It's great an all, it just needs something different....something....epic.
Find a good marine split vs banelings game, and take a screen shot of an epic split or epic baneling hit. Either or, doesn't matter...both are equally satisfying.
I'm impressed with how fast you guys are improving, this week has been a world of difference from the last one.
One suggestion I have is cutting down the time of intro's into something more concise. It isn't a problem, but I'd prefer if you guys took advantage of the fact that you don't have to deal with -as many- of the problems associated with live broadcasting (Replays help substantially) and use some of the standard/boring opening's of games as the time to present the backgrounds and storylines of the players.
I will be buying a season pass very soon if you guys fix the sound issues, which is the only annoying technical issue I encountered today.
They should try to put some animation in the background, not just a random pick that obviously used the photoshop posterize effect. Like just having their logo with some sparks or fire moving around would be good, not something too distracting but at least have some motion and interest.
Overall though it's definitely nice not to see that grey background with their shadows. That seemed so high school quality to me.
I'd appreciate it if they could turn up the in game sound, or maybe channel balance it better (maybe it's just playing through less speakers than the commentators?), I can watch GSL, TSL or IPL and you get the epic sense of the game with all the gun fire and the explosions, and watching the NASL it sounds like you're watching a fight far in the distance, it's really just not very engaging when you have to have the speakers up so high just to hear the game sounds, then you have the casters loud enough to wake the neighborhood. It's better than it used to be but still considerably lower than other leagues.
Firstly - love the new background (more interesting than the boring old gray one), and the bloopers reels at the end of the show are pretty awesome too. Maybe you could grab some cheerfuls of the players/matchups for the day and use them for variety also. It'd lead to more cheerfuls being made by the community as well - what's not to love about that?
Week 3 has definitely been the best in terms in terms of flow, casting duo coming together nicely, none of the no-show/schedule conflict issues that were so sad either, all good.
The only thing I'm not sure about is the pre-game show. 30 minutes is a long time. I am interested in the players and their chances and what's at stake, but 30 minutes... it's a long time! So often, I'll just tune in for the actual game start time. That was probably a deliberate choice to give people that option, but I think maybe taking a 10 minute pre show, and then just 3-4 minutes before each matchup, talking about the two players specifically would be better. Even if I do watch the preshow, I've probably forgotten everything that was said about games 4/5 by the time they roll around.
Like GSL, at the end of everyday, they have a RECAP of all the games that happened that day.
NASL should do a recap of the matches like GSL, --AND-- also rank the players of that match day::: example
(6-0) A [2-0] B (2-4) (3-3) C [2-1] D (1-5) (1-5) E [0-2] F (2-3) (1-5) G [0-2] H (4-2) (3-3) I [0-2] J (6-0)
[ I dont care if the math is totally wrong its an example ]
".....currently player A is tied with player J for first in this Group, player G - F - D are tied for last they are in danger of being eliminated etc. etc. etc....." ".....player G will have to watch out because his next match is his worst match up and might result in him falling behind...."
On April 30 2011 12:05 Defacer wrote:[And also, I suggest V-neck t-shirts and nicer blazers. Matching matte-black blazers look cheap and lack sophistication or personality. It kind of looks like you bought the first blazer you saw.
I wonder why casters even bother with blazer jackets. Like I recall with Dreamhack, it was just a relief seeing Apollo and Demuslim chilling in their shirts, looking all casual, rather than a forced formal...
Nice to see Inc and Gretorp not casting in a gloomy cave anymore.
Informal is fine. They should still, of course, wear decent clothes.
What's the incentive for players that go 0-4 or 0-5 in their first games to play well and keep trying? Will there be up and down matches or some other form of relegation?
On May 01 2011 19:30 eloist wrote: What's the incentive for players that go 0-4 or 0-5 in their first games to play well and keep trying? Will there be up and down matches or some other form of relegation?
The incentive is that, even if you don't make top 2 in your pool, the top 20 (i think) from all pools will be entered into a bracket to compete for 5 spots in top 16. So it would be.... if you're roughly in top 6 in your division, you'll have a shot at top 16 bracket, still. What about the bottom 4 of the division, or bottom 20 of the 50 players. What's their incentive to try? If they want to stay involved in NASL season 2, the bottom 2 will be dropped from the player pool.
So, this isn't completely definite, but assuming that all the divisions perform roughly the same, if you get in
top 8, you get to participate in divisional play in NASL season 2. Otherwise, you have to qualify through a big open bracket that can be quite tough. Especially considering there is probably a lot of NA/EU talent that want to get into NASL, and there are players like Huk and Jinro who might decide they want in on NASL, as well as korean players who want to give it a shot.
top 6, you have a shot at top 16 through a bracket. There are 5 spots in the top 16 that will be filled by this bracket.
top 2, you are guaranteed a spot in the top 16, and you'll have a better seed in the 16 man bracket.
On May 01 2011 19:30 eloist wrote: What's the incentive for players that go 0-4 or 0-5 in their first games to play well and keep trying? Will there be up and down matches or some other form of relegation?
The incentive is that, even if you don't make top 2 in your pool, the top 20 (i think) from all pools will be entered into a bracket to compete for 5 spots in top 16. So it would be.... if you're roughly in top 6 in your division, you'll have a shot at top 16 bracket, still. What about the bottom 4 of the division, or bottom 20 of the 50 players. What's their incentive to try? If they want to stay involved in NASL season 2, the bottom 2 will be dropped from the player pool.
So, this isn't completely definite, but assuming that all the divisions perform roughly the same, if you get in
top 8, you get to participate in divisional play in NASL season 2. Otherwise, you have to qualify through a big open bracket that can be quite tough. Especially considering there is probably a lot of NA/EU talent that want to get into NASL, and there are players like Huk and Jinro who might decide they want in on NASL, as well as korean players who want to give it a shot.
top 6, you have a shot at top 16 through a bracket. There are 5 spots in the top 16 that will be filled by this bracket.
top 2, you are guaranteed a spot in the top 16, and you'll have a better seed in the 16 man bracket.
Hope that answers your questions.
Related to this, it would be great to get articles or commentary on the rankings of the players, and who's at risk of dropping out and who is on the verge of guaranteeing a playoff spot.
It's what makes other sports exciting, knowing who is in must-win situations and what's at stake. It's not necessarily obvious by just looking at the standings.
didn't want to start another thread to ask this - but is this legit that husky is casting NASL games? thought NASL would be against that, and how did he get replays?
The only thing I'm not sure about is the pre-game show. 30 minutes is a long time. I am interested in the players and their chances and what's at stake, but 30 minutes... it's a long time! So often, I'll just tune in for the actual game start time. That was probably a deliberate choice to give people that option, but I think maybe taking a 10 minute pre show, and then just 3-4 minutes before each matchup, talking about the two players specifically would be better. Even if I do watch the preshow, I've probably forgotten everything that was said about games 4/5 by the time they roll around.
This comment... is by FAR the most annoying, selfish comment that is consistently made.
First - 30 minutes is not a long time. If you think 30 minutes is a long time you are either like 12 years old and have no concept of time, or just have no concept of time.
Second - If you don't want to watch the preshow, if you don't like the preshow, then you know it goes 30 minutes before the games start. Simply don't turn in!!!!!!!!!! That is like saying "DAMMIT, I hate how there is a 2 hour NFL pregame show on Sundays that I KNOW IS COMING and I hate it, but I still tune in at 11AM even though I know games start at 1PM." Did you ever think some people out there enjoy the 30 minute pregame? Simply put, if you don't like the PRE-show, don't watch it. Just pretend in your mind the NASL starts 30 minutes after it says it starts. Not really a big deal. That is why it is called the Pre Show, not the Show.
Third - The pregame show needs to stay and continue to improve because it is what other sports would do. It opens up a world of possibilities they can continue to add during that 30 minutes, interviews, bracket analysis... etc. What people don't get is the preshow right now is very dull because it is early in the season. But once we get to the end the preshow is going to be pretty cool because it will be used often to explain all the different scenarios that are existing. Like "This week Player A has to beat Player B, and hope that Player C losses to have any chance at taking 2nd place going forward." Shit like that is going to be cool to hear about during the preshow. Also if there are any tie breaker scenarios that is a good time to clearly explain them. Thing is, once you remove that 30 minutes or shorten it, if they ever need to go back and add it everyone will just complain. For now, you know 30 minutes before there is talking and that needs to be kept consistent. You can't just make it a long preshow one night and 5 minutes the next.
Quit being so closed minded about something other people might like, and something that you can easily just avoid watching if you don't like it.
I think no caster should be alone. It doesn't work for them and it doesn't work for the audience. No professional football game (hand-egg or soccer) will be broadcast with just one commentator.
Thus I went with Tastetosis. Having both Plott brothers would be pretty epic though... for the rest I think they're doing a great job.
The improvement from the first week has been very good, so props to everyone working on the NASL for that. The only real issue for me at this point is that the music outside of the games is often much too loud, an example of that being Strelok's interview after his match vs NaDa. The stream always runs fine for me on 480p, the casters seem a lot more comfortable both with each other and in general now, and of course the games are generally great to watch. Based on what I've seen so far, I'm confident things will only continue to improve as the tournament goes on.
I watched the NASL yesterday and I was not impressed at all. It's something like an amateur one-person youtube show compared to the ESPN Sportscenter that is the GSL. In this day and age, quality of presentation is extremely important to attract new viewers + sponsors. IPL is doing this a lot better, but they also only have 1 caster which makes it more boring. Anyway, that's just my take on things.
On May 01 2011 20:33 Thugtronik wrote: didn't want to start another thread to ask this - but is this legit that husky is casting NASL games? thought NASL would be against that, and how did he get replays?
It's improving so fast! Im considering spending the 25 dollars.... I like the background idea, the music is decent and doesnt bother me too much. I would appreciate smaller breaks between games.