That "comedy" guy who was giving out free stuff was the worst thing I've ever seen in esports. Why bring typically american cheesieness "jokes" to an international event like that?
And I really disliked how in the R32 when there were a ton of games going on, you had six streams yet none of them showed any games, the main one showed prerecorded interviews with the occasional game inbetween ads, the other ones showed nothing.
It is also really odd to have the first 3 games the players play, mean nothing. Only to have no loser bracket after that so one loss there means instant elimination. Would have been far superior and fair to have half the people thrown out after the group stage.
The constant rebroadcasts of the event just made me not care about the qualifiers, as you never knew which one it was or if you had already seen it or not. Just add vods instead so people can watch the games when-ever they want.
Other than that, the event was great. The video interface and player was some of the best I've ever seen, just wished you used it to show more games at a time (and that the vods were actually updated). Yeah, and have some European qualifiers next time.
LoL ruined the flow, You get all excited about The foreign hope, then LoL cuts in, its pretty late and all us Europeans cant be bothered to wait for the horror to end. So we all go to bed. Well, thats at least what I did, I'd have loved to watch stephano's last two sets but I wasn't waiting hours for LoL. Make another stream for it if you have to have it around.
It was an amazing event, thanks for the work puts into it !
Here are some things that could be improved for a future event : - Lag issues on the 5 and 6 streams, it was very hard to follow some of the interviews (the 3G backpack stuff having its downside I guess) - The splash screens and associated fx for winners and sponsors being cheap - No notification went a stream goes from off air to on air on the multiple streams page - Different in-game setup between streams 1 and 2 (sometime very dark on the stream 2) - Players put into some awkwards situations (mini basketball, filming them eating) - Observing was a bit shaky sometime, maybe use more of the auto-follow a unit feature to avoid the side screen scrolling - I don't mind mixing different games (LoL and sc2 here) but it has to be done carefully and smoothly during the whole event not at the very end between 2 semi-finales when it feel awkward
Here some stuff that could be added to improve the experience : - More stats on the player and his run during the qualifiers (% winrate against any race, nationality, age etc..) - Interviews of djwheat and d.Appolo ! - Information spot about the game (the race, the goal, the background) to explain starcraft to noobs during the filler content (with the interviews, ads etc..) - brackets update as a filler
But overall that was one of the best tournament I ever saw
On October 10 2011 18:34 asdads wrote: Things i didnt like:
Making players shake hands at the start, quite awkward there are better ways to introduce them or like make them do a fighting pose like in boxing or something.
Indeed, this felt very forced. Please allow more room for the players to handle it how they want. A little bm would only make it more fun to watch! I don't want it to be too clearn and sterile = boring.
On October 10 2011 19:09 Inertia_EU wrote: LoL ruined the flow, You get all excited about The foreign hope, then LoL cuts in, its pretty late and all us Europeans cant be bothered to wait for the horror to end. So we all go to bed. Well, thats at least what I did, I'd have loved to watch stephano's last two sets but I wasn't waiting hours for LoL. Make another stream for it if you have to have it around.
This. The LoL joke between SC2 semi-finals killed the tournament for the Europeans.
On October 10 2011 18:26 pretensile wrote: As for scheduling... I understand it would be a boon to schedule to help cater to European viewers. But it is a North American tournament after all... would North Americans have a legitimate gripe about highly unfavorable Dreamhack times, for example?
Since i could watch the vods immediately the next day i don't care about the schedule. Really one of the best tournaments lately. On minor thing. Don't show old Interviews, if you could just interview live one of the many players that are there.
I do care, I just can't get really excited for something when I know it is not live. I don't get the feeling I am sharing this experience at the same time with 50k+ other SC2 enthusiasts.
On the other hand, IPL did a lot of great things, but since this is a feedback thread, I try to tell the things I did not really like.
This is in a completely random order.
1. The Crowd, even on the final days, when the place was pretty full, it didn't have a huge impact on me as MLG did for example. I think the main part for this is that there was an age limit and that it was in a seperate theater. The thing I like about MLG and IEM crowds is that there are more people there for different games. SC2 will probably be the main game but random cheers from others have a nice feeling.
2. Randy Anderson, the man with the planderson.
3. The awkward intro's for the players. Gamers are not the most outspoken and charismatic person out there. I understand it is hard to make other intro's for the players. But something like GSL does with just a screen with some stats on it would make it a lot better. Let the casters talk about the players and maybe there history.
4. The casters. To be fair, it wasn't really bad and I enjoyed it quite a bit. But I favor casters who have a lot of information about the players and can learn me new things about them. Apollo is really good at this (Great casting!), so are RotterdaM (Especially for the EU scene) and Artosis (KR scene).
5. In the future try to get an observer just like the GSL does. Casters who are not at a really high level (Mostly the PlaybyPlay ones) don't really know where to look and have the speed to follow every little drop or attack. When you have someone who only has to focus on spotting things and not have to entertain the crowd with a nice story, you will see a lot more things.
6. Content. I really enjoyed the content that was shown in between games (Interviews and Top 10/5 etc.) But after having seen the same Top 10 8 times in a few days, I am gettin tired of it.
7. The hosts. I don't really like Anna and Rachel as hosts. It all seems a little uncomfortable and forced to me. They try too hard to entertain and please the crowd. This may sound really stupid, but I always had this when people from the US where the Hosts. Actually the only good host out there is 2GD in my opinion. He seems so relaxed and is so charismatic that he doesn't have to try and he seems comfortable. I don't know how this could be fixed (except for having 2GD) but this is something to maybe think about.
8. The tournament structure was not perfect. Pool play that did not really matter (even after the prize pool was added). Qualification where about ~64 people attended (Why so few?). And the thing that bothered me the most about the structure was: You want to stream every poolplay game, that don't really matter, but you won't show every game in the Championship Bracket. Can't really understand that.
9. This is not a compaint but something I like to see added. There is still no tournament out there that tries to combine the 2 biggest (western) E-sport communities out there I think. SC2 and Fighting games. Would love to see those 2 at the same event.
Just to say this again. I really enjoyed this tournament, but I am a strong believer in that something is never perfect. There is always room to improve. I also have a bitter taste in my mouth after you screwed the Europeans at the end, but that could be all forgiven, since people from the US are likely having the same problem for EU tournaments (They are also horrible for EU viewers, since they always start in the morning on a work/school day >.>)
So best tournament except for HomeStory Cup 3 and the Dreamhack Invitationals for me. That says a lot if you can beat every MLG, IEM, GSL, DH Winter and Summer, Assembly etc. in your first try!
best star craft 2 event EVER.. So far :D it would of been even better if you had someone that was actually funny come out and tell the starcraft trivia jokes, and had him tell jokes that were actually funny, hearing some idiot go on with his ex wife jokes were just not funny at all
but the casters were amazing the games were absolutely amazing the only problems were totally out of your control and had a 1 in a million chance in happening lol (Truck taking out the artosis pylon)
Holy mother of jesus. The stream quality was off the charts; every time I tuned in my jaw dropped. It almost felt surreal, better than my own game for sure. I hated though how they tweaked their perfect settings for the last day (cranked up the post-processing like there was no tomorrow).
The event was perfect, IPL definitely raised the bar, at least for foreign live events. The camera shots, the flow of the games, everything was top notch.
The only "problem" they had, was limiting access to 21 and over. That severely decreased the amount of live attendance, but still the online experience was beautiful.
Major props to everyone who had a hand on this and worked hard to get this event going. IPL fighting!
On October 10 2011 18:26 pretensile wrote: As for scheduling... I understand it would be a boon to schedule to help cater to European viewers. But it is a North American tournament after all... would North Americans have a legitimate gripe about highly unfavorable Dreamhack times, for example?
Yes and no.
While you do miss matches because for you Dreamhack starts very early you will allways miss the earlier matches of that day. On top of that any delay will not effect you at all as it only pushes the broadcast into more favorable time.
On the other hand for us europeans the US tournaments start late and finish late. Any delay that would happen kind of screws us over because it pushes the tournament into a worse time.
On the other hand I will instantly agree that you are kind of fucked with GSL that starts at 5AM Eastern, compared to 11AM Central Europe Time.
My main issue with the IPL event, was the rocky start, and the audio levels. I decided not to watch the first few days, because of the misplaced commercials, bad audio levels, really REALLY dark ingame footage (need to boost that gamme/brightness).
I know they fixed a lot of the issues they had, on the fly, but I still feel like it was below "IPL-standards".
The audio Throughout the entire event, the audio was really low. Sure, this could be fixed if I turned up the volume on my headset, but then I would have to adjust everything else to that. The sound was heavy on the left side of the headset as well, and this wasn't fixed. The same goes for the ingame sound, which was a problem for the first couple of days. All the commercial sounds and the "winning"-screen volume after each match was louder than the casters. It shouldn't be nessecary to focus real hard to be able to hear the casters.
The quality Running a free HD-60 fps stream is wonderful. Damn near perfect. But the ingame footage was very dark. And in certain matches, I had a very hard time seeing certain units. I know this was fixed, but it happened several times during the event. For me, it seems amatuer like having to fix the same problem several times.
The cameras Having a camera pointing at the crowd and at the players is great! We love crowd footage, and love being able to see the players focusing on the game. And having it in the bottom right corner is a really good idea as well. However, going from ingame footage to crowd/players shots DURING the game, is really really bad. Things can happen really fast, and there is nothing more annoying hearing the casters and crowd go "OOOOHH!", and not being able to see what's going on. I'm not thinking about the PuMa incident - this happened on several occacions. I might be nit picking here, but this is what I would suggest: Get some tripods. Everytime there was a camera change, the camera would be rocking like a boat in heavy seas. Have some static cameras, like the one you had of the main stage, with the casters and the booth. One for each player, and one for the crowd, which you can pan with. Be more consistent in the change of cameras. There were times were the camera would be focusing on a player (shaking like crazy), then zoom in and out a bit. Then zoom in on the keyboard/mouse, back out, the zoom in on the player etc. It is just too much focus on one single object. This is just my idea, but I think it would look really good, having those static cameras giving a great shot of the players, and change consistenly between them all, instead of having someone to run around and get in position everytime.
The graphics I wasn't sure if I was going to include this topic, because I think the oppinion about visual stuff is very individual based. But that score-overlay you had HAVE to go. I mean, white text on bright green background is almost unreadable. I'm not sure how that one slipped by, but it shouldn't be impossible to find another overlay program during the event. I know you already are aware of the issues, and by the looks of it, hired some skilled guy from reddit (link). It's great to see how quick IPL is at finding ways to improve. Let's hope we get some better looking winning-screens and sponsor ads as well!
Overall All in all, I thought the event had a very sloppy start, but it pulled through towards the end. It reminded me of NASL season 1 finals, and for me, IPL still have to prove themself capable of running a lan event, before I'm willing to buy a premium pass. To summarize what I want to see improved:
No cutting away from game footage, as long the game is being played
An experienced observer to run the ingame-camera. Lot's and runby's and drops were missed.
I want to make it clear, that I'm a big fan of IPL, and this is in no way meant to bash them. But these are things that I think the major events, like GSL, MLG, IEM etc. are doing a lot better, and I think IPL failed to meet that standard. That being said, IPL had some GREAT interviews after each match, and was VERY quick to get the next game on the roll. There was always content on the stream, and the showmatch between the general manager, and that girl (can't remember her name) was amazing. They handled the problems they encountered well, and that alone shows great potential. I can't wait for the next event.
On a side note, being from Europe, I did not get the chance to watch the last semi final or the final. It was at an awful time for Europe, and putting in LoL at the end, was just... Weird. Had that not been there, I would have watched the last couple of games. I get that the event might not be catered for an European audience, but this is something that should be considered when selling premium passes. This is another huge factor for me not buying a membership.
On October 10 2011 18:26 pretensile wrote: As for scheduling... I understand it would be a boon to schedule to help cater to European viewers. But it is a North American tournament after all... would North Americans have a legitimate gripe about highly unfavorable Dreamhack times, for example?
Yes and no.
While you do miss matches because for you Dreamhack starts very early you will allways miss the earlier matches of that day. On top of that any delay will not effect you at all as it only pushes the broadcast into more favorable time.
On the other hand for us europeans the US tournaments start late and finish late. Any delay that would happen kind of screws us over because it pushes the tournament into a worse time.
On the other hand I will instantly agree that you are kind of fucked with GSL that starts at 5AM Eastern, compared to 11AM Central Europe Time.
Yes, GSL is quite the chore to watch live
But to put it in perspective, for more than half of the event the times were actually MORE favorable for Europeans than for North Americans, especially if you lived on the West coast. On Thursday and Friday, the games were scheduled from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. PST -- this meant that any of us who had work or school instantly lost out on 9 out of 12 hours of games... quite possibly more. In essence, Thursday and Friday were completely lost causes to those of us on the West coast who wanted to watch more than the last one or two series broadcast live.
- needed to utilise a second stream a lot more, so many good games went uncasted particularly on day 3. you weren't exactly short of casters - vision mixing was terrible on occasions, several times there's crazy micro going on and we're looking at huk's face or the casters etc
other than that, as far as things that you can control, it's faultless, apart from that I'd have liked the open bracket to be a Swiss tourney, although I level that complaint at basically every tournament.
1. All games were casted, or scheduled to be casted, from the almost-meaningless pool play but only half of the super stacked Ro32 was casted. 2. For a single elim tourney, Bo3s lasted a long time. I'm surprised given the fuss over NASL there hasn't been more comment on this- but at least all players will have been playing in some fashion on the first two days.
To the above points, I would suggest halving the champ bracket and using Bo5 from it's outset.
THE GOOD STUFF
1. Well dressed stage for camera 2. Little down time between games, particularly on day one 3. Lani (Beast CREW) and Megumi on 5. Lani earned a whole month's pay on Friday during the downtime. 4. Wheat and Apollo bossing it completely every time they came on stage 5. A fair platform for all players compete on in the champ bracket 6. Four booths 7. General refinement going one better on every point set by previous MLG and NASL events
On October 10 2011 18:26 pretensile wrote: As for scheduling... I understand it would be a boon to schedule to help cater to European viewers. But it is a North American tournament after all... would North Americans have a legitimate gripe about highly unfavorable Dreamhack times, for example?
Yes and no.
While you do miss matches because for you Dreamhack starts very early you will allways miss the earlier matches of that day. On top of that any delay will not effect you at all as it only pushes the broadcast into more favorable time.
On the other hand for us europeans the US tournaments start late and finish late. Any delay that would happen kind of screws us over because it pushes the tournament into a worse time.
On the other hand I will instantly agree that you are kind of fucked with GSL that starts at 5AM Eastern, compared to 11AM Central Europe Time.
Yes, GSL is quite the chore to watch live
But to put it in perspective, for more than half of the event the times were actually MORE favorable for Europeans than for North Americans, especially if you lived on the West coast. On Thursday and Friday, the games were scheduled from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. PST -- this meant that any of us who had work or school instantly lost out on 9 out of 12 hours of games... quite possibly more. In essence, Thursday and Friday were completely lost causes to those of us on the West coast who wanted to watch more than the last one or two series broadcast live.
Well since you guys hired a truck driver to fix that on Friday that doesn't really count now does it?
All kidding aside, agree with you that 8AM to 8PM sucks but then again which damn event starts already on a thursday...
Have the girls either more casually dressed or more sports orientated. While I think Rachel looked great in her white dress, I feel it's out of place at a sports event.
I felt everything you guys did was amazing. I did have some issues, but overall you did a great job and can't wait for the next one. Some issue I did have the LOL finals was a bad idea. I like LOL and have played it, but this weekend was Starcraft 2 for me not LOL. I did like that you guys had LOL for other gamers, but to put the final between the last semis and the final on the main stream really was annoying.
Another issue i had was the prime accounts. I went and bought prime for this reason, because the viewer was going to get 4 more different modes, but it seems that the these became ultimately useless and I only watched the main free stream. The reason for this imho was that most of the time the other four streams where down and not broadcasting. When they where broadcasting with the exception of the player views they would broadcast during gaming time so I would not want to waste my time watching an interview when i could watch a game. It also seemed to me that the prime view streams where second fiddle so to speak, but when this is what your customers are paying for you would want to make it feel like they are getting there moneys worth and it did not seem like this to me. This means for me that next time IPL 4 I know not to buy a prime account because there was no point to the other 4 streams.
Another issue that i came across was communication. Especially during down times like Friday. I know that you could not control what happen Friday, but it seems that the people in the chat channels and watching the streams could have been notified what was going on better. Until Lani came in with the 3g setup which was cool. The mods in chat had no clue what was happening a lot of people where getting upset. Imho having a mod in chat that is actually at the event would have helped a lot when there was down times or issue instead of the mods being some place else and have no clue what is going on.
Overall though you guys did really great I liked everything and would like to thank you for putting in the hard work to put on such a great event.
On October 10 2011 18:26 pretensile wrote: As for scheduling... I understand it would be a boon to schedule to help cater to European viewers. But it is a North American tournament after all... would North Americans have a legitimate gripe about highly unfavorable Dreamhack times, for example?
Yes and no.
While you do miss matches because for you Dreamhack starts very early you will allways miss the earlier matches of that day. On top of that any delay will not effect you at all as it only pushes the broadcast into more favorable time.
On the other hand for us europeans the US tournaments start late and finish late. Any delay that would happen kind of screws us over because it pushes the tournament into a worse time.
On the other hand I will instantly agree that you are kind of fucked with GSL that starts at 5AM Eastern, compared to 11AM Central Europe Time.
For EU people that work (like me) 11AM is same or worse then 5AM. For 5AM at least I can go to bed at 10PM and get up at 5AM and watch it before work. For 11AM I cannot do shit.
EPT
