EPT"With the recent WCS NA broadcast, seeing fan favourite EG.Jaedong falling last in his group, and seeing discussions on inconsistency within the competitive scene in Starcraft II, this article has been written to address some changes that could possibly improve the WCS Format, and the advantages and drawbacks that it would cause. The main idea of this article is to discuss changing the format to one similar to that of NASL.
For those of you who were not around in the good ole days of NASL here’s a link to how the regular season went in the NASL: http://wiki.teamliquid.net/starcraft2/North_American_Star_League_Season_4
Changing the WCS to this format could potentially benefit all establishments associated with WCS, but first let’s go over how the format could be changed.
In terms of how Challenger League is set up, it would remain the same, the current format works sufficiently, and as it preoccupies such a small portion of the season, and is nothing more than another qualifying stage with prize money and WCS points.
Now in terms of Premier League, these changes could be implemented in both EU and NA, but leaving the GSL out of it due to their system being more efficient. The following is a list of the potential changes:
- Keep premier league to 32 players
- Implement 4 division similar to that of NASL, where players would be distributed based on WCS rankings
- Top 4 of each division secure their place in Premier League for the following season, where as the bottom 4 would fall into Challenger League
- In terms of progression through to the playoff bracket there would be two possibilities:
-- Top 2 in each division progress to an 8 player playoff bracket
-- 1st in each division secure a seed into the quarter finals of the playoff bracket, where 2nd and 3rd place finishers from different divisions play to determine whom will make it to the quarter finals (players would be distributed in such a way that no two players from the same division would meet until the semi finals)
- WCS Points would be awarded in two stages, the division stage and the playoff bracket stage.
- Within the division stage, WCS Points are determined by either match or map score, not ranking within the division.
- Players making it to the playoff bracket will receive addition WCS points on top of the points received within their division.
Listing out the changes truly doesn’t serve much purpose without detailing the potential benefits and drawbacks of them. With these changes the number of broadcasted matches would increase from 67 to over 120. This means more broadcasting hours for the studios. Though I don’t personally have information of profits within WCS broadcasts compared to that of NASL, if the broadcasts are making high enough margins that they will still be profitable with a decrease in viewers per broadcast but an increase in total broadcast time, then this can only be beneficial. Also these would bring back the daily broadcasts, though some viewers found excessive, it would provide more high production quality content to viewers.
Since the division stages would require more time from the individual players it could be seen as a drawback, but it would give each player in Premier League more air time. These divisions would create more consistency within the competitive scene. If a player were to have a “bad day” it most likely wouldn’t greatly impact their Premier League progress. Though this means that break out performances from newer players would have to be more reliant on consistency, and not a few games, this would reduce those players that seem to have one good season then drop off. Fan favourites would have more than one opportunity to ensure they show their best games. These extra games would also mean more opportunities for teamless players to show that they have the skills to be signed, and sponsors would see that their brands are also getting more coverage, potentially increasing interest in investment into E-Sports. Also the groups of death would be a thing of the past for the most part as it would guarantee the better players make it to the playoffs.
Changing the WCS Points distribution within the division stages would aid in preventing “pointless games”. In this situation every game counts towards the players ticket to Blizzcon. Though a player may not have the divisional ranking to proceed to the playoff bracket, each game they play would still have significance. Even the player who has secured his spot into the playoff bracket would still show his best games to earn these points even if it had no bearing on his divisional ranking.
With the increase in commitment that each player would have to make, this would potentially change the dynamic of cross server players. Many said San would have trouble trying to get through his group in the RO32 due to latency, though he was successful, having to play 7 divisional matches may change these players minds in terms of how much they commit to playing cross-server.
Overall, these changes could be quite beneficial to all establishments within WCS, but this is just an idea of mine that I wanted to share, thank you for reading."
