeted you, you could avoid losing rating by not getting 4th. This SFA format has all but discouraged me to play Rapid FFA, and I've yet to play a SINGLE game since the merger. 

one, NO, 2 words.

LUKE

ROMANKO

forgive me if i spelled his name incorectly! as i have said the word incorrectly incorrectly. 

It's not just the setup. It's SFA. It's the awful new menus. It's the disconnections. It's all the other bugs. And on top of that, the new setup.

I don't think there's anyone who dislikes every change made. For me and my rating, SFA is beneficial. But it's greedy for me to support that change, since it is clearly killing all serious games. It's not that every change is bad. It's that most of the changes are bad. The merge is a disaster, and everyone has a different reason for complaints. That's why it's a disaster.

@LosChessquire and @Typewriter44 Thanks for the explainations. Fair enough. As I see solo have his own flaws like people throwing games, problems with the 3 player stage, etc. My guess is also that people do care A LOT about their rating, maybe even more than the fun to play for some players.

It sure is impossible to please everybody. To have only 1 winner can be fustrating. It's hard to have a completely "fair" game with 4 players involved and they need to go after each other (unlike in team where it's basically 2v2). To bring back FFA for everyone could be a possibily. But will everybody be back after that? I don't know. But if a large majority prefer this, maybe it could be time to acknowledge this and bring back FFA even with it's ows flaws.

For the setup, it's hard to commentate since it's a matter of taste. I prefer the new one. For now, a lot of players still like the old one better. Maybe you can be more creative with the old one, but even then you must not be too creative either if red/yellow team up or you will be clear the board fast... And as I remember, even at top FFA level, openings were often the same too. It was possible to be creative only with the opponents "collaboration".

Like it or not, 4PC streamers brought in new players, I initially found 4PC through watching @GothamChess & @IMEricRosen playing on YouTube. I had no idea that 4PC existed prior to this video, and they're not even regular 4PC streamers.

-100% agree, that's why I started.

@JkCheeseTheIdotNoob

Ngl the Omatamix Setup has grown on me, but I still find it boring to play. 

Remember when you introduced me to the bsrti setup, and how all of us immediately liked it?  That setup has the most potential, and it's better than Omatamix IMO.  

Also, the main problem isn't Omatamix, it's all the drastic changes at once, that are the problem.

Blitz has always been the default time control for about 90% of variants : P

Ever since the high-rated change, I feel like the new dynamic is just targeting the player who has the most points or more queens. The first one is more than likely. If things were to return to normal (not happening) maybe the streamers might come back. The admins are killing 4pc and avoiding these problems or straight-up speaking against our suggestions.

Oh, and by the way, @Radon is on vacation. So no strim

In high level FFA, this has always been how it works. It makes no sense to not attack the strongest player, otherwise they will begin to run away with the game.

Pre-Merge in FFA, you "waste" about an hour of your life if you don't win.

Post-Merge in SFA, have fun losing rating because a 2900 plays for 2nd...

The idea seems logical but the players themselves have no logic at all.

Well... I am not streaming because @LosChessquire did not mention me in his list of favourite 4PC Streamers. So, Los, watch the grass grow for entertainment. No 4PC stream for you!

Sheesh that runs deep

When I mentioned "The Others" I was talking about you! 

The "er" in others is for @ProfBlundermaster 😉