What is key to being a Good Caster - Page 9

On September 03 2012 17:31 Dagan159 wrote:


TT1. Yes, for you perhaps the most high level analysis possible is preferable, but if you want to grow esports then you are going to have to accept what the republican party has begun to realize: we need to grow the middle class.

On September 04 2012 00:37 Dontkillme wrote:
I seriously don't like threads like this. It feels like we are judging these casters while we get free commentary. No wonder tasteless doesn't come on TL. Too judgmental. The community seriously needs to stop being so judgmental about the casters who were hired by people smarter than us and need to let these casters breathe

On September 03 2012 17:13 Liquid`Ret wrote:
I have been watching starcraft and starcraft 2 for an extremely long time and I almost feel like the casting is getting worse and worse across the board. There are a few exceptions like Apollo, Rotterdam/MrBitter, Artosis (although he was much better a year ago) but with the other ones you can tell they almost never play the game anymore or never have played to begin with.

Starcraft is a beautiful game. There is a very large group of players who have great mechanics and practice a lot, so their builds are very polished and they can all beat each other on any given day. Still some players do better than others, there is a huge mental aspect to the game and slight changes in builds or playstyles that can make all the difference and this is what makes starcraft matches so fun to watch. .

Unfortunately, most casters are not very good at all at recognizing patterns or changes in the metagame, or builds. Infact there are so many occasions where casters who are newbies at the game, judge players and berate them for their mistakes, while they actually don't have a clue what is going on. Of course mistakes are much easier to point out than those little things players change in their play or the mind games that are going on at the top level. But these are the things that make starcraft a brilliant game to watch and follow. I feel like if we had professional casters who actually put the time and effort into delivering the best performance possible, the audience would come much closer to be able to experience starcraft in the same way that progamers experience it. With all the little nuances, mind games, and reasons why someone is doing what they're doing being analyzed and clearly explained.

When I listen to a cast and would be unable to see the screen, I would feel like sc2 is a random slugfest with 2 guys just throwing units at each other. Every game feels the same, and one guy wins at the end. This actually makes Starcraft much less appealing to new people or people who are actually looking for depth, not cheap entertainment. Of course this is exaggerated, but it's still sad to me that there is so little actual skill and knowledge amongst casters. I really hope that eventually (sooner the better) we can go to a model where there is one person doing play by plays and coloring the cast, and one progamer or ex-progamer (who still keeps up his skill and knowledge of all the recent trends) doing analytical casting. We saw some of this when Grubby was casting with apollo/kalearis and TLO/apollo at assembly (and these guys have barely practiced casting). The current casters are actually not helping Starcraft 2 grow in my opinion, they just live off their initial fame and because of how e-sports works twitter followers and popularity is more important than quality, substance. I believe Starcraft 2 is a good enough game to keep people interested, as long as the skill on the screen is translated and well delivered to the audience.

p.s sorry kinda off-topic, but felt like writing my opinion

On September 04 2012 03:16 K3Nyy wrote:
What makes a good caster is their knowledge and insight of the game as well as their passion for the game in my opinion. This is why I feel like progamers always make the best casters.

Play by play casters are good for the newbies I guess, but in order for the game to become more popular, we need more in-depth casters that show the audience more of what's going on in the game besides what they on the surface. Day9, Artosis, Apollo and Bitterdam immediately jump to mind as well as the players that casted at HSC.

On September 04 2012 03:14 Dosey wrote:


It's a shame that there's no real threat of competition for the current casters. The up and comers have even less knowledge than the current top dogs and the pros most likely don't want to abandon their dream just yet. If we had even just a little competition from the pros, we just might see their complacent attitudes disappear as they worked harder to put out better casting and maintain their jobs.

On September 04 2012 03:34 stew_ wrote:


There is actually, the korean casters do a fantastic job of really high level analysis during games... especially during gsl and proleague/osl.