Let me start by saying I'm a long time fan. The improvements he has made are incredible and he obviously does his homework on the players, studying replays etc.
Recently though, I have to say I can't stand parts of his casting. He's consistently saying the player's style is "wrong" or "needs to change." For example, tonight he said Polt needs to change his tvt style of marine/tank. I find that hilarious considering polt is one of the best Terrans in the world and Wolf, at best, plays in the master league. It's the wrong kind of criticism regardless of the caster's skill. People watch the game to see the player's genius. The caster should try to analyze it and make positive comments. He should not rip his build apart. Should not say how it should be. Incontrol does this brilliantly. He adds to what the player is doing instead of taking away from it.
My 2 cents. Perhaps others would like to add feedback.
Poll: Level of satisfaction with Wolf's casting
Excellent (952)
56%
Good (322)
19%
Bad (150)
9%
Fair (146)
9%
Unsatisfactory (75)
4%
(51)
3%
1696 total votes
Your vote: Level of satisfaction with Wolf's casting
I wonder how long it will take for this to degenerate into a total caster bash thread.
That said, i like his casting. Yes, sometimes he calls things wrong but he is improving steadily and it is happening less and less. I like his voice, his vocabulary is nice, i am content
I don't mind casters criticizing a particular player's style if they can back it up with cogent reasons why that style is inferior. Artosis does this well when he talks about mech vs bio in TvT.
I can't comment on what Wolf said about Polt because I didn't see it, but I assume he probably regurgitated what Artosis says about the match-up?
All in all I would say that Wolf is in the 'average' category of casters. He doesn't have any annoying mannerisms/patterns and has a decent knowledge of the game.
Edit: I will add though that at Dreamhack Day 1 when things were "boring" because lesser players were playing pros, his attitude came across as angry/annoyed (to be fair, Apollo was guilty of this a bit too and I think he is in the top tier of casters). My point is that no matter what the conditions are that you have to cast in, don't let any of that crap come across in your cast. It is disrespectful to the event organizers.
"I hate this caster I wish he was more like my favorite caster."
Your post doesn't really come off as "feedback" and sounds more like player bias. Casters make points of why people lose games, Polt plays the same opener every TvT. If your opponent knows exactly what you are going to do before the game starts then they get an amazing advantage. This is why Ganzi opened 15 CC on cloud kingdom.
I really didn't start this thread to bash him. It's genuine criticism and for the most part 90% of his what he says is great.
On May 09 2012 20:51 ChrysaliS_ wrote: By far his biggest problem is that he acts like a coach when casting. He tends to point out what he perceives as flaws in a player's game plan and then proceeds to give his (often wrong) Master league advice on how Code A progamers ought to play the game. While he is an analytic caster and does a good job of it, I couldn't care less about his opinion on a player's strategy or playstyle. Analyze don't criticize.
By far his biggest problem is that he acts like a coach when casting. He tends to point out what he perceives as flaws in a player's game plan and then proceeds to give his (often wrong) Master league advice on how Code A progamers ought to play the game. While he is an analytic caster and does a good job of it, I couldn't care less about his opinion on a player's strategy or playstyle. Analyze don't criticize.
My opinion on Wolf: He's the worst of the analytical casters I listen to regularly (so Painuser for example is not included), but since I like analytical casters, that still puts him in quite good light for me. I find he calls things wrong quite often and is indeed too critical at times, but at the same time, he has pretty good knowledge and seems to be working pretty hard.
He's one of those casters where I don't want to mute it, but I definitely don't tune in and go "Oh fuck yeah, it's wolf".
On May 09 2012 20:49 EscapingJail wrote: "I hate this caster I wish he was more like my favorite caster."
Your post doesn't really come off as "feedback" and sounds more like player bias. Casters make points of why people lose games, Polt plays the same opener every TvT. If your opponent knows exactly what you are going to do before the game starts then they get an amazing advantage. This is why Ganzi opened 15 CC on cloud kingdom.
I think Wolf is doing amazing, keep it up!
To notice a mistake and bring it to the attention of the viewers is one thing. To question every decision a PRO makes and be negative about virtually every move a PRO makes is just poor casting. I unmuted for the minute I was typing this. In that time I heard: "I can't believe hes doing this" "He should be doing this" "Why is he doing this"
He is one of those casters. Some people like that! They feel great when being told that MMA is bad, because they can feel better about themselves in relation.
It's not for me and I can't stand it, but I can just mute him.
I think he's one of the better analytical casters. However like many of you others pointed out, he often questions a pro's decision making. I think he should try to put himself more times in the situation of the pro, instead of saying they're doing the wrong response perhaps explain why they might be doing it, is it gamble or is it lack of scouting etc.
On May 09 2012 20:51 TRaFFiC wrote: I really didn't start this thread to bash him. It's genuine criticism and for the most part 90% of his what he says is great.
So you're not bashing, just starting this thread by writing "I can't stand his casting"? LOL.
I very much enjoy Wolf + Khaldor casting Code A. They're doing a great job.
That's the purpose of threads like these, to bring up the respective Commentator's weak spots so they improve (hopefully).
I like Wolf, hes acceptable in comparison to all, is funny, has personality, has a decent voice, and doesn't get too loud or out of control. He tends to call things a bit early, or make too specific a call for not much of a purpose. In general, I think more Castors need to slow down and think about what they are saying, Tasteless is an example of this, he even says it himself, paraphrase "It's like I go into robot mode sometimes." Nothing wrong with that, just try to take notice and improve if its a passive habit.
and this too, well said.
On May 09 2012 20:51 ChrysaliS_ wrote: By far his biggest problem is that he acts like a coach when casting. He tends to point out what he perceives as flaws in a player's game plan and then proceeds to give his (often wrong) Master league advice on how Code A progamers ought to play the game. While he is an analytic caster and does a good job of it, I couldn't care less about his opinion on a player's strategy or playstyle. Analyze don't criticize.
All in all though, he's a good caster, he isn't cocky, or always trying to belittle his cocaster or have a back and forth when someone jokes about what could be taken serious. His laugh is hilarious, lol, I know some people don't like it, but I find it entertaining.
I used to mute code or try the "filter voice" option to many"blunders" "disappointment" "so bad" etc. But Wolf is getting some of the Artosis sense of humor lately, it's better now and hope keep improving!
Best Caster GOM hired for Code A yet. I even liked his casting with Artosis (last week?) better than Tasteless casting with Artosis, and to overcome that is pretty damn hard.
Why should caster not criticise players builds/strats/micro/macro?? I think its pretty boring to listen to casters who have teen-crushes on every single player. In other sports, commentators commentate on players performance, be it good OR bad.
I would rage kill my TV if the commentators for the upcoming football euro championships, praises every single player every time they pass the ball...
mute mute mute. that being said, feedback: i think he needs to stop declaring battles one way or the other as the battles going on. hes wrong most of the time. but really this can be said about the majority of casters. its all part of the hype i guess, but cmaaan. cmaaaaan. find a way not to have to eat your words 5 seconds later
In my honest opinion, both Wolf and Khaldor have improved immensly over the past six months. It really shines through that they have been activly trying to improve. I used to dislike them both( But nowhere near the distaste I had for Doa/Mole) Now it has gotten to the point where I actually enjoy their banter and Wolfs Analysis. Keep on improving guys, You have turned me into a beliver <3!!
On May 09 2012 21:07 Freud wrote: Why should caster not criticise players builds/strats/micro/macro?? I think its pretty boring to listen to casters who have teen-crushes on every single player. In other sports, commentators commentate on players performance, be it good OR bad.
I would rage kill my TV if the commentators for the upcoming football euro championships, praises every single player every time they pass the ball...
Allow me to show you the difference.
"Oh no, he missed a golden opportunity! Ronaldo was wide open!" - Points out the mistake but doesn't condemn what he did.
"I don't know why he passed it there, Ronaldo was wide open. That was poorly executed." Questions the decision while criticizing the player.
I do really like his casting, good proportion of fun and analysis , he knows the scene and often has some small story about a player which I really like. Keep it up Wolf your casting is really good!
I think he's a really good caster, probably the best for Code A. He's great with Artosis, as they are both more based on analysis yet both are funny enough to keep things entertaining. I still prefer Wolf + Doa back in the day - those two were the best as they had such good chemistry. I just think that he should call the outcome of the battle so quickly, that's the only feedback I can give. Otherwise, he's good enough for me.
Wolf's always been one of my favourite casters, loved the DoA+ Wolf combo as they had such great chemistry, although I don't think DoA is a great caster, but Wolf made him much better. He has a great voice and his excitement is genuine. The criticism of players is fine I think, I don't believe it's over the top. If anyone was over the top with criticism it was Khaldor, but he's improving a lot in that regard. I think they're a good combo and I definitely prefer them to Tastosis.
I like Wolf the same way I like DOA. They are both very capable casters IMO but what I like the most is they are awkwardly funny in an unintentional way. It's hard to explain but they are good at turning something that wasn't really funny to begin with into something funny.
I've never noticed Wolf criticizing players in a demeaning way, sure he might not be able to pick apart and analyze the pros and cons of a build/playstyle as well as Artosis but to me he delivers criticism and analysis in a clear manner. He obviously showed a little bit of stage inexperience at IPL4 but that's totally understandable. He gives me a good vibe overall, I have no real gripes with his casting.
On May 09 2012 21:07 Freud wrote: Why should caster not criticise players builds/strats/micro/macro?? I think its pretty boring to listen to casters who have teen-crushes on every single player. In other sports, commentators commentate on players performance, be it good OR bad.
I would rage kill my TV if the commentators for the upcoming football euro championships, praises every single player every time they pass the ball...
Allow me to show you the difference.
"Oh no, he missed a golden opportunity! Ronaldo was wide open!" - Points out the mistake but doesn't condemn what he did.
"I don't know why he passed it there, Ronaldo was wide open. That was poorly executed." Questions the decision while criticizing the player.
To make a better analogy: the player with the ball manages to score, while Ronaldo was in offside position.
Not only is he overly critical, he is often wrong in his calls. This is a strategy game, it`s not as simple as seeing what player is open. You have to give the benefit of doubt to a Pro`s decision - and if later it is wrong, it`s OK to point out.
I`d rather see him saying "that`s not a usual choice, let`s see how that plays out" than "WOW, I can`t believe he is doing that! He really should be doing this other thing!". Unless the caster is clearly a better strategist than the players (i.e. another Pro casting), he shouldn`t be making these calls because he will be wrong a lot of times.
I know some people say things like "casters do that to create drama and excitement" but, in truth, the only excitement is waiting to see how wrong the caster is. There are other ways to convey emotion or a story line.
Other than that, Wolf is really good, he should just work on being more humble with his calls.
I really like Wolf's casting. I was particularly impressed with his cast of GuineaPig's Code A match. Really brought a lot of passion and did an amazing job of explaining why this match with a player I'd never heard of before was really important and meaningful. He and Khaldor are really funny together too.
I also like that he shares his opinions of builds. Sure, he might be "wrong" a lot, but it still gives insight into the kinds of decisions players have to make and what their alternatives are. I do think Wolf could improve a bit by moderating the tone of his criticisms, at times. For example, in the match between Ace and DRG, he said he was "disappointed" in Ace, which is imo an unfortunate phrasing.
I'm not a fan of many casters, and Wolf does have a way of being annoying because he repeats the same affirmations all the time, e.g. "You are exactly right!" and "Indeed, it is so." Just a lot of useless stuff to try to pick up from something that was said and I can't stand that when it happens too often. His knowledge of the game is fairly poor, but the rest is decent. I wouldn't go as far as muting him.
Wolf definitely the best Code A caster, his casting with Apollo at Dreamhack was fantastic and his casting with Artosis was absolutely BRILLIANT, but he's a little inconsistent. I feel like some of the criticisms directed at Wolf here are accurate in nature but WAY over the top in severity.
In general, I love his casting, however it's not perfect and therefore it needs to be improved upon. For wolf I would give the following advice:
Listen to the way Artosis talks about a strategy or a player, he does it PERFECTLY and he is the only one that does. Otherwise just be yourself. Sometimes I feel like you are copying other casters mannerisms, but your voice and way of speaking is excellent and your analysis is very good (needs work but is ahead of 95% of other casters), it's just the way you describe strategies and playstyles that I feel you could improve upon.
wow a lot of people mute the streams, can't imagine doing that it'd be so weird. surely not as bad as kellymilkies right? I don't actually get it, if you dislike what he says isn't easier to just disregard his words (or take it with a pinch of salt) than to mute the stream?
On wolf, I think he's good, let casters do what they want, it's actually all a matter of phrasing he may seem harsh but that his word choice, it's not something i would nit pick on. Him and khaldor are funny, as long as they are funny, keep the 1-5 mins of the game interesting w filler or trivia, and don't give misinformation (ie concussive adding extra damage) I dont mean calling battles wrong, then im totally fine.
I met wolf and moletrap last year in korea during a break and asked them for pictures, i could clearly sense that they were rushing as they had to go bak to casting but they did it anyway, they're passionate. Travelling all the way and living in another country, I don't think it's very fair to nitpick/feel entitled/bash casters
On May 09 2012 21:07 Freud wrote: Why should caster not criticise players builds/strats/micro/macro?? I think its pretty boring to listen to casters who have teen-crushes on every single player. In other sports, commentators commentate on players performance, be it good OR bad.
I would rage kill my TV if the commentators for the upcoming football euro championships, praises every single player every time they pass the ball...
Allow me to show you the difference.
"Oh no, he missed a golden opportunity! Ronaldo was wide open!" - Points out the mistake but doesn't condemn what he did.
"I don't know why he passed it there, Ronaldo was wide open. That was poorly executed." Questions the decision while criticizing the player.
To make a better analogy: the player with the ball manages to score, while Ronaldo was in offside position.
Not only is he overly critical, he is often wrong in his calls. This is a strategy game, it`s not as simple as seeing what player is open. You have to give the benefit of doubt to a Pro`s decision - and if later it is wrong, it`s OK to point out.
I`d rather see him saying "that`s not a usual choice, let`s see how that plays out" than "WOW, I can`t believe he is doing that! He really should be doing this other thing!". Unless the caster is clearly a better strategist than the players (i.e. another Pro casting), he shouldn`t be making these calls because he will be wrong a lot of times.
I know some people say things like "casters do that to create drama and excitement" but, in truth, the only excitement is waiting to see how wrong the caster is. There are other ways to convey emotion or a story line.
Other than that, Wolf is really good, he should just work on being more humble with his calls.
Wolf is really good. He isn't afraid to criticise the players and rule out their flaws. Definitely one of the best analytical casters out there, him and Artosis together are probably the best casting duo ever.
On May 09 2012 21:30 Hollow wrote: I'm not a fan of many casters, and Wolf does have a way of being annoying because he repeats the same affirmations all the time, e.g. "You are exactly right!" and "Indeed, it is so." Just a lot of useless stuff to try to pick up from something that was said and I can't stand that when it happens too often. His knowledge of the game is fairly poor, but the rest is decent. I wouldn't go as far as muting him.
There's not a single caster that doesn't do this to some extent. Not a single one.
People muting the stream because of Wolf got to be pretty damn ignorant and sensentional oriented when it comes to casting. I mean holy shit, Wolf is by far one of the leading casters out there. Pair him up with Artosis and you get spammed with knowledge bombs all over the place, which is mostly what im looking for when im watching a cast. He shines when there is a protoss in the game, he manages to teach me something awesome every damn time.
I really like wolf in general, but I would agree that he can get a bit too negative. It's not caster bashing, its constructive criticism. Sometimes you just have to let the players make mistakes and cast the game that you've got, rather than talking about the game that you want to see. Wolf and Khaldor when together seem to fall into the trap of spending too much time criticising and not just enjoying the match for what it is. I still like them casting together alot though!
He's been my favourite caster since he started! He's got a great sense of humour, pretty good insight into the game, and a great laugh. I think his solo casting is unparalleled (does anybody remember the time he did Code S solo for a few days? that was sick!). I guess the only critical points I could make is that he sometimes repeats things his co-caster has said, and that his knowledge of the scene doesn't seem to be as hot as Khaldor's (nobody's is though, but perhaps it's something to aim for!)
More time at Artosis' house, and he could be joint best analytical caster in the world.
Hes a good caster, pretty easy to listen to, good knowledge of the game but like the OP said he shouldn't bash players builds too much. He can say something like 'opening cloaked banshee may of been better in this instance' but not outright say the player is wrong.
What a fucking boring and stupid world it would be if casters weren't allowed to criticize a players play. I suppose it would quell OP's autism if the casters just sat there commenting on how they can't make any comments since they aren't as good at the game as the people they are meant to be commenting about.
I didn't always like his casting, but that changed recently since I got deeper into the game and I think Wolf brings a pretty good mixture of casual, play by play commentary and good insight. I think there's a lot of casters who don't understand the game too well or at least don't do the best job showing it but Wolf does it well without being too serious the entire time. Artosis is #1 still.
I took a break from SC2 for half a year and for me I noticed right away that Wolf has improved a lot as well as gained a lot of confidence. Overall I think he's a great caster and among the top we got out there and sure deserves his job at GomTV. I loved his casting with Artosis the other week and enjoyed it way more than Artosis with Khaldor, as the analytical and objective person I am.
However I think it's this confidence that sometimes makes him jump to conclusions of the outcomes of games and make him miss his analyzes too often or at least make you notice them more. I realize confidence in their speech and ability to analyze the games for casters is a big thing and takes long time for people to get used to.
The feedback I can give on this is to try be more relaxed and never jump to conclusions during intense moments in a match. Instead go back to just announcing what's going on and wait with analyzing the details of the encounter and match until things have settled down and more time has been spent on thinking through what just happened.
On May 09 2012 22:07 bone577 wrote: What a fucking boring and stupid world it would be if casters weren't allowed to criticize a players play. I suppose it would quell OP's autism if the casters just sat there commenting on how they can't make any comments since they aren't as good at the game as the people they are meant to be commenting about.
I personally love wolfs casting, casters are allowed to stumble on some words and sometimes miss a few things, theres no caster that does everything perfectly. Wolf is another caster with a unqiue way of casting and a great personality. but just my opinion
He shouldnt be critisizing every move made by any profesional player, that is miles away in knowledge about every single parcel of the game than he is. But it is just his personality, I remember his "I will go on stream and bash on Naniwa" moment after the probe rush. He also seemed to know better than GomTV on what to do with the situation. Just the kind of dude who "knows better" than everyone else and is.... forward... to say it.
All said, I dont mute the stream because I HARDLY ever mute a stream because of commentators.
Wolf is awesome. He was instantly likeable and he's improved a ton since he started. Keep doing what you're doing Mr Wolf... the one thing I agree with that I read on this thread is sometimes you do jump to conclusions about whats going to happen in a battle too quickly and get wrong... (doesn't everyone!)... perhaps be a bit more slow to jump to conclusions
That's the one area I think you can most improve - apart from that, all's good!
Personally, I think Wolf has a good understanding of the game (not Artosis or Day[9] level, but clearly able to be a GSL caster), and the only thing that kills me is his voice.
I find it to be one of the dullest voices that I've heard from a caster, which makes any form of hype or joking or any passion just... boring to me.
On May 09 2012 22:38 DarkPlasmaBall wrote: I find it to be one of the dullest voices that I've heard from a caster, which makes any form of hype or joking or any passion just... boring to me.
I remember him casting with DOA, 2 calm voices together that made me fall asleep xD
There is a middle ground between strongly criticizing the players and saying they are the best ever. For example, you can acknowledge their high level of skill and yet say they didn't execute a specific play or engagement precisely.
IMO, Wolf (and Khaldor) are already pretty good at this and also very enjoyable casters to watch. I very much like watching him cast and would definitely consider him among the top tier of casters I listen to (with Tastosis, Bitterdam, Day9 & Husky).
All casters should view their job as their "craft" at which they should be constantly striving to improve. Of course, knowing what is better is hard given the wide variety of opinions you see on threads like this. Personally, I'd still like to see a little more play-by-play in the casts, a little more context (e.g., tournament situation outside the game, recent prior games of players), and a touch less trying to predict what will happen next.
On May 09 2012 20:39 TRaFFiC wrote: and Wolf, at best, plays in the master league.
Your post lost all it's credibility here.
So in order to make a valuable judgement you need to be at least the same level the players are? We wouldn't see any commentaries for any sports (or even anything in general) if that was the case.
On May 09 2012 22:42 Drlemur wrote: There is a middle ground between strongly criticizing the players and saying they are the best ever. For example, you can acknowledge their high level of skill and yet say they didn't execute a specific play or engagement precisely.
IMO, Wolf (and Khaldor) are already pretty good at this and also very enjoyable casters to watch. I very much like watching him cast and would definitely consider him among the top tier of casters I listen to (with Tastosis, Bitterdam, Day9 & Husky).
All casters should view their job as their "craft" at which they should be constantly striving to improve. Of course, knowing what is better is hard given the wide variety of opinions you see on threads like this. Personally, I'd still like to see a little more play-by-play in the casts, a little more context (e.g., tournament situation outside the game, recent prior games of players), and a touch less trying to predict what will happen next.
I find that Artosis is very good at finding this middle ground when he casts the GSL. He might say something like "Ya know, I'm not really sure why he's doing this/ if this is what he wants to be doing; [explanation]." It's much more professional, analytical, and it gives us insight into the match-up. It's also a lot more helpful than just shooting down a player for being "bad".
hes a good analytic caster but for the love of god, he needs to stop saying "but here's the thing" ever half a minute, it drives me up the wall. There can't be so many things seriously...
EDIT:
On May 09 2012 20:39 TRaFFiC wrote: and Wolf, at best, plays in the master league.
.. this is not a good statement to make. Sorry.
EDIT: as others have said, I too really enjoyed Wolf and Artosis casting together, liked it even better than Tastosis.
I think he's pretty good, he has some mistakes, but so do the other casters, even the famous ones that get worshiped (for the reasons beyond my comprehension). I do dislike some casters but i don't put them down by saying they are bad at casting (which some really, really, really are), i just don't watch/mute or rage on the hate threads by saying he's a arrogant moron. Saying that he's bad at casting and really not liking him as a person is just wrong.
It's sad they can't do Wolf + Doa, because it's just awesome. But wolf is pretty good. Nice analysis most of the time, good synergie with Khaldor. Few mistakes here and there and perhaps a tiny lack of deep knowldge of the players ( beside dinning with Polt ) but in the end he's a good caster.
I think that my favourite moment of casting was the day that Wolf and Artosis casted together. I know it wasn't everyone's favourite, but it was for me. There was just so much passion and excitement from them both, it was contageous. Plus I learned a lot!
I don't feel the need to give any 'constructive' critism. Wolf seems to be improving without my help already, and I'm sure he'll continue since he seems to work really hard.
On May 09 2012 20:39 TRaFFiC wrote: I just did a search. There is no feedback thread.
Let me start by saying I'm a long time fan. The improvements he has made are incredible and he obviously does his homework on the players, studying replays etc.
Recently though, I have to say I can't stand parts of his casting. He's consistently saying the player's style is "wrong" or "needs to change." For example, tonight he said Polt needs to change his tvt style of marine/tank. I find that hilarious considering polt is one of the best Terrans in the world and Wolf, at best, plays in the master league. It's the wrong kind of criticism regardless of the caster's skill. People watch the game to see the player's genius. The caster should try to analyze it and make positive comments. He should not rip his build apart. Should not say how it should be. Incontrol does this brilliantly. He adds to what the player is doing instead of taking away from it.
My 2 cents. Perhaps others would like to add feedback.
Well Wolf was saying that Polt keeps using the same build over and over again (2 fact and no more!) and that this is making Polt predictable, which is bad for him. Wolf is saying Polt should mix his builds up a bit. Now what's so wrong with that? He's not dissing Polt or anything...
Wolf is one of my favourite casters. He has a relaxed style with good analytical commentary and a chill humor. Nothing over the top, just good casting. He is by no means perfect but then again, only Artosis is.
To everyone who keeps bringing up the argument that he is not allowed to criticize players because they are better than him: Give it a rest, that argument is so old and broken. It's his job to give his view of things. Also casters can and often do have a higher understanding of the game than they can execute since they dont spend as many hours grinding mechanics as the pros so writing casters of since "they are only in masters league at best" just proves your own ignorance.
On May 09 2012 23:07 jakethesnake wrote: I think that my favourite moment of casting was the day that Wolf and Artosis casted together. I know it wasn't everyone's favourite, but it was for me. There was just so much passion and excitement from them both, it was contageous. Plus I learned a lot!
I can't see how that combo could divide opinion. Wolf is miles better than Tasteless, and Wolf and Artosis are good friends so i'm sure i'm sure there would be some good banter, as well as good anaylsis from the both of them. I would like to see a lot more of Wolftosis at various events in the future!
On May 09 2012 20:39 TRaFFiC wrote: I just did a search. There is no feedback thread.
Let me start by saying I'm a long time fan. The improvements he has made are incredible and he obviously does his homework on the players, studying replays etc.
Recently though, I have to say I can't stand parts of his casting. He's consistently saying the player's style is "wrong" or "needs to change." For example, tonight he said Polt needs to change his tvt style of marine/tank. I find that hilarious considering polt is one of the best Terrans in the world and Wolf, at best, plays in the master league. It's the wrong kind of criticism regardless of the caster's skill. People watch the game to see the player's genius. The caster should try to analyze it and make positive comments. He should not rip his build apart. Should not say how it should be. Incontrol does this brilliantly. He adds to what the player is doing instead of taking away from it.
My 2 cents. Perhaps others would like to add feedback.
For a "long time fan" you dont seem to pay much attention. Yes Wolf has consistently said that Polt should change his style, but has also consistently referred to Polt stating that he would rather go mech, but finds it too hard. You also seem to be ignorant of the fact that TvT is Polt's weakest match-up and that he is in fact 2w-3l so far this year (korea). Wolfs statements comes based on the fact that mech is the strongest, albeit hardest, TvT style - and when the competition in the game increases (and it will) everyone has to make that switch some time. Hence its better to do it now.
He tries to be Artosis. But he's not Artosis. So he should stop trying to be Artosis and try to be himself. I like it when he casts when he's tired/sick because he's not trying to be something he's not and he slows down, thinks about what he's going to say. Which means he doesn't make as many mistakes. I would love it if he took some sort of comedy classes so that when he tries to tell jokes they actually come out funny and not only him laughing. He has a very awkward chemistry with Khaldor, where he says something he thinks is funny and khaldor doesn't really care about what was said and it just seems off. If Wolf didn't get so much stuff wrong, maybe that alone would make me not dislike him. But that with the fact that he tries so hard to be something he isn't makes me dislike him quite a bit.
I think hes pretty decent. Out of the old code A casters, him, Doa and Khaldor are completly ok to me - everyone has small weaknesses. If i were to point out Wolf's weakness, he sometimes seems to be the "hey guys, i know it better" - guy (dno how to express that in english, a bit of arrogance probably), but he does it weirdly compared to someone like Artosis. Still a good caster in my eyes.
I really like Wolf - his voice is really easy to listen to, and generally his game knowledge is better than anyone else apart from tastosis.
I feel like some casters are just meant to be solo casters though, with people like Wolf and Day9, whoever else they're with it's just like "argh shut up and let wolf talk". To give credit to khaldor though, he doesn't make me think that so much lately (he went through a phase of just shouting everything but now he's way better)
His analysis of the game of becoming better (more indepth). I don't understand when people say he's trying to become Artosis... Is he? He's got a quite a different style...
I have to say I love his casting, and I've seen very few casters who are immune from criticizing players' builds, including Tastosis (which, off the top of my head, seem to do so more than Wolf). Honestly, Wolf is probably my favorite SC2 caster of any league.
Yes, he makes calls that sometimes are wrong and he might criticize play, but I don't think anything is wrong in that. I don't want him to sugar coat things; if someone made a mistake, just tell me. I really like his voice and the flow he has.
I hope he keeps casting the way he does, it's quite quite enjoyable.
He tries to be Artosis. But he's not Artosis. So he should stop trying to be Artosis and try to be himself. I like it when he casts when he's tired/sick because he's not trying to be something he's not and he slows down, thinks about what he's going to say. Which means he doesn't make as many mistakes. I would love it if he took some sort of comedy classes so that when he tries to tell jokes they actually come out funny and not only him laughing. He has a very awkward chemistry with Khaldor, where he says something he thinks is funny and khaldor doesn't really care about what was said and it just seems off. If Wolf didn't get so much stuff wrong, maybe that alone would make me not dislike him. But that with the fact that he tries so hard to be something he isn't makes me dislike him quite a bit.
Wolf is definitely one of my favorites. I really like his personality and think his game knowledge is pretty good. I've really been enjoying him and Kaldor lately as I feel they have very different personalities that work well together.
I think it is easy to point out flaws in a players decisions when you have full view of everything happening in the game. It is sometimes hard to remember they only have what they have scouted and experience to go on.
That being said I really appreciate hearing commentary on why something is good or bad. I learn from it and it helps me to improve.
In general I think Wolf is doing a fine job and I love his enthusiasm but every caster should avoid drawing conclusions on too little information.
Wolf is 2nd only to Tastosis to me. I don't even think he's necessarily "not as good" as Artosis or Tasteless individually, but I've been watching Tastosis stuff for way too long for anyone to top them. On top of that, Tastosis generally is casting higher level games than Wolf, so that tends to make watching more entertaining as well. Either way, Wolf is awesome and I have no idea how anyone can complain about his casting.
I really enjoy Wolf. He is really knowledgeable and can offer insight on a ton of game play and strategy. I really like how he can criticize, but he can also say something is good and then explain why it is good. He's always been one of my favorites. Keep casting wolf :D
On May 09 2012 21:05 Pipper wrote: Best Caster GOM hired for Code A yet. I even liked his casting with Artosis (last week?) better than Tasteless casting with Artosis, and to overcome that is pretty damn hard.
I'd agree : ] Sometimes a bit over ciritical over stuff the players do but a very good caster who does well with different cocasters (for example with Artosis or Apollo)
Khaldor and Wolf have a good thing going on They have made code A enjoyable, More analysis would be great, and I agree, try to see the game from the pro-player viewpoint. But other than that they are doing a great job !! keep it up guys!! GG
Considering this is a feedback thread, using the term "I like this." and "This is good." is as ambiguous as me coming here and saying "I like scubba-diving". We can all read the sentence, yet there's no plausible information to justify it. So in the end, nobody cares or learned anything from it.
Back to the topic at hand, I believe Wolf displays he knows about the game, since he regularly understands what's going on and predicts future events based on the information he's gathering throughout a game. However, I mostly criticize Wolf's casting based on his speech. I can't remember the last cast where he didn't say at least once "This is the __________ I've ever seen!". Considering he's probably watched thousands of games and there's only soo much space for short/medium term memory, I'd advise him to be more careful using this sentence, unless by his standards there's something extraordinary happening every time he casts.
Another aspect I like to see being improved (which was already pointed out) is the incessant need to always agree with his co-caster no matter what he says by using expressions such as "Indeed it is", "You're exactly right" or "That is very true". Not only is this unnecessary, it might by some people be perceived as insecurity.
He should stop saying a player's strategy or decision making is a "disappointment" or "embarassing". I Always hear him like this: "huhuhuh....embarassing" after some army engagements. That is not professional at all, especially when that player made the right decision.
Wolf annoyed me at first because of what I perceived as arrogance. I think Wolf was just nervous and getting used to being in the public eye. He still says some things that are pretty conceited from time to time and I wasn't big on the way he handled Hero crying after those embarrassing losses.
I think now he's getting a lot smoother and coming off a lot less nervous. Overall I would have to disagree with people who say he is only an average caster, I think you would have a hard time not classifying him in the top tier of casters. Compared to Apollo, their casting styles, mannerisms, sense of humor, and slightly inflated confidence level, are almost identical, so it seems funny to say that Apollo is top tier and Wolf is not.
Wolf seems to be getting better and better every season, the only feedback I would have for him is to be a bit more humble, and otherwise keep doing whatever he's doing...it's working.
I love Wolf, man. With out him, who else would breakdown each player's hair style?
He's become a staple of the GSL just like Tastosis for me. He has become the voice of Code A and while other people have come on gone including Moletrap, Kelly, etc., he's stood the test of time.
I don't like Wolf. As an analytical caster he gets a lot of things wrong. Recently, I've been tracking how many calls he got wrong( saying something would happen but it never did) and it has been increasing. I think he's over-compensating for his lack of knowledge by trying too hard to predict everything and then being overly harsh on the players when the player fails to make his prediction true. Rather than trying to predict everything, he should just say something like "this is going to be tough for the player to make it work but he could do it if this and this happens". That adds a lot of depth and is a lot more specific. It's better than making a wrong call and then using hindsight to figure out what went wrong.
It's so obvious that much of his analysis is based on hindsight rather than prior knowledge. When he casted alongside dApollo for Dreamhack, the gap in true knowledge is apparent even though Wolf seems to be a know-it-all while dApollo was unsure in certain match-ups or certain styles. This is basically the Dunning-Kruger effect. Likewise Mr.Bitter is better at analyzing zerg while Rotterdam is better at analyzing Protoss. They don't pretend to know everything. They'll be cases where they'll be like "We've never seen this before. Let's learn this new style together." and that's better than using hindsight and acting as if you knew it all along. This is why when Rotterdam says that he knows a certain European player's style or has talked to him, I believe him but not when Wolf claims to "know" a Korean player.
He's good when casting Protoss games and is generally a very good analytical caster.
Him like everyone not named Apollo (and I'm including Artosis, Grubby who are amazing analytical casters) are not great at casting Terran games. He misses a lot and generally doesn't have great things to say when he is casting Terran not vs. Protoss. Saying Bio is worse than Mech and trying to hammer the point like Artosis is terrible. It makes them sound like they don't know anything when TONS of pro players think that both are very viable (including MVP). MMA has the highest TvT ELO (and is probably the best at TvT in the world) and absolutely never Mechs and dismantles Mech players routinely.
Sure theorycrafting if someone plays perfect that Mech should be better is fine but these guys aren't Flash. Given the current crop of players Mech and Bio are equally viable and mostly Map and Player dependent.
I like Wolf, i think he does a very good job with Khaldor for GSL code A. I also liked all the other gigs he did with other casters but i think he mashes really well with Khaldor, because they have a good mentality and try and help each other. He is funny and knows what he his talking about.
On May 10 2012 01:03 Jlei wrote: He's good when casting Protoss games and is generally a very good analytical caster.
Him like everyone not named Apollo (and I'm including Artosis, Grubby who are amazing analytical casters) are not great at casting Terran games. He misses a lot and generally doesn't have great things to say when he is casting Terran not vs. Protoss. Saying Bio is worse than Mech and trying to hammer the point like Artosis is terrible. It makes them sound like they don't know anything when TONS of pro players think that both are very viable (including MVP). MMA has the highest TvT ELO (and is probably the best at TvT in the world) and absolutely never Mechs and dismantles Mech players routinely.
Sure theorycrafting if someone plays perfect that Mech should be better is fine but these guys aren't Flash. Given the current crop of players Mech and Bio are equally viable and mostly Map and Player dependent.
You think Apollo has better terran analysis than Artosis...? Ok.......
My main problem is when him and khaldor BOTH decide that the player is doing the wrong build and that it's their duty to harp on about it for the next 2 minutes. This is something they've improved on a lot in past months and its steadily moving from bad calls and negative criticism towards more neutral/positive assessment of the situation. That being said there is still a degree of improvement needed in this regard.
Wolf is one of my favourite English casters... alongside Tastosis, Day9, d.Apollo, Grubby, Bitterdam and iNc. He should just keep doing what he's doing.
Love the awkward jokes with Khaldor sometimes.
Edit: dammit, I keep editing because I forget about all the great casters...
I feel like he has stolen a few too many of Artosis' mannerisms for my liking. E.g. saying, "I don't know [insert co-caster's name]!" or saying "it's like..." followed by a bunch of crappy Tastosis-esque jokes.
No doubt that you have to learn from the best and living in Korea, casting in that environment it's no doubt Artosis and Tasteless are a huge influence and would be to anyone in that position, but Wolf should be more comfortable putting his own personality out there and develop more of his own style, rather than making me watch a hackneyed Artosis impression.
also the Ladder skill level of a caster does not mean he knows nothing about the game, he spends time watching top level players play, and its his job to understand and watch , not play at a masters level it's totally different, just because "polt is the best terran in the world" doesn't mean wolf should never say when he thinks he does something wrong, he probably understands the game just as well as some of these players.
Wolf is freaking hilarious and is easily one of my favorite casters. He reminds me of the nerds I used to play magic with back in the day, and his rapport with Khaldor makes for one of the best casting duos in the business. I hope to someday best him in a Starfox64 1v1.
DoA + Wolf was by far the best Code A casting combo, and Wolf is the only current Code A caster that I like. He is a very good mix of analytical+entertaining.
1. Stop mimicking Artosis's mannerisms, it's awful. 2. Stop calling battles's you clearly don't know the outcome of. Khaldor calls you out (indirectly) on this sooo many times. 3. Stop incorrectly rating players or calling the game before it even starts. You just confuse noobs who don't watch enough to know better.
other than that, you can be a great analytical caster... just try being yourself a little more and being more objective instead of trying to skip ahead to whatever predetermined result you think will occur in various situations.
I really like Wolf's casting overall, he has enough knowledge of the game to provide with in-depth analysis of why a player is doing a certain thing which is something I appreciate being explained as a lowly plat player.
Wolf is an ok caster. He knows the game pretty well all though he does criticise players alot if they make mistakes and thats a bit annoying. I like the analyze stuff but I really dont get why casters should critize pro players that are playing on a level that is beyond theirs (especially code s and a), also it gets really repetitive for the viewer IMO...
and corny jokes,laughs etc is annyoing to me, it was a rough period when he was teamed with doa and they made jokes that I dare anyone to laugh at....
I love Wolf, he's one of my favorite casters. Not to mention I had an amazingly good time enjoying the games when he cast with Artosis. It's obvious he really studies the game and I like that about a caster.
On May 10 2012 04:07 Monocle wrote: I think Wolf is great. Players make mistakes, it's okay to point them out sometimes as long as its not the focus of your cast *cough*Moletrap*cough*
And more importantly pointing out what the mistake is and why and what he could have done instead. As opposed to just saying " well he hasn't been doing that well lately, actually sorta looking kinda scrubby".
On May 09 2012 20:51 ChrysaliS_ wrote: By far his biggest problem is that he acts like a coach when casting. He tends to point out what he perceives as flaws in a player's game plan and then proceeds to give his (often wrong) Master league advice on how Code A progamers ought to play the game. While he is an analytic caster and does a good job of it, I couldn't care less about his opinion on a player's strategy or playstyle. Analyze don't criticize.
This was seven pages ago but I want to piggy off of it, even though I don't actually want to say any of that
Wolf's actual casting reminds me of Artosis if artosis didnt have the amount of knowledge that he had. He makes calls about things being wrong and bad ideas when...they actually aren't. and it's fine to be wrong from time to time, but it stems to me, from just not having the knowledge or information base yet. And I'm not trying to say wolf doesnt know what he's talking about or is one of the casters that just doesnt know his shit, because...he fucking does. But relative to artosis, who has to me a very similar style, it's a point where it works exceptionally well for dan specifically because of that amount of knowledge that wolf doesn't have as much of (relative to dan). I think as more and more time passes it will get better, especially if you take a few extra seconds to piece everything together where you might not be as much right right now.
That said, something wolf and khaldor both do a lot is judging a players actions and decisions and it's almost always negative or a bad idea or i dont know about this. But without explaining why it's a bad idea. Which ties into my first point; if you take the time to look at it more and have the knowledge a lot of the time those "im not sure about this" ideas are actually the correct decision, or even if they are the wrong idea you can communicate that without sounding like you're critiquing the player in a negative way. And that doesnt mean that you have to be naively optimistic either.
Especially because when you then go back and ARE positive about the player or even if you spend a lot of time later saying "o i loved how he did this and this" and try really hard to correct it it just sounds disingenuous, or like you're saying "TERRIBLE TERRIBLE TERRIBLE TERRIBLE oh that's acceptable TERRIBLE TERRIBLE TERRIBLE" even if that's not what you're doing at all, which, frankly I dont think either of them intend to do ever. And again again, I think part of it is the delivery, but I dont really know specifically how to suggest "fixing" that. both of those things are definitely better than they used to be though because honestly i just used to not watch code a period. Couldn't stand it. And now both wolf and khaldor in general are good to watch (with a few bumps that everyone has) and I actually enjoy watching them and hearing about them coming to foreign events.
Hopefully that made some semblance of sense and sounded as non-aggressive as I meant it. - My other bit of feedback. It might just be me. Everyone has vocal ticks and things that are just...Anyway, Wolf has a habit of ending his sentences with "tension", if that's the word? "I don't knowowwwww guyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyys" but a lot. it sounds more valley-girl than tense and excited just because of the tone and the way the ending drags. I dont know if you give a shit about that, but I thought Id mention it. I am certainly not one to be able to judge on speaking, because my voice is fucking awful through any medium, but it is a feedback thread.
That's all I got. Keep improving, you're awesome, and it's awesome to see you and khaldor outside of GSL and with other people. <3
I think wolf and artosis combo is the best combo in GSL. Cant stand khaldor... mute his games sometimes.. Wolf says things that push toward correct ideas but he pushes it too far sometimes and say that something is definately. wrong. He's a good fun critic to watch and the fact that he actually has a lot of knowledge on both players and gameplay. oh yeah... and he doesnt constantly apologize when he solo casts... cough cough KHALDOR cough
I think Wolf should really immerse himself into the game. Make 12 hours playing sessions every day so he really has a feel for the game. I find his commentating very fun, but when i watch games commentated by him i have no clue what is going on the map. GOM doesnt really seem to understand that a large part of their viewers actually want to learn something from the games they watch. For me id like them to get some good player(Catz would be pure gold for GOM imo) to do the analysis and have Wolf do his thing.
i really like wolf because he understand the game better than most of the other caster because he plays at a decent level. him + artosis are so fucking good together because I can learn from them sometimes.better than tasteless for sure
I have liked his casting since he started casting the super tournament with his DT-cocaster. I do agree with some of the comments that he is sometimes overly critical of players. If I were him, that would be my primary focus to improve. Other than that I don't really have anything negative to say.
Imo he is OK.. but not really anything special. I'm not sure why I don't rate him higher he knows stuff about the game but I just can't feel the passion in his casts. There is no fire in his voice during heated moments of battle.
I like Wolf. He's gotten better over time and I think he has a real dedication to improve. Also he and Khaldor are really beginning to gel a lot better now.
Wolf is really talented and him and Khaldor make an entertaining team that I just love watching!
One thing I paid attention to however is that he sometime says 'x needs to cancel that colossus before the building gets destroyed'. Now that doesn't make sense Wolf. You get all the minerals back even if the building is destroyed.
Besides that little remark, keep up the awesome work! :D
He needs to stop trying to be smart and guess the outcomes during games, and often turns out to be wrong. Stop calling players "embarassing" when theyr'e 10x better than you are.
Wolf is consistently one of my favorite casters, next to Day9 and Artosis. I can see how his coach-like visage can rub some people the wrong way, but it doesn't bother me.
I do think that Wolf sometimes calles something wrong. I still remember that he once criticized a zerg for going fast expansion versus a fourgate. But overall I consider Wolf an excellent caster. He can do very good solo cast and he seems to work very well with any other caster. I have watched some matches purely because he cast them.
Of course he isn't perfect, but he does outstanding casts of Starcraft games.
Wolf was a total noob when he started casting - and he was still awesome. Now that he has experience - he just makes gsl worth watching and its no surprise big tournaments are flying him everywhere to be their main caster.
I think you will find you are alone with you opinion about Wolf - the man deserves WAY more credit than he gets, nevermind criticism
I wasn't a huge fan of Wolf or Khaldor (Wasn't overly negative towards either of them either, just preferred other people) but this season the combination of the two has been actually pretty good. I really enjoy the research that Khaldor puts into knowing the players and their match/tournament history's, as someone who follows conventional sports closely it reminds me of watching a Hockey or NFL game and the stats/history they use to fill empty air time instead of just blabbering about random shit and laughing at inside jokes.
Wolf also provides a good level of analysis, sometimes he might be a bit too critical of a players decisions, but anyone who has casted at all knows how easy of a trap this is to fall into. It's easy for even a silver league player to criticize a pro's decisions when he can see the entire map (much like someone commentating poker) and also when he can talk about things and decisions after they have played out and the caster has the advantage of hindsight as well as being able to see how each player stands after the engagement. Also it seems more common that professional games are lost by 1 player making an error or bad call, rather than the harder to detect subtle good decisions that player made up until that point that are basically irrelevant at the end of the a losing game. People will also criticize a caster for being overly positive about a player as well, so it's a tough balance to manage.
If I'm being 100% honest, a major detractor to Wolf's casting for me (and I realize how stupid this is, I feel stupid even writing it, but since this is a feedback thread I will) is his terrible posture. He is always so slouched over in his chair, it looks kind of childish and unprofessional.
Still, Wolf is a good caster and it is obvious to anyone who has watched him since his early days at GOM that he has made leaps and bounds on his way to becoming a better caster, and it has helped to have him with Khaldor as opposed to Doa and Moletrap.
On May 10 2012 06:35 adi_hsd wrote: I think Wolf should really immerse himself into the game. Make 12 hours playing sessions every day so he really has a feel for the game. I find his commentating very fun, but when i watch games commentated by him i have no clue what is going on the map. GOM doesnt really seem to understand that a large part of their viewers actually want to learn something from the games they watch. For me id like them to get some good player(Catz would be pure gold for GOM imo) to do the analysis and have Wolf do his thing.
I've heard that Wolf ladders a lot and is masters on KR/TW actually.
Oh, and the biggest issue I had with Wolf was him always going on about how he created x protoss build on the ladder in beta, but I don't think he's done that so much recently.
I am really sad that wolf is everytime so negative about players decisions. This was also a topic of last weeks SOTG and I think Artosis was right with the points he made about the kind of casters that is overcritical. It really hurts me to hear all the time how bad players are (like litteraly every game) and it seems to be the main theme of the whole cast. I dont think that he is a bad caster but it is not really a plesure to watch his commentary because of his criticism. I hope he will some day start towards a different direction because at the moment I really am not satisfied to watch code A (even if i have to because of all the zergs in there o0). I hope for the best and think in general khaldor and wolf can be a very good team if they start to tune this whole theme a little bit down.
I view Wolf's casting style to be very similar to Artosis. They have a lot of the same mannerisms. However, I feel like Artosis has a better grasp of strategies and styles... So it is unfortunate for Wolf that he keeps being compared to Artosis, not because Wolf has any shortcomings, but because Artosis sets the bar so high.
I like Wolf alot, would like him even better if he didn't talk about hair, didn't force laughter, and started wearing shorts when its hot. Im always sceptical to people that don't wear shorts.
On May 10 2012 06:35 adi_hsd wrote: I think Wolf should really immerse himself into the game. Make 12 hours playing sessions every day so he really has a feel for the game. I find his commentating very fun, but when i watch games commentated by him i have no clue what is going on the map. GOM doesnt really seem to understand that a large part of their viewers actually want to learn something from the games they watch. For me id like them to get some good player(Catz would be pure gold for GOM imo) to do the analysis and have Wolf do his thing.
I've heard that Wolf ladders a lot and is masters on KR/TW actually.
Wolf is very good. Wasn't he initally on FXO as a player?
He is great at casting. His "criticizing" is fine. The only real thing that sticks out (in a negative way) for him is his redundant voice inflections, specifically the kind he uses when questioning or criticizing someone. When he suggests/criticizes/questions things like that, he should mix the voice inflection a couple times or else it'll just emphasize his criticizing in a bad way like it is right now.
"He really should be moving his army here!"
(know what I mean?)
When I first listened to Wolf on GSL, I was really glad gom chose him. He has the excitement, the voice, the looks (kekek), and pretty good at the analysis thing.
Wolf and Artosis are the most intelligent, most tolerable duo out there. I really appreciate having Wolf to cast Code A, but the day he filled in for Tasteless was perhaps the best casting day the GSL has seen so far.
I love Wolf - he's definitely one of my favorite casters, I'm fine with him being critical of players (as long as he calls it correctly). Wolf along with Artosis are far and away the best GSL casters for me to listen to personally.
On May 09 2012 20:51 ChrysaliS_ wrote: By far his biggest problem is that he acts like a coach when casting. He tends to point out what he perceives as flaws in a player's game plan and then proceeds to give his (often wrong) Master league advice on how Code A progamers ought to play the game. While he is an analytic caster and does a good job of it, I couldn't care less about his opinion on a player's strategy or playstyle. Analyze don't criticize.
This is the role of a caster. Have you ever watched a sport on television in your life? What happens when Tom Brady throws a bad pass that's intercepted? The commentators will rip it apart and talk about how awful of a decision it was. Are they qualified to throw a pass in an NFL game? Probably not. Do they understand why he did it? Probably better than you or I. You're complaining about somebody casting this game the way it should be done. Would you prefer they spend more time asking each other "If I was a Golden Girl, which would I be?". Honestly.
Wolf is actually an awesome caster. Though he often repeat what his co-caster says with an 'indeed' in the end. That cam sometimes be annoying. I think I am a bit too picky...
Whenever Wolf gets excited about something, it sounds too forced as if he's just trying to be another Artosis. Now I do love it when casters raise their voices on big plays, and that's one of the main reasons why I watch pro-SC, but I believe if he finds his own... um... style(?) of getting hyped, he can really improve leaps and bounds.
Well, he needs to sound like Wolf when he's excited and not like Artosis. Wolf is Wolf. Artosis is Artosis. Wolf is not Artosis. I can't picture that. =P
Joking aside, he has grown to be one of my favorite casters, if not my favorite. He seems to have been able to work well with every co-caster I've seen him paired up with in GSL - Unstable, Doa, Moletrap, qxc (the few times that they did were amazing), Artosis the one time, and Khaldor.
I feel he is the most Artosis-like style of casting out of any other caster. Does great work. The obsession with hair is more creepy than funny at times though...
On May 09 2012 21:01 MidgetHumper wrote: Personally I cant stand any code A casters and there for just mute the stream.
This thread should not be about whether you 'like' or 'dislike' Wolf as a caster. It should not be about whether he is your favourite or your least favourite caster since that does not help him improve.
This thread should be about offering suggestions that Wolf can reflect on to potentially improve his casting or complimenting him on specific things you would like to keep seeing in his casting.
Wolf has a very good way of keeping spectators entertained when there is down time in the game. The way he fills the quite time seems very natural and never seems to be awkward. Keep up the great work Wolf! I am sure lots of us would love to see you start streaming and do another episode of that hardware show! <3
On May 09 2012 21:30 Hollow wrote: I'm not a fan of many casters, and Wolf does have a way of being annoying because he repeats the same affirmations all the time, e.g. "You are exactly right!" and "Indeed, it is so." Just a lot of useless stuff to try to pick up from something that was said and I can't stand that when it happens too often. His knowledge of the game is fairly poor, but the rest is decent. I wouldn't go as far as muting him.
There's not a single caster that doesn't do this to some extent. Not a single one.
On May 10 2012 11:01 Lunchador wrote: Whenever Wolf gets excited about something, it sounds too forced as if he's just trying to be another Artosis. Now I do love it when casters raise their voices on big plays, and that's one of the main reasons why I watch pro-SC, but I believe if he finds his own... um... style(?) of getting hyped, he can really improve leaps and bounds.
Well, he needs to sound like Wolf when he's excited and not like Artosis. Wolf is Wolf. Artosis is Artosis. Wolf is not Artosis. I can't picture that. =P
This. I really can't stand it when Wolf starts yelling
great caster, well presented, good observations, funny, easy to listen to
but should generally be more gentle - replace "this is wrong and he will lose" with "this is unusual and i am curious to see what happens", replace "that was embarrassing" with "that didn't work out as planned because..." etc.
On May 10 2012 12:26 Robo-boogey wrote: Agree with the general consensus:
great caster, well presented, good observations, funny, easy to listen to
but should generally be more gentle - replace "this is wrong and he will lose" with "this is unusual and i am curious to see what happens", replace "that was embarrassing" with "that didn't work out as planned because..." etc.
Prime example of constrictive criticism. Thank you. I would also relay the same opinion, but I'd emphasize on how Wolf is really passionate, and that's a huge plus in my book.
I don't mind the code A casters and I think Wolf is pretty good, but overall there are some issues...I think though it has to do more with Code A play and the casters trying to make it exciting or hype up a player when it was not exciting at all and the losing player just fucked up badly.
As a whole though, I dig Wolf. Not my fave, but top 5 for sure.
The GSTL intro from Wolf was epic and showed his talent. He delivered the excitement without making it sounds hyped. He didn't scream or needed to use too strong words to PUMP ME UP.
Having subscribed to GOM, I find Wolf's commentary delightful. A good mix of player knowledge, weird nerd humour stuff and decent game knowldge. Dat laugh <3 KEEP UPO THE GOOD WORK WOLF! As per the polls, 90% of the TL crowd think u put on a "fair" to "excellent" cast. That's amazing these days, when caster are getting a lil rough time (I'm thinking Cloud's recent video, which btw I agreed with lol).
Wolf - I don't want to hear what a player should or shouldn't be doing right now. You are not a pro player. Shut up.
Tell me what's important about what they're doing, and explain what is happening. But don't pass judgement on them. You are there to commentate the matches, not review the players.
Can't watch my fav show anymore thx to wolf. His ego has grown to be so inflated. Just one game last night. The theme: PLAYER BASHING.
1)Wolf says happy was code s round of 4 then proceeds to bash him as usual saying it was a long time ago and "nobody remembers." 2) Then he says FORGG and HAPPY need to "prove themselves." Holy shit, I hate that sentence. Number one reason why moletrap was horrible. 3)Calls the game before it's over and then... 4) This is "embarrassing for forgg" when the only person it was embarrassing for was himself for making the wrong call... 5)Goes on and on (mentions at least 4 times that forgg has better ups) then realizes 2 min later happy had 2 upgrade advantage the whole time and doesn't admit his mistake. Such an arrogant caster.
He's grown too big for his chair, seriously.
Khaldor doing a much better job despite knowing slightly less about sc2.
On May 12 2012 10:45 Dhalphir wrote: Wolf - I don't want to hear what a player should or shouldn't be doing right now. You are not a pro player. Shut up.
Tell me what's important about what they're doing, and explain what is happening. But don't pass judgement on them. You are there to commentate the matches, not review the players.
This please.
And turn off progress bars. Surprise me! (said in Anton Ego voice)
Wolf, you're a great caster. You work very well with Khaldor, as the analytical caster. However, please stop trying to be like Tastosis. You're an established name now. Show us Wolf.
Also, I only want to hear you up whether you think something is going to work or not. You're not a coach or the player, don't say what they should/should not do.
On May 17 2012 16:08 FuzzyJAM wrote: You honestly can't blame Wolf (and Khaldor, who said the same thing) for calling that game over.
ForGG did play embarrassingly. He should have won 100 times out of 100. Wolf made the right call.
Has nothing to do with multiple wrong calls and EVERYTHING to do with player bashing. If you can't see that, I'm sorry. Maybe people like to see the players get shit on because it makes them feel better.
I agree with the other posters in this thread, I like wolf but not as much as I did when I first started listening. He comes off a little... bashy.. Regardless if what he is saying is subjective to him, or even objectively true, I don't think anything besides analyzing the game / providing facts and insight about the player is necessary
Just my opinion though, and on the whole I like his casting, as well as Khaldor
I like listening to Wolf a lot and think he has a natural talent for this gig, but I also agree with the comments above stressing that he is more than a bit overboard on the player bashing. It just saps so much out of the excitement of watching even if I agree sometimes. He's quite good so I'm sure it will get better with taking constructive criticism to heart and/or naturally improving with experience.
I think wolf does a great job. His off topics and attempts at humor I can take or leave, but that goes for most casters outside of tastosis. Wolf is probably the most observant caster of them all, I feel, he seems to catch upgrade and tech timings and harass as soon as it occurs, and he's very good at blow by blow, and at conveying who is ahead and why. His game and trend knowledge is not quite at the level of an Artosis, but whose is really. But overall he's a good, solid caster, theres rarely an awkward moment or slip up in a wolf cast. Could use a bit more depth though. If I had to choose casters I would put Artosis, khaldor, then wolf.
On May 17 2012 16:08 FuzzyJAM wrote: You honestly can't blame Wolf (and Khaldor, who said the same thing) for calling that game over.
ForGG did play embarrassingly. He should have won 100 times out of 100. Wolf made the right call.
Has nothing to do with multiple wrong calls and EVERYTHING to do with player bashing. If you can't see that, I'm sorry. Maybe people like to see the players get shit on because it makes them feel better.
I agree in general that Wolf is overly negative. This is not one such occasion.
Edit: In regards to not admitting to a mistake because he's arrogant, how about him repeatedly saying "Sorry, I'm not on the ball today, keep messing up"? Like. . .how much more admittance do you need?
Wolf was better when he first started casting for GOM. Now, he's just an arrogant caster that keeps calling players "embarassing" and "disappointing" and always trying to be smart and guess and declare things before hand. I guess he's betting on the fact that a fraction of his calls would be right calls so that he would look like a genius, just like Artosis used to bet on certain players and call them gosu, but often turns out to be wrong. Artosis realized that and is becoming more neutral and professional now aday. He even gave credit to TheBest (who he demonized before) by calling him a good player. Wolf is just going in the opposite direction, away from the word "professional".
Please stop talking about hair during your cast, it's really embarrassing/awkward for those of us watching the stream. I'd much rather you go back to talking about yugioh instead.
On May 17 2012 16:42 Amlitzer wrote: Please stop talking about hair during your cast, it's really embarrassing/awkward for those of us watching the stream. I'd much rather you go back to talking about yugioh instead.
I think many in this thread need to remove the planks from their eyes before they go complaining about motes. Wolf is one of the best casters in the world, yet some of you are talking like he's trash. Perhaps by analyzing your own actions, y'all will understand why sometimes people come off the way wolf does. When judging people in the light of an extremely high standard of performance, which is often the case in competitive arenas, it's all too easy to slip up and come off as too harsh.
I do think he would do well to sound more neutral. But lets set an example by not bashing a hard working talented guy who probably respects the players a lot more than his attempts at color commentary suggest.
I love Wolf, he's very funny and knowledgeable. I hold him and Khaldor in very high regard when it comes to casting duos and they are fresh and enthusiastic about the game (Tastosis often mentions them showing up to the studio to watch the games they aren't casting).
I don't mind criticism, however I think Wolf and Khaldor have been getting in the habit of criticizing the players before their strategies pan out, which I don't think is fair! I'd like to hear the casters opinion of what the players are thinking as the game/strategy develops, and then what the casters thought about it after the first engagement or w/e is over and how it'll affect the game from then on out. Just stop calling things mistakes before they happen and they will be the golden duo :D
You and khaldor solidified for cade has made your commentary duo better than tastosis, who i think are pretty stale at this point, they could use a shake up. artosis with wolf last week was brilliant.
On May 17 2012 16:08 FuzzyJAM wrote: You honestly can't blame Wolf (and Khaldor, who said the same thing) for calling that game over.
ForGG did play embarrassingly. He should have won 100 times out of 100. Wolf made the right call.
Has nothing to do with multiple wrong calls and EVERYTHING to do with player bashing. If you can't see that, I'm sorry. Maybe people like to see the players get shit on because it makes them feel better.
I agree in general that Wolf is overly negative. This is not one such occasion.
Edit: In regards to not admitting to a mistake because he's arrogant, how about him repeatedly saying "Sorry, I'm not on the ball today, keep messing up"? Like. . .how much more admittance do you need?
I didn't watch the whole cast. He doesn't have to say "sorry." Just admit his mistake and move on, something he failed to do over and over again while at the same time criticizing the players. He just needs to stop the player bashing. I can live with his arrogance. That is all.
edit: Every single player in code a went through the rigorous code b qualifiers, one of the hardest in the world. Some of them are from code S where they played for many seasons. These players deserve the utmost respect, every single one of them. It sickens me when Wolf bashes some of the best players Code A has to offer. No player deserves that.
On May 17 2012 17:16 Plague1503 wrote: Wolf, much like Artosis, gets the same shit for DOING HIS FUCKING JOB. Learn the difference between a caster and a commentator plz.
Most people would, quite correctly, contend there's a difference between good color commentary and bad. The criticisms don't even say he's bad at it, but point out a specific instance where they think he's not that sharp and could improve overall. Seems pretty constructive, IMHO.
On May 17 2012 16:08 FuzzyJAM wrote: You honestly can't blame Wolf (and Khaldor, who said the same thing) for calling that game over.
ForGG did play embarrassingly. He should have won 100 times out of 100. Wolf made the right call.
Has nothing to do with multiple wrong calls and EVERYTHING to do with player bashing. If you can't see that, I'm sorry. Maybe people like to see the players get shit on because it makes them feel better.
I agree in general that Wolf is overly negative. This is not one such occasion.
Edit: In regards to not admitting to a mistake because he's arrogant, how about him repeatedly saying "Sorry, I'm not on the ball today, keep messing up"? Like. . .how much more admittance do you need?
I didn't watch the whole cast. He doesn't have to say "sorry." Just admit his mistake and move on, something he failed to do over and over again while at the same time criticizing the players. He just needs to stop the player bashing. I can live with his arrogance. That is all.
edit: Every single player in code a went through the rigorous code b qualifiers, one of the hardest in the world. Some of them are from code S where they played for many seasons. These players deserve the utmost respect, every single one of them. It sickens me when Wolf bashes some of the best players Code A has to offer. No player deserves that.
What I said is almost a word for word quotation of Wolf.
He did apologise for making a lot of mistakes and admitted to them. If you didn't watch the whole cast then that's not Wolf's fault. He did what you're criticising for not doing. :|
Wolf is terrible. I'm sorry to be so blunt, you can look at my earlier comment in this thread for more constructive criticism. But I'm watching MLG Spring Arena and Wolf's bullshit not knowing wtf he's talking about is so apparent in relation to dApollo, it's disgusting.
Wolf: stop criticizing players in a matchup (zvz) where you have no idea what you are talking about. Please stfu and be deferential if you don't know what you are saying.
My gripes with Wolf are his overall attitude at times, sometimes it's better to spin things in a positive way as opposed to always falling into negatives. Casters like dApollo and Artosis do this so well.
Also, talking over your fellow casters is just rude, it happens sometimes, but he's just cutting off his co-caster at times, just have some conversational etiquette.
Overall though, he really is one of the best casters we have and we should be appreciative that this guy cares enough to put the kind of effort he does into his casting.
Wolf + Artosis really are pretty incredible together. Artosis keeps Wolf in line too on his comments, its pretty funny actually
I like Wolf's casting a lot: he has the ability to explain most of the situations at a level I'm comfortable with and he seems happy to be casting, which shows in his speech after an exciting game. He might be a bit negative about some styles but most of the time I think it is realistic, given the current metagame.
I didn't like the Wolf-Artosis combination all that much, because after some games, it seemed they couldn't decide who had to said what. That resulted in "I have so much to say about this game" from both casters, from which I get the feeling: "just say it!" But maybe that will become less of an issue when they cast more together.
The best thing about Wolf is the fact that he does something Korean casters do a lot, but other English casters seem to do far less: calling what a player has to do in the game. For example: "he has to connect his creep now" or "he must make sure he places bunkers and pull scv's". This adds to depth in casting and it doesn't really matter if the casters go wrong with this, players will always do something they see fit.
I hope you can keep up this growth from the past months Wolf and you'll become a main figure for casting within a year. Good job and keep it up!
Wolf is so good. He knows a lot about the game and the players as well. And he's never stumbling over his words, he always has something to say and articulates his thoughts well. Wolf is a top 3 caster.
Ya I have to agree with the majority on this one. Wolf is a great caster. Great game knowledge and is able to explain it to the viewers well. Maybe he's negative sometimes but its not like hes bashing every player he comes across.
The three best casters right now are probably Artosis, Wolf and Apollo. I'll agree that Wolf can be too negative sometimes, and often bashes on a player too much, but he provides a helpful insight into each game.
Wolf is a good caster with great game knowledge. Please stop talking about hair so much.
Casters should focus on ways to kill time without telling ridiculous stories that aren't related to starcraft. Khaldor does an excellent job of this, he always reminisces about players personalities, traits, practice habits or just time he has spent with them. This is the best time killer for early game boring stuff. Artosis and tasteless keep telling stupid stories, or asking each other irrelevant questions that no one really cares about.
I used to love Wolf, and I actually think Artosis/Wolf is the best combination of overall game knowledge casting combo around. The day when Tasteless was sick brought some really good commentary (since there were a bunch of Protosses in that group haha).
However, the series that has finally changed my view on his casting style was the aforementioned ForGG vs IMHappy series. The casting in game one was fairly good until they started the whole "Oh I'm going to give him $50 if he gets out of this" deal. At that point it is not your point to call the game over even if it clearly is so. Having listened to enough Brood War commentary at this point they stilll manage to make even the most obviously over games exciting because they're still happy and are going full-tilt. I don't get that from most English commentary in general and hearing "oh this game should have been over" for roughly 15 minutes of game time is not a cast, it's a constant negative criticism. AND it actually detrimented their ability to give me useful information (even though I caught things they missed because they were so hyped out). Some things specifically that come to mind is Happy's upgrades and Happy's play throughout that game.
This whole criticism I am writing now is actually in relation to Cloud's vlog about casters, and I fully agree with Cloud on some of his main points. Casting needs to get out of this player bashing culture and Wolf is the worst caster in this regard, constantly pointing out "oh I wouldn't do this style" or x, y, z, etc. Artosis is even better about it than this and Artosis is one of the most critical casters in the business. You are there to cast the game in front of you, not to personally attack the players that are sitting right there playing far better than you ever will.
The one thing he could work on is not being so negative towards the things players do. They probably have a very good reason to do their build. And usually it's not even about things in the game more like Wolf doesn't generally like their style or strat. I can't tell about all the mu's but when I watch his commentary of Zerg players I can tell that some of his criticism isn't nessecarily true at all. I dunno, sometimes it seems like alot of veiwers mistake this criticism of the players for actual game knowledge.
That being said he's definitely one of the better casters and that's saying alot cause I truly feel we are spoiled by great casters in the SC2 scene
I really like how he works with his Co-casters too! His laughter and jokes and good mood always makes it an enjoyable cast when he is on. <3
I really enjoy Wolf's casting -- voted "excellent."
It's a fallacy that person A must have the skill of person B in order to make accurate comments regarding person B's decisions/actions. This fallacy is especially rampant on the ol' internet. Wolf makes a lot of insightful comments ragarding pro players, and no pro player is perfect. However, in this vein Wolf could benefit from assuming that a pro player does something for a purpose, and then breaking down this assumption with reason. This may lead to MORE insight into a player because it puts the analyst in the position of first considering all the reasons the player may have made a certain choice.
On May 09 2012 20:51 ChrysaliS_ wrote: By far his biggest problem is that he acts like a coach when casting. He tends to point out what he perceives as flaws in a player's game plan and then proceeds to give his (often wrong) Master league advice on how Code A progamers ought to play the game. While he is an analytic caster and does a good job of it, I couldn't care less about his opinion on a player's strategy or playstyle. Analyze don't criticize.
This sums up my opinion perfectly. He has the potential to be a great caster, but this is the major thing that holds him back in my opinion and often times frustrates me or gets me slightly annoyed when listening. Artosis is constantly trying to find the direction or intentions of the player regardless of a mistake. While Wolf does this sometimes, often times he will say things like a players strategy is wrong without actually taking into account WHY they did that strategy and what happened to make their plan fail. Casters and viewers have complete information whereas players have incomplete information but still have to make important game changing decisions.
I'd like it if wolf stopped attempting to criticize the players he casts. It's really annoying to constantly hear about every little thing that either him or Khaldor thinks are mistakes. Talk more about the game and less about how you think the players could be playing better. Don't act like you know something if you aren't sure, be humble.
All the comments about players' hair sound a bit too queer for my taste, but otherwise Wolf is pretty good. Compared to Wolf, I like casters like Tastosis better, I like the Kevin Knocke / Doa pair slightly better, I like Khaldor about as much, I like Rotterdam & Mr. Bitter less, and I like Gretorp / whoever he casts with a lot less.
I dont know why people mute him or complain about him, I could, to some extend, understand why they do about Khaldor or Moletrap, but Wolf knows the game, he's in touch with the korean scene, and is just a nice enthusiastic guy, voted Excellent even tho I still prefer Tastosis, but he'll get there, until then gl to him
I actually can't remember seing him at all. I remember some casts with Khaldor and I think Artosis but I only remember them and not Wolf. He seems to be quite the average, so the others overtone him.
Wolf is my second favourite caster after Artosis, and it's really close. I can see his passion behind his seemingly "lacklustre" speaking style. Also I prefer analytical casting (but Wolf can hype hype hype it up like no other, see: his speech about programing taking so much sacrifice etc in the GuineaPig vs Ganzi game recently... this is the only time a caster has said something that made me switch who I wanted to win the game).
I know i might get hate from a lot of people, but i wish that Tasteless gets send to Code A with Khaldor and Wolf starts casting only Code S with Artosis. They day they casted together was really amazing, they did a great job together simply cuz Tasteless aint analyzing that much while Wolf is capable of cast and analize as well as Artosis. Wolftosis is the best casting duo and hope to see them together.
Wolf is an amazing caster, hope he keeps getting better and better.
On May 21 2012 11:07 F1rstAssau1t wrote: I know i might get hate from a lot of people, but i wish that Tasteless gets send to Code A with Khaldor and Wolf starts casting only Code S with Artosis. They day they casted together was really amazing, they did a great job together simply cuz Tasteless aint analyzing that much while Wolf is capable of cast and analize as well as Artosis. Wolftosis is the best casting duo and hope to see them together.
Wolf is an amazing caster, hope he keeps getting better and better.
I totally agree with you. It would make Code S better, and Code A MUCH better with Tasteless there. Not hating on Tasteless but there's more utility to be gained in swapping him with Wolf, IMHO.
I like Wolf's casting a lot, but lately it feels like he's been unnecessarily critical towards the players which has really been taking away from his appeal for me. A lot of the criticism he makes seems to get shut down promptly by his co-caster, though.
All in all, I find him to be one of the most enjoyable casters no matter who he's paired with, but there's still a few caster duos I'd pick over him- namely Tastosis and Bitterdam.
Wolf, has always been pretty good imo. Not as good as some of the "old-school" casters ... if you can call any sc2 caster old-school, but still quite entertaining. ^.^'
On May 21 2012 11:07 F1rstAssau1t wrote: I know i might get hate from a lot of people, but i wish that Tasteless gets send to Code A with Khaldor and Wolf starts casting only Code S with Artosis. They day they casted together was really amazing, they did a great job together simply cuz Tasteless aint analyzing that much while Wolf is capable of cast and analize as well as Artosis. Wolftosis is the best casting duo and hope to see them together.
Wolf is an amazing caster, hope he keeps getting better and better.
I totally agree with you. It would make Code S better, and Code A MUCH better with Tasteless there. Not hating on Tasteless but there's more utility to be gained in swapping him with Wolf, IMHO.
Tasteless and Artosis are meant to cast together it wouldn't work well with him and khaldor and wolf is getting use to casting with khaldor. Artosis+ Tasteless are like bread and butter.
Yeah, you can't tear those two apart. But more guest casts (i.e. Tasteless or Artosis OCCASIONALLY subbing in for Wolf/Khaldor, and vice versa, as long as it's mixing things up) would be a very good thing for us viewers as well as the casters. You need to get out of your comfort zone sometimes, and it makes casters themselves better when they get paired up with/influenced by different people.
As I've posted in the feedback thread on gom's forums, I really have to echo the feedback of many many other posters on multiple websites that wolf is too critical of the players. He just is too often incorrect in his assessments of particular decisions, especially when the matchup doesn't involve Protoss. There just must be other things to talk about...he seems to think his main job is to identify players' mistakes. The alive vs fin daybreak game last night is a prime example. Saying that alive used a bad tvt opener that could only be good against cc first when it could also be good against 1 rax FE. Except in egregious cases it's safe to assume that a progamer who's been preparing for a specific match knows a hell of a lot more than wolf about what openers are good.
Given the sheer volume of posts from multiple sources giving this same feedback to Wolf I'm starting to wonder why he hasn't changed at least a little bit.
On May 23 2012 02:53 Doodsmack wrote: As I've posted in the feedback thread on gom's forums, I really have to echo the feedback of many many other posters on multiple websites that wolf is too critical of the players. He just is too often incorrect in his assessments of particular decisions, especially when the matchup doesn't involve Protoss. There just must be other things to talk about...he seems to think his main job is to identify players' mistakes. The alive vs fin daybreak game last night is a prime example. Saying that alive used a bad tvt opener that could only be good against cc first when it could also be good against 1 rax FE. Except in egregious cases it's safe to assume that a progamer who's been preparing for a specific match knows a hell of a lot more than wolf about what openers are good.
Given the sheer volume of posts from multiple sources giving this same feedback to Wolf I'm starting to wonder why he hasn't changed at least a little bit.
The poll has about 600 excellents/goods and this thread has about 200 negative posts. Just kinda funny.
Anyone notice he's so obsessed with Korean hairstyles? Even another caster (I forgot who) asked him live in Off The Record why he's so obsessed with korean hair and always mentioning it in his cast.
On May 21 2012 11:07 F1rstAssau1t wrote: I know i might get hate from a lot of people, but i wish that Tasteless gets send to Code A with Khaldor and Wolf starts casting only Code S with Artosis. They day they casted together was really amazing, they did a great job together simply cuz Tasteless aint analyzing that much while Wolf is capable of cast and analize as well as Artosis. Wolftosis is the best casting duo and hope to see them together.
Wolf is an amazing caster, hope he keeps getting better and better.
I think more people may agree with you than you think. I actually really like tasteless and him and Artosis are a great team but his game knowledge hasn't kept up with where the game currently is. I don't know about him being sent down to code A because he still brings a lot to the table but Wolf and Artosis are awesome so I wouldn't mind interchanging or guest casting. But again the casting Archon is still good.
I think wolf and Artosis is just too much analysis. They were nerding out pretty hard with the analysis last time (comparing things to sine curves etc). Also very Protoss-centric if it's a pvz or pvt.
Just had to sit through another hour long game of Wolf bad mouthing Polt. One of the most epic games in GSL history between Polt and Ryung for a code S spot. Polt was ahead for a long time. Then he got behind due to army comp, but was still maxed. Apparently wolf just wants him to A-move and throw away his chances at code S. 30 min of hearing wolf complain that he hasn't left the game can do anyone in. Debby Downer, super, negative. Holy crap, how is this guy a professional caster.
On May 09 2012 21:01 MidgetHumper wrote: Personally I cant stand any code A casters and there for just mute the stream.
I wait for the korean vods, I'd rather not understand than have to listen to all the negativity. Means I have to dodge spoilers as they're slow to go up.
I think Wolf overall is a great caster and has a lot of knowledge about the game but I must say I think he would be much better if he stopped being so negative and critical of the players.
It's the GSL, the biggest and most difficult sc2 tournament in the world. People get nervous and are under a lot of pressure to do well and as a result they make mistakes. I think most people have no idea how hard it is to play in a tournament until they actually try it themselves.
I have attended several lans and I can tell you its much more difficult playing in front of people and outside the comfort of your home. Casters should definitely focus on the positives of the game and make the players look as good as possible. Because the truth is Wolf casts some of the best players in the world and it is really annoying when he just continuously says they are playing really bad.
My only problem with Wolf/Khaldor is their constant criticism of the players. Their criticism of players is often innacurate and even if it is correct, it is just not a nice experience listening to 2 people constantly talking about how bad the players are.
please quit trying to predict every single engagement, tech path, game result before it happens unless you're 100% sure.
the players are human. sometimes they make mistakes. very often they make mistakes. the longer the game, the more chance for mistakes. where you don't see an opportunity, they might see a 1% chance of success because they're a GSL player. they're going to go for it if it's their only hope, so do not berate them for staying in the game a little longer than most would simply because they think they have a chance.
Yeah something all casters should do is not to say: "He should have done this"
an example is from todays cast:
SuHoShin managed to get some mutas out unscouted and goes to the base of the enemy player. He got 7 mutas and starts working on the mineral line and then he sees 4 marines coming towards him. He retreats and then Khaldor in this case starts saying: "Why is he not attacking the marines, he got enough to take them down"
Something all casters should not do is to say what the player should do in certain situations. He could have said: "SuHoShin have enough mutas to take these marines down but he doesent know that there are only 4 marines out on the map so he retreats and play it safe"
This is something casters in general are so so bad at. You can see everything that's happening, you know how many workers, how many marines, what the players are producing. The players does not have the same luxuary and it's very easy to say what you should do when you see everything.
TL DR; Casters should not try to say what the players should do in certain situation, Saying he should have done X and so on. They can't see the whole map.
I only picked Khaldor cause I saw it today and got sick of it so it's freshest example I had in mind.
On May 23 2012 22:59 JoeAWESOME wrote: Yeah something all casters should do is not to say: "He should have done this"
an example is from todays cast:
SuHoShin managed to get some mutas out unscouted and goes to the base of the enemy player. He got 7 mutas and starts working on the mineral line and then he sees 4 marines coming towards him. He retreats and then Khaldor in this case starts saying: "Why is he not attacking the marines, he got enough to take them down"
Something all casters should not do is to say what the player should do in certain situations. He could have said: "SuHoShin have enough mutas to take these marines down but he doesent know that there are only 4 marines out on the map so he retreats and play it safe"
This is something casters in general are so so bad at. You can see everything that's happening, you know how many workers, how many marines, what the players are producing. The players does not have the same luxuary and it's very easy to say what you should do when you see everything.
TL DR; Casters should not try to say what the players should do in certain situation, Saying he should have done X and so on. They can't see the whole map.
I completely agree! This should be compulsory reading for every caster!
Casters really need to acknoledge fog of war and APM/attention restrictions before criticising players. Even without fog of war, casters are sitting in a chair watching a screen and analysing the game, it is toatally different to playing. Players usually do not have alot of time to think about strategy during a game. In game, your decisions must be made in milliseconds.
On May 23 2012 22:59 JoeAWESOME wrote: Yeah something all casters should do is not to say: "He should have done this"
an example is from todays cast:
SuHoShin managed to get some mutas out unscouted and goes to the base of the enemy player. He got 7 mutas and starts working on the mineral line and then he sees 4 marines coming towards him. He retreats and then Khaldor in this case starts saying: "Why is he not attacking the marines, he got enough to take them down"
Something all casters should not do is to say what the player should do in certain situations. He could have said: "SuHoShin have enough mutas to take these marines down but he doesent know that there are only 4 marines out on the map so he retreats and play it safe"
This is something casters in general are so so bad at. You can see everything that's happening, you know how many workers, how many marines, what the players are producing. The players does not have the same luxuary and it's very easy to say what you should do when you see everything.
TL DR; Casters should not try to say what the players should do in certain situation, Saying he should have done X and so on. They can't see the whole map.
Yeah this is a very good point and happens so often and it can be quite frustrating to listen to. Both Khaldor and Wolf do it often.
Please Wolf stop predicting every single engagement (you are wrong often times too)
I can´t stand one single phrase you are using much too often : This is basically GG Example for today: Vines holds the Terran Push, but a bunker goes up in his natural; then one (I think it was just one) marauder gets in it and you immediately saying: yeah thats basically GG, although Vines has about 6 stalkers and cleans it up easily and the game goes on; of course Vines was a little bit behind, but nowhere near out of the game!
Otherwise good caster, be more positive and less critical and it will be fine.
Polt had a really bad lategame that game. I appreciate that wolf realised the errors he was making but its painful to listen to someone be so negative for so long. For some reason when wolf and khaldor cast together they create a negativity vortex in games like this. Could have been much more exciting. But hey they have to commentate for 10x longer then regular sports with no scripting so I can see why it happens!
On May 23 2012 22:59 JoeAWESOME wrote: Yeah something all casters should do is not to say: "He should have done this"
an example is from todays cast:
SuHoShin managed to get some mutas out unscouted and goes to the base of the enemy player. He got 7 mutas and starts working on the mineral line and then he sees 4 marines coming towards him. He retreats and then Khaldor in this case starts saying: "Why is he not attacking the marines, he got enough to take them down"
Something all casters should not do is to say what the player should do in certain situations. He could have said: "SuHoShin have enough mutas to take these marines down but he doesent know that there are only 4 marines out on the map so he retreats and play it safe"
This is something casters in general are so so bad at. You can see everything that's happening, you know how many workers, how many marines, what the players are producing. The players does not have the same luxuary and it's very easy to say what you should do when you see everything.
TL DR; Casters should not try to say what the players should do in certain situation, Saying he should have done X and so on. They can't see the whole map.
Absolutely JoeAWESOME, some rules I try to stick to whenever I cast something (inspired by the style of THE BEST, the Korean [MBC] commentators):
Never criticise the players, always be positive and supportive of them. It just grates my ears as soon as a caster starts tearing into players. Even if they played pretty badly, make that a plus for the victrious player taking advantage of the situation. Most everything that players do is intentional. Oh, I see you've built two Citadels of Adun, "hmmmm, this is an interesting play, I guess he's making it harder for his opponent to snipe that Zealot Speed/Charge upgrade by halving their chance of succes of targeting the right one. Hey, he's SURE to get that upgrade now! However he may want to allocate his resources a bit better." --> jokes instead of negativity We, as observers, are not in a position to say someone did something dumb like suiciding their entire force on a line of tanks. We can say that's a mistake cause his whole army is dead, sure, but we should make it more of a point of how the player with tanks has a very strong force at that point in time, and now he has a large advantage cause his opponent has no army, not about how the other player is bad. Also, if you've got a big point you're trying to explain, make it brief and don't talk forever. Always prioritise new information and events over general things you wanna say about the map/matchup/theory of which overlord scout direction is best. Get excited when exciting stuff happens, say "this is really important" or "this will decide the shape of the match" when it will, because it adds hype, is something refined and reasonable to say, and if anything it indicates definig moments that stick out, so when someone wins you can refer back to those moments as 'why he won'. As long as you can do it reasonably, don't hesitate to personify the units (even buildings) and give them a humours character e.g. Sayle- "can you imagine the pressure on that zealot to perform now, I mean, he had an entire Templar archives cancelled for him, he's gotta be shaking at least", "here come the Doh-sairs!!1!" [reference to Doh Jae Wook's dangerous Corsairs], 'that hatchery's gotta be so proud of it's kids right now!' leads onto a conversaion about if hatcheries count as partents...
TL;DR: Make it fun, make it exciting, make it enjoyable. To me those are prettymuch mutually exclusive with being negative and pooping on the players. A<B, come at it from "B played well" rather than "A was (is) bad". It then also covers your back when people know better than you, or can at least discredit what you say because they've got a higher ladder rank.
On May 23 2012 22:59 JoeAWESOME wrote: Yeah something all casters should do is not to say: "He should have done this"
an example is from todays cast:
SuHoShin managed to get some mutas out unscouted and goes to the base of the enemy player. He got 7 mutas and starts working on the mineral line and then he sees 4 marines coming towards him. He retreats and then Khaldor in this case starts saying: "Why is he not attacking the marines, he got enough to take them down"
Something all casters should not do is to say what the player should do in certain situations. He could have said: "SuHoShin have enough mutas to take these marines down but he doesent know that there are only 4 marines out on the map so he retreats and play it safe"
This is something casters in general are so so bad at. You can see everything that's happening, you know how many workers, how many marines, what the players are producing. The players does not have the same luxuary and it's very easy to say what you should do when you see everything.
TL DR; Casters should not try to say what the players should do in certain situation, Saying he should have done X and so on. They can't see the whole map.
10000000000000% yes. as bITt.mAN mentioned - this is how the korean commentators do it
Please stop trying to predict the outcome. It doesn't matter if you are right or wrong, but it kills all hype and excitement. I would rather hear something like "Hes going to push through the choke point with his entire army. It's going to be difficult but hes but up those gateways preparing for this. The outcome of the game may well be decided here" Instead of "Why did he do that? Now he's about to lose the game".
I would rather hear pros and cons of the current situation rather than how bad and wrong the players are.
I do want to thank you for the effort you put into casting and it has improved a great deal.
Way too critical recently. Wolf calling Polt bad nearly every minute of the last half an hour of that Polt vs Ryung game was hard to listen to.
"He's making only one tank! He could be making two tanks instead right now! He's got 5 starports, that means he could be making 5 vikings at the same time! But he's not doing that for some reason!"
On May 23 2012 23:23 PiGStarcraft wrote: Polt had a really bad lategame that game. I appreciate that wolf realised the errors he was making but its painful to listen to someone be so negative for so long. For some reason when wolf and khaldor cast together they create a negativity vortex in games like this. Could have been much more exciting. But hey they have to commentate for 10x longer then regular sports with no scripting so I can see why it happens!
Hmm.. I don't remember hearing that much negativity from Khaldor during that game. I just remember him sounding really excited, which isn't a bad thing because it was an intense game. You might be right though.
Tbh, all I remember from the last 30-35 minutes of that game is something along the lines of:
Wolf: Oh, Polt is playing so bad. I don't know why he's doing this. Khaldor: THIS IS INSANE!
2 minutes later.. Wolf: Polt is playing so bad. This is the worst lategame I've seen. Khaldor: THIS IS INSANE! THIS IS INSANITY!
On May 23 2012 23:23 PiGStarcraft wrote: Polt had a really bad lategame that game. I appreciate that wolf realised the errors he was making but its painful to listen to someone be so negative for so long. For some reason when wolf and khaldor cast together they create a negativity vortex in games like this. Could have been much more exciting. But hey they have to commentate for 10x longer then regular sports with no scripting so I can see why it happens!
Hmm.. I don't remember hearing that much negativity from Khaldor during that game. I just remember him sounding really excited, which isn't a bad thing because it was an intense game. You might be right though.
Tbh, all I remember from the last 30-35 minutes of that game is something along the lines of:
Wolf: Oh, Polt is playing so bad. I don't know why he's doing this. Khaldor: THIS IS INSANE!
2 minutes later.. Wolf: Polt is playing so bad. This is the worst lategame I've seen. Khaldor: THIS IS INSANE! THIS IS INSANITY!
Laughing so hard right now. That is so accurate for anyone who watched the game. Exactly what makes Khaldor a great caster (he comments on positive things like Polt getting Seeker missile), while the whole time Wolf is just shitting all over everything the player is doing.
I think the problem with wolf is he comes off as too arrogant and a know it all, when in reality he doesn't know as much as he thinks he does. That's the main reason why he's always rubbed me the wrong way and I'm not a fan.
I really like your casting, you're great, but I wish you turned up the volume on your stream when you're playing AWESOME classics like Earthbound. That's the only criticism I can think of right this second.
I think he has great potential, but feel like he has work to do, sometimes I get a bit frustrated with his intonation/way he says things but I guess we should take people as they are. And wolf isn't bad at all!
Wolf needs to learn to try to stop the analysis commentating, i forever MUTE him now because of his most famous quote.......... "Pylons dont actually give vision" -.-; thank god (Flash ofc) that moletrap isnt there anymore to agree with him......"Yea Wolf, i believe your right, they need a unit there in order to warp in".... -.- needisaymore?
I actually really like Wolf's casting, my only advice is for him to never team up with dApollo or Artosis. They both try to fill the same role and it's a bit awkward. Some people might like this but it's just my personal opinion
I don't like the fact that so many people are so quick to judge and/or criticize casters.
It feels like whenever I go on reddit and sometimes even TL there is a new topic about how Caster X is doing a poor job for Reasons Y & Z. If it's not Tasteless, it's HD, or that guy from Playhem, or Catzpajamas, Doa, Khaldor, Apollo, even Day 9 at times. I mean come on people.
I appreciate so much of what they do and Wolf and Khaldor in particular do a FANTASTIC job. Hell, most of them do an excellent job and I'm a rank 1 master player, so I'd like to think i'm picky with casting details. While I understand that at times, casters are not perfect, I think instead of condemning them publicly, why not PM them with your concern?
On May 24 2012 08:21 zmansman17 wrote: I like the fact that Sc2 has a vocal community.
I don't like the fact that so many people are so quick to judge and/or criticize casters.
It feels like whenever I go on reddit and sometimes even TL there is a new topic about how Caster X is doing a poor job for Reasons Y & Z. If it's not Tasteless, it's HD, or that guy from Playhem, or Catzpajamas, Doa, Khaldor, Apollo, even Day 9 at times. I mean come on people.
I appreciate so much of what they do and Wolf and Khaldor in particular do a FANTASTIC job. Hell, most of them do an excellent job and I'm a rank 1 master player, so I'd like to think i'm picky with casting details. While I understand that at times, casters are not perfect, I think instead of condemning them publicly, why not PM them with your concern?
Why wouldn't you do this?
I couldn't agree more. People are being way too critical towards the casters, and especially Wolf is doing great.
I felt like Wolf improved again from yesterdays Code A casting - he was starting to give credit to the player who lost (which he rarely did before), and was less bluntly critical on mistakes as well.
On May 24 2012 08:21 zmansman17 wrote: I like the fact that Sc2 has a vocal community.
I don't like the fact that so many people are so quick to judge and/or criticize casters.
It feels like whenever I go on reddit and sometimes even TL there is a new topic about how Caster X is doing a poor job for Reasons Y & Z. If it's not Tasteless, it's HD, or that guy from Playhem, or Catzpajamas, Doa, Khaldor, Apollo, even Day 9 at times. I mean come on people.
I appreciate so much of what they do and Wolf and Khaldor in particular do a FANTASTIC job. Hell, most of them do an excellent job and I'm a rank 1 master player, so I'd like to think i'm picky with casting details. While I understand that at times, casters are not perfect, I think instead of condemning them publicly, why not PM them with your concern?
Why wouldn't you do this?
I couldn't agree more. People arebeing way too critical towards the casters, and especially Wolf is doing great.
Wolf , try not to talk bad about the players , you 50% of the time when a player is doing something you always say : this is very bad for him , try to say : this can work but if it will not , the X player will be behind , or something like that , dont just say : he is bad he does bad things etc . thanks , other then this i rly enjoy your casting
I'm not gonna vote. I've never liked wolf. His accent, middle america kid, it just doesn't interest me at all. He's always rubbed me as a derpy individual.
I'd never mute a caster, still, wolf is the GSL caster I'm least interested in. I don't think there's something he can change to win me over as a caster, but I just don't think I'm the market he's a good fit for, so I don't think my opinion is worth anything to him.
On May 24 2012 08:21 zmansman17 wrote: I like the fact that Sc2 has a vocal community.
I don't like the fact that so many people are so quick to judge and/or criticize casters.
It feels like whenever I go on reddit and sometimes even TL there is a new topic about how Caster X is doing a poor job for Reasons Y & Z. If it's not Tasteless, it's HD, or that guy from Playhem, or Catzpajamas, Doa, Khaldor, Apollo, even Day 9 at times. I mean come on people.
I appreciate so much of what they do and Wolf and Khaldor in particular do a FANTASTIC job. Hell, most of them do an excellent job and I'm a rank 1 master player, so I'd like to think i'm picky with casting details. While I understand that at times, casters are not perfect, I think instead of condemning them publicly, why not PM them with your concern?
Why wouldn't you do this?
I couldn't agree more. People are being way too critical towards the casters, and especially Wolf is doing great.
Yep, I'm not certain why there is the temptation to attack casters personally. Even professional advice is best given privately through a PM.
I've really enjoyed your casting in Code A, you provide a lot of good insight and mix in some great banter and humour. The only thing I'd criticize is, ironically, that I feel you are too quick to criticize players. I think those games put a tremendous amount of pressure on the players and it's difficult to account for what exactly is going through their minds. I not only think it's a little unfair towards the player, more importantly I feel it detracts from the cast. I think you can spin these things to create more suspense around the game. Pit the players against one another in the cast: instead of criticizing one player for making blunders, rather emphasize how the other player might be getting under his skin or how the other player has thrown him off. It makes it feel like a duel rather than "race" where one player collapses. It also gives credit to the game as being incredibly tough, rather than detract from its players.
And this is really important I feel: pitting the players against one another in the commentary, whenever possible. Framing the contest as to people trying to 'murder' one another starts to create a story and allows for better, more intense and suspenseful casting, if not also easier casting. This is what makes Artosis so unbelievably good at casting.
Those are my two cents, and I hope you are able to find them useful!
On May 25 2012 07:15 SeinGalton wrote: Hello Wolf.
I've really enjoyed your casting in Code A, you provide a lot of good insight and mix in some great banter and humour. The only thing I'd criticize is, ironically, that I feel you are too quick to criticize players. I think those games put a tremendous amount of pressure on the players and it's difficult to account for what exactly is going through their minds. I not only think it's a little unfair towards the player, more importantly I feel it detracts from the cast. I think you can spin these things to create more suspense around the game. Pit the players against one another in the cast: instead of criticizing one player for making blunders, rather emphasize how the other player might be getting under his skin or how the other player has thrown him off. It makes it feel like a duel rather than "race" where one player collapses. It also gives credit to the game as being incredibly tough, rather than detract from its players.
And this is really important I feel: pitting the players against one another in the commentary, whenever possible. Framing the contest as to people trying to 'murder' one another starts to create a story and allows for better, more intense and suspenseful casting, if not also easier casting. This is what makes Artosis so unbelievably good at casting.
Those are my two cents, and I hope you are able to find them useful!
After today's cast in the GSTL I think I agree with the first half of this guys sentiments. You spent ninety (hyperbole) percent of your time saying that this player is doing something wrong, but didn't spend nearly as much time saying what the other guy was doing right. It's important to note that someone is behind, but I think it's more important to say what the other person is doing to put himself in a better situation. For example, during the TLO match, you spent a lot of time saying TLO was losing he had less roaches, etc, but not nearly enough time talking about Life or his choices that led to TLO being behind. TLO's upgrades are behind, not Life's upgrades are ahead. It's just about how you spin the statement that turns it from a negative into a positive.
I think that if I could ask anything from you, it would be to see the good and quit harping on the bad. I'm not asking you to sugar coat it and say that oh well player X is only down 150 supply he has a chance to come back, that's just false for the sake of creating drama, but if you could spend more time saying player Y is 150 food ahead rather than player X is 150 behind, it just seems more positive.
On May 24 2012 06:39 Diabulus wrote: Wolf needs to learn to try to stop the analysis commentating, i forever MUTE him now because of his most famous quote.......... "Pylons dont actually give vision" -.-; thank god (Flash ofc) that moletrap isnt there anymore to agree with him......"Yea Wolf, i believe your right, they need a unit there in order to warp in".... -.- needisaymore?
Please stop making up facts on the spot, and refer to your research (assuming you do some). There are many examples of when you do this but the one that I recall today was claiming Jinro wasn't known for his Macro in the GSL. Not going to argue that here but everyone knows it's wrong.
Also please try to be more analytical rather than critical. Don't say someone should do this, or shouldn't do that. Talk about why they have done that, and what it means in the bigger picture. We are interested in the game being played, not how the game should be played.
Wolfdor are a great combo. In particular I can tell that Wolf has a decently high level of knowledge and experience (far more than most of the casters) and on top of that it's obvious both have a passion for the game (again, more than most casters).
I actually used to not care for Wolf, but he's kind of grown on me. Pretty good all around. No one's perfect of course, but that's nothing to comes to mind particularly if I were asked for specific feedback.
Hearing Wolftosis cast was a real treat. That being said, I really enjoy his solid analysis on all matchups, although he is obviously more knowledgeable about Protoss (why are so many GSL casters Protoss players?)
Anyways, I enjoy his analysis. He's my favorite part about watching Code A.
Wolf has solid analysis, and his chemistry with Khaldor and Artosis is very good. That being said, there is something about him that sort of gets at me sometimes. Maybe its repeated use of the same phrases? Anyways, he still is a very good caster and I'm glad to have him around.
I'm watching Slayers x NSH, and I think that they read this topic because they are trying really hard to compliment players for doing good things and not saying that the other player did something wrong. I'm really enjoying this cast.
On May 30 2012 01:05 b0rt_ wrote: I'd like to see Wolf and Artosis do a bit of Code S together. <3 Tasteless but Wolf deserves a bit of the big spotlight.
Tasteless and Artosis will always cast together unless one of them is busy or sick, There is difference between casting Code A and casting Code S.
Reasons why wolf gets on my nerves: Wolf seems very smug and pretentious, he tries to copy artosis too much but he seems to be developing his own style of casting a bit more. For me he is the worst of the code A casters, i got a bad early impression.
When he first started casting he was going on about how casters shouldnt be so critical of players (he was criticizing moletraps casting) and now he is much worst. I especially dont like how he criticizes players decisions in matchups where he knows very little, he needs to humble himself and not overestimate his game knowledge. His analysis is constantly wrong so he lacks credibility.
Khaldor is what really makes him bearable. He is charismatic funny and obviously putting alot into his work. His charisma compensates for wolfs shallow character.
Wolf if you would humble yourself and concentrate on casting from the players perspective that would improve your casting greatly. Please stop trying to show off your game knowledge as it makes you look silly when you are wrong (your knowledge is lacking, but that is not necessarily a bad thing if you can choose the right strategy of casting). Dont worry about trying to look smart and predicting outcomes, focus on analysing the why's and what's. What is the player doing, why is he doing it. Khaldor is really great at casting because he is confident and puts in so much work, he keeps track of all the players and shows his passion for the game in his own way. Wolf you must find your own way of doing things, dont try to copy artosis. Be yourself.
Excellent casting by Wolf the past few days. Solo like a boss! Definitely has the voice for the job and can handle everything, be it play-by-play or analyst.
On May 29 2012 22:22 Nekovivie wrote: Please stop making up facts on the spot, and refer to your research (assuming you do some). There are many examples of when you do this but the one that I recall today was claiming Jinro wasn't known for his Macro in the GSL. Not going to argue that here but everyone knows it's wrong.
Also please try to be more analytical rather than critical. Don't say someone should do this, or shouldn't do that. Talk about why they have done that, and what it means in the bigger picture. We are interested in the game being played, not how the game should be played.
Wolf is an excellent caster. Great knowledge, great speaker, and seems to gel well with anyone else he casts with.
Everyone makes the odd mistakes but I think a lot of people here are being overly picky over minor details. Also remember when he is being "overly critical" he is giving his own opinion. You don't necessarily have to agree but it's impossible to remain 100% positive all of the time. To me part of being a good caster is giving that opinion, which is in this case a lot more informed than the vast majority of viewers.
I think the most important thing about Wolf is that he is improving. It is hard to ask for more than that.
A month or two ago, I couldn't stand him, and he will still do or say things that bother me from time to time, but he is, and has been doing them far less frequently.
The past two nights he's been doing a solo cast, and sure he called it Code A a couple of times, he said the wrong player names a couple of times, he missed some calls, but having attempted (albeit poorly) casting before, I totally get that, particularly when you're casting to a multi-national audience.
We talk about the pressures players are under all the time, and people seem more than happy to ignore the pressures the casters are under. I do not believe that I could, given the time and opportunity Wolf has had, done a better job casting solo Code S the way Wolf has.
I think my biggest pet peeve with Wolf in the past was the scatter-gun predictions of just about every possibility, and the smug 'just as I said he would' that followed. His game knowledge, as well as his player knowledge, have improved though, and he's narrowed it down a lot. He'll make one prediction, and stick with it. Often times now, it is accurate, and if it isn't he'll explain why he was wrong.
The only thing I could even hope to suggest at this point would be to try to be more positive. He's good about the all-important stress throw-away for when a player messes up, but I'd love to see more focus on the player who is doing well when one isn't. (Rather than 'Oh, he really messed those storms up.' something more like '_____ is playing so well tonight, those storms had to do more damage than that.')
Also - Why you spam my twitter inbox with Korean? You live and work in Korea as an English speaker, can we at least get your work-related tweets in English? (Or a double-tweet, at least one of which in English?)
Not related to Wolf specifically - Can you get them to change the 'Learn Korean' bits into something more useful for perspective visitors? If I show up in Korea and all I know is some SC units at random, I'm not going to get far. It isn't really learning Korean, so much as understanding when the Korean casters are shouting a little better. You know, stuff like... 어떻게 여기에서 Gom, TV에 어떻게해야합니까 어디에서 스타 크래프트를 재생할 수 있습니까 나는 스타 크래프트를 보는 ___에서 왔어요 무료 피자 주셔서 감사합니다
Again this. "master caster shouldn't make comments about player's moves/strats/whatever!"
The thing is you can be a diamond who has good game knowledge and criticize pros because outside the game as a spectator you have it easy, you're not under pressure..you're analyzing the game at a slow pace. Dunno why this is so hard to grasp, sure we're baffled many times or surprised by certain things pros do but not much. And most of the time they do mistakes that lower skilled players would do as well, some criticism from the caster's side isn't that bad.
Wolf is doing a great job! Especially like him solo, good flow.
On June 12 2012 23:05 erazerr wrote: Amazing casting tonight Wolf, Solo casting often is lame but you made it work! good stuff.
this
This again, cannot emphasize it enough! Being alone casting during all this time must be really difficult and tiring but you do it so well I sometime actually think you're doing it with someone else (not kidding here, several times I was like "that's not Wolf's voice, he's talking to someone right?").
The only thing that bugs me about wolf is that he's always seemed to treat the foreigners with disdain almost. Like the way he was referring to Naniwa's play tonight, particularly vs theSTC: "He backstabbed his teammate". I guess all casters are guilty of this, but Wolf seems to downplay the play of foreigners while elevating the play of just about everybody else. I find it frustrating when I don't think its accurate.
On June 12 2012 23:43 ExO_ wrote: The only thing that bugs me about wolf is that he's always seemed to treat the foreigners with disdain almost. Like the way he was referring to Naniwa's play tonight, particularly vs theSTC: "He backstabbed his teammate". I guess all casters are guilty of this, but Wolf seems to downplay the play of foreigners while elevating the play of just about everybody else. I find it frustrating when I don't think its accurate.
That is very much incorrect. He is extremely critical (or used to be at least) of pretty much everyone. You'll see in this thread that many people have expressed that Wolf is overly critical. For example, he was trashing Polt a few weeks ago.
For the past few times I've heard him casting though, he seemed to be better. I don't know if I caught his casting at a good time or he has actually listened to people's feedback and improved. I certainly hope it's the latter case.
Heyyyy Yess ! I was about to post on Wolf's fan club, but that thread is just what i was looking for.
I just wanted to share my opinion saying that Wolf did an amazing job at solo casting. Very entertaining time watching the GSL. I Had a lot of fun with all the commentaries. I can feel he is humble, smart and funny. Very good job sir. Keep up with the good stuff !
somehow he seems a bit less critical to me when he is solo casting :D might just be a wrong impression but i kind of like they way he casts if he is solo casting. Maybe khaldor isnt the best casting partner for him? He seemed so much better casting solo/with artosis.
On June 13 2012 00:27 Bam Lee wrote: somehow he seems a bit less critical to me when he is solo casting :D might just be a wrong impression but i kind of like they way he casts if he is solo casting. Maybe khaldor isnt the best casting partner for him? He seemed so much better casting solo/with artosis.
I feel like it's cause he has more to talk about. He needs to do analysis at the same time as play by play so he tones his analysis down a bit and starts doing more play by play. I personally feel like Lone Wolf is much better than Wolf with others. He doesn't have a boring voice, has good knowledge, aids us in following the game and only makes a few mistakes. His mistakes are minor but could be changed. But over all he does a really good job alone. There is no real awkwardness when listening to Lone Wolf. I also think he jokes slightly less becuase there's nobody to joke with. So he makes jokes with the audience rather than his co-caster. Sometimes his co-caster doesn't get it and things become awkward.
On June 13 2012 00:27 Bam Lee wrote: somehow he seems a bit less critical to me when he is solo casting :D might just be a wrong impression but i kind of like they way he casts if he is solo casting. Maybe khaldor isnt the best casting partner for him? He seemed so much better casting solo/with artosis.
I feel like it's cause he has more to talk about. He needs to do analysis at the same time as play by play so he tones his analysis down a bit and starts doing more play by play. I personally feel like Lone Wolf is much better than Wolf with others. He doesn't have a boring voice, has good knowledge, aids us in following the game and only makes a few mistakes. His mistakes are minor but could be changed. But over all he does a really good job alone. There is no real awkwardness when listening to Lone Wolf. I also think he jokes slightly less becuase there's nobody to joke with. So he makes jokes with the audience rather than his co-caster. Sometimes his co-caster doesn't get it and things become awkward.
I have to admit though that this awkwardness was quite funny sometimes
On June 13 2012 00:27 Bam Lee wrote: somehow he seems a bit less critical to me when he is solo casting :D might just be a wrong impression but i kind of like they way he casts if he is solo casting. Maybe khaldor isnt the best casting partner for him? He seemed so much better casting solo/with artosis.
It's also probably easier to be critical when you're 2 casters. Both make their own analysis of what they see and confront them as they are casting the game.
When Wolf first started in code a, I virtually all but stopped watching code a completely. I'll give him credit, he's gotten way better. He went from unwatchable, to watchable, to now being very enjoyable, and has many strengths the vast majority of current casters simply do not have. I'll even throw Day9 into that list (has nothing to do with game knowledge either -_-)
What makes Wolf stand out especially among most casters is that he doesn't go into auto-pilot while casting. What I mean is, throw out random, bland statements that generally mean nothing and provide nothing to the quality of the cast. He has a fairly unique style, sometimes reflecting the analytical approaches of Artosis and the random entertaining tangents of Tasteless, but almost no one else does that and Wolf represents himself very well otherwise. The similarities don't drag him down at all; if anything they make him that much more enjoyable. When I listen to Wolf, I hear Wolf casting; not a random voice trying to follow the game which is the vibe most other casters give me.
Analytically, he's pretty solid. More importantly he conveys his thoughts very well. Theres few to no awkward pauses, few 'ums' and 'uhs,' as mentioned above he makes few to no bland and uninteresting statements that contribute nothing to the enjoyment of viewing a game. He's very well spoken, a highly, HIGHLY underrated characteristic among casters which I feel is equally important next to game knowledge, and he pulls both off very well.
Very, very few casters earn my praise. I feel most viewers appreciate passion a little too much over competence. I was on the fence about Wolf but after the monumental difference in his solo casting compared to the last MLG (where he solo casted GSL), Wolf should be showered with nothing but praise. An underrated caster who deserves more than what most others get offered in droves.
And I'll agree he 'coaches' the players he casts a lot, much like Artosis, and I feel like Artosis's personality and approach come off better than Wolf. He'd benefit from dropping it almost entirely, or coming at it from a different angle.
On June 13 2012 00:27 Bam Lee wrote: somehow he seems a bit less critical to me when he is solo casting :D might just be a wrong impression but i kind of like they way he casts if he is solo casting. Maybe khaldor isnt the best casting partner for him? He seemed so much better casting solo/with artosis.
I feel like it's cause he has more to talk about. He needs to do analysis at the same time as play by play so he tones his analysis down a bit and starts doing more play by play. I personally feel like Lone Wolf is much better than Wolf with others. He doesn't have a boring voice, has good knowledge, aids us in following the game and only makes a few mistakes. His mistakes are minor but could be changed. But over all he does a really good job alone. There is no real awkwardness when listening to Lone Wolf. I also think he jokes slightly less becuase there's nobody to joke with. So he makes jokes with the audience rather than his co-caster. Sometimes his co-caster doesn't get it and things become awkward.
I have to admit though that this awkwardness was quite funny sometimes
He has this same funny awkward vibe in person too, at least when I met him at the GSL last year. I mean that in a good way :D
I liked his solo casting. Often solo casting gets a little monotony but Wolf made it work. He even did the usual "my casting partner made a bad joke, now i must laugh" -thing all by himself :D That was pretty funny. Good job.
Wolf you have been doing a phenomenal job solo casting. Great game knowledge, insight, and play by play. I don't think many of our current casters could fill one role as well as he filled all roles at the same time. I put him up there with artosis after seeing this cast. Now we need to find him a great partner to compliment his strengths nicely. Khaldor is ok, but I don't think they have the best chemistry tbh. Incontrol to korea gogo
I enjoy his solo casting much more than his casting with Khaldor, which is weird because I'm a fan of Khaldor. He just seems more comfortable by himself and does, in my opinion, a much better job and made it really enjoyable for me to listen to.
I guess hes mid tier as a caster with very few being actually toptier in my book. The obvious ones being Artosis, Day9(although hes been getting worse lately imo, more shoutcasting then analyzis sometimes), Apollo and Incontrol. I would also consider both Idra and Grubby top tier casters even though they seldom do it. The few times ive heard both cast they are excellent. These guys know Sc2 and analyze very very well. Id even go so far to say that Apollo now for me is the nr1 analytical caster.. he just does his homework so well .. Im impressed by his professionalism.
Wolf on the other hand, hes decent but his analyzes are often wrong and more often then not he sounds very protoss bias and that annoys me. Might just be me though, anyone else reacted to this?
He is acceptable and I no longer feel the need to mute Code A like so many times before (kelly, Moletrap) so I guess thats a big step up! :D And he is definalty steadily improving, wich is very nice. Keep it up wolf!
Yeah I can't put my finger on it but he sounds much much better solo casting (besides way back when he casted with qxc). I really enjoyed the first two days of Code S, he was fantastic.
Wolf gotten really good lately. You can tell he actually study the match-ups, the upcoming trend of metagame, and he is able to provide all the information where the common players might not know. Really good job.
I really enjoy watching all of Wolf's casts. For me one of the best casters out there. Has a very good knowledge of Protoss matchups but could maybe improve a little on all the other matchups (TvZ, TvT, ZvZ).
I love wolf, I think he is one of the most amazing casters nowadays. He clearly puts a lot of effort into improving himself and it shows, I can't wait to see him cast more things :D
He has certainly improved a great deal (from unlistenable to tolerable), but I disagree with the level of praise he is receiving lately. He has a long way to go to reach the level of the other top-tier casters. I read "excellent" as meaning "the best" or "does not need to improve," so I cannot agree. Fair?
I'm kinda getting sick of Artosis and Tasteless. I know they are fan favorites but they seem to host every single major game in every tournament. People like Wolf are a good change, I think he's really good.
On June 14 2012 16:02 MichaelDonovan wrote: I REALLY enjoy his solo casting. He does a really great job of filling the space by himself. I definitely prefer LoneWolf over Wolfdor.
totally agree. i do enjoy wolf solo casting.
though i like khaldor in german, his english isn't fluenty enough for enjoyable listening.
He seems like a clone of artosis ... I mean every phrase he says you have already heard artosis say it. It's this that makes me not be able to listen to him for much more than 30 seconds.
On June 14 2012 16:53 Non0 wrote: I love wolf, I think he is one of the most amazing casters nowadays. He clearly puts a lot of effort into improving himself and it shows, I can't wait to see him cast more things :D
Yes. On the other hand he doesn't seem to force himself to be exciting. While he is "in character" as the caster, he still seems to be just the real guy, too.
On June 14 2012 16:02 MichaelDonovan wrote: I REALLY enjoy his solo casting. He does a really great job of filling the space by himself. I definitely prefer LoneWolf over Wolfdor.
I agree. I thought Wolf did a great job solo casting the first two groups of Code S. I wasn't a fan when he first started casting for GOM, but he's been getting better and better the more he casts. I really enjoy his casting now.
You don't have to be the best player to make comments on the best players. Is Rafael Nadal's coach better than him at tennis? Is Tiger Wood's coach better than him at golf? The answer is no. But you can still know what is good or bad even if you can't do it yourself.
Wolf is a good caster and I really enjoy his insights and analysis. He knows a lot about the players, the scene and can read and speak Korean which is cool.
He does use many of the same quotes as Artosis but they probably copy each other rather than Wolf only copy. I'd say nearly every group of friends has terms and expressions they all use.
Keep up the good work Wolf. I can tell you are crazy passionate about the game!
On June 14 2012 16:02 MichaelDonovan wrote: I REALLY enjoy his solo casting. He does a really great job of filling the space by himself. I definitely prefer LoneWolf over Wolfdor.
totally agree. i do enjoy wolf solo casting.
though i like khaldor in german, his english isn't fluenty enough for enjoyable listening.
Really, i think his english is better then some english speakers xp. I mean he has an accent but that is to be expected. I think once in a blue moon he has not known a word when he was just talking banter with wolf between games.
wolf is one of my favorite casters,, he has some things to improve on, but he's improving it in every game that he casts... he's in one of my top 5 favorite casters (1,2,and 3 being Tasteless, Artosis and Day9 in no particular order, Apollo and Wolf on 4th and 5th)
btw,, love his solo casting, its really hard to do and he did a good job doing it !
I think Wolf has great insight into Korean hairstyles. He is always right on the money when it comes to calling which players can pull of the blond-look for example or whether the 'bangs' are cut to the exact right length. It's also great that he doesn't just call the blatant changes in haircuts like so many other casters do. Oh geeh, he dyed his hair red, I hadn't noticed that myself, captain obvious!. No, Wolf picks up on the smaller changes too and manages to place them into the larger cultural picture. And he doesn't just fake it; no, he genuinely cares and his passion is clearly visible in his casting
And it once and for all proves that you don't have to have a great haircut yourself to make great haircut-calls.
As far as his Starcraft casting goes, I always enjoy listening to him. He is a funny guy, in a sometimes awkward kind of way.
Last time I saw this thread I criticised him abit for being too critical of players.
But his recent code S solo casting was actually just flat out amazing.
He was accurate, funny, entertaining and most importantly he really made the matches feel insanely important and help portray just what kind of emotion and pressure the players where under! I was blown away! Sitting on the edge of my seat just for group stage matches!
On June 14 2012 18:01 Lann555 wrote: I think Wolf has great insight into Korean hairstyles. He is always right on the money when it comes to calling which players can pull of the blond-look for example or whether the 'bangs' are cut to the exact right length. It's also great that he doesn't just call the blatant changes in haircuts like so many other casters do. Oh geeh, he dyed his hair red, I hadn't noticed that myself, captain obvious!. No, Wolf picks up on the smaller changes too and manages to place them into the larger cultural picture. And he doesn't just fake it; no, he genuinely cares and his passion is clearly visible in his casting
And it once and for all proves that you don't have to have a great haircut yourself to make great haircut-calls.
As far as his Starcraft casting goes, I always enjoy listening to him. He is a funny guy, in a sometimes awkward kind of way.
ROFL, my thoughts exactly. Wolf hair casting bonjwa.
I like your casting wolf. Analytical but not to the extent that you bore the match. Nor over the top that I feel like i should turn my volume down/off.
Wofl's been brilliant solo casting this week. I liked him during last season's code A, apart from he constantly just sat there while Khlador spoke over him all of the time. I like Khaldor too, but Wolf needs to start telling him to stfu sometimes!
He's top tier caster. So much knowledge of the game and the players, yeh he sometimes missconsiders sometimes but the only casters who aren't are Artosis and Day[9]. I don't mind caster critizing builds and i don't feel he is doing it to an extend where it isn't professional anymore. He's the only reason i'm watching code A and GSTL, cause i can't stand Khaldors casting.
I do agree Wolf seemed better as a solo caster, but I don't see that as a good thing actually. Wolf is very good but he needs to have synergy with Khaldor and his fellow co-casters.
I think Wolf is a great caster and did very well solo the other day.
My one critisim is that he often says the game is over really early. I want to believe that there could be an epic comeback - tell me what the player who's down needs to do to make it happen.
He's far from alone in that - Tasteless seems to do it a lot too.
This is quite an old thread apparently, but I hadn't seen it until now.
I think Wolf is a really good caster; he's funny and knowledgeable. The criticisms pointed out in the OP could also be applied to Artosis, who is considered the favorite caster by the majority of TLers I imagine. The problem is, you can't analyze without criticizing. They are the same thing. If you say that a particular strategy is not working, that is both analysis and criticism. I suppose you could say that without adding "so he needs to change his strategy", but it's really just an obvious addendum, since if the strategy isn't working, why wouldn't he change it?
I think it's fine to call out players. None of them are infallible, or else we'd have a 10-time GSL champion by now. It's wrong to say that just because a caster is in Masters that he is unable to spot when a superior player makes mistakes, and then comment on those mistakes. Half of the casters in SC2 don't even spot stuff like this, so you should be thankful that guys like Wolf and Artosis are good enough to notice.
My experience was that he was a really great solo caster. There never seemed to be a point where he didn't have something interesting to say and I was quite surprised by that, since when he casts with Khaldor there is sometimes dead time between one speaking and then the other. I was very engaged with Wolf solo casting, I really liked it
I really don't understand why people would think poorly of Wolf. He is an awesome caster and seems to go into over-drive mode when solo casting (better than Tasteless or Artosis at solo casting for sure). He is solid as fuck.
Wolf has really stepped it up and I enjoy what he adds to GOM. If anything, what he needs is a really good partner like Tasteless to throw to every once and a while. Some of my favorite moments on GOM are when Tastetosis talk about 8 bit games, pirate bird or other things they create to fill the gaps. Wolf needs someone to have that kind of back and fourth with.
Stop calling games as you think they will end. Please cast more and inject your personal favoritism less. Its frustrating and throws off completely the atmosphere. Stop it.
My bad on this, this is more appropriately directed at khalador, not Wolf, this was a mispost.
On June 28 2012 20:01 wangstra wrote: Stop calling games as you think they will end. Please cast more and inject your personal favoritism less. Its frustrating and throws off completely the atmosphere. Stop it.
sheesh bro, chill down. Some things aren't worth being frustated about...
On June 28 2012 20:01 wangstra wrote: Stop calling games as you think they will end. Please cast more and inject your personal favoritism less. Its frustrating and throws off completely the atmosphere. Stop it.
I don't get why people bitch about games being called. If you see a four gate against a two gate robo with no sentries, how else would you fucking call the game?
It's ok for the casters to be wrong, especially when the cards are stacked completely against one player. MC should have lost that game, and Squirtle should have won it. That's it. Wolf made the correct call there. MC won it through grit and completely uncommon micro and proved Starcraft 2 wrong.
Wolf, man, I was just thinking the other day about how awesome of a commentator you are. Don't listen to these chumps. Go ahead and call games whenever you damn please, most of us honestly don't get why these people care about it. I SOOOO much prefer confidence over "oh this game MIGHT end right here. there is a possibility that..." it is unbelievably annoying to hear a commentator trying to step around saying something he believes.
On June 28 2012 20:11 SilSol wrote: The only thing i would say is that hes not the best caster out there for sure And i know many of the top players share my oppinion in that ;]
Thanks for your well-thought, educated, detailed contribution (which he can use to improve his casting) in a feedback thread.
Yeah, I had the sudden urge to actually open team liquid and complain in the LR thread about how annoying his cast was. Too many bad calls, over excitement, too much screaming and I just got really annoyed by it. Bad Wolf!
But of course some people liked it and thought it was the best casting ever, which just goes to show how people have different standards.
On June 28 2012 20:01 wangstra wrote: Stop calling games as you think they will end. Please cast more and inject your personal favoritism less. Its frustrating and throws off completely the atmosphere. Stop it.
I don't get why people bitch about games being called. If you see a four gate against a two gate robo with no sentries, how else would you fucking call the game?
It's ok for the casters to be wrong, especially when the cards are stacked completely against one player. MC should have lost that game, and Squirtle should have won it. That's it. Wolf made the correct call there. MC won it through grit and completely uncommon micro and proved Starcraft 2 wrong.
people can hold off 4gates with superior micro thats just the way it is, its not "proving Starcraft 2 wrong" for example HerO held off naniwas 4 gate with 2 gate just 2 weeks ago wouldnt it seem stupid for amazing players like hero or MC to go for builds that lose to a 4 gate 100% of the time?
I missed that moment in the cast today so i cant complain about that, but I did feel like Wolf sounded a bit fake overexcited today. No biggie, you dont wanna sound boring either, just gotta find the right balance
wolf, you re an awesome caster but dont try to predict games, its not an important part of the cast tbh, saying "its really difficult" is better than saying its over, i believe, but try not to focus the casting on that part!
Wolf is probably my favorite caster. I watched him since his amateur days in his very own Wolf Cup Series. He is probably the most improved caster as well. Definitely right up there with Artosis.
I for one find it much more exciting when the caster (along with most of the viewers) thinks that one player has almost certainly won, and then that player loses. It's like "that comeback was so intense that even the caster thought it was over!"
As long as the call isn't egregiously wrong, it's fine. If a low-knowledge caster calls an almost-even game over, then there might be reason to bitch...
On June 28 2012 20:01 wangstra wrote: Stop calling games as you think they will end. Please cast more and inject your personal favoritism less. Its frustrating and throws off completely the atmosphere. Stop it.
I don't get why people bitch about games being called. If you see a four gate against a two gate robo with no sentries, how else would you fucking call the game?
It's ok for the casters to be wrong, especially when the cards are stacked completely against one player. MC should have lost that game, and Squirtle should have won it. That's it. Wolf made the correct call there. MC won it through grit and completely uncommon micro and proved Starcraft 2 wrong.
No. Two gate robo can counter 4gate when executed well. If MC had 2 pylons power the robo, then it would have been a lot easier to defend and losing that pylon delayed his immortal like 30secs. If you play somewhat high level (grandmaster/highmaster) PvP with 2gate robo, you will be in those situations a lot. Immortals are sick good against stalkers and do some good damage against zealots also. I think it was pretty clear that MC defended that after his immortal was almost out. I too got annoyed when Wolf started screaming "SQUIRTLE WILL MOVE TO ROUND OF 8".
First of all he is doing a great job. I like listening to him ofc, BUT there are two points, which I really don´t like. He sometimes calls the game 10000000000000000000% over before it is. e.g look at the games squirtle vs mc. It looks like MC has lost but he pulled of a miracle defence and won the game. Here he can imo improve a bit by just saying this like: " wow, this game looks like over, IF mc doesn´t pull of some miracle defence". Those statements are way better than this game is 10000000000000% over squirtle goes to round of 8. On the other hand pls talk less off topic. Sometimes it is nice but it can get quite annoying.
Correct those "bad" habits and he is a great caster imho.
in best regards to wolf I enjoy you watching already and after you take my pov into consideration It could be an ever more pleasure to watch you cast sc2 games =)
Love him atm, only liked him a bit when he began casting and i was really sad he had to work with Moletrap. Him and the other guy that doesn't cast anymore ( was it Doa or something like that ? ) was a really good casting duo. But at this point in time he is my number 2/3 caster for sure, he really needs to get a good partner... him + Artosis was almost better than Artosis + Tasteless at times.
On June 28 2012 21:01 Aterons_toss wrote: Love him atm, only liked him a bit when he began casting and i was really sad he had to work with Moletrap. Him and the other guy that doesn't cast anymore ( was it Doa or something like that ? ) was a really good casting duo. But at this point in time he is my number 2/3 caster for sure, he really needs to get a good partner... him + Artosis was almost better than Artosis + Tasteless at times.
I liked Wolf at the beginning but now he is starting to irritate me moe and more by always making wrong calls and saying the game is over before it is. Also Khaldor should not be casting the GSL he is nowhere near being a top notch level caster.
I love Wolf's casting - except for when he comes out as blatantly arrogant. Many other casters are also starting to do it more and more, for instance Kevin and Doa during the recent EG vs MVP round of IPL TAC3, there's a lot of "I really don't like this choice from him", "I really don't like this and that".
The point is that the casters should not be condescending or sound like they think they could do it better than the pros they're casting. The only time that outright dismissing a player's choices and sounding like you could have done it better doesn't make me cringe is when current or ex top level players are doing the casting, like Tastosis, iNcontroL, IdrA, DeMusliM etc.
On June 28 2012 21:05 Yaki wrote: I liked Wolf at the beginning but now he is starting to irritate me moe and more by always making wrong calls and saying the game is over before it is. Also Khaldor should not be casting the GSL he is nowhere near being a top notch level caster.
Unfortunately for you this is not the Khaldor bashing thread, it's the Wolf feedback thread. I think Wolf is doing great, and i Hate You.
I don't really like Wolf casting, I think he calls things way too early, and really takes it way too far. It's fine if he's like oh he should gg soon, but he goes in the MC Squirtle game and starts yelling SQUIRTLE IS GOING TO THE ROUND OF 8!!!! and it's just like come on, game's not even over what the hell are you yelling at.
Wolf disbelief when he realized that MC was going to be able to defend despite loosing the pylon powering his two gates and his robo is what made this game epic.
I think Wolf have improved a lot lately. His knowledge of "up-coming" trend, metagame shift is very up to date. He knows all match-ups and maps very well. In a sense, his casting style is more like Artosis. However, SC2 is a game more than just "numbers". Such as Squirtle vs MC, MC have out micro-ed his opponent. I think the casters should be more reserved in their opinion on the situation instead of just calling GG base on mere number. As an audience, once I saw MC pull back that one stalker. I already had a feeling he might hold, having the caster calling GG, GG, GG, non-stop is not casting at all. They should really focus the casting on the micro and situation. Like, Tastosis really.
Otherwise, Wolf Khaldor is doing great! I enjoy their cast!
On June 28 2012 21:36 Jetaap wrote: Wolf disbelief when he realized that MC was going to be able to defend despite loosing the pylon powering his two gates and his robo is what made this game epic.
This. I've watched every single GSL A/S since Open 1 and with all the different casters I have found that Wolf has been fantastic, definitely one of my favourites. I'm a massive Tastosis fanboy but I think that Wolf makes watching it enjoyable. Sure, he might make a prediction that doesn't turn out correctly, but tell me any commentator of any sport where commentators are always right? They never are, but its their enthusiasm that makes it so much better to watch.
I like Wolf's casting very much. I just want to point something out that annoys me a bit, not only on him but ony some other casters.
When ending a sentence for a break or something else, a lot of SC2 casters keep saying their nickname, where they are etc.
"We will be back for 5mins I am Wolf and this is the GSL"
I mean we all know who you are and what we're watching. I've never heard something like this by professional commentators on football, F1, tennis, or anything else i've watched / heard. Not sure where this mania came from. Probably originated from Artosis and Tasteless because they do it as well, and are considered the best casting duo... as long as SC2 casters go. When learning from them, casters should keep in mind that there are much better commentators out there from other sports to learn from.
I think that the "called game" issue that people give so much negative feedback on can be easily fixed; it's just a question of framing. If you say "This game is over", then it is annoying to a lot of viewers. You can get the exact same information accross, though, by framing it as "This is a horribly difficult position for %PLAYER%, to come back from this he'll have to..."
There's always something that could happen to cause a game to go the other way. Pull off a miraculous defense, exploit a serious mistake by his opponent, harass perfectly while forcing a really long game, get off nothing but perfect storms for the next five minutes. By framing it in terms of the game being over, you're dismissing the efforts of the losing player to find some way out. By framining it in terms of the immensity of the challenge to be overcome, you're conveying the same information about the state of play, but in a way that allows for the possibility of a comeback and gives you a frame for describing how incredible it is in the one game in a hundred when it actually happens.
On June 28 2012 22:16 AmericanUmlaut wrote: I that that the "called game" issue that people give so much negative feedback on can be easily fixed; it's just a question of framing. If you say "This game is over", then it is annoying to a lot of viewers. You can get the exact same information accross, though, by framing it as "This is a horribly difficult position for %PLAYER%, to come back from this he'll have to..."
There's always something that could happen to cause a game to go the other way. Pull off a miraculous defense, exploit a serious mistake by his opponent, harass perfectly while forcing a really long game, get off nothing but perfect storms for the next five minutes. By framing it in terms of the game being over, you're dismissing the efforts of the losing player to find some way out. By framining it in terms of the immensity of the challenge to be overcome, you're conveying the same information about the state of play, but in a way that allows for the possibility of a comeback and gives you a frame for describing how incredible it is in the one game in a hundred when it actually happens.
On the other hand "predicting" the game is about to be over makes him look knowledgeable. Not just him but casters in general are too caught up over being cool and witty (Tastosis effect perhaps?) over professional, thought out entertainment like that. No wonder the koreans are so much better.
Calling GG is actually a good thing. It allows the casters to create a narrative where the losing player's chances were diminished until the eventual defeat. If they keep talking about how he might have a chance then to suddenly see the GG appear in chat and the game end can make things maybe feel unfinished. That's why when Tastosis note that "this game is over, we'll see gg any second now" and it actually happens five seconds after, that improves the cast in my opinion. Of course, if they make the wrong call wrt this enough times eventually people will start to dislike the phrase to begin with and it will just trigger annoyance.
Calling gg too early just makes him look stupid. MC vs Squirtle game today for example. MC was soon to have immortal. Calling gg before fight even happen is just stupid. when squirtle destroyed artosis pylon, all wolf and khaldor talk was how MC is done and he cant do anything to win this game and did not concentrate on game itself MC drop immediately 2 pylons to those gates while microing his army made all right decisions and all i heard was how he is going to lose.
I'm re watching all the vods from today again and usually i'm a wolf fan but today his casting with quite off. Not really focusing on the game with tangential jokes for long periods, also making quite a few bad calls. However, i think his overall performance throughout gsl/gstl has been really good and might just be an off day that everyone occasionally has.
On June 29 2012 04:21 SiroKO wrote: He doesn't look and sound very bright, that's the most politically correct thing I can say about him.
What? That's not feedback, it's is uncalled for.
My feedback from todays Code S matches would be dont call GG too early, It's anti climatic. I noticed you stopped doing it later in the cast and I appreciate that. other than that youre doing a great job and keep it up!
On June 28 2012 20:14 Grumbels wrote: Yeah, I had the sudden urge to actually open team liquid and complain in the LR thread about how annoying his cast was. Too many bad calls, over excitement, too much screaming and I just got really annoyed by it. Bad Wolf!
But of course some people liked it and thought it was the best casting ever, which just goes to show how people have different standards.
Foreign casters have too little energy. When we have someone put out enough to rival the Korean casters, people complain? Dear jesus.
On June 28 2012 20:14 Grumbels wrote: Yeah, I had the sudden urge to actually open team liquid and complain in the LR thread about how annoying his cast was. Too many bad calls, over excitement, too much screaming and I just got really annoyed by it. Bad Wolf!
But of course some people liked it and thought it was the best casting ever, which just goes to show how people have different standards.
Foreign casters have too little energy. When we have someone put out enough to rival the Korean casters, people complain? Dear jesus.
Its not just about how loud you are. Of course this its impossible to be objective about it but to me Wolf sounded a bit fake and I didnt get excited through his loud play by play. When Old tasteless would cast BW by himself he would shoult like crazy and I'd have goosebumps all over, when Wolf does it i dont enjoy it. I do realize that this isnt constructive in the slightest though I wish i could be more helpful
On June 28 2012 21:05 Yaki wrote: I liked Wolf at the beginning but now he is starting to irritate me moe and more by always making wrong calls and saying the game is over before it is. Also Khaldor should not be casting the GSL he is nowhere near being a top notch level caster.
Unfortunately for you this is not the Khaldor bashing thread, it's the Wolf feedback thread. I think Wolf is doing great, and i Hate You.
I am free to give my opinion and I did it in a polite, fanboy
I personally actually find wolf rather ... over the top. He'll see a single marine die and go "THE LEAD HAS CHANGED, THE ZERG IS GOING TO WIN" (rash example, but that's my general impression when he casts) So if you like that over-hyped crazy "gogogogogo" type casting, then do it up, I just prefer the more knowledge based casting and the issue when khaldor and wolf are casting is that simply they both fit the same role as shout casters, and as much as Khaldor want's to analytically cast, he just can't do it... : ( from my perspective at least.
On June 29 2012 07:04 NeMeSiS3 wrote: I personally actually find wolf rather ... over the top. He'll see a single marine die and go "THE LEAD HAS CHANGED, THE ZERG IS GOING TO WIN" (rash example, but that's my general impression when he casts) So if you like that over-hyped crazy "gogogogogo" type casting, then do it up, I just prefer the more knowledge based casting and the issue when khaldor and wolf are casting is that simply they both fit the same role as shout casters, and as much as Khaldor want's to analytically cast, he just can't do it... : ( from my perspective at least.
He is over the top with the random yelling, but its not the same as other casters when they get hyped up. Maybe because of his monotone voice it just doesn`t really register for me or get me hyped. I think Wolf is only good when he is solo casting because he spends less time making it sound depressing and more time calling what is happening.
On June 29 2012 04:21 SiroKO wrote: He doesn't look and sound very bright, that's the most politically correct thing I can say about him.
What? That's not feedback, it's is uncalled for.
My feedback from todays Code S matches would be dont call GG too early, It's anti climatic. I noticed you stopped doing it later in the cast and I appreciate that. other than that youre doing a great job and keep it up!
On June 29 2012 04:21 SiroKO wrote: He doesn't look and sound very bright, that's the most politically correct thing I can say about him.
This comment and it's poster is definitely not bright. Ahhh, superficiality. Just ignore stuff like this Wolf!
Alright. I heard that listening to Mozart was increasing intellectual prowess, therefore I suggest him that.
In all seriousness, it would be great if he stopped staring/nodding at the camera with a fake straight-face in between his unbearable fake laughs, wrong game calls and rash judgements which for some reasons are refered to as "casting".
On June 28 2012 21:29 AlgeriaT wrote: I love Wolf's casting - except for when he comes out as blatantly arrogant. Many other casters are also starting to do it more and more, for instance Kevin and Doa during the recent EG vs MVP round of IPL TAC3, there's a lot of "I really don't like this choice from him", "I really don't like this and that".
The point is that the casters should not be condescending or sound like they think they could do it better than the pros they're casting. The only time that outright dismissing a player's choices and sounding like you could have done it better doesn't make me cringe is when current or ex top level players are doing the casting, like Tastosis, iNcontroL, IdrA, DeMusliM etc.
I'd like to second this post. I think DJWheat is exhibit A in how to contribute to casting a game and keeping it exciting while not predicting a game, generically evaluating a game, and he does it without relying on too much background analytical knowledge. When evaluating a position, try to be specific about what is an advantage or a disadvantage, rather than "X player is going to lose" or "Y player is far behind". We watch the games because we love the players and want to see the genius in their play, so make the games exciting for us, and try not to inject what you predict will happen (even if you ARE right). It really guts the fun out of watching a game when a caster is talking down the gameplay of a player (considering how competitive code S and even A is). Wolf has been coming off as either whiny or arrogant when a player stats to build a disadvantage, and it detracts from enjoying how things play out. I think this deserves to be on the feedback thread because these are all correctable issues, and I think they have been more and more of a problem in recent seasons of the GSL. Originally Wolf stuck to analyzing what he saw in front of him, and going off the play-by-play, and the quality of the cast was far better.
It seems like a large part of Wolf's casting relies on predicting what either player is going to do (XYZ build, Win/Lose, etc.) That has a time and a place in any cast but it shouldn't dominate the cast. It ends up sounding like, "I want you to know that I know stuff about this game". The sentence in quotes also seems responsible for his defending calls he makes that are incorrect as well. When Tasteless or Artosis call a build wrong, they laugh it off and it's over. Wolf dwells on it and does everything he can to convince the viewer that he is smart after all, even though he got something wrong. It's annoying. The point of casting sc2 games for GomTV isn't to show that you know your stuff, it's to educate and entertain the viewers. I feel neither educated nor entertained while im listening to wolf say, "oh, well I got the build wrong because..." or, "He has lost this game. He needs to GG". I won't even get into what he said about how Bomber was embarrassing himself. The game itself dragged on a little. Yes. It's true. But complaining about it for 10 minutes isn't going to make me feel any better about it. Saying bomber is embarrassing himself is just awful given the caliber of player he is and the entertaining game he showed us up to that point.
Wolf, your job first and foremost as a caster for GomTV is to make GomTV look good. It's to make everything that happens in the GSL and GSTL wonderful, fantastic, and enjoyable. It's beyond your abilities sometimes when games are bad. I get that. But don't make the problem worse by bitching about it. Try to make it better. How you do that is up to you and it is what will define what makes you an entertaining caster.
I guess what I think of you as a caster is as follows: When you are casting a good game, you are entertaining and educational. I enjoy your casts most of the time during good games when they aren't being bogged down by too many predictions and excuses for getting a prediction wrong. When you are casting a bad game, you are actually the most difficult caster to enjoy for the reasons I listed above.
It should go without saying that I don't dislike you and take what I've said as criticism from an anonymous netizen but hopefully this was helpful.
Main complaint for Wolf is he gets SUPER mad when the game drags out even when there's virtually no chance left. I assume Fantasy ain't on his list of players to watch.
I used to think he was just okay.. but then i saw him cast a game with bomber vs freaky. Total joke. Bomber was staying in the game and couldn't beat freakys 30+ infestors. Then wolf was totally disrespectful. He went to kill a couple lings in his main and wolf says " yeah okay bomber killing those zerglings is going to win you the game".
He then went on to say Bomber's playing was an embarassment. TBH I think the only embarassing thing is the way wolf casts games. GG LOL. Nice call out bro.
On July 01 2012 13:14 VictorJones wrote: It seems like a large part of Wolf's casting relies on predicting what either player is going to do (XYZ build, Win/Lose, etc.) That has a time and a place in any cast but it shouldn't dominate the cast. It ends up sounding like, "I want you to know that I know stuff about this game". The sentence in quotes also seems responsible for his defending calls he makes that are incorrect as well. When Tasteless or Artosis call a build wrong, they laugh it off and it's over. Wolf dwells on it and does everything he can to convince the viewer that he is smart after all, even though he got something wrong. It's annoying. The point of casting sc2 games for GomTV isn't to show that you know your stuff, it's to educate and entertain the viewers. I feel neither educated nor entertained while im listening to wolf say, "oh, well I got the build wrong because..." or, "He has lost this game. He needs to GG". I won't even get into what he said about how Bomber was embarrassing himself. The game itself dragged on a little. Yes. It's true. But complaining about it for 10 minutes isn't going to make me feel any better about it. Saying bomber is embarrassing himself is just awful given the caliber of player he is and the entertaining game he showed us up to that point.
Wolf, your job first and foremost as a caster for GomTV is to make GomTV look good. It's to make everything that happens in the GSL and GSTL wonderful, fantastic, and enjoyable. It's beyond your abilities sometimes when games are bad. I get that. But don't make the problem worse by bitching about it. Try to make it better. How you do that is up to you and it is what will define what makes you an entertaining caster.
+1 to all of this.
That said, Wolf is still in my top 3 casters (tastosis = 1 caster) and has been one of my favorites since he first started with GOM.
Wolf, if you read this: Please stop interrupting Khaldor. Its extremley bad mannered to not let a person finish his argument, especially when you just mirror the same argument. Its understandable once in a while, but when its 10 or so times to a teamleague match - its way too much. I understand you want to agree/prove you understand the game. Khaldor is already a guy that takes up much space/time, but as you are a duo you really need to work this out.
I often get the feeling Khaldor remains silent by virtue of professionalism, but is boiling on the inside.
Wrong predictions and dissing people for bad GG timings is understandable.
On July 17 2012 20:53 Aphasie wrote: Wolf, if you read this: Please stop interrupting Khaldor. Its extremley bad mannered to not let a person finish his argument, especially when you just mirror the same argument. Its understandable once in a while, but when its 10 or so times to a teamleague match - its way too much. I understand you want to agree/prove you understand the game. Khaldor is already a guy that takes up much space/time, but as you are a duo you really need to work this out.
I often get the feeling Khaldor remains silent by virtue of professionalism, but is boiling on the inside.
Wrong predictions and dissing people for bad GG timings is understandable.
I disagree with this. I often hear Khaldor interrupt Wolf more than vise-versa. Maybe it happens both ways, but I very rarely hear Wolf talk over Khaldor.
Wolf I love your casting, and you are one of the few casters that understands the game almost completely and can analyze every matchup.
On July 17 2012 20:53 Aphasie wrote: Wolf, if you read this: Please stop interrupting Khaldor. Its extremley bad mannered to not let a person finish his argument, especially when you just mirror the same argument. Its understandable once in a while, but when its 10 or so times to a teamleague match - its way too much. I understand you want to agree/prove you understand the game. Khaldor is already a guy that takes up much space/time, but as you are a duo you really need to work this out.
I often get the feeling Khaldor remains silent by virtue of professionalism, but is boiling on the inside.
Wrong predictions and dissing people for bad GG timings is understandable.
I'd say it's the other way around, sometimes Wolf can't get a word in, especially if a particular race is in the game.
Their chemistry is really improving though, and they're my favourite combination right now, easily overtaking Tastosis.
On July 20 2012 17:28 Nekovivie wrote: Tell the story about how Coca and Byun conspired over the Code S spot more. It's a great story.
is this sarcasm? I'm curious cus I haven't been able to watch GSL much recently
Yea it is, Wolf like many others keeps saying the whole Byun - Coca mess was because of a code A spot while that wasn't on the line. He is basically misinforming the viewers.
And Wolf, can you please please stop talking about hair, it is getting very disturbing after a while.
Wolf, you've become one of my top 3 fav casters. A few nights back this line made me burst out laughing for 2 minutes. "what is he thinking? I don't want to be over critical, but he's not in his right mind. He needs to warp in the stalkers next to the cannon. "
Was hilarious because of how true that statement was. He was obviously playing on nerves. Kept warping in 4 stalkers right into mutas.
On July 20 2012 17:28 Nekovivie wrote: Tell the story about how Coca and Byun conspired over the Code S spot more. It's a great story.
is this sarcasm? I'm curious cus I haven't been able to watch GSL much recently
Yea it is, Wolf like many others keeps saying the whole Byun - Coca mess was because of a code A spot while that wasn't on the line. He is basically misinforming the viewers.
And Wolf, can you please please stop talking about hair, it is getting very disturbing after a while.
Code A spot was the prize of the tournament they were competing in (if the winner wasn't already in the GSL). Wolf mixed up and thought I was Coca who wanted the spot but in fact it was Byun, and Coca was already in Code S
No worries though, apparently no one else seems to remember what happened
On June 28 2012 21:29 AlgeriaT wrote: I love Wolf's casting - except for when he comes out as blatantly arrogant. Many other casters are also starting to do it more and more, for instance Kevin and Doa during the recent EG vs MVP round of IPL TAC3, there's a lot of "I really don't like this choice from him", "I really don't like this and that".
The point is that the casters should not be condescending or sound like they think they could do it better than the pros they're casting. The only time that outright dismissing a player's choices and sounding like you could have done it better doesn't make me cringe is when current or ex top level players are doing the casting, like Tastosis, iNcontroL, IdrA, DeMusliM etc.
I'd like to second this post. I think DJWheat is exhibit A in how to contribute to casting a game and keeping it exciting while not predicting a game, generically evaluating a game, and he does it without relying on too much background analytical knowledge. When evaluating a position, try to be specific about what is an advantage or a disadvantage, rather than "X player is going to lose" or "Y player is far behind". We watch the games because we love the players and want to see the genius in their play, so make the games exciting for us, and try not to inject what you predict will happen (even if you ARE right). It really guts the fun out of watching a game when a caster is talking down the gameplay of a player (considering how competitive code S and even A is). Wolf has been coming off as either whiny or arrogant when a player stats to build a disadvantage, and it detracts from enjoying how things play out. I think this deserves to be on the feedback thread because these are all correctable issues, and I think they have been more and more of a problem in recent seasons of the GSL. Originally Wolf stuck to analyzing what he saw in front of him, and going off the play-by-play, and the quality of the cast was far better.
There's a difference between being a caster and being a commentator.
DJwheat is a caster. Wolf is more of a commentator.
On July 20 2012 17:28 Nekovivie wrote: Tell the story about how Coca and Byun conspired over the Code S spot more. It's a great story.
is this sarcasm? I'm curious cus I haven't been able to watch GSL much recently
Yea it is, Wolf like many others keeps saying the whole Byun - Coca mess was because of a code A spot while that wasn't on the line. He is basically misinforming the viewers.
And Wolf, can you please please stop talking about hair, it is getting very disturbing after a while.
Code A spot was the prize of the tournament they were competing in (if the winner wasn't already in the GSL). Wolf mixed up and thought I was Coca who wanted the spot but in fact it was Byun, and Coca was already in Code S
No worries though, apparently no one else seems to remember what happened
Great, now i look like a hypocrite So confusing since there are about 10version of this drama.
If you're getting paid to cast then you shouldn't be so socially awkward and make your flagship comments commenting on people's hair. It astounds me how he even casts.
If you know anything about the viewer-content business then you need to find someone with allure to replace him and someone who can be an armchair commander in an entertaining and non-condescending manner.
Tastosis has obviously set the bar with their charming and comical back and forths but this is just a disaster and if I want to imitate Wolf commenting on people's builds that he can't see through then I'll say " SCRAP IT AND GG THESE CASTS".
Its even more embarassing when they throw poor Tasteless to deal with it as well, god bless his soul.
* Every cast I know that has Wolf casting I just automatically don't even watch tbh.
-Don't try to make every joke work, you aren't Tastosis; its like you are scratching to find some kinda laugh in whatever you are talking about sometimes. I feel like if i was your co-caster with you i could say anything and you would try to make it work to burn time. It would be good if you could derail my garbage topic that i would bring up.
-Too much interest in things we all know you aren't interested in; maybe its small talk to kill time (Ex: everything you say about hair) I would be more interested if you could drop some fun facts about the players aside from "He's doing good."
-Don't say "There is no way of coming back" because you have been wrong on that multiple occasions; instead you should try to look from the losing players perspective at that moment and say something like "The only way he/she can win now is if he can get another pylon up and get out an immortal because its so effective vs stalkers" (squirtle MC was it?)
I rather appreciate Wolf's casting. In fact the only thing that really annoys me, which happens 0 to 4 times per game, and lasts for about 5 seconds (so this is acceptable, therefore I voted "good"), is when he speaks like a 5 year old kid that always has everything he wants asking something to his parents, but in a totally different context : "he is coming with his armyyyyyyy !" - "you better be readyyyyyy" etc etc. Artosis was doing this in the beginning, but almost never does it anymore. Overall, a very good caster imo, that's the only easily-improvable remark I have for him.
I voted fair, but I won't listen to him. Sometimes he casts the first couple days of code S because Tastosis is out of town and I just skip those. He is ok, but he is also droll and boring. He basically just tells you what's on the screen, but with a technical eye. I prefer the mixed style of Tastosis. I feel like they cast the whole game, rather than just what's happening at the moment, and their banter is amusing sometimes. I just don't get the same entertainment value from Wolf.
On July 20 2012 22:10 sfdrew wrote: I voted fair, but I won't listen to him. Sometimes he casts the first couple days of code S because Tastosis is out of town and I just skip those. He is ok, but he is also droll and boring. He basically just tells you what's on the screen, but with a technical eye. I prefer the mixed style of Tastosis. I feel like they cast the whole game, rather than just what's happening at the moment, and their banter is amusing sometimes. I just don't get the same entertainment value from Wolf.
On July 20 2012 22:10 sfdrew wrote: I voted fair, but I won't listen to him. Sometimes he casts the first couple days of code S because Tastosis is out of town and I just skip those. He is ok, but he is also droll and boring. He basically just tells you what's on the screen, but with a technical eye. I prefer the mixed style of Tastosis. I feel like they cast the whole game, rather than just what's happening at the moment, and their banter is amusing sometimes. I just don't get the same entertainment value from Wolf.
A commentator who tells you what's on the screen? What will they think of next!
One thing that annoys me about wolf is his excited voice. He emphasizes the end of every sentence and it's just very repetitive. I'm sure he's gotten feedback on this so I wish he'd work on it.
On July 20 2012 22:35 Doodsmack wrote: One thing that annoys me about wolf is his excited voice. He emphasizes the end of every sentence and it's just very repetitive. I'm sure he's gotten feedback on this so I wish he'd work on it.
A lot of people don't mind this. Some actually prefer it that way. His excited voice really gets me pumped up and I'm not sure I'd want it any other way. Wolf to me is a fantastic caster.
I overall like this caster. He needs to work a bit more on his synergy with Khaldor (they interrupt each other from time to time, and it seem that their talk time isn't really equal) besides that, totally decent casting.
Wolf and Khaldor made FXO vs MVP soooo exciting to watch! I enjoy this combo more than Tastosis these days. Especially in the set Lucky vs Keen (? I think ?) I was amazed when Khaldor explained Lucky's kind of all-in attack and mentioned what Lucky was aiming for with it, because he actually spoke with Lucky himself about his strategy. I bet even Artosis doesn't have THIS kind of inside knowledge, I bet none of the foreign casters are actually talking to the Korean players deeply about their strategies. Big thumbs up for that.
IDK about you guys, but I like the hair critique. Everything has its time and place, I just think Wolf needs to work on timing a bit. When to say what, etc.
His solo casts were spot on IMO. Once the element of caster interaction was removed, we had a chance to see Wolf's depiction of the game. It was like a gapless interaction between spectator and him, he joked about not being able to handle it well but it worked out fantastically as I was thoroughly entertained And educated.
On July 20 2012 22:35 Doodsmack wrote: One thing that annoys me about wolf is his excited voice. He emphasizes the end of every sentence and it's just very repetitive. I'm sure he's gotten feedback on this so I wish he'd work on it.
A lot of people don't mind this. Some actually prefer it that way. His excited voice really gets me pumped up and I'm not sure I'd want it any other way. Wolf to me is a fantastic caster.
Are you saying you prefer him emphasizing the end of each sentence and trailing it off ("readyyyyy")? That's what I'm annoyed by, I do agree he should use an excited voice though.
The only big issue i have with wolf, is how much he talks about hair, nonstop, everytime, about everyone, it's annoying. It's not just once, its every person, every player, totally out of topic, bad moments, it's not just like a random comment once a day, he talks more about hair than starcraft.
It would be okay if he talked about it, when like an introduction to player maybe? Tastosis talk about them being handsome, so he could say that the hair looks good, or makes him look bad. That would be fine. But they are talking about the upcoming matches, and he just randomly talks about people's hair, and styles when it doesn't matter and is out of place.
On July 23 2012 16:43 Kabi wrote: The only big issue i have with wolf, is how much he talks about hair, nonstop, everytime, about everyone, it's annoying. It's not just once, its every person, every player, totally out of topic, bad moments, it's not just like a random comment once a day, he talks more about hair than starcraft.
It would be okay if he talked about it, when like an introduction to player maybe? Tastosis talk about them being handsome, so he could say that the hair looks good, or makes him look bad. That would be fine. But they are talking about the upcoming matches, and he just randomly talks about people's hair, and styles when it doesn't matter and is out of place.
It's his trade mark. Every famous person has one. I find it funny. I've given this man some shit, but he's become one of the best casters in sc2. When he solo casts, notice he's much more down to business. Describing every aspect of the situation at hand. The fooling around is a result of the current trend among popular casting duos to joke around.
Honestly, I like Khaldor, but Wolf is a far superior caster in terms of game knowledge and I'd like to see him cast more solo. When he casts with Khaldor he dumbs everything down to diamond level or below while alone he's a force to be reckoned with.
-Too much interest in things we all know you aren't interested in; maybe its small talk to kill time (Ex: everything you say about hair) I would be more interested if you could drop some fun facts about the players aside from "He's doing good."
He looks to much at everything from the protoss perspective and his knowledge is alot better there. I dont blame him ofc he is more intrested in protoss but this is more of a question to please all the viewers. Maybe you should play random? it will greatly increase your terran/zerg knowledge.
And please stop talking about hair and how handsome every player is, its only fun when tastosis does it. Find your own topic, will be alot better then
wolf is really annoying. No knowledge, crappy voice and banter. Khaldor is a little better but not by much, he gets way to excitable but not in a sports caster kind of way.
I find wolf annoying for many of the previously listed reasons, and then last night while he casted Jangbi , I found out he had almost no awareness of BW, which made it that much worse in my book. Spend some time on BW liquipedia and watch PL/starleague finals on youtube please if you want to be informed on the Kespa players. Know your heritage.
I also *hate* how he critiques rather than hyping, especially since he has no competitive experience.
On July 23 2012 23:04 0neder wrote: I find wolf annoying for many of the previously listed reasons, and then last night while he casted Jangbi , I found out he had almost no awareness of BW, which made it that much worse in my book. Spend some time on BW liquipedia and watch PL/starleague finals on youtube please if you want to be informed on the Kespa players. Know your heritage.
I also *hate* how he critiques rather than hyping, especially since he has no competitive experience.
you can criticize his bw casting, but knowing bw is not essential for sc2 casting ...
EPT
Too many bad calls, over excitement, too much screaming and I just got really annoyed by it. Bad Wolf!
