EPTThere has been a lot of whining about the death of SC2, it seems to me there are three major issues:
- Games are too often build order orientated or 'coin-flippy'
- Players often spend 10-15 minutes jerking it in their base, take 15-30 to clash armies, and then gg
- From a casual perspective the game is un-fun. (more players = more viewers)
The first two are more game design issues that could be solved with LoTV and/or some patches but the last one I think is most important and can be fixed by only altering the WCS tournament structure. I know I am beating a dead horse when I say this as almost everyone agrees that region locks need to exist in some form, but hear me out, I have specifics. In order to region lock effectively you need to easily determine who lives in what area and the easiest way (on many levels) is to play many offline games in that area.
Right now the format looks like this:
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/G4KRy0V.jpg)
Pros:
- Determines the best player who applied to play in EU/AM very accurately
Cons:
- Open online qualifiers allows Koreans easy access into challenger league and higher leagues
- "Hometown hero's" are usually knocked out without much of a fight
- Online qualifiers are brutal to play through.
- Local/offline games are expensive due to proximity
Here Are My Changes:
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/w1bTdkC.jpg)
"Local League" is a series of ONLINE invite-only qualifiers. To get an invite to a online Local League qualifier, all you have to do is finish well at any locally organized LAN, that doesn't already give out WCS points, within your region. The number of players advancing from local league and online qualifiers could vary depending on how large your local LAN is. And by controlling the amount of online open qualifiers you have, you are able to control how stiff the competition is. Here is a prizing scheme I came up with in 35 seconds:
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/DDOq0Lw.png)
Thought experiment: You drive out to your local LAN have a blast with some friends and new people and someone who you have likely met wins a seat, it was a big LAN so Blizzard gave the top four of your LAN seats in the Local League so maybe even one of your buddies made it. As the Local League bracket date approaches you guys want to be able to party and watch your friends play in this league. There is enough players that not all games will be cast so you guys hold a barcraft and cast the games of your local friends yourself, you're so hyped about this you invite some non starcraft friends out, everyone has a good time and some more people are exposed to the game.
This system builds local starcraft communities through local player improvement and pro-player involvement. It incentivise's tournament organizers to host LAN's and gives more reason for players to attend. The cost to a person trying to qualify who lives in EU/AM is increased only slightly but if you live outside that region (ie: in Korea) the cost of trying to qualify for that region balloons out of control. Hell you could even make it a requirement for current challenger league players to have attended one local LAN in the past year. I know I would go to a local LAN if some existing semi-pro was confirmed.
Summary:
Requiring local LAN performance as a qualification to get into challenger league:
- Cheaply and Effectively Region Locks WCS EU and AM
- Incentivise's tournament organizers to host more LAN's
- Grows the local starcraft scene
