Time Limits

[sackeshi]

It's painfully obvious that ANW gives increased time limits that are WAY too lenient so that the women ninjas have more of a shot, 2:45 is way to long, 2:25 at the max should have been the time limit, 20 seconds off would still allow people to clear it would just require more speed which is the point of the time limit.

I'd prefer they just give the women 20 seconds more then increase the whole stage one time.

Thoughts?

[hydra48]

I feel like in the second half of Stage 1, women time out more than they actually fall (Correct me if I'm wrong). But yeah for this season specifically, I can't tell if the men are just performing better or if the time limit is to blame. In season 11 there were 9/28 (32%) of ninjas who finished Stage 1 with more than 20 seconds remaining. So far 7/12 (58%) of clears this season have had 20 or more seconds remaining. Obviously things could change with next week's episode but I'd imagine it would be relatively the same.

I don't get why this course needed a 15 second increase. Even with split decision, the most I would increase it by is 5 seconds. I would honestly have just kept the Season 11 time limit of 2:30.

[gamer2k4]

Even with the higher time limit, only a dozen people made it through on the first night, which is about right. For each stage you want about 1 in 4 to make it through: 100 -> 25 -> 6-7 -> 1-2. So if week two follows the pattern, it will be perfect.

As for women, I don't think it's an issue of time (that is, I don't think they run more slowly overall); I think they just get tired faster than the men. The solution would be to adjust the course for female runners (like more time or, in the case of Sasuke, lighter weights to move), but given that the women haven't been offered any advantage so far, and that they're starting to qualify for Vegas legitimately (instead of solely through "top 3 women" or "wild card"), they might not want that sort of concession.

[tyler]

I pretty much accepted a higher time limit for stage 1. Enough people time out. Rayl barely made it and it wasn't like he was moving super slow. Some people finish faster than others.

As for stage 2, that's supposed to be a sprint. If people are finishing with 30 seconds left, I'll have my complaints.

[subtleagent]

I do think they've improved on time limits compared to tournament like say ANW 5? Andrew Lowes was basically walking through the whole course and still only barely timed out. Not to mention ANW 11's Stage 2 which was an absolute joke thanks to the high time limit.

[dakohosu]

Not that I'm a huge ANW fan so this opinion might be a bit outdated, but Stage 2 has always struck me as a bit of a cause for concern time limit-wise.

ANW4-7 was okay-ish but still way more lenient than Sasuke's Stage 2 that it was based on. ANW4, for example, had the exact same Stage 2 as Sasuke 27 but they slapped an additional 15 seconds on to the time limit, and even then we got no clears (Brent apparently didn't hit the buzzer on time but they just let him through). This was kind of surprising given that historically Americans on Sasuke have been among the fastest competitors (I mean the 3 fastest Stage 1 times are all held by Americans), which gave me the idea that a lot of them started taking the time limit for granted and ended up going slower as a result. Then after ANW7 we ended up getting ridiculous time limits like 4 minutes when they added the Wingnut Alley and Water Walls etc.

ANW generally has separated itself from Sasuke over time in a number of ways such as the Power Tower and Safety Pass (which I personally think is a bit OTT but I'm a die-hard Sasuke fan so I'm biased towards the original format) but more so that the four-stage course is just more grandiose and large-scale compared to Sasuke's which is far more intricate and technical (as D*** himself even admitted).

Stage 2 I think is the most obvious example of this, where it's gone from being a stage where the obstacles aren't actually that hard but easy to make a fatal error which combined with a stringent time limit can catch a lot of competitors out, to basically just a much harder version of Stage 1 with both incorporating a lot of dynamic parkour-esque obstacles that suit the larger builds of the competitors. The time limit is far more lenient but ANW's Stage 2 is simply harder because the obstacles are much harder. The clear rates are way lower than Sasuke's and while those that do clear do so with 30+ seconds left, barely anyone does (except for ANW11 where they massively nerfed the course and hence got 21 clears). Also factor in that while in Sasuke you get rookies who can make it to Stage 2, anyone who even qualifies for Vegas is far more capable due to the difficulty of the qualifiers and finals, yet the clear rate of Stage 2 is often like 5-10% compared to 50%+ for Sasuke.

I think they figured that with the difficulty of Stage 2 that we frequently see that time limits need to take a back seat otherwise it would be literally impossible; do I agree with this approach? Not really, especially as sometimes the results get a bit monotonous with EVERYONE failing Wingnut Alley in ANW9 and 10. I'd personally make the course more technical, replace the wingnuts with like a Double Metal Spin or something, but actually make it a fight to the finish. But then again ANW is much more of a commercial product so for them bigger = better as far as obstacles go.

[DeAndre]

TBH I think the new time limit is... good. There are a number of otherwise extremely fast ninjas who only barely made it to the buzzer in time like Elijah Browning and Adam Rayl, some who made it through with like 10-15 secs left like Kevin Carbone as well. Furthermore I think this is the largest number of notable time-outs we've gotten; here, the two teens in Christian and Caiden come to mind as well as Tiana and Isabella, though they were much much shorter on time in the first half.

Honestly I think the new split decision gives the right amount of time because yknow, Fly Hooks is undoubtedly the slowest 8th on S1 with the possibility of the hook getting stuck and the longer pendulum. It's also, unlike Twist and Fly, impossible to go on the first swing (we saw this with Torres and Owhadi in USA vs the World).

[Ninja Warrior Ryan]

Alright well after 2 weeks of close timeouts / timed out I feel the time limit this year is about right. So yeah...

[Ben Baker]

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, stage 2 is way too hard. It’s like a stage 3 to be honest. They need to get back to the Sasuke roots and be more about speed than upper body on stage 2. Stage 1 is speed, stage 2 is supposed to be a mixture of speed/ some upper body. Stage 3 pure upper body. Stage 2 takes away from stage 3 now if you ask me .

[Ninja Warrior Ryan]

Sept 20, 2021 13:19:51 GMT -5 Ben Baker said:

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, stage 2 is way too hard. It’s like a stage 3 to be honest. They need to get back to the Sasuke roots and be more about speed than upper body on stage 2. Stage 1 is speed, stage 2 is supposed to be a mixture of speed/ some upper body. Stage 3 pure upper body. Stage 2 takes away from stage 3 now if you ask me .

4 people for Stage 3 is actually average and this years Stage 2 wasn't all that bad, if anything a huge improvement. Last (normal) seasons win rate on stage 2 was actually more of an issue in my eyes since you went from the previous years near impossible stage 2 to a way easier one. This year had that sweet balance that got us our normal avg amount for stage 3.

Also, truly there are only 2 obstacles that are time eaters causing the issues; hammer drop & epic air surfer. You can make stage 2 a timed upper body stage changing those two out to something quicker yet hard and itd stay true to the original theme, however this is ANW not Sasuke and people forget it's its own thing at this point.

[Ben Baker]

Stage 2 definitely was not easy. Maybe a tad bit easier than when we had wingnut alley but trust me man, this was upper body grueling.