Such a great post detailing everything that happened with the tournament! I was a huge supporter of the event as soon as I found out about it. I made sure to bring up details leading up to the event and coverage during the week on my show.

I've said this on the reddit threads and on twitter but I feel it needs to be said again.
These kinds of tournaments are vital for the growth of the North American scene! Up and coming players are able to show off their skills, get their name out there, and build a fan base for themselves and the scene is so necessary right now! I know i'm not alone in wanting to do anything in my power to help promote on going events like this!

Thanks for all your guys hard work in putting this on!

WinterTV

United States297 Posts

May 23 2013 20:05 GMT

#124

Really amazing article/blog John. Great insight and transparency, thank you so much for posting this up!

fezvez

France3021 Posts

May 23 2013 20:10 GMT

#125

Adding fuel to a dwindling fire

Most viewers have not touched upon this but many NA pros have managed it. One of the best things this tournament accomplished was turning the NA ladder into a competitive warzone as players vied for precious top 16 spots. Everyone we've spoken to reported an immediate increase in competitive play resulting partially from top pros returning to American ladder from Korean or European grandmaster as well as everyone simply taking their games more seriously and giving 100% to win. The ladder became a better place to train due to those factors and the very thing that Blizzard claimed it wanted to do, “elevate” the level of play on the weakest ladder, was accomplished here even if only for a short time. If you want to elevate the ladder, you have to give it meaning. WCS does not do a thing to encourage that. If you want to beat Koreans you have to prepare specifically for them, you cannot just play ladder and hope to carry the day. Koreans will not come and play on NA ladder just because they are in WCS NA, that is inferior practice. Most Koreans treat NA ladder as stream fodder where they can slap around some foreigners with inferior builds and not have to show their true strength. Don't get me wrong that's totally fine and it's cool for NA streamers to meet up with these guys and show exciting battles, but true competition is needed. I believe Gennas decision to base on the tournament on the ladder was the correct one and if a second season occursI want to emphasize that even further, giving seeding based on ladder rank and playing over a much longer period to really get the ladder fired up. One of the legitimate criticisms of this event is that we did not give players enough time to qualify and that some pros were locked out of GM even though they shouldn't really have been. We aim to address this in future events by ensuring a longer qualification period before the ladder locks.

This.

Thank you TB for this very specific thing. Once again, you need to foster local competition to get to the grand stage. No one does it, except for Shoutcraft.

Thanks once again.

daemir

Finland8662 Posts

May 23 2013 20:16 GMT

#126

Region lock is the way, now that no NA are left in WCS NA, I have 0 interest watching it. Why would I? If I want to see koreans, I'll watch GSL. I want to see the NA players get more spotlight, I'm actually interested in seeing who is the best NA player, who is the best EU player, not just which korean happened to bother to this tournament.

Really sucks about the ISP problems. ISP #1 killing esports huehue.

bongling

41 Posts

May 23 2013 20:31 GMT

#127

reassuring to hear this, despite this being an emotional, draining and frustrating experience due to all the technical difficulties i still think this was a success and i watched it avidly. it seems you've learned a lot from this and hopefully if or when you do embark on the second season, it will be a majestic triumph

i like the idea of using common sense regarding letting demuslim, polt, violet etc into a 32 man tournament, aslong as they have a commitent to NA and actively add to the scene i don't see a big problem. you also cast better than you think, a fine play by play and with the right kind of co caster, day9, idra, rotterdam, axslav i really enjoyed your work. hopefully wcs finds a nice balance and leaves some room for other tourneys, but keep up the good work and keep the ladder relevant, tis exciting.

TsGBruzze

Sweden1190 Posts

May 23 2013 20:34 GMT

#128

I cant tell enough how awesome you are!

EG.lectR

United States617 Posts

May 23 2013 20:36 GMT

#129

"SHOUTcraft 4 stands to this day as a viewer record for an independent online event, crushing even WCS Europes concurrent viewers."

Is this in reference to StarCraft 2 or?

Crownlol

United States3726 Posts

May 23 2013 20:42 GMT

#130

On May 24 2013 05:16 daemir wrote:
Region lock is the way, now that no NA are left in WCS NA, I have 0 interest watching it. Why would I? If I want to see koreans, I'll watch GSL. I want to see the NA players get more spotlight, I'm actually interested in seeing who is the best NA player, who is the best EU player, not just which korean happened to bother to this tournament.

Really sucks about the ISP problems. ISP #1 killing esports huehue.

It's rare that I see a post where I agree with all of the points, but, high five friend.

Sunfish

Austria162 Posts

May 23 2013 20:45 GMT

#131

Curious, did you ever consider OBS over X-Split? It's a vastly superior program in my (and many others' opinion).

Linwelin

Ireland7554 Posts

May 23 2013 20:49 GMT

#132

On May 24 2013 05:45 Sunfish wrote:
Curious, did you ever consider OBS over X-Split? It's a vastly superior program in my (and many others' opinion).

His answer to that from the reddit thread

OBS is completely incapable of the level of production I need for this event, not to mention the last couple of times I used it it actually wrecked the shows and mangled the vods. It is good for amateur streamers/guys that just wanna show gameplay, not for pro tournaments or complex productions.

shangul

Switzerland27 Posts

May 23 2013 20:53 GMT

#133

TB for President.
You're vision is worth fighting for.
BillyEve

cjb230

United Kingdom1 Post

May 23 2013 21:00 GMT

#134

Thanks for the tournament, Bains :-)

I'm new to the game and to watching competitions, but I really enjoyed it. The games might not reach KR Code S levels of perfection, but there's plenty there to keep my interest. I also really enjoyed the casting - Idra in particular provided a really good balance of analysis and humour.

The only things I would change are the interview formats. I like listening to the players before the match, but I'd rather you didn't try to get some BM out of them! Hearing that someone is pleased they won isn't that interesting either. Still, I understand why you do it, and won't turn off because of it.

As to ISP reliability, have you considered getting a few different residential connections, if possible, and using an off-the-shelf box to bond and share them? Might work out a lot cheaper than getting a dedicated line in.

Thanks again!

ultrakiss

97 Posts

May 23 2013 21:08 GMT

#135

I posted in the other thread (the locked one). I just wanted to clarify, I wasn't faulting the tournament for me not watching live, and I enjoyed watching the VODs. I was not trying to complain haha.

Ireniicas

66 Posts

May 23 2013 21:12 GMT

#136

Korean va Korean is getting old. Love WCS EU and enjoyed Shotcraft. I watched about 70% of it and hope to again

Gleepwerp

Canada2 Posts

May 23 2013 21:17 GMT

#137

Genna, you are a BOSS.
Lets see, Setup a premier SCII tournament (CHECK), Manage a SUCCESSFUL Korean eSports team (CHECK), Be a MOM (CHECK), Be married to TB and attempt to keep him in line (CHECK)
How the hell do you manage all that? Hats off to you!!

As mentioned elsewhere, I REALLY enjoyed the live ladder commentary as the Ladder Lock happened. That was spontaneous and just plain fun.

The tournament had issues, no doubt.
Very all-encompassing review TB.

Bottom Line I have watched all of it, LIVE or VOD.

This was fun and engaging and I hope you can do it again.
Best wishes to all who assisted in this and keep up the good fight!

Masq

Canada1792 Posts

May 23 2013 21:18 GMT

#138

I tried to watch it myself, but the lag issue made it impossible to follow and I turned the stream off. In hindsight I probably should have just let it idle while muted.

I fully support the region locking too and agree with most of your points. NA needs a tournament like SCA, perhaps with less prize pool in favor of more frequent tournaments to be more economical. I have no idea what kind of costs Homestory Cup runs, but they prove you can have a very entertaining tournament in your livingroom on a couch.

I applaud what you guys are trying to do and truly wish you the best of luck.

Azarkon

United States21060 Posts

May 23 2013 21:26 GMT

#139

Thanks for the effort. Though I don't follow SC 2 a lot these days, it's still nice to know there are NA players out there competing and events to support them. Given that Blizzard's priorities is in advancing global Starcraft, there has to be other organizations looking out for NA players.

Epamynondas

387 Posts

May 23 2013 21:27 GMT

#140

Yo TB, in order to reduce the financial strain, would it be feasible to reduce the prize-pool significantly and rely on the tip-jar system to kind of make up for it? Maybe giving and option to donate to the overall prize pool or something.

So I guess my question is whether the tip-jar cash is enough to make this not a big missing out of money for players.