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I'm seeing a lot of comments from people who are disappointed that we did not share the exact plans for WCS 2014. To clarify, we did not intend for this to be an announcement, or an announcement of an announcement for that matter  The reality is that we are still finalizing the details of WCS 2014 with our partners, however, we did not want to wait until everything was finalized before letting you know some of the things we were discussing. We want to give the community an opportunity to provide feedback before we locked down the specific details. We have outlined most of our plans and ideas in some of our answers, but haven't fully committed to any of the decisions because we want to hear from the community. Our goal is to confirm and announce the plans for WCS 2014 before BlizzCon. That gives you at least a week to give us your input on what we've shared! Thanks again for your support! -kimaphan |
On October 15 2013 19:19 BronzeKnee wrote:
You don't have to play with the best on a regular basis to beat them. It is true in all sports, Stephano proved it in SC2. You just need to be able to practice enough, meaning you get paid to play, you need to have a good coach and you need to be on a good team.
I just don't understand what this has to do with Blizzard?
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On October 15 2013 19:30 XtreMe_au wrote:Show nested quote +On October 15 2013 19:22 Seiju wrote:On October 15 2013 19:13 BronzeKnee wrote:
You don't get good at SC2 by going 0-4 in group stages versus Koreans twice a year ^This. Simple as that. I'll add that should Naniwa be dropped out of it, which is likely to happen at this point, I won't follow the streams of Blizzcon finals. I probably won't be the only one. A Blizzard representative comes and tries to answer fans' questions about WCS 2014 and you post something like this? You are literally, mind-bogglingly retarded. Go play a different game. Makes me sick.
How is he retarded and makes you sick? He is completely right. Sure watching top level Koreans play is nice. But watching only Koreans play gets boring really fast.
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On October 15 2013 19:34 Sissors wrote:Show nested quote +On October 15 2013 19:30 XtreMe_au wrote:On October 15 2013 19:22 Seiju wrote:On October 15 2013 19:13 BronzeKnee wrote:
You don't get good at SC2 by going 0-4 in group stages versus Koreans twice a year ^This. Simple as that. I'll add that should Naniwa be dropped out of it, which is likely to happen at this point, I won't follow the streams of Blizzcon finals. I probably won't be the only one. A Blizzard representative comes and tries to answer fans' questions about WCS 2014 and you post something like this? You are literally, mind-bogglingly retarded. Go play a different game. Makes me sick. How is he retarded and makes you sick? He is completely right. Sure watching top level Koreans play is nice. But watching only Koreans play gets boring really fast.
Your thinly-veiled racism is what makes me sick BRO
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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!
Would be awesome if 2014 WCS could be a mix of 2012 and 2013 WCSs. In 2012 WCS the whole world was involved because of the local qualifiers in every country but once it finished many players had nothing else to do if they didn't advance to the next stage. For 2013 players have competition all year long but unfortunately not everybody is involved. That is why I wish there were new regions of even sub divisions of the existing regions, to involve more players and fans from everywhere during all year.
Maybe increasing the prize pool is not needed if there are more tournaments. Specially in Korea. What about GSL and OSL concurrently with WCS KR?
The support for amateurs would come from improvements "in game" in my opinion, like providing in game tournaments,
Also, only people playing the offline part of WCS need travel/housing support.
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On October 15 2013 19:36 XtreMe_au wrote:Show nested quote +On October 15 2013 19:34 Sissors wrote:On October 15 2013 19:30 XtreMe_au wrote:On October 15 2013 19:22 Seiju wrote:On October 15 2013 19:13 BronzeKnee wrote:
You don't get good at SC2 by going 0-4 in group stages versus Koreans twice a year ^This. Simple as that. I'll add that should Naniwa be dropped out of it, which is likely to happen at this point, I won't follow the streams of Blizzcon finals. I probably won't be the only one. A Blizzard representative comes and tries to answer fans' questions about WCS 2014 and you post something like this? You are literally, mind-bogglingly retarded. Go play a different game. Makes me sick. How is he retarded and makes you sick? He is completely right. Sure watching top level Koreans play is nice. But watching only Koreans play gets boring really fast. Your thinly-veiled racism is what makes me sick BRO
Ok, wanting to see local player is not racist. People need to stop throwing that word around every time some talks about wanting to see more local players at events
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On October 15 2013 19:36 XtreMe_au wrote:Show nested quote +On October 15 2013 19:34 Sissors wrote:On October 15 2013 19:30 XtreMe_au wrote:On October 15 2013 19:22 Seiju wrote:On October 15 2013 19:13 BronzeKnee wrote:
You don't get good at SC2 by going 0-4 in group stages versus Koreans twice a year ^This. Simple as that. I'll add that should Naniwa be dropped out of it, which is likely to happen at this point, I won't follow the streams of Blizzcon finals. I probably won't be the only one. A Blizzard representative comes and tries to answer fans' questions about WCS 2014 and you post something like this? You are literally, mind-bogglingly retarded. Go play a different game. Makes me sick. How is he retarded and makes you sick? He is completely right. Sure watching top level Koreans play is nice. But watching only Koreans play gets boring really fast. Your thinly-veiled racism is what makes me sick BRO
ye bro wanting to watch more diversity of nationalities is totally racist..
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On October 15 2013 19:42 GizmoPT wrote:Show nested quote +On October 15 2013 19:36 XtreMe_au wrote:On October 15 2013 19:34 Sissors wrote:On October 15 2013 19:30 XtreMe_au wrote:On October 15 2013 19:22 Seiju wrote:On October 15 2013 19:13 BronzeKnee wrote:
You don't get good at SC2 by going 0-4 in group stages versus Koreans twice a year ^This. Simple as that. I'll add that should Naniwa be dropped out of it, which is likely to happen at this point, I won't follow the streams of Blizzcon finals. I probably won't be the only one. A Blizzard representative comes and tries to answer fans' questions about WCS 2014 and you post something like this? You are literally, mind-bogglingly retarded. Go play a different game. Makes me sick. How is he retarded and makes you sick? He is completely right. Sure watching top level Koreans play is nice. But watching only Koreans play gets boring really fast. Your thinly-veiled racism is what makes me sick BRO ye bro wanting to watch more diversity of nationalities is totally racist..
So... get better at the game and stop trying to get subsidization from Blizzard. If you suck, move to Korea and figure it out if it's your dream. Code B Koreans deal with it.
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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!
Kim,
I think that even in an individual based eSport like Starcraft has largely become, there's no reason why the team aspect can't be or shouldn't be highly emphasized. Its a big part of what makes the game and scene understandable, palatable, and attractive to the uninitiated. (See Xeris's awesome analysis on the reasons for the lack of stability and growth in Starcraft eSports and Carmac's analysis of how to bring stability and growth back to the scene.) A very compelling way of region locking WCS would be to require each team to choose a region and all of their players would have to compete in that region for the year. If the premier league was offline, then doing so would encourage the development of each regional scene, draw Korean pro-gamers to other regions which would help to transplant the Korean pro-gaming system of practice and management, and would allow the system to both promote and leverage teams rather than only individual personalities which would bring a lot more stability to the scene.
Then, you could prioritize creating professional studio level production and funding housing for teams which would help professionalize the scene, decrease the barrier of entry for new teams, reward those teams that are successful not only with monetary help but also with a way to incentivize players to join them, and lay the groundwork for a bigger, more comprehensive future eSports system. You would obviously then need to be contacting teams rather than individual players about WCS things but really, that's the way it should be anyway. Teams own the rights to their players and act as their promoters/agents/representation.
Most importantly, remember that big and fundamental changes to the way that Blizzard approaches eSports will probably be necessary to make something like WCS truly successful. Nobody, and I mean nobody gets it right on the first try. What makes companies successful in this crazy internet based world will never be their rate of success for individual attempts at reaching their goal(s) but rather their ability to quickly and accurately change the direction of their efforts or respond to the needs of their community to make things better. It's not about strength but about agility.
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On October 15 2013 19:44 XtreMe_au wrote:Show nested quote +On October 15 2013 19:42 GizmoPT wrote:On October 15 2013 19:36 XtreMe_au wrote:On October 15 2013 19:34 Sissors wrote:On October 15 2013 19:30 XtreMe_au wrote:On October 15 2013 19:22 Seiju wrote:On October 15 2013 19:13 BronzeKnee wrote:
You don't get good at SC2 by going 0-4 in group stages versus Koreans twice a year ^This. Simple as that. I'll add that should Naniwa be dropped out of it, which is likely to happen at this point, I won't follow the streams of Blizzcon finals. I probably won't be the only one. A Blizzard representative comes and tries to answer fans' questions about WCS 2014 and you post something like this? You are literally, mind-bogglingly retarded. Go play a different game. Makes me sick. How is he retarded and makes you sick? He is completely right. Sure watching top level Koreans play is nice. But watching only Koreans play gets boring really fast. Your thinly-veiled racism is what makes me sick BRO ye bro wanting to watch more diversity of nationalities is totally racist.. So... get better at the game and stop trying to get subsidization from Blizzard. If you suck, move to Korea and figure it out if it's your dream. Code B Koreans deal with it.
code B koreans are already in korea you know other people arent from korea.. just saying
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On October 15 2013 19:36 XtreMe_au wrote:Show nested quote +On October 15 2013 19:34 Sissors wrote:On October 15 2013 19:30 XtreMe_au wrote:On October 15 2013 19:22 Seiju wrote:On October 15 2013 19:13 BronzeKnee wrote:
You don't get good at SC2 by going 0-4 in group stages versus Koreans twice a year ^This. Simple as that. I'll add that should Naniwa be dropped out of it, which is likely to happen at this point, I won't follow the streams of Blizzcon finals. I probably won't be the only one. A Blizzard representative comes and tries to answer fans' questions about WCS 2014 and you post something like this? You are literally, mind-bogglingly retarded. Go play a different game. Makes me sick. How is he retarded and makes you sick? He is completely right. Sure watching top level Koreans play is nice. But watching only Koreans play gets boring really fast. Your thinly-veiled racism is what makes me sick BRO
He's right, i don't mind watching TOP KOREANS, in WCS GSL or Proleague, but Code A dropouts coming to NA/EU and winning because they have a different culture/training regiment toward the game is lame.
I have nothing to say about Jaedong, MMA or Her0 who keep improving even if they play on NA/EU but would Revival, Heart, Crank or Alive even be in challenger league in Korea? I don't think so and these are the players making WCS NA stale and boring.
I feel for you Kim, not easy to argue with fans especially when every single one is convinced his solution is the best. I'll believe in Blizzard, I hope they will save their game but it won't be if Koreans are not grounded home, even if this solution hurts them.
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I would like to thank Kim for answering on the TL forum. A sunny hello form South Africa. Can’t we also get a region? (Just joking, not enough players) It warms the heart that Blizzards makes the effort to communicate with the fans.
As for the question in where to allocated money, I think travel cost is a big killer for some people.
To the rest, stop moaning and give some feedback, not every day you get the chance to talk to Blizzard.
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To the rest, stop moaning and give some feedback, not every day you get the chance to talk to Blizzard.
This is exactly what people need to do.
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I feel theres way too many negative nerds on TL. Theres being proactive and giving contructive criticism then theres just plain moaning. Too much of the latter.
I personally have loved this years WCS and couldn't imagine my year without it (with some of its small faults)
I feel the consistant negativity on TL is the main reason for the so called 'fall' of SC2. Wasn't there 80k or so viewers for IEM final? Lets try and be more positive and constructive than forever complaining
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Please guys. Stop moaning about people moaning and not giving feedback and give some actual feedback. After all, it is not everyday that we get an opportunity to talk to Blizzard.
EDIT: Moanseption.
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On October 15 2013 19:52 DrBeansy wrote:
I feel theres way too many negative nerds on TL. Theres being proactive and giving contructive criticism then theres just plain moaning. Too much of the latter.
I personally have loved this years WCS and couldn't imagine my year without it (with some of its small faults)
I feel the consistant negativity on TL is the main reason for the so called 'fall' of SC2. Wasn't there 80k or so viewers for IEM final? Lets try and be more positive and constructive than forever complaining
Almost 100K at peak actually! Its by far been the most successful IEM so far by the viewer count and it was Starcraft II only and hosted at another convention's venue. The fact that they drew such epic viewership under those circumstances (especially given direct time slot competition with the SLTV finals) is actually extremely impressive and encouraging for the future of Starcraft.
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I think that for events like IEM and Dreamhack the WCS point distribution could be very top heavy. In that case, winning the tournament is meaningful in terms of qualifying for Blizzcon, but being part of a rich team that can fly you around the world won't be too rewarding if you never get to the finals of any of these tournaments. Although to be honest, it's probably in Blizzard's interest to want the recognizable Koreans to be able to gather points here and there to qualify for Blizzcon. They (and some part of the community) would probably prefer Hero, Taeja, Polt and Jaedong to be there.
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East Gorteau22261 Posts
On October 15 2013 19:48 YuiHirasawa wrote:Show nested quote +On October 15 2013 19:36 XtreMe_au wrote:On October 15 2013 19:34 Sissors wrote:On October 15 2013 19:30 XtreMe_au wrote:On October 15 2013 19:22 Seiju wrote:On October 15 2013 19:13 BronzeKnee wrote:
You don't get good at SC2 by going 0-4 in group stages versus Koreans twice a year ^This. Simple as that. I'll add that should Naniwa be dropped out of it, which is likely to happen at this point, I won't follow the streams of Blizzcon finals. I probably won't be the only one. A Blizzard representative comes and tries to answer fans' questions about WCS 2014 and you post something like this? You are literally, mind-bogglingly retarded. Go play a different game. Makes me sick. How is he retarded and makes you sick? He is completely right. Sure watching top level Koreans play is nice. But watching only Koreans play gets boring really fast. Your thinly-veiled racism is what makes me sick BRO He's right, i don't mind watching TOP KOREANS, in WCS GSL or Proleague, but Code A dropouts coming to NA/EU and winning because they have a different culture/training regiment toward the game is lame. I have nothing to say about Jaedong, MMA or Her0 who keep improving even if they play on NA/EU but would Revival, Heart, Crank or Alive even be in challenger league in Korea? I don't think so and these are the players making WCS NA stale and boring. I feel for you Kim, not easy to argue with fans especially when every single one is convinced his solution is the best. I'll believe in Blizzard, I hope they will save their game but it won't be if Koreans are not grounded home, even if this solution hurts them.
It feels like you're confusing "top Koreans" with "famous Koreans"
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+ Show Spoiler +What does Blizzard think of team leagues and their place in the scene? Is there any way they might be incorporated into the WCS system?
We think team leagues are great and we’re supportive of them, but we do not have any plans to incorporate them directly into the WCS system in 2014. However, we do have ideas around how we can make WCS points more meaningful to teams and players by encouraging team spirit and support in WCS. One idea is to track a WCS team ranking based on the points earned by players on teams. From there, we could potentially do something fun—for example, inviting the top-ranked teams with the most WCS points to compete in an exhibition match at a major tournament event. We’ll be putting more thought around this moving forward and look forward to hearing the community’s ideas as well.
If they only do this, I am more than happy!
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Russian Federation262 Posts
On October 15 2013 20:01 looknohands119 wrote:Show nested quote +On October 15 2013 19:52 DrBeansy wrote:
I feel theres way too many negative nerds on TL. Theres being proactive and giving contructive criticism then theres just plain moaning. Too much of the latter.
I personally have loved this years WCS and couldn't imagine my year without it (with some of its small faults)
I feel the consistant negativity on TL is the main reason for the so called 'fall' of SC2. Wasn't there 80k or so viewers for IEM final? Lets try and be more positive and constructive than forever complaining Almost 100K at peak actually! Its by far been the most successful IEM so far by the viewer count and it was Starcraft II only and hosted at another convention's venue. The fact that they drew such epic viewership under those circumstances (especially given direct time slot competition with the SLTV finals) is actually extremely impressive and encouraging for the future of Starcraft.
I really like people with that kind of mindset.
I wish everyone on TL to be like that person.
To receive a respect...
And this would help SC2, trust me!
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On October 15 2013 18:55 Fjodorov wrote:Show nested quote +On October 15 2013 18:47 BaneRiders wrote:On October 15 2013 18:30 Fjodorov wrote: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! You should use the resources to support the korean scene more. Korea has the hardest region, the true premier league, and the best players in the world. We all know this, they are dominating. Look at any sport in the world and you will find that if you are among the best players in the world and playing the in the best league in the world you will naturally earn more than the rest. I disagree with this. The Korean scene is the best, fine, but is the sole future of SC2 in Korea? I would want to see a global scene grow, so Blizzard needs to invest wisely. The Korean scene can probably support itself without too much subsidies in any case. What future to you see for sc2 in korea if you can be top50 player in the world, work 10 hours a day but still barely make a living?
As I said, I think the Korean scene is better developed than others and can take care of itself without too much subsidizes from Blizzard. This means other sponsors, events etc.
Let me turn it around: If Blizzard puts most of its resources in the Korean scene, what future do you see in SC2 if all we have are Korean players dominating year in and year out? I'm sure you have seen many say that they would lose interest rather quickly if only Koreans are on the line-up, and I completely agree. I couldn't believe my eyes when I watched IEM NY and Naniwa making it to the final, I was so nervous and in to the game being a Naniwa fan, but let me tell you, if Blizzcon comprise 16 Koreans, I don't really have a stake in it and I'm not going to watch it. Same as ice-hockey, I love it, but I don't keep much track of NHL, although it is the best league. My interest lies with the EU players and how well they can do in local as well as global tournaments. I want to see the upcoming European players have a scene to grow in and I think this should be the case for the whole America (not just NA) and Asia-Australia as well. Korean players will still dominate for the foreseeable future, no doubt, but if Blizzard would put the majority of its resources there to the extent that there is no way for other talents to develop their skills beyond happy amateurs, then SC2 will become a Korean affair, maybe with some interest of the occasional foreigner, it will not grow to become a global game. If the price for this is to sacrifice Korea's number 50, well, tough luck for him/her and good luck in future undertakings, but it would be a sacrifice for the greater good of the SC2. The 49 best Koreans would still be there and I'm sure all the other players aspire to be one of them. 
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EPT
