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These days it seems that everyone and their whole neighbourhood have either a deep insight into what is wrong with SC2 or even a brilliant solution to all such problems. If someone just came to TL and read a few threads, he would probably conclude that this is a site about an awful, unplayable and irrelevant game - and moved on.
Why is that? Because people just like to complain. They like to be unhappy and like to have strong opinions and show their ability to see the problem. As soon as complaining about somehting becomes common, everybody siezes the opportunity and hops on the train. You don't really have to go far for a real-life example: even though the quality of life in any western country is the best ever by a long shot, the newspapers across the whole Europe are filled with people complaining about how terrible the crisis is, because they cannot afford a separate car for every family member ...
Maybe the hypothetical new reader, having swiftly left the forum, remembered the lesson from the real western life - that the reality is light years better than its common description - and maybe he gave TL another chance. Hopefully, he got caught by my headline and landed on this blog, becasue this is exactly the place when he may find a second hope. The reason is, that my topic today is: why SC2 is awesome. In fact, this is a very difficult topic, because there is a character limit on the blog and the reasons for the above statement are virtually endless, so I will just contain myself and spell out thethree key points.
Note: it gradually turned out that I had a BW comparison in mind for every point. Yes, I now that I am on TL and that it is the greatest possible heresy, but I consider SC2 far better than BW in every concievable aspect. To avoid making this into a SC2 vs. BW writeup, I have put the BW related part in a spoiler for each point. By reading the spoilers, you accept that you are obliged not to hit your computer with a hammer in the following five minutes. Thanks for understanding.
1. SC2 is unbelievably deep, even for an incompetent player
SC2 is just not some RPG when you run around the world, do some quests and then defeat a final boss and it's over. This is a game with an unbelievable abyss of options. Here I am, having played thousands of games of SC2 and no other game in the last three years, and I still do not feel anywhere near the "end" of the game. In the two-odd years of WoL, I didn't even have the time to get through all the options for one race, not to mention to really try the two others and then they changed everything all in a sudden? I guess I have to play more to try to catch more of HoTS before LotV comes out! The crucial thing here is that even though all these things are pretty difficult, I can, in the end, have fun and success with them. I now that I could probably just macro better and win, but yet I feel hitting the right forcefields, storms and blinks rewarding and awesome.
+ Show Spoiler +But SC2 is nothing in depth when compared to BW! Well, it's probably true, but in BW, I just found it that even though there are almost infinite amazing things, I can put none of it to a good use. Because there I really just have to macro better instead of hitting ... anything. That's why I essentially stopped playing BW a year before SC2 came out and hoped for a miracle, which luckily did happen!
2. SC2 is easy to come and play
The "play" button of the ladder is one of the greatest inventions of humanity. When my friend bought SC2, I heard he is somehow playing with complete strangers, without any apparent effort. I was puzzled, how that works and then just schocked by the simplicity of the whole thing. Honestly, why I haven't thought of that? Years of games when I had to convince some of my friends to play with me, then fight all kinds of network obstacles and spend the evening debugging a router instead of playing, conditioned me so hard that I just couldn't imagine multiplayer experience to be so simple! The sheer ease of finding more, more and more new oponents, on the exactly right skill level is addictive.
+ Show Spoiler +But b.net 0.2 is such a disaster! In BW, we had channels and society and ... And today, you have jabber, facebook and forums - that's what I use to talk to people online. And I use b.net when I want to play! I honestly don't care about any other function of the thing that the matchmaker and the "play" button and these work really, really well. In BW, getting to play a game was sheer horror - I could either join my friends to play, but we were too imbalanced in skill to get really good games, or play with some completely random people, not knowing their skill at all (or I could go to a place like iccup, with a website specificaly designed to deter noobs from joining and a tailor-made unfriendly atmosphere of contrived rules...)
3. SC2 is thrilling to watch
I must admit that, lately, I watch SC2 more than I play it. The amount of high-quality, yet free content is unparalleled. WCS gives the whole year an amazing storyline (particularly with a little bit of help of our amazing Die4ever) and the games, casting and production keep a long-time very high level. Yes, it's not really "big" and the viewership can hardly be compared to LoL or DoTA2 - but why should I care? The interest is big enough to keep the things I want to watch running and the little number in the corner has very little effect on how much I enjoy the content.
+ Show Spoiler +But BW was so much bigger, it was a national sport! Yes, in a nation that speaks a language nobody understands and was almost completely shut down from the rest of the world most of the time. I take niche competition with high-res stream and English production over a Korean national TV rebroadcasted in 240p any time. Also, the graphics is so much better and easier to follow than that of BW.
For me, the last three years, were years of SC2. For a long time, it has stayed as my go-to source of indoor fun (as most of my other hobbies are almost exclusively outdoor). When I want to play something, I play SC2, when I want to watch something, I watch SC2 and I am still not even a little bit bored by it all. feel seriously thankful to Blizzard for doing such a wonderfull game and consider the money spend on SC2 the second best investment of my life (after my bike). The only problem I can ever see in the world of SC2 is the amount of annoying complainers. Something should be really about that!
  
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United Kingdom14103 Posts
imo the biggest problem with sc2 is the toxic community (doomsayers etc.), there are very few fans of the game who look at it in its own right as the best rts of its time, instead they compare it to bw (arguably the best rts of all time) and say its shit because its not better.
Oh well, nice blog! 5/5 just because it's praising sc2 not pointing out all its 'flaws'
/e
Creationsoul, people need to stop giving a shit about viewer numbers and ESPORTS, why would that matter to you as the viewer? Just watch it cause you want to watch it.
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I think we are (but)hurt that SC2 is no longer the top-dog in esports. I think the focus on SC2 is going away from personal streaming (numbers on pro-gamer streams are getting lower I think) and audiences focus more on tournaments.
There is so much esports going on now (LoL, Dota2 and SC2) that you can't watch everything.
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5/5
Couldn't agree more. SC2 > BW in every conceivable way.
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On October 14 2013 21:53 flashimba wrote:
5/5
Couldn't agree more. SC2 > BW in every conceivable way.
South Korea and it's ~50,000,000 residents seem to disagree with you.
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On October 14 2013 21:58 ffreakk wrote:Show nested quote +On October 14 2013 21:53 flashimba wrote:
5/5
Couldn't agree more. SC2 > BW in every conceivable way. South Korea and it's ~50,000,000 residents seem to disagree with you.
South Korea and its 50 000 000 are playing Lol. Hardly indicative of how good they are at judging games.
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United Kingdom14103 Posts
On October 14 2013 21:58 ffreakk wrote:Show nested quote +On October 14 2013 21:53 flashimba wrote:
5/5
Couldn't agree more. SC2 > BW in every conceivable way. South Korea and it's ~50,000,000 residents seem to disagree with you.
that's just korea though, sc2 is more popular in the rest of the world than bw ever was.
(just playing devil's advocate here)
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On October 14 2013 21:58 ffreakk wrote:Show nested quote +On October 14 2013 21:53 flashimba wrote:
5/5
Couldn't agree more. SC2 > BW in every conceivable way. South Korea and it's ~50,000,000 residents seem to disagree with you.
I am sorry, but I could care less for Korea. I agree that BW is a better game than SC2 (but not by far). But if i had to choose between BW being alive just in Korea and dead everywhere else and SC2 being alive internationally and not so popular in Korea, then....I choose the second option.
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BW was lucky to have come out in 1998 in a time when the internet was relatively new. Had SC2 come out at that time, esports would have exploded worldwide. We would not even have the term foreigner. Imagine that!
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On October 14 2013 21:53 flashimba wrote:
Couldn't agree more. SC2 > BW in every conceivable way.
hahahahhaha
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On October 14 2013 22:46 vlaric wrote:Show nested quote +On October 14 2013 21:53 flashimba wrote:
Couldn't agree more. SC2 > BW in every conceivable way. hahahahhaha
I concur
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On October 14 2013 21:53 flashimba wrote:
5/5
Couldn't agree more. SC2 > BW in every conceivable way.
Quoting this just so others can read the stupidity for eternity.
Besides, we all know that LoL > SC2.
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On October 14 2013 21:53 flashimba wrote:
5/5
Couldn't agree more. SC2 > BW in every conceivable way.
LOLOLOL
5/5, both this and the OP made me laugh
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Thanks for such a positive thread!
I hope that people will eventually stop these "SC2 dying" discussions. It creates such a negative atmosphere and I can imagine that the hard working progamers which get a low salary must feel pretty bad when they try to give us the best games and the community gives the game so much hatred.
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On October 14 2013 21:58 ffreakk wrote:Show nested quote +On October 14 2013 21:53 flashimba wrote:
5/5
Couldn't agree more. SC2 > BW in every conceivable way. South Korea and it's ~50,000,000 residents seem to disagree with you.
No offense, but it gets annoying when people only justify success of sc2 based on what Koreans think. Koreans enjoyed BW because they were able to play the game for free in PC bangs. If you haven't connected the dots yet, Free=Korean love.
I personally love SC2 and there has never, EVER, been another game that captured my attention for years on end.
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I consider SC2 far better than BW in every concievable aspect.
in BW, I just found it that even though there are almost infinite amazing things, I can put none of it to a good use. Because there I really just have to macro better instead of hitting ... anything. That's why I essentially stopped playing BW a year before SC2 came out and hoped for a miracle, which luckily did happen!
You being bad is not a valid argument for why one game is better than another.
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On October 14 2013 20:22 opisska wrote:
The only problem I can ever see in the world of SC2 is the amount of annoying complainers.
This.
(you prolly shouldn't've brought up SC2 vs BW though. =p)
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On October 14 2013 21:53 flashimba wrote:
5/5
Couldn't agree more. SC2 > BW in every conceivable way.
For casual players, no doubt, which is shown by the amount of active players. Too bad BW has a far higher skillcap and is far more entertaining to watch professionals play.
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If there wasn't anything wrong with the game, there wouldn't be a "toxic community".
The OP makes 3 arguments
1- SC2 has depth. Fine.
2- SC2 is easy to come play. This is outright false and most people will agree that multiplayer is a chore. Players quickly get bored of the game because while the learning curve at low levels is workable, LoL and Dota 2's learning curve is much easier, you can always blame your teammates when you lose
3- SC2 is thrilling to watch. I disagree for my own personal reasons, and the viewership of SC2 hasn't been great because many people agree. I watched IEM yesterday and today I don't remember any of the games, I just remember who won them, because while the games can all be argued to be unique, very, very few of the tactics and general strategies tend to be memorable. All there is is large clumps units moving across the map - either they make progress, or they don't. I used to keep track of everything when I made an effort to be interested though, but now 90% of the games I watch turn out to be outrageously similar to games I've seen previously. And the occasional dynamic and interesting game isn't enough to keep people interested.
Rant continues:
+ Show Spoiler +To get back to the "toxic community" though, don't be confused.... those people don't hate the game, they're not trying to kill esports, they're disappointed with the fact that they find the game boring when they believe it has so much potential. If they just wanted to shit on it, the threads wouldn't be so common. But those are passionate people who want more out of SCBW's little brother. And the game's engine is there: a tremendously awesome game could be built on this foundation. But as it is, at least IMO, it fails to impress because the devs are merely balancing the game (they are doing that well), but they're not making it fun to watch. The micro is subtle and largely unimpressive - even when it requires incredible control. The macro is only impressive to people who know what they're looking at, but none of it is spectacular. Where are the cool reaver scarab detonations, the insane splits to take out lurkers, the mutalisk micro that actually changes something, the PvP that doesn't completely suck...
We have excellent gamers, perhaps the best games in the world playing SC2, a game which is completely devoid of any possibility for true showmanship. The incredible skills of the players are not as noticeable as they could be. Only few players like Whitera dare to do "special tactics", but they're largely ineffective next to the good ole' sharpened boring standard plays that we've all seen tens of times.
I'll be accused of being a purist, or of wanting SC2 to be BW all over, but it's not the case. I don't think the game needs reavers, mutalisk micro of whatever. It needs its own specific fun units. Not just balanced units: FUN units that do fun things, and can synergize with other units to do re ally impressive shit in the hands of good players. What to we have, oracles that kill workers, vipers that kill colossi, god damn mines that kill things vaguely at random? Those are just explosions and particle effects.
Regardless, you guys are probably right in that complaining won't change a thing so it's useless. But people gonna feel what people gonna feel.
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I don't understand how and why this guy turned a "SC2 isn't dying"-thread into a "SC2 is better than BW"-thread, even moreso when he seeemingly neither played nor watched Brood War ever.
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EPT
