In the year 2003, TeamLiquid launched the greatest online foreigner tournament in history; the TLTour. Partnering with WGT, the TLTour was a pay ladder where, for the one time fee of 10 dollars, players could compete in a four week ladder to earn a spot in the top 32. The final tournament was an immense double knockout extravaganza, featuring the best talent outside Korea. In a stunning display the smurf account LDone, who had successfully confounded replay hounds as to his real id and gained entrance to the final tournament with inspired zerg play, turned out to be Smuft. In an about face, LDone switched from zerg to protoss for the final tournament, and demolished the competition to take away the first place cash prize.
In 2005, the time of the second TLTour, the world of BW had changed. TeamLiquid was still the premiere site for BW news, but the ranks of good players were thinning as age, poker, and fatigue took its toll. PGT was still an upstart ladder, and WGT was still going strong. The second TLT saw a resurgence of good players as 243 paid participants ensured a $2450 prize pool. After a month of intense action, the final 32 gathered to do battle once again. In the face of an incredibly deep field, one of the fine Russian terrans, A2, downed Assem 4-1 in the Cold War Finals.
It is now 2007. The BW scene today looks far different from the times of the first TLTour. PGT is a distant memory, while WGT is mired in troubles integrating with Blizzard. Former greats have left in droves to play poker, while new names struggle to get the recognition they deserve. There is only one thing, one event of sufficient magnitude that can re-energize the community. That is, of course, another TLTour.
TLTour 3 When planning for TLTour 3, we were planning from the very bottom. There was no WGT and no PGT with which to pair. Instead, to ensure that TLT can be a continuing success, we decided to become independent from other ladders and create our own system. Aware that the community was looking for a ladder, the new TLTour definitely has those elements. Built with cooperation from WGTour, the TAL ladder, TL.net forum members, and Qi.Tiger, the founder of UGT, this truly was a community effort. It is the goal of the new TLTour to provide a competitive place for gamers to play, an effective ranking system, invigorating tournaments, and a convenient system of reporting and admining.
On April 28th, the beta season of TLTour will begin. A beta season is necessary because, as with any new system, bugs not revealed with 20 playtesters will be revealed with 2000 regular gamers. The beta season will last for three weeks. Barring any major catastrophes, the first season will begin one week after the close of the beta season, June 2nd.
There is no final tournament for the beta season. However, five people in the beta season will receive direct seeds into the season one final tournament. These five people are:
the top three finishers of the ladder
the gamer with the most games played
the gamer who discovers and reports the most valuable bugs in the system.
Season One Will hopefully begin on June 2nd. This will not be a paid event. It will be open to the public, and prizes will be funded by TeamLiquid.net. It is our hope that with this new system of gaming and a free entry, we will become a long lasting institution.
In the following week, the TLTour website will be released, the system will be detailed, and the map pool chosen. In addition, a TLTour FAQ thread will be opened where I will personally answer any questions you have about the new system.
There are no more excuses, there is nowhere to hide. Saying you were A+ on PGT isn't going to matter anymore, because you are only going to be asked about your TLT rank. Pride is coming back to battle.net. Prepare yourself.
Great news! And that is pure art: "There are no more excuses, there is nowhere to hide. Saying you were A+ on PGT isn't going to matter anymore, because you are only going to be asked about your TLT rank. Pride is coming back to battle.net. Prepare yourself."
Cool stuff Mani. I'll definitly participate in the beta season.
I'll try to get myself one of those 5 seeds... ...and with that said, I'm going to need to play a LOT of games, ya know, like...more than anyone else...
i seriously think i have a tear on my eye because i've been waiting for something so glorious like this. also can you answer some questions now manifesto? like who can will be picked to beta test it? or can you talk about the features it has? anything more will be uber of u!
The purpose is to check for bugs and problems with large numbers of players. We just do not want to start a regular season without having tested it all first.
fuck yeah people, you gave good years of your life to this game; with the imminent release of sc2 later this year (acording to the gossip), our beloweth sc-bw will die even if sc2 will be a huge dissapointment; so go and play my addictive friends the time is here, the time is now let it end in style for old time sake fuck yeah
There are no more excuses, there is nowhere to hide. Saying you were A+ on PGT isn't going to matter anymore, because you are only going to be asked about your TLT rank. Pride is coming back to battle.net. Prepare yourself.
fuck yeah! Those sentences almost made me hard...(ok they did)
On April 17 2007 06:45 bine wrote: AMAZING!!! Thankyou so much <3 I can't wait to try it out. Someone get ready to call FiFo!
Just wondering, will there be a 2v2 component (if not immediately, down the road)?
i dont think there was 2v2 in the previous tlts, but who knows?
But this is going to be more than just the one big tournament, right? Isn't it also going to be a ladder and other tournaments? Or is it just going to be around for a big TLT3 event and then come down?
This is great news, except that jackass Spartan leaked all of this information at gg.net and said it sucked and he that he could write something better than it in an hour because he's such an incredible and godly programmer.
Can't play til after school but hopefully I'm gonna be able to play alot then. I hope this grows to be as big as PGT, I really took PGT for granted while it was up but since it's been gone I've been wanting it back constantly
Didn't get to experience PGT, but from what I've heard this is an amazing opportunity to find out what all the buzz was about. Thanks TL for all your hard work!
Manifesto i am amazed that your able to work have a family and still do so much for the community i envy you your dedication and stamnia.Mad props to you sir and hopefully one day (wcg finals seattle) i can buy you a beer and say tank you in person ^_^<3
Oh my fucking god! SWEET! :D This is going to rock, TL.net is now officially the best ladder and the best brood war forum? ;D Can't wait for it to open! Thanks guys!
On April 17 2007 13:17 Metal[x] wrote: This is pretty sweet. I wonder who the 5 testers will be?
On April 17 2007 01:18 Manifesto7 wrote: The beta season will be open to all players.
The purpose is to check for bugs and problems with large numbers of players. We just do not want to start a regular season without having tested it all first.
Hopefully this can make starcraft competitive again. That was the only reason i stoped was because i didnt have a consistant way of gettin good games. I cant wait.
On April 17 2007 16:20 dyodyo wrote: the last paragraph alone sent chills through my spine! This is definitely the biggest event for Starcraft since Blizzard released Broodwar!
I havent read all the replies. but could someone tell me please. I saw manifesto said that this would be auto reporting and not web based. So does this mean it will be a program? is the mac user community yet again gonna be pushed aside?
I already replied to this article twice now and haven't been answer though i understand your business with other importants it's just becoming irriating. Can you please give me an estimation when Teamliquid will be replying our questions (or FAQs)?
On April 17 2007 14:22 -StrifeX- wrote: I hate to tell you guys but i am going to be feeling guilty once im beating everyone D=
keke no worries. Everyone should be able to beat me.
Mani, can you give a "worst player" award? :D looking forward to my 0-100
I challenge you to worst player award. I got you beat out by miles.
Haha, good to know that I'm not the only one going for the D- region of the ladder.
And i promise that you could both beat me easily even with 5 mins head start, playing lazily with left hand only. And monitor turned off. And sound turned off too. wth, you could be beat me with the computer turned off! You could beat me by using a magnet to send signals into your internetcable! Easily.
On April 18 2007 07:09 Chewits wrote: I havent read all the replies. but could someone tell me please. I saw manifesto said that this would be auto reporting and not web based. So does this mean it will be a program? is the mac user community yet again gonna be pushed aside?
if they are pushed aside for the betterment of the PC community, it's totally worth it
hello, ive never played brood war in my life and im not a very good warcraft III player. is it possible for me to join the ladder or is this just for invites?
On April 18 2007 07:09 Chewits wrote: I havent read all the replies. but could someone tell me please. I saw manifesto said that this would be auto reporting and not web based. So does this mean it will be a program? is the mac user community yet again gonna be pushed aside?
i really really hope not... i'd love to participate, but i have a mac.
EPT
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/Manifesto7/TLTourBannersm.JPG)
When planning for TLTour 3, we were planning from the very bottom. There was no WGT and no PGT with which to pair. Instead, to ensure that TLT can be a continuing success, we decided to become independent from other ladders and create our own system. Aware that the community was looking for a ladder, the new TLTour definitely has those elements. Built with cooperation from WGTour, the TAL ladder, TL.net forum members, and Qi.Tiger, the founder of UGT, this truly was a community effort. It is the goal of the new TLTour to provide a competitive place for gamers to play, an effective ranking system, invigorating tournaments, and a convenient system of reporting and admining.
