BW Head Coaches on SC2 - Page 26

I have mixed feelings about all this.

I think I'm one of the few people who can honestly say they see both sides being partially correct about the switch. I started watching professional BW before I even knew that it *was* professional in Korea. I scoured Manifesto7's site to find as many RWA (Replays with Audio) as I could because it was just so much fun to watch and listen to commentary on BW. Later I learned more and followed the Korean BW scene closely, just in time for the epic Flash vs Jaedong wars. I'm a Jaedong fan for life, so I'm still a little bit sad that Flash ended up winning in the end and Jaedong slumped just a little.

But I also found Tasteless commenting BW on GOMTV.net and fell in love with that, having English commentary on the game I loved was something I wanted more than anything. When the GOMTV Classics went away I felt like something had been taken from me. When he came back with Artosis to commentate Starcraft II, I was incredibly excited.

I remember the first few seasons of the GSL. The games were pretty sloppy. The map pool was terrible. I had fun, but I had to admit that the level of competition was just not where Brood War was. Still, it was new, and it was exciting.

Then Starcraft II exploded around the world, and I went from having not enough Starcraft (with English commentary, even!) to watch to having TOO MUCH to watch. I remember the point when I officially could not watch any more, and had to start picking and choosing tournaments to watch.

I still watched OSL and MSL (RIP) religiously during this time. I still love Jaedong forever. I gained a begrudging respect for Flash's amazing abilities. This season I decided I would watch Proleague consistently, and it was incredible. It felt bittersweet, knowing it was probably the last BW (turns out it was the last BW-only) season. The finals were incredible.

So here's the thing.

Both sides are right, but in different ways.

SC2 is not, right now, as wonderful a game as BW is right now.

But it has gotten a LOT better, and could get better still.

Some of the earliest problems were map-related. GOMTV to their eternal credit forced Blizzard to change this and get proper macro maps. It took a while, but there are some amazing SC2 maps now. The other problem was a lack of consistent skill and far too many players all-inning (especially Terran... remember Bit By Bit Prime?). This was fixed as players got better and the Bit By Bits fell out of the system.

The remainder of the issues, the clumping of units, the "deathball" problem, the "both players wait until maxed, clump armies together, fight, one army wins, that player wins the game" are still an issue, but I see this happening less and less. I think this is all due to the players getting better.

The other day I saw a SC2 TvZ that had multiple battles, all over the map, not just drops but engagements and pokes and counter-pokes and real strategy, and the better player started to win battles JUST SLIGHTLY because they were positioning units better and thinking better, and although it went back and forth the better player ended up winning.

Honestly, it felt like a game of BW.

Sadly, the next game in the series was a quick deathball push. So I don't think SC2 is quite there yet.

With luck, the HOTS expansion and the influx of a huge number of really skilled BW professional players will raise the level of the game back to where it was in BW. This would be the best possible outcome I think.

But I can understand the coaches being a little bit sad that BW won't carry on its epic legacy somehow. It's a bit sad that BW is being forced into retirement sooner than it should be.

TL;DR: Both sides are right. BW is still a better game to watch, right now. But SC2 has the potential to be as good. It's still sad that we are all forced to choose rather than being able to keep both.