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With WCS America drawing to a close, and the season finals coming up in Korea next week, I thought it would be a decent idea to provide feedback, especially for each of the regions, so that each group could take in their own feedback before everything gets blended into the WCS finals. Which region of WCS did things the best? Who messed up? And lastly, what do they need to do to fix it.
+ Show Spoiler [My thoughts] +Personally, I loved WCS EU. The gameplay might not have been as tip top as KR (Although I would argue that MVP and Stephano had an overall more entertaining series even if it finished faster) but the personality made up for it and then some. From White Ra bartending to MC taking Apollo's job, everything was absolutely fantastic. Having their own studio a-la GOM's studio in Gangnam was also a huge improvement. Even the small crowd that was present made for some entertaining downtime and cheerfuls and everything else a crowd needs. The only thing I think they could have done was hold the finals in a real venue, although that might have been harder to do since the finals weren't standalone like they were in Korea.
WCS Korea was great as always, GOM has always done a good job with the GSL. Hopefully OGN can handle things just as well, and with as much experience as the GOM team, they should be fine. There is obviously less personality than EU, but they make up for it by representing essentially the pinnacle of competition.
WCS America is where I felt things fell short though. I don't think they're harming the scene or anything, but it could have been better. It really boils down to this to me: for any tournament, WCS AM is fine, it does a decent job in a vacuum but this isn't a vacuum, it's WCS. It's supposed to represent the pinnacle of SC2 tournaments. WCS EU and WCS KR managed this, but WCS AM has fallen woefully short.
I feel like they aren't even trying compared to EU. If they shared the time slot with EU at all, they would get massacred. I tried to tune into every WCS EU match I could, but was never as excited for AM(I live in the US). Axeltoss did a good job with the interviews, but it doesn't compare to the personality presented in EU. The NY studio is nice, but no live crowd really kills the mood. Would Dimaga explode with happiness after beating happy in a room full of only his dejected opponent? Stuff like that made EU grade, and is what hurts America.
Those are my thoughts at least (in the spoiler). None of the WCS events were bad, but all had room for improvement from the beginning to the end. Hopefully this (or just the company by themselves) can help them make adjustments going into the next iteration of WCS so that they can really deserve and truly be better than the other "just" tournaments we have.
Note: Please keep it constructive. Argument and debate is ok, but refrain from bashing any of the regions. As far as we know (until any type of further notice), WCS is here to stay, MLG is here to stay, ESL is here to stay, etc. etc.
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I feel like separate thread would be a lot more constructive, this will mostly get down to X is better than Y?
GSL doesn't really need any feedback, it was great as always.
EU did very well, and they have a lot of time to prepare for the next season. I don't have any good ideas to improve further, so can't really help there either.
I thought America was pretty good as well. Caster suits could be better, and overall it could feel a bit more grand like KR/EU did. I don't know if it's possible at all to get at least a small live audience in the MLG studio, but that would certainly add some atmosphere. Things I liked were the city shots and playing in front of windows was great in the daytime, not so much when it got dark 
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i haven't watched much of WCS KR so i can't really say anything about it.
WCS EU did a perfect job in my opinion. the finals could have had a bigger crowd like you said but they were probably not able to do that. and the hübner segment wasnt thaaaat interesting for me, but i loved the twitter messages during games.
WCS US did a bad job in my opinion. probably because there was no crowd that could get me hyped. im also no fan of axslav and axeltoss. It was so much easier for me to watch when bitterdam casted.
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GSL was as great as always, I'm just a bit dissapointed by the lower prize pool. Otherwise EU was awesome, better that what I expected and MLG seems good too, but I haven't been able to watch a lot of it.
Looking forward to the season final in Korea.
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WCS EU finals > WCS KR finals, atleast for me
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There's no hype, no excitement surrounding WCS AM. It's not even the players involved, it's the overall production. I can't pinpoint the reason but the environment just seems so boring.
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NA: I didnt like the music playing through all the commented games, because it was far too loud and caused the casters to sound as if they had to speak rather loudly. It is hard to "go hyper" if you are already talking louder than normal.
EU: The studio looked a bit on the small / uncomfortable / improvised side when it comes to the audience, but I think germany (and europe in general) isnt there yet to attract as much of a "daily crowd" as it is the case for Korea. Seoul is a city of 20 million people after all and no european city can have something comparable in potential viewer numbers.
EU: The casts were awesome and really exciting and I really loved the "Kaelaris & ToD" duo.
KR: It is the same as usual, but they could maybe find some inspirations for tiny improvements from the other two regions ... like the "picture in picture screen" from NA or the face cams from EU.
KR: I have never really like the "clap aids" because they are basically throwaway resources ... which isnt very ecological + Show Spoiler +the tiny amount doesnt matter, because it symbolizes the "I dont care about our resources" nature of the thought process ...
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On June 03 2013 00:09 habeck wrote:
WCS EU finals > WCS KR finals, atleast for me
same, and did not bother watching the US finals even tho it started at a good time for EU. i'd have watched snute if it wasnt zvz
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United Kingdom14103 Posts
On June 03 2013 00:12 Rabiator wrote:NA: I didnt like the music playing through all the commented games, because it was far too loud and caused the casters to sound as if they had to speak rather loudly. It is hard to "go hyper" if you are already talking louder than normal. EU: The studio looked a bit on the small / uncomfortable / improvised side when it comes to the audience, but I think germany (and europe in general) isnt there yet to attract as much of a "daily crowd" as it is the case for Korea. Seoul is a city of 20 million people after all and no european city can have something comparable in potential viewer numbers. EU: The casts were awesome and really exciting and I really loved the "Kaelaris & ToD" duo. KR: It is the same as usual, but they could maybe find some inspirations for tiny improvements from the other two regions ... like the "picture in picture screen" from NA or the face cams from EU. KR: I have never really like the "clap aids" because they are basically throwaway resources ... which isnt very ecological + Show Spoiler +the tiny amount doesnt matter, because it symbolizes the "I dont care about our resources" nature of the thought process ... . Crowds of that size *should* be able to make enough noise if they want to ...
I don't know if the clap aid gripe will ever come to anything, as far as I remember I've seen them in KR games going way back ^^
Edit: Then again I don't care about the environment, so I'm not interested to see whether they do go.
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On June 02 2013 23:59 BaaL` wrote:I feel like separate thread would be a lot more constructive, this will mostly get down to X is better than Y? GSL doesn't really need any feedback, it was great as always. EU did very well, and they have a lot of time to prepare for the next season. I don't have any good ideas to improve further, so can't really help there either. I thought America was pretty good as well. Caster suits could be better, and overall it could feel a bit more grand like KR/EU did. I don't know if it's possible at all to get at least a small live audience in the MLG studio, but that would certainly add some atmosphere. Things I liked were the city shots and playing in front of windows was great in the daytime, not so much when it got dark
Personally I think X > Y would be appropriate since I do think EU did a better job than America. The problem would happen if somebody said "EU did great, America was shit and should be canceled" or something. None of the regions did a bad job, and all had their own merits. America has potential to be really really good, and they could have a lot of great storylines like EU did. It's just the little things they're missing out on.
I think they were more professional than EU for a lot of it. And Axslav's rules of engagement were really good at the end of WCS every broadcast. Even without somebody like Apollo, they do a great job of delivering analysis during and after games. Axeltoss makes a good play by play commentator most of the time. So (imo) they didn't screw up on everything. They did some things really well, but could improve on a lot others.
Edit: Picture in picture was fantastic when done right (most of the time). EU and Korea could definitely stand to learn from that. Likewise, the face cams in EU looked really good as well.
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I'm enjoying all 3 regions.
KR, well it's KR, nothing really to comment about.
NA, feels a bit "boring" to me, having so much koreans might have something to do with it (language barrier etc)
EU, was just a blast, had great fun watching all the games/extra's/crowd.
Think EU also had the strongest line-up of casters/announcers/...
But the model WCS EU used might not even work in NA/KR.
don't see a THAT guy in a korean crowd all that soon.
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WCS America just needs a small audience in studio, or a host. A host like Redeye or even just having tasteless translate for the KR host was pretty good compared to Axeltoss having to run around from place to place. Having someone ELSE be there helps just a little.
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I find it disappointing that gom.tv still doesn't portray the emotions of the players in a match. Innovation loses 3 medivacs full of units, an error that potentially cost him the finals, and we never saw his reaction. At least WCS EU uses constant vision of the player cams so people could see ForGG's frustration with the widow mine detonation as it happened live. But OGN does it best with the dramatic zoom in. Next WCS KR is going to be better in this regard.
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You want constructive? Get rid of axeltoss. He ruins America for me.
User was warned for this post
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On June 03 2013 01:03 BlackPride wrote:
You want constructive? Get rid of axeltoss. He ruins America for me.
Why? It's not really constructive if you just say you don't like something, without saying why you don't like it. Perhaps you should point out what bothers you in his cast and he can improve. I know a guy like that dislikes every caster that isn't Artosis or Tasteless, you might want perfection but these guys aren't exactly bad at casting I think they're doing a fantastic job.
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1001 YEARS KESPAJAIL22272 Posts
I didn't get to watch much AM, but I liked how EU and KR had very different "feels".
WCS KR felt more like the traditional, formal, big time tournament. Basically the GSL we love.
WCS EU on the other hand felt more... "homey". I don't want to use the word relax because it will make it sound less serious, but the casters, the atmosphere, the players... felt a lot friendlier and the storylines more personal.
The fact that both tournaments felt different added a lot to this season. Both tournaments were memorable in their own ways, and to me they were both big successes.
No opinion on AM since the times are horrible for me 
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East Gorteau22261 Posts
On June 03 2013 01:03 BlackPride wrote:
You want constructive? Get rid of axeltoss. He ruins America for me.
Still waiting for the constructive part
+ Show Spoiler [My thoughts on the three regions] +I especially enjoyed the kind of home-friendly, relaxed atmosphere of WCS EU (MC the weatherman was beyond hilarious and something I'm sad AM hasn't tried to copy). As for KR, it was more or less like any other GSL and everything we've come to expect from them. I feel like going toward the relaxed, joking style of WCS EU would change the way we see the tournament, something I'm not sure I'd enjoy - I've come to expect greatness from GSL, and the serious approach is one part of that. If you'd change GSL to something more like WCS EU, the tournament wouldn't be the same and it wouldn't work as well on a big stage. As for AM, it feels a little dull somehow. I can't quite put my finger on why, as I like the players and most of the casters, but it just doesn't feel as "alive" as WCS EU, KR or even normal MLGs.
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I can only tune in towards the end of WCS KR matches, and as always it's usually pretty good. Good casting, booths are nice, small crowd, cheerfuls being made etc, overall pretty good.
WCS EU casting was a lot better than I expected, small crowd that cheered, a more relaxed-esque feel rather than no joking around kind of thing. BM was still there, hopefully won't be there next season, but overall still pretty good too.
WCS NA casting still isn't what I prefer, I personally don't like the Axslav/Axeltoss combo, and would much prefer Bitterdam. I wish there was a more crowd-friendly aspect to this like a crowd again, but we can't always have everything. Games as always are usually pretty good.
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I think EU did really well considering the amount of time they had. The atmosphere was great, the games were great, and the audience was really polite.
What I honestly really want is a set city where all games are played like in WCS KR in Seoul. Like if everything in NA was set in New York City or D.C. or L.A. I think it would end up being a lot cooler and a lot more professional. In addition, having an audience makes the games a lot more intense which is something I would like to see in NA. The same thing for EU would be cool.
As for casting Axeltoss is probably my favorite for NA and Apollo/Kaelaris are awesome. More casters would be cool for challenger league (like haveing a rotating casting duo) and then having a set Code S casting. Say for NA maybe ro32 + 16 are casted by like Axslav and Mr. Bitter and then ro8 onward are casted .by Day9 and Axeltoss. This could all be done live in the set city and wouild give it a really proffessional and sophisticated look much like Korea.
In addition, I do not know how much I like the gruop stages for EU in challenger league. It feels farely wierd but perhaps it will change in time. As for NA, having people who lose in the first round of challenger league go to eh up and downs seems silly, it'd be better if they were just knocked out and would have to try to get back in. It would make it much more intense.
tl dr: a set city for live matches/ group stages, more casters for Code S, rotating commuinity casters for Code A, wierd formats for both EU and NA should be the same as KR.
Man that'd be awesome.
Sorry if this sounded like a rant I really just wrote down what was on my mind.
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On June 03 2013 01:21 Zealously wrote:Show nested quote +On June 03 2013 01:03 BlackPride wrote:
You want constructive? Get rid of axeltoss. He ruins America for me.
Still waiting for the constructive part + Show Spoiler [My thoughts on the three regions] +I especially enjoyed the kind of home-friendly, relaxed atmosphere of WCS EU (MC the weatherman was beyond hilarious and something I'm sad AM hasn't tried to copy). As for KR, it was more or less like any other GSL and everything we've come to expect from them. I feel like going toward the relaxed, joking style of WCS EU would change the way we see the tournament, something I'm not sure I'd enjoy - I've come to expect greatness from GSL, and the serious approach is one part of that. If you'd change GSL to something more like WCS EU, the tournament wouldn't be the same and it wouldn't work as well on a big stage. As for AM, it feels a little dull somehow. I can't quite put my finger on why, as I like the players and most of the casters, but it just doesn't feel as "alive" as WCS EU, KR or even normal MLGs.
AM is dull because it's the same 2 guys all the time sitting at the same table casting players in the same way.
It feels dull because it IS dull, there is zero variety in the whole show. They haven't even remotely tried to do anything interesting, different or varied.
2 guys sat at a desk is almost always going to be dull 5 days a week or whatever the schedule is.
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EPT
