The system will work itself out after a few weeks. It always does.
I believe this will be true, but to a point. This change to Pro is making many, many more players all on level footing - Xbox, PS, PC, everyone is uber-balanced.
I posted the top scores in each CC flight on another thread, and someone else posted the median CC scores. There's really no distinction between those scores from CC-A thru CC-I or so. There's a bit of drop off at the bottom of the ladder, but for the most part, results are within just a few shots, no matter if you're just outside the Pro Tours, or are hanging out down in CC-I, like me.
Edit: Doesn't look all that great without cells, etc., but was doing back of the napkin stuff.
Combining CC tiers from 12 to 3, 4, or 6 all give the shaft to current CC-K and especially CC-L players if you are wanting roughly the same number of players per CC tier. The scoring disparity is noticeably wider in the lowest tier of 3, 4, and a 6 CC situation versus 12.
Week isn't done, so some modest changes to these numbers in the next 24 hours is to be expected.
KeyPlayers: Number of players currently counted on that leaderboard
Lead: Current leading score. This one is a bit less relevant, but I included for context
25th: Current 25th place score. Ties make it often so that the 25th position is within several scores that are tied higher than 25th place
50th place: Current 50th place score. Same rationale as 25th for ties
Cut-line: Lowest score that made the cut. A bit less important, but adds context
XX/YY = ZZ%
XX = players who have finished 4 rounds
YY = players who have made the cut
ZZ% = Percentage of those who made the cut who have finished for the event
A higher ZZ% may contribute partially to a better 25th and 50th place score than tiers around with a lower ZZ%
First off, here are all 12 current CC tiers. Looking down the 25th column, the 50th column, and the cut-line column you can see its mostly a gradual, but even fall in numbers. Couple of outliers like the 50th place for CC-D, but the high completion percentage (92.2%) may account for a bit of that. The lead for CC-H is noticeably lower than the tier below and above it. Even the lead scores are somewhat how one would expect.
The 6 top leading scores are in the top 6 tiers:
CC-A Players: 099 Lead: -54 25th: -42 50th: -36 Cut-line: -19 58/67 86.6%
CC-B Players: 114 Lead: -57 25th: -41 50th: -33 Cut-line: -18 54/75 72.0%
CC-C Players: 097 Lead: -52 25th: -39 50th: -29 Cut-line: -17 48/63 76.2%
CC-D Players: 095 Lead: -54 25th: -37 50th: -32 Cut-line: -16 59/64 92.2%
CC-E Players: 097 Lead: -50 25th: -37 50th: -29 Cut-line: -15 51/66 77.3%
CC-F Players: 108 Lead: -52 25th: -35 50th: -28 Cut-line: -15 59/75 78.7%
CC-G Players: 093 Lead: -49 25th: -32 50th: -25 Cut-line: -14 53/63 84.1%
CC-H Players: 101 Lead: -41 25th: -30 50th: -23 Cut-line: -12 56/65 86.2%
CC- I Players: 111 Lead: -49 25th: -31 50th: -23 Cut-line: -12 52/69 75.4%
CC-J Players: 117 Lead: -42 25th: -29 50th: -22 Cut-line: -10 63/74 85.1%
CC-K Players: 088 Lead: -40 25th: -23 50th: -14 Cut-line: - 05 54/64 84.4%
CC-L Players: 094 Lead: -38 25th: -17 50th: - 07 Cut-line: - 02 53/68 77.9%
The gaps in number of strokes from 25th to 50th place are a good way to look for scoring variance. They look like the tiers are roughly even spread within each tier compared to other tiers with some variance.
25th to 50th gaps in # of strokes:
07 strokes in A
09 strokes in B
11 strokes in C
06 strokes in D
09 strokes in E
08 strokes in F
08 strokes in G
08 strokes in H
09 strokes in I
08 strokes in J
10 strokes in K
11 strokes in L
Now to look at the 12 to 6 CC tiers scenario. I spaced them out to show 6 CC tiers using above data.
CC-A Players: 099 Lead: -54 25th: -42 50th: -36 Cut-line: -19 58/67 86.6%
CC-B Players: 114 Lead: -57 25th: -41 50th: -33 Cut-line: -18 54/75 72.0%
CC-C Players: 097 Lead: -52 25th: -39 50th: -29 Cut-line: -17 48/63 76.2%
CC-D Players: 095 Lead: -54 25th: -37 50th: -32 Cut-line: -16 59/64 92.2%
CC-E Players: 097 Lead: -50 25th: -37 50th: -29 Cut-line: -15 51/66 77.3%
CC-F Players: 108 Lead: -52 25th: -35 50th: -28 Cut-line: -15 59/75 78.7%
CC-G Players: 093 Lead: -49 25th: -32 50th: -25 Cut-line: -14 53/63 84.1%
CC-H Players: 101 Lead: -41 25th: -30 50th: -23 Cut-line: -12 56/65 86.2%
CC- I Players: 111 Lead: -49 25th: -31 50th: -23 Cut-line: -12 52/69 75.4%
CC-J Players: 117 Lead: -42 25th: -29 50th: -22 Cut-line: -10 63/74 85.1%
CC-K Players: 088 Lead: -40 25th: -23 50th: -14 Cut-line: - 05 54/64 84.4%
CC-L Players: 094 Lead: -38 25th: -17 50th: - 07 Cut-line: - 02 53/68 77.9%
Here is where the bottom tier is starting to have an outsized difference for CC-L players comparatively to the players in the lower tiers (B, D, F, H, and J). The scoring from 50th to 100th (which are roughly proportionate to the old 25th to 50th place, at a near same % of the field) are:
10 strokes in A/B
08 strokes in C/D
10 strokes in E/F
10 strokes in G/H
10 strokes in I/J
17 strokes in K/L
12 to 4 tiers scenario really starts to show how much wider the scoring is in the bottom tier compared to the other three.
CC-A Players: 099 Lead: -54 25th: -42 50th: -36 Cut-line: -19 58/67 86.6%
CC-B Players: 114 Lead: -57 25th: -41 50th: -33 Cut-line: -18 54/75 72.0%
CC-C Players: 097 Lead: -52 25th: -39 50th: -29 Cut-line: -17 48/63 76.2%
CC-D Players: 095 Lead: -54 25th: -37 50th: -32 Cut-line: -16 59/64 92.2%
CC-E Players: 097 Lead: -50 25th: -37 50th: -29 Cut-line: -15 51/66 77.3%
CC-F Players: 108 Lead: -52 25th: -35 50th: -28 Cut-line: -15 59/75 78.7%
CC-G Players: 093 Lead: -49 25th: -32 50th: -25 Cut-line: -14 53/63 84.1%
CC-H Players: 101 Lead: -41 25th: -30 50th: -23 Cut-line: -12 56/65 86.2%
CC- I Players: 111 Lead: -49 25th: -31 50th: -23 Cut-line: -12 52/69 75.4%
CC-J Players: 117 Lead: -42 25th: -29 50th: -22 Cut-line: -10 63/74 85.1%
CC-K Players: 088 Lead: -40 25th: -23 50th: -14 Cut-line: - 05 54/64 84.4%
CC-L Players: 094 Lead: -38 25th: -17 50th: - 07 Cut-line: - 02 53/68 77.9%
So here the cut-line variance starts to be a lot wider in the bottom tier comparatively. Current CC-L players would now be making up a large number of the players cut.
The 25th to 50th gap (75th to 150th, same % of field) gets very wide for this bottom tier, giving the current CC-J player more of an advantage than A, D, or G comparatively.
75th to 150th place:
14 strokes for A/B/C
10 strokes for D/E/F
10 strokes for G/H/I
23 strokes for J/K/L
Moving from 12 to 3 tiers is really going to show a much wider discrepancy in the bottom most tier.
CC-A Players: 099 Lead: -54 25th: -42 50th: -36 Cut-line: -19 58/67 86.6%
CC-B Players: 114 Lead: -57 25th: -41 50th: -33 Cut-line: -18 54/75 72.0%
CC-C Players: 097 Lead: -52 25th: -39 50th: -29 Cut-line: -17 48/63 76.2%
CC-D Players: 095 Lead: -54 25th: -37 50th: -32 Cut-line: -16 59/64 92.2%
CC-E Players: 097 Lead: -50 25th: -37 50th: -29 Cut-line: -15 51/66 77.3%
CC-F Players: 108 Lead: -52 25th: -35 50th: -28 Cut-line: -15 59/75 78.7%
CC-G Players: 093 Lead: -49 25th: -32 50th: -25 Cut-line: -14 53/63 84.1%
CC-H Players: 101 Lead: -41 25th: -30 50th: -23 Cut-line: -12 56/65 86.2%
CC- I Players: 111 Lead: -49 25th: -31 50th: -23 Cut-line: -12 52/69 75.4%
CC-J Players: 117 Lead: -42 25th: -29 50th: -22 Cut-line: -10 63/74 85.1%
CC-K Players: 088 Lead: -40 25th: -23 50th: -14 Cut-line: - 05 54/64 84.4%
CC-L Players: 094 Lead: -38 25th: -17 50th: - 07 Cut-line: - 02 53/68 77.9%
100th to 200th place variance:
14 strokes for A/B/C/D
15 strokes for E/F/G/H
25 strokes for I/J/K/L
Basically, I see in the shortest sample size as possible (one week, and not even complete at that) showing tight scores, but still in a gradual fall as expected with some outliers from A-J, but after that the drop off to K and L is somewhat noticeable. Still within the current scenario of 12 tiers, K and L aren't that much more varied within themselves versus the other tiers within themselves. So... they work.
Combining into 6, 4, or 3 tiers distort that bottom tier. Whereas K and L have their own competitive tier now, combining for the sake of the top 10 tiers (A-J) doesn't really change the competitiveness of those tiers much, but it DOES for the bottom two (K and L) who have a working system now.
Again, patience. Let the regular promotion system, the fast track system, the hundreds from Q School jump in, a promo event happen, and a few more weeks of data to emerge. Don't sacrifice the few (K and L) to get what isn't even much difference for the many (A-J).