Blizzard Q&A on WCS 2014 - Page 16

On October 15 2013 17:57 Swisslink wrote:


I don't intend to be rude, but somehow I feel the question has not really been answered.
I'd agree with Yakikorosu that 3 GSL/OSL seasons combined for the entire year 2014 would be really sad and horrible for the Korean scene. With the introduction of the WCS 2013, the number of tournaments was cut to 3 + the pricepool was cut as well. Reducing the number of tournaments even more (-> cutting the season finals) seems really bad and weird, especially for the Korean scene.
To come back to the question by Yakikorosu: Do you just HOPE there will be more tournaments, or WILL there be more tournaments? Once again: Especially in Korea, will there be more GSL/OSL season outside the WCS system?
Because 3 tournaments with the current price pool seems really bad for the amount of Korean progamers right now.

And in general: How do you feel about, what WCS has done to the Korean scene?

And: I think it's great to answer the questions here, WCS 2013 was not perfect and I'm happy there will be changes. Even though we don't know what kind of changes we'll see :-P

On October 15 2013 18:00 goody153 wrote:
it would be nice that everytime a global finals happen per season it should be 32 player from 3 regions .. not 16 .. 16 is a little bit too little

regarding region locking .. what would happen if instead of region locking they separate the challengers league for both foreigners and locals in the specified region ? .. so that the composition of player in r32 would be 50-50 locals-foreigners

On October 15 2013 17:57 Swisslink wrote:


I don't intend to be rude, but somehow I feel the question has not really been answered.
I'd agree with Yakikorosu that 3 GSL/OSL seasons combined for the entire year 2014 would be really sad and horrible for the Korean scene. With the introduction of the WCS 2013, the number of tournaments was cut to 3 + the pricepool was cut as well. Reducing the number of tournaments even more (-> cutting the season finals) seems really bad and weird, especially for the Korean scene.
To come back to the question by Yakikorosu: Do you just HOPE there will be more tournaments, or WILL there be more tournaments? Once again: Especially in Korea, will there be more GSL/OSL season outside the WCS system?
Because 3 tournaments with the current price pool seems really bad for the amount of Korean progamers right now.

On October 15 2013 17:17 kimaphan wrote:
We would like to focus on three leagues for WCS 2014, but we want to find ways to further support the scenes in other regions. One way would be to adjust the WCS point system so that it incorporates tournaments and leagues from these other regions in a more meaningful way.

On October 15 2013 17:32 mikkmagro wrote:
- Great to see Blizzard listening; It's a pity so many people on here always want to criticise, and never be happy that Blizzard takes such good care of its player base. I was part of the competitive Call of Duty scene on PC, and developers never had any form of post-purchase interaction with their playerbase, nor did they ever invest a fraction of a penny in eSport. So I'm extremely thankful to Blizzard for being awesome.

- I am glad soft region-lock seems to be strongly considered. Citizenship is too strict, and people like DeMusliM and Polt are great for WCS AM, as are StarDust and other Koreans in EU, as long as they are part of the AM/EU scene. Having TaeJa, Jaedong, and other Koreans who practiced in Korea, and only showed up in their respective regions in the RO16 was not helping growth, especially since these Koreans were winning more money than their compatriots in WCS KR, and being less skilled. What would happen, however to NA players like Kane and goswser who are currently living in Europe? Imo, they should be allowed to choose the region to play in.
- I welcome the decision to remove the Grand Slams, as they did disrupt storylines, and their atmosphere could be re-created with less expense in events like DreamHack, MLG, Iron Squid, IEM, Assembly etc. They also gave even bigger rewards to players who had already won the top prizes, and the most points. However, I hope that the $450,000 in prize money that is freed up is still somehow invested into the scene.

- Different regions have different circumstances, and I would like to see the Korean region being given some autonomy. Going from 5 GSL events and 1 OSL event, to 2 GSL events and 1 OSL event under WCS, with less prizemoney is not a good thing. I am a bit sad that there does not seem to be any changes here.

- The thing that I was perhaps most disappointed about is the lack of a WCS region for China, Taiwan, South East Asia, Japan, Oceania, and the rest of Asia. Whilst some people may say that this further dilutes viewerbase, and that there aren't enough good players in these regions, I believe this to be incorrect. The market for such a league wouldn't necessarily be the fans in the west, but rather, the Chinese-speaking market, which has tons of potential. It would also have an English cast of course, for the viewers in SEA and AU/NZ and anyone interested in the west. People here should realise that us (the EU and NA market) should not be the only target audience, and I think Blizzard can greatly benefit from more exposure to China and the surrounding regions. Not having a WCS region to the above is of great detriment in my opinion. With that said, it does not mean that it definitely has to have the same prize pool, and the same point distribution as say WCS Korea, but no WCS event whatsoever is really bad in my opinion. Hell, people forget that Taiwan has an SC2 league shown on TV, just like Brood War in Korea. Such a league would also largely eliminate the problems that Chinese players had with WCS America - communication, timezones, travel etc. I really wish Blizzard would re-consider.

- I am aware Blizzard tried organising smaller tournaments for regions without WCS leagues, namely Copa America for Latin America, and the Vengeance Cup for SEA. Whilst these were great, I would really like to see them merged in the WCS.

- I hope WCS support extends to tournaments other than the few we got in 2013. Smaller, but significant tournaments should still be able to give out some (smaller) amount of WCS points. It would be great to see a really global WCS system, where most tournaments matter for the grand finale at BlizzCon. So events like EPS Germany, Shoutcraft America, Fragbite Masters, Ritmix RSL, TeSL, Chinese tournaments, ESET Masters etc. SC2 has many Major Tournaments and Minor Tournaments that unfortunately go below the radar for most.

- Three regions rather than four is actually a good thing - allows for breathing room for other great tournaments. It's a pity something like ATC and SC2L sometimes struggle to keep a regular broadcasting schedule because of WCS, let alone other tournaments that did not happen because WCS is constantly running. It also gives some breathing room for players.

- It's a pity that Team Tournaments still won't be a factor in WCS. Unfortunately, they haven't been the most popular thing since SC2's inception, yet most people fail to realise the importance of teams. It is teams who pay the players' salaries, it is the teams who make the life of pro players more manageable, allowing them to focus solely on their training, and it is teams who are in a much better position to properly market third party sponsors. They are crucial to the life of any eSport, and the focus on 1v1 tournaments has made some traditionally affluent such as SK Gaming, Team Alternate, Virtus.pro, Alliance and Team Empire amongst others going for one or two players rather than a proper team (thus less opportunities for players to become professional gamers); I would really like to see a proper team league in the west, though how this would tie up to WCS, I don't really know!

Hope Blizzard reads! <3

On October 15 2013 18:13 kimaphan wrote:
We'd love to get your input on where else we should refocus resources in 2014. We can't address everything at once, but what do you think are the top priorities? Growing the overall WCS prize pool? Growing the BlizzCon prize pool? Support player travel to tournament events? League/player housing? Expanding to new regions? Supporting amateur and grassroots level play? Regional tournaments/leagues?

These are just some ideas on where we could focus our resources and are not listed in any particular order. Let us know what you think should be the top priorities!

We'd love to get your input on where else we should refocus resources in 2014. We can't address everything at once, but what do you think are the top priorities? Growing the overall WCS prize pool? Growing the BlizzCon prize pool? Support player travel to tournament events? League/player housing? Expanding to new regions? Supporting amateur and grassroots level play? Regional tournaments/leagues?

These are just some ideas on where we could focus our resources and are not listed in any particular order. Let us know what you think should be the top priorities!

On October 15 2013 18:13 kimaphan wrote:
We'd love to get your input on where else we should refocus resources in 2014. We can't address everything at once, but what do you think are the top priorities? Growing the overall WCS prize pool? Growing the BlizzCon prize pool? Support player travel to tournament events? League/player housing? Expanding to new regions? Supporting amateur and grassroots level play? Regional tournaments/leagues?

These are just some ideas on where we could focus our resources and are not listed in any particular order. Let us know what you think should be the top priorities!

On October 15 2013 17:52 vjcamarena wrote:
Dear Miss Phan,

After lurking for years, I've finally decided to register here on TeamLiquid in order to be able to talk to you.
(By the by, hi TeamLiquid! You guys rock!)

---Wall of text incoming, sorry about that!---tl,dr at the end---

First of all, I'd like to thank you for posting to the community. I think this is a fantastic step forward for Blizzard and Starcraft II. Just like David Kim and Dustin Browder were particularly active in posting balance updates during the Heart Of The Swarm beta (and have remained very communicative since), I'd love to hear from you often in this period in which significant E-Sports changes will take place (an E-Sports balance patch, if you like!). It takes guts, I'm sure, to reach out to a passionate community that doesn't necessarily agree with what you do, and is a very harsh critic of your work. So, kudos!

I'd also like to say, before I comment on your interview, that I ABSOLUTELY LOVE the 2013 WCS. It has absolutely increased the time I spend watching, discussing and thinking about Starcraft -> and even playing! Having a premier, consistant league-like tournament (as opposed to weekend sprints) in my continent (Europe), happening live at a time that's convenient for me to watch, well, has been nothing short of amazing.

Now, then, to the actual points being discussed here. I'll try to propose concrete, implementable and realistic ways to improve onto WCS. I'll try to illustrate with examples from Europe, as it's the league I follow the most.

-Regarding Region Lock: From an expectating point of view, I love having Koreans in Europe! It's brought me great entertainment to be able to watch my biggest E-Sport hero live (Mvp!). Seeing MC be himself, being awed as duckdeok finally makes a name for himself and just cracks under the importance of the moment, and watching nerchio proclaim "MMA is back!" have all been highlights of my year.
From a "growing the scene" perspective, I can only imagine having high-quality practice on ladder and live is great for all scenes. Bringing great players from Korea into America and Europe has the effect of bolstering growth.
However, as you say, one of the major points in getting a high viewership is being able to identify with players that reperesent you and your country. I think we all saw, in WCS 2012, that national rivalry in Europe is a strong driver of vierwerships. Keeping some Europeans in WCS Europe definately bolsters that. Plus, it creates a feeling that "I could try to get there", an encouragement that has been needed, particularly in the American scene, I feel.

I'd propose a very soft lock to be able to have our cake, and eat it, too: If possible, moving the Ro32 offline + adding the following requirement: You must be a Grand Master in the European Ladder (either as of "Day X", or during the full run at several times) in order to qualify for the European Premier league (same for other regions, of course). This guarantees non-europeans actually play in the Europe ladder if they want to compete in Europe, "sharing" their strategies. This drives skill up everywhere and avoids someone playing 30 games in a continent and going back home which a trophy, which feels bad. Additionally, this system makes ladder very relevant. If the current Grand Master league is too big/too small, adjust it's size (I mean, it doesn't actually serve any purpose now, so changing it should actually "do anything bad").
Drawing a fixed percentage of players in the Challenger league from players that LIVE in the continent sounds like a good idea too. Please don't make it dependent on being born somewhere. If someone like ForGG/Stardust decides to live in France for years, going away from family and friends in order to compete in Europe, he should be able to opt for one of the reserved seeds.

-Regarding no Region Finals and only 3 Seasons: I actually liked the Region Finals as a tournament. They were very good games by the players most in form at the time. Plus, they allow for some "competition amongst regions", which is excellent in my book. However, I do agree that they do diminish the importance of the regional narratives. Regional tournaments are long and take extensive preparation. Maru overcame all odds to win on WCS Korea, beating Symbol, Innovation and Rain in an impressive tour of force, to then... fall flat in Europe.
It feels like weekend bashes a la Dreamhack, IEM, MLG, Red Bull Battlegrounds etc can fulfill the niche of "comparing regions" quite capably, but don't invalidate WCS runs as much, so I like the combination of no season finals with more room for external (non-WCS) tournaments.

-Regarding seeding from one year to the next: I believe Nony made a good point in this thread before: The fact that the last season of this year seeds it's top 8 into the next competition next year feels bad. To put it plainly, why is Mvp's fantastic performance on the first half of the year less relevant than MC's on the second half? Does it really feel correct to seed Targa and Genius, but not ForGG or TLO, who have been more consistant? (No disrespect meant to anyone, I'm using names strictly for their point totals/league placements!)
My take would be the following: Every new year wipes all points out. The top 16 in points go to BlizzCon. The seeding for the first WCS lueagues next year is simply the 8 highest point totals in that region (or however many your decide to seed). That takes the whole year into account and adds extra drama to the last tournaments on the year, as maybe someone like, say Lucifron, or Happy, who have been consistently good, and are on the outside looking in on the Europe-based point scale, to try and go to EVERY tournament now in order to get a seed, just like Naniwa just did with IEM in order to try and go to Blizzcon!
I understand you may not be able to implement this -this year-. You may have promised the top 8 players they are already seeded. But in that case please consider it for next year.

tl,dr: Thanks for posting, Kim! I like very soft region locks (offline+be grandmaster on the corresponding ladder for access to premier league) best. Seed for next seasons WCS from point totals (per region, ex. the 8 highest point totals from people that competed in Europe) instead "the best 8 in the last WCS Europe are qualified for next year".

Thanks, all, and sorry for the wall of text! I look forward to hearing your opinions!

On October 15 2013 18:31 GizmoPT wrote:


Brazilians are the best players in football and their league sucks..

On October 15 2013 18:31 GizmoPT wrote:


Brazilians are the best players in football and their league sucks..