i don't know why people are complaining about the players list. Those are all legit contenders. Those that complain about the quality of games are all low level players that wouldn't know a good game of Starcraft if they saw it. Many of those players compete on ladder against the top names in NA on their stream, and beating them. The argument of them not "trying" because it's ladder is a joke. You see those players do the same build over as they would in a tournament. How it's that not trying?

TY TB and Genna for SCA. I really hope a second season comes back. Blizzard, if you're following this thread, please sponsor SCA. They made your ladder meaningful for once since SC2 came out.

darkscream

Canada2310 Posts

May 23 2013 17:01 GMT

#43

With all you wrote I don't think there's any criticism to make that you didn't already hit yourself with, but you left something out which I think is incredibly important, so I'll say this:

The night the ladder locked, you had a stream going on covering the approaching final GM ranks. You had Catz in a skype call with you. It was a live report of the finish line - you had your fingers on the pulse of every NA GM player desperately grinding that one last game, trying for those last few points, hungry, hungry, oh so fucking hungry to qualify. The buzz was palpable. The gossip was intense - Everyone was watching everyone, checking profiles, chatting, watching streams intently, keeping careful track of every ladder point exchanged. Puck losing a game to competition, giving them points and nearly forcing Vibe out - And Vibe's narrow victory for a paltry 3 ladder points which got him the final slot.

To me, this was the most exciting part of the whole thing. I watched as much as I could with the production issues following the players I liked, because I was hooked from the very start. The ladder-centric format of the tournament was something I could identify with, not just because of the NA pro players whose names I knew and whose streams I watched, but because unlike nearly every other marathon-style qualifier, the format was so familiar because I live it myself. I turned on your stream in the final minutes of the season because I myself was done trying to hit my own personal best on the ladder. I finished my grind, and tuned into the chaotic struggle of the players at the top.

I really hope can you try again, with the fervor you claim to have for solving the problems. It's not only the storylines, personalities and potential for hometown heroes and up-and-comers, The biggest hook for me was that at the core of the entire SCA, was the NA ladder, The same NA ladder I play, with the same maps, the same matchmaking querks, the same uncertainty of the value or penalty of each loss and win.

The same NA GM ladder I could open up and access in my own game client, with the blizzard music playing in the background, to view the rankings or scope out individual players to follow their final matches as the last grains of sand in the hourglass ran through.

To me, that was the most engaging part of the entire thing, and for that, I hope your event never dies.

tredogz

Canada170 Posts

May 23 2013 17:02 GMT

#44

I loved IDRA involvement. The technical issues where too much for me to handle. It broke up any player story line that was going on. When I went to tune in, there seemed no stream up, a wait or breaks between games. It became difficult to follow. I believe it would have 100k views and a HUGE success if not for the Technical Issues ALONE.

Holo82

Austria107 Posts

May 23 2013 17:02 GMT

#45

i think sca was an awsome tournament, for all the difficulties that occured, it still was entertaining and fun to watch. I would value its entertainment (thunderstorm breaking internet is kind of entertainment too) worth over the actual gameplay, and i think this is a very good approach to make sc2 more popular. A bunch of american Kids becoming sc2 gladiators on a great show, it was a nice sports story.

As a sometimes-viewer of sca i could really feel the pain of the organization team. You guys did put a LOT of effort in this Happening, and i think that is what puts your viewer counts / entertainment value over wcsAmerica, which i found "disgusting", to say with stephanos words.

Dismay

United States1180 Posts

May 23 2013 17:10 GMT

#46

I enjoyed the tournament, but admittedly I was busy when the finals were going down and missed them. The production problems were pretty unfortunate too. So many different issues.

Metak

296 Posts

May 23 2013 17:10 GMT

#47

Thanks for the tournament, thanks for the evaluation. Tuned in now and then, always enjoyed the shows.

Addict

Belgium164 Posts

May 23 2013 17:13 GMT

#48

Nice write-up TB, glad to see you are gonna keep going !

Trozz

Canada3455 Posts

May 23 2013 17:17 GMT

#49

Excellent effort.
I hope more of these pop up.
I now know of Kane.

Laszx

Belgium24 Posts

May 23 2013 17:20 GMT

#50

IdrA
Demuslim
HuK
Scarlett
Major
Minigun
Polt
Violet

Why would any of these players waste their time practising / competing in this tournament when theres only a prize of 4k dollars and 0 WCS points?

garbanzo

United States4046 Posts

May 23 2013 17:21 GMT

#51

Really great event TB! I agree with you that despite all the issues, it was definitely a successful event. I hope that you have the endurance to be able to put a second season. Thanks to both you and your wife for all the things you're doing to our community!

Asgardinho

Colombia23 Posts

May 23 2013 17:23 GMT

#52

two concurrent mistakes
its not NA server its America Server, and its not WCS NA its WCS America.
on the other hand
You correctly wrote Shoutcraft America, but it only had NA competitors
:S

Tenks

United States3104 Posts

May 23 2013 17:23 GMT

#53

Got to be honest the technical issues was the reason I stopped watching. I even stopped tuning in because I just assumed there would be an exceptional amount of downtime.

Also the lack of Terrans -- or at least competitive Terrans -- turned me off.

debtbringer

1 Post

May 23 2013 17:24 GMT

#54

I personally loved the tournament the only issue I had with it was the internet issues, which for the most part are out of your hands. I spent as much time as I could watching the streams. I like the transparency of this tournament, with Genna being out of commission I think you did an amazing job. I just hope that we get more of these fantastic tournaments, because the na scene could really use it. With as many problems as you had, you stuck with us doing your best with what little you had. Again thanks for the truly wonderful tournament keep working on it and the stars are the limit.

Benjamin99

4176 Posts

May 23 2013 17:25 GMT

#55

Incredible well written TB. And yea you crushed WCS NA in viewer-ship so all that crap the NA fans only want to watch high level Korean starcraft is bullshit.

Hope to see more Shoutcraft NA then this farce called WCS NA

NKB

United Kingdom608 Posts

May 23 2013 17:25 GMT

#56

Really glad to here that you and Genna aren't going to give up on trying to improve the scene

Best of luck to both of you with future projects

TwistedSC2

Croatia1 Post

May 23 2013 17:28 GMT

#57

I'm watching TB from very beginnings of his engagement in games and I must say, the things that he's done for gaming scene are amazing. Damn he even motivated me to start playing SC again, not to mention how many more. After reading this comprehensive post I can just say that, despite every obstacle, you are doing great work mr. John and every sane person will admit it. Just hoping that you get bigger credit for it in the future.

hitpoint

United States1511 Posts

May 23 2013 17:28 GMT

#58

On May 24 2013 02:20 Laszx wrote:

Show nested quote +

Why would any of these players waste their time practising / competing in this tournament when theres only a prize of 4k dollars and 0 WCS points?

4k is a lot of money. None of those guys are doing anything else except WCS. Why wouldn't they play a couple series to win some guaranteed money, and get some exposure? Even ro16 gets $75 and ro8 got $350. None of them would turn down an invite probably, except Idra (due to retirement?). Idra actually was trying to qualify.