They are:- - CatsPajamas & Doa - HDStarCraft & PainUser - djWHEAT & dApollo
In my opinion, djWHEAT and dApollo have the best synergy. On one hand, you have djWHEAT, who is a super veteran in the casting world. I remember the first time I saw djWHEAT (2007 BlizzCon StarCraft: Brood War Invitational) cast and was just blown away with his knowledge and enthusiasm for the game. On the other hand you have dApollo, a former professional C&C player (2007 WCG C&C Champion) so he is no slouch in the RTS genre. Also he's British so it's just nicer to hear him speak. No disregard to the other 2 casting duos of CatsPajamas/Doa & HDStarCraft/PainUser. I just feel that djWHEAT & dApollo work best together.
Let me know which duo you prefer and why.
I'll put a poll up as well to see the results. So vote, and then tell me the reason for your choice in a simple post.
Wheat and Apollo are simply the two best casters at the event, and they also have a nice chemistry with each other, so in my eyes it's no contest.
I have to say I'm a huge anti-fan of the usual trio of IPL casters, but Doa and CatsPajamas worked surprisingly well. It seems Doa is capable of quite intelligent commentary when he's not being overshadowed by Wolf or interrupted by Moletrap. CatsPajamas has always been a decent color commentator, so it's nice to see that Doa could fill the analysis role. Plus, they're freaking hilarious.
HD and PainUser though...I don't even know, man. I like PainUser when he casts with DjWheat, but it seems like whenever he's alongside someone who doesn't know what they're talking about, he starts slacking off and acting like a totally different person to get on their level. In my opinion this is the worst casting duo in all of SC2 history. HD says stupid stuff, PainUser rolls with it, nobody benefits.
On October 09 2011 11:46 Micket wrote: I don't mind any of them, but the lack of knowledge of HD is kinda annoying.
This.
Which puts them last in my book. Also HD over 'hypes' certain things I guess? It always seems like painuser says "I don't know about that" to kinda calm him down?
All in all though It's not like I cant' stand to listen to any of them. They all work.
Painuser is just not a caster... I am not sure what he can do to improve, unfortunately. He would have to relearn his entire vocabulary and way of talking to be entertaining on that stage..
Really don't like PainUser and HD, but that's just a personal preference. I think CatsPajamas and Doa work very well, with djWheat and dApollo a close second.
i love catz humbleness and how genuine he is. he isn't afraid to be the guy allowing the other guy to speak. and painuser knows a lot about the game. shame they had to split.
Wheat and apollo for sure. I actually also liked cats and doa but could only vote for one. HD and painuser tho... just don't really come close to doing it for me.
I like all of three duos, but HD/Painuser is one level below the other two imo... not saying they are bad, but as stated before, HD's seemingly lack of knowledge is annoying sometimes...
On a side note, DoA is probably the funniest caster around!
I actually quite like PainUser, but HD makes so many mistakes that I'm constantly taken out of the moment (even with PainUser doing his best to correct him), and talks far too much about his personal experiences which also takes me out of the moment (since I know that his personal experiences are those of a low Master, a million miles away from those he's casting). Also, 'casting reactor' doesn't quite have the same ring to it as 'casting Archon', lol.
CatsPajamas and Doa are alright, but don't given enough insight/analysis for my tastes. I feel like they're both competing to give a play by play.
I liked them all apart from Doa due to the repeated wrong or unnecessary things he says, he keeps filling time when he really shouldn't and should just let Cats say something if he doesn't have anything worthwhile to say at that moment. DJWheat and Apollo have done a fantastic job though and HD and PainUser aren't bad at all. There might be a bit of an over saturation of Cats what with all the countdowns and whatnot but he's done really well this time in his actual casting.
Painuser is so painfully biased. EVERY single statement he makes is Terran favoured. I mean, people like Mr.Bitter is slightly favoured towards their race, that's fine and all but Painuser takes it too far to be enjoyable.
I'm gonna throw this out, Apollo is the best analytical caster in the business. Not only is he really good at analyzing the games, but before they start he knows everything about every player. Like seriously, any player, he always has some sort of background on him. Even SlayersSleep. Nobody knows who he is, but Apollo knew.
He is a genius in his field and needs more respect.
Also HD over 'hypes' certain things I guess? It always seems like painuser says "I don't know about that" to kinda calm him down?
This is so true! HD has a lot of passion for the game, and I love that. but I swear sometimes he thinks 3 lings in the natural are about to win the game.
That said. I like all three of the combos. I had never seen DOA before and I really like how he and CatzPajamas are working together. I dont know if he would mix as well with the others though.
I voted for DJApollo but the combos are all good.
Edit : Hell yeah Dexington. An excellent point and more props for Apollo.
On October 09 2011 12:10 Dexington wrote: I'm gonna throw this out, Apollo is the best analytical caster in the business. Not only is he really good at analyzing the games, but before they start he knows everything about every player. Like seriously, any player, he always has some sort of background on him. Even SlayersSleep. Nobody knows who he is, but Apollo knew.
He is a genius in his field and needs more respect.
He's not as analytical as actual pro players casting, but yeah, he is really good.
All this being said, HD is my least favorite caster.
I feel like PainUser does a great job of juggling anything HD throws out. Even though their combined casting may not be as strong as the other two's, I think the positive effect PainUser brings individually is on par with the best of them.
On October 09 2011 12:10 Dexington wrote: I'm gonna throw this out, Apollo is the best analytical caster in the business. Not only is he really good at analyzing the games, but before they start he knows everything about every player. Like seriously, any player, he always has some sort of background on him. Even SlayersSleep. Nobody knows who he is, but Apollo knew.
He is a genius in his field and needs more respect.
This is so true. Apollo manages to be insightful in every single freaking matchups and I yet have to find him mispredicting something. He needs to cast more big tournaments.
I think this is one of the things that I think MLG has over IPL is the casters. I never really liked HDStarcraft and Painuser as castors and I think DJWheat is a bit overrated as well. Apollo isn't bad but I haven't heard much of him and Catzpajamas has a good comentating voice. However I think Day9, Husky, JP, Artosis, and Tastless are much better casters than the ones given in the IPL's.
On October 09 2011 11:46 Micket wrote: I don't mind any of them, but the lack of knowledge of HD is kinda annoying.
I don't understand this feeling about HD. He isn't the best caster, but he's a better player and more knowledgeable SC2er than anybody but PU or the guy from Dignitas. Like, levels on levels on levels ahead of CatsPajamas and djWheat (who are both better casters, but far less knowledgeable).
Well, I voted for wheat and apollo, however I REALLY like listening to painuser. I just cant bring myself to vote for that duo because of HD. His terrible understanding of the game and hopeless sidetracking really takes away from the quality of the games. I despise his "insight" into the game as it seems like he has no idea of what is actually happening and just "wings" it most the time..
My favourite caster of the whole tournament has been painuser. He has been far more professional and insightful than the others(not just saying wow after a big battle) despite his accompanying caster
Eh a lot of hate for HD and painuser but by definition they should be the best casters, despite their chemistry being bad.
The husky and HD casting combination was by far the best one year ago, not because of quality casting but because of the push power they had in popularity, it was equal to what tastosis has right now.
On October 09 2011 11:46 Micket wrote: I don't mind any of them, but the lack of knowledge of HD is kinda annoying.
I don't understand this feeling about HD. He isn't the best caster, but he's a better player and more knowledgeable SC2er than anybody but PU or the guy from Dignitas. Like, levels on levels on levels ahead of CatsPajamas and djWheat (who are both better casters, but far less knowledgeable).
He is the better player but he sure doesn't show off any of his knowledge while casting. Also he is the king of over exaggerating things. Two scenarios that I remember:
1. A game in IPL qualifer: player A gained a big advantage and managed to lose it. HD "OMG he is about to throw away the biggest lead in the history of starcraft!!!!!!" PU "I don't know about that ..."
2. Some foreign Zerg player that once beat somebody in Code A and HD went "by beating player X he certainly established himself as one of the greats" PU "I don't know if you could call him one of the greats yet"
Apollo/DJWheat by a mile. Pajamas/DoA after that and HD/PainUser last.
When hearing HD and PainUser cast I feel that HD is still too much casting as if he is casting alone and not letting enough of the analysis to be done by PainUser. That could actually be fine is HD didn't make that many wrong calls which honestly holds that casting combination back.
I personally love DjWheat, maybe he isn't the best caster who has knowledge of the game, but he is extremely good caster in my mind. dApollo has surprised me though. Good knowledge and he is a great with DjWheat.
So my pick for the best caster combo in IPL, _EASILY_ , is DjWheat and dApollo.
I was so glad to see D. Appolo casting for once and it NOT being with Total Biscuit! I really enjoyed this combo. Especially after watching HD and Painsure and Catspajamas so much during the qualifiers.
On October 09 2011 11:42 Cel.erity wrote: Wheat and Apollo are simply the two best casters at the event, and they also have a nice chemistry with each other, so in my eyes it's no contest.
I have to say I'm a huge anti-fan of the usual trio of IPL casters, but Doa and CatsPajamas worked surprisingly well. It seems Doa is capable of quite intelligent commentary when he's not being overshadowed by Wolf or interrupted by Moletrap. CatsPajamas has always been a decent color commentator, so it's nice to see that Doa could fill the analysis role. Plus, they're freaking hilarious.
HD and though...I don't even know, man. I like PainUser when he casts with DjWheat, but it seems like whenever he's alongside someone who doesn't know what they're talking about, he starts slacking off and acting like a totally different person to get on their level. In my opinion this is the worst casting duo in all of SC2 history. HD says stupid stuff, PainUser rolls with it, nobody benefits.
On October 09 2011 11:46 Micket wrote: I don't mind any of them, but the lack of knowledge of HD is kinda annoying.
I don't understand this feeling about HD. He isn't the best caster, but he's a better player and more knowledgeable SC2er than anybody but PU or the guy from Dignitas. Like, levels on levels on levels ahead of CatsPajamas and djWheat (who are both better casters, but far less knowledgeable).
He is the better player but he sure doesn't show off any of his knowledge while casting. Also he is the king of over exaggerating things. Two scenarios that I remember:
1. A game in IPL qualifer: player A gained a big advantage and managed to lose it. HD "OMG he is about to throw away the biggest lead in the history of starcraft!!!!!!" PU "I don't know about that ..."
2. Some foreign Zerg player that once beat somebody in Code A and HD went "by beating player X he certainly established himself as one of the greats" PU "I don't know if you could call him one of the greats yet"
it's more that he can't get away with those over exaggerations. almost every caster does that, probably day9 does it the most but it works out in spite of this. I think HD/PU is the best combo of the 3.
On October 09 2011 11:46 Micket wrote: I don't mind any of them, but the lack of knowledge of HD is kinda annoying.
I don't understand this feeling about HD. He isn't the best caster, but he's a better player and more knowledgeable SC2er than anybody but PU or the guy from Dignitas. Like, levels on levels on levels ahead of CatsPajamas and djWheat (who are both better casters, but far less knowledgeable).
He is the better player but he sure doesn't show off any of his knowledge while casting. Also he is the king of over exaggerating things. Two scenarios that I remember:
1. A game in IPL qualifer: player A gained a big advantage and managed to lose it. HD "OMG he is about to throw away the biggest lead in the history of starcraft!!!!!!" PU "I don't know about that ..."
2. Some foreign Zerg player that once beat somebody in Code A and HD went "by beating player X he certainly established himself as one of the greats" PU "I don't know if you could call him one of the greats yet"
Yeah, I have to agree. I saw three games last night where HD said they were the greatest games he had ever seen...best come-back he had ever seen. I don't mind hype and a bit of spice in casting, but after making such statements so often it loses its appeal, and makes it feel as if e-sports is "reaching" for viewers.
I hope that IPL 4 will bring some of the better casters like tastosis, day9 or wolf. I really can't enjoy the casting of the IPL in house casters, but I just mute them and throw on some music and still have an enjoyable time. I also feel like there are some pro players who wouldn't mind joining in on the casting for a match or two to provide some much needed analysis, which would be awesome.
On October 09 2011 11:42 Cel.erity wrote: Wheat and Apollo are simply the two best casters at the event, and they also have a nice chemistry with each other, so in my eyes it's no contest.
I have to say I'm a huge anti-fan of the usual trio of IPL casters, but Doa and CatsPajamas worked surprisingly well. It seems Doa is capable of quite intelligent commentary when he's not being overshadowed by Wolf or interrupted by Moletrap. CatsPajamas has always been a decent color commentator, so it's nice to see that Doa could fill the analysis role. Plus, they're freaking hilarious.
HD and PainUser though...I don't even know, man. I like PainUser when he casts with DjWheat, but it seems like whenever he's alongside someone who doesn't know what they're talking about, he starts slacking off and acting like a totally different person to get on their level. In my opinion this is the worst casting duo in all of SC2 history. HD says stupid stuff, PainUser rolls with it, nobody benefits.
This.
It's also funny when Doa make s a stupid joke, and then says "...and now they're all like 'It really is Doa!'" :D
I watched HD when I first got into SC2 and liked him, but right now, I just can't stand him >.> I feel bad for thinking that way, but HD just uses so many silly phrases and "predictions" ("I foresee a new way Zerg is going to be played" anyone?). Painuser is a great dude, absolutely love him on Inside the Game, and his casting is pretty nice as well, in my opinion. However, he really can't "carry" the duo without hogging all the space... Therefore, muted.
CatsPajamas and Doa I really have no opinion about, but I just felt that somehow they weren't for me. Now that I've read this thread, I realize that maybe I should've given them a chance. Still, they were muted.
DjWheat and dApollo however... Were fucking awesome. First of all, everyone who cried about dApollo supposedly "mis-pronouncing" Puma can go stuff it. I mean really, who doesn't love Artosis when he says eyedra instead of IdrA? Same thing, different flare. I especially liked the way he kept biting his fist during intense action. What a baller. And DjWheat was simply brilliant. Especially during moments where he transferred to his "aroused" voice (as I call it, lol) that he uses on Kings of Tin. Remember the part where he said something along the lines of "I really wanna see those banelings connect"? I sure do, and I added a mental bad word before "connect" ^_^ So yeah, needless to say that they were NOT muted. They were awesome.
Disliked djWheat's casting before but with dApollo, pieces for puzzle come together and perfectly fits the whole thing. I love it. I enjoy Wheat's casting and he has been doing an extremely good job.
Apollo is awesome as well, thanks for entertaining for whole day
Best thing about their casting is down to earth, pure SC2 and match analysing. No major mistakes/flaws. Good job, keep it up !!!
On October 09 2011 11:49 TheOne85 wrote: Painuser is just not a caster... I am not sure what he can do to improve, unfortunately. He would have to relearn his entire vocabulary and way of talking to be entertaining on that stage..
Wheat and apollo by far.
Painuser just talks too much, and talks over HD. I would really enjoy him as a caster if the fixed those issues.
I didn't end up catching a lot of this. But Cat and Doa were pleasantly good when I watched them. The other two combos seemed good, but somehow the majority of what little I watched ended up being CatDoa.
No general complaints, then again I'm a viewer that appreciates what I get and doesn't mute people because I have some odd sense of entitlement for hours on end of flawless casting.
I like all of them tbh, but if i have to choose a favourite it would have to be cpj and doa. I've never seen doa cast before, but found his style really refreshing and the jokes he made were really clever and kept me chuckling.
DjWheat and dApollo are great. Really balanced casters with good knowledge and good for laughs as well.
I'm trying to find a nice way of putting how I feel about HD, but I can't really. So I will just say that I prefer to mute the stream whenever he casts.
On October 09 2011 13:10 CrucialSC wrote: First of all, everyone who cried about dApollo supposedly "mis-pronouncing" Puma can go stuff it. I mean really, who doesn't love Artosis when he says eyedra instead of IdrA? Same thing, different flare.
Apollo pronounces it the way it's pronounced in the UK.
On October 09 2011 11:42 Cel.erity wrote: Wheat and Apollo are simply the two best casters at the event, and they also have a nice chemistry with each other, so in my eyes it's no contest.
I have to say I'm a huge anti-fan of the usual trio of IPL casters, but Doa and CatsPajamas worked surprisingly well. It seems Doa is capable of quite intelligent commentary when he's not being overshadowed by Wolf or interrupted by Moletrap. CatsPajamas has always been a decent color commentator, so it's nice to see that Doa could fill the analysis role. Plus, they're freaking hilarious.
HD and though...I don't even know, man. I like PainUser when he casts with DjWheat, but it seems like whenever he's alongside someone who doesn't know what they're talking about, he starts slacking off and acting like a totally different person to get on their level. In my opinion this is the worst casting duo in all of SC2 history. HD says stupid stuff, PainUser rolls with it, nobody benefits.
This guy nailed it.
Way to sum up my feelings perfectly you jerk. +1 for Wheat/Apollo, -1 for HD/PU, Doa/Cat eh, it works.
I honestly didn't manage to catch any of Wheat/Apollo's casts, but I could see them working pretty well together. I did really like Cats/Doa together, I thought that was really good. Then for HD/Painuser, I think one of the biggest things that I don't like is how HD seems to go off on entirely unrelated tangents, especially in the first 3-4 minutes of the game. I find myself having to watch the production tab to see if the game is progressing in a "standard" fashion or if a player is doing something unusual. Then they just sometimes seem to miss some things during casts.
i really love d'apollo now that he's had enough time to learn the game, he really knows what he's talking about and delivers that knowledge in an enthusiastic and yet easy to listen to way. djwheat is just dj mother fuckin wheat bitches, i don't know what to say man. dj wheat could make hello kitty island adventure a good cast.
hd and painuser are the worst for me. i enjoyed doa and catspajamas a lot more than i thought i would, but that's because i actually massively dislike doa and moletrap from what i've seen of their GSL casts and it pisses me off to not have tastosis on those casts, so when i took out my inherent judgement of any non-tastosis GSL casting, he seemed ok. and catspajamas, he is pretty good play by play. they both can improve but they're passable and then some
but hd and painuser... specifically hd, god dammit. he just says wrong things so often i'm fucking mind blown that he is even given a job doing this. not only does he have many really corny awkward moments, which painuser also has and is really the only main thing i dislike about painuser (he's very knowledgable), but he just tries to act like he knows what he's talking about and gets things wrong... ALL THE FUCKING TIME. he actually brings down the entertainment value of every game i watch that he casts
dApollo is a god of casting, him and wheat are by far my favorites for this event. Meanwhile, I have little to say about HD and painuser in the ways of compliments, they could use some work.
My thanks go to all the casters for this event. I love the fact that there is a rotation so that the cast never gets stale and we, the audience, get to sample many different styles and personalities.
I don't know who is more knowledgeable, but from a pure entertainment standpoint, I'd rank Wheat/Apollo at the top and HD/Painuser at the bottom.
Special shoutout to Apollo, who has been doing an outstanding job this tournament. I wasn't a fan before, but now I am.
Wheat/Apollo are definitely at the top followed up by Doa/catspajamas. I haven't really enjoyed any of HD/Painusers casts yet, HD seems to go off on big rants missing key things that are happening in the game and has said many things about the game that just make me face palm. Painuser obviously has the knowledge but I think he needs to start cutting off HD and stepping in more to make that cast work.
Also after watching this event I noticed how amazing it is at GSL to have commentators/observers as separate people, it can cause problems but in this tournament I've found myself watching the mini map screaming at my monitor "The Drop show the god damn drop!" more then I have ever in my entire life.
But alas enough complaining IPL has been amazing and really HD isn't that 'bad' so keep up the good work IPL
Oh, CatsPajamas camera control was absolutely terrible all the time. There would be mutas in a base harrassing and he'd see +2 weapons coming or something and focus on that building upgrading the entire time the harrass was going on.
On October 09 2011 11:46 Micket wrote: I don't mind any of them, but the lack of knowledge of HD is kinda annoying.
If anything catspajamas has the most lack of knowledge, he is gold - diamond last i saw and HD is a master league player..
Dude, league has nothing to do with knowledge unless your a bronze newbie. I'm personally gold and I know pretty much everything about the game because I watch so many tournaments + day9. League 90% of the time doesn't mean jack.
I like djWheat and apollo the best but doa and cats are surprising fun to listen to. I think both those teams are doing a fantastic job so far. I usually mute hd and painuser. HD is really bad, lack of knowledge, lack of memory, and it actually gets worse when he goes into entertainer mode.
ya i mean its tough to watch cause painuser's knowledge is pretty good, but like HD reminds me of like my friend and hes silver. He's like a kid ina candy shop just saying everythign is amazing but like nothing is happening or he blatantly makes it apparent that he doesnt know whats going on
I voted for Catspajamas and Doa, but I don't really have any complaints about any caster duo. They are all doing a good job: keeping it interesting and with decent perception.
I prefer Wheat&Apollo, but I dislike none of the duo's, which is sort of new to me - I always seem to be very oppinionated on casters.. I don't know, this event is just working for me in alot of ways
Wheat and Apollo great obviously. (Wheat one of the best partners with Apollo I have seen, but hes good with everybody.)
CatsPajamas and Doa suprisingly good (Have hated catspajamas in the past but apparently it was his partners)
HD and PainUser...... not the worst ever, I don't hate them personally or anything (lol) both nice guys; but I don't watch if they are casting. Period.
Frankly I am no huge fan of the ipl standard cast - just not my personal taste. I was kinda surprised though how doa and catspajamas was sort of working for me strangely enough but the obvious choice remains wheat and Dapollo since I usually really appreciate casts from the latter and wheat can be entertaining as well.
My favorite duo is HD and Painuser. HD has a good casting voice and flow with Painuser and Painuser has that progamer game knowledge. They work quite well together.
On October 09 2011 14:49 GameTime wrote: My favorite duo is HD and Painuser. HD has a good casting voice and flow with Painuser and Painuser has that progamer game knowledge. They work quite well together.
They been working together for a while now. I like them and Wheat/Apollo.
PainUser is easily my favorite individual caster; however, he suffers greatly when teamed with HD. HD needs to stick to commentary, and even then he's far from a top commentator. Whenever he provides analysis, I shudder.
I liked HD and Pain. Was pretty funny when they did the product placement for the eyedrops sponsor during the downtime then both start screaming that they are blind after putting in some drops.
On October 09 2011 15:52 Bayyne wrote: This thread....makes my head hurt and I feel bad for the hardworking casters who don't get love.
They're all fine.
In my opinion, they're not all fine. But that's really the problem, this is just opinions. I don't caster bash publically but HD and Painuser are just bad. I've never muted a stream in my entire time as a starcraft spectator until I watched ipl. They screw up a lot and misread a lot. There is excuse for professional casters to not recognize what is going on better than a Platinum league player.
DJwheat and apollo are the best duo but not by much. Catz pajamas and doa have proven a great combo.
Painuser I like. He has a solidly entertaining cast with great game knowledge, but hd just says too many things that are wrong, misses important information/events, and honestly I just don't find any of his jokes very funny. I appreciate him as an important member of the community for all he does for it, I just can't stand listening to him. Always kinda turned me off of ipl stuff when he was casting.
Just my personal preference though and I am glad he is able to entertain many people
It's impossible not to smile at the chemistry between DoA and CatsPJs. They're both so jolly and lighthearted the whole time, but do a damn fine job of hyping up a game when necessary.
I don't mind anyone, as I have enough knowledge to know what's going on anyways, but whoever spectates of cats and doa really annoys me. I see many interesting things happening on the minimap, and still he's focusing on boring stuff. I really don't want to be one of those internet whiners, but I just really hopes he sees this and gets better at it.
My favorite of all is CatsPajamas, but I must say that HD and PainUser are really great together. They have that experience together for a long time now, and they both have the best insight out of all the combos (they both are on progame teams, despite HD not necessarily being a "pro")
I love Apollo and the amount of research he does to back up his casts, but for this time I'm gonna swing by CatsPajamas & doa since they really impressed me. Nothing against HD & PU either, their casts were rather enjoyable, only not as much as the other duos.
By the way, play-by-play commentators are "supposed" to make mistakes. That's why they have a colour commentator on their side. Don't get too fired up about it, it's normal. Everybody's a GrandMaster theorycrafter when watching others.
On October 09 2011 16:12 gulati wrote: My favorite of all is CatsPajamas, but I must say that HD and PainUser are really great together. They have that experience together for a long time now, and they both have the best insight out of all the combos (they both are on progame teams, despite HD not necessarily being a "pro")
I've never liked dj wheat before, but with apollo I found the duo amazing, really really good. Apollo's analytic skills were constantly correct and always given in an interesting/entertaining way. Wheat played off him perfectly in my opinion and really filled his role perfect. They were the best.
CatsPajamas is always alright to listen to but again I was surprise how much I enjoyed him casting with doa. They were funny, and didn't mess up too often. Really enjoyed doa, who I never watched too much at the gsl. Pajamas did a great job with his entertainment/sport casting angle.
Painuser and hd were good, unless you knew anything about the game. HD just makes way way too many horrible predictions or gives some seriously bad background information about strategies and tries way too hard to make a huge deal out of nothing. Painuser was better but he was not able to carry the duo. You could see sometimes he would move to correct hd but other times he just let it go and I couldn't stand it. If hd backed off of doing any analysis I could see them being better, but I probably won't know if it happens or not. More than likely will have them muted.
HD was just awful. Very low level commentary which is why most of his fans are in lower leagues cause they don't know that he barely knows what he is talking about. Painuser just states the obvious if you listen to him. DJ wheat besides butchering pronunciation...SlayersLyung?...Wasn't too bad. Doa and Dapollo were good. But whoever was controlling the camera was just awful. We always missed the beginning of big fights and don't even think about drops cause we missed the majority of those as well. The people at MLG did a much better job with that. And wtf was up with Tee Shirt guy wow. I mean if you liked his Bad jokes and his obnoxiously whiny voice then you need help I guess.
The games on the other hand were amazing!!! apart from those F-ing/no skill required baneling mines...
On October 09 2011 16:28 benthekid wrote: HD was just awful. Very low level commentary which is why most of his fans are in lower leagues cause they don't know that he barely knows what he is talking about. Painuser just states the obvious if you listen to him. DJ wheat besides butchering pronunciation...SlayersLyung?...Wasn't too bad. Doa and Dapollo were good. But whoever was controlling the camera was just awful. We always missed the beginning of big fights and don't even think about drops cause we missed the majority of those as well. The people at MLG did a much better job with that. And wtf was up with Tee Shirt guy wow. I mean if you liked his Bad jokes and his obnoxiously whiny voice then you need help I guess.
The games on the other hand were amazing!!! apart from those F-ing/no skill required baneling mines...
They are all quite experienced casters, boosted by the contact with live audience, so the performance is way beyond expectations. I'm very satisfied with the casting at IPL 3.
Given the poll result, I wonder if there's any chance of the IPL3 team reconsidering their choice of having HD+Painuser cast the grand finals? (I don't know if that's really confirmed but Painuser definitely said it during their time on stage yesterday).
First of all, I don't speak Korean. But from what I understand (and from what Korean speakers have said in threads) the "ㄹ" character is kind of a combination of R and L. You roll the "R" and lead it into the L. The English alphabet doesn't have a character that depicts it exactly.
So when Ryung's name was translated into English, it got turned into an R for the spelling.
(I think Tasteless' pronunciation is better than Wheat's. Wheat just goes with a hard L.)
(Korean speakers, feel free to correct any of this.)
First of all, I don't speak Korean. But from what I understand (and from what Korean speakers have said in threads) the "ㄹ" character is kind of a combination of R and L. You roll the "R" and lead it into the L. The English alphabet doesn't have a character that depicts it exactly.
So when Ryung's name was translated into English, it gets turned into an R.
(I think Tasteless' pronunciation is better than Wheat's. Wheat just goes with a hard L.)
(Korean speakers, feel free to correct any of this.)
I have always liked HD. Seems like such a nice guy. His casting experience is a bit below the pair of apollo and dj wheat but he does a great job of making it a fun game to watch. Painuser has good analysis to back him up too. Perhaps the only thing I might suggest to HD is to focus a bit more on the colour commentary part a bit more. He has good knowledge but I always think the one with better should focus mostly on analysis and Painuser is former pro. Otherwise, great job!
Doa and Cats work very well together too. Cats has the perfect announcers voice and is able to do the colour commentary very well. And Doa is always good at a bit of both.
DJwheat and apollo are now a well oiled machine. I remember when people used to complain about them too. If people put things into a well spoken suggestion form instead of just complaining I think this is what happens. The casters evolve into a great pair and everyone stops complaining
On October 09 2011 11:49 TheOne85 wrote: Painuser is just not a caster... I am not sure what he can do to improve, unfortunately. He would have to relearn his entire vocabulary and way of talking to be entertaining on that stage..
Wheat and apollo by far.
Its funny because my gut reaction to hearing him is the total oppositie. He just IS a caster. From the IPL ive seen he has a relaxed yet observant style that fits well with the bulk of what a starcraft game is. He isnt forcing it to be more than it is and thats perfect
They all have been wonderful job. Only thing that I'm disappointed about is the video producer or whoever is in charge of the cameras. They tend to shoot the face of the player when some intense battle is going on.
I like Apollo's casting, not so crazy about djWHEAT, never really liked him, don't know what's wrong with me but I prefer HD to WHEAT, but so far overall i the casting pretty good
My opinions of both cats pajamas and painuser have risen dramatically this tourney. I didn't watch too much of ipl 2 but wasn't impressed that much with them then. I've always loved both wheat and Apollo and they really had great chemistry so yeah.
djWheat and dApollo were definitely my favourites. Catz canbe good or bad, depending on his mood. HD sometimes just gets stuff flat out wrong. Idra vs Whitera for example they said Idra still had a fighting chance but he didn't really, not at all. They were trying to hype it up too much imo.
First of all, I don't speak Korean. But from what I understand (and from what Korean speakers have said in threads) the "ㄹ" character is kind of a combination of R and L. You roll the "R" and lead it into the L. The English alphabet doesn't have a character that depicts it exactly.
So when Ryung's name was translated into English, it got turned into an R for the spelling.
(I think Tasteless' pronunciation is better than Wheat's. Wheat just goes with a hard L.)
(Korean speakers, feel free to correct any of this.)
If it's anything like Japanese (Korean sounds a lot like it, overall, and could be mistaken by someone who doesn't know either) it's neither 'r' nor 'l'. If you think about how we produce both sounds, the positioning of the tongue is quite similar. The Korean sound should be something in between.
However some Japanese accents use a sound that's basically a straight-up 'R'. I don't know Korean, though, so all I've said could be wrong :D
To me this event has shown great casting. Some people like some casters more than others but I think in general the casting has been great.
The important thing for me to note is that when a caster finds the right partner it turns even an ok caster into part of a great casting duo.
I think Cats and Doa both benefit so much from each other that is crazy! (btw none of them were bad before, they just sound great when together).
Wheat and dapollo also have great chemistry and work pretty well. HD and PU work in their own way but maybe they're not a perfect match like the other combos. From the IPL qualifiers I also like PU and Cats, they also do a great job together and they can make boring games interesting.
DjApollo really impressed me. They just were really really good. I hated catspajamas (or whatever the fat guys name is). I feel like watching TV-shop when i hear his voice. Also he is overly polite and feels overly professional.
I cant stand casts pajamas & doa, I havent heard Painuser and HD but Appolo and DJWheat are bearable to watch. I wish they could just get some casters who are purely insight/analysis because im sick and tired of watching horse shit play by play calls.
imagine cats pajamas and total biscuit casting together T.T i would smash my head against the keyboard.
I would love to have some really deep analysis instead of some cheesy play by play boring crap.
My biggest problem with HD and PainUser is that they try to hype things up so much that it gets exhausting to watch as a spectator. Hearing "Make some noise for.." or "Give it up for.." literally every game, and "Epic" for every match dulls all the excitement for me.
I hope some foreign tournaments adopt a player intro like the GSL where a street-fighter voice or the racial voice is the auto-cue for showing the support for the player.
On October 09 2011 11:42 Cel.erity wrote: Wheat and Apollo are simply the two best casters at the event, and they also have a nice chemistry with each other, so in my eyes it's no contest.
I have to say I'm a huge anti-fan of the usual trio of IPL casters, but Doa and CatsPajamas worked surprisingly well. It seems Doa is capable of quite intelligent commentary when he's not being overshadowed by Wolf or interrupted by Moletrap. CatsPajamas has always been a decent color commentator, so it's nice to see that Doa could fill the analysis role. Plus, they're freaking hilarious.
HD and PainUser though...I don't even know, man. I like PainUser when he casts with DjWheat, but it seems like whenever he's alongside someone who doesn't know what they're talking about, he starts slacking off and acting like a totally different person to get on their level. In my opinion this is the worst casting duo in all of SC2 history. HD says stupid stuff, PainUser rolls with it, nobody benefits.
On October 09 2011 16:12 gulati wrote: My favorite of all is CatsPajamas, but I must say that HD and PainUser are really great together. They have that experience together for a long time now, and they both have the best insight out of all the combos (they both are on progame teams, despite HD not necessarily being a "pro")
HD on a pro team? LOL.
Honestly, I feel dApollo has always been more insightful than PainUser, and Doa also has been for this event. While you may be correct that PainUser and HD have more accomplishments as players, unfortunately that does not translate to understanding of the game. dApollo is on Dignitas, trains with top european players, absorbs information like a sponge. Doa lives in Korea with top foreigners, gets the latest information on top Korean builds, and casts for the strongest league in the world. PainUser and HD work at IGN, they do PR stuff, they do their YouTube stuff, they are not in a top-tier competitive environment anymore, and it is obvious that they do not absorb knowledge as quickly as most casters.
PainUser, for example, knows everything about Terran but basically nothing about the other races. He never seems to understand Protoss build orders or Zerg transitions. HD has never trained or cast at a high level of anything and is more consistently wrong in his evaluation than even CPJ (because CPJ doesn't pretend to be great). The other casters understand better because they pay attention and have good memory, and this translates to a less awkward cast.
I think Apollo is the best caster, by quite a bit, and therefore his partner benefit from that - so I voted for them.
Overall though, the main problem I have is the dumbing down thing ... I think they should refer more to total supply etc, and not pretend the game isn't over. Just make it clear how far ahead one player is.
Goes for most casters.
It is just weird to me that they are talking about 'being ahead' or 'being behind' etc, when the supplies stay almost exactly the same and the upgrades as well. Or that they don't - when the supplies are very different.
I'd like to point out that the level at which players play does not directly correlate with how well they udnerstand the game. I have terrible multitasking and APM, and will likely never get out of Platinum league, but I can still see why pro players make such or such decision on a strategic level, and when an engagement is going to be good or not. HD would likely trash me were we to play against each other, but he just keeps making the wrong call all the time in his casting. CatsPajamas, who is in gold league IIRC, is also a much worse player than HD, but he rarely says stuff that is flat-out wrong.
I enjoyed doa more on day 1 than on days 2 and 3. I think he was more tired then, and did not try to make jokes when he was tired. His jokes are bad (a general sentiment I have about the code A casters) and detract from his casting, which is actually good when he's not making jokes. He also has a lot of knowledge about the Korean scene, which is a very good thing in a tournament where two thirds of the championship bracket is Korean.
Apollo is an excellent analytical caster. He probably does not have the energy to make a good cast by himself I don't know if he ever does that ?), but when paired with someone like Wheat, that's really good stuff. So yeah, poll results do not surprise me.
On October 09 2011 11:46 Micket wrote: I don't mind any of them, but the lack of knowledge of HD is kinda annoying.
I don't understand this feeling about HD. He isn't the best caster, but he's a better player and more knowledgeable SC2er than anybody but PU or the guy from Dignitas. Like, levels on levels on levels ahead of CatsPajamas and djWheat (who are both better casters, but far less knowledgeable).
Yeah you're right but the difference is that HD is really trying to be the smart guy even though he doesnt understand the game(league doesnt really affect game knowledge that much) and catz for example doesnt try to do that cause he acknowledges that his co-caster has a better gameunderstanding than himself. HD tries to predict everything and is wrong and doesnt really give the oppurtunity to painuser to do that even though he knows a lot more.
I like Djwheat/Apollo, but actually really enjoyed Doa and CatsPajamas was doing a surprisingly good job also. I just won't watch Painuser/HD , I don't know if anyone could co-cast effectively alongside HD, It doesn't look professional if you need to constantly correct your co-caster, so Painuser is always trying to twist HD's words, which is just awkward. I think Painuser casts best with wheat.
Am I one of the very few persons who prefer HD and Painuser? =) I think they have a nice synergi, often fun jokes, and i really like painusers casting. Some people said he just rolls with HD when HD is wrong, but i disagree. I think he knows when to call HD, and did it many times this IPL.
Then i must say that Apollo is a caster who has grown to be one of the best in my eyes. I know him from other games and its a pleasant suprise to see him cast this good.
I like Painuser, but don't really like HD. I enjoy Painuser casting with Wheat or CPJ.
Both CatsPajamas/Doa and Wheat/Apollo have been great during the whole event.
I understand the people who dislike HD for not having enough knowledge of the game but still like CPJ/Wheat who are playing at a lower level. The thing is that they adjust and make their casting appropriate based on their knowledge, while I get the feeling HD "talks out of line" more often (making lots of faulty predictions and thinking someone is ahead when they are not and so on).
Anyway, that's just the feeling I get from listening to them a bit, I haven't studied them greatly or anything.
On October 09 2011 20:55 Callynn wrote: Where's Day[9]? =(
Day[9] works great with both Djwheat and Tasteless.
DJWheat and DApollo are the best duo out of the those 3. Painuser and Hd have good synergy. I'm personally not a big fan of Catspjamas so I muted the stream most of the time when they were casting.
I think djWheat and apollo are most entertaining while HD/Painuser are most competent simply because you have one caster matched up with one (ex-) pro gamer.
You can tell that the other duos aren't as knowledgeable about strategy.
On October 09 2011 20:55 Callynn wrote: Where's Day[9]? =(
Day[9] works great with both Djwheat and Tasteless.
I don't like PainUser's casting at all. Can the man sound more boring or what? Really, no excitement in the voice what so ever. Even if he comes up with facts like other casters can't it's still boring to listen to.
DJWheat / Apollo is great. Cats and Doa are a close second. I think both these pairs do a great job.
I like Painuser just fine, but HD just really rubs me the wrong way. People keep saying that he lacks knowledge of the game. That's true, but his knowledge doesn't seem any worse than Catspajamas. The trouble with HD is that he condescending and arrogant about what he says. He says things like "I don't understand why X is doing this." in this really arrogant tone as if knows what he's talking about. He does it with players who are ten times better than he will ever be. It's like it never occurs to him that maybe, just maybe, the pro player who has been refining his build for weeks on end know it better than HD does. Or other times he criticizes the players for making moves that turn out to be exactly right, and he criticizes them in that same arrogant tone.
Honestly I don't really like any of them, but I prefer casters like Artosis who know what's happening and give an opinion based on their own level of understanding (semi-pro in this case). I guess the closest at IPL3 would have to be Apollo since he is actually quite good and his level of understanding surprised me. I can understand the appeal of someone like djWHEAT if you're new to the game but unfortunately it doesn't chime so well later on and some of the stuff that he and others like him say just gets on my nerves. The same goes for Doa/HD/Paniuser/Cats; their casting just appears very mediocre to me, but I suppose everyone appreciates different types of analysis.
They are all fantastic , but i would have to agree with the majority. I just think apollo can go with anyone, and is better with total biscut in my opinion, but dj wheat has a more serious tone, and i can get used to that
Of the 6 casters, painuser is my favourite. But with HD's arrogance in his own game knowledge, the duo can be unbearable at times. I also really like Doa but he needs to be complemented with a colour commentator. So I went with djwheat and apollo, most rounded team.
On October 09 2011 21:10 Bobster wrote: I think djWheat and apollo are most entertaining while HD/Painuser are most competent simply because you have one caster matched up with one (ex-) pro gamer.
You can tell that the other duos aren't as knowledgeable about strategy.
Except that HD/PainUser pair make by far the most silly\stupid\wrong statements. It doesn't matter that PainUser is the best player (by far) of the 6 players. For that matter HD actually better player than Wheat or CatsPJs for sure (don't know about doa/apollo). He still makes by far the most stupid errors and calls. Thats kind of just a fact, and not arguable.
It turns out that in my opinion, they are also the most annoying and least entertaining. But to each their own as far as that goes.
I think that Doa is the most knowledgable just from living and breathing sc2 in korea, but Wheat Apollo still best. I also don't like Cats Pajamas voice, but I prefer him casting with Doa than any other partner I have heard him with.
On October 09 2011 11:42 Cel.erity wrote: Wheat and Apollo are simply the two best casters at the event, and they also have a nice chemistry with each other, so in my eyes it's no contest.
I have to say I'm a huge anti-fan of the usual trio of IPL casters, but Doa and CatsPajamas worked surprisingly well. It seems Doa is capable of quite intelligent commentary when he's not being overshadowed by Wolf or interrupted by Moletrap. CatsPajamas has always been a decent color commentator, so it's nice to see that Doa could fill the analysis role. Plus, they're freaking hilarious.
HD and though...I don't even know, man. I like PainUser when he casts with DjWheat, but it seems like whenever he's alongside someone who doesn't know what they're talking about, he starts slacking off and acting like a totally different person to get on their level. In my opinion this is the worst casting duo in all of SC2 history. HD says stupid stuff, PainUser rolls with it, nobody benefits.
I wasn't sure exactly how to sum up my feelings, but this did it absolutely perfectly. Although I think Painuser being good when casting with Wheat is more of a reflection of how amazing DJWheat is as a caster.
This time i like all of the IPL 3 casters but I think Day9+Djwheat would be the best combination possible. I'm relieved I don't have to listen to Artosis+Tastless this time. I know many of you like them but their voices and their casting in general really annoy me every time I hear them casting a game.
I loooove~! DjWheat.... but I think putting him with Painuser or HD would have been a stronger combo. Thus, I vote Painuser/HD, but my heart goes out to DjWheat!
his control of voice is beyond the rest of them. often casters sound like their enthusiasm is fake, but catspajamas doesn't. he sounds professional and his personality works too. it's skill. I'm not that interested in analyzing their knowledge, because I mostly analyze the games myself and the whole caster thing is somewhat secondary to me. (edit: I guess what I'm trying to say is I like the sports feel they bring to it. it's nice having a commentator as long as fakeness or cluelessness doesn't start bothering me )
I was surprised to see DJWheat win the poll. while I like him as a persona, I hate his casting, because he almost always sounds like he's complaining. if suddenly he started to say "OH NO!" between every sentence, I wouldn't feel a difference, because his tone of voice is like that already and I can't stand it.
I suppose it's just me, because clearly people like listening to him.
anyway, this event was the first where I saw catspajamas and I'd be happy to see more of him.
edit2: djwheat didn't annoy me during the quarterfinals like he usually does. maybe they read the thread, or maybe his genuine excitement hides his mannerisms. either way he's being good now.
I'd say my fav of these 3 combos is DJWheat and Apollo. Main reasons are Apollo is simply one of the best at game analysis Ive ever heard, he pre-calls things almost everytime, is pleasant to listen to and has a great vocal flow. He also doesn't stomp on the color commentary or distract with over detailing everything in the middle of the action. DJWheat is my favorite color commentator period, he hypes things without being silly, he gets excited without going from quiet to screaming loud (this is a HUGE complaint I have of others, I dont like having to constantly modulate my volume because someone cant get hyped without tripling their volume) and he shifts back to the analysis after the action in a nice smooth way. Aside from the technicals they are both entertaining and amusing but that falls into personal taste and opinion.
I really like Painuser alot and I think he has a real future commentating just about anything he likes for many of the similar reasons I appreciated apollo in the above paragraph. When he is with other commentators he blends in pleasantly. Unfortunately he is often paired with HD and frankly I can't listen to HD anymore. It isn't a matter of personal taste, he says inaccurate stuff so constantly that it actually distracts me from enjoying the match. Everyone makes mistakes but HD just word vomits and the majority of what stands out is so inaccurate it drives me nuts. In addition and this is a big complaint, HD goes from talking to literally yelling into his mic and it hurts my ears. I have to constantly babysit the volume control because if I just turn it down then I cant hear anything when he isn't yelling. Being excited is not the same as yelling into the mic and anyone that works in these industries should know that. Its a shame because I wish I could listen to Painuser more often but when he is with HD I usually mute the stream. To be clear I like HDs style, I think he is a cool guy but between the deafening color commentary and saying things like "I wonder where he will put his 3rd base" while there is a 3rd base building on the map at the time I just cant take it.
Regarding the last combo I am actually pleasantly surprised at how much I was enjoying it. Cats has a very even tone, shows excitement without yelling, and doesnt say blatantly false things during the cast. Doa is a total nerd but (to me at least) in a very likeable way. I was cracking up at the jokes between these two. They arent as polished a combo as DJWheat and Apollo but I definitely enjoyed listening to them this weekend.
DjWheat / Apollo are the most experienced, making them the best, definitely shows in their casts.
Still, I enjoy HD / Painuser a lot (they're getting better). CatsPajamas & Doa are surprisingly good as well, though I feel since both aren't so knowledgeable about the game, they should be paired with someone else if possible.
Just glad we get a break from Day9 for once, hard to avoid him nowadays. Only thing missing from here is Tastosis!
i dislike catspajamas and doa...especially cats pajamas. i feel ike theyre usually talking about bs other than the game and it gets rlly annoying. Also their lack of knowledge makes me cringe at times as well as the try too hard jokes. so when djwheat gets on its a big relief for me, and i like painuser and hd also cuz they know what theyre talking about. thats my cents, but i still appreciate the event as a whole regardless who casts, ill take it.
On October 09 2011 11:42 Cel.erity wrote: Wheat and Apollo are simply the two best casters at the event, and they also have a nice chemistry with each other, so in my eyes it's no contest.
I have to say I'm a huge anti-fan of the usual trio of IPL casters, but Doa and CatsPajamas worked surprisingly well. It seems Doa is capable of quite intelligent commentary when he's not being overshadowed by Wolf or interrupted by Moletrap. CatsPajamas has always been a decent color commentator, so it's nice to see that Doa could fill the analysis role. Plus, they're freaking hilarious.
HD and PainUser though...I don't even know, man. I like PainUser when he casts with DjWheat, but it seems like whenever he's alongside someone who doesn't know what they're talking about, he starts slacking off and acting like a totally different person to get on their level. In my opinion this is the worst casting duo in all of SC2 history. HD says stupid stuff, PainUser rolls with it, nobody benefits.
I feel similarly to you. I love the DJWheat-D-Apollo duo. Apollo varies his voice in an appropriately dramatic fashion and he will sometimes whisper. This allows him to use a relatively normal speaking volume when big things are happening: take note casters, you don't have to yell to make something dramatic.
I also agree about the HD-Painuser critique. I find them to be bland together. They often seem to be saying things just for the sake of saying things. I feel like Sheldon in The Big Bang Theory, unable to understand Leonard and Penny's smalltalk: why must they chit-chat and say things that border on irrelevant, banal, or plain wrong. They hyped Hero as a macro player who turtles to get a death ball in all his games. Anyone who has watched a series with Hero playing will recognize that he is much more versatile; in fact, he often harasses more than he straight turtles. And he one bases quite a bit against Terran until he sees what they are doing.
I like CatzPajamas as he is solid and, imo, rarely says things that don't need to be said and he rarely gets something totally wrong.
I dislike none of them but after this event apollo is one of my favorites, He seems to know everything in advance and brings very much enthusiasm with him. All in allvery good casting.
I don't like casters who call "cheese" or "all-in" or "1/1/1" when it's obviously not. Lack of understanding on player decisions I can barely tolerate, but not realizing the depth of which players make decisions is appalling.
Thus, I'd have to give it to dApollo. And yes, he carries DJWheat. A lot.
I think all casters have performed admirably. While I'm a huge fan of dApollo and DJWheat's work I gotta hand it to CatsPajamas. He never stumbles and got such an awesome, relaxing voice. I hate myself for not realizing just how good he was until this event.
I've gotta say, after that last game, CatsPajamas is my least favourite. His camera control is absolutely terrible. Doa is equally to blame though, as neither of them noticed Violet doing a ling runby into Stephano's main.
Oh the roaches! Where are they going, his third is under attack!
Painuser/HD is the best caster combo at this event in my opinion
Painuser - 8 HD - 7 DjWheat - 6(Is a great overall caster/presenter but dislike his general in-game casting, is great out of game) Doa - 6 DApollo - 5 CatsPajamas - 3
On October 10 2011 00:12 Dexington wrote: I've gotta say, after that last game, CatsPajamas is my least favourite. His camera control is absolutely terrible. Doa is equally to blame though, as neither of them noticed Violet doing a ling runby into Stephano's main.
Oh the roaches! Where are they going, his third is under attack!
Watch the minimap please.
Cats/Doa on the Violet/Stephano game was really terrible. In the first game they said after another that violet has roaches out. In the second game Doa said Stephano has roaches out (despite it was violet). Cats then says it the right way without correcting. Seems they miss a lot of things and don't even listen to each other :/
I feel like djWheat and dApollo are easily the best caster combo; they have their own humor and have amazing synergy. When they were casting last night they both showed they could talk forever about what was going on with a lot of excitement and everything they said was accurate. They do a great job following the important action as well.
Painuser definitely knows what he's talking about but he's very calm and reasonable about what he's talking about while HD just kind of gets everyone pumped.
I think Cats has a GREAT casting voice, Doa just looks dashing but they are kind of hit and miss. Some of their casting was actually quite good because they were working very well and Cats was following what Doa was talking about but other times it's just all over the place and kinda fails.
On October 09 2011 12:10 Dexington wrote: I'm gonna throw this out, Apollo is the best analytical caster in the business. Not only is he really good at analyzing the games, but before they start he knows everything about every player. Like seriously, any player, he always has some sort of background on him. Even SlayersSleep. Nobody knows who he is, but Apollo knew.
He is a genius in his field and needs more respect.
Quoted from page 2 for being very very true. In fact apollo ALWAYS prepares for his events by gathering player informations. (He'll put them on little cards and memorize facts about the players until broadcast starts etc., I don't think there's anyone taking preparation as serious as Shaun.)
I think Dapollo is doing an amazing job with Wheat, mad props to both of them ;D, I actually think Doa is doing really good as well though together with Pyjama's both of them have a very pleasant voice!
On October 10 2011 00:59 RotterdaM wrote: I think Dapollo is doing an amazing job with Wheat, mad props to both of them ;D, I actually think Doa is doing really good as well though together with Pyjama's both of them have a very pleasant voice!
Please IPL, not HD/Painuser. They are terrible. Even my friends who are new to the scene and don't really understand the game hate how often they're wrong and focus on trivial things while missing important events.
On October 10 2011 00:59 RotterdaM wrote: I think Dapollo is doing an amazing job with Wheat, mad props to both of them ;D, I actually think Doa is doing really good as well though together with Pyjama's both of them have a very pleasant voice!
Wheat + apollo for sure. I like cats pajamas, but I've never liked Doa. I hate how he ALWAYS messes up senstences and cant get out proper sentence structure. It's super frustrating, as I do not see how he can get a casting career and cannot speak his thoughts in a manner than can be understood. Because of this, this combo is the worst there.
On October 10 2011 00:59 RotterdaM wrote: I think Dapollo is doing an amazing job with Wheat, mad props to both of them ;D, I actually think Doa is doing really good as well though together with Pyjama's both of them have a very pleasant voice!
I was surprised at how much I like Cats PJ with DoA, considering I didn't enjoy cats PJ with Painuser very much at all. But him and Doa have good synergy/chemistry or what not. Djwheat and Apollo I like the most easily, and HD & Painuser... Well, I'm not the biggest fan, you can tell they're good friends but still I don't enjoy their casting individually and I don't when they're co-casting either. I haven't caught that many of their games though, so maybe they're better than I remember! ^_^
I like HD and Painuser the best. Cats and DoA uses the "give a cheer [insert anything random]" waaaay too much, and Ive never really liked Wheat. Apollo is awesome though.
Djwheat + Apollo for sure are the best casters! Incidently they're casting now!! :D
Cats + Doa I like the commentary, but Cats needs to look at the minimap more to follow the action.
I got into starcraft games via HD, so I have a lot of love for HD. I feel like he is great for the less knowledgeable viewer, except he should not use abbreviations to describe things. M&M? MMM? I'm not sure which one he said, but I know he said PF for Planetary Fortress. I mean it's not very articulate to say those all the time.
Painuser I have no qualms about, much improved from the booth casting I've seen from the IGN TV.
Doa & Cats I got severely dispointed (2/10) They were that loud group infront of you in the theatre who annoy everyone within hearing range. First of all they had massive problems with analysing the games properly. Especially matchups involving zerg. They praised and gave FAR to much undesserved credit, natually I can see how this will happen on occasion. This was not "on occasion". Finally they were not entertaining, in the end I had to mute them (which means I lost the game-sound aswell) because I wanted to watch the game but I couldn't stand them beeing lame and wrong
HD & PainUser Bad Chemistry (4/10) This was a one-man archon Oh PainUser, after an unsuccesfull career as progamer PainUser attempts casting. Those who can't play, they cast, right? I expected Painuser to fill the analystic role since HD is primarly a shoutcaster. With HD beeing the one taking lead and PainUser rolling over and just agreeing to everything I don't know what his function was? Overall they did okey. They might not have given the highest analystic cast but atleast HD did and said what he could and knew and he did it right.
djWHEAT & dApollo Well Done (8/10) Up there with Tastosis djWHEAT just always manage to impress me. He is a rock and one of the few casters who isn't afraid to step up when he needs to and correct his co-caster if he accidently speek a major blunder despite it making him notably uncomfortable. dApollo has been steadily improving since DH both entertainmentwise and sharp analyses and are one of the best casters imho. Addtionally both of these people have the abillity to create great casting-chemistry with anyone they cast with. I got nothing but praise for these two, entertainment and analyses.
Wheat and Apollo would be my favourite. Cats has suprised me with how good he is. I still just cannot stand HD. He seems like a cool guy, but he has no fucking clue what he's on about. Worse still, he thinks he does.
Doa & Cats I didn't really care for. Same with HD and PU, but they were pretty funny with strange style. These four were kinda 'amateurish'. All the knowledge they had seemed to be repeats of something Artosis has said.
djWheat, i don't think he casts well with Day9, but with apollo he was pretty good. They make a good combo.
I normally hate these posts but when IPL and NASL insist on forcing bad casters on us for the finals of these epic leagues, I think they need to keep happening.
Come on IPL, wtf, give us some good casters for the grand finals please.
By far Wheat and Apollo.....both are great.....the rest are really bad when it comes to "common" knowledge of the game....and broadcasting wise hd and painuser are the worst (alot of mistakes, bad knowledge, etc).....
HD's voice makes my face ache He's like Brian Cox.. DJ Wheat and Apollo are really good, they have the analysis and enthusiasm to make for entertaining commentary. And of course Apollo says "Pew-ma" :D
just wanted to say that i love cast pajamas cause of his fast paced voice..i feel like listening a really cool radio program or something...and he has style :D
also to ppl who say that cause he is gold or something doesnt allow him to know the game..what about sportcasters??do they all play great football or basketball?no....that answers everything
Would be Painuser/Wheat if they would pair them up.
On October 10 2011 04:27 Tulkas25 wrote: also to ppl who say that cause he is gold or something doesnt allow him to know the game..what about sportcasters??do they all play great football or basketball?no....that answers everything
Yes, typically television casters/reporters are former professional players.
edit: also this is a poor analogy because in a physical sport its possible to have excellent game knowledge while being physically unfit to play (IE if you're 50 years old or something) but in a strategy game knowing how to play well is the same as being able to play well.
On October 10 2011 04:27 Tulkas25 wrote: also to ppl who say that cause he is gold or something doesnt allow him to know the game..what about sportcasters??do they all play great football or basketball?no....that answers everything
Yes, typically television casters/reporters are former professional players.
edit: also this is a poor analogy because in a physical sport its possible to have excellent game knowledge while being physically unfit to play (IE if you're 50 years old or something) but in a strategy game knowing how to play well is the same as being able to play well.
I disagree. People can have amazing thoughts and knowledge over this game or any game to that matter, without having to be able to turn that into actually playing well. An example could be said to be day9, who has an amazing knowledge over this game but maybe could be said that this doesn't directly turn into being very good at the game when playing.
On October 10 2011 04:27 Tulkas25 wrote: also to ppl who say that cause he is gold or something doesnt allow him to know the game..what about sportcasters??do they all play great football or basketball?no....that answers everything
nearly 90% of sports casters i listen to on tv are ex professional players or ex coaches.
On October 10 2011 03:03 SimDawg wrote: I normally hate these posts but when IPL and NASL insist on forcing bad casters on us for the finals of these epic leagues, I think they need to keep happening.
Come on IPL, wtf, give us some good casters for the grand finals please.
Yeah, I'm not trying to be a hater.
But.
I hope IPL and other leagues start giving the knowledgeable casters some recognition. Its obvious.
I don't know what it is, but djwheat and apollo really draw me into the games that they cast together. The other combos can't do it for me. I'm hoping the wheat/apollo combo cast the final match.
DoA has impressed me as a caster with his game knowledge (casting GSL definitely helps in that regard) and humor. The Wheat/Apollo combination is pretty solid too; Wheat is hilarious and Apollo knows a lot about the game (and I like his accent no homo). My soccer coach used to say "Pew-ma" as well and "add-dee-daz" (instead of Adidas) so I'm completely used to it and it doesn't bother me, haha.
HD and Painuser are ehhh for me and I usually prefer music when they're casting, sorry =\
I feel like I'd actually enjoy PainUser with djWHEAT the most because of their consistently good casting. All the other casters do good jobs, but I've still got a few gripes. Doa has no confidence and always botches his jokes. (I do feel, however, that he works very well with CatsPajamas, as he isn't as high-strung as Wolf or Moletrap.) HDStarCraft makes a habit of calling fights completely wrong and has huge, gaping holes in his knowledge.
On October 10 2011 04:28 Dental Floss wrote: Would be Painuser/Wheat if they would pair them up.
On October 10 2011 04:27 Tulkas25 wrote: also to ppl who say that cause he is gold or something doesnt allow him to know the game..what about sportcasters??do they all play great football or basketball?no....that answers everything
Yes, typically television casters/reporters are former professional players.
edit: also this is a poor analogy because in a physical sport its possible to have excellent game knowledge while being physically unfit to play (IE if you're 50 years old or something) but in a strategy game knowing how to play well is the same as being able to play well.
I disagree. People can have amazing thoughts and knowledge over this game or any game to that matter, without having to be able to turn that into actually playing well. An example could be said to be day9, who has an amazing knowledge over this game but maybe could be said that this doesn't directly turn into being very good at the game when playing.
I agree with the disagreement. Mechanics (fundamentally APM / multitasking) are required to be good at this game. They are the equivalent of physical fitness in Stacraft. But strategic insight is what you need to be good at casting, and it's obvious that HD got in masters by riding his mechanics, not his decision making.
A similar argument has already been made for map makers (you can find it in one of the excellent map-making guides on TL, I can't remember which). Knowing how the game is played does not equate with knowing how to play the game.
A vote for CatsPajamas and Doa, simply for the added humor to the casts. I really liked it as a change of pace from the analysis. I know in a lot of other professional sports like basketball and american football there are often 3 casters instead of just two. I think a good humorous duo + a good color commentator in the same vein of having coach knight for college bball, or when day9, artosis, and tasteless commentated together at blizzcon.
My favorite combination of casters oh wait I don't care about them, I just want to see some good games. I think the whole obsession with casters is absurd. It's the players that are important. If Huk plays a game and I have a problem with the casters, I'll be happy to listen to some nice tunes instead. I don't need someone telling me what is going on since I am in fact watching the game.
I can't stand Doa in GSL where he has a role of a play-by-play caster so listening to him in IPL where he creates himself as an SC2 expert while he clearly is in gold league at best makes me wanna mute the stream. Wrong calls, absolutely no understanding of the game whatsoever, focusing on meaningless parts of the screen, no ability to predict by the openings how the game is going to look like and what the players should be doing to get an advantage adds no tention whatsoever, enthusiasm of an accountant, terrible jokes - this is what Doa is all about.
CatsPajamas has been doing great and he kinda saves the games casted by Doa. Best combo is Apollo and Wheat, they're awesome. Voted for Painuser and HD tho 'cause they don't deserve 3rd place.
Wheats voice grinds on my ears too tbh, Apollos mutilation of the English language is hurts my soul. But they're all listenable. I'm really thankfull they didn't wheel in day9 at least, to be fair he does a great job of keeping the US ladder soft.
Out of random curiousity, what do we call Rotterdamm and MrBitter? MrRotter? They are my favorite combination in SC. Other than that I am fine with anyone else as long as it's not HD.
To be perfectly honest, his lack of game knowledge doesn't fit well with utter lack of charisma. I hate to insult someone like that but he just isn't good at all, and for anyone that says he is a really good player need I remind you that he couldn't make it past the first round of an MLG open bracket.
On October 10 2011 08:14 zerglingrodeo wrote: djWHEAT is so awesome. I really think that WHEAT + Day9 is the only combo that even approaches the quality of Tastosis.
Have you listened to Apollo/TotalBiscuit at a Dreamhack event ? They are amazing too.
I like Huksy/Day a lot too, they will rival Tastosis once Day stops saying "oh no, oh no" over Husky whenever something happens. Unlike you, I feel that Wheat doesn't bring anything in the Wheat/Day pair ; he does bring something when he's paired with Apollo however, and is a very good solo caster.
I like HD starcraft, i think he is a good caster I dislike painuser. he is knowledgable about terran but obliviuos about the other two races his bias is overwhelming
I voted for DJWheat and apollo just because IMO painuser brings down the HD duo
I can't stand HD and Painuser combo. Frequently whoever is controlling the camera is not looking at the action, and HD consistently make comments that are incorrect to the current game.
For example in one game HD commented how a Zerg player had map control now that his lings were out, but the lings did not have speed and the Terran player had hellions. Even AS HE WAS SAYING the Zerglings would have map control, the hellions were denying it and this received no comment from HD.
I just do not like how he consistently makes statements that are not well thought out. At times I feel like the fact that HD and PainUser are such good friends makes the two of them commentating more like a pair of pals having a beer watching the game then professional casters trying to convey a niche game to a wider audience.
djWHEAT and dApollo are great. Catspajamas and Doa are good too.
Painuser though, ruins casts for me... I'm all for humor and joking around that comes with the casting of any game (starcraft, football, etc.) But painuser unfortunately acts like a buffoon to such a degree in so many of his casts that it hurts to watch them. Does anyone else feel this way?
hmm i kind of feel bad for HD at times lol cause he literally says the absolutely wrong thing prob a fair 30% of the time and then painuser is just like umm no its like so....... just correcting HD and then HD is like umm and onto the next thing lol I don't think hes bad i just think he needs to learn a bit more to balance out the level of in depth knowledge of the game.
I think HD is a very awkward person in general. He frequently stumbles over words and isn't clear about what he's trying to say.
and if painuser says midfield 1 more time...
on top of this, they still interrupt each other constantly and talk over each other even though they've been casting together for IGN for a while now...
On October 10 2011 11:40 nuMi22 wrote: Everyone needs to stop hating so bad, HD is a fucking boss. This 'community' is shameful sometimes.
I just want to be very very clear. Just because I (or anyone) think someone may be awkward in a live setting and not be completely clear and confident when they speak, does not mean I am hating on them.
Person A is stumbling over words and it is distracting from the game =/= I don't like this person
On October 10 2011 11:40 nuMi22 wrote: Everyone needs to stop hating so bad, HD is a fucking boss. This 'community' is shameful sometimes.
I just want to be very very clear. Just because I (or anyone) think someone may be awkward in a live setting and not be completely clear and confident when they speak, does not mean I am hating on them.
Person A is stumbling over words and it is distracting from the game =/= I don't like this person
You're not speaking for everyone in this thread. A lot of the complaints are unnecessary, unconstructive and generally abusive. That kind of thing directed at someone who has done so much for Starcraft II and tries constantly to improve is just out of place and wrong. If you don't like his casting then people need to give constructive criticism, because no one in this thread has done as much for the game as him, not even close.
On October 10 2011 11:40 nuMi22 wrote: Everyone needs to stop hating so bad, HD is a fucking boss. This 'community' is shameful sometimes.
I just want to be very very clear. Just because I (or anyone) think someone may be awkward in a live setting and not be completely clear and confident when they speak, does not mean I am hating on them.
Person A is stumbling over words and it is distracting from the game =/= I don't like this person
You're not speaking for everyone in this thread. A lot of the complaints are unnecessary, unconstructive and generally abusive. That kind of thing directed at someone who has done so much for Starcraft II and tries constantly to improve is just out of place and wrong. If you don't like his casting then people need to give constructive criticism, because no one in this thread has done as much for the game as him, not even close.
Hmm I'd agree. I would just be specific if you are going to call someone out. Because it serves no good to polarize everyone's critique to the point where if you say anything less than positive then that means you have a personal vendetta with that person and you are trying to insult them.
We are all adults. We can call people out when they suck at something and still greatly respect them and want them to succeed.
Husky and HD brought me into Starcraft 2. Only Husky joined me in improving over this past year. I am actually sad that HD is casting Blizzcon with Artosis. The risk of that being terrible beyond belief is so high.
dApollo is awesome, Painuser is pretty good, DoA is good without moletrap and CatsPajamas is sort of decent. DjWheat sort of needs to be carried but does very well when he is.
Hd and painuser have been casting much better today in my opinion then they were the other days. HD is making less bad calls, and Painuser has been relatively spot on with his analysis. Their banter has also been much better than it has been. There are occasional hiccups, but the improvement has me giving them a little more faith.
Doa surprisingly works incredibly well with Catspajamas. Hell I'd go as far as to send the two to Korea to cast the GSL instead of Moletrap.
HD actually has gamesense and Painuser complements him well. I find HD's ecstatic nature contrasted very well with Painuser's more monotonous and calm minded casting style.
Lastly, of course djWHEAT is just flat out amazing. dApollo has always been decent, and the two together make a great team.
They should all stop using "gamer tags" and start using real names though. Nothing makes me so awkward as hearing d.Apollo saying something like "What do you think, Dj Wheat?". They could also learn something from "Mr Bitter & Rotterdam" and stop agreeing with EVERYTHING that the other commentator says.
Doapajamas was pretty good, surprisingly good, actually. I had no idea Doa was going to cast it till the first day of the event.
ApolloWheat was awesome. I dont even need to get into details, they are both one of the best on what they do. Apollo, especially, is always a pleasure to hear his play-by-play analysis.
HDUser was the same of we are used to. They are great, dont get me wrong, but the other two caster combos were more enjoyable.
Doapajamas suprisingly is alot better than i thought. Probably because Moletrap seems annoying to me.
ApolloWheat. God i love this combo. Wheat is just awesome and never makes things awkward and apollo is so interesting and analytical and knows like all the background of the players.
HDUSer. They are trying but they are abit too corny and too much shameless plugs. Its as if they just read the textbook on how to be a caster and then decide to start casting at a 'pro level' instead of going in not knowing how to cast and learn step by step to become interesting and entertaining and therefore it seems forced and less natural flow.
Apollo / djWheat without a doubt are the best in combo and standalone rating. I dont always watch ipl but when i do i watch it muted. Hd and Painuser espesially when they are together soud like those highschoolers who think they are cool and highfiving each other over a terrible joke, What bothers me is why so many people say you are a jerk just for expressing your opinion about a caster? Also would like to hear PSY in a live event for once.
djWHEAT & dApollo were the best casters there for sure, HDStarCraft & PainUser as level below the other two duo. I mean they were OK, but i enjoyed the other two a lot more.
I think Doa and CatsPajamas were very good during this event. DOA doesn't have the most knowledge about the game, but there's just something about him that I really like. CatsPajamas I was never really too fond of, but I acknowledge the fact that he's a good caster and I think it's mostly just personal preference. They were a good combo. I just wanted to comment on those two, mostly because of DOA, I just wish he didn't recieve so much shit, he's just so nice some times. Good job to the other casting duos aswell, but I really don't like to rate casters.
I'm usually not keen on the usual IPL casters. I'm not really keen on the usual NASL casters either. Everybody seemed alot more impressive at this event though, especially PainUser who seemed alot more relaxed. Apollo and Wheat were the best though, both are always awesome.
I like that this thread exists. As long as the critism isn't flamish and rude, I think theres a place for legit discussion whether it be positive feedback or negative feedback. Pretending everything is amazing and the best it could be means nobody really wins. If the casters who were there read this thread I'm sure it'll help them improve (if they need to).
Apollo was brilliant and I was already a huge fan of djwheat. Cats was better than normally imo, doa was ok. PU and HD... I don't know, there was just something wrong there imo.
Edit: The obsing was pretty terrible. Think Apollo and djwheats obsing was ok, but I was on the verge of yelling at my screen pretty often(I guess this isn't the place to mention the playershots in middle of battles, but that had me raging too).
On October 10 2011 11:40 nuMi22 wrote: Everyone needs to stop hating so bad, HD is a fucking boss. This 'community' is shameful sometimes.
I just want to be very very clear. Just because I (or anyone) think someone may be awkward in a live setting and not be completely clear and confident when they speak, does not mean I am hating on them.
Person A is stumbling over words and it is distracting from the game =/= I don't like this person
You're not speaking for everyone in this thread. A lot of the complaints are unnecessary, unconstructive and generally abusive. That kind of thing directed at someone who has done so much for Starcraft II and tries constantly to improve is just out of place and wrong. If you don't like his casting then people need to give constructive criticism, because no one in this thread has done as much for the game as him, not even close.
Saying that someone has a severe lack of knowledge and speaks awkwardly is constructive criticism, what more do you want? Nobody in this thread has insulted HD as a human being, only as a caster, and it's perfectly valid. Your attitude is generally wrong, as HD is a professional, being paid to do what he is doing, and people have a right to complain when they don't like it. If a plumber comes over to my house to fix a leak, tracks mud through my carpet, and ends up making the leak worse, I am damn well within my rights to complain even if it's my landlord who's paying the bill.
HD makes my enjoyment of games much worse, which is why I had to watch the entire IPL finals on mute, and he and the IGN staff should be aware that a significant portion of the community is of a similar opinion so that we don't have to see him in the future.
First of all, I only saw 2 matches from Spanisiwa casted by HD and PainUser so i can't say anything about these two.
On the mainstage I always was so happy seeing djWHEAT and dApollo coming on stage. They are some level above cats and doa. Cats and doa may entertaining for some people (not for me) but they are so bad at casting: -They may hide all the GUI because they never watch the minimap anyway ->Missing a lot of drops, runbys hiding zerglings etc - Don't have a good game sence; They seem to belief that scouting can only done by sight (switching to player cam, "nope he didn't scout the double starpgate". WTF it's past the 10 minute mark an the Protoss doesn't have warpgate finish, so what do you think is up there, Kiwikaki forget warpgate research?(Kiwi vs Stephano G3)) - Doesn't inform about the players before a match (Inori for example) -> As a viewer I want to know who is playing there! dApollo did a great job and always had some facts about the not so well known players.
Also the smalltalk in the breaks was not so good from doa/cats). I loved dApollo for open up the last replay and said what was up there instead of theorycrafting about stuff.
tl;dr; djWHEAT (You have to like this guy <3) and dApollo was a great casting team, cats and doa not so
Didn't see Painuser and HD cast much but from watching them throughout the season i think they make a good casting duo. THem being good friends provides a very friendly and personal atmosphere to the cast, kinda like Tastosis.
Wheat and Apollo are were very professional and did a really good job.
DOA, hes ok, hes a little funny some times.
Now...Cats...Pajamas.... Why is he popular? He's way too eager to talk that he often dismisses what other casters say just so he can come with his own input. He's got bad analysis and is many times wrong in his predictions. His "waiting for game dance" is not fit for a 24 year old, not even a nerd. If anything, it's just really annoying. Stop making a fool out of yourself and cast the game damnit. That's just my two cents on it.
No more HD please... the guy just doesn't know a lot about starcraft 2 it seems. Great for publicity i'm sure but i'd rather have seen DJwheat talk about the finals, or any experienced caster.
One thing I'd say about all the casters is that their play by play is BAD. a lot of times they would prattle on about some potential possibility, like, "Zerg could transition into mutalisks, blah blah blah" as a third hatchery is being taken and there is a roach battle in the mid. A stronger focus on play by play and better in-game observers would make the next event EVEN BETTER.
The production quality was fantastic but I wish this event had a few more "brainy" casters/observers.
I'm not sure I know Apollo and Wheat (at least by name associated with voice) but I watched most of the IPL1&2 games and I really liked all the casters - what they had to say and how they sounded. HD is the only one I follow on Youtube though.
Also since I'm already here, slightly offtopic: I watched a few GSL Oct2011 (?) games recently casted by Artosis and Tasteless and it was just painful for me. I must be missing something huge because I totally don't understand why everyone considers them so good. They don't seem to have much synergy, don't seem all that excited about the game, and most of their game comments (from what I heard) is just very, very basic description of what is happening on screen. ("Now he is taking a gas"...10seconds later of saying nothing... "now he is making an overlord") o_O Maybe I just missed their better casts.
I really liked dj&apollo and doa&cats but did not like painuser and hd together that much. I dont know if it was just the chemistry between those 2 or that i do not really enjoy there style of humor that much. Esp wired for me was how hd tried to show himself as a stephano expert in the final, which apart from prob beeing wrong, did not came over that way, by what he said.. Plz dont hate..i really enjoyed the lvl of casting in general over the whole event and think even hd and pain did a decent job!
ps. I think esp. Apollo really stepped up in this Tour., he is developing into an AWESOME caster, really analytic but still funny and handsome!
On October 09 2011 11:46 Micket wrote: I don't mind any of them, but the lack of knowledge of HD is kinda annoying.
If anything catspajamas has the most lack of knowledge, he is gold - diamond last i saw and HD is a master league player..
yea, catspajamas is a total noob, both strategically and on the execution end. Also doesn't know much about progaming in general, the only reason he's a decent caster is his voice/energy.
I personally think that Artosis Tasteless and Day9 make the best casting trio ever, and need to do more shows together!
On October 10 2011 23:44 MorroW wrote: apollo was the most impressive caster to me at this event
does anyone know why day9 didnt come? he wasnt invited as a caster?
They said Day9 had other commitments and was invited, but declined.
DJ Wheat and Apollo were the most enjoyable of all the casters. Catspajamas and Doa came close with their banter and interaction - however they didn't get as much love because they casted the earlier games (less people). HD and Painuser were pretty terrible - they were pretty biased for Stephano, which normally isn't a bad thing, but couple that with their lack of insight in the games meant that they made a lot of odd comments as to who was winning.
How can you say HD has no knowledge about the game? His master league player. He streams on TL and he competes at MLG. he knows more than 85% of the people posting here.
HD > Catspajamas < DoA < DjWheat > Painuser
So my ranking would be DjWheat, Doa, HD and the two remaining last place. sry Therefore my vote goes to HD because as far as i see it he does not get the respect he deserves
HD just says things that are completly wrong sometimes and at first its just ok he made a misstake, but it happens over and over in every single game
I mean if he wants to be a play by play caster do it but dont try to be analitical and fail horibly at it
lol at people saying HD has the most game knowledge behind painuser, appolo actualy does reaserch about the players and their playstlye unlike HD saying hero is a passive macro protoss, I mean come on -.-
HD just says things that are completly wrong sometimes and at first its just ok he made a misstake, but it happens over and over in every single game
I mean if he wants to be a play by play caster do it but dont try to be analitical and fail horibly at it
lol at people saying HD has the most game knowledge behind painuser, appolo actualy does reaserch about the players and their playstlye unlike HD saying hero is a passive macro protoss, I mean come on -.-
People who say HD has more knowledge than maybe apollo or whatever are dumb. But people who say HD is a bad caster are equally dumb my friend.
Look at all those amateur casters on youtube. You will be like facepalming 24/7 coz of how bad they are. I like Tastosis more. I like Day [J]Wheat more. But HD is not bad at all. Hell, even day9 makes a lot of mistakes, sometimes even more than hd but people dont concentrate on day9's mistakes, they enjoy the casting. The way people watch painuser or hd or pajamas is wrong. They are only concentrating on how many mistakes they make and how many wrong things they say. Just enjoy them casting an awesome tournement ffs
HD just says things that are completly wrong sometimes and at first its just ok he made a misstake, but it happens over and over in every single game
I mean if he wants to be a play by play caster do it but dont try to be analitical and fail horibly at it
lol at people saying HD has the most game knowledge behind painuser, appolo actualy does reaserch about the players and their playstlye unlike HD saying hero is a passive macro protoss, I mean come on -.-
People who say HD has more knowledge than maybe apollo or whatever are dumb. But people who say HD is a bad caster are equally dumb my friend.
Look at all those amateur casters on youtube. You will be like facepalming 24/7 coz of how bad they are. I like Tastosis more. I like Day [J]Wheat more. But HD is not bad at all. Hell, even day9 makes a lot of mistakes, sometimes even more than hd but people dont concentrate on day9's mistakes, they enjoy the casting. The way people watch painuser or hd or pajamas is wrong. They are only concentrating on how many mistakes they make and how many wrong things they say. Just enjoy them casting an awesome tournement ffs
This is so true. I think hd and pain was the best combo online leading into ipl3 but their performance live was a bit subpar. Whereas apollo and wheat who have done so many live events now are able to perform at 100pc wherever they go.
Its not like tastosis is always 100percent either. Ipl 3 and this code s group stage was a bit low. The difference is that when artosis calls bio tvt a gimmicky temporary build he doesnt get ostracised as wrong and instead gets a cult following to spew those words in lr threads over and over.
I didn't like HD/Painuser especially as HD made one false remark after another. E.g. in the Stephano-TheSTC game on Shakuras he was like "OMG it's impossible for Stephano to hold his 3rd, in fact this could be game" just as stephano rushes out and roflstomps the terran army. This is just one random fail example ... once they missed that stephano triple expanded, complaing about why stephano does not expand...
any casters make mistakes of course and probably it's impossible not to miss some drops and not to make a stupid comment once in a while. But for me the fail frequency of HD/Pain is too high...
HD/Painuser duo was decent and i expect them to get better in their next live event, tbh they mostly suffered from the comparaison with Apollo & Wheat.
Overall the casting during that event was pretty damn good
HD just says things that are completly wrong sometimes and at first its just ok he made a misstake, but it happens over and over in every single game
I mean if he wants to be a play by play caster do it but dont try to be analitical and fail horibly at it
lol at people saying HD has the most game knowledge behind painuser, appolo actualy does reaserch about the players and their playstlye unlike HD saying hero is a passive macro protoss, I mean come on -.-
People who say HD has more knowledge than maybe apollo or whatever are dumb. But people who say HD is a bad caster are equally dumb my friend.
Look at all those amateur casters on youtube. You will be like facepalming 24/7 coz of how bad they are. I like Tastosis more. I like Day [J]Wheat more. But HD is not bad at all. Hell, even day9 makes a lot of mistakes, sometimes even more than hd but people dont concentrate on day9's mistakes, they enjoy the casting. The way people watch painuser or hd or pajamas is wrong. They are only concentrating on how many mistakes they make and how many wrong things they say. Just enjoy them casting an awesome tournement ffs
This is so true. I think hd and pain was the best combo online leading into ipl3 but their performance live was a bit subpar. Whereas apollo and wheat who have done so many live events now are able to perform at 100pc wherever they go.
Its not like tastosis is always 100percent either. Ipl 3 and this code s group stage was a bit low. The difference is that when artosis calls bio tvt a gimmicky temporary build he doesnt get ostracised as wrong and instead gets a cult following to spew those words in lr threads over and over.
I am sure nobody in the right mind is asking for HD to be 100%. Nobody is. The prevalent consensus is that he made too many obvious mistakes that got to the viewers.
Well i can't pick a favorite-combo tbh, but i really enjoyed listening to DOA the most. He got jokes that remind me of tasteless in the old days (hope i do not step some feet by that one)
it is not that i didnt like catspajamas cast i just think d'apollo would be better in combo with DOA.
With an event like this, it's more important to have a caster that isn't annoying rather than providing game-shaking revelations.
1) Catzpjs was the best IMO...very smooth, very professional.
2) HD was next best. As long as he isn't getting high on red bull and trying to be funny with stupid comments, he is actually really good. If he focuses on being professional he could be an amazing commentator.
3) Apollo was next best...nothing special...sometimes annoying and melodramatic, but mostly not bad.
4) PainUser...he's improved a lot, but he needs to avoid getting sidetracked off of starcraft and have a more up-tempo delivery. Seems too relaxed, casual IMO. He did a really good job with his interview of Spades though.
5) DOA...felt like he talked down to the players and viewers...almost snarky. Not a fan.
6) DJWheat. He stuck out like a sore thumb and was the only commentator I considered muting the stream. He's one of these guys that thinks that game isn't exciting enough, so they'll improve the stream by screaming and pretending to get excited over the smallest thing. I find that soo annoying...
Casting is such a huge deal in sports. Sometimes the casting is so bad I can barely enjoy myself. I know it sounds elitist, but it's so true. As eSports gets older, and more mature, I sincerely hope the vast majority of casters are retired or guest pros.
dApollo is a superb caster.
HD is a terrible caster.
Painuser is actually really good as well, but is being weighed down by HD is a big, big way. PU, you will never break out as a 'stellar caster' as long as you're casting with HD. But you are on that level, for sure.
I know DjWheat is a fan favorite, but I've never really taken to him that much, although I will admit I thought he did a fine job for IPL3. This, and he was obviously being carried by dApollo who impressed me quite a bit.
It's been said so many times in this thread, that HD's in-game talking is just too much to handle. Almost everything he says is either just wrong, or is actually contradictory to the actual gamestate you're observing. It is so jarring to hear him say thing like, "Stephano is going to have map control for a long time now ..." while, at the same time we're hearing the ridiculous commentary, his slow lings, product of a gassless FE, are getting roasted by Helions on-screen.
His name is familiar, yes. He's got tenure, yes. But that's it. He's not a good caster, and in my opinion, has shown no signs that he is or will get better (more tolerable). He looks too young, he acts young, his commentary is not accurate, and his excitement is so disingenuous it makes me cringe.
I used to similarly dislike Doa. But lately, Doa has been improving greatly. Since it looks like Doa is here to stay, I'm glad he is taking the training in Korea seriously. It's showing, man. Keep it up.
If IPL wants an energetic shoutcaster, get Husky. Husky is infinitely better than HD in every conceivable way.
Sorry, HD. I know this sounds harsh, but I'm just being honest. It would go a long way for me if two simple things changed: (1) let the game inspire excitement in your commentary, don't force it. (2) Leave the analysis to your partner. All of it.
I don't have a very well-formulated opinion of CatsPajamas other than his pseudo-intellectual commentary style sounds about as genuine as HD's shoutcasting. </overly bitter rant>
If IPL wants an energetic shoutcaster, get Husky. Husky is infinitely better than HD in every conceivable way.
100% agree. Husky doesn't give deep insight in the mechanics of the matches but he has great energy and most importantly does not give fail analysis all the time
All 3 combos were excellent imo, but I threw my vote for DJwheat and Apollo. They mesh really well together and I likke Apollo's accent, lol. Also I had not seen too much of him before, but I was really impressed by Doa. Not only was his casting great but he was hilarious as well.
wheat and apollo win this for sure, but it'd be interesting to see if you'd put up a separate poll for the best individual caster and see who wins that, as i know it wouldnt be wheat or apollo for me
HD just says things that are completly wrong sometimes and at first its just ok he made a misstake, but it happens over and over in every single game
I mean if he wants to be a play by play caster do it but dont try to be analitical and fail horibly at it
lol at people saying HD has the most game knowledge behind painuser, appolo actualy does reaserch about the players and their playstlye unlike HD saying hero is a passive macro protoss, I mean come on -.-
People who say HD has more knowledge than maybe apollo or whatever are dumb. But people who say HD is a bad caster are equally dumb my friend.
Look at all those amateur casters on youtube. You will be like facepalming 24/7 coz of how bad they are. I like Tastosis more. I like Day [J]Wheat more. But HD is not bad at all. Hell, even day9 makes a lot of mistakes, sometimes even more than hd but people dont concentrate on day9's mistakes, they enjoy the casting. The way people watch painuser or hd or pajamas is wrong. They are only concentrating on how many mistakes they make and how many wrong things they say. Just enjoy them casting an awesome tournement ffs
This is so true. I think hd and pain was the best combo online leading into ipl3 but their performance live was a bit subpar. Whereas apollo and wheat who have done so many live events now are able to perform at 100pc wherever they go.
Its not like tastosis is always 100percent either. Ipl 3 and this code s group stage was a bit low. The difference is that when artosis calls bio tvt a gimmicky temporary build he doesnt get ostracised as wrong and instead gets a cult following to spew those words in lr threads over and over.
I am sure nobody in the right mind is asking for HD to be 100%. Nobody is. The prevalent consensus is that he made too many obvious mistakes that got to the viewers.
Every tvt artosis goes on a huge tangent about the right way to play tvt despitenot playing terran in sc2. He never gets called out for that. Even though players like jinro or qxc might hate playing against bio tvt at least they recognise that it has its place in the matchup and is a legitimate opener. mvp himself in his postmatch interview says it doesnt matter if you open mech or bio because they both transition to mass air fine.
Next game. This guy doesnt know how to play tvt........ really? Guess thats why we love him, evenwhen hes wrong <3
Anyways HD makes mistakes but at least he tries to analyse the game rather than just parrot the analyser. I cant really blame him if he screws up a stephano zerg analysis cos that kid is his own style and most players let alone casters wouldnt understand how he sets up his victories.
Some people just enjoy picking at casters instead of enjoying the games.
EPT
