[Updated] WCS Region Lock Confusion (Korea) - Page 5

On April 07 2013 10:20 Laryleprakon wrote:
Everyone on twitter talking about prize pools being the same at 100k, isn't that quite a bit less than what the current code S is.

Seem's very hard on the Koreans with less tournaments and less money especially when they can go to NA/EU (but probably won't with so little time to decide)

Hopefully more information is released ASAP

On April 07 2013 10:34 StarVe wrote:

I assume those 100k are what Blizzard is paying. Since GSL has now basically merged with WCS, I think GOM will add some prize money on top of that, don't think they'll just run on Blizzard prize pools from now on and save their own money. I mean, Mangosix is sponsoring this GSL season for a reason, right?

Mike Morhaime ‏@mikemorhaime 8m

@LorangerChris @_inso @idrajit Understood. Working to get you guys more details ASAP.

On April 07 2013 08:42 FXOdesRow wrote:


Oh okay welfare...

Koreans playing for WCS NA will do nothing for the US scene in terms of skills growth. We have Polt right now and all he does is play on KR, it's gonna be even worse if they can play the season online.

If they can play online, each team should have a lot of B teammers(3-5 players per team) playing for WCS NA and it's gonna turn into another NASL.

Sure they're better but it's because we have no infrastructure or incentives to play full time so stop acting like an elitist douchebag.

On April 07 2013 11:28 Canucklehead wrote:


Problem is if it was only NA vs NA, I don't think it would raise the skill gap much at all and the skill cap will stagnate. Someone will only work as hard as to beat other NA players. If someone can only practice say 8 hours or less and still remain competitive and make decent money, then he really has no incentive to work harder. He'll find the perfect balance of saying I can party more, goof off, etc and how much he needs to practice to beat NA players. That person won't care if he can't beat koreans because he'll earn enough money beating NA players.

I think it's a fallacy to say a regional lock will raise the skill level of foreigners. I think they will work just hard enough to be good enough to beat other NA players and no harder. If they can earn enough while never needing to ever beat a single korean, then that will be good enough for them. I think you need to play better players to raise your skill level otherwise your skill level will just plateau to what is good enough to beat current competition.

A lot will come down to the prize pool breakdown. If a person doesn't even need to win wcs or even be top 10, then that will lead to even more complacency if they can earn good money just by being top 32, etc. Of course this will lead to a more healthy foreign scene with more pros able to sustain themselves full time. I just don't believe it will lead to any skill increase or increased motivation to be the best. The motivation will be to be just good enough to earn enough money to keep being a pro gamer.

On April 07 2013 02:57 onedayclose wrote:
You would think the PLAYERS would be contacted FIRST about the new WCS before the public at large. It appears the koreans were in the know while some teams in the the west were left in the dark. How sad! T_T I hope that by season 2 all western teams will have a plan for each region going forward.

On April 07 2013 08:14 ATiBright wrote:
Here are my assumptions, which I personally think would be the best idea, but impossible to know for sure until formal announcements.

I think is incorrect is the theory of all WCS Prize money being the same between regions. The amount Blizzard is giving as a prize pool for WCS is likely the same throughout, but then you have the GSL/OSL and they are already tournaments that give out large prize pools, therefore since they are just being turned into WCS Korea it would make the most sense that you add WCS (Blizzard prize money) on top of GSL and OSL prize money. Making WCS Korea still well worth it for your better players.


Also ESL is doing WCS EU not IEM, Intel Extreme Masters is probably going to be the same tournament and ESL will do the WCS EU as a side project therefore I'm sure anyone can still enter IEM tournaments. As for WCS NA I have no idea one would assume MLG would still want big name Koreans coming to their events therefore making WCS NA completely separate from its normal stops but would need to hear from Sundance or Bliz for any real idea on that.

On April 07 2013 17:23 Rainman5419 wrote:
I was really excited by Blizzard getting more involved in the E-sports aspect of the game, like Riot. Unfortunately, it looks an unholy mess where the intent was awesome, but the execution was terrible.

On April 07 2013 19:31 Gr33d wrote:

This might hurt people like TB who think of themselve to be the center of the industry, but the primary concern for starting such a league is with the organisators.